There are a handful of cd-r labels out there who are meticulous, not only with the music they choose to release, but with the packaging, the presentation, the ideas and inspiration behind the label, the theme that runs through all of the music, with everything related to their label and the music on it, which is always so inspiring, especially when everyone you know has a limited cd-r label. One of our favorites is Belgian label Mystery Sea, who specialize in what they call "night-ocean drones", and each disc is gorgeously packaged with full color artwork, that matches the artwork on the disc, and it all reflects the music contained within. We get as many copies as we can, but with almost every Mystery Sea releases we get, they tend to disappear quite quickly.
The latest comes from Ninth Desert, whose sound is anything but arid and dry, desolate and warm. Instead, the sounds on Zone are cold, cool, chilly, wintery, lots of glistening high end, the sounds you might imagine would emanate from vast ice fields, or deep snowy caves, not so much rumble and buzz as sparkle and glimmer and glisten. Even at it's most low-end dronelike, the whirs are wrapped in streaks of keening high end, everything is bright and blown out. It's like the sonic version of laying in a huge snow bank, staring at the sun, everything is white and bright, too much for your eyes to handle so everything sort of glazes into strange indistinct shapes, glowing and shifting, like clouds in the sky, or huge slow moving chunks of ice in the sea. These sounds are arctic, almost alien, like wandering on the surface of some strange planet, everything icy and barren, cold winds whir and whine, the sound of the slow moving glaciers a muted creaking, all smeared into dreamy swaths of high end shimmer. So lovely. And so refreshing to experience a soothing, slow moving drone record, that doesn't rely entirely on low end rumble, but at the same time manages to make upper register sounds as soothing and soft focus as their lower ended brethren.
Like all Mystery Sea releases, strictly LIMITED TO 100 COPIES, each disc numbered on the tray card, and gorgeously packaged with striking full color artwork.
The Tomlab label keeps their recent spell of eclecticity going with this new addition to their roster. Meet German artist Niobe (aka Yvonne Cornelius)! She joins the varied likes of Casiotone For The Painfully Alone, Tujiko Noriko, The Books, Rafael Toral and Final Fantasy. Heck, she's pretty darn varied all by her lonesome. On White Hats, she jumps around from one dark grooviness to another, be it RnB, bossanova, downtempo or soul. At times her warbly, woozy music almost sounds as though it's being played on a cranky antique, malfunctioning record player that randomly lurches in speed. Most of her vocals are heavily effected and processed, making for a somewhat disorienting, druggy feel, but when her voice comes through the haze relatively unadulterated, it gives off a richly smoldering tone much like Lhasa. Overall, the album possesses an intoxicating, strange sultriness in a David Lynch / Angelo Badalamenti sort of way -- alternating between dream and nightmare.
Nire is the lovely folksy Bay Area duo Erin Morgan and Josh Hinton. The two snuggle up close and sing ever so softly in your ear. Their slightly cryptic lyrics are often quite reminiscent of Jeff Mangum, Daniel Bejar or John Darnielle as they're delivered in a withery hushed Elliott Smith-esque way. The gently picked and strummed guitar parts and piano key strikes almost threaten to drown out their voices. We think Vespers' highlights are the fourth song "Girl In The Moon" and the fifth "White Owl". The duo truly hits their stride mid-album, blossoming before our ears. Very intimate and liltingly pretty.
This legendary grunge classic and big time aQ fave now available as a NON deluxe, way more affordable vinyl lp.
Really, what needs to be said about Nirvana's Bleach? Nothing probably. But also everything. Most of the folks here probably rank Bleach as their favorite Nirvana record, and some of us might even include Bleach in our best of all time list as well (c'mon, we know you keep one too, even if it's just in your head). And listening to this again today, it's shocking out great it sounds, not at all dated, better than 90% of the music coming out today, and it cost like $600 to record. EVERY song here is a goddamn classic, equal parts punk rock, pop, sludge, grunge, everything perfect, the vocals raspy and raw, the drumming killer, the guitar parts weird and wonderful, thick and heavy and grimy and so utterly catchy. Half the bands around today wouldn't even exist if it weren't for this record, hell, the musical landscape would be WAY different if it weren't for Nirvana, sure we grew up listening to Bleach, but we can only imagine discovering this record today, it would blow your fucking mind. How could a band on their first time out create a record that would basically reinvent rock for a new generation. Odds are most folks probably have this, and some of you are probably big ol' Nirvana geeks like us and will need to buy it again, for the improved sound, the killer packaging, the bonus live show tacked on the end, but if for some crazy reason you've yet to hear this, drop everything, don't buy another record until you take this one home and immerse yourself in its utter rock genius. Listen to the sound samples, and either be reminded how good this record is, or discover your new favorite band and let your life be changed, the way ours were when we first heard this 20 years ago.
Really, what needs to be said about Nirvana's Bleach? Nothing probably. But also everything. Most of the folks here probably rank Bleach as their favorite Nirvana record, and some of us might even include Bleach in our best of all time list as well (c'mon, we know you keep one too, even if it's just in your head). And listening to this again today, it's shocking out great it sounds, not at all dated, better than 90 percent of the music coming out today, and it cost like $600 to record. EVERY song here is a goddamn classic, equal parts punk rock, pop, sludge, grunge, '60s garage, everything perfect, the vocals raspy and raw, the drumming killer, the guitar parts weird and wonderful, thick and heavy and grimy and so utterly catchy. Half the bands around today wouldn't even exist if it weren't for this record, hell, the musical landscape would be WAY different if it weren't for Nirvana, sure we grew up listening to Bleach, but we can only imagine discovering this record today, it would blow your fucking mind. How could a band on their first time out create a record that would basically reinvent rock for a new generation. Odds are most folks probably have this, and some of you are probably big ol' Nirvana geeks like us and will need to buy it again, for the improved sound, the killer packaging, the bonus live show tacked on the end, but if for some crazy reason you've yet to hear this, drop everything, don't buy another record until you take this one home and immerse yourself in its utter rock genius. Listen to the sound samples, and either be reminded how good this record is, or discover your new favorite band and let your life be changed, the way ours were when we first heard this 20 years ago.
