Audio Overdrive

Allosaurus - Old Solar (2011 Other Songs Music Co.)

2012-02-01T19:08:00.000-08:00

Synth-Pop came to dominate charts on both sides of the Atlantic by the dawn of the 80's, an era that saw a number of developments shape and forever change Pop culture as a whole, with technology being perhaps the biggest offender: in 1981 alone (the year Synth-Pop began its chart ascension) IBM introduced a rather spendy PC (around $1,500) MTV was launched, thus killing the radio star and the DeLorean hit the markets (yeah, the Back to the Future car.) In short, technology was evolving rapidly and we as a culture, were consuming nearly as rapidly, eager to plug it into every aspect of our lives and to bring the future to the present. Which meant music too was changing, with Pop in general finding itself being given a drastic face lift to fit with the "modern" times. Artists aspiring to crack the charts were jumping the bandwagon and trading in guitars for synthesizers, drums for electronic kits or drum machines and vocalists were strikingly handsome (sometimes androgynous.) That perhaps was on element that Pop held fast to: while vocalists adopted often ridiculous or outrageous looks, they still found themselves crooning about everything to do with love; from it's triumphs to its nosedives. The difference of course is that many affected a kind of clinical croon to match the metronomic and mechanized music backing them. Synth-Pop though, retained a great deal of human emotion in its approach, in many cases it merely set out to set those often naked emotions against a danceable beat, and to evoke a kind of "futuristic" quality.

It had a good run for the better part of the first decade and began its decline by the mid 80's, when many bands simply began adopting straight up dance music to wrap around their Pop leanings. Some twenty six years after its unspectacular fall from grace, Synth-Pop still continues to influences countless up and coming musicians who eagerly crate dig back to times that (in many cases) are beyond the scope of their memories, fascinated by the primitive blips and beats and often cheese laced lyrics. More than a mere curio piece though, it's the often economic simplicity that can be just as appealing; the idea of two people with modest equipment creating something for the fun of it and nothing more. In many cases, that would sum up the music of Allosaurus in a nutshell; the Hamilton, Ontario, duo creates the kind of music that fits comfortably in the Speak and Spell era of Depeche Mode, a scene in which band with names such as A Flock of Seagulls, A-Ha, Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Soft Cell etc. all dominated the charts with catchy hooks nestled warmly within cool technology. Influences far removed from that genre occasionally well up as on "Emma-Jane", in which bashfully sincere lyrics of fluttering stomachs and growing love are delivered with the same kind of quirky nervousness found on virtually every Talking Heads song. It would almost be sacrilegious to be discussing a band like this without throwing in a Devo mention; true they were never wholly Synth-Pop but they certainly did a great deal (unwillingly I'm betting) to influence the genre and their prints are all over "Science Fairwell", particularly on the jerky energy of the metronomic percussion and jabbering keyboards. Hell the mere mention of science fairs and geeky girls are enough (for me at least) to bring to mind flowerpot hats and radiation outfits.

What prevents the band from falling into stagnation rapidly though is their willingness to shift tones and tempos; "Turning" sounds almost naked in contrast to the other pieces, they synthesizers scrape and bubble gently, what sounds like a heart-beat is the song's only real foundation and the vocals are calm, slightly reverbed as being delivered just out of reach and "Twenty Three" winds up being the closest to a truly "serious" if not slightly downhearted moment on the album. The cheap sounding, hip hop preset, generic sounding synths and painfully honest deliver of lines like "So what;s the point in trying to live when you're dying/There's so much more to see after you're twenty three" is so incredibly sincere and raw it's almost heartbreaking. For me personally, it brings to mind Dntel and stands as one of the best moments here, showing the duo has more than enough promise to offer and that Synth-Pop may eventually be nothing more than a fond memory of where they began.

&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://shop.othersongsmusic.com/album/old-solar"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Old Solar by Allosaurus&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;

Band
Label

Treefight For Sunlight - A Collection Of Vibrations For Your Skull (2011 Friendly Fire Recordings)

2011-12-26T00:22:00.000-08:00

Taken at face value, titles such as A Collection Of Vibrations For Your Skull sound alluring but in reality, are slightly deceptive. Much like "The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators" or "Odessey and Oracle," it brings to mind the kind of cosmic trips that take place deep within the human psyche and explode with kaleidoscopic pools of color, the kind in which grainy slabs of fuzztones permeate the air and rub against the eardrums. Treefight For Sunlight however aren't exactly Psychedelic Pop, if anything, their sound is more akin to the West Coast Art Pop of the 60's, weaving the naive charm of acts such as the Turtles into their Beatlesesque harmonies. Their production is rich in textures and layers, recalling the ambitious quality of Pet Sounds without aping it, instead their influences serve as guides in creating their own sonic sculptures and the end results are vibrant throughout: "You And The New World" is anchored by a looped piano sample, driven by a primal beat and layered with hand-claps and falsetto harmonies that bring to mind both The Beach Boys and Animal Collective. The band dips into Psychedelic on songs like "They Never Did Know" with their warm, hazy harmonies giving off trippy vibes. Tambourines, keyboards and guitars create a thick texture but it's drummer Mathias Sørensen who pushes the song forward with his solid, staggering beats, adding greater depth and a hypnotic quality. The band's Sunshine Pop reaches its apex on "Facing The Sun," one of the more stunning singles of the past year; brightly strummed guitars and xylophone open the song but it's when the emotive piano chords and crisp, propulsive drums kick in that it turns into something special, particularly on the coda where looped piano and Sørensen's steady drumming lock in with warm touches of organ and guitar to create one of those emotionally perfect moments you wish would last forever, instead it gradually fades with only piano and organ remaining in the end. It's easily one of the most stellar moments of the album and nothing else really comes close to matching it. That's not to imply anything here is really bad, unless of course perpetual amounts of good cheer leaves you with a sour stomach, and with lyrics that equal or even eclipse the sticky sweetness of the music, it may be off-putting to some but that's moot. Be it day dreaming, catching fragments of sun breaking through the leaves outstretched branches or the obvious detours into love, the band never strays from their good natured sincerity, even on "What Became Of You And I," an examination of love gone wrong. With lyrics like "Where do I go when you leave this room/Maybe somewhere I'll be leaving soon," it isn't a sombre meditation thanks to bouncing pianos, twinkling xylophones and unified harmonies that take their cues from The Mamas & the Papas. A Collection Of Vibrations For Your Skull is a solid debut that's playful, sincere, and familiar with a modern feel.

Label

Band

Blouse - Blouse (2011 Captured Tracks)

2011-12-19T23:25:00.000-08:00

When I first heard "Videotapes" a few months ago via a mixtape, I was immediately struck by the familiarity it boasted. The synthesizers resembled a warped VHS cassette disintegrating in the midst of the opening credits and in the instant the drums burst into a machine-like groove, the song transformed into a piece designed to capture an emotionally crucial scene in a lost cult classic. Charlie Hilton's slightly seductive and warm vocals floated effortlessly over the waves of synthesizers and Jacob Portrait's hazy bass, never in danger of creating a ripple in the music. In the precious three minutes it exists, the song captures the essence of circa 82'-84' when Pop music was in love with technology and "futuristic" sounds but still yearned to make a personal connection with the listener, to give them something of value to clutch closely, as if etched in the grooves and buried beneath the hooks was something deeply personal and life affirming waiting to be discovered. That essentially defines the bands overall intent; to reconnect listener and music in the same simplistic and personal manner of nearly three decades ago when technology hadn't yet assimilated how we listen to and experience music. In some ways, they could be tied in with the numerous "bedroom" producers that have emerged in the last two years; artists who have sought to reclaim music from the sanitized production of the digital era, stripping it down to basic arrangements with minimal equipment involved and leaving the production intentionally crude. But what ultimately sets the band apart and helps them avoid "trendy revivalist" labels are the handful of really, really good songs Blouse contains. Built around Portrait's melodic rolling bass, crystalline synthesizers and thick webs of guitar, album opener "Firestarter" serves as another prime example of the bands musical manifesto. Hilton's pouty vocals barely raise above their echoed ghostly whisper as they glide with subtle grace. It's tempting to wish for a more "commanding" vocalist to guide the songs, but considering their understated atmosphere, such a vocalist would likely seem disruptive, which is why Hilton is a perfect fit. On "Into Black," her moody whispers blend perfectly with the driving beat, prickly guitars and bubbling synthesizers. A certain amount of gloom saturates the songs but Portrait's production balances it out with rougher textures and bright hooks, preventing them from feeling monochromatic. The synthesizers on"Roses" explode with saccharine hooks over which Hilton's detached yearning hovers, held together by a winding bass reminiscent of Peter Hook. The nostalgia feels occasionally derivative, as if the band loses focus on balancing sentimentalism with modern relevance but it isn't enough to tarnish the album as a whole. With each listen it leaves traces of warmth in the subconscious as if reminding us of places music can take us to when we disconnect.

Label

Band

Hookworms - Hookworms (2011 Faux Discx/Gringo Records)

2011-12-13T00:54:00.000-08:00

A considerable buzz has been building around Hookworms as of late, which may or may not seem justifiable depending on your view of bands that re-purpose past approaches and build off of them. The Leeds quintet came into existence two years ago boasting a sound that has as much to do with 60's Garage as it does with Psychedelic's mid 80's to early 90's revival, a period which saw bands such as Loop and Spacemen 3 take a more colorful and ( in the case of the latter) more minimalist approach to the music, stripping away bad acid trips and improved noodling in favor of a more spacious sound that retained a good amount of volume at the same time. Hookworms take their cue from Krautrock as well, focusing on a narrow range of chords and beats and allowing them to unfold gradually, the songs (if you want to call them that) are given enough structure to imply a sense of direction but also enough space to build mood and momentum; they bleed into one another seamlessly, stitched together by waves of feedback and effects that create a subtle sense of tension which suspends the passages until the distant thump of a drum, gradual rise of a guitar or an organ gives way to the next piece. The band makes effective use of the quiet/loud/quiet dynamic as well, building from slightly subdued openings to white hot explosions of distorted reverb and hints of wah-wah, crunchy organs and primal drumming augmented by a flurry of cymbals. In the heart of the murky chaos lies MJ's vocals, which reverb with a sneering sense of emotional urgency that (for me at least) recalls early Britpop and adds a contrast that perfectly compliments the grittier music. I haven't taken time to decipher the lyrics nor do I have the urge to; for me, the tone of the words, the phrasings and how they are all delivered are just as integral as the instruments and add considerable emotional heft, especially on standouts "Teen Dream" and closing track "Resolution." For all of it's reverb overload, tribal-like drumming and winding bass, what gives "Resolution" its greatest impact are the haunting vocals embedded just beneath the surface of the dense noise, resembling a distant cry as if recalling an emotional wound that hasn't quite scabbed over. "Teen Dreams" on the other hand, could have found its way onto the playlist of some hip college station back in the early 90's had it actually existed then. MJ's reverbed vocals sound playfully stoned but with a wild and vacant stare, the dull crack of the drums gives the impression of being in an empty room rather than a studio, laying down a repetitious foundation over which an organ riff hums with an oozing warmth and molten guitars shatter like breaking glass. Throughout the span of the EP, the band plays with solid execution and boundless energy, but ultimately makes what the music so compelling is the amount of confidence they deliver these songs with. Nothing being done here is exactly new (although there isn't a weak or dull moment to speak of) it's the boldness in which they present the music that makes it so damn appealing, and fine by me because regardless of where their roots trace back to, I'm left excited by what they have to offer and want more already.

Label Info
Band

Hollie Cook - Hollie Cook (2011 Mr. Bongo)

2011-12-08T20:22:00.000-08:00

For Hollie Cook, music was likely an inevitable destination to arrive at when considering her upbringing as the daughter of Sex Pistols drummer Paul Cook. Raised in a household in which a diverse range of music was a constant presence, the exposure was undoubtedly a major source of influence on Cook, who followed her muse and dropped out of performing arts school to join the reformed Slits at the request of family friend Ari Up,(whose stepdad was Sex Pistol John Lydon) assuming the role of second vocalist and keyboards. Following a six week tour and recording fresh material with the band, Cook struck out on her own and after collaborating with the likes of Jamie T and Ian Brown, she eventually hooked up with producer Prince Fatty (Mike Pelanconi) on his skank-worthy Reggae tinged "Milk and Honey." The single proved not only to be an underground sensation, but a fruitful collaboration with Cook and Pelanconi sharing a love of early 70's Reggae and Lovers Rock respectively, a shared love explored further on Cook's first proper full length. Expanding their palette with hints of thick Dub and the laid back groove of Rocksteady, Cook's vocals draw equal inspiration from Lovers Rock vocalists Janet Kay and Phyllis Dillon as well as Girl Group greats The Shangri-La's (whose "(Remember) Walkin’ in the Sand" she also covers.) That cover best illustrates her vocal prowess: lightly seductive and captivating, playful and yearning, but devoid of any deep despair. Her rendition gives a slightly more hopeful feel and strips away enough of the gloom to let a little light slip through. There's sadness to be certain, much like the vocalists that inspire her, Cook's songs draw from the sorrow and joy love can bring, but from a more innocent perspective. "Cry (Disco Mix)" comes closest to Cook's self coined "Tropical Pop" tag to describe her music: it's an airy, carefree number that nevertheless expresses sorrow over a recent broken heart while "That Very Night" captures that light headed moment in which the first sparks of a new love fly. Pelanconi's production is a testament to both his ability and his obvious appreciation of the "classics." The sound is rich and dense, evoking a kind of "vintage" quality throughout. "It's So Different Here" and "Sugar Water (Look At My Face) could easily pass as modern day Rocksteady classics with impossibly viscous bass and impenetrable beats pushing them along, both flickering with entrancing slabs of keys and organ. What makes the album so surprisingly enjoyable is the fact it isn't a modern mess in which a pop star attempts to cram as many genre exercises as possible in a single session. Cook wisely sticks to her passions and strengths, and while that may not make for a wide array of stylistic variations, it does make for an incredibly solid album that pays homage to its influences in a tasteful and irresistible manner.

Site

Label

WU LYF - Go Tell Fire to the Mountain (2011 L Y F Recordings)

2011-12-03T23:35:00.000-08:00

It may seem slightly ironic that Wu Lyf have deliberately broken a few of the rules established in the digital age of music culture since their arrival. The band initially refused to do any music press, launched a cryptic, cult-like website that did little to dispel the myths that were quickly cropping up around them and released a band photo in which members faces were obscured by both smoke and bandanas. Such tactics could be written off as mere publicity stunts, but I'm not convinced that they were purely ironic because in the last year alone, a number of genuinely exciting artists have established themselves and gained followings in the midst of willful obscurity (Iceage, Unknown Mortal Orchestra to name a couple) while producing solid albums in the process. Their desire to create a sense of anonymity for their music, to strip away the need to connect the music with who was behind it was as honest as it was refreshing, especially in the age of information overload. Suffice it to say that Wu Lyf may have had similar desires woven into their tactics but they ultimately worked in reverse and instead invited equal amounts of hype and backlash. It didn't help matters much that they scrapped the recording studio in favor of a disused church, a move seen by many as yet another stunt but in hindsight a logical choice. The setting was well suited for capturing and bolstering their caustic "Heavy Pop" sound; the guitars glow with a warm echo and bright, sharp chords, the bass bubbling thickly beneath gospel-esque explosions of pipe organs and drums burst with crisp fills, dense thumps and shimmering crashes of cymbals.

It's modern Indie Rock made for the euphoria addict, the songs rife with emotional crescendos not far removed from The Arcade Fire or Post-Rock and occasional off-kilter rhythms that bring to mind early Modest Mouse all shifting between volcanic rockers and epic ballads that nevertheless bubble over with nervous energy. "Concrete Gold" opens quietly with a distant thump and delicate keys, building to a climax of understated guitars, urgent drums and a gut wrenching sing-a-long chorus. The forlorn pipe organ primarily drives "Cave Song," the church walls giving it a naturally haunted quietly as it's pushed along by a spastic flurry of drums and cymbals and "Summas Bliss" alternates between jittery danceable rhythms, rapid fire drums and an urgent chorus "I see the mountain on fire/Go tell the fire for us." What gives the songs their unique and compelling quality is the atypical vocals of Ellery Roberts. Eschewing the conventional frontman approach in favor of utilizing his voice as an instrument, Roberts delivers his visceral lyrics in impassioned, throaty howls that blend strains of Captian Beefheart, Guy Picciotto and dying appliances. For some that may be off putting after a couple of numbers, which is understandable if that isn't your norm, but it makes for a challenging listen that gives the lyrics a greater sense of immediacy.

Go Tell Fire to the Mountain isn't without its detractors though; self appointed music elitists have eagerly torn into everything from the bands acronymic name (World Unite! Lucifer Youth Foundation) to the familiar musical references serving as building blocks for their sound. Fairly obvious points for such trite bickering however, and coupled with the bands humor being misconstrued so easily they amount to weak cases in my opinion. Make no mistake about it, Go Tell Fire to the Mountain isn't exactly the holy grail Rock is in desperate need of to rescue it from its own stagnation, why should it be? Those dismissing it as a hackneyed rehash or standard Indie garbage are reading too much into it and missing the point altogether. It's an exuberant record filled with equally exuberant and sombre emotions delivered with gritty conviction. The predictable ebb and flow doesn't diminish the quality of the album or its sustainability, if anything it gains power and momentum with repeated listens making it a compelling listen and one of the more interesting releases this year.

Site

Label: L Y F Recordings

Escort - Escort (2011 Escort Records/Tirk)

2011-11-25T23:37:00.000-08:00

Throughout its history, New York has held a reputation as a creative and cultural mecca in which the arts, literature and music have flourished within its limits and a number of significant developments such as Jazz in the 40's to Proto-Punk and Punk in the 70's have taken shape there as well; its also served as the birth place of styles as diverse as hip-hop, salsa and disco and of those innovations, it's the dance and club culture spawned in the wake of disco that has arguably left an indelible mark in terms of both influence and longevity. Disco may have paved the way for house and techno, helping to shape the original rave scene, but its influence remained largely underground in the wake of those shifts in sound until the dance-punk explosion at the dawn of the millenium headed by influential DFA Records and acts such as LCD Soundsystem and The Rapture. Both helped propel it into greater visibility by incorporating elements of the genre into edgy post-punk inspired song structures, thus igniting a kind of frenzy that's trickled down over the years. As to whether DFA and its cohorts had any degree of influence on Escort or not, one thing is certain; considering its rep as a flagship for dance culture it's no surprise in finding out they call New York home and have created a sound that carries on its four to the floor legacy. The 17 member "disco orchestra" (formed by producers Eugene Cho and Dan Balis) came together six years ago and began releasing a string of funky 12" cuts over the years, earning considerable buzz and with good reason; their music may drip with a (holy shit that's so familiar it's fresh) kind of feeling, but it's far from being antiquated. In the modern era of digital saturation, the idea of a large body of musicians re-creating such music the old fashioned way, via actual instruments may seem novel, but in the end the approach succeeds. "Starlight" and "All Through The Night" two of the groups earlier (and best) singles demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach perfectly: "Starlight's" conga driven groove, funky riffs and scuttling bass along with "All Through The Night's" sexual boldness, sassy harmonies and stomping beat recall the glory days of famed West End Records yet fit perfectly on modern dance-floors.

The bands playing is tight yet loose enough to keep a carefree spirit and even the orchestral touches in certain places never once bog the songs down. As talented as the players may be, it's Adeline Michèle's vocals that shine brightest track for track. She not only draws from numerous past disco divas, but also adds her own unique ability, keeping the music grounded and adding further depth to the songs. On "Makeover" she strays into Debbie Harry territory on the chorus, yet this isn't a "Heart Of Glass" rehash, the thick and rolling beat and blipping synths suggest something slightly darker yet still just as playful. "Love In Indigo" is another stellar moment in which Michèle's vocals soar high above the rich orchestral background, grounded by a hurried beat and bouncing congas, it's the type of record that, in another time and place, could have found itself onto Larry Levan's decks on some sweaty night in the Paradise Garage, and the same could be said for "Cocaine Blues." The band borrows from reggae artist Dillinger's "Cocaine In My Brain" retaining the seedy feel and adding sleazy decadence, a slow and stomping groove and funky bass. The album overall feels like a singles collection but plays as a cohesive unit, with the majority of the cuts coming across as "classics" as cliched as that may sound. One of the better releases of the year.

Label Info: Escort Records / Tirk

Crystal Stilts - Radiant Door (2011 Sacred Bones Records)

2011-11-17T22:24:00.000-08:00

Seven months ago Crystal Stilts released the much praised "In Love With Oblivion," an album that saw the band building off the promise of their hazy debut while subtly shifting the direction of their sound. Songs like "Silver Sun," "Through The Floor" and "Half A Moon" scaled back the jagged, white noise of early Jesus and Mary Chain to a degree, all but dispensed with the warped spaghetti western, surf tinged guitars and stripped away some of the gloom that permeated much of the atmosphere in favor of fuzzier, jangly guitars, bright and punchy organs and thick beats that gave the songs a better sense of focus. Brad Hargget still drenched his vocals in layers of reverbed echo, but on those songs he peeled a layer or two back, giving them a kind of eerie, detached warmth. Those subtle shifts hinted at a poppier direction further explored on their second release of the year, Radiant Door. The five song EP combines three originals with two covers and it's the openers "Dark Eyes" and "Radiant Door" that best expand upon those shifts. The former is steeped in a woozy organ that blissfully recalls The Velvet Underground at their most drugged with handclaps effectively replacing conventional drums and distinct acoustic guitar in the foreground. The latter strays closest to "pop" territory with a fairly straight foward shuffling beat and vibrant, chiming chords. In each case, Hargget has removed more of the reverbed, echoing cloak he wrapped around his vocals in previous songs without sacrificing the haunted quality that so naturally meshes and clashes with the warmer climate of the music. The cover material chosen to round out the EP is enjoyable and in good taste; Lee Hazlewood's classic "Still As the Night" is the equivalent of a desolate ghost town in the bands hands, feeling stark but surprisingly alluring at the same time and Blue Orchids' "Low Profile" stays close to its original roots only feeling slightly hollow eyed and somber here. Though it may not be entirely essential, Radiant Door is an interesting glimpse of a band in transition to a sound that hopefully comes to fruition on their next full length.

Site
Label

Milk Music - Beyond Living (2010 Self Released/2011 Perennial Records)

2011-11-10T22:28:00.000-08:00

I've had Beyond Living in my hands for only a few days now and have played it almost relentlessly. It's the kind of album that explodes on contact with a ragged immediacy which remains constant throughout its six songs and doesn't diminish with repeated plays. For me personally, it captures the essence of those singular moments in which you stumble upon something so raw and direct that it jolts you. Milk Music combines the fuzz drenched hooks (and sonic bombast) of Dinosaur Jr., the melodic crunch of mid-period Husker Du and the off-kilter and loose approach of the Meat Puppets to create a sound that's as startling familiar as it is fresh. Add to that the 90's 4-track quality of the production and it easily feels like an old favorite dusted off for the first time in years; this is especially true of songs like "Beyond Living" and "Out Of My World." Both ooze with thick layers of distorted fuzz which reveal solid hooks on closer inspection, aggressive and sparse drumming and rumbling bass on top of which Alex Coxen lays down vocals that resemble a slightly more urgent Greg Sage. With so many recognizable elements cropping up, it's hard not to pass this off as mere vintage nostalgia, but it's more than that; Beyond Living is the work of a band that loves music, takes it seriously and knows enough about it to twist and mold it into something that they can call their own with gut wrenching honesty.

Label

SBTRKT - SBTRKT (2011 Young Turks)

2011-11-05T00:46:00.000-07:00

Nearly a decade (yes it's been that long) into its life Dubstep has risen gradually from being mainly an underground phenomenon to a more ubiquitous stylistic influence, one that's seen its reach stretch considerably in the past couple of years. Traces of its grimy bass and sludgy beats have tarnished the artificial gloss of Pop while infiltrating the hazy, bass heavy realm of Hip-Hop and in turn influencing a slew of new producers. While many took a direct approach and merely co-opted the overwhelming throb of the wobbly genre and recycled it, several others (namely James Blake, Jamie Woon and Mount Kimbie) chose to extract strands from its DNA and incorporate them into their individual perceptions, resulting in hybrids that resided somewhere in between the gritty, loud underground and (in Blake's case) accessible atmospheres. Though drawing comparisons to James Blake with some dismissing him as the latest "Post-Dubstep" flavor of the month, Aaron Jerome's (SBTRKT) first long player offers up enough proof that this isn't a hackneyed producer jumping the stylistic trains of others with moderate alterations. For one, SBTRKT keeps his production straight forward whereas Blake tends to approach his songs with dense, artistic production values; Blake also handles his own vocals, burying his often restrained delicate croon in layers of effects. SBTRKT on the other hand brought together a few collaborators to give additional color to his songs with vocalist and frequent collaborator Sampha taking on the lion's share. Like SBTRKT, he receives his fair share of Blake references due to both sharing a kind of hushed/strained quality in their voices, but Blake's restrained and almost frigid delivery is miles apart from Sampha's more emotive approach, which yields several winning moments.

Take "Trials of the Past" as an example; his vocals ebb and flow perfectly over ghostly bass resembling a ship lost in fog and moody synthesizers as he ruminates over the specters of past mistakes haunting his soul in the dead of night. "Something Goes Right" pulls a complete 360 with its bubbling organs, 2-Step styled beat and Sampha's equally joyous delivery. When he relinquishes the spotlight to other guest vocalists, the results are just as enjoyable. In fact, Roses Gabor could easily serve as both Sampha's foil and the albums secret weapon. Her shining moment comes in the form of "Pharoahs" which is undeniably radio friendly and impossibly catchy. The arrangements are as playful and upbeat as her vocals, with synthesizers and keyboards bouncing brightly throughout. Little Dragon's Yukimi Nagano lends a kind of cool, wild eyed seduction to the squelchy and slow burning "Wildfire" It's a chunky, club-ready number that sounds far removed from the mass majority of insulting cuts pissing in the patron's drinks. When Sampha reclaims center stage he does so with such conviction he nearly threatens to sink the album in a positive light with one of his most convincing deliveries. "Never Never" is undoubtedly the crowning achievement of the album as well as its most commercial offering (that's my not so humble opinion.) Recalling the early 2000's when 2-Step was enjoying brief commercial flirtation (as was Craig David) the scattered, danceable beat carries a dense layer of synthesizers combusting beneath their own emotion while Sampha struggles to keep himself from tearing in half over guilt and denial. Sure it's predictable with its balance of uplifting feelings in the midst of emotional despair, but it manages to work so well you can almost forgive SBTRKT for taking such an easy route and besides, he's managed to craft an album that balances elements of the "unapproachable" Dubstep with more traditional Pop leanings and in the end created something that's both catchy and bold.

Site

Label

The Soft Moon - Total Decay EP (2011 Captured Tracks)

2011-10-31T23:35:00.000-07:00

From the onset, a number of familiar qualities outline The Soft Moon: the sparse and simplistic artwork housing both the Total Decay EP and last years eponymous LP recall similar styled packaging that graced countless Factory Records releases while the sound, a tense mixture of Post-Punk's fractured space and jagged rhythms, the relentless throb of Industrial and the glacial, despondent emotions oft associated with "Goth" bear resemblances to late period Joy Division, early New Order ('80-'81) and even Chrome; had the project actually existed some thirty years ago, it wouldn't be hard to imagine Luis Vasquez (essentially The Soft Moon) releasing his work on the influential label. Those comparisons should be treated as vague reference points more than direct similarities though, for what Vasquez has created manages to stand wholly on its own, dwelling in a self contained atmosphere that's thick with a sinister air and a horizon riddled with a sense of bleakness that plays out more like a soundtrack suitable for anxiety fueled night-terrors than a set of conventional songs. "Alive" offers the perfect backdrop for such nightmares to thrive in with its perpetual beat and thick layer of guitars sounding like old machinery cutting through the eerie stillness of the night. The murky bass throbbing on the high end like a current traveling through a powerline and Vasquez's hushed and echoed vocals mutter a few inaudible lines before breaking into banshee-like wails, leaving the song to quietly fade. While that piece doesn't exactly live up to its title (at least not in the traditional sense) it proves to be the least harsh offering and if anything, "Total Decay" proves more worthy of its name with its swarm of buzzsaw synths and hammering beat over which Vasquez delivers aquatic, slightly pitched vocals. His occasional yelps bring to mind Alan Vega's terrifying cries via his Suicide days and what ultimately holds the shakey foundation together is the high end riffing of the bass that unavoidably brings to mind Peter Hook. "Repetition" in turn is driven by a tightly wound, unflinching beat that rarely switches up the pace. On top of that Vasquez layers on an equally tight bass riff along with synthesizers that sound like squealing radio frequencies to occasional bursts of percussive elements that echo like a shot in the dark to vocals that range from horrified cries to muffled moans before the track completely falls apart as quickly as it began. In the span of a year, The Soft Moon have shed some of their less abrasive skin in favor of plunging further into the more harsh and darker elements they explored on their first album and in turn have brought a greater sense of terror and despair to their music without loosing the sense of thrill that comes with it. No wonder they chose to release this one on Halloween..

