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Month: June 2013

The Collection! Kickstarter! Important! Yes!

It is a profound mystery to me: when I have the most to do, I get inundated with beautiful music. I am all for it, as it makes the work pleasant; however, it’s hard to find time to tell everyone about it. I’m taking a break from the mixtapes (they’re almost done! truly!) to tell you about The Collection’s new album.

The Collection is one of my favorite bands that I’ve been blessed to find and know through this blog. David Wimbish and co.’s version of “The District Sleeps Alone Tonight” was the opener on Never Give Up: 10 Years of Celebrating The Postal Service, and I couldn’t have been happier about it. When Wimbish sent over the Kickstarter for a new Collection album, I was so excited that I started telling all my friends personally about why they should support Ars Moriendi.

And boy, are there a lot of reasons.

1. Ars Moriendi is about the death of loved ones and how to deal with it. The last time this was the hook on an album, we got Funeral. This album has just as much potential as that one.

2. I once wrote, “If Wimbish keeps on this tack, his future music is going to be absolutely incredible.” It very much looks like both ends of that sentence have come to pass.

3. Since the band has 12 members, they have the largest amount of Kickstarter rewards I have ever seen, including multiple rewards at the same cost level. That’s just mindboggling.

4. This shiver-inducing song will be on the album. Tl;dr? Skip to 1:30 and let it wash over you.

So here’s their Kickstarter. And here’s their Kickstarter video:

Help them out! Put more good music into the world!!

Foster the Decent Lovers

Still cranking out mixtapes for Kickstarter reward backers (time consuming, maaaannn!), but here’s a video featuring Elijah Wyman of Decent Lovers kicking it while opening for Foster the People. Moving up in the world!!

Introducing: Vidar

I’ve been keeping incredibly busy making the mixtape rewards for Kickstarter backers of $25 or more, so I haven’t been reviewing much at the moment. However, I was struck by this incredibly beautiful acoustic tune from Swedish female trio Vidar. “Phoenix” features guitar, accordion, gentle percussion and three-part harmonies; what’s not to love? I’m looking forward to great things from this band. Maybe they can tour with First Aid Kit?

Songs:Molina, for Jason’s survivors

I have documented my love for Jason Molina’s music all over Independent Clauses. I just got word that a memorial album has been put together to benefit Molina’s survivors. The 39 (!!) songs on the album aren’t all covers of Molina songs, but tributes of various varieties. I love that there’s this much outpouring of support for those that Molina left behind. Give what you can to “Songs:Molina.”

Declan Ryan stretches his alt-country legs

One of my favorite things about Independent Clauses is developing relationships with young artists and writers. Declan Ryan is both: I covered his split EP with Josh Mordecai recently, and he has written for IC in the past. His new EP Introducing Close Calls marries his singer/songwriter sensibilities to a full band with great results.

Ryan comes from the Dylan/Oberst line of singers that allows the passion of vocals to trump their technical correctness. This is best shown in “Then Don’t Hipst,” which creates a spacious, open-highway feel to the tune for his voice to ramble around in. The first line of the song is “All my lovers name’s are on highway signs/so blow a kiss to the state line,” so the unfettered feel of the vocals perfectly interprets the lyrics. That’s gold. This spacious sound reappears in sparse closer “Two and Seven,” which calls up Two Gallants–another band that uses vocals in an unusual way. Some people aren’t into this style of vocals, but Ryan does it well; if you’re a fan of this sound, Ryan will be up your alley.

His band contributes well throughout, framing Ryan’s vocals and lyrics neatly without becoming the main focus. Opener “Manhattan Square” has a full arrangement, but never cranks any part so high that you don’t know who’s the main draw. The band also doesn’t play up the twang too much, relying on clean notes, straight rhythms, and gentle tones for most of the arrangements. It’s nice to hear an alt-country offering that starts from a different point than The Jayhawks or Old 97s, as this approach has a lot more in common with indie-pop and indie-rock. Still, the end result is strongly alt-country, even if it gets there an unusual way.

