Category Archives: albums

2013, albums, miscellaneous, music, songs

Stream/Download: Friendo – “Cold Toads”

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Friendo
Friendo

A few weeks ago when I was putting together my posts for Cindy Lee and Viet Cong I kept following links around bandcamp just to see where they would take me. I found myself tracing the paths of each of the members of Viet Cong according to what people were saying on last.fm and just basically chasing threads wherever I could find them and following them as far as I could go.

I came across Friendo, Mike Wallace’s former band. If you’ll remember Mike is also the former drummer of Women and the current drummer for Viet Cong. I think that there was some overlap with Friendo and Women, by the way. Unfortunately it doesn’t look like Friendo is really active at all anymore, but you can still download a bunch of their stuff for free, and of course pay to download their entire “Cold Toads” album. They were a band that sounds to be equally influenced by ’60s rock with the added noise and jangle of current art and experimental rock. Similar to the sound of Women in some ways, but the influence of the ’60s is much more prevalent in Friendo than it was in Women (except for say the odd track like “Grey Skies.”)

Right now on their bandcamp page you can listen to and download 3 tracks from “Cold Toads” and also the song “Pass Times” from the Faux012 7″ that also included songs by Women (“Bullfight”), Cold Pumas and Fair Ohs; you can also download 3 free demo tracks.

Everything that was actually released in a physical format, both the “Cold Toads” LP and the Faux012 7″ have long since sold out, but digital downloads are still available. The LP was released through St. Ives Records, but distributed by Secretly Canadian and the Faux 7″ can be purchased as a digital download here.

Just like their bio says, their songs can be gentle and breezy or disjunct and a bit more abrasive. They work equally well on both ends of the spectrum as can be heard when listening to “Callers,” a gently rocking slower song with ethereal harmonies and delicate guitar. Follow that with a song like “Oversees,” or “Counter-Time” which are both everything that “Callers” is not. These two songs showcase their noisier side with a guitar that isn’t quite in tune and rhythms that consistently drive things straight ahead. All the tracks that are up on their bandcamp page are worth checking out, and the entire album is worth the purchase.

Buy Cold Toads//Bandcamp//Facebook (you never know, maybe they’ll come back and post something. Their last update was November 2012.)

2013, albums, music, reviews, songs

Album Review: Merzbow – “Takahe Collage” Part 3

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Merzbow - "Takahe Collage"
Merzbow – “Takahe Collage”

Grand Owl Habitat

This third and final installment of posts about Merzbow’s “Takahe Collage” focuses on the closing track, the mere 12 minute “Grand Owl Habitat.”

Probably the least active and cluttered of the album, “Grand Owl Habitat” takes a clearly sectionalized approach that even may vaguely (in some ways) resemble ABA form. Or, if it can’t quite be thought of as ABA form (and really it can’t, but hear me out) there is at the very least elements that appear and disappear at intervals making it sound as if the spaces without the pitched, more focused sounds form a point of recurring repose against spaces that contain those sounds and therefore stand as a contrast.

Just as with the previous tracks there is introductory material here as the underlying beat is generated. The first section of the song, that which lacks the presence of pitch material for the most part, continues for the first minute. Following that is the entrance of some of the erratic pitch material and sound envelope manipulations.

The main thing, as far as this song is concerned, is that each time the more focused, pitched sounds enter they do so with an increased intensity with each recurrence. Meanwhile the sections of the song that alternate with these increasingly active sounds remain fixed. The stasis is fixed in sound and in tempo. No alterations whatsoever are made to the initial underlying beat that is generated at the beginning of the track.

From 2:06 to about 2:18 there is a drastic shift in texture that marks a new section, where everything is stripped away, save for the underlying structure. We have seen this many times before in the previous tracks, where there is a frequent stripping away and subsequent re-building of material to create motion through the song from beginning to end. There are even some interesting rhythmic moments in “Grand Owl Habitat” that can be heard when a lot of that material is stripped away. For example, at about the 6:40 mark there is a sort of polyrhythmic effect going on with two of the layers just before a screeching sound of a free-jazz saxophone bleat begins to dominate the texture. That sound, as it happens, will remain throughout the remainder of the track.

