Errand Boy

Intelligent, intricate, and vehemently cohesive — Errand Boy’s eponymous debut is an outstanding mélange of post-rock guitar riffs and serene ambulant textures complemented by gentle ostinatos and IDM beats that, at times, become reminiscent of early Dntel, and at others, seep toward the edges of modern rock.

Poised harmoniously between the likes of The Books and Dosh, Errand Boy’s self-titled has cultivated a repertoire of cathartic, melody-driven songs blended with poignant sound-bytes of traditional Hebrew folk music, Children’s records, soul albums, and film.

The album begins with Grindcore, She Wrote [listen] , immersing the listener into a world of turbulent drums, fireworks, and chaos — seemingly brandishing the album’s opening. Errand Boy — the pseudonym of Bryan Melanson of St.Johns, Newfoundland, Canada — takes a more pastorale and hopeful approach in big o, little k [listen], crescendoing from movement to movement with a vibrant valley of soft twinkles and wonderfully placed samples.

The latter portion of this debut I can only describe as an opiate for the masses. Yes with an If [listen] takes you home, puts you down, and tucks you in — and if you’re like myself, it also gives you a sweet little kiss on the cheek. Although the ethereal synth patches and mellifluous glimmers of keys seem rather subtle and innocuous, they’re busy at work seducing every hair on your spine. And while you’re in bed, the coming home party [listen] will paint a very maudlin and nostalgic image, beginning with playground swings as an impetus into a piano aria seemingly reminiscent of a recital.

The album culminates beautifully with an organ solo, contrasting greatly from the first track, and flowing nicely with the aesthetic order. Up for download, Errand Boy’s Self-Titled album. Download, listen, love. - Via Memo blog

Errand Boy's Myspace.com genre tags are as follows: Emo/Emo/Emo. I was once in the position to ask him whether this brand was a proudly hoisted flag or ironic self-labelling. He fervently chose the latter, suggesting that Emo, here, points to the insecurity saturated quality of his songs. They provide an alternative to overwrought, popularized balladry and appeal to the realness of personal tragedy.

It's easy to see that hardly a scrap of this music would lend itself to the present day definition, however colloquial, of the emo genre, though the overarching concept of Errand Boy's self-titled release is quite obviously 'emotion.'

Errand Boy (a.k.a. Bryan Melanson) is St. John’s, Newfoundland’s premier electronic musician, whose affected, multi-layered compositions aptly reflect his modest and often self-deprecatory persona, perhaps betraying the inspiration for his songs.

The choppy percussion and brisk, icy feel makes Errand Boy's songwriting highly comparable to Iceland's electro-twee outfit Múm just as meticulously interwoven voice samples invoke The Books. The wistful and brooding sample choices are arguably the record's strongest asset, as they serve to beautifully unify a wide range of integrated styles, as though to say that despite our idiosyncrasies, we all suffer sometimes.

Perhaps the album's most memorable and poignant line, found on the dance-pop track "Stop Watching Me Play Gameboy", is taken from an anti-gay sermon given by Rev. Willie F. Wilson. Over bouncing guitars and synth blips, Wilson angrily quotes his son: "I ain't got nobody to take to the prom because all the girls in my class are gay. And ain't but two of them straight and both of them ugly."

"Big O, Little K" is surely the centerpiece. A deep and sweeping buzz perfectly imitates the squeeze of chemical pleasure one feels at instants of infatuation or disappointment. Children’s voices and gritty movie samples send the listener reeling through a very clear and melancholic nostalgia.

Similarly, “The Coming Home Party”, a pretty piano ballad, sets us up with the sound of what one would assume to be a rusty, squeaking swing set, a sound that reminds us of how we can never really go back to the time of playgrounds and knee scrapes.

But all post-relationship photo album montages aside, this release is merited by its production value alone. The music is entirely home-made but Melanson has managed to achieve studio quality though skilful use of meager technology.

And another thing to be mentioned is the fact that the self-titled release is available for free download (at 001collective.com), an economically bird-brained decision made by humble and vain musicians alike. I'm looking at you, Thom Yorke.

But I guess to sum up the review, I’ll quote Errand Boy's Myspace page a second time. "Errand Boy bowls 300, steals your girlfriend, and makes a sandwich in under one hour." - Minstrel Magazine

