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

Spotlight On: Godspeed You! Black Emperor

Godspeed You! Black Emperor

The End of The World is a constant theme in music, usually with Metal bands, but it extends to all genres at times. Even the concept of the Pop Song is apocalyptic in nature. I’m totally serious. The Pop Song as we know it came about after the 2^nd World War, during which The Bomb was used for the first time. Before World War II there was no concept of destruction on that kind of scale. But after The Bomb happened? Life got a whole lot shorter and things got faster. The 3-minute Pop song came about from a culture that believed they could die at any moment and so they didn’t have time to sit around listening to full symphonies play for hours at a time. Music needed to happen fast along with everything else. That’s a condensed version of the story, but those are basically the important parts.

Now. Why is this relevant to Godspeed You! Black Emperor? Thematically speaking, the end of the world is a powerful presence in GY!BE’s music. I have heard their sound called “Apocalyptic” more times than I can count, but if it is so, I don’t think it comes from a place of fear. Standing in the crowd at their show this February, they used projections behind them while they were performing and the first thing they projected was the word “Hope.” I think that while GY!BE’s music has undertones of a societal apocalypse, the overall me

ssage of their wordless compositions is one of hope. You don’t make music this gorgeous if you don’t have hope for humanity.

It sounds cliché, but there really isn’t another band out there quite like Godspeed You! Black Emperor. The eight-piece band is entirely instrumental and works more like a miniature Rock Orchestra than a Rock Band. I know that Rock Orchestra conjures up images of something like the symphony performing Led Zeppelin tributes or some shit like that, but I promise you, it’s that’s not how it is. From my perspective, GY!BE comes from the school of music founded by artists like Glenn Branca and carried forward by O.G. Indie rockers Sonic Youth, that of unusually tuned instruments played in such a way to create soaring walls of sound in order to produce an overwhelmingly transcendental effect on the listener.

But Godspeed You! Black Emperor isn’t a Rock band like Sonic Youth, and beyond unusual tunings and use of screwdrivers as substitutes for bows, the comparisons end pretty fast. Looping back around to the conversation that got this piece rolling, GY!BE are probably even less apocalyptic than people think when you consider their utter rejection of the Pop Song. A typical GY!BE song is more than 10 minutes in length and goes through several movements before reaching it’s conclusion. Their music is more akin to modern Classical than it is to modern Rock music in that regard.

The sound GY!BE achieves comes from a veritable armada of instruments. Their set up consists of three guitars, two bass, one cello, one violin and two drum kits, with members alternating between instruments as necessary. Compositions usually begin minimally, with just a guitar or two and gradually they build and build until they reach spectacular conclusions. The sonic experience of this band is akin to being surrounded by a large flock of little birds, each one holding onto a tiny wind chime. As the birds fly around you faster and faster the sound of wind chimes begin to harmonize and bounce off of each other until you are lost in a sea of echoes. That’s the idea anyway. You might hear something different.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor may be the pinnacle of the pretentiously titled Post-Rock genre, but their reign was relatively short and there aren’t a lot of albums by them out there. Of course, they just got back together last year after a long hiatus, so that may change. But in the meantime, the albums that exist by them are all quite fantastic. F♯ A♯ ∞ is one of my favorite albums of all time and probably the best place to start with your exploration of their music. But if you’re into something a bit more focused and a bit more raw, then I would suggest skipping ahead to their last album before going on hiatus: Yanqui U.X.O.

So that’s it. If you need a little more hope by way of Apocalyptic Post-Rock Blues, then this is the band for you. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. Cheers.

Recommended Listening:

F♯ A♯ ∞ (1997, Constellation/Kranky)

Slow Riot for New Zerø Kanada (1999, Constellation)

Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven (2000, Constellation/Kranky)

Yanqui U.X.O. (2002, Constellation)

Tracklist:

01: “Moya”

The Best Of 2010 Pt. 3.

16: How To Destroy Angels

Album: How To Destroy Angels EP

Genre: Industrial

Label: The Null Corporation

How To Destroy Angels is an exciting prospect. After Trent Reznor announced that Nine Inch Nails was going to quit touring in 2009, possibly forever, the legion of devoted fanatics like myself wondered what would come next. Reznor at one time reassured us that he would keep going in music and also dangled a carrot of mystery out in front of us. Would there be more NIN material? Would the rumored Gary Numan/Trent Reznor collaboration take place? What new music would the Industrial king unleash upon us? We didn’t have to wait very long. In 2010 Reznor and friends got together and created two excellent pieces of music, one of which was his and long time comrade Atticus Ross’ superb score for the sociopathic Facebook drama The Social Network, and the other was their (Reznor and Ross’) new band with Reznor’s wife and West Indian Girl front woman Mariqueen Maandig. They called the new band How To Destroy Angels.

