Your friend and mine, Vivek Shraya is releasing “If We’re Not Talking” as a single from his album of the same name, with some producers gently mutating the song into some banging club mixes. They might start off slow, but they evolve into the kind of dance songs you might expect a kaleidoscopic montage to go with.
Vivek Shraya – If We’re Not Talking
Vivek Shraya – If We’re Not Talking (Ben Mono Mix)
Vivek Shraya – If We’re Not Talking (Rodian Remix)
Computerization a.k.a. Derek is a one man band from Brooklyn akin to the likes of Figurine. This comparison is particularly strong on “1Point14Me” where the artist’s friend Ashley does a fantastic job of imitating Meredith Figurine. The rest of the self-titled album realizes just how low-fi an electronica project can be. Aside from the opening track there is no vocoder within earshot, instead there’s an off kilter warbling whisper of sometimes too intimate lyrics. Some songs come out as straight up awkward like “MyBody” which sounds like a rejected carnie’s struggle with narcissism or “Fukuwinicu” which you can decipher by looking at for a little while. It’s not as eccentric and self indulgent as early Panther and Treasure Mammal releases, if you can get past the voice, there’s some nice melodies and analog keyboard sounds. That opening track is particularly sweet. Check it out.
Tin Can Telephone is a band/project out of London, UK they create catchy little guitar tunes with plenty of hand percussion. You can download more songs at their Myspace.
I’ve known about HEALTH for a while now and that their music is pretty raw and edgy, but outside of their remixes I’d not heard that much of them. Recently I listened to both their original album and their HEALTH//DISCO albums and I have to say that while the original album is certainly interesting and has a cool groove occasionally I much prefer the remix CD. It seems that with punk and electro trying to find new ways of merging organically, the Health songs are perfect for attaching those electro beats and synths to. Seeing as it doesn’t get much more raw or punky than Health.
Health – Triceratops (CFCF Remix)
Some nice goth grooves and 80′s video game solos sure to excite any nu-rave fan.
I was fortunate enough to have received a message from Kyle the leader of the Secret Life of Sopfia, who found my page through playing with A Faulty Chromosome and looking up what blogs had written about them. He was also kind enough to compliment my cartoons, which you should also check out.
The Secret Life of Sofia is an indie band from Brooklyn, NY. The lead singer sounds like the best possible medium between Casiotone for the Painfully Alone and Coldplay in that it both soars ala Coldplay and hits with a palpable gravity ala Casiotone. The vocal harmonies fade in and out like celestial choirs and the guitars pluck and chime in a way that is melodically sublime. They’re not just easy listening alternative folk though, they’ve got some great beats and almost shoegaze like guitar effects on some tracks. Get motivated to enjoy a beautiful spring day by sampling their song “Outside”, it’s definitely worth checking out.
My appreciation for the Notwist stems out of my quest during my freshman year of college to find as many artists that were comparable to the Postal Service as possible. You might say that that quest continues to this day. Anyway, along the course of this quest I found such artists as Styrofoam, Lali Puna, Ms. John Soda, Console, and of course the Notwist. I remember being compelled to purchase their album “Neon Golden” along with a copy of The Faint’s “Wet From Birth” when I found it in a
For me, it doesn’t seem like that long since the Notwist released an album because I discovered them in 2004, and their co-album with Themselves under the name “13 + God” was released in 2005. Also the same time I’m reviewing their new album “The Devil, You + Me” I am also listening to their earlier records “12” and “Shrink” which are also excellent. You wouldn’t think it, but The Notwist were forged in the fires of metal and grunge in the late 80’s. Their early work is especially interesting for singer Marcus Acher’s gentle croons bumping against waves of guitar rock riffery.
The new album “The Devil, You + Me” at times hearkens back to that guitar driven sound, like on album opener “Good Lies” and “Alphabet”, but the distinct electro-symphonic style of Neon Golden is more prevalent here, and expanded upon. It’s hard to pick favorites at this point, but the tracks that are really speaking to me are “Boneless” and “Gone Gone Gone”. Overall, this is the experimental German band’s most fluid release to date, there are some glitchy adventures to be had here, but the best the album has to offer are the smooth melodic numbers enhanced by acoustic guitar and violin and of course Marcus Acher’s gentle voice imbibing us with pensive optimism. With each release the band gains more depth and produces new and interesting sounds, I’ve only listened to the new album a few times, but I think it’s their most satisfying and fluid release to date.
