You may now subscribe to the Racket Scan podcast through iTunes:
This is the first of what I hope will be many podcasts here at Racket Scan. Hopefully find them soon on iTunes as well:
So, as you may have noticed from the complete lack of posts, I'm done posting on Racket Scan. The publications I'm writing for nowadays would not appreciate me reposting articles and reviews here, and I simply do not have the time to post independent material here. Sorry!
For the future, you can find my writing in the ChiTunes section of the Chicago Tribune's RedEye every Thursday, Soundcheck Magazine, 80108's IndieRock and AllAges Chicago channels, and Gapers Block's Transmission music blog.
My contact information is in the "About Me" section and remains the same. Thanks for your ongoing support!
God help me, I love swirling guitars. If all music had to somehow be wiped from the face of the Earth, keeping shoegaze with me would be enough to last a lifetime. There’s enough complexity beneath the vibrant sonic waves, hiding new pieces of songs yet unheard, to keep me fixated for years. Such is the case with Bury The Sound. A new face on Hidden Shoals Records, Autumn Magnets is the Australian group’s debut release—featuring three tracks totaling near 25 minutes of cataclysmic instrumental work. From the haunting piano-scorched landscapes of “Gemini Unbound” – where the guitars glimmer and sizzle behind a driving pulse of bass and piano twirls – to the more traditional shoegaze of “Saratoga” – similar to an earlier Explosions in the Sky or Butterfly Explosion – Autumn Magnets is a glorious snapshot at the enormous potential with Bury The Sound. More friendly to the ear than My Bloody Valentine and perhaps quieter than Explosions in the Sky, Bury The Sound achieve a special niche in the instrumental shoegaze spectrum—one that will surely be gobbled up by music fans waiting for just such a conglomerate. “What Would One Become” settles the matter by achieving that sort of multi-emotional musical composition that Explosions in the Sky does so well. The eerie, irrepressible piano soars above a grounded guitar carefully strumming along to create a mural that could be sorrowful or inspirational—or both at once. That feeling, whatever emotional response is garnered from your ears, is built upon slowly but surely through the song’s near 9 minutes, until finally opening the flood gates and letting all hell through in a massive climax. This is instrumental shoegaze at its best, the kind that makes my mouth water. I beg and plead to the good people of Hidden Shoal Records and Bury The Sound—give me more! The first taste was free, and now I’m hooked.
(Published at MusicEmissions.com)
