I'm trying my hand at getting some stuff published, so I thought I'd share this review I've written up for local magazine BMA. It'll be in a different format than usual due to the guidelines required for print journalism.
FIDLAR
(Self Titled)
1.5/5
Triple J has chosen FIDLAR’S self titled album as their ‘album of the week’. They’ve dubbed it ‘Surf Punk at it’s best’, which might be true if you ignored every surf band in existence and imagine these guys as groundbreaking. They really aren’t.
Instrumentally, there’s a bit of hope, but more disappointment. The drums are catchy, and they’re trying to be adventurous with the guitar – there’s a hint of off key riff work reminiscent of Black Flag - but they fall short of the mark with dull songs that don’t go anywhere, and listening to the lyrical content is absolute punishment. Most tracks are about being a loser, but they fail to execute it in a clever manner and it comes off as attention seeking like a 16 year old who thinks he’s amazing because he’s just found out what weed is. Their track ‘No Waves’ is practically unlistenable due to the blatant need to rhyme at the end of every verse, which forces awful and unnecessary lyrics into the song. This happens too often in the album and makes the thing about as pleasant to deal with as kidney stones.
If you want the ‘surf’ part of this band done right, listen to Thee Oh Sees. If you want the ‘punk’ lyrical side done right, listen to Titus Andronicus. If you want a band that sounds exactly like this but better, try Bleeding Knees Club. Don’t listen to FIDLAR.
- T B
Dead set though, these guys blow chunks. This could have been really clever if they shot the vocalist and replaced him with someone who doesn't come off as a drug addled 16 year old. I mean, look at Pete fucking Doherty. He's drug fucked half the time and even with his tuneless wailing, at least the guy knows how to write a song.
At the end of the day though if this winds up with me getting something published, I'll secretly love FIDLAR forever. Definitely not for their music though! hohohoho.
First proper track for Vertikal. A lot of people are rating this one highly, and since I can't pick a favourite off this album yet, this will do for now.
Either the band has really stepped it up a notch in the last year, or the lack of truly great atmospheric sludge metal albums bore a deep tunnel of longing and despair in my heart which couldn’t be filled. Perhaps both.
Downfall of Gaia came close, but fell short of the mark with tracks that were only half interesting. Black Sheep Wall’s new release wasn’t even a shadow of their near perfect (although very close to being a bit too close to tacky) first album. Outside of that, a lot of what is listed as sludge or atmospheric sludge sometimes either doesn’t truly fit the bill or becomes too inconsistent with its track listing – there are only a few good tracks on an otherwise dull album. I’ve been prowling through a frozen wasteland, cold and insane in the hunt for my next meal, a full, fleshy album that I can pick down to the bones and keep me fed until I have to hunt again. This album might be it.
The sludge segments are really, really good here. Very airy, brooding at times and incredibly well produced. The guitar outside of this also incorporates more traditional high work than the other albums rather than just the airy progressions from before. It’s more ‘rock’ than prog metal in parts, and makes the album seem more fleshed out without making it sound tacky, surprisingly. There’s a heightened use of electronic effects too that I think works in the album’s favour, but it’s really caught me off guard. The electronic segments are actually pretty good, better than what I’d expect for a metal band. It’s used to create interesting soundscapes, and this is something that the band has done before but never THIS good. It’s always been pretty subtle wherein now, it’s powerful and obvious. The fact that it can be both of these things while actually contributing to the album is something I find absolutely fantastic.
I think the one thing that I don’t like about the album lies in my belief that the vocal style really needs to catch up with the music. It’s not necessarily bad, but the music has evolved over the past two albums into a faster format, and the vocals should be creating extra tension through shortened growls or change of tone at least, rather than the monotonous yell we get for the most part. To be fair though, other heavyweights in the genre have the awful habit of completely forgetting that it is possible to manipulate your voice in this way, and so changes in vocal style in a lot of sludge bands are avoided unfortunately.
I think the weird thing here is that the album picks up from Eternal Kingdom, takes that style and makes it far more polished. I wanted to like Eternal Kingdom but there was one or two things about a few songs that I just didn’t like – there seemed to be a lack of continuity. They threw in a lot of good segments but they didn’t bridge well. Along with this is that it had to live in the shadow of Somewhere Along The Highway, which is a truly great sludge album. At any rate though, Vertikal is packed with well meshing sludge segments which constantly surpass expectations through clever progressions and a near perfect and perhaps ground-breaking use of effects. This may well be their most polished album yet, perhaps even their best.
