The Joy Formidable-Wolf's Law review

Today's musical discovery came from the unlikeliest of places.  I was scanning the local news rag and saw a list of mini album reviews from bands I don't really care for--except for The Joy Formidable.  I have been aware of this band and have liked them since they released their EP "A Balloon Called Moaning".  I had no idea they have just released a brand new full-length album.

When discovering indie and alternative rock music, you have to be careful because the genre includes so many styles of music that it is dizzying.  I dislike plenty of indie and alternative rock.  The best practice for me is referencing bands who have influenced a particular artist.

One of the many influences The Joy Formidable mentions is that of shoegaze legends My Bloody Valentine.  That's all you have to see. 

Where "A Balloon Called Moaning" was a remarkable album in its overall scope, "Wolf's Law" sees the band strip away some of the lengthy shoegazing pedal effects in favor of a more mainstream rock sound.  The first several tracks feature various rock hooks backing Ritzy Bryan's fantastic vocals.  This represented a stylistic change that was easier to get over as the album progressed.

The album's sound fills in nicely towards the end and the last four tracks are some truly epic rock tunes with a huge variety of sounds, including string arrangements.  This disc caught me as somewhat underwhelming considering the band's earlier work, but the final tracks easily made up for that with impressive rock beats and soaring melodies.  I know I say this a lot, but this is truly music you must hear. 

Lucky for you, we have the full album stream via the band's Soundcloud page here.  I recommend skipping to midway through the album and paying close attention to the last four tracks.  This is some of the best alternative/indie rock I have heard in a long time.  Thanks for listening and enjoy!

New Music from Apricot Rail and Gliss

It's Friday, ladies and gentlemen.  You know what that means: only one more day this week of work for Yours Truly.  It also means we have some brand-spanking new music to share with you, which has accumulated over the course of the week.

We'll start this session off with the wonderfully talented pop/post rock outfit Apricot Rail from Perth, Australia.  This band has a new album coming on February 25.  This will be one of our anticipated releases.  I've been loving what I've been hearing from the album's first single, Basket Press and can't wait to hear more.  Apricot Rail blend pop stylings with stretched post-rock atmospherics and ambiance to create a unique style that is easy to get into.  What I love so far is that they are not afraid to use true melody as a way to make the music move and breathe.  While there is ample ambient and atmosphere to pique the senses, the melodies carry the music to greater heights.  Check out the single below and stay tuned for a full review of the album shortly after the official release date.


Of course post rock isn't the only kind of music we like around here.  I sparingly listen to pop, but what I do enjoy is particularly good.  Take Gliss for example.  This dream pop trio from Copenhagen and Los Angeles produces tastefully melodic, yet artfully atmospheric dream pop with shimmering vocals that put most pop vocalists to shame.  The real shame is that this band is not better-known, because from what I have heard so far, they are excellent.  Gliss has just released a new album called "Langsom Dans", for which a couple of singles have surfaced.  Check out The Weight of Love below.  As always, thanks for reading and enjoy!  Happy weekend!

Free Downloads-Weird

Today seems like a perfect day to celebrate weirdness.  More often than not, I am described as weird, not to mention my musical tastes.  There is a rich bounty of amazing music in the world these days, partially because of Al Gore's second most famous invention, the Internet. 

There is a lot of weird in the world today.  Look no further than a friggin' ice storm in Boise, Idaho.  Seriously?  Must I go on?  Well, I'm not going to because I have some weird music to share with you today.  Weird music, weird album title, weird cover art.  "Desert Love for Lonely Graves" has it all.

Italian shoegazers Weird have released their brand new album, available for FREE download on their bandcamp page.  Since I'm a huge fan of free music, I just had to check them out, despite what I view as somewhat shoddy cover art.  Sometimes cover art is not a good descriptor of the music in an album.  This album cover screams lo-fi bedroom pop, but the music is much better than that.

"Desert Love for Lonely Graves" is almost purely a shoegaze album with the obligatory nods to standard-fare indie rock added for good measure.  If not good, this album is great.  The first few tracks of this release are warm indie rock tunes with underpinnings of solid atmospheric reverb and looped vocals.  The last few tracks virtually explode with long, slow tempo shoegazing tones that are at times reminiscent of late post-rock. 

Although the music is indeed weird, it is not too weird.  In fact it is nothing rivalling the artist we profiled here yesterday in terms of the weirdness scale.  At least one of the first few tracks seemed iffy to me, but I found myself digging the album more and more as it went along, culminating in the breathtaking final track.  You have to forgive me for using a 'digging' reference in describing how much I enjoyed this album.  As a matter of fact, I didn't even realize what I had done until it was on the page, and when I write something fabulous unintentionally I have a certain penchant for leaving it on the page.

