Top 15 Albums of 2009

Yeah, so we’re a bit late on this. Oh well. I’m just trying to slowly get back in the groove of things. Unfortunately, I’m not going to be making this too detailed. However, I will be writing a more in depth review of each of these albums throughout this month. I may cover, them all, I may not. We’ll see.

So here you have it, the best of 2009:

15. Mew – No More Stores…[Album title is long...lol.]

14. Blakroc – Blakroc [Collaboration between the Black Keys and a lot of hip-hop artists.]

13. Omar Rodriguez-Lopez – Solar Gambling [Great album, but the live versions of some songs recorded at Abbey-Road for Los Sueños sounded better.]

12. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion [I don't think these guys can release a bad album. Simply great.]

11. Oceansize – Home & Minor [An fairly lengthy EP that includes some great drum grooves, odd time signatures, and some beautiful ambient sections.]

10. The Mars Volta – Octahedron [Possibly their weakest release to date, but that really doesn't say anything considering the quality music these guys produce. My favorite band with yet another good release. A great showcasing of Cedric's abilities as a vocalist and a bit chiller side of Thomas Pridgen before saying farewell to the band.]

9. Brownout – Aguilas and Cobras [An absolutely phenomenal Latin/Funk band with a great sophomore release to follow their debut album.]

8. Omar Rodriguez-Lopez – Old Money [The first of many great releases from Omar in 2009. An instrumental powerhouse that revived some old jams that made an appearance in the 2005 tour of The Mars Volta]

7. Omar Rodriguez-Lopez – Los Sueños De Un Hidago [The live sessions of the ORL Group recorded live at Abbey Road earlier in the 2009 year. This was the first official release of ORL to feature Omar's new girlfriend, Ximena. Her voice and melodies that she writes is simply jaw-dropping. Very beautiful indeed. This album also featured new live versions of songs from Old Money and The Apocalypse Inside of an Orange.]

6. Mastodon – Crack the Skye [A much calmer and more atmospheric release than past albums. Probably my favorite release from this great heavy prog band.]

5. MUTEMATH – Armistice [Another great release from the energetic New Orleans band, MUTEMATH. Unfortunately there weren't any instrumental songs, but there were a few instrumental sections in several songs. The iTunes release and "Backside" single feature an epic B-side, "Architecture." This song debuts the first asymmetrical time signature used by the band.]

4. Extra Golden – Thank You Very Quickly [An amazing African/American (not African American lol) band that grew from a band known as Golden. I still can't decide if one's better than the other, but either way, amazing music is always released from them.]

3. Tyondai Braxton – Central Market [This is the guitarist and singer for Battles. Apparently he is a pretty amazing composer. This album has an avant-garde, classical feeling to it. A very trippy experience that makes you think of Disneyland, but maybe if it were on drugs or something.]

2. Omar Rodriguez-Lopez – Xenophanes [Best Omar solo release, period. From front to back this album is epic. This is the first time I've ever heard one of Omar's solo releases that completely blew away his work for The Mars Volta. It's also great to hear Omar singing for the first time.]

1. BLK JKS – After Robots [Up the for best album of the 2000-2010 decade. It's been a long time since I've felt such passion and energy from a single album. Unfortunately I missed them last year due to being just shy of 21 years old, but the next time they are here for a show, I can't pass it up. I've heard amazing things of their live sets, and depending on their next release or two, this may possibly be my new favorite band alongside The Mars Volta.]

…And with Octahedron, a New Tour Must Begin

So, I’ve been slacking quite a bit, but hey…I had school, an internship, and a new job, so it’s been tough to add blog entries into the mix. Having little access to the interweb doesn’t help much either. Anyways, the summer is here, and thus a new era for The Hatching Gizzard is born.

As many of you probably know, Octahedron is scheduled for its official release a week from tomorrow. Octahedron is the band’s 5th LP, and one that explores the world of pop music. No, the band is not selling out! Pop doesn’t even mean bad, by any means. I don’t know why so many people automatically associate the term “pop” with “bad.” Just another bad generalization out there.

Octahedron is yet another new direction for the band. Confronting the difficult task of simplifying things a bit, multi-instrumentalist Adrián Terrazas-González and guitarist/sound manipulator Paul Hinojos were asked to step aside for the album, and possibly the entire Octahedron tour (according to shows so far). On top of this, Omar has limited the amount of tracks, sound tweaking, editing, and overall complexity, giving a more “acoustic” feel.

There is quite a bit of ambience used throughout the album. From the start, a simple note and its upper neighboring octave are drawn out for about a minute and a half. Although it may seem a bit unnecessary, it appears to be the back bone of the entire album, reoccuring several times. The most successful use of ambience throughout the album comes in during the build up section of Cotopaxi, bringing back a feeling similar to that in the song Frances the Mute.

