Sound Guardian Redux: Hiatus Over

Wow. You go a whole month without writing anything and you start going a little crazy.

Or is that just me?

Doesn’t matter. Chaos has erupted in the world and you know what? Music soldiers forward. So what if we’re going to all die in a blazing fireball of green radioactive particles, the next three months promise to provide you with eight new albums all of which could be considered good soundtracks to the coming Armageddon. I’m am joking you know. But seriously. I’ve been so swamped I haven’t been able to sit down long enough to catch my breath let alone write. But I am not going to let this blog sink into (even more) obscurity yet. I mean, after all, music curation is even more important now than ever and as sugary sweet Pop creatures with about as much substance as candy canes quickly devour the world, Sound Guardian Redux will remain a bastion for music with soul, if not necessarily Soul music.

A few things need to be dealt with first.

1. So for a while I was going back through my favorite albums from 2010, because I didn’t get a chance to write about them last year. Now though, I’m getting a little bored with the project, mainly because I feel I could address these albums and artists in a different, or even more effective fashion. So I’m discontinuing that series of articles. I’ll probably find a way to bring attention to the remaining albums and artists in a different way and I’ll post the last one of the series I wrote before I got bored with it, but that will be it. In the mean time, here’s the complete list of favorite albums from 2010.

20. Heligoland by Massive Attack

19. A Small Turn Of Human Kindness by Harvey Milk

18. Fences by Fences

17. The One Man Band Broke Up by Ceschi Ramos

16. How To Destroy Angels by How To Destroy Angels

15. Toward A Damaged Horizon by Sleepy Eyes Of Death

14. Brothers by The Black Keys

13. Sisterworld by Liars

12. Fallen House, Sunken City by B. Dolan

11. Tapestry Of Webs by Past Lives

10. They Can’t Hurt You If You Don’t Believe In Them by Post Harbor

9. Diamond Eyes by Deftones

8. Transit Transit by Autolux

7. Option Paralysis by The Dillinger Escape Plan

6. Heavy Breathing by Black Breath

5. This Is Happening by LCD Soundsystem

4. The Lonely Forest EP by The Lonely Forest

3. Grinderman 2 by Grinderman

2. Vessel by Dark Time Sunshine

1. My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky by Swans

2. My posting hasn’t been happening because I haven’t been writing at all. Part of my original intention for the blog was to write shorter pieces more frequently. That hasn’t been happening. For a while it was working fine, but I’m thinking I’m going to try shortening the pieces a bit more if I can, in order to start posting again with a little more frequency. We’ll see how it goes.

3. I’m not sure what format my writing is going to take, but I’m getting annoyed with trying to bracket things certain ways because it sometimes makes it difficult to decide which kind of writing to apply to which piece of music. Or it is for me anyways (option paralysis…) Like I said, things are probably going to be different from now on and we’ll see how it goes.

4. If you’ve made it this far then, you get to read about more things I’m looking forward to in the coming year. Enjoy!

-TV on the Radio-

Confining TV on the Radio to one genre is an impossible task. Are they Neo-Soul? Indie Funk? Electronic Rock? Neo-Indie-Soulful-Funktronica- Rock? Who knows, they do it all so well it doesn’t even matter what kind of music they’re performing, if they’re doing it, it’s going to be solid. After taking a year off to work on various solo projects (such as Kype Malone’s fantastic Rain Machine and Dave Sitek’s sadly forgettable Maximum Balloon,) TV on the Radio have reconvened to record and release their new album, Nine Types Of Light, which will hit the streets on April 12^th this year and quite frankly, I couldn’t ask for a better birthday gift. SHAZAM!

Considering TVOTR’s (OFFICIAL ACRONYM!) track record of albums that seemingly cater to everyone in the Indie circuit’s sonic needs, while maintaining their sterling sense of integrity and artistic vision, in one go, this new album has a lot to live up to. But considering the decompressing chill atmosphere of the album’s first single, “Will Do,” we probably don’t have much to fear about being let down.

