The Decemberists are back...

...and this time they're warning you about The Hazards of Love.

Released only 6 days ago, their fifth album breaks away from all past sounds; not quite the folksy feel of The Crane Wife or the melancholic feel of Her Majesty; not quite the bombast of Castaways & Cutouts -- but The Hazards of Love incorporates all and more. The album is, simply put, an epic. It tells the story of Margaret, her rape by a shape-shifting forest beast and the trials of her love -- the music flits from almost baroque folk (complete with mandolin et al!) on 'Annan Waters' to the sounds of Jethro Tull-esque prog-folk on tracks such as 'The Hazards of Love 3 (Revenge)'. Meloy & co. have worked in a variety of sounds, so that the album as a whole adheres to none and incorporates all; one could not possibly pin down this album and definitively pronounce on its genre. So I'm not going to try. Fans of The Decemberists who liked their whimsical sound on The Crane Wife will find fleeting remnants of the same in this album, but are going to be disappointed if they expect the same clarity and folk-melodic quality. This album is grander on every scale; thematically and conceptually -- some may scoff, but The Decemberists hold true to their characteristic musical diversity, and pull off yet another style comfortably. So don't hold out; give this album a listen... it'll be absolutely worth it!!

For your sampling pleasure:

* The Wanting Comes in Waves (Reprise)

* The Queen's Approach

Noo band.

If you love a bit of lo-fi distinctly American indie rock now and then, Paper Rival are the band for you. Hailing from Nashville, their songs fuse the harmonies of Fleet Foxes with the lyricism of Bon Iver, and then add violins and vague drum beats to top it all off. Like the sound of it? Check out their site, their old Myspace, back from when they were called CODA. And of course, this song:

Cassandra -- Paper Rival

CK do COVERS!!!

Because I'm really bored, I'm going to do a series of my favourite covers ever. And there are a LOT. But I'm going to go slow and do four per post. Soooooo... here goes! =)

1. Andrew Bird & Nora O' Connor -- "Oh Sister" (Bob Dylan cover)

Now I love Bobby D. and his songs are like holy to me; so I'm usually really critical of people who actually dare and try cover the great man. Sometimes I even tell myself that the original Dylan version of "All Along the Watchtower" beats the legendary Hendrix cover. (I knooow!) But then one day I stumbled along this cover, and fell absolutely in love with it. I'll even go so far as to say that it's better than the Dylan original, depending on what you like. Dylan's version, as usual, is strong and contains large amounts of loud harmonica -- quintessential Dylan. Bird's spin replaces the harmonica with yummy doses of violin and whistling (he is a professinal whistler, after all!), and renders the whole song....sweet. That's the only word for it. With Bird's soft melodies and Dylan's amazing lyrics ("time is an ocean but it ends at the shore"?? YUM.), this is one song everybody has to hear.

Andrew Bird & Nora O' Connor - Oh Sister (Dylan cover)

2. Amy Millan -- "I Will Follow You Into the Dark" (Death Cab for Cutie cover)

Covering legends is one thing (and risky business), but covering hit contemporary singles is another (but just as risky). Luckily, the Stars and sometime Broken Social Scene songstress is well up to the task. I love the original song, and even living through three months of the world incessantly singing it didn't make me hate it for life (and that's saying something!). So this is one my favourite covers right now; a feminine, more drawly (but just as mellow) take on a song that was maybe - if I have to criticise - a bit too sweet to the ears. Millan humanises the song with her voice.

Amy Millan -- I Will Follow You Into the Dark (DCfC cover)



3. Audrey Hepburn -- "Moon River" (Frank Sinatra cover)

SCROLLSCROLLSCROLL....and come down to my all-time favourite woman, Audrey Hepburn. Not satisfied with being absolutely gorgeous to boot, a brilliant actress and a lovely person, Audrey Hepburn had to go be a really sweet singer as well. As modern times have proved more often than not -- actresses (usually) shouldn't sing; it failed for Hilary Duff, it failed for Lindsay Lohan; it even failed for Scarlett Johansson (I'm sorry, Scarlett!). And yes, the indie masses will throw Zooey Deschanel in my face -- but she's special; an exception to the rule. And a beautiful voice wasn't always a prerequisite for acting in musicals, although Julie Andrews could do it; Hepburn's voice was actually recorded over in "My Fair Lady". Listening to this track, you wonder why. If anybody hasn't yet -- watch "Breakfast at Tiffany's". You'll do this song the most justice seeing it with the aura and atmosphere of the movie, all Holly Golightly-esque.

