Twothirtyeight- Regulate the Chemicals

Genre: indie rock



One of my favorite albums of all time. Really unique and inspiring indie rock that's just super riffy and twangy. One of the best CD's to come out of Birmingham, hands down.

http://www.mediafire.com/?wnnzjqitnv3

-sam

Fennesz - "Venice"

So this is droney, ambient music and if that sort of thing incites you to shriek and flee for the hills, than this album is probably not going to change your mind. I implore you, however, to give it a chance because it is one of my favorite records to relax to. I love Christian Fennesz for his ability to create beautifully dense textures using all sorts of different sources instead of simply layering a few oscillators and twittling knobs. This music is not that at all. There is so much sonic variety going on here. I go back and forth between his albums because I love them all, but I just sat down and put this on and felt like it needed to posted, so here you go.

-tyler

Phosphorescent- "Los Angeles"

The vocals are a little rough on everyone's part, but I am REALLY excited for this new album. Notice my head at 1:44.

-sam

LoOmis- A Temporary Reaction

Genre: math pop?, post rock



Pretty awesome solo album from our friend Patrick from Smiley With a Knife. This album has some very nice pop sensibilities, but also grooves with some twinkly, slightly mathy guitar work. Vocals have some cool layering going on and the drums are sparse but effective. Wordless post-rock kinda tracks go throughout and make good use of loops and builds. Great job man!

Download for free here:
http://loomis.bandcamp.com/

The Rainy Day Playlists

So Tyler told me to make a playlist just based on rainy days. Or at least that what I did. I tried to get in some happy summer rain songs and then some cold winter rain songs too. I listened to half of it and fell asleep, so I guess it's pretty down-temp. It also got kind of international, which is interesting.

Enjoy.

-Sam


and here's mine!

-tyler

V/A- Joan of Arc Presents: Don't Mind Control

Genre: Everything



New collection of songs from anyone that's ever been in Joan of Arc. Yes, this will probably be as awesome as it sounds. New songs by Ghosts and Vodka (!!!), Birthmark, Tim Kinsella, Owen, etc. I have it preordered, you should too.

http://www.polyvinylrecords.com/store/index.php?id=948

1. Uwar (Litesalive)
2. Guider (Disappears)
3. Privacy (Birdshow)
4. The Doug McComb Over (A Tundra)
5. No More No Where (Owen)
6. Kickstart (White/Light)
7. Friend in Common (w/ Tim Kinsella) (Euphone)
8. Spit in Layers (Slick Conditions)
9. Long Looks (Cale Parks)
10. Blanes echo Blirds, Bless echo Blouds (Joshua Abrams)
11. Oh Solo (The Cairo Gang)
12. Roots Dug into Dunes = Landslide (Tim Kinsella)
13. Second Door From the Left (Jeremy Boyle)
14. Flicker (The Zoo Wheel)
15. Friday the 13th Part 2 (Vacations)
16. Oakey (Pillars and Tongues)
17. Gameshow Buzzer (Ghosts and Vodka)
18. Drivin' me Crazy (Birthmark)

toe "So Long Tomorrow" tracklisting

1 ここには何もかもがあるし、何もかもがない
2 ショウシツ点よ笛
3 After Image feat. Harada Ikuko (Clammbon)
4 エソテリック
5 Say It Ain’t So feat. Hoshikawa Yuzuru (Dry River String, ex upandcoming)
6 Two Moons
7 モスキートンはもう聞こえない#1
8 モスキートンはもう聞こえない#2
9 ラストナイト　Album Version
10 グッドバイ Goodbye　Album Version feat. Toki Asako 土岐麻子
11 You Go
12 Our Next Movement
13 Long Tomorrow

So yeah, this may seem pointless to post, especially since half the titles are Japanese, but I'm way too excited to not post it. I very much hope that track 5 is a Weezer cover, and I'm super pumped that they re-did "Goodbye" with Toki Asako. The album art is this like industrial factory picture, but it's too small to really tell. More details to come, including preorder sites!!

Frodus "And We Washed Our Weapons in the Sea"

I definitely don't like every song on this album, but I come back to it for the ones I really like such as "the earth isn't humming" "chiriaco summit" "6/99" and "out circuit the ending". The vocals are mostly sung in clear, moderate register that matches well with the more down tempo, groovier style of (I guess?) post hardcore churning with it. He also occasionally employs one of my favorite scream/yells ever. Give it a shot.

Flying Lotus

reset ep




1983




Los Angeles




Quirky, modulated, filtered, layered sound under hip hop beats is not exactly a new idea, but if those adjectives get you excited, then look no further than beat master FlyLo. "tea leaf dancers" off of the reset ep is one of my favorite chill out tracks ever. Los Angeles is the more experimental of the bunch. 1983 is super groovtastic. Listen to them in that order if you have never heard any of them. Album covers are linked.


So the weather has changed drastically in Germany since me and sam made our fall playlists, and i'm kinda feelin' a new one. Sam?

