Excerpt: "The mood is relaxed, like everything in the so-called 'chillwave' genre that sprung up while Dntel weren't looking."
http://thefourohfive.com/review/article/dntel-aimlessness
Showing posts with label music writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music writing. Show all posts
Dntel - Aimlessness
I reviewed Dntel's album "Aimlessness" for The 405.
Excerpt: "The mood is relaxed, like everything in the so-called 'chillwave' genre that sprung up while Dntel weren't looking."
http://thefourohfive.com/review/article/dntel-aimlessness
Excerpt: "The mood is relaxed, like everything in the so-called 'chillwave' genre that sprung up while Dntel weren't looking."
http://thefourohfive.com/review/article/dntel-aimlessness
Karen Gwyer - I've Been You Twice
I reviewed Karen's Gwyer's new EP for the405.
Excerpt: "This is the second entry in Kaleidoscope's ongoing "limited dubs" project, where artists drape effects onto their music as it's recorded directly to tape..."
http://thefourohfive.com/review/article/karen-gwyer-i-ve-been-you-twice
http://thefourohfive.com/review/article/karen-gwyer-i-ve-been-you-twice
Tu Fawning - A Monument (review)
I've started writing about music for The405 at thefourohfive.com. Here's my first, for Tu Fawning's album A Monument.
Excerpt: "The songs end up sounding like stories, rather than personal confessions. We get the emotions second-hand. It's the difference between a photograph of a scenic view, and actually being there..."
http://thefourohfive.com/review/article/tu-fawning-a-monument
Excerpt: "The songs end up sounding like stories, rather than personal confessions. We get the emotions second-hand. It's the difference between a photograph of a scenic view, and actually being there..."
http://thefourohfive.com/review/article/tu-fawning-a-monument
Blacklisters
I reviewed the debut album of a Leeds band called Blacklisters, and then did a short Q&A with them. Both were for Soundshock.com.
Here's an excerpt from the review:
"...There's the same sense of danger; the same feeling that these songs are being played from underneath grimy bridges - trolls picking up instruments after a hard day eating billy goats..." [read more]
And here's an excerpt from the Q&A:
"...I want people to be perpetually sick on each other 'til the end of our set..." [read more]
Here's an excerpt from the review:
"...There's the same sense of danger; the same feeling that these songs are being played from underneath grimy bridges - trolls picking up instruments after a hard day eating billy goats..." [read more]
And here's an excerpt from the Q&A:
"...I want people to be perpetually sick on each other 'til the end of our set..." [read more]
Cursive - I Am Gemini
I wrote a review of Cursive's newest album, I Am Gemini, for Soundshock.co.uk.
Excerpt: "Well, the artwork's terrible. It looks like a visual representation of a mental breakdown, but to be fair it's breakdowns that have been putting bread on Tim Kasher's table since his music career started. He's even threatened to have one on purpose, just to sell more records..."
Read the rest of the article at Soundshock.
Excerpt: "Well, the artwork's terrible. It looks like a visual representation of a mental breakdown, but to be fair it's breakdowns that have been putting bread on Tim Kasher's table since his music career started. He's even threatened to have one on purpose, just to sell more records..."
Read the rest of the article at Soundshock.
Reminder: bands still make music in 2012.
I wrote a piece for the 49sVsDolphins Records website about this year's big festival line-ups, and the recent spate of band reformations. This is the first paragraph:
---------------
Apparently, the recent upturn in band reformations can't even be halted by the usually-effective method of death. Queen are headlining Sonisphere, with someone from American Idol playing Freddie Mercury. One of the biggest rock festivals in the country, in other words, is hosting karaoke. Can't wait for the Reading announcement: Jimi Hendrix's skeleton does a pub quiz? Father Ted's three ages of Elvis?
[read the rest]
---------------
Apparently, the recent upturn in band reformations can't even be halted by the usually-effective method of death. Queen are headlining Sonisphere, with someone from American Idol playing Freddie Mercury. One of the biggest rock festivals in the country, in other words, is hosting karaoke. Can't wait for the Reading announcement: Jimi Hendrix's skeleton does a pub quiz? Father Ted's three ages of Elvis?
[read the rest]
Band Members Day Jobs
I wrote a piece for BandMembersDayJobs about what it's like to be in a band in your mid-20s. I'll post the entire thing, but it's really worth looking at the rest of the blog too. When I'm at these little DIY shows watching out-of-town bands, it helps me think about what they're giving up to be there.
---------------
There are four of us, all working on relatively low rungs in the employment ladder. I’m casual member of staff at a local arts centre, which is wonderfully flexible and good in a lot of ways. It’s not, however, a career. People have only so much time, effort and money, and after you’ve spent most of it on practices, gigs and recording, there’s little left to use pursuing work or study.
Of course this is a choice we make freely and no sympathy is required or expected. Still, as people in our mid-twenties who left student-dom behind a few years ago, we’ve found that people’s expectations of us change. Friends get graduate jobs, flats and respectable pay packets. They have lofty ambitions within their field that all of a sudden don’t seem out of reach. I, on the other hand, explain that I want to be in a punk band. People ask if you’re “signed”, or how much money you make from gigs. I say that the lucrative record deal is basically a myth, and nobody makes any money from DIY gigs. It’s not a career - but I don’t need it to be.
Perhaps we fly down the motorway in that small early evening gap between finishing work and going on stage; 100mph for 150 straight minutes in the pouring rain, feeling genuinely worried for our safety but even more scared of missing our 25 minute set. The venue isn’t really a venue at all, it’s a pub without real microphones or stands - we fashion our own from sellotape and the radio mics they use for bingo. Later we fall to sleep on somebody’s cold wooden floor.
