May 2008

The Archives

• 05.26.08
  2 Tracks From Wolf Parade’s At Mount Zoomer   Singles (0)

  

  At Mount Zoomer is a far better title than Kissing The Beehive. At Mount Zoomer is also better than Return To Cookie Mountain. I won’t slight them for that.

  After getting exposed to a lot of the new material during last summer’s tour, it was easy to say that I was excited for the new album. “Call It A Ritual,” the first song leaked by Sub Pop, initially let me down a little. The song felt thin and drenched in a massive heap of reverb, which only amplified how odd the overall tone is. Live, it felt fuller and like it commanded more power. I persisted and with a certain number of listens, the fantastic details began to shine through, best shown by the subtle build backed by the charming strain to Simon Crug’s voice.

  I think that the same will hold for the rest of At Mount Zoomer, judging by a listen to a few other tracks I found on hiding around the internet.

  
  Fine Young Cannibals by Wolf Parade

  ‘Fine Young Cannibals’ wanders, that’s for sure. Lacking the older kind of urgency that Apologies to Queen Mary held, the song clicks along with a persistent certainty. The spindly, loping guitar riff serves as a bed for Dan Boeckner’s vocals to rest upon and it bears a little 50’s nostalgia, recalling a song I can’t put my finger on. Like ‘Call It A Ritual’, there’s a melodic learning curve…stick with it though, because again the melody creeps out and stays with you.

  
  Language City by Wolf Parade

  ‘Language City’ is a little more familiar than ‘Fine Young Cannibals’ sandwiching the familiar angular guitar and bouncy piano in with driving a beat. As it stands, it could be a song off Apologies To Queen Mary, but I’m not really prepared to punish Wolf Parade for producing something that sounds a little familiar, as the formula they previously perfected is music to my ears. The melody is strong and it builds to a satisfying release. Tracks like this certainly bode well for the rest of the album.

  HIT THE JUMP FOR UPCOMING TOUR DATES

• 05.22.08
  More Maps & Atlases! Stream the song ‘You And Me And The Mountain’   Singles (0)

  

  Yeah, I did just post something about Maps and Atlases and yeah, it’s been a slow week here on Taking Tiger Mountain. But! Now we have a sample of the new album up on their Myspace page. Click over and check out the title track from the forthcoming EP You And Me And The Mountain along with newly added tour dates. Even newer than my post earlier in the week.

  As for ‘You And Me And The Mountain’…it’s certainly different…a little less spazzy, a little more jazzy. By the end, with all the rising guitar arpeggios and drum stop-starts, it begins to feel like what Maps and Atlases covering a Dan Deacon tune.

  A bizarre concept that is as amazing as it sounds.

  Just because this post is light on actual content, here’s a video of Maps and Atlases performing another new track at last year’s SXSW.

  
  
  NEWLY ADDED TOURDATES:
  with mewithoutYou

  Jun 17 2008 Club at Water Street Rochester, New York
  Jun 18 2008 Skully’s Music Diner Columbus, Ohio
  Jun 19 2008 Mac’s Bar Lansing, Michigan
  Jun 20 2008 Skelletones Grand Rapids, Michigan
  Jun 23 2008 Grog Shop Cleveland Heights, Ohio
  Jun 24 2008 Canal Club Downstairs Lounge Richmond, Virginia
  Jun 25 2008 The Soapbox Laundrolounge Wilmington, North Carolina
  Jun 26 2008 Cat’s Cradle Carrboro, North Carolina
  Jun 27 2008 New Brooklyn Tavern Columbia, South Carolina
  Jun 28 2008 The Orpheum Ybor City, Florida
  Jun 29 2008 Common Grounds Gainsville, Florida
  Jul 1 2008 Bottle Tree Birmingham, Alabama
  Jul 2 2008 Rocketown Nashville, Tennessee
  Jul 3 2008 Uncle Pleasants Louisville, Kentucky
  Jul 6 2008 Picador Iowa City, Iowa
  Jul 8 2008 The Bottleneck Lawrence, Kansas
  Jul 9 2008 Bricktown Ballroom Tulsa, Oklahoma
  Jul 10 2008 The Parish Austin, Texas
  Jul 11 2008 The Door Dallas, Texas
  Jul 12 2008 The Foundry Music Theatre Joplin, Missouri
  Jul 13 2008 Off Broadway NightclubSt. Louis, Missouri
  Jul 14 2008 The Mad Hatter Covington, Kentucky
  Jul 16 2008 The Ottobar Baltimore, Maryland
  Jul 17 2008 Valentines Albany, New York
  Jul 18 2008 Maxwell’s Hoboken, New Jersey

• 05.21.08
  Review: These Are Powers - Taro Tarot   Singles (0)