Label

Site

Twerps - Twerps (2011 Underwater Peoples / Chapter Music)

2011-10-27T21:10:00.000-07:00

Melbourne's Twerps filter strains of worn influence and modern aesthetic to create a long player full of familiar but fresh sounds. The band owes a passing debt to New Zealand's Flying Nun label with their use of jagged and jangly chords, sticky reverb and emotionally earnest lyrics which recall some of the labels more celebrated acts such as The Dwarfs, The Chills and The Clean. Their stripped down sound is grounded in a modest Pop sensibility and the songs drip with a kind of youthful naivety. Lyrically they focus mainly on the tangled, emotional webs of both love and relationships from the perspective of the oft awkward transitional period in life (think late teens to mid 20's) in which such factors are taken in through more innocent eyes and filtered down to an inexperienced heart beating with a sense of hope. Take both "Dreamin'" and "Through The Day" as examples; both resemble separated twins with their ragged and bright chords and punchy beats, the former benefiting from a haunting, Surf-styled riff. Where they intersect perfectly though is in capturing feelings of bewilderment and disappointment while avoiding the kind of melancholia more experienced hearts would tarnish the songs with. By contrast, "Don't Be Surprised" is a cheerfully intoxicated sing-along, both electric and acoustic guitars strumming clear and stabbing brightly while the band is augmented by a number of friends in a woozy delivery of lines like "Don't be surprised/You're on your own, you've got nowhere to go. When you're at home/Realize you're all alone." Sobering thoughts such as those could qualify as a buzz-kill, but the tone of the song makes it okay to embrace such obvious truths, while "Who Are You" brings the momentum (emotionally and musically) down a notch or two with a weary but steady beat, bleary eyed chords and a sense of trust betrayed behind thick curtains of chemical indulgence. That could easily be seen as the lowest point of the album but the band again manages to avoid emotional suffocation in favor of raw simplicity, which makes for a sincere experience with each listen.

Label Info: Chapter Music / Underwater Peoples

Site

DJC-Kay - 11-11-11 (2011 Self Released)

2011-10-23T21:38:00.000-07:00

With each mix that DJC-Kay delivers, small traces of evidence are always left behind. Call them fragments of emotional inspiration of sorts, but they no doubt serve as the heart and soul of each mix. It's those often brief comments he leaves attached to each mix that could serve as a kind of window into the soul of the selector such as the ones left on this latest mix, "My mission is complete & I'm not needed here anymore. Just jumped in The Black Chariot and Pressed Play..33 minutes of remembering the last 11 months...........after 33 minutes is up................I'm driving off!" Naturally it's tempting to want to over-read into a statement that seemingly simple, to try and decipher the nature of the "mission" (mission of the heart?) to sift through the musical clues and piece together the past eleven months and ultimately decode the end game..if the initial purpose was requited love and proved unsuccessful, where does the completion in the mission lie? Tempting fate though runs the risk of tarnishing the simple truths in front of us, so simple words can sometime be summed up as that and nothing more, regardless, the music here is in no danger of being tarnished, and given the steady amount of mixes DJC-Kay delivers on a regular basis, this one may very well prove to be his best one yet. His choices of Liquid Funk slabs as always narrorate his journey better than any number of words and in capturing the emotion behind the journey, they strike a balance between feelings of disappointment and frustration underscored with a sense of hope and triumph in the face of defeat. Eveson & Redeyes "State of Mind" opens up with a reflective/Jazzy vibe and Atlantic Connection's "Reach Out" with it's sampled vocals and touches of piano gives the impression of an old Soul record playing quietly in the midst of a quite night where there's nothing but time and thoughts to keep a restless heart company. Flaco's "I'm Thinking of You" is another strong cut and gives the impression of memories playing as home movies deep in the mind when laying back with eyes closed, lost deep in the trenches of the psyche. As prophetic as the title "11-11-11" may sound, it's only representative of rebirth and triumph over temporary setbacks in the end. Solid mix.

Find DJC-Kay here and here

11-11-11 by DJC-kay

Redeyes, Eveson - State Of Mind (Original Mix)
Adam Form, Calculon, Andy Sim - Close Call (Original Mix)
DJ Marky, Bungle - Codename: A.1 (Original Mix)
DJ Marky, Bungle - No Time 2 Love (Original Mix)
Marky, Bungle - 13th Floor (Original Mix)
dRamatic, dbAudio - 6 Degrees (Original Mix)
Aquasky - Dezires (Marky & Bungle Remix)
Flaco - I'm Thinking Of You (Original Mix)
Lukeino, Paulie Rhyme - The Key feat. Paulie Rhyme (Atlantic Connection Remix)
Paul SG, Atmospherix, Blue Motion - Green & Blue (Original Mix)
Atlantic Connection - Reach Out (What Would Happen?) (Original Mix)
CLS - Black And White (Original Mix)

Alabama Shakes - Alabama Shakes (2011 Self Released)

2011-10-21T18:26:00.000-07:00

Though Alabama Shakes have existed for roughly two years, the Athens quartet have quickly honed a sound that resembles anything but a band still cutting its teeth. Their take on old Soul and Rock could easily give the impression of a seasoned group cutting sides for Stax around the mid to late 60's, yet the music is laid down with enough modern sensibility to sound fresh without being unassured and manages to avoid strict revivalism territory. The band's playing is tight and powerful but loose and raw at the same time, the production captures the jagged quality of the music and smooths the edges over just enough to allow for accessibility, but even then a record like this played at full volume is still capable of shaking the ground. It's the correlation between the raw power of the music and Brittany Howard's often gut wrenching vocals that ultimately tie the music together and allows for it's depth and emotional resonance; her voice shifts from vulnerability and tenderness to pleading and tattered and occasionally strikes chords similar to Otis Redding's feverish cries. Of the four songs here, "I Found You" not only highlights those qualities best but also comes across as the b-side (often the better songs) of some lost Soul treasure. Both the keyboards and guitars lock into an urgent groove, pouring on thick as they build to the tense emotional crescendo against a stomping beat. Howard's vocals heart-breakingly pure and torn, climaxing with the music to an almost overwhelming level and that moment alone makes this well worth playing at maximum volume.

Find Alabama Shakes here or here

&amp;lt;a href="http://alabamashakes.bandcamp.com/album/alabama-shakes-ep"&amp;gt;Alabama Shakes EP by Alabama Shakes&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;

Com Truise - Galactic Melt (2011 Ghostly International)

2011-10-17T19:12:00.000-07:00

Seth Haley operates under numerous monikers (Sarin Sunday, Airliner, Systm) and churns out an impressive number of original material as well as remixes. On their own, those projects have managed to build a modest buzz for the producer/remixer but it's his latest guise Com Truise that's captured the lion's share of the attention. Late last year he issued his debut Cyanide Sisters EP which was picked up by Ghostly International and reissued recently. That EP further fueled the growing buzz due to it's assured nature as much as it's name-checking influences and solid production. The music itself was nestled somewhere in between the sun drenched haze of Boards of Canada and Chillwave's lethargic, Hip-Hop inspired beats along with a host of 80's influences. Though those few songs may have offered nothing new in terms of their design and approach, they were enjoyable enough that the "originality" argument could easily be forgotten in the midst of the gritty, embryonic warmth of the synthesizers and the imploding beats. The growing hype naturally put Haley in the unenviable position of creating a follow-up that could not only meet expectations but in turn push the music to even higher plains of euphoria.

While Galactic Melt doesn't exactly live up to said expectations nor even really deliver on the promises built off of Cyanide Sisters, it isn't a complete failure either. If anything, it feels more like of an extension of where Truise last left off with all of the major components intact; the beats are still chunky and sparse, various vocal samples are looped into the songs and the same 80's inspired synthesizers are intact and are as gritty and hazy as before only with more layers added this time. Subtle changes like that have the capacity to make a broader impact but here, they come across more like a ripple rather than a tidal wave. The problem doesn't lie in the songs themselves because there isn't really a "bad" one here, it's just the mass majority of them really aren't distinct enough to stand on their own. Another issue lies in the pale emotional impact. Unlike Boards of Canada, who gradually build to a kind of cinematic, euphoric climax, the songs here seem forever trapped in that moment where they are on the verge of peaking but never fully deliver and instead disperse quietly as the next one begins. As grim as that may all sound it isn't a complete failure as mentioned earlier. In fact, when side stepping those "distinction" issues there's a few moments that manage to generate a few more sparks than others such as "Air Cali" which comes across like some kind of psychedelic fireworks display set in time with a joyous, stomping beat or the childlike eeriness of "Flightwave" which also manages to capture a slight hint of giddiness in its bubbling synthesizers. "VHS Sex" by far is probably the dirtiest and best moment here. The sampled moan and stabbing beat further add to the griminess of the track while the "futuristic" female voice and waves of synthesizers recall the technological obsessed 80's and wouldn't be out of place on some lost cult classic film from that era. Those moments are proof at least that a greater promise within Truise still lurks and could be on the horizon. Sun-faded surface aside, it's an enjoyable record.

Site

Label

Gotye - Making Mirrors (2011 Samples 'n' Seconds/Eleven)

2011-10-12T19:52:00.000-07:00

On 2006's Like Drawing Blood, Belgian-Australian musician Gotye (Walter De Backer) attempted to fuse elements of accessible Pop with bold artistic tendencies together within the parameters of a single song. The songs themselves were built off of everything from sampled vocals, Breakbeat influenced backings to numerous synthesizers that created a kind of theatrical feel throughout the course of the album. They also stretched well beyond the conventional three minute pop song running time. Still though, the balance wasn't exactly even; De Backer's more Poppier leanings were often eclipsed by his more ambitious scope and his soaring, often compelling vocals were sadly understated throughout much of the album. It wasn't a complete failure though, if anything it was a challenging listen that yielded enough exciting moments to tempter the disappointment. Five years later De Backer has seemingly brought a greater sense of balance to his overall approach with the follow-up Making Mirrors.

While the more experimental textures remain in place, they've been scaled back slightly in favor of a greater emphasis on Pop structure and the subtle shift in power proves to be rewarding in many ways. One obvious benefit is Gotye allowing his vocals to come to the foreground and play a larger roll. Drawing comparisons to similar minded Pop purveyors such as Sting and Peter Gabriel, his delivery ranges from subtle and cool to soaring and highly emotive and the power his voice possesses serves the songs well, bringing a greater depth of expression and color to them. Take "Eyes Wide Open" as an example with its bent guitars that almost exhale in a somber tone, which in turn are pushed along by a galloping beat that could easily resemble the beating of an aching heart. De Backer's vocals soar and quiver in an upper register with lines like "So this is the end of the story/Everything we had, everything we did/Is buried in dust" that are open enough to allude to either relationships or a troubled ecosystem. In fact, the theme of relationships, their demons and redemptions are explored more than once in the course of the album with "Somebody That I Used To Know" immersing itself deep in love's poisonous well. The vocals range from slightly hushed to soaring gracefully and are tinged with an air of bitter regret: "But you didn't have to cut me off/Make out like it never happened and that we were nothing." New Zealand vocalist Kimbra further pushes the tension while simultaneously bringing an underlying sense of playfulness with her cameo and a child-like glockenspiel part further adds to the odd duality of the song.

"Odd" is one term that does come to mind repeatedly when listening closely to the album. It's not even on a derogatory level so much as it's a compliment. If we were to go back tot he whole Peter Gabriel comparison, think of other artists that also orbited his realm, the type of artists determined to indulge their artistic sensibilities while coating them with Pop's accessible gloss and this (at least to me) is the bolt from which Gotye is cut. The music straddles accessibility and experimental without falling off either side and while the Pop gems here shine the brightest, it's those off kilter moments that could easily be seen as buried treasure. One such highlight comes in the form of "State of the Art" which is about (no surprise here) the consumption of technology and how it in turn consumes those its marketed to, specifically musical instruments giving way to replications that outshine the originals. De Backer's vocals are vocoded to the point of resembling a computerized voice hopped up on quaaludes, guitars and drums locked in a hazy Reggae styled groove and various effects recreating everything from symphonic flourishes to horns. "Smoke and Mirrors" on the other hand probably borrows from Gabriel's song book the most. The song is driven by a hollow beat over which various elements of percussion are layered along with sharp bursts of horns and De Backer's equally colorful and wide eyed vocals. Naturally those serve as just a few highlights in an album that's rich in textures with coherent lyrics that are delivered with emotional conviction and depth. Start here then work your way backwards and let's see where this one leads. Recommended.

Site

Label

DJC-Kay - Back Down To Earth (2011 Self Released)

2011-10-09T18:32:00.000-07:00

Back Down To Earth is the kind of mix that could serve a number of purposes that aren't limited to the implications its name lends itself to. While it's probably a bit obvious it was designed with the feel of sifting through emotional wreckage in mind, it could easily serve as the soundtrack of a cold Fall or Winter night without being completely glacial in either case. Like most of us, DJC-Kay turns to music as therapy, and if this is his therapeutic mix, it's one that doesn't aim to drag ones demons out and completely break the spirit in the process, but rather give a bruised heart something to fall back on as it struggles to mend itself. His track selection as always turns to Soul tinged Liquid Drum & Bass and he's blended several solid cuts to create an atmosphere that glimmers with faint hints of sadness and disappointment rather than gushing over with stark bursts of despair. "Time Is Over" is one of many cuts laid out here that catches the subtle but driving emotion. The scuffling drum loops carry a track of echoed vocals which come across slightly aquatic while the cries of lonely horns off in the distance add another layer to the emotions without making them feel heavy. "Say Goodbye" wears the kind of title that would almost imply a heart-wrenching cut set to a ferocious flurry of fractured beats and looming synths but instead it's a gentle track comprised of a simple beat, clips of Soulful vocals altered slightly to give a distant feeling (distance seems to spring up more than once) and shimmering keyboards. "Wings" follows the same path albeit with a pulse driving beat; the Soulful vocals cut just above the chiming synths and the bass growls warm and deep. Regardless if you're out late at night seeking adventure, escape from the modern world or from the weariness of love gone wrong, mixes like this fit those desires well.

Track List
Sub - Skadi (Nebula Blue Notes Remix)
Raiden - Trellick (Original Mix)
Redeyes - Out Of My Head feat. Grimm (Original Mix)
Intelligent Manners - I Won't (Original Mix)
The Square, Atmospherix - When Time Is Over (Original Mix)
Flaco - Precious feat. Amaning (Original Mix)
The Square, Atmospherix - Say Goodbye (Original Mix)
Flaco - Wings (Original Mix)
Redeyes - The Main Chance (Original Mix)
Random Movement, Redeyes, Mutt - Groove Thing (Original Mix)

Unfortunately no embed code was given for this one, so you'll have to check it out via Soundcloud

Find DJC-Kay here and here

Balkans - Balkans (2011 Double Phantom Records)

2011-10-08T21:10:00.000-07:00

Albums like this aren't going to change lives, they aren't going to shift musical landscapes much less innovate them in the slightest way. Then again, albums like this weren't really created with those intentions in mind. If anything, Balkans self titled long player comes off as an enjoyable celebration of Garage Rock's influence and it's a solid one at that. In the span of just over thirty minutes the band offers up ten songs that sneer and crackle with a mid tempo thump capable of inducing pogo-dancing, bass that's warm and lurking in the back just enough to anchor the bottom end and buzzing guitars that simultaneously chime with hints of melody. This is where the band wins overall, not just limited to Punky/Garage Rock aesthetics they've clearly (if not sub-consciously) borrowed from Power-Pop's emphasis of melding irresistible hooks with raw power and volume. Those subtle touches of melodicism stretch beyond the boundaries of the music and into Frankie Broyles dry ice deliveries as well while most of the nakedly sincere lyrics focus on the births, deaths and frustrations of relationships and those feverish moments in between. The bands sound has earned them inescapable comparisons to The Strokes, whose Is This It? both galvanized and set the standard for Garage Rock revival a decade ago. For the most part the similarities are subtle but on "Black Swan" they're almost undeniable. The buzzing, harmonic riffing, crisp and driving beat and Broyles' ironically detached and dry vocals could almost recall a b-side to an early Strokes single. What separates them however is how the music is approached; while The Strokes came across as a bit more studious and self-conscious in their attempt to recreate the Garage Rock that supposedly inspired them from the beginning, Balkans come across as legitimately comfortable in their place of simply playing the music they love. That kind of exuberance is what affords them some truly glorious moments. "I Can't Compete" with its buzzing and bursting riffs, heart stomping beat and slightly off tune, emotive delivery could easy come across as some sort of lost Power-Pop classic while "Troubled and Done" lives up to the feelings of its own name, the harmonies raw, sincere and tattered at heart. While the album mainly bristles with a kind of ragged energy, the band aren't afraid to turn the tempo down a couple of notches and when they do, the results are surprisingly effective. "Flowers Everywhere" could easily recall some of New York Dolls slower moments in the sense that the change in pace does nothing to compromise the energy or attitude; if anything it only adds to those qualities, as does the raw emotion in the harmonies and vocals. The only real diminishing factor is the obvious fact the musical approach is a tried and true one that offers no real revelations nor opens any locked doors. But in the end none of that should take away from the fact that at face value it's a fun record worth a few spins.

Site
Label

The Stepkids - The Stepkids (2011 Stones Throw Records)

2011-10-04T19:52:00.000-07:00

Blending strains of orchestral Psychedelic/Pop, Jazz and Funk infused rhythms, Soul drenched harmonies and hazy late 60's Rock; The Stepkids eponymous long player captures glimpses of the past while managing to maintain a modern feel. Recorded via reel-to-reel, the music bursts with rich tones and a warm feel throughout the course of the album, which lacks any degree of filler or dull moments to tarnish its glow. Comprised of three singer/songwriters, all of whom have served as session musicians and backed everyone from Pharoahe Monch and Lauryn Hill to Alicia Keys and 50 Cent, The Stepkids came together late last year with the intent of taking the reigns and consolidating their musical experiences. The bands approach to their music is a communal one, with each member contributing in all facets of the song writing process, quoting drummer Tim Walsh via Stones Throw "There's an equal split in the creative process. Any lyric, any melody, any idea could have been done by any of us." While that sense of comradery is admirable and suits the vibe of the music well, it also serves as one of the few drawbacks of the album. There's no real singular force or vision to guide the music or provide a sense of focus. Furthermore there's a lack of a unique angle or quirk that would allow the music to stand out on its own rather than gently glimmering in the background.

Those are minor blemishes at best and overall do very little to tarnish the pleasant atmosphere. Tempting as it may be for some to dismiss the band as mere copyists, that simply isn't the case when you take into consideration some of their stronger moments like "Shadows on Behalf." Driven by a joyously stomping beat and a rubbery bass riff that rumbles deep and organs that pierce and glisten, the songs true strength lay in the vocals; the harmonies are both intoxicating and ghostly, recalling the heyday of when Pop and Psychedelic meshed much in the same way colors in a warmed lava lamp gel. The band takes that approach a step further on "La La" which, without a doubt, is one of the most exuberant moments of the entire album. Building gradually from a gentle atmosphere of wind chimes and plucked guitars the song comes alive with bursts of keyboards that both dance playfully and shimmer gracefully, the bass warm and deep and choir-like vocals so compelling that they could easily give the feeling of being spiritually uplifted.

Neither one of those moments feel as if they've been stylistically co-opted, it's clear the band is sincere in their approach of past styles and if anything are having fun while treating their work seriously. And the same holds true when they stray into Funk influenced territory. Both "Legend in My Own Mind" and "Santos and Ken" touch on the dual nature of Sly & The Family Stone, with the former being a slow burning number steeped in high pitched harmonies and the lead vocals recalling Sly at his most stoned and cocky proclaiming, "I'm one of a kind/A Legend in my own mind" while the latter explodes into a joyous romp of gritty bass and an Earth (or ass) shaking beat replete with equally celebratory vocals and touches of violin that give playful chills. What prevents both songs from falling face first and makes them work so well is the playful attitude on which they are built. No one here is taking themselves seriously except in their execution, which they do naturally. Even as the album winds down the energy never really does, even on the more darkly tinged moments like "Wonderfox." What's particularly striking about the song is in the space of a little over three minutes it's bookended by sense of moodiness that resides somewhere in between slightly sinister and pensive. The keyboards play a large part in shaping the emotional landscape; echoing slightly in the background with the same tone of a lonely train passing through the dead of the night and quivering in a slightly unsettling tone only to suddenly burst into a spry beat with hints of mellotron and sunny falsettos only to return to it damp and gray dwelling. The shifts in moods are almost as diverse as the stylistic offerings here and even if nothing seems to leave an immediate impact, there's a lasting quality buried within the music that compels multiple listens.

Site

Label

Thundercat - The Golden Age of Apocalypse (2011 Brainfeeder)

2011-09-30T18:37:00.000-07:00

Stephen Bruner's name may not be immediately recognizable but when taking a quick glance at his resume it's clear he's anything but a fresh face on the block. He's lended his dexterous bass playing skills to everyone from Erykah Badu and Snoop Dogg to Sa-Ra and his fellow Brainfeeder conspirator and friend Flying Lotus while serving as current bassist for Punk/Thrash/Funk band Suicidal Tendencies. Projects that diverse have naturally influenced Bruner's own musical vocabulary, helping to expand it into something as equally diverse while allowing him the chance to hone his considerable chops. Taking the moniker Thundercat (a nod to the classic cartoon and possibly his playing style) he enlisted FlyLo to produce, invited some friends to collaborate and allowed his abilities to take center stage. The end result, The Golden Age of Apocalypse could easily be juxtaposed with his varied musical background with everything from Jazz-Fusion leanings and late 70's smooth Soul flowing through the etches of the grooves to Hip-Hop influenced beats and the ghost of fluid Funk finger jamming. Jamming is a feel that crops up throughout the album and in a way the songs do resemble fractured jams, ones that bleed into one another on occasion. The verse/chorus/verse approach has been dispensed with and in their place is a relaxed feeling in which space is used to simply stretch out and flourish before coming to a halt. That's not to say there's a lack of structure here, it's simply that the structure is more subtle in nature and many songs do boast their own set of lyrics, but much like the music they tend to come across as fragmented or free floating.

Take the proper opener "Daylight" as an example; the lyrics are skeletal and consist of one refrain "Open your mind, daylight," which Bruner recites throughout the song in a way that's both harmonious and Soulful. His vocals are layered in such a way that they give the impression of a bright-eyed choir on an equally bright, early morning. The keyboards too exude a kind of late 70's Soul vibe and, chimes glisten just atop of the stun-gun styled beat and buried faintly within the mix is a touch of viola for good measure. It's an uplifting track that shimmers and glides with a carefree vibe and ends as gently as it began, making way for the Funkier "Fleer Ultra." This is one of many instances in which Bruner takes the opportunity to flex his musical muscles but it's far from pompous showman ship. Instead his bass serves both as the connective tissue as well as propulsion and locks into a tight groove with crisp beats. If anything the real star of the track is the Funky keyboard workout which recalls some old Soul/Funk hybrid album from a few decades back but plays out as anything but a stale reboot. And when the band does decide to crate dig into the past they do so with honest conviction. Taking the George Duke classic "For Love I come" Bruner and his band stay true to the songs roots note for note, with the opening Soulful and glistening and building to the last minute where the band breaks out into a Funky jam of understated keys, stuttering drums and a bass workout that's both rubbery and chunky as it is urgent.

One of many appealing aspects about the album is the live band feeling throughout which not only gives a kind of organic feel to the music but gives it both a sense of depth and punch as well. For all of it's organic feeling though, the music here is washed over with a kind of Electronic flourish throughout which gives the past/modern duality a unified feel and in many ways recalls much of Flying Lotuses own work. "Jamboree" serves as a good enough example of that unified duality. The beats at times sound clipped or fractured with Bruner's bass treated to the point of sounded like futuristic machinery eagerly buzzing in an attempt to make connect with the civilization down below. It's only in the last half minute that it's relegated to sounding straight forward and organic again as he conjures from the strings a down right Funky Groove. And therein lies another strength: Bruner never once co-opts the center stage for the sake of exploiting his technical prowess or for wanking out facetious noodling for the sake of. Pretension is very much lacking here and so be it, this is more or less the work of a man with a gift who is eager to celebrate it and share it not only with his friends, but with the rest of us as well.

Label
Site

DJC-Kay - Smooth Drum & Bass Grooves Part 5 (2011 Self Released)

2011-09-26T20:14:00.000-07:00

Another two weeks and another mix..Diving head first into Chapter 5 of DJC-Kay's ongoing Smooth Drum & Bass Grooves series. For those of us in the Western Hemisphere, Summer was officially laid to rest earlier this week. Along with friends old and new I found myself in the midst of a celebration marking both that end as well as the coming Fall and naturally music is how I often mark such occasions. This mix is no exception and throughout the weekend I found it spilling from my headphones and pouring deep into the recesses of my mind. The vibe here is a mixture of turning pages and bookmarked regrets, the kind of feeling that one gets when not only the physical seasons change but the emotional ones as well and find themselves in that halfway point of transition where the answers are often as vague as the questions themselves.

For me the mix really kicks in with "Reason Being" courtesy of Dose. The echoed harmony of female vocals over murky and spacey synthesizers is tied together by deep throbbing bass and a locomotive beat. The pace is relentless for the most part and the mood never rises above the grey area it resides in. "All I Wanna Do" immediately follows and proves to be the strongest slab of vinyl in the mix to hit the turntable. What Sonic has done with this cut is pull off a time honored trick of blending the old with the new to create a track that's both memorable and urgent. The sampled Soul vocals soar high above a backdrop of brightly jumping keys and murky bass that rolls deep in the mix. It's one of those types of cuts that catches the heart somewhere between discouragement and frustration in the midst of reaching out. Balancing out those grey areas are tracks like "Come Show Me" which has a slightly more playful vibe to it and captures those moments of intrigue and desire. The male/female harmonies are looped and blended over a shuffling beat and synthesizers that glimmer softly in the background, giving off a sense of euphoria that's almost otherworldly.

Winding down into the final cut, nothing could close a mix better than some Marcus Intalex. "Regrets" finds guest vocalist Riya ruminating over past mistakes and the regrets they tend to yield over a minimal cut that never really sparks a groove (at least not a danceable one) so much as it pulses rhythmically in the same sense as perhaps brainwaves would as the electricity of late night thoughts creates a current that shoots straight to the heart. Samples and synthesizers help create the kind of mood only a dark room could help bring to the surface and as the track closes and Riya soothingly states "Cause I know I've been here before" it's almost impossible not to relate that kind of sentiment on one level or another..Check back in two weeks for another DJC-Kay mix although this time we may deviate from our current course temporarily and maybe dig up one his latest mixes.

Find DJC-Kay here and here

Smooth Drum & Bass Grooves - Part 5 by DJC-kay

Cave - Neverendless (2011 Drag City Records)

2011-09-22T15:21:00.000-07:00

I admit I tend to have an odd penchant for half-assed metaphorical references when writing about any given artist or group. Sometimes it makes the task of putting the subject into a slightly easier context or works as a point of origin when taking on the the task of dissecting and analyzing what's permeating my speakers. And sometimes I'll admit it's just fun to knock off pointless comparisons along with cheap interpretations. I hadn't heard Cave in some time and in getting my head readjusted to them one metaphor stuck out almost immediately; travel. See if you can stay focused long enough to see where I'm going with this. Take music in the context of an ever expansive highway that criss-crosses the terrain in an almost patchwork sort of way and take the almost equally endless arteries of said highway in the context of musical styles. What we get in the end is a band that in six years (three full lengths) has managed to have quite a few miles under their belt and in many cases have found themselves passing through some of the same arteries more than once. Said arteries range from Stoner-Rock and Kraut-Rock influence to Psychedelic and even side-trips down Elecronic. Naturally the band doesn't adhere exclusively to anyone of those references but rather try and consolidate them all into a neutral space where each of them can spread out equally. Back to the travel metaphor though: it's a lot like collecting the souvenirs, postcards and photographs from thousands of miles of exploration, growth and care-free fun. With each full length the band has attempted (at least to me) to take what they walked away with from each trip and neatly arrange them into a single area as much as possible. That means their debut Hunt Like Devil could easily represent the youthful joys of a first time road trip. Slightly scattered and impulsive while going everywhere possible at once. That type of gleeful abandon is often the best teacher for the next time out which leads to Psychic Psummer from two years ago. That album was more or less a representation of the slightly more seasoned traveler who knew the curves and swerves of the road better, could easily navigate the arteries slightly better and could manage sudden impulsive changes in a much breezier manner.

