I’m in the depths of the final preparations for my album release (October 31st!), but I thought I would throw up a short clip from one of the new songs on the album.  This is music inspired by a beautiful poem written by a friend of mine (which will be included in the cd insert actually).  This piece has actually changed a lot over the course of its short life.  It began as a pure piano piece and has since morphed into the much dreamier, more ambient piece I’ve posted here.  Hope you like it!

As always, you can hear more of my music (including other samples from the album) on my music page.

- Mons

Wow, It’s been over a month since I’ve updated the site!  If you’re reading this, then thank you for checking back every once in a while, despite my unforgivable inattention.  Well, hopefully a little forgivable actually, since the reason I have neglected to update the site is that I’ve been extremely busy working on my debut album!  The production/mastering process continues, but if all goes well it will all be finished for the end of the month, and I hope to have the music available for digital distribution several weeks after that (assuming it takes several weeks to get it added to iTunes/Amazon etc.)

Anyways, to give you an idea of what I’ve been working on, I’ve included the (beta) album version of Dandelion at the top of the post.  It represents what I’m doing with the album, which will be a mix of re-recorded/re-mastered existing material that you may have listened to before, and some new material that you have not.  The original version of Dandelion was only about 2 minutes long, and an incomplete vision of the song.  A sketch if you will, as are many of the bits and pieces I post online.  The album versions are the complete vision, and so Dandelion is re-imagined in its full 6-minute length with a lot of new material and revision of the old material.

Other songs which will appear on the album are redone versions of Angelus, Dancing in the Light, Silhouettes, Winter Melancholy, Simple Needs and a few others, with a bunch of new material to boot (which I may preview when the madness is done in early November).  Anyways, hope you like the new material that I have included here, and I’ll keep you posted on the album’s progress!  Twitter (@monstunes) is probably the best way of keeping track of updates and so forth regarding the album.

As always, you can hear more of my musical work on the My Music page.

Wish me luck!

- Mons

Porcupine Tree – Lazarus (buy this song)

And through the whirling sentry drones of academic responsibility, guns blazing and engines a-fire, erupts the newest MSMOTD: the mighty Porcupine Tree!  Leaving assignments, readings and constructive musings as so much burning wreckage in its wake, it streaks into the sky and bursts into a light so dark that shadows glow and everything else is festooned with silly scarves, surpassed in silliness only by these first few sentences.  When everything you read is about cost-benefit analysis, decision curves, marginal costs, associated graphs and copious literature on why none of that matters because just look at the world today we are in big trouble ha ha Marx knew it all along, other creative ventures tend to be imbued with an additional dose of absurdity to compensate (though some might convincingly claim that said readings are similarly fraught with absurdity).

Porcupine Tree is an uncommon band in that they defy easy categorization, and yet are immediately accessible (unlike many other complex cross-genre outfits).  They occupy a unique middle-space that floats equidistant from Pink Floyd, Coldplay, Radiohead and Opeth (yes, that Opeth), taking the good from each and melding those influences into a compelling new sound.  Actually, I should be careful with the word “influences”, as Porcupine Tree has been around longer than at least 2 of those.  It began as a solo project for British songwriter Steve Wilson, and continues to mainly be The Steve Wilson Band, but now has actual consistent band members rather than merely sessional musicians who just help out on tour.  Their music is typically described as “Progressive Rock”, which immediately scares lots of listeners away with visions of capes, silly hats (or scarves) and aimless 28-minute songs.   Porcupine Tree has none of these (well, the occasional 28 minute song aside) and instead produces tight, pleasing, focused music which also just happens to shift from spacey ambience to dreamy piano-pop, folk rock, alternative and occasionally on to thrashy metal ala Tool, Opeth or Dream Theater.  Steve Wilson himself really dislikes the term “Progressive”, and though the band has often been called “the new Pink Floyd”, he would prefer they be called “the old Porcupine Tree”, haha.  Above the always tasteful and meticulously produced musical arrangements floats Steve Wilson’s voice -> soft, dreamy, vulnerable and yet passionate, evocative and powerful at the same time.  They’ve released nine studio albums, with a tenth due next week.  Their latest, 2007′s “Fear of a Blank Planet” was nominated for the grammy for Best Surround Sound Album, which I didn’t even know was a grammy category!  Really, BT’s “This Binary Universe” should just win that award every year until further notice.

