Steak and Cake Records

Hey guy/gal's just wanted to stop in and cast a light on some really wonderful music being created up north. A friend of mine (Brandon Schlia) runs a pretty boss record label in Buffalo NY called Steak and Cake Records. He's got a pretty wide base of groups and music featuring a lot of indie pop, alternative rock and some bent pop sensibilities.  Trust me that its worth the time to sit down and sift through whats going down. I understand that there isn't time shifting blah blah going down but props need to be dropped where its due. Heres a few things to get you started on your journey.

Inquiring Minds
The New York Breakfast
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Steak and Cake Records

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Likes Lions - First the Head Later the Tail (2012)

Vocal centric alt-rock with a generous slathering of math from England. What you might be noticing first off is that your not going to get buried in time shifts and dissonant guitar heroics but you can expect some pretty powerful pop hooks...the good kind. Clearly a lot of blood and tears has been put into ensuring that these 5 songs run as a cohesive statement of who they are as a group.  So if you need the lighter side of your math rock cravings satiated while still getting some polished songwriting and excellent singing then I suggest you do what is best and click below.

Likes Lions

Pharaohs - Photosynthesis (2011)

Last time on plenty of swords.....


Pharaohs are back again with their brand of indie pop rock math.  Photosynthesis marks a clear choice to amp up the pop elements and vocals harmonies which honestly they do so so so well. The great guitar interplay is still there as well as random bursts of math on occasion. The vocals content seems to have gotten a bit more serious which I appreciate less jokes in my music as a rule (especially since they aren't normally funny.) The songwriting is certainly way tighter as well. Give it a shot and I promise you will be humming a couple of these tunes....its just that good.

Photosynthesis

Breezin - EP

Portland Oregon's Breezin starts their EP off innocently enough with a sprinkle of cute keyboard lines and playful melodies. Then...it happens....the bass and drums enter and the proceedings become chaotic prog math workouts.  Its worth taking note that the most impressive item here is the fact that no matter how bonkers these guys get the vocals remain pretty pop to the core.

.....Listen to that bass....

seriously just listen to it fly all over the damn place....

I will say I wish the mix was a little kinder to the bass sound so we could hear those angular stabs and dagger knife turns better.  Cute and dangerous like a kittens head on a snakes body.

breezin ep

The Ace of Coins - The Fool (ep)

Anyone recall a previous post of mine on a group by the name of The Prophet Nathan? Well if your drawing a blank..shame on you and click the link above. serious math-pop magic.

More to the point however is James from The Prophet Nathan wanted to let everyone know of his OTHER super amazing math rock group The Ace of Coins.  They just released their ep The Fool and I must say once again I am very impressed and for different reasons. Ace of Coins is a more song oriented sort of math rock and it prominently features vocals. However there still remains a grounding in pop rock as well.  Instrumentation is still pretty complex despite this but does have to dial back to a more traditional format for the singing.

"The Fool" feels incredibly new but also a throwback to the golden age of math, the 90's.  Its a winning combination that I imagine everyone having an easy time enjoying....so yea click the link and do that enjoying thing you guys do so well.

The Fool (ep)

Marvins Revolt

Something familiar about their sound that I will never be able to place. This is POWER math pop rock really on its finest hour. The guitar are anthemic and the drums surprisingly complex and hard hitting.  If this was the only thing this Denmark group had going it would still be\ open and shut awesome music, thankfully this is not so. We have soaring melodies and occasionally startlingly beautiful harmonies. Some appropriate gang style shouting crops up when needed as well. The melodies themselves always remind me of drinking songs or Irish folk tunes but this is much more of a feeling. I could not hope to give this high enough praise.

Killec