New Iceberg Writers

I'm happy to welcome a couple of new review writers on board our little floating glacier here. I figured getting some friends in on the reviews would be a lot more fun than dancing around on my own pedestal forever. This way the range of genres, bands, and tastes covered will expand and everyone benefits! So see above to check out Amy Mika's first review for Destroyer's Trouble In Dreams.
More updates by more fabulous mystery writers on the way.

Rating System!

I've decided to enter the world of the ultra elite by implementing a rating system for the records i'll be talking about on this site. I want to clarify that by no means am i a professional music critic. But as a person who's watched his own bands' albums get criticized, rated, sometimes praised, sometimes degraded, i've decided to have some fun of my own.
And you'll probably be getting reviews more from an artist's perspective (more sympathetic, but less objective, obviously), rather than those you'd read in your average "website that shall not be named" -style review blog.
You can check out the meanings behind the number scores to the left, and i'll be amending older posts with corresponding ratings, so you can get a feel for them already.
Really, ratings are completely arbitrary, but i think people secretly love them. One thing you won't get here ever is me bashing a band just because i have a personal vendetta against them. I think all art made in earnest is worth respect, and i've saved the 5.4 and belows just for fun, or maybe for a day when i'm just in a really bad mood.
Should be an interesting experiment. Who knows? Maybe someday this blog will even have a little good influence...

Reasons That Music Fans Listen

A couple of days ago, i found myself engaged in a conversation with someone i was sitting next to in a doctor's office. He was a music fan and we naturally fell onto the topic. We discussed Bob Dylan, local music, the lack of venue space or support for kentucky artists, and the conversation was all going pretty good- until i made a comment about how much i hate the Rolling Stones (which was partly tongue in cheek, though mostly true).
This opened up a bag of theories on why "old stand bys"- proven bands who have stood the test of time (like the Rolling Stones, maybe, or the Beach Boys, Beatles, Fleetwood Mac, U2, etc.) might or might not be a person's preferred listening over slews of newer, sometimes more "experimental" bands (unproven ones with maybe not enough albums to yet justify their often trend-fueled popularity).
This guy explained to me that as much as he wanted to, he couldn't listen to "new" bands like Modest Mouse or the Shins as much as his friends were, and his theory was this:
There are so many thousands of bands now and such easy access to music with the internet that you can fill a harddrive with 100s of GBs of stuff that will take you months and even years even listen to, let alone let sink in. But in 10 years, will you still care about half those bands? Since people's tastes tend to change, he was saying its a better bet to just enjoy the music you know is good, and not waste too much effort on a band that will just come and go.

I thought this was a pretty good point in a way, and also agreed that for a lot of people, being a music fan is a lot like being a collector- it becomes obsessive to the point that people download 20 albums a day, but the listening is only half as important as the "owning". A lot of the stuff probably doesn't get listened to ( or at least listened to WELL).

I thought for a minute and then tried to explain why i find myself constantly chasing after new music. My explanation was this: I listen to a lot of music, and most of it is new (especially lately). A lot of it is experimental or "out there" to a person who doesn't often go beyond Aerosmith or The Red Hot Chili Peppers. And a lot of it is crap.
There is a ton of new crap out there. There is also a ton of wonderful new stuff. The extra effort here is concentrated on having to constantly filter through the crap to get to the good stuff. But what i find, for me, is that all the extra work involved in "discovering" new music: that is filtering through the bad, discerning quality vs mediocrity for yourself, and swimming through an ever growing digital sea of totally "unproven" internet releases or challenging musical ideas- is that every few years i will find a gem, a real one- something that will completely change my view on what music is. Something that makes you say, "I never knew music could even BE like this". And it changes your musical perspective, as well as your LIFE from that point on. And this, to me is worth the trouble.

So, there's where i stand on listening to "modern" music. Of course, not everybody has the time or even finances (though i'd say the internet cancels this excuse nowadays) to wade through thousands of releases a year, and that's really understandable. I think you have to be a pretty big music geek to think like this.
On the other hand, there are artists out there who take years to create, refine, and execute their craft, hoping it will bring something new and wonderful to the world. Is it not too wrong to expect that a person takes five minutes to listen to a song outside of their usual, safe, circles and give some attention to those who might not have the funds or influence to get supermodels to dance on cars in their videos? Where would progression be without people trying out new things?
When Stravinsky debuted his "Rite of Spring", there were riots breaking out in the audience, who opposed it almost entirely. We now consider this work a timeless classic. It's easy to see how great it is in retrospect. My point is that if we aren't paying attention, we might be missing some great things going on in our own lifetime. Without being open minded, we might miss something that will ultimately enrich us (somehow the Pharisees and Jesus come to mind).

