Category Archives: 2011

Jerseyband Kickstarter project

This post was originally published at here at Tympanogram.com on April 15, 2011:

Jerseyband

Jerseyband is a unique group. They play a style of music that they have dubbed “lungcore” – a hard-edged version of prog-metal fronted by a horn section. The amalgam of jazz elements with metal make complete sense in their hands, and they have happily produced six full length albums of fun, tricky and hard hitting music over the course of their decade of existence. I have personally been a fan of their music since 2006 when a friend let me borrow their 2003 album Little Bag of Feet for Shoes. What struck me right away was the perfection in their playing, the sudden turns, the death metal stabs of low end guitar and the way that the sax section really worked as one. Sure, they are blending several different styles of music, but they really make it something wholly original. I never thought I would bang my head to saxophone music, but I had never heard music like this before.

Their live album Lungpunch Fantasy showcased compositions that had never been committed to disc before, with the added bonus of putting their live chops on display. The amazing thing is that it serves to prove that their tightness is not a result of any studio trickery. These guys are the real deal. Discovering that they have all graduated from the prestigious Eastman School of Music brings things even more into focus.

Jerseyband has recently completed the recording sessions for what they hope to be their seventh full length album. This is where we come in. They need help funding the mastering, mixing and production and are trying to do so through Kickstarter. If you aren’t familiar with how the site works, basically someone proposes a project and it is only funded fully if enough people pledge money within the time limit. Though a lot of the projects may seem frivolous, there are quite a few that are worthwhile. I see it as a way to independently do anything. Visit the site, take a look at the goodies that can be had for pledging at a certain level, and consider helping this band bring some new music into the world. You can check out all of their music on their Bandcamp page and watch them in action on Youtube.

[audio:http://quartertonality.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/05-F.E.T.-Dogtron.m4a|titles=F.E.T.-Dogtron]

 

 

Record Store Day, 2011

Record Store Day this year is April 16th, this coming Saturday. In case you aren’t aware, it is the annual celebration of independent music stores. If I remember correctly it started out as a pretty small endeavor with only a few fanatical people paying any attention to it at all. It has grown to something significant with record stores all over the country in big cities and small all taking part. The day serves as a reminder to people that music is still made on vinyl and CD and it encourages everyone to go out, support local shop owners and musicians.

Over the years an increasing number of musicians and bands have started producing special releases for Record Store Day to help give even more of an incentive for people to get out there and support music. To honor this day, and give it a little bit more promotion, I’d like to recount some of my fondest memories of my favorite record stores in several different cities.

Rochester, New York:

The Bop Shop: www.bopshop.com
274 Goodman St. N #B123
Rochester, NY 14607

The focus at this store is on jazz, prog and garage. Every single album is in brilliant condition. Tons of used 45s and even an extensive amount of victrola records.

Very knowledgeable, friendly and helpful staff that can be found typically listening to Sun Ra or Syd Barrett solo albums on the stereo that broadcasts throughout the store. They also bring in musicians to play in front of the store. One recent concert featured the ICP (instant composer’s pool)orchestra.

You can check their obsessively cataloged and rated vinyl on sale at their webstore.

Memorable purchase: My copy of The Mothers of Invention’s “Freak Out”, original pressing in pretty good condition. He was asking a certain price and cut it in half for me, and also ran it through his Nitty Gritty and it plays beautifully. I was also there once when he realized a copy of “Pet Sounds” had a minor ding in it, so he handed it to me for free.

The Record Archive: www.recordarchive.com
33 1/3 Rockwood St.
Rochester, NY 14610

Although the original store, the one that I frequented, is no longer operating, they have a new location. When I was visiting the store both locations were open, but the original was closer to the school I was going to, so I would often skip class to go buy records.

That original location focused heavily upon CDs. New and used, and accepted trade-ins, as I’m sure they probably still do. What I remember most, and what I was there most often for was going through the aisles of used records that were shelved to the ceiling of the almost secretive basement back room.

Differing from The Bop Shop in that the record collection here seemed to focus more on quantity than quality, they did have everything. Showtunes, classical, metal, prog, rarities, punk etc. Very little in the way of new vinyl, comparatively but I was into prog. rock at the time so it was perfect for me.

It smelled like a basement, but felt comfy and cozy. I would spend hours there just searching around, never really looking for anything specific but always walking out with at least one purchase.

Memorable Purchase: King Crimson’s “Starless and Bible Black”. I set it onto the turntable that they would allow you to use to preview purchases and decided that I wanted it within about 4 rotations.

Buffalo, New York:

Spiral Scratch: spiralscratchrecords.blogspot.com
291 Bryant St.
Buffalo, NY 14222

Easily the best record store in Buffalo. I’m going to go with the Phoenix rising from the ashes cliché on this one. The original location was devastated by a fire and the owner, with the help of a huge outpouring from the community, managed to re-open the store in an even better location than before. It’s small and friendly with a lot of new vinyl and some used showcasing a love for old school hard-core punk. Concert tickets are also available at the location and talking to the owner is always a great time.

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Rotate This: www.rotate.com
801 Queen St. West
Toronto, ON, Canada M6J 1G1

I used to spend a lot of time in Toronto, being that it is only a 2 hour drive from where I currently reside. I think I only visited the former location once, but their current store is like a beautifully organized cavern of records. From what I remember you can purchase concert tickets here as well. Lots of used vinyl, but they have plenty of new 12″ and 45s as well as CDs. No trip to Toronto is complete with a stop at Rotate.

