Rhythm & Booze An online music webzine created by music lovers for music lovers.

5 December, 2014

Your Favorite Enemies-Between Illness And Migration

Filed under: alternative,post hardcore,post rock,Recorded Reviews,shoegaze — Tags: between illness and migration, new album, your favorite enemies — willmunn @ 14:57

Your Favorite Enemies maybe something of a new name on this side of the pond but over in their native Canada, the six-piece have managed to hit number 2 on iTunes on the day of release of their previous recording, whilst the band have also shifted 60,000 physical copies of their past releases to date, which is impressive when you think that the band take their musical cues from the likes of Fugazi, Sonic Youth and Mars Volta among others.

The band have already made their first steps in this country with a high profile tour in support of seminal post rock legends ……And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead  taking in Glasgow, Manchester and London during their four date stint.

Listening to this ten track affair you can imagine that Your Favorite Enemies may well found favour with the Trail Of Dead crowd, as they combine lo-fi post hardcore, evocative vocals and dense bouts of feedback to create a gloriously wide reaching racket that should appeal to post rockers and abrasive alternative rock fans alike.

The album opens with a short introduction entitled Satsuki Yami, where the band sharpen their instruments, building up to a howling feedback enriched crescendo before unleashing the first track proper, Empire Of Sorrows, a six minute plus epic that mixes spoken-word lyrics with jarring banks of dense instrumentation, punished drums and waves of guitar abuse to create an unsettling yet compelling introduction to the bands sound.

Following on, the band deliver the stunning A View From Within, with a somewhat serrated and swirling, shoegaze inspired guitar sound that could have been lifted straight from the grooves of Loveless (My Bloody Valentine), whilst Alex Foster’s vocals are more of a refrained hush, adding a welcome, melodic side to the cacophony of sound. Where Did We Lose Each Other is different again, featuring an instantly infectious guitar hook, vocal harmonies and a glorious chorus refrain, as the band impress with a fine slice of shimmering alternative rock.

Under A Stretching Skyline proves to be another highlight, the seven minute track opens with the band creating a storm of driven guitars and crashing drums before Alex delivers a vulnerable touching lead vocal whilst keyboard player Miss Isabel adds barely audible whispers peppering the track to create a softer layer, near hidden beneath the waves of glacial guitar work.

The album finishes with the stunning Muets Aux Temps Des Amours, a brooding melodic number with both male and female spoken word vocals, a delicate crooned lead from Alex and restrained shimmering guitar and keyboard work, completing an intriguing and diverse album on a dreamy high.

Between Illness And Migration may well take it’s cues from the likes of Sonic Youth, Fugazi, My Bloody Valentine and perhaps Shellac, but Your Favorite Enemies have very much mastered their own unique and compelling sound straddling the divide of abrasive post punk and glistening shoegaze, a contagious outing from start to finish.

Rhythm & Booze Rating 9

www.yourfavoriteenemies.com

17 July, 2012

Pet Slimmers Of The Year-EP/…..And The Fell Sky

Filed under: instrumental,metal,post rock,Recorded Reviews — Tags: ...And the sky fell, EP, pet slimmers of the year — willmunn @ 20:25

Pet Slimmers Of The Year are an oddly named three-piece hailing from the heart of Cambridgeshire, who compose epic instrumental suites of post rock and and bone crunching sheet metal to dazzling effect.

To date the band have released two EP’s, that they’ve released through bandcamp as free downloads and I have to say if you like you’re music full of drama, rise and fall, light and shade then both …..And The Sky Fell and EP are absolutely essential releases.

Starting with the band’s debut, the aptly named EP, the band unleash three tracks, that throb, pulsate and menace in equal measure. Take the opening track, Letter To His Father for instance, it opens with a dark brooding bassline sheets of chiming guitars join the mix, drums then enter the fray propelling the track forward, gigantic metallic riffs rise and fall, infectious melodies weave in and out of the mix, as the band take you on an expansive and thrilling journey through their many shades of industrial strength post rock, over the course of an epic nine and half minutes.

The opener leaves you drained yet eager to discover more of the Pet Slimmers sound and the subsequent tracks continue in the same rich and varied vein. World Without Stars begins with a contagious, repetitive, groove laden melody before literally exploding into a flurry of riffs, subtle twists and sharp turns whilst the marching drums remain throughout. The EP concludes with One Down, yet another slow, moody, nine minutes slice of epic post rock bliss complete with shimmering cymbals, spiralling guitars and a powerful, cruchy metal outburst that brings things to a tasty conclusion.

The band’s second EP…..And The Sky Fell, sees the band add further layers to their already dense and impressive sound, opener, Morvaka adds haunting dream like vocals to proceedings as the band create a dazzling and visionary soundscape that glides effortlessly from the melodic to the monstrous. Pet Slimmers Of The Year continue to create hypnotic grooves throughout …And The Sky Fell, tracks like Faith Of Our Hate (Heavans Gate Pt 1.) combine mesmeric glacial riffs and beautiful, intoxicating melodies that ebb, flow wonderously, yet the threatening metallic underccurent still remains and occasionally makes it’s pressence felt as the band crank up the pownstruer from time to time.

The band offer up both their shortest (the title track) and lengthiest composition (I Am The Ocean) on …And The Sky Fell, the former is a short and blunt slab of instrumental doom metal, whilst the latter is a sprawling and quite stunning finale featuring inventive rhythms, chugging riffs and occasional wordless vocals.

Pet Slimmers Of The Year are a evocative and dynamic act that really bring something new to the genre of post rock, there’s a lot more going on than just your standard quiet loud quiet mantra, the band’s pieces are majestic, powerful and always invigorating, if you like your music to challenge and thought provoking or dense soundtrack like instrumentals are your thing you’ll find a great deal to get excited about with Pet Slimmers Of The Year. Download both EP’s for nothing now and show your support to one of the best kept secrets in the instrumental rock scene now!!!!

