Archive for the ‘Downloads’ Category

Released This Week: Salme Dahlstrom - The Acid Cowgirl Audio Trade

August 17, 2008 by Matthew Montgomery

Salme Dahlstrom - The Acid Cowgirl Audio TradeSalme Dahlstrom
The Acid Cowgirl Audio Trade
Kontainer Music, 2008

Salme Dahlstrom - “Superstar Crash” | download

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Electronically oriented pop music hits all the right spots for some people: Salme Dahlstrom, for those people, can’t be hitting too far off those. The Acid Cowgirl Audio Trade is full of interesting synthetic textures and sounds, but at some points, it lacks a bit of that important impact.

Other times, though, Dahlstrom demonstrates a nice understanding with the pop music she’s writing, and it’s those points that really define the record. While this certainly won’t be named electronic album of the year, it does feature some engaging tracks. Where Dahlstrom really succeeds is not her writing, though: Her vocals are straight from the style’s top shelf, shifting with some abandon between a sassy, in-your-face attitude and nicely harmonized standard modern pop.

Sure, The Acid Cowgirl Audio Trade isn’t the best album of the year, but Dahlstrom’s vocals will be enough for some to keep listening, and the writing, while fairly typical of pop-centric electronica, isn’t bad enough to drive away listeners.

Review: Stereolab - Chemical Chords

August 13, 2008 by Matthew Montgomery

Stereolab - Chemical ChordsStereolab
Chemical Chords
4AD August 18, 2008

Stereolab’s made enough of a name for themselves by now that most releases will hit the radar of an assortment of music fans, especially those finding themselves attracted to the indie pop sound this bold outfit is known for producing so elegantly.

Stereolab - “Three Women” | download | preview at Beggars Group USA

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Track Review: Chris Cotton - “Going Home”

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August 12, 2008 by Matthew Montgomery

Chris CottonChris Cotton
The Big Sea
“Going Home”

Chris Cotton - “Going Home” | download

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“Going Home” is shocking in its immediacy: a track from Chris Cotton’s latest, due out September 2nd on Little Fish Large Pond Publishing. This vintage-style piece, recalling some of the earliest recorded American folk music, is a refreshing blast from distorted guitars and whining vocals. There’s something strangely enthralling about anachronistic music, isn’t there?

Track Review: The Ritz - “It’s The…” from The Night of Day

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August 12, 2008 by Matthew Montgomery

The Ritz - The Night of DayThe Ritz
The Night of Day
“It’s The…”

Content warning: Lyrics involve use of the ever-ominous “f” word. I don’t mind.

The Ritz - “It’s The” | download

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My first thought, after hearing this track from the debut album from The Ritz? I was impressed, honest. The combination of bass-heavy beats with string samples and a nice use of stereo rapping (Elliott Smith influence, maybe? Likely not.) is fairly evocative and engaging. My only real complaint? The bass is mixed a bit too heavily, as it ends up slightly excessive and punchy on my well-balanced headphones (Sennheiser HD 485s, nothing too expensive,) distracting from the rest of the track, a well-mixed hip-hop introduction track.There’s nothing too adventurous about this track, but its efficient execution bodes well for the full release, due out August 19th.

Released This Week: Inquiet - Inq Beyong

August 9, 2008 by Matthew Montgomery

Inquiet - Inq BeyongInquiet
Inq Beyong
Brother Sister Records, August 15, 2008

Inquiet - “Fresh Flesh” | download

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Inquiet is an experimental pop group from Australia: That’s not a phrase you hear too often in many musical circles, especially those in the northern hemisphere. That’s got little to nothing to do with the musical quality here, to be honest.

