Hurricane Poor Things

Artist: Poor Things

Release Date: June 10, 2013

Label: Independent



Poor Things' new EP, Hurricane Poor Things, was just released on June 10. A self-described bubblegum rock band, their sugar-coated riffs and delicately sweet vocals certainly match the label. From the opening track, "Beachcomber," they had me singing along. Their carefree aesthetic and solar-inspired riffage is highlighted from the start. Lead singer Craig Angus has a charming vocal delivery; between youthful and nasally is the only way to describe it. For however charming his vocals are, they can drift in and out of tune quite easily, which can sound ugly from time to time.

"Morgan," the second track on the EP, is easily my next summer jam. The sing-a-long vocals and forward momentum throughout the track keep the listener engaged. The wordless hook is delightful, easy to learn, and irresistible to sing with by the song's end. The back half of the track is a bit darker with some thick crunchy guitar biting through the mix. With "Morgan" being the high point of the EP, the remaining 3 tracks don't disappoint but are nothing special. Songs like "Summer Clutch" are catchy at first, but are too similar to the other, more inspired songs that with repeated listens it turns bland. Another track which falls in too close with the others is "Ice Cream." The one new idea in "Ice Cream" is a nice, toned down moment around 2:37. Granted, it only lasted only 10 seconds, but it was a dynamic that severely lacking on the other tracks.

During the EP, it always felt like there was something missing. Some extra melodic idea, some missing timbre, there needed to be something else. As a trio, it can be hard to make yourself sound big on recording and a lot of louder live acts suffer from this. Poor Things sound on record like they would be an amazing act to see live, but don't translate well on record. Messy, sunny, and sugary sweet garage rock with flairs of catchy perfection is a good way to describe Hurricane Poor Things, but then again I just couldn't have been listening loud enough.

-Owen Bolas

Make Me Stay / No More

Artist: Sander Mölder
Release Date: April 29, 2013
Label: Independent


Sander Mölder's newest single Make Me Stay / No More contains two (soul dance?) tracks featured clearly in the title.. On both tracks, Mölder displays his excellent craftsmanship and creativity when it comes to the use of vocal samples in his music. "No More" is easily the better of the two tracks, being both club-ready and having the most progression. Overall, it's the more interesting of the two tracks. Jittery percussion and choice synth tones create an instant soul-infused banger. DJs will eat this track up. Stylistically, it fluidly and successfully channels "Satin Panthers" era Hudson Mohawke. The main feature of "No More" is what sounds like some pitched up dirty talk, moaning "I need more" over and over. Most of the vocals on this track come from this one sample, but are chopped creatively (see 1:26).

This isn't to say that the first track isn't any good; but it is not something that will make it to a DJ's set, something that appears to be Mölder's end-goal. His vocal manipulation is again spot on with "Make Me Stay," it is comparable to Burial at points. The main turn off of "Make Me Stay" is that it relies on the hook too much. The song doesn't end up going anywhere, but only back to where it started. Combined with the cheesy 80s brass sounds, it can get a bit tiresome. Despite it's flaws, Make Me Stay / No More is a single worth remembering, plus, look at that album art.

-Owen Bolas

Space Junk

Artist: Halasan Bazar
Release Date: April 2, 2013
Label: Crash Symbols


Is it summer already? No? Well, it feels as if summer's come early with Halasan Bazar's album Space Junk. Slap on some cans and let the humming organs, vintage guitar tones, and gentle harmonies sweep you off your feet. Halasan Bazar's take on the fuzzed-out west coast garage rock of the 1960's goes beyond a mere imitation of their influences.

The sunny acid-soaked Beatles-esque compositions on Space Junk are, for the most part, pleasant. Tracks like "You and I" wallow in the psychedelic mood that the group is so great at creating. LSD-laced vocals dominate the track for the most part but are accompanied by a circling instrumental. The song is a great example of what Halasan Bazar is going for on Space Junk. The entire album feels nostalgic, as if the band is trying to pull us back into the 1960's where we'll all just hang out for a while.

Lyrically the album is quite a different story. While the instrumentals are relaxed and friendly the lyrics are desperate at times. On "Live Without Love" Mr. Halasan instructs us to "Live without love, die without love." "Stay," other than sounding like a drug-riddled Route 66, is a grasp for a comforting presence, vocally crying "Won't you stay?"

"Stay" seems to be a prelude to "The Light of My Day," arguably the album's strongest song. Starting off quaint, frail, and fragile, the gentle acoustic guitar and hushed vocals quickly gain confidence. Here Halasan Bazar plays with a less psychedelic sound, going for something more at home and earnest. Eventually incorporating other instrumentation (including harmonica, which isn't seen anywhere else on the album) the song slowly builds itself to awesome proportions. At it's height, the vocals scream "Hold me close, say you'll stay. please hold me tight, then you'll stay. Oh, you light my day, keep me blind, lead the way." There's something amazingly uplifting but tragic in the juxtaposition between the desperate vocals and the awe-inspiring instrumental.

