La Gran Perdida de Energia - Self Titled ALBUM REVIEW

"Gloom & Doom that's all I'm saying...

-Austin Lovelace"

This is the first album by the instrumental post-rock outfit who's name, I believe, translates to The Great Loss of Energy. While it is their first album, it's defiantly not their first time out the gate, though it does seem to be the first impression they would rather halve. The reason I say that is because, while there isn't a huge change in style, there is a pretty big change in presentation. In comparison with their first EP the production is much more ambitious, and much grander. They take the sound that they where showing off and focus it much more on the haunting elements of post-rock to assist the production in filling every bit of empty space.

I'll admit that I was on the fence with the EP and listening to it before the album didn't give me the highest expectations. When it comes to this album I'm still not getting it completely; I'm liking the improvements on the sounds they where already using but the production isn't making up for the uniqueness that they've lost because of it. A lot like Foster, who's first EP I gave a raving review, they focus a lot on an indy rock edge. There are a lot of melodies that almost remind me of indy rock kings like Grizzly Bear. A lot of the more catchy moments on that first EP even focused on a math rock influence from the popier side of bands like Band of Horses and Minus the Bear. Under the production that Volvemos en 10 Años had, I was hoping to hear more of their atmospheric side but now that it's the majority of what I'm getting, I'm missing their fun side.

In many ways they're an apposing force to a band like Godspeed You! Black Emperor, while using a lot of similar techniques, they represent a much more optimistic side of post-rock. Where GY!BE soundtrack a post-apocalyptic, political, world Energia is more content with telling you when to relax and play. The opener, "El Mes del Viento", uses a lot of symbol crashing breaks and tremolo picking to create an environment that's easy to get lost in, something you would expect to soundtrack the most tense scene in a movie. That leads into the next track which has a surf feel but as soon as that goes out, it awkwardly transitions into something very similar to the first track. "DO!" has a very strong and cool melody but it repeats it through the whole song and just barley makes it out without decreasing the power the groove has. After about 1:00min the 4th track works into one of the coolest and most climactic grooves on the whole album, and it finishes with some tremolo picking that stops you from breathing, but the song still goes on for 7 more minuets of falling action. While you wait for moments like that everything else just feels like filler, filler that they avoided on their first EP. One of my favorite tracks, "De Los Que Viven Bajo el Agua", takes a while to get there, but it finishes with such a fun outro that I almost wanna dance to it, and the same goes for the intro to "Asia". I don't want this album to have to live up to an EP that's not as good but when they don't sound like they're having fun, they sound like they're stalling. When it feels like they're stalling, I can't say what they're doing anything unique, and those parts at many times on this album, awkwardly mix with the parts I love. That's the only difference from the first EP that isn't an improvement, making it the easiest to talk about, but it's a substantial change.

I understand that this review sounds negative, and while that is the perspective I have of this album compared to others in its genre, I want to make sure you know that I do like it. I enjoyed listening to this, and I can't rave more about how hauntingly beautiful the last track is (it should be on during the credits of Pirates of the Caribbean, it really should). Sadly, though, the best thing I can say about the parts I didn't like is "they do what other bands are doing, really well". I love every moment of this where I can picture a crowd dancing and the band jumping but for now I feel like they're still working out how they want all those sounds to work together. While I wasn't amazed by this album, I'm really excited to see what they do next.

MUSE - The 2nd Law ALBUM REVIEW

"I'm working here!

-Austin Lovelace"
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MUSE is a band that I've been trying to putt my finger on for a while. Coming out with the very ambitious space rock, Radiohead inspired, "Showbiz" they got my interests engaged. I understand how people mark them off as a copy but I saw no reason to place that name on them, yet. Fallowing that with my favorite MUSE album, "Origin of Symmetry", they made them selves out to be a band that had found their sound, one they could call their own. I loved the aggressiveness and in my opinion, it had some of the most creative bass lines of the early 00s, especially the single "New Born". Sadly they fell hard on their next album; "Absolution" was the Radiohead copy everyone always uses against them, and I can't say I disagree. I heard a very clear "Ok Comp./Bends." influence on "O.O.S." but they took it to such a level that any of their songs could be confused with Radiohead's by a casual listener. I hated that album so much that their next just skipped by me and I didn't hear it until "Uprising" dropped from "The Resistance". I listened to "The Resistance", only because I loved the single, but I found MUSE once again copying, just another band. I'm really not a Queen fan and so the only reaction I could have, to an album ripping so much from their corner, was to rush back to their last album hoping for something better. "Black Holes and Revelations" was an album I can defiantly say sounded only like MUSE, not the same as the album that sounded like MUSE before, but still strictly MUSE. 

