Album Review: Daft Punk - Random Access Memories

Album Rating: B

Before we begin, I’d like to propose a toast. To Daft Punk. Raise your sleek, silvery and aesthetically pleasing glasses of space champagne to the ceiling of the discotheque. Thank you Daft Punk. Where would we be without you, the prismatic light-show that is your very being cutting through the mucky analog sameness of mid-'90s house, lending life and warmth and vibrancy to a future-of-sound once so bleakly swallowed in spidery spindles of steel-gray and clipping delay. Thank you for what you’ve taught us — like about how robots can feel love, and how computers can paint pictures in our head as vibrant as any crotch-squeezed leather-bound guitar fiddler. Let’s face it guys, we owe them so much, they can essentially do whatever they please. Their latest record, Random Access Memories, could have been full of covers of mid-'50s bossanova classics and they’d retain their secure space in the Valhalla of recorded sound. That’s that.

Artist of the Day: Ell V Gore

Is there some scary stuff going on in Canada that we don’t know about? These days, seems like every band coming down from north of the 49th parallel brings with them a degree of anxiety, late-capitalist delirium, and hall reverb. In this way, Toronto post-punkers Ell V Gore’s new EP Sexstatic is either not what its name suggests, or precisely what its name suggests. Although I’m sure they’re as ecstatic about sex as you and I, this is a dark sex, a brooding sex, full of twitching and baneful stares. Don’t like it? To each his own, but the music fallout from such exercises is quite good. 

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: Jon Hopkins

Although a distinguished artist in his own right, it's fair to say that most know Jon Hopkins through his collaborations as opposed to his own work. Some may claim this undermines the Londoner's credentials, but the sheer breadth of acts he's worked with puts paid to such theories, with Coldplay, Brian Eno and King Creosote just some of those who have benefited from his input, while numerous others have undergone the remix treatment. Many would even regard Diamond Mine, the 2011 LP spawned from the Creosote-Hopkins partnership to be the highlight of both men's careers - although that assertion may find itself challenged by the producer's fourth solo offering.
 

Artist of the Day: The Legion of Doom

Duo Chad Blinman and Trever Keith spilled out into the punk rock and mashup scenes in 2004 when The Legion of Doom's Incorporated started to show up in P2P networks like Limewire. The duo's collaborative efforts birthed a new twist on pop punk fan-favorites in the mashed up tracks including Taking Back Sunday, Brand New, Saves The Day, and Armor For Sleep. Despite a mostly inactive career since their debut release, The Legion of Doom's music gives an infusion of life into the once-new songs  like "At Your Funeral" and "The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows" that have come become staples in the mid-2000's music scene of yesteryear.

Album Review: Witxes - A Fabric Of Beliefs

Album Rating: B+

The most unnerving thing about the human mind is just how unstable it is. Everyone, unsurprisingly, likes to think of themselves as a sane, rational being, and the notion that we know this to be true couldn't in fact be further from the truth. We experience near seismic shifts from even the most trivial of interactions and events, and relatively harmless mediums even tap into this vulnerability every day for their own financial gain. After all, how often does advertising wedge itself deep in your subconscious and rear its ugly head the very moment you debate which drinks to buy? Companies mercilessly prey on the financial delicacy that is your mind with ease, so it’s little wonder when seemingly well-adjusted people develop mental illness from disasters or the passing of loved ones.

Artist of the Day: Revocation

Key Release: Chaos of Forms (2011)

With so many bands vying for the limelight these days, it’s hard to craft a musical identity that stands out from the crowd. Boston thrash act Revocation has managed to not only be heard over the din, but is starting to turn heads with an eclectic brand of metal rooted in guitarist David Davidson’s studies of jazz and Classical music at Berklee College of Music. Founded as a trio, Revocation unleashed its debut album Empire of the Obscene in 2008, and landed a second haymaker to the jaw with Existence is Futile only a year later. The band’s sophomore effort gained the attention of major publications such as Spin and AllMusic, who awarded the album a stellar 4.5/5 and called it “one of the best pure metal albums of 2009.” Loudwire even went so far as to name the band’s 2009 single “Dismantle the Dictator” one of the fifty best metal songs of the 21^st century.