The name is interesting, to begin with, because it traces the roots of Industrial back to an EP released by Coil, one of the godfather bands of the genre. Reznor’s particular brand of Industrial Music was always decidedly rockist in it’s approach, with Reznor himself having stated that he wanted people to get the full on Rock and Roll experience with NIN. How To Destroy Angels is something different in the regard that it focuses more on the Industrial & Electronic side of things than the Rock, and while the sound is unquestionably Reznor, it doesn’t exactly follow the same paths as before. Although, it should be noted that there is a comfortable familiarity in the sound pallet that Reznor draws from. You always know it’s his music and no other music can be mistaken for it. It is further impressive that, in using a factually limited selection of sounds and textures, no Reznor release ever sounds identical to any other. It’s not a bad thing, it’s just worth pointing out that he’s developed a unique sound and that How To Destroy Angels is not a break from it, just another step in it’s evolution.

The various styles played with throughout the EP’s six tracks all root in Industrial but all conjure up very different images and feelings. The opening cut “The Space In Between” is a slow tempo burner (pun intended, check the video,), which features Maandig’s sultry vocals over a droning wave of sound and electronic beats. The piece is almost Trip-Hop to me and I always think of this track and the final part of the EP “A Drowning” as almost being like an Industrialized Portishead, with Maandig serving as an even darker, colder Beth Gibbons. “A Drowning” is actually quite a good cut as well, being the EP’s longest piece; it’s got a lot of time to develop. It’s the least noisy and most calming part of the whole EP and it paints an almost romanticized image of sinking deeper and deeper into the depths below.

The Trip-Hoppy nature of those two tracks doesn’t belie the sound across the board though. “Parasite” for example is a very composed Noise collage with a beat, with roaring guitar blasts and distorted synth textures heavily contrasting the smoother, more engulfing feeling of “The Space In Between.” It’s actually fascinating to hear Reznor sounding lyrics as sung by Maandig. She’s got a downright beautiful voice that fits in perfectly with the Industrial noisescapes.

The reason How To Destroy Angels is exciting is that it is a projection of things to come. It fulfills the promise of new material as well as stoking the coals of anticipation even more. It also does a good job of setting this new band apart from Nine Inch Nails while still staying a part of the camp. Even though Reznor and Atticus Ross are on to their next project of scoring David Fincher’s American remake of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, hopefully we’re going to be seeing more of How To Destroy Angels in the future.

Top Tracks: “The Space In Between” & “Parasite”

15: Sleepy Eyes Of Death

Album: Toward A Damaged Horizon

Genre: Post-Rock/Electronic Rock

Label: Sleep Capsule

It’s not something I think about all the time, but it does bother me to see the evolution of mankind’s relationship with technology pushing us closer and closer to a time and place where we’re all going to be linked into our Bluetooth headsets, constantly communicating with a giant motherboard computer system because it’s convenient. The melding of man and machine is not a prospect I relish, but from an aesthetic standpoint, the melding of organic and synthetic in a sonic sense is something that can be downright fantastic. In the case of local Seattle band Sleepy Eyes Of Death, the melding of the organic and synthetic is done in spectacular fashion and in the name of good music, a kind of evolution I can get behind.

Sleepy Eyes Of Death perform a kind of (mostly) Instrumental Rock in the vein of bands like Explosions In The Sky and Mono; spacious, transcendental music that hipper-than-now-tastemakers would have you refer to as Post-Rock. And seeing as how I’m a hipper-than-now-tastemaker, that’s what we’re going to call it in order to save time. The difference between guitar based bands like Explosions In The Sky or Mono and Sleepy Eyes Of Death is that Sleepy Eyes trade in two of their theoretical guitars for analog synths, which creates a towering, futuristic sound that engulfs you like a wave of white light.

Toward A Damaged Horizon is Sleepy Eyes’ sophomore release and it sees the line between electronic and organic growing even more indistinct to the point where the two parts are starting to resemble each other closely. The sound has also grown in size. Dark Signals, Sleepy Eyes’ previous release, was a solid album but it was very contained in feeling and only hinted at the scale that they would reach on Damaged Horizon. Here’s the metaphor: If Dark Signals was the feeling of looking over the night lights of city from a hill, then Damaged Horizon is the feeling of looking at the night lights of a dozen cities from an airplane, except you’re not looking out a tiny window, you’re looking as if you were the airplane, with stars above and earthly radiance below.

