Triple EP Review: Birds in Row, Junip and Moby

Artist: Birds in Row, Junip, Moby
Title: Cottbus, In Every Direction, Be The One
Format: EP
Year: 2011
Label: Throatruiner, Unknown, Mute
Genre: Hardcore/Screamo, folk, electronic
Rating: 87 / 100,   62 / 100,   85 / 100

In the first half of 2011 three really interesting EP's were released, it would be a bit superfluous to devote a whole review to each of them, not only because EP's generally don't need giant pieces of text to be discussed in the right manner, but also because two of those three are quite well-known artists, and I don't think people are waiting for two paragraphs of introduction into each of those artists.

So first of all we have this new Birds in Row EP called Cottbus, Birds in Row is a very straightforward hardcore/screamo band with some neocrust'ish edges. An incredibly dark, melodic, yet brutal short piece of music, which is definitely able to compete with the bigger names in the genre. Their sound isn't very original, one has probably heard the elements from their music a dozen times before, but frankly, I really don't care. It's a bit like the most recent Trap Them album: it has been done before, but it's done in the right manner. Overall it's just a very enjoyable EP, and considering they're a very young band they could with ease be the ones to release my favourite album in this genre in 2012.

Next in line is Junip: you might not know this band, but I am quite sure you know their lead singer: José González, known for his cover of The Knife's Heartbeats. Junip is bascially what José González's solo albums would have sounded like if he would have been accompanied by a band. This new EP, In Every Direction was a bit of a weird move for them to make. The title track In Every Direction was actually the opening track of their 2010 album Fields. The rest of the EP contains two remixes of the song, two experimental instrumentals and one new song, being a bit mediocre for Junip standards.

Now, this EP really isn't that bad, the remixes (by White Sea and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.) are fairly enjoyable, but the title track has already been released and the three new tracks, especially those instrumental ones are just a bit mediocore for my taste. A 7" with just those two remixes would have been rated as somewhere between 80 and 85, but I will have to give this EP a 62 / 100. 

Last but not least, there is Moby's Be The One EP, being a kind of interlude to his announced new album. Moby has done a wide range of genres in his fairly long life-span, from progressive house in his early years, towards more electronic ambient like compositions on Play, and the more pop/rock sound on Hotel. This EP is pretty much a mixture of tracks like Natural Blues and Porcelain, and his earlier electronic recordings, having both the slightly melancholic atmosphere of Natural Blues, the ambient like synth melodies of Porcelain, but the house beats known from his earlier works. Moby has been doing stuff like this for almost twenty years now, but still he manages to keep renewing himself, all kinds of new sounds are to be heard on this EP, guitar feedback (Be The One), a strange kind of glitching synths (Sevastopol), and those Ulver'ish slightly distorted synth sounds on the last track, Victoria Lucas. Overall I would consider this as a fabulous EP, being a marvelous introduction to what his new album might sound like. May 16th is the releasedate, can't wait to get a copy.

Spread the love,

Selwin.

Shit's Awes0me: Jay Reatard

In early 2010, one of the greatest contemporary rock musicians died, he was the man behind awes0me bands like Lost Sounds, Destruction Unit and of course Reatards and his solo material released as Jay Reatard, his name was Jimmy Lee Lindsey Jr. and he died an unfortunate, drug related death on the 13th of January 2010, when he was just 29 years old. Jimmy left behind an incredible amount of great, raw garage music, which I would love to tell the world about. His solo work is fairly well known, but bands like Destruction Unit or Nervous Patterns happen to be fairly unknown, even 'though their music is absolutely fabulous.

For those who don't know Jay Reatard or on of the numerous bands he played in: Jay is known for his very raw, energetic, yet melodic kind of garage rock. Some of his projects were more on the traditional, punky side of the spectrum, like Reatards, some contain more electronic elements, like Lost Sounds and Nervous Patterns. What amazes me the most about Jay's recordings is that almost any song has an incredible level of catchiness. Even 'though he released somewhere between 10 and 20 albums and a shitload of 7"', it never gets weak, looking for a weak spot in his music is like looking for Ramones vinyl in an Iranian mosque.


To get a bit in the mood, here is one of Jimmy's more well-known works:


What Jay used to do when he was young:


Some awes0me Nervous Patterns stuff:


And last but not least: Lost Sounds.



I would really recommend to look for some of those releases, because, really, I couldn't imagine any garage lover being disappointed by his awes0meness.

Rest in peace, dear Jimmy,

Selwin.

Review: Alessi's Ark - Time Travel

 Artist: Alessi's Ark
Title: Time Travel
Format: Full-length
Year: 2011
Label: Bella Union
Genre: Folk with some bluesy touches
Rating: 79 / 100

Yesterday, while reviewing the new Blut Aus Nord, I promised I would review the new Alessi's Ark LP: Time Travel. Those who have read this blog more often might have noticed an earlier entry in which I praised Alessi Laurent-Marke's project for creating such beautiful, introvert, cute contemporary folk music. This being said, I fortunately don't need to introduce her any further, these 4 words perfectly explain her way of creating folk music in my opinion.

The thing which grabbed my attention in the first place and made me adore Alessi's Ark so much, were her absolutely adorable vocals. She has this very soft, relatively low pitched voice, often vibrating in the more quiet parts. It is something that makes her able to really stand out from the major part of contemporary folk artist bumping out of the ground everywhere you look nowadays. Now this was my experience with her music when I first heard her debut album Notes From The Treehouse, this album already made clear she is not just a regular folk artist. Most of the songs (except for Woman and Magic Weather) contained a more "standard" pop/rock type of instrumentation, including 4/4 drum patterns, electric and bass guitar, adding a little country touch to the music. Not being a huge fan of country music, I was a bit afraid she would explore this genre more on Time Travel, fortunately, she didn't. There's still the same kind of intrumentation, but the overall rythm and guitar melodies tend to be a bit more bluesy, giving this album the kind of touch one might recognize from artists like Lay Low. This lovely bluesy touch is, in my opinion, something that fits really well to the soft folky sound Alessi is so used to, and actually adds quite a lot to the music.

