Tag Archives: album

’Interlude’

’You Don’t Love Me No More’

’Tropical Dinosaur’

[Chill] Dead Battery – Recovery: Chapter 1, Dreaming In The Void

Posted by Tyler Trew - April 15, 2015

A year ago today, Dead Battery was involved in an accident that resulted in him being in a coma. After two weeks in the ICU, he awoke and subsequently started on what has become Chapter 1 of his Recovery album.

Generally when we receive a press release, we do everything we can to avoid sounding like the press release. However, when an email came along with Dead Battery‘s new work, along with his breathtaking story, we decided we had no choice but to share the verbatim telling of this musical journey created by Kannibalen Records, the artist’s home label, and Suicide Sheep who is partnering on this magnificent, and dare we say megalith release. Chapter 1, Dreaming In The Void, is here, but the expedition has just begun.

The initial chapter of Recovery recounts Dead Battery’s state of pure unconsciousness. One does not know when one is asleep, and with a coma, it is the same way, but deeper. With sparse arrangements dominated by airy pads, warm keys and the occasional vocal, this chapter serves as the darkness that Dead Battery withstood.

’Die Another Day’

Enter into the void with a rugged, but chill dive into the bereft blackness. Bewildering pads and a tepid organ welcome you into the mystifying beginnings of what some might call a miracle. For now, it’s just a mysterious world. “Die Another Day” is a campaign of its own that with life-like percussion and a concluding piano phrase that’s simple, yet profound.

’Nothing Lasts’

“Nothing Lasts” opens with an insistent introduction. A sort of stage is angelically set by way of anticipation, as though one is in a waiting room, ready for the next step. This dreamlike sequence picks up once the percussion kicks in, and the shakers and keys pull the listener along a presumed path. Vocals patch up the second half of the song as the journey unravels.

’Leaving The Light’

Opening with a vocal sample expressing its name, “Leaving The Light” is the concretion of the aphotic experience. It’s a slightly upbeat descension further into the abstract reality. The closing segment summarizes the solidification of the shadow upon Dead Battery; a more complete darkness is now achieved.

’Vanished World’

A tranquil, yet haunting place is birthed with “Vanished World.” A breathy atmosphere is built, with percussion subtly entering into the space in due time. A female voice of the subconscious speaks through the musical web as things progress into a state of full immersion, where a resilient guitar takes over until being detuned out of existence. That is… until its resiliency fights off against the darkness of death.

We feel as though some intense new TV drama has hit the web, and now season one has finished off on an enticing note. Instead of a television program, it’s pure music, straight from the heart of a man who will forever be affected by what happened to him one year ago. Dead Battery has us intrigued, as these four tracks are only the beginning. If you’re already a fan, you can head over to iTunes to grab a pre-order of Recovery. Stay tuned, as we will make sure to cover each section of this album.

[Indie] Misterwives – “Our Own House” [ALBUM REVIEW]

Posted by Jordan Grammer - February 24, 2015

In an indie music scene becoming more and more saturated by the week, it’s becoming more important than ever to stand out amongst your peers, both sonically and professionally. Some rely more on marketing than talent to get by (and are generally well-known) while some may be the next great thing but can never find an audience. It’s very rare to find a combination of the two, and Misterwives may be TMN’s favorite of the bunch. They have built a wonderful strategy to build up a genuine, organic fanbase from the bottom up and are making all the right moves to stay in the spotlight for years to come. And when the fans come to their intimate, yet explosive, live shows (which we’ll get into later), this New York quintet puts their talent where their mouth is and rocks out. On their debut album, “Our Own House”, they quickly turn the heads of anyone who wasn’t yet on the hype train.

From start to finish, this album is one wild ride you won’t want to get off of. The album starts off with the title track and while it takes a bit to build up, the energy carries on through the next five tracks until we reach “Coffins”, our personal favorite off the album. Absolutely gorgeous harmony work that would make even Lykke Li blush. From there on out, it’s all euphoria to the end of the album in “Queens”. In all honesty, this album is like a cracked out lovechild of Matt & Kim and Monsters & Men and we couldn’t love it more.

