Golden Ages
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Golden Ages

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States | SELF

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States | SELF
Band Pop EDM

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This band has not uploaded any videos

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"Forkcast: Day We Met (Golden Ages Remix)"

The original version of Florida producer MillionYoung's "Day We Met" focused on a relaxed beat and 8-bit textures, but Golden Ages' take on the track is anything but understated. In GA's hands, it becomes a wide-screen, high-gloss track that feels like 10 minutes worth of energy packed into less than four.

MillionYoung reworked the Golden Ages track "Right Season", and both remixes in the exchange will be on an upcoming split from Arcade Sound. - Pitchfork


"Golden Ages "Africa""

review of our most recent EP. - I Guess I'm Floating


"Forkcast; Golden Ages "Down""

Review of a track off our newest EP. - Pitchfork


"Everything Will Be Alright Review"

The other week I got some EP love from Philly’s own Golden Ages - and after hearing their song “Everything Will Be Alright,” I can say that I think these guys have a good thing going. All four tunes are so flushed with different sounds that they come off strongly ambient. Each part combines like watercolors on wet paper, even bleeding out the vocals until they merge with the instruments. What stands “Everything Will Be Alright” apart from the others is it’s catchy pop rhythm and epic qualities - like the perfectly placed xylophone and gradual build. Look for this crew to put out a debut album in the near future, but in the mean time, let their EP Sitting Softly In The Sea hold you over. - Ears of the Beholder


"Introducing... Golden Ages"

Impressionist splatters of found sounds, bright porcelain reverb, and ecstatic song shifts color the work of Philly’s Golden Ages. Working under this project for a little under a year now, he’s just self-released his debut EP Sitting Softly in the Sea. “I had this silly DJ/dance project that I grew apart from,” he told us, explaining his transition from “unabashedly electronic music into something more organic.” Throughout the EP’s four tracks, you can see both sides of the fence. On “Black Swan” ambient post-rock full of Fripp-inspired fuzz and lo-fi textures take a sharp turn into male/female harmonies mingling above minimal electronica beats.

“I’ve been invited to play a few shows but I’m holding off on performing until I finish the first album,” he told us when asked about the project’s future, “once that’s finished I’m going to take things live, which I’m really excited about.” Golden Age’s debut full-length, called Tradition, is set to drop in the near future. “The upcoming album will in some ways have a different mood than the EP. The EP was a reflection on all of the difficult things going on at that time,” he explained, “the new album is equally as introspective, but it’s more positive.” You can keep up with Golden Ages updates via his myspace, where you can also download Sitting Softly in the Sea for free.

For Fans of: M83, High Places, Wild Nothing - The Decibel Tolls


"Featured Band"

Philadelphia’s Golden Ages dub themselves as creators of psychedelic pop, and that would be an adequate description. But it would also be incomplete. Their songs certainly possess elements of the psychedelic; however, there’s a lot going on in each tune that also pulls in everything from electronics to experimentation. Take, for example, the closing track of their new EP Sitting Softly In The Sea, “Everything Will Be Alright”. There’s more electro-pop here than psychedelic pop. The same can be said about opener “Here We Are At Sea”, but the focus is instead on experimentation. And “The Whale” mixes all three.

Seeing this band as being friends with Candy Claws, who we wrote up earlier this year, it all begins to make sense. Golden Ages is a part of a growing movement of electro-psychedelic pop groups influenced by the likes of Panda Bear and Animal Collective. While some go the route of The Dodos (i.e. Netherfriends), artists like Candy Claws and Golden Ages live fully in the electronic universe, where they build consistency out of the avant-garde. You can hear it in the earliest moments of “Here We Are At Sea”, as the noise turns into a pleasant melody and mesmerizing vocals. And you can hear it in “The Whale”.