Another two years and several thousand miles brings us Neverendless, which means this time around the highways and bi-ways could be navigated with eyes closed and a kind of care-free expertise while effortlessly exploring newer territories right? Well not entirely. This is the the slightly more experienced but shaky hands at the wheel that are unsure of how to merge into newer and slightly more unfamiliar roads but yet still have a firm grasp on the more familiar routes and passages. Simply put Neverlendless isn't quite as expansive and experimental as Psychic Psummer nor is it as loose. The jams seem wound more tightly this time around and are often stretched far enough to see their connective tissue glistening in the desert sun on a still night. Much like the monotonous pace of road travel after a few hundred miles, the Kraut-Rock influence chugs along like a purring engine though this isn't exactly a NEU! carbon copy laid out in a modern context. Instead the band builds off of those influences while incorporating murky slabs of Psychedelic jamming and jagged Stoner-Rock assaults along with wickedly pungent doses of Moog madness and Electronic leanings in an attempt to create a wildly intoxicating ride. One of those kinds of trips where after days of driving delirium and insomnia set in to produce the kind of surreal and natural high not quite touched by toxic excursions.

As good as those intentions may sound though, the end result doesn't exactly play out as head swimmingly intoxicating as it would sound. The strongest points actually result in the tracks that bookend the album. "W U J" and O J" open and close respectively and both are solid slabs steeped in the basic principles of what NEU! laid down decades ago. The former probably comes the closest to recalling "Hallogallo" at least in spirit with its crisp and unwavering drumming that lends the impression of tearing up slabs of concrete at high rates of speed with anxious desire to speed ahead into fresh scenery. In fact the rhythm section play off of one another in such a way that the music can create a kind of giddy madness. The guitars jab in and out roughly at times while following the rhythm with sweet shards at others. It's only within the last minute and a half or so that they break free into an all out assault of feedback and solos so monstrous they could easily trigger various natural disasters. The latter works from roughly the same approach though with a slightly looser feel with the guitars stepping slightly back this time in favor of some wickedly thick Moog madness. The keys easily recall some of rocks more gnarlier bands from the mid to late 60's all the while pushing ahead with the repetitious conviction of the early 70's experimental mindsets. And those solos are wildly embracing and glowing all at once. Where the band runs into trouble is fleshing out the space that separates those two glorious pillars. "This Is the Best" immediately follows the opener and stretches out to just beyond fourteen minutes. I'm not one to call party foul or Freebird on something like this. As much of a punk as I still may be at heart, I'm all for a ridiculously elongated jam or freakout provided it's built off of something substantinal and has the staying power to be convincing. And this is the major issue with that track; it isn't that the band stretches out too far, they simply lack an interesting riff off of which they can blast off. The track meanders for the most part, revolving around a limited pallet of organ and guitar chords while the beat staggers and chugs at times and stomps at others. After nine minutes the band finally locks into a limited (and I do mean limited) one dimensional groove and attempt to hold it for the remaining five minutes. The end result isn't the glorious repetitive bombast of The Fall or the hypnotic groove of NEU! but rather a calucalted measure that was dead on arrival. Both "Adam Roberts" and "On the Rise" fill the rest of the space and both are slightly slower and less expansive which proves to make them both slightly more bearable and even enjoyable. Though slightly more uneven than its predecessor, Neverendless is far from a total flop and in the midst of the filler are some grooves worth getting lost in, regardless if you're at home or hitting the road for the millionth time.

Site

Label

AM & Shawn Lee - Celestial Electric (2011

2011-09-18T18:08:00.000-07:00

From here on out I think I'm going to forego any disclaimers, clauses or apologies for anything hereafter that panders to "revisionism," "stylistic recycling," or "second-hand nostalgia." I think by now it's fair to say that those grounds have been covered more than enough in the last decade alone and considering how the past has long served as a creative blueprint in the present, it's become almost a norm by now with flat out rehashing in place of building over what's been laid out before often being a standard practice in itself. Still though, that doesn't mean that there isn't room for some degree of enjoyment or even a few surprises now and then. Take the album that's currently pouring out of my speakers; true it could serve on some level as a kind of audio memorial or monument to styles and trends and an era which have long faded but are continually exhumed for "inspiration" it also manages to stand on its own as something both original and familiar.

Bubbling elements of Pop teeming with flourishes of Funk and Soul, Psychedelic and good old Rock And Roll permeate the 12 tracks laid out here by England based Shawn Lee and L.A. based vocalist AM. Lee's name may be more familiar to some than others (I'm a bit late in the game, excuse me) if not for his Ping Pong Orchestra than his numerals solo albums and guest slots while AM has made a niche for himself with critical praise and exposure via television and movies. Basically both are slightly under the radar but just above sea level to be noticed and both share a deep seeded love for the aforementioned genres that are currently bleeding from the speakers and slowly seeping into the carpet near my feet. So back to why I'm tossing out disclaimers or ham fisted apologies: while this album DOES borrow its stylistic make up from an era long gone and relegated to bargain bins, it doesn't in any way try to rehash them out of some ironic posturing. In fact I've read that Lee himself is a passionate crate digger (man I'd love to see this guys record collection) with an equally passionate love for the late sixties to the early seventies. More than that he's also a producer with a savvy ear; rather than just reappropriating his favorite records via modern technology, he seemingly choose the better elements from the era in which he loves and blends them into a natural state. Take the opener "City Boy" for example. From the stifled thumps of the bass drum to the crisp clapping of the snare, the music has the feel of being created on some dusty vintage equipment in the garage of some suburb on a warm fall day some thirty seven years ago. The guitars sound like their oozing along a thick riverbed and into a wider expanse for an eternity while the resonate synthesizers drip with a thick and sweet gloss yet manage to come across as slightly haunting.

Anchoring so many of the songs and elevates them to an even higher plain throughout is vocalist AM. While his vocals may be rooted firmly in an often silky smooth croon, he's able to adapt to the more heavier moments such as the Ozark Mountain Daredevils cover of "Jackie Blue." Amidst guitars that give off a kind of buzzsaw effect amidst reverbed chords and keys, AM not only retains his high octave crooning, but manages to adapt it to the rougher backdrops which are punctuated by thudding drums and a deep bass. It's moments like this that easily recall turning the dials on some old radio from decades past to find the newest band pounding out primal noise that's raw and gutsy and yet is smoothed over with irresistible harmonies that somehow set the world right in the span of three minutes or so.

What further makes an album like this so enjoyable and believable is the fact that it's flawed in places. There's little blemishes on the sun drenched surface that reveal its imperfections such as the production being too rich or dense in places. This threatens to push AM's soulful croonings back a layer within the haze and at times his vocals fall prey to "Easy Listening" territory which render his contributions a bit dull. Consider all of that minor surface damage though, because it's the least of the offenses committed here and when the two are focused, they deliver the goods. "Lonely Life" easily redeems those missteps; marching styled drums carry the beat over which reverbed guitars and bright synthesizers collide and AM's vocals reaching their familiar falsetto croon. "Promises Are Never Far From Lies" dips into a slightly funky groove with fluttering hi-hats and stammering beat. Synthesizers shimmer just in the distance along with warmly strummed guitars and AM's echoed vocals and "Dark Into Light" plays out like the contemplative radio single that's probably guaranteed to change your life within the span of the songs life or at least give you soul-food for thought long after the deejay returns and spastically announces the next hit record. What initially begins as a low-key and slightly haunting piece built off of low buzzing synthesizers and dense beat soon mutates into shimmering and joyous synthesizers, acoustic strings and vocals and choruses that nearly sound angelic. AM's

Site

Label

New Order To "Reunite" For Benefit Shows

2011-09-14T19:31:00.000-07:00

"Tell me how does it feel when your heart grows hold" the last words uttered on New Order's propulsive and clinical classic from 1983 "Blue Monday." Given the state of affairs with the band in recent times words like that hold a certain degree of truth. Peter Hook broke rank in 2007 due to soured relations from within and declared the band was finished. From that point on he's kept a steady profile in various music publications (and no doubt countless blogs like this one eh?) taking jabs at both Morris and Sumner (who he recently referred to as a twat.) Both have traded their fair share of venom as well as accusations as to what ultimately rotted out the last of the foundation with Hook referring to a "personal" incident that occurred on the last tour and Sumner citing both Hook's purchasing of the rights to the name of the Hacienda night club which the band had funded decades ago as well as his forming of a band called The Light to tour behind the rebooted issues of Joy Division's two LP's in memory of Ian Curtis's death and legacy. So the final nail is pounded and the remains are lowered, time to start tossing the sod over right? Well not exactly..Recently the remaining members announced their intention to "reunite" and play two shows; one in Shamberg on October 17 at Ancienne Belgique in Brussels and October 18 at La Bataclan in Paris. Both are benefit shows being held for film producer and long time friend of the band Michael Shamberg. Aside from his personal relations with the band, Shamberg also produced a number of their classic videos throughout the 80's and his film credits include Erin Brockovich, A Fish Called Wanda and Pulp Fiction to name a few. This time around Gillian Gilbert returns to the fold after nearly a decades absence and Bad Lieutenant member Thom Chapman is filling in as wing-man for Hooky. Naturally that lends itself to being read into as a slightly reconfigured Bad Lieutenant line-up set to play New Order covers but how it plays out remains to be seen.

Hook of course had a few things to say in regards to the news which could easily beg the question of "essentials" in regards to both Hook's and Gilbert's contributions. This is one time I'm not putting my money in any one particular place because I honestly feel it's a tie but then again that's just my arbitrary opinion. From day one and on Hook's bass playing was one of many components that helped to shape and drive Joy Division. Playing on the higher end, he developed a style that was jagged, rolling and often hypnotic that lead songs more than merely following them which made him a perfect foil/counterpart to Sumner's sheet metal chords and Morris's pounding, hypnotic beats. When the remaining members mutated into New Order his playing stretched out into a snake-like groove that was often as emotive as Sumner's jagged strumming and could often be mistaken for heavy guitar parts. Gilbert's contributions were no less vital; her ability to play guitar helped free up some of the responsibility placed on Sumner and her keyboard/synthesizer work was crucial in shaping New Order's sound as they began to break from the shadows of their former band and transform themselves into a danceable if not still slightly haunting unit. Tracks such as "Blue Monday," "True Faith," "Bizarre Love Triangle" and "Perfect Kiss" all showcase her ability to create patterns that can either evoke a deep well of emotion or come off as completely glacial. So in the end it seems rather moot to me and all bickering aside, the cause seems at least noble. Enjoy some classic moments below.

DJC-Kay - Smooth Drum & Bass Grooves Part 4 (2011 - Self Released)

2011-09-11T20:19:00.000-07:00

The next chapter in our continual Drum and Bass journey, DJC-Kay's "Smooth Drum & Bass Grooves" was in fact inspired by his secret muse. Keep in mind this was five months ago and I'm frantically writing about these once every fortnight so a lot can change in that amount of time, especially when it comes to matters of the heart. Still though this was very much inspired out of adoration and hopes of love and it's easy to tell given the titles of the cuts and the feelings etched within the grooves that hope, frustration, hints of despair and even joy in the midst of feeling jilted all play a major role. And this should say something about our selector, only four mixes in and it's easy to feel the progress each time out. His crate digging skills each time get more impressive as does his ability to capture moods and express feelings with someone elses records. I've had my time of spinning behind the decks and it isn't always as easy it seems. Given I often associate the mixes with late nights that bleed into the first patches of light, this one could easily find itself both within the shadows of those long nights as well as the warm glows of both Fall and even winter. And seasonal changes aren't always limited to weather patterns, emotions in many ways mirror those changes with jubilation and uncertainty often segueing into one another leaving the heart slightly off balance as it struggles to adjust and accept the changes at hand, all of which attributed to the heart's burning desire. Our "need" to find ourselves in the arms of another, the one that easily sets the flames burning in our eyes and the patterings of our hearts.

And if we are to keep the "muse" factor in the back of our minds throughout the course of the ride then wouldn't it stand to reason that Survival's "Hand It Over" could in some ways be metaphorically linked to a woman? I should point out that what I'm getting at isn't in any way tinged with sexism or any other bias; rather I'm talking about the often deceitful, convoluted or seductive elements that often crop up like a sudden downpour when in the midst of attempting to win the heart and mind over of an object of desire. Mixed signals and changes of heart too often factor in and face value isn't always what it seems. That's where I'm drawing the line of comparison because the cut here isn't to be taken at face value. True Cristina Nicola's vocals are sultry and even seductive but it's all a ruse: the moment her vocals instantly fade from the mix the bass bottoms out almost to a suffocating level while the beat is menacing and dark. And at least to me it's a microscopic example of how love can play out. "Love Bug" by contrast finds itself on slightly more level planes with a soulful vibe. I couldn't place the source of the sampled vocals but they come off with the feeling of an old Soul record with a hint of blues in the grain of the vocals. More soulful harmonies are blended in with flashes of horns and a stuttering beat that chugs ahead with the same pace of a heart in the early stages of love sickness. It's the kind of feeling spurned on by first glances, first conversations which are followed by youthful hopes and seemingly endless possibilities. Those hopes of course can often be shattered like a pane of glass in the glare of a new day, it's always within the comfort of the night that these hopes are born and Lenzman and Switch's "Ice Cold Soul" return me to the lonely stretches of endless highways that serve more as arteries to the heart of the sleepless city. The chugging beat and pianos creating a kind of tunnel vision in my mind in which pieces of the memories speed by in a blur all around me instead of tunnels, cars or trains. The looped vocals are both bluesy and soulful and evoke the kind of loneliness that creeps into one's soul late at night at the moment you sheepishly stagger out of a pub or club and into a vehicle for the contemplative ride home. Even then this is one of those cuts for staring blankly into a television set or at the wall late at night when trying to decipher love's latest cryptic message, the pieces of the puzzle scattered over your heart like a torn love letter.

Matters of the heart often shake the foundation of the soul leaving us to wonder why our mind at times can't take over the driver's seat while we look out of the window with a longing gaze and a long sigh. Speaking of Soul, Fred V's "Tell Me Tonight" is probably one of the more exciting Liquid Funk cuts I've heard as of late and it's dripping with a good dose of Soul. I'm not talking about the kind of excitement that compels me to want to cut the floor and groove til adrenaline numbs ever last human emotion permeating my bloodstream, but rather the excitement comes from the deeply rooted emotions it manages to capture in the confines of Drum and Bass. It's a fairly edgy cut with the bass, snythsBrookes Brothers "Tear You Down." It's another one of those cuts that within the confines of modern Liquid Funk really explodes. The vocals were sampled from the great Gladys Knight and to me at least stands as one of her many amazing moments. It's one of those lyrics that speaks from the heart and rings so true that it's almost crushing to listen to. The Brothers managed to wrap around it a perfectly uplifting cut that bounces along while touches of keyboards further sheds light over it. It's one of those contradictory cuts that I dig for the simple fact it captures real life in a small frame: the moment of realization that love is in fact unrequited and the feelings of being jilted are sweeping over while somewhere within the caverns of a wounded heart we managed to find hope or even an open door we didn't see before. Maybe it's the girl we never thought of in that way, or even more could be the girl that we turned down before only to find they are waiting with open arms and an open heart. It's cuts like this that give hope while still reminding us of the shadows lurking just behind us.

Find DJC-Kay here and here and grab the mix below. Chapter Five coming in two weeks.

Smooth Drum & Bass Grooves - Part 4 by DJC-kay

Track list

1. Icicle, sp:mc - Dreadnaught feat. SP:MC - Original Mix
2. Survival - Hand It Over (feat. Christina Nicola)
3. Alix Perez & Specific - Love Bug
4. Brookes Brothers - Tear You Down
5. Switch, LenzmanIce Cold Soul - Original Mix
6. Zyon Base - Nightingale
7. Command Strange - U Cant Touch This
8. Fred V - Tell Me Tonight
9. Stunna, Sol.ID - State Of Urgency - Original Mix
10. Fred V & Grafix - One Of These Days
11. Chase & Status feat. Liam Bailey - Blind Faith (Loadstar Remix)
12. Alicia Keys - UnThinkable (Lenzman DnB Bootleg)

Eleanor Friedberger - Last Summer (2011 Merge Records)

2011-09-09T19:59:00.000-07:00

Over the past decade Fiery Furnaces have cultivated a reputation built around a restless and idiosyncratic musical agenda. The band's genre bending and blending coupled with sudden changes in direction (in the span of a single album and sometimes in a song) mixed with Eleanor Friedberger's increasingly sharp wit and sing/spoken delivery has endeared as much as it has infuriated those within ear-shot. In recent years the sister/brother duo (Matthew being the other half) have gradually plotted a more mature course not only in terms of their compositions but in Friedenberger's growth as not only a vocalist but as a lyricist as well. With their usually dizzying output seemingly slowing for the moment, both siblings have taken time out to carve out their own solo offerings. It comes as no surprise that Matthew's stuck closest to the jerky/experimental approach Fiery Furnaces are so well known for and it's equally unsurprising that Eleanor's strayed further into the realm her band's recent albums have been treading upon. Building off of the hints of Pop that have been bubbling to the surface, touches of Folk and stripped down Rock are woven into the fabric as well and taken as a whole it exudes a kind of 70's quality. Friedberger herself has also drawn comparisons to that decade via the likes of Joni Mitchell. With the sugar coated huskiness of her delivery and her wild eyed wit coupled with the heart on sleeve compassion of a singer/songwriter, it's pretty plausible.

Naturally the compositions lack the scope and depth of the Furnaces, nothing here shocks nor really pushes any ground to crack the asphalt but that doesn't mean it isn't compelling in places. Take "Owl's Head Park" as an example: the beat which carries the tune is slow both slow and stuttered only to occasionally crash like claps of thunder at intervals. The keyboards create a forlorn feeling that gradually washes over the song while a lonely saxophone cries out in the distance sounding like a defiant cry from within a fog bank just off of the shore. The song's title, like many here, refer to either recreational places in New York, or old neighborhoods and haunts. "Roosevelt Island" is another such reference but here the tone takes a completely different turn: steeped in a funky and chunky 70's style organ, the beat is shuffling and buoyant while the bassline is a deep rumbling slice of pure Funk bliss. Tying it all together though is Friedberger; her knack for witty lyrics that sometimes read as vignettes more than they do straight forward narratives bring to life feelings of nostalgia, longing, celebration and even slight hints of sadness.

With New York seemingly occupying the majority of the album, her lyrics play out like polaroid (remember those?) pictures scattered across the floor of a loft in a lazy Fall night. In fact "Inn of the Seventh Ray" is the only track here that references a celebrated California hot spot. The song is built from a conventional Rock backing with loops and keyboards creating a slightly off-setting feeling. Friedberger's sampled vocals of "bop bop" are skewed slightly then in turn looped to create a slightly unsettling but hypnotic feeling. While each of those songs may recall fragments of Friedberger's full time occupation, it's moments like "I Won't Fall Apart On You Tonight" that demonstrate how easily capable she is of diving into more "Pop" territories without losing her more exciting qualities. The song is built around Friedberger's playful wit and seductive/tough girl delivery along with bouncing piano, a choppy beat and touches of blissful horns. Nothing herein is overly inventive or wildly challenging but it's far from reason to file a grievance. If anything it's a glimpse into the continual growth of a seasoned musician and the steps she takes as she discovers her depth and control. Personally it's my kind of album being it doesn't take entirely distract but yet leaves just enough behind to want more.

Site

Label

Natural Child - 1971 (2011 Infinity Cat Recordings)

2011-09-05T13:37:00.000-07:00

1971's cover art lends itself to a parade of has-been comparisons before even dropping the needle to the vinyl. There's the three dudes pictured on the front stoned to the point of being almost entirely disconnected, there's the obvious album title as well as the typesetting in which it's displayed. All of it could easily point to the year ironically spread across the cover, if not that early part of the decade as well as the hard rock that it spawned: raw and crunchy riffs often informed by the Blues masters from decades before, sweat soaked and fueled by a thudding pace. I'm not even talking about the testosterone overload of Led Zeppelin or the "All American" posturing of Grand Funk Railroad. Instead The Rolling Stones (Sticky Fingers) or even Flamin' Groovies comes to mind with smatterings of MC5 and a dose of Blue Cheer for good measure. With the exception of The Stones, I'm talkin' about the kind of stuff cranked out by "average guys" who had no reservations about being average. The kind of guys that toiled and hustled all week for the sole purpose of spending the weekend in some dive where the beer was cheap and the music was loud. And the lyrics herein are just as average focusing more on drugs, women, relationships and life before youth burns out above all. No there's no real life affirming stuff here but then again when it comes to stripped down, gutter level Rock..why should there be?

Of course it's easy to assume that the album's sonic blueprint points to that year alone but keep in mind this album was conjured up some forty years later, so this is very much a modern take on a "classic." This means it's easy to write off Natural Child as the latest in a long lined of stoned revisionists too lazy to borrow from yesterday's glories to create something wholly new. If that's the type of mindset you tend to find yourself in when encountering bands like this? Forget it and move on, you won't find a damn thing here to satisfy your purists needs. For those of us that can at least forgive such trespasses, the band offers up an impressive take on the kind of bare bones Rock that wound up informing Punk some four years later or so and they do so with stoney conviction and a cocky swagger but all of it believable. If the Michigan (specifically Detroit) stigma is looming over the music herein, keep in mind these are Tennessee boys which means there's a good degree of Southern Rock attitude to be found here as well. Which means cuts like "Hard Workin' Man" not only reflect the "working man's" attitude (albeit maybe a little dirtier here) but the music likewise reflects that same stance. This is where The Stooges make a brief cameo because this tune more than ever recalls their penchant for machine-like redundancy as rhythm: the drums pound relentlessly and rarely change pace which creates an almost hypnotic groove and both the gits and bass are as hazy and thick as the air surrounding them (check the faint touches of Glockenspiel just beneath the chords) all the while sounding as if they were recorded in the red or at least on some beaten up tape recorder placed in the center of the room.

The theme of the human condition and hard times rears its head more than few times here and for good reason: I can't exactly speak for forty years ago but sadly it seems nothing much has changed in terms of poverty and struggle to maintain oneself and "Makin' It" certainly brings that to mind. Offering up the advice of catching whatever good times you can with what little money you have in pocket, the song is rooted in a Blusey swagger but Southern attitude with a heady dose of Rock to hold it all together. The pace is stomping but slow..the rhythm section sprawling out over time with the guitars cutting jagged holes as the chug forward. "Let It Bleed" (not a Stones cover) on the other hand turns down the avenue of uncertainty, heartbreak and frustration. Capturing both the Summer heat and the romance it often spawns or dismantles, it starts off as a slow meandering number only to explode in explosions of crashing drums, bursts of guitar and gutting bass. The overall attitude also takes a sharp turn from what seems like despair to utter contempt and indifference. This is what makes "Natural Blues" the natural antidote: it's a crunchy and bluesy number that packs enough volume to render the nearest hearing aid useless. The lyrics revolve around a natural feeling of highs in the face of turmoil only to dip and call upon artificial highs to remedy the problem. If this isn't the classic idea of Rock 'N' Roll then I don't know what is but I can't for the life of me deny this because to me, this is the real deal reincarnated in the midst of a nation and economy that both need a kick of adrenaline to the ass. And while I'll admit a great deal of what's cranked out today is in some form or another part of the revivalist trend that we've been weathering for the better part of a decade now, I'm not above that admitting that a lot of it can be pretty damn enjoyable and I'd go even further to say that if this is as good as it's going to get for now? Fine by me, because at least it has some gut and it rocks..

Site

Label

BRAIDS - Native Speaker (2011 Kanine Records)

2011-09-01T21:56:00.000-07:00

Native Speaker in many ways seems like the perfect soundtrack to a particularly warm Spring or balmy Summer night. The kind of soundtrack you put on at a subtle volume on repeat and allow yourself to drift off to and when the heat seeps into your subconscious and begins to influence your dreams with fractured images and nonsensical dialogue, this is the music that will be also be seeping in and further influencing the disjointed picture show until you're jolted awake in the midst of soaked sheets and confusion. This is my interpretation as to why so many have labeled the music "dream-pop" amongst other tags (avant-pop is probably one of my favorites.) Regardless though, this is pop music but not in the conventional sense. More or less this is pop that's been inverted and contorted, it's basic formula warped and molded into something that could best be described as a twisted beauty. Braids is the Monteral based quartet responsible for the blissful mess. The band self produced their debut solely for the sake of creative control. That alone is an ambitious move for a young group on their first proper outing, but it's safe to say it paid off in many ways. Often drawing comparisons to similar minded groups such as Animal Collective and Gang Gang Dance, the band creates atmospheric pop with thick layers of endless loops and glazed keyboards, fragments of guitar and jagged percussion. Raphaelle Standell-Preston utilizes her vocals in the same manner that her bandmates use their equipment; rather than merely reciting lyrics she bends notes, shifts pitches and staggers somewhere between an unsettling but soothing cooing and animalistic highs, it's no surprise that Elisabeth Fraiser (Cocteau Twins) and Bjork are just some of the few she's drawn comparisons to. Further more her subject matter is often delivered in the guises of stained innuendos or soiled metaphors which means her musings over the coming of age and making transition from school to band life or the discovery of sex and relationships and the politics that often intertwine both never comes across as tired rhetoric.

"Plath Heart" serves as the best example of the balancing act between the surreal soundscapes created by the band and Standell-Prestons blunt imagery: various loops are employed to create a lush atmosphere and symphonic feel while the driving tribal percussion easily (for me at least) recalls Stephen Morris during Joy Division's peak moments. Standell-Preston's vocals soar and coo with a slightly uneasy tone as she mulls over the basic principles of sex "when you scold me/leads me to implore the/golden hole which was/surely given to make/beautiful children/and push and push and push/and out slides the golden baby." By contrast "Glass Deer" may seem like a far more serene moment musically even with Standell-Preston declaring "I'm fucked up" on the songs quiet refrain. Aside from the slightly louder chorus, it's mainly slowly drawn out loops and fragments of guitar which create a shimmering and expansive feel, the percussion limited to tom toms, hi-hat crashes and symbols. That song overall showcases the bands five years of hard work paying off in their ability to control and maintain momentum; they slowly build and stretch out when they want to, never seeming in much of a rush at times and as a result the album doesn't dip in the middle nor run out of steam as it reaches the end. Next to last is "Same Mum" which is built off of tribal styled percussion once again, deep throbbing base and haunting loops that flicker and swim in a tight formation around the Standell-Prestions echoed vocals. Naturally drawbacks come with this sort of approach: the vocals can be grating early on due to their odd pitches and tones, there aren't immediate "hooks" or "choruses" which lend themselves to stereotypical "anthemic" moments but honestly who cares? At its core it's still pop, it's just been turned inside out which makes it far more interesting.

Site

Label

Strange Talk - Strange Talk EP (2011 Neon Gold/Sony Music Entertainment Australia)

2011-08-29T19:32:00.000-07:00

In keeping with my long standing tradition of often being oblivious to certain things around me, I'm probably one of the last to be let in on the fact that Australia (Melbourne in particular) seems to have its fair share of elation when comes to Electropop flavored music. Granted that particular brand is as ubiquitous as a tropical virus vacationing from coast to coast, but give such acts as Cut Copy or even Miami Horror a few spins and you'll hopefully see where I'm going with this. Where the former is more rooted in Rock fused with Electropop elements, the latter is grounded in more of a retro setting, blending House and Disco into a heady mix. Each share a particularly infectious element that permeates much of the music and it's no exception with Strange Talk. The Melbourne quartet debuted with a four track EP last April and have already earned a considerable amount of buzz and with good reason. Building off of steady and floor ready beats, the band piles on layers of fluttering and bursting synthesizers, harmonious vocals capable of capturing a single moment of euphoric bliss and raising it to almost unbearable heights and bass that's often gritty as it is funky, settling deep within the mix and subconsciously pushing the rhythm along at the pace of an elevated pulse. Both "Climbing Walls" and "Eskimo Boy" open the EP and if this were nothing more than a single and it's b-side, it would still be just as much of an explosive joy to revel in as is the entire EP. The former is pretty much a ready made anthem that bears a resemblance to Phoenix from its nostalgic sing-a-long hooks to its joyous blend of slightly jagged Rock and bubbling Electronic flourishes while the latter is a mid-tempo thumper steeped in static bass, thick beats and flashes of synthesizers. Having two songwriters at the heart of the group also plays a major role: Vocalist Stephen Docker (a classically trained violinist) and producer/DJ turned bassist Gerard Sidhu manage to find a way to balance their dualities early on and within the lean fifteen minutes of the EP manage to flesh out tracks that are tightly wound pop gems with just enough grit to cut loose on the dancefloor. It'll be interesting to see how they fair when stretching their next offering out a few extra tracks, they could either sink in euphoric overload or completely take us by surprise. Either way, I'm digging this one.

