Thursday 3 January 2019

NONE BUT AIR [AT THE VANISHING POINT]

BandNONE BUT AIR [AT THE VANISHING POINT]
GenresPunk / Post-Rock / Hardcore / Post-Hardcore / Screamo / Skramz
Related artistsCofun.
CountryKyoto JAPAN
Years Active2010-2015/present?
Song: "回想"
Album: "None But Air [At The Vanishing Point]"
Year: 2014
For fans of: Envy, Heaven In Her Arms, 49 Morphines, Vi Som Älskade Varandra Så Mycket, Killie, Hollow Jan, Respire, Godspeed, You! Black Emperor, Apollo 18 and Mono aka PROPER SCREAMO.
Label(s): Meatcube Label / Keep It Together Records / Further Platonix / Tokyo Jupiter Records
This post's artist is from the December 2018 Mix. This is track #4.
You can download: the December 2018 Mix#12 right here or get the new January 2019 Mix#12 here.

Review by: JESSE MOWERY

NONE BUT AIR [AT THE VANISHING POINT] are a self-described orchestral hardcore band from Kyoto, Japan. Their sound is both beautiful and chaotic, shifting from powerful riffs to sprawling post-rock at the drop of a hat. The band plays along to programmed strings and piano, but it never feels lifeless like some bands who play along to click tracks but instead adds a huge layer that makes it feel more cinematic.

In 2012 they put up a few demo tracks, but only one is still online, a demo version of "回想", which a shorter version than the one on the album, but it's one of their heavier songs for sure. It's not as developed sounding as the album version, as there are slightly different but more powerful guitars on the later one, but it's still a great introduction.

The same year they were on an amazing five-way split with Blue Friend, From Ten To Nine, Cofun, and kanataharuka on Meatcube Label and Keep It Together Records. This was how I discovered them and Cofun, who share a drummer with NONE BUT AIR [AT THE VANISHING POINT]. The first song "At The V.P. In Your 6-Color Dream" starts out with a beautiful guitar part, adding piano and ambiance before exploding into a mid tempo post-rock section with static noises, samples, and minimal vocals, then collapses for a minute before going into more sample driven moving post-rock. I make it sound boring, but it's beautiful. Their other song on the split "Heisa" is an earlier version of the fifth song on their full length, so I'll talk more about it in a second.

In 2014 they put out a self-titled album on Further Platonix Records, and this instantly became an album I listen to all the time. Opening song "終幕" is a pretty great representation of their sound as a whole. Weird ominous noise, stop-start riffs, piano, chaotic riffs, epic chord changes, delayed guitars, shrieking vocals, almost everything I could want in one song. You can really hear the Envy influence on this one. "憧憬i" is easily their heaviest song, filled with weird discordant off time riffs and breaking down into a dueling tremolo picked guitar part with synth behind it, creating a huge wall of beauty while the singer screams like they're in torment. The third song "回想" is the same as the one from the demo, except better quality and a whole extra section at the end that is absolutely gorgeous, building into a heavy 3/4 part with epic guitars. "憧憬ii" might be my favorite on the entire album, starting out with drum hits, strings, piano, and screams, the melodies build into a mid-tempo part, the bass being the only "conventional" instrument besides drums until 1:25 when the guitars come in with octaves and pull off noodles, building until it drops and ends with a nod to the intro. "閉鎖" (or "Heisa") starts out with rain sounds with a somber piano line, strings coming in with a countermelody before everything kicks in into a down tempo heavy but melodic section, piano clinking away while the vocalist rambles, building to on the melodies through the end. The last song "六月、雨と相反する" starts out with programmed synth strings before breaking into a part that reminds me of Heaven In Her Arms' more recent evil screamo sound, evolving into a buildup part before coming back around to the weird synth line but with Envy style chord changes beneath, changing it to a more thoughtful and depressing sound rather than metalish. It melts into a piano and synth section that becomes a Godspeed! You Black Emperor sounding part, ending on a beautiful note. If you like post-rock driven music with screaming vocals I cannot recommend this album enough, The material before it is great, but each song on this album can be enjoyed by itself or as a whole to an epic piece of music. Unfortunately, there's been no news of them since 2015, so who knows what's going on with them. I hope they're not done, because this is one of my favorite albums of the past 5 years, seriously go check them out.

________________________________________

DISCOGRAPHY
Click )==>here<==( to download the band's complete discography in mp3 form.

2012 - 回想 demo digital single (stream here)
2012 - 5-Way split cassetteLP (stream here)

2014 - None But Air [At The Vanishing Point] cd/LP (stream/buy here)

________________________________________

(2014) NONE BUT AIR [AT THE VANISHING POINT] - "回想" (from 'None But Air [At The Vanishing Point]')

(2014) NONE BUT AIR [AT THE VANISHING POINT] - "憧憬ii" (from 'None But Air [At The Vanishing Point]')

(2014) NONE BUT AIR [AT THE VANISHING POINT] - "憧憬i" (from 'None But Air [At The Vanishing Point]')

(2012) NONE BUT AIR [AT THE VANISHING POINT] - "Heisa" (from '5-Way' split)

(2012) NONE BUT AIR [AT THE VANISHING POINT] - "At The V.P. In Your 6-Color Dream" (from '5-Way' split) official music video

________________________________________

NONE BUT AIR [AT THE VANISHING POINT] out of print mp3 discography download / additional links

________________________________________

No comments:

Post a Comment