Saturday, September 3, 2011

365 Days of Metal: Kicking into a Talespin

So I rehashed one of my most popular one liners from a post nearly a year ago to the day - Sue me!

Day 13

Cloudkicker - Beacons

Artist Origin: Columbus, Ohio, USA
Genre: Instrumental Progressive / Post Metal
Label: Independent
Running Time: 44 minutes
Release Date: September 16, 2010

Best Part: Simple: The whole record.

Favorite Tracks: We're Going In. We're Going Down, Amy I Love You, and Oh God

Grade: 4.5

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Beacons in 20 words or less:

One man. One guitar. One laptop. One amazing independent instrumental artist and inspiration.

The Artist:

Cloudkicker is the one man project brought to life by Ben Sharp. Sharp's repertoire includes everything from slow evocative melodies, to powerful progressive metal overtones, djent and post metal non-chalance. The one thing that stands out above all else is the quality of his productions. Sharp produces all of his material by himself with basic home equipment and a laptop - recording all guitar and bass tracks himself and using technical wizardry to fill out drums any other necessary rhythms. Best of all his work is all free - or pay what you please. Sharp is one of those rare individuals who truly makes music purely out of a love and enjoyment for it, and it shows.

Cloudkicker's other releases include: The Discovery (2008), The Map Is Not The Territory (2009), Portmanteau (2009), and ]]][[[ (2010)

Sharp also remastered ]]][[[ in November of 2010, under the title A New Heavenly Body, with an improved sound quality that displayed how the songs were really meant to sound.

Jay's Take on Beacons:

Within the span of two years Cloudkicker released four LP's and one EP, with every one of them being slightly different from the last, and featuring unique and original material. The way you appreciate Beacons will be slightly different based on whether you prefer Sharp's musings on The Discovery, or the direction he shifted towards on his ]]][[[ EP, which fused his interludes and technical song structures together. Beacons overall is a different beast from both, incorporating musical shifts between heavy prog and mellow ambient. Beacons is a record that you can put on and jam out to, or even just relax and drift off into dream land with. It kicks into high gear from the beginning, without being too overpowering, then proceeds through a slow, evocative central section, and coming out on the other side with tracks that blend the best of both worlds. While Sharp seems to be leaning more towards a post metal or even rock sound with his recent one track releases, it's safe to say he continues to leave an indelible mark as an independent artist.

Sample of the Day:



- J

1 comments:

Kyle F said...

Solid tune!

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