Bill Horist – Covalent Lodge

Bill Horist immerses you in a world composed entirely, exactly, of sound. His new release, Covalent Lodge, is a journey.

Our hero on this venture, the acoustic guitar, rubs elbows with a colorful class of instruments, from percussion and bloodless vocals to a sovereign violin under watchful ambience. And there’s so much more. But all this instrumentation comes subtly, as nuance within nuance. This grants Horist’s work a deceptive richness.

For all its instrumentation, Covalent Lodge captures the focused and directed work of one mind rather than a collaboration. And it is, to be sure, an album, with no one song alien from the next.

Covalent Lodge won’t survive snap judgments. Trust the musicians here. The music is orchestral, a work of magical realism and, as such, is given to bouts of dissonance, experimentation, exploration. It’s instrumental, but oh so lyrical. No catchy numbers, no hooks–just awesome.

North Pole Records

Triclops! – Helpers on the Other Side

There was a time, not too long ago where indie rock was irreparably tied to the traditions of post-hardcore. The champions were Pavement, Fugazi and Sebadoh, and if you weren’t yelling over your songs, you better be talking over ‘em. But that’s all different now, think about the undisputed champions of indie over the last ten years; Arcade Fire, Animal Collective, Sufjan Stevens, all of it intentionally swollen with grandiloquence, and some of it *gasp!* totally danceable.

Enter Triclops! a highly-unserious quartet who make decidedly late-90s post-hardcore. Their latest record Helpers on the Other Side does throw a few curve balls, nod-twiddling eccentricities sometimes permeate through the instrumentation, and the band has no qualms about songs that push well within the nine-minute mark (not exactly common ground for most post-hardcore bands). But overall, they’re incredibly retro, not that there is anything too wrong with that.

Triclops!’s only real problem is it tries to peak too often, which probably isn’t that surprising, any band with song titles like “With SARS, I’ll Ride the Wind” isn’t exactly going to have restraint. All of the compositions come out of the gates swinging, going full-throttle on their angular, guitar-led bombast, and when they try to back off (like the interlude-y bass-bubbling back-half of “Glaciers (Cry of the Modern Neanderthal)” it’s only a vain attempt to make the previous assault sound new again.

But still, the unmitigated onslaughts still sound awesome. Helpers on the Other Side sounds curiously original, and I’m sure that has equal parts to do with the band’s psychedelic (and San Francisco born) facets, and the fact that music like this just doesn’t get made as much as it used to. It will not convert anyone previously opposed to the notions of post-hardcore, but it doesn’t aim to, it simply gives dedicated (and potentially apologetic) followers of the genre an inquisitive, and likable six song listen.

Triclops!

The Ropes – “I Miss You Being Gone”

There’s been a ubiquitous advert plastered at MySpace for a New York-based, indie, noise-pop band named The Ropes, where, in a savvy, and enticing, marketing ploy, band members Sharon Shy (vocals, bass) and Toppy (guitars, drums, sounds) have made all of their tunes available as free mp3 or zip downloads at their official site  http://theropesonline.com/ .  Perusing the free downloads page today, however, I discovered that one or two EPs are no longer there, so this might be a limited-time offer.  It would be a nice gesture to donate some money to fund more albums from The Ropes.  You can also purchase most of their music at the official site.

If not for that prominent advert placement at MySpace, I might never have known about this band and its (dis)engaging sound that draws from the pop, rock, electronic, and dance genres, creating its own distinctive mix of distorted to ringing guitars, buzzing to blippy electronics, and appealing, melodic song structures, with Sharon delivering heart-wringing to deliciously deadpan lyrics (like the outsider vibe of “What they do for fun / reminds me that I’m not one of them.” from “What They Do for Fun”).

Sharon and Toppy move from dancefloor beats to melancholic ballads to stimulating rockers with assured ease, with an alluring pop-song sheen being the common denominator.  They released their debut full-length What They Do For Fun in May 2008 and followed it up with the EP Love Is A Chain Store (the cover art alone is worth owning).  This past February brought the ultra-short EP (or is it a single and b-side?) I Miss You Being Gone, off of which comes this title song.