Just a final note for first time listeners, Cult Of Luna are definitely a band which has to grow on you. When I first heard them, I hated them. It took me a bit to come around to them, but they are one of the best atmospheric sludge bands you can find. Start with Somewhere Along The Highway if you can and listen to it from start to finish. It’s pretty much what the cornerstone for atmospheric sludge should be.
Pretty good track. Instrumentally it's good and keeps you optimistic for the album...
This is a pretty cool post-punk release. Something nice and
early in the year with a good blend of indie and post punk, also with a dash of
dream pop in some instances. It’s a pretty easy listen, and you can tell these
guys have some form of talent, but I'm hesitant to say that this album worth
anything better than a 3/5. Not that I use a rating scale here, but you get the
point.
Some of the music here involves very snappy drums with post
punk guitar, creating a nice retro sound. The vocals are pretty airy and sort
of hover over the instrumentals quite nicely. There are also some slower, more
relaxed tracks and the band executes this style pretty well too. The album opens
pretty strongly with the title track, which if you examine it closely, it seems
to focus on the meaning of post punk itself - what it’s supposed to be about as
words rather than a genre. The opening song ends with repeated lyrics getting
more forceful every loop which seems very forceful and a bit punk styled. It
seems like a clever moment in music, but the rest of the album doesn't really follow
this adventurous approach.
The problem is that it does get a bit same-y. They've got a
very good sound, but it’s no good having an album where you only showcase that
with little variation. The tracks tend to keep rolling with very few changes in
vocal style or guitar riffs, leaving the work for the bass and the guitar. Now
this can come off as pretty interesting, but at the end of the song you’re left
relatively unsatisfied. Sometimes they do change up the guitar and it works
pretty well, but then they leave the bass and the drums doing the same thing
for the rest of the song, leaving you with the same problem as before. If the
album had a few more tempo changes, breaks or more interesting vocal work in most
of the tracks, you’d actually have a phenomenal album on your hands instead of
a listen-able one. There’s also a few moments that sound too similar in terms of
the riff-work which is a bit shit.
Not to say that this is a bad album. It’s full of decent
songs, but they’ll probably be better suited to a playlist or radio play rather
than a proper sit down. These guys have the potential to amount to amazing things
– I’m eager to see if that’ll ever happen.
Beach Fossils - Crashed out
Runs for 3:24
Again, another strong track. Really picks up nicely.
Just spreading the word in case you missed it on the band's Facebook page. There's probably like five fucking billion other links out there redirecting to it anyway...
BLACK BREATH Australian Tour w/ I Exist:
5/4/2013 Crowbar - Brisbane
6/4/2013 Hermanns - Sydney
7/4/2013 The Basement - Canberra
10/4/2013 Enigma Bar - Adelaide
11/4/2013 Reverence- Melbourne
If you don't know these guys, you should. They released a belting album in 2012 with 'Sentenced to Life' that came out as a dirty mess of Crust, Hardcore and old style Rock and Roll with some grindy metal riffs to boot. Musicians, critics and fans alike gave great amounts of praise to it, and for good reason - the production is amazing, the instrumentals are precise yet furious and the vocalist yells like a beast. If you got down with Burning Love, or are looking for an excellent and different hardcore band, you should enjoy this.
Strange... Just strange. But somehow still very appealing.
Still don’t know what to make of this album. Numb is a
really great opener and sets up a soundscape that runs over the listener like
water, smooth and cool. A lot of the other tracks on the album do this as well.
There’s a few sounds that kick in over the album that hit the listener with a
wall of damp sound, a sort of noteless bass like thunder or a deep drum.
The synth work here is kind of horrifying. It sounds a lot
like heavy machinery at work and works as the bass for most of the tracks. The
vocals layered over the top are slightly robotic, the drum work also reflects
this.
