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Gravy Blurbs #02: Now! Update

Published by

tyler

August 27, 2007 in features, indie and tunes. 0 Comments

If you’ve been keeping up with us as we blasted you with rants of mainstream blasphemy roughing up the indie front, you may be interested to know that the Now That’s What I Call Indie! (aka This Is Next) compilation was just reviewed over at Pitchfork.

A whopping 0.0 rating with a description as follows: “In a sense, This Is Next is totally dispensible; a silly and ill-advised compendium of material freely available to anyone with the initiative to seek it out… A shoddy, transparent, and poorly packaged ploy to sell indie rock cachet to the “casual” consumer, this compilation is far more condescending than some dude who gets pissed off when he sees a Shins CD at Starbucks.”

Here’s a tip of the hat to LeMay for telling it like it is.

We are Wolves perform Magic.

Published by

matt.

August 24, 2007 in prerelease hype, glamless, dirty, indie, montreal and tunes. 0 Comments

Montreal’s own We are Wolves are pretty damn notorious. Whether we are discussing their frigging awesome live sets, their minimal yet sleek web-site, or their debut album - the inimitable Non Stop Je Te Plie en Deux - that still gets constant rotation around here… To put it bluntly: I am dying to hear their next album, Total Magique.

The good news? We don’t have long to wait… as it drops September 4th from Dare to Care Records.

But! I have even better news: a sampler for the album has started making it’s rounds to the media featuring two tracks off the forthcoming album. And, it must be said, they are definitely on par with anything on Non Stop. These songs are, quite possibly, the best shit the band has ever recorded.

And so, I am ridiculously proud to present to y’all the dirty dirty dance, scream & drinkin’ tune “Fight & Kiss” alongside the title track off Magique. Love it.

We are Wolves - Fight & Kiss.
We are Wolves - Magique.

(you’ll be able to order the album here.)

Murder Mystery: The Sonic Palette of My Music Dentures

Published by

tyler

August 23, 2007 in tummy ache, indie, summertime and tunes. 1 Comment

So I just received in the mail a promo disc from Murdery Mystery. I’d been looking forward to it for a little while now, and the time spent in its snail-mail transition only served to raise my hopes even higher after one of the singles & promo tracks from their website had me hooked. “Love Astronaut” takes me back to some of the better straight-shooting unapologetic boy-girl pop, and I’d fallen in love with the 8-bit/guitar love solo so much so that seemed it was written just for me.

I was fully prepared to go flying off-the-handle with praise and resounding applause here. Something like “the horizons of my sonic palette were fully broadened by the pop sensibilities of Murder Mystery’s Are you Ready For the Heartache Cause Here It Comes” and then you know, throw in some awesome 60s references, like “Beatles-meets-Beach-Boys-meets-today’s-The-Strokes”.

So much for that. It seems the technical prowess of the members has done a number on their spontaneity, and this whole “awesome fun” that I’ve been told so much of their live shows is nowhere to be found. One thing I can’t stand in a studio production is when the director thinks it’d be swell to whitewash it, do thirty takes until it’s “perfect” and then every ounce of humanness is removed so it’s as though robots were singing to the drum machines that are playing alongside recordings of the guy that may-or-may-not have played a guitar twenty takes back. And that’s weird because I love synths and robots.

While I’d be happy to share a live video of these guys with you, and then chock it up to poor engineering & direction (Mark Dann engineer for ‘NSync was involved? ugh) I can’t seem to find anything wholly redeeming.

I don’t seem to be the only one with these sentiments: Kate over at The Glorious Hum is a little more forgiving than I am, recommending that you spread out the dosing and not take it all in one sitting, and then Matt from YANP likens it to this. I couldn’t agree more.

You may like it for what it is, and what it is may cater to your tastes for simple and highly refined pop songs, but for the whole I’d say listen to these tracks before you make up your mind, and even then: to go see them in person where the hefty weight of the producers is all but present.

listen:
Murder Mystery - Love Astronaut
Murder Mystery - Honey Come Home

And the album is on sale, if you really want it.

Numbers Numbers Numbers.

