A Life of Science has been in the studio for a week now. Check out what we've been doing as Ben records/edits drums!
2.01.2011
A Life of Science Webisode #1
Here's a new webisode that follows A Life of Science around for a day as we prepare for the studio.
1.21.2011
My Favorite Albums of 2010
I know I'm a day late and a buck short on this one, but I like to do one every year. Here goes, in no particular order:
The Walkmen - "Lisbon"
I have faithfully followed The Walkmen's career since I was given "Bows & Arrows" some years ago. In that time, I've watched the band morph their New York garage rock fuzz into an easy countryside ensemble whose music unfurls at a leisurely pace. The band has settled into a sound sprinkled with chimey guitar tone, clanky piano, easy croons and even some New Orleans style horns. When I listen to this album, I'm in no hurry.
The Walkmen - "Angela Surf City"
Surfer Blood - "Astro Coast"
"Astro Coast" has a breezy carefree surf rock feel that seems so effortless. Each song has a youthful energy laced with extremely catchy vocal melodies, and just when you least expect it, a new section will sneak up and floor you before you can even figure out what happened. Tracks like "Harmonix" and "Slow Jabroni" don't grab you at first, but have refrains that tug at your heartstrings and evoke some sort of response. Hard to believe all this comes from a super young group of kids from Palm Beach.
Surfer Blood - "Take It Easy"
The Devil Wears Prada - "Zombie EP"
Even though this is only a five song EP, it carries the strength of a thousand albums. Themed as a zombie apocalypse story, this release finds the band expanding their sound further, darker and bigger, thanks in part to the spot on production by Joey Sturgis (Attack Attack!, We Came As Romans, Miss May I). Horror movie voice clips, broken piano arpeggios and haunting strings paired with the violent instrumentation of everyone's favorite post hardcore band makes for a thrilling ride. Album highlight: "Revive."
The Devil Wears Prada - "Revive"
Two Door Cinema Club - "Tourist History"
I couldn't help but fall for this album. The impossibly tight production. The gorgeous vocals and harmonies. The laser sharp dance drums with lo fi snare samples. The playful guitar work. It's almost as if Vampire Weekend and Foals had a baby. Makes me proud to be an Irishman.
Two Door Cinema Club - "This is the Life"
Delorean - "Subiza"
I put on "Subiza" everytime I got wanderlust this year. A desk can be a pretty dreary place when there's a mountain of work in front of you, so I let Delorean carry me away to a little beach in Spain where the dance party is always going strong. All I had to do was close my eyes and I could practically smell the coconuts and feel the sun baking my skin. A fun and uplifting listen with infinite replay value.
Delorean - "Endless Sunset"
The Ruby Suns - "Fight Softly"
I once saw the New Zealand psychedelic island pop group The Ruby Suns at a venue the size of a living room. The band played their sunny songs as a three piece with instrumentation and electronics. Since then, the band has slimmed down to just lead man, Ryan McFun, and honed the sound into more of an electronic vibe. It's impossible to capture the essence of the tropical synth mischief into words. You just have to listen. Album highlight: "Dusty Fruit"
The Ruby Suns - "Dusty Fruit"
The Walkmen - "Lisbon"
I have faithfully followed The Walkmen's career since I was given "Bows & Arrows" some years ago. In that time, I've watched the band morph their New York garage rock fuzz into an easy countryside ensemble whose music unfurls at a leisurely pace. The band has settled into a sound sprinkled with chimey guitar tone, clanky piano, easy croons and even some New Orleans style horns. When I listen to this album, I'm in no hurry.
The Walkmen - "Angela Surf City"
Surfer Blood - "Astro Coast"
"Astro Coast" has a breezy carefree surf rock feel that seems so effortless. Each song has a youthful energy laced with extremely catchy vocal melodies, and just when you least expect it, a new section will sneak up and floor you before you can even figure out what happened. Tracks like "Harmonix" and "Slow Jabroni" don't grab you at first, but have refrains that tug at your heartstrings and evoke some sort of response. Hard to believe all this comes from a super young group of kids from Palm Beach.
Surfer Blood - "Take It Easy"
The Devil Wears Prada - "Zombie EP"
Even though this is only a five song EP, it carries the strength of a thousand albums. Themed as a zombie apocalypse story, this release finds the band expanding their sound further, darker and bigger, thanks in part to the spot on production by Joey Sturgis (Attack Attack!, We Came As Romans, Miss May I). Horror movie voice clips, broken piano arpeggios and haunting strings paired with the violent instrumentation of everyone's favorite post hardcore band makes for a thrilling ride. Album highlight: "Revive."
