'08's Music to Love More Than Music: Love, Pt. 6

Love (<)
Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band - 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons
I am a HUGE fan of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, so anything that is even remotely related to that collective is going to be given a stern listen, and is probably going to be favored more so that it sometimes ought to be. This is usually not the case with A Silver Mt. Zion (meaning they're usually pretty good all on their own). This album goes with the flow and really shows where I think SMZ has been heading for a while. It's Post-Rock at it's finest ... maybe. I say maybe because if it truly were at it's finest, I would probably want to listen to it at any point in the day, and sometimes when I listen to this I get a little bored or think to myself that it's really over the top. So yeah, I dunno, It's no GS!YB, but really is anything? no, and I should probably stop comparing things to them...
A Silver Mt. Zion - 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons

Foxy Shazam - Introducing...
Pure madness, but I felt like it could have been focused better. It's a weird album for sure and it starts off with a kick to the ribs. Strange rhythms and awkward lyrics, a clear domination over the last album (which showed promise ... at best ... and hey, it looks like that prediction was right), but it never really cuts the cake for me. Super powerful though, and power that cannot be denied.
Foxy Shazam - Introducing Foxy

The M's - Real Close Ones
There are a few songs on this album that I absolutely delight in because they remind me of my Elementary school Art Teacher (the second one, not Mrs. Day). The other songs are all right, but the couple that make me go all nostalgic-eyed make the album for me.
The M's - Ultraviolent Men

Camille - Music Hole
Dancy and strange, but still fairly popish. She utilizes a lot of vocalization and a cappella techniques to make her beats, similar to Medúlla by Björk, but certainly a lot more dancy and fun than Medúlla. I'm, again, a little biased, because Camille is French, and I'm, for some unknown reason, enamored with the French. That aside, the album is very interesting and certainly very touching. I didn't see Rahzel's name on the list of people who helped out with the album, but I can't help but think that somewhere along the way he had an influence.
Camille - Home is Where It Hurts

"Make New Friends and Punch Them Out"

(This fine piece of art is the work of Samuel Bak, an extraordinary everything)

Sorry this post is so late, I was up rather too late last night putting finishing touches on a paper that just didn't seem right that I'd been writing until the late hours of the night for the last few nights now. Now I get to look forward to having to do that again, but for a different class. Hopefully since it's a film class it'll go a little more smoothly...

So there are about a million shows in the next few days that I've convinced myself that I need to go to. And (as I review my schedule) by "the next few days" I mean basically the next month:

- Tomorrow night is the Monofog w/ Hearts of Palm (formerly Nathan & Stephen)/Nick Jaina show at the Hi-Dive
- I won't be attending the "British Sea Power w/ Colourmusic, Rabbit is a Sphere at the Hi-Dive" show on Saturday because I'll be at:
- The Lisps, Paper Bird, Finn Riggens, Zebra Junction, Magic Circles (Hunter Dragon and Matt Daniels) play at Brook Center Arts, also on Saturday
- Sunday is Panther, The Jim Jims, Asphodel, and Lil’ Slugger (see below for a review of their album) at the Larimer Lounge,
- Next Tuesday I'll be going to the Xiu Xiu/Thao Nguyen/Slight Harp show at the Hi-Dive
- But also next Tuesday Drew Danburry plays with CASTLES, Winderous Igloos, Thundersmile, and Sourboybitter at the Plummer House in Ft. Collins
- I'll be seeing Drew Danburry, however, when he plays the T-House next Wednesday

All that is just in the next week or so. 4 reealz. Get out and have some fun Denver!

