In Frame: An Amazing Picture

            This is a retrospective review of In Frame (2010) by Monokle & Galun, and the 15th review here on Track-By-Track.

            Well, it’s the end of August, and that means it’s the end of the retrospective month.  Fortunately, it’s going out with a bang, with 2010’s Russian collaboration, In Frame, by Monokle (beatmaker Vladislav Kudryavtsev) and Galun (vocalist Sergey Galunenko).  For a while, I’ve been addicted to music from the German 12rec label, and this is a good example of why.  The album goes between indie pop, and Radiohead-reminiscent alternative rock, with loads of overlap, and sometimes hints of chillwave.  In fact, a lot of this sounds like Danger Mouse working with Radiohead.
            There are sounds that defy explanation throughout, and most tracks have elements of genres that don’t normally mix well with each other.  I was happy to hear these different influences and styles mixed together in ways that actually work towards inventive and alternative music.  Though overall indie pop, the tracks are also alt-rock, with the guitar featuring prominently in almost every track.


            Here’s my TBT:

            “Happy Sun” begins the album.  It’s a lot like indie poppers Peter Bjorn and John, but with extra processing with hip-hop and trance influences.  There’s loads of sampled vocalizations, noise, and random noises, underneath a solid beat and a great heavily-processed bassline.  Guitars and other instruments are warped and tweaked, like an old-school acid dj got hold of an otherwise happy track, and then threw the mix to a shoegazer to make it palatable.  The track’s name is repeated a lot throughout, to good effect, and the ending reminds me of the Scottish IDM duo Boards of Canada.

            “Colding” is like David Lynch’s work on Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse's Dark Night of the Soul, but with more of a sophisticated and upbeat edge.  The beat is very addictive, and as usual, loads of sampled sounds and great bass brings the track loads of modernity without being horrid or too standard like most of the pop scene.  It’s a fitting title for the song, yet it has a warmth that’s undeniable.  Despite having only a few words throughout, it works extremely well, and even reminds me of some of the best David Wise video game scores.  Falsetto.  Need I say more?

            “Two Times” comes next, and it sounds like Radiohead and Peter Bjorn and John collaborating.  Vocal trails in falsetto overtop sampled other vocal samples, loads of guitars and synths with delays and reverb in abundance, and a heavily processed beat.  When the main vocals kick in, there are actually two of them.  Panned left, a soft spoken part; and right, a sung part; all the while, vocal trails softly panning both directions in tandem.  It’s like "Motion Picture Soundtrack" on Radiohead's Kid A, and the instrumental hidden track on the same album, especially because of the softer sounding xylophone-like synth.

            “Globus” is the 4th track.  It starts with some deep ambient vocals and tones; then some well-timed resonators being fed with what sounds like organs and wind chimes through a Leslie speaker.  It’s mostly instrumental, and very ambient; with slow vibraphone that really makes it relaxing and soothing.  There are so many sounds on this album that it’s just amazing how they’ve been fitted to make the tracks sound better, without altering the mood of the overall tracks they’re part of; and this track is a shining example.

            “Fine Care” is a great psychedelic indie-pop track with chillwave and alt-rock mentality throughout.  It definitely sounds like a hit.  The lyrics are few, but the voices are many; loads of vocal trails in falsetto, cut up, and likely sampled, as well as the vocals that do sing words.  Sampled glockenspiel and a “15 Steps” reminiscent beat work with mk-style synths, and occasional pitch-treated guitars and random noises, to create a rich and textured soundscape, sometimes fed through shifting resonators.  I find it astounding that music like this stuff isn’t constantly on the radio.

            “Air Krispella” slows things down a bit, and gets more modern, without losing its alternativeness.  The vocals are often like duets between The National’s Matt Berninger, and Thom Yorke, with occasional lines from Beck, in some kind of imaginary collaboration.  Loads of sampled sounds, reversed and forewords, and even a strange looped synth solo near the end.  The beat and solid bass have soul influences, but it’s definitely an alternative track with the ambient synths and warm vocals.

            “Crossed Fingers” is the 7th track.  It begins with an ambient guitar loop, then bass and vocals with just enough reverb.  The bass really drives this one, and guitars sometimes sound like kotos or other zithers.  There’s also a great electroacoustic moment at the end that’s like the best of Rune Lindblad, and Brian Eno warped together and awash in reverb.

