July 2012
48 posts
Lower Plenty – Hard Rubbish LP (Easter...
RECOMMENDED
Lower Plenty (mems. UV Race, Deaf Wish, The Focus, and I think Total Control, to some extent) seem to know what they’ve got, and aren’t quite sure what to do with the rest, on this maddeningly uneven debut. The group works around quiet, organized downer rock/folk, featuring acoustic guitar at the forefront for most of the nine brief tracks here. The first three cuts are utterly...
Suzanne Ciani – Voices of Packaged Souls LP...
Experimental electronic composer/groundbreaker Ciani gets Votel’d, first with a collection of her more accessible works and now with a straight reissue of this nightmare, recorded in 1970 for a gallery opening in Belgium and released in an edition of 50. As someone with early and constant access to modular synthesizers, Susan (as she’s credited on the scrawly silkscreened cover) was enabled,...
Constant Mongrel – Everything Goes Wrong LP...
RECOMMENDED
More like CONSTANT RIPPER – Australian punk/post-punk trio, full of spite and anger (the furthest thing I’d expect from any band that shares a member with Woollen Kits), slashes through six menacing originals, a cover of X_X/Electric Eels jammer “No Nonsense,” and a slow-burn title track that takes up most of side 2. The group comes off like the Swell Maps with a massive grudge...
Pumice – Pebbles LP (Soft Abuse)
RECOMMENDED
This is my favorite Pumice record, and he’s made a few great ones at this point so you know this one has to be special. Stefan Neville has made a variety of records for tastes both discerning and completely shattered, to the point where it is hard to know what to anticipate on each, apart from a festering production quality. Every known varietal of Pumice song is here, Neville...
Long Distance Poison – Signals To A Habitable Zone...
I know it’s in poor taste to speculate about it in such a prolonged global economic contraction, but perhaps your city has a planetarium it’s looking to unload to a motivated buyer? Turn that shit into a concert venue – beyond some “Laser Floyd” sort of proposition, but prepared visuals by up and coming artists set to the pulsing drone of today’s modern synthesizer revivalists. Long Distance...
Mauser – Isolation 12” EP (Vinyl Rites)
Crasher/cracker crust from Gainesville, FL is what’s on the plate here. With a name like Mauser, you kinda sit through this one wondering when they’re gonna get shoved into the Blue Oyster Bar from Police Academy 2, or when someone replaces their shampoo with Krazy Glue. But this is a decent, if not wholly original effort, though it can be used as a profiling tool to figure out Who Cares About...
The Dreebs – The Dreebs The Dream LP (Kreephaus)
RECOMMENDED
The Dreebs are a trio from Brooklyn of prepared guitar, violin, drums, and vocals. This is an experimental rock record, but it is in no way a “free rock” record. This band is incredibly tight and its compositions are very precise. The Dreebs’ songs seem to work by the prepared guitar setting up a metallic drone in front which the drums and violin lock in to patterns that gradually...
Jim Haynes – The Decline Effect 2xLP (The Helen...
RECOMMENDED
Picture your body floating miles below the ocean surface, in an enormous, sunken hull, the pressure of the water coupled with the vastness of the deep. You’ve just entered this masterful drone/dark ambient work by sound artist Haynes. His motto is apparently “I rust things,” and within that context, he creates impossibly large resonant spaces, the clutter of ambient noises, treated...
Joint D≠ – Strike Gently LP (Sorry State)
Big brash melodic hardcore with some really powerful moments, comparable to Fucked Up without the concepts (or number of people) bogging it down. The name here bears striking resemblance to Brain F≠, with whom Joint D≠ shares at least one member, Nick Goode, and features contributions from most of the band, but this is a more focused effort that trades in some of the stranger ambitions of that...
Mad Nanna – I Made Blood Better LP (Negative Guest...
Listing, listless spew from a Tasmanian rock band that flops around like that goldfish at the end of the Faith No More video. I’ve been wrestling with this group’s LP and a handful of singles (all of which are featured in some other version, barely discernible from one another, on the full-length, and given some rehearsal-space jangle on B-sides that don’t bear names) for months now, and what...
