CAN

"Tago Mago" By Can
Kraut-Rock Spoon Records Rerelease 2004
Original Release 1971 by United Artists



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Oh, CAN. How important are you. I often talk about how influential bands are on this here blog, but none of which that I have covered yet can even reach the level of importance of this here amazing band.

First of all, just because a band is influential doesn't always mean their good or even good to our modern ears. This is completely untrue with CAN. CAN creates music unlike anybody else, now and especially at their time, with driving adventurous songs with touches of influences from World music, to ambient, to jazz. CAN is one band that is next to impossible to explain on paper.

CAN's influence has touched on most current genres, including and not limited to avant-garde, experimental, underground, ambient, punk, post-punk, new wave, post-rock, nu-kraut rock, and electronic music. Which all in all means indie music. CAN, alongside The Velvet Underground and Bob Dylan, are responsible for a lot of the styles of music that we white people all listen to today.

This album is no exception, this is one of the more free form and experimental of their albums and the one I listen to the most. It also does a great job of showcasing their wide array of musical techniques, any song can feature ambient textures, great guitar work, a crazy backwards singing vocalist, the greatest non-metal drummer in my opinion, and just great memorable themes and moments.

Finally, CAN is one of the best German kraut-rock bands around.

For Listeners Of: Faust, Neu!, Kraftwerk, Sonic Youth, The Velvet Underground, ambient, punk, post-punk, new wave and electronic music

How HP Lovecraft Took Over The World

Tonight in Roanoke, VA there is one great event going on.

Its title: "How HP Lovecraft Took Over The World."
Its purpose: To have an exposition on local talent. Artists, writers, and musicians all group together to celebrate a great man and his work. Namely, HP Lovecraft

Happenings: A book release of Mike Allen's "Cthulhu's Reign", Lovecraft inspired art by Bob Snare, a live theatrical performance, a visual work, and music by local musician Arte Povera (with a special cover just for the night)

This is going to be yet another perfect installment in the event series of the Emerging Artist Series. As always, it's a free show at the main library in Downtown Roanoke starting around 6:30 PM. These shows never disappoint, and this may be the best one yet.

So, come out for a horrificly creative night.

Here are some links:
Facebook Event Page
Arte Povera's Myspace page
Emerging Artist Facebook Page
Buy Cthulhu's Reign

The Radio Dept.

"Clinging To A Scheme" by The Radio Dept.
Twee/Post-Punk Labrador 2010



Download Clinging To A Scheme

2010 is shaping up to be a great musical year already, with great new albums by The National, The Hold Steady, Band Of Horses, Tree No Leaves, and lots more. There are even some great albums by smaller rising bands, such as The Radio Dept.

This is one band that should be watched, sonically they fall right between twee bands like Beat Happening and slightly electronic post punk music such as The Cure. Like any well influenced band, they blend these things together very well while maintaining a great original sound (see The Depreciation Guild, The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, or most any great band ever).

The song here to really pay attention to is "Heaven's On Fire". This song is a great example of what this band can accomplish through great layering, great vocals, and respectable dynamics. I can see this song at a top of a lot of list of great songs of 2010.

Oh yeah, and they're Swedish and every Swedish band is amazing. Great music is coming out of that wonderful country.

For Listners Of: Melpo Mene, Kings Of Convenience, Letting Up Despite Great Faults, The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, Beat Happening, New Order, The Cure, The Mary Onettes, The Embassy, The Legends, Moscow Olympics

Band Of Horses

"Infinite Arms" by Band Of Horses
Indie Folk Columbia 2010



Sorry no download (this just came out)

Recently released Inifinite Arms is another staple by under-rated staple indie band Band Of Horses. Akin to other indie folk bands of their kind, this band boasts great dynamics and great song writing.

Infinite Arms opens up with one heck of a song called "Factory", a great song that sounds like a mixture of the Yo La Tengo great "The Story Of Yo La Tengo" and any great Fleet Foxes song. The album opens up with strong with several great dynamic songs and starts to quiet down around track six with the only song of questionable quality ("On My Way Back Home" kinda sounds like a Hannah Montana song.) They pick it back up with the quieter title track and ride into the sunset with the last closing tracks.

