This record seems to fuse spoken word with hip hop, but of course with this awkward NWW touch attached to it. Think of Saul Williams making musique concrète while improvising lyrics and shouting them. This would be far more strange than that thought of yours (if you could imagine it, at least). I can imagine why Steven Stapleton made a record like this: because of his hip hop fascination (particularly Snoop Dogg, I presume). The track list is the following:
Below, I included a live video of Jean-Hervé Péron from FAUST performing along with Steven Stapleton. The song featured here is "Rock 'n Roll Station" (a bizarre spoken-word song, kind of reminds me an experimental hip-hop side):
Aquaparque are a kind of recent portuguese musical project (started around the year 2006). The band members are: Pedro Magina and André Abel. It's difficult to label this band, but I'd say their music is more on the experimental / pop side. This CD was released last year. They received a considerable amount of positive criticism. The track list is: 1.De dentro de uma baleia 2.Bem bom 3.Ver ao perto 4.Siga para bingo 5.Conte-os 6.Mais lento que a casa dos teus pais 7.Tom de amuo 8.Fantasma 9.Museu de Cera 10.Saúde
My favourite ones are: "De dentro de uma baleia" (which means "From inside of a whale"), "Bem bom" (which means "Really Good") and "Fantasma" (which means "Ghost"). You can get the album here. Its size is around 40 megabytes.
Recently formed (in 2009, I presume), Mamute are a portuguese heavy rock band that has influences ranging from genres like Classic Rock 70's, Delta Blues and British Psych. The band members are: Pedro Madeira [guitar] and Carlos Ferreira [drums]. The band myspace can be viewed through this link.
Below is a video of one of their live performances:
Formed up in 2009, this band has 6 members: Ricardo Gonçalves on vocals, Nuno Rodrigues on vocals, Daniel Figueiredo on guitars, João Duque on guitars, Francisco Fontes is the drummer and Alexandre Aparício as the bassist. They all come from Castelo de Branco, in Portugal. What do they sound like, you ask? They sound like themselves, according to them. According to me, their influences could range from Pearl Jam to Nirvana [mostly grunge influenced bands]. But they also like some other bands, like Metallica, for example. Their myspace can be accessed by clicking both images or here.
Started not long ago [2009, I predict], this band consists of a duo: Tyler on guitar and vocals and Hatii on bass and vocals. I really like it. Sounds original and refreshing, something that's hard to find these days [cliché talk, I know]. This info was taken from a Vice article: "Dazzle Ships was the name of the brilliant and somewhat unlikely collaboration between modernist painters and army officials during World War 1. It led to warships being painted with complex, colourful, geometric patterns which were meant to confuse opposition viewfinders and periscopes, and make it harder to gauge the speed and position of the ships they were trying to kill. It probably didn’t work very well, but at least it looked great and inspired the awesome artwork to OMD’s underrated Dazzle Ships LP." These guys remind me sometimes The Chameleons' guitars with The Only Ones' bass and vocals. Kind of strange, like an 80's revival band, but that's not that much inserted into the 80's post-punk, kind of difficult to explain [this comparison occurs in their song "Least Resistance". Indie? Yeah, it's indie, just more original than most of the indie bands that I start to find all similar to each other, since "indie" is kind of trendy this decade. You can check their myspace here.
-This is a pic I found on their myspace (the one with the pink dots is also featured there).
Once a week I'll choose various records from many musical genres, so that you can check them out for yourself... I'll only specify the genre, the band's name and the respective record. If you want to download them, click on the album cover.
Artist: Sun Araw Record: Beach Head Label: Not Not Fun Genre: Hypnagogic Pop (released in 2008)
Artist: The Tuss Record: Rushup Edge Label: Rephlex Genre: IDM / Breakcore (released in 2007)
Artist: Melvins Record: The Maggot Label: Ipecac Genre: Sludge Metal (released in 1999)
Artist: Lunar Abyss Deus Organum Record: Snovidenie Label: Vresnit Genre: Shamanistic Ambient / Ritual Industrial (released in 2006)
Artist: Merzbow Record: Metal Acoustic Music Label: Extreme Records Genre: Noise (released in 1981)
...keep promoting music: buy records, go to concerts, etc. It is our advice.
