Not all black metal has to be restricted to bedroom recordings and isolated woods.
Believe in No Coming Shores by the Northeast gods of metal, Falls of Rauros has been a long time coming. Recorded between 2012 and 2013, these 10 tracks make a brutal black metal ice storm of an album that, like Butcher Boy's Rhubarb single, has been crafted from hours and hours of practice and ear-shattering shows. If you like both powerful and woods-inspired atmospheric metal, this is not an album to sleep on.
Listening to Falls of Rauros online is not the same as listening to them up close and personal. I'm not saying these recordings aren't amazing, because they truly are, I'm saying that this is music meant to be lived - meant to be witnessed. Yes, I bet Believe in No Coming Shores sounds even more amazing on vinyl and you should definitely pick it up if you ever see it in your local record store (wink, wink), but to get the full experience of Falls of Rauros is to actually see these guys perform. I'm not an expert at anything really, but I have gone to quite a few shows in my short time here on earth and I have never heard a band play my ears off the way Falls do. These dudes know how to play loud and passionate walls upon walls of metal, trust me.
P.S. The shredding in Spectral Eye will make any big guy in a leather jacket weep - NFT guarantee.
As I begin to make my year-end lists (a favorite pass-time of mine), I always end up finding a lot of cool stuff that I either forgot about throughout the year or just completely missed my chance to post them. So, instead of just forgetting about them again, I call them honorly mentions (a play on yearly and honorable I guess) and share 'em like this:
Pink Richard is the side project of Jesse Gertz of the Portland electronic (now three-piece) band, Leveret. It's not too much of a stray away from the indie pop gems on Infinity released in 2012, but these stripped down acoustic visions are definitely a separate entity. A little folky, a little poppy, a little singer songwriter-y - a little Pink Richard.
There's a neat drum solo somewhere in there, too:
P.S. If you buy this (very snazzy looking) tape you get 7 separate mp3's rather than the streamable one track deal above.
After hearing Rosetta's 2013 release, The Anaesthete, I thought we would be getting a lot more hardcore and even less atmosphere on their next effort. Then Rosetta released Flies to Flame last month and my predictions were all off. No, they didn't go full post rock or anything, but they brought back the atmospheric undertones that was the hooked that fished me in several years ago. Plus, this release still has the intensity that The Anaesthete was bursting at the seams with, but it's spread out again and takes its time getting there. It's vintage Rosetta.
I'm not saying I didn't like The Anaesthete, it was one of my top albums of last year for sure, but it's almost non-canon Rosetta once you start to listen to this EP.
It's all apples and oranges in the end, and it's all good.
Bearmace are a noisy almost violent punk rock band from Montreal. The lo-fi recordings of Aim Low, released at the very beginning of 2014, really echoes the recordings of early hardcore and powerviolence. Don't let Bearmace's retro approach fool you though, this is apparently meant to be played on vinyl.
Maybe I'm just out of touch, but this sure sounds like something I would find on cassette in my friend's cooler-older-brother's room when I was 13. Too bad that scenario never existed...
Thou play thick doomed-out metal that demands attention. Heathen is no different. Not only is this 10 track banger a major pain on my neck, it also demands me to sit down and listen to it over and over again or else I have not listened correctly. With that being said, I think Thou's Heathen has incredible listening mileage and will be an album I try to listen to a lot in 2015. It's certainly not a one listen and it's in the bag kind of album, especially not with an incredibly brutal 14 minute opener begging to be familiarized. This kicks my ass the more and more I listen to it.
When an album starts with an emotional Jason Segel as Eric from Undeclared sample, you know that you at least have to give this a try. It's definitely something you'll regret that you never put on a mixtape for your ex-girlfriend in high school.
This is Free Throw's second release, entitled, Lavender Town, yes just like that town in Pokemon Red that drove you into a deep depression as a child. The album's pretty much right where their self titled left off except instead of Boy Meets World samples we get Undeclared samples. That being said, this is a hell of a growing up album by a growing up band. You might think you are done growing up, but that's not the case... no one ever grows up.
Free Throw recently signed to Count Your Lucky Stars and Lavender Town is now physically available for pre-order with some new artwork and either choice of black or piss yellow vinyl. Check it out!
Hannibal Montana are a cleverly named instrumental math rock band from New York. Off the ways, dim-lit room filling the atmosphere with spiraling guitars, and structure kicked out the door is the best way I can describe the sounds Hannibal Montana make. Very reminiscent of Zefs Chasing Cara, Battles, Time Columns, Antarctic, and The Bulletproof Tiger.