There are certainly moments of nostalgic brilliance on Space Junk, (namely "How Did We Get Here in the First Place" and "The Light of My Day"), but there are still a few gripes I have when listening to this album. Mr. Halasan's straining vocals are quite nice, but aren't for everyone and this may be an immediate turn-off for some. Some tracks rely on the same riff or main melody for too long. Without any new material or timbres, this gets quite stale.

Everything considered, Space Junk is an interesting listen. Definitely something I'd 'highly' recommend to certain people. In all seriousness, if you're looking for something to blast in your car on a road trip or just something feel good for this spring/summer pick up Space Junk, you won't regret it.

-Owen Bolas

Deertree

Artist: Deertree
Release Date: April 1, 2013
Label: Independent


Deertree is the folk solo project of Thom Koehly, and his eponymous debut is charming; a quaint folk album that doesn't push too hard in any one direction, but rather sets a gentle and nurturing mood. Deertree tells a bleak but beautiful tale of a lost traveler and ensuing loneliness conveyed through a variety of colorful vocal harmonies and warm guitar tones. With tracks flowing from one to the next perfectly, this album feels less like a collection of individual works but rather chapters of the same novel. Along with similar lyricism, most of these songs share very similar chord progressions. Not to call the songs uninspired, but they all sound quite similar to one another (especially “Walkin I,” “Everything or Nothing,” “Jeneher: Trying to Reach the Sea,” “Barefoot Pilgrim,” and “Walkin II.”) It unifies the songs in a way that can get tiresome with repeated listens, but keeps the album feeling like one larger story..

Droning guitar playing is another factor in the similarity of these songs. Often times progressions move slow and timidly, but nonetheless precisely move from chord to chord. There a good few songs that break the mold; tracks like "The Little Boy Lost" or "Jeneher: Trying To Reach The Sea" have much more interesting features. "The Little Boy Lost," the opener, sounds straight off of Bon Iver’s For Emma, Forever Ago. This isn't to say that it’s not interesting or creative, just that it sounds extremely similar on account of the guitar playing and strong falsetto vocals. Koehly uses a large range of vocal styles on Deertree, ranging from low raspy tones on "The Morning Lights" to the enchanting harmonies in falsetto on "The Little Boy Lost” which, unfortunately, is the only track where Koehly shows off his impressively tender upper range.

Koehly's elusive lyricism brings forward themes of loneliness, loss of purpose, and hopelessness. Fantastic moments appear abruptly throughout this album. For instance, as "Everything or Nothing" bursts into a 3/4 explosion at 4:09, Koehly sings "everything was still nothing." Coming from the previous sections of the song, this is quite impactful. Another example is "The Morning Lights" where 3 or 4 part harmonies come in belting "I'm not dying! I'm not dying! The lazy day is over. I can." For all the moments where there are meaningful lyrics, there are many moments where his singing can't be understood or is just inaudible. It's either his singing or the mixing that gets in the way of hearing his lyrics, which are vital for this album's enjoyment.

The instrumentation and aesthetic, unfortunately, don't hold up amazingly after repeated listens. Koehly depends too much on mood and feeling at times, causing some tracks to get rather bland after a few listens. Instead of finding new things interesting, it becomes easier to find mistakes or unfavorable moments. The chord progression used on many tracks can become tired and the toy piano (which, granted, is used infrequently) loses it's charm after a few listens. That being said, the album is still a good listen but it doesn't hold up well under a magnifying glass.

Deertree is the story of a lost traveler unsure of where he's going or what he's doing. Everybody questions themselves during their life as to what they're doing or where they want to be. At some point in their lives, everybody misses their family, can get homesick, or gets lost altogether. Deertree relates to the scary pictures of uncertainty drawn on life's canvas. This album is going to go over well with a lot of people, I'm sure; Koehly's voice is beautiful, and his guitar playing is moody as anything. If you've ever liked anything in the new era folk-pop genre (Arcade Fire, Bon Iver, Sufjan Stevens) I recommend this album. If you don't, I wouldn't stay away but don't expect anything that'll crack your top 10 for the year.

-Owen Bolas

Track Review: "Titan"

Artist: The Physics House Band
Release Date: April 15, 2013
Label: Blood and Biscuits



"Titan" is the lead single from The Physics House Band's forthcoming release Horizons/Rapture due out April 15th. The track highlights the band's chaotic energy right from the beginning with a series of group hits. These hits are followed by occasional notes played on piano or guitar, which act as sparks after a sonic explosion. Musicianship shines here; the group hits are tight, and are soon followed by impressively complex drum beats. The production is great in that every instrument has it's own space, and everything can be heard if you're listening for it. At around a minute and a half, it takes a sudden turn which takes a lot of energy out of the song. Thankfully it's not a long section and within about 30 seconds, the listener is engaged in the track’s original chaotic feel. The mix of synthesizer tones and guitar is not only well done, but balanced. Neither one overpowers the other. "Titan" is comparable to a splatter paint piece, one where all the colors land in just the right places to compliment each other. The Physics House Band reminds me of an intoxicatingly brightly colored Godspeed You! Black Emperor song on this track, stylistically and emotionally. After hearing this, I'm now anticipating a lot from Horizons/Rapture.