Listen to the full album stream and then download this thing immediately.  It is worth it, especially for free.  This download is absolutely free, meaning they are not asking for donations.  Thanks for listening and enjoy!

Gate-Sekai review

There are some bands whose sound is impossible to categorize.  This can be either a good or a bad thing, but it is often refreshing to hear something so original that as a listener, one can't help but be pleased with the artist's effort.

|**| Gate is a rare breed of an artist.  Hailing from Japan, Lajos Ishibashi-Brons creates an intense musical sound that straddles invisible lines between ambient drone, electronica, techno, and industrial.  This is an incredible journey through soundscapes too numerous to describe.  The best one can do in categorizing the sound this artist employs would be industrial noise.  As Gate's record label, Fluttery Records, tells it, there is sound in music throughout our world and that all our world is beautiful.  Just as warm melodies create space with passion and grace, sharp, discordant sounds create a different sense of bliss--a different state of sonic beauty.

To describe the music in "Sekai" as discordant would be an understatement.  The music herein is for open-minded listeners willing to dabble in any kind of musical pleasure.  The sound of "Sekai" is incredibly diverse, yet jagged, irregular, eerie, dissonant, and at times downright jarring.  Though many listeners will simply pass this album off as noise, the music contains an unmistakable thread of musical composition that few artists would dare attempt, let alone master.

"Sekai" is unlike any album I have ever heard, and that says a lot.  I never thought I would find myself listening to this type of music, but this music is so atypical that to attempt description through words is folly at best.  As layered and discordant as this music is, I inexplicably find it appealing and even addictive.  This music that truly must be heard to be understood or appreciated.  That said, I don't expect many of our readers to get a proper handle on this album.  Listen if you dare--the entire album stream via Gate's bandcamp page follows. 

This is an underrated effort that is worth the price. "Sekai's" five tracks average a hefty 15 minutes in length, so you will more than likely have to find something else to do while you listen.  Try to listen to the entire track you choose because there are so many jolts, so many surprises, twists and turns, that it is difficult to fathom.  It is a fantastic listen and I hope you enjoy.  Thanks for reading!

New tracks from Life Model, Spc-Eco, and Soilwork

If you didn't get enough new music from us the other day, you're in luck because we have three new awesome songs for you to feast on today.

Life Model-Take it Slowly.
This is the kind of shoegazing music that takes on an artistic approach to stripped-down rock tunes and stretching the notes through looping effects on the guitars.  Life Model adds understated, chilly vocals to the mix, which takes on an unrefined, yet abstract appeal.  This is an interesting take on shoegaze, being light on the electronic atmospherics and heavy on the pedal effects, just like old-school shoegaze rock.


Spc-Eco-Push.
You know I have been a fan of Spc-Eco (pronounced 'space echo') since i stumbled upon their album "3-D"  This English band has been particularly active of late, having released a full-length album and two EPs just within the last year.  The latest EP, now available through Spc-Eco's bandcamp page, is entitled "Push" and includes five tracks, two of which are remixes of the original Push. Some bands just have that 'it' factor in that no matter how much their style changes, they continue to push out fantastic music.  As it turns out, Push is a departure from the usual Spc-Eco electrogaze music, trending more to the mainstream-ish dream pop end of the spectrum.  To be honest, I didn't know what to think when i first read that it was more pop-oriented than their previous music.  Yet, I listened to it anyway, because I am a fan of Spc-Eco, and fans of bands listen to the band's music no matter what, right? 


Soilwork-This Momentary Bliss
Soilwork is gearing up to release their brand new album, "The Living Infinite" in March.  They have just shared another new track from the double album.  This track is metal excellence.  While the first new song they gave us sounded like "Figure Number 5" era Soilwork, This Momentary Bliss is more akin to the tunes heard on "Stabbing the Drama".  This song is an instantly-catchy gem that has a sing-along style chorus.  Bjorn "Speed" Strid's vocals are top-notch on this one, containing some screamed sections, but mostly outstanding cleans.  Also apparent in this track is a low-register, doomy keyboard line and some awesome guitar solo dexterity.  If you are into metal music, they you can't go wrong with Soilwork.  As always, thanks for reading and enjoy!

