The Tallest Man on Earth - There's No Leaving Now

The Tallest Man on Earth - 1904

Runs for - 3:59

Pretty indicative of the rest of the album - 

well produced, decent vocals and intricate guitar work.

Before I start up this post, I’d like to ask you to do yourself a favour and get onto YouTube and start tracking down songs from The Tallest Man on Earth’s album, The Wild Hunt. It’s been one of my favourite folk releases since Damien Rice or Bon Iver. It’s passionate, fast, evocative and a great listen for when your day needs a pick-up.

Before we go any further, I'd like to explain two things. Firstly, The Tallest Man on Earth is simply a moniker. Apparently he isn't that tall. Secondly, his real name is Kristian Matsson. That's just for trivia. Lets get on with it.

Now we’ve got his next album, There’s No Leaving Now. I’d argue it’s worse. It didn’t grip me like The Wild Hunt did on the first listen. There’s No Leaving Now isn’t fast or as catchy, but the songs seem to be better constructed and more mellow. It isn’t driven as strong by acoustic guitar wizardry, but rather uses more effects, layering and subtle delay. It hold a certain orchestral sound to it, more polished but less… intimate… I’d say. Vocally, he’s tuned it down a bit. It’s not nessecarily less wail-ey, less Dylan-esque, but it has that feel to it, as if he’s taken an edge off. The vocals seem to dance around more on most tracks rather than keeping to a familiar pattern that sticks to the chorus and the verse. Sometimes he’ll wail a little higher over the bridge, incorporate a bit of a grind over certain words for emphasis… it’s in these subtle techniques that you can see that he’s getting better at what he’s doing.

The problem here is that it seems like he’s substituted, in a way, better songs for better songwriting. The tracks are undoubtedly better constructed but they lack that certain rawness that made the first album good. There are a lot of slower tracks and the guitar work is a lot calmer than earlier – not to mention there’s more piano. This pretty much pushes his lyrical work do the rest. Not to say that it’s weak at all, more that it feels like a step back or rather that his element isn’t here.

Wind and Walls is a pretty guitar based track, but he’s chucked on a subtle bit of reverb on his voice to give an echo effect, and it just seems unnecessary. It kind of castrates the music from it’s identity. We’re dealing with an acoustic powered song with special effects thrown over the top of it. In my head, if somebody wants to work an acoustic track, It should be simple as voice and guitar. Nothing else. But he’s thrown all this layering and effect all over it and it just feels as if it’s betraying the intimacy, the sheer passion of the music by changing it into something it’s not. If I had it my way, I’d have the effects cut down severely and leave the album with it’s bones. There’s definite emotion and talent in this release, but the fact that it’s overproduced is doing a very good job of masking that passion.

Still though, there’s a lot of fantastic guitar work going on. It’s quick, high and rather airy. All in all, the whole album doesn’t falter on that front and remains consistently impressive. It’s a great album to listen to as background noise if you’re chilling out around the house or just looking to relax. It’s a very diverse release as well I’m just saying is that he’s done better is all.

Reccomended for: Folk heads, Bob Dylan enthusiasts (maybe, unless you get shitted off by the idea they sound similar), aspiring acoustic guitarists, etc.

Also! IMPORTANT TO NOTE! He's doing an Australian tour in the not too distant future! Eyes peeled people!

The Tallest Man on Earth - Wind and Walls

Runs for: 4:09

Like I said before - would make a strong track even without the effects. 

Were they really needed?

Drive Like Jehu - Yank Crime

Drive Like Jehu - Do You Compute?

Runs for: 7:13

Here is a prime example of being able to create something both evocative and noisy. 

Such a weird blend but much like that one time you tried putting the honey mustard on your meatball sub, it just works.

This one’s a little older than most of the albums I’ve reviewed. It’s one of the albums that I feel you really have to listen to before you die if you have any interest in music.

Drive Like Jehu were the second band to harbour the amazing Rick Froberg/John Reis rock duo. Together these two men have been in two other bands – Pitchfork prior to DLJ and Hot Snakes afterwards. Both of these bands are very good and incorporate some of the best guitar work I know. Drive Like Jehu themselves though have been credited as one of the earliest influences on the Emo genre before it was even conceived – despite the band themselves not being considered as ‘Emo’.

