MadfaMusic Feature Albums November 2013
Cave - Threace (Feature Album 25 Nov 2013)
Swearin' - Surfing Strange (Feature Album 18 Nov 2013)
Arcade Fire - Reflektor (Feature Album 11 Nov 2013)
The Poets of Rhythm - Anthology 1992 - 2003 (Feature Album 4 Nov 2013)
Swearin' - Surfing Strange (Feature Album 18 Nov 2013)
Arcade Fire - Reflektor (Feature Album 11 Nov 2013)
The Poets of Rhythm - Anthology 1992 - 2003 (Feature Album 4 Nov 2013)
Cave - Threace (Feature Album 25 Nov 2013) By Fee B-Squared
Image courtesy of Brooklyn Vegan
The latest release from Chicago based psych drone quartet Cave has just landed so if you like 60’s & 70’s experimental rock or krautrock, then Threace is a trip you will definitely wanna take. Co-founded by Cooper Crain on guitar and organ and Rex McMurry on drums, they’re joined by guitarist Jeremy Freeze and Dan Browning on bass.
I almost feel like I’m not qualified to talk about why this album is so good, because I’m not a musician. Musicians tell me that this album is very special due to its technicality. Have a listen and I’ll bet you (like me) will imagine musicians standing around stroking their collective chins discussing why this album is all class. There’s a lot of talk about its precision, its tonality, its staccato guitars, its time signatures and motorik grooves and I’m just kind of nodding in silent agreement wondering how I can explain why you might like it, just like I do.
You know when you hear something repetitive, and it can drive you bonkers? Well Threace has repetition, but in a way that is hypnotic and always leaves you craving more. Their songs have these hooks that drag you in. Next thing you know, you’re deep in a funked out rock odyssey like the opening track “Sweaty Fingers”, and you can’t imagine how you got lost in there for so long.
I almost feel like I’m not qualified to talk about why this album is so good, because I’m not a musician. Musicians tell me that this album is very special due to its technicality. Have a listen and I’ll bet you (like me) will imagine musicians standing around stroking their collective chins discussing why this album is all class. There’s a lot of talk about its precision, its tonality, its staccato guitars, its time signatures and motorik grooves and I’m just kind of nodding in silent agreement wondering how I can explain why you might like it, just like I do.
You know when you hear something repetitive, and it can drive you bonkers? Well Threace has repetition, but in a way that is hypnotic and always leaves you craving more. Their songs have these hooks that drag you in. Next thing you know, you’re deep in a funked out rock odyssey like the opening track “Sweaty Fingers”, and you can’t imagine how you got lost in there for so long.
Image courtesy of TimeOut Chicago
This is an instrumental album so there are no vocals awkwardly interfering in what they’re trying to do here at all. Additional instrumentation from Rob Frye on Sax, flute and congas are an intermittent treat. You’ll definitely get a kick out of their placement on "Shikaakwa"
My favourite track on the album so far is “Silver Headband”. It starts with a simple droning synth that weaves its way in, out and around the track giving it that psychedelic feel. Synth is quickly followed by a simplistic hook, then come the layers - not too many though or you’d be overwhelmed. Two minutes in, there’s some extra guitar for you and ooh, there’s a crash cymbal at 2.26. There’s so much sexy subtlety here. It’s like that feeling when you’re driving, cruising along, and the road takes an ever so slight left turn, then you’re cruising again on a slightly changed path and then BANG at 5.58 you’re changing tack again, pedal to the floor as the guitars and tempo amp up. You can feel the buildup coming, the anticipation forever building and then you get what you want and deserve and you also feel appreciative of the restraint these musicians show. If there was a song that made me feel like I was on the road to the Meredith Music Festival, I reckon this would be it. The Led Zeppelin-come-Deep Purple peak at the end makes me feel like I’m passing through the gate, arriving at my final destination, ready for whatever comes next, and its ever so satisfying.
