About six months ago, I became completely obsessed with zombies films, mostly due to the brilliance behind Robert Kirkman‘s The Walking Dead books and the airing of the series on AMC. As Season 1 comes out on DVD and BluRay today, I figured the time was right to post this. So I buckled down and finished my zombie soundtrack podcast, filled with songs I felt perfect for a zombie film. Be assured: this will not be your typical zombie mix.

There’s good reason for this. When I think of b-movie zombie films and big budget ones alike, I think of bad metal. It’s terrible. So many Zombie movies feature it. They should be about scaring the shit out of you, chilling your very soul, not subjecting you to bad taste. The zombie apocalypse soundtrack should be filled with mystery, hope and terror, pain and suffering, and an underlying and general appreciation for life.

There will be moments of calm, moments of anguish, and moments of unabashed terror.

As the term “soundtrack” suggests, I set out to create my own zombie movie in my head. Being a soundtrack, this means there will be plenty of instrumentals. And when your life hangs in the balance on a daily basis, as it would in a zombie movie, pleasant moments will suddenly twist into terror; there is no better genre to embody this than post rock, so there will also be plenty of that.

I’ve pared it down significantly to save time and sanity. It was originally two, maybe even three times this length, and I struggled greatly in organizing it appropriately. It’s not perfect, and I’m sure there are plenty of truly great songs that should be contained within, but I digress. It may be cool, or it may really suck. It is what it is, and, in my opinion, it’s a solid start.

Download: FensePost Podcast Volume #2 Issue 01: Soundtrack to the Zombie Apocalypse

Phase 1: From Calm to Despair
“Diagnosed With” by Borcarea off Corpus
“We Came From Monsters” by Emmalee Crane off Formantine
“When We Reach The Hill” by The Black Heart Procession off 2

Phase 2: Realization becomes Terror
“3326″ by Ólafur Arnalds off Eulogy For Evolution
“The Call Of The Wild” by The Polyphonic Spree off Thumbsucker Soundtrack
“Fields, Shorelines, and Hunters” by M83 off Before The Dawn Heals Us

Phase 3: Encounters
“The Might Of The Sword” by AristeiA off How To Kill A King
“Mouth Of Sky” by Mount Eerie off Wind’s Poem
“Who Will Be King Over All The Dead” by Morrow off Morrow

Phase 4: Hope, Horror and Despair
“Nightmare Then Sunshines” by Glorie off Glorie
“Catastrophe And The Cure” by Explosions In The Sky off All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone
“The Triumph Of Our Tired Eyes” by A Silver Mt. Zion off Born Into Trouble As The Sparks Fly Upward

Intermission
“In A House – In A Heartbeat” by John Murphy off 28 Days Later Soundtrack

Phase 5: Peace / Death / Resurrection
“I Know You Are But What Am I?” by Mogwai off Happy Songs For Happy People
“Oporto” by Hawk And A Hacksaw off The Way The Wind Blows
“Bonehead” by Naked City off Naked City

Phase 6: Closing Credits
“Did I Die” by Oneida off The Wedding
“Oh, The Moon Hangs Low” by Ghost Box Orchestra off The Only Light On
“The Ghost” by I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness off Fear Is On Our Side

So last year I wrote a little post to introduce y’all to some sweet bands playing in the Cumulus Festival. As the second installment of the fest begins tomorrow, I figured I should do it again. After all, FensePost loves supporting local PNW bands and Cumulus Festival does a good job billing them to play.

You’ll be able to see some long-time FensePost favorites this year, including Levi Fuller’s The Luna Moth, the very visual Bronze Fawn, Portland’s very own AristeiA, and KZUU breakout artist (Kevin O’Connor was once the GM of the WSU-run station) Talkdemonic. Here’s the rundown on who’s playing when:

Thursday, February 11th, The Mars Bar
8:00 p.m. / $8 / 21+
Scriptures (Formerly This Is a Process of a Still Life)
Joy Wants Eternity
The Luna Moth
Paintings for Animals

Friday, February 12th, The Funhouse
9:00 p.m. / $8 / 21+
This Blinding Light
Elders
AristeiA
The Ever Changing Sky

Saturday, February 13th, The Mars Bar
8:00 p.m. / $8 / 21+
Talkdemonic
Bronze Fawn
Diminished Men
Bill Horist (solo acoustic)

So all bands on this year’s list are ones you’ll want to check out. Here are a few spotlights hand-picked from the crowd. Let’s begin.