            “Justalite” has what sounds like a soft wind instrument, and warped guitar and additional synths, before the beat and vocals cut in.  The lyrics repeat like a fast drone track, and the guitar is more prominent in this one.  The glockenspiel sounds like Sigur Rós near the end, though this is very much a Monokle and Galun original.  They bring sounds together in such a way to both soothe and unsettle at times, like this track’s light yet downtempo feeling.

            “Get At Will” is the 9th track.  Guitars (pitch treated, and warped) once again take the forefront, with a chopped beat, strange synths, and quite possibly some bass.  It’s an instrumental track, and guitars surround, emphasizing the psychedelic style that Monokle and Galun dabble with amidst their overall indie pop genre.  It’s refreshing to hear things in different ears, because, after all, we’re listening to music in stereo.
    Here’s my TBT:

            “Long” is downtempo with vibraphone and guitar, and bass that drives the track until the drums break in at full, and make it a post-rock crossover.  The lyrics are minimal and repetitive as usual, but also sung with loads of feeling, like all of the tracks.  The end is like a great ambient song with guitar overdubs.

            “Smolder” is the second-last track.  Some of the sped-up whispering vocals from the first track’s end return, but this time, with overarching deep ambient sounds surrounding them.  The guitar and bass are beautiful, and very warm.  It reminds me of that dusky time when everything is blue, yet as if someone has a warm fire to gather around in the early fall.  Look for piano and synths, in this instrumental.

            “Means” is the final track.  It’s softer, warmer, and brighter, than most of the other tracks, until the beats cut in with processed flair.  There are more lyrics, though the lyrics don’t seem as important as the sound.  More guitar, and processed samples, then a synth solo that screams both old and new.  The ending is a bit abrupt, but doesn’t hurt the track.

            Overall, it’s a strong alternative album, with both great creativity and attention to melody.  You can get this album, and loads more, for pay-what-you-want at http://12rec.bandcamp.com.  Then be sad that the label is not releasing anymore.

Naked Sanctuary: A Sonic Sanctum

            This is a retrospective review of the Vinyl Williams release, Naked Sanctuary (2010), and the 14th review here on Track-By-Track.

            Naked Sanctuary is extremely well-done shoegaze psychedelia.  Though fairly recent, it’s still a release I wouldn’t normally review due to being part of the back-catalogue of Vinyl Williams releases; I’m normally interested in current albums, but it’s a treat to bring attention to previous releases that are just as relevant as modern ones.  And this is an appropriately retro-influenced release.  If this album were released in the ‘60s or ‘70s, music as we know it might have changed course for the better; though it’s exciting to know that artists who make music as transcendent as this are still alive and well.
            Amazingly, this is a solo project; Lionel Williams is the sole engineer and writer on the album.  The professionalism and quality of music from solo artists never ceases to surprise me.  There’s also an interesting overtone of mysticism throughout, both musically, and in terms of lyrical content.  Loads of ideas flow through, and even the artwork (individual to each track) helps with making this a refreshingly alternative release.  Though Naked Sanctuary has just five tracks, I can’t really decide whether it’s an album or an EP, because of its over 27 minute length.  Washes of reverb, static, and an abundance of melody, in some ways makes me glad it wasn’t released back in the height of psychedelic and progressive rock’s popularity, because I’d wear out the grooves of an analogue record like this pretty quickly.
            Here’s my digital TBT:

            The release starts with “100”, with a constantly changing melodically warped atmosphere that mainly goes between a somewhat Syd-Barrett, and a stripped-down Sway (reviewed at the beginning of this month), in style.  Some very cryptic lyrics, occasionally in a language I don't know: “Lef’nei shanim zeh haya midbar (Years ago this was a desert)”.  Loads of strange sounds that surround like The Flaming Lips’ best songs.  There’s guitar with loads of static and delay throughout, textured drums, and during the chorus, a great combination of soft-yet-loud bass, huge guitar, heavily-panned tambourine and drums, and evocative vocals; in what might be a defining moment of melody.  Vocals throughout are soft, layered, and curious.  And the ending surprises.

