Lambs Become Lions - Ghosts Of A Fallen Soldier (Rock/Post Rock)

     Alright let me set the scene for you, last week a buddy of mine went to a show here in St. Catharines, and proceeded to get so drunk he forgot to pick up an album for me, the album was by local legends, Lambs Become Lions. I had heard of them maybe two days before, I was drawn in by their song Lake Ontario a ballad of love found and lost on the shores of our inland sea. It clicked, I could swear that it was written for me, for the nights spent watching love set against the beach, and wondering what it was that I did right, and wrong. Emotion aside, said song is on their Cicada EP which is not available for download as of yet but that and their song Small Town Dreams are available on their Facebook page for the great price of free, just a little incentive to do some digging. But if you have a craving for post rock with a hint of electronic then we have something you might enjoy, Ghosts of A Fallen Soldier, their (I believe) first studio album. Although sadly lacking the folky vocals of their newer tunes it still gets its point across in droning guitars and progressive drums patterns, and is a must download for anyone who fancies themselves a connoisseur of fine music. For a small city band you can't get better.

Lambs Become Lions - Ghosts of A Fallen Soldier

Hipster Humpday 3: The Album Leaf

     I don't know where you people are right now, but its early here, barely nine in the morning, I'm barely awake enough to slide over to the kettle and make some coffee. Comparative addiction aside I thought today would be a good time to let you guys in on a little secret, The Album Leaf.

     About a week or so ago a good friend of mine (and fellow publisher) linked a song on my wall, Window, it took me a long time to listen to it but when I did, it transformed me. For the last week or so I've been so thoughtful you'd think I was depressed, I mean I spent yesterday afternoon sitting in the snow by a frozen lake writing poetry, its just that kind of music that can make you slow down, take a look at your life, appreciate the little things.

      Personal reaction aside The Album Leaf was originally the solo project of Jimmy LaValle, formed in 1998 in San Diego, and truthfully I'm having a hard time deciding which label to plaster all over his art. I was thinking ambient, but then he throws in acoustic guitar; so acoustic or indie, but then he has songs completely made with synthesizers and piano; so electronic, but then spacey drum patterns and electric guitar kicked in and post rock was the only possible label. So for now its indieacousticpostrockica, deal?

     Newest album first, Into The Blue Again, is an absolute soundscape, released in 2006 weighing in at ten songs its not necessarily a heavyweight, until you take the time to listen to it. It takes a little bit of time, to look past the obvious sadness and melancholy of the violins and piano to the blazing hope of the acoustic guitar and the steady assurances of the percussion, warning don't listen to this if you have empathetic reactions to music and have anything to do today. 2004's In A Safe Place, is refreshingly similar although with more vocals, this is where the indie/acoustic shows through in comparison to ITBA's post rock/ambient, I recommend having both albums in a playlist starting with 2006 and working back in a steady stream of consciousness and emotion.

     Well thats two albums, all I feel safe giving you guys, I cannot stress this more, support the artist in any way you can even if its by using his website to donate to Japan relief or buying his albums, if you enjoy it please buy it. All of his albums are out there on the internet if you feel so inclined and please take a second to like our Facebook page here.

Guest Special : Midweek Doom Coma : Earth, Sunn O))) and Sleepmakeswaves

*     You may remember last weeks article and how I went on about life and musical goodness. If you read into the part about the river then you'll be pleased to know that said friend was awesome enough to write us up todays article, so without further ado...     

     Today we're going to dig into the wide and interesting world of doom, drone, and other sludgy miscellanea. Also something a bit closer to the usual here so as not to be a completely out there day. I know sometimes the week seems to drag on, and midweek usually is the worst part, and this is often what I need to revive me, a hearty slab of thick, powerful, distorted groove to get me moving again. 

To start off we have Earth, our home planet, and the both genre bending, and genre defining doom/drone band. With old stuff like slowed down Black Sabbath and newer material like the slowest most ominous western, everything they've produced exudes powerful trance inducing sound waves. Their newest album "Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light I" is a sure continuance of these waves, and is part one of a double album, the second part to be released sometime in 2012. Its thick and powerful, and feels like you should be driving down a country road, preferably in texas or somewhere with lots of fields, windows down, driving wherever your foot may take you. Music meant to be experienced at high volumes.

