Blonde Redhead and Kashmir - Alt/Indie Rock's Turn in the CS Limelight

I was looking back and realized I had spent more than a few of my previous posts on electronic groups, and so I wanted to pay some homage to a couple lesser known, and pretty good indie rockers.  I had come across both of these in listening to Pandora, and ended up purchasing a couple of their songs, and even Kashmir's full album after reading a few reviews about it.

I don't know that I was as impressed as I was hoping I would be, but nonetheless it was still a good purchase, and it had some decent replay value to it.  

KASHMIR

Kashmir is a Danish alt-rock band that got its initial start in 1991 under the name "Nirvana", which as you may come to guess would cause a bit of a problem shortly thereafter when Kurt Cobain's Nirvana gained a bunch of popularity in the States.  They changed their name to Kashmir and it has remained there ever since.  The album we will focus on today is No Balance Palace which was a well known and well renowned album. It gained a lot of traction internationally, but more specifically was received very well during multiple Danish Music Awards ceremonies.  They have had a pretty successful career in the EU, and have even recorded their most recent album at Electric Lady Studios in NYC, which is best known as Jimi Hendrix's famous studio of choice.

No Balance Palace was released in 2005, and was the album I ended up purchasing.  It's definitely a very good alt-rock album.  I don't know that they are breaking boundaries here, and there is only one "song" that really causes any goose-bump reaction for me.  Overall though these guys put together a good album, and it has some really solid stuff on it.  I'm not the biggest fan of the vocals, as they are a tad nasal for me. However, they take on a pretty good Weezer quality in a lot of their songs and I love good ole' Weezer.

-Jewel Drop-

This was the song that brought me onto the bandwagon.  I just think its a really good rock song, and I would also argue that it is the best No Balance Palace has to offer. You be the judge :)

-Diana Ross-
This is a little sonic interlude between two other songs that is just insanely beautiful for even a quick moment.  I love the reverberated electric-guitar overtones and the smooth and wispy bell/mallet sound they use.  It only lasts for like 10 seconds, but its just awesome. No vocals, no beat, just pure unadulterated simple and beautiful sound.




-Ophelia-
I love this little ballad, and I think it's a good example of their ability to slow down the tempo a little bit.  I don't know who Ophelia is, but she should be eternally flattered.  This is also the song that leads into Diana Ross.  "You're the pebble in my shoe, and the beauty in my view.."




-The Cynic-
Can you say Weezer?  This is what I am talking about haha.  Not trying to say they are unoriginal, just sayin..




-Pursuit of Misery-
This is actually off of their Trespassers album, which I haven't had much of a crack at, but I liked it.  It actually would warrant more of a listen, as there are some other really good songs on there.




-Time Has Deserted Us-
Ok, last one... then it's up to you guys out there.  This was just another one that I thought was pretty compelling.



Also check out some other songs from No Balance Palace and Trespassers.  Kalifornia is a solid song.

BLONDE REDHEAD












Somewhat creepy pic eh?  This is another early 90's inception alt-rock band that I found randomly on Pandora.  I heard their song Sw and hadn't thought to check out more of their work until I decided to write about them here.  They have a pretty gritty and Sonic Youth-like sound to them in some cases, but I think they tend to be on the cleaner side than a Sonic Youth in most of their songs.  I find them intriguing at the very least, and definitely worth more of a listen.

-Sw-
As I said above, this was the song that caught my ear first.  I don't know why, but I like the wailing vocals and powerful melody.  See what you think..




-23-
This is one I came across perusing these guys on Rhapsody, and I was impressed.  I liked some of the harmonies, and I thought it was a nice departure from what I thought their sound was going to be.  Pretty eerie, but tight all at the same time.




-Spring and by Summer Fall-
Liked this one a bit as well.  The guitar riff is very nice.




Hope you liked tonight's change of pace from the previous entries.  I will try and keep moving around between genres as much as I can just to keep things shaken up.  Let me know if you have some bands you think I should check out, always looking for introductions!  I have gotten a few since this puppy was put up, but am always looking for more!

On another note, this page has just last week shot past the 1000 page views mark.  This is of course not a very great achievement versus other sites on the web, but it still feels pretty good to me!  I can of course only reach so many people every time I announce a post, so I am glad to see that this is somehow making it out into the world a little bit at a time.  If it keeps trending up this way, then I only stand to gain from more suggestions, and broadened musical knowledge :)  Thank you to everyone who stops by once in a while!

-CS