Tuning In

Hi!  You’ve found the front page of Tuning Into Obscure!  I know the date on this says May of 2011, but ignore that.  Scroll down for new content.

And now, the obligatory front page bio stuff….

(from May, 2011)

At long last, I’ve launched a new, improved blog for the music related chaos of the universe.  Here, the mission takes a new form.

Over the past year or so, I’ve been on a mission to find the best music in the world, either old or new, underground or forgotten.  And while I tried to post reviews and tid bits on my personal blog, i realized that was a difficult thing to do, as personal blogs are well, personal, and mine typically indulged readers in the life of an overworked, tired and frustrated mascot.  Needless to say, the writings about music took a back seat and when it did show up, it would quickly get buried under a pile of nonsense.

This blog will be simply for the music.

I tend to focus more on obscure music– I hate how snobby and hipster-esque that sounds when I say that– stuff ignored or overlooked by most listeners, lurking in the shadows of the internet or just… going by completely unnoticed.  So here, the best music I can dig up (or that’s sent to me) will be exposed here, along with some musings on artists, bands, projects, and whatnot, and maybe a few notes and random thoughts about my own musical projects.

I typically obsess over electronic music in all  its forms, indie rock, folk rock, punk/grunge and other experimental styles, but I will listen to and indulge in all genres of tunage.  So comment often and enjoy!

Contact:  lonelyfox_music@yahoo.com

The Life and TImes of the Future Sound of London, pt. 25

Keith returns with a guest post to continue our long running review series on FSOL and their side projects.  We’re going a tiny bit out of order here, tackling this one first before diving back into the Archives series.  Expect that to be posted soon (I hope).  Scope out Keith’s new blog here.

Artist: Amorphous Androgynous

Title: The Peppermint Tree and Seeds of Superconsciousness

Released: 2008

Label: FSOLdigital.com,  Jumpin’ n’ Pumpin’

Format: Digital Download & CD

Genre: neo-psyche, psyche, electronic, abstract

The Future Sound of London and their side project, Amorphous Androgynous, have had an interesting journey through sound in the last twenty or so years. From house and dub music to ambient and more recently, psychedellia, Garry Cobain and Brian Dougans have brought us many records that demand to be played. However, this collection of “psychedelic relics” may show tiredness, an exhausted attempt at being retro, an abundance of already used sounds and samples. Has The AA lost all of their Technicolor steam?

Now, Future Sound of London’s excursion into the psychedelic realm has been a tricky affair. Coming back from one of the darkest of dark ambient/dub records, Dead Cities, (and a hiatus) they went straight into acidic throwback live-mix sessions, which featured many vintage psychedelic recordings as well as new trippy soundscapes that they sculpted themselves. They called these shows The Monstrous Psychedelic Bubble, which later was revived as the compilation series by the same name. I found this first bunch of podcasts to be absolute genius. It takes balls to go from one extreme end of music and then going to the complete opposite side. After this, The Isness record showed some absolute gorgeous moments of clarity and beautifully lysergic brilliantness that blended the organic with the electronic. However, there were still moments of unnecessary pomp and drama that derailed the piece of work. Even after stressing through a massive album call back and altering the original mix, Isness still sounded half perfect and half uncomfortable.

Alice in Ultraland, the next record to be released, seemed to fit just right. All of the tracks with lyrics were sung wonderfully (even the near-atonal overdub strewn vocal performance of “Summertime of My Consciousness” was worthy of multiple plays.) The samples fit perfectly amongst the drippy atmosphere and the kaleidoscopic flourishes. The organic acoustic elements sat enjoyably alongside the electric ingredients and formed a proper tribute to the prog and psych sounds of old without appearing to be forced. Both moments of sunshine and murky darkness coexist seamlessly on Alice, which is a clever trick that was captured before only by the best artists of the genre.

Yet this album seems more of a repetitive mess than an actual album. Many songs sound to be actually unfinished outtakes from previous records, and even some tracks appear far too similar to the work of other artists.

