Lightning Bolt – Earthly Delights

One of the best topics amongst music fanatics is their choice of listening preference. Do you need to hear something in your car to form a valid opinion? Is listening to an album on a good pair of headphones worthwhile? Does it even matter if it’s blaring from your cheap computer speakers? If you ask me, the music of noise rock duo Lightning Bolt, consisting of Brian Chippendale (drums, vocals) and Brian Gibson (bass), should be heard in every possible channel.

For years, Lightning Bolt has been the true epitome of the Do-It-Yourself belief: placing all of your own efforts into making something genuine and sincere. And still, after album and album of heavenly raucous noise, they’ve enjoyed slight success. Earthly Delights is an album that demands repeated listens and once it nestles deep into your brain, it will never let go with its forceful blend of vision and heart.

Gibson’s always been a more-than-proficient bass player and on Earthly Delights, nothing’s changed. The grimy sludge heard on “Nation of Boar,” altering from a relentless frenzy into a calculated melody of destruction, is Gibson’s ability put on full display. Because behind the exterior of blissful noise are two incredibly talented musicians that employ their creative juices into the chamber of delectable music.

You see, I have an amazing pair of headphones that were gifted to me as a Christmas present a few years back. They’re the kinds that cover your entire ear and from researching on-line, they cost a lot of money. Most of the time, they’re used for classical and jazz music but primarily, they pull every sound out of the dark and into the light. Earthly Delights has too many jewels too describe but for every quickly enforced riff, there is a magical musical moment of growth and climax and if you aren’t careful, you’ll foolishly miss them.

“Colossus” is a sweepingly grand song with a title that couldn’t be more apt. The album’s only true ballad – if it can even be called that – features some of the album’s best dynamics. The ending, especially, finds Chippendale slamming away on a hi-hat that shakes and rattles with an intense roll and while Gibson does enough splattering of his own, the song’s building of sounds alleviate an increasing jolt of life. And if you’re looking for something with a smooth blend of musicality and force, look no further than “Funny Farm.” A countrified melody, both members sing in the background of the mix as they put away their walls of noise in favor of conveying a somewhat tranquil exposition. Does it explode after a minute of this? Of course it does and it’s superb.

When you hear the stories that after Hisham Bharoocha left the band to form Black Dice, Chippendale took over vocals by jamming the microphone into his mouth, it all seems to make perfect sense. Lightning Bolt concentrate their efforts around the sheer propulsion and energy their music drives off. And while Chippendale has always been an excellent drummer, the vocals he provides here and there open up the sounds in immense manners. On the forever moving “Transmissionary,” fused with menacing, twirling music that swirls and confuses, his vocals convey a ghostly blend of spectral vision – they’re spooky, vital and completely necessary.

Music like this is a reward just waiting to happen and if you give it a fair shot, it will surely win you over. Even if you’ve never been a fan, I am sure you’ve seen Lightning Bolt’s name and have been intrigued. There is no reason why Earthly Delights shouldn’t play a role in your music listening for 2009 because it’s a winner, yet again, from a duo that are clearly making all of the right moves.

Load Records

Guignol & Mischief Brew – Fight Dirty

Not being at all familiar with the separate work of Guignol or Mischief Brew, the bands’ collaborative release Fight Dirty strikes me as an album recorded by just one, incredibly cohesive band. I’ll further admit to not being at all familiar with the members of Guignol’s other bands (The Hold Steady, World/Inferno Friendship Society, Antony & The Johnsons, etc.), but I will say Fight Dirty absolutely makes me want to discover everything else these guys are doing.

Comparisons to other popular bands that fit in to the rag-tag ethno-mashup bunch will come easily for these two groups, but what Guignol & Mischief Brew have going is something entirely different. Does it include elements of punk, folk, Celtic, gypsy, jazz, and more? Wholeheartedly, yes! But Fight Dirty definitely stands alone. I’m floored at the number of styles these guys pull out of their musical hats, all the while delivering songs that fit together in such a perfect way that I can’t help wondering how it is they don’t always play together.

