Dizcovering Muzik: Volume 1 Out Now

It’s finally here. After weeks of hype, Dizcovering Muzik: Volume One has officially been released. This is my gift to all of you for helping the site continue growing. Please continue to come to the site, as there is much much more to come in the future. Be sure to fan us on Facebook, and tell us what your favorite tracks on the sampler are! You can download and stream the entire sampler totally free here, or right on this page.

Album Review: Sainthood Reps - Monoculture

There are plenty of methods of expressing angst and disapproval. Music is a common vessel for such an endeavor. Often these efforts result in the screaming of cliché symbolism and the relentless pounding of double bass, or minute long songs with hectic yelling of anti-establishment sentiments. While effective, these methods of expression feel overdone and rarely leave those responsible with any personality or identity. Sainthood Reps chooses a different path for their artistic expression. The Long Island natives choose to have their voice heard over a dark, grunge influenced indie rock soundscape. Signing to Tooth & Nail at the close of 2010, Sainthood Reps’ debut, Monoculture, is out August 9th with production by Mike Sapone (Brand New, Crime In Stereo).

Monoculture is an interesting examination of Sainthood Reps’ various indie and hardcore influences. The record feels a bit eclectic, from the depths of the heavyweight title track to the ambient indie vibe of Telemarketer. Some of the raw aggression of the title track is felt again at various points throughout the record, but as a whole the record is a bit more tame, becoming more and more low key all the way to the dramatic and self-serving Hunter. Guitarist Derrick Sherman’s presence is obvious, as the harder hitting sections of Monoculture have a Daisy vibe to them and the guitar work on Animal Glue might as well be a Brand New b-side. Monoculture is well written and carefully structured; the attitude of the band changes from song to song but the progression is logical and feels natural. It is a well-polished product with a strong sense of identity and direction.

Monoculture’s success at hitting its target musically is pleasing but not particularly impressive. Though enjoyable, the conclusion of the record did not leave me with a strong urge to start over. Perhaps the record’s biggest weakness is its lyricism. Dark, vague, dramatic, and artsy, the lyrics of Monoculture are not quite satisfying. Though they fit the mood perfectly, they are not particularly appealing. “Holiday Maker” daringly starts with ‘You walked in your garage and closed the door behind you, and then you turn on the ignition. You open all your windows wide and close your eyes.’ The song then proceeds to talk about a corporate giant falling into the Atlantic. Though I appreciate Sainthood Rep’s effort to relate to the business man who feels like he’s drowning, at various points throughout Monoculture it feels as though the band is trying too hard. “Holiday Maker” would have been better served starting “Tin soldiers and Nixon coming…”

Despite its shortcomings, Monoculture is a mature and effective debut, a claim I make confidently because Monoculture really does not feel like a debut. Sainthood Reps do not lack talent, and, perhaps with less effort put into trying to impress, future releases will be sure to satisfy.

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1. Monoculture
2. DINGUS
3. Telemarketer
4. Animal Glue
5. Hunter
6. No/Survival
7. Hotfoot
8. Holiday Makers
9. reactor, reactor, reactor, REACTOR!
10. Widow

Kerretta

An interesting electro-experimental rock band from New Zealand, Kerretta has a way of taking simple things and making them genius. With their recently released single, “A Ways To Uprise”, they take a classic 2-4 snare kick beat, throw on some ultrabass and some heavy distortion, add a bit of wah-wah synthesizer, and a hint of reverb, and they have a successful single. Not that this is the first time they’ve achieved such genius, as this is a single released after their four prior albums, and a hinting at what will be their sophomore full-length, after Vilayer, which was released in 2009. Hoping to hear a lot more from the band soon, because they hinted at some “big news” at the end of June, but we’ll wait and see what happens with the new album.

You can check out the single for free on their Bandcamp, and you can also stream the entirety of Vilayer for free as well.

Album Review: Braid - Closer to Closed

Well isn’t this completely out of left field? Yes, you read it right—Braid. The very same Braid that quietly helped shape the modern emo scene has returned. And “returned” shouldn’t be taken lightly, as Braid’s decade long absence has left a hole in the scene. With their last proper release over ten years behind them, Braid has arrived with four new songs in the form of an EP.

