I Break Horses – “Hearts”
Posted by Todd Hamm
The drum pulse and the winding static at the onset of "Hearts" feels like the prelude to something intense; some drum and bass at a warehouse rave, although the vintage-looking footage (which recalls Fleet Foxes' recent "Grown Ocean" video) in the corresponding video says something gentler is happening. As the farm and stream visuals float by, the electric keys drift in, the kick eases to make room for the ambient melody, and it's all gravy. The sound is very dream-pop, like a rural Beach House, yet not nearly as sedated. This is the first single from Stockholm duo I Break Horses' (Smog reference) debut album (also called Hearts), which is set to be released August 16th on I KILL LOVE Records in the U.S., and it's quite beautifully put together. Though Maria Lindén's voice sneaks in all echo-ey with the effects early on, she doesn't take a leading role until the midpoint in the track. She garnishes the tune for few measures, holding the spotlight, then fades to the background as the beat rides its course. At the song's conclusion, Lindén and her musical partner Fredrik Balck tune down the last, lingering note to ensure a slightly anti-pretty ending to a very pretty song as the black clouds creep by in time-lapse. IBH is officially on our radar.
El Guincho- “Bombay” Music Video
Posted by Justin Hoyt
"Bombay" kicks off the latest album Pop Negro from beat-maker/singer El Guincho. This video debuted about a month ago but just caught my eye (and trust me you'll see what I mean when you watch it). It's more of a collage than linear video but the visuals are captivating and somehow the thrusting of random images does it's job in accenting the dub influenced anthem. And there's girls, seriously pretty ones. Enjoy if you haven't already, and if you have enjoy again.
Oceansize – Home & Minor EP
Oceansize - Home & Minor front cover
Posted by Todd Hamm
Expansive, yet often airy and lithe, Oceansize's complex sense of melody has drawn comparison to everyone from Radiohead to Tool. It's been their ability to evolve and create within new parameters, to bound through seldom used sectors of their "genre" while maintaining a strangely cohesive aesthetic, that has set them apart from most progressive acts of the day. With their most recent Home & Minor EP, the Manchester quintet has taken the opportunity to explore their gentler sensibilities for half an hour; something like the "Music For A Nurse" or "The Frame" arrangements, but more focused and refined. They haven't tried to pack the entire range of their catalogue into a single song (although that approach often makes for their best material) this time around, and it has worked surprisingly well.
"Legal Teens" begins blurry-eyed and curious, the reversed effects splashing between left and right channels the way water refracts light. As captured in the video, lead singer Mike Vennart drifts in falsetto with the guitar sway, Steve Hodson's bass slowly instills gravity, as Gambler's keys flutter between rhythm guitarist Steve Durose's soft, deliberate riffs and Mark Heron's warmly batted tom drums. As the track fades on the EP, "Getting Where Water Cannot" clicks on crisp in the middle of a subdued action sequence, where the tricky drum click soon picks up bits of guitar, bass, keys and trumpet as it tumbles through scenery that is as much David Gray as it is Radiohead. The melodic feedback of "Monodrones" serves preface to the title track's wobbling reverb and gregorian vocality, and while it may be the weakest--and longest--song of the collection, the lack of repetition and anticlimactic fray at the end of the song make it bearable background music. "Didnealand" has the spacious qualities of an old house, complete with creaky furniture, hardwood echoes, the family's grand piano. Not a word is spoken, nor does it need to be. "The Strand" closes out the disk in haunting fashion, with Vennart's dark lyrics whispered over the whine of industrial fans, or perhaps the quiet hum of machinery. The track nearly foreshadows a return to the deep brooding tension of "Voorhees", especially given the eery cat-wondering-in-a-warehouse sounds to wrap things up--and yet, it is the end.
