Dutch Uncles

I used to hate math. In fact I've never been very clever at it. I liked drawing, and I thought for many years that math has nothing for me, that it was meant to be boring. I used to think that way until I discovered math in music (actually music is basically math blablabla). The first thing I listened to was a noisy mathcore band, Dillinger Escape Plan. And I fell in love... Dutch Uncles came a little years down the road. It's not just an awesome indie band, it's math indie, and guys, it's brillian, fluent, progressive... this is art.

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Galway - Mria

Being Russian is complicated. You have to stand a lot of stereotypes that people expect from you. And actually, why am I writing in English if I probably suck for an American or English reader?

These are the few things that made me stop writing for a while. But I realized that it doesn’t matter if you suck or not, you just do what you want and people should get that. This is what I’m thinking anytime I hit the play on this album. These Russian guys made me realized that anywhere, even in a country like Russia, there is a possibility to find something new and different that maybe only a few will get. The ambience of this record is brilliant. It’s hard to explain unless you’ve heard it. I think I’m going to stop rating albums and I'll just leave them for you. For those who want to know more and are looking for someone to show them.

So just check it out. By the way, as far as I know they have no label.

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Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!

If just one day, I wake up and all around me seems like a romantic comedy, the music I'd choose as soundtrack would be probably Clap Your Hand's debut album. Every time I listen to this record I feel free. I don't know if it's the tired voice of Alec or that special indie touch they have but I can assure you, Over and Over Again is on of those songs you should listen while waking up early on a fu**ing Monday morning.

Every time I write a post I'm talking about gold. And Clap Your Hands, has a lot. Seriously, can there be a bad band with that name? There's no problem in this world that this album couldn't make disappear. It'll come back after a while, but everybody needs to relax. No?

So yeah, take this album as a getaway from a depressing day. You've got fired, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. You've got dumped, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. You just have a boring day, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. You get me? You just don't imagine how well a day can be fixed up with just clapping your hands with this band. 

This album is not easy to rate, but I think a high 8.5 would be awesome. What do you think? Listen to it right now!

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Bloc Party - Four

Four times I listened to this album the day it came out. It's an easy name for the fourth Bloc Party's release but being honestly I just can't tell anything bad about them. They own my soul since a long time ago. And yes, I love Four. I love Four because it's not garbage like Intimacy. It's been four years since Kele introduced his dance vision but, you can't do that after Silent Alarm. It just doesn't belong. It doesn't fit here. 

I didn't hate Intimacy but I prayed to every possible god to get a new album without "dance" music. And guys we've got it. Four is the most pop album they have, but it's still indie, don't panic. It has a lovely ambiance way different of what we are used to. The drums still fit like a drum machine and we all know that Tong is our God. 

Real Talk is a song I wouldn't expect from Bloc Party but damn... they nailed it. V.A.L.I.S. is most likely the song with that Bloc Party sound, seems like getting back to Little Thoughts. There are still songs that doesn't fit in this album like 3x3. 

Anyway, this is Bloc Party back! A more dirty record, but it has that Little Thoughts/A Weekend in the City touch. Truth seems like I Still Remember and Blue Light. Still there's no one to win Silent Alarm but it's a great record tending to dirty punk riffs. You will all enjoy it, guaranteed. 

So I didn't say anything but I said a lot. I simply rate this album as a 7 out of 10. It's not "the album" and probably there won't be any other better than Silent Alarm but it's a lovely 43 minutes experience for fans a newcomers.

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Enon - Believo!

When it comes to oldies, we always think about 60's, 80's, 90's... but this albums was released in 2000 as a side effect of the millennium change, bringing a new vision to what we knew about indie rock music. Sadly I was 7 years old and I didn't know anything about anything. 

Believo! is one of those albums you can enjoy everywhere, anytime, really... It's one of those weirdoes that you easily fall in love with. But still, Enon is and always will be a band of first sight love, or in this case, love at first time listening. It's not a secret that Enon is rooted in experimentation, probably because of Brainiac influence. It sometimes can get to be cloudy and heavy to listen. Even to me. But that's what I'm talking about. If you didn't like them from the start you are probably not reconsidering that anytime soon. 

