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fuckyeahvanhalen86-95 · 2 years ago

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Van Halen had more than their share of contradictions.

They began life as a party band but were also home to one of rock's most inventive musicians in guitarist Eddie Van Halen, who spent countless hours toiling in isolation perfecting both his craft and instruments. Their fun-loving music, videos, fashion sense and personalities served as the template for a generation of bands, yet they were also at the center of two of the nastiest breakups in rock history.

So, yeah, things could get weird around Van Halen sometimes. They had an unparalleled gift for blending hard-rock chops and pop smarts and a knack for staying creatively ahead of their peers. Bold and sometimes strange musical experimentation played a role in that success, as you'll note in the below chronological look at the 10 Weirdest Van Halen Songs.

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"IN A SIMPLE RHYME/GROWTH" (1980 - WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST)

Van Halen's first two albums were comprised of songs written during their club-performance days. On 1980's Women and Children First, they took advantage of their chance to write new material, expanding their palette and exploring more complex arrangements. One of the clearest and most distinctive examples is the LP's closing track, "In a Simple Rhyme." It's a poppy, progressive and somewhat weird rock song that sounds like Rush attempting to write a romantic ballad. After the song's gentle fade-out comes another surprise: a 30-second instrumental featuring a brontosaurus-sized guitar riff. According to The Van Halen Encyclopedia, the plan was for "Growth" to be expanded into a full song that would kick off the band's next album. That didn't happen, but they would occasionally play the song at their concerts, including a 1986 version featuring both Eddie Van Halen and Sammy Hagar on guitar.

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"SUNDAY AFTERNOON IN THE PARK/ONE FOOT OUT THE DOOR" (1981 - FAIR WARNING)

After sneakily replacing his guitar with an electric piano on Women and Children First's "And the Cradle Will Rock...," Eddie Van Halen dove deeper into synthesizers with the following year's Fair Warning, using an inexpensive Electro-Harmonix micro-synthesizer to come up with "Sunday Afternoon in the Park." It's a funky and creepy two-minute instrumental that sounds like George Clinton's idea of a John Carpenter film score. The tempo switches to a hyperactive electro-boogie for the conjoined "One Foot Out the Door," as David Lee Roth tries not to get caught with somebody else's wife. It's all topped with one of Van Halen's fiercest guitar solos, which fades out too quickly.

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"BIG BAD BILL (IS SWEET WILLIAM NOW)" (1982 - DIVER DOWN)

One of the main sources of friction between David Lee Roth and Eddie Van Halen was over the latter's use of keyboards. Roth feared it would upset the band's fans, who wanted only to see Van Halen in "guitar god" mode. (As "Jump" and the band's string of keyboard-based '80s hits proved, Roth was wrong.) But it was Roth who suggested that Van Halen's father, Jan, play jazz clarinet on the band's cover of the 1924 Milton Anger and Jack Yellen song "Big Bad Bill (Is Sweet William Now)" on 1982's covers-heavy Diver Down. "He was nervous as shit," said Van Halen, recalling his dad at the recording session. "We're just telling him, 'Jan, just fuckin' have a good time. We make mistakes! That's what makes it real.' I love what he did."

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"HOT FOR TEACHER" (1984 - 1984)

The final single of David Lee Roth's first tenure with Van Halen was the sorta weird "Hot for Teacher." How many hit songs can you think of that start with a 30-second drum solo, followed by an extended guitar solo? Roth doesn't appear until more than a minute into the song, speaking to his "classmates," rather than singing, as Eddie Van Halen suddenly shifts to chicken-pickin' rhythms. A traditional verse-and-chorus structure finally appears, but the band never stays in one place for long, blending speed-metal riffs with high school humor and a big Broadway-worthy chorus. It was all too perfect to last: Soon after the song's release, everything went to hell.

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"INSIDE" (1986 - 5150)

"Man, what kind of crap is this?" That's the opening question Sammy Hagar asks on the closing track of his first album as Van Halen's new singer. After using the first eight songs on 5150 to establish the new lineup as a commercial and artistic force, Van Halen cracks open the fourth wall and directly if obliquely addresses the controversy that ensued after Hagar was hired to replace Roth. Over a thumping synth-rock groove, Hagar gets meta about what he's learned from his new bandmates: "Now me, look, I got this job not just being myself," he says. "I went out I brought some brand new shoes, now I walk like something else." He gets more serious as the song goes on, hitting some wild vocal heights while singing about feeling the need for "something special, someone new, some brand new group to sink my teeth into."

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"MINE ALL MINE" (1988 - OU812)

After proving they could use keyboards to craft hit pop singles and ballads, Van Halen took a more serious step with the opening track of 1988's OU812. Clocking in at over five minutes, the complex "Mine All Mine" treads near jazz-fusion territory and showcases a new lyrical depth that almost drove Hagar past the breaking point. "It was the first time in my life I ever beat myself up, hurt myself, punished myself, practically threw things through windows, trying to write the lyrics," he told writer Martin Popoff in 2010.

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"PLEASURE DOME" (1991 - FOR UNLAWFUL CARNAL KNOWLEDGE)

For the most part, 1991's For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge marked a return to straightforward guitar rock for Van Halen. The hit single "Right Now" was the only song to feature keyboards; almost everything else follows a Standing Hampton-on-steroids formula. But the seven-minute "Pleasure Dome" takes a weird turn into progressive rock, with the Van Halen brothers and Michael Anthony daring each other to go deeper into King Crimson-style madness. Hagar's cosmically themed vocals are fine but seem almost beside the point. When the band performed the song live, it was usually instrumental.

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"STRUNG OUT" (1995 - BALANCE)

Ever wanted to hear Eddie Van Halen destroy a piano? According to the Van Halen Encyclopedia, while renting composer Marvin Hamlisch's beach home in 1983, Van Halen "threw everything he could find into the piano and raked various items across the strings, including ping-pong balls, D-cell batteries and even silverware." Supposedly, there are hours of tapes documenting this, but Eddie Van Halen mercifully selected the best 90 seconds for inclusion on the band's final album with Hagar.

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"CROSSING OVER" (1995 - BALANCE [JAPAN IMPORT])

Van Halen released only one non-album B-side, and it was a pretty strange one. In 1983 Eddie Van Halen composed "David's Tune," a tribute to a friend who died by suicide, handling all the instruments and vocals. After joining Van Halen in 1985, Sammy Hagar was eager to flesh out the track, but Van Halen kept "Crossing Over" in the vaults for nearly a decade, until the death of the band's manager, Ed Leffler. A full-band take was recorded and then blended with the guitarist's original version, which can be heard in the left channel of the released recording. The sonic effect is otherworldly, a perfect match for the song's subject matter.

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"HOW MANY SAY I" (1998 - Van Halen III)

Van Halen III is the most criticized album of Van Halen's career, and much of the scorn is directed at the closing "How Many Say I," which features Eddie Van Halen on his only lead-vocal performance. The piano-based track is reminiscent of a late-era Roger Waters ballad and is an odd creative choice for the band, which was in the process of introducing its third singer, Gary Cherone. "They forced me," Van Halen told Billboard at the time. "Don't be shocked when you hear the vocal." "Maybe we were being too artsy-fartsy," Cherone later admitted to Rolling Stone. "But I thought it was great."

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angel-alexanderr · 4 years ago

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STILL INTO YOU - PARAMORE (but make it jan)

when: 3/3 wednesday - after school + 3/5 friday - ND rehearsal

where: xan’s car, xan’s room, the auditorium

Xan pulled up to the WMHS roundabout and put his Kia Soul in park. Moments later, Joey was sliding into the passenger seat Cheerios uniform and all. They kissed and Xan begins driving. “So....what crazy theme has the Schuester clan drummed up for this month?”

Xan picking up Joey from school had been something the two had been doing since they started dating and it was better than walking home. After getting in the car and kissing Xan, Joey raised an eyebrow at the other's question. "Oh, it was something... I think it's called pop punk or something like that. And something related to Warped. I have no idea what that means though, so I probably will just wait until we have a Dua Lipa week."

Xan laughed at Joey for a moment. "Warped Tour???" He asked with an eyebrow raise. "My dad is really into pop punk stuff...I think he went to one of those, they're like festivals for pop punk headliners." Xan explained. "Some of it's pretty good. Not Dua Lipa good...but good." He said, shooting a quick glance at his boyfriend.

"Yeah, I think that's what it was! Dylan mentioned that her dad went to those festivals too... I don't think my dads are into that sort of music." Joey said with a small chuckle, as he looked over at Xan. "But I'm glad that you know some of it because that means you can help me choose a song for this week!" He said with a nod.

"Punk pop is pretty hetero, if i'm honest. At least the era Mr. Schue is talking about. So that makes sense." He teased. Xan liked being gay, but he also liked teasing megagays like Joey's dads. Xan hummed at the prospect of helping Joey choose a song. "I feel like you should lean into a group like paramore or hey monday. the more masculine groups wouldn't really be your style."

"Well, I really can't choose the assignments, trust me, I would if I could." Joey said with a small chuckle - even if he did like the assignments, Joey couldn't help but to think that he always stayed in the background instead of actually singing. "Oh, I know Paramore! Don't you listen to that a lot? Because I think I remember you listening to it... But what do you suggest?"

Xan nodded with a smirk. "Hayley Williams is one of the best songwriters of all time so...yeah I dabble in a little bit of paramore." he said with a nod. "Hey siri....play into you." he said with a smirk as the instrumental intro began to play and he looked at Joey. "This song kinda reminds me of us if I'm honest."

as the intro to the song plays we transition to the duo in xan’s room, with xan serenading joey and strumming on his electric guitar. “can't count the years on one hand that we've been together” he sang. “need the other one to hold you. Make you feel, make you feel better.”. even through focusing on getting the right chords, xan made sure to look up and make cute eye contact with his boyfriend. as he went into the chorus, the duo sang together.

“I should be over all the butterflies but I'm into you, I'm into you And even baby our worst nights I'm into you, I'm into you Let 'em wonder how we got this far, 'Cause I don't really need to wonder at all Yeah, after all this time I'm still into you“

as the get into the chorus we transition to the second verse, we transition to the WMHS auditorium where xan and joey are performing for the glee club. xan and joey both dressed in colorful outfits and the stage was filled with the blue and white balloons from the music video. xan stood center stage with guitar in hand as joey began to sing the second verse, circling him. “recount the night that i first met your mother” he sang “and on the drive back to your house, i told you that i told you that i loved ya.”.

there was something victorious about performing on the mckinley stage again. xan couldn’t stop smiling as he strummed chords and bobbed his head. for a second he kinda missed the parts of his freshman year that he spent at wmhs. there was a lot of drama...and he definitely relapsed into self-harm during his time here...but the glee club of it all was pretty fun. as they sang the chorus again he realized most of the fun he was having was thanks to joey. he was really lucky to be dating someone who made him happy like that.

xan stepped up to a microphone stand as he began to sing the bridge. “Some things just, some things just make sense And one of those is you and I.” he sang, looking away from the New Directions and directly at Joey. “Some things just, some things just make sense. And even after all this time..”

joey and xan were completely facing each other at this point. xan began to smirk as joey slayed the climax of the bridge, “I'm into you. Baby not a day goes by that I'm not into you.” joey sang. as the duo charged into the last chorus they began jumping around and kicking balloons all around the stage. xan would be honest, he loved performing with the warblers...but he never had this much fun with a performance that came together so simply. as the song ended, joey and xan hugged and looked out to the new directions in the auditorium, soaking in the applause.

#i always leave pedro hanging when we plan things like this #BUT NOT THIS TIME WHORES #( joey )#( self para )

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martianarctic · 5 years ago

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Devin’s Playlist -2010s Part 1

This is an unfinished retrospective look at what I listened to during the 2010s. This decade was exceptional for me, as it was the first decade where, for almost all of it, I was not a musician myself.

Being a musician forces you to listen to music like a musician, and being free of that, and able to listen as a listener alone, really made this a spectacular decade for me. I found dozens of incredible albums that were released during the decade, many of which received no significant recognition.

This was a very large project, and I did not finish it. I made it through Retrowave, Shoegaze, and Post punk. If anybody cares, I will finish the entire project, which will add Dreampop (the largest category), Vaporwave, and Dark Ambient.

Retrowave: Retrowave is electronic music that, at first listen, sounds like it may be from the 80s or 90s, mostly because the synths it uses to generate the music are either retro-inspired or literally retro equipment in some of the more extreme cases. It generally features original compositions, often, but not always, is instrumental. Rough vocals would impede the tightness and angularity of the music, so when vocals are used they are often pop produced and highly melodic. This genre gained significant exposure from Nicolas Winding Refn’s 2011 masterpiece, “Drive”.

Galactic Melt (2011) Com Truise

Electronic artist Com Truise rose to prominence off of this fantastic record, which rallies around the undeniable electro anthem of 2012, “Brokendate”. Starting with some found audio (chopped and screwed found audio becomes a big deal later on in Vaporwave) and then dropping in an absolutely thick beat we’re met with a song that eventually, as layers are dropped on, ends up being meditative, romantic, and melancholy. Emotions to that point, not well associated with dance music, but definitely would come to color the entire decade.

Era Extraña (2011) Neon Indian

Electronic solo bedroom pop was pretty cool at the end of the 00s being pushed hard by guys like Twin Shadow. I am not sure how I got ahold of Neon Indian but this album was, in a lot of ways, the true start of my musical decade. I had not been so excited and enthusiastic about a record since I had retired from making music. It really gives you a new perspective to not feel like you’re in competition with everything and trying to learn from everything- just as a listener, I was enthralled with this entire record.

Visitors (2012) Lazerhawk

I did not get into dark retrowave until after 2013 and thus discovered Lazerhawk and this record after the fact. Visitors is, in my opinion, the best dark retrowave album ever made, more consistent and listenable than competitors such as mega drive or carpenter brut. Also. This album absolutely sticks the landing with the street-strutting powerhouse “Arrival”.

