DEAD RED SUN
Facility.
DEAD RED SUN come from my home of new cross.
Once in a while they make songs that make want to fly through it.
They are three friends that jam and create places.
Planets, universes and wars etc... You name it and they will make it so.
Their latest offering was crafted by their drummer Thomas and it is resoundingly organic.
The song infiltrates into you whatever your taste maybe.
I think it would cut out your tongue if you had anything to say against it.
It’s hard to ignore three such passionate musicians, live it really silences you.
Vocals are an instrument they do not need.
The roar of the crowd is the only echo that takes place.
There is something not quite real about them.
Although I have seen them live enough times to know they breathe.
We have been given this and we shall be grateful.
Facility is only the beginning of something I don’t think we can predict.
The Heart of the Ocean
I'm sure im breaking some sort of music blogging rules.
The heart of the ocean is one man making music.
He has sent these two videos into the world.
I love both songs.
They are both raging against the Low end production trends of late.
they could be love songs.
Allow your ears.
It glows.
and so does he.
More to come.
peel those eyes.
King Flamingod
Tanlines
Brooklyn based two piece Tanlines create dreamy, synthy, tribal influenced pop.
Its very catchy stuff yet at the same time keeps its own on terms of holding its creativity in tact, making the sound very interesting and intriguing to listen to, pop at its best.
The vocals are quite indie-pop based, fully complimenting the jungle-pop music it backs up for, lots and lots of drums and other south american instruments make up the pieces, creating a sweet blissful sound. Listen to this now.
I can’t buy Broken Deer’s music due to current cash flow restraints.
It makes me sad because it must be owned.
I want to listen to it in a place without electricity.
It digs deep and stays.
Broken Deer is a soundtrack to something scary and alone.
They float through the wilderness and entice you to far off soundscapes.
Is it music? or is it art? Some questions deserve to be buried and burned.
“Our small going” their last release is haunting and spellbinding.
They combine found artefacts with drowsy cassettes and a desperate weeping.
Her voice has been wounded by the world.
She has found what she buried.
She has told us where to dig it up.
Broken deer articulate decay.
I am not sure how I am going to write this piece.
Please bear with me.
The reason for my supreme lack of focus is the sound all around.
I am currently listening to Sly & the family drone.
Anyone who knows this “BAND” will appreciate my issue.
Percussion/noise/sick sounds/mutilated vocals/rythmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
I happened upon their web presence this morning and I have been in their loop for 4 hours.
They combine stark noise with such a repetitive beat it’s almost like a religious experience.
A weak comparison surely as I have never had one.
Let’s begin again...It is like a found VHS tape of some child’s filmed religious experience.
To describe it as drone or noise I feel would be lacking.
I cannot believe there is not supreme and unsettling method to this.
They describe their audio almost like a cake recipe, add three parts drums to 1 part hiss and then dash in some faded vocals loops some “warbling” and some epic samples, serve to the crowd with many extra drums, pans and anything blunt and then dissolve.
This band needs to be seen, felt and reacted to.
They are playing this Friday the 23rd of July at the zenith bar in Islington, leave your ears at home and bring something to hit.
Aldous Huxley once spoke of one of the drugs of the 20th century being repetitive beats and frantic dancing...well here is your medicine.
Check them out on you tube and http://www.myspace.com/slythefamilydrone 
King Flamingod
Wavves - King of the Beach
Wavves second album is a triumph in a lot of ways. Nathan Williams, known in the past for his fuzzed out loud catchy power pop guitar riffs, hypnotic beach boys reminiscent vocals and lyrics about being young, stupid and bored. Some of these elements still exist within King of the Beach except for the main change of their being no fuzz. at all. A huge leap that sees the musician exploring into different genres, textures and sounds. To the extent of some sounds not even sounding like him at all, such as 'Convertible Balloon' sounding like something out of an Architecture in Helsinki album, or my personal favourite 'Mickey Mouse' sounding like anything Animal Collective or Panda Bear could have come out with. But the fact is, Williams is not copying these artists, but merely borrowing and exploring what his favourite bands have done in the past and putting them into his own musicality.
