Tag: Mp3s
Finally, back to discussing mp3s I actually like. First impressions of Danes The Silent Section had me thinking early Madrugada or mid/late-period Swans, but further investigation makes me think of Bay Laurel, should you remember them. I think it must be those tenor vocals because they're certainly not as overly metallic as that band ever was. Beyond Dawn might be a good point of comparison too, though in that instance it's the sound of recording that reminds me of them. Both "In reverie" and "Electric sulking machine" had a similar brittle-ness to them. Of course the one thing that ties of all these points of interest together is the mood: black as pitch. The Silent Section play gothic rock, straight up. There are pop overtures and bits of neo-folk and sometimes they get a little heavy, but at its heart, it is what it is. Call it "death rock" if you want, but I say it's a cop out for people scared of the g-word. If you can embrace a little darkness, there's nothing to be frightened of whatsoever.
The Silent Section - Frightened
"Strømmen Gamelan City" is more than a record. Heavily influenced by counterfactual history, it is a humble attempt to explore key historical events that could have taken place in the history of the small Norwegian industrial suburb Strømmen. Far from keeping it real, Koppen seeks to represent the possible outcome of various scenarios that never occurred.
Cool, that sounds like it could be interesting. I wonder if they'll be incorporating more odd folk instruments other than gamelan.
Every song is nothing more than a big "what if?". What if Strømmen was forced to import labour from Indonesia? What if Strømmen was surrounded by cotton fields? What if alcohol was still prohibited and young and old labourers alike chewed khat every Saturday evening?
Nice, sounds like they'll be using a lot of disparate folk influences in this. I'm into that.
What if the Yakuza ran pachinko parlors at the local mall? What if the local government invited Uri Geller to arrange workshops in circuit bending and gender bending? What if Christmas were celebrated in seedy love hotels? What if everyone went home in a rickshaw after a night out? What if Stevie Wonder was pulling it?
Uh...
This is not music. This is Counterfactual Nu-Bricolage.
Okay, if you say so. Not at all what I expected and definitely not good. At worst I figured it would be boring ethno-tourism, but I never would've guessed indie hip-hop garbage. Most bad records just bum me out, this one made me angry.
Koppen - Ethiopian juice
Mats Grönmark has himself a great sounding C&W backing band, but no, this isn't good.
Mats Grönmark - Pulling rabbits out of hats
Much respect to Fullsteam Records for cherry-picking most of Finland's most commercially viable indie acts, but bands like Rubik are a perfect example of why I don't consider myself a fan of what's generally acknowledged these days as "indierock". I guess I'm not surprised that an album titled "Dada bandits" is all artifice/no substance since I have such low expectations anyway, but I would've figured they'd try to write some dynamic songs instead of stringing incoherent parts together. At least with some of other current big-name indie I can understand its appeal as non-offensive background/TV commercial music (indie is the new MOR after all), but the impulse to make or listen to music like this totally baffles me. It's total blandness actually enrages me more because I simply cannot imagine anyone hearing this and getting stoked. You want Dada/Surrealist inspired music, listen to Wire. Heck, just listen to Radiohead if that's as much digging you're willing to do. Just don't listen to this.
Rubik - Radiants
Here's another track that isn't so much out-and-out bad as much as it's relentlessly mediocre. The Strokes sounded fresh when they first hit the scene with this sound back in 2001, eight years later it's time to go back to the drawing board if you can't find new inspiration. Or maybe that's what the title of the song is referring to? Either way, totally pointless.
Ram Di Dam - Flashbacks
I promised a week of negative-minded mp3 posts and I fully intend to deliver, but I am going to start out slow. The new Moderat Likvidation album isn't bad per se as much as it's pointless. Do we really need one of Sweden's classic hardcore acts to reunite in 2009 and tell us about how out of control political correctness has gotten? No, we don't. I'm glad to see those dudes are still raging after all these years and I'm sure a ton of folks were stoked to finally get a chance to see them live, but I doubt their new record would've gotten much attention if they weren't banking on the name. See Pissed Jeans' "Goodbye (hair)" for the proper way to make old-man hardcore. This is just tired and boring.
Moderat Likvidation - P.K
I might post one more track before I call it a week, but I really am running low on music that I'm unequivocally enthusiastic about, so make of that what you will. Remember: next week is all negativity. I am an ill-tempered jerk.
Hopefully I don't gush about it too much, but I'm way into the current old-school Swedish death metal revival and Tribulation is one of the finer, younger bands in that style. I purchased a copy of their debut full-length LP "The horror" not too long ago (beautiful gatefold + matte print job, btw) completely blind, having never heard the band and banking completely on the reputation of Blood Harvest. I needed the Graveless and Bastard Priest demo tapes (both of which totally rule), so figured I'd take a chance. Worst case scenario, there's always the lucrative limited vinyl resale market. I'm no flipper, but it's good to know the option exists. Anyhow, these dudes are often compared to Merciless in that they've got quite a bit of thrash influence and loads of speedy blast parts; likewise I also detect a definite resemblance to Dissection. Tribulation's sound is a bit more meaty that they were without being too groove-oriented, but they've also got a blackened side that shines through in their melodies and horror-inspired interludes. I'm not surprised there's plenty of old dudes out there playing quality DM in the old ways, but it's even better that there's young folk out there to help carry the torch further.
Tribulation - Crypt of Thanatophilia
The Skull Defekts vs. The Bear Quartet. Göteborg vs. Luleå. Two bands of old-timers square off and everyone wins. Yes, even you.
BQ's new album "89" is officially released on 9/9/9, but I have been informed that copies are already enroute to IAT HQ. Pre-order details will be up soon; in the meantime, this is essential listening.
