Hey Predator! hail from our northern brothers in Montreal. Yes this is an older release but it is an absolutely vital one. Extremely forwarding thinking post-punk with a lot of delicious twists and turns. High energy is the name of the game with these guys not to mention vocals which are equally as engaging. Reminds me a bit another Canadian group North of America. Which shouldn't be too surprising as NoA are a huge influence on a lot of the post-punk/post hardcore math we enjoy (ie Cinemechanica). I was discussing these guys with Dave from Gulfer (who has an intense knowledge base of all thing math to rock) he informed me these cats are now in the very excellent group Girl Arm.
So I suppose what im getting at is you absolutely need to verse yourself in the Stack Your Roster....er ugh roster. Montreal has one of the most interesting progressive scenes going right now and itd be a shame to miss anything they have going. plus come on they re-released Them Roaring Twenties!
Breath in the majestic sounds of two piece bass and drums. Think you know what it sounds like already? consider that you are very possibly wrong and dive in. What we have on display is some incredibly deft bass guitar playing that seems to take much joy in blurring the lines between prog, math and funk. Great twists and turns to be had here as well some pretty melodically memorable moments. What about the drums? no worries because they are totally on par ripping up the landscape. A must have for any fan of highly technical music. Stellar.
I have been a big fan of Reggie Watts for a few years, but apparently that is just not long enough. Although I know this deadly dudeman as a hilariously talented musical comedian, he has been an active musician since studying the piano at the age of five, eventually going to college studying jazz, preforming in a great number of musical groups in various capacities, and slowly learning how to compose and perform solo using his skills on his looping pedals, keyboards, and acapella vocal chops. Now, at the ripe age of 41 and a solid 20 years into his musical career, he is well versed in bringing a killer show to an audience.
Those of you who may not know of Reggie might be surprised to learn he has composed a few current theme songs (the intro music to both Key and Peele and Comedy Bang Bang spring to mind), acts as sidekick to Scott Aukerman on the Comedy Bang Bang IFC show, has brought his skills to TED Talks, and just recently released a 30 track live/ studio comedy album, Why Shit So Crazy. Although it is nice to hear his skill put under the microscope that a studio recording affords (as demonstrated in songs like Fuck Shit Stack), his live shows are just as tight as studio tracks with the added bonus of his monologues and skits that run between, and sometimes during, songs; in short, I enjoy the art of his performances immensely. The video I continue to show friends is a song he did on Conan around the time Why Shit So Crazy was released. Not only is it hilarious, but it really showcases his skills in both his musical/ technical abilities and also how disarmingly goofy he presents himself when on the stage.
As usual, I do not know much about this dudeman.
Twin Shadow is the moniker of a broseph that just released his second album, Confess, and is known for mining the soundscapes and styles of 80s pop classics like Tears For Fears and The Human League, while prominently utilizing vocal techniques learned from the likes of those mentioned, as well as including a healthy dose of Peter Gabriels skills, and mirroring other modern incarnations of the form, such as TV on the Radio and Gotye. As to what I have read, this sophomore effort is much crisper and more fully realized than his well received debut, 2010s
Forget.
I can't offer too much linkage for this post: the album kicks off to a great start with Golden Light, but his go-to single, Five Seconds, is a pretty great introduction to his style. It is track 3 off of Confess, and though the video features a 90 second narrative intro before the music hits, it sure is a neat ditty. Check it, wieners.
When I mentioned Belle and Sebastian in my post on Two Door Cinema Club, I recalled this particular Music Moment very vividly and instantaneously; I believe I compared Two Door to them because of the instant perking of ears that occurred in both cases when I heard a particular song of theirs.
Belle and Sebastian was a band name I was familiar with, but at the time I could not honestly put a sound to the impression I had of then from their name. Naturally, I thought they were a duo, playing who knows what kind of music. But in summer 2007, I was living in New Hampshire and commuting 70 minutes to Boston to paint the interiors of vacant apartments with my two roommates, Jacob and Claytor. It was a grueling, tough day for us, and I was exhausted for our long drive home. I put on some college radio station to add a little variation to the usual sounds of NPR we listened to most of the time, both driving or working; I just wanted to hear some tunes. After a few songs went by, this one track popped on and I instantly woke up, befuddled and excited, wondering who the hell was making this great, harmonic, classic sounding pop music. The broadcaster didn't mention the band after the song ended, so I had to go home, check the radio stations website and their playlist timeline, and after a long while I finally found what I was looking for. Wrapped Up In Books, track 8 off their 2003 release, Dear Catastrope Waitress:
Naturally, I picked up Dear Catastrophe Waitress, and I was not disappointed. Linkage: It starts off hilariously with a Zombies-style ode to sex with Step Into My Office; they follow that up with the superbly produced title track, a love song to people working dead end jobs with high hopes; their first single from the album, I'm A Cuckoo, is neat but, to me, Wrapped Up In Books is the lynch pin of the album. Further listening comes from their follow up studio album (after a singles and eps collection and a live album), 2006's The Life Pursuit: Act of the Apostle starts it off great; Funny Little Frog is just classic, wonderful, happy go lucky pop song about the idolization of romance. Enjoy, Slingers.
