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I haven’t found any “post-rock” type stuff I’ve particularly liked for a long time. Having been sent SO many Explosions-in-the-sky-ripoffs I’ve been put off the whole thing. A Egg‘s tracks might well be what turns me back to listening to it. Its just 1 guy, its all produced with samples apart from the guitar and bass. There’s a bit of auto-tuned / chopped up vocal too. Quite innovative.
Personal favourites: Somewhere Nice, Rostov could get it (Alright The Captain remix), Randy Jackson, Archway
Enjoy, spread the word
Well this is quite a charming Christmas release indeed! Thank you Olympians for sending me the only Christmas single I’ve received this festive season! People don’t often think to write festive songs anymore, but good on you! I do wish you’d sent it to me before the celebration of our almighty messiah’s birthday though.
Anyway, “Foreign Language” and its B-side “Leaving you at Christmas” go down exceptionally well as pleasant pop songs for these wintery months. Of course, Olympians’ mathy indie style of rock is maintained, producing a fresh alternative to a Christmas song that doesn’t involve extensive choirs, the Sex Pistols doing “Jingle Bells” (God save us!) or Dean bloody Martin singing the same old cheerful numbers, especially when we all know that behind the scenes he was a sex pest with a coc problem. The seniors seem to be more than capable of ignoring these shady misdeeds, but after the fifteenth ballad I start to get agitated and wonder whether giving these Mafiosos so much air-time is a bit wrong, nevermind annoying.
Getting back to the single at hand, you may download, and I urge you to, Olympians‘ new single FREE from their Bandcamp page: HERE and if you like it go and see them live as I know from experience that they rock!
This is the video for the title track Foreign Language and its really brilliant too!
MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR
Codes In The CLouds are an instrumental 5-piece apparently from Dartford, but I’m just going to say London because they seem to spend more time here than there. They are signed to brilliant little label Erased Tapes, also home to the British Expeditionary Force, Olafur Arnalds and Nils Frahm. They haven’t been around for long but have definitely made their presence known on the London scene, and, maybe to a lesser extent, on the entire UK scene. Following the release of their first record they toured with now post-rock legends This Will Destroy You and recently went on a small headline tour through the UK with Barn Owl and Katerwaul (worth checking out!).
‘Paper Canyon’ is their debut full-length album and despite coming across as a little easy at first, this record soon becomes a brilliantly subtle delight, going from bright uplifting songs to dreamy ambient numbers, to others filled with a deep sense of lament. It is so easy and common for post-rock bands to makes 2-dimensional records, only expressing the teenage-like solitude and angst part of the spectrum of human emotions. However, after seeing them live on many occasions, Codes In The Clouds stand out from the crowd of post-rockers as a band who express that but also happiness, hope and above all sincerity. It is when you realise that Paper Canyon does in fact have these powerful highs and lows that the record begins to make sense and the subtle authenticity within it comes out and sucks you back in along for the ride.
The opening track ‘Fractures’ sets the scene for a pleasant, dreamy frame of mind, then ‘Don’t Go Awash In This Digital Landscape’ hits with a relentless force, which carries on through until the epic finale of ‘Distant Street Lights’. ‘We Anchor In Hope’ is a charming uplifting waltz perfectly suited to the aftermath of the previous songs and ‘The Distance Between Us’ closes the album on a very powerful, hesitant, yet positive note.
Although it may seem like an obvious thing, the statement on their myspace that says ‘we like playing pretty music’ is strangely exact, and completely sums them up once you’ve fully absorbed the record.
Their eagerly anticipated follow up LP should be out by the end of this year so keep a look out and make sure you catch them live if they play in a town near you.
I stumbled upon this brilliant instrumental 3-piece last night (19/06/10) at The Good Ship, London. Defo worth a listen! MHDH go to show just how versatile instrumental bands can be- think Battles crossed with Foals, with a spoonful of noise. Seeing yet another 3 talented, ballsy musicians go down the instrumental route gives me a lot of faith in our generation of emerging artists, and makes me wonder; How amazing would it be if MHDH played a club night alongside other instrumental trios: Brontide, The Good The Bad and Saiga (if I may say so myself)…?! Like a ‘Battle of the Speechless Loud Guitar Freaks’
Where Brontide are mathy, proggy and heavy, MHDH are a little more danceable without losing the filth of entire-pedal-board-go feedback and tasty 7/4
One of the best EPs I’ve heard by a unsigned band for a while, download their debut ‘ABCDEP’ HERE!
Anyway, catch them again at the last Sweet Beans club night taking place at Bardens Boudoir in Dalston on Thurs 24th June (facebook event). Sweet Beans always have amazing bands from start to finish so I highly recommend the night. S’what happens when promoters put on gigs for music and fan’s sake before anything else.
www.myspace.com/momshousedadshouse
Dear Readers,
After a short break and about 40,000 words worth of essays, I bring you this video of a band who seemed to have it all figured out: Pink Floyd- This track is called “Careful with that axe Eugene”. I will also be back very soon with lots more news and reviews! I have made many brilliant discoveries over the past month so be sure to check back soon. Have a gander at this for now:
There are quite a few exciting events coming up- some great shows and so forth, here is a short list:
Goo Nite presents Her Name Is Calla/Worriedaboutsatan/The Monroe Transfer @ The Lexington on Wednesday, March 31st (click link for tickets)
Barfly presents … And So I Watch You From Afar/Wounds @ The Borderline on Thursday, April 8th
The Monkeyball Experiment presents The Baby Janes/Saiga/Hosemox/The Working Dead @ The Legion also on April 8th- FREE ENTRY
Russian Circles/Earthless @ The Underworld on Tuesday, April 13th
Goo Nite presents LOCOMOTIVA, a weekend of reverb, delay and landscapes @ The Half Moon (Herne Hill) from Saturday April 17th through to Sunday 18th- Be sure not to miss this one, there will be 16 bands playing over 2 days along with a record fair, Djs and Food! Live acts include Codes In The Clouds, Library Tapes, Vessels, EF, I Concur… and many more!
Goo Nite presents EF @ The Enterprise on Monday, April 19th
Lead-Footed presents What The Blood Revealed/The Monroe Transfer/Swallowing The Seas @ The Macbeth on Tuesday, April 20th
Dance Magic Dance presents Agaskodo Teliverek @ The Old Blue Last on Thursday, April 22nd
All Tomorrows Parties Concerts by arrangement with ELASTIC presents Deerhunter/Fresh and Onlys @ Heaven on Thursday, May 6th
65daysofstatic @ Koko on Wednesday, May 12th
Thats all for now- go to as many as you can I say
Cinematic Music 