If Errand Boy (formerly of the lovely group "The Triceratops") was to ever have a marketing slogan (which would just be wrong in itself), it would be "music made by nerds, for everyone".
His first official (untitled) release consists of electronically made beats, various noises, some piano, guitar, drums and bass, "samples of children's records, soul albums, and jewish folk songs", and a few other nice things. Mike Wyatt, his partner in melodic crime, lays down guitar on the track "Birch Mouth", and takes care of some of the bass and guitar in the live set.
Though the website says he borrows from certain genres, he has a hard time with labels.
"There's never anything that really neatly fits my songs," he comments. "Myspace doesn't have enough hyphenated genres to pin me down."
Errand Boy (Bryan Melanson), may not be aware of it, but his music resembles some of the best works of Múm ("Yes With An If", a personal favorite), Broken Social Scene (especially Feel Good Lost), Aphex Twin, and even a bit of Jack Johnson ("Seagulls Fighting Kites"). The final results, especially for some kid in a basement somwhere messing around with computer apps, are phenomenal.
The great thing about this release is it fills a very large gap in local music. There is little or none of this sort of thing in St. John's, or Newfoundland period, let alone in such innovative configurations.
"I'm surprised there isn't more electronic music, because for me it comes from being isolated," Melanson says. "It grew from me not having any instruments around me or people to play music with, and that's what I find a lot of people complain about here. I'm trying to inspire people, even if it's by being ambitious and failing miserably. If anyone comes up to me after a show asking me how I make my music, I get really excited and give them my e-mail address and start sending them diagrams and coaching them through it."
"Errand Boy" was recorded by Bryan with a little help from Mike in a basement somwhere, and is available now through Myspace and CBC Radio 3. - The Telegram

"What if something deeply interconnecting as you do, which is like a religion, as you do for yourself and that becomes a conversation with the divine, proves to shoot people from you? \"

Orden kommer från Justin Hall som mellan 1994 och 2005 publicerade allt om sitt liv, in i minsta förnedrande och intima detalj, på vad som mot slutet skulle komma att kallas en blogg. The words come from Justin Hall, which between 1994 and 2005 published all of his life, in every degrading and intimate detail, what the end would be called a blog. Hur det svider när han pissar efter en sexuell utflykt. How it hurts when he piss after a sexual excursion. Om hur hans pappa, som begick självmord när Justin var barn, egentligen var. About how his father, who committed suicide when Justin was a kid, really was.

Karriären som ”världens första bloggare” avslutades med ett mentalt sammanbrott, givetvis fångat på film, och det är här han sätter ord på hur utfläkningen av hela sitt liv å ena sidan sätter honom i ständig kontakt med någonting större än honom själv men samtidigt gör det omöjligt att vara nära människor. His career as "the world's first blogger" ended with a mental breakdown, of course, captured on film, and this is where he puts words on how utfläkningen of his entire life on the one hand, putting him in constant contact with something larger than himself but makes it impossible to be near people.

Senare samma år utgör Justin Halls röst några av de mest drabbande samplingarna på Bachelor of Commerce , Errand Boys debutalbum. Later that year, Justin Hall voice some of the most affected samples of Bachelor of Commerce, errands Boys debut album.

Men skivan inleds med rösten som tillhör Wilder Pennfield , en kanadensisk neurokirurg som på 1930-talet botade epilepsi genom att peta på patienternas blottlagda hjärnor medan de var vakna. But the disc begins with the voice of Wilder Penn Field, a Canadian neurosurgeon who in the 1930s cured epilepsy by poking in patients exposed brains while they were awake.

Så fortsätter det, med otaliga referenser till mental sjukdom, sammanbrott och hjärnans mysterier, allt sammanvävt av Aphex Twin-smatter, struttiga stråkloopar och ljuden från en närmast naivt harmonisk gitarr. So it continues, with numerous references to mental illness, collapse and brain mysteries, all the same woven of Aphex Twin-BLARE, struttura silence string loops and sounds of an almost naive harmonic guitar. Ljud som bara kan komma från någon som sitter ensam i sitt kök. Sound that can only come from someone who sits alone in her kitchen.

— Jag har alltid haft slängar av tvångstankar och problem med ångest när jag är bland människor och på allmänna platser. - I have always had tubes, of obsessions and problems with anxiety when I am among people and in public places. Depression och osäkerhet kommer och går, men jag har alltid haft koll på vad som händer i mitt huvud och jag kan ta hand om det själv utan medicinering. Depression and uncertainty comes and goes, but I have always had an eye on what happens in my head and I can take care of itself without medication. Det är säkert inte sunt, men jag hanterar huvudvärk på samma sätt. It is certainly not healthy, but I manage a headache in the same way. Jag låter kroppen reda ut sitt eget trassel. I let the body sort out their own jams.

Som 19-åring flyttade Bryan Melanson, Errand Boys människonamn, från den lilla klippan på Newfoundlands östkust till en större stad på det kanadensisa fastlandet. As 19-year-old moved Bryan Melanson, errands Boys human names, from the small cliff on the east coast of Newfoundland to a larger city on the kanadensisa mainland. Chocken av att plötsligt vara omgiven av mängder med människor ledde till det utanförskap som skulle ha stått först i innehållsförteckningen om Bachelor of Commerce hade haft någon. The shock of suddenly be surrounded by lots of people led to the exclusion that would have been first in the table of contents on the Bachelor of Commerce had had one.

