Aphera Music

Kanye’s Moving Painting

George — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 12:51:50 +0000

I don’t really want to preface this so just click the link and watch the video.

Larissa Reviews The National, “High Violet”

Larissa — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 21:40:25 +0000

Matt Berninger has a flair for stringing things together. This is a man who claims to write down thoughts on the backs of magazines and then piece them into lyrics. Even while writing a song, combining triplets of a piano bass line and eighth notes of the other hand, he constructs the delicately off-kilter opening of “Fake Empire”. Hanging the words “ballet”, “ice” and “bluebirds”, side by side, he generates the lyrics, “do your gay ballet on ice, bluebirds on our shoulders.” In 2009, Berninger even managed to pull together a collection of the most talented indie artists to make Dark was the Night, a compilation album benefiting Red Hot Organization.

His technique does not rely on telling a story, conveying an idea, but instead on his own intuition – he’s a creator of a symbiotic relationship between the spoken words and played sounds.

But it’s almost as if Berninger finally reached a point where this strategy has become too formulaic. In High Violet, the opener “Terrible Love” chants an obnoxiously repetitive melody with similarly annoying and also nonsensical lyrics, “Terrible Love, I’m walking with spiders”. The novelty of such phrases has worn off, and the repetitive melody throughout the album doesn’t allow for surprise. The mind begins to fill in the blanks and predict too much.

Of course Berninger’s layering, beautiful piano harmonies, baritone voice, mesh together well – as they did in Boxer. But, he’s missing the subtlety that made Boxer so special. Instead he followed his usual formula and made an album that is just a little too obvious to last a very long time.

The succession of songs in the album even seems to follow his method. Scroll through the beginning of each song and from the double beat of the bass drum in “Anyone’s Ghost”, to the single, opening, VCR like tone of “Little Faith”, and the harmonium strike in “Everyone is Afraid” – and you will see that the National achieved variety – they pieced together an eclectic, but limited style of songs to make their album. Yet, the songs’ lack of surprise and lack of emotional anticipation make them far behind those in Boxer.

Comparable to Coldplay’s X&Y, High Violet is indeed, as Chris Martin once put it, the strip mall behind the cleared path cut with a machete. The only difference is that while Chris Martin was referring to Radiohead “clearing the way”, in The National’s case, it’s they who cleared their own path yet set up a strip mall behind themselves. They reverted a few steps back and regressed a little. An excellent album ought to show a clear progression and evolution of a band. This is where High Violet fails – it’s same old same old.

George Reviews Panda Bear’s Single, “Tomboy”

George — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 21:04:55 +0000

With ODDSAC, Fall Be Kind EP, and Merriweather Post Pavilion all appearing within a year of each other, Animal Collective’s presentation of these three releases almost seems swansong-like, especially amidst rumors of the band’s breaking up, which is not out of the question when considering at least the certainty of their indefinite hiatus; Noah Lennox himself confirmed this hiatus in an interview with BBC this spring.

Panda Bear's Tomboy

That is to say, “Tomboy”, Panda Bear’s first single from his forthcoming LP, Tomboy, which is to be released later this year, is not sonically dissimilar to anything you’d have heard on MPP or Fall Be Kind except that it lacks the puerile and untamed energy that we’ve become accustomed to with Animal Collective. Certainly “Tomboy” sounds like Panda Bear and from the very start the song is acousmatic ear candy but the song takes a dirtier, darker approach and by its second half has already become monotonous. However, it is the aforementioned, attractively curious sound-set that Lennox works with in this song that makes up for its sluggish appearance and gives way for several enjoyable close listens.

Tomboy approaches quickly, trailing behind some very excellent AC material. Now compare this to 2006 when Thom Yorke released The Eraser; unlike Animal Collective, he hadn’t just put out a triad of incredible musical releases and we were in fact in the midst of a four year Radiohead drought and at that point any Yorke-related material felt refreshing and perhaps even deserved. Perhaps it isn’t fair to weigh “Tomboy” against previous AC opuses but a direct comparison is almost inevitable this close to the fact.

