maudlin of the Well - Part the Second (2009)

I don't know why it's taken me so long to make a post about this record. Probably has something to do with why I rarely make posts about any records — I let acerola do that shit, fuck finding links!

But no, this is some top-notch music that does a great job of bridging the gap between the previous pair of maudlin of the Well records, Bath and Leaving Your Body Map, with the more ornate modern classical compositions of Toby Driver's solo work and Kayo Dot. As with all of his projects, there are always those elements that can be a bit grating if you don't keep an open mind towards the experiential nature of what he writes (like all the groaning on Rose Quartz Turning to Glass), but there's simply not a whole lot in the world that's like this, just things that are somewhat similar. A must listen for fans of Henry Cow, Final Fantasy 7, and slutty guitar solos.

Free download in FLAC and all that other shit: Cha-Ching!

Stage Kids - Killer Tofu (2011)

Previously on Plenty of Swords..... 

They are back and JESUS MAGIC CHRISTMAS this couldn't get any better. Those of you out there that thought they were too young or lacked ideas well your face just got noise checked. This is as sure footed as it gets for instrumental math rock. Super well produced and spit shined. I think its also safe to smack about the fact that everyone must have leveled up on their instruments at least 5 times as well. The ideas flowing here are numerous and are just curve ball enough to make you fist pump at the same time as your brain smiles. Electronic elements are sprinkled into the math rock this time ever so slightly as well as the completely electronic songs.

If you missed them the first time then heres your second chance at a brand new life filled with lush guitars and complicated poly-rhythms. Put this under the tree because your entire family will thank you for it.

Killer Tofu

(also nice Doug reference.....)

Jo Jo and the Scooters- Inspiration (Graceland, 1986)

I will not say much, because i do not feel entitled to talk about something of this magnitude with my insufficient knowledge of it. The other day, on a break at work, i had the sudden urge to hear You Can Call Me Al. And luckily, now that i have a nerdphone, i looked that shit up and watched the hilarious video with Chevy Chase. Later that night, i went to see a friend play an acoustic set at Owen O'Learys, and at one point in their set, the excellent Ryan McHugh, who was serving as a stand-in-for-the-night guitarist, kicked into a nice version of Graceland. When they finished, i mentioned to my drummer pal vince that i had just had that sudden urge to hear Call Me Al; Ryan the guitarist said "oh yeah? lets do it" and Mia B and the two of them kicked it out proper. I returned home and immediately found myself a copy of Paul Simons landmark 1986 release. I have not absorbed it fully yet; I have been alternating between Phontes latest and Graceland.

All that said, Graceland is one of those albums, like Moondance or Thriller, that are just untouchable: Pop Music cornerstones. I am deep in this right now. Perfect pop sensibilities to keep in mind for Jo Jo and the Scooters. So that covers a classic of undeniable pop which enters into the Olivia Tremor Control category of the band equation; next, please cite a math/rock/pop outfit that influenced excellent current bands like Mister Metaphor. Part 3 is electronica.. lets see what you got.



graceland

Ninko- Sunrise on Cloud City (Linkzzzzz)

Fellas requested for linkz; here is one. Just as my old computer began its downward spiral, the 2011 RPM challenge was under way and i had a game plan. I created a few tracks, but was sidelined by my malfunctioning audio software. It was a concept album about a galactic fight taking place on earth and in the cloud cities above it, and the first track is one of my better electronic works. I had different plans for it, but once my computer wasnt able to allow me to record live audio i was at a stalemate. This is how it ended up:

Sunrise by ninko

there ya go.

The Prophet Nathan

Get ready for this.... "Tennessee Two-some" as they embark on a stylistically interesting musical adventure. like some sort of math-pop monster that at times tears up the landscape with awesome drum and guitar.  Other moments shift to some soft singing or samples but always the drums remain consistently great.  Influences drip off the sleeve but there is a large honesty that keeps me pulled in. Not too mention the previously stated instrumentation.  Both releases are well worth the gandering.


The Prophet Nathan

Phonte- Charity Starts at Home (2011)

I have proclaimed much love for The Foreign Exchange, and afterwards Little Brother, and a big part of my appreciation of these two groups came down to the Phonte factor; Phonte fronts Foreign Exchange, and began his music career in Little Brother. He is a gifted vocalist/ rapper, renowned (in not only my own world) as a chorus genius, proficient foremost in creating vocal harmonies that go 6 parts deep with hooks to match. I mean, check out the chorus of the Foreign Exchanges track, Maybe She'll Dream of Me. Ain't no room for suckers in that studio; just the straight sickness right there.

