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Tag Archive for 'noise pop'

Invaders – Floating

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on July 10, 2009

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invaders_floating Invaders - Floating

Louisville’s Invaders might just be my favorite local act. They certainly could be the second loudest (Lords takes first place for obvious reasons). Invaders triumphantly achieve the coveted position of being difficult to categorize, which should by default pique your interest. Floating, their recently released debut for local label Karate Body, is a treble-heavy, noisy, yet viscerally accessible and pop-oriented body of work.

Invaders certainly take advantage of, in some ways, the resurgence of the no-fi aesthetic a la Psychedelic Horseshit and Times New Viking. However, Invaders rely on extremely tight song structures compared to the loosey goosey dissonance of the aforementioned. Snakey guitar, heavily distorted and subdued vocals, punchy rhythm, and general scratchy psychedelia rule over Floating, and the record is able to weave through oft disparate tempos and moods while remaining consistent and cohesive.

Invaders drift in the drug laments of Spacemen 3 on “Head Full of Rocks” (accompanied by the excellent backing vocals of the Sandpaper Dolls’ Amber Estes) and the noise pop of really early Yo La Tengo on “The Flu.” “Charmer” amalgamates a garage punk ethos with a decidedly shoegazey flavor. “Centipede” is pure stoner rock – Hawkwind, Dead Meadow, etc. And the title track sounds exactly like it should – ride heavy percussion, 4AD evocative dreamy textures, and a vaguely romantic swagger juxtaposed against late ’60s acid melodies. Light a doob and get lifted.

Invaders evidently love all the same music I love. Hence, I love Floating.

For fans of: Spacemen 3, Times New Viking, 13th Floor Elevators

Fagen-Becker Quality Rating
steelydan1 Invaders - Floating

You Louisville-and-surrounding-area bros and broettes can see Invaders August 7th on the Glassworks Rooftop. And guess the fuck what – they’re also playing the Marmoset show on September 18th at Skull Alley.

MP3 :::
Invaders – Charmer
Invaders – Floating

Deerhunter – Noise Pop Festival, 2.24.09

Published

Kenny Bloggins

on March 2, 2009

in Visual Aids

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Deerhunter played last week in my favorite city in the nation, San Francisco, at Noise Pop. Deerhunter’s entire performance is available above, which is exciting for me as Deerhunter is one of, like, maybe three new-ish bands that I care about and are 110% worth a damn. The show sounds real good, though it’s weird not hearing B. Cox’s voice liquified by swells of reverb.

Imagining Wire As a Wall of Sound

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Kenny Bloggins

on November 7, 2008

in MP3

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wire Imagining Wire As a Wall of Sound

Post-punk pioneers Wire were oft recognized as a group in a strange nether region – one that was too artsy to be punk, too punk for the art kids. Wire was angular and minimal, with gorgeous melodies remaining subtle and rewarding. As such, it makes total sense to extract those under-the-surface pop structures, add dense layers of sound that the band sometimes hinted at, and reimagine this begrudgingly poppy gem as shoegazing, whose artists also tended to be begrudgingly poppy. Continue reading ‘Imagining Wire As a Wall of Sound’

First, Black Holes – Now, The Antichrist! Egad!

Published

Kenny Bloggins

on September 15, 2008

in Noise Consultations

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We’re still here… supposedly. I don’t mean that in an existential way, simply that the first CERN experiment went well and Earth was not black-hole-swallowed. There will be more though, so let’s hope everyone at CERN brings their A-game, because I’m totally not in the mood to die. The Decibel Tolls hasn’t even been invited to SXSW yet! That has to happen first. However, assuming the Large Hadron Collider functions smoothly, there’s still a grab-bag of apocalyptic scenarios out there to garner a breathy “fuuuuuuck” to slip from your lips.

God_slayer First, Black Holes - Now, The Antichrist! Egad!

Continue reading ‘First, Black Holes – Now, The Antichrist! Egad!’

