Just in...Miike Snow: Happy to You

    Just released March 26th, Miike Snow's sophomore album, Happy to You is a tribute to musical ingenuity of the Nordic countries (Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Finland; think Sigur Ròs, Björk and Rubik). Their pop/indie pop scene has so much more to offer in general than America, which relies too heavily on its hip hop counterpart, while Swedish group Miike Snow pulls heavily from the Dance Club venue that Europe is known for. I guess this is just a bias on my part, against hip hop and towards the House Electronica genre, but to me the latter does a better job juxtaposing melody with rhythm and creating arrangements that include a wider variety of timbres and styles. You may, of course, decide for yourself how you feel about all this [mumbo jumbo]. Or just like it or don't like it, it may or may not be true that I try too hard to have an intellectual opinion about...well, everything. In the end, I like this album fairly well. It may not make it into my favorites for this year (that is looking quite ahead to be sure), but I have enjoyed listening to Happy to You for the last few days on Miike Snow's MySpace page.
    Anyway, Miike Snow takes its name from a mutual friend, Mike Snow, while adding the extraneous "i" from the surname of Japanese film director, Takashi Miike. It seems he has been rather busy since his directorial debut in 1991, but I do not recognize any of his work. Miike Snow's trio membership includes: Christian Karlsson, Pontus Winnberg and Andrew Wyatt. The former two grew up together and worked on other projects first, such as Bloodshy & Avant, before reuniting while working on (of all things) a Britney Spears album, which is where they met their third member Andrew Wyatt. Their first release was self-titled, Miike Snow (2009). You may recognize the songs "Animal" or Since then, they have done a number of remixes for various artists, including: Depeche Mode, Passion Pit, Peter Bjorn and John, Kings of Leon, I Blame Coco and Vampire Weekend. They also co-founded a record label in 2011, INGRID, along with bands Peter Bjorn and John, Lykke Li and Dungeon. Miike Snow uses the Jackalope outline on all their products it seems and a special Happy to You Jackalope Edition is available that contains two bonus tracks and some remixes.
    Happy to You is filled with more intense Dance beats and Electro Pop synth or electronics, yet is a turn from the lighter side, more feel good, under produced Indie Dance Pop that Miike Snow introduced. This is one of those rare times when I truly think their next album improved on the primary. That does not tend to happen so much, because the great bands just create something entirely new (not better necessarily) while maintaining their uniqueness, while the more mainstream bands tend to go south and lose their individuality. Highlights of Happy to You are:
(1) "Enter the Joker's Lair": has a cool dropping sound at the start that continues throughout and fits in nicely when the beat and chords enter. Nice atmospheric track.
(2) "The Wave": reminds me of something Rubik would write, because it is this march like, snare driven jubilant sound.
(3) "Devil's Work": has some great brass backups, using french horns! and the latter part has this really sweet Electronica section with the synths.
(4) "Vase": sets a nice rhythmic ostinato (continuing throughout) from the start with electronic beats and claps. nice tune over top too.
(5) "God Help This Divorce": Sort of a laid back dreamy ballad.
(6) "Bavarian #1": also reminds me of Rubik, with the snare and counter melodic material in the background. Just happy and enjoyable to listen to, nice syncopation too.
(7) "Pretender": has that famous drum break, the "amen break", or some implementation or variation of it, underneath. The whole track is Dance material truly and reminds me more of a Trance track than anything else if you just took away the vocals.
(8) "Archipelago": sort of a throwback to the Beatles it seems, with the song about an airplane or whatever. It is simple and fun and maybe silly too--does sound more like Miike Snow, too.
(9) "Black Tin Box": more of a brooding tune, with 80s drum hits.
(10) "Paddling Out": definitely a Dance track here, almost something out of Daft Punk's funky early repertoire.
    I hope you enjoy the entire stream on their MySpace here. Also, the track "Vase" over by the 'Monthly Sample Tracks'. I had a hard time choosing which song to display, so I highly recommend you do not let this be your only preview!

