The return of our favorite one man blackened noise drenched cinematic doomscape wrecking crew, with a super limited single, only 300 copies, of which we got about 40. Already sold out and out of print, so act fast if you want one of these filthy little black slabs.
And filthy they are, and heavy, and noisy, and most definitely the most metal thing we've heard from GTT to date. Two tracks, both sound cut from the same blood soaked cloth, relentless blast beats and drum machine splatter buried beneath thick oozing layers of churning downtuned black buzz, underpinned by tripped out keyboards, and some super harsh processed vokills. Occasionally moaning slabs of woozy drone surface, or the vocals become even more garbled, but the pace remains frenetic. Both sides feature a breakdown of sorts, the A side finds the sound slipping into some weird sort of soundtracky Goblin territory, all queasy synths and creepy minor key melodies, epic and cinematic, but still filthy and grimy and lo-fi, while the B-side introduces some haunting spoken word, over a dense swirl of drones and hums and buzzing, before exploding again into a guitar drenched blacknoise outro.
Awesome as always, and again, already OUT OF PRINT. These are the last copies, we, you or anyone else will ever see.
It was inevitable that these two would team up. Gnaw Their Tongues' blackened symphonic cinematic doom, and Alkerdeel's grim doomdirge and tranced out black buzz definitely sound like a recipe for some sort of sick sonic genius, and this 20 minute jam seems to confirm that theory, a slow, grinding blackened sprawl, dense Teutonic thrum, and gurgled monstrous vocals, a black drifting intro to some full on slo-mo funeral doom, lumbering tarpit trudgery, anguished howls over melting sludgy riffage, all wreathed in what sounds like shimmering strings. Abject and miserable, but infused with a weird cinematic heft, this deathlike creep oozes ominously, a downtuned deathmarch, that is suddenly transformed into something almost spacey, the distortion dialed back, leaving just rumbles and shimmers, and low end drifts, the vocals now a hissy whisper, everything blurred and smeared into a black cloud, suddenly exploding into full on, blasting black metal chaos, noisy, and heavy reverbed, a dizzying squall of buzzing and blasting musical mania, the sound growing subtly more melodic, slowing down too, with some almost-groove added to the mix, but still loose and ramshackle and seemingly perpetually on the verge of total collapse, and then the sound transforms again into a killer blast of roiling murky churn, that's more tranced out than buzzy, that too dissipates, leaving another wildly thrashing stretch of blackness, before a burst of white noise howl, obliterates everything, leaving just a gorgeous bit of pulsing melody infused noise to wind down, the various sounds receding into the blackness, eventually leaving just some gurgling low end, and a chorus of demonic vokills, all over a murky, muddy bed of churning synth flecked black blur warble.
Not sure about you, but when we rip cds into iTunes to put on our iPods, we long ago ditched the traditional genre descriptions and began making genres of our own, that more accurately reflected what the music really sounded like. A quick glance at our iTunes library reveals genres like African Psych, Rembetika, Experimental / Minimal / Classical, Powerviolence, Funereal Dooooooom, Gore Grind, Finnish Avant Rock, Electric Sitar Garage Psych, Gooom, Cinematic Space Psych, Psychedelic Space Synth, and then of course one genre, reserved specifically for Gnaw Their Tongues, Industrial Symphonic Cinematic Black Doom. Which if you've yet to hear this twisted one man band, should definitely give you an inkling of what you're in for.
On this split though, much of the symphonic, bombastic element has been dialed way back, in favor of something much more bleak and minimal, a creepy distorted black ambience, laced with all sorts of creepy field recordings and industrial clatter. Eventually this abstract drift coalesces into something much more intense, a furious blast of full on blacknoize, crumblingly distorted and seriously blown out, processed vox wound into the roiling blackened mix, all underpinned by a dark lurching rhythm. The vocals eventually morph into voKILLS, the background black abyss becomes more intense, a churning glitched out crumbling buzz, that threatens to swallow up all the other sounds, and eventually does.
GTT is matched up with Corephallism, who we had never heard before, which is apparently a solo project of one of the guys from Boston noise outfit Twodeadsluts Onegoodfuck, which had us expecting some harsh noise, but instead, the first begins with long layered synth tones, and deep sonorous chants, blurred hazy rumbling drones, the vibe is almost liturgical, at least until a cascade of crumbling static explodes into action, bringing with it, some crzed demonic vocal rasps, the match up of the almost serene synths and the crumbling, crackling, hissing howling noise is pretty potent, an ends up making it more listenable than you might think. The second track follows a similar pattern, but the noise triumphs this time around, the background a slow rumbling chordal swell, hypnotic and woozy, over which is laid a sheet of feedback drenched white noise skree, and more buried vokills, and while this track is much harsher, that pulsing low end background manages to balance the noise, and make it more droned out mesmer than ear destroying pummel.
Killer 4 way split of extreme outsider heaviness, most folks will probably grab this for the two new Gnaw Their Tongues tracks, but will probably end up digging the other three bands nearly as much.
But since GTT might be the reason most folks are here, let's talk about those tracks first. No huge departures, just more of that same, grim, apocalyptic, industrial, cinematic doom. "Crawl" is just that, a harrowing sonic crawl, with blown out distorted drums, heaving downtuned guitars, moaning miserable melodies, hysterical shrieks, shimmering strings, dense drones, a freaked out apocalyptic soundtrack to the death of mankind. "Paleness" is more of the same, but more metal, the main riff a blurred bit of undulating buzz, the vocals insane, the drums and industrial plod, long stretches of creepy ambience, the final half of the song a dense, thick, layered bit of blackened slow motion dronemusic, that is as weirdly hypnotic as it is hellish. Definitely worth it for fans, to get those two tracks, but there's much more metallic misery to be had.
The Arm And Sword Of A Bastard God (killer name!) are a Southern California doomkult, and traffic in plodding blackened doom, minimal and murky, big guitars, pounding drums, and some sick slowed down death metal style vocals. Halo Of The Sun contribute their own bit of UK style doom-ed blackness, a frantic bit of black metal laced with wild squiggly guitar harmonies, harsh vox, a definite Cradle Of Filth vibe, weirdly melodic, but way more lo-fi and underground, the track breaks down into a lurching doomy trudge, there are even some weird processed clean vocals, but it's soon back into the dense black grind and churn. Cool stuff for sure. Definitely be into hearing more from these guys.
And last up, from LA come The Slaughtered Lamb, who also do the black doom thing, their sound way more akin to Gnaw Their Tongues, super distorted, almost industrial, the guitars crumbling and nearly formless, the vocals dripping in effects, a filthy abject sonic crawl through broken glass and bloody entrails, leading to the 26 minute closer, an sprawling bit of epic and dismal black ambience, from hushed shimmer, to distorted thrum, to black buzz creep and back again.
All four bands impress, so buy it for the Gnaw Their Tongues, but stick around for the Slaughtered Lamb!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Just got a handful of this obscure prog cd reissue so we thought we'd list it. Definitely one for anyone who's dug previous AQ prog recommendations. Actually the UK's Gnidrolog kinda combine a lot of our favorite over-the-top prog moves into one elpee. You'll hear some Magma, some Van Der Graaf...King Crimson, Jethro Tull, Shub Niggurath, Osanna...even some Comus. It's crazed and hectic and bombastic, with zany Zappa'd mathematical rock n' roll raveups (complete with harp blowin'), fitted out in extreme prog fashion with cello, sax, oboe, piano, and flute. (Let's not forget the flute!! that's where the Comus and Tull comparisions come in.) From pretty, rustic folk song to unhinged dramatic vocalizations to doomy rock chords and even some super-skronky guitar noise, this 1972 LP was definitely *out there* as far as progressive rock goes. In Spite Of Harry's Toe-Nail was their debut, but this cd version includes as bonus tracks alternate versions of two from their second album Lady Lake, including the epic Wishbone Ash-ish "I Could Never Be A Soldier".
Both albums by this obscure '70s prog rock fave on one disc! We've had these previously on (each more expensive) separate cds, this reissue is a much better deal!
