Like Jimps said in the last post, my musical taste has broadened dramatically in the time since I last shared music with you all. Not only has it broadened, but it has shifted focus away from remixes and electronic productions and more so to guitars and psychedelia. But these aren’t mutually exclusive and often my favourite music exhibits a little from column A and a little from column B.
A band who I think exemplify the convergence of these two ideas and is also my favourite new band is Unknown Mortal Orchestra. While borrowing psychedelic sounds from the heydays of the late 60s and early 70s, UMO’s sound has still got something quirky and original enough to sound somewhat modern. Add to that that Ruban Nielson, the New Zealander behind the project, made most of the debut album in his bedroom and you have a sound distinctly rooted in the past but born through modern technology. Thought Ballune is my favourite of his songs, the guitar riff in it reminds me of something Jimi Hendrix would do. The other track I’ve posted, Little Blue House, is a bit poppier and loaded with vocal hooks.
Unknown Mortal Orchestra – Thought Ballune
Unknown Mortal Orchestra – Little Blue House
Unknown Mortal Orchestra – Unknown Mortal Orchestra (Open in a new tab – I’m now going to post external download links where I can to the albums the tracks are on. I’ll try use Mediafire.com links whenever I can ’cause they are the easiest, but whenever it is another hosting site just look for the ‘slow’, ‘regular’ or ‘free’ download button and it should work. These links quite often get taken down so let me know if one’s down and I’ll have a look for another one for you.)
Suuns are another band who blur the line between psychedelic jamming and tight electronic arrangements. They are a relatively new band from Montreal who late last year released their debut album Zeroes QC on Secretly Canadian (also home of Yeasayer, jj and Antony and The Johnsons). Album opener Armed For Peace begins with just heavy drums and slowly builds until you’re just about to get bored with it and think a horrible dubstep wobble might burst out at you, but instead the lead guitar overpowers the drums and the track turns into more of a rock song than a ridiculous dubstep banger. PVC is a more traditionally structured track, but still has thick distorted guitar and bass
Suuns – Zeroes QC (Open in new tab – Mediafire link to the album)
That’s it for the moment. I’ve got lots more different stuff I want to share with you soon, so be sure to ‘Like’ our Facebook page for updates and stay in touch!
Cheers,
Adso
