art rock

Aggressively Humble

admin — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Just like the spelling of their name, Chll Pll is complex yet simple. Apparently the two musicians that form Chll Pll are quite the musical social butterflies, as they have collaborated with a bunch of other musicians. This an indication that they are a talented duo, but it didn’t prepare me for their unique sound on Aggressively Humble, a title that had a tight grip on me from the beginning.

So, of course, I grabbed my iPod, put my little white ear buds in and wait. When I listen to Aggressively Humble, I get everything: there's an urge to dance and an urge to just listen. I feel happy, then I get contemplative—all in the span of a couple of songs. I get noise, out of control and rich noise. I laid down on my couch and took in every note, every odd, experimental arrangement. The album is not polished by any means; listen to it on your headphones too loudly and it will actually hurt your brain. Yet this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

To put it in simple terms: some of the songs are oddly different, but in a great way. The sound is futuristic and, in some instances, a bit on the heavy side, but it never leans towards metal. The tempo is energetic, but not necessarily cheery or sappy. It's upbeat chill, just like their name indicates. This album is energetic down to the vocals, and I can’t help continually to emphasizing the experimental aspect of the album. Musically, vocally, and conceptually, Chll Pll create an amalgam of contradictory sounds. Listen while lounging around in your house or entertaining complex artsy ideas in your head.

Written by: Jessica Sánchez, March 14th 2010

Daggers at the Moon

admin — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 09:00:00 +0000

By Hawnay Troof

I’m not sure whether Vice Cooler is insane, or a genius, or an insane genius. One thing is certain: Cooler is busy. He’s toured with Peaches (there is a video of them on his MySpace page doing a very naughty version of a certain Gwen Stefani song that won’t soon leave your memory), he also has written a book, and continues to contribute to magazines like Vice and Rolling Stone. His solo project, Hawnay Troof (he also is a member of the band xBxRx), is sort of a mash up of the Beastie Boys and mid-nineties Beck. He’s brattier and less laid-back than Beck, for sure, but less stripped down than the Beasties. There’s also an element of M.I.A. in there—I can hear “Bamboo Banga” in my head as I listen to “Body Armageddon” in particular.

He’s certainly got a “WTF” factor in his music—that little bit of “What the F#@k?!?” that definitely makes it interesting and keeps it in constant rotation in my CD player (yes, that’s right, I said CD player. Mid-nineties represent!). The guy is gutsy, after all—he starts his newest album with a repeated noise that sounds like someone saying “duh” over and over again on a skipping CD (and yes, I did have to check my disc player to make sure the disc wasn’t scratched).

The sound lasts more than a minute on repeat before other music kicks in. That’s something that other artists do for a hidden track—not for the first taste of a new album. I suppose much of the album isn’t really a “WTF” factor so much as a “F-it” factor… and not in a bad way. He’s an artist that knows what he likes, and doesn’t really care if the first minute of a new album is something that most of the listening public will probably skip over to get to the rest of the music. When the music does kick in, however, it is fantastic.

One of my favorites is “Said Once” which starts out sounding like an early Nine Inch Nails song and finishes like something off of Mellow Gold. The video is weirdly scary—I’ve never before been so creeped out by canned beans, popsicles, and cowboys. I’m disappointed, to say the least, that he wasn’t a part of the Peaches show that I recently witnessed at the TLA in Philadelphia, because I would absolutely have been singing along with his music just like I was with her music.

Do yourself a favor and check out his MySpace page, in particular. Like Peaches, he’s got some incredible music videos that MTV probably will never show, posted there—just be prepared for some serious “WTF” moments.

Written by: Emily S. Dunster, January 31st 2010

Selfish

admin — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 09:44:00 +0000

By A is for Accident

Le Garcon Sale Records

A is for Accident, a Portland-based duo of Andrew Klaus and Julie Baird, is driven by Baird’s song writing and reverence for 1980s bands like Joy Division, Depeche Mode, and The Cure. The band considers themselves a “Francophile art band,” and they collaborate frequently with French musicians Yves and Ys dans Paris. The song titles themselves such as “Rx” reveal the band’s gothic tendencies, reinforced by echoing keyboards; sparse, effects laden guitars; electronic drums; and pleading, distorted vocals.

