Interview: The Dismemberment Plan

“Have you ever been to a Dismemberment Plan gig before? It’s a very interactive experience. Sometimes the crowd will call a request and end up shouting the band down until they play it.”

The tour manager’s giving me the sales pitch after walking over to inspect the interview. Presumably the sporadic bursts of laughter and my obvious student music journalist charm had him worried the band were going to give away something they shouldn’t. He needn’t have bothered: in the 10 years The Dismemberment Plan were inactive its members went and got themselves sensible, stable lives completely contradicting their notoriously energetic live shows and emo/ “dance-punk” style. Travis (vocals/ guitar) is now a committed member of a church choir and Joe (drums) designs robotic arm software for NASA. Throughout our interview, guitarist Jason enquires about coffee and tries to charge his phone. It’s all distinctly un-rock and roll, but it’s clear the band have had an absolute blast touring for their first album in 12 years, Uncanney Valley. I sat down with Eric (bass) and Jason to talk about creating music again, indie-rock audiences and voraciousness.

Artist of the Day: Self-Evident

You would think that after so many years, I would get sick of listening to math rock, but these great, oft-undiscovered bands have a way of constantly skittering out of the cyber woodwork.  My latest obsession hails from the snowy streets of Minneapolis and operates under the oddly meta moniker of Self-Evident.  Formed all the way back in 1997, these rhythmic engineers have been cranking out album after album (six in total) of addictive jazzy excellence that, regardless of their incontrovertible merit, have commonly been overlooked by those expected fans who gravitate toward the Kinsella form.  Sometimes, I suppose, even the unquestionable deserve a little push.

With hours of material to explore, Self-Evident's back catalogue can appear quite intimidating, but their 2012 offering, We Built A Fortress On Short Notice, is a good place to start.  There's the melodic beauty of "Bartertown," the classic genre brilliance of "In Cowardice" and the title track's other worldly post rock conclusion, just to name a few.  Of course, that's barely scraping the surface of this ocean of untapped mathy resources, so go on and get up.  This is happening right now. 

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Artist Of The Day: Kaskelott

Indie-rock has lost basically all meaning as a genre, but bands like Swedish quartet Kaskelott show the scene is still alive and well. The band's debut EP Retrospective showcases a knack for dark, groovy tunes as catchy as they are introspective. "Stay Together" opens the four-track effort amicably: guitar melodies weave into thick slabs of bass, while slow, sturdy drum beats move the song towards an inevitable sadness. Vocalist Joakim Örneblad is an appealing presence, earnest without ever being cloying, and the song's quieter moments allow him to show real vulnerability. From that foundation, the band expands in a number of directions. "Where You're Going" is a standout: pitched somewhere between Travis and The Lumineers, it brims with warmth, its subtle dynamic shifts and gentle pastoral instrumentation evoking a surprisingly resonant sense of longing. "It Matters," on the other hand, dares you to dance your demons away with its brooding synths and chugging beats before Örneblad exorcises them in the song's soaring chorus. The most interesting track, however, may be closer "Feelings (That I Shouldn't Feel)," which takes the band in more of a math-rock direction. The song's minimalist composition belies reservation, as if the band's trying to keep a tight grip on its own emotions, but the song's bridge subverts expectation by blooming in a brief moment of uplifting bliss. Kaskelott may not be reinventing the wheel with Retrospective, but the band still navigates into plenty of interesting spaces.

Stream "Feelings (That I Shouldn't Feel)" below and find more on Kaskelott at its Soundcloud and Facebook.

Album Review: Future of the Left - How to Stop Your Brain in an Accident

Album Rating: B+

My first encounter with Future of the Left came from their surprising opening slot on Against Me!’s American New Wave tour, where many of the older attendees were just as confused as I at the unexpected pairing. At 16 years old and just barely beginning to deviate from my Orgcore-centric musical tastes, Future of the Left’s amazingly unconventional acerbic bite was certainly not something for which I was prepared, though, to this day, I am still kicking myself for not appreciating and savoring Andy Falkous and company’s remarkable performance (synth and all) that night. Perhaps my appreciation for the group’s newest effort, How to Stop Your Brain in an Accident, will serve a bit of justice, though, and get the band’s name passed around in the air at parties tonight—in the good way.

Album Review: Borealis - Glittervoice

Album Rating: B

A two hour mix Borealis (Jesse Somfay) recently compiled for Fenomena Studio goes a long way to explain what has changed in his music since last year’s murky, dubstep-inspired Voidness. The mix is expectedly eclectic, but an overwhelming presence of hard, intense dance music lies at odds with Somfay’s hazily downtempo aesthetic. With the mix in mind Glittervoice suddenly adopts an improved narrative, principally because anything is an improvement on the previous “confused.”

