skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Heyerdahl's debut kicks off with a crawling bass line that sounds almost like Joy Division's "Dead Souls" before the high, boyish vocals start. "Know one knows what happened to the man who built our homes", muses the vocalist, mysteriously. These lyrics tell a story that we are only partially able to understand, arriving midway through the plot (in media res, as Virgil would say). The track sets the tone for the entire album in the sense that the players and vocals never go above a dull roar, for more than a moment. Even during the song's climax, every note is totally controlled and deliberate. Even though the drum and bass do almost all of the heavy lifting, rhythmically, there is still a steady rocking feel. Heyerdahl is saying a lot with little, here.
The rest of the album is carried out with the same spartan simplicity and melancholy slowness: the antithesis to the typical naive, sunshine-and-daisies-garbage so many other indie-pop styled bands seem to put out. Track "Blood" is written in the same style but with the addition of some synths and vibraphone. But even with the different layers, it all sounds so cohesive and essential to the overall product. No deadwood to be cut out, sonically.
The sombre mood, quiet volume and loping tempo (and hell, even the vibraphone) bring to mind Danish rockers Kashmir: a band that never achieved great commercial success outside of their home country. Hopefully, Heyerdahl will be able to bring the same musical ideas and feelings to the world in a way Kashmir never could. Given the success of similar bands (in a similar region) like Miike Snow and Peter Bjorn and John, the US is ready for Heyerdahl and the focused, restrained songwriting they employ.
"Mirage" is the only single currently available for listening. The full album will drop on January 28th.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Kashmir is one of my all-time-favorite modern bands. I didn't want to distract by saying so in the body of the review, but if you've never listened to Kashmir, they're some of the best music from the mid 90s to early 2000s.
It's pointless for me to repeat the news that I'm sure you already heard from a million different sources, yesterday, but I shall anyway. Yes, it's true, David Bowie is back. Well, at least he's kind of back. Bowie released a brand new song/video called "Where Are We Now?". The true news here is that the song is a single off of an upcoming album, expected to drop in March. Bowie's latest track is a calm, serene piano number complete with a cool, detached, pop-standard delivery. His voice sounds decent and I can't say he looks terribly happy in the video, but he's singing and there's an album. I can work through everything else, given that wonderful news.
The burning question that I have, though, is, whether or not there will be a supporting tour. He suffered a heart-attack in 2003, in the midst of touring, so I certainly won't hold it against him if he decides not to, but just think, he might TOUR again. There are no other living artists I can think of that I would rather cross off my bucket list, than David Bowie.
We need to cross our collective fingers and pray to the glam gods and hope that Mr. Bowie, health permitting, of course, decides to tour again. I have a 9-5 job now, and that includes personal days. I will fly wherever, to see this man perform. This needs to happen.
What do Prince, Elvis and Ke$ha all have in common? Their music positively oozes sex. The suggestion of sex is a powerful one. It can take a normal musician and make them legendary. It can take a mediocre vocalist and turn her into an international pop-star. But sometimes sex in music is not sexy, sometimes it's just plain perverted.
The front-man of Triple Hex, Dave Hex, has an unsettling vocal style that makes him sound as if he's snaking his hand slowly down his pants, as he records. Hex's lyrics are delivered with a low baritone register, so low that it sounds as if he is about falter. The result is a sultry delivery half Nick Cave, half Lux Interior.
Hex also plays a mean guitar. Like the vocals, the lead playing is also split into two tendencies: either a sauntering, bluesy funk or a droning, doomy punk. Despite the darkness, the record, on the whole, has a vintage, first-wave garage rock feel to it that is only enhanced by the warbling organ. Track one, "Winter", also contains a plunked, repeated, guitar note that sounds suspiciously similar to the single-note piano riff played by John Cale on the Stooges' garage/proto-punk classic, "I Wanna Be Your Dog".
"Love Song" is extremely entertaining in its crassness. When Hex rumbles, "I don't wanna love song- I just wanna fuck" it kind of sums up the mood of the whole EP: pure ego and sleaze. "Viking Funeral" does this too, as the dead viking in question summarizes his picaresque life and how much of a badass he once was.
Hex's latest is stylish, catchy and really dirty. It's hard to believe they've been around since 2006 with such little recognition. The EP was released on January 1st.
"Toe-tapping" and "ambient" are descriptions that rarely go together. The word ambient evokes images of calm and nature while toe-tapping does essentially the opposite. However, the beautifully serene ambient music on "Loyal" actually does both. If another artist threw in a simple kick/snare beat, this would be dance music. It might even be excellent dance music. Hipster-Runoff would call it post-nu-gaze-crunk, or something idiotic like that.
But there is no kick or snare. There is no backbeat to demarcate one part from another. The music on "Loyal" has more of an ebb/flow binary to it than the usual, unambiguous up beat/down beat we are all used to in most rock and pop music.
Some of the textures are looped while others are "live" (or at least non-repeating). Sometimes the repeating and non-repeating patterns go together to form a recurring but not identical cycle, similar to breaking waves: the general pattern reoccurs but there are definitely variations. "Left Climber" and "Steady Veil" use these techniques, heavily.