I actually discovered Porcupine Tree through Wilson’s collaborations with Opeth.  He helped produce their seminal album “Blackwater Park”, along with “Damnation” and “Deliverance”.  He also provided backing vocals, guitars and keyboards to those albums.  Mikael Akerfeldt, Opeth’s lead, has also contributed to various Porcupine Tree recordings.  As a result of this cross pollination, so to speak, Opeth’s music has gotten smoother and richer, while Porcupine Tree’s has gotten heavier.  Anyways, I’ve tried to represent the breadth of Porcupine Tree’s music here, so if you don’t dig the MSMOTD, try one of the other tunes!  In fact, here’s a guide:  If you’re a huge Coldplay fan, go directly to Collapse Light Into Earth at the bottom.  If you’re into Radiohead or the Beach Boys (haha), then check out Heartattack In A Layby, also at the bottom of the post.  Pink Floyd fans should watch the live video performance of Arriving Somewhere But Not Here, as should fans of Tool/Opeth as it showcases their metal chops alongside the dreamy Floydian sonicscapes and melodies.

Here are the PT guys in... a camouflaged bunker? A tree-walled cafe? Steve Wilson is the long haired gent, second from the right.

Porcupine Tree purists will probably kill me for choosing Lazarus, from 2005′s “Deadwing”, as the MSMOTD, but I don’t care!  It may not be the most representative, but it is a gorgeous song – one of my favourites – and did fairly well as a radio single!  I think I even heard it once or twice on a local station, which was quite shocking.  I think many die-hard fans don’t like this song, as it’s a bit more bland than their regular outings, but I absolutely love the vocal melody, the cascading piano lines and especially especially the slide/steel guitar.  I have a completely irrational love for that sort of guitar performance, and since I don’t listen to country, I don’t get my fix nearly often enough.  I drive around and sing along with this song at the top of my lungs (though in a restrained, delicate manner, just like Steve of course).  My favourite part is probably as the melody swells up mid-song at 2:35 just before the crest, when the vocals take a break and are replaced by a sparkling dulcimer (?) melody that fills in the melodic/rhythmic gaps between the other instruments just perfectly.  Steve Wilson’s vocal harmonies on this track really take it to another level of greatness as well.  Definitely an amazing song!

(Porcupine Tree performing Arriving Somewhere But Not Here, from 2005′s “Deadwing”)

Arriving Somewhere But Not Here is a fantastic example of Porcupine Tree’s breadth of style.  The video also showcases their phenomenal live performances.  This is beautiful music, played by a band with unusual talent and musicality.  It’s trippy, cerebral and intense, but lovely and entrancing nonetheless.  This recalls their earlier, more experimental work, but with Wilson’s more recent growth as a songwriter keeping past excesses in check.  Sort of the counterpoint on “Deadwing” to the brief and meticulously crafted Lazarus.

Collapse The Light Into Earth from “In Absentia” (2002) is a heartbreakingly beautiful piano ballad reminiscent of bands like Coldplay, Automatic-era REM and Keane.  It’s simple, but lushly arranged, with an organ and strings swelling up as the song builds.  Wilson’s vocals are showcased here at their most delicate and vulnerable.  Few vocalists have the ability to convey emotion as well as he, and if you have a tendency to tear up when listening to music, you might want to keep tissues handy for this one!  Writing music that’s beautiful while remaining simple and elegant is probably harder than writing complicated music with a million parts and layers, but Wilson and crew do both with aplomb.  Interesting how powerful and emotional just a few chords and a simple melody can be.  I’ll have to remember to KISS next time I’m recording.  The climax of this song is a great example of musical catharsis.  I was very close to choosing this as MSMOTD.

The final song below is Heartattack In A Layby, from “In Absentia”.  It’s a more brooding, yearning tune with very sparse instrumentation and heavy vocal layering.  The complex vocal harmonies during the last half are heart-wrenchingly beautiful.  A lot of reviews compare this song to either Radiohead (due to the feel/instrumentation) or the Beach Boys (for the vocal harmonies).  An interesting pairing to be sure.  I love how the song sort of drifts along, like a boat bobbing aimlessly along on an ocean of dreams – the man in the moon hanging silver above, singing lamentations and plucking a diamond harp.  Midway through the dream, the stars begin to float down, their fading cries harmonizing softly with the moon as they crash into the waves all around.  The moon fades at last and all is darkness.  Listen for the waves at the end of the song.

These guys have such a huge catalogue of diverse material that I really haven’t even begun to adequately represent their (his) contribution to music.  The songs I’ve posted are ballad-heavy and only from two of 9 (soon 10) albums and countless EPs etc.  Earlier work like “Stupid Dream”, “Signify” and “Lightbulb Sun” is just as amazing, as is their most recent, and hopefully the new one – “The Incident” – as well!  I’d love to know what you guys think of Porcupine Tree.  Let me know through the comments!

