12. Beach Fossils – ‘What a Pleasure’

Bonjour number 12!

Hope everyone’s had a pleasant time since the last blog.

I have – because I’ve been listening to a new album!
That album is….well, it’s actually a long EP, but I’m gonna call it an album! - ‘What A Pleasure’ by Beach Fossils

I chose this one to go in this blog because, just like all the others, I really like the artwork!

But unlike the others, which I think look really cool, this one is pretty boring. But I love the technical side of it! The photographer managing to capture a baseball just before it hits a window. Of course, this could be done in a number of ways instead of just throwing it at the window.

Something like this would require a couple of takes to get the timing perfect, so to risk taking just 1 shot would be…well…a risk!

I can just imagine them going around the house to different windows and trying to get the photo, but smashing every window in the process. “Damn, ok, I missed that one – next window” “No! I wasn’t ready! Ugh….ok, next.”

OR, they could be clever with it! Maybe find a house with 2 floors, with windows 1 above the other, then drop the ball from the top window. That way, if it’s captured in the right place, it will look like it’s floating in front of the window, so the viewer would assume it was hurtling towards it – but instead, if the shot didn’t come out, the ball would harmlessly fall to the ground, ready to be dropped again.
Of course, they could do it the other way round, by having someone laying on the floor and throwing the ball up, but that’s more dangerous and could end with a broken nose.

Either way, it’s a great image!

Now, on to the sweet sounds of Beach Fossils – although fossils don’t really sound very good. I wouldn’t really go and listen to some ammonites playing music. Not in a million years!

Ba dum tss!

Because, you know….they’re fossils. Which are millions of years old. Get it? :D

Sorry.

To kick off the album, they’ve recorded a nice little 1 minute long instrumental opening track called ‘Moments’.

It consists of guitar – which sounds like a steel guitar, and drums – which sound like normal drums, but with a bit more reverb than normal just playing round the toms.

No bass on this track – but it doesn’t need it – the drums playing a constant fill bulk it out enough.

However, there are vocals. But just ‘Aaaaa’ing, which sound like musical angels yawning. I actually yawned so much while listening to this track! It’s one of those things – you hear or see yawning and instantly yawn. Even the word yawn. Yawn.

It’s a really simple track, but it’s a nice little first track!

Next up is the album track – ‘What A Pleasure’.

This is another short one – only 2 ½ minutes long – but it’s still a great feel good song!

More guitar – which still sounds like a steel guitar. But a little bit cleaner, which makes me think it’s probably an electric guitar with a nice little pedal. Either way it sounds great!

It’s joined by drums and bass, but is quickly replaced by vocals which seem familiar and yet different to anything else I’ve heard before. He actually sounds a lot like Moby….which is strange, but there’s nothing wrong with that in my eyes…or ears!

The guitar then comes back in and continues for the rest of the song playing a neat little riff. Some of the guitar does sound a bit like the samples on GarageBand – but honestly, even if they were, I’m fine with that!
Making music is about the music – not how you made it – unless you just rip someone else off of course, because that’s not right and is the least creative thing someone could do. I’m all for mashups and remixes, but only if you’re doing it in your bedroom and putting it on YouTube as a way to express yourself and your love for that persons music. Not recording it in a studio and releasing it as your own – seriously, if you can’t write original material don’t use other peoples.

But apart from that, I don’t care how your recorded it, as long as it sounds nice – just like this song!

“Woken up and here I am. All to fast to understand. All the way across the sea, thinking thoughts of you and me, in my life I’ve never felt so free. You’re so far away from me.”

‘Fall Right In’ is next up.

This one sounds a little bit like the previous song, but just different enough to make it listenable.

The vocal are very similar – staying quite quiet and linear – I just want him to start shouting a little bit, and bringing his voice up to the next level instead of staying in the safe zone. It has some great backing vocals, which come up with some really nice harmonies to bring it up a bit.

The guitar is very upbeat and sounds like it’s happy to be played – it’s very much a summers day song to listen to while lying in a hammock sipping on an ice cold diet coke and eating an icecream.

