Artist Of The Day: Nihkeetah

Every so often, I happen across a small project or solo artist that's doing something really cool; the last time that happened, little-known band Aerials turned into massively successful, Deep Elm-signed Lights & Motion. So, ultimately, anything could happen. Nihkeetah has the same thing going on. It might not be as cinematic as Christoffer Franzén's masterworks, but Artūras Juškevičius has as much creativity and passion for his music.

Getting into the debut from Nihkeetah, Perceive:Create is something of a rough-cut wonder. Juškevičius recorded everything from his home in Vilnius, Lithuania and the mixing is quite impressive for one man recording in his home studio. The spacious atmosphere of "Dissolve: Walls of Existence" is beautifully created, and the way he sets the drums in the backdrop of "A Perception" but brings them to the center-stage in "A Deception" is fantastically ingenious to shift the emotional context of the song. Juškevičius has a way with his recordings that portray something magnificent in a way that's very difficult to find with someone working on their own. Needless to say, I'm excited for more Nihkeetah.

To support the man, like Nihkeetah on Facebook and download and donate on Bandcamp!

Artist Of The Day: Chemtrail

Chemtrail recently Kickstarted a new album in an attempt to try to get their fans to fund their music, and see how much of a demand there was for a crowd-funded album. The results were very optimistic; the band not only hit their goal, but surpassed it by almost $1500, which allowed for not only a vinyl and digital version, but also for a CD version as well. It does make me pretty happy to know that a great band like Chemtrail has enough fan support to be able to do this sort of thing though. Their entire discography is golden, and the Sounds Like Ghosts EP got me very excited for any new music they're planning to put out. I'll be reviewing the digital version of the album in the coming weeks, but needless to say, there's a lot of good things already happening for the band, and I'm excited that there are still loyal fans out there that want to support their favorite artists.

You can find the Chemtrails discography here.

Artist Of The Day: Oak

When I included this little French band in my first quarter update, I figured not many people were going to know about them. Heck, before about halfway through March, I didn't know about them myself. But once I took a listen, I knew it was exactly what I was looking for. Oak's Not Afraid Anymore takes on the kinds of sounds that appear in Mogwai's Les Revenants, a slowly creeping sound that establishes an aura of ghostly fear, and then it broadens into a dark post-metal jam that easily matches up with Russian Circles' riffs on Empros. The coolest thing to see, though, is the band hearkening back to when post-rock artists didn't care about song length. Their most impressive work is absolutely "ER, 2am," probably the darkest thing I've heard this year. It crams so much misery into ten minutes that it feels like the song could go on forever, and there would never be a break from feeling anything but an eternal pit of despair. And despite releasing a 40 minute effort in January, the band lets their Facebook page know that they're back in the studio, working away on the next biggest thing. With so much promise in the first full-length, I can't wait to see what else they're coming up with. Bring on the sadness, Oak. I'm ready.

You can stream and download all of their music on their Bandcamp page.

Artist Of The Day: Pianos Become The Teeth

More than anything, a quality most prized in a band is a sense of self-awareness. Pianos Become The Teeth is a band that is very highly aware of their place in music, and what they sound like, as seen by their part in "The Wave," an inside joke with post-hardcore friends Touche Amore, La Dispute, Defeater and Make Do And Mend. On top of this, though, the band has a very exact idea on where their sound is and where they want to go. For example, Old Pride was a fantastic record, and was released to high acclaim. However, knowing the sophomore album is as big a test (if not bigger) than a debut, the band firmly put their foot down on The Lack Long After, saying "This will not be Old Pride pt. 2," and it wasn't. It was a full-length that delved deeper, darker, and distinctly more heavy. It was a beautiful success, and a perfect follow-up to prove that the band has chops.

With 2013 nearly halfway through its course, we've seen the Pianos / Touche Amore Split, and the band's newest track, "Hiding." Probably the closest shot to post-rock featured on the discography so far, it actually feels very natural with a hint of reverb and atmosphere, like the newest Appleseed Cast album, or anything Prawn has ever released. With this slight shift, though, it loses absolutely none of its strikingly powerful emotional wells, and brings a good portion of excitement when the band says they're beginning to write their third record. They have some tours this summer they need to focus on, but it's fairly safe to say we'll see something by the first quarter of next year at the latest.

