"Caving In" is a shape shifting tune if I've ever heard one, starting out ambient and unassuming in a way that might make you think "this track isn't going any where" but that notion only last until the 1:00 mark where an up beat acoustic guitar mingles its way into the for front just to be beat back down and replaced with the initial thought. This is a continuing trend for about half of the tune until a bit of glorious chaos ensues. "Caving In" is featured as the first single off of New York duo Leaves [...]
A lot has been said about Muse since the teaser trailer for The 2nd Law , their 6th studio album, was released in early June. Some comments were from fans in disgust and others welcomed the new sound as an obvious next step for the band. I, for one, am with the latter group but that's not to say that the entire album is going to be a dubstep tribute. In an interview with Huffington Post Bellamy says that they went to see Skrillex live and were blown away by the reaction of the audience [...]
Last week we got to hear an alternate version of "Alameda" in celebration of Smith's birthday which would have been on Monday. And now as promised Kill Rock Stars has released another new track this week, once again it's off if Smith's acclaimed album Either/Or . The original version is definitely a somber affair in comparison to this new, alternate version which picks up the tempo and adds some nice single string guitar flare to the intro and verse. Later in the month, Kill Rock Stars be reissuing Either/Or [...]
The Spinto Band released Shy Pursuit in May and it's every bit as whimsical as Nice and Nicely Done and Moonwink . It also comes with an iPhone game . The geek in me says Never change, Spinto Band, never change. I could listen to songs like "Jackhammer" and "Muesli" all day long.
At times it feels like the music well is drying up faster than any of us would want it to. The next "big thing" is a carbon copy the the previous "big thing" and the one after that will follow suit I'm sure. Step back and think about everything you love about music. Loud, driving, unique, meaningful. Silver Snakes has all of it in spades on their debut album Pictures of a Floating World . From top to bottom not a moment is wasted in this mixture of post-punk, prog-rock that reminds of a little bit of At The [...]
The last time that I wrote about Mumford & Sons I swore that it was going to be the last due to the fact that the Brits really don't need my help with publicity at all anymore. That being said I just couldn't pass up writing about the new track "I Will Wait" that was just released moments ago via the band's YouTube page. When talk first started about the band writing their sophomore album they mentioned that they might be going in a different direction but from what we hear on "I Will Wait" it would appear that [...]
After a couple of false starts (it’s safe to say that Patrick is way ahead of me on what’s hot these days ), I finally, finally have something special to share. Would you like to know more about a band that’s been described as “what would happen if David Lynch curated an indie-noir-afro-pop-infused band with Billie Holiday in mind”? I thought you might. Who wouldn’t? I’m speaking of DRMS, an 8 piece ensemble from Oakland, CA. Their first full length album was recorded on tape at John Vanderslice’s [...]
Brynn joins us this week from Click It Ticket and Musicology 101 to give us her take on the new Miike Snow album. As someone who goes through a lot of music, discarding much of it after a listen or two, it's always a pleasure when a new album passes the two-week test and in fact is still in the shuffle several months later. It's even better when said album comes from a band in which I had little to no previous interest, and then suddenly they bring out some new [...]
We've all heard of Bosses Day, you know, the day that we celebrate the person that makes our life less enjoyable than it would be otherwise. But have you heard of Kill Your Boss Day? Well that seems to be the theme for Antony and The Johnsons' new video for "Cut The World", the title track from Haggerty's live album which was recorded at DK Concert Hall in Copenhagen, Denmark in September of last year. The video stars Carice Van Houten and Willem Dafoe with Houton playing the role as the secretary and Dafoe as the "about to receive a [...]
You know how songs that are a little too short can get under your skin somewhat? It's fair to say that I've pretty much absorbed "My Mind Is Going" into my fundamental proteins. Alongside five other tracks that flit between industrial, metal, synthpop, touches of eastern and dashes of roots rock, "My Mind Is Going" is cinematic, orchestral, and well textured. That is until the savage dubstep second act that clears the neighborhood of birds. Stream below: Artist links: home | facebook | twitter | bandcamp [...]
