The Antlers - Burst Apart Vs Hospice - Did it measure up?

I am completely obsessed with them right now. I recently turned 22 which was very difficult for me. I can no longer have fun and it wouldn't be all that weird if I had a child. I don't really care though obviously. To sweeten the deal I was given a two tickets to The Antlers by SUPERINJUCTION.

So on the twelfth of June I will be standing in front of them in all their glory, so much more than the mounted moose heads that I once considered antlers. Hospice quite simply blew me away. It was recommended to me not long after its release by a friend but I didn't get around to listening to it until about five months later.

I got a pre release live version of Burst Apart. I liked it admittedly but reasoned I would have to wait to listen to the studio version before making my mind up. I got the studio version a week ago. I suppose the big question surrounding the album was could it live up to Hospice which was an absolutely terrific album. Burst Apart is probably an absolutely terrific album, I struggle to fault it. Hospice was a very good album made great by Kettering and the two closing tracks Wake and Epilogue. This rendition of Kettering is absolutely sublime. Peter Silberman's singing is amazing and the gentle cymbals combine with the almost aquatic synth in a weird but brilliant way. Epilogue is a very very interesting song lyrically. For me it is dealing with a break up of some sort. He seems haunted by the antagonist, losing his job, bad dreams etc. As the closing track, and its title this song is making statement on the conclusion of the album. It does not seem to be a happy one and that is significant to say the least. Furthering this again in my opinion is the track before it Wake which is an eight minute epically beautiful and mournful and again a track you would struggle to take joy et al from.

Burst Apart again has a good conclusion, Corsicana and Putting The Dog To Sleep are probably my two favourite tracks on the album. Every Night My Teeth Are Falling Out is worth a mention as well. Burst Apart doesn't differ dramatically from Hospice and once again the same things impress, the impressive and ambitious vocals the melancholy air and the subtle usage of a wide range of instruments; bowed banjo, harp, trumpet, accordion. These same things shine through in Burst Apart. Yes you could say it is more of the same but thankfully for us more of the same has turned out to be good enough. The dramatic pleading of 'Prove to me, I'm not going to die alone' in Putting The Dog To Sleep is truly breathtaking. Silberman's voice soars and we are snapped back by just that a sharp snap of some instrument, I can't identify it. The almost spanish guitar in Every Night My Teeth Are Falling Out is a good example of the subtle developments present in this album. This song combines this spanish guitar playing with standard electric guitar and the resulting jam is amazing.

On first listen Burst Apart was great but not quite as good as Hospice. With a few more listens and a bit more of an appreciation for it I think Burst Apart is probably as good as Hospice. I would probably go with;

Hospice - 53/60
Burst Apart - 52/60

Yeah I rate shit out of sixty.

Peace

Musings 2: Rory Gallagher, The Irish showband scene, house hunting and shoe gaze!

NOTE: I WOULD RECOMMEND OPENING LINKS IN A NEW TAB OR YOU WILL BE WHISKED AWAY!

I suppose the format of my delivery on this blog is beginning to develop in my head as I get used to it. I think it is moving toward posts containing my general thoughts; such as this one. I will try mix it up with more hard edge informative stuff like pieces on new albums I like etc.

Today is a Wednesday for me although actually it has now slipped into what is technically the early hours of Thursday. I had a few drinks and a long chat with an uncle of mine. He was turning 18 in the late sixties and was playing music semi regularly with Rory Gallagher. This was the era of the showbands in Ireland. It was not necessarily the greatest musical era witness this; The Impact. It is interesting to think that Gallagher went from that to Rory Gallagher - Moonchild.

There were a number of fantastic stories to be heard from my uncle; walking into a smoky bar in London watching Clapton play, he felt a tap on his shoulder and trying to get past him to the stage was none other than Jimi Hendrix! By all accounts this was a great time to be in London as far as music was concerned. He managed to sum it up pretty nicely when he said 'In the space of one week, we saw Page, Hendrix and Clapton play, a teenage Elton John playing blues piano in a tiny bar and the Pink Floyd transit van was parked at the top of our road all week'. For a trip down memory lane there are a few links below.

