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.