The Devil Wears Prada - "Revive"
Two Door Cinema Club - "Tourist History"
I couldn't help but fall for this album. The impossibly tight production. The gorgeous vocals and harmonies. The laser sharp dance drums with lo fi snare samples. The playful guitar work. It's almost as if Vampire Weekend and Foals had a baby. Makes me proud to be an Irishman.
Two Door Cinema Club - "This is the Life"
Delorean - "Subiza"
I put on "Subiza" everytime I got wanderlust this year. A desk can be a pretty dreary place when there's a mountain of work in front of you, so I let Delorean carry me away to a little beach in Spain where the dance party is always going strong. All I had to do was close my eyes and I could practically smell the coconuts and feel the sun baking my skin. A fun and uplifting listen with infinite replay value.
Delorean - "Endless Sunset"
The Ruby Suns - "Fight Softly"
I once saw the New Zealand psychedelic island pop group The Ruby Suns at a venue the size of a living room. The band played their sunny songs as a three piece with instrumentation and electronics. Since then, the band has slimmed down to just lead man, Ryan McFun, and honed the sound into more of an electronic vibe. It's impossible to capture the essence of the tropical synth mischief into words. You just have to listen. Album highlight: "Dusty Fruit"
The Ruby Suns - "Dusty Fruit"
1.19.2011
A New Year / A New Life
With a new year comes new possibilities.
2010 was a year of building. Building songs. Building funds. Building strength.
2011 is the year of harvesting.
A Life of Science began in 2006, with a couple of friends casually writing some songs together in a rehearsal space in Phoenix, AZ. We didn't know what we were doing. We didn't know where we were going. We just knew that whatever was happening had to happen.
By 2007, our songs had taken shape and our sound was found... A schizophrenic blend of electronic rock. Slowly but surely, the songs began to tell a story, the likes of which had not been fully formulated, but which grew momentum and substance every day.
By 2008, the story had been articulated into a treatment. A full, cohesive story of a man's journey towards a fiery apocalypse. Our 10 songs were arranged to tell this story through music, lyrics and art. We recorded these as our debut album, The Apneist.
In 2009, we released the album. We accompanied the release with a comic book that explained the story's origins. We toured. We played comicons. We spread the word. We were met with a positive response.
In Fall 2009, we returned from tour a little bit different. Everything up until that point had been a planned sequence of events. We didn't know what came after.
In January 2010, it was time to move forward... Pretty much start over. We dove back in. This time, with purpose. I knew how difficult it was to let songs develop into a story, so I wrote out the new story treatment before I wrote a single lyric... A continuation of the story of The Apneist. As I wrote, I tried to envision it as a full scale major motion picture, and a high budget one at that. Once the treatment was done, I divided it into 10 segments of content and started pairing the demos we were working on with each segment based on style / feel and how those sounds would translate to each part of the story.
By May 2010, the demos were finished in their primitive state. We decided to sit on them for a bit while we figured out our situation. Meanwhile, we spent our evenings editing The Apneist novel, written by our dear friend and talented novelist, Josh Isaac.
Then, out of nowhere, we got antsy and started writing again. I had ideas for the third story treatment as well, so I began that process. By the time it was done, I found that we had the proper songs to tell that story as well. I broke up the treatment and started writing lyrics the exact same way. This time around, I had it down to a science, so the new demos were done in no time.
By the time December 2010 came around, we had recorded demos for 20 new songs... Two albums worth. At this point, it seemed silly to just record one record, so we booked up a full month in the studio in February 2011 (at the same studio, Mind's Eye Digital with Larry Elyea [Jimmy Eat World / Eyes Set to Kill]).
The last several weeks have been spent tweaking the demos to our liking. In 3 weeks, we will hit the studio. We are fortunate enough to have the insanely talented Ben Anderson (Digital Summer / Comfort for Change) recording drums on the album, a new addition since the last recordings.
In addition to having the second and third albums recorded, we will also have a new comic book and novel ready for release, as well as brand new video content. Once we have figured out a release schedule, we will begin putting all this new media out. To say that we are excited is a drastic understatement. We feel as though this massive undertaking of a project is finally starting to flesh out, and we are amped up to see what the future holds.
