Levamentum menti, Latin for "comfort for the mind", that's what music is for me. This blog will be an ongoing record of interesting music that I come across. Check it out, maybe something will suit your tastes!
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The Depreciation Guild was an American shoegaze band active from 2005-2011. One notable aspect of this band's music is its fusion of chiptunes, the 8-bit style sound reminiscent of older video games, and the shoegaze genre. That aspect was much more prominent in their first album In Her Gentle Jaws (2007). In their second album Spirit Youth (2009), however, the instrumentals seemed to have shifted their focus more on traditional rock instruments, though the chiptune feel is still there blended (very smoothly, I might add) in the background.
I was disappointed when I found out that this group had disbanded in early 2011, but was pleasantly surprised, as said in a previous post, when I had found out that the frontman of The Depreciation Guild, Kurt Feldman, was still active in the shoegaze scene as the drummer of The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, which has a similar feel musically and lyrically, though without the chiptune aspect.
Anyway, long rant aside, this is "Blue Lily" from the second, and last, album Spirit Youth.
Ok, it's probably apparent by now that I like folk-y music. I had no idea how prevalent it was in the music that I liked until now. Anyway, this is "Long Ride Home" by Patty Griffin, a simple melody accompanied by a scenic tour of the Texan countryside. They do complement each other pretty well. I'd actually like to try to make a video like this some time (if only it wasn't illegal for me to drive right now).
This song was included in the soundtrack to the film Elizabethtown, which, according to wiki, experienced "neither critical acclaim nor commercial success", despite having Orlando Bloom.
Cowboy Bebop is one of my favourite anime series'es (or whatever the right word is). Not only did it create characters that I actually cared about and stories that went somewhere, but it also had great music playing throughout. The music was headed by Yoko Kanno, a well-known composer in the Japanese anime biz, aided by her jazz/blues band The Seatbelts. If you're one for anime and haven't seen it yet, I'd highly recommend watching with English dubs (this is one of the rare animes where I actually find the English to be superior to the original Japanese acting).
This is "Space Lion", a jazzy number from the Cowboy Bebop Original Soundtrack. See you Space Cowboy...
The Flower Kings are a Swedish rock band. They were a crucial part of the progressive rock revival in the 90's and their music is best described as symphonic with jazz and blues influences. This is "Man of the World" from their 2006 album Paradox Hotel.
eagleowl is a lo-fi post-folk ensemble from Scotland. This is Into the Fold from their third EP Into the Fold from 2008. I'm not too familiar with what "lo-fi post-folk" means (it's how they describe themselves) but after hearing this, I'll be looking more into that. This is a great combination of laid-back instruments and vocals.
Midnight Juggernauts is a three-man electronic band from Melbourne, Australia. Not much to write about this band, I just found this over at Redditunes the other day and thought I'd share. On a personal note, I've been noticing lately that I haven't been listening to as much quicker paced music as before (as a long-term trend). Although this is definitely energetic, I guess it's not as in-your-face about it.
This is "Into the Galaxy" from their debut album Dystopia released in 2007. There are actually two videos for this song. Although the first one is not without its charm, I understand why they decided to reshoot; it's just not that much to look at. But, at any rate, here is "Into the Galaxy", both of them.
This is "Main Street" by Late Night Alumni, an American house group. Notably, one of the members is Ryan Raddon (Kaskade). This is one of their more laid back/simpler songs that really lets Becky Jean Williams' voice take centre stage. This song is from their latest album Haunted, released near the beginning of this year.
By Divine Right is a Canadian band that's been around for over twenty years, founded and still led by José Miguel Contreras. Notably, among the many (over twenty) former members that have graced this band's roster are Leslie Feist, yes that Feist, and Brendan Canning, founding member of Broken Social Scene. The thing I really like about this band is that their music and videos are just so cheerful (just look at José!).
This song is "I Love A Girl" from their 2009 album Mutant Message.
According to wiki, Flight Facilities is an anonymous DJ duo, speculatively to be from Australia. This is their first original song featuring singer/song-writer Giselle Rosselli. Although this was released last year, the duo has still yet to release anything officially.
What do Hanson, The Smashing Pumpkins, Fountains of Wayne, and Cheap Trick have in common? Well in 2009, one member (or former member) of each of those bands came together to form a power pop supergroup known as Tinted Windows.
With Taylor Hanson on vocals, James Iha on guitar, Adam Schleslinger on bass, and Bun E. Carlos on drums, they released their eponymous Tinted Windows album in 2009, where this single "Back With You" is found. As is an inevitability of all supergroups, though, there hasn't been any news from Tinted Windows following their debut tour in early 2010.
Here's something light: "Bridal Train" by The Waifs, an Australian folk rock band that formed in 1992. This song can be found on their live album A Brief History... from 2004. Coincidentally, this is the second entry in a row featuring a band with sisters as bandmates.
This song is "Bye Bye Bye" by School of Seven Bells. Hailing from New York, the band consists of Benjamin Curtis and Alejandra Deheza. Interestingly, Alejandra's identical sister Claudia had also been a member of the band up until shortly after the release of their second album Disconnect from Desire (2010), where this song can be found.
On a personal note, I find that the second album showcases much more breadth in instrumentation and stronger vocals compared to their first album Alpinisms (2008) and would recommend that one if you were wanting to look more into this band's music.