The bonus tracks are from a live show recorded in Portland back in 1990, and it sounds amazing. Admittedly, Nirvana live were a dodgy proposition, or at least Kurt was, often singing weirdly or not at all, fucking up songs on purpose, or sometimes not on purpose, but this set is wicked tight, and loud and heavy, the vocals are pretty much perfect, they do some killer covers, some rad non-Bleach songs, and a few songs that would show up on future record, but it's cool to hear with this lineup, live all rough and ragged. And yeah, the new packaging is pretty badass too, no new liner notes but tons of photos and flyers and stuff, the perfect companion to the Live At Reading set which was also just released, and which we'll probably review on the next list.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Nirvana were always a pretty iffy proposition live. Always sloppy and chaotic, sometimes inspiringly so, other times not so much. It wasn't always clear whether it was a drug thing, or a disdain for playing live, or being sick of the music business, but for all of the perfect pop and classic heaviness to be found on their records, live, things often devolved into total mayhem, often gloriously so. Fucking up songs, destroying drum kits, mixing in random covers, letting songs just sort of stumble to a halt, or more famously, changing the lyrics, singing in a deep baritone and hamming it up when forced to lipsync on TV, or not playing the hit the TV people were expecting, instead playing one of the super noisy thrashers. All part of what made Nirvana so cool, and so fun to watch. We had the records if we wanted to hear those songs, we'd much rather see the trainwreck that often occurred live.
This show, for all it's fucked-up-ness and weird goings on, was anything BUT a trainwreck. Widely considered to be one of the best live recordings of the band, hearing this again, all polished up definitely drives that point home. Lots of stuff from both Bleach and Nevermind, the band sound incredible, the recording does too, and even Kurt's vocals are pretty together, the crowd goes apeshit between songs, and rightfully so, witnessing a band totally hitting their stride, and for a band prone to falling apart live, just utterly destroying.
For folks who don't necessarily watch music videos, the cd should be plenty, but we'd have to recommend getting the dvd too, as there was some crazy shit going on (Kurt being rolled on stage in a wheelchair wearing a hospital gown), hilarious between song banter, some equipment destruction and other stuff worth seeing, that was edited out of the recording for the proper release.
Essential for Nirvana fans, and if you need some convincing as to the merits of Nirvana, check out some of the other reviews elsewhere on the aQ website, and we'll do our very best to convince you that Nirvana were indeed one of the best bands EVER.
What really needs to be said about Nirvana's Nevermind at this point that hasn't already? For people our age, it might just be thee most iconic record of our lives. Bleach might be better, more raw and urgent, but Nevermind is probably the coolest punkest record to get as popular as it did. If you want to read a gushing heartfelt appreciation of Nirvana, check out the review of the With The Lights Out box elsewhere on the aQ list. Needless to say, this band, this record, and Kurt Kobain himself, meant a lot to us. And while we played this record to death back in the day, it's been just about long enough, that we can listen to this with fresh ears, and holy shit, it still sounds so good. It may be poppy and hooky, but it's also heavy, and noisy, and in its own way raw and angry, even "Smells Like Teen Spirit", had you not been forced to hear it a million times, just imagine hearing it for the first time again, even now it would be mind blowing. And as much as that song does rule, the record is full of better songs. "In Bloom" for sure, with one of THEE greatest choruses ever. "Drain You" might be even better, so catchy, so heavy, with impossibly melodic drumming, one of the few songs where the verse is essentially the chorus, an anthemic sing along VERSE. And don't forget "On A Plain", another one of those verse as chorus classics. On the heavier side there's "Breed", fuzzy and feral, minus the more polished production, it sounds like it could have been plucked straight off of Bleach. Same with "Territorial Pissings". But besides all the rockers, there are the brooders, the dark creepy plaintive ballads, that still are amazing, so utterly haunting and moving and gorgeous. Obviously we're probably preaching to the choir (as pretty much everyone in the world loves this record, and if you say you don't you're either lying, or don't like music), so this 20th anniversary reissue (has it really been two decades?) is really only for megafans, most everybody has Nevermind already, but there's lots here for the obsessives, the first disc is augmented by all the singles' B-sides, with some killer classics (including their Wipers cover which is amazing), as well as a whole mess of rad live recordings. But the second disc is probably what most people are after, the first few tracks are early demo sessions for Nevermind recorded with Butch Vig at Smart Studios, and features lots of Nirvana classics, but in a rougher and a much more raw and lo-fi form (including their Velvet Underground cover). The second batch of tracks might be our favorites, a handful of boombox demos, which sound appropriately super blown out and shitty, the sound rife with drop outs, and every time the band kicks on the distortion the sound peaks, but for crazy fans, hearing those songs like that, it's pretty fucking cool, and there's the rarity "Old Age" which was in the boxset, but otherwise seldom heard. And finally, a couple BBC sessions, a super rocking version of "Drain You" and a gorgeous, haunting and surprisingly heavy version of "Something In The Way". Apparently there's gonna be an even more deluxe version, 4cd and a DVD, which will include all this stuff as well as the real Nevermind holy grail, the un-remixed version of the record that was rejected and sent to Andy Wallace to be gussied up. But odds are for most folks, this is more than enough.
