Australian bands get a foothold in tiny American economies (this is the first of a proposed split release series between Bedroom Suck and Night-People), and I’m reminded of that episode of “The Simpsons” where Bart sneaks that toad down under and it destroys the ecosystem. I don’t think that’s actually going to happen, and almost every record that comes in from that far away seems to shine on its own power, and this one is decent enough but this one doesn’t quite get there. Peak Twins are two people fixated on the reverb tanks in their guitar amps, playing moody, twangy death-pop, shackled to the Wall of Sound (that cover of “Needles and Pins” doesn’t really say different). Scott & Charlene’s Wedding appears to be a bunch of ex-pats and perhaps one American (this guy Ian, who I think is the same dude who played in Hominid, who nobody remembers), living in New York somewhere. From what I understand, it’s the group of one Craig Dermody, backed by whoever’s around at the time. They are a bit better, doing a jangly but proper sort of guitar pop, verbose and a little mealy but generally OK. My favorite thing about them is the hand-adorned cover of their LP that precedes this one, which I look at from time to time when I need a laugh. Nice enough, but still I am a bit unruffled; both projects need a little more gravity.To paraphrase said episode, Pobody’s Nerfect in Australia. (http://www.raccoo-oo-oon.org/np) (http://www.bedroomsuckrecords.com)
(Doug Mosurock)
5 days ago
•
0 notes
RECOMMENDED
The most important thing here is that Chris Thomson is out fronting a punk band again. Normally this would be given to mean that anyone who’s ever liked any of the earlier bands he’s been in, particularly as a vocalist (Circus Lupus, Las Mordidas, the Monorchid, Skull Kontrol, Red Eyed Legends), would need to check out any new music he’s involved with – come on, you signed the pact, I saw some of your names on it. Three songs here, and they’re all spectacular, especially “Group Home Haircut,” which caught my attention from their Soundcloud page last year, and made my Top 10 singles without even having really existed in a physical format. It’s probably the most straightforward thing I’ve ever heard him in front of, but that’s why it rules – his voice contains the best angry Anglo snarl since ’77, a combination of Cockney guv’ner and Southern rustbucket coughing up bales of tawny, oxidized wire mesh, and instantly makes any band he’s with that much more intense. His enunciation isn’t all that far off from Mark E. Smith’s but it is the animosity in how he delivers a line that really clinches it. The song itself is somewhat of a departure, not trying to blind us with prog studdastep or baste us in hickory-smoked BBQ sauce, but the sort of even-handed, downpicked postpunk rocker you might hear out of Hot Snakes or Obits, who got it from the Wipers, who probably thought of it around the same time Wire made Pink Flag, so … yeah. For once it seems like a band of his can see what’s on the other side of this kind of music, when done correctly, and while it might take some of the surprise out of it (there’s nothing on the scale of, like, “New Tricks” or “I Always Thought You Were An Asshole” on here, at least not yet), it does seem like a more secure position to operate from after years of bands that split up too soon. I put this record on and end up playing it over and over, as I have listened to their live set on Epitonic through many a morning commute – knowing this sort of thing is happening again gets me pumped up for the day ahead. Still stationed in Chicago, Thomson teams up with a number of the more reliable musicians in that town (Ryan Weinstein, late of Cavity and others on guitar; Chay Lawrence on bass; Jeff Rice on drums) and they just lay these three out so well, giving the tracks on the B-side enough speed to make a passed-out drunk snap to attention. 300 copies, get ‘em fast, these won’t last. (http://www.stationaryheart.com)
(Doug Mosurock)
5 days ago
•
5 notes
Sacramento-based punk band, makin’ moves hither and yon. Their music is very poppy and melodic, but is played as strained and ragged as possible. Why sing in your regular voice when the high register sits there? Why not make it a little tough on yourself in order to force a more memorable, if not necessarily better, performance? The folks in G.Green take that chance and it works out in their favor. “Funny Insurance” is played at what you can tell is their speed limit for a song like this, and though it may sound like it’s about to fall apart like that cop car in “Freebie and the Bean,” it is precisely the quality that makes it work. Ditto for “Sounds Famous,” which is a bit slower and catchier, and features singer Andrew Henderson trying to cave in his own chest in reaching for those high notes. It’s scrappy, but fun. Not bad! (http://www.12xu.net)
