Not much new recently. I will probably have more from Volcano Choir and from Washed Out next week. I am waiting for preorders to go up at Slumberland Records for the new Veronica Falls single and Black Hearted Brother featuring the talents of Neil Halstead (Slowdive , Mojave 3), Mark
Van Hoen (Seefeel, Locust, Scala) and Nick Holton (Coley Park).
I will be going to see Weekend play live this Saturday at The 7th Street Entry. I am very excited for that!
I will be going to see Weekend play live this Saturday at The 7th Street Entry. I am very excited for that!
Here we go...
This is the eighth album from Nine Inch Nails (NIN). It was
released in the first week of September of 2013. It is the first album since
the self released album called The Slip and the first release on Columbia
Records. It is also the first since the hiatus. The title refers to the cuts
made to test the sharpness of a blade before attempting suicide or
self-harming. The album has been made available in two different masters. There
is the standard version. This version has been put on all the physical versions
and download store versions. There is also an audiophile version that you can
get from the NIN store if you ordered the album with the NIN web site. I have
not yet heard the audiophile version yet. I am downloading it as I type this. Each
version of the album has its own cover. This means that the vinyl cover is
different from the deluxe CD cover and the standard CD cover. Each cover has a
title for the graphic. In order of the graphic above: The deluxe CD
is called Cargo in the Blood. The digital version doesn’t
have a title that I have seen. The standard CD is called Time and Again. The Japanese version is also called Time and
Again but the picture is turned vertically and is a close up of a different
section of the US
version. The vinyl art is called Other Murmurs. I promised myself a long time ago, about 20
years ago actually, that I would never buy anything from NIN on vinyl. I have
stuck to that 100% so far, including this album. That did not exclude deluxe CD
versions though. The deluxe version comes with an extra CD with three
additional remix tracks.
There have been three singles released from the album so
far. I have talked about each of them in a previous post, Vol. 4 Episode 34.
Here is what I had to say about them, “Came Back Haunted is the
first single from the new album Hesitation Marks. It was released early in June
of 2013. It is though that the track is an acknowledgement of Reznor’s absence.
The song has classic synth sounds along with an electronic bassline and some
really cool guitar sounds during the breakdown. Some would say that this is
typical NIN style. Although this is true for the most part, it still is a
progression and is different from past music. I like the track, but then I like
most music from NIN.
Copy Of
A was the second single released. It was released in the early part of
August, 2013. It was given away on Amazon.com for free as an MP3 and if you
ordered the album from the NIN.com store you could get it free that way too.
The Amazon MP3 was at 254 kbps where as the NIN version was MP3 at 320 or a
better format such as FLAC.
The track itself is very different from Came Back Haunted.
The song features the use of the Swarmatron, an analogue synthesizer, which was
most notably used by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for the soundtrack of the
film, The Social Network.
Lyricly the song can be interpreted as trying to find ones identity in a sea of
similarity. It could also be interpreted as nothing can stand out in a world
where exact duplicates can exist without thought or understanding of where it
came from in the first place.
Everything
was just released this week on NPR and as a free download if you preordered the
new album from NIN.com. This track is very different from anything that NIN has
put out in the past. It is more rock than industrial and really fits in with
the current indie/DIY music that has been put out in the underground music over
the past year. This track makes me want to hear the new album even more than
the first two singles that have been put out!”
Other tracks that I like from this album are Satellite and
Running. Satellite has a cool beat that reminds me of something that a rap
artist would put together. The lyrics are even more spoken that sung. This is a
different direction for NIN. Running has an interesting beat as well. It
reminds me of the noise that horses make as they are galloping. The song also
gives a high tention feeling with the lyrics talking about, “I’m running out of
places I can hide from this.” and, “They’re right behind us”
This is a good NIN album that shows a new direction and the
classic NIN sounds. It is a new facet for NIN that I have not heard before. I
like it.
This is their first full length album. It has been
co-released on Slumberland Records and Fortuna Pop! It was also released in the
first week of December of 2013. It is a shinny album with nods to many
different styles of music including punk, psychedelic and shoegaze. Slumberland
Records has this posted about the band, “We’re excited to announce the release
of the debut album by thrilling Cardiff-based noisepop five-piece Joanna
Gruesome. Brimming with irresistible pop melodies and spiked with dissonant
fuzzy jangle, their songs are shot through with loud discordant feedback and
super-fast, hardcore punk drumbeats. Kicking it against sexism and homophobia,
nothing is off-limits, drawing inspiration from DIY scenes such as Riot
Grrrl/noisepop/C86/K Records as well as post hardcore like Drive Like
Jehu/Converge and the art rock of The Velvet Underground, Swirlies and My
Bloody Valentine.” I have talked quite a bit about how great the group is over
the past few months. I think this is where rock is going but it just hasn’t
made it to the forefront of the music industry yet. This just means that people
like you and I get to enjoy the underground sounds before it hits the
mainstream. The recording for this album sounds so much better than their
previous releases. This is because the songs were re-recorded on/with
professional people and equipment. It sounds so much better than the other
stuff I have from the group.
I have also talked about most of this album already as it
has come up on their single and collaborations and the little known digital
only EP. I had this to say about some of the songs, including the single
Sugarcrush (from Vol. 4 Episode 35), “the new single, Sugarcrush, from the
forth coming album is on this EP. That means that this song has been floating
around for quite a while now. The song is fast and sweet punk with soft female
vocals as I have talked about last week they sound kind of like Golden Grrrls.