I am the Night (2012) Perturbator

Made famous by soundtracking the indie game hit Hotline Miami (one of the best games of the decade), Perturbator carved a niche for himself with fast, brutal, high energy dark electronic music and absolutely bonkers live shows. Perturbator has a large catalog of content- I am the Night is definitely the starter kit. Starting off with a thick minor chord, a church bell, and a sample of Peter Finch’s speech from “Network” you immediately know what’s in store- dark, dystopian and undeniably French electronic dance music, complete with breathtaking beat breaks, big bass synths, and complex compositions.

Innerworld (2014) Electric Youth

I had mentioned that Drive was a major popularizer of retrowave- and one song in particular, a collaboration between another retrowave artist named College, who created the low fi, catchy bassline for the song “A Real Hero”, and the vocals and lyrics, created by an artist called Electric Youth. Their record, 2014’s “Innerworld”, is one of the best retrowave efforts, with the second track, “Runaway”, even better than the song that made them famous. The pop chorus “Maybe we could just run away for good/cuz we’re both mis understood” soaring over thick, atmospheric synth pads will have you slapping the roof of your car, as you race through the freeways of LA at 3AM.

Atlas (2016) FM-84

Speaking of roof-slapping bangers, “Running in the Night” is probably retrowave’s most popular anthem, boasting one of my absolute favorite vocal performances of the decade. A group claiming rock and roll city San Francisco as their home base (despite being both British), FM-84’s Atlas is absolutely packed with a mixture of the atmospheric instrumental Miami Vice type music suggested by the red and purple setting sun cover as well as vocal driven pop songs such as the single mentioned above.

Hardwired (2018) Mitch Murder

Mitch Murder is a retrowave institution, having made the soundtrack to the viral youtube movie Kung Fury, and also, I suspect, the original music used by twitch personality Dr. Disrespect. However, he almost entirely releases 3-5 song Eps, making it tough to pick out a standout. However that all changed in 2018 with the release of Hardwired, the most accomplished mitch murder release to date. Starting off with the Jan Hammer style “Altered State”, it stays on brand throughout but tells a very unified instrumental story of cyberpunk dystopian adventure. Vangelis-style synths bring in the closer track, “Revision Control”, one of Mitch Murder’s greatest tracks. Evolving through different moods, different scenes, we can imagine the “human” protagonist confronting his cyborg nemesis he has been tasked to execute.

Retrowave Album of the Decade:

Dark All Day (2018) Gunship

As the decade wore on, retro wave slowed down for me. I thought it might be over but- without warning, Gunship, an artist I had listened to but not been completely impressed by, released what is probably the most accomplished album in the genre. Spanning various tempos and musical themes, utilizing several guest vocalists, the scope of “Dark All Day” keeps you listening to the record again and again. This record represents an evolution in a format that was at risk of being just a fad. “Come on lost boys, lets stay alive” over a ripping saxophone lead suggests mere 80s fetishism, but there is more substance than just that. The following track, “When you Grow Up, Your Heart Dies”, takes an upbeat electro jam, and really goes for emotional impact with a series of samples of characters from pop culture saying inspirational things, my favorite being “Everything worth doing is hard” which I think is just Teddy Roosevelt. My favorite track of the record, the slow ballad “Artemis & Parzival”, begins with swooning, Vangelis-style pads and then into guest vocalist Stella Le Page’s gorgeous vocals. This track definitely belongs on anybody’s make out playlist. “Were all gonna die that’s just how it is, there’s no escaping the future, nobody gets what they want in this world, even for you and me” is one of the greatest lyrics of the decade.

Nugaze/Shoegaze-Adjacent: Shoegaze is a genre of music that features highly layered guitar effects (often run through 10 or more effects, creating a signature “vacuum cleaner” sound with a ton of distortion and white noise) and breathy vocals. Relying heavily on the depth of character of the sound, shoegaze guitar tone and production is a major creative point and almost all of these records are self-produced. Vocal themes are usually depression-inspired and lovelorn meditations, the music sounds, to most, dull and dreary, but to some, it speaks deeply to their feelings about the past and future. Shoegaze is often mixed with other guitar genres on this list, from Post Hardcore(Nothing, Title Fight), Black Metal(Deafheaven), and Thrash Metal (Astronoid).

Road Eyes (2010) Amusement Parks on Fire

Around 2010, I was promoted at my job to a new role that would require a bunch of travel. I was not a big fan of riding on airplanes. Also around that time, my brother had moved into my apartment, then out of it, and I only had a few months left on the lease. My favorite shoegaze band of the 2000s, Amusement Parks on Fire, played a gig at 330 Ritch, a club in san Francisco. I had a fantastic time at the show, and particularly loved their new material, which made it onto a record they called Road Eyes. 2 months later I moved out of my apartment in San Francisco and never would go back to living as a single dude.

Anyways, the travelling. The opening and title track to the record came to symbolize change for me. And it also was the song I would listen to every time my plane would take off. It helped me deal with the fear that something might happen- no matter how insignificant the chance – and if it did, while that song was on, it would be okay. Indeed, this was, and I will warn you I am not qualified to treat mental illness, but this actually really made flying much easier for me and it is a ritual I continue to do to this day, whenever possible.

Pipe Dreams(2013), Sway(2014), Feels like You (2019) Whirr

San Francisco nugaze/dronegaze band Whirr, large and complex, problematic, aggressive, are behind some of my favorite music of the decade. Their three album career reflects to me upon the primary feelings of youth: euphoria, anger, and sadness.

Pipe Dreams is a blissful set of jams, meditative, energetic uptempo and with almost totally co-ed vocals. Noisy production casts a hydrocarbon haze over the songs, raw vocal melodies reach out of the fuzz and suck you in. “Junebouvier” and “Toss” capture the euphoric and youthful energy of a summer in San Francisco: starting off with breakups May thru July, and hot hookups until September or October when people settle into relationships. Two hungry eyes emerging from straight-bangs to make eye contact with you, and hold it- the exhilaration of touching somebody new.

Sway, the band’s masterwork, starts off with a heavily muff-distorted major 7th chord suspending us until the massive drums, now a hallmark of the band’s sound, kick off the beat into the opening rocker Press. The band switches up rhythms between drums, guitars, and bass to bring rock and roll-type turnarounds and breaks that really keep you on your toes and engaged. The lead guitar is classic legato shoegaze, using delay to achieve a long, sustained scream. Compositions are key on this record- not following just simple A/B patterns there’s some thought to the structure of the songs and record. “Dry”, in particular, demonstrates some of these ideas. A/B sections, underscored with “Drown me everytime… Dry”, give way to breaks, ethereal echo guitar solos, giving a hint of the powerful ending. A 4 chord progression accented by breathtaking drum fills finaly flourishes into a screaming cymbal-laden guitar finish.

Feels like You, the bands purported final album, starts off with some quiet echo piano. The melancholy major 7 chords the band has leaned on throughout their music are laid bare as we press play on the record. Add guitar. At a little after 90 seconds the band jumps in after with a thick blanket of lonesome self-reflection and chemical depression. The bands penchant for composition remains to the end, with changes keeping you engaged as the noise soothes your heart. “Younger than You” is one of the band’s greatest tracks, starting with an almost Smashing Pumpkins/Silversun Pickups esque clean unison guitar/bass into distorted and layered noise, ending with a drum-guided, rock and roll style outro.

Guilty of Everything (2014) Nothing

One of the things I mention in my preface to this is, for me, the 2010s were the first decade of my life that ended with me not being a musician. And it opened some doors for me, creatively, to be able to hear music and think about it purely as a listener and a person. Something others have frequently described to me, that I had never really done, was just spend an entire weekend listening to an album.

I saw Nothing on KEXP 5 years ago when Guilty of Everything was out and they were on tour. I’ve seen them twice in person since them and bought every one of their records. The weekend that I got Guilty, I was attending a close friend’s sisters wedding, and pretty much was in a hotel room drunk in overcast-as-fuck santa cruz all weekend. And you know what was being played through headphones at practically all times.

Nothing is mostly the musical project of a guy named Dominic Palermo, a punk from the Philly scene that had spent more than a year in prison for a stabbing. He isn’t much of a vocalist or guitarist, but he is a fantastic artist, writer, photographer, and visionary, and the creative force behind what is now a rotating cast of other musicians.

Guilty of Everything is definitely their best record, opening with the massive meditation Hymn to the Pillory, into the definitive single Bent Nail, a perfect marriage of hardcore punk and shoegaze elements, falling apart into the 90mph crash, into a wall, final outro chorus “If you feel like/letting go…” repeated over and over over pure drone guitars, seamlessly flowing into the romantic slow jam “Endlessly” The closing title track is one of the best closers of the decade, perfectly sticking the landing on this brilliant lyric: “My hands are up, I’m on my knees I don’t have a gun, you can search me please. I’ve given up, but you shoot me anyway, I’m guilty of everything. I’m guilty of everything”.

Hyperview (2015) Title Fight

Nothing wasn’t the only Pennsylvanian post-hardcore band to bend their sound a bit shoegaze. Title Fight also sneaks onto this list with their outstanding record Hyperview from 2015. Appealing compositions and melodies combine with harmonized vocals, even some 16 beats on the hats- things we expect from post hardcore, but slowed down and smeared out a bit into the shoegaze aesthetic. My favorite track from the record, “Hypernight”, combines some screamo hype man chorus, math rock inspired guitar and bass lines, and is just all in all one of the most unique tracks to come out of the decade. “I don’t want to see things differently, its what I am taught myself to believe”.

Grandfeathered (2016) Pinkshinyultrablast

I admit that I bounced off of Russian electro-shoegazers Pinkshinyultrablast the first time I listened to them a few years ago. There was just too much going on and I didn’t really have the inclination to jump in and grab on. Operatic female vocals, noisy djenty guitar, shimmery, clean guitar, all swirl together in what is undoubtably a great record for having a tinder date IF, and I say IF, you’re willing to run a musicological acid test on them.

Whether it was listening to a bunch more music, particularly ambient music, or just changing taste now I can’t get enough of this band. They do slam from idea to idea in a song, but it’s a controlled speed- it’s not pleasant to a lot of people, but once you get yourself situated, you’ll wonder how you ever missed this band to begin with, if you’re not one of the people reading this and thinking, naw dude, I got this shit RIGHT AWAY.

The compositions on the record are, in fact, carefully considered and composed, combining noise rock with clean ambience deftly and changing up styles repeatedly throughout each song and the record. Everybody knows we can no longer control dynamics via volume in today’s world of headphone/device listening, ultramaximizing mastering, laptop speakers, etc. So Pinkshinyultrablast controls it with style. This record is definitely the more guitar-driven of the albums from this decade, with their release 2 years later being more electronic and vocal focused.

Slowdive (2017) Slowdive/My Bloody Valentine (2013) mbv

There are two bands that are credited with creating and or popularizing the Shoegaze movement during the late 80s and early 90s. Those bands are My Bloody Valentine, and Slowdive. Both of whom released albums during the 2010s. And frankly, both records are damn good for two bands that have been basically on hiatus for 20 years. Neither has really stood the test of time for me, although I listened to both exhaustively upon release.

The opening tracks of both records are absolutely mesmerizing, this slow, sexy intro is clearly the part of them that became stronger with age. The manic rock energy of their more upbeat tracks however is absent or at least forced, and I think is what keeps these from being really what I’d call strong records. Nevertheless, both albums belong on any shoegazer’s playlists both for the quality of the music as well as the nod to the progenators of the genre we love so much.

Time n Place (2018) Kero Kero Bonito

KKB was already one of the biggest indie rock groups in the world when they released this their second full-length album. Making a big move sound-wise from super squeaky clean hip hop style production to sloppy shoegaze guitars and drums, they alienated a lot of fans with Time n Place, but I don’t see how. For me, coming in for Time n Place and then going back in the catalogue to Bonito Generation, I see it as a very natural progression. As the artists become more confident and mature, it’s natural they should explore some other emotions and moods.

That said I am not the usual KKB fan. Actually at their show in San Francisco in 2018 I was probably in the top 95 percentile of being an old fart. Around me, mostly twentysomethings on the first half decade, casually doing key bumps right on the show floor, something scared old gen Xers like me, still remembering their friend’s divorced dads in cigarette boats they sold for coke in the 80s, are still too paranoid to do. The crowd definitely starting pogo jumping at the chorus to “Only Acting” a grungy, poppy metaphor between acting on stage, and being young and in love.

Right after that, “Flyaway“ is the upbeat shoegazey manic anthem that really got me sucked into the band to begin with. Combining fuzzy guitars that are more reminiscent of Japanese rock bands of the 00s than shoegaze with a crystalline clear melodic vocal line from Sarah, this is the track where I grab a handful of dirt from my dying hill, and say if you don’t like this song, you don’t like the band, the record, or my musical taste.

Miserable Miracles (2018) Pinkshinyultrablast

Reinventing themselves record by record, Pinkshinyultrablast keeps on the cutting edge and doesn’t make a habit of anything. Miserable Miracles is more electronics driven, lead and pad synthesizers bringing in the music with their trademark soaring, operatic vocals. Guitars are present as well, but heavily stretched with cathedral reverb and long delay. A smoother sound than Grandfeathered, but well-poised to issue a majestic, meditative prayer such as “Find your Saint”, my favorite track. Like walking into a Germanic church on Sunday, the vocals rise to the ceiling forcing you to look up at the light breaking in through stained glass synthesizers. At about 100 seconds, all of the pieces drop in together to lift you into wherever it is you are going. “I used to talk- about it” brings the heavenly outro to bear, one of the most powerful musical moments of the decade.

Astronoid (2019) Astronoid

I am part of a few music groups on Facebook, and one of them mentioned this band, calling them “Dream Thrash”- a combination of dreampop and thrash metal. I’d say its more thrashgaze, with heavy effects/djenty guitar and the more whispery vocals than are a hallmark of the shoegaze genre, not the clear pop produced vocals that are the hallmark of dreampop.

