Collection of Colonies of Bees - HAWAII (2018)

Though most people's introduction to Wisconsin outfit Collections of Colonies of Bees may have been due to the fact that its members played alongside Bon Iver's Justin Vernon as Volcano Choir, Collections of Colonies of Bees have been crafting incredibly innovative and intricate guitar music for the better part of two decades not unlike a sort of Deerhoof of the Midwest. But aside from an impressively long career filled with records each more incredible than the last, that's pretty much where the Deerhoof comparisons live and die. Throughout the years COCOB has undergone a number of lineup changes sharing members with Field Report, Megafaun, Sylvan Esso, and All Tiny Creatures but guitarist Chris Rosenau has remained its steadfast captain, navigating the outfit as its most consistent and senior member since the departure of his co-founder, drummer Jim Mueller.

HAWAII, the band's most recent album and their follow up to 2014's SET, introduces those not in attendance at the third year of Vernon's Eaux Claires festival to its newer lineup which welcomes Marielle Allschwang into the fold on vocals - another shakeup for the previously solely instrumental focused band. Though the addition of vocals might in theory appear to push COCOB towards a more standard form of rock music than they've been purveying over the years, ever the innovators - Allschwang's inclusion comes with a bit of a surprise in the form of the creation of a synced pedal rig that connects Allschwang's vocals with Rosenau's guitar to further flush out Collections of Colonies of Bees' harmonic language. When first single "Ruins" dropped, I was unsure of how exactly Rosenau and Allschwang's relationship would play out over the course of an album but "Killerers", the album's opening track instantly answered that question. The entrance of Allschwang's vocals enter as a sort of stutter-stop hum - not quite tied to meaning but an integral part of the song's multitude of layers. I was reminded instantly of the technique of Ryan Lott of Son Lux where he recorded his collaborators vocals, cut them up and turned them into samples, and then tied them to individual notes. The main difference of course being that Allschwang is a present and active participant in the delivery of her vocals. Where previous albums SET , GIVING, and Birds presented Collection of Colonies of Bees as a pretty straight forward melody rich but rhythmically focused melange of guitars, bass, and drums HAWAII reintroduces the more diverse elements of the band's more distant past like the return of synths even as they push themselves toward a more ubiquitous sound.

HAWAII isn't a complete re-writing of the what the band's been about for the past decade or so however - even as they implement the use of lyrics for the first time. The band had a way of presenting engaging musical tableaux without the use of lyrics or even descriptive titles, and though hardly nonsense or gibberish - the addition of vocals by Allschwang and guitarist Daniel Spack, are largely impressionistic; another timbre to resonate in their multitudinous harmonies. Even as Collection of Colonies filter in more familiar pop leaning elements, there's an equal subversion and embrace of those expectations. Songs like the eponymous "HAWAII" which might've been a 7 minute long instrumental post rock jam elsewhere uses the added vocal framing to achieve the grandiose highs of songs like "G (F)" or "Lawn". The vocals undergo their own subtle evolution over the course of the album - enduring a sort of climax on "For Ghost" - the album's briefest and most singer/songwriter recalling effort.

While the old adage might be "If it ain't broke, don't fix it", bands like Collections of Colonies of Bees thrive by their ability to push themselves into new sounds and creative visions that inspire them and HAWAII even if you take away the seeming gimmick of the pedal rig that steers Allschwang's vocals - it's an album that's so delightfully complex without really insisting on that complexity. Take a song like "Ruins", arguably the album's most standard verse-chorus-verse type song. There's so many elements that work in tandem like Allschwang and Spack's dueting vocals but there's little embellishments that are beguiling effortless - like Allschwang's breathing being a noticeable part of the song's climatic breakdown that are hands down contribute to some of the album's most winsome moments. Collections of Colonies of Bees might've worn their influences of electronica, jazz, and post rock much more openly in their earlier days, their embrace of the familiar has added a much appreciated new dimension to their music. If Collections of Colonies of Bees are truly trying to bridge the gap between their experimental and pop tendencies, they've certainly succeeded on HAWAII - an album filled with engaging compositions that makes a bold but interesting new direction for the band.





Collections of Colonies of Bees' HAWAII is out now on Polyvinyl. You can order the record now.

