Nujabes - Kumomi

Nujabes is good enough to post plenty more. Off his first album, Metaphorical Music

Nujabes - Spiritual State

I was really surprised when I saw that this album came out. My main reason, was that I knew that Nujabes had been killed in a car accident in February of 2010. Evidently "Spiritual State" was the album that he had been working on ever since he put out the absolutely brilliant Modal Soul back in 2005. So it releases posthumously, and was the last focus of work for the 28 year old Japanese producer.

All of what is great about Nujabes is there. This guy could take an elementary school recorder and mix it with a drum kit and still make it sound like the most amazing relaxing tune. Nujabes makes outrageously good beats that are perfect for hip hop, and some are used throughout the album. The artists that find themselves lucky enough to rap over Njuabes are Pase Rock, who released an album produced by Nujabes in 2003, Cise Star, and Substantial. Pase only gets 1 track to himself, and Substantial gets another, plus one more that they both collaborate on. Cise Star only gets one track. The hip hop is as cerebral and cohesive to the jazz and all of the orchestra conducted by Nujabes going on behind it.

It's difficult for me personally to listen to posthumously released albums, because going into a release where the artist had passed, puts an entirely different spin on how one receives a record. The thing is that these artists obviously aren't aware of the fact that they won't be around around to see their work get released. Knowing someone had passed puts a different spin because we like to imagine that it's perfect, a magnum opus to the creative career of that person, but the truth is, sometimes it just kind of sucks.

This album does not suck. Maybe it's just the intrinsic beautiful nature of Nujabes music, but his life and soul bleed through into this entire album. Every piano key and oboe note reek of Nujabes, and culminate together to really flesh out this album. In addition to hip hop artists helping his cause, Nujabes also has the help of his friend, Uyama Hiroto, from his record label, Hydeout Productions

Whether this album will come to define Nujabes (unlikely) or not, it's still damn good. I'd love for there to be more, but sadly there won't be. Nujabes is such a unique sound, it's hard for there to be anything that truly captures everything Nujabes does. But I have hope in his friends like Uyama Hiroto and Nomak. I don't think many people will often hear of how influential Nujabes really was, but I for one certainly feel a void left by him, which I can honestly say I've never felt before with a musicians passing. If Nujabes had really want to define his career in this album, he did a brilliant job.

Beat Break

Peverelist - Roll With The Punches

There's a reason Peverelist is considered one of the most innovative dubsteppers on the scene

Surfer Blood - Tarot Classics

Surfer Blood to me represents, no matter how wrong I may be, this recent revival of the surf rock and beach pop styles of music. They may not be the first, but they were the first I heard, or at least paid attention to. When I heard Astro Coast in the wee months of 2010, I couldn't wait for summer, and the next year of music. It was a very good omen.

Almost 2 years later, I'll be honest, I haven't touched Astro Coast in ages. Not that it isn't an amazing album, it's damn good. But with the last 2 years of beach pop acts like Best Coast, Beach Fossils, Real Estate etc, I'm finding the genre increasingly overwhelming, and more difficult to be impressed by. I saw that Surfer Blood put out their new EP, Tarot Classics, an interesting title, and I wasn't particularly excited. I thought it was nice to see them making music again, but I wasn't expecting to be swept off my feet like I was when I heard Astro Coast.

Congratulations Surfer Blood, I've been proved wrong. I feel like I've overused the classic "seem to have matured" criticism, but these guys really have. And to be fair, they're still young kids, so maturation is definitely to be expected, and now that I've heard it, certainly encouraged. The opening track, I'm Not Ready, is almost an antithesis to how I feel about the album. These guys are certainly ready for a long career in music. I think the element that struck me most as mature and impressive is the transitions from one song to another, particularly between Miranda and Voyager Reprise. It's so damn smooth and so silky it just feels good to listen to. Not that Astro Coast felt panicked or anxious, but this album also seems more settled. They seem comfortable bringing in instruments not necessarily showcased in Astro Coast, like impressive confident synth lines in Voyager Reprise and Drinking Problems.

As this is merely an EP, there's only so much that can be said. Yet as an EP as late as this is usually the precursor to a full length release, unlike Animal Collectives method of releasing EP's as somewhat of an afterthought, I am very excited to see Surfer Bloods next work. I'm sure the dimensions that are so characteristic of their play will only continue to expand and be brilliant.