Nice packaging with lots of cool pix, including the original photo of the baby with a handwritten note that reads "if anyone has a problem with his dick we can remove it". Not much in the way of liner notes, but it hardly matters. One of the greatest rock records ever, from one of the greatest bands ever.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
We got a lot of unwarranted flak for our recent review of the Nirvana box. I think it was when we said that -everybody- liked Nirvana, and those who claimed they didn't were just trying to stay cooler than everyone else. Well, we still sort of believe that's true, but in the interest of keeping folks less riled up, let's just say ALMOST everyone loves Nirvana, and why the hell not? (Rhetorical question there, so no emails please.) They were scruffy little fuckers who hit the jackpot, and then fell apart with the whol world watching. The death of Kurt Kobain was our generations Lennon, or Morrison. And like Lennon, and Morrison and pretty much every superstar, the minute they hit the dirt, the maggots came out of the woodwork looking to cash in. Sad to think it's now happening to Kobain and Nirvana, there was a time, where the thought of pointless best of's and perfect Xmas gift box sets would have been laughable. But here we are, with a "best of the box" collection. If you are a fan of Nirvana, enough to want a bunch of weird demos and boom box recordings, would you really hesitate to spend $50? We thought not. So who the hell is this marketed to? Dicks in big trucks who want to blast "Smells Like Teen Spirit" don't want to hear a demo version of a b-side recorded on a boom box. But hell, it's almost Xmas and Courtney Love needs to support whatever habit she's got going on, and the guys in Nirvana could use a few bucks (well Dave Grohl is probably doing okay with the Foo Fighters) so there are bound to be some folks who are slightly curious about the early days, and rougher rawer side of Nirvana but aren't willing to part with that $50, so this then is for you. The rest of us, who LOVE Nirvana, and were blown away by the box set, get a nice little 'fuck you' in the form of this little collection. Three 'unreleased' tracks, which they assume means we'll all rush out and buy this, even after picking up the boxset, cuz (be sure to realize this next bit is being written -facetiously-) we bet those three tracks just couldn't fit on those three discs in the box, or they were probably 'discovered' just after the box was released (okay, end sarcasm here). Well, unless you're loaded and have money to burn or are truly a completist, best to probably pass, or just wait for the inevitable BOX SET II. But if you do dig Nirvana, but your thriftiness manages to outweigh your love of the band, well then this disc just might be what you've been waiting for!
Been trying to figure out what to write about this for a while now. Every time I sit down to write it, I feel like I'm trying to write a euology for an old friend. Which should speak volumes. We knew this was coming. And man, were we excited. And it is not a disappointment in any way. If anything, it's more than we could have hoped for. See, everyone loves Nirvana. Everyone. Those of you who say you don't are just trying to be c'ool'. Sort of like the people who talk about how the Beatles suck. The Beatles did not suck. They wrote more perfect pop songs than any band in the history of rock and roll. Nirvana also don't suck. And are also responsible for some of the best songs ever. It's not cool to pretend you don't like Nirvana. Not at all. In fact, it's unbelievably UNCOOL. Why deny yourself some of the most important, visceral music of the last 15 years? Because it gets played on MTV? Because jocks blast "Smells Like Teen Spirit" after the big game? Nope, sorry. Not good enough.
Nirvana were one of those bands we could all love. Heavy enough to appeal to headbangers, raucous enough to still be punk, but equipped with a pop sense unrivalled, and thus able to whip out the most beautifu pop song in the world without a second thought -- usually sandwiched between two swirling snarling blasts of stage destroying chaotic rrroooaaaar. But that's part of what was so charming about Nirvana. Even when they were huge, they acted like you or me. Stupid jokes, smashing guitars, unlikely covers, ripped jeans and t-shirts and greasy long hair. It was like your pal or your older brother was snatched out of your suburban hellhole of a life and made a rock star. And how could you not love that (once you got over wishing it was you)? Which also goes to why it was such a blow when Kurt Cobain died. I literally cried. At the time I remember thinking "Why the fuck am I crying." I mean, it's not like he was a friend of mine or something. But he was something special. To me. To everyone I know. And Nirvana was something special. Our generation's Beatles? Maybe. But definitely the most important band of the nineties. Responsible for reshaping popular music, killing off hair metal, and giving us music that would be the soundtrack to our lives: breakups, mixtapes, road trips, broken hearts, life and death, fucking and fighting. Sounds like hyperbole but it's really not. This band was and is really important to me, and millions of other folks. Which is pretty remarkable. After the death of Cobain, and after getting over the sheer sadness and loss, one could not help but think about all the amazing music and the songs that would now never be written. Callous maybe, but the music is what made us love him/them. Their recent greatest hits disc offered us the unreleased "You Know You're Right", which was at the time the greatest thing we could've heard, a song as good as any of their others, seemingly pulled from the ether. And now we have this. A collection of what is supposedly everything. or at least everything worth releasing. And it is absolutely fantastic. I literally got all teary listeing to this, and the DVD had me all choked up as well. Can't remember the last time a record did that to me.
