Mixtape No. 3

01. Instruments - You Won't Like Me When I Don't Take My Vitamins
02. Faraquet - Yo-Yo
03. YouMeTheSwitch - Alpha C Chiang
04. Owls - I Want The Blindingly Cute To Confide In Me
05. Soria - You Can't Burn Ashes, Prick
06. This Town Needs Guns - If I Sit Still, Maybe I'll Get Out Of Here
07. Damiera - M(US)IC
08. Colour - Over The Moon
09. Marvins Revolt - Bugs In Time
10. Maps & Atlases - Big Bopper Anthems
11. Antarctic - Paseo La Salamandria
12. Jairus - Sabina In The Deceiving Breeze
13. The James Cleaver Quintet - Russias Rodomante
14. Adebisi Shank - Caddyshank
15. Mutiny On The Bounty - World Domino Championship
16. Cinemechanica - The Professor Burns Vegas
17. Meet Me In St. Louis - We Need To Act Like We Don't Need This Shit, Then They Give Us The Shit For Free

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?1zz2md3ydeo

Well this is ridiculously long, i genuinely don't know what i was thinking in once again, giving myself far too much writing to do in too little time, but fair enough, my hands hurt and i can't play guitar so this is a respectable alternative.

If you already know some of the bands on this, you'll get that it's predominantly mathy or math influenced bands, for those who don't know it's basically fiddly music for people with too many neuro pathways buzzing at once to concentrate on. At the same time, i tried to choose a lot of bands on here who still retain a sense of melody first and foremost, regardless of how overwhelming complex you make something musically, if it doesn't have any melodic coherence you're going nowhere. That being said, i've gone totally geeked out selection wise in some places as well, whatever, i hope you enjoy, it may not be an easy listen on first go, but if you play an instrument or or are even reading this in general, it's probably worth persevering with.

First off, Instruments are a London band, 3 polite guys and a girl, who don't tend to say much and seem almost in some sort of shy hypnotic trance when playing live, yet it really works, i was going to put them on in summer 07 but it didn't work out, so i made my friend Adam do it instead a couple of months later. Ridiculously tight, and with volume it works so much better, as with most good mathy bands, they slowly reel you in and get you totally unfocussed on everything in the world ever other than your eardrums(mind you, some grungers at the show were still managing to think about buying Smirnoff Ice and getting on the girl who looks a bit like that one off of Evanescence).

Faraquet basically invoke geek whenever i think about them, i can't even remember what they look like too well and am not even on the internet to look on google, but i can only imagine glasses, science books, archaelogical finds on mantlepieces, broken lunchboxes from primary school days and a slight pre disposition towards just playing really complicated stuff on some instruments they found next to their parents Nobel prizes. This isn't even my favourite Faraquet song, but i think i thought it went well with the one before or something, anyway, they are one of the main sculptors of this genre in my opinion, fusing a lot of more jazz influenced chord progressions and arpreggiatic phrases in their songs than show in this particular example, and inspired me a lot when i first heard them, worth getting into if this is your sort of thing.

I've noticed so far these songs have been instrumental, which is more accidental coincidence than anything else, but it doesn't mean i'm going to stop. Next is another London band that probably would pass under most younger peoples radars, probably due to them looking a bit like substitute teachers, but regardless, their musics really underrated and i don't know if they're still doing much, if so you should see them given chance, nice to just rock back and forth thinking about your first girlfriend to, plus, despite the show i put them on at going to shit and me having an argument with their drummer, the rest of the guys were nice enough to give me a free vinyl and some merch so you know that's rated.

As with most Kinsella projects this is going to be revered regardless of any opinion otherwise, the Owls stuff personally didn't really do that much for me, while there's a lot of intricate guitar work from Victor Villareal that adds vast amounts to the arrangements, it just sounds to me like Ghosts & Vodka with vocals, while that's obviously not a reason to dislike it, i think they've done better! Still, worth checking out if you're a guitar mincer like me.

Soria come from Folkestone, England, which is near where i used to live, and are one of, if not the only young band doing anything different in this sort of style, and managing to do it well, they're a 3 piece in their teens (i have a feeling the drummers 15/16 or something as well?) and have a maturity in sound way beyond their years, while most bands tend to either over complicate or simply aim no higher than I-V-IV chord progressions at their age, they seem to have an ear for melody that sets them in a position where i'd actually listen to them regardless of whether i knew or was friends with the guys.

While a lot of my friends are big fans of This Town Needs Guns, for me personally it's just been something that passed me by, on first listen i remember being so impressed, and even more so live, but this was mainly due to their guitarist, who remains one of the best UK instrumentalists i've ever seen in any realm, and i'd recommend seeing them for that alone. This song's off of their split EP with Cats x3, and the songs on which, notably 26 is Dancier Than 4, are some of the catchiest singalongs to come out of the BSM stable in quite some time. They seem to be doing well for themselves and have always been friendly to chat to, and from their work rate and attitude i'd say it's well deserved! EDIT. IT'S JUST STARTED SNOWING, MOTHERFUCK!