So, we're clearly dealing with a band that has a very rocky past, with my career as a fan. One album I like, two I love, and two I hate; I hoped that this album would break that tie. I don't think MUSE did much to advance them selves from their last album. Almost every track here sound like it would have fit fine with anything on "The Resistance". "Survival" even has these background vocals that sound completely torn from Freddy Mercury's play book, along with "Supremacy" and "Explorers". "Panic Station" has a guitar riff that sounds way to close to the bass intro from "Another One Bites the Dust", to even call it a MUSE track. They even pull from a side of the 80s a lot of fans are guaranteed to hate. The only real difference between "Big Freeze" and U2's "Sunday Bloody Sunday" is Matt's vocal. 

I know that taking other peoples songs, and sound, is a long standing tradition in music, Just Look at Balkans  and The Strokes. I'm just not hearing MUSE take these influences, or even when they take  rhythms and sounds directly, in a way that is moving them in a unique direction. MUSE is a case of a band who wares their influences on their sleeves, and they've done it very well in the past, but the only thing they're adding to all these, over used 80s sounds, are the dub step wubs that are just carelessly layered over their instrumentals.

There are tracks that brake this mold but they don't even come close to saving the album for me. "Madness" is an electronic love song that gets more and more ambitious as it runs from very dub sounds, not dubstep just dub, to a full collage of instrumentation that easily meets the volume of their older material. "The 2nd Law Unsustainable", is pretty much just a dubstep song though the aimless drop is pretty underwhelming, especially when it sounds just like all the other dubstep productions flooding the market. "Animals" is a really smooth jam that sounds nothing like anything I've heard from MUSE, or any other band for that matter, and the outro is a refreshing  instrumental, Matt's vocals are more a part of the background that foreground, that reminds me that this Album isn't all bad. Sadly the only song that I liked enough to give them the credit, that I wish I could, was "Animals".

I don't want to sound like a snob, saying "MUSE should go back to their old sound", in fact I encourage progression but if this is the direction that they're heading I have no interest in going with them. I'm also sure that a lot of readers will have a different definition of copying, and will also have a different idea of where the line should and should not be crossed. I can't recommend this album to any MUSE fans who fell of the bandwagon on "The Resistance" but if you liked that album I can't see you disliking this, but for me they've crossed a line I'd rather not cross my self, two too many times.

The Note Pad:

Other Anthem Rockers: The Killers, U2, Queen, Bruce Springsteen, Arcade Fire, The Foo Fighters, Radiohead. Journey, Styx, Kansas, R.E.O. Speed Wagon, Aerosmith

Other Bands You Might Like: Almost anything from the 80s

















-Austin Lovelace

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Big K.R.I.T. - 4eva Na Day (Mixtape) and Live From The Underground Album Review

"It's been a really bad year for singles... I keep hoping all the albums are better

-Austin Lovelace"
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Big K.R.I.T. is one of the EmSees to come out last year that, at least to me, is what made last year such a boost for the genre. I won't ever say Hip-Hop lost its charm but it was popping in and out of the dark for a while and it finally decided to crawl out. If anyone is looking for smooth southern rap that sounds out of it's own era, which is what makes it so good, then there may not be a better up and comer; this is your guy!

This tape is the end of a trilogy, the first 2 albums being what launched him to the hype he's sitting at now. When "Home Town Hero" dropped, off the first tape, "K.R.I.T. Waz Here", it was clear that there was a new player on the field. "Number one song and a Grammy, now I'm smashing Maserati crashing, swerving through the trafficWrap it 'round a pole, sell a mil off the tragedy", for K.R.I.T. to come out the gate spitting bars like that over an Adele sample... He made it hard not to like him and  even more so, he made it hard to avoid him. When part 2 came out as a free mixtape everyone took the chance check out the new kid (take a marketing hint from K.R.I.T. and make the album after your hit free). It felt weird to go from paying for a good tape to downloading an even better one, no questions asked. "Return Of 4 Eva" was a project made with no intent on being his next hit, but instead he rode the hype wave and washed the fans into a project that would prove that he could back up his lyrical capabilities with production way past where he started. I don't want to get into a review of an old tape, but I can tell you that that tape left me waiting for his next move (DOWNLOAD IT DAMMIT!). 

"4eva Na Day", as not only the conclusion to a trilogy but a pre-cursor to his debut album, was surrounded by as much hype as the public can muster up. K.R.I.T. was featured on the most recent Roots album, dispelling roomers about a lazy flow by rapping next to Tech N9ne, B.O.B., and MGK in the BET cypher, and beating about every other EmSee in lyrical ability all over the XXL "Freshman Class" cypher as well. He even returned to his older tape series with "The Last King 2: God's Machene" to help keep his fellow southern EmSees relevant over his remixes and beats (this should result in "Country Cousins" a joint mix tape with Yellawolf). Whichever end was reaching out made it hard for him to lose any relevancy in between albums; in less than a year we would get this tape handed to us before we even had a chance to sleep on him.

