ChasingBleeps - Nano

http://radicalpresident.bandcamp.com/album/nano

Tonight I'm taking the chiptune direction, I'm checking out ChasingBleeps, rather than the emo/noise/indie rock I've been up to. I'm really excited to do this review, I'm loving the sound for this. I haven't listened to too much chiptune in a while not counting Kplecraft. So "Nano" is really calm and soft and sleepy, much like how it was described in the album description. I can't wait to review, so I guess I should start.

"Nano" starts off almost feeling like the song from a small child's music box. Or maybe a scene in an indie 8bit game where you're character's sleeping and about to start his adventure. Next thing you know, this really calm drum beat kicks in that just sort of drives that calm modus of the album further in the calm direction. Once the drums give out, there's a soft breakdown back into the music box feeling. The song stays there for a while before heading back into the drumbeat with that sort of "time to adventure" feeling into it. It's nice, it's calm, it's soft, it's sweet, and it's not too short. I actually didn't realize where "Nano" ended and "Everlasting" began, but I don't really mind such a well set transition, both songs are really snug and soft. Everlasting stays in that over-the-cradle- mobile type sound for a while, almost effectively lulling me to sleep. The drum jumps in again, similarly to "Nano", while the beat takes a different pattern. The song is quite similar fundamentally while still having a different sound instrumentally. It's got that same triangle sound, with a bit of a chippier buzz underneath and a calmer sounding beat.

"Midnight" drive takes a more layered approach, some parts sound like if two people played a xylophone at slightly different tunes. It's a nice sound, I like it enough. The drum pattern on this one jumps in a little earlier, it has a sort of dance-y sleepy sound to it. It's fun while also still managing to sort of lull me to sleep while listening to it. Ultimately it does have a bit of a dancier sound to it, but it's pretty calm after the drum patterns slows down again. I wouldn't have minded it if it had stayed sort of dance-ish, but I don't mind this either. It's pretty, it's making me sleepy, and it's generally speaking a really nice album. It kind of reminds me of Lullatone.

I suggest this album to anyone having sleep trouble, as it's hellbent on making sure you get there. This might be the sleepiest chiptune album I've listened to in quite some time, but I don't mind. It's really quite beautiful, and still has that 8bit sound that takes me back to my pokemon days. And from what I've listened to, ChasingBleeps' other albums are quite different from one another, so it's more than worth while to check them out after this one. Enjoy!

Yoshimoto - Lemmings to the Sea

http://yoshimotomusic.bandcamp.com/


So you guys well know by now that I only review free albums, but I'm going to break that for this post and this post only. Unless I change my mind later, or someone asks me to. So, as a rule for my blog, I will only review free albums I find unless a band asks me to review their album, in which case I'll do it regardless of price.

Now that I've gotten that out of the way, Yoshimoto is a pretty damn good band. It's actually my ex-english teacher's band, my art teacher used to joke about how much they sounded like Sonic Youth, little did I know of the truth behind his words. I can't really think of much else to say with this, so onto the review.

"Cascarones" is a nice, calm, misleading song. Listening to it I've sort of relaxed, the guitar work and the percussion kind of make me feel light and airy. The vocals come into the song and they're soft, calm, soothing in a way. I like this song a lot, it sort of makes me feel like I'm at some party, and everything's sort of swirling around in a Garden State sort of way. It's nice, cloudy, sleepy, and then suddenly the guitar's all in your face and excited. A nice end to a nice song. "Chair" is a pretty energetic song, the instrumentation makes it seem pretty angst-y. The lyrics feel a bit airy, I like it. The lyrical style offers a nice contrast to the distortion and speed of the song. So far the album feels like a soundtrack to a Scott Pilgram vs. The World, if the movie was based more around noise rock. I mean the whole soundtrack. Not a bad thing, I dig it.