Continuing deeper in the depths of the doom realm, we have another spacial band. Sunn O))) named after a guitar amplifier brand and logo. Their audio philosophy is "Maximum volume yields maximum results" and this is quite evident in both their live show and their albums, live they play at upwards of 120 decibels, and as you turn the album up on your stereo it begins to become a full body experience. Like an ambient band Sunn O))) produce soundscapes, but where a lot of ambient music feels looser and floaty and often cloud-like, their soundscapes are much more like being submerged in magma and mashed between slowly shifting tectonic plates of distorted sound. A slow, distorted and incredibly dense sound Sunn O)))'s music sounds a lot like noise at first, but soon you begin to hear (or feel, depending on your stereo) the slow waves of the drone, and little *almost* melodies hidden in the chords and feedback. The newest album Monoliths & Dimensions is a masterpiece of these concepts and philosophies. 

Lastly, a fantastic post rock band I just found out about this past week called Sleepmakeswaves. I listened to their newest album "...and so we destroyed everything" on a long drive this weekend down to lake erie. The album is split between longer more post rock tracks with lots of building and massive crescendos, and shorter electronic-esque ballads. Between staple post rock moments with tremolo picking and delayed guitars there is some fantastic d&b drumming and beats snuck into these tracks that really give it an interesting feel. There is also some nearly metal riffs snuck in here, its a really diverse album, but it still manages to feel like one cohesive package. Give it a chance and listen to it the whole way through. My drive blew past and I was left wanting more, and listened again on the way home, time flies by when your having fun...

Hipster Humpday : Akron/Family and Portugal. The Man

    First off the title doesn't mean if you use Vimeo and only listen to artists that are dead you get to hump anything, its just me trying to ween you guys off metal for the day.

      Last week you may remember I took a two day hiatus to see some friends and do some soul searching. I know, two days isn't much but a lot was accomplished. The first day once I got out from under the disdainful eyes of my mother was spent with a dear friend in bookstores and along rivers, on trails and cruising down country roads. We spent a long time sitting on the edge of the Grand river skipping stones and talking life while Akron/Family softly played from his headphones.

     Akron/Family is a folk influenced experimental rock band whose member live across America. Facebook describes them as a form of dramatic expression, and that is the most truthful thing I've heard all day.

Akron/Family - Akron/Family

Akron/Family - The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT

     Experimental music is very hard to explain without actually hearing it. So first off let me encourage you to at least look into this amazing band before you move on, and better than that download two of their albums above, it may be exactly what you need. 

     Soft vocals and guitars, eerie organs and many other sensational instruments will caress your senses and leave you in a rainy day mood, let you sit down and think. I know since I first received one of their songs from a friend of mine back in the Dropbox days Akron/Family has encouraged me to take life slowly and progressively, I encourage you to do the same. Bands like this make me proud to have helped you experience them and sort of guilty for letting people download them for free, but truthfully good luck finding them in your local HMV. 

     The second band holding me together today is 

Portugal. The Man. Almost in the same group as Akron/Family, but only in the same sense as peanut butter is in the same grouping as jam. PTM is an alt-rock (and I use that term loosely) group from Alaska. Again I have to thank an old friend, for if you had not invited me to a dropbox session, I would be without so many amazing albums and so much musical knowledge.  

Portugal. The Man - In The Mountain In The Cloud

     Portugal takes the ingenuity of A/F and upgrades it to a more everyday friendly sound. My mind took a long time today to process that sound and to me its as if The Beatles and MGMT met and somehow had a lovechild. If you take the time to download the album, the password is pop-to-core.blogspot.com and this link will take you to a page with all of their albums for free, its definitely worth it.

     I apologize for making the first section a story and doing no justice to Portugal. The Man, but my artistic feelings quickly fade, usually after the first artist. I encourage you to listen to and download the music we shared today. As always this music is intended as a preview and you should probably go buy it and support the artist. Please like our page on Facebook for up to date info and other awesome stuff, also if you have suggestions I would love to hear from you as I'm quickly running out of material. Hopefully I have inspired you to do some thinking or maybe some searching for your rainy day music, cheers.

Hardcore Humpday 6 : Warped Tour Compilation

     Today although I only have about ten minutes to scrape a post together, I thought it should be something well worth it. Que this years Warped Tour Compilation CD, a two disc mix of choice songs by artists lined up for this years edition of the iconic concert.