Pictureplane isn't that new [he's been active since around 2004]. However, to me it is something new. Signed to Lovepump United, this guy has got some great songs. He also does some cool remixes, I presume. He's also possibly, friend with Teengirl Fantasy and HEALTH [both have been talked about on Serotonin Sounds]. You can check his myspace here.
Below is one dope track of his, entitled "Goth-star":
Not quite an upcoming band, but a band that I think has been evolving a lot lately... Drum Eyes... Quite difficult to label. The band members currently are: Shige ∞ E-da San ∞ complitly dengerous ∞ Chris ∞ Kathy ∞ Alistair Crawley ∞ Tom Hanks (according to myspace). My bad, I don't how to decifer that so I'll say that it includes there DJ Scotch Egg, a drummer from Trencher [Liam], Eda from Boredoms and a girl from Comanechi. Their music mixes 8bit with drums, heavily-distorted guitars. It's a unique mix, I'd say. Check their myspace here or lastfm page here.
Here it's a video of Drum Eyes performing [courtesy of Last FM].
Alex Klimovitsky and Sebastiano Ferranti are Youthless: a duo that is enthralling some melomaniacs around Portugal and other countries. Their music is difficult to label, however I'd insert them into an indie rock category. The musical instruments they use are: bass, drums, a synth and vocals. Simple as this... This is the band's first EP and it was recorded on Rory Brattwell's (ex-Test Icicles member) studio in London. It's admirable that their songs on this EP kind of followed an order, adding cohesion to the transactions between the tunes, creating a whole that characterises Youhtless' music. Their myspace can be found here.
The track list is the following: 1. In the pacific 2. The Beasts 3. In Motion 4. Out there 5. I guess 6. This must be the place 7. Travel n Pieces
The intro of this EP starts with a psychedelic, mind warping, sound of waves, with vocals and synths blending along the track [the song's name is "In the Pacific"). The second tune, "The Beasts" is more intense, reaching Youthless' distinct signature sounds: a nice bass, fast drums and soft, steady vocals. The third tune, my favourite, "In Motion" has an awesome bass line and tribalesque drums along the whole track, with Alex's vocals making part of this dance between drums, bass and synths. The forth song, "Out There" starts with a catchy synth line, accompanied by Sab's bass, for 30 seconds straight, until the Alex's vocals appear once again and the drums start to be hearable. Around 1:35 minutes the vocals and drums explode. Then, after a while, the bass and the drums maintain playing until the song ends. Quite nice track. The fifth song, "I Guess", is kind of an interlude. The sixth song, "This must be the place", starts with a synth then appears Alex's voice announcing "home is where I wanna be". This track has catchy lyrics, and, of course, as usual, Youthless' drums and bass euphorically blasting along the track. The seventh and final song, "Travel n Pieces", doesn't have any lyrics, but you can hear Alex screaming "hey!" along the track, inviting you to dance. The bass is awesome, sometimes can be mistaken by one of those intense wobble basses you hear on a DnB track or some similar genre. The drums, as usual, are at high tempos, being soften by the synths. At the end of the song, you can hear the bass playing the same sheets that it was heard at the second track, which is kind of funny, since it's like an epitaph to this first Youthless' EP.
Wave Machines started around 2007, in Liverpool. They've released this album since then, entitled "Wave if you're really there". Receiving good reviews, this work has got lots of great tracks to choose from, each of them, peculiar, but with Wave Machines' characteristics within it. They use synthesizers, samplers, drums, guitars, basses, vocals, blending them in their own way: the product is surely marvelous. The tracks are:
1. You say the Stupidest Things 2.I go I go I go 3. Keep the Lights on 4. Punk Spirit 5. The Greatest Escape We Ever Made 6. Wave If You're Really There 7. The Line 8. I Joined a Union 9. Carry me Back to My Home 10. Dead Houses
The album's lenght is around 40 minutes, I believe. My favourite tracks are: "Punk Spirit", "You Say the Stupidest Things", "Dead Houses" and "Carry me Back to My Home". To get this album, click here.
