Currently on Heavy Rotation

I haven’t been listening to any “new” albums religiously over the past couple of weeks, except for the two I listed below. You can call it the “krautrock” edition of this monthly post. My eMusic subscription just renewed and I have a couple albums saved for downloading that I’m pretty excited about.

120 Days – 120 Days
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the lead track, “Come Out (Come Down, Fade Out, Be Gone),” off of 120 Days epynonymous debut and have since had time to fully digest the entire album. The band’s unique blend of krautrock, electro, new-wave, and post-punk continue throughout the 9-tracks on the album, which clocks in at just over 53 minutes. The desperation in the voice of frontman Ã…dne Meisfjord recalls a younger Ian Mccullough or Iggy Pop and Perry Farrell even comes to mind when hitting his higher notes, which is especially prevalent on “Keep on Smiling.” Some of the tracks on the album are less krautrock and more post-punk, “Be Mine” and “C-Music” are odes to Crocodiles era Echo and the Bunnymen, with motorik grooves intermixed with brooding guitars, synths, and throbbing beats.

Unfortunately, due to visa issues, the band wasn’t able to make it over to the States last week. I’m really looking forward to catching their live show during CMJ when they play the Vice Records Showcase at Sin-e on November 2nd.

120 Days  ”Get Away”

Fujiya & Miyagi – Transparent Things
What? A turntable company and Pat Morita? Brighton UK’s Steve Lewis, David Best, and Matt Hainsby make up the group Fujiya & Miyagi. They’re just pretending to be Japanese, as they state on “Photocopier.” On their third full-length, the group drinks from the same pool of krautrock influences as 120 Days, but whips up the sound with a DFA disco groove. Check out “In One Ear and Out the Other” and “Conductor 71″ below.

Fujiya & Miyagi  ”In One Ear and Out the Other”
Fujiya & Miyagi  ”Conductor 71″

Previously: August 28, July 26, June 22, May 10, April 12, March 28, January 16