Grimus - Emergence (2014)

https://www.facebook.com/grimusworld
https://twitter.com/grimusworld
http://www.grimus.ro/


I saw this band's name like a week ago on rateyourmusic in 1 of the Ours albums reviews.

They're from Romania.

Emergence is their 3rd LP, their 2 previous 2011's Egretta and 2008's debut Panikon along with this new album that dropped in March, I have been taking in over the last week and I can say I am enjoying them more and more with each listening.

But this record Emergence, more than the other two initially.

Hmm, I guess I don't have heaps of details to dissect it yet (perhaps more-so in the midyear report?), but it's one of those records you hear track-after-track and enjoy more or less every song. There aren't any obvious standout songs at this point, I think because for one, none of the songs are incredibly long. But also it just seems to work as greater than the sum of its parts.

Now, I'm filling in on KFAI tomorrow night and was looking to pick out a track to play, and I suppose I'll just include the songs I've narrowed it down to some 3+ times hearing the album.

"Emergence"
"The Hell I'm In"
"Weird Disco"
"Morning Stars"
"Legends"
"Satellites"
"Haze"

I am leaning towards Satellites as that track sort of has what a progressive rock fan may enjoy I suppose.

Their sound on this album specifically seems to remind me of a number of bands: Strata, Ours, Muse, The Antlers, The Velvet Teen, Klimt 1918, In Reverent Fear and others, but the more I listen to them and this record, their songwriting still works really well, the similarities are more charming or not distracting.

Their sound includes vocal harmonies, piano, dynamics, different guitar textures, what I would guess is at least 2 different lead vocalists, although both their Facebook and Wikipedia pages only list Bogdan Mezofi as the vocalist. But it's obvious, especially between their 1st record and this new one (and their last record), there are at least 2 kinds of voices. Perhaps Bogdan is that versatile? I have my doubts, but if he is, he's pretty amazing. Regardless, he has a very good voice, even as much as he can sound like the likes of Eric Victorino, Judah Nagler and especially Jimmy Gnecco at times. It doesn't exactly sound *exactly* like them, nor as if HE'S TRYING TO SOUND LIKE THEM, which some singers sadly come across like they are (even if they aren't actually trying to).

Anyway, this band and this album are kind of my biggest obsession right now. I suppose I'll see how this and they hold up throughout the year/future, but it almost feels like one of those bands I've been living under a rock and have finally discovered. Except they are pretty obscure. Probably going back to when I discovered someone like Kacica in 2008/2009. I may find myself almost attaching myself to them.

I can't say for sure, but I just sense they are the kind of band I will think of in pretty high regard. I mean Emergence I am enjoying the most, but the other 2 records I found myself turning my head a handful of times as well with.

And they are from Romania, thus they may have their limits in exposure.Are they prog? maybe in a way, but also not really. I think at-heart, their sound is college/indie/alternative rock, but with some left-leaning song writing. They even use samples and some other less common traits (most I recall on Panikon, their debut).

Actually 1 of the bands I saw compared to them, or their singer Bogdan, sounds like the singer I guess from the band Placebo. Which may be kind of true, but I honestly haven't listened to enough Placebo to know or maybe even care really.

Also one last note for now, there of course is ANOTHER band called "Grimus" (I believe this one and likely the other one are pronounced like the Purple McDonald's Playland/Commercials/Happy Meal character, but I can't be certain at this point), whose a deathcore band from New Jersey. I have no idea which band exactly came first, but like Revere and more recently Gatherer (or even to an extent The Dear Hunter/deerhunter of course), I wish the band I didn't like would just change their name. But that would be too difficult of them I guess, lol.




1. Tunguska
2. Emergence
3. High
4. The Hell I'm In
5. Weird Disco
6. Morning Stars
7. Planemo
8. Legends
9. Satellites
10. Crashing to Earth
11. We Don't Live Here
12. Vitriol
13. Peregrine
14. Pale Hands
15. Haze
16. Priveşte-mă

Amazon Link

ququRi/Kukuri (Misato Yamanaka ex-Kacica?) - Phantom Theater (2013)

In just doing a little research for another entry coming soon, I wondered what has happened to the great Japanese post/prog band Kacica, and it seems they have vanished. Their Facebook is gone, their homepage it appears as well. And Misato Yamanaka, their singer took the "kacica" part out of her twitter url, and changed it to "yamanakamisato" instead.

But I noticed on her twitter page a link to this musical project called "ququRi" (or "Kukuri"?) and went to said site (and used Google Chrome's translator) to check it out. Although it doesn't show her name there, but it has the below debut record Phantom Theater and track list along with the 2 Soundcloud links below. And I must say, those tunes are rather nice! Not exactly like Kacica, more acoustic and piano driven, but so what.

