Genre: Indie Folk/Blues

Year: 2010

Label: Dead Oceans

Country of Origin: Sweden

Rating: 9.5/10

The term ‘Dylan-inspired’ is off-handily used by critics umpteen times to describe a particular folk singer’s songwriting capabilities, but in the case of

Kristian Matsson

Swedish singer-songwriter Kristian Matsson a.k.a. The Tallest Man on Earth, this term is dead on target. Not only does he have the raw, energetic and southern accented voice, he has the panache of writing earthy folk songs deeply indebted to 60’s roots music. His inspirations maybe antiquated but he is young blood; his spunkiness injects an extra dose of adrenalin into the songs he writes. This lineament drew the attention of listeners towards his critically acclaimed debut album ‘The Shallow Grave’ which ultimately landed him a touring opportunity with notable folk band Bon Iver for whom he was the opening act.

In the second record, Kristian shows an increased maturity in his approach towards writing songs and this new record, dare I say, has the catchiness of pop music. While his earlier record was melancholy tinged, this new record seems like Kristian has exorcised the ghosts of his past and has learnt a lot of lessons. Instead of dwelling on sadness he is embracing it as a part of life and being hopeful that things will improve and that he will set the trend of making changes himself. On this record Kristian seems like a man possessed; his voice commands presence on the record and the songs radiate so much brilliance that it sometimes can be blinding! It’s a perfect record to listen to when you think that your life has been smoked out like a cigarette and all that is left of you is the butt. The Yang of the record will overpower the Yin of your mind. Like the title suggests, Kristian pictures himself on a wild adventure not only to free himself from the chains of quotidian drudgery but also to find the love of his life and to trace his roots. The deft lyricism and the guitar strumming play stellar parts to sink this feeling deep into you. Sample the track ‘King Of Spain’ in which he metaphorically sends the message across that one should pursue our dreams however trivial they may seem to the others by singing “Well if you could reinvent my name, well if you could redirect my day, I wanna be the King of Spain” and by playing the chords on the guitar that sound like a galloping horse on which he is seated to conquer unknown lands. While he is busy being the king of Spain, he also has this eternal longing of being the king of his lover’s heart by singing of his heroics, “You know it’s a Lion’s heart that will tumble and tear apart, when he(himself) is coming down the hills for you” in the track ‘A Lion’s Heart’. This feeling is also echoed in the delicate and sentimental “Love Is All”.

The Tallest Man On Earth

He may be crafting such adorable and accessible songs about love, which will strike a chord with a lot of listeners; on this record he also displays that he is a master storyteller, like in the second track ‘Burden Of Tomorrow’ where he vividly describes his bizarre origins and the reason for his wild hunt by wording, “The rumour has it that I wasn’t born, I just walked in one frosty morn, In the vision of a vacant mind” and “I will find this stranger (himself) that you fear, so that I am not a burden tomorrow dear”. Even on the track ‘The Drying of the Lawns’ his words create a mental picture of the dingy wooden room it is inspired by. All along on these stories of adventure and rollicking in the nature’s bounty, the guitar is his faithful companion. On the subdued songs his guitar strings can be heard plucking and reverberating airily corresponding with the toned down and sometimes detached voice while on his poppy numbers, the guitar takes centre stage and help in creating an ecstatic atmosphere. Like all master craftsmen he saves the best for the last in the form of a ballad ‘Kids on the Run’ which sounds like Bruce Springsteen singing ‘Tears in The Rain’ accompanied by Sir Elton John on the piano. It is a beautiful track that encapsulates his mature understanding of emotions. He sings, “No we have not grown a day from the poison we share” and then laughing it off by singing “Will we ever confess what we’ve done? No, we’re still kids on the run”.

Like a wandering sage, Kristian Matsson crafts tales of his experiences and presents it to the listeners in the form of this phenomenal record that sends the message of bringing positive changes to life by breaking the fortress in which our mind is trapped. This record is lyrically adept and the production is spellbinding. Well, a lot of people may be put off by his raw voice (the same happens with Dylan’s voice too) but after listening to this record they will be reassured that Kristian Matsson’s voice is not gimmicky but has such infectious energy that it will definitely make them swap sides, in favour of The Tallest Man On Earth.