Gnidrolog are definitely for anyone who's dug previous AQ prog recommendations. Actually this English band kinda combined a lot of our favorite over-the-top prog moves into one elpee. You'll hear some Magma, some Van Der Graaf...King Crimson, Jethro Tull, Shub Niggurath, Osanna...even some Comus! It's crazed and hectic and bombastic, with zany Zappa'd mathematical rock n' roll raveups (complete with harp blowin'), fitted out in extreme prog fashion with cello, sax, oboe, piano, and flute. (Let's not forget the flute! that's where the Comus and Tull comparisions come in.) From pretty, rustic folk song to unhinged dramatic vocalizations to doomy rock chords and even some super-skronky guitar noise, Gnidrolog's awesomely-titled 1972 debut lp was definitely *out there* as far as progressive rock goes.
Their second album, Lady Lake, also from 1972, is also fantastic, and we're not just talking about the cover painting (giant disembodied hand menacing a swan rising from a lake). It includes the epic Wishbone Ash-ish "I Could Never Be A Soldier", amongst other they-don't-make-'em-like-they-used-to, dark and twisted prog treats.
The cd booklet includes detailed liner notes pertaining to the band's history, plus lyrics and vintage photos. Only complaint is that they squeezed both album's covers onto the front, we like it twofers better when they put one album cover on the front and one of the back of the booklet, so you can choose.
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PROG ALERT! Here's this eccentric English prog band's second album, from 1972, reissued on 180 gram vinyl. Over-the-top stuff, from a band that reminds us of some of our other prog faves: Van Der Graaf Generator, King Crimson, Jethro Tull (flute!), even Comus. From the fantastical cover painting (a giant disembodied hand menacing a swan rising from a lake) to the fantastical music, this is the sort of ye olde prog we love. Includes the epic, "I Could Never Be A Soldier", which sounds like something off of Wishbone Ash's Argus album, amongst other they-don't-make-'em-like-they-used-to, dark and twisted prog treats.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Latest from Bay Area black metal duo Lascoiec, a split with a band (person) called Gnieu, from Belarus, who we had never heard before, but who, after about a minute of the first track, might just be one of our new favorite bands. After a brief bit of doomic creep, the song erupts in a flurry of twisted tangled buzz, the drums a chaotic stutter, the riffs, so blurry and black, they're just a wall of thrum, while a strange melody, played on another guitar, or a keyboard, hard to say, flutters and flits and gets all tangled up, and eventually the sound seems to coalesce into something more traditionally buzzy and black, but then continues to constantly shift and transform, exploding into impossibly fast burst of blackbuzzblur, the drums completely bizarre, skittery and super intricate, the sound stumbling into wildly chaotic crush, before exploding again in a wild squall of bleary eared blur, there seems to be some keyboards too, but instead of making obvious keyboard noises, they just thicken the sound, adding texture and buried melody, the result is something warm and washed out, epic and majestic, black and buzzy, and in its own way sort of free and abstract, but also weirdly haunting and pretty, without losing any of its grim mystery. As the record progresses, the sound remains firmly in some sonic netherworld, guitars are swathed in reverb, unfurl surfy almost riffs, only to slip into a weird bit of minimal ambient jangle, before building to some sort of dirgey drift, only to again lurch into an explosive sprawl of warped blackness. Pretty sure we're gonna have to track down every single thing from these guys.
And we haven't even gotten to the Lascowiec side, who start things off with a bit of natural ambience, a dreamy bit of folky guitar over birdsong, lilting and dreamy, laced with some subtle mysterious sounds and effects, but for the most part very pretty, only to abruptly switch to some murky minor key black buzz, the sound warm and washed out, the vocals a buried demonic croak, the sound haunting and majestic, grim and depressive, and like all the Lascowiec we've heard managing to sound both intense and black, yet weirdly haunting and lovely, could be partially the production, wrapping everything in a gauzy veil of blurred shimmer, but it also seems to be the melodic structure and the arrangements, definitely frantic and frenzied, but muted and a muddied, dreamily lo-fi, but without ever losing its blackened brutality.
A pretty fantastic split, a new discovery (and obsession) and an old favorite, both sides getting much repeat play around here for sure.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES. Each one hand numbered.
One of two new singles on this week's list from UK label Trensmat, one by outsider abstract noisescapers Whirling Hall Of Knives, and this one, from UK psychedelic spacekraut collective Gnod, and as always, already sold out at the label, and thus the copies we got are most likely the only ones we'll ever see. Gnod offer up two tracks, the A side, a thick, super distorted dirge, all downtuned riffage wreathed in celestial shimmer, pounding death march drumming and soft swirls of ethereal synths, some serious heavy psychedelic space doom for sure, and easily the heaviest darkest thing we've heard from these guys yet, and it had us definitely wishing this was way longer than just a 7".
The flipside is the 'dub' of the A side, and basically douses the whole thing in delay and a murky lo-fi patina, the sounds a bit blurrier and more washed out, the snares dubbed out and sent careening into the ether, the track laced with more weird samples, the overall vibe surprisingly much more heavy, the guitars gristlier, the drums more industrial, and like the A side, we wish there was a 30 minute extended edit, cuz this is the sort of blissed out psychedelic industrial dubbed out heaviness we never want to end.
Pressed on clear orange vinyl, and includes a link to downloads of both tracks.
Originally released as two separate, ultra limited vinyl volumes, this sprawling psychedelic opus has finally been combined onto epic psychedelic songsuite, all on one shiny aluminum disc - which gives us a chance to make it our Record Of The Week, which was impossible before.
Unlike Gnod's more experimental electronic Presents... Dwellings & Druss lp, which we reviewed recently, Chaudelande finds the band in full on kosmiche space-psych mode, the sort of thing fans of outfits like Carlton Melton, White Hills, The Heads, 3 Leafs and the like, will flip for, assuming those folks aren't already heavily into Gnod. Which many probably are, as we've raved about these UK psychedelic space rockers on past lists, and who we first discovered via a split with NY space rockers White Hills. Gnod would later go on to share a split with another aQ fave, Bong, as well as releasing a clutch of their own records, which as you might assume, had all the space/psych rock fans around here flipping their lids. Chaudelande, originally released in 2012 and split into two separate 12"s, is another heady concoction of heavy psych rock bliss, swaggery space rock crunch and shimmery lysergic sonic drift, the first three tracks, originally volume 1, are sprawling epics, the shortest a little over eight minutes, the longest originally taking up a whole side at 17+. Where on past records, Gnod did a lit of drifting and spaced out shimmering, the opening track here wastes no time, well, okay, a little time spent spaced out and ethereal, before exploding into some full on space rock stomp, equal parts Hawkwind, the Stooges, heck, even a little Monster Magnet, the drums are massive, pounding away, the guitars thick, and crumbling with distortion, swaggery and spacey and seriously psychedelic, everything wreathed in swirls of effects and swaths of blurred buzz, the vocals a reverbed yelp, the bass thick and slithery, the whole thing on the edge of slipping into full on freakout. Sort of mirroring the sonic shift White Hills displayed on their most recent record. The second track dials it back a bit, drifting into a more Moon Duo-ish territory, that sort of mesmerizingly cyclical propulsive space-kraut, but Gnod mix it up by adding some thick grinding bass buzz, and clouds of constantly shifting FX, not to mention layer upon layer of swirling guitar murk and celestial shimmer, and while it does go through several permutations, at its heart, it's a seriously heady slab of blissed out zoner psych.
But then the third track displays a whole different side of Gnod's sound, opening up with some fluttery folk, wreathed in field recordings of bird calls, and all manner of voices, as if it were some hippy commune fireside jam. The sound darkens considerably, a low slung bass line driving some skeletal rhythmic shuffle, the sound hazy and fuzzy and droned out, but peppered with bursts of incendiary guitar noise, wild squalls of psychedelic freakout, wheezing organs, eventually exploding into a pounding noise jam second half, that finds the sound cranked, all the pedals pushed to their limited, the whole thing held together by a raga like buzz, heady and heavy and gloriously noisily spaced out.