You can find Strange Talk here and label info here

DJC-Kay - Smooth Drum & Bass Grooves Part 3 (2011 Self Released)

2011-08-28T23:08:00.000-07:00

Merging onto the exit towards the main boulevard and venturing into the city's endless stream of lights and deep into the night, Chapter 3 steers us away from the jazzy vibes of Chapter 2 and into a more soulful direction. For this mix our selector dug through his crates and picked eight cuts of Liquid Funk bliss all of which are dripping with touches of soulful vibes and chugging beats that capture the pulse of the city late at night. Bcee's "Cultural Shift" is one of those records that manages to capture the panoramic view of brightly lit marquees, the sound of cars speeding by and the low hum of conversations filling the air. It isn't driven by the beat so much as it's guided, the silky vocals wrapping around the minimal backing further enhance the mood, giving the feeling of a single euphoric moment suspended in time. From there "Catch the Beat" by Intelligent Manners/Command Strange immediately follows and is flavored by samples of piano and organ giving a kind of funky/soul feel to the shuffling beats. Loadstar's "Blvd." is probably one of the "deepest" cuts here in terms of soulful vibes; the vocals practically soar over the beats and thick bass, almost overwhelming it with pools of emotion. It's one of those cuts that bring to mind the sun rising over a tired city and tired soul as one is retreating to their flat, exhausted from the trials and tribulations of the night before which never felt as if it would end. Closing the set out (as he always does) our selector manages to save the best for last, turning once again to a Nu:Tone cut. Featuring Westbeech on vocals, "The Feeling" is aptly named and more than anything reinforces those final moments as the sky begins to show the first signs of a new day beginning as the car speeds off, back on the freeway and back home to contemplate both what happened and what should have happened. On a metaphorical level, our emotional highways are no different than the physical ones: seemingly endless and complicated no matter how well we think we have them figured out. Chapter 4 coming in two weeks.

Check out the mix below and find DJC-Kay here and here

Smooth Drum & Bass Grooves Pt.3 from DJC-kay at Letsmix.com.

Washed Out - Within and Without (2011 Sub Pop/Weird World Records)

2011-08-24T20:39:00.000-07:00

Chillwave is most likely destined to be remembered as more or less the equivalent of a bad punchline to an equally bad joke than it is a ridiculous sounding genre label. Much like the fate Disco suffered nearly three decades ago, Chillwave has suffered from as much backlash as it has support from the time both the term and the music it supposedly represented came to be (except there's been no record burning parties or" Chillwave Sucks" tee-shirts that I know of). Furthermore everyone from journalists and pundits to some of the artists lumped into the label have questioned its validity and what (if any) parameters define it: Electro-Pop nostalgia, wispy vocals, minimal backings via laptops, presets and loops and almost no guitar present. In short it's basically blissed out, low fidelity, electronic tinged pop music, which hardly makes much of an argument as a genre label. Still though, it's convenient to use in certain instances as are most genre labels be it appropriate or not. The backlash itself seems slightly unfair though considering if you strip away the stereotypes and the ubiquitous hipsters clinging to it, you're left with a type of music that can be compelling as it is unintrusive in the span of a single song and even be down right pleasant. That alone could easily sum up some the basis of Washed Out's (Ernest Greene) proper full length. Coming two years after the genre exploded then seemingly petered out on a more massive scale, "Within and Without" could be looked at as either a "too little too late" effort or as a loving if not minute document capturing a brief albeit bright spot in the caverns of music some two summers ago (man that was a hazy one for me.) Add to that some of the other big players of the genre such as Memory Tapes or Toro Y Moi releasing follow ups that either floundered or made a seismic effort to distance themselves from the gaudy tag and what Greene has done in hindsight probably makes more sense. For all intent and purposes his "Life of Leisure"EP captured the essence of two summers ago in the span of six hazy and groove ridden tracks. Essentially built from a laptop and an arsenal of presets and software, the EP glistened with both euphoria a carefree spirit, as if more concerned with capturing and reveling in a moment than worrying about worldly concerns beyond the bon fire.

So it comes as no surprise that he chose to build off of the promise of that EP and it's even less surprising he decided to change his approach in creating the music to flesh his proper album out. What does come as a pleasant surprise though is the end result: by adding Ben Allen (whose worked with Animal Collective) to help manage production and incorporating actual instruments into the thick haze of samples and presets, Greene manages to push his music into more convincing emotional territory and better capturing the essence of it while still retaining plenty of the dreamy atmosphere of his previous releases. It doesn't hurt that his vocals are on a different level this time around. No he hasn't fallen in love with auto-tune or vocoders but instead he's let his naturally pastoral voice blend within the atmosphere of the songs, often echoed and track he sometimes sounds as if he's chanting from within a nearby cavern. To his credit Allen's production fleshes out the organic with the electronic and blends them seamlessly to create something both subtle and interesting: drums thump with greater depth, the synthesizers glisten even more than before and there's some tasty basslines weaving in and out of several of the songs to further push them along. Though nothing here may have the same dirty and danceable groove as "Feel It All Around" there are still plenty of tracks here with irresistible charm on a more subdued level. Take the beat on "Eyes Be Closed" for example: it thumps along at a chug-alug- pace but enough to keep the head nodding while the senses are blinded with shimmering synthesizers and Greene's semi-otherworldly vocals all of which crescendo into a bursting of synthesizers and ethereal vocals while managing to capture that peak euphoric moment of stealing away to some sunny get away while witnessing the sun rising over the city in which you keep your fondest memories buried deep.

If Chillwave lends itself to bad puns, then the album art chosen for "Within and Without" shouldn't be spared either. The picture of the bare backed man within the embrace of a presumably nude woman lends itself to jokes about it being more appropriate as a semi-racy ad for Banana Republic's "End of Summer clearance" sales than an album cover. A funny bit of irony (at least to me) about that is that it does in many ways preview the music within: it's slightly provocative on emotional terms yet its pastoral and charming all at the same time. If that be the case, "You and I" probably captures those sentiments perfectly. Built around what sounds like a watered down Hip-Hop beat, a murky but clearly funky bass line wraps itself around the song along with clipped samples of what sounds like female vocals. Chairlift's Caroline Polachek makes a cameo at the end with a spoken word piece that's both slightly chilling and seductive and at the heart is Greene's vocals which leave a sense of regret and longing in the air. Even if the lyrics don't immediately surface it shouldn't really matter, Greene has learned how to use his vocals more effectively as an instrument rather as a separate being and time and again it's his tones and phrasings that do more to conjure and capture emotion than any group of words he may be reciting, such is the case with "Before." It's driven by a Trip-Hop flavored beat along with warm synthesizers, lush effects and a clipped sample of a woman's voice looped throughout the track. What's she's saying is beyond me, but it's the underlying effect of both that clip and Greene's emotionally haunting vocals that manage to make a simple track evoke almost overwhelming emotions, a mixture of euphoria and knowing sadness. It's that overwhelming moment of euphoria that his previous EP only hinted at and I'd like to think is the basic principle of the "genre." At its worst it can come across as maybe too bland or pastel to really leave much of an impression but at its best music like this is able to capture just enough of the minds attention to warrant repeated listens while fading harmlessly into the background without leaving much of a ripple. I'm okay with this; bad puns and stereotypes aside, I don't mind music that can stir me enough to want more but feel okay with putting it away when I want to. it's an ideal balance and ideal music for watching Summer quietly give way to Fall.

Site
Labels:Subpop Weird World

Chiquita y Chatarra - "Animal de Amor" (2011 Discos Humeantes)

2011-08-21T19:08:00.000-07:00

Suppose Chiquita Y Chatarra had existed some forty years ago during the frenzy of what many now called "Garage-Rock" instead of in the past couple of years. Most likely two or three of their cuts would be etched in the grooves of compilations such as the incredible bootleg series "Girls in the Garage" to the more easily found and equally incredible "Nuggets" series or even some of Rhino Records amazing girl groups box sets. While that may come across as an easy cliche, it's not without some degree of validity. Amelia Díaz Duarte and Patricia Àlvarez Alonso crank out the type of music that summons the raucous spirit of Garage and Psychedelic with doses of Surf with Punk's loose attitude. Naturally there's nothing "new" to dig up here, no Earth shattering revelations or musical super novas but that shouldn't negate the music to any degree. Much like the bands that came before and like their peers, the girls perfectly capture what made Rock 'n' Roll so infectious to begin with: raw simplicity and fun. There's no didactic proclamations or subliminal poetry to digest, both lyrics and vocals are slightly eccentric, irreverent and even if they do seem sincere at times it still comes across with more of a playful sneer if anything. "Oh Cherry, Cherry" stands out as one of those rare moments on the album. The bass line itself pays homage to the golden era of Girl Group harmonies as do the sloppy but spirited background harmonies. "Naked on the Beach" on the other hand could have been one of those "classic" compilation cuts from decades ago, it's also one of those cuts that could have even been slipped into the soundtrack of some cult classic or "B" movie. Building from a snaking, surf-like bass line and stomping beat it explodes into gritty guitars and wide eyed vocals. Throughout the production is often as raw as the music itself, lending to the feeling of actually being cut in the garage on a lazy summer day in Spain while knocking back a few cold ones and running through the setlist on a whim in one take with equal amounts of guts and heart. A couple of the songs such as "Mami Mami" cut short as if the tape suddenly runs out. By far it's probably the most explosive track on here with a tom-tom driven beat chugging along with explosive force augmented with bursts of tambourine claps. The guitar relentlessly churns out a redundant buzz saw riff with an almost dizzying effect and Alonso's all Spanish singing sounds just as menacing amidst the chaos. No there may be no defined "purpose" behind any of it except to "rock" with few pretensions as possible except for the obvious fact it's revisionism to some extent (but that honestly is moot) which shouldn't tarnish the fact this is a damn fun Rock record. Speaking of which, you can check out the album below, spread it like a viral infection and maybe buy it as well.

Site

Label

&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;lt&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;;a &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;href&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;="http://&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;discoshumeantes&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;.&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;bandcamp&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;.com/album/&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;chiquita&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;-y-&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;chatarra&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;-animal-&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;de&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;-&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;amor&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Chiquita y &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Chatarra&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot;Animal &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;de&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Amor&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot; by &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;DHR&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;-019&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;lt&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;

John Maus - We Must Become The Pitiless Censors Of Ourselves (2011 Ribbon/Upset the Rhythm)

2011-08-18T16:18:00.000-07:00

Taken at face value, it's almost too easy to want to file the music John Maus creates under "synthpop revival" for a number of reasons: First there was his collaborative work with pop outsider Ariel Pink a decade ago. That association not only left a mark on Maus career-wise but it also sparked a love for pop music. There's his fascination with retro synthesizers (you know, those old dinosaurs with cheesy presets that blip and bloop) and the fact his music is often "minimal" in terms of composition; meaning guitar is all but absent and the bass is left to anchor the songs along with economical drum patterns. Obvious as those points may be, they don't necessarily make for a solid argument and Maus himself has often dismissed the notions, claiming his love for old equipment alone drives his music into the territory it occupies and not fond memories of bad 80's pop. Those claims are just as easy to see though, sharing an equal love of John Cage and experimental music meshed with art, it seems Maus is simply using the tools and the music to color the canvas on his own terms, still though it's hard not to deny that this is very much "outsider" pop. His vocals for instance are a far cry from soothing croons or calculated cool, instead he croons in a baritone so deep it resembles a glacial version of Ian Curtis tucked away deep in a cavern somewhere. Maus also seems to have a penchant for tasteless/quirky humor as highlighted in "Matter of Fact." The lyrics repeat a simple refrain "Pussy is not a matter of fact" on top of synthesizer riffs that sound more suited for a "B" horror picture show than anything else while "Cop Killer" takes his humor into slightly more disturbing places. It's a sparse track in a sense; the synthesizers hollowed and haunting and only adding touches of color in the chorus where they burst and flutter, the drums meander and stutter slightly but never allow the track move beyond the pace of thick fog. Maus's vocals though are far less gloomy and murky, instead more haunted and echoed while he recites lyrics both comical and slightly unsettling "cop killer, let's kill the cops tonight/cop killer, kill every cop in sight." On his two previous albums, Maus attempted the same formula of raw, unflinching humor with slightly horrific overtones only to have those efforts fall short, but here he seems to have finally found a balance for his tendencies and they flourish vividly throughout. One of the more startling moments comes from "Hey Moon." It isn't potty mouthed humor or tasteless joking but rather it's damn near frail and vulnerable. Sharing vocals with Molly Nilsson (who wrote the song) Maus once again restrains his horror styled baritone in favor of a more echoed sound. He sounds at times as if he's hovering within the night sky and looking down upon the waning days of innocence for those still young enough to revel in it. The keyboards sounding more like a gentle piano refrain, the synthesizers stark and sharp, adding an almost winter-like tone in the air.

What's overall stunning about "We Must Become The Pitiless Censors Of Ourselves" is the fact it so brilliantly consolidates Maus's previous uneven attempts into a cohesive and infectious package. Literally lacking any filler, each of the compositions here serves a purpose and creates a mood, punctuates Maus's underlying irony and sarcasm while allowing small tingles of vulnerability to glisten from behind the branches in a dignified manner. It's almost a stereotypical scenario in a way considering his two previous albums more or less introduced his ideas on both sides of the fence, only to have his third album bring them together so brilliantly that you almost wonder if his two previous outings were rough demos (that's not to say they don't have their enjoyable moments) and add to that his crowning achievement: "Believer." This song above all demonstrates what Maus is capable of. It perfectly messes his love for both pop and experimental tendencies perfectly in an almost infectious manner. Maus's humor as well comes in to play, lurking within lyrics that deal with everything from Jackie Chan to Hulk Hogan, communication, angels and arguments. The track is built off of a steady beat that chugs along without changing pace or letting up, the bass throbbing deep and chunky adding further depth. The synthesizers are crystalline and jagged throughout the course of the song and peaking at the chorus with a simple proclamation, "They call me the believer, ah-ah-ah." Church bells burst at the chorus and practically illuminate the track, sending it into a highly emotive moment that's punctuated by both sad nostalgia and unbridled joy.

Depending on how ironic his interviews are, Maus claimed that up until recently he truly felt he was doing nothing more than creating top 40 music until many around him began pointing out the eccentricities of his music. Eccentric or not one thing his clear: at the heart of the blips and bloops, claps and bells, icy vocals and quirky lyrical turns..this very much is pop music rooted in harmonies, choruses and composition. What Maus fleshes it out with is wild eyed flashes of noise, twists and turns and overall quirky brilliance. It may not be for everyone but it's one of those rare times I wouldn't hesitate to shove this into the hands of a friend or even a complete stranger and demand they at least give it one full listen. As summer is waning, it's albums like this that somehow manage to capture the feeling of despair as fall approaches and winter begins to awake. Still though, in an alternate universe, I'd like to think that this really would be top 40 music, that several singles would be plucked from the album and that maybe tracks like "Believer" would have found their way onto at least one John Hughes soundtrack.

Site
Label Info

DJC-Kay - Smooth Drum & Bass Grooves Part 2 (2011 Self Released)

2011-08-14T16:23:00.000-07:00

As promised the next installment of DJC Kay's "Smooth Drum & Bass Grooves." Part two picks up where part one left off but only slightly.Whereas the first chapter focused mainly on the rougher, slightly menancing grooves of older Jungle records paired with the smoother, modern Liquid Funk approach, chapter two focuses more on the jazzier side of Drum & Bass. While this isn't exactly the glory days of LTJ Bukem's "Space-Jazz" or "Drum N Space" mixes via "Progression Sessions" it's still along the same lines. It's a low key mix but not one that's capable of making you nod off so much that it's a beat driven, late night soundtrack that's best ingested somewhere between dusk and dawn for maximum effect. Kicking off with harder edged cuts such as "Nation One" and Lunar Bass" the mix essentnially comes full circle from chapter one but from there gradually fades into a jazzier atmosphere. From there though the mix becomes even more atmospheric and intoxicating, with cuts like "High & Low" being one of the highlights. It's a dreamy track, punctated by a nice piano riff, sampled female harmonies, soulful vocals, low and rumbling bass and a steady beat driving it. One of the best cuts mixed in here though has to be "Is Anybody Out There" courtesy of S.P.Y. and Bcee. Best way to describe this one is "warm." The beats create just enough of a foundation to build the track off of while the bass is thick and fuzzy, weaving in and out. The vocals though slightly treated, are harmonious and memorable and easily create the impression of taking a long drive into the city into the dead of the night only to realize that in the grand scheme of things, you really are miniscule and wondering if there's another heartbeat to reach out and connect with. Bringing chapter 2 to an end is another cut from Lenzman (feat. Riya) and it's pretty easy to see why our selector dropped more than one of his tracks in the mix. Riya's vocals are seductive but angelic, floating effortlessly on top of a jazzy cut. The bass lurking towards the back of the mix but warm and thick, the beats relentlessly steady and touches of piano and effects help to create a late night/moody atmosphere. It's a solid cut to end a solid mix with, one that leaves an impression and also leaves room for wanting more. There's a few more installments to dive into, and in two weeks I'll be posting Part 3, but so far I can easily say this is my favorite mix.

Tracklist for the curious:

1. dRamatic, dbAudio — Nation One - Original Mix

2. Origin Unknown — Lunar Bass - Commix Remix

3. DLR, Ant TC1, Octane — The Jazz Club - Original Mix

4. Redeyes, Lenzman — High & Low - Original Mix

5. Bcee, S.P.Y. — Is Anybody Out There - Original Mix

6. Total Science, Riya — Redlines feat. Riya - Original Mix

7. XRS — Desert - Original Mix

8. Lenzman, Riya — Bittersweet Pt 2 feat Riya - Original Mix

Find DJC-Kay here and here

Smooth Drum & Bass Grooves - Part 2 by DJC-kay

Reggae Legend Jimmy Cliff and Punk Icon Tim Armstrong Collaborate

2011-08-14T13:10:00.000-07:00

Add to the blogosphere yet another spiel in regards to the Jimmy Cliff/Tim Armstrong collaboration. The two have been together in the stuido as of late, adding final touches to an EP that's slated to be released this November. A full length is forth coming and will likely see the light of day sometime next year. One thing I had to take note of is the countless articles branding this an "unlikely pairing" which I find to be ironic to some degree considering that Cliff not only influenced a great deal of Armstrong's work (see Operation Ivy and Rancid circa '96 and beyond) but Armstrong himself has continually sang Cliff's praises throughout his career. Add to that Cliff's connection with The Clash (another Armstrong favorite) on both a personal and professional level and it actually makes further sense. Speaking of The Clash, below is a Cliff's cover of their iconic "Guns of Brixton" with Armstrong manning the boards (he takes the producers chair on this one.) It's a small sample of hopefully even better things to come and in a way it further dillutes the "unlikely" tag so many pundits have been throwing around on their various publications, I suppose it just make for good hipster jargon for their editors. Those of use that still hold a fondness for old dusty Reggae 45's this is bound to be worth the wait.

Guns Of Brixton by JimmyCliffMusic

Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Unknown Mortal Orchestra (2011 Fat Possum/True Panther)

2011-08-11T15:33:00.000-07:00

It's almost tempting to align New Zeland native Ruban Nielson with the legendary Flying Nun Records. The label has cut a thirty year reputation out of championing some of the country's more innovative acts, acts which have dabbled in everything from minimal approaches, to stripped down jagged pop leanings as well as sparse and equally jagged rock as well as punk. And that's where the juxtaposition lies: Nielsen's Unknown Mortal Orchestra project seemingly cherry picks from a variety of sources to create something that in the end is sparse but dense, heavy but always fun. That comparison of course may come off as a slight stereotype but is in no way intended as such, and when listening to the brief half hour offering Nieslon put out recently, it's the various styles and influences meshed together in a raw and giddy psych pop mess that (to me at least) recalls many of Flying Nun's more colorful acts strewn together on a hastily made mix tape to capture the last days of Summer's euphoric warmth.

And that's the majority of the mood that's captured throughout: it's those lazy Summer days where obligations can be shuffled aside and the seemingly endless nights where carefree whims lead to random drives with no destination in sight or merely passing the night away with friends and old records. When Nieslon quietly debuted his project via a bandcamp page last year, "Ffunny Ffriends" was his first offering and in many ways the track serves as not only a preview but a fair representation of what was to come: the shuffled but effortless beats, the high pitched vocals distorted to an almost scratchy quality, guitars that ring clear yet have a murky vibe to them. The pace unfolds slowly, in an almost stoned quality but yet never drags to the point of being boring or flat and the same holds true for "Jello and Juggernauts." The pace is gradual and laid back, the beats even more sparse, the guitars playful and dreamy. Nielson's vocals are slightly twisted, the high pitched tone once again giving a scratchy haze which surprisingly comes across almost more hypnotic than the song itself. Undoubtedly one of the strongest and most enjoyable moments comes from "How Can U Luv Me." The overall sound gives the impression the song is being played at high volume through an old transistor radio. Nielson's high pitched vocals distorted and doubled and this time around they bleed with heavy elements of early 70's soul records. What sounds like hazy old organs adding a touch of warmth amidst the reverbed and hazy guitars, the beat completely danceable and stuttering, sounding almost hollowed out and the real treasure here are lyrics, " How can you love me, when you don't like me baby/How can you look at me and not see the lonely tears." On paper that may stray into slight cheese territory but played at maximum volume it's as soulful as Nieslon's vocals, heart breaking and defiantly joyful, it's one of those really great moments where a simple vision is turned into an equally simple pop song and manages to stretch out beyond its humble beginnings. It's easily one of those songs you bury in the middle of a mixtape and give send to the one you've failed to win over.

To say the music herein has a "vintage" quality is probably stating the obvious more than need be. 60's psych meshed with 70's pop and soul, rock condensed to its purest form, all of which recorded in a basement with what sounds like equipment as olds as the styles its all borrowed from. Still though it's not what the music is made of so much as how it plays out: nothing here comes across as nostalgic revivalism for the sake of irony, and a lot like nerdy white cool guy Beck, Nielson borrows and builds from what he's taken to give his own quirky touch to something old. That's what makes Unknown Mortal Orchestra such a surprising joy, you can pick from them an influence here, a genre there but when listening as a whole, you'd be hard pressed about what came from where, because in the end, it's a blissful ride.

site

true panther/fat possum

SebastiAn - Total (2011 Ed Banger Records)

2011-08-07T16:48:00.000-07:00

SebastiAn's work ethic and quality reflect an ethic that seems to dominate the Ed Banger roster: create and release material that's both solid and fun and being in no rush to do either while partying in overdrive in between times. Like his many of his label mates (Justice and Uffie in particular) he's spent much of the half decade releasing singles, remixes as well as lending his production in various collaborations. And while Justice is just now barely finishing their anticipated follow up four years after their debut galvanized Ed Banger and Uffie's first proper full length fizzled in one dimensional and unfun mediocrity, SebastiAn's debut proves to be a fun if not slightly uneven offering. Much of the sound that dominates the album is often attributed to label mates Justice, but to be fair it's more or less the sound that defines the label in general and one that SebastiAn had just as much of a hand in cultivating as did his prolific label mates. In fact, one of the oldest cuts on the record, "Ross Ross Ross" dates back to 2006, around the time the label was begging to slowly ascended to greater heights. The beats are chunky and fractured, vocal samples chopped and skewed through out, the bass resembling barbed wire at times as it dips. The track itself stands in contrast to current dance trends just enough to stand apart without sounding dated. "Kindercut" is another slab of jagged French electro with hammering beats that bounce all over, sampled voices blended, blurred and tossed together to create a gloriously disoriented feel, one that could easily turn the typical docile dancefloor into a hive of aggressive and kinetic energy. "Motor" stands as another prime example of the Ed Banger "sound" with it' menacing yet driving beats, the looped effects resembling a revving engine that changes pitches as it careens along at increasing velocity. None of which is entirely surprising nor does much to really elevate the material to stand out anymore than some of its best counterparts, but it's fun as hell to get wound up to and at high volume can be maddening in the giddiest of senses.

The stronger moments are unsurprisingly the ones that don't necessarily conform to the jagged/dirty Ed Banger sound but rather it's the songs that take on a more soulful/pop bent while still retaining enough robotic swagger. Take "Love In Motion" as a prime example: the almost robotic rumbling bass while the thick beats with bursts of hand claps resembling small explosions. Throwback soul crooner Mayer Hawthorne belts out a smooth but brilliant performance that's treated to the point of sounding like a distorted sample. Lead single "Embody" recalls the early 80s eletro-funk of Prince with its colorful bursts of snythesiers, rolling mechanical bass and an almost organic sounding beat replete with handclaps to punctuate them while the vocoder vocals are souful, playful and seedy. "Arabest" finds itself nestled somewhere in mid 80's r&b with its slightly processed but smooth vocals and cheese pop keyboard riffs fleshing out the backdrop amidst a functional but catchy beat. This alone stands as a better example of what SebastiAn is capable of when not subscribing to the Ed Banger standards: he clips and blends samples and loops effectively against his tracks to create pop robotic bliss that nestle comfortably in between the edginess of Justice and the nostalgia of Daft Punk without depending too much on either one for focus. In the end, given the album's brevity and at times uneven quality, it still manages to deliver enough solid and fun tracks to be worth picking through.

Site

Label

Tiger & Woods - Through the Green (2011 Running Back Records)

2011-08-01T07:16:00.000-07:00

Over the course of the year, the willfully obscured duo Tiger and Woods have managed to stir up a decent amount of attention within the dance underground with their take on disco infused electro-funk. Thanks in part to a series of white label releases, remixes and DJ gigs, the duo has fast gained a reputation that only continues to grow with the release of their first full length. Through The Green collects previous single releases and meshes them with newer tracks which further builds off of the disco infused robotic funk of their previous releases which displays an almost unhealthy penchant for loops. In fact the duo has made one thing far more clearer than their identities: they love loops and throughout the course of the album it shows.

Loops are normally woven within the fabric of a track to convey or further punctuate a feeling or effect and in some cases they are the sole building blocks off of which a cut is built. Here though they take precedence and are very much in the foreground, with the crisp and thick production of the tracks serving both as anchors and as brief glimpses of relief from the almost redundant effect. Borrowing from everything from the slightly recognizable to the more obscure disco cuts; the duo painstakingly spliced the most pivotal moments out of a sample, those moments on a record where euphoria and emotions peak and collide in a kind of technicolor bliss and spill over onto the dancefloor, making the very moment they are reveling in obsolete to that one peak moment and isolated them perfectly, winding them into an almost impenetrable loop and in turn injected them directly into the heart of the tracks. The effect though isn't entirely that moment that's hinged on euphoria overdrive, more often than not it's an almost Vertigo-like state of mind in which the perpetual motion can lead to sensory overload. Add to that the running time pushing over an hour and tracks that come close to the 8 minute mark each time and it edges itself slightly into redundancy.

Yet at the same time, the approach lends itself to its own unique charm and on several cuts it turns out to be damn near impossible not to like. Take "Time" for instance which is an absolutely floor banger in every right. The track is held solid by a four on the floor, kick in the ass, heart thumping beat. The bass buried deep in the back is dirty and devoid of any human qualities while the sampled loops are wound tightly, spinning incessantly round and round with little reprieve. It's hypnotic as it is terrifying but yet damn funky. "Don't Hesitate" on the other hand is punctuated by bassy synths treated to sound both fuzzy and mechanical. The beat is slightly anemic but sharp while the looped samples add sweet bursts of keyboards and vocals. When the slight break comes at certain points throughout the track, it explodes into another floor stomper. The beat bursts alive with a bit more conviction,driven by an irresistible hi-hat riff with the fuzzed out bass effects taking on a funky attitude. At this juncture, it's tempting to write the music off as slickly and tightly produced disco rehashing but that wouldn't be entirely accurate. Aside from the aforementioned electro-funk influence that permeates more than a few of the cuts, the mid 80's r&b influence comes to to the forefront on cuts like "Curb My Heart." It's a mid tempo number with no danger of breaking a sweat or raising a pulse. Instead it's a comfortable groove with a late night vibe, the beats processed and sounding like distant, robotic hand claps. Synthesizers bubble and burst, keyboards adding a slightly somber but mainly relaxed feeling. The obscured female vocalist only pushes the track to a more soaring height with here emotive but equally detached delivery. At the risk of sounding as if I'm bandwagoning a bit, I have to admit that the much loved "Gin Nation" is probably one of the highlights of the album for me personally. The track itself is a cheeky re-edit of "Music & Lights by Imagination, and if you aren't familiar, you really need to check it out. The duo's take on the cut is playful but not to the point of saturating the intent of the original. The mid temp beat and laid back feeling are fully intact with only the lyrical content slightly contorted in an amusing manner.

Even if the looping seems overbearing after so long, one thing is clear: Tiger and Woods have apparently perfected the fine art of extracting the most crucial moment out of a cut, looping it into a frenzy then playing the hell out of it. It's very much an obsessive celebration of the most joyful moments found hidden in a record and on their own album, they're more than eager to share it over and over. This kind of record may not exactly exude a re-playable quality but it should be noted that on repeated listens, more than a handful of tracks boast enough subtle qualities that set them apart from one dimensional categorization and wind up yielding interesting little treasures. The kind of jubilation exuded here should be appreciated to some extent at least and overall, it's a hell of a fun record to spin on a proper sounding system just as the sun is dipping.