Slint are back if you may or may not have heard and they return baring gifts as the new documentary about how awesome they are was made in their honor of awesomeness. If are around the Portland, Maine area tonight at 7:30, you should definitely stop by the Space Gallery on Congress Street and check out the documentary followed by a Q & A with the filmmaker, Lance Bangs. I was pretty bummed that I couldn't make it to this event, until Slint also announced a reunion tour starting the day I get out from finals. It's not too often that I get to leave Maine for a sweet show, but that's what is happening May 29th when I go down to Boston to these guys play the awesomeness out of their instruments live and in concert.
Swaath is a slow-brewing doom-y mess from the mean streets of Portland, Maine.
Seriously though, Swaath play some nice waves of riffs with the echoing vocals and all that good sludge stuff. I saw Swaath the other night with Sylvia (a chaotic metal outfit filled with ex-members of some legendary Maine metal band, Ocean) and a new metal act (featuring members of Shabti, Hessian, and Paige Turner), Eastern Spell, and these Swaath punks have a real knack for making some dastardly delicious music. Folks may not have been bouncing off the walls like they were for Sylvia, but necks were definitely snapping to these guys and their haunting doom music.
Swaath are currently on a New England tour right now until the 12th.
This tape by Swaath is also half of a split with Maine's bass/cello/drums all chick all doom band, Correspondences.
Correspondences, who I may or may not have mentioned here before, are a very interesting treat no doubt about it. They have traded in traditional electric guitars for a cello to give their music/set a much more atmospheric, yet spiraling-into-the-pits-of-despair feel that is both fun to watch and fun to hear. Correspondences are a must-see for any local music fan around dees pahts.
Hopefully Correspondences are playing some shows in 2013. For 2012, they not only opened for Dead Dog at a "Pussy Riot Legal Defense" show but also opened for Thee Silver Mt. Zion this summer with Awaas which was top-notch stuff.
This intense cover of two songs originally by Mogwai from their album, 'Come On Die Young' comes from Deafheaven's 12'' split with Bosse-de-Nage. While the "Punk Rock" (the intro), and "Cody" are two different tracks on Mogwai's 2006 release, Deafheaven has combined them into one big post black post metal post rock track.
Deafheaven also mix things up with their choice of a spoken word sample for "Punk Rock". While Mogwai's original featured Iggy Pop discussing punk rock no less, Deafheaven's rendition features the words of William Faulkner (talking about fear I'm guessing) followed by some atmospheric black metal piano!
Take a listen:
Be sure to also check out Bosse-de-Nage's side of the split as well.
...and Mogwai's tracks "Punk Rock" and "Cody" if you haven't heard them before:
Both Deafheaven and Bosse-de-Nage are from the "Bay Area" (San Francisco, California). They both play a unique blend of black metal without being from Norway or looking the part. Some like to call that hipster black metal.
I could care less what they wear or where they're from...
6 Degrees, hailing from the great Mother Russia, provide a beautifully gray scene of post rock/metal and sludge that is sometimes dabbed with peoples' voices concerned about global warming. Like I said, perfect storm music. Errrr, minus the perfect storm part.
These two albums (I &II) only hold three tracks each. From "Fifth Degree" to "Sixth Degree". Most tracks are over 7 minutes (lots of 10 minuters) like any post metal piece should be, but I suggest listening to them as one big long track if you have the time.
In all seriousness though about this storm, even though I wasn't hit with anything more than a bit of zealous wind, other places like New Jersey took Sandy head-on and unfortunately, some parts are pretty much underwater. As metal as that might sound even without the mention of the sharks, that brutally stinks. Just something to keep in mind when you are whining about how wimpy this storm was and how hype-happy the media got. Storms suck whether they are the biggest in years or not.
Man oh man, if you haven't read any of my previous rants about KYOTY yet, you best start doing so now! KYOTY (Keep Your Opinions To Yourself) are a post metal juggernaut from New Hampshire. They play some of the heaviest and just flat-out intense shows around (if you live in the New England area)! Wall after wall of sound and shear man-power, right here.
This split only has one track by KYOTY but it is one of their best; and one of their newest. No matter how loud you play this song, it will never capture the sound and intensity of hearing and witnessing it live.
The track is called, "Taking the Red Blood for Granted... Oh, How We Walk On Green Grass".