The Skull Defekts - Millions (The Bear Quartet cover)
Trying hard to stay positive on music posts this week, and boy am I struggling. Good thing I've got more quality hard rock to share though, because without it, I'd be at near-zero. So yeah, keep holding on for the hate to come next week; until then here's a cut from the new self-titled Baby Woodrose album, their sixth overall. I've only been so-so on the last few Woodrose records and the same goes for Mr. Lorenzo Woodrose's various side endeavors (The Setting Son, Dragontears), but this new disc is totally solid. Maybe not quite a year-end contender, but whatever, I'll take pure listening enjoyment over the stacks of plastic garbage littering my office and will be content, thankyouverymuch. Soundwise, don't expect any big surprises though; as with all Bad Afro releases, this falls well within their usual standard classic/retro/garage rock spectrum. "Countdown to breakdown" psychs it up a bit at least, adding a few backing aahs, tasteful tremolo leads and a smattering of backwards guitar, all while dropping small hints of bad-trips to come. Like I said, totally solid.
Baby Woodrose - Countdown to breakdown
I haven't been posting much new music lately, but it's not as if doesn't keep piling up. I keep waiting for the market correction that will stop all the hundreds and thousands of wannabees from sending me their tunes, but at this point I've lost faith that it's really gonna happen. Not that I have much reason to complain though; it's just that so much of what I get is so uninteresting, if not flat-out boring. At least if it was awful I'd feel compelled to write about it, but it's hard to feel motivated when there's no inspiration. Yes, I do plan on running down all the crap in my inbox eventually (or most of it anyway), but I'm trying to be posi this week, so I'm gonna try to stick with stuff I actually like.
Gösta Berlings Saga are a straight-up/no fooling around instrumental progressive rock act. They've got loads of intricate, mathy riffs, but they're also clearly influenced by classic Swedish Progg in terms of mood and texture. For me, "Sorterargatan 3" is the highlight of their new record "Detta har hänt" -- it starts off slow and builds, builds builds into quite a stomper. I especially enjoy the digressions into Snakefinger-esque atonality that function as breaks between the main chunky rhythm of the song. It's a fairly simple part at its core, monotonal and steady, but they play around with it quite a bit by adding and subtracting layers and changing up the underlying accents. They're not afraid to show off their chops either, but no one ever takes enough of a lead to showboat. When a prog band sounds like this, like a single unit, I'm all about it. Even better that they're able to employ various subtle melodies and themes as they go along. Needless to say, very well done.
Gösta Berlings Saga - Sorterargatan 3
This is the single that Erik de Vahl previously released via Service Coop and has since re-released on his new 2x3" CDR collection "Scattered vacations/As I am beating". Billed as containing both his best pop songs and some of his most experimental works, it's an incredibly satisfying piece of work and I'd say that his description does it justice. "Got it all" definitely heads more towards the pop direction, no doubt, but it's also much more interesting than most typical guy-with-guitar type artists. He is nothing of sort, though that is indeed the foundation of this particular song. It builds into something different very quickly by piling on layers of delay, subtle backing vocals and other accompaniments. I realize now that Viktor Sjöberg was 100% on-point when he called him "sonically restless," there's no better way to describe this. The physical package is interesting too; the 4-panel fold-out that houses the discs reveals an image not at all like you'd expect, but one that fits perfectly with the mood. But I will say no more -- visit his page and click on the hi-res link to see for yourself. Also worth noting: this release was mastered by Daniel Lissvik of Studio. I say that not because they sound alike, but they are complimentary. There's much more to the music of Göteborg than Balearic pop.
Erik de Vahl - Got it all
Grande Roses weren't kidding when they said it might take them another 2.5 years to follow up their debut EP. Lo and behold, here we are exactly that much time later and their sophomore EP "The farm" is finally ready. And again, true to their word, the songs are a touch slower but still full of the same punkrock vigor that made the first record so good. Unsurprisingly, the more varied tempos suits the band well and makes for a much more satisfying listen overall -- just listen to "I don't wanna get back on that horse again" and you'll see what I mean. Most country-rock bores the heck out of me, even the much-revered Gram Parsons (good songs, poor execution -- I'll take the cover versions, thank you), but this is just right. A little bit of jangle, some quality picking and a whole lotta heart. Now I just gotta know: how long until we get an album? 4 years? 5? What's it gonna be?
Grande Roses - I don't wanna get back on that horse again
I was gonna maybe post an older mp3 today, but then this showed up in the mail and I knew I had to change my plans. Seriously, the album is called "Stonerized" and the first track is "Alcoholic deathride" and that's really all you need to know to understand that it totally rules. Seriously, how could it not? This is proper music for a Friday afternoon.
Ponamero Sundown - Alcoholic deathride
This is what I'm dealing with here folks. Straight up, not okay.
Britta Persson - Bummer summer (feat. Kristofer Åström)
We're having a heatwave over here in the Pacific Northwest and today is supposed to be the peak. I have no idea how bad it's gonna get, but I do know that the thermometer in my kitchen window made it up to 107°F/42°C yesterday afternoon and I'm not looking forward to topping it. No AC, no relief, almost no music sounds good except a few things. I lucked into a fine (but small) selection of soul LPs at an estate sale this past weekend and have been spinning them regularly and I'm getting ready to bust out a Trojan Records reggae box, but I also have to give it up for Ison & Fille because they've delivered not one, but two quality summer jams this year. "Jag skratter idag" is the more upbeat of the two, but today's mp3 selection "Ikväll är vi kungar" ("Tonight we are kings") is far more fitting for chilling hard in the shade with a beer and a bbq. And that's what I'm going to do right now. No way am I spending my day sweating in front of the computer.
Ison & Fille - Ikväll är vi kungar