For starters, the opening title track sounds too much like Donovan’s “Hurdy Gurdy Man” to be an accident (especially since Donovan collaborated with the duo during the Isness sessions). Lyrically, the track almost sounds like a lazy parody of a psychedelic track (compare the verses to “Piggy in the Middle” by The Rutles). The first line of the second verse ends awkwardly and rather flatly on the word “aura” whereas every other line rhymes. It almost sounds like Garry’s made a mistake and pauses to stop the recording but for some reason continues anyway. These issues give the impression that the words weren’t really focused on. If one is supposed to take lyrics seriously, then the writer needs to take them seriously. Apart from this, the song features samples that have been used to death on previous recordings and sessions. This is a motif that carries over the entire disc, which is a major flaw. The ending is also a weak moment. There’s a bouncing tuba part that just comes off sounding hilarious and it takes you far out of the mood of the song. It made me think of the soundtrack of some old N64 game.

“Given that We’ve Given” isn’t terrible. Yet, it sounds not unlike a possible outtake from Alice in Ultraland. It’s definitely better than the opening track though. Following this, “I Have Loved You Into Oblivion”, swells and breaks apart several times without any sort of pay off. The song never seems to go anywhere or amount to anything. Meandering can be good, but here it just sounds unfinished and unfocused. “Light Beyond Sound” is just annoying if you’ve been keeping up with all of the AA releases. This excerpt of spoken word poetry has been used and reused to the point that when I hear that voice on any recording, I leap to the skip button immediately. Yes, it can be really interesting to feature a sample of original spoken poetry if it fits in well with your material, but if you drop it into virtually everything that you release for a couple of years, then it looses the meaning.

The track “Carousel” stands in as just filler. It’s nothing. The song gets irritating by the end, thank god it’s only 38 seconds. “Mr. Sponge’s Groovy Oscillations” has got to be a joke title. The song itself is comprised of Abbey Road/Let it Be like guitar work with some ELO-esque synthesized squeaks, yet none of these exercises can hide the fact that this track is only a different version of “Divinity”. “Mr. Groovy” forces one to beg for any newly written song by the duo.  This is followed by the uselessness that is “It’s a Sunshine Day”. The song is only a rehash of the sounds and voices found earlier on this and the other previous releases.

Thankfully, there are some decent moments here and there across the album. “In Fear Of The Electromagnetic Machine (Part 1)” starts off like a cheesy 1970s blaxploitation theme song but with a spacey quality to it. If there was ever a Shaft in Space, this could have been the film’s soundtrack. Eventually the song sounds not unlike something that could have belonged to Dead Cities, which is a nice return to form if you ask me. “Nowhere at the Edge” continues the mood of the previous track, then, sitar and ocean sound effects enjoyably brighten the tone. This then flows into “Riders”, which just ruins the nice direction these songs were going in. This track is basically just another piece full of recycled clips from previous songs.

“Opus of The Black Sun” is a gentle sunny kind of track, even though it is essentially just an instrumental version of Alice’s “The Witch Finder”. I actually find that I enjoy this version better than the original, but it is still distracting that it’s just yet another completely recycled song and not an original creation. “Marylebone Road” has moments that are catchy and danceable yet, once the pieces of “Goodbye Sky” from The Isness show up and take over, it gets terribly weighed down. Following this is “Tiny Space Birds”. This track has a fierce driving beat that makes it sound more like good electronic acid trance song. Then sitars and ethereal voices with bells accompany the track like as if it was an acid rock song. So now it’s safe to say that “Tiny Space Birds” is an Acid-Acid track.

“Drifter” is one of the most pleasant moments on the entire record. Its mainly acoustic sound is a nice break from the overly produced digital atmosphere. This track would play very nicely during an easy drive by the sea. Then “Rocket Fuel” comes next. This song feels like a slowed down Hawkwind track with some sludgy Dead Meadow like guitar work. At one humorous point, there’s a sampled voice that pops up that talks about being a tree. This gets a laugh from my friends and I during every listen. From here, “Listen Little Man” flows through as one of the true standouts. “Listen…” is a pretty little acoustic guitar and sitar number with some nice harmonious lyrics. This is one of Garry’s best moments as a singer. If the direction of the album went where this song was heading, then the rest of the record could have been fairly original and much more interesting. The next stand out track follows this one, and it’s called “Man is a Virus”. This track sounds very much like a cosmic 70s funk song. I’d even go as far as to say that this isn’t too different from sounding like if Funkadelic and Pink Floyd had a studio session together.