(Doug Mosurock)
5 days ago
•
0 notes
Never really followed Prurient that much for reasons I’ve discussed here recently, in that it’s hard to drill down on one of these artists who has tons of releases, and loads of side projects, when you’ve got all the other records that are coming in to give some attention to. I’m meant to understand that D. Fernow’s work as Prurient took somewhat of a bend with his last one Bermuda Drain, crystallizing a number of his farflung noise/torture escapades into jackhammering New Romantic industrial moves, or something like that. I still don’t have the time to check it all out, but this double 7” crossed my doorstep so it’s gotta go first. Genesis P-Orridge did the artwork and it’s suitable for framing, particularly if you like seeing someone bind up their own genitals and pose for however long they could hold it. Musically this doesn’t reach such extremes, the four tracks here playing as some sort of whimpering defeat in the light of celebrities dying (two center labels are full-color snips from tabloid and womens’ magazines about the deaths of Anna Nicole Smith and Michael Jackson). “God Is Truth And Light His Shadow” is a solemn drone with submerged vocals, at odds with an interrupting tape recording of a pre-teen girl, ring tone noises, and a smattering of other common electronic sounds. “God Is True And Every Man A Liar” is a little bit lighter, with obscured vocals hiding behind a sheet of despair, shimmering and frosty. “God Is The Truth, The Way, And The Light” presents a racing rhythm, possibly lost in the religious fervor these tracks have hinted at in title, but probably not. Low dronescapes and a guitar halo round it out. “Judgement To The World” closes this EP off with a Thurston-style strum pattern and synth patch hullabaloo, wobbling unsteadily but attractively to a vocal drone/moan at the end. One purple record, one gold record. It is what it is, and not enough of a look to really allow anyone inside, but as an expression of isolation in a highly complicated social paradigm, you know, it can’t be beat. 500 copies. (http://www.daisrecords.com)
(Doug Mosurock)
5 days ago
•
3 notes
Kelley Stoltz has been moving closer to the median where classic songwriting talent wanders into the zone of No Commercial Viability. This isn’t a terrible thing; Mr. Stoltz is very green-minded and records his music with no carbon footprint, so it’s fair to say that his music really isn’t hurting anyone. Besides, it’s (mostly) fabulous bubblegum/doe-eyed early ‘70s proto-power pop, so no harm done whatsoever. The songs here are subtitled “Two Imaginary Girls,” and he remarks lyrically about how many songs have been sung to Caroline, though his upbeat, goodtime pop song is certainly welcome in the running. “Marcy” is the ballad, a little bit of a downer but with an authentic, hard-to-fake sweetness is felt throughout. (http://disquessteak.bigcartel.com)
(Doug Mosurock)
5 days ago
•
0 notes
Australian bands! So many, and most of them are pretty great. Here’s another one, Stag, a quartet of women who play like they are just figuring all of this out – which is welcome, as the magic they have to offer is directly in that lesson. They’re not as focused as, say, Terrible Truths on one particular direction, working through a tangled pile of primitive post-punk, insect-brain dance instruction, and on one song, nothing but caterwauling against bass and drums. Yet none of the songs here sound flat or photocopied from another time; there’s always something in each that makes the song do what you wouldn’t expect. It’s an excellent snapshot of where they are now, showing all the facets of where they’ve come from thus far. We should all like to hear more from them. Cool collage cover of food items, too. Reminds me of the Yoke & Yohs 7” for that reason. (http://disembraining.tumblr.com)
(Doug Mosurock)
5 days ago
•
1 note
