Not a whole lot to add, It’s Sunday morning and this post was part of a long list of things that should have been done before going out last night, but as they say better late than never. So without further adieu here is Statherian by The Ocean.
The Ocean Collective (Usually referred to as The Ocean) hail from Berlin, Germany and feature upwards of 30 musicians.
Until next time
- Kez
I haven’t gotten a chance to post about any of these bands yet, but I’m sure you’ll see individual posts about each sometime in the near future. (I’ll make it a point to make sure we’ve got stuff up by each of them before January.) They’re all pretty different in style, but all very ingenuitive in their sound. They’re beginning a North America tour starting in January, with Between the Buried and Me headlining. I’m a little disheartened that they won’t be stopping in Minnesota, but I figured I’d get the tour dates out there for anyone interested. So check them out after the jump, straight from the horse’s blabbermouth.
Continue reading ‘BTBAM / Cynic / Townsend / Scale the Summit – On Tour!’
This is a band I’ve w
anted to talk about for quite some time, but I was never quite sure how to go about it. Stolen Babies is a band that comes straight out of left-field in terms of being original and outright strange.
I’m finding this band especially hard to classify in terms of genre. Stolen Babies is a unique blend of avant-garde, metal, goth, industrial, and last but not least progressive. With songs often featuring unusual instruments such as accordion, glockenspiel, ozark harp, baby sitar and marimba in addition to the usual guitar/drums/bass/keyboards. It’s a listening experience you won’t soon forget.
Lead singer Dominique Lenore Persi delivers an impressive number of vocal styles; from sweet pop, to cabaret inspired theatrics, to blistering black metal styled screams. While certainly not for everyone, I recommend you give their debut album There Be Squabbles Ahead a shot, you may even surprise yourself.
Below is Push Button off their debut album There Be Squabbles Ahead.
Until next time
- Kez
This is probably one I could have saved for a Saturday Night Psychedelia, but this album has impressed me so much that I just needed to get a full length post out about it. Ancestors is a 5-piece Progressive Rock band from Los Angeles, California. They released their first album last year, which was a short 2-track concept album with both tracks lasting over 15-minutes each. While I haven’t had the chance to listen to it yet, I’m sure I’ll have to get around to it considering how much their most recent release, Of Sound Mind, has blown me away.
This album has all the beauty and complexity of a Pink Floyd album, but with a heavier twist. The album basically consists of 4 main tracks, each lasting about 15 minutes, with shorter transition tracks in between. There are small vocal passages scattered throughout (both clean and harsh), but they’re so few and far-between that even if you absolutely hate the singing you could still love the record.
Beyond that, there’s not too much to say about this album that a single track can’t say for itself. So, without any further delay, here is Bounty of Age.
Indie is a difficult genre to describe, mainly because it really only defines the way the artist markets their music, not the music itself. A lot of people think of indie as simple acoustic guitar strumming with soft vocals and a silly band name like The Flounder Clouds. For tonight’s Psychedelia, we have an American Psychedelic Rock group called Innaway, who have found a way to shatter the indie mold. The group was formed in 2001, and have been pretty much under-the-radar ever since. Their music is hard to come by, but if you can get your hands on their self titled album then it’s definitely worth the purchase. Threathawk is an example of one of their more typical Psychedelic Rock songs, but they cover a lot more ground than that. The album includes passages of bizarre electronic beats, mellow acoustic indie, and often climaxes with vivid distorted guitar solos.
Innaway – Threathawk
These guys have a new album coming out in early 2010, so keep an eye out here for songs of the new album, news, reviews, and more!
About 7 months ago, Mastodon released their 4th album, Crack the Skye. This was my first real taste of Mastodon, and while it took a little while for me to fully wrap my head around it, I became more enthused as time went on. I began spinning this one almost daily, yet never growing weary of it. The unique sound, the flowing song structure… even the silly conceptual plot had me completely enthralled with the record. I became absolutely infatuated with this album, and still to this day it doesn’t sound dull or tiresome for even a second.
So, you can imagine my excitement to finally get a chance to see them perform live. That excitement turned into pure exhilaration when they began their concert by playing the ENTIRE Crack the Syke album from start to finish. The performance was phenomenal. The band not only performed the album with complete precision and instrumental mastery, but were also extremely entertaining to watch. They looked like they were enjoying the show as much as every member of the audience, and the whole auditorium was booming with energy.
Dethklok came up next, and while I’ve never felt they brought anything very distinct to the table (aside from the comedic value, of course), they still put on one hell of a show. The ferocious performance coupled with the cartoon absurdity on the screen behind them really makes for a thrilling production.
Here’s Mastodon’s Oblivion, the opening track of their concert and most recent album.
Check out the photos after the jump.
As a followup to yesterday’s Saturday Night Psychedelia, I am very proud to present our first interview.
Finland’s Ghost Brigade have created truly dark, intelligent, and powerful music which has found the perfect balance between melody and ferocity. Their most recent release, Isolation Songs, has further developed their melodic and addictive sound, exhibiting stellar songwriting and production.
The band is currently getting ready for their European tour with Paradise Lost and Samael, but Wille was kind enough to take some time to answer a few of our questions. You can check out the interview, and a song from their first release after the jump.
Ever since the early 1960’s, Psychedelic music has been an integral part of our music culture. From the jazzy nuances of Pink Floyd, to the tripped out beats of Daft Punk, it’s become a part of who we are. This weekly segment is going to be an ode to the psychedelia in today’s music. Check back every Saturday night for your weekly psychedelic dose!
This week’s Psychedlia is going to serve as a precursor to something very special we have coming tomorrow. Tonight’s song is a completely instrumental post-metal track by Finnish Progressive Metal band Ghost Brigade; it’s called 22:22 – Nihil.
So sit back, submit to the mind-alteration of your choice, and enjoy the beauty that is Ghost Brigade.
A large portion of what we’re going to do with this blog is point out lesser-known acts that might have otherwise gone unheard. One of the most unfortunate things about the music industry today is that far too many artists that deserve recognition simply aren’t promoted well enough to get it. We’re going to use our Check this out! segments in order to do this, so keep an eye out for many more.
We’ve started our blog off on a fairly metal note, so I’m going to start this segment with something on quite the opposite end of the spectrum.
Andrew Aversa, better known as Zircon, is a Trance/Electronica artist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He’s been creating music since 2002, and has been releasing multiple albums a year ever since. In my opinion, none of been to the caliber of one of his most recent releases, Antigravity. This album features a wide variety of sounds and styles, ranging from straight-forward trance to jungle beats. The song that I’ll be showing today features dance music style techno with the beautiful vocals of Jillian Goldin.
Well I’m Kez and for the most part my posts aren’t going to be terribly in depth. I’m just going to be talking about what I am listening to, and tell you why you should check it out too.
I have something really cool planned for the end of this week or perhaps early next week, but I didn’t feel like waiting until then to make my inaugural post.
That said, lets talk about HORSE the Band. A post-hardcore outfit from Lake Forest, CA.