On their second and final release, Yank Crime, they opted to expand on their original post-hardcore sound, creating longer songs. Some of these were fast paced, some drawn out and emotive and some a mix of both moody rhythmic sections paired with distorted noise rock. These tracks came to lay out the foundation for certain progressive, hardcore and noise acts – one notable band who cites them as an influence are Canadian Noise-hardcore band Ken Mode, whom I believe are one of the best hardcore acts around at the moment (and are also deserving of more attention! GET ON THAT CORE HEADS FUCK!). Unfortunately the drawn out direction they took ultimately resulted in the death of the band with certain members (Reis if I’m correct?) getting fed up with the length and obscurity of the tracks. This ultimately led to Hot Snakes being created which wasn’t a bad thing though. Just wish they could have found a good balance…

Anyway, after a few listens you’ll be able to see why this album is held in high regard. The longer tracks on the album, ‘Do You Compute’ being my main case, are fucking brilliant at creating emotion through sound. The song starts off in what I’d call a slow, sort of airy fashion, but closer to the end it starts to become slow, ominous and brooding before leading up to a powerful, somewhat thundering finish. Sinews does something similar to this by creating a slow and somewhat broken atmosphere at the start but eventually leading into a pissed off thrash fest for distorted off-key guitar work. ‘Luau’, another one of the longer tracks, has a sort of thumping roll of a sound behind it. I listen to it when I’m walking and start strutting like a fucking boss.

The speedier tracks are pretty decent too, but I’ve always felt that the longer tracks were where this album shined. My reasoning behind this is that there’s a real feel of emotion or power that comes in those tracks that grabs the listener which the faster tracks lack. So many times I’ve sat around listening to one of the longer tracks and it’s struck me in a way that no other song really could – sometimes with a feeling of fire, inspiration or passion, and the faster tracks don’t do that. Instead the faster tracks I listen to when I’m more pissed off at something or playing games or some shit. They’re like small bursts of aggression. It’s all well constructed and decent – but after years of listening to these guys, I still can’t appreciate it like I do the longer tracks.

I’ve always felt that these guys have a signature way of throwing in weird, off key chords and notes whilst still sounding like a properly constructed song. The beauty of this is that it’s pretty subtle. The choruses, the rhythm sections in the songs will all sound good and I guess vaguely like a normal rock song – but behind it all, when you’re paying attention to what’s going on – there’s all sorts of crazy shit going on with the guitar with weird bent notes and all that other shit I mentioned before. They manage to incorporate this into all the songs, long or short, and like I said it all sounds perfectly normal.

What more’s to be said? These guys were around at a time where we were seeing a lot of decent post-hardcore (by that I mean the proper stuff, not those fuckheads who’ve spent more hours with a hair straightener than a musical instrument) and in some ways they helped set the future out for other bands in the field. If you’ve ever dabbled with bands like Fugazi, Unwound, maybe some of the older nineties bands, then this band should be in your library.

As a musician, I’ve taught parts of ‘Do You Compute’ to friends and we’ve been able to jam out some really interesting riffs just by playing those parts on repeat. Ken Mode’s song ‘Ahriman’ follows that same function and while they sound like two very different songs, just by listening closely you can detect the similarities in song structure. What I’m trying to say here is that by learning how to play these guys, you will get better at music. FACT.

So I guess I’ll summarise by saying the album is long, experimental at times and very musically emotive. It helped set the foundation for an entire genre of music, and I don’t believe these guys get the recognition they deserve.

Reccomended for: People who want to get all David Attenborough on the roots of emo music, Fans of noise music, fans of Unwound, Fugazi, maybe Sonic Youth and finally any other project Rick Froberg and John Reis were in. Also, most of all, musicians.

Drive Like Jehu - New Intro/New Math

Runs for: 3:32 - 4:06

These two are back to back on the album. The intro is slow, very mellow whilst new math itself is hard, angry and full of grit. A worthy pair right here.

Future Of The Left - Travels With Myself And Another

 Future of the Left - Arming Eritrea

Runs for: 2:57

That bass! That chorus guitar! Them drums! fwoaaahhh

Noisy. GOOD.

When I got my hands on this around two or so months ago, I couldn’t stop listening to it. Every day I’d be ripping through it at least once – I thought it was one of the best rock/noise albums I’d ever listened to. I still believe that.

