“Everything Is True” – ‘Paul Dempsey’ [Joint Review]

The other day I was berated for saying the phrase ’slim-pickin’s’, they said it was – to quote:

“… so nineties…”

That basically epitomises today’s Joint Review pick for our Sunday today.

Slim-pickin’s.

Not “… so nineties…”

My counterpart has been the driving force behind finding – on occasions decent, on others average – albums that have been reviewed. We’ve had some killers, like “Lungs”, and occasionally some strong adverse views, like ‘Jarvis Cocker’s’ “Further Complications” [oh, the irony!]. Some might be asking:

“… So, TEG, why don’t you pick an album for once?”

Good question – if I manage to find something worth reviewing for both of us, I’ll not hesitate to mention. My counterpart’s music knowledge seems second-to-none, and I’m still learning all the ropes. Now to today’s album, and, disappointingly, it is a side-project. Fans of ‘Something For Kate’ will have already heard of ‘Paul Dempsey’s’ side-project at current, and that’s “Everything Is True”. Any good?

Let’s take a look at:

"Everything Is True" - 'Paul Dempsey'

Back a few months ago, if any of you can remember that far back, we both took a crack at “Julian Plenti Is… Skyscraper”, the side-project for ‘Interpol’s’ lead. It wasn’t a masterpiece by any standard, or at least, I found I got caught up in its repetitive style, and it’s lack of ‘Interpol’ standard. Although I always expect side-projects to be different from the main-band affiliate, this was totally off the scale. Though ‘Interpol’ had been spiralling out of control after “Turn On The Bright Lights”, I felt that they had found their spark after all at “Our Love To Admire”. It brought back that classic ‘Interpol’ and it was totally understated. And you’re wondering where I’m going with this: ‘Interpol’ is just an example for how side-projects seem to ‘hinder’ positive growth in main-band affiliates. By that, I mean, ‘Interpol’s’ lead and drummer decided to go off and play with the fairies, make their own music, and come back only to ‘Interpol’ when they had exhausted all their musical talents elsewhere.

It’s no different to “Everything Is True”. ‘Something For Kate’ were a band that I hadn’t taken interest in for the better-part of three years. I was introduced to them back when they were apparently at their height, and I just couldn’t find a connection between them and myself. I thought the music was a tad ‘wishy-washy’ and predictable, and I was expecting a bit more. To be honest, I really couldn’t make it half way through “Everything Is True” because it was really eating away at me. I frown on side-projects for the simple reason: guys/gals, if you’ve got spare time on your hands and you’re already in a band, put that focus to your main-band before you go off and do something yourself – improve what you have, don’t start anew.

‘Interpol’s’ side-projects, in my eyes, were laughable, they’ve really earned themselves a reputation as the pessimist from their three albums, and when they broke that mould, they were – sorry to be so blunt, but – hideous. ‘Paul Dempsey’ seems to have taken the elements from ‘Something For Kate’, and has only reworked the sound here and there to produce acoustic/alternative style songs that aren’t explosive, that never really vary in grades of layers or pitch, and aren’t overly lyrically appealing. And if that wasn’t a hint for genre-alone, I’ll underline the fact that you’ll expect acoustic, more acoustic and even more, acoustic. It’s that classic – yet overused – style of male-and-guitar, with only a hint of percussion here and there and vocalisation that doesn’t quite grab and hypnotise you. Where ‘Florence Welch’ had power, had soul in her voice for “Lungs”, “Everything Is True” has this persistent volume that makes songs melt into each other unrecognisably.

For this, I hate it.

We’ll take a look at the opener, which isn’t overly-grand: “Bats”.

… Well:

Opening organ, very soft, the soon-to-be consistent acoustic guitar, ‘Paul Dempsey’ himself. I suppose it builds a little with the inclusion of other string-instrumentation, but ‘Dempsey’ has two volumes: loud and louder. Not to such an extent as screamo, but as loud as he can muster it. Those girlish-highs which are supposed to heighten emotion on the chorus, or accent a specific lyrical-phrase just don’t make things any better here. I don’t feel like including any lyrics because I don’t feel that anything is especially notable. They’re the typical love-based lyrics, or situational-lyrics that I find give the basis for most acoustic-style bands. Take for instance ‘Lifehouse’, which I think overshadows this and ‘Something For Kate’. Same wish-wash, just some of their songs clicked more with me than others. Not to say that I like them to the same degree as ‘Interpol’, though – ‘Interpol’ epitomise kick-ass. I think all this experimental, all this trip-hop, this rock, this ambience, has really inured me to acoustic because after a while, you kind of know what to expect.

Yes, yes, I know ‘Dempsey’ is a multi-instrumentalist, but the music doesn’t sound multi-instrumental. I guess if you like that ordinary, somewhat mundane, sound of acoustic, you’ll be right at home. But I’m looking for a little more spark. I’m not hearing any favourites or any stand-out tracks, so I’ll let you be the judge for the rest. Feel free to disagree, but I just cannot and will not like this. I guess it’s a great Joint Review album because I suspect my counterpart will take the opposition. And that’s even better, because then you guys get to see – since last time’s “Further Complications” – hopefully, some clash of disagreement.

That should be interesting.

Because I really haven’t been interested in this album, I haven’t given it a thorough listen – and whenever I rate an album poorly, just off firsthand, I don’t think it does anybody any justice. First-hand, I’m tempted for the lowest rating I can give it – need I write it out? But I’m not going to bother this time round. If you want a more enthusiastic opinion, check out my partner’s review and perhaps you can find for yourself, some notable tracks or otherwise.

Until when,

The Enantiomorphic God

“Armistice” – ‘Mute Math’

Whenever I even begin to even fathom reviewing “Armistice”, some immeasurable hurdle, obstacle or distraction, draws me away from even beginning. Although it’s not officially musically-related, this would have to be the fifth time I’ve tried to review “Armistice” because I just get lost in its lack of definition.

