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Atlas Genius, the band behind Trojans, does a simple cover of The XX's Islands. Just a straightforward acoustic cover, simple and true to the XX's style. 

And boy does it work.

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Teen Daze - Discipleship

I remember Washed Out rise to prominence, and I remember discovering Pop Ambient then, learning new terms such as "Dream Pop" and "Chillwave". I couldn't understand the craze then.

In small doses, I will admit that Ambient Pop works. Listening to the atmospheric synths, coupled with layers upon layers of simple drum beats, unique instruments (like a flute in Discipleship), and just a hint of dance influence, will ease your mind after a long day, or even be a soft gentle sound while you work. 

Teen Daze's third single off Jamison's upcoming album The Inner Mansions is more of the same, albeit slightly more down tempo. The deliberate addition of different sound elements builds the song up to a minimal break before hitting the climax.

If you like Washed Out, you will definitely like Teen Daze.

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Dr. Dog - The Rabbit, The Bat and the Reindeer

One of the first Indie bands that I have listened to was Dr. Dog. Folk became a staple in my music collection, but one song always stays on my repeat list, and one that I will always tell anyone who is willing to listen. 

The Rabbit, The Bat and the Reindeer is from Dr. Dog's second album, Fate (which remains one of their best works). The catchy upbeat catches you off guard when you listen closely to the lyrics, especially when he stops being vague and goes for the kill:

No sticks, no stones could break my bones like you can  If I knew hate, I'd call it love for you, man High up on the hill, cheaper than a dollar bill Man, you ain't like anybody else

What makes the song unique is the juxtaposition between the cheeriness (how could someone hate someone so happily) as well as the verbal abuse in the lyrics. 

It remains one of the few hate songs that I know in my collection so far, such as Say Anything's That is Why and Ben Folds Five's Song for the Dumped. 

I guess it shows that you can really smile when you are hatin'.

[oldjeneralr]

Sufjan Stevens - Futile Devices (Shigeto Remix)

The discography of Sufjan Stevens leaves me in wonders sometimes, how one man can afford to create a multitude of music that sounds different from each other, incorporating different instruments in a creative manner and still manage to please his fans even through his more experimental music. 

Futile Devices is another gem from his album, where he expresses himself as much as he could through his words, only to say that what he is feeling is indescribable and "words are futile devices." A gentle delicate song of him singing about his feelings against a moving guitar line and a just that tiny touch of staccato beats. 

I wouldn't change anything in the song. 

Yet the Shigeto remix somehow manages to bring the song to another level, by adding a bit more electronic beats sparsely, and introducing a surprisingly complementary bass line.

A 2 minute song is extended to a 4 minute masterpiece. 

Fantastic.

[oldjeneralr]

Architecture In Helskini - Heart It Races

I applaud creativity, especially in the usage of music instruments, hence my perchant for bands like Jens Lekman, Sufjan Stevens and Los Campesinos!. Combining a multitude of instruments, as well as not having a structured way to how a song should be sung, it can be hard to get into sometimes, but the payoff is mostly worth it.

I chanced upon Heart It Races by Architecture in Helskini, the first single from their 2007 album Places Like This (which combines the same style as their debut album In Case We Die, but never reaching the same emotional heights). Quirky is an understatement when you watch the video, a series of puppets (influenced by Mexico's Día de los Muertos) dancing around, and as you watch the band have fun performing the song, a mixture of happy-go-lucky tribal drums and percussions against a capella performance, you can feel your heart racing and smile.

What a wonderful feel good song.

[justinlikestowrite]

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Muse - The 2nd Law

When Muse first started releasing singles from their latest album, The 2nd Law, I wasn’t impressed. Muse has gone Dubstep, so they say, with Unsustainable (which I will maintain till this day that it is the most cringe-worthy song I have ever listened to in my life.)

So here’s a quick song by song guide to their latest album:

SUPREMACY: The first song gave me hope that the album had potential. Supremacy’s was archetypical of Muse’s sound, with their taste for the Grandiose and a catchy bass line backing the entire song. With Matthew Bellamy fantastic vocals carrying the song through its entirety, especially when he went into such a high powerful falsetto in the chorus, this is them at their best. 

