Category Archives: Instrumental
Cave – Neverendless (Drag City)
Cave
Neverendless
Drag City
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Link: http://www.dragcity.com/artists/cave
Holy hot damn, Cave’s Neverendless is an array of amazing rock and sonic explosiveness to make your brain turn inside out.
We have all heard our fair share of bands who try the Neu! formula of instrumental jam cadence. Just stay on course! Keep the driving rhythm, focus and set course for 10 minutes of power rock prowess. Just when you hear that one band that does a pretty good job of this, comes Cave. They almost exceed where Neu! pioneered…almost. And “WUJ” is nothing short of fantastic. The post-eight minute song is a powerhouse of rock splendor.
And that is just the warm up. The exploratory post-14 minute song “This Is The Best” is more ‘60s psych rock with late ‘90s indie instrumentalists. It fuels a total space out until five minutes into the whole shebang then the bass sounds like its an audition for a new GBH incarnation with the guitars follow.
“Adam Roberts” is probably the least impressionable but it’s little over four minutes so you are not sacrificing much beyond good contrast from what came before. And to contrast more, “On The Rise” sounds like Dianogah trying out Thurston Moore’s guitar collection.
Plan for one last freak out as “OJ” sends us spiraling back into the ‘60s as the Hammond organ beckons us into oblivion. It’s an album you don’t want to miss.
Explosions In The Sky – Take Care, Take Care, Take Care (Temporary Residence, Ltd.)
Explosions In The Sky
Take Care, Take Care, Take Care
Temporary Residence, Ltd.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Link: http://www.explosionsinthesky.com/
How high is high? It is a strange and generically framed question, but one that comes up whenever you listen to an Explosions In The Sky album. How high does this band think is high enough when it comes to the emotive of their music and is there such a thing as too high. With Take Care, Take Care, Take Care I think that answer is obvious. There is no such thing as too high.
Explosions in the Sky stretches out their musical strength to instrumentally reach out as far as they can only to be temporarily diverted by the offset of something beautiful. Both contain depth in their own right. And whatever you have been anticipating, expect them to uphold the standard.
After a while, Take Care, Take Care, Take Care makes you feel light headed. How many times is the band going to soar with climactic advantages?
“Last Known Surroundings” may start out like you are being jet propelled into outer space, but as the instruments transform into a swirling nebula of weightlessness, the guitars keep climbing.
It’s where a song like “Be Comfortable, Creature” becomes refreshing. A soft lull of guitar delicacy with no power struggles; just a quiet calm. Even when things pull together, it’s not over the top, just layers meandering about.
But then “Postcard From 1952” gets back into the routine, but only this time using downward scaling so that you feel like you are on a return and it’s a celebration.
Take Care, Take Care, Take Care is that realization you get when you become aware of your place in this universe, even if it is for that brief second.
Mogwai – Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will (Sub Pop)
Mogwai
Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will
Sub Pop
Rating: 4 out of 5
I remember the day I bought Come On Die Young. It had just been released and the late ‘90s buzz about this band was sizzling thanks to the irreplaceable Young Team. Their instrumentals were beyond comparable and a must have for any indie collector. So what did I do? I bought the vinyl version, of course. A beefy 180 gram, double vinyl piece of goodness. I think the only downfall to the platter was having to switch sides and lack the continuous movement that keeps the steam train churning.
Career wise the train never stopped moving and Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will continues the sonic integrity of this band. The album sounds as sweet to my ears as when I first sent Come On Die Young spinning.
If you want the deep soul surging reflectiveness of “Too Raging To Cheers,” this album has it. If you want the progressive “White Noise,” it’s all right here. “Mexican Grand Prix” is the only song that is blatantly reminiscent the stylistic sounds of The Hawk Is Howling.
“You’re Lionel Richie” is anything but smooth and suave. Songs springboarding off of songs and layer upon layer has led the band up to outer space, around the cosmos and into this very moment that is a controlled chaos that only this band has been able to perfectly express.
If you want that feeling, digital may be the way to go, but don’t discount the coolness factor of owning the vinyl version. Every time I see mine, I don’t.
Beaten By Them – Invisible Origins (Music Review)
MP3: Beaten By Them – “Yo”
Beaten By Them
Invisible Origins
Logicpole
Rating: 4 out of 5
Link: http://www.beatenbythem.com/
I feel weird, like I’m trapped in a void. What the hell is that banging sound!?! It keeps pounding over and over again, rattling my brain. Oh those cosmic swirls of outer space electronic energy. Damn, that is hot stuff!
This is how “Final Sun” ends with a drum cadence repeated like it was some strange radio frequency penetrating our air waves, or the result of what it sounds like to be propelled into outer space, awe-inspiring and mystifying. You may loose track of the song shortly after it begins, but the back end is so much cooler.
I would be happy with this thought process being transcended and transformed into all sorts of direction, but the song simply fades out with nowhere else to go. When you continue on, the quintet’s sound transcends in some form. And with that cross over, there is something beautiful in the way Beaten By Them shares a dynamic.
Even a song like “Vanishing Point,” which clocks in at almost 12 minutes, shows that the band can manage to hold themselves together while being as expansive as they want to be or as closed fist as they desire, often times contingent to a Neu!-like structure. It’s something that started out on the song “Yo” and was visited on this epic song.
The album is tribal in nature, and I think that is what really makes Invisible Origins hypnotic. Whether it’s a driving beat — like a Sandy Nelson big beat on “Nisla Nif” — or a beautiful earthly discovery in scope (we really hear that on the song “Lost”). “Destiny Manifest” sounds like a Sonic Youth meandering without screetching feedback, just an open-aired composition that is elevated high into the atmosphere.
Most of these songs will have you forgetting that you are listening to an album to begin with. Their natural construction and hypnotic ease is not an easy thing to accomplish, but they do it quite nicely and your mind will thank you for the distraction.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 3:58 — 5.4MB)
Alright The Captain – Snib (Music Review)
Alright The Captain
Snib
Field Records
Rating: 4 out of 5
Link: http://alrightthecaptain.bandcamp.com/
The late ‘90s and those conjunctive bands with their noise and angularity, stemming from all things Big Black. Sweep The Leg Johnny, Dianogah, Spanakorzo (although that borders more with Cerebus Shoal, but still taps the vein), June Of 44, the list goes on — I often miss the days when boisterous bands fell out of labels like Southern, Touch and Go or Jade Tree. Now I won’t be so melancholic thanks to a little band with a huge sound radiating halfway across the globe.
Alright The Captain stacks up the fury with a loud, sometimes obnoxious, sometimes disparate instrumental album that incorporates a little bit of all the above into a powerful package. Trust me, you will not know what hit you after you let the sound waves impact.
If the title “Soundtrack Your Death” does not explain it, then wait until the tidal wave wall of noise comes rushing in. There just might be about 20 pedals forming layer after layer of sound. But at least for the songs, they don’t just destroy your eardrums for 45 minutes. The balancing act between the intricate and the righteous rock is fair, even for a song like this.
“Rostov Could Get It” may be all about the Big Black knuckle thrust, “Honey Badger” is a total “what the fuck” moment. It has me fully convinced that these guys are total badasses, and they are fully aware of it.
Nothing is off limits, but Alright The Captain knows what to stay away from, making a concrete piece of artistic integrity that will make your eyes crossed and arms flapping about. Just listen to “Clamp,” and tell me that does not happen.