So, what's on it? If you're like me, it hardly matters. Just knowing that it's stuffed to the gills with rare and unreleased Nirvana songs and I'm sold. If you need more than that, here goes. Don't sell back your greatest hits though, "You Know You're Right" only appears here as a solo acoustic recording from 1994. This version may not rock as hard, but it is a lot more intense and personal. The box is basically in chronological order, so disc one is definitely gonna hit the spot for those of us (like Allan) who loved Bleach the best. Demos and acoustic tracks and live on the radio, this is all Holy Grail sort of stuff. Live versions of Zeppelin's "Heartbreaker" and "Moby Dick" done in suitably ramshackle chaotic Nirvana style. Live versions and demos of tracks that would show up on Bleach. But by far the most exciting tracks are the unreleased songs. "White Lace And Strange", "Help Me I'm Hungry", "Mrs. Butterworth", "Grey Goose", "Token Eastern Song" and more. Disc two has less unreleased tracks but lots of alternate versions of tracks from future records, as well as loads of b-sides (their split with the Jesus Lizard, maybe one of the best Nirvana songs ever) and covers (Wipers!) and a big ol' chunk of solo acoustic versions of classic tracks that sound even more intense and harrowing performed sans band. Disc three brings us close to the end. A handful of demos and more solo acoustic versions of songs you already know and love. Highlights include the track "Sappy" which was a secret track on a benefit compliation and was originally titled "Verse Chorus Verse" and is another of their best curiously relegated to being hidden uncredited at the end of a random comp ("Train In Vain" anyone?). Also "Marigold", the only Nirvana song sung by Dave Grohl, an obscure b-side, that hints at Grohl's Foo Fighter future. A sweet and jangly Vaselines cover and more. The set ends with a solo acoustic version of "All Apologies" and if you hadn't gotten all emotional yet, this one will definitely do it to you.
The DVD is pretty amazing as well and adds to the whole feeling of Kurt being an old friend who passed away. Mostly home movies, the first chunk is a party / rehearsal in Krist's mom's house and features the band rocking out in a panelled, carpeted basement, while various rockers sit around drinking beer. Cute and sad, and funny and sort of remarkable how amazing they were as a band even so early on. The rest of the DVD is made up of various tracks filmed live in various locations, from small clubs to huge arenas. Lots of hilarious onstage banter, lots of drum kit destroying, and lots of powerfully off kilter versions of all of the best Nirvana songs.
Beautifully packaged in an oversized hardcover book, on the front an embossed metal plate featuring the band in their Sunday best, as if they were at a funeral. Or a wake. Because as sad as this is, and as much as this makes us miss someone we felt we knew as well as our best friend, and a band who meant more to us than almost any in our memory, under the circumstances, we couldn't be happier.
So here it is. Or at least part of it. This is what Courtney Love and the remaining members of Nirvana have been fighting about. THE SONG. The last completed Nirvana song 'You Know You're Right'. The song probably most of you have already downloaded off the internet. Or recorded off of MTV. So was it worth it? Well, for those of you who haven't heard it, it -is- a pretty great song. The familiar Nirvana formula: brooding verses, explosive choruses. But it still sounds great. The rest of the record is a pretty solid greatest hits. Hardly essential for the Nirvana fan, but necessary I guess if you want THAT SONG. Supposedly there will be a multiple cd box set in the next couple of years and I would imagine THAT SONG would also be included there, but you never know.
Last year the Smalltown Supersound label clued a lot of lucky listeners outside of Japan into the wonders of the all-girl, uber rhythmic skronk rock groop Nisennenmondai, by reissuing the trio's Tori and Neji eps together on one cd (Heartworm then doing an lp version). That sure whet our appetite for more, and here it is!
Destination Tokyo starts off with a real choo-choo train of a track, "Souzousuru Neji", the crazy choo-choo threatening to go off the rails, propelled by nervous no wavey percussive jitter, feedback scraping around the edges of the beat. It's super repetitive, incessant, awesome. Part This Heat, part Liquid Liquid, part Children Coup d'Etat (a Japanese avant-rock band from the '90s, anyone remember 'em? We mention them 'cause of what sounds like a violin in the mix here). The track builds and builds for about 13 minutes, the bass pulsations protruding, the beats pounding harder, the whole thing getting denser and denser, intensifying until the sudden stop on a dime suck the air out of the room ending at about the 13 minute mark. Whew. Though then the Nisennenmondai girls pick it up again right quick with the chicken scratch groove of "Disco", another seemingly endless build up. That's their formula, and we sure dig it! Relentless high-hat, chiming and chirping guitars, layered and looping...
On this full-length, Nisennenmondai's music is still mostly instrumental (with the exception of the brief, a capella babytalk of track 3, "Miraabouru") but is presented with quite a bit LESS noise and distortion than on those two early eps, Nisennenmondai this time going for more of a spare, skeletal, minimalist sound, though still one that effortlessly builds and builds and builds to juggernaut proportions. It is much more "dancefloor" friendly, with song titles like "Disco" and "Mirrorball", not to mention the cover art, that must be the intention, but in a very motorik, krautrocky way. While "Souzousuru Neji" is probably the heaviest cut here, at the opposite end of the disc, the kosmiche synth wooshes and melodic loveliness that adorn the final, title track display Nisennenmondai at their calmest and krautrockiest, it's definitely one for fans of Neu! and Harmonia and the like. Heck this track could be Circle or Salvatore, playing at an ambient airport with planes and helicopters blissfully buzzing around. What is not to love???!
