YI And His Special Music Corner

[ROC]

Old news, but I love Portishead's new record. I never heard any of the trip-hop work they did with their first two albums, but Third is an amazingly seductive and frightening album and I really like.

[YI]

10 ALBUMS FOR THE WEEK (2008)

1. "Winters Daughter" by RickoLus - 2008 - Melodramatic Popular Song - UP 5/2nd Week

I've always wanted to use that 'tag' as a genre. To be fair, I have absolutely no idea where I'd put this RickoLus album. At its heard I guess it'd be an indie release. But it mostly feels like new-classical compositions with melancholic vocals sprawled over the top of them. It's definately a change in direction for RickoLus, and a damn fine one. Last year's "American Backyard" was a fun little album, with a handful of quirky interesting tracks. Here, he's went with a total different approach, gone's the 'sunshine', the acoustic-poppiness of the likes of "Over The Brooklyn Bridge" instead there's this menacing, incredibly dark set of material. The album name is most definately fitting. And if I were to be honest, RickoLus really succeeds in this kind of environment. His songwriting is the strongest it has ever been, unlike his previous works this really does feel like a cohesive album, these songs flow, they're beautiful and as a package they're even better. You can talk about Radiohead giving away "In Rainbows", this guy's been doing it his entire career, and for me, this is hands down a far better set of material, far more interesting, much more 'boundary pushing' set of material than "In Rainbows" turned out to be. Seriously, it's free. What have you got to lose?

DOWNLOAD FOR FREE - http://www.iamrickolus.com/

2. "Just A Crash" by Cyanna - 2008 - Electro-Rock/Dance-Rock - NEW ENTRY

It's like Maroon 5, meets New Wave, meets Europop cheesiness. It's like...amazing. Cyanna are an Electro-Rock/Dance-Rock band from Greece who I seemingly randomly stumbled across. I ended up on their myspace the other day and gave the cracks a listen. They were basically your average, somewhat cheesy electro-rock affair. Electronic style verse, with big guitar strums for rock style chorus. I half expected to get sick of the album straight away, but it didn't follow the same trend. Yes possibly the best track on here ("Electron") is the pinacle of those kinds of songs, but there's so much more here. The first track totally caught me by surprise. Dark and atmospheric, with a slow build throughout. Then you had "On And On", a quirky number which would not sound out of place on an LCD Soundsystem album. Then there "Limiter", which has shades of Acid-Jazz, reminding me a lot of the laid back bands like Incognito. The whole album, whilst it has so many catchy moments, has a real sinister vibe to it. With shades of dark-wave and industrial to it. It often feels like the band really wants to dabble more into it, but for whatever reason seem to be holding themselves back. For example, the 8-minute, "Chinese Dress" towards the close of the album. It has moments where it feels like it's going to break into a downright bleak and depressing wall of sound, but for whatever reason, it just seems to hang onto the edge until it ends. Not sure how long this will stay here, but it's a definate good album.