What I think may be most notable, other than the drastic ebbs in texture through this track, is the way that Merzbow manages to bring the piece to a close. As a composer it is absolutely crucial for one to know their compositional language inside and out, for that is how you learn to phrase your material and, more importantly, how to begin and end a piece. Essentially, when the material that you are using is created via a hierarchy that doesn’t included strictly pitched material, how does one go about cadencing, or closing the piece?

The way that Merzbow answers that question here appears at the 10:52 mark where suddenly that underlying rhythm is taken away. In an instant only the focused, more or less pitched material is left and seems to float above the surface. But without that underlying structure it is only a matter of time before they are not able to sustain themselves anymore and about a minute later they begin to fade out. This, in my opinion, makes for a truly satisfying end to not only this track, but to the entire album.

2013, albums, music, reviews, songs, Uncategorized

Album Review: Merzbow – “Takahe Collage” Part 2

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Merzbow - "Takahe Collage"
Merzbow – “Takahe Collage”

Tendeko

The second track from Merzbow’s “Takahe Collage”,”Tendeko,” is a bit different in its plan than the album opener. The titular song works really well as an introduction as there is quite a bit to grab on to. This track, however, is a bit more stable and fixed. That is not to say that there certainly aren’t some exceedingly interesting elements throughout.

Just as with the previous track we have some introductory material that lasts for about the first 20 seconds. The steady white noise backdrop is introduced and about another 20 seconds after that the sound spectrum begins to widen, and once again Merzbow is making use of a low pulsation, though this time around it is not quite as prominent. Pitch material also doesn’t seem to be playing quite as important a role in “Tendeko.” We are given what I would refer to as “open” and “closed” sounds.

By using the terms “open” and “closed” I’m referring to the overall shape of the soundwaves where sounds that I would consider to be “open” would be those that have more frequencies appearing at the outer edges of the spectrum (highs and lows but no middle) whereas closed sounds would have frequencies more clustered toward the middle of the sound spectrum. These sounds could be produced using something as simple as a bandpass filter, or a guitar wah pedal.

There is a much higher degree of stasis throughout “Tendeko,” and it doesn’t initially appear to be broken into large sections. There are occasions where thin, high pitched sounds will suddenly erupt from the stasis, while there are other times (around 9:50, for example) where regular beats develop and remain and become significant. This part in the track is alive with variation, Akita is heard to be clearly playing with beats and at the 11:30 mark seems to turn the entire track around on itself. The layer of stasis is stripped away, but not in the same way that it was in the opening track. This is a more gradual process, introducing new sounds rather than cutting everything away at once.

At about the 7:35 mark a quick thinning of the texture allows a brief descending arpeggiated sound to come toppling down, before it is swallowed up by the deep sea of distortion that remains underneath the entire song as a sort of support structure. When a sine wave is introduce at around 13:30 it leaps across frequencies, slicing through the ground layer from top to bottom and becoming a prominent element for a large duration.

Something resembling a vintage synth sound enters ever so briefly during a period where the percussive sounds are made more obvious with more crisp attacks rather than simple pulsations. That synth sound remains as a high pitched rapid rhythm and all that is beneath it is stripped away until we are left only with it and the percussive attacks. Eventually the rapid fire high register rhythm flatlines before it begins bouncing across several octaves, the percussive sounds disappearing suddenly with siren type sounds that come from below.

Standing in significant contrast to that of “Takahe Collage,” “Tendeko” exercises a greater use of stasis and shifting levels of textural density. Larger sections of the piece are less apparent in this track than its predecessor, though the latter half introduces a significant number of changes in sound, though not each introduced as parts of what I would think to call new sections. Rather it seems as though the stasis of the first half is drastically contrasted in the 2nd half with increasingly wild sonic gesticulations. There clearly is a different approach to this song, and the way that the sounds are organized and paced throughout the track are evidence of that.

