Fun Stuff > BAND
The M/F Thread 2009: The Quickening
Yossarian:
I have been lurking and leeching for so long now - it's about time for me to return the favor I've been dealt by so many of you, who made so much different music available to me. This thread really had a huge impact on (re-)shaping my musical taste and broadening my view. THANKS!
Unfortunately my access to "hardly available" music is fairly limited - at least when compared to the amount and quality of stuff, other forumites are able to come up with. But maybe some of you might find these two albums interesting:
Ral Partha Vogelbacher - Shrill Falcons (2006)
I stumbled across this album at my local (and, sad enough, no longer existant) record store. My guess is that someone had ordered it, without ever coming by to actually fetch it. So after seeing it there on display for several weeks I finally gave it a listen and knew immediately that I had to buy it. Maybe the music can best be described as surprisingly catchy Indie-Rock with an affinity to Postrock and some distinct dashes of Noise - but then: I always find it hard to categorize music. No comments on them on P4k or Allmusic and even Wikipedia is fairly short with information on these guys ('cept the fact that they are from San Francisco and share personell with Thee More Shallows) - but actually I don't care so much about the background, since the music pretty much stands for itself.
http://www.myspace.com/ralpartha - for a quick glance without downloading
--- Code: ---http://www.mediaf!re.com/?yjzdmhgmwty
--- End code ---
Kaizers Orchestra - Evig Pint (2003)
This is a bunch of Norwegians making music on pretty much everything remotely capable of emitting soundwaves. Their stage performance is legendary - not just among fans. And despite the fact, that they sing in Norwegian (which, btw., sounds pretty nice and melodic) they have gained a devoted following throughout Northern and Central Europe. Their style is heavily influenced by gypsy-rock and (more specifically) the norwegian variant of marching-/polcka-music, called "Ompa" (their debut - which I could also upload if anybody is interested - therefore bears the telling title "Ompa til du dør" = Ompa 'Till You Die), but is in the same instant firmly rooted in the shadier parts of rock music. Tom Waits has often been mentioned as one of their sources of inspiration and maybe that's correct. But let me put it this way: if Tito Larriva, drunken on slivovitz rather than tequila, singing alongside Zach Condon and a supporting cast of Gogol Bordello sounds like something you might indeed enjoy, give this a try.
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:fzfrxq9aldte - this is, what Allmusic has to say on the album
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=109828260 - and here is some of their more recent stuff on stream
--- Code: ---http://www.mediafire.com/?ownidi24nzo
--- End code ---
Since this is my first post on this thread (and in regard of my underdeveloped computer skills), I can but hope that this works out (sorry, if not so).
trees9:
Man, I saw some Norfolk & western on here, and I knew this was a great thread (THANK YOU FOR THAT BY THE WAY!!!)...and the beck discog, niiiice.
Jesus, if you haven't heard of this band, hear it now (recommended for those folk-lovers...). I've got more music than necessary, and out of all of it, this is one of the best overall albums I have heard so far.
--- Code: ---http://www.mediafire.com/?z1zczzyzzdw
--- End code ---
The National Lights--a male and female cohesion-- focus on Gothic, poppy-folklore tales and tunes that center around the old American Gothic Midwest; graceful and elegant poppish tunes so beautiful that they are anything but overshadowed by the beautifully-scuplted and lavishly dark lyical bed also presented.
And when I say beautifully sculped lyrics, I mean it. And the music...mixed the male and female vocals....ahhhhhhhhhhh! Sorry, I just fucking love this album. It's like a storybook album, and it's like nothing you've heard before.
meanwhile:
I'm really enjoying that Peter Adams album so far, and the Phantom Band album feels like a grower, thanks dudes.
And that Ral Partha is dope shit as well, I'm lovin the song Aeroflot. I much prefer repetition with subtle progression over verse/chorus/verse etc.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jóhann Jóhannsson - Virðulegu forsetar (2004)
Super minimal classical/orchestral music mostly composed of slow horns and silence. If you haven't heard this I implore you to give it a try, it's one of the most relaxing and peaceful albums I've ever heard and makes perfect background music for sleeping, studying, meditating, etc.
Here's an excerpt from the Pitchfork review (8.8/10):
"Virðulegu forsetar was first performed in 2003 at Hallgrimskirkja, a large cathedral in Reykjavik, and the album was recorded in the same space. During that first performance, players were positioned on all sides of the audience; it was spring in Iceland which meant a show starting around 11:00 p.m. would finish as the sun was setting. As a visual accompaniment, Jóhannsson filled the cathedral with helium balloons that were slightly underinflated, so that over the course of the piece they fell extremely slowly into the crowd.
Think for a moment what a fantastically beautiful image this is. And yet, there's nothing to it. An epic space, sure, but beyond that we're talking balloons, horns, and a keyboard. Careful gestures, simple tools, and a good mind are all Jóhannsson needs. This is the way to live."
--- Code: ---http://www.mediaf!re.com/?nmkmmxej2q3
--- End code ---
Clapyourhandssaywhhaatt:
Bright Eyes Vs. Her Space Holiday
--- Code: ---http://www.mediaf!re.com/download.php?0j1ddwj0wun
--- End code ---
We all know who Bright Eyes is so that doesn't need any explaining..but who is Her Space Holiday?
Her Space Holiday is the recording moniker of indietronic artist Marc Bianchi.
The guys lyrics are seriously great and he definitely knows what he's doing when it comes to working instruments and laptops.
If I see that anyone is interested in this fine little find I will gladly post some more of his stuff.