Memorable Purchase: The only Silver Jews album that I own, “Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea”, was bought here. People say that it is the worst of their albums, but I didn’t know any better and I came to love it.

Criminal Records: www.crimedoesntpay.ca
493 Queen St. West
Toronto, ON, Canada M5V 2B4

I always thought of Criminal Records in Toronto as the “hip” record store. Bright and white on the inside with turntables, shirts, belts and belt buckles for sale in addition to their vinyl. This store is more of a boutique setting with, like the Record Archive in Rochester, a focus on quality over quantity. Also, someone told me that Wayne Petti of Cuff the Duke, one of my favorite bands, works there. I always hoped to find him behind the counter when I stopped in, but alas….

Chicago, Illinois:

Reckless Records: www.reckless.com
1532 North Milwaukee Ave.
Chicago, Il 60622

Ok, so their website is an abomination, but trust me the store is pretty much the opposite. This was the first record store in Chicago that I ever visited. In July 2006 I was extremely overwhelmed by everything that was in the store, so much that I couldn’t figure out what to buy. At that point I was still scared to a certain extent to listen to unfamiliar music. Meanwhile my brother and his wife were running all over, talking to the clerks about some, what I thought to be, obscure music that I had never heard of.

One of the things I like about the store is the description on every record. They have pithy reviews on everything they sell, which makes it easier for people like the 2006 me to branch out and try new things.

Memorable Purchase: Kraftwerk’s “Radio Activity”. It’s a reissue that I have, but I still remember it for being one of my first purchases there. I also have a t-shirt designed by Dan Ryan that I bought there.

Permanent Records: www.permanentrecordschicago.com
1914 West Chicago Ave.
Chicago, Il 60622

These dudes are insane. Lance, Liz and Dave run an amazing little shop that showcases their love for garage rock. They have in-stores (BYOB!), their own label and a podcast that amazes me every single month with the amount that these guys know about seemingly intensely obscure acts. They also write incredibly detailed emails every month describing exactly what they have in stock. I would feel completely comfortable just picking up anything at random that they suggest and giving it a spin. If you aren’t in Chicago and you want an education in new music, listen to their podcast, I can’t urge you strongly enough.

The important thing now is that you go out and support your local record shop. Buy a record or CD this saturday. There are tons of special releases coming out just for this event. You can check the official Record Store Day site here.

And if you don’t live near a record store (like me) then you should check out some record label’s online stores. My personal favorites are Polyvinyl, Kill Rock Stars, Touch and Go and Sub Pop.

Happy Record Store Day!

Album review: Dag För Dag – "Boo"

I used to own a cassette when I was a kid. Well, I owned several. Having grown up in the 80’s means I went through a lot of cassettes. Blank tapes became canvases that I recorded memories onto. They contained the songs I listened to as I passed the days riding my bike around in the rain. Store bought tapes that were found to be sub-par, having only that one song that was worth listening to, were easily converted to mixtapes with a simple strip of strategically placed scotch tape. I always liked tapes more than CDs for this reason, the ability to make them my own. There was more of a connection with them than there was with CDs. The few cassettes that were store bought held a special place for me, they seemed so much more personal and memorable than the CDs that I own now that are cast into the corner without so much as a glance every few days as I bump into them as I walk past. They are furniture.

There was one tape in particular; I don’t remember where I got it, and I can’t for the life of me remember what band it was that made it. The only thing that I do remember about that cassette is that I played it in my walkman incessantly. The sleeve was purple, and it created this mood somewhere between mischievous, mysterious and dangerous. I imagined that the tape was recorded while the lead singer (whom I also imagined was the guitarist playing a Fender Jaguar guitar) recorded it while he was on the run from the cops. He was hiding out in darkened basements writing and recording songs to help pass the time while making him still feel connected to society in some way. He wanted to remain connected to the society he knew he was inevitably going to be taken from.

This album, “Boo”, by Dag För Dag, reminds me so much of that long lost but not forgotten cassette and comes the closest to replicating the mood, feeling and the sound of something not really sinister, but dangerous and at the same time apprehensive of that danger.
Dag För Dag is a duo of siblings Sarah and Jacob Snavely. Though the duo is originally from the United States they have since settled in Sweden. Their music experiments with darkness and light and seems to occupy echo laden caverns. There is plenty of space in the ensemble. By that I mean that there are no non-stop walls of shoe-gazey noise. Most of the sound occurs as a result of the guitar’s short ideas sustained via reverb in the spaces between the instruments actually playing.

Dag För Dag - "Boo"
Dag För Dag - "Boo"

Most of the album unfolds in a sort of medium tempo slow burn, but the band is able to kick the energy level up quite a bit as evidenced in “Animal”, a track that is both anthemic and powerful. It seems to conjure the energy and spirit of Yeah Yeah Yeah’s in the chorus that is kicked off with an emphatic shout of “Let’s go!”

The tracks that populate the majority of “Boo” are minimal in their action with the focus placed squarely upon the shared vocals. The contrast between the high, breathy and sweet lugubrious tones of sister Sarah and brother Jacob’s curt, rough and slightly off-pitch and half spoken vocal style is a noticeable point of divergence from track to track. Sarah’s voice is more noticeably drenched in reverb and often harmonized with itself in multiple tracks. Her voice is smoky and mysterious, making her songs sound akin to those created by bands like Black Rebel Motorcycle Club or The Raveonettes. A sound that is tribal and haunting.