- Mons

More music from Porcupine Tree

Porcupine Tree – Collapse The Light Into Earth (buy this song)

Porcupine Tree – Heartattack In A Layby (buy this song)

Also recommended: Blackest Eyes, Baby Dream In Cellophane, Even Less, Trains, Sentimental, Deadwing, Shesmovedon, The Sky Moves Sideways

Further info about today’s MSMOTD

Official Website: http://www.porcupinetree.com/

Myspace Profile: http://www.myspace.com/porcupinetree

Wikipedia Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porcupine_Tree

Featured Review: DPRP’s review of “Fear Of A Blank Planet” (They have a huge library of reviews, including every PT album/single, most of which are DPRP-Recommended, so go check them out as well.)

Support Porcupine Tree (and me!) by buying their albums through Amazon.com.  I highly recommend In Absentia, Deadwing, Fear of a Blank Planet, and Stupid Dream. The individual mp3s can also be purchased (see links in the article above).

Modeselektor – The Dark Side Of The Sun (buy this song)

I think you can really tell a lot about a musician’s personality through their music.  Whether they were smiling as they recorded (Aqua definitely smiles), scowling with righteous outrage (Rage Against The Machine) or perhaps afflicted with nearly overwhelming ennui (Those unfortunate saps who are employed in mixing mallcore albums).  I picture the Modeselektor guys as having an intensely devilish grin fixed on their faces from the moment they enter the studio until the minute the album is finally mastered.  They, Gernot Bronsert and Sebastian Szary of Germany, have an incredible amount of geeky, techy fun creating this music, and it shines through in the crazy glitchy editing, balls-out beats and quirky melodies.

Modeselektor is pretty hard to pin down, genre-wise.  They’ve been called everything from glitch-hop (you take that back!!) and IDM, to “bassbin-blowing techno hop dubstep core”, whatever that means.  The name doesn’t really matter though, as you bop along to their twitchy, stuttering, intricately detailed and dancy music.  They’ve released two albums so far, “Hello Mom!” in 2005, and “Happy Birthday!” in 2007, with a collaboration with Apparat released this spring as “Moderat”.

It's often hard to find good or interesting photos of artists. I gave up on Amorphis. But these guys have so many, hahaha.

Ok, here’s where I gush about how much I love The Dark Side Of The Sun.  Besides the very silly name (because obviously all sides of the sun, in general, emit equal levels of solar radiation), this song is silly in a number of other ways.  First of all, it’s a collaboration with the Puppetmastaz, a puppet-based german rap group who are very very silly.  Secondly, it’s silly because how is this song not a huge club hit??? This song is a brilliant and incredibly catchy mix of sexy synth beats and intricately edited vocals.  It is that glitchy vocal editing which impresses me the most actually.  Somehow, they manage to take what would otherwise be a good rap and dial it up to 11 through clever digital repetition, rhythmically strategic stutters and all sorts of sonic tricks.  It renders the lyrics largely unintelligible, but in exchange morphs the lyrics into the driving rhythmic force, intertwining and often overshadowing the bass line in a sort of twisty-turny power struggle.  The vocal editing dominates the rhythm during the verses, while the more traditional bassline takes over for the chorus.  The result is a hugely danceable monster of a tune.  If you played this in a dance club, the place would explode, though I’m not sure this has ever hit a dancefloor outside of Europe.  Here’s hoping stuff like this takes off, as one can only take so much Katy Perry and Soulja Boy before never wanting to dance again.

(Not my favourite of their songs, but I love the video!  This is Black Block from “Happy Birthday!”) (buy this song)

Let Your Love Grow (from “Happy Birthday!”) is a light, pulsing dub-reggae tune featuring vocalist Paul St. Hillaire (who’s also worked closely with Kruder & Dorfmeister).  Past the slightly silly intro, it grows into a really sweet groove that’s a nice chilled-out change from the stuttering intensity of the MSMOTD.  I love the squishy synths and the cool dub back beat.  I have no idea what on earth he’s talking about, but the sing-song reggae vocals are smooth and dreamy.  A great driving tune.

The second song below is named Kill Bill Vol. 4 for reasons unbeknownst to myself.  As with most Modeselektor songs, it’s rather odd.  The first minute of the song is just what sounds like they recorded 45 seconds of a factory worker with a serious speech impediment giving a rambling movie review.  Stick with it though, as at the 1:05 mark, the song kicks into gear with a gut-punching electro beat straight out of Mr. Oizo’s craziest wet dreams.  This one has no vocals and little in the way of Modeselektor’s signature glitchiness.  What it does have is a killer beat that will either move your feet or pound you into the ground.  Somehow, this music sounds so very very German.  Perhaps it is the perfectly rhythmic, almost robotic nature of the song, or the insistant, unrepentant, unrelenting repetition of the detuned synth melody.  Whereas the other songs I posted are fun and light in nature, this one is almost industrial in nature.  I can imagine people dancing to this in german clubs with VERY SERIOUS DANCING FACES.  No smiling allowed.  Still, I can smile while I listen to it, imagining serious german kids dancing seriously to this serious dance music.