Now, Notes From The Threehouse already wasn't really an epic record, containing 10 songs, with a total length of just 30 minutes, Time Travel is even shorter (28 minutes) with 4 songs not even reaching the 2 minute mark. This doesn't necessarily mean a decrease in musical quility, but I have to say, in Alessi's Ark's case, I really prefer her more lengthy songs, like, for example Hummingbird, from her debut album. She clearly has the ability to build astonishing songs with great respect to the dynamic aspect of music, unfortunately this was something I missed a bit on Time Travel, giving it the appearance of something that could have been released as an EP.

Alessi's Ark didn't fail to pleasure me with her sequel to Notes From The Treehouse, there are only these tiny point of discussion which doesn't make this album really top their previous, it just lacks that tiny amount of quality to deliver another pearl like Woman or Hummingbird. Despite these tiny points of criticism, I still adore Alessi's voice and would also still consider Time Travel as one of the better folk releases of 2011, it's just too good to be criticised too much.That's why it deserves 79/100 (it used to be 78, but I gave it one extra for the lovely cover artwork).

Spread the love, it's raining again,

Selwin.

Review: Blut Aus Nord - 777 Sect(s)

Artist: Blut Aus Nord
Title: 777 Sect(s)
Format: Full-length
Year: 2011
Label: Debemur Morti
Genre: Black Metal
Rating: 78 / 100

It's spring, the sun has been shining non-stop for almost a week now and a great amount of sunny pop and rock albums have been released the past couple of weeks. Almost about to review the new Alessi's Ark album (postponed to tomorrow), I discovered French Black Metal band Blut Aus Nord had just released a sequel to their 2010 EP What Once Was... Liber I, It's called 777 Sect(s), and has been announced as being the first part of an album trilogy. Those who are familiar with Blut Aus Nord will know what to expect, even 'though their sound changes from album to album, ranging from a somewhat traditional, Scandinavian sounding first album to the more industrial, complex and dissonant recent recordings, they have always kept this, even for Black Metal standards, very dark and haunting atmosphere, which increased every album and reaches its preliminary climax at this 777 Sect(s). 

Blut Aus Nord has always been known as a band that constantly keeps renewing themselves, their history is one full of very distinct albums, each (in my humble opinion) great in its own way, just one exception was made in their carreer, but you probably know which album I'm talking about, 777 Sect(s) is at least no deviation from this pattern. Blut Aus Nord is familiar with the creation of this onerous, burdensome sound, here they again reinvent this sickening kind of music, this time by the use of stomach wrecking lows and brain destroying mids, topped by synth based, droning highs. Overall one could compare the atmosphere on this album to what was to be heard on MoRT (ok, here it is, I said it), the difference being that MoRT had a somewhat empty, hollow sound, 777 Sect(s) on the other hand has a much fuller, and at the same time more suffocating sound, capturing what they were probably trying to achieve on MoRT, but in a much better way.

The thing that makes the sound of Blut Aus Nord so remarkable for me has always been the kind of inimitable songwriting, the complex, yet seizing compositions. On here this expresses itself in a dissonant, anfractuous kind of Black Metal, which is, for me at least, fairly hard to listen to; it's definitely not something one would like to put on while enjoying spring's sunlight or having one's morning cup of tea. The aforementioned compositions consist of a mixture of a slightly industrial type of programmed drums (in the same fashion as MoRT), distorted, guitar like bass, heavily distorted dissonant guitar melodies and, surprisingly, a very small role for the vocal parts. 777 Sect(s) heavily focusses on the instrumental part of the musis, which is something I really do not mind, their occasional appearance add to the album's overall atmosphere, but they are low in the mix and are never overdone.

Objectively speaking Blut Aus Nord have created a very fine addition to their very extensive, alternating discography. Subjectively I must say the album's heavily opressive, anfracturous sound is something which makes me think of albums like Memoria Vetusta II Dialogue With The Stars or Odinist - The Destruction Of Reason By Illumination as being more enjoyable albums. Yet, this last statement is highly personal, and doesn't derogate from the quality of this album at all.

Spread the love,

Selwin.

Review: The Moby Dicks - s/t

Artist: The Moby Dicks
Title: s/t
Format: EP/demo/cd-r/whatever
Year: 2009
Label: Mammoth Cave
Genre: Garage Punk
Rating: 85 / 100

Albums which were released in 2009 are normally not very interesting to review on a blog since most of the devotees of the genre have probably already heard it, and have had about two years to optimize their opinions to the fullest extent. In this case we're dealing with a Canadian punk rock band which is pretty much unknown, even to underground punk lovers, having only 73 listeners on last.fm. I found this while looking for that new Moby EP thingy that was released some days ago, even 'though I really enjoy that new Moby record, this just had to be reviewed first, for being such a marvelous find.

When I say marvelous, I mean marvelous for noisy garage punk standards of course, the music quality is shitty, the sound is utterly distorted and the drumkit only contains a tom and a snare, but damn this is fucking rock 'roll; energetic, youthful, not giving a fuck about whatever would come to mind while thinking about pop music. Their sound lies somewhere between The Ramones (especially Ballad Of the Red Dog) and a kind of lo-fi King Khan & The Shrines, but without the helmeted smelly Indian beer belly. It's music that smells like a trashed fast food "restaurant" and sounds like three 19 year olds throwing 80's punk records around in a flooded basement.  

For a music reviewer there's actually not very much left to talk about, it's just 14 minute long pounding attack to your eardrums, but for fuck's sake, I would like to have my eardrums attacked like that on a daily basis. This makes me again realise why I prefer raw, shitty underground music so much to modern polished pop acts. Everyone who can go absolutely crazy on those earlier Dirtbombs records or regularly has huge par-tays to The Spaceshits, please check them out, you won't be disappointed.

