Bosques de mi Mente review

Bosques de mi Mente - Trenes de Juguete (originally posted at www.thesilentballet.com)



Score: 8/10

To form a first impression on someone is easy (in fact, it's inevitable)—to form a positive first impression on someone is the tricky part. Now, most of an artist's would-be fanbase comes equipped with high speed internet connections and tend to be weary of new artists, probably due to the fact that they have spent countless hours clicking "deny" to bands on their MySpace friend request page. Due to the amount of musical tat now floating around within the online ether, who can blame them? The relationship between music and the internet tends to be positive, but there's also the rather annoying flipside: it's becoming increasingly hard for interesting, new artists to be heard, simply because there's a lot of awful sounding musicians, who, in order to steal the limelight, essentially spam music listeners online.

Thankfully, the effects of this seem to be purely short-term, as it hasn't stopped Bosques de mi Mente (Spanish for Forests of my Mind) from creating arguably one of the best self-produced records of 2007. The album in question is, Trenes de Juguete (Toy Trains), which surprisingly is the creator's first venture at writing an album of neo-classical compositions. The premise behind this astonishing work is one involving the memories of childhood, "and the little memories I keep through the routine, work, responsibilities and all the burdens of us." Quite. Described as "minimalist" by the sole composer behind the LP, I'd suggest this work contains more, for want of a better phrase, "meaty" tracks, when compared with other works in the genre such as Library Tapes. The instrumentation involved in this record is immense, although the artist's influences are mostly made up of piano masters such as Yann Tiersen and Terry Riley, the album isn't limited to piano only, instead it comprises of guitar, field recordings and an excellent use of audio samples.

The use of samples in Trenes de Juguete is equal to the level of skill executed by those who not only have more financial backing for their work, but also more experience. "Una tarde de otoño vista a través de la ventana" contains striking, yet almost silenced piano with samples borrowed from the Texas Radio Theatre Company. The end result is a heartbreaking composition, filled with turmoil but yet, there's still that keen sense of beauty that Bosques de mi Mente is somehow able to portray. Frankly, I haven't heard anything so interesting since Troubles' "furnace."

The weak spots of this album are rare, at times the melodies used are alike to Yann Tiersen's "Comptine D'un Autre Été: L'après Midi" but mistakes like this should be allowed when it comes to Trenes de Juguete. If every debut were this stark and this breathtaking then perhaps we should question this minor fault; however, until then, we should allow Bosques de mi Mente to emulate Tiersen for a while, there's so much material within the record that's unique, then the obvious admiration for the French composer can easily be forgiven.

With this debut completed, Bosques de mi Mente is already at work on a second album. Let's hope that this astounding young composer can offer up something that at least levels equal with the high standard Trenes de Juguete has set. For me, this album has already joined the ranks of Eluvium's An Accidental Memory In Case Of Death as an album that combines the best and the worst of human emotions through the lightest touch of a piano key. Hopefully Bosques de mi Mente doesn't stop here and continues to evolve his beautiful sound. Besides, if an album about childhood doesn't contain enough emotion for you, just imagine how one involving teenage life could sound.

YouMeTheSwitch review

YouMeTheSwitch - 7" (Originally posted at www.thesilentballet.com)

Score: 6.5/10

2007 seems to be a promising year for Youmetheswitch, having already played alongside the likes of Vessels, They Don’t Sleep, and the ever-changing collective that are Thee Single Spies. Plus, with a September date supporting LITE, the quartet have quickly become relatively well known. This in itself isn’t exactly a mean feat, but with the band having only really released what they’re calling an EP/Demo and now more recently an as yet untitled 7", YMTS have quickly but quietly carved their name onto the angular tree that is math rock.

The 7" contains three tracks, none of which are past the three-minute mark. Although this release isn’t as meaty as say, early Battles, the effort does contain an aurally pleasant mix of songs that combine The Mercury Program’s principles of music making with hints of Do Make Say Think's jazz. Interestingly, elements of what the band call "the chaotic end of US hardcore" do slip in occasionally, but not enough to warrant any real similarities between YMTS and heavier bands such as Russian Circles.

Opening track, "Forest Sleeper" is a short and playful piece, where the group’s DMST style is at its peak. The second piece, "Heisei Boom," starts off brash but soon reverts to a more peaceful set of guitar riffs. Within this composition there’s slight use of strings, however the instrumentation is completely clouded over by the much louder guitars, so much so that it’s a pointless exercise to even bother including them. However, "Mexico City is Sinking" is possibly the best of the three and perhaps the most memorable. For this track, the quartet let their time signature tightened hair down, "Mexico City..." is still a relatively restrained affair, but there’s hints within the piece that suggest YMTS could be capable of writing a spasmodic masterpiece someday soon. Again, we’re not talking levels of craziness that could give Battles a run for their money, but hopefully YMTS will, in the foreseeable future, step up and deliver a British (so quintessentially, calmer) version of those New York nasties.

