If your interested in Allo Darlin’ the lead singer, Elizabeth
Morris, has put up a solo EP over at bandcamp. It is digital only and
will cost you 3 GBP to get the four tracks.
Coming up next week will be the new Nine Inch Nails album, Hesitation Marks, and the latest Mumford and Sons record Babel amongst others.
Here we go...
This is a cassette only release that I got directly from the
band. You can get it too with a little effort. At their bandcamp web page for
this album, at the bottom of the page, there is a line that says they are
selling the release on cassette tape and to get a hold of them to get a copy.
There is no email on the page to get in contact with them. I had to go to their
face book page and send them an email through there to get a normal email for
the band. After that it was just to send them an email with a request for a
cassette. They then sent me an email back with an email to send them the money
through Paypal. The cassette came to me quickly, luckily with out damage. The cassette itself was printed with their name
and the track names for each side. The paper in the cassette case was simple, a
one sided sheet copy of their booking phone number on the back and drawn
pictures of each member of the band. I was very surprised to find that there
were thirteen tracks on the tape.
I had asked if there was going to be a special color variant
on the release through Windian records and if all thirteen tracks were going to
be on the record. there was no response to these questions in my reply email.
The first releases from this record were on a 7” record
through Speakertree Records. I talked about them earlier this month in Episode
34. I had this to say about the two tracks, “Both songs[,She Does Those Things
to Me and Don't Need Your Love] have a super cool 60s vibe that seems to have
not been duplicated in quite a while. Both songs are great. You can tell just
by the titles of the songs that they are from completely opposite sides of the
spectrum with regards to love but musically are similar in sound.”
I talked to my mom about the songs and she said that they
remind her of Paul Revere and The Raiders. I have a specific song in mind but
don’t know the name of the song or the band but I do know that they are from
the 60s at some point.
I do know that there will be a second single released from
Windian Records called Why Should I? It will be backed with Slave To Her Lies.
Like all of the album that I just got on cassette, these two tracks are crammed
with that 60s garage rock sound.
I am very excited to see if the album is going to have all
thirteen tracks that are on the cassette or if it will be different tracks or
just less tracks than what is on the cassette. I will probably buy the album
either way though.
If your interested you can listen to the whole album on the bandcamp page, there is a link at the top of the review.
Somnambulist is the new album from Abandoned Pools. It is
being released on Hype Music/MTV Networks. This is the fourth album from
Abandoned Pools and on the heals of the third album, Sublime Currency, that was
released last year. It was released digitally first in the beginning of July in
2013. It was then released on CD just a couple of weeks ago through the
abandoned pools store. I waited for the CD to be released. As an added bonus
the lead singer for the group signed the inside of the sleeve and it was a
numbered copy of 100. I believe that
there will be more copies made but, I think, they will not be signed.
I have not heard of any singles being released from this
album as of yet. I do have some favorites from the album already though. The
opening track, Focus, starts off with a heavy bass drum that seems fuller than
any sound that he has used in the past. This is really because of the
electronic bass sound that is being used on top of the bass drum though. Then
again it becomes fuller through the chorus part too. It then backs off again
during the verse parts. If you didn’t realize this already this is a drum and
bass track mainly. There are background strings and piano that fade in and out
and sound very beautiful but the song is for the most part just drum and bass.
It is not a fast paced electronic song though. It is a thoughtful song that
shows you if you look for the meaning of your life you will find it.
Compass is another song that I really like from the album. It
talks about finding friends and that some of those friends will leave your life
and others will stand by you for a life time. Those friends that are there for
your life are precious. Those friends should be the ones that keep you on the
straight and narrow, Also, that you should be the same for them. This song
doesn’t have any guitars either. The lead part is put together through stringed
instruments. It is a faster paced song than Focus is but comes off very
colorful with the strings instead of guitars.
The third song that I like off the album is called Pep Talk.
This track has a big beat and heavy bass. This track also has both acoustic and
electric guitars along with synth strings. It has an 80s sound that way but
still sounds current because of the way that the instruments are mixed. The
song is about giving yourself a pep talk to get yourself up and ready for the
day. It is a very positive song to think about all throughout the day. It is
very sort and repetitive though so it is easy to remember the words.
I also like the track called Arms Race. The reason that I
like the track is that the strings in the back ground are short and striking
but still round and smooth. I can only describe them as a shock but a
non-painful shock if that makes any sense at all. The song is obviously about
fighting and wars but the music is so beautiful. It is hard to not like a song,
even if it is about war, if it is so pretty sounding.
This is the second album from Volcano Choir. It is
officially released next Tuesday, September the third of 2013. This is an older
project form Justin Vernon the man behind such other acts like Bon Iver. He has
finally come back to the project since the groups first album Unmap back in
2009. The group slowly over the time between the last album and the release of
this album put together writing sessions and recording sessions to put this new
album together. There was no official time limit to get it done and this is why
it took so long to get the album done. I am fine with this since it has turned
out to be a very beautiful album indeed.
There have been two singles released from the album
digitally so far. The first is called Byegone. I first heard this song only a
few weeks ago while looking for new music. I watched the video for the song and
thought that it was brilliant. It is of a lighted forest at night/dusk. The song
is so simple that it works perfectly within a forest. The lights light up along
with the music. The song comes of as organic and to film in an organic setting
just makes sense. There are parts that remind me of other songs but it is so
vague that I just get a slight nostalgic feeling but I can’t pinpoint it. It
just makes me feel good. It also inspires me to write music. It is a positive
thing I guess.
The other single digitally released from the album is called
Comrade. This is also an elegant song but with digital trappings. There is a
cool acoustic guitar slide that is repeated in the song that seems to grab my
attention every time it is played in the track. It is a very natural sound and
seems to be played in the brief silences of the song. It is a quick paced track
but slows down a bit during the verse. the video is a lot of fun. It is of the
group playing in a field on the edge of a forest in the middle of the night
during winter. It gives the viewer a sense of being cooler. This is needed
especially in the middle of the hottest part of the summer.
I haven’t given this album much time especially since I just
got the free download from the record company today. I do know these two songs
well enough to talk about them though. Based on these to singles I have high
hopes for the album though.
No comments:
Post a Comment