Alan's Music Recommendations Pt. 3 (Free Music Inside!)

[menomena]

Well, I feel like I want to ramble about music on the board for the third time, so here we go.

My goal for this thread is to review two cds a week, one CD that has been released in the past year and a half or so, and one cd released from the 90s or before.

You can go ahead and read though my reviews over time, and if you like the albums, let me know, and either I will send it to you or provide a link on here to download the album. It will be fun. Or something like that. At worst, I introduce you to some bands you don't like and you skip the thread, so you have nothing to lose.

[menomena]

The album I am going to review today is.....

Man Man - Six Demon Bag

This album is, hands down, my favorite album of 2006. To say the least, this is an album that challenges the ears and the mind. All the comparisons to Captain Beefheart and Tom Waits actually fit the artist for once.

Honus Honus, the singer of Man Man, has one hell of a raspy voice, and he knows how to use it, hence all the comparisons to Tom Waits. But, in their second outing, the lyrics actually start to come close to the poetic beauty of Waits.

Starting off the album is the track "Feathers" which is a short, slow paces song that essentially leads you into "Engrish Bwudd" which is a powerhouse of a track. It starts off with a demented sounding children's choir singing something that sounds like something out of Willy Wonka or something. But after you get past the insane intro, you find yourself immersed in a track about a father forbidding his daughter from being with an English man. It might sound silly, but it's quite the powerful track.

The track "Van Helsing Boombox" brings Man Man's most powerful track to date. This one happens to be their least "weird" song on the album, but also the most heart wrenching. He takes a bad break up and turns it into a song with amazing guitar and some of the catchiest sing along lines in independant rock since the Wrens.

The album closes with the track "Ice Dogs" and wraps up the story of loss quite nicely. The song starts off as a mid-tempo sing along, unexpectedly breaks down, then turns into a 1960s Phil Spector-esque girl group with the "sha doo"'s making the the backing beat along with a wood flute and a bit of guitar as Honus Honus belts his emotions. It completes a tale of love and loss, like almost every other album ever made does, but this one actually does it well without making the listener feel ashamed to like it.

This is a quality album. I would say it has done a better job of impressing me musically than the Belle and Sebastian or Cat Power releases, and has a much more original sound than Tapes & Tapes or Calexico has this year.

Here's the link to the cd if you guys want it. It's a zip file, so yeah, just open it and you'll be set. Enjoy.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/iraf4n

[Joe Cooler]

Listening...

It's ballsy. I like it. It makes me want to go out and dance with a Russian girl. I'm sure you know what I mean.

[Lando]

Dick Tracy! Where's your yellow trench coat?

[menomena]

Well, I have some time before I start studying for finals (I have to graduate at some point, right?), so I am going to slap another cd up here and tell you why I like it.

His Name Is Alive - Stars on ESP

OK, this album came out in 1996, so it is very recent, but I figured some of the people here might like it.

The guy who is the mastermind behind His Name Is Alive, Warn Deferver, recorded his debut cd called "Livonia" in Livonia, Michigan back in 89, and was immediately signed by 4AD, home of the Cocteau Twins and the Pixies. It was a well respected album with the college kids, all sparse, slightly gothic, and operatic. After that album, Warn changed his sound. Multiple times.

This album is nothing close to gothic. It has a very orchestrated, dreamy sound to it, actually. "Dub Love Letter" opens up the cd, and it isn't exactly the most amazing song to start a cd with, but what it leads into makes it worthwhile. "This World Is Not My Home" is a very simple, yet stunning song. It's lyrics are repeated over this backing song that sounds very close to a Stereolab song. The mid-tempo rhythm of the song, sprinkled with flourishes of guitar makes it absolutely amazing.

The next two tracks keep up the same pace of "This World Is Not My Home." "Bad Luck Girl" has a very fragile, 60s vibe to it and is very infectious. It's the type of song that gets stuck in your head. "What Are You Wearing Tomorrow?" has a very sad, droning feel to it, but the flourishes of music are quite mesmerizing. The sprinkles of xylophone over the sparse guitar and bass work together nicely.