Album Review: Calvaiire - Forceps

Album Rating: A

French four-piece hardcore act Calvaiire are not afraid to get down and dirty. Their abrasive sound takes the heaviest genres of hardcore, powerviolence, screamo and mathcore and throws them into a blender. The result is Forceps, the debut LP which is a musical maze of introspection and emotion. It's a distortion-filled journey through some of the heaviest music you will hear all year. Each track is another caustic pile of grit that could strip the paint off of a brand new car. In fact, you're lucky if you'd even have a car left at all. In this case, that is truly a great thing.

Artist of the Day: Wooden Shjips

When someone mentions the San Francisco psychedelic scene, it’s easy to think: Ty Segall. I mean, the guy is basically a scene all to himself. Releasing about a million albums a year, he does his best to flood the market. Spend all your time soaking in Ty’s seemingly endless material, though, and you’ll certainly miss out on some of the best the Bay Area has to offer. Wooden Shjips, with their most recent release, Back to Land, really took me by surprise. When I heard San Francisco garage, I heard fuzzy bang-up guitars and big melodies. This band is something else. 

Album Review: A Lot Like Birds - No Place

Album Rating: A-

As trendy as genre blending is these days, there are few bands out there that really know how to do it right.  While many were quick to praise A Lot Like Birds' 2011 release, Conversation Piece, for its supposedly skillful array of diversity, I was still quite a bit skeptical of their talents.  It really doesn't take that much dexterity to mash a bunch of different styles together, especially when the time signatures don't really shift that much (see: "Orange Time Machine Care"), so my cynicism persisted upon hearing the announcements of the Sacramento, Calif. outfit's newest ambitious project: No Place.  While my first listen of the album left me more confused than satisfied, seeing their headlining show with HRVRD was enough to convince me to revisit this ocean of an album, and I found more surprises hidden within than I ever thought was possible.

Artist of the Day: Graph Rabbit

With a barren release schedule and the end of year list-athon fast approaching, late November is a window most music fans use to gaze back over the past 11 months, evaluating, re-listening and, of course, ranking their favourites in obsessive, time-honoured fashion. Clearly, some records are always going to be more prominent in our thinking ]than others, and this time last year it was Brooklyn's Graph Rabbit who occupied the forefront of my own mental rundown. A serene, slow-burning wintry masterpiece, Snowblind perhaps made a bigger impression on me than any other record in 2012, and although word of its existence barely escaped blogs such as our own, it was an entrance which truly felt like the beginning of something valuable.

Artist of the Day: The Damned Things

As metalcore heroes Every Time I Die kick off a new tour with letlive. and Code Orange Kids this week, Fall Out Boy revs its pop engine across the U.S. It's easy to forget heavy metal supergroup The Damned Things, consisting of Andy Hurley and Joe Trohman of Fall Out Boy, Scott Ian of Anthrax, Rob Caggiano of Volbeat and ex-Anthrax, Keith Buckley of Every Time I Die and Josh Newton who has since left Every Time I Die, these big-name artists created a big sounding alter ego rooted in hard rock and punk that's worth your time more than almost everything on the radio.

Artist of the Day: Death

Key Release: Symbolic (1995)

There may have been earlier death metal bands (Possessed is often credited with being the first), but none shaped the genre with way the aptly-named Death did. The brainchild of guitarist Chuck Schuldiner, Death released its debut Scream Bloody Gore in 1986 to the shock and awe of fans who previously had thought they knew “heavy.” Full of horror-themed lyrics and sporting gruesome cover art, Death’s first three albums (Scream Bloody Gore, Leprosy, and Spiritual Healing) laid the blueprint for bands like Morbid Angel and Deicide who would take the genre to new popular heights.

Album Review: Melt-Banana - Fetch

Album Rating:B+

For 20 years now, Tokyo, Japan’s Melt-Banana has been cranking out album after album of experimental, noisy hardcore (with a few tweaks here and there, of course), and somehow, this unconventional duo, comprised of yelping, energetic vocalist, Yasuko Onuki (Yako), and schizophrenic musical programming mastermind, Ichirou Agata, is still at the top of their game. With six years between 2007’s Bambi’s Dilemma, an 18-track onslaught of hardcore, noise and pop, and 2013’s Fetch, fans were right to expect an impressive follow up, and although the demos for Fetch were ready to go in March of 2011, the devastating Fukushima earthquake and resulting tsunami forced the band to put the record on hold—until now. 

Artist of the Day: Mylets

I often find myself being very skeptical of one-man bands.  My initial thought is always the same: Is it really that hard to get along and play with other musicians? Henry Kohen, the mastermind behind Mylets' euphoric, loop-driven melodies, certainly seems like he could use some help on stage, as he is simultaneously playing, singing, setting tempos, tapping pedals and using his almost never free hands to program percussion among loads of other instruments, but just because he's somehow amazingly doing everything by himself doesn't mean he's some self-obsessed diva, too good to work with anyone else.  In fact, Kohen was the only member of his old band willing to completely give up his life for music, and seeing where he is now, I think it's fair to say he made the right choice.