Home & Minor is an exercise in patience, a six track build-up, that, while hinting at some kind of climactic resolution, is able to stand on it's own as a delightfully moody assortment of sounds. It plays perfectly into the bigger picture; it's simply the next chapter in the discography they seem to have already planned out, with vastly different spikes in plot and character development, but that follow the same extremely well thought out arc. It's hard to tell how those used to the edgy prog-metal, spastic time signatures and tangential song structures typical of previous Oceansize material will react, but by the sound of it, the band doesn't care much, or are at least confident. They are however, due for an explosion.
Here's the afore-mentioned video for the opening track "Legal Teens" from the Home & Minor EP:
Head Like a Kite – We’re Always On the Wrong Side Of Sunrise video
Posted by Todd Hamm
Moorman(L) and Einmo(R), photo by Dan Tyler
The first single (second if you count "Director's Cut", which was generously donated to Cafe Vita's GIVE compilation) from HLAK's third album Dreams Suspend Night, comes with an suave video directed by Matt Wesson. Although the video doesn't quite compete with Chase Jarvis's prolific artistry on the "Director's Cut" vid, Wesson does a formidable job of capturing the band's costume-laden goofballery with a conveyor belt full of dressed up (frontman) Dave Einmos and (touring drummer) Trent Moormans. Former The Saturday Knights MC Tilson once again comes along for the ride, and delivers a couple of quality verses that are delightfully lip-sunk by the rest of the characters as they float stage left.
Look for Dreams Suspend Night to drop May 18th on their very own record label, and catch their album release party May 21st at Neumos (SEA) with support from Daedelus, Thee Emergency and DJ Terry Radjaw.
Dark Time Sunshine – Sleestack Payback & All Aboard video
Posted by Todd Hamm
Dark Time Sunshine - Vessel cover
It's been some time since musicians--rap artists in particular--have pushed themselves to produce the kind of multi-disciplinary artistry that Dark Time Sunshine has begun to create (well okay, here's one noteworthy exception). The music is futuristic dream-rap from the minds of Grayskul's Onry Ozzborn (under the pen name Cape Cowen) and Chicago's Alex Zavala. The duo has contracted videographer Christian Hansen to bring their vision to the visual medium, and he has done so beautifully on mash-up videos for "Doom"/"Go Team"/"Wrong Kids" (from last fall's free DTS album Believeyoume), and now "Sleestack Payback"/"All Aboard". The latter was released just days before the group's more formal debut Vessel, which features both songs, hit stores on April 20th. Hansen's glossy finish and fuzzy slow motion pans capture the surreality of the tracks perfectly, and the playful astronaut scenes were apparently shot in Japan, which is pretty rad.
Check out both videos below, and also download their free nine track album Believeyoume on Fake Four records HERE. If it tickles your fancy, you can pick up their new release Vessel on iTunes as well as at your favorite local record store.
Grynch- “My Volvo” Video
Posted by Justin Hoyt
Ballard's finest has dropped a new video to support the single "My Volvo" off of the incredibly solid Chemistry Ep available for free at getgrynch.com. The video is well shot, matching the songs message of dealing with a beloved beater perfectly; and on top of that, I'm pretty much bound to support whole-heartedly anything that takes place in my home neighborhood. Grynch is a hard working type of dude and has the material to back it up. "My Volvo" isn't the best song off of Chemistry but it's accessible and catchy, and is a well concieved showcase of Grynch's ever improving lyrical talent. The video features cameo's by local mainstays such as Macklemore, Sol, DJ Nphared and El Mizell of Mash Hall fame.
MGMT – Flash Delirium Video
Posted by Justin Hoyt
Being weird for the sake of being weird rarely appeals to my senses. Too many bands take this approach as a way to get attention and overshadow the fact they lack the chops to let the music stand on its own. However, there are times when done right an over the top, weird, gross out video is perfectly in order. Take for example MGMT's freak-fest of a new video for their mind bending new single "Flash Delirium":
The images of a soldier returning to a surreal, bourgeois household with his apprehensive companion seem to have very little to do with the song but I think that's the point. There are some truly hysterical moments in the video; for instance the elderly woman handling flute solo duties or the spaghetti filled iron lung which destroys the monster living inside MGMT's Ben Goldwasser. The single itself rivals anything off of 2008's Oracula Spectacular and is relentless in its refusal to get stale. There is a chorus but it only becomes recognizable after a few listens allowing the song to shape-shift and progress through multiple genres without the urge to drive back into a hook every 16 bars. I can tell you that Congratulations, which comes out April 13 and is streaming now at the band's website, contains much of the same lucidity and unconventional format as "Flash Delirium".
