Explosions in the Sky

Contributed by Bethany Lowe.

Instrumental music doesn’t typically occupy the upper echelons of my musical preferences, if only because I can’t sing along (my preferred method of musical enjoyment).

Explosions in the Sky is an exception, and deservedly so. They’ve been around for years, but have recently garnered some exposure outside the indie world by providing the soundtrack to NBC’s Friday Night Lights (and before that, the film version).

One of the more dynamic bands I’ve heard in a long time, it’s hard to truly appreciate Explosions in the Sky without listening to their songs in their entirety– these guys are not for those who like to skip through the tracks in order to get to the “good stuff”. Because their songs are all about the development and progression of the sound, listening to a song of theirs is a musical journey, an experience which can last upwards of 12 minutes– which is why their albums have a relatively low track count. Their melodies are pensive, their rhythms passionate, their beat solid. They may appear to be mellow on the surface, but Explosions can really rock out.

-b

Explosions in the Sky – Your Hand In Mine

Explosions in the Sky – Catastrophe and the Cure

Don’t Pretend You Don’t Love Anamanaguchi

Here’s how I ended up with Anamanaguchi stuff to post… my morning went something like this…

Browsed some processing art stuff online for my business I’m working on (thanks Rico, you’re a classic).

Got into discussions over the movements of art and computers, and their interplay.

Recounted some of the 8-bit music and art exhibitions and festivals, like Blip Festival.

Landed on Anamanaguchi‘s page and listened to some of their tunes.

Entered bliss.

I heard Anamanaguchi awhile ago when a friend of mine and me learned about this movement. We downloaded a flashable rom for the Nintendo Gameboy that would install the 8-bit sequencer onto your machine. With it you could arrange your own 8-bit music. That was at least 2 years ago, and the scene was smaller than it still is now. But, it’s had momentum, and bands like Anamanaguchi or Bit Shifter have had international attention. It’s still niche, but worth it.

If you lived at all in the 80’s and ever played a Nintendo game, this will all rock a familiar chord for you. Since geek and tech culture is much more sheik than ever, it’s acceptable. In my experience, everyone who’s ever listened to this stuff has been impressed and thought it was, dare I say, cool.

Anamanaguchi – Helix Nebula (my favorite, this got me into the whole scene)

Anamanaguchi – Fast Turtle

The Newest Additions to my Rhapsody

I use Rhapsody, so I can effectively have access to all the music possible without feeling the urge to steal it. It works great for me, despite the monthly cost.

With Rhapsody, it’s all about the “because I can” principle. If I hear something I love, I add it. Why? Because I can. Sometimes I add something that’s just pretty good. Other times I add music that is nostalgic, but I’ll never listen to. Ya know, the stuff I’ll never buy, but am more than happy to stick in my Rhapsody account for keeps.

Another frill I found with Rhapsody is that of having a centralized base for all the music I listen to. I mean, I can add stuff I heard about and listen to it later. Then, months later I can be on a computer in Nairobi, and if I want to remember what it was, I can log on to Rhapsody and see it there.

Well, I’m not getting paid for this, so I’ll stop the advertisement. But, since I add all kinds of stuff, I thought I’d clue you in to some of my newest additions to Rhapsody.

Louis XIV’s New Album, Slick Dogs and Ponies – It’s pretty much Louis XIV all over to me. But then again, that’s not suc h bad thing. I love the pasty snares and classic rock feel that bridges together with the unique vocals. Rhapsody calls them a marriage of post punk and glam, but I contend that there’s something else to it.

Louis XIV – Guilt By Association

K-OS’ Joyful Rebellion – Crabbuckit was the first track I heard from K-OS (pronounced “chaos” for those of you who are twisting your minds and heads to read it properly) and I absolutely loved it. I’ve always maintained that rap left it’s most inspiring age when it moved away from jazz and blues music backgrounds and went into drudging beats. K-OS brings it back, and adds singing. This is my favorite track from my favorite album of his, so I picked it under that idea.

K-OS – The Love Song

The Maccabees’ Colour It In – The Maccabees aren’t quite as whimsical as other Brit acts like Art Brut, but their music echoes an emphasis of enjoyment and leisure over depth and earnestness. I like it just that way.