* * * * *

Diminished Men

From the new faces to join this year’s line-up, Diminished Men stands out with powerful instrumentals, epic saxophone licks, clever synth lines, and wild post-rock meets surf guitars. “Cooper’s Descent” is fit for a Quentin Tarantino reference, while “Land Between” has a hint of The Beatles’ “Norwegian Wood” put through an oriental/surf guitar filter and slapped with wicked saxophone parts. They recently released a double LP simply titled II. Here are a few tracks from that album.

Diminished Men: Cooper’s Descent [mp3]

Diminished Men: Land Between [mp3]

* * * * *

Scriptures

Next are a few familiar faces with a new name. At last year’s Cumulus Festival, they were known as This Is A Process Of A Still Life. Scriptures is a name that rolls off the tongue a bit easier. Dreamy melodies like those found below (from an earlier release, prior to the name change) remain but from the sound of new Scriptures, they’re taking the minimal quiet valleys and anthemic noise-ridden heights to heart. Word is they’ve got a new album hitting sometime in 2010 — their first under the Scriptures moniker.

This Is A Process Of A Still Live (Scriptures): All My Blessings Are A Curse [mp3]

This Is A Process Of A Still Life (Scriptures): Horizon/Line [mp3]

* * * * *

AristeiA

From Portland comes longtime FensePost favorites AristeiA. We first covered these dudes back in 2006 shortly after the site began, and have written about them off and on throughout the years (including a few live reviews). Let me tell you this from experience: AristeiA is a band you’ll want to see live. The first time I witnessed a performance (Doug Fir in Portland), they made it sound as though people were shrieking from within the audience. It was downright uncanny. And utterly hypnotic.

AristeiA: Feedback King [mp3]

AristeiA: Self Will Run Riot [mp3]

* * * * *

Talkdemonic

Headlining this year’s event is Talkdemonic. With electronic lap-top sounds backing Kevin O’Connor’s expert talent on percussion and a violinist carrying the melody, Talkdemonic’s music is a mystic sort of dark, melodic and terrifying all at once. We’re probably due for a new record by these folks, as the last one was the outstanding Eyes At Half Mast from way back in 2008.

Talkdemonic: Duality Of Deathening [mp3]

Talkdemonic: White Gymnasium [mp3]

Written by Justin Ray Ross.

AristeiA‘s first full length album, You Give Me Strength, You Give Me Patience!, blends the jam-session styling of Built to Spill with the post-rock sensibilities of Mogwai and Explosions In The Sky, which the majority of their sound is influenced by. Floating melodies intertwine with pounding rhythms to carry you on a journey across winter soundscapes.

The album opens with the retrospective mini-epic, “She Makes Me Want To Build A Time Machine,” which starts at a mid-tempo and builds into a lovely crescendo over a 6-minute expanse before floating back down to earth for a final send-off.

Largely an instrumental album, AristeiA relies on the power of its music to carry their message through, eschewing lyrics until the second track, “The Genies I’ve Known,” which employs the lyric “The snow is melting now/ and I’m seeing green”, sparking imagery of Spring and rejuvenation.

The most haunting track on the album, “Baby Cart Into Hades”, sprouts up in stark contradiction with the feeling of walking through a snow-covered forest at night, where the guitars sound like the rushing of an oncoming train before the beat kicks in at the two minute mark, creating a sensation disturbing in its determination before bursting into an ever-rising fury of hellfire. Though the song still invokes the sensation of renewal, it makes no effort to sugar-coat the lingering darkness surrounding the heart of the journey.