Lyrics on Selfish turn toward the dramatics of selfishness in love and relationships, particularly those with a gay bent. They are peppered with familiar themes and refrains such as, “You were my only love,” on “Sonoma” or “Only time will tell if you were my heaven or will be my hell,” on “Larmoyant.” These sentiments are reflected by Klaus’ literary references to the romantic and southern gothic genres with references in song titles such as “The waiting in hell, looking up for the stars” (Oscar Wilde) and “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter” (Carson McCullers). These references also tie Klaus to the community of young, queer artists who take inspiration from these literary expressions, such as Miami-based painter Hernan Bas.

At an ambitious eighteen songs long, the record feels overstuffed and over serious, especially as most songs clock in longer than three minutes. On many tracks, the vocals are mixed loud and the supporting instrumentation too quiet to give the album a consistent, listenable feel. Klaus and Baird have highly trained artistic sensibilities, and the dancier tracks on the record, such as “L’Affair,” show the mix of seriousness and fun that the band is capable of. Perhaps on their next recording, the band can hone their editing skills and distill the latent goth-pop talent lurking behind the songs on this inconsistent record.

Written by: Eleanor Whitney, June 18th 2009

It’s Blitz!

admin — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 23:20:00 +0000

By Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Interscope

Karen O. is back, and she’s dancing—or so she makes us think. The original hipster band from New York released their third album and it’s a love letter—it’s my love letter and yours, read aloud under the scattered light of a disco ball. This album combines the sensibility of MGMT’s enthusiasm, along with Karen O.’s personal finesse and emotional depth and a spot of New Wave. She is this generation’s Hope Sandoval and Beth Gibbons combined, without affectation, without orchestra, and with a lot of attitude. Karen O.’s voice simultaneously kisses you, fucks you, and kicks you out on your ass. This album is ballsy, blessed, and painful.

Amazon has a fantastic description of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs: “At the turn of the twenty-first century, the New York City music scene floated in a surfaceless orbit of samplers, shoegazers, and delay pedals. The city's guitars lay choked by a digital fog, or else they lay dustily forgotten. Then, in 2002, an unbridled five-song EP by an unknown band brought noise, sex, passion, and mayhem back to the stage and to the stereo. The band's name evoked the kid who knows that whoever's in charge is full of shit—"yeah, yeah, yeah"—but it also rang with the affirmation of pure rock and roll: Fuck yeah! The Yeah Yeah Yeahs' first full-length album, Fever to Tell, was simultaneously filthy, infectious, sloppy, and brilliant. You could dance to it, and you could probably die to it. "Maps" was nominated for a Grammy, and the record went gold in the UK.

That isn’t too far off from their latest album. On the deluxe version (which is the one you should get) of It's Blitz!, the first track, “Zero” might convince you that the rest of the album will follow suite, with pounding lines like “Shake it like a ladder in the sun/Makes me feel like a madman on the run/Find me never never far gone/so get your leather, leather, leather on.” But it doesn’t.

The acoustic versions of “Little Shadow,” “Hysteric,” “Soft Shock,” and “Skeletons” torch emotion into you like an erupting volcano. “Hysteric” lights you up—but the acoustic version digs you down. With lyrics like “flow sweetly, hang heavy, you suddenly complete me, you suddenly complete me” show that the Yeah Yeah Yeahs haven’t forgotten to keep life simple.

This album became my personal anthem in April, the cruelest month. Eliot was a prophet. Karen O. and the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s are just musicians. But It's Blitz! does something T.S. could never do—and that’s make you dance and cry at the same time.

Written by: Mónica Teresa Ortiz, June 15th 2009

Eve

admin — Sun, 31 May 2009 09:21:00 +0000

By The Alan Parsons Project

Arista

After the release of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon, Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson put together the Alan Parsons Project, a British progressive rock group that put out several albums that could be considered “concept” albums—not too unlike what the Mars Volta does now.

1979 was the original release year for the album Eve and the concept for this album is the tale of a woman and how she affects men. Sort of an interesting take when you consider Jane Fonda’s Barbarella was released in 1968 and showcased her talents and affect on men. I doubt Eve was totally inspired by Jane Fonda, but you get the general idea. Fighting against the infusion of new wave British pop and punk rock, the Alan Parsons’ Project remastered edition of Eve comes out to a completely new musical landscape. However, the album is inconsistent and uneven, and fans of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon might find this particular album difficult to grab onto.

