Review: Open One of the Doors by Trip Inside Me

Ever randomly come across music that makes you want to drop everything and climb inside it? Something that seems so familiar but so new at the same time? That’s how I felt when I first discovered Trip Inside Me. Hailing from Kiev in the Ukraine, Trip Inside Me produce beautiful melodies that float through you, dipping and diving around your heart, flowing through your veins. Formed by Iana Ielysheva and Niсk Odintsov, Trip Inside Me is a real trip inside yourself, and I’m really excited to introduce them on From The Inside. Iana’s vocals soar through your head, pulling you in, ethereal and enthralling, both melting into the melodies and standing out on their own. I’ve been playing their album Open One of the Doors on a loop all week, it’s that good. Trip Inside Me took some time out of their day to answer some questions for me, and I’m really looking forward to see where they are headed. Check out some of the links below for some videos and ways to listen to Trip Inside Me!

From The Inside: Can you provide us with a little background on how you met and how Trip Inside Me began?

Trip Inside Me: We found each other on internet and then met in the Kiev. And then we started composing music. We tried playing with many musicians, also. However, we realized that we are Trip Inside Me band, only when we intentionally started the album recording process.

FTI: How would you describe the scene in the Ukraine? Do you find that you mix current events into your music writing at all?

TIM: In real only our inner world, thoughts, life experience and feelings influenced our music. Almost all songs from “Open One Of The Doors” were written before the events in our country. During the events in Ukraine we were busy with mixing the album. Afterwards we did a pause with writing music at some point of the political turmoil, so it seems we are not highly inspired by political events at all. Now we started doing some new material, but this doesn’t relate with political situation in Ukraine. We prefer to abstract from politics and not to mix it with music.

FTI: Who would you describe as your main influences?

TIM: We have a really big variety of things that influence us in different times. As example, the album's lyrics were highly influenced by vocalist’s childhood that she spent near the sea in the small city of Crimea. Most songs are devoted to Iana’s childhood.

As for music and ideas, once we were at the best concert we’ve ever seen in our life - Portishead and Thought Forms in Italy, and that one did a really big emotional influence on us. Also we watched the movie “Сaótica Ana” at that time and this is how we’ve started the album recording.

FTI: I love the idea of providing a book with your album. What was your thought process behind its creation?

TIM: The idea of creating book was originated at the same time with music writing. It is like a complete puzzle from music, photos and illustrations. I’ve chosen photos from my archive that look well as background for each illustration. The pictures are supposed to uncover the main idea, feelings, emotions and memories. Every page of the book is dedicated to a specific song.

FTI: Anything that you would like readers to know about your music and projects? Any plans on touring or playing outside of the Ukraine in the future?

TIM: We have many thoughts, insights and plans in the future. We plan to take more videos, also to record new material. And yes, of course we’d like to play outside of Ukraine. Guys, stay tuned to our news!

Links:

Official website 

Soundcloud

Bandcamp

Facebook 

Open One of the Doors can also be found on Spotify and downloaded in iTunes. I would suggest ordering directly from the band though, because the book that comes with the album is really awesome. For fans of shoegaze, trip hop, dream pop, experimental rock... Thought Forms, Portishead, Switchblade Symphony, Cigale... Basically if you like anything good check out these guys!

Review: Thought Forms: Songs About Drowning

If there is one album that you need to buy this year (apart from Nick Cave & the Bad Seed’s Skeleton Tree), it’s Thought Forms’ third album, Songs About Drowning. Released tomorrow, November 4th on Invada Records, it’s just sublime. It’s no secret that they are one of my favourite bands, both recorded and live, and it makes me so happy to see how far they have come over the years, using their talent and experience to continuously push themselves further and further. I love Ghost Mountain so much, and Songs About Drowning takes their sound and talent across the lake to a new, higher mountain top.

This is their most intense and deep album to date in my opinion. The theme of water flows through the entire album, gushing from the title, trickling and rushing around the lyrics and constantly an intrinsic part of the music, at times conjuring up an expansive ocean, at others the soft melody of a summertime creek. Water is pure, water is murky; it has hidden depths and cleansing powers, and it is both freeing and treacherous. Water is life but it is also a death of some sorts. Song About Drowning is both ocean and stream, or maybe it would be more accurate to say that it is river flowing into ocean flowing back out into a dark lake in the mountains.