Motorik Japanese all-female trio Nisennenmondai are back, with a disc that takes the skeletal, minimalist 'choo-choo-choo' sounds of their previous outing, 2009's Destination Tokyo, to a stripped-down extreme. (They've stripped down the titles, too.) Eschewing a lot of variation, they really just lock in and go with the groove here. With standard rock instrumentation, they play what sounds like electronic music - they're an extra-tight 'live' techno band essentially, not unlike Austria's Electro Guzzi (who have a new album, Observatory, we'll be reviewing soon, too). These three long instrumental tracks of purely rhythmic attack are all tck-tck-tck, scht-scht-scht, thup-thup-thup... Ultra repetitive, up tempo percussive jitter that's sleek and steady, subtle yet urgent, constantly building up the mysterious, nervous energy. Based around live 'loops' of snare hits and bass beats, what sound like Morse code blips and Giger counter clicks, it's a brooding sort of thumping techno, with shimmering shoegaze guitars around the edges, distorted and echo-effected, creating quite a mesmeric & mekanikal, noirish mood. Sort of sounds like Circle playing a rave, really! (And we'd LOVE to experience this live!) Considerably compelling as far as we're concerned, and also kinda curious coming from a band who once upon a time sounded a lot like Sonic Youth and Deerhoof, though they've always been about the repetitive trance-induction, they've just honed that aspect and dialed back on their former noisy no-waveisms.
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Motorik Japanese all-female trio Nisennenmondai's most recent album, N, took the skeletal, minimalist 'choo-choo-choo' sounds of their previous outing, 2009's Destination Tokyo, to a stripped-down extreme. Eschewing a lot of variation, they really just lock in and go with the groove. With standard rock instrumentation, they play what sounds like electronic music - they're an extra-tight 'live' techno band essentially, not unlike Austria's Electro Guzzi.
N came out last summer, on cd only (which is currently backordered and possibly out of print). But now, for vinyl folks, and especially DJ types, Blast First has put out a 12" vinyl version, called N'. The tracks here are apparently re-recordings/re-workings of cuts from the N cd proper, but our description of those still holds: long instrumental tracks of purely rhythmic attack that are all tck-tck-tck, scht-scht-scht, thup-thup-thup... Ultra repetitive, up tempo percussive jitter that's sleek and steady, subtle yet urgent, constantly building up the mysterious, nervous energy. Based around live 'loops' of snare hits and bass beats, what sound like Morse code blips and Giger counter clicks, it's a brooding sort of thumping techno, with shimmering shoegaze guitars around the edges, distorted and echo-effected, creating quite a mesmeric & mekanikal, noirish mood. Sort of sounds like Circle playing a rave, really! (And we'd LOVE to experience this live!) Considerably compelling as far as we're concerned, and also kinda curious coming from a band who once upon a time sounded a lot like Sonic Youth and Deerhoof, though they've always been about the repetitive trance-induction, they've just honed that aspect and dialed back on their former noisy no-waveisms.
(Note: the sound samples below are from the original cd, not this vinyl version.)
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Yay! It's pretty cool that Norway's Smalltown Supersound has put this out, a disc collecting two previously released (in Japan only) eps by this Japanese all-girl avant-rock unit. We'd found out about this band a while back, and had wanted to stock their stuff, but sometimes importing cds from Japan is a daunting task. So our procrastination paid off, as now we have this handy disc, easily available. (It's also pretty cool that the Heartworm Press label has also just issued this on vinyl!) So what's the deal with this band? A mostly instrumental guitar/bass/drums trio who are psychedelically skronky, generating massive walls of distortion underpinned by propulsive no-waveisms. They're not a Japanese "noise" band like Merzbow or Hijokaidan, but certainly get plenty noisy. We could compare 'em at times to the likes of Afrirampo, Lightning Bolt, Melt Banana, Deerhoof, (early) Blonde Redhead... actually Nisennenmodai makes the reviewer's task a bit easier by naming several of the tracks of the Neji ep (2004) which begins this disc after some of their musical heroes, which to a degree they emulate: "Pop Group", "This Heat", "Sonic Youth". The "This Heat" track definitely has the nervous tension and percussive percolations we love about that band, whereas "Pop Group" is ultra-angular and extra-noisy...
The Tori ep (2005) that occupies the second half of this collection continues those themes - in fact, they do one of Neji's songs again, the densely rhythmic "Ikkkyokume", probably a signature track for the band as it so well represents their trance-inducing intensity, love of volume and minimalist song structure. Tori's first track "Kyuukohan" is tightly wound, repetitive number full of crashing cymbals, chiming guitar, and bass throb... building, building, building relentlessly to a massive climax. The next song, "Kyaaaaaa", incorporates yelping vocal shrieks and even more noisy feedback guitar. And so it goes, getting ever noisier, more throbbingly repetitive, a distorted, enthralling onslaught of explosive splatter/scatter rock indeed! We'd love to see 'em live someday, apparently there's crazy costumes and stuff, but that seems hardly necessary given the sheer energy of their music.
The limited double LP version is a handsome gatefold, on white vinyl. It's already sold out at the label, apparently we got their very last copies... act fast!
Freaked out Japanese hard rock supergroup, a '70s inspired power trio featuring the talents of million-notes-per-second, whammy-bar-crazy guitarist Kawabata Makoto (of Acid Mothers Temple, Musica Transonic, Mainliner, Toho Sara, etc. etc.),
Nite Jewel made her way into our hearts in a big way last year with her awesome full length and various 12"s of late night, laid back seductive soft dance jams. Since then her fan base has expanded deservedly, and as we write this she and her new band are on tour opening up for Panda Bear.
Am I Real gives us six brand new tracks of blissed out hazy synth pop that finds her songs gaining a newfound warmth and intimacy and proving that she is far from some clubkid come-down fad. In fact this is not for dancefloors but much more for bedrooms and sun soaked daytrips when you just want to get lost in a soft breeze and sway gently back and forth in a half conscious state of mind. Like this perfect intersection of 4AD dreaminess and the soft drift of Sara Records, but infused with a much more synth and smoke machine vibe. She continues to have a golden touch as we love everything she's done so far and this just continues her hot streak!