Lil' Slugger - Sweethearts of the Overthrow
Verdict: Love More Than Music (<3>) [Please note this is the first time I've given this rating with my new method of reviewing albums]
This album took me a while to fully digest, but that's not because it was hard to like, but, rather, because it's, simply, a complicated album. Sounding a little bit like a myriad of different bands (Animal Collective, Man Man, Rock Plaza Central, the Shins, Clap You Hands Say Yeah!, Tractenburg Family Slideshow Players, Frog Eyes, Modest Mouse, 31Knots, Shearwater, and The Arcade Fire to name a few that come to mind first) for about 5 seconds. Lil' Slugger mostly just sounds like Lil' Slugger. The album is weird and heavy and fun and campy and dark and ridiculous and everything all at once in short bursts but never too much too fast too soon. It's the middle porridge. It sounds like what I could only imagine an acid trip in an avalanche of rocks and rubber balls would be like ... not sound like ... but be like. I'm honestly being haunted by one or two of these songs. They keep me awake at night, zooming in and out of my consciousness, taunting me ... and I love it.
Lil' Slugger - Pyramid (or $10,000)
Lil' Slugger - Strawberry Shortcake (You've come a long way, Fireball) (Good Humor)
Lil' Slugger - Us(L)urper (Devine Right)
Lil' Slugger - There Was A Change (Susan B. Anthony & The Wheat Cents)

Cloud Cult - Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornadoes)
Verdict: Love More (<3)+
I can hardly imagine that there in a universe that has a Cloud Cult CD that isn't amazing, though I'm sure that the demonic writers of Sliders could have cooked up a devilish world in which this was the case. Thankfully, we don't live in this horrible parallel dimension. This album is good. Really good. It's weird and experimental and everything we loved about the Meaning of 8, but a little more compact. I don't love it more than the Meaning of 8 ... yet ... but that's because I've had a chance to get to know the Meaning of 8 over an entire year. Give it time and I may love this one more.
Cloud Cult - The Tornado Lessons
Cloud Cult - Love You All
Cloud Cult - Hurricane And Fire Survival Guide

Hot Chip - Made in the Dark
Verdict: Love (<) +
You all ready know about this CD. You all ready know about this band. You know how I know that? Because its so poppy and good that there is basically no way that you couldn't have heard of them. My favorite part of the album is the "tick tick tick time delay" lyric is dropped. So yeah, it's good. There ya go. Preaching to the choir.
Hot Chip - Bendable Poseable
Hot Chip - Shake a Fist
Hot Chip - Ready For the Floor

Bauhaus - Go Away White
Verdict: Didn't Like (ø) +
My first reaction to this was "whoa ... those vocals've got to go." I absolutely can't stand the first track, save for the gritty guitar work. Really the only saving factor for this album is the distorted guitar work that done. It's top notch. I guess I may have liked it if I lived through the Bauhaus' pertinent period. I liked one or two of their older albums, but I recognized them as classics, and that may be skewed my opinion a little. This album wasn't the worst album ever, but it just isn't something I enjoyed all that much. Here are a few tracks that I actually did like:
Bauhaus - Adrenalin
Bauhaus - Mirror Remains
Bauhaus - Endless Summer Of The Damned

Die! Die! Die! - Promises, Promises
Verdict: Love (<)
I think the main reason I like Die! Die! Die! as much as I do is because it reminds me of the underground British punk that I listened to back in the Highschool years. It's gritty and dirty and, at first listen, underproduced. But then when one listens intently, one can tell that the grittyness is just how these guys sound, and that they're a cavalcade of sounds and emotions. Sure, the album is not perfect, but I love the effort put into it.
Die! Die! Die! - Death To The Last Romantic
Die! Die! Die! - Britomart Sunset
Die! Die! Die! - Sideways Here We Come

The Kills - Midnight Boom
Verdict: Love More (<3)-
Mmmmm, sexy and devoid of emotions not related to sexiness. If these cats were any more ridiculously sexy ... well ... I can't think of a scenario where that's even possible. Reminds me of the Raveonettes, but I can't quite give you a reason that I'm satisfied with.
[Edit: because I was very nicely requested not to host the tracks What New York Used To Be, Sour Cherry, and Alphabet Pony (my favorite tracks from the album {i.e. look out for those bad boys when you pick up the album}), I took them down, because that's a standing policy with me (you ask me not to host something, I do it, because it's not my music, and, in the end, decisions about it are not up to me {in my opinion}). So here are the two tracks (that are still very good) that the Kills are okay with you sampling:]
The Kills - U.R.A. Fever
The Kills - Cheep and Cheerful