The second half of the cd, originally volume 2, begins very tranquilly, with some bells and chimes, a fluttering flute, bird song, and folky chanted vocals, all driven by a simple plodding rhythm, very old timey and ritualistic sounding, but then a few minutes in, the song gradually splinters into a murky, pounding punkish churn, that sounds almost industrial, like a space rockier version of Crash Worship, tribal drumming beneath chugging crumblingly distorted riffage, wrapped in keening synth drones, and pocked with yelped reverby vox, the vibe is very Circle-like, a sort of Neanderthal space-psych hypno-rock, that does eventually transform into something that sounds almost like death rock, or some sort of goth-psych, that shuffling almost disco-y rhythm, deep crooned vocals, slithery basslines, but all nearly obscured by sheets of wah wah-ed guitar noise, pretty goddamn weird, but also one of our favorite Gnod jams yet! The follow up track Entrance, is a similarly minded sprawl of psychedelic hypno-rock. churning, pulsing, pounding, the drumming much busier, but still seriously motorik, the sound growing gradually more intense and heavy and blown out, a sort of space-punk sprawl, and the sort of mesmerizingly tranced out psychedelic space jams that end way too soon, even after 10+ minutes.
And like the first volume, the second volume (and the collected compact disc version of Chaudelande)
ends with an epic, previously sidelong mega-jam, this one the awesomely titled "Genocider", which begins with a full on "Hey Mickey" style drum beat, which is quickly buried under an avalanche of crumbling riffage and howled echo drenched megaphone vox, the song a mesmerizing space garage stomp, with the guitars growing ever more unhinged, spraying wild tangles of psych-freakout over everything, but then something strange happens, the guitars begin to recede, and the drums begin to become a bit dubby, the timbre shifting, the low end dissipating, with beats careening back and forth, the sound breaking down into a twisted brittle psych dub drum jam, before exploding right back into another stretch of roiling space stomp heaviness, that pounds on relentlessly, until crashing to a halt in a final squall of blown out noise-psych crunch. So awesome.
Not one, but TWO new, extremely limited lps from UK psychedelic space rockers GNOD, who we've raved about on past lists, and who we first discovered via a split with NY space rockers White Hills. Gnod would later go on to share a split with another aQ fave, Bong, as well as releasing a clutch of their own records, which had space/psych rock fans around here flipping their lids. This new one is split into two parts, forming a two part set called Chaudelande, the first part spreading three tracks out over two sides, the shortest a little over eight minutes, the longest taking up a whole side at 17+. Where on past records, Gnod did a lit of drifting and spaced out shimmering, the opening track here wastes no time, well, okay, a little time spent spaced out and ethereal, before exploding into some full on space rock stomp, equal parts Hawkwind, the Stooges, heck, even a little Monster Magnet, the drums are massive, pounding away, the guitars thick, and crumbling with distortion, swaggery and spacey and seriously psychedelic, everything wreathed in swirls of effects and swaths of blurred buzz, the vocals a reverbed yelp, the bass thick and slithery, the whole thing on the edge of slipping into full on freakout. Sort of mirroring the sonic shift White Hills displayed on their most recent record. The second track dials it back a bit, drifting into a more Moon Duo-ish territory, that sort of mesmerizingly cyclical propulsive space-kraut, but Gnod mix it up by adding some thick grinding bass buzz, and clouds of constantly shifting FX, not to mention layer upon layer of swirling guitar murk and celestial shimmer, and while it does go through several permutations, at its heart, it's a seriously heady slab of blissed out zoner psych.
But then the sidelong flipside displays a whole different side to Gnod's sound, opening up with some fluttery folk, wreathed in field recordings of bird calls, and all manner of voices, as if it were some hippy commune fireside jam. The sound darkens considerably, a low slung bass line driving some skeletal rhythmic shuffle, the sound hazy and fuzzy and droned out, but peppered with bursts of incendiary guitar noise, wild squalls of psychedelic freakout, wheezing organs, eventually exploding into a pounding noise jam second half, that finds the sound cranked, all the pedals pushed to their limited, the whole thing held together by a raga like buzz, heady and heavy and gloriously noisily spaced out.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES, pressed on white vinyl.
Not one, but TWO new, extremely limited lps from UK psychedelic space rockers GNOD, who we've raved about on past lists, and who we first discovered via a split with NY space rockers White Hills. Gnod would later go on to share a split with another aQ fave, Bong, as well as releasing a clutch of their own records, which had space/psych rock fans around here flipping their lids. This new one is split into two parts, forming a two part set called Chaudelande. This, the second record, begins very tranquilly, with some bells and chimes, a fluttering flute, bird song, and folky chanted vocals, all driven by a simple plodding rhythm, very old timey and ritualistic sounding, but then a few minutes in, the song gradually splinters into a murky, pounding punkish churn, that sounds almost industrial, like a space rockier version of Crash Worship, tribal drumming beneath chugging crumblingly distorted riffage, wrapped in kenning synth drones, and pocked with yelped reverby vox, the vibe is very Circle-like, a sort of Neanderthal space-psych hypno-rock, that does eventually transform into something that sounds almost like death rock, or some sort of goth-psych, that shuffling almost disco-y rhythm, deep crooned vocals, slithery basslines, but all nearly obscured by sheets of wah wah-ed guitar noise, pretty goddamn weird, but also one of our favorite Gnod jams yet! The follow up track Entrance, is a similarly minded sprawl of psychedelic hypno-rock. churning, pulsing, pounding, the drumming much busier, but still seriously motorik, the sound growing gradually more intense and heavy and blow out, a sort of space-punk sprawl, and the sort of mesmerizingly tranced out psychedelic space jams that end way too soon, even after 10+ minutes.
And like the first volume, the whole of the second side of volume 2 is taken up by another massive spaced out epic, this one the awesomely titled "Genocider", which begins with a full on "Hey Mickey" style drum beat, which is quickly buried under an avalanche of crumbling riffage and howled echo drenched megaphone vox, the song a mesmerizing space garage stomp, with the guitars growing ever more unhinged, spraying wild tangles of psych-freakout over everything, but then something strange happens, the guitars begin to recede, and the drums begin to become a bit dubby, the timbre shifting, the low end dissipating, with beats careening back and forth, the sound breaking down into a twisted brittle psych dub drum jam, before exploding right back into another stretch of roiling space stomp heaviness, that pounds on relentlessly, until crashing to a halt in a final squall of blown out noise-psych crunch. Awesome.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES, pressed on white vinyl.
This is only the second full length (we know of) from UK space rock psych drone collective Gnod, besides the recent cd-r/cassette The Crystal Pagoda we listed a while back. Most everything else we know about these guys comes from the various split and collaborative releases that came before. And that was all we really need to know, their list of collaborators reads like WE selected 'em: Bong, White Hills, Robedoor, that should be enough to give you an idea of where Gnod are coming from. But they definitely have their own twisted take on spaced out psychedelia, as is further evidenced here, on this two track lp. The first, a 20 minute epic titled "Tony's First Communion" opens with what sounds like a collision of zithers (band name?), which quickly gives way to a woozy low slung bass pulse, wreathed in distant chantlike vocals, and then in come the drums, and some swirling buzz, some croaking frogs (?), space-y FX, and the band are locked into a gorgeous head nodding hypno krautspace dirge, motorik and mesmerizing, the beat and the bassline stay solid, an anchor holding down all the chaos that surrounds them, lush tangled layers, buzz and fuzz and swirl and shimmer, creepy processed vocals, dubbed out effects, until a sudden break where the drums drop out, and howled vocals wrapped in distorted guitars swoop in, and remain as the groove restarts, adding to the tripped out weirdness. And so it goes, for 20 minutes, that main motorik spacekraut groove plodding relentlessly though a sky full of squeals and streaks, shards and squiggles, voices and instruments, samples and field recordings, all hurled heavenward and left to spin weightless in Gnod's orbit, adding all manner of twisted texture and melodic color to the already druggy and dreamy and supremely tranced out proceedings.
The shorter flipside, only 13 minutes, titled "Vatican" begins with big super distorted drums, that quickly drop out, leaving just swirling drones and muted electronics, reverbed voice transmissions and lush organ shimmer, until the drums drop again, big and blown out, reminding us a bit of a less manic Shit And Shine or Butthole Surfers, a tribal pound wreathed in glitch and hiss, a slo-mo spacerock dubstep, again the group locking tight into a groove, and letting it run out, while pelting it from all sides with thick jags of blackened buzz, or bleary streaks of Technicolor melody, twisted effects, shards of hiss and whir and hum, the voices even more reverbed and tripped out, but about halfway through, the song shifts to half time, and the sound becomes distinctly doomy, a space rock effects drenched dirge, the beat a caveman pound, the various sounds growing more and more intense, building to a gloriously glitched out, lumbering blown out space psych squall, the beat a lurching half time creep, the song plodding darkly until it finally crumbles and grinds to a halt.
