Right now, everyone needs to turn their Jonas Brother’s CDs from 8 to zero and pay attention: Brighten is the best band you’ve never heard of. Aside from the occasional sound-clip in a tour video on MySpace from The Maine, you have probably never heard anything by Brighten and I can almost guarantee that you care even less. However, you need to start caring. Immediately.
First and foremost, this band has better production values (reference footnote A) than half of the money-maker bands out there. In a very Buddy Holly sort of way, this band arranges a trio to play complex pieces of music better than a band of five or six could pull off. Second, their music is a true breath of fresh air. Not only are the songs a brilliant mix between Copeland, Brand New and Sherwood, but their vibe is instantly contagious. If you’ve not heard any of their junks before, peep it all here.
*A* And while we are on the note of great production values, you need to double check the Pennsylvania band The Right Coast. The band is bound to be picked up very soon (my money’s on Fearless) and have huge potential. A particular track of note is their dope steeze cover of Taylor Swift’s “Love Story.”
If anyone asked me prior to today, I would have told them that the music industry lacks the one thing that it thrives on - unique creativity. Why not just creativity? Because anyone can be creative by morphing other peoples’ work into their own. Not that that’s a bad thing. In fact, I relish in hearing renditions of songs originally performed by one artist and done by another. Unique creativity, in my mind, is something entirely different. The few surviving souls that possess unique creativity hide amongst pretenders and never-will-be’s and rarely show face, unless they are sampled by someone famous. It seems to me that artists with uinique creativity have no outlet to popularize their music. Last.fm changed my whole perspective on this concept.
Their answer? Architeq. Because I can not currently sum up what this man does on my own, I will let him speak for himself.
I make music exclusively with old analogue synths, modulation units, tape echos and spring reverbs all pushed and pulled into something I can eventually call a ‘tune’ on a computer. I don’t sample… If someone hears a snare roll in one of my tunes I want them to be able to know its an Architeq roll.
Claiming Dundee as his home base, Architeq is the true embodiment of uniqe creativity. He has no concern for conventional song compsition. Pushing aside such standard songwriting essentials such as tempo, key and structure, the man known to his friends as Sam Annand embodies the term originality. First introduced to me through an iTunes sampler offered to me because I am a fan of “Apple Students” on Facebook, I didn’t even give Architeq a first listen. In all honesty, unless I am already a fan of the artist, I don’t listen to those songs that are given to me at no cost from iTunes. I have always seen free playlists from iTunes as a way for record execs to cleverly market their artists to impressional teenagers who have nothing better to do than stalk Facebook. And to further my honesty, my iTunes library’s choice to play the “Fugleance Emotronical” remix of his song “Birds of Prey” was completely random and on accident.
I rarely trust re-mixes. All too often are remixes slower and less interestring than the real thing. However, one listen to this remix and I was begging for more. Rather, I was begging to hear the original. Well…I got what I wanted. And then I saw this. Another version of the same song done with the addition of a live drummer. If anything, this adds to the unique originality of Architeq. If nothing else, it’s a comment on the drummer’s ability to play along to a song with no set tempo or time signature.
An artist so original, the way I would normally describe or critique an artist seems irrelevant. In fact, there isn’t a single piece of Architeq that I can critique. Instead, I will let his music speak for him.
Least original blog posting thus far by yours truly.
Moby gets shot in the back of the head by David Lynch. Sadly, it's not as great as it sounds...
In my opinion, Moby's been on a downward spiral since Play which I see has been discontinued by the label. If you haven't bought it, there are 144 used copies at the link starting at a penny...seriously! For the more technologically-inclined, you can buy it on iTunes, complete with the B-Side collection that followed it for $9.99.
As I write this, the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players are sleeping in my two spare rooms. Tina (Mom) and Rachel (daughter) is sleeping in my sister's room. Jason (Dad) is sleeping on a couch. Opening act TY (Touching You) is sleeping in the spare room. They had just put on a very interesting and conceptual show at the Boot. The concept: rummage through estate sales, auction houses, yard sales, etc. and buy up all the photo slides they can find. Arrrange such photo slides so they Jason can write a song around them. Play song live with slideshow accompaniment. Check them out here.
In the middle of the show, they hosted a Q&A session. At the end, they asked their own question, "Does anyone have the room to hole us up for the night? We're a small band and literally can't afford to stay the night in a hotel. If anyone has extra room, we'd really appreciate it. We'll give you our sincerest gratitude and gladly give you a bunch of free merch from our collection."
Seeing as there was only 4 of them, I figured "What the hell?" and made the offer. Unbeknownst to me, I was actually in competion with another generous Boot-ian. Both of us had one problem: Tina has a completely unbased psychological fear of cats and we both had one cat. I told her I'd try to kep the cat out of the rooms they were in and Tina said, "Deal".
We stopped at a local 7-11, Tina bought some bread so they could make "phony baloney sandwiches" as they are all vegatarians. They offered me one; I passed as I enjoy my meat and never liked baloney past the 3rd grade.
While they made their sandwiches, Jason and I discussed this appearance and how frustrating it can be being a conceptual act appearing on television. I had previously seen David Byrne on The Colbert Report and felt that the travelling cameras and multiple angles ruined the presentation Byrne was looking for. Since he had backing dancers and musicians whose movements were choreographed to the song, I felt a fixed camera located center-stage would be best. Jason agreed and said, "When we were doing this show, we told them it was VERY IMPORTANT that the camera be focused on he screen at certain times because we very well couldn't have me singing words that made no sense because there wasn't a corresponding image along side it."
Afterwards, I showed them their respective rooms, gave them towels for their morning showers, and said our goodnights.
What will await me in the morning? I have no idea but I have told them I hope to be awake when they leave. It would seem rude of me to not say my goodbyes and wish them well...even if they are total strangers.
Friday March 13th at the Taphouse, The Villains, a local Norfolk garage punk band will be playing at 10pm with the Dielectrics. Get there early before it fills up!
The film we viewed in class was a classic way that bands rise to fame and fall out of the graces of their fans. The film discusses bands like Metallica and how they change their sound to gain a larger audience. Bands who water down their music are considered to be sell outs. If they stuck to their original sound they would probably keep their core audience while gaining new fans. The film goes on to talk about how it hard to stay in the music business because it so trendy, because fads come and go so quickly. The film also touches on what goes into creating a tour. The example they use is Guns n Roses tour's. Talking about Guns n Roses and Stone Temple Pilots are making a collaboration as Velvet Revolver. The only reason they get any recognition is because they have members from famous bands and record companies have spent millions of dollars on advertising. Velvet Revolver would probably have not made it with out this advertisement. Music and Integrity have nothing to do with it.
A.M. Architect is a side project of Diego Chavez AKA Aether216 and Daniel Stanush of the Panic Division. Their press release describes their sound as being based in jazz, hip-hop, and organic ambient music. Their debut album, The Road to the Sun, features a mixture of Fender Rhodes, synthesizers, pedal steel, field recordings, and more.
The lead track, Unspoken, reminds me of the first time I heard Air's Moon Safari album minus the vocals of Beth Hirsch. Glitchy beats that sound like brushed drums, Fender and guitar play a repeated melody that could be best described as "jazz lite". Upon feels as though it would have fit in with the less erratic but still overtly psychedelic moments of Caribou's Milk of Human Kindness.
Not quite emotionless and cold, but also not fiery in its' delivery The Road to the Sun has a perfect release date of April 2008. Be sure to listen to it before the ridiculously humid summer ruins the mood.
