Bibio - Pretentious

Ahoy, fair internet travelers.

Bibio is an English producer whose last album, 2009's Ambivalence Avenue, was a revelation of sound. Genre-hopping between Boards of Canada style electronic beats, funk rock, and head banger jams - Bibio's music is consistently compelling. His new album, Mind Bokeh, is a bit darker and shapeless than his 2009 success, but there are a lot of great tracks on it like "Pretentious" (featured below). This is a fan made video for the song, but I think I've listened to it 20 times in the past day alone. Rock yo head, son.

Myspace + Official Site.

At the Opera

May I have a small investment of your time, perchance? This is a very short film by a group of Argentinian animators. I love animation, and my favorite part about this is how every character has a very unique & specific design (unlike a lot of animation today which is very shapeless). The film is a quick setup with a small payoff, but it's pretty fun bit of absurdism.

You can check out the filmmaker's other work here.

Underrated Albums #1

So this is a new feature I plan to do every month in which I will discuss an album I think is underrated. This month:

Avey Tare - Down There



One half of the main creative force behind the indie juggernaut Animal Collective, Avey Tare is less regarded than his peer and bandmate, Panda Bear. Panda Bear's 2008 solo album, Person Pitch, is a warm melodic album that was included on a lot of critics "Best of" year end lists and it was even voted above Animal Collective's last album, Merriweather Post Pavilion, in Pitchfork's best of the decade list (coming in at #8). Although the exact contributions of each member for any Animal Collective song are unknown, a lot of people associate Panda Bear with the lush melodies and Avey Tare with the avant garde experimentalism of the band's music. So when Avey Tare announced the release of his solo album, many wrote it off (especially those who heard his previous album, Pullhair Ribeye - a collaboration with Kria Brekken of tape loops and songs he recorded backwards).

"Cemeteries"

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Down There is actually a lot more accessible than most people thought it would be. ("Accessible" for any Animal Collective related release is largely defined by a solid song structure and only a fair amount of sonic dressing and psychedelic production.) Avey Tare crafted an album that shows he's way more adapt at creating melodies than people thought. Whereas Panda Bear's music relies on ethereal drifting, Avey Tare's is much more focused and pointed. Their sound doesn't differ that much at its core, though, and "3 Umbrellas" sounds like it could have been written by either member. Regardless, Down There is a much more hook filled album than Person Pitch is, and "Lucky 9" has to be one of the catchiest songs any member of Animal Collective has ever put out.

"Oliver Twist"

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Avey Tare wrote the album after his divorce and his sister's cancer diagnosis, and because of that - Down There explores dark emotional territory that that is often gripping, especially in "Cemeteries." The third track, "Oliver Twist," is a beat heavy track that is the closest thing anyone in Animal Collective has ever come to making club music (which is still very far from anything anyone would play in the club, but still). These sudden detours make listening to Avey Tare's solo music a lot of fun. Down There is an album of sonic exploration that showcases all of Avey Tare's talents and demonstrates his ability to hold his own in the solo music world. Maybe it's because Panda Bear will always overshadow his work, or maybe it's because this album will take some time to digest for many people before they realize it's greatness (I didn't even think to include it in my "Best of 2010" list), but Down There is an accomplishment that should stand alongside Animal Collective's best work.

Tim Hecker - The Piano Drop

Tim Hecker is an ambient keyboardist from British Columbia, Canada. His latest album, Ravedeath, 1972, is an amazing collage of symphonic sounds distorted and crushed by electronic interference. More than just background noise, ambient music has never been this compelling. The first song off the album, "The Piano Drop," is a cerebral experience of emotion. Check it out below.

All Music + Amazon.

Entrances to Hell

www.entrancestohell.com

An archive of creepy looking places from around the world, Entrances to Hell is a website I stumbled upon a couple years ago. While most of the pictures were probably taken by wishful thinking goths (there is an unseemly amount of pictures submitted from Grand Rapids, Michigan), this site is more of a chronicle of urban decay than a list of portals to the underworld. Although it hasn't been updated since 2008, it's a fun place to kill some time in.

Gayngs, man. Gayngs.

Competing with Broken Social Scene for the band with the most members, Gayngs consists of 23 musicians from the likes of Bon Iver, Rhymesayers, and Solid Gold. I guess you could consider it a supergroup if you obsessively follow obscure bands. Mainly composed by the group's founder, Ryan Olsen, the band put out their first album, Relayted, last year. It's epic soft-rock that's ideal chill-out music. Watch the video for their Godley & Creme cover, "Cry," at the bottom or listen to the first song on the album, "The Gaudy Side of Town," below.



Myspace + Amazon.

Books for Music Nerds

Perfecting Sound Forever

by Greg Milner

A book for audiophiles, "Perfecting Sound Forever" details the history of sound recording from the earliest days of Thomas Edison to the loudness wars today. This might be as nerdy as books about music go, but this is a must-read for anyone curious about the recording process. No book you read will be more illuminating on it.

Amazon Link.


Ripped: How the Wired Generation Revolutionized Music

by Greg Kot
"Ripped" chronicles the technological revolution of the last ten years and the changing effects it had on the distribution and consumption of music. A lot of the information in this book is stuff I already knew ('cause like, I totally lived it bro), but having it laid out so clearly really puts things in perspective.

Amazon Link.


This is Your Brain on Music

by Daniel J. Levitin

This book is for anyone curious about the neurological process that happens in your brain when you listen to music. It's an interesting read, but I'm not a science-minded person so nothing from it was particularly enlightening. If you're a right-sided thinker, though, you'll love this book.

Amazon Link.