Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta mountain. Mostrar todas las entradas
Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta mountain. Mostrar todas las entradas

martes, 16 de septiembre de 2008

Minutos Musicales: The Mountain Goats

Estimados,
The Mountain Goats (Las Cabras de Montaña) son una banda estadounidense de Rock Alternativo e Indie Rock y Lo-Fi (hasta 2002) capitaneada por John Darnielle y Peter Hughes (bajista).

Tienen una amplia trayectoria que comenzó allá por 1991 y que podéis ver aquí. Es curioso ver que mantienen la frescura a pesar del paso de los años. Sin duda, todo un referente para la música actual.

Taboo VI: The Homecoming - cassette (Shrimper, 1991)
The Hound Chronicles - cassette (Shrimper, 1992)
Hot Garden Stomp - cassette (Shrimper, 1993)
Zopilote Machine - CD, cassette (Ajax, 1994), CD/LP (3 Beads of Sweat, 2005)
Sweden - CD/LP (Shrimper, 1995)
Hail and Farewell, Gothenburg - (Unreleased, 1995)
Nothing for Juice - CD/LP (Ajax, 1996), CD (3 Beads of Sweat, 2005)
Full Force Galesburg - CD/LP (Emperor Jones, 1997)
The Coroner's Gambit - CD/LP (Absolutely Kosher, 2000)
All Hail West Texas - CD (Emperor Jones, 2002)
Tallahassee - CD/LP (4AD, 2002)
We Shall All Be Healed - CD/LP (4AD, 2004)
The Sunset Tree - CD/LP (4AD, 4/26/05)
Come, Come to the Sunset Tree - limited-edition LP (4AD, 4/26/05)
Get Lonely - CD/LP (4AD, 8/22/06) Heretic Pride CD/LP (4AD, 2/19/08)

"In 1991, Darnielle began performing under the name The Mountain Goats in Claremont, California, where he attended Pitzer College and worked as a psychiatric nurse.[1] The band's name is a reference to the Screamin' Jay Hawkins song "Yellow Coat".[1] Darnielle released his first album, Taboo VI: The Homecoming, on Shrimper Records.[1] Many of his first recordings and performances featured Darnielle accompanied by members of the all-girl reggae band The Casual Girls, who became known as The Bright Mountain Choir.[2] One of this group's members, Rachel Ware, continued to accompany Darnielle on bass, both live and in studio, until 1995.[2]

The first five years of the Mountain Goats' career saw a prolific output of songs on cassette, vinyl and CD. These releases spanned multiple labels and countries of origin; many were unavailable to the majority of fans until recent reissues.

The focus of the Mountain Goats project was the urgency of writing (Brown, "Sermon on the Mount", June, 1999.). If a song wasn’t recorded adequately to tape within days of being written it was often forgotten.

Darnielle graduated from Pitzer College in 1995. Most of what could be considered classic Mountain Goats conventions (boom-box recording, song series, Latin quotes, and mythological themes) were abandoned in favor of a more thematically focused and experimental sound. This period was marked by Darnielle's collaborations with other artists including Alastair Galbraith and Simon Joyner.

2002 saw the release of two Mountain Goats albums: All Hail West Texas and Tallahassee. These albums mark a distinct change in focus for the Mountain Goats project, being the first in a series of concept albums that explore aspects of The Mountain Goats' canon in depth. All Hail West Texas featured the resurrection of Darnielle's early boom box recording for a complete album. Darnielle considers this album to be the culmination of his lo-fi recording style. Tallahassee, recorded with a band and in a studio, explores the relationship of a couple whose lives were the subject of the song cycle known as the Alpha Series (see Alpha Series below for a full list of songs in this cycle).

Martial Arts Weekend, also released in 2002 under the band name The Extra Glenns, is a collaboration with Franklin Bruno on several previously unreleased Mountain Goats songs.[2] Since that recording, Bruno has joined Darnielle in the studio along with bassist Peter Hughes, who is the second official member of the band and accompanies Darnielle on tour. These three musicians form what may be considered the Mountain Goats studio band.