“I am the Assassin” has a pounding backbeat with drums churning out in perpetual motion while the vocals soar through the atmosphere. At about the halfway point of song there is an abrupt break- just enough for us to wish its return, which it does. In the just over 2 minutes of the song the band creates an enticing atmosphere and place a memorable melody into the listeners ear, but before long it’s over. The band is most effective in their shorter songs such as “I am the Assassin” and “Hands and Knees”, which manages to add some extended guitar work to the mix that is reminiscent of The Joshua Tree era U2 in its echoey “less is more” aesthetic.

However, the band loses a little bit of its allure in extended tracks like “Wouldn’t You” where there isn’t quite enough going on, save for a droning synth in the background and persistent drums. The saving grace of the track are Sarah’s vocals that have a way of shining through all of the darkness of the ensemble. The album at this point runs into a bit of a rough patch, with “Wouldn’t You” in the middle of 3 songs that really don’t have much holding the songs together. “Silence is the Verb” re-works Warpaint’s “Undertow”, but it includes a guitar break that doesn’t really go anywhere and the song seems to lie flat.
Thankfully the back half of the album does pick things up significantly with “Seven Stories” which does well in creating an atmosphere while at the same time shaping the composition into something that builds and grows. There is excitement and maybe a bit of cacophony as everything seems to be charging full steam ahead.

Dag För Dag does well creating moody, atmospheric gems with an air of mystery. The seeming unevenness of the album seems to rely a little too heavily on the slow and dark, but I feel that they are at their best using their ability to generate a mood in shorter, catchier songs. The voice of Sarah Snavely is unique and powerful, balancing out some of the darker material and adds to the mystique of the album.

[audio:http://quartertonality.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/02-I-Am-the-Assassin.mp3|titles=I Am the Assassin] [audio:http://quartertonality.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/11-Animal.mp3|titles=Animal]

Official site: http://dagfordag.com/

Available for download now on iTunes. Physical release in the U.S. on April 26.

New Grand Lake single

Grand Lake, having recently released their truly wonderful EP “Leaves Ellipse” has now put out the 2nd single from that EP.

“Christmas, California”, described perfectly by Grand Lake bandleader Caleb Nichols as “drenched in springtime sunshine, total California ear-candy.” It’s a fun song and one of the many highlights of “Leaves Ellispe”.

The song will also be available on a vinyl-only compilation released on Record Store Day by Burnside Distro – also featuring HAD Records label-mates the Heavenly States, as well as the incomparable Sea Of Bees.  You should definitely look for that on Record Store Day, which is April 16 this year.

Check out the song here, as well as the video that was filmed around the band’s new home of San Luis Obispo, California. The video is framed as a polaroid picture that captures the sunniness of the song.

http://grandlake.bandcamp.com/track/christmas-california

Grand Lake – Christmas, California from Ryan Terzian on Vimeo.

Let’s review:

-new EP by Grand Lake, “Leaves Ellipse” is available for download here and here

-you should go to one of those sites to purchase the EP after you listen to this new single and watch the video.

-thanks.

Grand Lake - "Leaves Ellipse"

Album review: Radiohead – "The King of Limbs"

We can always count on Radiohead to change the game from album to album. Because of this I feel that their latest album, “The King of Limbs”, deserves something beyond the usual track by track review. Everything that Radiohead does, musical or otherwise, is subject to an extraordinary level of scrutiny such that few, if any, other musical acts in existence today have to contend with. Not many would know how to cope, let alone be able to utilize all of that scrutiny and turn be able to turn it into something productive. This is one of the reasons why Radiohead is the most important bands active today. The public expects an almost inhumanly high standard from the band, who in turn are able to consistently live up to that standard by consistently producing groundbreaking albums that regularly change our ideas of what is new in current music. They are the singular arbiters of pushing the boundaries and raising the bar to a point where no other act can reach. Any attempts at following in their footsteps are hopelessly cast in their shadow.

Despite this the band, in interviews and concerts, don’t seem to think of themselves as so important. They manage to be immensely popular while at the same time retaining artistic credibility. It is a rare thing to have mainstream success while maintaining a high degree of indie acceptance. They constantly sell out the largest venues, yet remain out of the headlines and still manage to appear guarded about their personal lives. To me this points to them as not involved in music for the fame. They are creating intelligent music with artistic integrity. This flies in the face of anyone that thinks you can’t push boundaries, and still have something to say while retaining a sense of relevancy and importance with a large and emphatic audience.

As an audience we are responsible for elevating them to such a place of popularity and even importance. We are the ones that overly scrutinize every musical decision that they make. We are the ones cataloging every song they’ve ever performed live, comparing it to the previous instances of its live appearances and how those versions, in turn, compare to the recorded version. A song may not have been committed to tape until 10 years after it first debuted on stage in Stockholm but we are the ones that can chart its development and have therefore cast it into the realm of importance.

We are also the ones that argue over the validity of each version and whether the version that ended up being recorded, having therefore gained a level of permanence that the bootlegs and live versions lack, is the “definitive” version or not. The audience is responsible for deciding if what an artist is doing is good or bad, or more appropriately, they decide whether or not they are happy with the direction the band is taking and what it means for their cultural musical superiority, dominance and importance. All separate things.

Of course all of these things are done without the consent or approval of the band, who in turn seem perfectly content with going their own way and charting a unique path. Personally, I wonder how much the members of Radiohead use this information to guide their decisions. Do they think about manipulating the way that we are going to think about this album? Do we try to compensate for this by heading them off at the pass, intellectually, by taking into account that they think they know what we think and are therefore going to change our thoughts about their actions based on what we think they think we are thinking?