To further prove KYOTY's awesomeness, these guys played a show last month at Castle in the Clouds in New Hampshire. I'm not sure how the show went, but they played in the courtyard of a castle on top of a mountain during a car show! If that's not metal as fucking metal itself... then I don't know what is.
Host is also from New Hampshire. They also play some dark and intense music, but in the form of hardcore. I have yet to see Host play their music in front of my face, but I'm guessing it would be pretty hardcore.
Host bring 3 tracks to this split. They are titled, I, II, and III on Hydrogen Man Records's bandcamp, but are listed as "I Tarry", "Keep Your Opinions To Yourself", and "On Drowning", on their bandcamp.
P.S. KYOTY will be playing at Genos in Portland, Maine this weekend. I'll be home from school and in the Portland area, but unfortunately am not 21 yet... Shit happens. Go to this if you are 21+. You lucky bastards. I mean it! DO IT!
But seriously, this new EP by the Windy City post metal militia, Pelican, is equally a new experience for them as it is for us. With the album's conception in multiply different studios and times as well as new sounds in the body of their work like laid back instrumentation and even acoustic guitar (not a first, however*), Pelican created a fresh little album for us while experimenting with new ways of working and making music for themselves. For that I thank them. Post metal, post rock or instrumental music can be a very daunting thing at times - especially today when there is a thousand different ( and I use that word loosely) bands that can play a heavy riff over and over again without a singer anywhere insight - so, yeah, it's always nice to hear something new and interesting from such a band that could just pull out days and days of sludgy, walls of sound, metal. There's nothing wrong with that but it's even better that they challenged themselves to try new things (that totally don't suck) and progress. The use off acoustic instruments and taking a step back from the heaviness may have been done in previous works of theirs before but it is still very interesting to hear it as a much more focused element than just a slight interlude of album break. The boys in Pelican are definitely doing nothing but good as a band right now and I look forward to hearing what they have for us next.
*Other acoustic oriented Pelican tracks I can of right now would be, "Wind With Hands" from City of Echoes (2007), the untitled track from Fire In Our throats Will Beckon the Thaw (2005), and the untitled track from Australasia (2003) which is one of my favorite Pelican tracks as well as one of my favorite songs featuring the majestic singing saw. All these tracks are really damn good and probably the reason I find this EP more interesting the must of Pelican's last album.
PS: This mug will hopefully be posting a MONDAY XXXXX soon and it will be read as XXXXX x2 or something stupid like that as I missed it this week and owe it to myself and all of the internet world to get it out there and with much more as it's the big five-o and such. I had sort of the ability to squeeze a Monday post out this Monday but honestly I don't have a lot of material right now and it wouldn't feel right. Sometimes squeezing and not feeling right just means you are doing it wrong...
Also, this blog is a whole year old. Yeah! so much for a big post, whatever. Next year will have to do. here's to being a year old! OOH-RAH!
PSS: Pelican Post Motel is a motel in Bradenton Beach, Florida. It's rated 2 stars on Kayak.com.
An oldie by one of the best in the "screamo" business. These french lads are the reason I listen to some of the things I do now. Do yourself a favor and listen to these guys if you don't already now! For your health!
It's been a week since I spilled my iced tea on my laptop keyboard causing it to short circuit and go into a momentary laptop coma. The laptop finally came to the next day but the keyboard itself thinks it is in alt/Option mode... which means without this being typed out in google translator, everything looks like this: Òˆ´ ˇÓˆÍ ÂŘ˝¯ ˆˇ ‰´ÅÒÒÁ ‰´ÅÒÒÁ ͨÇÍ Å˜Î ˆÍ ∏ˆÍ͈˜˝ ´ ‰ˆ˝Óˇ ØÏÏ
I hope to have everything back in order this week, especially with August coming up and this blog's 1 year anniversary. Until I fully figure out all the bugs and kinks though, please excuse the appearance of my latest posts. I also hope to edit last week's Monday post back into its correct form that I had originally planned it to be in. Please and thank you ~ New Keith
With the rain finally clearing for one second in my neck of the woods and finals on the horizon, it really only hit me today that summer vacation is almost here. For the lucky ones reading who are already on vacation or do not have anything holding them down from enjoying the hopefully warm and end-of-spring-here-we-go-summer days ahead, this is definitely something you want to check out and listen to while I sit in a classroom filled with a bunch of people I've had to deal with since elementary school, some even from kindergarden, and finish my very last high school final. Ever. And while this might not be of any concern or care to you, I thought I would throw that out there.
