I had to drive up to Nanaimo for work yesterday and this song came on the radio. I’ve missed the boat on this whole Yacht band (no pun intended), and I’m not sure about most of the stuff they put out, but this song is amazing; I’m disappointed in any of my friends who have heard it and not recommended it to me. On repeat for now.

(♪) Yacht – Don’t Fight The Darkness

1. SolarBeat is a really neat little music box program that models the orbits of the planets in our solar system. Really ingenious—my favourite is when you turn the speed up and Venus is kind of a bass drum to nod your head to—. It also puts the solar system into perspective: I still haven’t heard what Pluto sounds like. (And yes, Mark Wilson, I know that Pluto isn’t a planet)
2. The Whitney Music Box is a more complicated implementation of a similar idea. It is a “musical realization of the motion graphics of John Whitney,” whose book I might have to go pick up. Shockingly, he was writing about the intersections of music and visual art through motion graphics in 1980. Anyway, of all the different options on the Whitney Music Box page, my favourites are the first one, the Microtonal one, the Chromatic Non-Prime one, and the Bell Carol one, but they’re all amazing.
3. P.U.D.G.E is yet another LA guy with a growing bit of hype. He’s pretty dynamic and big city, but his nonchalant approach is fun. Mostly though, I’m shocked at how awesome Bandcamp seems. I signed myself up, just in case I decide to release stuff. It seems like an amazing platform.

Considering how few people read this blog, I get ridiculous numbers of emails from PR people asking me to post their clients’ tracks. Plantagenet 3 is an exception to this: the main guy sent me a really polite email, and being a history nerd I wondered if his band was named after the Planagenet family. A few emails later and yes, he named his band Plantagenet 3 because his dad claims he’s named after Richard III.

Anyway, their music is awesome. They describe it as “a misguided combination of Spaghetti Western soundtracks, 1960s surf guitar and lo-fi post-rock” and that’s pretty accurate. The sound is interesting and the songs are fun and unpretentious. And they’re using Bandcamp too, hmmmmm.

(♪) Plantagenet 3 – Theme from an Imaginary Western

And, not that I care really, but PR people shouldn’t take this as a sign that emailing me a lot is an effective use of their time.

I just did a quick search for what people are saying about Lorn’s new album “Nothing Else” and obviously I’m a terrible music blogger because I’m shocked at what people are saying; I’m reading things like “ominous” and “creeping neurosis” and “oppressive atmosphere” but I’m not really hearing it at all. Aesthetically, Lorn sounds very tongue in cheek to me. The album is full of allusions to other sounds and ideas; from the One Step Beyond sound of Army of Fear and the comic book look of the album’s cover, to the Zomby-like tint to Void I and Void II, I’m not hearing the dark masterpiece that everyone else seems to be hearing.

Not that that’s a bad thing. Having such a wide scope and irreverent attitude towards aesthetic colouring seems to have given him the freedom to write some amazing stuff. I’m posting Grandfather, the opener from the album, because it sits deep in the pocket and will give you a good idea of the sonic breadth Lorn is playing with.

(♪) Lorn – Grandfather

I’m also posting my favourite song from the album: Glass and Silver. Obviously I’m one of those pansies that musicology students make fun of for loving obvious melodies so much, (and obviously I’m insecure about that) but that doesn’t take away from the fact that the track is great. Take a listen.

(♪) Lorn – Glass and Silver