Radiohead - "The King of Limbs"
Radiohead - "The King of Limbs"

It’s all ridiculously convoluted, and you can see where the role of artist and audience member is challenged in this instance. It’s complex and perhaps you would think that it isn’t happening, but it is. Right now. The scrutiny, the over-thinking, the critical analysis, all of it is a testament to the importance of this band that we are even bothering to wrap ourselves up in this kind of process.

That process is my whole premise. Listening to a new Radiohead album has transcended the traditional listening experience to a point of a self-critical paranoia inducing obsession that eventually leads to submission.

With anything so new and different from anything that we have recently been listening to, the initial exposure to “The King of Limbs”, much like that first listen to “Kid A” is a point of aggravation to a certain degree. The mind is overcome with such a new and surprising experience that it doesn’t quite know how to process all of the information. We become overwhelmed.

Do our expectations exceed what we have been given? The answer to this question always seems to be an unconditional “Yes” at this point. We sit and try to pick out the memorable material, which is quite literally impossible at such an early stage as the music is passing through our ears for the first time. We wait for upbeat tunes, interesting contrapuntal textures, complexities in the lyrics that speak to us in coded, metaphoric language about politics (possibly). It’s difficult to find all of these things and explore them all at once, in one go. Frustration and awe are residing in equal parts within us as the end of the album draws near and we are left with choosing between “forget it, it’s a mess” and “I gotta listen to this again, there must be something in there.”

This is where Radiohead truly takes charge as a musical group of cultural importance. We trust that they are doing something that we need some time to understand, we trust in them. We have faith in their integrity that they have done something deserving of multiple listens.

After the release of “In Rainbows” there were discussions in several online forums that tried to unravel a code in binary that people thought existed that the band was hinting at all over the place, and had been for years. I don’t recall anything productive coming from those discussions, which ran parallel to surface arguments that stemmed from their “pay what you want” model that they had developed for the album. This is where most of the focus of the mainstream media was. People reached their own conclusions. Some felt that the physical release of the album was an admission from the band that their experiment had failed. Everyone ignored the main point the whole time was that if you release something officially, ahead of people that are going to just give it away for free anyway, there is some control there.

The real key is that people were talking. People were trying to unravel a supposed mystery, and nobody can conclude that it has been completely uncovered. Because of this we continue searching.

After a few listens one begins to sort things out. A few short motifs are memorized and the picture begins to come into focus. The acoustic guitar in “Give Up the Ghost” that sounds so intimate and subdued. The way in which that song opens up when an electric guitar makes a brief appearance and the vocals are looped and repeated, harmonizing into a swirl of dissipating sound before the bassline becomes the only thing we can hear.

Electronic glitches and other clipped up sounds permeate most of the album. Percussion and vocals are clearly the most prominent aspects of “The King of Limbs”. At first this makes the work difficult to grasp. There doesn’t seem to be enough melody and harmony to grab onto and hum along with. Perhaps this is the point. What ends up happening instead is really great. This alteration of the foundational elements allows the band to explore shifting metric pulses as the generators of the song structure. The songs exist without our participation. We can’t immediately internalize them, or sing along.

Radiohead
Radiohead

Think of the opening section of Igor Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring”. There is the only melody at the very beginning of the work. The metric pulses seem to be lost in an ethereal state of suspended animation while the melodies are constantly spun out. Despite the unorthodoxy and apparent complexity the melodies have a fairly high level of memorability. That section gives way to a pounding, primal turn that features heavy use of downbowed strings with shifting accents that continually catch the audience off guard. That is where this album exists. In that juxtaposition. Where the rhythmic complexities take prominence and melody and harmony, though still very much there, are subjected to a more secondary role.

Music seems to change as we listen to it. Rather, our perception of the music adjusts as we listen and become more acquainted. We need to compartmentalize as humans. We have a space in our head for only a certain kind of music, so we force this album into that box. We change what we hear to what we want to hear, what we can hear and what we can understand. Soon, after a few dozen listens we are singing along to “Little by Little” while simultaneously wondering if that title is the band’s sly way of letting us know that that is exactly how we are coming into understanding this album.

They are still three steps ahead of us.

As the physical release date for the album approaches the band has announced that they will be publishing a newspaper. It will be free and available in major metropolitan areas. Nobody knew what exactly what was going to be published in the newspaper until yesterday, which is undoubtedly adding to the mystique surrounding the album release. Unfortunately people are also using this to dismiss the release as another piece of evidence that the band has lost its way. Do they really need to innovate everything, from the inside out with every release? What is a “newspaper album” anyway and does Radiohead really need to rush out and be the first band to release one?

There is also curiosity about the albums length, the shortest release by the band to date, as to whether or not there is going to be more to it. Will there be another release hot on its heels like the twins separated at birth that were “Kid A” and “Amnesiac”? The former seen by most as the first major point of departure for the band. The curiosity is no doubt stemming from the same people that were trying to break the binary code of “In Rainbows”.

The album opens with melodic and memorable looped opening that is soon overtaken by overlapping rhythms and disjointed bass. That very opening seems to spring to mind a state of déjà vu. It seems as though this has come from somewhere before. Perhaps it is just a result of listening to the album obsessively trying to get a firm understanding of it. The pulsating loops from the opening are then relegated to background bed track on top of which the remainder of the song is built. It serves as a constant pedal point that the rest of the material is weighed against. Peals of trumpets add a new layer, mimicking and varying the themes of Thom Yorke’s vocals.