Venus Verse - Phazes
Verdict: Love More (<3)
Neo-New Wave (not New Rave, mind you) with a hint of Shoegaze and a whole bunch of heart. They remind me of a younger, cleaner version of the Raveonettes (again, with being reminded of the Raveonettes). They've only got this EP, but I've all ready become very fond of these cats.
Venus Verse - Loving Arms
Venus Verse - Not Quite Juliet
Venus Verse - Whisper

A Silver Mt. Zion - 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons
Verdict: Love More (<3)
Me being a long time of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, when I first heard of A Silver Mt. Zion shortly after their second release, I was a little more than curious, you could say. Well these cats certainly have grown from their humble beginnings ... okay ... so their beginnings weren't that humble, but still, they've really come a long way. The album proves that this penultimate Post Rock band may one day overshadow it's predecessor ... granted they've not quite reached that in my eyes, and I hate to think of them as an off shoot of the best Post Rock band ever, but sometimes we can't help what we do or how we feel. That said, I also feel that this album is astonishing. Since there are only 5 real songs on the album (the first 12 tracks are ~5 seconds of guitar squeals), I'm only going to post 1 song, and, as an exclusive bonus, I've combined the first 12 tracks into one, and am also hosting that. So yeah. OH! please note that the song I am posting is in 5/4 time (or possibly 11/4, it's hard to tell) ... and that's basically what made me want to post it over the other songs.
A Silver Mt. Zion - Tracks 1-12 combined
A Silver Mt. Zion - 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons

To make up for my not providing more songs by A Silver Mt. Zion, here's a live set by them that I'm fond of:

Band: A Silver Mt. Zion
Date: 2006-05-25
Venue: Le 4 sans, Bordeaux, France

(intro)
Godbless Our Dead Marines
Take These Hands and Throw Them in the River
(anxiety)
Teddy Roosevelt's Gun
Horses In The Sky
(disco song)
Ring Them Bells (Freedom Has Come And Gone)
BlindBlindBlind [OFF THE NEW ALBUM]
(repetition)
1,000,000 Died to Make this Sound [OFF THE NEW ALBUM]

Electric Chair, Electric Chair, Electric Chair...

To start off with: Pee-Pee at the Oriental Theater in Denver, CO:


There was a small stretch of history when Godspeed You! Black Emperor was the only God throughout the deep reaches of space and time. One day, God exploded, leaving behind it the planets, people, and musical instruments that people would, one day, learn to play on those planets. Those people and instruments came back together in many forms, bottleskup flenkenkenmike/1-speed bike, bakunin's bum, exhaust, fly pan am, et sans, set fire to flames, hrsta, molasses, esmerine, balai mécanique, 'gypt gore, sam shalabi, shalabi effect, black ox orkestar, the lonesome hanks, the mile ends ladies string auxiliary, valley of the giants, and, finally, A Silver Mt. Zion


A Silver Mt. Zion is the most prominent of the GY!BE side projects, followed not-so-closely by Fly Pan Am and 1-Speed Bike. I went into this live set (which was the first audio I'd ever heard from ASMZ) with a "oh good, more Godspeed material," which, in hindsight, was just wrong of me to do. While one can definitely tell these musicians were all in (or influenced by) GY!BE, one can also tell that they are all very much their own artists, now capable o doingf things that, in GY!BE, they were not able to do.

This does not, by any means, make ASMZ bad. They are incredible. Hear for yourself:

Band: A Silver Mt. Zion
Date: 2006-05-25
Venue: Le 4 Sans, Bordeaux, France

(Intro) (0:48 min)
Godbless Our Dead Marines (16:20 min)
Take These Hands and Throw Them in the River (9:01 min)
(anxiety) (2:06 min)
Teddy Roosevelt's Gun (13:52 min)
Horses In The Sky(7:56 min)
(disco song) (1:18 min)
Ring Them Bells (Freedom Has Come And Gone) (23:14 min)
Blind Blind Blind (14:24 min)
(repetition) (1:48 min)
One Million Die Just to Make this Sound (14:27 min)