3. "Narrow Stairs" by Death Cab For Cutie - 2008 - Indie-Rock - NEW ENTRY

Like this wasn't going to be here. There's seemingly been a universal oppinion among reviewers that 'Death Cab have found some balls'. Now...I say, reviewers need to find a 'long term' memory. I'm sorry. The 'loudest' parts of the album all very much sound like they could have fit in Death Cab's back catalog. Seriously, have reviewers got such a short term memory they can't remember anything prior to "Plans"? I'm not knocking "Plans", I love it, but it was a 'wussy' album, even for Death Cab. For me, the impressive thing about this album isn't that Death Cab are a 'rock' band, which really, the album isn't that 'rocking', it's the subtle differences in style and instrumentation that crop up on the album. The band seem happy to take more risks. First of all was the lead single "I Will Possess Your Heart". The 4-minute introduction which has seemingly alienated some fans. Then there's "Pity & Fear", pushing the boundaries of the band's 'sound', introducing a tabla succesfully into the mix. The song cuts off going straight into arguably the weirdest sounding song Ben Gibbard has penned, "The Ice Is Getting Thinner"..well, ignoring "Flustered/Hey Tomcat!". This is just the start, there's dabblings with electronics and the boldest move of all in my oppinion, "You Can Do Better Than Me". A Beatles style number, with timpani rolls, I honestly never thought I'd hear Death Cab producing a song like this. It makes such a beautiful interlude in the album and a lead-in to "Grapevine Fires". However, all this new stuff, the new instruments etc, what is the most impressive thing about this album is what's been there all along, but finally given a chance to shine, the rhythm section. Jason McGerr is a prolific drummer, and along with Nick Harmer on bass they have really made this album their own. The album moves with a 'groove' to it, and it's mostly because of them. I could rant and rave on about this all day, but something tells me it's going to be here for a long time, so I better save some comments for the coming weeks. One thing I will say is, I'm not really digging "Talking Bird"...at least the album version. I loved the 2-live show versions, and the version they did at a radio studio session, but on the record it sounds flat.

4. "At Mount Zoomer" by Wolf Parade - 2008 - Indie-Rock - NEW ENTRY

Wolf Parade always used to be Arcade Fire without the 'balls' to me. Following both bands follow up, Arcade Fire are very much Wolf Parade without the 'balls'. Much like their debut, the album starts with a powerful track. Instead of the clunking piano chords and howling vocals of "You Are The Runner..." this time we're greeted with a far more 'poppy' number in the shape of "Soldier's Grin", but this is a perfect example that poppier does not mean worst. With things being 'toned down a notch' the tunes are far more intricate, and when they do really go 'balls to the wall', like towards the 2/3 mark of the 10-minute finale, "Kissing The Beehive", it sounds such more grand and impressive. Speaking of "Kissing The Beehive", jesus christ. You'll be hard pushed to find a song as beautiful and explosive as this for the entire year. It's already got me wanting to just yell out "FIRE IN THE HOLE!" at random intervals. Another favourite of mine is "California Dreamer", which is placed perfectly in the middle of the album. Generally, you tend to lose interest towards the middle section of an album, but this track draws you straight back in. A keyboard intro that makes it sound as though they're going to break into a 70's style disco number. Before there's more synth craziness and weird guitar parts go on. The song breaks into a downright trippy and weird verse, before an anthematic chorus makes its presence felt. Top class song. I could see this album remaining near the top of my favourites throughout the year.

5. "Far Away" by Ephedrix - 2008 - Trance - NEW ENTRY

I love continental Europe. It's like their musical tastes are so fuckedup and skewed in comparison to the rest of the world. It's like all their trends are like 10 years out in some cases. In Eastern Europe ska-punk is still fucking popular, with a huge number of bands (some pretty good) coming out of there. Then there's the likes of France and Italy who are producing some KILLER skate punk and melodic hardcore, with the likes of Forus, Straightaway, BeerBong etc. I'm not even going to get started on those bloody Scandinavian types, far too weird. And then there's the Dutch and Belgians. Who produce some of the cheesiest motherfucking music on the planet. The Belgians love their electronica. Ranging from minamilist stuff to like, Ephedrix here, absolute fucking crazy, makes you want to start a rave in your garden shed, kind of music. This basically exactly what you expect from music like this. Powerful kicks, computerised hi-hats and snares, cheesy synth leads that every now and then burst into the forefront, with a driven, oscillating bassline that goes non-stop for like 7-minutes. And boy...is it fucking incredible!!

6. "Broken With No Hope" by Mike Hale - 2008 - Acoustic - DOWN 1/13th Week

What is there to say? I'd probably have sex with this man if he offered...well I wouldn't...but I might wank him off. It's proof that music can be stripped to the 'simplest', thinnest form, one man and a guitar and still remain so grandiose and epic. In a time when every fucker in 'punk-rock' seems to have an acoustic side project, it's really refreshing when one delivers the goods with a selection of great ACOUSTIC songs, instead of simply playing punk-rock tracks acoustically.