            “Freshly Picked Diamond” follows, with obscured strange and hypnotic lyrics (thankfully provided in print), and transcendent melody.  To call this merely a shoegaze track would do it a disservice, because it’s another strongly psychedelic track; loads of sounds that really bring attention to the fact you’re listening in stereo, delays to the hilt, and what sounds like very warm spring reverb.  There might even be some warm synths low in the mix.  It’s like the vocals are trying to convey a secret message in this, and all the other tracks on Naked Sanctuary, yet the rich guitars, bass, and drums, combine so perfectly with the vocals that there’s little doubt the music is important to Vinyl Williams.  It finishes with a beautiful and heavily-processed coda that sounds like a clip from a larger ambient track.

            The third track, “Zeal Biotics” is the downbeat track.  Though at times breath is audible in the track, it sounds like part of the intent rather than production problems.  It’s so captivating that it’s hard to describe.  It’s a bit like a modern-rock track, but with such heavy abandon into deep melody -- bass combines with guitar to create conflicting yet melodically sound chords, and vocals add yet another dimension -- that it goes far beyond any standard form of rock.  Heavily shoegaze and psychedelic again, with slightly overdriven drums, and guitars that sound like reverb itself.  And who could ignore this: “Every time you think or feel, I’m resonating vast frequencies”?

            The second-last track, “Spiral Galaxy” is instrumental and uplifting, especially after the last track’s dark tone.  It starts out with meditative harmony from what I can only guess is a sampler through five or ten reverb channels, and there are soft drum and tambourine sounds as well.  It’s hard to describe what this track is, but it’s beautiful; just nothing other than itself comes to mind.  It has a definite Eastern influence, like other works by Vinyl Williams.

            “Psychic Shrine” is the final track, which starts out with a guitar panning from ear to ear.  There’s a sitar.  I repeat.  There’s a sitar.  That’s all I need to fall in love with it.  Even though there’s so much more.  Guitar dives in and out of complete overdriven reverb obliteration, bass undertones harmonics, and the drums are addictive.  The vocals drive the track, especially in the chorus with these lyrics: “Can you tell me what there is on the other side?”.  They’re so emotional, yet not at the expense of melody and quality.  Some occasional vocal tones sampled and panned right give even more texture to the track, even though it doesn’t seem possible beforehand.  Sometimes the guitar is reminiscent of Sonic Youth, with loads of static, and unusual chords (both in discord and not).

            Overall, unbelievable, powerful, and deeply musical.  This release is a good example of why I don’t do drugs; I assume I can get roughly the same mental transcendence and warping without the bad side-effects.  You can stream for free, and download for pay-what-you-want prices in CD quality at http://vinylwilliams.bandcamp.com.  Vinyl Williams has since released a new EP, and LP, available at the same link.  Sit back, relax, turn on, drop out.  Oh, and don’t take the brown acid.

APZOO EP: Shoegaze Evolved

            This is a retrospective review of Asalto al Parque Zoológico’s first release: The original version of their APZOO EP (2009), and the 13th review here on Track-By-Track.

            Asalto al Parque Zoológico (APZOO for short) is a band from Buenos Aires in Argentina.  Though they’re a fairly recent band -- they’ve been going since 2008 -- I’m reviewing their EP as part of the retrospective theme of this month because I would normally avoid reviewing music released before 2012, to keep current.
            And the retrospective theme suits them perfectly.  They have a style like older alternative rock, just with hints of modern flare.  There are noise rock and psychedelic elements to their work, but mainly they’re a shoegaze band.  There are also some old-school (not mainly synth) dream-pop sounds underneath their overall noise-gazing bliss, underplayed to near-obscurity.  When I found APZOO, I was amazed that there were bands keeping shoegaze alive, let alone being evolutionary forces keeping it growing, like this EP certainly does.
            Here’s my TBT:

            The EP starts off with “Below”, a visceral grating guitar tone with soft drums and blurred vocals, with a scoop-processed bass.  It’s ethereal, but also harsh, and sounds like My Bloody Valentine playing a set with The Flaming Lips (“Ego Tripping” era).  There’s a great uneasiness that is pronounced with the warping and drifting guitars and vocals throughout; which are quickly interrupted by a holocaust of starchy distorted guitar, somewhat comparable to “You Made Me Realize”

            Then comes “Breeze”.  Huge loud guitars, with vocals that skillfully double-trip over each word.  The bass pretty much never stops, and it sounds more like the hum of a large vehicle at times than just a bass guitar.  the drums are heavy and the low frequency is emphasized.  At the end, there’s a mainly reversed coda, which is a definite homage to My Bloody Valentine’s Tremolo and Loveless era codas.