Overall, The Peppermint Tree and Seeds of Superconsciousness is nothing special and certainly nothing memorable. There are a few moments of fun and a couple of good songs, but they’re very scant and often times too short. Again, perhaps the record could have been improved greatly if the group decided to not constantly reuse sounds, samples and entire songs from their past catalogue. This persistent recycling gets old very fast and it makes the music come off as sounding cheap, lazy and boring. Perhaps it is time to either go back to the world that Dead Cities and Lifeforms existed in or find a totally different path to explore.

Although this is one of my least favorite albums by Amorphous Androgynous and Future Sound of London, it still is a hell of a lot better than their cover of “Across The Universe” on Mojo Magazine’s Let it Be Revisited tribute CD. (They literally just stripped the vocal track off of their song “The World is Full of Plankton” from Alice and spoke the Beatle lyrics over it. Could you be any lazier?)

2 out of 5.

This Will Be Our Summer Showcase, pt 1

Here, we’ll be taking a look at the Athens, GA label, This Will Be Our Summer Records.  We’ll scope out a few of their new releases and explore the label itself a bit.  Here’s part one!  Enjoy!

Artist: Madeline

Title: B-Sides

Released: 2012

Label: This Will Be Our Summer

Format: download

Genre: Folk rock

Madeline releases this splendid collection of unreleased tracks a few months after her release, “Black Velvet” for This Will Be Our Summer Records.  The album is sent via greeting card with a download code, which is a pretty cool idea.

Madeline’s vocals are intoxicating.  They’re sweet, powerful and amazing.  Her lyrics are dynamic and capture the true emotion of the subject of the song.  Just within the first three tracks, you are presented with a great range thereof, with the opening track being a prime, folky acoustic piece, the second being a happy indie-pop track, and the third being more of a blues piece.  Thus far, this album has a great set up.

Madeline makes good use of her voice.  On many tracks, she layers her vocals thick, creating deep melodies and echoing choruses.  While this is a tool many artists use, it feels a heck of a lot more natural here, like as if this was how her songs were meant to sound, no question.  A good example of this would be on “Raining in the Philippines.”

And for this album being a collection of unreleased works, it sounds like a fully cohesive album.  I wouldn’t have guessed otherwise.  Every track here is solid, even if some are short.  Seriously, from start to finish, this is a great recording.  Every track feels like it belongs here in this order.  The lyrics can be very poetic and conversational, and otherwise very true.  Obviously, there’s no doubt in my mind as to her songwriting abilities.

This is pure indie-pop / folk genius.  It’s hard to pick tracks that really stand out, but if I had to choose, I would say “Simon,” “30 Days,” “Trampoline Tuesdays,” and “Neon.”  Each are prime examples of her songwriting and awesome instrumentation.

Should you buy this?  If you’re into the aforementioned indie-pop and folk cross overs with some hints of blues and rock, this is for you.  If you’re fans of REM, Beth Orton, and material from the E6 Collective, this sound is for you.  Again, it’s hard to find the right comparison for this album, and even with what I’ve mentioned, it’s not close enough.  Still, I think you’ll enjoy this album.  It surprised me in some ways and I eventually found it hard to resist.  After listening to this, I’m interested in checking out her other LPs.

Check out Madeline’s site and This Will Be Our Summer for info about her records and how to order them.

4.7 out of 5.

Hanetration – Tenth Oar EP

Artist: Hanetration

Title: Tenth Oar EP

Released:  2012

Label: (self-released via Bandcamp)

Format: digital download

Genre: glitch, IDM, abstract

I have to tell you, when the first track starts playing, it feels magical and invokes an almost dreamy feel.  It’s no wonder why this four track EP is getting a lot of praise.  So let’s jump right in.

“Rex” is a clear stand out track in the vast, never ending and ever-expanding world of electronic music.  Opening with gentle flute/recorder samples, a textured 800+ bpm vocal sample (a trick I’ve used myself in a few demos), and vivid / crunchy beats, this piece sounds brilliant.  As it progresses, we’re treated to some top notch layering and some flawless flowing synth.  And just over the threshold is a similar vocal sample, slowed way down, making this feel so haunting in spots…  that in itself is an interesting juxtaposition.  Haunting sounds alongside beautiful melodies.

