popwreckoning

Following the release of his solo album in September, Grizzly Bear’s Chris Taylor, under his solo moniker of CANT, will go on tour in North America in October. This comes after a short list of dates released for the UK in November with Blood Orange (Dev Hynes) opening. Now I don’t want to be presumptuous, but since Hynes will be opening on the UK tour, he has recently collaborated with Taylor on the CANT album, and Blood Orange is already on the bill for the LA date at the Troubadour, Hynes will more than likely be joining Taylor for the rest of the US tour.

We will keep updating this post if Blood Orange is confirmed, and if any other artists will be joining CANT. Tickets are on sale now.

Tour dates:

October:
01  Doug Fir Lounge Portland, OR
02  Media Club Vancouver, British Columbia
03  Triple Door Seattle, WA
05  The Independent San Francisco, CA
07  Soda Bar San Diego, CA
08  Troubadour Los Angeles, CA
11  Urban Lounge Salt Lake City, UT
12  Larimer Lounge Denver, CO
14  The Bottleneck Lawrence, KS
15  7th Street Entry Minneapolis, MN
16  High Noon Saloon Madison, WI
18  Lincoln Hall Chicago, IL
19  Magic Stick Detroit, MI
21  Garrison Toronto, Ontario
22  Cabaret Mile End Montreal, Quebec
24  Middle East Downstairs Boston, MA
25  Bowery Ballroom New York, NY
27  Johnny Brenda’s Philadelphia, PA
28  Rock and Roll Hotel Washington, DC
29  Moog Festival Asheville, NC

For more information about the tour and CANT, go to http://warp.net/records/cant/north-american-dates-announced

Ethereal Brooklyn act Acrylics had a busy schedule at 2011′s SXSW, but they found some time to catch up with PopWreckoning. The synth heavy duo, Jason Klauber and Molly Shea, chats about new album Lives and Treasure, Super moon vibes and the influence of “Twin Peaks. Check the full interview out below: 

PopWreckoning: You just played a set here at SXSW, earlier, right?
Jason Klauber, Acrylics: Yes.
PW: Was that your first SXSW performance ever?
Molly Shea, Acrylics: First of this year.

PW: You’re a fairly new band and you just had an EP that came out on Grizzly Bear‘s Chris Gehringer‘s label – the first to come out on his label. How did you get hooked up with him?
JK: Pretty much we’re a part of that Brooklyn band cesspool. We’ve crossed path Chris over the years and he thought it’d be fun to have us record some sessions. These sessions ended up being put out as an EP, so they just put it out. At the time they were just doing singles, and we were just going to record a single, but it stretched out into a 5-song thing. It was really casual. We spent about a week in a church that he records out of. It was really fun to do that. That was our first release and we’re putting out a new record – well it just came out.
MS: It came out March 1.
JK: We’ve been working on it for so long that it’s hard to say – to put it in the past tense, but it did come out.

PW: It’s still pretty new. Present tense. Now on that record, you did a song with Chairlift‘s Caroline Polachek.
MS: She’s just a friend that we met three or four years ago just through musicians in Brooklyn. It’s really true about Brooklyn, I guess.

PW: Well how would you describe that Brooklyn scene? Is it like just being in a family or…?
MS: It’s so huge that there’s so many different groups of bands that know each other. It’s hard to classify the whole sphere.
JK: It’s more of a social thing. Musicians like to hang out with musicians, and there’s a lot of them in Brooklyn. It’s as simple as that. With Caroline, she came to visit us in the studio one day and we had that song going.
MS: Very casual event.
JK: Yeah, we said you want to sing some backup vox? And she said yes, so next thing you know she’s singing.
MS: We thought it was the perfect song for her.
JK: She did some vocal athletics at the end of the song and it’s very atmospheric. Like, “ah-ah-ah-ah,” so we thought she deserved a feature and credit on it.
MS: It was a vocal solo.
JK: She’s a phenomenal singer, so it’s just fun to have her lend her talents to what we were working on.

