The Maccabees are one of my recently discovered bands, Stein made a recommendation, and it proved to be worthwhile. They play music one can describe as .. indie rock? Nevertheless, it’s awesome. Great drummer, great vocal efforts, good melodies. The album Wall of Arms is very solid.
Dinosaur is one of the more upbeat tracks of the album, the drumming is particularly superb. Give it a listen, you won’t regret it.
Some copy paste from wikipedia (it’s sunday and I’m lazy :p): Callisto is a post-metal band from Turku, Finland. The band was formed in 2001 in Kokkola. Whilst their early works are hardcore/metalcore, their first album True Nature Unfolds has a strong sludge metal and doom influence and their second album Noir is more influenced by progressive and more dynamic sound. Their third album Providence was released in 2009, introducing wide use of clean vocals in their music. Apart from featuring female vocals on some of their early songs, they have used unexpected instruments, for example saxophone, cello, flute and English horn. Callisto’s short and cryptic lyrics contain Christian themes and references.
I think that In Session is by far the best track from Providence, this track is up there with the best of Isis and Cult of Luna. Nice groove, and great progress throughout the track. A fun track to drum along to.
The american art rock band (according to wikipedia) …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, from Austin, Texas, released The Century of Self this february, and that’s where Isis Unveiled is to be found. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this band, we can say that they are known for a couple of things: They have two drummers on stage at the same time, they change who plays which instrument during their concerts, and they are previously known for smashing instruments on stage. Pretty fun live action (but no smashing of instruments when I saw them at the Roskilde festival this year).
This track is, according to me, by far the best track of the album. It has a great and catchy riff, and a great build down before it explodes back into life at the end of the track, a move that kinda completes the song-circle. And lots of drums. By two drummers. Enough to make me happy.
The so much mentioned White Lies released their debut album early this year, entitled To Lose My Life, which also is the title of the debut single. That song was given a lot of airtime on norwegian radio, and I also had the opportunity of seeing their live performance when they warmed up for Coldplay here in Bergen. That was this summer, but it wasn’t until recently that I got my hands on this album, and realized that it was pretty damn ok!
The track I have selected, Farewell to the Fairground, exposes White Lies ability to good songwriting. The drums and bass are the foundation of the track, and the vocal is also quite important. The guitar and piano than paints the last important pieces. This is actually pretty common in the post-punk and post-punk revival genres, some of my favorite genres. Enjoy.
(Sorry about the late arrival of this post, I haven’t been home all day)
The Low Frequency in Stereo (from now on called TLFIS), is a lo-fi-post rock band. They released the album Futuro this year. The band consists of Linn Frøkedal, Njål Clementsen from The Megaphonic Thrift (why on earth are they not present in this calendar? Damn you, 24 spots), and three others. Check out their EP “A Thousand Years of Deconstruction” by following this link (if you have spotify)!
TLFIS’s music can in short be described as swimming. The drums especially, but also the guitars and bass makes sure the that we have our heads above water. I’m sure this is music that you can dance to. I was really in doubt in which song to pick, but ended up with Geordie la Forge, because of the usage of both male and female vocals, in addition to being a track otherwise. Don’t forget to check out the song Mt. Pinatubo and the rest of the album.
Another hard hitting metal track for you today. Code released Resplendent Grotesque this year, a quality album from a quality band. The music can be described as a weird experimental mixture of Black Metal, avant-garde, and perhaps progressive metal? Either way, it’s pretty neat. The bass player is Viper aka Vicotnik from Ved Buens Ende and Kvohst previously from Dødheimsgard, how can it go wrong? Their previous album Nouveau Gloaming is also worth checking out.
It’s hard to pick out one track from the album, since they’re all pretty good, but I gave it a try with the opening track. Great riffs, and a mixture of clean and grim vocals, which is fairly common for these guys. The drums are handled by Adrian Erlandsson from At The Gates and ex-Cradle Of Filth, and are pretty great.
Radiohead - These are my Twisted Words from .. nothing, yet.
Spotify link: No spotify link, but you can download it from here. Or watch it embedded below:
This track was first leaked on a BitTorrent-site, and later released on their official site, free of charge. It was the root of the Wall of Ice mystery, because it was released with some pictures, and some ascii art with references to the xkcd comic strip “wall of ice”, which is about digital rights management. Some claim it was a stunt made by Radiohead themselves.
Well, let’s cut to the chase. The song is pretty great, and could easily be put on one of their latest records. It features a driving drum beat, and a very radioheadish guitar/bass combinations. And I like Radiohead.
Sigh an Explode is a norwegian hardcore/screamoband from Oslo, Norway with inspirations from bands like Blood Brothers and the like. This mars they released their debut album “These Seem Like Tarantulas” which received good reviews. They’re also known for great live performances.
The opening track of This Seem Like Tarantulas is entitled “To Raise the Dead Belongs to the Blackest Art”, and it’s the song I’ve selected. It’s a really high energy track, and it shows how to combine aggression, desperation and good melodies. Awesome drumming is also appreciated.
The follow up to Converges “No Heroes” was released this year, with great reviews from the norwegian press. It’s a VERY intense record, something the opening track “Dark Horse” is an example of. Drummer Ben Koller displays some great moves throughout the album. It’s both aggressive and heavy, a must-have album for all metal fans? Perhaps.
Kasabian is a british indie band with inspirations from, among others, the Madchester scene which was big before Brit Pop in the early 90’s. The Madchester scene mixed indie rock, psychedelic rock and dance music. Underdog is the first track from their newest record entitled “West Rider Pauper Lunatic Asylum”(!). The song features nice catchy guitar riffs, and good song buildup, which is appreciated. Hope you enjoy it!
