TRACK / MUSIC VIDEO: Sigur Rós - "Brennisteinn"

Sigur Rós made a live and studio return in 2012 with Valtari, and clearly they wasted no time in following that up. Kveikur is the name of the new record, and the now-three piece has stated that this album sports a more "aggressive" sound for the band. This is definitely represented on the first track to drop from the record "Brennisteinn", which is also the opening track. The band starts everything off with a bang, forgoing the crescendo for throbbing bass, pounding drums, and a genuinely dire and dramatic atmosphere that surrounds the entire 7-minute affair. However frontman Jón Þór "Jónsi" Birgisson sneaks in his trademark falsetto in a cool down in the middle of the track, and still finds a way to make it fit beautifully.

In a way this track is everything Valtari wasn't; loud, climactic, and in the band's own special way, "aggressive". I very much liked their last record but the band seems to be bringing together a huge change of pace here, and that change is very much welcome. Check out the track below accompanied by one of the most beautifully shot music videos I've seen so far in 2013, and look out for Kveikur when it drops on June 17 internationally and June 18 in the U.S.



(Be sure to follow Robby on Twitter @ClydeNut for more music ramblings and commentary!)

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TRACK: Mono - "Dream Odyssey"

I've made it a wee bit clear before that I really really really like Mono. Well the Japanese instrumental rock band gave us all a gift in the form of a new song from their upcoming double album For My Parents.

Some fans of the band's louder, more climactic pieces may be underwhelmed by this one, but I don't see any reason to, because this has just about everything I love about Mono. Somber piano parts, emotional dual guitar playing from Takaakira Goto and Yoda, subtle crescendos, and maybe the best thing this track has to offer, the gorgeous arrangements. Mono has worked with orchestras of some kind for their past two records, and on this one they will be joined by the Wordless Music Orchestra, who accompanied the band on a fantastic live album they released in 2010.

Revel in the beauty of this track below, and expect For My Parents on September 4th on good ol' Temporary Residence Ltd!



(Robby loves the Japanese post-rock, and is unashamed of it. Follow him on Twitter @ClydeNut for more music ramblings.)

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TRACK(s): The Antlers - "Drift Dive" & "Crest"

Some time ago The Antlers announced a mysterious new release called Undersea, claiming it to be "an EP in length, but well beyond that in scope". This follows one of my favorite albums of last year, Burst Apart, and my favorite album of 2009, Hospice.

Now we have not just one, but two new tracks (which essentially means we have half the EP in our hands). "Drift Dive" definitely brings the band in a relatively Summer-y direction, but not in a Best Coast or Tennis kind of way (thank God). Instead the band maintains their subtlety, introversion, and even their melancholia into this brighter sound. Familiar Antlers touches such as waves of electronics, horns and Peter Silbermann's angelic voice are here, but along with the Summer-oriented sound you get some harp and piano. There are likely a dozen other subtleties in the production I haven't even picked up on, which goes to show that this Antlers track is as dense as some of their best work.

Along with "Crest", which premiered as part of NPR's All Things Considered. This track brings The Antlers back into a familiar darker situation, but it's no less inventive than the last.

Undersea will be released on July 24 in North America through Anti- and July 30 in the UK and Europe through Transgressive. I'm eager to see where this ambitious group goes next.

(See? Robby doesn't just post about metal. Follow him on Twitter @ClydeNut)

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STREAM: Rem's Floating Chandelier - Think of the Willows

Here's a nice little surprise for all of you. As far as I can tell, Rem's Floating Chandelier are two fellows from Manassas, VA in the good ol' US of A, but if I had had to guess based on their sound alone I would have pegged this group to be from the ambient side of Japan's current music scene. Some tracks from Think of the Willows, their debut album, exhibit largely the same kind of whimsical post-rock/neoclassical merging that you would hear on the latest Noble release. But there are also moments like the second track "Year Leap Année," which quickly introduces some surfy guitar and a bass stomp that turn the song into a dance jam. These guys have a pretty unique flair and, while this album is a little rough around the edges, I highly recommend it as high quality example of the stuff you can find out of blue on Bandcamp.

Stream/download it for free below. I'll be keeping an eye on their next release for sure.

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TRACK: Mono - "For My Parents" Album Trailer

Tokyo, Japan's post-rock masters Mono are one of the most important bands to me. Their albums You Are There and Hymn to the Immortal Wind are two of the greatest albums to ever bear the title of "post-rock", in my opinion; and as you can guess, I've been highly anticipating new material from them since a fantastic live album in 2010, and here we have For My Parents. We don't have any full tracks yet, but we do have cover art above, a release date, and an album trailer which gives us a taste of the beauty that will be in store.



Get prepared for For My Parents, set to be released September 4th via Temporary Residence LTD. That date cannot come soon enough.

