September 2009
57 posts
Astro Black – Is Love the Blood Of The Universe?...
Starting off with a wall of sound bang, heavy and momentous drumming builds up a thick layer of sonic noise drone, possibly as a big band orchestra might execute. Sliced up dense electronic deconstructions compliment these far-reaching percussive bass sessions with sparingly added free-jazz influence. A very dynamic release for such a small format and run; it’s almost as if a 7” single was too...
Bee Mask – Hypogorean Trenchtown lp (Weird Forest)
Is it possible to tell a good drone record from a bad drone record? It’s hard to put a finger on, but these records either have “it” or don’t. A good drone record will seem to fill up the room you are in with sound and hypnotize you if you concentrate on it. This one just kind of sits on the turntable. It’s not necessarily a bad record, but it’s also not as compelling as...
Dimmer – Remissions 2xLP (Isounderscore)
Experimental noise legends Thomas Dimuzio and Joseph Hammer collaborate once again on this daunting release, compiling four separate live sets (showcased individually on each side) to display their joint effort of atmospheric sound interference. The first set, entitled “Sky Wire,” is well situated in the realm of electro-noise, cleaned up and fed back into itself. “Sun Dog” starts off as an...
Factorymen – Shitman LP (Richie)
When approaching anything Homostupids related, you typically know what you are getting into. Factorymen seems to be the exception to that rule. Completely schizophrenic in the best possible way, in the same way the Sun City Girls jumped across the genre map. Tracks float some primitive synth-pop gems over to art rock hysteria, andon the flip, songs like “Black Dream” make you wonder what drugs...
Forbes / Young / Walter – American Free LP...
The story goes that J. Edgar Hoover forbade that his limo ever make a left turn. Weasel Walter seems to have done something similar with his career as an improvising musician since moving to San Francisco. In contrast with the slow, maddening slide into frustration that marked his last years in Chicago, when he started running out of people to play with, things now move only uphill – Peter...
The German Measles – Don’t Hassle Us We’re Loco CS...
Another decent release to flush out the Mr. Blank Dogs curatorial canon. Fun-loving garage punk which brings back the goofball times of The Dead Milkmen. Silly and fun rock n’roll, complimenting any random late night loft party fun. (http://capturedtracks.com) (Ryan Martin)
Glöggerne & Martin Klapper – With Dr. Chadbourne...
When did Hasil Adkins join the musique concrete ranks? A truly bizarre & playful gem brings together visual artist Martin Klapper and sound tinkering duo Glöggerne, both known for their stunning exhibitions and unique use of found object sounded blended with improvised electronics, with the legendary Eugene Chadbourne. What starts off as electroacoustic scratching and pawing only serves as...
Hematic Sunsets – Aroma Club Paradox LP (Dekorder)
Minimal pop alias project of Asmus Tietchens in which himself (and all other members involved) present their names as anagrams of his own name. Aroma Club Paradox makes for a pleasantly sublime addition to Dekorder’s diverse roster of releases, filling the space with simple electronics shuffles, composed side by side with easily-digested synth organs. Unlike his more formal works (done under his...
Kid Romance – Thriller CS (Captured Tracks)
Lo-fi as it gets. Innocent pop rock jams that flow together pretty nicely. Primitive garage banging to predictable riffs over and over. Simple off-key vocals going on/off from various members reminiscent of all those old throw away no-name K Records singles from years ago that we still hold onto for some strange reason. (http://capturedtracks.com) (Ryan Martin)
Hoor-paar-Kraat – A Wild Country & A Waning Moon...
Experimental visual artist Hoor-paar-Kraat keeps up his prolific streak by assembling another audio anomaly. Side A consists of a single composition of bassy drone, filled with percussive chatter. Silenced gongs struck at random and left to reverberate into the ether. The flipside piece consists of a well-done improvisational sound collage giving proper nods to Fluxus sound pioneers before him....
Hoor-paar-Kraat / Drowning the Virgin Silence – A...
