Link: Beaten By Them’s Official Site

When Beaten By Them released Invisible Origins last year, they proved that they could expand on their musical chops while showing off the talents of each individual even while being stretched out geographically across the globe. It was something I thought was better than anything they have done in the past.

Each individual song was a powerful ball of instrumental energy within itself. Some of it being tribal, while others being intricately planned jams. The thing that you immediately noticed was how well each musician could work with each other while being able to dissect the song down to individuality.

At the end of 2011, the band returned with the People Start Listening EP. This was nothing like an EP of B-Sides throw-outs or an afterthought to Invisible Origins, People Start Listening is an entity upon itself; a thought pattern that told a story in under 20 minutes.

Instead of elongated, distinct thoughts, the four songs all exist because of each other. What this means is that when you listen to a song like “Rigours of Madness,” the opening track “Damp Sky 3” becomes more important. And with “Damp Sky 4,” “Rigours Of Madness” becomes more meaningful.

The drums on this album are non-existent until you get to the end and “It Can Take You Higher,” the only song that exemplifies a definitive, non-experimental Beaten By Them song. Loud guitars, waves of emotion, and an instrumental taken by force, it’s like you just experienced something amazing.

And you have because when you start out with “Damp Sky 3” and its minimal ambient structure, you really have no idea where this band is about to take you. I had to check the playback several times not knowing if the song was actually functioning. Maybe it’s the band’s way to get you to turn up the volume. By “Rigours Of Madness,” volumes only do the experimental piece justice as you can hear the blending and the effects more clear. These are things you don’t want to miss. It also sets you up for “It Can Take You Higher” and a way for Beaten By Them to blow you through the roof with their sonic sound.

This is nothing Beaten By Them has done before, and I say a fantastic job for pulling together a wonderful and well thought-out piece of musical art.

Link: http://www.myspace.com/khudamusic

It’s rare to have a math rock band surface in the 2010s, let alone an indie instrumental band — although that is more common than the late ‘90s genre tagging. But Khuda has the chops to pull it off and the talent to flawlessly flip time signatures.

Khuda comes to us from Leeds, UK, and for a sophomore release, the production is every bit satisfying. Even though you hear everything moving the songs along, it’s the drummer that dominates, showing an insane amount of skill and precision. For songs of this caliber it takes a lot to get everything down just right and this album is not flawed.

However, when I listen to Khuda, I cannot help but think I’m in some practice space hearing the band jam. Give it to the skilled hands you feel like you are right there watching every hi-hat click and tempo melt down, and that is this albums gold key to success.

If it was not for the clarity and the band’s skill, this would not be any different than listening to someone cover a band like Tristeza, Dianogah or Ui, although there are moments when Khuda does it better.

With the encompassing style consistent from song to song its instant popularity will get the attention of the instrumental fans. For them, this is a must.

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.

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.

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
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.

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.

Link: http://inlieu.bandcamp.com/album/fuck-crz

Martin Ruffin sharpened his teeth as a multi-instrumentalist and composer that has quite the knack of being an accomplished musician. His thoughts and vision on aural landscapes is something that is dead on. When you hear Ruffin’s music, you think of some glorious film soundtrack that would make any musical archeologist smile.

Fuck Crz is one crazy title for something that has a rich depth and scope. As a concept — “Sun” being the first song and “Moon” being the last — it’s a musical cycle that is easy to latch on to. Where The Birdwatcher took three albums to make the circle full, In Lieu does it in one. And it’s a quick time lapse through it all.

“Sun” has an explosive sound that tends to build a slight disjoint with the vocals and music. You almost want the song to breathe a little more. But “Halune” sounds like a Galaxie 500 song embedded inside electronic bliss. That alone opens up this release to a greater dimension.

The rest of the album only gets richer, bouncing between drizzled ambient and powerful multi-instrumental pieces with a vocal peppered in for accentuation. By “Moon,” you witness a glimmering soundscape that puts everything into context. The longest song on the album plays us out with dreamy-eyed electronic escapism. It’s what I would imagine hearing when I stand outside and stare up to the night sky. The departure is a wondrous illusion that brings us back to square one, which is exactly where Ruffin wants you, a cyclic kind of love.

Link: http://www.beautifulbells.com/

Justin Peake takes over where a band like Microstoria left off. A fierce visage through abstract electronic reality, the man behind Beautiful Bells has all the right to celebrate with this glorious group of instrumentals that pens him into a musical corner he is not accustomed to. What he has been accustomed to is a life-long love of being a musician.

Grounded as an accomplished drummer and a family that is deeply rooted in Jazz, you can feel its emphasis bearing down on songs like “Big Limpin’” and “Downtreading.”

Managing Depth is best listened as a whole. It is at this viewpoint where you will loose your mind, forget about things, chill out, juice up, and jive in space. With the album, you hear more Hip Hop and R&B influences than pure jazz conceptions, but as the album spins through, you get more homage to the glitch and less to the bop. “Jungle Overview” and “So Nowhere” are two examples of that.

Once your earholes get accustomed to Peake’s approach, the album flows flawlessly with smooth-as-silk sampling and dimensional abstractions. He has taken his musical expertise and stripped away convention. What’s left is an electronic journey inspired by his surroundings. The more you listen, the more you want to listen.

Link: http://aphasiaband.com/

There are days I miss the late-’90s indie instrumental albums. Those flowing pieces of work that transcend their sonic sound into a continuum of guitar bliss. The post-My Bloody Valentine rockers who would rather keep quiet and let their instruments do the talking then waste time with words. The communication is within the composition.

You can imagine what a pleasant surprise it is to discover Aphasia’s guitar textures that bring back memories of bands like Tristeza. And the common thread between the two is the similarity in time signature; that 3-3 waltz structure that sends you spinning around where Aphasia has the balls to turn the knobs up and make it almost hardcore level loud before calming back down to a sense of realism.

Aphasia’s sound is no copout. Although you would never know it, this band has been at the forefront of the Taiwan indie music scene since the late ‘90s when they were simply called Nipples.

And as Aphasia seems more appropriate to the delicacies this group creates, The Crocodile Society Of is a beautiful exploratory album. You need to treat it more like one elongated song instead of eight, each one builds on the next without deliberately doing so.

Experience is more of a key to properly perceive this album as words cannot do it justice. The swoops and the emotion. The highs and the more highs, you cannot really gain a full perspective without simply sitting down and listening to it.

But what I can tell you is that it’s an album that you need to hear because Aphasia is worth it as it now ranks up there in my top indie instrumental albums of all time.