(To hear Robby geek out about more music, follow him on Twitter @ClydeNut)

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ALBUM REVIEW/STREAM: If These Trees Could Talk - Red Forest

by Robby Beck

Y'know, post-rock seems to be making a little bit of a comeback for me this year. I thought the genre to be dead for a while, with Mogwai's recent albums more-or-less abandoning the genre, and Explosions in the Sky releasing an album last year that I liked, but admittedly it was more of the same from them. I just figured that there would never be any new bands to carry on the genre to new heights and it would just fade into underground music history. But with impressive new material from Frames, Sigur Rós, and Downfall of Gaia, as well as new albums on the way from Japan's Mono and New Zealand's Jakob, this fledgling genre just might peak my interest once again.

Akron, Ohio's If These Trees Could Talk is definitely amongst the newer wave of post-rock bands that have been impressing me, their new album Red Forest to be specific. They come at the genre with a heavier angle, to the point where some might call them "post-metal". That's definitely an understandable label, as tracks like "Barren Lands of the Modern Dinosaur," "Red Forest" and the closer contain some pretty heavy riffage. However, I would never say that ITTCT carries the misanthropic and confrontational tone of bands like Isis or even Pelican at their darker points, because as heavy as this band can be there's always a triumphant feeling that comes into the balance. Take for example "Barren Lands of the Modern Dinosaur", a track I just mentioned; there are some pretty rocking riffs in that track, but also heavy effects on the guitars as they reach for higher registers as the track progresses, and the song ultimately leads up to a, dare I say it, "epic" climax.

As middle school-level as the word may be in this day and age, I think "epic" is certainly an apt description for what's going on with this album. But what's surprising is how this band can make songs with (relatively) short song lengths that can be just as much of a journey as the longer ones. You get a couple 8-10 minute epics, which make great use of their lengths, but you get some bite-sized songs such as "Aleutian Clouds". Judging by it's 3 minute length alone you'd assume it to be some kind of ambient interlude (akin to the two previously on the record), but the song contains the same highs and lows the longer songs have with, I think, similar effect.

But that immediacy brings one of my only real gripes on the album. As great as most of these songs are, I kinda miss the longer, more drawn out passages on this band's previous album Above the Earth, Below the Sky. I like that the band still maintains dynamics this time around, and ensures that it's still an essential aspect to their music; I just feel that if the quieter moments were longer and more developed, the loud climaxes would mean a good deal more.

In hindsight, I can't let that one complaint put down this record too much. It definitely gets a high recommendation from yours truly, and gives me hope for more forward thinking post-rock to come in the future.

Score: decent 8

Stream the whole thing below from the band's Bandcamp below.

FAV TRAX: Barren Lands of the Modern Dinosaur, Red Forest, Left to Rust and Rot, When the Big Hand Buries the Twelve

LEAST FAV TRACK: They Speak With Knives

(Check out Robby's YouTube page for more sweet album reviews.)

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HEAVY FRIENDS: Miroist - The Pledge

As much of a metal fan as I am, I have a good deal of reservations when it comes to instrumental metal, especially when it comes of the progressive variety. To me way too much of it just comes off as an exercise of technique and skill rather than true craft; really what I like to call "wankery". I much prefer bands like Russian Circles, who aren't "progressive" in that they aren't flashy about technicality, but the way they create vast soundscapes and a gargantuan sound while relying on dynamics more than technicality brings out a force that's far more emotional, to me, than a lot of bands that choose to be "progressive".

But it's not like you can't be technical and emotional and dynamic. One of my absolute favorite instrumental metal projects is Cloudkicker, which is a one-man DIY project out of Columbus, Ohio. Recently on his tumblr he plugged an instrumental progressive metal project called Miroist, who as recently as last month released their debut EP entitled The Pledge.

Like Ben Sharp (the mastermind behind Cloudkicker) said in his post, the EP reminds me of his project's output around 2008, but even more heavy and "chaotic" than that, to use his words. While I wouldn't call it chaotic music, as what's going on here seems pretty damn tight, I will say that I like what I'm hearing. I was initially turned off by the opening riff on the opening track "i ; Non decipies me, fortuna" because it reminded me of the recent wave of "djent" bands that some consider to be a big movement, but I consider it to be nothing more than mindless Meshuggah worship. But it doesn't take long for the track to start going through some hills and valleys. This band even lists post-rock as an influence, which definitely contributes to the dynamics of these songs. I feel like if a band hits on the same riff endlessly with no variation (like all too many of these Meshuggah-copycat bands love to do) the music grows stale and quickly. Not so with this music.


The first track is nice, but the EP really gets going with the remaining two tracks, which are longer, and to me produce an "epic" vibe that not many EPs achieve. For a project that's just starting out, I see bright things in the future for these guys if they continue down this road of being more ambitious than the average band of their style. Stream the EP below via their Bandcamp page.



(It feels like Robby's the metal contributor for YPOIW. Well, if you're interested in the genre, be sure to visit his YouTube page for some metal-related reviews)

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