     Warped Tour Compilation 

     Follow that link to one of my new favourite music blogs, pop-to-core. The page contains links to both mixes and the password for the files. This for me has been the single find that turned me back onto hardcore and metal music. Over the last week and a bit since I downloaded the mix I've run discographies from the same site for, Asking Alexandria, set Your Goals, August Burns Red, Taking Back Sunday, I Set My Friends On Fire, Abandon All Ships!, Against Me!, and Attack Attack! If that doesn't show you that my faith in hardcore has been revived I don't know what will.

     So sorry for the short post, but you should have time to go through everything that mix has to offer. When you find something you like, do what I do. Search on pop-to-core and run the bands most recent album, then from there work back if you are really interested. 

Wandering Wednesday : James Hancock, Hope of the States, and 65 Days of Static

     I think we all need a little down time once in a while, some time to relax, to think. When I need some time I usually break out the post rock, the instrumental, the thought provocking masterpieces of our times. Go to Wikipedia sometime and just cruise around for some inspiriation, I do it alot from my mobile when explaining different genres to my father. They have great lists of musical artists with discographies and links, specifically a great list of post rock artists that reminded me of a great many bands I had nearly forgotten. So I plan on sharing some post rock I found myself and a couple suggestions, so lay back and close your eyes....

     So I realize that I have posted a great many Canadian artists from Rifle Eyes recently, but in all truthfulness I just keep finding more and more amazing artists on their page. Plus the fact that they have given the blog so much hype over the last few days, its kind of impossible to not feature another one of the music collective's artists once again. Enter James Hancock. I'm not enitrely sure how to classify his music, but what else is new? Its a blend of hip hop beats, jazzy instrumentation and talent, and it knocked me right on my emotional ass. For me its tough to commit to one artist at a time as I pull so much music everyday, it takes something special to make me actually right it down on the "Listen To" list next to my laptop. Top of the list is the album Cognitive Dissonance by James Hancock, a masterpiece to rival anything in the art gallery. Ladies and gentlemen, representing the world of audio sensory art, James Hancock.

James Hancock - Cognitive Dissonance (Album Download)

(Click to download)

     The second group today is a six man group from Chichester, Great Britain, Hope of the States. Sadly this band was only in action from 2000 to 2006 and one of their members commited suicide in 2004. I actually first heard them on the soundtrack of the game Driv3r, their song Static in the Cities... took a long time for me to understand really. This was back before I was that into music, in fact I think this was back when I had just progressed from classic rock to metal. The song is a melancholy take on the end of the world and it is actually the very end of the song that hits the hardest. The vocals cut into a prolonged note which evolves into a heart wrenching mandolin solo that slowly transforms into a full post rock intrumental with screaming guitars and soft background percussion. If you have been listening with your ears and your heart, when the vocals kick back in you'll be lucky to not have a tear in your eyes...

"...Forget it all just let it go..."

Hope of the States - The Lost Riots (Album Download)

(Click to download, you might need WinRAR or a program along those lines)

     Our last group today is 65daysofstatic, a four piece instrumental post rock band from Sheffield, Great Britain. This band is a little different from most post rock bands I would say. They blend the standard posts rock sounds of guitars and string with electronic synthesizers and electronic drums, to make something a little more uptempo and interesting than most post rock. A friend of mine originally included their song Retreat! Retreat! on a mix tape for me in high school. Truthfully I had no idea that it was classified as post rock, but then again what is post rock? What is music? We strive to strain the barriers of labels in this life and the easiest place to do it is musical expression. So go for a drive and slot in 65daysofstatic and let the day fly away.

65daysofstatic - We Were Exploding Anyway (Album Download)

(Click to download)

     *Thanks everyone for all the views, we passed six hundred and sixty six last night around midnight and the other publishers and I sacrificed a goat. Jokes aside it hasn't even been a month and we're almost to 700 views, with the hype we've been gettinig from Rifle Eyes Music Collective and their artists we've seen a massive spike of views. Thanks everyone for spreading this, don't forget to like us on Facebook and keep coming back for more exceptional music. I've also been notified that a friend of mine is making t-shirts, so if that would be something you would want let us know.