Band Of Horses is a band that obviously enjoys what they're doing and doesn't feel like they need to experiment or find a new sound. (Because they might fall flat on their faces like with MGMT's newest effort)

Another thing to point out, in context of the music industry as a whole, is that the popular music review site Pitchfork gave this a low score. It could be said that they did this because Band Of Horses is on a big label now, it could be said that Pitchfork are just a bunch of assholes. What should really be learned here is that never should a review site be taken so seriously, it is your opinion that matters to yourself after all.

Cheers

For Listeners Of: Fleet Foxes, Beirut, Iron And Wine, Animal Collective, Devendra Banhart, The Decemberists, Akron/Family, Plants And Animals, Neutral Milk Hotel, Bright Eyes

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart

"The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart" by The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
Shoegaze 2009 Slumberland



Download The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart

What The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart prove, along with other bands like Fucked Up, Titus Andronicus, and The Depreciation Guild, is that when you mix shoegaze techniques with a few other genres, you can get something amazing. Here The Pains mix Shoegaze with Dance Punk and 80's pop. They do this with great avail, from Kip's gret singing, to Kurt's energetic drumming, to Peggy's great job of being the token cute asian.

This self-titled album is a teenage oddsysey through angst, good times, and greater music. The album is filled with great lyrics and adolescent anthems. Each song is catchy, a great sing a log, and high energy, so this album is perfect for your next road trip.

What the album does best is not lean too much on any of its chosen influences, never does it sound too much like My Bloody Valentine, nor The Cure, nor The Pyschedelic Furs. At all times, one can hear these influences at work to create their unique sound. Again, it isn't just the influences at play here, these guys are truly unique talented musicians.

They also share members with the amazing band The Depreciation Guild (whose album In Her Gentle Jaws we covered some time back)

All in all, if you've somehow missed this here album, make sure to check it out. Maybe download it for free with the above link.

Happy Listening,
My Warm Blood

For Listeners Of:My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, The Cure, The Psychedlic Furs, Fucked Up, Titus Andronicus, The Depreciation Guild, The Smiths, The Rapture, Surfer Blood, Cymbals Eat Guitars

Loveliescrushing

"Bloweyelashwish" by Loveliescrushing
Shoegaze/Drone Projekt 1999



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Few artists capture the word "Desolation" like Loveliescrushing does. Lovesliescrushing is an artist that sonically exists perfect shoegaze groups as My Bloody Valentine and drone artists such as Emeralds.

What is interesting about Loveliescrushing are the unique sensations that are evoked with the music. Never with any other artist have I been walking a huge crowd of people and felt completely alone and cold. Lovesliescrushing is a master of creating his own lonely worlds.

Bloweyelashwish album is an interesting romp through Lovesliescrushing's sound craft, with songs ranging from 40 seconds to 10 minutes. Some of the shorter songs seem a bit superfluous, but ultimately add to the ebb and flow of the album as a whole. Bloweyelashwish is a great memorable album as it utilizes similar themes throughout and truly explores them with techniques similar to Classical composers.

For Listeners Of: My Bloody Valentine, Flying Saucer Attack, Stereolab, Astrobite, Emeralds, Infinte Body, Remora, Star, Auburn Lull, Bethany Curve

Slowdive

"Souvlaki" by Slowdive
Shoegaze Creation Records 1993



Download Souvlaki

Other than My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive is probably the most accesible of shoegaze bands. This album is testament to this fact. Souvlaki is an odyssey through a perfect stylized genre blending and an example of shoegaze worthy to be in the same sentence as Loveless.

What adds to this album's greatness is its production work, by none other than the great Brian Eno. With his help, Slowdive created an album of smooth sounding atmospheric pop song craft.

Slowdive's accessibility can be attributed to a lack of harshness in sound and great male-female vocal styles. There are some great songs to be found here, such as the Slowdive classic "Alison", the epic borderline post-rock "Souvlaki Space Station", and the intimate acoustic "Dagger".

Conclusively, Slowdive is one of the great shoegaze bands and should be regarded with great esteem because of this. Souvlaki is one album that should never ever be forgotten.

For Listeners Of: My Bloody Valentine, Spiritualized, Pale Saints, Chapterhouse, Ride, Lush, Bethany Curve, Lovesliescrushing, Flying Saucer Attack, The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, The Depreciation Guild