The point is that this stuff isn’t a means to an end. It’s simply what I want to do, and I find it as rewarding as any “proper” job could be. It can just get tough to talk to people who can’t see it that way. Without quantifiable achievements, you can’t justify yourself as a person of worth. Unfortunately it’s something that’s only going to get more difficult as time goes by.
http://bandmembersdayjobs.tumblr.com/post/18842331986/nick-oakden-without-maps
---------------
There are four of us, all working on relatively low rungs in the employment ladder. I’m casual member of staff at a local arts centre, which is wonderfully flexible and good in a lot of ways. It’s not, however, a career. People have only so much time, effort and money, and after you’ve spent most of it on practices, gigs and recording, there’s little left to use pursuing work or study.
Of course this is a choice we make freely and no sympathy is required or expected. Still, as people in our mid-twenties who left student-dom behind a few years ago, we’ve found that people’s expectations of us change. Friends get graduate jobs, flats and respectable pay packets. They have lofty ambitions within their field that all of a sudden don’t seem out of reach. I, on the other hand, explain that I want to be in a punk band. People ask if you’re “signed”, or how much money you make from gigs. I say that the lucrative record deal is basically a myth, and nobody makes any money from DIY gigs. It’s not a career - but I don’t need it to be.
Perhaps we fly down the motorway in that small early evening gap between finishing work and going on stage; 100mph for 150 straight minutes in the pouring rain, feeling genuinely worried for our safety but even more scared of missing our 25 minute set. The venue isn’t really a venue at all, it’s a pub without real microphones or stands - we fashion our own from sellotape and the radio mics they use for bingo. Later we fall to sleep on somebody’s cold wooden floor.
The point is that this stuff isn’t a means to an end. It’s simply what I want to do, and I find it as rewarding as any “proper” job could be. It can just get tough to talk to people who can’t see it that way. Without quantifiable achievements, you can’t justify yourself as a person of worth. Unfortunately it’s something that’s only going to get more difficult as time goes by.
http://bandmembersdayjobs.tumblr.com/post/18842331986/nick-oakden-without-maps
Too Split
I wrote an short article about the concept of the split EP in this 21st century. It was posted up on my record label's website, but here it is in full.
---------------
I downloaded some songs from a Example Band A's website. It said: "Our side of a split CD with Example Band B. We had 50 copies and sold them only at shows".
Great concept, the split. You love The As but you've never heard of The Bs. Now you've got no choice but to listen, no option but to form an opinion. 7"s are good, CDs even better; they run automatically from A's songs to B's. You become a fan or you don't, but one way or another both bands get their music in plenty more ears.
Example Band A's songs are great. I listen to them a lot. But when they finish, my speakers don't automatically blast out Band B. They're playing mp3s, not a CD. I didn't get my hands on one of those elusive fifty. I only have half of the split.
The ways in which we distribute and listen to music are obviously changing a lot, and this is just a tiny part of that. But it's worth focusing in on. The formats of 'album' and 'EP' seem to be doing well in a digital guise. Not so the split, which is born as a limited edition physical object, but is more likely than not to spend the rest of its life on two separate Bandcamp pages with no links between them.
Perhaps bands should trade files, and upload everything to both sites. Perhaps they should shove all the music into one mp3, and to hell with the iTunes categorisation consequences.
But they should do something, because - even though they're probably my style, even though I could love them, and even though they might well turn into my new favourite band - I've still never listened to Example Band B.
---------------
I downloaded some songs from a Example Band A's website. It said: "Our side of a split CD with Example Band B. We had 50 copies and sold them only at shows".
Great concept, the split. You love The As but you've never heard of The Bs. Now you've got no choice but to listen, no option but to form an opinion. 7"s are good, CDs even better; they run automatically from A's songs to B's. You become a fan or you don't, but one way or another both bands get their music in plenty more ears.
Example Band A's songs are great. I listen to them a lot. But when they finish, my speakers don't automatically blast out Band B. They're playing mp3s, not a CD. I didn't get my hands on one of those elusive fifty. I only have half of the split.
The ways in which we distribute and listen to music are obviously changing a lot, and this is just a tiny part of that. But it's worth focusing in on. The formats of 'album' and 'EP' seem to be doing well in a digital guise. Not so the split, which is born as a limited edition physical object, but is more likely than not to spend the rest of its life on two separate Bandcamp pages with no links between them.
Perhaps bands should trade files, and upload everything to both sites. Perhaps they should shove all the music into one mp3, and to hell with the iTunes categorisation consequences.
But they should do something, because - even though they're probably my style, even though I could love them, and even though they might well turn into my new favourite band - I've still never listened to Example Band B.
ATP: Nightmare Before Christmas band descriptions
I went to December 2011's All Tomorrow's Parties - Nightmare Before Christmas festival, curated by Les Savy Fav, Battles and Caribou. My friend Rachel Brook made a zine for the event, to which I contributed tiny descriptions of each act.
---------------
Les Savy Fav
Hoarse Post-hardcore storytellers, as wildly inventive as they are stubbornly direct.
Archers Of Loaf
Scratchy guitars, discordant everything and yet still tremendously accessible. 90s US college radio never got better.
Holy Fuck
To make someone dance? Either electrify the floor, or play them this. The live show's like both.
Hot Snakes
Punk rock, minus everything pointless. They use guitar chords like others might use a hammer.
No Age
The simplest little ditties, sung amid a raging storm. Half breeze, half hurricane.
The Dodos
Folk-rock in a rush. Pounding down the street, out of breath, not wasting any time.
Marnie Stern
More notes in a song, on her guitar and Zach Hill's drums, than in most careers. And yet, somehow, it's pop.
Wild Flag
Ex-Sleater-Kinney duo and friends celebrate how fun it is to make rock music.
Oxes
They're weird. They're awkward. But god damn it they're a rock band - no more, no less.
Simian Mobile Disco (DJ set)
They DJ, produce, mix, remix.....it's all the same really. They're just trying to make you dance.
Surfer Blood
Slacker indie busts out of the garage, goes surfing. The sepia videos practically film themselves.