The video for the song, there is one, looks like it is all old personal footage
from the 60s or 70s with the way that the footage looks. The song is fun and
the video makes me feel nostalgic. I think it is perfect.
Madison
is the second song on this EP. I think that it is probably just as good as
Sugarcrush maybe even better with a perfect mix of noise and clean tones on the
guitars. The music is pop meets shoegaze. It is a very cool idea and I hope
that they get lots of attention for the music that they created for this
upcoming album.”
And this from Vol. 4 Episode 34, “The A side track is called
Do You Really Wanna
Know Why YrStill In Love With Me? The song seems to be styled after what
Golden Grrrls have done with their last record with both high pitched male and
female vocals singing the same thing at the same time. There is a lot of high
pitched guitar noise going on at the same time. It sort of makes it hard to
listen to at any kind of loud volume. It is still a good song though.
The B side track is called Lemonade Grrrl. I
am not sure if this is a reference to Golden Grrrls or not. The song is more of
the same sound as on the A side really but with a different beat. This track
relies more on the female vocals than the A side track does. I kind of like it
this way.
Both songs are fast paced and exciting even with the noise.
I wanted to hear what was in store for me before I got the new full length. Now
that I have heard a taste of what is to come I am very excited.”
There was also a digital single called Secret Surprise that
was released before the album was released. This song is very punk with what
reminds me of The Runaways vocal style with high pitched guitar work. It is a
fun track with cool punk sounds. This song is easy to get along with.
I think I will like this album a lot more than I do the
Golden Grrrls album. It is a broader spectrum. I like both albums for what they
are but I think I will listen to this one a bit more.
This is the second album from Mumford & Sons. It was
released in late September of 2012. They were here in my home town yesterday
(9-4-2013). This is part of what inspired me to get their second album, a year
after its release. I am not a super fan of the group or the genre that they are
a part of but it is good music and sometimes I am a bit slow on the uptake. The
group came up with most of the songs while they were on tour in support of their
first album, Sigh No More, in late 2010. They took their time perfecting the
music to make sure that it was the best that they could do.
There were four singles released from this album. The first
is called I Will Wait. The single was released as a limited numbered 7” record.
The drums start of the track with the banjo. It is a heavy tom-tom sound that
backs off with the vocal entrance. The banjo also changes to the guitar. The
chorus is very minimalist with the vocals and a couple plucked notes. There is
something special about the track though. The chorus sings, “I will wait, I
will Wait for you.” It comes off very powerful later in the song when the
vocalist is nearly screaming the lines. The lines can easily be put on any
situation making it an emotional idea.
The second song released as a single from the album is
called Lover Of The Light. This is a slower song that uses the piano in
addition to the usual instruments from the group. There are also horns in the
background. It is a poignant song that seems to be about the belief in
something or someone. It is a good song that tries to point one in the right
direction.
The next single from the album is called Whispers In TheDark. The song seems to be about having an affair with someone that the singer
did not have much interest in but then later found someone that he cared for.
He shows that this kind of relationship has problems because it is hard to get
out of an affair that is based only on sex and then have another relationship
based on love. It is hard to have two different relationships in the first
place. It is an interesting story and a good song.
The last single from the album is the title track for the
album, Babel. The song is a forceful beat but is slow enough to sway to in a
crowd. Lyricly the song is a personal view of the city of Bable. The city was
powerful but God smote the city and spread the people across the planet. This
is how the song goes but on a smaller scale and on a more personal level. It is
another good song.
If your interested in the alt-country movement that has been
moving through the indie music scene over the last few years or so then this
may be something that you would be interested in. Me, I like the music because
it is done very well but it is more for my family really.
This is the second album from Washed Out. It was released in
early August of 2013. It was released on Sub Pop Records. In essence the group
is Ernest Greene. The music is electronic down tempo. If that doesn’t mean
anything to you then it is slow electronic music that could easily put you to
sleep if your not careful. There is something special about this music to me. I
think it reminds me of a clearer version of what sigur ros has put out in the
past. You can understand the lyrics at least better than the Hopelandic that
Jonsi sings with and its electronic so everything is a clear tone. It is good
music that makes me feel good. I got a package deal on their releases. I got,
from Insound, this album on translucent maroon vinyl, the first full length
album called Within and Without on white vinyl, the first EP called Life Of
Leisure on standard black vinyl along with a 7” of tracks that were not on
Paracosm. It was a very good deal considering.
There have been two singles released from the album so far. The
first single is called It All Feels Right. It is the second track on the album
but sounds better to me with the initial track opening into the single. The
opening track is called Entrance. It is a slow build short track that flows
directly into It All Feels Right. There is some very cool percussion that is
used in the tracks opening that then flows into standard drums. There is also a
sitar used throughout the track that adds flavor to the song. The vocals though
could be called slack jawed to some extent. At times he sort of has that Rufus
Wainwrite vocal style that can get annoying at times, over all though it kind of
has a slight psychedelic sound to it. This is interesting because it is a
mostly electronic album.
The second single from the album is called Don’t Give up.
This track is just as down tempo as the rest of the album but seems to be a bit
more up beat with a crowd talking in the background at times. The song has a
cool 70s sound that makes me want to get some Steely Dan out.
Over all the album sort of runs together but this is a good
thing if you’re trying to fall asleep at night or just trying to relax after a
hard days work. It is good music but not something you’re going to want to
listen to all the time, although, I can’t seem to get enough of it, sleeping or
awake.
That is all I have for now...
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