Upcoming...The Mars Volta: Noctourniquet

    The Mars Volta releases only seem to come around once in a blue moon. And that is not actually at all true, just that I cannot ever wait for the next one to drop, so that I can add to the already incredibly deep and ear tantalizing discography that I often just listen straight through. Doing so is like a gourmet meal, leaving you stuffed and satisfied. Noctourniquet, coming out March 26th, will now feel like the dessert course and I greatly welcome its addition. So far I've been just briefly able to listen to the album thanks to RollingStone Online. I will give you that link here, so you do not have to wait any further to simply plug in and enjoy Noctourniquet as you read. The album clocks in at 64:31, a healthy amount of listening. Fantastic name too!
    Right off the bat, you will notice some changes in their sound. The opening is in your face, but with space-ish kinds of electronic sounds that permeate the album; but it adds that sonic flare or what Omar Rodríguez-López called in an interview "future punk". Actually, Noctourniquet should qualify as Post-Punk, except that the term already exists and is not the normal deconstruction of Punk like Post-Rock is a deconstruction of Rock. Furthermore, there is definitely less (not completely gone though to be sure) of a Progressive Rock feel, rhythmically I mean, not so much harmonically and melodically--the same old goodness that is The Mars Volta is still there and has never gone anywhere in all of its albums. I think there is just an attempt to be more raw in this effort. The whole thing has more of a laid bad feeling to the tempo, as if they had been listening to a lot of Raggae (totally minus the Raggae beat) or Trip Hop.
    Conceptually, Noctourniquet is based on the idea of taking life for what it is worth and restoring faith in people that they can be artists in whatever they do, that it is not reserved for those with money or opportunity alone. The main influences came from the nursery rhyme, Solomon Gundy, and the Greek myth of Hyacinthu.
    Some personnel changes took place over the course of the wait for Noctourniquet too, with keyboardist Ikey Owen, who has been on every LP to date except this (replaced by Marcel Rodríguez-López). Also, John Frusciante, a guitarist who had become quite the regular in studio I assume decided not to join the group this time around, because as Omar R-L pointed out, "John’s in a different place right now. He's in a place where he couldn't care less about putting things out, or about something being a product. He’s living by different standards right now with a different philosophy, so he doesn’t want to be a part of anything that he knows is going to end up being a product. A Mars Volta record definitely ends up being a product." I do not, however, consider The Mars Volta to be a product as so many other mainstream and sellout bands are. In fact, I would challenge anyone to name a band that has pushed the limits of their self-created genre so far as to be considered avante-garde (at least in my book).
    Some highlights of the album include:
(1) "The Whip Hand": Awesome noises on this, a distorted synth (I think) comes in and takes over in the chorus and there is deep growling or grinding feeling to it all. Lots of higher falsetto vocals and duets as Francis the Mute always had.
(2) "Aegis": Totally sounds like a Radiohead progression to start and there are elements of Muse in there too with the arpeggiated synths. Great moments throughout.
(3) "Dyslexicon": This has some astounding guitar playing, I assume it is guitar, right from the start it just dives in and does not let up. Cool lyric references to a dictionary too, with the idea of a lexicon. One of the best songs on the album and most perhaps akin to their older work.
(4) "Empty Vessels Make the Loudest Sounds": This song seems to start the trend toward slower more dragging tempos that feel like they could burst at any moment. A slightly optimistic feel to this, even though the melody sort of wanders and leaves you uneasy.
(5) "The Malkin Jewel": Starts a little disjointed, but comes together really well, with a riotous middle/late section. Becomes cacophonous, which I like when The Mars Volta does.
(6) "Lapochka": There is sort of an open and closing feel to this, or wind coming and going, with the electronic sounds rising and falling subtlety in the background and the disjointed flavor that prevails in the syncopated beats and electronics.
(7) "In Absentia": The longest track on the album, has some different sections to it. The grungy lo-fi distortion is back in full swing here, with some other interesting sounds to boot. Sounds very metallic or construction yard-ish.
(8) "Imago": I just wonder about the title of the song, how it evokes an image. And to me "Imago" feels like looking at oneself or into a mirror. The music itself is that more optimistic uneasiness I am finding quite a trend with Noctourniquet.
(9) "Molochwalker": Starts reminiscent of "Cotipaxi" from Octahedron, and kicks it harder than anything else on the album. A solid throwback to previous albums, with a more recognizable vocal sound from Cedric Bixler-Zavala.
(10) "Trinkets Pale of Moon": Also reminds me of a previous song, "Asilos Magdalena" from Amputechture. The acoustic guitar and lullaby-ness is a very cool balance to the lo-fi noise that pops up mid way through.
(11) "Vedamalady": Actually has a melodic major key harmony with triadic (in 3rds, such as do mi sol all together) vocal harmony, not something I've ever heard from The Mars Volta before!
(12) "Noctourniquet": Some intense almost poly-rhythm going on in the drumming and this is the kind of The Mars Volta I love, busy and immersive. There are also moments enhanced electronically that are very interesting and new for The Mars Volta in timbre.
(13) "Zed and Two Naughts": Starts off sounding like bubbles, but quickly morphs into a heavier driving song with nice drumming, synth chords shifting and chorus sections that contain excellent energy and electricity. By far one of the best songs, and it is a single.
    Gotta spend some time with Noctourniquet, get to know The Mars Volta and experience a listening journey that is unrivaled by maybe no one but Radiohead (though it is hard to compare their respective genres, nonetheless elite company). Hope this all does the record justice. Check out the entire stream as provided earlier in the post! Enjoy!

