Mute Math

Welcome to the world of electro-alt rock. This one's hard to describe. It could almost be straight 80's pop-rock except for the strange layering of synths. It sounds a bit like trippy Petra or Police.

Apparently formed from parts of the Christian alt-rock band Earthsuit (no idea who they are) from New Orleans.

Check out their website- it has an in-page music player and videos. The last video- a live performance of "Reset"- is pretty crazy. Half way through, they start playing with the different instruments- first looping and cutting up the drums, then playing with the keyboard and guitar sounds. Dan says it should be required Musicmonger viewing. I agree!

Mute Math web page
Mirror of the video

Jem

call me a sucker for poppy-sounding electronica, but i love the stuff. my latest musical find originates from the trailer for ultraviolet, in which the song towards the end caught my attention more than the trailer itself. as i write this, i'm still listening thru the album but from what i hear so far, her vocals sound like dido (on steroids, perhaps?) and at least a couple of the songs sound like it spawned from the same train of thought as evanescence, but not quite. anyway, just gonna post the song from the trailer for now. if anyone's interested, i have the rest of the album on my itunes :)

also, big thanks to ekoh for selling me his echo (no affiliation to ekoh, i dont think?) pcmcia sound card at a killer price. now my songs sound better than ever, and my future audio equipment purchases will cost me that much more from being another step closer towards becoming an audiophile. arg.

anyway, without further ado, 24

... and so i don't lose the link: flying high

Denizen Kane

of "Typical Cats" and "I Was Born With Two Tongues" fame, i present to ye: Denizen Kane aka Dennis Kim. "Tree City Legends II," which was released only a few months ago, is his second solo album (my copy of the original Tree City Legends is en route right now and will probably be posted later). the beats are pretty solid and as far as i'm concerned, miles better than any of the mainstream garbage popular today. also, some of his lyrics have what appear to be Christian undertones, the most blatant example of this being the last track. well, i guess that's it. give it a listen. i suck at writing these review things.

Denizen Kane - Tree City Legends II: My Bootleg Life

Jeff Buckley

a [partial] weekend spent with ernie has inspired me to finally put up a post, not to mention further killing my tolerance for subpar audio, but nevermind that for now.

my latest listening adventures have brought me back to jeff buckley, which may sound fairly unusual if you're at all familiar with his music and with my musical taste (or lack of?). i had a friend in high school who got me into him oh so very briefly, and last thursday i listened again for the first time in about 10 years. buckley was one of the promising young singer/songwriters of the mid-90's who died an untimely death in 1997. he is perhaps best remembered for his cover of leonard cohen's hallelujah, which was also covered by several other artists thru the years. some 15 total verses were originally written for the song with varying overtones ranging from religious to graphically romantic but of course no version, not even the original, contains all 15. like all subsequent versions of the song (even a later release by cohen himself), jeff buckley's version had mixed and matched verses to come up with its own unique feel, despite being born of the same song. even tho none of buckley's verses are all that sad, i have to say this recording is easily one of the most heart wrenching songs i have ever listened to due to buckley's tear-jerking interpretation. check out how long he holds a note for at the end.

hallelujah

Tracy Chapman

The 80s were ok...I can listen to it for a while but if I'm going to pick a decade, it's the 90s. I could probably listen to alternative and grunge for a long, long time.

I usually associate Tracy Chapman with college and the 90s (Give Me One Reason) but I guess this technically isn't since it's from her self-titled debut in 1988. So....I guess I'm still stuck in the 80s for now.

Talkin' Bout A Revolution
Fast Car

Ok, fine....while we're here, we might as well detour, stop, and have a listen to:

When Doves Cry
I Would Die 4 U

Yeah, let the 80s wash over you.

Ok, I'm done with that.

Mild rhythmic syncopation

I'm back from a week in Death Valley. One of the friends I went with is really into 80s music. Really, really into. So we spent the week listening to XM radio's 80s station when we weren't hiking and seeing the sights. "Name that tune" is not that fun of a game when play against a genre expert. I got all the old-school rap though. Oh yeah, Tone Loc - Funky Cold Medina. :)

I'm still listening to Prefuse 73 and the Akira soundtrack but here's some of my "old" indie favorites. These three songs all have a similar sound. And according to Pandora, I like them because they all feature "electric rock instrumentation, subtle use of vocal harmony, mild rhythmic syncopation, repetitive melodic phrasing, and a vocal-centric asthetic." Yep, that sums it up!

Pinback - Offline P.K.
Bloc Party - Like Eating Glass
Broken Social Scene - Stars and Sons