AT THE SOUNDAWN

Name: At the Soundawn
Latest release: Red Square: We Come in Waves [2008]
File under: Post-rock/metal

As you can tell by the juxtaposition of the artists I've featured on this blog so far I like music with a range of emotions. So now we come to a genre that gets me hating everybody, especially you - the much maligned genre of "post-metal".

At the Soundawn know how to craft this kind of stuff, thankfully without going on for several minutes too long. The awkwardly titled Red Square: We Come in Waves is a steamroller of melodic guitars, pounding drums and harsh/clean vocals compacted into a half-hour. It's probably nothing you haven't heard before, but it's done really, really well. There's a new album on the way too, this year hopefully.

Q+A

Who are you, where are you from and what is your role in At the Soundawn?
Andrea: "My name is Andrea, I am from Modena (Italy) and I am one of the guitarists."

How would you describe your music? You're one of those bands with no obvious genre...
Andrea: "I would say that our music is heavily emotional and with this I don't mean emo at all! Indeed we try to avoid easy melodies and harmonies, looking for something more personal, something that could have more to say than the usual happily-sad melodies...you know what I am talking about."

I'm sorry for such a dull question but where does you bandname come from? It reminds me of Red Sparowes album "At the Soundless Dawn".
Andrea: "Well actually, our name is taken from that album, but it's not a tribute to Red Sparowes. It's just that we had their CD in our hands when we were thinking about a suitable name for the band. At the Soundawn sounded good and seemed to fit perfectly with the way we conceive music: as an emotional flow, a primitive pulse you cannot oppose to."

You are the kind of band I like to put on when I'm angry. Do you think your music is angry?
Andrea: "I think our music carries many different moods and emotions, but anger is not really among them. I'd rather say that we often get to release a feeling, that can be provided with heavy guitars and yelling vocals. This is the same feeling that I'm looking for, as a listener, when I am angry and I need to cool down with some music."

What other Italian bands should people check out?
Andrea: "Italy has many good bands, often involved in extreme genres...or at least more extreme than us. I would suggest you check out Donkey Breeder (we fucking love them!), Up There: The Clouds, Lento, The Orange Man Theory, Last Minute To Jaffna, Zippo, Three Steps to the Ocean and many more I actually don't remember right now."

Grazie, Andrea.

website

*SHELS

Name: *shels

Latest release: Laurentian's Atoll [2007]

File under: Uhh...just read the article

When I'm bored with by-the-numbers music it's really good to listen to something different. *shels fit this bill nicely. At their heart I suppose you could throw a post-rock tag at them but that would be remiss because there are so many different elements to their music; one of those bands that you can't accurately pigeon-hole.

You'll find post-rock, sludge and a Middle-Eastern vibe to their mix. Add a progressive structure and an overall "experimental" feel to that as well. There's a very cinematic, symphonic feel to their music, and you'll spot some sounds where you think "what instrument is that?" which is all part of what makes *shels such a fantastic listen. Their debut full-length, Sea of the Dying Dhow is an hour trip through the unconventional and unexpected, and a very promising follow-up later this year is certainly on my list to check out in 2009.

Q+A

Who are you, where are you from and what is your role in *shels?
Medhi: "Mehdi Safa, currently living in Southern California and I play guitar/write for *shels."

*shels have a very unique sound - there seem to be a lot of influences in your music. What are your main influences?
Medhi: "People (like yourself) we meet and interact with, movies, music, art... different perspectives - above all, nature..."

Part of the band is based in the USA and part in the UK. Can this be a problem with writing music?
Medhi: "Not so much with the writing - technology helps with our communication - it's basically just Tom [Harriman, drums] and I working on the writing anyway, so things aren't that difficult in terms of communicating - we send eachother music, and work on it, develop ideas until we're happy."

What are the challenges faced with being in a band AND running a record label (*shels music) at the same time?
Medhi: "Good question - mostly it's the lack of time available in the day - so you won't be suprised to hear that most of the new *shels album was written in the shower or while dropping the kids off at the pool :P - folks find it weird when they see a guitar and notepad in the bathroom. There's financial challenges as well, and when one of your bands NEEDS money for a release, whether it's to help with promotion, manufacturing, recording, touring or whatever... ultimately, that money comes out of one pool... so, it affects what you can do for the other bands, including my own stuff in *shels. But that's where budgeting and planning comes in - and so far we have no major complaints (knock on wood); all the bands on the label are awesome, and the people are all like family... there's a lot of love and understanding for what we are doing and what we're capable of - we're a small, DIY label and although resources are limited, we all help eachother in different ways."

What are your views on the Internet's role in music today? Not just the illegal downloading, but the exposure it presents to artists?
Medhi: "I think it's great. Whenever new landscapes emerge (such as the Internet) new voices get heard... but, eventually it all gets muddy with a lot of noise and advertisements, and something else will come about... I think for now, the technology has made it much easier for folks to produce, release and promote their music - and that's a good thing - there's more music than ever today, more folks expressing themselves creatively... and as other artists out there know, we all strive to find our own voice in the crowd... so as things get busier and noisier and more muddy, it will drive us to work harder and come up with something better, so we can stand out from the crowd and be as unique as we were meant to be."

Thanks to Mehdi for his time. Be sure to check out not just *shels, but the other bands on their record label at the link below - it's becoming one of my favourites.

website

MONO - LIVE

Name: Mono

Latest release: Hymn to the Immortal Wind [2009]

File under: Post-rock

Venue: The Croft (Bristol, UK)

The Croft isn't the most comfortable live venue in the world. A small room which probably holds a couple of hundred people maximum, when I saw Red Sparowes there last July it was like a sardine tin - so much so that the door couldn't even be shut due to the mass of people packed in. Luckily, this time it wasn't as packed, and I had a good view from the front, to the left of the stage. With comfort not an issue this time, I was free to enjoy Mono's music alone, and I wasn't disappointed.