I’ve also been told these guys kill it live, and with their Australian gigs happening this December (see dates below), I’m going to go and get me an ample aural slice and see if Threace is the magic number.
By Fee B-Squared
My favourite track on the album so far is “Silver Headband”. It starts with a simple droning synth that weaves its way in, out and around the track giving it that psychedelic feel. Synth is quickly followed by a simplistic hook, then come the layers - not too many though or you’d be overwhelmed. Two minutes in, there’s some extra guitar for you and ooh, there’s a crash cymbal at 2.26. There’s so much sexy subtlety here. It’s like that feeling when you’re driving, cruising along, and the road takes an ever so slight left turn, then you’re cruising again on a slightly changed path and then BANG at 5.58 you’re changing tack again, pedal to the floor as the guitars and tempo amp up. You can feel the buildup coming, the anticipation forever building and then you get what you want and deserve and you also feel appreciative of the restraint these musicians show. If there was a song that made me feel like I was on the road to the Meredith Music Festival, I reckon this would be it. The Led Zeppelin-come-Deep Purple peak at the end makes me feel like I’m passing through the gate, arriving at my final destination, ready for whatever comes next, and its ever so satisfying.
I’ve also been told these guys kill it live, and with their Australian gigs happening this December (see dates below), I’m going to go and get me an ample aural slice and see if Threace is the magic number.
By Fee B-Squared
Image courtesy of Brooklyn Vegan
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CAVE from Prozac para el pop español on Vimeo. |
Read about Cave
Check out the review of Threace by Pitchfork, Consequence of Sound, Tiny Mix Tapes and Popmatters plus the Chicago Reader's piece on Cave here. Watch the promo clip for Threace here.
Swearin' - Surfing Strange (Feature Album 18 November 2013) By Fee B-Squared
Photo courtesy of wichita-recordings.com
Brooklyn-via-Philadelphia four piece Swearin’ release their second album and I am a little bit in love. Surfing Strange is a genre shifting album, crossing pop-punk, stoner rock, garage, rock & roll and yeah, they really do fit into indie rock too. I’m usually loathe to make with the musical comparisons, but I feel you’ll understand where I’m coming from when I say they must share at least some of the DNA of Pixies, The Breeders, Built To Spill, Dinosaur Jr, Pavement, Sebadoh and Tanya Donnelly. Derivative? Maybe it is at times, but come on, there’s not much out there that isn’t. Right? Guys? I said good day sir!The band formed after Allison Crutchfield and her twin sister Kate disbanded their indie-rock outfit P.S. Eliot. Kate went on to form Waxahatchee and Allison teamed up with guitarist Kyle Gilbride, bassist Keith Spencer and drummer Jeff Bolt. The self-titled debut release from Swearin’ came out in 2012, all fuzzed out guitar with Crutchfield stepping away from her drum kit to play guitar, write and sing the songs. On Surfing Strange the songwriting credits are shared around with Gilbride and Spencer having a crack, and we also get to hear them singing lead vocals rather than just backing.
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This means that while the themes of love, relationships in decay and personal problems are at the core of the narrative across the album’s ten tracks, the perspectives are all quite different. Crutchfield starts us off with the album’s cracking opening track “Dust In The Gold Sack” which is quickly followed by Gilbride‘s more slacker styled tone on “Watered Down”. I immediately enjoy Crutchfield’s melodies sounding so effortless here. “Mermaid” is up next, a little slower in pace with the talking/mumbling-like singing to start it off, but don’t be fooled, it builds to quite a crescendo once Crutchfield steps on in. When we arrive at track 7, “Loretta’s Flowers” is the perfect interlude from all of the grit and noise. It’s such a starkly simple and painfully beautiful song about someone’s shifting feelings (with the benefit of hindsight) when looking back at what they once thought love was. It also demonstrates the band’s ability to completely own a pared back ballad which is in strong contrast to the rest of the album. Gilbride brings the album home with “Curdled”. A few bars in I was sure Steph Hughes was about to launch into song with it’s Dick Diver-esque dolewave sensibilities.
