The second single from Death Cab For Cutie has been released
and it is called No Room In Frame. If you have pre-ordered the album you get a
free digital version of the song along with the first single, Black sun.
Squarepusher has a new album coming out on April 20th.
The album will be called Damogen Furies and will feature only eight tracks. The
first single is called Rayc
Fire 2.
The Lead singer for Perfect Pussy has started her own label
called HonorPress. If you like Perfect Pussy you may like the new band on the
label called So Stressed. You can check out the first single from the album on
the Bandcamp
page.
The Hives have a new single called Blood
Red Moon. I read that this was for a movie so I am not really sure if this
also means a new album could be dropping this year or not.
Here we go...
I got this album when it was released back in October 2014
when it was released. I have been sitting on it for quite a while. I was a bit
turned off by the opening tracks intro. The sound reminded me of the sound of
the ultrasound machine. It is somewhat unsettling to me and I can’t describe
why. I didn’t want to mark the album off so I just didn’t review it. The album
was still sitting in my list of albums to review though. I knew I still wanted
to talk about it. Last night I went to a concert to see them and it has since
renewed my interest in the album. Side note: there will be a review of the
concert to be posted sooner than later. The album was put out by Side One Dummy
on CD, DL and vinyl. The vinyl was released in multiple color variants all in a
starburst style. I ended up getting the red/white/yellow/black starburst
record. It is absolutely beautiful for a bad color pairing, but the other color
options are not that much better. I actually think that the colors represent
the band perfectly though.
The first single from the album is called Separate Songs.
This is the first song that I heard from the album and fell for the song
instantly. The song starts off with hard hitting drums and a plinky guitar. It
develops into this amazing track with organ multiple guitars and a beautiful
solo guitar part. The vocals are confounding with clarity and grit fading in to
each other. It is absolutely genius what Jon Loudon can do with his voice. The
song does follow the loud soft loud style and it works amazingly. It is a song
with feeling and I like those songs the most.
Misprint is the next single from the album. It is a slow
burning track that leads into the song with a sweet guitar solo. The layers of
guitar on this track are brilliant with each having a different riff and
different tones. It is a beautiful song that reminds me of dusk on a cool night
in spring or summer when the day is winding down and the edge of the skyline on
the horizon is nearly purple as the sun fades of the edge of the world. It is a
mellow track with some power behind it.
The last single from this album is called Tiny Prayers. This
track is a bit more in your face. it is not a pop track by any means. It kind
of grabs you by the collar with both hands and talks to you sternly. It still
has the amazing layering of guitars and the bit of grit over the smooth vocals
but the song has something it wants to tell you with a bit of force and
concern. You better listen because it is serious about what it has to say.
This is a truly great album and I am happy that I have such
a great album.
This is the latest EP from SubVibe. It is 100% free. It
features seven hot dub step tracks that are absolutely amazing. The download if
through MediaFire and you can get there through their Bandcamp
page. The duo has done some extensive promo work to get the word out about the
new EP. They had given out each of the tracks digitally before the full album
release sort of like Weird Al Yankovic did with most of the songs on his last
album. A “one track a week” ethic up until the release of the full EP. I have
been into the group since I heard that they use the same software to write
their music that I use. It was actually the company that makes the software, Propellerheads,
who pointed me in their direction. I really like what they have done. I hope
that they continue to make this great electronic music and I can’t wait for the
day that they release a physical copy to the world. For me, that says that a
band has actually made it as a group. I am not trying to push them but I wait
in excitement for that day.
Any way, there are some awesome tracks on this EP and one of
them has become my favorite electronic song to date. I am going to save that
one for last though. The first track that I want to talk about is called StepBack. It is the first track on the EP. It starts off as a great standard dub
step track but takes a great turn when the music takes a step up in key. It is
totally unexpected and works incredibly well. It kept me interested in the
whole track just based on this musical change. It is not like the track is
monotonous either there are different parts to the song that take it through
other changes before coming back to the loop that goes through key changes. It
is inspiring to say the least.
The next track that I like is called Pillow Fight. It starts
off with a cool synth part and hard hitting drums. The intro goes through a
slow build and drops off with a guy screaming Pillow Fight but modulated to
sound not human. The track then kicks back in and becomes more abrasive with
heavy modulated melody. In the second drop the duo make use of a beautiful
guitar sound that floats in the back ground like pink cotton candy clouds. It
is truly an amazing track that has links to the electronic music, techno, which
I use to listen to back in the 90s.
The one track on the album that I don’t like so much is
called Ape Squad. It has a brilliant intro that is similar to Pillow Fight but
the instance it is done the song starts with this sound that reminds me of a
dog barking and it never changes pitch. It is constant with the rhythm that it
makes and is totally a turn off for me. That doesn’t mean that the song doesn’t
have its merits. The parts of the song that don’t have this barking dog sound
are absolutely amazing. I just wish that there was something more done with
this monotone sound in the song.
Lastly, my favorite song on the EP is called Can We Talk AboutThe Mail. They took a skit from the TV show It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia.
It is the mail skit from season 4; episode 10 called Sweet Dee Has a Heart
Attack. Now, I am not a fan of the show but this skit taken out of context is
absolutely hilarious. For the duo to put this high tension skit to high tension
electronic music is absolutely genius. I can’t get enough of this track and
they way that they put it to music. Not only were they able to amp up the
tension of the skit they also added to the comedy of the skit using music. In
the chorus of the music they make a sound bite of Charlie saying the word
“Shit” and added this bubbly blip sound right after it accentuating the word
making it even more funny than it was for example. This song has now taken over
the top spot in my electronic favorites list over District 78 – Game On and The
Glitch Mob remix of The White Stripes – Seven Nation Army. If you know this
skit or like electronic music you have got to hear this track, it is awesome!
This guy is the guitarist for the band Fucked Up. I have
never taken the time to listen to anything from that group but Slumberland
records has taken the time to put out a solo mini album from the guy. After
hearing the smooth sounds from the first single, I had to get a copy for
myself. After reading up on the guy, Ben Cook, I found that he has penned
numerous songs for the likes of Sum 41, Kelly Clarkson, Taylor Swift, a few
Canadian Idols, Snow, Maroon 5 and one or two OVO affiliates (Drakes Canadian
record label). He is behind the scenes for the most part basically. The album
doesn’t officially drop until March 10th but you can pre-order at
Slumberland Records. The vinyl comes in a limited sky blue color if your
interested in that sort of thing.
The first single from the album is called Wrong Crowd. It is
a long track running at nearly seven and a half minutes. This is unexpected for
me as most initial singles from new bands are short to get the listeners
attention and get them to want more. This track doesn’t drag out but instead
drags you in. There is an awesome bass line loop that walks all over my 80s
loving synth heart through the long chorus sections. and the verse sections
that are very short through some change into the mix so you don’t get bored
with the smooth bass line and simple vocals. The addition of the sax solo in
the middle of the song doesn’t come off as 80s TV show sound track either, just
kidding, it totally does and I think it works amazingly too.
The second single from this mini album is called Crawling
Back To You. This is a great rocking track that reminds me of the late 80s rock
bands like Cutting Crew but with the vocals from groups like Starship or
Prince. It is a great combination that seems to work amazingly well. I like all
of these bands that I have listed and to have something that sounds so similar
to all three of these favorite bands fills so many holes in my desires for
music.
I really hope that this album catches on and that he keeps
on with this solo effort because the music deserves to be heard and loved by
the masses.
That is all for now. Expect that Restorations concert review soon though...
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