Oh yeah! It doesn't get more sultry, more sizzling, or more charming then Nite Jewel. Ever since we heard her 12" on Italians Do It Better we've been entranced by this Los Angelas based artist's take on slowed down, slow burning, bedroom dancefloor jams, which sound like some kind of amazing mix of space disco and '80s soul and funk, with a healthy serving of valium in thrown in the mix. Good Evening contains those two great tracks from the Italians Do It Better 12", and thankfully, all the other songs here are just as satisfying as those tracks that reeled us in the first time around. There is something really unique about Nite Jewel's sound, drawing on '80s and '90s soul but infusing those sound with such a nice shoegaze and atmospheric feel, these wonderfully homecrafted tracks really do feel like that kind of D.I.Y. late night dance-in-the-clouds soundtrack we always longed for. While there has definitely been a renaissance in recent years of groups influenced by cosmic disco, Nite Jewel manages to stand out, conjuring and channeling sounds from the hazy and dreamy side of things like Elizabeth Fraser (Cocteau Twins) to dance floor divas like Debby Deb. Who knew someone would ever find a way to bring the spirit of 4AD and mix it with RnB and have it sound so damn fine. We could see Nite Jewel appealing to anyone, from fans of Grouper to Goldfrapp, there's so much to love on this record. Feel the slow burn!
New Mexican Summer 12", from our favorite lady of late night dance floor slow burners. Nite Jewel continues to write really infectious songs that seep into your body and soul, making your body move in such loose and languid ways. We love both the new tracks on this 12" but we may even be blasting the B side more as the Dam Funk club dub of "It Goes Through Your Head" has summer jam of the year written all over it! Samps also does a great remix of "Natural Causes", and it's cool to go back and forth and hear the more organic sounding versions on the A side and then step under that hypnotic disco ball on the B side. Limited to 1000 copies, each hand numbered.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
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Two brand new tracks on this super limited 7" from Los Angeles late night dance floor queen, Nite Jewel. With a full band behind her, these are the most full sounding and fleshed out Nite Jewel songs yet. The A side, "She's Always Watching You" pushes the synths more into the background, as bass, cello, and clarinet rise to the surface displaying a much wider spectrum of sound than on past releases. The B side, "Sister" has been the one getting the most love around here. A slow burner that is by far the most emotionally impacting track we've heard from Nite Jewel.
The sound here may not be as washed out or weird as when we fell in love with her on Good Evening, but she's definitely proving to be an artists with staying power. We noticed that on the back cover she thanks Prefab Sprout, which totally makes sense now. It seems that she's shifted her listening/influences from dark space disco, to more grounded salt-of-the-earth emotive songwriting. Fans of Saint Etienne, Blondie, Brenda Ray, Bachelorette, JJ, and Ivy should for sure check this out.
Nite Jewel's album Good Evening is shaping up to be one of our favorites of the year, so we were super excited for these new bedroom jams on her second 12", released on the always great Italians Do It Better label. Taking her hazy lo-fi spaced out slow jam sound to even greater heights of smoky delight. "Want You Back" might just surpass "What Did He Say" as her most infectious song yet! Still somehow infusing a shoegazey and dazed vibe into her coming down from the dance floor grooves. The B-side "All Out Of Order" finds her using a vocoder for maximum slow burn effect, and it's pretty rad that she also included a version of the song in Spanish. As much as we've been playing this we also can't take our eyes off the 12"s cover with its saturated colors and faded image that reminds us of the classic look of 12"s by groups like the Cocteau Twins and My Bloody Valentine. All the way around, an awesome release!
The latest slab of wax, brimming as always with tasty sensual seduction from the fine folks at Italians Do It Better comes courtesy of a Los Angelino who has been creating a well deserved buzz with her slow burning and wholly satisfying take on old school 8-track dance music. With nods to Debbie Deb and classic '80s and '90s R&B as well as a total shoegaze sensibility, this is how we imagine Grouper might sound if she ever made a dance record. The woman behind Nite Jewel is a multimedia artist who dabbles in many worlds (video, performance, installation) but damn we are loving the sultry jams she is whipping up in her bedroom most of all, sounds that are perfect for dancing in OUR bedrooms. So nice!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
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In the ongoing uncovering of recordings from Hermann Nitsch's actionist orchestrations, the Huntertmark Gallery in Cologne, Germany has released 7.Sinfonie from the massive Nitsch archives. Unfortunately, there is absolutely no information to be found as
Packaged in a deluxe gatefold LP sleeve with a handful of gory-but-beautiful, blood-drenched photographs overprinted with shimmering transparent lettering, this triple cd is a partial documentation of the third day of Hermann Nitsch's epic six day
Unlike previous releases of Nitsch's musical works where visual evidence of his "actions" (for which his music provides the soundtrack) appear only as album cover art, this time we get a CD-Rom with video of portions of Day 3's activities (the usual Nitsch spectacle of people stomping tomatoes, disembowling butchered pigs, crucifying naked participants, and pouring lots and lots of blood over everything). But regardless of whether that sort of thing interests you, the two audio cds in the set provide what we have come to expect from Hermann Nitsch's orchestrations: tense, swelling masses of atonal strings, the performers told to play loud, and then to play even louder. The major difference in these scores is in how Nitsch arranges the breakdowns of these swells. On one of the discs, Nitsch inserts some festive Polka tunes between his signature walls of sound; on the other, Nitsch required a drummer to back up the drones with stumbling, haphazard beats. His truncated fills and erratic rhythms making it into something almost "free jazz", if anything this dark and droney could be so described. You get the impression that this drummer is slipping and sliding off his drum stool because of all of the blood, and randomly striking his drums on the way down. In conjunction with the ominous, building strings and horns this creates a sound not at all unlike recent AQ fave Crystal Fist. As with almost everything we've heard from Nitsch, droning and mesmerising and magnificent.