I’ve covered Future of the Left’s most recent release in my review ‘The Plot Against Common Sense’. I didn’t like that album, but everything I have to say about the band in general I think I summed up pretty well there – they’re formed from the remnants of one of the UK’s better alt rock acts, instrumentally they’re very heavy, lyrically they’re bizarre and they know how to make a solid album.

Three things will stick out as soon as the album gets going. Firstly, bass tone. It’s gritty, powerful and borderline what I’d call ‘heavy metal’ whist still having decent rock hooks. Secondly, drums. They’re snappy, crisp, and it’s hard to find the right word to say that they just *work*. Sometimes it rolls quick, semi jazz like, and sometimes (especially on their last album ‘Curses’) they’ll crash like thunder. Finally, Andy Falkous. The front man uses both electric organ and guitar. I think his guitar work is, and always has been very decent for what it is. Not terribly complicated, but very versatile. He can work with a lot of styles – creating a semi epic feel with ‘Arming Eritrea’, a snappy rock track with ‘Stand by your Manatee’ or poppy and fucking odd with ‘Lapsed Catholics.’ His vocals stretch all over the place. He can howl like a demon or sing like a gentleman. Lyrically though there is no fucking way of figuring out what’s going through his mind. He’ll create a semi believable narrative and then top it off with something completely bizarre such as finding out that someone’s parents use plastic forks. Maybe this is some sort of insane metaphor and I’m an idiot, but he’s definitely got confusing the listener down to an art. Or so I believe.

Thematically, in the album, you’ll get a dose of pterodactyls,  monologues about Murdoch and the devil, finding love at a satanic orgies, the errors of introducing Reginald J. Trotsfield to the Fearsome Brown and all sorts of brilliance that should help you get by with your day to day business. As obscure as it all sounds, musically it’s very well constructed. It’s got a very familiar rock vibe whilst still being incredibly unique and quite listenable - I think that’s why this band works.

I firmly believe this is one of the best rock albums released. There’s one track I skip – ‘That Damn Fly’ (song does nothing for me, or the album in my opinion) but the rest of it is good to exceptional rock. The first 4 tracks are fucking brilliant, and even songs that don’t appear that good at first – The Hope that House Built namely - will end up growing on you. I didn’t get it at first but the chord work is REALLY good in my eyes.

Back to what I was saying though, I believe this to be one of the best rock albums unleashed upon this earth, but I don’t believe it’s for everyone. A lot of this album could be considered abrasive in it’s originality. It’s loud, unforgiving and obscure. This is comparable to rock like rough sex is comparable to making out. And on that analogy, ask yourself – which one is more satisfying?

Reccomended for: Possibly fans of At The Drive in, or very very verrry loosely like a punk version of Muse (at least bass and drum wise). Maybe even for fans of Queens of the Stone Age. Definitely not recommended for the weak.

P.s. Also, I recommend you check out Curses too. Not as good as an album, but the first four tracks along with a couple at the end are furious. One blogger put it down as ‘Music to hate people to’. I think Falkous’ previous band McLusky was better for that but he’s still got a valid fucking point! CHECK THIS OUT!

 Future of the Left - Throwing Bricks at Trains

Runs for: 2:36

Only slightly ridiculous, 

but it's got a certain strain of weird that makes it awesome.

Future of the Left - Plague of Onces

Runs for: 3:03

This is the second track off 'Curses'

and holy shit that drop at the middle. So raw!

Mac Demarco – 2

Mac Demarco - Freaking out the neighbourhood

Runs for 2:53

I struggle to handle the funkiness of this song. 

Always makes me up my pace and grin like an idiot when walking. For reals.

I got into this guy around three weeks ago. I’ve loved his stuff straight from the first listen! It’s dag rock basically. His first album, Rock and Roll Nightclub which was also released this year, was very goofy lyrically, held some completely funky music work and made for some very cool listening. However, two albums in one year leads me as a cynic to ask the question of whether he’ll be able to keep a good standard of music. Luckily enough though, the answer is yes. Maybe to a degree wherein some of the weaknesses of Rock and Roll Nightclub have been ironed out.

