I fall to pieces
each time I see you.
You want me to forget,
to pretend–
But I try;
I haven’t yet
’cause you walked by;
I fall to pieces.
You want me to forget,
to pretend we never met.
You want me to f–
you want me to forget!
You want me to forget!
You want me to f…?
To pretend we never–
you want me to forget;
pretend we never met.
You want me to forget!
You want me to forget.
You–
You want me to forget!
Threnody Ensemble’s Timbre Hollow (2000)
It’s on my top 10 of all time, for its power, elegance and character are hard to match. This album is an unforgettable, chilling and beautiful edifice of emotion qua music.
Four kids from Houston playing folky folk punk on this 12 track album with banjo, violin, mandolin, acoustic guitar and vocal harmonies that are fun to sing along with.
Label: Plan-It-X Records; Website
Favorite songs: Leah’s Song, Hit the Bottle, You Can Almost Hold It In Your Hands, Scan to Print, Whiskey, Starch and Carbohydrates
Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?9v9mrmzmzbn
Playtime: roughly 63 minutes
Released: March 1st 2004
Favorite tracks are bolded.
Tracklisting:
01 Some Electric
02 Flux and Form (192 kbps)
03 Catherine Holly
04 The Understudy
05 Charles Street
06 Blue Thread
07 Sleep Trick (192 kbps)
08 Anvil Point
09 Copenhagen
10 Tycho
11 Nineteen
Review:
From Bangor, Northern Ireland, we are given Tracer AMC. Comprised of members Jonny Ashe on guitar, Alex Donald on bass, Michael Kinloch on guitar and Keith Winter on drums, our Irish ensemble produces music of sonic charge and carefully tangled melodic thoughts in their debut full length, Flux and Form.
Their compositions trail a great distance in style from your standard radio rock sessions; however, anyone moderately attentive to the up and rising post-rock movement will tell you this band is just one amongst many. This would not be a very accurate description of the thoughtful and spellbinding music that comes from this album. Of course, it is, from head-to-toe, intensely and completely instrumental, but, like with most post-rock bands, that does not remove any greatness from the music itself, even if you may consider it a guilty pleasure. No, it is less than arguable that we have been given a pleasant new perspective into understanding the truth of musical beauty. And surely, Tracer AMC does not fail to please.
From this relation to the genre to which they are generally filed under, we venture into the first track, “Some Electric,”—the beginning of how they differ—, other notable tracks and some general thoughts on this album.
“Some Electric” introduces the album with a melancholy of melodic dual interwoven guitar riffs and soft cymbals as a noticeable crescendo slowly breathes in its air. Eventually soft crashes of cymbals and toms and subtle flickering guitar melodies become warmed over in the presence of a complementary violin. The build up continues as the sounds of each instrument bolster into a sort of wall of sound until we are met with an explosive release of noisy intent and driving guitars. Soon after, the track shrinks down to sounds of distinct melodic humility and warmth.
The first track gives us a review of the structure of noise to come as the rest of the tracks, remarkably, with the exception of a few purely sweet lullabies, keeps to the format of progressive and blending soft-loud segments. Throughout the drumming is also crisp, clean and controlled, supportive of the whole of the ensemble and never deviating into tangents. Many of the tracks like “Some Electric,” “Flux and Form,” and “Blue Thread” enjoy moments of blasting walls of sound, as described previously, sometimes more furious and moving than loud, other times simply loud and moving.
Sleep Trick is a crowd favorite, neatly fit under the “lullaby” category for this album, it lulls but deceivingly lures you into a soundscape of beautiful and playful, swirling guitars. This sound is by far the most accessible of the album.
The three epics “Catherine Holly,” “Copenhagen,” and “Nineteen” each consist of chapters in themselves of progressive rock tendencies, raging movements of sound and equally present soft riddling themes.
Flux and Form expresses a valid control over musical composition and transition. It is a work of art carefully attended to from corner to corner, no single track breaking its ultimate train of thought.
Tarantula A.D.
