Jayson
jason
ymatto
Filed under: Uncategorized
By way of explanation, this project is a combination of experiential style guitar playing and spoken word in the Frisian language, which is a Germanic minority language spoken in the Netherlands and parts of Saxony. (I’m assuming this is West Frisian here.)
Filed under: Review | Tags: dreamy, Electronic, Stay, Tech Coast, Tours, TUMBLEwoof
Tours-Stay EP. Bobby Cahn Records, 2011.
You may remember me going on about TUMBLEwoof, the mash-up producer behind the brillians Phoenix & Lil Wayne EP. Well, Dylan Sieh, the man behind TUMBLEwoof, is back with a new project: Tours.
Tours’ EP, Stay is a dreamy little electronic album. That’s really the best adjective for it: dreamy. You’re not going to get up and dance to this stuff, but you might sway in your seat with your eyes half open. And that’s not to say that Stay is boring because it’s not at all. There are layers of sound washing in and out like the tide. For electronic music, it has a real warmth, a natural rhythm that’s soothing rather than jarring.
What I think is most striking is that on my first listen, I could hear that this was TUMBLEwoof. Even though Phoenix & Lil Wayne was a derived work made from the music of others, this sounds like it was made by the same guy. Considering he’s putting this stuff together presumably on his home computer, that’s impressive.
Stay is available on Tours’ Bandcamp page for a dollar (or more if you really like it).
Filed under: Metal, Review | Tags: doom metal, Forcefield records, Windhand
Ah… this was out in September. I can’t really explain why I didn’t review it then. I apologize for that.
Ok, so fun fact about me: I hate trad doom. It’s not something I scream from the top of the mountains, mostly because I don’t want to razz the legions of trad doom fans out there, some of whom are pals. I think it’s because a lot of what I’ve heard, even some of the really admired stuff in the genre, skews more toward “doing my Ozzy impression” than “this is the stylistic basis of my approach to music.” It’s a focus on duplicating the sounds of a specific band at a specific moment in time, rather than the deeper level of the stuff that basically made doom, doom.
My point in even bringing all that up is that Windhand ain’t do any of that. They’re playing trad doom crafted in the tradition of their mightiest forebear(s), not auditioning for a Sabbath cover band. Yeah, the riffs are crushing and the vocals eerie, but this is managing to feel both fresh and familiar at the same time. This is one of those records that is so good it doesn’t need a masters thesis of a review. This slays.
Buy it from Forcefield Records. Do this now.
– Jayson
Filed under: Mash Up Monday | Tags: Adele, Daftbeatles, Eurythmics, mashup
Daftbeatles took Adele’s Rolling in the Deep and paired it with the Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams.” I approve.
Filed under: Mash Up Monday | Tags: Isosine, Justin Bieber, Mash up, Slipknot
Isosine had the genius idea to mash up Justin Bieber and Slipknot. Like, this mash up is from early 2011, but I’m just hearing it for the first time, and it’s one hell of a way to start a year.
Filed under: Review | Tags: Americana, Elephant Goes West, freak folk, Review, Whirling Derviish
Elephant Goes West-Whirling Dervish EP. Self-released, 2011.
One word comes to mind while I listen to Elephant Goes West’s EP Whirling Dervish: Beatlesque. Specifically, Paul-McCartney-post-Sgt. Pepper-Beatlesque. They have that kind of timeless-yet-old-timey thing that a lot of bands I’ve listened to lately have. I don’t know if that means this is a trend in music or just in my listening habits, but it’s a thing.
For the most part, the album is pretty innocuous, even when their songs are about a failing relationship, as in “First Time/Last Time.” It’s still pretty by-the-numbers pop music. That is, until the final track, “Apples.” On “Apples,” well, I’m not sure what’s going on. A recording of someone talking about how the Wisconsin Public Sector unions were warring against their neighbors and how Social Security is a Ponzi Scheme. These clips bookend a McCartneyesque pop song. I’m not sure what the band’s doing here…on one hand, this could be a pro-libertarian message. On the other hand, the mechanical distortion they put over it makes the whole thing sound kind of like the infamous Max Headroom pirate broadcast. I usually don’t like music to have a strong political message, but as I’m not sure what the message is here, I’ll let it slide this time.
All told, Whirling Dervish is a great little EP that leaves me anticipating their upcoming album. Whirling Dirvish can be downloaded from the band’s Bandcamp page for free.
-jason
Filed under: Post-rock, Review | Tags: Bleaklow, post-rock, The Sunless Country
Oh man, here is some guilt. Got this two months ago. So apologies to Bleaklow. This is the catching up.
The Sunless Country, actually the title of a really good novel, falls into that vein of more rocking post-rock. This is that higher energy stuff, reminds me a lot of Pelican and Caspian a lot. As I listened to it, its one continuous track, although you can get it broken down into it’s shorter individual movements. It never meanders, but still you have to be the kinda person that enjoys sitting through a nearly 24 minute long track. I am, you may be better served with smaller doses.
Here is the basic deal with Bleaklow. To be honest, these guys aren’t reinventing the wheel here, but they don’t have to. This is good stuff. They’re destroying it here. I am more lately in the mood for the higher energy post rock and this really hit the spot. A good band in this genre is like a pretty woman or an excellent meal, just the kind of thing I never tire of. I would buy this if it wasn’t given to me, and would certainly love to see them play should they ever find themselves touring the States.
Highly recommended for every post-rock fan out there.
– Jayson
Filed under: Ambient, Review | Tags: Aelter, Blake Green, Crucial Blast, Dusk Dawn, Follow You Beloved, Wolvserpent
Aelter is a project from Wolvserpent guitarist Blake Green.
So after reading the promotional copy and listening to both of these albums, I am going to lead in by apologizing to Blake. I don’t read sinister out of these albums. That is just me, but I feel like I have to apologize anyway. Aelter doesn’t tread into territory that I want to stay away from. I will buy and use adjectives like “bleak” “dark” and “beautiful.” In terms of a space created by the sound, something about the way I’m wired makes me want to move into the sound, not away from it.
Dark I’ll buy though, completely. The layered, nuanced approach – quiet guitars, languid vocals (absent on the earlier Dusk Dawn) – give Aelter a processional, almost funereal feel. That and what I think Aelter is most evocative of is the winter light of your northern climes. When Bob Mould sang about seeing nothing but gray he nailed the description, but not the feeling. Aelter nails the feeling. Dead on. I guess that’s where the lack of perception of sinister comes from. The most on both Dusk Dawn & For You Beloved really seems post-discomfort and into a place where having accepted the bleak and the dark, you find yourself able to see the beauty in both. Make no mistake, this is beautiful music.
– Jayson
to eleven 