But, getting ahead of myself,  this week saw the anti-repetition of earlier this year, during the Great Musical Drought of June-July. This month alone, we as reviewers, and hopefully you as readers, have witnessed a majority of high-class albums that are far beyond impressive, deserving further recognition. Although we do tend to target bands we’ve heard of if they manage to pump out something worthwhile, it has always been my attempt – though unsuccessful as some might appear – to review someone or something that’s pushing different buttons than our favourites. We’re looking for that new music, yes. But I like to look for potential-pioneers, “gunn’s” in waiting – all’s they need is a push in the right direction: ‘TBD’ for instance.

Last week I was totally in awe, I had for the first time this year, a solid twenty albums in my pending-folder alone, waiting for a play-through. It was only after that, after the so called ‘presipice’, that I finally realised that these albums were well-below the average par. The “epic-to-crap” ratio had finally been outweighed, suddenly me and my counterpart were looking at worthless albums not even worth a second thought. We’d learnt from our mistakes last time round that it’s always good to keep a few ‘jokers’ up our sleeves, seeing as all the ‘aces’ are quickly snatched up and reviewed. There was even some discrepancy over this weeks Joint Review for Sunday, and after some diligence, we decided on a side-project: but you’ll read about that later in the week.

Back to:

"Armistice" - 'Mute Math'

I said in the opening of my review – which was quite openly blunt – that I thought the album lacked overall definition. I’ve come across a few shiners this year, and I’ve been overly critical for genre-hoppers ever since I came across them. Some of us like the consistency of an album, or even an artist, so when they finally break that routine, that cliche, they either fail miserably, or they triumphantly succeed. And I think, as far as ‘Mute Math’ goes, they seem to have dealt with this shock so effectively, that it’s like listening to several artists all at once, piled together in one glorious whole. We saw this aspect present in ‘Dappled Cities’, which I’ll continue to example because they’re effective – and I’ll quote from ‘Mute Math’s’ www.last.fm homepage which states:

“… Giddily swiping ideas from several decades’s worth of alternative rock… Mute Math at times recall New Order’s synth-dance-epics, the shambling shuffle of the Stone Roses and the rest of the Manchester scene, the spiky chillness of prime Radiohead, Air’s serene ambient pop, and… the booming vocals of mainstream alt-rockers of the post-Eddie Vedder era…”

And if you like reviews that are quick and to the point, that just about sums up what you’ll expect from ‘Mute Math’. I’ll continue on anyhow, because it’s the fine-details in the construction of their music, or just the tracks themselves, which you might be interested to know, and they follow incongruously with their fellow accompaniments. Genre-wise, ‘Mute Math’ seems unphased to experiment with various styles. It has, to some degree, elements that I would find in indie, and although they’re not so prominent when they go off and play with synth, they do occasionally flaunt this raw, malleable sound whenever possible. I so eagerly want to start from the end of the album, because this is where – strange enough – the album picks up.

From the top, “The Nerve” opens for ‘Mute Math’, and this is why I included some sort of inter-textual reference to ‘The Bavarian Druglords‘ because it has this very raw, this very lo-fi/hollow-rock feel to it. Background riffs are cheekily-composed to work harmoniously with the shake-and-shuffle of the percussion, and it’s like running down a hill: the pace of the song is so quick that crescendos are like jumping off a cliff, and choruses are like running into trees. These reminiscent-qualities that “The Nerve” holds to artists like ‘The Bavarian Druglords’ are only similar in musical-composition, lyrically and vocally, they differ significantly. It’s still worth a mention, because when we get to “Backfire”, the following track, we’re in a different town.

“Backfire” is like listening to the overly glamorised rock/alternative/pop scene that seems to take the world by storm with childish-vocalisation, un-intimate lyrics and girlish-highs that make you all funny inside. The riffs in the background are the only consistency that I find the first and second hold, and that’s because it works so well with the percussion; I’m paraphrasing, I know, but I just want to emphasise the fact that these two core elements are the driving force behind “Armistice” on a whole. Same crescendos, chorus, cheeky-percussion – I don’t know how to put it, it’s just something I’m feeling from the music, just like the cheeky-funk ‘Friendly Fires’ had last week.

“Clipping” sees the real first inclusion of proper, unsophisticated, pure-in-a-way, synth. There’s just this wavy band of riff-like ambience, and it hobbles along on the odd-numbered beats, giving the song a slow-and-steady pace. It’s a real ‘Kyte’-sound-alike, and that’s because it seems to utilise the elements of shoegaze to meet its needs. Though the genre shoegaze isn’t something I like to apply to this style of music, it is really only mildly seen throughout, and not overly obvious.

I’m going to skip to the near-end of the album and take a look at “Odds”, and it’s not one of those songs that I would put with the openers. That’s because it’s got the intimacy of ‘Ramona Falls’ and ‘Wild Beasts’, though not so much in experimentation as it does in a one-on-one situation. The reduction of musical-backing means that in between the chorus’, it’s just you and the voice. When things get really interesting, it’s back to that percussion, with the same swish-swash of snare, synthesised clapping and ambient xylophone. It really does make for an interesting combinations and it is one of my favourites.

And now to the track that has me shaking in my chair – it’s that good that it’s nudging on legendary-status. I begged for my counterpart to have a listen to the album on a whole, and especially the last track “Burden”, which epitomises epic in the sense of grand. It is a lengthy track, it tops 9:05, and it has to be, this year, the only worthwhile ten-minute-whereabouts track that has really hit it off for me. Although I suspect he enjoyed it, this song really is the equivalent of ‘Sugar Army’s’ “Tongues In Cheeks”, and it’s got this real driving force of percussion and guitar that’s present in all the rock/alternative influenced songs. I don’t know what most people expect from a song of this length, but usually when I see one, I ask myself:

“Why waste your time on one song when you could listen to two in the same time-span?”

