High Hopes - Pink Floyd

Album: The Division Bell

Pink Floyd’s last album closes with a song that has become a classic in their repertoire. It features David Gilmour in top form, showing his songwriting skills are as good in this final album as in the 70’s output of the band. The song has an anthemic tone, featuring very passionate vocals from Gilmour and a steady and strong drum beat by Mason. This anthem-like atmosphere is complemented by the piano line delivered by the great Richard Wright, which keeps the listener on edge from the first seconds of the song, expecting for the epic climax it announces.

High Hopes has plenty of highlight moments. From the sound of bells in the intro to the incredible outro, the song displays Pink Floyd's most intense and melodic elements.In the first part of the song the band creates a mysterious and eerie atmosphere that sets the stage what comes after. They gradually build tension in the mid-section, when an acoustic guitar solo takes the forefront over some march-sounding drums by Nick Mason. All of this is always accompanied in the background by an exceptional orchestration that takes over the song in its second half.

The song ends with one of the greatest outros the band has ever put out, with Gilmour giving an extremely soulful solo, in pure Pink Floyd style. It plays over the beautiful orchestration, Mason’s drumming and Wright’s piano melody, mixing all the ingredients that conform the song into a monumental coda. The song slowly fades as it ends in a melancholic but hopeful note, in the same fashion as the lyrics of the song. 

It is a fantastic song; it has a more compressed structure than some songs of the classic era that had a longer running time or where part of concept albums, still it captures in its 8 minutes all the key components of the Pink Floyd sound. It sounds as an anthem or a celebration of everything that has come before in Pink Floyd’s illustrious career, and it’s a fitting ending for one of the greatest bands of all time.
 

Lift Your Skinny Fists like Antennas to Heaven - Godspeed You Black Emperor!

Members

- Thierry Amar – bass guitar
- David Bryant – electric guitar
- Bruce Cawdron – drums
- Aidan Girt – drums
- Norsola Johnson – cello
- Efrim Menuck – guitar
- Mauro Pezzente – bass guitar
- Roger Tellier-Craig – guitar
- Sophie Trudeau – violin

Other musicians
- Alfons – horn
- Brian – horn

 

 

 

 

 

Tracklist:

Storm

1.  Lift Yr. Skinny Fists, Like Antennas to Heaven..(6:15)

2.  Gathering Storm/Il Pleut à Mourir [+Clatters Like Worry (11:10)

3. Welcome to ARCO AM/PM..' [L.A.X.; 5/14/00] (1:15)

4. Cancer Towers on Holy Road Hi-Way (3:52)

Static

1. Terrible Canyons of Static (3:34)

2. Atomic Clock (1:09)

3. Chart #3 (2:39)

4. World Police and Friendly Fire (9:48)

5. [...+The Buildings They Are Sleeping Now]

Sleep

1. Murray Ostril: '...They Don't Sleep Anymore on the Beach..." (1:10)

2. Monheim (12:14)

3. Broken Windows, Locks of Love Pt III (9:53)

Antennas to Heaven

1. Moya Sings 'Baby-O' (1:00)

2. Edgyswingsetacid (0:58)

3. [Glockenspiel Duet Recorded on a Campsite In Rheinback, N.Y.] (0:47)

4. Attention... Mon Ami... Fa-Lala-Lala-La-La (1:18)

5. She Dreamt She Was a Bulldozer, She Dreamt She Was Alone in an Empty Field (9:43)

6. Deathkamp Drone (3:09)

7. Antennas to Heaven (2:02)

Godspeed You Black Emperor!  is a band like no other. Being one of the pioneering bands in the post-rock genre, their music is different than probably any band that is considered part of this genre. Their symphonies succeed in creating the atmosphere of a post-apocalyptic world, a mental picture of a desolated earth where nothing grows anymore and life is just a memory of the past.  Beginning with their debut album F♯ A♯ ∞ (1997) they have been known for their long-scaled compositions, their long build-ups, their use of classical instruments, drone guitars and tape recorded speeches.

Their second album though, is a work of epic proportions, even for GYBE standards. Lift Your Skinny Fists like Antennas to Heaven (2000) is not only GYBE’s longest and most ambitious album, being a double album composed of only four “songs” (they would be better called movements or compositions), it is also probably their most complete one. It is a career defining effort for the Canadian band, being heralded by most since it was released as the band’s masterpiece and as a classic post-rock record.

