[Review] Big Sir - Digital Gardens

    Out of all the side projects The Mars Volta has spawned through the years Big Sir is probably the quietest, but "Digital Gardens", a remixing/reimagining of "Before Gardens, After Gardens", the band's last studio album released in 2012, seeks to knock fans off their feet with an electronic punk take on their latest work.
    Besides playing bass for The Mars Volta, Juan Alderete is known for his legacy as the bass player of heavy metal band Racer X so I wasn't very surprised about the idea of this record, but hearing Lisa scream caught me completely off guard when I first listened to it. The album consists of 9 tracks ranging from remixes to completely re-recorded versions, featuring Dave Elitch of Killer Be Killed and ANTEMASQUE on several tracks and Bosnian Rainbows' and ex-The Mars Volta Deantoni Parks on the closer. The "live in studio" songs are basically punk rock versions and are very entertaining, but the remixed versions are more interesting, the electronic aspect of their music is much more prominent and Juan's bass tone is dirty and loud, combined with Lisa's rough vocals and distorted drum beats.

    Most of the songs on the album clock at 2 minutes so I barely got to enjoy them before they ended, but it works for the album and it's punk attitude. "Digital Gardens" is definitely not something to listen to over and over but a good snack in between albums, a few punches and kicks and it's over and despite it's lenght it has some high moments, "Old Blood" sounds like a punkish Bosnian Rainbows, "Right Action" features impeccable drumming from Dave Elitch and "The Kindest Hour" is suprisingly calm and dreamy compared to the rest of the record.
    "Digital Gardens" is an entertaining sonic experiment that won't quench your thirst for a new Big Sir album, but it's definitely worth a listen, it's a short but solid record that doesn't have any dull moments.

Ranking: good

Accesibility: average

For fans of: punk, garage, electronic music

Link: http://bigsir.bandcamp.com/album/digital-gardens-2

[Review] John Frusciante - Enclosure

I’ve been a fan of John Frusciante since my high school days when I was a big follower of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, back then I was blown away by the lo-fi production of his half acoustic, half electronic folk albums like “Shadows Collide With People” or “From The Sound Inside” compared to the stadium rock of the Peppers. I was fascinated by how dark, emotive and personal his music was and watching him tackle different genres and musical styles in the last 10 or so years has been really interesting.

After John’s departure from the Red Hot Chili Peppers he has undoubtedly been experimenting with new tools and learning a lot about sound processing, synthetizers and all kinds of modern tools he used to avoid when recording his first records. The last three releases lead us to the album we are reviewing today, “Enclosure” is his most elaborate and cohesive release since 2009′s “The Empyrean”, a direct evolution of “PBX Funicular Intaglio Zone”, “Enclosure” combines processed guitars, drum machines and synthetizers (and of course John’s vocals) to create a collection of shapeshifting, progressive synth rock/jazz hybrids.

For those who haven’t listened to John’s recent work it should be clarified that “Enclosure” is in now way comparable to his work with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, there’s so many elements falling into place at the same time it might take the listener some time before the album comes alive; like most (good) progressive music, “Enclosure” felt underwhelming at first but with repeated listens I got used to the intertwining synths and warped guitar solos, the always changing drum grooves and subtle synth layers on the background.

Most of the songs on the album are synth driven but others like “Stage” and “Cinch” feature long guitar solos that are very representative of John’s current approach to the guitar, just like drums all over the album he accelerates and deaccelerates constantly, as if the songs shifted between two solos being played at the same time, and his reverb heavy tone fits the moody atmosphere of the album perfectly. I found “Stage” to be one of the most moving tracks on the album despite only having a few verses before John’s soloing kicks in and takes over the song.

There’s no doubt now that John has learned quite a few tricks since leaving the Peppers and that he’s constantly evolving and refining his sound, so I can only be excited at what he will release next, in any case the longevity of this album should keep you entertained for a good while.

Ranking: highly recommended

For fans of: synth pop/rock, experimental music in general

Accessibility: requires repeated listens

Highlights: “Sleep”, “Stage”

[Review] Death Grips - Government Plates

Death Grips have received a lot of praise and a lot of hate in the last year and a half, after releasing their landmark album The Money Store in 2012 they went on to cancel a full tour, release the next album for free (which ended their relationship with Epic) and then cancelling another tour, as well as not showing up to a show in Chicago... but what about the music? Well, it's no less chaotic and agressive than their recent approach to label and tour obligations.

While their previous three albums featured MC Ride prominently, Government Plates (which was released for free and to the complete surprise of their fans) is much more experimental, spacey and electronic. Only a few songs feature Ride regularly, while most are majorly instrumental or feature just a few lines or samples that give personality to the wall of noise and electronic beats behind.

Government Plates is a short, agressive and psychedelic journey that feels like listening to rap on a variety of drugs.

From the short, fast paced, electronic bubbling track "Big House" to the crawling glitch-hop of "I'm Overflow" and finally the impressive wall-of-noise behemoth "Whatever I Want (Fuck Who's Watching)" the album has a lot of variety to offer in it's 35 minutes. From Ride's in-your-face-verbal-abuse shouting/rapping, to Zach Hill's frenetic beats to Andy Morin's electronic sweeps and heavy synth riffs the album has it's own personality and shows a new "progressive" face of the californian band.

There's no doubt Death Grips have a lot of personality both in the studio and outside of it, and they still have a lot to offer musically.