That out of the way, this is possibly my favorite record of 2019. The opening track, “A New Color”, brims with energy and hopeful optimism and replaced Road Eyes as my airplane take off song. Right around 3 minutes in, when the plane is airborne and gaining climbing u to cruise, when we’re often breaking through the clouds, comes in possibly my favorite guitar solo of all time. On this record, Astronoid are unquestionably uptempo metal yet somehow at the same time being slow-changing enough to carry the emotional weight of shoegaze. The second track, “Dream in Lines”, is an aggressive, more metal-informed rocker, and the third is a power ballad that absolutely sealed the deal for me in terms of loving this album.

Other high points include the uptempo thrash jam “Breathe” and “Water”. Again infusing the metal, djenty mute strum guitar with soaring vocals and heavy backing harmonics, this record continues again and again to deliver head-banging jams that touch and heal a deep sadness in the soul. “Water” is a darker exploration, starting with a heavy chunky two-guitar & bass instrumental, virtuous breaks, and expansive echo and reverb. The band sounds like they are playing in the middle of an interstellar arena, fists human and alien in the sky.

The album sticks the landing with the penultimate track “Beyond the Scope”. This incredible song starts slowly, but upon reaching a turn, goes double-time as the melody and music climbs in pitch at 100 seconds in. This transition takes us into a greater urgency, with sustained, over-flying guitar notes keeping the harmony rich and complex.

Then, the beat drops out and a single guitar chord rings- “My hands are on my ears/They won’t stop ringing” smashes into your brain and your heart. Then again, the building section- “Feeble-minded/I can not decide/in my world, now I know/there’s no such thing as dying/so leave with a goodbye” and into another build and back to the chorus-

“My hands are on my ears/they won’t stop ringing”. I don’t think any lyric can better express the decade than that. If it were somehow possible for this album to end on this song, it would be at the head of this category.

Everything Starts to Be a Reminder (2019) Echodrone

As a former musician, I have a lot of friends who are musicians. I am very brutally honest about my feelings in music and that can make it awkward to have to comment on a friend’s hard work. Echodrone’s latest record made this very easy- the record is simply amazing. Echodrone’s earlier records bounced off of me a bit, but this one has just the right mixture of drone-drenched empty space, ethereal vocals, emotional anguish and euphoria, and a strong connection to the last 10 years in my mind. The tracks are named after the four seasons, starting with Winter and ending with Autumn. Interestingly, the tracks do not really stand out as being separate in my mind, much like how you cannot easily separate a season from another season in the same year.

“Winter” explodes with an epic, cymbal-laden meditation, that continues to grow and grow and expand, then finally becomes quieter, more melodic, and less drony in the second half of the 18 ½ minute song.

“Spring” features a finger-pick echo guitar interspersed with a beautiful co-ed vocal line guiding us down a pathway of different melodic and harmonic ideas. It then enters into a several-minutes long jammy contemplation that is utterly ecstatic to me- synths layered with effects-laden bass and more echo guitar into a full stop.

The best song on the record, “Summer”, begins with a vocal sample into a more or less straight-ahead rock and roll jam. This gives way to a downtempo effects section, then at right after 4 ½ minutes, gives way to a sound I can only call Olympian in hugeness. Fuzz bass, echoing guitars, and multilayered female vocals create this trance-like atmosphere that is rarefied and deeply marked with potent and everchanging imagery at the same time, like cream on top of coffee.

The sound continues to change and becomes quiet again once again with echo guitars carrying the music through. Back to a rhythmic return at 12 ¾ minutes. A synth flute melody flies over the whispered vocals, complex drum patterns- an opine to the end of life’s summer, the bitter sweetness of being old enough to not be hurt anymore by unlikely things failing to fly.

Shoegaze Album of the Decade:

Sunbather (2013) Deafheaven

A single distorted guitar chord progression holding several notes through the chords for changing harmonics, exploding into double kick and even more guitars, into black metal screaming- this is the unmistakable beginning of Sunbather by San Francisco black metal band Deafheaven.

Due to its downtempo sections, overall distorted and layered production, and emotional scope, this album is loved not just by black metal fans but also by shoegaze fans such as myself. It is a perfect example of a successful crossover- not anticipated or forced in any way by the creators- but it just happens to work on so many different levels.

There are really only four songs on this record, the tracks in between them are much needed interludes. Something all Deafheaven songs do very well is compositioning. These tracks play out, in a way, like classical pieces, with many different sections, transitions, themes, changes, openings, closings, callbacks- it’s so incredibly dense and accomplished that you can listen to this album for weeks on end and still be surprised.

“Dream House” is the blazing opener of the record and puts on display everything we love about every song on here. To make this song the first track is insane, simply because of how over-the-top insanely powerful it is. After a brief interlude of just picked echo guitar, a single chord strum, the entire band comes back in a beat later, and this isn’t even the most emotional part of the song. That’s going to be at 7 minutes, 20 seconds in “I watched/It die!!!” screeches the vocalist as a guitar ostinado plays over the key notes that have been presented throughout the song in brutal crystal clarity. Then at 8 minutes- the vocalist and guitar break down, screaming and double picking guitar notes. It is difficult not to cry at this ending- and this is only the first song on the record.

“Sunbather” is both the title track and the album’s dark heart. Thrumming with a complex beat from the start, the other instruments are layered over this like a tangle of vines across an iron fence. Skillful use of double kick and drum fills keeps the band on target as we get to the breaks and turnarounds. The cymbals and guitars swirl creating complex patterns. Listening to this song from far away with extremely poor speakers would sound like static- similar to how Jupiter looks like a pale gold smear- turn up the volume a little, get a little closer, and you see the rich, threatening complexity of the swirling clouds of music and emotion. The song ends with a slow section about ¾ of the way through the 10 minute piece. An unforgettable echo guitar line plays sparsely over drums- invoking a Cure-like gothic sensibility. Then the band comes back in, playing the same melody and expanding upon it, a lighting bolt magnified to a thousand forks and twists going in all directions. It is the melodies at the end of Sunbather that were stuck in my head, unforgettable, after listening to this record. Unlike Dream House, this song ends on a down note, a question- the rest of the album is to give an answer, and incredibly, you will not be disappointed.

“Vertigo” is the longest song on the record at 14 ½ minutes, a blazing, minor key rocker that is meant to emotionally drag us down as far as we can go after Sunbather. The ending of the song invokes the Beatles “She’s So Heavy” before heading into “Windows” an ambient and spoken word piece featuring a drug deal gone bad- unquestionably a node to The Tenderloin, one of the more drug-laden districts in San Francisco and likely location of the band’s rehearsal studios.

Into “The Pecan Tree”, a song that has an seemingly impossible task: To somehow stick the landing of an extremely powerful and emotional record. We are looking for something coming into this track, but we are not totally sure what it is. We need something, but we can only follow the lights. The song opens up with insane double-kick guitar madness, 2 step rhythm, and then at 1:20 we see a glimpse through the storm, a hole of blue, that we can make it to, if we keep on going. Keep on going. Keep on walking. Smashing, swirling guitars and screams return, our view obstructed. Everything seems to be going at maximum at the end of this first section of the song.

At just after 3 minutes, the sonic assault finally begins to slow down, a march tempo into double kick continuous cymbals, back to march tempo, then, at 4 minutes 19 seconds, only picked echo guitar heralds us into the second section. The star of this section is a piano ostinato combined with the echo guitar, with a second guitar playing playful melodies over it. This is the starry night we can now see that the storm has cleared- this is the most optimistic and life affirming music on the record. A found audio recording of a detuned radio signals the ending of this section.

Eventually, this music fades just before four metal beats brings us to the conclusion- an octave-fingering guitar line and screeching vocal that is in my view one of the most awesome emotional turnarounds that I have ever experienced musically. The remaining outro sums up the entire record- life is big, difficult, unknowable, chaotic. Great albums stick the landing- and this ending does so, with incredible energy, on a record that did not even need it. Sunbather. One of the greatest rock records of all time and one of the very few of those albums to come out now, just about half a century after the 60s.

Post Punk Revivalists: The king of indie rock genres in the 00s, post punk was largely set down at the end of the decade with the major acts of the decade releasing milquetoast or downright laughable fare (are we human, or are we dancer?). However, post punk exploded back onto the scene in 2012 with The Money Store by Death Grips. Some returning groups from the 00s did end up releasing fantastic records, Roma 79 and Daughters being my favorites.

Cardinal Star (2014) Roma 79

I discovered north San Francisco bay area band Roma 79 through their single from the 00s, “Gold”, a sort of heavy, post-punk rocker with a few-thousand views on Youtube. I was very surprised when they reunited and recorded this followup album, which was one of my favorite records of 2014. Featuring a good amount of synth and dreampoppy guitar lines, the main standouts are the vocals and the brilliant drumming, which is a hallmark of great post-punk records of the 00s such as Fever to Tell or Turn On the Bright Lights. The strongest single on the record, “Seventeen”, features a complex drum lines, interlaced with vocals and synths. The song slowly builds up in emotional intensity and drops in layers of vaguely Phil Collins-esque drums and backing vocals, blossoming into a powerful meditative love song. “I’ll wait for it with you.” The final song on the record, is almost an answer to this track, closing the record on a strong point.

You Won’t Get What You Want (2018) Daughters

Daughters is another post-punk band that returned to release a followup nearly 10 years later with 2018’s “You Won’t Get What You Want”. Like all great post punk records, there are a number of characters in this room, and they all can be heard, each having their moments in the spotlight and their moments in the shadows.

One such character is the drums. A crushing combination of live and multitracking effects create a rhythm that provides both the constant heartbeat required by driving rock and roll based music, but also the texture, the complexity, that we seek out in the genre. Lots of tom toms used to keep the beat as opposed to cymbals, practically no hat. Invoking Killing Joke, except when they don’t want to right away, but bring it in later.

Another character is the vocals. Spoken word/sing song type delivery, where the mood and the words and more important than the melody. Lyrics invoke isolation, depression, contraction, abandonment, decline. It would almost be enough with just that, these drums and vocals- but this will also be added by another character, the music. The music seems to be generated mostly by guitar and bass, but there are clearly some synthesizer elements as well, used sparingly and to great effect. I can’t really describe the guitar tone, I would say, it shimmers, but not in an enlightening way. It’s like flashes in the dark, disorienting more than illuminating. The sound is like wood coming off a circular saw. It’s definitely this guitar sound that draws people into this record. All elements are moody, dark, aggressive, but it’s the guitar that really lays down flashes over the blackness.

“Satan in the Wait”, one of the best single tracks on the record, features an off-balance drum beat, carried by toms, and an air-raid siren like guitar sound. A throbbing, distorted bassline in time with the kick drum. At 1:30 in we are given a guitar riff that is beautiful and invoking of a banjo, lending a sensation of urban, southern gothic emotions. Horror film soundtracks come to mind, a combination of unsettling ambience and clear, unforgettable melodies. “Their Bodies are open” the chorus goes, making me think of world-ending events, a transformational death as seen in Arthur C. Clarkes Childhood’s End.

Another of my favorite tracks, “Daughter”, begins with a “bela legosi is dead” kick and snare rim drum beat, possibly electronic, along with a shimmery, surf-rock toned guitar riff. As the song proceeds, more elements are dropped in, and the drums are of particular note here, at 1:23 or so, they drop into a complex beat involving toms, cymbals, and snare. At 2:05 they drop in a clear guitar riff on top of raw noise, building to a climax with the vocal “There’s a war!” At this point, the noise drops out, just a clear guitar riff reminiscent of “Satan in the Wait”, drums coming in at 3:15 or so are particularly impactful.

The final track, “Guest House”, opens on a nearly unbearable sonic assault, the lyrics invoking somebody trapped outside of a bomb shelter during an apocalypse. Once again the gap between unbearable noise and beautiful melody is bridged, as the final dissonant chords give way to deep, harmonic, peaceful orchestra swells.

Post Punk Album of the Decade:

The Money Store (2012) Death Grips

The first time somebody played “Get Got” for me, it was during a really chillwave phase in my music taste and I was completely lost, and didn’t really understand what people saw in Death Grips. I was intrigued enough though, and circled back on some tracks from Exmilitary, their prior record. The more laid back tone and empty space present in tracks such as “Culture Shock” kept me interested enough to give The Money Store another shot a year or so later.

As my interest in chillwave started to fade, and I sought more emotional substance to my music, I returned to the Money Store, and was hooked. Each track is a relentless blast of aggressive drum beats, synthesizer driven melodies, and of course the unmistakable rap vocals of MC Ride.

A strong comparison for me, is between this record, and Joy Division’s second and final record, “Closer”. Relentless beats, but never getting boring, always inventing new rhythms to cast a texture over the musical landscape. Short, fast songs, transitioning from one beat and tempo to the other, never giving you a chance to catch your breath.

The music is highly influenced by hip hop, appearing to be a chopped and cut style, with synthesizers combined with production on the vocals, adding vocals, filter sweeps, reverses, etc- so much energy and craft went into creating what is on its surface very simple music- drums, vocals, and production. Standout track “Hustle Bones” does a fantastic job of expressing what is so great about every song on this record. Everything barely makes sense, but then it all comes together in a singular moment that anybody can nod their head to.

MC Ride’s best is on display in the classic hit, “I’ve Seen Footage”. In his relentless, attacking rap style, he tells us the story of watching gore or wtf videos from reddit or 4chan (or Stile Project if you’re really old like me)- describing what he’s seen, and then underscoring that with the chorus, “I stay noided”- the character Ride creates is deeply anxious and paranoid, while at the same time being insatiable in the quest for knowing more, something I believe is nearly universal to the experience of the internet-informed human, a phenomenon that would later in the decade lead to diseases thought dead brought back by anti-vax movements, and the election of conspiracy theorist and popularizer Donald Trump as president of the united states.

And that’s the formula to each track on Money Store- working around something more or less literal, Ride’s poetry brings us into the dark state the world was only beginning to enter at the start of the decade.

Closing track “Hacker” opens with a recording of Ride, yelling, presumably at a concert “No ins and outs!!! You come out, your shit is GONE”, then into a 4-on the floor dance beat to end the record on an absolute banger. The music, carried by the beat and Ride’s systematic delivery, is left to its own devices, with glitchy, cut-off synth arpeggios, everything getting out of the way of the beat. “Having conversations with your car alarm”, “you speak with us in certain circles, you will be dethroned or detained”, and “Gaga can’t handle this shit” are some of the lyrical gems that Ride has saved for last here, closing out a post punk record that stands alongside Closer or Turn on the Bright Lights as one of the best of all time.

