Re-writing the Codes

It's been nearly 4 years since Death Cab have treated us to any new material, and the slow but steady hype leading to the release of Codes & Keys has certainly kept many people eager for it. The Washington boys intrigued our ears with the two teaser tracks You Are A Tourist and Home Is A Fire, but now that we have the whole product, was it worth the wait?

In a simple answer - I'm not sure. Ben Gibbard assured us for months that this record would be taking a new direction, their least "guitar-based" album yet. And he's right. There's a massive deviation from the 'pop' genre (most evident on Doors Unlocked and Unobstructed Views) that the band had employed in Narrow Stairs, and for that point it is a refreshing sound for fans, but there seems to be something missing.

Walla is superb as ever, the layers of instrumentation are smooth and intelligent, Gibbard's vocals still sound quirky and endearing like before - so what is it? My best stab at an answer is the arrangement, or rather lack of it. The tracks seem to meander rather incoherently without a direction or a purpose, and for that reason it puts the record off its spiritual course. There are generic Death Cab tracks, synth-based instrumentals, bluesy numbers... Which, as tracks on their own sound great, but as record seem a bit out of place.

Don't get me wrong, there are glorious moments in this record. The uplifting acoustics of Stay Young, Go Dancing are a signature of Death Cab's wonderful songwriting originality, and the dreamy essence of Some Boys reminds of us why many fans fell in love with them in the first place - but as a whole, it just doesn't deliver the winning formulae that a lot of people had been hoping for.

It's certainly worth downloading or ordering by all means, and no self-respecting Death Cab fan would fail to have already done so, but just don't expect their greatest work yet... That still remains firmly in 2003.


To buy the album for £7.99, visit HMV's website HERE

Visit Death Cab's website HERE for more goodies and the like, including new tour dates


K

Summer Dreaming - UPDATE

Boy have I got something special for you today.

Local band and fast-rising love of Radio 1, Two Wounded Birds have released their latest EP, Summer Dream on Vinyl Junkie via Rough Trade. The best thing about it though? It was originally set for a Japanese launch, but the band now have it scheduled for us over here in Blighty, which is top news.

The release features 6 tracks; Summer Dream, Take Me To The Beach, Night Patrol, Keep Dreaming Baby, My Lonesome and I'll Come And Get You. Combining the dulcet tones of 60's Surf with the more malevolent side of rock'n'roll, Two Wounded Birds have created what is in essence, an absolute hit parade.

Hot off the heels of their critically acclaimed Glastonbury debut, the band have really hit a stride. With backing from Radio 1's Huw Stephens and a hole host of blogs and other bands (including Brooklyn's post-punk poppers The Drums), Two Wounded Birds are looking to cement their already growing status as the new thing to love.

Who said Margate had lost it?

Visit Rough Trade now to pre-order Summer Dream HERE for £13.99

And check out their Facebook HERE for news, tracks and goodies.



*NEW UPDATE* - The good news keeps flowing, as Two Wounded Birds have released a FREE single download on their website called Guns At Dawn. Get it HERE quick - you won't be disappointed!

K

Loverboy Does It Again

After a long 3 years wait from the red-headed folkpopster, Brett Dennen's 4th studio album Loverboy has arrived in triumphant glory. Despite having been circulating for a couple of months now, the release still remains as fresh as it started, and is the latest jewel in the crown for the californian's meteoric rise from zero to hero.

And what an album it is. Long term fans of Dennen will be surprised with this record - it's a distance from the often solitary acoustic focus of his past forays, but with that abandonment comes a wealth of full-bodied, enthusiastic tracks; each a memorable pillar to the whole.

With an influx of new sounds and instruments (the cajun brass of Make You Fall In Love With Me and the retro funk synths littering Queen Of The Westside as particular favourites) are a welcome progression for Dennen, who pushes his quirky vocal ranges that one notch further this time around. It just seems more mature, more developed... More 'him'. There's no doubt Brett had a lot of fun making this record, it's eminent in many of the tracks (the opening conversation of Walk Away, Watch Me Burn very much highlighting this), and it can't help but rub off on us.

Superb stuff from the man who, until 2005, was a virtual unknown. Let's hope this ride keeps on lasting - he's onto a winner.


I shall leave you with a personal favourite from the release (and current single) - Sydney (I'll Come Running)


K.



<

The Death of God

I have just finished reading Christopher Hitchens God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, and what a stunningly written, damning account of a read it is.

