TOY : Join The Dots

Don’t be fooled by TOY’s name, these cunning song goldsmiths actually make the listener their own little puppet with magnetic, cosmic and entrancing multi-layered pieces of music, tunes that expand one’s mind as much as they stimulate the senses.

The London band is back just over a year after putting out one of the richest and most clever records of 2012, possibly the best British release since Primary Colours, The Horrors’ masterpiece. Let’s not forget that the former emerged in the latter’s emulating slipstream.

A swirling signature sound was crafted on their self-titled debut which, while it didn’t stick to one genre, was mainly reminiscent of shoegaze.

With their sophomore effort, they do not repeat themselves but substantiate their ability to balance pop patterns and celestial experimentation. “Conductor” is a jewel opening track, immersive as can be. An instrumental number, its beat is compulsively galvanizing, it is levitating and keeps you in orbit for over 7 minutes. Goosebumps galore! 

Does the rest of Join The Dots live up to this? The answer is positive.

The quintet excels at building a sensorial roller coaster, with no lull. Whilst revolving around time travel, the album also indulges a lot in bedazzling space travel.  

This is a band that never states the obvious and constantly surprises and plays with the listener, oscillating between heartswelling melodies, that may at times remind of the Paisley Underground, and experimental krautrock soundscapes. The whole thing remains coherent all the way through and is perfected by Tom Dougall’s luscious vocals.

Reiterating their prowess with this life-affirming and mesmeric record, TOY are in a league of their own. Creative world-class.

Join The Dots was released on Heavenly on December, 9th 2013.

THE ASTEROID NO.4 : The Asteroid No.4

Continuing its majestic journey, the brightest star in our galaxy is back with a self-titled record, its most mature effort to date. The band has relocated from its native Philadelphia to scenic California, moving closer to its neo-psychedelic peers.

Soaked in dapper melancholy, The Asteroid No. 4 primarily evokes autumn and the various sensations and colors attached to it. The Californians know how to write songs with painterly detail, using strings as brushstrokes and triggering that unique feeling that makes the listener feel safe whilst longing for something or someone.

“The River” makes a lordly opening track, being surprisingly much more grounded than their previous work and yet just as lush and layered. Neil Young circa 1970 springs to mind with this poetic, bittersweet and thought provoking tune that marks a new realm in their songwriting style. 
The latter reminds of Baudelaire’s quote :”I can barely conceive of a type of beauty in which there is no melancholy.”

Likewise, “The Windmill of the Autumn Sky” can be ranked as one of the band’s most solid compositions, encapsulating the fall in a glorious and timeless tune.

The Asteroid No. 4 remain flamboyant as well. "Rukma Vimana" and "Revolution Prevail" are epic electric anthems that take you straight on the band’s astral trail.

“Mount Meru” will remind old fans of the group’s early sound and debut album with its sitar and voice over while “Ghosts of Dos Erres” and “Back of Your Mind”  form links between outerspace and planet earth.

A  kaleidoscope of mental pictures, either earthy or otherworldly, is built all the way through. This album  possesses the ability to take you from vast terrestrial landscapes to orbit on a colorful ride.

Buy the ticket, enjoy the oddyssey!

http://theasteroidno4.bandcamp.com/album/the-asteroid-no-4

The Asteroid No.4 was released on October, 8th 2013. 

TY SEGALL : Sleeper

Sometimes it takes the least typical release of an artist to get one hooked. Being a little skeptical about what little I had heard of the nonetheless very prolific twenty-six year old, I had not listened to a full album of his until I stumbled upon the opening title track of Ty Segall’s latest record Sleeper. Its mellowness and stripped down refinement instantly captured my heart and I had to hear the whole thing, not just once but at least five times in a row on the day I came across it. It was a bit of an epiphany.

Picking up his acoustic guitar has indeed revealed the Californian’s better side and broader range, mingling darkness with a brighter “flower child” sensibility. Sleeper may apparently be minimalist, it is actually excellently crafted. A record that is part of a mourning process following the passing of Segall’s adoptive father, it can be read as an open letter full of troubled feelings. Paradoxically, the songs are very melodic and permeated with some heartmelting Lennon resonance.

Do not get me wrong, this is no rip off, the songwriter’s grief has generated some blissfully disarming, nearly classic little pieces of music, the sort of contemporary tunes that bear an instant prestige.

If you do not get smitten with the ineffable "She Don’t Care" and its scrumptious orchestrated strings, get a cardiologist appointment, your organ might be dysfunctional.

This collection of songs is bound to get you through winter’s long nights, unless you are more partial to the singer’s noisier range.

Sleeper was released on August, 24th 2013.

THE SOFT MOON : Zeros

If you are in need of a sonic experiment, you should get lost in the arcaneness of Luis Vasquez’s mind. The mastermind is tightening his grip with his new record Zeros, playing with the listener like a spider with its prey. One gets trapped in a foreboding claustrophobic universe, high on adrenaline and with literally no escape.

Unflinching and angst-ridden, The Soft Moon delights in razor-sharp rhythms and tight song textures, opaque labyrinths with ominous spirits and silent voices, hallucinogenic music that may give you cold sweats.
The dark side of the Soft Moon can be metaphorically viewed as a bone-chilling fist fight between the shadows of Ian Curtis and Robert Smith, however it is primarily the Oakland band’s own idiosyncrasies that make the sound killing : palpable tension like an army of little dancing insects clenched up in cinematic soundscapes that could trigger delirium tremens.
One must first accept frustration to experience The Soft Moon to the full, music which is often borderline  and whose edginess echoes upon one’s mind, like a psychotropic, in half-consciousness, it is then the bluriness of boundaries, that fine line between reality and fantasy, that makes one surrender and jubilate.
“Want”, the penultimate track, is the most striking example of The Soft Moon mental effect, sound that is so intrinsically nightly and oppressive that it puts you to the test.
The lack of consistent vocals contributes to a dehumanized, eerie and tribal climate, this is definitely not music that may leave you dry, it can either unsettle you as a worst case scenario or occupy every bit of your mind and get under your skin like a disease.

Vasquez & Co are warlock scientists who perform staggering surgeries on the human mind and thus make Zeros a manifesto of evil sorcery, neo post-punk at its best.
Join the black mass for mind games and electric shock releases!

My album of the year without a shadow of a doubt.

http://thesoftmoon.com/

Zeros was released in the USA on October, 30th and in Europe on November, 5th.

THE LAURELS : Plains

((( Laurels )))

A tangible symbol of distinction

The Laurels, an apt name for a band which is eminently proficient, the crown jewels of down under. 

These four sound goldsmiths bestow a whole new meaning on the word melodic, their songs indeed possess the purity of gold and the effulgence of gems, this gift legendary songwriters are blessed with : to craft tunes that are "universal", that is to say tunes that can appeal to many people and furthermore transcend that by being timeless. 

The band's sound cannot be dated in time, it is rather defined in light years, from a lordly collision of planets in outer space.

Plains encompasses plenteous soundscapes with plush layers. The more you hear the record, the deeper the songs appear, with trademark incandescent guitars that get under you skin and even flow through your veins for growing soundgasms. 

A masterstroke. 

"This City Is Coming Down" and "Sway Me Down Gently" are both epitomes of the band's mojo : a kaleidoscope of images and sensations,  turned into music from drops of an elixir of wizardry. 

The secret that lies beneath this is the four piece's striking chemistry, which blows one's mind when one gets to see them live.

Long live Australia's emblem of victory, these dream song cobblers are unparalleled ! 

http://riceisnice.bandcamp.com/album/the-laurels-plains