Formantine - Emmalee Crane

I am taking my first exam tomorrow so I need things to slow down a bit. So no electro today, we're going indie-classical/drone/ambient!

The album is called Formantine and is by San Fransisco artist Emmalee Crane. Crane mixes classic orchestral brass and woodwinds with synthesizers to produce the music of this album. Background vocal clips (think the radio calls on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot though this album is completely different) are heard in a few of the songs but aren't a focal point of this record. In We Came From Monsters these vocal clips are highlighted, but they do not detract from the music. Summit features some glitch meets french horn which like many of the fusions on this album is odd, but it just works. My favorite part of Formantine is the Oboe.

Yeah, the Oboe. You hear it right at the beginning of Crasher and the instrument makes its presence known all throughout the album. It's a peculiar, but penetrating instrument that really has a great sound to it. For those unfamiliar with the Oboe, Tony Kushner described its sound as:

"sounding like that of a duck, if the duck were a songbird" - Angels in America, Kushner

You can enjoy the oboe-y goodness of this album here: Formantine - Emmalee Crane

Keep Rocking.

Mail the Horse - Guilt and Luck

First day of finals! AHHH!

Today's album comes from the Brooklyn based band Mail the Horse (formally AMPM). Guilt and Luck is the first album from Mail the Horse and also the first blues rock album featured here on Ipod and Headphones. The vocal's are a major part of this album, so not everyone will be able to study while listening. (I normally don't study to music with words, but last night as I forced my way through admin all I wanted to hear was some blues rock). The band doesn't reinvent the genre they stick to pretty standard blues styles (12 bar blues, crunchy distorted guitar and mellow vocals). While it won't win any awards for the most creative album of the year, Mail the Horse uses tried and true blues formula's to put out a solid album that is an easy listen. The vocals are a major part of blues rock, and what is being said is really important. So I didn't get the chance to fully explore the complexity of the songwriting since I listened while doing work. I look forward to giving this album a proper listen after finals, but for now I am mostly just listening to the music, and not the words.

The album can be found here: Mail the Horse - Guilt & Luck

Keep Rocking.

The World of Trip-Hop

Here's a solid trip-hop playlist I found while exploring soundcloud. Enjoy.

The World of Trip Hop

Keep Rocking.

Subsense - Tales for Positive Minds

It's the day before finals period begins and therefore the worst day of the year. So when I saw the name of today's album, I knew it was destined to be the album of the day. Subsense's album Tale's for Positive Minds is a miscellany of chill beats and electronic melodies. It's easy listening as you wade through endless Supreme Court cases, hating Justice Brennan's prolix opinions.

You can hear the album here: Subsense - Tales for Positive Minds

Good luck to anyone taking an exam tomorrow.

Keep Rocking.

Beats Antique - Blind Threshold

Todays album comes from Beats Antique, a California band that has been working together since 2007 creating music that combines a variety of styles from the electronic genre with middle eastern and orchestral instruments. The style is often placed in the "electronic/world" music category, but I hate the lump term "world music" being used to define any style coming from outside the states. So lets stick with "electronic/glitch/hip-hop/dubstep/afrobeat/orchestral/middle-eastern" for now.

There are a ton of guest musicians that join the Beats Antique trio for Blind Threshold playing instruments ranging from the Darbuka and Kalimba to Banjo's and Accordions. There are a lot of new sounds that mold together on this album to produce a unique and interesting sound. While there are a lot of different sounds coming together on this album, it maintains a familiar foundation of hip-hop beats and electronic sounds.

The album can be found here: Blind Threshold - Beats Antique

Keep Rocking.

The Like Button

Hi all,

Many of you may have noticed the recent addition of the "like" button to my blog:

I wanted you all to be able to share any music or posts that you like with your Facebook friends. Unfortunately, because I am not good at editing html I did it wrong. Every time you clicked the like button, it would like the entire blog, instead of the individual entry. Well I changed that (hopefully). So now you can like the individual posts as you want. You can also like the entire blog by clicking the like button on the right hand side.

The main goal of this blog is to share music, so "like" away. Not so much this post though, cause this one kind of sucks. But all of you scrolling down to get to Plants v. Zombies feel free to press the new better like button.

Also, please check out this song sent to me from an esteemed music lover, Ben:

Keep Rocking.

Homestuck - The Felt

Today's album The Felt by the guys over at MS Paint Adventures is an electronic/orchestral score. The album comes from the newest MSPA, Homestuck. After a quick perusal of the website MSPA adventures seems to be like a giant game of mad libs! Where readers can submit their additions to the overarching story and this will either continue the story, or tangentially affect the main character. The creator of the website describes it as a story told through the vehicle of a "mock-game" where readers submit new content to aid in pushing the story along (This may be wrong but if you have a better description, I have a comment box). The addition of music to the "mock-game" is a new feature that the MSPA creator has been working on with readers. While the site may be silly at times (sometimes taking a spin for the puerile) the music here is really well put together. I listened to the album before visiting the site, and I have yet to reach a point in the adventure where I can mash up the two. The site is funny and is a great time kill, but I have yet to make it to the end of Homestuck (exams and all).

The album was created in conjunction with the readers of MPSA, and is a pleasure to listen to. At Chartreuse Rewind it takes a turn for the epic, and (fair warning) Omelette Sandwich has parts that get downright distracting. But still it's a good listen.

The soundtrack to Homestuck, The Felt can be found streaming here: Homestuck - The Felt

If you want to "play" the game, I encourage you to visit MS Paint Adventures.

>Readers: Keep Rocking