28.3.13

Clemens Eduard Haipl - 330rawson

Band / Artist: Clemens Eduard Haipl
Year: 2005
Genre: Synthpop, New Age, Lo-fi, New Wave, EBM

My Review:
My first look at the cover yielded a "....What?". Its a strange album. Strange, but not bad.

If you liked Space Dimension Controller then you'll likely enjoy this. 

Some of it is heavily steeped in the synthpop genre, and some has newagey moments and some lo-fi video-gamey elements. Everything sounds just a hair to the left of what I’d expect to hear on various New Wave and EBM nights at a goth club crossed over with the music from Katamari Damacy, the most entertianing nonsense game out there. Some of it is in English, while the rest is mostly in german I think. The vocals have a lot of synth processing in some spots.
 
As far as the man himself, He lives in Vienna. He was one half of the band Cell
1110, and is apparently a very prolific guy in Austria. Hell if I can find much more info, I don't speak German. I'm pretty sure I did find him on Google+ though.


https://plus.google.com/113120146981058885839/posts


And back to the album. It isn't 100% there, but its a pretty good freshman album. I only hope that he keeps making music and really works on his mixing and secondary production skills.

Clemens Eduard Haipl - 330rawson

25.3.13

3 days left - Josh Garrels Megapack


Band / Artist: Josh Garrels
Year: 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012
Genre: Breakbeat, Folk Pop, Jazz Rock, Modern Classical, Indie

My Review:
I posted the B-sides for Love & War a good while back, but then I saw this the other day and thought it might be time to revisit Mr. Garrels..

Its a very extravagant sort of folk/ndie. I don't really know what else to call it. At one of his shows he had a short talk about it, and he said "I'm not sure what to call myself...so I say folk".

SO the point of this mega-share is saved in a quote.
From March 14 to March 28, all 5 of Josh Garrels' most current albums will be available for free, exclusively on Noisetrade. This free catalog of music is given as a gift, but 100% of the tips received for any and all of the 5 albums will be given to World Relief and their courageous work in Congo. Congo is currently the most unstable, violent, and impoverished country in the world, with thousands displaced due to warring factions and a majority of the women suffering from gender based violence. Please consider leaving a tip, and in so doing, becoming a partner in the work for restoration in Congo. Thanks.

So I'd imagine that it would be worthwhile to donate a little to this one if you feel like supporting a good cause. I'm always happy when people do this. As always, enjoy, and share with others.

 5 Albums By Josh Garrels

23.3.13

Extra - New York's Alright 2013 Preview


 So in April, there is going to be a punk festival in New York. They released a sampler of the kinds of thrashing, oldschool punk that will be played there.

10 tracks, by 5 bands;  
Altered Boys,
Bad Noids,  
CREEM,
Hounds Of Hate,
Nomad  

I'm not a very huge fan of the Oldschool punk, probably because I came of age during the first wave of less-punky-punk in the 90s. I can still appreciate what it is, and hopefully some of the punkers out there will appreciate this one for what it is. Raw, abrasive, arrhythmic, and pissed.

Alright Festval 2013 Sampler

Poetic Death - Darcia


Band / Artist: Poetic Death
Year: 2012
Genre: Hip-Hop

My Review:
Some pretty nice garage hip-hop by Chad Marshall. The dark cover doesn't hint to how smooth and emotive parts of the album feel. Here's his website.

http://www.poeticdeath.com/#243/custom_plain

One thing I always disliked about hip-hop and rap is that it rarely talks about anything. Music should always do something for the mind, and not just tickle the “Food, fighting, and fucking” part of the id.

The album rides along a tone of nostalgia for a lost lover in the aftermath of a huge breakup. I recommend it if you're a fan of R&B or would be, its a humble, underrated album with a lot to offer.

Poetic Death - Darcia

18.3.13

Los Subliminales - La gente llora​, La gente miente


Band / Artist: Los Subliminales
Year: 2013
Genre: Indie Rock,

My Review:
Looks like more and more musicians are hitting up the blog. That makes me really excited. I got this one a little while ago, and I'm going through and listening and I enjoy it, indeed. review later on.
_____________________________



Jumbly Music: It's nice to meet you. How are you doing in this fresh year?

Los Subliminales: Very well, we are very happy with this opportunity.

Jumbly: So, whats your back story? Who all is in the group?

LS: Really we are two school friends that we started a band, a lot of great people pass through our band, and about three years ago, we find our definitive formation and started to find our sound to make a record.

Jumbly: Where are you from?