Yesterday I made an interview through myspace with Floating Colors. Their music seems to me intense and chaotic but still really appealing. I won't speak much about them, because all of this interview has got enough info to satisfy most of you: Most of the interview, it was the band member Stephen Palke answering the questions. The interview went like this:
1. How and when did the band form? Floating Colors came out of the ashes of a now defunct band whose name I choose not to mention. This defunct band started out as a two-piece with me and a guy whose name I choose not to mention, we improvised ambient soundscapes with keyboards and guitar. Eventually, Chase, joined this defunct band as a drummer. We had a couple of good shows and good moments together. We played with some really cool acts like The Crypts, Head Molt, Religious Girls, and Leo Heinzel, who now goes by Flesh Control nowadays. Unforunately, general fuckery transpired, and my musical partner in this defunct band, and I went our seperate ways, and so the band broke up in early July of 09. Shortly after, Chase invited me to spend time with him and his wonderful family, at his late grandfather's farm not too far from Ocean City, Maryland. Chase and I spent two weeks there, watching good films, helping out at the farm, shooting targets, drinking shots of whiskey at night, going to the beach. We talked alot. We walked alot. We found that we really respected and trusted one another, and related to one another in a special way. Our friendship became really strong. This was the musical partnership that was suppose to happen. We were both excited about starting something new, with no baggage from the past. Eventually, we both settled on the name Floating Colors. We liked Floating Colors, because it didn't pin us to any genre, and that it would be more or less true to whatever evolution we undergo as a band in the future. Chris Vincent and Alex Forck joined our band soon after. It's been really good.
2. What are your influences and favourite genres? Stephen Palke: Broken Social Scene, John Frusciante and Jim O'Rourke have always been favorites of mine. Lately, I've been listening to Grouper, Broadcast and Beach House alot lately. Chase Gilbert: Influences- Frank Zappa, Bill Bruford, Les Claypool Genres- Trip Hop, Progressive genres, and Jazz. Chris Vincent: You already covered Claypool for me....definitely Tom Morello as far as guitar goes and Crimson...Radiohead, Portishead obviously...and genres are also trip hop, progressive, stoner rock, and electronica.
3. Do you prefer to produce music or to play live? Playing live is the headspace we're more into. We improvise every show, so playing live is the focus rather than making recordings.
4. In the future, will your music change or will you keep an uniform direction in your evolution? In a year or in a month, I could never say. Who knows how things could change.
5. What instruments do you use to create your music? I play on a microkorg, some guitar, and found sounds. Chase plays on a Premier drum set. Chris plays on guitar. and Alex plays on bass guitar.
6. If your music could have an environment, what would it be like? A really rough dive bar or a cathedral.
I have here some live recordings, courtesy of the band. Clickhere, to obtain them (it has around 70 megabytes - but is sure worth it!). If you're more curious about Floating Colors, visit their myspace. If you're more interest now in this band, send 6 dollars North America or 10 dollars via paypal to stephen_palke@yahoo.com to purchase albums, or for digital copies, go to floatingcolors.bandcamp.com.
Started playing in 2005, Noiserv is a solo project of David Santos. One of the promisses I see in Portuguese contemporary music, this artist blends many instruments together to create some dreamy melodies. He uses instruments such as: vocals, guitar, melodica, metallophone, bells, synths, acordeon, omnichord, megaphone, effects, toys, musicbox, stylophone and more. His style is certainly unique... alternative, folk, indie are the closest genres I can find similarities with Noiserv's work. He was on the [now dead] portuguese label Merzbau. Check his myspace here.
-David, live.