So if "K.R.I.T. Waz Here" was about introducing him as a star and "Return Of 4 Eva" was our introduction to K.R.I.T. as an EmSee than this tape should be about K.R.I.T. the person. K.R.I.T. knows that each perspective changes based on how he is seen in the other two and as much as each tape is based on one perspective, he has always been able to transition from topic to topic without contradicting anything himself (a skill slowly fading). He will talk about how he's the best rapper in the game knowing that off that cloud he might fall in real life. That idea transfers to this tape just as well, but concentrating on himself as a person takes the bragging down to a much more contextual level. Unless he's spiting about his performances, the context of his last 2 tapes, he leaves the bragging alone and for good reason. By taking us into a day in the life of Big K.R.I.T. we get a really personal project, one even deeper than the last tape.

The story starts at the start of the day with K.R.I.T. doing a spoken word peace about "How much effort a day takes" on "8:04" AM and bringing him self back down to reality on "Wake Up". "Wake Up" has K.R.I.T. singing the hook making it even more connected to the previous tape that ended with "The Vent" (where he sings the through end of the track). I assume the next two tracks, "Yesterday" and "Boobie Miles", are in reference to the early morning deep thinking we all get into before we officially wake up a few hours later (when did this worksheet appear in front of me?). He finds him self thinking about how much he misses the girl he left back at his home town, before he set out on tour; he thinks about Boobie Miles, from "Friday Night Lights", and how one small move could end a career (if you don't know what happened, shame on you, I'm not telling). He spends the next 3 tracks hyped as hell, I can only guess they take place on stage because he's bragging his ass off and the hooks are just infections, repetitive, and loud. In "1986" he continues the song writing style of the last two but he brings it back from a stage performance to the nostalgia of the car he uses to drive from show to show. The skit right before that track helps bring it back to reality when you hear someone walk by his car and start talking about everything that happened during the year it came out. "Country Rap Tunes" fallows it with the nostalgia of talking about the town K.R.I.T. would soon be returning to and grew up in before "Sky Club" starts the story of his return. When K.R.I.T.'s phone is off (just turn it off you'll take off so much faster) you hear the voicemail his girlfriend leaves and his response is a strong summery of his music, as much as a strong emotional response. "I'm like what happened to us, maybe I'm rapping to much" and "it's either you or this music but I can't make up my mind" are examples of how he can separate him as a star and as person without contradicting himself; the contrast between tracks like "Sky Club" and "Red Eye" are what makes K.R.I.T. so honest and so appealing. "Down & Out" is the last bit of fun he has before he touches down back home. The next two tracks, "Package Store" and "Temptation", deal with the problems of his home town, with topics like a crooked priest using church funds to buy hookers, drugs, and guns or the hood that told him he would never make it. "Handwriting" is all about how personal his music is to him and how no one will ever be able to take his style, and, I even clapped the first time I heard him say "2 free albums minus lable support, fired my publicist cause I forgot what I was paying him for". "Insomnia" is when he gets back home to his girl; it's a very sexual song and it's climax was probably just as fun for him as it was awkward for me but as an anticlimactic (it is and isn't) ending it just brings it back to being a true reality and so do the next two tracks (almost copies of the first two).

In terms of style K.R.I.T. is using more guitars the usual, he had on in the studio with him if I'm corrects, and tracks like "Boobie Miles" are a little more jazzy than he's ever gotten but no big changes are made on this tape. I would say the production on this album is less varied than all of his previous projects but because he's telling a story it makes seance for them to be able to cross over each other, a lot like chapters would in a book. The way he tells the story, and even his singing voice, makes me think he took more than a few cues from The Roots when he did that joint on their last album and I can't help but think that's part of the reason that this is my favorite project from him (see the above for more reasons).

Download Mixtape | Free Mixtapes Powered by DatPiff.com

The Note Pad:

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Now this album comes in right after the end of the last trilogy (I will not make a "Phantom Menace" reference... okay fine I did). The reason I chose to review both of these albums together is because I think K.R.I.T. wanted the context for his firs major label debut to be different from where he started, so I had to bring it back to the start. He knows that "Cinematic Music Group" would not let his first radio record be as personal or as distant as his tapes, even  in connection with "Def Jam".

K.R.I.T. is not even trying to make a passion project here. Like any other artists who have changed their style, K.R.I.T. wants to try his hand at a pop-rap album. I try to stay away from that genre because of most of the artists coming out of it recently (I think we know who I'm talking about) but I will say that Kanye West's last album, "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy", is one of my favorite Hip-Hop albums OF ALL TIME. So I thought about judging this on a curve because of what it is, a sort of "it's good for what it is" type of attitude but that wouldn't be fare to the readers or K.R.I.T. himself.

