Anti-music intolerance #2

Welcome to the continuation of “Anti-Music Intolerance” song recommendations. Get out of your comfort zone and listen to some new genre’s, fellas. From here I’ll let the music speak for itself, enjoy.

NEW RELEASES

“Paul Is Alive” – EL VY

EL VY is a collaboration of the vocalist of The National, Matt Berninger, and the composer Brent Knopf. Knopf has been involved with several different music projects. While he is best known for his work with the band Ramona Falls, he was also a key contributor to Menomena, who was featured in our preceding article. “Paul Is Alive” is found on the collaboration’s debut album “Return To The Moon” that released on October 30th of this year.

“Adventure Of A Lifetime” – Coldplay

Released on November 6th, this single is Coldplay’s first creation since the album “Ghost Stories” of 2014. As shown in ”Ghost stories” from songs like “Another’s Arms” or “Ink,” the band’s sound is progressing to more electronic. “Adventure Of A Lifetime” falls right in line with this style through effective sound layerings that aren’t limited to your typical drums, guitars, or keyboard. Coldplay experiments with sound as they always had, but with more technology influence in their melodies, differing them from their previous hits like “The Scientist” or “Yellow.”

“Wiped Out!” – The Neighbourhood

Compared to the majority of their work, this song has a more identifiable instrument base. While their electronic and synthesizing sounds are still predominant, there is a hint of acoustic guitar riffs as well as baseline drum beats. “Wiped Out!” is off of The Neighbourhood’s newest album, which is also titled “Wiped Out!” released on October 30th.

“God Damn Fool” – Charlie Sztyk

A simple guitar/vocal combo about love and its follies. Sztyk’s debut album “The Arc, Pt. 1 & 2” has an impressive mountainous landscape for its cover art, which describes his sound better than words could. This short two minute song inspires road trip listening and window gazing with its soft melody.
“California” – Grimes

Grimes has a similar sound to Purity Ring, in that they are both recognizable by their electrona-pop music base and their female vocal lead. “California” is a very ironic song. It expresses a happy sounding tune and tempo, but a depressing message of heartbreak. The treble and cheery hand claps distract from the give away first line “this music makes me cry.” So in a way, “California” is applicable to many moods, depending on your listening preference.

AUTHOR’S PICKS

“Day Old Blues” – Kings Of Leon

Kings Of Leon are known and loved by many, but their hits like “Use Somebody” and “Sex on Fire” often shadow their other works. “Day Old Blues” is off of one of their earliest albums, “Aha Shake Heartbreak” from 2004. This song is soft compared to the majority of their early work. The rest of “Aha Shake Heartbreak” shows a more distinguished rock style, heavy on the electric guitar and head-banging rhythm. The band lost some of this sound as they progressed, moving toward a pop-influenced tone.

“Down By The Water” – The Drums

This song was featured on their debut EP “Summertime!” in 2009, as well as their self titled first album of 2010. “Down By The Water,” similar to the other songs of their EP such as “Let’s Go Surfing,” focuses around one main guitar riff, then an abundance and variety of percussion: drums, tambourines, claps, etc. It allows their melodies to not be overruled by their instrumentation, and results in a simple but expressive music style.

“Tidal Waves & Hurricanes” -The Icarus Account

Like most of their music, “Tidal Waves & Hurricanes” is about a female love interest of some sort, and their almost entirely acoustic style makes the band’s message more intimate. The Icarus Account is a band worth mentioning because they’ve done a show right in our town three or four years back. Geneva Alumni, like our super fan Olivia Corbett’s sister Anna, found themselves in a friend’s basement watching Ty and Trey Turner perform as a personal favor to a fellow Genevaen. They did an acoustic setlist of their classic 2010 hits such as this one, then spent the night talking and joking with their small audience. The band’s “Sunshine and Rain” EP corresponds best to “Tidal Waves & Hurricanes” with their innocent acoustic tone and attention to infatuation.

“Kansas City” – The New Basement Tapes

The New Basement Tapes were a 2014 project put together by the acclaimed music producer T-Bone Burnett. The band’s task was to create modern songs formed around scrapped but rediscovered Bob Dylan lyrics from his Basement Tapes sessions. The diverse group featured Marcus Mumford of Mumford and Sons, Elvis Costello, Rhiannon Giddens, Jim James of My Morning Jacket, and Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes. A documentary titled, “Lost Songs: The Basement Tapes Continued” was created to track this project. “Kansas City” was fronted by Marcus Mumford, and it shows his folky spin off of Dylan’s unfinished musings.

“Jessica” – Major Lazer (featuring Ezra Koenig)

Ezra Koenig, lead singer of Vampire Weekend, vocalizes this Major Lazer song featured on their 2013 album “Free the Universe (Extended Version).” The song holds unique reworkings of steel drum sounds, mixing them with synths and vocal layering. Koenig toys with some gibberish-sounding language adaptations in his verses, expressing the song’s overall playful disposition and sound. Plus, Ezra Koenig is a babe.

Thanks, till next time. You stay classy, Geneva.