Watch him perform live the song "Bullets on Parade":
This is one of my favourite albums this year, perhaps. "Jewellery"... what an awesome work it is! I love how they can be at the same time a lo-fi band and keep a classy touch constantly in their records. It's Micachu and her backing band, the Shapes... You got to love them! Even Björk loves them! I first heard of them in 2008, thanks to the Patrick O'Dell's website. They started in August 2008 and released this album in March 9th 2009. This album received mainly excellent reviews. Check these reviews out: Metacritic's, Drowned in Sound's, The Guardian's, All Music's, BBC Music's, FACT Magazine's, The Times' and Pitchfork's. I also advise you to hear this album... It's the debut album of some distorted awkward pop, with some "punky energy" as many critics recall it. It has nothing cliché, it's a new own particular genre, that has made them a hype band with a relevant somewhat-underground indie cult behind them. The track list of this album is the following:
"Vulture" (2:49)
"Lips" (1:21)
"Sweetheart" (0:53)
"Eat Your Heart" (2:20)
"Curly Teeth" (2:27)
"Golden Phone" (2:43)
"Ship" (1:59)
"Floor" (1:22)
"Just In Case" (2:46)
"Calculator" (3:09)
"Wrong" (3:35)
"Turn Me Well" (2:58)
"Guts" (3:12)
"Hardcore" (1:33) is an unlisted hidden track at the end of the record.
My favourite tracks are [not in a particular order]: "Golden Phone", "Sweetheart", Eat your heart", "Curly Teeth", "Wrong" and "Turn me Well". What, I just said I prefer almost half of the album? No wonder! It has lots of cool songs on it. The album's lenght is around 31 minutes and 57 seconds. By the way, last Saturday, this is November 21st 2009, I saw Micachu and the Shapes live at the Loft, here in Lisbon (I also got the opportunity to see a bit of Jon Hopkins show next). It was awesome and what I find more peculiar, is that some of their songs are even more appealing live, like the song "Wrong" for example. I also got the chance to take a pic with them, along with my friends. I'd love to see them live again. Oh, their t-shirts are also original and worth the price! Go grab yourself a Micachu goody! If you want to hear the album, click here. Hope you like this album. PS:I'm going to post a live review about Micachu and Shape's performance at the Loft, when I have enough free time to do such thing.
Next, is the song "Golden Phone" which is about suicide, according what Mica said live:
CFCF is a great promise within genres like electro. He has done awesome remixes and has some of them on his myspace. He introduces himself by modestly saying: "Hi, I am CFCF and I make music". Some of his influences are: Boredoms, Goblin, The Durutti Column, Madonna, Fleetwood Mac & Vangelis. He released his first EP on January of 2009, being a great start, I say. Next month he'll release his first album entitled "Continent" (don't miss this one!). Check out his myspace.
Below you can hear one great song of his, named "Panesian Nights":
Formed in 2006, this American indie rock band from Long Beach [in California], have been releasing awesome inventive songs on rad EP's. This debut album called "Tentacles", released in early 2009 was relatively well evaluated by many music critics (like NME, Rolling Stone and Pitchfork) and some hype-bloggers. However, according to what I've heard in this work, I can assure that it isn't that bad as Pitchfork evaluates it [6.7 out of 10...]. As a matter of fact, it's catchy, a cheerful psych-punk band doing their own music, being [as many bands of nowadays are trying] difficult to be inserted in a particular music genre. The track list is the following:
"Painless Sleep" - 2:16
"Dust" - 2:27
"Time Erased" - 3:37
"Andrew" - 3:34
"Vapour Trail" - 2:18
"Tentacles" - 1:54
"Until the Sun Dies (Part 1)" - 2:50
"Memorized" - 3:53
"Glacier" - 3:01
"Foot of the Mountain" - 0:25
"Your Spears" - 2:24
"Swollen Sky" - 4:12
"Several Tongues" - 7:11
The whole album is worth hearing, however I advise you to hear the song "Andrew". You can view their myspace and current tour on their myspace. You can get the album right here too.
Below you can hear and view "Andrew", one of their best songs:
Thanks everybody, for visiting this nasty audible place. Keep refreshing this spot on the internet, since I update almost daily, talking about new and old music subjects, from almost all genres. Glad there's been someone enjoying this work of mine. I'm also thinking about a musical project of mine [we'll talk about this later]. Stay tuned and thank you again!
Designer Drugs are a duo from New York. Their genre is electro. Recognized as one of the best upcoming electro groups, these guys make awesome remixes and fine tunes, teaching people a lesson about nightclubbing. They recently produced a free compilation for all you electro fans and it's available for free on their myspace. It's called "Datamix 05". You can download it here.
CRISIS are from Porto (in Portugal). Their music is somewhere in between hardcore and electro. Pure electro nihilism, it makes you want to rave until you're dead meat. Their members are: the Nihilist (vocals), Jack Diamond (vocals + noise instructor) and last, but not least, Anacobra (audiovisual machines). If you're into bands/musicians/artists like: Crystal Castles, The Prodigy, Kap Bambino, Ratatat, Gallows and Hot Cross, you'll seriously enjoy these people. Their songs feature some stuff like: samples from a video of 12-year-old pre-teens talking about acid trips (a classic 60s video on youtube, Black Lips also sampled this stuff, haha), Nirvana samples, 8bit mixed tunes, hardcore vocals, kap bambino-ish vocals sometimes. Well, you guess that this seems to be a cool combo, that struggles and shows us that anger is also a different form of energy. They'll release pretty soon their debut EP (so you better get focused on this band). Check them out on their myspace here.
HEALTH's second album is pure genius. LA's finest electronic noise rocker's or whatever you'd call them, excel in radness and that's that. This album, "Get Color", was released in 8th September of 2009. It was Lovepump United's privilege to launch this album. The track list is the following: 1. "In Heat" - 1:47 2. "Die Slow" - 3:12 3. "Nice Girls" - 3:10 4. "Death+" - 2:39 5. "Before Tigers" - 3:26 6. "Severin" - 4:09 7. "Eat Flesh" - 4:02 8. "We Are Water" - 4:15 9. "In Violet" - 6:14
Its lenght is 32:53. "Die Slow" is the main single off of the album (its videoclip is also great). My favourite ones are: "Die Slow", "We are Water" and also "In Violet"; however - and consider this that I'm telling you - the whole album is really good. The album has some tracks that are more intense, [more or less] allowing me to label it as some "electro noise" music at those times. At other times, songs like "Die Slow" are more shallow and more audible. But, when hearing all tracks, it seems they fit together like if each song was a magnet attached to a puzzle in a fridge. HEALTH have been progressing and if they continue to ascend like this, they could release EP's, LP's, tees and albums monthly that I wouldn't bother and would try to invest on them [if I had enough money to do that too]. Many critics have said really well about this piece. According to Pitchfork, "Die Slow sounds like a party where Lightning Bolt's playing at one end of the room and Giorgio Moroder is studiously banging out psych-disco masterpieces at the other...". This is just one of inumerous examples. The album can be heard by clicking here.
Next, I'll put below the "Die Slow" videoclip (it has a linear bauhaus shapes touch, with psychedelic effects mixed with it, resulting in an original piece for your eyes):
This is the finest sonar paintingthat's currently living in the Blogosphere: this artifact is so sophisticated that it wraps you inthe most awkward conversationsdealing with music. However, besmart enough not to get too muchmelomaniac... or else, you'll be caught by this sonar painting called "Serotonin Sounds".
You can contact us... Just send an e-mail to the following address: serotoninsounds@gmail.com
This record seems to fuse spoken word with hip hop, but of course with this awkward NWW touch attached to it. Think of Saul Williams making musique concrète while improvising lyrics and shouting them. This would be far more strange than that thought of yours (if you could imagine it, at least). I can imagine why Steven Stapleton made a record like this: because of his hip hop fascination (particularly Snoop Dogg, I presume).