From the first few seconds of “The Tardy Barker” it’s clear this album is going to be a foot stomping hootenanny. This instrumental track sets the stage for a beautiful cacophony of songs featuring too many styles to count. The sixteen songs on Fight Dirty weave their way back and forth between purely instrumental tunes and those with lyrics – both of which are equally as engaging. As the accordion opens Guignol and Mischief Brew’s take on Iron Maiden’s “Hallowed Be Thy Name” I’m again left wondering how the hell I’ve never caught anything by these guys before. The trumpet work alone is truly amazing.

Blatant fan-girling aside, Fight Dirty is easily my pick for the most purely entertaining album of the year. While some melting pot style bands mimic whatever traditional styles they can muster with whatever they used to play (isn’t gypsy punk all the rage?), many of these groups come off sounding forced. While I have no take on the backgrounds of the members of Guignol or Mischief Brew, I have the distinct feeling that these guys have the Old World surging through their blood in tandem with their Americanness.

Dualist – We Are You

Dualist sounds a lot like old Interpol. That might be enough of a review right there, but we’ll continue. It’s actually not enough to say the band does Interpol because the vocals aren’t as gloomy and the band introduces enough small touches to distinguish it from Bright Lights. But overall, it’s a lot like Interpol, and so you may have all the info you need on whether you’d like this album.

The guitar riffs sometimes consist of single-note runs in the style of bass players (a measure of one note being hit on the downbeat, then again with another note, and so on). At other times, the guitars pick short (two notes, even) melodic riffs out of the air. The beats aren’t too flashy or complex, even when the drummer throws in some gets a little tricky (as on “This Night”). The bass sticks to the expected: pretty traditional root-note bottom end. And instead of near-goth vocals, this British take on things enlivens the lyrics with almost chipper singing occasionally. A good bit of the singing is still of the brooding, alienated type, though.

“The One” throws together a lot of what we’ve been describing so far, so it’s a decent example of the Dualist sound. One cool thing that distinguishes it is the way that the band slows the song down halfway through — not really a gimmick, and not really a trick that bands really think to do. In other words, Dualist isn’t only about sticking to the known formulas. That song has some Maximo Park and maybe even a touch of Futureheads in it.

“Coma,” a (necessary?) ballad, falls a little flat in the imaginative lyric department. “Days roll into years/ And I’m still here / Alone / Drifting in my own world while I wait / For you” doesn’t exactly break new ground. Sad Lovers and Giants used to do this kind of thing very well. If only Dualist had taken SL&G’s “Imagination” as a jumping-off point.

Back to the beginning: this album probably won’t set the world on fire, but if you were to spin it between Interpol and The Editors, you’d hardly notice the transitions.

Debut album from Old Wives’ Tale

It’ll take just one listen to the debut recording from Miami duo Old Wives’ Tale to understand why brothers Jaime and Felipe Valencia have coined it “amphetamine music.”

[MP3] “[15] Amphetamine”: http://tinyurl.com/oldwivestale-15amphetamine

The Valencia brothers formed Old Wives’ Tale in 2006 shortly after making the decision to relegate their biology, chemistry, music and audio engineering diplomas to mere wall decorations. Infected by an angst that resonated in every indie club in Miami’s design district, Jaime and Felipe joined their contrasting music personalities to create a fresh sound composed of distorted bass lines, disco beats, ripping guitars, and lyrics referencing alter-egos, heart-breaking love affairs, and one-night stands.

Official site: http://www.listentotheold.com/

U.S. release of Hawksley Workman album

The multiple Juno Award-winning Canadian rocker, singer-songwriter, producer and writer Hawksley Workman has announced the first ever U.S. release of his landmark 2000 debut album For Him And The Girls, set for release November 17, 2009 on Hawksley’s own Isadora Records.

http://www.myspace.com/hawksleyworkman

Written, produced, and performed by Hawksley himself, For Him and the Girls blends beautifully penned lyrics and clanky-folk tunes with fresh-faced pop. From the opener (“Maniacs”), where yodels are swathed in distortion and guitars, to the Beatles-esque tunes (“Sad House Daddy”) that move like a speakeasy regular’s lusty poetry (“Tarantulove”), the entire record bursts with beauty and energy. Download “Maniacs” here: http://bit.ly/Maniacs_MP3

Official Site: http://www.hawksleyworkman.com/

Elisa Luu – Chromatic Sigh

A stellar work of ambience, Chromatic Sigh refracts the sound of cool intelligence. As far as descriptions go, you can trot out the usual suspects, like shimmering and sparkling, because they apply in abundance. The artist, Elisa Luu from Rome, Italy, composes with a maturity and patience that you can hear on this refined debut.