The third and final part in this series will appear tomorrow and discusses the closing track on the album, “Grand Owl Habitat.”

2013, albums, music, reviews, songs, Uncategorized

Album Review: Merzbow – “Takahe Collage” Part 1

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Merzbow - "Takahe Collage"
Merzbow – “Takahe Collage”

Takahe Collage

I’ve wanted to cover some Merzbow tracks for a long time and I think that I am about ready to give it a shot.

For those of you that don’t know, Merzbow is Masami Akita, who has been cranking out noise since 1979. In some ways Merzbow is like an electronic Jandek. By saying that I don’t mean that there are necessarily similarities in the aural qualities inherent in the music of both, but rather that both Jandek and Merzbow force us as listeners to re-evaluate our own idea of what music and sound can be and what it can mean.

Most reviews of Merzbow’s output that I have seen often wander into this philosophical territory, but I want to try and capture the elements in this album that give each song structure and how I think they may be organized. This seems to be, by and large, one major thing that people seem to avoid when talking about the music of Merzbow – and for good reason – it’s pretty complex stuff, most of which could easily be cast off as disorganized noise. What I would like to do in this three part series is deconstruct the way that these songs are put together. I’d also like to do away with the idea of there being much that is disorganized in this music. Being that there are only three tracks on the album, two of which are around a half-hour long each, it might be for the best to examine each song in a separate post.

The album is the 2nd of 6 albums that Merzbow has released so far this year. To my ears, as far as the albums that I have heard, this stands as one of his most accessible. “Takahe Collage” opens the album with skipping static and buzzed bass sounds that immediately resemble a glitchy bass and drums breakbeat. This intro section lasts for about 37 seconds before the grinding bass sound dissipates into the ambient structural level that remains in the background for the duration of the track.

The proper first section of the track introduces high sine wave sounds with honest-to-goodness repeated gestures that allow us to get some footing. By 3 minutes into the track the high range is expanded before it disappears past the range of our hearing.

There is a control of the overall density of the sound throughout, though the aforementioned low ambient drone remains. Pulsations that dwell in that lower register are varied, giving the overall sound texture and shape. At about the 5 minute mark the previous sine-wave seems to have mutated at some point into a more square or sawtooth wave and begins mimicking a syncopated line, counterpoint against the pulsations below.

The breakdown and dissipation of the upper sounds with their consequent formation and buildup happens at semi-regular intervals lasting a couple of minutes. Moments of chaos serve to break up those sections of more cogent material. Noise and ambient pulsations become a new silence against which the material is actually projected. That material underneath does not remain as noise. How could it? At this point we are so used to hearing it that it becomes a given. It’s not so much noise as it is the new silence.

At 11:40 there is a major shift where all of the material but the bass ostinato are removed  completely before new sounds can eventually coalesce. Elements of the material previous to this section seem to flash in and out of focus trying and failing to re-form. A mid-range pitch, middle-C, begins to cut through all other material. It weaves in and out of the texture, seemingly holding its own against a barrage of frequencies from every direction. This pitch is rather important as it is the same pitch as the lower pulsation, but two octaves higher. The structural prominence of the ambient pulsations is becoming more apparent as the track is developing them as they stretch out into other layers of the track. Frequencies in the upper range work their way higher until, after repeatedly fighting through thick clouds of grinding frequencies, at around the 15:20 mark a G# about 3 octaves above middle-C is reached.

The section that begins with that high G# then becomes all about retaining that pitch. Merzbow slides around it, always returning to it and at about 18:25 he holds on to it for a significant amount of time. There is an extremely wide voiced chord taking shape now with several overtones of the low ambience steadying themselves, becoming a solid, fixed point of reference.

