Rhythm and Hues - 2013 - The Live EP

Jazz

[FOR FREE]

http://rhythmandhues.bandcamp.com/

• 6 songs to download
• You name the price (min 0,-)
• You get the link if you register your email address
• Listening recommendations: Taureau

Impressions

Jazz concept album? Jazz concept album! Being the curious cat that I am, a concept album based around the 12 Chinese zodiac signs gets my attention based on pitch alone. The Live EP is 6 tracks of jazz fusion as part of a Montreal art installation that gets a bit more complex the more I try to explain (and thus I may influence how you, reader, interpret the music. Also, yes, I know there are only 6 tracks, but 12 zodiac signs. If you go to their bandcamp page, the whole project is explained in greater detail.

Anyway, the music starts out as rather low key jazz for the most part, songs built around slow moving, baselines, minimal drums and percussion, and occasionally a flute. The tempo picks up considerably after “Lapin兔”and kick in with as much percussion as you could possibly want. Seriously, there are at least 5 different style of drums used on this EP, and as you could expect each adds a distinct sound and feel you likely aren't going to get anywhere else – let alone a minute plus long percussion/drum solo on “Singe猿! “Taurneau 牛”is my favourite track of the six, sounding like a cross between a cheapo 70's kung fu film's soundtrack and the best film noir that jazz could possibly narrate. The bass on that track is just out of this world. Not sure if represents a Bull, but that doesn't matter. Sarah Linhares' vocals are also a highpoint, despite her not voicing a word the entire record. Linhares' is singing in something akin to “vocalese”, where she's more or less singing the notes of an instrument, and, while there is no consensus around the wasfuersohr office, they occasionally sound like a word-less narrative. Given the nature of th project and the subject matter, that would not surprise me in the least. These tracks come highly recommended, jazz enthusiasts or not.

Cloud@Last - 2013 - gloryus EP

darkwave

[FOR FREE]

http://cloudatlast.bandcamp.com/

• 6 songs to download
• You name the price (min 0,-)
• You get the link if you register your email address
• Listening recommendations: Simple

Impressions

Ah yes, soft prolonged bass drum noises synced with artificial notes. A classic combo in today’s electro music. This EP demonstrates great lyrics, washed up vocals, mellow beats, and a variety of electronic sounds. When I listen to gloryus, I feel like I’m flying blindly in a parade of cold wind and scattered breezes but more like floating. The philosophical aspect of wave music is all here. Nostalgia is present in a fluffy cloud and constantly hovering nearby. The reason this took so well with me was because I know the potential of chillwave: the effect it can create in a listener and up until now, I have not been satisfied. In this EP there are common goals set in each song (like building up and leading to catchy choruses sprinkled with foggy melodies) which drew me in, yet enough experimentation to not get bored or be able to predict tones. I also don’t even have to look at the lyrics to understand what is portrayed in each song, I just feel it. This reminds me of a collaboration between Washed Out and a winter sounding Neon Indian, and back to the artificialness, it is hardly present here. There is such a calming and natural vibe with each note and wave sound. The first half is more jubilant than the second half but it’s as if it depresses into this darker atmospheric tunnel, like you’re floating higher and higher after each track. It ends beautifully with a two-part eight minute saga of dreaming and nightmares, and after it’s done one can’t help but feel like they experienced a trance hallucination. I will not get my head out of the clouds.

Nika Smith - 2010 - s k i n

Lofi Folk Pop

[FOR FREE]

http://musicnikasmith.bandcamp.com/album/s-k-i-n
http://musicnikasmith.bandcamp.com/album/iii 

• 6 songs to download
• For free
• Direct Download
• Listening recommendations: Ego, My Heart Window

Impressions

There is something rather personal about these lo-fi releases. Unpolished as lo-fi records naturally tend to be, they often seem to be able to evoke the feeling of a more hands on approach compared to perfectly produced records that are calculated from beginning to end. Nika Smith is quite talented, which is plainly obvious in a few standout tracks that do a great job of capturing the interest of someone skimming through her music. She is also among the few artists realizing that the first spot on a record is a very, very important one in this hard-fought independent scene and Track 1 on s k i n, Ego, and the first track on iii, Kiss My Bottle of Wine, are both tracks that you definitely should give a listen. Her other songs are good as well, but most of them unfortunately seem to drown a bit in the overall mood of her music because they are stylistically too similar and didn't manage to be distinguishable enough in my head even after relistening both records about 10 times. To be fair, one should mention here that she did remedy that shortcoming with some more recent recordings like The Shaman & The Hunt, which shows more of her musical versatility. If you feel like supporting her, you can grab it on top of the free records mentioned earlier for $3 here: http://theshamanandthehunt.bandcamp.com/album/playscape
However, even with the flaws that s k i n has, it is undeniable that these songs are filled with charme, personality and a certain closeness that make me care about what Nika is humming into empty space of this room we share when this record runs over my speakers. She is most certainly a welcome visitor in this apartment and I look forward to her next visit with new stories to tell.