. “Sparrow Song” ft. Caroline Polachek

PW: So for people who haven’t heard your music, why should they check your record out?
JK: It’s a good record.
MS: We put our hearts and souls into it. I know it sounds corny, but it’s true.
JK: I think there’s some good songs on it and it’s produced in a way that makes it a great record to listen to by yourself in an intimate space. It was created much with that type of intimacy. It’s like watching a movie that takes you from place A to place B while you’re lying in bed. I think you can achieve something similar if you run through the course of our record a few times as well.
MS: It’s a personal, intimate record. I imagine people listening to it on their headphones.
JK: It’s certainly not for everybody, but I think that people who will connect to it, will connect and have connected, in a very sincere and meaningful way. That’s what it’s about for us.

PW: Who are some of your influences on the record?
MS: Tough question.
PW: That’s supposed to be one of the easy questions.
JK: Haha, yeah. We didn’t want to sound like anybody else, but if we ended up sounding like everybody else, it can be a good thing, you know?
MS: We listen to a lot of different – I mean, I love a lot of 60s psychedelic music. I love a lot of loud, hard rock. That might not have come across in an obvious way on the record, but it’s there. We have a lot of punk rock roots that we feel are strong.
JK: I was in the middle of the “Twin Peaks” series when we were making the record so a lot of the Angelo Badalamenti scores for that project had some influence over the sound. In terms of the songwriting, we were just taking from everywhere. For me – most of those songs are just written on acoustic guitar in your bedroom. You decide as just two people how to build up your sound. I think we were interested in cinematic, rich, layered textures. When we were making this record, I wanted something that was connected to a classic, rooted American feeling, but we also wanted to bring in other worldly elements, so that together you’re home, but also somewhere else. You know, that feeling when you come home from being away and you feel great to be home, but at the same time, home looks different than how you remembered it. That sense of being somewhere else when you’re somewhere familiar. That sort of weird – we were going for that.

PW: Since we’re talking while at SXSW and this is kind of a huge and crazy festival, what are some of the coolest and craziest things you’ve seen while here?
JK: A fight! We saw a really crazy fight.
MS: We walked really far into East Austin to check out our friends Das Racist play yesterday. It took us about on hour to get there and it was in a strange part of town and a fight broke out after the show.
JK: Like someone getting his head stomped kind of fight. Very scary. Everyone ran out. It was like walking out into rural Arkansas in the 1960s. We live in the ghetto of New York, so…
MS: We love that kind of shit. We love to go on adventures like that.
JK: We lapped it up like a cat.
MS: We saw all sorts of strange things happen the other night.
JK: There’s this thing called the extreme super moon, which is coming on Saturday. It means that the moon is the closest to Earth that it’s been in 18 years. I think this stuff happening coincidentally with the super moon, is dark vibes.
MS: So everyone be vigilant.
JK: We thrive off those sorts of vibes. We wear black on the outside because black is how we feel on the inside. Haha. I say with a smile. Haha.

PW: Haha. So what’s next for you after South by?
MS: We’re going on a national tour, late April to May, with Junip – Jose Gonzalez‘ band. So we’re super stoked about that because we’ve never done a full tour.
JK: We’re bringing the message to the people. We’re in the process of writing a new record as well.

PW: One record just out and you’re already doing the next one?
G: Absolutely. We stay working. All the time. Writing. That’s what we do.

You can find more about the Arcylics, including tour dates, at myspace.com/acrylicsnyc.

Phoenix have remixed Grizzly Bear. Well, kind of. Here’s what they actually had to say about their “remix“:

A long time ago Grizzly Bear asked us to remix one of their tracks, but we never found the boldness to mess with their beautiful songs.
So the other day we figured, maybe if we combine great things together (Grizzly Bear, Eno, chance), it would create something good.

So instead, Phoenix posted these two songs side by side and allow people to kind of create their own remix for them:

I N S T R U C T I O N S
1. Press play on either player
2. After an indefinite number of seconds, press play on other player
3. You can create your own mix by adjusting the volume on either player
4. If it’s good : enjoy, if it’s bad : try again !

It’s pretty fun, so be sure to give it a try.