Finally at the 20 minute mark we arrive at the next significant shift in sound. There are large swaths bordering on silence as a rather thick D is hit at about the mid range. The middle-C and high G# have disappeared by this point (just before the 20 minute mark break) and we have moved on to a section that is focused on a quick and steady ascending glissando to that D. The ambience moves back in to its place, and before long the track is going at full density again.

The 32 and a half minutes of “Takahe Collage” are broken up into a few large sections, which are in themselves broken up into even smaller sub-sections. Each of these sections have direction, shape and even to some degree a motivic structure. What one would possibly label as “noise” is in actuality, for the purpose of this work, simply the backdrop against which the simpler ideas are placed against.

With this approach, my next post will cover track 2 of the album: “Tendeko.”

 

2013, albums, Chicago, EP, miscellaneous, music, personal, reviews

When Good Bands Go Bad: Maps & Atlases

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Maps & Atlases
Maps & Atlases

When I first heard the EP “Trees, Swallows, Houses” by Chicago’s Maps & Atlases, I couldn’t get enough. All of the tapping (pre-Marnie Stern era…and yes, I know she wasn’t the first to do it, or the most well known, but it will be a cold day in hell when I start talking about Van Halen on this blog) the melodies and breakdowns. Everything about that EP is brilliant. I mean, I still can’t listen to it enough.

I remember around that time (2006), on Myspace, repeatedly checking their page. I was waiting for a follow up, or at the very least hoping that I would see them on one of my many trips to Chicago. The EP’s frenetic nature really hooked me. I would drive around all summer with it blaring from the speakers. My friends probably started to get sick of me playing “Songs for Ghosts to Haunt To” over and over while doing the typical “wait…hear that?…I mean this!?..this” with my words effectively preventing them from hearing (and consequently caring) about what I was even talking about.

Songs For Ghosts To Haunt To

The perfectly synchronized guitar parts, the prog/math-rock nature of the whole affair, the punch of the drums and the deft bass playing. Everything on that song wraps up the entire EP solidly. The only thing I could think to compare it to in order to try and sell it to my classic-era British-prog of the 70’s loving friends (and yes I was not too long before that in their shoes) was to say that the song kind of sounded like Yes. The virtuosic guitar, the busy bass work, the singer with the weird voice, tricky meters. I at least got some of them to listen.

It took 4 long years to get a follow up to that EP. “Perch Patchwork” was released, with lead single “Solid Ground.” That song was immediately underwhelming. It wasn’t even that the song seemed like it would be a grower. “Solid Ground” never, well, leaves the ground and the album is full of mid-tempo dirges that sort of lie flat. “Will” starts the album off on a note that distances itself severely from anything that appeared on “Trees, Swallows, Houses.” With it’s finger picked acoustic guitar and the generally more spacious aesthetic, it’s surely a huge leap in the direction of developing a different sound, and it certainly comes as a surprise. This is not the album that I think anyone was expecting. Certainly not I.

Solid Ground

To be fair, the album does show the band thinking in much larger terms. They seemed more interested in creating a narrative arc, or at least an aesthetic arc, that connected each song across the album in a much different way than previously attempted. That the songs are considerably more straight-ahead and poppy, even repetitive, is somewhat disappointing. It seems as though the bottom fell out, energy-wise. “Perch Patchwork” just hobbles along. Granted these songs are well crafted for what they are, but it left me wondering about what could have possibly led to this drastic shift in sound? Had they run out of ideas for their previous writing style? Did they want to avoid being pigeon-holed and therefore decided to ditch one of the things that truly made them stand out? I mean, what happened in those 4 years between EP and LP? Where there was once not a wasted second there were now filler instrumental tracks like “Will,” “Is,” and “Was.” “Carrying Wet Wood” and “Pigeon” start off promising, but only come close to capturing the band’s former glory before backing off. Both tracks turn into these strange, neutered, watered down Rusted Root sounding fake folk.

