Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Music Review: Reminding Ideas “House Of Weather”

House of Weather“The reminding ideas are brought about by the use of pressure, command, and authorization. There are good ideas and bad ideas. There are rules, and there are animals. Some vegetables can bring you happiness.

Others, give you just one final remaining idea. This is where we all take a deep breath and wait for August to appear. Understand?” illustrate Michael Magnum and Matt Soule, co-creators of The Reminding Ideas.

House of Weather

Probably more than anybody, The Reminding Ideas remind me of early Pink Floyd. Not musically so much as thematically. The lyrics subject matter isn’t what you’d find in most bands out there today whether those bands are somewhat conventional or experimental.

Musically, composition wise, it’s the same – totally original and somewhat “out there’ yet somehow strangely familiar. There are dream like textures like the Moody Blues, heavy grains of the early Doors. Some compositions might remind you of psych era Beatles,… but just for a second. In a nut shell what we have here is ….is…great original music, great creative ideas that are at once so original that you haven’t heard anything like this before, and at the same time totally familiar. A Paradox? Perhaps. But a welcomed one in this day and age.

band1Here’s what the artists have to say, 

House of Weather means different things to creators Soule and Magnum. They intended it to mean something personal and different to each listener. Soule describes, “Ultimately it's about the Universe, and emotions in the universe. What those emotions are is up
to you. It's up to what you hear and how you interpret that. There are parts of the album where it may seem that we think that nothing is going to go well. Rest assured,
everything is going to be all right.”

Now, as a ‘critic’ this is totally unacceptable. I am supposed to tell you, the listener how this music fits into your world. Fortunately, I’m no critic but a music lover and the album will do exactly what the artists meant it to do. How the music effects you will be a personal experience. What it means to you will be just as individual as this great band and their place in the world of music.

The Reminding Ideas–“Swarm Of Bees

Most bands and musicians today go into a project to a) make a song that is popular and will hopefully reach a large audience and sell some records, or b) be so totally ‘out there’ that it’ll wig people out and appeal to the nonconformist in the target audience. These cast off any and all conventions of “popular music” and hope to create a new version of popular or at least a new height in artistic expression. In short, shock value.

The Reminding Ideas threw off all restraints, all ideas of fitting into either category or even categories in between. They have mixed the conventional with the artistic, with the personal and as a result have achieved both a ‘sound’ that can be popular and a ‘sound that will or can wig you out. It’s a rare feat, and a welcomed one.

band2They have mixed classical themes and elements in their creative expression with electronic effects and instrumentation. They were not bound by any convention in compositional format; they don’t adhere to time constraints that radio or DJs want, some songs are long, others 3 minute eggs. Some songs have no chorus, others the entire verse is one line, one emotion or thought encapsulated and encapsulated just beautifully I might add.

Most of the songs here were written spur of the moment, and you can feel them changing and coming together. They then morphed, changed, shrank, layered.

“We built them up, destroyed them, then built them again.
We were learning as we went and flying by the seat of our
pants. It was very liberating to have our imagination be
our limit. Why not write longer songs? Why not have no
chorus? Why not have one line of verse? This is how we
worked,”
explains Soule.

The Reminding Ideas “August”

So, here it is. Listen. I highly suggest that you listen, because it will become a personal experience, and an enjoyable one. Maybe even an enlightening one.

The Dirty Lowdown

Copyright © 2011 Robert Carraher All Rights Reserved

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