On first listen you hear the collaborative spirit Luu must have honed during her previous jazz experiences. Guitar and flute polish expansive synths, and keys and rhythms come and go like seasonal birds. Songs on Chromatic Sigh conjure sunrise in the tundra, some sounds are boundlessly vertical while others warm and cool on the horizon. After queuing up her personal electronic orchestra on the introductory title track, Luu really starts with the flawed “Pixie Space Rock”, a versatile song that approaches post-rock from the safety of ambient electronica. The changes in this track feel disjointed, though this approach happens elsewhere on the album with better results.

Like a fast motion soundtrack to the peace, wonder, and seclusion of wide open spaces, track two, “Arteline”, meditates to a brushing, breathy beat. “R3Son8″ fills space around you with familiar sounding scratches, creaks, and rubbings. Like most of Chromatic Sigh, at the surface is a calming ambience dimpled with effects that break the monotony rather than lull you into a trance, these gentle provocations the difference between sleeping and waking.

Fifth track “Slowbeat” and the above mentioned “Pixie Space Rock” are the only missteps. The album’s second half is its best.

“Perhaps” is so good it passes too quickly, and its scope of sounds are quietly ambitious. On the inviting “Slow Bass Flute”, the lead instrument prays over a soft static filter of white noise and ebbing and whirring synths and keys. Whereas the music often becomes a wash on so much ambient music, Luu’s instrumentation remains very distinct, especially on “The Garden”. Time is kept by a tinsel beat as sounds slip away only to be quietly replaced. Sadly, we’re gently ushered out with “Warn Plate” with a reminder of the infinite.

There’s something cyclical about the music on Chromatic Sigh, and electronically this places listeners in the wonderous open spaces that still boom quietly in our natural world. These spaces are Elisa Luu’s sonic gift to the chumps stranded in suburbia or packed away in cramped apartments.

Elisa Luu’s MySpace
Hidden Shoal Recordings

Nothern Howl- All That’s Under the Night’s Sky

It’s Sufjan Stevens for people who think Sufjan is overlong! I mean, one of the biggest knocks on Sufjan, if someone has a beef against him, is that his songs and albums run too long. Nothern Howl give the baroque-folk genre a nice spark to keep enthusiasts of this type of music something to be invested in for a while. Every song is a winner, but opener “Algorithm”, “Madigan”, and “Sleeping Bags” are especially fantastic. But really, any song you pick out from this album has a chance to be a favorite. And for the Sufjan detractors, this album clocks in at under forty minutes.

Everything about Nothern Howl (even their canvas-wrapped album cover) rings of camping in God’s country. The song titles, the folk soundscapes, the lyrics, all have that feel to them. It makes for a pleasant backdrop for these songs, and you get a genuine sense that these guys enjoy a nice camp every so often. Musically, not thematically, is what makes this such a great record. It’s unbelievably catchy with soft melodies and subtle hooks, while the acoustic guitars pick away in their folksy glory. The tipping point for All That’s Under the Night’s Sky are the horns, pianos, and bells that add depth and spirit to an already accomplished sound. To give you an idea of how much, and how surprising this album hit me as a real knock-out, I’ll share this. Once I finish this review, I’m going to leave town for the weekend, hanging out with my friends. Besides hanging out, what I love about the trip is driving alone, playing two full albums on the way there. I had my two albums planned, and was psyched to leave, but then I popped in Northern Howl to start on my review. Midway through it, I knew I had to cancel one of my albums, because I needed to hear this again, by myself, on the open road. So, yes, Northen Howl’s fantastic new album is definitely worth hearing. Over and over and over again.