“Alarm” is gentle.  It’s practically an ambient piece with a subtle pulsating melody.  Rhythmically, it is like a slowed alarm.  The melodies get layered elegantly with sweet synth and piano as we move along.  I would have to say that this is one of my favorite pieces on the EP thus far.

With warm synth and a very glitched beat, we move into the third track.  Surprise!  The synth is mostly made up of a textured and stretched violin sample.  This is very clever, as it gives this piece a very melodic yet droned feel without coming off as noisy or redundant.

Some vocal samples get the reduced-speed treatment here on the final track, turning them into nearly unrecognizable moans and blending them with slow, churning synth.  A very light beat glitches above the din.  This piece, while intoxicatingly melodic on a slow and deep level, is haunting as hell.  I love it.

Should you buy this?  First of all, it’s free.  There’s no excuse not to grab this.  Secondly, the blending of styles here, alongside the clever use of textured and stretched samples gives this a unique sound that I’ve yet to hear employed in electronic music, or at least used frequently.  Fans of anything glitch or experimental will love this.  Fans of Boards of Canada, current FSOL, a darker Third Eye Foundation, or Marumari might find this hard to pass up.  This EP is great and would sound awesome through headphones or on vinyl.  Go here to get this EP right NOW!

4.9 out of 5.

Out Today via Secret Station! Gears in the Rain’s “Right on the Edge”

Artist: Gears in the Rain

Title: Right on the Edge

Released: Monday, May 21, 2012

Label: Secret Station Records

Format: mp3

Genre: leftfield, ambient, abstract

Secret Station has an amazing knack for finding some of the most unique electronic music.  Seriously, the depth and variety from the label’s catalog is impressive, even amongst artists who share the same genres.  And this album, a new project by Mental Health Consumer’s Brian Ruskin, is no exception.

Right away, things are off to a good start.  With some dark growling post-electro washes, we move into an amazingly colorful abstract piece.  It floats between space-styled ambience and fresh, unexplored melodies and affects from all over the spectrum.  This first track is wildly different from anything else I’ve heard and I honestly cannot really compare this to anything.  It’s new and kind of defies classification.

Seamlessly, we move into “Enveloped.”  This track softly soars with swooshes and ebbs of melodic engines but we quickly find ourselves playing with textured high frequency bleeps.  Again, this track is a tough one to describe.  It’s adventurous and takes me somewhere I’ve not seen before.  It has mechanical moments but still flaunts dreamlike qualities.  It’s an interesting mix.

Things get melodic in the third track, “Toward Damascus.”  Acoustic guitar, birds, reversed bells and a host of other superb organic sounds and textures make this piece so damn good.  I wish it was a little longer, but alas, it’s still awesome.  We morph effortlessly into “Slidewalk,” with a tiny bit of acid, textured voices and mellow / hazy electric guitars.  There’s a complicated melody going on here, something I’ve not heard attempted in electronic music in quite a while.  Everything is woven together like a large tapestry: every thread is different but, it fits, like it belongs together.

“Backlit Wallcloud” captures the wild structure of a thunderhead.  This track is rich with textured electro synth, reformatted into a shimmering yet darkly sinister fashion.  It feels like an oncoming storm.  A FAX-ish sounding track, “Midnight Bell Wakes Everyone,” slinks in next.  It’s gentle yet powerful, using bits of ’94-styled ambience but mixing it with more modern synth styling and layering.  We then slide into some field recordings of birds, thunder and footsteps with some stormy sounding synth as we enter the next track.  It really reminds me of when my brother and I would trek around the neighborhood with a cassette tape, recording the environment around us to use as source material for songs.

The final four tracks are remixes by Jirka Blazek   there’s a nice, healthy dose of textured guitars on some of these, giving it more ethereal feel.  The soundscape and field recordings are still present in the remix of ‘The Storm We’ve Been Waiting For,” but the ambient effects are given more of the spotlight, and some light guitar has been added in.  The new mixture makes a good companion piece for the original.

Final thoughts: My God, this is the kind of album my brother and I tried so hard to make a reality when we improvised in the studio back during our Spencerport sessions.  We made some decent stuff, but this album here was kind of the piece we strived to create.  Aside from this reason, this album shines as a great example of modern abstract electronica.  It blends organic and synthetic elements rather well and it scurries into many new directions that I haven’t seen too many modern pieces of this type travel into yet.  It does hint at some mid-90s influences here and there but otherwise this album dwells in uncharted territory, which is what makes this piece, as a whole, kind of exciting despite being more on the mellow side.