Article by Vikrant Dev

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Genre: Dubstep/House/Techno/Experimental

Year: 2010

Label: Hotflush

Catalogue No.: HFCD003

Country Of Origin: U.K.

Rating: 9/10

Dubstep it seems has a dark future, not in the sense that it’s coming to an end, but in the sense that the number of followers of dark dubstep has increased over the years. Not only are there more number of producers making such kind of music, they are also receiving plaudits from critics and listeners alike for creating dark, wistful and inhabitable sonic landscapes. Burial’s eponymous album and the sophomore Untrue, Boxcutter’s Oneiric, Kode 9 + The Spaceape’s Memories of the Future, King Midas Sound’s Waiting For You, etc. and even compilation albums like Appleblim and Shackleton’s Soundboy Punishments and Mary Anne Hobb’s Warrior Dubz have proved that dark dubstep is here to stay and that it is burgeoning. You can add Scuba, who has created a stunning record that delicately balances dance floor frenzy with ambient sounds and field recordings, to the aforementioned list. But, Scuba is not new to this scene. His 2008’s debut and the singles and remixes he released prior to and after that displayed his penchant for drawing influences from industrial sounds. But, what separates Scuba from these other artists is his eclecticism and his experimentation with techno and house music. Part of his eagerness could be explained by his Djing stints at the now famous Berghain night club in Berlin.

Paul Rose

In this record, Scuba creates a more cohesive and tighter sound than his debut simultaneously breaking through the clutter of the deafening slabs of bass driven records that have become synonymous with dubstep. Like Burial, he creates a sound that is cold, detached, robotic, futuristic, and industrial, which mirrors our mechanical existence in the concrete jungle. Though the sounds are cold, they never embrace misery and stay true to the dance floor. To correctly reflect this alien sound, Scuba uses paraphernalia in the form of field recordings of rustling, clattering and clashing objects, falling drops of water, metallic sounds, etc. and uses them as embellishments on the record rather than mere inutile static sounds. These sounds add chaos, liveliness and motility to these tracks. Accompanied by these is the effective and emphatic use of synths like in the barren and beatless album opener ‘Descent’ which dwells on synths that sound like subdued industrial sirens and landing spaceships or like in the third track ‘Three Sided Shapes’ that features droning synths sounding like machines doing menial work. Also, tracks like ‘Tracers’ do have swollen synth passages and uplifting crescendos, but they are either stabs or are short lived, maintaining the frigidity of the record. The sultry and soulful female vocals make an appearance only at the opportune moment, and steal the show away. The vocals are cut up and most of the times echoic. While most of the songs have industrial leanings like the songs crafted by minimal techno artist JPLS, there are songs that use the emptiness of the deep oceans as the muse like in the track ‘Minerals’ which is set amongst beats but uses ambient sounds that are characteristic of whales. Also the near silence of the ambiance contributes to this feeling.

Holding all these elements together are the skeletal beats of the songs. The album opener which is beatless serves as a prelude to the tracks that follow. Most tracks are genre defying and effortlessly and smoothly change from house to two step garage to techno to downtempo and everything in between. Case in the point is the magnanimous track ‘Tracers’; it starts out like it’s a trance song with an intoxicating synth stab, but later gives way to amazing dubstep beats. Even latest trends like UK funky have been incorporated into the songs as can be seen in the track ‘On Deck’. The last song on the record ‘Lights Out’ shows best the ingenuity of Scuba as far as experimenting is concerned. One is left bewildered as to when the transformation has occurred on the track if one gives the track a passive listening. There is a lot of attention to detail here so this record demands a careful listen to enjoy all the nuances.

Scuba Triangulation

Lot of people will crib endlessly about the obvious reference point- Burial’s records. But, Paul ‘Scuba’ Rose has really moved on as can be seen from the plethora of activities going on deep under the cold surface of the tracks. Some tracks may not be dancefloor scorchers like others or may not really give away entirely to adrenalin junkies, but this does not mean they are not doing their job well. In fact that territory is a virgin territory for remixers or for Dj’s who want to slow things down in their set. This record is amazing from head to toe and easily the contenders of the top ten albums of 2010.

Article by Vikrant Dev

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Vikrant Dev takes us deeper into the dark world of Metal, exploring its hitherto unexplored variants. Read on..

