The name Montaigne ought sound familiar, it’s taken from the massively influential writer. It’s obvious that the artist Montaigne, the project of Jessica Cerro, a musician from Sydney, Australia, takes endless influence from her chosen namesake. In Life of Montaigne, she uses minimal production and a blend of punchy acoustic sounds to create a style that I think very closely mirrors the thoughts splays out. They’re a little bit noisy and disjunct by design, particularly in I’m a Fantastic Wreck the song plays up the lyricism with strange instrumental quirks out of rhythm and tune. She wrote Life of Montaigne only a year or two out of high school, possessing extremely coherent style and voice for such a young musician. More recently she released her debut album, Glorious Heights, which is a slight departure from her previous work. It has more weight to its production albeit with some callbacks to her earlier style such as Consolation Prize. Glorious Heights employs more experimentation as on In The Dark, and a generally broader use of electronic instrumentation. Some of the pieces, namely the album titled track, are distinctly reminiscent of Florence and the Machine, with the album as a whole setting its tone as quite grand in comparison with her previous EP and pieces like I Am Behind You that are simply beautiful pieces of music.

TL;DR Montaigne’s minimalism, experimental risk, thoughtfulness, and talent are something to appreciate.

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The trailer for our upcoming short film. The remix used in it was mixed in house, proud of that one. Give it a try.

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A year ago I made a music video with assistance from a few friends for an artist who, to say inspires me is a drastic understatement. We have a short film in the works that will likely be released soon so I thought I might leave this here in the meantime. Please enjoy.

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The Last Dinosaurs are an Australian band, which by definition means they’re the shit, and they say ‘mate’. Well, that isn’t necessarily true but if you’re in America you’ll know we hold it quite pivotal. Regardless, the band is comprised of Dan Koyama, Michael Sloane, and Lachlan and Sean Caskey. The Caskeys are brothers, which personally I think it would be incredible to be hanging out, your brother to up and take you into a band he’s forming with a friend of his, and a few years later you’re touring around Europe supporting the likes of Matt and Kim and Foster the People. The Last Dinosaurs released An EP Back From The Dead along with two full albums the second of which, Wellness, dropped in August last year and has a more immersive, and a bit softer of a sound than their 2012 release In a Million Years. Wellness is a lucid and intimate space, with a more focused sound and generally more intuitive transitions than In a Million Years. It also has some very intriguing and sensitive lyrical pieces and is an incredible experience as an album. In contrast in a Million Years to me serves more as a collection of fantastic songs. Andy specifically has the particular feeling that I felt today walking across campus, due to its energy and imagery. The song has some incredible guitars and hits with its seemingly never ending percussion, with a rim shot or a tom filling every space until the verse. I particularly enjoy the Last Dinosaur’s use of solo instruments, seeming to break the sound down and pass it around the arrangement. Andy is exactly how I’m feeling today, so enjoy drinking it in. Oh, and if you’re lucky enough to live in Australia, Last Dinosaurs are playing Fat Controller May 20th, The Foundry on May 27th month, and Northcote Social Club the 3rd and 4th of June.

TL;DR It’s a lovely day outside, let’s go to Jupiter.

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The songs I’ve posted lately have been sort of contemplative, moody, etc. So this is a change of pace, You’re The One For Me by Great Good Fine Ok. Today I’m feeling closer to some of the other recent posts, but GGFO still entices me to sing. This song in particular starts with a filtered intro bringing in some synths and drums for rhythm that I deeply respect. There are certain artists who in their production use the space between beats, fills, and interplay with the basses more naturally than others and while that doesn’t happen all over this track, it is a trend and GGFO have shown and incredible aptitude for it in my opinion. I get a bit of an indescribable setting from this song, with a lot of conflicting information. I feel like it takes place in a jungle, but also on an island paradise, and simultaneously still it sounds like It’s playing in the dark space up top my head where the constellations are. I particularly enjoy the transfer from the deeper rhythm synth to the waning synths like breaking waves that come with the chorus. It is the first track off of Great Good Fine Ok’s Body Diamond, in which it pairs quite nicely as an introduction to the sound of GGFO as well as sets the mood for the EP, which unlike 2M2H has some softer tones and for lack of a better moniker more tropical style instrumentation. I highly suggest you listen to all of Body Diamond, as it explores a few interesting topics and has a plenty of musical movement despite being only 15 minutes. In fact the entirety of GGFO’s catalogue (barring their variety of impressive remixes) is roughly 40 minutes, and their new single, Already Love, is incredibly bouncy.

