This is the new year

So, turns out we slacked a little on writing musical reviews. As we all know Sasquatch is coming up soon Marie and I are Very EXCITED! We have a few reviews that we will write to catch up and there should be plenty from this years festival. We will most likely have a slow start due to a tough finals schedule, but rest assured you will at least get The Lonely Forests, by the middle of june.

Animal Collective

ANIMAL COLLECTIVE!

What can we say about these four guys? They originally are from Baltimore, Maryland, although they currently are based out of NYC. They have some original stage names: Avey Tare, Deakin, Geologist, and Panda Bear. I would urge anyone who is interested to look up the meanings behind those names on wikipedia.

We throw the word "unique" around a lot, but not a lot of groups fit under the categories of "Neo-psychedelia" and "Freak Folk". They really have original intros. The song Peacebone shows how this band can create music out of chaos. Although the music may be catchy and spacey, the vocals are lacking with these young bucks. (good pun Ben)

You may have noticed a theme of our posts so far...... All of these bands played at Sasquatch, yes it's true. We did this on purpose. The reason is that now we have an intimate knowledge of how each of these bands play live. We are sorry to say that Animal Collective is probably the worst band we have ever seen live (Accept for when Marie heard Fergie sing live with the Blacked Eyed Peas, she doesn't want to talk about it). The singing on their recordings isn't the highest quality, but they hold their own in the modern music scene. Live on the other hand, was a horrible experience of listening to prerecorded samples with unrecognizable screaming intermittently overtop. Like explosions in the sky, they mashed all their songs together in their set; unlike explosions, you couldn't understand the songs or know which song they happened to be "playing" at the time.

I'm sorry to say that even though I really enjoyed listening to these guys at first, the more I research into them, the less I respect them. If it comes to music videos, forget about it. Even when put into the category of acid trips, they don't make sense. When listening to Animal collective we have found three songs that are listenable: Peacebone, My Girls and Fireworks. Summertime Clothes is pushing it, but if you happen to find more that you like please let us know.

Ben's Suggested listening: Fireworks
Marie's suggested listening: (Pass)

OWL CITY

OWL CITY

(Chip Chop Chip- Jim Gaffigan)

While watching Adam Young, of Owl City, perform; he definitely gives off a new age electronica one-man-band kind of vibe, is that even possible? If only those old men who played on street corners with a drum on their back, guitar, and harmonica attached to them knew what was going to become of their profession. Ben always pictures Dick Van Dyke when he thinks of one man bands. Owl City hails from the small town Owatonna, Minnesota. He has created much of his music in his basement and has grown a large following of fans. Who are eagerly a waiting the release of his newest album Ocean Eyes to be released on July 7th, plug, plug, plug!

We would use the term electro pop to describe Owl City; but his musical talent alone, I believe, warrants him more then to be thrown into the stereotyping that goes along with the pop genre. His upbeat back beats, and genuinely sung and written lyrics make it hard to not want to wait and listen for more. His melodic electronic tempos only enhance how poignant his lyrics can be. Some electronica bands can make it to easy to only listen because they are danceable and painless. Owl City does a remarkable job of contrasting these usual standards. I would compare him to Santagold and the Postal Service with this ability to pull you in not only with the beat but also with the meaning behind the voice. It can become hard in the genre of electronica music to find bands that can accomplish both good lyrics and a good beat, making Owl City a band to look out for because they have accomplished both.

Also a Unique thing that Owl City is in many of his songs he references certain cities. If you live in one of these cities like seattle (song: Hello Seattle) you feel a little special. He seems to have an intimate knowledge of these different regions, that just gives you a connection between you and him via his music.

Marie's Suggested Listening: Designer Skyline

Ben's Suggested Listening: The Saltwater Room

Explosions in the Sky

EXPLOSIONS!!!!!!!!!!!

First we will give you some background information. Explosions is made up of four young guys from Texas. The line-up is three guitars and a drum kit. They have no vocals to muddle up their beautiful melodies. With one to all three guitars playing different rifts at the same time this music more closely resembles Classical music with distortion the the "post-rock" label they've been given. Although if you ask the band they would ask you to simply refer to them as a rock band. Although they've released 5 albums since their formation in 1999, this band hasn't hit mainstream in the way they deserve. They are, however, featured on the Friday Night Lights sound-track and have played on an episode of Austin City Limits. We saw them live at the phenomenal Sasquatch music festival at the Gorge in George( Ben just likes to say the "Gorge in George"-Marie). Watching them preform live is just as good, if not better, then listening to them on your laptop.

What makes this band unique, other then being a high quality instrumental band, is that you can listen to them intensely, hanging onto every note and every drum beat. You can hear how perfectly it is woven together or you can zone out and let the music flow through you, while having two completely different experiences. We would compare them to Pink Floyd in this ability to carry you away in the music. You can listen to songs like "The birth and death of a day" (7:50) and realize how it is so appropriately titled. This seems to be a problem with other instrumental bands, they write a song and then slap any title on it to which they assume sounds cool, without any influence from the song itself. While listening to "the birth and death of a day" you can hear the sunrise, feel the waking up. This continues through the song until you hear the last rays of sunlight disappear behind the mountains to the west.

Too many bands now a days just use drums to keep a beat and make ambient noise in the background. Explosions drummer Chris Hrasky uses everything from his bass drum to the high hat as the fourth instrument in the band. It isn't continuously used in every song, so when that symbol crashes in the middle of a slow rift, you feel the intensity.

Ben's suggested song to listen to by explosions is "Your Hand in Mine"

Marie's suggested pick is "The Long Spring"

Welcome

We are Ben Wolff and Marie Robello. Currently we are both amateur musicians and a very attractive couple. In this blog we are going to critique some non A-list bands. Hopefully at some point we may also be able to get some of our own music uploaded.

ENJOY!