Lexicon of Sound

Not Quite Saturday Night Psychedelia

Kez — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 16:56:11 +0000

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

BTBAM / Cynic / Townsend / Scale the Summit – On Tour!

Meta — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:25:08 +0000

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.

Raleigh, North Carolina-based progressive metalcore quintet BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME will kick off a North American headlining tour on January 8, 2010 in Nashville, Tennessee. Support on the trek will come from CYNIC, THE DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT and SCALE THE SUMMIT.

The dates are as follows:

Jan. 08 – Nashville, TN – Rocketown
Jan. 09 – Atlanta, GA – The Masquerade
Jan. 10 – New Orleans, LA – House of Blues
Jan. 11 – Houston, TX – Meridian
Jan. 12 – Dallas, TX – The Prophet Bar (Big room)
Jan. 13 – San Antonio, TX – The White Rabbit
Jan. 15 – Tempe, AZ – The Clubhouse
Jan. 16 – San Diego, CA – House of Blues
Jan. 17 – West Hollywood, CA – House of Blues
Jan. 18 – San Francisco, CA – Slim’s
Jan. 20 – Denver, CO – Cervantes
Jan. 22 – Louisville, KY – Headliners Music Hall
Jan. 23 – Detroit, MI – Magic Stick
Jan. 24 – Chicago, IL – House of Blues
Jan. 25 – Cleveland, OH – Peabody’s Downunder
Jan. 26 – Toronto, ON – Opera House
Jan. 27 – Montreal, QC – Club Soda
Jan. 28 – Boston, MA – House of Blues
Jan. 29 – Clifton Park, NY – Northern Lights
Jan. 30 – New York, NY – The Fillmore @ Irving Plaza
Jan. 31 – Philadelphia, PA – Trocadero
Feb. 01 – Baltimore, MD – Sonar
Feb. 03 – St. Petersburg, FL – State Theatre
Feb. 06 – Charlotte, NC – The Fillmore

BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME will play a record-release show for its new album, “The Great Misdirect”, this Halloween at the Orange Peel in Asheville, North Carolina. The band will perform the entire new CD “plus some oldies” at the show, which will feature additional appearances by GLASS CASKET featuring BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME drummer Blake Richardson and guitarist Dustie Waring), BRAVEYOUNG and TORCHRUNNER (featuring BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME‘s merch/light guy Chuck Johnson).

BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME will embark on a U.S. tour in November with support from VEIL OF MAYA and ANIMALS AS LEADERS. A list of tour dates can be found at this location.

“The Great Misdirect” was released on October 27 via Victory Records. A song from the CD, “Obfuscation”, is available for streaming in the YouTube clip below. The nine-minute-and-fifteen-second track is a testament to the technically otherworldly original and proficient musicianship of BTBAM.

There Be Squabbles Ahead!

Kez — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:02:49 +0000

This is a band I’ve wanted 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

Honor Your Ancestors

Meta — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 21:36:23 +0000

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.

Psychedelic… In a Way

Meta — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 00:00:06 +0000

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!

Mastdodethklok

Meta — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 03:15:20 +0000

About 7 months ago, Mastodon released their 4^th 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.

Mastodon

Dethklok

Exclusive Interview with Ghost Brigade

Kez — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 20:54:14 +0000

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.

Kez:

Could you tell us a bit about how Ghost Brigade was formed, and where the name “Ghost Brigade” came from?

Wille:

We’re all old friends. We used to play in a couple of different metal and rock bands before Ghost Brigade and we often talked about how it would be cool to form a band that would kind of tie together everything we couldn’t do in these bands. You know, something that would combine both heavier and mellower, moodier things together.

Then, in 2005, words turned into action, all of our old bands either broke up or were put to hiatus and here we are four years later with our second album, Isolation Songs, just being released.

The name came originally from Jannes suggestion. He suggested the word “Ghost” and I added “Brigade” which was taken from a song called “Snow Brigade” by danish pop band Mew.

Kez:

How about a little about it’s members? What sort of hobbies outside of music do you have?

Wille:

Hobbies? Oh man that’s a tricky one because I have honestly no idea what the other guys’ hobbies are. Tommi photographs sometimes and Janne I guess reads a lot but other than that, I don’t really know. I guess that’s how well we know each other, haha.