TL;DR Great Good Fine Ok have a wonky groove to their pop, with a punch that sits irresistibly. Also I’m a sucker for a good falsetto. You can mainline their discography for 40 minutes plus remixes but by that time you’ll be hooked anyway so why havn’t you already started?

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The Faded Papers’ Dynamo is an album that I have a lot a gratuitous amount of nostalgia for. Years ago I had a massive fascination with the specific style of contemplative sound they play with, I listened to Faded Paper Figures and The Postal Service for months. One family reunion in particular I remember slipping away from the chaotic entropy of the house into a pair of headphones and ease North by North. That is the bliss that I’ve always found in music, I think it’s why I wanted to start this site. I’ve been told to label it escapism, I think it’s just living, but regardless, music has always been pivotal to the reprieve in my mind. Dynamo was one of those lands. I’ve never known what the album cover actually depicts, but I always imagined it to be beautiful place with a pale ocean and sky of warm cloth. The first song is North by North, and it always had me sailing away to those islands for the duration of the album. As I grew I became more aware of the commentary of the album, the decay depicted in I Fell Off My Name, the description of stagnant jargon from politicians in Speeches. The vocals are so kind and benevolent, superficially the songs are so warming, and Dynamo still contains a certain cuteness to it, with a wanderlust of North by North, and toying love of B Film. The album isn’t strictly pessimistic. The Persuaded specifically however, is quite. The synths and guitar of the song open to the off kilter drums, as though they’re thrown through a cabinet. The vocal on top give this song a calm feel for the pace, with the instruments well balanced as they drop away at the chorus, switch, and come back in. The lyrics of the song are incredibly satirical but the voices sound so earnest, that’s what threw me off about it for so many years. It highlights the materialistic nature of society, it’s just so nice to hear though. “Let’s drive, drive, drive, ’till we burn, burn burn, we can choke on it later tonight” is one of my favorite parts of the song, something about the inflection catches me, also that it’s depressingly true. That’s a trend for the Faded Paper Figures, it shows up in their newer work arguably even more so. I certainly enjoy their newer material, especially Relics, but they don’t hold the same nostalgia of Dynamo.

TL;DR I think the Faded Paper Figures’ music is about being depressingly true, but absurdly nice. The Persuaded is both and holds a nostalgia for me that comes with being in Dynamo. I’m also quite fond of their newer material.

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Chairlift fills this song with articulate words that give the vocal a punchy weight but sways into a croon mid word and then back for the next line. It creates an incredibly pleasant groove and particularly catches my ear as soon as the vocals come in with a slight synthesized guitar and sparse percussion. The swing to the song is cemented after the intro by the bass and horns that come in, giving the song an an image of a midnight cafe to me. One frequented by night walkers and vagabonds but where the bustles of daily community still persist. Perhaps I’m overthinking it, but it feels about right to me. The break in the song for “everybody just calm the fuck down” simply makes me imagine that someone somewhere just wants the city’s heart to sit in silence for but a peaceful minute. I can sympathize, most of the time I crack a smile at it. Chairlift dropped the entirety of their Moth LP earlier last year. Stylistically and thematically I feel as though the album cover is particularly befitting so if it catches your eye you might give the whole album a listen. It’s a bit of a calm and arguably more sophisticated take on indie pop given. There are rough synths and flowing melodies but in addition more classical instrumentation and gritty backing tones. My favorites are probably Ottawa to Osaka and Ch-Ching alongside Polymorphing, but I’m quite fond of the album in general. I like to put it on when I’m writing because it’s not too in your face but still has complicated lyrical components and a certain sass to its sound that’s really pleasant to tune in and out to between furious bursts of though and typing.