More updates to come from the studio :)
2010 was a year of building. Building songs. Building funds. Building strength.
2011 is the year of harvesting.
A Life of Science began in 2006, with a couple of friends casually writing some songs together in a rehearsal space in Phoenix, AZ. We didn't know what we were doing. We didn't know where we were going. We just knew that whatever was happening had to happen.
By 2007, our songs had taken shape and our sound was found... A schizophrenic blend of electronic rock. Slowly but surely, the songs began to tell a story, the likes of which had not been fully formulated, but which grew momentum and substance every day.
By 2008, the story had been articulated into a treatment. A full, cohesive story of a man's journey towards a fiery apocalypse. Our 10 songs were arranged to tell this story through music, lyrics and art. We recorded these as our debut album, The Apneist.
In 2009, we released the album. We accompanied the release with a comic book that explained the story's origins. We toured. We played comicons. We spread the word. We were met with a positive response.
In Fall 2009, we returned from tour a little bit different. Everything up until that point had been a planned sequence of events. We didn't know what came after.
In January 2010, it was time to move forward... Pretty much start over. We dove back in. This time, with purpose. I knew how difficult it was to let songs develop into a story, so I wrote out the new story treatment before I wrote a single lyric... A continuation of the story of The Apneist. As I wrote, I tried to envision it as a full scale major motion picture, and a high budget one at that. Once the treatment was done, I divided it into 10 segments of content and started pairing the demos we were working on with each segment based on style / feel and how those sounds would translate to each part of the story.
By May 2010, the demos were finished in their primitive state. We decided to sit on them for a bit while we figured out our situation. Meanwhile, we spent our evenings editing The Apneist novel, written by our dear friend and talented novelist, Josh Isaac.
Then, out of nowhere, we got antsy and started writing again. I had ideas for the third story treatment as well, so I began that process. By the time it was done, I found that we had the proper songs to tell that story as well. I broke up the treatment and started writing lyrics the exact same way. This time around, I had it down to a science, so the new demos were done in no time.
By the time December 2010 came around, we had recorded demos for 20 new songs... Two albums worth. At this point, it seemed silly to just record one record, so we booked up a full month in the studio in February 2011 (at the same studio, Mind's Eye Digital with Larry Elyea [Jimmy Eat World / Eyes Set to Kill]).
The last several weeks have been spent tweaking the demos to our liking. In 3 weeks, we will hit the studio. We are fortunate enough to have the insanely talented Ben Anderson (Digital Summer / Comfort for Change) recording drums on the album, a new addition since the last recordings.
In addition to having the second and third albums recorded, we will also have a new comic book and novel ready for release, as well as brand new video content. Once we have figured out a release schedule, we will begin putting all this new media out. To say that we are excited is a drastic understatement. We feel as though this massive undertaking of a project is finally starting to flesh out, and we are amped up to see what the future holds.
More updates to come from the studio :)
9.26.2010
New A Life of Science Video Blog
Here's James and Scott in a new A Life of Science Video Blog, which chronicles their progress on the new A Life of Science records.
For more information about A Life of Science, check out www.ALOS.us .
For more information about A Life of Science, check out www.ALOS.us .
6.30.2010
Warped Tour 2010
Warped Tour in Phoenix, Arizona isn't for the light-hearted. The date tends to be in July every year with temperatures topping 110 degrees for as long as I can remember. Heat strokes, faintings, etc tend to happen in pretty large numbers. Needless to say, Warped Tour is no joke in the Phx.
The day started off with Confide, whom I was familiar with mainly because of their posthardcore cover of The Postal Service's "Such Great Heights." The group threw down fairly well, though the screams seemed to be missing a little of of the glossy sheen that can be created in the studio. But still, good set.
Confide
Next was Enter Shikari, whom I listen to quite a bit but have never seen live. I surely was not disappointed. They brought the fire. In addition to busting out some favorites from "Take to the Skies" and "Common Dread," the show was wildly entertaining. It was obvious that these guys worked on perfecting stage presence as much as performance. Every member of the band, in perfect harmony, participated in planned theatrical events, everything from the standard "jump off the speaker at the same time" bit to falling over dead at the same time to end a song. The band spent plenty of time in the crowd as well, with the lead vocalist stretching his microphone chord to the limits as he commanded the crowd like an orchestra conductor. The guitarist also did a particularly stunning move.. balancing the guitar on his nose upside down from the tip of the neck whilst standing atop the tallest speaker. Bravo, sirs. Best act of the day.