Disregard that question and take a listen, peoples: brilliant. It has the elements of ‘TBD’ in the sense that its beginning has that same lo-fi/hollow-rock feel. But when it hits the mid-half of the song, we see a reduction in all the musical backing, until we’re left with a sole voice and fleeting ambience. It’s so marvellously composed because it’s anti-climatic climax is all about reduction rather that explosion, drawing you into a false sense of security and then BAM! At the 4:45 mark, here’s where we see ‘Mute Math’ touch on that faraway star called legend. Just this synthesised organ, and this resonant voice. I just love it because it really does strike a chord with myself, the way it sounds: it touches the soul.

I personally feel that quoting the lyrics just doesn’t do the song justice. It’s a real sit-down-and-listen-for-yourself scenario. I highly recommend it, even if it’s just for “Burden”. The album is substantially long, I will admit, and accompanying the main body of the album are three bonus tracks which I think ruin this fantastic ending. I won’t go into detail because I don’t think there’s need to. I’m going to have to give it a four-star, it just scrapes through for me.

Until when,

The Enantiomorphic God

“Friendly Fires” – Friendly Fires (Joint Review)

Today I’m going to be reviewing an album from last year; it’s the debut self-titled effort from Friendly Fires. To be perfectly honest this album went right under my radar last year and it was only until a fortnight ago when I finally got around to my local CD store and found the album on special. It’s getting re-issued in the next few weeks so I thought it would be a great album to review. I’m spewing that I didn’t pick up on the band last year, because I’ve missed out. Friendly Fires are in my opinion one of the more exciting bands out there at the moment and I really think that they should be better known.

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Friendly Fires - "Friendly Fires"

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Friendly Fires’ debut album is basically an updated take on 80’s dance music. It takes a few influences from 80’s bands, but still sounds incredibly modern. Built mainly around infectious bass lines and dance beats, it also incorporates very danceable guitar licks and while the band is not the first to do so, they are one of the better bands to utilise this sort of band and song-writing structure.

I think the biggest thing that jumps out at you when you’re listening to this album is the fact that these tracks could easily be remixed, and to great effect too, this isn’t a slur on the album, far from it, the album invites remixes due to the electronic nature of the music, yet it sounds “indie” and also something that sounds great away from a dance-floor. I haven’t heard many remixes of the songs on the album, but I’m a bit like my counterpart and try to stay away from the remix scene, if you’re into that kind of thing I would recommend that you look for some of the various remixes of these songs, because I reckon they’d be killer.

There is one criticism that I’ve got of the album, and that’s that it doesn’t really push any boundaries. Yes, it’s fun, but sometimes with albums like this you really need to add that little bit extra and not allow yourself to get to generic, which is what the band gets at times. But as I’ve said in a few of my reviews this year, there’s not much wrong in being “generic” when you’re writing songs to the standard they are.

I’m really loving this album at the moment and even though I’m not a big fan of the dance genre, I must admit this album really hits the spot and is a real achievement on the part of the band. The biggest plus on the album is the fact that it’s a great dance album as well as being one of the best “indie” albums for a while as well, and usually the “indie” acts on the dance scene are not this effective at collecting an audience that is not dance music minded. Ratings-wise I reckon this is one of the better albums I’ve heard, but also one of the more danceable albums in this day and age I’ve heard for a while. So in that sense I think I’ve got to give this album a 9/10.

Standout Songs: Jump In The Pool, Skeleton Boy, On Board

Rating: 9/10

“Friendly Fires” – ‘Friendly Fires’ [Joint Review]

So, we’ve been sure for the past week and a half that we’ve been wanting to do ‘Friendly Fires’, so it’s given us both ample time to sit back and absorb all its musical wonders. It’s probably only happened a few times where we’ve had two albums competing for a Sunday Joint Review time slot, either because we’ve totally disagreed on an album – which is yet to come, I’m fully open to anything these days – or they’ve both been so good, we just couldn’t resist. So, if you were wondering, last week’s ‘Dappled Cities’ – “Zounds” review won out over “Friendly Fires”, which we then decided still deserved a mention today, instead. Where “Zounds” had a more laid-back, somewhat intimate and depressing attitude, “Friendly Fires” is anything but. It’s cheeky, cleverly-composed, and totally in-your-face.

With ‘Edd Gibson’ on the guitar, ‘Jack Savidge’ on drums, and the masterfully-talented ‘Ed MacFarlane’ on vocals, this dancepunk album is sure to have you grooving in the streets left, right, centre and above:

"Friendly Fires" - 'Friendly Fires'

I might receive some backlash for this comment, but ‘Friendly Fires’ are like the anti, the optimistic, the funk-infused brother of our faithful friends, ‘The Presets’. They sound nothing alike, but it’s a good opposite-comparison [wow, an oxymoron or what?] A healthy mix of synth and dumbed-down acoustic make for full-bodied tracks, and if you must have a positive-comparison, ‘Friendly Fires’ are not too dissimilar from our friend ‘Dappled Cities’ – hence my confusion for a while when I listened to their albums together. With an in-depth study, they start to lose this commonality, however. My head was spinning for a while, but I muddled my way through and picked up the pieces.