Packaged exactly the same as the triple cd (in the same deluxe gatefold LP sleeve adorned with blood drenched photographs), this vinyl album is the second partial documentation of the third day of Hermann Nitsch's epic six day performance, and features
Hermann Nitsch might just rank as one of our favorite modern composers, his pieces being huge atonal drone works for orchestras, accompanied by bloody 'aktions', with performers dressed all in white, or nude, faux crucifixions and gallons and gallons of bovine blood. It's precisely the disturbing dramatic elements of Nitsch's aktions that have kept him from ever performing in the US.
A few of his here have gotten pretty obsessed with Nitsch, his recordings always super limited and notoriously difficult to track down, one aQuarian (we're looking at you Andee!) even owns several of boxsets containing complete aktions, which result in upwards of 50 cds.
Like his live aktions, every release is a spectacle, Die Geburt Des Dionysos Christos is no different. Released by the always amazing Vinyl On Demand label, which means outrageous and over the top packaging, this time, it's a gorgeous silk screened and hand stained wooden box, with a hinged top, inside, three lps, each in a deluxe printed sleeve, also a massive gorgeously printed booklet, thick textured paper, metallic inks, the whole nine yards. It would be worth it even if the lps were blank and it was just the object. But thankfully, there is music, but unlike the grand scale aktions, the recordings here are much more intimate. Minimal drone organ recordings, some captured live in a cathedral, others recorded on the organ at his private castle (!) in Austria.
We only got two, probably can't get more. Fans of extreme and mysterious sounds will be blown away, it looks amazing, sounds fantastic, it even smells great, the box and the ink and the printed sleeves, so recommended. And so worth the hefty price tag.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
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Oh shit. It appears that the Cortical Foundation will be reissuing the complete Hermann Nitsch's "Harmoniumwerk," which totals 40 volumes. Released four volumes at a time, this looks like it may end up being 10 double cds! While Hermann Nitsch is known mostly as the Vienna Aktionist who specialized in perfomances of ritualized bloodletting, his musical accompaniments to his performances have often revealed an incredibly developed aesthetic of dynamic dissonance balanced against subtle droning passages. The "Harmoniumwerk" series stands out from all of the Nitsch recordings, as not being made in conjunction with his performative productions. Nitsch describes this work, "In 1968, I got a harmonium as a wedding present from my wife. From then on, I sat at the harmonium and played almost exclusively long notes that never wanted to end. I tried to listen into the infinite structure of the stars, into the unimaginable spaces searching for sound. The joy of beautiful colors, of (almost intoxicating) combinations of sound was most important but at the same time it was carried by the almost presumptuous task to conjure, to sing of, and measure the extent of cosmic space. The course of the stars were to be put to sound."
The Hermann Nitsch "Harmoniumwerk" certainly rivals (and often surpasses) the magnificient tonal quality of such '60s drone suprematists as Charlemagne Palestine and LaMonte Young.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
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Oh shit. It appears that the Cortical Foundation will be reissuing the complete Hermann Nitsch's "Harmoniumwerk," which totals 40 volumes. Released four volumes at a time, this looks like it may end up being 10 double cds! While Hermann Nitsch is known mostly as the Vienna Aktionist who specialized in perfomances of ritualized bloodletting, his musical accompaniments to his performances have often revealed an incredibly developed aesthetic of dynamic dissonance balanced against subtle droning passages. The "Harmoniumwerk" series stands out from all of the Nitsch recordings, as not being made in conjunction with his performative productions. Nitsch describes this work, "In 1968, I got a harmonium as a wedding present from my wife. From then on, I sat at the harmonium and played almost exclusively long notes that never wanted to end. I tried to listen into the infinite structure of the stars, into the unimaginable spaces searching for sound. The joy of beautiful colors, of (almost intoxicating) combinations of sound was most important but at the same time it was carried by the almost presumptuous task to conjure, to sing of, and measure the extent of cosmic space. The course of the stars were to be put to sound."
This is the second double cd in the 40 volume series of Hermann Nitsch's "Harmoniumwerk."
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Oh shit. It appears that the Cortical Foundation will be reissuing the complete Hermann Nitsch's "Harmoniumwerk," which totals 40 volumes. Released four volumes at a time, this looks like it may end up being 10 double cds! While Hermann Nitsch is known mostly as the Vienna Aktionist who specialized in perfomances of ritualized bloodletting, his musical accompaniments to his performances have often revealed an incredibly developed aesthetic of dynamic dissonance balanced against subtle droning passages. The "Harmoniumwerk" series stands out from all of the Nitsch recordings, as not being made in conjunction with his performative productions. Nitsch describes this work, "In 1968, I got a harmonium as a wedding present from my wife. From then on, I sat at the harmonium and played almost exclusively long notes that never wanted to end. I tried to listen into the infinite structure of the stars, into the unimaginable spaces searching for sound. The joy of beautiful colors, of (almost intoxicating) combinations of sound was most important but at the same time it was carried by the almost presumptuous task to conjure, to sing of, and measure the extent of cosmic space. The course of the stars were to be put to sound."
This is the third double cd in the 40 volume series of Hermann Nitsch's "Harmoniumwerk."
