Friday, February 22, 2013

Vol. 4 Episode 8



I will be putting up reviews of a few concerts that I will be going to. The first of which will be the Veronica Falls concert coming up in March. The second will be Sigur Ros coming in April. The Bleached concert is coming up at the end of April. Last is the Man Or Astro-Man? concert in the beginning of June. I am very excited about all of these upcoming concerts and just as excited to write about them.

Next week the new Atoms For Peace album comes out.

On with the show...

This is the first album from Alex Clare. It was released in 2011. This is an exceptional album that makes use of sounds that have been becoming popular because of the dub step genre. I like the idea of dub step and the low bass notes that are distorted and waving. Add this idea to a pop vocalist and what you get is pop dub I guess. It is a great way to introduce people to dub step really. The music hits you in the chest but you can still understand the lyrics. It is because of this that the album has charted so well around the world. I was introduced to this album through the internet explorer commercial on the TV. The commercial was so prolific that I had seen it quite a few times in my limited standard television viewing.

There were 5 singles released from this album. The fist single is called Up All Night. It starts off with a distorted bass guitar playing fast and hard. The vocals come in and he has a forceful style. Then the big beat drums punch in. It is a great song that pushes frustration and not understanding to the front. It is a great song about what a guy does all night away from his girl.

The second track released from the album is called TooClose. In March 2012 the song was selected as the soundtrack to Microsoft's advertisement for Internet Explorer 9, released the following month. The exposure propelled the song to international success. Lyrically, the song describes the a man who is not ready for a committed relationship and he must end things with his love interest in good terms.

The next track released from the album is called TreadingWater. This is the slower track from the album. The drum beat is still super fast. This is the only track on the album that has a swear in the lyrics. He sings, “Maybe it’s another chance to make my self, maybe it’s another chance, I’m sure Ill f*** things up again.” There are some major soul influences in this track too. More so than some of the other tracks I think.

The fourth single released from this album is called HummingBird. The song starts off with bird sounds. They continue through the song in appropriate points. The song appears to be about a person’s significant other leaving like a humming bird. This track is not so dub step but does have some very deep bass sounds. The vocals are still very soulful.

The last single released from the album is called I Won’tLet You Down. This track Is just Alex Clare and a piano. It is simple in that respect. This song reminds me of something that The Avet Brothers would put on an album. The song has that same style with the exception of the climaxes that Clare pushes with his vocals. It is a good song but not a great song. I am not sure why it would have been released as a single to be honest.

This is a very good album. I would recommend this to anyone who has no interest in dub step to introduce them to the idea or to change someone’s mind about the genre.


This is the sixteenth album from The Beach Boys. It was released in 1970. Initial reception of the album was low. The album did better in the UK than in the US. My father-in-law had two copies of this album on vinyl. I usually get his duplicates when he has any. I also give him my duplicates when I get them. For what ever reason he had two brand new re-issues. He asked me if I wanted to look at the records to see which a better copy was. I told him no and that I trusted him that they were both in excellent shape. I listened to the album It was beautiful. There were no scratches and the record was absolutely silent in the dead spots. The cover looked as if it were just opened.

There were four singles released from this album. That is not bad for an album that didn’t chart well. The first single is called AddSome Music To Your Day. It is a good pop song about how much music means to the group and how it adds to anyone’s life to make it better. For me, it is a good song but not their greatest. They have written great songs but not this one.

The second single from the album is called Slip On Through. This song is so cool. The song never charted well but this is one of the songs that I think of when I think of the 70s. It has the coolness of such tracks as The Velvet Underground’s Rock & Roll or The Beatles track called Strawberry Fields Forever. It is a great track that I could listen to for a long time.

The Third single from the album is called Tears In TheMorning. This isn’t as good of a track for me. It is classic 70s music and I can appreciate that. The song comes off a bit country sounding lyrically, with all the crying that is sung about. The music is still very good though.

The last single from the album is called Cool, Cool Water. This song has two other names. It is also known as I Love To Say Da-Da and In Blue Hawaii. It is not a good song but it is certainly very interesting. The song has a two minute intro before it gets into the actual song. The vocals that happen in the song are so interesting. Each member sings something slightly different and then with the chorus they all come together. The third half of the track each member sings apart from each other.

This is really an album that has aged well.
 
This is the second release from Goldsn Grrrls. The first release was a split cassette with Boredom Boys. This release was to support their tour in 2011/2012. There are eight songs on the tape. This set of songs can be downloaded at a pay what you want price, including free, or you can go to their tumbler site and get a physical copy for four pounds plus shipping. Orders are delayed though because the band runs the site. I downloaded a copy of the tape for free because I also purchased the cassette from the band. The tape cost me a total of just under ten bucks. The cassette includes the two tracks from the groups first 7”, New Pop/The Red Sea and Billy from their split single with Sea Lions from 2012.

Since it is a tour release there really was no single released from the collection. There were tracks included that were previously released though. Here is what I previously wrote about New Pop/The Red Sea: The A side track, called NewPop, is a fun, fast paced track that comes off as a pretty punk track. It is a short track at about a minute and a half or so. I recommend giving it a shot. I guarantee it will not be a minute and a half you would desperately want back. You’ll be bopping in your seat just like I did.

The B side track, called Red Sea, is a bit slower than the A side but is just as pretty. I love the female vocal style. She reminds me of the vocalist for The Sundays but not so depressing. The male overlapped vocals still leave something to be desired in my head but I think I am getting use to them. It doesn’t bother me as much as it did when I started listening to the group.

And about the song Billy: The music starts off with a solid pop song. Then the vocals kick in. The male vocals just don’t sound right. The female vocals are in tune, I know that much. Its still a fun pop song though.

This is one of two albums and an audio book that comes from a project that the band put together called The Machine De Ella project. The first releases were put up in October 2012. Every two weeks or so after another track was put up on the web site for the project until the last tracks were released in the middle of February 2013. There is supposed to be a physical release for all three collections but no official release date has been given as of yet. The band has said that they are shooting for physical releases for the two albums about four months after all of the tracks have been released on the web site.

Midnight On Earthship is a very sad /melancholy album. I am not a fan of this style of music but I under stand the point of the music I think. I don’t really pay much attention to lyrics but the way the music is written it reminds me of a yearning and general suffering that man goes through to be closer to god. It is a beautiful album and I am very happy that I have bought into this project. There has not been any artwork posted yet for this album yet. I am interested to see what they come up with for the cover.

 That is all I have for now...

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