Maps - We Can CreateListen here.
Maps is a British band making beautiful dreampop and shoegazer music. To me there sound is somewhere between Chapterhouse (whirlpool album) and somtimes the harmonies of the Stone Roses. The music features electronics, fuzzy/noisy guitars, drum machines, loops, spacey bass, and whispery vocals. A lot of the recent dreampop/shoegazer records lately have all featured female vocals, so it is a nice change to here male vocals in this genre.
Radiohead - In RainbowsListen here.
Only a band as big and daring as Radiohead can stick its nose up to the music industry by releasing their new album without a label or distribution. There are two options for the new album - (1) a special editions set which includes the new cd, plus a bonus disc of new material, special artwork and packaging, and the new album on 2 vinyl records. Something like that...I am trying to remember off the top of my head the details. This comes at a price of 40 pounds which is about 80 U.S. dollars. Or (2) pay what you feel is right for the album and download the mp3 files to your computer.
Paste Magazine has an online poll to try to gage what people are paying for the new album, since the band hasn't or isn't planning to release the results. Inspired by Radiohead, Paste Magazine is offering a special limited time offer to name your price for 11 issues of their magazine. If you are a music fan, I highly recommend Paste.
I like In Rainbows. Much, much better than Hail to the Thief. The music sounds like Radiohead, but I would say a bit more spacious and mellow. At least the last 3/4 of the album gets into this great vibe and everything flows really well.
Oh, how much did I pay? 2.46 pounds which is roughly about 6 U.S. dollars.
Starflyer 59 - Ghosts of the Future (issue 3 and 4)Listen here.
Yes, two more brightly colored vinyls came in the mail. Dust off the old record player and give them a spin. The surprise highlight was the b-side to issue 3 being a cover of the Smiths' Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want.
The myspace page only includes one song off of these issue - Spooky. Spooky happens to be an instrumental that fits in great with the Halloween season and the Munsters or Adam's Family.
CocoRosie - The Adventures of Ghosthorse and StillbornListen here.
This album came out earlier this summer, but I knew it would make a great fall album so I put it off until the season was just right. This is a weird album and I love it! The sounds are crazy. CocoRosie is comprised of two sisters and they both sing or take turns on the same times. One sister has a real raspy voice, kinda like a cheap version of the old jazz singers and the other one has a real pretty and possibly operatic voice. I don't know if one is a classically trained opera singer??? But the contrast between the two voices really works well for the kind of otherworldy music they make. On this record quite a few songs have the Trip-hop vibe thing going on with psuedo white-girl rapping. The atmosphere of this album is of the new old - new music that sounds old. I am not sure how to describe it...it's not polished, it's warm, sounds like an old radio??? Oh, and the lyrics are a bit fairy tale-ish.
Sad news - Mum was playing in Lawrence Halloween night. I would have loved to have seen them. Oh well, I can't see every good band that comes by in this phase of my life.
Mum is another band with that new old sound. They used to be described as electronic, but I am not sure that is all true anymore. This album has made me question if rock music is even relevant anymore. Come on! What's new with rock music? Nothing. It is the same old, same old. Sure there are some great songs and good bands. But they are not really making any new ground, they no longer lead a rebellion in thought and teenagers no longer have exclusive rights to this music. Rock music is old and dying. Mum just reminded me of the new breed of bands who is making music artfully and with no limits as to what can make a song. Long gone are the days of a guitar, bass, and drums. Today's musicians can play a multitued of instruments and are creative to make new sounds or new sounds that sound old...not retro. Sorry, a little rant that just came out of nowwhere. (Brian, I wish you were here. We could have one of those 2 hour conversations on the state of music.)
The new Mum album...hmm, can you tell I like it. It is an improvement from their last one. They were getting a bit predictable, but this new album is louder (if you can make a quiet band loud), they have a different vocalists (very good - I like his sounds) and overall the music is very organic sounding with natrual instraments as well as electronics.
I must add that bands from Iceland take the most care to creating a wonderful CD package.
4 comments:
I totally agree with you on the Radiohead and Mum. You are right about Icelandic bands doing the most with album art. I'm undecided about Maps. I've heard a lot of them recently but wasn't convinced to put my money down on it yet. I'm sure I will warm up to it after a few more listens.
Brian,
Let me assure you that Maps will not disappoint. If most of what you have heard of them is their one single, I would say that it is probably the most average song on the album. In fact, when I first got the album, I thought "Brian would love this." It's right up your alley.
I mentioned this on BB's site, but Radiohead's model does intrigue me. They probably are coming out ahead if they are bypassing the labels, even if people only pay $5-$8 for the album.
Also, what else is there to do in Iceland than perfect your CD packaging? :)
I don't know...take a walk outside. It's beautiful from what I can tell.
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