CATEGORY: MP3

When Indiana post-punk band Brazil released their debut A Hostage and the Meaning of Life back in 2004 I was all about it.  The album, which recieved a 4 star rating from Alternative Press, was a huge step forward from the creepy sci-fi-keyboard punk EP and it was also probably one of the most played records amongst my friends that year.  We would sing along to all the tracks while driving and think to ourselves, “Damn, this sure sound like At the Drive In!  Sweet!” 

I can’t say my sentiments have gone unchanged since then, but I still have a lot of respect for the band.  Their new record, The Philosophy Of Velocity, picks up where A Hostage left off, except that the band has undergone a bit of a production change this go round.  The vocals are no longer at the fore front and the songs now have an even more anthemic sound.  It isn’t my favorite release this year but fans of Mars Volta/At The Drive In post-punk should enjoy this. 

Besides, sometimes it is important to take a break from all of the ‘enlightened’ indie rock stuff and re-visit some of your past fixations.  Brazil being one of mine.

[mp3] Brazil - A Crime (And the Antique Solution) 

CATEGORY: Music Reviews

The Specimen
Do U Damage
Peace Bisquit 

Judging a book by its cover, you might expect Brooklyn’s The Specimen to be some form of rap/rock hybrid.  Something in the vein of a third generation Limp Bizkit cover band.  However, although the brass knuckle imagery and ebonic song titles reek of a band trying to be so tough and edgy their unintentional camp levels are approaching the outer atmospheres, these are merely affectations.  The Specimen are actually a rock/electro mash-up consisting of one member, Matt Gorny. 

After spending his childhood in Poland, Gorny moved to New York and started toying with music.  Eventually he caught the eye of a local production company and Do U Damage is the result.  Notably eclectic and bold in its vision, Do U Damage attempts to blur genre and eschew labels with it’s Oasis-meets-the Faint-meets-the Beatles concoction.  Unfortunately, the six songs on this EP sounds more like a huge mess of sound than genre-hopping mind benders. 

No, take that back.  Your mind will be bent.  There are so many layers thrown on top of eachother that your head will be spinning.  If things were only toned down a bit and moderated, as they are with the Beck-flavored ‘Hot Stuff’ and the playful ‘Move Like That’, Do U Damage’s blender of pop, rock, and dance would be both refreshing and addictive.  However, instead we are subjected to too much excess and not enough calmer moments to recover and rest our ears.

I won’t pretend there isn’t an audience for this much tinkered and tampered hodge podge of dance beats.  It’s just that Gorny seems to be a musician much more talented and capable than what Do U Damage implies.  Here’s to the hope that future releases strip away the superflouous layers and focus on the real goods- they’re definitely there.

MP3
Listen to tracks at The Specimen’s Myspace page

CATEGORY: Features - Myspace Interviews

So we interviewed a few of our random Myspace friends a while back and no one really cared.  Doesn’t matter to us.  We don’t post things to entertain or please our visitors.  Everyone knows the only reason we run this site is to get free cds.

Anyway, there was one more Myspace interview that I hadn’t gotten around to posting.  It was with a guy named Phil who plays in a one man band called Phil and the Osophers.  All of the hilarious interview is available after the jump.

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CATEGORY: MP3

My obsession with Communique’s last full length Poison Arrows was very short lived.  At first I was entranced by it’s overly catchy melodies and vocals, but after a few months had passed I became a bit annoyed by the very same two qualities that had turned me on to them.  Keep in mind this was also around the time that every band on MTV and the radio started experimenting with “that whole dance thing”, so the blame for my waning interest can’t be placed soley on the band. 

Listening to Communique’s latest EP, however, it seems the band may have been reading my mind.  Walk Into the Light is just as catchy and energetic as Poison Arrows but it is noticeably less over bearing.  The vocals aren’t mixed as high and there is a lot more restraint shown in the music.  The keyboards do a better job of adding to the tracks rather than just making the listener cringe.  This isn’t to say they have completely elevated or distanced themselves from the multitudes of “dance-punk” bands out there, but they have taken a small step.

Here is the first song from their new EP entitled ‘The Sad Valentine’.  If you only listen to 132 dance-rock songs this year, make this be one of them.

[mp3] Communique - The Sad Valentine

CATEGORY: Editor's Pick - Music Reviews

Oxford Collapse
Remember the Night Parties
SubPop Records

There was a time, at least 15 years ago, when children who were weaned on ridiculous ’70s hard rock and ’80s hair metal went to college. There they had their eyes opened by groups like Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr. and decided that they really didn’t need to shred, but could instead detune their guitars and try to be a little more melodic and artsy. Best of all, they could still rock out. It’s that kind of thinking that spawned some of the best bands of the indie music explosion of the mid to late ’90s from Superchunk and Archers of Loaf to Hum and Lotion.

