Hey! Listen to Sloth & Turtle!

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Positive things need to try harder, at least in my book. Being upbeat, optimistic, clean, sweet and other such adjectives is something that it’s own reward. Thus, to prove to me that you’re not just indulging yourself and that there’s something more to your lighthearted creation, extra miles need to be walked in the realms of creativity and expertise. Sloth&Turtle are a fine example of how to do that; they don’t let their bright brand of of mathrock suffice itself with just happy riffs and short jaunts into the realm of guitar centered music. Instead, they’ve crafted a fully realized and wholly interested self-titled EP, playing very cleverly into the strength of their style. Head on below for a taste!

What Heavy Blog Is Really Listening To – 9/1/17

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For those who missed our last installment, We post biweekly updates covering what the staff at Heavy Blog have been spinning. Given the amount of time we spend on the site telling you about music that does not fall neatly into the confines of conventional “metal,” it should come as no surprise that many of us on staff have pretty eclectic tastes that range far outside of metal and heavy things. We can’t post about all of them at length here, but we can at least let you know what we’re actually listening to. For those that would like to participate as well (and please do) can drop a 3X3 in the comments, which can be made with tapmusic.net through your last.fm account, or create it manually with topsters.net. Also, consider these posts open threads to talk about pretty much anything music-related. We love hearing all of your thoughts on this stuff and love being able to nerd out along with all of you.

PREMIERE: Take A Chance On The Kraken Quartet

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There’s a very specific genre of math rock that relies heavily on percussion and percussive instruments for its momentum. Three Trapped Tigers is perhaps the most famous example today, weaving this style together with electronica to create compelling and upbeat music. But what happens when we take that style and multiply it by four? Well, we get The Kraken Quartet, a band whose every member is a percussionist. The result is an upcoming album called Separate | Migrate, an enchanting ride through drums, xylophones, bells, synths and a host of other sounds. We’re proud to premiere the opening track from that album, “chance the dog (the song)” right below!

What Heavy Blog Is Really Listening To – 6/3/16

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For those who missed our last installment, We post biweekly updates covering what the staff at Heavy Blog have been spinning. Given the amount of time we spend on the site telling you about music that does not fall neatly into the confines of conventional “metal,” it should come as no surprise that many of us on staff have pretty eclectic tastes that range far outside of metal and heavy things. We can’t post about all of them at length here, but we can at least let you know what we’re actually listening to. For those that would like to participate as well (and please do) can drop a 3X3 in the comments, which can be made with tapmusic.net through your last.fm account, or create it manually with topsters.net. Also, consider these posts open threads to talk about pretty much anything music-related. We love hearing all of your thoughts on this stuff and love being able to nerd out along with all of you.

Love Of Cartography: A Taxonomy Of Post Rock

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The goal of these taxonomy posts is not to provide an exhaustive and accurate list or definition of a certain genre or genres. Quite the opposite in fact: attempting to make such a complete list would only replace one stagnated image-object with another, creating an equally irrelevant definition, whether it can be considered currently accurate or not. Therefore, we want to keep some of that fuzz, to leave ends untied and room for further articles and discussion among our readers. We’re not saying that this is going to be a series; these posts take far too much time and energy to commit to something like that. We are saying however that there’s plenty more to discuss, within and without the progressive metal genre and we’ll try and do that when we can.

So, post rock. Post rock is a perfect candidate for such an examination. On the one hand, there’s a very strong and often negative image of what post rock is. Seminal bands like Godspeed You! Black Emperor, God Is An Astronaut and Explosions In The Sky have enjoyed widespread, cultural popularity, solidifying the image of post rock in the eyes of the public. Pretentious, long-winded, dreamy, beautiful, cinematic, instrumental and rarified are all adjectives which were born from this image. Post rock was, and still is, perceived as a genre for the few, starry eyed and sentimental. Perhaps owing to just how good the afore-mentioned bands really are, their music also overpowered the conceptual space for the genre, leading people to expect certain things from the music that fell under the moniker.

Sioum – Yet Further

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Strictly speaking, you’d be hard pressed to identify a sub-genre that’s harder or more complicated to review. All styles and mannerisms have their own challenges, whether those be intricate vocal lines, absurdly lo-fi production or expansive, mind-bending track lengths. However, within these irregularities, one might perhaps do well to leave a place of honor for instrumental music. Something about the lack of vocals denies the reviewer, and the listener, a focal point, an anchoring which is essential to grasp location within music.

And yet, of course, instrumental music can be amazing; there’s a wild freedom to it, a conviction that’s hard to resist. So too with Sioum, a name that has been on the lips of blog members for a long time but has yet to properly grace the pages of its digital manifestation. Well, no more. Yet Further is their next offering and if any justice exists in this god-forsaken abyss we call a planet, this will be the one that finally balances their levels of skill with their levels of recognition.