So awesome. Fans of The Heads, White Hills, Shit And Shine, Bong, Carlton Melton, Robedoor, Teeth Of The Sea and all things rhythmic and psychedelic, krautrocky and spaced out, the line forms HERE.
This mysterious UK psychedelic space rock collective return with this sprawling three track 12" that displays a whole 'nother side to these faves. Whereas before, we typically aligned Gnod with groups like White Hills, and Carlton Melton, and the Heads, on these three tracks, they delve into a twisted strain of dark electronics, which to a certain degree still retain some of the psychedelia and spaciness of past outings, but here, those elements are woven into a pulsing landscape of murk and slow shifting texture, a sort of primitive psychedelic house music really, the opener is all sequenced pulse and throb, beneath a slow swirl of greyed out shimmer, and underpinned by deep rumbling low end, mesmerizingly motorik and minimal, not danceable per se, but certainly still some sort of mutant electronica, which on in "20 Sides A Minute" unfurls into an epic stretch of minimal skitter, percolating synth sputter beneath a slowed down four on the floor rhythm, the surrounding sounds swirling drowsily from speaker to speaker, the sounds growing darker and more minimal as the track progresses, sort of reminding us of Shit & Shine if they made a record for Kompakt if that makes any sense. Tripped out, and darkly meditative, with some extreme stereo panning that is definitely made for headphone trip out.
The whole of the B side is taken up by the 16+ minute "Defeatism", which starts out as a hushed drone, before revealing itself as some weird gothy new wave jam, all 303 drum machines, swirly synth pads, manic rhythmic skitter, over drifty chordal swirl and shimmery ambience, it's Gnod, so there's plenty of weirdness going on in and around and under the surface, and about half way through the sound shifts dramatically, and becomes super murky and muddy and ominous, the low end expanding into a black sonic cloud, before turning downright kosmische at one point, only to finish things off with a wild tangled of bass pulsations, fluttering skitter, and FX drenched crackle, once again swirling wildly from speaker to speaker, adding a disorienting psychedelic edge to the proceedings.
There's a certain degree of WTF? going on, but we're beginning to think these guys do actually have more in common with a group like Shit & Shine than The Heads, their focus on rhythm and texture, and achieving serious psychedelia by manipulating and sculpting the two.
There is of course a download code, which not only gets you the whole record in digital form, but also a FIFTY minute bonus track, recorded live, the band doing a similar set as to what's on the record, but a bit more rough edged and raw life, a little bit noisier and abstract, but channeling the same sort of electronic psych-kraut spirit.
Pressed on opaque gold vinyl, and as always extremely limited, so much so that this may very well be the only batch we'll be able to get!
You can often tell a lot about a band by the other bands they share splits with. And considering the fact that Gnod have done split time with both psychedelic space rockers White Hills, and space psych doomlords Bong, it's pretty much a no brainer. And the fact that these guys can pretty much hold their own with both says it all. And actually, the sound of Gnod does fall somewhere right between Bong and White Hills, beginning super murky and minimal, doomy and slow, the guitars abstract and space-y, fluttery flutes laced over whirring low end, the sound builds quickly to something seriously explosive, the drums pounding, lots of bagpipe like horns offering up more layers of drones, mumbled vox, distortion and noise and effects piling up until the rhythmic almost krautlike groove is buried beneath a heaving churning pile of constantly shifting and swirling sound. Pretty stellar for sure.
The second track here, another 20 minute space doom jam, is much less expansive, instead, it's a solid chunk of hypno space rock, the drums and bass locked tight, weird vocals drift in and out, swirls of space-y FX swoop down from above, the surrounding ambience is ever changing, but the rhythm keeps the song grounded, a head nodding, drug addled non-stop mesmerizing groooooove, lysergic and psychedelic but pretty stripped down compared to that opening salvo. Good stuff for sure. Anyone into the current crop of space rock explorers (like Expo 70, too, whose limited edition cassette/cd-r label put this out) will no doubt dig this BIG TIME.
REPRESSED AGAIN! Sold seriously dozens of these back when it first came out in 2010, but it's been gone for 3 or 4 years now... But if you missed it before, it's now back in print once again, but probably not for long...
This sprawling double lp of blissed out space rock psychedelia is being touted as the first 'official' teaming up of these two outfits, but it's definitely at least the second, maybe the now out of print Aquarian Downer cd-r is not being counted as properly official, but having freaked out over that a while back, we already knew these two were a good match. And on this collaboration, the two mesh seamlessly, White Hills seeming to let Gnod dial down the intensity and all out rocking, and crank up the shimmery washed out dreaminess, we mentioned Tangerine Dream in our review of the cd-r, and that sound is all over here, but so is Neu!, Wooden Shjips, all sorts of things, but WH and Gnod are clearly space rock masters, and these 4 sidelong tracks only further cement their placement in our personal space rock kraut drone pantheon (what, you don't have one?)!
So for this record, White Hills are a four piece, again featuring Oneida's Kid Millions on drums, and Gnod are a SEVEN piece, so you would think 11 rockers jamming out would be a crazy mess, but nope, these guys are so obviously sonic soulmates, from the first side, a slab of slow groovy krautrock, motorik (multiple drummer-ed?) drumming, smoldering minimal riffage, mantra like vocals, the Neu! / Stereolab vibe here is huge, woozy synths, tangled psychedelic leads, all glistening and sunshiney, never exploding into full bore heaviness, instead, just unwinding lazily and dreamily.
The second side starts off similarly, a super spare spaced out drift, before launching into a muscular Hawkwind sounding jam, all downtuned crunch, caveman pound, swirly psychedelic effects, churning and chugging relentlessly, the rhythm and groove LOCKED in, while the guitars and synths and effects swirl and whirl all around, finally unwinding with a cool muted bit of cinematic drift, haunting ghostlike melodies that almost sound like strings, all in a softly fuzzy dreamlike haze.
Lp 2 begins all rhythmic and almost new agey, cool repetitive melodies, simple and stripped down drumming, all laid over a deep rumbling synth drone, everything washed out and otherworldly. Eventually that gives way to a throbbing fuzzy bassline, matched up with a rock solid rhythm, more effects are applied, as are some wild fragmented super distorted leads, some warped Manzarek style organ, that main groove never faltering, total low slung incendiary psychedelia.
And so like us, you were probably expecting the final side to be the full on blow out we had all been waiting for, a free for all freak out of epic proportions, but instead, the band dial it WAY down, and offer up some super sprawling, ethereal atmospheric space folk driftscape bliss out, all spidery crystalline guitars, barely there hand drums, thick languid basslines, gauzy restrained effects, soft focus finger picked neo-Appalachia, totally dreamlike and mesmerizing, it almost sounds like the Alps covering Hawkwind, converting heart of the sun heaviness into something hushed and pastoral, subtly lysergic and utterly divine. So good.
UK space rock combo Gnod definitely seem to have a thing for splits. Thankfully, they've shared most of those splits with some seriously kick ass bands, two with NYC psychedelic space rockers White Hills, one with riff heavy psych rockers Robedoor, and one with UK space doom outfit BONG, and now they team up with the until-now-unknown-to-us A Middle Sex, who definitely hold their own alongside Gnod, and amidst the elite split sharing brethren.
Two side long 45rpm jams, Gnod's is a sprawling expanse of swirling psychedelic shimmer, total blissed out slow burn kosmische drift, clouds of tinkling glimmering chimes, spidery tendrils of smoldering psych guitar, wailed vox WAY down in the mix and a pounding caveman beat that's not so much rhythmic as it is some sort of primal throb. The more we listen, the more it almost sounds like some twisted space rock version of Finnish forest freaks Avarus. Not a bad thing at all!
Eventually the track does attain some forward momentum, a lurching, lumbering, lysergic dirge, but by the time it does, things are already winding down.
