NOBODY & MYSTIC CHORDS OF MEMORY
Location: Both from the sunnier side of California
Album: Tree Colored See (Mush)
“Whoa” Factor: Collaboration featuring hip-hop producer and pop duo
Imagine yourself on a tiny boat or Huckelberry Finn-esque raft, calmly floating on a clear ocean. Your placid, aimless travels bring you to a foreign yet invitingly-familiar land. Tree Colored See, a collaboration between Nobody & Mystic Chords of Memory, is the soundtrack to your lazy, oceanic dream. Each track is layer-upon-layer of uplifting stoner euphoria: a never-ending high crafted from airy vocals, softly plucked guitar strings, hip-hop sampled drum patterns and all the trappings of psychedelia. Nobody (Elvin Estela) rose from the ranks of the Los Angeles music scene in the 1990s as a producer and remixer. He has worked with the Mars Volta, Prefuse 73, Mia Doi Todd, and many others. Christopher Gunst needed to kill the time between study breaks after his original band, the Beachwood Sparks, disbanded. He and his partner Jen Cohen (Aislers Set) began to record in their bedroom and the result became Mystic Chords of Memory. They are as indie-pop as you can get without having to wear one of those funny Russian hats.