Archive for the ‘Elliot’ Category
July 9, 2008
Bella Noir
Premonitions EP
March 7, 2008
Avow Records
Rarely does a band’s name seek to so completely describe its music. Bella Noir’s brand is dark and beautiful; it is atmospheric and heavily ambient with dim melodies of vampiric proportions. Vampiric in the sense that Bella Noir creates an intoxicating hybridity of sensual romanticism and tremolotic shades. The distorted reverberations blend every peak and valley, allowing coherence but refusing pomp and excess. The heavy set bass lines are the progeny of The Cure’s 1981 Faith, while rooted in gothic psychedelia, skin deep there is a sense of pop that prevents Premonitions from falling victim to obscurity.
Premonitions is a relatively short EP consisting of 6 songs totaling 22 minutes. This brevity owes impart to the extension’s fifth track Bellow, which clocks in at 42 seconds and merely serves as an intro to the closer Distraction. The EP is extraordinarily even in mood. I have not heard a record so flauntingly androgynous since Elliot’s 2004 sea change Song in the Air. As sad as I was to see Elliot go, I am thrilled to see Bella Noir emerge. Their lack of irony is a much needed contribution to Brooklyn’s independent music scene.
Incidentally, Bella Noir will play R Bar in Manhattan July 9th at 8 PM.
-FF
7/9
http://www.bellanoirmusic.com/
http://www.myspace.com/bellanoirmusic
Posted in 7 Points, Avow Records, Bands, Bands, Collectives, and Artists, Bella Noir, Brooklyn, Elliot, EP, Experimental, Format, Frederick Foxtrott, Genre, Indie, Indie Media, Labels, Music, Music Review, New York City, Psychedelia, R Bar, Show Review | Tagged 2008, 7 Points, Avow Records, Bands, Bella Noir, Bowery, Brooklyn, Gothic, Indie, Music, Music Review, NYC, Psychedelia, R-Bar | Leave a Comment »
September 21, 2007
Silversun Pickups
Carnavas
July 26th 2006
Dangerbird Records
This Silver Lake district LA band has the rare luxury of thriving betwixt and between. They have originality, yet they remind me of some great bands. I’ve read many reviews and can’t imagine why most hear a similarity between Silversun and Smashing Pumpkins. No disrespect toward Billy intended, but I just don’t hear it. Perhaps they share a feedback note here or there, but only a note. They have much more in common with fellow up-and-comers Airiel out of Chicago. Mr. Aubert’s vocals seem much more akin to Jeremy Enigk and Elliot vocalist Chris Higdon. They produce such familiar music, leading me to point out their sound-a-likes, yet I won’t attempt to pigeon hole them into any category or faddish type. My Bloody Valentine is clearly an ancestor to Silversun Pickups‘ noise, while Sunny Day Real Estate shares their pop impulses and guitar supplications.
It is not an album that I obsess over or repeat every moment of my free time, but I must say this band has a gut, such a visceral vocal force that it deserves a salute of some sort. Lazy Eye and Melatonin lay it out for us. I’ll put this record on my play list for many gatherings. It whets my nostalgia for dark exploration coupled with beautiful and melodic rhythms. I don’t know if I’d rave to a friend about this record, but I’d make sure they knew I had listened to it once or twice.
If you have an interest in an up beat Sunny Day, without any real comparison, or an infatuation with Elliot’s Song in the Air, than I’d expect you’d enjoy this display. It takes a lot of creativity to achieve this level of layered intensity and noise conglomeration, but to imbue it with the pop sensibilities of Silversun Pickups requires a sober understanding of the musical soundscape from which a clean execution can be drawn. More than that, it takes the confidence that your wall of noise is worth listening to. This one most certainly is.
6/9
http://www.silversunpickups.com
http://www.myspace.com/silversunpickups
Related Sounds
My Bloody Valentine
Sunny Day Real Estate
Airiel
Elliot
(All as if 1991 wanted its day in court)
Other Records
Pikul EP 2005
Posted in 2006, 6 Points, Airiel, Bands, California, Chicago, Dangerbird Records, Elliot, Indie, Jeremy Enigk, Los Angeles, Music, Music Review, My Bloody Valentine, Silversun Pickups, Smashing Pumpkins, Sunny Day Real Estate | Tagged , Airiel, Bands, Dangerbird Records, Indie, Los Angeles, Music Review, My Bloody Valentine, Silver Lake Scene, Silversun Pickups, Sunny Day Real Estate | 2 Comments »