7. "Reason To Believe" by Pennywise - 2008 - Punk-Rock - RE-ENTRY

As much as I want to say, "All the bad things I've said about Pennywise for the past 8 years", forget them. I can't. Basically, Pennywise have not been relevant, have not been putting out material that's 'generally' seen as good for nearly 10-years. I admit, I quite liked "Land Of The Free?". When it first came out I really dug it, it was the first Pennywise album I got as it came it, but as time went on I listened to it less and less. And whilst I still quite like it, and have it on my computer, it's nothing in comparison to their 90's material. Their following two albums were absolutely terrible. Their song writing had gotten stale, their lyrics overly cheesy and they had literally started to regurgitate riffs and vocal lines. So, as much as I'd like to say scrub all the bad things I've said, I can't. As Pennywise NEEDED to deliver with this album, or they were 'dead'. Yes they'd still tour, they'd still have people willing to go see them for nostalgia, but as a 'serious' band, they'd be dead. 10-years without a snuff of 'good' material would have been too much. However, they've brought the goods. Boy have they brought the goods. The songs are frantic, there's variation, whilst they still have the Pennywise sound, everything sounds fresh. The band sound motivated for the first time in years and the 'blandness' that plagued "The Fuse", "From The Ashes" and even "Land Of The Free?" to an extent, is gone. They don't sound like a band in their 40's, they sound like an inspired band of young 20-something's looking to prove a point, looking to make a name in the industry. It's just a shame it took one mediocre and two terrible albums to get there.

8. "Hollow Of Morning" by Gemma Hayes - 2008 - Pop/Indie - NEW ENTRY

Gemma Hayes found success early in her career. The Irish singer-songwriter's debut album was critically acclaimed and received a nomination for the Mercury Prize, eventually losing out to Ms. Dynamite-ee-ee. Following this she was scooped up onto a major label, releasing her second album through a subsidiary of EMI. However, she soon came crashing down to earth as the label cut her touring support budget mid-promotional tour before dropping her from the label all together. It's been three years since Hayes put out "The Roads Don't Love You", and I've been sitting, eagerly awaiting this release. Originally scheduled for a late 2007 release, but was delayed, I must say, it's definately been worth the wait. The album opens with what I think is the best track (I hate it when people do that ), "This Is What You Do". It's a chilled out acoustic number with beautiful breathy vocals from Hayes. It's such an intimate song, a perfect way to open up an album. It just sucks you straight in. Hayes sets herself apart from your general pop-singer/songwriter type in that she engrosses herself into instrumentals. With this opening track clocking in just under the 5-minute mark. At times it does seem earily similar to "Honey & The Moon" by Joseph Arthur, both in the style of the vocals and the acoustic guitar part. With the next track, the first single, "Out Of Our Hands" the album takes another turn. It begins with a strumming electric guitar and "oooh's", sounding very much like a Snow Patrol number. Then towards the middle you get some crazy old school prog sounding electronics. And the album very much continues in this way. You have sweet acoustic sounding numbers, then you have these cool, uptempo but still laid back indie style tracks. And it's a nice mesh. Whilst she opens with the 'strongest' track, the other 9-tracks on here are very much up to standard.

9. "A Thousand Words" by Styrofoam - 2008 - Electro-Pop - DOWN 6/4th Week

Easily the most upbeat selection of material Styrofoam has produced in his career. He's favoured a more 'traditional' song structure that was first really put forward in 2004's "Nothing's Lost". Whilst I don't think this is as good as that album, it is a very good, very fun, release. The collaborations are great. Inparticular the songs with female vocals. Blake Hazard on "Microscope" is the best collab he's done outside of Ben Gibbard on "Couches In Alleys", which is one of my favourite songs ever. My only complaint about this album is it seems to lack the 'variation' a lot of his other stuff had. Whilst favouring a more traditional song structure, "Nothing's Lost" had different styles of tracks, a lot of "A Thousand Words" could blend together to a lot of people. Fucking great still though.