Total Control
It's synth-pop; it's garage rock. Either way it's got post-punk's unsalvageable bleakness.
Violent Soho
Grunge. Loud, uncomplicated, just like your old favourite bands from the 90s. Grunge.
Future Islands
Take The Killers, scratch off their shiny surface and inject them with a serum of gruff, absolute truth.
The Budos Band
Brass-laden deep funk... picture the opening montage of a spy film from decades ago. Grooves suaver than Bond.
Battles
About as modern as music gets, in both songwriting and technology. Gleaming robot rhythms.
Flying Lotus
Jazz and hip-hop beats, broadcast out into space and remixed by aliens.
Gary Numan
Indestructible synth/post-punk hero; a perpetual influence on nearly everybody.
Bitch Magnet
Fuzzed-out post-hardcore through a steamed-up telescope. Their first show since 1990.
The Field
Minimal, hypnotic trance that manages to be ambient and cataclysmic, all at once.
Washed Out
Narcoleptic 80s pop, idly hummed in a summer daydream. Real life is a long way away.
The Psychic Paramount
Like a liquid, they fill any space they're poured into. Or melt it - corrosive acid, by just drums, bass and guitar.
Cults
Uncluttered boy/girl pop. Naive? Listen closer. There's something in the shadows.
Thank You
The colourful detail of, say, TV On The Radio (same producer), except twisted into challenging noise rock.
Nisennenmondai
Unbreakable patterns from Japan. One day they'll get up on stage and just forget to ever stop playing.
Walls
Time-lapse footage in a David Attenborough film. Pop crinkles out of its Spring buds, and blooms.
Phil Manley Life Coach
A guitar, looping and swooping and chilling the hell out. Man, feel those vibes.
Underground Resistance presents Interstellar Fugitives
They're not here to better the unimaginative techno programmers of this world - they're here to flat out destroy them.
Dead Rider
Picture a Mike Patton cabaret. A bit gothic, a lot unsettling. It definitely happens at night, and it definitely isn't safe.
Matias Aguayo
Sultry tribal rhythms, minimal techno and just about everything else, with love from South America.
Caribou (Vibration Ensemble)
Not just the liquid dance music pioneer, but his all-star band too, in their second-ever performance. Sound sloshes round the room.
Pharoah Sanders
A jazz saxophonist of unimpeachable repute. Once Coltrane's protegé, now arguably the world's best.
The Ex, with Getatchew Mekurya
Dutch post-punks' 30-year career gets dwarfed by the 60 of their legendary Ethiopian sax collaborator.
Junior Boys
Synth-pop, buffed up to a marvellous sheen. Somehow, the overblown 80s synths aren't overblown at all.
Omar Souleyman
Syria's streets brought to vivid, energetic life, through traditional folk-pop.
Sun Ra Arkestra
Legendary jazz emsemble, set up by the late, great cosmic philosopher Sun Ra. Now led by the 87-year-old Marshall Allen.
Factory Floor
Even machinery likes to dance sometimes. Double-click fun.exe.
Four Tet
Over a decade, Kieran Hebden's nightclub-honed, post-rock influenced electronica has been getting steadily more grown-up.
Theo Parrish
Hendrix. Chicago radio. Sculpture. Old soul records. All chucked into the melting pot that is Theo's DJ sets.
Toro Y Moi
Plant chillwave, grow it into funk, krautrock or R&B. Those branches are still reaching up.
Orchestra of Spheres
A fairly ridiculous group of Kiwis play, and wear, just about anything. Ancient future funk.
Silver Apples
A rock band, electronically? They practically invented the concept, on home-made synths in 60s New York.
Roll The Dice
A film from the past, about the future. Hidden music despite the strictest of rules.
Connan Mockasin
Whimsical psychedelia for curious children, by a becostumed New Zealand troubadour.
DJ Rashad & DJ Spinn
In Chicago? Got even a passing interest in dance music? Meet your new best friends.
---------------
Les Savy Fav
Hoarse Post-hardcore storytellers, as wildly inventive as they are stubbornly direct.
Archers Of Loaf
Scratchy guitars, discordant everything and yet still tremendously accessible. 90s US college radio never got better.
Holy Fuck
To make someone dance? Either electrify the floor, or play them this. The live show's like both.
Hot Snakes
Punk rock, minus everything pointless. They use guitar chords like others might use a hammer.
No Age
The simplest little ditties, sung amid a raging storm. Half breeze, half hurricane.
The Dodos
Folk-rock in a rush. Pounding down the street, out of breath, not wasting any time.
Marnie Stern
More notes in a song, on her guitar and Zach Hill's drums, than in most careers. And yet, somehow, it's pop.
Wild Flag
Ex-Sleater-Kinney duo and friends celebrate how fun it is to make rock music.
Oxes
They're weird. They're awkward. But god damn it they're a rock band - no more, no less.
Simian Mobile Disco (DJ set)
They DJ, produce, mix, remix.....it's all the same really. They're just trying to make you dance.
Surfer Blood
Slacker indie busts out of the garage, goes surfing. The sepia videos practically film themselves.
Total Control
It's synth-pop; it's garage rock. Either way it's got post-punk's unsalvageable bleakness.
Violent Soho
Grunge. Loud, uncomplicated, just like your old favourite bands from the 90s. Grunge.
Future Islands
Take The Killers, scratch off their shiny surface and inject them with a serum of gruff, absolute truth.
The Budos Band
Brass-laden deep funk... picture the opening montage of a spy film from decades ago. Grooves suaver than Bond.
Battles
About as modern as music gets, in both songwriting and technology. Gleaming robot rhythms.
Flying Lotus
Jazz and hip-hop beats, broadcast out into space and remixed by aliens.
Gary Numan
Indestructible synth/post-punk hero; a perpetual influence on nearly everybody.
Bitch Magnet
Fuzzed-out post-hardcore through a steamed-up telescope. Their first show since 1990.
