August 2011
41 posts
Xander Harris – Urban Gothic LP (Not Not Fun)
This guy’s name is easily the best thing about this record. Dude had one legit funny thought, maybe ever, and he ran with it – hide behind the name of one of the characters from “Buffy,” let that connotate the synth/horror VHS soundtrack vibe to the shallow end. Essentially this is library music, about the same grade as cable providers that would slot into public access programming for little to...
Bloodloss – Lost My Head for Drink LP (Dirty...
For those of you born when I was in high school: Bloodloss started as an import-only style Australian rock band, steeped in the Stooges and sleaze, that existed in spurts of activity throughout the ‘80s and early ‘90s. Out of mutual respect and touring friendship, Mudhoney frontman Mark Arm became a member of Bloodloss circa Get My Way (Bloodloss drummer Martin Bland played on Arm’s side...
Colour Bük – Licht Dinger LP (Wir Wollen Wulle)
Guys from the German part of Long Island get pseudo-profound in the male-as-victim noise rock carport, with cavemanlike instrumental gestures and a vocalist who prefers to say a song’s title over and over again. Provocative by default only, these dudes get out there and bash away at it in momentarily pleasing patterns, but the premise of an entire album of this Brainbombs/Twin Stumps-style...
Colours – s/t 12” EP (Freelovinganarchists)
I think I figured out the Freelovinganarchists deal – they are behind the Pink Playground LP just out on Mexican Summer, and have sent in records in the past, both for their label/blog/mixtape collection and I think also for the Skrot Up label. I’m also enjoying their Discogs page, particularly the sales description “Played once, then shelved.” I hear you on that, FLA. These people are doing...
Glöm Da!/Makabert Fynd – split LP (Sorry State)
Two fairly short sides by two Swedish crustbomb droppers, so maybe it’s more of a split 12”, but split hairs over such a distinction would be like trying to evaluate these bands against one another. To the untrained ear, both Makabert Fynd and Glöm Da! sound a lot alike. It’s funny that I am so drawn to one particular drum tone on the Glöm Da! side, which reminds me of a punchball balloon and is...
Grown Ups – Stopped Caring LP (Modern Documents)
Husband + wife + friend rock trio from Calgary plows through 12 quick pop songs that sound bundled up for winter even as they sweat through the layers, playing hard and trying to get stuck in your teeth with rock candy crunch riffage and a dutiful energy. Pushin’ air around is totally fun, and I can see where this is going as well as where it’ll end. Bashin’ smashin’ pop-punk with a better ear...
Kid Romance – Scared of Outside LP (Skrot Up)
Almost-there rock clatter and brain-damaged armpit farts from this Boston area group, last seen on a Captured Tracks single a while back. In “real song” mode they have an inept charm, but when they regress into full-diaper early Sebadoh/undisciplined savant Shadow Ring directions, it becomes much more embarrassing and time-wasting to endure. There is a method here, which I understand but will...
Omma Cobba – s/t LP (Sweet Rot)
Nova Scotian dude (from an earlier band called Omon Ra, which I’m sure I’ve seen mentioned somewhere) hits the stoned wave with a hazy, reverberating hippie folk-pop sound in the Sic Alps/Brightblack Morning Light mode of shambling, slurred guitar slack and obfuscated sentiments. My eyes rolled pretty hard when the needle dropped on this debut full-length, but truth be told, it’s a good effort,...
Ovens – s/t 7” EP (Catholic Guilt)
You may have seen this bandname bandied about the Aquarius mailorder updates, particularly as Andee Connors released an Ovens CD on his tUMULt label a little while back. They appear to be a well-loved Bay Area band/mini-institution that mints harmonic pop with metallic crunch, and keeps those two in semi-perfect balance for about 30-90 seconds at a time. Imagine a slightly more metallic Weezer...
The Stoned Ambassadors – Bring You Down 12” EP...
Boston HC guys (Failures, et al.) move it down to Brooklyn and play grebo. When I hear music like this I’m reminded of, like, major label cut-out bins circa the late ‘80s/early ‘90s (Thee Hypnotics, anyone?), and then Oasis, who were able to dodge that fate and steer the conversation for a while. There aren’t enough strengths to the songwriting on their three originals, and their version of Who...
Richard Youngs – “I Dream of Mezzanine” b/w...