-Bill Callahan-

There’s something intrinsically mysterious about Bill Callahan. He gives off a similar outsider feeling that you get from fellow Drag City Folkster Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy and their mutual reclusive forefather Jandek. Callahan’s almost detached baritone doesn’t constantly fill up space like some of his contemporaries, but rather seems to mirror the minimalist nature of his music. He is a man of few words, and yet, Callahan is an impeccable storyteller. Couple that with his ability to channel the wonder of being lost in the wilderness into a simple Folk song, and you’ve got the recipe that has driven his last few records.

On April 5^th, Callahan will unleash Apocalypse onto the unsuspecting world, his third album under his own name since dropping the Smog moniker. New music from Callahan usually means good times, and even though Apocalypse only boasts seven new songs, leading single “Baby’s Breath” is an indicator of a solid album.

-Krallice-

On April 26^th the sky will black out. The planets will fall out of orbit and crash into each other. Cities will tremble and 100,000,000 ghosts will rise up from the ground and torment the living. There will be pandemonium and chaos and those in the know will pay homage by heading to their local record store and picking up their copy of Krallice’s third album Diotima. Because if the world is going to spiral into temporal limbo and red lightning is going to crack down from the sky, then we’re going to need to Blackest of Black Metal to listen to while we fend for ourselves in the wreckage of the 3^rd dimension.

Krallice is tied for my favorite U.S.B.M. (That’s United States Black Metal) band, due in large part to it being one of the projects of hyper tech guitarist Mick Barr. They’ve got a sense of progressiveness to their music that most Black Metal bands simply fail to achieve or out right reject and this is what makes them interesting to listen to. Krallice is not for the feint of heart though and if you’re not already a Metal fan or one of those creepy people who live in their basement and only listen to Black Metal, you should probably skip this next track. If you’re feeling adventuresome though, check “The Clearing.” It’s 12:05 long.

-Explosions In The Sky-

Austin, Texas’s Instrumental Rock quartet Explosions In The Sky have finally returned to gift us a new album, Take Care, Take Care, Take Care which hits the street on April 26^th. But from the sounds of their newest song “Trembling Hands,” things might be a little different this go around. The song has a much more straightforward structure than their usual long-form work, and it even feels kind of like there could be a singing part to it that went missing at some point.

The song actually does use vocals; the first time the band has used them since Those Who Tell The Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell The Truth Shall Live Forever. But unlike the spoken word piece used on that album, the vocals here are simple rhythmic loop that serves to add the propellant feel of them song. “Trembling Hands” is only 3:30 long, making it one of the shorter pieces in the Explosions cannon, but the song might be a serious exception to the rest of the album, being the lead single. Regardless, if you’re into uplifting Instrumental Rock, this album will probably be for you.

-Boris-

AWWWWWW YEAH. Japanese Doom Metal Experimentalists Boris have returned and on May 25^th they aren’t releasing one, but two albums to amplifier worship your socks off. The 16^th and 17^th album by the group respectively, Boris has never failed to deliver the goods when it comes to the loud and the heavy and I have no doubt that May 25^th will be the most Metal day of the year because of it. But the two albums are markedly different from each other. One is called Heavy Rocks, which is also the title of Boris’ 2002 album and, well, here’s the quote that explains why they’ve got the same title: “it’s fitting that the group’s new album sharing the same title and very similar artwork to that disc, this year’s Heavy Rocks seeks to redefine “heavy” music in a culmination of the band’s tireless efforts over the past two decades.”

While I don’t think the band has a need to “redefine heavy” at this point (they already did so with 2005’s album Pink,) if they think they can find new ways to blow my eardrums, I say go for it. But wait! What about the other album? Attention Please is going to be something worth paying attention to indeed as it is the first Boris album to feature incongruously tiny guitarist Wata on lead vocals for the entire album. Boris has shifted sounds a lot over the years but I’ve never heard them play anything like “Hope” the promo track from Attention Please. Because it sounds almost like a Pop Rock song. Now, Boris has proven that they can pretty much do anything that they set their minds to, but the contrast between “Hope” and “Riot Sugar” the thunderous promo track from Heavy Rocks, is startling.

