skip to main |
skip to sidebar
"Lux" is a far more quiet and subdued album than 2010's "Small Craft on a Silk Sea". The latter seemed hastily assembled and lacking in cohesion. Manic glitch instrumentals were mixed in with quiet ones, trip-hop mingled with ambiance but there was no common thread to tie them together, it seemed. "Lux" is far more faithful to Eno's past and abilities.
While it's not as depressive as albums like "Low" (on which Eno collaborated with Bowie) it does have the same ring of kraut-rock spaciness and certainly conjures up the moody gravitas of instrumentals like "Warszawa". Pianos, strings,
quiet synth pads, meld together to create a delicate melancholy Johnny Greenwood only wishes he could.
[DISCLAIMER: I really do like Johnny Greenwood a lot.]
There is no aimless screwing around with new technology on "Lux". While it would have sounded a little different because of the technology available, this album could have been made back in Eno's golden years (no Bowie pun intended).
The music sounds timeless rather than timely and the former is definitely a stronger quality.
Yesterday, Helios Creed of Chrome set up a PledgeMusic page to collect contributions for the release of a dozen or so previously vaulted Chrome songs. A 10 dollar pledge buys you a copy of "Half Machine from the Sun" when it is released and access to exclusive news on all progress.
In addition to the minimum 10 dollar pledge, there are some pretty cool bonuses if you have the money to spend. Some of these kickers include a Skype chat with Helios, original artwork, signed merch and more. For anyone picks bonus options the 10 minimum will be waived.
I got a message via Facebook this morning from Helios Creed of legendary San Francisco noise-rock band Chrome telling me and other fans about a free download.
The simple but satisfying "Something Rhythmic" includes the rare vocal combination of both Helios and the late Damon Edge. The mix is rough and sounds fresh off the cutting room floor. It's truly a treat.
Here's the link.
Live at Hull contains long-out-of-print live material recorded shortly after the legendary Live at Leeds gig. The original Live at Leeds track list is comprised of early standards and covers but no Tommy material. Hull, recorded a day after, included some then-favorites (like "Happy Jack") and a complete performance of Tommy.
However, because of recording issues and (according to Wikipedia) a troubling lack of bass, Hull never saw an official release until some of it (not all) was included exclusive special edition release of . .Leeds. The problem with John Entwistle's bass track on some songs was later fixed using a bold production technique first dubbed "xenochrony", by the late Frank Zappa. The neologism combines the Greek words for different (xenos) and time (kronos). Bass tracks from certain performances at Leeds were overdubbed onto their corresponding counterpart songs on Hull. This is done so seamlessly that it gives the illusion of a second shot at recording the bass tracks again in real time.
So this is the ultimate completionist's dream and aside from "Live at Isle of Wight" it's the only golden-age, live, recordings of Tommy available to the masses.
A
[NOTE: despite my predilections for post-punk, The Who will ALWAYS remain my favorite band of all time.]
When did "Loveless" even come out? I had to check. It feels like decades since Irish noise band My Bloody Valentine has released anything. "Loveless" came out in 91? So it has been decades. Anyway, Kevin Shields, MBV's main creative force said today that the follow-up to "Loveless" will be out by the end of the year. What a complete shock. Given how even shitty start-up bands promote even their most minor accomplishments to death these days this is practically no early notice whatsoever, especially from such an influential musician.
Although it's not really related to the most recent news, I do want to add one more thing. It seems to me that other than The Smiths, MBV is the band most frequently name-checked by young musicians (and audiophiles) grasping for straws to demonstrate credibility, whether it be to interviewers or yelled loudly and drunkenly to their stupid, poser friends at loud, crowded, bars and clubs. And this is a shame because MBV created something truly unique to be cheapened by such shallow behavior but I guess when you do something good, everyone wants a piece of
your glory. Well, a new album means more people will jump on the bandwagon but it also means a generation of new listeners.
Keep an eye out for torrents or leaks and let me know if you find anything. Email is on the sidebar.
I've recently discovered a wonderful resource for experimental music called "Signal to Noise": a bi-annual magazine devoted strictly to unusual music ranging from free-jazz to harsh, tonality barren music from people like Merzbow.
The Spanish Donkey is a band I came across for the first time because of this lovely niche publication. Almost no bio is available on the project and as of 2012 there is only one album available, "XYX". A cursory Google search informs me that the band shares a name with a medieval torture device (read here for all the delightful details).
First track, "Mid-Evil", starts off with spastic but not entirely un-musical electric guitar noodling over a warbling waveform drone. The guitar's initial tonality provides the piece with an ambiguous position between the poles of light and dark but it inevitably takes a turn for that darker pole.After sixty or so seconds of tangled duet between guitar and synth a skilled but frenetic drummer makes himself known, providing fills that like the guitar dance between structure and chaos. In the last ten minutes there arrives the at-first sinister but essentially light-bearing, jazzy, tones of an organ.
"XYX" sees the synth become far more prominent and loud, in an oddly normal way, making use of measured-sounding whole notes and surprisingly traditional tonality. The guitar becomes more jazzy but no less weird. Drumming on this track builds from quiet accompaniment to rolling
thunder: a very obvious 20+ minute crescendo.
"XYX" succeeds beautifully because it provides open minded listeners with interesting sonic experimentation held together by the glue of intermittent bursts of tonal sense and structure. The whole thing comes across as very moody without being terribly deliberate. This is definitely on the more accessible end of experimental music without being too predictable.
B
Tracks
1 "Mid-Evil" 37:36
2 "XYX" 22:18
Northern Spy, 2011
"Day and Age" had an intensely modern and electronic feel. "Human" is probably the song which best evokes that feeling: galloping, swooshing, gated synths with guitar as mere accent to a Dolbyesque sound-scape for tomorrow. Battle Born sees the guitar return with a vengeance.
Moments like the title track show that The Killers have not completely thrown out rootsier tones in favor of pure synth-pop. There is a strong arena-rock feel woven throughout the album, even at the points where guitar is absent. Shades of Eagles, shades of Bob Seger, and
add that to the underlying fact that Brandon Flowers already has a hint of Roy Orbison to him when he's really belting it out. "From here on Out" even makes The Killers sound like Springsteen, momentarily.
There was no guarantee that The Killers would age so gracefully. "Day and Age" made it sound dangerously likely that they might end up alienating fans with the next album.
Change can be good but fans are fickle. "Battle Born" offers something that will wow the fan-base and demonstrate to skeptics that The Killers have a firm grasp on rock and
are not flash-in-the-pan posers whose musical act has collapsed under the weight of its own glam, glitter.