10. "Blazing Fires and Helicopters on the Front Page of the Newspaper. There's a War Going On And I'm Marching In Heavy Boots" by Suffocate For Fuck Sake - 2008 - Post-Rock/Screamo/Hardcore/Shoegaze aka. SCANDINAVIAN WEIRDNESS!! - NEW ENTRY

First off...what the flying fuck? I downloaded this randomly...why?...Well, have you seen the name? How can you not download that? I felt like some nice, post-rock kind of stuff. And it was labelled as such on a private tracker I frequent. 'Nice' and post-rock...I don't think I got either of those two things. Everything starts well, there's some dark and quiet guitar work, with 'foreign' spoken word samples over the top...it basically felt like "Godspeed! You Black Emporer!" meets a band without strings, who aren't boring as fuck. Around the 2-minute mark it sundenly kicks in, and it's about a minute of give guitar strums before once again dying down to 'nothing'. I begin to think..."Hmmm...this is a bit different" and then suddenly...just this loudest fucking wall of sound and motherfucking screams. It just goes nuts. And the entire album is like this. Quiet, loud, quiet, loud. It's amazing. The band is both so brutal but so beautiful at the same time. They're like the musical equivalent of being dateraped. They lure you into a false sense of security before dicking all over your face and jizzing in your ears.

[Cactus Drags]

I need to hear that last album. That's one of the best music-related titles since I found out about a band called They Found My Naked Corpse Face Down in the Snow.

[Tarheels.]

So yeah, Coldplay released their new song this week over their website from Viva La Vida, it's called "Violet Hill". I like it A LOT. It's a lot different from Coldplay's other stuff that they've done and it's really got me pumped up for the new album.

And so I'm assuming everyone here who has heard the Death Cab album is agreeing with reviewers? I've heard it's a GREAT album but I'm still very tempted to wait until it comes into stores to get it. But it's really hard to fight the temptation of just getting a download right now.

[IAceI]

It's fabulous.

As is what I've heard of Feeder's so far before listening to the Sunderland match on radio.

[Cactus Drags]

I'm enjoying the new Death Cab album. It's not really grabbed me like the older stuff, but it's quality stuff.

Also, thinking about it, I'm not sure Trans grabbed me on first listen either.

[Tarheels.]

I'm enjoying the new Death Cab album. It's not really grabbed me like the older stuff, but it's quality stuff.

Also, thinking about it, I'm not sure Trans grabbed me on first listen either.

It didn't take much thinking and now I have it downloaded. I'm only on the 3rd track so the only new song I've heard is Bixby Canyon but I like it. Transatlanticism definitely was a "grower" for me. When I first heard it I thought Plans was miles better, but now I've grown to like Transatlantacism a lot more than Plans. But from what I've heard of Narrow Stairs it's great.

Edited May 3, 2008 by Tarheels.

[YI]

For the record. It's not a patch on "Trans"...but what is? With its 'new album gloss', it's;

"Transatlanticism" > "We Have The Facts And We're Voting Yes" > "Narrow Stairs" > "Plans" > "The Photo Album" >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> "Something About Airplanes".

[Mr Evil Guy]

I haven't listened to Death Cab before this new album, but that first song is sicker than AIDS.

[YI]

TO BE A REMAIN-REMAIN-REMAIN-REMAINDER!!!!

The most rocking song Death Cab have ever written...fucking epic. I cannot wait to get the chance to hear it live. It's gonna be one of those songs that just tears the place up. When the bass part moves at the end of the chorus it gets me all giddy.

Edited May 4, 2008 by YI

[YI]

HOOOOOOOLLLLLYYYYYY FUCK! ELECTRIC PRESIDENT HAS LEAKED!! With Andrew Jackson Jihad's new EP due anytime soon, these past 2/3 days may have been the best all year.

New Martina Topley-Bird too...christ...these last few days have been the sex.

Turns out Electric President leaked like a week back...well fuck it...I found it today.

