Kishi Bashi – 151a

Posted on May 17, 2012 by Andrew Eidson

Kishi Bashi is the solo project of K. Ishibashi, who is a founding member of Jupiter One. If you’ve ever seen Regina Spektor or Of Montreal you may have seen him on stage performing as a touring member of the band.

When I first read those aspects of his career, I never expected to hear anything like I did on his Kickstarter-funded album, 151a.

Thanks to the cover art, I was expecting some sort of slow-paced and uninteresting indie pop. I still got indie pop, but being the diverse style that it is, I was pleasantly surprised as to what I found. It has influences of noise pop and psychedelic pop, but it also still has those classical twee vocals you find with almost every indie pop artist. Continue reading →

Galactaron

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Andrew Eidson

I feel like I keep finding artists who think they are from outer space. Do people have some sort of planetary identity disorder?

I mean, come on, there’s not life on other planets! We’ve gone over this before.

I’ll admit, the theme of Galactron’s eponymous album is a bit more creative than the usual “we’re from space” bit. Galactaron plays with this scenario that they are aliens who land on Earth and meet a young Chinese-American girl named Emily Wong. She proceeds to give them a tour of Earth, and things go from there.

Thematically speaking, it’s right up my alley. I always enjoy a well-planned themed album. As opposed to my music, where I just say there’s a theme and hope everything works out. Continue reading →

Bruce Haack

Posted on May 13, 2012 by Andrew Eidson

Many people consider Bruce Haack as the pioneer of electronic music. While the music world was no stranger to synthesizers and musique concrete, I’d still assert that Haack was the progenitor of the electronic music we listen to today.

In the early 60s, Haack created mostly electronic music for children. He was even on an episode of Mr. Rogers, showcasing his brand of musical invention (I can’t find the episode now, though I watched it a few years ago.)

His “children’s music” was always goofy. Not unlike the kind we have today, but perhaps a little weirder. Continue reading →

Haley Bonar

Posted on May 13, 2012 by Andrew Eidson

If I listened to country music on a regular basis, I would listen to Haley Bonar’s brand of country over any other kind.

I’ve come to know modern country as shallow, overproduced, and whiny “lil ditties” from overdressed rednecks with a sparkle in their eye. (Hey, Toby Keith!)

Sometimes on local radio stations here in Tennessee I would hear some decent country artists that did not adhere to this mass market version of country. I’d love it, but I would never know how to find it again.

Thankfully, I stumbled across Haley Bonar, and her 2011 album, Golder. Continue reading →

Madonna – MDNA

Posted on May 12, 2012 by Andrew Eidson

Madonna is finally getting on to the bandwagon that she helped create with her incredibly addicting new album MDNA.

Comparing Madonna to Lady Gaga is overdone. I remember when Lady Gaga first appeared in the public eye, and comparisons were dramatically flooding the media. Back then I was inclined to agree. Lady Gaga’s music at the time seemed like a natural progression of the dance-pop Madonna had been putting out for years (let’s forget that Europe and Mexico had been putting out similar music for the last 10 years prior).

With MDNA I feel that the sphere of influence has come full circle. Girl Gone Wild is the obvious Lady Gaga-inspired sort of song, from the dramatic opening to the chorus and the hooks.

Also, Britney Spears appears to have some influence in Give Me All Your Luvin’, though this is heavily debatable. Not everyone agrees with me, but I cannot help but pick up Femme Fatale-era vibes from the song. Continue reading →

Gotye

Posted on May 11, 2012 by Andrew Eidson

Seems like Gotye’s song Somebody That I Used To Know has been making the rounds constantly on pop music stations around the country. What I want to know: how did a song like this get so popular? It sounds like it could be from a late 80s easy listening compilation. Gotye’s strangely addicting, simple, and chilling song was interesting enough. I had to find out what the big deal was.

Early April 2012, this song aired on the fantabulous hit TV musical show Glee. I’m not too familiar with this program, but I know a large portion of the American population watches it. Therefore, performing an unknown song on the show can make it much bigger.

On Glee the characters usually cover songs in a fashion similar to the way you’d see in a play or a musical. The episode it was featured on showcases a gay couple singing to each other. The song really seems to fit some sort of relationship dynamic. The original music video does the same thing. Continue reading →

Spaces – Nothing Exists but Atoms and the Void

Posted on May 5, 2012 by Andrew Eidson

I do believe that it is time to share some real rock music this week.

I don’t know how I keep coming across these groups that are all about space, but sometimes it works out to my advantage. Any band that records an album on a decommissioned ferryboat has a vote from me.

Even if that means reviewing yet another post-rock album. I’d rather review a post-rock album that shreds sonic riffs with imagery of celestial beings and star clusters than the typical “I make rock songs for a gloomy morning, or a flower blooming, and sometimes a muddy puddle” variant of boring overdone post-rock. Continue reading →

Kalya Scintilla

Posted on May 4, 2012 by Andrew Eidson

I’m always on the lookout for good electronic music these days.

It seems like the only stuff I come across that is not boring on bandcamp is usually related to My Little Pony (ponybeat) or the unending Internet comic called Homestuck. Between all that, I often will have to settle for some New Age music that a gaggle of folk probably listen to while drinking Yerba Matte, smoking illicit substances, and stroking their beards because they feel awesome for listening to obscure music, and this music puts them more in touch with the universe that they are trying to avoid.

So what’s the point? What does this have to do with Kalya Scintilla?

Perhaps a little. Perhaps a lot.

I’ve been listening to Kalya Scintilla’s latest release, Dance the Spiral Never Ending (which is probably yet another mystical reference to the Fibonacci sequence).

I might be bitter and jaded towards the appearance of artists like these, but it’s not horrible music.

The album has elements of glitch hop, dubstep, and Middle-Eastern tribalism. The three of those genres isolated do not impress me much, but the examples given on the album do a great job. Continue reading →

minibosses – brass 2: mouth

Posted on May 3, 2012 by Andrew Eidson

I’m usually a fan of video game oriented music, but minibosses never really struck me with their gold. I like metal, and I like video games. I like most of the games they cover. Where did they go wrong?

My nostalgia goggles don’t blind me to how boring and uninspiring brass 2: mouth is.

Something seems to be lost from the transfer from heavily dated computer sound chip to the guitar. I’m annoyed at myself for saying “lost its charm” in regard to old video games, so instead I’ll say that minibosses doesn’t recapture that charm. Continue reading →

Florence + The Machine – Ceremonials

Posted on April 29, 2012 by Andrew Eidson

I first listened to Florence + the Machine’s new album, Ceremonials, when it came out October 2011. I did not enjoy it at first, but I enjoyed it more as time went on. Even still, I’m having a hard time picking individual songs to share.

Ceremonials doesn’t grab me the same way Lungs did. The newer album has a few tremendous songs on it, but there are a few more bores on it than on Lungs. Continue reading →

Mystic Sounds

A Spotlight on Music