Art history class.
Vasily Kandinsky.
Modern art really just makes me want to rock out.
Art Brut knows how to rock out.
Plain and simple.
-Lucas Thurston
Monday, 23 March 2009
Friday, 20 March 2009
Song of the Day #4:
Nothing quite like painting and listening to some post-punk, eh? Siouxsie and the Banshees are pretty well known for their music, some label them as post-punk, some as goth, some as new wave. Whatever we're "supposed" to call them, it remains some damn good music.
-Lucas Thurston
-Lucas Thurston
Song of the Day #3: Peter Sarstedt - Where Do You Go To My Lovely
A friend of mine is working on a short film that is based on this song. Lately, him and I have been working on a ukulele and accordion cover of it for the soundtrack to his film. There's something bizarrely beautiful and melancholy in this song. Some serious longing. The reverb drenched accordion adds this surreal feeling to the song, almost comedic. I think Wes Anderson nailed its mood in Hotel Chevalier. So please enjoy this track that has been forgotten over the years.
-Lucas Thurston
-Lucas Thurston
Wednesday, 18 March 2009
Song of the Day #2: Phoenix - 1901
Phoenix has been one of my favourite bands since grade 8. Yes, I have been listening to them for that long. They've changed over the course of their past 3 albums, slowly taking a more indie rock based feel, distancing themselves from their electronica beginnings. Their newest album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is a blend of the two genres they've played in. Just listen and enjoy.
-Lucas Thurston
-Lucas Thurston
Monday, 16 March 2009
Song of the Day #1: School of Seven Bells - Half Asleep
Here's a little something I am going to try out for a bit. We'll see how long this lasts.
School of Seven Bells is a relatively new group hailing from Brooklyn. To be honest the first time I heard this band was one of the mixtapes created for one of the characters in Octopus Pie (check it out too). This song continues to blow me away with how accessible it is, but at the same time how complex it is also. "Half Asleep" is expansive at times, huge thundering drums and incredible synth and guitar lines, while it also has quieter moments letting the two part harmonies shine. All and all, I am completely enamoured with this song and I want everyone else to be too. So there.
-Lucas Thurston
School of Seven Bells is a relatively new group hailing from Brooklyn. To be honest the first time I heard this band was one of the mixtapes created for one of the characters in Octopus Pie (check it out too). This song continues to blow me away with how accessible it is, but at the same time how complex it is also. "Half Asleep" is expansive at times, huge thundering drums and incredible synth and guitar lines, while it also has quieter moments letting the two part harmonies shine. All and all, I am completely enamoured with this song and I want everyone else to be too. So there.
-Lucas Thurston
Sunday, 15 February 2009
Thursday, 12 February 2009
Music Review: Blood Bank EP - Bon Iver
It's almost been a year since the release of Bon Iver's debut release, For Emma, Forever Ago. About three months ago I finally picked it up and gave it a listen. I think it's a great album, maybe not as great as some reviewers said, but a very solid and touching album. You could say I wasn't particularly excited for this release but I was interested in hearing where Bon Iver had gone since last year.
The EP starts off with the title track, a subdued sombre piece, classic Bon Iver. The song slowly builds to something of a climax, though still a subdued one. It ends with quiet guitar feedback and some static buzz. This is definitely the highlight of these four songs. "Blood Bank" sounded like the
Bon Iver that we all know but progressing slightly.
The next song, "Beach Baby", really isn't that interesting. It's just an acoustic song, nothing more. The playing is adequate and it has the signature beautiful singing voice, but it just doesn't add anything.
"Babys" is a song I really like. It has piano riff that really reminds me off Sigur Ros mixed with Arcade Fire. It just has this really uplifting feeling, it just repeats and repeats, getting slightly more intense as it goes. It's the kind of music you want to run down the street to.
Right, I'm just going to come out and say that I hate vocoders/auto-tune, and Bon Iver doesn't make me hate them any less. It just sounds like he decided to mess around with auto-tune and record it. It adds nothing to the EP and ends up just being irritating.
In the end only half of this EP is really worth listening to. Two promising songs, 1 mediocre, and 1 actually awful song. But fear not, the "Blood Bank" and "Babys" are promising enough that one should definitely look forward to the next Bon Iver release. Let's just hope he doesn't try to be Kayne next time.
Rating: 2.5 out of 5.
Tracklisting:
1. Blood Bank
2. Beach Baby
3. Babys
4. Woods
-Lucas Thurston
The EP starts off with the title track, a subdued sombre piece, classic Bon Iver. The song slowly builds to something of a climax, though still a subdued one. It ends with quiet guitar feedback and some static buzz. This is definitely the highlight of these four songs. "Blood Bank" sounded like the
Bon Iver that we all know but progressing slightly.
