EP Review: The Antlers ‘Undersea’
Thinking. Searching. Discovering. Smiling. Crying. Celebrating. These are what we are all doing every single day. But towards what exactly? We learn from our mistakes, bask in our triumphs, and hope for our dreams to come true. But in the end, is there a true point to it all? I suppose those who believe in god, or religion, would have an answer to that. But for those of us who ponder, we continually outsmart ourselves to whatever end we can conjure up at a specific moment in life. I’ve been a believer in the man upstairs, and I’ve been a doubter. But if there is one thing I can hang my hat on, it’s that there are certain things that transcend the second hand of the clock ticking away.
The Antlers have always been something of an opiate for me. The breathtakingly beautiful Hospice has gotten me through some of the most depressing points in my life the past few years. That sounds odd to say, because, well, that album centers around debilitating themes, but when you listen all the way through there’s an uplifting beauty to it. It’s like watching that bag float around in American Beauty. While the characters are completely downtrodden, there’s just something so simple and graceful about the surroundings that can change your whole perception. Anxious to shed any label of acoustic sadness fame following their breakthrough, Burst Apart was defined by depth, experimentation, and pushing the boundaries of consciousness. Perfect in its own unique way, the album dives into the fears we all suppress on a daily basis. What is death like? What happens next? Is there a next?
Undersea picks up right where Burst Apart left off, almost as if these song were meant to be tracks 11-14 after “Putting the Dog to Sleep”. Each features an expansive pit of openness and emotion allowing the listener to sink in as deep as they so desire. Perhaps that’s what makes this band, and these songs so special; they are as much your own as they are The Antlers. The EP begins by featuring a gorgeous trumpet accompanying Peter Silberman’s pitch perfect vocals with the “Drift Dive”. A dark song, the title fits the mood as the does the last piece of a puzzle. The guitar is effortless with a drawn out slide, the keyboard elegant, and there’s even a hint of strings. The second song, “Endless Ladder”, is by far the most expansive track on the release, clocking in at over eight minutes. This album’s “Wake”, it is a slow building monster of reflection asPeter Silberman remarks, “I’m an endless ladder, climbing high” throughout.
“Crest” features the return of the horns and thoughts on those who oppose us. The song’s sound shutters between curious and haunting with lines such as “through and through, they want to walk all over you.” While not a statement, it is more of a questioning, introspective piece. The final song on the EP, “Zelda”, has the opening mood of a funeral set by the bass and once again the trumpet. Silberman’s vocals rise above the dark and foreboding backbeat. They don’t offer hope or salvation, but rather simply comfort.
In all, this EP can be viewed as a watershed moment for the group. Perhaps more than any other band in the realm of indie rock, The Antlers are never quite sure exactly what they are and want to be. They ride the tidal wave of the present, painting a portrait of life in the moment. In a world full of people trying to be something, they offer a genuine spirit of what it means to be human. And I thank them for sharing, because without it, I’d be lost.
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Written by Greg Dahman
EP Review: Vacation Club ‘Self-titled’
Last year, Vacation Club hit Indianapolis’ underground music scene like a whirlwind. The band was seemingly everywhere, with lead singer Sam Thompson brandishing his signature squeal at local landmarks like The Melody Inn, Radio Radio and innumerable house shows on the band’s home turf of Fountain Square. Regardless the size of the audience or venue, Vacation Club offered listeners relentless energy paired with authentic rock n’ roll attitude.
Musical Family Tree author and fellow Indy musician Jon Rogers perhaps said it best last November, when he wrote: “…Vacation Club have got to be crazy. And not just “hearing voices” crazy. More like “hearing voices that tell you to stab mom while drinking shoe polish and eating cigarette butts and blasting Slayer at 5 AM” crazy. But somehow, it’s still what you’d call the good kind of crazy.” For ample evidence, check out the band’s travelogue of last year’s tour through the South in the form of their aptly titled Tumblr 2BROKE4DRUGS. (Warning: not safe for work)
After a pair of 7″ releases on local vinyl label GloryHole Records, Vacation Club was recently inked to Montevallo, Alabama’s Happenin Records. The label is set to release Vacation Club’s self-titled EP on cassette this week. The six-track release is currently available for download from VC’s Bandcamp page.