The song on this album that is quintessential is called "Universal Frequencies." The song, to put it bluntly, is an updated version of the Beach Boys. The lush harmonies, the stunning vocals, and the flourishes of electronic noise in the song work together nicely over a simple reverbed guitar and marching drum beat.

The last song I will write about is called "I Can't Live This World Anymore". It is essentially a reprise of "This World Is Not My Home" but with a faster perkier rhythm. The vocals don't sound as mesmerizing as the original version, but the music makes it stand as its own entity. At the end of the song, it actually turns into a metal song. I wish I was joking, but it goes from a sweet pop song into pure, heavy guitar and crashing.

The reason I decided to pick this album is the sudden interest people have with Saturday Looks Good To Me. His Name Is Alive is actually the band where Fred Thomas of SLGTM started off. Fred plays bass and actually credits this album as the album that helped develop his sound. Yes, the influences from the Ronettes and other 60s girl groups is where he comes up with his ideas, but Stars On ESP is the stepping stone to All Your Summer Songs, the defining SLGTM album.

Well, here's the link to Stars On ESP. Listen and tell me what you think.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/0nek9d

[xjsb125]

I'm going to move this up one forum to the general music forum where it will fits in a little better.

[menomena]

Thanks, I kind of edited my first message because I was an idiot and somehow put it in the art thread.

I'm not a noob, I'm just absent minded sometimes.

[Hope]

when i saw this, i thought Alan had returned somehow... that was a weird moment.

[menomena]

I have....

I am still that same guy that's been banned theee times or so. I just haven't been banned again.

You should download the music and then comment on it. Let's get the thread back on track now. I want this to work, so give some new bands a try.

[clumsychild_]

Consider Man Man enjoyed. A lot.

[starseed_10]

alan, thanks for Man Man.

can you upload tapes and tapes if you have it kicking around?
i should have a few good leaks i can send when i get home

[Hope]

EDIT: nevermind.

[nelison]

he has a link above to a zip file of Man man songs.

I haven't had a chance to take a listen yet Alan, but i definitely will on Wednesday once I'm done exams. I remember your old recommendations thread and a number of the bands you mentionned are now part of my regular rotation. I've always had a lot of respect for your music tastes and it's good to see you back around here sharing them. It also sounds like things are going decent, which is cool.

For the last year or more I've been on a bit of an Arts & Crafts kick. I don't know if you're still into bands like Broken Social Scene, Stars, The Most Serene Republic, Jason Collett, etc, but if you are and have any recommendations for bands that are of the same calibre and have that raw/catchy vibe going I'd be interested in hearing about them.

I know this thread is about expanding horizons, but I'd really be interested in hearing about your take on the current indy scene, especially with the high quantity of quality Canadian acts that are starting to pick up steam going the indy route.

[menomena]

First off, I will list a link with the album I am reviewing so everyone can hear it. It is very important you just download the files I provide, because in Hope's case, she might have downloaded songs from different His Name Is Alive periods, and they range from sparse, gothic acoustic rock to motown influenced to electronic to straight soul music.

Next, I will link the new Tapes & Tapes album. I'm not going to review it because I don't have much time to. I have a final tomorrow in, essentially, business law, and I need to "study" for it.

Now onto the response for Jim:

At the moment, I really do enjoy the indie music scene at the moment. There is such a great variety of music at the moment that I feel like I am immersed in a way to spend all my money.

Since I was last here, I spent a lot of time experimenting with different kinds of music, so over the past year or so, I have developed a taste for different kinds of soungs. I started an electronic music project, and I opened up for Juan Atkins (Atkins, along with Kevin Saunderson, pioneered the Detroit electronic scene) and might play a set with Richie Hawtin, even if he is odd as hell. I am also in a rock band that has sounds that range from the jangle pop of The Smiths and early REM to the happy twee pop sounds of The Boy Least Likely To. I write the lyrics for the songs, and they're depressing, like usual, and it's going well.