Album Review: The Front Bottoms - Talon Of The Hawk

Album Rating: B

It's tough to follow up a breakout record. Some groups feel it's best to keep it safe and replicate that which brought them fame, while others feel the necessity to branch out and expand their sound into something bigger and better. The Front Bottoms lean into the latter realm, as it is now a more fleshed out full band working with a much higher production value than on its 2011 self-titled record. However, much of the charm and quirkiness that dominated that record and made it both relatable and utterly enjoyable feels missing, as Talon Of The Hawk showcases a band displaying sparks of greatness but still needing to hone their craft a little further.

Artist of the Day: Modern Baseball

If there was a way to summarize Modern Baseball in a neat little sentence that certainly won't do them justice, it's "they're the marriage of the American Football and Long Island pop-punk." This matrimony will certainly sound unpalatable to fans on both sides of the spectrum, but the band's self-awareness and relatively noodly guitar lines will be sure to convert Kinsella disciples while the vocalists, who trade lines frequently, and pounding snare drum will captivate the pop-punkers looking for something a little less whiny, but no less nasally, than they're used too. Some lyrics come off as tacky, like the social media lament "@chl03k" (who after a quick scan of Twitter appears to be worth writing a song about) but others- "Sober or not, I locked everything you sent me, cause what’s better than seeing what I’m missing daily" - are as pained and heart-splitting as you'd expect from one of their song-writing idols, although they lack the unique beauty of a track like "Never Meant." There's nothing intrinsically pretty about Modern Baseball's music, the aesthetic tends more toward Into It. Over It. or another group of that ilk than to a more stereotypical modern emo band like Empire! Empire! but this is part of their charm. The band's youth, all are still in college, manages to shine through in their unique medium and lends them an air of genuine feeling. The emotions are tangible, perhaps moreso because of the less-than-stellar recording than their talent and construction, but you get a general feel for the group quickly: a maudlin quartet with good instincts and a keen ability to blend genres in short bursts (few songs eclipse four minutes long). They may not wow you with technical ability or tenderness, but you will almost certainly feel comfortable listening to them and willing to connect with one side of them or the other.

Facebook

Artist Of The Day: Ke$ha

Admittedly, this tribute is coming about three years too late. I only first listened to Animal, her 2010 debut, in full this weekend (and have been compensating for my oversight by blasting it nonstop over the past three days), but removed from the maelstrom in which it was thrust upon an unsuspecting American public, its charms are on fuller display. The songs are unapologetically and even uncomfortably smutty...and that's the point. Ke$ha plays straight into pop's image of the party girl as the brainless sex toy and takes her power back by ramping everything up to eleven, threatening to literally eat us out on "Cannibal" and turning the word "slut" back on her boyfriend on "Kiss N Tell" (and flipping the overemotional girlfriend narrative on the delightful "Blah Blah Blah"). It's not just the lyrics, though, as the music is subtly designed to empower as well, twisting seemingly chirpy instrumentation (listen to that synthesizer go in "Tik Tok") into sonic bulldozers. Even the rare lovelorn ballad ("Hungover") is packed with percussive bravado and vocal force. It's a shame that an album as subtly intelligent and thoughtful as Animal has gone largely dismissed: Ke$ha may be an unrepentant party girl, but for all of her drunken acts, she just may be the most sober person in the pop biz today.

If you haven't listened to Animal yet, you really, really should.

Album Review: Mount Kimbie - Cold Spring Fault Less Youth

Album Rating: B

Genres are flowers and Mount Kimbie is a bee buzzing between them on its quest for nectar. Mount Kimbie is both a bad and a good bee: on one hand it flies all over the electronic flower field, skirting from darker dubstep petals to tattered glitch plants and the washed out leaves of trip hop, and on the other it never settles long enough to really collect anything. The hive queen isn’t too happy about this, as all she wants is for the bee to make its mind up and supply her with a constant, coherent identity. The indecisiveness is vexing if not too much for her to cope with, but the bee doesn’t give a fuck: it’s just having a good time.