Three songs waiting for you to let their feedback destroy your ears

Spread the noise,

Selwin.

Xiu Xiu joins the Polyvinyl family

Two days ago I mentioned the most recent signing of Sub Pop Records; Georgia based chillwave project Washed Out, this time it's up to Polyvinyl Records (Asobi Sesksu, Vivian Girls, Starfucker) to present their newest family member; they create experimental electronic music and are far from new to the world of contemporary music; Xiu Xiu. After the release of 8 full-lengths and several EP's/7"'s, they have now joined Polyvinyl for both a full-length (early 2012) and fortuntately in the meantime a 7", which will be released somewhere this September, apparently including a Rihanna cover. For now, I can't tell you whether amplifiedstrawberry will be still alive and kicking in early 2012, but I will assure you a review of that tiny piece of 7" vinyl will be posted here as soon as I get the oppurtunity to hear it.

Until September one will have to enjoy oneselves with their earlier works, as I am a huge devotee of enoyment, here's a unofficial fan video of I Luv the Valley Oh!


Spread the love, it's worth it,

Selwin.

Review: Explosions In The Sky - Take Care, Take Care, Take Care

Artist: Explosions In The Sky
Title: Take Care, Take Care, Take Care
Format: Full-length
Year: 2011
Label: Temporary Residence
Genre: Post-rock
Rating: 90 / 100

Yep, it took about 4 years, but it's finally here; the new album from post-rock legends Explosions In The Sky. Their previous albums gained quite a lot of attention, pretty much setting the standard for the oh so famous typical modern post-rock sound; the fast tremolo picking, the melancholic mazes of melodies and the dynamic song structures often working towards dramatic climaxes. Many people might have been a bit afraid of Explosions In The Sky drifting away from their original sound, especially after a 4 year absence, and the release of a surprisingly accesible new Mogwai album. Those people were partially right, this Take Care, Take Care, Take Care doesn't contain the same sound as for example The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place, but when talking about musical quality this album is still  far from inferior.

Last couple of weeks I've seen some bands that went through  (sometimes subtle) sound changes, resulting in what could often be called a deception. There was the new, kind of modest, Times New Viking album, a new Smith Westerns album, which also didn't really got my feet off the floor and of course the biggest disappointment yet: Party Store by The Dirtbombs. Explosions in the Sky have definitely moved towards something slightly different from the sounds of their earlier work, they incorporated some sampling into their music, there are these occasional electronic elements and something I also noticed is the more droning type of sound during the clean parts, instead of the clear tremolo picking which was a major part of their earlier works.

Now, these new elements could of course result in music not in any way as good as what it used to be, but what we're dealing with here is a band called Explosions In The Sky, in my humble opinion one of the best post-rock bands to ever walk on the face of the earth, and yes they again made something absolutely lovely, something which might disappoint some fans because of their subtle sound change, but also something I begin enjoying more and more everytime I hear it. I've fell in love with tracks like Six Days At the Bottom of the Ocean and especially Catastrophe and the Cure, but those are tracks that won't deliver anything new after the third or fourth listen, a track like Let Me Back In on the other hand makes me able to discover new things every time I hear it, again and again. That's probably what made them need 4 years to write and record this album, there are so many layers, so many melodies to be found in every song, even 'though post-rock is already known for being exceptionally dynamic music, Explosions in the Sky seem to take it to another level.

Ok, those were all the things I loved about Take Care, Take Care, Take Care, aren't there any flaws then? Well yes there are, but it's the same kind of criticism they always get, their type song structure is still fairly predictable, still, I would call Take Care, Take Care, Take Care the least predictable album from their whole discography, mainly due to those electronic elements and the smaller focus on climaxes. Another quite minor flaw for me were the "ooh ooh"-vocal samples at the start of Trembling Hands, it was an experimentation probably, and I hope they will keep it an experimentation, because it adds absolutely nothing to their music, it just gets a bit obnoxious after a while.

Fortunately those minor flaws detract alomost nothing from the unprecedented awes0meness of this record, those 6 songs together really form a beautiful, slightly nostalgic unity, a fine breath of life, a sunny sunday afternoon, with a dramatic, yet loving end, it's like a 46 minute, polaroid tinted, description of the first leaves of spring evolving from the tree's branches. 

Spread the birds' tjilping, it's what I love,

Selwin.

Review: The High Llamas - Talahomi Way

Artist: The High Llamas
Title: Talahomi Way
Format: Full-length
Year: 2011
Label: Drag City
Genre: Bossa Nova'esque chamber pop
Rating: 58 / 100

The only reason for checking this band out was their name, yes, it might sound a bit silly but I couldn't imagine a band with a name like The High Llamas sounding dull. Well, as exciting as their name might be as gingerly their music sounds. The High Llamas make a kind of music which directly made me think of kind of orchestral non-melancholic version of Tindersticks, including the carefully appearing hints of jazz and lounge music, all mixed as smooth and slippery as possible.

People who read this blog more aften might know I have a kind of predilection for raw, youthful and energetic music, I can go totally mad on bands like Japandroids or No Age, still, I also really enjoy smooth jazz like early Miles Davis or bossa nova tunes from artists like Bebel Gilberto or Stan Getz. That special kind of relaxed, serene feeling I sometimes get from these "smooth" kinds of music is what I would have to feel to really enjoy a The High Llamas album, unfortunately, I didn't. This doesn't mean Talahomi Way is a bad album, it's actually pretty decent music, but as there is absolutely no punch, no impulse, be it musically or emotionally, this record might incline a bit towards mediocrity in my humble opinion.

If I had to describe this album to somebody else I would probably describe it as anti-rock 'n roll, because it basically lacks everything that made pop and rock music so big; the rebellion, the transmittance of emotion, anger or even love. My pleasure doesn't lie within gentle orchestra strokes, a carefully played clean organ, velvet vocals and prudent songwriting. Apparently there are quite some people who fell in love with their sound, so please don't be turned off from this album for my dislike of their sound, there are abviously a lot of people who do like it, and I could imagine any random person being one of them. This album contains just enough potential of really being loved by someone, that "someone" just isn't me.