The Lillapucians- “The Impractical Line”

Their name may originally mean ‘tiny people,’ but their sound is enormous . The Lillapucians are a four piece band from Queens, NY that started rockin’ back in ’05. They’ve played main stage at the Knitting Factory, and came in first place at the 2008 Exposure Music Festival. But, the best thing about them- they are here to help the rest of the world get off their seats and dance, and to just flat out Rock N’ Roll.

Take a listen to “The Impractical Line.” The beat is original, vocals are extremely distinctive and ,not to mention, kick ass. The guitar has an engaging melody, and bass provides a nice backbone along with the drums that are bouncy and on point. “Impractical Line” sounds like that streak of blue hair peaking out of the rest of that plain head of hair . The band’s lyrics completely fit their innovative selves and riot causing music. The Lillapucians’ lyrics are simple, but send a powerful message throughout every tune.

The Lillapucians sound like a bunch of rambunctious radical rockers, but with nobility, talent, and lots of creativeness. They’re by no means dull. The band radiates compassion and personality.

“Well, here’s the line of impracticality, you’re whole life’s a brand of ingenuity.” – lyrics from “The Impractical Line”

http://www.myspace.com/thelillapucians

iM.G.R. y Destructo Swarmbots! – Amigos de la Guitarra

Anyone who seeks out physical copies of albums these days knows that there is a certain magic in getting home, ripping the package open and reading the liner notes as you take in the music. Now, there aren’t many notes in this release from iMGR y Destructo Swarmbots, Amigos de la Guitarra. The images don’t impress a whole lot either; but what did jump out was a statement in the thank you section just as I delved into the first moments of the single-track release: “[Thanks to] anyone that might find the inner strength to make it through this release.”

Now, that may sound like a bold, even pretentious statement from these relative unknowns. As I kept listening, I realized they weren’t kidding. This EP has the running time of a full-length album but it is all on a single track. An interesting choice, but I can’t help but feel that they just simply put all of the tracks together just for the sake of doing it. Not that it isn’t a compelling listen in many parts.

Amigos de la Guitarra translates to “friends of the guitar” and this is a guitar heavy “song”. Effects swell in and out effectively and the percussive sounds, though minimal, pack a heavy punch and add to the epic feel. For me, if you were to break this “song” down into its respective movements where there could have been a break, the first song would end just after the 10 minute mark. That they can keep it going that long and still make it interesting is saying a lot. The song doesn’t change things up too much, save for the swelling of low notes and background effects, but it still proves to be quite an introduction.

What follows is a darker, more meditative song. The distorted bass is effective in the heavier parts and adds a grainy texture, while the understated parts really pull you in emotionally. After that, the band unfortunately resorts to a long-winded growling effect that doesn’t end for a while before we are introduced to the last portion of the record. The guitars have an echo effect here that really sounds like dark, swelling church bells. It’s a beautiful way to close.

In all honesty, I felt like this could have been broken down to maybe a four song E.P. The movements and key changes are obvious and it just feels like they made it this long just for the sake of it. Either way, this is worth a listen if you’re looking for something similar to Godspeed! You… or Mogwai.

Free EP download from Syntaks

In advance of the Danish duo’s new album Ylagali, the band members have released this taster EP on Ghostly International.  Download the tracks “Sudden Dream” and “Mistral Moon (Illuminated Version) here:

http://ghostly.com/releases/mistral-moon

Syntaks’ songs are textural epics in miniature, meticulously detailed shoegaze symphonies built from Anna Cecilia’s wordless vocalizations and Jakob Skott’s breathtaking production. “Sudden Dream” grows from a puddle of Cecilia’s molten coos to a towering climax worthy of M83’s overdriven majesty; “Mistral Moon (Illuminated Version)” presents a slightly sweetened rendition of the Ylajali standout, matching a triumphant melody and heavy-footed beat with distant stutters of distortion and oceans of atmospheric rumblings. To call Syntaks’ music “cinematic” would be an understatement—with the Mistral Moon EP, the experience is as visceral and surreal as a sunrise.

Next Page »