On April 10th My Heart To Joy will be releasing “Seasons in Verse” LP. The style is very 90s, with similarities in most genres. I highly recommend checking it out.
The Littlest Viking released a debut loaded with happy instrumental math.. beautiful melodic work, I kid you not: This is a true winner! Close to Fago.Sepia, Sleeping People, Antartica, Souvaris, Sincabeza etc..
And finally! Enemies from Ireland put up a new song on myspace and are releasing a 7″ on The Richter Collective. Their debut EP from last year was amazing, kind of like everything else on this label. So let’s just go over, what they have for us soon:
- Enemies – Untitled Vinyl (April 2009)
- Ebu Gogo – “Worlds” (April 2009)
- Bats – Untitled Album (2009) (editors note: WUHUUUU!!!!)
- Kidd Blunt – “The Flood” (2009)
- The continuous battle of Order – Untitled Album (2009)
This baby barely needs introduction. It’s been known for a long time, that FMTM was recording a new album, and many of the songs have been played live for the past 2 years. What took them so long, though, is very evident in the final result – and all the touring of course. Oh, and maybe because 2 members live in San Fransisco and the other in New York. The structures of every of the tracks are perfectly fitted and produced in such a careful way that you can only love them instantly and even more for every listen and every new detail. As a comparison to the other two full-lengths, FMTM are definitely doing what they have always done, so in no way can anyone be disappointed. It’s just what I was hoping for after having loved The Impossible Leap… (2003) and their s/t debut (2002), which I might add seems to be totally underrated.
The album plays well as a whole, maybe a tad more danceable at times, and maybe a tad more quiet at other times than what we’re used to. And then there’s choir singing part of the opener.. heavenly new idea that really fits. You might know two numbers already, ‘Beyond God and Elvis’ (from the tour EP) and ‘Let Them Know Its Christmas Time’ (formerly the ‘Edagda demo’ on Myspace). The other ones are of even better quality – more dynamic and more firm, which is such a relief. I thought ‘Beyond God and Elvis’ was one of their weaker tracks and a signal that everything was getting post-rock sentimental, but instead we get a fresh new doze of melody and rhythm playing on a broader scale of emotion.
And as for the political relevance: this world still needs fixing. Glad that someone can write music about that and not lose orientation or drown their own art in political messages.
From Monument To Masses - On Little Know Frequencies
Golden Antenna / Dimmak, March 2009
Some bands you can check out for your previewing pleasure. They’re in the category of math, and I thought they deserved some attention that I can’t currently give them by reviewing.
- The Bronzed Chorus (US) – New release on Hello Sir, sounds amazing. – myspace – hello sir
- Argument (FR) – Second album ‘Schweiss’ Out now on Kythibong. Hell yeah. Fits nicely with Fordamage, Komandant Cobra, 31 Knots and Room 204. – MP3 I – MP3 II – myspace
- Tall Ships (UK) – currently recording EP, a promising mathy post-rock mix.. FMTM, Maserati etc. – myspace – Big Scary Monsters Podcast feat. Tall Ships’ new demo
- Three Trapped Tigers (UK) – EP is available for five quid or on Emusic. Fantastic mix of Electro and Math, kinda like Aucan – myspace
- Obstacles (DK) – I know for a fact that these guys play amazing live shows. – last.fm with every song from EP listenable
- Monument (US) – Think Algernon Cadwallader, American Football etc. New 7″ out – myspace +2 tasty free demo releases
- Antarctic (US) – Brilliant new Florida instrumental mathy sound of genius currently recording – myspace
- Zona Mexicana (US) – myspace
- Modrec (GR) – myspace
- Los Webelos (US) – myspace
- DÃa Dora Vida (US) – myspace
- Pneu (FR) – myspace
- Alright, first of all That Fucking Tank from Leeds released 2 new tracks from upcoming Tanknology. Everything this band did is sold out for good reasons, so it’s about time they manufactured a new product. I’d already post a review of how great this album is, but I haven’t listened to it.
- Pass Montagne is releasing a bunch of savage math-rock tracks on Africantape in April. Two of them already up on the French band’s on myspace page.
- Also Africantape related… Three Second Kiss from Italy, they released some good stuff and are now touring the U.S. with Shellac and Bear Claw (who btw. are writing new songs). That should be about the highest thing achievable in this genre.
- The defunct Silkworm, that has found new life in Bottomless Pit, is not forgotten and never will be forgotten. There even seems to be a consensus that Silkworm is a band with so much musical depth, that they will outlive their contemporaries and find even greater popularity in the future. And that’s why there’s a documentary coming out called “Couldn’t You Wait? The Story of Silkworm”. The movie has been under way for 3 long years now, and is in post-production. It features tons of interviews with band members and all the great people surrounding it: Steve Albini, Jeff Tweedy, Greg Anderson and Stephen Malkmus just to name a few. The director, Seth Pomeroy, writes on his blog that we can expect it within a few months.
- New Alarma Man songs have been posted on myspace. Big cheers – great tracks!! Still no news of the release date, though.
- The Andalusians, founded by former Del Cielo member Basla Andolsun, released single Do The Work on Dischord.
