Record Of The Week 

Falcon Arrow – Anti-Matter

Falcon Arrow’s latest release, Anti-Matter, could very well be their best yet. This Minneapolis duo, Matt Reints (Bass) and David Kemp (Drums), have released 4 albums/EP’s since 2009. You may think that a duo just playing drum and bass, would, well just sound like drum and bass. Due to the clever nature of their play and equipment, it sounds like they are more than 2 people. They claim that it is experimental, instrumental post-rock, and I would totally agree with that summary. They write quirky melodies, just listen to Tamarian Language and for some nice shifts in tempo and textures, listen to Obvious Cipher. This really is an album that never slows down. Track after track, and there are 10 of them, with the album just over 52mins long.  There is something different to hear in each and every track. I cant recommend this album highly enough. These guys deserve more recognition for what they are doing and I also hear that they put on a mean live show.

My recommendation is…..go get it!

Fade To Yellow reprise show 

Record Of The Week

The Calm Blue Sea – Arrivals and Departures

The Calm Blue Sea released their third album, Arrivals And Departures, on Modern Outsider records. An Austin band on an Austin record label. This is their third release in 4 years and we have had to wait three years for this release to happen. Was it worth the wait, I would say that it was. It has a defined start middle and end, it really fits the two sides of vinyl rather nicely. That was intentional, and it works really well. The opening track, also the title track, is only 1.20mins long but it is a beautiful introduction to the album, all piano/synth with a really nice melody and this leads into Samsara which at just under 8 minutes, is the longest track on the album. ‘Samsara’ carries on the piano sound with the addition of vocals, well not out and out vocals, more of a vocalization. All the instruments really shine on this track, this could very well be a live favourite. It has an unexpected change of direction at the end of the track. The next track is a  classic post rock song name, and by that i mean it is a long title. ‘We Will Never Be As Young As We Are Tonight’ with really nice piano and guitar melodies. There are no bad tracks on this album, each of them have an endearing quality about them and they have enough variation from song to song that it never quite sounds the same. But I would say the The Calm Blue Sea do have their sound, and they are expanding it and that is not a bad way to go. They are evolving their sound as a band. This album seems to up the ante for sure, the production and sound is first class.

This is going into my top ten releases of 2012.

There is also a video being released for each track on the album. the link is here

Band Members

Stephen Bidwell – Drums

Chris Patin – Piano/Synth/Guitar/Vocals

Kyle Robarge – Bass/Synth/Vocals

Taylor Wilkins – Guitar/Vocals

Biography

The Calm Blue Sea’s lushly textured sound is a study in contrast. The Austin, Texas band’s music, like its oceanic name, is at once beautiful and violent, transcendent and triumphant. With songs structured by minutes rather than measures, the foursome marries post-rock fugues with classically-inspired arrangements, the aggression and heaviness of metal, the artiness of indie rock and the widescreen expanse of a film score. The end result is stunning.

Fresh off the heels of the 2011 reissue of their debut album, The Calm Blue Sea is back withArrivals & Departures, their overdue sophomore offering and one of the most anticipated recent releases to come out of the fertile Austin music scene.

Originally formed in late 2007, The Calm Blue Sea emerged quickly with their self-released 2008 debut. The eponymous full-length broadened the band’s reach to a worldwide audience and set the foundation for a flurry of activity over the next year. Months after the release, and days after returning home from their first American tour, The Calm Blue Sea wasted no time in immersing themselves in their next creative endeavor: writing and performing an original score to the 1924 Fritz Lang film entitled Siegfried (thecalmbluesea.com/siegfried).

While the undertaking was fraught with exhaustion and the stress of deadlines, creating the 96-minute score unearthed new methods of articulation within the band as the writing process evolved to satisfy the specificity of expression that the project required. Siegfried came to life in a one-time performance of the score in front of a sold out audience at Austin’s historic Ritz Theater and a limited edition release in the fall of 2009.