"Private Browsing" further instills my idea that this would do well in a Scott Pilgram movie. It's nice, sections of eerie distorted guitar followed directly by sort of lamenting chaos, and again into the eerie distortion. After that the entire song seems to follow that sort of sad eerie sound. I love it, it's sort of entrapping in that "I could see myself being chased by Jason Voorhees to this and being entirely too into the music to be scared. Only advancing the chase because it'd be so cool looking with that song. "Lemmings" is much calmer from the very start, while still keeping that late-night-alleyway-shenanigans sound as the others. I've decided that's the best description I can think of, and I don't know why you would call it anything else. It's one of those songs that sounds kind of like what I imagine Network would be if it were a song. A "the media is evil" type thing, I could be wrong, but that's what I'm feeling here. "Wake Up and Die" seems like it'd be something from heavy metal band, but it feels more like intense Pearl Jam with more coherent lyrics. It's got that 90's rock drive to it, I like it personally. The break down is pretty fun in how intense it is, since it leads instead into a sort of Franz Ferdinand feel before breaking again into a noise rock appeal. I really like that, I honestly was expecting it to take a different turn. Then right back into that 90's rock feel I grew to love, overall a great song and perhaps my favorite.

"Hungry Ghost" starts off with that noise feel that's just so good. It goes into that eerie underground sound again, with the vocals having a delay and soft reverb on them that makes them just a little bit eerier. Looking back, eerie is an adjective I've used for most of these songs, so I guess it's a pretty good description of their sound, but I think I'll stick to late-night-alleyway for now, it's still pretty feeling. It's not the type of shenanigans involving entirely shady characters, but maybe a lot and one dark vigilante super-hero just taking names. That's exactly what it sounds like to me, like Daredevil just hanging out back there waiting for a scummy ne'er-do-well to walk down with a snatched purse and wrecking him.

This is the most links I've put in any review, but they're all pretty accurate to the idea I'm trying to convey. This album's great, it's kind of dark, it's really eerie, and it's really fun to listen to. Is it bedtime music? Hell no, it's not at all. It's pretty chaotic, but it's really fun too. I'd suggest this to anyone who enjoyed the review, as that kind of means that you'd enjoy the album under review. I might be wrong about that, but I'm almost positive that I'm not. Enjoy!

Mosey Jones - Swell

http://moseyjones.bandcamp.com/


Nothing's better than a little lo-fi emo rock. You've got your sad songs about leaving behind an old love, learning who your ex is with, and humanity destroying nature. It's great, it's sad, and it makes me want to go through some 90's montage just for the hell of it. Throw in some distorted chords, and you've got this album. "Swell" is a great debut album if I've ever heard one, and I have.

Onto the review, "Five Years" is the first track on the album, and honestly I can't tell if it's realizing you're about to go to college, or if it's about trying to convince your friend not to leave just yet. Either way, I'm going to go with the former because I can relate to it. Now, what I do know is that it's awesome. The track has that 90's punk feel that I've come to know and love, it's pretty great. Now, it's not exactly punk, but it has aspects of it. Granted, it's a bit slower than punk is, it has the guitar for it and the distortion, personally "slowed down sad punk" might be my favorite type of emo rock, I don't know why, I just love it. "Leaving" is a bit more instrument heavy, and is a lovely song about leaving behind a love to go for a while. From the sound of it, it's only a couple of months, but hell that can be forever. The guitar work in this song is marvelous, it's fitting. It makes the song come alive, gives it it's own feeling, and I wouldn't change it personally