A Middle Sex, who also call the UK home, do their own psychedelic space rock thing, which in their case is all about rhythm, after a brief swirl of kosmik krautsynth shimmer, the band launch into a seriously spaced out sprawl of tribal pound, a primitive Crash Worship style rhythm ritual, wreathed in streaks of keening feedback and swirling high end. The track gradually becomes enveloped in a haze of psychedelic guitarnoise, a Skullflowerish skree for sure, before settling back into a weirdly tranquil bit of drugged out drift, laced with strangely effected Buttholes style vox and more keening high end tones.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES, pressed on nice heavy 140 gram vinyl.
The Not Not Fun label's Bored Fortress subscription split 7" series has been going on for a few years now, and is always killer, featuring a who's who of hip underground weirdo rock combos, not to mention some seriously fantastic packaging, and for whatever reason, this year, a handful of the previously subscription only singles have been made available to non subscribers, but not for long, as these babies are crazy limited.
UK dronedrugspace rockers Gnod unfurl a sprawling bit of effects heavy minimal space psych crawl, all super reverbed vocals, swirling echoey guitars, ultra minimal almost dubby drumming, the guitars a distorted murky muddy squall of tangled melody, drifting over the dirgey creep-like black clouds.
Robedoor lay down some grungy riffage, some big boomy drumming, and lock into some seriously drum heavy dirgery, with strange alien vocals, super saturated guitars, a crazy blown out sound, all barely obscuring some gloriously epic psychpop within, a psychpop that seems to emit glorious rays of sonic shimmer constantly on the verge of bursting from within the fantastically grimey, swirling murky muddy production.
Also, we have another Bored Fortress title, besides the ones we're listing now, the Infinite Body / No Age split 7", VERY few copies of that one, not enough to list, just ask if you want one and IF we still have some left, it could be yours!
Besides being yet another in the seemingly ceaseless stream of Robert Pollard's Fading Captain Series recording projects, the most notable thing about Go Back Snowball is the warm, glowing presence of Superchunk's Mac MacCaughan. Yup, this is a collaboration
Belgium's The Go Find craft atmospheric electronic laced pop rock propelled by a driving robotic beat and warmed by mainman Dieter Sermeus' sensitive male vocals. The ten songs on their debut album Miami alternately bring to mind the sounds of The Notwist, Postal Service and New Order or perhaps a more laidback version of The Faint. This new member of the Morr Music clan is settling in quite comfortably with his labelmates Lali Puna, Ms John Soda, Styrofoam et al.
This new SF band's debut is quite immediately reminiscent of the dreamy, swirling late '90s Brit rock bands like Spiritualized or The Church - all shimmering, spacy guitars with soft shoegazer male lead vocals. But Go Go Galaxion set themselves apart from those groups with an ever-present upbeat mood that's propelled along by some considerably West Coast sunny bouncy tempos and warm vocal harmonies - maybe placing them more in line with polished pop bands like Beulah or the Posies in that regard. Nice.
Whoa, what a change of direction! Rather than chewin' on pink bubblegum, The Go Team's new album might have you gnawin' on a shank of beef jerky... or some other more manly snack. The jubilant youthful glee of their 2004 debut album Thunder, Lightning, Strike has been replaced by uncharacteristic ballsy thumpin' beats and macho vocals... and Chuck D. Yes, you heard us correctly. Chuck D makes a cameo appearance on this album -- sort of like what he did on Sonic Youth's "Kool Thing" (but nowhere near as kool). We're not sure what to think of this turn of events. To be honest, it kinda harshed our giddy anticipation. Harumph.
When we first heard The Go! Team way back in 2004, with their debut Thunder, Lightning, Strike, like most folks we were pretty blown away, a wild rambunctious double Dutch sampledelic hip hop/ electro pop like nothing we had heard. Fun and funky, energetic and original, and totally kick ass, and while we didn't love the follow up quite as much, this new one totally knocked our socks off. The first track alone "T.O.R.N.A.D.O." was all it took, a two minute blast of girl gang, horn heavy, block rockin beats, a looped sample of an Antibalas jam is the anchor for this avalanche of thump funk, neighborhood party blow out groove, surprisingly dark and ominous, with brass that sounds like it was lifted from Fleetwood Mac's Tusk, all wrapped around a thick funky rhythm, peppered with squalls of scratching, everything chopped and stuttery, and ultra funky and dramatic, super intense and so RULING, but then the next song is a total about face, WAY more poppy, all bouncy rhythms, fuzzy organs, sunshiney and almost Bossa Nova sounding, more like Stereolab or Deerhoof, and it's that opening one two punch that gets played out across the whole record, a dizzying collection of genre flipping hybrids, sunshine pop meets garage rock crunch meets hip hop groove meets electro dance party and pretty much every and any stop in-between, shades of Stereolab and Deerhoof and Puffy Ami Yumi and Shonen Knife and Dee-lite and Salt & Pepa and so much more, all sliced and diced and cobbled together into some seriously fun, funky girl group hip hop garage rock electro pop blowouts, it's about as feel-good as a record can get and still kick ass. Lots of guests pop up too, yet again reflecting the group's all-over-the-map sound, including Deerhoof's Satomi Matsuzaki and Best Coast's Bethany Cosentino. So good!
Heads up people! It's a surging candy-coated fountain of perky, ultra funky euro pop sweeping up everyone in its path! When Cup played it the other day, she had three customers ask about it in quick succession. Pretty darn irresistible, The Go! Team cook up lots of hyper-energetic, ass-slappin', toe-shakin' party jams! Sorta like a bubbly, brightly-hued blend of Bis and Stereototal.
Revivalist 70's glam rock for fans of The Stooges or New York Dolls. On Sub Pop.
It's been five years since Robert Forster and Grant McLennan reformed their beloved band, and with their latest full length Oceans Apart they show no signs of stopping. Their music is as great as ever. If you really need proof, you need only give this album a spin next to the recently re-issued early Go-Betweens classics such as 16 Lovers Lane. Although the two gents' songwriting and singing styles have always been quite different from one another (and great on their own when in solo mode), when combined the chemistry is pure pop magic. They sing from and to both the heart and mind, penning some of the most sincere, articulate and romantic pop songs around. Who else could fit Dostoyevsky's name in their lyrics? Well, maybe Robyn Hitchcock, who might be the one artist closest to them in style, depth, wit and charm. The Go-Betweens' records including this one are something you can always rely on to offer light to your darker times and places.
Note: the first pressing of this cd includes a bonus disc of six songs recorded live at the Barbican in London last year.
It's time for much revelry, Go-Betweens fans! Jetset Records has reissued another batch of Go-Betweens albums on cd. This time it's three of the band's finest, most beloved works -- 16 Lovers Lane, Tallulah, and Liberty Belle And The Black Diamond Express. Perhaps it's time for you to replace your well-worn copies of these totally classic albums?! Each comes with a bonus disc overflowing with a variety of rarities and videos. Such a treat for pop music lovers! And if you've somehow yet to experience the refined splendor of the Go-Betweens music, now is the time to get with the program! Seriously folks, this band was (and is) graced with not just one, but two of the most formidable songwriting forces around, Robert Forster and Grant McLennan. Consistently head and shoulders above their comtemporaries, their unmistakable and unforgettable songs speak to both the heart and the mind, and we'd venture to say that 1988's 16 Lovers Lane does so the best of them all. It's the album they released just prior to disbanding for a decade (they reformed in '99), and they 'ended' things on a glowingly resonant high note. It's quite possibly their best work of their career (and a particular favorite of Cup and Andee's). This reissue includes videos for "Streets Of Your Town" (two versions) and "Was There Anything I Could Do?" plus ten stellar bonus tracks. Not to be missed. Sooo recommended.
For almost a quarter of a decade, the Go-Betweens have been crafting some of the most sparkling pop songs. The songwriting duo of Robert Forster and Grant McLennan are responsible for innumerable understated, hook-filled beauties, each of them bearing the unmistakable Go-Betweens sound. So, if you're new to this great group, where do you start? Well, their most recent effort "The Friends Of Rachel Worth" (which featured the addition of Sam and Janet of Quasi to the line-up) was an absolutely glorious album, but with the recent reissues of their earlier albums... geez, the decision making's tough! Nonetheless, whichever album you choose will surely mark your entry into the rather sizeable and devout membership of Go-Betweens admirers.