#music postpunk shoegaze retrowave vaporwave ambient darkambient dreampop nothingmusic whirr deafheaven astronoid deathgrips

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thesunlounge · 5 years ago

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Reviews 324: Proper Sunburn - Forgotten Sunscreen Applied by Basso

Given that February is almost over, I’m slowly starting to accept that there’s going to be many great albums from 2019 that I’ll never get a chance to write about. There’s one though that I can’t imagine leaving behind, and that is Proper Sunburn - Forgotten Sunscreen Applied by Basso, which comprises the third volume of Music for Dreams’ “The Serious Collector Series.” Whereas other volumes in the series such as Jan Schulte’s Tropical Drums of Deutschland or soFa’s Elsewhere Junior: A Collection of Cosmic Children’s Songs have explored conceptual curation and highly specific soundworlds, Basso’s Proper Sunburn seeks to do nothing more than present an excellent and well-sequenced collection of tracks and thus aligns closely with Moonboots’ balearic masterpiece Moments in Time. The selections here range from bargain bin beauties to highly obscure rarities, and every single note perfectly encapsulates that elusive yet somehow well understood “Growing Bin vibe.” Across four sides of perfectly pressed wax, Basso treats the listener to wonderful expanses of sunshine positivity, wherein ambient prog shufflers and new age fusion burners intermingle with forest folk psych meditations and joyous synthesizer starscapes. Elsewhere, sugar plum pop vocals surround soulful breakbeat bangers, Italo serenades are married to interstellar AOR, future jazz beatscapes lead Afro-savanna spirituals, and spectral harp runs rain down over acidic lounge zone outs. And though the vibe is primarily of ebullience and celebration, there are also moments of shadowy intensity and dark drama, as the compilation occasionally detours towards dirgey break-up anthems, psychoactive riff rockers, tribal-tinged NDW lullabies, and cruises down the autobahn with shades drawn to the night sky.

Proper Suburn - Forgotten Sunscreen Applied by Basso (Music for Dreams, 2019) The journey begins with Hans Hass and a question: “Welche farbe hat der wind”? Delay-soaked seagull cries introduce a shuffling drum and acoustic guitar groove, with broken beat snare and cymbal patterns giving everything a folksy funk touch. Spindly six string leads weave in and out of the mix and basslines thump through up/down octave motions while Hass’ closed mic’d vocals wrap sensual threads around the heart. During the chorus, harmonious sirens back the male croon and later, during a subdued guitar solo, masculine and feminine vocal accents accompany the psych folk adventures…the whole thing taking my mind to Pentangle…as if McShee and Jantsch are scatting together while Renbourn tears up the fretboard. Pianos add a touch of western saloon magic, ambient organs hover in the distance, and at some point, seagulls, waves, and jet engine drones threaten to wash the mix away. Later, when the vocal scats return, they are more mysterious…haunted even…as they track the dazzling piano and acoustic guitar fireworks. And as the track ends, it all devolves into musique concrete, with voices speaking amidst crazed sound fx and jangling riff panoramas. In the liner notes, Basso discusses being inspired to revisit Volume 5 of DJ Food’s Jazz Breaks series due to a Moonboots set in Croatia, and so we have “The Dawn” appearing here. Seashells, rainsticks, and seed shakers introduce a jazz-kissed tabla rhythm, with tambourines ringing and trap kit touches intercutting in the form of bopping fills and tribal tom flourishes. Afro-idiophonics rain down from a sunshine sky, with balafon gourds buzzing amidst harmonious bass currents that seem to rise up from the soil. Whispers move through blinding feedback swells, synthesizers bathe paradise savannas in golden light, and virtual trumpets intertwine with ancestral choirs emanating from sticks and stones…the whole thing coming together like some dubbed out future jazz approximation of Phil Collins’ globalist world pop.

RVDS’s “Minuet de Vampire” is the most recent cut here and sees rhythm boxes leading a heroin-soaked lounge sway, with hissing hats decaying, square wave synth pulses bopping like a contrabass, and wavering chords hovering like morning fog. Decaying note trails seems to stretch towards infinity, subtle filter manipulations transform into ghostly howls, and guitar volume swells generate billowing hazes that are both angelic and sickly at once. There’s a touch of fever dream delirium as resonating vapors overlap and just as you’ve resigned yourself to the almost oppressive atmospherics of midnight exotica, flashes of light enter via spellbinding harp runs…these immersively gorgeous string melodies that intermingle with the downer atmospheres of firedance future jazz in a way recalling Alice, though as if backed by band of cyborgs. Brass-generated dub chords flutter into the stereo field and the plucked strings continue to shimmer like starlight…increasingly sounding not like a harp, but some crystalline structure that produces melodic waterfalls of every possible color. Then in “Light of Darkness” by Horizont, acoustic guitar rhythms shimmer like underwater gemstones…with dueling six strings generating golden fireworks and refracting lightwaves. Hand drums pop all around the spectrum and shakers keep the body afloat on a soft ambient pulse, with everything doused in reverb and rimshots pinging like sonar blips. There’s a growing sense of anticipation that is eventually rewarded by the presence of smooth basslines, which execute enigmatic conversation with the drum and six string panoramics while sometimes sliding up high and disappearing amongst layers of arpeggiated magic. Almost nothing is allowed to break free from the polyrhythmic folk ritual, so that as the song progresses, it starts to evoke Methany and Hiett, only as if surrendering in total to ceremonial new age minimalism…like a spiritual dance through seascape universes and realms of balearic fantasy.

Xiame’s “Nosso Destino,” from the group’s 1990 LP Xiame, begins with slap bass soloing and guitar chords flowing through reverberating gas clouds. Rainforest percussions underly a narcotizing duet between voice and guitar, wherein sensual pop serenades are back by ringing dreampop chord jangles, and all through the background, Michael Shrieve-style fusions fills splatter and clatter amidst liquid tabla accents. The fragile Italo vocalisms and soft focus touches of mediterranean balladry sweep the heart away towards some seaside paradise...the whole thing scoring a romantic beachside dance bathed in moonlight. There’s a moment where the mix gives over to indulgent fusion fantasy as basslines alight on crazed prog adventures while elsewhere, we push ever further towards a world of transcendent romanticism, with guitar riffs growing urgent and cooing vocalisms suffusing the stereo field…these radiant babbles and child-like croons that eventually climax in a beatific angel chorus. And during an epic passage of closed eye dreampop perfection, a brief yet jaw-dropping laser light guitar solo sets the very air aflame. As Basso tells it, Miko’s “Im Garten” made its way into the balearic consciousness when he live edited two 7”s together at the Garden in Zadar, Croatia. The track sees drum fills communicating with rhythmic birdsong before giving over to a smashing tribal stomp, with bending funk synths and fourth world electro-flutes creating visages of otherworldly jungle environments. Miko enters the scene like some priestess of the night, her operatic vocal mysteries moving in lock step with the militant percussive exotica. Further layers of future funk synthesis arc across the sky and overdubbed voices join in with the sunbeam spells and tribal jazz diva breaths. Industrial winds blow across the mix, hissing voices are obscured by bell tree sparkles, and at some point, the track gives over to rhythmic rainforest psychedelia, with idiophones splashing alongside a mystical drum processional.

Massimo Stella’s “C’e Una Donna Sola” sees touches of mediterranean fusion intermingling with romantic disco and galactic AOR. Sometimes planetarium synthscapes, orgasmic diva moans, and polyrhythmic guitar and piano patterns dance over prog basslines and bongo-led lizard funk drum jams as keyboard star-trails ascend towards the sky. Elsewhere, pleading vocals pull at the heart, heatwave pads wiggle and squiggle, and Rhodes chords skip on sunbeams while octave basslines anchor energetic disco rhythmics. And after some evil vocal chanting and enigmatic angel cooing, we flash into a section of anthemic phaser brass riffing and kaleidoscopic piano soloing before working towards a climax of prog fusion pyrotechnics. Trimolo follows with “Tempe 100” and its congas executing a fantasy jazz bop amidst sparkling guitar harmonics. Pads blow like a cool sea breeze, vocalized bass pulses float the soul, and a flute alights on flights of forest folk fancy while occasionally being joined by pan-pipe virtualisms. During a dramatic instrumental chorus, piano chords bang and sprightly woodwinds flutter above hand drums before the track gives over to a strange midsection wherein digitized clavinet basslines wobble through alien funk motions while western twang acoustics snap overhead. And moving back towards the balearic sway, synthesizers suffuse the mix with sunset colorations as flute leads and Bibiloni-style guitar solos score a beachside forest paradise. Diedel’s “Wo Seid Ihr” is built on rigid machine drums, ethereal pad hazes, and throbbing bass pulsations…the vibe like cruising down a mysterious highway under the dark of night. Claps crack and hi-hats tick anxiously behind Diedel’s sensual singing…his voice whispered and hitting like hot breath on the back of the neck. During the chorus, the track title is repeated in desperation and as darkwave arpeggiations filter over swelling pad cloudforms, we find ourselves in a world of horror-tinged synth-pop that brilliantly presages many aspects of the Italians Do It Better aesthetic. Best of all, the track climaxes with not one but two guitar solos: a Flamenco-kissed acoustic adventure and a molten fuzz guitar eruption.

Mikey D.’s “I Need You (Dub)” sees fat bottomed breaks boom bap’n beneath tropical synth accents, syrupy sampler vocals, orgasmic breaths, electro-tom fills, and bouncing synth basslines. Ethereal hazes and glowing symphonies surround bubblegum vocalisms…these magical boy band fairy hooks that combine with the equatorial dance grooves in a way reminding me of The Knife’s Deep Cuts. At some point, the mix devolves into pure b-boy breakdance mesmerism, with rhythms slapping beneath a panorama of trance electronics and that familiar sample of “you make me feel so good” from Mikey Dread’s “Comic Strip.” Elsewhere, a moment of silence sees ambient percussions, soulful claps, and synthesized orchestrations rushing in alongside a heavenly choral cascades, with repetitions of “Baby! / I Love You! / I Want You! / I Need Your Love!” resulting a pitch perfect moment of electronic gospel pop. And as the song ends, we found ourselves in a surgery sweet paradise of a capella wonderment. As Basso discusses in the liner notes, Wolfsmond’s “Fühl Dich Frei” was an all too short floor filler, one that was begging for an extended dancefloor edit. And so we have “Basso’s Maxi Edit,” which sees evil bass descents leading to a shaker-led rock groove…a pot smoke boogie pulse with tapped hats riding behind squiggling blues guitars while e-pianos sparkle like crystal. Gothic bells ring out as a smokey voice enters the scene, working through stoner lullabies while backing vocals hover mysteriously. The choruses have an almost country western feel, with the track title sung hopefully amidst saloon piano accents and soulful diva whispers, and during an instrumental bridge, woodblocks tick strangely as psychosonic blues solos ride into the night. There’s a moment where it all breaks down into repetitive hand drumming and looping feedback, and as we build back up through scatting guitar riffs and funked out basslines, the track eventually erupts into a jaw dropping 60s psych organ solo.

Apparently, Ghia’s “You Won’t Sleep on My Pillow” was at one point intended to be the closing track, and would have ended this compilation quite dramatically with some shadowy synth pop narcotica touching on Violet Eves and Portishead. Basslines echo and downer drum machine rhythms crack into the void while sci-fi electronics transmute into a heatwave mirage. Lisa Ohm croons over it all with defiant break-up poetry and declarations of independence and as we move into the chorus, the anthemic vocals are backgrounded by golden guitar arpeggios and howling fuzz leads, which create a mesmerizing contrast wherein epic fantasy melodics pull the mind towards cloudland castles even as the lyrics grow ever more angered and intense. There’s a breathtaking moment where the mix explodes open, seeing layer after layer of romantic angel harmonizations pushing the heart towards a climactic synth-pop dreamworld. And later, the group leaves behind the pop paraisos by giving over to tripped out bass fx, boom bap drum expanses, soloing fuzz guitars, and skittering electro accents. A find inspired by a CDr acquired from Tako Reyenga of Music from Memory, Jean Phillipe Rykiel’s “Fair Light” ends the journey on a note of radiant ebullience. Spectral click rhythms underly pads that hit like seafoam, resulting in a polysynth panorama of ambient fusion mastery. Aquamarine hazes are chained to bubbling bass currents, yearning leads modulate through layers of ocean mist, and majestic chordscapes hover like clouds while whale song tracers set the air ablaze. Sometimes we venture off into noodly prog wankery, though it’s always seen through a soft-focus new age blur, and at some point, jangling fuzz guitars enter the scene and give the mix an enhanced fantasy sparkle. The pads lock together to score some impossible sunrise while the leads push ever further towards psychedelic abstraction and nearing the end, kosmische arps billow in from underwater depths and intermingle with the light of refracting starbeams.

(images from my personal copy)

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millie-imber-vibes45 · 5 years ago

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Week 1: Tues 14th - Fri 17th Jan

On Tuesday, our first course of action was to finalise our setlist, consisting of 6 songs. We have also decided on the order of these songs, deciding to kick off the set in an upbeat way, slowly making out way to a more relaxed pace, before finishing up on a highly recognisable and dance-able song. These songs are as follows:

Feel Good Inc. - Gorillaz

crushcrushcrush - Paramore (Replacing Girls/Girls/Girls - Panic! At The Disco)

Sidetrack - Catfish and the Bottlemen

Take It Easy - Eagles

Hey There Delilah - Plain White T’s

American Boy - Estelle ft. Kanye West

With our setlist determined, we then set out some deadlines to keep us on track in terms of rehearsals. This is in addition to the other deadlines that I listed in my previous post. All of the deadlines are now as follows:

Feel Good Inc. - Friday 10th Jan - Friday 17th Jan

CrushCrushCrush - Saturday 18th Jan - Friday 24th Jan

Hey There Delilah - Saturday 25th Jan - Tuesday 28th Jan

American Boy - Wednesday 29th Jan - Friday 31st Jan

Sidetrack - Saturday 1st February - Friday 7th February

Take It Easy - Saturday 8th February - Friday 14th February

TWO SONGS READY TO PERFORM - MONDAY 24TH FEBRUARY

HALF TERM [15th - 23rd February]

FINAL DATE: Sunday 23rd February

These dates are key to stick to, due to only having 5 weeks to perform the gig and complete the task. Providing that we’re able to stick to the schedule, we should be more than prepared for the gig! We’ve made sure to allow at least one week for each song, with the exception of Hey There Delilah simply because it’s a fairly easy song to learn, however we have already discussed changing it to make it our own, which I will mention later...