Click here to listen to the track via the playlist.

George Reviews Thom Yorke’s Remix of “Jump Up”

George — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 20:44:03 +0000

For a man who’s been at least listening to, if not trying to make dance music his whole life, this remix of “Jump Up” is a significant step in the right direction for Thom Yorke. Yorke turns the already uber-exuberant and sardonically kitschy Major Lazer ambling disco track into a bumpin’ yet darker song that still however feels ready for the dance floor. For his remix, he draws from the sonic palette of recent Yorke tracks such as “Feeling Pulled Apart by Horses” and “Hearing Damage” which he wrote for the Twilight series’ New Moon soundtrack, however, Leftside and Supahype’s half rap-half toast vocal presence makes this remix unlike anything Yorke has ever attempted.

Thom Yorke's "Jump Up" rmx appears on the Lazers Never Die EP

The juxtaposition that Yorke’s heavy stutter beat and howling synth backing gives against the rap/toast is one that challenges the song’s Bacchic overtones. He ditches the comically catchy repeating synth line from the original version and gives the song a more slobberingly drunken quality. With his “Jump Up” remix perhaps Yorke hasn’t really perfected the art of making timeless dance music but he managed to remix a perfectly good dance track into something the rest of us can still dance to (because God knows he can dance to anything). Good job, Thom Yorke!

Major Lazer – “Jump Up” (Thom Yorke Remix) by Some Kind of Awesome

Summer Crushes…

Larissa — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 03:16:06 +0000

I mean it – summer crushes you – your heart, your healthy habits, your belief in a thing called love.

“No one needs me,” said an exchange student staying with us this summer, as she stared at her foreign equivalent of facebook.

“What do you mean? You have five unread messages!”

That’s how I replied to her absurd comment. Her response: “Well, when that one specific person you want doesn’t message you, it’s like no one is messaging you.”

Fair enough… Well, this seems to be the summer sentiment and I’ve noticed that pining over someone makes us in to genuine messes. We return from programs abroad and obsess over the foreign loves we left behind. Our college friends go away (sometimes overseas) and we think it’s over forever. Old flames – well sometimes they just burn out. Or literally, they’re sitting next to you smoking pot and you’re like, “What the hell happened to you?”

What’s the cure? Well I’ve heard several, but they involve running away, staring at emails and convincing yourself you don’t want to answer and pretending everything is okay. Don’t do this. Instead, admit that you are, as R.E.M. sings, “A sad tomato… three miles of bad road.”

In their song, “Crush With Eyeliner”, Michael Stipe sings that he’s “smitten” with someone who is an absolute mess. “I know you’ve seen her…she’s three miles of bad road …I am smitten, I’m the real thing.” God, just make these lyrics your anthem. What’s more empowering than being three miles of bad road and having someone imbibed, infatuated and smitten with you? My solution? … Embrace your hott mess status and move the hell on.

Literally Trippy New Flying Lotus Video

George — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 08:51:13 +0000

Here’s something to satisfy your need for an acid trip simulation: a video for Flying Lotus’ “Mmmhmm” from his 2010 Cosmogramma. The weed references should be obvious but the rest cannot be as easily attributed to any single drug. Here you go:

“KNOW YOUR DOPE FIEND. YOUR LIFE MAY DEPEND ON IT!”

“She Loves You, Yeah Yeah Yeah”

Larissa — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 08:13:17 +0000

George already mentioned P4k’s newest love child, Tame Impala, (take a listen!) but let me continue.

I fell in love with the guitar phasing, and the John Lennon style vocals – both quintessential 1960s characteristics.

Contrary to what you’d expect, Tame Impala’s copycat ways sound neither forced nor over the top. There is something natural, beautiful and refreshing about their 1960’s familiarity.

