Pequeña Fiera!: Mountains were monsters
Free Download Friday
Listen to this.
Pequeña Fiera!: Mountains were Monsters
2010, Error! Lo-Fi Recordings
This album is available as a free download here.
I am intrigued by the bigfoot-looking cartoon character on the cover of Pequeña Fiera!’s record, Mountains were Monsters. I’m intrigued because I wonder whether it is the inspiration for this whimsical collection of lo-fi recordings or whether the character was created out of listening to the music. His story certainly seems to be for me the story of this record.
It’s easy to draw parallels to bands like Sigur Ros or Deerhunter from listening to Mountains were Monsters, but there’s something different here. There is whimsy in this music that feels concentrated and seldom boring. That is not to say that there isn’t the old tricks of influences either: small harmonies buried in mixes, hand-claps creating the rhythm section, and glitchy tape noise create a familiar ambiance to this music.
Obvious influences aside, I can’t help thinking about that big, cartoon bigfoot-like character, trampling through pine forests, trying to share his life, but finding himself alone. Not being able to decipher the lyrics on this record is no help either (Portugese, French, English?). Seeing him makes me think that the lyrics on this record are in his mysterious bigfoot-language, and this is his only expression in the world.
Sometimes it is the statement that is not being made that can be most powerful. Mountains were Monsters gives my imagination the power to imagine characters like I was a kid again.
Mp3s and Cover Art via Error! Lo-Fi Recordings
Local Show of the Week
Dead Week Print Show
Saturday, December 11
Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios, Denton, Texas
For fans of printmaking and music—Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios will be hosting the Printmaking Association of North Texas Students’ Dead Week Print Show. Three bands, Pinkish Black, Dear Human, and Peopleodian, will be playing the show that begins at 10pm with a cover of $3/$5. Pan Ector will also be on hand doing live screenprinting.
Caithlin De Marrais is looking for help recording her new record. I’d enthusiastically encourage anyone who can spare the funds to donate to her project.
For those of you who don’t know, Caithlin is the former lead singer of Rainer Maria, a brilliant indie rock band who previously recorded for Polyvinyl Records.
This is a Kickstarter project and Caithlin is looking for $8,500 for the project. There are 10 pledge levels, with rewards coming in for as little as $10.
Braid Vinyl Reissues
I can’t wait to hear these reissues by Braid, one of the finest indie rock bands to emerge from the emo explosion of the mid-90s.
This deal captures five releases: I’m Afraid of Everything 7”, Frankie Welfare Boy Age 5, The Age of Octeen, Movie Music Volume 1, and Movie Music Volume 2. Essentially this is everything Braid released except for their breathrough, Frame & Canvas.
Order by clicking the picture above, Mp3 downloads of each release are provided with your order.
NAD Integrated Stereo Amplifier
I found this image last week on the web, an unfortunately, this device was produced in a silver color rather in the white it appears to be. However, if NAD is out there, I believe it would be very wise for them to make this model again, only this time in a white finish.
I am a huge fan of two-channel stereo. In fact, I’m hoping to make my own mid-level, low-wattage 2.1 channel system soon and a NAD integrated amplifier like this one would be perfect.
It appears that this design was produced in 2006-2007.
Specs from AVLand by clicking the picture.
Image via AV-LAND
Diego Bernal: Besides…
Free Music Friday.
Best New Music
Diego Bernal: Besides…
2010, Exponential Records
This album is available as a free download here.
This album just might be the coolest thing I’ve heard all year. This is the kind of music you would imagine rolling through Danny Trejo’s head while he’s walking into the grocery store or something. And yet, despite this “cool” feeling, there’s something warm and familiar about what’s going on here that makes this record special.
So why waste my time explaining to you the parallels that I could draw between 70s-era exploitation films or the kind of music curation that only Quentin Tarantino could pull off in one of his film’s soundtracks? I won’t. I’ll put it simply: I feel cool listening to Bernal extract classic funk horns and whirling psychedelic guitar licks against a backdrop of early 90s east coast hip-hop beats. It makes me feel cool.
I have to admit, I think Tarantino is a dork; however, there’s something about those characters that he creates—outlaws, outcasts, nobodies that seems “real.” You know these characters, and you like their eschewing of society for their own psychological well-being. We try to be like them, and somehow, it makes us feel better about ourselves.
I have to believe this is the appeal of folk music—real folk music in the vein of regional styles of the blues, appalachian mountain music, jazz, etcetera. It’s stuff that we relate to and yet makes us feel that we are cared for, all at once, which makes the ‘warm fuzzies’ come out.
So why is Besides… so good? Is it simply the existential freedom to become some outlaw-caricature that powers this record? No. Bernal is a ‘doctor of style’ in his presentation of the beat. Besides… is less a club record than it is an execution of style. He touches so many genres here (hip-hop, funk, soul, among others) that Bernal is making a stylistic collage that makes for a visceral listening experience.