Now something you’ll get from the first listen is that the music uses some very weird tone work. There’s a bit of flange going on and the whole album has got this pre 90’s psychedelic vibe to it. Not so much as other releases but the tone is in such a way that makes the music sound a lot older than what it really is – quite retro really. The instrumentals have, and always will be a strength on Mac Demarco’s albums. It all sounds really cool and my housemate has a video of me dancing around to it with ease due to this evident funk that is incredibly easy to move, strut and shake to.

I said before that the first album had weaknesses. Mac Demarco’s first album had some cool tracks, but lyrically they were pretty silly and it’s hard to explain it but the song writing on a few tracks was pretty weak. The weaker songs on the album followed a formula – average lyrics with good instrumentals and then a solo at the end. All well and good as long as you don’t repeat this. On this album, he’s opted to shift away from his deep, semi soul vocal style and moved on to a higher range that sounds typical of indie-pop. A lot of the songs are pretty light hearted and have that weird twinge in the tone that’s signature to Demarco’s tracks. Good example of this: The Stars Keep On Calling My Name. Sounds a bit like a typical upbeat indie track, nice and fast but slaps a nice weird solo at the end of it with this weird effect, making it sound that much cooler.

I’d say one of the weaknesses of the album is that it starts off pretty funky but kind of trails off at around the end. There are good, fast or funky tracks and they get broken up by some slower, more melodic tracks. However, towards the end of the album, the tracks start getting slower and it doesn’t really pick up again from there. Besides that though, it’s all easy listening. If you decided to listen to the first half of the album while on a walk, you’d probably really said walk. If you decided to slap the second half of the album while chilling out at home, you’d probably enjoy that too. The album finishes up with the first acoustic effort he’s made on either album with Still Together and really closes it all up nicely. All in all, what he does good, he does really good. On the next album he does, I’d like to see some well done acoustic tracks, much more solid funk rock and maybe a mix up in the way his songs work – it’s all constructed in a rather typical rock method rather than any challenging structure.

Reccomended for: People who’d want to see a love child between The Bee Gees and... oh shit god knows who else. It's really funky though. I think fans of Late of the Pier could really appreciate this, even though they sound very different. Personally I think it's kinda like Tame Impala (loosely) but better (definitely). Everyone should listen though.

Side note: Check out Mac Demarco's facebook page here. He maintains a pretty funny web presence, I gotta admit.

Mac Demarco - Ode to Viceroy

 Runs for: 3:53

Very relaxed track. Apparently it's about Cigarettes. Personally it's not up there with my faves but a load of people are rating this the best song on the album.

Mac Demarco - The Stars Keep On Calling My Name

 Runs for: 3:53

Pretty obscure track - but pretty much captures the essence of the album... Bit weird, but fun.

Crystal Castles - 3

Crystal Castles - Plague

Runs for: 4:55

Pretty wicked opener to be fair. Kinda shows that they're making progress as a band, even though it's subtle.

There's a free download link on the youtube page for this song! I DUNNO MAYBE DOWNLOAD IT

Crystal Castles are a band I rated the shit out of come their second release. It was a thousand different things. Sometimes loud, abrasive, ghost-house horrifying, then sometimes as calm and enchanting as a good hard stare into the depths of space. I first heard the album after a music festival two years back and sat through it, knowing full well I couldn’t get to sleep and that moment has always stuck with me. The wonder of the album, the obscurity of the situation – I wasn’t a part of the ‘normal’ in that moment. I was listening to a fucking crazy album in a fucking crazy world – and I was completely ok with it. Over the following weeks, it made my brain challenge sound, construction of music and the use of noise. In my head it pushed boundaries.

Now three comes out. I gave it a listen the other week, praying that it would strangle out my sense of normal like the first one did. My prayers went unanswered. On the first listen it came off as rather uninspired. There wasn’t any of that chaos that the second album held, and a lot of the songs sounded samey. I gotta admit though, plagues struck me as  pretty good on first listen when it was released as a sample. Right now tho I sit at my desk in my dull office right now, ready to give it another listen. Lets see how we go.

Firstly, Plagues. Synth work is pretty wicked and it’s got both that cool trance vibe that some of the more mellow tracks off 2 had. It’s a step up, but it’s super subtle. Nothing ground breaking, inspiring or evocative. Still though, it’s an easy listen, keeps a good beat and it’s a pretty likeable track.