Now That We're Older-Beneath the Bridge...review

For anyone new to our blog, let me start by saying that there are many great artists and bands putting out amazing music these days.  They need your support.  That is where we come in.  We look at many under-publicized artists and help them by blogging about it here if we like it.  Please continue to support these artists.

One said artist is an American instrumental rock band called Now that We're Older.  This band is from Cincinnati, Ohio and has just recently released their album, "Beneath the Bridge, Under a Frozen Sky"  Citing influences ranging from post-rock heavy hitters such as Mogwai, Sigur Ros, and This Will Destroy You, this band creates dazzling instrumental rock tunes.  These songs incorporate various instruments and feelings.

Where some post-rock bands create flashy, screeching guitar distortion that represents the majority of their music, Now That We're Older shies away from in-your-face explosions of post-rock cinematic noise in favor of a more earthen instrumental album that is less heavy on the distortion and includes numerous pure instrumentation. 

The effect this creates is somewhere between post-rock and experimental, producing an eclectic array of emotions entirely through the sounds and tempos of the music.  While some tracks include a generous helping of wailing guitar distortion, others offer a healthy dose of piano, drums, mainstream rock guitars, cellos, and gorgeous string arrangements.

To put it mildly, this album blew me away.  It is remarkably well-produced with impeccable mixing and minimal sampling.  In short, I can't say enough good things about this band.

I can't finish this review without sharing my experience about how I found this album.  I was poking around on bandcamp looking for some fresh new tunes for little to no cost, and I saw the album cover depicted above.  I thought, "that's a cool album cover."  Anyone who knows me or regularly follows our blog knows how that usually ends up for me. 

Another great thing about this band is that you can't go wrong by downloading it, because Now That We're Older is offering it for free through their bandcamp page.  As a matter of fact, they are not even asking for donations, as many bands do.  This is a completely free, no-strings-attached instant download that is worth at least $10.00.  Get this album.  You will love it.  For your listening pleasure, the entire album is streaming below, courtesy of Now That We're Older's bandcamp.  Key in on Song for Jewel and Northern Lights, as these are clear standouts.  Thanks for reading and enjoy!

New Music!

It is Monday.  The day you love to hate.  Sometimes you just need some good tunes to help you through the worst day of the week.  If that day is today, you are in luck, because we occasionally find new music we find to be worth sharing.  Today we have three new tracks.

Au.Ra.  Yes, that is the cover art pictured above.  You can't really get an accurate glimpse of what it is supposed to be, but then again, good cover art often contains that quality.  Au.Ra is actually simpler to describe than the cover art.  What you have is standard issue dream pop with hooky guitar noise swirling just above the surface, which adds a certain grandeur of melody above and beyond what the pop portions of the song's structure contain.  This was a track that had me listening to the end.  I wasn't a huge fan of Au.Ra's first single in that it was much more simplistic than this track.  We are still waiting for this band's debut album to drop, and it should be interesting what the rest of the album sounds like.  Here is the latest track for you to get lost in:


Venera 4.  Shoegaze music can sound standard or better than average.  Venera 4 is above average.  Lots of noise greets you from the get-go with pedal-effect guitar work creating warm passages of reverberating melody.  So far, this group has released two full-length albums.  This is a brand new single and it shows some promise.  I could be tempted to buy this if I could find it.  Luckily, they do have it available for download on their bandcamp page.  If you have as many issues with PayPal as I do, you may not be able to download it, but then again, there are probably other avenues to explore if you really, really want it.  I kind of like it and will be searching for Amazon or iTunes downloads of this new track.  You can listen to it below.


Dark Tranquillity. I saw this today and just about fell out of my chair with glee.  You see, I am a huge DT fan.  This is my favorite metal band, so of course I will be foaming at the mouth to take a look at this one.  This new DT track is from their latest EP, "Zero Distance".  This EP is essentially a b-sides release full of a few songs that did not make the final cut of the album "We are the Void."  Today I saw a brand new video of the song Zero Distance which I feel illustrates perfectly why I like this band so much.  Dark Tranquillity play metal music with harsh vocals, punchy guitar riffs, and smooth piano and keyboard sections that add a certain amount of atmosphere to the music.  Mikael Stanne has the most understandable harsh vocals in the business, as well as some great baritone-style clean vocals.  I simply cannot get enough of Dark Tranquillity, so imagine the grin on my face when I found they will be releasing a new album called "Construct" on May 27, 2013..  All I have to say is, "Heck. Yes."  Check out the entertaining new video of Zero Distance below. As always, thanks for reading and enjoy!