Published earlier today first at Blogcritics Magazine
For over five years, progressive and jazz-minded psychedelic post-rockers Motion Turns It On (Chocolate Lab Records) have been developing a tight, yet free form sound they can call their own. In 2007 the then all-instrumental band released its impressive debut six-song Rima EP, and a live record, Live At The Southpaw, followed early the next year.
For its long-awaited debut full-length Kaleidoscopic Equinox, which hits stores Tuesday, February 16, the band recorded plenty of bass parts but went from a foursome to a “bass-free” trio (parting ways with Derek Sinquefield), which now consists of William Kenny (guitar), Steve Smith (drums) and Andres Londono (keyboards). They did however add one new wrinkle to its densely layered mix: vocals (courtesy of Londono and Kenny).
On Rima, MTIO already sounded like seasoned pros. If you had to draw comparisons, hints of fellow Texans Explosions In The Sky and Mars Volta, or even Chicago’s post-rock mainstays Tortoise could be found if you looked hard enough. With Equinox, you get an even more creative, intense and fucked-up beast of a sound. A kaleidoscope of sounds is more like it.
After a brief intro to the album, a heavy, five-minute long math rocker “Exchanging Souvenirs” gets the record off to an enjoyably noisy and forceful start.
Extraterrestrial sounds and feedback make up interlude “Teraform” before the one-two punch of jazz/rock tunes “Lo Pido Con Piedad” and “Occipitalized” blast through your speakers to show off the threesome’s incredibly tight arrangements and tremendous musicianship. The latter track would qualify as a frantic Mars Volta cover if you didn’t know better.
Elsewhere, the seven-minute-long “Moyedi,” despite its indecipherable distorted vocals, has a flair for the dramatic, musically speaking, but gets lost in itself for a bit too long around the halfway point, then without warning, heads into a strong, rockin’ steady finish.
“No Limbo” sounds like the musical equivalent of the Twilight Zone with its weird synths and airy guitars, while the psychedelic "Way Station" could be the soundtrack to a journey into outer space.
All is well that ends well, as they say, and a seamless transition from lead single “Give Up The Ghosts” to the dreamy, warm “Sinking Suns” is a welcomed bookend to Motion Turns It On’s first proper full-length. Here, as in other places on the record, the (heavily processed) vocals serve as another instrument, blended smoothly into its sea of sounds.
It will take a few spins of Kaleidoscopic Equinox to take in all of its crackling energy, intensity, and few moments of relative calmness. But aside from a few periods of over indulgence, it is an adventurous listen that aggressive prog rock fans will surely dig.
The band may be making a lot of noise on this disc, but with a few important gigs lined up at the annual SXSW Festival in March, Motion Turns It On is bound to turn some heads with their explosive live shows as well.
Further Listening:
Download ”Give Up The Ghosts” for free at the Chocolate Lab Records website.
Click on the following highlighted links to watch live Motion Turns It On performances of Rima track “Satelightening” and unreleased live song ”Backspinn.”
Showing posts with label The Mars Volta. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Mars Volta. Show all posts
Monday, February 15, 2010
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Charlie Doherty’s Favorite 209 Songs from 2000-2009: Part I: 2000-2004
Published originally on January 26, 2010 in Blogcritics Magazine
As one would imagine, this was a bit of a hefty project, coming up with a ridiculous amount of music from 10 years gone by and putting it on a digestible list. I don’t know if I actually accomplished that goal, but after dividing it into two parts (2000-2004 and 2005-2009), it does look impressive, if I don’t say so myself.
2000-2004 Overview
In the first half of this decade, I dug everything from nu metal (Disturbed, System Of A Down, Slipknot) retro synth-pop (The Killers) and electronica (Royksopp) to the garage rock revival, led by a bunch of “the” bands (i.e. The White Stripes, The Strokes).
Veterans like U2, Springsteen, Pearl Jam, R.E.M., Filter, Joe Satriani and supergroups of sorts like Broken Social Scene, Audioslave, A Perfect Circle, Velvet Revolver and Zwan were also exciting to follow well into the new millennium - and BSS still is. But it was indie rockers like Death Cab For Cutie, Pinback and “m” bands like Matt Pond PA, Minus The Bear and Modest Mouse that I started listening to and seeing live more and more as the years went by.