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Released This Week: The Telepathic Butterflies - Breakfast in Suburbia

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August 8, 2008 by Matthew Montgomery

The Telepathic ButterfliesThe Telepathic Butterflies
Breakfast in Suburbia
Rainbow Quartz, 2008

The Telepathic Butterflies - “Telescope” | download

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One thing is made clear from the opening track of Breakfast in Suburbia: The Telepathic Butterflies (what a name!) are rooted in a 1960s pop aesthetic, their apparent influences a combination of the usual suspects: The Beach Boys and The Beatles, most notably, with a nice dose of surf rock playing out in the guitar tones. There’s enough of a psychedelic inflection in the music produced by the duo that citing Barrett-era Pink Floyd wouldn’t be completely off the mark, either.

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Review: Aviary Ghost - Memory is a Hallway

August 7, 2008 by Matthew Montgomery

Aviary Ghost - Memory is a HallwayAviary Ghost
Memory is a Hallway
Self-released, 2008
Aviary Ghost - “Somewhere Else” | download

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There are times that self-releasing an album can be the best option for a band, especially given the many instances of hot-air blowing by music industry personnel — and it’s not just major labels that have been known to play the game in miscreant ways. Sometimes, though, artists just don’t want to deal with the hassle of marketing their release, preferring to just put the music out for public consumption.

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Spotlight: Team Genius

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March 6, 2008 by Matthew Montgomery

Team Genius / Courtesy of Fanatic PromotionAh, gentle-but-active pop music — Team Genius, who released the Hooray EP on Feb. 26, are the perpetrators of some fairly simple music, but that doesn’t mean they don’t create something addicting, too. Of course, this much is likely obvious: Much music, historically, has been simplistic, and some of it has been successful. Big surprise. Still, Team Genius provides an interesting perspective on the matter, with their irreverent indie pop taking on a variety of historical styles without much concern for public opinion. That’s where the band’s strength is, I’d argue, but given I have heard relatively little of their music, I can’t honestly make a quality assertion in one direction or another. At any rate, they’re worth writing about if just for the chance to include their over-the-top, quirky photograph. It’s a bit creepy, really.

Team Genius - “Sing Song” | download

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Team Genius - “I’m Just An Idiot” | download

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Released This Week: The OaKs - Songs for Waiting

March 5, 2008 by Matthew Montgomery

The OaKs - <i>Songs for Waiting</i> The OaKs
Songs for Waiting
Self-released
March 4, 2008

The OaKs, previously the subject of a MusicGeek.org spotlight, self-released Songs for Waiting Tuesday. Opening track, “The Two Calls (of Dietrich Bonhoeffer)” — posted below for download and streaming — isn’t rough, and it’s certainly not too soft. The historical narrative, written by one of two founding members, Ryan Costello, is, at the very least, interesting. The arrangements involved in this new release are well planned, providing a listening experience that’s bound to impress.

The OaKs / Photo by Steven Taylor, Courtesy of Fanatic Promotion

The OaKs - “The Two Calls (of Dietrich Bonhoeffer)” | download

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The OaKs - “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter” | download

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Spotlight: Colin Stetson | Frantic jazz evocative, but dangerous to public

February 27, 2008 by Matthew Montgomery

Colin Stetson / Courtesy of Fanatic Promotion
New History Warfare, Vol. 1 Releases March 4 on Aagoo Records

Let’s get one thing straight: it’s not everyday one runs into music like this — nor should it be. Colin Stetson performs a frantic, solitary-instrument jazz on the bass clarinet and bass saxaphone, and while it’s certainly not bad, it ventures far into the realm of experiment: This may be a good thing for you and I, but if the common man were to hear things like this on a regular basis, a backlash not unlike reactions to Frankenstein’s Monster might be unleashed. Still, the two tracks posted below, “Letter to HST” and “Groundswell” are interesting, evocative, and all those other adjectives you look for in music. Be warned, though: It’s not your grandpa’s jazz.

Colin Stetson — “Letter to HST” | download

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Colin Stetson — “Groundswell” | download

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Review: A Faulty Chromosome — As An Ex-Anorexic’s Six Sicks Exit, …

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February 25, 2008 by Matthew Montgomery
A Faulty ChromosomeReleased Feb. 19, 2008; self-released.