"Loyal", taking most of its instrumentation from airy synths, is
spacey and alien-sounding but not eerie or uncomfortable. Heathered Pearls' debut bravely straddles the line between rhythmic and arrhythmic while still sounding musical enough: a joy for seasoned experimental-music-lovers and a safe starting point for novices.
Channeling Blank Dogs, The Fall and even a little Jesus and Mary Chain, Dan Trolley's Bandcamp debut is dark, moody, and eclectic. It's just a one man affair but sounds no worse for it. A careful arranging of cold synths and brittle guitars makes it sound like Martin Hannett is at the producing helm. But don't let all the allusions I just used fool you: Trolley's music is very much his own.
While the entire album is set to the beat of a drum-machine, it's never distracting. Dan croons from what sounds like the back of a basketball court, perhaps an infernal basketball court. The lyrics often get lost but the pathos remains intact. Still, it would be helpful to have some liner notes to decode some of the less audible lyrics.
Guitar playing is simple and economical. Instead of solos and spotlight-stealing lead playing, Trolley is far more concerned with songwriting craft. The lo-fi rock is truly worthy of being described as DIY. Because, after all, what is more DIY than making rock/punk/post-punk music without a rock/punk/post-punk band?
Hopefully, there's more to come, and if it does come, may there be a label smart enough to sign Mr. Trolley.
KEY SONGS:
1. Don't feel down
2. Slow reaction
3. Your ways
Although Warpaint have fallen out of the spotlight since their 2010 release "The Fool", they have proven that the world is ready for more dark, female-fronted rock bands. After all, the buzz earned them considerable attention from critics and actual air time on MTV: a network that almost never plays rock videos anymore (let alone videos at all). That has to count for something.
My Gold Mask's front-woman is drawing from the same dark pool of inspiration as Warpaint's Emily Kokal and even The Raveonette's Sharin Foo. Cavernous drumming is paired with the echoing, pitch-shifted guitar which ends up sounding like calypso drums being played inside an airplane hangar. The music sounds larger than life. It also sounds amazingly tribal and primitive. The echoing vocals are evocative of a group of monks belting out plainsong inside a giant cathedral.
The full album will drop in February. If the timing proves to be good, and the music is dispersed in just the right way, My Gold Mask could definitely make a big splash. Their sound is sombre and mysterious enough to stick out in a sea of new releases this year but close enough to a paradigm we know has worked in the past.
"Nightfalls" has the album's strongest introduction. Feeling much like Patti Smith's "Because the Night", it demonstrates real hook-writing. "I, Animal" also has an amazing intro hook that makes it immediately distinct.
[These chaps are from Australia and, as far as I'm
concerned, they pretty much came out of thin air. The only buzz that led me
to the band was a short Pitchfork review. I avoided the band for days
because of how terrible the name is but then I caved to curiosity. I won't waste any time quipping about how stupid the band name is. It is a stupid band name. Haha. I'm so clever for recognizing what is manifestly true. Ok, so I got that out of the way. Now, let's go to the review.]
Taco Leg's music could have come straight out of the 80s. Gritty production, gritty instrumentation, combined with gritty, bored, pissed off, working-man's-blues-type-lyrics all point to real authenticity. Many bands struggle for years to pull off that kind of hard-to-fake credibility. The only downside to being so true to life is the fact that, naturally, the product isn't all that glamorous.
While the lyrics are good, and there is a delicious, toe-tappingly simple punk beat, Taco Leg's songs sound like kind of trudge for the people actually playing the music. There is always an irascibility and a sneering to punk but in this case, they sound like they really don't want to be recording, at all. They sound like they would rather be smoking pot, sleeping, or as the front man complains in "Shut it Down", "I wished I'd stayed home and watched TV."
This is definitely a valid expression of the "fuck you, world" punk ethic and they are certainly not the first to do it, but when combined with the lackadaisical vocals, it might lead some reviewers and critics to actually believe that Taco Leg really don't give a fuck at all, musically. While the band probably does care deeply about what they're doing, some reviewers are inevitably going to feel like they're being fucked with and are going to crap all over Taco Leg's efforts. In a commercial sense, this is going to be a constant frustration for them but in a punk sense: it's pure gold. Something in Taco Leg is stirring up strong feelings, especially in their detractors [if I were an illiterate idiot I would have said "haters" here].
But back to the actual judgment of their debut: while it is good fun, an amazing record it is not. It feels really good to listen to and is full of energy but the stripped-down production and stuttery guitar playing will make lots of people turn it off. This doesn't mean Taco Leg won't succeed by the power of pure determination [and I really hope they do] but this is not Wire 2.0 [as much as I want it to be]. But as debuts go, and many go much worse than this, it is a promising start. [TRANSLATION: Taco Leg, PLEASE keep making more music, just don't get comfy yet]
KEY SONGS:
1. Shut it Down
2. Kid Legs
3. Hide