Williams has had a tough year, after his disastrous performance at Primavera, his old friends 'hating his guts' and various fights with other bands such as the Black Lips. These elements are reflected on to his lyrics, which are painfully personal in the album with lyrics such as 'laugh, i bet you laugh, right behind my back' which shows how the Williams is growing as a musician.
A lot of the songs are built on nostalgia. Remembering 'sitting alone playing nintendo in my room' and collecting 'baseball cards', along with being reminiscent of old 90's alt bands Williams used to listen to such as Green day and Blink 182, in which he doesn't steal but borrows, musically, in the sense that the songs have the same teenage angst theme to it, followed by subjects such as isolation and boredom and drenched with catchy pop structured guitar driven songs. He takes on this idea by simply complimenting those bands, adding his own touches and making the sound his own.
This is a perfect summer album, and to people who didn't understand or like the massive amount of fuzz in the first two albums, this is the chance to get into Wavves. Catchy, nostalgic based pop at its best.
Wavves' label have streamed the album via their website, so to listen to the album in full, follow the link
Tangled Hair – First
This release is free.
Visit the bands “band camp” to receive a perfect gift for a sunny day.
Upon first listening I was amazed how a track like “Trains are broken” could lift my mood.
There is something grating about summer; it wears you down with smiles.
Tangled hair doesn’t try and make you smile, they don’t seem to smile themselves.
But something about the pure and soft edged melody just seems to get on with my mind.
I have been taken many places musically in the last few days.
I was preparing to give up on music and just listen to Wagner.
But now I feel like drifting off somewhere with someone beautiful,
Possibly with”Cardboard hilltop” playing in the background.
The vogue of many first project bands is to either make some overblown statement.
Or to hide in pause.
Tangled hair is in a wonderful grey area between doing something very special with popular music,
And drifting off into a far less tread cave of what is feebly called the acoustic underground.
To think that this collaboration between drummer; James Trood and ‘everything else’-man Alan Walsh is almost infuriating.
So much from just a duo? So much from Alan Walsh’s head?
It is definitely an album to be enjoyed when the sweat gets too much and no one can even talk.
Lines like “everyone is sober and I am on my own now” (Broken trains) remind me of every sorry Monday on the cattle train to a job I detest. To illicit such emotion makes it worth a listen.
http://tangledhair.bandcamp.com/
King Barnacle
The xx - xx
To some it may be a surprise that, considering they hail from dub-step originated South London, The xx manage to come up with such tender, minimalistic and honest garage R&B.
For four 20-year-olds brought up in the ‘fuzzy beat’ region of the capital it is refreshing to see that what they are actually striving for is a whole lot more deep, personal and engaging than the music they are surrounded by.
‘Intro’, is well, the perfect intro to an album. The slow and steady build of the delay infected guitars combine beautifully with the drum machines snappy beat form a well controlled mid section. The lack of vocals only adds to the sense that The xx are gradually building up the suspense and introducing their audience to something special.
When the vocals do come into play in ‘VCR’ they feed off each other wonderfully. Oliver Sim’s slightly baritone but young voice has that understated but touching effect of a man getting to grips with life and sexuality.
Nothing prepares you for when Romy Madley Croft’s soulful heartfelt angst fuelled voice kicks in. The two voices play off each other with stories of sex and interpersonal relationships as if Sim were the boy and Croft the girl.
‘Crystalised’ and ‘Islands’ move on from ‘VCR’ in the same vain, almost as if they were a progression of the same tale.
The album really hits it peak with ‘Heart Skipped A Beat’ and ‘Shelter’, two perfectly contrasting songs chronicling the pain and confusion of teenage relationships and that first exploration into sex.