Gauntlet Hair - Gauntlet Hair

About a year ago my roommate told me that he found a great new band and proceeded to show me Gauntlet Hair. At first I had the reaction I imagine most people have when hearing a name like Gauntlet Hair, which is "lol what?" Name aside, I was impressed. All I had was a little 7" and three songs that I couldn't stop listening to. Needless, to say, I was ecstatic when I saw their LP had finally released.

I think an anonymous comment on youtube said it best, "these guys sing 'OOOhhhoOOoo' the best. It seems as though the two talented gents from Gauntlet Hair also understand this, and they open album their self titled album with exactly that. I'm not one to say first impressions are everything with an album, but with an opening that just drops into the beat heavy almost crunk feel of Gaunlet Hair one would have to try pretty hard to not take notice of it. The drums are impressive, and thump throughout each song with a fervor that keeps the intensity of the reverberated guitars and vocals punctuated, in a similar method to Slay Bells. Gauntlet Hair does a wonderful job at allowing the listener to forget that there are only two of them that write all this. The guitar is tweaked enough that it sounds like there is a lot more going on than there actually is, and it plays off itself brilliantly, like reverb asking ambiance how it's day was.

There's really not much to say about the vocals themselves, I feel as though the focus is far away from the meaning of the lyrics, and closer to the melody of the vocals and the pure existence of it. The vocals really accentuate the mood of the song on top of the guitar parts. It's not necessarily the relatively inaudible vocal instruments of a group like My Bloody Valentine or any other noise focused groups, but the held notes by vocalist Andy R., are ones that can be "OOoo'd" along with or hummed by themselves pleasantly because of their pop sensibility.

The album isn't all pop and dance grooves, there are the darker tunes to balance the relative brightness of the rest of the album. The track "My Christ" in the center of the album is a great example of this, as it has what seem to be clashing melodies, and a more forlorn nature. Toward the end of the album, there is what I would consider the closest to a ballad, in "Showing". It's a fantastic break from the relatively high BPM that the rest of the album shows off, particularly the following song, "That's Your Call".

Moral of the story, is this album is something fantastic, and it's a blast to listen to, certainly worth your time. Glad to see the improvement in recording quality from their 7" yet still retain that crunchy feeling. I hope to be hearing much more from these guys in the future.

Beat Break

Blackmill Feat. Veela - Let it Be

I love Blackmill, this guy is an animal and has some of the best melodic dubstep out there right now. This song is no exception. Be sure to check out his full length LP, Reach For Glory, If you get a chance

The Drums - Portamento

Keeping up with this has been more difficult than I thought, but I'm making an attempt to keep this going. I'll be the first to say that The Drums 2010 self titled is one of the best albums of 2010, and one of my favorites from the past decade. That being said, Portamento has a lot to live up to.

I didn't even expect this album to come out, personally I hadn't heard anything about it and when I saw it pop up I was ecstatic and had very high hopes. When the first song, Book of Revelations, comes on, I felt that I was really struck by one thing. That is that they sound more mature. Jonathan Pierces very identifiable vocals from the first album seem more honest, they seem less forced into the realm of croon, and his similarities to artists like Morrisey has settled into a distinct style, where Pierce seems much more comfortable. The poppy minimal guitar still permeates most tracks on the album, and the thumping kick and the compressed snare with that 80's compression to it returns again as well. Stylistically the album shares a lot of similarities with last years self titled, yet it feels more natural and comfortable, which is excellent progress to have been made for a sophomore effort.

The second track, Days, which is my personal favorite is a simple melodic tune that highlights a feeling of wasted time in a relationship. It's blunt in it's imagery, after all the opening verse is, "I worked so hard / and I killed myself". It's a great simple tune that is a blast to listen to, and I certainly swivel back and forth in my chair when it comes on.

The flow of guitar and melody driven songs is interrupted in the middle of the album with the song Hard To Love, which opens with a thick funky synth melody, which is augmented later in the song by some treble synth. This isn't the only song driven by synthesizers, two songs later a more meditative less poppy synth is used for the melody in Searching for Heaven. From this point in the album it seems to get a little darker, this is mostly evident in the song If He Likes It Let Him Do it. It's nice to see the potential monotony of pop hits be supplemented with songs that feel more dark and emotional.