Two sidelong works of wonder like you’d expect from a genius like Richard Youngs. “I Dream of Mezzanine” sounds like he found the pulse inside two-way cellular communication, then harnessed it through puffs of air and buttoned-up chant singing. It’ll be a challenge for some but most of us will find it revelatory the way he weaves through abrasive fragments, third world electronics, complex...
Magical Beautiful – Here Come the Wild Waves LP (I...
College-trained keyboardist Tyson Torstenson (also of Ga’an, who I’ve not yet heard) takes us, and a few bandmates boasting stage credentials with Wilco and Casiotone for the Painfully Alone (fuck … I’m sold) on a sometimes fanciful, mostly disjointed song cycle that factors in Chicago’s seasons and EthNOmusicological slummage to build an assault of ideas too weak to stand on their...
Shiggajon – Asconema LP (Chironex)
Live recordings of religious-grade lysergic spiritual forest jazz ensemble Shiggajon, from Denmark, with guest Kelly Jones (Part Wild Horses Mane on Both Sides) on flute. This is a large and active ensemble, a wild, orgone-loaded reach from guitars, electronics, winds and percussion, though you might strain to hear the first two in the mix, out of a roomy recording captured live in Sheffield....
Bestial Mouths – Hissing Veil LP (Dais)
In one clear, arcing shot, Los Angeles trio Bestial Mouths throws the spear of destiny through the perfumed aura and elaborate posture of high Goth, and the horrific, gutter-birthed shock of the slimiest death rock, fusing the two together into a lurid, ghastly tempest of intensified emotions and raw animal heat. Wailing, screaming vocals (courtesy of siren Lynette Cerezo, channeling a deep and...
Bird’s Mile Home – s/t LP (Minor Bird)
Look, this just isn’t for me. Heart-on-sleeve folk-punk in any permutation will not abide. That’s exactly what this is. Promo material that came with Bird’s Mile Home’s record and the other releases on Minor Bird depict a scattered ideal of rock music based around friends and passion and Montana and dreams of running a label. Far be it for me to shit on those dreams, but few would argue that...
The Native Cats – Process Praise LP (Ride the...
For their second full-length outing, Tasmanian duo the Native Cats (vocalist Peter Escott, who also programs the drums and synths, and bassist Julian Teakle) have condensed the dramatic flair and Ludlum novel noir a bit, making for a moodier, more minimal and more consistent listen in an already-sterling catalogue. Many might argue that there’s not a whole lot of direction for a duo in their...
The Rebel – The Five Year Plan one-sided 12” EP...
We’re at the point where you really don’t know what to expect with a new record by The Rebel. Could be calculator noise, could be coat-closet rant sesh, could be bong rips through methadone and dry ice. Much like MES to the Fall, if it’s the Rebel, it’s gonna be Ben Wallers and whatever it is he’s in the mood for. Here then is their best since Northern Rocks, three songs played with full band...
Weyes Blood and the Dark Juices – The Outside Room...
Philadelphia-area ghost folk talent here, with a bunch of other releases preceding this LP. Natalie Mering, who is Weyes Blood/Bluhd/however you care to spell it makes an effective stab here with a mournful, spectral six-song smoke bomb across the dead of night. Those trying to escape melancholy moods might want to keep away from this one, as it’s a straight up downer from one end to the other,...
The Dreams – Morbido LP (Kill Shaman)
It’s like New Age Thursday over here, and no signs of it letting up until I get past this stack of LPs sent in that all ply the synth/drone/higher consciousness angle. This example comes from Paris, a co-ed duo tagging each bare wall in the space for such music, but still coming out as an aggressively French post-politipunk/cabaret response to Peaking Lights’ supremely stoned oscillations in the...
EDM – Night People LP (Western Vinyl)
“I’m so shallow! You’re so callous!” WOW. Teen angst prevails well into the 20s, maybe even 30s, for this abbreviated, sonically shifted follow-up to Daniel Burton’s previous project, Early Day Miners. This bloodless outing rolls across several hardened indie rock singer-songwriter stances, each facet – the low rumbling chant building to the big finish (“Terrestrial Rooms”), the last call anthem...
Factorymen – Yellow Eyes and the Sound of Vomit...