8.5/10

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(8/10) Omar Rodriguez Lopez - Saber, Querer, Osar y Callar

If there is any rule to Omar Rodriguez Lopez' recent solo career, that rule is each time an album comes out it means at least two will be out soon. Saber, Querer, Osar y Callar [SQOyC] is no exception, after the release of Un Corazón de Nadie it only took a little more than a month for another of Omar's experiments to see the light. Following the trend of the aforementioned album, Saber is another compact delivery of noise-electronic-drone rock, with the particularity of featuring fellow The Mars Volta drummer Deantoni Parks on live drums. From the get go the album is all about synths, distorted, echoing vocals and almost free-style shifting "electronic" beats. It almost feels as if Rodriguez Lopez had written and recorded all the songs and then tasked Parks with pasting drums on top, which is not necessarily a bad thing and in fact works great; since the songs have a much less defined structure than regular TMV songs Deantoni has more space to improvise and lay down ideas over Omar's fertile soundscapes. 

SQOyC opens with the noisy, eerie collection of synths of Home Lost, with Deantoni laying beat after beat over Omar's babbling-like vocals, diving directly into the second track (Habits) and then taking a short break in the relaxed Gentle Umbrellas (with a very interesting implementation of backward guitars), that only gets a little more energic towards the end. The following four tracks can either be perceived as hit-or-miss efforts depending on how much time you are willing to invest into them and how much you can tolerate Omar's love for experimentation (curiously Tentáculos is an alternate version of Agua Dulce De Pulpo from Un Escorpion Perfumado, though at this point it's harder to tell which one came first). Decided? takes a step aside of the electronic nature of the album to deliver a more guitar-driven experiment that will probably remind you of Omar's early solo work, with Angel Hair going ever farther from the rest of the songs, probably Omar's own take on a love song and one of the most interesting songs on the album once you listen to it a few times. Overall a very solid effort, specially for something that could be labelled as an experiment.

(7.5/10) Omar Rodriguez Lopez - Un Corazón De Nadie

After 2011's unusual blank space in Omar's release calendar comes the first album since 2010's Un Escorpion Perfumado, following the overall aesthetic of said release but this time featuring Omar behind all the music, from vocals, through bass to live drums and showing a bit more of his electronic side which he has been exploring briefly in the last year, aside from the completely electronic 2010 album Tychozorente, the first to feature no guitars, that is, of course, ignoring his past ventures into noisy territory with Despair and ORL&JMW.
Un Corazón De Nadie was released (as usually) as a surprise upload in Omar's Bandcamp page with cd preorders following a few days later. The release was probably planned as a tribute to his mother who passed away a few months before (she's holding Omar in the cover and is credited with creating the collage picture).

Like in Un Escorpion Perfumado the album consists in about half a dozen songs often separated by electronic/noise interludes and experiments featuring pulsating bass lines and sinister sounding synth arrangements, the fifth track (Colmillo) is the first to stray from that definition, offering a nostalgic and light hearted synth melody, briefly followed by the sound of hammering percussion and odd beats in Querer, featuring Omar on piano. Most of the vocals are often unmelodic and delivered in the form of low register whispers, something that Omar seems to feel comfortable about and that has been present in other recent releases. After Querer the albums dives into noisy and mostly instrumental territory until the closer Adiós arrives, while still delivering some interesting landscapes like Hez. 

Overall Un Corazón De Nadie is a good statement in Omar's branching career and a good stepping stone for his recent obsession for synths and electronic music, I just wouldn't recommend to those looking for an accesible entry to his catalogue or for those more accustomed to his "guitar" albums.

(10/10) The Dear Hunter - The Color Spectrum (2011)

 

Este es el álbum que inspiró la creación de mi blog en cierta manera; The Color Spectrum es un proyecto alternativo dentro del arco principal de la historia de The Dear Hunter (los 6 actos), está compuesto por 9 eps de 4 composiciones cada una que representan el espectro visible por el ojo humano (mas el negro y el blanco que vienen de bonus, digamos), totalizando 36 canciones en poco más de 2 horas y 24 minutos. Aunque por razones obvias es difícil explayarse teniendo 36 canciones en un disco el album está muy bien logrado, a tal punto que con una simple pasada uno puede escuchar un tema y determinar a que "color" pertenece. Sabemos que la perfección como tal no existe pero este album hizo lo suficiente para merecerse un 10, el único este año, por lo menos de lo que escuché hasta ahora. Feliz año!.

Black EP
"Never Forgive, Never Forget" - 4:41
"Filth and Squalor" - 4:01
"Take More Than You Need" - 4:30
"This Body" - 4:47

Red EP
"I Couldn't Do It Alone" - 3:29
"A Curse of Cynicism" - 3:11
"Deny It All" - 3:34
"We've Got a Score to Settle" - 3:45

Orange EP
"Echo" - 4:06
"Stuck On a Wire Out On a Fence" - 3:08
"A Sea of Solid Earth" - 4:41
"But There's Wolves?" - 4:06

Yellow EP
"She's Always Singing" - 2:40
"The Dead Don't Starve" - 4:57
"A Sua Voz" - 3:20
"Misplaced Devotion" - 3:46

Green EP
"Things That Hide Away" - 3:24
"The Canopy" - 3:52
"Crow and Cackle" - 5:42
"The Inheritance" - 3:25

Blue EP
"Tripping in Triplets" - 3:52
"Trapdoor" - 3:54
"What You Said" - 5:04
"The Collapse of the Great Tide Cliffs" - 5:33

Indigo EP
"What Time Taught Us" - 4:07
"Mandala" - 4:55
"Progress" - 3:35
"Therma" - 2:41

Violet EP
"Mr. Malum" - 3:57
"Lillian" - 4:07
"Too Late" - 4:03
"Look Away" - 3:41

White EP
"Home" - 3:55
"Fall and Flee" - 4:05
"No God" - 3:49
"Lost But Not All Gone" - 3:58

http://thedearhunter.com/

http://tdhcolors.com/