Due to the emotional and financial stress of constant activity, managing every process internally, and sudden lineup changes, the remaining members decided at the end of the their second tour in 2009 to take time apart from the band and ultimately each other.

Eventually, however, the gravitational pull was too strong and guitarist/vocalist Chris Patin, drummer Stephen Bidwell, and bassist Kyle Robarge reunited in late 2010. After filling out the fragmented lineup with Taylor Wilkins on guitar, the band took one last look to the past with the reissue of their debut LP on Modern Outsider Records, garnering praise from the likes of Esquire and NPR Music, who noted, “The Calm Blue Sea’s epic thunderings are far too beautiful to dismiss.”

Following their return to the stage at SXSW 2011, the band started the unexpectedly arduous task of writing their next album. “As a writing team we were essentially starting over. It was very much a brand new band in that sense, and we had to go through all of the initial struggling and stumbling of learning to collaborate with a whole new team, while attempting to come up with a drastically different end product at the same time,” Bidwell says.

“Finally we hit our stride though,” says Patin. “Those first couple of songs were painful to create, but eventually we learned how to communicate again and we started to understand where each person was coming from and which direction they wanted to push this band.”

By early 2012, the band was back at Cacophony Recorders with engineer Erik Wofford (The Black Angels, White Denim), four years removed from the 2008 weekend when they first stepped foot in that same studio to record their self-titled debut.

“While crafting this record we lived outside of our individual comfort zones and challenged each other to shake free of the expectations of what our music is supposed to be,” Patin continues. “I think we’ve finally established our identity. Comparisons are inevitable but my hope is that if someone really listens to this record they’ll hear something unique.”

“We’ve all been waiting a long time for this record,” Robarge says. “Now that it’s finished it’s obvious that this is the record we needed to make — it really bridges the gap from the band we’ve been in the past to the band we’ve become now, and there’s still a lot of growth happening in every new song we write.  It’s going to be very exciting to see how people react.”

Record Of The Week

You May Die In The Desert – International Waters

International Waters is the new release from Seattle based band You May Die In The Desert. Just over 55 minutes of music spread across 9 tracks. Four tracks from this release were previously available on a tour CD called International Waters EP, but that has now been upsized to a full LP with a further 4 tracks added, and they retained the name International Waters. I chose two of the newer tracks to play on the show, ‘Hands’ and ‘Six Horses’. I like the way that they split up the album with a very nice piano piece called ‘Interlude(II)’ which lets you catch your breath after the 4 four tracks and sets you up nicely for the last 4 tracks. Not a bad track on this release, lots of great melodies, high energy music that is captured quite nicely, I bet it would be amazing to see this band live. I imaging it would be even heavier and I suspect you would see and feel that energy. Oh and did I mention that they are a trio, such an incredible sound to make with just three members. So Brian, Brandon and Mike have really impressed me with this release, but to be fair to them, i also enjoyed Bears In The Yukon and also Harmonic Motion. So if you like your post-rock played with high energy and like it to be ultra exciting, then this is the band and album for you.

Biography (from their website)

You.May.Die.In.The.Desert is a three-piece instrumental band from Seattle, WA.

You.May.Die.In.The.Desert have released two albums, Bears in the Yukon, and Harmonic Motion: Volume I (a split record with Gifts From Enola). Bears in the Yukon was originally released in Japan by Zankyo Records and more recently in the USA by The Mylene Sheath. The band has toured extensively in the western USA and had the opportunity to tour Japan in June 2007. In 2010, they self-released an EP, titled “International Waters E.P.”. Their first official full length LP, International Waters, is due to be released in August of 2012. They will be touring the west coast in support of the new album along with many smaller regional tours.