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CATEGORY: Editor's Pick - Music Reviews

Grizzly Bear
Yellow House
Warp Records

The term “avant-folk” seems to be getting attached to any band or artist that features a heavy use of acoustic guitar and steers clear of conventional singer/songwriter fare. It’s a shame too because it tends to put those folks at a disadvantage, conjuring up images of poster boy for the avant-folk movement Devendra Banhart and his faux-naif antics. Hopefully with a tour opening up for fellow sonic daytrippers TV On The Radio, will help Grizzly Bear avoid such associations and show them to be the bold new step forward for the world of psychedelic and avant garde pop music that they truely are.

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CATEGORY: Editor's Pick - Music Reviews

The Blow
Paper Television
K Records 

Khaela Maricich!  You are making me blush!  Stop it!  I mean it!  How am I supposed to focus on my bloggings when a talented, attractive women is in my headphones singing funky electro-pop songs about sweaty bed sheets and various sexy time references?  I can’t handle this!

Your latest album Paper Television is like the siren’s call, luring unsuspecting mariners off their course.  It is also the most fun I have had all year listening to music.  There are upbeat French songs, funky dancefloor numbers, and layers upon layers of pent up sexual tension.  It’s an infectious monster that you just want to hug, hairy paws and all.

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CATEGORY: MP3

At InvisibleLimb.net we don’t mess around.  If we hear something that tickles us, we post that sucker.  If we hear something that only mildly amuses us or straight up stinks, we don’t.  This is the law of the Limb!  Tremble before it’s ruthless ways!  So, in accordance with the law, we will only be posting John Vanderslice bootlegs and videos from here on out.

Vanderslice recently recorded a handful of new songs at the MP3.com studios, and they are now available for viewing online.  The new songs (I’m guessing they are from his up coming record since I have never heard the titles before) include ‘The Parade’, ‘Charles Rennie Mackintosh’, and ‘the Dream is Over’- which might possibly be a companion to Time Travel is Lonely’s upbeat ‘Keep the Dream Alive’.  The other two songs are ‘Dear Sarah Shu’ from last year’s Pixel Revolt and ‘Do You Remember the Man?’ also from Time Travel. 

[video] John Vanderslice MP3.com Session

And now, thanks to a wonderful member of Vanderslice’s Heated Pool and Bar forums, we can also listen to these songs in mp3 form.  My initial reaction is that these new tracks are brilliant.  They are fast, upbeat, and just as smooth as anything off Pixel Revolt.  Check out the links below and salivate with me at the thought of what else the new record will bring.

[mp3] John Vanderslice - The Parade (MP3.com rip)
[mp3] John Vanderslice - Charles Rennie Mackintosh (MP3.com rip)
[mp3] John Vanderslice - Do You Remember the Man? (MP3.com rip)
[mp3] John Vanderslice - The Dream is Over (MP3.com rip)
[mp3] John Vanderslice - Dear Sarah Shu (MP3.com rip)

BONUS!
I also have some mp3s from another recent live session, this time on Studio Brussel.  You can check those out below.

[mp3] John Vanderslice - Do You Remember? (Live on Studio Brussel)
[mp3] John Vanderslice - Trance Manual (Live on Studio Brussel)
[mp3] John Vanderslice - Angela (Live on Studio Brussel)

CATEGORY: Music Reviews

Honeycut
The Day I Turned To Glass
Quannum Records

A hint of what this record could have been happens well into the fifth track, “Dysfunctional”. The track starts off promisingly enough with a saxophone loop that would make Rashaan Roland Kirk proud that lays into a slinky groove speckled with keyboard and horn stabs. The vocalist for the group, Bart Davenport, does his best version of a soul singer, but drags the whole song down with flat intonations and trite lyrics. But, at about the minute and a half point, a female voice comes to the fore and with one vocal line, makes the whole song burst to life. Alas, she doesn’t stick around for long and we are stuck with Davenport as our tour guide, taking us through a museum of well-worn beats and vocal melodies.

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CATEGORY: Music Reviews

Viva Voce
Get Yr Blood Sucked Out
Barsuk Records

Viva Voce are Anita and Kevin Robinson, a dynamic husband and wife duo from Portland, Oregon. With a truly tight-knit sound indicative of the relationship behind the music, Viva Voce’s latest album is a well-balanced combination of pensive and smoothly flowing ballads and lively independent rock.

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