Casey's EPs, Songs and Albums of 2013

After the relative mediocrity of 2012 following up the fantastic year of 2011, it's nice to see that 2013 let no one down. It makes sense based on the length of a typical album cycle that many of the bands that put out great albums in 2011 and 2010 would return for 2013, and we saw the return of Vampire Weekend, Kanye West, The National, The Wonder Years and far more atop many lists. However, debuts really made an impact on my list personally, as three of my top four favorite records of the year happened to be a band's first full length release. Owel, The World Is A Beautiful and The 1975 all showed that they are full of fantastic songwriters and are bands whose popularity should continue to skyrocket through 2014, and their followups will be sought after by far more people than these fantastic debuts. However, the best record of the year was one I was only slightly anticipating after a poor last release, but ended up being one of the biggest growers of the year. Below, you will be able to see my favorite 10 EPs, 25 songs and 25 albums of 2013, a year which had plenty for everyone. If you click on an album title, it will link to our coverage (if we had any) and if you click on a song title, it will bring you to YouTube or Soundcloud. Enjoy!

Artist Of The Day: Moving Mountains

While not entirely unexpected, it's still quite sad to see that Moving Mountains is probably ending their existence as a band after three more shows. The most heartbreaking part about this breakup is the fact that the band may have just released their best record. After the mediocre Waves, it seemed that the band would never hit the heights of their first record Pneuma. However, Moving Mountains is another reinvention of their sound, moving in a sonically different direction from the heavier Waves into a more subdued tone similar to The Appleseed Cast. This isn't a record that is an immediate hit – instead it's possibly one of the biggest growers of the year. Every listen brings more to the table as the record slowly seeps in to your mind. It's a record that needs time and care to really get, just as the band did with the creation of it. If you can make it to one of the band's three final shows in Boston, Brooklyn and Hamden, CT, you should really go see what should be a beautiful end to this band's existence. Check out all the information for those shows on Facebook, and be sure to read our review for the album as well.

Album Review: Moving Mountains - Moving Mountains

Album Rating: B+

Nighttime driving albums have always been a soft-spot of mine. Those certain records that just flow perfectly with the flowing of lights and the cool wind breezing through cracked windows. It is albums like these that stick with you and end up being a part of the soundtrack of the many nights of your youth. Moving Mountains' self-titled is an album that is on the brink of becoming one of those special records. Within itself is a self-contained encapsulation of a certain feeling. The music is fleeting and loose, but grips itself onto your memory, creating blurred recollections when recalled.

Artist of the Day: Moving Mountains

Two weeks ago tomorrow, I lost my grandmother. The moment I knew, I picked up Pneuma again, and began to listen; it was a wordless, unrelated connection that affected me on a level deeper than skin, or even consciousness. Moving Mountains' debut album is deeply musical, thoughtful, and powerful. They draw the name of the album from the Greek work pnévma, meaning "breath," but commonly translated as "breath of life." The sounds that appear on the album are fluid, light, and move lightly, like exhaling steam in the winter; the emotional side, however, is more like a sigh, that you release heavily from your chest. Pneuma burdens you, and creates a weight from nowhere that stays with you for a while after you stop listening. The tracks make you think, about sadness at first, but level out to a broader plane, and eventually, even existence itself comes under speculation. It takes an inspired mind to write an album that causes you to think so much, and absolutely deserves the belated critical acclaim it received. The music is wonderful, studio tuned to perfection, and the time and the effort spent on refining it more than deals justice to the message original band members Gregory Dunn and Nicholas Pizzolato were trying to send: one of fleeting love, loss, and somehow, acceptance. I know my grandmother isn't coming back. But I know that, like this album, all things end, sometimes on a low note, sometimes on better terms. Pneuma is one of the things that makes me able to move on - if an album this depressing can end with "Hallelujah," I can acquiesce to the impermanence of life. It's the final and hardest step of moving on, but we all can, and we all do, with time.

You can find Moving Mountains' newer music on their own site, and their older material on their Bandcamp page.