There’s music for all moods and seasons in here, whether it’s feel-good hip-hop from Outkast, a metal masterpiece like “Stick Figure” by West Virginian group Byzantine, or more mellow music like M83, Blur’s Cocteau-Twins-esque “Battery In Your Leg,” and Sigur Ros. So yes, as if you couldn’t tell, I like a variety of music, to say the least. The amount of it is insane, I know.
It’s nearly impossible to do a meaningful ranking of all these songs, so here now, in alphabetical order are the 120 songs I remember listening to time and time again that came out during the first five years of the 2000s. Part II, the other 89 favorites from 2005-2009 will be published soon.
If any of these first 120 songs were your favorites too, feel free to comment below.
Part I: 2000-2004
2 Skinnee J’s “Big Beat Evangelist”
311 “Amber”
A Perfect Circle “3 Libras”
A Perfect Circle “The Hollow”
A Perfect Circle “Vanishing”
Adams, Ryan “Nuclear”
Afroman “Because I Got High”
Ashcroft, Richard “New York”
At The Drive-In “Pattern Against User”
At The Drive-In “Invalid Litter Dept.”
Audioslave “Show Me How To Live”
Audioslave “Gasoline”
Beck “Lost Cause”
Black Eyed Peas “Let’s Get Retarded”
Blink 182 “Stay Together For The Kids”
Blur “Battery In Your Leg”
Broken Social Scene “Cause = Time”
Broken Social Scene “Guilty Cubicles”
Byzantine “Stick Figure”
Coldplay “Yellow”
Cypress Hill “Rock Superstar”
Daft Punk “One More Time”
Death Cab For Cutie “Lowell, MA”
Death Cab For Cutie “405”
Death Cab For Cutie “The New Year”
Death Cab For Cutie “A Lack Of Color”
Deftones "Change (In The House of Flies)"
Dianogah "Wrapping The Lamb, Sir"
Disturbed “Stupify”
Dropkick Murphys “The Gauntlet”
Elefant “Misfit”
Eminem “Lose Yourself”
Evanescence “Going Under”
Filter “God Damn Me”
Filter “The Only Way (Is The Wrong Way)”
Flaming Lips “Do You Realize??”
Foo Fighters “All My Life”
Foo Fighters “Times Like These”
Fountains of Wayne “Stacy’s Mom”
Fountains of Wayne “Hey Julie”
Furtado, Nelly “Turn Off The Light”
Godsmack “Sick Of Life”
Gorillaz “Clint Eastwood”
Green Day “American Idiot”
Harvey, PJ “This Mess We’re In (f/Thom Yorke)”
Hot Rod Circuit “Radio Song”
Howe, Greg “A Delicacy”
Idlewild “Idea Track”
In Flames “Pinball Map”
Incubus “Wish You Were Here”
Interpol “Obstacle 1”
Interpol “PDA”
Jimmy Eat World “Sweetness”
The Killers “Mr. Brightside”
The Killers “Smile Like You Mean It”
Lamb of God “Now You’ve Got Something To Die For”
Lekman, Jens “Rocky Dennis’ Farewell Song To The Blind Girl”
Lekman, Jens “The Opposite Of Hallelujah”
Linkin Park “Somewhere I Belong”
Linkin Park “One Step Closer”
Linkin Park “Lying From You”
Ludacris “Saturday (Ooh! Oooh!)”
M83 “Run Into Flowers”
Mars Volta "Eriatarka"
Matt Pond PA “Measure 3”
Matt Pond PA “Summer (Butcher Two)”
Mayer, John “Clarity”
Mayer, John “No Such Thing”
Minus The Bear “Absinthe Party At The Fly Honey Warehouse”
Modest Mouse “Float On”
Modest Mouse “Paper Thin Walls”
Muse “Hysteria”
Muse “Time Is Running Out”
My Morning Jacket “One Big Holiday”
My Morning Jacket “Mahgeetah”
New Order “Turn My Way (w/Billy Corgan)”
Opeth “Windowpane”
Opeth “The Leper Affinity”
Outkast “Hey Ya!”