As I said at the beginning, I’m a little bit in love with Surfing Strange. It makes me want to dance, jump up and down, play air guitar, shake my head and sing along. I’m looking forward to it being on high rotation in my earholes for the next few months at least. By Fee B-Squared |
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More about Swearin'...You can watch a live clip of Allison Crutchfield and Kyle Gilbride performing "Loretta’s Flowers" acoustically for Soundcheck here.
Read the reviews of Surfing Strange from Pitchfork, Line Of Best Fit and Exclaim. There's an interview with Swearin' here, courtesy of Stereogum. |
Image courtesy of Swearin'
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Arcade Fire - Reflektor (Feature Album 11 November 2013) By Fee B-Squared
Image courtesy of pigeonsandplanes.com
After three years, the wait for the new Arcade Fire album is over. Reflektor is a sprawling double album and the Canadian band’s fourth. A lot has happened since the release of The Suburbs and it’s fair to say they really are growing up and expanding the way they see the world and the music they make.
Let’s recap. Their debut release Funeral back in 2004 dealt inwardly with life’s more painful moments including death, but approached these themes from a youthful viewpoint. It was the perspective of those young enough to run away from it all, sneaking out of the house to meet their girlfriends and mates to contemplate the meaning of it all whilst still looking brightly towards the future. Their world consisted of their family, friends and community.Their second album Neon Bible (2007) had a more outward focus, examining (at times angrily) broader issues like the military, the church and the government. They were growing musically and expanding on their sound and at this point, we certainly heard a little more of multi-instrumentalist, singer and co-founding member of Arcade Fire, Régine Chassagne.
Let’s recap. Their debut release Funeral back in 2004 dealt inwardly with life’s more painful moments including death, but approached these themes from a youthful viewpoint. It was the perspective of those young enough to run away from it all, sneaking out of the house to meet their girlfriends and mates to contemplate the meaning of it all whilst still looking brightly towards the future. Their world consisted of their family, friends and community.Their second album Neon Bible (2007) had a more outward focus, examining (at times angrily) broader issues like the military, the church and the government. They were growing musically and expanding on their sound and at this point, we certainly heard a little more of multi-instrumentalist, singer and co-founding member of Arcade Fire, Régine Chassagne.
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When The Suburbs was released in 2010, they were ruminating once again on the more familial, but with only fleeting youthfulness and the weight of responsibility colouring their perspective. When I listen to these albums, despite their themes, I still feel somehow uplifted. Whenever I hear Arcade Fire I can’t help but move and be moved by feelings of nostalgia and joyousness. Happily, Reflektor is no exception.
The album’s roots were planted when frontman Win Butler and (his partner) Régine traveled to Haiti, the birthplace of her parents. He considers their visits to Haiti and Jamaica to be life changing. Themes of relationships, love, death and isolation are derived from the 1959 film Black Orpheus and Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard's essay, "The Present Age”. |
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Add to this a healthy serve of Haitian rara and Jamaican sounds and Reflektor is served. Musically, I think they sound a lot more confident and comfortable in their own skin.
Arcade Fire have co-produced this album with their regular producer Marcus Dravs and James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem and DFA Records fame. Working with Murphy is something Butler had apparently been trying to orchestrate since Neon Bible, and the wait has really paid off. LCD Soundsystem have drawn comparisons to New Order and B-52’s over the years and the fact that Butler also names these artists as Arcade Fire influences, makes their teaming sound like the perfect marriage. |
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 Image courtesy of alternativenation.net
Highlights on Reflektor for me so far would have to be on side one: “Here Comes The Night Time,” “Joan of Arc” and the title track “Reflektor” where you will hear the unmistakable vocals of David Bowie. Traveling over to side two I’m really digging “Afterlife”, the beautifully meandering “Awful Sound (Oh Eurydice)”, and “It’s Never Over (Hey Orpheus)” which easily sounds like something Architecture In Helsinki might have put together.
