-
Viper Creek Club: Hot Lights
[+ Show ]
Viper Creek Club: Hot Lights
Nevermind the romantics of Valentine’s Day, let’s get laid! And hold u...Viper Creek Club: Hot Lights
Nevermind the romantics of Valentine’s Day, let’s get laid! And hold up a second, I got the perfect soundtrack, Hot Lights, the new EP by the dance duo of Mat Wisner and Brandon Jensen, more popularly known as Viper Creek Club. Hot Lights, urges you over the course of six synth-laden up tempo tracks to get up offa that thing, and dance until you feel better. A very simple formula is put to use: Combine relentless electric dance hall drum tracks, a start stop start song progression, and hedonistic lyrics delivered impatiently in something of a rocker’s growl over sufficiently attention holding, pulsing track decoration. Hot Lights plays out just long enough to start your hips gyrating without over-doing itself or fatiguing the audience through repetition.
With tracks like “Because I Know” and “Your Body,” the EP is fine by its own merits, say to put your partner in the mood on a rainy afternoon, but to really appreciate any of the tracks to their full extent I think a packed and sweaty E-driven club is more appropriate. The nature of the music itself demands no questions or self reflection, rather seems an incessant ‘go go go’ to spite any misgivings about lining yourself out on a mystery drug, random bathroom sex with a stranger met on the dance-floor, or whether or not the after-after party is a good idea. And this I can fully appreciate.
It seems the only weight to bring one back down into the realm of reality appears on “In the Living Room,” which is appropriately the last track. It’s a wind down really, the BPM’s are rolled back and a little more attention is paid to atmosphere as accusations of alcoholism and over-doing it surface like wrinkles around the eyes of any veteran clubber.
Viper Creek Club does an excellent job of delivering short, tight, and catchy party anthems in the spirit of LMFAO. And while I doubt we’ll be listening to Hot Lights ten years on, it definitely accomplishes the objective of living in the moment right now.
-
SONICBIDS SELECTS: Viper Creek Club
[+ Show ]
Members: Brandon Jensen, guitar || Mat Wisner, keyboards, beats, and vocals
Location: Seattle
File...Members: Brandon Jensen, guitar || Mat Wisner, keyboards, beats, and vocals
Location: Seattle
File Under: Electro Pop
URB: How long have you guys been making tunes?
VIPER CREEK CLUB: Brandon has a formal educational background in audio production and has his hands on recording/production for last 10-plus years. Mat has informal musical training background and has been focused in recording and audio production for 5-plus years. The last couple years have held audio production incredibly important in our creative endeavors. It has empowered us to tackle more elaborate compositions, and created a bigger “tool belt.”
Ironically, despite our production prowess, we have enlisted a local producer/engineer, Frank Mazzeo, for our upcoming LP, Letters. Originally, we worked with Frank as just an engineer out of a larger Seattle studio for the first session of our album. There was very good chemistry and he offered excellent direction during the recording process. We recorded the rest of our album at his personal Push/Pull Studio. Frank and Push/Pull were incredible finds.
URB: What are your live gigs like?
VCC: With our new electro sound, it is important to translate that energy in our live show. We have an evolving light show we run off the stage floor with overhead lights blacked out. The lights are sound synced and pop on the beat. We plan to continue to add more lights and lasers. We recently found a glove with laser fingers online, which we found very intriguing… We currently use the help of several midi synced drum machines, MPCs, Super Looper pedals, and keyboard/synths.
URB: Do you often run into people expecting your act to sound a certain way because of where you’re from?
VCC: Seattle, of course, was the center of the music universe ten or so years ago in the grunge days. In fact, we recorded some songs in the same studio Pearl Jam’s Ten was recorded. However, more recently Seattle has probably been more notable for launching the likes of bands like Death Cab and Fleet Foxes. The hip-hop music community here is absolutely boiling on a city level, and I [Wisner] expect and am hopeful some of these acts will be recognized on a national level.
Outside of having folk-esque beards, I don’t think we fit many of the current or old Seattle stereotypes. This is a good and bad thing. Good, we have the opportunity to usher in a fresh sound to the city which has been relatively untapped locally. But, there have already been challenges being the pioneers of a new sound in Seattle. It is hard to find local bands that sound like us for shows and for building camaraderie. However, we fully look forward to the challenges and have already seen an amazing core group at early shows.
URB: What’s the most valuable part of using Sonic Bids?
VCC: As a new band, Sonicbids has acted essentially as our electronic business card. This is a valuable piece of real estate on the World Wide Web for us right now as we create our online presence. It is a clean and short and sweet window that consolidates all our info into one spot. It is the best e-option for us to contact promoters and press with.
Viper Creek Club “Eliza”
Letters is due April 2010.
VCC on Sonicbids.
-
This Is The New Sound
[+ Show ]
There's a new sound in town, and it's being made by Viper Creek Club, a duo that recently released i...There's a new sound in town, and it's being made by Viper Creek Club, a duo that recently released its first full-length album, Letters. The essence of the new band's new sound is bold synth-pop—sometimes ornate, sometimes dramatic, sometimes orchestral, sometimes energetic, sometimes super-sensitive. In their slick mixture, we hear a dash of Euro electro, a touch of indie rock, the occasional rush of electro funk, and softly sung tunes about the kind of emotional states that are found at the end of a brief relationship. You met last month at a party, it was a good two weeks of parks and breakfast in bed, then things started falling apart, and now you are alone again. That's the feeling.
Mat Wisner, 27, is Viper Creek Club's singer, beat programmer, and keyboardist; Brandon Jensen, 26, plays the guitar; they have been working together in a variety of modes and projects since 2006. Viper Creek Club, their most recent project, began in April/May of 2009, and their first show happened early this year.
"We're both Spokane, WA transplants," wrote Wisner in an e-mail. "I went to school there at Gonzaga and came to Seattle afterward. Brandon also went to school out there, and then migrated to Seattle to attend Art Institute of Seattle for audio production.
"I had a band in Spokane called Ambulance for Angeles which originally started as a duo with a good friend from a prior band. Tragically (it still hurts my heart), he overdosed on over-the-counter medicine after a bad couple months of life... Brandon and I met through a mutual friend who was the drummer for the reformed AFA at the time, '05-'06. AFA had a good run in Spokane, but we disbanded after the drummer got married and I graduated.
"When I moved to Seattle, I had no one to make music with, and was post-grad holed up in my parents' basement making sad bastard music. Brandon was the only person I knew in Seattle at the time who did music, so we linked up and we have been working together ever since." That is the story of Viper Creek Club.