It appears Phantom Theater was released last April.

edit: Here's the profile on their website:

pianist / composer Akiko Sakakibara vocals and the mountains of Misato kacica.
2 who were born and raised in Nara formed a ququRi (kukri) in 2012.
Named Kukri is derived from (God of princess enclosed) Kikurihime God.

So it seems this is a 2-member project with Misato and this other female japanese musician Akiko Sakakibara.

It also appears there's a bunch of nice live videos on Youtube. And actually some other live Kacica videos are linked there, with some songs I don't recall like "Last" "Herbert"  and "Rainbow" which sounds familiar. Those videos appear to be from their 2011 Fall/Winter tour of Japan. So, a few years ago, but not so long ago. Maybe Kacica is just on hiatus? I sent Misato a message on twitter just asking about that and ququRi, so maybe that will help.

edit 2: Here's Misato's reply to me on Twitter. New band is called

AYNIW TEPO

@AllMediaReviews kacica has stopped activity now.New band's name is "AYNIW TEPO"(ainiu tepo) Please check this.(^^)→http://www.ayniwtepo.com/

So, going about hearing this whole record may not be so easy, but if I can manage to do so, I am rather interested, even if it may be as an alternative to Kacica for now, or forever.

1, biscuits

2, moonlight

3, china

4, goldfish

5, sheep

6, tunnel of love

7, film of that day

Genders - Get Lost (2013)

http://genderspdx.bandcamp.com/music
https://www.facebook.com/GendersPDX

This is the debut full-length from new Portland, Oregon-based dreamy/textured/post-rock group Genders. As I posted recently, they include ex-Forest Park guitarist/vocalist Katherine Paul, who actually plays primarily drums for them and on this album I believe. And she also does some if not the majority of the vocals.

The release date is on December 8th, 2013. Yeah, a bit odd day/week/month for a new original-music full-length record, but so be it. They self-released it I guess, so they don't have to concern themselves with distribution and competition for when it can be shelved in stores, etc.

I am finally checking it out just now, although I don't likely have enough time to get through it all yet. (it's a minor miracle I'm able to listen to it yet anyway, with my no-music-at-work approach the last few months). But I am intrigued enough by this band and maybe just Katherine Paul as a musician/songwriter/singer, I want to make what little time I have to share it in here.

I would say the genre-blending of those styles I posted above kind of encapsulates Genders sound for the most part. I guess they do have a poppy/happy side like on the track "Golden State." (I can't help but wonder if the Forest Park track "Golden" is in anyway connected to it, but unlikely).

But I probably shouldn't forget to add, while Katherine Paul's drum work is very refined and stands out frequently on what I'm hearing here, the other members also excel in many ways. Guitarist Stephen Leisy knows his way around creating moods and shifting tempos, including a lot of warm, dreamy, gentle tones. And his vocal work along with Maggie Morris work well on many of these tunes, at times with dreamy harmonies, at other times counterpoint from I think Katherine's and others. And Matthew Hall's bass work is quite audible and adds a great smooth backbeat at times, along with providing a funky front rhythm (if I know wtf I'm trying to say, lol).


Anyway, I'm just going to add, having seen them live, and now playing about half of it while I'm writing this, there's not a song I don't enjoy. There was 1 or 2 tracks at the show last Saturday that did totally stand out, 1 being their closing piece, which seemed to be almost in multiple parts. I'm not sure if that was the nearly 6-minute opener "Something to Get You By" or I'm thinking more likely the 6th track "How Long Can I Wait?"

Hole mother, that tune is starting floor me like I believe it did on Saturday. Stephen's guitar phrases, are almost like a melancholy voice, lol. In fact I can say the 1st half of the record, that tune stands out the most, and it may on the whole record.

But, time is not on my side (I'm seeing Fitz and the Tantrums in a matter of hours at the Myth club, and we are getting our first snow/first example of Minnesota drivers going 15 mph in fear of it), so this is just an initial review/announcement.  I hope Genders make a lot of new fans on their current tour opening for Built to Spill, and hopefully in December and in 2014, this record reaches a lot of people. It would be great to see them open for Warpaint (or the related Portland band Typhoon, except Katherine told me that might be impossible given her day job and Kyle from Typhoon's as well unfortunately) or someone like that as well as BTS, as they seem to have enough appeal to reach a lot of people.

edit: by the way, the guitar solo in "Technicolor Vision" is terrific!..omg the Trippy Peter Frampton-like wah-wah tones in the outro are unbelievable! Why have I never heard of this guy Stephen Leisy before?