LS: We are all from Santiago, Chile.

Jumbly: I believe that you guys are the first band to show on here from Chile. Awesome. Do you find it influences your style and your music much?
LS: Yes, there is actually a lot of Chilean and South American rock, especially Argentinian that we like. there is a strong influence of the British rock, since the Beatles in the Chilean rock sound, and we think that kind of sound plays a huge influence over our music.

Jumbly: Who makes your album art?

LS: A friend of the band, she is called Natalia Muñoz, she is graphic designer and illustrator (@hazzy). We give her total creative freedom to make the art while she listen the progress of the record process and she make the beautiful illustration that is the cover of the our first EP.

Jumbly: Do you tour much? Ever doing a tour through the US?


LS: With the launch of our EP, we gain a lot of attention and we are playing constantly in Santiago, our goal in the short run is to play gigs in other cities of our country and maybe in a year play in other countries like Argentina or Peru

Jumbly: What way do you think is best to enjoy your music? Would you consider it good date music, driving music, chillout music, etc?

LS: mmmm our music is winter music. In our country we have very rainy and cold winters, I think that kind of weather plays a huge influence in our sound, a kind of melancholic and sometimes aggressive sound.

Jumbly: Interesting answer, very fitting to New Wave. I like it.

Do you like giving away your music for free? Do you hope to continue or would you rather move to a pay system?
LS: Yes, we think that charge people for your music is way to old schooled, we prefer giving away the music for free, play more gigs and get more exposure, maybe in some years we release our music under the model of pay if you want to, like Radiohead.

Jumbly: Do you have any sounds, bands, or pieces of art that you admire or wish you could emulate with your music?
LS: Yes, we are very influenced by the Post-punk movement of the UK, we like a lot the clash, joy division and new order. in the future we like to try more dance sounds to our music, adding drum machines and things like that. You could say that right now we are trying to emulate in our version the sound of the Madchester movement
Jumbly: I had to do some research there, but it is a really interesting area to spend some time reading about. If anyone wanted to do a collaboration with you, would you be interested?

LS: Of course, we always like to get in touch with creative people.

Jumbly: How should they get in touch with you?

LS: to our mail: lossubliminales@gmail.com

Jumbly: What kinds of projects do you really want to do in the future?


LS: Right now, we are preparing a to make visual intervention when we play live, project images over our body when we playing and arrange our live show, and also we like to record a video and in the second semester we enter the record studio again.

Jumbly: Sounds like it could come out pretty trippy if you do it right. What would you like to see more from the blog?


LS: I think the blog is pretty great, its awesome that you take the time to listen music from all over the world.

Jumbly: Do you know any other sites that people should check out? What about any other bands?


LS: super45.net independent music from chile, there is an explosion of new music here, the media called the new wave of Chilean pop, you should listen to then, they are very good.

Jumbly: Thanks a bunch for taking the time to share your music with this blog. You guys are great.

I have one last question... Do you think lobsters have an afterlife?

LS: hahahah maybe


___________________________________________

On to the review.

There is a certain dancey indie pop sound to this, reminding me of something like The Rapture, although this band is more closely connected to New Order or other post-punk, new wave bands. It has a sound using many of those elements, the electric/acoustic guitar sound, the simple two-hit drums, the slightly synth-y sound that saturates the perfomance, and the use of stronger guitars during the breaks in the lyrics. I'll also mention how nice it is to hear something come from South America, and reference a very british musical movement. (Its similar to the joy I had hearing the Motown style funk coming from a Harbour City Electric, who hails from New Zealand.)

I enjoyed this, but was kind of hoping that the vocals would come through a little more clearly in some parts, and maybe even pull back a little in others. Its always nice to see variation in clarity and volume used as an element to the music.


Anyhow, this is a shorter album that would still go great alongside a decent mix of other lighter rock bands, and would make a strong playing for a mix. Enjoy it.

Los Subliminales - La gente llora​, La gente miente

Pretty Lights - The 2010 trilogy

Band / Artist: Pretty Lights
Year: 2010
Genre: Electro, Trip-hop, Bastard Pop

My Review:
 Play this
https://soundcloud.com/prettylights/sets/pretty-lights-2010-ep-trilogy

Derek Vincent Smith, the man, the mystery, the music. 
He's from Fort Collins, Colorado, and he's fresh into his thirties. He makes you dance.

He heads the Pretty Lights Music record label, which gives away their music for free, but asks for a donation via PayPal. All members of the label try to make all their money from touring and tips, which is an incredible thing to see someone do well in.

