Happy New Year's Eve

Make sure you go right to bed after that ball drops or else the new year won't come and deliver you all those new year presents you've asking for!

The Best Boys - Songs For Kids (2011)

I mean it.

Some Interesting Albums of 2011

While these albums are 100% approved by NFT, they are not exactly this blog's albums of the year. They are more or less albums I found after the fact, In other peoples/blogs/forums AOTY lists.  Still not your average Bon Iver, James Blake, Radiohead, Fleet Foxes album of the current year we are in kind of list though. No offense to those guys, but...

Caddywhompus - The Weight (2011)

I'm guessing I saw the name Caddywhompus a few times this year but thought they were something else. While, now I know what they are (kind of) and I like it! It's quite fun and groovy on top of some lo-fi recording. The fuzzy layer that causes their sound to become a bit noisy is kind of entertaining but I personally think that if it was a little more clear, their sound could still work and would sound a lot like the suggested artists Last.fm has listed like Adebisi Shank or Shapes Like Dinosaurs. The quality does separate them from those bands and is probably the reason I found them with bands like Headless Horseman, A Lull, Honeydrum and Range Rover. Plus BIRP.

Last.fm

Bandcamp

Community Records

 Dope Body - Nupping (2011)

Unfortunately and fortunately I just found out about this album. It's also fortunate because I missed any and all hype that this album/band may have had which could have distorted my opinion on it and all that.

my current opinion on this album is that it might be one of the most original of any 2011 album. It's right up there with Death Grips (who will be featured in the next album of year list) in that under all its moving parts it is very much something new and refreshing. That being said though, we are in the twenty-first century and after thousands and thousands of years of music, everything's bound to sound like something else, including Dope Body. I'd have to say it almost sounds like a Zach Hill project without the Zach Hill signature over the top drumming. The drumming is still very frantic on Nupping but played more like in-your-face punk music.

I have a feeling I will be playing this album a lot next year!

Last.fm
Soundcloud


The Phantom Carriage - New Things (2011)

I've actually been meaning to post The Phantom Carriage for some time now but felt I would be recycling other blogs posts as it was not my own find but one I came across while awkwardly stumbling through this blog. Other than that though, The Phantom Carriage and their appropriately named 2011 debut release New Things, is pretty fucking metal!

When listening to New Things, I first had a hard time distinguishing if this Five piecer from the what makes these kids so god damn mad France are playing black metal infused screamo or screamo poisoned black metal. Then I listened on and started hearing hardcore and post hardcore and jazz on top of all that! This band is my kind of people; never settling with just blast beats, mathy riffs or sludgy sludge, never letting up on brutality, and most importantly, never sticking with playing generic anything!

These guys experiment with a lot of different sounds and genres in the realm of heavy and metal, and I think it really works out! The band also indulges in accordion playing and piano outros as well as some interesting jazzy bits here and there. There's still some negatives I could say about the album but most of those are merely because this type of progressive metal business is a risky one and can cut off a lot brute force and emotion out of the big picture. Nevertheless, New Things is still one of my favorite metal/whatever album of the year.

Fun fact: The 1921 swedish film also named The Phantom Carriage is known for its axing down the door scene like that of the one in Stanley Kubrick's The Shining. Take a look. There is no "here's Johnny" in The Phantom Carriage unfortunately. No talking at all for that matter. As it is from 1921 and all. It is also worthy to note that the picture of Jack at the party from The Shining was said to be from 1921, the same year as The Phantom Carriage's origin. But hey, none of this has to do with The French band, The Phantom Carriage and their 2011 album, New Things...

But wait, it does! The Phantom Carriage (1921) is set on New Year's Eve! So go watch it!

Last.fm
The Phantom Carriage (1921)
Whoever dies on the Eve, must drive the cart of death...


Morne - Asylum (2011)

Post metal sludge. Not the most original album on this list but still very solid. The sound of walls of thick and heavy riffs with bone crushing vocal scrapings mixed in is always something I can get behind even if its been done time and time again. There seems to be some debate about how crusty these guys are and honestly I could care less about it. Whenever I hear the word crust, I think of those nasty bits of sleepsand you get in your eyes after a rough night of being metal.