Album Review: Moving Mountains - Waves

The key to the success that led the two founders of Moving Mountains, Gregory Dunn and Nick Pizzolato, and their first creation, Pneuma, to the eventual doorsteps of Triple Crown Records wasn’t innovative musicianship or clever lyrical work; it was synthesis of many different genres that worked collectively to make a product whose success totaled the sum of its parts. Pneuma not only embodied the elements of many post-rock influences with its instrumental ambiance, but it wore Dunn’s lyrical heart on its sleeve in a fashion similar to bands such as The Appleseed Cast and Empire! Empire! (I Was A Lonely Estate); it had atmosphere, passion, and the necessary aural missteps to keep its production flawed, earnest, and in line with the aforementioned artists. In the four years since Pneuma’s release, Moving Mountains' base formula hasn’t changed substantially, as the synthesis of different ideas and genres are there in theory, but the band replaces their past focus on instrumental bands and dancing around sensitive lyrical topics with a more brash approach that displays a whole new breadth of influences that have shifted Moving Mountains’ focus. Not only is Waves Moving Mountains’ first approach at a full length as a complete band (Dunn and Pizzolato wrote Pneuma together), it is a culmination of the band’s newfound aggressive, sonically faster sound mixed with Dunn’s more blatantly honest lyrical search for answers for life, death and other musings that make the record a successful break from most, if not all of his and Pizzolato’s past influences.

Interview With Moving Mountains

"We're a band that would play hardcore, or punk festivals, and end up performing 3 songs. We wanted to do something a little bit different this time around, but I don't feel we really lost any influence, or style. We've only expanded on it."

In anticipation of Moving Mountains' new album, guitarist and singer Gregory Dunn took some time out of his schedule answer some questions for Muzik Dizcovery regarding the difference in how the writing process Waves was in comparison to Pneuma, where Moving Mountains stand next to their peers, and the thoughts that went into making Waves a more structured release.

Moving Mountains Stream New Track

It's been a long time coming for Moving Mountains, and finally after months of talking up a departure from their old sound, we have proof in the form of a new song. "Where Two Bodies Lie," the track that was heard live on the recent Audiotree session, is now streaming on the band's facebook here.

How is it? Appropriately different, Moving Mountains were not lying when they told fans that the new songs would lack some of the post-rock qualities of their earlier work, and "Where Two Bodies Lie" is a much more straightforward track than anything heard on Pneuma. The little bites of string work give the song an appropriate amount of atmosphere, but we'll just have to wait until Waves is released on May 10th before we can know about all the changes on the album for certain.

Stream Live Moving Mountains Performance

It is Moving Mountains day over here at Muzik Dizcovery, and I couldn't be happier about it. If you're as excited as I am about the recent news regarding Moving Mountains' new album Waves, then you'll be as pleased as a button to know that you can stream a high-quality live performance featuring a brand new song and some interesting interviews from the fine folks over at Audiotree.  You can find the performance and interviews here, and the set list below.

New Moving Mountains Album

A Deep Elm alum, Moving Mountains is gearing up to release their second full length album, their first on Triple Crown Records. The atmospheric rock band is supposedly changing things up a bit for LP #2, shortening the songs and adding some heavier elements into the tracks. However, I'm sure whatever the band does will be great. From shorter, indie rock tunes such as "Sol Solis" to the ten minute post rock epics such as "Foreword", to the heavier tracks such as "With One's Heart In One's Mouth", Moving Mountains has shown diversity and excellence in every such style. Waves will be released on May 10th.

Moving Mountains To Play Warped Tour

Maybe Warped is branching out?

Deep Elm Records

Deep Elm Records has one of the best catalogs I have seen in a record label in quite some time. From known bands like Moving Mountains and The Appleseed Cast to upcoming stars like Desoto Jones, Moonlit Sailor, and Goonies Never Say Die, Deep Elm knows what good music is. They stream practically every one of their albums on their site through Bandcamp, and allow many different purchasing options. If you like good Post-Rock, Emo, Punk, or Indie, check out many of the bands on the site, especially the ones listed above. Deep Elm also has 99 songs on samplers for free right here. Download them and post which artists you are fans of in the comments.