As you can see, Modeselektor shows are SERIOUS BUSINESS. Smile during Kill Bill Vol. 4 and you get sprayed! Notice how none of those sprayed are smiling anymore.

As with much of the music I post here, I wouldn’t even know about these guys if it weren’t for wonderful friends who constantly recommend cool music to me (Thanks Nikki!).  The rest of the songs on their two albums are all really great, and both albums are worth checking out.  Let me know what you think of these guys in the comments!

- Mons

More music from Modeselektor

Modeselektor – Let Your Love Grow (buy this song)

Modeselektor – Kill Bill Vol. 4 (buy this song)

Further info about today’s MSMOTD

Official Website: http://www.modeselektor.de/

Myspace Profile: http://www.myspace.com/mdslktr

Wikipedia Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modeselektor

Featured Review: The Pitchfork review of “Happy Birthday!”

Support Modeselektor (and me!) by buying “Happy Birthday!” or “Hello Mom!” from Amazon.com (you can get the physical or mp3 albums there).

Swollen Members – Blackout (buy this song)

I don’t think I’ve really posted any Rap/Hippity-Hop yet, so here we go!  I’ve been a fan of Swollen Members for a while now (hyuk hyuk, we’ll get the penis jokes out of the way right off the bat).  They’re an “underground” west coast rap duo from Vancouver, Canada.  Rappers Prevail and Mad Child, along with regular collaborators Moka Only (he sings) and Rob The Viking (he produces – writes the beats).  They’re pretty huge for a Canadian rap outfit, and are definitely Canada’s biggest hip-hop export.  Each one of their 4 albums has won best rap album of the year at the Canadian Juno awards, and they’ve collaborated with musical luminaries such as Chali 2Na (of Jurassic 5), Del tha Funkee Homosapien, Nelly Furtado, Everlast, Talib Kweli and Ghostfaced Killah.  Mad Child (the white dude) was even inducted into the Rock Steady Crew, which is apparently a big honour (?).

What really makes them unique (the Rough Guide to Hip-Hop calls them 2 of the most innovative people in hip-hop), are their dark/brooding orchestral musical arrangements and their penchant for inserting mythological and what reviewers mistakenly believe to be AD&D references into their songs.  Now, they do occasionally say the words “dragon”, “insane sorcerer” and “battle axe”, but that’s because “Battle Axe” is their label!  They even mention rapping about D&D in a few songs, but until they sing about adamantine bastard swords of +3 vs. undead, I don’t buy it.  They do however enjoy all things mythological and even fantasy-oriented, as I mentioned, working those references into more standard lyrics about how tough they are and how you’d better not cross them and so forth.  They act hard, but they’re probably pretty harmless in real life (I mean, they’re from Vancouver of all places).  Pleasantly absent are lyrics about money and women and cars and mansions and so forth.  It’s a nice change.

Update: Maybe not as harmless as I had thought!  Apparently they have connections with the Hells Angels, who have been featured in several videos (perhaps the ones below?).

Mad Child, Prevail and who I can only imagine is Rob The Viking looking as 'hood as they possibly can.

Blackout is the first track from their latest album, 2006′s “Black Magic”.  It’s really short, at only ~1:45 minutes long, but I think it’s a good intro to the group and the groove is catchy and representative.  A deep beat with ominous stabs of choir and strings.  The first half is Prevail rapping, with Mad Child taking the lyrical torch for the second verse.  I really like their voices, and think the combination of Prev’s smoother baritone with Mad Child’s more nasally slurred delivery is effective and compelling.  Lyrically, it’s not the most interesting track, but that’s why I’ve posted some other tracks below.  Check them out!

(Lady Venom is actually my favourite Swollen Members track. It’s from their debut album, 1999′s “Balance” and has great lyrics and a super catchy beat!) (buy this song)

I want to highlight a few other songs as well, as they move from straight up rap to smoother hip-hop songs with sung vocals by Nelly Furtado (see the video below) and long time collaborator Moka Only.  The first track below – Dark Riders – is a great lyrical showcase, much like Lady Venom in the video above.  It’s from “Bad Dreams”, their second album and is one of my favourites.  I love the creepy little tune that plays behind the vocals, setting the mood for lyrics such as:

Sea-Salt, Eye of Newt, Horn of Bison
I’ve sworn allegiance to the league of striking lightning
We fall when we choose and confuse you with patterns
The legend of the two who induced you like Dragons
We strike like swooping Gargoyles of Saint Catherine

Or from Lady Venom:

On the plane in which you reign, it’s classified as “Do or die”
But in the realm in which we dwell, its “Puncture necks and multiply”
Imagine the madness, the return of the Jew from Nazareth
The hunter and the hunted, the colonizing and savages
The only challenge is, did they bring enough to dirt to bury us?
Be aware, I hunt with the gods as a cerberus

The second track I’ve posted below, Take It Back, also from “Bad Dreams” is one of the tracks where they actually start out by saying “we don’t always have to talk about Dungeons & Dragons”.  It’s also a bit of a funkier track, featuring famed producer DJ Revolution.  The disco/funk beat and hits sounds really great, and give the song a lot of life, lifting it out of the darkness which surrounds some of their other tracks.  Also below is the video for Breath, which was a big radio hit in Canada a few years back.  It features Nelly Furtado and Moka Only on vocals along with the dynamic duo, and the video is actually directed by Todd McFarlane, of Spawn fame.

(Swollen Member’s Breath, from 2002′s “Monsters in the Closet”, featuring Nelly Furtado and directed by Todd McFarlane) (buy this song)

I’ve called these guys the Bal-Sagoth of hip-hop, except that they’re really really popular (Bal-Sagoth not so much).  They write interesting, intelligent lyrics and have some great beats/songs.  As a Canadian, I enjoy featuring Canadian music on my site (though in the end it’s all about the music itself, not the nationality).  Let me know what you think of Swollen Members in the comments!

More music from Swollen Members

Swollen Members – Dark Riders (Ft. Buc Fifty) (buy this song)

Swollen Members – Take It Back (Ft. DJ Revolution) (buy this song)

Further info about today’s MSMOTD

Official Website: http://www.swollenmembers.com/

Wikipedia Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swollen_Members

Myspace Profile: http://www.myspace.com/swollenmembers

Featured Review: Review of “Black Magic” on Herohill.com

Support Swollen Members (and me!) by buying their albums “Black Magic”, “Bad Dreams” and “Balance” (their 3 best albums, imo) from Amazon.com!  You can also get the individual tracks as DRM-free MP3s via the links above.

Gypsy and The Cat – Jona Vark (download this song)

I have a real soft spot for 80′s pop.  Hall & Oates, Toto, The Outfield etc etc are all wonderful, with simple, catchy melodies, bright instrumentation and pleasing vocal harmonies.  They make great summer driving music, and so I was really excited to discover Gypsy and The Cat, a duo in the same musical vein from Melbourne, Australia.  These guys (Xavier Bacash & Lionel Towers) haven’t been signed to a label yet, and haven’t even released their debut, but seem to be making a splash already.  Their sound is a bit retro, recalling the aforementioned 80s pop bands, as well as more recent groups like Oasis, Empire of the Sun and The Servant, with a touch of Simon and Garfunkel.   I dub it electro-dream-pop!  This is the sort of stuff you want playing as you drive to the beach, windows down, smiling friends filling the seats around you, fluffy clouds speckling the deep blue sky above.

I wonder which one is gypsy and which is the cat? Maybe the one on the left is "gypsy"? Neither look particularly feline or roma (romish?). Too bad about those pants.

They’ve released 3 songs so far from their upcoming debut, and I couldn’t for the love of me decide which to post.  They’re all great for different reasons, and asking 3 different people resulted in 3 different opinions.  So, we’ll do Jona Vark as the MSMOTD, though really you can pick one at random as your first listen.  Like me, your favourite of the three will likely change with your mood.

Jona Vark is a lovely little tune with the sweetest chorus I’ve heard in a while.  “Jooooona, Jona Vark! (doo doo dee, doo doo dee)  Her name is Jooooona-ha,  Jona Vark!”  It will be sweet vindication if it’s stuck in your head for half as long as it was in mine!  I love the dreamy, shimmering production.  It makes the song seem like it’s filtering in from some far away place, blown in by a light, fresh breeze off the sea.  Maybe by following the music, we can find the source -> a carefree place permeated by light, music and wistful romance.

Well in this picture they're reversed so I really have no idea which one is gypsy or the cat. Cats are stereotypically poised and stylish, so the dude with the unfortunate pants must be "gypsy".

‘Til Tomorrow is a super catchy song with vocals that distinctly remind me of Oasis’ slightly whiny/nasal style.  The lyrics have a cute, innocent quality and the vocal delivery really fits.  The chorus is nice, but I think I like the verse melody even more.  My favourite part of the song is the bridge at 2:25.  Starts out with light acoustic strumming, later joined by diving synth line which really enhances the whimsical feeling that underlies their sound.