The Field
Minimal, hypnotic trance that manages to be ambient and cataclysmic, all at once.
Washed Out
Narcoleptic 80s pop, idly hummed in a summer daydream. Real life is a long way away.
The Psychic Paramount
Like a liquid, they fill any space they're poured into. Or melt it - corrosive acid, by just drums, bass and guitar.
Cults
Uncluttered boy/girl pop. Naive? Listen closer. There's something in the shadows.
Thank You
The colourful detail of, say, TV On The Radio (same producer), except twisted into challenging noise rock.
Nisennenmondai
Unbreakable patterns from Japan. One day they'll get up on stage and just forget to ever stop playing.
Walls
Time-lapse footage in a David Attenborough film. Pop crinkles out of its Spring buds, and blooms.
Phil Manley Life Coach
A guitar, looping and swooping and chilling the hell out. Man, feel those vibes.
Underground Resistance presents Interstellar Fugitives
They're not here to better the unimaginative techno programmers of this world - they're here to flat out destroy them.
Dead Rider
Picture a Mike Patton cabaret. A bit gothic, a lot unsettling. It definitely happens at night, and it definitely isn't safe.
Matias Aguayo
Sultry tribal rhythms, minimal techno and just about everything else, with love from South America.
Caribou (Vibration Ensemble)
Not just the liquid dance music pioneer, but his all-star band too, in their second-ever performance. Sound sloshes round the room.
Pharoah Sanders
A jazz saxophonist of unimpeachable repute. Once Coltrane's protegé, now arguably the world's best.
The Ex, with Getatchew Mekurya
Dutch post-punks' 30-year career gets dwarfed by the 60 of their legendary Ethiopian sax collaborator.
Junior Boys
Synth-pop, buffed up to a marvellous sheen. Somehow, the overblown 80s synths aren't overblown at all.
Omar Souleyman
Syria's streets brought to vivid, energetic life, through traditional folk-pop.
Sun Ra Arkestra
Legendary jazz emsemble, set up by the late, great cosmic philosopher Sun Ra. Now led by the 87-year-old Marshall Allen.
Factory Floor
Even machinery likes to dance sometimes. Double-click fun.exe.
Four Tet
Over a decade, Kieran Hebden's nightclub-honed, post-rock influenced electronica has been getting steadily more grown-up.
Theo Parrish
Hendrix. Chicago radio. Sculpture. Old soul records. All chucked into the melting pot that is Theo's DJ sets.
Toro Y Moi
Plant chillwave, grow it into funk, krautrock or R&B. Those branches are still reaching up.
Orchestra of Spheres
A fairly ridiculous group of Kiwis play, and wear, just about anything. Ancient future funk.
Silver Apples
A rock band, electronically? They practically invented the concept, on home-made synths in 60s New York.
Roll The Dice
A film from the past, about the future. Hidden music despite the strictest of rules.
Connan Mockasin
Whimsical psychedelia for curious children, by a becostumed New Zealand troubadour.
DJ Rashad & DJ Spinn
In Chicago? Got even a passing interest in dance music? Meet your new best friends.
Soundshock articles
I've been contributing regularly to Soundshock.co.uk, the most popular UK music webzine without a print publication. Here are excerpts of the latest ones, and links to the full articles.
The Dismemberment Plan live review.
(@ Shibuya O-West, Tokyo)
"...The sort of people who care about bands like this REALLY cared about The Dismemberment Plan. Considering that they split up some 7 years ago, anyone who can claim to have actually seen them gets major show-off points among friends. This reunion - in celebration of their recently re-released "Emergency & I" album - is among the wildest dreams for some people but, yes, that's definitely them, standing up there in shirts and cardigans, a little more facial hair but not too old yet, playing the songs again..."
Full article: [click]
Mono interview.
I originally wrote and asked the questions in Japanese, then translated them into English for the article.
"...Everything they release seems to get called "their best yet", and this was no different. After this much time, I wonder what inspires the band to make something so powerful. The answer, Goto says, "is going to sound kind of weird. When we compose, it's like we just have to convert the inspiration welling up inside us into sound. At shows, each band member works together to share that inspiration with the people who came to see us."..."
Full article: [click]
Across The Sun - Before The Night Takes Us (album review).
"...Across The Sun's distinguishing feature is their taste for the dramatic. The crooned, clean vocals warble on about hearts and salvation or something, over both chug-a-lug riffs and "meaningful" reverberous chasms. The guitar frequently peals off into a Hollywood, "riding the horse into the sunset, injured but triumphant" kind of guitar solo. Songs often feature violin or piano, because they are grown-up instruments that are classy and stuff..."
Full article: [click]
Protest The Hero - Scurrilous (album review).
"...Protest The Hero are back with their latest contribution to the hardest difficulty setting on Guitar Hero. As usual, their fretboard tapping is impressive simply as a feat of stamina..."
Full article: [click]
Conan / Slomatics (split EP review).
"...The implication is that the music has somehow tapped into some ancient, older power. It's transmitting the wrath of Thor, or Mars, or nature itself. But, if it had really managed to channel the essence of rock, then it wouldn't need to..."
Full article: [click]
Wolf - Legion of Bastards (album review).
"...Perhaps you've heard of Iron Maiden. They play in stadiums to tens of thousands of people, and are easily one of the most famous bands to ever have existed. They've written more albums than they've had birthdays, and that's saying something. Oh, you have heard of them? So have Wolf.."
Full article: [click]
The Dismemberment Plan live review.(@ Shibuya O-West, Tokyo)
"...The sort of people who care about bands like this REALLY cared about The Dismemberment Plan. Considering that they split up some 7 years ago, anyone who can claim to have actually seen them gets major show-off points among friends. This reunion - in celebration of their recently re-released "Emergency & I" album - is among the wildest dreams for some people but, yes, that's definitely them, standing up there in shirts and cardigans, a little more facial hair but not too old yet, playing the songs again..."
Full article: [click]
Mono interview.