Before Hollywood was their sophomore release. So very composed, confident, gentle and gentlemanly, they make songwriting seem easy. Some prime examples? The classic pop tunes "That Way" and "Cattle And Cane"... worth the price of admission alone. And voila, on the bonus disc you also get the video for the latter!
From the first note to the very last, the follow-up to The Friends Of Rachel Worth (and to the celebrated reissues of their first three albums) is quite simply more glorious, intelligent pop of the highest grade from this Australian group. Always comfortingly familiar, yet also very fresh and vibrant. Robert Forster and Grant McLennan create the finest of pop songs that are ever sweet, lush and sentimental, but never overly so. What more can be said? Legions of Go-Betweens fans already know, and those who've yet to discover them should get the lead out, goshdarnit!
MPEG Download: "Caroline & I" [/audio/gobetweenscaroline.mp3]
MPEG Stream: "Caroline & I" [/audio/gobetweenscaroline.m3u]
It's time for much revelry, Go-Betweens fans! Jetset Records has reissued another batch of Go-Betweens albums on cd. This time it's three of the band's finest, most beloved works -- 16 Lovers Lane, Tallulah, and Liberty Belle And The Black Diamond Express. Perhaps it's time for you to replace your well-worn copies of these totally classic albums?! Each comes with a bonus disc overflowing with a variety of rarities and videos. Such a treat for pop music lovers! And if you've somehow yet to experience the refined splendor of the Go-Betweens music, now is the time to get with the program! Seriously folks, this band was (and is) graced with not just one, but two of the most formidable songwriting forces around, Robert Forster and Grant McLennan. Consistently head and shoulders above their comtemporaries, their unmistakable and unforgettable songs speak to both the heart and the mind.
You need look no further than the third song "The Wrong Road" from 1986's Libery Belle And The Black Diamond Express with its sweeping strings and yearning vocals, as well as the steady guitar strum canter and understated yet dreamy backing vocals of the fourth song "To Reach Me". Beautiful!
This reissue includes videos for "Spring Rain" and "Head Full Of Steam" plus eleven bonus tracks (many of them early and alternate versions). Hurrah!
For almost a quarter of a decade, the Go-Betweens have been crafting some of the most sparkling pop songs. The songwriting duo of Robert Forster and Grant McLennan are responsible for innumerable understated, hook-filled beauties. Each of them bearing the unmistakable Go-Betweens sound. So, if you're new to this great group, where do you start? Their most recent effort "The Friends Of Rachel Worth" (which featured the addition of Sam and Janet of Quasi to the line-up) was an absolutely glorious album, but with the recent reissues of their earlier albums... geez, the decision making's tough! Nonetheless, whichever album you choose will surely mark your entry into the rather sizeable and devout membership of Go-Betweens admirers.
For the record, Spring Hill Fair was the third album by these Australian pop geniuses. Underrated and often overlooked, but sooo good! It was recorded in 1984 and features amazing, intelligent lyrics and uniquely beautiful guitar pop instrumentation.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
It's time for much revelry, Go-Betweens fans! Jetset Records has reissued another batch of Go-Betweens albums on cd. This time it's three of the band's finest, most beloved works -- 16 Lovers Lane, Tallulah, and Liberty Belle And The Black Diamond Express. Perhaps it's time for you to replace your well-worn copies of these totally classic albums?! Each comes with a bonus disc overflowing with a variety of rarities and videos. Such a treat for pop music lovers! And if you've somehow yet to experience the refined splendor of the Go-Betweens music, now is the time to get with the program! Seriously folks, this band was (and is) graced with not just one, but two of the most formidable songwriting forces around, Robert Forster and Grant McLennan. Consistently head and shoulders above their comtemporaries, their unmistakable and unforgettable songs speak to both the heart and the mind.
Tallulah, their fifth album originally released back in 1987, arguably runs a close second to 16 Lovers Lane for the band's 'best album' award. A sweet blend of guitar crunch and lushness.
This reissue includes videos for "Right Here" and "Bye Bye Pride" plus ten bonus tracks (many of them early and alternate versions). Hurrah!
It's a downright pleasure to hear (and see) the enthusiasm this band still has for their music and their fans (really, so much more than many artists these days can even seem to muster a fraction of!). They've been making wonderful music individually and as a group for over a quarter of a decade! Nowhere is it currently more on display than on this live Go-Betweens dvd/cd set! The dvd features a fantastic performance of theirs in Brisbane last August as well as a batch of stories as told by band leaders Grant McLennan and Robert Forster themselves the day after. As an added convenience, the cd features a 70 minute long audio recording of the show. needless to say, an awesome fan pleaser! Hats off to the Go-Betweens!
Upon the very first play of this cd in AQ, three (!) customers' ears immediately pricked up, then all three customers chimed in unison "new Go-Betweens?" And their ears were treated to a wonderful listening delight. On this album the Go-Betweens line-up consists of Grant McLennan, Robert Forster, Adele Pickvance, and Quasi's multi-talented Janet Weiss and Sam Coombes. Also contributing their musical talents are Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker (of Sleater-Kinney) as well as Brent Arnold and Jen Chorowhas. And a few others... Sure to please old Go-Betweens fans and certain to make them quite a few new ones as well. Beautiful, lush and earthy.
Looking so fresh and bright, Jane, Charlotte, Kathy, Gina and Belinda return with a full new album after a series of peeks and teasers. Their wonderful go-girl harmonies and super hook pop melodies are all splendidly intact. Billie Joe from Green Day guests
Eagerly anticipated new batch of tripped out voodoo-psych from these mysterious Swedes, their first for Sub Pop, and much like their debut, World Music, Commune explores much of the same sonic ground, fusing Afro Psych with fuzzy garage, lots of groovy rhythms, Eastern style melodic buzz, tranced out and hypnotic, minimally maximal, those strange, soaring female vox, we got to experience these guys (and gals) live when they were in SF not too long ago, and we were blown away, elaborate costumes, ZERO stage banter, the two vocalists dancing and gesticulating wildly for the whole set, while the rest of the band nearly faded into the shadows, but sonically, super powerful and utterly mesmerizing, and while we've only had this new record for a week or two, it definitely already has the potential to be just as addictive as World Music.
The opener here is much more sixties sounding, all sitar like buzz, and spidery guitar leads, over a relentlessly groovy tribal rhythm, the vocals swooping in here and there, but mostly the band just locked tight into some seriously heady psychedelic hypnorock. The second track darkens considerably, channeling a sound much more akin to Spacemen 3, processed pulsing guitars, minimal motorik drumbeat, definitely sounding like the results of Spacemen 3's famous MO: "taking drugs to make music to take drugs to", but with a bit of a more tribal feel, right down to what sounds like some faux field recordings at the end. "The Light Within" starts out straight up African style High Life, before those vocals come in, witchy and powerful, and then the guitars come in fuzzed out and fierce, the song a push pull between groovy tribal psych-funk and something much more hard rocking, which in a way, is where much of this record, and Goat's sound in general dwells, and it's that tension that makes it work. Some of the tracks get much more blissed out and dreamily trippy, while others are freaked out and wildly psychedelic, and still others almost sound like sixties classic rock, filtered through Goat's cracked voodoo psych rock filter, and like the first record, the closer is a doozy, the song we'd imagine they'd finish with live, a sprawling psych jam, that builds to a seriously blown out psych-noise freakout, replete with bleating horns, layered vocals wails, and dense guitar fuzz, the whole thing swirling noisy, chaotic, and dizzyingly trippy.
Like the first record, this new one comes in a fancy die cut package as well, once again with minimal liner notes.
Goat on Sub Pop, how 'bout that? Pretty cool. We don't make 7" singles Records Of The Week, but if we did, this one woulda been a good candidate due to the excitement/anticipation it generated, and how much it satisfies such anticipation! So consider it a 7" Of The Week at least.
Although its Goat's first domestic US release, and being a single could certainly function as a taster/intro to their sound, really we'd direct anyone as yet uninitiated into the cult of the Goat directly to their full-length from last year, World Music. We made THAT a Record Of The Week after all, it's soooo good. Read our review for the dubious but entertaining backstory on this Voodoo-cursed Afropsych band from a tiny town in Sweden. But for all of you who are already fans, we know you're jonesin' for this.
