Thursday, May 31, 2007

The Sounds: Dying to Say This to You

I've been a bit mum the last few weeks. In Rumbek, we use a German satellite, Blogger kept loading in German and trying to put Woody in a "fun" camp.

So needless to say, I shyed away.

Upon my triumphant return to Kenya, I realized Jafar had covered 67 albums in one post. I know, I know, it almost seems to much to even fathom. I alas, cannot due to such bandwidth restrictions here that have turned my piracy into short bittorrent porn clips. Sad, really.

But I did come across this CD. I'd been spending my sunday afternoons in Rumbek in the pool with the Norse chicks from another camp. No, seriously. These girls were statuesque and I had dreams about them wearing behorned helmets and flying me to Valhalla. In any case, they had incredible taste in music. Short-Dark-Hair, who had the most incredible jaw line I'd ever seen, would drink beer like a champ, and knew all the words to the entire Evil Empire Album. And she digs In Flames.

So I decided to look into this Swedish/Norwegian/Finlandian thing a little more.

I came across some great metal, but like a black guy at a Monster Magnet show, one stuck out. The Sounds.

Normally a chick lead singer just puts me off the band. Chick rock usually blows. Kittie. The Donnas. Flyleaf. Ashlee Simpson. That's about all I got. Chicks just don't have the range of vocals guys do. I remember back in the last nineties A duo called the Braids covered Bohemian Rhapsody. They were chicks, but they still sang an octave LOWER than Mr. Farenheit.

But this one really surprised me. She's almost gutteral. I hear violence and thrashing and strain in her voice, like I'd never heard form chick rock singer.

Also, not only did it have the most erotic album cover I'd seen since Super Sexy Swinging Sounds:


But it's ambiguously erotic. I love lesbian undertones. And I really like this disc.

What really makes this disc for me is the synthsizers, the Pachelbel rip off, "Night After Night," and the extremely schnozzable lead singer:





So schnozzable.

I'm bumming around Dubai, Turkey and Greece for the next month, so while I will be giving Feldheim a rest, I expect you all to step up for the one year anniversary.

ONE YEAR FELDHEIMERS!

Sunday, May 27, 2007

Feldehim Revival IX

Feldheim readers welcome.



Wade through the clouds of pretentiousness and bathe in that all-encompassing odor known as elitism. Due to the relative inactivity (besides Angela) after our year-end extravaganza, I will be posting, and reviewing not one, nay two, nicht three, but four (motherfucking) albums. The theme of the reviews will be hyphens-and I will try to incorrectly and in-adequately use hyphens pervasively--

I will also review these albums based on degrees of awesomeness (starting with most awesome-). Always - remember, we Feldheimers-like to rank things that shouldn't be ranked.

They will,- as always, be completely lacking in humility and timorousness.

Panda Bear – Person Pitch



Panda Bear (aka Portugese Welcome Monster aka hey, he's that fucking guy from Animal Collective, I had no idea ----- aka Noah Lennox) has released a masterpiece while his bandmate and bandmate's wife (Avey & Kria) have been listening to their shit backwards. Well, this shit plays forwards, and it is just oozing with good-ness. Using a pair of 404's and a multitude of other instruments, Panda Bear focuses on creating a unique sonic environment for the listener to drown himself in. Think Beach Boys but better, and newer. The oh-so sweet melodies remind you of what P-B brings to the A-C, but this deserves it-s own attention and it's own respect. A truly im-pressive work, a truly impressive animal.


Andrew "Birdman" Bird – Armchair Apocrypha




The Bird-man hit us with his mysterious production of eggs last time around and I was very anxious to see what shit would land my way this time around. For those of you unfamiliar with Andrew-Bird, go back and read the Feld--heim or just go download/buy the masterpiece itself.

Andrew Bird is one of the premier musical talents of our generation. The man can sing, whistle- play violin, guitar, and he is a master with the loop pedals. See him live, it is humbling. Armchair is another strong move forward in this former nut zippers career. At the same time, it is not nearly as powerful and a-m-a-z-i-n-g as Mysterious. The Birdman finds himself dabbling in the genre of "Adult Contemporary" – but fuck genre's, he still brings the good-ness, and you should give it a listen. Truly wonderful stuff here.

Note: Project Moonshine is currently in post production for their Andrew Bird project.


A Sunny Day In Glasgow – Scribble Mural Comic Journal



I'm always hesitant with that shoegaze sound. Of course we have My Bloody Valentine, and Sonic Youth, but I just feel like most of the sho-egazers out there take up space for the sole purpose of taking up space. Not ASDIG.

This sib-ling group is actually from Phil-a-delphia, and this album is actually really fucking good.

Also, 5:15 Train is one of the best songs released this year. SHOEGAZERS OF THE WORLD REJOICE!!

Small Sails – Similar Anniversaries


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Smiling? Small Sails wants you to smile. This-one goes out to all the meth-heads in Port-land (the land of Small Sails). Smile my friends. Listen to the electronic pop goodness and smile. So many vocals, so few words. Such great sounds, fuck the great heights. Small-Sails should probably be higher up on this list, but lists are arbitary and irrelevant, and comments like these are ironic - so in the end just listen to what you want and I can go to hell.-
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Menomena - Friend and Foe



Portland continues its presence on my arbitrary list. So many great bands are currently making music in Portland that I would almost consider moving there just to be able to say "Yeah-, I used to hang out with _______ back in the day, they're cool guys, real down to earth and shit, yeah, oh, yeah, he plays a tele, but he switched up the pickups....yeah....I mean he's not a tone freak or anything, but he knows his shit." Totally awesome dudes with a penchant for flavor - Menomena is one of the funnest bands around. This being said, their previous album is better and the less vocals the better.

More organ though---.

Until next time.......
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Jafar's Monthly Music Video Post

Joy Division - Atmosphere