First things first, I have to admit that I’ve never been a massive fan of screamo from the start, which is why I was quite pleasantly surprised by Pianos Become The Teeth’s debut full length “Old Pride”.
“Old Pride” is a ferocious album right from the start despite the intro of “Filial” misleading the listener before the full force of the band kicks in with the passion that continues throughout the full duration.
Each song is delivered with a certain amount of drama to it, culminating with “Cripples Can’t Shiver”, a track that on first glance may appear to carry a tasteless title, but is in fact a haunting recollection of watching a loved one deteriorate due to illness. The vocals struggle to be heard over the deep rumble of the bass line that at the same time blankets an arpeggiated guitar riff until everything falls away to reveal a Paper Chase-esque spoken word sample that details a woman’s efforts to cope with multiple sclerosis before the guitars kick back in with a swell of feedback.
“Old Pride” is also a very busy album, but never to the point whereby everything becomes too much to take in. Underneath all the layers of distorted guitars and pounding drums there is often a beautiful guitar line that echoes 90’s emo and it’s this that makes it an album that deserves repeated listens just to try and take in everything that’s going on around you.
It’s through the general busyness that allows the band to meld their ferocity with slow, heavily delayed riffs to create some of the most beautiful soundscapes I have heard within the screamo genre since “The Hollowed Out Chest Of A Dead Horse” by Pg.99, and although it’s obvious that they’re influenced by bands such as Pg.99 and City Of Caterpillar, they still manage to sound original.
Filial
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For me, “Post Rock” is something I lost interest in shortly after the release of “The Earth Is A Cold Dead Place” by Explosions In The Sky. This is mainly down to the fact that the aforementioned album seemed to have caused a shit storm of copycat bands that diluted the sub genre to the point where I just couldn’t be bothered separating the wheat from the chaff anymore.
Fortunately Post Harbor’s sophomore effort isn’t really “Post Rock” as such. Instead I like to think it’s heavily drawn out Indie Rock that to some people could easily be interpreted as “Post Rock”. However at no point does it go the extra mile into full instrumental territory thanks to the occasional vocals that manage to break the band from being constrained within a typecast genre, perfectly highlighted on tracks like “Augustine” and “Cities Of The Interior”.
“They Can’t Hurt You If You Don’t Believe In Them” is certainly an ambitious effort, comparable to that of The Appleseed Cast’s “Low Level Owl” series in the way that conventional indie song writing is thrown out of the window in favour of a fuller, more varied and epic approach.
The main difference here though, is that instead of drawing out one album’s worth of music across two discs, Post Harbor have managed to perfectly condense the contents into one solid ten track, 50 minute album.
Variety is one of the album’s strongest attributes and is also what makes this album so unique. Be it the serene & lavish strings layered amongst the occasional electronic click & beep or the Jeremy Enigk-like vocals that draw the listener in with their sheer beauty, “They Can’t Hurt You If You Don’t Believe In Them” is an album that you can just sit there and absorb without your attention span waning in the least bit.
If criticisms did have to be made about the record then I would certainly question some of the almost prog like synths and vocal effects that ruin the overall flow of an otherwise seamless record.
If you’ can spare 50 minutes of your time on a this record then you will be heavily rewarded for doing so, best listened to with headphones.
Augustine
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And so, just like that Small Brown Bike drop a new 7″ on us. I can’t believe that the band have been inactive since the release of 2003’s “The River Bed”.
Of the two tracks on the 7″, “When We Run” is the track that will sound familiar to most people. You can immediately tell this is the Bike as soon as the beastly rumble of the bass kicks in supporting the weight of the sludgy guitar, and if you haven’t got it by now Mike Reed’s unmistakable vocals will certainly give it away. Not much has changed here though, it certainly fits in with the band’s penultimate release, “Nail Yourself To The Ground”, and at the same time puttting to shame the slew of copycat bands that surfaced after their initial demise.
The B side “Hourglass” is another matter, even after a heavy bout of plays I still can’t decide as to whether it’s one of the weakest Small Brown Bike songs or if it’s some kind of subtle genius that will just take time to set in, hopefully the latter.
It just comes across as a rather weak song that lacks the passion that we’ve come to expect from them, a slow dirge that seems to be more of a gruff ballad than I’d have liked.
I think we’ve all been in that situation whereby a band we hold close to us produces material that’s so radically different from what we’ve come to expect that we are left emotionless about it, and as usual, time will only tell if we come to accept it.
Unfortunately it’s not the full on aural assault I was expecting and whilst “Composite Vol.1″ offers a shaky start for the band’s new beginnings, hopefully volume 2 will bring us two killer A sides as opposed to just the one and prove me wrong.
