Whirr has a new album coming out September 23rd
of this year. There will be limited edition version of the LP for record club
members as well as standard colored vinyl, CD DL and cassette. If you order it
from Graveface. They are trying to get them shipped as early as late August.
Beck has decided to release the Song Writer album. It is not
all his band though. He has invited many famous artists to take part in the
recording of this album. I never bought into the selling of sheet music in
current times. I can understand for schools and orchestras but for myself, no
thanks. If said artist puts out their recording I am totally willing to get a
copy and will be getting a copy too.
Here we go...
This is the sixth album from Stereolab. It was released in
September of 1999. I had been introduced to the group many years before this
album but didn’t find interest in them until Dots and Loops, the previous album.
After getting into them I realized that there was something special about them.
They made use of analog instruments nearly exclusively, including real brass
and woodwind instruments. They also played with the stereo image quite a lot
with their music. This made for very interesting music if you have the ability
to pan left or right on your stereo. One could easily have three different
albums by just playing with the right and left panning. I was no singles
released from this album which was surprising to me. There is so much good
music from this album that could have been a single.
Since there are no singles from the album I will just give
some highlights of a few tracks that I really like. I like the first track, Fuses, on
the album a lot. I will say that the intro for the song is not representative
of the rest of the album though. The song starts off with a fair drum beat with
what seems like random noise bursts from trombones and trumpets. It is kind of
off putting to start an album. It all starts to clear up when the xylophones
start up though, when the rest of the band kicks in the song completely
smoothes over making some of the mellowest easy to listen to music ever. This
is actually one of my favorite tracks for them ever.
My next favorite track is called The Free Design. This is
anther smooth song that kind of floats back and fourth in the riff that is
played in the track. the vocals have the, common for the group , lower toned
female lead and higher pitched backing vocals. This has always seemed to work
out so well for the group. I really like the horns that play in the foreground
between the vocal parts. At times they are soaring and other times they are
short staccato bursts. Everything seems to be meticulously picked out as to
where each instrument plays. I think this is what I liked most about the group.
The next track that I really like from this album is called
Italian Shoes Continuum. It is a slower track with the vocals starting off
right away along with a synth part that plays with the vocals. There is also a
bass part but it plays to only support the vocals and synth parts of the song.
The drums are even more minimalistic than the bass with this track. The vocals
are completely ululations with no discernable words at all. the song has a strange
break in it and then it is almost like the song becomes something completely
different. The song picks up pace and a guitar that is super modulated comes in
along with the drums and an organ. The vocals even get some heavy modulation
adding to the new and different feel of the song before it just completely cuts
off.
Infinity Girl is the last track that I want to talk about
with this album. It is pop perfection. There are so many instruments that are
all playing to make this on of the smoothest tracks that I could ever think of.
The backing vocals become an instrument of their own. The lead vocals are
Englesh but to an extent is also their own instrument. The guitar has a cool
wave sound on them. There are also xylophone and organ playing in the background.
There isn’t really the signature plucked bass in this track that I really like
but I don’t really miss it with how great the song is over all. There are also
horn parts but they seem to get lost in the shuffle unless you’re listening for
them. All in all this is my absolute favorite track from the album.
This is a new EP from Subvibe. It was released last month
but I sort of forgot about it. I have remembered it now and am happy to share
what I have heard. I don’t think this EP seems to be as good as the stuff that
I have heard from them in the past. It certainly has the needed elements to be
considered dub step but I feel like something is missing or the music has gone
a little flat. I expect to hear hard hitting bass that has been modulated to
pieces and it seems to be there but there is also elements of 90s techno. I
think this is what is taking me out of the dub step feel. After listening to
some dub step, to go back and listen to my 90s techno stuff it just seems
watered down. This is the feel that I am getting from this EP.
There are four tracks on the EP. The first track on the EP
is called Resurgence. The bass and drums are hard hitting but the Indian styled
vocals that happen in the track don’t sit right with me. I think that the song
would have been fine with out it.
The second track is called Isolate. This track has a slight
reggae feel to it. I am not a fan of reggae but this seems to work well in the
track. The beet feels off because of the reggae style but over all the music
works.
The third track is called Overload. This one uses an old
sci-fi clip repeated through the song similar to what Man or Astro-man? does
but done in electronic music instead of surf music. I really like this track
because of that. The music continues with the slight reggae beat but sort of
evens it out a bit so it doesn’t quite feel so off. The bass line if so cool.
It is loud and then soft alternating beats. It really sets the tone for the
song.
The last track is called Uchigatana. This track uses lots of
strings and sets the drums at the pace and style of an R&B track. The track
keeps the beat but breaks in with some heavy dub step beats and fades back to
the strings. The song kind of plays back and forth like that the whole way
through. It is fun and frustrating at the same time.
There was also a pre-release single that is not a part of
this EP called Conflict. I like this track a hole lot more than the rest of the
EP simply because it sticks to strictly electronic beats and style. I could pin
it down even more and call it drum and bass. It really is a smashing track that
hits hard and keeps to the electronic standards that I like.
If you like Subvibe then get the EP otherwise look for some
other dub step to pass the time. I do recommend the Conflict single though.
This is the eighth studio album from Mushroomhead. It was
released in late spring of this year (2014). This album marks the first time
since 2003 that J Mann is included on vocals. This marks the first time that
the group has used three vocalists. This album also has a replacement for the
original bassist and guitarist. The albums title is a dedication to both JJ
Righteous, the first guitarist for the group, and Vanessa Solowlow, Skinny’s
(drummer) wife who both passed away, 2010 and 2013 respectively. I did buy this
album on vinyl. It sounds very good but lacks the three remix tracks that are
on the end of the CD. I didn’t find this that bad though. What I did find
disappointing was that there was no download card to get the tracks digitally,
other than that though the album artwork is brilliant and beautiful. The album
has fourteen tracks, seventeen if you got the CD. That is almost too much music
really.
There has been one unofficial single released from the album
at this point. That track is called Qwerty. The song reminds me of everything I
like from the group. Bands like Faith No More and Mr. Bungle mixed with
carnival music. It is childish and angry at the same time. That is not to say
that a child can’t be angry. What I mean is that nearly insane adult anger when
you nearly lose control. I like this style and not many bands can pull it off.
The only other song that really grabbed me from this album
is the last track called Rumor Has It. This is a cover of the Adele song of the
same name. They do such a good job changing the song to something that they
would have sung in the first place. It is so different but still has the basic
elements of the song. They did some really cool electronic sounds to change the
song just that little extra bit.
If I had to pick a third track that is still very
interesting it would have to be We Are The Truth simply because the band
doesn’t usually have a female vocalist in their music. Like the cover track,
this song has an element of surprise for the group making it something that
stands out over the rest of the album.
This is a good heavy metal album if that is what your into.
This group is one of the few metal bands that I have any interest in. This is
mainly because of the vocals. The vocalist that sings clear somewhat reminds me
of Mike Patton who is the lead singer for Faith No More.
That is all for now...
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