Genre, to begin with, and when I say funk-infused, I’m emphasising it – it’s not the funk we might have seen a few years ago, it’s new-age, it’s re-invigorated, and makes for upbeat listening packed full of vitamins and anti-depressants. I don’t know how else to put it, tags suggest indietronica, which is a combination of indie and electronica, which isn’t too far off the mark because it takes elements from both – but when I think of bands like that, ‘Midnight Juggernaughts” springs to mind. Dance? I guess you could dance to it, I’m not much of a dancer myself, but dance nowadays is somewhat limited to the rave-ambient-scene, this is concert-material. Overall, “Friendly Fires” is playing with three basic elements – electronica, indie and funk.

Yes, funk-infused. Mixed with – did I say healthy, if yes, I’ll say it again – a “healthy” dose of synthesised beats and samples, together with some deliciously-strung bass and tantalising vocals. When we concern the lyrics, I don’t personally find too much to rave about, they work harmoniously with track-titles, so everything’s appropriately named, unlike some albums: you know who you are, peoples. Some might find these funk-infused lyrics a little tiresome at some stages, and mildly-repetitive; example = “Lovesick”. In other places, it’s just what a song needs. If you’re the kind of person that likes an album the nudges in all emotional-directions, i.e. happiness, sadness, cheeky, soul-filled, epic+ and legend-status, then you might be a little bit weird…

… Like myself. “Friendly Fires” is like looking through a time hole, back into the past. It’s constant upbeat-nature mightn’t please some listeners/readers, but it’s just how ‘Friendly Fires’ have decided to do things this time round.

Now to individual tracks, I’ll skip track-contextualisation, because I don’t think there’s much to explain – songs just usually follow the same routine. “Jump In The Pool” opens with some synthesised vocals, an explosion of percussion: cowbells, drums, etc, and the lyrics:

“In a city sky rise hotel…” [my bad, sorry]

Phrases aren’t particularly memorable, unlike ‘Ramona Falls’, it’s the music that really makes it for ‘Friendly Fires’. When we get to the 00:35 second mark, there’s just this mass of instrument and voice, pushing the word crescendo to its limitations. It’s just building on those classic layers that make up a good song, instrumental-backing, leading-lyrics, airy-vocals. It’s probably what drew the comparison to indietronica, because it’s lacking that funk that so prominently appears throughout the rest of the album. It’s a fantastic opener for a song, it’s nudging on the epic mark, with some wonderful solos, some great riffs, and it’s just generally well-rounded.

“In The Hospital” is where we first start to see that funk creep through, and it’s here that we get this cheeky-riff. It’s the only way to describe the way the bass/guitar tickles in the background. The way “Uhh…” is eccentuated on part of ‘Ed MacFarlane’, the twisted sound of the guitar itself. Yup, very reminiscent music happening here. Again, the lyrics “in the hospital” feature appropriately, so that’s another tick in my book. When the song builds to its crescendo, we’ve got everything just powering through to the end. It’s a simple, effective musical equation, it’s successful and memorable, and in this case, ‘Friendly Fires’ pull it off for me.

“Paris” sees a return of the indietronica that we saw in “Jump In The Pool”, and so ‘Friendly Fires’ are continuously shakin’-it-up for us-guys by switching between the funk and the ‘tronica. It has the wavy-synth, the juxtaposing vocals and instrumentation, simplistic-lyrics. I won’t go into any more detail, because I’d just be repeating myself even more.

I will say that the switch between styles is probably the sole driving force behind this album, and it’s why I like it. It doesn’t give you enough time to get stuck into a specific disposition on the album for too long. I mean, if you just look at one song, you can’t justify your opinion on the rest of the album – they’re all unique, and the only thing they have in common are composition; even then, it’s limited to funk and ‘tronica. It’s something I tend to do with a few albums, pick a song, it’s the worst one they have to offer, and my opinion is made up then and there. It’s a bad habit I’ve tried to break, but you know: what’s the point of putting it on the album if it’s not up to standard. I’d rather be left wanting more from an epic+ five-piece album than a sub-standard 12-piece that’s just cobbled together with the good and the bad. I suppose the record-companies are to blame from one perspective, and the artists for obeying their almighty whim on the other.

Another argument for another day, onto the rating and I’m going to give it a funky-four, I don’t mind a bit of change every now and again, and it’s warmly welcomed in my opinion. Artists don’t have to keep looking forward for musical-change, sometimes you can take an old brass penny and make it shine again, and here we have it: “Friendly Fires”. An album well worth the review, the wait, hope you guys like it, I know I did.

Until when,

The Enantiomorphic God

“Intuit” – ‘Ramona Falls’

I’ve had a pretty large selection of albums to choose from this week, which is a nice, surprising change to the usual struggle. Despite the numbers, there have only been a small handful worth a second listen, and smaller still, those who deserve an in-depth study. This week’s selection hit me like a ton of bricks, and I was awestruck – epic-context?

… I doubt, but there are a fair few songs which deserve a credible mention and some that just need to be applauded. I didn’t expect to love ‘Dappled Cities’ so much, and their well-crafted “Zounds” was a slap-in-the-face for newcomers and regulars to Highly Evolved; seeing as it was probably the only album in the past month which we’ve totally agreed on. To keep you guys updated on the music-scene is our primary task, and we’re still here to bring you the best that we can find. Other than the amazing wave of well-rounded, genre-spanding albums, this week’s selection should still be delightful, and my partner’s “contract” to review ‘War Tapes’ is a well-earned attribute to the site and his own personal prestige. At a hundred-plus posts, Highly Evolved has been running for about two-thirds of the year, and little by little, you guys and us alike are getting things moving and out there.