“Morning Mr. Magpie” with its palm-muted guitar in driving rhythm with the off kilter hi-hat beating out borrowed metric pulses creates an incredible sense of restraint. Yorke’s voice is clear with a subtly distant shout of the lyrics. The interaction of guitars and bass here is similar to “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi” from their “In Rainbows” album.

This seems to be their newly reinvented guitar arrangement style. Less like early Radiohead’s clear division of the standard rhythm guitar vs. lead guitar where Jonny Greenwood would hold back before bursting forth with angular lines with feedback drenched crunches and squeals out of the blue. The lines have once again become blurred.

The video for “Lotus Flower” has already been fed to the wolves at the meme machine of youtube, appealing to yet another level of audience. That audience seems to consist at least partly, if not mostly, of those that don’t even bother trying to listen to, let alone understand the music, instead creating a viral market from the ground up. Some of the results, though few original and none surprising, can be entertaining. It is appropriate that this song is the lead single, being that it is the most “song like” off the album and catchy with Yorke’s bluesy vocals spinning out a few hooks, though those hooks are unlike anything one would normally or previously think of as “catchy”.

After “Lotus Flower” the album seems to reach a breaking point. The feel doesn’t so much change as much as the style. Piano on “Codex” is shrouded in reverb, similar to that of “Pyramid Song” from the “Amnesiac” album. The peals of brass are also present on this track. “Give Up the Ghost” inserts a brightly strummed acoustic guitar into their sonic landscape.

“Seperator” sharply returns us to the style of the beginning of the album with very clean, clear mix and the drums re-entering and up front. The line that truly haunts from this song is “If you think this is over then you’re wrong” which seems to remind us that we think that there may be more to this. There may be a piece of the puzzle that we are missing. It seems that they really are playing with us. This song, like so many others on the album, has a way of really blossoming as it moves forward.

Not only does that song leave us wanting more, in a desperate search for something, but even after several listens we still don’t know what it is exactly that we are looking for. By this point it doesn’t really matter, we have succumbed to the album. We have allowed it to change the way that we think about listening to music, and what we typically expect from an album. This last track ends with a harmony that seems to go somewhere separate from the vocals. Yorke’s voice extends the harmony that is already  rich with intervals that one would typically not find outside of jazz.

“The King of Limbs” charts a path of exploration which is usual for Radiohead, but it seems to want to, at the same time, break off into a new direction within the album itself. Harmony is secondary to rhythm for parts, and then the opposite on the latter half of the album. The songs don’t necessarily feel segmented or choppy, they feel natural and are well written and intricately put together with utmost attention to detail. It’s this fission that develops across the album that helps get us to listen again and again in rapt attention as our minds adjust to Radiohead changing the game again. It meets our expectations by exceeding them, and that is why Radiohead will always have the upper hand.

[audio:http://quartertonality.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/03-Little-By-Little.mp3|titles=Little By Little] [audio:http://quartertonality.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/07-Give-Up-The-Ghost.mp3|titles=Give Up The Ghost]

Buy it here: http://thekingoflimbs.com/

or here: http://tbdrecords.com/releases/radiohead-the-king-of-limbs/

 

EP review: Grand Lake – "Leaves Ellipse"

Grand Lake are following up last years exacting, skilled and expansive album “Blood Sea Dream” with an EP that plays their hand a little closer to their chest. “Leaves Ellipse” features intimate, homespun, heartfelt melodies brought to life with the stripped down sound of acoustic guitar with clear arrangements. There is less of a focus on lead lines and the layered material that drove most of “Blood Sea Dream”.

The tunes are just as catchy but the band seems to present them in a way that is far less earnest and instead tug at the heartstrings. That the EP was recorded in small rooms in the houses of friends helps to this end. The clear and intimate, friendly tone resonates throughout. We already know how amazingly talented this band is, and now they are letting the emotions shine through in a way that was previously somewhat shrouded. It’s good to hear them have the bravery to strip away the layers and put a delicate, yet polished, side up for display.

Not that “Blood Sea Dream” was an overly electrified album, featuring shrieks of distorted electric guitars. Nor is that album completely opposite of the warmth of this EP. That album certainly has its moments of detached emotion from afar and some tunes have acoustic foundations, but the layers are piled on making the insides hard to see or feel. That’s essentially the difference with the “Leaves Ellipse” EP.

String arrangements on “City Leaves”, and throughout, sound cleaner and fit better than any of the strings on their previous effort. The ambiance is matched and they sound more a part of the ensemble instead of an addition or extra layer or afterthought. That being said the recording itself even sounds like it is coming from a closer place than the echoed expanses that “Blood Sea Dream” permeated.  What struck me upon my first couple of listens was the way that the guitar tone and style characteristics present on the first album are carried over. Style is something that a band can’t really run away from. More often than not it will take at least a few releases before a style emerges. Not so with Grand Lake. This is amazing for the fact that “Leaves Ellipse” expends so much effort stripping things away. They have managed to clear away everything down to their essence. A daring move.

Grand Lake - "Leaves Ellipse"

“Leaves Ellipse” is not only mostly acoustic but there is only a very small amount of lead fills that even occur across the EPs 20 minutes, the most notable of which are featured in the closing track “Which Days Were Those Days”. That song, by the way, is a moving song that speaks of fondness for the past, remembrance and longing. It’s a song that comes to grips with the fact that change is eternal. Second track, “Christmas, California” is the most upbeat track and is full of catchy hooks. There are subtle rhythmic and metric changes in a clear, simply stated presentation. There is nothing extra and the song doesn’t go on for a second longer than it has to.