To keep yourself busy in the meantime, here's the band's discography minus the single on Bandcamp and the single can be found here.

Artist Of The Day: God Is An Astronaut

With recent news about their 2013 album being finished, God Is An Astronaut will once again come out strong this year. A series of live shows to build up to the album are coming, and they will reach culmination in September, when the three-year gap will be closed with a new release. According to band frontman Torsten Kinsella, the new album will be "quite different from [their] current work," which shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone after an interview about a year and a half ago, prominently featuring Torsten talking about the style of the band right now and where they want to go. The frontman vocally expressed his grievances about being classified as a post-rock band, in much the same way that Stuart Braithwaite of Mogwai often does. He went on to suggest that their new material will be in much more of a progressive-rock style, and heavily emphasizes that the mixing on the album will be very professional; one of the biggest complaints the band had about themselves as well as other bands in the instrumental genre is a lack of production value. With Torsten the perfectionist leading the charge and the rest of the band working in a closely knit group to bring the best they can, it's sure that the new record, whatever they have planned, will be huge.

Album Review: The Appleseed Cast - Illumination Ritual

Album Rating: A-

If there's anything that helps The Appleseed Cast write their albums, it's experience above all else. While trying to move towards the post-rock sound, it's their background in emo-rock that keeps things different than the rest of the genre. Fusing the best elements of Two Conversations and their earlier experimental work Low Level Owls, Peregrine came into being; this emo post-rock was then evolved on Sagarmatha, which many thought was a perfect culmination between the two. However, the Kansas-centered project has something else to interject, and that would be Illumination Ritual. The musical maturity on this album is absolutely explicit, and there's no question that the band has mastered the sound they were looking for since 2006.

Artist Of The Day: Álfheimr

The last album I listened to by Álfheimr was released around the same time I started writing at MuzikDizcovery, and Madison Asche has increased his musical repertoire greatly since the last time I looked. Since the first quarter of 2011, the solo project has released two full-length records, two EPs, at least three singles, and a B-sides set, all of which are absolute stylistic advances on top of what Álfheimr already had to present. They seem to be inspired by different things as well - while What Allows Us To Endure is centered on the traditional post-rock sound, Here feels as though it was written with minimalist folk in mind, and Asche took and ran with it, and it sounds incredible. If post-rock / folk became the new norm, I'd be fine with it, if tracks like "Sleep" were prominently featured. The mix between so many acoustic bells and strings combined with just a small number of electronic effects to enhance the song's atmosphere is just about perfect. New tracks are slowly being released through SoundCloud, so watch for song releases in the near future. Additionally, the entire Álfheimr discography is available to stream and download for free on the Bandcamp page, so definitely take a look and check out how far the project has come.

Artist Spotlight: Autism

One-man music projects always allow for a creative freedom that larger bands simply can't afford. When you're making music on your own, it lets you branch out and experiment with different sounds that may not be viable if you're working in a strictly one-genre environment. Autism is a band from Lithuania that pushes even the boundaries for solo projects, pushing into hopeful experimental post-rock and chugging If These Trees Could Talk vibe with post-metal riffs. The five-song EP coming soon, Falling Motion, features a greatly varied set, with tracks like "Cloudscapes" leaning towards an influence from Explosions in the Sky, and others such as "Bleak Reverie" siting stylistic sway from its darker brethren. It's a curious little release, and I urge you to check it out if you're looking for something to fit your instrumental needs.

You can stream the entire thing for free on Bandcamp, or download the five-track release for free here.