While there is still that original Thought Forms sound that I love with all of my heart, Songs About Drowning takes on even more depth with the addition of Jim Barr on bass. Charlie Romijn’s vocals are stronger and clearer than ever, more powerful and beautiful, taking the lyrics and making them into poetry. As always, Deej Dhariwal and Charlie’s guitars sing to each other and their voices work in harmony, feeding off each other and bouncing against the melodies. Guy Metcalfe’s drumming has never been more powerful, rolling and beating a path through the album. There is darkness and sadness in the music, but also a certain form of hope and future pinned on a beacon in the sky. I challenge you to put your headphones on, close your eyes and find it.

While the album really works as a cohesive unit and should be listened to in one sitting I do have some personal favourites: Forget My Name which just makes my heart ache, Inland, which makes the hairs on my arms stand on end with its beauty and sadness, and The Lake which is just so poignant. There is so much heart and soul in this album it is impossible to not be moved to tears and to want to crawl inside the music and live through the lyrics again and again.

Songs About Drowning will be released on November 4th and can be purchased from all of your usual outlets, but there are still some formats left on the band’s PledgeMusic page (any funds past goal are going towards an awesome charity that is dear to my heart), and you can also order directly from the Invada website here. As with any Thought Forms record, the design and beauty of the album is fabulous. I suggest getting the vinyl because it’s gorgeous!

 You can check out the super trippy Wolff Music video below, and try to catch them out on their European tour with 65daysofstatic right now or next year on their headlining tour.

Through these pages I will absorb into me, and with these strings I will absorb into me" - The Bridge

Photo by Philipp Morozov

Review: Garbage - Strange Little Birds

So, I’ve kind of been waiting for this one ever since Not Your Kind of People was released in 2012. That album came at a perfect time in my life and it just reinforced the fact that I could always count on Garbage to produce a collection of songs that would literally sing to me. Listening to Strange Little Birds lying on my bed, I feel the same way as I did in exactly the same position thousands of miles away in 1995 when I listened to Garbage's first record. The fact that a band could do that to me at 17 was pretty normal seeing as I was an angsty teen obsessed with girl fronted rock bands, but that they can twist my stomach in the same, good, way 21 years later is pretty spectacular.

Strange Little Birds is so REAL, the lyrics dig deep. Our Shirley is really letting loose here, it feels like she's finally letting go of every dark thought she has ever carried and handing it over to us. I’ve always related to most of Garbage’s songs, so I’m not surprised at how much I relate to nearly every song on this album, but I feel there is some kind of inner peace at work within the band. They are doing what they love to do, giving the fans a huge dose of what they want, and not worrying about what anyone else thinks. I love it. Deep, dark and proud.

Shirley is an amazing artist, her voice is both beautiful and powerful (it's even better live by the way), but Garbage has never been just her. The band a so TOGETHER, so cohesive, they seem to feed off of each other, know exactly what they want to create, together, as one. Their sound is always polished but raw at the same time. Shirley Manson, Duke Erikson, Steve Marker and Butch Vig are a real powerhouse of creativity, always giving us a bunch of anthems that you are never really able to categorize. One moment they are pure rock, another electronica, another pop, with a bit of trip hop and shoegaze thrown in there.

Having already listened to Strange Little Birds quite a few times, I still can’t pinpoint my favourites, but that may be because I love the album as a whole, and I also feel like I can listen to each song separately, as its own entity.

In Sometimes I feel like the band is talking directly to me (sometimes I feel like I vanished in thin air, sometimes I feel I'm not here), the eerie melody resonating so well with the vocals, twisting the knife in a little further into the heart. Empty could have been an outtake from 1995, it’s a serious classic Garbage stomping sound, and comes across just as well as it would have back then.

I love the electronic vibe on If I Lost You, slow and trippy. I love those Garbage songs that have the more poppy vibe, mainly because I have always felt uncomfortable admitting that I like them, just because I love stompy badass girl rock. But Garbage is just as badass in its poppy sound as it is in its rock sound. This one is kind of trip hoppy. Love it.