This is the album, Letters, that was recorded by Frank Mazzeo in his Push/Pull Studio: It has 11 tracks, the shortest of which is the opening track, "Searching for Nineteen: An Introduction," a moody cinematic work that sets the listener off on a journey through an electric sea of sweet and sad pop tunes. "Soft Spots in the Dark," my favorite tune on the album, has a thumping, upbeat set against a quick, almost steplike clapping. A simple harmony of piano bass chords sets the background, while synth and guitar melodies slip in and out of the tune's cheery (almost beery) existence. "Crime Lights" is a harder, more electro-driven tune; it combines the raw energy of Justin Timberlake with a kind of Scandinavian pop softness. "The Engineer" is on the slow, reflective, deep end of things, suggesting in its pretty flickers and flashes and echoic chorus a warm phantom of Pinback.
Viper Creek Club are into not only electro pop but also local hiphop. In fact, Wisner recently informed the readers of URB magazine that Seattle's hiphop community is "absolutely boiling on a city level." He was not wrong about that. He was also right about this: "Some of these acts will be recognized on a national level." Viper Creek Club's response to this atmosphere of local excitement has been a series of high-powered remixes of tracks by the stars of the new school—Fresh Espresso, Mash Hall, Wizdom & Grynch, and Sol. These remixes are the night to their album's day. They are harder, heavier, more electrical. None of the original tunes on Letters has the power (or even desires the power) to dominate a dance floor like their remix of Fresh Espresso's "The Lazerbeams," a rump and thump of robot funk. Letters is one thing (cool, moody, thoughtful); these remixes are something else (raunchy, rambunctious, galactic).
What makes Viper Creek Club's hiphop project important (the remixes are going to be released as a mixtape later this year) is that it marks the first solid, artistic connection between local indie rock and indie hiphop. In the past, such connections were at best minor experiments that usually ended badly. In Viper Creek Club's remixes, we hear a connection that's convincing and alive with an energy that's genuinely new.
-
Hot Lights EP // Viper Creek Club
[+ Show ]
Hot Lights opens with a jarring and somehow symphonic bang. It is complete with an entire strings se...Hot Lights opens with a jarring and somehow symphonic bang. It is complete with an entire strings section and horns, a deep, grimy back beat, and a sky-scraping voice anxiously vociferating lyrics to its listener. The new EP starts off with “Because I Know”, a song that lets the audience know what Viper Creek Club is all about.
Though the group is heavily influenced by hip-hop, it seems much less apparent on their forthcoming 6-song EP than it has in their previous albums, Letters and Viperlust. Rather than resonating earthy beats and gritty rhymes, Hot Lights takes inspiration from electro-indie superstars like Phantogram and Justice, while vocals by Seattleite Mat Wisner echo a post-scene masters like Taking Back Sunday and more currently, 3OH!3.
Based around a city’s party scene most of the tracks on Hot Lights are upbeat and dancy; however, it closes on a rather somber note with “In The Living Room.” This song is the one that speaks to me most, perhaps because it gives listeners a taste of Wisner’s true artistic abilities; as opposed to featuring more repeating, thumping beats and overarching clichés, this song reveals Viper Creek Club’s atrophied love life and ambivalence toward what the future holds. Ending the EP on this note is perhaps one of the best choices Viper Creek Club made during production of this project. It shows us that the duo has much more talent than shirts-off-slam-drunk-party boys, and that in fact there is a deeper meaning to the music they make; perhaps more importantly, there is a greater artistic ability.
Overall, Viper Creek Club’s electro-pop, funky-disco-dance-your-ass-off sound is cohesive throughout the album, with the voice samples exceptionally well (“Count It Out”), and purposely ambiguous yet simple lyrics like “This is what is good/ Your skin on mine in the living room” will abide with listeners and keep them looking out for Viper Creek Club. Hot Lights drops February 14th. Buy it and dance, dance some more, mellow out in the end and then start it again.
-
Join the Viper Creek Club
[+ Show ]
The Viper Creek Club is a project that's headed up by musical mastermind Mat Wisner. Originally an ...The Viper Creek Club is a project that's headed up by musical mastermind Mat Wisner. Originally an idea in one of Wisner's demo songs for a previous project, VCC served to combine everything he was working on and then taking all that and blending it into some sort of pop. After some experimentation the results of this recipe for musical tastiness became the Hot Lights EP.
Consisting of six songs the Hot Lights EP takes most forms of electronic pop and fuses them together to create a sugar rush of synth pop goodness. With electro, chill out, chill wave, ambient, indie dance, and everything in between influencing Wisner's songs he ends up sounding something like Cobra Starship fighting with Crystal Castles for control of his mind. The songs are addictively structured with choruses that even at their vocoded best are easy to sing back. It's fantastic stuff that simply ends too soon.
The Viper Creek Club are beasts at what they do. From the mind numbingly catchy, "Your Body," to the pro tools auto tuned breaks of "Now You're In the Mirror," Hot Lights EP is kinetic energy that can't be stopped. At six songs this record is too short and one hopes that Mat Wisner hurries up and fuses more ideas together so that there's an album worth of material. The Viper Creek Club is one club worth joining...by any means necessary.
-
Song of the Day: Because I Know – Viper Creek Club
[+ Show ]
Seattle’s electro-pop group Viper Creek Club releases their brand new EP today titled Hot Lights , w...Seattle’s electro-pop group Viper Creek Club releases their brand new EP today titled Hot Lights , which is inspired by the Seattle’s nightlife and the neon lights that adorn the city. They have toured with the likes of Ra Ra Riot and We Are Scientists to name a few. Because I Know is their catchy new single that is a unique blend of indie rock with indie hip hop that hooks you instantly.
-
DList Premiere: Viper Creek Club – “I Want You To”
[+ Show ]
DList is honored to present to you the world premiere of “I Want You To,” the first single off Seatt...DList is honored to present to you the world premiere of “I Want You To,” the first single off Seattle electro duo Viper Creek Club‘s upcoming new EP. Read the feature on VCC in the latest issue of DList (which you can find at the top of the list here) to learn more about “I Want You To” and the group’s new party-rocking focus. “I Want You To” is available for streaming at VCC’s bandcamp page; while you’re there, check out this summer’s Letters and the ViperLust collection of local hip-hop remixes.
-
[MP3] Viper Creek Club - Because I Know
[+ Show ]
Seattle, USA. What a refreshing electro pop tune by Viper Creek Club. His upcoming - 14th Februar - ...Seattle, USA. What a refreshing electro pop tune by Viper Creek Club. His upcoming - 14th Februar - six track release "Hot Lights" consists a high variety. Mat Wisner is the man of the hour who produced these fun making dance party tracks. Enjoy the free mp3 "Because I Know" below and keep your eyes wide open for this EP.