So, cheers to all on that subject. “Intuit” by ‘Ramona Falls’ is a “Zounds” sound-alike, and although they have some uncanny similarities, there’s still enough difference for you to get fully immersed in “Intuit” nonetheless. What you’ve all been waiting for:

"Intuit" - 'Ramona Falls'

Now when I start to even think about the word ‘genre’, and apply it to my friend “Intuit”, I get a little lost to be honest. I’ve read some messed-up b.s. like freak folk or the vague, understated quality called quirky. I suppose in some respects, quirky is just a synonym for unusual, unique, etc. I’m not a big folk-fan, so I’m not going to go in-depth on the whole folk scene, but if it’s the folk I’m thinking of, like 60’s-80’s, then it’s far from – it has some elements from the current decade, I’ll admit, but nothing too serious to be too detrimental. Some have suggested avant-garde, but the music is less than futuristic, and I doubt it will bring in the next renaissance, or some such. I guess it has affiliations to our favourite mongrel-genre, indie, because it has that raw lyrical-talent, a decent mix of acoustic and rock influences, and a tasty mix of experimental that epitomises the occasional track. I feel safe in the assumption of indie, and wild when I mention experimental. It dips its toes in either pond and never stays for long.

But if your looking for some sort of contextualisation, have a thorough listen first, and compare it to “Zounds”, because they’re both juggling with the same concepts, its just some are more prominent in one than they are in the other. At a limiting 45-min approximately, tracks length for about four-minutes on average, with only one one-minute example, and a couple of fivers. It is deceptively slow, however, and the lack of constant upbeat tempo does allow for tracks to drag their feet a little and lengthen, in turn, their passing. For electric rock lovers, you’ll find yourselves without a partner to dance with, for experimental lovers, you’ll dance a few, and drink on others, because acoustic really does reign supreme throughout; hence the folk-like elements. The album kind of has this downward-spiral effect, where it will begin as one thing and end as another. I’ve only seen one album do this in all of my reviewing, and so far it has worked to an advantage.

Lyric-lovers will be in heaven, because their vocalisation is clean and audible, harmoniously-tied with accompanying instrumentation, and just generally well-placed and wonderfully written. Other than that, they’re really defined by the music, rather than by themselves.

“Melectric” opens for “Intuit”, and it’s a soft, delicate beginning to a generally intimate-album. The drip of piano wavers in its isolation, and picks up with an accompanying chord. When the implosion of percussion suddenly appears, the beat of drumsticks echoes in the background and out come the lyrics:

“Has it flashed before my eyes, like rain crashing from skies, I am shaking by the sight…”

The buzz of a deep, low, solitary bass backs this, and the strum of mandolin/banjo emphatically joins the party. Crescendos build here and there with the help of percussion, and these instruments and the vocals layer upon each other to form the entirety that is “Melectric”. It really is an eye-opening track, and it sets the scene for the album. It’s classic shift from all-to-none – by this I mean the stop-start of instrumentation – does create agonising suspense. Building, building, building to the end, louder, louder, louder, still – classic musical equation, very nicely composed. It is one of my favourites, I’ll admit.

“I Say Fever” follows and it’s where we see that folk influence kind of prominently appear. The vocals stay the same, it’s just the layered composition. When I said experimental, it’s just that mix of instrumentation that features heavily – I don’t particularly enjoy the track on a whole, as it follows the same routine as before. It’s lacking something, but I can’t quite put my finger on it.

When we get to “Clover”, another favourite, we see the first appearance of synth. Now, what the hell am I saying, it is my favourite. It’s got absolutely everything I love, it’s what “Wooden Ships” is to “Zounds”, it’s what “Escape From The Sun” is to ‘Operahouse’. I love the balance of synth and acoustic and electric, the persevering sound of synthesised piano where it is otherwise subdued, the acoustic percussion, the experimental touches of electric rock, and the layering of sound on top of sound. It is soy-perb:

“… If every tree… points to a star…”

… or:

“If I’m dreaming you, and you’re dreaming me, then why don’t we choose a different story?”

Are my absolute-favourite lyrical phrases that this album has to offer. They’re just great. “Russia” follows this, and it brings back the intimacy that was a little less noticeable in “Clover”. The duo of acoustic guitar and vocals are sublime, and they make for a one-on-one environment. When the strum of mandolin/banjo appears, it isn’t heard in a folk-like way, and when the staccato of violin drips in elegantly, it really does build to introduce the piano and the percussion.

“… A trip to the Nile, where I started swimming…”

or

“… I fought with the dragons, and when it was over, their tales were wagging, for I taught them tricks, said sit dragon sit…”

Are some more lyrical examples.

But enough of that, I don’t want to spoil too much for you, and I strongly recommend that you all go out there and have a listen, and if you love it as much as I do, buy it. So, summary: great things are the lyrics, deceptively long, experimental influences and “Zounds” sound-alike, ++++. If I had to criticise, it does have a couple of lesser-grade tracks which are incongruously placed, other than that .a big, fat smiley face from me. When it comes to a rating, a solid four and nothing more.

Until when,

The Enantiomorphic God

“Continental Divide” – War Tapes

Today I’m reviewing War Tapes “epic” debut album; Continental Divide. My counterpart and I have made mention of the term “epic” a few times over the past month and this is a fitting term for the album I’m going to review today.

I see “epic” as a large sounding sound-scape that is brimming with either energy or some kind of orchestra. But I think (I may be wrong) my counterpart would say something is “epic” when it “hits the spot”. The album I’m reviewing today is weird, as the first few times I listened to it, I saw it as epic (and more to the point one of the most epic albums I’d ever heard), but for some reason this didn’t equate to me liking the music, which brought me to the conclusion that the album may be too epic. Preposterous I know, but I didn’t know what else to think. As you’ll soon find out though, the album has to be gotten used to, for the listener to really consume the “epic” nature of the songs.

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War Tapes - "Continental Divide"

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‘Continental Divide’ is War Tapes debut album and the thing that stands out the most is the beginning of the album. It starts with such a heavy and energetic riff, and really hooks you in. To be honest it’s quite overwhelming and you’re either gonna love the first song or you’re not gonna like it. But really, the opener ‘The Night Unfolds’ and the album itself is never trying to be anything but heavy and loud.