I have no doubt that both records will be good, but I have no idea what form Attention Please will take. And that is kind of exciting.

-Battles-

For those of you who though Battles would sound less like evil mechanical elves coming to dismantle your brain after Tyondai Braxton (son of Avant-Garde 60’s Polar Bear, Anthony Braxton) left the band to focus on his solo music, “Ice Cream” the first promo off Gloss Drop, their sophomore album and first without Braxton, should prove you wrong. The Electronic Math Rock dementia induced by 2007’s Mirrored sounds like it’s going to be followed up splendidly when Gloss Drop hits the street on June 7^th. And in order to replace the bizarre vocal antics of Braxton, the band has enlisted the help of a few guest vocalists on this new album, including Electronic Godfather Gary Numan (that track is obligated to be awesome) and Boredoms mastermind Yamataka Eye (that track is obligated to be insane.) But until June 7^th we’ve only got “Ice Cream” which features Matias Aguayo on vocals, chopped and popped in supremely Battles fashion. Get ready.

-Shabazz Palaces-

Seattle’s most reclusive and enigmatic Hip-Hop act Shabazz Palaces signed to Sup Pop last year and on May 31^st the local label will release their debut full-length album, Black Up. While there are defiantly warmer and more inviting Hip-Hop acts around the emerald city, few have ever risen to a place of such high regard as Shabazz have in their relatively short existence. And seemingly without much effort too. They’ve only played a handful of shows around town and have yet to really tour, but despite that, they landed a record deal with Sub Pop, no mean feat.

But Ishmael Butler (the genius behind the veil) has been in this game a long time, and his previous group Digable Planets even won a Grammy back in a time when that kind of meant something. But unlike the jazzified cool of Digable Planets, Shabazz Palaces traffic in a heavy brand of introspective, afro-centric Shoegazy Hip-Hop that serves as a platform for Butler’s chill-as-you-please abstractions. Black Up’s leading single, the impressively titled “An Echo From The Hosts That Profess Infinitum” shows the continued development of the Shabazz sound and that Butler doesn’t give a shit for conventions, he’s happy doing whatever he pleases. When Black Up hits the record stores, get thee there and cop it. And remember. The beat will always save us.

Right. That’s the forecast. Interesting weather ahead. Until next time. Cheers.

Tracklist:

01: "Will Do" by TV on the Radio

02: "Baby's Breath" by Bill Callahan

03: "The Clearing" by Krallice

04: "Trembling Hands" by Explosions In The Sky

05: "Riot Sugar" by Boris

06: "Hope" by Boris

07: "Ice Cream" by Battles

08: "An Echo From The Hosts That Profess Infinitum" by Shabazz Palaces

The Best Of 2010 Pt. 2.

18: Fences

Album: Fences

Genre: Folk/Acoustic

Label: Onto

Not everything needs to be complicated. In the rush of modern living we’re constantly being battered about by media overload, people overload and even thought overload. I’ve been told I think about things too much and I know I try to do too much in the space of a day and then feel bad about myself when I don’t meet my own impossible standards. It’s stupid really. You’re probably wondering what this has to do with Fences. I suppose it doesn’t really, but I can’t help but feel an ease of calmness settle throughout my being whenever I listen to this record. It’s a kind of tranquility that escapes us in our day-to-day lives, and being able to find such simple quiet within an album of music makes Fences worth whatever time you can give it.

Fences, the (mostly) acoustic folk project of one Chris Mansfield (a local yokel to my home town of Seattle,) brings my mind back to a simpler time and place: A place where you can be satisfied to sit on a hill overlooking the Sound and be content just to sit and enjoy the breeze and sunlight. Real sunlight. Cool breeze. Perfect summer weather, with no gadgets or loud noises to disturb you. That’s the place that Fences’ music takes me.

