There's been some talk of Loose Lips Sink Ships on the fantasmagorical facebook arm of this fine musical blog....cough..cough.. Plenty of Swords (facebook edition)
Anyway's I promised to post an off shoot of LLSS from guitarist Conor Mackey called The Soft Greens. This is very much NOT math rock as if you couldn't latch onto that fact within the first .5 seconds. This is electronic dance pop albeit very Frankensteined. Rhythmically at times this stuff gets super complex and wild with some deep breaks thrown in. Maybe if Aphex Twin had a 15 year old second cousin that was into max tundra? In any case it needs to be checked into. mark it.
I wanted here to start a new thread of blog posts, The New Breed challenge, where you fellow bloggers and friends of the blog write up pieces about an album, artist or song that demonstrates the combination of two stellar artists/ genres of music into a completely new, unique sound. I have been taking in as much Max Tundra as possible this last week, and, in how i initially reviewed his work, a few things have changed but a few things have stayed the same.
First, i will backtrack and say again how Max Tundra combined the sounds of two of my favorite artists, Squarepusher and Passion Pit, into one new strong sound. While Squarepusher works in a completely instrumental-based level, using incredibly intricate melodic production behind wonderful rhythm arrangements, Passion Pit utilizes a more band friendly, keyboard-and-laptop approach to an electronic band, with wonderfully catchy vocals front and center. The things i have been loving about the Max Tundra album are the songs that really get deep into the combination of these two elements, creating intense electronic instrumentation behind straight forward vocal melodies. I have grown to appreciate this combination so heavily that the extended instrumental sections that Max provides, to me, only take away from the strength of his "Ill Combo" work. Instead of 10 minutes of electronic outros, i would much rather have 2 or 3 more rocking, 3-minute goodies such as Number our Days, off Parrallax Error Beheads You.
My only gripe about this track is the last 40 seconds or so, where it moves into an instrumental section that does not resolve with a refrain of the chorus, or something along those lines. The work before the instrumental outro is so lovely. It starts as a videogame soundtrack, but quickly gets a steady beat and some vocals layed over a bassline, with an expanding videogame soundscape behind it, and intricacy being added to all instruments; then that chorus hits, and everything scales back to give way to wonderful descending vocal lines and tight backing rhythms and harmonies. Those hills and valleys continue for the next verse and chorus, and then in comes fullscale electronic wiling-out madness. Although i have stopped enjoying these instrumental sections as much as i do his vocal work, everything is so well produced that listening to it through, as a complete album, gives some added enjoyment as it all flows very well track to track. I highly recommend it.
Just wanted to bump Acerolas post for Max Tundra, because i have been digging it so much. I cant believe these motherfuckers hid this shit from me for so long; this is so completely up my alley it is ridiculous. The styles and instruments that this dude assembles are so great; he has a keen eye for pop, but beneath his catchy melodies, the man is a serious programmer and knows how to create nostalgic electronica with fine detail.
I want to share track 3 from Parallax Error Beheads You for a few reasons; it demonstrates both his abilities in his production and his growth vocally. Throughout the song, the bouncy electronic band behind the vocals dives in and out of providing first bare chord structures behind the vocals to then harmonizing with them in very unexpected, mathematic arpeggios. I love how, throughout this album, songs move into extended instrumental sections that ride out or build into a fantastic chorus after a minute or two. In this example, the ending of the track happens to be the extended instrumental section, but the album is cut in a flow that sometimes makes it hard to differentiate one song from another. The track following Which Song picks up right where it leaves off.
Max Tundra, is an interesting case. You can tell that there is a lot of love for a lot of different genres going here. Much hubbub has been made about him using a bunch of vintage recording equipment to make these dense electro pop pieces. Speaking of pop, he is a man very much in love with pop culture as well, it can get a bit corny. As this might start to sound a bit odd at times...yea it can be but you can tell its honest work. The drum programming is what impresses me most about all of Max's albums, it is dense and schizophrenic. He has an incredible ear for rhythm which is what 9 times out of 10 is lacking from similar artists. Flirtations with 8 bit music in the past are now brought more to the front showcased in their own songs. Vintage synths rule his songs along with heartfelt vocals.