Big Echo is fantastic. I’m just going to come right out and say it like it is. I’ve been a Morning Benders fan for about two years now, and I’ve never seen this much growth in a band in this short amount of time. It’s kind of baffling, because none of the members of this Berkeley band are over the age of 24.

A far cry from their youthful and surf-pop debut, 2008’s Talking Through Tin Cans, Big Echo was co-produced by frontman Chris Chu and friend Chris Taylor of Grizzly Bear. Even without knowing that, it’s almost impossible to not recognize Grizzly Bear’s influence on Big Echo, as the Morning Benders utilized a plethora of different percussion instruments and even more prominent layered vocals than their last album. Overall, it all came together in what Chu called a “wall of sound.” There’s no empty space in these songs, filling your ears with heavy bass, majestic strings, trickling piano chords, jazzy vocals and so much percussion it sounds like they recorded drummer Julian Harmon playing at least three different instruments several times. But it’s not overdone. The quartet still managed to keep the refreshing lo-fi sound that they did so well on Talking Through Tin Cans.

No track on the album better exemplifies that fact than the opening song, “Excuses,” which the band recently recorded with a bunch of fellow Bay Area musicians, releasing a video along with it. “Excuses” is nothing short of lovely, even starting off with the less-than-suggestive lyrics of, “you try to taste me, and I taped my tongue to the southern tip of your band.” Chu’s harmonies make for a song that sways beautifully like that awkward first dance. It’s darling, it’s natural, and it makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside (pardon the cliché).

Other standouts include “Promises,” “Cold War (Nice Clean Fight),” “Hand Me Downs,” and “Stitches.” The band released “Promises” several months ago via their website, so this was my first taste of Big Echo, and it was a good foreshadowing. The “wall of sound” mixed with familiar garage rock swagger made for a perfectly balanced (hopefully) first single. “Cold War” is by far the quickest and most upbeat of all the tracks on the album, staying at a keen 1:44 and featuring a toy piano and a driving set of hand claps, and it’s just light enough to catch your breath, metaphorically speaking, in the midst of the heavier songs. With “Hand Me Downs,” you get a great vocal hook – “when we fall, when we fall, when we fall far away,” as well as a strong guitar riff sporadically throughout the 3:46 track, reminding me of Grizzly Bear’s “While You Wait for the Others,” building the sound until the end when it drifts off into pure vocal harmonies.

Vocal harmony is one thing that holds Big Echo together like Mighty Putty, like an underlying pattern in a designer’s spring collection, like a photographer’s watermark. And the Morning Benders had it even before Taylor came on to help produce it, but with his help they’ve polished it into an excellent second album.

When I saw the Morning Benders open for Grizzly Bear back in October, there was one song that I remembered, “Stitches.” I remembered it being soft and slow, with a building intensity matched with Chu’s subtle and easy vocals. Listening to it on the record was exactly how I remembered – as just one of those songs you have to listen to without any distractions so you get all the goosebumps possible.

Honestly, on my first listen of Big Echo, I was very surprised as to how toned-down it was from Talking Through Tin Cans, but it was all part of the Morning Benders natural growth, honing their writing and recording skills. And bringing Taylor on as co-producer wasn’t a bad idea either, seeing that Grizzly Bear’s Veckatimest was one of the highest-rated albums of 2009. Just as well, being one of the highly anticipated albums of early 2010, Big Echo surely delivered on all marks. Remaining youthful without being pretentious, the Morning Benders will hopefully keep going with the two stellar albums in their repertoire.

Danish experimental pop quintet Oh No Ono is making their US debut on Brooklyn-based Friendly Fire Recordings with their latest collection of audio intricacies and oddities, Eggs. The band formed in 2003 and released their first EP, Now You Know Oh No Ono, in February 2005. Since then, they have become one of the most influential bands in Denmark; band members include Aske Zidore (guitar, vocals, samples), Kristoffer Rom (drums), Nis Svoldgaard (bass), Kristian Olsen (keyboards) and Malthe Fischer (guitar and vocals).