If you enjoyed Buenos Aires’s “The Lake Effect,” with its own sort of abstract / ambient adventurism, you will probably find this enjoyable as well.  Long standing fans of the SSR catalog will not be disappointed.  If there’s one thing Secret Station is good at, it’s finding artists who aren’t afraid to sail off on new sound waves to bring us brilliant work that sounds like nothing else out there.

4.8 out of 5.

Anime OST, vol 1: Cowboy Bebop

Artist: Yoko Kanno and The Seatbelts

Title(s): Cowboy Bebop

Released: between 1998 and 2001

Label(s): Victor

Format: CD

Genre: techno, jazz, bebop jazz, acoustic, blues, funk, alt rock, soul, harmonica blues, post bop, hard rock, etc…

Why an anime review?  Read this.

First off: I’ve decided to briefly discuss the soundtracks released for this series as a whole, as there were at least seven official volumes and a few companion releases.  Also, there is a box set floating around out there containing four discs; however it’s allegedly a bootleg.  But, it features live sets and demos the band and composer created.

A brief bit about the series:  Cowboy Bebop originally aired in 1998 and won huge acclaim both here and in Japan.  It quickly became a favorite amongst anime fans (otaku) and fans of film in general.

The show follows two freelance bounty hunters, Spike and Jet, and their adventures (or misadventures) as they try to track down some of the galaxy’s most vile, insane and demented criminals.  Now this is a post-futuristic series, set sometime ahead of us where humanity has already colonized just about every nearby planet or moon in the solar system.  Therefore, it’s like Wild West films met up with kung fu films and joined forces with sci-fi.

Anyway, they eventually run into Fe Valentine, super-though-wild child hacker prodigy Ed and the ultra-intelligent Corgi named Ein.   The team works to track down scum to finance their next meal and to fuel their ships while running away from / trying to track down ghosts from their past.  It’s an amazing series that I would highly recommend in either language dubs.  The show lasts a mere twenty-six episodes before it rightfully ends itself flawlessly.  The series did spawn one full length film.  And, a word to the wise, avoid buying the “remixed” version on DVD, as it’s merely recap-styled episodes.  Go for the original DVDs or the box set.

The Music:  Yoko Kanno had already established herself as a maven in the studio.  She became the go-to composer and musician for many anime scores, including prior works for the likes of Macross Plus, Escaflowne and later series such as Wolf’s Rain, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and Genesis of Aquarion.  Here, Kanno teams up with the mighty jazz force known as The Seatbelts and together, they create something truly amazing, spanning multiple genres.

Overview:  The first thing you’ll hear is the series’ theme song, “TANK!”  Right away, you know you’re in for something awesome.  To kick off a sci-fi show with jazz so in-your-face and explosive is just an amazing idea.  It gives the show its style and in a way, sums up each of the main characters personalities perfectly.  The music evolves and bolts in many directions depending on what was needed for the various scenes in each episode or what might have been called for when faced with certain dynamics in characters.

A good example of this has to be the track “On The Run.”  Originally a Pink Floyd track, this piece was used during a scene when a government syndicate was genetically manipulating, bioengineering and mentally conditioning a super soldier prototype.  The scene was intense and shockingly dark, more so when we learn the experiment failed and the prototype had escaped, going on a brutal and insane killing spree.  The music captured the emotion of this scene perfectly and it remains a fan favorite of the series for that reason.

Some tracks utilize brilliant instrumentation alongside powerful vocals.  “Real Folk Blues,” the track used most often as the end credits theme is one such example.  Most of the song is in Japanese with some minor verses in English and yet, it still captures the essence of the show.  A stronger example would have to be “Rain.”  This song is just so damn powerful that the show literally stops for it.  It’s a brilliant collaborative effort between director and composer.  The chorus alone sends shivers down my spine.

With such a variety of sounds, these OSTs standalone quite well as albums.  Whether you like the crazy jazz numbers or the techno interludes, Kanno does well to make them all fit together.  If you’re curious about the music but don’t much care for anime, this would be a good example of a soundtrack that doesn’t need to completely rely on the context of the show to be understood or liked.  Just about every track is memorable, something few soundtracks can say.