You will get your dance on listening to Reflektor. Butler has spoken about his partner, Régine Chassagne’s penchant for dancing in a Rolling Stone interview, saying “Régine is kind of the person who dances. At any given minute, if you can get Régine to dance, you're kind of on the right track, so I think we just wanted to make a record that Régine could dance to.” That’s a pretty awesome gift right there. By Fee B-Squared |
Image courtesy of Pitchfork
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More about Arcade FireCheck out the reviews of Reflektor from Pitchfork, NME, Pretty Much Amazing and a review by Annie Clark (a.k.a. St Vincent) for The Talkhouse.
For more info, read the interviews with Win Butler in The Guardian and Rolling Stone. |
Image courtesy of antiquiet.com
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The Poets of Rhythm - Anthology 1992 - 2003
(Feature Album 4 November 2013) By Fee B-Squared
Image courtesy of Songkick
The Poets of Rhythm have just released an awesome recap of their work this week, The Poets Of Rhythm – Anthology 1992-2003. Wait - you haven’t heard of them? SHUT THE FRONT DOOR! Neither had I. It’s always a buzz when you stumble across a great band you don’t know anything about and that’s precisely what happened to me this week. No need to feel like you’re totally out of the loop though, because it seems this band slipped under the radar for quite a few people, and no doubt for a number of reasons.
The Poets of Rhythm formed in the 90’s, a time that was musically embedded in grunge, rave, new wave, synth-pop and hip hop, so if you add to that the fact that these guys are from Munich and were playing raw 60’s and 70’s inspired funk and soul, that may give us all some indication of why they were overlooked by so many.
The Poets of Rhythm formed in the 90’s, a time that was musically embedded in grunge, rave, new wave, synth-pop and hip hop, so if you add to that the fact that these guys are from Munich and were playing raw 60’s and 70’s inspired funk and soul, that may give us all some indication of why they were overlooked by so many.
Image courtesy of fleamarket.com
The band had many aliases too: Bo Baral’s Excursionists, Bus People Express, Dynamic Soundmakers, The Mercy Sluts, The Mighty Continentals, The New Process, Organized Raw Funk, The Pan-Atlantics, The Polyversal Souls, Soul Sliders, Soul-Saints Orchestra, Syrup, Whitefield Brothers, and The Woo Woo’s to name a few, and strangely, I hadn’t heard of any of them either. Man, it’s not like they weren’t having a massive crack! I really missed their boat, but better late than never, right?
Way before the likes of Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, The Budos Band and Amy Winehouse, The Poets of Rhythm were recording their jams on old school equipment to give it that retro sound. Think James Brown, The Meters, Archie Bell & the Drells and Funkadelic and you’re pretty much there. Word has it that a few members even went to the States, dropping off 7inch wax at record stores in the hope that collectors would hear them and assume they were uncovering some rare gem from back in the day.
Way before the likes of Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, The Budos Band and Amy Winehouse, The Poets of Rhythm were recording their jams on old school equipment to give it that retro sound. Think James Brown, The Meters, Archie Bell & the Drells and Funkadelic and you’re pretty much there. Word has it that a few members even went to the States, dropping off 7inch wax at record stores in the hope that collectors would hear them and assume they were uncovering some rare gem from back in the day.
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Apparently it worked with a few collectors, which I guess is testament to the sound they were able to recreate. It certainly had that effect on me as I flicked through the album listening to “More Mess On My Thing”, “Augusta, GA” and “North Carolina” while attempting to keep my booty from shaking as I yelled “Good God” and dived into the depths of the internet to find out more. And did I mention they’re from Germany? I would never have picked that one, but I’ve since realised the German translation of the word funky, is, funky. Clearly funk and soul is far more universal than my tiny little mind imagines.