I originally wrote and asked the questions in Japanese, then translated them into English for the article.
"...Everything they release seems to get called "their best yet", and this was no different. After this much time, I wonder what inspires the band to make something so powerful. The answer, Goto says, "is going to sound kind of weird. When we compose, it's like we just have to convert the inspiration welling up inside us into sound. At shows, each band member works together to share that inspiration with the people who came to see us."..."
Full article: [click]
"...Across The Sun's distinguishing feature is their taste for the dramatic. The crooned, clean vocals warble on about hearts and salvation or something, over both chug-a-lug riffs and "meaningful" reverberous chasms. The guitar frequently peals off into a Hollywood, "riding the horse into the sunset, injured but triumphant" kind of guitar solo. Songs often feature violin or piano, because they are grown-up instruments that are classy and stuff..."
Full article: [click]
Protest The Hero - Scurrilous (album review).
"...Protest The Hero are back with their latest contribution to the hardest difficulty setting on Guitar Hero. As usual, their fretboard tapping is impressive simply as a feat of stamina..."
Full article: [click]
Conan / Slomatics (split EP review).
"...The implication is that the music has somehow tapped into some ancient, older power. It's transmitting the wrath of Thor, or Mars, or nature itself. But, if it had really managed to channel the essence of rock, then it wouldn't need to..."
Full article: [click]
Wolf - Legion of Bastards (album review).
"...Perhaps you've heard of Iron Maiden. They play in stadiums to tens of thousands of people, and are easily one of the most famous bands to ever have existed. They've written more albums than they've had birthdays, and that's saying something. Oh, you have heard of them? So have Wolf.."
Full article: [click]
Gay For Johnny Depp - What Doesn't Kill You, Eventually Kills You review
A review of "What Doesn't Kill You, Eventually Kills You", by Gay For Johnny Depp, for Soundshock.
"...In truth, the sex puns and swearing simply conceal the same anti-establishment message that punk's been banging on about for years..."
http://www.soundshock.co.uk/index.php/cd-reviews/2903-gay-for-johnny-depp-what-doesnt-kill-you-eventually-kills-you
Trap Them - Darker Handcraft review
A review of "Darker Handcraft", by Trap Them, for Soundshock.
"...It's one thing to punch your listeners in the face, but quite another to get them to enjoy it..."
http://www.soundshock.co.uk/index.php/cd-reviews/2860-trap-them-darker-handcraft-album-review-metal
Boris Live In Japan DVD review
A review of the new live DVD by the Japanese rock band Boris, over at Soundshock.
"...the band cover everything they do with an enveloping sludge that takes over any space in happens to flow into - including both the Tokyo live house this DVD was filmed in, and your front room..."
http://www.soundshock.co.uk/index.php/cd-reviews/2761-boris-live-in-japan-dvd-review-metal
Japan's Stereo
I've started blogging about music in Japan for a website called "My Ninja Please". Here are some subjects, excerpts and links:
The Dismemberment Plan
...The Dismemberment Plan played together from the late 90s to the early 00s. The sort of people who care about bands like this REALLY cared about this band...
Sour
AKB48
...Part of the reason for the band’s omnipresence is their strength in numbers: that “48″ isn’t meaningless. Never mind media coverage, they practically have enough members to visit each fan in person. Their music videos are a cuteness overload on par with a puppy-dog stampede. There are enough bright colours and dazzling smiles to give you a migraine...
Using English
...The implied meaning is that music without comprehensible lyrics is as pointless as an inflatable dartboard. But where does that leave your average Japanese artist, or indeed any musician whose native language is less universal than English? If the listener is foreign, do a band’s songs become worthless? If a Japanese tree falls in an American forest, does it make a sound?...
All Tomorrow's Parties
...November’s best music news was the announcement of All Tomorrow’s Parties’ first Tokyo concert. If you happen to be a British music nerd then you already know who they are – a company named after an old Velvet Underground single that consistently books the bands you thought you’d never get to see...
The Dismemberment Plan
...The Dismemberment Plan played together from the late 90s to the early 00s. The sort of people who care about bands like this REALLY cared about this band...
Sour
...Sour have released a new music video. Incidentally, the word “released” in that previous sentence could easily have been replaced by a verb like “uncorked”, or perhaps “unleashed”. The project deserves that much drama – it’s less of a video and more a state-of-the-art web extravaganza...
AKB48
...Part of the reason for the band’s omnipresence is their strength in numbers: that “48″ isn’t meaningless. Never mind media coverage, they practically have enough members to visit each fan in person. Their music videos are a cuteness overload on par with a puppy-dog stampede. There are enough bright colours and dazzling smiles to give you a migraine...
Using English
...The implied meaning is that music without comprehensible lyrics is as pointless as an inflatable dartboard. But where does that leave your average Japanese artist, or indeed any musician whose native language is less universal than English? If the listener is foreign, do a band’s songs become worthless? If a Japanese tree falls in an American forest, does it make a sound?...
All Tomorrow's Parties
...November’s best music news was the announcement of All Tomorrow’s Parties’ first Tokyo concert. If you happen to be a British music nerd then you already know who they are – a company named after an old Velvet Underground single that consistently books the bands you thought you’d never get to see...
the japanese music dictionary
[Single-paragraph descriptions of bands and artists from Japan.]