Believo! is the album. Every band has "the album". It doesn't have to be the best, but it has to have something that makes it special among the rest. You just notice it listening to Rubber Car, skipping to Cruel and it's like the whole universe collapses. "What is this?" you ask. Well that is Enon, get used. Believo! The song has all in the same song, is a catchy electronic-like experiment pretending to be a weirdly sung song. 

This album is the album of no sentiments. It's not void but it's kind of clean. It’s prefect backing music if you are tripping on LSD. This is basically the main idea under Enon music so yeah, get used.

So I didn't say anything but I said a lot. I simply rate this album with 7.5 out of 10. It's a great experimental album but it's hard to understand them if you just don't at the first time. 

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The Strokes - Angles

I was literally stoned when I was listening to Machu Picchu for the first time. And I mean it, I was high. The experience was just perfect. I felt like God made this band for me to exist, and without this band I probably wouldn't be here. 

Somehow listening to this album I remembered The Smiths and the time a friend of mine told me once "If you don't know The Smiths you can't be a serious indie rock fan." He was right and I've been considering that until I found this diamond. And yes, this is the band you have to know and you better die if you don't!

I don't know why I found Arctic Monkeys before these guys, and I love them too but The Strokes are near to be the one. I'm feeling like Ted Mosby. The JB and that crap (and I don't mean an alcoholic beverage) like Usher stepping on the Green Day set are making the music die on pain. Earache! This all makes bands think about what's all about. This is why this album took so long to be real. 

But it worth it!

New sources of inspiration are always good and nobody should expect, after a gap of 5 years, Angles to be  still a classic Strokes album. That didn't work for anyone. And it's like a Band Break-up Syndrome, when a band is near to split up it comes back with something completely different. (Ask Radiohead for instance.)

The sound of Angles is fresh and kind of glamorous. And I'll tell you something! There was indie rock before hipsters. Under Cover of Darkness nails it! It's a song that you would probably expect to hear on TV but still has something more than a simply pop song. And in Indiesucks we hate pop.

When I fall in love I just don't know what to say, that's what's happening to me right now. 

Two Kinds of Happiness is currently my favorite song by far right now. That backing guitar solo of the verse, kills me like a thin Sun ray in the middle of the Eden all while I'm making love. (I want to die that way.) This album is an unexpected journey throughout 34 minutes of happiness. If there is a God, he would be on this band.

I didn't say anything but I said a lot. I simply rate Angles with an 8.5 out of 10 because is that indie album you want, but not long enough. I'll buy the deluxe version.

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Everything Everything - Man Alive

I was watching an Omar Rodriguez's interview, randomly, and he told with no issue the few bands that he was listening to recently. I didn't expect such a bomb as this album is. Everything Everything is  that band, that in the middle of growing pop music, catchy sounds, cheap arrangements and boring vocals, stands up to save the world. And of course, there's no better band I'd want to start this blog with. 

The experimentation is infinite. EE has opened a door which nobody touched before, and turning their way will probably bring suicide. But only they know what they want to be. But this album already exists, actually since a couple of years. But still is the only band I've heard, that combines indie music with extreme experimentation so well and so sexy.

Indie is all about giving something new and these guys fulfilled any indie-head's expectation. The freshness of Man Alive never expires, not even gets a little bit rotting. You can probably listen to MY KZ, UR BF and enjoy that perfectly designed drums, flirting with that bass riff, all while Higgs spits out experimental vocals powered by a volcano's fire...or something, (Hey! Who says guitars have to get the whole attention? This is no Metallica!) jump to NASA is on Your Side, with its terribly nailed slow motion and electronic sound, jump back to MY KZ, UR BF and Wow! Still awesome! You get me?

So yeah, there we find a problem. Most people say they can't stand the non-stop falsetto that Jonathan uses. And now I'm talking directly to Ian Cohen from Pitchfork who gave to this band a sad 3.8 out of 10. Dude, fuck off.

I don't care about the falsetto. I even like it, because I'm tired of bands trying to reach the most perfect voice, usually recurring to Autotune. The only really bad thing I find on this album is that its 52 minutes get short when you listen to it uncountable times.

So I didn't say anything but I said a lot. I simply rate Man Alive with 9 out of 10. Because it has it all but still can be more. I can't wait for the next one and I hope they haven't turned to another direction, way far from the infinite experimentation.

If you didn't listen to it yet you're wasting your time!