To record their latest album, the band locked themselves away in a small country home for nine months to create a trippy, instrumental-filled, highly-textured bag of enjoyable odd. Each of the ten songs seems to get stranger and more unique as you travel alongside their drums, bass, guitar, vocals and animal noise-filled journey to a place far off this planet. Their sound is inherently their own. It is a compelling mixture of bizarre and catchy tunes that border on the verge of “what were we listening to?”

Oh No Ono is a pop band that mixes electro, new wave and psychedelic styles to become an alternative sound similar to that of Animal Collective and Brooklyn-based band Grizzly Bear. Personal stand-out songs include “Swim,” which emanates an eerie and peaceful sound that is entirely mutually exclusive, “Icicles,” a song with an on-again, off-again haunting operatic feel and my personal favorite, “Helplessly Young,” which is a fast-paced, poppy rock song.

Oh No Oho – “Helplessly Young”

Watch “Swim”

This band definitely has a voice, a knack for the weird and the desire to create a new sound in every song. After listening to Eggs, I started to wonder how these songs came about. Were they on acid? Meth? And then I remember they spent nine months in a country home together. Whatever Oh No Ono did, it worked.

Watch out for the US debut of Oh No Ono’s latest release, Eggs, on January 26, 2010.

Tracklisting:
01. Eleanor Speaks
02. Swim
03. Internet Warrior
04. Icicles
05. Helplessly Young
06. The Wave Ballet
07. The Tea Party
08. Miss Miss Moss
09. Eve
10. Beelitz

Oh No Ono: website | myspace

After major tours in 2009 supporting Grizzly Bear and Girls, indie-pop group the Morning Benders are heading out on their own headlining tour in 2010. 

The tour is in support after their sophomore album, Big Echo, due out March 9 on the group’s new label, Rough Trade Records. Tickets for the tour go on-sale this weekend.

Tour Dates:
March 10 – Jonny Brenda’s / Philadelphia
March 11 – The Black Cat / Washington DC
March 12 – Local 506 / Chapel Hill
March 13 – The Drunken Unicorn / Atlanta
March 15 – The Bottletree / Birmingham
March 23 – The Rhythm Room / Phoenix
March 25 – Troubadour / Los Angeles
March 26 – Casbah / San Diego
March 27 – Detroit Bar / Costa Mesa
March 28 – Muddy Waters / Santa Barbara
March 30 – The Independent / San Francisco
April 1 – Holocene / Portland
April 2 – Crocodile Café / Seattle
April 3 – Media Club / Vancouver
April 5 – Club Velour / Provo
April 7 – Hi-Dive / Denver
April 9 – The Vaudeville Mews / Des Moines
April 10 – The Maintenance Shop / Ames, IA
April 11 – Huckleberry’s Pizza – Presented by Daytrotter / Rock Island, IL
April 12 – Schubas Tavern / Chicago
April 14 – The Drake Hotel / Toronto
April 15  – La Sala Rossa / Montreal
April 16 – The Monkey House / Vermont
April 17 – TT The Bear’s / Boston
April 22 – The Mercury Lounge / NYC

The Morning Benders: website | myspace | @moore theater | @ monolith | @ boston | @ city market

What is there to say about Day 2 of ACL? After such a beautiful Day 1, the rain came and stuck around for the most part of Day 2. When I realized this rain was not going to pass anytime soon, I invested in a poncho. The beautiful Zilker Park was left a muddy mess in mere hours, but festival goers embraced the rain and mud, most opting for bare foot and whatever plastic they could find to shield themselves from the elements.

Starting off my day was Deer Tick who I had heard such good things from coworkers, but I was left underwhelmed, perhaps due to the dreary weather. I made my way to the Livestrong stage to see Alberta Cross (who later received a shout out from Mr. Dave Matthews during his headlining set). The rained eased up as they made their way through their bluesy set, but I had other places to be so I made my way to the Felice Brothers to get a good spot for Grizzly Bear as well and that’s unfortunately when the skies opened and the downpour began. Grizzly Bear pushed themselves rather far back in the stage and didn’t move or interact all that much. So while I appreciate the songs, I left feeling a little mixed on their set.