-
New From Viper Creek Club (LOCAL!) - "I Want You To"
[+ Show ]
Cheeeeeeeck it out! Local band Viper Creek Club just released the first song off of their upcoming ...Cheeeeeeeck it out! Local band Viper Creek Club just released the first song off of their upcoming EP. The track is called "I Want You To" and I totally dig it. Do you!?
Read more: http://www.kissfmseattle.com/pages/WhatsNewWhatsNext.html#ixzz1dpz9tFcl
-
Viper Creek Club: Hot Lights
[+ Show ]
Late nights after work, my brain is still swimming from the noise of school children and shrieking d...Late nights after work, my brain is still swimming from the noise of school children and shrieking defiance. It’s a wonder that I would chose to put on a record that is anything but tranquil. Yet, somehow, I am relaxed in the sounds of heavy synths and in-your-face vocals. I don’t mind imagining the sensation of my sweat pooling off my skin ad dripping to the dance floor under the Hot Lights, which, happens to be the title of Viper Creek Club’s latest EP.
“Because I Know,” feels merely like an appetizer in comparison to some other tracks; it loosens up the muscles, there to release that initial stage of tension. “I Want You,” and “Count It Out,” puts the listener directly into their dancing shoes and away from the worries that may reside outside the club. What everyone needs to be concerned about is that hot babe across the room, ready to take you and take you home.
Hot Lights is not devoid of tenderness, however. The only slow jam on the record, “In the Living Room,” is perhaps the most sexually intimate song that has penetrated my eardrums in a long time. The lyrics are blatant; “I want your skin on mine, in the living room.” It completes the EP, a proper closing for a night out after the stress and strain of everyday living.
If you’re an adult on a budget, on a schedule, not always able to make it to the nearest hot spot on town, take Viper Creek Club’s Hot Lights EP out for a spin or two and revel in the sexiness of big city living.
-
Tonight: Dance with Viper Creek Club at Neumos
[+ Show ]
The last few times we checked in with Viper Creek Club they were remixing local hip hope (download t...The last few times we checked in with Viper Creek Club they were remixing local hip hope (download the excellent Viperlust album here for free) and making butts move at the High Dive during Guerrilla Candy’s FunOfficial Bumbershoot Kickoff Party.
In case you’re unfamilar with VCC, they specialize in dance rock with a heavy lean towards the sounds of the more electronic side of Head Automatica and similiar artists. Earlier this week Viper Creek Club released their latest EP, titled Hot Lights, and it’s the best piece of work in the group’s catalog so far which is saying a lot since Viper Creek Club has released some banging dance tunes. You can listen to “Now You’re In The Mirror” off the EP above.
I won’t waste words here describing the album since I think it’s something that you’ll want to experience live, so instead I highly recommended you put on your dancing shoes and head over to Neumos to help VCC celebrate the release of Hot Lights. As an added bonus you’ll get a copy of the record for attending so put on your dancing shoes and head to Capitol Hill for a sweaty night of booty-shaking fun.
Viper Creek Club celebrates the release of Hot Lights at Neumos tonight with SPORTS, The Fascination Movement and Tito Ramsey. ($8, 8 p.m.)
-
Hear Viper Creek Club’s great new single “Feel Home”
[+ Show ]
Our friends in electro-pop duo Viper Creek Club had just released their new single “Feel Home,” whic...Our friends in electro-pop duo Viper Creek Club had just released their new single “Feel Home,” which I’m told will be on its forthcoming EP called Hot Lights, due out in early 2012 some time. All biases aside, I really enjoy this song, with its hook-y chorus and reminds one of VCC’s best song, “Eliza.”
You can listen to it below, or download it from Bandcamp. I’ll post more details on Hot Lights when I learn them.
-
Download: Metric - "Front Row (Viper Creek Club remix)"
[+ Show ]
Download: Metric - "Front Row (Viper Creek Club remix)"
Nov 4, 2010
(photo by Justin Broadbent...Download: Metric - "Front Row (Viper Creek Club remix)"
Nov 4, 2010
(photo by Justin Broadbent)
Canadian indie rock royalty Metric get taken on a synth pop adventure by the boys from Seattle (we know, not exactly what you'd expect to affiliate Seattle with) known as Viper Creek Club. The mix, which drops out a bunch of the punch of the original version of the stomping "Front Row", opts instead to hover around clubby drums and tempers the sexed up and revved up Emily Haines with a 4/4 measure that's accompanied by artificial instruments everywhere else in the mix. It's more sunny and emotive in an upbeat way, rather than just a rock song about a boy. Both work though, so it's cool to have this edit alongside the original iteration in your catalog.
(mp3) Metric - Front Row (Viper Creek Club remix)
Godspeed!
-
Generous Beats
{feature in magazine print}
-
Viper Creek Club: Letters
[+ Show ]
Although, since the mid ‘80s, Seattle has been a breeding ground for successful grunge and indie act...Although, since the mid ‘80s, Seattle has been a breeding ground for successful grunge and indie acts, Viper Creek Club is out to prove that the city can embrace other genres with just as much skill.
Viper Creek Club’s self-released LP, Letters, is a sophisticated blend of pop and electro, layering smooth vocals over just enough keyboards to make the music highly danceable. Listening to this album is like downing a good mixed drink: everything is blended together in such a way that it’s over before you realize it and that you’ve hardly noticed when one track ends and another begins.
Both band members, Mat Wisner and Brandon Jensen, have a background in musical production, so it’s no surprise that they would make an album of such high quality. “Eliza” sounds nearly like a remix on the musical level, but the clear vocal delivery shows that this is how the band sounds normally.
Fans of bands like Foals or Klaxons should sample “Eliza” or “Your Paris,” a slow-burner with steady drums and bells, as everything seems to get louder and more urgent. Viper Creek Club’s album is incredibly rich, layered, engaging, and highly recommended.
-
Viper Creek Club – My Favorite Find of The Week
[+ Show ]
I have no idea why it took me so long to find out about these guys. They’re making remixes of every ...I have no idea why it took me so long to find out about these guys. They’re making remixes of every seattle hiphop group possible. They’re playing a show at every local venue you can imagine(see below), and they’re fucking sick. Viper Creek Club is Mat and Brandon. They’re music fans and talented musicians. Humble and happy for obvious reasons, i would guess for creating songs like this:
Lets just say, if I had a record label, I would have sent a goon to hunt these guys down…
They play with Beat Connection on Thursday at the highdive in fremont. They’re charging $6. obviously Nada Mucho knows their shit for getting this thing set up.
