Gregor Samsa - Young and Old [post-rock]

I'm not sure why I keep hearing strings in the post-rock I've been listening to recently, maybe it's confirmation bias... Anyway this is "Young and Old" by the Virginian band Gregor Samsa from their 2006 album 55:12. The build-up is slow but determined and just beautiful.

Also, as far as trivia goes, Gregor Samsa is the protagonist in Franz Kafka's short story The Metamorphosis. To summarize this purportedly seminal work in a most flippant and unappreciative way, salesman Gregor Samsa wakes up and finds that he has become some monstrous vermin. His family gets freaked out and avoids him. Finally, Gregor gets the bad feels and dies. The end.

Grails - Future Primitive [post-rock]

It seems I'm listening to a lot more post-rock nowadays, I hadn't been looking too much into that genre since maybe mid-July. I wonder what prompted the change/resparked the interest. I tend to cycle between genres and it may be affected with long-term mood, maybe. Not to be emo or whatever.

Anyway, here's a very excellent post-rock song by Grails, hailing from Portland, Oregon. This "Future Primitive" from their 2011 album Deep Politics. The song features an interesting combination of electric guitars and strings and has a real dystopian feel to it (maybe the new RoboCop movie should consider adding this to their soundtrack, ha).

Fiona Apple - Werewolf [alternative rock]

Oh, did you hear the latest news about Fiona Apple? Apparently she was arrested in Texas after she was caught at a drug checkpoint carrying hash. This checkpoint has also caught other notable musicians such as Willie Nelson and Snoop Dogg (well, Lion now, I guess).

The only song I really liked by her was "Fast As You Can" from her When The Pawn... album back in 1999... which was 13 years ago... a little mind-boggling, though I suppose it'll only become all the more boggling from here on out. But, anyway, after looking up some more info on Apple, it seems she released an album earlier this year: The Idler Wheel... (this is the alternate name, the full title of the album is way longer). And, so, why not check it out, right?

The album is a good listen and generally features Fiona's vocals and the piano as well as a mix of percussion instruments and a cello (or a double-bass, I can't tell). This is "Werewolf".

Giranice - Sub Rosa [post-rock]

So, after what was probably a period of at least three years, I opened my violin case (well I opened both my cases as I had forgotten which one housed the significantly better violin) and tried my hand at that instrument that had once featured so prominently in my life. It turns out that I could still play most of the stuff I had left off with moderately in tune, though not in time.

I left the violin a while back because... well... I guess it lost its appeal. I was never a huge fan of monophony and it seemed with violin, that's all I could produce. Also, in the vast majority of music I listened to back then and even now, the violin didn't/doesn't feature much. And so, my repertoire then consisted only of monophonic pieces from literally hundreds of years ago.

But anyway, I'm making this post because I had just heard a really great post-rock tune that featured the violin. This definitely wouldn't be the first time that I've heard the violin featured in this genre, two immediate examples that come to mind would be "Starálfur" by Sigur Rós and "Alas! Alas! The Breath Of Life!" by Ascent Of Everest. So, for the topic of this particular post, the band is Giranice, hailing from Spain. The song is "Sub Rosa" from their recent release Enea (album available for free on their bandcamp).

**edit** I changed the song from "Banako Zen" to "Sub Rosa"

I wonder if how I would go about translating all that classical violin training into something like this... wouldn't that be something?

Sigur Rós - Varúð [post-rock]

This post is too long ... oh well.

Sigur Rós was my first exposure to the realm of post-rock. Two specific memories come to mind but I don't really remember which one came first.

The first of these happened when I was watching The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou (one of my favourite movies, by the way). The song Starálfur came on during the film's climax and I have to say that both the music and the scene itself made it such a touching scene. I honestly would've cried if only I hadn't been such a macho man back then (I still am now but I also was back then). As an aside, given the pacing of the scene, I guess Starálfur's tempo was a little faster than optimal but one does not simply find suitable substitutes for Starálfur.

The second instance happened when I was channel surfing and happened to find something intriguing on MuchMusic: Untitled #1 (aka Vaka). The music was so fresh, so different from all that other stuff I had usually heard on MuchMusic (not to sound like a total hipster jackass, of course). The video was also a bit heart-wrenching (by all means examine for yourself via the link above). I think I tried to remember the name so I could look into their music more later but to no avail. It wasn't until very recently that I found out that video I saw all those years ago was by Sigur Rós at all. There was a sense of completion when I found out, at the very least it was a loose end that actually became resolved.

Well, anyway, both those events were at least a good eight years ago. Since that time, Sigur Rós has gone into and returned from an, at the time, "indefinite" hiatus. To quote their site when it happened, some members needed some time to "make some babies". As to their future, that doesn't seem as clear. I swear last month I read a magazine article saying that Valtari (released back in May this year) would probably be their last album. Today, I read that they have a European tour planned for 2013 and a potential new album. Well, regardless, they seem to be together right now and for at least next year so... why don't we just let good things be good things and leave it at that.

There's no real thing I wanted to share. I just went and watched that video for Vaka earlier today and wanted to put that part of my life down somewhere. But, here is "Varúð" from their latest album Valtari. There's another video on your YouTube page featuring Shia "The Beef" but not only was the video a little graphic but the song itself wasn't particularly my cup of tea.

ODESZA - Above The Middle [dream pop, proghouse]

Well, school restarts on Monday. Not going to lie, I'm not looking forward to it in the slightest, but c'est la vie, right? More importantly, this probably means the summer is pretty much over. Although, just outside my window, I see that the sun is still shining and that the leaves still boast a healthy green, there's no denying that the days no longer extend way beyond dinner time and that what was once sweltering heat has dulled down to more of a warmth reliant on direct sunlight.

But hey, soon enough the long sunny days (as well as the sun's sometimes intolerable heat) will be back once again and, presuming I play my cards right, I'll have many a summer left to bask within. In the meantime, as one does near the end of anything, I'm going to reminisce for a little while listening to this, a piece that captures so readily dat summer feel.

This is "Above The Middle" by ODESZA from their recent LP entitled Summer's Gone. The whole album is a stellar listen if you really like this vibe, available here.

Hammock - The House Where We Grew Up [post-rock]

What's in a name? Generally, a song's name will give some idea about the song's lyrical content or atmosphere. For many post-rock artists, the title serves as the only time when the idea(s) behind a song can be expressed with words.

For example, Japanese post-rock band te' have tended to use egregiously long titles such as "True eloquence 'exists' in silent expressions, leaving words purposeless". In the 2005 album At The Soundless Dawn by Red Sparowes, the titles together formed a poem that was a very good complement to the actual music. But, on the opposite side of the spectrum, one of the members of Mogwai allegedly said that the song titles, at least for one of their albums, were completely random. Generally, though, I tend to give the benefit of the doubt to musicians and say that the titles hold some significance.

So why this long diatribe? Well, to give context and partially to justify the rest of the content of this post. The song receiving such the long-winded introduction is "The House Where We Grew Up" by Hammock found on their 2006 album Raising Your Voice... Trying To Stop An Echo.

Looking at the song through its title really adds a layer of atmosphere to the song. The bass and the electric at the beginning give a warm and homely feel. It really takes me back to a simpler time, before all these complications and responsibilities, when the most upsetting thing would be getting home and missing my favourite TV show.

The effected guitar that comes in around midway forms the other half of the equation and adds a ghostly feel that reminds you it is, in fact, memory. That feeling when you remember your past in a vivid but fragmented sense, with a sort of distortion that blurs and fuses pieces together.

To be honest, I don't remember my childhood all that well but if I were to try, this song would be a more-or-less spot-on description.