If God would be called James McAwes0me, I would become a Christian,

Selwin.

Sub Pop signs Washed Out

I would of course love to tell you more about the latest signings of other labels, but I just continuously keep noticing the awesome signings of Sub Pop, this time it's Ernest Greene's Washed Out; a Georgia based chillwave project, leaning heavily on the more electronic side of this subgenre. A little preview to what Washed Out is all about (thanks to Philly Bee):

Sub Pop simultaneously announced the release of their new album, planned on July the 12th, since I pretty much like the sound of their previous recordings, I will definitely publish a review as soon as it finds its way to my ears.

Share the love,

Selwin.

PS: if you have any review requests, please send me a message, or write something in one of the commentboxes.

Review: The Head And The Heart - s/t

Artist: The Head And The Heart
Title: s/t
Format: Full-length
Year: 2010
Label: self-released in 2010, rereleased by Sub Pop in 2011
Genre: Folk / indie rock
Rating: 84 / 100

Normally I only review bands that have released a new album just in the past couple of weeks, of course I will sometimes make an exeption, some weeks ago I made that rare exeption for atmospheric black metal project Petrychor, one of the most recent signings of Khrysanthoney (love that label), now I will make this exeption for The Head And The Heart. "Why?" you might ask, well they recently got signed to Sub Pop (beginning to love that label too), they recently released a video for Lost in My Mind (posted below), ánd I read they rerecorded some tracks of this album. Alltogether I see enough reasons to review this pretty awes0me album, even 'though it has been a year since it was released

Ok, that was an awful lot of text without mentioning any of the characteristics of their music, which is a shame because The Head And The Heart's music is definitely worth mentioning. This Seattle based sextet plays the kind of folk music which probably isn't such a new thing to those who have followed the big chunks of folk music coming out of, primarily, America. It mixes the more traditional elements of folk music (gentle guitar picking, continuous vocal melodies/harmonies) with some more modern pop/rock influences (4/4 drum patterns, electric bass), making The Head And The Heart highly accessible to those who never really got into this new kind of folk music. Saying this, I finally realise why they got signed to Sub Pop after the release of this debut album.

This kind of accessibility places them somewhere next to Mumford & Sons indeed, I am not going to ignore it, but where Mumford & Sons often use a more uptempo bluegrass'ish sound (thanks to that fabulous banjo), The Head And The Heart often stick to the more introvert folk sound, just occasionally accompanied by popular rocky instrumentation. It would be just a bit too much honour to place these two bands qualitatively on the same level, mainly because of the amazing renewing power of Mumford & Sons, but The Head And The Heart is definitely good enough to not get superfluous.

Today was a beautiful day, my face has rarely been as warm as this afternoon, laying in the grass, just occasionally opening my eyes, checking whether all the flying frisbees and footballs weren't about to hit my slightly tanned face. Making it even more beautiful were the beautiful tones which were coming from my headphones, giving me the ability to pull the whole The Head And The Heart debut album through my eardrums, just before the sunny rooms of the Linnaeus were again about to spoil my head with the exeptionally abstract principles of Thermodynamics.

Spread the love,

Selwin.

Review: La Sera - s/t

Artist: La Sera
Title: s/t
Format: Full-length
Year: 2011
Label: Hardly Art
Genre: lo-fi indie pop
Rating: 80 / 100

Today was a beautiful day, slightly sunny, just under 20°C, birds tjilping like their life depends on the beauty of their dissonant tunes, spent the whole day at the moorlands of Gelderland, of course slightly burnt, like every first day outside during spring. After arriving home and having some pumpkin, I decided to listen to the self-titled La Sera debut album for about the fourth time this week. Really, these are the days at which this kind of music expresses itself to the fullest.

Now, I can imagine you've never heard of La Sera before, still, you might recognize the name Katy Goodman, or the band that once made her famous: Vivian Girls (oh, how I love that band). Now, if you have ever heard one of the Vivian Girls albums, you won't be very surprised by the sound of Katy Goodman's first solo album. Overall, this album is pretty similar, some differences being that where Vivian Girls tend to lean a bit to the more rockier side, La Sera "chooses" the more poppy side, probably influenced a bit by 60's girl groups, resulting in a bit more dreamy sound, almost even nostalgic at moments. The thing helping the songs for the major part to achieve this kind of sound are the exceptionally beautiful vocal melodies, it is very hard to find any vocal part which is sung by just one Katy Goodman, she often appears as 2 or 3 versions at the same time, making these songs very attractive, even a bit hypnotic at times.

Of course you're currently wondering why I gave this album an 80 instead of 90, like the two paragraphs above might suggest. Well, this album is just a bit more of the same, of course the sound isn't exactly like Vivian Girls or similar bands, but it isn't really something I would go mental about because I've never heard anything like it before. Which by the way isn't such a big problem, the album is still pretty damn fine in its own way, Katy's vocals really boost this album to a level of medium awes0meness. And by the way, Katy Goodman is absolutely the most attractive girl in pop music I have ever witnessed. Some sources even say her smile has the ability to create world peace and make Chuck Norris have a boner at the same time. Besides those amazing abilities, her smile is also able to make the birds in my backyard go mad, making them sing the most beautiful pieces of music my dog will ever hear (I never listen to Sigur Ros downstairs). Don't believe me: you better do.

If you enjoyed Vivian Girls or one of their side projects (The Babies, Frankie Rose & The Outs) definitely check this one out, it's just very warm, soft, lovely pop music with those tiny bits of lo-fi rawness, or in other words: the kind of music indie lovers will adore in early spring.

Spread the love,

Selwin

Review: Carrion Spring - A Short History of Decay

Artist: Carrion Spring
Title: A Short History of Decay
Format: Full-length
Year: 2011
Label: Couldn't find one, probably unsigned.
Genre: Screamo
Rating: 88 / 100

Already since the age of twelve I've been listening to "heavy" music, making it possible for me to say I have heard almost all kinds of music in this very widespread genre. There's only one thing I have always tried to avoid, and that's screamo. Of course this avoidance was based on nothing but prejudices, the (occasionally appearing) haircuts, the connections with that whole "emo" movement, I just tried to avoid it as much as possible. Too bad, because my experiences with Portland based screamo band Carrion Spring were quite positive to be fair. So even 'though Carrion Spring is a fairly unknown band (fortunately they're finally getting some well-deserved attention now), they were my first experience with this genre.

For those who have, just like me until a few days ago, absolutely no clue what this kind of music is all about, I will try to explain it in a few sentences, from the outsider's point of view. Carrion Spring plays a kind of music, laying somewhere between the sounds of modern hardcore, post-metal, emo and metalcore. Overall the sound is quite heavy, but still retains some of the melodic elements that make a genre like metalcore so attractive. The balance between sheer brutality and melody is what one might know from bands like Cult of Luna and Isis, even 'though the dynamics within the songs are very different.

One of the points that really stand out on this album is the great attention they pay to songwriting, every individual song on this album is again and again very different from the previous and the next, making A Short History of Decay very attractive to listen multiple times to. While writing this review I give this album already its fourth spin, and still absolutely not a sigle sign of boredom. Another point giving this album just that little bit extra is the unity the 12 songs reflect, the 5 instrumental intermezzos (Selah I-V) make this album sound like one single composition, and while doing so, create a certain amount of atmosphere, something -core albums normally really miss in my opinion. On their own each instrumental is fairly boring, and really not worth listening to, but in the context of the whole album they really contribute to its humble awes0meness.

Carrion Spring is from now on responsible for introducing me to the genre of screamo, and even 'though I approached this album with a bit of suspicion at first, it was a very welcome introduction that will for sure be continued into a further exploration of the genre.

New clothes rarely smell like daisies,

Selwin.

Bon Iver album preview

Good afternoon dear interwebz,

Yes, the first preview of the long awaited new Bon Iver album has finally been published, it's just a sample clocking under the one minute mark, but damn, this makes me look forward to the final release date even more. Finally hearing the soft, subtle melodies and Justin's unmistakable high-pitched voice again, makes my longing for their new album even stronger. Their previous album For Emma, Forever Ago (2008) is still one of my all time favourites and their 2009 EP Blood Bank was, even 'though it was just 16 minutes long, absolutely wonderful. I think this is what one could call a foretaste of what might become one of the best albums, if not thé best album of 2011.



Spread the love, I fail,

Selwin.

Review: Crystal Stilts - In Love With Oblivion

Artist: Crystal Stilts
Title: In Love With Oblivion
Format: Full-length
Year: 2011
Label: Slumberland
Genre: Post-punk / noise pop
Rating: 59 / 100

Two days ago I wrote something about Idle Labor, Craft Spells' new album, a fairly decent example of how 80's revival mixed with modern influences can sound, I wasn't too enthousiastic about it, mainly because it just wasn't really my type of music. In this case we're dealing with a band who mixes some genres I like very much, first there's the typical 80's type of post-punk (think Joy Division), then there's some 60's Phil Spectorism, mixed with some jangly noise pop kind of thing (think Dum Dum Girls) and at last we have something that could best be described as shoegaze, even though it's the least explicit.

Three years ago, in late 2008, Crystal Stilts finally released their first real album, I say finally because they had been releasing EP's and singles since 2005. The first time I heard their debut album was somewhere in early 2010, and I have to admit that I wasn't really blown away by their sound, vocals nor songwriting. So, as a result expectations weren't very high when first reading there would be another album released this spring. That "another album" is entitled In Love With Oblivion and is exactly in line with what they let us hear on Alight of Night.

Crystal Stilts makes quite dark music, with little focus on melody, harmony or groove, vocals are rather low, sometimes even compared to Ian Curtis' style of singing. Someone who regularly reads this blog, might know I really love Joy Divison (there's even a poster of Ian Curtis above my desk), but Brad Hargett isn't really able to get me very warm with his vocals, like Ian does. The vocals lack a bit of clear melody and they often drown in all the reverb, normally I would say they are drenched in reverb, now they are mostly just drowning in reverb. Now, this sometimes isn't such a big deal, especially not when the music is very clear and has an explicit type of groove to it (like earlier mentioned Craft Spells), but Crystal Stilts' sound is fairly thin, making Brad's vocals sometimes an almost indistinguishable drone.

If one would take a look at the so widely spread interwebz, one would notice this album is received in a very positive way, often receiving ratings of 8 or even higher, even on "upperground" media like NME. Now I can understand why someone would enjoy this record, it really isn't that bad after all, but for me personally it just sounds way too thin, there are no lovely sugarsweet melodies, it feels even a bit suffocating at times, making it very hard for me to really enjoy this album. It has components of quite a lot of genres, but fails to really rise above what those genres have to offer seperately. The idea behind the music really has some potential to grow out to something very good, but In Love With Oblivion just doesn't reach that level.

Again, this album really isn't that bad, it's even quite decent at times (Sycamore Tree, Shake the Shackles), but still, the major part of the album was something I really couldn't get into. It might be pretty attractive to those who are devoted to this kind of dark sounding post-punk, mixed with some noise poppy guitar lines, I am just not one of those devotees.

Spread the purplefuzzyloveglow,

Selwin.