Chop Suey, Thu, November 11 @ 7:00 PM
Neumos, Fri, December 03 @ 8:00 PM
Columbia City Theater, Sat, January 22 @ 7:00 PM
Follow the Viper Blog. Buy the Physical CD, or Mp3s on
-
Viper Creek Club: the Northwest’s best kept secret?
[+ Show ]
Viper Creek Club is the electronic pop duo made up of Mat Wisner and Brandon Jensen. They self-relea...Viper Creek Club is the electronic pop duo made up of Mat Wisner and Brandon Jensen. They self-released their excellent debut album Letters last week, which is pop album for fans of listening to how pop music is created. It’s been getting some attention by making its way into Sonic Boom’s Top 25 albums list at the Capitol Hill location prior to its proper release yet they are one of Seattle’s best kept secrets. Letters was officially released last Tuesday (August 3) and that night, I met up with Wisner and Jensen at a popular Capitol Hill bar for an interview about creating this album.
Viper Creek Club evolved from an indie rock band from Spokane called Ambulance for Angeles. Mat Wisner said of it “Ambulance for Angeles started as a piano-rock sort of thing, maybe more somber, melodic. When it started, it was sad bastard type piano music. It became a full band and had a more organic, indie sound, not really pop.” Viper Creek Club was the name of the EP they released in 2007. There is little sonically that remains in Viper Creek Club’s sound from Ambulance for Angeles.
Contrasting the evolution to Viper Creek Club’s pop sound today, Wisner told me previous efforts resulted in much longer, more experimental songs, “we would take ideas we liked and beat them to death. Each track was a minimum of six minutes.” With Letters, the first album from Viper Creek Club, he said “when we were making this record, we started getting into more MIDI compositions, we just wanted to learn more about about it. I also started producing some hip hop, which you can do all in MIDI if you want. Hip hop and a lot of urban R&B music uses pop song structures. I started focusing our song structure around that, which is inclined towards pop music. Our songs are organized like ‘real songs’, they have a verse, chorus, bridge, intro.”
Letters is one of the most polished pop records to come out of the Northwest and it’s really held together by their making their compositions fit within pop’s basic confines. Where it differs from radio-friendly Top 40, though, is that the hooks are far more subtle; they’re in there (especially in lead single “Eliza”) but they become much more noticeable each time you listen to the album. Nor is it electronic, disco pop, which you’ll probably need to look somewhere more beholden to the 4/4 beat if that’s what you’re looking for. Instead, what Letters is is a well-constructed album that showcases some very intricate beats put together in a consistent structure. When listening to the beats, you hear a lot of different ideas at once within a cohesive unit.
One song where they differ from pop song structure is the closer, “Drowning.” It’s a song that runs past seven minutes and is far more avant garde and experimental than the ten songs that precede it. Wisner said “when we got to the end of this record, I thought ‘I really like this record a lot’ and I thought we really need to blow this out at the end. It’s part of our indulgent side.” Yet it wasn’t fully planned out. Jensen said “we had an idea of what we wanted to do with ‘Drowning’ but not all of it.” Wisner added “we had prepared a lot for the other sessions and the last one, Frank had time and didn’t have time after that for about a month. Before, that non-preparation ruined us but here I think it worked out well for us.”
Between Mat Wisner and Brandon Jensen, they are both producers and fans of the technical aspects of making pop music. Their bio mentions that Wisner produces hip hop (he does a lot of remixes; you should particularly look for the remix of Fresh Espresso’s “The Lazerbeams”) and Jensen produces and mixes acoustic artists and local rock bands. After trying a few different studios and producers, they met Frank Mazzeo and recorded most of it at his Push/Pull Studio. Both Jensen and Wisner talked of being fortunate to work with him because he understood the sound they were trying to get and was comfortable working with artists who weren’t folk or garage rock-inclined. “The sound we were going to was going to be this tight, focused melodic keyboards, MIDI is involved a lot,” Wisner said and then added “I can’t imagine making music without Frank. We’ll always be working with him.”
Working with Mazzeo has also helped with playing those songs live. Jensen said “we do a lot of non-vocal communication on stage because there is only two of us, so we have to communicate really well, which we got to do while recording and that helped us out a lot.”
Playing with just two people on stage is to their comfort as Wisner said about playing live, “that’s always been our thing. We want to have a full sound without having more people. We’ve tried it but it doesn’t work because a lot of people will flake out or not show up. There’s less drama, too.”
He explained that the way the band operates on stage is similar to how a lot of hip hop shows are conducted, “when you see a hip hop show, they have a live DJ playing the backing track and do whatever they do over the top, we do something similar, we have backing tracks to fill in a lot of gaps. Right now, we’re putting that into a MIDI grid, which is a board with all of these square buttons and we can isolate pieces and do crazy shit like that. We’re doing that and playing over the top of that. I have key parts and Brandon has guitar parts we play over the top of that and I sing live, of course.” He summed it up by saying “it’s like a live, electronic DJ set with live stuff over top of that. That gets pretty big, it’s a pretty big sound for us.”
-
DOWNLOAD: Beat Tape – Viper Creek Club
[+ Show ]
Viper Creek Club’s new Beat Tape made my morning commute much livelier. Thanks, Mat Wisner! All you ...Viper Creek Club’s new Beat Tape made my morning commute much livelier. Thanks, Mat Wisner! All you local MCs: there’s some good sh-t here, I recommend you hop on a few joints. I especially enjoyed “Like This” with its big beat and warm textures. I would give it the ol’ college try, but y’all don’t wanna hear that. Trust me.
-
The Future of Viper Creek Club: After Hiphop, Pop
[+ Show ]
I'm already a big fan of VCC's remixes of local hiphop...
It's now very possible that I'll become...I'm already a big fan of VCC's remixes of local hiphop...
It's now very possible that I'll become an equally big fan of their next series, remixes of pop bands. The delightfully sensual (and less robotic) remix is of "Front Row," a tune on the Metric's new LP Fantasies.
-
SONG OF THE DAY: VIPER CREEK CLUB “ELIZA”
[+ Show ]
A big shout must go out to a new friend to Future Sounds – Blair from the Seattle blog, SEATTLE IN H...A big shout must go out to a new friend to Future Sounds – Blair from the Seattle blog, SEATTLE IN HIGH DEF, who not only was responsible for introducing us to tonight’s Rumble Seattle local gem, YUNI IN TAXCO, but he dropped in today to tell us about his “favorite find of the week” in the Seattle duo, VIPER CREEK CLUB.
