Blue Sky Black Death - Glaciers

Blue Sky Black Death - Glaciers

While at Hilliard’s Brewery one night I was intrigued by the music that the barkeep was playing, so I inquired.  He was playing an album, Glaciers, from the Seattle-based duo Blue Sky Black Death. I have come to love this album, and it has found its way into heavy rotation lately. I highly recommend it. 

It is hard to describe, but I would say it is ambient…electronic-y… instrumental-ly, goodness. I would say they share some musical elements with Disclosure (electronic, repetitive, catchy, etc), so if you like them, then Blue Sky Black Death may interest you. One of the tracks features the interesting collaboration of Lotte Kestner, (also based in Seattle) who I saw at the TimBRRR! Music Festival. 

Their top Last.fm genre tags are: instrumental hip-hop, abstract hip-hop, electronic ..etc.  But whatever it is, I like it! It is good background music if you are working on something that you need to focus on, but want some musical motivation. 

[Their Wikipedia page for further info.]

Beck - Morning Phase

Beck - Morning Phase

Beck has released a new album, Morning Phase, which is supposed to be take off where Sea Change left off.  Beck has dabbled in genres all of the map and has been recreating himself and experimenting on every album, but Sea Change is by far my favorite, so I was very excited when I heard about the follow-up concept of Morning Phase.

Sea Change was a slow-motion flow of emotional and gloomy tracks of lazily-enunciated lyrics over incredibly beautiful orchestral soundscapes, accented with little sprites of treble that chime-in, providing little explosions of auditory hope. It is the perfect soundtrack for wallowing in melancholy and a goddamn masterpiece of depressing music with themes of heartbreak, desolation, solitude, and loneliness. Try Lost Cause, my favorite track from the album.

MorningPhase does well as pairing with Sea Change, starting immediately with the orchestral intro.  The 1^st track, Morning, sounds almost like rehashed replica of a track from Sea Change, with chimes, lazily strummed guitars, and strung-out mumbly lyrics. Even the cover art is similar, like a hazy aged homage reminiscent of Sea Change.

Sea Change

Overall I really like the album, and have been enjoying it. If you are hopeful (as I was) that this album can possibly live up to Sea Change, it will not let you down. As you well know, it couldn’t possibly surpass Sea Change, but it is a very nice addendum and a refreshing emulation, showing that a band can recreate a distinct (and critically acclaimed) sound 12 years later.

If you need a jumping-off-point I recommend :

Blue Moon
    or
Wave, which makes you feel as if you are a piece of flotsam floating alone in the ocean.

 But it’s all good and certainly worth a listen.

Karaoke

Last night I went out karaoke singing with some friends for the 1^st time ever.  I have always assumed this was an activity that I would not enjoy nor take part in, but the local talent wasn’t too intimidating, so I actually belted out a few tunes.

For my debut I chose Hey You by Pink Floyd, which I think was well received. And to solidify my rising-star status I later followed that up with an encore performance of  Levon by Sir Elton John.

It was fun. I hope that there is no actual video of my renditions, but below are 2 videos to represent what the performances should have sounded like.

Hey You from the incredible rock opera The Wall (movie).

And an excellent live version of Levon.