To give but a brief background to its premise (although much of it can be guessed by the title), Hitchens explores and categorically contends that organised religion is nothing less than a historical culmination of fallacy, evil, violence and hypocrisy, eroding away at the foundations of humanism and free enquiry that many have strived to attain.

You may be forgiven for thinking that such a contentious issue is not be resolved without the bias of subjective opinion, let alone within a 295 page book. But you would be wrong.

It is the ease and conviction of his arguments that propels Hitchens' integrity as both an enlightened intellectual and story teller. The numerous and often dryly humorous anecdotes are delivered on the foundations of indisputable, unwavering fact and reason, and you find yourself extremely hard-pressed to disagree with him.

Now, admittedly I have been a staunch atheist for years, and those who know me will vouch for my enthusiasm in the area - but even so, Hitchens produces a toweringly powerful and compelling claim against religion that could sway even the most firmly agnostic, or even those of a confused faith.

With that said, I strongly recommend all (that includes you, believers) to take the time to read, or at the very least some of Hitchens' other work. True opinion flowers from impartial judgement, after all...

To read more of Hitchens, or to follow recent news, visit his website HERE

K.

Arktrix - Interview & Thoughts.

Fields Under Skylines managed to catch up with Kent-based producer, DJ and writer Arktrix this week, and asked him a few questions about his upcoming work, and the ever expanding popularity of bass-heavy genres. Enjoy.


Hi Arktrix, how are you doing?
Hey Kris, I'm good!


Tell us a little about yourself, who you are and where the background for your sound has come from?
I'm 24 years old and I've been making 'music' for around four years now. Before making dubstep, I used to make ambient sound scape pieces that were heavily influenced by the drone metal and post rock genres. Thankfully they will never see the light of day as for the most part, they were experiments and sounded like absolute crap.


How did the name come about?
I don't fully remember. Though I'm pretty sure it had something to do with walking home from a friends house late one night slightly under the influence and going past a street that's name ended with “trix” and then thinking of a few different things to put before it. Luckily no-one else had thought to use Arktrix before.

You also head the popular blog 45hz which takes a look at both local and global bass-driven acts. How has that been going?
It has been going from strength to strength. I was going through the sites stats the other night and I had to pick my jaw up off the floor pretty much when I saw that people as far away as New Zealand and Japan have been listening to the mixes and reading the articles and interviews. When it comes to the blog itself, the heads that end up on 45hz are there usually because they've been in touch via Soundcloud, Facebook or AIM in the past and we've kept in contact. I like to know what a person's like before committing to promoting them. There are a lot of people in this scene that are involved for purely selfish personal reasons other than pushing good wholesome music that moves them. That is something I do not want to be a part of. Thankfully the large majority of people I've approached have shared the same sentiments and the blog has allowed me to talk and share ideas with some people I never thought I could've done twelve months ago. Especially the Sub Lab family I'm a part of.

Given the recent rise in popularity for bass-orientated music, how do you think Kent's own scene has been keeping up?
Its always been big around here. More so on the drum and bass side of things, but as for Dubstep we have three of the biggest names in the scene in amongst our ranks in the forms of J:Kenzo, Stenchman and Rod Azlan. On the more 'grassroots' side of it all we have heads like J-One, Mosaix, Pressa, Lex, Wen and myself who are all pushing the deeper side of things and on the jump up side of things we have Thanet locals Doomtrooper and Dr Bloodnugget and Medway head Kursa Vexille. A lad called Arcane from Deal is also well worth keeping an eye on for his “all styles” multi genre mixing skills.

Any acts you're tipping to be making a name for themselves in the near future?
It might be biased, but Sub Lab the label I signed to not so long ago is definitely one to keep watch for. All the producers and DJ's involved are making some seriously amazing music and I cannot wait to see where it all goes over the next few years. Besides that I've got high hopes for Wen. His tunes are on some next level business. The intricacy and care he puts into his drums and sub bass is phenomenal and it shows.

Mosaix is also one to keep an eye on. He was in the first lot of DJ's announced for the Outlook Festival this year, made a blinder of a track with J:Kenzo that has been seeing a LOT of support from the Youngsta & Toast on their RinseFM slot and he's one of the most pleasant people I've ever dealt with in the Dubstep circles. 

As for further afield in the UK, Compa from my old home town up north is making some big waves at the moment with some ultra minimal beats.

 Many genres need to re-invent themselves in order to stay fresh. In what direction can you see dubstep taking since its mainstream explosion?
I'm not too bothered, I know the styles I like and push will always have their niche and always have unwavering support from the fans. Commercial music by its very nature doesn't have this luxury and I'm glad for that in a way




Any new projects/collabs in the works?
I'm currently trying to work out some remixes with a female vocalist and maybe do some original tunes with her too. Its all talk at the minute, but I'm hoping it pans out well. 