1. International Waters (8:09)
2. West Of 1848 (7:16)
3. True North (5:41)
4. Monolith (8:13)

RECORD OF THE WEEK 

Bitcrush – Collapse

Bitcrush have just released their 6th release (well 7 if you include a remix album) on N5MD records, Collapse is the most powerful sounding yet. It mixes tranquil electronic and soundscapes with crushing electric guitars. It also has the distinction of being the release with the least number of tracks. 5 tracks at just under 50minutes in length. But these 5 tracks are quality, this album is for sure one of my top 10 releases of 2012. I played the opening track of the album on my show, and this track has some incredible changes in tempo and sound. There are long lingering big guitar riffs, they fit the music beautifully. It really is a mixture of sounds that I didn’t expect to come from Bitcrush, but it is one that he executes so amazingly well. It is not a totally instrumental album, there are some vocals along the way but i wouldn’t let that put you off.

In summary, this is an awesome release and one that blew me away the first time I heard it.

Bitcrush – Collapse (from the N5MD website)

Bitcrush has always had a knack of making something as intangible as emotion seem somehow within reach, and on Collapse Mike Cadoo has taken this project to a new level and managed to create the most human and powerful record of his career to date. While this is beyond doubt a Bitcrush record and still invokes a feeling of a desperate nostalgic hope like a crack of sunlight through parting clouds, this time the clouds are much blacker and tempestuous, the viewing platform less stable. Bitcrush has changed, adding almost JK Broaderick-esque detuned guitars and fragile yet distressed guitar parts, he weaves these new elements into his work effortlessly and somehow manages to make Collapse feel like a living breathing entity.

As Bitcrush has always been the sleeve on which Cadoo wears his heart, the fact that he puts this stylistic shift down to, as he puts it, “emotionally exhausting events in my life”, is hardly a surprise and can be felt in every note. More expressive and emotional than ever – pain, hope, slivers of broken joy – Collapse is not a safe record, but somehow manages to take the emotions that created it and make them yours in a journey you’re unlikely to forget

Bitcrush Biography (from N5MD website)

From 1995-2005 Mike Cadoo crafted some of the most forward-thinking music available as half of the post-industrial/IDM duo Gridlock. Few could claim a more visceral, workmanlike approach to electronic music in a scene deluged by laptop upstarts. However, by 2004, the balance between personal fulfillment and external accolades had shifted. In surveying the unending pursuit of “future music,” Cadoo realized that a personal retreat was due. And so by re-embracing his love for live instruments and raw expression unhindered by the demands of trainspotters and gearheads alike, he formed Bitcrush.

Although 2004’s Enarc differed minimally from Gridlock, 2005’s Shimmer and Fade announced a meld of shoegaze fuzz, pop drumming, faded vocals and epiphanic structures. Jittery beats now bowed to truer rhythms while complex synth lines were retraced along the necks of distorted guitars. This sound climaxed on 2006’s In Distance—an album that created a unique space for followers of Slowdive, Lush and Mogwai to seek agency with fans of Swans or Sigur Rós. With Bitcrush, the aim had been soundly reset from the head to the heart.

While no less the skilled programmer, Cadoo then advanced to his “rock” album—2008’s Epilogue in Waves—in which analog instruments were favored over electronics. The title was also meant to be literal. With the birth of his son in 2006, priorities had shuffled. Stretched thin by running the n5MD label, a mailorder business and the travails of any adult life, Cadoo felt that the role of musician was one too many to ensure family time. For someone who wears his emotions on his sleeve (even if that sleeve is rarely black), it felt right.

Only later, after seeing Sonic Youth with their children in attendance, did Cadoo realize the necessity of remaining true to himself as a musician and for his son to grow up knowing him as one. With this newfound vigor, Cadoo embarked on Bitcrush’s most spacious release yet—2010’s Of Embers. While no “ambient” album per se, Of Embers sets a much earthier and echoing foundation with some cuts eclipsing fifteen-minutes. The walls of sound now seem more tidal; the rise and retreat of each layer more natural. Whether this broader compositional approach stems from the broadening of Cadoo’s own life, or merely the evolution of a veteran composer reaching for new heights is as unknown as it is irrelevant. Now more than ever, it simply is what it is.