I’ve been in possession of this album for a while now and every time I went to review it, I decided not too. I didn’t really enjoy the album and yet I didn’t know why. I mean, I loved the songs, but for some reason they just didn’t “click”, and I really didn’t know why. It’s been a few months after I first heard them and they’re just starting to stick in my mind, and I’m really glad, because some of these songs should be heard by way more people.

The album’s about 45 minutes in length, which is a really healthy length for an album and especially for an album such as this. The band explores a style and never really moves away from the building blocks of their genre, which can be bad, but War Tapes has made enough good songs for there to be interest in the album when listening to it. It’s not “same-y”, and this is mostly due to the changes in tempo from song to song.

The singer, Neil Popkin is very similar in style to Sam Endicott (The Bravery) and it does suit the music, which has hints of hope in both the lyrics and music.

Okay, if you want an album that sounds big, then you’re gonna love this album, even if it takes a few listens for you to take it all in. To be honest if you don’t like their song; The Night Unfolds (which is available here: http://sarathan.com/free/wartapesnightunfolds/), then you’re probably not going to like the album, but I assure you, a lot of people will enjoy it.

Stand Out Songs: The Night Unfolds, She Lied, For Eternity

Rating: 8/10

Purchase Link: http://tinyurl.com/WarTapesAmazon

It’s Official!

Over the hundred-mark, peoples, posts are topped at 101. Just thought I’d spread the love.

Cheers,

TEG

Zounds – “Dappled Cities” (Joint Review)

As my counterpart mentioned, this week’s joint review was a bit of a hard choice. I was expecting that we wouldn’t be able to have enough time with Zounds for us to do a fair review, but I think we both made up our minds on what we thought of this album fairly quickly. It’s the kind of album that hits you straight away and I can’t say I’m surprised but I am very pleased it’s the case.

Yesterday I actually went to see Dappled Cities at their album launch at the Corner Hotel, and I loved every bit of it. But what surprised me the most was how the new tracks held up against the older ones.
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Dappled Cities - "Zounds"

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Zounds is Dappled Cities’ third album and it signals a more polished sound to the band. If you haven’t heard their first two albums, A Smile and Granddance then you’re really missing out, if you have then I think you’ll love Zounds. It builds on Granddance and it seems as though Dappled Cities have reached a new level of musicianship. The guitars are used to a larger effect and this really shows in the live shows.

There is one criticism I had of Dappled Cities, and that was the fact that their songs weren’t grand enough and that they weren’t really capitalising on the great songs they had written, but after hearing the first single from Zounds; ‘The Price’, my view was changed. They’ve made and written songs that are almost to an epic level and at times you really are in awe of the songs. The proof is in the song ‘Wooden Ships’; it starts with a great brass intro that sets the listeners up for what about to come. It builds up and becomes a song that is not dissimilar to The Killers’ brilliant track ‘Goodbye, Travel Well’ although with a lot more modesty. I think that’s the difference between bands like Dappled Cities and The Killers, apart from the obvious genre differences, they do often meet at a similar point, The Killers’ though have a very large view of themselves and that reflects in the music. Dappled Cities just have fun and really focus on the music.

Overall I think Dappled Cities have gone to the next level and Zounds is definitely my favourite album of theirs, even after a few days of listening, they stand out live and sound more “grand”. They have to be the best Australian band going around at the moment and it’s only a matter of time before some commercial stations pick up on them. I really do hope that they get hold of tons of new fans because they deserve all the recognition they deserve. Now for the rating, It’s not a 10/10 but it’s really close so I think I’m going to go with a 9.5/10, again, go out and get this album, I promise you it won’t disappoint, especially if you looking for some light but grand music.

Standout Songs: The Price, Wooden Ships, Miniature Alas, Apart.

Rating: 9.5/10

“Zounds” – ‘Dappled Cities’ [Joint Review]

I said in my Friday review that things were starting to hit the fan, and although we did finally manage to pick something in the end:

“…. Hey, hey, what about this?”

“No… too cliche. This looks interesting, what about it?”

“Uh huh, looks like shit-on-a-stick to me.”

“Yeah uh, but it could sound good.”

“Nuh uh…”

“Yeah uh…”

“Nuh uh…”

“Yeah uh…”

And so the argument sprung forth, and God was happy. And on the eighth, ill-conceived day, he brought forth “Zounds” by ‘Dappled Cities’, and his disciples looked upon it with a greedy gaze, for they were happy too. Together, they danced around the raging bonfire called “Zounds”, and all was seen to be good:

"Zounds" - 'Dappled Cities'

I’ve had about a day to really get into “Zounds”, and people, there is so much here to begin with, that it’s really going to be hard to get out of the niche that ‘Dappled Cities’ have constructed for us-guys. There’s a healthy mix of everything going on, it’s not just indie, it’s electronica, its ambience, post-rock, pop-and-all-his-friends; anything but ordinary. It’s like listening to ‘The Killers’, ‘The Presets’, ‘Franz Ferdinand’ with some ‘Engineers’ for good luck and a touch of the ‘Midnight Juggernaughts‘ for emphasis. It’s official, those are some of the most prominent bands at the moment, made famous by their signature-styles; key-and-tempo shifts, spastic-synth, layers-layers-layers, and lyrics-lyrics-lyrics, with exquisite-vocals, with epic+ track after epic+ track. More importantly, there most of my favourite artists, so ‘Dappled Cities’ – cheers to you guys, you’ve struck many-a-chord with my musical-tastes.