In 2010, his music career had begun to kick off pretty well, so he decided that during his touring, he'd make this trilogy of albums. He got everything together and cranked out his first on March 2nd, Making Up A Changing Mind.

By July 29th, he dropped Spilling Over Every Side.

And had the finale out by October 22nd, Glowing In The Darkest Night.


Here is his website.
http://www.prettylightsmusic.com/#/home

This set of albums has a ton going on. Trip-hop layouts, Electro and Dubstep effects, tons of Mashups from old Funk and R&B, as well as a ton of other places. It all melds together really well, creating a lush, funky Bastard Pop sound that makes you want to dance badly with your friends. I strongly encourage you to grab these three, and then go back to his website and drop him a couple bucks so he can get a cheeseburger or a beer.

Pretty Lights - Making Up A Changing Mind
Pretty Lights - Spilling Over Every Side
Pretty Lights - Glowing In The Darkest Night

 

 

 

13.3.13

Deadfile - Deadfile


Band / Artist: Deadfile
Year:2012
Genre: Post-rock, Blues, Mashup, Neo-Classical, Dark Jazz

My Review:
I'm not a big fan of post rock. I was sort of a few times, but I've never been able to really embrace it. In my quests I have found many things bordering on the post rock genre that I do enjoy, and this is one that I would definitely consider as having a shot of being in that list.

This album is a rich mix of Neo-Classical, Dark Jazz, Post-Rock, and a strange mashup of Blues tracks into the first couple songs. It's slow, building mournful music with enough of the post-rock flavor to keep it interesting, but not enough that it turned me away.

So in summary, if you like post rock, and like violins and cellos, then you'll really enjoy giving this a chance.

Deadfile - Deadfile

9.3.13

Special post - Kukishi.tumblr - EP


Band / Artist: Kukishi.tumblr
Year: 2013
Genre: Punk-Rap, Alternative Hip-Hop, Dirty South, Rap, Bastard Pop, RnB, Lo-fi

My Review:
I got a rather cryptic email from a guy that was just a link to a Tumblr page. After a peek at what was there I asked the sender if it was music he was submitting, to which he replied "depends on if you like it".

Well I had a series of conversations with him after that and gave the tracks a listen in my Mardi Gras driving time, so here's what I can share with you. I edited them down to here, and made sure to omit enough to keep some of the mystery.

Just a heads up, there's some fairly blue parts in here toward the middle, but I didn't feel right editing it out.
________________________________________________

Jumbly Music: howdy. whats going on?
???: just listenin to Depreciation Guild. (ケ ≖⊿≖)ケ ..Are we interviewing now?
Jumbly: lol. yeah sure... SO where do you live? Whats the story on the music?
???: is it important where i live?
Jumbly: not directly, but it's nice to have some information about the music and the musicians.
???: It isn't totally me. and meh
Jumbly: so I'd assume that this is a shell persona in a sense
???: mmm depends on the song, but really the whole project is that. I don't put my name on the album, or ever say it in a song. I don't have any word names for the album or songs. The album name is just however you read the images of the covers.
Jumbly: do you have a persona that you'd prefer to go by? anything to make the work searchable? Why separate yourself so directly from your work?
Kukishi.tumblr: just the website name Kukishi.tumblr is what i'm sticking on stuff. Kinda starting from scratch...
Jumbly: alright. It seems like a cool idea to have the Tumblr part as an actual piece of the name. What would you say is influencing you as far as this work?
Kukishi: Umm I don't really know genres...rap and non-rap. It's very sample heavy full of everything i like, and some stuff i don't like.
Off the top of my head there's major samples of; newtral hilk motel, notorious big, ogre you asshole, bloc party, fight club, a clockwork orange, anamanaguchi, Kaiji, Animal collective, grizzly bear, Conan OBrien, BILLY STEWART, the zombies...
I'm sure theres more i'm forgetting
Jumbly: are you trying to meld the references into anything in specific? Would you say you're emulating any other artists with your work?
Kukishi: thats a weird question, the melding one
Jumbly: this is a weird interview.
Kukishi: I've done weirder :T
i guess a lot of the album with the samples i tried to use things oddly. ummm making hyped up bangers out of indie sounds, and doing things like non-4/4 time signatures and tempo changes, things that don't really happen in raphops.
Jumbly: are you planning to tour/ collaborate with others?
Kukishi: No plans to tour.
I've collab'd with people in the past and will in the future but that stuff isnt ummm...well those are one off type deals. Theres no collabs on my EP beyond the Notorious BIG verse, which doesn't really count. I don't like features on albums, they're shallow.
Jumbly: well, I haven't got much of your history or anything, so I'm just wondering, do you prefer to release your works like a hiphop mixtape, or you intend to release a full album in the future?
Kukishi: i'm going with "EP", especially since it's about the right length by the official terms of what an EP is...as decided by someone a hundred years ago for a medium we don't even remember.
Jumbly: Well doing everything from a blog would be a more forward facing way to approach it. So far you've got the EP on a blog, do you have a plan of how you'll expand that in time?
Kukishi: There's a single now too. Gonna be some more. Finishing up B-sides and trying to get a music video made
oh there is something else...for one of the music videos i had the idea of having a qt just stare into the camera for the length of the song....magibon style with less longface. and i've been having trouble getting someone to agree. if you got any qts in your readership that would be helpful.
Jumbly: I'll leave a message for volunteers. If anyone wanted to contact you about doing some kind of collaboration?
Kukishi: there's a thing on the tumblr you can send me a message with, http://kukishi.tumblr.com/ask
Jumbly: alright. Have you been following the blog, or did you have any suggestions there?
Kukishi: No idea! More porn maybe?!
Jumbly: do you have any extra artwork or photos you'd like to share in your post?
Kukishi: umm nothing in particular, want something?
Jumbly: Sure. if you don't care, I'll go with what I have.  
Kukishi:

