The Devil's Tongue

I am sitting in my living room and relaxing to the sounds of Talkdemonic's second full length LP, Beat Romantic.  From the opening track one may prepare themselves for a journey into minimalist string simplicity...but then we hear the drums...and the banjos...and the synths...and the horns...and eventually some electronica.

Talkdemonic is Kevin O'Connor and Lisa Molinaro of Portland, OR.  He plays drums, fretted instruments, piano, synthesizer, horns, and implements the electronic elements of their music.  She plays viola and synthesizer.  The "folktronic hop" music they create together is beautifully warming, and smoothly chill; it's energizing and relaxing at the same time - like a slow walk through the woods on a sunny Autumn day, or laying out on the beach at night gazing at the stars and observing to the waves crash.

I was very happy to have caught them at MFNW during my trip.  Rosie and I forged our way into an industrial part of town to The Branx.  With a small bar on the right and a small stage at the far end of the room there wasn't much here save for people...but what it lacked in stuff it made up with character and energy.  The Branx is a unique and fun place to see a show; it makes you feel as though you're at an illegal party hosted in an abandoned warehouse...well, kinda.  Watching Talkdemonic perform was a real treat; the organic vibration of live viola in combination with raw, real drums allowed preprogrammed backtracks to come to life.  Throughout their set the digital and analog world continued to crash in front of us in truly splendid ways.

Video for Mountain Cats

The record holds the same feel - especially on vinyl.  The voila is vibrant and pops out of the mix while the drums provide an earthy and primitive energy to each track - capable of picking things up when needed, but also of slowing the pace back down to a mellow crawl.  A lovely addition of flute is featured on the track White Gymnasium, which I regret to admit I cannot find in a streamable format to link here.  Instead here's Bering, another gorgeous example from Beat Romantic:

Bering

Talkdemonic's fourth record, Ruins, comes out next Tuesday and can be preordered from the bands website, here...and here is a really cool video for the first track, Duality Of Deathening...

A Course In Mindscrew Consonance

From the opening percussion and hand-clapping of Split The Lark to the heavy powertrip and stuttering finale of Width Of The Tunnel, Brainstorm's Battling Giants more than pleases the ear with interesting musical antics and fun ideas...all executed in such a way that appeals equally to the inner child, musician, and poet.  This is some seriously creative indie rock from Portland, OR.

Photo From Brainstorm Facebook page.

The sometimes overlapping and/or harmonized vocals ebb and flow, usually crescendoing just in time for squiggly, trilling guitars to writhe in distortion or fuzz, scampering around their favorite scale and crashing into walls of power chord waves.  Rattlesnaking, jangling, and thumping percussion manages to ride along and keep things as "structured" as they'll get.  Brass makes its way into the mix rather randomly at points in the record, teaming up with some synth goodness for the poppy title track.  The anthemic We Are Free resurrects a spirit from the 1960's, while Bottom Of The Sea adds some southern fried, foot-stomping folk-and-roll.  Uh Oh Black Hole! is something like They Might Be Giants performing a traditional Russian dance for the first surfing astronaut brigade.  Impressively, Brainstorm know just when and where to take their songs...nothing here is forced or feels contrived - it's zany not by design, but by nature...and it all works brilliantly.  It's hard to believe this is just two guys (with occasional guest female vocals).

Catchy, inventive, and full of energy, Brainstorm are an exploratory playground of awesomeness...like a rock-and-roll ice cream truck operated by a poetry professor - and it's just as beautiful as it is unusual.  You have to hear it for yourself...

The entire album is available on their bandcamp page here.  It is highly recommended.  5/5