To the subject at hand....
Adam & Naive, the band from NY and its music, is something. What that something is I can only describe using words and phrases like: summer, friends, funky, chill-maxing, fucking, warm, sun, Capri Sun pouches, pool parties, campfires on the beach, pizza, and stuff. I could probably take all these words and expressions and make a comprehensible well-written and well-thought-out thesis or music-to-word analysis to go along with Adam & Naive and their 2010 sunburst of an album, "Every Starry Night", a piece of work that could easily be a top contender for my summer '11 soundtrack, but I would rather just say those words. That's just how Adam & Naive's music is for me.
Feelings. Woah, deep.
Along with capturing a whole season in one album some how, "Every Starry Night" truly has a lot to offer. Whether it's the fact that it sounds just like the album cover or that someone bumped up the bass on the recording to give it a subtle math rock-ish feel while not actually being math rock, emo, or twinkly at all. The drumming is super fun-sounding is probably what I'm really trying to say, I guess, I don't know... I just like the way it sounds is all. I like the way it all sounds. It all sounds super fun. It is all super fun. Ahhhhhhhhh
To see and hear just who these fine gentlemen are, they do have goofy little documentary from 2007 that looks like someone's video production class final project (ironically, that is a final I will be doing very soon). It is however, a good look at who is in the band and just the kind of folks we are dealing with. The documentary is 5 or so years old, so I'm guessing they have grown up a bit more then when this masterpiece was conceived. For what it's worth though, These guys still played cooler music back then than any of the bands I played in at that age. Scratch that... any band I have ever played in.
Even if their favorite artists were Picasso, Nelly, Nelly Furtado, or Click Five.
All their music is free off Practice Room Records. A record/collective started by the band to sponsor and release their work as Adam & Naive along with all the other projects they are in. There's also a video of the A&N gang a little older talking about this release up there on PRR's /Adam & Naive/ page. It features some mad pizza tricks! Check it out!
Similar acts/sounds: Animal Collective, Palmkite, Chalk Talk, Deer Leap, The World is a Beautiful Place & I am No Longer Afraid to Die, penpal, Trestin Eeling, City Museum, Glass Frog and other Practice Room acts.
Appendix Out (or Appendix: Out) was a one-time moniker and band lead by the scottish folk singer-songwriter, Alasdair Roberts. Some may know him by his solo career or that he is the other guy from Amalgamated Sons of Rest along with indie folk superstars, Jason Molina (Songs: Ohia, etc.) and Will Oldham (Palace Music/Brothers/Songs, Bonnie Billy, etc.) or maybe you know Appendix Out, that's cool too. Well anyways, Appendix Out lasted from about 1994 to 2001 and in that time of releasing a few EPs and full-lengthers, the band also released a limited edition CD called 'Travels in Constants Vol. 13' (right around the end of their tenure as a band) which is the name of the now defunct recording collection series by Temporary Residence records that was essentially a big studio release version of Peel Sessions or like the In the Fishtank series. In other words, it was just a cool little thing that Temporary Residence would do by inviting artists from and outside of their label to come and record some stuff. But enough about that, it's what is inside that matters here.
What is inside exactly, is perfect music for this season and/or the month of May in general. With Robert's scottish accent and laid-back folk landscape that is either accompanied by little sound collages or interrupted by spoken word and even the time and temp lady, there is so much to take from this album. I'm not even joking about the time and temp thing either; I swear the female voice in the song, "Daylight Saving, Gibson Room (Part Two)" says, "today is Tuesday... May...". Wait a minute... today is tuesday... and it's May... and this album's about the first day of May... and it's the first day of May...! It's crazy to believe, I know, but it's true. Honestly though, I have been trying to figure out this album out and its story it tells for some time now, especially the song, "Speech" about May 1st festivities that are either called 'melting day' or 'belting day'. I'm really not sure which one it is and if it is a real thing, but I find the speech itself very interesting, maybe even more so due to another scottish band, There Will Be Fireworks who have a very simular sample/speech in the hit song, "Columbian Fireworks". The speaker sounds exactly the same in both band's songs and even mentions festivities and kids getting excited. Yep, I'm going to leave it that way...
