phantogram - 'when i'm small'

jay tossed this link my way yesterday:

phantogram is a duo out of seratoga springs, who specialize in "street beat, psych pop" although their sound would closer to portishead with hip-hop beat stylings and the occasional clunking/chiming of guitars. eyelid movies is the title of their record released this year, and it is truly an eclectic mix, with guy/girl vocals, big beats, and neatly wrapped synths. 'when i'm small' is a 2 toned track, with a clunky james bond/surf guitar lead, a big cyclical beat and plunking casio keys overlayed by sarah barthel's coos. yet another score from barsuk... a damn good label.

download the track here:

white hinterland - 'icarus'

first of all: this day is for my friend ian, who passed away. you were far too optimistic and kind to live such a short life. i hope you rest in peace, my friend.

in the midst of all the chaos and misery surrounding my day today, my dear friend jackie passed this track on to me and it helped me cope. white hinterland is casey dienel's shoegaze project based in portland, or. on 'icarus' she draws feist-esque falsettos over a new wavy synth bassline. adding vocal harmonies and guitar noodles, the song progresses with a simple rimshot and kick driving; churning at a slow and steady rate, flickering and dancing akin to shadows from a dying fire on my living room wall. with all it's comfort and swelling tones, it has managed to soothe me on a day where every strand was falling apart and fraying.

i wish i could have shared this with you, ian. rip

miike snow - 'cult logic'

first of all- thanks to my musical guru nick, who always helps me find bands or uncover great bands which i have passed over...

so. like so many i wrote off this band. i listened to 'animal' and thought to myself, "that's catchy, but what the hell is with the intentional double 'i's?" 'animal' is only a brief glance into the depth and multifaceted sound of miike snow, which isn't one but three dudes from sweden who just happen to produce a lot of electronic music. even for some big names, which i will let you find out on your own accord in hopes to avoid prejudice.

'cult logic' is a ping pong electro song, bouncing around only to submit for grinding choruses and breaks. andrew wyatt's falsetto dances over the electric pond of melody below. wyatt sings in a bee gee key, flouishing with 'ooh's'; matching the razor sharp beats with smooth syllables and coos. 'cult logic' caters occasionally to swaying trance sounds, bending in velocity and resolution and briefly skipping down a couple of flights on the scale.

'but at least there's something beating inside my chest'

take it easy my brother

in the spirit of brasil.
i will be gone for 10 days of awesomeness.

prepare for great stories!

yeasayer - 'ambling alp'

'ambling alp' is the first single from yeasayer's second album odd blood, which is just coming out feb. 9th. i'm completely aware that this track has received more than a little buzz on the interwebs, but my goal is to share gems to the potentially unaware.

the single is crafted with the psychedelic synth lead which quickly bends into the background of the track. a globbing bassline spills over the track with almost with serendipitous nature, bumping and grinding in similar fashion to some drunk's hips on a dancefloor. the true grit of the song is driven by the prevailing vocal line, uttered with wavering emotive tones. the song builds into an odd brass break, then dies down like a campfire to playfully climb back up; touching down aptly with the little psycho-synth lead to stick a gymnast's landing.

following is the psychotropic video, which yields no less than mirror-masked men on horseback, and mulheres menos roupa. don't worry herm, you don't directly work for the gov anymore.

pawel's version of 'videotape'

so, i've been pretty busy recently and haven't been updating my blog.
in an attempt to jump-start things, i'm posting this link to pawel's reworking of radiohead's 'videotape'. it resembles a live version from their 2006 tours and has been kicking around for a bit of time. pawel is a bit of a legend in the radiohead fanatic base, he mostly draws from radiohead's back catalog of songs never completed, sketching and channeling radiohead to record all the instruments but the vocals and sometimes guitars. i hope 2010 is treating everyone well! and i will be more diligent about my posts.

six drummers

this blew my mind

death from above 1979 - 'blood on our hands'

boombastically, death from above 1979 contends to be one of the heaviest bands i've heard in my life. this is huge considering the fact that death from above 1979 was a two piece band.

'blood on our hands' is a dirty jagged example of the grit and depth of the band. it's as though a landslide has been triggered itself by a bass pickslide. sebastien grainger wastes no time flaunting brooding vocal melodies, instead he begins the song with a scream: "i'm leaving!". could it be mindless machismo, indifference, defiance or all three, there is a resolute stance behind his howls. jesse keeler's distorted bass bounces around throwing elbows in a vain attempt to dominate the song. instead it punctuates grainger's vocals and bleets spurring urgency the brutal drums. momentarily a soft synth interjects to oil the bass' tattered syllables, but is promptly pinned to the ground and pummeled as the song climaxes and breaks. from the truly fantastic album, you're a woman, i'm a machine.

spooky

from eric's halloween party.
beware of columbian coffee bean farmers, nutcrackers and ketchup.
apparently they get agitated when cornered.

digitalism - 'pogo'

yes. it has been a while since i've posted. i'm beginning to realize i can't wait for my life to slow down to write, so i'm going to take more initiative from now on.

this song is a little older, as most are from overseas. digitalism is from the great deutchland. i was at eric's halloween party and the moment the song started, i knew i was smitten.