Enter Shikari
Next came Pierce the Veil, who mixed old tracks and new while climbing across their multi-tiered stage. It's not enough to be a musician at Warped these days, you must be an expert hiker as well to reach heights like the tops of amps and speakers while carrying and playing your axe to obtain the most epic of poses. Fun set.
Pierce the Veil
Alesana is always a fun time with lots of energy. I've always enjoyed the yin and yang relationship of the band's singer/guitarist and their screamer. The singer/guitarist strikes me as the kind of guy who would have been the drama class / literary type in High School while their hulking screamer was probably on the offensive line of the Varsity football team. Who knows, maybe their dreams fell short after graduation and they decided to form a screamo band. Either way, the spirit of 80's metal and modern emocore collide in great ways when Alesana takes the stage. The screamer's between-song-banter is generally hilarious as well.
Alesana
Closure in Moscow has a few gems hidden on their otherwise mediocre debut album, and I was hoping to catch one of those when I did a drive-by of their set. No dice. Homeboy on lead vocals was a little hard to watch as well. I've heard of skinny jeans, but this dude was straight up wearing leggings and rubbing up on the mic stand while sporting a silvery shiny women's blouse... in 115 degree heat. Too bad cause they've got some great tracks on their album.
Closure in Moscow
Breathe Carolina was a good break from the chugs and breakdowns that are industry-standard at Warped (although they do sport a slight few mild chugs and breakdowns every now and then, to keep up with code of course.) It was a dance party where thousands of kids could be found jumping up and down frantically, ignoring the fierce desert conditions. Homie's vocals sounded pretty great too.
Breathe Carolina
Only got to see a little bit of Emarosa. They were in the tiny Ernie Ball stage and they started late, while being up against scene buzz band Attack Attack! in time slots, no doubt shrinking their crowd. Jonny Craig can definitely throw down, but crowd morale dipped a bit after he talked about how he hated Arizona.
Emarosa
I'll admit to liking Attack Attack's music. It is a hodge-podge of all sounds currently acceptable in the "scene." Chugs. Screams. Breakdowns. Big, poppy auto-tuned choruses. Hip hop interludes. Dance parties? Yep. All of the above. One minute, the crowd was thrashing around in a circle-pit as the lead screamer thrust his husky self across the stage. Next minute, the crowd was jumping up and down in a frenzy as the electro-dance segments kicked into gear. I'd be lying if I told you I didn't have a great time. Very backing track heavy, but nobody seemed to notice or care. Too busy getting crazy.
Attack Attack!
That's about where we wrapped up the day to go hang out with friends at the bar with cooling fans, misters, etc. Absent from the days festivities were Bring Me the Horizon and The Word Alive. Word was Oli Sykes from BMTH lost his voice... I guess that's what happens when you take your vocal chords through a cheese grater of screaming night after night.
Fantastic times at Warped. Hopefully A Life of Science can get on the lineup next year. Cross your fingers, friends.
The day started off with Confide, whom I was familiar with mainly because of their posthardcore cover of The Postal Service's "Such Great Heights." The group threw down fairly well, though the screams seemed to be missing a little of of the glossy sheen that can be created in the studio. But still, good set.
Next was Enter Shikari, whom I listen to quite a bit but have never seen live. I surely was not disappointed. They brought the fire. In addition to busting out some favorites from "Take to the Skies" and "Common Dread," the show was wildly entertaining. It was obvious that these guys worked on perfecting stage presence as much as performance. Every member of the band, in perfect harmony, participated in planned theatrical events, everything from the standard "jump off the speaker at the same time" bit to falling over dead at the same time to end a song. The band spent plenty of time in the crowd as well, with the lead vocalist stretching his microphone chord to the limits as he commanded the crowd like an orchestra conductor. The guitarist also did a particularly stunning move.. balancing the guitar on his nose upside down from the tip of the neck whilst standing atop the tallest speaker. Bravo, sirs. Best act of the day.
Next came Pierce the Veil, who mixed old tracks and new while climbing across their multi-tiered stage. It's not enough to be a musician at Warped these days, you must be an expert hiker as well to reach heights like the tops of amps and speakers while carrying and playing your axe to obtain the most epic of poses. Fun set.