Sleepy Eyes of Death gets a lot of comparisons to French Indie Rock band the M83, but while the two go in for similar sounds with their synthesizers, the M83 are using them to create structured Pop Music with hooks while Sleepy Eyes are making sonic panoramas that are not confined to simple Pop Song structure. However, Damaged Horizon also features the closest thing to a full on Pop Song that they’ve done so far with “The Sound Of Light Breaking Down” which is their attempt at creating an almost clubby dance track. And it works, proving that if the Post-Rock route doesn’t pan out, they could go in a more Daft Punk direction.

On the other hand, most of the tracks feature Sleepy Eyes at their most expansive, with songs that are breathtaking in scope and beauty. The prime example of this is the epic “Distant Horizons Bled Dry” which is their longest composition to date and also one of the most cinematic. It sounds like watching a fleet of star ships taking off for a journey through the stars, or perhaps a meteor shower exploding into digital rain. I apologize. This article has been a bit heavy on the longwinded metaphors. But maybe it’s appropriate; Sleepy Eyes Of Death are well known for a heavy visual component when performing live. I guess what I’m saying is: develop Synetheisa and then listen to this band.

Seriously though. If you’re a fan of the Post-Rock genre, you’ll like this. If you like epic synth music with soaring guitars and spot-on drums you’ll like this. And finally, if you like longwinded, heavily visual metaphors being used to describe sound (something you can’t actually see,) then you like my writing… which means you should give this album a try and I’m a cheeky bastard. Cheers!

Top Tracks: “Night Wires” & “Distant Horizons Bled Dry”

To be continued…

Spotlight On: Oxbow

Oxbow

In the grand lexicon of bands that you do not, under any circumstances, heckle, Oxbow probably ranks in the highest. Why? Maybe this picture will illuminate the answer:

Would you heckle that man? … I didn’t think so. But people do. Once. And then never again. This man is Eugene Robison. He is the vocalist of Oxbow. I use the term vocalist here, but really, “voice” might be a more accurate description. He doesn’t sing; he yowls, screams, grunts and scats, but in this case scatting probably sounds less like a Jazz interlude and more like a wildebeest having an epileptic fit. Listening to him makes you feel a little unstable and very uncomfortable. Couple that with Oxbow’s Noise Music explorations into realms both caustic and claustrophobic, and you’ve got something that sounds like The Jesus Lizard if they’d had a more eclectic springboard from which to jump.

Robinson even draws comparisons to David Yow, The Jesus Lizard’s caterwauling front man of legendary acclaim. But Yow was never this deranged and The Jesus Lizard’s music was always straight shooting enough for them to garner popularity beyond the cult level. Oxbow’s sound roots into the ground of Noise Rock but also incorporates influences of Metal, Post-Hardcore, Blues, Free Jazz and even Musique concrete. It’s an eclectic blend that has grown almost sophisticated over time, but Oxbow has an inherently scatological and frenzied nature that time and age will not tame.

I alluded earlier to the dangers of heckling Oxbow and especially Eugene Robinson, but I feel I should set the record straight. Some have inferred that Oxbow is merely a vehicle for the members of the quartet to assault their audience on a physical level. While Oxbow’s music is intended to (heavily) assault your eardrums, to assume that the band actually wishes you bodily harm isn’t true, according to Robinson himself. Will the band end the fight if someone starts one though? The answer is: without a doubt, yes. But to go into Oxbow’s music thinking that it’s just the soundtrack to your face being broken would cause you to miss the fact that the music is, you know, really good.

Another good comparison to make for Oxbow would be to imagine if Captain Beefheart had gone more rhythmic and Metal. But even that perhaps belies a kind of coherency that Oxbow’s music is in the business of rejecting. This is about as far from Pop music as you can get and still remain in the realm of structure. Oxbow’s music is very structured, but the Free Jazz influences add a level of looseness to the overall feeling that keeps things from getting too rigid. I should warn you though, if you’re a fan of verse/chorus/verse songs, you aren’t going to find any with Oxbow. What you will find is some of the strangest music you could possibly create with the bare minimum tools of Guitar, Bass, Drums and Voice.

So if you’re feeling daring and want to know where best to start with this band, check out their album The Narcotic Story which was released via Hydra Head in 2007. This is likely their easiest album to be initiated with and is certainly their most sophisticated. After that, work your way backwards through their discography. But do not fear if you’re listening to Oxbow and are scratching your head in bewilderment. Initially, I didn’t get Oxbow and it was a good two years between my first and second album of theirs and even then another month before I really felt like I got a grip on them. Even now I can’t fully claim to understand this band, but these days I don’t feel I have to, I just sit back and enjoy the pandemonium of sound. I hope you do too.