Ed Schrader’s Music Beat – Jazz Mind LP (Load...
RECOMMENDED
Ed Schrader’s Music beat is a two piece band from Baltimore consisting of Ed Schrader (of the Wham City collective) on floor tom and vocals, and bass player Devin Rice. Although this minimal line up may sound like it would be constricting and unsound, the two manage to do a lot within their limited sound palate. Both songs from the 7” that preceded this LP (“Sermon” and “Rats”) are...
HOAX – s/t (Second) 7” EP (Youth Attack) / s/t...
RECOMMENDED
Western Mass hardcore/dirge/scum outfit HOAX has so much more going for it than their live show would have you believe, but for now it seems to help them get their point across. There, three dudes play barbarian treehouse wars, flinging the proverbial horse chestnuts and monkeyballs behind a skinny, scabby frontman who wears filthy, torn rags and has a propensity to bash his head in...
King Dude – Dungeon Doo-Wop 7” (Dais)
Maybe these tracks need a full album next to them to shine – certainly the more questionable moments of the past two King Dude LPs benefitted from the workspace of ideas good and bad around them – but I’m having a hard time finding a way into this single, a teaser for TJ Cowgill’s forthcoming Dais album Burning Daylight. Here is an artist who’s done all he could to inject the blackened, sketchy...
Square People – “I’m Not Lazy” b/w “I’m Not...
Man, you hope for the best in taking these random dives into the review box. Sometimes it feels like a snare you’re reaching into, with the hope that it won’t snap shut and take off a few fingers. Square People, from Nashville, at least have the decency to soak the arms of the trap in novocaine before springing it, but you’re gonna get hurt all the same. This is smoothed-out, meandering early...
Tav Falco & The Panther Burns – She’s The One To...
The reissue train keeps a-rollin’ for Harry H. and his burgeoning empire of record label archaeology, with this close-to-exact repro of the debut Panther Burns EP from 1979. Tremendously unpopular in their hometown of Memphis in the punk era and just beyond – despite the presence of Alex Chilton on guitar, whose (big) star would have to wait for recognition by new wave and rock-crit weaned...
Black Bear Combo/Wild Jesus and the Devil’s...
So you have this friend, and he’s great to have around — the life of the party, always brings some beer, never goes through your medicine cabinet to check your prescriptions. But your friend has a friend who’s not nearly so much fun; their jokes aren’t funny, and they always ask for the wrong song when you’re putting on a record. They’re a matched set, so you can’t see one without the other....
Criminal Code – Cold Thought 12” EP (Inimical)
RECOMMENDED
Like the healthy toddler assigned lifelong “living miracle” status by virtue of being born with knotted intestines or a kidney lodged in its sinus cavity, Criminal Code are an amazing band blazing forward in defiance of their musical DNA. It’s true that the stylistic attack by way of cherry-picked forefathers that defines Criminal Code would be some high-mileage, acutely-exhausted...
Humousexual – Meaning To These Maps 7” EP...
Jangly indie pop/folk wordsmithery from a British duo of guitar/vocals and drums. Four songs here, all of a piece with one another, from twee to tuff twee. Seems to be as much an outlet for lyrics as for the music itself, which serves as a vehicle for provincial, queer-friendly tales of bonding with people and places. Decent enough! (http://www.everardrecords.com) (Doug Mosurock)
Mad Macka – “Adidas Tracksuit” b/w “Bored@Ric’s”...
John McKeering from the Onyas and Cosmic Psychos offers up this little blemish of hard, tough, heavy punk rock and garish graphic design. One semi-anthemic blunderer in “Adidas Tracksuit” (the pronunciation of “Adidas” raising one eyebrow over here), and one AmRep-ready bulldozer mid-tempo crusher in “Bored@Ric’s.” Big, full sound. Check it if this is your sort of thing. Not a hip-hop record!...