Back to the point, after experimenting with sounds, I found myself trying out new kinds of music. I discovered that electronic music and sampling actually does have substance. The Avalanches, the Go! Team, DJ Shadow, Out Hud, and Christian Fennesz all have distinct, impressive, and amazing sounds. The first three found a way to layer samples of thousands of other pop songs from decades ago into perfect, dancable, pop songs. Out Hud plays instruments and actually have such patience with their equipment that they make it sound like electronic music. Fennesz makes the darkest, most sparse electronic music this side of Aphex Twin.

Then the scene has seen an explosion in other types of sounds. Tapes & Tapes and Wolf Parade, for example, were enamored by Modest Mouse, who was enamored by Built to Spill, who was enamored by Neil Young, and make a very raw, specific sound of rock music that is addicting and immediately inviting to casual listeners.

Twee Pop somehow made a comeback in music. From the humble days of the Television Personalities (where I got my user name, actually) and Kurt Cobain being given a break by K Records (home of Beat Happening, and more recently, Mirah, Microphones, Built To Spill, and Modest Mouse) and Calvin Johnson, it has somehow expanded today. Bands like Belle & Sebastian, the Boy Least Likely To, Jens Lekman, and to a certain extent, Saturday Looks Good To Me are making sweet sounding music with real meaning behind it.

I honestly feel that the Canadian scene is making a huge impact in the lives of people everywhere. Broken Social Scene and the Unicorns made the first important step into making people pay attention to their artists. The Arcade Fire is the band that made Canadian music, to a certain extent, fashionable. Last year had the first important follow up for a Canadian artist, and BSS handled it well. That year also offered up Wolf Parade, a band that many people genuinely liked, and it made a lot of year end lists. And this year has already given us a great Canadian release by Islands, the less spastic offshoot of the Unicorns.

To look at the individual bands from the Canadian scene, you have many different sounds going on. Stars sound like a focused version of My Bloody Valentine at times. Do Make Say Think made, hands down, the best orchestrated pop music I have made this decade. The Unicorns absolutely destroyed standard pop music and rebuilt it into their own form of perfection. I haven't heard Jason Collett yet, but am interested and plan on doing it sometime soon.

Actually, I almost forgot to mention Destroyer. My God, that man is a complicated, yet beautiful, mind. I can't stop listening to that album this year. It's firmly stuck in as my #2 album of the year so far, and will probably stay. He is the strongest member of the New Pornographers, and he is often overlooked. It's quite sad, really. I guess he is too complicated for some people.

Anyways, this has gone on quite a bit. I don't even think I've answered the question, but I have been scatterbrained today. Too much going on at the moment.

But yeah, if anyone else here wants a particular album that has come out recently, just download something I have posted, tell me what you think about it, and just tell me what album you want, and if I have it, I will gladly share.

Tapes & Tapes:

http://www.sendspace.com/file/b7g2fx

[Hope]

that was pretty much the first post of Alan's that i've understood completely in all its music references...

*pats self*

thanks for the Tapes & Tapes album! ive been meaning to download it for quite a bit now..

[menomena]

Well, this topic is slipping already, so I am going to do another review before I head into work and study for a final.

Jens Lekman - Oh You're So Silent Jens

This album is kind of tricky, to say the least. First off, it's a collection of Jens Lekman's out of print work and singles he's released over the past two years, so, while it is a great album, it's not a true album. Second off, I am not sure whether or not I should like this man for his music, or just call him a guilty pleasure.

The album starts off with the track "At the Dept. of Forgotten Songs" and it's a very mellow, slow song that's rather clever for the Swede. Then my most played song of 2005 kicks in, "Maple Leaves." This track absolutely blows my mind. The music is a sample from a Television Personalities song (which I still haven't placed...fuck Rough Trade and their out of print music) and it's absolutely captivating. The swirling violins, sparse guitar, and pounding bass drum, along with sleigh bells at the end more than make up for the painfully simple lyrics. The song starts off with the verse "It's Autumn in Gothenburg, I'm walking home to my suburb, rain falls hard on the city, on every homeless kitty." Yes, he said homeless kitty. I am still not over it. But later in the song, the lyrics do pick up and mentions to name drop Mark E. Smith from the Fall. And I thought I was clever for name dropping both Bonnie "Prince" Billy and Lee Hazelwood in one of my songs.