Declan Ryan’s Introducing Close Calls allows Ryan to stretch his musical legs and cover some new ground. With “Then Don’t Hipst” as a starting point, fans of alt-country with distinct vocals should find much to love.

Some Summers’ Sum

It’s finally summer! Less rain, more heat, bug bites. That means it’s time for rock and electronica. Here’s a short mixtape about it.

Some Summers’ Sum

1. “Back to the Way I Was” – Emily Bell. Vintage sass with soulful class. You rock that, Ms. Bell. You rock that.
2. “Plains” – Vundabar. Fans of The Who will find themselves inextricably drawn to the rhythmic attack and the wiry guitar melodies in this rock track.
3. “Back to Life” – Dresses. Purevolume is still a thing? Welcome back, I suppose. I’m just glad they’re bringing us this perky little acoustic-pop gem, somewhere between The Weepies and Chairlift.
4. “I Heard a Rumour” – Annette Gil. Because we can always use more synth-pop with great melodies in the world.
5. “Ghost Ditch” – Vial of Sound. When is the best time to drive on an urban highway? At 3 a.m. while you’re blasting this synth-tastic creation.

Fidelity vs Sound Quality: A comparison of digital and analog

In late 2012, I asked a wide array of independent musicians about how the shift to digital music has changed their career. I got an astonishing amount of response, and I’ll be featuring these responses on the blog over the next few weeks and months. The first response comes from Aviv Cohn of The Widest Smiling Faces.

The most fascinating discussion produced by the digital era has been the one regarding the “soul” of art/music. There’s a general sense of continually moving away from authenticity. Paper books with their familiar textures, rituals of page turning, and folded corner bookmarks are being superseded by numbers and screens. (Similar to the boxes we stare into almost every waking moment of our lives.) Paintings with their gloppy textures jutting off the canvas have been replaced by flat JPEGs. Vocals are being auto-tuned, machines/software programs increasingly replace real drums, and the dynamic range of audio is being squashed and “dehumanized.” It’s hard to escape the feeling that our means of artistic expression are being quantized. My experience has been that many share these feelings, and so the resurgence of analog media comes as no surprise.

Many fans of analog media attempt to substantiate their emotional preference for the medium by seeking to “prove” that vinyl records are of a higher fidelity than CDs. They often cite graphs showcasing the “staircasing” inherent to digital sampling alongside images of smooth analog curves as a means of reinforcing their point regarding the inaccuracy of digital audio. While it’s important to point out that this point is technically incorrect, it’s hard to deny that analog audio has a “presence” (and not the in the frequency range sense) that is missing from many digital recordings. On a technical level, this “presence” is euphonic (pleasing) distortion. But there’s nothing wrong with distortion. Distortion is good. I enjoy distortion, and you probably do as well!

However to many, the more “realistic” and “lifelike” sound of analog audio is indicative of a “superior format” with regards to accurate audio reproduction. This is based on an erroneous conflation of two terms that should be kept distinct, “fidelity” and “sound quality.” Fidelity describes the degree of accuracy to which a medium recreates a sound. Sound quality, however, is subjective. It’s not a measurement; rather it’s an indication of preference. A piece of music could be of very low fidelity, but present beautiful sound quality. For example, let’s say we’re working with a piece of music with significant harshness in the upper-mids. Converting that audio to digital and then playing it back would lead to experiencing an audio presentation showcasing extremely accurate (in fact perfect) fidelity, but the sound quality would be uncomfortable. Similarly, transferring that audio to a medium that softened the harshness in the upper-mids would result in sound that technically would be of lower fidelity, but presenting a much more pleasing sound quality.

Many experience a situation akin to the second example, but interpret it incorrectly. Because they don’t understand the difference between fidelity and sound quality, they perceive the more “musical” and “lifelike” presentation of analog audio to be indicative of a format that is “truer to the source” and thus a higher fidelity medium. This is technically incorrect, though it’s not entirely inaccurate when looked at from another perspective.