2012’s “Beware and Be Grateful” is really no better. The album focuses more and more on  Davison’s vocals and spaciousness. Again, the energy just isn’t there anymore. The sound of “Perch Patchwork” is developed now to include sterile production and even less instrumental work. “Silver Self” seems to go on for an eternity, bringing in terrible sounding synthetic drum loops and layers of vocals. The Talking Heads did this type of thing so much better 30 years ago. Not even a flashy guitar solo (that goes on far too long, wandering well into masturbation territory) can help the track. In fact I would say that in that case it does more harm than good. “Remote and Dark Years” takes its cues from the bombast of 80’s production values, rendering it simultaneously introspective and overblown. One saving grace may be “Winter,” which is actually a good song as far as verse-chorus-verse things go. Good changes, nice arrangement and interplay amongst the entire band. Though, unfortunately, “Winter” is the anomaly. When they return to something energetic like “Be Three Years Old” it does away with the rawness and urgency that the band used to be so good at capturing.

Be Three Years Old

The point, if there is a point, is this: when the energy left and the band stopped highlighting their strengths and what set them apart, that is when they gave in to mediocrity. It’s hard for me to understand why any band would seemingly make an effort to start over almost from the beginning. They went from standing apart, perfecting their fresh and exciting sound, to instead hurling themselves headlong into a vast ocean of bland rock music.

2013, albums, miscellaneous, music, news

Benefit Comp featuring unreleased tracks by Thee Oh Sees, Cave Singers, Elf Power and more

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Coming Together for a Cure Vol. 2
Coming Together for a Cure Vol. 2

We all love music, that much is obvious. It’s why you are reading this, it’s why I’m writing this. Sometimes music has the opportunity to really make a difference. Those differences can come in the form of small things – helping to make mundane chores bearable, perhaps giving us some new perspective on the world, showing us beauty in new things, new sounds and on and on. And sometimes music is able to do so much more, something that is bigger than all of us.
 
This compilation gives us all a chance to let music make a huge difference in the lives of so many. One such person is Ryan Benton, diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy at the age of 3, who is the curator of this compilation that puts together a ton of unreleased tracks from more great bands than you could even conceive of. In Ryan’s own words:
 
I was given a life expectancy of late teens to early twenties. I am currently twenty seven.  In the fall of 2008 I traveled to Costa Rica to be treated for the first time with adult stem cells. I had to travel out of country because the all natural treatment was then and currently now not available in the states. After receiving my first treatment I began gaining back strength and have since gone back on seven separate trips for continued treatment.  
With the help of Air House Records, I have put together a benefit compilation featuring fifteen amazing tracks from national artists such as Thee Oh Sees, Cave Singers, Elf Power, Shine Brothers and The Wonder Revolution. Proceeds will go entirely towards helping fund adult stem cell therapy and research.
 
So in buying this album you will be helping Ryan as well as countless others that find themselves in the same situation. We all know that stem cell research will provide us with answers to medical problems that many Americans face every single day, yet it is currently outlawed in the United States. So why not take a stand against the ridiculous state of affairs that is the American Health Care System Inc. and buy this compilation for a great cause. Ryan continues:
 
Stem Cell Therapy is the first form of medicine that has ever truly helped with the digression of this disease. Stem Cell Therapy is one of the most promising and revolutionary forms of medicine to date. I can attest to this first hand after seeing the positive effects it has had on my debilitating health. Along with my disease it has shown great promise and potential in treating other fatal diseases. We need to embrace this remarkable form of medicine here in the U.S. and outlaw its ban. I am almost certain that without these treatments I would not be alive today.
 
The comp will be officially released on October 29th via Air House Records. You can listen to a sample of “The Factory Reacts,” a track previously unreleased by Thee Oh Sees, below.
 
