Kimbra- Vows 2011

Keeping on the Australia kick, after digging into Gotye, i checked in on the lovely lady, Kimbra, who lends her voice to that Gotye single above, and was pleasantly surprised with her solo work. Shes got some really good production on her album, but what won me over on her was a series of Sing Sing Studios live performances up on the youtubes. In them, she performs 4 or 5 tracks from her album Vows with a slick band that help her to lay down some live looping for her more intricate vocal showcases from the album, but also works to strip the songs of their more glossed over details. Seeing her with a 4 piece band kicking out tracks like her single, Cameo Lover, give it a much more jazzy, motown sound that the electronic version from the album conveys, until that chorus kicks in. That chorus is straight motown no matter how you cut it. Dig her live version of Settle Down, track one off Vows.

Meniscus - Absence of I (2007)

Post Metal can be a tricky sort of mistress...you see she's been around the block awhile and her "tricks" aren't all that original anymore.  Seriously look at all the acts that sound exactly like Isis. Australian group Meniscus take a familiar approach with some welcome variations. For one its pretty ambient and jazzy at times. Sure these Aussie's get heavy handed with the metal chug but this is certainly more tech than it lets on. I'm fairly certain they have just released a new album with a new drummer this year but I am woefully unfamiliar.

My apologies for not posting as frequently. I am in the throws of purchasing my first home so bear with my sporadic posting habits.

Absence of I (2007)

Zvoov - Everbrown (2011)

This is a sleeper album. On first listen, nothing really pops. Everything is well-executed and sounds nice, but there's nothing really jaw-dropping.

After a few listens, the album definitely starts to grow. The guitar parts are subtle, sneaky, and dark, highly reminiscent of Slint. The rhythms have an understated but groovy swagger. Its clear that a lot of thought went into composing each song. The parts are polished, interesting, and stand up to repeated listens.

In contrast to a lot of math-rock albums I've been listening to, there is nothing extreme or astonishing on this record. But a face-melting chopsfest does not appear to be Zvoov's intention here. Instead, they use restraint and have created a thoughtful, well-crafted album. Its an interesting approach to the genre and well-worth a listen.

Also, the drummer is one of the tallest men on earth.

Everbrown is available for free on Zvoov's Bandcamp.