I can't just ask my self how well did he make this kind of album,I have to ask how much do I really like it? I had to avoid all forms of fanboyism to really get into this album, both good and bad. On first listen I found it so disappointing that I didn't even listen to it again until I decided to review it. I felt like the hooks where pretty corny and the beats where not as full as the tapes he putt out before, a comparison not worth making. Before this review, however, I hadn't listened to the tapes (because I listened to them way past enough to form an opinion any way) and after my second listen I was wondering what my problem was. Everything I didn't like was still there but I couldn't hate it nearly as much, at least for the majority of the album.

The single, "I Got This", was the perfect example of what I didn't like about this album but on the second listen (of the album) I was right with him on the hook (with K.R.I.T. on backup vocals); "fuck these hatas, fuck these hoes, fuck these hatas, fuck these hoes", shit he got me cookin' (behind the closed door of my room, of cores). The fist four tracks where just, catchy as hell, bangers and I'll credit "The Needle Drop" in saying "Big K.R.I.T. fight songs where you can't help but but cheer him on". The next track, "Money On the Floor", is easily the track he gave to "Capital" for the radio, but despite how bad the verses are (come on K.R.I.T., 2 Chainz, really?) it is remarkably produced. No matter how much I enjoyed the instrumentals on tracks 5 and 6, I just leave me tired of hearing K.R.I.T. spit below his level and I'm sad to say the next track hits me a little like that too (even though it sequels "My Sub" from "Return Of 4eva").  "Don't Let Me" is a fantastic pick me up though, with it's sole-full guitar solos and vocals in the back and K.R.I.T.'s singing on the hook is better then ever. He gets back to spitting verses like "Porin' up, I swear my liver never be the same, a pint of Hen'll help to ease the pain, world fucked up and I can't seem to leave he game". Sadly Anthony Hamilton delivers some really over-done vocals that sink the next track for me. "Pull up" hits only a little better than tracks 5 and 6 (mostly because of the great features) and "Yeah That's Me" feels like an annoying attempt to re-do "I Got This". The way the pitched vocals lay in the back of "Hydroplaning" make me want to turn off the album right there. The beat on "If I Fall" is beautiful and it reminds me a lot of "C.R.E.A.M.", from The Wu Tang Clan, but Melanie Fiona's hook is just awful and it almost sinks that track for me too. Thank God the album finished with 3 incredible tracks; "Rich Dad Poor Dad" is a great spoken word story with a beat that feels as beautiful as "If I Fall", B.B. King's vocals and lyrics add so much more to "Praying Man", and "Live from the Underground (Reprise)" just proves that K.R.I.T. can sing his hart out. It guides the album to its end perfectly.

I could have endless complaints about this album, I could rant about K.R.I.T. letting his record company stick its fingers too far into his album, and I could complain that the radio tracks aren't a good representation of the artist. The thing is that, just like his tapes, every track that he took full control of turned out so well that they have become some of his best for me and all the tracks I didn't like where only bad for small peaces of the album. Even with the huge sag in the middle of the album this managed to be a very solid release (and the first skit on this thing is hilarious, I can forgive him after a good laugh:)). This is an artists that gave me 3+ free albums and I think it's about time he gets paid so if you like this album pleas go and cop. it.
 
The Note Pad:

More Southern Hip-Hop: (this is a huge category and I'm not well versed in it; I also don't like a lot of it) Cunnin Linguists, Yelawolf, David Banner, Bun B, Ludacris, Outkast (Big Boi and Andre 3,000), Goodie Mob, UGK

Other artists you mite like: The Roots, Aesop Rock, Kendrick Lamar, Black Hippy, Ab-Soul, Danny Brown 

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Garbage - Not Your Kind of People REVIEW

"The new animal collective has already leaked! Well who can you trust...

-Austin Lovelace"

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It's has been 7 years seance we've heard anything from this dynamic 4 peace, of post-grunge and pop music, and I will admit I was skeptical. Post-Grunge is a shaky genre, by this I mean most of it kinda sucks :/. Even though Garbage has separated themselves from the Creeds and Nicklebacks I also relies that I am dealing with a pop band.

With the famed producer Butch Vig, of Nirvana's "Nevermind" & "In Utero"/ Smashing Pumpkin's "Siamese Dream", and the late 90s sex symbol/Singer Shirley Manson it's easy to see why grunge would carry past the boundaries of a pop band. While no one in their right mind would dare call this band grunge I would be glad to carry the "G" in their name to the description of "pop-grunge". I have also had the miss fortune of hearing albums like "Let Your Dim Light Shine", by Soul Asylum, and "Secret Samadhi", by Live, tare some of the best Post-Grunge bands to their knees (voluntarily).