"I'm A 'K'" seems to be about someone being away from a relationship for sometime, and realizing they've been replaced. At first you're angry at the person who took over for you, and at the person who's abandoned, but you don't want to say anything you'll regret. So you lie, you keep doing your thing and pretending. You want them to give you something, anything, but you don't want to lose the memory. You're not angry anymore, you're just hurt at the idea. That's what I get from this, personally. The song itself is well set up, distortion and chords just go so well with sad songs and honestly a sort of 90's Cali vocal feel. "Trustbuster" is a nice little song about nature brutally destroying those who are destroying it, and then building themselves back up on top of it. It's not so much sad as it is angry, but the vocals don't show it. They seem sad, definitely, but not angry at all. The chord progression on top of the vocals don't really give it away either, they seem just as sad. So really the song is a kind of angry-sad that I can really get behind. The swing-y 3/4 time is really kind of fun, and makes for a really nice sound. "Take Me Home" makes me want to just take a second to appreciate the percussion. The drummer really does a great job of adding a really nice sound, it's not over-powering, and it's really fun at points, especially at the beginning of this song and all throughout "Trustbuster".  I feel like "Take Me Home" is about a couple who's been going through a bit of a rough patch and just sort of having a hard time, finally getting home and having a hell of a time not being tense, and ultimately one of them end up leaving? I'm not sure, but I do know that I love this song. It's a really fun song to listen to, I've always been a fan of vocal layering, and the guitar work is just as fun as the rest of the album, distortion can be so good.

Overall, the album is fantastic. It's fun to listen to, it's just as sad as I could ever hope for an album to be, it's got that 90's crisis feel to it, it's perfect for summer listening. If you ever watched and loved any college themed movie from the 90's you'll instantly fall in love with this album, I did. So, show your love for a great band and check these guys out, they're great lyrically, they're great musically, they're great in general. Enjoy!

Our Sunday Affairs - City of Dogs

http://oursundayaffairs.bandcamp.com/album/city-of-dogs


So, just about an hour ago I found Our Sunday Affairs through Marietta's facebook page. It's another one of those emo/indie gold nuggets I always feel happy to find. They're all about those sad lyrics I've grown fond of over time. The guitar is that nice poppy type that I like to find in sad songs, I'm really loving these Little Mexico-esque bands. I love that moment when I think "well this is pretty upbeat! It's so... Oh. No, it's sad. It's really sad."

"Police Rock" is a lovely tale about a confusing, albeit interesting, dream. That's not necessarily interpretation, it's the first lyric. Granted, it turns into a grimdark tale about what I assume to be the life of someone who feels rejected from others when they try to explain the thoughts in their head. The idea of trying to explain to others around you what you dream, what you think, and being forced into a modus operandi surrounding and idea of grinding into the earth to what I assume to be death could be more than enough to "think [you're] better off without the dreams". It's a great song, I love it. I love the message, and I think a lot of people would be able to relate, or at least be able to sympathize. As I said, I really like this song. I personally prefer songs that make me think, even if it is about death.

"Hate Parade" makes me personally think about the aftermath of the acid swimming pool referenced in the dream of the first song. The guitar manages to maintain that upbeat tappy sound that I so adore, meanwhile we hear about the difficulties of dealing with where you are. There's a bit of a breakdown in the middle of the song, where I feel like he's looking back onto the things he's done that might be a bit less happy with. Suddenly he starts dealing with a bit of strife, which I don't understand how he can do that with that guitar playing so happily. It's not that easy to deal with a life you're not happy with, and even if you struggle to make things back into what you want them to be, especially if you have to not be yourself to do so.

Now, I get the feeling that these interpretations might not be accurate, but it's what I feel. If you're looking for just a review of the music itself and not the lyrics, it's really good. I mean, it's pretty amazing. That guitar is fantastic. It does a really good job at making me feel like the music isn't what it is, but I don't think I could possibly come up with a better pair for the vocalist, it fits perfectly. The vocals in the first song start a bit unbalanced, and over time they become gold. In reality, that's perfect for this music stylistically. You're looking for emotion in the voice, and Our Sunday Affair has it in spades. Overall, the depth of the lyrics, combined with the incredibly well used vocals and vocal layering, mixed with that upbeat guitar and deep bass makes for a great EP. I'm downloading this as I type, and I can't think of a single reason why you wouldn't too. 

Scrittah - Bienfang

http://waxworks.bandcamp.com/album/bienfang


The Waxworks has put out quite the number of free albums. It was hard for me to choose which one to go with, so I went with "Bienfang".  Something about it really sticks out to me, and I greatly enjoy it. I highly suggest to anyone who reads these reviews to listen to this ambient, dark, occasionally snare rush-y album. Now, I grew up around a lot of Aphex Twin and all of Richard D. James' other monomers, so there's a certain place in my heart for snare rushes, and this producer plays all of the right strings on my heart chords. I probably will review a few of the other albums on the page.

