ALEX G - Beach Music

"This time last year, Alex Giannascoli was on the cusp of something big. The singer-songwriter, who records as Alex G, had recently finished his junior year at Philadelphia's Temple University and released his breakthrough album, a fire-bright indie-pop gem called DSU, on the tiny Brooklyn label Orchid Tapes. His house shows were getting more crowded, and journalists from national publications were making the trip to Philly to meet the artist at the center of a growing cult of diehard fans. This fall, Giannascoli is making good on that promise: Beach Music, due out October 9th, is his first album for the indie powerhouse Domino Records, where his new labelmates include bands like Animal Collective and Arctic Monkeys. 

Some of the best songs on Beach Music, like the warm, flowing 'Bug' and the urgent 'Kicker,' refine the sound heard on DSU and earlier fan-favorite LPs Trick and Rules. Others bring in newer twists. The spacey synth-pop dreamer 'Salt' began life as a fairly straightforward guitar song, says Giannascoli, 'but I knew that a real drum kit would seal the deal too much, and I didn't want it to be a neatly wrapped thing like that.' So he tinkered with his girlfriend's vintage Yamaha keyboard until he found a drum-machine patch with the right feel—soft as a pillow, and ever so slightly disorienting. 'The riff just came from me sitting in my room, fucking around for a while until I came up with something,' he says. Another standout, 'Brite Boy,' evolved from a pop-punk demo to a lilting lullaby with one of the most immediately appealing melodies Giannascoli's ever written." - Rolling Stone