Closer to Closed is as solid an EP as fans could ask for. Few things have changed since the Frames and Canvas days. Bob Nanna still softly and confidently sings emotional themes, albeit less so this time around. The band as a whole is as wonderful as always, with the percussion standing out as especially likeable. The looping guitars still dance freely, giving the entire EP that “twinkly” sound that’s become a genre staple.

It’s a solid package indeed, with each track being outright excellent. The brevity is a little disappointing however, as the record feels as if it ends before it even begins. Still, “Universe or Worse,” as well as the rest of the songs, are wholly enjoyable, and worthy of multiple plays. They’re more subdued this time around, tapping into the more “indie” sound that Braid has always had. It displays maturation and musical growth, and is welcome.

Some may find Braid’s slightly altered sound a little off-putting, as it seems a little too close to Nanna’s other band, Hey Mercedes. Regardless, the collection of songs are simply excellent on their own merit. And who knows, maybe Closer to Closed could signal the second coming of Braid? If so, this EP is a great place to begin anew.

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“The Right Time”
“Do Over”
“You Are the Reason
“Universe or Worse”

Artist Spotlight: Marina & The Diamonds

Make no mistake, Marina Diamandis is the real deal. She possesses the voice, persona and looks which characterise all the best pop stars, and crucially she also delivers the songs to boot. In truth, her debut album The Family Jewels was a slightly patchy affair, but when it hit the spot - with songs like “Hollywood” and “Mowgli’s Road” - it hit hard. But while that album mainly comprised of quirky radio hits, this teaser music video for the as yet unannounced follow-up hints that her focus may have shifted somewhat.

The first thing that stands out is the concept. In the video, Marina undergoes a transformation from herself into an alter-ego, Electra Heart who, in her own words “epitomises and embodies the lies, illusions and death of American ideologies involved in the corruption of self.” Pretentious? Undoubtedly, but ambition such as this is often what separates the best from the rest, and Marina has already shown in her short career that she has the potential to realise such daunting targets.

But what of the actual song? Entitled “Fear And Loathing,” it’s far darker than anything else she’s come up with, and proves a stark contrast to much of The Family Jewels, which often bordered on silliness. Sparse, moody and beautiful, it arguably represents her best individual composition yet, and while the rest of the record may not follow suite, it’s certainly doing it’s job in raising excitement levels. In fact, if the whole album is this good, then a huge surge in popularity could be well within her reach.

Watch the video for “Fear And Loathing” here.

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Artist Spotlight: Fractures

You can’t fault indie bands who try to do something different, but all too often they forget to add the key components to their songs - namely the hooks. Catchy choruses in particular form the bedrock of most successful bands careers, and even now the rousing effect of a good old singalong takes some beating. London quartet Fractures clearly understand this. Sure, they’re hardly breaking new ground sound-wise, but even with only a few demos to their name they already sound like a band that could go places. Evidence of this is particularly strong on their song “Alone,” a blissful blast of guitar pop with a chorus so good that any member of indie’s elite would be proud to call it their own. In a way, it’s a shame that it’s only seeing the light of day now that summer is coming to an end, as it’d sound even better in the middle of a field backed by the collective voice of a festival crowd. Oh well, maybe next year…

Announcements, Reflections, and Dizcovering Muzik: Volume 1 (Free Sampler)

Warning: Sappy anecdote on the way.

I started MuzikDizcovery back in June of 2009. I needed somewhere to place my suggestions of bands and songs that wasn’t just via a Facebook status. At that point, the site was just for fun, and nothing that I expected to be too serious. Looking back on those posts, I can see my growth both in musical taste and writing style. To the change in taste, I can simply thank maturity, since as I grew older and more sophisticated (lolwut?), I desired more variety in music. The growth in writing almost never happened, as between the fall of 2009 and the spring of 2010, my posts were far and few in between. Even when I felt like I wanted to post more, I just never felt the motivation to follow through.

In the spring of 2010, I signed up for a class that allowed me to work on any project I wanted to with a mentor for credit. I decided I wanted to restart MuzikDizcovery and work on improving my writing with one of my former English teachers. That is where I can say MuzikDizcovery truly began. I continued to build up contacts, as my hits continued to surge. I then began hiring staff, as Jeff, Chelsea, and Kyle Minton joined my team. Interviews started flowing in, mostly as luck, when I received my first 10,000 hit month in January of 2011. Labels and press contacts started trusting me with promoting their bands, as Earshot Media and Decoder allowed me an early copy of their record. From there things kept building up, to where we are now.