With a quick jaunt to the media to load up on free snacks on my mind, I made my way back in the rain. Once I was full of Coca Cola and all natural snacks, I braved the elements to see my personal highlight of the day and that was Bon Iver. I had not heard much about his shows, but I was floored at his soulful vocals and haunting harmonies with his backing band, making the rain feel insignificant. After Vernon’s wonderful set on steel guitar, I made my way through the mud to Mos Def. While I was initially disappointed by his tardiness and hiding behind a drum kit for the first two songs, the showman Mos Def I have come to love and respect graced the front of the stage mic in hand working the rain shocked crowd into a frenzy.

After enjoying the wonderful catered BBQ in the media area, I made my way to Dave Matthews Band. Now while I’m not what I’d consider a fan, I do have an appreciation for the sheer musicianship Matthews and gang demonstrate on a nightly basis; I also have to appreciate a cover of Talking Heads “Burning Down The House” While nothing can live up to David Bryne’s vocals on the track, DMB’s version was rather lively and Dave’s dance moves worked the mud-covered fans into hysteria. After their set, I decided to call it a night and waited for my free shuttle back to my hotel to rest up, clean off my shoes (remember, ALWAYS pack more than one pair of shoes) and rest up for Day 3.

Austin City Limits: website | day 1

I arrived at the Moore Theatre last night just in time to get my Will Call tickets right when the doors opened, thankfully – since it was one of the rainiest days of the year in Seattle, which is saying a lot. I stood out in the lobby for a bit before they opened the doors for us to find our seats.

I – along with a few other people – trickled into the old theater through the corridors myself in the box seats, the others spread around within the theater. A few guys came and sat in the box a few rows behind me, discussing whether or not to get drunk.

“We can’t drink beer down here? Let’s go mingle. Let’s go drink beer,” the first guy proposed.

“Okay, dude. Let’s go drink beer,” the second guy responded.

By that point, the historic Moore Theatre was pretty empty. Actually, most of the people didn’t arrive until halfway through the openers, the Morning Benders from San Francisco.

Personally, they were a big part of the reason why I went to the gig. I saw them in July of 2008 as openers for my favorite band We Are Scientists, and from then on I wished to see them again.

Unfortunately, when they came back to Seattle this October, someone decided to break into their van some time before the show and steal some of their equipment, among other random things. But had I not known that, I wouldn’t have thought otherwise, because they were totally at ease on stage. Kicking it off with a low-key version of “Damnit Anna,” one of the peppier songs from their debut Talking Through Tin Cans, they were just the right compliment for Grizzly Bear – the headliners. But the rest of the songs were new ones from their upcoming release, Big Echo, which doesn’t yet have an official release date. I caught a few of the titles of the new songs, and my favorites were “Hand Me Downs,” an upbeat song more reminiscent of Talking Through Tin Cans, and “Stitches,” a slow, heavy ballad. “Stitches” actually kind of mesmerized me. And sitting by myself in the box at that point, I could just bask in the sound and listen. It was nice.

The Morning Benders’ sound was more mature than the last record, which makes me excited to hear all of Big Echo. But even though their new stuff sounded more mature, the Morning Benders still had the same charm they had last time I saw them. All of their guitars may not have been labeled “Britney Spears,” but drummer Julian Harmon had the familiar sticker on his snare. Not sure what it means. I’ll have to figure that out one day, but it’s interesting nonetheless.

The Morning Benders were very gracious openers, as front man Chris Chu repeatedly thanked Grizzly Bear for bringing them on this leg of the tour, which gave everyone a nice impression of the band. But I don’t think they got the love they deserved because like I said earlier, most of the people got to the venue late, just in time to see Grizzly Bear. At the end, Chu thanked the crowd “for coming early to see us.” That’s not early, that’s on time. Everyone else got there late.

But they did come to see an amazing show. Grizzly Bear was amazing.