Feel Good Inc.

With everything set up, we began work on Feel Good Inc.! One of the first things we have chosen to do was to change they key of the song from E Flat to A. This makes it a much more comfortable range for our vocalist to sing, which is the most important thing when it comes to they key we choose. Additionally, we have chosen to shorten the introduction and also the ending. This is because a lot of the song is very repetitive and makes it quite a long track, and by the time we finish, our audience would most likely have gotten bored of it, which happens to be exactly the opposite of what we want. Keeping to the original tempo is our most likely course of action too, as it’s a very upbeat track and a good way to kick off our set.

By Thursday, we were able to complete a full run-through of the song, complete with the transitions from the verse to chorus, vice versa, and the endings. We did encounter a few issues during our rehearsals sessions, both in terms of playing and in terms of the equipment and the technical side of our performance. For me, I initially struggled with the drum beat, as I kept attempting to play with more bass beats than the song requires. For example, a single bar only requires 2 bass drum beats, however, since I was trying to follow the bass guitar riff, I kept putting in way too many. This was fixed by me listening to the track and playing only the snare and bass, then gradually adding in the high-hats again. Eventually, I was able to figure it out, which is crucial because it’s a key component to the song. It also helps me personally with my co-ordination between my hands and leg, because this is something that I can often struggle with. This was also key for the rest of the band, because it meant I could now play the rhythm, and everyone could follow along on their instruments without the use of the original track, in the original key. There, we could identify where we needed to improve and what sounded good.

Our main issues were working out how long the intro had to go on for, which was originally far too long, so we cut it in half. Then, it was working out the small bass riff before the chorus, and then working out the transition from chorus to verse. The Verse-Chorus transition was easy to work out, because it only lasted a bar and was a simple run-down of the notes, while I continued to play my bar, simply removing the high-hats. However, the Chorus-Verse transition was a lot harder because it’s two bars or instrumental following the end of the lyrics, but this was originally hard to pin-point, meaning that we didn’t all know when to come in and we were all guessing. So, we re-listened to the track and worked out that the vocals finished halfway through it’s bar, and then there was two more bars of instrumental after that. In total, it was 2 1/2 bars of instrumental before we went into the verse. From this point, it simply repeats, though the next Verse-Chorus transition is longer, has no bass riff to lead into it, and relies on an acoustic guitar instrumental of two rounds of the chords (8 bars) before the vocals come in. Then, the same Chorus-Verse transition, we do the final verse as the rap, and then end on the final 8 bats of the verse (Same vocals twice, then end).

The only other issue we encountered was our volume/amp/mix levels. We recorded a small snippet of our rehearsals of Feel Good Inc., and when we watched it back, we realised that the lead guitar was way too loud, and the bass and vocals way too quiet. As it would be greatly beneficial for us to be able to hear our individual parts playing all together, we will be making sure that next time, we take this into consideration when setting up our equipment.

In rehearsals, I think we were very productive, as we were able to get all of the song down before our scheduled date (Thursday instead of Friday), which means we’re very much on track so far. The part that took the most time was transposing and then working out the structure, but apart from that, everyone took the time to learn their songs quickly at home, making our rehearsal time in college more productive as we could then get more work done. Making sure that we’re all productive, on task, and even better - ahead of schedule - is part of my role as being the band’s manager, and currently I feel I am carrying out that role effectively, as shown by our current success of our progress with Feel Good Inc.

However, where I lack is in my attendance. Due to an illness, I was unable to attend on Friday, when we planned to have a meeting and begin work on our next song, crushcrushcrush. This was at very short notice, but I ensured to inform everyone the moment I knew I wouldn’t be able to make it, and advised everyone to give the next song a listen to see what start they could make. We rescheduled the meeting for our next lesson. This puts us pretty much back on our original timescale, as we could’ve been a day ahead had I been able to come in, so a personal goal for myself is to make sure I’m able to attend every scheduled rehearsal. This will greatly increase our ability to put on a successful show!

Finally, as manager, I’m responsible for making sure everyone is doing their jobs, from Musical Director to Promotional Material. Currently, everyone is on task with this - Gemma has been in charge of creating and organising the setlist, which has been done. Daizy has been actively using the band’s social media and has also taken charge of contacting venues. We currently do not have a scheduled date or venue yet, however this is being worked on closely. Manis has been taking photos and videos of our rehearsals, ready for us to put on social media for promotional usage, and Sam is working on a list of everything we will need for the gig.

Overall, I think we’re making very good progress, as we’re productive, we’re playing at a good standard and are on track for the final gig. As manager, I’m going to ensure that this continues so that we’re able to put on an enjoyable show for everyone!

More updates on our progress next week!

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rockrageradio · 6 years ago

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On this day in Rock music history (Jan. 17th 1994).......Guns N' Roses released the single titled "Estranged". It is from the album Use Your Illusion II. The song reached #16 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. At over 9 minutes long, "Estranged", also known for its music video, is the longest song on Use Your Illusion II and Guns N' Roses' second longest song overall (after "Coma" from Use Your Illusion I). It has many verses, no set chorus, and several distinguished guitar and piano solos. Use Your Illusion II's liner notes thank lead guitarist Slash for "the killer guitar melodies", which captured Axl Rose's vision. Slash has specifically stated that recording the guitar parts for this song was very intensive for him; he recorded it using a Les Paul Gold Top, using the rhythm pickup with the tone turned all the way down. According to Slash, the song was written while the band was rehearsing for an extended period of time in Chicago. Axl revealed that he wrote the song during a more "bummed out" time in his life when his marriage with Erin Everly was annulled.

#guns n roses #estranged #rock #rocknroll #hard rock #rock music #modern rock #rock music matters #classic rock #hair metal #metal #use your illusion #rock ain't dead #rock rage radio #soundcheck with gentry #listen loud #turn it up #music history

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violetsforkino · 7 years ago

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‘riveriver’ vol. 17 ☾ march '18 ( translated by yutopia )

pentagon violet moment

delicately beautiful heart-broken love song to color the street into violet

the great ambition of self-produced idol

pentagon debuted with 'gorilla’ in japan in march last year recorded a good sales result with their 2nd japan original mini album 'violet’. started with 'violet’, a hit song handled by member kino for the first time, it also included 4 original japanese songs, and shone with the weekly no. 1 ranking in all tower record branches.

the perfect 10 members cherish team work and take care of staff. they will check out videos of overseas artists when they have time, and face music seriously every day. they understand themselves better than everyone else, and the strong ability of members to produce in their own directions is the biggest advantage of pentagon.

which song is your favorite one in the album 'violet’? kino: 'love’, since i feel like it is a song we sing for fans. yuto: me too. it’s a song that’s easy to remember. yanan: should be the title track 'violet’ (japanese version). it’s a song full of kino’s love. jinho: yeah, i think so! it’s also a song written by our adorable brother. wooseok: the melody is good enough to get you goosebumps. shinwon: it’s in a very painful and sad vibe. hui: i’ll choose 'up up up!’. it’s very delightful and i’ll feel better as i sing. e'dawn: me too! i like the song itself, not to mention the performance making it even more enjoyable! hongseok: i’ll choose 'wake up’. i like japanese anime very much. i think it will be very catchy as a theme song of anime.

please appeal to us any point in the title track 'violet’ to listen kino: same as the korean version, that yuto saying 'yuto-da’ before his rap. it sounds very sweet and i’m satisfied. i’ve never thought that this phrase will be so suitable in such a delicate song (laugh). yeoone: it should be the harmony between the sad lyrics and the beautiful melody anyway. i usually like this kind of song. e'dawn: my own part (laugh), because i rap wholeheartedly. yanan: i think so, probably. you can’t be unconfident to your own part. wooseok: no matter how many times kino sings, 'yeah violet yeah,’ at last, i still like this.

korean version is co-produced by kino, e'dawn, yuto, and wooseok jinho: the lyrics are very nice itself, especially kino who is used to reading a lot of books and i think he is emotional. we’ll be happy if you listen to the song while paying attention to the lyrics. kino: i always want to compose a song in the theme of my favorite color purple. but it’s a bit different to express love or emotion with purple… anyway, i wrote the lyrics with the thought of having more people feel empathy. hongseok: it expresses a painful feeling gently. i like this kind of view of the world. shinwon: 'your words are as pretty as a flower’ (korean lyrics). the lyric is a point as well. it sounds very dramatic.

how’s the choreography? hui: in the 2nd chorus, there’s a dance presenting the image of flower. please check out that part!

kino also took part in composition. after it’s finished, who’s the first one to listen? kino: shinwon hyung. he told me that 'it’s a very nice song,’ and i was very happy.

'violet is a kind of flower’ what is your favorite flower kino: digitalis (foxgloves). as i mentioned before, i like purple the best. therefore i think purple digitalis are very good. hui: mine is usnea. i think the color is very pretty. hongseok: mine is hibiscus syriacus (korean rose). it’s the national flower of korea hongseok: yes. flowers in pink are very beautiful. anyone who choose in the reasons other than color? yeoone: rose! since it’s the most passionate flower. e'dawn: camomile. it’s very cute. yuto: i like dandelion. wooseok: my favorite one is saffron. yanan: i prefer trees over flowers. jinho: i’m… not interested in flowers (laugh).

'beautiful’ one of track list is composed, written, and arranged by mr. jung ilhoon from btob in the same company. yanan: he is a senior who always supports us. i learned a lot in the opportunity to spend time with him. wooseok: it’s happy to have a further relationship with ilhoon hyung. hongseok: he also told us that 'let’s compose together if there’s a chance. jinho: he gave us direction nicely during the recording. what advice did he provide at the site? yeoone: he said 'if you sing confidently, it can be conveyed to the fans for sure.’ kino: during the recording, although there’s many difficulties, he praised us, 'you did well,’ and we became more eager to do better. e'dawn: when we are praised, we felt more natural and got more power. hongseok: he praised me, 'your voice is very good.’ hui: these praise gave us a lot of confidence, and he gave us many advices as well. yuto: such as, 'try your best to be aware of the strong and weak of the song. wooseok: 'try to imagine the image of each word one by one,’ he said. shinwon: he gave us detailed direction of the atmosphere of the song, and we could complete the recording safely.

each of you participated in the production including lyrics and melodies. when and how do you usually compose and write? kino: once there’s a melody or lyrics appearing in my mind, i will arrange the compositoin immediately. jinho: when a melody or idea appears, instead of working alone, i will discuss with others when i am writing. hui: i compose songs according to the mood of the day. wooseok: i also brainstorm lyrics in the mood of the day. e'dawn: i’m not the type of 'in the mood of the day.’ i always keep processing composition every day. yuto: when i am producing music, i always have myself bear in mind to explore my imagination broadly. hongseok: i’m not quite used to doing it myself, so i foten do it with kino. i will discuss concept and theme with kino in the process.

which artists or producers are you influenced by?hui: i’m influenced by mr. yoon jongshin greatly. kino: mura masa, a producer from the u.km and a singer-songwriter troy sivan. i feel like i share similar emotion with the two and i am also influenced at the production aspect. e'dawn: i want to produce music that gives others power like michael jackson does. wooseok: for me, it’s american hip-hop artist joey badass! shinwon: i’m much influenced by one direction member harry styles. i’m thinking about trying to compose with guitar like he does. yeoone: i’m not influenced by particular artist. i just listen to new age music a lot.

not only pentagon’s songs, hui also handled wanna one’s 'energetic’ and 'never’, showered in the spotlight in the name of 'composition idol’ in a leap. hui: i am sincerely grateful to the attention towards my music, i feel honored. i will work hard to present music in different genres hereafter.

2017 is a very compacted year. look back then, how do you feel> kino: since we did a lot of things, i think we really worked hard as pentagon. jinho: i feel like all the things i wanted to do were achieved, so it’s a proud year. shinwon: it’s a very good standing point towards 2018. wooseok: but i think we are still at the starting line. e'dawn: i think it’s a year that we have ot be thankful to those who support us.

if you praise yourself at this moment? yanan: we shouldn’t praise ourselves, because we’re still not good enough.

then, if you give yourself a yell, what would you say other than 'what a hard year! fighting for this year too!’? hui: i want to say 'don’t forget your initial resolution this year!’ e'dawn: 'don’t forget your thankful heart’

other than yourself, if you have to choose a member to give out some messages, to whom and what will you tell him? yuto: i want to tell yeoone hyung that 'what a hard work for drama shooting!e'dawn: i will tell yanan that, 'thank you for being the mascot of pentagon’ wooseok: i will say to yanan hyung as well, 'let’s work hard hereafter!’ kino: i will say to hui hyung. although 2017 is tremendously hard year, he put so much effort in for pentagon. 'don’t feel stressful from now, huiting!’ jinho: i want to say something to hui, too. 'for being a leader, and writing songs for us, i am always grateful!’ shinwon: i want to tell hui and e'dawn hyung who participated in triple h that, 'here you have run without any rest in 2017, it’s been really hard!’ hui: i want to tell all the members that, 'you’ve worked hard this whole year. from now on, let’s do our best as happily as we do at this moment!’ yeoone: i also want to say, 'what a hard year,’ to all of us. hongsoek: we have overcme a lot of difficulties in this year. yanan: i want to praise us, but we may have feel self-satisfied, so i chose not to praise! (laugh).

what’s your personal target this year? kino: i want to give out better songs. hui: i want to compose many songs. jinho: i want to compose good songs! yeoone: i still want the group to shine on the 1st place of music program. hongseok: i want to try on dramas, movies, and musicals, etc! yuto: to train up my ability in rap, lyrics, and composition. shinwon: i want to have myself grown more. e'dawn: i want to show a better me! wooseok: i want to work out harder and build up my body. yanan: i want to work hard in order to be able to have promotions in china.

finally we’ll have leader to tell us pentagon’s ambition this year hui: we hope to have more meeting with universe who loves pentagon, and to deliver our music to more people. to get more love, we will do our best hereafter!

after going through mnet 'pentagon maker’, they debuted in 2016. they are a 10-member group with multi-nationalities included korean, japanese, and chinese. they debuted in japan in march 2017. the members share a strong bond with each other, and their biggest charm is that all of them are able to compose and write. the japan 2nd original mini album 'violet’ released on 17 jan became a good start of 2018.