A show to promote their new album, they played every song from it except one ("Silent Flight, Sleeping Dawn"), opening with the stunning "Ashes in the Snow", perhaps my new favourite Mono song. With no microphone on stage it was down to the bands' instruments and actions to do the communicating, so luckily the sound was perfect and Mono were on top form, sending chills down my spine at many points.

During "The Battle to Heaven", the band, especially Taka, really came to life. At the peak of the song Taka kicked the stool he was sitting on over and headbanged his way to his knees, all the while still playing - his cut and bandaged arm didn't stop him from being this animated throughout the night, at points playing his guitar upside down and on his knees. All of them were headbanging during the climactic sections and exhuded a real passion for what they were playing. They didn't need a microphone to convey that.


More cuts from their new album followed, along with a couple of older songs - "Lost Snow" being perhaps the best performance of the night, a near 20 minute rendition which left Takada slumped over his drumkit as the rest of the band set the room awash with guitar drone and noise to close the song. "Everlasting Light" ended the night, the band crescendoing to one final zenith.


The crowd cheer and the band leave exhausted (especially Taka and Takada), but not before giving some wry smiles and almost embarrassed bowing as if they weren't worthy of such a reception...and if they really did feel that way, then it was about the only thing they got wrong all night.

Setlist:

Ashes in the Snow

The Battle to Heaven

Follow the Map

Pure as Snow (Trails of the Winter Storm)

Sabbath

Burial at Sea

Lost Snow

Everlasting Light

website

GHASTLY CITY SLEEP

Name: Ghastly City Sleep

Latest release: Ghastly City Sleep [2007]

File under: Post-rock, ambient...

I really hate the term "post-rock" sometimes. It seems to be used to describe any band that utilise atmosphere and write songs over 5 minutes long. I'm at the point now where I'm not even sure what it is anymore due to the term being thrown around so much. The best way I can describe Ghastly City Sleep is ambient post-rock. Throw in some shoegaze too. Maybe. I just don't know anymore.

Anyway, GCS use a variety of instruments to create a very relaxing soundscape. Maybe that's what the Ghastly City is? The opener of their self-titled debut EP, "Ice Creaks" is the highlight of the release, a 9 minute jaunt through their post-ambient-gaze sound. The EP features the services of members from Gregor Samsa, and whilst the band may be similar in parts, clones they are not. GCS' debut full-length will be out later this year.

Q+A

Who are you, where are you from and what is your role in the band?
Brandon: "Brandon Evans, Richmond, VA/Brooklyn NY,

singing/guitaring/synthesizing/keyboarding/stressing/depressing/struggling for the uplifting..."

What's the story behind the band name?
Brandon: "Originally Jeff Kane and I, when we were in City of Caterpillar, were contemplating starting our own label to put out our records and we decided to use the name "The Ghastly City Sleep"... we never got the chance to bring it to fruition. When City of Caterpillar split up, it just seemed right to continue on and use that as our name, though Kevin never really did make it to practices... and the band took about 17 lightyears to gel and cool and form... yet it still feels right as for our name. It's a state that we as humans naturally reside in... it's hard and rare to break through, it's just not in our surroundings most of the time... not in these societies we build."

Can you explain the EP sleeve; the format and what the text refers to?
Brandon: "The record sleeve contains the lyrics to the songs and other writings. They are broken up in fragments/shards of the whole, to give even less of a stable end-meaning, but more a means to apply emotions within each individual, to their own lives and stories... not mine as me so much... just states of flux and drift, struggle or triumph... set up like an old newspaper or classified, revolutionary propaganda flyer... you could pick it up and read any little bit to spark off personal interest/insight."

With the GCS members adept at so many instruments, do you spend much time deliberating over which instrument will play a certain section of a song?
Brandon: "Yeah, for sure, of course... it's quite the nature of the beast really, and it could be much more, if we were more adept at more instruments, or maybe simply if we had more... depends right... hah. However, we, for the most part, still stick to more standard rock instruments, whether it be guitar, bass, drums or keyboard, you know... but then experiment from there on out; adding whatever we feel like expanding out to in which the song may be calling for/or what spacial depth it contains to stretch... I think holding on to those instruments comes from our backgrounds, and the way we like things to feel in the live setting... but yeah. It's goddam nervewracking sometimes the amount of time we can waste when we get caught in one of our own snarls trying out a million different little ideas or tones that maybe just dont matter... or they do more than ever... who knows... it's just it happens for us."

How has the band evolved since the 2007 EP and how will this evolution be noticeable on your upcoming full-length?
Brandon: "Well, the most influential and noticeable impact effecting our songwriting for our upcoming full-length has been Pat adding a sampler into the gear mix... many of our new songs now involve as a starting focus in writing... electronic beats, and sometimes drones, that we then build upon; or spark the interesting skeletal-structure melodies... better yet, it is now a constant instrument added into the mix of songs, like bass or guitar or keys. It's become a staple... not just a flare or frequent additive. In addition to the sampler, I feel we are experimenting with minute little parts for more instruments now and the layering a trifle more than the last... the new songs feel more beatbacked moving... a sorta sexy slight bodydance sadness maybe. That, and we are sort of hoping to do a little more of a dubstyle mixing to the whole this time. With this new stuff, I get images of being in a blanketed, arctic white... spanning out, and deep below; a drift you can just keep holing and holing into its depths without a change; just sheer, glimmering shininess that evokes a loneliness where you become comfortable and reach moments of dancing to yourself without a care... just quick, fleeting moments that take forever to form, you know. That's my crazy head though..."

Thanks to Brandon for his time, and a shout-out to Janelle of GCS too for being really sweet. Visit the links below!