Category Archives: news

2012, albums, music, news, songs, tympanogram, video

Video: Scout – "So Close"

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(Originally posted to Tympanogram.com on March 6, 2012)

Scout - "All Those Relays"
Scout - "All Those Relays"

Scout’s Ashen Keilyn has a voice that is instantly recognizable. It’s earnest and inviting despite that, in this track, it’s singing of heartache and pain. Of “So Close” Ashen says, “It’s a song I wrote after one of many arguments. The line ‘So I’m stuck down here with my heart in a splint / getting so close to calling it quits’…well that’s exactly how I felt at the time.”

Ashen, and Scout, are preparing to release their first album since 2003, and much like last time it will include guitarist Steve Schiltz. Though some things have changed since 2003, obviously, as at that time Schiltz was just starting to get things going with his band Longwave. Now Longwave is gone, but Schiltz has remained busy on the scene with his solo project, Hurricane Bells, and a new label imprint in Invisible Brigades, which will be releasing the new Scout effort.

This video comes from director Bill Moldt, recorded live in Olé Recording studios in Queens and caputres Keilyn and Schiltz on guitars, with Schiltz singing falsetto backing vocals (and manning the omnichord/drum machine). The new Scout album, All Those Relays, also partially produced by drummer/producer of Spoon Jim Eno, will be released March 27 via Invisible Brigades.

Find Scout:  Facebook | web

[audio:http://quartertonality.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Scout-So-Close.mp3|titles=So Close]

2012, albums, music, news, songs, tympanogram, video

New track: Lee Ranaldo – "Off the Wall"

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(Originally posted on Tympanogram.com on March 5, 2012)
Lee Ranaldo
Lee Ranaldo
Watching your favorite band break up is tough to do. It’s like being a kid and having to decide if you are going to live with your mom or your dad after your parents get divorced. I’m still in the phase where I’m holding out hope that Sonic Youth isn’t going to disband, but rumors of this coming Summer’s Lollapalooza performance being the bands last are going around, and sooner or later we are all going to have to face the inevitable together.

In the meantime, Thurston Moore has released an album of genteel, somnolence-inspiring arrangements that function essentially as ruminations on open guitar tunings; Steve Shelley is drumming with Disappears (a band that nobody would be paying attention to if Steve Shelley wasn’t drumming for them); and Lee Ranaldo is making his debut as a solo songwriter with his album “Between the Tides and the Times” on Matador Records.

This isn’t his debut album by any means, as he has released a handful of highly experimental albums including East Jesus, From Here to Infinity, and Amarillo Ramp (for Robert Smithson) that would test the fidelity of any true Sonic Youth fan. These albums are in addition to other free jazz albums that he has collaborated on.

So far we only have one song from the new album, set for release on March 20. “Off the Wall” is structured in typical verse/chorus/verse fashion with a free-wheeling easiness in the melody that sounds like it would fit perfectly on Rather Ripped. This is, oddly, quite a departure considering Ranaldo’s other works. Leave it to someone so completely left-of-center as Lee Ranaldo to release a straight ahead rock track and have it seem like a departure. The truth is that this track does sound like one of the songs that would appear on a Sonic Youth album, where Ranaldo is typically woefully underrepresented.

He’s also got some solo performances coming up, including a spot at Primavera. Check him out live if you can, as his band includes not only Steve Shelley (you know, the guy from Disappears), Nels Cline, Alan Licht and John Medeski. His tour, with M. Ward and Disappears, mostly hits up the East Coast and parts of the South and Midwest. You can check the dates here, and pre-order Between The Times and The Tides at Matador.

Lee Ranaldo on: Facebook | web | Twitter

[audio:http://quartertonality.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Lee-Ranaldo-Off-The-Wall.mp3|titles=Off the Wall]

ETA (March 13, 2012): Lee’s album, “Between the Times and the Tides” is now streaming in its entirety on Rolling Stone.com.

Lee Ranaldo OFF THE WALL Official Video from Lee Ranaldo on Vimeo.

 

2012, miscellaneous, music, news, thoughts, tympanogram

R.I.P: Chris Reimer of Women

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(Originally posted on Tympanogram.com on February 22, 2012)

Women
Women (L to R: Chris Reimer, Michael Wallace, Matt Flegel, Patrick Flegel)

The Calgary Herald has reported that Chris Reimer, guitarist for Women has died. As of right now there is no information, as you can read in the short article, beyond that he has passed away in his sleep.