Artist Of The Day: CFCF

Michael Silver invites as much as he terrifies. Better known as ambient electronic artist CFCF, he composes sparkling minimalist gems that, in their own mysterious way, tap into something visceral, even as their murky production and sound betray little. Take his recent experiment, the Music For Objects EP, where he wrote short pieces for everyday objects like keys, cameras and glass: Silver opted to hint at these items' hidden essences through subtle instrumentation and songwriting instead, making for an engaging, rewarding listen. His patience and faith in the listener's intelligence pays dividends on his most recent release, Outside, which feels at turns adventurous and reserved, playful and haunting. If you look too close at these soundscapes, they'll shiver your soul, but you won't be able to peel your eyes away either.

Find more on CFCF at his official site and stream the first track from Outside below.

MuzikDizcovery Exclusive: Winter Dust, "Early Grey Mornings"

Fans of emo post-rock take note: Italian band Winter Dust's upcoming Autumn Years is one of the best releases of the year, blending hook-heavy songwriting with gruff rock vocals and gritty, gorgeous instrumentation, and we at MuzikDizcovery are delighted to debut an exclusive stream of "Early Grey Mornings" before the album's upcoming December 5 release. The song starts off slow, laying melancholy guitar melodies over chugging percussion and shrouding everything in a layer of early morning fog, but things soon get turbulent. As the track builds, Marco Vezzaro throws in some gnarly screams and the bass gains prominence. When the measured tempo gives way for a climax in double-time, the drums, piano and guitar crashing out of the 5AM gloom in waves, it's a bucket of ice water to the face, and it's thanks to the track's masterful construction that the catharsis comes naturally.

Find more on Winter Dust at its official website.

Artist of the Day: Weatherbox

San Diego's Weatherbox is one of the most underrated outfits in all of current music. The brainchild of vocalist/guitarist Brian Warren has undergone multitude of lineup changes over the bands six-plus year career, but they remain just as brash and innovative since their debut album, American Art. Weatherbox plays a style of alternative/indie rock that is angular and jutting. Guitars are crisp, yet distorted, while Warren's voice has a distinct tinge to it. Often reminiscent of early Modest Mouse, Warren's words are thought provoking and cryptic. The music that backs him up is just as unique, with almost progressive aspects to it. Fans of early Say Anything and At The Drive-In will find Weatherbox to be an interesting cocktail with a new twist.

The band has only two albums and a handful of EPs under their belt, but a new release is planned for sometime next year, as they have just recently signed to Triple Crown Records. Keep your ears open for that, as it should be as immensely golden as all of Weatherbox's back catalogue.

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Artist of the Day: Boards of Canada

This past month has brought a highly anticipated and long overdue event in the electronic music calendar: the reissue of almost the entire Boards of Canada catalogue. Men everywhere who post on internet forums and wear vintage clothing are said to be stoked. I should know, I’m one of them.

Artist Of The Day: Death Grips

Somehow, Death Grips keeps surprising us. A little over a year after leaking No Love Deep Web without their label's permission, they've come out of nowhere to release the brand new album Government Plates. While "Birds" was released in August, the strangeness and out of nowhere posting of the track made it feel like a one-off. However, it seems that was simply a teaser for this record. "Birds" isn't quite a strong indication of the sound of the record, however the one correct sign you may get from it is that the record is far more focused on the beats and features more vocal-less parts. Even during the rapped parts, the vocals seem to be turned down lower than before, giving Zach Hill and Flatlander the spotlight rather than their weirdly worshipped frontman MC Ride. It's definitely an interesting listen, if not their best, and worth downloading. You can download Government Plates for free right here, and stream it on their Soundcloud.

Artist of the Day: Cut Copy

Attention early-teenaged children of parents who met at raves: I sense imminent danger. You risk being the first generation who will, when the music blasting through your poster-lined bedroom walls is interrupted by your parents knock gingerly on the door, face a chilling amount of enthusiasm from the folks. For them, it’s a miracle, a godsend. This 4/4 floor-thumping music is not the cliche “jibber-jabber,” it’s not “just noise.” In fact, it seems that these days they DO “make ‘em like they used to.” Scared yet? 

Album Review: The Lonely Forest - Adding Up The Wasted Hours

Album Rating: B+

Everyone loves a good comeback story, and there are few bands out there today deserving of one as much as Washington's The Lonely Forest.  After landing some impressive radio spots with huge hits like "We Sing in Time" and "Turn Off This Song and Go Outside," major labels were fiending for any piece they could get of these Anacortes' musicians, and thus ensued the age-old story of hopeful success gone bad and replaced with stifling bureaucracy.  Somehow, The Lonely Forest managed to make it out alive, and now, armed with a new full-length album not on a major label, they're ready to pick up right where they left off, and start doing things their way.