Musings: Are My Musical Tastes Maturing? Or, Alternatively, My Thoughts On The New Bonobo

Though I know I'm a bit late to the party on this one, the (relatively) new Bonobo album, The North Borders, is amazing. It's just under an hour of dizzy, soulful trip-hop brilliance which dips just far enough into garage and formless downtempo to be interesting the whole way through. It's also something I doubt I would have listened to at all, much less enjoyed as much as I did, if I'd found it six months ago. The album's quality would probably have been lost on me if it had come out then, as at that point I mostly listened to music for the raw entertainment value. It's the classic case of an American teenager, recently recovered from being blindsided by the likes of Skrillex and Flux Pavilion, figuring out what exactly "serious" music means, why people enjoy it when there's far more interesting music out there, and whether he'd ever be like everyone else in liking it.

SAY Award 2013

Of all the depressing facets and minor annoyances which bug my life, the fact I'm not Scottish is perhaps the one which riles me the most. That might sound like a strange statement for those preoccupied with lazy, negative stereotypes, but there's something about the nation and its people which grip me every time I visit - something that's conspicuous in its absence even in my relatively convenient residence in North East England. What attracts me the most, though, is that along with its widely cited culture and heritage, Scotland also has a knack of spawning some of the most vital and transcendent music around, and even as a staunch advocate of my local scene I find it neigh on impossible not to become entranced by goings on north of the border.
 

Artist Of The Day - Letlive

Letlive provided post-hardcore fans with a rare dose of excitement in 2010 with the release of their second album Fake History. The hype was such, that you could scarcely enter a Letlive discussion without comparisons to Glassjaw and their seminal album Worship and Tribute being raised. Although these contrasts are often refuted, the fact that they’re even being made reflects favourably on the Los Angeles quartet, and many deem Letlive worthy of enough praise to be considered genuine contenders for post-hardcore eminence. It seems likely then, that if Letlive build on Fake History convincingly, the argument will be even more difficult to discredit.

With no new single officially due for release from new album The Blackest Beautiful until June 4th, many wonderfully grainy and distorted live copies have surfaced of the album’s final track “27 Club.” The little that can be gleaned from the low quality versions is all positive: the screams of front-man Jason Butler quash any fears of the band mellowing, the crunching riffs recall the heaviest moments of their debut, and the energy of the band has, if anything, increased. If you’re as excited as me to hear what The Blackest Beautiful might sound like, then check out the glimpses shown in the video below.

Artist of the Day: Boards of Canada

Now I'm a cynical type and a fair bit pessimistic if I'm going to be honest with you, so when Boards of Canada announced a new album the first and only thing to come to my head was "this is going to be shit and it will ruin everything." It's a defense mechanism of sorts: through The National, Squarepusher and u-ziq I've yet to be truly disappointed. They're releases aren't quite up to scratch but aren't terrible either, which is a good thing, right?

Two days ago, Boards of Canada gave us the first proper glimpse at their upcoming LP Tomorrow's Harvest. Up to this point the Scottish electronic duo had laid out breadcrumbs in the form of weird, unintelligible screeches and cryptic messages, so a sudden reveal in this way was more than a little unexpected. Thankfully, the track they released is amazing: exceeding all expectations and offering hope for a return to their Music Has The Right to Children/ Geogaddi heyday. The track, titled "Reach for the Dead," is a continuation of their darker sound with an eerie synth line and slow, encroaching percussion. All pessimism has been washed away and I am truly looking forward to what I pray is a brilliant album. Check it out below and get excited.

Artist of the Day: Five Knives

I should really hate Five Knives. At times, they're probably the worst of the so-called "American EDM revolution," with some cheesy-as-hell and pretty watered-down wubs with slightly annoying rapped vocals. However, at other times there's so much pent-up energy and kick-ass bursting from within the group that I can't help but have fun. And, to be fair, there's much good about Five Knives - "All Fall Down," for example, is one of the finest examples of synth-pop-meets-electro-house-tropes I've heard in some time, and it's raw around the edges in the perfect ways. The band is traveling on the Vans Warped Tour this year, and here's hoping one of us here at Muzik Dizcovery gets a chance to see them — it's sure to be a fun show.