The third song I’ve posted is The Piper’s Song, a more complex song which really reminds me of Toto for some reason.  It really evokes some strong imagery for me… with the strong bass giving a feeling of movement through the big open spaces framed by the soaring vocals and sparkling guitars/synths.  The vocal breakdown at 2:10 is gorgeous and I keep playing it on repeat with a big grin on my face.

Messrs. Gypsy and Cat seem to be encouraging people to download these tracks, so I’ve made them available (they’re also available on various other blogs, from which I myself obtained the tracks).  They’re only 128kbit, so make sure you buy the high quality versions when the album is released.  It’s not out yet, but when it is I’ll certainly be making a post about it with information on how to purchase it!

I discovered these guys through a friend just recently.  I love it when people recommend music to me (and I particularly love it when I find I enjoy the music as much as this!).  Don’t hesitate to leave recommendations for other bands/songs in the comments.  Both I and the other readers would no doubt very much appreciate it.

Leave a comment!

- Mons

More music from Gypsy and The Cat

Gypsy and The Cat – ‘Til Tomorrow (download this song)

Gypsy and The Cat – The Piper’s Song (download this song)

Further info about today’s MSMOTD

Official Website: http://www.myspace.com/gypsyandthecat

Wikipedia Link: Surprisingly, there doesn’t seem to be one!

Support Gypsy and The Cat by spreading the word about their music, and keeping an eye out for the release of their debut album!  I’ll post about it on the blog when I discover it’s available.  None of their music seems to be available for sale just yet, unfortunately.

Plod – What Happens To The Hole When The Cheese Is Gone?

Happy Canada Day!  I’ve been so busy with various things over the last few weeks that I’ve been seriously neglecting updates.  This one has been at least a week in the offing, but it’s finally here!  We’re going ultra obscure here, with one of my favourite IDM/Freestyle electronica outfits – Plod!  Plod is two dudes hailing from the wintery wastes of northern Sweden.  They’ve only released one full album, “Pillow Talk” way back in 2000.  It’s too bad, because it’s a wonderful album that’s now incredibly hard to find.  Their music is very laid back, calm, melodic electronica, similar in style/feel to groups such as Boards of Canada, Autechre and Orbital.

The album art for their only full release - Pillow Talk

I just love the names of the songs on the album.  Besides killer tracks such as “Which Is Stronger – Karate Or The Tiger” and “Ass” is the aptly named MSMOTD, What Happens To The Hole When The Cheese Is Gone? Well, I’m not sure that the song itself provides any insight, but it is perhaps the soundtrack to the contemplation of that question.  It’s the perfect track for contemplating a blue sky on a lazy sunday afternoon, or for reading in a cozy chair on a cold winter day.  I love the cheery little melody that floats above the more sweeping movement of the bass lines at the foundation.  I actually picture a little mouse poking its head out of the holes in a big block of swiss cheese, like a whack-a-mole, each time the arpeggio plays, and then disappearing, only to appear at another hole a few seconds later.  It’s such a simple, but pleasing track.

(My awesome brother Erik doing footbag tricks to Plod’s “Eucalyptus” track)

The other two I’ve posted below are also really great.  Hinken is quite short at 2:45, but it packs in a great, mellow, pastoral sort of melody over an interesting stuttery drum beat.  It’s the sort of song that might play over a short montage of someone cleaning their Ikea-furnished house.  I’ll be honest here and tell you that I selected That Stench Again – It Must Be Wednesday primarily because of the name, hahaha.  It’s also a wonderful song, but the name just kills me every time.  This one has a more Infected Mushroom-style squirty lead and has a hint of urgent energy but nonetheless goes down really smooth.  This is the song for a drive through an afternoon rain, or for working on your project the night before it’s due.

Let me know what you think of Plod by leaving a comment!

More music from Plod

Plod – Hinken

Plod – That Stench Again – It Must Be Wednesday

Further info about today’s MSMOTD

Official Website: Their official website: http://www.french.se/plod/ is broken, so visit their Myspace instead.

Wikipedia Link: These guys are so obscure that there is no Wikipedia article for them!

Featured Review: CD Baby’s review collection for “Pillow Talk”

Amazingly, you can buy Pillow Talk from Amazon’s mp3 service!  You can also grab just What Happens to the Hole When the Cheese Is Gone? if you so desire.

Dredg – Same Ol’ Road

Man I have spent hours and hours agonizing over this one, trying to decide which song to feature.  Dredg has such a varied and unique style that while any song is immediately identifiable as Dredg, none really encapsulates their sound entirely.  Dredg is an American prog/alternative rock band which straddles the line between art rock and pop, using in turn chunky guitars, airy strings and mysterious ethnic instrumentation.  Some songs will have crazy open 9th chords over funky backbeats which fade in and out of bulgarian chants and prayer chimes, while others have tight verse-chorus-verse structure with really catchy hooks.  They’ve released 4 full albums so far, with “The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion” just out last week.  I adore these guys, so I hope you dig the music.

