Between The Buried And Me: The Parallax II: Future Sequence

Between The Buried And Me: The Parallax II: Future Sequence

BTBAM is one of the few metal bands I listen to. I think one of the reasons is because they don’t always sound like a metal band at first. But once they get heavy, I fucking love it. Take the first and second track on one of their best albums Colors, for example. It doesn’t sound like it’s going to be a (fucking) heavy (fucking) metal song at all, at first. But once the second track starts, it’s so intense. Now, on this album, they open with a song that doesn’t sound metal, whatsoever, again. And it goes into a strange, arpeggiated metal song. The riff kind of reminds me of something off the F-Zero X soundtrack for N64. This is not a bad thing. Extremophile Elite, one the the album’s heaviest songs, has this really unexpected/awesome breakdown with xylophones, horns, and strings. It has a gypsy kind of feel. And the song picks up right where it left off after the breakdown. 

This album is very very good.  

Crosslegged: Inner(Outer)Space EP

Crosslegged: Inner(Outer)Space EP

Crosslegged is 19 year old Keba Robinson playing guitar and singing. I am loving this EP. I heard What The River Told Me a couple days ago, and I needed to hear the rest of it. Even though it’s only a 3 track EP, I keep listening to it again and again. I really like the way this sounds. It’s almost like you’re in a room with Keba singing directly to you. It has the perfect amount of reverb. The first track, Eviction Letter, has a soothing melody and catchy hook. The next track, What The River Told Me, is the first song I heard by Crosslegged. She has pretty oo’s and ah’s harmonizing with her verses and chorus. And the post-chorus she has this ugly sounding chord. But that’s my favorite part. The ugliness that still fits the song’s mood. The last song is Blind Dancer #2. My favorite part is the finger-picking. She does it very well. Towards the end of the song, you start to hear a fluttering, what I think is a flute, but it might be something else completely different. Either way, it adds creepiness to the song. Overall, I really really really enjoyed this EP. You will too, hopefully. Also, if you really like her music, follow her tumblr. 

This EP is very very good.

Death Grips: @deathgripz

Death Grips: @deathgripz
If you’ve been on the internet looking for new, forward thinking music, you’ve probably already heard of Death Grips. They have just released a new track for the Adult Swim Singles Program 2012 and it’s awesome. I wonder where these guys got this sample from. For some reason I want to imagine it a very young MC Ride saying something on some home video they found. This song is so fucking bassy. I cannot wait to hear it through my car speakers. According to Death Grips, this song has nothing to do with the upcoming album NO LOVE DEEP WEB. It doesn’t have the same feel or anything. It was just a song they happen to not use for The Money Store. It’s a nice track to keep us busy while we wait for their 2nd album of 2012. Also, check out the rest of the singles on the Adult Swim Singles Program. They have some awesome songs by some other awesome artists like Unknown Mortal Orchestra and Wavves and some people you’ve probably never heard before. Check it out.

This track is very very good. 

The Oh Sees: Putrifiers II

Thee Oh Sees: Putrifiers II

Thee Oh Sees came out with a new album this year. That’s pretty awesome. Right from the beginning, it’s fucking intense. It’s a really good driving song. That’s if you want to get pulled over for doing 50 in a 25. But if you have this blasting, you’ll feel like a badass in a movie. Even if you’re driving an old, beaten down, baby blue 96’ Chevy Blazer (me exactly). But even though it has the usual TOS badassness, they have toned down a little bit. On the third song So Nice it reminds me of The Velvet Underground. With the weird violins, it sounds a lot like Black Angel’s Death Song or the massive buildup orgasm in Heroin. Though it sounds very similar to these songs, it doesn’t sound like they’re trying to rip off the sound and call it their own. Skip to Will We Be Scared? and it’s like TOS have turned into a Doo Wop band. I like the experimentation with the sound and the song. Adding a weird psychedelicness to a doo wop sound. They are trying out new sounds, and it’s really good. I love this album.
This album is musically very very good. 