            “Awake” is more psych-rock; kinda like The Brian Jonestown Massacre playing with The Dandy Warhols.  There’s a huge resonant whirlwind, and strange shimmering (heavily delayed with loads of high-frequency) guitars.  It’s a treat to hear chords and sounds this unusual, especially with tambourine and a bass kick like a persistent deep drum on a log.  The lyrics are repetitive, but it suits the song.  There’s a dissonance between the resonant washes of what I think is reverb and the main guitar and vocal sounds, that makes it that much more alternative.

            “Slow Motion” is the second-last song on the APZOO EP.  It’s a noise-rock piece.  People who like both The Velvet Underground and Rune Lindblad will love this one.  It’s instrumental, and seems to have muddled bass and a guitar that sounds pitch-treated, awash in huge reverb.  Those low-end frequencies makes the APZOO EP sound older than it is, to good effect.

            “Le Dernier Jour” is the final track, and though I don’t speak its language, I do love the clarity of the vocals; it’s unusual in shoegazing tracks, though it works just as well as obscuring them does.  It sounds like a shoegaze-influenced modern track, until the chorus messes with expectations by removing the reverb, and changing key.  You’ll find radio-transmissions (or vocals that sound like them) throughout the second half, and there’s a feedback solo that gives way to another coda.  And before you know it, like the snap of a finger, it’s over.

            Overall, this EP is an earthy alternative rock/shoegaze treat, and like all addictive substances, makes you want more.  APZOO has since re-released the EP with two new tracks -- and deleted their original Bandcamp page, which mentioned what year the original EP was released -- but the new songs very nearly stand on their own.  You can stream for free and purchase in CD quality at http://sadness.bandcamp.com/album/apzoo-ep-asalto-al-parque-zool-gico.  And the new version's new tracks are like the cherry on the cake.

Despondent Transponder: Not Just a Fleeting Joy

            This is a retrospective review of the Fleeting Joys album Despondent Transponder (2006), and the 12th review on this blog.

            Fleeting Joys is a Shoegaze band from California, in a mainly traditional sense.  There are moments when they are more 90s alt-metal/alt-rock than shoegaze, but overall, this is one of those albums I’d recommend to anyone who wants to know what shoegaze sounds like, and who might not have had as much time bleeding their ears on the progenitors like I have (figuratively).  They have a great sound, with mainly drifting guitars, driving bass, riding drums, and vocals with a dreamy quality resurrected from the shoegaze-explosion of the 90s.
            I actually came across their formerly-lost song, Golden Now, first, and after listening to it a couple dozen times on headphones, I wanted more.  Fortunately, Despondent Transponder didn’t disappoint.  This is a strong album, and I’m glad I can write about it, even though they’ve since released newer material, because it’s so richly textured, and raw.  After all this time, it’s still relevant and enjoyable, as loads of the album just sticks with you.
            Here’s my TBT:

            The album starts with the song “The Breakup”.  It’s a modern-style shoegaze purist track, with loads of reverse-reverb and transparent overdrive.  A great start, it’s a chilled-out track, and they make use of the Kevin Shields glide guitar style of playing well.  This is another epitome of shoegazing music, like last week’s, but in a different way.  Fleeting Joys have a certain laid-back harshness about their sound on Despondent Transponder that makes their sound generally somewhere between indie rock, metal, and shoegaze proper.  Vocals are beautiful, layered, and calmly foreboding; drums ride in the verses, and are hard-hitting in the choruses; bass blasts out overdriven tones; and there’s even a great coda with samples and a perfect example of shoegazing in its element.

            “Lovely Crawl” comes next, and it’s a kind of hard-rock shoegaze mix.  Enveloping guitar and great soft breathy vocals are nicely juxtaposed by heavy bass, and slow-driving drums.  There are loads of layers in the track, many of them vocal, but some guitar, like the solos that shout out alt-rock done right.

            “Go and Come Back” is the third track.  It’s slower and softer than most of the album.  The guitar drifts in and out of its own reverb, and the vocals are beautiful.  The drums throughout are textured and played in a way to perfectly support and shine at the same time, as the bass grounds.  “Go and Come Back” is like lifting from the ground, but knowing you’ll never get lost in the sky.