Again, the lovely folks at No Idea records are streaming both tracks here.
Late 2009 saw the (rather low key) release of Tuber’s 3rd album “Anachronous”, the follow up to 2007’s “Shell Out”, an album I only recently discovered but thoroughly enjoyed none the less.
Kicking off with the minute and a half burst of “High Tide It’s Inside”, it’s clear that “Anachronous” is the band at their noisiest, with a much rawer, angrier sound than before.
It may sound like a contradiction but somehow despite the increased discordance, the band have managed to retain their definitive melodic sound underneath the newly found harsh exterior as demonstrated on tracks like “68″ and “The Expense of Flight”
As with their prior efforts, Tubers have again dropped a couple of instrumental numbers on this album, namely in the form of “Unmutual” and “40 XL”, both being rather sparse in content but with the former being a nicely picked number and the latter sounding like a typical slint riff being played underwater. Having said that, both tracks do well at setting up the songs to follow.
The album really excels with the track “These Quantum Leaps Are Killing Me”, a chaotic mess of screaming that rings with passion that still finds room for a bout of punk rock to shine through toward the end.
You may have already gathered this, but “Anachronous” is definitely a different beast compared to it’s predecessors. And while it’s sure to deter some, it certainly is some of the band’s best and most interesting material to date.
And just to top it off, the lovely folks at No Idea Records are streaming the full thing here.
The “Joan Of Arc Presents…” series is starting to become a brand of it’s own as of late. We’ve already had “Joan Of Arc Presents… Guitar Duets” and “Joan Of Arc Presents… Orchard Vale” and now we have “Joan Of Arc Presents… Don’t Mind Control”. The album is collection of 18 songs authored and performed by a collective of 41+ musicians, and whilst the band don’t appear as Joan Of Arc on the album, all musicians on these recordings have been involved in an incarnation of Joan Of Arc at some point.
It also signals the first sign of new material from the newly reformed (and also once again defunct) Ghosts & Vodka, it’s just a shame that the song is definitely one of the weaker tracks on the album. It opens with a riff that could easily be on “Of Course” by Make Believe but sadly descends into an unorchestrated mess that never really seems to take advantage of it’s full potential.
The album’s main surprise was that the bands unknown to me (Pillars & Tongues, Disappears, Birdshow, The Cairo Gang to name a few) seem to be the highlight of the album, massively overshadowing the larger bands featured here.
Of the already well established bands on this comp, Euphone offer the best track in my opinion, with “Friend In Common” an upbeat, very 60’s sounding janglefest that also features Tim Kinsella on vocals.
Overall, don’t go into this expecting anything amazing from the bands you already know about, instead take it as a welcome introduction to the lesser known bands featured and check out their back catalogue.
There’s something for most people here, including glitchy electronica (Litesalive), feedback drenched rock and roll (Disappears) and a bit of white noise (White/Light).
Euphone – Friend in Common
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2009 has been a great year for music, unfortunately a lot of releases have somehow passed me by (It’s been a tight year financially!) such as the new Why?, Real Estate and Mountain Goats albums amongst a lot more.
Here’s my picks of 2009 along with a brief summary of each and a song for your enjoyment.
Empire! Empire! (I was a lonely estate) – What it takes to move forward
The bands first full length and my album of the year. An album that was painstakingly written and recorded over the last two years and it really shows in the beauty of each song. An album that brings back memories of classic indie rock such as Mineral and Benton Falls, whilst adding their own spin on the genre.
“An Idea Is A Greater Monument Than A Cathedral” is contender for one of my favourite songs of the year too. The moment both Keith and Matt’s (Look Mexico) vocals come in together will always send shivers down my spine.
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Castevet – Summer Fences
The full length follow up to their “I Know What A Lion Is” demo. An album that seems to pick up where from monument to masses left us before going all prog on us and continue down the right path. The combination of lovely dianogah esque post rock and the balls out growls of Small Brown Bike make this a record that can both blow the face off the listener whilst also calming their fears.
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The Lonely Island – Incredibad
What’s a list without some laughs? I’m not normally a fan of comedy albums, but for some reason The Lonely Island managed to grab my attention enough for constant plays throughout the year. And above all, any album that can have Norah Jones, Justin Timberlake, Jack Black and T-Pain on and still be brilliant deserves a medal.
Jason Lytle – Yours Truly, The Commuter
The former Grandaddy frontman returns with his first effort for the Epitaph Records imprint Anti-Records and what an effort it is. Combining all the things that made Grandaddy so special yet adding in a another layer of lo-fi gorgeousness.