Facebook/Twitter

Artist Of The Day: Sombear

We spoke with Now, Now way back in November, and drummer Brad Hale let us know we would be hearing an album from his solo project Sombear sooner rather than later. Well, we finally have a song, title and release date for this album, as Love You In The Dark will be out July 23 via Trans Records. Hale posted up the title track for the album, an emotionally powerful synth pop track featuring a minimalist beat and vocals heavily edited with a vocoder. The dissonant synths in the bridge help communicate his inner struggles and suffering, while the entire song still feels stripped down and natural even while a multitude of effects and computerization are used. It proves to any naysayer that even electronic based music can feel relatable and real. I'm excited to hear what this album has to offer, and you should be too, so follow Sombear on Facebook for all the news on the album.

Artist of the Day- Juicy J

I think what I like most about Juicy J is you don't have to be a fan of Three 6 Mafia, or rap in general, to like him. Juicy J "lives what he raps about," which is, far more often than not, doing drugs in all forms. You'd be hard pressed to find a kid out there who hasn't heard "Bandz a Make Her Dance," and that's really just the tip of the iceberg. With lines like "these bitches clappin and they ain't usin hands," and "you say no to ratchet pussy, Juicy J can't," it's an unconventional hit, without a doubt riding the waves of 2 Chainz and Lil Wayne to the top of the charts, but presents us the Juicy J lifestyle: anything with questionable merit is up his alley. Fan favorites "Juicy J Can't" and "Zip and a Double Cup" remind the listener that "You say no to drugs, Juicy J can't." This is funny, not only because most fans don't say no to drugs (his slogan is Stay Trippy), but also because the man physically cannot turn down drugs. They're too appealing, too fun, too easy to rhyme about for Juicy to reject. Thus, lyrical excellence is not on his mind- sample lyric: "I am so fucked up/playing PS3"— but a laidback flow and a poppin atmosphere make Juicy J's solo stuff incredibly fun. His best mixtape, Rubba Band Business 2, is produced by Bricksquad wunderkind Lex Luger and is replete with incredible beats and sneaky earworms that will have you muttering inanities like "I gotta get some weed every morning just to medicate" under your breath. Backpackers beware: this is as easy listening as rap gets; one need just kick his or her feet up, plug in some Beats (if you disrespect your eardrums) and zone out to have a good time. Drugs recommended but definitely not required.

Album Review: Lakota De Kai - Heavy Teeth

Album Rating: B

Sometimes imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Take Midwestern post-hardcore/metal enthusiasts in Lakota De Kai, for example. Hailing from the small Midwestern city of Kent, Ohio, the four-piece heavy outfit take the southern wails and blues riffs from Every Time I Die and construct a new sound with the ferocity of The Chariot on their new EP, Heavy Teeth.

MuzikDizcovery Exclusive: Places To Hide - "Ecotone" Stream

We at Muzik Dizcovery are pleased to present an exclusive premier of “Ecotone,” the final track off of Atlanta band Places to Hide’s new record Almost Nothing. Over a hyperkinetic (not to mention tied-up-tight) whirlwind of slick melody and barchord slashing, vocalist Kyle Swick narrates with surprising swagger and wit the story of dreary a Sunday afternoon sucked so clean of energy and motion it could only be represented sonically at bullet train speeds. Swick’s delivery is cut fantastically with a kind of stage-actor’s malaise — we feel his pain, but it doesn’t feel like he’s complaining. Then, after a subtle slow build you’ll hardly notice, somebody steps on the fuzz pedal and sends the song pulsing with temple-to-temple punch-in-the-gut fuzz, and boy does it get me every time. Hello Husker Du? The song is a hit. Well, I guess not really until you guys have heard it, so get listening! Check it out below. If you dig the track, make sure to see the band on tour (dates after the jump) or order the album on LP (soon to be released on Irrelevant Recordings) or CD (through Out of This Records). Stream some other tracks on Bandcamp.