It’s almost finals! Get ready for never ending pots of coffee, all-nighters and irrational emotional breakdowns! But before that happens, join Radio 1190 this Thursday, December 3rd at Buchanan’s Coffee Pub for another Locals Live featuring Justin Root. Show starts at 7pm and it is completely free! Support local music!
Since the beginning of music, different musicians have collaborated to make art. When this happens, the strengths and weaknesses of each musician are exposed and the results are usually unpredictable and exciting.
In late 2015, Three Lobed Records, a one-man record label based out of Jamestown, North Carolina, recruited and paired up 10 of the best bands in folk rock, indie rock and beyond to release a 5-LP collection entitled Parallelograms. The album journeys through genres such as shoegaze, American Primitivism, Psych Folk, Free Improvision and beyond creating a diverse and oddly cohesive collection of tracks. On Parallelograms, there are splits between Steve Gunn & Kurt Vile, Bardo Pond & Yo La Tengo, William Tyler & Six Organs of Admittance, Michael Chapman & Hiss Golden Messenger and Caught on Tape & Bishop Orcutt Corsano.
Every writing style from covers, to original compositions, free form jams or somewhere in the middle is covered in this collection and shows that all of these forms can be utilized to create something unique and innovative.
Following a string of critically polarized records, Daniel Lopatin, also known as Oneohtrix Point Never, has polished up his sound for his newest record, Garden of Delete, without compromising any intensity.
Following the intro, “Ezra” showcases intense stop-and-start samples foreshadowing the rest of the album. Though the album is much tighter and focused than his previous, the album is fast, loud and in your face. The most accessible track on the record, “Sticky Drama”, is closer to EDM than any other track he’s ever created. But in the middle of the track, the composition drops out to erupt into a speed-metal breakdown featuring sequenced double-bass hits. The album then veers into familiar ambient-focused Oneohtrix Point Never territory but with a more rock influence.
The album may not be the most challenging Oneohtrix Point Never record, it is still exhilarating enough to make die-hard fans happy. With that, Garden of Delete may be the record to introduce a whole new audience to the wild world of Oneohtrix Point Never.
Indie pop darling Frankie Cosmos has been quiet for some time, but 2015 has brought us a new 4-song EP entitled Fit Me In. In true Frankie Cosmos fashion, she blasts through 4 tracks in only 8 minutes.
Instead of her usual stripped-down style, Cosmos incorporates a full band equipped with synthesizers to enhance her sound. Unlike her true bedroom pop style, it sounds much closer to a song that would play during a prom slow-dance in an 80’s movie.
Sadly, the tracks don’t have the same emotional impact as Zentropy. The songs seem a tad more rushed to have the same effect that her past releases have had. Hopefully this EP is a tease to a full-length to follow soon.
by James Calvet