Jimi Hendrix - Hey Joe
Pink Floyd, 1968, with David Gilmour, live, playing Astronomy Domine
The Yardbirds - Train Kept A-Rolling
Eric Clapton discusses his Gibson SG

I have been having a torrid time trying to find a suitable apartment in Chicago for the next 2 months or so. I have been ringing all sorts of people in Chicago. I had one chap today, I couldn't get him off the phone. He said we wouldn't be able to rent as his landlord won't lease to people with no credit history like us. He spent, no joke, ten minutes apologising for the whole thing. So much empathy, I was all empatyhied out by the end I was running on empathy. That was a pun not a misuse of the word.

To get me through this turbulent search I have turned to shoe gaze. I just love the melancholy swaying it has. I have been getting pretty lost in Mazzy Star and The Drop Nineteens. Mazzy Star you will probably know from the single Fade Into You. It has that sort of gentle rhythmic tenderness that makes you want to just stand and gaze at your shoes and just sort of be chilled about it all I suppose. Another song of theirs I would recommend is the lush and beautiful rendition of Five String Serenade.

I think that is just about the sum of my words for the evening.

Peace

Musings 1:Jack Kerouac, my bus trip and Beach House

Kerouac's classic novel about the beatnik subculture, hitch hiking and the alternative american dream has been essential rereading for me recently due to the fact that I am flying to Boston in 10 days time. When I land in Boston I have to get a bus to Chicago, it is quite a trip I am told. I could just change my flights it would be cheaper I think. I am going by bus just so one day I can say to someone at a party; 'funny story; I was on a bus from Boston to Chicago........'

I am going to Chicago for three months and am only bringing a small bag as I prefer to travel light. I hope to have a decent book and my I-Pod fully charged for the trip. I have downloaded 200 albums by artists I have never previously encountered for the trip. I plan to just listen through it all. As back-up I am throwing a few playlists and albums of stuff I know I like.

Most of my thinking is dominated by the looming trip abroad and so I guess in some way my musical choices right now might reflect this. That is really only a bullshit clause to allow me to now ramble about a few songs I am really digging right now. I would never say 'digging' in person, ever.

Inspired by Kerouacs novels Ben Gibbard and Jay Farrar's release; 'One Fast Move And I'm Gone' has been given the old college try. That is such a strange little phrase, I mean how is a college try different from a school try or a chinese try or an enthused try? Bizarre, odd and confusing that. Gibbard in case you didn't know is that high voice behind Death Cab For Cutie. I appreciate that a lot of people really like his voice, for me however it sounds like a chipmunk crossed with Sinead O'Connor, on helium. The albums lyrics are taken from the novel 'Big Sur'. That gets me so hard, I love that sort of stuff. Sadly however it disappointed me it was for me an interminable wail of neutrality. The highlight for me was 'Big Sur'. With Ben on piano and Jay on guitar it is a pleasant acoustic ballad laden with bluesy harmonica..

Ben Gibbard & Jay Farrar - Big Sur

I have rediscovered Beach House recently via the Zebra EP. I was aware of the song 'The Arrangement from a hypem blog release almost a year ago. I absolutely loved the song from first listen. Once again the ceaseless beauty of Victoria Legrand's dreamy vocals simply blew me away. I enjoyed that chorus lyric too; 'the arrangement of lies'. It is an interesting concept how lies are arranged and compliment each other. Her vocals, subtly Nico-like as always are complimented by a unobtrusive flowing keyboard piece which works well.

The highlight of the EP for me is 10 Mile Stereo (Cough Syrup Remix). I would not normally be a fan of cheesy slowed down remixes. In some ways that is exactly what it is but this is dream pop and this does reach inception-al levels of dreaminess. The organ riff is so goldenly heavy with reverb one can almost feel it smooth over one's shoulders! Forgive me I may have gotten a little geeky.

Peace

Nosferatu Man

A Little EP for thee.

