Auf der Maur - Out Of Our Minds [rock]

Having been in notable acts such as Hole and The Smashing Pumpkins, Montreal-native Melissa Auf der Maur is no newcomer to the rock scene. She released her first solo album, Auf der Maur, in 2004. Her second album was released back in 2010 entitled Out Of Our Minds. Overall, I found this album much more enjoyable than the first one. The musical breadth/variety (does that make sense?) is more expansive than its somewhat monotonous grunge-influenced predecessor.

This is the second single off the latter album, also entitled "Out Of Our Minds".

惘闻 - 污水塘 [post-rock]

惘闻 (Wang Wen) are a rock/post-rock band from China. Their bios on various sites say that the band began in 1999 with two guitarists with a particular fondness for The Smashing Pumpkins and a drummer, after whom the band was named. This is 污水塘, translated as "Sewage Pond" though idiomatically it's probably more along the lines of "Sewer" or something (perhaps I oughtta consider picking up my semi-mother tongue sometime later), which can be found on their 2008 album IV.

Having Chinese music being completely synonymous to pop music for the entirety of my life, I was very surprised when I first heard Wang Wen's stuff, though I suppose that it seems more of an inevitability with a country with over a billion people. I guess that's what happens when the only Chinese media that I follow comes from a single television channel and a couple of radio stations.

Ioseb - C/O Night [post-rock]

This is "C/O Night" by Ioseb, a Swedish post-rock band whom describe their music as "great ambient atmospheres and beautiful harmonies in which the thin vocals embrace you as warm hands on a frosty December morning". I think that description does a good job of conveying what I felt when I first heard this song. In the context of its album, this song is the calm before the storm: the song prior to this is entitled "The Declaration" and the songs following are titled after various images of war. This is also explains the ending of the song (which is not a glitch on the Youtube video) that consists of an abrupt, distorted ending transitioning immediately into some sort of radio call and sirens, quite frightening really. This song can be found on their 2009 album The Ghost Of Thirty-Three.

Giants - At Last Ashore [post-rock]

I bid welcome once again for I hath returneth from the nether! A great evil had stricken the lands and I had no choice but to do battle. And long was my struggle. But I have come out victorious! Now with Lord Diablo many times slain, the gods have deemed it appropriate that I return to my native realm so that I may continue my worldly affairs. I mean there are a bunch of other reasons for why I had simply abandoned this place in May but let's just keep it simple and blame my lack of self-control when it comes to gaming.

But I digress..

Since my last entry, the vast majority of the music I had been sampling was of the post-rock genre so at least a few of the next entries will be a smattering of that. This is "At Last Ashore" by Giants, an American post-rock band. This song consists of a hopeful cadenced melody set to a slower, laid back tempo. Listening to this song elicits images of a bittersweet victory march following a long, arduous struggle. A sort of victory that one would rather not experience should they have had a choice to avoid the conflict in the first place. The song ends with a fade, signifying a continued pushing forward. This song can be found on their 2008 album Old Stories.

In the past I tried my best not to post more than one song from albums but I think I'll do away with that little rule of mine. There's another good song on that album for which I'll write a post later.