Published by

matt.

August 17, 2007 in the fall, dichotomies, lo-fi, classy ladies, fuzz, indie and tunes. 0 Comments

Going back to school in a few short weeks? Dreading the imminent stress of it all? The projects, the exams, the dime-a-dozen PowerPoint presentations? Has summer flown by, leaving you with little to proud of in it’s wake? Well, yeah. Sucks to be you.

But, at least, rejoice in the fact that in a few short weeks you will be able to put on Numbers’ Now You Are This as you return from your varied homes back to the chaotic web of life that is the “University Experience”. For, unlike previous recordings of this summer, we finally have an album that perfectly melds with it’s release date.

It is sloppy post-punk - with drums crashing everywhere, people shouting, guitars crunchin’ & distortin’… flailing epically between hopefulness & rejoice to soul-crushing worry. Even the song titles reflect this dichotomy, as the band goes from “Hey Hey Dream” to “I Ripped My Own Heart Out”, or “Everything is Fine” to “What Happened To You”. It is weaved from the less serious (we certainly ain’t talkin’ about a Kronos Quartet requiem or anything here) emotional tapestry that tends to accompany everyday life. And the band brings it all together with the same sense of lo-fi ease that accompanies my memories of classic Eric’s Trip or Sonic Youth.

The band cites some classy Krautrock in their influences, from NEU! to Can & Kraftwerk… and it shows. From the incessant drumming to the electronic, static & moog flourishes, it seems like Numbers wish to reinterpret the extremes of the genre in 3 to 5 minute pop songs. Which is a formidable endeavor. As far as contemporaries go, I’d say check this out if you dig the harmonized female/male vocal combos on The Evens albums but wish that the music behind the voice was a bit less conventional.

All I know, is that I can definitely imagine walking to school come September, listening to “Leila Mila” as the orange leaves fall towards the ground around me. It is a memory I look forward to living.

under a fuzz red sky:
Numbers - Kosmos Love.
Numbers - I Want To Believe.

Now You Are This will be released from Kill Rock Stars on August 21st. You can preorder it over here. It is certainly in your best interest to do your Numbers homework - you never know what kind of treats might be hidden therein.

How HRSTA ruined my morning.

Published by

matt.

August 13, 2007 in not-summertime, atmospheric, indie, montreal, fuzz and tunes. 0 Comments

Even before moving to la belle province four years ago, I have always held a soft spot in my heart for all things Constellation Records. I can honestly say that, through the small independent Montreal label’s early offerings (such as GYBE!’s F#A#∞, Sofa’s Grey & Exhaust’s self-titled debut), the label has played a pretty damn pivotal role in my musical development - inspiring me to delve deeply into everything from post-rock to European gypsy.

One of the main people behind many of the “core” Constellation bands is Mike Moya, founding member of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, who was also a lead member in both Set Fire to Flames and Molasses before forming HRSTA. As far as post-rock related resumes go, Moya is as well-decorated as one would think possible.

HRSTA’s previous work (see, especially, 2005’s Stem Stem Electro) were brazen affairs - featuring violas, organs & violins screeching alongside guitars & pianos over top drums & bass, the album was almost hard to listen to… but after repeated listens, it has since become one of my favourites. Check out “Swallow’s Tail” from the album over at Bricolage Fantasy’s Beautiful Summer Afternoon mix.

September 10th will mark the band’s latest offering, Ghosts Will Come and Kiss Our Eyes. Now, don’t get me wrong: the album is brilliant. Each song drones like the fog which settles over Lennoxville in the early morning, perfectly suited for film. Mike’s hushed vocals mix with Jackie-O Motherfucker’s Brooke Crouser’s pump organ beautifully, making music that is simultaneously both haunting & kitsch. The siren song, “Saturn of Chagrin”, which follows the epic “Hechicero del Bosque” build-up gives the album great contrast, with fuzzed out & disturbed vocal snippets, that sound like they were taped off of an old-tyme radio back in the 50’s, just adding to the atmosphere.