In a Recent Interview with SPIN Magazine Shirley makes it clear that fans will get what they want, "It's not our job to reinvent the wheel., That's the playground of the young.", but which old rickety wheel is she referring to..? because they left us on the 3rd wheel back in 2005. Rising to fame from the hype behind Butch Vig finally racking up the drums behind a full band, Garbage's accessible version of 90s rock unicycles across the top 40 finish line [Twice (on self titled, and 2.0)]. (get ready because the wheel references aren't over) While it's a feat to watch, uni-cycling isn't really a diverse or practical way to travel so, to keep their fans from getting bored, Garbage elected to try out a raw 90s pop album and added a second wheel. While the opener on "Beautiful Garbage", "Shut Your Mouth", hit hard the rest of the album features Butch Vig screwing with only production while everything else just danced around it. Tracks like "Androgyny" or "Chary Lips (Go Baby Go)" showed that they could pull it off but I'm not the only one who needed some more of a punch from them. Two wheels still arrant stable but all you have to do for more support is give it some gas (just in case no you never rode a bike), though Garbage wasn't looking for a quick fix. To prove "Beautiful" wasn't a sell out the band built one of those weird "Chinese 3 wheelers" and released "Bleed Like Me". Garbage wasn't going to fall back on the talent that made the famous. They where, how ever, going to "Run Baby Run" from their last album and ditch the electronics for, almost, a pure rock album. Fans don't leave after one flop but after getting a second album from a band that they didn't expect, return to form or not, a fan base will get unstable; so it's about time they relies maybe 3 wheels isn't a smart design... (DO YOU HEAR ME CHINA!)

Years later we go back to see them and, instead of trying to stabilize the car with 4 wheels, they're back at trying to master a sport they where great at almost a decade ago. It's clear that they've gotten better at it over the years and even become natural with it but now they're using the old parts as obstacles because no one would buy them. While they're old sound has left music almost all together they had no trouble taking it back but not without the affect of their past career. Just as their last two albums couldn't leave the support of their first two this new album wouldn't let it's former two fall behind (a quick break from wheel references).


The first single "Blood for Poppies" made it clear they where going back on the first wheel but it's not in the shape to make it over the obstacles. The heavy bass and guitar riffs on that track felt just like the Garbage I love but the chorus felt left over from "Beautiful" and the same can be said about the opener "Automatic Systematic Habit" and the whole of track 2, "Big Bright World". After the first three tracks pass I loose even more interest in the next 3 tracks, I am inferring that I liked "BFP" & "ASH". "Control" has some really nice vocal samples over the hook (and a really nice climax), and so does "Felt" but as whole songs they fall a little flat. Sadly "flat" is all I get out of the title track and it puts me back at the end of "Bleed Like Me" where tracks like "Why Don't You Come Over" and "Happy Home" leave me hanging. Thankfully, the next 4 tracks make me feel like I'm sitting in a room watching my favorite 90s pop/rock band wright at their best. "I Hate Love" and "Sugar" both start with the kind of production I loved on parts of "Beautiful" and then hit with the emotion of "2.0". "Battle In Me" and "Man On a Wire" don't mess around and hit you with Garbage grade aggression that is almost mosh worthy. "Beloved Freak", like "All Over but the Crying", "Milk" or "You Look So Fine", is a mood song and when you're in that mood it's on of the best on the album meaning Butches Production takes over (it may also be the first Garbage song to feature foreign a sample, correct me if I'm wrong).


My first impressions of the album where 30 second samples that the band uploaded on their youtube channel and if you heard them you would get my hype. They all featured the best of Butch Vig production on this album which is, as usual, top notch, but when you listen to everything else around them they can loose potency and aggressiveness. This album makes me ask "what happened to this part of Garbage I really like?". When they dismantled the car (yep the references are back) what happened to sex in the back seat? I always loved hearing Shirley talk about her sex life like any other male singer. Why can't she talk like a pervert like she did on "Queer", "You Look So Fine", "Cherry Lips" and "Bad Boy Friend", this is the first album without any of that; it's also clear that age took some of the seductiveness out of her voice. Where is the influence I heard from The Pixies and The Breeders on "Bleed Like Me" Shirley Manson is no less capable of writing like that (yes I'm saying she's still hot). Why are you backing off when you used to say "Sex Is Not The Enemy"?


"Lies more lies, I can tell there lies" ("ASH"), I wouldn't say Garbage has been the best at writing lyrics but there are very few spots on this album where I hear any sort of subtleties and there is redundancy all over this which isn't what I expect from a band like this. "What a joke, but do you hear me laughing" ("Battle In Me"), This is what I feel about a lot of the verses on this album. This is the first Garbage album I've had to groan through and this is without mentioning all of the "Shake It, Shake It, Shake It off"s on this thing.