Blair is two-for-two in our book with recommendations so we’ll be stalking him going forward for his solid recommendations musically from up north. This track had a ‘first play’ quality to it, and an easy choice for today’s Song Of The Day. URB did a nice interview with Brandon and Mat earlier in the year HERE. Hey Viper Creek Club, we’re coming for you soon enough…
SONG OF THE DAY: Viper Creek Club “Eliza“
-
Viper Creek Club - Letters REVIEW
[+ Show ]
Viper Creek Club
Letters
Self-Released
A-
If you own a pair of comfortable dancing shoes, Vip...Viper Creek Club
Letters
Self-Released
A-
If you own a pair of comfortable dancing shoes, Viper Creek Club's album, Letters, is sure to bring out your inner Fred Astaire or Boogaloo Shrimp. No doubt put together with an array of synths and an endless cache of ideas, all the electronic blips and subtle sound effects will draw comparisons to bands like the Postal Service or Stereolab, but I found that the morose aesthetic of "Your Paris" and "Twelve Step" has a commonality with British dream pop.
These songs are flacked by uptempo dance jams, which are far more creative than stuff like 3OH3!, Cobra Starship, Owl City, and whatever else the Warped Tour set is listening to.
Viper Creek Club's lyrics are also relatively interesting and definitely not completely fucking vapid like those of other bands that I mentioned. Not to throw stones or anything, but let's be honest: you seldom find a band that can have complex words and concepts mixed with danceable beats.
What is really great about Letters is how solid it is from beginning to end. Most debut records tend to have missteps -- and even the most minor ones throw off the overall consistency of the final product. Viper Creek Club do a great job in producing a variety of songs that show the range of the group, as well as sequencing the tracks in a way that don't throw a monkey wrench for this dance party mix.
In a genre where the basic elements of pop music are ignored in lieu of breakneck beats and glorified teenage poetry, Letters puts a fresh spin on a tired scene. If only indie rock bands can take a cue from this duo...
-
Viper Creek Club Doest It Again
[+ Show ]
The local indie elecrtro duo Viper Creek Club have just dropped a slamming remix of Mash Hall's "Can...The local indie elecrtro duo Viper Creek Club have just dropped a slamming remix of Mash Hall's "Can You Stand The Reign."
As with their remix of Fresh Espresso's "Lazerbeams," the new remix transforms the hiphop track into an orgy of robot energy. I will have more to say about the duo's new album, Letters, in the near future, but for now my big hope is that they continue remixing works by local, third wave hiphop crews.
-
More Viper Creek Club
[+ Show ]
This time around, the local indie elecrtro duo Viper Creek Club remixes "Got Ya Numb" by Wizdom and ...This time around, the local indie elecrtro duo Viper Creek Club remixes "Got Ya Numb" by Wizdom and Grynch.
photo by Brandon Page
Rappers get in line. You know what it's starting to look like: Your shit ain't shit this year if it's not remixed by Viper Creek Club.
-
Seismic Rad-Libs: With Mat & Brandon of Viper Creek Club
[+ Show ]
For any of you who have not heard of the electro-pop sensation Viper Creek Club out of Seattle … I g...For any of you who have not heard of the electro-pop sensation Viper Creek Club out of Seattle … I guarantee this won’t be the first nor the last. There is quite a bit of hype being built up around their Aug, 3rd freshmen release “Letters”, and from a personal point of view… it’s quite simply amazing.
Mat and Brandon were nice enough to partake in the seismic-sound.com’s Rad-Libs, so lets see what we can learn about them.
1.Making an album was M: My moment of zen.
B: Creatively freeing and way smoother this time.
2.Best way to clear my head is M: Drinking six vodka tonics…I have a busy head.
B: Playing music, or a long bike ride.
3.The Seattle music scene M: Is severely underrated.
B: Is why I moved to Seattle.
4.Organized religion M: Haunts me. I’ve recently acquired the fear of being mortal, but not sure its appropriate to use organized religion as my crutch into the afterlife.
B: Made my middle-school years hell.
5.Hip-hop is M: My other musical personality. Hopefully someday I will be able to make music in one of those plush vibrating leather chairs thanks to hip-hop.
B: New to me, but I like it.
6.When I’m drunk I crave M: More drinks..(specifically more shots of Patron). Drunk Mat seems to like top shelf tequila when already far gone (NOT RECOMMENDED for so many reasons).
B: Good music, and good beer.
7.Best show I have ever seen was M: Emily Haines at The Crocodile. We were in the front row, and she stared at us the whole time. Although in reality, she probably couldn’t see shit, cause of the lights, but we like to think otherwise.
B: Emily Haines at the old Crocodile, or Friendly Fires and the XX at Neumos.
8.My most bizarre dream was M: Fighting with Diddy cause he couldn’t afford my beats, and then a flash forward/backward where we had reconciled and were shooting an alternate version of Wrekx -N- Effect’s “Rump Shaker” video in the jungle. This was a recent dream, and ever since “Rump Shaker” has been stuck in my head. Needless to say, this was one of my better dreams.
B: Its a toss-up. I had a reoccurring dream in my childhood of walking through a Michael Jackson music video (esque) graveyard with fake fog and upright coffins. My best friend and my kindergarten teacher would try to kill me. I’ve also had a random reoccurring dream of a demon on the end of my bed flipping through an upside down bible and screaming at me.
9.I learned a lesson when M: I quit drinking so much, I was capable of amazing things.
B: We recorded and mixed a record in 30 hours, and didn’t put any effort behind it.
10.I spend too much time M: Worrying about other people.
B: Booz’in it up.
11.I find beauty in M: Easter eggs. Not physical Easter eggs, but the world’s little secrets.
B: The little things.
12.Making an album brings out M: My favorite chunks of time. I used to have a lot of nervousness and apprehension about doing songs in a studio. But now its more anticipation and excitement. More of an empowering process vs. a demoralizing one.
B: My musicianship. I’ve improved ten-fold in the last year.
-
Up and Coming
[+ Show ]
Neumos Beach Party 2010: Fresh Espresso, Fourcolorzack, DJ Sean Cee
(Neumos) P Smoov and Rik Rude's...Neumos Beach Party 2010: Fresh Espresso, Fourcolorzack, DJ Sean Cee
(Neumos) P Smoov and Rik Rude's "The Lazerbeams" was recently transformed into a lusty, robotic opera by Viper Creek Club, a local electropop duo whose debut album, Letters, is due out August 3. The original "The Lazerbeams" is already packed with robot energy; the Viper Creek Club remix reduces the remaining human energy to a bare minimum, and what you feel in the mechanical thrust of the beat and the electric surges of the synths is a music for a world that has little to no room left for anything organic. One hopes that Viper Creek Club do more work with the hiphop crews that are unified by the Go! Machine program. CHARLES MUDEDE
-
What's New, What's Next: Viper Creek Club
[+ Show ]
Mat and Brandon, the masterminds behind local band Viper Creek Club, came to the studio today to ch...Mat and Brandon, the masterminds behind local band Viper Creek Club, came to the studio today to chat with me!