#pentagon #ot10 #interview #translation #riveriver

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me-sploh-rada-imas · 8 months ago

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joker out in oslo 17/03 gig report time! this is long so under a read more. have some footage from my terrible phone and not very good angle :)

while waiting in the queue we were right next to the door and they all came past us to get in. vita, damon, and a woman i assume is sadie sink (with a big suitcase) got locked out and waited for ages and were joined by nace, bojan, and jure. jan came on his own a few minutes later and was also locked out.

regnvær and hearts were really good! at one point, the lead singer of regnvær started playing a song in the wrong key on his guitar and took three tries to get it right. the lead singer of hearts kept saying "yoker out" in a strong swedish accent. they both knocked over mic stands as well it was very chaotic

the security guard was VIBING to the dj between acts it was so funny! he sang along to barbie girl what an icon

now the actual show:

my first thoughts as they came on stage: holy fuck jan is beautiful. NACE GLASSES! bojan's outfit?!?!?!

the stage was too small for the cool props and i couldn't see jure most of the time sadly

bojan did a whole speech about how he'd learnt how to say hello/good day in norwegian (god dag) and joked about it sounding like good dog, and he patted nace while saying it

at one point, nace was at the front of stage and jan came up behind him and pretended to try to push him off and they had a little mock fight while playing it was adorable!! yeah they janced a lot... every time they looked at each other they couldn't stop grinning or making faces at each other

lots of really good krisjan and krisnace moments tonight as well! kris sidled up to nace in ona and jan got in the way again but this time to play with kris. other than this i didn't really see much of kris though

someone get bojan some glasses because every time he tried to read a sign in the crowd he squinted so hard

before vkv someone had a sign that said they'd ask out their crush if they played padam and bojan said he would as kiki gave him his guitar. then they were like 'oh i've asked them out now' and bojan joked about not needing to play padam anymore. and he played the chorus but doesn't actually know it so got some of the chords wrong and it was awesome and very funny! then he dedicated vkv to them and said 'i hope your date goes better than that'.

in behind those eyes, jan and nace did a super slow version of their mating dance circling each other. i had wanted bluza but you can tell they really love playing behind those eyes so i still really enjoyed it

bojan dedicated omamljeno telo to a friend from primary school who'd flown from slovenia and had been a fan before joker out actually formed!

nace's glasses flew off in the middle of omamljeno telo right before jan's solo and bojan put them back on for him agdjafhkl

bojan couldn't keep his hands off nace in plastika as usual

bojan did the kakaka in carpe diem like he used to! but jure didn't come out at the end of it and they didn't do the hearts! it was very sad

it was someone's birthday and bojan sang a cute improvised happy birthday to them during umazane misli

literally the whole first half of umazane misli was jan and nace messing around - jan put a tiny fake hand on one of his guitar's tuning pegs and nace high fived it twice. he was turning in to nace to show him the hand and nace turned his bass upright and started playing it like that?

nace and jan just. lay down. in the um karaoke??? and started playing from the floor? NACE FLOWER CROWN! when he sat up and i could see him again i nearly had a heart attack istg.

the tiny fake hands made another appearance while bojan was introducing novi val and jure, nace, and jan all took turns stroking each other's faces with them it was so funny! nace stroked kris with one at one point. jan and nace did a high five with them too!

no pijano tonight sadly. but holy shit jan looks ethereal playing guitar i totally get why nace looks at him all the time lmao

anyway it was awesome and i had an amazing time!!

#joker out #nace jordan #jan peteh #bojan cvjetićanin #kris guštin #jure maček #personal #šta bih ja

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jazzviewswithcjshearn · 4 years ago

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Benjamin Koppel: Art of the Quartet (Unit Records, 2020)

Benjamin Koppel: alto saxophone; Kenny Werner: piano; Scott Colley: bass; Jack DeJohnette: drums.

Danish saxophonist Benjamin Koppel possesses a wealth of talent and a huge skill set. He can play anything from soul, funk and R&B as evidenced The Ultimate Soul And Jazz Review (released as a sister companion album to the present collection) avant garde, and composed pieces. Art Of The Quartet his latest release on his own Unit Records is a stunning double disc exploring both free and more structured (but no less adventurous) playing with an equally stunning collective: Kenny Werner on piano, Scott Colley on bass, and Jack DeJohnette on drums. The group is truly a selfless collective for a variety of originals by Koppel, Werner, DeJohnette, Colley, a standard, and two sprawling free improvisations.

The rapport of the group can be traced back to several associations the saxophonist procured over the years, for example Koppel had played in a group with Kenny Werner, Scott Colley and Antonio Sanchez, and DeJohnette, always up for creative, exploratory music rounds out the project. There’s a particularly supple connection between the quartet that makes their interaction a joy to hear. Werner and DeJohnette had previously appeared with David Liebman on Fire (Jazzline, 2018), and the pianist’s own leader date A Delicate Balance ( BMG France/RCA Victor, 1997). There is a marvelous moment on the first disc’s pace setting “Free I” where the pianist’s abrupt, prodding, jabbing chords are perfectly complemented by DeJohnette’s stuttering, quaking accompaniment, redolent of a fish fighting to breathe out of water. Koppel enters with a searing late Coltrane ish tone and engages in thrilling four way dialogue, gradually evolving into scattered shapes where Koppel is emulating funk guitar figures and furthering the rhythmic role as he initiates an ostinato as a cue for DeJohnette to explode all over his kit. “Bells of Belief” is a composition by the saxophonist based on a piece of Gyorgy Ligeti’s that so inspired DeJohnette that a break in the session was called so that he could drive home and pick up a set of bells that would work for the tune.

DeJohnette makes creative use of the bells, their timbre similar to Tibetan singing chanting bowls and his own resonating bells that Sabian released over a decade ago. He opens the piece with shimmery, golden melodic tones that blossom into full throated chords. Koppel offers shades of Jan Garbarek with a deep cry, and as his solo builds over a rubato foundation, the conversation between he and DeJohnette recalls John Coltrane and Rashied Ali on Interstellar Space (Impulse! rec. 1967/rel. 1973). DeJohnette reprises “Ahmad The Terrible” from the classic Album Album (ECM, 1984) whereas the original dovetailed into a nice swing section, this fiery rendition takes on a see saw character.

After the first disc closes with the dramatic arc of “Free II” where the saxophonist tonewise hints at David Sanborn and Michael Brecker, disc 2 takes on a more structured song tact with Werner’s beautiful “Iago”. Koppel’s impassioned testimony is punctuated by DeJohnette’s interjection of reactionary ideas, and the drummer’s trademark half swung straight eighth note feel is broken up by massive fills during Werner’s intense statement. Colley rounds it out with a concise melodic statement carrying on the huge toned tradition of both Wilbur Ware and Charlie Haden. “Ballad for Trane” is a perfect example of how musicians can use the inspiration of the mood set by the classic John Coltrane Quartet without mere imitation, and the group smokes through a spirited “If I Should Lose You” replete with a bouncy Colley solo, and DeJohnette barreling through taking turns improvising with Colley. DeJohnette’s “One on One” originally appeared on Special Edition’s Earth Walk (Blue Note, 1991) and employs a similar compositional device that the drummer and pianist used on his classic “One For Eric” with a portion of the melody in half time before ramping up to explosive swing. Koppel soars over free time, Werner turns in some of his spikiest playing of the set and benefits from DeJohnette’s swing. To close the album, Werner’s “Sada” based on a chant from his ashram is a wonderfully reflective piece. Colley’s bowed E flat pedal point turning into a simple vamp and DeJohnette’s floating pulse bring the tune closer in feel to some of Keith Jarrett’s more ritualistic, groove driven pieces found on many solo concerts and the Standard Trio’s Changeless (ECM, 1987). In a way given Jarrett’s recent news of no longer being able to play due to two strokes suffered in 2018, though this Koppel quartet was recorded in March of 2015, it ends up being an unintended fitting tribute with the undeniable Jarrett tinge. Koppel’s playing here is glistening and transcendent.

Sound:

Recorded in March of 2015, Art Of The Quartet was recorded at Clubhouse Studios in Rhinebeck, NY a studio recommended to Koppel by DeJohnette. The recording, by Julie Last and Bella Blasko is an incredibly detailed, present recording. It is clear from listening that this was recorded live in the studio with a lot of close miking and subtle hints of reverb added, especially on Koppel’s alto for atmosphere. The sound of DeJohnette’s bells on a quality speaker like the Focal Chorus 716 must be heard to be believed. In particular when listening to the CD, there is a palpable sense of glow created by the harmonics of each bell,being rendered in rich detail. Colley’s bass is natural, gargantuan and full of woodiness, and Koppel’s alto, combined with the Schiit Modius DAC has scale, and an urgency.

Concluding Thoughts:

With Art Of The Quartet Benjamin Koppel makes a real statement. Though he has recorded a host of records with the biggest names in jazz, the fluency of this group with Werner, Colley and DeJohnette is as if this has been a working unit for years. While the music isn’t groundbreaking in terms of the next new thing, what it is, is chancetaking, inspired and taking full advantage of the moment. Koppel has one of the most distinct alto voices among a generation of contemporary players of a younger generation such as the rising Immanuel Wilkins, and perhaps the imminent most influential alto player of his generation, Miguel Zenon. Art Of The Quartet is simply, one of the best albums of the year.

Music: 10/10

Sound: 9.5/10

Equipment used:

HP Pavilion laptop

Yamaha RS 202 stereo receiver

Focal Chorus 716 floor standing speakers

Schiit Modius DAC

Sony Playstation 3 (for CD playback)

youtube

#benjamin koppel #kenny werner #scott colley #jack dejohnette #ECM Records

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bakagamieru · 7 years ago

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At the end of 2015, One Direction fans around the world were feeling sad and uncertain. It was the beginning of One Direction’s hiatus, and while the guys claimed it would only be an 18-month break, Directioners had a sinking feeling that there wasn’t actually a plan for the guys to come back together in the foreseeable future.

Shortly after that, Zayn Malik (who left the group on March 25, 2015) delivered the first of many One Direction solo projects with the sultry and (scandalous) “Pillowtalk” on Jan. 26, 2016. Although he was already not part of the group, it was the first time fans heard a 1Der do his own thing — and it was just the beginning.

A year and a half later, all five One Direction guys (Malik, Niall Horan, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and Liam Payne) have released solo material, with Horan becoming the third to release a full-length album, Flicker, this Friday (Oct. 20) -- also the same day that Payne released his second official single, “Bedroom Floor.”

When they were a unit, the quintet was able to go in, well, one direction musically. But since they've been given the individual freedom to try whatever genre they wanted, it's been evident that they actually all had very different aspirations for the kind of music they wanted to make — or at least where their voices best fit, whether it's R&B or classic rock.

The first indication of where the guys wanted to take their careers genre-wise occurred before 1D was even a thing, when they each auditioned for The X Factor UK in 2010. As Billboard previously pointed out, their audition songs were comparable to the music they're making on their own -- and without the voices or even just opinions of four other members, each guy has really been able to hone in on their specific sounds and skills.

Inherently, all five still carry a pop influence in their music, but have each found a unique lane. Here’s how all five members have ultimately found their own direction.

Zayn Malik — R&B

Although Malik’s early departure from the group hinted that his music would also be a departure from the pop-rock hits One Direction became known for, the booming bass and NSFW lyrics (like "In the bed all day, bed all day, bed all day/ Fucking and fighting" of his debut single "Pillowtalk" made it very clear that his PG-related days were over. And while Malik’s voice worked flawlessly for the belt-out moments of a 1D classic, doing things his own way resulted on his debut album Mind of Mine in an edge we hadn’t ever seen from him before, especially on the scornful “BeFoUr” and the haunting “iT’s YoU."

Since Mind of Mine, Malik has collaborated with Taylor Swift, PartyNextDoor and Sia, each of whom has allowed him to flex his falsetto, as well as try out different sounds, like the tropical vibe on the PND team-up “Still Got Time.” His most recent release “Dusk Til Dawn” (with Sia) has a building melody and booming chorus that makes for perhaps Malik’s most dynamic release yet, also further showing that pop-influenced R&B is where his voice was meant to be from the start.

Niall Horan — Singer/songwriter

Horan was the most soft-spoken member of One Direction, with his solos providing a sweet, soothing balance to Malik and Styles’ power moments. He honed in on the pleasantness of his voice with his solo debut single, “This Town,” an entirely acoustic track that highlighted just how pure his vocals can be -- and with his new album, Flicker, he ran with that simplicity.

Putting soft guitar behind a voice like Horan’s is exactly the way to help him shine, especially when it involves heartfelt lyrics like "I forget you're not here when I close my eyes/ Do you still think of me sometimes?” Horan has stuck with 1D producer Julian Bunetta for his solo material, which has really helped him highlight the best parts of his voice. But while there are other slow melodies like “This Town” on Flicker (the title track, as well as album-enders “Fire Away” and “You and Me”), there’s also plenty of riskier digressions like the sexy “Slow Hands” — which earned Horan his first No. 1 on the Pop Songs chart — and the country-tinged Maren Morris collaboration “Seeing Blind."

Upbeat tracks like “Since We’re Alone” make it pretty safe to argue that Horan has stayed closest to the wholesome One Direction vibe, especially the material on the group's latter two albums. But rather than trying to achieve every special moment 1D had, Horan has stuck with a tone he can really drive home, creating special moments of his own.