Onto the review, "Sketch 1" is the song I'm referencing in particular when I say the album can be a little snare rush-y. It's not, at first. It's actually really ambient, really smooth. It's super dreamy in the best of ways. The lfo is set really well to the gate, that's something I can truly appreciate, it helps it flow really well. Suddenly the rush hits you right in the face, except it's kind of like when you're running around with your friends, having a fun time in the summer sun, and then one of you trips and everyone laughs and has a fun time anyways. It's exactly like that. Now, "Sketch 2" on the other hand is just straight ambiance. It's sleepy gold, a really slow and soft drum beat, a heavy bass that I feel is a sine bass. It's pretty repetitive, but pretty in the sense of beauty, not in how repetitive it is. I almost fell asleep about five times reviewing just this one song. Just saying, it's really good at what it does. Now, as ambient as "Sketch 2" was, "Sketch 3" is three-fold. It's super ambient. I'm pretty sure it's just a recording of an abandoned breeze-way, which might be the coolest sound thing ever. It's calm in an mp3 file. It's sleep, mixed with some warm milk, and a little bit of wind noise, set on the nightstand of the tempur-pedic company owner. It's that sleepy.

"Sketch 4" keeps the sleepy-ness, of the preceding two songs, and throws in a Legend of Zelda feel. It's great, it's reverb-y, it's bitty, and it's kind of awesome. I mean, it's really good. I love it. Potential favorite here, but I really like "Sketch 1" so it might be a tie. "Sketch 5" is rather minimal, it's really nice though. For a one minute song, it's really good in the variety sector. It manages to keep my attention by a series of well placed blips and beeps. It's a nice intermission-type song. I feel like in order to keep to my strict policy of only reviewing half of every album, I'd have to review half of "Sketch 6", but that sounds too weird. So instead, I'll just review the whole song. "Sketch 6" starts of really a really funky vibe, it sounds like something from that game Da Blob I think it was. I like it a lot, actually, it's a really good sound, and that drum beat seems to fight the sleepiness that the rest of the album cast on me. Finally, after a little glitched sax, everything's all rush-y. It's really fun, kind of like the song to best define what I imagine it to be like being the guy from Infamous.

This album is fantastic, it's a hodgepodge. I really like when an artist can make eleven songs that are all at least slightly different. It really makes for a good listen, especially since even the faster songs are just as sleep inducing as all the other songs. It's easily a gem, and I'll more than likely end up reviewing a few of the newer albums as well. In the mean time, I hope you enjoy the album, I know I did!

Elmo Marconi - Puppies & Other Cute Shit

http://elmomarconi1.bandcamp.com/album/puppies-other-cute-shit


I found this album last summer, I believe, and it's been one of my go-to albums ever since. The filter over the vocals, that happy math guitar, the drums that are just loud enough to be great, without being so loud that you can't hear anything else, it's one of my favorites. This album is actually one of the first ones I found on bandcamp, and I've spent a lot of time trying to find something similar to it. I've read from their facebook that they've been working on some new stuff, and I'm really excited for it. Since I don't know when it'll be out, and I've been checking back to see if they'd released anything for a while now, I can't contain it and I need to review this album.

"Fieldtrips" is an upbeat song that if people sang it on the bus back and forth from a museum, it wouldn't make me want to hit them. In fact, I'd join in. I do it often when I go out with friends, in fact, it's catchy. That guitar is so happy, almost hyper sounding. This song always makes me feel like I'm walking around some sort of tourist trap, and I might or might not be running everywhere. Also, did I mention, there are space lasers in the song? Because there totally are. It's basically the best thing ever. "I Think They Mean Business" combines that same upbeat guitar, those happy go-lucky lyrics with a hint of that feeling when you realize that either some of your friends are getting a little tired of your antics, or you just don't have as many friends as you'd like, but there are enough. There are just enough. So you're happy again, and this time there are gang vocals, and who doesn't love that?