----------
acidman
well-prooned, well-crooned indie sparkles. rock music on its twinkle-toes.
andymori
unambitious but easily disgestible servings of sedate guitar-led indie. an audio cheese sandwich.
asian kung-fu generation
guitar rock by numbers, but at times they colour between the lines very neatly.
aus
largely electronic sounds begin to resemble something as natural as the weather. like sitting in a virtual forest.
the black mages
metal versions of final fantasy music, featuring the composer himself. street-cred sold seperately.
boris
every day, a new way to burn your house down. noise-spaked amplifier worship in a variety of flavours - a history of rock music on their own.
buffalo daughter
perennial jam-happy mooglings. guitars and electronics gel well, often maintaining a certain floatiness, even at louder volumes.
chatmonchy
cute vocals and the occasional neat hook just about add enough sugar to this all-girl rock trio's vanilla sponde cake.
citrus
a photograph of your favourite band, but everything's out of focus. hang onto it anyway - even the blurs have a certain something.
cokiyu
sonic pictures of dreams, composed while still half-asleep. so transparent they might not even exist.
cornelius
music, chopped up with the sharpest of scalpels. reassembled, but not in the same order.
daisuck & prostitute
no wave noise rock, melded to the sound of a saxophone's warranty being invalidated. either that or there's a wolf in the sheep pen.
de de mouse
bright and cheery electronica that's sometimes spoiled by a heavily processed, high-pitched vocal. created by mouse for mice.
downy
you've taken a wrong turn in a city you've never been to before. it's dark. misty guitars curl around derelict houses built from drums and bass.
envy
the sweetest post-rock flows into the sourest hardcore. when it works it's incredible drama, when it doesn't it's painful hollywood flash-bang schmaltz.
far france
"full steam ahead! any direction will do!" unsurprisingly, these guitar jams often get lost, but the journey can be fun.
group_inou
enthusiastic raps over video game bleeps from a teen duo that don't ever pretend to be doing anything other than having fun.
ikimono gakari
as unashamedly cinematic as a slushy rom-com. guitars, sweet vocals, even a harmonica - it's all in there.
kahimi karie
early morning in a deserted parisian cafe. the waitress leans in, whispers something into your ear.
kashiwa daisuke
a future re-envisioning of classical music from the past that has somehow ended up in the present.
ketchup mania
girl-fronted pop-punk that doesn't care about the concept of originality, just about playing fast and hard.
lillies and remains
less influenced by post-punk; more an attempted reincarnation. pleasingly hooky joy division reimaginings that would have brought a smile to ian curtis' face, if said face was ever capable of such a thing.
lite
carefully layered instrumentals with both mood and purpose. used to hang on dark street corners, but have lately floated off into synthey outer space.
macdonald duck eclair
fuzzy drums, blaring synths and pounding bass combine to form something unexpectedly smooth - so much so that even the bossa nova segues don't seem out of place.
mass of the fermenting dregs
typically sweet-voiced girl fronts rock trio with thick chords and an occasional sharp riff. not nearly mean enough to deserve their death-metal band name.
melt-banana
punk-rock laserbeams from outer-space. you can practically see the colours pouring out of the speakers.
midori
psychotic schoolgirl and friends turn jazz into a bloodbath. the songs don't always live up to the aesthetic, but that's ok. they provide enough entertainment by just existing.
mono
both the loudest and quietest band in the world. the music is about how to get between the two, and how far they can go when they get there.
mothercoat
of course, writing a normal electronically-tinged indie rock song would be boring. duel boy/girl vocals and raw noise are just two of the cherries placed on top.
motoro faam
the work of a blind artist: vivid colour but no structure. sonic sketches using strings, piano and more. even the element of water is recruited as an instrument.
mouse on the keys
piano-led post-rock with a dark undercurrent. last waltz at the end of the universe.
natsumen
take notes, throw them in the air and play them in whatever order they land. a jazz mess, delivered with the vigour of unfed sharks.
nhhmbase
a band for whom time signatures are merely toys to be played with. the meticulously arranged notes proceed as orderly as a cog in a clockwork watch.
nissennenmondai
straddling the fine line between mind-melting and just annoying. repetitive grooves shift like glaciers: slow-moving but relentless. toe-tap your way to RSI.
nuito
mathier than thou instrumentals - no time to enjoy it, it's already over. a spectacular feat of memory.
number girl
fiercely ambitious rock music that doesn't always get where it wants to be. soupy production clogs up the drain.
ogre you asshole
the plodding grooves and criss-crossing chimes of modest mouse, without the bells and whistles. often enjoyable, but the lack of isaac brock's vocal chords means a lack of menace.
ooioo
deep in the jungle, captured by the guitar savages. as they dance to their tribal rhythms, you wonder what will become of you.
piana
child nervously presses a key on a dusty piano found in the attic. the noise is much more enveloping than expected. half-asleep, reality begins to deconstruct.
plus-tech squeeze box
modern japanese pop culture on fast-forward, a million samples per minute. like watching all of the channels at once.
polysics
the quintessential "look! isn't japan weird!?" band. weird costumes, weirder music: devo-influenced video-game punk rock with energy to burn.
pupa
on a quiet fishing trip you receive warm, friendly advice from a trusted friend who's been there and done it all. collaboration between 6 stalwarts of the japanese musical world.
quomolangma tomato
the indieish-post-hardcore tunes show the occasional neat lick, but this band's dominated by the love/hate vocals. who needs talent when you've got enthusiasm?
rega
like holding your thumb over the hosepipe, notes spray in all directions. nevertheless, nothing ever - ever - gets in the way of the groove. guitar jams or death.
rovo
effects-laden slow burners. a stick of incense uncoiling over the course of a long night at the morroccan opium den.
school food punishment
electronically detailed pop-rock music that isn't quite as cutting-edge as advertised. the robots should ignore their programming and zoom on to the future!
shiina ringo
j-pop megastar decides she can do what she wants, releases bizarre album that references death, religion and the smell of semen. one of japan's uniques.
shugo tokumaru
tucked away in the garden shed, the music inventor builds his tinker-pop from nothing more than household objects and imagination.
sonic coaster pop
birthday party at the space station. glitter drifts in zero-gravity, we ride on shooting stars! a mixture of electronica and child-like glee.
sour
intricate and delicate music with a darker edge, by turns lurking deep or shallow in the background. the vocals have more cracks than a mosaic, but the pieces still shimmer in the sunlight.