Compared to some of the poppier/catchier tracks on World Music, the A side "Dreambuilding" is more of a jam, the chanted vocals without an immediate chorus a la "Goatman" or "Run To Your Mama", rather it basically seems like an excuse for mega ultra fuzzed guitar leads to be unleashed, psychedelically skronking sinuously over a bed of groovy primal hand percussion with a trippy 'exotica' feel to it - and as far as we're concerned, they don't need an excuse to do that sort of thing, we dig it! Not that this isn't catchy, it's just more of a jam is all.
The B side (or AA side, they're both meant to be considered A's) is another song with a sound that's obviously immediately Goat and nobody else, and is great of course. How could it not be, it's called "Stonegoat"?! If anything we're digging it more than "Dreambuilding", it's all gurgling wah-wah fuzz and throbbing Afrobeats and wailing vox in the best Goat tradition. Killer.
Comes with an mp3 download code! Like many 7"s, it's limited, and being Goat, demand is high. Sub Pop is almost all sold out, so we don't know if/when we'll get more, though eventually they may repress. Dunno if this means the next Goat full-length will be coming out soon, and on Sub Pop or not, but this certainly whets our appetite for more, regardless!
Two years ago, we made Swedish voodoo-psych act Goat's debut, World Music, an aQuarius Record Of The Week. But it was more than just a Record Of The Week, 'cause 2012 turned out to basically be the Year of the Goat, and not just here of course. Much of 2013 too - the insanely popular World Music was followed by a couple remix 12"s Record Store Day back in April, and two new Goat songs surfaced on a Sub Pop 7" single as well. But folks are of course still hankering for more Goat! Preferably a new studio album. This isn't that, as you can guess from the title, but it's still got the Goat fans here (which are ALL of us here) pretty darn excited. We haven't been lucky enough to get to see 'em play in person ourselves (unfortunately, San Francisco is a bit far from Goat's home village of Korpilombolo and their touring hasn't brought 'em out this way, yet) but we know Goat have a reputation as an amazing live act. Listening to this, we believe it, even though of course it's lacking the visual component, as apparently Goat on stage is a riot of colorful costumes and masks (where's the DVD version?!!?), but the powerful sonic aspect of their "live ritual" is certainly captured here, on this performance recorded in front of a 1000+ crowd on July 27, 2013 at Camden's Electric Ballroom in London, England. It's rawer and looser than Goat in the studio for sure, even more out there and wild. Goat's uniquely groovy, catchy, Afro-beat meets fuzz psych sound is as infectious as ever, as they do all the tracks from World Music, plus both sides of the Dreambuilding 7" too, jamming 'em all out a bit.
At first we thought, hmmm isn't it a bit premature for a band with only one album to their name to do the double live thing already? But with Goat it makes sense, giving fans who haven't seen 'em a taste of what they've missed - and those that have, a reminder of that experience. (Heck same goes for the live Fuzz disc too for that matter.)
Soundwise, this is pretty good, we mean, it does sound "live" but that's the idea; the only thing that really suffers is the vocals, they sound a bit better in the studio. Other than that, no real complaints. Well, a new song or two would have been cool. But the main thing is that Live Ballroom Ritual is super groovy, and now we REALLY can't wait for their next album...
Another special Record Store Day release, and another one we were truly excited about, two 12"s of remixes from former aQ Record Of The Weekers Goat, whose ROTW, World Music, was a dizzying collection of twisted and mysterious Swedish psychedelic space rock, heavy on the twisted grooviness, rhythmic and propulsive, and laced with cool double-dutch style vocals, wild percussion, we weren't the only ones who flipped for these guys (and gal).
So Rocket Recordings picked what seems to be most folks favorite track, and got some like minded sonic saboteurs to take a stab and remixing it and making it their own. A bunch of remixers we knew: High Wolf, Teeth Of The Sea, Gnod, Cherrystones, Hookworms and Tom Furse (of UK goth rockers the Horrors), but a bunch we didn't: Raikes Parade, Thought Forms, Redg Weeks, Cage & Aviary. While a lot of the remixers only slightly tweaked the originals, some went all out and pulled the song apart and reassembled the pieces into something entirely different.
The first volume starts off with Thought Forms, who are one of the groups who don't mix it up too much, and instead just does some looping and layering and rearranging, adding some sound effects here and there, dubbing out certain bits, and stripping away a lot of the guitar, letting the drums drive the proceedings. High Wolf also does some looping and layering, but the resulting sound is a lot different, much more tripped out, sounding a bit like Muslimgauze at 45rpm, rhythmic, groovy, the vocals relegated to the background, lots of buzzing sitar like sound, the whole thing dense and druggy, swirly and shimmery.
Redg Weeks gives the original a serious dub overhaul, the bass CRANKED, the drums heavily reverbed, the snare hits sent careening into the ether, the whole thing dirgey and hypnotic, dark and droney, some seriously mesmeric loping dub psych minimalism for sure. Tom Furse from the Horrors, hews a bit closer to the original, adding subtle synth swirls, and tonal colorations, adding textures and layers, the overall effect making the song a whole lot more spacey and trippy.
SUPER LIMITED!! Like most of the Record Store Day releases, while we have a bunch, it's very likely, we won't be able to get (many/any) more. Comes housed in an old school style big hole 12" sleep, decorated with the same sort of fractal design as the cover of the full length.
Another special Record Store Day release, and another one we were truly excited about, two 12"s of remixes from former aQ Record Of The Weekers Goat, whose ROTW, World Music, was a dizzying collection of twisted and mysterious Swedish psychedelic space rock, heavy on the twisted grooviness, rhythmic and propulsive, and laced with cool double-dutch style vocals, wild percussion, we weren't the only ones who flipped for these guys (and gal).
So Rocket Recordings picked what seems to be most folks favorite track, and got some like minded sonic saboteurs to take a stab and remixing it and making it their own. A bunch of remixers we knew: High Wolf, Teeth Of The Sea, Gnod, Cherrystones, Hookworms and Tom Furse (of UK goth rockers the Horrors), but a bunch we didn't: Raikes Parade, Thought Forms, Redg Weeks, Cage & Aviary. While a lot of the remixers only slightly tweaked the originals, some went all out and pulled the song apart and reassembled the pieces into something entirely different.
The second volume starts off with Gnod, who team up with the previously unknown to us Raikes Parade, for something a whole lot more minimal, that main riff, suspended in a haze of disembodied vox, tinkling chimes, fractured music box melodies and ominous synth squelch. Soon a stuttery beat surfaces, giving the song an almost dubstep vibe, the original elements of the song blurred into thick swirling clouds of atmospheric background sound. Cherrystones version transforms the more rocking original into a lurching creep, a hiccuping beat and some blorping synths, draped over the washed out remnants of the original, woozy melodies all tangled up in the proceedings, the feel very Eastern and exotic, this track too, dubbed out and a little bit Muslimgauze-y.
UK space rockers Hookworms, whose full length we'll be reviewing hopefully soon, turn the original into something way more laid back and washed out, employing mostly the drums and the bassline from the original, smearing all the other sounds into a druggy swirl, the perfect backdrop for some slowburn guitar, and spaced out psychedelic shimmer. Finally, Cage & Aviary strip Goat's sound WAY down, and craft some woozy, warbly, electro-house groovery, pulsing and loping, warped melodies draped over sheets of crumbling guitars, all faded into the background, the vox too, chopped up into weird little melodic blurts, all beneath woozy basslines, warped FX and that hypnotic relentless rhythm.
SUPER LIMITED!! Like most of the Record Store Day releases, while we have a bunch, it's very likely, we won't be able to get (many/any) more. Comes housed in an old school style big hole 12" sleep, decorated with the same sort of fractal design as the cover of the full length.
We've been waiting for this one for ages. After an insanely limited 7" single, which was so scarce, no one we know has actually ever even seen a copy, let alone bought one, and a teaser video on YouTube, and all sorts of rumors about this Swedish band who were influenced by African music and voodoo and came from some mysterious village no one had ever heard of, well, needless to say, we were DYING for the full length, and it does not disappoint.