Seems we missed a significant compilation from Future Sequence . Some big names here - Damian Valles, Anna Rose Carter, Wil Bolton, and more - but a tweet from Paul Nadin tipped us off, so his Voder project gets top billing. It deserves it anyway. This is a rare, sauntering, luminescent work. Four lush minutes, somewhere between savory and sweet. Like four ounces of dessert wine after a singular meal. Stream right here:
We've been incubating a new feature for a while, a sort of omnibus affair where we could bemoan band name changes, prolonged silence between albums, political overstepping, any kind of remix, and all manner rockstar silliness. Somewhere between we will never love again! and what a great new album! Everything fell into place when we learned there was some kind of aspecific countdown on Alexisonfire's home page, more than likely the details on the forthcoming farewell tour . In the words of one commenter: "How about instead [...]
Think back two years ago to the whole debacle that was SB1070 . Amid that mess there were a few good things that happened, one of which being that Conor Oberst reunited with his side project, Desaparecidos, to rally support against said SB1070. Oberst described the reuniting as "Riding a bike type of thing" in an interview with Huffington Post concerning how easy it was to fall back into rhythm with his fellow band mates again. From there a few shows were booked where the band played primarily from their only album, Read Music/Speak Spanish , [...]
Each year Elliott Smith's birthday sneaks up on me although I don't know exactly how considering that mine and Fred's birthdays are also this week. But it never fails that when this time of year rolls around we are usually graced with some kind of rare, unreleased track from the catacombs of the Smith catalog. This year it's an alternate version to "Alameda" from Smith's 1997 album Either/Or . This is supposed to be the first installment in a series that Kill Rock Stars will be putting out in celebration of Smith's 43rd birthday which was on Monday. [...]
As expected, the scavenger hunt set up by Yeasayer to hear the new album didn't take too long. Using clues that the band posted on Twitter and Facebook each track was hunted down on You Tube until the entire collection was amassed and now we have the videos for each track which are visuals created by Yoshi Sodeoka. So far I'm 7 tracks in and must say that while this is going to be a good album it's not going to be as good as 20102s Odd Blood whic hwas [...]
It's probably got something to do with womens' gymnastics, but Greyhound Out Of Mainline and Matthew Collings have returned to the Mancave . The last we heard from them was Big In Mogadishu (broken down into two parts, apparently, the latter of which is something called Mogadishuier ). The title is Dance Of The Mancavettes (pure perfection). So far the standout track (tracks?!) is "Ten Hundred Days," the sensatory likeness of Collings grabbing up sheets of Winford's perfectly usable guitar and crumpling them into paper wads, for [...]
A dark cloud hangs over the head of punk music today as Fat Wreck Chords announced the passing of Tony Sly, the frontman for long time San Jose, Ca based punk band No Use For A Name. We don't post much about punk here at The Muse but have it be known that I am a huge No Use For A Name fan and have been for more than 15 years so this news hits me especially hard today. I saw the band live many years ago on their More Betterness Tour which still goes [...]
Regarding an apparent impending leak of Yeasayer's upcoming album Fragrant World , the band is giving everyone an opportunity to hear the entire album through until Friday, August 3rd at 8:00pm EST. The one catch though is that each track is hidden somewhere on the internet. But since the internet is such a small place I guarantee that no one will lose their jobs over this scavenger hunt. We've already heard "Henrietta" and "Longevity" and now "Blue Paper" was discovered over at Wired.
A gorgeous piece of music is coming to us today via South Londoner Sam Howard, aka Halls . Although a producer by trade, Halls is prepping for his debut album release later this year and is wetting our whistles with the track "White Chalk". A simple, but powerful, piano ballad that utilizes a ghostly choir to drive home it's mournful theme. This is probably one of the most beautiful pieces of music you'll hear this year. Halls - "White Chalk" Ark is out October 15th on No Pain In [...]
Prog rockers Coheed & Cambria are set to release another edition to the ongoing fictional saga The Amory Wars . This time in a double album with each volume having its own unique release date. Volume One will be called The Afterman: Ascension and it is set for release on October 9th, 2012 while Volume Two will be called The Afterman: Descension and is currently set for a February 2013 release. Frontman Claudio Sanchex had the following to say about the new albums and how they fit into the storyline: This [...]
The Muse In Music
And We'll Run
Noteworthy (Stream): Kanye West – Black Skinhead (SNL Performance)
Watch Fred Armisen’s SNL farewell with Carrie Brownstein, Kim Gordon, J Mascis, Aimee Mann
