YUNOREVIEW: MAY 2015

The magical monthly segment where I briefly touch down on a gauntlet of albums I didn't get a chance to review this past month. These are just my short, straightforward, passionate, biased opinions.

elvis depressedly - "n.m.s.s" (Video)

Elvis Depressedly is a musical trio fronted by moody minstrel Mat Cothran. A few years ago I was praising his melancholy compositions via a different pseudonym: Coma Cinema. The transition from one name to another has been far from night and day. Cothran's songwriting and recording style has remained roughly the same; however, I'd say this new Elvis Depressedly song is still worthy of your attention.

The distant vocal melody and calming string accompaniment on "n.m.s.s" fit really nicely against the song's gentle acoustic guitars and ambient synthesizers. The song is emotionally gripping, but sonically relaxing at the same time.

Look for this track and others on the forthcoming Elvis Depressedly album titled New Alhambra. It'll be dropping via Run For Cover Records in 2015.

[edit: Some of my Twitter followers are telling me that, in fact, Coma Cinema is not dead. I guess Mat brought the project back without me being aware of it. Yay.]

Elvis Depressedly - "pepsi/coke suicide"

A new, downtrodden track from Elvis Depressedly--a.k.a. Mat Cothran, a.k.a. Coma Cinema--and, yeah, it's as depressing and gloom as one would anticipate. Still, the song has an eerie quality to its sadness. It's the kind of sadness that feels like it's approaching the end of something--or, rather, the edge of something.

Elvis Depressedly's next album, holo pleasures, will be out via Birdtapes in the middle of April.

Elvis Depressedly - "Pepsi/Coke Suicide"

Stream: Elvis Depressedly - "Pepsi/Coke Suicide" Elvis Depressedly has dropped a new track from the upcoming release, Holo Pleasures and it really feels like steady improvement.

Mat Cothran has been recording this album with his full band and it really shows with the fullness of the sound. In many ways the instrumentation feels warm on this track, but if you are familiar with Cothran at all you know that his lyrics are going to directly conflict with that. It creates an air of uneasy comfort and it really makes the song stick out, while showing just how much creative content can come from this guy. In the end there is always an element of some kind of beauty within this music too, something that I have been unable to resist so far.

Various Artists - 420 Love Songs (Second 40)

You may remember that about a month ago we posted the first 40 in what a collective of underground musicians are hoping will be 420 love songs. This time, the project has expanded to make room for a lot of new faces; bringing the chances of this thing reaching 420 songs so much higher.

As far as the style, sound of these tracks go, they're all pretty rough and lo-fi, which I know won't appeal to everybody. I will also say that a lot of the tracks here, I think, rely on a more abstract portrayal of the love songs. However, there are quite a few tracks that feel pretty inspired from an emotional standpoint, and make this a project worth rooting for. Enjoy!

/via/

Various Artists - 420 Love Songs (First 40)

Some of today's most melancholy and brutally honest songwriters have had their demos gathered from the 420 Love Songs Tumblr into a bandcamp compilation of infinite, sadness.

On here you can expect to see plenty from Sam Ray (Teen Suicide, Ricky Eat Acid, Julia Brown) who runs the Tumblr as well as his known friends like Mat Cothran (Coma Cinema, Elvis Depressedly), Infinity Crush, Happy Trendy, and some others. This is a compilation of song demos so you should know before going in that they are ridiculously lo-fi and distorted in some cases, but the way I look at it is it just adds to the whole theme of sad, longing love. This is still an going project so if you like what you hear here be sure to check out the Tumblr for more.

Elvis Depressedly- Mickey's Dead

South Carolinian Matt Cothran, a.k.a. Coma Cinema, a.k.a. Elvis Depressedly, has a new set of tracks out proving his worth as a sad, sad songsmith. He's diversifying the sounds he works with as well, making use of more synths, vocal effects, harmonica, and even throwing some cello in there for good measure.

Elvis Depressedly- “Waves of Bad Intention”

Stream: Elvis Depressedly- "Waves of Bad Intention" Mat Cothran--a singer-songwriter known mostly for his work under the name Coma Cinema--has recently been pushing a side project of his, Depressedly. Under the Depressedly name, Mat has released a new track.

This project's past releases are very similar to Coma Cinema, and usually just a bit more experimental with vocal distortion. “Waves of Bad Intention” is different from of all of these previous releases; it was recorded professionally in a studio. This may worry some since the raw sound is part of the appeal of Cothrans past work. However, the honest, depressed emotions are not lost in this new hi-fi quality.

The clarity improves along with the depth and texture of the Depressedly's sound. Nothing is blown out or drowning out the vocals like in the past, instead the guitars and drums just help put further emphasis on the lyrics.

There is more info to come in the future from these studio recordings. Until then Cutters Only, The Ontological Anarchy of Elvis Depressedly a re-mastered collection of the projects Bandcamp releases is available on itunes now.