The opening track “Lucifer” opens with an instrumental, then starts strong with the following songs “You Lay Down with the Dogs” and “I’d Rather be a Man,” whose lyrics might be too strong for some: “Well I’d rather be a man than play my role like you do/ I’d rather be a man than sin my soul like you do/ I’d rather be a man than slave the way you do/ I’d rather be a man cause a man don’t crawl like you do.”

After that, the entire album falls flat and tapers off. I kept finding myself shuffling to the next song, hoping to find some magic in the music. The remastered edition doesn’t offer as much as other versions, and doesn’t sound any better than the original, which is somewhat surprising, as Parsons worked as an engineer on The Beatles’ Abbey Road and Let It Be, as well as Dark Side Of The Moon. But Eve doesn’t capture quite the same distinct feel for my pop loving ears. Perhaps I’ve got a grudge against art house rock. But in all honesty, Eve is definitely not art house rock and definitely not the album to check out if you want to listen to the Alan Parsons’ Project.

Written by: Mónica Teresa Ortiz, May 31st 2009

Allbums

admin — Thu, 28 May 2009 23:46:00 +0000

By Jeans Team

Louisville Records

Jeans Team started life as a Berlin-based video art performance group, but they soon evolved into making electronic music for the masses. On Allbums, a collection of their best songs and previously unreleased material, I got a chance to sample almost ten years of Jeans Team’s IDM that is as suitable for the club as for dancing by yourself in your bedroom.

“Faul 2” stars out the sampler with a very good, almost minimal beat, with Kraftwerk-esque vocal samples in the background and calm German vocals. It’s clear from this track that Kraftwerk is an influence on Jeans Team, but they’re not copying the German masters, either. This is something different, something very contemporary while still understanding the history of electronic music. On “Baby 3,” a funky bass and '70s funk guitar lick start the song, and blend with synthesizer beats and an array of different little noises to make a quietly funky little dance song that stays in your head long after it’s over.

“Keine Melodien,” the best song on the sampler, has a pumping groove throughout that definitely made me want to get up and dance. I couldn’t understand the literal meaning of the German lyrics, but when the talk-singing turns into a yell, the song gets intense in a way that you don’t need to understand the words. I could definitely see dancing like crazy to this song at a party.

Thanks to Allbums, I discovered not only another band to put on my party playlists, but one to search out for everyday listens. The spirit of Kraftwerk is alive and well in Jeans Team, but they’re giving the legends a run for their money when it comes to pure dancing grooves.

Written by: Dana Reinoos, May 28th 2009

Repo

admin — Fri, 08 May 2009 10:51:00 +0000

By Black Dice

Paw Tracks

re-po (noun, informal): a car or other item that has been repossessed

Is Repo a recession nod from the experimental art rock Brooklyn trio, who perhaps knew something we didn’t when they named their album? I don’t suppose it matters because the similarities are striking regardless of intent. The record exists to impress people who don’t know you very well, which is all anyone does in these days of job hunting and resume fine-tuning. The twisted crunches and esoteric groans of Repo make it rather uncomfortable listening, but then, you may have uncomfortable people around you. Brilliance is often uneasy, and crisis yields those silver linings. I’m not sure if avant-garde noise will soothe unemployment worries, but it might at least make your brain temporarily shut down.

At an impressive seven minutes, “La Cucaracha” might almost get you dancing. Almost. I’m similarly impressed with “Lazy TV,” mostly because of the mental images its winding sonics provide. On the other hand, when it comes to the album’s interludes, one could be named “Latent Headache,” and I wouldn’t know the difference.

For its title alone, “Ultra Vomit Craze” is my favorite, fondly reminding me of parties I have attended or hosted in the past two years that have devolved into puke-related story time. To achieve the best results, think about your worst experience with vomit—public place, embarrassing witness, color, consistency—and recount in vivid detail. Watch your party turn into an exercise in horrific storytelling, empathy, and riotous laughter. Throwing on incomprehensible, nausea-inducing music a la Black Dice in the background could really take things to the next level. Sound juvenile? I guess you’ll have to find your own way to lighten the somber economic mood then.

Written by: Brittany Shoot, May 8th 2009