Little Dragon- "Little Man" (Live)

The California-based music blog Yours Truly has a video series where they capture bands performing in an intimate live setting. In a recent installment, the Swedish electro-pop act Little Dragon stopped by to perform "Little Man," one of the standout tracks on their great new album Ritual Union.

The beautifully shot video begins with a brief description from singer Yukimi Nagano of the meaning of the song's lyrics, and a description from the Moog player about his unintentional dancing when performing. It's awkwardly endearing, but once the video cuts to the band playing, that awkwardness fades away. This is a band that is very comfortable in the live setting. Their performance is a tight and note-perfect rendition of the album version, and the visuals leave a lasting impression. Also, there are plenty of shots of Yukimi to stare at, if that's your thing.

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Little Dragon- "When I Go Out"

A new video from Little Dragon for the track "When I Go Out," which is off the band's new album, Ritual Union. Watch a review of the album right here.

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Little Dragon- Ritual Union

Little Dragon's third album comes after a move toward accessibility on 2009's machine dreams, but doesn't go further down that path. Making things simpler to gain a wider audience just seems like something a band in Little Dragons' shoes would do, though. They've had plenty of opportunities to collaborate with some pretty high-profile artists in the past year or so: Big Boi, SBTRKT, the Gorillaz. Rather than turning up the volume, Ritual Union brings things down to a low and sensual simmer. Every track here is backed up with simple, repetitive grooves that grow as the song progresses. The synths aren't as loud or bright as they were in '09, but they still sound fantastic.

Of course, this is all topped off with frontwoman Yukumi's fantastic voice. She really lays it all out on this album, lending the music tons of personality and emotion.

It's less instant than these guys have been in the past, but revisiting this album to see it unfold was very worth it for me. This album doesn't put out, it pulls in.

WATCH THE REVIEW

Stream the New Little Dragon LP

The good people at NPR Music have seen fit to put the new Little Dragon album up on their website. It's streaming in full until what I imagine will be its release date on July 26th via Peacefrog Records. Ritual Union is the Swedish band's third album.

Click here to hear the stream.

Little Dragon- "Nightlight"

A track from Little Dragon's forthcoming album, Ritual Union, which will be dropping on July 12th via Peacefrog.

On "Nightlight," the band string together a fuzzy groove with some vocals that are too sexy to handle. Can't wait for this thing to drop!

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Here's a little picture of the album: