Saturday, February 19, 2011

STNNNG




Aggressively angular guitars mixed with spoken word vocals and shouting are always a recipe for success in my book. Clearly there is a deep love with Fugazi going on as well but I'd say its harder to find bands that aren't influenced by them so no points will be deducted.  There is also a liberal sprinkling of mathy structures but certainly not enough to be overbearing. At times I'd say they remind me if Slint was angrier and played faster, all in all a high compliment.  Not for everyone but a great redux of some classic 90's alternative indie rock with an edge

 Dignified Sissy
Fake Fake
The Smoke of My Will





PS. The cover art for Dignified Sissy is awesomely representative of how they sound

Friday, February 18, 2011

James Blake



Dudeman James Blake from the UK has been gaining all kinds of recognition as of late. Apparently he put out a few EPs in late 2010, and has just now released his debut solo album. A songwriter/ engineer/ producer with a nice voice and some slick synths, I just stumbled onto him the other day and have been listening to The Wilhelm Scream over and over. Here's a great live version:



And one more, a music video for Limit To Your Love, a cover of Feists song from his debut album.

Damiera - M(us)ic




There is a glut of post-hardcore groups (that's an understatement). It makes it hard to know what can be worth your time.  Damiera has gone through many line-ups in its life span, but M(us)ic era Damiera was really something special. I had the pleasure of seeing them twice during this time and its a shame they have all split to other ventures. M(us)ic is a great slap of very mathy post-hardcore with High pitched vocals. All of the songs on this album are their own beasts. As it stood they took their obvious influences and compounded them into this excellent release. please enjoy as it still is a high point of the genre.


M(us)ic

The King of Limbs


Last sunday night, after the grammys, Radiohead announced that they would be releasing a new album on saturday, and then decided to release it a day early. You can pick it up here for some cashola depending on how you like it. Thom Yorke decided to do some strange dancing to entice you.

The King of Limbs (2011)   

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble


Born out of the group composing for old silent movies, The name truly says it all if your looking for a reference. Moody and complex without being too overbearing in the best way possible, please check this out. 


Here Be Dragons

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Who's Your Favorite Son, God?





This is what happens when Math Rock tells itself to go "fuck off". It's a highly coordinated ramshackle attack on the cohesion of what you would come to expect from gentlemen such as this.The music does tend to break the hazy clouds and pound out some honest to god crystal clear licks. However this is not the point at all. Promise there isn't really anything like it out there.

Out of Body Diva (2008)

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Hey! Tonal




Comprised of members from a handful of current and past math rock groups (maps and atlases, zzzz's, storm and stress, sweep the leg johnny)  Hey! tonal marks a less organic take on the genre, employing carefully programmed drums and samples. It is a bit free-jazzy using horns and structure wise as well. Really strong for members whose groups sound nothing like this.

Hey! Tonal