New Rooftops songs!

Genre: math rock

Slower, more thoughtful math rock from Washington that makes we want to dance my ass off. Can't wait for this CD.

http://www.myspace.com/rftps



-sam

Solange covers Dirty Projectors

Uh... yeah. Beyonce's sister covering "Stillness is the Move" from the newest Dirty Projector's album. It's kind of awesome, although I think is is the sort of song the original version was kinda mocking. But maybe not, still pretty neat. At least Solange knows how to play the tambourine on beat.

http://downloads.pitchforkmedia.com/Solange%20-%20Stillness%20Is%20the%20Move.mp3

My favorite Pele album. My favorite Pele album is also "Elephant". Don't ask me how that works.

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Jim White- Transnormal Skipperoo

Genre: folk, folk rock



"Long one day there I lay
under the big windy sky I prayed:
Dear Lord, make the flickering hands of fate
finally flip the page to the yellow sun
of my coming age."

Some of Jim White's albums were a little hard for me to get into because he would indulge in his stranger side, but this is definitely his most straightforward. While I loved the back story and concept of "Wrong Eyed Jesus!" I think this is my favorite of his albums. The lyrics are great, every song is haunting and beautiful, and there's great production. If you enjoy folk music, you should take a listen.

http://www.mediafire.com/?y1ngmmnzqwy

Cheval de Frise - Fresques Sur Les Parois Secretes Du Crane

Nobody has ever really done the guitar/drum duo thing better than they did. There is such wonderful subtlety, nuance, and dynamics in composition presented on this album, and none of it sounds forced. I really didn't like this band at all several years ago when I first came across them because they didn't have that omglookatmeplayingmyinstrumentsofast shit going on, but they have since become one of my favorites. So give it a shot and if you can't get into it, keep it on your hard drive and give it another random listen sometime.






(updated link. better quality)

stage kids - s/t ep

Someone requested this a while ago and I apologize for forgetting.

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the best bands always break up

goddamnit

A Question.

I read on a forum today that math rock is "music for musicians," and in essence, that someone who doesn't know about notes and time signatures can't appreciate math rock, or even enjoy it, to the same degree as a musician. What are thoughts on this? I must admit that most of Shapes Like Dinosaur's friends on MySpace are other bands or members of bands. Like probably 85% of them. So it could be true, I'm not sure. I have musical friends who hate even the tamest math rock, and also ones who play no instruments that love Hella and Dilute.

Just something interesting to think about. I would say it's a lot like jazz in that there's a lot going on musically, but you can certainly enjoy it without knowing about it, even if you can't appreciate it in the same way.

Thoughts? Love.

-Sam

Dirty Projectors b-side stream rip

sooooo gooooooooooooood

Lockerz.com

Shameless plug. This is a cool new site that's just getting started up. You sign up for free and just answer polls and stuff to get points you can spend on iPods, Playstations, Macbooks, etc. I did some research, and it all seems legit, as strange as that sounds. People actually get the things they send off for.

It's invite only, so if you'd like to give it a shot with me, shoot me an e-mail at goodwins@pop.belmont.edu. It's all free, like I said, so I figure if we all give it a try and it's fake, we haven't lost anything. But we might get Demon's Souls for free, and that game looks badass. Cool? Cool.

End plug.

-Sam

PS. The staff is a bunch of ski cap guys that listen to Battles, so, yeah. This is awesome.

Joe Purdy- StompinGrounds

Genre: singer/songwriter, folk



Probably the most "commercial" sounding album I've put up. The lyrics aren't super deep, Purdy can actually sing worth a flip, and your parents will probably like it. HOWEVER, the guitar playing is top notch and it's not overproduced, which I've heard ruin some similar albums. If you enjoy Gary Jules, Jeremy Enigk, or Josh Ritter, you should give this a shot. The slower songs are highlights for me, as some are really beautiful like "this morning blue" and "he said she said."

http://www.mediafire.com/?jyzqtwnjraz

-Sam

P.S. If anyone has his album "Julie Blue," I'd love to get it from you.

Damiera - M(US)IC

I would not like to think that the unfortunately dumb title of this album contributed to the lukewarm reception and recognition it seems to have recieved, because I have always really liked it. I bought it randomly when I worked at an electronics store a few years ago, and it has proved to be the most pleasing random album buy experience of all time for me. Their most recent album I wasn't super into, but this one I listened to so much that I will always check out whatever their newest stuff is.


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Boy Problems, The Reptillian, Lautrec, Osceola- 4-Way Split

Genre: new wave screamo?

Great split from some great bands. Not one song I didn't enjoy, although some are a little sloppier than others. All eight songs could really be by the same band, although I'm sure some would disagree. I guess that makes the split more enjoyable though, not being shoved from one style to another. All four bands sound like if Native kicked it up a notch, Emeril style.

http://www.mediafire.com/?mi0o2fln4be

-sam