            “I Want More Life” starts out with some string-samples being pitch warped, and then erupts into a kind of upbeat shoegaze speed-metal, in which the drums speed the track up, and the guitar give the illusion that the drums aren’t going fast at all.  Of course, it can certainly get the heart going, but it calms as it rages on.  It’s like an upper and a downer, not that I’d advise either of those non-musically.  It’s amazing that instrumental tracks can get this good.

            “Satellite” is fast and washed out with great guitar and high vocals.  The bass gives a backdrop to the track, and actually helps keep the key for the vocals, because great drums and warped guitar only help to imbue the track with a chaotic ordered-ness.  There’s an instrumental bridge after the middle of the track that’s to die for.  Look for it, and repeat ad infinitum.

            “While I’m Waiting”, the sixth track, comes after a low-end distorted fade-in.  The keyboard is like a good pop-line from the 90s, in the midst of a great 90s revival song.  It sounds optimistic, even though the lyrics are a bit Slowdivey.  Layered vocal harmonies fade out with the sweet anachronistic bass-line at the end.

            “Magnificent Oblivion” warps and flourishes, and a kind of repeating tremolo that sounds like a cd skipping on a synth track gives it a nice catchiness inside of the atmosphere created by warm bass, soft drums (with classic shoegaze-style cymbal rides), shy and dreamy vocals, and cold-and-aching-sounding guitar.  It’s a longer track, and addictive to boot.

            “Where Do I End” is the eighth track, and it sounds more 90s metal than shoegaze, even though it’s definitely a crossover.  I love the vocals and tonal combinations of the guitar and bass.  Actually, I love the ultra-90s-alt-rock drums too.  Actually, I adore this whole album, so if I don’t mention something, it’s not for lack of enjoyment.  Loads of fuzz and some great fake-out endings and hiss near the end.

            “Young Girls Fangs” comes next.  It begins with static, and what sounds like a guitar (or five) being fed through a Leslie speaker (or an emulator of one).  It’s another instrumental, and synths and guitar sound like the only parts to this track, even though bass is prevalent.  It’s just that the bass is so melded perfectly with the guitar’s chords and rhythm (and rejection thereof), that it doesn’t sound like anything could be that on-time outside of being built-in.

            “Patron Saint” is a hard-rock shoegaze mix.  The bass and drums are more modern rock (well-performed modern-rock, that is), and the vocals are more chilled out.  The guitar is almost impossible to describe without talking about pedals, looping, and sounds that defy description.  So instead of trying to analyze it to death, I’ll just say that it creates a kind of wildly out-of-control atmosphere, that somehow the bass manages to persuade back into non-noise-rock territory.  It’s an odd song to end on in some ways (it was the original ending of Despondent Transponder, before Golden Now was rediscovered by the band), but it does sound like an ending nonetheless.  And a bit like a Sonic Youth solo.

            “Golden Now” is the last track on the digital version of Despondent Transponder.  It’s a Heavenly sound with loads of slowly modulated guitar, bass supporting all the tones, drums that grab the attention with analogue-sounding distortion, and a killer vocal-lyrical combination.  It’s the reason I found this album, really.  As complex as it is laid-back, and dark as it is uplifting, it’s a paradox set to music.  Just listening to the drums brings by my adoration of tube mics, and the whole thing is done to a T.

            Overall, an amazing and interesting display of power and grace, usually simultaneously.  Fleeting Joys has since released a new album, and you can stream both for free at http://fleetingjoys1.bandcamp.com, and purchase CD-quality downloads at that link as well.  Like many bands, they can’t live up to their name.  The joy that is Fleeting Joys actually lasts a long time.

The Millia Pink And Green: Perfect Shoegaze Harmony

 

            This is a retrospective review of the EP The Millia Pink and Green (2003) by Sway, and the eleventh review here on Track-By-Track.