Experimental musician / painter Anthony Mangicapra a.k.a Hoor-paar-Kraat offers up another selection of the surreal sound with this split release with obscure experimental outfit Drowning The Virgin Silence. Hoor-paar-Kraat side is a sound collage piece structured from what seems to be the distorted sound of children’s tin toys, falling apart and mangled to the point of an absolute nightmare....
Milk Music – s/t CS (self-released)
From what starts off as a worst case scenario of a terrible Turbonegro knock-off only gets worse as this tape hammers along. Milk Music seem to hail from Seattle and nod Sex Vid in their liners, but none of these promising indicators seem to rub off on this band. Unrehearsed “hard rock” being an understatement, these songs start off as boring jock rock and completely disintegrate to the sounds of...
DJ Ilya Monosov and the 21st Century Punks – New...
From the ethno-psych collage artwork on the simple 12” DJ sleeve, I was very puzzled as to what exactly was in store on this latest Holy Mountain slab. Starts off instantly into some bizarre space tribal not far off from later-era United Daires style output if put through the Japanese psych grinder. This record however seems to only get more interesting, catching you off guard with random blips...
The New Flesh – s/t CS (Fan Death)
Fan Death brings this monster out of the closet six years after its initial release on the Human Conduct label in 2003. Powerful and abrasive hardcore rock, shifting vocal style in the vein of bands like Coalesce or Undertow but with the singer’s voice adapting to the pace of each track perfectly. The New Flesh brings forward a brutal musical rock sound a lot like Harry Pussy. No predictable...
On Various Days – s/t CS (self-released)
Jangly shoegaze heroin rock with proper nods to Spaceman 3, My Bloody Valentine and Brian Jonestown Massacre (Methadrone-era) from this bedroom project of Brain Handle’s Andy Perlman. Slow and repetitive style but keeps up with selective drumming, everything seeming to be in synch with each other. Hopefully as this band develops more attention will be paid to diversity in songwriting and style,...
Sejayno – Quantus LP (Ehse)
From the label that earlier brought us must-own records by mail art legend “Blaster” Al Ackerman and avant composer Ian Nagoski comes outsider sound collagists Sejayno. Typically at home on Shinkoyo, the more well-known factory for NYC based art collective turned musical anomaly Skeletons, the members of Sejayno have branched out from their nest and wrangled the ears of free-jazz improvisor Leif...
Voks – Astra & Knyst LP (Dekorder)
Avant-garde label Dekorder brings forth the first full-length by Danish sound artist Voks, who previously only released small run CD singles in the past six years. He delivers noodly electro pop with an almost “day at the circus” vibe attached to it. Going back and forth into a endless waltz of synthesizer mumbling, the songs tend to not really go anywhere, recycling the same pipe organ/whistle...
White Boss – s/t CS (self-released)
Loose punk/hardcore fused with heavy brood rock is what seems to be the style in which White Boss calls home. Picks and up slows down, struggled vocals reminding me of the early 90’s wave of upstate hardcore bands at which time started blending in a more art rock style into their music (a style I kind of miss). Recording quality goes all over the place, each song having a far different approach...
Dustin Wong – Seasons LP (Wildfire Wildfire)
Dustin Wong is a member of Ponytail (you’re forgiven if now tempted to skip ahead) and this is an entire LP’s worth of his instrumental home-recordings. According to various promo/bio works written in Wong’s best interest (or by Wong himself), actual hand-held instruments were played and recorded using the internal microphone on Wong’s computer. “These songs are really not...
Peter Wright – The Terrifying Realisation that We...
Peter Wright is a New Zealand expatriate based in London. Since the mid ’90s, Wright has been releasing a steady stream of blissful washed out guitar drone recordings via labels such as Pseudoarcana, Last Visible Dog, Digitalis, Students of Decay, and his own Apoplexy imprint. Unlike other artists working similar territory, he never falls into mere prettiness. Although Wright’s...
