Category: Music

1652 Days

Pianos Become the Teeth released their fifth studio album Drift this Friday to unremarkable fanfare. It’s been over four and a half years since their last record Wait for Love appeared in equally unassuming fashion.

This is not a criticism of Pianos but a sad commentary on their work going mostly unnoticed within their own community.

Where is WashedUp Emo? Where is “The Wave” these days?

Along with Touché Amoré, Pianos firmly remain one of the best, still doing it, from the revival and wave scenes. Fifteen years onward they continue topping themselves with each release.

So what happened during the 1652 days between Wait for Love and Drift? Pianos almost broke up after scrapping their follow-up album but found new life and purpose during the pandemic.

Crazy to think there’s a whole other Pianos album out there on a hard-drive but that’s a blog for another day. This occasion celebrates Drift and the 1652 days that came before it. Where was I on February 16th 2018? Well I was still in San Diego working for fledgling finance company I won’t name but they no longer exist under their original name and were investigated by the FBI.

February 16th also happened to be my last day at this company before moving on to an actual career opportunity that helped me get to where I am today as a junior project manager.

I still remember my exit interview with this passive aggressive HR person. “So I see you’re making a career change?” This statement pretty much defined my experience there, but I happily moved on. I knew I had found a place that gave employees so many opportunities if they were just willing to take advantage of it.

I was so fucking ready to prove myself. I spent the weekend and following President’s Day Monday getting myself mentally relaxed and ready to work. The next 1600 days would be the most life altering days of my life.

Today I’m engaged (finally), living where the sky looks like Toy Story clouds, and traveling regularly. I’m fortunate. Just lucky to be here. Those 1600 days were not easy. There were many moments I wanted to quit on the career path I’d taken. I had genuine doubts about continuing to date someone on the opposite side of the country.

Perhaps Pianos went through similar stages.

Once we acknowledge our thoughts of uncertainty, and swim with those feelings briefly, then we can understand the consequences of the decision(s) we might make.

Choosing to continue pursuing my now fiancé and endure through difficult situations at work paid off over the next two years. The coming pandemic only justified those decisions. The lockdown in general just fast tracked the eventual outcome to relocate my life and career to Texas. Scott Galloway’s Post Corona cerebrates effectively this phenomenon and delineates how the pandemic pushed global trends by ten years in a matter of months.

The lockdown drove Pianos back into the studio to redeem their fizzled follow-up to Wait for Love (again, I still wanna hear it). Drift zags in the opposite direction from its predecessor’s reach towards radianence in its musical arrangements and dare I say tenderness for life and all it encompasses in its emotion and lyrics.

“Out of Sight” sets the tone immediately with it’s quiet and deliberate pace. Some have called this record dark. I prefer daybreaking and more textured than any other record. The early hours before dawn are usually the quietest until the sun finally beams over the horizon. “Genevieve” beautifully pulls you into serenity until the band illuminates into one of the few explosive moments of the album.

“Easy” by far is my favorite track. 1652 days ago I’m certain Pianos were not capable of communicating these kinds of lyrics without any sonic grandiosity. They’ve been trying to get here since “Hiding” almost ten years ago. It would be easy to presume they’re restraining themselves but that’s just not the case.

“The Days” wonderfully follows up subtly with vivacious drum and bass, and loud axe and vocals. “Hate Chase” effectively operates the same way in the vain of The Lack Long After, just without screaming.

This whole record seeks serenity but doesn’t ignore who its creators are. Pianos still love loud moments but it’s not all they are anymore. Each song flows smoothly from one to the next. The album’s run time lingers slightly but bows out just before things begin to drag.

“Buckley” conveys the ideal summation in experiencing Drift and what the band tried articulate musically. Only the drums give any kind of accent or punch to the track. Everything else only serves to texture the landscape, until exhilaration unleashes through like eureka. Emotionally blows your hair back.

Who knows what Piano’s scrapped record would have been like, once again, would love to hear it, but shelving it proved right. Couldn’t be better than Drift. No other Pianos record is, except maybe the next one.

I don’t know what the next 1652 days holds, for me or them, but whenever the next Pianos Become The Teeth project is I’ll be there ready.