I’m not sure what draws me to this album, but I think it
comes from the general eeriness coming from it. It’s definitely unlike a
conventional house record. It lacks a real aesthetic that brings it in line
with other house tracks, it’s not terribly upbeat, the tracks lack a certain
dancey quality and the existing groove behind it is unconventional, deep and
heavy. The album holds this gritty primal beat to it yet tries to mask it with
those machine like effects.
I don’t know if I’ll be able to really give a proper review
of it as I don’t properly understand what it is that’s drawing me to the album.
I guess the bottom line is that you’ll have to listen and understand this
intangible seduction for yourself. A couple of the tracks stand out in the
sense that they run a bit closer to a normal house track through an emphasis on
lyrics rather than beat. However, the tracks that primarily focus on the music
seem that much darker through the juxtaposition.
Reccomended for: House heads I suppose. I'm not too sure who would dig this, but I'm certain that if you have any appreciation for electronic music, this will pull one of your threads.
Andy Stott - Sleepless
Runs for: 5:51
See what I mean about the creepy effects? The soundscape? The beat?
Here's the full album. Chill out on your bed and give it a spin.
With the filter lifted at work, I now have access to the
websites I use to find new music. Because of this, I figure I’d go to the
youstubes and check out some tracks of this year’s supposed ‘better’ releases
to get you ready, at least for this month.
Yo La Tengo – “Ohm” + “Before We Run” from the album “Fade”.
“Ohm” is Pretty cool. The guitar is a bit familiar, perhaps
a bit contry-esque, drums are busier than the guitar but it works. Chorus is
pretty catchy and the vocals are nice and relaxed. Nice mellow sort of solo
going over it as well. Yeah, I’d say this is a pretty decent song. I’m not
going as far as to call it ground breakingly awesome, but I can see it growing
on me. I’ll probably check the album when I can.
“Before We Run” is a pretty nice track as well, holding the
same sort of melodic vocals but with a bit more musical substance. I have to
admit though, I’m kind of worried that this might end up doing a ‘Beach House’
on me – wherein the first few tracks are ok but the album is terrible because
the songs are far too similar.
Verdict: Will listen to.
Foxygen – No Destruction and On Blue Mountain from We Are the 21st Century
Ambassadors of Peace & Magic
No Destruction – I’m hearing hints of bowie and I’m LIKING
It. It’s also a bit closer to Wilco, and I have no problem with this. There’s
also a Dylan-esque wailing part. It’s a bit weird, but relaxed. You can shake
your head around to it, they’ve thrown in a cool drum line, pianos and relaxed
guitars.
On Blue Mountain – I’m hearing suspicious minds. But again,
I’m kind of cool with it. There’s a blues section in the middle, wailing
vocals, a climb before the chorus with piano involved, just general craziness.
It’s cool, very happy and best of all, diverse. I’m probably getting this
album.
Verdict: Will probably get (I JUST SAID THAT GOSH)
ASAP Rocky – “Long Live ASAP” off “Long Live Asap”
Verdict: I’ll check out the album if someone plays it to me.
Maybe there’s better tracks.
Grouper – 'Cover the long way' off “The Man Who Died In His
Boat”
I like the acoustic work. The vocals just sort of soar over
it with this airy hum for the whole time and work as an instrument rather than
adding any substantial lyrics. It’s a weird blend but it kind of works.
Verdict: I’ll check it out later. Seems like if most of the
album was like that, it’d be one to listen to at bedtime.
Esben and the Witch – Deathwaltz
Ok, musically I’m digging it. The guitars are quick and
high, the drums are snappy and the bass is a bit ominous, although maybe a little
too quiet. Vocals are a bit gothy, maybe a bit directly depressing and I don’t
really dig that but nonetheless the vocalist has a nice voice.
Verdict: I’ll check it out, but with caution.
I’m actually
quite fond of a bit of depressing music, but there’s an element of desperation
in the style (not the delivery) put forward by the haste and the airiness of
the vocals that I’m finding a touch unsettling, but that boils down to personal
preference. It’s pretty good though.
Absolutely fantastic track. Use of many different instruments, fuzz and if you look up the lyrics there's a sad narrative that makes the music all the more beautiful.
Might be my new favourite album here. This is Mount Eerie
before it was, you know, ‘Mount Eerie’. It’s a very folk-y album with lots of
low-fi influenced sounds. There’s a lot of fuzz, loud drumming but at the same
time a complete opposite with a lot of mellow guitar sections and enchanting
melodies. Bit of horn work, piano and those Jamaican iron drums as well. Oh and
talent.