“I can’t see a thing, well it’s on your face. I’m running down my stairs and I’m heading to your place. Do you know what you have done to me?”

And all of a sudden, it’s finished. It’s 2 ½ minutes long, but it feels like it ends a lot quicker than it should.

For those of you who keep up to date with my blogs, and look daily for new ones – you do know there’s more to find on the internet, right?
Anyway – you might have realised that these blogs don’t go out at a particular time, that’s because some weeks I don’t have anything on, but other weeks I’m busy every day. So I picked a relatively short album, coming in at a total of 23 minutes. Now, that’s short. Most songs are 4-5 minutes long, so that would only be about 5 songs………..but this album has 8!

I mean, yes, the first track is only 1 minute long, but it’s still quite a number of songs for such a short album. And that’s why I picked it. That way, the review would look like a full, fleshed out review – but it takes ½ the time to listen to the album all the way through!

Ingenious, I know.

Next – ‘Out in the Way’

Ok, now this one sounds a lot like the previous songs. The same drums, similar bass and same sounding guitar and vocals – but I won’t judge just yet! They might turn it round again – and we’re already half way through the album, so there’s still hope!

“In the darkness passing through. Tell me, is it really you? You don’t look the same as when I was dreaming.”

The song has got a few nice little parts where the drum does double snare hits, and there’s a couple of bits where it sounds like a different singer comes in and takes over the main vocals – but I might be mistaken – it’s not a massive change!

One thing that goes throughout the album, apart from the sounds of all the instruments sounding the same on each song, the vocals are consistent.

By that I mean they’re good throughout, but also sound very repetitive. They’ve put an effect on them which makes it sound like he’s singing with a fishbowl on his head. Reverb and a bit of a ‘watery’ feeling.

But it definitely gives them a unique sound. I can’t think of anyone that sounds like they do – which is a great thing!

‘Face It’ is up next.

This one, just like the previous one, is quite like the previous one to that. The guitar’s very much the same – but the drums have changed a bit, although they definitely sound like a drum machine. Which should be taken as a compliment to the drummer!
I recorded with someone recently, and they had drums on their tracks and I said what a really nice sounding drum track they’d found online, and asked what program they used.

“My brother…” they replied. It was unbelievable! Their brother had managed to keep perfect timing, and played every beat with full confidence and perfect force – it was uncanny!

That then makes me think, maybe this was just recorded on an electronic drum kit. It’s definitely not acoustic – and that’s what makes it hard to tell, because with an e-kit, it’s possible to move the individual notes in a recording software – so even if it was played out of time, or there was a couple of muck ups. They’re all editable!

Ah, technology – saving time since the 1970's!

Back to the song!

Even though it sounds a lot like the other tracks on the album, it’s still a good song! There’s 2 guitars – 1 rhythm playing the basic stuff chugging along with the rest of the song, and then 1 lead guitar playing little bits and pieces every now and then to add layers.

“I’d give up the country life, I’d give up city life, I’d fall for you anytime. Anytime.”

Next – ‘Distance’

“I tell you all the time that when I think of you it tears my heart, and pushes me back to the start.”

This one is slightly different! It’s got a nice guitar riff throughout, and the drums pick up a little bit. I mean, it’s no ‘Impossible Winner’ from The Dead Weathers album I reviewed a couple of months ago, but it’s still a nice change!

This is yet another song that I feel like I’ve heard something like it before – but no idea when or who I’m thinking of! It’s like smelling something and not being able to put your finger on what it actually is that you’re smelling. Or if you have crap eye sight and you see a blur in the distance – is it a car? A bush? A giant turtle? A party of Hobbits?

That’s what I’m like with this album. Is it Third Eye Blind? Sam Isaac? Radiohead? The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain?  I DON’T KNOW!
It’s actually driving me a bit mad, because I love comparing bands!

This song though, no matter who it sounds like, is a nice chilled out track. It’s slightly repetitive, but that might be because…well, because it’s pretty flat throughout. I mean, it’s upbeat and jolly. But it’s just the same thing throughout the whole song.