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We Were Promised Jetpacks – These Four Walls
“For a debut effort, WWPJ have created a promising foothold in the current Indie scene, proving that they can create music that will appeal to all yet still retain integrity and passion, standing in a music scene diluted by press flavour’s of the week.”
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Dark Night Of The Soul – Dark Night Of The Soul
A collaboration between highly in demand artist/producer Dangermouse and Sparklehorse frontman Mark Linkous that sadly due to legal issues will probably never see the light of day (in the form of a retail release anyway). A star studded release featuring the vocal talents of artists such as Jason Lytle, James Mercer, Frank Black and David Lynch, yes THE David Lynch.
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Dinosaur Jr – Farm
The indie legends 2nd post reunion album that carries on in much of the same vein as “Beyond”, a noisy, distorted trip through some of their finest material so far. The show in Derby cemented that fact that despite their age they certainly aren’t flagging and still out do most new artists.
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Into It. Over It. – 52 Weeks
Evan Weiss’s (formerly of The Progress and many other bands) latest project involved writing and recording a song for every week of the year whilst somehow and miraculously never sacrificing quality for quantity. The production is also spectacular for a project of this magnitude, I expected 52 tracks recorded on a 4 track in a bedroom, instead we’re treated to 52 songs that jump between solo acoustic songs and full band indie rock and the man isn’t out of steam yet what with new material already recorded and lined up for a 2010 release.
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Teenage Cool Kids – Foreign Lands
Continuing where “Queer Salutations” left off, Teenage Cool Kids have produced another album that sounds as fresh as the last, doing something which sadly you don’t really hear anymore. A bit of built to spill and a bit of meneguar combined to make some of the best indie rock 2009 has seen.
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Dear Landlord – Dream Homes
Definitely punk record of the year for me. Pure anthemic joy. Members of The Copyrights and Off With Their Heads creating pop punk that makes you feel like it’s the 90’s again.
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Perfect Future – Self Titled
It may have took me a while to get into, but once I did I began to adore this album.
Scrappy post punk that makes many nods towards bands such as The Van Pelt, Koyla and even a bit of 90’s college rock . A very promising start to this band’s early career.
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FUNfun
Warm and fuzzy and drivey and busy and noisy and poppy and something and something! And what could be better to end this jolly day. Nothing! You bet your snowballs there ain’t.
Seas of Mirth
Them loveable land-locked, rum riddled rapscallions inflicting their infectiously potent sea shanties to shake you to your earthly core. You ready?
Of Mice and Mental Arithmetic
There is girls. There is boys. There is dream-crunch.
They rise from the ashes of dead cabaret singer Deirdre Pony De’lard.
Mallard the Wonderdog
Dave Williams. You know him. He’s lovely. He’s doing a solo set. Booyah!
Haiku Salut! (ex-deirdres)
Debut gig from Louise, Gemma and Sophie. It’s japanese, it’s French, it’s east-midlands, it’s accordion, it’s piano, it’s reed organs. It guna be exciting.
There will also be stalls selling home-made jewellery, snoods, T-shirts, Fanzines, short stories and Tracey Meek bits and bobs. If there is anything you fancy selling/showcasing too just get in touch!
Something to do this New Year!
Not sure how much of the takings is going to the Padley centre in Derby, but it’s a worthy cause!
For those unfamiliar with Crash of Rhinos, here’s a live vid from the Sheffield show with Algernon Cadwallader and Teenage Cool Kids. Can’t wait for them to get some stuff recorded!
The first thing that came into my head when I first listened to this split is “Why have I never heard of Pear Of The West before?” because quite simply put, they are one of the best pop punk bands I’ve heard in a long time.
Sounding like a hybrid of Lemuria and The Unlovables (without the sickly sentiments), Pear Of The West power through 2 of the most sugar coated pop punk songs and 1 of the happiest little ditties you’ve yet to hear. Short and sweet is the only way to describe it. The key change towards the end of “The Songs Of My Tune” gets me every time.
Lefty Loosie on the other hand put forward 3 tracks of shouty, lo-fi, girl fronted indie rock, that whilst still brilliant just doesn’t even compete with the Pear Of The West Side. Saying that though, things pick up at the final track “No Good” but unfortunately it comes a little too late.
Time to track down both band’s back catalogue then!
The split was released by Repulsion Records in the US and Snuffy Smiles in Japan. Did I mention Pear Of The West are Japanese? No, well they are.
Pear Of The West – Hole
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Leftie Loosie – No Good
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Hi all,
welcome to Basic Text. A blog for most things music related.
Also home to the monthly podcast (which might I add, every effort is made to contact the artists involved, but if you object to your music being used then please inform me and I shall remove it.
If anyone has contributions, want something reviewed, or want to be part of the podcast then drop me an email.
