Providence’s Tim Woulfe releases his debut 7″ via Apollonian Sound, the light and lovely “Joyce” »
Tim Woulfe – Joyce
Leonard Cohen vocals and a Microphones simplicity are always going to produce a winning combination for me, and “Joyce”, with Woulfe’s slightly wobbly, unstressed vocal delivery and straightforward three-chord song structure do it all very well. Its lack of complication, with the exception of the song’s well-layered middle and final fifths, put added focus on pretty, familiar lyrics like “I thought I felt the wind but it was only your breath / clutching my skin, finding new depths.”
Also, gotta give credit to a kid who writes a love song with semi-tangible James Joyce references: “The heaventree of stars hung with humid nightblue fruit.” – from Joyce’s Ulysses.
“Joyce” is from Tim Woulfe’s upcoming debut LP, The Uncouth Swain (itself a John Milton reference). Pick yourself up some highly limited, handcrafted vinyl here »
New Zealand’s Glass Vaults absolutely floored us in 2010 and a year later in 2011 with a pair of excellent freely released EPs, Glass and Into Clear, respectively. They’ve been quiet for a couple of years but recently came back with a complete stunner of a track called “Ancient Gates” that takes their brand of ebullient art rock to epic new levels. You don’t want to miss this one:
As much as the true definition might suggest, I’m not sold on the idea of a crescendo being all about volume, or simply filling the empty space with more of what’s already there. To me, great crescendos adapt as they grow. Bass and drums fill the voids above which lighter instruments and sounds simply hover. New sounds add confusion and excitement while those in the first half of the song fade in and out. There must be dozens of sounds in “Ancient Gates”, a masterful patchwork song with secrets ripe for uncovering. Song like this tend to be my favorites– as I learn to pick out the more hidden or whitewashed, the song’s personal meaning changes along with its literal structure. It’s the definition of exciting, interactive music.
If Glass Vaults released an LP filled with songs of this calibre, I’d have my album of the year.
Here’s a newly released single from AZ/LA duo Calvin Markus and Travis Bunn a.k.a. Dead Times. “Centuries” is head-spinning future-r&b of the most original sort, grown organically from earthy percussion as much as sped up vocal samples, and with their first single “Feel” this officially makes Dead Times two-for-two:
Dead Times – Centuries
Ridiculous.
I guess I would be abiding some sort of subconcious stereotype if I said, “Well, I did not know that music from the Grand Cayman sounded like this!” It’s an accurate statement all around, since singer/songwriter Natasha Kozaily has a unique style that fits somewhere between trips down the rabbit hole with Alice and guest appearances with Mickey on Fantasia. Whimsical and driving, but with rich layers and powerful voice to push it home.