Garbage has a choice to make from this album on; they can either ride the sound that there fans adore or they can decide to experiment and keep us from getting bored. I understand they aren't out to, "re-invent the wheel" anymore but I'm no more asking for that then I'm asking for another album. "Bleed Like Me" was nothing new to the system but it was defiantly Garbage in a new light and I see no reason for them to not try it again, or maybe even pull another influence out from under their belt. Any casual fan of post-grunge will like this album but Garbage risks loosing listeners like me by becoming another Everclear or Gin Blossoms; both of which are good bands but I haven't felt the need to care about them seance they fell into a rut and stopped evolving. Garbage is still a band I want to fallow because I know they won't disappoint but they run the risk of become "another one of those bands" so I ask them to please wright music more naturally instead of just trying to pleas your fans.

The Note Pad:

Other post-grunge bands: Everclear, Gin Blossoms, pre "Secret Samadhi" Live, Foo Fighters, Weezer, Jimmy Eat World, pre "Let Your Dim Light Shine" Soul Asylum 

Other bands you might like: No Doubt, Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Pearl Jam, Screaming Trees, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, maybe Paramore, Mother Love Bone 

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Foster - Emerald Lights, Fast Cars EP REVIEW

"Incredible B-Sides dude...

-Austin Lovelace"

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Wherever you are reading this, it’s probably safe to say that you could use a quick refresher (fresher in this case?) on this project. The best place to start would be to look more into the influences they show. Explosions in the Sky, Mogwai, Russian Circles, Slint, Maybeshewill, and Talk Talk. This band steeps itself pretty deep in the style of Post Rock, a genre whose participants names read off like a Dr. Sues book and have the same effect as a child’s parents hoped reading to their kids would. Fans of this kind of music get lost in their own world when they put their headphones in but other listeners, sadly, just fall asleep. I don’t think I could explain it better then the title of an album by Swans, “Soundtracks for the Blind”.

I could list off bands I love from this genre all day, but to do so would waste your time and dilute any point that could be made about this band. Post Rock has separated itself as a genre from anything else but the influences they take from Rock couldn't be clearer; bands like The Moody Blues, Led Zeppelin, and Swans are big ones. This band, however, separates themselves further away from the genre’s past because the sound palette this band uses pulls directly from their predecessors (listed above). While continuing the tradition of bending guitar strings to get out every sound possible, they never crossed the path of one that I would associate with their genre’s Classic and Experimental past. Every sound they use is an extension of the sounds Post Rock essentially invented but what keeps them from completely detaching themselves from their Rock roots is their strong connection with Indie and Classic Rock song writing.

Most Post Rock bands let their music do the talking and their voices are either absent completely or so immaculate that they feel just like another cord in the string section. Foster chooses to keep pinned to lyrics and verses, which is what warrants the Slint comparison (and Talk Talk, I almost forgot Talk Talk). I have never really been that big of a fan of Slint, which is sacrilegious to most Post Rock fans; the point of mentioning this is that Foster corrects the problem I have with that band. Slint’s vocals have always felt emotionless and they just hung off the end of the songs, like a broken eraser, while Foster does the opposite. There isn't a moment on this album where Tanner VanBaal’s vocals don’t feel genuine in what he’s talking about. Their vocal delivery soounds somewhere between sole artists like Bobby Womack and ambient like Jónsi (of Sigur Rós), almost like the singer of Talk Talk (I can’t forget Talk Talk). The combination is a beautiful addition to the instrumentation but I can hardly understand a word. “Staying right by your side, I’m alive” is the indication that the sound is more important then the lyrics anyway and that’s what I get from them but they do leave me wondering whether it’s the production or the singer mumbling that confuses me.

The problems I have with this album start with the production. Another comparison to make with Slint is the production style which unfortunately is something I don’t think Foster was able to turn around. Almost all the bands in this style have immaculate production but this album just like Slint’s “Spiderland” has an Indie Rock, on the edge of "lo-fi", kind of recording. I never liked that kind of recording with Post Rock because I like to use my “peripheral hearing”. All of my favorite bands in this style force you to go deep into their songs to find sounds hidden in the mix, and that creates a sense of depth in their music. That is still possible because of the stacked instruments, that do sound dence, but they don’t make you work for it. It takes away from them because they use a sound pallet adapted from bands who do use the immaculate production style. I am a frequent listener of music like this though, so I do have to recognize that the production might be the reason new listeners might be able to grab on to this easier than where Foster started.

1. Mexican Radio

This track starts out with a short build into a heavy, Mogwai sounding, riff that goes in and out of a few Russian Circles inspired bass lines, before hitting a groove that reminds me a lot of the more melodic Mogwai tracks like “San Pedro” or “The Sun Smells too Loud”.

