October 2009
32 posts
Random Cuts – “Sleep” b/w “Jail Stripes” 7” / “Rat...
Regional scenes have withered the last few years as record stores falter, and the Internet becomes the de facto, decentralized point of musical contact. Specific sounds are obsessed over and replicated. We’ve got dozens of Black Lips, Crystal Stilts, and Lebenden Totens (and even more of actual popular music), but the spatial disconnect means kids have been slow to make much of it besides...
Times New Viking – Move to California 7” EP...
The teen narcissism vehicle rolls on, prefacing yet another quality album with scraps that their generation is already trying to tell itself that it’s over. “Move to California” is The Big Single and shows growth and strength in all the good places. “City on Drugs” hearkens back to the innocence of earlier jams, put to tape by Home’s Andrew Deutsch last year, but it’s the harmonies you’ll...
The UV Race – Malaria 7” EP (S-S)
VOM fanatics from Australia get better, because there’s no getting around it if you’re gonna be in a band and continue to play and try to impress people. There’s enough piss-poor music coming out of there lately that the good stuff has to float to the top sooner or later. Pretty silly throughout, there’s a song with the sounds of sickness called “Malaria,” one about the TV show “M*A*S*H,” one...
The Feeling of Love – “Waiting for the...
Another two-sided killer from this flashy-trashy French outfit. “Waiting for the Cheerleaders to Get Drunk” actually steps away from the frantic blues revivalism of earlier releases and onto strummier, poppier times – from Doo Rag and the Blooz Explosion to the Feelies (or more appropriately, countrymates Bosom Divine). There’s a new focus on fidelity here too, missing from their body of work...
Son of Earth – Improvements LP (Amish)
Improv/real-life trio Son of Earth (featuring Matt Krefting, whose I Couldn’t Love You More album of covers was a high point of my summer) clatters away at ground wires, phantom blues, clatter, and breathing exercises on this second full-length, following a spate of CD-Rs. It’s a heavy, first-floor kind of ambiance projected here, and the utter quietude of the proceedings forces microscopic...
Cheveu – Cheveau LP (Permanent)
This French trio has a lot of things going for it: they work from minimal, economic ends (guitar, keyboard/drum computer and vocals, most of which could fit into a suitcase), and constantly find ways to break through these self-imposed sanctions; they have continued to surprise and invent throughout a series of near-flawless releases over the past few years; they understand rock ‘n’ roll as a...
Crash Normal – Finger Shower 10” EP (Rijapov)
Seven tracks of spacey garage-punk played by decommissioned military androids who have memorized Grotesque (After the Gramme) but have no idea how to crank it out like real little boys, bless their mechanical hearts. Being real is kinda overrated anyway, But French rock is not. As if to redeem themselves from countrymen who actually say things like “I don’t get the beeg deel about Elvees,...
Andre Ethier – “The Running of the Bulls” b/w...
The third installment in Dull Knife’s singer-songwriter series (dunno what else to call it; it’s part of a limited series of EPs, in identical packaging – Arigato pak printed cardboard pockets with color photos hand-mounted to the back, truly a striking and labor-intensive process, and part of the Dull Knife process, along with razor-sharp curation … possibly the only label of its size really...
Flight – “Flowers” b/w “Johnny’s Mixed Up” 7”...
Hailing from Mississippi (and guessing that they’re right over the border from Memphis), Flight keeps it slow and big, and have figured out the way to write a hook with minimal effort that’ll hang around with you for the day. The drumming is rudimentary and simple, and sets up some pretty big riffin’ on both these tracks. “Flowers” is the jammer here, couching an enormous alterna-hook into a...
The Rebel – Aiming Low 7” EP (Lexi Disques)
Four tracks of uneasy listening courtesy of the confounding Country Teasers front man: Ben Wallers. A great repurposed sleeve gives way to repurposed sounds as The Rebel meanders through this mini-suite of benzo’d tunes.” Aiming Low, Getting High” begins with a deep synth driven dirge and triggered punches, with a stack of shifted and effected voices intoning the title in recursive nursery rhyme...
Sex Church – “Dead End” b/w “Let Down” 7” (Sweet...
Vancouver kids rocket down the side of a rickety skein of Gothic/trash punk aesthetics. “Dead End” lurches around in this uptight double-time/half-time rhythm (“The Purdie Shuffle” for the tight black sweater set, maybe), buffeted by snotty vocals and three whole chords for a good while before breaking into this tight, early JD/JAMC coda – and believe me, this JAMC thing is starting to become a...
White Load – s/t one-sided 7” (Leather Bar)
From Providence, RI, the Mecca of costume rock, comes White Load’s debut one-sider, wearing an un-mask of its own. Sometimes a little bit of concept can go a long way. In most towns there’s a group of local do-nothings, mashing out no-talent three-note hardcore (the kind you’d have to endure before 9 Shocks played back in the day), and these guys dress it up in their no-concept concept to let...
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...