The Mountain Goats performing at the Northstar Bar on September 22nd, 2007In 2004, the Mountain Goats released We Shall All Be Healed. The album marked a couple of changes for the Mountain Goats. It was the first time Darnielle worked with producer John Vanderslice and the first album of directly autobiographical material. We Shall All Be Healed chronicles Darnielle's life with a group of friends and acquaintances addicted to methamphetamine in Portland, Oregon, though the album is set in Pomona, California.

In 2005, the Mountain Goats released their second Vanderslice-produced album, The Sunset Tree. Again autobiographical, Darnielle tackles the subject of his early childhood spent with an abusive stepfather. Darnielle had previously dealt with this subject in what he often refers to as the only autobiographical song he had written before 2004, the unreleased song "You're in Maya."

In 2006, the Mountain Goats issued Get Lonely, which was produced by Scott Solter, a man perhaps best known for his engineering work with Vanderslice on various projects, including prior Mountain Goats records. In 2007, Jon Wurster played drums on the last leg of the Get Lonely tour.

In 2007, the band recorded tracks for its next album at Prairie Sun studios.[3] Entitled Heretic Pride, the album was released on February 19, 2008.[4] It was produced by John Vanderslice and Scott Solter. Franklin Bruno and Erik Friedlander returned to the studio with Darnielle and Hughes, and they were also joined by Jon Wurster on drums and vocalist Annie Clark of St. Vincent.[4]

On February 3, 2008, The Mountain Goats released a song called "Down to the Ark" that was commissioned by Weekend America.[5]

On March 19, 2008, Darnielle posted on the band's website that their Australian tour would be canceled due to "personal health reasons".[6]

Darnielle is featured on Aesop Rock's song "Coffee" from the 2007 album None Shall Pass. Aesop Rock also released a remix of the track "Lovecraft in Brooklyn" from the album Heretic Pride."

Grupo: The Mountain Goats
Disco: Heretic Pride
Año: 2008
Web oficial: http://www.myspace.com/themountaingoats y http://www.mountain-goats.com/
Canciones destacadas: Heretic Pride, Autoclave, How To Embrace A Swamp Creature, Marduk T-Shirt Mens Room Incident, Michael Myers Resplendent, San Bernardino, Sax Rohmer #1 y So Desperate

viernes, 7 de marzo de 2008

Minutos Musicales: The Breeders

Estimados,
The Breeders es una banda de rock liderada por las hermanas gemelas Kim y Kelley Deal.

Activa desde 1988, su segundo álbum, Last Splash, alcanzó el puesto #33 en la cartelera Billboard de 1993. Entre 1994 hasta 1999, The Breeders estuvo inactivo.

Originalmente, The Breeders era el nombre con el que Kim y Kelley Deal tocaban ocasionalmente en Dayton, Ohio a principios de los ochenta. En 1989, aún siendo miembro de los Pixies, Kim rescató el nombre para un proyecto paralelo planeado junto a Tanya Donnelly (entonces de las Throwing Muses, y más tarde con Belly), Josephine Wiggs y la violinista Carrie Bradley. Mientras grababa una canción con los Pixies en Chicago, Kim conoció al baterista Britt Walford, que después formaría parte de los legendarios Slint, y accedió a tocar en el proyecto.

La banda se reunió en Edimburgo y grabó el álbum "Pod" con Steve Albini de productor, con quien Kim ya había trabajado en el mítico álbum de los Pixies "Surfer Rosa". "Pod" se grabó tan rápidamente que al grupo le sobró tiempo en el estudio para grabar unas peel sessions.

