Kayo Dot - Discography

Yesterday's Toby Driver post sort of invtes me to complete his personal discography. I'll start by posting albums by Kayo Dot. Kayo Dot was formed as a reinterpretation of Driver's previous project, maudlin of the Well. He wanted to drop their metal name and reputation in favor of something new so he could pursue more abstruse and challenging musical territory. Kayo Dot plays unlike any band out there, yet is oddly palatable. They seamlessly combine elements of metal, jazz, post-rock, and modern classical. Their LPs are 5 tracks apiece but each lasts just over an hour ensuring expansive song structures that complement the surreal and engaging soundscape. Choirs of the Eye bears more of a resemblance to the material on maudlin of the Well and is more overtly metal and post-rock and was released on Tdazik. Dowsing Anemone With Copper Tongue is much more subtle and bizarre and was released on Robotic Empire.

Choirs of the Eye (2003) - Download - Review


Dowsing Anemone With Copper Tongue (2006) - Download - Review


Kayo Dot / Bloody Panda Split (2006) - Download

Toby Driver - In the L...L...Library Loft

Toby Driver is the frontman and primary composer for Kayo Dot (formerly maudlin of the Well). In the L...L...Library Loft is his first solo release. He composed these four pieces as an auxiliary to Kayo Dot. He consdered the content to be even too "out there" for his primary project, which itself is unusual avant garde metal. This album plays like an interesting blend of 20th century post-tonal music and the phase shifting of Steve Reich, all with that Toby Driver touch. Fans will be able to link this release to those of Kayo Dot and more recently Tartar Lamb but this release is singular and amazing in its own regard.

In the L...L...Library Loft (2005) - Download - Review

Comadre - Discography

Comadre is a band from Radwood City, CA. They play a mix of emo and punk and are really really really fun. Enough said.

The Youth (2004) - Download - Review


Burn Your Bones (2006) - Download - Review



More Songs About the Man (2006) - Download - Review


Comadre / Trainwreck Split (2007) - Download - Review


Crowd surfing to "Celly Cell" (I doubt you can see us but Victor and I are on the far right wall)

Maps and Atlases - Trees, Swallows, Houses

Maps and Atlases are an indie band from Chicago. However, instead of donning American Apparel gear and dicking around with banjos and electronics, the members of this band spent their time practicing two-handed tapping and listening to midwest indie from the late 90s. Imagine if Minus the Bear's old sound was sped up and jammed together with the rhythmic intensity of a band like Hella or Tera Melos. That is, all with acoustic guitars interspersed with the electric, making them sound like a technical version of Braid more than anything. Maps and Atlases are great. Exhibit A: their only formal release, Trees, Swallows, Houses. I saw them live this past summer with The Fall of Troy and Rx Bandits and they played a few new songs from their upcoming LP that pretty much shred as well so look out for that release.

Trees, Swallows, Houses (2006) - Download - Review

Jaga Jazzist - The Three LPs

Jaga Jazzist is a band from Norway with post-rock song structures but instrumentation and harmonies that draw mostly from the worlds of jazz and electronica. I first caught wind of them by sampling the beautiful track "Swedenborgske Rom" from What We Must. I was an immediate convert and listened to that one track probably 40 times in the first week I had it. Their other two albums are weirder and less aerial but have hundreds of interesting nooks and crannies to explore.

A Livingroom Hush (2001) - Download - Review


The Stix (2003) - Download - Review


What We Must (2005) - Download - Review

Thrice - The Alchemy Index: Volumes I & II - Fire & Water

Thrice has been my favorite band for quite a long time now. I first heard Identity Crisis and The Illusion of Safety in 2002 at the tender age of 15 going on 16. I have since had to anticipate three of their album releases. I picked up The Artist in the Ambulance in Alaska after having been on a month long camping / community service trip that left me out of touch with civilization. My reintroduction was via that album. Then, I snagged Vheissu off of a leak, which somewhat sated my need to hear the album as soon as possible. I ended up buying that album twice, once to get the vinyl of "The Weight of Glory" and another time to get the limited edition version. Now we come to The Alchemy Index. Anticipation has sucked. First of all they're cutting the release into two segments, further prolonging the painful wait. Also, Vagrant Records was very careful in making sure this thing didn't leak; the CDs given out on promo were copy protected. But I woke up today and found the whole album streaming on their myspace. It's pretty awesome. It's going to take some digestion time and it's the biggest departure for Thrice yet. Upon first listen though, it seems like a great album. I enthuse you to purchase the album. My pre-order should be arriving on Tuesday from MerchDirect along with a free t-shirt.

The Alchemy Index: Volumes I & II - Fire & Water (2007) - Download - Stream - Review


Get excited for the Earth and Air discs as well, which should be released in Spring 2008. They sound really good so far based off of teaser videos and live performances.

Air Sonnet


Untitled Air Disc Song


"Come All You Weary" (Earth Disc)

Gospel - The Moon Is a Dead World

Gospel is a band that surprised the hell out of me. I think I was linked to a song by another band back in the day because I remembered my first impression of Gospel was that they were turgid and bland. Nothing could be more unbefitting of Gospel's awesome mix of emo, post-rock, and prog. Imagine the towering scope of an album like As the Roots Undo by Circle Takes the Square without pretention or loftiness and an odd sense of rhythmic structures and a drummer that absolutely kills. There are even flourishes of keyboards and weird effects that aren't incongruous with the more emo songwriting. A really singular album that I'm sad I only got into about 3 weeks ago. They have since broken up and The Moon Is a Dead World is their sole LP.

The Moon Is a Dead World (2005) - Download - Review

The Kidcrash - Recent Discography

The Kidcrash is a band that has gone through constant reinvention. They began humbly (with Beirut's very own Zach Condon as a frequent member) and their first LP, New Ruins, a pop punk / midwest indie type album that was released on Lujo Records (The Fall of Troy), to some positive response. The band since has disowned their older sound and have been crafting their current "mathy" sound since at least 2005. Their newer incarnation has yielded a stunning LP (Jokes) and two splits (to the best of my knowledge).

Split with Coffin Dancer (2007) - Download


Split with Arse Moreria (2007) - Download


Jokes (2007) - Download - Review


These releases can be purchased through the labels Init Records and Denovali Records. A super cheap copy of Jokes can be found here.

And lastly, here's a red hued video of them performing "Turtlelephant," the first track from their LP.

Tera Melos - Discography

Tera Melos is a band from Roseville, CA (outside of Sacramento). They play instrumental music that can best be described as a mix of math rock and post-hardcore. They have only released one proper LP (Tera Melos) from when they were a four-piece, but have since released an EP (Drugs to the Dear Youth) and a split CD with By the End of Tonight (Complex Full of Phantoms) as a three-piece. They are pretty awesome live. I saw them in 2006 at Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco when they still had Worm in the band. So, below are three albums, two of which have reviews I've written, and a staged live performance of the first two tracks from Drugs to the Dear Youth.

Tera Melos (2005) - Download - Review


Drugs to the Dear Youth (2007) - Download - Review


Complex Full of Phantoms (2007) - Download


A Live Video of "40 Rods to the Hog's Head"