This is a sound that Daptone Records is all over like a cheap suit and they have proudly released this album where it sits beautifully alongside other artists in their ranks. Co-Owner of Daptone Records, Gabriel Roth has said that The Poets are “the band that convinced me soul music wasn’t dead.” Big props right there! The cuts on this album were hand picked by members of the band and the staff at Daptone, so while not a definitive collection, it’s a heartfelt starting point for you and I to dip into their back catalogue and uncover more of their hidden jewels. I guarantee some funked out dancefloor explosions for the next soiree you host too. One hot mess will unravel, that’s for sure. Just don’t ask me to come and clean it up for you. By Fee B-Squared |
Image courtesy of MTV
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In the clip above, American hip hop artist Edan raps about The Poets of Rhythm to celebrate the release of Anthology 1992 - 2003.
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The Poets of Rhythm "Augusta, Ga"
The Poets of Rhythm "Smilin' (While You're Crying)"
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More tracks and info about the Poets of RhythmRead reviews of Anthology 1992 - 2003 from NPR and Funkalicious and an interview with The Whitefield Brothers about a sideproject of The Poets of Rhythm.
Listen to opening track "Funky Train" here and check out some live clips of The Poets of Rhythm here and here. The Poets of Rhythm "Discern/Define"
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Listen to the MadfaMusic Feature Albums from October here
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Best Coast - Fade Away (feature Album 28 October 2013)
Cass McCombs - Big Wheel & Others (Feature Album 21 October 2013) Zeahorse - Pools (Feature Album 14 October 2013) Mazzy Star - Seasons Of Your Day (Feature Album 7 October 2013) |
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Listen to the MadfaMusic Feature Albums from September here
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Adalita - All Day Venus (Feature Album 30 September 2013)
Sebadoh - Defend Yourself (Feature Album 23 September 2013) Ty Segall - Sleeper (Feature Album 16 September 2013) Washed Out - Paracosm (Feature Album 9 September 2013) Horrorshow - King Amongst Many (Feature Album 2 September 2013) |
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Listen to the MadfaMusic Feature Albums from August here
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King Krule - 6 Feet Beneath the Moon (Feature Album 26 Aug 2013)
Laura Veirs - Warp and Weft (Feature Album 19 August 2013) Pixies - Doolittle (Feature Album 'from the vault' 12 August 2013) Pond - Hobo Rocket (Feature Album 5 August 2013) |
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Listen to the MadfaMusic Feature Albums from July here
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Pluto Jonze - Eject (Feature Album 29 July 2013)
Ben Mason - Holes and Corners (Feature Album 22 July 2013) Jessica Pratt - Jessica Pratt (Feature Album 15 July 2013) Kieran Ryan - Kieran Ryan (Feature Album 8 July 2013) Jagwar Ma - Howlin' (Feature Album 1 July 2013) |
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Listen to the MadfaMusic Feature Albums from June here
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Tricky - False Idols (Feature Album 24 June 2013)
Junip - Junip (Feature Album 17 June 2013) Jen Cloher - In Blood Memory (Feature Album 10 June 2013) Laura Marling - Once I Was An Eagle (Feature Album 3 June 2013) |
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Listen to the MadfaMusic Feature Albums from May here
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Hanni El Khatib - Head in the Dirt (Feature Album 27 May 2013)
James Blake - Overgrown (Feature Album 20 May 2013) Super Wild Horses - Crosswords (Feature Album 13 May 2013) Matthew E. White - Big Inner (Feature Album 6 May 2013) |
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Listen to the MadfaMusic Feature Albums from April here
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The Black Angels - Indigo Meadow (Feature Album 29 April 2013)
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Mosquito (Feature Album 22 April 2013) Kurt Vile - Wakin on a Pretty Daze (Feature Album 15 April 2013) Unknown Mortal Orchestra - II (Feature Album 7 April 2013) |
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