The tapping in "Larry Rogers" is fantastic, and the lyrics are that right mix of happy and sad that I'm sure by now you've realized I'm quite the fan of. At one point, the lead and bass guitar seem to take a trip to the autumn north, you can almost see those orange and red leaves. But then it takes you back to that feeling of before, where you kind of feel like maybe you're alone, and maybe you're most charismatic when you're a little not sober. Or maybe it's just you that thinks that. That's what I pulled from the song, anyways. "Cute Shit" is a one minute eleven second intermission of space lasers and calm guitar noises. There's so much space laser. It's great, I feel like I'm star trekkin'. I just can't get over that space laser, it's one of the best intermission's I've heard.

Well, that's half, and so it seems my work is done. I hope you guys love the album as much as I do, because I really do. I'm so excited for their next thing to come out, I'm so prepared it's not even funny. I'll keep this blog posted for as soon as the next album's out, so that if anyone keeps up with this they'll be able to have that gold nugget sitting right at their feet. Enjoy!

Lions - MTNZ [EP]

http://wearelions.bandcamp.com/album/mtnz-ep


Lions is a band that has improved considerably since their demo in August 2010. A bit of it is simply higher quality production, telling us how good they are in their own right. The vocals have improved, in the sense that they're more... I can't find the word for it, but they just fit the music perfectly now. They're more emotive, a bit sadder, and a bit angrier. It's great. Also, if you haven't noticed by now, I really like math guitar, and I'm pretty into emo rock. This is a really nice combination of beautiful math guitar and that sad voice we all secretly (some not so secretly) like to hear. I've actually listened to this album a lot, recently. Since downloading the album I've listened to it round-about nine or ten times, realistically. That doesn't happen much, I usually reserve that sort of listening for Symphony of Science, or anything by Washed Out.

"Nashville, TN" is a great song. This is both opinion, and fact. It's just true. The guitar is great, and the overall sound is reminiscent of an sad/angry This Town Needs Guns, but just a little heavier. Lions does a really good job of creating audible emotion, a quality that I truly enjoy finding. "Phantom Limb" is still really math-y, but the drums after a time become a bit more dance-y, a trait that is both hard to come by, and magical. The song is a crowd puller, it makes me want to jump into the room and dance around like a good friend just gave me a mixtape from the 90's and we just want to destroy pillows. It's great. Turning to "White Keys" we are given a song set on defining that mood of teenagers, best described in the line "if I were older I'd matter". It's great, it's honest, it's well worded, and Lions does a great job of saying "this is what I feel right now, now you feel it too. Come on, do it" and you will. Because you've been there. Don't even try to lie to me.

I have a strict policy of only reviewing half of the album, I like to leave you guys half, it makes me feel nice thinking maybe it gets you guys to check out the album. Today, though, instead of reviewing the fourth track, I skip instead to "King in the Casket" because it's my favorite song on the album, and I'm allowed to. I make the rules here. This song pulls back that feeling of running around, having fun, and thinking "she's cute, maybe I should share my juice pack with her". Everything was great, everything was uncomplicated, if we wanted to be happy we would just play a game. The saddest part of the song, the one where you realize that you too are either going to be soon fully grown or already there, is accompanied by dance drums. Did I mention I love dance drums? I'm pretty sure I did.

As a summary, I love the album. It's great, a lovely combination of sad songs fueled by teenage angst and a fear of growing up, while realizing you already have, and math music that is more often paired with lyrics of spending time with a loved one, or seeing the sights, maybe visiting another country. Way to go, Lions, you've really touched me with your sounds, and also managed to be great musicians in general. The lyrics are lovely, the sounds are sparkly, and the voice is wonderful. Keep it up, guys, keep it up. I'm excited for more music from Lions, and I'll keep my eye out for anything they release.