MADNESS: Dubstep. You can shoot it down as much as you can, but you cannot deny its influence anymore. I love it when it’s done right, and Muse is right on the money here. But going all Po-po-pokerface on us with the song? That counteract their commendable dive into Dubstep. To be honest, it is not that bad a song, and the Ma-ma-madness that he sings through the song gets stuck in your head, but the solo guitar isn’t great as well. It’s a simple radio-friendly song. Move on.

Panic Station: At this point, you start to think, is this Queen? Freddie Mercury, are you alive and well and frontmaning Muse? The influences are undeniable, and more so in Panic Station, a hybrid of Funk and Rock. It might sound strange on paper, but it works surprisingly well. An experiment that worked very well in their favour, and they did not stop there.

Prelude X Survival: A simple string backed prelude (literally) to the London Olympic 2012 song, Survival. Muse has always had the penchant for very simple and often cheesy lyrics, but I don’t think it is pulled off well here. “I’m gonna win, yes, I’m gonna win.” just screams “I am writing this song because it is gonna be the theme song for the London Olympic.” Add a little dash of a backing choir constantly hollering “Survive” and you have a song fit for the gym, telling you that you can win and survive. 

Follow Me: When the song begun, I thought about how this will fit a musical so well. It is a typical Muse song, little in the soundscape to differentiate it from the multitude of ballads that Muse has sung before. That is, until the dubstep came in. That is the only differentiating factor. If not, it’s just another Muse song.

Animals: This caught me by surprised, with its intricate bass line as well as that of the guitar. After the disappointment of the averageness of the past few songs, Muse elevated themselves into my pedestal again.  The whole song sounds like a very slow built up to a climax that will blow your mind, and BOOM, drums, solo guitar and Matthew Bellamy’s vocals guiding you to the next climax, a mishmash of drums, screaming echoing vocals and a frantic increase in tempo before the rabble stops and it all ends with applause. FANTASTIC.

Explorers: This has the same sound as Follow Me, except for a string backed orchestra leading the song. You feel like you are being sung a lullaby and a love song rolled into one. It’s didn’t grip me as much as the previous songs, and is pretty much forgettable due to the lack of any form of highs.

Big Freeze: Funk comes back again, though not as effective as Panic Station. There is a catchy guitar going on in the song, enough to make your air guitar mastery dreams come true, but that’s about the only thing that the song has going for it.

Save Me: A flowing dragging song with harp music, as if you are floating in water and surrounded by the fishes. Nature is all around you, and you frantically try to move your hand as fast as possible to the next button. After the high speeds of the song, the down tempo of the song comes as a abrupt and unwelcomed interruption to a up-tempo album.

Liquid State: Wait, is this Muse? Where is Matthew’s voice? Suddenly, you are greeted with a song that will fit nowhere in any of Muse’s past few albums, except for the iconic bass line. Heavy distortion camouflage what is an average song. Because of the abruptness of the song, it doesn’t fit into the whole album at all and feels like it has been thrown in for the sake of lengthening the album.

The 2nd Law - Unsustainable: I liked the grandiose of the song, with the frantic fiddle against the violin. It started very well, and I can even accept the cheesy talk about Entrophy and the 2nd Law. But the moment the Robot came in to “sing”, this became the worst song I have heard in a while. No amount of Matthew’s vocal can save the song from such a terrible use of Dubstep. Skip it for your own sake.

The 2nd Law - Isolated System: I wished that this had been the first song to lead users to the album, because it’s such a gorgeously arranged song, and fitting to lead users slowly and gently into the album. But in the end, it is the last song, and it leads us to a very muted end to what has been an inconsistent album.

All in all, inconsistency across the board. As it is with most Muse’s albums, there are always a few songs that will capture you, and for me, it’s Supremacy, Panic Station and Animals. Let anyone listen to those 3, and they will be screaming to listen to the rest of the album, only to feel let down like how I am right now.