For some reason I got really excited when I saw that this album had a track with Jarboe on it. I think it was just because I know who she is. The track is called Volition and is the closing song on the album. It is kicked off by pianos and violins and screams Neurosis, an obvious influence on this band. I like the part when stuff happens.

Last.fm
Official site

Guess I just wanted to usher the new year in with some metal.

Next year it'll be with Usher.

Pat "the Bunny" - Die the nightmare

Die the nightmare is the acoustic version of Live the dream by Ramshackle Glory. It is all done by Pat "the bunny" Schneeweis and was released as a fundraiser to help buy the band a tour van.

Pat "the bunny" Schneeweis - Die the nightmare (2011)

Classic DIY acoustic Pat "the bunny" - nothing more, nothing less. 

Along with his current projects with Ramshackle Glory, Pat the bunny is also in a couple of rap collectives like Playtime Posse as well as helping out his friends musically in the Savage Wasteland Collective.

Also, Die the nightmare of Bandcamp currently has 420 likes on Facebook. That's punk. 

The only thing is I can't like it now...

Last.fm (Ramshackle Glory)

Last.fm (Pat the Bunny)

Official site

Monday XV Beast of 2011 part 1

I hope everyone had a nice time on Jesus's  b-day yesterday.

As you all may know 2011 will soon be 86ing out of here, leaving 2012 to rear its ugly head onto our new cat calendars. What? You didn't get a cute little cat calendar for Christmas? Hey, guess you weren't good enough this year...

But these albums (in my eyes and ears) were...

Nostalgia For Tomorrow's Favorite Albums of 2011


Ramshackle Glory - Live the Dream (2011)

Ramshackle Glory is a new project by Pat the Bunny and friends. Pat the Bunny no longer sings about fucking shit up, pissing on politicians, killing his own baby or robbing banks like he did in his previous projects Wingnut Dishwashers Union and Johnny Hobo and The Freight Trains but still sings about death, friends, drugs and politicians. He just sings about them a little different now a days.

You can surely tell that this new outfit for Pat and gang is very much a recovery album now that he has cleaned himself up. You can really tell that this is a much more grown up album by Pat the Bunny and yet it is still very fun. I think the last song on this record really shows a great deal of Pat and his struggles along with his recovery and rehab.

This album did not really start to get to me until the lose of my friend Martin Smith. I can't listen to this album now without thinking about him and his journey around the country. The songs Bitter Old Man and Your Heart is a Muscle... get me the most.

Check it..

Last.fm
Official site
Other members' work


Hella - Tripper (2011)

Zach Hill and Spencer Seim are back and rocking that two piece shenanigans A.K.A. laying down that Hella good instrumental stuff (math rock) we have grown to love. The back to their roots Hella and "Tripper" fits right up there with Hold Your Horse is and The Devil Isn't Red as it is not super bogged down by electronics and vocals or excess members. It is still very much a head turner as anything Zach Hill touches is! Iz all good.

I'm not super digging the artwork however...

Last.fm
Bandcamp


Glass Fingers - "this" (2011)

To be very honest, "this" should have its very own post. Unfortunately I am lazy and a little behind on things. It's no biggie. So I will say a good word about this album here and maybe again on a future post of Glass Fingers (because I have tons more of those).

"this" by Glass Fingers is the epitome of all of Jesse Gertz (hands behind Glass Fingers) hard work and years of playing around with electronic music. Gertz and the music he birthed has come along way and 2011 was really good to it. Not only did he produce a super solid album that featured some of my favorite songs he has ever concocted but he also made quite a name for himself (or for Glass Finger's self) in the local scene. Along with many shows with fellow P-town acts, Glass Fingers also had the honor of playing with Thanksgiving, Pterodactyl and even Dan Deacon! That's saying a lot for a kid who used to play little shows in his own home or friends basements just for the hell of it, drawing crowds of 10 people to just him, my friend Higbone and I.

Now I don't think Jesse Gertz could ever let himself bet too famous but man oh man did 2011 look good for this ol' chap of mine. Glass Fingers' "this" was even ranked #1 on The University of Maine's Free Press' Top 5 Albums of the Year as well as making its way on to The Maine Campus's Top 25 Albums of 2011 list. The latter featuring "this" as the album by a local artist!