“I Miss You Being Gone” starts with a sharp, simmering buzz of distorted guitar notes playing a simple refrain, an underlying bass rumble, cymbal-shake, and drum beat, with a toned-down, emotionally-cool Sharon sing-talking androgynously. On the second verse, softer, chiming guitar notes briefly pick up and replace the distorted guitar pattern.  By the halfway mark, both guitars interweave against a running bass line and constant cymbal shake, leading to a build up of kinetic drum-work, bittersweet, elongated keyboard notes, and Sharon flatly intoning “… as I get closer / I am further and further from / the feeling of closure that I long for…”

Songs to definitely check out from the band’s arsenal:  “Cry to the Beat”, “Kill Her Off”, “Love Is A Chain Store”, “What They Do for Fun”, “Hey Contemporary”, “Too Cool to Love”, “Water and Headphones”, and “Clubs In Europe Forever”.

New EP from French band Trunks

PRETTY NOISE ROCK AND HAÏKUS

Trunks was born with the astonish collaboration of Laetitia Shériff (bass), Régis Boulard (drums), Stéphane Fromentin (guitar), Régis Gautier (guitar) and Daniel Paboeuf (sax) and today enhanced with guitarist Florian Marzano, and likes to call itself nor a group nor a band, but more an artistic collaboration.

These remarkable musicians for their development come from pop-rock music or improvisation and like to meet each other on Jack Kerouac’s road, through his words; his short poems; his haikus through their high tensed music.

MySpace Site: www.myspace.com/areyoutrunked

Manual – Drowned in Light

Manual album covers have always depicted highly saturated watery paradises at twilight. These images have always been an easy fit with his dreamy, diffuse music, a mix of delayed guitars fed through bright 80’s chorus effects, light ray synths, electronic noises, and programmed beats. With Drowned in Light, Manual’s Jonas Munk has finally picked an album title that captures the feel of his music and imagery in words. After a string of quiet albums of subdued ambient washes, Drowned in Light enters as his first group of real songs since 2005’s towering Azure Vista. Pre-release hype has been pushing this as a return to the glitchy bliss-out of his 2002 masterpiece Ascend. While a few tracks do ascend to that level of busy movement, Ascend Part II this is not. Rather, Drowned in Light deserves praise in its own right for being Manual’s most varied work to date, stretching his sound into new territory while proudly integrating the influences of the his fellow shoegaze legends.

Munk reliably brings his typically beautiful sounds here, and he is really in no rush to get from point A to point B. With melodies that repeat for minutes at a time, the album at first has a tendency to kind of blend together into one big blob of sunkissed goodness, leaving your attention lazily daydreaming beachside on an Adirondack chair. After coming out of the gates with a short, atmospheric intro track, Munk channels his inner-Seefeel with the battering rush and heavenly swirls of “Afterimages”. From there on out the album weaves in and out of consciousness. “Biarritz” consists of a simple but beautiful guitar melody which slowly but surely builds into a bangin’ Manual anthem. There are krauty keyboard rhythms on the smoothly restless “Phainomenon” and on the dark, almost Doors-ish “Pulsations”. Acoustic guitars show up prominently for the first time on a Manual album and they mix in into the tapestry seamlessly, providing a much needed change of pace from the brightly filtered sounds that dominate. There’s even a little recorder or pan flute sound on “Blood Run”. There is no shortage of attention to detail or changes of pace, and it seems clear this album was labored over for some time. Songs constantly shift, build, and decay, but never really go back to replicate an earlier passage.

After some time with the album, it starts to seem like what Munk is setting out to do is fit his more songwriterly tendencies (I use this loosely) into an ambient mode. The relaxed and yearning main themes repeat nearly unchanged in the foreground while the real work goes on in the background, building atmosphere out of all manner of counter melody, synth fills, and electronic noises. The album then exists in two forms: first, as some sort of New Age-y, Robin Guthrie-inspired ambient guitar pillow; and second, as a deeply immersive, transportive trip meant for active listening.

For all the attention paid to the trademark Manual sound, it’s easy to miss a few of the ways he’s grown over the years as an artist. His unique compositional approach I mentioned above. He has also become a master at writing indelible melodies for the guitar. This shows how far he’s come since Until Tomorrow and Ascend, which were mainly glitchy electronic works backed by fragments of melody and assorted swooshes and whirs. Although Drowned in Light doesn’t sound like Ascend, it’s just as enjoyable, and much more expansive.

Manual

Darla Records

Communipaw – S/T

Communipaw’s self-titled and self-released album starts off in fine fashion with soft and introspective, indie-style guitar lines and charming chord changes that slowly rise to a roar and peak with a shimmering and cascading indie-pop melody that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Coldplay, Keane, Snow Patrol or Starsailor album, complete with smooth vocals. But the album quickly takes a turn for the worse.

The rest of the songs, while only occasionally showing hints of the sharper and dreamy guitar pop of opener “The Morning Hours”, are steeped in a more southern fried alt-country/blues-pop aesthetic that isn’t bad, but neither is it real original or appealing.