  I wrote this review a little while back for Spacelab.tv. It all went up just this week, but it was written back in March. When I saw it online, I’d honestly forgot what I had to say about the album, but it’s not a half bad review. I like it when I surprise myself. (Even though I neglected to research and find out the whole Liars connection, but c’est la vie…)

  

  These Are Powers - Taro Tarot

  The ultimate truth with noise music is that you have to approach it and assess: how much of the population would assume that better music could be made by beating a choir of cats with a baseball bat. There’s a chart that could be drawn out, putting Merzbow’s harsh noise calisthenics at the most severe end, The Liars’s tribal wash in the other, moderately palatable end of the spectrum. These Are Powers EP Taro Tarot sits pretty much square in the middle. Much of their noise is based out of a traditional bass-drums-guitar-vocals, but using them to make a much looser, hazy kind of noise rock.

  The album opener “All Night Services,” is a curious wash of sludgy atmospherics, sparse percussion with a faintly Waits-ian vibe. The vocals arrive out of left field: an eager, angry croon that soars above the rising guitar atmospherics, giving a touch of Drift-era Scott Walker. The track plods along before spiraling up like a tornado, the two guitars rising like a cresting wave over the persistent thin. loping drums. It’s a song lost somewhere in the clouds, waiting till the inevitable downward fall begins.

  “Chipping Ice” punches through the settling dust of “All Night Services” with an almost punk-rock drum barrage. The track sits for a solid minute in a rhythmic mess of drum fills elbowing for room with the sludge bass and power drill guitars. After a brief breakdown of some actual coughing, the track transforms with a push of structural momentum. Like The Liars minus the dance punk leanings, the propulsive noise takes on a loose sense of structure; exploring less a progression of verse and chorus, but of meditations on repetition. Dolloping on layer after layer of sludgy guitar whines and noisy squeaks, “Chipping Ice” wanders blindly for three and a half minutes.

  Throughout Taro Tarot, the drums and marching bass underpin the constantly shifting mess. Like with the later track “Cockles”, the dense cloud of gray noise and reverbed voice threatens to float away, saved just by the anchor of meditative drum repetition. Taro Tarot’s biggest weak spot in the sameness of most of the songs. Much of the rest of the EP, save the throwaway 40 second “Garage Bird,” is a linear build, lurching forward like a train from a dead stop, slowly building speed to an inevitable squalling peak. The saving grace is that the longest track clocks in at 4:18, illustrating These Are Powers’ with a mercifully short attention span. Noise music is often terribly fun to make and less so for the listener to consume, so by not overindulging on the song lengths, TAP offer a degree less of wear on the listener. While not a total failure, moments like “Chipping Ice”’s proto-punk drum attack and “All Night Services” twisted croon offer moments of intrigue, but overall Taro Tarot is lacking a cohesive element that reaches through the speakers and grabs a firm hold of listener’s attention.

  
  These Are Powers - Chipping Ice

• 05.17.08
  Maps And Atlases Announce New EP “You And Me And The Mountain”   Bands (0)

  After 2 years of much touring, Chicago’s avant-mathrockers Maps And Atlases have announced the release date for their next EP, entitled You And Me And The Mountain. You’ll be able to grab a copy digitally on June 16th, as well the limited edition CD produced by Sargent House will be available on their summer tour. Below is the cover art by Ryan Duggan.

  

  Make it a point to catch one of the dates on their upcoming tour. Their live show is quite fantastic, an energetic mix of gorgeously complex song structure and indie hooks. Take a look at my review from their last record release show and give a listen to ‘Every Place Is A House’ from their 2006 EP Trees, Swallows, Houses:

  
  Maps And Atlases - Every Place Is A House

  Hit the jump for Maps and atlases full tour schedule

• 05.16.08
  David Byrne Makes Noise, Bad Twin Peaks Joke   Recycled News (1)

  

  Gearing up for a benefit hosted by NYC’s art collective The Kitchen, ex-Talking Heads frontman/artful blogger David Byrne created a fantastic forced-interaction art piece. In honor of the May 21st’s spring gala benefit honoring Christian Marclay, Byrne has stitched together 100 effects pedals designed to be walked across as the patrons enter the space randomly engaging them with each cautious step. The above photo shows a peek at the work in progress.

  If you’ve ever spent any time, as I have, hunched over a few random pedals idly twisting knobs to force out some squelches and echoed bleets, the prospect of this massive citylike grid of noiseboxes brings more than a bit of joy. I’m also a fervent fan of forced participation art. The more unsuspecting the better, in my book.

  The only thing I could probably fault the revered Mr. Byrne would be for the Twin Peaks pun in the title of his post. “Pedal Walk With Me”? Let that be the greatest sin committed.

  The Kitchen Spring Gala Benefit takes place Wed. May 21st at The Puck Building - 295 Lafayette Street. Tickets start at $600.00.