Absence

Just a quick post to let all of my readers know what's up; I have not given up on this blog, I broke my neck in a car accident. I will resume posting shortly and will do my best to go back and catch up on all of the times I've missed.

The Features - Some Kind of Salvation

Some Kind of Salvation is like some sort of fusion of The Killers, Finger Eleven, and Modest Mouse. The Features show that they are really a pretty diverse band here, with this album really blurring lines between genres. While their sound is evident throughout the album, the songs all sound quite different but flow together very well. Whatever Gets You By is a short little intro with a syncopated organ giving it a sort of English folk feel. The Drawing Board kicks off with a cool horn part, and this is where that Finger Eleven influence really shows up (listen to this song and Paralyze or whatever it's called by them). Foundation's Cracked owes a lot to the Killers, kicking off with a piano playing slow rhythym chords, and the song actually delves into the realm of experimental music, with a guitar that is more often playing strange scratchy sounds, near random notes, and bursts of distorted chords for the chorus. GMF is a song with a new wave sounding synth chorus and an older rock (that's a stupid description; read: 70's rock of some sort) sounding guitar part. The Gates of Hell is much different than the first 7 songs; it's slower and has a very dreamy, psychedelic, relaxing feel to it that really contradicts the lyrics . Baby's Hammer has a fingerpicking guitar part, folksy sound to it. Concrete is a vintage synth sounding post punk/new wave song. Now You Know is a nice, upbeat song to finish off the album, that actually even throws a little bit of Animal Collective sound into the mix. Overall, a nice diverse album that makes for an interesting listen. These guys know how to take a wide range of influences and throw them all into one album while playing with their own unique sound. Not one of my favorites, but more than decent.

Owl City - Ocean Eyes (2009)

First off, this is not my usual cup of tea. I'm really not too big of a fan of this boy band type vocal sound. That said, news of this band has been everywhere I turn, and they have done a couple of good songs. So, I decided to check out the new album. It's not bad. The band has a sound somewhere between Relient K and Breathe Carolina. Relient K without the Christian lyrics and more electronic sounds, but Breathe Carolina without the fast paced techno sound behind them (and minus the screamo they get into at times). They're also a lot like a more upbeat Postal Service. Now as far as Ocean Eyes in particular goes: Introduction track Cave In is an echo-y, drifting song with electronic synthesizer runs playing along in the back, with some interesting little melodies. The Bird and the Worm is a less electronic pop song with a poppy acoustic rhythym guitar sound and some Seabearesque keyboard ding. Hello Seattle, which is apparently the most popular song from the album, sounds kind of like Such Great Heights if it was done by a poppier, more upbeat band. Except for the chorus, which isn't really similar at all. The song continues in this direction, with some songs owing a bit more to bands like aforementioned Breathe Carolina, with a more techno/house drum beat and that growing wind sound that kicks the music up a notch, or using acoustic guitar to create the melody. Dental Care makes Adam seem pretentious to me: He talks about how he's scared of the dentist but his perfect smile is too important not to go. I guess it's supposed to be funny, but it's not. Overall, I'd say the album isn't bad, and you'd probably really like it if you're into that new boy band type sound, but it's definitely not something I'd listen to much. So in fact, I'm not even sure why I put this on here; I guess I listened to it to see what all the hype was about and didn't want to feel like I wasted 45 minutes of my life on a band playing a style of music I really don't particularly enjoy.

Timber Timbre - Timber Timbre (2009)

I know I know... I slacked off for a whole week already. But I was busy, working, out and about, and writing other stuff and reviews I don't want to post on here. But now, I'm back. And for my first review back, I'm choosing a fantastic simple bluesy, lo-fi, indie rock/folk album. Sadly, apparently I wasn't on top of it because I completely missed this release when it came out in January. Luckily for all you music lovers out there (and me!) it was re-released again today. The band is Timber Timbre, and the self titled album is their third release. I went back and checked out the rest of their catalog, and quickly decided this is their best piece of work to date. Taylor Kirk, lead singer, has a very unique low, warbling voice that he utilizes to the best of it's potential. The music is actually very stripped down, but at the same time it has everything it needs - their is a strings section that occassionally comes in, and besides that the album has everything from a typical synthesizer sound to an organ to electronic sounds. But the main focus stays on the lyrics, which are very well written - Kirk tells some great stories that are not your typical blues. Reflective, dark, and foreboding, this shows blues evolving to keep up with modern day indie rock and folk music. Lay Down in the Tall Grass is a dark song with a syncopated organ rhythym and drum beat playing with a truly bizarre chorus: "I dreamed you found me out in a field / You tripped over my site /And you dug me out of this shallow grave... And only you could revive me,/ so badly decomposed." This leads into Until the Night is Over, a psychedelic tinged song that could almost be something by The Doors, if they stripped down their music a lot and had Kirk as a singer. Magic Arrow is about the settlers coming to America and destroying the land and taking everything from the Indians. The main guitar melody is even the typical riff you would think of as Native American music. The rest of the songs deal with loneliness and isolation, all be it with much more complicated lyrics than much of the blues you could find. While Kirk focuses on simplicity with musical sound, he ends up creating a very complex, genre spanning bluesy indie masterpiece.