Communipaw’s brand of alt-country pop songs have cool intros, smooth rhythms and peppy choruses, but they’re served without punch, mostly due to the boring and puerile lyrics, and they’re sung with a heartfelt voice and smooth harmonies that sometimes make them sound like an updated version of the Eagles.

Although these musicians are quite capable, as evident by the tight arrangements and the flashes of attractive instrumental solos, not to mention the resurrection of a more fuzzy and experimental indie-rock sound on closer “On The Way”, they tend to play it too close to the chest and a tad too safe, as the amiable melodies don’t contain enough animated rock elements or shifting beats to keep your ears contented and none that make a lasting impression. Plain and simple.

Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble – Terry Riley: In C

Back in 1964, Terry Riley introduced to the world what many consider and herald as the first proper minimalist work with his renowned In C. Composed through a new method where musicians are allowed to play different notes and rhythms to their liking, it is also an almost aleatoric musical piece in that its outcome can be decided a number of ways. But looking back and listening to the piece now, it’s astonishing that music like this was being made, rehearsed and performed more than 45 years ago.

In a new series, where contemporary music is being combined with classical music, the Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble’s November 8^th , 2009 performance at New York City’s Le Poisson Rouge is being brought to our attention as a resonating reminder that music can be loved by all, anytime. This astounding performance, which features a sixteen-person orchestra (the piece is written for as many performers as desired, though Riley would go on to say that 35 was preferable), is joined by New York producer/composer Dennis DeSantis, who layers his own effects by way of a laptop on top of the musicians’ performance. The end result is a fascinatingly remarkable one, where the organic touch of the instruments and the electronic feel of DeSantis’ treatments add up for a fusion of contemporary classical music that is remarkable.

The explanation of the music is always the hardest to describe because of the music’s own ever-changing features. But the best way I can explain it is that the music consists of 53 short phrases (known as cells) that may be repeated and played as much as the instrumentalist likes. While each musician has complete control over what they play, they are encouraged to bring forth their ideas at different rates and times, while traditionally there is always one musician acting as ‘the pulse,’ or more rudimentary, as the tempo. This particular performance lasts for sixty-five minutes but other performances have been known to last much longer and shorter (the sixty-five minutes fits in between the norm of 40 minutes to an hour, hour and a half.)

As for the actual musicians, the Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble is made up of some of the finest musicians. Each one is clearly heard with the saxophones shining brightly. Near the beginning, it is a lone sax that brings the music to a rousing climax before the ten-minute mark and later, around the forty-minute mark, the trumpet passes the lead to the sax for another wonderful excerpt.

Even DeSantis’ timely and subtle touches add color and dynamics to the music’s minimal movements. DeSantis’ electronics take over the strongest on the back-end, where he adds jagged beats and drums on top of the moving melodies. Although the piece is focused on a repetitive, looping feel, the electronics provide an even better sense for the music’s originality and innovative influence. And the memorable moments come from all over the place with a new entrance, introduction or exit always remaining in your memory bank.

While the piece begins on a C major chord, the piece is mostly heterophonic in demeanor as it is characterized by the variation of a single melodic line. That line, coming in the form of a few eighths notes always shifts from tone to tone, instrument to instrument but it always exists as the main idea. Though the polyphony might be taken to a new level simply because of the dissimilar ideas DeSantis brings to the table; this alone is one of the many reasons why others like Flying Lotus and Explosions in the Sky have lent their contemporary hands.

I remember when I first studied In C, it took me for a ride because of its tendency towards allowing the musicians to take over. Much like jazz with its improvisation, it’s a landmark classical piece and this new performance by the Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble is arguably, the finest I’ve heard. The collaborative effort is a worthy one that has turned out something truly sublime and one that all fans of music should seek out.

Ghostly International / Wordless Music

The Hold Steady – “Hurricane J”

They’re slipping soft rock into the set list now.

“Hurricane J,” the lead single from The Hold Steady’s new album Heaven is Whenever — set to be released May 4th – finds the New York foursome abandoning their signature blend of smoky, Springsteen-esque bar-rock in favor of a more streamlined, poppy sound. Surprisingly, it works.

Musically, the song features heavy doses of guitarist Tad Kubler’s exquisite backing vocals;  sinewy “ohh’s” and “ahh’s” that festoon the track at all the right moments, adding depth and texture wherever necessary. The song’s verses are simple, if unremarkable — but the chorus is big, in every sense of the word, and by the time the band reaches the bridge, they sound like they’re damn near soaring.