But, here is the thing - it is most certainly not a summertime album. Listening to Ghosts Will Come and Kiss Our Eyes this morning at work made our balmy 30 degree weather feel like -20. There is just something about HRSTA’s sound that makes me yearn to revisit this album come snow. Hell, even a song entitled “Beau Village” (which literally translates into “Beautiful Village”) sounds haunted & ominous.

The album is definitely a welcome release for both Constellation (the label is currently celebrating it’s 10 year anniversary) and the band. It is good to see Moya back at the helm, even if the ship is one as sombre & reflective as HRSTA.

slow-ghost-dub-motions:
HRSTA - Entre la Mer et L’Eau Douce.
HRSTA - Hechicero del Bosque.

COVER ART: available here.

To purchase Ghosts… check out Constellation Record’s store. For more information on the band, check out their official site & take a gander at some live pics, taken by yours truly, during their opening for the Evens over here.

The Sunburn of October.

Published by

matt.

August 13, 2007 in freak folk, glitch, indie, psych-freakout, fuzz and tunes. 2 Comments

Sunburned Hand of the Man are one of those ridiculously prolific modern psychedelic “freak” folk bands. A quick perusal of their discography yields over 30 releases since ‘99, some of which were given proper distribution (like 2002’s fantastic Headdress), while others have only seen the light of day via a limited run of 50 cassette tapes. Probably needless to say, I wouldn’t consider all of the band’s output to be necessary purchases but it definitely holds true that, when the band do hit their stride, their music can be pretty damn powerful, in a free-jazz meets hippie jam band kind of way.

October will see the release of two more LPs to join the ranks of that ever-growing list, Fire Escape on Smalltown Supersound Records while, under the moniker the Sunburned Circle, The Blaze Game will be available through Conspiracy Records. Exciting times, indeed.

Out of the two records, my excitement was undeniably higher for Fire Escape as, the story goes, Kieran Hebden (also known as the electronic entity Four Tet) fell in love with Sunburn’s albums. He decided that he must make a point to travel in search of the band & ended up befriending them. One thing lead to another (with Sunburned opening for Four Tet on a few occasions), and soon it was decided that Kieran would be able to take the band’s latest recordings to produce - making Fire Escape a Sunburned/Four Tet hybrid of sorts.

And it shows. The album features glitched-out interludes (check out the opening track, “Captain Knowhere” or around the 6 minute mark of “Nice Butterfly Mask”) and the cleanest production I can remember on any of the band’s releases. It suits them.

As far as the music itself goes, I’m finding the jams really reminiscent of classic Krautrock - they plod along, slowly building, mixing in traditional instrumentation with all sorts of rhythmic but bizarre noises. Imagine if NEU! superimposed their melodic/easy access tracks (i.e. Forever) with their ambitiously experimental ones, and you would probably be par for course.

Fire Escape won’t be for everyone - it lacks structure, any form of traditional vocals & blatantly features “non-musical” noise, but for anyone who is at all interested in this particular genre, I’d say that it is essential listening. Definite Recommendations: if you don’t listen to anything else from the album, make sure to check out the tracks below & the unstoppable title track.

drumz, noise & birds
Sunburned Hand of the Man - Nice Butterfly Mask.
Sunburned Hand of the Man - The Parakeet Beat.

The band has homes on myspace as well as a site on their own domain. You can find out more about Fire Escape from Smalltown Supersound Records.

The Noises of the Monster Bastard Project.

Published by

matt.

August 7, 2007 in not-summertime, atmospheric, epic, indie, instrumentals, dead, fuzz and tunes. 2 Comments

Why are so many bands killing themselves these days? Whether it is to do a zombie jig, to succumb to a cool death or merely to party-down, vampire-style, it seems like everywhere I turn bands are, figuratively, offing themselves. And this analysis doesn’t even begin to look at the goth or industrial scenes.

