Andromeda Galaxy: Largest Photo Ever [video]

/ David James / Leave a comment

A couple days ago, NASA released a new photo of the Andromeda galaxy, our closest galactic neighbor.

Hubble produced one of the largest images ever created. With 1,500,000,000 pixels, you’d apparently need “more than 600 HD television screens” to view the entire thing at once. Instead, check this sublime video to get a swooping, zooming view of the galaxy.

What you’re seeing is a selection of over 100 million stars embedded in a section of the disc galaxy, spanning 40,000 light-years. That’s astounding.

If you want to see the full image for yourself, check out Hubble’s Zoom Tool. You’ll be able to pan and zoom as deep as you’d like, to view individual stars from the far end of the galaxy. It’ll take a minute to load at the deepest levels, but it’s worth it.

Sharpest ever view of the Andromeda Galaxy

Here’s a smaller “thumbnail” of the real deal, just to give you an idea of the scope at play here.

And finally, if you’re enjoying the song in that video, I’ve got it streaming below. Artist name Koda; he’s new to me.

Watching the video, I was thinking at first that I was hearing Ryan Teague. By the end I was convinced it was Sigur Rós. I’d say Koda falls somewhere between, and far more subtly. It’s not normally my sort of thing, but I might check out his other work.

So, I’m well aware you can view the image on all sorts of high profile sites, but I wanted to share it here because I’ve got a deeply rooted fascination with and love for anything space related. Thanks for reading!

Please, for the love of all that is holy, check out that Zoom Tool!

Another new Zs track streaming right here: “Corps”

/ David James / Leave a comment

Yesterday I wrote about and shared the 18 minute title track for Zs’ upcoming album, Xe. You can listen here. I later realized that the band’s own Soundcloud page held a second lengthy piece, called Corps. It’s another fantastic slice of weird avant jazz that’s got my anticipation off the charts at this point.

The tune opens with a guitar riff marrying Dick Dale surf licks with Steve Reich minimalism, creating a line for the insistent percussion and tenor sax asteroids to dance over. Think Misirlou fucking with Electric Counterpoint and you’re on the right page. The rhythm loosens up, allowing the drums and saxophone to each billow up and take turns leading the sound. It’s a fantastic, tightly wound jam that ends in an effervescent free-jazz cloud.

Because the band absolutely thrives in a live setting, here’s a brief, energetic take on the song:

Now that I’ve fallen into a youtube hole and saved a load of Zs videos, you’ll likely see a handful more of these posts before the album drops on January 27th.

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Protip: you can order the album directly from Northern Spy Records for $17 on vinyl, right here: XE On Northern Spy.

Noisy jazz mutants Zs release a new album next week; title track streaming here!

/ David James / 2 Comments

Next week, muscular avant jazz champions Zs will release their long awaited album Xe, the first true followup to 2010’s monumental freakout New Slaves. I was already excited about the news. Now that I’ve heard the title track, I’m losing my patience.

Always evolving, never repeating, Zs are set to render us all dumbstruck again:

While I haven’t written much about Zs, they are in fact my favorite jazz project working today. I’ve shared a pair of posts about bandleader Sam Hillmer’s solo project a couple years back, and mentioned the group on my Best Of The Rest Of 2010 post. My words book-ending that list turned prophetic: “…any one of these albums may end up defining the year as much as the ‘true’ list.” In the case of New Slaves, that sentence couldn’t be any truer.

The double LP set is a monster, crossing cavernous metal and noise rock with free jazz of the highest order. The title track is, to my ears, a love letter to John Coltrane’s divisive masterpiece, Ascension. As the months of 2011 wore on, I found myself returning again and again to the album, eventually regarding it with a sense of awe for powerfully (and permanently) shifting my tastes more than than anything I’d mentioned on the official Best Of The Year list.

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Now, we have Xe dropping on January 27th, 2015. Judging by the initial nuanced throb of the title track, this looks to be perhaps less outwardly punishing than the last album. However, when the percussion starts tumbling over itself, and the guitar flares out of its surf metal loop, the tune erupts for the final third, with Hillmer soloing all over the place in a tight frenzy. Instead of a total wildfire, perhaps we’ll get a controlled burn with this new release.

Order the album directly from Northern Spy Records right here: XE On Northern Spy.

Jo Johnson – Weaving

/ David James / Leave a comment

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This is one of my favorite albums of 2014. I’ll be publishing a few full album streams before and after my Best of 2014 list, so stay tuned.