Earth

Globally, Metal today is doing pretty good for itself compared to its inception period when it was embroiled in all sorts of controversies, especially for promoting Satanic ideologies. Over the years, the rants may have died down, the sales may have skyrocketed but it still isn’t being taken seriously in art-circles or otherwise. Sure, old school heroes like Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath may be viable t-shirt options to extend your love for metal outside your mental realm or maybe because it’s cool to be a metalhead; but, what next? Are you content with the same music and the saturated metal scene? Don’t you want to be swept of your feet by something truly amazing? Those new to metal will not bother much about what I am saying but those who have been following metal for quite some time will agree that they have dabbled in a lot of sub-genres looking for that precious diamond. Metal like other genres has been

Iris

constantly re-inventing itself to keep things afresh and its followers interested. In its 50 year history, many sub-genres and fusion genres that metal has spawned after knocking up various other genres, either have basked in the sunlight or have never made it to the surface, to see the light of the day.

The last two decades have witnessed a small but rising force to be reckoned with – Minimalist/Ambient Metal, which has put the underground under the spotlight. Under this new umbrella term three sub-forms exist – Post-Metal, Drone Metal and Metalgaze. The last four to five years have been the most rewarding to both- the practitioners of this art form as well as the increasing number of followers. Most of the artists belonging to this fusion genre are receiving critical acclaim and are consistently making it to the top of the customary year-end ‘Best Albums of the Year’ lists of magazines and webzines. So what sets them apart from the

Nadja

other stuff? These artists are not busy replicating the monstrous riffs of Slayer or the jackhammer like crushing percussion of Children Of Bodom; they are returning back to the roots i.e. the dirges of Black Sabbath. The emphasis on ambiance and minimalism has never been more prominent. Their sound is a stripped down version of the above mentioned bands without losing the aggressiveness; the aggressiveness and the darkness that metal has come to be associated with is demonstrated by adding a cinematic touch to the music in the form of dark ambient music or other unconventional instruments not associated with metal. Dark ambient sounds could involve everything from using eerie

Russian Circles

samples to brooding, ominous and wistful pads. This form of metal has been championed by independent metal record labels like Hydra Head, Southern Lord, Crucial Blast, 20 Buck Spin, Profound Lore and Battle Kommand in the U.S. while artists elsewhere are releasing albums independently on the internet.

Besides the use of dark ambient music, the artists have a common string of drone music running through them. Drone music is a minimalist music style that involves a sustained and repeated use of notes, tone-clusters that can have varying tempo. Another variant, post-rock, consists of fluid song structures that deviate from traditional methods of song writing as displayed in rock music. The template of these songs can be anything from dub to jazz to hip-hop. Also, the songs, especially,

Wolves

in instrumental post-rock have build-ups in the form of melodic drones that end in a crescendo. Instrumental post-rock generally avoids the rebellious overtones and embraces ambient and minimalist overtones. Also, some bands use the vocals as another tool to enhance the overall effect of their music. A close relative of post-rock is shoegaze music. This music is a psychedelic concoction of garage, noise rock, post-punk and dream-pop. Like dream-pop it features sensual and ethereal vocals, but veiled by a ‘wall of sound’ that is created by droning riffs from two distorted guitars. My Bloody Valentine’s magnum opus Loveless is a benchmark in this genre and much of the band’s experiments lead to the shaping of the sound of shoegaze. The use of shoegaze’s song structures by metal bands has led to the development of a new fusion genre called as metalgaze, which has found takers even in the burgeoning French black metal scene. While metalgaze and post-metal rely on low intensity drones, the intensity of drones in another fusion genre, drone metal, is ear deafening. The above mentioned nuances are the pillars of minimalist metal and their usage is highly synonymous with it.