Al cabo de un tiempo, después de la edición de "Pod", los Pixies se separaron temporalmente. Kelly Deal se unió al grupo para la grabación del EP "Safari" (editado en abril de 1992), que también significó la última colaboración en el grupo de Tanya Donnelly y Brit Walford. Britt fue reemplazado por Jim MacPherson, a quien Kim conocía del grupo de Dayton Raging Mantras. The Breeders grabaron "Last Splash" en San Francisco mientras vivían en casas flotantes. Después de su edición en agosto de 1993, la banda giró con Nirvana, vendió dos millones de discos y tuvo un éxito masivo con el single "Cannonball". El vídeo de dicha canción lo dirigió Kim Gordon (de Sonic Youth) junto a Spike Jonze. The Prodigy sampleó un fragmento de "S.O.S." para su super-éxito "Firestarter".

El estrés y la dureza de la vida en la carretera tuvo sin embargo, nefastas consecuencias. Kelley se hizo adicta a las drogas y tuvo muchos problemas con la justícia norteamericana. Además, Josephine decidió empezar una vida sedentaria en Nueva York. Kim aún quería seguir grabando discos así que formó una nueva bnada temporalmente junto a Jim MacPherson llamada The Amps, que editó el álbum "Pacer" en 1995 y posteriormente hizo una gira mundial.

En verano de 1999, Kim y Kelly se volvieron a reunir para en Austin para componer algunos de los temas que formarán parte de "Title TK", el nuevo disco que The Breeders editarán está primavera. Para la grabación Kim decidió no utilizar ordenadores ni nuevas tecnologías digitales, con la idea de conseguir un disco de sonoridad clásica. Ese mismo invierno Kim conoció en East Los Angeles a los miembros del grupo punk Fear, a los que invitó a tocar con ella en una formación de The Breeders. Así pues, al grupo se le han unido el guitarrista Richard Presley, el bajista Mando López y Jose Medeles.

Grupo: The Breeders
Disco: Mountain Battles
Año: 2008
Web oficial: http://www.4ad.com/breeders
Canciones destacadas: It´s The Love, Overglazed, Mountain Battles y Regalame esta noche


martes, 18 de diciembre de 2007

Minutos Musicales: Black Mountain

Estimados,
aquí os dejo un par de temas de un grupo de una banda que simultanea el pop con el rock (os daréis cuenta por la guitarra del segundo tema). De hechos en sus composiciones son como un conglomerados de diversos artistas: Neil Young, Buffalo Springfield, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, the Velvet Underground y Black Sabbath.

Los temas que he seleccionado curiosamente los canta una mujer (Amber Weber) a pesar de que el cantante principal sea hombre (Stephen McBean). Stephen también es la cabeza visible del grupo Pink Mountaintrops aunque su estilo es mucho más experimental

Como anécdota comentar que este grupo (Black Mountain) es la banda cabezera del colectivo 'Black Mountain Army', que agrupa a músicos, artistas y amigos en Vancouver (Canada).

"By day, three members of the band work for an organization (Insite) that meets the basic living requirements of the chronically poor, drug addicted and mentally ill near Vancouver's infamous Main & Hastings intersection, widely considered to be the heroin capital of Canada, if not North America. The name "Black Mountain" could be a reference to a large pile of hashish.

Black Mountain has released one self-titled LP (2005) and an EP titled Druganaut (2004) on the Jagjaguwar label. A split single with Destroyer was released in Fall 2004 on Spirt of Orr. The "Stormy High" single was released in 2006 on Suicide Squeeze records.

Also, in 2005, the band opened for Coldplay on their Twisted Logic Tour for three weeks, with their final opening in San Diego. Their self-titled album was chosen as one of Amazon.com's Top 100 Editor's Picks of 2005.

They recently were featured on the soundtrack for the box-office hit movie Spider-Man 3, with their song "Stay Free".

A vinyl single was released in April 2007 named "Surrender Sound Session: Unkle vs. Autolux/Black Mountain" with a remix of "No Hits" on the B side.

In a recent 10th anniversary edition of Uncut magazine, the band have been mentioned in the "Book Of Rock Revelations" that came free with it."

Grupo: Black Mountain
Disco: In The Future
Año: 2008
Web oficial: http://www.blackmountainarmy.com/ y http://www.myspace.com/blackmountain
Canciones destacadas: Night Walks y Queens will Play