Bands like Women don’t come around too often. They were brash, defiantly experimental and if you ever had the chance to catch them live you would know that they were a phenomenally gifted band with a unique sound and vision. In my mind they were a bit like Sonic Youth with their penchant for noise fueled, disjunct interludes filled with barely controlled feedback. Looking deeper than those surface level considerations one would find intensely chromatic and modal contrapuntal interplay between the guitar parts that boast extended jazz harmonies fastened within a punk rock aesthetic. Production by Chad Vangaalen managed to harness peripheral ambient sounds onto their two albums that contributed an extra layer of grittiness to their already abrasive sound.

It has been up in the air whether Women would reform after their indefinite hiatus began not long after the release of their most recent, and brilliant, Public Strain – though a single, “Bullfight” was released on a split 7?, not appearing on either album, after their breakup as well as a series of eerie live videos recorded for Pitchfork, gave fans like me a glimmer of hope, it looks like this is truly the end. Please do yourself a favor and give a listen to both of Women’s albums.

This is a tragic loss of a truly gifted, young musician.

ETA: Christopher’s sister, Nikki, has posted a blog with posts to remember him by.

A series of haunting videos on Pitchfork captures 3 fantastic performances of the band recorded just before they stopped playing together.

2012, miscellaneous, music, news, songs, tympanogram

New track: Churches – "Feel Alright"

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(Originally published on Tympanogram.com on February 20, 2012)

CHURCHES
CHURCHES

Out here, on the West Coast that is, the weather is always sunny. No matter what anyone tells you. There is no rain, no clouds, no smog, just sunshine and music festivals. As for music festivals, I’m positive that you, dear reader, have already taken the time to get excited about the Coachella lineup. As the hours went by and the publicity grew, so did others’ resentment at ticket prices and how the lineup seems to be the same every year. That all seems like eons ago, in internet time.

Coachella is not the only festival the West Coast has to offer, for there’s also Sasquatch and Noise Pop, the latter of which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. From Tuesday, February 21st through the 26th, San Francisco hosted tons of bands including The Flaming Lips, Cursive, Atlas Sound, Disappears (that boasts Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley), Fresh and Onlys, as well as Churches.

Churches’ music hearkens back to the days of 120 Minutes, when MTV used to actually play videos. Big fuzzed out guitars and heartfelt vocals that are deeply moving while being alternately sad or celebratory, and sometimes even a seemingly incongruous mix of the two. In their own words Churches is “loud, melodic power-pop, rooted in teen angst nostalgia and heavily reflecting its influences – Nirvana, Dinosaur Jr., the Pixies. Churches is salvation through distortion for the disaffected small-town weirdo in everyone – a sonic cathedral of symbols and guitars for the modern outcast.” They have made available a new single, “Feel Alright,” ahead of their Noise Pop Fest debut on their soundcloud and bandcamp pages, and it is certainly worth checking out and downloading. Additionally, Churches is recording a special Noise Pop Daytrotter session.

[audio:http://quartertonality.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/CHURCHES-Feel-Alright.mp3]

Churches // Bandcamp | Twitter | Facebook | Soundcloud

2012, miscellaneous, music, news, tympanogram

New Liars album forthcoming

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(Originally posted on Tympanogram.com on January 26, 2012)

Following the trajectory of the musical output of Liars is an interesting undertaking, and certainly not for the faint of heart or those without patience. They tended towards the more experimental with their earlier work, opting for a more focused sound on their self-titled 2007 release, and 2010?s Sisterworld found them bringing back a bit more of the craziness.

Great news everyone! It looks like the surreal, dada, experimental, highly cryptic, noisy, general all hell breaking loose is coming back. The band has started a tumblr site that seems to be leaving the most obscure trail of bread crumbs possible. Every week since just before the beginning of the year, they have been quietly posting strange pictures, apparently from the recording process. There are videos of fruit hooked up to recording equipment, Angus Andrew riding a bike, and other strange things that could be perfectly in place in a David Lynch film. If you’d like to try and put the pieces together, be our guest. Some posts have been disappearing mysteriously as well, so you might want to bookmark it and check it obsessively until the album is released. I’m guessing it’s going to be…interesting. Perhaps it will be along the lines of their finest work to date (in my opinion) Drums Not Dead.

Check out the tumblr here.