What I'm really trying to say here, is this: this album is perfect for May Day and this time of the season (or 'that time of the season' as I like to call it), it's full of fun little noises and samples, and has a nice spring time folk flare to it. I haven't even really listened to a lot of Appendix Out's stuff other than this and I'm not sure how I even came across it... All I know is that I have it and listen to it every May Day.
All jokes aside, check out the Travels In Constants releases. bands like Explosions in the Sky, Mono, Mogwai, Low, Jason Molina as Songs: Ohia, Papa M, and even Rumah Sakit have really sweet Travels In Constants releases.
Two Knights are a twinkly math rock two piecer from Texas. Along with their super addictive tapping and fun for everyone drumming, the singer/guitarist has some splendid singing chops that I personally think are begging to be heard. You might disagree, I don't know. Whatever, it's what makes them stand out amongst the rest of the emo/twinkle toes playing around these days.
The members of Two Knights are also in a screamo band with a member of Innards. They are called Father Figure and are pretty swell as well.
James Clayton himself tipped me off to his new album the other day and I couldn't have been more interested in hearing it (and more from him all together), especially since his last album was called, 'James Is Going To Die Soon'. Narcissist On The Verge OF A Nervous Breakdown is the name of the new release by James's moniker, Crywank and is very much a vehicle of coping with his sadness, hence the name - a play on the words of the expression 'tearjerker'. I'm not sure if I could ever say this release tops his last but that may in part be due to the number of short songs it holds. I have no problem with simple little songs, I just wish I could hear more out of them.
Soon after learning about Narcissist On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown, I found out about a little gem that James and his friend(s) recorded that not only features some early takes of tracks on Narcissist like "Thomas Saunders Lloyd Webber" and "Little Creepy" but also some silly covers and a goofy rendition of "Welcome To Castle Irwell" which is probably my favorite song by 'wank. The recordings I'm talking about are called, 'I Daren't Call This Stoner' and the genre of music is called "Gettin' blazed in Ric's Room". I can't say I condone such actions here but the results are pretty entertaining. It'll probably make its way on to NFT's Got You Covered some day. If I ever get my act together and stop forgetting to put up those posts.
Anyways, if you liked what you heard from Crywank last time I posted his work or even a little interested in this depressed singer-songwriter: download this one and give it a listen. It won't hurt and that's all he really wants anyways.
A couple weeks back I posted about a band called Terraformer who where from Belgium, played math rock instrumental music and featured members from the screamo band, Isaïah. Well, this is Isaïah. They rock hard and are pretty brutal. They're also pretty epic. There's some epic bits here and there on this release that lead to spoken word. Presumably french spoken word. It's pretty, well... pretty. Fucking intense pretty.
Though Isaïah is from Belgium, they do speak French (or at least write their stuff with French) and therefore I would still consider them 'French screamo'. I guess you could still call it Belgian screamo but who are we kidding... call it what it is: heavy-ass emotionally violent music!
I stumbled across this EP today while looking for things to post and remembered that I had forgotten about it. I forgot to remember that this was Rosetta's four track ambient noise piece that was released around the time of Wake/Lift. According to Wikipedia it is not meant to be synced up with its companion album despite what I have heard in the past. Either way though, Cleansing Undertones is still a really interesting listen and not just good for putting on right before bed to help you fall asleep. No, it actually has enough substance in it that you can actually sit down for a listen and it'll tell a story. What that story is... is up to you the listener.
Twelve minutes in we hear a male voice that comes in and out of the static that dares you to keep listening. Soon you start to wonder what will happen and where the music will take you. You try to hold on to the sound or that voice but it eventually dies out and all you are left with is a feeling of contentment and pressure. Once all noise has dissipated, the pressure is lifted. You are free.
You can also listen to The Cleansing Undertones of Wake/Lift in its interiority here on the youtubes.
The past couple of weeks I've been holding on to some really splendid finds that are too interesting to just ignore. To counter this and to post some stuff with no DLs, here's another friday streaming. On free friday no less...