            This EP is succulent.  Though ten years old, like fine wine, it only gets better with age.  It’s a perfect portrait of the shoegaze genre, and of music itself in my opinion.  There’s a beautifully overwhelming quality to it that is in part due to the compression throughout, which instead of stonewalling, enhances the artistry of the track.  Through this compression a kind of pleasantly burning sound is achieved, for lack of a better description.
            But there isn’t fire alone with this masterpiece by Sway.  Simultaneously, there’s a watery modulated sound to the guitars in most cases.  The two big names in shoegaze I tend to cite are My Bloody Valentine, and Slowdive, because of the overall atmospheres and emotion that they create with their music, and The Millia Pink and Green is a revival of sorts of their main genre of music; but with a sound that instead of copying, reaches beyond the two bands’ individual styles for a third distinct part of shoegaze.  Just listening to the first track sends me into bliss, so with that in mind, you might want to find a special time and place to listen to this release.  “Like a mind-altering substance, without the risk” (look up the quotation).
            Here’s my TBT:

            The EP starts off quickly with a hit of sound.  It's immediately enveloping and classic, through huge guitar and sharp drums.  This is one of only a handful of songs I mean when I say  "shoegaze proper”.  The crisp snares ride waves of guitar delays, as the beautifully sung and wonderfully harmonized vocals, heavily drowned in reverb, create yet another atmosphere within the song.  Even though the chorus is one word, it’s addictive and massively ethereal.  The lyrics seem to be nice (from what I can understand of them), and it just feels like one of those songs you remember.  Touches of bass and glockenspiel add to the instantly classic nature of the track, which just solidifies the perfection of “Fall”.

            “Sounds Like Everyone” comes next, and is very Slowdive.  Processed and layered guitars play drums that slowly fade in over their own reverberations.  All of the guitar in the chorus brings out what it might sound like if My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless were part of Slowdive’s Souvlaki.  The vocals are harmonized and processed, and again, the compression on this track especially brings out that distinctively well-done burning sound.  The end is a complete abandon to the forces of music.  It’s a rich phased treat, and the minor key emphasizes a forceful yet soft seriousness like the darker songs by Sigur Ros.  Or perhaps this is the song I’ll be referring to in the future about that sound.

            “Sullust” is like Slowdive’s ambient work Pygmalion, but with a modern flare.  It’s an ethereal sound progressing linearly, without chorus or definable words; only the harmony of massive guitars and vocals, and an underlying drumbeat and bass that supports it well.  If there are synths in the track, they are only slightly discernible above the guitars and vocals, and what I think are synths might just be a trick of the mind induced by oceans of reverb.  It’s textured so well that it doesn't sound muddled, yet simultaneously it overwhelms the senses with harmonies through vast reverb soundscapes.

            “Ever And Ever” is the fourth track, with a great indie tom-based drumbeat, and introspective lyrics like: “Everything we are goes away / All we are is dust”.  Guitar and vocals once again amaze.  There are loads of resonant tones throughout the track, and the end brings the classic riding shoegaze-style drumbeat back.  Staggering harmonies, and sheer love come through level after level of music, which takes more than just a few listens to even begin to explore.

            The final track, “Opentillate”, is like what it would sound like if R.E.M. at their musical peak collaborated with Slowdive just before their last album, and Billy Corgan ghostwrote some guitar lines.  The levels of resonance bring a bliss to the track unparalleled in most songs, and 90s-alt-rock guitar glows beside harmonies to perfection, a soft but powerful bass, and drums that contain all the elements of the previous tracks.  How five tracks like the ones on this EP were ever brought together astounds me, because any band with one of them to their credit deserves praise.

            Overall, in a word, perfection; musical sophistication and production quality is through the roof, and I'm in love with this EP.  You can download it in CD quality for whatever price pleases you at http://sway.bandcamp.com.  Sway has since split up, leaving Andrew Saks as the sole member of Sway.  Fortunately, that means we can expect new songs from Sway in the future.  If they’re anything close to this, I can’t wait.

Retrospectives

Because I’ve found that sometimes the older material of some great bands gets forgotten as soon as their newer albums are released, I want to spend some time talking about releases that might fall under the radar due to being released years ago.  Though I’ve usually tried to keep my reviews fairly current, for some or all of this month, I’ll make an exception.  Sway’s The Millia Pink and Green EP (2003) is the first of these reviews.  I think these reviews should also help better define what shoegaze is, even when not being performed by the progenitors of the genre.  Get ready for some Track-By-Track retrospectives!

   Enjoy,

     -Daniel Trainor-Mckinnon, Track-By-Track.