I like to think of myself as an open-minded music fan with varied tastes to match. But if you were to open up my iTunes and scan through the genres, you’d find that my eccentricities, no matter how expansive I wished they were, actually don’t stretch all that far. I’m probably the same as a lot of folks: I know what I like, and don’t often see the point in deviating from the reliable.

I can honestly say that I try my best to not to prejudge a piece of music based solely on how it’s labeled. A good song is a good song. But if you had told me a few weeks ago that I’d become obsessed with a track from an electronic/synth outfit from Helsinki, Finland, who, according to their label, mix “electronics, krautrock, noise, and even rockabilly into a hypnotic and minimal motorik groove,” I would have politely scoffed.

But here we are. And here is this track, which, despite its six-minute-plus running time, lack of vocals, and full-on embracing of lo-fi buzz (all things it had going against it from the get-go, as far as I was concerned) has been on repeat in my headphones for 10 days now.

K-X-P – Mehu Moments

So, what is it about this song that keeps me coming back? On paper, it shouldn’t have affected me the way it does, and I think that’s intrigued me even more. I decided to break it down—to quit worrying about what it’s not, and instead focus on what it is. And more specifically, how its individual parts work together to form such a rock-solid whole.

What makes it work?

There’s a thick, foreboding buzz that fires up when the track begins, but as the first pulsing synth note kicks in, it almost completely falls away, lingering only slightly in the form of what seems like a light tape hiss running throughout the song. Click to read the rest…

Northern State are no longer together, and though that’s a bummer, they left us with three hyper-fun—and very different—albums before they hung up their microphones a few years back. I’m not here to give you a Northern State history lesson (though I’d love to), but it’s worth mentioning because they’re one of those groups whose sound changed starkly with each release. They were always hip-hop, but they constantly flirted with other genres and eventually became hard to classify, which was, for me, when they finally found the sound they had always been looking for and came into their own.

They never really intended a mass release of their first album, and accordingly, it was raw, better-than-demo-quality rap that was party-worthy, but never too complex (that’s not a bad thing). Their second release was more thoroughly produced, and more focused in general, but some of the looseness of their debut was conspicuously missing. Their third album, the one which featured the song we’ll be taking a listen to, was a huge step forward. The hip-hop elements are still in the forefront, but the band managed to incorporate a ton of other sounds and influences.

Northern State – Better Already

This song in particular is a great example of what was going on throughout the album: they rap the verses, sing the chorus, and float a bunch of other bits and pieces around those main sections to really make the track an impressive little slice of three-minute pop. A few years back, this cut was on heavy rotation in my stereo, and I never shy away from returning to it.

Better Already - Synthy-Jagged Guitar
The synthy-jagged guitar, intro that starts the song off is intentionally panned hard to the left speaker—not only to mellow it out a bit, but also to leave room for the vocals, bass, and drums that kick in just after it cycles through once. While you might initially think that the guitar is going to lead the charge Click to read the rest…

Local H are known for being a reliably straightforward rock band (you probably at least remember them for their few and minor radio hits in the mid to late ’90s), but on Pack Up the Cats, their third proper LP, the two-piece pulled some left-field moves that I’ve always thought were uniquely strange, kind of a gamble, but ultimately very cool. I’ve always felt the reason the band retained its cult following through the years is because they’ve never been afraid to, for lack of a better term, try stuff.

Pack Up the Cats features more than a few examples of that, but I want to talk about two sets of two songs in particular, and the ways in which they relate to each other.

Note: While there are clips embedded below, you’ll understand what I’m talking about best if you get hold of the album (e.g. Amazon, iTunes, Spotify) and give it a full listen.

Lucky /
Lucky Time

The third track on the record is “Lucky.” It’s 48 seconds long, and acts more as a bridge between the songs on either side of it than as a standalone cut. It consists of three major elements: the vocals, two heavily panned and flanged (or possibly phase-shifted) guitar parts, and a pack of apparently distressed cats meowing intermittently (this is the song from which the album takes its name).

Aside from the not-often-heard-in-rock-songs felines, “Lucky” is notable for a few reasons: First off, it’s a great example of how a minimalist approach to the backing track, coupled with some heavy effects, can really fill up space. The two guitar parts seem to shift back and forth rapidly, and instead of swirling, they’re timed so that they almost ping-pong off one another. It can be a little unnerving (especially if you’re wearing headphones), but it seems to work in a song that’s this short.

Lucky

Click to read the rest…