Mammal Club: The Au (EP)

    A shortie but a goodie this week, Mammal Club's The Au (EP), released May 2, 2011. The three person group (EDIT: apparently they are a four person band, but neither Wikipedia or their Facebook page reflect this)--comprised of Wilson Astley (vocals), Colin Liddle and Adam Hiles (I do not know who the fourth member is)--is from Newcastle and was started in 2009 by ex members of Yourcodenameis:Milo and The Eyejab. They mostly just have a local following so far, but have started to play festivals and receive recognition from bands such as Everything Everything. They are on the Everybody's Stalking Recordings label, a new since 2010 Manchester record company. I actually do not have much other info about Mammal Club, them being relatively new, so I will move on to the music.
    The four songs on The Au (EP)--"Otter", "Out of the Playground", "Hang" and "Picket"--are highly energetic and contain a little Alternative flavor, Post-Punk in the guitar timbres, some Math Rock, and maybe a tinge of Progressive Rock. Everything is rhythmic in nature. The guitars are used expertly to create rhythmic patterns, and lyrics are not only added, but used to set the beats. It's punchy and fun, with lots of runs and scalular lines. So, really, just a short offering here. I hope you take the time to listen, there is a lot of good quality music here nonetheless.
    Check their The Au (EP) out on SoundCloud here or Bandcamp here, courtesy of Everybody's Stalking Recordings. There is an additional song not on the EP on their Facebook page here. Listen to "Hang" under 'Monthly Sample Tracks' to the right as well. Enjoy!

Just in...Andrew Bird: Break It Yourself

    Listened to Andrew Bird's latest album yet, to be released tomorrow (March 6th, 2012), Break It Yourself? It has been streaming in full on the NPR: First Listen website here since February 26th. Andrew Bird joined the Mom+Pop Record label in late 2011. His most recent albums were Noble Beast (2009), Useless Creatures (2010, meant to be a b-side companion to Noble Beast I believe), Fingerlings 4 (2010, a live album), and Norman (2011 fully composed soundtrack to the film of the same name). He also appeared on two separate Muppets cover albums, Muppets: The Green Album (the song "Bein' Green", 2011) and The Muppets (film soundtrack, with "The Whistling Caruso").
    What is really gorgeous about this album is its simplicity. It is lush. It has whistling, of course. It contains lyrical violin melodies, harmonics and double stops (playing more than one note on the violin at a time). All of that, but it never overdoes it. It is not packed full of too many layers or multiple vocals doubled or tripled. It is like going to a barn party and jamming out to folk music with your friends. And, actually, that is how this album all came about too. He took his time with the production of Break It Yourself, also, not rushing to release, but relaxed a bit since Noble Beast. I think the record reflects that, it is reposeful and pared down. At almost precisely an hour of music, it is longer than usual, and only two songs are brief thoughts. There are not a lot of upbeat songs either. The first song, "Desperation Breeds" is about as heavy as the album gets, with a few more layers to unpeel, a groove that sets in nicely and a mid-section that blossoms. But, what Break It Yourself might consequently lack in energy it makes up for in beauty.
    Even by track three, "Danse Carribe", I was drawn into the subtle lyricism, untamed nature and ethereal nature of the album. Of course, as you will hear, "Danse Carribe" becomes something more intense, with rhythm flowing underneath and a nod to Caribbean steel drums [on the guitar]--folk music in general. "Give It Away" is also very intelligent, with lots of violin pizzicato and changing tempos/sections. Annie Clark, I believe makes an appearance with her soft vocals as well, on "Give It Away", "Near Death Experience Experience", and "Lusitania". I love the intro to "Lazy Projectors", it is so Queen-ish, but lo-fi, kind of a haziness to it--very cool mixing. "Near Death Experience Experience" is as close to a song from Armchair Apocrypha as it comes, probably my favorite sound of Andrew Bird's, except maybe for the upbeat gigue like true folk dances, as in "Orpheo Looks Back". Wikipedia labels this album as Baroque Pop, probably because of this style and all the pizzicato, but I do not think they realize a song like this is not actually Baroque Pop, but really just real back hills folk. The longest track on Break It Yourself, "Hole in the Ocean Floor" is really pleasant too, with simple ukelele [actually strummed violin] rhythm, but grows and washes over you like being under the waves as they pass by with all the strings. Nice fade too. Finally, "Belles" is like being out in the middle of a field at night, taking in the crickets and just enjoying the hot summer weather or the stars. A peaceful resolution to a sublime listening experience.
    So, go to NPR before they take down the link! Or go here, Drowned in Sound, which I think has a link by Bella Union, the UK distributor; or here, Spinner, through AOL. Sorry no 'Monthly Sample Tracks', I do not yet have access to a stream yet that I can embed. Enjoy!