The Notwist – One With The Freaks (Neon Golden)
Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails has released a new album hot on the heels of his instrumental anthology “Ghosts”. I’d heard something about the instrumental album and listened to a few tracks, but an over saturation of meandering instrumentals led me to not listen to the albums as a whole yet, and I like ambient industrial music. So when I heard that he was releasing a new album for free I had to check out this more digestible bit of free music. It seems that ever since Radiohead released “In Rainbows” for free, Trent has not only aggressively adopted this new music business plan, he has aggressively pursued new avenues and ways to push it’s envelope. Now he has released Saul William’s “The Rise and Fall of Niggy Tardust”, NIN’s “Ghosts” and now NIN’s “The Slip” all for free. Out of all these releases it is certain that “The Slip” will be getting the most listens with it’s short running time and sound that will be familiar to both new and old NIN fans.
It doesn’t seem like that long ago that we got a new Nine Inch Nails album, and by new album I mean an album with a complete collection of songs with lyrics that have a discernible emotional arc so this excludes “Ghosts”, maybe because in the past they’ve taken so long to produce. In more recent times, like with the Albums “With Teeth” and “Year Zero” it’s only taken a year or two to get a new release out. In this case it’s only been one year. I remember when “In Teeth” came out, I thought that he was moving in a much better direction than he had been in years. I was one of the people in the 90′s who liked “Pretty Hate Machine” but didn’t care much for his following releases. I didn’t much go for his adolescent swearing lyrics. His beats and production style? Yes I enjoyed that very much, but even as a high schooler I was embarrassed to be associated with Nine Inch Nails because of lines like “I want to fuck you like an animal” and the commonly pimply, sweaty, vinyl trench coat wearing constituents of Mr. Reznor that took his songs as something more than songs, or rather a bizzare creed to live their B.O. filled lives by.
In “With Teeth”, some of his lyrics gave way to the simplicity of his song structure and lyrics. Particularly in “Only” when he discusses how he can “See right through himself”, and he criticizes who he is and where his place is, he soon abdicates this fascinating new perspective for familiar swearing and shouting, but at least he does it over a nice bass groove and Talking Heads beat. Year Zero, for me, was the most complete return to form that Nine Inch Nails has seen since the late 80′s. I think the concept of the album helped Trent focus on all aspects of the release resulting in the most fully formed set of songs since “Pretty Hate Machine”. Songs like “God Given” and “Capital G” returned to a song style that was as dance-able as it was stomp-able. Another noticeable step forward was the song “In This Twilight” that sounded remarkably optimistic. Overall, the album had me defending the merits of NIN’s legacy more than ever.
The standout element for me in the new album is the low-fi studio tricks that mangle guitar, bass, keyboards and vocals like never before. Sometimes in a way that recalls only static, and other times a voice is so vocoded that it brings to mind some idealized pop ideal. While all the songs feature this, perhaps the best example is the album closer “Demon Seed” that realizes Trent Reznor literally reaching deep into his bag of tricks and throwing them all at us. Deep bass grooves, propulsive drumming, menacing vocals kept at a whisper, analog keyboards and pianos hum and plunk, restless guitars strum until a curious calm envelopes the song. Then all those aforementioned elements start launching themselves through digital distortion for an apocalyptic conclusion capped off with some strings and an abrupt end.
“The Slip” is undoubtedly the product of inspiration from no longer having to be a slave to the record companies (Interscope). Overall it feels less like a complete album and more like the best of the experiments and songs he’s made in the past year. Or leftover beats and ideas from other albums reconfigured into a more menacing commercially viable beast. I say more commercially viable, because I feel like there’s much of a return to the 90′s style sound, the propulsive drumming of early releases is back along with the analog thumps of deftly programmed drum machines along with the formation of largely coherent lyrics. Therefore pleasing his loyal longtime fan base, as well as people like me that he’s attracted in the wake of his latest more enjoyable releases. It may not be a project as polished as “Year Zero” but the result is something that I feel will only make the NIN brand stronger in the coming years. The fact that people can get it for free only strengthens that fact.
Nine Inch Nails – Discipline
Nine Inch Nails – Demon Seed
Nine Inch Nails Official Slip Website
Well, it’s about time! The Faint announced that their 5th studio album will be released August 5th not on Saddle Creek, but on their own label Blank.wav. Pretty exciting. Likewise, Conor Oberst is releasing his next album on Merge records under his own name. Times they are a changin’.