Kerosene is mixed really well – listening to it with your headphones, the drums and bass hit with a weird force that fucks with your head. The synth work is cool and the song has some pretty wicked bridging and some weird vocal warping used as a backing sound. It’s classic of what I’d expected from 2 – weird, different, but most of all GOOD.

Wrath of God is floaty, kind of calm, keeps a regular beat but just strikes me as boring. The drums don’t smash out or anything, the synth keeps a pretty dull pattern and the vocals aren’t really drawing any sort of emotion out of me. There’s some cool effects close to the end of the song but it’s too subtle for it to be considered interesting really.

Affection is kind of cool. the drums are a bit off which is interesting, synth is nice and thumpy, keeps the listener interested, until you realise the song isn’t going anywhere. So I’m kind of sitting here getting my ears jerked by this song only for it to get tired half way and leave me without a climax. Man.

Pale Flesh strikes me as pretty dancey. I can see me getting down to this and really enjoying it. It’s got a dirty as shit beat going on and has this sweet habit of thumping the listener with a stack of noise and vocals. However, the track doesn’t really build up into anything outside of that which sucks.

Sad Eyes has this operatic electronica sound and that disco beat that Crystal Castles subtly puts in some of their songs. It’s another track that feels close to what these guys do best, and yeah it’s a pretty decent track. It kind of outlines the difference between this album and the last – they’ve definitely improved on the sound that they know best, but the song writing is falling a bit behind, seeming kind of familiar yet a little uninspired compared to the earlier work.

Insulin… oh look it’s doe deer mark 2. Pretty much a noise track, which is kind of the first real burst of difference on the album. Kind of cool but a bit too short to make a difference.

Transgender opens with a pretty cool little synth progression, nice bass-ey part underlying and starts to pick up pretty nicely. Drums kick in and it’s got a solid sound to it. Still, remains pretty samey after a bit but I can see myself dancing to it.

Violent Youth has a very cool sound to it and drum and bass wise will fuck with your skull a little bit if you’re wearing headphones. And they change up the sounds a bit as the song progresses! This might be my favourite track so far. Nice, fast, sweet beat, weird sounds going on, progression changes moreso than other tracks on the album… yeah man. Just reeks of a good effort.

By this stage of the album I’m starting to really dig it. The sounds are evolving. Telepath uses some really fucking cool sound effects, backs it with a nice beat, chops the progression around a bit too. Can totally see myself dancing to this.

Mercenary doesn’t really do it for me. Track is a bit boring. The effects are pretty alright but it doesn’t really do much as a song until the end where they throw on this good bazz fuzz effect which, as cool as it is, really can’t save an otherwise boring song.

As the last track, Child I Will Hurt You strikes me as a decent finisher. It’s pretty relaxing and easy to listen to, and to be fair if Crystal Castles ever made an attempt at a nearly relaxing track, it’d have to be at the end of an album that warrants so much movement.

Overall though I gotta say I’m not too stoked on the final product. Not saying that the last album was perfect… but here, there are moments of brilliance that are trumped by songs that don’t nurture them. Whenever something sounded good, the rest of the song let it down by repeating it, no chopping or changing, no advancement on the sound by chucking in a good backing chorus synth or some shit – just seems like in some places they’ve realised they can appeal to a larger market and tried to both evolve their signature sound while making it more accessible. Maybe it worked. Maybe I’ve got higher standards in music which is why I’m not so stoked on it. Who knows man. That said though what IS good on the album is fucking fantastic and I’m gonna hope what is good starts making its way onto playlists at dj sets or house parties. Fingers crossed.

Reccomended for: People who hate electronica but are willing to give it a shot, house heads who can deal with a bit of rough edge,

P.s. getting the feeling this one is a grower. I shot back on some of the tracks I liked and they didn't jump at me like they did when i was hearing them consecutively... there's logic in that sentence. trust.

Crystal Castles - Violent Youth

Runs for: 4:21
I just did a track by track review.

Fuck the extra comment, scroll up!

Masakari/Alpinist Split LP

Alpinist -  Abgerichtet

Runs for: 4:24
Opener for the Split LP. 

This is what hardcore should sound like.

 

Masakari - Progress

Runs for: 3:09

Heavy! Good! What the fuck else do I say!

