whatido_formeforyou

department of eagles - in ear park

i don’t feel like this duo gets as much credit as many other side-projects of generally appreciated artists. this might sound indistinguishable from grizzly bear to you, and for good reason; DoE are made up of fred nicholas and grizzly bear’s daniel rossen, and this album also features almost the entire rest of the band, with christopher bear and chris taylor also contributing their talents. daniel rossen is truthfully one of the most underrated songwriters in american indie music right now, and his remarkable abilities are presented to their fullest on this track. the climax sounds like a carousel ridden by benevolent ghosts. 

department of eagles are distinctly more loose than grizzly bear, with trip-hop, waves of banjo, obnoxious song titles, and a general sense of irreverence being substituted for solemn awe. there’s a sense of humor present on most of their tracks, though in ear park was written in response to rossen’s father’s death. otherwise, parallels are easily drawn, and this experimental endeavor shines even in comparison to grizzly bear’s musical accomplishments. 

bluecoats 2011 - a brave new world

this is what i used to do every summer for five years, travelling the country and competing against some of the other best corps in the world. the ‘creep’ intro is the highlight here, much more compelling for me than the original radiohead version (least favorite song by my favorite band), though it’s the choral version from the social network movie that they covered. this is a full late-season run of their show in the dark, with the hornline and drums (no front ensemble) standing still instead of putting the show on the move as usual. i played mellophone in the bluecoats (from akron/canton, ohio) from 2005 to 2007, when we got 5th, 4th, and 7th….though the 7th-place corps was the best, go figure. the visual aspect of this production is essential, but it’s the music that drew me to the activity in the first place, so i appreciate the additional quality of this audio recording. sort of random but it’ll remain a part of my life in some capacity forever. i actually met a jazz guitarist from wisconsin last night, and told him about my time in drum corps as an explanation of how i’ve travelled so much, and he was entirely familiar and concluded that i was ‘legit’ after learning this. said something like “no really, that shit is for real” to his buddy. very amusing.

anyway, do share your opinions if you’re so inclined; if you’re only a bit curious, the first minute and a half is what you’re going to want to check out. maybe the last 30 seconds too.  

j dilla - hi

sensual video for a luscious beat. love the filming techniques displayed here, and this track off the back half of donuts doesn’t really need any more hype than what’s already inherent; i just told you the album it’s from, and you still need more convincing?? if each track off dilla’s final album was actually a donut, this one would probably be dulce de leche or one dripping with caramel. 

apollo brown - push

thanks to oscar from sweden for this heavy-hitter. reminds me of alex b’s old work, a smooth balance of old and new, with funky, whimsical samples complimenting chunky beats. here, you can find a lackluster review, and more importantly, short clips from every track on the album which prove it to be much more distinguished than suggested. not too unlike 9th wonder’s string-laden loops, though apollo brown is from up in michigan. pretty mellow, tastefully vintage stuff, which i’m excited to investigate in the near future. 

khrisbby:

clark - com touch

if you’ve ever desired to be trapped in a thicket of densely woven synth tones with cascading echoes, immerse yourself in this new clark track, offered for free on the warp records website. it’s off his upcoming album iradelphic, and really peaks when the bass and drums guide it into a feverishly head-nodding climax. ‘com touch’ then abruptly explodes into a technological overload, like someone tripped a security wire while navigating a series of laser beams, before fading out with a familiar reprise. the whole thing reminds me of jogger and their frenetic take on entrancing electronica.