Part 27 of our ongoing, never-ending process of playing catch-up: Austin instrumentalists Bee vs. Moth’s album Acronyms came out last year. The fun factor is off the hook – they pin the needle in the red. They’re part jazz, part noise-rock, and part movie theme music. Their compositions are very clever, but there’s just as much improvisation going on and that’s just as clever. Yet any good jazz band has that: what sets these folks apart is their sense of humor and out-of-the-box mashup-style songwriting. For a point of comparison, it could be said that what Tribecastan is to the Red Sea, Bee vs. Moth is to Americana. Some of this you can even dance to. To give you an idea of how much is going on here, these are the notes our reviewer took while trying to get a basic idea of how to explain just the first song on the album: “Drum hammers out the ‘one’ – guitar comes in against the beat – a blast of fuzzy guitar feedback – down to just bass holding the beat, backward masking and glockenspiel, up with it then horns and the whole band, becomes an actual anthem – then it falls apart with disembodied voices, comes back with a distorted guitar rock interlude – simple fast 2/4 changes a la Joy Division – down to glockenspiel and trumpet again.” Something for just about everyone in 3 minutes, 50 seconds.
Interplay is everywhere throughout this album: instruments converse, argue, twirl each other across the floor, blow up in each others’ faces and then make up. Now More than Ever, whose focal point is a warped spaghetti western theme, has the trumpet, guitar and bass doing a neat call-and-response. Peter Benko, a blend of Chronic Town-era REM, Tuatara jazz nocturne and reggae, has the bass taking over for the guitar – which in this song plays a role usually reserved for a drummer. The fiery, hypnotic Afrobeat song Pennies from Hell (these guys are good at titles) has trumpet and baritone sax riffing off each other. And Ugly Is the New Black welds crazed noise-rock guitar to a vintage doo-wop theme.
The rest of the album is more cinematic. Tuesday in Tuskegee shifts from mournful gospel to joyous noise, with some intense guitar tremolo-picking, and then back down again. The Sky and the Dirt Earth is southwestern gothic teleported to Bali; Mexican Noise Soda warps out of horn-spiced metal to a nasty, satirical trumpet waltz. They prove especially amusing with marches. All Hail Freedom is scathingly sarcastic and bombastic, the band taking their time machinegunning the propagandistic theme to bits, while ICP on Parade has gleeful fun mocking a parade theme and I Listen to Coffee All Day add hayseed banjo and cowbell to raise the eyebrow factor. The most straight-up number here – straight-up being a relative term – is Gor’s Apparatus, a joyously crescendoing, noisy jaunt featuring a couple of tongue-in-cheek bass solos and some particularly satisfying drum work. Bee vs. Moth’s next gig appears to be on March 19 at Austin’s Alamo Drafthouse Ritz Theatre, where they’ll be doing their live original score for Buster Keaton’s The Cameraman as part of the Austin Film Festival.
February 12, 2011
Posted by delarue |
avant garde music, experimental music, jazz, Music, music, concert, review, Reviews, rock music | afrobeat, alamo drafthouse ritz theatre, americana music, bee vs. moth, bee vs. moth acronyms, bee vs. moth acronyms review, bee vs. moth austin film festival, bee vs. moth review, film music, indie rock, instrumental rock, jazz, movie music, movie theme, Music, noise rock, noiserock, rem band, rock music, soundtrack music, southwestern gothic, TriBeCaStan, tuatara band |
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OK, we’re a day late with this, but we’re on vacation – who’s counting, anyway? This is sort of our luddite DIY version of a podcast. We try to mix it up, offer a little something for everyone: sad songs, funny songs, upbeat songs, quieter stuff, you name it. We’ve designed this as something you can do on your lunch break if you work at a computer (and you have headphones -your boss won’t approve of a lot of this stuff). If you don’t like one of these songs, you can always go on to the next one: every link here will take you to each individual song. As always, the #1 song here will appear on our Best Songs of 2010 list at the end of the year.
1. Norden Bombsight – Help Desk
We don’t usually carry over a song from one week to another but this one’s a gem, a real #1. Noir art-rock with a cool, really professional David Lynch-style video.
2. Ninth House – Fallible Friend
Keith Otten’s evil, cynical guitar owns this song. Delicious Nashville gothic rock from their upcoming Cemetery & Western Classics album.
3. Julie Christmas – July 31st
Kinda creepy ballad that explodes into noir rock on the chorus.
4. The Jesus Taco – The Meek
Genuinely pretty, vividly lyrical acoustic ballad: “I had bruises on my brain so they put me on ice, the charity wards were swollen with sorrow but the nurses were nice, I wanted to kill so they put me on pills seven days a week.” Another good band from the Weak Records stable.
5. Brooklyn Rider – Debussy String Quartet, 2nd movement
Live on Soundcheck with John Schaefer, a fan favorite from their latest cd.
6. Rupa & the April Fishes – Une Americaine a Paris
Delicious gypsy jazz. They’re at Joe’s Pub on 9/1 and at Barbes on 9/3. Very cool lyrics if you speak French.
7. The Rebel Set – Heartbreak Waiting
Better than average surf/garage rock- like an all male Go Go’s. Thanks to the folks at Blurt for this one.
8. Bee vs. Moth – Pancake Factory
Beyond weird but very cool. Janglerock meets no wave with horns. Completely unique.
9. Hot Rize – Keep Your Lamp Trimmed & Burning
Country gospel, bluegrass style, live at Bonaroo. Coming to B.B. King’s in November.
10. Sebastian Tellier – Look
The song sucks but the video is hilarious – if your sense of humor extends to Simpsons-style fart jokes. C’mon, admit it, you love it.
August 25, 2010
Posted by delarue |
Uncategorized | acoustic music, americana music, art-rock, austin bands, bee vs. moth, bee vs. moth pancake factory, bluegrass, bluegrass music, brooklyn rider, brooklyn rider debussy, cabaret music, chamber music, classical music, country music, david lynch, fallible friend, funny videos, garage rock, goth band, goth music, goth rock, gothic band, gothic music, gothic rock, hot rize, hot rize keep your lamp, indie rock, jesus taco, jesus taco meek, julie christmas, julie christmas july 31st, keith otten, nashville gothic, Ninth House band, ninth house fallible friend, noir cabaret, noise rock, Norden Bombsight, norden bombsight help desk, rebel set, rebel set heartbreak waiting, rock music, rupa april fishes, rupa april fishes une americaine a paris, sebastian tellier look, sebastian tellier look video, sebastien tellier, string quartet, surf music, surf rock, trendoid rock, weak records |
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