The music found in this album features some of the most intense and varied feelings, even when the general tone is somber. From sheer happiness in the beginning of Storm all the way through the hopeless desperation at the end of Antennas to Heaven, it encompasses some of the most powerful buildups, transitions and melodies the band has ever written. They work together to create a sense of completion, as if the album as a whole is trying to make a point about the human experience in its entirety.

Even without lyrics, it can be said that in their work, GYBE show clearly how poignant a band they can be regarding current social and political events, having had problems themself in the US in the wake of the War on Terror. LYSFLATH is probably their less political album though, not having any politically charged messages such as earlier albums had, like the introduction of The Dead Flag Blues in their debut or the one in BBF3 from their sophomore EP Slow Riot for NewZerø Kanada (1999).

The theme of the album seems to revolve around the most sentimental side of their mostly anarchist worldview rather than on the intellectual side of it. Even when they get more political in the recording they use as an introduction to Sleep, clearly a criticism of savage progress in the wake of the new millennium, it appeals more to the emotions of the listener rather than trying to enrage him into action. It’s that change of direction which gives LYSFLATH its soulful nature; its mysterious and magical appeal.

GYBE wear their heart on their sleeves on this album. Sometimes it even seems like they are begging for people’s understanding, as in the ending of Storm or in the whole Sleep, the saddest and most heartfelt composition on the album. They also succeed in creating the paranoid, almost schizophrenic atmosphere of the times the album was released, with the fear of terrorist attacks and the new millennium coming. The mid-section of Storm and the outstanding Static are the best examples for this.

Although the compositions work as a whole, they are each divided in different sections. Some of this sections are the whole base on which this movements stand upon. Take for example the achingly gorgeous She Dreamt She Was a Bulldozer, She Dreamt She Was Alone in an Empty Field. It opens with some of the most beautiful violins on the whole album followed by the band playing the most urgent section ever recorded by the band. It ends with a build-up that sounds like a dirge for lost hope, the kind of melody you hear in your head when there’s nothing left to do.

Other highlight sections are the cheerful Lift Yr. Skinny Fists, Like Antennas to Heaven..., with its horns and victorious drums, opening the album with a blast, or the nerve-wracking World Police and Friendly Fire which builds up to a wonderfully noisy and apocalyptic explosion of sound.  The musical peak of LYSFLATH comes with the melancholic  Broken Windows, Locks of Love Pt. III which ends Sleep with a highly complex and instrumentally rich section. This section alone defines perfectly what GYBE’s music is, with all its diverse nuances.

One of the main characteristics that have been attached to this band is how cinematic it is, to the point of GYBE being described as “cinematic post-rock”.  Throughout this album in particular you can’t help picturing different images whenever a build-up comes, or a tape recorded speech or noise, or when the main melodies kick. Even in the quietest moments of the album, the sense of it being the soundtrack for an unwritten movie about life itself doesn’t fade until the last screeching sounds of  Antennas to Heaven.

In the end it is probably the soundtrack for all of our lives, for the whole society we are living in. The question that’s being asked here is: Where do we go now? What’s next? The album leaves no answer, just a final cry for help to make sense of all this. Maybe a baby inside its mother’s womb or the heart of the earth itself, the final sounds of  Antennas to Heaven end the most desperate composition of the album, and the album itself in a mysterious note.

Probably the album makes more sense following the events that came to be just one year after its release. They left some with no hope or tomorrow to look forward to, and others with the gargantuan task of living through all the ashes and pain left. Still the amount of questions just increased since that moment, leaving this album as a testament of life in the last days leading to the moment when we were pushed a little bit further into the abyss.

Nowhere - Ride

Tracklist:

1. Seagull (6:09)

2. Kleidoscope (3:01)

3. In a Different Place (5:29)

4. Polar Bear (4:45)

5. Dreams Burn Down (6:04)

6. Decay (3:35)

7. Paralysed (5:34)

8. Vapour Trail (4:18)

9. Taste (3:17)

10. Here and Now (4:26)

11. Nowhere (5:23)

Members:

- Mark Gardener / vocals, guitar

- Andy Bell / vocals, guitar, piano, harmonica

- Steve Queralt / bass

- Laurence Colbert / drums

Ride is one of the pioneers of the shoegazing genre, and is also one of its most relevant exponents. Ride’s mix of well-crafted alternative rock tunes, with noise rock and dream pop influences, helped establish them as one of the most important bands in the shoegaze scene. It also differentiated them from the more ethereal dream pop-influenced bands in the genre like MyBloody Valentine and Slowdive, and gave them a distinctive, rockier sound.