Pampers – Guts 7” (JKSHK)
Brian Turner recently posted on Facebook that WFMU had received singles from three bands with eliminatory monikers. One was called Butt Problems (guys, send me your 7”, for real) and another was Pampers. As a new dad, I am all too aware of the need for diapers, but I don’t think we ever used that brand outside of the ones the hospital gave us. “Guts” is a decent punker but “Rathole” and...
Bobb Trimble & The Kidds – “Take Me Home Vienna”...
Two tracks from Trimble’s second album Harvest of Dreams, presented in the way the artist might well have intended: with a backing band of pre-teens, excised from much of the record for legal and parental reasons. These aren’t appreciably different versions than the ones you may have heard, except that “The Kidds” provide a number of overdubbed vocals and auxiliary instrumentation. Songs are...
Flesh Lights – Too Big To Fail 2x7” (Super Secret)
Four new songs from an Austin trio that overcomes their nomenclatural handicap by actually knowing how to rock. They’re good musicians who challenge themselves a bit over the course of these tracks, wielding all sorts of specific influences without allowing themselves to succumb to caricature. If they have any fault, it is that they are slightly overbuilt, and at least one of these songs has the...
Impalers – Demo 7” EP (Beach Impediment/No Way)
RECOMMENDED
Walked in on these guys at Chaos in Tejas a few years ago and was floored – maniacally heavy thrash with rock riffs, kind of in the same ballpark as early Venom or those Hellhammer demos, but worked out to a slightly more accessible but no less intense plateau. Maybe Motörhead with some of the directness swapped out for more confusion and flying bodies. Mammoth Grinder and Hatred...
Obnox – Masonic Reducer 7” EP (12XU)
RECOMMENDED
Obnox is the solo project of long time Ohio underground rock stalwart Lamont Thomas, who has spent time in the Puffy Areolas, This Moment in Black History, and the great Bassholes. This four song 7” is crammed full of heavy, near-classic rock style riffs, harmonies, multiple moments of Greg Ginn style guitar shredding, and on “Leaving Cleveland,” hip hop samples. It may sound crazy,...
Richard Papiercuts – A Sudden Shift LP (Pena)
Interesting, strange rock project from someone in New York who seems to want to remain anonymous, though from the looks of the credits on this LP, has aligned himself with noise artist Mattin, and members of the bands Talibam!, Ultrabunny, Pop. 1280, and Chinese Restaurants (he’s their drummer, it seems) – mixed company for sure, though they are effective in helping him get these messages...
Various Artists – Eat The Dream: Gnawa Music From...
The Gnawa are a brotherhood of North African musicians with West African roots whose music has exerted a focused attraction on Westerners. For decades, artists like Paul Bowles, Brian Jones, Randy Weston, Brion Gysin, Pharoah Sanders, Ornette Coleman, Lee Ranaldo, and Bill Laswell have all taken turns trying to convey the primal spiritual power of this hypnotic music. The ones who have done best...
Hey, RIP Dennis Flemion
I’ll be your dope man.
DIÄT – “Pick A Line” b/w “No Accent” 7” (Iron...
I’ll resist the urge to call Berlin’s DIÄT “efficient” – that’s for somebody else to embarrass themselves with. But this trio (two Australians and a German), said to have contacted the Iron Lung guys because they wanted to open for Total Control over there, seems to have a lot in common with some of the traditions in indie rock Germany has been known for: precision, power trios (18th Dye!!!), a...
Horsebladder – Not I’ll Not LP (Ecstatic Peace)
RECOMMENDED
Horsebladder is the stage name of musician, poet, and Western Massachusetts resident Elaine Kahn. Searching around online for other reviews of this record made it seem as it was just released into a void and no one noticed. This is a shame, as Not I’ll Not is one of the most captivating LPs I’ve heard so far in 2012. Over six songs, Kahn constructs quiet and unsettling soundfields...
Sitar Outreach Ministry – Groove Attack a/k/a...