Here’s a video from Liars’ 2010 release “Sisterworld”

2011, albums, music, news, songs, tympanogram

album preview: of Montreal – Paralytic Stalks

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(post originally appeared on December 19, 2011 on Tympanogram.com)

I’ve been a fan of of Montreal since hearing the Icons Abstract Thee EP that came out following their amazing, pace-setting album Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?They also hold the honor of putting on, by far, the best live shows I have ever been lucky enough to witness. They change directions pretty wildly with each new album and I have stuck with them through it all. Nothing can quite compare to what I think of as their classics, but I’m always excited by an artist that puts out consistently challenging, new sounding material that follows no path but its own. No other band out there today sounds quite like of Montreal.

In 2011 they released an EP entitled The Controllersphere that was to False Priest what the Icons Abstract Thee EP was to Hissing Fauna… It was a collection of loud, boisterous noise funk jams that picked up where the previous album had left off. Now Kevin Barnes and Co. are doing another 180 with forthcoming album Paralytic Stalks on Polyvinyl. One song, “Wintered Debts,” has been released so far to let us know what to expect. It’s an extended jam that clocks in at over 7 minutes and sounds, to me, like the band is heading back to the direction of Skeletal Lamping – songs that are extended, chopped up, free-form and as far out there as one could possibly hope for, while still retaining the sound of the band.

Polyvinyl, in their infinite wisdom, is prepping us for the new album with a sampler “video” on youtube. It’s not as much a video as it is just the cover art with a sample from each of the songs played underneath. It sounds like it could be the most varied, introspective and wild album of the of Montreal opus with the usual literate lyrics, meticulously orchestrated, and for lack of a better term weirdness. The album is available for pre-order now and will be released on February 7th on limited edition colored 2xlp vinyl from polyvinyl. Don’t miss out.

[audio:http://quartertonality.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/07-of-Montreal-Wintered-Debts.mp3|titles=of Montreal – Wintered Debts]

2011, albums, music, news

New release: Hurricane Bells – "Tides and Tales"

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Hurricane Bells - "Tides and Tales"
Hurricane Bells - "Tides and Tales"

Things just keep getting better over at the Hurricane Bells camp, and that’s saying something considering their first major appearance was on a platinum selling album.

Hot off of a successful Pledge Music fund raising project, Steve Schiltz, lone permanent member of Hurricane Bells, is up and running with his Invisible Brigades imprint, a freshly designed website, new merch and (my personal favorite of all of it) vinyl. I’d like to think that he pressed the vinyl specifically because I begged him to do so, but I know that had nothing to do with it, but I’m not complaining and I’m willing to take the credit. Your welcome.

The albums official release was actually a few weeks ago, on October 25, so there’s no time like the present to head on over to the Hurricane Bells bandcamp site and grab the new tracks digitally, on CD or limited edition vinyl.

Equally as important, or maybe more important, see them live! There are several shows lined up for December in California and back on the East coast in Pennsylvania, Virginia and New York. I’m going to miss being able to catch the shows at the Mohawk Place in Buffalo, but that doesn’t mean you should! Now get out there and see them live and grab some tunes.

[audio:http://quartertonality.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Hurricane-Bells-Before-I_m-Gone.mp3|titles=Before I’m Gone]

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Of course you can listen to the new tracks at the Hurricane Bells bandcamp site, where you can also purchase the music in any format except 8-track and wax cylinder

And check their site for tour dates, new merch, videos and everything else you could want.

Don’t forget twitter and Facebook

 

2011, music, news

New release: Churches – "Save Me"

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Churches - "Save Me"
Churches - "Save Me"
Churches is the new recording project of Caleb Nichols, the frontman of Oakland’s Grand Lake, former bassist of Port O’Brien, and touring member of WATERS and Release The Sunbird.  On his first single, ‘SAVE ME’, Nichols teams up with WATERS frontman Van Pierszalowski and Rogue Wave drummer Pat Spurgeon.  Oslo-based WATERS guitarist Nikolai Haukeland also plays.  The result is two and a half minutes of melancholic, fuzzed-out power-pop, with obvious nods to heroes Smashing Pumpkins, Dinosaur Jr. and contemporaries such as Wye Oak.

‘SAVE ME’ by Churches will is being self-released on bandcamp today.  The track will be accompanied by remixes and the original demo, and will be sold by the band using a ‘pay what you want’ model.  Additionally, 50% of digital proceeds will go directly to 826 Seattle,  a nonprofit writing and tutoring center dedicated to helping youth, ages six to 18, improve their creative and expository writing skills.  This is part of the wider idea behind Churches, which is to not only release music but to raise money for various awesome non-profits and charities – from the very beginning.

‘SAVE ME’ was recorded and mixed by Ian Pellicci (Deerhoof, Rogue Wave, Yann Tiersen) at Tiny Telephone in San Francisco.  Produced by Van Pierszalowski.  Written by Caleb Nichols.  Performed by Pat Spurgeon, Nikolai Haukeland, Van Pierszalowski and Caleb Nichols.