Nowhere (1990) is the band’s first full length album, and definitely their most influential, always being cited as one of the albums that defined the genre. Even if it was their debut LP, it wasn’t their first release. They put out a series of EPs in the months leading to its release, which were collected in the compilation Smile (1990). The last of these EPs, Fall (1990), had four songs which all appear in the American version of Nowhere, which is the definitive one according to the band.

The album has a more punchy and structured feel than other albums in the genre, which tended to align themselves to more abstract and lush songwriting styles. This shows since the first track, with the noisy and psychedelic anthem Seagull. This song has an overwhelming wall of sound, created by the guitar duo. This is complemented by some mesmerizing bass playing and very strong drum playing. The vocal melodies by Gardner and Bell give the song the feeling of being an oriental mantra, conveying a spiritual sensation.

The music featured in Nowhere, although sticking to the basic elements of shoegaze, displays a wide range of ways to explore the sounds connected to this genre. It has abrasive noisier tracks, like the opener, but it also lets itself be more introspective and complex in tracks like Paralysed and Here and Now. From more straightforward rock compositions like Kaleidoscope and Taste, to lush dream pop ballads like Vapour Trail and In a Different Place, this album experiments and surprises the listener with different kinds of compositional approaches. 

Another element that separates this band from others in the genre is their focus in the musicianship instead of the sounds produced by the guitar. Though the sounds are important to convey the different moods for each song, the strong chemistry between the players is the key to the musical success of this LP. Take for example Polar Bear, one of the most sonically ethereal tracks in the record. The lush guitar work, full of reverb, is the essence of the song, but the drums and bass are still present in the mix, giving structure to the abstract shoegazing guitar playing.

The song where the band display the perfect combination of compositional powers along with their attention the sonic textures of the guitar, is Dreams Burn Down. The song features a dense and distorted landscape of sound, produced by the different guitar sounds created by Gardner and Bell. The drums again are in top form with aggressive fills, effortlessly blending with the noisy and lavish atmosphere around it. When the chorus kicks in, the band indulges in a burst of distorted guitars, but always handled by the rhythm section for it not to descend into total incoherence.

Vapour Trail is the most well-known composition of this album and one of the most sensitive and delightful ballads created by an alternative rock act. The guitars overlap creating a very delicate and pleasant atmosphere, which along with the solid drum work and the amazing string section, produce the most stunningly beautiful track in Ride’s catalogue. Having the string section adds much to this song, as much as the harmonica does in Here and Now or the piano in Paralysed. This use of unorthodox instrumentation shows that at this point in their career, Ride was an atypical band inside their genre.

Nowhere closes the album in a very gloomy and dark note. The title track uses feed-back and reverbed vocals to produce a hypnotizing and engaging atmosphere that goes surprisingly well with the art-work of the album. The sounds in this track flow as naturally as a stream, approaching more and more the sea of noise that is the climax of the song. As the song ends you feel the band drowning into the ocean of sounds, as they start to fade away when the final water sounds come to the forefront. The album closes beautifully as you also hear the sound of seagulls flying in the sky, taking us back to the first track, also one of the darkest ones in the album.

The themes that Nowhere touches could only come by the meditation and self-awareness of its lyricists. It is an introspective album, and it makes it clear from the first track:

"Definitions confine thoughts, they are a myth,

Words are clumsy, language doesn't fit.

But we know there's no limit to the thought,

We know there's no limits.”

It shows the turmoil of emotions that self-discovery produces, as for example in Paralysed.

“However hard I try,
I crawl when I should fly.
I wander through my days,
Pulled a million ways.”

In the last song, after all the heartache that comes from the deep realizations that Gardner and Bell transmit in Nowhere, drummer Colbert delivers a verse that makes the album come full circle:

“I learned the hard way,
That life should be easy,
But I want you to know it was hard to show,
The things that I know now.”

Ride is a band unique in its way of approaching the sound of the early 90’s. They had a way of crafting songs that was, at least in the year 1990, the most skillful in the whole alternative rock scene.  Nowhere is an essential album, a collection of the best material Ride has ever written, showing one of the most interesting bands of the 90’s on its peak, both in creativity and in sound. 

