I’m not quite a big fan of instrumental rock music, perhaps because I get into rock music and I spent over a decade spiting into the microphone, but this “I Was Here For A Moment, Then I Was Gone”, the third album by Maybeshewill, band from Leicester, U.K. formed in 2005, it’s quite impressive. They play a sort of post-rock, pretty gloomy themes, but in a quite charming way, and they using programmed and sampled electronic elements alongside acoustic and electronic instruments. Maybeshewill has seen a number of musicians come and go, but core members Robin Southby on guitar, John Helps on guitar and James Collins on drums have been with the band since their first tour and album. On bass currently is Jamie Ward.
They might be compared by some with Mogwai, but Maybeshewill’s music is more intense, powerful, in a particular way more rock oriented, but also much more colorful, I would say deeper. Comparisons have also been made with Sigur Rós, but once again, Maybeshewill sounds much heavier I think, they have stronger rock roots and their music is not that spacy, soundscape and soundtrack/cinematic like. Read more Maybeshewill – I Was Here For A Moment Then I Was Gone (2011)
avant-garde
Heroin and Your Veins – Lovely Bone Structure (2011)
I stumbled into this accidentally on the Bandcamp, but well, I still don’t believe there is anything accidental in this life, so…Heroin and Your Veins is a one-man band started in 2006 by Janne Perttula in Tampere, Finland and Solina Records released the debut album entitled “Dead People’s Trails” in August 2007. The second album is called “Nausea” and it was released in April 2009 by Verdura Records. It is available also on Bandcamp for 8 Euro. “Lovely Bone Structure” is one single track last for 48 minutes, it was released on 19 April 2011 and only available in the internet at Bandcamp and “name your price” actually means that you can downloaded even for free typing zero. Well, it’s not quite polite, but… I think art and artists deserves our support in a world where everything becomes more and more plastic, fake and prefabricated. Read more Heroin and Your Veins – Lovely Bone Structure (2011)
DJ Clonepa – Courroux (2011)
Mixing breakcore with classic, symphonic music and sometimes with jazz, DJ Clonepa actually make pretty interesting blending of music. Nathaniel Marlow, from Richmond, Kentucky, started in 2007 his mixing and “Courroux” is a pretty exciting and intense material, an explosive collision of groovy and twisted drums with smooth, harmonic symphonic orchestral constructions and jazzy musical inserts. Sometimes this blending is smooth, sometimes the drums overlapping everything creating hell of a noise, but still, there are some extremely interesting moments, good twists and turns, the gloomy, kind of authentic Baroque/Gothic atmosphere and these contorted rhythms and breaks are making an unique and exciting pair.
Following the tradition of precursors as Venetian Snares, DJ Clonepa bring to the surface some extremely intense and exciting mixes and there are a few very good tracks. Read more DJ Clonepa – Courroux (2011)
Brian Eno with Rick Holland – Drums Between The Bells (2011)
In 1992, Eno talking about his interference with Roxy Music and his musical career, said: “As a result of going into a subway station and meeting saxophonist Andy Mackay, I joined Roxy Music, and, as a result of that, I have a career in music. If I’d walked ten yards farther, on the platform, or missed that train, or been in the next carriage, I probably would have been an art teacher now”. In life turning on a particular point to left or to right, sometimes makes the difference. Eno took the right turn and went on his own way. He didn’t get along with Bryan Ferry, he quit the band on completing the promotion tour for the band’s second album, “For Your Pleasure” in 1973, but he becomes an important musician, composer, record producer, music theorist, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.
Eno’s solo work has been extremely influential, pioneering ambient and generative music, innovating production techniques, and emphasizing “theory over practice”.He also introduced the concept of chance music to popular audiences partly through collaborations with other musicians.By the end of the 1970s, Eno had worked with David Bowie on the seminal “Berlin Trilogy,” helped popularise the American punk rock band Devo and the punk-influenced “No Wave” genre, and worked frequently with Harold Budd, John Cale, Cluster, Robert Fripp and David Byrne, with whom he produced the influential “My Life in the Bush of Ghosts” in 1981. He produced and performed on three albums by Talking Heads, including “Remain in Light” in 1980 and produced seven albums for U2, including the famous “The Joshua Tree” (1987), and worked on records by James, Laurie Anderson, Coldplay, Depeche Mode, Paul Simon, Grace Jones and Slowdive, among many others. Read more Brian Eno with Rick Holland – Drums Between The Bells (2011)
Helms Alee – Weatherhead (2011)
Helms Alee were formed in 2007 by Ben Verellen (of the Harkonen, Roy, and These Arms Are Snakes), Dana James and Hozoji Margullis. “Weatherhead” is a boiling mixture of fury and beauty melting together vibrating and smooth acoustic elements and raging post-hardcore riffings, delivering perfect balance of what we mainly labeled as “alternative rock” and post-metal. Dana James have a powerful and expressive voice, she both singing and howling while Ben Verellen sometimes bring some extreme raw vocals as support. “Weatherhead” sounds cutting, dirty, full of energy, but still, they built in smooth and beautiful moments which gives a gloomy shining and more dynamics to their songs and this powerful album.
The trio sliding between styles and genres, switching from metal to psychedelic, from hardcore to folk, but they do all this extremely fluidly. Read more Helms Alee – Weatherhead (2011)
The Odd Trio – The Odd Future Sessions (2011)
Groove-centric, fluid and dynamic, The Odd Trio plays classic jazz in modern style, merging classic-like themes with the freedom and grooves of modern, improvising jazz remaining classy and fresh simultaneously. Three technically gifted and inspired musicians: Matt Tavares on Piano, Alex Sowinski on Drums, and Chester Hansen on Bass .