Early this morning, I hit a milestone. One hundred thousand page views. This number begins in July of 2010, when I finally started taking MuzikDizcovery very seriously. This number also doesn’t include any of my own page views, as the number would have been at least twice the current number without that restriction. Never in my wildest dreams would I have expected to hit this number. And there’s no one else to thank but the people who continue viewing the site and clicking on my link.

So with that, I am pleased to announce MuzikDizcovery’s first free sampler, Dizcovering Muzik: Volume 1. The sampler will include the best bands we’ve covered here on MuzikDizcovery, both signed and unsigned. The full (unofficial) track list can be seen below, but some of the bands that will 100% be on the sampler are Hellogoodbye, Sister City, The Pattern Traced, and Again, For The Win, as well as exclusive new tracks from The Offseason and Meadower. These are only a few of the names that will be on the sampler, as plenty more names will be announced within the next week.

Dizcovering Muzik: Volume 1 is my way of giving back to all of you for helping the site grow bigger and bigger over these last two years. The whole sampler will be available on Bandcamp for free starting on Monday, August 15th, with the link to be announced soon. The current track listing for the sampler can be seen below, and will be updated as bands get added on the MuzikDizcovery Facebook page.

I start college in a couple weeks, but that does not mean the site is almost finished. I plan on expanding further and further, making the site more accessible to users and increasing the content at the same time. I’m still looking for new writers, and you should email me if you are interested. I’m also looking for people to help with design, and those interested should also email me. MuzikDizcovery is going to be a premier, well known music suggestion site, and I promise you that now.

Hellogoodbye - You Sleep Alone
CityCop - X
Sweatshirt Weather - Open Up The Sky
The Pattern Traced - Crush
Sister City - Eff That
Meadower - Wires (Exclusive)
Red Bellows - three.six.five

Huron - Mary Celeste

Normally, MuzikDizcovery doesn’t cover metal releases. However, with the quickly rising, Plymouth-based band Huron, we were asked to take a look, and after listening to Mary Celeste, I was all too excited to write something. A smooth blend between the harsh 90’s thrash metal scene and the older, rowdy rock ‘n roll style, Huron is the definition of heavy metal, with powerful shout-style vocals and facemelting riffs even the pickiest of metalheads could enjoy.

The title track of the album is a grooving testament to how hard Huron can hit. A fast, headbanging melody in two rumbles along like a fast moving earthquake as vocalist Sean Palmer screams, “She was dragging me down in her embrace / Tried to break free, it was too late / I never saw the devil in her eyes / Singing death’s lullabies”, referring to the mysterious sinking of the Mary Celeste. One of the most interesting tracks due to the nonfictional content of the lyrics, the lead-in to the solo is a fantastically constructed half-time breakdown, followed by a great work of arpeggios and harmonic minor by Neil Sims in the solos, that would only have been better if it were longer.

A relaxing break from all the brutality, “Eternal Sea, Pt. 1” is an unplugged tribute to HMS Ardent sailor John Goddard, which was sunk in the Falkland Sound on May 22, 1982. Palmer refers to this when he softly croons, “Ardent sleeps / Under her cold dark blanket / She creaks and moans / I’ll always defend her honour”, in homage to the sunken ship. The song is an acoustic ballad primarily in F, with mostly just one acoustic playing through the song. However, there is a very technical, very melancholic acoustic guitar solo over a power-chording acoustic and a choir of sad voices harmonizing, right before an acoustic outro and soft whispers by Palmer, “She will rise again and so will I / I’m with my brothers now / My pain has gone as they embrace me / I will see you again my love / I will be waiting on the other side”, and is a beautiful testimonial to a fallen man.

There was as much research done to compose this album as there was to write a review about it, and post-listen, I’m still reeling as to how much creativity went into what, on the surface, seemed like just another metal album. The combination of interesting subject matter and the well composed metal to back it up, this album is like reading a world history textbook while blasting some Godsmack. It hits pretty hard with every second, and I think my only complaint was the tone of the guitars, but that was easily ignored after I was immersed by the sheer force brought on by the technical skill and the lyrical quality. Fans of metal are going to find this an easy listen, I haven’t any doubts about it at all.