Almuadem review

Alumadem - Nimrodel (originally posted at www.thesilentballet.com)


Score: 6/10

Concept albums are a cruel mistress. It seems such works can range from two extremes; the first being that the album has such a strong theme that the record can portray both the said theme and imagery, but also, still manage to create a personal connection with the listener. The second is quite simply, the opposite of this; nobody gets the theme and more importantly, nobody really cares about it anyway. The former includes releases such as David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust and more recently Arcade Fire’s 2007 effort Neon Bible (yes, I class that as sort-of-conceptual, what with all the post-9/11 thoughts and all. Or as the NME would probably put it, "it’s about Churches ‘n’ shit"). Yet, more often than not, concept albums turn out to be the latter, which can be summed up as being either self-indulgent nonsense, or just a ridiculously surreal set of songs, such as The Carpenters’ stab at a sci-fi album, Passage. When reading the tale behind Almuadem’s conceptual piece, Nimrodel, you could easily be forgiven for thinking that 30 years later, bands such as Almuadem are still heading down that dark and inevitably dead-end road that Richard and Karen found themselves hurtling towards thanks to Passage. However, instead of indicating down this gloomy junction, Almuadem have only just begun. Having already coined the genre "hyper-sensibility" for their album, I’m going to suggest that the genre title means that the trio encompass the following: super-consciousness, super-sensitivity, and super-pretentiousness.

Apparently, Almuadem represent "the new art" and are "Citizens of a World to be created...". Which actually sound much more like a hyper-wankery thing to say. Although such statements may hinder enjoyment of the album, as the band are such control-freaks regarding the album that they’ve thought it best to pigeon-hole themselves before anyone else can, it’s best to skip over these details and focus all attention onto the record itself.

Concept-wise, the album depicts the life of Andy Perelman, a man who is braving life in a dying city, becoming increasingly annoyed by sexual deviants, and hooking up with "Princess," a figure that represents his yearning for love. Sadly, Andy is separated from her to realize a life of, well, this is where it all gets a bit strange... The denouement of Andy’s story is that he’s presented with "the laughter of his ego, reminding him of the time when he was happy, he becomes a genuine paradox when he puts on the mask of happiness." Not exactly The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner, but once again, lets ignore the symbolism at play here and see if the record manages to portray any of the above. Surprisingly, Nimrodel isn’t bad.

Opener "In A Cold Chaos Place" is an interesting mesh of samples and synth, but the strange saxophone breakdown mid-track isn’t really appropriate and has the noxious essence of Duran Duran surrounding it. However, the trio do ditch the sax-appreciation early on and instead enter echoed beats into the mix, which leaves the listener much more satisfied than a saxophone ever could. Speaking of satisfaction, by which I obviously mean sexual, "Nymphomania" is an excellent example of how Almuadem can create spectacular compositions. Honestly, the eerie bells and violin that are employed throughout this track make the Requiem For A Dream soundtrack look weak. Unfortunately, the album does slip occasionally. "Blow Up" contains a cringe-worthy guitar solo, that no amount of backing synth can save. According to the group, this song represents "an ode to dizimation and humiliation." Frankly, whatever it’s meant to suggest, all I can hear is an annoying Guns N' Roses solo.

Aside from this inadvertent fall from conceptual grace, the rest of the album is filled with rather pleasant tracks. "Daisy" is a beautiful composition and perfectly captures the balance between conceptual piece versus personalized song. It’s debatable whether the high-pitched guitar hammering is actually necessary, but the Mice Parade influenced synth is enough to over-power any Axl Rose moments the band feel the urge to include.

Almuadem end our journey through Andy’s broken land with whale-noises, graceful Sigur Rós-esque piano, and a woman who’s clearly been breathing in mass amounts of helium laughing somewhere in the distance. All in all, Nimrodel is an expressive and emotive album, that, regardless of the concept, is an interesting listen.

-Holly Joy Emblem

And This Army review

And This Army - Foe (Originally posted at www.thesilentballet.com)

Score: 1/10

In 1994, Kurt Cobain committed suicide. Soon after, grunge packed away its flannel shirts, finished playing its last chord on a battered Fender Jaguar and left the building. However, the record-buying public is still experiencing the after effects of this Seattle scene. Much like the Chernobyl disaster, grunge left behind a legacy of poorly formed, mutated young musicians who thought that "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was a cue for them to start writing their own versions of grunge classics. Hence, in the early 2000's, we had to witness the commercial success of groups like Puddle of Mudd, who made Fred Durst look like he was endowed with the charisma of a Beatle. Staind were such a joke that even Bowling for Soup had to take the piss, and let us not forget Courtney Love, whose car-crash of a life has been regularly documented for the past decade (for anyone who's interested, the coke fiend is currently dating the Boosh's Noel Fielding. Yes, really.) In fact, the only positive point of the grunge aftermath I can think of is Animal Collective's collection of Nirvana covers.