The Factory Reacts
 
The compilation features unreleased tracks from not only Thee Oh Sees, but also Elf Power, Springs, Miracle Days, Cave Singers and a whole bunch more. I whole heartedly encourage everyone to buy this album to help support a cause and also to maybe discover some music that you may have not heard before. I’m listening to it right now and it’s a really solid collection of songs.
 
If you would like to know more about Ryan, watch the short documentary below. You can also listen to and purchase the first installment of this compilation at comingtogetherforacure.bandcamp.com.
 
Remember: October 29th is the official release and all proceeds will go to the Aiden Foundation to help fund adult stem cell research and therapy. I’ll remind you through Facebook and Tumblr.
 
Air House Records//Bandcamp//Youtube//Learn more about Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy//
2013, albums, music, news, personal

New Release: MGMT s/t LP3

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MGMT - "MGMT"
MGMT – “MGMT”

MGMT is finally releasing a follow up to 2010’s superb “Congratulations.” The new eponymous album is set for release on September 17 and is available for pre-order on iTunes, where it is referred to as the “optimizer deluxe edition.” The pre-order comes with an instant download of the song “Your Life is a Lie,” which can also be heard/seen below.

Since we don’t have much of the album to play, I can relay to you how caught off guard I was when first seeing the album cover. When I went to school in Western New York (Fredonia, to be exact) I lived in the neighboring city. The album cover was taken across the street from what was my bank when I lived there. I remember riding past “Stylz Unlimited” on my bike all the time. It more often than not looked like a garage sale exploded on the front lawn. My apartment was maybe a half-mile away.


View Larger Map

The reason that they were in that shithole of a town is that Dave Fridmann’s Tarbox Road Studios is not very far away in the other direction, in neighboring Cassadaga. This is also the reason why I accidentally walked into an MGMT show in 2006 at BJ’s, a bar in Fredonia. A few months later their song “Kids” become hugely successful, and because of that success MGMT opened for of Montreal when I saw them a few months later in Buffalo.

The Flaming Lips also record at Tarbox Road, which is why often times while standing in line at the Starbucks on Fredonia’s campus one will find themselves standing behind Wayne Coyne. But I digress.

Pre-order the album. Check out the songs. “Your Life is a Lie” is instantly catchy, and much more upbeat than the title would suggest. And so far the album has 5-stars on iTunes, apparently based off of this song alone. So there’s that. Oh, and check out the link below to Tarbox Road Studios, where Fridmann keeps a daily log of the goings on at the studio.

Web//iTunes//Tarbox Road Studios//Twitter//Facebook//

2013, albums, music, reviews, songs, video

Album Review: Marnie Stern – “The Chronicles of Marnia”

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Marnie Stern - "The Chronicles of Marnia"
Marnie Stern – “The Chronicles of Marnia”

I understand that this album came out 5 months ago, but I also a.) don’t care and b.) think that this is not only her best album to date, but probably one of the best albums to be released so far this year.

There has been a constant and steady development across Marnie’s releases beginning with “In Advance of the Broken Arm” from 2007. That album was a great statement as a debut. The guitars were mindblowing, the melodies were catchy and the lyrics were deeply personal. That the album starts with a barrage of lightning fast guitar and Zach Hill’s bat-shit insane drumming set the tone for not only that release, but for Marnie’s sound as a whole.

With each album her overall sound has gotten tighter. The roughness in the production of earlier releases has been replaced with cleaner, more intricately layered guitar lines, with her voice alternating between the familiar highs with the increasing presence of more relaxed and effortless singing in her lower range. For example, on the track “Noonan,” we hear the line “don’t you wanna be somebody, don’t you want to be, don’t you wanna be somebody?” sung in the latter part of the song almost unaccompanied, save for a few dropped in guitar chords.

And, sticking with that song, it creates a good deal of space in the verses with different layers of guitars taking prominence, rising and falling in the mix. Marnie is in control of an entire ensemble of guitars. It no longer feels like the guitar tapping that she has been recognized for (and recognized for good reason) is felt to be the primary element of each of the songs.

