Rain Machine – Rain Machine
“…a nearly full spectrum of frequencies audible to the human ear, a reflection of a
variety of emotions and situations real and imagined – some rhythm some rhyme.”
These words are neither mine nor the overly pretentious garble of a Pitchfork review. This is how Kyp Malone describes first solo release, Rain Machine. Now, this probably sounds just as ambitious and extravagant to you as it did to me, but it’s interesting nonetheless. Kyp is better known as the singer and guitarist of New York’s TV On the Radio. Personally, I didn’t look nearly as favorably on Kyp’s latest release with TV On the Radio, Dear Science,, as their previous Return To Cookie Mountain. However, Dear Science, was backed my a wave of critical acclaim, and it was hard not to see the skill and power behind the album. Kyp Malone uses Rain Machine as a creative outlet to experiment a little further than before, and it shows all the way through to the album cover. Garnered with a drawing that looks like an fanciful fourth-grader was assigned an art project on Africa and got his hands on some crayons, Rain Machine looks like it sounds, complete with rainbows and waterfalls.
The comparisons are inevitable. A post-rock influenced screamo band with floor-rattling screams… they must be channeling some City of Caterpillar or Envy in there, right? Well, yes and no. Pianos Become the Teeth, a local band out of Baltimore, have created a defining record in Old Pride, but it’s hard to say whether or not they exert enough effort to truly separate and define themselves from their influences. The quintet have found a nice, cozy spot among the complex instrumentation, frenzied screams, and overall feverish nature on Old Pride. While it would be splendid to ramble on about all the things that make Old Pride spectacular, it’s very difficult due to the glaring faults (as small as they may be when compared to the bigger, brighter, not to mention more intense, picture). This is most definitely because Pianos Become the Teeth are capable of a better quality record, and while Old Pride is an undeniably excellent showing, it’s flaws become all the more obvious because of the great potential hiding here.
A cinematic quality is ever-present on Rinoa’s 2010 release, An Age Among Them. While it’s hard to pin the band under a specific genre, Rinoa elicits feelings altogether epic and uplifting, expansive and heavy. Please excuse the disparate descriptions, but An Age Among Them induces the desire to spew a flurry of adjectives from my mouth, as the album commands interest and enthusiasm. An Age Among Them is certainly not a release to take lightly; it becomes evident mere minutes into “Past Maidens” that Rinoa, for better or for worse, are extremely impassioned. An exuberant listen from beginning to end, An Age Among Them provides the soundtrack to something more than a simple set of emotions. The feelings that Rinoa bring forth are neither simple nor straightforward. Instead, the album provides a rich, complex, borderline cinematic context that provides the album with an interesting quality that sets apart this excellent release from its neighbors.
This week, we get new music from Nada Surf, Manchester Orchestra, and the side project of Foo Fighter’s drummer with Taylor Hawkins & the Coattail Riders. Doesn’t it all sound so enticing? Check ’em out yo!