Edited May 4, 2008 by YI

[METALMAN]

For the record. It's not a patch on "Trans"...but what is? With its 'new album gloss', it's;

"Transatlanticism" > "We Have The Facts And We're Voting Yes" > "Narrow Stairs" > "Plans" > "The Photo Album" >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> "Something About Airplanes".

Poor Something About Airplanes

I really liked Amputations though. My Death Cab order would be the same, minus Narrow Stairs as I don't know it properly yet. Photo Album and Plans would swap places so it would be something like:

Transatlanticism > We Have The Facts And We're Voting Yes > The Photo Album > Plans > Something About Airplanes

[The Chief]

have the new death cab and it is truly awesome.

i feel like i'm the only one who doesn't like long division, and the only one who does like pity and fear? on the death cab forums they don't like pity and fear and love long division.

[METALMAN]

Narrow Stairs has really been growing on me over the last day or two. I've got a feeling that it will be my album of the summer. I like pretty much all of the songs, particularly the first three tracks, "Long Division" and "Cath".

I like Pity and Fear too.

[YI]

I really like "Pity & Fear" too. Did from when I first heard it. In fact, the only song I can't get away with is "Talking Bird". Which is weird, as I love the live versions I've heard, and the daytrotter session version of it...but on the album it sucks out all the momentum built from the first 4 tracks and just sounds flat and boring.

Anyways...how I rate the tracks so far;

1. Long Division (I love it...I could see it breaking my top 5 DCFC songs)

2. Cath

3. The Ice Is Getting Thinner

4. Grapevine Fires

5. I Will Possess Your Heart

6. Your New Twin Sixed Bed

7. Bixby Canyon Bridge

8. Pity & Fear

9. No Sunlight

10. You Can Do Better Than Me

11. Talking Bird

With everything besides "Talking Bird" being awesome.

[Cactus Drags]

Pity and Fear is one of my favourite tracks on the album. Stupid YI overhyped Cath so I was mildly underwhelmed by it, but it's still ace. I need to stop playing games and listen to it more.

[YI]

Pity and Fear is one of my favourite tracks on the album. Stupid YI overhyped Cath so I was mildly underwhelmed by it, but it's still ace. I need to stop playing games and listen to it more.

Well...with "Cath". It was kicking about as an acoustic long before anything else on the album was. And as an acoustic track is sounded amazing. Lyrically it's great. Whilst I still think I prefer it acoustically to the version on the album, it's still a good enough song (the drumming is great...and the bassline...as I said in my 'review thing'...the bass and drums really make this record) to be hands down one of my favourites on an album stacked with good tracks.

In other news, the new Electric President sounds good...but at the same time, it's highly lo-fi and depressing. Their debut had this kind of 'immature' charm about it, and would break into some insanely poppy catchy bits...this album doesn't seem to do it. But it is beautiful and 'catchy' in its own, laid back sort of way. "Ether" is a stand out track so far.

Edited May 6, 2008 by YI

[YI]

Double post...but who the fuck cares....

Sound quality is shitty....but it's still good enough to know that it sounds FUCKING AWESOME!!! The little bridge, where it goes quiet, sounds awesome.

Edited May 6, 2008 by YI

[Tarheels.]

I dislike "Talking Bird" the most, but I find all of the other ones to be absolutely amazing.

I'd rank it as:

1. Long Division

2. Bixby Canyon Bridge

3. The Ice Is Getting Thinner

4. Cath

5. No Sunlight

6. Pity and Fear

7. Your New Twin Sized Bed

8. Grapevine Fires

9. I Will Possess Your Heart

10. You Can Do Better Than Me

11. Talking Bird

It's an all-around GREAT album. Probably my favorite this year.

[Whisper]

Upon first listen of Narrow Stairs... I find myself liking Grapevine Fires the most... yet I don't know why. I'm sure that will change a few times as I listen to it more, because Long Division and No Sunlight are also awesome.

Overall superb album, not sure I could pick a weak song on it.