Posts Tagged ‘acephale’
Earworm: Memory Tapes “Treeship”
Monday, December 7th, 2009
Who: Memory Tapes
Sounds like: Well, not unlike the name suggests, dreamy, swirling soundscapes layered with wistful vocals and a melange of clapping percussion that gets as close to a musical score for the life that has passed you.
RIYL: Memory Cassette, Weird Tapes, Washed Out, Toro Y Moi, Air France, Delorean, Nite Jewel, Michel Gondry flicks
Need to know: Since his band Hail Social broke up a couple years back, New Jersey’s Dayve Hawk has been recording and releasing music under three monikers: Weird Tapes, Memory Cassette and Memory Tapes. He released the sold-out-within-seconds Memory Cassette EP Call & Response as well as a few free online EPs earlier this year. Now exclusively using Memory Tapes, Hawk recently released the universally adored Seek Magic LP, as well as a slew of remixes for Taken By Trees, Midnight Juggernauts, Britney Spears, Phoenix and most recently, Yeasayer. You can also pick up his remix of Dem Getaway Boyz’s “Imma G,” along with 16 others (including Flying Lotus, El-P and Hudson Mohawke remixing Gucci Mane, Young Jeezy and B.o.B., respectively) on the brand new [adult swim] mixtape, ATL RMX – download it here.
Track: “Treeship” was originally written for Rough Trade when they asked Hawk to whip up a mixtape. The song was given away on his blog, but also included as a bonus disc with the CD version of Seek Magic. You can see how he justified this as a valuable alternative, as Hawk fills the 22 minutes with as many progressions as the standard DJ mix yet manages to keep a smooth flow without any jarring effects. While it never reaches any sort of clear melodic arch, the shape-shifting textures and tones help add even more depth to Hawk’s already bottomless canon.
Buy: You can pick up the limited vinyl edition of Seek Magic here or the CD version here.
Tags: acephale, Dayve Hawk, Hail Social, Memory Cassette, Memory Tapes, sincerely yours, Weird Tapes, [adult swim]
Posted in Earworm, The New Music | No Comments »
Album review: CFCF - Continent
Thursday, November 26th, 2009
CFCF Continent [Paper Bag]
In the age where any teenage kid can remix the likes of Radiohead and get thousands of hits on his/her blog for it, Montreal’s Mike Silver is one of the few who’s actually launched a career out of it. After winning a Crystal Castles contest by transforming their bratty electro punk anthem “Air War” into a pulsating barrage of rainbow synths, the attention positioned him to remix others like HEALTH, Justice and The Presets. But it’s his own compositions that really show his true colours.
The debut album by CFCF fulfils the promise he first showed on the You Hear Colours 7-inch on Acephale and the Panesian Nights EP at the beginning of the year. While rumours circulated that Silver rushed into completing Continent, the outcome doesn’t suggest anything as such. And the timing couldn’t have been better, what with the ripple of “chillwave” acts like Neon Indian, Washed Out, Memory Cassette/Tapes and Toro Y Moi clogging our ears.
CFCF is arguably the most multifarious among that group of artists, to the point where he’s more unclassifiable than anything. As the title indicates there is a long list of influences at work here and surprisingly, the mixed bag helps things flow and even give it some cinematic depth.
“You Hear Colours” embarks on a blissful journey that then becomes bombarded with squelching guitar licks that unfurls like something from one of Goblin’s soundtracks; “Monolith” leisurely transcends into a splash of Italo house; “Break-In” follows more of an intergalactic ambient path with arpeggiating synths; “Letters Home” dives right into the Balearic euphoria with woodwinds and strings complementing the shimmying rhythms; “Summerlong” is a pithy, tranquil interlude built from an acoustic guitar and crackling air; and most surprising is a straight cover of Fleetwood Mac’s late ‘80s hit “Big Love,” which Silver unwinds into cosmic disco.
If Continent is about taking us on a journey, then Silver certainly thinking more about a transatlantic trip instead of a short connection flight. Nine of the album’s 12 tracks hover around and above the five-minute mark, which makes giving it your full commitment trying if you’re not in the mood.
That said, CFCF is unmistakably mood music bent on channelling a class of verdant, picturesque scenery that most of the time takes you to a luminous, white sandy beach. And who doesn’t want to be swept away to that sort of destination every now and then for 65 minutes?
Rating: A
- Cam Lindsay
Tags: acephale, CFCF, chillwave, Continent, Crystal Castles, Mike Silver, Paper Bag
Posted in Reviews, The New Music | 1 Comment »
Earworm: Heaven “Huck Finn”
Monday, October 5th, 2009
Who: Heaven
What: Enigmatic four-piece from Toronto that love their reverb and distortion to an unhealthy degree.
Sounds like: Well, shoegaze is the first thing that comes to mind. But Heaven are unusual in that unlike all those inert bands that hung out in the Scene That Celebrated Itself at the turn of the 1990s, they aren’t afraid to actually mix impassioned vocals with the swelling waves of drone.
RIYL: Cocteau Twins, Medicine, Loop, The Big Pink, Serena Maneesh
Need to know: They recently opened for brooding UK rockers White Lies at the Phoenix in Toronto and will support The Big Pink on November 29th at Lee’s Palace. They’ll also spend the early part of November touring with hip troubadour Jeremy Jay. And we can expect a 10-inch EP called Basement of Heaven from Vancouver’s Acephale Records (CFCF, Salem, Air France, Memory Tapes, Memory Cassette) in the near future.
Track: “Huck Finn” uses the ethereal guitar tones that Robin Guthrie popularized with Cocteau Twins as a teaser. But in a minute or so they step on the distortion pedal to build a magnetic bed of noise that never relents. The dual vocals give some sharp contrast with the female providing depth with an emotional turn, while the male murmurs some whispering underneath the heaving wall of sound.
Buy: Nothing at the moment.
- Cam Lindsay
Tags: acephale, heaven
Posted in Earworm, The New Music | No Comments »
Earworm: SALEM “Frost”
Friday, September 25th, 2009
Who: SALEM
What: A trio from Midwestern America (Traverse City, MI, NYC and Chi-town) that make sound collages as seductive as they are uncomfortable and bloodcurdling.
Sounds like: Taking inspiration from the screwed & chopped percussion of crunk, the forceful synths of electro, the detached emotion of shoegaze and the boding evil presence of goth, they’ve invented a sound not unlike juke house that should quickly be patented as their own before everyone steals it from them.
RIYL: The Knife’s Silent Shout, DJ Assault’s “Yo Relatives” at 33rpm, mid-period My Bloody Valentine, the spirit of black metal, OxyContin
Need to know: To date they’ve released a few strictly limited edition EPs: Yes I Smoke Crack (out on Acephale), the Water EP (out on Merok) and a recent 7-inch in Japan (out on Big Love). But just this week they’ve unleashed a brand new two-track single on Audraglint. Their video for “Dirt” is the creepiest thing ever and totally NSFW. And they made Bruce Springsteen’s “Streets of Philadelphia” sound like it drowned a very peaceful death on a tribute called “Brustreet.”
Track: Though its name suggests otherwise, ”Frost” is the friendliest thing they’ve released so far, with Heather Marlatt’s otherworldly vocal and the warm synths melting the titular condition while the snares snap their way into a frenzy.
On the flipside, ”Legend” is a complete 180, submerged in a bath of acid as the clapping beat and droned synths pull John Holland’s voice further into an abyss of madness.
Buy: You can pick up the 7-inch here.
- Cam Lindsay
Tags: acephale, audraglint, big love, merok, salem
Posted in Earworm, The New Music | No Comments »
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