2. Voices

My least favorite track on the album starts with the kind of echoey riffs that I’ve only heard from Foster but the vocals are so awkward over the intro and the chorus that it makes it hard to keep moving through the track. When I heard the short solo work Shane Cahn lays down over the songs transition (which is catchy as hell) it kept me going through the track. It is nice to hear the female voice on this track though...

3. Hand-Picked Lemon

The riff that I couldn't stand on the previous track is used here in a very nice groove. This is one of the few tracks that is constantly changing and introducing new sounds; it gives me the feeling and depth I expect from an Explosions in the Sky track (and Talk Talk). Though the riffing on the bridge, intro, and solo/transitions still reminds me a lot of Mogwai they are still sounds I’ve only heard from this band (correct me if I’m wrong but it sounds like they are messing around with the necks of their guitars).

4. Chupacabra

By this track I can tell they love messing with the guitar sounds that either annoyed me or got me really involved but from here on out they do a great job of it. This is easily the catchiest song on the album with lyrics I can actually hear, they make me want to sing along, “I wonder where they’ve been”. They also lay down a vocal melody that is catchy as hell with guitars squealing behind it, before it breaks into a heavy bass line. The breakdowns all over this track sound a lot like Maybeshewill with their Post Metal style and it leads to some really fast riffing to end the track right! They sound pretty fun on this track which only a few bands like And So I Watch You From Afar or sleepmakeswaves (and Talk Talk)play around with.

5. Necklace

The instrumentation on this track hits all at once and and really builds a beautiful noise under the most emotional vocals on this album. This song lacks some individuality but it really makes up for it in a real sentimental feeling and a great almost Godspeed You, Black Emperor type of outro starting when the band yells “1, 2, 3, 4”.

6. Top 40

This track hits the same way as the last but it had a few nice transitions with the echoing sound coming from each instrument at the same time and ending with a really tight drum roll and loud guitars that again remind me of Mogwai at their most melodic.

- Austin Lovelace

The Note Pad:

Other Post Rock bands: Slint, Talk Talk, Explosions in the Sky, And So I watch You From Afar, Maybeshewill, sleepmakeswaves, MONO, Russian Circles, Do Make Say Think, Godspeed You,Black Emperor

Other bands you might like: Pink Floyd, Swans, The Moody Blues, Rush, Radiohead, Led Zeppelin, Queen

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Sigur Rós - Valtari REVIEW

"We are officially 10 likes away from hitting 50! Thanks to Angela Delmedico for getting us to 40.

-Austin Lovelace"

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This is an album that's been highly anticipated, not surprising considering they're one of the biggest names in post rock. Seance post-rock has been a genre that has manged to climb and maintain a high popularity rate with the indie crowd, it's not surprising a band as unique as Sigur Rós would rise to the top. Although uniqueness is where a lot of listeners last doubted them. Their 2008 album "Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust" was easily their most accessible album and even though that turned critics off, it didn't stop fans from enjoying the album. As a fan of the band I loved the last album but I'm also a post-rock fan so it was clear to me that Sigur Rós was embracing the influence of another band. Explosions In the Sky is my favorite post-rock band and apparently Sigur Rós felt similar. So after putting out a live album (based on their last) and taking one extra year to put out a full length where do they land?

This album acts like 2008 never happened and acts like their previous album was a progression that doesn't need to be experimented any further. This album takes me back to what are considered their classic albums, "Takk...", "( )", "Ágætis byrjun". Sigur Rós is back to slow, immaculately produced, beautiful movements. They really try to get everything they can out of each note; they just get every bit of emotion out of each string, key, pluck, slide, and pull. Sigur Rós is once again trying to make you break down into either crying or complete contentment.

Not to say Sigur Rós is trying to satisfy critics or get stuck in a rut to make fans happy. I mean, is going back two albums really that far? Besides this album is a progression on the style that made them so sought after any way. The new Sigur Rós is clearly trying to break into ambiance, the closest genre to their origin. Being one of the slowest bands in their genre this career shift makes complete seance but Sigur Rós faces a conflict going from an album that went as far into post-rock as ""Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust" to an album that leaves the genre all together. Fortunately we don't have to experience that because they are ready to hold our hand and convince us that this move will not only work but be for the better.