Listen to “Solitude is Bliss”

I spent my birthday listening to The White Album while lounging by the side of the pool. God, some of those song are just plain creepy. But others such as, “Strawberry Fields Forever”, are just creepily good.

For most of us, refreshing Beatles albums never gets old. But for those of us who don’t feel that strawberry fields are forever, we have a solution. It’s called Tame Impala.

General Update!

George — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 21:06:08 +0000

Apologeeeez

all around for the long break in posts. I guess it proves how reliant I am on my sister’s incredible and tasteful prolificity.

Anyway, because I’m really busy with finals and truthfully not too good at this, here’s a post to keep things going and to keep us rolling: Let’s Go!

I hope you’ve been enjoying “Power” by Kanye. It’s pretty hot. However, there’s a new band that P4k’s picked up on, giving them the prestigious “Best New Music” title a week ago. The band is Tame Impala and I’ll be damned if you don’t think they sound like the Beatles. (Zach Kelly at P4k says, “Frontman Kevin Parker shares an eerie vocal similarity with John Lennon, both in tone and in the way he allows his voice to soar with each melodic turn or rhythmic surge.” Quite true.) I’ve added their track “It’s Not Meant to Be” to the player so check it out. (Wait that’s not Lennon!?) They’re not a ripoff but just as my friend Tom said, “It’s like the Beatles kept making songs, but didn’t age.”

Next, I’d like to show you this kickass video for the Jaydiohead mashup that was made not long ago (Radiohead + Jay Z = Jaydiohead… derp). The mashup is brilliant and if nothing else, be impressed by this CLASS-A dancing in this video.

Also, Radiohead’s Phil Selway released information and cover art for his new solo album, titled Familial, which is set to come out August 30. Yay? (I don’t think it’ll upset.)

Phil's album cover. Looks promising!

Thanks guys for bearing with us.

George

Quick Post: Kanye!

George — Sat, 29 May 2010 00:34:30 +0000

Finally, after disgracing himself with 808’s and then with that Swift chick, he’s done something worthwhile. It’s called “Power” and it is really cool. Like M.I.A. cool.

PAH!

Listen over at the hypemachine.com

Music Overload: I can’t get past Phantogram!

Larissa — Wed, 26 May 2010 17:19:51 +0000

I can’t even bring myself to read p4k and PMA, or comb through my twitter feed for music updates. I can’t even dare myself to begin on the 3 gigs of new music I just added to my library.

Phantogram – uhhh I’m at a complete standstill right now. I’ve listened to the album probably 50 times over and it’s still playing.

I had it on in the car the other day when driving my friend to an appointment. She commented, “What is this? It sounds kind of new age-y.”

Yeah it does, or something like that. It’s really hard to put your finger on it. Is it dance music or emotionally wrenching indie music? Is it traditional or super weird? You listen to a song like, “Futuristic Casket” and you think, hmm sounds like an R&B sampling or something. You think you have the song figured out until the vocals come in all glo-fi – all of the sudden the genre seems to change completely. But to what? I don’t know. If I had to compare them to someone, it would probably be TV on the Radio – but even that’s not quite right.

I don’t feel like describing anything in more detail because the music is still washing over me. I don’t want to figure it out yet, but just mindlessly enjoy it. Hey, it’s still senior week.

But, who knows how long this is going to last! Phantogram is a puzzle or a riddle I’m just really stuck on. Seriously, I was once on the subway from Columbia to Soho with my best friend and my boyfriend at the time. To entertain ourselves, my boyfriend told us a riddle. We spent the whole hour ride on it and were so consumed we barely realized that we finally made it to our destination, this jazz club called Fat Cat. We continued to annoy him with theories until out of frustration he finally just gave away the answer. But to the Phantogram riddle, the answer will not be given away by someone. I’m going to be all consumed until I figure it out. Until then, goodluck Aphera.