Next up – ‘Calyer’

This one changes it up a little bit – it’s mostly minor chords, so it doesn’t have the same ‘happy running down the beach’ kinda feel all the other tracks have had so far.

“Don’t wanna hear about your time. Just wanna show you what’s mine.”

It’s still very similar to the rest of the songs – but it’s different enough that I’m gonna let them get away with it for once – but only this once! There’s still one more song, so there’s still time for me to take it all back!

However, for now, this song is different enough to actually talk about. It has the same sounding instruments as it has throughout the whole album. But I’m starting to think they might not have had a choice, or it’s exactly what they wanted. As I mentioned right at the start, this isn’t actually an album – it’s a long EP – that means it probably doesn’t have the same production as an album would have, and is probably just what they sound like live, but burned onto a CD.

They might have even recorded it themselves in 1 of their living rooms. That would explain why the instruments all sound the same on each song, and why there’s minimum variation in the different sounds used. They might have recorded it all in 1 afternoon, using the same instruments, and it just so happens that all their songs have a very similar feel.

Personally, I prefer variation – that way people from different tastes in music have a greater chance of liking at least 1 of the various songs on the album. It also keeps the music fresh if someone listens to the album all the way through.

Last, but no means least – ‘Adversity’

Ok, so this one is a bit different. It’s still the same sounding instruments, but they’re played differently. Not overly different – but different enough for me to carry on!

The vocals seem to get stronger as the CD goes on – starting off quite shy and weak sounding, and he’s now finding his feet! It’s still quite linear, but nowhere near as much as it was!

“We put up a fight for the other side. We raise up our arms to show we’re strong. Then we break our bones, but we’ll carry on.”

There’s a few nice dynamics in the music – with a few atmospheric guitar parts. I would say the whole song was atmospheric, but it’s missing something – it’s like it’s missing the air. Now, I know that sounds weird, but hear me out!
When you’re talking about Earth’s atmosphere, air is pretty much what it is. I know it also holds out radiation and keeps in heat, but the main thing is it holds in the air we breathe. Well, if you imagine that in music terms – air is the most important part – so if an atmospheric song lacks air, it’s lacking a lot!

When I think of atmospheric music, I think of beautiful sounds which are hardly ever heard in songs. Something you can listen to and forget about the world around you. Ludovico Einaudi – now, he’s like an oxygen tank – full of beautiful air.

I feel like this album is a tank running out of air. It has the potential to be full, but needs something to help fill it. But it then needs to be the right air. If it’s pure carbon dioxide, that’s no good. It’s the wrong mix of air – it’s like taking Einaudi and adding a metal drummer. But if we take that C02 out and fill it ¾ with nitrogen, that metal drummer can be tamed and turned into one who can play a range of noisy things, but play them with subtlety and really add to the sound (as long as he can hold his breathe). You can then add the oxygen to nearly fill the tank. That’ll be the orchestra. They allow the song to breathe and to come alive (and means the drummer can stop holding his breathe). Then there’s just a few little bits to add – the argon, H20 and a dash of C02 back in there to give the song a kick when it needs it.

I bet you now either understand me, or are even more confused. I would give the same example with a cake recipe to make it easier to understand, but I’ll just make myself hungry.

Do you agree/disagree with anything I said? Like / dislike the review? Any constructive criticisms? Please leave a comment below! Would love to hear from you. Also, if you have any recommendations of albums I should listen to and review (as long as the artwork is awesome), let me know.

Thanks for reading, keep tuned for the next blog.

I will be reviewing ‘Moon Safari’ by Air

Don’t forget to check out my website, Facebook, Twitter and Youtube below.

I’m doing these blogs alongside my better half; Fern Teather – she is listening to a new albums (doesn’t matter about the artwork, she’s trying to expand her musical knowledge and listen to new artists!). She’s also keeping a blog, and it’s nowhere near as long as this one, so go give it a read!!
Check it out here: 52-albums.blogspot.com

Au Revoir!

Sam

www.bongoboy.co.uk
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