Photo Credit: Micah E. Wood

Happier a Year Later

The Rewatchables podcast has a great theory about the Oscars. Let’s evaluate and reward movies five years after their release. Why? To avoid a scenario where The Artist wins best picture over The Help or Moneyball or The King’s Speech wins over The Social Network or Inception.

When was the last time you had a meaningful conversation about The Artist or The King’s Speech? Exactly.

Let time percolate scenes, performances, lyrics, and guitar tones in your gut and mind. Remember how you felt in the moment, and how you experience the movie or album now. As much as I love movies, especially rewatchable movies, music means more to me than any form of entertainment. Mindfulness matters more than ever as my opinions and taste in music evolve and even change.

Look back a year later, maybe two, at least when thinking about how you truly feel about an album. Especially when you didn’t love an album at first blush.

Perfect example of this exercise is Volumes’ Happier? Recently got the chorus rhythm and guitar tone from “See You Again” stuck in my head. The sliding elastic breakdown midway through is do die for like rare ribeye.

Naturally I started playing through a few more tracks and eventually revisiting the entire album front to back. Towards the end of “Man On Fire” I realized Volumes had done some of their finer work stringing six solid tracks together, but I certainly did not think this initially. 

Some context is imperative to understand Happier? prior to its release. Volumes went through their most turbulent line-up change yet firing vocalist Gus Farias and bringing back Michael Barr. Shortly thereafter guitarist Diego Farias left the band and tragically died in February of 2020.

Farias’ departure and death significantly affected the fans, the band, and its future. His role in the band as guitarist and producer built Volumes’ musical foundation with low-tuned djent guitar driving song direction. Farias and his heavy tones and playing engineered how listeners perceive Volumes.

With Farias gone fans like myself assumed Volumes were incapable of recreating the same propulsive djent riffs found on “Feels Good” and “Vahle”. I found myself more and more dismissive of Happier? with each single released. With “Bend” in particular I wrote to my friends on our Discord about my dissatisfaction.

“They’re going more pop metal. Diego Farias’ death also meant they can’t do the guitar stuff they used to do anymore. They haven’t been able to replace that at all. Sucks.” 

Perhaps “Bend” doesn’t go as hard as “Across the Bed” but it’s accumulated nearly 2.5 million streams in less than a year versus 3.1 million accrued over six years. It resonated with a fans. So much so they recently released a Bend(ed) single with live and stripped down versions. 

Rather than perfunctory replication of Farias’ genius Volumes opted for a natural adjustment. They leveraged what they already had in two outstanding frontmen and bass player Raad Soudani emerging as the driving musical force in Volumes. Happier? utilized more clean vocal choruses and slowed guitar riffs down (naturally) without compromising the weight of their sound.

Take the album titled track above as an example. Yes there’s still lots of scrappy screaming yet they never overwhelm the senses. Instruments compliment the vocals with openness and a steady pace with no concessions in heaviness. The chorus injects all the sugary catchiness of a top 40 pop rock song, but without giving up what fans perceive a Volumes song should do.

“Get Enough” and “Lets Me Down” attack the same objective with minute variance, but mostly to the same effect. “FBX” and “Malevolent” serve fans who’ve been with Volumes since Via and maybe even The Concept of Dreaming. “Man On Fire” offers the best of both past iterations and the current form of Volumes. Aggressive from the onset and stays aggro throughout. The last breakdown hurls another box of grenades onto an already raging inferno.

If I can put my producer hat on simply cut down the record to the tracks I mentioned, eight total, in this blog and you’ll have 30 minutes of A+ poppy djent.

Considering all the turmoil and loss of Diego Farias this version of Volumes seized an opportunity to reshape their perception and produce compelling heavy music. They just need to continue doing this in the studio and hopefully on the road so I can catch them in their element.

The Music Diet, Vol. 2

Trying to write something regularly, and on a schedule, sounds like an obligation, job, and a commitment. It’s kinda hard to do that if you’re not hearing a ton worth writing about, although it’s only been two weeks since my last post so we’re making progress. I’ve mostly been feeding on old records and new records from artists I’ve followed for years. We’re nearing the halfway point of 2021 and the new music front feels a little lackluster so far, or at least lately. Perhaps as venues and festivals begin to open we’ll see the dams break with more releases, especially high profile ones. Anyway here’s Wonderwall, and some inspiration I found to write my recent listenings.

