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Top 10 Albums of 2014 – #5: Tremors by SOHN

19 Dec

sohn

A poppier iteration of James Blake, SOHN stole my attention throughout the whole month of April when Tremors dropped. It endured all year, and now here it is, the fifth best album of the year. Because love lost is more than just painful, it’s poetry.

This album does not overwhelm. It remains steady and engaging, but somehow managed to take hold of all my senses as I listened to it. The vocals are soft and endearing, and the lyrics are polite and honest. For all the reasons that it shouldn’t be an album to bother listening to, it becomes an album not to miss.

The opening track, “Tempest,” displays his favorite mixing technique of layering cut melodies over one another to create a rhythm for the song to follow. He adds in gentle lyrics and a bass line, and even some drums make the song danceable. And then he strips it down again, just to enjoy the echoes in the background with the original rhythm. And the rest of the album follows. “The Wheel” makes it very clear that, although his lyrics can seem simple and cliché at times, they work with all the emotional levels of music behind it. “Bloodflows,”my favorite track on the record, gives the appeal of focusing on SOHN’s heartbreak with an average, even banal melody behind the vocals, then breaks my own heart with the riff halfway through the song.

Tremors is not an unexpected album but it pulls no punches. Like your favorite Radiohead album, you are unable to focus on anything but SOHN as the tracks wear on. A beautiful snapshot of the status quo, Tremors is one of 2014’s best albums.

Tremors is out now. For more information on SOHN, visit his website, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Soundcloud.

Top 10 Albums of 2014 – #7: Photay by Photay

17 Dec

photay

What a year for Aphex Twin. Syro in its own right is an instant classic, making it onto many of these top ten lists that are going around. He also released a set of tracks that could easily have made up another double-album on his Soundcloud. I’m sure it took a load off, finally releasing material he had written and been working on since the 90s. Coincidentally (or serendipitously?), it was also a good year for longtime fan, Evan Shornstein. As well as probably celebrating new Aphex Twin, Shornstein, under the moniker Photay, celebrated his own (mini) album release.

The eponymous record begins with a detox. I found this ironic, because, rather than have signs of painful withdrawal, the track builds up and foreshadows what is ahead. Then I realized I wasn’t cleansing myself of the toxins of the music, I was using the music to cleanse myself. I let Seafloor lift me up during “Deconstruct”; the sassless horns were my scripture. The brass on the entire album is stunning, complementing the smart basslines and beats. I shuddered at the static tickling my eardrums. “Illusion of Seclusion” is the vinyl finale, promising a wondrous infinite unknown. But the digital bonus tracks won’t just leave it there.

The final three tracks are their own act, all part of the epilogue. It is the evening in a dusty town, where you can hear fun being had without you. You let your nostalgia warm you. (But the seclusion is an illusion.) You are invited inside to dance, and suddenly there are people around you, so many people. You had no idea this many people could even be near you, how many people are there? How small are we in comparison?

Photay (the mini album) is out now via Astro Nautico. (Photay is also a full length release available on his Bandcamp.) For more information on Photay, follow him on Facebook, Twitter, and Soundcloud.

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Top 10 Albums of 2014 – #9: Xen by Arca

15 Dec

arca

Not all music is easy to listen to. Sometimes the most inaccessible music is made with the most talent and emotion behind it. I have been hanging onto Xen by Arca for some time, mulling it over and even considering it for a best track of 2014 spot with “Theivery.” Ultimately, I decided that to honor one track from this 15 song epic would be unfair; the entire album deserves recognition, and has thusly been named one of our top ten albums at the Music Court.

WARNING: This video is mildly NSFW.

This album is brief, but for once I’m not complaining. Before you are even fully aware of the electro-noise, the song is over, and you are whisked off to the next sound, playing catch-up after each track. “Failed” is the intermission, a sad, slow melody that gives us a moment to reflect. We are lead back into the cacophony with the very next track, “Family Violence,” which is eerily similar to the score of Psycho. Though the sharp electronic beats are not consistent, I consider them the lyrics of the tracks, giving each one personality amid all the other musical elements. The perk of hearing a short album is the desire it leaves with you to replay it, which is something I highly recommend for any first timers. You won’t be able to comprehend the stories told on this album unless you give it a few more spins.