(Random factoid: They actually once lived with Ben from Jackie & Bender, ha!).
The guys come from very differnet musical backgrounds, and have combined to create a poppy-electro sound that'll really make you want to move.
We talked about their collaboration, what it's like to have your album finally arrive on your doorstep, and a potential cover of Justin Bieber (??... but not really haha).
Make sure to pick up "letters" by Viper Creek Club, out August 3rd!
-
"Lazerbeams" Remix
[+ Show ]
Yet another remix of a Fresh Espresso track, this time courtesy of local electro wizards Viper Creek...Yet another remix of a Fresh Espresso track, this time courtesy of local electro wizards Viper Creek Club. “The Lazerbeams” gets VCC’s special distortion treatment. It’s beautifully, refreshingly, grimy. Something akin to rinsing your mouth out with minty thumbtacks — which might sound bad, but really, it’s not. Best FE remix I’ve heard so far, fam. Click here or below to download.
-
Viper Creek Club - Eliza
[+ Show ]
Viper Creek Club are a little dreamy indie pop duo from Seattle. They really haven't been around too...Viper Creek Club are a little dreamy indie pop duo from Seattle. They really haven't been around too long, so unless you belong to the 206 area code there is a good chance you haven't ever heard of them. Regardless of that fact, their song Eliza from their upcoming album Letters is stupidly catchy, and the video - stupidly fun as well. Music appeals to everyone on some level, and the best music is the stuff we can relate too. Music videos, to a certain degree, are like that as well. Where some are just ambitious and imaginative story boards of what the music would visually be like, others are just a good house party, the kind we all used to go to and the kind we all wish we attended more of.
-
New Music: Viper Creek Club
[+ Show ]
Do you remember that music video shoot that went viral on November 14, 2009? I’m talking about none ...Do you remember that music video shoot that went viral on November 14, 2009? I’m talking about none other than the shoot for Viper Creek Club’s “Eliza;” when word of mouth brought over 250 people to the location and packed them into an oh-so-crammed house. The video for “Eliza” is due out by the end of February, but until then, we have ourselves another occasion to celebrate!
Viper Creek Club has decided to take it out of the studio for the first time; they are taking it to the streets! On January 24, 2010, Seattleites will have the esteemed honor of seeing the very first Viper Creek Club show, if they can beat the line that is. They are going to be playing at High Dive, and judging from their new music, it is going to be an event you aren’t going to want to miss.
Viper Creek Club will be releasing a full length album on April 1, 2010 called Letters, and they have been so kind to allow Seattle Show Gal to debut a couple songs exclusively to our readers. In the leading track, “Searching for 19: An Introduction,” the listener is embraced with electronic ambiance at it’s finest. Layers of warm-flowing textures move gently across the listener’s ear as a soft, anxious pianoforte plays uplifting melodies. The marriage of the organic and synthetic textures on this track are ethereal and godlike.
In the song “Doubt,” Viper Creek Club shows off their range of interpretation. There are deep electronic pulses intertwined with the post-rock esque, magically delayed guitar. The vocals tones flow perfectly with the energy and emotion of the song, and the production is top notch.
We could very well be staring the next big thing directly in the face. Don’t miss this show.
-
New Video: Viper Creek Club - Eliza
[+ Show ]
We have a hit! Are you surprised? Viper Creek Club’s vision behind this video was to embody the real...We have a hit! Are you surprised? Viper Creek Club’s vision behind this video was to embody the real feeling of a house-party with the underlying story of one, Eliza. Viper Creek Club (VCC) invited Seattleites far and wide to make a video of an actual party, not a staged one–they came, and they came. Check out the Q. and A. SSG conducted with VCC at the inception of the project here.
Check out the fruits of your labor! Even if you as an individual reader weren’t in this video, you were as part of the music community of Seattle. The imagery is lush, the story is vivid, the party is wild, and of course, the music is fantastic. Viper Creek Club presents: “Eliza.
-
Viper Creek Club
[+ Show ]
riginally they were known as Ambulance for Angeles, centered in town at Gonzaga. Recently they chan...riginally they were known as Ambulance for Angeles, centered in town at Gonzaga. Recently they changed their name to Viper Creek Club. It's rare to hear such a lush, full sound from a duo. They accomplish it with help from some impressive technology. Lead singer Mat has an arsenal of keyboards, rhythm machines, and samplers. He is able to manipulate them in real time, singing while playing bass and rhythm parts on separate keyboards to a custom rhythm track. He occasionally switches to rhythm guitar. Guitarist Brandon routes his Fender Telecaster through numerous effects, using the delay effect as an enhancement to the rhythm, similar to The Edge from U2. The result is an emotive, unique indie-pop sound with a rock/electronica instrumentation. This Sunday they will bring their full live set-up to the Local Lounge and perform several songs in addition to spinning cuts from their new, self-titled CD.
-
Blue Scholars - "Lumière" (Viper Creek Club RMX)
[+ Show ]
The VCC is back at it with this remix to Blue Scholars' "Lumière":
There's a couple quick insta...The VCC is back at it with this remix to Blue Scholars' "Lumière":
There's a couple quick instances where the vocals slide off beat (a remix bugaboo of mine) but other than that, it's stellar and spacious.
-
Viper Creek Club's Latest Music Video Is Admirably at Odds With Its Forthcoming Album
[+ Show ]
Last August's Letters, the debut of Seattle electronic duo Viper Creek Club, got more than some favo...Last August's Letters, the debut of Seattle electronic duo Viper Creek Club, got more than some favorable local press; aside from rotation on the N.Y. blog circuit, songs from the record were picked up for a Nike commercial and a few spots on daytime soap The Young and the Restless. And, following a house-party-style video for "Eliza," Mat Wisner and Brandon Jensen are back with visuals for "Soft Spots in the Dark." Directed by Thomas Price, the story-centered video (your only glimpse of Mat Wisner and Brandon Jensen is an eye-blink cameo 1:40 in) is a trip through Victrola Coffee, Sonic Boom Records, and relationship complacency--a perfect slice of the sensitivity Letters embodied.