i like calling the side-A tracks niggercore
Jumbly: well, your beats are good, and the genres chopped up and taken hold of was fun. I chuckled at the clockwork orange samples
Kukishi: I really showed self restraint on that track. It was originally 20 minutes of "DEVIL TROMBONE"
Jumbly: I have no idea what that is. but 20 minutes of it would probably be pushing it, unless you just want to fuck with people.
Kukishi: "fuzzy warbles"
Jumbly: Ohhh yeah, the quote.
Kukishi:  "DEVIL TROMBONE". That's my favorite quote from a clockwork orange. Double entendre-ing his music setup. Bitches be on their pitiful portable picnic players
Jumbly: I do love the sex scene, its hilarious, and a wonderful use of the music. That scene and the attack scene with the rest of the gang on the water are the best two in my opinion.
Kukishi: Can't take the eye scene huh?
Jumbly: No, I can take it fine, I just think that as far as cinematography goes, those two scenes are the better. specifically the attack scene, but the fuck scene is just good film that I might be biased for on the basis of hilarity.
Kukishi: I like it all so i got nothing to say. every scene in that movie is memorable and iconic in its own way.
*peers into buttcheeks* ARE YOU NOW OR HAVE YOU EVER BEEN A HO-MO-SEXUAL
Jumbly: yeah, that movie is really well put together, I like to wonder what it'd have been like were it made now.
Kukishi: don't worry it'll get a horrible remake eventually. "WE'RE REALLY NOT EMULATING KUBRIK ITS.....MORE BASED ON THE BOOK"
Jumbly: I'd hate to see the remake happen, I just wonder how good it's be if it were made now.
I'll probably mention my distaste about the *niggercore* thing, and the general usage. I like to be pretty honest about the music, but I try to stay objective. My tastes aren't other peoples, and I'm not working for pitchfork.
Kukishi: you should relax on "nigger" its not going away ever, and it's post-racist now. also i'm pretty certain there's a phonetic reason its so popular
Jumbly: fair enough I suppose. I avoid it for all the hatefulness I've experienced around it
Kukishi: welp, you mah nigga now. Its not like i go around saying nigger, i'm an adult after all. Nigger is a good hype word for hype songs....better than swag anyways. 
i'm pretty sure there's something phonetically addicitive about the G sound though. nigger, faggot, swag. guh. GGGGG. real g shit. GGGGRRRRL. gangsta used to be a big word. fell to the wayside because the meaning got in the way :T
Jumbly: well as I know it, "Gangsta" was really more of a musical genre name than anything else. G-funk was the chill brother to it, but Gangsta was the east coast responding to the belligerence of the west coast style. I suppose Dre is the founder of G-funk, which says something about why it'd be more chill.
Kukishi: i never really got that side, pac/snoop/dre/NWA/etc. They were all lacking lyrically. 2srs
Jumbly: well pac, nwa and the like were more the originals of the west coast scene, it morphed over to G-funk in time.
Kukishi: snoop had his moments. growing up it was badboy all the way until it fell apart.
Jumbly: Cypress hill had a decent amount of funk to their stuff as well, but they are more of an outlier to me... Alright well lets finish up the interview bit.
Kukishi: k
Jumbly: do you want to say something about anything posted before on the blog or suggest any other bands that people should look into?
Kukishi: you ask people to review things for your blog?
Jumbly: No I don't ask them to necessarily review things, I usually ask if they like any of the other artists I've posted or if they have any other artists they'd suggest to the readers, but I'm trying that out, everyone has an opinion, and other musicians voicing an opinion about others in the field, seems like something worth trying.
Kukishi: I could gush about Ogre You Asshole all day but it probably wouldn't be a fun read. I know some guys but none of them have finished albums/mixtapes so I cant even push them. 
I couldn't review anything because i don't have the proper vocab for it. I listen to all kinds of stuff across different genres....so much so that i have a hard time getting genres unless there's something specific to it. Like...this is rap, it has rapping....this is screamo, it has screaming...this is bleepbloops, it has bleepboops, but then I listen to to rapping screamo with bleepbloops and I don't know what I'm supposed to call it, or why I may or may not like it.
Jumbly: Well that's understandable. If you wanted to say anything its cool, but I don't mind if you don't.
Kukishi: I'd say something about how the west needs to have 20 new animated series each season like japan with 2 songs book ending each show #animation #newmusic
Here have some EXCLUSIVE. gonna be a b-side track, wubwubs made out of chiptunes