RECOMMENDED
With a name like that, it’s almost a dare: Do you risk letting a record ruin your day? I’ve been burned recently. Reached into the box and it bit my hand, some sort of Jamiroquai-meets-Ben Harper sounding shit in a fucking zine from the communal band of a progressive living space way far out in the outer boroughs. In the zine, an artist flagellates himself for accepting what was...
Taco Leg – Printed Gold 7” EP (Richie)
Skint, threadbare cagerattle from some Australian boys who’d shown up with an earlier single on Fan Death, released at the insistence of the band Clockcleaner. This ain’t much like them, even in the attitude you might expect, but it is decent, rudimentary postpunk. Single-note guitar, thumping drums, and deadpan vocals explain the concerns of the title track in a way that makes it almost matter,...
Various Artists – Dabke: Sounds Of The Syrian...
Some might say that this collection of Dabke music from the southern part of Syria is, like those psychedelic Asian rock compilations, a warped representation of the style that simultaneously caters to Western notions of the exotic and serves up sounds not too far from certain things that record collectors already want to hear. I’ll go a step further; this record represents the sick taste of one...
Bent Shapes – “Boys To Men” b/w “Brat Poison”...
It’s A Motherfuckin’ Flexi. And it sounds a lot better than the other flexis I’ve been getting now and again, probably because it’s a legit Eva-Tone flexi. This one holds two songs from a Boston pop act, indebted to bands like Real Estate that have conquered the suburban pastoral on “Boys To Men” (the violin at the end, that tears it), and interscene sibling squabbling on “Brat Poison.” Does...
Meat Thump – “Box of Wine” b/w “Feel Good” 7”...
RECOMMENDED
It’d be easy for a lot of people coming at this record to deify it; the only sliver of output to make it out from a flat out brilliant writer who totally got it, who also died far too young and under far too unfortunate of circumstances. Do yourself a favor: don’t read into these Meat Thump songs. They’re not about Brendon’s demise, and the fact that it happened could not have...
Tropical Trash – Fear of Suffering 7” EP...
RECOMMENDED
Boasting one or more members from Sapat, this newish Louisville band makes a striking vinyl debut, with enough enthusiasm and wild, successful ideas to have come out of an earlier era. Several songs on this thing, ranging from skewed, agitated indie rock of both the Polvo and Trumans Water varieties, black metal, jazz (yeah, jazz) and far-flung aggression. The words “weird” and...
Twitch – s/t 7” EP (Supreme Echo)
RECOMMENDED
Glam-rooted hard rock from Vancouver circa 1973, with the morbid death wish of Alice Cooper folded in as a last-ditch attempt for notoriety. I’ll take the booklet author’s word for it that these guys were some of the wildest in the Northwest in the first half of the ‘70s – these tracks, collected from two self-released 45s on this reissue, really work in the ways that they need to,...
Volunteers Park – “Tragic Pote” b/w “Jerusalem...
RECOMMENDED
The next member of Silk Flowers to unveil a solo project (Ethan Swan is probably cliff diving or something incredible like that). This comes from Aviram Cohen, the group’s vocalist, and right away “Tragic Pote” gives off the feel of which parts of that group were his ideas. Nothing but synth programming and vocals, in a way that I wouldn’t call minimal, so much as it is...
Rrope – We Are You There 3xLP (Deathbomb Arc)
RECOMMENDED
Back in my college radio days, we used to get in these wild batches of promos from a company called Want A.D.D.S., which was run out of Los Angeles by a guy named Chuck Arnold, and primarily handled releases by bands and labels from California. Some of these records were so exceptional that they’ve stuck in my head for a long time – the first Comet Gain LP, for example, licensed by...
Albanian Mob Murder – “Memphi$” b/w “Drugs” 7”...
Can a person lose their Ohio privileges? How about a whole band? Albanian Mob Murder takes the low road in trying to sneak into the steam room with whatever magic has been happening in Columbus over the past few years taking the form of caked-on grime and dryer lint, and maybe some pills (but not the good kind, rather the kind you need to prevent catastrophe from happening). This is basic...