Listen: William Tyler - "Cadillac Desert"

If you're anything like me, you like maybe even prefer absolute stunning instrumentals over clever lyricism atop rather simplistic arrangements. There's just something so incredibly great about the rather revealing quality of a song that needs to bring it all melodically. Ultimately that's what I'm most drawn to even when there's words attached. What's happening musically?

Well for those like me, you're in luck. Taking his place among instrumental acts like Delicate Steve, Collections of Colonies of Bees or Phil Cook & His Feat, William Tyler is releasing a brand new album with Merge and if idyllic scorcher "Cadillac Desert" is anything to go off off, it's going to be an absolutely amazing collection of melody-laden guitar rock. On it, Tyler goes more places thematically in it's mammoth open air sprawl than most albums do while maintaining a smooth, clear timeline. It's minimalistic without being laboriously so and Tyler's ability to recycle themes while still moving the track along is rather incredible. It's the kind of track that could go on forever and you wouldn't hear a single complaint. It's a wind-swept pastoral reverie without any need for words and you wouldn't have it any other way.

William Tyler's Impossible Truth is out March 19th on Merge Records. 

Now Streaming: Delicate Steve - Positive Force

It's a strange wonder that I haven't listened to New Jersey rock quintet Delicate Steve before today, the band has played shows with some of my absolute favorite artists/bands like Maps & Atlases, Buke & Gase, & tUnE-yArDs to name but a few that I'm undoubtedly missing. If you've paid any attention to the amount of praise I've given Collections of Colonies of Bees or Phil Cook & His Feat then you probably know instrumental albums are a definite favorite of mine - a favorite where few brilliant, shining works lie. Well Delicate Steve is about to change all that.

Featuring bright, exuberant melodies and fanciful instrumental songcraft, Delicate Steve's Positive Force is poised to become the soundtrack to my summer and might very well be yours if you let it. Each track is a veritable pop gem which puts a decidedly interesting and unique spin on world-influenced music. There's no playing make believe like you sometimes get but the influence funnels into their music alongside a sort of middle-end rock aesthetic and the result is an album you'll pretty much have to pry out of my hands. It's everything I didn't know I was looking for and then some.

You can stream Delicate Steve's Positive Force on NPR now until it's July 10th release date.

Fang Island - "Asunder"

I distinctly remember when I had first heard of Brooklyn's Fang Island, back when Maps & Atlases was still on the Sargent House roster and I relied very much on Myspace to tell me what I should be listening to. And yet for some odd reason, and despite that during 2010 I had seen numerous publications talking about them, I filed them away for later and never really drew them out until today when a stray tweet featuring their new single from Under the Radar caught my eye.

What a mistake that was. While Fang Island has moved away from the purely instrumental rock of its early days but even as the words filtered in, the instrumentals have kept a noticeable and impressive level of importance. Fang Island is more than your dime-a-dozen Brooklyn band which makes the release of their third album, entitled Major, a calendar-marking event. New album cut "Asunder" sounds like it could be right alongside any Fang Island era track. And yet the track has a kind of newness to it, there's a wealth of ideas that the band properly channel to give it a multi-tiered level of enjoyment that's much more than it's ear-catching upbeat beat-driven jam. The melody versus counter melody in the guitars in the first instrumental break is one of those moments that just makes your jaw gape. If anything it just proves Fang Island's talent, taking their place among those instrumental rock titans like Explosions in the Sky and Collections of Colonies of Bees, a place that's they deserve.



Fang Island's Major is out July 24th on Sargent House. Mark your calendar, you don't want to miss it.

(via Under the Radar)

Collections of Colonies of Bees - GIVING (2011)

Earlier this month, Wisconsin rock sextet Collection of Colonies of Bees released their follow up to 2008's Birds, GIVING.

To start, GIVING is different than Birds in that it's track lengths are kept to a much more accessible minimum. While each track on Birds all clocked in somewhere near the 10 minute mark (If you were to round up), the new tracks are much shorter with the exception of end track "Vorms".