"this" is very special album to me as it is to most of my friends, including Jesse Gertz himself (whether he likes it or not). I can not listen to this album without thinking about Martin Smith either but in a much more personal way. Like me, most of these songs were Martin's favorites even before they were put on this release. The song Runaway was actually for Martin some time before his death.

RIP MPS

Last.fm
Official site

Stay tuned for part too! and lists of other peoples favorite albums of 2011!

Just for The LOL's

How to Survive X-mas

Furious Pig

Furious Pig - EP (1980) AKA I Don't Like Your Face

Furious Pig were a short lived quintet post punk band that only played music with their vocal chords. A cappella punk is what you could call it I guess and it is really out there. I'm serious when I say that though, they use only their voices, percussion and all. "Orchestrated chanting".

These three songs are pretty much all Furious Pig put out but there's probably more to be found out there... There always seems to be. Like Bare Pork.

After the fall of FP, two of the four members (Dominic Weeks and Cass Davis) went on to perform in Het. Tim Hodgkinson of Henry Cow and a Belgian Singer accompanied the two in creating "Let's Het" in 1983; Het's only release and very much out there as Furious Pig was. Stephen Kent went on to become music director for Circus Oz and Martin Kent went on to release singles under the name 'Martin Pig'.

Furious Pig are one of those bands that you just happen to find one day by accident. You sit there and wonder why these gents are not living legends. Also, I have a lot of trouble listening to the hit "I Don't Like You Face" in the shower. Here is why.

Similar sounds/acts: Het, Boredoms, OOIOO, Martin Pig, Ethiopian polyphonic chants, and other stuff that doesn't sound like Furious Pig

Last.fm
Ubu.com (Free MP3's + Profile)
I DON'T LIKE YOUR BODY.
I DON'T LIKE YOUR BODY.
I DON'T LIKE YOUR FACE
LIKE A LIKE A
LIKE YOUR FACE.

MONDAY X(-Mas)IV Winter Edition

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!

La Dispute - Winter Tour Holiday CD-R (2008)

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.

Last.fm


Mono - Hymn to the Immortal Wind (2009)

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.

Last.fm
Official site


Men As Trees - Weltschmerz (2008)

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.

Men As Trees now go by Locktender, I believe.

Last.fm
Facebook

Also:

iLiKETRiANS have themselves a free Christmas cover. It's Last Christmas. From last Christmas.

Last.fm
Official Site


Fuck the Winterman.

R.I.P. Martin Smith

Earlier this week I learned that the world was missing a really great character. Martin Smith was not just a close friend but also a major influence in my life. His ability and goal to be completely different than everybody else will always stick in my mind as one of the greatest features he (and anyone) could ever have. There will never be another guy like Martin and it is a shame everyone did not know him. He was something of mythes.

In honor of my lost friend, I would like to post some music that he either showed me, liked, or that we both had in common. I'll also post some extra stuffz and some stuff that reminds me of Martin as time goes by. 

Ratatat - 9 Beats

I remember one summer riding around with Martin in his beat up silver Volvo be got from is grandmother. He was one of my first friends I ever knew who could drive and that alone blew me away. At this point he loved to drive around to Ratatat's 9 beats; an unofficial release that included 9 instrumental tracks that were used on their remix albums of famous hip hop and rap stars' songs. The tracks are really bumping and totally get you going! Martin's Volvo's speakers never really worked so for a little bit he would use a dinky portable speaker to project his favorite beats. But none of that bothered me. 

Last.fm

 Pogo - Wonderland (2007)

It made sense that Martin got me in to tons of fun electronic, dancey and beaty music. Martin loved to dance (not like dance but like dance dance) and have a good time with his friends. My friends and I sometimes throw flash "dance parties"in each other's dirty little basements. It's just what we do. A lot of these dance parties have either been put on or featured a whole lotta really cool tracks found by Martin Smith himself. Martin introduced me to many electronic type bands back in the day, like Ratatat, Kraftwerk, Justice, Caribou, and even Pogo. 

Pogo is pretty famous for his special crafting of "Alice" a song using only chords, sound effects and vocal samples from the cartoon version of Alice in Wonderland. Pogo has also played around with more Alice in Wonderland in Wonderland, Disney's Up, Dexter, Harry Potter and many other films and bits of pop culture. Under all the glitch and bloops & woops, it actually sounds really chill and almost trip-hop like. I still remember the first time martin played this to me... Afterwards, I think I may have listened to it a hundred times that week.