Louis Tomlinson — EDM-pop

Less than two months after Horan surprise-dropped “This Town,” Tomlinson revealed a Steve Aoki collaboration, “Just Hold On” — a song that was almost even more unexpected, simply because EDM was a genre One Direction had never even waded into in their five years. Like Horan, Tomlinson has a bit of a softer tone to his voice, but also has the capability to belt when he wants. His voice pretty seamlessly intertwined with an electronic topline melody on “Just Hold On," and passionate screams in the chorus also allowed him to show off a little.

Tomlinson carried the electronic influence with him on his second single, “Back To You,” enlisting Digital Farm Animals to produce and frequent dance collaborator Bebe Rexha to split vocals. The production is a little more stripped back than Aoki’s thumping track, with the bouncy beat helping to bring more attention to Tomlinson’s voice. He finally got the full spotlight on his most recent release, “Just Like You,” which meets his previous two singles in the middle, showcasing his vocal smoothness over an electro-pop bass line (or drop) — and that that’s where he feels most comfortable musically, at least for now.

Harry Styles — Classic rock

Any Mick Jagger comparisons Styles may have faced during the One Direction era have basically come to fruition, since he debuted with the poignant power ballad “Sign of the Times” back in April. The rock ballad spawned plenty of other classic comparisons, with the climb of the chorus mirroring David Bowie’s “Life on Mars” and Styles’ wailing finale bringing Foreigner’s "I Want to Know What Love Is” to mind. As mentioned, Styles and Malik were the two primary power-moment 1D guys -- and Styles hasn't lost that prowess in his own music, but now it's set to heavier guitar that he matches with vocals more risqué than he attempted in the 1D days.

Harry's self-titled album brings both his vocals and vintage instrumentation to the forefront, yet it feels less kitschy and more raw than any such One Direction track. The classic rock sound makes it possible for him to be more fearless in his delivery, which is displayed in feistier tracks like the thrashing "Kiwi", and more intimate feels like those in acoustic opener "Meet Me in the Hallway." Styles was always a standout vocalist in One Direction, but the rough-around-the-edges sound of his solo material almost feels like he has been reborn into another era -- one he was always supposed to be part of.

And to top off the vocals, Styles sports some seriously rock star suits while performing. Talk about owning the rock vibes.

Liam Payne — Hip-pop

Unlike Tomlinson’s trio of EDM-influenced pop hits, Payne’s three releases are all rather different, so it's hard to tell exactly which direction Payne is going to take musically. But if he wants to use the metrics of his debut single “Strip That Down” to gauge where he should go from his first release, the hip-hop/pop crossover feel isn’t necessarily a bad lane. The Quavo-featuring track recently took over Horan's "Slow Hands" for the top spot on the Pop Songs chart, proving that going in a racier direction both lyrically and musically was definitely not a bad thing for Liam.

"You know, I used to be in 1D (now I'm out, free)/ People want me for one thing (that's not me)/ I'm not changing, the way, that I (used to be),” Payne sings in “Strip That Down” — and actually, the 24-year-old’s subsequent releases hold true to that sentiment. While “Strip That Down” was a bold move into a more hip-hop sound, Payne dabbled in dance on the Zedd team-up “Get Low” and most recent single “Bedroom Floor” highlights his falsetto through a combination of pop, EDM and hip-hop. Payne has the most eclectic solo repertoire so far, and with his malleable vocals, he’s been able to experiment with where his sound best fits. As for where he’ll end up overall, we’ll wait and see, but clearly he’s doing things right for now.

If there’s one thing that the One Direction solo endeavors have done for all five guys, it’s reminding the world that they’re each individually talented in their own right, and there’s a reason they were all part of one of the most successful boy bands of all time. Sure, a group full of young, adorable British men is a big sell in its itself, but it’s ultimately the guys' voices that won people over -- and now, they’re each getting a chance to do what they want with their talents, with their individual styles remaining distinct enough that they really can each have their own direction.

#one direction #solo direction #media #billboard

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talhaghafoor2019-blog · 6 years ago

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Roy Clark, 'Hee Haw' co-host, Country Music Hall of Fame member, dies at 85

Presenter Roy Clark, center, makes eyes at Miss Country Music, a hostess, while master of ceremonies Tennessee Ernie Ford attempts to move Clark along during the CMA Awards show Oct. 25, 1969. Bill Preston / The Tennessean

Tammy Wynette receives the Female Vocalist of the Year award from presenter Roy Clark during the CMA Awards show at the Ryman Auditorium on Oct. 15, 1969. Bill Preston / The Tennessean

Big winner Johnny Cash, left, joins other CMA award winners on the stage of the Ryman Auditorium to sing a chorus of "This Land is Your Land" at the end of the NBC live telecast of the CMA Awards show Oct. 15, 1969. Next to Cash are Tammy Wynette, June Carter Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Archie Campbell, Roy Clark, Charley Pride and Tennessee Ernie Ford. Bill Preston / The Tennessean

Master of ceremonies Tennessee Ernie Ford, right, mops the fevered brow of Roy Clark during the nationwide telecast of the CMA Awards show Oct. 14, 1970. Clark won the Comedian of the Year award. Jimmy Ellis / The Tennessean

Appearing almost overcome with his Song of the Year award, Kris Kristofferson nervously tries to get his distance on the microphone offered by presenter Roy Clark during the CMA Awards show Oct. 14, 1970. Jimmy Ellis / The Tennessean

Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner, center, speak to the audience after winning the Duet Group of the Year award during the CMA Awards show at the Ryman Auditorium on Oct. 10, 1971. Looking on are presenters Roy Clark, left, and Merle Haggard. Joe Rudis / The Tennessean

Roy Clark, second from right, and family make their strings sing Dec. 10, 1972, in a surprise performance at the Grand Ole Opry. Playing the mandolin, left, is Uncle Dudley, while Uncle Paul waits poised with his fiddle and Roy and his father, Hester, right, work on their guitars. Jerry Bailey / The Tennessean

Roy Clark shows off his talents for the audience at the seventh annual CMA Awards show at the Grand Ole Opry House on Oct. 15, 1973. Clark went on to win the coveted Entertainer of the Year award. Joe Rudis / The Tennessean

Roy Clark, right, receives congratulations from presenter Eddy Arnold after winning the coveted Entertainer of the Year award at the seventh annual CMA Awards show at the Grand Ole Opry House on Oct. 15, 1973. Joe Rudis / The Tennessean

Roy Clark, right, accepts the coveted Entertainer of the Year award at the seventh annual CMA Awards show at the Grand Ole Opry House on Oct. 15, 1973. Looking on is presenter Eddy Arnold. Joe Rudis / The Tennessean

Roy Clark, right, and Buck Trent perform at the Music City Pro-Celebrity Golf Tournament sponsors party at Opryland on Oct. 10, 1974. Jimmy Ellis / The Tennessean

Country music entertainer Roy Clark, center, is all smiles as he signs autographs for fans during a break at the 10th annual Music City Pro-Celebrity Golf Tournament on Oct. 12, 1974. Frank Empson / The Tennessean

Roy Clark performs at the new Grand Ole Opry House during the eighth annual CMA Awards show Oct. 14, 1974. Jimmy Ellis / The Tennessean

Roy Clark, left, and Jerry Lewis perform for a few laughs during the "Lewis and Clark Entertainment Expedition" for the benefit of muscular dystrophy patients at the near-capacity Municipal Auditorium on June 24, 1975. Frank Empson / The Tennessean

Roy Clark performs during the "Lewis and Clark Entertainment Expedition" benefit show at the Municipal Auditorium on June 24, 1975. The event was sponsored by McDonald's and the Nashville-Middle Tennessee Home Builders Association and produced by WLAC-TV. Frank Empson / The Tennessean

Roy Clark performs during the "Lewis and Clark Entertainment Expedition" benefit show at the Municipal Auditorium on June 24, 1975. Frank Empson / The Tennessean

Roy Clark shows off his fiddle skills during the taping of "The Grand Ole Opry at 50, A Nashville Celebration" for a nationally televised special at the Opry House on Oct. 23, 1975. Jimmy Ellis / The Tennessean

Roy Clark performs during the taping of "The Grand Ole Opry at 50, A Nashville Celebration" for a nationally televised special at the Opry House on Oct. 23, 1975. Jimmy Ellis / The Tennessean

Roy Clark finishes a song during the taping of "The Grand Ole Opry at 50, A Nashville Celebration" for a nationally televised special at the Opry House on Oct. 23, 1975. Jimmy Ellis / The Tennessean

Co-host Roy Clark, who earlier won the Instrumental Group of the Year award with Buck Trent, performs during the CMA Awards show at the Grand Ole Opry House on Oct. 11, 1976. Gerald Holly / The Tennessean

Co-hosts Johnny Cash, left, and Roy Clark say goodnight at the end of the CMA Awards show at the Grand Ole Opry House on Oct. 11, 1976. Gerald Holly / The Tennessean

Roy Clark, left, Mack Smith, Gordie Tapp, Diane Sherill and Buck McPherson share a moment at the fundraising show and dinner for the Citizens for the Metropolitan Council political committee at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds on June 23, 1977. Dale Ernsberger / The Tennessean

Ruth Buzzi, left, veteran of TV's original "Laugh-In," and host Roy Clark perform a rousing rendition of "May the Bird of Paradise Fly up Your Nose" with apologies to Little Jimmy Dickens during a taping of "Hee Haw" on Oct. 4, 1977. Frank Empson / The Tennessean

Ruth Buzzi, left, veteran of TV's original "Laugh-In," and host Roy Clark perform a rousing rendition of "May the Bird of Paradise Fly up Your Nose" during a taping of "Hee Haw" on Oct. 4, 1977. Frank Empson / The Tennessean

Roy Clark, right, is joined by Larry Gatlin, left, Mac Davis, Danny Davis, Jerry Clower, June Carter and Chet Atkins for a performance during the 11th annual CMA Awards show at the Grand Ole Opry House on Oct. 10, 1977. Bill Welch / The Tennessean

Johnny Cash, left, and host Roy Clark enjoy a little lighthearted clowning on the Grand Ole Opry House stage during the afternoon's rehearsal for the three-hour NBC "Big Event" television special, "Fifty Years of Country Music," on Jan. 4, 1978. Robert Johnson / The Tennessean

The entire cast and special guests perform the opening number "You Are My Hee Haw" during the taping of the "Hee Haw Tenth Anniversary Special" on Sept. 28, 1978, at the Grand Ole Opry House. Gerald Holly / The Tennessean

Popular "Hee Haw" star Roy Clark repeats as the Instrumentalist of the Year winner during the 12th annual CMA Awards show at the Grand Ole Opry on Oct. 9, 1978. Bill Welch / The Tennessean

Popular "Hee Haw" star Roy Clark, with a victory cigar, repeats as the Instrumentalist of the Year winner during the 12th annual CMA Awards show Oct. 9, 1978. Bill Welch / The Tennessean

Ronnie Milsap, left, with presenter Roy Clark looking on, accepts his Album of the Year award during the 12th annual CMA Awards show Oct. 9, 1978. Milsap won the honor with "It Was Almost Like a Song." Bill Welch / The Tennessean

Roy Clark, right, and Woody Herman perform during a taping of the "Nashville Palace" show at Opryland on Sept. 16, 1981. Ricky Rogers / The Tennessean

Roy Clark, left, and Woody Herman perform during a taping of the "Nashville Palace" show at Opryland on Sept. 16, 1981. Ricky Rogers / The Tennessean

Former CMA Entertainers of the Year Mel Tillis, left, and Roy Clark talk about "Uphill All the Way," a feature comedy movie they are co-starring in, during a news conference at Jim Owens Entertainment on Oct. 5, 1984. They begin filming in Texas later this month. Dan Loftin / The Tennessean

William Banowsky, center, president of Dallas-based Gaylord Broadcasting Co., jokes with co-hosts Buck Owens, left, and Roy Clark during a visit June 18, 1985, to the Nashville set of "Hee Haw," which is produced by Gaylord Program Services, a subsidiary operation. Robert Johnson / The Tennessean

Hosts Barbara Eden and Roy Clark introduce the next act during the nationally televised sixth annual National Songwriter Awards show at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center on Jan. 13, 1986. Kathleen Smith / The Tennessean

Bob Hope, left, shares a joke with his friend Roy Clark during a reception and dinner in Clark's honor, "A Salute to Roy Clark," in the Plantation Ballroom of the Sheraton Music City Hotel on Sept. 9, 1988. Mike DuBose / The Tennessean

Bob Hope, left, jokes with his friend Roy Clark during a reception and dinner in Clark's honor, "A Salute to Roy Clark," in the Plantation Ballroom of the Sheraton Music City Hotel on Sept. 9, 1988. Mike DuBose / The Tennessean

Bob Hope, left, jokes with his friend Roy Clark during a reception and dinner in Clark's honor, "A Salute to Roy Clark," at the Sheraton Music City Hotel on Sept. 9, 1988. Mike DuBose / The Tennessean

"Hee Haw" co-host Roy Clark, left, and Buck Owens laugh during a reception and dinner in Clark's honor, "A Salute to Roy Clark," at the Sheraton Music City Hotel on Sept. 9, 1988. Mike DuBose / The Tennessean

Minnie Pearl tells Roy Clark he's the finest entertainer she's ever seen during a reception and dinner in Clark's honor, "A Salute to Roy Clark," at the Sheraton Music City Hotel on Sept. 9, 1988. "You distract me with the wicked grin every time we play a show together," she said. Mike DuBose / The Tennessean

Roy Clark, left, and Chet Atkins share a moment before a taping May 26, 1999, for the "Ryman Country Homecoming," a three-part special slated for TNN. P. Casey Daley / The Tennessean

Roy Clark accepts the Minnie Pearl humanitarian award during the TNN/Music City News Awards show June 14, 1999. Delores Delvin / The Tennessean

The Country Music Association announces Feb. 4, 2009, that Roy Clark, left, Barbara Mandrell and Charlie McCoy will become the newest members of the coveted Country Music Hall of Fame. Clark will be inducted in the "Career Achieved National Prominence Between World War II and 1975" category. Billy Kingsley / The Tennessean