Outkast “Ms. Jackson”
Pearl Jam “Thumbing My Way”
Pinback “Concrete Seconds”
Postal Service “Such Great Heights”
Pretty Girls Make Graves “Speakers Push The Air”
Queens Of The Stone Age “No One Knows”
Radiohead “Motion Picture Soundtrack”
Radiohead “Wolf At The Door”
Red Hot Chili Peppers “Can’t Stop”
Rehab “Sittin’ At A Bar”
R.E.M. “Bad Day”
The Roots “The Seed 2.0”
Royksopp “Poor Leno”
Satriani, Joe “Until We Say Goodbye”
Satriani, Joe “Up In Flames”
Sigur Ros “The Nothing Song (Njosnavelin)” from Vanilla Sky
Slipknot “The Heretic Anthem”
Smashing Pumpkins “Try, Try, Try”
Soulfly “Jumpdafuckup (f/Corey Taylor)”
Snoop Dog “Drop It Like It’s Hot”
Sparta “Air”
Sparta “While Oceana Sleeps”
Springsteen, Bruce “The Rising”
Springsteen, Bruce “Waiting On A Sunny Day”
The Strokes “Hard To Explain”
Sunny Day Real Estate “The Ocean”
System Of A Down “Chop Suey”
Tool “Parabola”
Travis “Side”
U2 “New York”
U2 “Stuck In A Moment You Can’t Get Out Of”
U2 “Yahweh”
Velvet Revolver “Slither”
Weezer “Hashpipe”
Weezer “Island In The Sun”
The White Stripes “Seven Nation Army”
Wilco “Heavy Metal Drummer”
Yeah Yeah Yeahs “Pin”
Yorn, Pete “Life On A Chain”
Zwan “Come With Me”
Zwan “Settle Down”
As one would imagine, this was a bit of a hefty project, coming up with a ridiculous amount of music from 10 years gone by and putting it on a digestible list. I don’t know if I actually accomplished that goal, but after dividing it into two parts (2000-2004 and 2005-2009), it does look impressive, if I don’t say so myself.
2000-2004 Overview
In the first half of this decade, I dug everything from nu metal (Disturbed, System Of A Down, Slipknot) retro synth-pop (The Killers) and electronica (Royksopp) to the garage rock revival, led by a bunch of “the” bands (i.e. The White Stripes, The Strokes).
Veterans like U2, Springsteen, Pearl Jam, R.E.M., Filter, Joe Satriani and supergroups of sorts like Broken Social Scene, Audioslave, A Perfect Circle, Velvet Revolver and Zwan were also exciting to follow well into the new millennium - and BSS still is. But it was indie rockers like Death Cab For Cutie, Pinback and “m” bands like Matt Pond PA, Minus The Bear and Modest Mouse that I started listening to and seeing live more and more as the years went by.
There’s music for all moods and seasons in here, whether it’s feel-good hip-hop from Outkast, a metal masterpiece like “Stick Figure” by West Virginian group Byzantine, or more mellow music like M83, Blur’s Cocteau-Twins-esque “Battery In Your Leg,” and Sigur Ros. So yes, as if you couldn’t tell, I like a variety of music, to say the least. The amount of it is insane, I know.
It’s nearly impossible to do a meaningful ranking of all these songs, so here now, in alphabetical order are the 120 songs I remember listening to time and time again that came out during the first five years of the 2000s. Part II, the other 89 favorites from 2005-2009 will be published soon.
If any of these first 120 songs were your favorites too, feel free to comment below.
Part I: 2000-2004
2 Skinnee J’s “Big Beat Evangelist”
311 “Amber”
A Perfect Circle “3 Libras”
A Perfect Circle “The Hollow”
A Perfect Circle “Vanishing”
Adams, Ryan “Nuclear”
Afroman “Because I Got High”
Ashcroft, Richard “New York”
At The Drive-In “Pattern Against User”
At The Drive-In “Invalid Litter Dept.”