Normally I don’t like sitting in the theater at gigs, but in this case, the Moore was the perfect venue for it – large, but not too large so it’s still intimate. And the haunting vocals from Daniel Rossen, Ed Droste, Chris Taylor and Chris Bear worked perfectly with everyone seated. It’s not the kind of music you dance to, more like the kind you just listen to.

And that’s all I had to do – listen.

And Grizzly Bear surely brought in the crowd. The guy sitting next to me had heard of them just that day, and lived in Pullman. He drove four hours to see them. Wow.

I’ve never seen a more dynamic group of musicians. First hearing them on Veckatimest a couple months ago, I would have never guessed they could pull off all the layers of sound they achieved on the record the same way live. But they did. Droste would switch from keyboard to guitar to harpsichord, and Rossen switched from keyboards to guitar. But Taylor was the one that stood out to me in his multiple instrumentalist skills. From bass to flute to clarinet and bass clarinet, and another odd instrument that I couldn’t name if I ever tried. It just added an eerie ringing sound to several of the songs.

Speaking of the songs, Grizzly Bear played a nice mixture of songs from Veckatimest and 2006’s Yellow House, which lent itself to the range of sounds they created on stage. Starting off the show with “Southern Point,” it was just the right amount of energy to get people excited. Not only did they sound great, but also there were Mason jar lights set up all along the stage hung from stands, creating a wave of lights to go along with the psychedelic indie rock.

Some of my favorite tunes of the night were “Fine for Now,” “Little Brother,” and “Lullabye.” But what got the crowd going most was “Two Weeks,” Grizzly Bear’s biggest hit yet. Besides, it’s the easiest to sing along to. But the biggest song of the night, and the one that really gave me goosebumps with all the slow buildup, Taylor’s constant switching of instruments, and soaring harmonies from Droste and Rossen was “I Live With You.” I could see people all around the theater bobbing their heads to the music that filled the extremely tall Moore.

Droste actually said towards the end of the night, “Are you guys getting vertigo up there? I was up there earlier, and it’s weird.” The second balcony is quite tall, and most of the time requires binoculars, but it sounds just as good because of the acoustics of the theater. From where I was sitting in the box on the main floor, the heaviness of the bass actually made my glasses shudder and eyes blur for a second.

After the “last song,” everyone got on their feet to applaud for the encore, except a select few that actually thought it was the end of the show. But a couple minutes of applause later, the foursome walked back out on stage for one last song, “He Hit Me,” from the Friend EP. It was a perfect way to end the show, finishing at a little before 11 p.m.

Now all I had to do was wait for my ride to get there. But while I waited, I stood outside the venue for a bit and mingled with the other fans waiting to meet the band. I still have yet to do that, as I have an odd fear of meeting bands. Not sure why, but I really need to get over that.

Maybe next time.

Grizzly Bear: website | myspace

His MySpace page reads like that of a scrappy Brooklyn any-kid who makes music for his friends from the unassuming far corner of his childhood bedroom, next to a pinup of Tom Petty and a wide-eyed girl he might be in love with. The self-tweeted “Rambling Man” doesn’t have that many “friends,” a mere 3,968, is still grateful for small NYC club gigs, and cites both Biggie and Pavement as influences, but his music begs a much bigger bio than his profile suggests. One listen to “Buriedfed,” from his eponymous 2008 debut will destroy you. It’s the best of Dylan’s rawness, the starkness of Hemingway, and reminds me of the hometown lyrical longing and driving guitar momentum that is so inherently Springsteen. Up until now, I haven’t come across a voice that so accurately portrays the hope and fear that is the underbelly of change defining our generation. Like a memoir unfolding in real time, playing parallel to us, Miles is your spot on soundtrack.

On Summer of Fear, produced by TV on the Radio’s Kyp Malone, and a little help from the boys of Grizzly Bear, out October 20th on Saddle Creek Records, Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson sings us a dark, dark story of the anxiety that accompanies the risk of dreaming in uncertain times. A hazardous balladeer compared to his peers, Robinson swims all the way out, far past the buoys, through scratchy, shaking whispers and blood curdling screams looking for answers to questions most of us are afraid to ask, doing things we know we shouldn’t, just to remind himself of the feeling, a lyrical cutter trying to make a mark deep enough that he never forgets.