"Secrets" is very cool, almost like Warpaint-meets-Kacica meets something totally Genders! The bass and guitar work could have maybe been written by that great Japanese band in fact (who I'm sure the members of Genders have never heard of, of course).


1 Something to Get You By 5:59
2 Atlas Moth 4:30
3 Sugarcoat 4:25
4 The Wilderness 4:43
5 Golden State 4:06
6 How Long Can I Wait? 5:09
7 Technicolor Vision 4:45
8 Secrets 4:51
9 Close My Eyes 0:52
10 Twin Peaks 4:03
11 Oakland 3:54
12 Four Years 4:14

Ne Obliviscaris - Portal of I #1 on rateyourmusic.com !

rateyourmusic.com 2012 Chart



Yes!. Take that Hipsters! and your substance-less, Kacica-wannabe band Beach House. (or Apes and Androids wannabes Japandroids)

Ne Obliviscaris just brought some justice to your list.

Of course we'll see, but don't be surprised if a bunch of Non-Metal listening/P4K lemmings go and downrate it.

But for now, like Pepe Deluxe and Anathema earlier this year, an actual album that warrants being on top, is.

Kacica: recording?

what I posted the other day here on some kind of page for them on fb, I'm skeptical the actual band members maintain it tho.

check this out (having a browser that translates to English helps, such as Google Chrome)

http://blog.kacica.net/?eid=1091660



Sun a little closer to the finished album.
2011.11.03 Thursday23:59


Yesterday was a preproduction at the studio located in Osaka bloomz.
Long time recording is crisp and music 気持Chiyokatta mind.
bloomz three studio albums in the past the birthplace of kacica.
Also fun, there are many that was hard.
Are thus still Yare music together.
This studio is kacica bloomz welcoming everyone and unchanged even when love comes.
Next week-recorded songs.
- 頑張Rimasu! !

so if you notice that date being November 3rd, that certainly is encouraging for recent/current/future music coming out.

Kacica are a band I am continually amazed how much better and more interesting they are, compared to many other bands who they share some qualities with, but who also are hipster darlings (unlike Kacica). But they are from Japan, and over there, the interest level in them may be justified. But, that doesn't help the fact they have some amazing music that more people could and should like. And the potential of a new album coming soon only stresses that point even more.

I hope more comes out soon about it and we'll be seeing their 3rd LP coming sometime in 2012.

Kacica - "A Rainbow" and "Last" (Live)

these are a couple of new songs the band has played live, I imagine relatively recently. They sound a bit different for them, more percussive I guess. But they also sound like tracks, especially when recorded and mastered well, could end up growing on me.

I really love this band from Japan. And I can't help but remind of how groups like Beach House seem to be receiving all the hipster cred and success, when Kacica are vastly better. And even with Warpaint, as much as I love them, the naive bloggers and reviews of Warpaint's music fail to realize the band who should be mentioned with them isn't The XX or Land of Talk, but KACICA instead.

But also as I've mentioned many times before, that will likely never happen because Kacica are too obscure and hail from Japan. And they're also too good and too prog for the idiots who write those kinds of reviews.

But I guess the more significant thing to mention being, these new songs are a sign the band have a new album in the works. It's been awhile since 2008's Mosaic, so as a fan, I'm naturally expecting them to do something pretty soon. Hopefully something will be posted soon about that.

They do have a blog of sorts, posted in Japanese, that I've stumbled on a few times. I used google translator to read some of it. Last thing I recall, a mention of Lemmy. I guess about the new film about him. Being from Japan, it's cool although not too surprising they would be a fan of him and Motorhead.

KACICAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! (re: Random Finds #1)

Man..I am continually being blown away by this newly discovered Japanese band. A few months ago Mutyumu, and in the last month Kacica.

I checked out their 2006 self-titled debut today



very moved again!..like Mutyumu, I'm not sure I'll become as addicted as their latest "Mosaic" but fucking eh..this is also without a bad track, and has a ton to like. Memorable and soothing vocals, wonderful textures, catchy riffs, etc..they opened for Minus the Bear in Japan I guess a few years ago supporting this record; and won over a lot of fans. I totally can see why.

Definitely my latest-favorite new band.

I also think it's sort of significant that they became the 100th artist/band I added to the "New Prog" Umbrella list on rym I made. Perhaps coincidence, but I suppose I like to think it was luck/fate/karma or something else :P.

A bunch more names should be added to a near-future random finds entry as I have been checking out a handful of groups over the last few weeks + have many to still check out, especially from many of the Albums of the Year lists I've read.