Past that point, Phil Elverum’s voice is airy and holds a
good range. It’s also very clean and most of the lyrics on the track are easy
to pick just by listening, but they never blew me away until I read them
properly. The Moon has been one of my favourite tracks on the album – maybe
even my complete favourite – but it was one of the few tracks where I could never
hear the lyrics properly. Upon reading them, there’s this depth and power to
the song that I never grasped before.
It’s difficult to draw criticisms on an album that’s so
good. A vague, half criticism could be that the use of fuzz might be a bit
jarring for first time listeners, but you’ll ease into it the same way you do a
cold pool. A more solid criticism that I could bring up is that due to the
length of the album, you might notice some scrapes of melodic repetition in
either his voice or the guitars. A few of the tracks do sound relatively
similar, despite having lyrical difference. But the weird thing about this is
that the album is incredibly diverse outside of that. There are so many changes
in mood. The tracks range from bitter-sweet climatic, dark and brooding to
emotional. An absolute spectrum of mellow folk genius.
Reccomended for: Fans of Damien Rice, The Tallest Man on
Earth post wild hunt, and really anyone looking for a well constructed, laid
back album.
The Microphones - The Glow pt.2
My favourite bit about this song has to be the guitar part at the end.
It's got a lot of musical diversity like the rest of the album and several changes in mood.
For those who might have listened to and enjoyed Have A Nice
Life and Giles Corey that I posted here a few months back, here’s the record
label’s site. I normally wouldn’t go out of my way to advocate record labels, but they’re operating in a ‘do it yourself’ style and I’ve got a lot of
respect for that.
They’ve got a pretty interesting philosophy about how the
internet has affected the music industry and has steered into a desperate clamour
for attention in the form of friends/likes etc rather than assisting in artist
collaboration and the creation of some truly unique stuff. Along with this; the
belief that one guy in a bedroom can create music just as good as the best a
label has to offer. An interesting theory and one that I’ll proudly advocate if
the next Have A Nice Life release is as amazing as the first.
Check it out in the ‘About’ section, it’s a decent read. I
think there’s a few strong and interesting points made on the site, but there’s
a part of me saying they’re taking it all very seriously. Perhaps too
seriously. It’s an indication of passion however and I respect that in any
form.
What’s more, they have free album downloads that you can get
off the site. The digital versions of the albums are a pretty sweet $5 too. The
type of music that can be found here is darker stuff, much like Have A Nice
Life, Giles Corey and a lot of other related projects. I guess if you had to
throw a few genres around, the top three words I’d use would be alternative,
experimental and (well four words now) black metal.
I think over the upcoming weeks, I’ll get some of the free
downloads and give them a quick review. Maybe do an Enemies List edition. If
you know any other record labels giving out free downloads (that don’t chug
dong) then I’d like to hear from you so I can review more albums…
Gonna start putting up music news and general info as I find it too. Still gonna have reviews, plus the heads up on worthwhile gigs as I catch them.
That said, I'm carpetbombing the blog with posts in bursts because most of my drafts are done at work and I can't post them there. Just thought I'd say in case the three people who read this give a shit. Thanks for giving that shit though x
Edit: They put down the filter at lunchtimes! muahahaha! enjoy work posts!
One of my favourite hardcore bands are releasing a new album soon!
KEN mode have been responsible for some of my favourite hardcore songs since I dabbled into the genre. I fucking foam at the mouth at the mere mention of this band. Their release of Venerable in 2011 was completely solid, and my second favourite heavy release of that year next to Trap Them’s Darker Handcraft, both of which, I believe, shat on Mastodon’s ‘The Hunter’ (or at least in terms of band direction… their past two albums were so much better).
Besides that, the opening track off Mennonite “Extending Common Courtesy Throughout The Evening’ is one of my favourite songs ever (despite the album being a disappointment in my eyes). Reprisal, their second album, is incredible from start to finish and really mixed up the song structure in a way that you don’t get with typical hardcore albums. Their first album, Mongrel, was pretty decent too with a unique mix of noise rock and epic progressions that sounds like what I’d call ‘opera-core’.