Following “Christmas, California” is the standout track “City Leaves”. Its walking bass and delicate backdrop of strings are the perfect accompaniment to the moving lyrics that repeat “waiting and waiting and waiting for sometime to happen.” To me these lyrics speak of if-onlys and what-ifs. What would happen if we just got up and followed our dreams instead of sitting around and waiting for things to happen to us? What would become of us? Is our passion matched by the people that love us, and if not, how does that play into our own plans for life? The longing is portrayed by droning strings throughout the verse that lurch into a broken rhythm in the chorus that seems to represent the desire to get up and move, to make things happen that only return to that drone in the verse. Strings play an important role in “Silver Leaves” as well, which also includes some interesting metric shifts in the chorus.

“Leaves Ellipse” was recorded in “takes”, rather than relying heavily upon punching-in and overdubs. Not that there aren’t overdubs, but each track was done in a single take, rather than editing, combining and splicing to create an aura of perfection and spotlessness. What is gained, I feel, is far more significant than can be achieved through all of the technological wizardry and that is the intimacy of a well rehearsed ensemble. Grand Lake has sidestepped technologically gained perfection in favor of cohesion of sound.

Buy the EP from Amazon and iTunes

EP closer “Which Days Were Those Days” here.

And their cover of Radiohead’s “The Tourist” on The Hype Machine.

And watch the video for that track on Vimeo down below:

Grand Lake – Which Days Were Those Days? from Ryan Terzian on Vimeo.

 

 

 

 

Album review: Yuck – "Yuck"

Finally, after all the hype of indie culture coming to the mainstream, with Arcade Fire winning the Album of the Year Grammy and every band everywhere looking for a unique sound, we get an album that gives us exactly what we need. Yuck has delivered an album that has garnered a lot of attention for its fresh sound that, ironically, is captured by going back to sounding like the music of the 1990’s.

It is funny to think that we can actually refer to this music accurately by saying that it sounds reminiscent to the songs of late last century. A time when MTV actually played music. When shows like “120 Minutes” would showcase music that was up and coming, college radio fare that was not getting much, if any, mainstream attention. I’m sure I am not the only one that remembers staying up late as a kid to catch a glimpse of all the cool, obscure music that was coming out so that I could slyly reference it later in school when talking to my friends. Man, they would think I was so cool. Not that Yuck’s music embraces obscure acts of a bygone era. On the contrary, it captures the essence of the indie rock scene of the 90s that we all know and love but may have passed by those who were not paying attention. This music is a celebration of a time gone by, though its return is more than welcome.

I read a description online of Yuck as a “rock revival” act. Though I know the point that this particular review was getting at I still find it frustrating that the very people that listen to and love rock music are constantly claiming that it is a dead artform. Take for example every time that The Strokes, or any member of The Strokes, releases an album. The magazine covers seem to always ask, “Can The Strokes save rock?” as if it is a genre that is gone, or at least deteriorated and in need of rescuing. I don’t know if Yuck has the power, or even the willingness to “rescue” rock music but they have crafted a beautiful album that is large in scope and certainly charming in its reminiscence of music that music fans of my generation grew up listening to.
Yuck
Yuck - "Yuck"
Strands of early Sloan, early Smashing Pumpkins, Thrush Hermit, Hum, Sebadoh, The Burdocks and Dinosaur Jr. (in the album’s noisier moments) shine through track after track. The album doesn’t come off sounding like some unearthed relic, nor does it feel or sound old or stale in the slightest. Ideas and sound taken from the 90s are developed a bit with tighter rhythm section behind the initial wall of shoegazey noise.

I’m sure that there will be plenty of people tossing around the term “post-modern” in reference to Yuck. Sure, if the shoe fits, but those that dismiss this album as a simple throwback are missing the point. This album and this band seem to be reminding a tired, fractured and disenfranchised indie-rock fan base, that is constantly pulled from one direction to the next, of where we have come from. Perhaps this album can serve as a reset point where we can ponder the roots of all that is coming out today. Or, perhaps this album can serve as a direct line connecteing the music of today to the music of twenty years ago as an alternate reality where an overabundance of easily reproducable, easily attainable music never came to be and therefore never forced fans to choose one of a mulitude of made up genres to which they pledge their unflagging allegiance. Imagine good music stripped of hipster culture. This, I believe, is the world in which Yuck longs to exist.

The album is an “album”. By that I mean that it is a complete journey from beginning to end. Noisy rockers such as album opener “Get Away”, “The Wall” and “Holing Out” are broken up by quieter, more contemplative material such as “Stutter”, “Suicide Policeman” and “Rose Gives a Lilly”. All the songs feature prominently catchy hooks and layered guitar work. “Shook Down”, with its duetting boy/girl vocal, is especially effective as is the up-tempo distored folkiness of “Georgia”.

It seemed to come at us out of nowhere but now we are 20 years past the Seattle “grunge” explosion and just as far are we from the surge of great music that came out of the Halifax scene around the same time. It seems that this is just about the perfect time for a band like Yuck to bring us right back to the comfort of our indie-rock roots.