The Summer of Fear is the story about the summer of 2007, when Robinson, beat up and reckless, mounts the greatest fight of his life tackling the catastrophe of heartbreak, the saltiness of something new, the satisfaction of anger, and the hope of redemption. Robinson say’s “Listening to it now…It’s like someone banging on a door really hard, until they start throwing their shoulder into it….then someone on the other side simply opens it and on the next lunge the solicitor goes hurtling across the threshold. It’s well produced, but there’s a lot of frustration and rage on the record. Every song has a point of catharsis.”

“Summer of Fear Part 2″ is easily the most arresting track on the album beginning with a carefree little whistle that you swear you’ve heard a thousand times, that you know you’ve hummed before is anchored by a riff as melancholy and infinitely as sad as a great Pumpkins song, Robinson makes a plea for what was, desperate for the memory. “I said knock-knock” a voice in the way back calls, “who’s there?” Robinson screams, “You said you’d never forget…you said you’d never forget.”

Surrounding lyrics and Robinson’s strum is a complex orchestration to the music with hidden whispers, fuzzy guitars, warming choirs, and miscellaneous trinkets of sound, creating an audio scrapbook that will last forever even if the memory can’t. While The Summer of Fear may have been his biggest battle to date, I have a feeling Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson has quite a few more fights left in him and I’ll be damned if I miss another.

Tracklisting:
01. Shake a Shot
02. Always an Anchor
03. The Sound
04. Hard Row
05. Trap Door
06. The 100th of March
07. Summer of Fear pt. 1
08. Death by Dust
09. Summer of Fear pt. 2
10. Losing 4 Winners
11. More than a Mess
12. Boat

Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson: website | myspace

Reviewing this album is bittersweet for me. For one thing, I hate all the hullabaloo that Twilight has brought along with it. It’s taken over so much of the media lately, and I’ve been sick of it since it started. When I saw the list of artists that were contributing to the Twilight Saga: New Moon soundtrack, my heart sank. Not because they were bad, but because they were oh so good, and the fact that they’d jumped on the Twilight bandwagon irked me so much. Secretly, I was hoping that the soundtrack was really really bad.

But I was proven wrong, because it’s so good.

Like, really good.

As of right now, I’m separating the soundtrack from the film, because the soundtrack will surpass the quality of the film no doubt. And I’ll take you through Alexandra Patsavas’ musical masterpiece piece by piece, as it’s the only way I can do it justice.

1. Death Cab for Cutie – “Meet Me On The Equinox”

As far as a Death Cab song, when I first heard this I was a little underwhelmed. But I think they’ve mixed it differently for the final soundtrack, so it’s grown on me a bit. Sure, the hook is a little generic for a Death Cab for Cutie song, but as far as a catchy single to start off the soundtrack, it works really well.

2. Band of Skulls – “Friends”

Track two had a completely different vibe as the songs surrounding it – as it’s more upbeat, and provides a lightness that the soundtrack otherwise doesn’t have. It’s the first of a few very raw sounding tracks on this album, which is something you didn’t get from the first film’s soundtrack. “Friends” isn’t a huge song, but it’s a nice departure from the other big songs on the record.

3. Thom Yorke – “Hearing Damage”

This was the one track I was dying to hear, as I’ve been a huge Radiohead fan for a long time, and it’s hard to criticize Thom Yorke for anything. And yet again, like the song says, Thom, “You can do no wrong… in my eyes.” A great throwback to Eraser from a few years ago, “Hearing Damage” is a dreamy electro track full of ominous synthesizers and tricky drums.

4. Lykke Li – “Possibility”

When I heard that Lykke Li would be contributing a song, I was expecting something similar to “I’m Good, I’m Gone,” for a less intense part of the movie, maybe when Bella isn’t seeing Edward in her head, but this slow ballad is so beautiful. It almost reminded me of “Lover’s Spit” by Broken Social Scene, with the heavy constant piano chord and lo-fi sound.