Though, there is (immediately following “Noonan”) “Nothing is Easy,” that sounds a bit more like something that would be on an earlier release, but finding places to stretch out, once again. Some of the structures of earlier albums, like the terrific despite its blockiness “Roads? Where We’re Going We Don’t Need Roads,” from her album “This is it…” are abandoned for more standard verse-chorus fair. That is part of what makes this album sound all the more polished. It’s the tightening of these structures into more palatable forms that gives “Chronicles” a higher degree of accessibility.

There were always prog-ish elements to many earlier songs that explored tricky meter changes and several otherwise disconnected sections. And though these things worked well in those album, were interesting and part of the overall sound due in no small part to Hill’s drumming, the focus throughout “Chronicles” really shows what a great songwriter and vocalist Marnie can be. That is to say that a hint of prog remains, for example in “East Side Glory” and “Hell Yes,” but they hardly beg to be noticed, or take anything away from the overall cohesion of the track.

There does remain a degree of experimentation across this record. Stern is shown to be tooling more with the recording process, finding new ways to create textures with an array of different techniques, never relying too heavily upon one over another. As a result the album is more balanced. Perhaps this is partly a result of the departing of Zach Hill on drums, which are also, as a result, trimmed back a little bit. Again, this leaves not only a bit more space but also means that the songs don’t always feel the need to be super busy guitar vs. drums affairs. Songs are able to grow and take shape in much different ways.

Each previous release has pointed in this direction. There haven’t been any absolutely drastic changes in style from one album to the next, it’s just that with each album the elements that have always been present continue to grow and to be improved upon, while shedding a bit of the excess. On the surface the music still sounds and feels complex, but at its core this album is full of songs that are more stripped down but no doubt just as powerful as always.

As an added bonus, Marnie has released a new track for the previously mentioned Adult Swim compilation, “This Was It,” which can be heard below. As an added added bonus Kill Rock Stars has put all of Marnie’s albums on sale at her bandcamp page for $5 until the end of August. So head over there and download everything. There are also some upcoming tour dates throughout September that are posted below.

Kill Rock Stars//Bandcamp//Facebook//Blog//Twitter//

09/05 Raleigh NC Hopscotch Festival
09/09 Minnapolis MN Fineline (with DEERHUNTER)
09/10 Chicago IL Metro (with Deerhunter)
09/11 Cleveland OH Beachland Ballroom
09/12 Toronto ON Phoenix Concert Theatre with Deerhunter
09/13 Columbus OH Skully’s
09/16 Boston Ma Royale
09/20 Lexington KY Boomslang Festival

2013, albums, music, news

Stream: Neko Case – “The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You”

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Neko Case's new album comes out on September 3
Neko Case’s new album comes out on September 3

The follow up to Neko Case’s 2009 album “Middle Cyclone” is set for release on September 3. You can hear “The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You” in its entirety on NPR’s website as a part of their “First Listen” which is where I’ve gotten the chance to listen to a lot of stuff that I have since fallen in love with over the years. I remember listening to the debut of Japandroids, Fucked Up’s “David Comes to Life,” and Dirty Projectors “Bitte Orca” over there.

Of course the All Songs Considered podcast is always a great way to keep up with new independent music releases.

I’ve always been a fan of Case’s music, including all of her work with the New Pornographers. Actually, I think that the first time that I heard Neko Case was on their album “Twin Cinema.” I couldn’t get enough of that album when it came out. And of course the hauntingly beautiful “Hold On, Hold On” from her album “Fox Confessor Brings the Flood” has long been my favorite of her songs.

Hold On, Hold On

The upcoming release gives us 12 more tracks of which only one has been heard  up to now. If that track, “Man,” is any indication of the sound of the rest of the album then it’s definitely going to be one of the ones to beat this year. Have a listen to that track below and make sure to head over to NPR to hear the rest of the album. Also, if you don’t follow her on Twitter then you should do that now, and if you don’t have a twitter account you should still read her page. It’s consistently excellent.