If you like what you hear and you live in the US, chances are you’re in luck. Misterwives are kicking off their own national tour this week and stopping on both coasts and everywhere in between (If you’re at the Columbus show and recognize me, I’ll buy you a drink. A full list of tour dates can be found here and don’t forget to pick up “Our Own House”, out today!

[Album Stream] Mansions On The Moon – Mansions on the Moon

Posted by Matthew Bloss - October 23, 2014

There’s no hiding the fact that we’ve become just a little bit enamored with alt-pop Casanovas Mansions on the Moon. And on that note, we’ve been waiting ever so patiently for their debut long-player like good little ninjas for just slightly over four years now. Yesterday, the So-Cal ensemble finally released their self-titled album and truthfully, some of us have been looping it for just over 24 hours straight. We’ve previously covered a handful of singles –“Radio”, “The Truth”, “Don’t Tell”, “Somewhere Else Tonight”, “Heart Of The Moment”- but our ears have obviously been a bit more glued to the cuts in which we had never previously consumed including “Take A Ride”, “Notice Me” and “All There Is”. We got lead vocalist Ted Wendler to say a few words about each of the ten tracks contained within Mansions On The Moon, and here’s what one of our favorite indie-pop crooners graced us with:

1. “Radio” was written in response to growing pressure for the band to write a breakout radio pop single. We set out to create a poppy track that ironically spoke of the growing lack of unoriginality in radio pop music today.

2. We wrote “Don’t Tell” while we were stranded in Scranton, Pennsylvania because our northeast coast dates were cancelled due to super storm Sandy. We set up a studio in the hotel and made lemonade out of lemons.

3. “Somewhere Else Tonight” has been with the band for a very long time. We’ve been playing it live for two years while we not so patiently waited for the completion of our first full length album.

4. “Where You Are” started with an instrumental foundation laid down by TRAKGIRL. Ted used a TC Helicon processor to achieve the robotic sound of the vocals. Then we went hambodian in the studio to take it to where it is now.

5. The lyrics for “Take A Ride” were written in Missoula Montana in 2006, the instrumental was completed with Paper Diamond in Boulder Colorado and the vocals were finally recorded in a closet in Los Feliz.

6. Ted first recorded the vocals for “Notice Me” over an acoustic arrangement. The band, along with Sunny Norway and David Ott, used the original acapellas and took the song to a completely different space. Maybe someday we will release the original acoustic version.

7. “The Truth” was the last song we wrote for the album. Lane was insistent that it needed to be included in the release. After Baby Jeff laid down the P-Funk the deal was sealed.

8. “Heart Of The Moment” was written by our bassist Jeff and inspired by a spiritual revelation. We played the track for Zee Avi while hanging out at a friend’s apartment in downtown LA. She graciously accepted our request to sing on the song. The version appearing on the album is remixed, re-arranged and remastered from its original release.

9. On “All There Is” Ben wrote the instrumental foundation for his mom as a birthday present. Then Ted used this to write the lyrics. We hope to inspire people to revisit forgotten dreams and goals they had in their youth, no matter how impossible they may seem.

10. Ted wrote “Time” while house sitting in the mountain town of Roanoke Virginia. He spent that month prolifically writing and recording while a English bulldog named Oscar snored in the background.

And there you have it. Now that you’ve got a bit of insight into the psyche of Mansions as they wrote their first album, take just under forty minutes and listen to their worthy entry into the LP format in its entirety below.

’Radio’

’Don’t Tell’

’Somewhere Else Tonight’

’Where You Are’

’Take A Ride’

’Notice Me’

’The Truth’

’Heart Of The Moment (ft. Zee Avi)’

’All There Is’

’Time (ft. Codi Caraco)’