Soundgarden has reformed, Sebadoh and Dinosaur Jr. have been playing shows, and Beavis and Butthead is returning to television. It seems that a full on 90s reboot is taking shape. It’s a good thing that a band like Yuck can make something new amidst all this looking back.
[audio:http://quartertonality.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/01-Get-Away.mp3|titles=Get Away]
[audio:http://quartertonality.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/08-Stutter.mp3|titles=Stutter]
[audio:http://quartertonality.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/04-Holing-Out.mp3|titles=Holing Out]

EP review: of Montreal – "The Controllersphere"

This EP picks up exactly where “False Priest” left off. I mean that in the most literal way possible. This release can be viewed as an addendum to their last full length offering that was released not 7 months ago. “The Controllersphere” is 5 full tracks worth of Kevin Barnes trying out some of his more daring ideas, heading off in directions that aren’t explored in previous albums and possibly giving us a look at what is to come. This seems to be the way that of Montreal likes to do things now, releasing an album and not too long after its release more tracks that might appeal to their more ardent fans are presented. It was the case with “Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?” of 2006 where “Icons, Abstract Thee” followed. Also “Sunlandic Twins” featured a bonus EP as did “Skeletal Lamping”.

This release is the third that takes its name from one line of “Faberge Falls for Shuggie”, which appears on their breakthrough release “Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?” In a way one can draw a line through these three releases, “Skeletal Lamping”, “False Priest” and “The Controllersphere”. This trilogy can really represent a new direction for of Montreal that saw Kevin Barnes becoming significantly more influenced by psychedelic rock and funk and allowing those influences to really take shape in his songwriting.

The opening track, “Black Lion Massacre” takes the ideas of “False Priest”’s “You Do Mutilate?” and creates another freakishly frightening sonic landscape with the spoken word coming down to us through a backdrop of apocalyptically overdriven noise and feedback. A sort of live energy side of of Montreal that is rarely captured on disc is evident here, drenched in the noise of caterwauling guitars and drums that are wild and  more present than usual. As is usual with of Montreal releases some of the tracks have rather eccentric titles, such as “Flunkt Sass vs. The Root Plume”. The track starts off innocently enough with a gently strummed acoustic guitar appearing for all of ten seconds before exploding into a tripped out, layered nightmare that is perfectly depicted by the cover art, which is done again by Kevin’s brother David. The song continues to build as Barnes screams out in his best Ziggy Stardust, sounding like he is re-entering the atmosphere after space travel without the aid or protection of a shuttle. The screaming, loud, live sound is present in this track as well, like the first.

of Montreal - "The Controllersphere"

Lyrically the themes that of Montreal has been exploring for some time now like loneliness, unrequited love, feelings of insanity and obsession, are explored throughout this EP. The line “Even this ghetto world that has nothing, doesn’t want me” appears in “Flunkt Sass vs. The Root Plume” explores themes previously broached, but the added volume and noise adds a new dimension and desperation to the sadness. The insanity is dialed up to a breaking point, it’s like Kevin Barnes’ primal scream captured on record.

“Holiday Call” is a soulful, spiritual track that is based on folk elements, though those elements are somewhat buried beneath quite a bit of the usual panoply of psychedelia. At over 8 minutes long it is the lengthiest track, allowing for a very interesting turn of events at about the halfway mark that conurs up the sounds of middle eastern folk music with a repeated fiddle gesture, placing the usually busy, up-front bass in a more secondary role. Barnes mentioned via his twitter stream (@xxofmontrealxx) upon release of this EP that it was heavily folk influenced, and that was the direction in which he was going to be heading. He is certainly a man of his word, as odd and unbelievable as that word may often be, he manages to make it happen.

The changes in mood on this EP are more sudden, like the entire “Skeletal Lamping” album, which comprised songs that were seemingly comprised of several short songs melded together. Unlike “Skeletal Lamping” the songs here are still cohesive, and more or less similar in sound to those that appear on “False Priest”. “L’Age D’Or” and “Slave Translator” are definitely spawns of the funk of that album.  Each track is rather wordy. Barnes rushes to fit them all in, even more so than usual. He screams like his body is being torn apart from the inside out one minute and the next is harmonizing sweetly with himself. “The Controllersphere” ends where it began, in a wall of noise. This is a powerful 5 track EP that delivers exactly what was promised not too long after “False Priest was released. of Montreal is great at creating a world of their own both on record and live where their shows are theatrical spectacles concocted from the mind of Kevin and David Barnes. It seems fitting that Polyvinyl is releasing this EP concurrently with a book of David Barnes’ artwork entitled “What’s Weird?”, which I’m sure would be a perfect companion to this release.

[audio:http://quartertonality.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/02-of-Montreal-Flunkt-Sass-vs-the-Root-Plume.mp3|titles=Flunkt Sass vs the Root Plume]

Album review: Queens of the Stone Age – "Queens of the Stone Age" (re-issue)

Re-issues are a touchy subject to some. Who decides whether or not an album is deserving of a 2nd look? Does an album have to be a runaway hit and become hard to find in order for it to be deemed re-issue worthy or is it more that later success in a band’s career may assist earlier recordings in being resurrected from obscurity? In the case of Queens of the Stone Age it is more so the latter than the former.

Josh Homme, the lead singer, guitarist and mastermind behind Queens of the Stone Age seems to be popping up all over the place. He seems to be the journeyman of heavy music involving himself in as many projects as he can including The Eagles of Death Metal and Them Crooked Vultures with fellow omnipresent rocker Dave Grohl – a friend and former Queens of the Stone Age drummer appearing on their 2002 release “Songs for the Deaf”. To many this is where QOTSA started to be a band to watch. The song “No One Knows” was an oft played bona fide college radio hit that introduced their hard driving sound to the masses. That album, though, is much more polished and “radio-friendly” than their first, self-titled release. The self-titled release features the stripped down sound that later efforts blossomed into.

