With the new trailer for Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie floating around, I have been reenforcing my love for all things Awesome Show (and Steve Brule). As the best example of what makes these dudes great, I present to you Father and Son. Tim and Eric wrote and filmed it for the Funny or Die HBO series, but in doing so they gave their fans a brief glimpse into how they would take one particular idea and stretch it out across a much longer time frame than they usually allowed in their previous efforts.
Short and sweet: metaghost and i set out and saw DRIVE while it was in theaters a few months back, and we both dug the shit out of it (if i recall correctly). It had a very basic save-the-damsel-in-distress plot, with an awesome noir vibe and a style that stressed the main characters actions relaying his emotional connections with the story to the audience; he was very quiet, and hardly spoke throughout the film, but what he does to protect who he cares about carries the action. As I have read in reviews, it was influenced by a combination of the classic Grimm's Fairy Tales and the main character from Sergio Leones' Man With No Name Triology (the most historically significant example being from The Good, The Bad and the Ugly).
The main character is only referred to as the Driver, a man who works a steady dayjob as a stunt driver for Hollywood films by day, and who pilots getaway cars for hoodlums robbing people by night. His life is defined by his driving skills, and he has no other back story: he just drives. He meets a lady in a dire situation and creates a bond with her and her son, and is soon enlisted with her fresh-out-of-jail husband to pull one last heist for the big money, and is quickly placed in the midst of circumstances that directly affect the damsel and her sons well being. His heroic instincts kick into action, and the remainder of the film deals with the things he has to do to ensure his Maidens safety. Epic.
Here now is a clip from the film, entitled by youtube as "Hes a Good Guy", which demonstrates not only the Drivers good nature and affection for a lovely lady and her cute son, but also the need Driver has for a relationship beyond his normal routine. Needless to say here on the Swords, the soundtrack plays a major part in the film: such subtle awesomness.
I want to include a direct link to the song from the Hes a Good Guy clip, because i have been obsessing over that track for the last few days. Though it is really just bass, drums and sparse extra electronics, the vocals really kick my butt and i had to learn it once my obvious obsession of it kicked in. College feat. electric youth.
If Bastro is not a band that rings familiar in your dome well that perhaps is history's fault.
Time for a little Social Studies. Open your page to 182 please and follow along. Squirrel Bait from Louisville KY an up tempo shifting rock group broke up at the end of the 80's. Skag Heaven their crowning achievement is an interesting listen today. Not for its impressive musical nature per-say but because you will consistently get the feeling you've heard it before. This could be because many argue that the group foreshadowed the grunge and math rock movements 90's (true). Aside from being important on their own their dissolution actually caused more of a splash than anything else. Here's the run down and you tell me.
Squirrel Bait Members:
Peter Searcy - Vocals (Big Wheel, Starbilly)
Clark Johnson - Bass (Bastro)
Britt Walford - Drums (Slint)
Brian McMahan - Guitar (Slint, The For Carnation, King Kong)
David Grubs - Guitar (Bastro, Gastr Del Sol)
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While most folks focus on the Louisville second coming of Jesus ( read: Slint) a lot of folks should be shifting their gaze toward the other more prominent group on this list. Bastro was certainly the more interesting of the two in my opinion. Their first EP Rode Hard and Put Up Wet (1988) is a widly pleasing release. Clear love of Big Black runs rampant with the the drum machine going full tilt but mathier elements do rear their head however subtle they may be. Each release after found the group settling into a post-hardcore punk style of melodic rock that smacks of the math we love today.
Sorry for being long winded but my point to this is that Bastro should be counted as the first modern math rock group. Sure we can all sit back and bandy about this influence and that influence through prog rock and modern comp but honest to flip here it is. If your still not entirely convinced check out Antlers live. released in 2005 these recordings were culled from various shows in 1991 and find the group at the end of their life span. The sound of which is true blue math in all its rough and ready glory. John McEntire is punishing behind the kit (as well he should being a percussion major) and in my opinion the greatest of the early math drummers. Does the name sound familiar? that may be because McEntire went on to join Tortoise where he essentially became their musical leader.
If your at all interested in the roots of early math rock, or late 80's early 90's rock you can not pass this up. Seriously.