Yeah, there’s some guitar here, but a lot of it stems from a laptop with synths. Then there’s the percussion, an array of items found here and there. Each song is crafted using a computer; but, they do a good job keeping things fairly organic. You can hear it throughout Sitting Softly In The Sea. Whatever direction Golden Ages take a song, their ability to convey cosmic soundscapes with their music is on par with the greats. This is absolutely a band to keep an eye on as we dive into 2010. - Fensepost


"Everything Will Be Alright Review"

Philadelphia's Golden Ages is another one of these bedroom producers whose actual identity is shrouded in mystery. Yet although we're not sure what his mom calls him, we do know that he's coaxing his undoubtedly lo-fi equipment into producing some of that obnoxiously named yet undeniably pleasant chillwave (no, we don't like the name either) à la Memory Tapes, Washed Out, Toro Y Moi, and the rest of the glo-fi gang. Comparisons and internet buzz words aside, "Everything Will Be All Right" is a soothing slice of spacey electronic pop powered by swirling synths, blown-out low-end, and Mr. Ages' ghostly vocals. His debut album, Tradition, comes out this spring. - XLR8R


"Band of the Day 1/25/2010"

Tell the synthesiser to take a hike and those fancy pedals to hush down; what makes Golden Ages 'Be Cool' are the pounding drums. Junk yard heavy, they tear through the centre of this glitchy one man electronica like no fiddly sample can. Taking as much from the Tropicália influenced Tanlines or the gothic tinged warblings of Tearist as the Memory Tapes series, the Philly man has piled a treasure trove of sounds into just a couple of tracks.

Set like a jewel into an increasingly familiar glitz and shine of tearaway loops and found sounds, they're a bold step back to the time when big acoustics mattered but still keep it very 2010.

Golden Ages released a debut LP soon. It's called 'Tradition' and will be itunes available in early February. - Neu Magazine


"Be Cool Review"

This Golden Ages track sounds like being birthed inside of a rainbow. Definitely has some AnCo vibes going on, but AnCo vibes are far better than, say, Tea Party vibes. Which is to say, please envelop us with sunshine and light so we can for but a moment NOT feel like we are on the verge of civilization’s dramatic exuent. Golden Ages is one dude from Philly who is not only adept at capturing full-spectrum sound, he is also good at photoshopping things onto other things (see above).
- Fader Magazine


"Band to Watch"

Golden Ages is the bedroom project of a 21-year-old Cognitive Science major/Animal Collective fan from Philadelphia. Yes, it’s impossible not to hear the AC influence on his work, but influences are inevitable and like a good Cognitive Scientist in training, he does something heady and elastic with them. He has knack for painting color tones and opening up a swirling compositional space. He’s also getting ready to leave the bedroom behind: We’re told he’s writing parts for a new live show that’ll include guitar, bass, and drums. It’ll be interesting to see what a more typical band lineup does with these loose sheets of saturated synthesizers and distant vocal echoes. For now, take a listen to how he affixes his aesthetic to Surfer Blood’s guitar, bass, and drums in this remix of “Twin Peaks.” - Stereogum


"Tradition Album Review"

I recently saw an article in the online edition of Scientific American. It was this cool hipster flash splash of the 12 event that could happen in our century. One of them was the event that we communicate with extra terrestrials. I will not spoil you with what they think the likelihood of that happening, but within the article spliced together interviews from SETA and the fact even with more powerful telescopes and there is still no action in outer space does not mean that it’s quiet. You get to hear some of the amazing sounds of space. And they are incredible while being somewhat frightening.

That’s what Golden Ages has done. Tradition will surprise you with their intense sounds that invade your eardrums while maintaining a sense of roughly construed pop. Both come together to create something raw, unashamed and exploratory.

From the same geography that brought you Philadelphia’s Aspera Ad Astra, Golden Ages continues the tradition that sounds like space age pop only if an astroid came smashing down all over it. The title track sounds pressurized with a murky sound mixing. The treble is too high, normal sounds sound white hot, yet the song ends up being meditative. Even more so is the lovely dissonant “The Knife House.” “Grow Kid” further expands the song into a barrage of chaos that flashes with a frightening brilliance.