Apparently both the lead singer and bassist are artists and regularly incorporate their art into their albums. I wouldnt be surprised if this was done by one of them.

I mentioned bulgarian chants before, and you can hear their influence on Gavin Hayes’ vocals in Same Ol’ Road.  Bulgarian chants are very monotonic and cyclical in nature and Dredg features elements of that style in various songs throughout their discography.  Check out some awesome examples of old-school bulgarian chants Here and Here.  That vocal style may be why Same Ol’ Road is my second favourite Dredg tune.  Hayes’ vocals are just so unique and memorable, with the wavering held notes and tones stretching out to paint an image in music that matches the lyrical subject matter (melancholy, dreamy and very emotional).  Dredg’s lyrical output is often rather obtuse and symbolic, but something about this song really strikes a chord with me:

I can picture it in my mind clearly as I listen to the song.

(The official video for Information, off Dredg’s new album)

Information is the new single from their latest album “The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion” and proves that they have the chops to write super catchy pop songs in the style of U2 or Coldplay.  I debated putting this as the MSMOTD, but I just like Same Ol’ Road more.  Still, great song.  The chorus has been stuck in my head for a while.  Also, did I mention I love slide guitar?  I LOVE SLIDE GUITAR.  There.  The fact that he plays it with a wrench is just icing on the cake of awesome slide guitarness.

The cover of their latest album "The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion".

The other songs below were also contendors and actually include my favourite Dredg tune of all: An Elephant In The Delta Waves, which is part of the Brushstrokes series (a set of mainly instrumental interludes) from their 2002 album “El Cielo”  It features a creepy dulcimer/piano/breathing intro, which then morphs into a driving groove with ethnic hand drums and wailing female vocals in some undetermined language.  Super atmospheric and I love it to death.  I actually use the first ~30 seconds as my default ringtone and I get asked about it/compliments all the time.  When was the last time anyone complimented anyone on a ringtone?  Yesterday!  Anyways, the other embedded song is It Only Took A Day, which actually follows directly after Elephant… on “El Cielo”.  It demonstrates Dredg’s harder, edgier side, with some raucous guitar riffs and a more strident vocal performance from Hayes, but also reiterating his love for monotonic phrasing.  The youtube video I’ve linked is of Sang Real, from 2005′s “Catch Without Arms”, which is often named as people’s favourite Dredg tune.  I had to choose between embedding it and Elephant…, but had to go with the latter since it is my favourite after all, and Sang Real has an airy pop feel to it, somewhat like Information and Same Ol’ Road.  Definitely check it out!

I could write and write and write about these guys, but I’ll cut it off there.  Listen to all the songs, and let me know what you think in the comments!

More music from Dredg

Dredg – An Elephant In The Delta Waves

Dredg – It Only Took A Day

Check out this live performance of Sang Real on Youtube.

Further info about today’s MSMOTD

Official Website: http://www.dredg.com/

Wikipedia Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dredg

Featured Review: Kyle Banick’s 5 out of 5 review of “El Cielo” for sputnik music.

“El Cielo” is a *classic* album, so you really need to go buy it from Amazon.com.  You can also buy their latest album The Pariah, the Parrot, the Delusion or download Same Ol’ Road from their MP3 store.

The first opener was Aussie band the Howling Bells.  Pretty fun band with a lot of energy but not much room to move around as they were pushed to the very edge of the stage by all of Coldplay and Snow Patrol’s gear.  They played a short set and had some fun with the crowd, still straggling in at this point, and then at the end of the set, the very cute singer – Juanita Stein – announced that the drummer was lonely but that she knew the prettiest girls lived in Winnipeg. She then made him give out his number on the mic slowly so that any interested girls could write it down, hahaha.  I wonder how often they pull this trick, and how often it works.

Next up was Snow Patrol!  I just made a post about them yesterday, so go check it out to listen to my favourite songs and see some video clips.  They were really great, with Gary Lightbody pumping the crowd up nicely and giving a wonderful performance of their various hits, though sadly, none of the songs I included in yesterday’s MSMOTD.

Finally, two hours after the show started, Coldplay came on stage holding sparklers, and played the first song “Life in Technicolor” behind a silhouette screen, before blasting off with “Voilet Hill“.  Things just got better from there.  Stage hands ran out with dozens of huge yellow balloons for “Yellow”, which bounced around the audience then mysteriously exploded into golden confetti at the end of the song.  They rocked through all of their hits, with Chris Martin running and flailing around the stage like a marionette faun whose strings have been cut.  The drummer was all over too, alternating behind the drum set, timpani and even an impromptu dance-concert they held on one of the arms of the stage with drum machine and synth.