The Maccabees – Toothpaste Kisses

It’ll hold me over for a few days at least:)

-collinevan

visual art & music, v.1

I posted a Fischerspooner video the other day that really captured me. It was a perfect merging of flowing imagery completely intended to dictate the ambiance of the song. I also talked about how Fischerspooner does it with purpose. However, not all bands are as seemingly artistically expressive in the visual aspect. Those who are always get my attention. That’s why I am starting this segment. I’ll post up pics, videos, and songs that are just as much candy for the eyes as they are for the ears.

The more senses, the better.

Fujiya & Miyagi – Ankle Injuries

Thanks to b.lowe for supplying this one to me. It’s painfully clever and insanely pleasing to watch.

Just because this is the first entry, I’ll go the mile and put a second one up to get the fun flowing. This is another fav, and a classic. Röyksopp always delivers when it comes to creativity. I love this schematic art style. It’s very instructional and completely captivates me. When I see it, I think of what I call citypop culture.

Röyksopp – Remind Me

Those of you who don’t recognize, this is actually the original cut of the song used on one of those Geico commercials. Both versions are good. The vocals are Erlend Øye, famous from the Kings of Convenience and The Whitest Boy Alive.

of earlimart and early mornings

Some music you can wake up to, other music you have to warm up to.

Notice the distinctly Beatles sound coming from “Happy Alone”. Earlimart was a band I found through unconventional means. I noticed their album cover and thought it looked rad, so I was prompted to listen. They come heavily promoted by Uncrate, a website I gladly peruse for suggestions on music (girls, if you dont’ find enough love at Uncrate, check out their girl version of the site… Outblush). They’ve never done me wrong.

Anyway, here’s the album art that sold me on a few minutes of time with my headphones.

Earlimart – Nevermind the Phone Calls

Earlimart – Happy Alone

Vampire Weekend Pre-Release Goodies

Apparently VW’s new album isn’t quite released, but their music is spreading all over. I can think of a few people who will read this blog who are going to want to know about this band.

The thing is, being they type to browse music and find everything I can, I tend to have more days of finding pretty good stuff than anything. But, from time to time I find a band that blows me away, and every song is good. This is Vampire Weekend for me. Check out all the tracks if you can.

(some explicit lyrics may ensue, no edited versions available)

Vampire Weekend – Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa

Vampire Weekend – Bryn

Vampire Weekend – Oxford Comma

Vampire Weekend – Campus

Vampire Weekend – M79

Vampire Weekend – Boston

Fischerspooner – All We Are

Taken from Fischerspooner’s site…

Fischerspooner is an art and performance project created and helmed by Warren Fischer and Casey Spooner that makes music, dance, fashion, film and photography. Straddling genres in art and entertainment, the project is renowned for outsider pop shows bursting with stage effects presented in both art galleries and traditional concert venues. They have released two full-length albums of music: #1, a punked-up digital party record trussed with conceptual lyrics; and Odyssey, a rich emotional fantasia with a deep, expansive sound.

I love the notion of not just being a band, but a performance art group. That’s why I had to go video on this one. Bravo.

-collin

Rock Opera Artists, The Ark?

I know this is probably really lame to anyone else, but have you listened to The Ark?

The seem to be sorely mislabeled, and I don’t understand it. I’ve checked them out on Amazon, iTunes, and Rhapsody… all of them state that the band is hard rock and metal. I have yet to hear a metal song by them. I do see the glam in them, but more than anything there’s a tinge of emotional 70’s power pop or even teen idol 70’s rock.

Either way, this Swedish outfit has made some impressions on me. One thing I can’t shake is the feeling that they write their songs for the stage. I’m not talking night club stage. I don’t know, I tend to hear this being some soundtrack for a modern musical. Their songs are often diverse, large, and rich. Their fan base is minimal here in the States, as is the case with a lot of these Scandinavian wonder bands, but there’s something to be said for music this rich. It’s an experience as much as it is just something to listen to.

This song is the one that best illustrates what I mean. It’s a great song, but I don’t know anyone else in my close vicinity who has caught the Ark bug. Too bad, they’re real good. Who said glam was dead? Why is it cool to listen to the old stuff, but we haven’t grasped tributes like this?