Don’t let things pass you by. Sit down and listen to songs like “Everything Will Be Allright” and you will hear amazing pairings of sonic structures

This album is for the late night stargazers who celebrate the coolness of a summer night being blanketed with a universe above them and endless imaginary possibilities. - Zaptown


"Tradition Review"

“Waiting,” the opening tune from Philadelphia’s Golden Ages debut is slow to start though easily grand in comparison after a bit of waiting. The sound of blowing wind and back-room percussion sail leisurely to a synth wave that, after a few rolls, sounds especially similar to the delivery from last year’s ever-present “My Girls.”

Off the bat Francis Tseng, the man behind Golden Ages, draws a heavy, almost glaring influence to the drippy, psychedelic cuddle of Animal Collective. In the post Merriwether world, Tseng (and his glowing cosmic triangular symbolism) could very well be just another one of the scruffy, flannel-clad tinkerers on the fast-filling train to music-territory genre clash and hazy, synth-speckled bro downs. Though it seems I’m pigeonholing the Golden Ages project as a mere module in this whole Chillwave/Pop rebirth thing, the music on Tradition isn’t at all flat. The record’s structure plays with a certain lucidity, giving it a hazy, head-down-the-rabbit-hole credit as a rich and interesting release, rather than just a blunt copy of last year’s oh-so-buzzed-about quartet.

Eight songs that fall just shy of the half hour mark, Traditions was entirely pieced together from the confines of Tseng’s college dorm and plays as an assenting debut of glittering cosmic Pop. Though drawing from a handful of noticeable influences like patchwork Psychedelia (“Grow Kid”), bubbly Poptronica (“Be Cool”) and the current sun-soaked sounds of Balearic and Glo-Fi (“Right Season”), the LP goes down as one altogether teeming helping. Standout “Everything Will Be Right,” its muddled Synth Wave pulse and to-the-mountaintop growth immediately hints at “Love on a Real Train” makers Tangerine Dream being supported by a Noah Lennox delivery, bass booming behind him.

I’ll say that Tradition is worth a listen despite its obvious sonic parents. To give Tseng some credit, the entire project is only still in its intimacy—kid’s gotta finish college first— and replaces his original productions of pure “Electronic dance music,” after getting “fed up with it,” with the “organic and less plastic” sound of Golden Ages. He continues building on this sound with his just-released, Toto-inspired Africa EP (which you can download for FREE). Knowing this, I guess we can chalk it up to a win for the college-aged bedroom fiddler, in that he didn’t go off and become just another day-go fist-pumper playing Hype M toppers and stagnant remixes to a crowd that seems to only ever want to hear The Black Eyed Peas. - Mishka Bloglin


Discography

Albums:

Africa (2010)
- Africa (Toto Cover)
- Down
- It Doesn't Mean Shit

Tradition (2010)
- Waiting
- The Knife House
- Grow Kid
- Be Cool
- High Dive (Take the Plunge)
- Right Season
- Everything Will Be Alright
- Tradition

Sitting Softly in the Sea (2009)
- Here We Are at Sea
- Black Swan
- White Whale
- Everything Will Be Alright

all available @:
soundcloud.com/golden-ages
goldenages.bandcamp.com

Photos

Bio

“Set like a jewel into an increasingly familiar glitz and shine of tearaway loops and found sounds, they’re a bold step back to the time when big acoustics mattered but still keep it very 2010. “…”that slick cosmic/starry feel that crosses over into their art and clean feelings, approached particularly linearly here with focus on making POSITIVE JAMMERS”…”It blossoms and grows and thus, generously gives”…”a nostalgic listening sesh full of fuzzy retro-pop”…”Falling somewhere impossibly blissful between the experimental side of Animal Collective and the accessible side of Fuck Buttons”. …”Indeed, Golden Ages isn’t really a chillwave artist at all, but instead represents that missing link between the artists that influenced the birth of chillwave (especially Panda Bear/Animal Collective) and the honest-to-god chillwave artists like Neon Indian, MillionYoung, and Memory Tapes.”