Here’s what their press statement said:
“Fasciinatiion is an album that draws on many defining facets of The Faint’s sound, while remaining completely different from anything else they’ve put out. A record whose themes include predictions and the future, tabloid culture, the allure of what may never be, childhood lost and more, Fasciinatiion sounds as if it’s been beamed in from a satellite whose sole purpose is observing, and making sense of, the details of every day existence. In certain ways, the album is the most mechanical and precise of the band’s work: Todd’s voice sounds less human than ever before; the bass lines are more mangled, keyboards spiral and squeal out of control; electronic pings and stabs invade the melodies; the lyrical anxiety and disdain of previous albums pervades almost every song on Fasciinatiion. Opener “Get Seduced” is The Faint at their best, the song’s critique of celebrity culture matched with one of the finest choruses they’ve ever written. First single “The Geeks Were Right” draws on the tenets of futurist literature and sliding, siren-call guitars. “Fulcrum and Lever” marries ambient noise with space references, alienation and a stuttering, flexing beat, while “Mirror Error” explores identity and consciousness within its perfect, propulsive electro-pop, its choruses swirling high and taking Todd’s voice up with it. Closer “A Battle Hymn for Children” flinches with nervous rhythms against resentment of the future to be inherited and keyboards that sound like flailing voices (or is it flailing voices that sound like keyboards? On Fasciinatiion, one can never tell).”
Album Tracklisting:
1. Get Seduced
2. The Geeks Were Right
3. Machine in the Ghost
4. Fulcrum and Lever
5. Psycho
6. Mirror Error
7. I Treat You Wrong
8. Forever Growing Centipedes
9. Fish in a Womb
10. A Battle Hymn for Children
Their upcoming tour schedule:
The Faint – 2008 Tour Dates
7/27 – Des Moines, IA @ Peoples Court
7/28 – Sioux Falls, SD @ Ramkota Annex
7/29 – Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre
7/30 – Salt Lake City, UT @ In the Venue
7/31 – Boise, ID @ Big Easy Boise
8/1 – Vancouver, BC @ Commodore
8/2 – Seattle, WA @ Showbox at the Market
8/3 – Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom
8/4 – San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore
8/5 – San Francisco, CA @ Grand Ballroom
8/7 – Los Angeles, CA @ Henry Fonda Theatre
8/8 – Los Angeles, CA @ Henry Fonda Theatre
8/9 – San Diego, CA @ Soma
8/11 – Austin, TX @ La Zona Rosa
8/12 – Dallas, TX @ Palladium
8/14 – Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse
8/15 – Carrboro, NC @ Cats Cradle
8/16 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
8/17 – Philadelphia, PA @ Trocadero
8/18 – New York, NY @ Terminal 5
8/20 – Worcester, MA @ Palladium
8/21 – Toronto, ON @ Opera House
8/22 – Chicago, IL @ Vic Theatre
8/23 – Omaha, NE @ Soko Auditorium
Goose + Steve Aoki – Bring It On Ft. Todd Fink of the Faint
Here it is, the final installment of Wesley the Robot for this season. It’s been a good run this season and he might pop up somewhere this summer, who knows! Again I apologize for not posting a whole lot, finals and papers routinely kick my ass. After this Thursday I promise to start posting regularly again, I have so many bands to review. This summer is going to be awesome. Like usual here are some songs that I’ve been enjoying.
Flight of the Conchords – Inner City Pressure
Nine Inch Nails – Discipline
Sportsday Megaphone – Young Lust
Black Moth Super Rainbow – Rollerdisco
Jackson Jones – I Feel Good, Put Your Pants On
Mouse on Mars – Mine is In Yours
Dub Pistols – Rapture (Blondie Cover)
A Faulty Chromosome – Bad Thing
Usually I am not one for pretty boy/guitarist/songwriters, or let me put it this way; in my opinion Dave Mathews Band and Jack Johnson belong in a purgatory equal to that of their middle of the road jam band meanderings. Now that that’s off my chest let me just state that Findlay Brown is an amazing musician and songwriter who just happens to be a young man who plays the acoustic guitar. His music taps into the same vein as Jose Gonzales with thoughtful delivery and some careful experimentation with timeless pop. I have a feeling he could sing me the phone book and I would end up singing numbers walking to class. If you’re looking for acoustic guitar music with actual substance versus a lure for that drunken sorority girl to go to your room, Findlay Brown delivers.
Findlay Brown – But You Love Me
Powered by WordPress