相対性理論 (soutaiseiriron / theory of relativity)
the best treehouses: planned and plotted in relentless detail, but the finished work looks like it might've grown naturally out of the branches. a little girl swings her legs, singing softly from among the leaves.
special others
tags like "jazz" and "pock-rock" only complicate the simple reality of a talented band making attractive music. it's only occasionally that they touch on something more.
swarrrm
popular recipe from the grindcore cookbook. usp: the vocalist seems to be having a breakdown. a proper one, with full-on loss of both sanity and enunciation.
takako minekawa
the softly-sung, downbeat mood doesn't stop this from being hugely ambitious music. the liberal use of samples gives access to an sound palette that is possibly a little too large.
te'
pretentious song titles: the price you pay for music of such terrifying intent. at its worst, smartly structured post-rock; at its best, as captivating as anything in the genre.
toe
on paper - just another pretty instrumental guitar band. in practice - the best. perfect melodies, driven along by a drummer who contributes as much to the feeling of the songs as any guitarist.
tomoyo harada
a picture postcard from far away. it's been years. she still has that elegant handwriting.
tujiko noriko
in audio: the events just prior to the decision to give up. the straw that broke the camel's back. the loneliest solo artist in japan.
unchain
irrepressibly cheery summer guitar pop. it does get a bit bright, and some people will run for the shade. they should probably just lighten up.
unholy grave
vanilla-flavoured grindcore; it's probably been in the freezer for months. appropriately unhinged vocals from some sort of bovine zombie.
unkie
spiky, garage rock instrumentals. crying out for some sweaty sleazebag to pick up a mic and start yowling.
wienners
in a world where the frosted sugar bomb pop punk of polysics already exists, what do you do is your band sounds the same? easy, just play faster and jump around more.
yanokami
gentle pop/electronica collaboration between two old hands. perfectly pleasant, but nobody's socks are being blown off.
zazen boys
funk-everything-tinged rock veers wildly between enjoyable and self-indulgent. on vocals: crazy street preacher frothing at the mouth.
1000 travels of jawaharlal
hot snakes / hot cross / hot water music....like the toastiest americans, it's good to keep things simple. pleasingly loose and noisy.
3nd
confident rock instrumentals with a flair for the dramatic; they're stadium rockers in another universe. try and pretend the quiet songs don't exist.
54-71
stubborn grooves from a meandering bass, a discreet guitar and a stripped-down drumkit. tighter than an astronaut's seatbelt. fervent sermons aren't quite screamed, aren't quite rapped.
9mm parabellum bullet
try-hard vocals and a fondness for re-using metal stereotypes stop these rockers from being as good as their energy and invention probably deserve. somebody rip their jeans and steal their hairspray. they need a bit of rough.
----------
acidman
well-prooned, well-crooned indie sparkles. rock music on its twinkle-toes.
andymori
unambitious but easily disgestible servings of sedate guitar-led indie. an audio cheese sandwich.
asian kung-fu generation
guitar rock by numbers, but at times they colour between the lines very neatly.
aus
largely electronic sounds begin to resemble something as natural as the weather. like sitting in a virtual forest.
the black mages
metal versions of final fantasy music, featuring the composer himself. street-cred sold seperately.
boris
every day, a new way to burn your house down. noise-spaked amplifier worship in a variety of flavours - a history of rock music on their own.
buffalo daughter
perennial jam-happy mooglings. guitars and electronics gel well, often maintaining a certain floatiness, even at louder volumes.
chatmonchy
cute vocals and the occasional neat hook just about add enough sugar to this all-girl rock trio's vanilla sponde cake.
citrus
a photograph of your favourite band, but everything's out of focus. hang onto it anyway - even the blurs have a certain something.
cokiyu
sonic pictures of dreams, composed while still half-asleep. so transparent they might not even exist.
cornelius
music, chopped up with the sharpest of scalpels. reassembled, but not in the same order.
daisuck & prostitute
no wave noise rock, melded to the sound of a saxophone's warranty being invalidated. either that or there's a wolf in the sheep pen.
de de mouse
bright and cheery electronica that's sometimes spoiled by a heavily processed, high-pitched vocal. created by mouse for mice.
downy
you've taken a wrong turn in a city you've never been to before. it's dark. misty guitars curl around derelict houses built from drums and bass.
envy
the sweetest post-rock flows into the sourest hardcore. when it works it's incredible drama, when it doesn't it's painful hollywood flash-bang schmaltz.
far france
"full steam ahead! any direction will do!" unsurprisingly, these guitar jams often get lost, but the journey can be fun.
group_inou
enthusiastic raps over video game bleeps from a teen duo that don't ever pretend to be doing anything other than having fun.
ikimono gakari
as unashamedly cinematic as a slushy rom-com. guitars, sweet vocals, even a harmonica - it's all in there.
kahimi karie
early morning in a deserted parisian cafe. the waitress leans in, whispers something into your ear.
kashiwa daisuke
a future re-envisioning of classical music from the past that has somehow ended up in the present.
ketchup mania
girl-fronted pop-punk that doesn't care about the concept of originality, just about playing fast and hard.
lillies and remains
less influenced by post-punk; more an attempted reincarnation. pleasingly hooky joy division reimaginings that would have brought a smile to ian curtis' face, if said face was ever capable of such a thing.
lite
carefully layered instrumentals with both mood and purpose. used to hang on dark street corners, but have lately floated off into synthey outer space.
macdonald duck eclair
fuzzy drums, blaring synths and pounding bass combine to form something unexpectedly smooth - so much so that even the bossa nova segues don't seem out of place.
mass of the fermenting dregs
typically sweet-voiced girl fronts rock trio with thick chords and an occasional sharp riff. not nearly mean enough to deserve their death-metal band name.
melt-banana
punk-rock laserbeams from outer-space. you can practically see the colours pouring out of the speakers.
midori
psychotic schoolgirl and friends turn jazz into a bloodbath. the songs don't always live up to the aesthetic, but that's ok. they provide enough entertainment by just existing.
