Invalids - Eunoia (2012)

Let the math pour over you in the name of the fa.....Oh! Hi how's everyone doing? I was actually just dropping in to post about Invalids (Pete Davis on everything except Nick Shaw on bass) because well its flipping amazing.This is Math Rock, something we never speak about at the Swords but hear me out. The unique part of this whole one man bandish group is that you can tell it is the vision of one person. Meaning that you can up the time bending quotient by about 1200. This is tech as a tiger if your wondering in every manner of instrument. Guitars are known to get a bit tap happy while the drums are jazzing the junk out with the bass. Vocals actually make a prominent spot here too. Think a kind of emo style but not super annoying. Thankfully nothing ever feels like any one element is competing for space which with music like this youd imagine there could be issue.  For an EP and a side project your going to be hard pressed to find something better so far this 2012.

Lastly let me close by saying:


EVERYONE GET THIS IN YOUR EARS!!

Jardín de la Croix - Ocean Cosmonauts

Effortless. That is about the best I could possibly come up with.  There are groups out there right now trying very hard to do this exact shtick, everyone of them fall short. Jardín de la Croix is indeed from Madrid Spain yet there is very little here that tips their hands to this fact.  You hate to even break something this self assured into a category but its progressive and instrumental to be sure. Mathy? yea like more than a little. Some classy as fuck tapping? it litters the landscape. The kicker is each of these are balanced in such a way that nothing is over cooked or too rare. What I will say that gives it a nice edge without losing step is the clear metal influence going on here. No you wont find a chugging break down going on but more in spirit. Every god forsaken instrument here is playing a vital role in the furthering of each passage.  Structure wise you'll be listening intently to see where the hell these guys are going next. truthfully I was stuck on the first two songs for so long because it wasn't making sense how flawless this really is. Yes I did say flawless and you know what that means.....stop reading and get to get getting.  

Ocean Cosmonauts

Six Gallery - Breakthroughs in Modern Art (2010)

Apparently this album was always in the cards for Ohio's own Six Gallery. A very needed marriage of tap happy guitars, solid rhythm section and emotive style vocals. Their first demo showed a promising band that was just missing a key ingredient, vocals. While on paper this all sounds very run of the mill I can safely say that this was one of the more self-assured releases of 2010. Unfortunately with the departure of their newly acquired vocalist the band is currently in a state of non-existence.