Just thought you'd like to know that you are "smart." :)

Repetition is the Key

Today I bring you three disparate songs, related only by their connection to Andy Warhol.

Actually, as far as I know, they have no easily discernible connection to the king of pop art. Warhol's prints of Marilyn Monroe were just the first visual representation of repetition that came to mind, and it is repetition that holds the following pieces of audio together. As Warhol used repeated images of faces and cans to transform otherwise unremarkable objects into more intricate pieces of art, fairly unsubstantial lyrics can create an unforgettable hook when sang over and over.

The song that got the ball rolling for this entire post is "Done Done" by Frankmusik. What I've heard of Frankmusik's catalog reveals a standard electronic artist, and it shows in "Done Done." All the hallmarks are represented, including a pulsing bass, a loose, echoing snare drum and a warm synth pad. But when we reach the chorus at 0:45, Frankmusik's strict adherence to formula can be readily forgiven. There is something entrancing about the computer-aided repetition of consonants when it is combined with the the atmospheric quality of the synth pad. The chorus opens a the door to another dimension and it is unfortunate that the door must be closed.

When "Done Done" came up on shuffle today, it brought "5 More Years" to mind, a gorgeous track that has been rattling in the back of my mind for a few months now. Unlike Frankmusik, Noah and the Whale manages to engage the listener beyond the chorus with their sunny pop, complete with breathy flute, gentle strings, ukulele and whistling. "5 More Years" is a testament to lyrical minimalism, exploring the beauty of each word through a simple melody. It doesn't hurt that the perfect male/female pairing would make anybody swoon.

And just for fun, I would be remiss not to mention one of the more infectious uses of repetition of this new millennium: "Can I Get Get Get" by Junior Senior. I won't bother you with my words - just get to dancing.

Frankmusik: [MySpace] [Last.fm] [Amazon]
Noah and the Whale: [MySpace] [Last.fm] [Amazon]
Junior Senior: [MySpace] [Last.fm] [Amazon]

Miracle Fortress and Big Spider's Back (When the Stars Align)

Music of the highest caliber has the ability to take you out of your present existence and transport you somewhere entirely new and otherworldly. Instrumental music in Explosions in the Sky vein tends toward this feeling, but very rarely do I find a vocalist capable of such a feat.

Enter Miracle Fortress. Centered around Graham van Pelt and his immense multi-instrumental ability, Miracle Fortress revels in the subtle beauty of sound. Van Pelt's vocal delivery goes beyond gorgeous melodies and adds expert intonation and phrasing that make his music soar. Nothing embodies these qualities like "Have You Seen In Your Dreams", the second track off Miracle Fortress' debut Five Roses, where van Pelt's wispy voice is layered on a bed of syncopated guitar, driving bass and atmospheric synth.

Miracle Fortress: Have You Seen In Your Dreams

Perhaps my favorite aspect of Miracle Fortress is when lyrics are dropped for pure melody and the music transforms into a sea of beautiful frequencies, with wave upon wave of sound. The currents and eddies of these songs are the genesis of intangible aural worlds. Both "Poetaster" and "Blasphemy" share this undeniably affecting trait.

Miracle Fortress: Poetaster
Miracle Fortress: Blasphemy

Now to the original reason for this posting: Big Spider's Back. I've been meaning to write about Miracle Fortress forever (then again, I've been meaning to write about many things for a long time) but Big Spider's Back finally gave me the final push to get this finished. This is mainly due to the fact that the two are similar in many respects. Both are singlehandedly ran by multi-instrumentalist wizards and both make gorgeous pop songs that explore the deeper meanings of sound rather than relying solely on lyrical ability. If you liked Miracle Fortress, you will like Big Spider's Back. He's less well known and Seattle-based, so what's not to like?

Big Spider's Back: Stay on the Other Side
Big Spider's Back: Great Divide


More:
Miracle Fortress [MySpace] [Last.fm] [Amazon]
Big Spider's Back [MySpace] [Last.fm] [Amazon] [via]

You may have noticed that I added a lovely Yahoo widget to the left-hand side of the blog. If you would like to listen to a recently covered song, just press the play button next to the link and the widget will take care of the rest.

I hope you find it useful. :) 

School is almost out. Updates soon, I promise.

Model Photographer

A few weeks ago I stumbled upon an mp3 by Model Photographer on Largehearted Boy, which I dutifully downloaded and let sit on my hard drive for days on end. I eventually got around to listening to a huge playlist of downloads and smack dab in the middle of the list was "Cassette Tape."

Model Photographer - "Cassette Tape" [mp3]

This is one hell of a track and is all of the reasons I read music blogs wrapped up into one song. An aching song full of regret and crunchy guitars, "Cassette Tape" is worth putting on repeat and listening for an hour straight. Go ahead, "Just close your eyes and listen," as Alex Rose sings.