Their almost-released forthcoming project is, for the most part, nothing like that. Viperlust, a remixtape featuring fresh takes on local hip-hop songs from the likes of Blue Scholars, Fresh Espresso, Mad Rad, Sol, and State of the Artist, is the dark to Letters' light. Instead of gentle electro-pop melodies, the departure in sound is marked by dirty synths and aggressive melodies. A good number of the songs have already been let out on the interwebs, and for a taste you can scope their website and BandCamp page.
In advance of the official Viperlust release party this Friday at Neumos, VCC will be appearing at Capitol Club's "Jet Set" (sponsored by hip-hop collective/label Members Only, who will release the album) for a DJ set--the music, and $1 Rainiers, start at 10 p.m.
-
VCC Give Local Hip-Hop The Electro-Pop Treatment
[+ Show ]
Mat Wisner, of local electro-pop crew Viper Creek Club, has something tricky up his sleeve. Make tha...Mat Wisner, of local electro-pop crew Viper Creek Club, has something tricky up his sleeve. Make that a few tricky somethings. If you’ve been following VCC’s blog (get hip, here), you’ll already be familiar with the series of hip-hop remixes Mat has been putting down for local 206 crews. What started with a gritty re-imagining of Fresh Espresso’s “The Lazerbeams” has morphed into a miniature monster: a half dozen or so exclusive remixes in which Town rap gets VCC’s special electro-pop treatment.
Expect the culmination of Wisner’s side hustle to be a fully-realized collection of remixes available sometime this winter. The latest track from the forthcoming album is this redux to Blue Scholars’ recently dropped, “Lumiere.” The original version was already a dramatic departure from Scholars producer Sabzi’s synth-meets-boom-bap workouts of late. VCC’s version displays diversity as well but builds on the original’s cinematic scope, creating a tense atmosphere with a driving club thump, taut violin and intermittent inclusions of Geo’s vocals. The song’s nervous landscape is complemented further by a female vocal sample that drifts in and out of the track like a ghost.
Many Seattle-area producers are doing remixes of local hip-hop, but few feature the quality of Viper Creek Club’s expert electro-pop sensibility.
-
Seismic Preview: Viper Creek Club @ High Dive October 28th, 2010
[+ Show ]
Seismic Preview: Viper Creek Club @ High Dive October 28th, 2010.
October 28, 2010
tags: Seismic-s...Seismic Preview: Viper Creek Club @ High Dive October 28th, 2010.
October 28, 2010
tags: Seismic-sound.com, jason friendt, viper creek club, letters, mat wisner, brandon jensen, high dive, electric circus, preview, beat connection, indie, dance, surf noirby seismicsound
.
Well if you’re from Seattle and you don’t know who indie electro pop band Viper Creek club is by now… well man your missing the boat, so jump the fuck on board because Thursday night seems to be the perfect night to break up the week from work, and go check out a dope show in Fremont with some friends. Talented duo Brandon Jensen and Mat Wisner just recently released “Letters” over the summer, and to nothing less than critical acclaim from both local and national blogs and publications from all over the country. I can personally say I would be hard pressed to find a weak spot on the album, it delivers. Nonetheless not resting or coasting on any of the high accolades they have received, they also have had numerous remix projects not just with their album, but have worked with some of Seattle’s best and brightest shining artists as well. But don’t kid yourself, it’s not just about the studio work they are known for, these guys just don’t hide behind the beautiful sounds created in the studio … oh no! because live, they bring it and its no fucking joke. Jensen mesmerizes with his amazing guitar work and head shaking passion, while Mat dances, shoves and sometimes gets a little rough with his little lady (yes we are still talking about the show) also known as his keyboard. You get the picture? In a nut shell…live they kick ass. With all this said……don’t drag your feet to get to the High Dive, make sure you get there early enough to check out openers Beat Connection. These guys will certainly be kicking this shit into gear. I guarantee unless you’re a cadaver, your body is going to want to move so don’t miss them.
-
Viper Creek Club are playing High Dive: Go there!
[+ Show ]
Wanna see two local guys who are really good at making music? I thought so. Well if you head to The ...Wanna see two local guys who are really good at making music? I thought so. Well if you head to The High Dive Thursday October 28th your dreams will come true. Electro-pop duo Viper Creek Club aka Mat Wisner and Brandon Jensen are headlining the Four on the Floor Series. I don't know what that is exactly but in an email I received from Mat he described it as four bands playing on the floor of the club with the crowd gathered around. Sounds cool! Also, the guys just released their debut LP called Letters and it's really, really good. Check the video for their song 'Eliza' below. It's the first song I heard from Viper Creek Club and I love it.
-
Viper Creek Club Plays CMJ Showcase
[+ Show ]
Seattle electro-pop duo Viper Creek Club are playing the AM Only & Famous Friends CMJ Showcase at Le...Seattle electro-pop duo Viper Creek Club are playing the AM Only & Famous Friends CMJ Showcase at Le Poisson Rouge on Saturday, Oct. 23rd.
Viper Creek Club is the joint effort of Seattleites Mat Wisner and Brandon Jensen. The band released their debut full-length Letters in August and Redefine Magazine described the disc as an "array of synths and an endless cache of ideas...[that is] solid...from beginning to end".
Letters is an electronica laden-pop journey that will get the dance floor moving. The album splices a savy production knack with organic percussion and piano, making it both deliberate and natural at the same time. VCC’s beats are carefully constructed and synth-focused, building a fresh sound and energy in the music. The album consists of eleven original songs written by members Wisner and Jensen and is heavily influenced by euro pop music and other genres such as hip hop. Wisner provides vocals, keys, beats, and loops, while Jensen plays guitar. Song content is influenced by everything from murder mysteries to lust gone wrong.
-
Viper Creek Club: Bridging the Gap
[+ Show ]
Viper Creek Club: Bridging the Gap
The Seattle duo brings together electronic music and 206 hip-hop...Viper Creek Club: Bridging the Gap
The Seattle duo brings together electronic music and 206 hip-hop's collective spirit.
A A A Comments (0) By Nick Feldman Wednesday, May 11 2011
For fans of The Young and the Restless, the haunting piano chime of "Nadia's Theme" might as well be the soap opera's only song. But Seattle electropop duo Viper Creek Club—who tend to utilize keys for their own provocative ends, and whose music was featured on the daytime drama—would beg to differ.
Brandon Page
Details
Viper Creek Club With Houses, AM Radio. Comet Tavern, 922 E. Pike St., 323-9853. $8. 21 and over. 9 p.m. Sat., May 14.
