Video of the Week: Polar Bear Club

Upstate NY Hardcore Heroes Film First Video

I make no secret of the fact that Polar Bear Club are my favorite band. They are a fresh, original voice both in the hardcore community and the music world as a whole, full of passion and heaviness. They've progressed amazingly through the years from a promising demo, to a near perfect EP, followed by their adventurous and lasting debut full-length. Recently they signed to Boston hardcore label Bridge Nine and released their second full-length, a continued development of the band with both their heaviest and catchiest songs. And one of those catchiest songs is the track "Living Saints" for which the band has just released their first music video.

The video itself is pretty awesome, a departure from the performance heavy videos that are usually produced by the hardcore scene. It's a bit of a throwback to the videos of the 80's full of animation and clever nuances. Many are comparing it to Peter Gabriel's landmark 1986 single "Sledgehammer". I'll let you be the judge. Watch the video below and do yourself a favor and pick of Polar Bear Club's full-length Chasing Hamburg.

Free Music Friday: Ólafur Arnalds

Icelandic Multi-Instrumentalist Releases a Week's Worth of "Found Songs"

There must be something in Iceland's water. Somehow the country keeps producing musicians who create wonderful, ambient music that is often as calming and it is moving. Similarly, it seems like every ex-hardcore musician quits the scene and moves onto something more relaxed. Ólafur Arnalds fits into both categories (he opened for fellow ambient Icelanders Sigur Rós in 2009). The Icelandic multi-instrumentalist previously sat behind the kit in the hardcore bands Celestine and the cleverly titled Fighting Shit, but has since moved on to producing and composing more classical based music.

In 2007 Arnalds released the album "Eulogy for Evolution" followed by 2008 EP "Variations of Static". The point of this post though is his 2009 EP, "Found Songs", a project that saw Arnalds create, record and release a song each day for a week. The songs began appearing on his Twitter account on April 13th. The music is an interesting mix of classical and contemporary, with the artist using electronic beats to compliment his wonderful string and piano arrangements; perfect tunes to fall asleep to or through on in the background during a relaxing evening. To date, more than 100,000 people have downloaded the EP from Arnalds' label, Erased Tapes. The album is now available in several physical forms but the label was nice enough to leave "low quality" mp3s of each song for download here.

The album has inspired some original artwork as well. Below, check out the fan-made video for the track "Ljósið", an incredible feat of modern animation by Buenos Aires based graphic artist Esteban Diácono.




RIYL: Classical, Sigur Rós, Amnesiac Era Radiohead, Dreams
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The Internet is full of legal, free music. Every Friday Adjective! Animal! spotlights an artist who has released an EP, album or their full discography for nothing. Please support these artists who give away their music just so it will not go unheard by buying their merchandise or donating when possible. If you have a suggestion for Free Music Friday please email me at adjectiveanimal1@gmail.com.

Video of the Week: The xx

Amazingly Choreographed Video by English Ambient Rockers

I've been listening to a lot of The xx lately, a great English-based trio who create dreamy, minimalist indie rock. Their debut album has already produced three trippy music videos for the singles "Crystalized" (YouTube), "Basic Space" (YouTube), and "VCR" (YouTube) but today saw the release of their newest and best video yet, for the track "Islands".

I was immersed in my college's dance department during my last year as an undergrad, and while I know little technically about dance, I know that this choreography is genius. At first it syncs with the music, each a continuous loop, but after a minute into the clip you start to see the minor variations in the choreograghy. Then halfway in, one of the dancers disappears altogether. From there the video begins to completely fall apart as the symmetry of the dance disintegrates, dancers and band members alike both leave, and the set itself is set aflame. Best dance video since "Single Ladies"? Probably.

Free Music Friday: Canterbury

Brit Rockers Give Away Debut, Rack Up Over 10,000 Downloads

Canterbury are smart guys; in an oversaturated music market they made the decision to give away their debut for free and gained a lot of attention in the process. The album "Thank You" surpassed 3,000 downloads in just three days of being released through their website. After three weeks they had topped 5,000; within two months they hit 10,000. It's an incredible feat when you consider the fact that Canterbury had no previous releases and little touring under their collective belt. The move proved surprisingly lucrative as well with a surge in merchandise sales. Coupled with the generosity of fans who donated to the band through their website the band are "... actually bringing in more cash than bands selling up to five times the amount of albums on iTunes."

It's no wonder the album has struck a chord with fans. It's falls perfectly into that category of British punk rock pioneered by bands like Hundred Reasons and Million Dead and carried on more recently by Lostprophets and Funeral for a Friend. Think catchy punk rock heavily influenced by American culture, emo and hardcore. The choruses are huge, the music is danceable and the riffs are incredibly catchy. Additionally, Canterbury has the added bonus of having keyboard parts that actually enhance the music instead of feeling awkward and gimmicky.

