On good friday no less.
Mental Architects - Celebrations (2012)
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 - AWAAS EP (2012)
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 - Red Forest (2012)
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.
Lastly,
Time Columns - Mana (2012)
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...
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