The impact of the deejay on musical and aesthetic culture cannot be underrated. In many ways, deejays are helping to preserve and invigorate modern American folk art. Bernal samples almost nothing popular, yet remains completely familiar in all that he creates, unlike contemporary musicians like Girl Talk. This is not to slam other artists working with these tools in the genre, but it does lend praise to Bernal for being a folk visionary, albeit in a very non-traditional way.
Mp3s and album art via Exponential Records
Music Hall Turntable mmf-2.2wh
There is so much here that is so simple about the device: simple glossy finish, a simple power switch on the top of the device, the basic counterbalanced straight tonearm, all of which seem fit for any minimalist-loving audiophile.
The Velvet Underground, The Quine Tapes
Projects like this one from Sundazed excite me. All-too-often box sets and “deluxe editions” are really just quick collections of demos with original tracks. All-too-frequently the aesthetic of the band and the time are disregarded as the packaging is aimed to a new audience, with the hope to ignite large margins in the sale of the box set and future sales of the band’s catalog releases.
This box appears to be a repackage of 2001’s Bootleg Series Volume 1: The Quine Tapes release by Polydor, only this time the packaging and the material seem to be presented with the kind of loving curation that enthusiasts like Sundazed could provide.
Props to Pitchfork for calling this release out on their Gift Guide 2010 article. Details on click-through of the album cover.
There are few pictures that can inspire such excitement. Yes, Marshall Headphones are for real.
Details via Engadget
Photo via Marshall Headphones
Free Music Friday: 23 Seconds Netlabel Round-Up
Free Music Friday
Johan Lundin contacted me a couple weeks ago via last.fm about a release from his label by Azoora.
You can’t really know the netlabel world without knowing about 23 Seconds. The label features a diverse set of musicians that doesn’t fit regularly into the electronic-music type mold that usually gets assigned to netlabels. There is a wealth of genres represented, and this round-up of 23 Seconds’ most recent releases shares a fraction of what they have to offer.
Listen to this.
Flyafter: Extended Play
Download Here
Flyafter’s Extended Play was the release I sought out among the label’s many releases, largely because of the art on the cover. An Indonesian band, Flyafter has a decisively mainstream feel, featuring strong synth melodies and a deep appreciation for strong hooks. In many ways, the familiarity plays to the band’s advantage, providing a real alternative to top-40 pop.
This is a release that feels a lot like where Ben Gibbard might go given the opportunity to incorporate more synth-like experimentation into Death Cab for Cutie. This is to say that there are some very strong moments on this 25-minute EP, although there is little here that will feel unfamiliar. The band’s remix of Sigur Ros’ “Njósnavélin” was an unexpected surprise, as well as the strong acoustic sound of “Sleep Beside Me;” however, there isn’t anything groundbreaking in the mix, just strong execution of pop song craft.
Best New Music.
Danish Daycare: A Story of Hurt (2010 Edition)
Download Here
Execution abounds on the re-release of Daniel Jönsson’s debut, A Story of Hurt (2010 Edition). A member of another brilliant 23 Seconds Netlabel band, Emerald Park, Jönsson perfectly evokes the aesthetic strengths of 80s bands Echo and the Bunnymen and New Order on this full length. Throughout the album’s eleven tracks I was consistently blown away with the strength and development of the artist’s aesthetic choice. Clearly this is a musician anxious to relive and perfect the finest moments of 80s synth and guitar pop, while being aware of his part in the songwriting of today.
Too often artists invoking aesthetic nostalgia neglect the nuance of songwriting. This is tragic for the music fan looking to see where the genre could go next, all-too-often finding that aesthetic choices are merely the remnants of a time gone by, a medium for sales rather than artistic exploration. This is where Danish Daycare really thrives; from the album’s first track, “A Purpose to My Sins,” there are clear modern subtleties worked into the song forms, revealing songs that are as dark, lonely, and discontent as anything Trent Reznor is doing today.
There is much about this album that had to grow on me. It is a dark record, filled with despair. The cover alone detracts many from finding the beauty that is inside its 51 minutes. This is a record that pays dividends with intentional listening. It needs emotional investment, and with that, provides listening that feels anything but stale.
Ignore.
Azoora: Tension
Download Here
I cannot relate the total malaise that came over me after listening to Azoora’s Tension. I couldn’t care less about this release, and I don’t know why. All of the ingredients that would make something interesting to me are here: Johnny Marr-like guitar, female counter-vocal work, decent rhythm, and still, it falls flat.
The album’s second track, the EP’s title track, “Tension,” is a rambling mess of a song. It feels aimless, with terrible lyrics repeated like, “my mind swirls.” It feels deliberate, but one has to wonder why. There’s nothing interesting here and tracks like this one do nothing to increase the tension of the listener, they just move the listener to skip to the next track.
I want more from Azoora. I feel like this is a band that has places to go musically, but they sound too much like a musical hodge-podge. There are some decent instrumental moments here, but they are tracks that essentially feel undeveloped rather than something legitimately interesting. It’s this kind of underdevelopment that truly drives me crazy as a listener. I wonder what could have happened with more time, more editing. This is a release that just feels pushed for the purposes of completion.
Mp3s and Covers via 23 Seconds Netlabel
