Quiet Little Voices single

admin — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 23:29:00 +0000

Hyped-up Scottish indie rockers We Were Promised Jetpacks have been around since 2003, but are only now releasing their debut album, These Four Walls (out June 15 in the UK and July 9 in the U.S.). They opened for fellow Scots Frightened Rabbit in 2008, and that connection led them to their deal with Fat Cat Records.

The single “Quiet Little Voices” opens with a restless guitar line that is soon joined by a pulsing bass line, frenetic cymbals, and Adam Thompson’s powerful, lightly accented vocals (his brogue is much stronger on some of the band’s other material). Despite being over four minutes long, the song doesn’t have much substance; if you know the title, you know the majority of the lyrics, as each line of the first (and only) verse starts with those three words, and the refrain consists of the same words backed by a rousing chorus of whoa-oh’s. When it sounds like the second verse should come in, a brief return to the intro instead leads into a second round of the chorus, and then a third. It’s lazy songwriting that manages to get by on charm and stadium-ready glory; it’s not hard to imagine a room full of people grabbing their friends and singing along with fervor, even though the lyrics are so repetitive and don’t really mean anything.

With its memorable hook and anthemic quality, it’s easy to understand why “Quiet Little Voices” was chosen as a single. However, it’s not nearly as strong as the other tracks from These Four Walls that were made available online in advance of the album’s release, which are less formulaic and boast copious amounts of Scottish charm.

Written by: Kiri Oliver, August 20th 2009

Snowflakes and Carwrecks

admin — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 17:52:00 +0000

By Hauschka

Fat Cat Records

Once you’ve mastered an instrument, you have two choices: move on to another, or tinker with the one you know and love. No stranger to critical acclaim, German composer and avant garde pianist Volker Bertelmann’s work as Hauschka makes use of the latter technique. Known as prepared piano, Hauschka’s unique sound is derived from altering the original use of a piano—preparing it—to make new sounds by shoving tacks and wooden blocks in between strings or plucking them like a guitar. Why hire an entire percussive ensemble when you can make many of the same sounds yourself?

Snowflakes and Carwrecks reenergizes fans and warms up unfamiliar audiences for Hauschka’s upcoming tour across the US. While instrumental tunes may not immediately inspire a concert ticket purchase, a live show with fractured and reworked instruments might make you think twice. Listening to the soothing, complex layers of this short album—what I’d call “work music,” something to which I can listen while I work and not become distracted—is great for both a rainy Sunday or a walk in the woods. While reminiscent of the cold German winters that likely inspired it, Snowflakes and Carwrecks is at turns both somber and hopeful. Winter ends eventually, and you’d better have some music to pair with the returning sunshine.

Prepared piano has been used by everyone from Elton John to Ben Folds to Christine McVie. It can be described as the audible equivalent of using expired film in an ancient camera without casing. You may not be certain of the results, but bringing an art form down to its most basic, primitive state, you can find new ways to start all over again, from the ground up.

Written by: Brittany Shoot, February 14th 2009