Audioslave “Show Me How To Live”
Audioslave “Gasoline”
Beck “Lost Cause”
Black Eyed Peas “Let’s Get Retarded”
Blink 182 “Stay Together For The Kids”
Blur “Battery In Your Leg”
Broken Social Scene “Cause = Time”
Broken Social Scene “Guilty Cubicles”
Byzantine “Stick Figure”
Coldplay “Yellow”
Cypress Hill “Rock Superstar”
Daft Punk “One More Time”
Death Cab For Cutie “Lowell, MA”
Death Cab For Cutie “405”
Death Cab For Cutie “The New Year”
Death Cab For Cutie “A Lack Of Color”
Deftones "Change (In The House of Flies)"
Dianogah "Wrapping The Lamb, Sir"
Disturbed “Stupify”
Dropkick Murphys “The Gauntlet”
Elefant “Misfit”
Eminem “Lose Yourself”
Evanescence “Going Under”
Filter “God Damn Me”
Filter “The Only Way (Is The Wrong Way)”
Flaming Lips “Do You Realize??”
Foo Fighters “All My Life”
Foo Fighters “Times Like These”
Fountains of Wayne “Stacy’s Mom”
Fountains of Wayne “Hey Julie”
Furtado, Nelly “Turn Off The Light”
Godsmack “Sick Of Life”
Gorillaz “Clint Eastwood”
Green Day “American Idiot”
Harvey, PJ “This Mess We’re In (f/Thom Yorke)”
Hot Rod Circuit “Radio Song”
Howe, Greg “A Delicacy”
Idlewild “Idea Track”
In Flames “Pinball Map”
Incubus “Wish You Were Here”
Interpol “Obstacle 1”
Interpol “PDA”
Jimmy Eat World “Sweetness”
The Killers “Mr. Brightside”
The Killers “Smile Like You Mean It”
Lamb of God “Now You’ve Got Something To Die For”
Lekman, Jens “Rocky Dennis’ Farewell Song To The Blind Girl”
Lekman, Jens “The Opposite Of Hallelujah”
Linkin Park “Somewhere I Belong”
Linkin Park “One Step Closer”
Linkin Park “Lying From You”
Ludacris “Saturday (Ooh! Oooh!)”
M83 “Run Into Flowers”
Mars Volta "Eriatarka"
Matt Pond PA “Measure 3”
Matt Pond PA “Summer (Butcher Two)”
Mayer, John “Clarity”
Mayer, John “No Such Thing”
Minus The Bear “Absinthe Party At The Fly Honey Warehouse”
Modest Mouse “Float On”
Modest Mouse “Paper Thin Walls”
Muse “Hysteria”
Muse “Time Is Running Out”
My Morning Jacket “One Big Holiday”
My Morning Jacket “Mahgeetah”
New Order “Turn My Way (w/Billy Corgan)”
Opeth “Windowpane”
Opeth “The Leper Affinity”
Outkast “Hey Ya!”
Outkast “Ms. Jackson”
Pearl Jam “Thumbing My Way”
Pinback “Concrete Seconds”
Postal Service “Such Great Heights”
Pretty Girls Make Graves “Speakers Push The Air”
Queens Of The Stone Age “No One Knows”
Radiohead “Motion Picture Soundtrack”
Radiohead “Wolf At The Door”
Red Hot Chili Peppers “Can’t Stop”
Rehab “Sittin’ At A Bar”
R.E.M. “Bad Day”
The Roots “The Seed 2.0”
Royksopp “Poor Leno”
Satriani, Joe “Until We Say Goodbye”
Satriani, Joe “Up In Flames”
Sigur Ros “The Nothing Song (Njosnavelin)” from Vanilla Sky
Slipknot “The Heretic Anthem”
Smashing Pumpkins “Try, Try, Try”
Soulfly “Jumpdafuckup (f/Corey Taylor)”
Snoop Dog “Drop It Like It’s Hot”
Sparta “Air”
Sparta “While Oceana Sleeps”
Springsteen, Bruce “The Rising”
Springsteen, Bruce “Waiting On A Sunny Day”
The Strokes “Hard To Explain”
Sunny Day Real Estate “The Ocean”
System Of A Down “Chop Suey”
Tool “Parabola”
Travis “Side”
U2 “New York”
U2 “Stuck In A Moment You Can’t Get Out Of”
U2 “Yahweh”
Velvet Revolver “Slither”
Weezer “Hashpipe”
Weezer “Island In The Sun”
The White Stripes “Seven Nation Army”
Wilco “Heavy Metal Drummer”
Yeah Yeah Yeahs “Pin”
Yorn, Pete “Life On A Chain”
Zwan “Come With Me”
Zwan “Settle Down”
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