You can check out Huron on the band’s MySpace and on the band’s own website.

Track Listing:

1) Branded
2) Mary Celeste
3) Disperse Or We Fire
4) Blood In Blood Out
5) All My Gods
6) Serpentswine
7) Eternal Sea, Pt. 1 
8) Suffer
9) Black Harvest
10) Eternal Sea, Pt. 2 

Live Review: Iron Maiden, Metro Radio Arena Newcastle, 23/07/2011

Iron Maiden. Two words which should strike a chord with any metal fan the world over, and with good reason. Since they broke through in 1970 as part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement, the Londoner’s have become quite simply the biggest metal band that our nation has ever produced, influencing everyone from Metallica to Lady GaGa and boasting over 85 million in terms of record sales. All six members may be well into their fifties, yet they still hold a reputation as one of the greatest live acts on the planet, routinely selling out football stadiums in every corner of the civilised globe. With this in mind, this 11,000 capacity arena represented a relatively small venue for such big hitters, not that they made any effort to scale down.

Never ones to take themselves too seriously, the band was flanked by ludicrous space-themed props, and inevitably unleashed their iconic mascot Eddy, firstly as a ten-foot anamatronic monster and later as an enormous bust in the backdrop. The actual performance also hardly differed from their stadium act, with most the big guns aired and Bruce Dickinson showing once more why he’s one of rock music’s greatest frontmen. His titanic vocals may inevitably be deteriorating with age, but his mighty voice is still among the best in the business. However, it’s his abilities as a showman which remain his most impressive quality, and his ability to grasp a crowd in the palm of his hand remains completely undiminished. Moreover, his onstage energy and enthusiasm is a factor which proves just as important as the actual songs in preserving his band’s notorious live show.

That said, much of Iron Maiden’s music remains completely untouchable, being amongst the best metal ever put to tape. Indeed the appeal of songs such as “Fear Of The Dark,” “2 Minutes To Midnight” and “The Evil That Men Do” will never fade so long as the band continue to pump in as much energy and enthusiasm. They put just as much into new tracks from latest album The Final Frontier, though they hardly reached the same standard, and the absence of the crowd’s collective voice shouting along to every word made for a somewhat subdued atmosphere. Such glitches are nothing, though, when you’ve got such a strong back catalogue to lean on, and the band used this to their advantage after a slightly sluggish start.

The show really came to life when “The Trooper” and “The Wicker Man” provided a fantastic one-two punch, but few would argue that they saved the best for the encore. As ever, they returned on stage to the iconic intro to “The Number Of The Beast,” before ripping through the song itself which, despite having been played at virtually every one of their shows for the past 30 years hasn’t aged a day. This was swiftly followed by a colossal run through fan favourite “Hallowed Be Thy Name,” before they ended with early cut “Running Free.” Although there was an undoubted sense of disappointment that they didn’t play longer, that trio proved a thrilling apex to what overall was an excellent show. They proved once again that age is no barrier to a band if they have the appetite to continue, especially if you have a following as extensive as theirs. Certainly their future continues to look bright, and although some reports claim they’re approaching their twilight years, there really seems no reason why this well-oiled metal machine can’t continue for another decade at least.

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The Moor - The Moor

The Moor is a rare band that’s simply and blissfully easy to listen to. Utilizing dense, soulful tones, The Moor makes outright charming and lovely music that is neither too conventional, nor too “out there.” Filled with synthesizers, guitars, and piano, the instrumental backbone of the band is rather excellent. However, it’s the vocals, and their looming presence, that give the music it’s dark, warm feeling.

The band, whose self-titled debut will be release August 23rd, has given out a little teaser in the form of a track entitled “Warm Winter.” The title fits perfectly, as it’s a very barren track, with the excellent production and enveloping aesthetic really making the piece very dense and deep. It displays a band with the confidence of an act who’s been around much longer, a sentiment that is carried through their mature and self-assured sound.

“Warm Winter” is well worth checking out here. Also, be sure to check out The Moor when it drops later this month.