Each song on this first effort espouses a simple formula that drills one riff into the ground with little to no variation at all. Homme is a prolific riff-writer; it seems as though he can go on for days at a time churning out short little ideas one after the other. Think of krautrock mixed with metal. There are super crunchy guitars that present highly repetitive motifs that surge ahead like a freight train. Most of the songs on this first release really are one idea, one riff, pounded to death like a jackhammer into the ground. The riffs that comprise the songs are, more often than not, short little snippets, some only a measure long. It seems that the band is transfixed by them, and as a listener I can only just turn it up all the way and bob my head in time, equally transfixed. At times the idea that is the foundation of a song will be moved up and down the guitar, but the accent and rhythm remain unchanged. It’s as if they are trying to shake the idea loose but are unable, or unwilling to completely let go.

Queens of the Stone Age
Queens of the Stone Age "Queens of the Stone Age"

The guitar tone is pure and clear with a perfectly buzzy heavy sound while the solos tear through with laser like precision. The band, as a unit, locks into a mode where they feel like an unstoppable machine or like a tank bearing down on you slowly and there is no way to stop them. The lead lines are matched in their clean, laser like precision by Homme’s voice that is unmistakeable; cutting right across everything. The vocals sit somewhere between a monotonous drone and a sweetly sung melody that help to balance out the hard driving effect of the rest of the band. The whole package works so well and has a unique sort of balance to it.

With re-issues it is almost expected that there are at least one or two bonus tracks that were previously unreleased. Such is the case here and we are given the tracks “These Aren’t the Droids You’re Looking For” which is nearly a complete throwaway and “The Bronze”, which starts out sounding like Van Halen’s “Little Guitars” before opening up into a full on rocker. Final bonus track “Spiders and Vinegaroons” is a bit too lengthy and wandering, clocking in at over 6 minutes which is far more than this band is capable of holding our attention for. The track does lead nicely into the equally trippy and incoherent “I Was a Teenage Hand Model”, which takes us completely out of the zone of heavy riffage and more so into the realm of a hangover followin a night of hard partying.

This first release shows us where Queens of the Stone Age began, as an idea, as an exercise in heavy riffs and minimalist motorik repetition. It is good to see these ideas taking shape and developing into something more fully formed on later releases and even finding their way onto the radio. Josh Homme’s non-stop work ethic has become turned him into a one man revolution in hard rock.

Album review: The Two Koreas – "Science Island"

Sometimes a straight forward rock album is exactly what the doctor ordered. Noisy, sloppy, balls to the wall rock has the power to erase any traces of trend-mongering buzzbands that exist only to grab a quick piece of the action. The Two Koreas don’t seem to be interested in any of the current trends and instead are slicing right through the middle of it all with pure rock verve. Literate lyrics shouted atop a noisy, energetic garage rock band.

Every song is forthright in its earnestness, and pushes forward with such aggression that the honesty and effort shines right through. The singing is delivered in a speech-like, declamatory style that slips in and out of the beat similar to Eddie Argos of Art Brut’s style, but with the rock attitude of Sammy James Jr. from The Mooney Suzuki.  The lyrics are all shouted, and yearn to be shouted along to. It sounds as though they are writing anthem after anthem. Continuing with the comparisons I could say that they are like a noisier, more garage rock oriented Tokyo Police Club that is rough around the edges, or like Surfer Blood in their fondness of catchy hooks. I can even hear strains of Wire’s post-punk throughout. The point being: The Two Koreas aren’t trying to re-invent the wheel, and that’s fine because this is rock music done well with all the energy and catchiness one could ever possibly desire.

The Two Koreas - "Science Island"

There is nothing hidden in these songs, it’s all out there in the open. The band is able to continually build up the energy, sustaining the tension for as long as possible until reaching a near breaking point. The entire album is chock full of jangling, noisy guitars and ill fitting melodies with shaky vocals. I don’t mean that in a negative light at all. The guitar matches the vocals in its ability to slip far behind the beat, giving a general feeling of looseness throughout. Much of “Science Island” is sinister in its sound.The echoey vocals make it sound like a one man gang vocal. It is dark and serious; defiant with the sound of an angry mob riotously marching through the streets, growing in numbers as they do.
The band is at their strongest on the tracks “Haunted Beach” and “Karl Johans Gate” where the music steadily builds, unchanging except for increasing dynamics with verses and choruses blending into each other over top. “Diamond Geezer” is a standout track with a lead line that cuts through the bass and drum backbeat, sounding similar in tone to East Bay Ray of The Dead Kennedys. The track also matches the sort of sinister, yet upbeat sound that was characteristic of so many Dead Kennedys tunes.

The lyrics are plentiful and fast paced. It’s nearly impossible to catch them all as they come flying at you. The lyrics seem to do one of two things: either speak down to someone or provide the listener with some sort of fortune cookie type advice. Take for example, the song “Withering Heights”, which is a great example of their ability to start with high energy yet continuously build past it. It sports the lyric,“You take the wrong advice, you pay the highest price.” That has got to be one of the best lines on the album, shouted through the dissipating reverb of the guitars after they abruptly stop only briefly enough for this to be spoken. After that the energy picks up exactly where it left off. “Disco Slave Song” is another noisy one chord romp with a shout-along hook and organ solo in the breakdown.

The Two Koreas’ “Science Island” is a welcome return of jangly, loud garage rock. Sometimes music that is formed from the simplest, most honest of ideas is the best music.