Mansfield’s music isn’t overly produced or super difficult: this is Indie Pop to a certain extent. Or Indie Folk Pop if you want to get technical. The songs are fairly simple in their verse chorus verse structure and built around Mansfield’s acoustic strumming and soothing voice. Of course, this isn’t exactly happy music. Fences’ songs are all about the sticky interactions of Mansfield’s interpersonal relationships. Love, loss and fucking up are the themes of the day, but the beautifully uncomplicated nature of Fences’ music allows the listener to identify particularly closely with him in a way you might have difficulty doing with even the most human of rock stars. Which should be a bummer, but the music provided by Mansfield and his backing band is just so damn pretty that you can’t help but feel good even as he sings “I’m fucking up/I’m fucking up/I’m fucking up everything” during the anthematic chorus of the album’s lead single “Girls With Accents.”

There’s a bit of Rob Crow in his sound, but with more acoustics and less dreamlike vocals. Fences music is very grounded in reality and the painful situations that life puts us in sometimes. The album is short but sweet, a little more than half an hour of gentle sounds and stumbling relationships, with some excellent standout tracks. There are the obvious poppy singles of “Girls With Accents” and “Sadie” which features an almost Rock chorus and has Mansfield raising his voice above it’s usual, almost lilting register. But my favorite songs are these: the longest song on the album “My Girl The Horse,” which is a sad song (of course) about Mansfield’s failing kinship with a horse OR a sad song using the metaphor of horses to detail another breaking friendship/relationship. Either way, it’s a melancholy but gorgeous piece. The other favorite is “Your Bones,” the penultimate song on the album evokes the dark of a warm evening in August, with heartbreaking overtones. The subject matter of the song recalls the perspective of someone (Mansfield’s loved one,) telling him that they’re no longer in love with him and that there is someone else. The chorus is Mansfield pleading with his loved one not go. The song is very short, but I find something about it completely captivating, though painful.

Relationships are complicated. Fences songs are not complicated on a musical level, but on a lyrical level, the difficulties arise. The great balance of his music is the straightforward nature of the music coupled with thorny themes and stories. I hope you enjoy this record as much as I did, though you’re going to have to wait till the summer to enjoy it with a view.

Top Tracks: “My Girl The Horse” & “Your Bones”

Also Included: “Girls With Accents”

17: Ceschi Ramos

Album: The One Man Band Broke Up

Genre: Hip-Hop/Indie Rock

Label: Fake Four Inc.

(I like to write things in threes.)

Ceschi (pronounced chess-key) Ramos is the founder of Fake Four Inc., an indie label that’s been making waves as of late. In the grand pecking order of pigeonholing, keeping Fake Four in a box is difficult as they traffic in everything from post-modern Hip-Hop (Awol One, Factor & Dark Time Sunshine) to bizarre Indie Rock (Gregory Pepper, Pretend You’re Happy & Boy In Static.) The eclecticism of the label reflects that of its founder, as Ceschi has had his four finger (he’s only got that many on his right hand) in a number of different musical pies over the years, from his own Anonymous Inc. to Toca (a Indie Pop Fusion band with his brother David) to Metalcore growlers Dead By Wednesday. When flying solo though, Ceschi likes to blend his various influences into a strong hallucinogenic concoction in a sturdy Hip-Hop glass that’s meant to be enjoyed slowly, not downed in one gulp.

Ceschi’s most recent solo album, The One Man Band Broke Up, also happens to be the strongest work he’s done to date. His first collaboration with German beatsmith DJ Scientist, One Man Band is a concept album about the rise and fall of a musician named Julius and his one-man band The Bearded Savior. But Ceschi also uses the story of this fictional character to paint a real life portrait of his own fears of failure, problems with the record industry and the struggle of being an independent musician. In the realm of Underground Hip-Hop, Ceschi’s irreverent lyrical and delivery style puts him somewhere between the Spoken Word techniques of Sage Francis, the fantastic wonderworkings of Astronautalis and the unorthodox reconstructionist tactics of Onry Ozzborn. This, combined with DJ Scientist’s lo-fidelity audio sculptures, built from somber horn sections, crackling vinyl piano samples and dirty drum hits, makes for a tragically sad tapestry that is both fraying at the edges and breathtakingly beautiful.