There is some stuff that will be surfacing towards the end of summer that is being worked on by myself and three other locals who shall remain nameless until the time comes. 

Also I should hopefully be getting some stuff done with a lad from Medway who goes under the name Kursa Vexille too. 

What advice would you give to any rookie/would-be producer who wants to start putting their stuff out there?
Focus on getting your knowledge of production, synthesis and sampling techniques up as these are things that require time and dedication if you want the ability to deal with problems as they occur in the writing process.

Try and make sure you have a decent monitoring set up with your speakers, or if you don't then at least try out your tunes on a good few different types of speakers and headphones before you upload your first tune. Laptop speakers are good for pretty much nothing, so don't attempt it on them.

There is nothing worse than vibing off a tune only to have some ear piercing frequencies hit you halfway through. EQ is one of the most helpful tools a producer can use. 

Also, protect your ears. You don't need to have your speakers set to full when you're working on music. You risk short term hearing fatigue which will affect the quality of the music you produce and long term loss of hearing within specific frequencies.

Finally, favourite crisp flavour? 
Salt and Vinegar. Anything else is an absolute crime to humanity.


Big thanks to Arktrix - I'll leave you with two tracks; the sub-wobbling Initiation and the absolutely beautiful collaboration with local producer J-One - Capture. Both of these tracks can be found on his SOUNDCLOUD PAGE with a whole host of other gems.
Also, don't forget to check out the brilliant 45hz BLOG while you're at it...


K.


  Initiation by ARKTRIX


  Arktrix & J-One - Capture by ARKTRIX

The Story of a Hurricane

"A person is a success if they get up in the morning and gets to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do." - Bob Dylan

My congratulations go out to Bob Dylan, who today marks his 70th birthday and a continuing legacy that has shaped the contemporary music world irrepressibly.

From his humble folk beginnings in the early 60's to today; musician, poet, artist and innovator, he remains as popular as ever, and even at 70 years of age, is far from over.

Dylan's leap to electric guitar performance was as controversial as it was shocking for his audience in the mid 60's... But despite the criticism that bombarded him, he stuck true to it and effectively sparked the little old movement we know today as Rock.

Still a champion of the folk genre, Dylan continues to tour and produce new artistic works on a massive level, showing us he could go on for another 70 given the chance... So today, I raise a toast to Bob, for everythiing he has done for music, and everything he has yet to do.

Cheers.

Star Cuts

It's a double music whammy for you today...

Darren Williams, better known as Star Slinger, is a producer who I feel is finally getting the recognition and acclaim he deserves. The man could well be Manchester's answer to a british J Dilla; a sharply inventive musician who is a refreshing break from the plethora of poorly cut remixes and lazy sampling that has come to plague the hip-hop and R'n'B scene.

You would be hard pressed to trace many of the samples that Star Slinger uses, and it's that very difficulty that makes him so enjoyable to listen to - each track is so inventive and original against its source, that you can't help but be amazed.

From choppy hip-hop beats to the smoothest of slow-jam-esque grooves, there doesn't seem to be an area of the genre that he hasn't turned to gold.

His debut album, Volume 1, is available now for download on his website HERE.

Enjoy the wonderfully chirpy track Mornin' below.


K.

Badgers And Witchazel...

Many of you may be familiar with the comedian/actor Matt Berry, star of many recent comedy hits that include Garth Marenghi's Dark Place, The Mighty Boosh and Snuff Box. Many of you might not know, however, that Berry is something of an accomplished musician...

Enter Witchazel, his second studio album released early this year on famed record label, Acid Jazz. Witchazel is a truly brilliant return to british folk and the early establishment of Prog.  It serenades your ears to images of a woodland stroll on a summer's evening (all of which should be imagined through the lens of a circa 1975 super 8 camera).

The lyrics are somewhat tongue in cheek "..Your penguin's in the bath, it was put there by your mum..", but what of it? It doesn't have to make sense, it's folk-prog.

Nearly all instruments are performed by Matt Berry himself, which only solidifies the integrity of his musical credentials, and we are even treated to guest vocals on the track Rain Come Down by non other than Mr. Paul McCartney.

What a surprising gem this album has turned out to be, and I strongly recommend you find yourself a copy. This has a very strong potential of being your lazy summer anthem 2011...

I shall leave you with the track Take My Hand. 


Enjoy.