(I didn’t bring my camera, but thankfully Chris D did)

The best moments came midway through when the crowd was all singing along en-masse, and then the band walked all the way to the other end of the arena to a little tiny stage, surrounded by fans, where they played a little acoustic set, with the drummer switching to guitar and vocals, and Chris Martin on harmonica.  They finished that up by setting up a cell-phone wave around the whole building while they sang “I’m A Believer”.  It was pretty magical.  My favourite moment was when, right at the end, they released a billion colourful paper butterflies which floated down through the air as the band cavorted about during “Lovers in Japan”.  They also threw in a lot of obviously calculated references to Winnipeg, including a little song with custom lyrics about how they’re in the former home of the Jets and such.  They must have a guy who writes all of these for each city, but it was appreciated nonetheless, and drove the crowd wild.

It was a really amazing show.  Even without the excellence of the music (every song was a hit…  how many bands can do that?), they put on a wonderful and intimate spectacle.  I’m so glad I went, despite my horrible seats (I felt more like an anthropologist, observing the entertainment rituals of a distant people than part of the show).  Probably the best show I’ve ever seen overall, and I’ve been to some big name spectacle-oriented shows (Davie Bowie, Judas Priest etc).  Very different from, say, a Dream Theater show which is basically them rocking on on stage with some coloured spotlights for 3 hours straight, haha.

Bottom line: If Coldplay is coming to your city, do whatever it takes to go to the show. WHATEVER IT TAKES.

- Mons

Snow Patrol – Make This Go On Forever

Snow Patrol is today’s feature artist because they are actually playing here in Winnipeg in just a few hours!  They’re opening for Coldplay, which is odd, since they are easily a headline-level act.  Anyways, since Coldplay is probably one of the most famous bands in the world right now, I figured I would do Snow Patrol as they are just slightly less known.  They, along with Coldplay and Keane, make up the holy trinity of indie arena rock, and shot into global notice with 2006′s hit “Chasing Cars”.  Great song.  I’m sure you all know it.  But did you know the whole “Eyes Open” album is really great?  So is their new one!  Anyways, here’s an intro to a few of their other, non-hit-single tunes (and my personal favourites).

I'm going to have to start finding more interesting band photos... Or they will have to start taking them I guess. A few pyramids in the background, maybe some assault rifles slung across their backs, and a pirate eye-patch on frontman Gary Lightbody would take things to the next level quite nicely. Feel free to do this up in photoshop and post the results!

Make This Go On Forever has long been my favourite Snow Patrol song.  Chasing Cars is fun, but this song’s slow build exhibits a passion rarely found in this sort of music.  Snow Patrol may not quite have the songwriting chops of Coldplay, but I think they imbue their music with a fervor that Coldplay fails to match.  A lot of songs are content to simply trundle along verse-chorus-verse-chorus-conclusion without really going anywhere, musically.  I personally seem to have developed a taste for music that works more as a journey.  Start somewhere, and finish somewhere else, musically.  Make This Go On Forever fills that need with a heart-rendingly gorgeous build to a very satisfying cathartic peak and subsequent cooldown.  Lightbody’s wavering vocals are perfect for this music, and the production is excellent.  I love this song.

(If There’s A Rocket Tie Me To It from “A Hundred Million Suns”)

It’s Beginning To Get To Me, off the same album (2006′s “Eyes Open”) is a good example of why Snow Patrol is so popular in the first place.  Incredibly catchy hooks, melodies that are simultaneously beautiful and yet simple, and lots of energy.  This is the sort of arena rocker that I’m looking forward tonight.  Soaring choruses, vocals that break into falsetto, churning guitar lines… The kind of music that’s refreshing and uplifting, even if the lyrics themselves might not be.  Good times.  Lifeboats, off last year’s “A Hundred Million Suns” is a bit of a departure and is definitely more adventurous, musically.  A little more downtempo, with acoustic guitar and sweeping string pads backed by a swaggering beat, this song shows that Snow Patrol are more than just by-the-numbers ballads.  The whole album is actually a bit more mature than “Eyes Open”, and similarly excellent.

Anyways, gotta cut this short because I’m off to see them live with Coldplay!  So excited.  Hope you get to see them when they come through your town.  Let me know what you think of the songs!

- Mons

More music from Snow Patrol

Snow Patrol – It’s Beginning To Get To Me

Snow Patrol – Lifeboats

Further info about today’s  MSMOTD

Official Website: http://www.snowpatrol.com/

Wikipedia Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Patrol

Featured Review: Stylus Magazine’s review of “Eyes Open”

Buy Eyes Open and A Hundred Million Suns from Amazon.com, or download Make This Go On Forever from their MP3 service.