Thomas Pridgen has made a pretty big change since The Bedlam in Goliath. Keeping things a bit more on the simpler side, Thomas restrains himself from throwing mad fills left and right and utilizes them a bit more accordingly to the new sound. Like the last album, he is one of the biggest standouts, throwing out very sick grooves in songs like “Desperate Graves” and “Teflon”.

The biggest surprise of them all is Cedric. Maturing as a singer, Cedric really knows how to utilize different tones from his vocal cords. Throughout the entire album, we hear a truly beautiful tone coming out from Cedric, most notably in “With Twilight As My Guide.” What’s more impressive about this tone is that it’s two-sided. As beautiful as it is, there is still something quite haunting about it. Combine the two and you get a body full of goosebumps. Another big surprise from Cedric was his use of harmonizing in “Copernicus.” It’s something new from Cedric, and although not perfect, still sounds very nice.

Overall, the album is quite pleasing. Nothing that’d I’d consider one of the best albums ever, but great for what it is. The only areas which could have been much better involved the mixing of tracks (ex. piano solo at the end of “Halo of Nembutals”. Although it’s supposed to be subtle, it’s almost too quiet to the point where your brain might not even recognize its presence right away). Fix that issue and you have yourself a fairly perfect album. The album’s lack of experimentation was an experiment that Omar accomplished quite well, and I look forward to seeing what move he’ll make next.

Key Songs: “Teflon,” “Halo of Nembutals,” “With Twilight As My Guide,” “Desperate Graves”

The band just started their tour last Tuesday with a show at the Ventura Majestic Theater in California (review to be posted soon) and a performance on Saturday at Bonnaroo. From here they are scheduled to go to Europe until Outside Lands Festival (San Francisco, CA) in August. Hopefully more dates will be announced soon.

City Lights…Burn Out Bright

Indie lovers, this one’s for you. And if you’re not an indie lover, this will convert you. With amazing lyrics, catchy beats, and melodies that just melt your ears, this diverse group of magical musicians have managed to conjure up a unique indie sound that will make you want get up, bust out that lighter, and sing. The band is currently working on two upcoming releases:

City Light/Her Space Holiday – EP Split
Burn Out Bright – LP

As of right now, there are no confirmed dates for the upcoming releases

The band is also scheduled for an interview and small performance on KZSU 90.1 FM in Stanford, CA. This broadcast is set to start at 3:00 PM on Saturday, February 28. After their appearance on KZSU 90.1, City Light will be playing NOISE POP ’09 with AC Newman, Dent May and His Magnificent Ukulele, Devon Williams at The Independent in San Francisco, CA the same night.

“City Light was started by Seattle singer songwriter Matt Shaw with long time friend and bay area producer Nick Andre, who’s releases have featured Gift Of Gab, Lateef, Lyrics Born and more. As the project progressed they called upon musician and producer Denver Dalley from Desaparecidos, Statistics, and Intramural and Seattle singer songwriter Andy Fitts from Airport Cathedral and Aqueduct. Together the four of them worked to create one record from three corners of the country that mixed genres of indie-pop, rock , and hip hop. The end result is a dark and unique pop record full of catchy tunes, experimental electronica, and driving beats.”

-City Light’s MySpace Page

Releases:

Down the Pacific

Il Bacio Della Medusa: Italy’s Finest

First off, let me just say that I have never been moved by a group quite as powerfully since The Mars Volta. I never thought I’d re-experience such power, musicality, and musicianship again. However, Il Bacio Della Medusa proved me wrong.

This eclectic powerhouse is a progressive rock band from the beautiful Italy. Formed in 2002 by the former bandmates Diego Petrini, Federico Caprai and Simone Cecchini, the band found themselves searching for the perfect bandmates and soon ran into Eva Morelli and Simone Brozzetti. With the band now coming together, they recorded their first album, the self-titled Il Bacio Della Medusa, which was released in April of 2004. From there the band went on to win “Rock’in Centro,” a musical competition in Perugai.

In 2005, the band found themselves something adding a new flavor into their music, the violin. With the addition of Daniele Rinchi to the band, the band found themselves experimenting with new instruments, including the organ. Later that year in September, the band began working on their next concept album, Discesa agl’inferi d’un giovane amante. The album was finished recording a year later, and then released in 2008 under Black Widow Records.

Since then, the band has currently been working on their live DVD, BDM Live in Genoa, which was recorded on the 23rd of last month.