Roy Clark and Barbara Mandrell share a moment on the red carpet during the Country Music Hall of Fame's Medallion Ceremony on May 17, 2009. Mandy Lunn / The Tennessean

Roy Clark, left, is inducted by Hall of Fame member Little Jimmy Dickens during the Country Music Hall of Fame's Medallion Ceremony on May 17, 2009. Mandy Lunn / The Tennessean

Roy Clark, left, and Barbara Mandrell applaud Charlie McCoy during the Country Music Hall of Fame's Medallion Ceremony on May 17, 2009. All three were inducted at the ceremony. Mandy Lunn / The Tennessean

Roy Clark sings "Yesterday, When I Was Young" during the Country Music Hall of Fame's Medallion Ceremony on May 17, 2009. Mandy Lunn / The Tennessean

Roy Clark performs during the 85th birthday celebration of the Grand Ole Opry on Oct. 9, 2010. Samuel M. Simpkins / The Tennessean

Roy Clark, left, and Charlie McCoy perform a tribute to Jimmy Dean during the Country Music Hall of Fame Medallion Ceremony at the Hall of Fame on Oct. 24, 2010. Sanford Myers / The Tennessean

Roy Clark performs during the 2011 CMA Music Festival in downtown Nashville on June 12, 2011. Samuel M. Simpkins / The Tennessean

Roy Clark, right, performs with Buck Trent during the CMA Music Festival in downtown Nashville on June 12, 2011. Samuel M. Simpkins / The Tennessean

Roy Clark, right, performs on the "Larry's Country Diner" TV show Feb. 4, 2013. John Partipilo / The Tennessean

Roy Clark gets applause from the audience of "Larry's Country Diner" during a taping session at NorthStar studios Feb. 4, 2013. John Partipilo / The Tennessean

Roy Clark laughs with the audience of "Larry's Country Diner" during a taping session at NorthStar studios Feb. 4, 2013. John Partipilo / The Tennessean

Roy Clark arrives on the red carpet for the ACM Honors event at Ryman Auditorium on Sept. 1, 2015. Larry McCormack / The Tennessean

Roy Clark gets a standing ovation after performing "Yesterday When I Was Young" during the ninth annual ACM Honors at the Ryman Auditorium on Sept. 1, 2015. Larry McCormack / The Tennessean

Roy Clark walks the red carpet during the Country Music Hall of Fame Medallion Ceremony on Oct. 16, 2016. Larry McCormack / The Tennessean

Roy Clark and Brad Paisley perform during the CMA Awards show Nov. 2, 2016. Larry McCormack / tennessean.com

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whatthekpopofficial · 8 years ago

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10 Korean Indie Bands You Need To Listen To Today

A passion of mine is letting people know about great Korean musicians outside of Kpop. I love Korean music! In my opinion, Korean music (and Japanese music too) tends to experiment a lot and try new things— sometimes even bizarre things! But, the artists always have a lot of fun with their sound. Korean music feels like an amalgamation of different genres into one cohesive sound, and I love it. Musicians and artists in the Korean music industry have an obvious love for Western music as a whole. Rock, rap, pop, et cetera. I want to let you readers know some of the best bands that the mainstream music fans might not know about. Or if they are well-known, then the best indie groups out there.

10. JAURIM

Media: Music Matters/Twitter I'm going to start with JAURIM, one of my favorite bands ever. The band is composed of Kim Yoon-Ah on vocals and guitar, Goo Tae-Hoon on drums, Kim Jin-Man on bass and guitar, and Lee Sun-Kyu as the last guitarist and vocalist. Kim Yoon-Ah's voice is pure beauty, and her personality magnetic. She naturally oozes charisma that captures the imagination. Seeing her onstage is something everybody needs to experience in their lifetime. JAURIM has been around for 20 years (so, I guess they're not really indie), with 16 albums under their belt— nine of which are original full-length albums. JAURIM's songs are beautifully arranged. But, I have to admit, Kim Yoon-Ah is the prime draw to JAURIM. All hail the Queen of K-Rock. Normally, JAURIM is an alternative rock band, but they also dabble with other genres and it's hard to choose just a single song out of their discography. Their music talent has allowed them to tackle other genres and sound great. Their tracks range from light and upbeat songs like "일탈(Deviation)" to darker songs like "마왕(The Devil)", silly happy songs like "Carnival Amour" to serious mournful songs like "Anna." But, if I had to choose one song, it would be "25, 21" from their latest album, goodbye grief. I also recommend listening to their cover of "Even Flow" by Pearl Jam. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrB-fJn-3w4

9. OKDAL

Media: moonromantic.com Also known as Dalmoon or Rooftop Moonlight, OKDAL has been around since 2010. The duo consists of Kim Yoon Joo on vocals, guitar, and keyboard, and Park Se Jin on vocals, melodeon, and xylophone. And given that they play a melodeon and a xylophone, I'm pretty sure you can guess that OKDAL is a quirky band. Their music sounds like a TV show opening, like "Full House." It's very happy and bouncy, easygoing music. Their music has a nice beat to it and has the quirky element to it. Their songs deal with difficulties of life, like love and adversity, so the songs are cute and nostalgic— nostalgic for carefree days where you didn't have to deal with adult issues. You have songs like "Intern," which is about keeping optimistic in the face of adversity. It's a really corny song. Any more corny and it would be literal corn. And then you have songs like "Love Advice," a song that sounds like something you would hear in Animal Crossing. "Love Advice" is a lazy, happy song you would listen to while catching beetles in a butterfly net. In other words, it's a song without a care in the world.

8. CHEEZE

Media: cjklyrics.net Keeping in theme with happy songs is CHEEZE. CHEEZE is made up of Dalchong the singer, Yasu the other singer/rapper, and Gooreumi the producer. CHEEZE sounds like a less corny and more romantic version of Okdal. An easy-going, enjoyable beat and crooning about love make up CHEEZE's music catalog. And similar to OKDAL, CHEEZE's music sounds like the opening to a K-drama. Songs like "How Do You Think" feel listless and vaguely optimistic. Their music is jammed packed with sound. There are a ton of levels to CHEEZE's songs that it's hard to believe it's only three people in the band. Their sound speaks to the talent of Gooreumi. CHEEZE songs are simplistically well put. The wall of sound, simple composition, and sweetness of CHEEZE's songs remind me of songs from the 1960s like "Be My Baby" by The Ronettes or "Then He Kissed Me" by The Crystals. CHEEZE has great production values, making refreshing baths of sound. I recommend that you listen to "How Do You Think."

7. The Kitsches

Media: thekitsches.bandcamp.com Now for something completely different: The Kitsches. The Kitsches are a hardcore punk band from Seoul. We have Jae Hyun on vocals, Gun Hong on guitar, Si Yoon on bass, and Seung Ho on drums. This is an awesome band! Their music is aggressive and to the knife’s point. The Kitsches make fast music— on average around a minute each. Their self-titled full length album is a little over 10 minutes in length. One of their EPs, Tonight, You Will Be Rejected is 9 minutes and 13 seconds total. The Kitsches have also experimented with other bands and made two split albums, one with The Dead Gakkahs and one with Assassination Squad. I love this music and wish I could describe it better. It’s awesome, angry music. If energy was put into a song form, then the Kitsches would be playing that energy. They remind me of bands like Black Flag and post-hardcore bands like Silverstein and Hawthrone Heights. The Kitsches are pure fury. You get the screaming vocals with the fury of classic punk. Singer Ja Hyun's wails are awesome. Gun Hong and Seung Ho's furious playing boils the blood. Now, this is workout music. The band does have a Bandcamp page that you can visit by clicking HERE. If you guys like them, then show them some love!

6. Flash Flood Darlings

Media: soundcloud.com/ffdarlings Stepping away from the acoustic and further into the electronica, we go into Flash Flood Darlings. I wish I could tell you the DJ behind Flash Flood Darlings, but I haven't been able to find out the DJ's real name. Flash Flood Darlings is a DJ who plays ambient electronica and dance music. He plays music that hit the mainstream a while back, but still maintains its original audience as well. His music transports you to another world. Flash Flood Darlings has described his music as a way to explore and express his emotions via melody. So far, he only has one album out, Vorab and Tesoro. Vorab and Tesoro is described as a story, and the single "Byeol" is his coming out story. It's a personal album. The low beat tempo and cool rhythm make their music pretty easy to get into. Some songs have more of a dance vibe to them, like "In The City." It’s music you would listen while you fly over the city and look down at the lights.

5. Aseul

Media: koreanindie.com Aseul is in the same ball park as Flash Flood Darlings. It’s ambient electronica music with a more romantic feel to it. The music video to "FISHER" has the singer, Aseul, draped in pink and blue lights while wandering around in the dark. Her latest album, New Pop, was produced entirely by herself. The album is on her Bandcamp page that I'll link to if anybody reading is interested. Funny enough, Aseul's New Pop reminds me of the movies "Drive" and "Blade Runner." The album explores human emotions, but has a sense of the otherworldly— like the emotions of an android in "Blade Runner." Human emotions stirring in something non-human. Or feeling non-human. The song "Loveless" is otherworldly, and you can feel its 80s inspiration. I love that the 1980s are coming back in music. You hear dreamy synthesizers fusing with its shoegaze singer. I love this combination of music! Aseul shyly sings the troubles in her heart, and she attracts people with it. Aseul's charm comes with the sincerity in her music. She bares her heart to the listener with her beautiful singing.

4. Danpyunsum and The Sailors

Media: beehy.pe Danpyunsun and The Sailors is an experimental rock band that consists of Hoegidong Danpyunsun himself on vocals and guitar, Jan Dohyuk on drums, Choi Wooyoung on bass, and Jang Soohyun on the violin. And I want to emphasis “experimental” for this band because they have performed in different genres. Danpyunsun and the Sailors have a big resume. They’ve done folk music, classical music, and even a more pop sound influenced by both Eastern and Western artists. The interesting thing about this band is that Danpyunsun was already an established solo artist before his band. All he really needs is his voice and acoustic guitar. But, his “Sailors” add a ton to his music. The Sailors already sound like an established band, but together, Danpyunsun and The Sailors sound better. The “Sailors” give the music a new majestic life. It doesn't feel like "The Sailors" work for Danpyunsun, even though his name is billed first. Everybody is an equal partner in the band and a valuable member. Also, props to violinist Jang Soohyun and past violinist Kwon Jeeyoung, because, wow, I’ve never heard a violin so furious before. I bet the violin bursts into flames during a live show.

3. Cherry Coke

Media: imgrum.org I originally fell in love with Cherry Coke because she shares a name with my favorite soda, but I completely fell in love with Cherry Coke because of her music. Cherry Coke has only released a few songs. “Like I Do” is her leading single at the moment. She has great vaporwave style to her music. I love her dreamy ambient music. It’s the best way I can describe it. I’ve noticed that vaporwave has really started to take off in a lot of underground music throughout the world. I've heard the influences in musicians everywhere. It's strange to hear what is basically elevator music become popular, but it has. Cherry Coke has gotten inspired by this new music movement, and makes her minimalistic vaporwave. In my experience, vaporwave tends to have a lot of layers to it, but Cherry Coke has taken a minimalistic approach. She's pretty new, so there isn't a whole lot to Cherry Coke yet, but keep an eye out for her.

2. Seoulmoon

Media: Seoulmoon/Twitter Seoulmoon is my favorite new K-indie band. They’re comprised of Kim Hyemi on vocals and guitar, Shin Hyemi on drums and chorus, and Iruri on drums and chorus as well. As far as I know and according to my research, Seoulmoon released their first single late last year in December. I want to be wrong and say that they’ve been around for a longer time, but I can’t say with certainty. I've only been able to find a few songs by them. One thing I know for sure is that they haven’t released an album yet. It’s only been a few songs. I like their indie pop style; it’s bouncy and sweet. I’m bad at describing music but Seoulmoon has this ethereal sound in the back of their songs. It's vaporwave, and again, it sounds like elevator music. Distinct and ambient, Seoulmoon reminds me of groups like Chromatics and The XX. It’s that dreamy sound. Seoulmoon mixes that with their instrumentals, and its comes together great!

1. Puer Kim

Media: jpopasia.com I love Puer Kim. She is sexy. I love powerful female vocals. Puer Kim sings with a raspy, quiet voice. Her voice feels intimate in your ear. Like Kim Yoon-Ah and Aseul before, Puer Kim oozes charisma and you become immediately attracted to her vibe. All three women have their distinct style of singing. Yoon-Ah has a powerful and demanding voice with different flavors, Aseul's voice is sweet and cute, and Puer's voice is red wine. Sour, bitter, and sweet to the taste, but you want to keep drinking. She's intoxicating and dark. Puer Kim is known for her lyricism and heavy subjects in her music. "Manyo Maash" is a damning song directed at the music industry in South Korea. "Manyo Maash" is her best known song, and I'll link the MV down below. She is not afraid to let her opinion of her industry known. Puer make herself vulnerable by strapping herself to an electric chair, forced to sing while stared at by mannequins. The song comes from the album Purifier, which is more mainstream than her previous album, Korean Vowels. Ironically, Puer Kim struggled to get into the mainstream with her first album, but the song that criticizes the mainstream is the one that achieves fame. Ironic, but understandable. It stirred the pot and shone a light on Puer Kim. What do you think of this week's list of recommended artists from outside Kpop? Which one is your favorite?Are there additional K-indie groups or artists that you would recommend? Please let me know! I'm always on the look out for the newest fire. KyeongJun is a writer for WTK, where he gushes about his love for Korean rock music (You guys need to listen to Jaurim). When not writing, he's at the gym listening to the newest K-Rock bands. You can catch KyeongJun @ElCrazy_Diamond on Twitter (Don't worry that it's a bit barren—he'll soon be posting regularly! You can also Tweet him if you know any cool new artists you would recommend!) Media: As Credited Click to Post

#Aseul #indie bands #K-indie #Korean music #OKDAL #Puer Kim #recommendations #Seoulmoon

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