Find Tiger & Woods here
Visit the label here and check out their other artists

DJC-Kay - Smooth Drum & Bass Grooves Part 1 (2011 Self Released)

2011-07-31T21:19:00.000-07:00

In the increasingly fast paced world in which technology is more and more heavily relied upon, we often find ourselves connecting and sharing with others, even going so far as to forge friendships with having never sat physically in the same room with them. It's an odd phenomenon to be certain but one that seems more and more common place in the digital age and sometimes it can yield a great many things. We find ourselves transcending conventional barriers and in turn sharing with one another things that color our everyday lives. Music in general is one such facet that continually thrives and grows with perpetual changes. Music is often a source to connect those separated almost globally at times, serving as a universal theme and common ground. Such is the case with DJC Kay. Though as I sit hammering this out I can't say I know him on a personal level. We have exchanged some decent conversation and in turn have connected over a love of Drum 'N' Bass and this is one of many things that I dig about the guy: good vibes and a deep passion for music. It doesn't merely serve as background noise to fill out his every day obligations, it's very much a part of the core of who he is and that translates into the mixes in which he's unleashing.

Starting with the first of many mixes, Smooth Drum & Bass Grooves Part 1 came to life from both curiosity over the latest cuts been banged out as well as the desire to impress a girl (mission successful I hope?) Being it's one of many chapters being laid out, it plays out more like a sampler at a mere 8 tracks. The emotional landscape is fleshed out early on with gritty, late night jagged grooves which give the impression of driving through a sleeping industrial area in the dead of night while en route to a late night rendezvous. Some of the more intense cuts range from the opener "Don't Look Down" by Calyx, TeeBee, Break to "The John Wilson Project" by Raiden and Meth. The first half is perfectly balanced out by sinister, late night vibes gradually working into a more chilled and emotive atmosphere starting with "Last Night" by Brookes Brothers. It's a modern day liquid funk banger that sets the tone for the possibilities late nights within dimly lit clubs or outdoor festivals hold. Another cut I honestly have to say that feels classic in terms of liquid funk would be "By Your Side" S.P.Y. The vocals an almost frustrated plea to be by the side of the object of desire, it's honestly a damn perfect musical message to send to someone when stumbling over your own words isn't going to cut it. The mix winds down with intense emotion and plenty of vocal cuts, setting up for the next wave of emotions in an ever grown saga. Grab this mix and be sure to follow our selector on both Twitter and Facebook and stay tuned, every two weeks I'll be doing my best to bring you another chapter.

Facebook

Twitter

Smooth Drum & Bass Grooves - Part 1 by DJC-kay

Matana Roberts - COIN COIN Chapter One: Gens de couleur libres (2011 Constellation Records)

2011-07-26T22:20:00.000-07:00

Chicago native Matana Roberts recently caught my attention with her potent style of Sax playing. At her most fierce she recalls the ghosts of such Free-Jazz greats as Albert Ayler and Archie Shepp with a slight pinch of Coltrane for good measure. Far beyond a mere emulating force in the modern Jazz world, Roberts has grown and moved throughout the ranks of her career, striving to find her own ground in terms of being both a composer and performer and on her latest album, "Coin Coin Chapter One: Gens de Couleur Libres" it seem she may very well have come into her own and in the process managed to lay down what could very well be one of the many essential Jazz releases of the year. I know, statements like that not only carry a degree of cliche to them, a kind of safe coloring within the lines of writing for those hopped up on the idea of "writing" about music that's moved them to the very edges of their psyche and pulled them back with the force of whiplash, or for those engrossed to fully in creative writing literature while perched upon a soapbox donning a black berret and turtle neck. Still though, at certain times terms such as those do serve a purpose beyond the expected eye candy that one comes to expect from overly facetious musings and in this particular case: I fully feel it's justifiable.

For one: Roberts isn't merely another modern day Jazz composer retracing the steps of influence past as I had just mentioned. She's crossed boundaries that have found her jamming with both Godspeed You! Black Emperor as well as Tortoise, demonstrating her willingness to continual push the often staunch borders, a trend that seems more commonplace in the past few years. Another point to take into consideration is the broad, ambitious scope of "Coin Coin." More than merely a song cycle loosely based on the African condition dating clear back to the late 1700's it's chapter one in what Roberts hopes to be a 12 chapter musical saga retracing the roots and struggles of Africans hundreds of years back. The mere thought of a conceptual music piece that expansive and far reaching may seem slightly indulgent in some context if not overreaching but if one allows "Coin Coin" the chance to sink in over repeated listens, it's pretty clear that Roberts may not only KNOW what she's doing, she may damn well succeed in fleshing out the entire concept and if so, I can't help but wonder if Roger Waters will be signing on as bassist and co-writer.

Using legendary free woman Marie Thérèse Metoyer as a basis of inspiration, the album delves deep into both the mind and soul of a young slave woman who recalls her life at various points, recounting the experiences of her struggles to maintain a sense of self while striving to become something more than a glorified dog at the heels of soulless "masters" and in turn blaze a path for those that come after her in hopes they may amount to something more than her. This isn't exactly a straight forward narrative or a tightly wound conceptual piece and the memories and stories laid out are often offered in bits and pieces that often side step chronological order. This however is one of the many strengths that help give a sense of realism to the concept; the vision of such stories and memories this colorful and deep being offered in a less than cohesive and often scattered manner recall an older relative in their final years reflecting on their life with the younger generation perched at their feet comes to mind.

Another strong point is the 15 member ensemble that Roberts assembled for the project. throughout the course of the record the crew manages to not only capture the emotion Roberts intended to convey, they often elevate it to almost unnerving heights and manage to capture the despair, the ugliness, the humiliation and the utter terror without pushing the music over into completely alienating territories. Take the opening piece "Rise" for instance. It's a blistering Free-Jazz number replete with Saxophones that sound more like anamalistic cries of despair at times with the band interjecting with bursts of pounding keys, rolling drums and deep bass with warped guitars adding to the unsettling textures. From there the song bleeds into "Pov Piti" the first of many spoken numbers in which Roberts truly shines. Her vocals at times reaching the heights of throat shredding cries (recalling some of Yoko Ono's more challenging work) it's a wide eyed cry birthed from the most deepest pits of despair a human can harbor. Her vocals taking on an accented tone as she recalls (at 16 years of age) being born into slavery, her parents succumbing to yellow fever, and the cutting of her mother's womb in a desperate attempt to save unborn siblings. Do I need to lay out this much detail? Probably not but after sinking into this over and over again, the images are embedded so deeply in my psyche, it's almost an act of purging to pour all of this out. It's a powerful number in which the band creates a swaying and haunting atmosphere.

From there "Kersalia" resumes the narrative, the now 25 year old woman struggling with her bodies instincts vs. the laws working against her as she notices a man eyeing her over. The internal struggle of morality vs. submission is both compelling as it is frustrating. The ensemble create an incredibly haunting number once again, the backing vocals sounding nearly otherworldly, the horns cutting the atmosphere with bright but powerful notes that only add to the underlying despair welling to the surface at an almost frantic pace. It's toward the end though where the piece takes a twisted turn as the ensemble breaks into a full on Dixieland styled jam, and when taking into account the dialogue laid out just before, it's as funny as it is down right disturbing and brings to mind a warm Summer's night of careless fun while a young slave woman is forced behind a barn and reduced to performing sexual acts against her will, left to lay in the dirt abused and tattered while the band plays on. "libation for Mr. Brown: Bid em in…" immediately follows and is another powerful number of brutal imagery stripped to its bones. The piece is a kind of gospel chant in which Roberts reenacts a slave auction complete with dialogue from the angle of the auctioneer and bidders. When the band gradually works their way into the song, it's a slow, dirty grooving Jazz number that actually simmers down quite a bit of the sting of the blunt imagery of human beings at their lowest and most callous. One of the more stunning aspects though is reserved for the end: "How Much Would You Cost?" is a touching dedication for Robert's mother, written obviously from a fiercely loving heart and considering the heavy hearted tone of the rest of the album, the simplistic beauty of the composition is enough to uncork the tense emotions gathered throughout the course of the album and explode them in a detonation of joyful tears. The track concludes with applause and cheers from those present in the studio and it's one of the few moments I can actually applaud a happy ending with zero cynicism.

The fact an album of this scope manages to work so well is a surprise in itself, but take into consideration it was laid out live in the studio and it only becomes more compelling. Ambitious ides are in no short supply in many areas of artistic expression, music especially. What makes this one particularly unique though is how incredibly raw and sincere it is. There's no accusatory tone nor is there heavy handed sympathy, it's history unfolding in the guise of equally gripping music and is nothing less than essential.

Official Site

Label

Fucked Up - David Comes to Life (2011 Matador Records)

2011-07-18T21:08:00.000-07:00

What started in the mid 70's as a reaction against the stagnant and excessive dinosaur known as Rock 'n' Roll, Punk Rock aimed to reclaim Rock and strip it down to its most essential components while dispensing with the notion that rock "stars" were to be perceived as a golden demigod wanking away on his guitar in an almost perverse manner and in turn pissing out coke driven pseudo-blues or pastoral conceptual pieces that were often beyond the comprehension of the Quaalude fueled zombies on stage. So the idea was pretty simple: minimal chords, heart thumping volume and alcohol soaked tempos with lyrics concerning themselves more with topics relevant to the common bloke, often flippant humor and a healthy dose of shit kicking attitudes. Independent channels were formed as a means of pressing and distributing the music, creating a self sustaining outlet to challenge the complacent and greedy music industry that ruled with an iron fist and for the first couple of years it seemed like was a viable threat. By the decades end however the short lived and spirited movement collapsed under the very excesses it initially rallied against as well as suffering from claustrophobic parameters that stifled any real chance of pushing the music beyond its simple approach.

Call that a skeletal outline of the birthing of Rock 'n' Roll's bastard child but it's hardly the whole story nor the end. If anything that was Chapter One coming to a close and within the next couple of decades or so, the music (and to some degree its ideals) have continued to be a varying degree of influence and there have been a few rare instances where bands working within the confines of Punks' limitations created albums ambitious enough to break the rules and to some extent, rewrite them. A couple of standouts worth mentioning, both of which have stood the test of time and still continue to be vital: Husker Du's seminal Zen Arcade and The Minutemen's Double Nickels on the Dime. Both pushed sonic the boundaries to their limits and exploded them. The former took hardcore and injected doses of melodies and harmonies coupled with painfully personal lyricism while the latter exploded into a kaleidoscope of jazz, funk and Latin (just to name a few) all built on a base of jerky, high velocity punk. The tail end of the 90's brought the equally monumental The Shape of Punk To Come by The Refused just before they imploded in the midst of ugly turmoil and now into the '10s and past the new millenium we can add David Comes To Life as the latest Punk neutron bomb to exploit limitations and liquidate parameters.

So what's entirely noteworthy about a Hardcore/Punk inspired album being released at the dawn of the post millenium '10s when much of the musics influence and momentum were sapped by the 90's trend of Hot Topic approved kiddie Pop-Punk? A hell of a lot to be honest. For one, Fucked Up have worked their asses off the past decade now reclaiming what made that music so valid to begin with, and it's not just the early days of their brutal sonic assaults but their unbridled passion for their beliefs and creations that make their music bleed with utter conviction. In an era where just about anything that seems overly heart felt and/or inspired by throwbacks is deemed "ironic" their music seems only further validated. Furthermore, "David Comes To Life" exploits the world of the often convoluted, glorious mess that's known as the concept album. Call it a hardcore Rock opera, a Punk "Qaudrophenia" or whatever, but what it boils down to is ambition to both breach parameters and expand horizons while touching on the rawest emotions of the human condition.

David Comes To Life is broken into four acts and is primarly centered around the character of David Eliade, a simple man living in the Thatcher era U.K. who leads a relatively complacent life, most of which is pissed away in a soul crushing factory job. David encounters Veronica Boisson (a social activist) outside of the factory as her and a group are handing out pamphlets and David finds himself instantly in love with the wild eyed rebel. The love affair burns bright and winds up short lived due to Veronica's untimely death, and in turn David succumbs to a vacuum of despair, guilt and bitterness. It's one of those losses we've all faced in one degree or another in life (or have yet to seen) where the very fabric of both our faith and resolve are pushed to their limits and in some cases broken to a thousand shards and leaving us to either pick up the pieces of shove them under the carpet and carry on jaded and hollow.

As with many of Rock's most ambitious concept albums, the narrative at times shifts perspectives with David's ex lover Vivian Benson appearing half way into the story to shed some light onto Veronica's death with the help of a absorbed man by the name Octavio St. Laurent who offers further clues and motives. Still though (at least to me at this point) motives and actual details aren't entirely clear and the plot isn't always easy to follow with many questions being left unresolved and some details slightly obscured. The problem doesn't lie in the writing nor the structure, in fact there isn't a problem really. The story is written slightly beyond a linear sense and is layered with twists and turns as well as mystery and enough open ends to draw the listener/reader in repeatedly in an attempt to fill in the gaps. Adding to the gauntlet is the bands muscular and dense backings, which can be slightly daunting after nearly 78 minutes.

The music is very much rooted in hardcore with the guitars jagged and lean, the drums thick and dense and vocalist Pink Eye's (Damian Abraham) vocals resembling jagged pieces of glass tearing against tightly wound flesh. However, the band has grown over the past decade and with each slab of vinyl they've cranked out they've shown signs of progress and David Comes To Life could very well be their apex. Much like Husker Du (Zen Arcade era) the band retain hardcore as their foundation on from there build a structure that's layered with harmonies, melodies and memorable hooks. Take "Queen Of Hearts" for example: the lead single (and first proper song) bursts out of the gate with a mid tempo blast of punk glory, the guitars intertwined and ringing with harmony and thick riffs. Abraham's vocals hoarse with intensity but rather than straight forward hardcore screaming, his vocals instead are conveying emotion as the story begins. Cults member Madeline Follin serves as the angelic foil, playing the role of Veronica in what's probably her most crushingly gorgeous vocals yet. And this is what really sets apart the bands approach from typical hardcore fodder; they work to their strengths and know how to exploit their limitations enough to push for growth rather than overreach. "Running On Nothing" serves as one of many high points where the bands playing steps out of the realm of punk restrictions. The three guitars are layered god knows how many times but the end result is completely moving: the riffs sound damn near "classic" and bring to surface the almost intolerable grief lead character David finds himself in the throws off and Abraham locks in with the band, his strained vocals perfectly capturing the despair and when he spats out lines like "They leave, it hurts, if you see it coming, it's worse. Stiff upper lip as we carry on, let's pretend that this is making us strong. And we can only take so much before our sense of decency is finally crushed and all that's left is a dried out husk with the belief that love isn't going to save us." it's gut wrenching on the deepest level and one of those bleary eyed revelations almost anyone can relate to at one point or another.

It's that human element that overall makes the album succeed as much as it does. The plot, the characters, the settings no matter how hazy any of it may be, boils down to the human condition: love and loss, regret and anger, redemption and rebirth, the questioning of spirituality in ones life as well as in life on a global scale, the questions of God and the role of any God in the time of need of any tiny soul. All of it colors and binds the album together and shines through even the most sub-linear moments. As the album winds down "Life In Paper" distills all of those points in just over four minutes. Questions of trusting an empty sky, a God that seemingly ignores cries of despair and issues of trust burst at once, much like racing thoughts in the moment of loss. It's another solid band performance with the riffs once again having that "classic" kind of shimmer to them, sound both timeless and immediate and Abraham's vocals are both vulnerable and angry, conveying the overwhelming feelings many of us come close to combusting from. In the end though, if the storyline may come across as too tedious or complicated for some to take the time to decipher, there's more than a handful of incredibly solid and memorable cuts fleshing it out and it's one of those great moments where literally everything serves a purpose and not a single cut is comprised of filler. For a band that's been dead set for plotting their own course, breaking with standards and aiming to continually expand, they may have written one of their best records to date and going beyond that? This is possibly one of the best punk records to come along in damn near a decade and one that's bound to live with you for some time to come.

http://www.davidcomestolife.com/

http://www.matadorrecords.com/

Offical band blog

Brookes Brothers - Brookes Brothers (2011 Breakbeat Kaos)

2011-07-07T20:53:00.000-07:00

Spawned from the seed of the UK Breakbeat scene of the late 80's, Drum and Bass quickly mutated into something almost entirely far removed its inital roots and ultimately rose to considerable prominence within the underground dance culture, becoming a considerable muisical force and gaining a degree of mainstream acceptance by the end of th 90's before disintegrating by the new millenium. The musical approach itself was focused on effects and patterns that created often dark and looming atmospheres, creating a tense edge or subtly psychological atmopsheres weaved within dense, syncopated rhythms pieced together from restructered funk breaks and ominous basslines capable of rattling the cerebral cortex loose in a warm and insidous way. As the decaded progressed, the production values and stylistic approaches become more complex and honed and the music as a whole seemed poised to break free from its already increasingly stifling confines into something far more challenging and expiremental but instead waned and quietly burned out int he midst of stagnation and a seemingly collective refusal to push boundaries. And aside from experemintal artists such as Squarepusher and even Bogdan Raczynski (both of whom flirted with a nastier offshoot often referred to as Drill N Bass) the new millennium brought a close to an otherwise promising outlet.

While that may read as some form of an abridged epitaph of a wasted promise and spent creative force, it was hardly the end of the story and within a couple of years time it seemed the music was already experiencing a resurgence of sorts albeit in a slightly altered form. While the basic beats remained nearly the same, it was clear they weren't the driving force of the new style and often served as a platform upon which new producers created tracks full of soulful vocals capturing emotional yearning backed by often dream and hazy backdrops all anchored by a standard beat. The production as well has taken on a slightly new face, feeling more glossed and controlled than its ancestral roots, resulting in a radio friendly and club ready vibe. New names naturally came into play as well, with "Liquid Funk" being a prevalent term to describe the latest off shoot as well, which actually began coming to life as early as the 2000's. Then there's less enthusiastic and often hilarious "Arm chair Drum and Bass" which in itself is a fairly anemic insult adorned to those that claim enthusiasm towards the genre but prefer the more light hearted approach. Still though, it'd be entirely unfair to write off the latest take on the genre as a complete waste, and even if it is fairly lighter in tone and depth, newer producers such as High Contrast and Utah Jazz have each delivered cuts that arguably stand as the best of the best in the new dawn which in turn leads us to Brookes Brothers.

The sibling team of Dan and Phil began cutting their teeth as far back as 2002, releasing a string of well received singles as well as gaining a solid reputation with their production skills which included critically lauded remixes of Shinichi Osawa's cover of Chemical Brothers "Star Guitar" as well as a remix of J Majik & Wickaman’s "Crazy World" which earned them day time radio play and furthered their reputation. However it was their groove laden gem "Tear You Down" (a personal favorite of mine) that elevated them even further with the cut spending 2 weeks at no.1 on the UK dance chart and even 15 weeks in the top 20, proving the new Drum and Bass was speaking a new language and being heard by a broader pair of ears. Last month the duo took the next logical step and finally offered up their first proper full length. The 14 track self titled collection in many ways serves as a small sampler of what the duo has offered up thus far: Controlled and busy beats anchoring a foundation of swirling effects, warm synthesizers and often soulful (both male and female) vocals that aim to create a nostalgic and anthemic atmosphere within the confines of the locomotive shuffle of the grooves with flashes of warm bass rolling throughout. One of the obvious and probably most stellar cuts standing out is "Tear You Down" appearing here in its "2011" form. The track itself invokes the glory of Marcus Intalex's classic "Love and Happiness" in spirit if nothing else. The shuffling beats here allowed to show a bit of their edge as they roll along in a continuous and joyous stomp. The synthesized effects create an atmosphere that's both uplifting and memorable but the vocals are the true driving force with a sample of Gladys Knight and the Pips "If I Were Your Woman" more specifically the refrain "She tears you down Darling/Says you're nothing at all/But I'll pick you up Darling." This is one of those moments when on tape an idea comes to life almost entirely too perfect and manages to capture the perfect balance of both sides of the emotional spectrum and bring them together with an infectious groove.

If the duo were somehow able to capture that single moment of near perfection and multiply it by 14, they either would have created probably one of the most flawless Liquid Funk inspired album of the new dawn or one dimensional cut out of a pristine moment exhausted to its bones, so it's probably for the best that the album displays a bit of unevenness as well as a bit of diversity throughout. Take the opening cut for example: "Beautiful" features one of my all time favorite vocalists Robert Owens. Owens has lent his voice to countless Drum and Bass and House cuts for years and years now and literally anything the man volunteers to croon out almost undoubtedly turns to gold (but that's just my biased opinion though) but ultimately the track falls slightly short. While the beats are propulsive enough, they sound slightly compressed and tamed and the swirling effects and keys create a euphoric enough atmosphere but in the end winds up feeling more club friendly and slightly ironic and the Danny Byrd guest vocals that follow on "Paperchase" fall victim to the same problems. The beats here still sound engaging underneath the gloss and compression, but fall slightly short of really driving the track into unbridled excitement. The vocoder vocals over the symphonic streams and synthesizers are nevertheless a nice touch and add depth to the track, as does the treated and funky bass but in the end it's too restrained to really pop.

The album quickly strikes pay dirt again though in "Souvenir" a track drenched in hazy and dream-like synthesized effects, resembling something that comes from deep within the dreams after a long night/morning in the midst of bliss and good times. This time around the beats not only drive the track but "move" it in a sense, touching slightly on Break-Beat territory but yet finding enough balance not to topple over or become too confrontational. It's another moment where the brothers showcase their production sensibilities in finding the perfect middle ground. As the album progresses further into the middle though, the pace is broken slightly and stylistic approaches change just enough to not only shake things up a bit but also capture the imagination a bit further. The Johnny Osbourne classic "In Your Eyes" is given a slight revamping here, staying fairly true to the original arrangements while being augmented in places with a slight Dubstep styled beat. The brothers manage to add a slight dose of aggression to the groove without disturbing the charm of the original and in the end come up winning once again. "Warcry" delves further into the jungle, with various percussive beats strung together to create a kind of exotic vibe and on top of that, samples of what sounds like didgeridoos pulsing throughout the mix and I can't help but feel the vocals recall some of Underworld's more hypnotic moments. Add to that what sounds like treated guitar, and female vocals blended into the dense atmosphere and the track easily sticks out as one of the most sinister and thrilling cuts offered up. As the album winds down, the tempo steers back into Drum and Bass territory and of the closing cuts, "The Big Blue" stands next to "Tear You Down" as one of the greatest offerings here. Pulsing with adrenaline, irresistible head nodding beats clips of reverberated guitar and computerized vocals, the track is brimming with nostalgia from start to finish, with a mid song clip of a man talking about wasting ones life waiting on what could happen instead of rejoicing over what is happening now. As ironic as that clip may seem considering its placement and the track built around it, it honestly works effectively in injecting a dose of reality to the mind while the heart races to catch up with the beat.

The new era of Liquid Funk and Drum and Bass has naturally polarized many old school fans (I have my grievances as most do I'm sure) but in my old age, I'm willing to find compromise and can readily admit that in the midst of the watered down appropriations, there's some real gems buried beneath it all and worth seeking out. Flaws and all, this is one of those albums worth grabbing and sifting through and in the confines of what it's meant to be? It does the job more than well and is bound to be one of the more lauded albums of the year within its stylistic approach.

Official Site
Label

Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside - Dirty Radio (2011 Partisan Records)

2011-06-27T21:35:00.000-07:00

Tempting as it may seem to put Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside in the same context as other like minded acts that have recently sprung up from the seemingly endless well of the loving revisionist approach, it wouldn't be entirely fair. True the band splices and blends elements of Rock 'n' Roll's halcyon days with slight hints of soul and gritty, bluesy styled vocals (in terms of raw sound, not necessarily aesthetically) and even slight deviations into rockabilly styled romp but all of it is shaped together by a modern swagger and attitude. The playing is lean and frenetic when it needs to be but mellows out when called for and Ford's place as front-woman only adds a dash of both style and flare to the music without going so far over the top that it caves. Still though, I've already heard a handful of divided takes on her slightly quirky vocals. While some appreciate the off kilter but passionate takes, others find it to be slightly grating for their own tastes while others cry foul for the lack of soul or depth. While both sides of the fence obviously have solid points to make, I'm sticking with my gut when I say I find not a damn thing wrong with the woman's pipes and on "Danger" the proof is in the pudding as far as I'm concerned. With an energetic and bouncing beat, strummed guitars that recall rock in its infancy and occasional bursts of deep organ, Ford playfully tells of infatuation with a total stranger while out in public (anyone relate to this?) and here's where the vocals are make or break. Odd phrasings and stutterings along with from the gut wails elevate the song far more than if she were a lush doo wop crooner. it's actually down right fun to here her wallop and wail while declaring an almost instantaneous love for a complete Joe Nobody.

On the other hand, "Poison Milk" not only stands as the "heaviest" tune laid out here but one that fully exploits Ford's jagged, punky blues crooning probably better than anything here. Soulful and dense organ carry the song through out at various points, the drums are crisp and deep, the guitars strummed in a way that recalls some classic 78 in an old jukebox. Ford though pretty much blows the walls down with her delivery which is gutsy and powerful, pushing her vocals to the rough edges. Another element which drives the music is Ford's observational humor and penchant for odd subjects, such as "Thirteen Years Old" which puts Ford behind the eyes of a newly teenaged girl coming to grips with the death of her father, her inability to properly grieve over it and the fear of her youthful life collapsing in the wake of his loss. What's amazing though is how well the song works. The dreamy guitar and brushed drums, touches of organ and cello create a genuinely belivable frail atmosphere.Ford isn't above expressing discontent with her surroundings though, be it modern music in "I Swear" which boasts lines like “What have these people done to music? They just don’t care anymore. They just don’t care anymore” in a rough and sassy tone to "Write Me A Letter" which not only name checks everyone from Jets To Brazil and Joni Mitchell but also bemoans cell phones replacing substantial conversation with complacent function. The hand clapped backing leads into lean drums and clear guitars, and a bass that threatens to cut the song at half at times.

It's an interesting set of songs that balance out humor and sharp observation with equally colorful playing and for a first outing? It's pretty damn impressive to say the least and leaves just enough room for growth and improvement and of course hopefully an even more solid follow up. More than just a novelty act in love with nostalgia, this is a band that's easily headed for better things with each offering.

http://www.sallieford.com/

http://www.partisanrecords.com/

The Men - Leave Home (2011 Sacred Bones Records)

2011-06-18T21:37:00.000-07:00

The Men create thickly woven sonic textures which are bound together by layers of post-punk driven guitars, dense jungles of lethargic jams, thick screeching feed back and molten solos. At times the band launches into near shoe-gaze styled instrumentals only to explode them with shards of guitars peeking in the red, drums pounding relentlessly as if building to an aneurysm and vocals that stagger somewhere in between nearly gentle tones and emotionally crippling screams. On paper that may come across as standard fodder for post millennium bands using punk as a breeding ground to celebrate their countless influences (in the case of The Men, they hail from New York, which is ripe with heavy music history) but instead they manage to capture the essence of those that laid the foundation for them and mold it into something that's both terrifying and their own.

"Leave Home" is the kind of record that implodes with an inferno from the gut and bursts of lightning from the groin, yet there's a kind of an expressionistic quality lurking within the confines of the album in terms of the emotional current which drives and threatens to overload the circuit at any given moment. The scope of the emotions give a kind of cinematic feel to the album as a whole, a kind of monochromatic psychological documentary shot with a super 8mm camera placed deep in the heart of a troubled mind on the verge of collapse. Take for instance "If You Leave..." the song builds gradually and slowly from shimmering effects to a white noise/shoe gaze styled jam with the guitars bristling bright, creating a moody and tense atmosphere only to switch tempo into a relentless pounding of drums only to switch back again. "die..I would die" can be heard chanted just beneath the wall of noise and it sounds like a tired and almost defeated plea.

