I haven't felt compelled to start a thread in the music forum until now. The occasion is obviously to celebrate the glory of Return to the Sea from Islands.
QuoteIslands is a musical band formed in Canada in early 2005, featuring Nick Diamonds (Nicholas Thorburn) on vocals, J'aime Tambeur (Jamie Thompson) on drums, Patrice Agbokou on bass, and at least temporarily, Jim Guthrie on guitar. Islands is a band that is always in flux, with membership changing when appropriate. Most recently two string players, Alex Chow and Sebastian Chow, and a bass clarinetist, Patrick Gregoire, joined the band.
Although the two founding members of Islands (Nick and Jamie) were members of The Unicorns, Islands is a completely new and independent project. This, in contrast to Th' Corn Gangg, which began as a direct off-shoot project of The Unicorns several months prior to their December 2004 break-up.
One of Islands' first live performances was opening for Beck at the 2005 Pop Montreal music festival. In late October of 2005 Islands went on a short tour with Beck on the west coast of the USA.
Right now it's just up for download. But it's fucking fantastic fun for those of you who like both music and fantastic fun.
I like music and fantastic fun, but I kind of hate Islands. They're just sort of a bastardization of The Unicorns.
Obvious similarities between the two, but nevertheless a completely different band with a different intention. Or, I don't know what to say that generic statement. They're not the Unicorns, they're not as poppy as The Unicorns or as excentric, but they're tighter (a more circumscribed sound) and just as adventurous.
The Unicorns sounded like their name, and Islands sound like their name. You might be being brash, I may be being easy? I really loved The Unicorns and this is like the continuing journeys to me.
Yeah, I guess that was pretty generic, sorry. I'm not just very good at explaining myself. They're just boring to me. "Swans" and "rough gem" are basically reworked Unicorns tunes with all the fun sucked out. I pretty much loved the Unicorns too, so yeah, I probably am being brash.
That won't sap my love for the song "Rough Gem" but I will look into the Unicorns so that it might be sapped.
i think islands are better than the unicorns. islands takes the composition and especially the arranging to a level the unicorns never reached. the opening song of the album "swans" really illuminates this point. its length allows the band to fully explore the potential of the different chord progressions, while still being passionate, high-energy, and not at all boring.
also, they have a rap breakdown that comes out of nowhere, and it works! (for the most part) so i guess that also makes them better than the unicorns.
I guess.
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/i/islands/return-to-the-sea.shtml