It’s like swimming in circles of fuzzed guitars, trippy keyboard layers, twisted pop hooks and kind of familiar, country feeling. Soft electronica, scattered rock left-overs, indie experiments, pop like vocals, My Morning Jacket throw in their blender everything they can get their hands on and came out with a colorful, but slippery material. It’s like a jam of Simon And Garfunkel with The Flaming Lips suffering from massing hangover on a morning after. “Wonderful (The Way I Feel)” for example it’s an absolutely minimal country song while “Holdin’ On to Black Metal” sounds like a hippie anthem from 69 with some vocals traceable back directly to The Beatles. It’s nice to get into this retro feeling, but honestly I don’t really see the reason for what use? For sure some fat-ass guys from Rolling Stone Magazine will be delighted and maybe get even a small hard-on, but still. And for those who weren’t born in the 70s maybe it’s sounds exciting, but it isn’t. Recycling it’s good, but not in all meaning. “Slow Slow Tune” it’s a nice song. Read more My Morning Jacket – Circuital (2011)
alternative rock
Eksi Ekso – Brown Shark Red Lion (2011)
Merge some songs left over from David Bowie since the 70s with some experimental indie, dream pop like layers and perhaps the result will sound just like this third album by Eksi Ekso, the band from Boston, Massachusetts, US. For the good of the experiment, eventually try to do this in your living room and bring some neighbors as well. There’s no guarantee at all that you will sound like Tom Korkidis (vox, guitar, bass, keys, samples, woodwinds), Alex Mihm (drums, loops, percussion), Sean Will (keys, samples, trumpet), and their collaborators, but it worth to try. 😀 At their MySpace page at the paragraph “Sounds like” they wrote: “We play instruments in the same room, sometimes in ways that sound like we’re playing together.” Nice. And in their case it worked out absolutely perfectly. “Brown Shark Red Lion” is a strange, sometimes airy, sometimes scattered, waving, rolling album. Million shades and colors sparking around and sometimes you’re not really sure what actually you’re listening at, but still, it’s kind of warm, familiar and friendly. Read more Eksi Ekso – Brown Shark Red Lion (2011)
Snowman – Absence (2011)
Even after 2008 Snowman relocated to London from Perth, Western Australia, they still kept that ancient, mystic, native Australian perfume in their music and “Hyena” have that hypnotizing brightness which floating around in gentle circles and ties you down smoothly. It’s simply beautiful and have a discrete charm and powerful magnetism. Diving deeper into “Absence” we will discover a multi-dimensional world made of subtle synthesizer layers, tribal percussion and drums, discrete guitars and amplifier feedback, and mysterious vocals. Sometimes everything seems pretty strange or untouchable and distant, but it’s vibrating and addictive. It’s a mixture of World music, Psychedelic and Ambiental music, soundtrack like music for a movie eventually played backward, back to a forgotten, obscure or even vanished universe from the dawn of the times. Read more Snowman – Absence (2011)
Charts And Maps – Dead Horse (2011)
Charts and Maps is an instrumental progressive rock project from Los Angeles, CA. consists of: Daniel Melancon – drums, John Taylor – guitar, Jasper Crane – bass, Jay Watford – guitar and Mike Allison – saxophone and they are involved in other bands as Danger Bees, Random Patterns, Semiconscious Gloria and Pride of Kenya. Nominated their influences in bands such as Battles, Radiohead, Sigur Ros, Deerhoof, Tortoise, Yes and Danger Bees. Their music is a nice blending of Jazz and Progressive Rock, including a large variety of shades and colors in a nice, dynamic pulse. Actually it’s pretty hard to balancing on this thin line between Progressive Rock and Jazz, but Charts And Maps managed to keep a positive groove and the equation of their roots and influences are mixed perfectly and Charts and Maps create their own colorful universe. Read more Charts And Maps – Dead Horse (2011)
Incubus – If Not Now, When? (2011)
It was the longest gap between two albums – five years – for Incubus, but “If Not Now, When?” will be released on July 12, 2011 by Epic Records, although the full album leaked online on April 25. “If Not Now…” pick-up where they left in 2006 with “Light Grenades”. You can forget about their experiments of utilizing elements from a variety of genres and styles, there’s no even traces of Nu Metal, Rap Metal, Funk Metal, not even any sings of any kind of Metal at all, and no left-over shades of Jazz or Hip/Trip Hop inflections as well, Incubus maybe “grew up”, perhaps they lost their appetite for exploration and settled down to a clean, some may call adult, Rock sound. This is not that bad as it may sounds, but I have to admit it, this Incubus is not “that” Incubus I used to love. This is “something” much closer to the late Pearl Jam (“In the Companies of Wolves”) and even passages that reminds me of Kings Of Leon (“Thieves”) than to Faith No More. Read more Incubus – If Not Now, When? (2011)
Duff McKagan’s Loaded – The Taking (2011)
