#5 Bring a civilization to its knees...

Or drive someone to insanity. These are two of the explanations of where the band 65daysofstatic draw their name from. The two explanations being that locking someone up for 65 days with nothing but radio static being played will turn them insane, or if a civilization is cut off from any outside communication, it will drive itself to anarchy. Whatever the reason is, these guys (also British :D) and the music pieces they make are simply awesome, other-worldly at their best.

65daysofstatic are an instrumental outfit, I guess you could label them as post-rock if you wanted to play that game. All I know after checking out a fair few instrumental bands, there is a satisfying urgency to their sound, as opposed to very quiet, subtle wandering pieces which groups like Mogwai are all too guilty of. No, what we have here is intricately layered guitars, keys, bass and drums - there are no vocals here and I feel that the songs are better without them. It's incredibly pretentious but I believe that having listened to the majority of their songs, favourites being "Hole", "Retreat! Retreat!", "While We Were Younger and Better", "Little Victories", the list goes on, that lyrics could not be found to fit these songs which now circle in my head. 65days are masters of the quiet/loud dynamic and expertly utilise the build-up to crescendo and then beyond. Some could argue that it all becomes a bit too formulaic, but they do enough to keep it fresh, and I'm happy for the adventure that I'm taken on...

You get the feeling that every little bit of feedback is completely purposeful, every tiny amount of leftover buzz from quick slides and chord changes are all there to provide something, to add to the whole.

That being said, it's not all dreamscapes and audio wet dreams, some of the material does miss the mark, and especially their remixes including famous pop songs like Christina Aguilera's "Dirrty" I could happily do without. I have to qualify this that not all their work is perfect, but their highs more than make up for their lows. In particular the song "Hole" is a 4 and a half minutes roller coaster for the ear. Each of the elements working together but each doing their own thing, keys being delicate and enchanting, guitars that dance a melody and swell to meet the drums and bass - they are loud and distortion laden when they need to be, and only when they need to be. You get the feeling that every little bit of feedback is completely purposeful, every tiny amount of leftover buzz from quick slides and chord changes are all there to provide something, to add to the whole. The whole song ebbs and flows together - the drums and bass forever keeping the pace and explode at the "choruses" but never take over. In fact, while some songs do suggest that drum machines, pre-recorded drum loops may have been used, I think the drumming featured is some of the best I've heard, World class. Every listen is slightly different I find, focusing on a particular element whether it be the drums, the keys - each element on their own is quite simple but as mentioned above, it's the layering which ties it all together. They might be considered a headphones band for this reason, I'd love to throw down the challenge and find someone that could not find something in their songs that they really appreciate.

Since starting to listen to 65daysofstatic, they have shot up my last.fm charts, Hole in particular is now my 2nd most listened to song if statistics are to be believed. All I can say is go check these guys out, at their peak, they really are something else, a combination of challenging your expectations the first listen through, and then the anticipation of the song going Boom! on subsequent listens.

For those already converted, a high five awaits you...

P.S. Excellent jogging/running music.