Jumbly: Thats sounding pretty badass. Last thing, what is the most valuable thing that the internet has taught you?
Kukishi: the most valuable thing the internet taught me is that stealing isn't stealing if the thing isn't a thing, so steal all the things that aren't things.
Jumbly: alright. Well thats pretty much it. Thanks for the chat and all, I'd like to hit you up later and see if you want to do some kind of art collaboration
Kukishi: k, thanks
__________________________________________________________________ 


Now on to a review. If you read all the interview then you already partly know what I'm gonna say, and if you didn't, you're likely to be pretty "TL.DR." about a long review, so I'll make it brief.

The layout is something like a mixtape, with the album being 2 mp3s, each containing a handful of songs. Its like an mp3 version of a cassette. If you like death grips, you'll probably like this. If you enjoy bastard pop, there is plenty to appreciate in it.

Its one part mash-ups and bastard pop, one part dirty south rap, and a little garage r&b. The lo-fi part is a strength, and cutting up all the samples he's using makes it pretty fun, and it definitely does have the bones to make it some good weird rap/r&b. The lyrics have some really solid moments for this style of rap, but some of the aggressive dropping of hype words hold me back from staying in the groove in parts. 

I would say that if he keeps up making music, then a year or two worth of growth is going to leave him making some fairly grade-A alt-rap-punk-bastard-pop, which is something I look forward to seeing. Especially with that extra he tossed me. Enjoy.

Kukishi.tumblr - EP


Also, if anyone wants to be a part of his music video he's making, shoot him a message.

8.3.13

Carthasy - Apertures & 0110/Mindcage



Band / Artist: Carthasy
Year: 2010, 2011
Genre: Post-Metal, Prog Metal, Prog Rock, Alternative Rock


My Review:
If you have an affinity for Porcupine Tree and Tool, then this is definitely a little gem for you. They have some high minded talk describing their songs on their website..

http://www.carthasy.com/#!bio

..but they would be better served with a simple review. They do a pretty great melodic prog metal. Its good, has great layouts of the tracks, and they use effects on guitar and vocals at just the right amount to make them all pay together. I'm looking forward to a full album from them, because if this is their debut, they are likely to grow in just the right way.

My only real qualm with the band is their logo, especially from the demo they did here

Carthasy - 0110/Mindcage

The idea behind the logo seemed really decent, but that font and they way it was integrated into that logo was just irking the hell out of me. I had a few minutes to spend, so I made this.

..and figured it's implement well like this..


but regardless, enjoy the album.

Carthasy - Apertures

3.3.13

Bootie Loves Whitney

Band / Artist:
Year: 2012
Genre: Mashup

My Review:
A Mashup cd of Whitney Houston. I guess this happens any time a pop star dies. I don't think I mind. A couple songs don't very directly use much Whitney, and some weren't the most amazing tracks to me, but its pretty good overall. I enjoyed it enough to keep it.

I've shown stuff from Bootie before, but it might have only been stuff from Bootie Rio. In either case, here is the website for the San Francisco branch of the global Bootie Mashup empire.

http://bootiemashup.com/about/


Hope you find the album enjoyable.


Bootie US – Bootie Loves Whitney