Head over to the Churches bandcamp site right now to download the track and to make a donation to a great cause while supporting independent music.

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Check out the official Churches Bandcamp site: http://churchescalifornia.bandcamp.com/

Follow them on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/ChurchesBand

Check out Caleb’s other project Grand Lake and their recent EP “Leaves Ellipse” (it’s great)

2011, miscellaneous, music, news, Uncategorized

Hurricane Bells finishing new album

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Hurricane Bells has released a fantastic full length and and equally fantastic EP in the past couple of years. The latest release, “Tides and Tales”, will be released through Steve Schiltz’s own Invisible Brigades imprint.

I’ll let him do the talking:
Hello everyone,

I and we have made a new Hurricane Bells record, named Tides and Tales. The album was recorded in much the same way as the last one: I produced, recorded and mixed nearly all of it over the last few months. This time, I asked a few of my friends to play on it. If you’ve seen a Hurricane Bells show in the last 6 months/year, then you’ve seen the group who recorded most
of the new album. We had a great time and it sounds awesome.

For you Blue October fans, I was able to get Justin Furstenfeld to play on a couple of tracks. And for you Scout fans, Ashen is singing, too. We also have Dave Doobinin from the band Son Of George singing on one track.

My manager Chris and I have talked a lot about how to release the record. And in the DIY and independent spirit, it will be coming out on my label, Invisible Brigades. We do most things ourselves, but when releasing an album and hoping to tour around it, we need some additional support. So
we have decided to use PledgeMusic to help. With them, you’ll be able to Pledge support and then you get stuff – exclusive vinyl and shirts, signed discs, a house concert, album prints/posters, “Twilight” DVDs, one of my beautiful old Gibson guitars… all kinds of things.

And yes, again, we are doing vinyl this time 🙂

Your pledges will directly help us master and manufacture the new record…but more importantly, it will help us tour and promote the record. This is where most of the money goes, for an indie band like Hurricane Bells.
So don’t wait! Head on over to Pledgemusic.com and front some money, get your hands on the limited edition vinyl, or if you want to lay down the big bucks you can get your hands on one of the guitars that Steve used in the recording process.

I can guarantee you will not be disappointed.

If you need convincing, here is a page that I found that has collected on it most of the videos that Bill Moldt has directed for Hurricane Bells (and Steve’s previous project, Longwave).

And below is the video for “Freezing Rain” which holds a special place in my heart as it was shot in my (our) hometown of Rochester, NY.

 

2011, EP, music, news, reviews

EP review: TV Torso – "Status Quo Vadis" EP

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(Originally appeared on Tympanogram here)

TV-Torso
TV-Torso

 

Have you ever had one of those “Ah HA!” moments when listening to a band? No, I’m not talking about Norweigan one hit wonders and official musical group of the 1996 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Ah-ha. I’m talking about Austin, Texas’ TV Torso and their EP Status Quo Vadis. As I listened to it on repeat I kept wondering, with an increasing amount of persistence, “What does this remind me of?” I knew it was something I used to spin a lot not too long ago. Something about the ambiance of the sound made me remember the band Sound Team and their album Movie Monster from 2006. There is a song on there, “Your Eyes are Liars,” that I absolutely love. That album just sparks something in me, reminding me of a particularly exciting time in my life where I was just starting to listen to a lot of new music.

It was disappointing to come to the realization that Movie Monster would probably be the last thing that I would ever hear from Sound Team. The years went by and no news from the band ever surfaced. But lo and behold! Tracing my curiosity to last.fm and reading the bios of both bands I realize that my ear was right and there is a connection. Two of the members of TV Torso, drummer Jordan Johns and singer/guitarist Matt Oliver both come from Sound Team. Maybe my first hint would have been to look at the track-listing of Movie Monster again, because track 5 is a song called “TV Torso.”

This EP could serve as a new beginning, and the way that it opens it sounds like the band is trying to do exactly that. They have an already fully formed sound that includes the hypnotic swirl of echo that made Sound Team’s music so recognizable. Songs like “Slanderer’s Stew” and EP closer “Far Enough Away” are both extended minimalist jams that include extended instrumental work while “Two Glass Eyes” is more typical of standard song length and verse chorus verse structure.

It’s a solid effort from established musicians. Personally I’m just happy that I can pick up again with TV Torso where Sound Team left off.

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TV Torso on: Facebook/Bandcamp/Web