With just the one guitar being picked and a tad of bass the song relies almost entirely on the soulfulness of Croft’s voice, which soars above everything else and is the track that epitomizes what The xx stand for.
The brave and tender lyrics of the chorus (“Maybe I had said something that was wrong, can I make it better with the lights turned on”) accentuate the feeling that The xx’s main cause for inspiration and sole interest in being on this earth, aside from making beautiful melodies of course, is the more carnal pleasures in life.
The one frustrating element of xx is that the songs seem to stop short of exploring a more experimental side to their music. This is only too apparent on ‘Basic Space’ where a closing guitar riff so potent and full of promise stops short after just 15 seconds. What The xx seem to be striving to create appears to be their downfall at the same time. Only too often is the listener left expecting and wanting that extra bit more; that extra injection of creativity and subtlety that makes a good album great.
The xx claim that their minimalistic sound comes from the fact that they aren’t able enough musicians to do anything more with their instruments. If there is any proof that a group of people with just the tinniest of musical ability can still make a wonderful album then look no further.
Although lacking in musical texture one cannot argue that not only do The xx appear to have created their very own uniquely simple genre but they have also produced an extremely mature and consistent debut.
King Flamingod
Backmasking
Back masking is a technique that has been used since the early 60's by the likes of Led Zeppelin and The Beatles. The method revolves around the idea of reversing the tapes of a record to hide hidden meanings or messages to the listener. How people use this however is very different. Led Zeppelin was accused of hiding satanic meanings in songs such as Stairway to Heaven, which when back masked found the words 'heres to satan' repeated through-out various stages of the song. The Beatles were also accused of hiding secret meanings, in the case of stating that Pual McCartney was dead, finding words 'paul is dead paul is dead' found in various songs. This conspiracy went on for a long time by a lot of music junkies, who believed that the real McCartney was dead and had been replaced by an imposter. it is also widely done by many metal bands such as Slayer and Cradle of Filth. The method can also be used for comedic value such as Pink Floyd's 'Empty Spaces' which makes a reference to former member Syd Barrett and also congratulates the listener for finding the message. The album below sees an album which has been back masked and reversed not to hide a message but purely for experimental reasons.
Avey Tare and Kria Brekkan - Pullhair Rubeye
Avey Tare of Animal Collective is a genius when it comes to obscure song writing. He seems to be the strangest of the collective, with more of a dark side to him. Pullhair Rubeye was the musicians LP debut, in which he teamed up with former Múm member and later wife Kria Brekkan. The album got terrible reviews from most magazines and websites, claiming that the album was a somewhat bore to listen to. However in my opinion theres much more to the record which has not been apretiated. Avey Tare (David Portner) created an album with his soon to be wife filled with melodic acoustic folk orientated songs, they then decided to reverse the tapes, so all the songs played backwards, with the addition of long drones and lots of reverb. Although quite an interesting concept, it has been done before by bands such as the Flaming Lips. This aspect gives the songs a very strange yet interesting sound to work with, songs such as 'Lay Lay Off, Faselam' and 'Sasong' create an atmospheric sound that i cant really describe, and that many might not understand or enjoy. Although not known if it was intentional or not, lots of fans who listened to the album, re-reversed or 'fixed' it putting it back to its original form, in which there is an incredible album filled with acoustic folk songs. Although i have not listened to the 'fixed' version of the LP yet i can honestly say that regardless, backwards or normal, the album is definitely underestimated and needs to be listened to.
King Flamingod
Just some good albums to pass the time:
Surfer Blood - Astro Coast
Surfer blood are an indie band hailing from Florida, West Palm Beach. Although none of the band members actually surf, the album is filled with surf orientated beach boys reminiscent tunes. What makes the album so great is the guitar aspect of the songs, which some could say evoke Weezer or Pavement's Stephen Malkmus. Especially in songs 'Neighbour Riffs' and 'Fast Jebroni' (which strangely sounds a little like Arcade Fire's 'Rebellion'). The album single 'Swim' not only has a sick music video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVkgNPK8EQE) but also carries some of the LP's most promising riffs and lyrics. Think Vampire Weekend if they were less polished and commercial. Overall, while not the best or challenging album in the world, its definitely pop genius and one to look up and check out, although they are not playing in the UK anytime soon, i'm sure when they do it will be a sold out show.