Entrench will be KEN mode’s 5th release. Apparently Matt Bayliss who was responsible for recording albums for Mastodon, Botch and Isis has done the recording for this album, along with Dave Verellen from Botch and now Narrows doing some guest vocals which should be sweet, along with a guy called Tim Singer from bands Deadguy and Kiss it Goodbye… but I haven’t heard of them yet.
Anyway, I’ll drop you links to my favourite tracks from their past four releases, and a live video with a track from their upcoming album. Enjoy! Also Pitchfork has got access to a properly released track. It's Here.
And the ticket prices are 20 bucks for the Canberra gig!
These guys play a strain of high speed psychedelic rock. Maybe like Tame Impala on crack?
Any rate though, their 2011 release of Carrion Crawler/The Dream was pretty amazing in my book. Fast, energetic, absolutely dirty fucking guitar work coupled with machine gun drum rolls and had this sweet old surfie psych vibe to it. It was planted in many top 100 album lists for that year. Putrifiers II, which they released in 2012, was probably better constructed and was definitely a more ‘conventional’ album but lacked that filthy sound that made me love CC/TD so much. Still got reviewed very well though.
Like I said, 20 bucks. It’ll be sexy and electric. Just do it. What’s the alternative, sit around at home on a Monday night complaining how long and boring the rest of the week is going to be? Oh sounds wonderful.
February 11th at Transit bar! Be there or be shit!
Thee Oh Sees - Soul Contraption/Desert Runs for: 5:21
Jesus Christ, so filthy. Wait for the guitars and the drums to kick in and oh my god.
Also, while we're on the topic of tours, Mount Eerie are hitting east coast Australia like... now. Completely different band but check out the deets at http://www.pwelverumandsun.com/.
Doing a bit of trawling over the internet whilst bored at work (as I do) and I came across this gem of a website.
http://unwoundarchive.com/
It’s been set up by the band themselves. I put an enquiry through to the site to try and find out if there’ll be a section about what the ex-members are doing now and got an email from Justin Trosper himself saying that he might put up something on the site. Stoked to hear from him actually, The guy’s a bit of a hero in my books and I’m looking forward to hearing more out of his new band ‘Survival Knife’ which (from memory) sounds like a good sort of garage rock/post-hardcore revival. Youtube that shit!
The site has a lot of cool stuff related to the band on it. One of the flyers I liked came from a show in Germany in ’94 and had some pretty wicked artwork of people walking by what looks like a prison camp wall. Besides this they’ve got all sorts of cool stuff like a mildly amusing food diary from their tours, timelines of their gigs, old interviews from articles, photos and all sorts of other interesting stuff. If you’re a fan of the band, or just want to kill a bit of time at work I’d recommend checking it out before your fuckhead networks department drops a filter on the site so you can’t check it at work.
Last year I decided I’d try to get into a couple of new styles of music. I tried Jazz, and it sucked. I tried black metal and realised I’d have to be 15 and trying to look edgy to high schoolers to get into it so I left it alone (why bother with black metal when sludge is far superior? SUCK IT METALFAGS). I tried the blues though and thoroughly enjoyed it! I expanded my music library greatly and learnt a few new things on guitar as a result.
This here is a quick list of blues songs you can listen to if you’re looking to get an appreciation for it. I personally prefer delta blues over electric blues, just because there’s a certain bare-bones aesthetic to delta blues that most electric artists I’ve come across seem to lack. Albert King is the exception to the rule though.
Son House is easily my favourite artists due to the fact that his mastery of the guitar is such that most songs he did on the father of the delta blues compilation had a real sort of solid soundscape behind the music that makes it sound like more than one instrument is at work. He experiments with a lot of musical styles as well – outside of his powerful blues tunes, there’s also elements of gospel worked into the album. The whole thing is like a hearty musical stew! Along with this, Son House was apparently a massive influence on Jack White of The White Stripes. Bit of trivia there for you.
John Lee Hooker is probably my second favourite. I’ve got to admit, while I love his voice to death, I get it confused sometimes with the voice of Muddy Waters – but Serves You Right To Suffer is probably my second favourite blues album that I own. It’s electric but doesn’t go over the top with it like I feel some of the other blues musicians I’ve got into do.
