When I was first introduced to Tubelord, I was immediately intrigued and the intrigue hasn't ceased for a second. The band is made up of four members all hailing from Kingston Upon Thames, England which serves as an interesting geographical location for music. Their geographic location allowed them to reinforce their sound due to their proximity to other similar sounding bands including This Town Needs Guns and Tellison. Every aspect of the band's sound seems enormously genuine and yes, unique. They fuse power pop, alternative rock, and whimsical math rock in an affecting way that seems so overwhelmingly precise and coherent that its hard to overlook. Its rare to find a band that utilizes each instrumental element of sound to its ultimate potential, and I can safely say that Tubelord exceeds at doing so.
The subtle ways that each fragment of sound plays off of the other provides endless entertainment in attempting to understand the artistic intentions of the musicians. Perhaps the most admirable quality that this band holds is their ability to effortlessly control the opposing tempos that may be included in a song. A piece can go from a highly energetic rhythm to a subtle and emotional so flawlessly to a point where the band's artistic integrity can not be denied. Another aspect of the band that interests me is the interchangeable talents that each band member holds. I've seen videos of the band collaborating and it is clear to see that the musical responsibilities of one facet of the sound can be handed over to almost all of the other band members. This is an inexhaustible resource for bands because it allows their sound to be dynamic and to evolve and for members to see eye to eye on artistic choices. The final aspect of this band that I enjoy so much is the lead singer Joseph Prendergast's vocal ability and the actual pitch of his voice. His lyrics are endlessly entertaining as they explore everything but the mundane while still remaining on a real level.
This album has an acoustic counterpart named One For The Grandparents which is equally dynamic and satisfying as the original while still being very different in terms of artistry and even structure. I am very interested to see the direction that the band chooses to follow. I can only hope that they man up and decide to tour overseas..
Stacey's Left Arm (don't be thrown off by the video haha)
He Awoke on a Bench In Abergavenny
Although I like every song on this album, these two will suffice.
Okay, so random question: how do you discover all of these different bands? I've always been mystified by people who can search out unique, off-the-beaten-path albums. Suffice to say I am not one of those people! Whatever sixth sense you have for finding lesser-known music, I most definitely lack. But I've always felt that my limited musical exposure negatively affects my creativity and appreciation for art. After all, most of the well-known music in popular culture is nothing but digitally-edited fluff. (And since I'm not a fan of explicit or inappropriate music produced solely for shock value, I'm not even familiar with most of today's top music.) So what's your secret? Where do you find your music?
ReplyDeletehaha i don't have a patented technique or anything! My music discoveries usually revolve around the internet or what my friends suggest to me. Once you find a music culture on the internet its relatively easy to find bands with similar intentions and style. Most of the time, it is a serendipitous activity where you may have to have some intuition (sixth sense) in finding some bands. http://www.last.fm/ <- this is a great website to start with because it has a pretty sophisticated library that has related bands based on musical similarity (they really get into the nuts and bolts of things). Spotify has recently adopted last.fm's techniques and the music is almost too available so I recommend that as well. When you start out you kind of just have to randomly choose bands and hope for the best haha try it out!
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