But, for sake of argument, let us compare the Monster Bastard Project to their own scene, that of post-rock. Now, post-rock, with it’s instrumental crescendo-laden leanings, tends to naturally veer pretty heavily towards the dramatic. For example, both Mogwai’s fantastic Come On Die Young and Tortoise’s Millions Now Living Will Never Die brought the topic of death to the forefront in the scene way back in the pre-Millennium Years. Hell, even on What you lookin’ at? 1998’s “Dead Flag Blues”, Godspeed You! Black Emperor burst out with some pretty heavy shit (remember that awesome Lee Marvin monologue?). So, it appears that, in titling their debut album the Death of the Monster Bastard Project, the band is in good, if not overly melodramatic, company.

Thematic comparisons aside, the EP follows the genres conventions pretty straight up. While the album features the occasional use of samples (all of which deal, in some way, with war or death or being shot) in a similar fashion to classic Godspeed You! Black Emperor, the choice of instrumentation makes the band more akin to a youthful Mogwai. Without being able to rely on half of Montreal to play strings, horns & whatever else is laying around (pst: I still love you Godspeed, get back together… ok?), the boys in the Monster Bastard Project merely focus on the typical three: electric guitar (plus pedals + distortion), bass & drums.

And they do a good job of it, drawing each of the four presented compositions to genre-typical 6-12 minute lengths. What isn’t so typical is the fact that their build-ups are not quite so formulaic as other bands, as they contrast themselves with metal-heavy riffs. The highest praise I can give to a post-rock album these days is for it to make me feel like it is the late 90’s again, and I am discovering post-rock again, for the first time. The Monster Bastard Project do a pretty damn good job of it.

listen loud, on headphones preferably:
The Monster Bastard Project - Ghost.

You can now order The Death of… direct from the band via their myspace (which also has some other songs to sample) for £5. They also have a web-site but it is currently far from complete.

The Aspiring Sounds of Samara Lubelski.

Published by

matt.

August 6, 2007 in acoustix, coffeehouse, classy ladies, indie, free folk and tunes. 0 Comments

On the heels of yesterday’s look at the folk-rock sound of MV&EE comes a new album from fellow-Ecstatic Peace artist & current MV&EE touring companion Samara Lubelski.

Samara might not be a household name, but that is not to say that her diverse talents are not available to the public. As a solo artist, Samara has four full-lengths (and one cassette-only release, as all artists should) to her name, alongside being a core member of not one but two psych-folk collectives, The Tower Recordings and Hall of Fame, playing on most of the modern Krautrock band Metabolismus‘ albums as well as being part of MV&EE backing band, The Bummer Road and working alongside Thurston Moore himself on his Trees Outside the Academy. Add to this her engineering and mixing skills, which helped The Fiery Furnaces‘ record their impeccable Blueberry Boat, and it becomes extremely hard to discount her talents.

Samara Lubelski.

With back story taken care of, what of her latest offering? This coming October will yield Samara’s next solo foray, entitled Parallel Suns. Like MV&EE, it is a nostalgic affair - but replace MV&EE’s Neil Young & fuzz sound with soft, mostly acoustic Nick Drake adulation.

Each track focuses on Samara’s hushed & warm vocals, layered on top of a 60’s-style mix of psychedelia, folk & pop. It is easy to listen to, comforting even at it’s most intricate or engaging. This really is as “soft” as music can be, with Samara’s production skillfully mixing in all sorts of people and instrumentation (the credits for the album include about 10 other musicians, playing everything from xylophones & drums to guitars & clarinets) making the album a treat to listen to on decent headphones. All in all, the recording epitomizes the “other” side of freak-folk - not ravaged by the psychedelic-fueled freak-out suspiciousness that tends to leak into albums by groups like Sunburned Hand of the Man, Samara’s journey is a tranquil one, leaving it our job, as listeners, to decide if it is one engaging enough to warrant extended play.

like pillows & breezes on a hot day:
Samara Lubelski - Have You Seen the Colors?
Samara Lubelski - Tasting the Candy.

Parallel Suns will be released this coming October from The Social Registry. In the meantime, you can read more about Samara via her myspace or her official web-site.

MV&EE now walk the Golden Road.

Published by

matt.