I have been going through my half-finished songs recently, and after sharing The Hero with you guys, i wanted to continue into a brief bout of songwriting i did while i was learning the ins and outs of Record, the audio/ engineering program by Propellerhead. I knew the basics of programming synths etc within Reason, but Record gave you all the benefits that Reason provides PLUS the addition of live audio tracks into their already awesome grid-like song building layout.
At some point a few years ago, I was looking through old 20 second loops i had created to see if i had left something cool behind, something not fully thought out. I came upon the loop that begins Bishops Mother; it was a solo guitar track, just the palm-muted guitar progression that starts the song. I dug it, so i added bass and drum tracks to the guitar and created a 2 chord loop that i recorded a guitar solo over. I continued on writing, thinking that i would be able to come up with some vocals to go over it, but i never could realize the proper words to fill out the song. The second section is one of my favorite pop achievements. Vocals please?
Im gonna kick off this Pop Music Challenge with an old favorite. Feist is just lovely; not only is she a hot lady who plays music, but she also writes some really catchy shit. Shes been a part of some really neat side projects, like her work in Broken Social Scene and her awesome rendition of 1234 for Sesame Street, and her solo works have been continuing into more interesting territory. From her debut forward (2004s Let It Die) she had my attention, kicking off her career with tracks like One Evening and Secret Heart, but really snaring me in with track 2, Mushaboom.
Again, this shit is just pop gold, and the video compliments the song greatly: from the start of the video, she gets out of bed singing along to her own song being played on the radio. The lyrics talk about optimism and being happy with what you have, with dreamy undertones of the possibilities of life and love with a properly stoked imagination. When she suddenly enters the dream world, where everyone on the streets turn into her backup dancers and things happen because she wills them into existence, it is just so damned fun and happy. I love the effect of having the song enter full range stereo as she transitions from her life in the apartment to her dream life in the streets.
I have officially hijacked the Swords to fill it up with pop music, new and old, and I have no shame in this action (my facebook post of The King of Wishful Thinking notwithstanding; it IS catchy, and damned hilarious).
To continue on, i must mention this favorite of mine for the last few years. I will get straight to the point: This Must Be The Place, off of their live album Stop Making Sense, is Talking Heads at their very very super-berry best. I have been listening to it a lot recently; it instantly puts me in a good mood. I first critically noticed how very repetitive the rhythm section is in the track.. The bass, guitar and percussion play precisely the same progression through the duration of the song, which in certain instances can mean a very redundant sound, but David Byrnes varying vocal melodies (with the great harmonies provided by his backup singers) lend the track many unique sections, with such nice lyrics behind them:
"Home is where i want to be/ But i guess im already there I come home/ she lifted up her wings/ i guess that this must be the place"
As another "thanks" (as we quickly and quietly passed our 30,000 views milestone), and also as an inclusion to the Pop Music Challenge, i wanted to show you guys another song of mine. It came about while i was listening to a lot of Flying Lotus, and set out to create an 8-bit sounding instrumental track in his style; i wrote up to the 40 second mark without any further thoughts and decided to take a break for a shower, when the vocal melody hit me. And bam, in about 5 hours i completed the entire track; sometimes you get rolling and cannot stop it. The lyrics are about wishing you were The Hero in your story, the guy who saves the day and rescues the princess. Blam!
I realize now that, by this point, i have not posted half as much Bloc Party as i should have. Though the crew and our readers here at the Swords favor a more mathy steez, and i definitely love the massive amount of awesome music coming from our blog, Bloc Party fits a way more mainstream mold of songcraft. I feel as to issue a challenge to my fellow Sworders, to post or comment current pop music that tickles your fancy. I have a nostalgic love of musicians who make songs that are not only tight and interesting, but also refined in their skills at making a more simplified chord progression unique, and at writing songs that catch you on an emotional level.
I Still Remember is probably the most sentimental example i could use for a starting point though: the lyrics are pure emo pop gold. The verses talk about fleeting moments with a person you are crushing on, and the longing for something more to come of the times you spent with that person. Then the chorus hits, with lines about wishing the signals had been more clear between the two of you. This can all easily be read as simplicity expounded upon, but the song craft lies within its execution. The instrumental layers and catchy melodies really kick my ass, and even though its cheesy, i can rely upon this song to remind me that love can be more a reaction than a feeling in uncertain instances.
it comes at the tail end of a darkly optimistic album that i have loved for many years now. the link is below; more to come.