Signalrunners is a trans-atlantic electronica duo and this is a single from 2006 under their alias Team SR. I'm not sure if these guys are still active, though, since their last release was back in 2008. As an aside, I've actually been looking for more trance like this, so do feel free to comment or message me if you have any recommendations.
I've mentioned Blackfield a couple times already in previous posts, namely Steven Wilson's and Aviv Geffen's. The group itself is a joint effort by the two aforementioned musicians who are no novices to the field. I've heard varied descriptions by listeners and the band alike regarding their style. If I were to steal from all of them and hazard a guess, I'd say "melancholic alternative pop-rock".
Since the first time I had heard their stuff around a year ago, they very quickly became one of my favourite bands. I had even bought tickets for their show when they were coming to Toronto as part of the tour. Unfortunately, that one and a number of other shows had to be cancelled due to unfortunate circumstances. Anyway, I recently got a hold of the DVD performance of a show they did in New York back in 2007.
The first video is a live performance of "Once" from their second album Blackfield II (2007)while the second is a music video for "Blackfield" from their debut album Blackfield (2004).
FamilyJules7X is a guitarist from Massachusetts who has a YouTube channel full of rockified covers of video game music, mostly Nintendo stuff. From the looks of it, he began in August of last year and committed to make one cover each week. This is a cover of the song that plays during the credits of Super Mario 64 and was his final cover before he went on a break. Fortunately his fans (myself included), he has stated that he'll be returning soon!
Basia Bulat is a Canadian folk singer (hailing from Ontario). On top of her beautiful vocals, Basia incorporates traditional instruments such as the autoharp, ukelele, and hammered dulcimer (used in the linked song) into her music. This particular song is "The Shore" from her second album Heart of My Own (2010).
Sad Day For Puppets is a Swedish nu gaze band. They describe their music as "all about shimmering layers of guitars, intertwined feedback melodies all dreamy and grand and sad, and ethereal harmony vocals" (Myspace page here). This song is from the band's debut album Unknown Colors (2008). Sad Day For Puppets has since released a number of other studio albums and EPs.
This Will Destroy You is an American post-rock band and linked is a fan-made music video of "The World Is Our _____" from their 2006 EP Young Mountain. This song and their earlier stuff in general could easily fall under the post-rock category.
Since then, the band has moved towards more of an ambient sound, which is clearly evident in their latest album, Tunnel Blanket (2011). A review described it as a move towards "more experimental, darker, noisier soundscapes".
At any rate, if you liked this, I'd recommend checking out the rest of this EP as well as their first full album This Will Destroy You (2008).
There's not too much info about this artist. As far as I can tell, she's from the UK and hasn't officially released anything yet. Anyway, I thought I'd just link this video. The song and the location where this was shot really compliment each other. Now if only there was a lake nearby I could visit..
As someone who doesn't expect too much from anime soundtracks, I was surprised when I heard this gem from Death Note's second OST. This song combines a simple synth melody with the rhythmic droning of a few guitars a steady drumbeat.
I find this to be a good track for my mind to dissolve away into.
Apparently, the world of music can be small. I found this song while browsing Redditunes and was immediately enamoured by the combination of the light poppy feel and the shoegaze-esque guitar rhythms/vocals.
To my surprise, I found out that the drummer of this band was Kurt Feldman, who was the frontman for The Depreciation Guild, a recently disbanded shoegaze/dream pop band. I'll link one of that band's videos in a later post.
Anyway, this is "Stay Alive" by The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart found on their eponymous album from 2008.
El Ten Eleven is a duo consisting of Tim Fogarty, on drums, and Kristian Dunn, on both electric and bass. The latter frequently uses a double-necked bass/electric guitar and necessarily relies on using instrumental loops.
This was a live performance of "Ian MacKaye Was Right" from their It's Still A Secret album (2010). I wish I was there for that energetic performance.
In addition to his solo work, Steven Wilson is a founding member of both Porcupine Tree and Blackfield (with Aviv Geffen). This is a song from his solo album Insurgentes (2008).
Black & White was my first exposure to the realm of Hebrew pop rock. I first knew of Aviv Geffen as one of the two collaborators in Blackfield, whose work I am a huge fan of.
The album version offers slightly better vocals, but that one doesn't have a video. On a related note, Aviv must really like this particular song; there are at least a total of four recordings of this song, two in Hebrew and two in English.
Nico (Christa Päffgen) was a prominent musician in the 60's. This is a simple edit of "These Days", originally from her Chelsea Girl album (1967), by Shinichi Osawa (aka Mondo Grosso).
Machine Gun is a pretty chill song from the 90's. Apparently, Slowdive's style "paved the way for later developments in post-rock and electronica" and has had influence in the shoegaze genre of today.
Hi and welcome to my new blog "Levamentum Menti" (more info in the site description). I noticed that after I had gotten onto Google Plus, I had been frequently posting links to music that I wanted to share. After mulling it over for the past bit, it seems an actual blog would be more appropriate (this way I can post more frequently and not feel as though I was spamming my network, ha).
Anyway, to start off this blog, I'll be importing the Google Plus posts and adding more information to give an idea of the actual songs and artists.
So, stay a while and listen! Maybe you'll find something here to your liking.
