Chicagoland art/math rock quartet Oshwa are finally coming around to their sophomore album I We You Me, with a yet unspecified 2016 release and I’m here to present you with a track that should get you excited for it.
“Quirky” is probably the word that first comes to my mind when describing “Old Man Skies,” with Alicia Walter’s vocal delivery gleefully bearing the flag for that designation. Walter’s voice is a little jazzy, a little smoky, and with an uncommon high end that borders on a yodel, it’s a quirk that complements the playfully shifting tempo of the track in a way that beautifully ties its menagerie of jazz, pop, math, and indie influences together. She ebbs with the mellow lows, bursts and blooms with the rising bridges, and shines over the powerful chorus in a way that illuminates the song in a sea of similar content.
Though “similar” isn’t exactly how I’d describe the instrumental side of Oshwa or “Old Man Skies.” Others have described the track as sounding as though it was written forward and performed backward. It’s part of the allure and, again, quirk of the track that it has a bit of a backmasked sound to it, with Alicia’s forward-facing vocals keeping the listener on “play” even when the instrumentals are shouting “rewind.” There’s a lot of emphasis on complex harmony to be found amid the…
I remember it like it was yesterday. It was a ’90s Christmas, and I could feel the excitement surge through me as I dug through my stocking and yanked out my very first CD: Alanis Morissette – Jagged Little Pill. It wasn’t long before this excitement was put on hold, however. My parents were a bit overprotective, and as soon as they caught wind of the sexual references and language glittered throughout the album, my new gift vanished before my very eyes like a magic trick.
Jagged Little Pill became a forbidden fruit of sorts to me. Not only was it the first CD I ever laid my hands on, but my parents’ objections only further piqued my interest in the breakthrough album. I found myself sneaking over to my friend’s house to get my Alanis fix, and was always left wanting more. My obsession eventually waned, but to this day Jagged Little Pill remains a nostalgic and satisfying treat.
Fast forward twenty years later, and I’m able to revisit my old favorite with fresh eyes. What I’ve uncovered is both familiar, yet somehow hazy. Perhaps it’s because my younger self would skip over the less instantly gratifying tracks, but several songs on Jagged Little Pill stand out as if I’m hearing them for the very first time. Many of the hits on the album feel designed for radio play, with Morissette’s…
RIYL: Bat For Lashes, Marissa Nadler and Alexa Borden.
Let’s get this out of the way first: AURORA’s music comes with a glowing endorsement from Katy Perry, but don’t let that stop you from checking this out. There’s something strange about a lot of the music that comes from Norway. No matter the style, the artists just seem to have their own strange approach; Aurora Aksnes is no different. At nineteen years old she is well on her way towards creating her own unique style. This style is a mixture of electronic elements and indie pop that often has a very dark undercurrent. There are upbeat pop tracks such as ‘Conqueror‘ as well as darker tracks such as ‘Murder (5,4,3,2,1)‘ which is about assisted suicide — and is a video that is well worth watching. The song posted here is called ‘Running with the Wolves‘ and is probably more representative of the album’s sound overall. It has a slight indie pop sound, electronic elements, and it is as quirky as it is catchy. The song is taken from the album All My Demons Greeting Me As A Friend and was released on March 11 through Glassnote.
Fennec’s newest EP, This Place Was Once a Palace, connotes either a deeply personal loss, or a perception of the current state of house music (or, it could be both). The multifaceted house producer bridges the sounds of old-school Chicago with relatable, yet minimalistic, venting. “Consumes You” is an allusion to frenetic dance music coupled with a sense of being pulled elsewhere, out of body. The tone of the bass lines is gorgeous, and the unfocused compositional approach complements the dizzied headspace. –Tristan Jones
With the first full week of the Sputnikmusic Staff’s “Track of the Day” feature in the books, I thought it would be a cool idea to, as often as possible, put together a small 5-track EP consisting of the staff selections from that week. It’s kind of a “here’s what you missed” opportunity for those of you who don’t religiously follow the blog updates (although you should!) as well as a gift to our readers and userbase (take it or leave it, we won’t be offended!)
Without further ado, I present to you the very first Sputnik EP playlist spanning the week of 3/7/16 to 3/11/16. The tracklist can be found below, followed by the Spotify playlist. Thank you to all who contributed, commented, and/or read last week!
Lucius’ music plays like a never-ending sugar high. They’re always upbeat, creating catchy and captivating songs that make you want to get up and move. Their debut Wildewoman showcased their main strengths: the talented vocals of Berklee-educated singers Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig, and the insane vocal harmonies that they can make together. Even considering how successful that album was within indie-pop circles, “Born Again Teen” obliterates any conceivable expectations with its sky-high chorus and dance-worthy beat. It’s the lead single for their freshly released LP Good Grief, and with good reason: it captures the energy and youthful bliss of the record like no other individual track could. It won’t change your life or anything, but I dare you not to tap your feet, sway in your chair, or even get up and dance like a complete idiot.
