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September 27, 2006
their archrivals are the perennials
Despite reports to the contrary, Annuals are not merely a sophisticated amalgam of the sounds of Broken Social Scene, Arcade Fire, and Animal Collective (of those three though I think the most accurate comparison is BSS); they definitely have their own direction, and, to my ears, a lot of what the band accomplishes in their songs is centered around a kind of deceptive creation of space. When I listened to the band's debut album, "Be He Me", the first thing that came to mind wasn't another band, but a particular book: Mark Danielewski's "House of Leaves", which revolves around a house that's somehow wider on the inside than it is on the outside (hallways and stairwells that extend for miles and miles). "Be He Me" is an album filled with songs that start off small and confined, but then expand into wide, rolling landscapes, bright and sun-dappled (the perfect example of this is the song 'Brother', featured on Pitchfork and a multitude of mp3blogs).
'Bleary Eyed' is a little more subdued though, beginning with a purposeful acoustic strum and Adam Baker's gentle vocals. The rhythm track is fractured, sprinkled in an asymmetrical way throughout the song (kind of reminiscent of the way Menomena play with their percussion sounds), and ends 'Bleary Eyed' in a propulsive, blurry rush (that's where the track really opens up, with Adam singing in an unrestrained, heart-high-in-his-chest kind of voice). Actually, one of the other things that I think the songs on 'Be He Me' express really well in a way is a sort of hard-to-articulate breathless exuberance- like an unexpected, overwhelming feeling of joy that overtakes you and fades before you even get a chance to examine it, etc. Definitely a nice album to listen to in the fall.
'Be He Me' comes out on Ace Fu Records on October 17th (you can pre-order it here. The band will be touring soon with Art Brut (in Philly!) and Tapes 'N Tapes (elsewhere!), so go check them out if you get the chance.
Posted by Kevin at 12:47 AM | Comments (0)
September 19, 2006
my mattress: doorknobs and pine straw (subtitled: another year with the IRAs)
Some conditionals: if the beginning of this song were a simple physical object, it would be something that effects a kind of painful cleansing, like one of those industrial-grade water piks that dentists use; or maybe if it were a game, it would be a hellishly complex real-life version of Tetris, with wrong, heavy blocks falling from the sky, pummeling the earth, piling up into a massive, structurally unsound tower of unlikely and inexplicable aesthetic appeal. It's the exaggerated stutter of the guitars, the inhuman combustion of the drumbeats, and the sweet static of the drones (always unfurling in the background) that give this song such a kick (it shocks like a defibrillator).
Then, about 2:25 into it, everything slows down. Stretches out. Those drones (which were mostly scenery before) take over. The guitars stop producing those thick, abrasive chords, and narrowly focus on individual notes, while everything else bubbles and boils underneath. An organ peeks through, gently, timidly. The climax comes right at the end (appropriately), the spotlight shining on one disintegrating guitar.
Kill (whose website should be avoided by epileptics) don't create stand-alone songs, but are more into making aggressive conjunctions of visual effects and music (check out some awesome videos here, especially that second snippet), and are (reportedly) at some point going to release a DVD. The band contains members of Jaga Jazzist, Jr Ewing, Single Unit, etc. and the band name is sometimes spelled with 2 'L's, sometimes with 3. I would love to see them play live, but looks like they're pretty much just staying in Norway for the time being.
Posted by Kevin at 12:11 AM | Comments (0)
September 13, 2006
still alive and lazy
Seeing as nothing has been on here in 3 weeks, one might guess either that I desperately want to squander the tiny amount of readerly good will that still existed in this site's (small, but kind) audience, or that the Panda Bear post below wore me out. But really I've just been heavily devoted to 1) finding a job and 2) doing lots of research on the 1830s to 1950s northeastern PA coal-mining region (not kidding), for reasons that are too convoluted and bizarre to go into now. Anyway. Soon: something on a Norwegian band, and two new bands, one of which has undergone a slight name change. Fun.
P.S. The new Luomo album is a slight disappointment, but once you've released something as perfect as 'The Present Lover' (the song), does it really matter what you do for the follow-up? Not really.
Posted by Kevin at 01:32 AM | Comments (0)