The long guitar intro to this song sounds so much like that from A Beautiful Machine that I had to check and make sure it wasn’t the same guy. No, the band consists of Ryan Graveface, who’s also the guitarist for Black Moth Super Rainbow. No only did Andrew really like them at Psychfest, but he’s been communicating with Graveface (who has his own record label), and says he’s a swell guy, which is good enough for me.
“New Zealand” is long, noodly, a bit self-indulgent, and very pretty.
Although I’m not completely ignorant of classical music, the work of Gustav Mahler isn’t something I’ve bumped into terribly much, despite assurances from my hardcore classical music loving friends (which is to say, Mike) that he is Teh Awesome. I’ve always felt a vague urge to correct this oversight, but not enough to actually spend any money doing so. That is, until today.
That’s because Amazon is offering up a Big Box of Mahler today for 99¢. How big? Some 13 hours worth. That’s a lot of Mahler for your buck. Granted, you have to download the icky Amazon downloader, but once you’ve jumped through those hoops, it’s easy to select the files and pull them into iTunes.
I’m sure that this is off-brand Mahler which might be sneered at by some purists. (I doubt the Utah Symphony is at the top of the classical music food chain.) But I’m listening to it now, and so far it doesn’t suck.
Can’t let another Sunday go by without a dose of Shoegazer, so here’s Echodrone’s “Gravity.”
I’m guessing the video is from a movie. Anyone know what it’s from?
All of Auburn Lull‘s Begin Civil Twilight is worth listening to, but “Arc of an Outsider,” with it’s lovely, floating, wistful, waltz-time beauty, has always been my favorite.
I see that some online sources are calling Maryland’s Black Tamborine (active during the first wave of Shoegaze in the 1990s) “Twee Pop.” Screw that. Sounds like Shoegazer to me.
The thing about Curve’s “No Escape From Heaven” that strikes me as I listen to it now is just how much it sounds like 1991. There was a huge amount of change going on that year, both grunge (Nirvana, Pearl Jam) and otherwise (Slowdive, Tori Amos), but there was a particular style of female lead vocals that featured bright, upbeat, autoharmonized choruses with a lush, vibrant, full sound, as though all the girl groups of the 1980s (Go Gos, Bananarama, etc.) were distilled into their essence, with an assist from the very latest recording technology. You could hear it everywhere, including bands people have completely forgotten about. (When is the last time you heard Voice of the Beehive on the radio?) Even though this is definitely Shoegaze, you can still hear the same tonalities to it.
Here’s Jon Hopkins haunting theme from the excellent science fiction film Monsters, featuring perhaps the climactic moment of the film. (Howard Waldrop and I reviewed it, and I highly recommend making an effort to see it.)
I defend this as Shoegazer mainly on feel; others may categorize it as electronica or ambient, but I think it falls between those two. Available on iTunes.
I thought that “Fall” from a few weeks ago worked well enough that we should follow it up with “Opentillate,” another song available on iTunes.
I was able to catch most of the M83 show here in Austin. While good, I was equally impressed with Swedish opening act I Break Horses (not to be confused with the Seattle band of the same name, or the Portland band Sparkle Pony), which played a very tight set.
Their online music is good, but they’re much better live, and I’d recommend catching the M83/I Break Horses tour if they come around your neck of the woods.
I know that when I think “punk,” Huey Lewis and Toni Basil are the first names that come to mind:
I can hardly wait for their forthcoming Heavy Metal collection with Simon & Garfunkel and The Bee Gees.
(To be fair, Devo were considered punk very early in their career, and Billy Idol at least dressed the part and came out of the same scene as The Sex Pistols. There’s a very amusing bit in Glen Matlock’s I was a teenage Sex Pistol in which a suddenly chastised Idol grows apprehensive over having wrecked his father’s car…)
(Hat tip: Iowahawk’s Twitter feed. )