City of Ships - Minor World (2011)

While Chester and Marco sit around on the porch of their houses acting like two old ladies and debate the days when they were young and had more wishes and wants about musical journalism, while they do all that and more I'm going to continue to put stuff up on Tzeeeac because what the hell? There is still good music to be heard out there and if their lazy asses decided to take a break, that's something I don't have to do. 

And while there may not have been so much activity in the Tzeeeac inbox that actually sparks my interest, randomly going from review to review does occasionally put me in direct contact to some obscure bands that make me want to listen to them over and over again.

Evidently, the prize of the month of August goes to the US of A trio City of Ships that manages to convincingly blend together post rock, alternative and mostly harsh and angry vocals that wouldn't be out of place on some weird mix of punk and screamo outfit (yeah, I know, I've just fit one too many genres into a single phrase; sue me if you like or read on). The end result is, quite honestly, unlike everything I have listened to before, as they don't have any fancy instrumentation or riveting soloing that swipes the listener off their feet. No, they're more of a mood band, with songs that don't necessarily go out their way to dissociate themselves from the rest of the album, but work an approach towards adding on the atmosphere. 

With this said I'm putting their latest album, Minor World, as my favorite in their short discography. It's more laid back and refined than the rest and it seems that the group has settled comfortably in their formula. I'd like to specially highlight 'Darkness At Noon', a song that deviates completely from the rest of the act and stands like something that Steven Wilson would have recorded in early days Porcupine Tree. Here it is, find the rest of their stuff on bandcamp (and hope you enjoy it at least half as much as I do).

P.S: This is a note to Chester. It seems that you're commuting for two hours every day and that takes up some Tzeeeac time from your calendar.  Well, my commute is five hours daily; sorry buddy but you got nothing on me :P