The track "Black Cab" might seem instantly familiar to some people here, as it starts off with a Belle and Sebastian sample. In fact, I think the bass line is lifted from a track on The Boy With The Arab Strap, but I could be wrong. This song is a great example of twee pop at its finest. The lyrics are simple, the voice is sweet and has a little accent on it, and the music just bounces around.

The next track on the cd is "Someone to Spend My Life With" and is a Television Personalities cover. It is a very simple, sparse, acoustic track with Lekman crooning to Dan Treacy's lyrics about how he just wants to be married. Very poignant, especially considering Treacy is insane, and Lekman does the song justice in his hero worshiping kind of way.

The last three tracks I am going to talk about are the Rocky Dennis trio of tracks. I have no idea about the history of the songs, beyond the fact that it's about a guy named Rocky Dennis and he died. The music is sincere and beautiful, the sounds make it more immediate, and I think it's about a friend dying, and that always adds points in my book.

I am going to say this again. Jens Lekman is not a great lyricist. That's the thing with twee pop though, you don't have to be literary. In fact, it is preferred that you aren't, I think. If you download this album, you will not be amazed by Lekman's wit, but more by the way he composes the songs and the vocals.

So yeah, download the album and tell me what you guys think. It's free.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/62vw4x[/i]

[clumsychild_]

His Name is Alive makes me happy. It works with the SLGTM kick I had not long ago.

Thanks!

[menomena]

OK, this thread isn't taking off quite like I thought it would, especially since I keep adding free music in here and all, so I am going to try and shove as many albums in here until people start caring. I am stubborn. This shall not fail.

I am going to tell you guys and gals about one of my personal favorite albums:

Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy

This album is how Americana/Folk music should be done. Where Sufjan Stevens overloads his songs with pretty sounds, Okkervil River knows how to hold back on the noise and when to use the trumpet for its greatest effect.

Another reason, and the most important one in my book, that this album is so stunning is that Will Scheff is the best songwriter since Jeff Mangum. Seeing that Mangum most likely will never return, Scheff has taken over at the paramount of album-length stories of love, loss, death and introspection to the point of amazement, and not sappiness.

The album kicks off with a slow acoustic cover of Tim Harden's "Black Sheep Boy." That song is the inspritation for the entire album, and moves slowly in its two minutes to a poignant voilin-filled end. The violins fade into the slow, heavy opening of "For Real", an anger-filled, medium paced rocker. This song shows how Scheff's voice is the real instrument of the band in the way he belts the chorus in this song.

The track "Black" is another head-first rocker that starts out with crashing drums and a nice backing Hammond organ sound that amplify the anger filled lyrics like, "But if I could tear his throat, and spill his blood between my jaws, and erase his name out for good, don’t you know that I would?" and "When I tell you twice before that you should wreck his life the way that he wrecked yours."

My personal favorite track on this cd is "A King and a Queen". The track is a slow, sweet, acoustic number where the main character of the cd realizes that his love for the woman he adores will always be unrequited, and has a simplistic and depressing acception of the facts. The lyrics "You’re all that I need. Though I know that it never can be, I’d be pleased to post your decrees, to fall at your knees, to name all your streets and to sit down and weep."

"The Latest Toughs" kicks the cd back into a faster pace, with the electric guitar, pounding bass drums, and ample use of the tamborine. The song might lose a few listeners with the almost childlike backing vocals, but the energy of the song should carry you through it.

The last song I will ramble about is "Song of our So-Called Friend." This song might be the quintessential folk song of the century (Yes, all 5+ years of it). Its sparse instrumentation allows the jangling acoustic strum augment the power of the last attempt the main character makes at winning his woman's love. The music provides an almost perfect dichotomy with the actual song matter that the Smiths executed so well.

This album actually lands in my top ten albums of all time, so it's a pretty important album to me, and I hope a few others out here after you download it. Check it out, it's still free. And please talk about it and tell some other people about it if you like it.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/06o60y

[starseed_10]

definitely one of the better albums i've heard lately.
i listened to almost nothing else for two weeks after i got this, but i have to see how it respnds over time before really calling it a favorite..

[clumsychild_]

Yeah I've had this album for awhile. It's lovely.