The flow of the album reminds me of how I feel about the creative direction or Pierces lyrics. He seems internally divided, in songs like Days and Hard To Love, It's as if he is disappointed in the relationships that he is using as the subject of his writing. Yet in a lot of other songs he seems to be attempting to sweep a certain someone off their feet, as in the single, Money, which he belts, "I want to buy you something / But I don't have any money". The same theme appears in another song, Please Don't Leave, which I'm sure due to the title is self explanatory. This dichotomy of feelings that Pierce displays I think is also reflected in the nature of the songs. Meaning that the more poppy positive songs are also met with the darker ones, though the subject matter may not match the positive or negative aura of the song.

Did it live up to the self titled? I'm certainly not disappointed. It's not necessarily better or worse, It's just different, but not enough to really alienate the people that loved their first EP and their self titled. I'm definitely looking forward to hearing more from these guys, and I really believe that they are some of the most talented and unique musicians on the scene right now. Best of luck to all of them.

The Drums "Days" from Mikol Vega on Vimeo.

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The Shins - Sleeping Lessons (RAC Remix)

I really didn't mean to post 3 things today, but now I have. Just came across this, absolutely smitten with this remix

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Fantastic Mr Fox - Fool Me



Off his Evelyn EP, incredible tune. I love everything this guy is doing, good luck to him!

Blood Orange - Coastal Grooves

How can I explain how glad I am I came across this particular musician? I was definitely reading a book by it's cover when I read that the title of the album was Coastal Grooves, and I was not disappointed. From the opening track, Forget It, it's easy to compare the upbeat flow and almost 80's croon to groups like The Drums, or Girls. He has that mellow voice that is nestled somewhere between lovestruck and heartbroken. That is until halfway through the opening tracks when singer/songwriter Davonte Hynes really shows off his chops with a guitar. That is something I find most surprising about this album, is it's pop sensibility, yet here and there, Hynes throws in some guitar work that doesn't feel forced or out of place, it feels wonderful. It's not all shredding either, on the track S'cooled he displays his affinity for reverb and various ambient guitar textures. Sure it's one of the slower and less immediately poppy songs on the album, but it's damn good. And perhaps this is just my fairly recent interest in dub music talking, but the percussion in that tune drive me wild. I can't help but think the thick funky bass coupled with reverberated percussion was influenced by dub artists the like of Scientist and King Tubby. This is even more evident in the following track, Complete Failure, and it's atmospheric percussion during the verse.

I'm not sure if Hynes has decided on a single for the album yet, but if he were to, he'd be foolish not to pick the second track on the album, Sutphin Boulevard. It opens with a floor thumping beat and a walking guitar that is just damn funky. Hynes eases the song into pop bliss when the chorus drops, and the walking guitar turns into such brilliantly spacey picking that it's impossible to not swivel your head around on your neck.

Yet there are a few songs that just come off as weird, and it effects the flow of the album in my opinion. Though I also wouldn't want an album full of nothing but in your face pop, these few odd songs seem too out of step with the rest of the album, and I found myself finding them instantly forgettable, and regrettably skippable. Yet to be fair, this is a fantastic debut album, and I certainly still think it is fantastic. This is enough to keep me itching for a follow up EP or another LP, yet this album has enough substance to keep me entertained for some amount of time. Can't wait to hear more from Blood Orange, and I hope he gets some excellent exposure, because he definitely deserves it for the obvious hard work that he put into Coastal Grooves.

It begins

It took me a long time to finally sit down and write something on here, and this isn't even music related. I just want to explain the purpose of this blog before I get into posting some reviews.

Essentially the purpose of this blog is to offer what I think is some of the best music out there, mostly from independent labels. I listen to a lot of music, and I love sharing the great artists that I come across with other people. If anything this is to keep me writing, and keep me listening, while attempting to get other people to enjoy the music I do. This blog will have a broad variety of artists from all sorts of different genres, from Folk and Beach Pop to UK Garage, Dubstep, and Hip-Hop. I will try to keep this blog mostly to new releases, but I am only human and can't listen to everything, so if I happen to come across something older that I just discovered, I'll be posting that as well, as well as some of my all time favorite albums here and there.

If you had only 16GB of storage, what would make the cut?