New work from this solo outing for Steve Peffer of Homostupids/9 Shocks Terror finds the Factorymen project even more deeply rooted in ‘80s xpr tape culture, with its political/”duty now” content (“SEC” repeatedly calls out Ben Bernanke, while the follow-up “Our Secret Recipe” cops a buttoned-up Negativland sorta ambiance with a spoken word intro that frames a white guy about to go off) and a...
Psychic Reality – Vibrant New Age LP (Not Not Fun)
More focused than the last thing I heard – the split LP w/ LA Vampires … sorry but it’s impossible for me to keep up with NNF’s blitzkrieg release schedule – this iteration of Psychic Reality, which I was told, perhaps incorrectly, is the last, finds artist Reyna Noel juggling the plangent, rubbery side of Arthur Russell’s new age-inspired works with Latin freestyle intimations. There’s some...
Jonas Reinhardt – Music for the Tactile Dome LP...
Wresting Reinhardt away from Kranky, at least for one record – sort of a coup in terms of Not Not Fun’s growing relevance – results in a really well-done example for the exploratory synth genre. Sequestered in a Berlin studio, Jonas Reinhardt shows us how it’s done on a variety of analog synths, as well as with more traditional rock instruments, to create an instrumental collage of planetarium...
Awaken! – “Reborn ! Reborn” b/w “Love: The Word is...
Awaken! (artist Jesse Rakusin and whatever he’s got in his system at the time) sent this one in with a bunch of press clippings that use the word “psychedelic” in some form about six times altogether, so we’re not gonna go there. He also produced a single with shrinkwrap on it, which is a big turn-off. Dude, you’re a young guy and an independent musician – stuff the 7” sleeves yourself. The...
Cindytalk – Silver 7” (Tourette)
Part of a series of singles that match an avant-garde/noise/dark artist with a color, then requires them to write music in the essence of that color. If that wasn’t enough, it’s a new Cindytalk record. Well, partly new: there’s a new remix of Gordon Sharp’s 2003 single “Transgender Warrior” by Silverymoon, who/which/what lays out some of the clearest melodies in a Cindytalk record since he...
Ed Schrader’s Music Beat – “Sermon” b/w “Rats” 7”...
Haven’t seen it myself yet, but folks seem to keep talking about the inherent radness of Ed Schrader’s Music Beat, which smashes the odds (dude is from Baltimore and part of the Wham City thing, and all he does is plays a floor tom and yells … wait, where are you going?) and somehow finds a likely home on El Load-O. Schrader, along with bassist Devlin Rice, make like an inverse negative image of...
Atelier Méditerranée – Méditerranée 7” EP (Bruit...
Members of Cheveu organized this recording with a group of mentally handicapped children, but before you can say Reynols (oh, go ahead and say it anyway), the end result of placing these kids in front of synthesizers and microphones precipitates an avant-garde tonic as bracing as you can hope. “Méditerranée” is like a high tension line snapped loose and whipping around the proximity, a bramble...
Blue Sausage Infant – Negative Space LP (Zero...
Electronic music with a beat (be it the Krauty autobahn riddim of the title track, or the plodding digital exhalations of sidelong “Motion Parallax”) from a DC-area musician whose repertoire extends from synths to bulbul tarang to electroc toothbrush and plastic teeth. He’s joined on guitar by Insect Factory’s Jeff Barsky and a couple of other locals to help the run-up with these three extended...
Amelia Cuni & Werner Durand – Already Awake in the...
Vocalist Cuni, trained in Northern India and here performing in the dhrupad style of singing, and electronic musician Durand, an associate of Arnold Dreyblatt’s, perform Hindu spirituals which cast a long and inviting shadow. They’re joined on two of these three tracks by David Trasoff on the sarod, a traditional stringed instrument, its lonely string-bent plucks dotting the landscape of sine...
Date Palms – “Honey Devash” b/w “Honey Dune” 12”...
This record is big enough, long enough, and pricy enough to be an album, but it feels like a single. There’s only one track per side, and while the duo of Gregg Kowalsky (who has made two solo CDs for Kranky) and Marielle Jakobsons (of Myrmyr and Darwinsbitch) do nothing to sully their unassailable drone cred here, these are definitely tunes. “Honey Devash” starts out light-headed and low in the...
Double Negative – Hardcore Confusion Vol. 1 7” /...