So the story goes, in a tiny village in Sweden called Korpolombolo, there has existed a band called Goat for generations, this is just the first incarnation of the band that has captured any of their music on tape. Supposedly the village was cursed by some sort of voodoo witch doctor, who was put to death for being a witch, and introducing voodoo worship to this tiny village. It only takes one Google search to discover that there is no such village, or so say the skeptics, but we choose to BELIEVE, and that village is just so obscure and tiny and tucked away, that it has even escaped the notice of Google. And whether it's true or not, the IDEA of it definitely influences the music of Goat, whose sound most definitely has a serious African vibe, the percussion, the vocals, it's heady concoction of wild psychedelic space rock, all driving krautrock rhythms, and tangled squalls of electric guitar freakout, and dense rhythmic percussion, and almost double dutch sounding vocals. When we first threw this on, our first impression was that it sounded like a weird mix of Konono No.1, The Heads and (believe it or not) the Go! Team, which even now, after constant listening doesn't seem that far off.
The tracks are dense, and psychedelic, heavy, fuzzy, definitely Stooges-y at times, Hawkwindy at others, several of the tracks display a Miles Davis style grooviness, sounding like a SUPERCHARGED ultra heavy Bitches Brew, others pound away sounding exactly how you might imagine some ancient voodoo ritual would sound reimagined by some modern Swedish psychedelic space rock outfit. "Goatman" (from the 7") is the perfect intro, after a strange sample, and some tribal drumming, the guitars come cascading in, wild squalls of psychedelic wah guitar, and keening high end wails, then the vocals come in, belted out over the fuzzed out bass, the percussion wild and groovy, it's total Swedish Afro-psych, or something, if this one track stretched out and filled up the whole record, it STILL would have been Record Of The Week.
The band do have a surprisingly broad palette though, whether it's the subdued acid folk Appalachia of "Goathead", or the organ driven Afro-groove of the appropriately titled "Disco Fever", with its percussion heavy funk swaddled in progged out organs, and then there's the equally funky "Golden Down", that sounds like some Southeast Asian Sublime Frequencies jam, but here cranked up, the guitars super distorted, the bass dangerously buzzy, the sound blissfully in-the-red, the drums wild and loose, the ultimate heavy psychedelic dance band, for those three minutes you can almost imagine these guys jamming out at the edge of the world in some alternate dimension seedy dive, with a dancefloor full of damned souls. Sweaty and swaggery and fierce as fuck. "Let It Bleed" delivers a more laid back groove, and even introduces some saxophone, which gives it the vibe once again of some psych-ed up Ethiopian groove. "Run To Your Mama" melds serious Sabbath-y riffage to some wild tribal percussion, and wailed vox, while "Goatlord" unfurls some dark psych folk, replete with super distorted heavy psych leads, over urgent strumming and cooed echo drenched vox, sounding a bit like a more psychedelic Comus in fact.
And finally, the record finishes off with the epic "Det Som Aldrig Forandras", with its bagpipe sounding opening, that quickly explodes into a heady psychedelic groove, droned out and hypnotic, the sort of jam that should/could have been ENDLESS, but instead, works its way back to a seriously heavy psychedelic coda, bookending the brief 3 minute opener, again, the sort of jam they could have stretched out for another twenty minutes, and we would have been in heaven, but the fact that it loops back around to the beginning, only adds a strange sort of endless ritual vibe to the proceedings, and makes it that much easier to play it all over again. And again. And again. Forever.
Super swank, die cut, eye popping artwork too, on the cd and lp both!
Here's the follow-up to The Goat Family's lively debut album Unstopperable from a few years ago! Sounds like these seven fellas are still bustin' their britches with rambunctious energy and mighty fine pickin'! All We Need is jam-packed with sixteen old fashioned bluegrass and country tunes written and performed in both conventional and somewhat less conventional fashion by modern day folks fueled by ample jugs o' moonshine. Good times for sure!
The Bay Area's Goat Family are sure kicking up some dust on Unstopperable. It's an off-kilter hillbilly jamboree filled with originals and covers of old classics like "Ring Of Fire", the rousing rais-a-pint "All For Me Grog" and you might recognize the number "Pick A Bale Of Cotton" from the front porch scene of the movie The Jerk!
Another in a long line of retarded metal records we absolutely love. It's getting a little ridiculous. At this point it's impossible for me to tell if something sucks, or if it's so ridiculous or so bad that it's absolutely genius. Allan doesn't really like this so much because he thinks it's a joke, but I prefer to believe that they are serious. DEADLY SERIOUS. Primitive, simple buzzing black metal in the vein of Bathory, Darkthrone, Beherit, but they have three things going for them.
They are called Goat Thrower.
The two band members are named The Mad Arab and Sabbatic Goat and are pictured on the cover in perfect HEAVY METAL magazine fantasy art.
And most importantly...
The vocals sound like the Chipmunks, or like they've been sucking down helium or something. Ridiculous chattering high pitched jabbering and wailing. So ridiculous it's inspired.
Folks who have been digging the crushing sludgedoom heaviness of Aussie doomlords Fire Witch would do well to check out the darkly dulcet tones of fellow Aussies Goat Witch. Two witches hmmm... Well, yeah, it seems that these two bands are related, sharing members, maybe even all the members, the sound is similar anyway, a glorious lurching slow motion doomic groove, spaced out and abstract.�
Downtuned riffs grind and throb, the drums are massive, recorded super hot, wild fills spattering the otherwise sprawling minimal crush. A bit of mathy chaos spilled out over an oozing black backdrop. Like the drummer for Hella playing in Khanate maybe.�
But this isn't pure doom, not at all, melodies lurk everywhere, and the busy drumming, and subtly clever riffing give the whole thing a serious post rock vibe, which is definitely a good thing here. Some of the build into extended, nearly cinematic crescendos, sounding like some noise rock doom drenched Godspeed, and others stretch way out and get all blissy and krautrocky, turning Goat Witch's doom into something more akin to Circle or Salvatore or Tortoise or even a heavy metal Necks, loping and repetitive and super hypnotic, epic and grandiose.�
Definitely one for the broad minded doomlords out there and would most certainly hit the spot for all the postrockmetalheads into Pelican and Isis and Conifer and Tides and other like minded combos...
After digging heavily on Australian doom merchants Fire Witch, we discovered the less heavy and more sprawling and post rocky Goat Witch, featuring some of the same members, whose Blind record was a huge hit around these parts.
So now we have another Goat Witch disc, called Live At Cumbersome Records, which appropriately enough was recorded live, and features an expanded line up of two drummers, three bass players and one guitarist, which includes ALL the members of Fire Witch as well as a bunch of other Aussie noisemakers.
Like Blind, this disc shrugs of much of the doom, treading into more Godspeed like waters, long sprawling slow building epics, where the drums offer up textures and filigree as often as actual beats. You think with three basses this would be a bloody sludgefest, but instead, the basses are subtle, woven into a shifting latticework of low end, allowing the guitar to drift and ring out, riffs floating above the thick swirling swells. Eventually the drums do kick in, but not in a crushing doom way, instead, the sound gets even more mathy and post rocky, the drums hyperkinetic, the guitars slippery and slithery, suddenly it's some krautrock spacerock hypno jam, relentless and hypnotic, eventually breaking down into some seriously dreamy drift, shifting streaks of guitars, muted tribal drumming, moody and smoldering, slow burning and ominous, thick cymbal swells, culminating in a tripped out mathy outro, all effected guitars throbbing basses. And that's just the opening 42 minute salvo.
The second track is almost like a dubbed out version of the first. Beginning with bits of scraped guitar, abstract bass drift, bursts of chaotic drum splatter, long stretches of near ambient shuffle, sometimes coalescing into almost Morricone sounding grooves, or tripped out mathy minimalism, getting pretty heavy toward the end, but not so much metal as thick swaths of spaced out psychrock, fluttering feedback, grinding bass lines, stuttering rhythms, finishing off with a brief burst of furious ultra tight riff rock, before stumbling to a halt.
Two tracks, 72 minutes. Heavy, dark, mathy, krauty, spacey. Folks who are gonna love this know who they are. You dig White Hills, Monster Magnet, Godspeed, Circle, Necks? Metallic post rock? Ambient drone doom? Mathy psychedelic krautrock? Yeah, we thought so...
Packaged in a cool mini DVD style sleeve, full color artwork and a full color insert.