Like Nietzsche said, "Without music life would be a mistake."

Current (heavy) listening:

Band Ane: Anish Music (Danish Electronica)
Matmos: Supreme Balloon (Electronic, Baltimore)
Kashiwa Daisuke: Program Music I (Electronic/Neo-Classical, Japan)
Disinterested: Behind Us (Ambient/Post-Rock, Seattle)
Murcof: Cosmos (Minimal Electronic, Mexico)
Gavin Bryars/Philip Jeck/Alter Ego: The Sinking of the Titanic (Ambient/Classical/Experimental, UK)
M83: Saturdays = Youth (Electronic, France)

All are highly recommended!

Bon Iver- For Emma, Forever Ago (2007)

It's not that i think Bon Iver needs another piece of press ontop of the already heaping piles of hype surrounding his album- it's that this is a music blog about what i'm currently listening to, and i'm currently finding For Emma, Forever Ago to be incredible. I like folk music, but it's not my favorite genre. Therefore, i guessed that the album would be good- but probably only astonishing for the truest indie folk lovers out there. I like Bonnie Prince Billy, but i've got to be in the mooooood, you know? After my first listen through last night, my expectations were beyond exceeded.
For Emma, Forever Ago was self released in 2007, having been recorded in an isolated cabin during winter by singer Justin Vernon. Pitchfork hyped it, it got a ton of buzz, and Jagjaguwar recently rereleased it, bringing it to the forefront of a much wider audience. It's been praised and praised and praised and I believe it's worthy of it.
First off, the songs are fantastic. Each one is well written, and sung with an incredibly definitive voice- one that is not just charming, either, but skillful and beautiful. These songs would hold up on stage with just a single vocal and acoustic guitar. But what really sealed things for me are all the nuances found on the album that give it its character. Echoing, otherwordly vocals doubled and tripled at times give it a ghostly feel. Little taps, slaps, and scratches of hands strumming, shoes tapping, or chairs scraping a wooden floor give it an close up, personal feel. And even moments of glitchy digital processing find their way sliced between passages of otherwise organic guitar progressions. A couple of pitch bent computerized vocal snippets even pop up in "The Wolves", defying the album's own stark rootsiness.
Ontop of all of that, there is a genuine soulfulness on the disc- the voice of a person having recently dealt with the breakup of his previous band, living in isolation, and searching his own humanness. The sadness is there, but overlaid with so much beauty it's hard not to smile for the joy in struggle.
Since listening to it for the first time last night, i've heard it through almost four more times. This doesn't happen often for me, and is an indication that For Emma might possibly make its way onto my top list of future classics.

Rating: 8.6

iLIKETRAiNS- Progress Reform (2006)

I've recently introduced myself to a band out of Leeds with the unabashedly pretentious title iLIKETRAiNS. And you need to get past the band name right now...Done? Okay, onwards then! I'm glad you are still with me, because the band is WORTH IT.
Let me explain how i feel, because i can't say i know a lot about these most morose fellas, other than that their music is exceptional.
iLIKETRAiNS' tunes are built around their singer and his stories, which recount the tragedies of historical figures- like Captian Scott's 1911 ill-fated expidition to the South Pole, or chess champ Bobby Fischer's descent into madness and reclusion, for just a couple examples. You'll quickly get the tone of it all after a listen through: stories retold are tragic and dark, but recounted with a role-play type feel, so as audience you will feel you are listening to first hand accounts. The music serves as a vehicle in a theatre of the fantastic, the macabre, the emotional. The lyrics are, for the most part, historically accurate, and serve as something to immerse yourself in, something much deeper than the run of the mill girl/angst/art/travel/girl stuff found in most indie rock.
This singer's exceptional backing is almost as good as he himself: post rock guitar tones, experimental song structures, and crescendos that won't let you down- including full choir sections done to the most hauntingly beautiful effect.
I say take one part Morrissey, one part Interpol, and mix in a little Tim Burton if he was a musician. There you have iLIKETRAiNS. But the whole reason i chose to write about this band is that you won't find another like them. I've held off listening to their newest release, Elegies to Lessons Learnt, until i could fully process their first release of length. Now that i have, i'll be purchasing the rest of their catalog faster than you can say "guillotine".
LISTEN to iLIKETRAiNS

Rating: 7.8