Xen is out now. Find more information on Arca on his website, Facebook, Twitter, and Soundcloud. For further reading on Xen, I highly recommend this review.

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Lyon to San Francisco, All the Girls, My Casiotone

26 Nov

Odessey and oracle

In today’s society of instant gratification, it can be hard to branch out your musical taste. Instead of giving new music a chance, we tend to just skip to the next track that is better aligned with a genre or style that we have connected with in the past. Lose that mindset right now, because unless you already operate on a hearty diet of chiptune and toy instruments, you won’t recognize the greatness of Odessey & Oracle and the Casiotone Orchestra.

This album is a little weird, but in the absolute best way. The first track,”2016,” is dripping with psychedelia and ambience, held up only be the melody of the vocals. That is only the beginning, though; what follows is a collection of endearing and occasionally somber songs, making good use of drones and casiotones. It can at times sound like Rennaissance fair music, but there is something deeper happening beneath the flutes and tambourines. The lyrics, though cohesive and organized, are sometimes spat out in run-on sentences. There is a strategy here, but it depends on every aspect of the music converging to make this vision come to fruition.

Taking their name from an album by The Zombies, this French trio is intent on emulating ‘60s psychedelia. Odessey & Oracle currently have a five song EP up on their Soundcloud, which is representative of the strongest tracks to be released on their full length effort with the Casiotone Orchestra. Once you buy the record, though, give your attention to the series of Inventions that weave between the other tracks. They are not the most staggering songs among the other gems, but I do feel the Inventions provide some much needed grounding for the album. This is a testament to a well-structured album.

Odessey & Oracle and the Casiotone Orchestra will be out 12/12 on Carton Records. You can pre-order the album here. Find more information on Odessey and Oracle on their website.

P.S. The title of this article is a nod to Crystal Fighters’ “Solar System.”

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Just for Kids: Sadako by Fairchild

20 Nov

It’s springtime in Australia, so winter’s most energetic music is going to come from that area for the next few months. First, I’ve found Fairchild, who provide power pop that is the appropriate amount of fun and drama to their lyrics. Their first single is “Arcadia,” with a funky accompanying video.

Where the toe-tapping rhythm meets drama in “Arcadia,” the rest of Fairchild’s latest EP, Sadako, follows suit. It builds into anthemic choruses, but something feels so familiar in them; I am reminded of the powerful chords on Coldplay’s Parachutes. “Outside” is nostalgic, but not for the past, for the present. It is full of emotion, as is what I find the strongest track on the EP, “Waiting For It”. The buzzing guitars and horse-trot rhythm; then the anthemic chorus comes in, meant to be whispered rather than shouted.

I also would like to share the story behind the title of their EP:

‘Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes’ was a book written by American author Eleanor Coerr and tells the story of a Japanese girl who was two years old when the devastating Hiroshima atomic bomb was dropped. She became very ill and was told of the legend if you make 1,000 paper cranes it can make you better. Feeling inspired by this story, a friend of vocalist Adam Lyons made him 1,000 paper cranes for good luck while he was at university. They hang above his bedroom, where the band recorded and produced the EP.”

I remember reading this book as a kid. I remember wanting to have those cranes hanging in my room. I picked up origami shortly after, but never with enough enthusiasm to make one thousand of anything. This was definitely a daydream I’ve had, where I would fold day and night until I had completed the task, and I would hang each one carefully from the ceiling, making sure to make them varying heights, as if they were all part of a flock mid-flight. I suppose this EP could be a sonic interpretation of that daydream, this nostalgia.

I have no doubt that Fairchild could be a crossover hit, on both mainstream and independent radio. It’s only a matter of getting people to pay attention.

Fairchild’s Sadako EP is out now. For more information, visit their website.

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