mono
both the loudest and quietest band in the world. the music is about how to get between the two, and how far they can go when they get there.
mothercoat
of course, writing a normal electronically-tinged indie rock song would be boring. duel boy/girl vocals and raw noise are just two of the cherries placed on top.
motoro faam
the work of a blind artist: vivid colour but no structure. sonic sketches using strings, piano and more. even the element of water is recruited as an instrument.
mouse on the keys
piano-led post-rock with a dark undercurrent. last waltz at the end of the universe.
natsumen
take notes, throw them in the air and play them in whatever order they land. a jazz mess, delivered with the vigour of unfed sharks.
nhhmbase
a band for whom time signatures are merely toys to be played with. the meticulously arranged notes proceed as orderly as a cog in a clockwork watch.
nissennenmondai
straddling the fine line between mind-melting and just annoying. repetitive grooves shift like glaciers: slow-moving but relentless. toe-tap your way to RSI.
nuito
mathier than thou instrumentals - no time to enjoy it, it's already over. a spectacular feat of memory.
number girl
fiercely ambitious rock music that doesn't always get where it wants to be. soupy production clogs up the drain.
ogre you asshole
the plodding grooves and criss-crossing chimes of modest mouse, without the bells and whistles. often enjoyable, but the lack of isaac brock's vocal chords means a lack of menace.
ooioo
deep in the jungle, captured by the guitar savages. as they dance to their tribal rhythms, you wonder what will become of you.
piana
child nervously presses a key on a dusty piano found in the attic. the noise is much more enveloping than expected. half-asleep, reality begins to deconstruct.
plus-tech squeeze box
modern japanese pop culture on fast-forward, a million samples per minute. like watching all of the channels at once.
polysics
the quintessential "look! isn't japan weird!?" band. weird costumes, weirder music: devo-influenced video-game punk rock with energy to burn.
pupa
on a quiet fishing trip you receive warm, friendly advice from a trusted friend who's been there and done it all. collaboration between 6 stalwarts of the japanese musical world.
quomolangma tomato
the indieish-post-hardcore tunes show the occasional neat lick, but this band's dominated by the love/hate vocals. who needs talent when you've got enthusiasm?
rega
like holding your thumb over the hosepipe, notes spray in all directions. nevertheless, nothing ever - ever - gets in the way of the groove. guitar jams or death.
rovo
effects-laden slow burners. a stick of incense uncoiling over the course of a long night at the morroccan opium den.
school food punishment
electronically detailed pop-rock music that isn't quite as cutting-edge as advertised. the robots should ignore their programming and zoom on to the future!
shiina ringo
j-pop megastar decides she can do what she wants, releases bizarre album that references death, religion and the smell of semen. one of japan's uniques.
shugo tokumaru
tucked away in the garden shed, the music inventor builds his tinker-pop from nothing more than household objects and imagination.
sonic coaster pop
birthday party at the space station. glitter drifts in zero-gravity, we ride on shooting stars! a mixture of electronica and child-like glee.
sour
intricate and delicate music with a darker edge, by turns lurking deep or shallow in the background. the vocals have more cracks than a mosaic, but the pieces still shimmer in the sunlight.
相対性理論 (soutaiseiriron / theory of relativity)
the best treehouses: planned and plotted in relentless detail, but the finished work looks like it might've grown naturally out of the branches. a little girl swings her legs, singing softly from among the leaves.
special others
tags like "jazz" and "pock-rock" only complicate the simple reality of a talented band making attractive music. it's only occasionally that they touch on something more.
swarrrm
popular recipe from the grindcore cookbook. usp: the vocalist seems to be having a breakdown. a proper one, with full-on loss of both sanity and enunciation.
takako minekawa
the softly-sung, downbeat mood doesn't stop this from being hugely ambitious music. the liberal use of samples gives access to an sound palette that is possibly a little too large.
te'
pretentious song titles: the price you pay for music of such terrifying intent. at its worst, smartly structured post-rock; at its best, as captivating as anything in the genre.
toe
on paper - just another pretty instrumental guitar band. in practice - the best. perfect melodies, driven along by a drummer who contributes as much to the feeling of the songs as any guitarist.
tomoyo harada
a picture postcard from far away. it's been years. she still has that elegant handwriting.
tujiko noriko
in audio: the events just prior to the decision to give up. the straw that broke the camel's back. the loneliest solo artist in japan.
unchain
irrepressibly cheery summer guitar pop. it does get a bit bright, and some people will run for the shade. they should probably just lighten up.
unholy grave
vanilla-flavoured grindcore; it's probably been in the freezer for months. appropriately unhinged vocals from some sort of bovine zombie.
unkie
spiky, garage rock instrumentals. crying out for some sweaty sleazebag to pick up a mic and start yowling.
wienners
in a world where the frosted sugar bomb pop punk of polysics already exists, what do you do is your band sounds the same? easy, just play faster and jump around more.
yanokami
gentle pop/electronica collaboration between two old hands. perfectly pleasant, but nobody's socks are being blown off.
zazen boys
funk-everything-tinged rock veers wildly between enjoyable and self-indulgent. on vocals: crazy street preacher frothing at the mouth.
1000 travels of jawaharlal
hot snakes / hot cross / hot water music....like the toastiest americans, it's good to keep things simple. pleasingly loose and noisy.
3nd
confident rock instrumentals with a flair for the dramatic; they're stadium rockers in another universe. try and pretend the quiet songs don't exist.
54-71
stubborn grooves from a meandering bass, a discreet guitar and a stripped-down drumkit. tighter than an astronaut's seatbelt. fervent sermons aren't quite screamed, aren't quite rapped.
9mm parabellum bullet
try-hard vocals and a fondness for re-using metal stereotypes stop these rockers from being as good as their energy and invention probably deserve. somebody rip their jeans and steal their hairspray. they need a bit of rough.
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