Posts Tagged ‘Post-Rock’
Be it the guitar effects, arrangements or even the band’s name itself, so much about Olympic Ayres reminds me of Foals. Listen in particular to Black & Blue for serious Foals reference. There’s a free three track EP on their bandcamp with your name on it. I’m instantly more ready to like an artist with a bandcamp. The day that myspace is completely phased out and bandcamp is the go-to music service will be a day of great jubilation. They’re Sydney based so we can probably go see them play sometime soon. It’s not a date or anything but I might ‘just happen to find’ a bottle of red in the back of my car on the way home which I’ll swear I didn’t know was there. I’m pretty keen to see their live set- there are whispers that they’re only a two piece.
Olympic Ayres – Daylight
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At 3:30 this morning Valar, with your best interests at heart, uploaded a new track to their bandcamp. It’s called Make No Sound, ironically named since the song itself is full of sound – probably a good thing since four minutes of silence would arguably be the most pretentious thing Valar have released so far. On top of this, John Cage would probably sue for copyright were he still alive. It is however, a step forward for Valar being unlike any other recording they’ve released so far. Enjoy.
Valar – Make No Sound [FREE DOWNLOAD]
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If you haven’t already then be sure to download a few more of Valar’s tracks [for free] here. They also have a blindingly good EP for sale too. Get behind it and spend a tiny bit of coin.
Valar have just released two glorious new songs titled Don’t Hold Back and Silverman. They’re both available at valar.bandcamp.com as free downloads so chase that up. As an added bonus for cinema fans, the two tracks are available as a 6 minute long feature film which is screening semi-exclusively right here on Sound Doctrine. Cast your eyes below. Margaret Pomeranz gave it four and a half stars while David Stratton simply said, “I don’t get it but I really like it.”
This is my second “review” of Valar’s We Have A Home Among the Trees EP. I write twice because I’ve somehow contrived to delete the last and because the EP has grown on me like a fungus. A wonderful fungus. Here is the EP streamed in full. Listen to Wolf I playing as you read on.
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Buy this EP. It costs AUD$10. That’s just under £6! That’s nothing. I challenge you to think of 7 whole numbers smaller than 6. It can’t be done! That’s the sort of value we’re talking about here. It’s barely £1 per track. 1 is the smallest whole number there is! I know!!
With or without my clever numberwork this EP will sell itself. The falsetto can’t help but draw attention. It soars between guitar effects like an eagle through ravines. But it’s wilder than an eagle. It’s a tiger. A haunting, post-rock tiger. Like them on facebook to find out when their next show will be.
Valar were pitched to me as a combo between Radiohead and… I guess it was suggested that they just sound like Radiohead. I don’t like Radiohead. I must be one of a kind if the Last.FM charts are to be believed. While older material may have somewhat, slightly, a little bit, maybe resembled Radiohead barely, the new tracks don’t really have that vibe.
Valar pride themself on a cracking live show and an attention to production detail so it’s worth taking the time to appreciate the solid ambience of their music. It’s staggering that a three piece can produce music with this sort of weight. Listen, then go see them play. They’re a Sydney band so chances are friends of friends are friends with them.
Here is the full five track EP for your aural pleasure. I recommend track two, Wolf I.
You can catch them on the 3rd of July at the Excelsior or on the 5th of July at the Annandale.
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