For vinyl fans.
Vinyl-version was recorded directly from master-tape without any compression.
Thanks to whoever digitized this vinyl.
Showing posts with label math rock. Show all posts
Showing posts with label math rock. Show all posts
Saturday, November 28, 2015
Monday, September 07, 2015
Boys Life – Departures And Landfalls (1996) remastered (2015)
Remastered for vinyl, this iconic release comes in a gatefold LP jacket with a spot UV print and the download includes unreleased live audio.
Topshelf Records
Feeling that dust blew off the sound. Nevertheless, the sound is still the same stuffy and unsettling as the original. Great remaster. Breathe in the scents of the past summer, and move on.
Friday, August 03, 2012
Elliott – If They Do EP (1999)
Just to show there were no hard feelings with its original label Initial Records, and to hold fans over until the release of full-length False Cathedrals in the summer of 2000, Elliott released If They Do (along with the companion single ("Will You" on Revelation) in the spring of 2000. "If They Do" is a 7" single on vinyl, with two new songs, "Waiting While Under Paralysis" and "As Arson." The CD version, however, turns into a 30-minute collection, with two previously unreleased tracks left off of the 1996 EP In Transit. "Lost Instrumental" delves into a lost art in rock, the instrumental, and "Halfway Pretty Acoustic" is, as it sounds, an acoustic version of "Halfway Pretty." The original In Transit version appears alongside another cut from that EP, "Watermark High," which best represents the band's powerful melodic hardcore.
While the album is a bit disjointed (the songs recorded together don't appear together), and nothing can duplicate Elliott's awesome live presence, If They Do fits nicely into any indie rock collection.
allmusic.com
Elliott – U.S. Songs (1998)
During their brief career, Louisville's Elliott released three albums of original material and a final, posthumously released, live studio album. Although talented and hardworking they never really achieved a huge amount of commercial success, possibly because they refused to fit neatly into any one genre. Their debut, U.S. Songs, is almost melodic emo, but it's also a little alt-rock, and maybe a few other things besides. They also lean toward a more abstract lyrical style, which suits the mature, pleasantly aloof feel of the music, but offers no easy or immediate focal points for the listener. It all fits together perfectly, though, creating a superblytextured sound which reaches from oh-so-easy drifts to crashing waves. Yes, it takes a little effort to fully delve into the record, but the surface alone is so considered, so obviously well arranged, that the process itself is warm and welcoming, new insight born in every repeat listen.
Above all, U.S. Songs is an album about the often ignored, deeply tangible border and relationship between melancholy and bliss. The clarity of Chris Higdon's voice provides an ethereal, introspective quality to the imagery of the words, as they quietly float above the sweetly dulled guitars which bring "The Conversation" to life, or the delicate, calm eye within "Alchemy as a Rhythm". In stark but beautiful contrast to these lulls, Higdon often presses his voice to the very edges of a shout, no more so than amongst the pounding, expansive chords of "Safety Pin Explanation", and it's this constant swell and recede which brilliantly evokes the complexity of human emotion – the secret, unspoken pleasure at the heart of sadness and regret, the taint of anger and frustration in the very fabric of joy. Like all esoteric, abstract art, U.S. Songs is about ideas that can't easily be explored, feelings that defy simple definition; but, crucially, Elliott provide an elegant, dreamily melodic backdrop to their thoughts, making them all the stronger and more meaningful.
They may have failed to find an extensive audience, but in this way at least, they truly succeeded.
sputnikmusic.com
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Boys Life – Departures And Landfalls (1996)
Aw, the '90s. What would I do without your music??? Living in Oklahoma all my life, there was always this sense of calm that came from being amongst the prairies and not within the confines of a concrete jungle. For me, the music of the Midwest brings to mind these memories from long ago and the sometimes simpleness that being a child gave to me. But, of course, there's the inner feelings that spring about and make me remember those hard times I've been through. And for some people, music is what triggers said emotions.
Boys Life was such a band. They often remind me of those old memories and it's a give-and-take kind of relationship. Going through their discography, I always end up loving their second full-length album, 1996's Departures and Landfalls, the most. This is an album of restless intensity and emotional outpour. Of all eight tracks, there is not a dud amongst them. From the twinkly opening song, "Fire Engine Red," to the final bits of album closer "Painted Smiles," Boys Life have crafted a finely tuned Midwest time capsule that hits the mark every time.