Last.fm

Jamie T - Kings & Queens (2009)

Martin ripped this album for me a little after its release and I really enjoyed it.  I drifted away from this album and Jamie T for a bit but came back to listening to him after hearing his first album, Panic Prevention again. Jamie T definitely appeals to many people and could absolutely have a larger success here in the states some day. Nowadays I just like listening to the sadder songs on this one. 

Martin was always a giving person. Cliché, I know but he was! He would gave me a lot of weird things sometimes from a container of teeth to a little pink Jesus ring to a bunch of condoms after pretending to be a college and winning a big box of 500 prophylactics. But most of all, he would try to give himself to everyone of his friends including me! He would always try to entertain me every time we were together. Even when I was having a wonderful time just hanging around in his company, he still felt I was not having enough fun and would try his hardest to change that and thus, make my day. 

Last.fm

Titus Andronicus - The Monitor (2010)

One of Martin's favorites.

Last.fm

Pussy - Sings the Hits (2011)

Matin and Friends (Dx2, Will Horseman and Thee Jesse Gertz) singing the hits with meows. It's music for the kitties in all of us. The hits include: Ring of Meow, Pokemeow Theme, Pur the Magic Dragon, Just a Feline and The National Anthem among many others!

Martin will always be remembered for his cat art, pink CATS hat and all the other cat type creations and placements.

Some of Martin's finest works:

Empty Suit by Martin Smith

Martin Smith's House of Spaghetti House

RIP

Monday XIII

Down with the sickness. It's monday.


Damascus - Salutations, Distant Satellite! (2011)

Sweet ass post metal. Sometimes it even sounds like post rock influenced by heavy metal. \m/

Last.fm

Shapes Like Dinosaurs - Cretaceous Calculus EP (2010)

They twinkle, they noodle, they experiment and they sound mega corky. Despite all this, it took me a little while to fully appreciate the music SLD have put out. I'm not sure if it'll be a grower for you (my humble audience) so I do still recommend these guys for any "Twinkle Daddies" or Math Rock fan.

Last.fm

Sibylle Baier - Colour Green (2006)

The official release of this fine gem may be '06 but the true roots of Colour Green stretches way back to the 70s when Sibylle Baier, an actress at this time, began writing and home recording beautifully sad folk songs starting with the first song she ever wrote, "Remember the Day". It wasn't until her son put all these songs together on a CD and began giving them away to friends and family that the world felt the wraith of Baier's super somber and natural tunes.

This is the kind of album you put on after a long night of partying when everyone has left but your best friend and they're helping you clean the vomit stains out of your carpet. This has never happened to me but I still think it would be fitting. I have listened to this album many times after parties though...

Colour Green is perfect for this time of the year as well with the cold weather and all that. This music may actually be for the depressed saps in all of us but I wouldn't really conceder Baier a sad lady. She just happened to make sad folk songs is all. Like Nick Drake. Except he was really sad, so.... well, you get the point.

She is really quite perplexed by all the attention that her album "Colour Green" has gotten. My father keeps telling her about all the pages and articles that are out there, but she, though smitten, prefers to hear about her accolades through the eyes and ears of her family. The web makes her dizzy, I think. - Her son, Robby from the official site

Last.fm
Official site

Guess I should start posting some Christmas music or THE BEST ALBUMS OF YEAR and jibba-jabba lists like that.

I'll get around to it... I mean Sant Clause has only been at the mall now since November... There's still time.

Faraquet - The View From This Tower

Faraquet were and are a math rock band that successfully mixed together 90's math rock, post-hardcore and indie rock n roll! There's really not too much of any of those styles, so it totally works! Sometimes it reminds me of some kind of math rock Weezer. That's weird, I know. It's definitely awesome though!

Faraquet - The View From This Tower (2000)

Faraquet separated about less than a year after their first and only official release in 2000. After the seperation, 2/3 of the band went on to form Medications and then got back together as Faraquet again in 2007. They also released a couple 7inchers and a split EP with Akarso between 97-99. Anthology 1997-98 was released by Dischord in 2008.

