[2012] Milky Toad + Chikiss - zimní son first impression

Some weird shit i found looking for weird shit to find. This is a split release, 5 tracks apiece.

Milky Toad is melodic, hazy, slightly electronic, russian but I thought it was japanese for at least three tracks, and that tells you about how clear the (male) vocals are. They seem to be there for atmosphere, not to for the words, anyway. I could swear I've heard the fifth track, "nebozloye" somewhere before. Lots of piano, very mellow, will listen again.

Chikiss is also russian, this music is also hazy and melodic, more electronic, actual drum machine, (female) vocals much higher in the mix and with fewer effects. I like this less but it doesn't suck. The label, Dopefish, seems to be run in part by these two artists, so if you like this album please support them by buying it - or another album by just one of these artists, since they both appear to have several.

Or, for that matter, an album by label-mate minimal art manifesto, for whom the listed genres on the Dopefish site are "c++ / markov chains / tracker music".

His songs are very short (38 seconds?) and have really weird-looking waveforms on soundcloud and I'm a little scared.

The more things change, or something.

I really liked this post over at Pockiblr (friend of deadly boars) about the complex cognitive and emotional reaction involved in having a band you've liked a long time make a record that you don't like. She says best what I've been trying to say to lots of people for awhile about a certain Oxford five-piece (whose last record I actually like, but that's besides the point).

[2012.05.05] Andrew Bird at Beacon Theatre, New York, NY

I can't believe I forgot to post about this show.  I woke up with a live version of Sectionate City stuck in my head today, so. This is "Give it Away" from the new album. I got a free digital download of the album and a live EP called Fake Conversations with my tickets - a very nice touch.

I can't find a better video at the moment, maybe I'll upgrade this later. The one I wanted to use in the first place finally started working. I originally posted Sifters, which you can watch here because it is also very nice. These are quite good for what's probably a smartphone, thank the venue for that. See a show there if you ever get a chance, please. There is no bad seat. They took advantage of this quite a bit, performing almost half a dozen songs gathered around a single microphone (including the one below, which is why I switched to this video), a trend that I really hope catches on more (see a very old First Aid Kit post with no microphones at all for more of the same).