'pogo' begins with a glitchy synth torn between notes by the furious paces of relentless high hats. the bass synthesizer bounces around similar to the device which the song was aptly named. these eventually give way to the chorus, blending mostly synthetic buzzing with a guitar backbone. the quirky lyrics, spliced between "wha-oh!" come out like brad pitt mimicking an italian accent in inglorious basterds, syllables stretched and chewed over. many elements pull references to the 80's electronic / glammish movements. this song promises no great dark twists or lyrical wit; rather it promises a great time dancing on the lights in the city and a fantastic soundtrack as you are racing away from the police car with it's colors flashing. i really enjoy the way the song flows with this "game" called audiosurf.

wall of ice

so, undoubtedly radiohead has either generated a lot of buzz for a fictitious site and all these rumors about an ep coming out today. now, the site has a track with some words about not publishing fabricated facts to get hits and not believing people's tweets. the music on the site could / could not be radiohead.

but, if you go to waste, they now have 'these are my twisted words' for free...

okkervil river - 'for real'

this song imagines our inner darkest thoughts. i remember my dad setting me aside and lecturing me that all of us have dark ideas, but it's really important to never let the dark side of us come out. i don't know if i agree with the sentiment to never let it out, but i do agree that all of us have sinister thoughts, whether it be considering how an airplane crash would feel if we were aboard in row F with the window view or some crazy perverted thought you would never explain to someone.

okkervil river was a band i really never had looked into. one night at a friend of a friend's house, i was played this song and it immediately reminded me of the speech i had from my father. 'for real' understands the suppression behind the emotions and moreover realizes the release when we acknowledge our darkest depths. the stark contrast between the soft verses and the rough, jagged prechorus sent chills down my spine indicating the songs powerful pull. find your darkest spots and don't be afraid. as the song labors, "you can't hide".

creepy video...

thom yorke - 'the present tense' (live at latitude)

if i could count the amount of times i've wondered if radiohead are angels/aliens, i'd be able to count myself to sleep for many nights. thom yorke, et al, have such dynamic musical abilities, i find it challenging to not sit in wonder if this will be the greatest band i will ever experience in my lifetime. this recording is from this year's altitude festival and thom plays a new song entitled 'the present tense' all by his lonesome.

breaking down the elements of the song, the guitar is something quite similar to 'reckoner', fingerpicked loosely in lopsided succession. yorke's vocals are restrained in the beginning, singing lightly of weapons and self-defense. implicitly, his soft vocals mirror the folky nature of the song and lyrics ("don't get heavy, keep it light, keep it moving"). following the second verse, he shifts into jeff buckley's vocal range with a fervent, yet calm demeanor. briefly, there is a definite feel of 'you and whose army' mixed with the break from 'reckoner' as the chord progression changes in a familiar sense. as the guitar shifts back, the bossa nova roots becoming more evident, as he coos, "in you i'm lost;" leaving just enough time to breathe deeply and it abruptly ends.

elbow - 'some riot'

i'm so fortunate to have a wonderful twin who shares so much with me. i'm not always into his music suggestions, but sometimes he recommends music which it takes a while to digest but is amazing. he recommended i relisten to elbow recently and i'm surprised they didn't catch my ear the first time.

elbow is a seasoned group out of england who has been around for over 15 years i believe. 'some riot' is off their most recent album the seldom seen kid.

this particular riot is built on a tinker piano which sounds like it should be in a music box. a cello, (i believe), shifts like a top nearing the end of it's dance. the piano and the cello shift back and forth, as if in a slow waltz, swelling and ebbing. the vocals are soft and gentle, but grow to a strained, saddened call. as things progress, an church organ creeps up and looms heavily in the air, framing the song. there is also a spectacular live version with the bbc orchestra on youtube if you want to check it out. (by the way i think he says 'booze' rather than bruise)

i'm ready for some fireworks

kent - 'things she said'

kent is another band from sweden.
fairly obscure in reference until rock band came out with 'vinternoll2' on it.

this song is off their classic isola back from the year 1998.
the back beat is driven by a hollow tom sound from behind a thick curtain of acoustic guitars reminiscent of the flaming lips. the bass guitar shifts underneath the rhythm and joakim berg's vocals stretch vowels in an unnatural way. guitar harmonics float above berg's falsettos at the crescendo, where it fades away. fitting that kent was formed to try and emulate my bloody valentine.