So, 2011 finally saw to Phonte releasing his first solo effort as an artist, Charity Starts at Home. As usual, when given the mic to talk about what is on his mind, Phonte rises above any fronting and speaks about life as an artist making it through each day to rise and shine with the next. His rhymes are very personal, introspective and creative, and he knows when a tracks melancholy only requires subtly, and knows when to drop a serious chorus to enrich the positive emotions he talks about (as he does in Sending All My Love). It seems Phonte favored focusing on his rhyming on his debut solo release, letting some lovely female vocalists fill in on his hooks while he focused his own vocal parts on the verses. Great stuff; he worked with a number of producers for this release, including a much anticipated (for myself) reunion for a few tracks with 9th Wonder as his beat maestro; track 2, The Good Fight, properly kicks the album up a notch after starting so very strongly with Dance in the Reign (produced by Swiff D). Blam: The Good Fight:

Phonte - The Good Fight
__________________________________________________

charity starts at home

Jo Jo and the Scooters

So, i have big personal news for all you Swordsers: i finally have a working laptop capable of letting me produce intense, gigantic audio recordings. I am very excited. Ive been talking to Metaghost about how liberating and exciting it is to have a high-class machine ready for me to use its audio functions to their potential, and i have a lot of ideas that have been laying dormant since about six months ago, when my previous computer stopped working properly.

One of these ideas was borne from a fake band name my father referenced a while back; i was home, listening to some random music when my dad peeped his head in to ask what i was listening to: "who is this? Jo Jo and the Scooters?". He makes up names like this all the time; his standby fake band name is Mickey and the Finns, but he often gets creative with it. Jo Jo and the Scooters stuck with me for some reason; i was listening to a lot of Mister Metaphor (for the first time), and had also rediscovered my love for Olivia Tremor Control. At the same time, i was deeply involved in electro-pop, listening to loads of Hot Chip, Starfucker and Miike Snow; expanding my technical production ideas by absorbing myself in electronic-heavy dance/pop outfits.

Anyways, this mostly goes out to Acey and Franklin (as metaghost already is in on this): Here we go gentlemen. When my father first uttered the words Jo Jo and the Scooters, i thought of classic do-wop pop music, only updated to modern standards. I expanded this initial idea to becoming a mix of Olivia Tremor Controls vocal stylings, Mister Metaphors polyrhythmic math/pop skills, and added electronica as bonus points. Im ready to go. Things to come. This is a warning.

Anathallo - Floating World (2006)

The now defunct Anathallo (hailing from Michigan and Chicago) had a couple releases under their belt before dissolving in ought 9 . Floating World being the one in which left the greatest mark on me. Think a mess ton of soulful singing and harmonies. Baroque pop and indie pop make the solid base with an emphasis on rhythm and interesting structures. First of get the thoughts of "sleepy pop group" lulling you to sleep out of your head. Sure some songs are crawlers but they are nice enough to get through to the brass and percussion awesome that more often than not makes its presence known.  Not the usual post for me but don't let that fool you, there is more than enough here to like.

Floating World (2006)

metaghostin' Vol. XII - Film School on Paper

Film School on Paper - 32'01"

///

1. Possessed / The Great Unraveling / The Great Unraveling (1997)
2. Several Circles / Tidal Arms / The Sun Exploding (2011)
3. Frame by Frame / King Crimson / Discipline (1981)
4. Behaving Badly / Animals as Leaders / Animals as Leaders (2009)
5. Let's Get Tired / Zona Mexicana / 3 Song EP (2009)
6. Landscape with Gun and Chandelier / Upsilon Acrux / Radian Futura (2009)
7. There's Nothing More / Jonny Classic and the Classic Johns / Your New Favorite Record (2005)

///

When you listen to music in public, is that music a diagetic soundtrack to your own experiences or an extra-diagetic score for the world around you?

Jibbin' Flibbits: Tim and Eric- Father and Son/ Billion Dollar Movie

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.

Ill Movie Corner- Drive (2011)

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.

Blam: Hes a Good Guy; movie trailer below:



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.

drive (film)
drive (soundtrack)

Bastro - Rode Hard and Put Up Wet (1988)/ Antlers Live (1991)

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)

_________________________________________

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.

DEM LINKS BE DEADED PA!

A Ninko Original- Bishops Mother

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?

Bishops Mother by ninko

Pop Music Challenge- Feist

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.



let it die

Pop Music Challenge- Talking Heads

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"



stop making sense

Pop Music Challenge- Ninko

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!

06 The Hero by ninko

Bloc Party- I Still Remember

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.

a weekend in the city

Tidal Arms - "The Sun Exploding" (2011)

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.

"The Sun Exploding" is available to stream in its entirety on Tidal Arms' bandcamp. 

(BUMP BUMP IN THE NIGHT)
The Sun Exploding (2011)

 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."

Dionaea - Still (2011)

 

Post-Grind? Djent Metal?

ugh what?

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 

STILL

Imperial China - Methods (2008)

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.

Methods