Pirate Jenny - 2013 - Shipwreck Special

Ska/Pirate Rock 

[FOR FREE]

http://piratejenny.bandcamp.com/

• 11 songs to download
• You name the price (min 0,-)
• You get the link if you register your email address
• Listening recommendations: The Derelict, Overboard

Impressions

Here's one for you, what would an indie rock band sound like if they wrote songs as if they were pirates roaming the high seas? Well you need not ponder any longer as Pirate Jenny are indeed a band of salty seadogs belting out the best in pirate-themed rock music (there's a sentence one doesn't get to type too often). Apparently 'pirate rock' is an actual thing, which is news to me, and it sounds a bit like ska and indie rock music themed around, well, pirates and life at sea. I would have thought such a silly gimmick would probably involve some terrible music. I was be wrong. These guys take the music seriously, with 11 well crafted and extremely catchy tunes of the pirate life. A lot of it appears to be typical four piece at first listen – 2 guitars, drums and bass, but the extra instruments the band affords themselves (like an accordion, steel drum, xylophone[?!], electric organ, piano) really do give things a cartoonishly accurate sound, conjuring up eye patches, be-parroted shoulders, steins full of grog and life on tall ships albeit one that's more Spongebob colourful than it is bouts of scurvy and 15^th/16^th century sea crime. There's even a couple contemplative songs that explore the toll life at sea can take on ones psyche (“Overboard”) to uh.. ground the proceedings. Pirate life isn't all swashbuckling and wenches after all. “Postmodern Pirates” could almost pass for Devo-eqsue, with a pirate reflecting on the pirates place in the world. Honestly, I may have called the pirate thing silly earlier, but these guys are so obviously aware of that, diving in headlong anyway. So even if you have a big smirk on your face at the lyrics (final track “All Ships Rock” for instance, which takes a peg-legged cue from Queen style rock ballads) because you cannot take them seriously, you'll still enjoy yourself. Definite guilty pleasure material folks. Shipwreck may be Pirate Jenny's first full release in over a decade, but it doesn't sound like a cash-in with no soul that a lot of bands choose to do after so long. I guess it's hard for a pirate to phone it in... Give it a listen yee landlubber or be forced to walk the plank.

Oh, My! - 2013 - This Be Weird E.P.

Post Punk

[FOR FREE]

http://ohmyband.bandcamp.com/album/this-be-weird-e-p

• 4 songs to download
• You name the price (min 0,-)
• You get the link if you register your email address
• Listening recommendations: Subconscious Living

Impressions

Oh, My!'s name is tailor-made for all manner of headline, though I will spare you any for this review. I cannot help but hear old Sonic Youth in here. That's all I'll say about it, since there isn't more to it than that (I think it's something about the vocals - go listen to SY's “Eric's Trip”, come back and listen to Oh, My! and see if it's all in my head.) Now on to This Be Weird. It's an EP of four floor stomping, chest pounding tracks from the Sacramento quintet known as Oh, My! Things start off auspiciously enough, a lone drumbeat intro and get a little math-y, a little prog-y, all good, from there on out. The vocals are easily decipherable (even the throat-shredding yells), which is something that will instantly sink or swim a post-hardcore record for me. Here the triple vocals are a real treat, two males and a smokey-voiced female. She has a blues rock vibe that's reminiscent of the angry female that Juliette Lewis conjures up on her records, the male lead gives a forceful, commandeering yelp that's very speak-sing as if he will not stop until you've seen things his way, and oh will you. Closing things off with a five and a half minute, guitar-driven instrumental is rather ballsy, especially when the tempo of the song starts off so much slower than the previous tracks, but I don't think this EP could have ended any other way. It's just a perfect crescendo (even if “Gold Rush” itself never really has one) to the album. The whole EP builds and builds, then subsides, awash in an anxious atmosphere of strings that simply dies away, taking all anxiety and anger with it. I may have missed some of the deeper meaning going on in the lyrics, but I will be listening to this EP a lot in the coming days and weeks, so if there is more to it, I'll suss it out. I would suggest you all do the same and give Oh, My!'s This Be Weird E.P. a go.