In 5.5 billion years, our sun will have spent its first batch of nuclear reaction fuel and will rapidly expand, forming a red giant that envelops the inner solar system in a cloud of nebulous 1000-degree gas. If Tidal Arms' "The Sun Exploding" is any indication, this will be a snarly, melodious experience.
Tidal Arms have put forth a pretty solid effort here. Production is stellar (har), and a number of songs are pleasantly heavy and technical while still retaining a good sense of melody. There is some generous use of reverb, reminiscent of Brit-rockers Doves, if Doves listened to a steady diet of technical post-hardcore. There are a few uninspired tracks, but nothing offensively bad. Definitely worth a listen.
Acerola -
"Thanks Frankline for the heads up on these guys. Just wanted to post a link to the album and say that after spending some intimate moments with this release its pretty jawsome. All should join in the sweet sweet post-punk math loveliness."
Can we dispense with the silly genre tags for a moment and let me just say that this is some exceedingly creative music. For three musicians to make this kind of racket takes true skill. Swinging from full bore blast beats to majestic post-rock passages is something that I wouldn't really have believed would work so well until this. Its mathy and technical nature never detracts from the other more serene builds balancing very between the two. To say that this has been in heavy rotation in my ear holes would be an understatement. So let me just stop right here and tell everyone to indulge because you all have to get a load of these guys. Classy
This is some tasty shit right here. Mathy drum beats, post-punk guitar parts, electro-synth, and some sparse vocals. This shit is tight.
Methods came out in 2008 and garnered Imperial China some buzz around the DC area. These guys have since put out a full length that has a few cool songs on it, but kind of falls flat. But this EP rips. They have a new LP coming out soon which hopefully finds Imperial China returning to ace form.
I have been a patient man awaiting this album to come out. After hearing a track or two off some compilations my anticipation has been mounting. UK group James Cleaver Quintet have been carving out a name for themselves with some heavy touring and a lot of energy. This however doth not makith an excellent group and they have many favorable items in their corner. The guitars like to flit between post-hardcore, straight punk and hardcore and yet with the harder edged genre's they still remain pretty poppy. That is of course helped by some extremely varied vocals. There isn't anything DIRECTLY mathy about them but their bass and drum section loves the starts and stops, and interesting rhythmic patterns. Its a grab bag really but with so much energy thrown in it just works so damn well. Think something akin to the "Big Scary Monsters Recording" roster but after being off their meds for awhile......I mean that in the best way possible.
Life in the Hair-Salon-Themed Bar on the Island / Owls / Owls (2001)
New Grass / Talk Talk / Laughingstock (1991)
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Have you ever noticed that the phrase "beat around the bush" serves as an easily understood sexual entendre that as an act (masturbating in proximity to a hairy vagina) happens to be something that could be construed as "beating around the bush"?
Linguists, please tell me there is a term for this phenomenon.
...I'm sorry. These three are personal favorites of mine and having seen them numerous times its easy for me to say they are the math band to beat these days. Tight hardcore styled pure 90's emo with lots of twisty turny mathy goodness dripping all over. I covered them long ago with their first EP and heres another four to blow yer skull. By the by "Waking up with Dedication" has been a live favorite of mine for awhile, thankfully its here in all its structured glory.
This is another album I've slept on for far too long. This album had a lot of buzz (at least around Providence) back in the mid-2000s, but I never got a chance to pick it up until I found it in a used record store a few months ago. But since then, I've actually listened to this more than anything else I own.
Basically, this is an album of remixed indie rock songs. Not some annoying frantic mashups, but rather fleshing out existing songs and making them totally baller. The original songs are all pretty great, and surprisingly effective with some extra magical beats. Club-ready songs with depth. Mmmmmm... Indie Rock Blues
Some trivia: Guess who's in the blue shirt behind Joe Beats?