We must keep in mind that much of the audio equipment used today was developed and popularized during an era in which vinyl records were the dominant format. Engineers were well aware of the distortions presented by vinyl, and often acted to compensate for them. To help illustrate the effects of this compensation, let’s imagine a line with two poles. One pole representing “warm,” another representing “cold,” and in the middle “natural.” We can use an imaginary microphone as well. Let’s call it “Microphone A.” Suppose Microphone A, a high quality dynamic mic, was used in the recording of a popular hit in the 1970s. Not only was this song a commercial success, listeners and engineers alike marveled at its lush, natural, and realistic sound as reproduced by their turntables. Due to the distortions inherent to analog media (it has a “softening” and “warming” effect on the audio) in order to have a “natural, realistic sound” when played back on vinyl, the original sound would have to be relatively “cold” and “clinical.”

So it could be said that “Microphone A,” known for producing natural and realistic sounding albums, has a somewhat colder and more clinical sound before being softened by the vinyl pressing process. The end result of this process would be a tone that is somewhere in between (realistic).

Now suppose that due to the success of that microphone, it’s remained in use to this day. Digital music doesn’t have the softening distortions of analog media. So the same microphone that produced a natural and realistic sound when played back on vinyl now produces a sound that’s somewhat more “cold” and “clinical.” Technically, the sound of the digital recording is higher fidelity, and more accurately captures “the sound” of the microphone, but that doesn’t mean it’s presenting a more pleasing sound quality, nor does it mean it’s presenting the microphone’s sound as intended by the engineer.

Never forget that physical things are awesome

Robert Deeble, whose Heart Like Feathers I very much enjoyed, has just released a deluxe version of the album that comes in a gorgeous hardback packaging and includes a bunch of awesome extras. The physical extras include photo prints and a little art book; the media extras include 5 acoustic tracks and 12 videos (which he lovingly calls “films”). I’ve transitioned almost entirely to digital music, because artists on the whole put little care into physical copies. But this? This is gorgeous, carefully made, and excellently crafted. I highly recommend picking up the limited edition of Heart Like Feathers.

While we’re on the topic of physical things that are incredibly awesome, I’d like to announce that Post-Echo (you know, the record label that I said yesterday “has my attention”?) is releasing what they call “future-proof records,” which are on-demand 10″ vinyl records made of songs from the Post-Echo catalog chosen by you, for you. This is astoundingly wonderful. Someday soon I’ll be able to get Pan songs backed by Dear Blanca songs, and all will be right in my little music-y corner of the world. If you’re into vinyl, this is something that you’ve probably never had (unless you’ve been to Third Man Records recently). Totally thumbs up over here. Pick up your own future-proof here.

I do this thing I call circling when I’m avoiding a particular piece of writing: I’ll think about it for a bit, then purposefully think about something else; I’ll do a tiny bit, then walk away; I’ll talk about it with someone, then change the subject. I count these as part of the writing process, a sort of evidence-gathering for the work about to be done. It helps me feel less unproductive and get rid of writer guilt, being able to say honestly that I’ve already started to work on a piece even if no words are on a page anywhere. With that logic in mind, I’m here to say that checking RunHundred every month is now part of my running process. –Stephen Carradini

The Top 10 Workout Songs For June

With summer approaching, the mood–both on the radio and in the gym–has changed. While winter brought with it an eclectic bunch of workout tracks, this new batch is all about fun. As evidence, consider David Guetta’s latest (“Play Hard”), Fergie’s contribution to The Great Gatsby (“A Little Party Never Killed Nobody”), and the collaboration that J. Lo and Mr. 305 debuted on the finale of American Idol (“Live It Up”).

Here’s the full list, according to votes placed at Run Hundred–the web’s most popular workout music blog.