If the name Alex Rose sounds familiar you most likely recognize him as the new keyboardist in Minus the Bear. To be honest, I was extremely disappointed when Matt Bayles left MTB after Menos el Oso and was even more disappointed when I heard Rose's performance on Planet of Ice. I could write an entire post on why, but I'll save that for another time because Rose more than makes up for it with his compositions on Model Photographer's self-titled LP.

After a week of listening to "Cassette Tape" and the few other tracks I downloaded from MP's MySpace, I headed into the Ballard Sonic Boom and picked up the physical disc. The album is impressive in admittedly conventional ways, but it has served to fill the void Planet of Ice left in my soul. Unfortunately, MP had posted their best tracks on their MySpace so the first listen through was a bit of a let down. But the record is overall a solid effort.

The 9-track LP (if you can even call a 9 songs spanning less than 30 minutes an LP) starts off with a bang in the gorgeous "Gone." Rose's lilting vocals slide up and down the melodic line through the verses, amplifying the transition to the loud, soaring, crunchy and much more melodically defined chorus.

Model Photographer - "Gone" [mp3]

The next two tracks, "Secret Club" and "Don't Be A Moper," are unremarkable. The fill some space until you advance to "Hey Girl," a song that anchors the entire middle section of the album all by itself. Rose is laid back and confident in his delivery and foregos a wall of distortion for textured synthesizers and an acoustic guitar, to complement the ever-present lead electric guitar. This use of synthesizers is spot on and a marked contrast to his performance on Planet of Ice. Rose drops his distorted guitar beneath his melodic line, creating more of a foundation than a wall, and complements this with a layer of keyboards and acoustic guitar. A cherry on top, Rose adds a lovely synth line on top of the chorus, completing a lovely song. If Rose had orchestrated his parts like this with MTB, it is very likely I would have enjoyed Planet of Ice a lot more.

Model Photographer - "Hey Girl" [mp3]

The end of the album is of good quality, but is again generally unremarkable. "Before You Drive Away" is a solid, rocking track, more so than many things I have listened to this week. But is in the same vein of the rest of the songs on this record without much variation. This changes with the concluding track, "Snow Fall." I actually did very little research on MP as I was listening to "Cassette Tape." But after finding their MySpace and hearing "Snow Fall" I had no choice. This song is in the spitting image of Minus the Bear on Menos el Oso. It is a sparse, down-tempo piece and with layered vocals; it's minimalism done right.

Model Photographer - "Snow Fall" [mp3]

Buy the Model Photographer LP at Sonic Boom.

[Model Photographer] [MySpace] [Last.fm]

A Proper Pairing (Feeling Bad Never Felt So Good)

I've been meaning to write about Ben Pilgrim for ages (well, since October). "God Should Have Made You Ugly" got stuck in my ear and I compulsively listened to it for a month and promptly moved on. I was immediately reminded of that glorious song when I heard Sam Owens' "Kind of Man" yesterday.



"God Should Have Made You Ugly" is a bittersweet lament about the deadly combination of beauty and cruelty. The track is a sloppy single take, with a rough-hewn voice and acoustic guitar. The harmonica captures the sound of lamenting spot on.



Sam Owens' "Kind of Man" does not have a gorgeous demon to exorcise, but the song caught me with the same vibe as "GSHMYU". The issue is similar as this girl needs to go, but the attachments are reversed: She is hooked and won't let go. Owens takes an appropriately different approach, with his sweet voice and a soaring chorus, though the solo acoustic genre remains the same.





Ben Pilgrim - "God Should Have Made You Ugly" [MySpace] [Last.fm]

Sam Owens - "Kind of Man" [MySpace]

Death Cab: New Album May '08

Or so their website (and the entire internet) says. Funnily enough, I was listening to a string of DCFC songs that had come up on shuffle when I read about the new album.

Death Cab for Cutie - 405 (Acoustic) [via]

Re: Pitchfork: The Top 100 Tracks of 2007

I have a few observations that have been rolling around in my head for the past week and a half. First of all, my immediate reaction to the thought of a top 100 list was the usual, "Who can accurately list the top 100 of anything?" I stand by this statement and it is fairly obvious Pitchfork's list loses integrity around number 20.

In general I can rarely take issue with any top 10 list. For any song/album/movie to make it into somebody's top 10 it has to be fairly pleasurable. But honestly, "All of My Friends" [youtube] at #1? Of all the tracks on Sound of Silver, you go with the 7 and a half minute, 1 chord exercise? Okay, technically it is two chords, a Bmaj and a Dmaj9, but the chords are so skeletal that the B/E perfect 5th is played the entire time. How can any self-respecting person listen to those two notes for 7 and a half minutes? I've never quite bought in to massive adoration of LCD Soundsystem (another song at #7?!), but this song is nowhere as good as Pitchfork (and a few others) claims it is.

On a less critical note, something that jumped out at me as I listened to the list was the concentration of tracks that ran for more than 5 minutes. 37 of them, in fact. This fact resulted in my spending way too much time making my way through the list.