Over the past year or so, there has been a paradigm shift in US basement level noise/improv scene, where many people involved in noise music, having spent the last decade or so rewiring effects pedals, wearing papier-mache costumes, abusing four track recorders, and making drones have turned all those electronics to a new purpose: making beat oriented dance music. I would guess that the reasons for this would be that harsh feedback/static/noise tropes, the Fort Thunder/Wham City-inspired neon aesthetic, and “new weird America” had all run themselves into the ground around the same time, and a lot of people were looking around for a new direction, all while mind blowing 12”s by UK experimental techno masters Shackleton, Demdike Stare, and Andy Stott came out alongside Drexcitya reissues, and pointed people in a beat/club direction through all the murk. This isn’t in itself a bad thing. I think that I would rather go to a basement noise show and dance than be yelled at by a guy wearing devil horns, but this class of US noise-turned-“outsider techno” has a lot of catching up to do with their counterparts overseas, where producers have been honing their craft for years and years. Instead, new tape and vinyl releases from this crowd are likened to watching the artists grow up in public, as they teach themselves the fundamentals of what makes a good techno track just that. This split LP by Container and Unicorn Hard-On is a perfect example of this phenomenon. Container is Nashville-based musician Ren Schofield, who used to play noise under the name God Willing, and is also in the wonderful four-track improv trio Form A Log, who I prefer to Container. Here he turns in one long slowly mutating but fairly static beat oriented piece called “Cauterize.” It’s perfectly enjoyable, but compared to the new Shackleton box set, it sounds like baby steps. Unicorn Hard-On is the stage name of Val Martino, who has been playing beat oriented noise music for a few years now, and was definitely ahead of this particular curve. Her side fares better than Container’s, with the addition of her ghostly phased vocals that make her beats she makes things a bit more interesting. This isn’t a bad record by any means, and certainly lights up the path for a stronger and more relevant domestic techno doctrine, but it sounds like the first steps of two artists who will hopefully turn out some experimental classics if they keep honing their craft. Some recent US techno releases by Outmode, Lazy Magnet, and even some tracks on the “outsider techno” tape compilation called Forced Sound Routine Volume Two released on Schofield’s own I Just Live Here imprint, have been really great, but until everyone involved catches up a bit, we’re in for a bunch of music that is, at best, mildly enjoyable. (http://www.hot-releases.org)
(Chris Strunk)
5 days ago
•
0 notes
Abrasive howl from a feminist noise rock trio out of Providence. Sock-hop drumming lays down the backbone for hellish vocals and dominant, effects-plagued guitar across three tracks (bass player not included). There’s a confrontation in every moment on this record, which is very aggressive in how it sublimates parts of no-wave, crust, and bits of melody, like a structuralist Babes in Toyland. No jokes – absolutely vicious, and the insert provides a reading list to better understand where they are coming from. Silkscreened sleeve contains music so harsh you might want to hold it with gloves on. (http://www.anchorbrain.com)
(Doug Mosurock)
5 days ago
•
3 notes
I went on and on and on about the new Merchandise album Children of Desire. You can read it here, but if you want the condensed version, here goes: I love this record, go get a copy as soon as you can.
1 week ago
•
4 notes
Record Store Day release. 3 Man Band sent in a tape that was pretty raging, and was arguably the best first 90 seconds of any review tape ever presented in this direction, and even though it cooled down a bit afterwards, it remains a good, hard slap of hard rock, garage and psych moves being bound together in Knoxville, TN even as I write this. Their jam is called “Owsley (In Theory And Practice)” and it’s a good, trippy dirtbomb of solid drumming and wild man moves. Also an old friend of mine is in the band, and it’s good to see her rockin’ with authority. Apache Dropout drops another little amuse bouche before their second album comes out this year on Trouble In Mind. “Soul Sucker” isn’t one of their best, but it’s a split 7” that you’re gonna have to look for to find, who the fuck cares, this band rules. I don’t make exceptions for too many bands but Apache Dropout is fucking monstrous. Limited edition, on various colors of vinyl.