Another favourite is Mississippi Fred Mcdowell. His music is the perfect example of the kind of intimacy that you can only get from the delta blues – that single guitar working up all kinds of magic. Lots of really obscure sounds coming from (what I assume to be) decent slider work.
Anyway enough of me crapping on. Here’s a few songs for people looking to get into the blues.
Son House - Death Letter
John Lee Hooker - It Serves You Right To Suffer
Mississippi Fred McDowell - Kokomo Me, Baby
Albert King - Personal Manager
Just for the record I pretty much just snapped up any Youtube video I saw on the list. I don't know if they'll be perfect quality. Sorry!
All heaped into one. Fucking brilliant start to the album and the song ends like a catastrophic thunder.
This album has been in my library for some time and I’ve come to hold it in regard as an album of potential. The band is unfortunately no longer together but had they kept on going and continued with the stronger sounds on the album, they might have made the best sludge metal release since EVER.
So what makes this album good? The band managed to create this incredible climatic feel. From the word go, the album hits you with a brooding then thundering intro, rolled on to the first proper track Nayeli. Even then by the end of that song it builds up into this incredible tremolo, thrashing out a thundering end. ‘Emma Peel’ also has a brilliant rolling riff at the start and finishes with some nice droning segments mixed with sung lyrics sometimes employed by neo post-hardcore acts.
The vocals are very grindy. There’s a shriek being employed here rather than a bellow and I’m not sure if that works to its advantage. You get used to it over time and I believe its unique and complements the album nicely in the long run, but I can’t help but wonder how good the album might sound with more traditional roaring hardcore/metalcore vocals, or even a backing vocalist employing this style.
The final tracks on the album leave something to be desired as well. They drag on a bit and don’t really offer the atmosphere or climatic display that we get on the earlier tracks. The worst part about these tracks probably lies in the instruments seeming relatively uninspired. For the rest of the album, we get a powerful display of mixed noises and technique, something that’s really individual and puts the band apart from other sludge metal acts. Their sludge riffs and composing set these guys apart from a lot of other bands in the scene, but for the end of the album to put the brakes on this and bring it to a halt was a bit disappointing. Not to say that the final track, ‘Land’ was a bad finisher at all, the album wraps up very nicely with a slower, droning track that takes the heat off the rest of the album.
Overall, I’m a little gutted that the band fell apart before we got to see another album out of them. This one is a bit of a gem in my library and while it’s not my favourite – it’s definitely something I’d recommend to anyone dabbling in sludge metal. I know I’ve painted out a lot of the negatives of the album, but what is good here is REALLY good… nearly groundbreaking. It’s very difficult to find sludge metal of this calibre or distinctiveness, that alone should be reason for you to listen to it.
Reccomended for: People who liked Tempest, fans of early Isis. Also –corewhores.
Time To Burn - Isle Of Men
Runs for: 2:51
Instrumental track that really highlights the band's musical strengths.
Smooth track. Completely love the bassline even if it's a bit simple, plus it's got a definite feel to it.
This album has been a real grower on me. Their previous album, Exploding Head, was a pretty solid modern shoegaze/post punk-hardcore release and was a solid and noisy listen. Worship, however, is a bit different and leans more towards the post-punk genre with a sound similar to that of The Cure or Joy Division. On top of this, the snappy drum work brings me to say there’s a similarity, ironically, to the band ‘The Drums’. However, the insane amount of noise, use of electric drums and calmed vocals make this seem like a perversion of all the previous bands, merged into one final brilliant product. Kind of like a noisier, faster At The Drive-In. Maybe.
A lot of the tracks on this album are powered by the drums and a distorted (flanged?) bass guitar. The guitar comes over it doing whatever the fuck it wants and on a rare occurrence, you’ll find it adding to the song! If I’ve got one criticism here it’s that the guitar has a tendency to trail off into noise-esque style riffs, although the lower range is quite relaxed and supports the music really well. It’s more the highs and the noise segments that throw me off, along with the high chord work over the low rhythm of the bass and guitar. In my opinion if the guitar was toned down more often and bought in line with the rest of the music, the album could be… different. Maybe more conventional and approachable, but I’m of the belief that they album’s noise work is a defensive measure. I’ll explain.