… And now I’ve seen it, boys and girls, ladies and gentlemen, an album that oozes so much epic that it’s just too much epic. Negative-epic, never – it is totally inconceivable for such albums to exist. I’ve never thought it possible. So, here’s the info you guys have been craving:

‘Dappled Cities’ apparently formed on the East Coast, guys – Sydney, Australia. And I think I can safely say that this tops any of the stuff that I’ve seen come from Sydney in the meanwhile. It’s got the indie-style that’s been missing, quite frankly I’ll say, from the Perth scene in the better part of this year. And you thought “Humbug” was good, in my personal opinion, ‘Arctic Monkeys’ pale in comparison to ‘Dappled Cities’. Look, I’ve given ‘Arctic Monkeys’ many a chance to prove me wrong, but they’ve always come short, and I’m at the end of my tether. Look, ‘Dappled Cities’ even bought me chocolates – in a heart-shaped box.

Come on, ‘Arctic Monkeys’, keep up with that!

Now onto the style of the album, and when I say it’s got a mix of everything, I do mean it. Tracks are so successful because I think that ‘Dappled Cities’ have neglected album-context and gone for epic-context. I don’t think I could safely apply epic-context with any other album I’ve reviewed this past year, because there’s always been a track that I’ve thought could stand a little more work, or was just casually added for some album-length. Suffice to say, even then I gave it a five, or a four, so it’s not to say that they failed miserably. What constitutes epic-context, you ask?

Tracks are so dissimilar from one-and-other, that you’ll find the album works like the acts of a play, or the chapters of a book, complete with cliff-hangers and all, deaths, tragedies, and many-a-birth – you name it: resurrections+. When I mean ‘The Killers’, I mean the lyrical-genius that they abound in, when I mean ‘The Presets’, I mean the synth that is so characteristically them, ‘Franz Ferdinand’ and their key-and-tempo shifting art-form, ‘Engineers’ and their multi-facet-layering and ‘Midnight Juggernaughts’ and their spicy-synth-indie combinations. All of them together make up the whole of “Zounds”.

And onto songs themselves, we’ll start right from the beginning: “Hold Your Back” opens with some off-key synth, some reminiscent acou. percussion and the crazy bleed of Preset-like-ambience. This combines to form the basis for the entire track, and when the lyrics:

“Hold your back… ” appear, it’s like listening to the lead of ‘Coldplay’ – and their stolen off-key vocals. It slowly powers through this lengthy repetition of lyrics/solo, slowly building to a chorus here, a chorus there, with multiple key-changes which are characteristic of post-rock and some indie music forms. By the end, we’ve got our guitar, our synth, our ambient-synth, or lyrics/vocals, and some crazy instrumental-vocals sounding off in the background that are uncannily like the pitch of ‘The Temper Trap‘.

“Uhh… Uh… Uhhhhh… Uhhh…” they whine.

By the time we reach the second track, we’re fully immersed in the five-minute-intro. “Answer Is Zero” follows the first, and again, it begins with the base-layer of percussion-like-vocals, acou. percussion, with the explosion of guitar and then the icing called the lyrics. If you must see fault with anything ‘Dappled Cities’ has to offer, it’s this cleverly composed musical-equation that they follow throughout the album, and this is perhaps the only consistency you’ll find.

“The Price” follows, and begins with the scratch of guitar, an emphatic-entrance of synth and the lyrics:

“If eyes were bone and toes were gold, we’d have somebody new…”

Here, we see the flaunt of their guitar as it reaches these startling highs and quiet lows. There’s still that same musical-equation which sees them build to a chorus, or power through to the end. But it works so well, that you’ll ignore these minutia. So, I’ll move onto my personal favourite, and it’s smack-bang in the middle of the album: well, fourth, that was an excited-overstatement…

“Wooden Ships”, opens with this solemn, synthetic brass, and you’ll see some more ‘TTT’ qualities, because the vocals start off softly on the girlish-highs. It’s in a really different light compared to the trio-openers, and instead of this upbeat-glee that was present before, it’s replaced with this new-found intimacy, somewhat-sadness, and it’s typical of post-rock. The lyrics here, are exemplary – key-shifts make up the urgency on the chorus, and shake the song up a bit so it doesn’t follow through with the same consistency it had to begin with. At 3:34, we have a soon to be infamous, stop and start routine, but I’ll leave that up to your imagination.

And I’ll leave it there, the rest are for your pleasure. Now, the rating. I find that the album is full-bodied, generous, tracks length at around the five-minute mark, and it easily goes for an hour. It lacks speed, so it won’t feel like “Conditions”, conversely, it can sometimes drag its feet a little, so you might get lost a bit along the way. But, to make up for it, ‘Dappled Cities’ epitomise the word ‘thief’. They’ve taken little bits from other bands and made it their own, and it’s a characteristic I’ve seen fail a few times – you’ve got to be bloody good to pull it off. I saw ‘Jet’ do it, and they fell off radar completely. Somehow, ‘Dappled Cities’ have taken the best of everything and made it even better. Then again, epic-context has been given a definition – but with so many epic+ tracks, I need at least one at legend-status to fully give it a five; at the moment, it’s somewhere around 4.9888888. Definitely a buy, definitely a listen – go on out and treat yourself!

Until when,

The Enantiomorphic God

“Departures” – ‘Message To Bears’

This year’s musical-drought in June-July saw a record-low number of leaks on my old favourite sites, and despite the ramp-up of albums over the past month-or-so, I’ve been largely disappointed with a few and left in a constant state of epic-anticipation with others. We’ve also hit our first real Joint-Review hurdle in a while, and Michael Hodder – although coming up with some possible albums – has been left a little bewildered as to what to pick: just the same, anything I come across isn’t usually worth my mentioning. Just because there’s a ton of newbies on the scene doesn’t necessarily mean any of them are grand enough to be reviewed. Slim-pickings means albums of late haven’t stood the usual high-standard that we try to scoop-up and deliver, but overall, it’s down to your ears and your opinions, we’re just a third-wheel.