Muse’s fans will love the new materials and the successful experiments done in the album, though if you ain’t a fan, you won’t be even after listening to this.

[oldjeneralr]

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Ben Folds Five - Erase Me

Ben Folds Five has always captured me with their version of Piano Rock / Pop. Their previous albums always sounded a little noisy to me, but there were a few songs that caught me, like Brick, Army and the hilarious Song for the Dumped. Their last album, Whatever and Ever Amen was on repeat for a while when I was younger but soon I grew up, and the album was left behind.

After a 13 year hiatus since their last album release, I took a little refresher course of their past discography, and had a listen of their latest album, The Sound of the Life of the Mind.

Erase Me, the first song off the album is signature Ben Folds Five, with pianos as one of the main backing instruments. The album slowly died off as it reached the middle, as the music started to sound the same (unfortunate, though Blue Skies was a nice change of pace), but Erase Me remained one of the better songs I have heard in a while.

Erase Me gave me the same chills as Brick, but a rising climax and multiple vocals coming in together to form a gorgeous songs where everything falls in place. And it ends with an absolutely breath-taking clash of angry pianos and clashing cymbals and drums. 

What a gem. 

Unfortunately, that's the only one that I will listen to in the album. Perhaps the rest will grow on me as time progresses.

[oldjeneralr]

Moonrise Kingdom - Movie Review

Let's get the praises out of the way. This is Wes Anderson's best work yet, a culmination of his iconic styles, from slow panning scenes, unforgettable yellow fonts and a penchant for the perfect soundtrack to dramatize what would have been a boring scene. 

Previous movies have hit close to the mark, such as the cult favorite The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou with a similar style that drags on for far too long or the more recent Mr Fantastic Fox, but the balance is right on the ball with Moonrise Kingdom. He uses his eccentricities to decorate and spice up a quirky love story between two children, relying on their precociousness and sense of adventure to create a whimsical world that is so precious, you will smile even in moments of disbelief.

The cinematography is immaculately framed, each element placed exactly where it should be, creating a stop motion photography book, a moving poetry that talks up young love, courage, and how there is so much we can learn from the innocence and purity of children.

So let's picture this. A boy mature beyond his young age of 12 immediately acts on his desire to know a girl of similar age, bothering to the point of social awkwardness in the way that he asked "what kind of bird are you?" in the theatre back room. Or a scene where they escape and run away together, traveling to set up camp at a beach to be away from everyone. Place two adults as the main characters, and immediately the movie turns from lovable to hollywood cliche, falling apart before you can even say "Moonrise". The beauty of the movie lies in the ability of Wes Anderson to make use of his child actors to communicate emotions that you have to literally feel, instead of it telling you what you should be feeling.

Therein lies the core of the show, the innocence of children that puts you into a world where you can suspend your disbelief to laugh at the ridiculousness of them boogeying down to the tunes of a portable vinyl player in just their underwear.

Of course, the show is not entirely about the child actors, but it is also about the search for them by the adults leaving on the isolated island. Bill Murray makes his customary appearance in the movie, and puts in his usual excellent deadpan performance as the father of the girl, supported by Bruce Willis who fits perfectly into a role as a lonely policeman just trying to do his job. The nuances of the actors complements the children,  forming a wonderful picture that will capture the hearts of many.

And yet, this is where the movie falters slightly. The preciousness of the movie can get too overwhelming for viewers who wish for a little bit more reality and plausibility in the story. I had a couple shake their head in disbelief and left the theatre even before the movie climaxed into the end of the search of the two children, and I couldn't understand it then.

Moonrise Kingdom successfully takes a child's imagination and paints it into a palpable dish that most adults will be able to swallow and understand. It will make you laugh, it will make you go awww, and it will leave you breathless. 5 stars, Mr Wes Anderson, you have outdid yourself. 

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Put on your sunglasses as Little Dragon debut their latest single, Sunshine, with a smooth groove bass that will make you dance faster than we can say "Yukimi Nagano".