GIVING begins with sprightly, sun-on-your-face "Lawn" which practically bursts with smile-inducing glee a midst skipping guitar riffs and bouncy, virile drum rolls even as the ideas in "Lawn" merge, metamorphose, and gain an almost transcendental splendor. "Vorm", unlike it's predecessor, remains completely grounded due mostly to the almost relentless drum beat. And after establishing the ideas of the complimentary companion pieces, the sextet then turn it all on its head and turn "Lawns" harsh and abrasive and "Vorms" ethereal and positively resplendent.


It's obviously from first listen that Collections of Colonies of Bees suffer from no shortage of musical ideas and yet, their greatest strength is the seamless way they string them all together. While other bands offer up albums with a multitude of tracks, Collections of Colonies of Bees only need the four to both get their point across and also create a satisfying treat of an album. The sextet do in four rather strong yet short tracks what most band strive to do in their whole careers. With GIVING, Collections of Colonies of Bees channel their rock influences without equal. The six musician intertwine so well that you wouldn't know there were six of them unless someone told you. And yet, each member is an active part whether it's in the tinkering synths, the unassuming guitar lines, or the ever present drums.


You can listen to the whole album in full, thanks to the folks at Hometapes here:
Lawn by Hometapes

Vorm by Hometapes

Lawns by Hometapes

Vorms by Hometapes

Collections of Colonies of Bees to release new album

Not too long ago I reviewed Wisconsin natives Collections of Colonies of Bees' latest release, 2008's Birds, and now after 3 long years and touring with Bon Iver's Justin Vernon as Volcano Choir, the band are releasing a band new album on Hometapes. GIVING, due out August 2nd, is sort of like it's predecessor in that it's composed of merely four tracks. Other than that, I have no idea what to expect other than guaranteed awesome. So sit tight until either they preview a track or release the whole album.

Collections of Colonies of Bees - Birds

I first discovered Wisconsin natives Collections of Colonies of Bees around the time Volcano Choir (one of Justin Vernon's miscellaneous side projects) released their debut album Unmap. Why? Well, Volcano Choir is actually made up of all but one member of the Wisconsin quartet along with Vernon himself in addition to a couple former members. What appealed to me about Collections of Colonies of Bees is its purely instrumental nature- that similar type of sound that's been popularized by Explosions in the Sky and Mogwai (to a lesser extent as they occasionally use vocals). Their latest release as Collection of Colonies of Bees however, happened around 3 years ago with 2008's Birds.

Birds is a veritable rock symphony composed solely of four tracks of varying lengths, the whole album is about 37 minutes long. Each track named solely "Flocks" along with the corresponding track number is built on a different theme and yet seems to organic flow from each idea to the next. "Flocks I" begins with start-stop minimalistic guitar strums that transform into scalar climbs, slowly incorporating instrument after instrument before launching into a triumphant cluster of sounds held together with the steady beat of the drums. "Flocks II" begins with a sort of barely there ethereality before the entrance of the drums propels it to action. Distant guitars and electronics keep the track afloat before they subtly make their way to the forefront along with simple, glistening keyboard lines. "Flocks III" follows in a similar manner, starting off with a formless adagio section before the entrance of other instruments - in this instance the guitar and drums together nudge it towards a sense of order. "Flocks III" rather unlike the rest of Birds is noticeably constructed of different parts. After building to a climax, all sound halts and the band starts afresh putting forth new ideas to build off of. In a sense it's not unlike the classical minuet and trio, if only for its formal separation of musical ideas. "Flocks IV" might be the only track on Birds to follow any of the more popular songwriting conventions. It's simple guitar melody is the stuff good pop songs are made of, though it would be easy to just layer vocals on top, Collections of Colonies of Bees goes the more difficult route and instead layer more sounds on top before introducing driving beats that enable for variation and a bit of showmanship as the band are then able to construct solos that then become part of the melody itself.

Birds is an album that basically demands to be listened to over and over again. With no lyrics to distract the listener, it instead focuses on meaty musical statements and small musical ornamentations that reveal themselves more and more with each listen. There's no dramatic flair and yet, it manages to draw you in and entertain you without even appearing to do so. At no time do you realize the length of the track because each idea manages to metamorphoses just as you begin to recognize it.

Get a taste of Collection of Colonies of Bees with a music video for "Flocks II":


While Birds is a pretty fantastic album, there's also rumors that Collections of Colonies of Bees are set to release a new album sometime this year with Hometapes. So stay tuned for more!