Shoegaze; probably the genre with the best name. It came about due to the on stage habits of a band called Moose. Moose used have a preposterous amount of effects peddles scattered about the stage and a journalist coined the phrase as they seemed to spend all their time gazing at their shoes. I get it. It's good.

Jesu started as a post metal band formed by creator in chief Justin Broadrick, Jesu being the phoenix rising from the ashes of Goldflesh. Jesu's post metal music has transformed into something a little more melodic and shoegaze-ish. Silver is a fantastic EP. Four tracks and about thirty minutes in total.

The title track; Silver is fantastic and put me in the mind of a cross between Mogwai and The Antlers, although lacking the vocal quality of the latter somewhat. The EP has an epic sound throughout, with deep soundscapes and it creates a lovely unrushed mood whilst retaining enough crash to be exciting.

The EP and the majority of Jesu's release are available at the destination of this link(open in a new tab to avoid jumping off page).

Peace

Trip Hop Heaven

Saltillo is the music project behind the album Ganglion, released in 2006. Four years on Saltillo is not particularly well known which is a shame because Ganglion is an amazing album. Broadly speaking Ganglion is a trip hop album. If we are to indulge ourselves it is a supreme fusion of trip hop, electronica and Shakespeare with Radiohead-esque backbeats and a smattering of classical cello.

The opening track 'A Necessary End' is a good example of the aforementioned trip hop and classical cello mix. It is quite a beautiful piece in terms of the cello. This is complemented, albeit in an eye-opening way by percussion thick with cymbal crash rolls. The majority of the vocal samples used, see 'Hair On The Head Of John The Baptist' are quite striking. A good deal of them are also from Shakespearean plays.

Another track that really catches my ear on this album is the second from last 'I'm On The Wrong Side'. It is a sparse and tender song, with gorgeous female vocals and some brilliantly echoey and epic guitar. It is for me the most instantly powerful song on the album, the chorus instrumental is positively awesome!

Ganglion is quite likely to be unlike anything you have ever heard before. From start to finish it is a beautiful, melodic yet cool and chilled wander over those amazing beats and samples. There are a number of tracks from the album available to listen to on the Saltillo myspace page (link below). I would recommend you lie back in your bed, headphones in and just get lost in what is unquestionably something brilliant you are unlikely to have heard anything similar to before.

Saltillo Myspace

Xander Banks - New Soundcloud release.

Xander Banks is an exciting new artist doing the rounds on the interweb at the moment. There is precious little information as to his who-where- and what-abouts. Bank's new release is called El Sonida Nuevo (rough mix). Rough mix he says as he takes out his polish. A gorgeous funky beat is the engine behind the song and the embellishments make it sound a little like Nicholas Jaar, with a drop of Booka Shade. El Sonida Nuevo is available now on the link below. I would recommend you check it out.

Xander Banks

Val Kilmer and his music.

Val Kilmer, one of the greatest humans ever, he has been Batman, Jim Morrison and Iceman. He is also an avid musician. This does seem a mite unfair as he is already perfect. As part of his audition for 'The Doors' he sent Oliver Stone a video of him playing Doors songs. I would give anything to see that tape. Imagine The Val sitting in his living room just chilling and playing the Doors? Rocks my universe.

The remaining members of The Doors were present for the filming of the movie, they are understood to have noted that they had trouble distinguishing Kilmer's voice from the voice of their dead bandmate. Upon hearing Kilmer's version of The End for the movie Robby Krieger said 'I'm really glad they've got The End, we never got  a recording of that live with Jim and now we've got it'. High praise indeed.

This was not his first performance as a musician in a film. He played a generic rock and roll star in the spoof comedy 'Top Secret!' he went on to release an album under the character name Nick Rivers after the movie.

Enjoy this very fresh faced performance from the man himself!

Nick Rivers (Val Kilmer) - Tutti Frutti

Kilmer also has a myspace page where has released some of his own music. It is pretty laid back folk rock, it has a country feel to it. Almost like a cross between Neil Young and Neil Diamond with a country kick.

Val Kilmer My Space