David Guetta, Ne-Yo & Akon – Play Hard – 130 BPM

Jason Derulo – The Other Side – 128 BPM

Jennifer Lopez & Pitbull – Live It Up – 128 BPM

Robin Thicke, T.I. & Pharrell – Blurred Lines – 121 BPM

Emeli Sande – Next to Me – 95 BPM

Taylor Swift – 22 – 105 BPM

Porter Robinson & Mat Zo – Easy (Radio Edit) – 128 BPM

Maroon 5 – Love Somebody – 121 BPM

Fergie, Q-Tip & GoonRock – A Little Party Never Killed Nobody (All We Got) – 130 BPM

Carly Rae Jepsen & Nicki Minaj – Tonight I’m Getting Over You (Remix) – 126 BPM

To find more workout songs, folks can check out the free database at RunHundred.com. Visitors can browse the song selections there by genre, tempo, and era—to find the music that best fits with their particular workout routine. –Chris Lawhorn

Max Bemis Forever: The Truth Hz/Drift Wood Miracle

I’ve never been a huge Say Anything fan, but from the songs I’ve heard, an indelible print has been made of Max Bemis’ voice. His way of melding singing, yelling, screaming, and talking into an idiosyncratic vocal style has stuck in my mind. The Truth Hz and Driftwood Miracle both incorporate elements of Bemis’ style into their music, so I thought I’d bring them to your attention in the same post.

The Truth Hz is a pop-punk band that musically hails back to the early 2000s, when chunky, low-end-heavy guitars were the ideal type. None of those airtight, treble-heavy six-strings that are so common in current pop-rock are included on Get Over It. This one is loud and proud. Layered on top of this beefy backdrop is Ryan Stoll’s voice, which incorporates the muscly singing-to-screaming section of Max Bemis’ voice.

Stoll puts a lot of emphasis on the tone and delivery of his words, which is another element that points toward Bemis’ work. Note how in the end of “The Truth Is…” Stoll modifies the tone and volume of voice to get the desired effect out of the words; it’s a strong tactic, and one that made this stand out to me. Stoll is a storyteller on top of being a songwriter, which is something that a lot of pop-punk bands miss. Even if the “plot” is loose, Stoll guides the listener through the song with the contortions and distortions of his voice. It’s just a ton of fun to listen to. And in pop-punk, where any minor tweak on the sound can be the difference between catching my ear and sound like everything else, having a confident, mature vocalist fronting the outfit helps a lot. Fans of summer music, you should be checking this out.

North Carolina’s Drift Wood Miracle does not play pop-punk; they play piano-led indie-rock. The band just released “Mountain,” the single off their upcoming album The 21st. Lead singer/pianist Bryan Diver leads the tune from near-silence to loud to near-silence again, before exploding into a roaring coda that sees him hurling his voice around in a very Max Bemis-ian, angsty sort of way. The lyrics are a cryptic but relatable story of personal struggle and failure, couched in metaphors reminiscent of Brand New’s work. I’m a huge fan of Jesse Lacey and co.’s early work, so I’m totally on board with a little bit of obscurantism in the lyrics. The tune is a fascinating one, and I look forward to hearing what the rest of the album turns out to be.

Drift Wood Miracle – Mountain from Gracie Diver on Vimeo.

Cultures, video

James Younger’s video for “Monday Morning” is a tribute to VHS culture in the ’80s and early ’90s. As a kid who grew up in that era, I am all about this, from the goofy subtitles to the white noise that intermittently drops in, to the overall fuzz of the video. Thank you, James Younger.

While we’re on the topic of media cultures, here’s a video from The Gorgeous Hands about cell phone culture. It’s less a tribute and more a critique of said culture, but it’s still pretty fun. Also, “Generator” the song is pretty awesome if you’re into Spoon but have approximately twice as much give-a-rip as Britt Daniel.

Wampire’s “Orchards” starts out as a piece about car culture and then becomes something, uh, completely different.

< And, rounding out our cultural journey, Post-Echo Records has commissioned a five-video project called "Passage," which celebrates the sort of culture that makes you think about what you're watching. Post-Echo, home to IC faves Pan and Dear Blanca, has my attention.