TL;DR The word polymorphing comes off the tongue like a rubix cube. The song comes off about the same, just as I imagine Chairlift intended. It’s clean, but complicated, and definitely signature.

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A friend of mine once described Tegan and Sara as a couple of really angsty lesbians…with beautiful voices. That always sounded about right to me, most of their catalogue is focused around loves gained, loves lost, loves enjoyed, loves cherished. Between the sound and the topic I tend to enjoy them with a sentimental bliss. Alongside their focus on love though, they occasionally write pieces about…oh gosh…other things? I know it sounds like I’m belittling them, but I don’t mean to. It just slightly bothers me to see an artist with so much tunnel vision about what life has to offer. I’m generalizing. They have a number of pieces with some incredibly inspirational and touching appreciations of life, especially their older albums. Splitting the albums between their topics they’re fairly half and half. Heartthrob, The Con, If It Was You, and So Jealous seem romance focused, while Sainthood, This Business of Art, and Under Feet Like Ours seem elsewhere in the mindscape. As for their more existential pieces, Hype is one of my favorites. There are two released versions of it. In this version off of Under Feet Like Ours I adore the way in which the simple acoustic set still builds intensity as the lyrics hit the prechorus. The backing vocals are also interestingly layered, with a mix of percussive vocal sounds and tones in an almost A Capella fashion. There is a lot of depth despite its limited instrumental use. The other version of the song is on This Business of Art and has a wider set of instrumentation, most noticeably the drums, and sounds a touch stronger. It however has less of the backing vocals I am so fond of and is lacking the vocal edit intro, rather just the guitar. Regardless, the lyrics are poetry. You can take them as you like, but “We don’t know so we wait for tomorrow, We don’t know know so we only go forward. Two times in your life you will trace the edge, You will sink your toes in.” floors me every time with it’s weight. I’m human, I know that. I feel it in my shoes when I walk, and to hear it laid out in vocal vibrations with such a lovely cadence. I can’t handle it.

TL;DR Tegan and Sara will break your heart. Hype is a beautiful song and if you want to keep your head, you ought likely to refrain from digesting it.

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I have a lot of appreciation for RAC, or Remix Artists Collected, or Andre and friends, or whatever you want to call that magical sound. He released a ton of remixes over a few years and collected those into Chapter One, a massive collection of his tasty takes on some great pieces. Since then he’s gone on to release a debut album of original work, Strangers, in 2014, the original soundtrack to the game Master Spy, a slew of supplementary remixes and was on a roughly single-a-month schedule as well as touring for a portion of 2015. Speaking of, I had the amazing pleasure of seeing Filous, Karl Kling (part of ‘Andre friends’), Big Data, and RAC at the Ogden in November and I highly recommend their live show. The main producer of the group is Andre but in the live show he plays guitar, and wonderfully too, while Karl Kling and Speak trade off an amazing vocal set. Sadly Pink Feathers started to lose her voice during the show but for the tail end of the set on Let Go, the crowd knew virtually the whole song and sang it from the rooftops. Speak was even a little jealous and asked for some similar help from the audience, Colorado can be a bit hard on vocalists because of the altitude. They seemed to have a fantastic time and the energy was fantastic Anyway about Concrete Wall, it’s so smooth. In the original, Zee Avi visualizes a vivid breakdown of a relationship in the most vocally sweet way I could ever imagine. RAC really just adds some more comprehensive instrumentation to it, with an extremely in rhythm bass and drums and god the almost slaphappy guitar sound compliments the bounce of the “boom she-clack-clack” so perfectly. Finally the touches of the deeper synth adds some appreciated movement to the song in general, and the windup before each chorus makes the shoe hit the wall like a wrecking ball. I’m not always down to listen to it because of it’s imagery and tone, but the song captures what it wants to so nicely.

TL;DR Listen to RAC’s Chapter One and check out his newer work, they’re instrumentally wonderful and he always picks the best source material and vocalists.

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