Tag Archives: band review

EP Reveiw: Tremolo

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My all-time favorite band has got to be My Bloody Valentine, and during the winter their dreamy tone feels just right with the cold weather. While looking for something new to listen to, their EP Tremolo caught my eye due to its interesting composition of the cover and choice of colors.

Since I already knew I enjoyed both their older and more recent albums, I thought listening to their EPs would be interesting and I could possibly gain a new favorite. My Bloody Valentine is very instrumental-oriented and might not be for everyone, but if you’re a fan of experimental and hazy music I would definitely recommend giving them a listen if you haven’t already. A good album to start off with is Loveless. It is their most popular album and could be appealing to a variety of music enjoyers.

To Here Knows when

First on the EP is To Here Knows When. What I noticed immediately about this track is that it was also featured on the album Loveless. Overall there are no major differences between the two releases besides a 30-second extension on the recording. This extension adds to the outro of the song with a peaceful and serene mood with the usage of a synthesizer and a variety of sampled instruments creating diverse tones. Generally what I find most appealing in the track is the humming and peaceful vocals in contrast to the louder more convoluted instruments paired in the background.

Swallow

The track Swallow is extremely unique. It was unlike any other track I had heard up until this point and the samples used in their piece are incredibly unique. When further researching the samples used in the song, I learned that the unique sound of percussion and wind instruments came from a Turkish Belly dance song that the band members had found on a cassette tape. Overall, this song comes off to me as tranquil and I find the versatility admirable.

Honey Power

The track that stood out to me the most and ultimately became my favorite from the EP was Honey Power. The strong, layered, loud guitar paired with the usage of drums gave a fast, yet appealing tempo and sound. This combination is what I found captured me during my listening. The shift from rough instrumental to quite gentle vocals during the verses provided a contrast that is overwhelmingly appealing to my own personal taste. As I’ve gotten to experiment with different genres of music over the years I’ve found that songs with stark contrasts are almost always my favorite. The ending of the song is also very peaceful and relaxing with soft vocals and a soothing background.

Moon Song

Ending the EP is Moon Song. With a slow tempo in both instrumental and vocals, it serves as a very good closing of the tracklist and fits the dreamy tone that is present throughout the EP. The messy guitar and chimes truly represent a state between reality and dream, while simultaneously giving a shimmery image to the song. The initially confusing composition is tied together with the percussion, giving a somewhat tropical feel to the song. Concluding, the unique sound of the track and the variety of sounds used to convey a soothing feel is remarkable.

Conclusion

This EP really shows the creativity and flexibility of the band when it comes to instrumentals, which can be seen from the variety of samples to the unique usage of guitar by vocalist and lead guitarist Kevin Sheilds. In the future, I plan to look into more of their EPs and singles throughout this winter season and find my perfect winter song. I would most definitely recommend those who enjoy shoegaze, alternative rock, noisy instrumentals, enchanting sound, and fuzzy music to give Tremolo a try.

Band Review: Coldplay

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I have another artist I would like to share with everyone, except this time you’ve probably heard of them! This band is Coldplay!

Coldplay is a British alt rock/pop rock band formed in 1997. They released their first album, Parachutes, in 2000. Parachutes, in my opinion, is their best album to date. It has one of their more well-known songs, Yellow, but also what I consider to be their best songs, like Shiver, Spies, High Speed, and Don’t Panic. I feel like it’s their most unique album and they sort of fell into more poppy music down the line. I really like the feel of the album all the way through, it’s a very chill album and it makes you feel like you’re just aimlessly drifting.

Their second album, A Rush of Blood to the Head,  was released two years later and is my second favorite album by them. This album also has two pretty popular songs by them, Clocks and The Scientist. I like A Rush of Blood to the Head because of its unique instrumentals. This album is noticeably less calm and a little sadder, or at least melancholic, shown with songs like Politik, The Scientist, and Warning Sign.

I’d like to skip forward to their 6th album, A Head Full of Dreams, released in 2015. A Head Full of Dreams is much more of a pop rock album than an alt rock album. This one has a few popular songs like Hymn for the Weekend and Adventure of a Lifetime, which I would actually agree are the best songs on this album. A lot of the other songs are pretty forgettable, but I don’t hate them. The two songs make me feel like I’m flying through some sort of city or some big spectacular scene, and I think it’s really neat how they were able to write music like that that.

Skipping forward again to their 8th and most recent album released in 2021, Music Of The Spheres. Each song from this album is meant to represent a song from each planet in this theoretical solar system, but all of them are pretty poppy. A good portion of them are collaborations with other artists, such as Selena Gomez (in Let Somebody Go) and BTS (in My Universe). I like the idea behind this album, but I feel like it was executed poorly and I don’t really like any of the songs. However, there is one song on this album that breaks that rule: Coloratura. Coloratura is a 10 minute masterpiece that I feel perfectly ends the story they were trying to tell. I would highly recommend skipping the album and just listening to that song.

In conclusion, Coldplay is a talented band that sort of fell off, but their older songs are still very good and worth a listen. That’s not to say all of their newer songs are bad, as there’s still some pretty great ones.

Band Review: Mad Caddies

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I like a lot of bands, most of which are relatively unknown. I’d like to introduce you to one of them, Mad Caddies.

Mad Caddies is a ska band from around Solvang and Santa Barbara here in California. They’ve been around since 1997 with their debut album Quality Soft Core. I first learned about them from, of all places, the radio of our Uber driver’s car in Portugal over summer break in 2022, and I’ve been a fan of theirs ever since.

I would like to highlight a few albums by them, starting with Rock the Plank. Rock the Plank is sort of pirate themed, but also has some other themes, like a bar fight themed song. My favorite Mad Caddies album is Keep It Going, which has a great opener and closer in “The Dirge” and “End Dirge” respectively. The album also has some great songs like “Lay Your Head Down,” “Coyote,” and “Tired Bones,” but especially “Backyard” and “State of Mind.” “Backyard” has some of the best lyrics/advice of any song I’ve heard, and also leads into “State of Mind,” which I think has some of the best instrumentals out of any of their songs.

I also went to a mini-festival that had Mad Caddies as the closing band. It was at the Garden Amphitheatre in Garden Grove, California, and they played a ton of great songs. It was only around 300 people, but they put on a great show and it had good energy.

So, have you ever heard of Mad Caddies? Do they sound interesting to you? Why don’t you give them a listen and tell me what you think in the comments!

Listen to the Mad Caddies on Freegal, free with your Mission Viejo Library card!