Eugene Chadbourne and the Dropouts – Zupa Dupa...
Eugene Chadbourne has always been a frustrating figure. His omnivorous taste (the guy knows his jazz, improv, country, and psychedelic rock), excellent chops on banjo and guitar, and laudable refusal to be bounded by genre, politics, or poverty tend to get canceled out by his tendencies towards shtick, self-righteousness, and shoddiness. So I didn’t have high hopes for this one, but for once,...
Friend Collector – Bandwagon LP (Terra Firma)
Rolling, howling noise rock of a very fine flavor for people who put on Al Green or “Pony” at moments of coitus but whose brains turn to white noise during the act itself. Again, the full on revival of this style does a body good, especially bodies that cut teeth on T&G, AmRep, Noiseville, the time when kids remembered that hideous distortion was more fun than figuring out how to rewrite Pet...
Eli Keszler/Keith Fullerton Whitman – split LP...
RECOMMENDED
When you see the word Tapes in a label name, it’s fair to wonder, will they do right by vinyl? A well-made record is a beautiful thing, but man, they’re easy to fuck up. Starting with the outside and working our way in, NNA did just fine with the sleeve, and even better with its colorful inner counterpart. Both feature a side of complex images, computer-generated I suppose, by...
Mattress – Eldorado 12” EP (Malt Duck)
Bedroom rockabilly, or what a sober Jim Morrison would be doing if he had continued to partake full-steam ahead until around Y2K. Eldorado is classic DDIY (literally – this is a vinyl reissue of his first CD-R, dating back to 2006), effects keyboard-reliant song type things with vocals that seem to be making fun of Danzig and Alan Vega, or touched people. It’s the local art guy that incidentally...
Moon Pool & Dead Band – “Patsy” b/w “Patsy (Jack...
Patti Smith said a few years back that New York City had closed itself off to the young and the struggling, and that they should make their art elsewhere. Her two recommendations were Detroit and Poughkeepsie, NY. I haven’t heard a lot of great music out of Poughkeepsie (actually I can’t recall that I’ve heard any music made there by locals), so what is Detroit’s excuse, continuing to grind out...
Nonagon – People Live Everywhere 12” EP...
Note from an old man: The four-to-seven song EP is a format as crucial as the 22-minute sitcom, the 60,000 word adventure novel or the sestina and for a spell there, it was looking like a goddamn lost art. It used to be the summation of The Whole Thing. But times change and CD happened and the EP became defiled as the CD-5 (much in the same way the perfect 40 minute album got turned into the...
Pangea – Killer Dreams 7” EP (Lauren/Ghostbot)
The unfortunate single by a band that has 10% good ideas and 10% decent inspiration, yet goes all wrong for the rest of it. Caterwauling crust-folkie vocals beg for a shoe or tin can to be thrown at them, until that brief verse when dude sounds like Chris D. in the Flesh Eaters and you’re all “why wasn’t he doing this the whole time?” Music is of little consequence – punk, trying to be something...
Sex Boyz – “Sex Boy” b/w “Forming” 7” (Ultra...
RECOMMENDED
This kind of record keeps things interesting. Sex Boyz, if we are to believe Ultra Eczema’s outrageous press organ, is a duo of two young male escorts dug in somewhere in Europe, who found the time to knock out a tribute to the alpha vector of punk in between blowjobs. I’m not sure what makes that detail relevant in the course of the music, unless we’re to infer that they, like the...
Weird TV – s/t 12” EP (Perennial)
RECOMMENDED
Following up a killer demo and 7”, Olympia’s Weird TV goes long(er) with six new songs that showcase strong musical development and renewed charisma, the kind of music that stares you down even from the comfort of your own home. In a refreshing role reversal, the men in the band are relegated to the rhythm section, while the women handle vocals and guitar, shredding as hard as the...