Review taken from "Drowned In Sound":
The first Her Space Holiday (Marc Bianchi) track is 'The Doctor And The DJ' taken from his brilliant album 'Home Is Where You Hang Yourself'. He plays with looped guitars and programmed beats while faintly singing a warped tale. Marc then remixes Conor's 'Contrast and Compare' I can't compare it to the original as I haven't heard it but I think Marc must have made some major changes as it could easily fit on his own album. The slurred vocals, keyboard drones and the flute solo make it quite an eerie song. He then has a go at remixing his own song *'Famous To Me' * while most remixes are no where near as good as the original, Marc manages to pull it off and he makes it sound like an entirely different song.
ALSO** Anyone listen to Taking Back Sunday?
I'm not that much into emocore these days but I will admit their very first EP was actually really good. It doesn't even sound like them in the best of ways. they had Antonio Longo doing vocals and Jesse Lacey of brand new doing back up vocals and bass, they themselves had a completely different sound. The lyrics, the sound, the different voice, all good factors in this album that I find to be somewhat of a rarity and a nice little gem for taking you back to those good old days of troubled youth, high school girlfriends, and parking lot nights wasted with friends..you know, the times that made you.
--- Code: ---http://www.mediaf!re.com/download.php?yjd2imn5jjn
--- End code ---
pat101:
Max Tundra - Mastered By A Guy At The Exchange (2002)
--- Code: ---http://www.mediafire.com/?xfmkoktjtud
--- End code ---
This is Max Tundra's second, and in my humble opinion, best album. If you've heard him before you have a vague idea of what to expect, if you haven't Max Tundra makes beautiful, glitchy, frantic, crazy "pop" tunes. Trust me if you haven't heard it, you owe it to yourself. Enjoy.
Also since my hard drive crash I haven't been able to find another copy of "Some Best Friend You Turned Out To Be" If someone happens to have it and feels like PMing me I would forever be in their debt.
The Pitchfork Review.
9.2
--- Quote ---
So many synths, beeps, beats, glitches, horns, hooks, voices. It shouldn't work.
But it does. Perfectly. And it's all because of the enthusiasm and sheer joy that electronic artist Max Tundra (né Ben Jacobs) puts in every note of his second album, Mastered by Guy at the Exchange. Jacobs comes across like a dry, witty Englishman mixed with a three-year-old on a slowburn sugar high. He seizes every strain of pop music and every instrument he can think of, wrapping them in layers of synths and drum programming. He namechecks a Yes album on one song, so it's not surprising when he overdubs himself into a Rick Wakeman who has eight hands and good taste; the flurry of keyboards on "Fuerte" blows through like a swarm of candy-coated insects. Which isn't to ignore the subtleties of the accordions, guitars, trumpets, and other live instruments mixed into the album-- all of them played by Jacobs himself.
Genre-hopping may be old hat by now, but Jacobs' music is so disorienting that the abrupt cuts on, say, "M.B.G.A.T.E." are still startling and bizarre: where did that club beat suddenly come from, and what's with the horns? But there's another reason he keeps catching you off-guard: Jacobs is ostensibly writing pop songs. Under all the chaos, these songs are straightforward and brutally catchy, just about every one of them anchored to a great hook and an intriguing voice.
Jacobs' first album and singles were instrumentals, but here, all but one of the tracks has vocals-- mostly by Jacobs, whose high, mellifluous voice resembles Scritti Politti's Green Gartside or, uh, Prince. But he also invites his sister, Becky, to sing. No offense to Ben's work, but where his voice fits into the music, Becky's soars on it; though not exactly a diva in power or emotional range, she has an attractive voice that adds the right amount of warmth to the electronics. "Lysine", the first single, starts with just her and the most basic possible melody before Ben gradually adds glitches and stuttering keyboards; and she's beautifully nimble singing the arching melody of "Acorns", overdubbing her own harmony while Ben adds a shuffling rhythm track and airy (well, weak-lipped) brass.
Since this is his first time as a lyricist, it's forgivable that Jacobs' words aren't as striking as the music. He confesses, "I only sing about things that happen to me/ I never learned to fill my songs with allegory," and it's true that the songs aren't rich with subtext. But the music's already so busy that it all works out fine-- you don't jam a drumstick in a turkey club sandwich-- and anyway, the unassuming way he writes about himself is fun. It's great, for example, that the song "Gondry" is just a plea to videomaker Michel Gondry (Björk, Radiohead, Massive Attack) to direct one for him. Or that his other verses are so autobiographical-- girls he's loved or loves, complaints about his day jobs-- all strewn with Britpop references and clever rhymes.
But more importantly, he knows how to mesh the words with the music, texturally-- he has a good ear for words and rhymes-- but also narratively. The last track, "Labial", is practically an aria. The lyrics follow a simple hopping melody, telling the story of how Jacobs stole his best friend's girl. Bonus points to Ben for having his sister sing it, making it sapphic. The music dramatizes the words-- much like he'd do with an orchestra, he uses different tonal colors to underline different lyrics-- but here it's the acoustic strumming on the first verse, the giddy keyboards on the next few, and then the abrupt cut to a gnarly, grinding electric guitar. After the bridge he fades to a low, pulsing bassline that underscores the conclusion, and then the music explodes in a wave of keyboards, a massive stretch of sustained chords, making a finish so big, it's this close to being raw, stinking cheese. Yet, its boldness and, if nothing else, utter uniqueness, is what makes it so beautiful.
And that may be the key to the album's success: that it can take the unfamiliar and the over-the-top and tie it to what's recognizable, hitting normal targets with the most creative means Jacobs could imagine. This record shows the breadth of his creativity, yet it's accessible, catchy and brilliantly simple. A massive achievement.
--- End quote ---
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version