— Det har redan skrivits tillräckligt med musik om relationer och om att sakna folk. - It has already written enough music about relationships and about to miss the people. Jag har alltid varit mer intresserad av vad som händer i ens huvud när man är ensam och hur man står ut med sitt eget medvetande. I have always been more interested in what happens in your head when you are alone and how to stand out with its own consciousness.

Men varför, när han samtidigt hyllar Jens Lekman och beskriver Magnetic Fields 69 Love Songs som en av världens bästa skivor? But why, when he simultaneously celebrates Jens laymen and describes Magnetic Fields 69 Love Songs as one of the world's best discs?

Det finns ett allmänmänskligt drag i låtar om kärlek och relationer, någonting som alla som har känt förälskelse kan relatera till, resonerar Errand Boy. There is a general human features of songs about love and relationships, something that everyone who has known love can relate to, reasoning errands Boy. Men just därför försvinner också det specifika. But precisely because disappear too specific. För medan vi går igenom relation efter relation i livet så har vi hela tiden vårt eget psyke, våra personliga demoner att hantera. For while we go through relationship after relationship in life so we have our own psyche, our personal demons to deal with.

— En specifik låt om neuroser kanske bara slår an hos en bråkdel av alla människor, men dubbelt så kraftfullt. - A specific song on neuroses may just touches of a fraction of all people, but twice as powerful. Under tiden när vi är för oss själva uppstår en slags privat sårbarhet. In the meantime, when we are for ourselves is a kind of private vulnerability. Fler borde ta det till sig och lära sig av det. More should take it to heart and learn from it.

Ändå är det inte som textförfattare han försöker formulera det någon, någonstans kanske kan känna sig hemma i, utan som samplare. Yet it is not as lyricists he tries to formulate it, somewhere may be able to feel at home in, but that sample. Både ljud och text på skivan bygger till så stor del av samplingar att han nästan skäms. Both audio and text on the disc are based as much of the samples that he almost ashamed. Men när man slår ihop rösten från patienten som blir pillad på hjärnan, filosofen Bertrand Russels utläggning om en svältade människas låga intresse för demokrati med en ljudbild som låter trasig, sammanstörtande men bitvis också trevande hoppfull uppstår ett helt nytt universum. But when you combine voice of the patient becomes waste on the brain, the philosopher Bertrand Russell relaying of a starving people low-interest for democracy with a sound that sounds broken, the same large but bitwise also tentatively hopeful is a whole new universe.

Vi får gissa att det är det närmaste vi kommer Brian Melansons hjärna i total avskildhet. We can guess that it is the closest we will Brian Melan's brain in total privacy.

— Ett tag var jag helt isolerad från människor. - For a while, I was completely isolated from the people. Jag insåg inte att det var någonting konstigt med att inte prata med någon på flera dagar förrän någon sa det åt mig. I realized that there was something strange not to talk to someone for several days until someone told it to me. Till slut flyttade jag tillbaka till glesbygden efter två år i stan. Eventually, I moved back to rural areas after two years in town. Jag saknade nog träden och havet. I lacked enough trees and the sea.

På Errand Boys självbetlade andra album har han flyttat tillbaka till St John’s, staden som ligger så långt österut att den på en karta ser ut att försöka glida bort så långt som möjligt från den amerikanska kontinenten. On errands Boys självbetlade second album, he has moved back to St. John's, the city that is so far east that it on a map looks to try to slip away as far as possible from the American continent.

Nu är det inte längre omvärlden som stöter bort honom, utan han själv som är förbannad på det han ser omkring sig. It is no longer the world that repelled him, but he is angry at what he sees around him. För lyssnaren är inte skillnaden helt uppenbar. For the listener, the difference is not entirely clear. Vissa samplingar från Bachelor of Commerce återkomer och svårigheten att konkret förmedla sin inställning till världen är väl ett pris man får betala för att slippa använda sin egen röst utan låna andras. Some samples from the Bachelor of Commerce re komer and the difficulty of concrete convey its position to the world is a price we must pay to avoid having to use their own voice but to borrow others'.

— Det mesta som kommer med i låtarna kommer från reabackarna med vhs-filmer. - The most that come with the songs coming from reabackarna with vhs movies. Att affärer började sälja dem för fem dollar var helt fantastiskt för mig, för jag hatar dvd. The stores began selling them for five U.S. dollars was just fantastic for me, because I hate DVD. Det är enklare att sampla från dvd, men man behöver trycka på färre knappar och om man somnar så slipper man en 20 sekunder lång loop som inkräktar på ens drömmar när skivan är slut. It is easier to sample From DVD, but you need to press fewer buttons and if you fall asleep to avoid a 20 seconds long loop that infringes on one's dreams when the disc is over. - Judy.se