August 5, 2007 in indie, lo-fi, grassroots, free folk, fuzz and tunes. 0 Comments

Despite the apparent site-wide face lift, it seems we have been on a pretty lo-fi kick these past few days here at Tunes Consumed. Whether this involves sludge-filled stoner rock to soft folk to the singin’ saws & fuzz laden sounds of the Ohsees, it past week has been nothing if not heavy. And, if you think it just cannot continue in such a fashion… I’m definitely not sorry to say that yes, yes it can.

And for this you can thank Thurston Moore & his Ecstatic Peace Records + Tapes for prepping Gettin’ Gone, the latest LP from Matt Valentine and Erika Elder. The duo, more commonly known as MV&EE, make music reminiscent of classic Neil Young - fuzzed out, burned out modern folk that is built upon a ton of acoustic/electric guitar noodling & somewhat nasally vocals.

MV&EE. The sound is built upon a wide variety of instruments on top of more traditional ones, such as their signature “Bantar” (some sort of modified banjo/sitar contraption), a Swarsangam, an “Octave Divider Bass”, a mellotron, a Cocola Firebird, lap steel, a bowed Dulcimer, mandolins, and a ton of other instruments that I would have to investigate to find out what they actually do.

The duo also have some further tricks up their sleeve: this time bringing along a new backing band (dubbed the Golden Road), composed of J Mascis (of Dinosaur Jr. fame) & John Moloney on drums, Willie Lane on guitar, Samara Lubelski & Ron Schneiderman on bass, Doc Dunn on pedal steel, resonator, bass, drums, & vocals, & Luisa Reichenheim on harmonium. Also included in the credits is a a dog named Zuma, who somehow plays the bells. Another step for pet-kind, for sure.

On top of the expanded line-up, Matt & Erika also bust out custom distortion pedals, grudgingly crafted by Erika’s ex-General Electric engineer father, who had previously devoted his life to removing fuzz - not promoting it. But, all being said & done, their pedals do sound pretty damn sweet.

It is an interesting sound, for sure, and one that definitely must be listened to a loud volumes - mainly to hear the songs over the pronounced muffling fuzz. Which, hell, is why we love lo-fidelity records so much anyhow. Check the samples below to hear a couple of my favourite tracks off the album.

why is it so smoky in here?
MV&EE with the Golden Road - Easy Livin’
MV&EE with the Golden Road - Country Fried
MV&EE with the Golden Road - Sweet People

Gettin’ Gone will be officially released this October through Ecstatic Peace Records + Tapes. In the meantime, check the band’s official web-site for upcoming tour dates and such. Plus, drop by their little residence on the Eclectic Peace site to get exposed to a few more tracks from the album.

The Strength of the Eskimo.

Published by

matt.

August 2, 2007 in coffeehouse, classy ladies, indie and folk. 0 Comments

I randomly stumbled across this CD by Eskimo & Sons this morning on a friend’s recommendation. It is by a band based in Portland, Oregon that, as word has it, are making quite a stir in all the local record shops thereunder. The album name, verbosely titled How Does it Feel to be Crushed by One Man with the Strength of a Million?, is kind of reminiscent of classic Tortoise and, in a loose sense, I think the comparison might be an adequate one to make.

The music is sort of folky, dreamy. It is there but it doesn’t force itself upon you like, say, M.I.A. does. Featuring piano, acoustic guitars & drums, the band makes music that could be compared to a more jazzy Iron & Wine meeting a glitch-free Postal Service. Or a less dramatic Stars. In any case, it is post-rock for a warm Sunday afternoon.

And really, while the music is proficient, it is the vocals of Danielle Sullivan, whose voice at times reminds me of CocoRosie without all the sinister undertones (see the background vocals at 1:30 on “No Shit”), that really make the songs memorable. My only complaint is that I only wish she would sing more on the album.

This might be the band’s first “real” release (it was preceded by a 7″ released back in October, 2006) but it must be said: they are definitely off to a good start and I look forward to hear what they come up with next.

sounds of hush:
Eskimo & Sons - The Blizzard.
Eskimo & Sons - No Shit.

How Does it Feel to be Crushed by One Man with the Strength of a Million? is now on-sale through BoyGorilla Records for a scant $7. You can also check out what the band are up to by visiting their homes.