Feb 09 2010

Motion Turns It On – Kaleidoscopic Equinox

Category: Music In My Ears — dryvetyme @ 07:00

Motion Turns It On
Kaleidoscopic Equinox
Chocolate Lab; 2010

Kaleidoscopic Equinox

I will be the first to admit that I’m able to tolerate psychedelia and prog rock in only the smallest of manageable doses. I guess it’s because I find repetitive noodling and general guitar wankery, no matter how well constructed, to be rather boring and a bit excessive. Yes, I understand that you’re a wizard on the guitar/bass/keyboard and that you understand classical music theory better than many professional orchestra members, but I don’t really want to hear a fifteen-minute, three-part song cycle based upon your band’s philosophical meanderings. Even more, I really don’t want to hear anyone spend an album figuring just how bizarre the average guitar sound – exploring the edges of a genre is fine, but don’t expect me to enjoy a nine-minute song chock full of assorted squeaks and squeals recorded just to prove to yourself just how avant-garde you think you are.
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Feb 08 2010

Media Monday – 02/08/2010

Category: Media & More, Music In My Ears — dryvetyme @ 12:00

Though today’s batch of content is much lighter than that from the past few weeks, it doesn’t diminish the quality of what I have for you today. Enjoy!

  1. Music:
    a. “Never Turn Around” – Gobotron
    b. “Two Kids” – Strand Of Oaks
    c. “Beg You To Stay” – Smile Smile
    d. “Giant Stairs” – A Weather
    e. “Halcyon Days” – So Cow
    f. “Closer” – The Butterfly Explosion
    g. “Chemistry” – The Butterfly Explosion
    h. “Hypermode” – A Shoreline Dream
  2. Video:
    a. “West Coast” – Junk Culture
    b. “Molly’s Vertigo” – Acrylics
    c. “Beg You To Stay” – Smile Smile
    d. “You Stay. I Go. No Following.” – Look Mexico

Feb 08 2010

Ben + Vesper – LuvInIdleness EP

Category: Music In My Ears — dryvetyme @ 07:00

Ben + Vesper
LuvInIdleness EP
Sounds Familyre; 2010

LuvInIdleness

Sometimes, no matter how hard someone might work to carve out his/her own artistic identity, it’s nearly impossible to escape one’s influences. And that’s really OK in my book, as long as that artist openly acknowledges what the rest of us are hearing in the music. Such is the situation with Ben + Vesper on their brand new EP, entitled LuvInIdleness. As in, even if you didn’t know that this married couple was signed to the Danielson Family record label and that Sufjan Stevens produced this project, those are the sonic touchstones you’d probably use to describe the music. These five songs bespeak of the sort of twee indie-pop that many of us have extolled as achingly beautiful on records like Seven Swans and Illinois, striking that oh-so-familiar balance between light-hearted and melancholy.
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Feb 05 2010

So Percussion Presents Imaginary City At DiverseWorks

Category: H-Town Rock, Media & More, Music In My Ears — dryvetyme @ 12:00

Leave it to the folks at DiverseWorks to present yet another gloriously brilliant example of music-as-performance-art to the denizens of Houston, TX. On February 12th and 13th, 2010, at 8pm, Sō Percussion will present Imaginary City, an attempt to use the medium of music as a representation of the visual landscapes of various American cities. Imaginary City is a National Performance Network (NPN) Creation Fund Project and is co-commissioned by DiverseWorks, Myrna Loy Center / Helena, Flynn Center for the Performing Arts, and the NPN.

So Percussion

Better yet, I’ll post a bit of the official press release:

“The virtuosos of So Percussion create mind-expanding chamber music that is at turns raucous and touching, barbarous and heartfelt. They have collaborated with filmmaker Jenise Treuting to capture the sounds and images of several cities – from Treuting’s home in Tokyo to the vast skies of Helena, MT; to the mountains of Denver, CO; through the heartland of Cleveland, OH and the New England landscape of Burlington, VT and to the urban jungle of Houston. to emphasize the uniqueness and commonalities between the various cities. The performance will center around Sō Percussion’s utilization of percussion instruments to communicate the extremes of emotion and musical possibility. Imaginary City takes the experimentation one step further with music based partially on invented instruments, blurring the lines between sound and vision to create an artistic metropolis.”

Tickets for what looks to be an engaging, stirring evening of sight and sound are available at the DiverseWorks website.

I hope to see you there (though I can’t promise that I’ll be able to contain my furious air-drumming propensities for the night)!

Feb 05 2010

Pianos Become The Teeth – Old Pride

Category: Music In My Ears — dryvetyme @ 07:00

Pianos Become The Teeth
Old Pride
Topshelf; 2010

Old Pride

In the early to middle part of last decade, I listened to various forms of third-wave emo almost exclusively. Records like Full Collapse by Thursday, The Illusion Of Safety and The Artist In The Ambulance by Thrice, and The Changing of Times by Underoath each spent significant amount of time in my car stereo. I was enamored with these acts because of their ability to vent their thoughts with such depth, power, and emotional resonance, a trait that I most assuredly lacked in my own life. Eventually, whether you describe it as me growing up, growing tired of how the genre was marketed, or growing to prefer how Morrissey sang about his feelings, I left behind most versions of melodic/post-hardcore (often described and/or derided as screamo) for different musical pastures.
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