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Posts tagged editor’s pick

The Atlantic Manor – The World Beneath This World Is Brightening

Feb26
2011 Leave a Comment Written by J-Sin

Rick Sell’s The Atlantic Manor continues to pave the way for DIY indie rock. While the band has always and unfortunately flown under the radar, the group always seems to be masterful when it comes to crafting the perfect pop gem. They have never sacrificed sound or quality despite being a self-avowed lo-fi artist. Now on their eleventh album, The Atlantic Manor has turned the page with a focus on surreal and cerebral music. Occasionally gravelly voiced, Sell (ironic last name much?) paints his canvases with self-portraits that are introspective and curious. A bevy of noises and oddities saturate each tune without being distracting, instead ladling up the pop feel and serving it to the folks fortunate enough to stumble upon them. I am gracious that I have had the pleasure to not only review the band but hear such terrifically built albums like “The World Beneath This World Is Brightening”.

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Down to Earth – Prisms

Feb26
2011 Leave a Comment Written by J-Sin

French trio Down to Earth (absolutely nothing to do with Justin Bieber) lives up to their moniker on their latest album and second full-length, “Prisms”. Lead vocalist Niko Aigrot intentionally had each song connected whether through the conceptual lyrics or mood. Immediately one thinks of Engine Down as a comparison. The sound is very DIY as the mastering job by Bob Weston (Jawbox, Nirvana, Shellac among some notables) is intricate and plays true to the fact that the band wanted to accomplish a live sound while still seeming polished – in fact the group recorded the album in a countryside studio near La Rochelle with Sylvain Biguet. “Prisms” is ambitious but unfaltering and never-missing. My favorite tune is a chilled laid back groove called “Versus” that builds and builds to the epic denouement. Stirring to say the least.

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The Efforts – Wartime Citizens

Feb26
2011 Leave a Comment Written by J-Sin

Ah politically and inspirationally virulent hardcore! “Wartime Citizens” by The Efforts is their painting of how The American Dream is a farce and that the mainstream media is conspiring to put us all into the zombie haze. “Dear Sarah,” is their statement to Sarah Palin and her parade of misleading and fame mongering. “Wartime Citizens” and its incredibly passionate and pissed lyrics makes me wish that The Effort would write a book – could you imagine their vitriol next to the false Tea Party and social conservatism “books” at Borders? And what they do with their words is matched nicely with their textured hardcore; crunchy guitars, sing-a-long anthems, and pounding percussion. This isn’t your papa’s chugga-chugga hardcore. Love it, buy it, spread the love, and memorize.

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Carmen Rizzo – Looking Through Leaves

Feb26
2011 Leave a Comment Written by J-Sin

Being a two-time Grammy nominee must come with a lot of pressure and expectations, each album and song being further scrutinized and dissected. But Carmen Rizzo seemingly shakes all of that pressure off time and time again. His resume includes co-writing on Oakenfold’s “Bunka” and Seal’s “Seal 2” with remixes of Tiesto, BT, and collaborating with Jem and Esthero. Career-wise he has also worked with such luminaries and music industry faves as KD Lang, Pete Townshend, Morissette, and Coldplay. On “Looking Through Leaves” he populates his songs with minimal dark electronics forging a surreal soundscape that is dauntingly vast. Joining Rizzo are guest vocalists Shana Halligen (ex-Bittersweet), Kate Havnevik, Grant Lee Phillips, Rosey and January Thompson. Together it’s a gorgeously flexible exploration of the next direction of electronic music and scoring. Oh and by the way, he’s set to donate an exclusive remix of his “Bring the Mountain Down” that features Grant Lee Phillips to the David Lynch Foundation.

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Goonies Never Say Die – No Words to Voice Our Hopes and Fears

Feb21
2011 Leave a Comment Written by admin

Post-rock journeymen Goonies Never Say Die boast an instrumental rock sound that is more powerful than a 20-person choir could dictate. Rangy guitars chug through crunchy distorted textures pouring out emotional melodies that are both grand and sweeping. While many folks instantly think of groups like Explosions in the Sky when they hear descriptors like “instrumental post-rock”, Goonies Never Say Die are quickly establishing themselves as the next go-to definition of that sound. Simon Morgan is both the guitarist as well as the engineer and mixer on “No Words to Voice Our Hopes and Fears”; his work on both sides of the fence creates a darkened atmosphere that peeks out small elements of every emotion as it swallows your body whole. Perfect.

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O Paradis – Pequenas Canciones de Amor

May23
2010 Leave a Comment Written by J-Sin

Cascading loops with dark soundscapes and Latin-influences and velvety melodies, “Pequenas Canciones de Amor” reminds me of something off of Acuarela Discos out of Spain. Inflected indie rock noodles throughout this stirring experimental album. Exploring a variety of styles, O Paradis deploys a king’s ransom worth of diverse instrumentation. But the one all encompassing common denominator is heady vocals and a knack for crafty a finely tuned song. There’s seventeen tracks here that bridge the gap between Euro-pop, indie-pop, electronica, experimental, and abstract. I love it. Thank you Tourette Records!