Danny Bensi (Cello, Violin, Piano, Vocals), Saunder Jurriaans (Guitar, Bass, Vocals), and Gregory Rogove (Drums, Percussion, Piano, Melodica, Glockenspiel, Vocals) comprise the shuddering anthems of Tarantula A.D. Blending classical arrangements with elements of punk and metal, Tarantula A.D. delivers a hypnotic prog-rock sound with an ambient atmosphere. [...]
–Last.fm profile, http://www.last.fm/music/Tarantula+A.D.
When John Zorn dines with an entire pantheon of ancient Roman Gods, this album happens.
Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?azz4zmnyzim
Favourite tracks: The Century Trilogy (3 tracks), Who Took Berlin (2 tracks), Palo Borracho
School of Emotional Engineering - Self-titled
The name draws inspiration from a single line in Aldous Huxley’s prophetic social critique Brave New World.
School of Emotional Engineering is a loosely defined ‘band’, more of a ‘project’ created by composer Ben Frost. Primarily Frost, alongside multi-instrumentalist and engineer Daniel Rejmer, bassist and guitarist Andy Hazel, violin player Russell Fawkus and drummer Jova Albers, School of Emotional Engineering (S.E.E) began originally in Melbourne, Australia as a live extension of Frost’s solo work. [...]
–Last.fm profile, http://www.last.fm/music/School+Of+Emotional+Engineering
“…like watching a knife fight in a phone booth.” The album is mostly bright ambient noise and soft keys with tracks blurring into each other, but occasionally heavy, moderate tempo drum beats will burst into the dense soundscapes. Lots of beautiful layering. It’s not so much an album of tracks as it is a lengthy train of emotionally wavering thoughts and musical forces.
Download: http://www.divshare.com/download/402848-66d
Streamable album: School of Emotional Engineering
Website: schoolofemotionalengineering.com (cryptic and creepy)
Favourite tracks: Falling for Sylvia, She Dreams in Car Crashes
Shellac - Excellent Italian Greyhound
Shellac did not release any records between 1000 Hurts in 2000 and “Excellent Italian Greyhound” in 2007, but songs which were to appear on the latter record formed the mainstay of their live-shows in the intervening period - in particular, “The End of Radio”, “Paco”, “Steady as She Goes”, “Be Prepared”, “Genuine Lulabelle”, “Boycott”, and “Elephant” (formerly known as “Repeat The Lie”). Excellent Italian Greyhound is named in tribute to Todd Trainer’s Italian Greyhound, Uffizi; it was released on Touch and Go Records in June 2007.
–Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shellac_%28band%29
Why am I so late? This album released in June of this year. It’s signature Shellac – frenetic Albini riffery, powerful Trainer drumming, routinely drilling Weston bass, screaming rambled vocals – and look out for Ken Nordine on “Genuine Lulabelle”. Buy it. This album needs to be heard on vinyl, and like 1000 Hurts, it comes with an unmarked CD, for encouragement to buy it vinyl.
Label profile: Shellac of North America
Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?221c1eeqmtb
Favourite tracks: Steady As She Goes, Elephant, Kittypants, Genuine Lulabelle
Actarus’s self-titled has a clean sound which fluctuates between post-rock and math rock - and no, not the kind math rock we know and love from old greats like Polvo. Their music is in the same vein as just about every other contemporary post-rock band; it’s that kind of “math rock” that actually means “progressive.” But nonetheless, their guitars are playful with all-around favorite start/stop dynamics, and their tempo is more allegro moderato with drifts into soft, melodic adventures while chanting along the way. It’s unfortunate that they broke up only after releasing this EP and a split.
Label: New Romance for Kids
Download: RapidShare
65daysofstatic are an instrumental post-rock band from Sheffield, England. [...] The band intersperses heavy, progressive, guitar-driven instrumental sections with live drums and off-beat sampled drums akin to those of Aphex Twin. Their albums, as a result, maintain a distinctively gritty, almost industrial feel.
–Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/65daysofstatic
Download: RapidShare, MediaFire, SendSpace