Real Estate’s In Mind will always remind me of visiting Japan for the first time. My friend Andrew was living and working over there at the time. I listening mostly riding trains to and from Tokyo, Osaka, Nara, and Kyoto. I was so proud I paid for the trip all on my own. My first vacation on my own, on my own dime. I’ll never forget it. “Holding Pattern” played on repeat throughout those travels. The silence and sunrise in the mornings dulled all my worries back home in America. I smoked way too many cigarettes on that trip, thankfully I’ve long since quit, but I have no regrets about smoking at the time. It was nice to get away from home and not feel guilty about anything that week in Japan. In Mind was kind of a bounce back record for Real Estate. Their previous record Atlas was subpor compared to Days, one of my top ten records of the 2010’s. They also had some necessary band turnover after Atlas ultimately leading to In Mind, which saw more implementation of synths. While not as energetic as Days, In Mind had a warmth and sweet chillness Atlas tried and failed to deliver on. Kind of perfect for a quiet relaxing journey through Japan.

Speaking of Japan, I was first introduced to Kero Kero Bonito by Andrew. Admittedly I kind of dismissed this group as a gimmicky cutesy anime thing but I’ll take the L on that after Andrew asked Greg and I to see them for his birthday at the Belly Up. As a full band with live instruments KKB were a completely different animal from their recorded material at the time. Since that then I’ve anticipated their next studio album. KKB just released Civilisation II, basically an EP, which gives an insightful preview of what their new full length might sound like. “Well Rested” stands as one of the group’s longer songs but now one of my favorites. The song vibes hard with trancey nintendo-esk synths melting over Sarah Midori Perry’s soft vocals, backboned by simple but propelling bass. I’d like to hear more live instruments, guitar and drums, on whatever they put out next; however, Civilisation II offers a nice tease of what’s to come.

I’m not a big EDM guy. My opinion of the genre and scene will probably always remain in an evolutionary stage. I’ve become far more open minded to these artists over the past five years. Before this time I dismissed the entire genre as commercial high school ass grabbing and a druggy culture. I still feel some of that exists in this scene but every music camp has shit I despise, so to dismiss EDM like that was an error. My buddy Ryan, who is deep into this scene and culture, has done a great job gatewaying artists like CloZee and Rezz into my music diet. His recommendations have definitely not only opened my tastes but also lead me to explore these sounds.

Ryan’s latest endorsement comes through Porter Robinson’s Nurture, his first album in seven years. I found Nurture to sound extremely real, which I can’t say I’ve described an EDM album to be before. Nuture sounded like someone coming out of depression and finding joy again. Apparently Robinson did experience dark times on the jets of Worlds, his break through record. His brother got cancer in 2016 and the pressure from the success of Worlds overwhelmed him. Thankfully he found his way through, helped his brother recover, and enjoyed some meaningful life experiences. He also went to Japan. I know that feel bro.

“Look at the Sky” sounds uplifting and doesn’t overwhelm sonically. The arrangement does a nice job calming down to isolated vocals with either piano, acoustic guitar, or sampling and then gently bouncing back to more energetic dancable choruses. “Musician” might be the most excited song on the album. Very kinetic sounds and vocals. Definitely a song that can work well live with catchy vocals and infectious tones to get you moving. “Something Comforting” almost summarizes the whole record. Lyrically it reflects on Robinson’s personal challenges and pulls out all the stops musically. Vocals, instruments, and sampling delicately builds up into wilding out drum and bass. Even when vocals start to isolate either the keys or synths use some tight melodic riffs. Production-wise Robinson uses some slick vocal ping pong cutting back and forth like old rotary phones.

Worlds still seems heralded as Robinson’s best work, and for now maybe so; however, I don’t think anyone should dismiss Nuture as something less than. It’s clearly different born out of circumstance yet arrives at a time when we’re starting to come out of the pandemic and isolation from the world. Perfect timing, even if it wasn’t by design, to provide an inspiring soundtrack to many of us who have endured a year of languishing at home disconnected from our friends and loved ones. I’ve never heard Worlds, and I’ll listen at some point, but Porter Robinson should be proud of this project. Whether it’s better or worse is besides the point. Nuture provides a little therapy after a long, long, 13 months.

Photo by Alex Knight