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Muslimgauze vs. Species of Fishes

May23
2010 Leave a Comment Written by J-Sin

Interesting remix of the original tracks from Species of Fishes albums “Songs of a Dumb World” and “Trip Trap” were utilized throughout this rather lengthy 56 minute jaunt into experimental music land. Muslimgauze is known for their Arabic influences and brooding electronica with an interesting mixing technique. They shed some of that here with shimmering electronic stabs and manic looping techniques that have sometimes only percolated in the backdrop of past endeavors. I found this remix album to be fantastic and totally fascinating. Worth a deep dive for the adventuresome music listener for sure.

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Deftones – Diamond Eyes

May23
2010 Leave a Comment Written by J-Sin

This almost seems like a throw-back, back-to-the-basics album for the Deftones. “White Diamonds” features druggy and sludgy guitar tones that shred with stoner rock ferocity amid Chino Moreno’s trademark out-of-this-world lyrical content delivered via screechy screams, fast spitting almost-raps, and softly sung spoken words. Still as atmospheric as their past releases, each tune seems to build off of one another delivering a true ‘album’ feel that the iTunes geeks won’t understand unless their playlist is the entire album beginning to end. Love the low-end bass tone on this album too; which is a great nod towards Chi who suffered a debilitating brain injury who sadly was absent but everyone is pulling for him to have a full recovery. I almost think that losing one of their brethren for this long-standing band is what helped craft such a fun, enlightening, and engaging album. “Rocket Skates” sounds like it was just lifted from a b-side from “Around the Fur” with its chunky guitar riffs that are perfectly fit for Mastodon fans. “White Diamonds” is at once dreamy and steamy with sultry vocals whispered and crooned by Chino and then counters all of that with caustic screams and yelps of dismay amid churning guitar distortion, weird sample atmospherics from their turntablist, and crisp rhythms and crashing cymbals. It’s not what I was prepared to hear from one of my favorite bands who I thought were on an unfortunate downswing and yet again proved me wrong. Love it.

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Delicate Noise – Filmezza Remixes

Feb15
2010 Leave a Comment Written by J-Sin

Featuring seven remixes of their “Filmezza” adventuresome album, Delicate Noise’s latest remix album casts its net wide across the globe in search of artists to re-rub their music. With young-and-upcoming electronic musical groups reaching far and wide from such places as France, Japan, Iceland, Canada, Italy, Spain, and the U.K., “Filmezza Remixes” has repaved the highways that the original concreted. Throughout the album there are elements of bleak and stripped down electro house, minimal soundtrack and psychedelic art, art-noise, atmospherics, and synthetic electro. Eclectic and essential.

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Some of the World’s Best Cover Songs. Period. In the Last Decade Or So.

Feb01
2010 5 Comments Written by J-Sin

311 – Love Song

The Cure’s original track bled emotion on “Love Song”, a beautiful anthem that was supposedly written about Robert Smith’s beau. While I’d never be mistaken to be a 311 fan (and who should?), this song seemed destined to be covered by the group who added their reggae and ska guitar influences with heavily reverbed vocals.

Alien Ant Farm – Smooth Criminal

Michael Jackson left us in 2009 but his music was revisited by younger fans after this great Californian crossover unit unearthed one of his best hits and made it their own complete with a quirky video.

Keane – Enjoy the Silence
Anberlin – Enjoy the Silence

Depeche Mode’s “Enjoy the Silence” was such a great original tune that tons of bands covered it and we figured we’d span those vast borders by showcasing a pop band’s take and a pop-punk’s band’s version. Both are special for sure.

Nouvelle Vague – Love Will Tear Us Apart

Of course sad gothic pop artists Joy Division should be revisited bossa nova style. And that’s just what French cover outfit Nouvelle Vague does.

Nirvana – Where Did You Sleep Last Night

Kurt Cobain and the grunge juggernauts unleashed one of the best sets from the now defunct MTV series, “Unplugged”. The song was a folk classic by Leadbelly, still a relative unknown especially among the fan boys and fan girls who coveted this legendary group.

Stabbing Westward – Bizarre Love Triangle

New Order along with Depeche Mode and Joy Division are probably some of the most covered ‘80s artists and their “Bizarre Love Triangle” is the litmus test for anyone doing a good ‘80s cover. Stabbing Westward nailed it. No surprise there.

Youth Group – Forever Young

Alphaville’s classic single “Forever Young” had numerous dance remixes and a few European punk rerubs but it was when an Australian rock band was approached by the producers of “The O.C.” to remix it that it finally got its rightful due in the hallowed halls of cover fame.

The Braids – Bohemian Rhapsody

It takes balls to cover Queen. Or maybe it doesn’t. This female hip-hop duo tackles one of rock opera’s best with gusto. The music video doesn’t really fit the lyrics so much but whatever.

Oleander – Boys Don’t Cry

The Cure again? I know what am I thinking?!? Well these alternative rock misfits do the song justice and then some.

Saul Williams – Sunday Bloody Sunday

Take one of hip-hop’s biggest stars who doesn’t get his due coverage, and then have him cover the biggest pop band since the Beatles to come from the U.K.’s big hit “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and you have a gold mine of awesome. Oh and did I mention that Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails helps out on this U2 cover? Make that a platinum mine.

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