When first listening to this album, you will notice the lo-fi quality production. I recall reading complaints from people on this issue, but after countless times jamming this collection of songs, I can honestly say it adds to the atmosphere. From the emo-inspired cover art work featuring an open, dawn-filled landscape, to the almost old-fashioned AM radio vocals, you get a sense of "found" quality. Like this album was hidden amongst old junk in your grandparents' basement, and once you begin to listen to it, it takes you on a history lesson from the past. Take album highlight, "Radio Towers." The song begins with the tuning of radio dials, and then slowly but surely the instrumentals softly begin to build up. There is this ambiance that surrounds the listener and engulfs them in static. It brings to mind Wilco's best album, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, and maybe the debut album by the Strokes, Is This It.
Another thing to mention is lead singer Brandon Butler. He’s become one of my favorite vocalists from the '90s emo movement, what with his yelp and forced screams. The only people I can closely compare him to would be Bob Nanna from Braid and Mike Kinsella during his American Football days.
With instrumentation that resembles the best of what the scene had to offer and lyrics expressing landscapes and insecurity, Departures and Landfalls is one of the best emo albums ever made. If you happen to dig bands like the Kossabone Red, Braid, the Promise Ring, Broken Hearts Are Blue and Christie Front Drive, this should suffice. Remember that music isn't always this good...
Headhunter
punknews.org
Boys Life – Boys Life (1995)
Boys Life were a Kansas City, Mo., band with an intensely energetic, but dissonant sound that sprung out of the post-hardcore scene in 1993. The band began releasing material on split 7" records with other local outfits Secular Theme and Giants Chair. Relying on a stripped-down sound punctuated by out-of-tune, noisy guitars and a ‘quiet' then ‘loud' alternation, the foursome then put out two full-length albums, Boys Life in 1995 and the out-of-print classic Departures and Landfalls in 1996.
Tagged emo-core by critics and kids alike, the band, composed of Brandon Butler (vocals/guitar), John Anderson (drums), John Rejba (bass) and Joe Winkle (guitar), often began their songs with a simple bass line and then turned up the nobs and ditched the drum brushes, building up to epic crescendos with screaming, distortion and energy — all in a very controlled manner. Adding samples of crickets chirping, radio static and the far-off wail of train whistles gave the band a decidedly Midwestern/Americana feel without ever coming off as folk or country.
Boys Life called it quits sometime in 1997, but members went on to form the short-lived Farewell Bend, Lullaby for the Working Class and other projects. Winkle and Butler now do time in the Lo-Fi outfit Canyon.
Tuesday, June 05, 2012
Kolya - Singles & Demo (1998-2000)
1998 - Iditarod 7"
A Iditarod
B Still Life With Candle
A The Story Becomes The Vehicle
B Conversations And Smokescreens
B Still Life With Candle
1999 - Demo
1. The Story Becomes The Vehicle
2. Jet Lagged
3. Cutting Apparatus
4. An Encounter With Logic
5. Conversations And Logic
2. Jet Lagged
3. Cutting Apparatus
4. An Encounter With Logic
5. Conversations And Logic
2000 - The Story Becomes The Vehicle B/W Conversations And Smokescreens 7"
B Conversations And Smokescreens
password to all: thelastwordisrejoice
Kolya – Kolya LP (2001)
Kolya were a late 90's emo band from the midwest that featured narrative type vox and slint like instrumentation. The band has since broken up but their spirit still lives on in mediafire links, lucky fans who have had the chance to grab up their physical copies and music forums, blogs and Last.fm. After breaking up, members went on to form the short lived band, The Union Ares and I'm not sure what happened to them after that. I will say though, that with only two 7inches and self-titled LP they released, this band and their music is something to not forget about or let get lost in the ends of time and space somewhere. I mean it.
Kolya is just one of those bands that you need to hear everything by because, well, there really isn't a lot that exists and all the stuff that does exist is amazing. Their discography only consists of 13 or so songs. A Shame, I know, but it is what it is and what it is, is super good music, especially for fans of Slint, June of 44, Sun Pelt, 90's emo in general and/or narrative spoken word music. Take a listen to the first track I heard from these guys called "Still Life With Candle" from their first 7" released by One Week Records with another song called "Iditarod" below.
The lyrics (and delivery of the lyrics), like the ones in the very beginning, "Are you going to bed yet? I hadn't decided/I might have to go to the bathroom/And I had planned on eating something...", remind me of the song "To A Husband At War" by a slightly different emo band, I Hate Myself except, in Kolya's case, the music and energy builds and builds but doesn't become chaotic. The noise just settles and we never hear Todd Giles (the singer/guitarist) lose his cool. There's no change in the tone. It's really not him who is giving off the full emotion for this "emo" band but the sounds from the instruments on and around him that are giving off this feeling of (emotional) content. A sense of somberness but not sadness. It's that subtleness about them that makes them stand out and goes to show you just how different these guys where than other "emo" bands of their time and the ones now.
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