Similar sounds/acts: Medications, Smart Went Crazy, Beauty Pill, June of 44, Sharks Keep Moving, Karate, Make Believe, Q and Not U and more.


Last.fm
Official Site
Dischord Records
Cut Self Not

MONDAY XII

You now the drill, Wayne. It's Monday.

Aesop Rock - Bazooka Tooth (Headphone Science Version) (2005)

The sick rhymes of complicated rap/hip-hop artist, Aesop Rock (not be confused with A$AP Rocky, obviously) mixed with some really the pounding IDM and electronic beats of Headphone Science (Dustin Craig).

Bazooka Tooth itself features some pretty swell tracks including: No Jumper Cables, Babies with Guns, Freeze, as well as tracks featuring El-P (We're Famous) , Mr. Lif (11:35) and more.

I would still recommend the originals if the remixes are too much. I think they give new life to the original tracks, though. They're what the kids call dank, I guess.

Aesop's Last.fm
Headphone Science's Last.fm


Mr Tumnus - Mr Tumnus (2011)

That is not the real artwork. I just prefer this rather than the artwork on the bandcamp but then again, I'm not one to judge a band by its cover...

I am however, one to judge on a band's name. And my judgement is this: I'm going to listen to a band named Mr Tumnus.  Come on!

For sound, Mr Tumnus A.K.A. Alex Thomas, plays a very sparse and soundscape-y type of ambient meets psychedelic music with a lot of samples and drawn out phrasing. Blah Blah Blah. In other words, it doesn't really ever go bang bang bang or faster than a fast crawl. You can put it on right before you go to bed or while you are trying to do work son.

It's definitely interesting if you want to listen to a band named after a creepy faun from Narnia.

last.fm

Conifer - Crown Fire (2008)

Conifer was a Portland, maine band that I never got to become fully aquatinted with during their existence. Yes, unfortunately I missed the boat on this band even after they got their name around all the world with the power of the internet. But luckily for me, these guys have not completely given up on music altogether. No. Two members of Conifer (vox and axe) are now in a new band going by Awaas (or AWAAS) which features some of the same directions and sounds that their previous band has infused, including psych, krautrock, and hard to pin down post-rock. On top all this news, I was actually lucky enough to check these guys out last weekend! It was totally rad considering just getting together resonantly with another legendary Maine band, Ocean's Drummer and putting on a very solid performance, despite the lead singer being sicker than a dog and that most of the other bands there that night were playing completely different music than each other.

AWAAS have yet to put out anything official other than a nice little music video for their song "Burial Ground". An EP is rumored to be recorded and released sometime in the year 2012. So, until they do and I get a hold of it, I have Conifer's Crown Fire to help me catch up on all the racket these guys can produce.

Last.fm
AWAAS's Facebook page

Meanwhile, Back In Communist Russia...

Meanwhile, Back in Communist Russia...  - Indian Ink (2002)

More post-rocky balboa stuff. This time in the form of laid back instrumentation and somber tones and narrative vocals. Female narrative vocals! Provided by singer, Emily Gray. The music that surrounds vocalist Emily Gray, created by keyboards, guitars, samples and drum machines, is very dark and decaying. It flows dramatically over Gray's poetic monologues every time. You soon catch on to what this band was capable of playing but there's nothing wrong with that.

Despite the clever name, they were actually from Oxford, UK. Hence Gray's additive accent. 

The band called it quits in 2004. They released two studio albums, a 7 inch featuring the tracks "No Cigar" and "Morning After Pill", a split with a Moonkat, three Peel Sessions, and a 10 inch. They were also the winners of a "worst band name" poll by BBC Radio 1 in 2003 according to Last.fm. 

Similar sounds/artists: Arab Strap, A Silver Mt. Zion, HRSTA, iLiKETRiANS, A Whisper in the Noise,  Valley of the Giants, Slint and more post rock bands that I could name because they are also post rock...

Last.fm

I've made for you a pedestal that lifts you higher up the harder I try and knock you down.

A Silver Mt. Zion - He Has Left Us Alone

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.

The song "13 Angels Standing Guard..." gets me every time! Especially with skydivin' nuns! 

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). 

Last.fm

Constellation Records 

Official Site

God will be your parachute