Deerhunter – “These Hands”

Published

Kenny Bloggins

on July 5, 2008

in MP3

. 0 Comments

deerhunter Deerhunter - These Hands

This leaked rather quickly. Microcastle doesn’t come out until October, but you can catch some of the tracks floating around the Internet if you act fast. You can also just enjoy the stream on Deerhunter’s MySpace. I’m sad they changed their profile around… right before Cryptograms came out, they posted all the bad press they’ve received up to that point on their “about me” section, which I thought was decidedly excellent.

Though I have mixed feelings about some of the songs, “These Hands” (not to be confused with The Guess Who’s equally righteous “These Eyes”) is everything you would ever want to hear on a Kranky release. LOTS OF TREMOLO, and in the universe that the Decibel Tolls occupies, tremolo is the key to success. It seems Deerhunter might be moving away, slightly, from the deluge of noise found on Cryptograms and Flourescent Grey, toning down the wigouts and bringing the vocals up to the front. However, Microcastle, thus far, still seems to preserve just enough of their renowned spaciness to keep things interstellar. The piano and drone coda of “These Hands” provokes the feeling of an excellent Boards of Canada segue or any given Ghost Box artist.

Though I’m totally stoked to see groups like Deerhunter, Animal Collective, and the like get their dues, I still find it peculiar that these relatively odd groups are getting so popular. Perhaps that’s the power of Pitchfork? Of course, I’m very glad that more people are listening to dronerific jams like Deerhunter, and would rather have our collective tastes pushed toward that end of the spectrum than toward borecore artists like Vampire Weekend. Maybe that’s just me. The world needs to be a stranger place, and Deerhunter is helping to make that happen.

Come see Bradford Cox in a dress at one of these fine shows. They’re supporting Nine Inch Nails for most of these dates, which is totally weird:

07/31 Charleston, SC: The Map Room
08/01 Norfolk, VA: The Boot
08/05 Toronto, ON: Air Canada Centre
08/06 Buffalo, NY: Big Orbit’s Soundlab
08/07 Uncasville, CT: Mohegan Sun Arena
08/08 Worchester, MA: DCU Center
08/10 Pittsburg, PA: Garfield Artworks
08/11 Morgantown, WV: 123 Pleasant Street
08/12 Knoxville, TN: Knoxville Civic Coliseum
08/13 Atlanta, GA: Gwinnett Arena
09/02 Morrison, CO: Red Rock Pavillion
09/03 Salt Lake City, UT: E Center
09/05 Oakland, CA: Oracle Arena
09/06 Inglewood, CA: The Forum

MP3 :::
Deerhunter – These Hands

The United States of America – “The American Metaphysical Circus” and “Heresy”

Published

Kenny Bloggins

on July 4, 2008

in MP3

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On this holiday celebrating a rather goofy nation, it seemed poignant to post about one of my all-time favorite artists, also somewhat goofy, who happened to adopt a most festive and patriotic namesake – The United States of America.

usa The United States of America - The American Metaphysical Circus and Heresy

I’m still blown away every time I consider that this album, their one and only eponymous record, was recorded in 1967!

The United States of America was so far ahead of its time that it sounds futuristic even today. “The American Metaphysical Circus” provides a starting point for the marriage of psych pop with soaring melodic choruses, noise flourishes, and electronic structures adopted later by groups like Broadcast, Need New Body, early Stereolab, et al. Also make note of wonderfully drugged out lyrics: “and the price is right, the cost of one admission is your mind.” Word. “Heresy” is a better and more interesting outtake of “Coming Down” off the original release, and almost evokes a very distinct baroque flavor that, despite its major key tendencies, feels somewhat ominous. Hands down one of the most underrated artists of the ’60s.

MP3 :::
The United States of America – Heresy
The United States of America – The American Metaphysical Circus

Happy America Day…

america The United States of America - The American Metaphysical Circus and Heresy