Mount Eerie: Ocean Roar

Mount Eerie: Ocean Roar

If you’ve never heard of Mount Eerie, in a nutshell, he’s a guy who used to be called The Microphones, changed his name to Mount Eerie, and makes folk music inspired by black metal. For me, before ever listening to Mount Eerie, it’s hard to imagine folk inspired by black metal. But once you hear him, it will make total sense. Now, for this album (this is his second album to come out this year!) the first track is a little hard to get into. It starts out with a heavy, abrasive groove. And once you get into it, it fades out and goes into something completely different. It’s just Phil singing with some bells in the background. But then, once you get into that, it fades back into the black metal groove again. It’s kind of confusing and it’s 10 minutes long. I don’t really understand what he was going for, but I didn’t really like it. But that’s okay because it gets better immediately with the next song Ocean Roar. The rest of the album is pretty much a perfect blend of the sadness of black metal and the sadness of folk music. Even if you don’t like traditional black metal (like me), you might enjoy this. Find out for yourself!

This album is musically enlightening.

Leigh: Simplicity

Leigh: Simplicity

The only reason why I know about Leigh is because I went to high school with him. I never really knew him, just knew about him. When I found out he started rapping, I was pretty curious on what he would sound like. At first (about 2 years ago) I wasn’t a huge fan of him. Mainly because I didn’t really like the crowd he would hang out with. Everything he put out I just didn’t consider liking it because of what I heard before. I just got done listening to his most recent mixtape, Simplicity, and I am really surprised; I am enjoying this. First of all, the beats for this are awesome. I don’t know if Leigh made these, or if someone he knew made them, or if he just took them from somewhere. I wish I knew that way I could give them recognition. At times, he kind of reminds me of A$AP Rocky. Especially on the track Class. The first track, The Looking Glass, is a really nice intro to the album. It gives you an idea of what you’re in for, for the rest of the album. Lyrical Suicide is basically a poem. It’s just Leigh rapping stanzas with the occasional sample here and there. The only tracks I have problems with are Cruel Intentions, Triple Vision, and Sine Labore. It’s nothing big, it’s just that with Cruel Intentions and Sine Labore he has some features that are clearly not as good as Leigh. They’re not too bad, but you can tell that Leigh is obviously superior. And with Triple Vision, I cannot stand that cheesy synthesizer melody. Other than that this mixtape is pretty great. What do you think?

This mixtape is very very good.

The Music Tapes: Mary’s Voice

The Music Tapes: Mary’s Voice

I was actually in the middle of writing a review for David Byrne & St. Vincent’s album when I came across this. I did not know that the famous Elephant 6 band The Music Tapes were still making music! How did I just find out about this? Anyway, as soon as the first song The Dark Is Singing Songs (Sleepy Time Down South) started playing, I fell in love with the sound. The whole album sounds like it was recorded onto a cassette tape (which makes sense, and I wouldn’t be surprised). It gives it a nice, warm, fuzzy feeling. It sounds like they only used acoustic instruments. You can hear them banging away on organs and rustling around on string instruments. If a cool antique shop -ones with actual interesting things, not just some guy who has everything old and broken and labels them antique- had a sound, this would be it. The Big Beautiful Shops (It’s Said That It Could Be Anyone) has this Daniel Johnston-esque organ in it. You can hear them hitting the keys along with the notes. At one point, Julian Koster’s voice clips, but instead of it sounding horrible, it has a nice fuzziness to it. When I saw that there were two songs called Intermission Part I & II, I figured they would do some weird sound, or something. But it’s just 7 seconds of silence followed by 8 seconds of silence. That is definitely a weird Julian Koster thing he would do. The album ends with the beautiful song Takeshi & Elijah, with just Julian and his banjo. It has a really sad feeling to it. It reminds me of the last song off of Neutral Milk Hotel’s, In The Aeroplane Over The Sea, Two Headed Boy Part II. But it ends with a big bang. Horns, over-driven bass, woodwinds, drums, everything. This really is a great album. And it’s a good introduction for anyone who’s never heard of any of the bands from the Elephant 6 Collective. This album is great, listen to it.

This album is musically enlightening.

King Krule: Rock Bottom

King Krule: Rock Bottom

Have you guys heard this yet? It’s freaking amazing. If you’ve never heard of King Krule, you should most definitely check them out. It’s fronted by an 18 (19 maybe) year old named Archey Marshell. He’s got this super deep voice that you wouldn’t expect if you see what he looks like. I had the privilege of seeing them perform at this past Pitchfork Music Festival. It was pretty awesome. Anyway, here’s their new song Rock Bottom that is so perfect. I hope you feel the same way.

This track is musically enlightening.