Real Estate - Real Estate
Surfer Rock seems to be exploding in the American Indie scene right now, which you can take as a good or a bad thing really. Real Estate come from New Jersey, where frontman Martin Courtney grew up and where he wrote a mast majority of the songs right after college with bassist Alex Bleeker. Real Estate is another band which critics say resembles the Beach Boys, and although true, in this case it is not the vocal harmonies that are being evoked, but more the guitar riffs and general summer feel to the album, keeping a relaxed peaceful ambience which flows perfectly from first track to last. Album highlight, 'Suburban Beverage' in my mind was one of the best tracks of 2009, reminiscing the likes of Yo La Tengo, along with 'Beach Colmer' and 'Fake Blues' (the only krautrock based song on the album) which will probably put you in a good mood and get you excited for the summer.
Animal Collective - People EP
Animal Collective seem to constantly conjure up interesting EPs, usually right after the release of an LP. What makes them so interesting is how although they are often B sides which don't seem to fit in a current long player, they seem to always carry their own weight and sound perfectly fine alone, it just seems to work. 'People' is a fine example as to why some may not agree with, understand or enjoy Animal Collectives sound. The song consists of a 6 minute repeating guitar riff along with Avey Tare doing a sort of tribal yell, accompanied by screaming the word 'people' in a loop. Although this sounds quite simple, to fans of Animal Collective this song can be seen as complete genius. 'Tikwid' gives more of a structured output onto the EP (holding a chorus and verse) but is beautiful none-the-less and quite reminiscent of 'Feels' while 'My Favourite Colours' is more abstract tribal noise. If you like Animal Collective, definitely give this one a listen, its quite hard to find in a record shop but it is rewarding.
Wavves - Wavvves
Wavves is the sound work of Nathan Williams, a 22 year old one-man noise pop project from San Diego. His second album ' Wavvves' is one of the most exciting LPs of noise heard in the noise scene in a while. The songs within the album are drowned in noise and fuzz, which may not be in taste to most people, however underneath the depths of all the noise there are pop structures which not only make the songs catchy, but accompany the fuzz and noise to make a certain sound only few bands are capable of doing right (note No Age). This might be most evident in 'So Bored' and 'No Hope Kids', two of the albums most pop-orientated songs, which sees the combination of backing vocals and catchy guitar riffs taking over. This is an album that needs to be listened to very loud to fully appreciate (most evidently in 'To the Dregs' and 'California Goths') if noise isn't your thing, maybe skip this one out, but if you have an open mind, it might grow on you.
King Baloo
Introduction to Glitch Hop
I'll start with the album that introduced me. Above you will see Los Angeles resident Steven Ellison a.k.a Flying Lotus, on one of his finest albums, July Heat. Flying Lotus, often abbreviated to FlyLo, is a hip-hop producer and beat maker. His music is a mixture between abstract, experimental, jazz-tinted hip-hop. He released his first album in 1983 and has been making music ever since.
Coming from a musical heritage, FlyLo's relatives have had many accomplishments in the Jazz and Blues genre from which he takes his greatest influences.
Be sure to listen to July Heat, 1983, Los Angeles and the soon to be released Cosmogramma (artwork pictured below). The album has been highly anticipated and will feature a collaboration with Radiohead's Thom Yorke!
Next up, the Gaslamp Killer...
The artwork pictured above is the face of a 59 minute long mix that i have and will continue to listen to again and again. The Gaslamp Killer is similar to FlyLo but tints his music with different genre's such as rock, dubstep, psychedelia and french vocals.