Celebrations by Mental Architects is a post rock/math rock album that is simple but complex. It's nothing new by a long shot but still everything you would expect and want from such an album. Joseph Andreoli, the guitarist for Giraffes? Giraffes! plays on "When Sound Turns You Into A Person He Becomes One Of Us, a track that is currently free on their Bandcamp. Giraffes? Giraffes! actually posted this on their F-book page so that's how I found it. If they are touring together or anything like that, they should come on up here to Maine sometime. ;)
AWAAS (or Awaas) are a group made up of the now defunct Conifer and Ocean which I guess you could argue makes them a mini-super-group from Portland, Maine (since they come from two of the most important local bands in Maine's music history). I saw these gentleman back in december and asked them if they had any plans for releasing material. They informed me that they were sooner or later going to release a demo with the track "Burial Ground" on it. I also asked them which members were from Conifer and which were from Ocean but I now I forget. Anyways, this is the demo they told me about and it's pretty chill. You can really tell just from the first track that 'AWAAS' is more on the direction of the members past exist as Confier than it is the heavy and doom and groom metal onslaught of Ocean. The band does more to receptively pound a jamming riff or groove into your brain than cast you into the ring of hell where there's a lot of pitting. I also more recently saw another band made up of ex-members of Ocean and learned first heard that not only were these guys still raising hell but are still getting the tough kids excited as well. I'm totally not 100% behind AWAAS's vocal choices but it definitely makes more sense on this s/t EP then it did at the show when the lead singer was "sicker than a dog".
Enjoy this three song demo/EP and be sure to check in from time to time for anything else AWAAS related if you like what you hear.
If These Trees Could Talk have a new album out called Red Forest. It will probably be somewhere on here again on a best of the year end list or something but I'll just leave it here for now so I don't forget and don't have to wait until then.
Red Forest is by no means a departure from any of the other releases ITTCT has dropped, but like I've said before, if I want to listen to some post rock then I would turn to these guys... which I can now do even harder since there's a third album to choose from. By turning to ITTCT, I'm also getting the chance to a none run-of-the-mill post rock band but a band that plays post rock with depth, musically sound structures and fun-ass spiraling and storytelling guitar. I will also say that the track "They Speak With Knives" has to be my new favorite track for it's clever drum work that to me sounds a bit like Russian Circles' kind of stuff . I just wish it was "They WOULD Speak With Knives". That's what the trees would say.
Bad joke, I know.
It was also really cool to find this new release the day after my KYOTY/Boston adventure. It was a very post-whatever morning afternoon that day.
This is another (but slightly different) post rock/math rock band that has just released their debut full-length for the world to hear. And by the world, I mean: who ever is willing to listen. This is Time Columns' debut album, Mana and it is pretty neat.
I'd say as a rule, if any album starts out with the sounds of an ocean or a beach, I'm probably going to like it. Since this whole blog is really just a vehicle for me to express the things I love and obsesses over, and I'm not even talking about the music here, I think it is safe to say that Time Columns easily hit a soft spot for me when they decided to mix math rock (and all that other stuff) with the ocean. I wish the whole album had that sample of the beach that is in the opening track! I would eat that shit up like it was bread. Don't get me wrong, I'm going to talk about how cool and experimentally this album gets after getting over the 11 minute snoozer that is track 2 but first I have to make my love for such things very clear with all of you. You know, since this is the read New Keith getting excited about things that don't even really have anything to do with music show.
Anyways, that's enough of that. Mana starts with that unexpected beach math rock opener, turns a corner to a more straight forward post rock look at things, turns around again and throws a curve ball at you with a acoustic sounding loopy jam with a few "dings", follows that up with something we hadn't heard before from Times Columns which is them singing and it works out great and sounds acceptable especially since it's still full of lots twists and turns, and then ends with a nice little oriental math rock jingle (if I'm aloud to say that) with gongs and plucked strings that slowly builds into nothing... this is until... We hear the beach again!! But this time only for a few seconds until a acoustic guitar comes in and a group of people show up to the party you weren't invited to! Who are these people and why are they inaudibly talking over that beautiful sound of waves crashing into the shore while crickets chirp the night away?! This is Mana.
Oh well, it still sounds good to me and to be honest, the album does end with the water coming in and all the people going home.
Mana is definitely an all over the place kind of album. I wouldn't say that is really a bad thing, it's much more entertaining than a constant up and down post rock album and much much more entertaining than a down and out post rock album. I'd ask that people go check this album out and study it for themselves, it's got a lot of good in it. These guys might seem like cheaters for using all this looping and live instrument sampling, but this is 2012... look at what we can do with all that technology now. Look!
Mana is out now and can be found on their Bandcamp for 500 doll hairs.
I'm also very interested to know what Mana is about...
With all the craziness going on last week such as Paul Baribeau, Spraynard, Snoop Dogg and Obama in town, I didn't get to tell you all about my experiences last friday (3/23). It's a bit lengthy but it gets to the point I promise!