I started spinning this album to a mate of mine in the car on our way to a music festival. Honestly there’s something about this album that’s very catchy and interesting but it’s veiled by the noise sections. I think what the deal here is that you can either see this album as primarily a noise album with catchy hooks, or an indie rock album with noise segments – vice versa. I think unless you’re acquainted with noise music, it’ll probably be too difficult to digest. Besides this, the electric drum work in incredibly snappy and works well with an indie medium. The vocals are mellow and deep to a point where they sound nearly spoken. The bass works perfectly with the drums and pretty much backs the album.
Besides a few instances of subtle self depreciation, a lot of the lyrical themes seem to surround interpersonal relationships and the combination of those themes with the near spoken vocals seem to create this bizarre… I guess what you could call sexiness that isn’t dissimilar to themes that Queens of the Stone Age has emulated at times. Combine this with the music itself and it gives me the best two adjectives to describe the album – sexy and deranged.
The album isn’t for everyone, but if you learn to deal with the noise, you’ve got an incredibly solid album here with unique and interesting tracks. These guys are touring Australia soon but regrettably not doing a Sydney show (at least that's what I thought when I saw the tour release when I first wrote this... turns out they're at least doing a Canberra show - GET IN!). What’s more I’m broke. They’ve said in an interview that they prefer to push their amps to a level wherein the sound itself shakes both the audience and the musicians, creating a unique feeling. Does that sound like a good time? Fucking go to the gigs!
Reccomended for: At The Drive In fans, maybe Unwound fans, Future of the Left fans and anyone who’s down for some fast paced, decent yet alternative indie rock.
A Place To Bury Strangers - Why Can't I cry Anymore
Runs for: 3:39
Pretty raw and definitely a good indicator of their musical niche. Gets me pumped yo.
A Place To Bury Strangers - And I'm Up
Runs for: 3:46
They picked videos for all the good songs on this album didn't they?
They've made the record pretty diverse and this song should show that with it's kinda upbeat, poppy feel.
I'll sum it up below. There's something interesting and maybe groundbreaking here...
This one here scored album of the year in the mind of one of my good mates. We were having a beer or 4 at a pub in Hobart and upon returning to my home, I realised I had the album and might as well give it a spin.
What do I make of this album? The vocals are pretty sweet, deep, and have a very jazz/blues/spoken word vibe to it, making this album an interesting fusion of both that element and house music. The drums and drops are pretty decent, and get stronger as some tracks go along which sets a bit of a mood.
I guess what I don’t like about this album is that for the earlier parts of it, it’s just too slow. Some of the songs (Running) will take a long time to build up and peter out too quickly when the climax is reached. These earlier parts seem to be trying to set up a funk, but it’s not something that me as a listener can connect with. Tracks like this pop up a few more times. Sometimes, though he nails it and creates some really decent atmospheric tracks with dirty as shit sounds behind it – NY is killing me being a good example of this. These problems might simply boil down to taste though. I typically like my tracks either energetic, evocative or atmospheric and this album kind of evades what I’ve come to normally expect in house music.
There are other instances where the vocals bring to a head a strong, climatic feel, which perfects the fusion I was talking about previously. My Cloud is a great example of this. Good drums, bass, and those jazz/blues vocals floating over it turns what would have been a simple chilled house track into a proper song. It feels like it’s pushing a genre, a genius combination that should have been put forward before… maybe it has, I’m not sure… but it seems like a clever progression to create a song that can both have the electronic emphasis of house music with soulful and more traditional vocals – rather than the usual house method of just chucking in a woman singing the same lines over or a guy with vocal effects repeating a couple of phrases.
Outside of this, some of the drums and electronic work are slightly reminiscent of Radiohead’s more experimental work and I think listening closely, that should be apparent to most listeners. I say this mainly because the drums are snappy and have a certain click to it which feel very familiar, along with some of the floatier synths.
Overall I think the best way to describe this album would be ‘unconventional’. I don’t think it’s bad at all – it’s boundary breaking in places and I live for that - but I don’t know if I like it. I try my best to enjoy most styles of music, and while there’s definitely something here, I don’t think there’s enough for me personally to put this as an album I’d be listening to frequently. Still though it’s definitely got a good feel to it. Anyone who’s big on garage or dub should be pretty big on this album I believe.