Lyrically, singer/guitarist Craig Finn is still obsessed with the minutia of teenage life in the Mid-west – this time he explores a character named Jesse, a 22-year-old waitress from the city. Although she’s good at her job (“you’re a beautiful girl/and you’re a pretty good waitress”), her life seems to be careening out of control. “Hurricane Jesse’s gonna crash into the harbor this summer,” goes the refrain, endlessly bleated by Tad and Craig in unison during the final few seconds of the song.

“Hurricane J” may sound like it was tailor-made to crash into the radio this summer, sure, but it still possesses a number of redeeming qualities. Plus, it’s new music from The Hold Steady. What more could you ask for?

Heaven Is Whenever is out in stores May 4^th. “Hurricane J” can be streamed at The Hold Steady’s Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/theholdsteady

New Album from Richard McGraw

In this digital age, where the physical object is becoming a thing of the past, Brooklyn-based musician, Richard McGraw, is trying to revitalize the dying idea of the physicality of music. McGraw spends much time designing detailed and belabored album art. It’s the kind of art one wants to look at and hold. The first edition of McGraw‘s new album Burying The Dead features metallic copper artwork by Kevin Sprouls (creator of the Wall Street Journal-style portrait) and each CD is numbered and signed by the artist. The soon-to-be-released Deluxe Edition of Burying The Dead includes a magnifying glass “lyric reader” and an existential tattoo kit.

The music on Burying The Dead represents a lyrical tour-de-force, covering familiar themes (life, death, religion, love, heartache, God and Godlessness) with a candid freshness. Following in the footsteps of the poet-songwriters like Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Nick Cave, Tom Waits, and Lou Reed — McGraw contemplates the trials and tragedies of the human condition with beautiful and poignant honesty. His uncommon vocals tremor and plead heavenward, relaying woeful tales of love and loss, existential terror and a longing for transcendence.

“My Life” MP3: “My Life”

“Hurting Heart” MP3: “Hurting Heart”

MySpace Site: http://www.myspace.com/richardmcgraw

The Young Friends – Hella

The San Diego beaches are definitely some of the nicest beaches in the entire United States. Not only does the beach provide a calm and placid experience that can be both invigorating and refreshing but they also punctuate the town’s overall laid-back, cool demeanor. Everything from the lazy boardwalk stroll, to the nearby stores, to the ridiculously good restaurants makes for nostalgic longing.

With such feelings comes a wave of music simply known as surf music and it’s quickly becoming a worthy new genre under the massive umbrella of pop/rock. But for Andrew McKee and Brant Stuns of The Young Friends, two long-time friends from Arizona, it also holds a strongly singular connection. After deciding to road trip to the beaches of San Diego, the duo felt compelled to make the same kind of music that they envisioned when contemplating the lovely beaches. And although they claim to not be familiar with this kind of loosely composed, loosely layered surf music, their debut, Hella, suggests otherwise.

With their guitars plugged in but never thunderous and with the swaying of the waves resonating below, McKee and Stuns make downright fantastic music. Each member carries a distinct sound but they mostly play off each other with dueling guitar parts that argue against each other, support each other and at the same time, compliment each other. And for the most while, the music is upbeat and splendidly catchy; each song provides a kick drum and a few subtle touches for differentiation. But in the end, it’s the album’s cohesive sunny sound that permeates the strongest and fortunately, it’s a wonderfully awesome smell.

Much like the water found on the beaches, McKee and Stuns are vigorously refreshing in every aspect of their sound: from the music to the lyrics. The subject matter never tires with songs that chronicle a teenager’s daily thoughts. And though they’re teenagers themselves, the duo never shies away from being genuinely open. On “Make Out Point” they sing, “just go ahead and ask her out,” while the guitars brim with energy; there is always one singer on top, while the other sings in the background, in support. And after he’s gotten her, the next song, “I Won’t Break Your Heart,” justifiably proves that he isn’t playing around – even if there are playful handclaps and a relentless hi-hat bouncing around. This lightheartedness goes a long way and it brilliantly lends itself to an album that is solidly strong.

The production, especially, brings the guitars to the front and allows them to breathe, while the drums are placed near the center of the sound. Each vocalist is then brought forth to evoke the tales of their bike rides on the boardwalk. Hella ends up as a prime remembrance of how a little road trip can conjure up deep passions. And even if others’ trips to California don’t always bring forth fruition, The Young Friends can rest assure that they’re mini-trip did wonders for them.

Moodgadget

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