The band manages to stray slightly into "gentle" territory in the form of "Shittin' With The Shah." The title alone slightly recalls an old Butthole Surfers song but the major difference here is texture and tones. The build up is once again gradual with the guitars interlocking in webs of feedback, plucked notes and a slightly fractured drum pattern only to change half way into a damn near joyous explosion of catchy riffs and a giddy pace. It's fuzzed out punk and noise colliding in the midst of a concrete dance floor on a happily wasted night. Mid way through the album the pace comes to nearly a screeching halt with the centerpiece "L.A.D.O.C.H" The six minute jam crawls at a lethargic pace, the drums marching at a funeral procession pace, resembling random explosions of bombs, the guitars reaching peeks of what sounds like radio frequencies to whines and slashes of notes falling to the floor and cutting pieces of the asphalt out. The vocals are barley distinguishable and at times recall Gibby Haynes during Butthole Surfers peak years but the most important line comes through clearly each time "The bringer of everything/nothing is here to stay" The track manages to straddle the line of absurdity and utter terror in the same manner that Suicide's classic "Frankie Teardrop" did a little over three decades ago and is pretty much the second most intense cut here second to "Bataille." Harnessing the unbridled energy of New York's punk and post punk past, it's one of the more obvious cuts on here that lends itself to melody and hooks. The guitars are memorable and driving, the drums pounding along in a mid tempo punk styled beat that's dense to the bone. The vocals vaguely (at least to me) recall Dead Boys legendary lead man Stiv Bators. It's probably one of the more digestible cuts on here and easily one that should be bleeding into the airwaves of any decent radio stations. As bruising as it may seem to jam this one relentlessly, it's worth it. Repeated listens yield repeated discoveries and in the end it proves to be a sturdy and multi-dimensional album that kicks a good amount of adrenaline back into the ass of rock and roll.

the band
the label

Peaking Lights - The Minimal Beat Mixtape Series (2011)

2011-06-12T19:30:00.000-07:00

Wisconsin duo Peaking Lights (Aaron and Indra) create the type of soundscapes that feel as if they've been washed ashore on a lazy and sunny day. The music is built around feedback and tapeloops with touches of electronic effects, vocals that resemble either a choir or an ancient mantra with hints of organ and bass so thick and murky at times it sounds as if it's pushing into the red. World music influences often color the landscapes of their creations and the end result is a kind of psychedelic-pop/dub conglomeration that floats by gently, rarely disturbing its surroundings but yet managing to still entrancing and capable of evoking feelings of euphoria via pharmaceutical intakes. Blending multi-regional influences into that type of pastoral pop no doubt lends itself to criticisms of being "ironic" but I'm inclined to believe their love of such records are genuine, and it especially shows in the mixtape they created for The Minimal Beat mixtape series.

Spanning 16 records in just under an hour, the tape perfectly showcases the duos eclectic influence put together in a loving and crude manner (hey alot of these are vinyl rips that crackle and hiss and even skip.) Touching on Afro-beat and jazz, Turkish, psychedelic, and funky dance styled grooves to name a few, the tape (at least in my mind) perfectly captures the essence of hot summer days and long summer nights regardless of surroundings. Take for instance 70's experimental Swedish band Archimedes Badkar. Known for blending elements of folk, jazz and ethnic music; the band collaborated with Afro-beat greats Africa 70 (known for their work with Fela Kuti) and the end result "Kila Mtu" is both rich and colorful. Soaring brass and steel drummed percussion push the groove into danceable territory while the tight riffs and funky beat create a solid foundation with explosions of bells surfacing from time to time. The vocals capture the essence of some of Kuti's great works, highlight everything that's beyond great about Afro-beat in general. From there Brazilian jazz guitarist Luis Bonfa electrifies with his cut "Apache Talk." The beat resembles more or less the shuffle of a locomotive, the guitars spilling over in a kind of psychedelic rock/jazz convulsion while brass cuts in and out pushing the mix to greater heights. From there the vibe deviates into funk/disco territory courtesy of Bohannon's banger "Make Your Body Move." The beat is a classic stomper,augmented by the sound of handclaps with a driving organ riff that pushes emotion onto the dance floor and the vocals of course are nothing less than classic 70's smooth while David Axelord's "Leading Citizen" is a classic slab of psychedelic/jazz infusion driven by an incredibly tight but rich groove, funky thick bass and wah wah treated jazz riffs. As compelling as those cuts may be, they aren't the only gems buried within the mix. Literally every cut on here is some sort of lost classic rich in it's own history or cultural significance and the end result is again one of the most perfect summer mixtapes I've heard so far.

You can get the tape here for free and check out the rest of what The Minimal Beat is doing. Below are a few highlights. Enjoy.

The Rapture - “How Deep Is Your Love?” (2011 DFA Records)

2011-06-10T20:36:00.000-07:00

So The Rapture are back..in more than one way. Not only are the band set to release their first new full length in nearly five years this September (entitled "In the Grace of Your Love") but the they've also made a return to DFA records after a near decade absence. The band had its initial start with the blazing "House of Jealous Lovers" clear back in 2002 which was produced by The DFA..in many ways both parties took their first formal steps at that moment and the single went on to sell 7,500 copies, making a name for both DFA and the band themselves and in turn further galvanizing the already frantically blooming dance-punk craze. Coming full circle in a way, “How Deep Is Your Love?” (no..not the Bee Gees track) recaptures the often frenetic and spirited vibe of their celebrated and frankly amazing 2003 debut "Echoes." A simple and melodic piano riff carries the song throughout along with a heart thumping beat and handclaps. Luke Jenner's vocals still sound both haunting and nervous, in a way recalling at David Byrne's quirky vocal deliveries from his days in Talking Heads. There's a break in the song where Jenner and the persistent piano riffs take over for a brief moment and when the rest of the band kicks back in full force without messing a step, the rest of the song is slashed and smeared with a soulful and nervous sax bit that almost brings to mind humid summer nights amidst the brightly lit New York skyscrapers as Friday slowly awakens and signals the start of another hazy weekend.

The album is slated for release September 6th but in the mean time you can pre-order the single here or grab a copy from the dfawebstore when it becomes available. Only 600 copies are being pressed so grab it while you can and enjoy it below deep in the DFA office complete with disco ball and dimmed lights.
Thank you DFA and The Fader.

DFA White Out Sessions - How Deep Is Your Love? by The Rapture from DFA Records on Vimeo.

Gil Scott-Heron - April 1, 1949 – May 27, 2011

2011-05-31T22:49:00.000-07:00

Last Friday marked the beginning of the three day tour de force known as Memorial Day Weekend. For some that meant time off and time out, time for reflection, time for gratitude and time for remembrance. For others of course it marked the beginning of three days crowded streets, asphyxiated highways crammed with trucks, trailers and RVs. It marked travel destinations to unwind, overindulge and tune out. In the midst of the frenzy a cultural and musical icon passed away quietly late afternoon amidst the warmth, piercing sun and the hustle in a hospital bed in New York City's St. Luke's Hospital. Gil Scott-Heron was 62 and died of undisclosed causes, he had recently returned from a European trip and fell ill (Scott-Heron had also been HIV positive for several years and had been hospitalized for a time with pneumonia.)

Scott-Heron had a unique ability to blend spoken word poetry with sparse, often percussive driven backings to being able to soulfully croon amidst music combining elements of jazz, soul, funk and even reggae. His topics mainly rooted in social and political concerns combined with razor sharp wit, dark humor and unapologetic, brutal honest went on to influence R&B, jazz and has been cited as a major inspiration in the development of hip hop and rap (often referred to as the "Godfather" of rap, Heron was often indifferent of the music and his influence itself often referring to himself as a "Bluesologist.) His most well known composition, "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" was a bare bones and jagged attack on the media, it's role in the social and political realms of society. The poem was a part of his 1970 live debut, "Small Talk at 125th and Lenox" Still highly praised today, the album was a dense, percussive driven album in which Scott-Heron recited his politically and socially charged poems with conviction, cutting observations and dark humor.

Throughout the remainder of the decade, Scott-Heron released some his most creative and driving work; 1971's "Pieces of a Man" which featured a proper studio version of "Revolution" which was no less driving than it's live counterpart. The album saw Scott-Heron revealing his more jazzier, soulful leanings with the emotionally brilliant "Lady Day and John Coltrane" a piece celebrating two of the more pivotal figures in Jazz and the power their music is capable of having in the lowest points of a troubled soul. The vocals are just as powerful and posses a slight tinge of despair wrapped in joy. 1974's "Winter In America" was another highlight for Scott-Heron with the music often more reflective and quieter in places and Scott-Heron's poetry taking a darker turn into the ever deteriorating social political climate urban America was steeped in. The title track a bitter reflection on social injustice. "The Bottle" on the other hand is propelled by a funky bass riff, an almost exotic feeling flute and a thumping beat. The poem, dealing with the detrimental effects of alcoholism on both the addict and those around him is a compassionate if not slightly bitter observation with the music playing slight contrast to the mood.

As the decade succumbed to the 80's Scott-Heron recorded a few more solid outings before his career began to wane and he himself fell victim to his own demons in the form of crack and cocaine, which took nearly a decade and a half of his life to start to come to grips with. He made a few sporadic recordings in the 90's that were largely forgettable before dropping out of sight for the most part, sinking further into both addiction and trouble with the law. As the 2000's came to a close Scott-Heron seemed slowly on the verge of a comeback. Recording his first new batch of material since 1994, last years "I'm New Hear" was released on XL Recordings with the help of label owner Richard Russell in the form of production. The album itself is a slight update on Scott-Heron's sound; the blues and touches of jazz still present to an extent, there's touches of electronic elements while at the same time the album feeling sparse and bare, Scott-Heron's vocals by this point tarnished and diminished, gravely and often sounding like tattered strips of emotion soaked in alcohol. The lyrical content took on an almost unbearable personal tone as well as Scott-Heron reflected on his often hard life, cleaning out his closet and dispensing with the mistakes, consequences and regrets to reveal a soul worn but not without pride. Of the tracks on the album, his take on Robert Johnson's "Me and the Devil" equates to a post midnight nightmare in the midst of a broken down apartment with peeling paint and ugly walls. The traffic outside still bustling along crowded streets, the air humid and unrelenting. The backing of the song twists Johnson's original blues composition into a trip hop styled number that only elevates the terror to a level it probably has no business going while being completely gutting at the same time.

From his first recordings some 40 years ago til last years (sadly) final chapter, Scott-Heron never lost his dignity nor his intellect even in the midst of his own demons. Call him Burroughs mixed with Dylan a junkie with a deep seeded intellect peering through bleary eyes. His world weary views mixed with his ability to show compassion for those around him has been almost entirely unmatched in the realms of those he's influence. That kind of flawed genius colored with legitimate dignity and grace is few and far between and with Scott-Heron's passing it seems even more scarce. There's a track on "I'm New Here" entitled "Being Blessed (Interlude)" it's a 12 second snippet of conversation with Scott-Heron in which he states, "being blessed is not just being able to float on here. I'm saying if you have to pay for things you've done wrong, I got a big bill coming at the end of the day." The conversation cuts with Scott-Heron laughing and one can only wonder the bravery at knowing what was possibly coming as a result of his missteps in life. In sinking into his body of work though, I can only hope the intellect, compassion and honestly could serve as credit to repay those debts. Truly one of the great modern day poets/performers to grace a stage.
Some link below:

The Weeknd - House of Balloons (2011 Self Released)

2011-05-24T22:21:00.000-07:00

In print concepts like this shouldn't work as well as this, much less garner the buzz that it has (music blogs and publications as well as Drake himself giving the nod) and I'm sure collectively they'd dick wag their hipster cred at me for buckling and grabbing hold of this. While I normally see conventional r&b as nothing more than hip hop's soft on, something of watered down version for those that can't hang with purple drank and thug life but still want a bit of thug in their smoothed over playboy stance, I'm also open to being taken surprise. And it's not exactly as if I've kept my fingers on the pulse of underground r&b to really have any notion of what, if anything has been springing up from it (does Solange Knowles count?). Still though, the basic approach seems standard fodder for viral marketing throughout the web. A few tracks released on the web and the identity of those responsible obscured purposefully and exploding into a web wide buzz. So while I didn't exactly slip myself into the hipster circle jerking over it, I can admit to being completely surprised to both the quality and how forcefully I was drawn in.

20 year old Toronto native Abel Tesfaye is responsible for The Weeknd. The vocalists thin and slightly druggish croon mesh with the sparse and beat heavy production that culls samples from Siouxsie and the Banshees to Beach House along with dirges into soul, dubstep and club grooves. The music winds up feeling like more of a soundtrack to an underground film shot guerrilla style in black and white and in real time. The storyline: an all night party replete with endless amounts of drugs, gratuitous sex, marathon drinking and headaches, rotted stomachs and regrets come morning. The cover art serves as the movie still; the flat black and white photo depicting cold and bare tile. A nude woman sitting in the tub and partly obscured by balloons. Even the type setting and graphics smack of the type of photoshopped pictures more suitable for blogs than anything else. The photograph though, perfectly encapsules much of white lies within: late night parties fueled by chemicals and moral debauchery, a hazy atmosphere where almost anything seems funny or right. Tracks like "What You Need" signal the moment when the pill is swallowed, the needle is injected and the veins are compromised with euphoric poison. Tesfaye's vocals are echoed and haunted, his crooning is soothing in the worst of senses wrapped around lines like "I'm the drug in your veins/I'm just fighting through the pain/hes what you want/im what you need." From there the night switches into high gear, chemicals and blood mixing in the same stream, judgement and morals slowly giving way to hedonistic pleasures and misgivings. "House of Balloons/Glass Table Girls" equally encapsule that vibe perfectly if not slightly eerily. Fueled by the Siouxsie and the Banshees sample of "Happy House" Tesfaye even borrows the chorus when laying out the current frame of the picture in his head. It's a drugged and hazy moment where vision blurs and morals begin to give in to the crooked lullabies of chemicals. Even with that sample the music still manages to be both cold and unsettling while swaying with a cocky groove. "Glass Table Girls" dips even lower, the beat thumping and mechanical, the whirling and buzzing effects in the background enduing a kind of trance. Tesfaye's morals dip further when popping off with lines like "she gave me sex in her handbag/i get her wetter than a wet nap." As low brow or even juvenile as it may come across, it's as hysterical as it is morally crippled.

As the night wears on into the first glimpses of warm glow within the ominous twilight, the drugs and booze slowly vanish and the highs being their steady decline as morning arrives. "The Morning" with plucked strings, patches of synthesizers and it's drawn out beat, is a moody and reflective piece. The music may seem soothing but at heart it's regretful and downhearted as is Tesfaye's vocals. His slightly vunerable croon reflects post-mortem thoughts when the party has long faded into the black hole from which it seeped and the realizations of the superficiality of it all is the ultimate detox. Say what you will about his vocal abilities or range, but when he needs to hit levels of despair or self loathing from behind the playboy facade, it's more gut wrenching than auto-tuned drivel pissed out of the urethra of some major label schlub and "Coming Down" is probably the most solid proof. The track itself opens with a sparse and hollowed vibe, echoes of late night debauchery now surfacing within pools of regret coupled with growing loneliness "i always want you when I'm coming down" Tesfaye croons with legitimate despair and a tinge of self loathing, as if kicking himself inside for taking the same wrong steps every time.

Regardless of your stance on r&b based music it's a challenging listen. Tesfaye wisely drags the demons and excesses that the genre rarely brings to light and exposes them in all of their raw ugliness while at the same time giving equal exposure to a sincere vulnerability rarely seen. Not only does the concept work perfectly (if it seems a bit blurry or disjointed, it's meant to be) but the music pushes the story along at just the right pace; never dragging to slowly nor pushing over the edge too swiftly and the vocals throughout fit the individual moods of each song. Mixtapes like this provoke as much as they groove and ooze with irreverent humor and in this particular case, it should come with a warning label because if the moral debauchery doesn't partially rot you inside, you'll crawl away feeling like you've overdosed.

http://the-weeknd.com/

Planningtorock - W Due out next week (May 24th) via DFA records

2011-05-18T16:18:00.000-07:00

Anyone that remembers (and enjoyed) Planningtorock's debut "Have It All" (which basically took theatrical elements and blended them with electronic and subtle pop elements) some five years ago will do themselves some good to pick up her much anticipated follow up which is due out next week on none other than the mighty DFA Records label. You can catch the stream here (courtesy of hypem.com, the hype machine) and on various other sites including DFA's site. You can pre-order the album now through various online retailers or hey...maybe wait til the due date and throw a few clams DFA's way and while you're at it, check out the rest of their roster; good music put out by good people.

EMA - Past Life Martyred Saints (2011 Souterrain Transmissions)

2011-05-17T20:32:00.000-07:00

Former Gowns member Erika M. Anderson recently broke away from her more well known project to venture on her own and in the process has managed to create a body of work that's emotionally bleak and confrontational, even unsettling but somehow it manages to be a positive in some warped since if not entirely cathartic. Her music serves as a grey backdrop as much as it takes center stage with the gaunt backings centered around tape loops, a piano and guitar with various forms of drums that often create ripples or simulate unnatural heartbeats. Anderson's vocals are often icy, marbled, or jagged and come across gorgeously in a kind of seductively soothing manner while sounding defeated and completely exhausted in the next moment. Space is employed in terms of instrumentation, allowing for natural gaps within the music that cause the emotions to suspend in a fragment of time in an almost aching manner before deflating in the midst of their own despair. The songs are allowed to unfold gradually and on their own terms and the pacing is never lethargic nor overworked for the sake of deliberate dramatic results, it's more or less the equivalent of being thrust behind the eyes of someone that's in the midst of an emotional meltdown and being forced to go through every single motion with them from the nauseous feeling in the pit of the gut to the dizzy headed feeling of spiraling down when control is suddenly out of reach.

Tension also plays a significant role within the confines of the emotional thread. The lack of more gentle moments to allow for any level of reprieve only magnify the current running through an already thin wire and songs like "Milkman" manage to capture a small fragment of that uneasiness. Heavily distorted beats resembling the effect of small explosives being let off in a tin shed drive the song forward while the sound of an organ shimmering brightly just under the surface adds a spooky feeling to the music. The bass-like backing sounding more like deep rumble from beneath the surface while the looped effects give off high pitched and whining feedback which gradually builds up the emotional tension. Anderson's vocals meanwhile are contorted, murky and ghoulish while at times sounding like a gasping scream as she chants "I'm gasping I'm gasping" repeatedly at the very end of the song.

Despair turns inward on itself in"California" and implodes, spewing fragments of contempt, anxiety, a sense of isolation and nostalgia. The track begins with the sounds of footsteps echoing in the distance between two industrial complexes in the dead of night.The plink of a piano key and guitars creating a buzzing and whirring texture while Anderson's vocals begin with a brutally up front declaration.."Fuck California you made me boring.." and quickly paint jagged pictures of leaving behind familiar faces and a past life for the insidious promises of California's "free love" and sunshine only to be left with a mouthful of coppery disappointment and bitterness and towards the end declaring "But I'm just 22 I don't mind dying." The guitars drone and bend in the midst of the embittered breakdown, the pianos keys clanking and blending with looped background voices. The end result is something that's stark, heartbreaking and startling all at once, vaguely recalling some of David Lynch's more brilliant moments via Twin Peaks.

Heavy hearted regret creeps in gradually like a nightmare in the form of"Marked." It's mostly a hollow number that opens with the distorted sounds of an acoustic guitar being strummed, giving way to the untreated playing which is clear and sharp. The sound of fingers gliding along the neck leave the impression of banged, rusted and jagged strings and that fits perfectly with Anderson's vocals which are treated to sound hoarse and slightly dried out, as if spent from an all night drinking and crying jag, "These drugs are making me so sad." The song amounts to emotional despair almost to the point of delusion, the kind of desperate confessional made to walls in the middle of a night when time drags like a dull blade and Anderson sounds at her wits end as she muses "I wish that every time he touched me left a mark." Lines like that, as easy as they are to misconstrue come across more as a mournful yearning for a lasting impression from an emotional connection that's now settled in the dust and already a blurry afterthought. Taken at face value from point blank range, the blunt trauma of the words drag the moment into uneasy territory resulting in a slight cringe, and it's probably one of the more brilliant moments here.

Raw emotion on this level could normally bring a record to its knees but here its how Anderson approaches her art that makes the biggest difference. Gutsy conviction coupled brutal honesty along with her focused control over both atmosphere and words create an album that's as unique as it is unsettling. Purging emotion this ugly, this personal and this deep is nothing short of gut wrenching, frightening and beautiful all at the same time.

http://cameouttanowhere.com/

http://www.souterraintransmissions.com/souterrain/

Le Butcherettes - Sin Sin Sin (2011 Rodriguez Lopez Productions)

2011-05-14T21:09:00.000-07:00

Le Butcherettes may be punk in spirit but they aren't the latest trend setting band that aim to rewrite and reshape punks tattered wardrobe into some retro hip look. Here punks entombed remains (the few brighter, creative and more unsettling moments) are dragged kicking out of the gutter and under the ominous glow of an old, flickering street light. It's 21st century punk that invokes the spirt of gutter/synth punk a la Suicide while also recalling the gonzo styled performance art of the legendary Screamers. The bands straight forward approach of sharp and driving chords augmented with a solid rhythm section (Omar Rodriguez-Lopez on bass and Normandi Heuxdaflo on drums) anchor Suraez's wide eyed tendencies with power, sparse backings and subtle arrangements that give the music textures and flair,often blending perfectly with their crunch. Teri Gender Bender (Suraez) is competent on guitar in her own right, eschewing solos in exchange for chords that are economic as they are driving. When she does trade in the gits for the synths is when the music pops even more, seeps with thick textures and even feels slightly unsettling at times. Both "Tonight" and "The Leibniz Language" serve as perfect examples: the former opens the album with a punchy beat and bouncing bass, the synthesizers both dizzying and slightly off kilter, creating an eerily hypnotic atmosphere while the latter sways between a waltz-like stagger and a jumpy groove bursting with urgent synthesizers that bristle with both slight hints of harmony and emotion with Suarez cooing in a slightly terrified/helpless tone "help me put me back together." "Henry Don't Got Love" is about as poppy as the static energy gets here. It's straight forward punk with choppy chords and a deep, grumbling bass, Suarez cooing and harmonizing and name checking Henry Miller "Henry Miller goes in deeper/Deeper like a scab.."it's catchy as hell and hard to resist.

Playing the role of wild eyed/angry poet, Suarez is literate without necessarily being overly didactic. She touches on everything from gender rolls and sexism to relationships as well as socio-political observations and small dabs of self revulsion for good measure. Those leanings alone have caused more than few to hang the "riot-grrl" tag over the band, I can see the resemblances to an extent but overall it just doesn't jive with me. While I dig more than a few of those bands and they made some incredibly powerful and driving music, many more also fell victim to resorting to militant/sloganeering styled approaches when bleeding themselves of the gripes that poisoned them and that's where Suarez stands slightly apart. Her acidic commentary is balanced by a lurking sense of black humor; a kind of cheeky smirk with a crazed gleam in the eye. The end result is music that's both wicked fun and unsettlingly creative. Living with this record for days on end and having experienced their abrasive live act recently, I can attest to the durability of the songs laid out here, they get better with every listen and never lose their potency. One of the most insanely fun rock records I've had the pleasure of being assaulted with as of late.

http://lebutcherettes.net/
http://rodriguezlopezproductions.com/

Much anticipated follow up to 2008's Saint Dymphna

2011-05-07T07:32:00.000-07:00

Dumbo Gets Mad – Elephants At The Door (2011 Bad Panda Records)

2011-05-05T22:02:00.000-07:00

With the exception of a few publicity snapshots scattered throughout the internet, basic biographical info outlining Dumbo Gets Mad has yet to surface. Of those pictures one in particular stands out. In it is a tall thin man with slightly messy dark hair and a thin mustached donned in an argyle sweater of whites, blues purples and reds (kitschy retro fashion at its finest) and a woman of artistic beauty with redish long hair, light and soft peach skin and ruby red lips. The most skeletal info floating around pinpoints the man as the sole creative force behind Dumbo Gets Mad and the woman as his girlfriend who occasionally lends her equally beautiful voice to many of the albums tracks. The willful lack of identity in an age of information saturation could easily be seen as ironic posturing in an effort to generate mystery or even being playfully difficult but most likely it's a measure taken to eliminate distractions over minute details as to who twiddles knobs, shifts levers or plucks chords and their pastime activities which essentially shifts the focus more onto the creative output instead..fine by me. The project took shape a summer ago with the goal of creating psychedelic influenced music with positive vibes and a back to basics approach. Modern technology is eschewed in favor of live instruments with effects and treatments created with only analog synthesizers and tape machines. Ironic as it may seem considering in the digital age the tools and technology seem almost limitless albeit at the expense of occasional over-saturation and artificialism. In the end, the approach is fitting and simple and as retro as the fuzzed out tones that warmly bleed out of the speakers.

The pop-psychedelic synthesis subtly recalls The Zombies "Odessey and Oracle" sans the rich orchestral arrangements and with an overall simpler structure. The music is devoid of cerebral journeys to uncharted plains and reverbed, fuzz drenched jams that stretch into oblivion and wind up lost in a black hole. Instead it recalls the gentle spacey feel of post Syd Barret Pink floyd circa "A Saucerful of Secrets" while retaining an overall playful and relaxed feel. If there is a serious moment here, it's "Why Try?" which is an overall gentle number which again recalls early Floyd via its solid and economic beat and the initial creepy crawl of the organs before bursting into a wash of hazy, droning organs, the vocals giving the impression of being delivered slightly submerged in a clear and cold lake, hitting an emotional zenith when the organs peak and the male/female harmonies blend in an eerie chorus. "Marmelade Kids" on the other hand exudes a kind of "radio single" quality; the tone a seductive mixture of hazy grooves and saccharine vibe. The sweet female harmonies colliding with occasional bursts of chimes, the bass thick and wobbly as it weaves in and out of the mix. The drums sound stripped down and raw, giving the impression of hip hop styled beats that are both powerful and spread out. "Self Esteem" is another track that manages to capture the dreamy and hazy vibe that courses throughout the album without the need for bad acid or dirty hash. The synthesizers almost squealing in a joyous tone, cowbells and congas mix with dense and thick drums. The guitars add noisy sheets of chords to flesh the mix out along with bright flashes of keyboards and hazy vocals.

By design, music like this is meant to be fun and nothing more. It's simple, playful yet catchy and provocative on the most sincere terms. Those looking for groundbreaking revivals are likely to be let down or indifferent. but those looking for a positive trip sans the dirty drugs on a particularly warm and sunny day are going to take a great deal of joy from this one because it's worth grabbing a hold of.

http://www.myspace.com/dumbogetsmad
http://badpandarecords.wordpress.com/2011/01/28/dumbo-gets-mad-lp-on-bad-panda/

The Cars - Sad Song (2011 Concord Music Group)

2011-05-03T18:32:00.000-07:00

Like many bands that held a certain degree in both chart success and devout following, The Cars called it quits not long after the zenith of both their success and creativity, leaving behind at least five noteworthy full lengths and armfuls of equally amazing singles. In the years since the embers died, band leader Ric Ocasek played down the questions of possible reunions, even after his long time co vocalist and bassist Benjamin Orr passed away a little over a decade ago due to cancer (I'm sidestepping the emberassing "The New Cars" debacle a few years back.) Recently in the past year Ocasek seemed to have changed his tune, and after writing a new batch of songs, he called his former cohorts back into action to help flesh them out. "Move This Way" the first Cars album of new material in 24 years is set to be released a week from today. Last month, the first proper album single was released and hopefully points to the direction of the rest of the album. The track bristles with handclapped backings, danceable beats and synthesizers that burst brightly. It's an upbeat and punchy number, Ocasek's sharp observational wit fulling intact with vocals that sound as if The Cars had only been out of action a year or so. It's not only one of the more promising singles released so far, but one that managed to put to rest the fears of post mortem reunions and the embarrassment they often seep with. You can catch the single below and judge for yourself. So far I can't get away from it.