Now, you may be asking, if there are so many different volumes to this soundtrack, which ones should I buy?  Honestly, you can’t go wrong with any of them.  Each has something unique to offer in style and genre.  Even the remix album is worth it, with reworks by Dj Vadim, 4 Hero, Luke Vibert, Ian Pooly, DMX Krew, Fila Brazillia, Ian O’Brian and Mr. Scruff.  Sadly, all of these albums are out of print and are kind of pricy.  A few 12” versions exist as singles, and those are a tad bit cheaper, but you’re not really getting the full picture there.  My suggestion would be to just grab what you can.  You’re bound to find something you like.

See ya, space cowboy.

Upcoming Anime Soundtrack Series…………?

Anime music reviews?  Are you serious?

Ok, let me explain.

Long story short, some anime is stupid and some of it is… great.  Great?  Yes, great enough where it sometimes changes the very way films around the world are made.

You see, to put it simply, not every anime is designed for kids.  However, that also leads into the next inevitable anime stereotype: the needless exploitation of female genitalia and the general hyper sexualized portrayal of people (mostly women).  And if it isn’t that, it’s the over the top insanity that is Dragon Ball Z and other series like it.

I’m here to tell you that it’s ok.  Believe or not, there are many animes meant to be seen by actual adults with actual intelligence.   Yes!  There are animes that will and do appeal to our complex and grown up tastes!  Not everything is Pokemon, Speed Racer and Hello Kitty.

Just as there are cartoons meant for more mature audiences in America (i.e., Family Guy, The Simpsons or Southpark), there are animated films and/or series from Japan that are made for people like us.  Anime can be made in any genre.  It can range from simple sci-fi films and shows to programs and full lengths that are so layered with metaphors, complex allusions and imagery that you may never fully figure it out (like the Lain series).  Some are surreal and some are superb cinematic breakthroughs.  Examples: Akira (film), Wolf’s Rain (series), Princess Mononoke (film), Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (series), Cowboy Bebop (Series), and Satoshi Kon’s Paranoia Agent (series).

If you’re curious about finding good anime and need a hand avoiding the crap that is all-to-easy to find, scope out review’s by Sage or JesuOtaku.  They’ll give you a fairly good idea of what’s good to pick from and what you should ignore.

Now, to get back to the original point…  When an anime series or film is made to be serious, complex and to otherwise not be your standard Saturday morning sugar rush, you need a good soundtrack to back it up.  Now, I most likely won’t review the really cartoony soundtracks, like something you’d hear on the Slayers series, but I will focus more on the soundtracks that show the most depth and that belong to more sensible films or shows.  You can’t talk about influential and decent anime without talking about musicians and artists like Yoko Kanno, Yasushi Ishii, Joe Hisaishi or Susumu Hirasawa.

So… that’s the preface for this new series of reviews.  They won’t pop up here often, as I don’t own too many, and several that are superb are long out of print.  However, what I will showcase will hopefully be decent enough to serve as a standalone musical venture rather than just a standard soundtrack.  In other words, something good enough where you can own the album(s) without needing to see or own the movies they came from, unless you want to.

Enjoy!

Surfing on Big Wave’s new EP

Artist: Big Wave

Title: The Roots of Love (Come Tumbling Down)

Released:  June 11^th, 2012

Label: Soft Power Records

Format: Cassette EP

Genre: indie, pop, twee

Riding on the heels of Soft Power’s cassette release for September Girls (which sold out in 3 days), is this brilliant cassette by Torquay’s own five-piece act, Big Wave.

If you’ve noticed the term “twee” up there, and have never heard of it before, don’t panic.  Up until now, I hadn’t heard of it either.  The term describes a subgenre of pop unique to the UK that’s almost sickeningly sweet.  The genre is rich with jangly guitars, sweet melodies and pristine vocals.

And true to its name, the music is exactly that.  Oh yes, it’s sweet, but holding fast to its indie influences.  Tracks like “Another Year or Two,” and the title track are good examples of this.  “Blissed Out” I think is my favorite on the EP.  The blend of twee and indie on that track is like a fine, sweet wine.  It’s sweet, easy to swallow and you can’t help but want more.