Well, i'm feeling decidedly happier about everything in the world ever now, and it's fitting that the next song is one that has been a staple feature of most drives in my car or walks with my mp3 player. There's just something ridiculously polished about this band, from the unity of drums and every single guitar riff intricacy to the production on this record, the whole album of this songs title is ridiculous. I seem to remember hearing that the band spent about 3 months alone together just writing songs for this record, and it shows, no detail is shone over, disappointingly their latest release is in my opinion a bit of a letdown, but there will always be a place in my heart for these men, god speed...

So, Colour, i first heard these browsing the space when they just had some demos up and weren't really doing anything, yet remember messaging them screaming for them to get going, not realising they were only a couple of years older than me at the time, such young guys and so talented, they could all literally come from a music academy or something, although that's probably not true as most musicians from those places tend to be well into classic rock or arrogant metal(new genre, im claiming it). They've gone from strength to strength since then, and with Lewis from MMISL now on board, i have no doubt they'll be blowing up in everyones diaphragms(no idea why) some time soon.

Marvins Revolt are a totally rad scandinavian band, and as with almost every band from those shores i seem to hear about, there's just some kind of quality control that prevents anything even remotely sub par crossing the sea to us, or maybe i'm just not hearing the bad ones. Anyway, like Colour, these guys play a more poppy take on the whole math genre, but fuck pigeonholes, they're just straight up catchy, this song more than most. This whole little mini album is amazing, and when i ordered it the guys threw in a t shirt and an Adebisi Shank cd as it'd taken so long, good karma! I going to put them on in Ashford but it messed up, then was meant to see them in Brighton for a free show last time they were in the UK but my driver decided to go kiss his girlfriends little mouth for a couple of hours instead, cheers mate, good choice..

With this next song, in my opinion it's the best one i've heard by Maps & Atlases, it doesn't overcomplicate with the guitars as sometimes they can be guilty of, and some of the ideas especially later in the song harbour a creativity that many can only dream of. Apparently they've just toured with Foals or something which is pretty mental, so i can presume that much more good things will be heard of these bearded gentlemen very soon. Learn it on guitar.

I highly doubt many people reading this will have ever heard of Antarctic, and i'm pretty surprised i have either, think they're another victim of obscure US bands top friends browse. Spookily, about a week after i downloaded their 4 track i had an out of the blue message from them saying i should check them out and talking about the bands on my music section, surreal, ended up having a brief digital chat, i have no idea what they're doing these days but they've got some good ideas.

Jairus and The JCQ are again both reasonably local bands to me, the former having now split up(kindly, 2 weeks before i was due to put them on), and this song is off their self titled ep, which is in my opinion a vast step ahead of their previous full length The Need To Change The Mapmaker, more experimentation in sound and a break away from their previous stylistic idiosyncracies, you should buy it if you can find a cheap copy, really mature and accomplished sound, south east ain't dead. The JCQ meanwhile have had more lineup changes than almost anyone i know, yet seem to be on track now, along with a new drummer who's a friend of mine from a pop punk band i used to sing in, their main songwriter Maud is ridiculously good on drums as well as his clear guitar and production capabilities, these guys should have a lot more coming to them with upcoming tours amongst other things, hold tight.

I'm getting tired and i want to go play in the snow so these next few whatever i even write(i won't call them reviews) will be brief. Adebisi Shank are an irish 3 piece who i received a free CD of, as mentioned earlier, i have a feeling they run a small irish label with a sick roster, but this could be a huge mistake, i do not even know. Disappointingly, i saw a live video of theirs on beatcast the other day which i wasn't massively impressed by, quite samey in the end, but on recording the spectrum of sounds their guitarist produces makes them worth a listen alone.

Mutiny On The Bounty are the best band i've ever seen live in my life, period. Phenomenally tight, tech and flowing at the same time, these guys are from Luxembourg of all places and are about to release a full length soon which will undoubtedly put them on the map, this is just a rough demo, on the basis of which i put them on in Ashford with Meet Me In St. Louis, which remains one of the best shows i've ever been to, let alone put on. The guys stayed round mine and burnt plastic on the interior of my god damn oven in the process, never be forgiven.

Linking Cinemechanica and MOTB are mainly their tour booker, Dawn who organised both of their UK tours in their spare time, with little incentive other than genuinely liking them, totally rad. Anyway, musically, Cinemechanica are not solely instrumental, and nor are MOTB although these 2 songs show different, this particular track is either off of their first EP or a split with Maserati and another band i forget the name of, might be We Versus The Shark, anyway, it's pretty obscure so even if you've heard the band you might not have this song. The guys are excellent as well, as mentioned in one of the first posts on here, taking me on the road when the show i put them on at messed up, so much fun for a kid of 17 at the time. Their drummer is probably the best i've ever seen live, so much bombast and technicality, while retaining a subtelty not seen in a lot of bands of this style. Their lead guitarist is also one of the most head screwed on right guys i've ever met in my life, hopefully our paths will cross again! Buy their shit, for definite.

Just thinking about Meet Me In St Louis makes me a little sad, this record was the first time i heard them and i literally bought it totally on a whim without ever having heard anything by them in my life, such a wise decision now. The artworks excellent as well, if you can get a copy certainly do. While their full length after this is equally as good if not better, this short ep totally turned me towards doing something different musically and they remain the best UK band i've ever known about, R.I.P.

Enjoi.