AS MEIAS - self-titled & II

Japanese math rock is always crystal sharp in its execution and never a nary note thrown in. The most important aspect of my mass generalization is that their drummers are ALWAYS amazing. AS MEIAS is no exception to either of these rules. The singing here is a highly melodic emotional style that works well with the music and never tries to follow the rhythmic curve's going on behind it. Both guitars get locked into some solid steel counterplay with some riffs that I'd dare say are pretty original especially rhythmically. My issue (however slight) is that the riffs don't change as often as I'd like. Confession time I have musical ADD, no surprise. So many of you might listen and think "hmmm he's full of junk hell" Drums are pretty incredible in that they never play with the guitars and are always trying to (F) the beat up. This is super solid across the waters level biz.

Self-Titled (2004)

II (2010)

Happy Body Slow Brain- Dreams of Water (2010)

I was reminded that I had yet to post about these guys when Acey thanked Ghost for recommending track 8 off their 2010 debut, Up Late. What an excellent track to start off with: a majority of the album is melodic, minor keyed synth pop, and Up Late stands out as a track that especially showcases their skills in that regard. The album is great; standout tracks include the opener Everything You Know, and as i must show you in video form, this excellent acoustic version of track 10, Emperor. Full-band version is sick as balls, but its really nice seeing them perform a song like this as a duo:


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Arietta - Migration (2009)

     Arietta - meaning "stop" in french

  A Canadian group that has managed to keep me coming back time and time again to their 2009 release "migration".  If your thinking this is because these guys play some kind of future bending face melting psych drone alien pop well your wrong. Arietta do almost nothing that you haven't heard before. Sounds like a bad start but consider this.
    These guys travel in a highly refined pop / post-hardcore climate that is a seeming distillation of both of these genre's best aspects. Fairly complex without being heavy handed as well as some interesting jagged riffs that have been sanded to perfection. Its this balance that keeps Arietta from sounding like a boring copy of other such bands. Vocals are well sung and lyrics dont become too embarrassingly ridiculous.  If your not sold by this description well you should be. This is incredibly well constructed song craft and 85% of these songs are catchy as sin. I'm a super sucker for catchy hooks and memorable chorus's just as much as I fiend for stabs of dark dissonant mayhem, again balance.  Always surprised that I don't see these them getting talked up more because they are easily more deserving than half of the groups I hear twirling their guitars around.



Migration (2009)

Kayo Dot - Gamma Knife (2012)

Following up on last month's Maudlin of the Well post, we've got the sudden release of Kayo Dot's latest full length, a partially live record of all new material that was recorded this past fall. Book-ended by a pair of beautiful "ballads", Gamma Knife contains some of the most blisteringly brutal fuck-your-face outer thought broadcasts that Kayo Dot's put to tape, full of raucous bass and guitar counterpoint punctuated by brass stabs and guttural screams. Fuck if I know what an "Ocellated God" is, but these jams are fierce and endearing.

The live material is a bit muddy, with the vocals buried amidst the madness, but the performance is great and they managed to achieve a fair bit of separation in the mix. When horns blaze high and mighty, you won't be thinking about what the man's singing anyway.

5 Dollars at they bandcamp: http://kayodot.bandcamp.com/

If you a stingy fuck, Toby Driver says:

If you're gonna download it illegally anyway, just email me and I'll send you a download code so you can get the authorized version instead of having to go through some other asshole who uploaded it. In return, I get to put you on my mailinglist and also get to put your name on my voodoo list.

A Troop of Echoes-Tour Starts 1/4/12!

Just wanted to add a quick bumpity bump to restate that starting tomorrow, January 4th, our fellow ninja FranklinDCs group A Troop of Echoes is kicking off their tour at Precinct in boston; metaghost and i will be going, and hope to see some more of you Swords folks at the show. They'll be touring all over the northeast, so get ready to rock out to some sick tunes. Heres a neat video for their song Little Bird off their 2010 album Days in Automation, and again tour dates below:



4 Boston, MA - Precinct (w/ Zvoov, Strange Mangers)
12 Baltimore, MD - Charm City Art Space (w/ Fires, Sea Patterns)
13 Greenville, NC - The Tipsy Teapot
14 Charlotte, NC - The Common Market (w/ David Cox)
15 Columbia, SC - Conundrum Music Hall (w/ Pan)
16 Nashville, TN - Exit / In (w/ Call it Anything, Chris West’s Junkyard Horns)
17 New Orleans, LA - Hi-Ho Lounge (w/ Autotomii)
18 Athens, GA - Go Bar (w/ Sleep Dance)
19 Charleston, SC - Village Tavern
20 Baltimore, MD - Sidebar Tavern (w/ Zvoov, Time Columns)

PLOKK - A + B

PLOKK are a 5 piece from Hamburg. (EDIT: 3 piece ((even more impressive)) )
PLOKK are freaking amazing

Just listen to the facts. This is a franken beast that makes so much sense when you hear it.  Depending on the moment you might catch them in the middle of some kind of quasi dissonant guitar battle that sounds like its about to fall  apart. Two seconds later you could be thrashing to an all out alternative metal  riff. It never turns out sounding at odds with itself though and flows organically on its way. The band itself says "intelligent krautrock" which I suppose you could tack in there.  A better idea as far as other bands go would be a more disjointed and less jazzy version of Fago. Sepia, a wonderful comparison in my opinion. So i know i must say this a lot but if you enjoy math rock in any of its aspects this is not something you can pass by. Don't even think about it.

A + B

Audiocæneat! - Red Sessions (2011)

Post-rock can be a tricksy beast. It is often a  downright boring and formulaic genre affair (as anything can be) But when you are distilling many different genres down the roots system you've gotta have your weapon enchanted with just the right amount of elemental forces to stand ahead.  This brings us to Audiocæneat! from Germany who play a classic post-rock (think epic guitars) pounding drums, some great structure and shoegaze thrown in to flesh out the proceedings.  What I can and always do give props to is the attention of production, everything is in your face and crystal. Also if you think that this is your grandpas old post rock with down time they remain always interesting. Do I hear some metal influence in those guitars? You bet your bottom. These guys put a lot of the main streamers to shame. So what does that mean for you? it means clickity below fellow's.

Red Sessions (2011)