I should say that just about every track on this EP is great.  The band seems to have their feet firmly planted where they ought to be and they seem to have a solid plan on where they are going.  Their sound works well and the songs all fit perfectly well together.  The writing is upbeat and it tends to follow the sweet honey flavor of love without sounding cliché.

It seems lately that I’ve been blessed to review a lot of fresh, fun and accessible music and this release certainly adds to the good vibrations I’ve been riding on constantly this year,.  This will for sure be a release not to miss if you’re a fan of prime, juicy indie pop tracks along the lines of early Belly, perhaps the Breeders, and certain qualities of Beth Orton.  The sound of the music itself is something between 80s jangle, 90s indie, and fresh, new indie pop from within the last five years.  The end result is something magical and fun.

At the risk of sounding redundant, this is an ultra-sweet EP.  There’s not a slow spot on this release and I would urge you to look into it.  This EP features a reissue of the first EP (“Another Year or Two”) and several new tracks unique to this release.  Give twee a chance.  You might like it.

4.7 out of 5.

http://softpowerrecords.tumblr.com/

http://softpowerrecords.bandcamp.com/

Ambient Bliss: Buenos Aires – The Lake Effect

Artist: Buenos Aires

Title: The Lake Effect

Released: 2011

Label: Secret Station

Format: CD

Genre: ambient, abstract, experimental

Off of the Secret Station label, it’s the debut album by Buenos Aires.

The opening track, “Only River” starts of in a very ambient vein.  Rich synths eventually give way to acoustic guitar, soft drums and some gentle echoes.  I’m intrigued already. It’s not often you get an opening track that completely changes genres midway through itself.  More so, it’s hard to find tracks that can do that well.

In the second track, this happens again, but the leap isn’t as grand.  We’re still in an electronic scape but we’re swung from prime ambient soup to squiggly, warm squelches with a blissful beat.  Ambient in a way, I guess, but enthralling nonetheless.  I’m loving the genre jumps and tempo shifts.  It’s keeping me on my toes.  The third piece is a brilliant ambient track, flawless and very entrancing.  It seamlessly leads us into the guitar oriented “Jungle Barrett.”  A distorted and off kilter break beat kicks in out of nowhere, playing off of the echoed swamp life samples in the most perfect and playful way.  Before long, it dives back into an ambient forest of chirps and synth.  For me, this is a stand out track; it’s hard to express how much I enjoy this one.  And, again, before you can blink; the song changes pace, launching into bells and layered guitar samples.  This is wild stuff.

We get some more stellar tracks, some heavy on the synth and others chuck full of guitar twangs and the like.  It’s honestly a lot of fun, which isn’t something one can normally say when listening to experimental, abstract or ambient music.  I would have to agree with the consensus on this one: it’s a much underrated record.  This album has so much to offer and doesn’t settle on one sound for too long before diving into uncharted territory.  It does this without sounding incongruous, unlike some of the tunes on Redeye’s “Arizona Tracks.”  Rather, it all fits together, like a tapestry made of various colored threads.

Should you buy this?  Fans of experimental music, ambient, abstract and leftfield should find this highly enjoyable.  Folks who’ve been following Secret Stations catalog will not be disappointed. Newcomers to this album should find its fearlessness and endless lust for exploration a welcomed escape from what’s bubbling out there in the music world.  Seriously, go for it.  It really is a fun listen.

5 out of 5.

The Story of Blue Metal Bomb

I met Sean Holmes during my senior year of high school, and despite sharing the same English class, we rarely spoke to each other.  It wasn’t until we wound up auditioning for a musical alongside mutual friends that we actually started to shoot the breeze.  We were music geeks, and we became friends rather quickly.  I eventually wound up dropping out of the musical a few weeks before our first show due to an overwhelming schedule.  Sean was able to stay in it, playing the father of the main character.

After graduation, summer rolled in.  We hung out often and formed a band.  We called ourselves Blue Metal Bomb, as our music was a blend of blues, grunge and hard rock.  We lacked a drummer and a bassist and I couldn’t play guitar to save my life.  I did some singing and Sean wound up taking on most of the guitar work himself along with songwriting and vocals.  We recorded almost everything we did on cassette tape and eventually converted some of it to CD.