At the previous spinning of the record, talking bout Nazareth I mentioned Axl Rose and right after that I stumbled into Duff’s new album… In this life nothing is accidental. Duff is quite a figure. (Michael Andrew) McKagan was born in Seattle, Washington, his brother Bruce taught him his first bass lines and while growing up, McKagan was a fan of such acts as James Gang, Sly Stone, Led Zeppelin, Vanilla Fudge, Jimi Hendrix, and New York Dolls. His idol at the time was Johnny Thunders. Later he being a huge fan of Sex Pistols, Ramones, and The Clash. He cites Paul Simonon of The Clash as his favorite bassist, and is also particularly fond of Sid Vicious. At the age of 15 in 1979 he joined the pop-punk band Fastbacks as drummer and between 1979 and 1982 he led and played guitar in punk band The Living. Answering an ad for a bass player in a local magazine, McKagan headed to California, at age nineteen. In California, he met guitar player Slash and drummer Steven Adler of the band Road Crew and in 1985 he joined Guns N’ Roses replacing Ole Beich. Read more Duff McKagan’s Loaded – The Taking (2011)
Battles – Gloss Drops (2011)
Imagine the living room of a mental hospital where some guys left from the seventies high on some unknown substances are jamming with some drunk, but friendly aliens. Or anyway, something like that. It’s spooky, but controversially, it’s kind of exciting. And quit surprisingly, the guys from the band called Battles managed to control all that crazy sound battles. This is an experiment which sometimes sounds like the Nintendo games, but somehow simultaneously it’s goddamn serious. The band’s current line-up comprises guitarists and keyboard player Ian Williams (formerly of Don Caballero and Storm & Stress), bassist and guitarist Dave Konopka (formerly of Lynx), and drummer John Stanier (formerly of Helmet), and their benefit from the guest featuring of Matias Aguayo, Gary Numan, Kazu Makino and Yamantaka Eye. I think a permanent vocalist would do no harm, their music is kind of dense and more singing may bring some release and add a human touch. Read more Battles – Gloss Drops (2011)
The View – Bread And Circuses (2011)
Look at this cover! If this is not “The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle”, I don’t know what it is. And The View are kind of back to ’78, not quit to Sex Pistols, but to The Who. Brits are obsessed by a few bands (and brands) such as The Beatles, The Clash and The Who. While nobody really succeed to become the next Beatles, many still trying to rebuild at least partially the sound – and fame – of The Clash or The Who. What can I say? “Lily, oh Lily….” 😀 Kind of “talking ’bout my generation…”
The View are a Scottish band formed in 2005, consist of Kyle Falconer – rhythm guitar, piano, occasionally bass, lead vocals, harmonica, Kieren Webster – bass, occasionally guitar, backing and occasionally lead vocals, Pete Reilly – lead guitar, Steven Morrison – drums and percussion and the only touring member, Darren Rennie – keyboards. Read more The View – Bread And Circuses (2011)
OK Go – Of The Blue Colour Of The Sky Extra Nice Edition (2010)
Despre OK Go şi acest „Of The Blue Colour Of The Sky” am scris în data de 20 ianuarie şi atunci, la primele ascultări cred că i-am subapreciat. Mi-a plăcut materialul şi atunci, dar ca foarte puţine discuri din ultimii ani, „Of The Blue Colour Of The Sky” s-a lipit la propriu de mp3 playerul meu, săptămâni la rând l-am tot ascultat şi re-ascultat şi de-a lungul anului am revenit la el în repetate rânduri.
Am păţit cu OK Go cam ce am păţit cu Kings Of Leon şi al lor „Only By the Night” anul trecut.
Piesele de pe albumul „Of The Blue Colour Of The Sky” toate au farmec, au şarm, au câte un cârlig, infuziile şi reflexiile diferite prind o culoare aparte în interpretarea, re-interpretarea şi viziunea celor din OK Go.
Această ediţie „extra drăguţă” conţine Read more OK Go – Of The Blue Colour Of The Sky Extra Nice Edition (2010)
Trophy Scars – Darkness, Oh Hell (2010)
Îmi dau seama că recomandările mele în mod frecvent n-au nici o relevanţă, lumea preferă brand-urile comode, marfa corporatistă de larg consum, ciunga ulimu’ răcnet asortat iPodului, însă aceşti Trophy Scars m-au lăsat cu gura căscată. Foarte proaspătul „Darkness, Oh Hell” este un amestec ameţitor de sonorităţi de la secvenţe Post Hardcore la Jazz şi Blues Rock, de la Indie realmente Alternative la orchestraţii subtile asortate perfect cu viori sau suflători şi au nervul absolut absent noii generaţii (pseudo) Punk. Oscilează pe o gamă extrem de largă muzical, riff-urile furioase nu exclud armoniile, pianul sau trompeta se îmbină cu cele mai incisive ritmuri şi răbufniri zgomotoase.
Catalogaţi Post Hardcore experimental, Trophy Scars mi-au amintit de geniul celor din Cop Shoot Cop, experimentele avangardiste ale celor din Crass, prospeţimea şi creativitatea celor din Sonic Youth (mai ales cu sonorităţile albumul „Dirty” – 1992), au ceva din abordarea celor din Rollins Band de pe albumul „Weight” (1994), dar mi-au amintit şi de Clutch şi Helmet presărat cu ceva din şarmul lui Tom Waits. Rădăcinile The Beatles se împletesc organic cu energia unor Converge (mă bucur că şi alţii au remarcat gaşca aceasta de Metal), dar şi cu sonorităţile experimental-zgomotoase ale celor din Eels în cele mai incisive şi frământate momente ale lor.
Muzica lor este o invitaţie de a explora lumea dincolo de aparenţe şi evidenţe, o lume ascunsă, vibrantă, uneori întunecată şi îmbibată de misticism şi magie. O magie pierdută, uitată, izolată în subconştient şi abandonată. Read more Trophy Scars – Darkness, Oh Hell (2010)