When School of Seven Bells’ (and ex-Secret Machines guitarist) Benjamin Curtis died in late 2013 from T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma, at the shake-your-fists-at-the-sky age of only 35, it seemed like 2012’s Ghostory would be that band’s swan song (not to mention the heartbreaking cover of Joey Ramone’s “I Got Knocked Down (But I’ll Get Up Again)” that the pair released prior to Curtis’ death). A triumphant summation of their sound at the time, it was a compelling enough ending to a story that seemed short far too many chapters. But then it wasn’t. Alejandra Deheza, the other half of the band, announced what would be the couple’s fourth and probably final LP only a few months ago, and it was released at the tail end of February.
It’s not easy encapsulating all the feelings associated with the loss of someone so intimate, and SVIIB really never sets out to do that – recorded in a flurry of activity during the Ghostory tour, before Curtis was diagnosed, it’s a life-affirming and vibrant record. Perhaps even more so than Ghostory, it’s the perfect synthesis of their sound: a wave of sound that reaches to the sky, massive shoegazy riffs, Deheza’s crystalline vocals sliding effortlessly over the top. It’s Deheza’s lyrics that give the record its crushing, if optimistic, subtext. A memorial to Curtis, it’s a travelogue…
As you’ve likely noticed, we’re trying to spice things up a bit in the staff blog lately with a handful of our writers submitting track-of-the-day blurbs detailing a song of their choosing. It’s been entertaining to see the various tastes and styles in these write-ups thus far, but these things can only gain so much traction without you: the reader. In an attempt to keep things from growing stale around these parts, we’re going to be giving our readers a blast-from-the-past each week highlighting an older, nostalgic track we feel deserves more recognition. Without further ado, here is our first entry of “THROWBACK Thursday!”
With a new album on the horizon for Metal Church, it’s not a bad time to take a trip down memory lane to see where they were over 30 years ago. Back in 1984, they released their highly influential debut, fusing the slickly produced thrash sound of Metallica with piercing screams reminiscent of Mercyful Fate’s very own King Diamond. The blending of these key factors allowed Metal Church to stand out as different in the thrash scene of the ‘80s, carving their own special niche as well as gaining a massive cult following. Just about any track from their debut could make a convincing case for Metal Church’s stature in metal circles, but few paint a picture of the band’s trademark sound quite like…
Baltimore’s own Baklavaa preach the Unwounded doctrine of chaotic post-hardcore and jagged, panicky omens. “Tampered With”, a highlight from their latest effort, Dane On, is titled well. Vocalist Ted Ciafardini channels feelings of desperation and psychosis, in the midst of catchy and erratic instrumentation. It resembles someone who’s gone through hell and high water to establish a grip on their sense of being, only for someone to pry open their cranium like a computer access panel and sadistically fuck around with things a bit. —Tristan Jones
“Loveland” caught me completely off-guard. At a glance, Wall of Death sounds like a modern day meshing of Pink Floyd’s psychedelic prowess with Coldplay’s pedestrian execution. That synopsis is fairly accurate across the vast majority of the band’s freshly minted LP Loveland – it’s an admirable, but not groundbreaking, effort in modern psychedelic rock that is still totally enjoyable. However, the self-titled track is in a league of its own. Sprawling across a mysteriously uplifting atmosphere, the song twists and tumbles through shimmering electronic soundscapes that are grounded in exceptionally executed guitar work and drumming. The midsection is a thing of beauty – sprightly bouncing along to gorgeous keyboards and synths that almost have an old school prog-rock feel to them. The way that “Loveland” flows from one idea to another is breathtaking, and it makes for quite the sparkling early-2016 gem…one that may even be worth stowing away for those best-of-2016 playlists.
The irony that I’d given up on ever hearing anything new from a band named “So Long Forgotten” is not lost on me. The band’s last full-length release was issued in 2009 – nearly 7 years ago. Now, nearly 3 years after launching a kickstarter to fund their latest efforts, there will finally be a new So Long Forgotten EP in April of this year.
And from the sounds of “Marahute” – the album’s first single – I’m quite excited for it. The song shows the post-rock meets post-hardcore band maturing their songwriting to a new boiling point that builds on the emotional and introspective sounds and thoughts of their debut. But while Beneath Our Noble Heads was unabashedly Christian in its philosophy, “Marahute” is intriguingly full of doubt, openly questioning the existence and purpose of a literal Hell and negative implications on those we love.