My hobbies are graphic design, photography & floorball.

Kez:

What are some of your musical and non-musical inspirations?

Wille:

Any music you hear can be inspirational.

Non-musical: friends, life, movies.

Kez:

How is the metal scene in Finland, how does it compare to other places you have played since being on tour?

Wille:

The metal scene here is obviously very big…it’s mainstream and there are a lot of bands too.

I don’t know really if the crowd differs that much from any other crowd. I haven’t noticed any significant differences.

Kez:

Could you briefly describe the bands writing process?

Wille:

I usually write the instrumental backbones of songs. We just take it from there, throw ideas back and forth and play the songs at rehearsals over and over again until they feel complete. When we’re done with arrangements and lyrics and everything, we give the songs to Aleksi who writes the keyboard parts on top of it. That’s how we usually work.

Kez:

Do you feel that Isolation Songs was an improvement over Guided by Fire, or a move in a new direction?

Wille:

We are always seeking new directions. I’m the kind of person who easily gets bored of everything so if we’ve done one thing once, I don’t feel like doing it again you know. I have to find fresh, new directions to justify the existence of a new song. To repeat old patterns isn’t something I’m interested in. I always get the best kicks from writing if I come up with something I haven’t done before. It doesn’t have to be anything big… sometimes small details make all the difference.

In my opinion IS compared to GBF is both; an improvement as well as a move to new direction.

Kez:

What was your favorite/least favorite live show so far? Any especially memorable experiences?

Wille:

This years Summer Breeze Festival was a good one. What a crowd. I actually got goosebumps right now just by thinking about it. We also recenty supported Paradise Lost in Helsinki. The crowd was quiet, typical Monday night gig but it was still one of the best shows I’ve played personally. Don’t know why really, it’s just one of those things you can’t explain.

Worst? Hometown shows are always pretty weird because I’m always super nervous before the show.

Kez:

If you could open for any two bands past or present who would they be, and why?

Wille:

Metallica for sure. I play guitar because of that band so it would be a dream come true for me. For the second band I would’ve probably said God Is An Astronaut because I’m a huge fan of their music but we’re actually playing three shows with them next month so that one’s coming true very soon.

Kez:

What are some of the bands long term goals? Is there a chance of a North American tour at some point?

Wille:

This band doesn’t have a five year plan or anything like that. We just write music we like and tour as much as we can and that’s it. North American tour…why not!

Kez:

Any final thoughts you’d like to leave our readers with?

Wille:

Thank you for reading this. If you need a CD or a shirt: www.ghostbrigade.net/merch

Kez:

Now we’ll leave you with a song off the band’s first release, Guided by Fire. This is Minus Side.

Saturday Night Psychedelia

Meta — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 00:00:03 +0000

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.

Check this out! – Zircon

Meta — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 22:30:50 +0000

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.

Zircon breaks the mold that a lot of techno falls into by keeping his albums extremely diverse. Every track moves in a different direction, and even by the end of the CD you still feel enthused about what you’re listening to.

Antigravity was released in 2007, and can be purchased directly from Zircon’s Website or through the iTunes music store. This one is well worth the money.

Zircon – Breathing You In [feat. Jillian Goldin]

Kez says hello

Kez — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 06:16:58 +0000

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.

HORSE the Band has always had a very unique view on music and touring. 2008 saw the band planning and executing the “HORSE the Band EARTH TOUR”. The band booked the tour themselves at times turning to fans to help book shows. Often playing with little or no compensation, they continued their tour on maxed out credit cards. The result was them performing in upwards of 40 countries many of which had not seen an American metal band for years.

This band is different in its heavy use of 8-bit sound effects. You’ll often find brutal sections flowing seamlessly into bouncy synth-pop sequences that rocket straight into one of far too many other genre-bending directions to mention. What you’re left with can only be described as a unique listening experience that you’ll find yourself returning to again and again.

Be sure to catch them on tour this winter with Norma Jean.

I for one haven’t stopped listening to their latest album Desperate Living, which is streaming in its entirety on their myspace page. So, give it a listen, what do you have to lose?

- Kez