Rhythm & Booze Rating 9 (for EP) 10 (for …And The Sky Fell)

 

http://petslimmersoftheyear.bandcamp.com

 

 

8 March, 2012

Maybeshewill-Red Paper Lanterns

Filed under: instrumental,math rock,post rock,Recorded Reviews — Tags: maybeshewill, red paper lanterns — willmunn @ 15:25

Here at Rhythm & Booze, we like nothing better than  to start the afternoon with a bit of instrumental post-rock (or math rock if you prefer) and in our opinion there are few better purveyours of such sonic bliss than East Midlands based five-piece Maybeshewill.

Red Paper Lanterns is the latest single to be lifted from the band’s latest and highly acclaimed I Was Here For A Moment Then I Was Gone opus, an album that has received plaudits from the likes of NME, Artrocker and Rocksound among others. The track opens with a slice of shimmering guitar before the band add layers of guitar, drums and even xylophone to create a stunning turn of power. Unlike a number of bands of this ilk, Maybeshewill always manage to weave intricate yet infectious melodies into their expressive instrumentals and Red Paper Lanterns is no exception. The four minute plus track is a stunning example of the band’s almost cinematic post-rock vision.

The single is backed by the equally impressive yet some what more restrained, Rain, a track that opens with delicate piano before the build and explore those sonic soundscapes once more.

If you like inventive, atmospheric and at times explosive instrumentals you’ll love the sound of Red Paper Lanterns and Maybeshewill.

Rhythm & Booze Rating 10

www.maybeshewill.net

21 February, 2012

We Used To Have Horses-The World Above Us

Filed under: instrumental,math rock,post rock,Recorded Reviews,soundtrack — Tags: we used to have horses — willmunn @ 20:18

Right now if I was asked to recommend one band or artist from my local area, I’d be hard pressed to look beyond the stunning soundscapes of one man project We Used To Have Horses. Niall Jones (also of Rhythm & Booze favourites Inca Hoots) creates stunning, inventive suites of music combining strings, innoative, chiming, blissful cresendoing guitars and subtle rhythms, weaving an intoxicating spell over the listener, who’s drawn into a near trance like state.

Niall seems to be constantly working on a new EP, releasing four to date (in just five months!!), with the latest, The World Above Us being perhaps the most ambitious to date. The latest release is a two part, thirty minute track, slow building epic that opens with soft, subtle instrumentation before gradually building with intricate guitars, lush strings and delicate melodies slowly making way around the eleven minute mark for a stunning bombardment of hard hitting beats and fuzzy stabbing riffs. The second part of The World Above Us is equally as thrilling as Niall lays down layers of intricate guitars and shuffling beats, before pausing to add some expessive yet sparse almost ghostly piano to the mix. As the soundtrack like suite continues guitars, strings and beats soar and dip forming glorius, mesmerising peaks, taking the listener on a stunning flights of discovery.

The We Used To Have Horses project has been described as ambiet math-rock or post rock and sure there are elements of both in the sound that Niall creates but there’s more than that, his visionary music has a more widescreen cinematic feel than that, I could imagine his incredible instrumentals gracing soundtracks, in fact there’s an almost Clint Mansell (soundtrack to Requim For A Dream, etc) feel to parts of Niall’s soundscapes. The music really takes hold and grabs at the attention until you find yourself fully submerged in the bewitching sounds of We Used To Have Horses.

Each of the We Used To Have Horses are available for free download via bandcamp and if you’re a fan of instrumental music, post rock or you want a powerful, emotional thought provoking soundtrack I urge you to download each of these incredible, rewarding releases.

Rhythm & Booze Rating 10

http://weusedtohavehorses.bandcamp.com/

 

 

 

6 September, 2011

The Dirt Tracks-Never Been To Mars

Filed under: electronic,indie,post rock,Recorded Reviews — willmunn @ 11:55

What can I tell you about The Dirt Tracks?, well in truth not too much the band are a Valencia (Spain) based five-piece who first formed way back in 200o under the name of Oddshow, the band went through a number of line-up changes before their pessistant hard work paid off in 2006 with the release of their debut album, Puppets that was received with critical acclaim in their native country. Since then the band have continued to devel0p their sound whilst working on their second album, Shapes.

Never Been To Mars is the brand new single by the Spanish quintet and also their first real bid to find favour here in the UK, the band mix up a number of different and varied influences to create impressive indie epics complete with subtle electronica and outbursts of dense post rock. The main title track is a stunning introduction to the band and their unique take on indie rock, chiming guitars, the aforementioned subtle electronics, soaring vocals and a hook-laden chorus help create an infectious sound that has me instantly thinking of a catchier more condensed Muse.

House Of Dolls is equally as impressive, the track is slower and perhaps a little more melancholic than Never Been To Mars, the track begins slowly before layers of guitar are added to create an epic almost cinematic indie anthem complete with the obligatory rise and fall, a post rock influenced wall of riffs and a delightful mournful croon that wouldn’t sound too out of place on the best of Radiohead.

The trio of tracks is completed with The Square a lengthy, infatuating number that comes complete with a number of dramatic time changes, clicking drumsticks, almost falsetto vocals and enough twists and turns to keep any indie rock fan glued to their seat with their headphones on hovering over the repeat button.

The Dirt Tracks have created a unique and intriguing vision on the evidence of the three tracks on offer here, ech of which have enough going on to really hook the listener in and leave them wanting more. If you’re after a Brit-pop throw back look elsewhere, if however you want your music to challenge and invigorate whilst leaving you aching for more I highly recommend you track down The Dirt Tracks.

Rhythm & Booze Rating 9

www.thedirttracks.com

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