Despite my love of Battles and all the fuss surrounding the album, I never picked this up until very recently. (Shameless bragging alert: the first time I heard it was through the control room monitors at the studio it was tracked and mixed at while tracking the A Troop of Echoes album). This is possibly the most whimsical record ever produced. Its packed with fun noises, sweet guitar parts, and reverb-drenched vocals. The song structures can be a little wonky. While most of the buzz surrounds the classical-style compositions, I'm actually into the shorter, more pop-structured pieces a little more. The other stuff is interesting, but a little meandering. You gotta give it up to the guy, this shit is insane and sounds like nothing else out there. Central Market
This is a rather random post. As some of you may know, haruki murakami recently released his 2009 novel, 1Q84, in the States, translated from his native japanese into english. He is a very intriguing writer, with works that instantly grab you with their thoroughly detailed descriptions of mundane life that quickly turn surreal and engrossing, demanding your imagination in ways that relate to dream states and memory. 1Q84 is his grandest work, and throughout it he mentions pieces of pop culture, referencing songs and places and historical milestones to help you subtly set the scene as you read. As i have been reading along, whenever a song is mentioned i will quickly search it out and play it in the background as i continue through a scene. It is a fun way to "read along", as i am sure that while he was writing these passages he too was listening to the songs mentioned. He is an avid music collector, with an office lined with countless vinyl.
To make a longer story short, he mentioned a Bach piece called Well-Tempered Clavier early in the novel, as a focal character was introduced: I went to youtube and found the piece, preformed by the (apparently) legendary Glenn Gould. He was a highly regarded pianist that interpreted classical music with critically acclaimed style.
As i read, i had to stop my progress in the novel to watch the performance Glenn gave of this selection of the Clavier pieces. I thought of its execution as compared to watching a spider weave its web: you understand it fundamentally, as a flawless piece of mathematical construction; you can tell that the subject creating it has its scheme built into its nature, its very existence; and though you may doubt the slow, meticulous, ever-complicated crescendo of its progression while it is being created in front of your eyes, the end result is perfection.
For those of you not keen to most classical music, please skip to 3:40. Shit just gets out of control from that point forward. Below is Goulds interpretation of Bachs Goldberg Variations, another epic piece of classical solo piano subtlety.
As is often the case, I don't know too much about these guys, but I first heard some of their tracks via Travis Orbin who had posted some videos of him recording drums to a couple tracks off this record. The band itself appears to primarily be a studio project for Hayato Imanishi, as he composes the material independently and then gathers various musicians to perform whatever instrumentation he doesn't feel like performing. Overall, the sound encompasses elements of post-hardcore, metal, and math-rock in a very polished form, with plenty of technical flourishes and half-time breakdowns, reminding me at times of equal parts Envy and Meshuggah. Definitely worth a listen if you enjoy harsh screams, chuggity-chugs, and twisting polyrhythms.
You can explore their entire catalog at their Bandcamp: Cyclamen
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.
To me, Olivia Tremor Control, and the two albums they have put out, are a rare musical gem hidden from so many people that finding someone who knows about it and loves it (as most are wont to do) is just as rare a specimen as their musical output is. The only fault in their amazing pop music is that certain spans of the album devolve into exceedingly psychedelic experimental tracks, more noticeable on their 2nd album Black Foliage, but certainly undermining a fair amount of their overall work. But that is just hindsight speaking; the overall flow of both their albums fit in these extended outbursts between track upon track of solid, Beatles and Beach Boys- influenced pop rock that dominates anything else currently pursuing this style of music.
That very very small negative aside, Dusk at Cubist Castle is an album to rival the likes of Sgt. Peppers in catchy tunes combined with psychedelic experimentation. A majority of the album, most notably the first half, flows wonderfully with tune after tune of nostalgic, classic pop realization, with hints of the madness to come in the later sections. And even through those sections of experimentation, moments of vocal harmony and melodic dedication shine through to let you know something cohesive is certain to take center stage, as Gravity Car does at the very tail end of Cubist Castle. Tracks like Jumping Fences really stand out though, that particular song serving as track 3 in the amazing run of songs in the first half of the album. It is just so fucking catchy and direct (just as the rest of the songs in the first half are): no its, ands or buts about it, this track is solid pop gold. I mean, damn, check out those harmonies. They just dont stop:
