Tag Archive for post-rock at Candied Pop

Tag Archive for 'post-rock'

Moros Eros - I Saw The Devil Last Night And Now The Sun Shines Bright

Published by James December 26th, 2006 in Album, Review and 2006. 1 Comment

Moros Eros - I Saw The Devil Last Night And Now The Sun Shines Bright Drumming is not something that often gets accolades let alone mentioned very often in the non-drummer press and I’ll be the first to admit that if the album isn’t one explicitly built around rhythm I pretty much ignore it which is why I Saw The Devil Last Night And Now The Sun Shines Bright leveled me when I first heard it. Bobby Theberge maintains such a level of power that you can feel him pounding the kit like it was your chest yet he manages such control that his work is lyrical, floating to the front of the mix without being overpowering. His stick work is hypnotic and compelling both in how it propels the group forward but also in how it is integral to the melody in each song.

Now, I know that I am not too dialed into the continually fragmenting sub-genres in the Rock world but I am not entirely sure how the Emo tag was applied to Moros Eros. Maybe it is the thin veneer of keyboards that drift in the background, but the band grinds out songs that fit more in the realm of mid to late 90’s post-punk. They have a strong focus on equity in their compositions with no song being dominated by one instrument’s ego at the expense of the others. The songs are balanced and organized while managing to swing in a sort of angular fashion that is reminiscent of Fugazi and Circus Lupus. The the opening track “Today is the Day” where the drums wrestle with the guitars providing a substantial and sharp sound where Zach Tipton’s vocals can stretch like they do on “When I Wake” where DJ Schulz churns out the melody on bass with care and precision are standouts in this regard.

Maybe the Emo label comes from the lyrical focus of the album laying bare the interconnectedness of the hopeless, the resigned, and the fearful though the wanderings of the Devil in the night. Here the Devil is less an antagonist and more a device to bind these disparate tales together and it is effective as they move from a story of lost love to one where the character is wracked by questions of morality. Moros Eros is tight lyrically as they are as a band, making for a fascinating listen, and one where I often feel compelled to shout out responses in the choruses.

This year has been filled with great releases but Moros Eros’ I Saw The Devil Last Night And Now The Sun Shines Bright, with its power and lyricism, manages to shoulder many of them to the side. It is sitting at the top of my list for one of the best releases of this year. You can stream two tracks off the album “Today is the Day” and “Satan Has A Heart of Gold” over at their Myspace page. Very highly recommended.

Mono - You Are There

Published by Scott May 17th, 2006 in Album, Review and 2006. 0 Comments

Mono are a Japanese post-rock instrumental band whose epic songs follow the familiar trajectory of quiet gradually building to a distorted roar. Think Mogwai with double to triple the average song length. That description nails their essence but fails to do them justice. Mono are truly masters at creating beautiful, intensely moody music.

Take, for example, one of You Are There’s stunners, “The Yearning.” It starts out with two guitars playing melodies so stark they’re more suggestive than substantial. Things get a little meatier with some soft, melancholy strumming. Cymbals and an occasional pair of thudding drums slowly add to the mix. The volume increases over minor chords that threaten to gently tug your heart right from your chest until echo laden staccato notes send everything soaring into the tumultuous thunderclouds of distortion that have been steadily gathering overhead. There’s a sudden lull before a mighty rock eruption that might be described as giants smashing down a forest with boulders while being struck by lightning and swarmed by bees. After much destruction the giants, bees, and, uh, lightning tire themselves out and stagger to a rest. Mixed metaphors aside, “The Yearning” is pretty typical of the kind of music Mono composes.

You Are There, like Mono’s other work, is not for the casual listener. It demands patience and rewards undivided attention. It doesn’t work well as background music because without concentration the spare, quiet passages tend to lose interest. And since the longer songs build momentum as they progress, this makes the tail ends of the crescendos all the more jarring. Adventurous music fans willing to give You Are There full consideration though, even on a scattershot song by song basis, will travel on some remarkable sonic journeys.

Part Chimp - I Am Come

Published by Scott April 27th, 2006 in Album, Review and 2005. 1 Comment

I was listening to college radio the other morning on my way to work, which is something I usually don’t do. Like most people I have to ease my way into the day and usually prefer listening to people talk on NPR while the morning fog lifts from my brain. But the car radio was already switched to that station and a cool unknown song was on so I stuck with it. The next one, also new to me, was a winner too so I happily cruised along with it. And then it hit: one of the most jarring, jaw droppingest songs I’ve heard in a long time grabbed me by the feet and smashed my head against the punk rock. Even at a moderate volume it sounded like my car speakers were shredding and the windows shook from the impossibly low bass without benefit of a subwoofer. “I was born in a witch’s cauldron,” was the only line I could pick out from the distorted, buried-in-the-mix vocals. As if it didn’t already have my attention, the song suddenly launched into an incredibly violent galloping thrash that nearly caused me to drive off the road. Who the hell was this?!?

I missed what the DJ said when she read the set list so I had to do a little sleuthing. I crosschecked unfamiliar artists in rotation at Album 88 with their AMG descriptions and found a likely suspect in Part Chimp. Quite happily I found them at eMusic, checked the samples, made a positive ID, and immediately downloaded the album. The song in question, “War Machines,” and all the rest have been roaring out of my various speaker setups ever since.

I Am Come is about as subtle as a bone cracking kick in the ribs. Take Mogwai at the peek of a crescendo, mix in generous amounts of Sonic Youth’s distinctive tunings and angular playing, recruit a gorilla to play drums with sledgehammers, and you’ve got the grinding rawk juggernaut called Part Chimp. Oh, and turn the amps up until the recording meters shatter! This album’s eleven tracks are amazingly noisy, but not in an off putting or grating way. The band sculpts a very satisfying brand of extreme sonic turbulence. It’s certainly not for everyone but fans of ultra loud and intense rock music will definitely get a thrill.

Not convinced by a review in which I spent two paragraphs relaying an anecdote and only one describing the music? Fortunately the band is streaming two songs from the album on their MySpace page, including the aforementioned “War Machines.”