Review: Beach Fossils - What a Pleasure

Artist: Beach Fossils
Title: What a Pleasure
Format: EP
Year: 2011
Label: Captured Tracks
Genre: Garage surf (What an awful place to su... nevermind)
Rating: 82 / 100

Every period probably has its own little waves of new kinds of music, it seems we're currently in the middle of a little wave of sunny lo-fi, reverb drenched garage bands, just some names (of which many have already been discussed somehwere on this blog): Tennis, The Babies, Vivian Girls, La Sera, Dum Dum Girls, Wild Nothing and the list goes on. If one still didn't notice which band will be reviewed here, but one read the list, one might miss one of the more important bands: Beach Fossils. While most of the aforementioned bands play the more punky, rock'ish type of music, Beach Fossils is definitely more on the laid-back, surf'ish, even a bit dreamy side of the spectrum, somewhat familiar to a band like Beach House or even Papercuts, but still with that typical lo-fi edge.

Now, when one thinks about the term lo-fi, what might come to mind are poorly produced garage groups, not interested in any kind of sound quality, but just putting a mic in their rehearsal space. Well this might be true in case of a band like PENS, but really, Beach Fossils is really enjoyable, even for those who have a certain aversion towards underproduced garage groups. I will even dare to say that Beach Fossils is quite poppy, even a bit catchy at times, everything in the context of this kind of music of course, but still... some modern day radio producers might even survive playing a track like Calyer on the radio, where Lady GaGa is normally the most underground act to receive any plays.

In comparison to their previous self-titled album some major improvements were made, production wise this EP is far superior; the bass is now clearly audible, and their (electronic?) drumkit sometimes even delivers something which might be called a groove. Another thing that really stands out on this EP, compared to their earlier works are the vocals, they are now, even with a shitload of reverb, very, very clear and fit perfectly within the overall picture of this band.  Everything put together one will hear a somewhat more evolved band, able to produce an EP which doesn't bore me at all. It might not be something to get amazingly excited about, but it's definitely their best effort yet, and will probably be played more often in the near future.

While the sun is gone, the transgenders appear,

Selwin.

Review: Craft Spells - Idle Labor

Artist: Craft Spells
Title: Idle Labor
Format: Full-length
Year: 2011
Label: Captured Tracks
Genre: Chill- / New wave
Rating: 74 / 100

When first noticing the existence of this band, I was almost ready to not like it, partially synth-based music has just never really been my cup of tea, probably the reason why I've almost ignored all music made in the 80's except for Joy Division, New Order and the whole early shoegaze movement. Still, I tried to listen to this as objectively as I could, because a band like Craft Spells really doesn't deserve it to receive a negative review for my dislike of 80's inspired partially synth-based music.

When saying 80's inspired, I really mean 80's inspired, this could with ease be called a kind of new wave revival, but of course dressed in a modern musical clothing. The music is for a reasonable part, let's say 50 percent, electronic (assuming the drums aren't acoustic, but you never know with those modern producers). The slightly dreamy melodies are brought to you by a mix of guitars, mostly drenched in chorus and reverb and quite wave'ish sounding synthesizers, not just the typical analog sine/sawtooth type, but also the more modern pre-programmed versions. Underneath you will find something that could be a) a drumcomputer b) an electronic drumkit or c) acoustic drums with a horrible producer who likes to make his acoustic drumkit sound like an electronic one. Looking at some of their pictures, option b) seems the most plausible choice, also because this album is produced in a very fine way, and I would hate it to call the person who was responsible for its production horrible.

Even 'though the absence of love for this kind of music makes me unable to really enjoy Idle Labor, there are some details to be found that really crank up my appreciation for this album. The first being the absolutely lovely hypnotic dream pop'ish vocals that are present on this album, the second being the very typical guitar sound, reminging me a bit of The Cure on some songs (yes, one of those few bands from the 80's which I actually do enjoy).

As I said in the introduction, Craft Spells really don't deserve a negative review, the album is just too good for something stupid like that, but on the other hand, this album just lacks that tiny bit of quality that could make this top 20 of 2011 material. If you, unlike me, are a huge fan of that typical new wave sound that was first created in the early 80's and also enjoy the more dreamy type of music Cocteau Twins used to play, I would still recommend Idle Labor, for those who really prefer the more evolved sound of this kind of music, skipping this album and getting yourself a copy of Papercut's Fading Parade wouldn't be such a bad choice. 

Spread some love, the sun is shining,

Selwin.

PS: kudos for the coverart, fitting to the music in such a fine way.

Review: Trap Them - Darker Handcraft

Artist: Trap Them
Title: Darker Handcraft
Format: Full-length
Year: 2011
Label: Prosthetic
Genre: Crust/grind
Rating: 85 / 100

Does Swedish death metal and crust go along? Oh, yes it does! Don't believe me? Just try Trap Them. Trap Them are an American band, which has its roots in both hardcore and death metal music. Mixing these two together sometimes creates grindcore, and sometimes it creates a kind of neo-crust, where Trap Them's sound lays isn't very obvious, probably somehwere in between. There is the early Napalm Death'ish raw brutality, the lovely old-skool Swedish death metal (guitar) sound and some dark crustiness reminding me mostly of bands like Avskum.

Now this style of music definitely isn't something new, actually there's a shitload of bands active in this genre, but for me Darker Handcraft is a fine summary of everything good about the various sub-genres; punch, sheer brutality, agression, a pounding low-end, but everything brought as clear as crystal (thanks to Converge's Kurt Ballou). On regular days I don't listen that much crust/grind/death/whatever, that's why I am really not very interested in a shitload of obscure, often mediocre bands polluting my harddisk/cd-racks, all I need are some terrific albums, delivering me the sound I want to hear on those rare moments, normally Martyrdöd, Skitsystem, Napalm Death, Tragedy or Alpinist would do perfectly fine, but from now on, Trap Them would be very welcome in that tiny list.

Something that will directly catch your attention while listening to Darker Handcraft the first time is the guitar sound, people who just have had a little bit of interest in how Swedish death metal used to sound in the early 90's will probabaly immediately recognize it. It's bascially something that could have been recorded in the famous Sunlight Studios in Stockholm, Sweden. It just gives this album that little extra that makes Trap Them able to distinguish themselves from the giant grey mass of modern (neo-)crust- and grindcore bands.

