Alt J

[milly balgeary]

Man, these guys are straight fucking serious good, don't know shit about them. Can't get enough.

A wave, an awesome wave, that rushes skin and widens in blooded veins.
Breath in, exhale, I've poked a nerve he'll slap me like a whale
Slaps the sea-O-double M-O-N.
Tide out, tide in,
a flood of blood to the heart and the fear slipstreams.
Breath in, exhale, I've poked a nerve he'll slap me like a whale
Slaps the sea-O-double M-O-N.
Flood of blood to the heart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_N2eWcP4uc&feature=related


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3fTw_D3l10

[RavingLunatic]

Just started listening to this band a couple weeks ago and concur with everything you've said.

The album is An Awesome Wave, and it's one of my favorites of the year, a true album. It's got a certain thematic vein running beneath its skin, unifying the songs and making them work wonderful together. It's a strange vibe really. Often the singer's voice seems on the verge of descending into a nonchalant, semi-humorous talk-sing, but just when you're afraid he's going to break into some egregious teenage pop-punk trope, they abruptly reverse course and resume a solemn, restrained, emotionally rich flow.  They sometimes tease you into anticipating a chilled-out, head-nodding groove, but they never seem to fully enter that groove, instead careening up and down the sides and making occasional brief forays into the level plain on either side before sliding back in to traipse along the slopes.

The only real misstep to me is the Jack Johnson soundalike "Breezeblock," but when I criticized that song elsewhere, others were shocked because it's their favorite song on the album. I'm listening to it again though, and I still think it's garbage. Sticks out like a sore thumb. A sore thumb growing out of an ear.

The last song, "Taro," is fantastic, sounding like some bizarre blend of Paul Simon and Thom Yorke. The interludes are excellent, an essential part of the album. These are the best interludes I've heard since the amazing ones Thee More Shallows used on their last two albums. I can't remember if anyone here was into More Deep Cuts by TMS. I think Alex was. I still love that album, and those interludes slay. I wonder what that dude is doing these days.

[milly balgeary]

Yes! Yes!!! It's really like an alien landscape, that it then suddenly festooned with regular, almost trite things, like when the Martian rover landed early this morning my time, there was a bunch of alien stuff, and then a bunch of trite stuff, that on closer inspection was actual alien stuff disguised as trite stuff, and that makes it even more alien. Just blissfully good music.

[lucky strike]

cant decide if this is 'pretty cool' or 'fucking rips.' what's up with the delta thing in the youtube video titles?

edit: after more listening, decided it was 'fucking cool'

[Anne the Man]

I agree with you about Breezeblocks for sure, Ryan. My friend who likes some annoying fluffy indie music showed me that song months ago and I was like 'eh', and then I heard Taro and the other stuff and was like well why didn't you just play me them in the first place. Neat! Thank you, Milfred, I don't generally come across such things.

[ellaguru]

I picked up a ticket to see ALT+J next month.

[Antero]

I think I fuck with this.

[ellaguru]

Hey, on this quirk-pop kids note, are you guys listening to Django Django? They are sorta running similar terrain to Alt+J, and are at least as good.