(Doug Mosurock)
2 weeks ago
•
0 notes
RECOMMENDED
Smashing, nigh-essential piece of sample/collage dancewerk courtesy of Matthew Papich, formerly of Baltimore duo Ecstatic Sunshine. The name of that act could apply to the contents of Co La’s Daydream Repeater, allowing the exuberance of existing recordings – some familiar enough to where I wonder how this escaped the Sample Police – to be the medium unto which some deep, summery jams rotate against one another, masterfully building a hell of a mise en scene. Dude has great control over his environment, building really nice percussives and allowing them to fall cleanly and evenly into the fray, as a sense of enlightenment drops down to the dancing throngs, and the heyday of Baltimore club music some years ago. I won’t give away what exactly Papich is going into here – it’s too easy, but it is absolutely perfect, and with a very sly, arrangement trick, he extends the life of the track three or four times over, kinda like hunters who say they use all of the kill. I don’t know if I have enjoyed anything this year the way I dug that first spin of the leg-sweeping minimal disco/Decoding Society bumper “Vanity Plate” into “Wanna Say Faux,” and while nothing else on the record reaches that high, what all is left is certainly of high quality, from beachside, Reggae Sunsplash excursions with the chalice in hand, to bugged-out broken-beat reconstructions of jazz (“My Jamaican”) to some exquisitely warm downtempo fades like closer “Siamese in Greece.” This one’s got it, for sure. (http://nnatapes.com)
(Doug Mosurock)
2 weeks ago
•
2 notes
RECOMMENDED
Shouldn’t have to sell any of you on these. Like the “Avengers” movie that just came out, the truth of this band cannot be avoided. If you don’t have the originals, this is a good way to cover your ass until you can scrape up enough cash to get ‘em. Essential, quasi-feminist, totally tough/hard/oppositional punk rock from San Francisco ’77 and up. You shouldn’t be having to learn about this band from a blog that reviews Pink Noise records; the Avengers are still in the groundwater for the young person looking for punk as a means of social change and revolution. And what punk records these are! When’s the last time you heard “We Are The One”? Do you remember every single part of that song the way I do? How many other songs can you say that about? These cost a steep $12 apiece, but in the context of their original formats these are totally worth getting. I can show you a lot of records that cost more than $12 that are nowhere near as good as these. Colored vinyl on each, too, for the Record Store Day 2012 editions (new black vinyl pressings of all three are out later this month, perhaps at a more reasonable price point … but I understand what it costs to make records happen and reward those who made the music). (http://www.superiorviaduct.com)
(Doug Mosurock)
2 weeks ago
•
0 notes
Well-heeled, well-presented French garage rockers, peering into the abyss and sensing the abyss peering back. This stuff is pretty good, certainly along the energy level of the Hives of whatnot, with the kind of vocals that reach back to Radio Birdman or Fun Things kinda raw-throated action. Six songs here, and they certainly kick up the dustcloud to a proper thickness, even on songs like “I’m Down” (not the Beatles’ version), which slides between hoochie-mama strut and furious pedal stomp. Lotta twang on here too. Good stuff, always nice to hear one of these bands take an obviously classic thing and give it the treatment it deserves. (http://disquessteak.bigcartel.com)
(Doug Mosurock)
2 weeks ago
•
0 notes
Steven Steinbrink has made two quite excellent albums, and has proven himself one of the unsung lights of the latter-day home studio style musician, wringing a great deal of emotion and artifice from modest means. Desert Wasn’t Welcome sadly feels like a step back in ways. Recorded with a full band at Dub Narcotic, the sudden jump in production quality and need to arrange for a bigger band, sets some obvious traps for these guys, and on most apart from a few tracks (the buttoned-down mind exploration of “Got Ideas” and the hopeful realism of “Checks and Balances,” underlit by a competent rhythm section) there seems to be a pull towards known, tired influences – Death Cab, Built to Spill, Modest Mouse, The Sea & Cake – with the same small-scale songwriting that provided all of the intimacy those earlier records required, and it tends to get lost in the shuffle. It was way too hard to lose myself in these songs for some reason – I know there is talent here, and it is kind of obscured by some need to follow what might be the “standard” way for a project like this to develop. I await the next French Quarter album, and hope that it doesn’t pull the punches that Desert Wasn’t Welcome does in order to seem like it could contend with known quantities. This guy was best when he was alone, and with that backing vocalist on the second album. Maybe he’ll find his way back. (http://imprint.offtempo.com)
(Doug Mosurock)
2 weeks ago
•
6 notes
Shoegaze/twee split from a singles subscription series out of England (other participants include the Ketamines). Gold-Bears have two noisy pop songs, kind of like Superchunk but with a much bigger, more manicured guitar tone. These songs are decent, and “Bedroom” ends with the mastering engineer pushing the levels on the track so far up that it knocks the needle out of the groove. Bracelettes are a too-cute girl group sounding affair, but they manage to commit the minorly annoying, majorly catchy taunt “You Make Me Laugh” in my head. 400 numbered copies. (http://www.oddboxrecords.com)
(Doug Mosurock)
2 weeks ago
•
0 notes