Audrey Hepburn -- Moon River (Sinatra cover)

4. Lightspeed Champion -- "Back to Black" (Amy Winehouse cover)

Yup; it's back to the old faves. This time we bringin' out the big guns with Lighthouse Champion again (yeah, remember him?), who does a sparse, acousticky version of Winehouse's sultry, piano-heavy "Back to Black". Where she went with hard-pressed keys, he goes with strums. The song loses none of its strange gloomy tone; in fact, I think it works better with this version, with its lack of instruments (save one). It's a nice change. CHECK IT OUTTT.

Lightspeed Champion -- Back to Black (Winehouse cover)


wahhhhh.
that's it for nowww! =)

Electric Electric: Crystal Castles & Apartment Play

Crystal Castle take 'electric electric' to a whole new level; obscure vocals & bleeps throughout; the one word their music screams is 'DISTORTION'. It might not appeal to all, but they have a unique sound, and their distorted vocals punctuated with 8-bit synth beats are the kind that mess with one's mind. It's screechy, it's beepy, it's electro.



Alice Glass - vocalist
Ethan Kath - producer/remixer

The band's ascent to fame is an interesting story in itself; their first publicly released single was "Alice Practice", which was a microphone test by vocalist Glass (she didn't know it was being recorded). However, hearing it on their MySpace, a record label offered them a deal -- and three years later the result takes the shape of "Crystal Castles" (yes! self-titled debut albums! we ♥ them!).

If you like your music to have deep, meaningful lyrics or clear-cut instrumental riffs, clarity of sound & entwining of melodies -- forget Crystal Castles. They're not for you. Crystal Castles make music that's nihilistic; their seemingly chaotic sounds believe in adhering to no musically-set precedents, no musical traditions. It's 'dance music', but the kind that would electrify and migraine down a drunk body; as the BBC so perfectly puts it in their review: "this is the soundtrack for 20-something chaos seekers who grew up playing Ataris rather than listening to Kraftwerk." If you do like your music to be unique, different, something sublime and wholly untried before (and it'd help if you fancied dance music, electro, synth, blah blah blah as well) -- then definitely, definitely give these guys a go; they're something revolutionary, they're mind-fuckingly distortive. And who knows but it might fit certain moods and temparaments?

Crystal Castles - xxzxczx me


A random band I came across with a similar sound to Crystal Castles: Apartment Play. With a cryptic profile on MySpace ("cortex boy. cortex girl."????!!?), only 3091 profile views & 935 plays on last.fm, these guys are mysterious. Their music has been labelled (kinda negatively) as 'noise' and 'trash', but if one takes the trouble to actually listen to it -- it's quite fantastic. Ignoring the fact that they've only released 4 songs.

If anything, it's more distorted and confused than Crystal Castles', which shows a semblance of structure in some songs and has underlying depth in all, despite the cover of chaos. Apartment Play's songs don't really speak of structure or construction as such; but it's a nice sound, and if you liked Crystal Castles, you might just like this too, intense as it is.



And for your downloaaading pleasuree~
Apartment Play -- toanwts
Apartment Play -- Greco is a Parasite
Crystal Castles -- Dolls

Enjoy!

Folkie: Lightspeed Champion

Being a former Test Icicles fan i know him as Dev, and will refer to him as Dev. Wow! 180 180 - from the "make my ear bleed" dance punk sound of the Test Icicles to the more folk-like sounds of Lightspeed Champion - with the name coming from a series of comic strips Dev did as a teenager in his school maths books.

Having crossed the pond in early 2007, Dev went over to Omaha, Nebraska to record his debut album - "Falling Off The Lavender Bridge". Being a one man band Mr. Champion had to turn to several established musicians from The Faint, Cursive And The Tilly Wall and Emmy The Great. The coming together of so many different musicians of whom have very different influences can be seen throughout the album - highlighted by the showcasing a wide variety of instruments. Violins, Banjos, Horns alongside the sounds of any indie-folk artis - heavy strumming and twinkly synths.

Personally i think the album is brilliant, despite such a happy feel the album is able to convey such dirty and grungy lyrics. Songs like "Midnight Surprise" and "Let The Bitches Die" provide an outlet for Hynes to be rude, provocative and frank, whilst still being able to maintain the light hearted sounds of the record and without having to resort to darker elements or a slower tempo. His songwriting ability has not impressed many...i disagree - Dev's voice is superbly melodic and versatile - the defining characteristic of his songs. These range from straightforward folk ballads, to rock, to harmonic pop. The mid-song banter is suitably inane, but free of swearing. The album emits a comfortable Brit-pop and Omaha-laced country-rock energy.

Lightspeed Champion -- Fresh Failures (Let the Sunshine In).mp3