Alesana is always a fun time with lots of energy. I've always enjoyed the yin and yang relationship of the band's singer/guitarist and their screamer. The singer/guitarist strikes me as the kind of guy who would have been the drama class / literary type in High School while their hulking screamer was probably on the offensive line of the Varsity football team. Who knows, maybe their dreams fell short after graduation and they decided to form a screamo band. Either way, the spirit of 80's metal and modern emocore collide in great ways when Alesana takes the stage. The screamer's between-song-banter is generally hilarious as well.
Closure in Moscow has a few gems hidden on their otherwise mediocre debut album, and I was hoping to catch one of those when I did a drive-by of their set. No dice. Homeboy on lead vocals was a little hard to watch as well. I've heard of skinny jeans, but this dude was straight up wearing leggings and rubbing up on the mic stand while sporting a silvery shiny women's blouse... in 115 degree heat. Too bad cause they've got some great tracks on their album.
Breathe Carolina was a good break from the chugs and breakdowns that are industry-standard at Warped (although they do sport a slight few mild chugs and breakdowns every now and then, to keep up with code of course.) It was a dance party where thousands of kids could be found jumping up and down frantically, ignoring the fierce desert conditions. Homie's vocals sounded pretty great too.
Only got to see a little bit of Emarosa. They were in the tiny Ernie Ball stage and they started late, while being up against scene buzz band Attack Attack! in time slots, no doubt shrinking their crowd. Jonny Craig can definitely throw down, but crowd morale dipped a bit after he talked about how he hated Arizona.
I'll admit to liking Attack Attack's music. It is a hodge-podge of all sounds currently acceptable in the "scene." Chugs. Screams. Breakdowns. Big, poppy auto-tuned choruses. Hip hop interludes. Dance parties? Yep. All of the above. One minute, the crowd was thrashing around in a circle-pit as the lead screamer thrust his husky self across the stage. Next minute, the crowd was jumping up and down in a frenzy as the electro-dance segments kicked into gear. I'd be lying if I told you I didn't have a great time. Very backing track heavy, but nobody seemed to notice or care. Too busy getting crazy.
That's about where we wrapped up the day to go hang out with friends at the bar with cooling fans, misters, etc. Absent from the days festivities were Bring Me the Horizon and The Word Alive. Word was Oli Sykes from BMTH lost his voice... I guess that's what happens when you take your vocal chords through a cheese grater of screaming night after night.
Fantastic times at Warped. Hopefully A Life of Science can get on the lineup next year. Cross your fingers, friends.
5.23.2010
#nowplaying
It's a jungle out there in the music world, so I try to be a good musical guinea pig for anyone that will listen. My tastes are varied. My thirst is unquenchable. Here's a few from the vault that I'd like to take the time to analyze.
Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record
It seems like an eternity since Broken Social Scene released "Windsurfing Nation" in 2005. Sure, we got the BSS Presents series. Both the Kevin Drew fronted BSS effort and Brendan Canning fronted BSS effort had their moments. After all, the core members have remained basically the same throughout. But, apparently, once every 5 years, the Canadian collective will gather all their soldiers, from the farthest reaches of the world, to get together to work on an album.
Since the BSS supergroup's inception, nearly all members have experienced some success. Feist might have been the first to blow up, landing some monstrously huge licensing deals. Metric reached a similar tier of success with their most recent album as well. Even Broken Social Scene itself has gathered an ever-increasing fan base.
So the stage is set for BSS for an epic release after 5 years of waiting. Do they deliver? Pretty much. The classic guitar-army sound is back, with the wall of guitars sounding sharp as ever. The band's solid foundation remains, and the album meanders along at just the right pace, showcasing the many faces of BSS. Nearly everyone has their moment. There's fantastic Kevin Drew songs ("World Sick") and Brendan Canning numbers ("Water in Hell"), of course, but they are accompanied by songs driven by the others as well. Apostle of Hustle get their presence in "Art House Director." Emily Haines (from Metric) gets her soft ballad, "Sentimental X's", per BSS protocol.
The band is back together again, and you can sense the joy and fun of old friends seeping from the record. Makes you feel good all over.
Circa Survive - Blue Sky Noise
Circa Survive is sitting in a pretty good spot right now. Their first album, Juturna, turned some heads and got them a pretty big cult following. Their second album, On Letting Go, got them indie famous and able to headline their own tours. Their music has inspired more than a few copy cat bands with soaring Anthony Green style vocals (Tides of Man, Broadway). Now, they have a captive audience ready for a new album.