Any attempt to harness or tame Vacation Club’s sound would likely prove an ill-advised and hopeless venture. However, the band has successfully softened its edges on their debut EP, offering listeners a more accessible recording than any of their previous material. The album opens with “Daydream,” a track that showcases Jeb Lambert’s shimmering, echo-heavy riffs on guitar and Thompson’s helium-infused vocals. The bridge erupts in a cacophony of contrasting guitars, before collapsing into a glorious exchange of “oohs and aahs.”
From there, we plunge head-long into a stiff cocktail of sound that features a single shot of psychedelic surf rock, a double shot of punk, and a hefty splash of doo-wop, served noisily in a nearby garage. On the standout “Hold My Hand,” bassist Brandon Jackson walks out a bouncing bass line that serves as the backbone of my favorite Vacation Club track to date. Somewhere, many octaves above, Thompson croons, “I know it’s dark in the back of my mind / But I still seem to see right through / It’s hard to hold my hand when I’m high / But when I’m not, I do it for you.”
For Vacation Club, an exhaustive year spent honing their sound in Indianapolis’ nether-regions appears to be paying off. They are the first non-Alabama act added to Happenin Records’ roster. The band is currently on tour through the middle of August. Local readers can catch them at The Bishop Bar in Bloomington on September 24. Listen and download your copy of the Vacation Club EP below.
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Written by Rob Peoni
Thought on Tracks 
Album Preview: Cult Favorite (A.M. Breakups & Elucid)
New York producer A.M. Breakups and his Reservoir Sound record label reside on the cutting edge of the region’s progressive hip hop groundswell. The collective’s talent has been apparent for a while now but they’ve lacked a definitive project to this point. That is all set to change with the release of A.M.’s joint effort with New York MC Elucid. Going by Cult Favorite, A.M. and Elucid are one of those producer/rapper combos that seem like they were made for each other. Elucid has built a buzz through a series of projects featuring his gruff, intelligent style over abrasive, glitchy production. I’ve always been a fan of his straightforward delivery, but some of the busier electronic beats on his releases made it hard for his vocals to make the proper impact.
When I heard A.M. Breakups would be lending his ever-evolving sound to a full length project with Elucid and listened to a couple songs they created for Backwoodz Studioz’ Cost of Living compilation, I got excited. After hearing their album preview mix The Kingdom a few months later, their debut LP immediately became one of my most anticipated releases of 2012. A.M. Breakups’ beats aren’t a 180 from the type of beats Elucid rocked on in the past, but Breakups attention to detail assures that Elucid’s verses don’t get lost in his atmospheric soundscapes. Both artists seem to strive for a post-apocalyptic edge to their sound. All of the songs found on The Kingdom not only achieve that edge, but are so impressive it’s a wonder they didn’t make the full length album.
A.M. Breakups’ production is particularly impressive on The Kingdom, maybe his best batch of beats yet. He constantly has me asking where he gets the various sounds he utilizes on every beat, but on these tracks he takes it a step further by truly building his effects around Elucid’s serpentine verses. Every beat has a solid, rhythmic base, but Breakups lifelike samples levitate around Elucid’s vocals, giving the music a three dimensional feel. The opening track “Heavy Metal (Version)” has the type of grinding beat I couldn’t see anyone but Breakups making, accentuated by his alternating swirls and jingles that create a strong visual beneath Elucid’s metaphorical musings- “I’m lost but still on course, fuck the anchor”.
Elucid’s content-rich flow is as assured and versatile as it’s ever been, and it’s obviously the focus of the music here. His sharp, rhythmic criticisms combined with Breakups’ spacey beats almost make him sound like a repulsed alien who’s been observing injustices from afar and compiling an audio journal. Elucid has a way of making every song sound like an opus with his cryptic, probing verses. He doesn’t wow you with an astounding vocabulary or delivery, but he’s found a way to use his unique voice and creative perspective/thought-process to his advantage. Clear cut song meanings can be tough to pin down, but each line is carefully crafted and contains its own (usually subversive) context. Check out the 20 minute, 8 track (one mp3) mix The Kingdom below and gear up for the full length Cult Favorite LP, due later this fall on Reservoir Sound.
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Written by John Bugbee