I got into Alpinist around late last year and loved them from the first listen with their release of Minus Mench, which I rate as one of the best hardcore albums of all time. They’re a 3 person band  out of Germany – each member screams, is exceptionally talented at their instruments and as a band they can create both fast and appealing crustcore and powerful metal bridges, combining both frequently along with instrumentals reminiscent of post hardcore/pop punk and their own pessimistic punk views to create some insanely powerful music. Sadly, they announced their break-up earlier this year, after putting out this spilt LP with Masakari, another up and coming crust act. The Alpinist side of the LP is energetic, moody at times and incredibly diverse which is what I’ve come to expect from the band. Unfortunately I don’t give the Masakari side the attention it deserves, and this review is going to serve as my boot up the arse to get that side panned properly.

The first two tracks from the Alpinist side are both well constructed energetic neo-crust tracks which is their most ‘at home’ sound. From then on, they get a bit experimental, opening their tracks up in a weirdly unique, catchy way then breaking into elaborate crust sections that jump from fast paced to drawn out and slightly melodic. The formula becomes a little too similar, but the riffwork is always cleverly diverse which masks it very well. Beyond this they always have very elaborate segments riddled in each song that always seem to mask this.

Their half of the album finishes with a bang, the epic track Quelle Valeur Reste – a brilliant prog metal ballad that builds up, gets layered, then comes down with a crashing crustcore finish before Masakari’s half begins. In my eyes this was one of Alpinist’s best releases. All the songs were good in their own right, they managed to experiment with riff work and beats better than on their previous releases which paid off, and had none of the weaknesses that their previous release, Lichtlaerm had – the main flaw being that during the middle there were some fairly uninspired tracks by their standard. The Alpinist side alone always made this album worth the listen, this is some of the best produced and constructed work by one of the best, unique and hard working hardcore bands (that I know of) of the past few years. Real fucking shame they broke up.

Now the Masakari side. I only gave it one listen when I first got the album around a year ago. I remember it being good but real fucking heavy.

Their side opens pretty well. Starts melodic, then breaks into some dirty as fuck, slow beat hardcore. The vocals are pretty low, and the drummer – holy shit. He kicks in and it's apparent this guy shoots out more beats per second than most bands I can name. He’s practically turning the band into a melodic grindcore act. The guitars are pretty well suited to it as well which is a surprise, choosing both to work well with the melodic sections while also being able to set up its own rhythm to the speed of the drums with startling accuracy.

It’s all pretty hard, and incorporates more elements of older, more ‘hardcore’ bands along with crust bands such as Tragedy, giving it a more traditional and aggressive feel than the Alpinist side. Of the two bands, Alpinist has always been more accessible. The Masakari tracks have some brilliance to them, and are a real show of skill from the band. They can pump out some super cohesive stuff at break-neck speed while still holding a coherent song structure, keeping them in the genre of crust. However, I get the slight tingle in the back of my neck when I hear some of their faster or harder stuff – reminiscent of what I got when I listened to power violence bands. I could never get down with PV because they were just TOO heavy. Masakari don’t fall into that field because they break up their half of the album with some really unique hardcore parts, but without those parts I feel it’d be too abrasive a release for me to deal with.

However, just because PV or super aggressive stuff isn’t my thing doesn’t mean that other people couldn’t see the appeal there. It’s really good shit both riff and drum wise and I could probably really appreciate it after a couple more listens. The last few tracks on it are fucking ridiculous, and show a display of this unique riff work, intense drumming and definitely above average song structure, each track riddled with subtleties and unexpected parts. After this listen, I can say I was right in my first observation. Good. But real fucking heavy.

Reccomended for: Fucking MEN. MANLY MANLY MEN. Fans of Converge, Cursed and maybe even His Hero Is Gone will really dig the first half for sure. I’ve even heard parkway drive enthusiasts being able to listen to Alpinist’s first release and considering that 5 out of 7 parkway fans are literal shitheads I take massive amounts of joy from that. Fans of maybe Trapped Under Ice, Defeater, maybe even Tragedy, Magrudergrind or Pig Destroyer might find the second half more to their liking. Even some parkway fans maybe. Depends on if you listen to hardcore for the heavy factor, which this half is all about.