Goldwasser(L) VanWyngarden(R)
I gotta admit I was expecting very little out of Goldwasser and band-mate Andrew VanWyngarden on their follow up to the hugely successful Oracular Spectacular, but they did not disappoint. The album is a singular entity combining electro/surf/indie/alternative music seamlessly throughout. And while there is no "Kids" or "Electric Feel" on Congratulations, which will probably cost them a couple of bandwagon fans, there is an overwhelming sense of a band living up to their immense potential instead of caving to the pressure's to repeat a proven winning formula.
MGMT will be hitting the pavement to promote Congratulations including festival stops at Coachella and Sasquatch before heading to the UK for a lengthy visit. My assumption is they will return for an extended American tour soon after though no dates have yet been announced, but if the video is any kind of precursor for the live show this will be one not to miss.
Avatar Young Blaze – A Day In the Life
Posted by Todd Hamm
Avatar Young Blaze
Is your rap collection too soft? Do you need more guns, drugs and illicit money getting out of your friendly neighborhood MC? Enter Seattle's (Ukraine's/Russia's) Avatar Young Blaze. He is a bad man. His lyrics are sinister, and they're delivered eerily calm through clouds of blunt smoke from luxury sedans and building rooftops. He's good at what he does, and although his subject matter usually slinks through the gutters and back alleys of his environment, there's something captivating and even familiar about the guy. With each venomous song or video clip he releases, Avatar welcomes you to the fold and guides you through his daily experiences, teaches you hard lessons he's learned and explains why things have wound up the way they have. For example:
This is "A Day In the Life", a mini-documentary that was releases today about the MC's life and influences, which basically finds him smoking a ton of weed and looking his most menacing in a winter-time L.A. hideout. He touches on topics like his upbringing, and his parent's flight to the U.S. to escape the crumbling U.S.S.R., as well as his flight to California to escape Seattle's notoriously rainy winters, and also why he's such a badass. In addition, he previews a couple of tracks from his new Baptized In Vodka project (release date TBA), which is a nice lil' bonus for fans.
Released simultaneously with the video was the first single from BIV called "I Am King", a song that captures Avatar's style at it's best: hardcore and brash, but honest. The production is clean and laid back--tropical even, and features smooth background vocals, which is somewhat of a departure for Av. Although it has a bit of a new and distant feel to it, the song sounds natural, as he tells it like it is in traditional Avatar Young Blaze fashion.
Dyme Def “Do Something” Video
Posted by Justin Hoyt
I heard this song a while ago courtesy of Raindrop Hustla and was curious to see if the boys of Dyme Def were going to drop a video with it. The sexuality of the lyrics, quick to sing-along hook, and another banger from Bean One seemed tailor made for a video especially considering the groups recent collaborations with TITS Clothing. So I was pretty damn excited to hear this video was being released, not to mention that it was going to have a cameo from Gianna Michaels and her big ol' milky titties. Seems like a perfect fit right? A dope song, cross promotion with a local company, and Gianna's big boobies flying around? Well, turns out some things are better on paper. It's not that I think the video sucks, or that there isn't any creativity, its just that it's boring. For what should be a fast moving video with examples being shown of what the songs themes are we get what seems to be predetermined and staged examples of pimpin. The video lacks authenticity, primarily shown by the girls dancing looking like their watching Finding Nemo on a big screen while being told to dance. The members of Dyme Def do their job well, I guess, but I still felt like they were being over-directed throughout the shoot. The video's okay but I've come to expect more from Dyme Def. They have polished rawness combined with skill and charm to spare, all of which can be heard in the song, but disappear in the video.
