Music That's Better Than You. Week 7

Elite Opinion- The T-1000 Thinking Computer of internet music blogs presents: Music That’s Better Than You Week: 7 Wah. You never post anymore. Waahhh. You’re always posting on other blogs and working, I never see you anymore. WAAAAHHH. Okay, okay baby relax. Everything’s gonna be fine. I’m home now. So go make me some dinner before someone has an "accident" down the stairs, again. In the mean time... Cinemechanica Math-Rock/Screamo/Emocore Sounds Like: Hot Cross, Ampere, Drive Like Jehu, Volta Do Mar, Minus the Bear No really, sounds like: Two roaring drunk, very wild strings of note-formations fighting to the death with rapiers. Review: Here’s a chicken-or-the-egg question for you: do I love complex music because my generation’s been sculpted by a society pushing for ever-faster sources of input and stimulation, and have my interests have been realigned by this society to feel specifically comfortable under the duress of as many voices, sounds, shapes and colors as I can possible withstand- or do I love complex music because I have attention deficit disorder and I am naturally (and almost chemically) drawn to forms of entertainment that provide layers upon layers of stimuli in hopes of satiating a brain that fires on about 26 cylinders, constantly? And in the same vein of thought, do bands like Cinemechanica wield duel guitars and vocalists as a natural extension of society’s demand for more stimulating fare- or are the band members themselves attempting to satisfy their own deficits by relentlessly toying with time signatures, interwoven melodies and spastic notes structures? Your guess is good as mine. But while I’m waiting for the next Hot Cross album to get my guitar-duo fix (yes I know they are down to one- fuck off) Cinemechanica is a fantastic piece of mathy-screamo. [MP3] Cinemechanica - I’m Tired of Paul McCartney [MP3] Cinemechanica - Bruckheimer [MP3] Cinemechanica - Braintarp [HOME] Cinemechanica [THE’SPACE] Cinemechanica Matthew Herbert Pop-Electronica/Big Band/Hip-Hop/Jazz/Trip-Hop etc etc Sounds Like: Björk, Zero 7, Gwen Stefani, Kylie Minogue,Hooverphonic,RJD2 No really, sounds like: A goddamn pop wizard took nearly a thousand samples of everything from Jazz to a socket wrench and then made it amazing. Review: You don’t have to be a big man to admit you enjoy some pop music. You just have to be an honest one. And then, be a careful one. Because there is a fucking gapping nebula of-a-difference between liking one or two of the year’s good pop releases, and then enjoying things like Snow Patrol or Frank Black’s trashcan scraping joke-of-an-album. So yes, there is good pop- it’s just a bitch to find. Well let me help you out: Matthew Herbert – Scale. And belive me, this guy doesn’t fuck around, even when he’s fucking around. Understand that beyond the fact that this is simply one of the most easily listenable, surprisingly addictive and stunningly indepth records you’ll find this year, such feats are child's play when considering to craft this release Herbert actually manipulated around 723 different random items (like gas pumps, answer machines and coffins) to bring you this terrifyingly clever and well crafted pop heavy weight. Scale is all of the following: jazz fusion, electronica, hip-hop, downbeat, disco, big band, blues, funk and soul and on and on. Put this album in your car, play it through once or twice to get a feel for the songs, then crank the son of a bitch up and lose your mind to an album that is not only one of the best pop releases of 2006 but one of the best releases in of 2006, period. [MP3] Matthew Herbert - Something Isn’t Right [MP3] Matthew Herbert - Down [HOME] Matthew Herbert World’s End Girlfriend Post-Rock/Classical/Electronica/Ambient/Experimental Sounds Like: Amina, Brian Eno,The Notwist, A Silver Mt. Zion, Boards of Canada, Mono, Sigur Rós, Set Fire to Flames, Dntel No really, sounds like: If Brian Eno was Japanese and he decided to do some work with Hanz Zimmer. Review: Oh, look another post-rock band. Weird. I know that you probably don’t even care that this post-rock band is Japanese instead of some lost Euro lads. And I know you might not even care that this year World’s End did a five track 64 minute monstrously beautiful tour-de-force with Mono. And I bet it doesn’t make a difference to you that this isn’t some brand new trend fiending post-rock group, but instead an act that’s been active for nearly six years now… That’s fine. Here are two reasons that should make you care about World’s End Girlfriend: 1.) They employ more than just a few guitars slaughtered with reverb-run-the-fuck-amuck, as well as a drummer who has two modes. (Building for the crescendo and crescendo-man-fucking-crescendo!!) Yes, this is something more: World’s End Girlfriend is the creation of composer Katsuhiko Maeda. Now for those of you not familiar with the difference between what a composer can do with an epic interest as opposed to a 23 kid who blew all of his money on delay pedals, try to decipher the difference between, oh I don’t know, let’s say Mozart and Buckethead. And not only does World’s End employ a string section, but its effectiveness is absolutely complete and stunning. These arrangements seems to be politely asking groups like A Silver Mount Zion to take a seat at the damn kiddy table. And furthermore… 2.) Electronica. See Katsuhiko is not content to simply orchestrate some of the most epic and gorgeous post-rock this side of Tokyo, no, he’s interested in pushing his work far, far beyond. This interest in electronic music soaring hand in hand with hopelessly majestic post-rock orchestration makes World’s End Girlfriend not only one of the best sounding outfits in the post-rock scene, but more importantly this bizarre marriage makes Katsuhiko’s project utterly unique amidst a exponentially growing genre of contrived formulaic illusionists. [MP3] World’s End Girlfriend - Daydream Loveletter [MP3] World’s End Girlfriend - Singing Under the Rainbow [MP3] World’s End Girlfriend - We Are the Massacre [LABEL-HOME] Noble World’s End Girlfriend [LABEL-HOME] Nippop World’s End Girlfriend