What else can I say? There’s plenty of driving melodies and tasty grooves here and I’m simply a sucker for sincere, well-delivered emotion painted with a hard-edged post-rock sound. It’s really just damn good to hear So Long Forgotten back at it again.
It’s the year 2016, and everyone knows of M83. With their breakthrough record having come in 2008 with Saturdays=Youth, it has seemingly been nothing but constant ascension for this bunch, culminating in the massive double record Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming. For the first time since 2011, we’re faced with an upcoming full-length album from the indie/electronic stars entitled Junk. Even though the album art is the stuff nightmares are made of, the lead single off the LP, “Do It, Try It”, is confirmation that Junk will be anything but. Exploding with sonic energy, the track bubbles with upbeat pianos/keyboards, soars atop massive synths, and features one of the most irresistible hooks of the year so far. Sure it’s weird, and it’s not the same M83 that gave us chills on “Wait”, but it’s fun – and a welcome change even if it ends up being a one time indulgence. For a band that seems limitless in their capabilities, why not splash a little color on the walls?
For reasons which I can’t fully wrap my head around, Porter Robinson’s debut full-length Worlds was incredibly well-received by a sizable portion of a few subsets of electronic music fans. Despite some admittedly lukewarm reviews among many well-established music coverage sites, the album hit it big with legions of fans, especially on the humongous media aggregator Reddit (at one point, moderators of /r/electronicmusic, the site’s largest electronic music community, ostensibly considered banning all posts about Robinson due to his omnipresence). Though I feel like I should feel a greater affinity with the man, given the shared surname between him and my pen name, I can’t say that I share these sentiments. “Fellow Feeling” serves as a good example as to why I feel this way. It’s a little bit all over the place, mildly annoying glitchy house breakdown coming in abruptly after an odd vocal sample and burgeoning string arrangement before cutting back out almost immediately at the behest of the string arrangement’s reappearance. The festival-euphoria bent which becomes slowly more apparent as the song blossoms feels off, somehow – I can’t put my finger on why, but the supposed explosion of a 4×4 kick in front of a main-stage instrumental arrangement doesn’t fully capitalize on the four-odd minutes of anticipation and buildup.
Given my apathy towards Worlds, then, it’s especially impressive that Frequent’s bootleg of the song is as phenomenal as it is. Despite the Boulder, CO-based producer’s relative novelty (based on what limited information is available online,…
Not that I should be the all-judgmental on pseudonyms, but I’ve never quite understood why many a musician use a stage-name. Of course, there are a few exceptions, like the unpronounceable surname or the complete character change. Another reason could be to – for one reason or another – distance yourself from a famous parent. Now, I’m unsure that’s what has actually occurred with Elle King, but it wouldn’t surprise me. The now 26 year old was born Tanner Schneider. Her father? The great motivational speaker Rob:
Having split her time with some acting credits over the past decade or so, it now appears as if Elle King will tackle the music industry head on. In 2012, she released a 4 track EP (which included an interesting cover of Khia’s ‘My Neck, My Back’, as well as the banjo-driven ‘Good To Be a Man’). And just recently, she released her debut LP ‘Love Stuff’.
King’s voice will remind many of the late 2000’s soul-pop explosion out of the United Kingdom. Duffy, Joss Stone, Adele, Amy Winehouse and Paloma Faith all come to mind, so whether or not she is too late to the party will remain to be seen. Yet, there’s something a little more added, if only because she resides on the other side of the Atlantic. There’s a kind of blues or country vibe apparent, while also being rather poppy and accessible. Some or all of these influences can be heard on Love Stuff’s…
Following on from last week’s ‘Sputnik Discusses’ column, another of my most anticipated 2015 albums has seen two tracks released from it. Of course, I am talking about Massachusetts indie-pop outfit Passion Pit, who are gearing up for the release of their third LP ‘Kindred’ on April-21. First up comes the bouncy and energetic lead single ‘Lifted Up (1985)’, which also fills the role of album opener. As one can probably already deduce from its title, this tune is both enthusiastic and nostalgic, with an infectious earworm of a chorus where lead vocalist Michael Angelakos sings “1985 was a good year”.
Next to see the light of day is track 3 ‘Where the Sky Hangs’. Much more methodically-paced than ‘Lifted Up (1985)’, this song is still no less contagious. Whether through music or vocals, Angelakos simply has that gifted knack to make listeners move their body in some way, shape or form.
In truth, neither of these two tracks stray a great deal from the sound exhibited on Passion Pit’s two excellent LPs thus far; ‘Manners’ and ‘Gossamer’. But is that a good or bad thing? I guess that we will have to wait a couple of more months for ‘Kindred’ to be released to find out.
