I’ve gone a bit quiet this week, haven’t I? Here’s a quick remedy to that situation. “I Knock Myself Out” could very well be an autobiographical song title given it’s AmRep-style noise fury.
Archives
All posts for the month August, 2015
Some great music from London-side.
This week’s highlighted album comes from the Copenhagen trio Town Portal. While perusing random Danish music I came upon this band. Their new record “The Occident” was released just this May and is fantastic. This is really excellent math rock that reminds me of Polvo except in that it’s entirely instrumental. The only thing that could make this album better, in fact, would be some Polvo-esque vocals.
Bonus Trigger starts out the lp with some styling guitars. Reminds me a bit of the snazzy guitar licks Grass is Green might deploy (in more extensive proportions though perhaps). Eschaton slows things down initially. But this song has excellent rhythmic starts and stops, ups and downs, and moments of reflection. Deep Error is basically an awesome short bridge. Heavy, simple, and teasing.
K. was the first song that caught my attention on my first listen. It’s a great song and I played it on the radio show already. Again, this song strongly recalls Polvo for me. I’m not saying Town Portal is a Polvo clone, only in that they have tapped into a similar styling that really works. And it’s their own, so don’t be confused by that.
Yes Golem, however, might be my favorite track on the album. It’s hard, grating, and cascading. Then it will suddenly slow down and reset at just the right moments. The title inspires some kind of mythic darkness and adventure and the song does not disappoint on that front.
Dream Bureau falls on the quiet but lovely end of things. I appreciate that Town Portal is completely comfortable going from the heavy and aggressive to the more serene. Moon Treaty continues this trend before Town Portal cashes in with the tantalizing World Core and Peripheral Islands. Which is a completely epic song title. And the song is quite epic on it’s own. And randomly at some point in the tune there is some random June of 44 talk over for about 10 seconds. That was seriously tantalizing. I think more of that could be really effective with their style. But they don’t need it either. And on second listen I didn’t notice it so maybe I completely imagined that.
If you want to know more about the band, check out this interview via bandwagon. Otherwise, listen below. You can buy the vinyl or get the download at a reasonable rate on bandcamp.
Ryan Hemsworth can be a bit of a musical chameleon, as he seems to release a steady stream of electronic music that can swing all the way from top 40 pop to stuff bordering on the avant-garde. “Afterglow” finds him in a damn near indie rockish headspace. It’s a warm blanket of a song that brings to mind Mutual Benefit, who, in turn, bring to mind You Forget It in People-era BSS. Pairs well with bonfires and stargazing.
This video is very relaxing. And worthy.
OK, we’ve focused a lot on physical releases thus far. But sometimes a great EP comes out digitally that’s great too. And so tonight I want to highlight a brand new digital release from Brooklyn’s Shady Hawkins. This 5 song EP was released last Friday and features 5 great tracks.
Debutante opens the show with a catchy rock tune that reminds me a bit of the Runaways. I guess I feel that it has a classic sound to it; and the vocals are solid in that Joan Jett kind of way where they are almost flat, but in a good way.
XOXO crashes out like something from Downtown Boys. All in on the punk stylings here for one exact minute. Buried (and highly affected) vocals with occasional screams and fast and hard instrumentation.
This album diverges in a consistent way. Next up we get State of Emergency. This has a touch of Kleenex / Liliput influence on it. It repetitively cascades a lot with some high pitched guitar and blunt vocals. Then some start and stop instrumentation into the escalating bridge. And the song never lets up over it’s 3+ minutes. Damn, I like this song.
Do I dare? takes a bit to get into. The first minute is establishing the base which ultimately escalates in a satisfying way. But it does take a minute to get there. Veneer has some seriously reverb heavy vocals. I think the reverb can be a bit lighter but I really like the guitar , bass and drumming on this. It’s a good, perhaps more standard rock tune.
Suzy X’s vocals certainly stand apart and overshadow the instruments at times on this EP. She has a great voice. She can elevate but can also do a more flat effective rock’n roll thing. But a lot of this was in the mix which, like many mixes, elevated the vocals on most tracks. I really liked XOXO a lot for how the vocals are a bit more buried. That’s a bit of a personal preference with most music, but I think they could have been buried a little more on Veneer to make for a stronger melding there. All of this because I think Matt Presto, Sabrina Elba, and Mike Funk are delivering and can get a little more attention in the mix.
In any case, this is a fantastic EP. It’s free (or cheap for the kind at heart) on bandcamp right now. Just follow the links below.
Jim referenced a possible Russian drunk radio shower in our future in his Angelic Milk post a while back, and I’ve got another possible entrant to the festivities. St. Petersburg’s Pinkshinyultrablast (either an Astrobrite reference or one hell of a coincidence) are at times shoegazey, mathy, or completely blown out. They touch all three of those reference points in “Kiddy Pool Dreams”, the title track to their new album out 10/2 on Club AC30.
I had e-mailed myself the link for this song months ago with the idea of posting it to the blog. It got lost in the ether, but here it is. Disco DOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM…
I was originally going to profile this single last week. But for some reason I bumped it. The Chorusgirl single I profiled last week was certainly worthy.
Moon By You is a sort of psychedelic doo-wop band out of Portland, Oregon. So it’s something different than much of what we post here. The single was released by K Records earlier this year and even features an appearance from Calvin Johnson (as if this is a rare thing).
The A-side features Got My People, which carries more of a classic soul sound. It’s very straight up with a strong chorus. This song is short and sweet. It’s a good catchy ditty and can carry a single on it’s own.
But I’m a B-side kind of guy so it’s not surprising that I really, really like the flip side song Let You Down. This is classic doo-wop style. The vocals from Sarah Q. on this are just fantastic. I could listen to her all day. Her voice has a similar power to Aly Spaltro of Lady Lamb semi-fame. And it sure sounds like Calvin Johnson in the background towards the end.
I played Let You Down on the radio show on Sunday and sitting in the studio with the speakers turned up a bit I realized just how much I loved this song. Matt completely reinforced this when he walked out of the record library to see what I was playing. That’s generally a good sign when we achieve collective enjoyment of a tune.
This record is available from K Records. Or you can but a digital copy via the bandcamp link below.
I occasionally catch myself retreating to the comforts and nostalgia of the familiar, which is why I tend to second-guess posting cover songs on here. Furman’s cover of LCD Soundsystem’s “I Can Change” is a keeper, though, stripping away the kitchen-sink electronics and production and widdling everything down to just an acoustic guitar and the original’s gut-punching lyrics.