The next song, "Beach Baby", really isn't that interesting. It's just an acoustic song, nothing more. The playing is adequate and it has the signature beautiful singing voice, but it just doesn't add anything.
"Babys" is a song I really like. It has piano riff that really reminds me off Sigur Ros mixed with Arcade Fire. It just has this really uplifting feeling, it just repeats and repeats, getting slightly more intense as it goes. It's the kind of music you want to run down the street to.
Right, I'm just going to come out and say that I hate vocoders/auto-tune, and Bon Iver doesn't make me hate them any less. It just sounds like he decided to mess around with auto-tune and record it. It adds nothing to the EP and ends up just being irritating.
In the end only half of this EP is really worth listening to. Two promising songs, 1 mediocre, and 1 actually awful song. But fear not, the "Blood Bank" and "Babys" are promising enough that one should definitely look forward to the next Bon Iver release. Let's just hope he doesn't try to be Kayne next time.
Rating: 2.5 out of 5.
Tracklisting:
1. Blood Bank
2. Beach Baby
3. Babys
4. Woods
-Lucas Thurston
Tuesday, 10 February 2009
Music Review: Tonight: Franz Ferdinand
So, I sat down and put my headphones on. I started listening to this album, with only Lucas' thoughts on what it could was like: "It's bad. Save yourself the trouble of even listening to it!" Well, Lucas, I've got news for you! I'm listening to Tonight: Franz Ferdinand!
But it seems to me Lucas speaks in half-truths. Or perhaps, I should model my distaste for this album with a GRAPH?
See that bump in the middle there? Thats the song "Bite Hard", the only worthwhile track on the album. Other than that, every single song is a funky bass riff, some chords, and an unmemorable phrase repeated over and over again as the chorus. Example!
"Ulysses": Lets get high
"Turn It On": I know you turn it on, yeah
And many others, which I don't care to go through as of now, because that would be giving my ears a lesson in repetition. Now, the songs themselves are pretty alright, if not formulaic, but I'm willing to take a bet that most (and I know there's always an exception) people won't want to listen to the same thing for 42 minutes and 38 seconds. However, if Franz Ferdinand released an album that was just their bass riffs, my money would be in their pocket faster than you could say "funk".
Avid listeners of Franzie may notice that the demo "Can't Stop Feeling" made the cut onto the album. Avid listeners, heed my call! Stick with the demo, even if the copy you have has a crappy bitrate. Tonight: Franz Ferdinand's mix of this song completely took what was good about it (the classic, dancey Franz Ferdinand) and replaced it with what is new (the modern, we're-trying-to-be-different-but-we're-doing-it-wrong Franz Ferdinand). This album's cut of "Lucid Dreams" also replaced the climactic buildup with something much more disappointing. It just kind of, switched and petered out. Words cannot describe the look on my face when I was thinking "Oh man! 'Lucid Dreams' cannot be ruined! It was SOLID" and was proved wrong by Franz Ferdinand once again.
OBLIGATORY RATING OUT OF 5: approaches 2 but will never reach it out of 5
I haven't gotten the hang of ending blog posts yet, so heres a happy image I drew to counteract the latest Franz Ferdinand outing:
But it seems to me Lucas speaks in half-truths. Or perhaps, I should model my distaste for this album with a GRAPH?
See that bump in the middle there? Thats the song "Bite Hard", the only worthwhile track on the album. Other than that, every single song is a funky bass riff, some chords, and an unmemorable phrase repeated over and over again as the chorus. Example!"Ulysses": Lets get high
"Turn It On": I know you turn it on, yeah
And many others, which I don't care to go through as of now, because that would be giving my ears a lesson in repetition. Now, the songs themselves are pretty alright, if not formulaic, but I'm willing to take a bet that most (and I know there's always an exception) people won't want to listen to the same thing for 42 minutes and 38 seconds. However, if Franz Ferdinand released an album that was just their bass riffs, my money would be in their pocket faster than you could say "funk".
Avid listeners of Franzie may notice that the demo "Can't Stop Feeling" made the cut onto the album. Avid listeners, heed my call! Stick with the demo, even if the copy you have has a crappy bitrate. Tonight: Franz Ferdinand's mix of this song completely took what was good about it (the classic, dancey Franz Ferdinand) and replaced it with what is new (the modern, we're-trying-to-be-different-but-we're-doing-it-wrong Franz Ferdinand). This album's cut of "Lucid Dreams" also replaced the climactic buildup with something much more disappointing. It just kind of, switched and petered out. Words cannot describe the look on my face when I was thinking "Oh man! 'Lucid Dreams' cannot be ruined! It was SOLID" and was proved wrong by Franz Ferdinand once again.
OBLIGATORY RATING OUT OF 5: approaches 2 but will never reach it out of 5
I haven't gotten the hang of ending blog posts yet, so heres a happy image I drew to counteract the latest Franz Ferdinand outing:
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