As you well know by now, I am a huge sucker for pop. Today, I was watching videos of two bands I had read good reviews of; the results were not as promising as I had hoped for, but in the related videos for a song by The Henry Clay People, I saw a link to a video that I instantly remembered hearing about six months ago, then promptly forgetting. I checked in on it, and as a fiend for well written pop music, I was very happy. Soon I snagged the album, and now that I am a few songs deep I am even more pleased by this band I randomly rediscovered.
Two Door Cinema Club are a young Irish pop group that kick out some upbeat, catchy dance music with decent skills and a huge talent for feel-good hooks. I have seen a few live videos of theirs, and it seems that their strength really lays in the studio. They are a trio of multi-instrumentalists, and their songs usually feature a full band sound that is hard for them to properly replicate live. Its not to say they don't try, or that this fact should be a deterrent; they are young and there is always time for expansion, and their abilities at writing a great studio album are still very strong.
Tourist History is their 2010 studio debut. It is reminding me of a mix of the styles of Postal Service, Bloc Party, Belle and Sebastian and the best parts of Vampire Weekend. Simple, melodic lead guitar melodies that harmonize with the upbeat vocals, guitars, bass, drums and assorted electronica. After hearing only their singles, Cigarettes in the Theatre really surprised me as an opening track; It shares so many flavors with Bloc Partys debut album opener, Like Eating Glass, and I love that stuff soo much. I was quite excited for what was to come after it, and what kind of progression would lead into the two songs I had heard, which appear in the later parts of this album with such an unexpected beginning. Something Good Can Work is on the uber-catchy side of their spectrum, and comes in at track 5; the song that brought up the memories I had of these guys, What You Know, comes in at track 8. It is just so darned accessible. Great rhythms, melodies, and quality catchiness. I am enjoying; maybe you will too. Blam:
I was watching an episode of Portlandia, and in one skit an acupuncture recipient was being treated to some awfully inappropriate music. The band kept switching songs, and one of them was titled Tunnelvision. It reminded me a great song of the same name by Here We Go Magic, a band I remember Ed Droste recommending on the Grizzly Bear blog. I liked them a lot from the videos I checked on youtube but never got around to checking their album.
Here We Go Magic make nice folky psychedelic pop with cool rhythms and great catchy vocals. Their third album is due in May according to their tumblr page, and in the meantime I suppose its time to check out their 2010 release, Pigeons, as well as what I haven't heard from their 2009 self titled debut. This track, Fangela, is from their self titled:
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:
Jazz as genre is one that casual music listeners just don't understand. When you hear "mall /department store jazz" your entire life your concepts can be hazy for sure. Luckily Neil Cowley Trio will show you the true light of day. These guys throw some nice curves in there to keep things interesting. Obviously instrumentation is top notch. There are shades of post rock structures and awesome melodies abound as well. Also worth mentioning is the title track "radio silence" is the song I wake up to almost every morning....it's just that god damn gorgeous. Inject some Jazz in your life, we all need it.
When we are talking left field music the Japanese always seem to be pushing boundaries. Math Rock as a genre is pretty new and there is still room for growth. While there is much in the way of awesome time bending groups today, I think we can all generally agree that not many venture past the typical expectations. Enter Kosuke Jodai, I have no information other than this concerning this release so we will let the music speak for itself. This is some serious stuff. Equal parts noise, synth laden math rock its hard to keep your baring at times. It walks the line surprisingly well all things considered because there is just a lot going on. What actually came to mind similarity wise was the cram jam math rock super beast "Hey!Tonal" previously covered. This is great stuff and I wish I had more info on it at all. Certainly fans of the genre need to check this out.
I have mentioned Little Brother in previous posts, as well as featuring some Strong Arm Steady in a madlib mix post, and both showcase the excellent harmonies that singer Phonte would kick out on all kinds of jams; dude is a melodic, harmonic vocal master, and at some point in the early 2000s, Phonte connected with a dutch producer named Nicolay through the Okayplayer message boards, and soon the two pulled a Postal Service style exchange of instrumentals/ vocal takes (the name The Foreign Exchange stemming from this strange musical connection), and put together their first album Connected in 2004.