Darker Handcraft isn't something that will shock the music world for its amazing ability to renew the whole world of extreme music, still, it's just everything about heavy music done in the right manner. Whoever likes both 90's Swedish death metal ánd modern hardcore bands, I would definitely recommend this.

Spring is superduperawes0me, and you know it,

Selwin.

Review: Woods of Desolation - Torn Beyond Reason

Artist: Woods of Desolation
Title: Torn Beyond Reason
Format: Full-length
Year: 2011
Label: Northern Silence
Genre: Atmospheric/Melancholic Black Metal
Rating: 87 / 100

Most of the people who have been following that whole wave of Melancholic Black Metal bands since, let's say, 2006, probably must have noticed Australian band Austere. With their very typical guitar sound and tortured moans they gained quite a lot of attention, releasing two albums that were musically speaking far superior to most demo's and full-lengths being released in that genre. Unfortunately somewhere in spring 2010 they decided to quit Austere. Meanwhile there was this other Australian band called Woods of Desolation, for which Mitchell Keepin (one of the Austere members) already did some session vocals on their 2009 EP Sorh. Woods of Desolation creates Black Metal pretty much in the same fashion as Austere once did, so much even that after listening the first two tracks of Torn Beyond Reason I started wondering whether there weren't any Austere members involved. Well big surprise, it's Tim Yatras (the other Austere member) who is responsible for both the drumming and the vocals on this album (it also seems he did the production, but I will come back to that subject later).

For those who aren't familiar whith Austere's work I will try to explain what their, and Woods of Desolation's sound is all about. Something I already mentioned is their very typical guitar sound, it's not your average distorted Black Metal sound, but more some kind of droning melodic blur, in some cases accompanied by a synth mixed very much to the background. Tim Yatras' drum sound is almost as typical as the guitar on this album, he has a very own style of drumming, especially the fills really make it clear that it's Tim drumming on here and not somebody else. When everything is put together there is only one way to describe the sound with one word, and that's massive, it seems to cover each frequency; from a deep rumbly bass to the high-pitched moans that are used so often in this style of music.

In the introduction I already mentioned that I suspect Tim Yatras of doing the production of this album, or at least helping D. with his guitar set-up. This because the guitar sound on Torn Beyond Reason is just practically the same as the guitar sound on the last three Austere releases. Normally I wouldn't be charmed by something like that, but in this case I am; I have always adored Austere's guitar sound and thus I am very happy to hear it back on a Woods of Desolation release.

There is a very clear reason why I didn't put the word depressive in the genre section, normally bands like these are labeled as depressive or even suicidal. When I think about depressive music I think about Trist's Sneni or Perfume Genius' Mr. Peterson, the overall atmosphere on this album just wouldn't be justified by calling it depressive, I would say it lays somewhere between melancholia and nostalgia, two quite similar emotions that represent this album much better in my humble opinion. As a result, this album could with ease be described as beautiful, the blurry guitar layers, the melancholic type of melody and the desperate moans, when it all comes together it just sounds so damn fine.

Torn Beyond Reason is qualitatively speaking a terrific album, which deserves, and will probably gain, a lot of attention. Even 'though their huge, massive sound is very similar to Tim Yatras' previous project Austere, this album could be considered as a progression since Austere was disbanded, and will definitely be heard more often by my neighboors.

Spread some love, it will not spread itself,

Selwin.

Shit's Awes0me: James Vincent McMorrow

Good afternoon dear interwebz,

Last year I wasn't really paying any attention to new albums coming out, making me miss some very fine records that were released that year. One of those was the amazing debut album of Irish singer-songwriter James Vincent McMorrow entitled Early in the Morning. Already from the first listen I have been kind of of obsessed with his lovely falsetto voice, his melancholic folky instrumentation and nostalgic lyrics. Last year I had Angus & Julia Stone's second album as number one in my list of that year, the only reason it's wasn't on the second place is because it wasn't until two weeks ago before I finally discovered James Vincent McMorrow.

The opening track of the album: If I Had a Boat has been recorded live by Soul Kitchen, and was posted on Youtube, even 'though the album version is already near perfection, I just fell in love with this version, so much even, I assure you your life will continue in misery if you decide not to listen.



Yesterday I was complaining a bit about the lack of continuity on The Raveonettes new album Raven in the Grave, well that's probabaly an issue James Vincent McMorrow has never heard of. Every song on his debut is very special in its own manner, making it one extremely beautiful unity, still with enough variation to not get boring at any moment. Where most other (awes0me) albums leave me with a feeling of saturation, this album leaves me with a feeling of longing, longing for option a) his beautiful voice, or option b) a hug. Now I am of course aware option b) doesn't belong in the list of possibilites, but I am so happy option a) is.

Apparently enough James Vincent has its very own Youtube channel where he has posted some of his tracks, of which for one an official video was made, again I will probably not be able to live any further without grabbing this chance of making the interwebz aware of James Vincent McMorrow's awes0meness.



It's still not summer, and you know it,

Selwin.

Review: The Raveonettes - Raven in the Grave

Artist: The Raveonettes
Title: Raven in the Grave
Format: Full-length
Year: 2011
Label: Vice Music
Genre: Shoegaze
Rating: 81 / 100

The Raveonettes are a Danish duo who are at the moment one of the main acts responsible for keeping shoegaze alive and kicking. Their music has often been described as quite The Jesus and Mary Chain'ish. Don't trust people who do, because this band stands at a fairly big distance from acts like these. In my humble opinion The Raveonettes have always had a very own style of playing this kind of music, being a very fine addition to modern shoegaze and noise pop music.

Some weeks ago I announced a new The Raveonettes album which would be released somewhere this spring, well, don't look any further, here it is. They named it Raven in the Grave and is again full of songs played in the way The Raveonettes are used to; slightly dreamy, sometimes fuzzy rock music, which again is able to evoke that feeling which was once evoked by bands in the late 80's. Fortunately they don't get any further than an 80's "feeling", their music is full of so much more, there is post-rock'ish romanticism, chillwave'ish sensualism, some occasionally appearing electronics, male/female vocal harmony and fuzzed-to-the-top hazy lead guitar melodies, alltogether making the overall sound pretty one of a kind.