Recommended Listening:

An Evil Heat (2002, Neurot)

The Narcotic Story (2007, Hydra Head)

Tracklist:

01: “…The Stick”

02: “Time, Gentlemen, Time”

03: “A Winner Every Time”

04: “Stallkicker”

05: “Frankly Frank”

Spotlight On: Introduction/Astronautalis

Hey folks. So as I thought would happen, my schedule has pushed my posting into the land of infrequency. But that’s OK, as this was expected. I’m still working my way through the best of last year and pretty soon I’ll start tackling albums from this year. But first, something new.

The subtitle of this blog is “The Art Of Music Curation In Action.” What I want this blog to be is something very simple: a place where you, my friend or random person, can come and look around at what music I think is good or important enough to share with you. Not a day goes by where I do not think something along these lines: “I think that (name of friend) would really dig (name of artist)” or “It’s a shame more people don’t like (name of band.)” So to that end, this still new blog.

The whole purpose is to provide my friends with a place to come and check out new stuff, because I know that for most people, finding new music takes a lot more time and energy than it does for me. I’m not doing music news, or even just new albums and with that in mind, I’d like to start a new series of posts called “Spotlight On.” The purpose of this series will be to highlight artists I like and think you should know, not necessarily just one of their individual albums, but them as a whole, their body of work or just a couple songs I think everyone should hear.

So that’s basically it. I hope you enjoy this series and maybe find something new you like because of it. And to get the ball rolling, allow me to shine the spotlight on:

Astronautalis

When Hip-Hop was first birthed, I sincerely doubt it ever was ever envisioned that a man like Astronautalis could ever exist. Born Charles Andrew Bothwell, Astronautalis began his career in music as a freestyling battle rapper, which is not something you would immediately guess hearing his music for the first time. In fact, hearing his music for the first time, you probably wouldn’t know exactly what to think… or what century you’re in. Gifted with a silvery tongue and quick-witted sense of story, Astronautalis fashions a kind of music that at one time sounds totally anachronistic and yet thoroughly modern. After all, this is technically Hip-Hop, but it doesn’t sound like it. It sounds old. But not like old Hip-Hop. Just old.

Astronautalis’ is something of a Blues man when it comes to story if not structure. Either that, or he’s a con man that’s just grabbed the bag of money and left you with the blood on your hands when the sheriff shows up to arrest you both. Further more, there’s no proof that he was ever there at all. That’s a sample of the world you enter when listening to his music. Astronautalis could be called the Tom Waits of Hip-Hop, in that his music eclectically fuses elements of Americana, Folk and Nick Cave-like storytelling with crackly vinyl beats. He may not have the robust growl that Waits posses, but what he does have is spotless diction and a gripping command of tall tales.

Though he looks thoroughly unassuming, do not be deceived by this man. Astronautalis is the kind of wordsmith who will charm his way into your house, eat your dinner, make your mother laugh and before you know it, have married you and disappeared into the night with all the family jewels. He will do this by talking. I know it sounds like I’m writing about pathological liar and not a musician, but that is the kind of feeling you get listening to his lyrics. Every story is true and everything he says is a lie.

The combination of these fisherman’s tales with the almost Steampunk-esque beats is a match made in heaven for people who appreciate a sort of eclecticism in their Hip-Hop or the kind of genre crossing music created by people like the aforementioned Nick Cave and Tom Waits. The album to start with if you want to get into Astronautalis is called Pomegranate, as it features his most focused work to date as well as some of his most riveting stories. We don’t even get one song into the album before he’s on the run from the law and wooing married women. In fact, “The Wondersmith And His Sons“ is one of his best songs and if it hooks you like it hooked me, don’t be surprised, it’s a damn fine piece of music.

So that’s about it. I hate coming up with clever endings, so to close out, I wish you well and hope that you continue to enjoy the music. Cheers.

Recommended Listening:

The Mighty Ocean And Nine Dark Theaters (2006, Fighting Records)

Pomegranate (2008, Eyeball Records)

Tracklist:

01: “The Wondersmith And His Sons”

02: “Skeleton (Everybody’s Favorite)”

03: “Two Years Before The Mast”

04: “Astigmatism”

05: “A Love Song For Gary Numan”

06: “Trouble Hunters”

07: “Be Careful Of What You Wish For” (Produced by zoën)

(The names on the Tracklist are correct. Not all names in the player are. But the numbers line up.)

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...