Moving on to Post-metal, a tag first given to the band Isis is a heady mix of

Irepress

sludge metal and post-rock like song structure. Post-metal marries the dense, epic and primal quality of Bay Area sludge metal greats Neurosis with more subdued elements of ambient greats like Brian Eno and the shoegaze bands with pop sensibilities like Slowdive. Though the heavy riffs, slow tempos and the guttural vocals of sludge metal are present, enough room is given to different elements like dark ambient passages, warm tremolo guitar melodies and staccato bassline that hold the song together in order to create an ebbing and a flowing soundscape that teases and tantalizes you into pseudo-crescendos. People have given various other names to this genre, like NeurIsis and art metal. Like other bands in this fusion genre, Isis over the years has shown an increased maturity and musicianship and has toned down the aggressiveness; enough to satisfy the metalheads and on the other hand has brought in the kind of progressiveness shown by King Krimson and Pink Flyod. Their last year’s release Wavering Radiant is evidence to this fact. The themes of post-metal albums often have a literary reference, which is another reason why critics call it arty. Highly in favour of post-metal, critics have gone on record saying that Isis has helped loosen heavy metal from its hardcore roots by creating an immeasurable and intimate vision which is hard to pin down by rejecting the conventional use of verses, choruses and fast riffs. In totality post-metal has become one of the most omnipresent heavy metal sub-genres because of its artsy nature (cautious progressiveness) and emphasis on experimentation rather than sticking to any particular type of music in spite of the influences. It is the first time that art circles are drooling over metal!

Sunn O)))

Extreme metal has always been about overwhelming the senses, either through a chaotic frenzied style of grindcore, the more spacious and swollen sonic assaults of Neurosis and Isis or like in Sunn O)))’s case using enormous amounts of feedback to create bleakest of bleak and darkest of dark drone metal. Like post-metal, drone metal has lengthy and minimalism inspired songs. The minimalism is to such an extent that it just utilizes chord progressions to create almost static sonic landscapes consisting of cyclonic drones. “How boring!” one would say! But that is where the art lies- in creating disturbing visuals. It’s like we are the shore and waves and waves of hot boiling lava are hitting us. The growls are as sparse as ever and add to the eerie quality of the whole experience. The vocals are harsh and corroding. There is so much darkness inside every note and the heart of every tone that everything around you turns into something scary. The darkness never ceases to descend and ties your body into chains of sadness and fear. The guitars are heavy and foggy, slithering like a venomous snake out to bite you! Though Sunn O))) is currently the most publicised band, they are not the ones who created this sound. A band called Earth (who derive their name from Black Sabbath’s original name) laid the foundation of this genre when they released the 73 minute epic Earth 2: Special Low – Frequency Version that commingled the best of sludge metal godfathers The Melvins, noise rock and the drones of experimental artist La Monte Young. Though Sunn O))) started out as an Earth tribute band, it slowly turned into something serious after various collaborations with artists like Atilla Cisar of black metal band Mayhem, multi-instrumentalist and drone artist Oren Ambarchi, Tony Conrad of Earth, etc. Besides the shock treatment of these artists Sunn O))) adds new elements in every album to sustain the horror. In their live performances, the band members dress up in black robes with their faces generally hidden under the hood and use as many as 6 amps to blow the listeners out of their way!! One can imagine the amount of ruckus being created by them. Also they add an eldritch quality to their sound. For instance, in one of their songs featuring Xasthur’s Malefic they recorded the song with Malefic miked inside a coffin!!

Xasthur

While drone metal and post-metal are related to the dark arts, metalgaze is the opposite and is melodic in nature with the aggro of course. Canadian duo Nadja have particularly helped in defining this genre and giving it credibility. The slow sensual crawl of the melodic drones and their textured sound is reminiscent of My Bloody Valentine’s ‘glide-guitar’ experiments. In fact Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine once confessed to experimenting with death metal’s guitar licks which suggests that interplay between the two genres is possible.

After reading about these avant-garde musicians, what will come as a surprise to a lot of people will be the fact that how completely unrelated genres have been coalesced into a whole to create three mutant genres! Though long time followers of indie rock may term them as passé, the newly introduced ones will vouch for their ingenuity. It’s like when Radiohead’s electronica influenced album Kid A was released. The ones used to their guitar driven songs were in awe of their new step while long time followers of electronica (especially of the Warp bastion) dismissed their new direction as passé. But, in the end Radiohead won this battle. Why? Because even though they were influenced by electronica, they added their own flavour to the music and built something entirely new for listeners of all types. The same can be said for minimalist metal artists, who besides the obvious influences construct a world entirely of their own in which both metal and the ‘influences’ reside peacefully and that is the hallmark of good musicians.

Article by Vikrant Dev

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