I'm sure by now you're wondering what this has to do with And This Army. Quintessentially, Brooklyn, NY's And This Army are a miserable re-hash of grunge ethics, with a hint of Isis just to be clever about it. Hesitations were bound to occur about the band's debut record, Foe, when the recording technique was explained by its producer as follows: "Recording was simple. Distort the piss out of everything and press record!" Not exactly a thoughtful approach, but of course, it would be ridiculously shallow of me to judge the band on their crude-tongued producer's words, so I gave the record a fair spin. It did not go down well. Foe is actually one of the worst things I have ever heard in my entire existence. Completely and utterly without direction, the release equates to the worst parts of, say, a poor man's pre-demo-jamming stages of Nirvana's Bleach. Then again, Bleach was released seventeen years before Foe existed, and wasn't filled with overly decadent, self-involved songs.

It's impossible to pick out any particular tracks that aren't as bad as all the others, because each song follows a basic pattern of heavily distorted guitar, with added feedback, which I imagine makes the group think they're being all arty and shoe-gaze-esque. They are not. The third tracks title, "Expiration", comes from the archaic term for death, and it seems And This Army are yet to realise that grunge really is dead. Honestly, I cannot understand the reasoning behind this trio's existence, and more importantly why they're allowed to release records, but I do hope they stop soon. Until then dear reader, find solace in Avey Tare and co. covering "Polly" and try your best to ignore grunge re-runs like this.

Rothko review

Rothko – Eleven Stages of Intervention (originally posted at www.thesilentballet.com)

Score: 7/10

Rothko's list of previous releases makes an impressive read and an even more impressive listen. Having been involved with artists such as Four Tet and Caroline Ross, Londoners Rothko have certainly kept themselves busy. Their last full-length release was 2005’s Distant Sounds of Summer, an inventive collaboration with electronic lothario Susumu Yokota. Two years on, the group's new album, Eleven Stages of Intervention, is a clear indicator of their prowess. The album's composition is similar to Rachel's, in the respect that every note is so neatly wound together that there's never a misplaced silence or a reliance on drones because, in the first place, there isn’t any filler material included. Although this new release isn't as confrontational and hypnotic as 2005's effort, their interesting use of instruments, comprising of (amongst others) a harmonium and two basses, means that the album has the qualities of an ambient record but never drifts into obscurity.

Amusingly, the album includes song titles that have an air of self-help quotes about them. "Weather Every Storm" and "Break the Cycle of Sorrow" could have come straight from the pages of Chicken Soup for the Soul, but this is where the similarities between Rothko and self-help stories end. "Weather Every Storm" is a journey from the realms of Múm musicianship to chaotic, heavy, and almost claustrophobic drumming, which in turn morphs into piano reminiscent of Library Tapes' Alone In The Bright Lights of a Shattered Life. The album includes songs that are able to successfully slide from drifting, dreamy pieces such as "Place a Star up in the Sky" to tracks such as "Say Something to Someone" which incorporates a string-tinged ending that The Mile End Ladies Strings Auxiliary just wish they could have composed. Another example of this would be the seamless combination of electronic beeps and bass-lines, which can be found on the second track, "Give.Every.Thing." Opening with melancholic-tinged electronics and closing with a bleak but beautiful piano, the track shows how quickly the group can transform a composition from one extreme to another. It isn't surprising that the quartet are capable of such creations, having been around in various forms for nearly a decade, Eleven Stages of Intervention is beyond any doubt, yet another affirmation of Rothko's ability.

However, parts of the record aren't particularly enthralling and at its worst, the album becomes slightly dull. In the same way that Amiina's previous efforts have been described as "lifeless," the listener can bond best with Rothko when they're so busy they don't have to pay attention to every note. Although this is only a small fraction of the album, songs such as "Sit in Silent Thought" (unlike the title would suggest), work best when providing an atmospheric backdrop to other actions and ideas. This isn't wholly negative though, because if the LP can switch from being the driving force in the listener's life to the backseat of their thoughts, then it becomes a creation that transcends moods.

Rothko may have a wealth of back-catalogue material that could leave newcomers to the band drowning in a sea of choices, but Eleven Stages of Intervention is a perfect example of what they concern themselves with. Which, in case you hadn’t already noticed, is remarkable music.