So we have Blue Sky Noise. From the first song, "Strange Terrain," its clear that we're dealing with a new and distinct vibe. The sound seems focused with an ear for pop sensibilities. Anthony sounds immaculate of course. A new style of falsetto background vocals is layered behind the chorus. The production is smooth and glossy.
The second song, single "Get Out," finds the band reaching for a new type of pop... A head-bobbing, guitar-driven style with fierce vocals. Green seems to push his voice to new heights on this song, not afraid to cause some damage. The screams don't sound screamo. They are on a high register not many screamers dare enter. Dude's got pipes.
After that, Blue Sky Noise heads to familiar territory, semi-prog atmospheric (if at times boring) rock. Some of the songs (Frozen Creek) just don't have the immediacy of the band's former work, and wander along at a slow pace. Some of the vocal work seems like it is no longer catered towards Anthony himself, but more towards what he thinks his primary audience (teenage girls) wants to hear. Lines like "I fell apart in your arms for the last time and I felt free to do what I want because of the things you told me" sound forced to me. It sometimes feels like a string of generic lines pasted together, the sum of which don't seem to say anything of importance. Don't get me wrong, there's some nice moments ("Dyed in the Wool") mixed in. The guys still got chops, but they've traded in Juturna's razor-sharp edge for a happier, milder sound.
The band seems to have found their niche. Thousands of teenage girls at Warped Tour will sing along every word with tears streaming down their faces this summer. Even though Circa Survive isn't entirely my cup of tea these days, I can't help but respect the position they've gotten themselves into.
Miike Snow - Miike Snow
Miike Snow is riiding the hype wave.
As the world has had a year to play out Passion Pit, a void is starting to open up in summer playlists far and wide. Welcome, Miike Snow. I had heard opener and single "Animal" a bit earlier this year as it crept across the blogosphere. I dug it. Then I got to see Miike Snow at Coachella. They managed to keep their smooth electronic sound crisp in a live setting with 5 live band members (in white "Phantom of the Opera masks"). I was impressed.
Miike Snow's debut album, Miike Snow, is pretty darn good overall. Standouts like "Sylvia" showcase the dark and brooding styles the band can whip out at times. The production is spot on. Songs like "Black and Blue" and "Cult Logic" will make their mark on the Summer playlists, perfect successors to the Passion Pit falsetto space-disco sound. However, not every song is a winner ("A Horse is Not a Home"). But, hey. Not a bad debut at all. Kudos, Miike.
The Ruby Suns - Fight Softly
I was privileged enough to see The Ruby Suns a few years back at a tiny club in Phoenix called Modified Arts. The New Zealand 3-piece looked like they belonged around a beach campfire down under, donning bright colors and sunny smiles. Their songs sounded exactly how they looked... Breezy, tropical, fun. The electronics used only highlight the organic sounds used.
The band's new album, Fight Softly, takes the sunny tropical elements from the first release, Sea Lion, and strips them down to a dancier, electronic base. The drums seem to be exclusively electronic, although it sounds as though some live congas were used. The band's lead, Ryan McPhun, is now the only one singing.
All in all, I really enjoy the album. It makes me feel like I'm on a beach thousands of miles away with a Pina Colada in my hand. The album's standouts like "Cinco" and "Dusty Fruit" are formidable conga line worthy beach classics. Even the lesser tracks on the album that suffer from being too trancey and hypnotic "Two Humans," are still enjoyable. Pretty irresistable album.
Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record
It seems like an eternity since Broken Social Scene released "Windsurfing Nation" in 2005. Sure, we got the BSS Presents series. Both the Kevin Drew fronted BSS effort and Brendan Canning fronted BSS effort had their moments. After all, the core members have remained basically the same throughout. But, apparently, once every 5 years, the Canadian collective will gather all their soldiers, from the farthest reaches of the world, to get together to work on an album.
Since the BSS supergroup's inception, nearly all members have experienced some success. Feist might have been the first to blow up, landing some monstrously huge licensing deals. Metric reached a similar tier of success with their most recent album as well. Even Broken Social Scene itself has gathered an ever-increasing fan base.