A Faulty Chromosome, previously the subject of a Feb. 19 MusicGeek.org spotlight, is an unruly shoegaze group; while they do pull from a variety of influences — and it’s evident, it’s not just some blurb on the band’s MySpace — they create music that sounds as if it’s all essentially the same song, repeated ad infinitum. It’s not a bad song, though, just a bit on the repetitive side.

A Faulty Chromosome — “Jackie O” | download

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Spotlight: MEN

February 25, 2008 by Matthew Montgomery

MEN / Courtesy of Girlie ActionJD Samson and Johanna Fateman of Le Tigre fame are making music under another name: MEN. Funny, I thought only one was a man. All bad joking aside, MEN produce a distinctive, fun electronic sound. “Make It Reverse” and “Shake Off,” both posted below for listening and download, are fun, addictive tunes that safely balance a modern perspective (or is it post-modern?) and a 1980s throwback feel (you know, in the vein of electroclash.) MEN are currently touring North America with Hey, Willpower.

MEN — “Make It Reverse” | download

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MEN — “Shake Off” |download

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MEN on MySpace

Spotlight: Apillow | Ambience, minimalism make mark in small-run release

February 21, 2008 by Matthew Montgomery

Apillow / via MySpaceLet’s get one thing straight: I like ambient, I like shoegaze, and boy, do I like post-rock. That said, you may have found many of the posts here to be of such a nature. What can I say? At any rate, today’s spotlight focuses on Apillow, a band with elements of all three styles I just expressed an affinity toward. Patrick Lacharité, of Below the Sea, is the sole producer of this quiet, uninvasive minimalism created in the fall of 2007. Leaves Winter Alone, released in October 2007 on thisquietarmy records, is limited to 200 initial CD-R copies by the label, so clearly, this isn’t out there to make a quick buck. Apillow embodies that appealing independence that too often goes missing from music generally: Even notoriously independent artists worry about making money from their music. For better or worse, Lacharité seems untainted, providing a fair bit of clarity to the world through soothing ambience.

Apillow — “The Dark” | download

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Purchase Leaves Winter Alone
Apillow on MySpace

Review: Palmer’s Medic - In a House, Surrounded

February 20, 2008 by Matthew Montgomery

Palmer’s MedicPalmer’s Medic, an electronic recording project of a certain Seth David-Andrew Hubbard from southern Utah — Cedar City, Utah, to be precise about things — produces young, fresh music vaguely encapsulatable under genre titles of ambient house, trance, trip hop — terms of that nature. Ambiguous, isn’t it? But that’s the beauty of electronic music, I suppose. At any rate, from the get-go, In a House, Surrounded is an adventurous album: It doesn’t much fit under most specific categorizations (though some would argue that about all music, I am not one of those), which is a bit of a refresher from what’s come to be expected. Of course, most specific genres and descriptions are applied post hoc, so it may be a bit early to consider things of such a nature.

Palmer’s Medic — “M-900″ | download

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Spotlight: A Faulty Chromosome

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February 19, 2008 by Matthew Montgomery

A Faulty Chromosome / Courtesy of Fanatic PromotionA Faulty Chromosome produces fairly engaging music that, while pulling from a variety of influences, maintains a fairly distinct shoegaze tone. At times a little offsetting, the band doesn’t “pull any punches,” per se, with their usage of several slightly grating guitar tones. Still, the two tracks I’ve posted below, “Jackie O” and” Them Pleasures of the Flesh” are interesting and worthy of a listen, but if you’re looking for the melodic tendencies of Lush, it’s probably best to work elsewhere. This band isn’t going to be known for ethereal, beautiful vocalizations, but more a more-or-less gentle sort of repetitivity that, while not the high point of musical achievement, does provide something interesting and surprisingly listenable, considering. Two tracks are posted below for listening and downloading, and a video is posted after the jump.

A Faulty Chromosome — “Jackie O” | download

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A Faulty Chromosome — “Them Pleasures of the Flesh” | download

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