-Owen Bolas

EPUZZ

Artist: Ultra Zook
Release Date: March 18, 2013
Label: Gnougn Records


Ultra Zook is an Art Rock band from France who's eclectic and eccentric style reminds me of a weird Of Montreal. Signed to Gnougn Records this is their second official mini-album release. EPUZZ can only be described as an innocent and exciting Candyland adventure gone horribly wrong. This mini-album starts off with a bang with the highly energized song "Yapati Yupata". Opening up with whimsical group vocals the song gets right to the point from the beginning. The short form of this song has a lot of progression and it paints a variety of images throughout. A dark guitar riff comes in about halfway through the song followed shortly by a disco beat. The odd juxtaposition works beautifully.

The next track, "Mozambiouc", starts off with rhythms splattered about and eventually an asian flavored melody played by either synthesized vocals or an odd vocal synthesizer comes in. This is one of more abstract songs. The back half sounds like a hectic 8-bit chase scene. Out of this section comes the main theme again, adventurous and bold as compared to the bleak chase. After "Mozambiouc" comes "Pisote", another highly energized track. Musicianship here is tight as can be as barking baritone saxophone takes command over the track. There's so much going on at once it's hard to take it all in.

"Tiramisu" starts off with a pleasant guitar riff with a nice delay on it. Soon after a driving beat comes in. This driving beat is used commonly throughout all of the songs. Another technique used in this song as well as "Yapati Yupata" is group vocals. In this song multiple people are saying wordless exclamations in a sort of call and response type of conversation. This song is easily the best on the album for it's breakdown section. Suddenly the driving beat stops and a dubstep-influenced halftime beat comes in and a rising bass synth comes out of nowhere only to precede laser noises combined with shouting group vocals.

"Aluminium C4" is the longest track, going at about 4 and a half minutes. All of the other tracks are under 3 minutes. The song's long form can get a bit boring and drag on but in general there's enough progression to hold my attention. About halfway through the song shifts, it sounds like somebody just discovered what 8-bit music was in the year 2500. The song is capped off by a chaotic and cacophonous ending with a strange rising feeling. Layers and layers are added until it stops and a calm resolution fades out into obscurity.

One of the few complaints I have with this mini-album is that at some points there is really too much going on, it's like music for kids with ADHD. Then again maybe that's the point. In these sections where everything is going on at once the production can get a bit crammed and the instruments are effectively spread out sonically. This can get tiring after a while. The last complaint I have is the synthesizer tones used throughout the mini-album. While having slight differences they all feel rather similar and if this release were any longer it would get very tiring.

This was a very worthwhile listen. Coming in at only 15 minutes this doesn't exactly take a while to listen to. EPUZZ is a release jam-packed with fun material that is sure to get the blood pumping. If you're looking for a fun listen then this is certainly it. I highly recommend this mini-album.

-Owen Bolas

Slow Weather

Artist: Tomotsugu Nakamura
Release Date: March 13, 2013
Label: kaico

Slow Weather is mesmerizing; a perfect combination of Brian Eno's lush textures and The Books' masterful sampling. Tomotsugu Nakamura spent 3 years crafting the subtle nature of this album. This hard work can be heard from the start of the album. The opening track “Moccasin” feels like waves of gentle warmth passing by. It's abstract form and flowing nature creates an ethereal experience; close your eyes and you could be floating. This album envelopes me in a daze, as if fog had smothered my brain.  While having a distinctively digital sound these songs also sound uniquely tender and comforting. Highlighted by tracks like “In The Place Before The Breath” or “Contrail”.

Using a combination of guitar, piano, strings, and gentle synthesizers Nakamura brings the listener into his heavenly aural landscape. Not only are traditional instruments used but glitches, clicks, pops, and field recordings appear commonly throughout the album as well. Ambient synths wave hello and goodbye as they shyly appear and dissipate from track to track. Heavy reverb, backwards recordings, and glitchy sample placement create an airy atmosphere as sounds skitter across tracks. “Little Colors” emphasizes this effect, combining droning strings and synths with toy piano samples creating melodies out of these separate samples.

At some points it is quite hard to tell what's being played in real time and what has been sampled and re-sampled. I couldn't be bother to let the idea travel through my head for more than 5 seconds though. I can't be bothered to think about much when listening to this album. Slow Weather is as entrancing as it is awe-inspiring.

-Owen Bolas