An Indie Wedding

Recently, a friend approached me and asked if I could put together some chill music for her upcoming wedding. She likes my style in music, and wants something different from the typical “Butterfly Kisses” or whatever they play at weddings in the background. Funny enough, very few songs came to mind. We fired up Rhapsody and I went through a lot. We joked a bit and threw some real awkward stuff on the playlist. But, the jokes were really just another way of saying, “crap, I have no idea”.

It’s a lot harder than I thought, as you want it to be sentimental and appropriate for the setting. It will just be background music, but it’s not as easy as you think. She also didn’t indicate that there would be dancing, so I’m just adding some stuff that would fit that bill just in case. Here are some of the selections we ended up on.

Colin Hay – I Just Don’t Think I’ll Ever Get Over You

Chicago (Adult Contemporary Easy Listening Version) – Sufjan Stevens

Pink Moon – Nick Drake

Question – The Old 97s

Modern Nature – Sondre Lerche

First Day Of My Life – Bright Eyes

Swallowed In The Sea – Coldplay

I Will Follow You Into The Dark – Death Cab For Cutie

Catch The Wind – Donovan

Brandy Alexander – Feist

Faith of A Face – Nellie McKay

Harder than it looks! What suggestions do you have? Help a guy out.

Revisiting 2007’s Best…

I missed my chance to put this out, and I’m sure it’ll be a regurgitation of whatever all the other music nerds have already put out there. I submit that it’s still important I get this out there. These are just according to me, but take it as doctrine!

Here are my picks for 2007’s best offerings…

The New Pornographers – My Rights Vs. Yours. This song could quite possibly be one of the most addictive songs to hit last year. It’s very classic in terms of what the New Pornographers are used to doing, but then again that’s not such a bad thing.

Loney, Dear – I Am John. Hard choice as far as picking a favorite from this album, or even this band. It’s more of a sensation than a song. Few bands are able to create a build up so long that it’s still rewarding in the end. I love the whole song, but it just keeps getting better.

The Virgins – Rich Girl. Sometimes I feel like I’m the only chump on the planet addicted to this one. It’s a great song. It’s an epic 70’s groove with the vocals of bands from the likes of The Clash. It’s far from ignorable.

Blitzen Trapper – Wild Mountain Nation. Another homage to the 70’s. I maintain that redoing music from any era is totally acceptable, if it’s a faithful tribute with some unique style. You’ll almost find some Skynyrd in this, but really it’s even a bit unique.

Phoenix – Long Distance Call. Album from ’06 but I didn’t listen to it as much as I did this year. I fell in love with Phoenix when I saw their video for Run, Run, Run. I can’t get enough of their style, and although they will vary on their focus from album to album, it’s consistent enough to point out immediately.

Justice – Genesis. If Daft Punk ever needed someone to carry a torch, it was Justice. This band blew up in ’07, but not to any undue fanfare. It’s not far from being worthy the buzz it has and is completely addictive. In a time when indie-electronica-pop-dance music is spreading like Ebola, it’s good to have a few bands on top to guide the trend.

Say Hi – Northwestern Girls. This band evaded me this year, as I was a huge fan of them when they went by “Say Hi To Your Mom”. I own all their albums, but they managed to change names without telling me and I didn’t know this came out. If you’ve heard songs like “Let’s Talk About Spaceships” or “Pop Music Of The Future”, then you’ll recognize this fast.

Stars – Take Me To The Riot. I had no idea who Stars was and no idea that they were this good. I took them for face value, as sometimes I really get caught up in my favorites and have no time to find new stuff. Where some songs take me 2 or 3 listens to get hooked, this was one. I love how this band blends.

The Thrills – The Midnight Choir. After I lived in Africa for 2 years, I really dug for new music. I found the Thrills’ first album and was absolutely taken. I’ve followed them since. This year’s offering is unbelievable. Their mish mash of sweet retro pop rock with really vibrant scratchy vocals over layered positives is perfect. They’re a concentrated experience, but I love it.

Bang Camaro – Push Push (Lady Lightning). Guitar Hero, thank you. My old roommate and I loved this song on the game and I finally broke down and You Tubed them. As if creating pure unadulterated rock isn’t enough for these guys, their lead singer roster numbers at 15. I heard their shows are epic, and I can only imagine.