Cloud Sounds #5 with Eagulls, Illum Sphere, Casual Sex and more

Article | 14 Feb 2014

On this week's Cloud Sounds, a weekly playlist of new music curated by The Skinny, we dip into some of the further reaches of this week's new tracks, bringing you a mercurial selection, leading off with the magnificent Thrill Jockey Records from Chicago, home to Tortoise and ADULT., presenting a new track from The Skull Defekts, a devastatingly brutalist slice of heavy psych rock from the Gothenburg band, taken from their album Dreams From The Known Unknown, out 8 April.

We follow that up with Eagulls, offering up a slice of scuzzy post-punk-meets-grunge, and reminding us of their hilarious open letter, posted on their blog in January, which took potshots at a myriad of hipster cliche band-types. Then there's the Carpenter-esque synth workout of SEØUEL, Canadian Gothic electro from TR_ST, majestic instrumental electronic hip-hop from Illum Sphere, from his stunning debut Ghosts of Then and Now (we had a chat with him this issue), lush neo-soul from Liverpool's Ninetails, and lo-fi stoner rock from Sub Pop's Chad VanGaalen

In the second half, we've got the welcome return of Glaswegian mentalists Casual Sex (who next month bugger off to Austin for SxSW) – they offer a live recording from a gig at the Mao Disney Club at the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow. Then we've got Indian Red Lopez, bringing us slick synth-pop from Aberdeen, more new gear from Sub Pop in the form of melancholic Austin, TX outfit Shearwater, a dose of claustrophobic menace from Carla Bozulich (ex-of The Geraldine Fibbers), former Bad Seed Mick Harvey weighs in with a Gainsbourg tribute, plus there's an extended slice of ethereal, ambient neo-classical from A Winged Victory For The Sullen.

We finish off with some bubbling, glitch-filled electro from SBTRKT, taken from an instrumental EP series he has planned before the next album, and finally, a new track from hip-hop legends Slum Village, with a beat by J-Dilla, and featuring Dilla's younger brother Illa J and Young RJ. Check out the whole playlist below, and follow The Skinny on SoundCloud to keep up to date with our favourites.