Neither/Nor - Charles Atlas

Album: To The Dust: From Man You Came And To Man You Shall Return

The opener of the album, Neither/Nor, prepares the listener for a voyage into post-rock’s most ambient and cinematic side. The track opens with a mesmerizing guitar line that is repeated through most of the song. Then the piano enters with a mournful melody, followed by the melodica, they start a slow and quiet build up when suddenly a guitar solo takes the stage. All of this sets the stage for an outstanding listening experience, as then the cello and the synthesizer are introduced with a very gentle mumbling in the background appearing sporadically.

The instruments work together to create a cohesive composition. While some of them are the main feature during some passages of the song, they leave the forefront for others when the song needs it, creating a beautiful sensation of harmony throughout it. At the end the instrumentation starts to fade away, leaving the listener with a cathartic sensation as the guitar and cello take their last breathe before the song ends

Post-rock is mostly a genre that focuses on what images music produces in the listener, Charles Atlas create a very cinematic atmosphere throughout this song. Personally it feels as if I was in a desert of snow, a sea of white which no traces of human life ever touched it. There is a feeling of loneliness and wondering in the song, as if the listener was about to be part of a long and lonesome exodus towards the absolute nothing. At the same time it is a rewarding one, as there is a certain warmth in the song, a feeling of fulfillment and self-realization that is achieved during the hard, long and lonely trip on which the song takes you.

Narrow - Soap&Skin

Tracklist:

1. Vater

2. Voyage Voyage

3. Deathmental

4. Cradlesong

5. Wonder           

6. Lost

7. Boat Turns Towards the Port

8. Big Hand Nails Down

Artist:

Anja Plaschg

Soap&Skin is the name of Austrian singer-songwriter Anja Plaschg’s musical project. The music she makes is based in two main kinds of compositions: piano driven ballads full of intensity and emotion, and industrial influenced experiments with dark and menacing atmospheres around them. Her second album called Narrow (2012) shows a progression in both senses from her debut album, Lovetune for Vacuum (2009) taking the intensity up to a new level.

Her voice is in top form in this album, driving all songs. She can sing with a lot of passion in some sections, as well as having a weary tone in some others.  This makes the listener go through many diverse landscapes of emotion. From feeling like looking from afar at a forest in the middle of winter, to a sense of being trapped in a summer storm in the middle of the sea, all in the same song. The piano playing also helps deliver this wide range of sentimental sceneries, with its extremely nuanced undertones. The melodies can transform from very vulnerable to extremely bold sounding, with masterful ease.  

Narrow was influenced by the death of Anja’s father after the recording of her debut, and it clearly shows so since the first song. Vater (Father) is the opener, and the first song she sings in her mother tongue. Probably the most complete song on the album, showing great maturity and growth from Anja, it is also the most powerful song on it. It displays a wide arrange of emotions and it builds up to a wonderful climax, where the song displays some electronic beats, drums, violins and horns, accompanying the wistful piano melody.

Even if that level of intensity is not reached again in the rest of the album, the songs that remain all show magnificent songwriting and very emotional moments. Voyage Voyage, a cover of 80’s French singer Desireless, has a melancholic feel throughout, and a beautiful string section. Combined, they create a longing feeling, as if it was sung by a loved one who is going away on a long trip and may never come back.

Wonder is a personal favorite, and is also probably one of the saddest moments of the album. It has only two verses which are repeated throughout the song, but nevertheless there is progression, from the first simple piano melody to the inclusion of the string section and the choir. The verses sung by the choir have a lullaby feel to them.  They paint a picture of a mother singing to her child while caressing him, with a dim light giving a warm feeling to the scene. Without a doubt, it is one of the most beautiful moments of the album.

Though the album’s main features are these piano ballads that display a mournful and somber tone, there are some pieces in this LP that showcases the more electronic sound of Soap&Skin’s musical spectrum. The more industrial sounds of the album show a varied mixture of beats and moods that give the album a very strong personality. From the deeply abrasive and massive beats of Deathmental, to the minimalist electronic subtleties of the agonic Boat Turns towards the Port, the diversity of this project in these compositions is outstanding.

The vocals in songs like Deathmental with its threatening melody, or Big Hand Nails Down with its tribal drumming fit the compositions perfectly.  The different beats and the general atmosphere of the electronic tracks shape the vocals to fit them.  Anja meets the vocal requirements of the songs perfectly, delivering what each of them needs to create cohesive compositions that reach their emotional goals magnificently.

