Neu Magazine profiles Washed Outs’ Ernest Greene

Royal Rhino Flying Records post the songs that composed Washed Outs’ massive MP3 ‘The Fantastic Symphony Mix’ and has a very nice New Years mixtape ready for download.

Washed Outs’ Fantastic Symphony Mix Tracklist

1. Arch M – “Bedrm Band at Caf NVA (edit)”
2. The Samps – “Magnetic Thys”
3. Samiyam – “Wrap Up”
4. Toro Y Moi – “Brubek”
5. Koushik – “Homage”
6. Osborne – “Afrika (Bullion Remix)”
7. Iasos – “Inter-Dimentional Music”
8. Jack Nitzsche – “Untitled (edit)”
9. The Khalsa String Band – “Song of Bliss”

New Years Mixtape Tracklist

1. Idiot Glee – All Packed Up
From the b-side of a 7″ due out on Hop Hop Records this February.

2. Mikal Cronin – Tethered
Mikal Cronin’s contribution to Royal Rhino’s first Build Your Army With Potatoes compilation.

3. The Mendoza Line – Aspect of an Old Maid (Demo Version)
Outtake from the band’s final album, 30 Year Low.

4. Land of Blood and Sunshine – Incident
An enigmatic song from the enigmatic band’s enigmatic debut Magick Carcass Ride on their enigmatic label Very Nice Dementia Records. Very enigmatic.

5. pə-’rād – Travel Song
From the self-titled pə-’rād cassette on Leftist Nautical Antiques.

6. Cloud Nothings – Hey Cool Kid
The first track to grace the ears of Cloud Nothings’ now burgeoning audience and a star track on the Turning On CD/Cassette from Bridgetown Records.

7. Pure Ecstasy – Easy
From Pure Ecstasy’s 7″ on Light Lodge.

8. Ty Segall & Mikal Cronin – I Wear Black
From Ty Segall and Mikal Cronin’s collaborative 12″ Reverse Shark Attack on Kill Shaman Records.

9. Canopy – Narrow Bones
From Canopy’s debut EP Canopy//Anopy on Autobus Records.

10. Phil and the Osophers – We Have All Summer
From Phil and the Osophers’ latest LP Parallelo on Factual Fabrications, also featured on the Underwater Peoples Summer Showcase.

11. Visions of Trees – Cult of Cobras (Demo Version)
An early cut of a track that will be appearing on the Visions of Trees EP Sometimes it Kills via this very label early in the year of our lord two thousand and ten.

12. Fox Hands – Listen to the Walls
A groovy track that appeared on the self-titled Fox Hands EP in 2009, in the digital from Gold Robot Records and the physical from Royal Rhino.

13. Panda Beach – Gravity
One of many cellphone recorded songs from Panda Beach, as of now unreleased. A Panda Beach post was supposed to go up today, but despite the delay I wanted to include one of the tracks that would be appearing with it.

14. The Spookfish – Up and Down
First track off of The Spookfish’s free EP, available here.

15. Coco Rico Derby – So Long 4 Now
An early recording from Michigan’s Coco Rico Derby, as of now unreleased.

16. Boylant – Orange Dream
One of Boylant’s earliest recordings and as of now unreleased.

17. Nude Beach – Nude Beach
From the Nude Beach cassette Slut Club on Bathetic Records.

The Guardian posts ‘15 acts destined for greatness’ in 2010

The list includes Washed Out, Toro Y Moi, and Pearl Harbor

Washed Out: High Times

Runner Ups:

Best Coast: Where The Boys Are
Yarn Owl: Tiny Dots
Pure Ecstasy: Future Nostalgia

Washed Outs’ Ernest Greene managed to put out a pretty flawless tape. The music is described of as being a reminder “of a vaguely retro sound makes a pretty hip appeal to nostalgia”. This tape, for me, was the most ‘complete’ physical form of the genre dubbed ‘chillwave’ via the hipster runoff. The track ‘Belong’ then followed by ‘Clap intro’ leads into a great introduction to the tape. Side B of the tape is reminiscent of perhaps some RJD2 influence. What is even better is that you can buy the second run of the tapes on white from Ernest Greene himself. I feel bad for those poor suckers on ebay paying 40 dollars for this tape.

Pure Ecstasy Easy b/w Baby

Runner ups:

1.)Washed Out Feel It All Around 7”
2.)Girls’ Laura b/w Oh Boy 7”
3.)Toro Y Mois’ Blessa b/w 109 7”

I was happy that this came in a few days ago so it would be eligible for my 7” of the year. I would say that the ‘surf rock’ genre came back this year, with bands like Girls, Best Coast, and Real Estate all emulating this sound using different sub-genres to separate them from the rest.

Pure Ecstasys’ lo-fi surf-pop sound is most closely related to that of Best Coasts. What separates Pure Ecstasy from the lovely Bethany Cosantino is how the vocals and instruments ‘seam’ together to form an overall natural lo-fi sound. Don’t get me wrong, I love Best Coast, but for different reasons.

Evidently, the plant that printed this 7” made a mistake on the label, and Easy was Baby and Baby was Easy, so they refunded me eight dollars and are sending me another copy with the mistake fixed. So I guess this means I got my hands on a super rare 7”, too.

To all Washed Out fans: Ernest Greene has very recently set up a store through his blog, selling his previously sold out High Times cassette, spring tour t-shirt, 7” single, and the first 50 of his Life of Leisure LP with a limited edition booklet.

I just ordered his cassette, good timing-right before the holiday season.