A while back I posted a killer post metal band from New Hampshire called KYOTY (Keep Your Opinions To Yourself). They only had a CD-R of a 14 minute long song called "Nine" at the time and I was patiently waiting to hear back about a possible full-length in the future. News got out about a month or so ago that they had finally finished a whole CD entitled Undiscovered Country Of Old Death And Strange Years In The Frightful Past. I was pretty pumped to hear of such good news until my friend asked me if I wanted to go to Boston with him to see them at their CD release party a few weeks later. Then I was mega pumped. I hadn't seen KYOTY since my first Rosetta show a year and a half ago and to not only see them play once again but to pick up their new release at their release party no less, well, that's the kind of thing I get excited about.
Fast forward to the week of the show and we learn the location is called The Dragon Cat's Den. No location or map is given to this venue in Boston however, presumably do to the respect of the space holders and their clandestinity. We (my friends and I) respected this and waited for further information (patience is a key theme in this story. Just keep reading). This information though, came in the form of an email we had to send to the people of the spot with a RSVP to the show, our name, and which band we were going to see. In return for this we learned the address and pseudo directions to the place called The Dragon Cat's Den. This was obviously an eventful start to our friday night.
And thus, let the mini road trip to Boston begin!
After getting a little lost on our way in and walking a few blocks on foot, we made it to the building with a few minutes to spare... so we thought. The show was scheduled to commence at 8PM like any good show should (unless you are Snoop Dogg maybe) but here's the thing, we got to the location, and there we walked up to a building that looked not only closed but abandoned. I'm used to things looking abandoned when it comes to shows so my friends and I went in anyways. Inside was a hallway leading to a shaft elevator and some flights of stairs of which we and everyone else at the show that night learned was seven flights of stairs. All part of the mystery of course, so we walked up the stairs to the only door that was open in the building. When we walked in - through a few more twists and turns for good measure - we came into a room with a very large but low to the ground stage and some couches. The only people there yet though, was us, the 'owners' and the bassist for KYOTY. Here in Maine, we are used to shows not getting started right away.. poster says 8PM: show might not start until 8:30. Things are different in Boston I guess because we watched as every band (All three of 'em) came in after shlepping their instruments up seven flights of stairs for a good two hours before the first band, Astronomer slowly got ready to set their instruments up on the stage made up of plywood and styrofoam (that's what it looked and felt like when you were on it, at least) and tune up.
So what was a 8PM show started at 10:30 and we didn't even see the band we came to see until about mid-night. So yeah, this was probably the slowest show I had ever been to; I've seen five bands set up, play and leave faster than the three bands that played that night at The Dragon Cat's Den! Was it worth it though? Absolutely it was worth it! In the time that I was there in Boston, I not only saw an amazing emotionally driven KYOTY show but a fire eater/dancer/flesher, The Fire Department Museum, three bands carrying their instruments up seven flights of stairs and even the mayor of Boston himself!
The KYOTY performance in itself may have been the highlight of the trip. One thing I remembered from seeing them a year or so back was that they are a play on the floor and right up next to you kind of band. That being said, they asked everybody to get on the stage and real close to them so they could shred some faces and display their intoxicating riffs to everyone up close and in personal. No smoke and mirrors.
I really enjoy that KYOTY seem to have as much fun as my friends while they play. Some folks in the crowd obviously weren't as excited as their guitarist that night and so they got a little surprise when he came hurling into them full force with his guitar. When bands make super fun and intense music like KYOTY do, I don't think they should have to hold back, and neither should the audience! I know some people that don't agree with that and they are stiffy stiffersons and only care about their image and not themselves. Loosen up punks! But hey, that's my opinion and I'm keeping it to myself.
The show was great, the experience was noteworthy (as you can see) and KYOTY killed it. Not only with their performance but also with the CD that they released that night and what my friends and I had intentionally gone for. A CD and a show to me is like a dinner and a movie at the same place if those places didn't suck! I'm really glad KYOTY has a full CD out now and so are they. Anyone who has ever been interested in instrumental, metal, post rock, riffs, heavy stuff or just straight-up good music in general should definitely check it out!
I wanted to call this post "KYOTY, Boston and Seven Flights of Stairs" but I noticed that someone else had beaten me to the punch with a release party review and I couldn't remember what they called theirs. I also knew I wasn't the only one to notice the lengthy time it took for bands to start playing. I don't blame any of the bands for this, mostly because I could tell Astronomer's guitarist of the first act was also getting very antsy to play , but I don't blame the nice people from The Dragon Cat's Den either. It was apparent that they hadn't put on a lot of shows yet and I really did enjoyed their clean and comfortable space they had up there on the seventh floor of some giant building in Boston.