NPR First Listen//Web//Twitter//AllSongs//

2013, albums, music, reviews, thoughts

Album Review: The Flaming Lips – “The Terror”

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The Flaming Lips - "The Terror"
The Flaming Lips – “The Terror”

It has taken me this long to digest The Flaming Lips most recent album, “The Terror.” It came out 4 months ago and I have given it several listens in that time. Admittedly the first time I listened to it, maybe a week or two before release, I set it aside and said to friends that I would never listen to it again. A few months went by and in July I gave it another few more shots.

The fact that it took me so long to get around to listening to the album didn’t have so much to do with how difficult a listen it is at first (and it is, truly, like nothing else the band has done before) as much as it might have to do with Wayne Coyne’s obsession with being the center of attention at all times. A few years ago I began getting annoyed by incessant releases of super-gimmicky collectors items. I was annoyed by the mediocrity of their cover of Pink Floyd’s entire “Dark Side of the Moon.” I was annoyed with the completely lackluster EP that the band did with Lightning Bolt. Actually that one angered me more than it annoyed me.

The Flaming Lips are becoming, it seems, increasingly interested in perpetuating their schtick of being the freaks on acid that release albums in jelly skulls and boxed sets of vinyl with the blood of the artists inside the vinyl. All the publicity stunts and Wayne’s completely obnoxious twitter account were enough to make one hope that they were putting as much thought, time and energy into their actual music.

The Terror shows that the Lips definitely were thinking about their music this whole time. And when I say they were thinking about it I mean that they basically stripped it all away and started over. This album is such a hard listen at first because there really are very few places for a listen to get a foothold. There are so few points of reference, with melodies deeply woven into the overall ambient landscape that sprawls seamlessly from beginning to end.

Wayne’s voice, surprisingly lacking the rasp of the past few releases, sings mostly in a  falsetto that echoes in the distance for most of the tracks. The instruments are stripped down, with electronic loops and layers of atmospheric synth patches dominating while Drozd’s guitar work is mostly absent except for occasional short chordal stabs that created a brightness that cuts through the dense haze of the synths.

Be Free, A Way

I’ve always loved albums that are able to create a distinctive sound that carries from song to song, with each track having at least that one common thread between them. Perhaps when I first listened to this I was listening incorrectly. I was listening for something to hook me in, something that was repeated and would become recognizable because of the way that it stood apart from other elements. Only in the past few weeks did I come to realize that the point of this album is that it is basically one long track, and that is not a detriment. That’s the way that they have decided that they were going to tie the album together, but to that end it also forces us, in a way, to listen to the album in its entirety when we do decide to listen.

And that is the thing about this album, it requires a commitment on the part of the listener. One can’t passively listen to “The Terror,” there aren’t really any tracks to pull out. It’s the entire album. At once. Stop doing other things while you’re listening, sit down and hear what is going on because it is complex and it is demanding and it’s time for you, as a listener, to hold up your end of the bargain.

Some of this all seems pretty obvious. There is no “Race For the Prize,” there is no “Do You Realize,” but that doesn’t mean that the album should be ignored. These are all things that I am learning, obviously most every other person out there that has reviewed this album has heaped praise onto it. I don’t think that my typical analytical approach of searching track by track through every minute detail to uncover the bits that are good and the bits that are less good, works here. I think that the lesson to be learned here is that it is possible to create an album that ditches short form melodic content in order to shape a much larger picture. It feels like the entire album is building, for nearly 52 minutes, toward the guitars and cavernous drums of “Always There…In Our Hearts.” Daring move, to say the least. The song doesn’t work as well without that buildup to it, it simply doesn’t make much sense.

Like a set of variations in reverse, the main material only comes clearly into view at the very end. The layers of ambiance and atmospherics are built up and subsequently stripped away to reveal that final track. That is a journey worth taking.