We jammed and wrote music for the next two years, but only did one live show.  It wound up being a two song set in my friend’s living room in front of four people.  It was fun, but ironically, it never was recorded.

Our final jam session came in December of 2005.  I was living in a townhouse in Frederick, MD, working two jobs and readying myself for a move to upstate New York.  Sean came down from Walkersville, a small town just north of me, and we met up with bass player / neighbor, Dan.  It was the only recording session we did with a bass, and it was the most fleshed out that Blue Metal Bomb had been.  We recorded about ten tracks or so that afternoon, many were improvised but a few we wrote up ahead of time.  And sometimes, if we were unlucky, my roommate’s dog, Paige, would come down and bark some backup vocals.

We had one track we were fairly proud of, I remember from that session, called “Cotton Candy Girl.”  It was a song we wrote at work together at the local minor league baseball team earlier that summer, mocking a coworker of ours who had a huge crush on the young lady who sold cotton candy.  He wound up getting fired for spending all of his time with her rather than actually working.  The song was a playful piece; the two of us wrote up the lyrics in about ten minutes.  I wish we could have had the cash to get a studio version of it done.

After I moved to New York, I only saw Sean a few times.  We have yet to set up another jam session.  We’re still in touch when we’re able.

Sean’s in a new band now called Stephen and the Hawkings.  They actually have a drummer, and decent sound recording equipment, and they sound awesome.  They have music galore on their bandcamp you should check out.

Since the good old days, I’ve released some ambient stuff as Lonelyfox and occasionally recorded material with Keith, under our old sound collage project, The Coherent ENcoherence.

And that’s the story of Blue Metal Bomb.  Perhaps one day we’ll have a reunion.  Maybe we’ll jam again and maybe we’ll have a real live show with a real drummer and a bass player.  And maybe we’ll remember to record it.  Who knows…

Button EP by Dott

Artist: Dott

Title: Button EP

Released: May 17^th, 2012

Label: Popical Island

Format: CD, Download

Genre: garage pop, indie

Dott formed in January of 2012, making them one of the newest acts I’ve stumbled upon, except for maybe Mountain Cult.  They’re located in Galway, Ireland, and make up part of the Popical island Collective.  Most of the tunes are written by Anna McCarthy, but the band is backed by the powerful force of Nicole, Laura and Tony. Their debut four track EP is due out very soon, so here’s an early look.

The genre description is fairly on the mark.  It has a raw edge but maintains the sweet, catchy and easy accessibility of alternative pop music.  Don’t let the word ‘pop’ throw you; this isn’t your obnoxious uber-over the top – mass produced pop, but rather, this is shimmering, new, refreshing and rocking garage pop.  This is something to be heard.  This is pure, unfiltered talent and it shines brilliantly through their original jams.  I would even say that this falls more on the indie rock side of things, especially when you hear the first track, “Seen You Lately.”  This song is a strong opener; it’s rich, but not overwhelming.  It’s catchy, well formed, and features top form writing.

We move a bit more into the garage style with “Let’s Do It.”  But, again, this doesn’t stray too far from the elements of classic pop.  I mean, seriously, this is amazing genre blending.  Neither side of the mix gets too far into itself, but rather, the pop bits are extremely well balanced with the garage foundations.  This creates something so infections that one cannot help but like this song.  Before I was even finished spinning this track for the first time, I was already getting the chorus in my head and singing along with it.  “Let’s do it / let’s fall in love!”  Absolutely.

“Leave Tonight” keeps the theme intact.  It feels like it’s calling back to some prime, old school pop from the early 60s but spruces it up with some sweet indie flare.  And our final track, “Cherry Blossom” at times, feels like a forgotten Breeders track; the vocals harmonize incredibly well here, fusing like liquid gold to the solid instrumentation.  This track is a gem destined for great things.

Should you buy this?  Fans of the Breeders, the Cranberries, Splendora, mid 90s garage rock, indie pop and catchy tunes in general will dig this.  There’s not much to complain about here, and I think it is quite easy to see just why this band is gaining so much attention after forming five months ago.  There’s talent here in every aspect of the band.  So grab this EP while you can.  It may go quickly.

4.8 out of 5.

Scope out Dott’s Soundcloud and Facebook.