Song of the Day: The Angels Light - Praise Your Name

 Right now I am reading The Orange Eats Creeps by Grace Krilanovich and Nova Express by William S. Burroughs which I hope to finish before school starts. I will be posting reviews of both right when I am finished.

Now right now this was the song of the day for me: Angels of Light's "Praise Your Name."

Praise Your Name is probably my favorite song due to the dissonant violin coming in and out reach with the icy xylophone and mournful piano. The lyrics are dark and drenched in apocalyptic imagery concerning the worship of some lover. The chorus' choir behind the yelping of Michael Gira sounds all so glorious.

I gained an emotional attachment to this song after listening it everyday, for three weeks last year after feeling trapped in my small dorm room. In fact, Gira was pretty hot on Bryan's and mine playlist for majority of our first year at CSUN.

Where are you wounded girls
With bruised faces and blackened eyes
Break open your glass doors
Welcome the whirling debris
Carve your name there
In the marble and concrete

New Release: How Scandinavian - Philistine Empathy EP

The latest and most delayed-est release by How Scandinavian ever. I put a good deal of work on these and I hope I didn't overcook the songs as a result. Much darker and 'lush' than Pity Won and it reeks of some sort of dreadful nostalgic call-back to Dolorous along with some new influences I've found through nightmares, dreams, and harsh cynicism. Probably the least messy and 'mid-fi' release I've been able to muster at this point in time as well. Now that this is out I'll be working on the sophomore LP and have some peace in not following personal deadlines. How Scandinavian will probably tour this little EP locally for a month and then I'll concentrate on both school and finishing the work I've already begun for the next LP. I hope any fans that still abide by this blog and HS will enjoy this. I'm sorry I took so long.

Track list:
1. Eucalyptus Burning
2. We Exist
3. New Romantic Ideas
4. A Brighter Hell
5. Life Is Saccharine

Song of the Day: Aesop Rock - Oxygen

Taking a deep-dive back into Aesop Rock's discography since taking a break after Skelethon came out. Float had some really great beats provided by Blockhead and Aesop's lyrics seemed a bit more "raw" and visceral in a good way. I gotta say though, his flow really hasn't evolved too much over the years, which isn't a bad thing to me but it is easy to understand why some people would find his work hit or miss.

Either way, some nice nostalgia is to be found here (the album art is very turn of the century) with the accompanying strings and esoteric samples provided by the aforementioned Blockhead. A new (old) age of hip-hop primitivism seems to seep out of the arrangement, and is something that is hardly heard of much today. Aesop seems to both evoke intelligence and desperation in his delivery for this track, and while it's hard to tell exactly what he's explicitly talking about, it's clear something is amiss. "Oh my god, what have I gotten myself into..." An underrated classic.

Track Review: David Bowie - Where Are We Now?

David Bowie surprised everyone with the month's best kept secret that he was returning with a new album titled The Next Day. He also decided to drop this song "Where Are We Now?" as the first taste of what is to come from the album. I personally find it hard to really have any expectations of Bowie since I've really never explored much beyond Scary Monsters because drum and bass 90's Bowie doesn't really sound that interesting to me and the 2000-onward releases didn't really indicate as if I was missing out on much.

While "Where Are We Now?" isn't game-changing or revolutionary in any way, it does lend itself some charm with it's sad vocal performance, lush production, and depressing chord progression. It's a pretty tune and it does catch your ear with the subtle hook in the chorus: "Where are we now? Where are we now? The moment you know, you know, you know."

It's a nice, melancholy, and polished song, it doesn't seem like it sets itself to be more than just that and I think most people who are pissed off that this isn't a return to the experimenting Bowie we heard during the 1970's were really asking for more than they deserve. But then again, this is the first single, so perhaps we'll be surprised when the entire album drops. Who knows what awaits? I guess we don't really know where we are exactly...

Wandering thought: It'd be interesting if David Bowie did an entire album in slowcore style with songs that went in 10+ minute lengths that became slow burning epics with amazing production and instrumentation. I'm thinking a tamer The Seer meets Rollercoaster meets Station to Station meets Frigid Stars meets Low. Only in dreams!

Song of the day: Pulp - Mis-Shapes

"Oh we don't look the same as you and we don't do the things you do, but we live 'round here too. Oh really?"

Very funny and witty song from the ever lovable Pulp. I'm not usually a fan of this sort of lyrical content, but Jarvis Cocker just has something about his delivery that makes me feel as though I'm being told a personal account from a close friend. This opener rivals "Joyriders" from His n' Hers I think.

Song of the Day: Idaho - Fuel

"Yeah I wish I could leave; start a life that would be one."
Very underrated band, one of the few gems I've found since following the Red House Painters route (July 2010-death) of musical influence.

Song of the day: Smart Went Crazy - A Halo and A Nosebleed

Rarely can music find a median of presenting both perversion and grace in equal amounts without sounding like a parody of either. "A Halo and A Nosebleed" from Smart Went Crazy's debut EP Cubbyhole is the perfect introduction to the band's graceful and lifelong sarcasm and wit. With Chad Clark's distinctive cigarette smooth vocal and the sinister use of cello and crunchy guitar and bass, it's hard not to become addicted. With lyrics that describe a narrator having his relationship turn inside out and outside in: "She's at your mercy, she wears your coat. She's at your disposal, she's at your throat.", you just can't shake the feeling that Chad Clark is warning us to not get too high off possessiveness. Well said.