Monthly Archives: October 2010

10.19.10
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No Age – ‘Everything In Between’


No Age’s second album for Sub Pop, Everything In Between, builds upon the mastery of their dirty clean sound which traces its antecedents through New York No Wave, Modern Noise, Dream Pop, Hardcore and the kind of adolescent punk which sprung from the ether in LA over the past decade.

Dean Spunt and Randy Randall are musicians using a solid combination of guitar and drum and effects, aiding the normalization of other recent break out two-piece acts such as Japanther, the late and much lamented Death From Above 1979, The Black Keys and Japandroids who use noise in less an abrasive manner than in service to the songs.

This is most apparent on Everything in Between with the excellent “Fever Dreaming” whose distressed and scorched wails are the amazing guitar noises that are half broken robot, half toy keyboard and half screech of tires. Yes, 150% awesome. That’s “Fever Dreaming.”

Though they step out of the expected mold time to time on this album such as with the quiet duet “Chem Trails”, these soft butterflies of chaos are not the songs that you’ll find yourself returning to or adding to party playlists.

Everything in Between isn’t quite a move forward or evolution of the sound No Age has been kicking down stairs since their first compilation Weirdo Rippers. Rather, it’s a lateral move from the excellent Nouns whose combination of minimalist compositions and maximum rock n’ roll got No Age the well-deserved recognition beyond the loft show set.

Frankly speaking, despite the missteps and seemingly out of place songs, Everything In Between contains strong contenders for your year-end Songs of the Year listings while those same growing pains don’t quite coalesce just yet for No Age over all. It’s tempting to hope that this is somewhat of a transitional album and that they are able to once more make the musical leap from the growth demonstrated in Weirdo Rippers to Nouns.

Make no mistake, Everything in Between demands your undivided attention and you would do well to grant it.

10.18.10
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SEE YOU AT CMJ!

We’re going to be M.I.A. for the next few days during CMJ.

(Hopefully) we’ll have show reviews and photos coming in a good amount of the week. Otherwise hold tight and they’ll be up next week. We will be running around the festival day and night, so if you see us say hi. We have postcards, buttons and all kinds of fun stuff.

We will also be live tweeting at www.twitter.com/modernmystery

Also check out our CMJ After Party on Sunday!

RSVP HERE

10.18.10
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Voyaging with Seabear

Second time around,building fires, they’ve sailed back.  An Icelandic, indie-folk band, Seabear are pioneering their music over the Pacific coast of the United States. Modern Mystery got to catch up with the band during their quick stop in New York City and discuss the new material and their current ongoing tour.

What is the history behind the band’s name, who came up with it?

Sindri:It was something that I wrote in my sketchbook when I was living in London. It was some sort of stupid slang that these  British art school kids used.

How long did you live there for?

Sindri:Only about a year, I was planning to go to an art school in England, but I ended up going home to Iceland and finishing school back there, London is very expensive.

How has your music-making process changed since the beginning when Seabear first got together? Is it still the same?

Sindri:A lot of it was done piece by piece, I would record bits by myself, then we would all work on it. Other parts for drums we would record in a bigger professional studio, and then used mixed techniques to combine it all together. We didn’t really record it all at once, people would just come in and we would work on it. The newer material is more of everybody’s work.

What is different about your new material from the EP While The Fire Dieswhen compared to your album Ghost That Carried Us Away?

Sindri:It’s more of a band sound, some of the songs on the EP we actually played live before we put the record out. What tends to happen when you play the songs live, you play faster and louder, which for me is more fun, so a lot of the songs were influenced by the energy of the shows. We had some old songs that we took and worked on, re-recorded on it too.

How long did it take you to produce it? Are you satisfied with it?

Sindri:Well, the writing part didn’t take a long time, it was the recording that ended up being a bit long. We went back and re-adjusted some songs.For the next album we hope it moves a bit faster. I haven’t listened to it since we released it, because by the time we were done working on it, I was tired of hearing it. But in my mind, I’m happier with the EP, than with the first album.

This is your second time touring in the United States, what are your goals/preconceptions for this trip?

Sindri:Well, we’re doing more of a west coast this time. We also did SXSW.

How was it?

Sindri:It was great, very fun, we all really liked Austin. We were there for almost a week, then we went up to Washington D.C. We’re flying to Denver after this show in New York and then driving up the west coast and playing shows.

Is there a noticeable difference between the fans from Iceland vs. U.S.?

Halldór : We don’t have fans in Iceland!

Sindri: Our parents are our fans! (laughs)  No, in Iceland during  a lot of the shows, we get support from our friends and family, and to be honest I’m always more nervous when we play back home.

What is your favorite venue to perform at?

Sindri: There is a place in Berlin called People’s House, that was probably one of the best ones we played at, but it’s hard to say.

Describe your typical day while touring.

Seabear: Wake up pretty early, eat something, drive for many many hours, be late, unload stuff, soundcheck, eat, play, load back in, sleep, repeat.

Sounds, very monotone.

Guðbjörg: It is, but the highest point of course that keeps us going is playing the concert.

What albums have you been jamming to lately?

Sindri: A lot of The Fall and we all really enjoy listening to Beach House. Last time we were traveling in America we would always put on Bruce Springsteen. We always have a few songs we like to listen to when we’re having fun, we also like Wu Tang Clan.

What are the next places that Seabear want to tour/launch their music?

Guðbjörg: ASIA!

Sindri: We want to go to Japan, China, Thailand, you know, North Korea, haha!  But we also would really like to go to Australia.

-Viktorsha Uliyanova


 

10.18.10
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Mirrors Release New Video, Album Out Soon


UK electronic group Mirrors have their first full-length coming out very very soon. Titled Lights & Offerings, the band hopes to get it to your ears sometime in February.

To celebrate this momentous occasion, the group has released its first music video from the album.

The track is called “Hide and Seek” and the music video is the stuff of nightmares. Featuring two legless clay figures that reanimate and stare at each other in the flickering glow of a TV screen, it’s disconcerting to say the least.

Just watch the video for yourself, but be careful. These things will haunt you.