My over-critical nature on albums has left a bitter aftertaste on my reviewing technique, and its aftermath has left me at a point where I’m just too frustrated to look through the reems of sub-standard albums with poorly-labelled genres. That, and the growing workload that is August-September for us VCE-folk, makes life just a little more interesting. But enough of that…

This Friday sees me getting back to the old roots of ambience. I know it’s a little soon since ‘The American Dollar’, but with a surprising amount of daily-hits, not to mention a somewhat high-position in our overall-reviews, I’ll try my luck at “Departures”, perhaps one of the best examples of the emerging genre, soundscape; and ‘Message To Bears’ does deliver in more ways than one:

"Departures" - 'Message To Bears'

I talked in the “Ambient One” review about how ambience, or in this situation, soundscape, is a real eye-opening genre that is somewhat overrated, and mainstream-neglected. It’s easy to overlook because sometimes people just get too far lost in the lack of vocals, lyrics and lead-instrumentation. It is an acquired taste, so not all new-comers will have the ears accustomed to its style the first time round. I’ve had an ambient disposition for the better part of two-years, and although I haven’t had much experience in a wide-variety of it and soundscape, I really do prefer this music in comparison rock, alternative, and on the odd, sombre occasion, indie. Soundscape isn’t as versatile as, say, experimental, but it can take on influential elements like it just the same. If you look at rock, or indie, you’ll find that it’s hard to break away from the niche that the pioneers have set: ACDC, Franz Ferdinand and The Killers, because these are the ones that we love best.

Where “Ambient One” was really electric-influenced, in the sense that its samples were of synthetic-origin, “Departures” has this really honest, really intimate acoustic-nature, and it’s a refreshing change from the stereotypical-ambience which is heavily influenced by computer-samples or otherwise. And I know I’ve been juggling these two genres about a bit, but there’s not too much dissimilarity between soundscape and ambience – if you want to be nit-picky, I guess soundscape has this wholesome, layered-feeling to it, encompassing a broad spectrum of musical-capability. Conversely, ambience does just about the same, but it has this sharp, solitary-edge to it which makes it best listened-to alone. I find that although they are uncannily similar, soundscape has a great mixture of soft and loud, where I otherwise find that ambience is primarily focused on layers and effects.

Onto the album, “Departures” is one of those rare albums that fully-immerses its listeners and confines them into shoe-gazing position. And there we go again, shoegaze, soundscape, all affiliate-sub-genres, really, of ambience. Shoegaze is generally applied to rock/alternative/indie influenced music, so it’s like a sister genre to ambience. So, when I mean immerse, it’s just you and the music. The acoustic-nature of the album means you don’t get caught up in all this wavy synth. And whilst you might find the samples slightly-repetitive at times, or the songs just generally similar, its typical for this kind of music to make tracks indistinguishable from one and other.

I do criticise some albums for doing this, I suppose – too often than not. And that’s because they’ve tackled a genre like indie which really doesn’t need its tracks to have album-context, all it need do is have a substantial mix of epic plus standard and I’d be happy just the same. And I guess I really do go off at albums that don’t, because I see that they have the potential, it’s just finding the right way to flaunt it for everybody that they’re lacking.

The tracks themselves are masterpieces, each needing the other in a symbiotic-relationship that forms the basis for “Departures”. Multi-instrumentalist, ‘Jerome Alexander’ is a master unto himself, and is basically the sole musician behind each and every piece. By recording acoustic samples – repetitive-loops, riffs or otherwise – he is able to layer one over the other to form a unique and individual song. “Running Through Woodland” is what really struck a chord for me when I first listened to “Departures”, and sometimes – just sometimes – if a song is that good, when it’s over, it’s like saying goodbye to an old friend. And it was really like leaving a room-full, to be honest – and it’s the opening track. It really does emphasis the title ‘running through woodland’, because the urgency of the acou. riff peaks at its own instrumental-chorus. With each pick of the guitar, we feel the beat of a heart, or the fall of a foot. A violin gently sways to and fro, and this becomes the wind. With the inclusion of some oboe-like instrument – with possible synthetic-origins – the song builds and builds and builds until the finish. It is an abrupt beginning to the album, with a solemn finish that outlines the basis for the tracks to come. It is my favourite, and it oozes epic.

I’ll move on to the fourth track called “Hope”, and it is anything but. It’s a really dark, despondent, somewhat pessimistic track, and contrasts the urgent and alive atmosphere that “Running Through Woodland” had. At the minute mark, a solitary violin enters on the slowly waving double-bass, and soon they begin to strum in harmony. As the track progresses, this same slow, relaxing nature only peaks in sound, not speed. At the 2:30 mark, we finally see a definitive change in the track, and it’s where another violin appears, vibrating incessantly. It has the classic three-note-key shift. 1-2-3, down, 1-2-3, down, 1-2-3 down, key-change. Soon, all the strings begin to fight for pinnacle of the final chorus, and it is this section of the song which outlines the title: ‘hope’.

Finally, “Lost Birds” sees a change in this acoustic nature, with the solitary xylophone, and although the track is momentary, it is a slow and mournful end to an album with endless-lows and towering-highs. This lonely tap sounds that “Departures” has now finished.

“Departures” is another one of those potential-oozing-albums that has perspective-based pros and cons. On one hand, the album is about an hour – so it’s got good length – it has some great ambient music, and is a decent example. Despite this, some might find it slow, dull, and repetitive. It is really difficult to honestly give a rating, and I do enjoy listening to the album. Four seems appropriate, I don’t know why I won’t give it a five, but that’s just me.

Until when,

The Enantiomorphic God