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##Mr. Gnome / The Heart of a Dark Star
###Label: El Marko

DJ Stace/Mapninja
2-17-2016

Eclectic power pop duo from Cleveland, OH.

Barille's signature layered choir of vocals are central to the sound of this record in the way Elizabeth Fraser's were to all of the Cocteau Twins music. Soaring, jangly, ethereal at times. Rocking, Sneaker Pimps, Portishead, Swans, QOTSA, Cocteau Twins (Yeah, how's that!) A solid record. Lot's of great music, here. This deserves loads of play.

FCC on #11

Favorites:

  1. Melted Rainbow* - Great driving beat. Synth, industrial noise rhythms and great vocals. Nice simple melody is there, but behind everything else.
  2. Dark Star** - Brief, Barille a capella blends to the next track. Use this as an intro to track 3.
  3. Rise & Shine** - Knee slapping, electro-hillbilly fuzz rock choir. Liberal use of doop do doops (and it works). Note that the music cuts at 3:32 for a nice weird broken clock fade out.
  4. Mustangs****** - This is the hit on the album. Infectious 8-bit video game beats, bells, synths, builds to soaring a capella moments. Here, Barille's vocals share equal time with the rythm and it's really perfect. I dare you not to dance to this. I listen to this song and picture everyone on the packed train platform breaking into line dance. PLAY THIS SONG TOO MUCH!
  5. Folk Lonely** - Another a Capella intro to the next track. Of course, it's gorgeous, and you should use it to lead into the next track
  6. Star Stealers*** - Space anthem. Rocking. Great guitar. Do I need to say Barille's vocals are amazing again? Breaks tempo in the center with a bit of a Bowiesque interlude without being hokey. Soars and reminds me of My Bloody Valentine for a bit, then returns to the driving beat briefly.
  7. Storm** - Another great rocker. Flamenco sounding rhythms. Maybe turns a bit Celtic. If MTV had produced Game of Thrones, this would be the theme music.
  8. Light*** - Slow, Sultry, bassy, organy. Really reminds me of Elizabeth Frazer, here. Beautiful song.
  9. Hangunder** - Ethereal collage of sound (maybe Barille's vocals backwards?) bursts into cool shuffling beat. Playful, danceable, happy.
  10. Fools - another a Capella track, you guessed it, leading into the following track. Bluesy. Use it by itself, though, since you can't use the next track...
  11. !FCC! Odyssey !FCC! Several "fucks" given. Too bad. A nice little rocker, but probably not worth editing.
  12. Follow** - Reminds me of Swans (circa "White Light"), but sweeter and friendlier. Soaring, upbeat, rocking. As usual, Barille's vocals here are central. fades into the following track perfectly...
  13. No Place Like Home*** - Beautiful, leads out of the previous track with the repetitive Swans style chord, but basically a Capella. Meister does a perfect Micael Gira impersonation (or maybe it's Gira?) to make this track worth playing the previous one just to lead into this. Gorgeous.
  14. The Sea - A final a Capella flourish. Beautiful. Meister's deep baritone is great here. Obviously, hundreds of Barilles, too, to great effect. Fades to a "Sooo Looong," repeating. Great end to a great album.

Tindersticks / The Waiting Room Label: City Slang

DJ Stace/MapNinja 3-30-2016

11th album from Tindersticks. This is standard Tindersticks territory, here: Lush, orchestral, cinematic music that swirls around Stuart Staples' iconic baritone vocals. Highlight of this album is the duet with Lhasa de Selo. Per: Bill C. "The most perfectionist band in the world. Lovely stuff. For fans of Ennio Morricone, Nick Cave, Wim Wenders, Jim Jarmusch." Exactly.

No FCCs

Favorites: 2,5,7,10,11

  1. Follow Me 02:45 - Instrumental Intro track. Classic Cinematic Tindersticks. Esquivel-ish background keyboard work. Sounds like Melodica on the main melody. Would be right at home in a Sergio Leone film.
  2. Second Chance Man* 03:56 - Slow quiet start builds a bit with high-hat rhythm and brass section punctuation that threatens to "Kick Out the Jams" but never does.
  3. Were We Once Lovers?* 04:49 - Nice fast paced (for Tindersticks) with slap bass and heavy atmospheric organ. Builds to a cacophonic climax with added rock guitar and layered vocals.
  4. Help Yourself 05:38 - Upbeat (for Tindersticks) R&B Rhythm and Horns with typical Stuart Staples wandering baritone vocals. Vocal styling are a bit asynchronous with the backing (think 'opposite of autotune') and may be a bit off putting to some not familiar with Tindersticks' penchant for this.
  5. Hey Lucinda*** 05:15 - Nice music box sounding intro and beautiful duet conversational vocals with the late, great Lhasa de Sela. I love this track. Haunting vocals about time running out, which makes sense given Lhasa died shortly after this was recorded. Slow, lovely, with strings and woodwinds. Play this one.
  6. Fear of Emptiness 03:59 - Instrumental. Lovely percussion centric with ?harmonium?
  7. How He Entered*** 04:45 - Oh, I like this one from the first note. Tindersticks loves to do "narrative songs" and this is a great one from them. Spoken vocals with lovely strings and piano backing and a latin rythm. Play it.
  8. The Waiting Room 04:54 - Organ and vocals only. Sounds like funeral music with Stuart Staples singing a Capella.
  9. Planting Holes 02:02 - Instrumental. Sounds like a depressed Mr Roger's Neighborhood theme with organ and found sound. atmospheric. quaint. lovely.
  10. We Are Dreamers 05:20** - Deep, bass-y, droning, ominous with more of the lilting organ that characterizes most of the album. Another Stuart duet, this time with Jehnny Beth, from Savages. Builds to another layered crescendo.
  11. Like Only Lovers Can** 04:33 - Light, upbeat for Tindersticks. Probably the most accessible song on the album (though not my favorite, as a Tindersticks fan). A pretty song about people being awful to each other. ;-)

So Pitted / Neo Label: SubPop

Loud, fast Industrial/Doom Punk from Seattle. Reminds me of Helmet, Unsane, PiL, Helios Creed, etc... Actually, these guys are pretty much Ministry without electronics.

DJ Stace/MapNinja 3-30-2016

FCCs 4,

Suggests: 3,5,6,7,9

  1. cat scratch 2:39 - Fast, driving overwhelming noise punk.
  2. pay attention to me 4:09 - More fast, driving aggression.
  3. woe* 3:07 - Little more complexity, here. Interesting Gary Numan-esque vocals behind a wall of punk noise.
  4. FCC holding the void 1:59 - FCC Shit. Early Helmet with growling vocals.
  5. no nuke country* 1:46 - brief, fast, machine gun rhythm. Vocals reminiscent of PiL
  6. the sickness** 2:23 - If the Pixies had been a punk band. Seriously.
  7. feed me*** 3:44 - Medium tempo, driving, spare. I like the vocal/guitar on this. Favorite song on the record.
  8. i'm not over it 2:09 - Medium Tempo. More anger.
  9. rot in hell* 2:29 - Repetitive headbanger, with a capital ANGER.
  10. get out of my room 2:19 - "Somebody wants to kill you, TRUST NOBODY" A bit more rhythmic complexity than the rest of the album with what might be regarded as an actual guitar solo. Changes pace at 1:55 to driving cacophony.
  11. Possible FCC chop down that tree 1:58 - Fast, Driving (a pattern developing?). Might be a "shit" in there, but hard to tell. Better safe than sorry.