- Antarctic is a jazz inspired math-rock outfit from Florida formed in 2006, releasing a really well-made demo in 2007. It’s full of guitar melody, rhythmic patterns etc., but overall the compositions feel more intuitive than experimental, which is what caught me. So, imagine something like Antlers and Native, but with more traditional power. There’s a really good reason to be excited about their full-length debut coming up on Hello Sir in spring (hey, that’s soon!!). Here’s what they leaked to this hungry, savage blog reporter:
Our music has definitely changed since our last release. We have had a lot of member changes and have found a lot of new inspirations. Our music really changes styles from song to song.. but I don’t think we would have it any other way.
We’re putting out a new album in the Spring with Hello Sir Records. Full length baby. We’re re-releasing our older stuff because we’ve made a lot of changes. We have some newer songs as well : )
We’ve definitely put alot more time into the music for this album. We’re all really excited for it to be released.
- French jazz/post-rock outfit Fago.Sepia are following up 2006’s brilliant “L’âme sûre ruse mal” with a new record said to be out soon on label aposiopèse. This February they’re touring with Pennies, unsigned British band sounding much like American Football.
- A new detail has been revealed of the Tortoise album: It’s still untitled, the songs are still untitled, but yet they managed to promise us: April 21.
- Temporary Residence has released the new Maserati/Zombi split, and it’s pretty damn okay. A 7″ split by Bonnie Prince Billy and (you guessed it!) Young Widows is ready for pre-order, and Mono has done their first ever official video.
- And now the big news: The new From Monument To Masses is set to be released on Golden Antenna: 13th March. The title is “On little known frequencies”, and there will be 500 copies on 2xLP. Maybe it’s a good idea to pre-order. And here’s the cover art btw.
- Former members of Black Eyes have formed Mi Ami, who’ve released a remix EP on Touch and Go and will have their full-length out February 17th. Definitely something for fans of Black Eyes.
Update: Golden Antenna posted a new track for FMTM, and we now know that Dim Mak will be releasing the CD world-wide, and Golden Antenna will have the limited 2xLP for Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
We’re eager listeners of anything coming out of Nantes. A common denominator could be something like technical rock wrapped in clean and tight sound, typically mentioning Shellac, Fugazi and The Ex… and quite successfully carrying the sound from back then, and then a bit further.
Fordamage packs lots of interesting elements, ranging just as wide as Shellac does – playfulness mixed with seriousness. As a result, it’s hard to get bored, but instead you’re strapped in for the full 32 minutes. Guitars are loud, but there’s a quiet moment lurking behind every outburst and vice versa. Tight, dynamic etc etc. it seems like Fordamage has been listening to a lot of variety, because you can almost hear jazz and balkan in some passages, everything of course trademarked with a sound that doesn’t make the effort blurry – It’s focused, and that’s probably a result taking more time to write, which really bears fruit for a band in this scene.
So be sure to give it a shot and hang around at their shows in UK, France, Belgium and Netherlands.
Fordamage - Belgian Tango
Kythibong, January 2009
Ladies and gentlemen, this is the sound of provoking the gods. Those above, and those down under. It’s beyond music, it’s more an experience. This band is extremely loud, harsh, bizar, bombastic, intimidating and even frightning.
This band is Sword Heaven and they played at the OCCII Amsterdam (supporting act for Lightning Bolt).
Filmed and edited by Ralph Lindsen
A while ago we interviewed Daniel of the UK band Father of Boon. We asked about the future of the band, and Daniel, the band’s guitarist replied: “We’ve been going for a long time now, so we’ll see… haha”. And we have seen, ’cause they broke up. But hey, we have the interview, we might as well post it. About the band, combining being in a touring band with a normal life, Fugazi, and much more..
Trying to catch up with recent releases, here’s another important one from 2008: If a band says they’re inspired by June of 44, Unwound, Rodan and Hoover, they’re automatically qualified for a review here. It’s not that I personally think they sound a lot like any of them, but there’s the noise-ridden, super-loud production that makes them sound 90s, and it’s so authentic that I have a hard time imagining it’s new. And we’ll value any effort in this regard.
Gods & Queens do their own thing. Everything is Untitled with this band, and that kind of emphasizes how their songs are a little hazy and anonymous when played alongside each other. Normally music will make your feelings surface through dynamics – loud vs. quiet, fast vs. slow, noisy vs. clear etc. But Gods & Queens are a bit simpler, mainly just sticking to loud and noisy. What you’ll be looking for is the slow progressions and the melody changes buried deep within the noise. It might make the album hard to enjoy at first, but as you spin it further and get to know them, it gets easier to tell what they’re doing. This might sound like a failure, but make no mistake that this album couldn’t have been done much better with regards to shoegazed frustration and fear. Track 4 is probably the most accessible track due to its gentle beginning, building upon the same jam throughout its duration, but gradually increasing in loudness. The closing track of the album has the same formula as the other tracks, but extends to almost ten minutes, and this is in my opinion where they have the strongest impact, although it’s better to judge this album as a unity.
Gods & Queens might be near your favorite venue in Europe in April, so be sure to catch them.
Gods & Queens - Untitled
Robotic Empire / Adagio 830, October 2008