Who can't relate to Night Drive Loneliness?! It's sad, it's beautiful and it's life. Who hasn't felt like this before?! Of those stupid things that I've said, there's one thing I regret, in the moment that I said it, I wanted to kill it, I still feel sick about it. And Even Though Our Love Is Doomed rises and rises from deep down and makes me cry.

And then you come to So We Can Stay Alive with its electronic rock sound, makes you want to dance along with those awesome guitar riffs, shredding with the beats. When you finally get to Amends it feels like you have been pulled through a wringer, but in a GOOD way; music always tends to help me let go in a way. Therapeutic for those who create and for those who listen.

So it's a shame that we don't talk, I miss your face and life is short, get off your cross cause long goodbyes, come every time, come every time

I feel like I can always count on Garbage to deliver an album that delivers exactly what I need right THEN. An album that I'm going to know off by heart before long and give to my girls because they will also love it, even though they don't yet know it.

Road trip with your best friend, the wind in your hair and an adventure in your mind anyone?

Strange Little Birds was released today, June 10th, on Garbage's own label, Stunvolume.

Review: The Kills - Ash & Ice

From the first notes of Doing it to Death my body relaxes and my heart sighs with relief - it's going to be another scorcher, another Kills album that I'm going to play over and over again and never get tired of hearing.

The Kills are one of those bands that I've lost count of how many times I have seen live. Webster Hall, Music Hall of Williamsburg, Bowery Ballroom (for some magazine party I think?!), Terminal 5... There was one performance at Webster Hall in 2008 where there was some kind of fire in the roof and the show was suddenly stopped until a fireman came out on stage and yelled "the show must go on!". I still remember quite vividly sitting right above the stage at Terminal 5, watching my friends hit the beats on those drums, beating the sounds right into my heart.. I have a long history with this band and feel like they will be forever sewn into my life as it moves along. Ash & Ice is one of my most anticipated albums of the year, in addition to Garbage and Nick Cave’s new endeavours, and I'm so happy that yet again they have given me another reason to love them even more!

Some bands change it up completely with each new album; some develop their sound and stick to it. There are risks with either approach, the former alienating their fan base, the latter boring their fan base, but if you find that perfect balance you can only create great things. The Kills have always had their own sound, dirty, gritty, sexy rock with guitars that sweep you off the ground; chucking you in the air and slamming you back down on the sticky floor, while the vocals are both tart and sweet. Allison Mosshart’s voice is soulful enough to pull at your heart and gritty enough to make you want to be her when you grow up. They've stayed true to their sound but worked on it, improved it, taken their sound and pushed it every single time. No album sounds the same, you are happy to get that true Kills sound, but excited to hear new songs all at the same time.

I find that on the whole the album is more heavy on the synths than previous works, maybe due to Jamie Hince's recent hand surgeries, maybe not, but it works well, bringing a new take on their still unmistakable sound, a little more depth in some places, a little more lightness in others. I also found that the lyrics are deeper, more introspective, digging deeper than Blood Pressures did. I feel that Allison started putting more of herself into her lyrics on the 2011 release and just went further on Ash & Ice.

I love those songs that are stripped down with Allison's voice belting out heartfelt lyrics (Days of Why and How on Ash & Ice or Last Goodbye from Blood Pressures). She injects so much emotion and raw energy into every word she sings. Hum for your Buzz is so bluesy and those organ sounds that pop up in the song are just perfect, listening to it makes me seriously feel like I'm in a dark bar at 2am listening to a beautiful woman belt out her heartache under a blue light... Tom Waits could come stepping in at any moment to join her. That Love had me in tears and the strumming melody behind Jamie and Allison’s soft vocals convey so much nostalgia in Echo Home.

At the same time Ash & Ice is full of heavier rock tracks, like the first single off the album, Doing it to Death, Heart of a Dog or Impossible Tracks. The dissonant and fractured guitar sounds on Hard Habit to Break is the same sound that drew me to love this band from the beginning, and definitely not a habit I want them to break any time soon!

All in all I find that there is more emotion in Allison's voice, in Jamie's guitar riffs... Life happened and they captured it, digested it and spat it out separately and together all at once. Ash & Ice, the remnants of a fire and a deep freeze, opposites but together, the phoenix rising again.