Jo Johnson popped onto my radar with brightly minimalist cover art on nodata.tv and a promise of synthesized dreaminess. I got exactly that and more. Listen now with this full album stream.

Continue reading →

Viet Cong – “Continental Shelf” [music video]

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Here’s that new Viet Cong music video, as promised. The song is Continental Shelf, first single from the band’s self-titled debut, releasing January 20th.

I should mention now that it’s super NSFW. But only for a few seconds. Watch it!

The imagery here seems to be a disjointed puzzle, an intriguing mess. It feels like the trailer for an art house film aping George Meliés at times, with a hint of Jodorowski. Fans of Holy Mountain or El Topo might know what I mean. That looks like a lot of links; whatever, they’re all awesome video clips.

The song itself is easily the catchiest tune on the brief album, with intelligible vocals and a clean hook. While not entirely representative of the band as a whole, it should still grab your ears tightly.

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Here’s a screenshot I took from the video. Fire mustache?

As I mentioned yesterday, this album is one of the most exciting rock releases I’ve heard in a long time. Modern rock has been boring me for years now, so it takes something truly special to ignite my enthusiasm.

Check the Viet Cong bandcamp page for links to purchase this fiery debut album in every format, including cassette, LP, CD, and digital. You can find it on Amazon of course but it’s better to buy right from the label. I did.

Snippet from a conversation on Top 40 Radio

/ David James / Leave a comment

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In this exchange, we join a Skype conversation deep into the workday. There’s nothing incredibly insightful here. I just wanted to share a bit of our back and forth on a topic that’s often relevant to something my peers encounter on a daily basis.

Me: Here’s where “weird” just sounds hilarious as a pseudo-criticism to me: in 2004 I was way into Arcade Fire, and many of the somewhat related Canadian indie rock bands. They were so weird to top 40 pop fans. So alien, so ugly.

In 2014 I’m hearing an unending stream of bands that sound exactly like those 2004 bands, right there on Top 40 radio.

So here’s hoping that in 10 years the spacey jazzy synth shit I’m into is on 104.5! (Note: it’s a local pop station)

Jzn: Assuming that commercial radio as we know it it still around by then.

Me: Oh god, it’ll just keep smashing headlong into a future that doesn’t want or need it. All the same shit, no matter what city or state you’re in! Which is the true death of radio. It’s no longer vital, it doesn’t champion local sounds or spread the news about a regionally popular band.

Because now you’re either popular everywhere, or “underground.” There’s nothing in between.

So now you get the same garbage here as you do in Arizona or Alaska. How insanely boring.

Viet Cong’s explosive debut album [plus my favorite song streaming]

/ David James / 4 Comments

Somehow, Viet Cong flew under my radar for the entirety of 2014. It’s my fault, really. Several friends let me know that half the members were from the short lived but brilliant Canadian band Women, and several more friends simply stated that they made balls out noisy punk-stained rock. The kind that’s darkly beautiful and complex in an unassuming way. The kind that I love.

They were right.

Hear for yourself; here’s the moment I realized that this is perfect.

This song exemplifies what I love about Viet Cong’s sound. It’s a three part suite in miniature, shaped at a glance like some post apocalyptic cousin of The Beatles’ Happiness Is A Warm Gun. We enter with a softly grinding drone and muted drum machine tumbling down stairs. The song bursts wide open with harmonized vocals and a sharply panning metallic guitar strum, while an insistent drum throb swells in the background. Finally, iridescent guitar tones rocket toward the sky. I don’t know if I’m hearing a weirdly tuned synthesizer or effects-laden guitar work; it doesn’t matter. The song absolutely explodes into a rave-up ending that had me grinning from ear to ear, determined to buy this album the moment it’s released.

The weird thing is, I was finally sold on giving these guys a try with a friend’s comparison to This Heat. The legendary experimental band from England released only a pair of bewilderingly fresh albums and disappeared at the turn of the 80s, leaving an indelible legacy that’s rarely touched, much less spiritually evoked. If you’re at all familiar with that band, give this your rapt attention. Right now. See also: fans of The Stooges, Public Image, Ltd., Bauhaus, and probably The Velvet Underground. What these bands have in common is a tough, motor-driven veneer with a knotty, heart-on-sleeve artfulness at center. Mining deeper into this territory, Viet Cong marries ragged noise and unapologetic beauty.

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Check the Viet Cong bandcamp page for another free tune, plus links to purchase the debut album in every format. One listen, and you’ll want to repeat these 37 blistering minutes as often as possible. Keep an eye on this page for the album’s first single and music video.