D. Charles Speer & The Helix - Leaving the Commonwealth (2011 Thrill Jockey)

2011-04-29T21:37:00.000-07:00

From crowded drinking holes replete with faded bar stools, broken jukes and worn pool tables to sun drenched and desolate open roads; D. Charles Speer & The Helix have cranked out a collection of tunes capable of not only bringing scenes and places like that to mind but also serving as a kind of musical history lesson in American roots music ( a crash course maybe.) The band touches on everything from swampy Cajun to slight touches of boozy blues, full throttle rock and raw country. The music here isn't so much a recreation of nostalgia as it is a celebration of early 20th century America's melting pot and one done with honest conviction and passion. Vocalist and guitarist David Charles Shuford leads the band through nine cuts with a gravely baritone delivered in a no frills twang in tow. Margot Bianca serves as his foil throughout the course of the record, offering tingling and angelic backings intertwined with Shuford's to give the songs a kind of bitter sweet flavor. The duo shines best on "Days In The Kitchen" where the dual harmonies collide with the weeping of Marc Orleans' steel-pedal and Hans Chew's church-like keyboards to a weary hearted tone that's also surprisingly uplifting and determined. The albums lead off single "Freddie's Lapels" steers the mood towards a more boozy and foot stomping pace with revved up honky tonk piano styled grooves, Orleans' organ fills soaring in a celebratory manner that's damn near spiritual and Shuford's guitars gutsy and fuzzy. Opening track "Razorbacked" boils over with equal doses of rock and country smacked together in the middle of a sweaty, drunken dance floor. Orleans' ignites the track throughout with the high pitched wail of his steel-pedal while Chew's keys bounce and roll throughout. Shuford's road weary vocals lay out stark and compelling vocals that somehow manage to mesh perfectly with the rowdy backdrop. Without a doubt the high point of the album arrives at "Le Grand Cochon." Here Shuford effortlessly blends both English and a French tongue while guest Stephanie Rabins lays down some of the most jaw dropping and foot stomping violin and accordion parts, giving the song a richly flavored Cajun vibe both in spirit and composition, hell this track alone is worth grabbing the album and it can easily kick out the blues, clouds and bad vibes leaving a boozy air of celebration in the face of more grim times. If the bands music brings to mind such past greats as The Band and countless others then fine by me because they create the kind of sturdy "past meets present" music that blends modern takes with traditional approaches that could easily hold its place with the best and stand the test of time.

http://www.dcharlesspeer.com/
http://www.thrilljockey.com/

RIP Poly Styrene (Marianne Joan Elliott-Said (July 3 1957 – April 25 2011)

2011-04-27T18:38:00.000-07:00

Of the many first wave punk bands to leave an indelible mark on both the scene and rock in general, X-Ray Spex undoubtedly left one of the biggest marks. Punk from the beginning was determined to de-mystify rock, hand it back to the average joe, put the old guard out to pasture and wipe the slate clean with a new set of rules. Inevitably though, many of the trappings that tarnished rocks image soon trickled down into the pores of punk. Aside from the burgeoning Ska scene and the influence of Reggae, it was still predominately a white scene and a vehicle very much driven by males. Marianne Joan Elliott-Said (Poly Styrene) broke many of those convictions and with a gleeful defiance. Her Somali/British heritage made her a sharp contrast to the seemingly color coded backdrop, as did her plump figure, pronounced braces, colorful outfits and hats. The band themselves were deliberately primitive but incredibly kinetic. The music was raw and buoyant and augmented with squeels of saxophone )(breaking another cliche in punk) while Styrene's lyrics were directly confronting social cliches "Art-I-Fical," "Identity," "I Am APoseur," "Warrior In Woolsworth." Undoubtedly though, the bands best remembered moment came in the form of their 1977 debut "Oh Bondage Up Yours" which, contrary to popular belief had nothing to do with S&M, but rather touched on the various forms of "bondage" modern society was placing on its citizens ranging from age, race, sex and appearance. The track starts off with probably the most memorable intro. Styrene's girlish giggle followed by her bubbly and thick accent as she proclaims, "Some people say little girls should be seen and not heard... "But I think"—"OH BONDAGE UP YOURS! 1-2-3-4!" in which the band kicks in, Lora Logic's sax a squealing mess, the drums snapping incredibly tight and bouncy, the guitars more or less resembling a buzzsaw on an assembly line all the while Styrenes vocals loud, defiant and often cooing slightly off key. Even at that though, she managed to sound both beautiful and dangerous all the grinning a sly grin showing off her shiny braces. Sadly, like most of their first wave constituents, the band lasted for a handful of singles and a full length before imploding. Styrene recorded a wildly uneven, overly glossed pop offering in the form of "Translucence" a couple of years later or so before joining the Hare Krishna movement for a brief time. The Spex did reunite sporadically, even recording a final full length album.

Recently Styrene seemed poised on making a comeback. She released her first proper solo LP in nearly thirty years with the help of Killing Joke's Martin Glover and her daughter Celeste. Unlike her claustrophobic and overly glossy debut, this one (I'll get in depth about it at another date) showcased the lasting and unique quality that made her stand out bright as day-glo: her vocals: the 53 year old still possessed the slightly nasally charm of her youthful wailing, along the with the tinge of sweetness and the direct and defiant strength. Which is what drove her previous band aside from their raw edge. She was able to bellow joyously, coo quietly or in a shrill tone, make her defiance known and at the heart of it, lurking beneath was this kind of warm tone that somehow made it alright. Sad news overshadowed the new release with Styrene disclosing that she was being treated for breast cancer, which effectively halted any chances of promotional tours. Sadly, it was just recently reported that the cancer had already spread to her lungs and spine prior to the diagnosis and literally an hour ago I was browsing stereogum.com when I read the news Styrene had lost her battle and passed away. This is where the awful and bloated "fan" type eulogy could come into play but I have no intention of staining the memory and reputation of a gifted soul with that type of low brow drivel. Fact of the matter is, growing up in the mid 90s as a teenager in search of music that would hold my attention and yield some degree of substance, it was the older punk records in which I not only came out with a bit more of an identity and appreciation for music on a wholly different level, but also came as close as I possibly can to having some degree of "heroes." I suppose I could qualify Marianne as one, but I'd prefer to leave it as something of a high level of admiration and regard for an individual I saw as having a tough stance, kind heart, wonderful voice who made equally amazing music. In closing I can at least say the last album she left behind was a solid one with a lot of promise as to what could have been. In the great scheme of things, this is part of the deal, but facts and knowledge don't always act as an umbrella against the inevitable emotional reactions be it a friend or an admired figure of any degree. Listening to The X-Ray Spex right now (as a semi-old man) I can honestly say it still takes me back to the few bright spots of my youth when I was wild eyed and charged like a thin wire with endless charge. Funny thing is: the music has aged just as well (maybe slightly better.) RIP and thank you Poly Styrene.

Below are a couple of clips that could probably better highlight what I can never seem to put into words when on a tangent regarding one talent or another that I admire. Enjoy:

KING - The Story (2011 Self Released)

2011-04-26T22:39:00.000-07:00

Minneapolis twins Paris and Amber Strother and Los Angeles native Anita Bias recently came together after a chance meeting and discovering a shared love of both art and music to create a musical project that, though still in its infancy is already gleaming with promise. The trio combine their angelic harmonies with equally celestial song writing to create something that doesn't so much "revive" soul but rather pays homage to it. The music itself exudes a certain degree of modern swagger yet it's clearly rooted in old fashioned soul, the kind of music that was able to capture and drive emotion to its peak with both achingly electrifying music and equally provocative lyrics. The trio wrote, recorded and produced the three track EP entirely themselves. The end result are three solid tracks lush with touches of everything from hand claps and finger snaps to lush emotional washes of keys and synths, rhythmic drums and pulsing bass all glossed with three stellar voices. Even with all of those elements, the music never sounds crowded or overbearing, the songs have enough room to spread out, build emotion and create moods. Out of the three tracks, "Supernatural" is the definitive stand out. The harmonious vocals outline a body consisting of tambourines and emotional organ pieces augmented with slightly plaintive touches of brass. Hand claps blend with the punchy beat and wobbly bass, all of it creating a dreamy and sentimental piece that never once borders on being schmaltzy. A track this lush should be a serious contender for radio single status. It's a brief EP that gives the impression of glimpsing through a looking glass and catching a brief glance of a shooting star. I can only imagine what lies down the road for these talents, til then this is highly worth checking out.

http://www.weareking.com/

tUnE-yArDs - w h o k i l l (2011 4AD Records)

2011-04-23T23:33:00.000-07:00

By now the idea of genre blending and hopping may not seem like such a novel one. Music that lends itself to artistic/ambitious drives can also come across to some as pretentious and overly arty. While those observations hold some degree of validity, they often underscore one side of the equation, often leaving out the most important factor: fun. Like Talking Heads more ambitious projects (namely Remain In Light) tUnE-yArDs music is wildly ambitious and diverse but never devoid of a quirky charm that's often hard to turn a blind eye to. Still though, with the internet serving more often than not as a means of promotion and distribution and home based recording technology coming into more affordable ranges, often matching that of professional studios, it can often take little to become a bedroom sensation over night. Such is the case for New England native Merrill Garbus, the lone creative force behind tUnE-yArDs. In 2009 Garbus released Bird-Brains, the first proper tUnE-yArDs album. Initially a cassette only sensation, the album was constructed via a voice recorder and shareware sound editing software. The idea itself may have seemed bold or even pretentious considering "it's all been done" but the end result was something enjoyable and slightly off kilter. Two years later 4AD has picked the project up, Blackberry Torch was given one of the new songs for their ads and Garbus left the bedroom for the studio. Transitions such as those are usually pron to over indulgence, subpar material or over glossed recreations to name a few and Garbus managed to avoid those pitfalls and instead has grown in terms of ability and ambition while expanding upon the treasures left in her last offering.

True the production may be more clear and the songs glisten with a bit more focus and clarity but none of it waters down the often jagged, staggering feel of the compositions. Garbus gleefully ties together strands of hip hop swagger with the strut of funk and vulnerability of folk along with the unbridled energy of jazz freakouts and rocks solid bottom. Lyrically Garbus displays traces of sly wit and sharp observational skills while turning inward and looking at her own insecurities while keeping an eye on the more corrupted/imperfect aspects of those around her. No less diverse as the stylistic meshing, Garbus possesses both a unique and at times startling set of vocal chords. Ranging from Banshee-styled battle cries to soulful wails and fragile, almost hushed tones her vocals burst with conviction and confidence and throughout she layers, samples and contorts them to create haunting choruses, piercing sirens and haunted whispers.

"Powa" best represents those hushed frailties. Gently strummed ukulele and Garbus' nakedly strained vocals drift into flashbulb bursts of electric guitar and crisp, bottom heavy beat that creates a creeping groove. Nate Brenner (the other secret weapon) fills the spaces with meandering bass that lurches and crawls in time of the beat, leaving just enough gaps to create atmosphere. Garbus' lyrics are equally as naked and even slightly unsettling, "Mirror, mirror on the wall/Can you see my face at all?/My man likes me from behind/Tell the truth I never mind/Cause you bomb me with lies, humiliations everyday/You bomb me so many times I never find my way." Delivered in her high pitched warble, it's convincing and vulnerable and probably one of the more amazing pieces she's put together so far. Sharp observational skills and slightly unsettling humor color "Riotriot" which finds Garbus taking a confessional tone, "I have a secret to tell you/About the night I met you/You had come to put handcuffs on my brother/Down in the alleyway/I dreamt of making love to you/Up on the rooftop, looking up at the sky." Delivered in a kind of sexually hushed tone quivering with a slight sense of vulnerability, it's lines like that come across as slightly unsettling and neurotic but at the same time make it impossible not to laugh out of sheer surprise. Equally unsettling is the music: a stuttered beat and sparse uke flesh the opening out and soon lock into a dark, jazzy groove with the bass warmly chiming a note at a time only to explode in to fractured beats and wailing sax and winding down into a kind of tropical groove. "Gangsta" takes the irreverent humor in a slightly more playful direction with lines like "anger in his heart but he'll never be a gangsta" taking aim at those with an angry front but little substance at the core. The beats are tinny and hollow eyed at times but pound with conviction, Garbus layers and loops her voice to create a glorious siren effect that creates an almost druggy kind of crescendo before the song explodes. The album single "Bizness" is a groove worthy number with a low and warm bass and thick, staggered beat. Throughout Garbus has a loop of her vocals treated to sound like an exotic birdsong fluttering in and out. In terms of accessibility (if you're really hard pressed to confine yourself to that) this is probably the most easily digestible track. That isn't to say the album is entirely off putting because it offers plenty of rewards, but it definitely may present itself as a challenge to some, but one worth taking.

With all the chances taken and experiments tested throughout, the album could have easily fallen under the weight of its own artistic ambition but that's half of the charm. Garbus trades in reservations and insecurities in favor of bold strokes and unbridled fun. The end result is easily one of the best albums released this year so far.

http://www.tune-yards.com/
http://www.4ad.com/

The Damselles & The TC4 - The Damselles & The TC4 (2011 Otik Records)

2011-04-20T21:39:00.000-07:00

The Damselles & The TC4's self titled EP offers up four slices of girl group/doo wop bliss with a dose of r&b for added sass that could easily bring to mind images of cherry red drop tops, soda fountains and cruising on a Friday night while the three part bubblegum harmonies of Maria DeLuca, Jillinda Palmer and Brittney Westover recall both The Shangri-Las and The Cookies (who are still sadly underrated.) Those times were for the most part, nestled in a far more innocent perspective than the modern era and steeped in a kind of youthful naitivity where even heartbreak seemed less arduous to face and could be made almost comforting in the company of a glossy pop single. "(I'll Go) Running To You" could easily qualify as one of those classic pop gems with its slow dance sway and guitars that both chime clearly and glide in a way that recalls a wave lazily crashing into the beach and the plaintive touch of the strings topped with sentimental harmonies. Soulful organ and a wistful brass section give "How Deep Is The Night" a slow, heavy hearted feeling that never sinks into glumness and is wrapped warmly in sweet harmonies. As much nostalgia and past influence as the music may recall, there's still a modern sensibility running through it which leaves the impression it's all done out of love and cool passion. Hopefully a full length isn't far behind, these guys and gals are on fire.

http://thedamselles.blogspot.com/
http://www.myspace.com/otikrecords

The Damselles & The TC4 EP by The Damselles & The TC4

Toro Y Moi - Underneath the Pine (2011 Carpark Records)

2011-04-15T22:26:00.000-07:00

Summer of 2010 it seems was the summer of Chillwave. I should probably stop there and rid myself of the various bad puns and facetious remarks I often make in regards to the term itself. Genre labels themselves can sound either utterly ridiculous or outrageous at times and I'm not above having a little fun at their expense, but at the same time I'll readily agree that to some extent or another they do serve a purpose. Watered down to its basic outline and "chillwave" or "glo-fi" (seriously guys..) encompasses musical approaches that touch nostalgically on both 80's synthpop and New Wave as well shoe-gaze, ambient and influences from world music. All of which is condensed into a more lo-fi sensibility and I don't know about you, but after dropping that many ironic terms in the span of a couple of sentences my hipster glands are slightly swollen. So last summers "Chillwave" movement brought to light such artists and bands such as Neon Indian, Washed Out, Memory Tapes and Toro Y Moi were all adorned with the chillwave badge and each released the kinds of records that seemed nearly tailor made for the warm springs and long summer nights. The kind of music that washed deep into the back of the mind and flooded the senses with waves of euphoria and nostalgia.

Those last sentiments permeated much of Toro Y Moi's debut "Causers of This." What's ironic about that though, is the fact that the album itself was released almost at the dead end of the new year and smack in the middle of winter's glacial slumber, so in hindsight it technically wasn't part of the "summer of chill" but yet still manages to capture the sentiments without wholly being attached to them, which is fine. The music itself was glazed with a fair share of synthesizers that shimmered and oozed throughout. Chazwick Bundick's (Toro Y Moi) vocals were at times sun drenched and hazy, echoed at other times and chopped and screwed in some pieces to resemble a kind of audio collage. The beats resembled transparent claps as they gently passed by. The overall vibe was one of a cassette tape dubbed by a friend that found itself all but glued into the deck and starting to show some slight wear. It's that kind of nostalgia that bubbled to the surface almost so naturally that it was easy to miss. "Underneath the Pine" was released one year and one month later, there again in the throws of winter and with time to stretch out to the summer. The same warm sentiments course through the songs here but the biggest difference is Bundick's growth in artistic terms. Whereas his first album found his approach rooted closely in chillwave aesthetic, a little over a year later and his follow up finds him branching beyond simple confines, adding live instrumentation and developing melodies that slip deeper into pops psyche. His vocals too have grown in terms of effectiveness, with his harmonies resembling instruments in their own right and adding to the depth of his compositions without losing their uniqueness, add to that an added layer of lyrical depth and it seems that in hindsight, the chateau chillwave was one he intended to check out of soon as possible for the open road.

"New Beat" is aptly titled and manages to strike a balance between both albums in terms of sound and approach. The synthesizer comes across VERY 80's and what I'm getting at is those great riffs that sound distorted in an almost wah-wah like fashion and slightly on the high end. Kind of like a buzzing humming bird fluttering around on a nectar high, the live drums make the biggest difference in anchoring the songs, here they bounce along crisp in a danceable swagger with handclaps over the top, the thick bass stretching out and adding a layer of sweetness to the track and at the heart Bundicks vocals. The choruses are overdubbed and echoed, slightly set in the backdrop bringing Bundick's pleasantly hazy vocals to the front, relaxed and slightly hushed, recalling balmy summer nights when pulses race with gleeful anticipation. "Got Blinded" finds Bundick's vocals dipping slightly into the lush harmonies of 60's psych-pop records via The Zombies or even The Beach Boys (Pet Sounds era and later.) The music is joyous and hazy, stomping piano here and there with an upbeat tempo, the drums raw and lean while the bass rolls slightly on the high end, easily recalling the glory days of AM radio where pop gems of this stature oozed out of the speakers and filled the air. "Still Sound" weaves right back into electro funky groove territory. The beats again crisp and driving, this time augmented with touches of tambourine while the bass grooves in a funky, elastic kind of step and Bundick's vocals again echoed and set back slightly, sounding far out but never far gone and the harmonies and highs he hits once again gloss the track in an intoxicating pop sheen.

The chillwave stigma may loom over Bundick's head for some time, and maybe even throughout his career. it's clear though that he had no intention of comfortably lingering, rather using it as a starting point and from there following his muse rather than foot prints. This type of growth within a year is impressive at least to some degree; there's no real signs of awkward growing pains nor do the compositions give any signs of overreaching. It's a fluid transition and one that no doubt is pointing to even better things to come.

http://www.poorandlonely.com/

http://www.carparkrecords.com/

Anna Calvi - Anna Calvi (2011 Domino Records)

2011-04-13T21:22:00.000-07:00

Towards the end of summer I remember hearing a buzz growing in anticipation for English singer/songwriter Anna Calvi's debut album. The album itself wasn't released until this past January but prior to that she had released a couple of singles, one of which was a cover of the Edith Piaf song "Jezabel" (I should point out that was originally penned by Wayne Shanklin.)Within that single Calvi introduced her seductively dark and captivating vocals, the sparse backgrounds allowing her room to spread out without smothering the piece. If those singles themselves were small road signs pointing to the direction the album itself was to map out, they were somewhat vague indicators (but in this case the surprise was a pleasant if not slightly unsettling one.) Barring the obvious rock influences, what ultimately propels the music is a kind of film-noir quality that it exudes. Seemingly unrelated emotional vignettes of varying degrees cut from multiple pictures and spliced into a single, slightly controted picture. The music itself captures the essence of Leonard Cohen's dark romanticism and touches at times on the unsettling imagery and spine numbing music of Nick Cave's Bad Seeds era along with the stark and muscular atmosphere of PJ Harvey's classic era (Harvey's producer Rob Ellis assisted with the album) and Calvi's vocals take center stage able to be pursed and hushed in a seductive tone or soaring and deeply emotive.

"Desire" opens with a wheezing harmonium which gives way to a definitely marching beat, Calvi's vocals are up front and firm throughout, breaking free slightly at chorus in a moment of beauty while adding a slightly chilling tinge with lines like ""But it's just the devil in me, the devil that's calling as I come undone."Minor guitar fills color the song, leaving the deep drums and the vocals to stretch out and fill the spaces. "Blackout" bursts with rolling drums and brightly chiming guitars that bend in a slightly sad tone at times. Calvi's slightly understated but achingly beautiful vocals perfectly capture the grand emotions she's capable of evoking and lines like "Time stand still but I feel you by my side But even this moment is running out of time" blended with a weeping guitar are capable of stirring a sigh and tear with no warning. Those serve as only a couple of vignettes clipped from a larger picture. As a whole the entire body of work is epic and dramatic in terms of its emotional scale and undeniably anthemic in places. It may be slightly overwhelming for some to digest in a single take, but even piecing it together one fragment at a time and working into the whole picture is worth it and highly recommended.

http://www.annacalvi.com/
http://dominorecordco.com/

Boy Friend - Boy Friend (2011)

2011-04-11T23:55:00.000-07:00

Former Sleep∞Over members Christa Palazzolo and Sarah Brown formed Boy Friend last year and recently released their self titled debut EP. The four track extended play embraces the feel of abridged musical wanderings in anticipation of the longer roads ahead with the pieces unfolding naturally and never stretching beyond their means. The duos harmonies are serene and angelic at times, heartbreaking at others and evoking a kind of haunted beauty and sense of emotional despair. Ultimately though, nothing here is ever overbearing and there are tinges of joy glistening through the emotional haze. Tracks like "Spirit Burner" capture that fragile balance perfectly while "The False Cross" drifts more into the haunting territory, recalling Siouxsie and the Banshees at the cross roads of blending pop experimentalism with their more stark and marbled backdrops. The sounds of woodwind instruments being swept away in the breeze and synthesizers washing over in lush waves, sounding as if they themselves are somewhere in between despair and chiming brightly from behind at others. The faint calls of what resembles didgeridoos in the hazy distance further add to the rich textures. The percussion throughout is echoed and crisp while blending into the background at other times but always moving the pieces along gently, never taking away from the emotional gravity. The balance struck manages to blend conflicting emotions into a harmonious arrangement that's both hypnotic and enjoyable. One of a handful of favorite EP's I've heard this year.

http://boyfriendmusic.tumblr.com/

Boy Friend by Boy Friend

Cecil McBee - Music from the Source (1977 Enja Records)

2011-04-09T18:47:00.000-07:00

Often merely listening to an album and digging it isn't enough. No...I have to go and scour the internets and books and any other sources in relation to the music that's making my pulse throb..and pull apart every element from when and where it was made to the mood of those involved..I don't necessarily take the magic out of the moment, rather I just learn about the sleights of hand behind the curtains. In doing so though, I often uncover little artifacts like influences on the music itself. This time around I was reading about the "Metal Box" LP by Public Image Ltd. (second reference as of late, I really need to get around to that one.) I was skimming through the track by track commentary by the various band members and on one particular song, original bassist John Wardle (Jah Wobble) had mentioned the style he was playing was similar to that of jazz bassist Cecil McBee. On the spot I have to admit I was guilty of not hearing of McBee til I read his name in that bit of text, so naturally I set forth ripping apart the internet in search of info and works related to the man. One thing I've consistently read in critical reveiws and bios is McBee is consistently regarded as quote "One of post-bop's most advanced and versatile bassists" (quoted from McBee's bio info via All Music Guide.) Pretty intense title to say the least, but judging from the countless times I've spun this one since I got a hold of it, it's hardly a stretch. "Music from the Source" was a live recording done in August of '77 at the Sweet Basi in NY. From the quiet openings of "Agnez" to the mid tempo groove that closes Hal Garper's "First Song in the Day" the album is pulsing and charged throughout, with only a few subtle moments to cool the engines before the sextet kicks into overdrive again.

"Agnez" opens quietly at first (as I had mentioned earlier) with McBee's expansive notes sounding like warmed rubber plucking between the highs and lows while Moorman's keys resemble drops of rain sprinkling notes. Already though, the musicians sound far from subtle and with the clap of McCall''s snare the sextet is called into action. Fluttering hi-hat's and Moye's stampede of congas create a shuffling groove colored by wild bursts of sax and trumpet by Freemaan and Gardner. Exploding with energy and density, the piece stretches well beyond 15 minutes and 8 minutes in the sextet quietly fades as Moye explodes into a jaw dropping conga solo lasting just beyond 3 minutes. That may seem like a bit of a stretch, but it's utterly fascinating to hear what a man can do with simple percussion and his hands and keeping in mind this is a live cut, it must have been exhilarating to see this live. Eventually the band kicks back in only to quiet down once again and fading off with a gentle piano piece which segues into "God Spirit." The pianos roll amidst crashes of ride from McCall and chimes blend in the atmosphere to create a serene picture of a morning lake as birds fly overhead against a backdrop of oranges and pinks as the day slowly comes awake. Joe Gardner's trumpet here is stunning, crying out in notes of mournful beauty while McBee's bass rolls deep in the background as if it were a blanket of fog drifting by. The moment of fragility is soon stirred to life once again as the sextet closes with a cover of Hal Galper's "First Song in the Day." Moorman's piano struts with a spring in its step while Moye's congas dance along behind McCall's solid chops. McBee has this vibe to his bass and I keep coming back to the term of "rubbery." I fully realize I'm overusing this one here, but that's just the impression I get. Dense, rubbery notes swaying like the string of a loose bow as McCall dances along the highs and lows in a way that puts a kink in the groove. Gardner and Freemann crank loose with bright and sharp tones. Both sax and trumpet soar high, careening loosely and wild eyed but always with precision and discipline, it's post bop in all of it's glory and an excellent note to end an equally excellent album on. I can't recommend this one enough, it's worth hunting down as is McBee's other works.

http://www.cecilmcbeejazz.com/fr_home.cfm
http://www.enjarecords.com/

The Hollows - Hollows (2010 Addenda Records)

2011-04-08T20:36:00.000-07:00

So I've been cranking The Hollows full length for the past few weeks off and on and have been blown back by how fun this band is. Take those low budget Gidget style beach movies and splice them together with off beat horror/comedy flicks a la Scream (except less overtly bad humor) or better yet, those chase scenes in Scooby Doo where the gang would make a dead stop and start grooving out of nowhere then take off again (bit of a stretch maybe but you get the idea) and that's how fun these gals and guy are. The music itself draws from both the bubble gum harmonies of girl group greats like The Shangri-Las as well as the rough and raw groove of garage rock (specifically obscure girl bands like Denise & Co. and The Chymes) What? Women played in garage bands and used instruments other than kitchen utensils? Yeah call Ripley's because it really did happen, don't be so crass. The songs here also remain fairly true to the pop gems of the late 50's and on, covering love and jealousy albeit with a bit more of a darker humor tinge to it. "Watch Out Sally" is a dead ringer for a 60's radio hit with its bouncy organ, rolling beats with occasional snare clap and thumping bass. The harmonies are sweet if not slightly menacing, recalling the story of a girl lovesick over the bad boy in town who eventually takes her on a date only to dump her for another girl, leaving her stranded and in the hands of a stranger. The goofy horror vibe comes through with "Shadows in the Dark" opening with a tasty organ riff that's part demented, part chuckle-worthy and all fun to dance to; the beat thumps, snare rolls and cymbal crashes drive the harmonies forward with a thick thud of bass lurking in the background, call this one an Elvira jam. "Skeleton Woman" on the other hand buzzes with punk energy, guitars fuzzed out in a thick haze with keyboards bursting through in bright tones and when the sax kicks in, I'm seriously reminded of punk greats X-Ray Spex. Another fuzz drenched organ groover is "Do The Scarecrow" with its sax riff breaking into the chorus with the surf styled beat, it smacks of another rough gem buried in the past, and the humor smacks of utter bad taste of the highest order, to paraphrase the opening lines "Drain my veins of the city baby and stuff my sleeves with grass/I found a field where I could stay and move a fence post up my ass." Probably not a dead on translation but you get the point and delivered in a dead on convincing tone combined with the groovy vibe it's a laugh to dance to. Musical and cultural throwbacks aside, it's what's at the heart that drives this band. On the surface it's garage rock/pop bliss with naive and wild eyed playing, fuzzed out and fast paced with pop gloss oozing over the surface. But at the heart is tight focus, tongue-in-cheek humor and a hell of a lot of fun (third or fourth reference I think) So unless you're a slack eyed hipster wearing $150 Skullcandy headphones listening to Panda Bear and holding up your "originality" check list to this one, it's pretty safe to say you'll enjoy this album; if not then kindly return to sipping your Pabst. Otherwise, bands like this are worth affording the attention to for the simple reason they allow rock to be fun with no pretentious strings attached.

http://hollowschicago.com/
http://addendarecords.com/

Holy Ghost! - Holy Ghost! (2011 DFA Records)

2011-04-07T23:19:00.000-07:00

Since its inception roughly ten years ago, DFA Records has etched out a reputation for reviving elements of Italio-Disco, Post-Disco infused rock and post punk. Starting with The Rapture's mind blowing "House of Jealous Lovers" the label and its roster have since ignited a rebirth in blending the elements and styles that countless great bands nearly thirty years ago first pioneered to little or no appreciation. Not limiting themselves to stylistic recyling, the label blends the old with techniques, technology and themes of the present and in turn creates music rooted in the past yet grounded in the present at the same time. I didn't need to even bother pointing this out, I think by now I've made my affections for the label and its roster (LCD Soundsystem, The Juan McLean, Hercules and Love Affair to name a few) pretty clear. It's one of those entities that breeds quality and takes pride in what they do. James Murphy and Tim Goldsworthy both formed the label based upon their own ideals of how things should be done and in turn using their production and engineering skills as well as their instinct for talent to ultimately flesh out a catalog of work that's been both incredibly solid and a hell of a lot of fun since.

Amongst the newest releases bearing the DFA logo recently is the debut full length from Holy Ghost! Nick Millhiser and Alex Frankel comprise the group and were originally a part of a hip hop collective "Automato." Automato released a single full length album back in 2003 that was produced by none other than The DFA themselves. Shortly after, the group imploded and Millhiser and Frankel were on the brink of forging on with hip hop when they decided to pursue a more groove oriented direction coupled with poppier vocals. Their inaugural single "Hold On" was dropped in 2007. With its handclaps, hi-hat fills, synthesizers and warm piano keys, the track recalled the glory of Italio-Disco as well as the post-disco grooves emerging in the hot streets of New York. DJ gigs and several singles and an EP followed, along with remixing duties for the likes of Cut Copy, Moby and MGMT. Recalling the same times their stylings point to, the duo built a rep on singles and an EP before gradually stepping into full length territory. What's kind of ironic is in the digital age where terms like "B-Side" are almost reduced to slang as opposed to a solid representation, more artists seem to be looking backwards for a base to build from, the digital age giving a certain degree to a growing passion for vinyl and even a cassette revival, with artists dropping mix tapes and EPs as opposed to flat out digital releases for which their target audience can cherry pick the best of the best. To say that hardly happens or is in danger of diminishing would be absurd, but still I find it a bit funny that in the digital age we've wound the clock back a bit in terms of creation and presentation.