5. The Killers – “A White Demon Love Song”

This was the only song that didn’t seem to fit so perfectly with the rest of the soundtrack, but that could be the context The Killers bring with them, but I totally dig it as a Killers song. It goes back to Brandon Flowers’ natural crooning vocals without any of the frantic energy he seems to have adopted with Day and Age.

6. Anya Marina – “Satellite Heart”

To tell you the truth, the opening hook to this song sounds so much like another of Marina’s songs “Move You.” But then again, Alexandra Patsavas is also the music supervisor for “Grey’s Anatomy,” which is where I heard “Move You.” But as “Satellite Heart” moves through its verses and choruses, it gets bigger and draws you in more. The violin additions towards the end gave me goosebumps too.

7. Muse – “I Belong To You”

The original version could have easily gone in this version’s place. The remixing didn’t make it any better, nor did it necessarily make it any worse. This is by far the peppiest song on the record, which may mean something that it’s right in the middle. I don’t know, but this song didn’t wow me so much now, mostly because I’ve listened to it so many times since The Resistance came out last month.

8. Bon Iver & St. Vincent – “Rosyln”

Let me tell you, Justin Vernon’s vocals layered with Annie Clark’s and mixed with the understated acoustic guitar and banjo made for the best song on the record. By far. I could listen to it all day. It’s just…wow.

9. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – “Done All Wrong”

BRMC’s distinctly lo-fi sound here works exquisitely, with the hints of southern rock and blues adds a different kind of sadness to the record, which up until now has lacked the depth that blues can bring. And what’s so ironic is that BRMC was on the season one soundtrack to “True Blood,” another bit of vampire fare.

10. Hurricane Bells – “Monsters”

Similar to “Friends,” “Monsters” is very much an upbeat song, with a hint of hopefulness. As a heavy movie watcher, I think “Monsters” almost sounds like one of those songs that editors layer over a montage, but not a cheesy one. Not quite filler, but not quite a stand-out, “Monsters” is one of the middle-of-the-road songs on the soundtrack.

11. Sea Wolf – “The Violet Hour”

The second happy song in a row, “The Violet Hour” is so dancey you wonder what’s happening in the story where they play this song. It also emphasizes the vocal theme throughout the record – quieter, smaller vocals – which is different from the first soundtrack with Paramore’s Haley Williams’ loud rock-chick vibe and Chester Bennington’s raw shriek.

12. OK Go – “Shooting the Moon”

A typical OK Go song, with Damian Kulash’s soft, dreamy crooning, “Shooting the Moon” is another lighter song on the record. But what makes this song even better is the stark contrast that comes in the last minute of the song with heavy bass and strong distorted guitar riffs.

13. Grizzly Bear – “Slow Life”

Coming off an amazing record, Veckatimest, Grizzly Bear doesn’t lose any of their authentic sound here with the intentionally droning vocals from Beach House’s Victoria Legrand adding to the ominous, woodsy feel of Grizzly Bear’s music. As the song goes on, it builds to the climax which makes it fit perfectly on the soundtrack.

14. Editors – “No Sound But The Wind”

In tandem with their latest release, this marks the beginning of a new period for Editors, losing the heavy Interpol parallels and moving into a rawer, anthemic sound. “No Sound But The Wind” essentially finishes out the record in terms of rock songs, and it is the perfect ending in terms of emotion.

15. Alexander Desplat – “New Moon (The Meadow)”

It’s hard to talk about a classical song in the context of an otherwise indie rock soundtrack, but by itself, this song makes me actually kind of excited to hear the full score. It’s not too long, yet not too short, to give us just the right amount of classical to actually finish off the album.

This went on very long apparently, but hopefully it enlightened you to how awesome this soundtrack is. It moves fluidly through different emotions and different keys it sounds like one of those great mix CDs that you made for your significant other when you were going through a “rough patch.” Even if you hate everything Twilight, give the soundtrack a chance. You won’t be disappointed.

The soundtrack release date has been moved up and will be available Friday, Oct. 16.

New Moon: soundtrack site