2012...so far

Well if this is indeed the year the curtain draws on our civilization at least we'll have a kickass soundtrack for it. I don't know if all musicians are as paranoid as I am or if we're just lucky, but whatever the case there have already been some awesome new releases this year. So far I've been pretty pleased with the new records from Royal Thunder, Trioscapes, Mewithoutyou, Storm Corrosion, Astra, Baroness, Sigur Ros, Torche, High on Fire, The Mars Volta, and the little I"ve heard of the new Mono. And now I'm hearing that we're also getting new stuff from Converge, Between the Buried and Me, and Neurosis before the year ends? The battle for my best of 2012 list is about to get really serious. Any thoughts on releases that have come out so far this year? I know there have been other good ones that I haven't even gotten the chance to listen to yet, for instance the new Every Time I Die, even though I haven't been able to bring myself to care about anything that band has done over their past couple albums. Time to weigh in.

Corey

Corey's checking in with Sargent House/ORL Records

Sargent House/Rodriguez-Lopez productions have been a great fixture in independant music, giving us records by some truly relevant and unique, slightly off the beaten path artists for somewhere around a decade now. Or at least it seems that way since thats about how long I've been following Omar Rodriguez-Lopez' Gold Standard Labs, which was basically the label that started this entity before it merged with Sargent House. However I haven't really kept up with stuff they've been putting out over the past two years quite as much, no particular reason really. I decided to remedy that when they had a ridiculous digital download sale on bandcamp ($2.99 albums? I'll be there). I got especially excited when I saw Boris on the lineup now, every now and then you'll get some curveballs even though the label(s) is mostly known for math rock, post-rock, prog, indie, and experimental pop. So I thought I would do something different here and give my initial rundown of three albums from this label, yes I realize that at this point these reviews are outdated and all these releases came out last year, but who cares? I'll be covering plenty of 2012 stuff too, in time.


And so I Watch You from Afar - Self Titled

These days when someone says "instrumental rock band" the first things that are likely to come to mind are either some form of atmospheric post-rock/shoegaze or a  possibly Hella or Don Caballero inspired math-rock band. I'm not saying that encompasses all of the instrumental rock currently being made but its at least a healthy percentage of it, and with a name like And So I Watch You from Afar I would have put my bets on "post-rock band that values reverb and delay more than they do their drummer". I would have been quite wrong though as ASIWYFA are a rare commodity indeed, an instrumental rock band that either has their own genre or skims the lines of so many others simultaneously that they make you think that they do. Either way, from what I can tell from listening to their 2011 self-titled full-length, ASIWYFA fit right at home with the rest of the Sargent House lineup in the sense that they glean attributes from math rock, prog, post-rock, and sometimes just quirky indie-rock. These Belfast, Ireland fellows are no stranger to their effects pedals and they don't like to stick to song structures or sounds that are too predictable. One moment they're hopping from triumphant rock (opener Set Guitars to Kill) and another they're channeling noisy almost post-metal aggression (Clench Fists, Grit Teeth...Go!). This is indeed something different but I'll have to give it a while to truly grow on me I think, so far I haven't heard anything from this album that I don't like, but I've still yet to hear anything thats truly blown me away. ASIWYFA gets:

7 out of 10

 

Zechs Marquise - Getting Paid

El Paso band Zechs Marquise have gradually worked their way from out of The Mars Volta's shadow and are coming into their own on their third full-length Getting Paid. Although it is kind of easy to see how they got their in the first place. Drummer Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez is not only The Mars Volta's additional percussionist, but he and Zechs Marquise bassist Marfred Rodriguez-Lopez are also Omar Rodriguez-Lopez's younger brothers. Put this together with the band's psychedelic leanings and the fact that they are one of the few bands that TMV have ever let open for them and you can start to see how they would have a hard time finding their identity. Getting Paid is a bit of a departure from the band's former psych/jam voyages, its still full of deep grooves and fiery guitar work but in the context of more electronics, sequencing, and danceable beats, giving the album more of an urban feel. One of the great things about Getting Paid is that it never stays in the same territory too long, and the array of sounds coaxed out of each instrument seem nearly endless. "Static Lovers" feels a bit more like the Zechs Marquise you may already know, but tracks like "Lock Jaw Night Vision" explore new territory  (there are plenty more that do, trust me). Some favorite moments of mine are the awesome synth solos in the title track, the uneasy sax that crawls into "The Heat, The Drought, The Thirst and the Insanity" and pretty much all of "Crushin' It!". I'm not sure what the album title Getting Paid is meant to represent, but after taking this trip I wouldn't be surprised if it was validate that this album is the soundtrack to the "just-swallowed-your-stash"  low-budget crime movie that only plays in your head when you listen to it. Getting Paid is basically just a great album full of adventurous sounds:

8 out of 10

 

Boris - New Album

Boris have been alot of things throughout their career but "pop" has never really been one of them. They've done drone, doom metal, punk, stoner rock, and some ambient trippy stuff so I don't see why they wouldn't continue to explore genres and I guess they don't see why either. Still, when you're known for being one of Japan's heaviest exports "pop" is not exactly a word that your fans are going to embrace (although I'm sure Boris haven't gotten as much crap as Baroness did for it), fortunately Boris are weird enough to somehow pull this off and still be accepted. Boris released two other albums in 2011, the aptly titled Heavy Rocks, which is a bit more like the Boris that many know, and the straight up J-pop of Attention Please, which most fans probably though was just a random off shoot album that the band would use to get the poppy stuff out of their system. Well it turns out they were just preparing us for New Album, a record that sort of combines the two approaches. This is really just what I would consider J-pop, futuristic synths, polished vocals and all. The thing is that its still catchy and addictive, I can't normally say I'm a big J-pop guy but this album has been my guilty pleasure good-time soundtrack as of late. Without a doubt, energetic opener "Flare" will probably bring to mind images of mechs battling through space, but "Party Boy" has a dancier and less urgent feel. Yes there are still some electric guitars and Boris-isms to be found, one of the album's stronger tracks "Luna" is even oddly heavy with what I would almost describe as an electronic blast beat behind futuristic, reverbed-out vocals and beautiful, ambient synth chords.  "Spoon" is the sublimely feel-good soundtrack to a high speed race through a futuristic neo-Tokyo (is that a thing?) although "Pardon?" is a surprisingly somber track compared to the rest of the album. There's plenty more to talk about here but I think you get where I'm going with this. Boris makes good music and this album is no exception, but with that being said this one will not be for everyone. For instance if you're the kind of person who usually only prefers, say, the Boris that showed up for their collaboration album with Sunno)))). I'm enjoying it though, so I give New Record:

8 out of 10

 

 

Corey

Listen to Yardwork

I'm trying to strengthen my resolve in posting here more often, so I'm going to be doing alot of posts on what I'm listening to these days and also highlighting regional bands that some folks might not know. Today I'm giving some love to Charlotte, NC's Yardwork, who just now put their 2011 LP Brotherer on bandcamp.

http://yardwork.bandcamp.com/

You can listen to the whole LP here, and you should. I'm not exactly an authority on what people regard as "indie rock" so I'm sure theres probably a better descrition of what these guys do, but man they're good at it. They describe themselves as "southeastern minimalist pop prog" which makes enough sense to me. These guys really stand out as both a hard-working and truly unique band in the southeast, they've been known to perform with 9 people on stage (at least in the past) and they're all involved with other countless great Charlotte groups.