In turn though that does lend to the pressure built from expectations. Getting by with a solid single or even a flat out amazing EP is one thing, but to turn that credibility into ten or so tracks worth of solid mass with no wobbly connective tissue can prove to be more of a hurdle in retrospect. Such is the case with Holy Ghost! Their early singles and especially the "Static on the Wire" EP were all straight forward, infectious grooves with enough pop hooks to sweeten the deal, recalling AOR radio from decades ago as well as the moments where electronics and pop gelled with one another. Those alone set the bar fairly high for what would follow(at least for me they did, I can't speak for the underground hipster hive buzzing about.) So that begs the question as to where the full length stands. As a whole it's a groove laden ride from front to back, recalling those long and hot summers nights in the dead of downtown amidst the neon glows above. The kind of nights where emotionally and socially the biggest moments seem to play out in the span of those endless hours and only begin to make sense after the first bleary eyed blink after a dead sleep into the following afternoon.

Nights like those are naturally replete with highs and lows as is the body of the album. "Do It Again" opens with a fairly straight forward beat, augmented with a crescendo of synths as it unfolds gradually and maintains a slow step. Standing alone it's actually a killer track but positioned as the opener, it falters a bit and in turns starts the pace with awkward momentum. On the other hand, "Hold My Breath" is punchy and bright, keyboards and synthesizers glowing and bouncing with the beat. Lyrically though, it fumbles a bit and in turn each time the chorus swings around, there's a feeling Frankel was on the verge of saying more but trails off. Though three of the songs here had been previously released and are nearly three and a half years old, they gel consistently with the fresh material but at times that solidarity can come dangerously close to being slightly bland.

Call those minor complaints that represent the lows, in turn though the highs really soar. "Say My Name" is a stellar track. Synthesizers are made to sound like a haunted choir amidst a rolling bassline and crisp back beat while Frankel hits is stride both lyrically and in delivery, with his vocals understated and up front but never lacking emotional substance. "Jam For Jerry" is easily the centerpiece here and an undeniable favorite of mine. Written as a eulogy of sorts for Frankel's one time room mate Jerry Fuchs, it's emotionally touching and slightly guilt ridden, leaving me to honestly question what happened when they last spoke. Fuchs, for those not in the know, was without a doubt one of the most brilliant drummers in the underground from the past decade, lending his talent to countless talented acts and was reported to have a heart bigger than his ability. His death by freak accident two years ago left a huge hole in many ways. Still though, detaching from the subject matter it's still a devastating piece, one of those great moments where the uplifting groove of the synths, hi-hat fills and stomping beat co-exist with the heavy hearted chorus, "I get the feeling I've done something half wrong/It surrounds me, drowns me in it/If I could change it all I would if only I could/You can quote me, hold me to it." Lines like that could underscore almost any trying moments in life, one of the best I've heard in a while. New Order comes to mind throughout in a sublinear sense and for some reason "It's Not Over" really brings them tot he foreground. Odd as the comparison may sound, but their "Technique" period from 1989 really bleeds through on this one, especially at the chorus. Frankel's vocals are fragile but sincere, the bass is rolling and thick in the background, the programmed drums are accompanied by thick drum rolls in the background..something about all of that just recalls New Order's last glorious period, which is a huge compliment. Even with the few sidesteps in mind, none of them drag the quality of the album down. It's enjoyable and moving from start to finish and it's probably safe to say it's a harbinger of what lays ahead.

http://www.holyghostnyc.com/
http://dfarecords.com/

Sofrito - Tropical Discotheque (2011 Strut Records)

2011-04-04T22:48:00.000-07:00

UK party Collective Sofrito have gained a worldwide reputation for everything from exotic beach parties to their Tropical Warehouse parties which have touched down everywhere from New York to Europe. Consisting of DJs Hugo Mendez and Franki Francis along with The Mighty Crime Minister, the trio's alluring blend of Afro, Latin and Caribbean vinyl cuts transform dance floor settings into something of an aural tour guide weaving through lush tropical jungles and sun bleached beaches to humbly tucked away local villages and conjuring more than a four on the floor minded groove. Prismatic bursts of textures and languages, cultures and traditions all fused together in a universal celebratory vibe. The 15 cuts chosen to flesh out the collective's debut compilation hold familial roots in diverse regions as Columbia, French Guyana and Nigeria to name a few. Nothing here is mixed into a continual DJ mix sadly, but that's hardly an issue when considering that literally every cut here is not only strong on its own but its all sequenced in a perfect order, forging an exotic and captivating vibe. Given the rich quality of the work here, even picking out highlights can be something of a task but a few standouts such as Frente Cumbiero's "Pitchito" It's a low key, slightly ominous groove replete with jittery maracas and rollicking steel drums all harnessed together by a prowling bassline. Adolfo Echeverrias "Sabroso Bacalão" stirs the pulse with its exuberant horns and rollicking piano fills, the bass weaving in an almost intoxicated fashion while bursts of bells and joyous vocals all blend to create a perfect musical aphrodisiac. Dany Play's "Fa'waka (Pt 1)" is another stellar cut, it starts slowly with bright horns piercing the understated groove to suddenly transform into something more more lively and urgent while still retaining a sense of laid back demeanor. Bells and percussion gel with the horns to create a hazy, late night atmosphere that's briefly rippled by a riveting organ piece that raises both the feet and spirits into a eutopia just beyond the glow of late city lights and the reach of modern life. Not a typical "world music" compilation, it's rich in diversity and should honestly be expanded into a series.

http://www.strut-records.com/
http://www.sofrito-tropicaldiscotheque.com/info.php

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Belong (2011 Slumberland / [PIAS] Records)

2011-04-01T23:09:00.000-07:00

Two years after their first album was released (and given a good degree of acclaim) The Pains of Being Pure at Heart return with their sophomore follow up "Belong." On their first records, the bands sound paid homage to familiar names like The Jesus and Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine as well as underrated gems like The Field Mice. The music was fuzz drenched white noise melded with frail pop melodies whose lyrics staked out territory in the pitfalls of emotional attachment. That kind of positioning no doubt lends itself to accusations of "revisionism" and nothing more but to be fair the music has never played out as thinly veiled attempts to completely rewrite. It's always come across as more of a sincere and amateurish nod to looming influences and at the core the bands craft has always oozed with a certain degree of naive charm. So while those kinds of arguments do have their place and times, it's almost kind of ironic in the post millennium dawn considering borrowing from past approaches as a base of creation is more common place and honestly; what comes of it in the end should outweigh what's borrowed or how much to begin with. Worst case scenario is some music just winds up being enjoyable, which I don't see as being entirely a bad thing.

Putting those points and arguments aside, "Belong" finds the band growing in small steps while continuing to tread familiar ground. Hooking up with studio veterans Alan Moulder and Flood (both of whom have collaborated with The Jesus and Mary Chain and The Smashing Pumpkins, to name a couple) the sound is fleshed out and fuller with the playing stretching out, giving the instruments room to breathe and in turn adding to the emotional textures with the lyrics resonating even deeper. The rhythm section boasts a bit more body and is brought slightly to the foreground, at times almost washing over Kip Berman's frail and hushed vocals while on the strongest songs he shines brightly, aching and more clear. His lyrics still occupy familiar territory of loves emotional undertow and the touches of charm they dripped with on the first album are meshed with a slightly darker tone as Berman examines love and loss in the adult world with an underlying sense of desperate hope. "Anne with an E." stands as a perfect example of the emotional dualities. It's a graceful and shimmering pop gem anchored by lines like "Anne with an E you’re everything to me/Take your sweater off and wear your spikes again/‘cuz you can’t get off on that medicine" delivered in an aching hush which only adds to the slightly unsettling feelings. Majestic washes of keyboards and gently plucked strings and tambourines settled behind ringing guitars fill the spaces out while the drums flutter like a heart beating with uncertainty.

"Even In Dreams" on the other hand recalls the Pumpkins via their "Siamese Dream" era (say what you will) with its quiet beginnings; guitars and keyboards fade to the background offering only flashes of color against the mid tempo beat until the chorus kicks into overdrive with a fuzzed out, wall of sound wash of guitars that create a gritty emotional backdrop against Berman's naked and almost above a whisper vocals as he breathes out.."Even in dreams I could not betray you." Songs like this could have fit comfortably in the playlists of early 90's radio (and possibly wound up being a hit) as could "Heaven's Gonna Happen Now," which boasts a pretty much perfect title and stands as serious contender for the best song plucked from the album while coming across as some sort of lost 90's classic that was no doubt dubbed on countless mixed tapes through endless spring breaks and summer vacations as a subtle/not so subtle hint at feelings that live in terminal fear of being unrequited. The pace is bright and energetic, acoustic guitars murmur softly in the background while clearly strummed guitars cut loose at the chorus, split between gritty fuzz and notes that bend and sigh with a mournful tone that gives the impression of flushed cheeks and blurry eyes before softly fading. And Berman hits pay dirt once again with lines like ""Come on, nothing’s gonna turn us down/So don’t stand there like you don’t care/‘cuz heaven’s gonna happen now/Come on, nothing’s gonna turn us down/So don’t stand there like you don’t care/‘cuz heaven’s gonna happen now."

Since the bands "Higher Than the Stars" EP they began looking for ways to temper their more volume crunched moments with their hazy, dreamy pop leanings. "Belong" in a sense builds off of that, retaining the power of the first album laced with more pronounced pop harmonies and lush backings. The production values here may seem a bit "thick" at times and the body of songs here do offer a couple of missteps, but in hindsight those could be seen as minor nuances. None of those elements drag the albums emotional momentum down enough to ripple it and overall the production fills the spaces out and adds flecks of color where needed. Albums like this recall the best of the late 80's and early 90's when bands could mix volume with harmonies and bare emotions amidst noise, and the requirements of rock were changing from dick wagging posturing to more earnest and up front leanings, stripping away the banal sexuality in the process. Far from a sophomore slump, this is the type of album that's bound to be a part of countless playlists compiled for long summer drives into the night in search of answers or just mere escape from emotional down pours that seem to hit year round.

http://www.thepainsofbeingpureatheart.com/
http://www.slumberlandrecords.com/

Noteworthy: J*DaVeY - Evil Christian Cop: The Great Mistapes (2011)

2011-03-31T21:49:00.000-07:00

Multi-stylistic Los Angeles Duo J*DaVeY (vocalist Briana Cartwright as Jack Davey and producer Brook D'Leau) have been active on the scene nearly five years and are in the process of recording their first proper full length. Released in 2008, The Beauty in Distortion/The Land of the Lost is a collection of two previously released eps issued as a single disc and is highly recommended hunting down. The duo blends soul and jazz with fusion, funk new wave, futuristic r&b and alternative rock and hip hop resulting in feverishly interesting music (and from what I've read, even wilder live shows worth catching.) Evil Christian Cop: The Great Mistapes (part 2) is the latest release til the full length is completed, comprise five songs (including a hazy take on "Smells Like Teen Spirit) the focal point here for me is "Raincheck." Having heard this dropped on a college station last night, I made no haste in tracking down artist information and was blown away (being I'm fairly close to L.A.) that I've never heard of them. Though "Raincheck" is fairly conventional r&b in terms of lyrical standpoints, it's the production behind it that truly drives the track. Sparse, tinged with electronic flourishes and effects, it's bleary eyed, late night exotic grooves laced with Davey's chilling and soothing vocals, while "Lazy Daze" is also noteworthy. Considerably more upbeat, chopped organ riffs behind a jumping beat and ghostly harmonies resemble an 80's electro/soul/funk workout not far removed from Prince's creative zenith during that era. Highly worth checking out (the EP is free via bandcamp) if these are just glimpses of things to come, then the full length is going to be a monster of stylistic collisions and grooves.

http://www.jdaveybaby.com/
http://wearejdavey.tumblr.com/

Evil Christian Cop: The Great Mistapes by J*DaVeY

Honey Ear Trio - Steampunk Serenade (2011 Foxhaven Records)

2011-03-29T23:20:00.000-07:00

Honey Ear Trio's recent debut, "Steampunk Serenade" may very well wind up becoming one of the hottest jazz albums to be released this year so far, and if it doesn't..well..it honestly should. That probably comes off as a bit of a stretch considering there's not only a handful or more of really great jazz albums that have already been released with more on the way, but there's always a couple of albums that manage to permeate the deepest trenches of the brain and engulf the senses in electrifying pulses and bursts of luminous colors and textures. This is one of those albums..(at least for me it is.)

The trio consists of Erik Lawrence, Allison Miller and Rene Hart all of whom have previously played on one anothers musical projects over the years and have forged both mutual respect and friendships in the process. Erik Lawrence has played as sideman for such greats as Sonny Sharrock, Bob Dylan, Buddy Miles and currently holding membership in Levon Helm's band. Allison Miller has worked with artists such as Ani DiFranco, Natalie Merchant and Marty Ehrlichbut. Though I haven't heard any of her contributions prior to this album, I can easily claim she's become one of my favorite drummers as of late. Rounding out the group is bassist Rene Hart who not only contributes dense and occasional ominous basslines to anchor the compositions but also adds touches of electronics and loop effects. The diverse stylistic influences (ranging from rock to folk to name a couple) manage to flesh out the bodies of the compositions while the core of the material is rooted firmly in jazz. That's not to say it's traditional acoustic jazz as played out by a traditional trio, if anything the often loose and joyous playing challenges the parameters without straying away from the essence and the more hushed moments reflect the more traditional approaches with dignity and grace.

Moments like the opener "Matter Of Time" reflect the trio's understated beauty and ability to tone down and float along almost effortlessly. Lawerence's sax is both understated and mournful, Hart adds quietly plucked backings via upright bass to give a warm feeling to the cut and Miller's percussion raises above a whisper at times but never beyond that and the trio's take on "Over The Rainbow" is both haunting and gripping. Hart comes through on this one not only with his understated bass but also in the looped effects he augments the backdrop with. What sounds like a guitar played in reverse plays the familiar verse of the song while Lawrence lays out a beautify buoyant sax piece.

Balancing the more reflective numbers, the trio lay out Lisa Parrott's "Six Nettes" with gleeful conviction, the rubbery bass slinking along snake-like with a confident strut while Miller's break neck precision carrying the song forward in its almost erratic time changes into a manic pace only to bring it back down to its strut again. "Luminesque" showcases Hart's finger work at its best, his rubbery plucking adding thick tones in the background while Miller's drumming stutters, rolls and chugs along with solid precision. Saving the best for last though, "Olney 60/30" is not only a personal favorite but honestly one of the most explosive jams laid out here. Diving head on into free-jazz territory, Lawrence contorts his sax into something well beyond a musical instrument. Sharp notes burst into vibrant colors and leave their stain throughout the composition, bursting with notes that screech and wail with nearly unchecked glee and Hart not only lays down an incredibly thick and wobbly bassline to attempt to anchor the combusting piece, he's also injected bits of loops off in the distance that at times almost sound like a siren or something similar off in the distance. Over all though the piece plays out as a sort of call and response duel between Lawrence and Miller. Balancing out his sharply laid out notes, Miller cuts loose on her kit as if using every tool within reach to keep pace and even take the lead. What should be drum rolls more or less resemble tremors from beneath the surface and snare rolls take on the impression of a machine gun. The trio does manage to colease part way through the track though with Hart and Miller laying out a solid foundation for Lawrence to cut loose on and it winds up almost feeling hypnotic from how deep the groove cuts.

By balancing out the more erratic qualities with the more restrained approaches, the trio essentially captures the best of both worlds in terms of jazz and even blend touches of outside influences into the textures. And going back to my stretch..(regardless how far off I may be) I honestly feel this is essential listening for anyone even remotely interested in expanding their own parameters. Another special thanks to Matt Merewitz at Fully Altered Media. I happened to catch him dropping this groups name via Twitter one night and wrote it down and hunted them down, glad I did.

http://www.honeyeartrio.com/
http://fullyaltered.com/fa/
http://www.foxhavenrecords.com/

New Thurston Moore single, New album due.

2011-03-28T10:03:00.000-07:00

Last week Matador Records (dig that label) Reported that Sonic Youth guitarist and frontman Thurston Moore is slated to release his third solo LP (a double album) entitled "Demolished Thoughts" on May 24th. The label is offering the first single and lead off track, "Benediction" as a free download via their website. The album was produced by Beck at his home studio and also features some gorgeous violin work courtesy of Samara Lubelski. Beck also contributed minor vocal and guitar backings in addition to his production work. As for the single itself, it's hushed but not bland, the understated strummings of the acoustic guitars combined with the hushed and gentle violin create a sweeping atmosphere but in the more restrained ways. I've read some comparisons to The Velvet Underground's later work (their third album comes to mind) juxtaposed to this single and I have to say I agree. Furthermore, it also represents some of Sonic Youth's quieter work while not coming across as a thinly veiled reash of the sound Moore is most associated with. His vocals are hushed and straightforward..and well it sounds like Moore. To Beck's credit, the production reminds me of his sparse, emotionally forlorn album "Sea Change" an underrated album in which he stripped his sonic pallet down to a basic set up and left the songs bare and naked as the emotion he laid out in the songs. Of course this track comes nowhere near to the emtional depths Beck had plunged into, but it does retain that same aching quality and sparse beauty. Singles are often meant to serve as teasers or preivews to the albums they are pulled from, and if this one is a fair indication as to what else lies ahead on the album, then I'm more than a bit excited to pick this one when it comes out. Stay tuned via Matador Records and pick up the single via their website.

http://www.matadorrecords.com/matablog/2011/03/23/thurston-moore-benediction-first-mp3-from-demolished-thoughts/
http://www.matadorrecords.com/

Thurston Moore - Benediction by One Thirty BPM

Being Matador has offered this single as a free download. I'm using a soundcloud link solely for the purpose of giving a preview of the new single. However, if anyone representing the artist or label feels this is not appropriate, you may contact me and I will gladly remove it.

Random Weekend Pick: Lee Perry & The Upsetters - Ape-ology (2007 Trojan Records)

2011-03-27T19:49:00.000-07:00

In between hunting down new music and writing about it, I've been digging through my older records (something about "older" music has always drawn me in, even as a youth) and wound up fixated on Public Image Ltd's "Metal Box" LP for almost two days straight (I'll be going into more detail about that one at a later date) which naturally led me back into dub inspired music, which led me back to this compilation, which I haven't dragged out in a while but dusted it off and gave it a spin.

One of dub's many pioneers, Lee "Scratch" Perry moved up in the ranks to become one of the more color and inventive producers in Jamaica's musical landscape from the mid to late 70's, reaching his creative zenith as both producer and performer from 1976 to 1978. Starting as a record seller for Clement Coxsone Dodd's sound system, he quickly moved into the role of recording various acts for the legendary producer before moving on to work with Joe Gibbs after the working partnership disintegrated. His time with Gibbs was equally short, and he soon focused on his studio band "The Upsetters" while continuing to produce for various up and coming acts. Perry decided to build his own studio around the start of the 70's, giving him the flexibility to work his own hours without worry of cost or pressure. "Black Ark" was built in 1973 behind his family's home in the neighborhood of Washington Gardens. The layout and equipment were both crude and far removed from the larger, more well equipped studios. Consisting of an old mixing board, a basic 4-track and a drum booth surrounded by chicken wire, the set up probably resembled a bicycle with squared wheels more than it did a serious contender for creative output. What transformed "Black Ark" into a hotbed of musical fruitfulness though was Perry's unique abilities. Not only did he manipulate the mixingboard as an instrument rather than a piece of equipment, he also possessed the gift of being able to blend sampled sounds with the musical instruments on each track of the 4-track, the end result was a song that was not only bottom heavy in stoned tempos and foggy bass but richly textured with found sounds blended in seamlessly. Other tricks developed included burying microphones at the base of palm trees and thumping them, resulting in a unique bass drum sound . In short, Perry made full use of the "less is more" approach with his crude set up and in the process wound up recording some of the most colorful, if not important music of the decade. Starting in the mid 70's til the end of the decade he not only manned the boards for some of Reggae's most landmark albums (Max Romeo's "War Inna Babylon" (1976) , Junior Murvin's "Police and Thieves" (1977) and Heptones "Party Time" (1977) but also cut some of his most challenging and musically dense (Super Ape aka Scratch the Super Ape (1976), Roast Fish Collie Weed & Corn Bread (1978) and Return of the Super Ape (1978.) Quick note before we continue: if by some freak chance you do not own a single one of these albums, that's a problem you need to resolve asap, they are seriously some of the most amazing albums that anyone with even the slightest bit of interest in Dub or Reggae needs to own.

So back to the collection in question: Trojan Records released "Ape-ology" four years ago, and I snatched up a copy about a year or so after it was released. The three albums mentioned above are restored here in full along with a handful of bonus cuts to flesh the set out. All albums in question are in print still I believe, and I think you can readily find them through sites like Amazon but looking at the prices they go for, something like this would probably be more economical in the end. Is it worth it? that honestly depends not only on your take on both Reggae and its stoned cousin Dub, but how willing you are to surrender to the more darker recesses of each. The foundation laid down by The Upsetters is dense and sprawling, the bass so thick and murky it often distorts itself, snaking along almost drunkenly and wobbling with the drums to create an atmosphere similar to thick black molasses. Perry in turn applied a number of samples and sounds and smeared them as a gloss over the already dense fog: bells chiming, cow bells, what sounds like birds fluttering overhead, the ominous sounds of ghostly moaning, gunfire and breaking glass along with mallets hitting thick objects, cranks being turned and kids toys were all fused into the marrow of the basic structure, recalling at times Brian Wilson's own tinkering with found sounds and samples via "Pet Sounds." Taking into consideration Perry's state of mind at the time (his drug consumption was also reaching its zenith, bringing his emotional and mental state of mind down in a haze) the music here isn't easily digestible or consistently sunny and some of it can more than a bit unsettling. That's not to say it's entirely a drag or impossible to penetrate, Perry had his playful moments on cuts like "Throw Some Water In" (which basically uses car maintenance as a metaphor for maintaining good health) "Favourite Dish," and "Roast Fish and Cornbread." Now comes the part where I painfully quote the lyrics to said examples right? No, not really. Besides the fact that I sometimes find it to be a tedious process, over-examination alone can often undermine the better elements of the music, overexposure tarnishing a certain degree of the gloss and leaving less breadcrumbs for curiosity to seek out. Back to the music though; some sunnier moments come courtesy of vocal backings from The Full Experience with cuts like"Throw Some Water In"and "Tell Me Something Good" benefiting the most. The harmonies add a thick, honey-like textures to the already dense platters offered here, making them seem more dreamy than hazy in turn. Still though, his paranoia manages to leave behind smudged fingerprints that only add to the layers of psychedelic haze and stoned incoherence, especially on "Evil Tongues" which finds itself slipping from pointing fingers to falling victim to its own paranoid delusions, disavowing anything and anyone within the field of vision of its bloodshot eyes.

As the 70's came to a close, so did an era. After the release of "Return of the Super Apes" Perry caved in after years of increasingly bizarre behavior, rampant drug use, unsavory characters making demands of him and outside influences. Perry has often stated in interviews that after covering "Black Ark" with indistinguishable writing with a black marker, he set fire to the studio in order to rid it of "unclean spirits" as well as a host of other issues surrounding him (look the stories up for yourself, if any of it has any degree of truth then I can't blame him for torching the place.) His family has contested that the studio burned in 1983 due to electrical issues when it was being rebuilt, but in the end when it boils down to Fact Vs. Myth..myth often wins out due to its usually colorful nature. And let's face it, most of us have to admit that at times we often fall prey to outlandish stories and wild rumors concerning creative forces that we find ourselves drawn to to begin with. Either way, it would take Perry over a decade to regain solid footing in terms of musical output as well as more stable ground concerning his health. In the end though, nothing he's done before or sense has quite stacked up against the erratic but highly creative material he laid out in a stoned haze via Black Ark.

http://www.lee-perry.com/
http://www.myspace.com/leescratchperry

Honeybird & the Birdies - Mixing Berries (2010 Duckhead Green Music / Subterra)

2011-03-24T17:36:00.000-07:00

I only dipped into this trio of mixed berries lightly a few months ago, touching on one berry out of a bowlful. With Spring looming overhead and being bitten by a restless desire to shed the proverbial winter coat, I thought this time I'd dip in a bit deeper. In case you missed the previous post, here's a quick refresh: honeybird (charango/guitar/vocals) coming from Los Angeles (now in Rome,) p-birdie (drums/percussion/vocals) from Catalina and bassist ginobird from Anzio make the band up. Active on the Italian music scene since 2007, the band issued their first full album last year titled "Mixing Berries." In looking at the artwork for the album, I can't help but wish that it would have been issued in some sort of scratch and sniff form. When taken into consideration the rich blend of not only the members individual multicultural backgrounds but also various other cultural influences, touches of folk, and rock used as a platform (or mixing bowl) it would be interesting to see what kind of scents the eccentric eclectic mix would give off. Before I sink myself into any more poorly executed metaphors I'll get to the nuts and bolts (berries and nuts? ok I'm done) the music here is fun..plain and simple. "quemby the queen bee" bounces with a playful groove colored by bells and buzzing bees in the background, dipping down at times and stretching a bit only to kick in again (honeybird herself snuck on the blog recently to give the sticky details of the songs origin) its one of the best examples of the bands playful and colorful fusion. "pequenino frango" on the other hand is lush and exotic,flavored with tinges of Brasilian influence. From the beginning it resembles music casually drifting out of the speaker of some old transistor radio sitting on a table outside of some tiny local shop on a sun drenched day. "sexy tour guide / tutto al limone" is a seriously killer jam. It kicks off with a funk flavored bass riff and cocky beat before winding down into a slower, shuffled pace. A little over 3 minutes in and it kicks back into its funk groove, with bassist ginobird giving his best James Brown imitation in the background, chanting "good god" (nice touch.) Sticky sweet drenched in pink lemonade and spiked with honeybird's sassy humor; it's music like this that fits in perfectly with warm spring days that are cooled by lazy breezes.

http://www.honeybird.net/
http://www.myspace.com/honeybirdhoneybird

Computer Magic - Electronic Fences (2011 White Iris Records)

2011-03-23T15:41:00.000-07:00

The glorious wonders of Computer Magic came to life through the creative impulses of 21 year old DJ/Blogger Danz (Danielle Johnson) last winter in Brooklyn. In the down time between her personal obligations, the wild eyed composer began creating and releasing demo EPs via her website available for download. Within that short window of time she's collected a few warm bodies for the purpose of recreating the magic live and has released her first physical EP, "Electronic Fences". The four track EP consists of songs previously released in digital format from the "Hiding From Our Time" and "Hiding From More of Our Time" EP's. The music was revamped slightly for the proper vinyl release with a bit more gloss added and the production fleshed out just a touch. Call it a minor face lift but the heart of the originals, which glimmered with a kind of homespun, bedroom charm are still intact. There's probably more than a few intumescent terms floating around pertaining to which slot the music should be tucked away in (with "glo-fi" and "chillwave" being some of the worst offenders), but I'm sticking with the more bland and straight forward "synthpop." The music recalls synthesizer obsessed radio pop of the 80's, the kind of music that was oozing with human pop harmonies as the heartbeat of an otherwise electronic body of music. It probably makes little sense to attempt to highlight anything from a 4 track EP, especially considering the small amount of offerings here are solid and enjoyable with not so much as a wasted breath in between but that's actually what makes it hard not to. Tracks like "Electronic Fences" shimmer with ghostly harmonies, bubbling synthesizers and drums resembling mechanical heartbeats. It's the type of track that's perfect for some 80's radio jock's playlist or the turntables of some hip crate digger at an underground club party. Both "Found Out" and About You" stand out as personal favorites. Danz' vocals here vaguely recall 60's doo wop girl groups while at the same time recalling the almost monotone beauty of Nico. It's a parallel more than a direct comparison, and what I'm getting at is while Nico's vocals were beautiful in a kind of glacial sense, Danz' are more or less slightly frost bitten, straddling a line of being wide eyed and slightly forlorn while managing to feel slightly detached.

And if that seems a bit non-nonsensical in itself, it probably seems even less relevant to give this kind of record anything more than a passing glance. Anyone I'm sure could count on their hands the number of like minded artists that have flooded both the internet and savvy record stores with similar offerings right? What makes this exude any degree of uniqueness is what lies at the heart: it's what Danz does with the tools within reach and how she manipulates them via her own creative atmosphere to create something that seems to glow well beyond it's skeletal limitations. In the end, it sounds both familiar but slightly unique all in the same passing glance, and that to me is worth a double take. I've read somewhere some of the previous releases have been pressed in cassette form (I'm seriously hoping a full blown cassette revival is in the works, I need a working player now) and are still available via the website. I'm hoping a full length (maybe an 8-track?) is in the works for the near future now.

http://thecomputermagic.com/
http://whiteiris.tv/