sneaker pimps - 'bloodsport'

i've loved the sneaker pimps since becoming x, which sadly is their only recognizable album to most folks. followed by the more complex and acoustic feel of splinter, which is probably my favorite album by them. when bloodsport was scheduled for release, i was anxious to get my hands on it. there was a debacle and tommy boy records cut the british band off the label, although i was lucky to get my hands on a cd, (i would have waited over 6 months if i wasn't able to grab that copy).

the title track immediately drew me in with the complex, dancey rhythms and squawking synthesizers, (the sexiness of the female moans probably didn't hurt). the song grinds like a stripclub anthem, but still has that edge which comes with the lead singer, chris corner, who is very likely to pick up a guitar on even some of the most techno sounding tracks, (although he doesn't pick one up for 'bloodsport'). he feigns an innocent boyish charm, ensnared in some complex and kinky sex act, but you can be sure it was his idea all along.

this is the song i can put on late at a party and even though i've got no energy left, (or dance moves for that matter), i will go strong to this song.

tv on the radio - staring at the sun

beginning with an urban hymnal feel, synths boil to churn out the bass line. 'staring at the sun' has always been bone chilling due to the stark contrast between the howling of the backup vocals and the choppy bass; the vocals being smooth and polished opposed to the grinding of the synthesizer. the lyrics are poetic and deliberate, not stopping due to breathing, but exaggerating the depth of field. the twittling guitar buzzes with energy, but rather than sprinting towards a refrain or chorus, it jogs in place idly. a standard high hat emerges from the ruckus in synthetic fashion, very close to a typical trance high hat. subsequently, the guitar dies down in spastic nature, picking a random cluster of notes on the way down to pick itself back up. the instrumentation fades away as the song shifts into an anthemic dance.

"note the trees because the dirt is temporary"

deerhunter - agoraphobia

cryptograms was a fascinating record, but deerhunter's microcastle, just blows it out of the water. when nick gave me the record, he told me he wanted 'agoraphobia' to be played on his retrospective video... it's that good.

remember that hippie girl in high school, who would always request grateful dead songs at the dances? you know, the one who would bust out the 60's snorkel and throw scarves around in faux slow mo to half the tempo? deerhunter has apparently channeled that ora on microcastle; it's the beach boys without the beach. with heavily saturated guitars and bradford cox's dreamy vocals, 'agoraphobia' is layered comparably to the six socks the hippie girl wore to make rainbows dance around her ankles. i'm puzzled as to how the song sounds so spotlessly clean in production, even though i'm positive i hear a tremolo'ed guitar in the back. when i play it back, i can never actually find the guitar; maybe it's only present in spirit, not totally unlike the girl from high school. i love the placating nature of the song despite the fact that i believe cox is asking to be thrown in jail in a solitary confinement chamber... so that's where all the hippies go?

and if the song wasn't erie enough, then they had to go and do a video with slow motion tango dancers?

radiohead - gagging order

so i'm another year wiser, akin to this track.
'gagging order' is one of my favorite bsides by radiohead.
so simple for a band of such complexity.

in this one take miracle, a lone acoustic tinkers in a country style hammering technique. perhaps it's slightly off in timing because thom yorke didn't want any remixes. the vocals are slow, meditated, and reassuringly disarming. yorke's vocal presence marks him a worn out performer, maybe a magician whose 'illusions' have all been torn apart and discovered; yet for unknown reasons passers by continue to prod him for an song/act he performed years ago. instead of spitting in their faces, as he did in younger years, he only musters enough force to raise a hand and wave them away. while coursing through his routine self-administering medication 'just to take the edge off' his normal day, he assures them, he is 'just a body, there's nothing left to see.' the most powerful thing to me about this song is despite his exhausted tone, you can still literally feel the much larger capacity and depth just below the surface.

apologies for the lack of posting, if you are reading

brand new - jesus christ

this track means a lot to me right now. i was honored when my guitar played this song on stage in front of me. thank you, jesse.

beginning with the solidarity of constant chords being plucked like worn out stairs, walked up and down in an almost death march pace. a hopeful lead emerges and gives the feel of the sun emerging from torrential rain. jesse lacey's vocals are almost uttered in poetic rhythm, somber and alone. as harmonic shards fade in and out of the song, nothing can break the momentum of the seemingly canned drums. this is the feel when you've lost control on the unfamiliar dark road you are speeding down. the look of your eyes straining to find where you will fall eventually as everything slows in a fatal slow motion blur. as the music builds, lacey's screams haunt you like the smell of the dust off the airbag. did you evade death or have you changed from the first person to the third?

where's my phoenix now?