Artist of the Day: The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die

To the extent that their name tests the limits of one's tongue, Connecticut sextet The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die make music that gives the eardrums a lot to process.  Yet in a craft governed by subtleties and sonic nuances, with an error margin that shrinks proportionally as venue square-footage diminishes, over-saturation can be an otherwise impressive basement act's coup de grâce.  TWIABP manage to dodge the tinnitus-inducing deadfall that engulfs so many others, finding their niche somewhere between massive post-rock swells and the mesmerizing off-kilter croons of frontman Thomas Diaz, all the while managing to not pulverize listeners with an overdone mix.  With two EP's and a split 12'' with New Hampshire's Deer Leap already under their belt, and plans for a four-way split and upcoming full-length on the horizon, there's really no better time to get into TWIABP.  Spend not a single moment more of your life missing out on some truly captivating New England sad-jams - listen to The World Is A Beautiful Place, and realize that you probably are still at least a little bit afraid to die.

Hear everything from The World Is... on their bandcamp, here.

Artist Of The Day: Mogwai

Ladies and gentlemen, friends, fans of Muzik Dizcovery, members of the proletariat, British loyalists, haters to the post-rock name, and the rest of you, we all have differences in opinions throughout our individual walks of life. One thing we can all agree to, though, is that 2012 has been, and continues to be, a year of change. With our (talking United States here, so Canadian / British / other worldly regions please read on) political regime potentially undergoing our tetrannual tradition this November, a scare incurred on how the free world is openly receiving information through the Internet, and some gripe about some 5,000-year-old prediction about the end of humanity, things like this can be kind of scary to think about. Things we perceive to be as constant are ever undergoing small changes, and eventually become things that we don't understand, or fear. Such is the case with the musical style of Mogwai, and as I've reviewed Mogwai before, I wanted to discuss my opinions about the band whose music I've come to hold so dear.

Album Review: Followed By Ghosts - Still, Here

Followed By Ghosts is a band from Iowa. This is literally all of the information you will find about them on Facebook. I suppose, though, if you pay any attention to the saying "actions speak louder than words", you won't be too bothered by them. Still, Here is the third album released by Followed By Ghosts, and they portray that the three year gap in between albums was a solid three years in expanding ideas and learning how better to express themselves. The band draws influences from godspeed you! black emperor and Explosions in the Sky when discussed, but after listening to the album, they really seem to throw all that those artists have laid down out the window and painting expression on a canvas of their own. What they've given us is radically different, wonderfully beautiful and unique

A Year in Post-Rock: 2011

To be quite honest, 2011 has been a fairly mild year for top tier post-rock releases. No Mono, no Godspeed You! Black Emperor (called it), and no Pg. Lost. Sadly missing, sure, but that isn’t to say that 2011 has been a complete bust for the genre. In fact, this year, more so than ever in recent memory, bands have been breaking the mold, and setting off on paths that progress the genre even further. There have been a lot of breaths of fresh air imbued into the tired formula, creating a wonderful bevy of albums that have made 2011 one hell of an excellent year for post-rock. Here is just a sample:

Mogwai - Earth Division:
Alright, alright, this may not be the Mogwai release that you were expecting. However, their latest album, Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will, left a lot to be desired. This little gem of an EP sounds somewhat different than anything else the band has done before. It’s lush and beautiful; a record that relies less on gimmicks, and more on the sheer excellence of Mogwai. A true stand out.

Album Review: A Winged Victory for the Sullen - A Winged Victory for the Sullen

An up and coming ambient/classical act, A Winged Victory for the Sullen has quite the charming and intriguing pedigree. The duo is made up of Adam Wiltzie (Stars of the Lid) and Dustin O'Halloran (Devics), two of the genre's heavy hitters. Stars of the Lid alone should perk up some ears, as that duo defined 2000's ambient scene with their two groundbreaking releases. A Winged Victory for the Sullen has big shoes to fill, with the aforementioned pedigree being both a gift and a hindrance.

Too many people will check out the band's self-titled debut with an unfortunate amount of per-connotations. But this isn't Stars of the Lid nor is it Devics. This is something else, but at the same time it is a logical amalgamation of either artist's sounds and abilities. It's piano driven, courtesy of O'Halloran, and very straightforward in its ambiance, thanks to Wiltzie. It's a beautifully composed meshing of minimalism and contemporary classical, offering a healthy dose of ridiculously pretty chords and lush swells and timbre.