Ceschi doesn’t have what you would probably call a “pretty” voice, but he’s a master of dexterous word play, and when he really wants to, can spit like a machinegun loaded with lightning… or shurikens. His tales carry the great weight of the story of Julius And The Bearded Savior, which, while a little difficult to follow at times (I don’t know how liner the narrative is,) is both a moody rumination and also possibly a cautionary tale to those who would try to tread the same path as Ceschi or even his fictionalized counterpart.

To get the whole of this rogues yarn, you need to listen to the album in full (something you should do anyways,) but it’s not as though individual tracks don’t stand out. My favorite cuts from the album come early on, with the 2^nd and 3^rd track. “Half Mast” sets the stage for the story as well as introducing us to a bit of Ceschi’s own back story. I should point out that the perspective for most of the album is Ceschi singing about Julius, though at times the lines between perspectives blur, as to when the story is Ceschi’s and when its about Julius. “Half Mast” and the world weary “No New York” are two examples of when the story could be about Ceschi or Julius interchangeably. “No New York” is actually another of my favorite songs and even features an appearance by Astronautalis, although he doesn’t really do much, just kind of mumbling at the end of the song.

The album is not frontloaded though, every song is excellent and every song, even some of the odd interludes play a part in furthering the story. It’s not a very happy tale, as evidenced by the harpsichord driven “Hangman” whose cheerful chorus features the lines “hang in there hangman/swinging from the gallows/all the dust from your bones/will make the flowers grow.” The song is also a bit of a dead mans party, with guest raps from Shoshin, M!c King and Ceschi’s own brother David Ramos. But ultimately, The One Man Band Broke Up is an extraordinary album and showcases Ceschi’s best and most emotionally raw work thus far. I know I only seem to talk about sad albums, but if you’re going to pick just one album to get your woe on, pick this one. You can bob your head to this one.

Top Tracks: “Half Mast,” “No New York ” & “Hangman”

To be continued...

Shows: Fake Four Fest

OK. So if it’s not clear yet, it will become so soon: I’m a huge fan of the record label Fake Four Inc. Two of their albums made it on to my best of 2010 list and they provide a home to a number of my favorite artists. Even the musicians on Fake Four who I’m not exactly familiar with I assume to be good because of their presence on the label. The consistency of releases is solid enough as to generate that kind of trust. And that makes me hopeful for the future of the Indie Label as an institution to a certain extent. I’m planning on beginning a series of posts that feature my favorite records from my favorite labels, but that’s still in the planning stages. Right now, I want to draw your attention to this poster:

Looks juicy don’t it? If I didn’t need to be in town for something important the night of and after, I would hop a plane down to this shindig in a heartbeat. In terms of this shit being bananas, these bananas are in pajamas and they’re bouncing down the motherfucking stairs. None of my friends live in LA, so nobody I know is going to this show, but that doesn’t mean I’m not gonna celebrate in my own way.

Friends. For your listening pleasure I have put together a playlist for you to get your groove on to that features some of the best cuts from the Fake Four Fest artists. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do and I hope that, if the beat moves you, you stand up… if you wanna get down.

Tracklist:

01: 400 on the BPM by K-The-I???

02: Keep It Cool by M!c King

03: Intimidated By Silence by Cars & Trains

04: Half Mast by Ceschi Ramos

05: Run by Dark Time Sunshine

06: The Case Of William Smith by Astronautalis

07: Slow Years by Blue Sky Black Death

08: Longshots by Sole And The Skyrider Band

09: Elevated by Myka 9

10: Sunset Sandwich by Awol One & Factor

11: The Fall Of Captain E.O. by Ceschi & Factor

12: Stand Up (feat. Aesop Rock) by Awol One, Myka 9 And Factor