The Odd Future Sessions Part 1 is a tribute to Odd Future classics, including “Bastard,†“Orange Juice (Lemonade)†and “AssMilk.†Part 2 is made of three songs straight from the latest Tyler the Creator album “Goblinâ€: “Untitled 63″, “Nightmare†and “Yonkersâ€.
This is absolutely groovy and smooth, good morning! Read more The Odd Trio – The Odd Future Sessions (2011)
Coerce – Ethereal Surrogate Saviour (2011)
Coerce was formed in late 1999 in Deal, Kent, UK by Adam Smart – Vocals, James Wells – Guitars, Chris Williams – Bass and Liam Foy – drums and hey registered the name Coerce with The Worldwide Band Name Registry, still, there’s a band using the same name from Australia… a band split between Adelaide and Melbourne formed in 2008 by Mike Deslandes, Matt Adey, Karl Roberts and Justin Bond. The Brits declare on their MySpace page that they are playing Alternative / Hardcore / Metal while the Australians defined them self playing Big Beat/German pop/Tropical…
While there’s quite much confusion – an lack of information – on both bands pages and once again, somebody chosen a name before checking out if the name is available, I take no responsibilities for any further misunderstanding.
“Ethereal Surrogate Saviour” it’s quite off of Tropical/Big Beat, actually its bring to the surface a contorted, crushy and sometimes quite chaotic and gloomy post/experimental metal with roots back to hardcore but flavored with psychedelic and progressive spices being inspired by different bands from King Crimson to Tool and Pantera. find an unique path between progressive rock and metal and the noisy, stoner/doom infiltrated post-hardcore and merging these different styles into one they came up with something quite special and exciting.
It’s not an easy listening, but life it ain’t easy and in times when almost everybody is nothing but “a copy of an imitation”, Coerce sounds absolutely refreshing, they comes like a salvation against monotony and uniformity. Read more Coerce – Ethereal Surrogate Saviour (2011)
Fire! – Unreleased? (2011)
Pour les connaisseurs! Fire! are the trio compound of Mats Gustafsson (The Thing), Johan Berthling (Tape) and Andreas Werliin (Wildbirds & Peacedrums) and “Unreleased?” is their second full length album, but this time they bring into the supergroup one more individual: Jim O’Rourke. Mats Gustafsson is an improviser, free jazz saxophone player, in 2000 he put together the Swedish/Norway trio, The Thing with bass player Ingebrigt HÃ¥ker Flaten and drummer Paal Nilssen-Love. The Thing is one of the must “media unfriendly” band: no MySpace, no YouTube channel, they mainly sell their records at the gigs, lucky me, I saw them once live. Swedish trio Tape (@ MySpace ) was set up in 2000 by brothers Andreas and Johan Berthling with Tomas Hallonsten and they merging pop and experimentalism in minimalist manner using both, acoustic and digital instruments. Wildbirds & Peacedrums (@ MySpace) is an experimental band from Sweden consisting of two members, Mariam Wallentin and her husband Andreas Werliin, merging experimental rock with psychedelic folk. Jim O’Rourke (@ MySpace) maybe knowned for played bass guitar, guitar and synthesizer with Sonic Youth, in addition to recording and mixing duties with the group, he joined the band in 1999 and left in 2005. O’Rourke is long associated with the Chicago experimental and improv scene, he has collaborated with Thurston Moore, Derek Bailey, Mats Gustafsson, Mayo Thompson, Loren Mazzacane Connors, Merzbow, Nurse With Wound, Phill Niblock, Fennesz, Organum, Henry Kaiser, Flying Saucer Attack, also he was once a member of Illusion of Safety and Gastr Del Sol and also released many albums under his own name on a variety of labels exploring a range of electronic and avant-garde styles, exploring different genres from jazz, noise to electronica and rock music. Read more Fire! – Unreleased? (2011)
Planningtorock – W (2011)
Janine Rostron, Berlin based, London born, musician/conceptual-artist and record label owner, has been flirting with a wider audience via her LCD Soundsystem opening slot and become a frequent collaborator of The Knife. She’s back now with her second full-length album, “W” and her smooth, but gloomy explorations of tense rhythms and quite particular timbre keyboard, classic instruments and shady, electric and electrifying layers, floating vocals merged into her unique, sparkling sound.
Classically trained on the violin from the age of eight, Janine Rostron developed a passion for strings. That same passion can be heard in her infamous pizzicato bass styles with plucked string production blended perfectly with electric mix of barrelhouse boogie-woogie pianos, xylophone trills, honkytonk horn sleaze, bluesy growls and creepy coos. Read more Planningtorock – W (2011)
Engineer – Crooked Voices (2011)
Dirty and contorted, merging hardcore with sludge, twisted riffs and slow grinds with breathe acoustic relieves and blue collar breaks, Engineer bring to the surface a world of darkness and suffering, pour their pain on us and drown us under the weight of their sick songs.
From Syracuse, NY, Engineer are compound of three brothers and a brutal dude behind the drum kit: Bobby – vocals, Ryan – guitar, Brad – bass, respectively Mike Auclair – drums. Decibel Magazine ranked Engineer’s 2006 release “Reproach” one of the top 50 Best Albums of the Year and their noisy, deranged, modern metal have something unique and exciting. Read more Engineer – Crooked Voices (2011)