What distinguishes a great album from a good album for me is a bit continuity; an album on which every song has its own special reason for being awes0me, unfortunately this album lacks a bit too much of the aforementioned continuity to really be called great instead of good. There are some really amazing tracks (Ignite, Recharge & Revolt and Evil Seeds), but there are a just too much tracks that could be considered as fillers (for example Apparitions and Summer Moon), and to be fair, those just pull the joy of listening a bit down.

Still, I will rate this 81 / 100, for those absolutely amazing songs present on this album, it just could be a lot higher if the rest of the album would be just as awes0me. Because every sweetheart visiting this blog deservers to hear some of that mentioned awes0meness:


Spread the love,

Selwin.

Review: Braids - Native Speaker

Artist: Braids
Title: Native Speaker
Format: Full-length
Year: 2011
Label: Kanine
Genre: Neo-pysychedelica / freak folk / dream pop
Rating: 82 / 100

Two days ago I wrote something about the first EP of psychedelic pop project Therapies Son, that same day my eyes fell on this debut from Braids, more psychedelica in the same week? Will my ears be able to handle so much funky, freaky music in such a short amount of time? Yes, period. Native Speaker is pretty awes0me, and different enough from Therapies Son to follow each other up.

Even 'though I hate this comparison, and even 'though it doesn't do any justice to their music, Braids could be called the Canadian answer to Animal Collective. That is, objectively speaking there are a lot of things in common, but there are fortunately a shitload of things very different about Braids. The thing I like the most are the ethereal type of vocals, sometimes reminding me of Kate Bush. sometimes even reminding me of Cocteau Twins' Elizabeth Fraser. The ethereal vocals are one of the reasons that make this album so damn surreal sounding, it's like dream pop, but representing the overall feeling of a dream much better than any conventional dream pop band will ever be able to accomplish.

One will even be pushed further from everything that's real by the very unorthodox style of instrumentation. A major part of the music is loop-based, creating a fairly repetitive base of rythmic melodies, synthesized drones and effects drenched percussion. A perfect example of what they are able to make with this manner of creating music is Lammicken, by far the most surreal track on this album, drenched in noise and conducted by the vocal beauty Braids is able to deliver to one's ears, this is probably their best offering of their still very short lifespan.

This is what could be described as a perfect debut, offering a great introduction to their music, but still leaving some space to evolve further. Native Speaker is worth being praised, but it will probably take one or two albums for Braids to really discover their full abilities of creating sound in the way they do. For me this is a precursor of what might eventually evolve into one of 2013/14's top albums.

Little Hand sounds the best with the Civil Defense Sirene howling in the background.

Selwin.

Review: Therapies Son - Over the Sea

Artist: Therapies Son
Title: Over the Sea
Format: EP
Year: 2011
Label: Transperant
Genre: Psychedelic mellow pop
Rating: 79 / 100

Last sunday I received a little message from LOVVVVVe, asking me to please check out Alex Jacobs's Therapies Son, one of the more recent signings of Transparent Records (Perfume Genius and others). They released their debut EP, Over the Sea about two weeks ago, containing 6 tracks of a kind of music one probably hasn't heard very often before. Alex plays a very unique kind of psychedelic pop, not like those well-known bands from 60's, but a very mellow, mostly synth-based kind of psychedelica, everything driven by simple mid-tempo drumbeats.

As you might know I never include video's or sound samples in my reviews, this time 'though I chose to make an exeption. It's a pretty unknown project and this really is music you might want to hear first before believing everything I say. This is Touching Down, the opening track on this EP, representing the overall sound of Therapies Son very well.



In my humble opinion Alex made a very honest little EP, in which he never avoids any experimentation with synth melodies, vocal layers and unconventional songwriting. One might say Therapies Son is something music needs every now and then; somebody who likes to experiment with all those different genres music has to offer, blending it into something new. This EP doesn't represent a kind of music which has fully evolved, but it shows something very promising, something which could lead to some fantastic records in the near future. For now one will have to do it with this EP, which ins't a punishment by far, it is something fans of experimental pop music might fall in love with.

Spread the LOVVVVVe,

Selwin.

Review: Elders - Blind Rage

Artist: Elders
Title: Blind Rage
Format: Full-length
Year: 2011
Label: King Of The Monsters
Genre: Hardcore Punk with some crusty edges
Rating: 75 / 100

Seldom there is so little information to be found about a band like in Elders' case. Everything the interwebz knows about them is that they're from Phoenix, Arizona, they play violent hardcore punk and are signed to an American label, King Of The Monsters, specialized in dark, crusty, hardcore punk. Elders is definitely no exeption to this concise description. By releasing this Blind Rage LP, they unleash a huge violent chunk of sheer anger, so furious they make Black Flag look like a bunch of grass smoking treehuggers. Sound-wise it even leans a little bit towards the early 80's crust of bands like Discharge.

What I am normally a bit afraid of is the prodcution of albums like these, often resulting is a rumbly, bassless noisy production, not doing any justice to the band's sound. In this case, they chose the absolute perfect way of producing an album like this, lying somewhere between a proper garage and a professional studio, resulting in a sound which fits this kind of music the best in my opinion; raw, but with a oh so heavy punch.

Elders is a kick straight to the face received by a boot drenched in blood. Elders is pure sonic fury, Elders is at the end nothing really special, nothing world shocking, but it's everything done in the right manner, giving one a school example of what hardcore punk should, and could, sound like; mostly fast and agry (Protocols, Used and Abused), sometimes dark, mid-tempo and crusty (Suicide Punk, Blood on the Blade).

Spread some lov.... no wait, fuck it, *punch in the stomach*, I am off, kicking some innocent babies,

Selwin.