The lyrics in these songs are very mournful and dramatic, showing a sense of bereavement and of painful acceptance of the inexorable. Like the verse sung with such sorrow by Anja in Wonder:

“Why we can't be

or see who cuts us asunder

like a boor felling a tree

you're the thunder

going under

over me”

Or the lyrics of Lost, presenting an extremely bleak picture of longing and loss

“Sitting, staring,

watching all you leave

behind this

There is nothing

which has so much more to give

I lost

I lost you”

The album as a whole suffers from a lack of cohesiveness, a typical problem of singer-songwriter’s albums. The songs don’t seem to have any special flow, so any song could be placed at any moment of the album and there wouldn’t be much difference. Deathmental is thrown between two piano ballads, which help it stand out, but it also feels out of place in that moment of the record. In the end, as the songs are so randomly put together, it could be listened in any order without changing much.

This is a minor concern though. Overall this is a very strong release, and shows real progression towards more adventurous and experimental territory for this project. Already a big music star in her own country, hopes are very high for how this amazing songwriter’s career will turn out in the future. If she keeps delivering songs as strong as the ones presented here, I can say with confidence that we are in the presence of one of the most interesting songwriters of our time.

Embrace of the Endless Ocean - Amon Amarth

Album: Twilight of the Thunder God

Embrace of the Endless Ocean  is the closer of one of Amon Amarth’s most popular albums, and it finishes it in epic style, with the tale of a slave going back home. The vocals adjust the subject matter, with vocalist Johan Hegg giving a passionate performance. His deep guttural vocals are outstanding during the whole track, especially in the climax of the song. The drums in the opening of the song have an introductory nature to them, as if they were drowning the listener into the world that the story depicts. They are very solid all through the song, especially during the “storm” section

The guitars are the highlight instrument of the song. The riffs present throughout the song are aggressive and match perfectly with the story. The song opens with the guitars playing the main musical theme of the song, which is repeated each time the character reflects upon his home and the things he misses from it. It is a very mournful melody, full of sentiment and a feeling of longing. As the song progresses the guitars become faster as they keep up with what’s going on lyrically in the song, a storm striking the speakers boat. As the last words are sung by the vocalist, a wistful solo ends the song in a tone of despair and grief as the hero of the story dies and is buried beneath the sea. The whole song sounds as if it were a dirge for the main character, as the music tells the story as much as the lyrics do, giving it a feeling of cohesiveness.

Mrs. Robinson - Simon & Garfunkel

Album: Bookends

The lyrics show the current situation of public figures in America in the 60’s, and how they were perceived by the public. They portray the way in which the media treats celebrities when they are big: their personal life gets invaded, resulting in them having to hide for society not to judge them. The last verse illustrates the image of a citizen watching a presidential debate as if it was a talk show, with candidates as celebrities, being there for their entertainment.

The song was written before it was chosen as part of the soundtrack to The Graduate, and it was supposed to be called Ms. Roosevelt. The references to this character and to Joe DiMaggio in the chorus section show a yearning for celebrities and political figures of the past, and how they acted towards the fame they had. These public figures, who from the start, kept their private lives, quietly making big contributions in their respective fields. The loss of people like this in the context of one of the most important and tumultuous decades in American history is what is at the core of this track.

The vocal harmonies are the highlights throughout the song, with the two vocalists perfectly synchronized to create the atmosphere they need in each section. While in the chorus they display a celebratory melody, in the verses, the tone gets darker and more private, as if they were trying to tell a secret to the listener.

The instruments follow the vocal melodies: they play a very catchy tune in the chorus that goes along with the chanting of the two lead singers. Then, when the chorus stops, the percussion and the bass become more prominent, the guitars have a very intimate feel to them. These sections sound as if the players were improvising the melody, and they flow spontaneously, especially in the outro of the song. It is a very well-crafted song, a classic folk rock track very representative of the sounds popular in the 60’s.

Hallowed be Thy Name - Iron Maiden

Album: Number of the Beast

Hallowed be Thy Name is one of Iron Maiden’s most anthemic tracks. It shows great chemistry between the players in the instrumental sections. The vocals are the focal point in the verses, with Dickinson delivering one of his more aggressive vocal performances. We got a constant relentless bass line in pure Iron Maiden fashion throughout the whole song, as well as a hypnotic guitar melody that keeps the listeners attention on edge.

The instrumental sections are the highlights of the song, especially in the second half. Here they show great interplay between the bass and the guitar, a strong guitar solo, and some fills in the end, leaded by the drums but nicely complemented by the guitar and the bass. In the end we have a classic Iron Maiden ending, as a powerful drum outro and a mesmerizing guitar harmony close the track in epic fashion.

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