If this band tried I don't see how they couldn't break into the Warped Tour scene. They have the undeniable catchiness that has made Paramore and Anberlin absolutely huge. On top of that they have the song depth (check out their very listenable ballads) that would keep them from being a one-hit wonder. Watch the video below for the explosive track "Set You Right" then head to CanterburyThankYou.com and download the full album as well as their new single.


RIYL: Hardcore Influenced Pop-Punk, Anberlin, Lostprophets, Gang Vocals
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The Internet is full of legal, free music. Every Friday Adjective! Animal! spotlights an artist who has released an EP, album or their full discography for nothing. Please support these artists who give away their music just so it will not go unheard by buying their merchandise or donating when possible. If you have a suggestion for Free Music Friday please email me at adjectiveanimal1@gmail.com.

Video of the Week: Band of Horses

Indie Rockers Prep Third Album, Release New Single

Band of Horses is one of my favorite bands. They have made two fantastic albums and they have a new one, Infinite Arms, on the way which I am quite excited for. Below you will find the video for their newest single, "Compliments".

The video as a whole is a great clip from a band who has a pretty consistent history of making quality videos (do yourself a favor and YouTube their video for "The Great Salt Lake"). It's essentially a collection of scenic nature photos that wouldn't be out of place in a Microsoft screensaver or in the pages of National Geographic. What makes the video different though is the use of an odd morphing technique that gives the whole video an unsettling, drug-trip feeling. It's taking something simple and making it complex. It all compliments the song quite well.

The track is available for free download at Band of Horses official website and Infinite Arms hits stores mid-May.

Video of the Week: Oren Lavie

Stop-Motion At It's Elegant Best

A few days ago a friend was telling me about her love for the Kindle commercials that use some great stop-motion techniques to create a compelling ad. She told me she was watching them on YouTube when she stumbled on a music video that used the same techniques. She couldn't remember the artist or song title but I had an idea what it was so I described Oren Lavie's video for "Her Morning Elegance" to her and sure enough we had a match.

The video really is great, as is the song. It was a bit of a hit (10 million+ views) on the Internet last year but didn't obtain the kind of attention I thought it would. OK Go probably put out a video around the same time. The video is actually a clever edit of 2,096 still images taken by photographer Eyal Landesman over two days. As you'll see in the video those images are pieced together to tell the narrative of a young woman waking up and going about her day all the while remaining in her bed.


oren lavie - her morning elegance from valerie y. on Vimeo.

The coolest part about the video is that the studio that created it is now selling each of the 2,096 images in the video, each numbered and signed, in hopes of separating the video so it can be "hung in 2,096 houses, bedrooms, living rooms and galleries." Each print will cost you $250 plus shipping and is available at HMEGallery.com. Has anyone heard the rest of this album? I'm curious if the whole thing is as good as this song.

Free Music Friday: Joshua LeMasters

Indiana Based Singer-Songwriter Demos Amazing Debut

When I began brainstorming weekly features for this blog and settled on Free Music Friday, I started digging through the mass amounts of free music online and was surprised by just how much is actually out there. The majority of what I found wasn't worth a second listen but every once in awhile I would stumble upon something good. In a few even more rare instances, I stumbled upon something excellent. After all my free music research, the album I keep coming back to and spinning the most is Ole Dominion by Virgina-born singer-songwriter Joshua LeMasters.

I don't know much about LeMasters but after scouring the internet I have been able to find out a few things. First off, he was born in Virginia but now calls Indiana home. Second, he used to play under the name Ole Dominion and released the free demo album this post is dedicated to in 2007 under that moniker. Third, the majority of those songs were written in a funeral home where he would play during services. Fourth, he recently finished recording another batch of free demos in Boston with Ken Maiuri (of Pedro The Lion) and has added friend Ethan Lennox to his band on bass. Lastly, he credits Jeff Buckley as an immediate influence.

That's really all the internet has to say about this wonderful artist. I'll add that LeMasters creates dreamy acoustic folk that is both calming and mesmerizing. Beyond that, instead of boring you with a long drawn out description, I will encourage you to watch the home video below for his song "Midwinter". Then head over to his Bandcamp page and download the whole album for free. Bandcamp is an amazing website that allows artists to post their music for streaming and download for a price that they themselves choose, including the popular "pay what you want, no minimum" option. You will see a lot more Bandcamp content here on future Fridays. In this case, LeMasters doesn't even give you the option to pay but if you feel so inclined, head over to iTunes where the album is also available.


Ole Dominion, "Mid-Winter" from Ole Dominion on Vimeo.

RIYL: Acoustic, Folk, Yim Yames, old Iron and Wine, Log Cabins
Myspace
Official
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The Internet is full of legal, free music. Every Friday Adjective! Animal! spotlights an artist who has released an EP, album or their full discography for nothing. Please support these artists who give away their music just so it will not go unheard by buying their merchandise or donating when possible. If you have a suggestion for Free Music Friday please email me at adjectiveanimal1@gmail.com.