Official Site
Myspace Page

The Mars Volta Takes Home the Grammy

Congratulations to The Mars Volta for winning the Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance. The Grammy was given to the band for their single Wax Simulacra, off their last release The Bedlam in Goliath. This is the bands first ever Grammy!!!

Video of Grammy Presentation

This is very exciting news opening up the possibility for new revolutions in mainstream music.

The band is scheduled to release their next LP sometime early/mid this year. This will be the band’s last album to be released under Universal. The possibility of two albums this year isn’t out of the question either.

The Mars Volta was also confirmed as one of the bands performing this year at Bonnaroo.

MM Web Updates and More!!!

Hey everybody. I can’t believe it’s already February! The year is passing by so rapidly, I can’t even keep track of the time. On the flip side, that means that we are even closer to the release of the new MuteMath single, Spotlight. Only 6 days left until the release on February 10.

The new MuteMath website is still currently in the works, and it looks like the plan will be to launch everything up on Monday, the day prior to the release of Spotlight. Yay!!!

I also noticed some rumors going around about MuteMath performing at Bonnaroo this year. Unfortunately, this won’t be happening at all. I know, I know…I’m sad too. The band was scheduled to play at the Langerado Festival in Miami, but the festival was sadly cancelled just today.

Lastly, the band is currently working on finalizing some shows for this spring and summer. Hopefully we can get some dates out to you soon.

New MuteMath Site

Sorry, but I unfortunately don’t have much time at the computer today. Life has been a bit hectic, and my laptop is currently being fixed. So hopefully by the end of the week, I’ll be able to access the internet on a daily basis again.

Anyways, I just wanted to give everyone the heads up that the new MuteMath website is just about finished! It should be up within the next week or so. The official MuteMath forums will also finally be up and running! We’re very excited about this one.

Expect a lot of awesome things in the upcoming month. And don’t forget about the Spotlight EP on the 10th of next month!

Thomas Pridgen Steps Up to the Stage

In case you don’t already know, Thomas Pridgen is the drummer for The Mars Volta (replacing the seat of Blake Fleming, who filled Jon Theodore’s spot for only several months). This is one crazy brotha with some serious chops. Don’t believe me, check out his resume and videos on the web. How many people do you know that win drum offs before hitting the double digits in age? Even though Pridgen has only been with the band for a little over two years now, he has quickly won my vote favorite member in the band. With his amazing chops, and even more hilarious humor, you’ll soon learn to love the guy.

Just this past Saturday, Thomas Pridgen made a special guest appearance at Guitar Center’s Drum Off. Alongside Pridgen was Thomas Lang, yet another phenomenal drummer. Together the two made Thomas Squared, and from there an endless finale of wicked chops.

Thomas Squared Part 1
Thomas Squared Part 2

Here are two recent interviews of Thomas Pridgen:

The Greenhaus Effect Interview (towards the very bottom)
Laist Interview (with pictures)

Tonight on Jay Leno & a Look @ the Year’s Plans

My deepest apologies for the tardiness of this first post with actual news. I’ve been doing a bit of spontaneous traveling this week and somehow found my way back to my hometown of San Diego. However, along with my tardiness, I bring wonderful, exciting news!

First thing’s first, if you happen to be reading this today, don’t forget to check out MuteMath tonight, January 15, 2009, on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. The band will be performing their song “Spotlight” from the motion picture Twilight.

The single for “Spotlight” is due to be released next month, February 10. Along with the single, there will be several B-sides that you’ll have to check out. The single will be made available on limited edition vinyl and through digital channels.

Finally, we reach the best part of our little update. Teleprompt is currently working hard on finalizing the band’s next album. Hopefully everything will be set within the next few weeks or so, but expect the next masterpiece from the band to be released this summer.

Welcome to the Hatching Gizzard

Hello everyone, I’m proud to making the first post of what will soon be many.

Just a really quick intro for all of you:

The name is Justin, or some of you may get to know me as either JBassFox or IVeilCerpinTaxtI. Feel free to head over to the ‘About Me’ page for more information. If you don’t quite know me yet, you’ll begin to discover that I’m a fairly eclectic person; likewise, this blog will be fairly versatile discussing topics such as Entertainment, News, Technology, Politics, etc.

However, my passion is music, and that’s what this blog will be dedicated mostly to. I go through a lot of music, so expect a lot of CD and concert reviews (if you’d like to check out the music yourself, either feel free to ask me or go ahead and just search yourself). I’ll be posting a lot of news and information on several bands that I follow, and some that I work for. Some of the news will be public, and sometimes you’ll be lucky to get the inside scoop from me.

Anyways, that’s about it for now. Unfortunately the day has turned much more quickly than expected, so I will talk to you all again soon!

Cheers,

JBassFox