You are guaranteed, as a fan, to be pleased with how Sigur Rós wants to change. The song writing style on this record is the same writing that people loved on "Takk" but hesitant. When I said "get everything they can out of each note" I meant it. Once a piano key is hit you wont hear the next one until the reverb on the last has faded. You get the same affect with every instrument and effect on this album, guitars all the way to the strings in the back. Fortuity the instrumentation is stacked so there is always plenty of sounds to pull out of what your hearing. What is extremely impressive about how "Valtari" does this, is how unbelievably beautiful each track is. A great example is the first single to drop from this album, "Ekki Múkk", which starts with these immaculate strings and then Jónsi's vocals come in while the song just grows, climaxes in the middle before it fades out in the cloud of honest joy it created. The first track, "Ég anda", starts quiet and builds until the end where it's just a thick loud mesh. Jónsi's vocals remain just as much of an instrument as everything else, when he holds these high notes for amazing periods of time, without even knowing the language he's speaking he is incredible.

The first 4 tracks on this album just pull everything out of me and if I let them, they could hypnotize me into pure joy but at some point I have to dig into this album a little more. After numerous listens the effect, at least as drastically, ends after the first 4 tracks. I wont pretend tracks 5 & 6 are bad but not as incredible as 1-4; which is a bar so high I don't know how they matched it 5 times. The 5th time being track 7, the title track. Staying consistently high volume this track makes so many slight melody changes that it pulls me back into the trance I was in at the beginning. "Fjögur píanó", though beautifully written, feels to much like something off of "Takk..." to flow with the whole album, it feels like it should have ended one track earlier with 5 & 6.

My complaints with this album are minimal but no matter how much I praise Sigur Rós for what they've done here I have to ask the question... Is this album as good as the ones that came before it? Well, it's better than  "Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust" but I can't say it's better then the works I and many others consider classics, but can we really expect that, really. I'm left with only one peace of advise for this band; fuck what everyone else thinks because when you want to delve into something new it is your responsibility to become the best at it even if you have to change, give your self to the genre you want to make. This is easily on par with "Von", their first album and as far as I'm concerned, that's all I really need.

-Austin Lovelace

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The Note Pad: The Music Is Sound Rating, Paying for Music, and Supporting Our Fans

"I'm fell off with green day a while back but I'm digging the hell out of this trailer!

-Austin Lovelace"

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I'm going to start reviewing new albums so I'll be abandoning the weekly format to cover the albums on my "anticipated list". I also want to cover other albums that came out this year so recommend albums to me and I'll give them a listen.

This is the system I'm going to use to rate the albums (already been used on the "Milo Takes Baths review". I'm hoping it's easy enough to understand, if not pleas let me know how I could fix it, but there are still some things I want to clear up. Rather than just using a number/star system or a symbol system we wanted to create a system that not only made it clear how we felt about it but could also be easily separated into 3 easey categories; simply put "buy it", "sample it", or "pirate it". We want to give the impression that we buy music that we like and for that matter, want you to buy and support. Even though our lowest rating is "pirate it" we don't support you doing it. We want this blog to have hummer so a rating of "pirate it" should be taken as a joke, though it does mean I'm not going to dish out any money for it. The ratings don't cross with each other, so you can't expect a rating including both "bad" and "buy it"; meaning that not dishing out any money means I didn't like it anyway and won't ever listen to it again. We do promote that you always pay for the music you like but our 2nd rating "sample it" can contradict that. Without trying to sound like I support pirating I do support "illegal downloads" to sample albums. I have used this method to listen and review albums before but I always had the intent on buying it if I wanted to hear it again, if I liked it, and I could rant on that but I will leave the issue at that. If there are any ways you can listen to a project for free and legally pleas sample that way; "Groove Shark", "Spotify", "Youtube", and more are all ways to legally listen to music. Our worst and final rating "rebecca black (why)" is not referring to the person it is referring to the meme and will only be used in the case of an album I actually find offensive and I can almost assure you our version of a 0 will hardly, if ever, be used. I don't like the song though.
(. )__(. )' ( .)__( .)'

We don't promote any particular way of buying your music as long as you pay for it but I will inform you that the older the medium is, the more money the artist gets. Record Companies not only have deals with stores and artists but also media developers as well; they move their attention to the newest media type; the artists get lower percentages of the money that goes into what is now cheaper mediums. In addition to also being more expensive and producing more money artists also get a larger percentage of the money spent on Vinyl rather than CDs, and more from CD's than MP3s. I myself always buy my music on CD but like I said before as long as you pay for your music than we don't care how.

Despite all opinions expressed we are not here to change minds or force ideas on anyone. We can only say what we think, and after that it's all up to you. You don't need to agree with a review I wright or a score I give so please tell us what you think. We'll even offer a download of our score template here so you can rate it for your self (here). You can use this system on your blog as well but please notify us. If you wright a review of the same album and send it to use We'll even feature it on the post, if we like it. We want to express our opinions but pleas take everything we've said with a grain of salt until you here the album for yourself, then tell us what you think. If anything, music deserves a collective opinion so join us and help us get there.

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-Austin Lovelace