Also: here's a look at the last track KYOTY played that night. They said they didn't know it too well but that didn't stop them from playing the hell out of it!
Recently, I decided I wanted to catch up on some fine literature. I didn't want to read something too long, so I decided on a short story. I ended up reading Frank Kafka's 1915 novella, The Metamorphosis. A story about a man who wakes up to find his life flip-turned upside down. One day after school, while he was playing himself a nice little game of basketball, a group of troubled kids from neighboring hoods began to give him shit. He tried to stay back but also felt he should stand up to these hoodlums and scruff them up a bit just to show them a lesson or two. Unfortunately his mama got scared good by this and had no choice but to send him to his auntie's and uncle's in the lovely affluent residential communtiy in the hills of the westside of the city of Los Angeles, California to teach him class and etiquette. While there he grew content with his new life and family. That is until one morning he wakes up and finds himself to be a big ass fucking insect and can no longer go about his days fending for his family. It is not too long after that his friend and partner, Kay, has to go in from the outside of him (that's right! He get's eaten!) and blasts him away like the slimy, ugly, parasite he had become.
I wanted to listen to something as I read this, so I put on the only thing that would make sense and that's Gregor Samsa! Come on! That's the name of the main character in The Metamorphosis! It works perfectly though with the story as it is that kind of post rock that can be kept on in the backward. It is very somber, dark, and beautiful with all it's rhodes piano, bowed electric basses, and sparse male and female vocals here and there. And you don't have to choice from other bands that play a similar sound of post rock as Gregor Samsa do like Ef, The Ascent of Everest, Joy Wants Eternity, Bark Psychosis or Immanu El because their name is Gregor Samsa! It's as simple as that.
I really wanted to focus my attention on the Martin Smith memorial post last week therefore, I really did not get a chance to post anything Christmasy or wintery. So this one goes out to all the bad boys and girls out there. Merry Chrimbus!
This little EP only features two songs but both are very much christmas type holiday songs. One is a very merry La Dispute version of Twas the Night Before Christmas and the other is a song listed as First Snow In Silent Grand Rapids. The tracks were included as part of a limited winter tour edition of Hear, Here II.
With tracks like Ashes In The Snow, Pure As Snow (Trails of the Winter Storm), Follow The Map and Everlasting Light, this album has become one of my favorites during the winter season. It's chill, soothing yet cold, and very much perfect for the slow and lazy sundays here in these few months of cold as balls time. Especially in Maine.
Every track has a little story that goes along with it and is included in the album itself as a short story. I have not read it, but rather, tried to develop my own little story behind the music and imagery for which I interpret and feel.
Weltschmerz is very much a winter album. It features some pretty cold samples of mountain men, slow avalanches of building post rock and brutal season's beatings of aggression and passion. My favorite of the post-rock screamo blend bands and I mostly only listen to them during the winter season because it just clicks more... It makes sense. Go all Bon Iver and find yourself a cabin in Alaska but only listen to this. Bon Iver didn't do that. That would be cool though. Hah. Cool.
In a post rock/atmospheric/stormy but not ambient/slow/boring mood today.
A Silver Mt. Zion - He Has Left Us Alone But Shafts of Light Sometimes Grace the Corners of Our Rooms (2000)
Efrim Menuck and the gang playing sweet songs for his dead dog, Wanda. All the string and beauty you'd expect from GY!BE minus ten or so minutes on each track and a few less folks kicking around, including Moya. There's also a lot of nice piano! Great post rock from Constellation Records and Hotel2Tango, obviously.
This is their debut album. At the time they went by A Silver Mt. Zion and later adapted into Thee Silver Mt. Zion, plus Memorial Orchestra & Memorial Band, plus choir, and Thee Silver Mountain Reveries (depending on members or release). They currently go by just Thee Silver Mt. Zion but usually change it yearly or whatever. Sorry to go all Wikipedia on you but that used to confused the living hell at me. The name changing is probably the reason I haven't truly gotten in the band until now.
Also, The song "Movie (Never Made)" is a nice little look in to the future as it featured Efrim singing for one of the first time... Something he would do prominently (and on every track) on the band's fourth album, Horses in the Sky (2005).
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