Backed up by her iconic voice as she croons about how "you were my sunbeam when the skies are dark," the instant feet tapping nature of the song is reminiscence of Foster the People intermixed with the chill out beats of Tokimonsta. 

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Relive summer any day of the year with Indie-pop TV Girl, with their single I wonder Who's She Kissing Now, a catchy slice of vintage pop that will make you put your dancing shoes as you reminisce about the girl next door.

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Michael Kiwanuka - Rest

Off his Debut Album, Home Again, Rest revisits your childhood lullabies. Crooning against a folk tune reminiscent of 70s, juxtapose with rising strings, the warmth comforts you as your worries fade away. 

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Heavenly Beat - Faithless

Faithless, the first single out of their debut album T A L E N T expertly uses synths against a constant knocking to drill the tune in your head, as you sing along to the chorus "If I fall, then at least I fall", succeeding in creating an atmosphere that burns deep in your head, like the crescent red that you see when someone has betrayed your trust. 

A love child of Kings of Convenience and Lake Heartbeat, listen for the lead up to the outro, as your hear an actual explosion after a interlude of spanish guitars, and feel the climax of being Faithless.

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It begins with a slow ambient bass, with smooth saxophone playing before the funk explodes into a catchy groove. Off the album World, You Need A Change Of Mind, Kindness's That's Alright is the archetypical Disco song, with smooth female vocals backed up by a keyboards mixed with addictive synth riffs, and sparse beat boxing to create a song that not only will get your head nodding, but your feet dancing the night away.

Like the song says, "The beat, the beat is bad." 

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Second single to be released from King Charles before his inaugural debut album LoveBlood, Bam Bam encompasses everything that King Charles stands for; quirky lyrics about love, such as "She may be the cure, but for now she's the torture", running guitar rifts and a sprinkle of piano against simple use of the words "Bam Bam" to add texture to the music, and further enhance it's catchiness, it's psychedelic pop mixed with a dash of Glam Rock (nobody will miss the cavalier moustache and hair). 

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This was a song that my girlfriend introduced to me more than a year ago, and I did not think much of it. On the first listen, I didn't like the falsetto of Michael Angelakos as he reached the chorus of the song as it sounded too childish, especially when you have a kid choir singing "Oh no" at the end of each line in the chorus. After a few listens, I told myself that this was something that I cannot get into, and that was that.

As Passion Pit released their second album, Gossamer, I listened to their first single off the album, I'll be alright, and the initial mash of synths, a sample of different vocal effects and crashing cymbals got me curious before the falsetto came in, but something was different.

Perhaps my tastes has changed, or something else in me has clicked.

The Reeling is the first single from Passion Pit's first full length studio album Manners. With Synths that travelled straight out of the 80s, sparse beats, and a constant rhythm, it is a high energy song about being weird, and how you wish to get out of it. It is catchy, and the chorus stays in your mind. You can't help but sing along (terribly) to his falsetto. 

A good single to introduce non-fans to the sounds of Passion Pit, but something is missing, or maybe it just got lost in translation in my mind.

[oldjeneralr]

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Dubstep gained popularity in the past 2 years, with Skrillex enjoying mainstream success, even though dubstep purist cry foul at such a blasphemy. Still, Dubstep influence is undeniable when you listen to songs such as Rihanna's G4L, Justin Bieber's As Long as You Love Me and one of the first few artistes to use dubstep in their song, Britney Spears in Freakshow and Hold It Against Me.

Post-dubstep is a different story, and whole different ballgame. Part Dubstep, Part mixture of any kind of instrument, such as Pianos (which James Blake use to fantastic results in Limit to Your Love), Synths and Hip Hop Beats (Which Purity Rings use as their distinct sound), Post-dubstep combines two different styles, and the best songs are the ones that merges it effortlessly, creating a unique and fresh sound.

Out of his self-titled debut, To Care (Like You) is a song that captures with a mix of high and low octaved voices, against a fast beat and constant pauses, silence with minimal synths while James Blake crones a simple yet heart-breaking lyrics. The amalgamation of so many simple elements that you do not typically hear in a average song makes the song a special one to repeat.