Netherfriends - Calling You Out EP (2009)

This is another of my certain favorites of the year. Though it's just an EP and not a full album, Netherfriends pack quite the punch into this recording with these six songs. They play psych pop along the lines of Animal Collective, who are certainly their biggest influence, but with more focus on legible lyrics rather than Animal Collective style where more often than not the focus is on the sound of the overall recordings instead. At first they might sound very similar to AC, but I gaurantee you: listen to them closely, and you will quickly realize they are anything but that. I think the main reason I made that comparison at first is that honestly, I've never heard a band that makes anything that sounds remotely like AC before. It's possible that I just missed it, but as far as I'm concerned they were totally unique for a very long time. However, the Netherfriends don't restrain themselves to only making music in that psychedelic spiritual, magical pop vein. In fact, they quite often cross over into other genres. Mom Cop is an indie rock/pop marvel that bares more in common with poppy dance punk bands (but much better, I hate most of that crap), and the EP has elements from a whole array of influences that show. Also, sticking with the AC comparison because I think it is the best way I can describe them, a major difference is more melodic rhythym guitar and much, much less relying on electronic elements. When all is said and done, and you've listened to the album a few times, you won't be able to stop. This is, without a doubt, one of the best debut EPs I have ever heard from any band that I can think of. If you don't listen to this, you deserve to be shot. Just sayin.

Riceboy Sleeps - Riceboy Sleeps (2009)

Riceboy Sleeps is a new side project of Sigur Ros vocalist Jónsi and Alex Somers. It's instrumental ambient music at it's greatest, with the pair performing on a variety of instruments backed by a string quartet and a full choir. The music is very dreamy; it's like music to dream to. Riceboy Sleeps takes the sound from Sigur Ros and turns into an ethereal, calmer sound, creating a wonderful album in the process. It's an album to listen to under a tree in a sunny field in the middle of nowhere on a nice summer day while dozing on and off. Personally, I actually like this more than anything Sigur Ros ever did, to be completely honest with you. It is also clearly takes influences from experimental music, but rather than creating some bizarre work of music does so in a way that, mixed with the slow, quiet, ethereal strings/ambient pad sound present throughout the entire album just adds to the beauty while offering more to keep the listener focused on the music (Stokkseyri). Never fast, but never painfully slow; never too repetitve, but allows you to absorb everything; never bizarre, but containing experimental elements like the fast piano roll in Stokkseyri or the animal growls and strange sounds at the end of Howl; the duo has found the perfect way to combine the music of Sigur Ros with dreamy music to create a beautiful blend of post rock, experimental, and ambient.

Delicate Noise - Filmezza (2009)

Getting to the end of this week, I really ran out of good releases I felt like writing about... so I apologize for doing 2 new albums by really obscure electronica bands back to back like this. But, I digress. Delicate Noise is some spaced out, trippy ambient electronica. Filmezza makes heavy use of vintage synths and the effects they offered, particularly a lot of messing around with cutoff and echo while playing. They also use really wierd alien volices a lot; the only regular voices on the album are the occasional use of children talking, like in Butterfly Envy where you hear a kid saying "It's a butterfly!" or Roundlake Beach where one can hear a running stream and lots of kids talking while spacey, ambient music plays over top. Pheromone has the alien voices throughout, and combines a very simple keyboard melody with glitch sounds. Oh yeah, they also use a lot of every day sound samples, like the running stream, and the sound of a summer night in the song We Like Mercury. The song also has a parent talking to a child with extremely heavy echo, and a very simple synthesizer background. Title track Filmezza actually has a very little bit of jazz influence on the bass part in the beginning, but moves on to a simple spacey ambient track. Overall, nothing too impressive, but worth a listen if you're bored or you want some slightly trippy background ambient music you aren't gonna pay too much attention to anyway.