• Sign up to the only NEWSLETTER worth reading. Click here.

Strange Glue and the Post-Rock Underground: Vol. 2

Tagged with:
Featured Story  Balmorhea  Mt.  Signal Hill  God Is An Astronaut  Scraps of Tape  Oceans  Lunar Node  Saxon Shore 

Written By:

Aidan Williamson

29th May 2009
At 11:15 GMT

8 comment(s)

Webster's dictionary defines "post-rock" as being "a strong piece of timber, metal, or the like, set upright as a support for a large mass of stone".

We don't quite understand what they were getting at, but it sounds like a very solid collection of materials, which ably describes the concoction of epic exquisiteness we have in store for you all.

Eight tracks from various up and coming artists from all around the world. Some instrumental, some vocal, what they all have in common is their ability to catapult your consciousness on a tour of the Milky Way. One song for each of the planets. Oh, and Pluto supporters, suck it, you minor dwarf planet worshipping weirdos.

In addition to these fantastic tracks, our previous compilations are still available to download, and still free-of-charge. Follow the links below. Files on all albums are 192kbps MP3s with absolutely zero Digital Rights Management software.

Strange Glue and the Post-Rock Underground: Vol. 1
Strange Glue Vs. Punkroutine: Vol. 1
Strange Glue Vs. Punkroutine: Vol. 2 - 'Please Hold the Line'

1.) Mt. - 'Lecture on Nothing'

(taken from the album "Teach Your Children How to Think, Not What to Think")

Starting off the album with a British flavour, Bristol-based trio Mt. offer up the closing track from their four-song-strong mini-album. Taking a sumptuous melody and over-laying it with spoken-word passages and gang-vocals. Questions are asked, what is the life, the universe, everything? What number are we thinking of?

%s1 / %s2

2.) Balmorhea - 'Harm and Boon'

(taken from the album "All is Wild, All is Silent")

Formed in the post-rock Mecca of Texas in the United States of America back in 2006, Balmorhea comprise five members influenced by equal parts classical, indie and experimental post-rock. Their track 'Harm and Boon' traverses many roads, jumping from piano dirges to jaunty orchestral movements at the drop of a hat before culminating in a pilgrim serenade.

%s1 / %s2

3.) Signal Hill - 'The Dead Vineyard'

(taken from the album "More After We're Gone")

Absorbing the infectious sunniness which litters their home on the East-coast of America, the Californian quartet take the familiar build and explode formula to great heights with a bright, breezy and affirming track.

%s1 / %s2

4.) God Is An Astronaut - 'Shining Through'

(taken from the forthcoming new album, due December 2009)

In his 1968 book "Chariots of the Gods: Unsolved Mysteries of the Past", Erich von Däniken posited that all of our intelligence, technology and religions stemmed from an alien invasion back in our early history. Why are humans different from animals? Because we mated with the aliens it seems. What relevance does this have? None, which is about the same as the number of people who still believe this.hypothesis.

%s1 / %s2

5.) Scraps of Tape - 'Love Them Anyway'

(taken from album "Grand Letdown")

Calling your album "Grand Letdown" might be the kind of critic bait akin to naming a film "Giant Piece of Crap". Thankfully, the only way those two words will be showing up in the summaries of any reviews is if (1) It's opposite day (2) It's an NME review (3) The reviewer is retarded, which is technically the same as option two, but still, it bears repeating. Injecting some funk (the good kind) into the album the boys have given a sterling recommendation for their third album.

%s1 / %s2

6.) Oceans - 'Boy Detective'

(taken from the album "Nothing Collapses")

Anything which reminds us of Minus the Bear automatically gets a gold star in our little book. When it segues into luscious crescendos and furious tremolo sections accompanied by impassioned group-vocals, we find ourselves searching for the diamond star.

%s1 / %s2

7.) Lunar Node - 'Cerveceria'

(taken from the album "Exploring Unknown Territory")

In the post-rock war between East and West, the lines are always changing, always advancing or retreating. While Europe may churn out the quantity, Asia makes sure of quality with a vigorous volley of Mono, World's End Girlfriend, Envy, Mutyumu and now Lunar Node. Colour us impressed. They just put Singapore on the musical map with their enticing blitz of distorted fury and bass-led experimental ambience.

%s1 / %s2

8.) Saxon Shore - 'Nothing Changes'

(taken from the album "It Doesn't Matter")

One of the bigger bands to acquiesce to being classified as "underground", Saxon Shore have released four albums from their joint base of Pennsylvania and New York. Demure, chaotic and breathlessly intense, what better way to round out 51 minutes of transcendent music.

%s1 / %s2

blog comments powered by Disqus