A boatload of new music, some free

Once in a while, we miss some interesting new music, letting it just pass us by, so occasionally we have to make some time to catch up on stuff we missed.  Today we have a lot of stuff like this to share with you. 

First, Above the Earth has a new self-titled EP out.  The cover art is at first enticing, then not all that interesting, then just plain bad.  Thankfully, this doesn't speak to the quality of the music.  Above the Earth is a difficult band to describe, as they blend elements of shoegaze, instrumental, progressive rock, and post-rock into an interesting fusion of excellent sounds.  This band features a guitarist from the Russian extreme metal band Kartikeya.  If you listen close enough, you can hear the tendencies of metal through spiralling guitar leads and solos that permeate several of the tracks.  This EP also features lovely female vocals.  Give the EP a listen below.


There is also a new track out from The Chromatics.  If you are not familiar with their work, you need to stop what you are doing right now and check them out.  One of their songs was used on the great ambient soundtrack to Drive.  This is dream-pop meets electronica that emits plenty of good vibes and singable melodies.  The new track is a cover of a Joy Division track.  You can listen to this track below.  Hit the link to the soundcloud page to download this track for free!


Third, a band called Magnets have released a new EP.  The band describes their music as heavy shoegaze, and this is a fitting title.  Classic shoegaze tendencies collide with heavy, crunchy, distorted riffs.  This is a different take on the shoegaze/metalgaze sub genre and it is plenty impressive.  The vocals are as vast as the oceans, leaving little to be desired.  Check out the stream from Magnets' bandcamp page below.


Last but not least, I have to give a mention to a new track from Gems.  Rarely do I describe pop music as great, but I was amazed by what I heard the first time I listened to this track.  Pop music is simply not my specialty, but I recognize good tunes when I hear them.  This track, entitled, All I Ever, is fantastic.  It is generally straight-up pop with some subtle dream-pop atmospherics thrown in, but with outstanding vocals.  The track is available for free download from Gems' soundcloud page, which you can link to from the player below.  Take a listen to this track and get it now!  Thanks for reading and enjoy!!

New music from Nick Efremov and Underoath

I've got some sad news and some happy news for you today.  Since I try to be a glass-half-full kind of guy (what's the point anyway?--it's half a glass, right?) I'll share the happy news first.

Nick Efremov has released a bunch of new music available for free download at Soundcloud.  Efremov is a Russian electronic producer who composes beautiful works of dream-pop/electro-gaze laden with rich reverb.  After listening to just one of the new songs, I decided I would pick this up.  After all, you can't go wrong with free.  The textures Efremov weaves into this music are breathtaking, rounding the arc from full-on shoegaze, to repetitive dream-pop, to electronic ambiance, and back again.  His vocals are understated, layered, and looped to create the stretched melodies that make up the music.  While this music is mostly electronic, moments of distorted live instruments creep through the music.  It appears that most of the songs are written in Russian, so I am sharing one that is obviously in English.  Check out December here.


Now that I have the happy out of the way, I lament to be the bearer of the sad news.  American Christian Metalcore band Underoath is disbanding after some fifteen years in the business.  They have just announced plans for their farewell tour and have shared perhaps their last brand new song, which is streaming now.  I became a fan of Underoath after hearing the solid release "Define the Great Line".  After that, I picked up a copy of "Lost in the Sound of Separation" as soon as I could.  This disc also did not disappoint.  As I mentioned, Underoath is a Christian metal band.  Lyrically, most of their songs deal with personal, emotional issues and religion.  This band manages to blend harsh, screaming vocals with beautiful melodic clean singing as well as any I have ever heard.  When they break out the clean singing, the pace of the music slackens to reveal heartfelt, somber guitar melodies enriched with ambient atmospherics.  Underoath is as good as metalcore gets.  This new track, Sunburnt will apparently be released with the farewell tour live album.  This is a great track by which to remember this excellent band.  Check it out below.  Thanks for reading and enjoy!!