Finally, their last track, “A Kick That Could Wreck A Skyscraper,” sounds like the transmutation from man to monster. A reflective piece, it seems to relay the narrative of a person on the edge, leaping across a ravine and floating through the ether of uncertainty before landing on the other side as a 50 foot giant wreaking havoc on the unsuspecting metropolis. Whether or not it was a conscious effort to have the guitars sound like Godzilla gnashing his teeth, coupled with the sound of saucers and helicopters in the sky is probably a superfluous question, as the narrative quality of AristeiA’s music sparks a barrage of imagery open to interpretation, yet never disappoints at thought-provoking, holistic music.

This review was originally published August 14, 2006 on the old version of FensePost.

AristeiA: She Makes Me Want To Build A Time Machine [mp3]

[CD, 2006]

1. She Makes Me Want to Build a Time Machine
2. The Genies I’ve Known
3. Lullaby Number Three
4. Baby Cart Into Hades
5. Lullaby Number One
6. Why Don’t You Marry It?
7. Lullaby Number Five
8. A Kick That Could Wreck A Skyscraper

Dear AristeiA,

It’s been too long. I’ve missed you. There’s a laundry list of things I’ve wanted to say but haven’t in the past year. I’ve been busy. Things are good; I just get distracted. I’m sorry I haven’t made it down to Portland to see any of your amazing shows and I’m sorry we haven’t spoken in a while. I’d like to take a moment and rectify that because, despite my being vacant, I do have strong feelings for you.

You see, there’s a job and a girlfriend. (There’s always a girl. Right? They take us away at times—but they sure are great company as well.) The responsibilities of life sometimes drown out everything but the immediate, making the age-old statement Ignorance is bliss all the more true. I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately.

So here I am, holding your new self-titled EP, listening to the songs. And I realize just how much I’ve missed you. I remember way back in 2006, meeting you for the first time at Doug Fir in Portland. When you took the stage, I was instantly surrounded by sound. There was something powerful behind the noise—something that altered realities.

And here you are, doing it again. First, the instrumental “Self Will Run Riot” and then on “Goldenwings”. Your vocals are so strange here — almost operatic — but mixed with your edgy shoegaze sound they fit, oddly enough. Then “Halkuon” drives me into a hypnotic state.

Yes, we’ve missed each other, but I’m sure we’ll meet again soon. Maybe it’ll be next month, maybe not for another year. But that day will eventually come ‘round. We’ll embrace like old friends, maybe share a brew. And you’ll blow me away just like the olden days.

Best wishes,

Fense.

This review was originally published May 5, 2008 on the old version of FensePost.

AristeiA: Self Will Run Riot [mp3]

[CDEP, 2008]

1. Self Will Run Riot
2. Goldenwings
3. Halkuon

The music AristeiA (MySpace) creates is surreal. In a live setting, the sound is deafening. It has the ability to surround one so completely, one can slip into a trance. On record, the effect is similar, but best experienced through large headphones. How To Kill A King is the latest from AristeiA, and features a new percussionist.

How To Kill A King is a fitting name for this six song EP. Instrumental post-rock often has a medieval feel to it, dark and mysterious. And AristeiA fulfills this statement — from opening track “The Might Of The Sword” to closer “The Might Of The Dragon”. The first track is a slight departure from AristeiA’s previously released work, featuring a digitally manipulated style of percussion that makes the song epic. However, this feature does not appear again.

Another standout is “Stairway To Heaven 2: Stampede Into Heaven”, a song that begins soft and slow, and gradually builds in momentum and volume, into a song of monumental proportion. The song transitions flawlessly into “I’ll Take Mine Black”, a song that is reminiscent of that first cup of coffee in the morning — you’re relaxed from a good night’s sleep and, although slightly drowsy, the warm sun is calming.

You see, that’s one of AristeiA’s greatest abilities; each song paints a picture, and for each person that picture is different. One may be of something pleasant, like the image I described above, while another may be dark and macabre. Either way, in my opinion it’s genius.

AristeiA: Feedback King [mp3]

[CDEP, 2008]

1. The Might Of The Sword
2. Feedback King
3. Stairway To Heaven 2: Stampede Into heaven
4. I’ll Take Mine Black
5. Panda Vs. Satan
6. The Might Of The Dragon