You see, for me The Kills are my New York City, always will be. Any one of these songs on the album conjures up memories of drinking in a bar, walking down a street, sitting in someone's apartment the night after the night before. Memories that are sometimes best forgotten, but nowadays remembered with a smile. Black Tar really grabbed me by the guts in this aspect. Ash & Ice is every bit as good as previous albums and don't let any music critic say otherwise. There is so much emotion, pain and hard work dripping from every note and every word on this album and I can't wait to play it over and over again on our record player.

Ash & Ice was released today (June 3rd). The Kills are on tour right now, all information about tours, albums and anything else is available on their website.

Review: Band of Skulls - By Default

Listening to Band of Skulls is always a little bittersweet for me, as the good friend who introduced them to me sadly passed away a little over three years ago, and any time I listen to them I see him raving about them, and us listening to them in the bar. I miss him; we would spend hours and hours just talking about music. But without him I may not have even heard of Band of Skulls. Sweet Sour and Himalayan have been regular albums on my rotation over the past four years, and I was super excited to get their fourth album, By Default, released today, May 27th!

Band of Skulls hail from Southampton, England, and have been around as a band since around 2008. The members are Russell Marsden (guitar, vocals), Emma Richardson (bass, vocals) and Matt Hayward (drums). They bring a fabulous heavy, funky and bluesy rock n roll vibe to the scene creating songs that make you want to move, dance, sing and throw some high kicks in the air. By Default doesn’t disappoint in that way at all (actually doesn’t disappoint in any way really) – the Band of Skulls sound is there, throwing you straight into dance mode on Black Magic. It’s great to hear Emma take the lead vocals on So Good, and I love the T-Rexy vibe on This Is My Fix. Killer, the first single, released earlier this year, kind of sets the precedence of the album with its awesome chorus. Nearly all of the songs on the album have killer hooks and awesome riffs, enough to forgive the (somewhat) lack of imagination in the lyrics department. If you want a good collection of rock n roll tunes for those long, hot summer nights ahead By Default is a great choice. I love how they continue to create music, avoid being repetitive and use their influences in a way that still showcases their own style.

For anyone who loves 70’s rock and bands like The Kills, BRMC, The Black Keys, The Dead Weather (all bands that they have supported in the past on tour).

Review: PJ Harvey - The Hope Six Demolition Project

Imagine what her eyes have seen, We ask that she won't let us in – Chain of Keys

PJ Harvey has always written lyrics that hit me hard in the gut, words that are not only meaningful, but meaningful to YOU, striking you at the core. The Hope Six Demolition Project is no exception to the rest - each song has a poignant message, sometimes angry, sometimes tired and always descriptive, so descriptive that you can easily imagine the scene. These days every window into the outside world is full of rapidly passing images of death, destruction and poverty. So many images colliding together that we are at risk of becoming completely desensitized, and many of us already are. From the comforts of our own lives these images remain images, someone else's reality. Polly Jean takes this album to talk about real issues. Issues that exist both near and far, issues that we love to try to bury under other images which are then buried under sand and walked over. You need to listen to each song, let the melodies wash over you and the words penetrate your mind. Those images she describes won’t leave you alone.

This is PJ Harvey’s ninth studio album and is entirely based on her trips to Afghanistan, Kosovo and Washington DC (see what I mean when I say both "there" and on our doorsteps?). She often lets her vocals take the background in the songs on this record, letting her voice blend into the melodies, letting others provide their voices to the cause, and just when you think she is digging herself in too deep she pops right back up again with a cry or a deep yearning plea.

People have judged the album, some going so far as to call it "poverty tourism"... But I don't see her getting a thrill out of visiting or writing about areas of poverty or war, I’m sure she's probably making money off of the album, as she most likely does off every album she releases, but that’s beside the point here. I see it more as a way to raise a different kind of awareness. If an artist can't talk about his or her experiences, about the world as he or she sees it, then what are they supposed to talk about? Does everything have to remain PC at all times nowadays? I get that it appears as if Polly Jean is slightly reluctant to actually really say what she feels as the lyrics come across as her describing what she sees and what she's told (maybe this is why the poverty tourism comments?), but doesn't seem to go as far as to say what her feelings are). Up to us to decide? Most probably. How can you really describe life in a place that you