musicmoremusic

In vocals that tend to remind me at times of the Dead Weather, Creepin’ Crazy Time in every sense embodies its title. With eerie undertones that carry across the entire album of Big Blood’s Dark Country Magic (2010), this second track has the most aggressive sound of the album (although a few other songs are up there, such as She-Wanderer).

I’m a huge lover of “Freak Folk”, or “Psych Folk” as it is sometimes called. Big Blood is a recent discovery, and is definitely “up there”. I came across two of their albums: this one and The Grove (2007). The first song I heard of theirs that caught my attention was The Grove is Hotter than an Ocean’s Oven (listen to it on YouTube here. The file was “too large” to upload.) and it instantly captivated me with charging lyrics and purposeful and passionate sliding vocals - I had to hear more.

Asian Mae, Caleb Mulkerin, Rose Philistine and Colleen Kinsella make up Big Blood, though it seems that they tend to perform their songs in duets rather than as a whole, although group songs such as Song for RO-HE-GE unite the performers with a sort of 70’s protest/festival feeling.

All of their music has a strange sense of nostalgia to it, as if Big Blood embodies the emotions and even images of a time lost in each track. Even the ones that are more a collection of sounds than songs.

I can’t get enough of Creepin’ Crazy Time. As with The Grove, it seems that Big Blood starts off their albums with a bang and then goes on to a mellower story. The lament of this “song for all to sing” is more than enough to prepare me for what the rest of Dark Country Magic has to offer.

(Hey! If you dig it, and you want it, here’s where you can get it! Dark Country Magic courtesy of DBFM! Thanks guys!)

I'm obsessed with freak folk.

Wed, 22 Dec 2010 19:25:46 -0500

Prepare for an onslaught.

I Say Fever - Ramona Falls One of my favorite music videos -...

Wed, 22 Dec 2010 18:56:00 -0500

I Say Fever - Ramona Falls

One of my favorite music videos - definitely one of the most creative. Beautiful animation, and an interesting story at that. Check it out.

malicemunro: My epically awesome ex-professor, Nic Pizzolatto,...

Wed, 22 Dec 2010 16:25:53 -0500

malicemunro:

My epically awesome ex-professor, Nic Pizzolatto, is writing the new show that is advertised at the end.

Hooray for attending the same school, and being in the English Department with Nic while he was still working at DePauw. I still have to read his book, Galveston, but from what I heard at his reading, only great things are in this man’s future.

(Here is a New York Times review of his book.)

Keep Kids Dancing. Dancing @Perry’s (Lollapalooza 2010)

Wed, 22 Dec 2010 12:44:00 -0500

Keep Kids Dancing.

Dancing @Perry’s (Lollapalooza 2010)

Not music, but a side note that I thought must be shared....

Wed, 22 Dec 2010 02:15:00 -0500

Not music, but a side note that I thought must be shared. Jean-Pierre Jeunet was a director of Delicatessen (1991), a film that I recently watched and loved. Micmacs (2009) is nothing short of incredible, every bit living up to this previous film. (Jean, it’s clear that you have a thing for clowns and street performers… and I appreciated the momentary homage the cello-saw duet from Delicatessen.)

I suppose as a Film Student I had to add this quip.

And besides, who isn’t won over by adorable zany street people?

Jean-Pierre Jeunet, you have stolen my quirky-loving heart yet again. Thank you.

(If you’re interested in more of his films, he also directed The City of Lost Children, Amelie, and A Very Long Engagement, among others)

Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan on Captain Beefheart, 12/21/10

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 21:58:19 -0500

Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan on Captain Beefheart, 12/21/10:

wharved:

Rest in peace, you brilliant soul.

Amen and Amen

In an introduction that seems to present listeners with a...

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 17:05:00 -0500

In an introduction that seems to present listeners with a trudging progression (literally, the music seems to be dragging itself through something to get to the true opening of the song), The Ruby Suns’ Cranberry transitions from a march to a rhythmic dance reminiscent of a techy-pop Pasodoble.

Suddenly this song fades into rhythms that sound eerily reminiscent of Yeasayer’s O.N.E.

More aggressive with their use of tech-driven tempos than their previous albums (The Ruby Suns in 2005 and Sea Lion in 2008) this 2010 album is echoing the same “new paths” that a lot of artists that follow the trend of “new sound, new album” have taken recently (Caribou’s “Swim”, for example).

What I like the most about this album is the growth that each song goes through to come to its ultimate conclusion. Pitchfork reviewed this track as well and seemed to find fault in the very aspects of this song that I enjoyed. Somehow Ryan McPhun and company have taken a lot of different sounds and incorporated them into one overlying theme. I might even say the intro of Cranberry is Animal Collective-esque in its eclectic style. Not quite there, however I would venture to say that I don’t want them to be.

Cranberry grazes at the surface of pop while adhering to the progressive sound that I like most about indie music. It doesn’t get whiny, and it doesn’t encounter the stereotypical vocalizations that grate my nerves.

And so I say congrats to the Ruby Suns: the only reason I picked this track to discuss is that it was the first to jump out at me. There’s plenty more to be said. I only hope that your quick album output hasn’t burned you out of more years of creative music-making.

I love the new skin!

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 14:28:00 -0500

Thanks! I wanted it to look more streamlined and professional. I’m serious about wanting people to read my music-musings. Maybe a bit too over-assumptive, but it would be great to gain an audience.

Dear Catbirdseat

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 14:13:39 -0500

(I secretly want to be someone’s favorite music blog, too)

Look What I just Stumbled Upon.

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 01:09:25 -0500

Look What I just Stumbled Upon.

(I will tend to review some very different songs, so buyers...

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 01:06:00 -0500

(I will tend to review some very different songs, so buyers beware.)

Traxx - Salem

After a snafu with my mp3 file of this song being “too large”, I decided against choosing a different song to discuss and turned instead to YouTube. I was too interested in talking about it to pass up.

Traxx is the ninth track of eleven on Salem’s self-titled freshman album. I happened on them really in an attempt to find out more of a genre that I heard mentioned that I had never heard about: Witch House. Apparently, this is it.

Witch house, from other searches on the internet, seems to be a strange mix of downbeat techno, dubstep, chillwave, and a general goth overtone of industrial sound in some levels of variation wherever you find it. Salem definitely spans this track.

Traxx reminds me of listening to a band like Hammock or Ghosts in the Sky - shoegazer instrumentals with some story to it. At least a noticeable beginning, middle, and end. Unlike a few other tracks with strong hip-hop undertones, Traxx tends more towards shoegazer yet keeps a steady beat (I might propose one could even dance to it in some late-trance that tends to come between the hours of can’t-stop-dancing to moving in slow motion).

I’m interested to hear what Salem goes on to. And to figure out more about this “Witch House” business.