Also featured in a Nike commercial, the melodies of singer/keyboardist Mat Wisner and guitarist Brandon Jensen's debut album, Letters, hint at an indie-rock influence marked by ethereal tenderness. But their follow-up is, for the most part, nothing like that.
Viper Creek Club's foray into hip-hop began innocuously enough; Wisner, who has a background in hip-hop production and previously worked with the likes of Tacoma's Rockwell Powers, began working with Jensen on a new direction. At first it was a mixtape project, in which they planned to stitch together original 16-bar verses backed with their beats, but after getting hold of the vocal tracks for some local hip-hop songs, the duo opted for a different path.
The resulting remix album, Viperlust—released by local hip-hop label Members Only—includes original takes on songs by the likes of Blue Scholars, Fresh Espresso, Mad Rad, Sol, and State of the Artist. And with a far greater reliance on heavy, spacey arrangements and harder-hitting bass lines—a direction that began with the very first remix—VCC's sophomore release is an undeniable departure from its gentler sound.
"I think once Fresh Espresso hit . . . it was just dirty, you know?" Wisner half-shouted over the blaring music at Capitol Hill fixture Linda's Tavern. "That was an interesting angle to take, and it's more fun to produce those kind of tracks because you get to play with these crazy synths. Our album was more of a delicate thing."
With the exception of a few softer titles like Blue Scholars' "Lumiére" and State of the Artist's "Innovation"—songs that don't fit the mold of pulsing dance-floor anthems like most of Viperlust's other remixes—VCC takes an exemplary slice of local hip-hop and transports it into a grimy electronic tumult. More traditional drum kicks and samples are traded in for aggressive synths, and rather than simply replacing the instrumentals, Wisner occasionally rearranges vocals to complete the songs' transformations. The melodic reinterpretations aren't about being better, but they're certainly different.
Already planning on both another pop record and remix installation, Viper Creek Club's split personality rests in a skilled balance, thanks to fresh sounds on both ends of the spectrum and the collaborative approach the duo advocates.
"In hip-hop, everybody's a little more free and open, and they really support each other," Wisner said. "If that happened in every genre, it would be powerful—that's what creates the community and creates the strength."
-
DOWNLOAD: ViperLust – Viper Creek Club
[+ Show ]
Friday’s album release party for Viper Creek Club’s ViperLust went down with great success, I hear. ...Friday’s album release party for Viper Creek Club’s ViperLust went down with great success, I hear. Your loyal blogger wasn’t on the scene (for a number of reasons, the main one being I live over 2,500 miles away), but I’m positive Mat Wisner and Co. left it all on the stage (or turntables — whatever the case may be) like he always does. Metal Chocolates did their new thing with great style and a nose to the future.
The FREE album download for ViperLust has gone live. Get with that below. For 206UP.COM’s previous thoughts on VCC’s remixes, click here.
-
Hi-Fi Dance Party with Newcomers Viper Creek Club Tonight at Neumos
[+ Show ]
This is no April Fool’s gag… you really ARE lucky enough to have two great shows to choose from toni...This is no April Fool’s gag… you really ARE lucky enough to have two great shows to choose from tonight!
One local band we’ve been excited about since last year, but has remained largely under the radar, is hi-fi dance-pop duo Viper Creek Club. They layer melodic, singable lyrics over trancey and dancey electronic rhythms – a perfect combination for your next dance party. Or, of course, the impending dance party that will ensue tonight at Neumos.
If you’re in the mood to welcome April’s rainy wrath by getting your groove on, tonight’s show is a must see. Make sure you arrive early as VCC will be joined by members of some of our other favorite NW dance bands (including MAD RAD, Truckasaurus, Fresh Esspresso and more).
-
Recommended Shows
[+ Show ]
Viper Creek Club/Friday, April 1
Viperlust is the new remix album from Seattle indie electro duo ...Viper Creek Club/Friday, April 1
Viperlust is the new remix album from Seattle indie electro duo Viper Creek Club, collecting their takes on such local (mostly hip-hop) acts as Blue Scholars, Mad Rad, Hi-Life Soundsystem, and others. VCC's remixes are crisp and clean, gliding from 4/4 drum kicks and boom-bap to loping, Neptunes-derived hand percussion, and from piano chords and soft, gauzy pads to elastic, buzzing, zigzagging synthesizer arpeggios. Tonight they'll perform their remixes live with the featured artists, who may also freestyle over some new, unreleased VCC originals. Opening the show are Metal Chocolates, the OC Notes/Rik Rude combo that's pushing Seattle hip-hop in some of the weirdest, most promising directions this side of Shabazz Palaces, and Truckasaurus, the town's analog electro titans. Hashtag: SWAG. With DJ Darwin, DJ 100Proof. Neumos, 925 E. Pike St., 709-9467. 8 p.m. $10. ERIC GRANDY
-
Viper Creek Club: Soft Spots In the Dark (Music Video Release)
[+ Show ]
my friends in Viper Creek Club just released a music video for their song “Soft spots in the dark” a...my friends in Viper Creek Club just released a music video for their song “Soft spots in the dark” and i like it. Very clean. Very Seattle… check it out and download the song! if you like this then you’ll love the CD.
-
Album Review
[+ Show ]
"Pop" music is categorized by its popularity, and has, therefore, always been an ambiguous genre in ..."Pop" music is categorized by its popularity, and has, therefore, always been an ambiguous genre in my mind. There is nothing about such a genre that defines its sound in any way. What is popular today was not always popular, and often comes from the avid listener's ability to remember a song's words or primary melody line. Many "pop" artists unfortunately write catchy tunes with memorable lyrics for the sole purpose of recognition and simplicity.
Whew! I'm glad to have gotten that out of the way.
Viper Creek Club, on the other hand, is a group of two guys who make the type of music that should be popular for reasons most people aren't used to. They combine interesting, yet catchy male vocals with an array of sounds. While much of their music is driven by electronic kits and effects, it is by no means because they lack the skill to make the music acoustically. The beats and glitchy noises create a unique rhythmic platform, like a hovering surfboard tricked out with rockets and a full, on-board array of guitars, synth tones, and a crisp grand piano that follows up the moods of a few of the tracks with gentle, rich notes and chords.
While refreshingly up-beat and dancy at times, Viper Creek Club takes advantage of the instruments available, arranging many emotions into song and henceforth surpassing the sounds and intentions of many pop artists. Letters takes one on a little personal journey, aligning very peaceful and soothing vibrations with a subtle sense of urgency, then drops the listener off right where he or she started with a nicely wrapped goody-bag.
- Kyle Patrick