After finally catching Double Negative at Chaos in Tejas, twice – the second set leapfrogging in intensity over the first, which was already in the top percentile of HC/punk bands playing the fest – I was fully committed to their status as The Best Hardcore Band Currently Active in America. Hell, they even held their own against Kriegshog, even if -/-’s singer didn’t launch a half-empty beer...
Freiband – Stainless Steel LP (ini.itu)
Frans de Waard (Kapotte Muziek, others) develops furious process into middling action with this new Freiband album. Two sidelong pieces figure heavily on technique – here, a process used by Asmus Tietchens where the artist rubs magnetic tape over play heads is somehow transposed to the digital realm – with samples of gamelan, a favorite of artists on ini.itu, stretched and cut and extended and...
Love Cuts – s/t 7” EP (Nominal)
Three young women from the Vancouver area don the knee socks and barrettes of the Riot Grrl era for today. From their cartoonish demeanor and sleeve art, they appear to be of the yeti persuasion, a cis-specied ball of charm and winsome hollering. Songs deal with crushes, isolation, and mimes, and the way they sing sort of recalls the atonal chanting of the Shaggs, though the music recalls the...
Obediencia – s/t 7” EP (Solo Para Punks)
Debut single from this Madrid punk band, rolling up a Pac-NW punk desperation/anger into a raw punk template, with a female singer who fits into the frantic proto-riot mold a la Poly Styrene or Lora Logic. Two fast ones and two slightly less fast ones comprise this l’il ripper, which shows great success in getting a full sound out of a tinny recording that falls just shy of overdriven, with a...
Rational Animals – Bock Rock Parade LP (Katorga...
Heavy, Flag-style hardcore (side 1 of My War would be a good ref point) from Rochester, NY with a lead guitarist who cribs as much from Tom Hazelmyer as he does from Greg Ginn. Will Machi plays the geometrical Flag patterns while dropping in some serious wheedlin’ for an experience that enlivens the whole of the band. Rational Animals almost live and die on Machi’s presence, and from what...
Stripmines – Sympathy Rations 7” EP (Sorry State)
Chugging hardcore from North Carolina, thick-necked and technical, with the requisite speed of hardcore, all the lines colored in, nothing out of place, and therefore nothing all that exciting. Change up the tempo and this would be Southern boogie rock. Not recommended (though some other Sorry State releases, like Double Negative and Whatever Brains, definitely are)....
Swilson – Demonology LP (Hi-Science)
Swilson (that’s his name) sounds like a one-man band, augmented with a studio and additional players, but he’s the most irritating one-man band you could fathom. Across ballads and swampy, Waits-meets-Beck style “rock statements,” this guy screeches and brays from the Neanderthal’s point of view about women and life in general. It is sheer torture even to look at, and I deeply regret my request...
Swimsuit – s/t LP (Speakertree)
Return-to-Michigan action from Fred Thomas (Saturday Looks Good To Me, City Center), teaming up with three women who handle most of the music here. On the back cover, they’re sort of standing in the background while Fred is right up front. This all seems a little off, but thankfully the rest of the band and their twangy, reverbed-out stance helps to clarify a bit, and make it their own band as...
Weird Party – “Honey Slides” b/w “Sarah Palin” 7”...
Muscular rock/punk out of a Houston, TX combo with ex-members of the Fatal Flying Guilloteens and Sugar Shack. These two songs veer closer to the latter than the former, though even there it’s not all that close, unless you consider that they all play rock music with guitars and drums. Songs are jammed with lyrics, most of which play up some allegory (“I’m losing my mind” or “Look at this...
Jealousy – √iles LP (Moniker)
Do you know how long it took me to figure out how to put that square root character up on the screen there? I took a long and uncomfortable stare at this one when it came out of the mailer: pouty Chicagoland art student Goth, emulating the cover of the Cure’s “Let’s Go To Bed” 12” with a disgusting, pasty visage and murderous intent. Song titles explain it all: “Night Stalking,” “Drug Sores,”...
Sic Alps – Breadhead 7” EP (Drag City)
Four-song EP by what I can only assume is a reconfigured Sic Alps. They are the prime movers of disassociative rock, akin to a big neon-coloured cloud of smoke rolled over the late ‘60s and turned all of society unmotivated and apathetic. “Breadhead” breaks the three minute mark, a rarity for this outfit, with Comets’ Noel Von H. credited for the music. It’s certainly a little different than...