So the stage is set for BSS for an epic release after 5 years of waiting. Do they deliver? Pretty much. The classic guitar-army sound is back, with the wall of guitars sounding sharp as ever. The band's solid foundation remains, and the album meanders along at just the right pace, showcasing the many faces of BSS. Nearly everyone has their moment. There's fantastic Kevin Drew songs ("World Sick") and Brendan Canning numbers ("Water in Hell"), of course, but they are accompanied by songs driven by the others as well. Apostle of Hustle get their presence in "Art House Director." Emily Haines (from Metric) gets her soft ballad, "Sentimental X's", per BSS protocol.
The band is back together again, and you can sense the joy and fun of old friends seeping from the record. Makes you feel good all over.
Circa Survive - Blue Sky Noise
Circa Survive is sitting in a pretty good spot right now. Their first album, Juturna, turned some heads and got them a pretty big cult following. Their second album, On Letting Go, got them indie famous and able to headline their own tours. Their music has inspired more than a few copy cat bands with soaring Anthony Green style vocals (Tides of Man, Broadway). Now, they have a captive audience ready for a new album.
So we have Blue Sky Noise. From the first song, "Strange Terrain," its clear that we're dealing with a new and distinct vibe. The sound seems focused with an ear for pop sensibilities. Anthony sounds immaculate of course. A new style of falsetto background vocals is layered behind the chorus. The production is smooth and glossy.
The second song, single "Get Out," finds the band reaching for a new type of pop... A head-bobbing, guitar-driven style with fierce vocals. Green seems to push his voice to new heights on this song, not afraid to cause some damage. The screams don't sound screamo. They are on a high register not many screamers dare enter. Dude's got pipes.
After that, Blue Sky Noise heads to familiar territory, semi-prog atmospheric (if at times boring) rock. Some of the songs (Frozen Creek) just don't have the immediacy of the band's former work, and wander along at a slow pace. Some of the vocal work seems like it is no longer catered towards Anthony himself, but more towards what he thinks his primary audience (teenage girls) wants to hear. Lines like "I fell apart in your arms for the last time and I felt free to do what I want because of the things you told me" sound forced to me. It sometimes feels like a string of generic lines pasted together, the sum of which don't seem to say anything of importance. Don't get me wrong, there's some nice moments ("Dyed in the Wool") mixed in. The guys still got chops, but they've traded in Juturna's razor-sharp edge for a happier, milder sound.
The band seems to have found their niche. Thousands of teenage girls at Warped Tour will sing along every word with tears streaming down their faces this summer. Even though Circa Survive isn't entirely my cup of tea these days, I can't help but respect the position they've gotten themselves into.
Miike Snow - Miike Snow
Miike Snow is riiding the hype wave.
As the world has had a year to play out Passion Pit, a void is starting to open up in summer playlists far and wide. Welcome, Miike Snow. I had heard opener and single "Animal" a bit earlier this year as it crept across the blogosphere. I dug it. Then I got to see Miike Snow at Coachella. They managed to keep their smooth electronic sound crisp in a live setting with 5 live band members (in white "Phantom of the Opera masks"). I was impressed.
Miike Snow's debut album, Miike Snow, is pretty darn good overall. Standouts like "Sylvia" showcase the dark and brooding styles the band can whip out at times. The production is spot on. Songs like "Black and Blue" and "Cult Logic" will make their mark on the Summer playlists, perfect successors to the Passion Pit falsetto space-disco sound. However, not every song is a winner ("A Horse is Not a Home"). But, hey. Not a bad debut at all. Kudos, Miike.
The Ruby Suns - Fight Softly
I was privileged enough to see The Ruby Suns a few years back at a tiny club in Phoenix called Modified Arts. The New Zealand 3-piece looked like they belonged around a beach campfire down under, donning bright colors and sunny smiles. Their songs sounded exactly how they looked... Breezy, tropical, fun. The electronics used only highlight the organic sounds used.
The band's new album, Fight Softly, takes the sunny tropical elements from the first release, Sea Lion, and strips them down to a dancier, electronic base. The drums seem to be exclusively electronic, although it sounds as though some live congas were used. The band's lead, Ryan McPhun, is now the only one singing.
All in all, I really enjoy the album. It makes me feel like I'm on a beach thousands of miles away with a Pina Colada in my hand. The album's standouts like "Cinco" and "Dusty Fruit" are formidable conga line worthy beach classics. Even the lesser tracks on the album that suffer from being too trancey and hypnotic "Two Humans," are still enjoyable. Pretty irresistable album.
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