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Four cds of intense, grinding drones. Beautiful, but intense and cacophonous. "Like a musical bloodletting" says Andee. Hermann Nitsch is perhaps the most renowned artist spawned from the Austrian Wiener Aktionismus movement producing some of the most brutal and violent art and performance ever. Nitsch always accompanied his Orgien-Mysterien-Theatre performances with walls off orchestral drones--and here they are. Beautiful packaging with performance photos and liner notes by Gunter Brus.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
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Hermann Nitsch may be more well known for the charged visual documents of his blood soaked performance art pieces, but his musical output is so powerful as to metaphorically out-muscle any of staged crucifixions that are showered in pig blood and honey. One of his more sublime musical scores, "Musik Der 80. Aktion" is a variation on the organ-drone theme with a discordant tonal flow that resurrects the heretical musical notations of the dissonant tritones that the early church banned as "diabolica in musica." Recommended!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
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THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
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Hip hop remix.
Japan's Niwa used to be known as Choukoku No Niwa, and you might know that name from a split release entitled More Echoes, Touching Air Landscape they shared with AQ-faves Boris a while back. We'd been wondering ever since what had happened to the mysterious Choukoku No Niwa, whose psychedelic tribal Amon Duulish thwump made their half of that split every bit as good as that of Boris. What we know know, is that they shortened their name and recently released this new album, a 69 minute spaced-out trance-bliss trip of ocean-deep, fx-laden psych rock with gently pulsing rhythms, some drifting female vocals, and much dubby droning. Real nice, stoned groove, a little bit slick perhaps but certainly well-produced. And don't get the wrong idea from the Boris connection -- this is ain't a bit heavy, not at all. Plenty of bass, yes, definitely super mellow -- that's even a song title here: "Mellow", a reggaefied number halfway through the disc. Other song titles like "Warm Rain", "Sunset Swell" and "Moon Flower" should to give you an idea of the laid-back, hippyish vibe that this floats along upon. It's kinda like Hanadensha meets Circle or Salvatore, or zoned out Boredoms on the beach...
Another missive of murky unblack energy from the mysterious Njiqahdda, another project from the man behind E.E.E. Recordings, as well as some of our favorite unblack bands: Light Shall Prevail, Agathothodion, Glaciial, but for Njiqahdda, the approach seems to be much different that for the other more traditionally buzzy outfits. In our review for the last Njiqahdda, we described the sound as alchemical psychedelic naturalist atmospheric doomed UN-black metal, which still pretty much applies, but like in those other projects, the sounds and productions are so varied, it sounds sometimes like they were recorded in different studios, used different equipment, it even sounds sometimes like it was played by entirely different bands. Not sure how he does it, but whatever it is, every new record reveals a new facet to his sound, and on this new Njiqahdda, the sound is murky and hypnotic, not so much a buzz as a muddy blur. A main riff that is repeated over and over and over, a chord progression rendered almost dronelike, the vocals a layer of gurgling rumble over the top, the drums only audible as a distant throb or the occasional sizzle of cymbal shimmer. Definitely grim and (un)black, but with that distinct postrock vibe, and a weirdly catchy main melody, the whole thing locked and looped into an endlessly repetitive mantra.
Two tracks on the first disc, muddy and murky and dreamily washed out, almost like some minimal black metal record produced by Tim Hecker or Philip Jeck. Buzzy and beautifully blurred.
The second disc is a single hour long track of deeeeeeep black ambience. A haunting and mysterious expanse of distant whirs and cavernous rumbles, soft shimmer and high end streaks, super spare and sparse, headphones recommended, reverbed voices, the sound of some underground cavern, lightless and devoid of all life, an emptiness, a nothingness, beautifully austere.
Packaged in an oversized black cardboard box, with a candle and incense, a parchment insert, the cd-r's in plain white cardboard sleeves with paste on text on the front and back. Crazy limited. In fact, TOTALLY OUT OF PRINT, this batch made just for us, which means once these are gone, they are gone gone gone...
The return of the unpronounceably named master of alchemical psychedelic naturalist atmospheric doomed UN-black metal, Njiqahdda, whose last record was a revelation, which is saying a lot as the man behind Njiqahdda also records as Light Shall Prevail, Agathothodion, and as part of Glaciial, not to mention running the kick ass E.E.E. Recordings label.
But with Njiqahdda, there does seem to be something more organic going on, something less tied to the structures and strictures of black metal. There is definitely plenty of buzz and blast, but there's also lots of krautrock style jamming, psychedelic ambience. The sound is much more lo-fi, murky and muddy, but not in that blackened grim way so much as a strange haunting earthy way.
The opening track begins with some swirling black rumble, and mysterious downtuned drones, but when the song proper kicks in, it's not a burst of blackness, instead it's an effects drenched tripped out hypnorock jam, Butthole Surfers style vocals swirl in a sea of trippy druggy FX, the main riff is looped and repeated, the drums propulsive and inventive, if anything this sounds more like last week's record of the week CAVE, than any black metal we've heard . There are some shrieked harsh vocals, some double kick blast beats, but those are strung beneath clean guitars weaving a seasick shanty, the effects cycling and swirling and adding so much weird texture and so many strange layers, that this honestly sounds like it could be some blackened Circle side project. The track unwinds into a dense field of slowly unfurling feedback and more spacepsych FX.
The second track follows a similar pattern, hewing a bit closer to a distinctly black metal sound, but still, the effects are wrapped around everything, the drums are busy and chaotic, the vocals are weird whispers, doused in delay, and allowed to careen amidst the warped riffage and splattery drumming, part way through, the band locks into a nearly Burzumic buzz, but before too long the song slips back into hushed black ambience.
Track three is the blackest so far, a loping, dirgey, depressive minor key midtempo lurch, the guitars surging and soaring majestically, the drums simple and propulsive, the vocals still weird indistinct clouds of echo and shimmer. Tripped out and seriously psychedelic, but definitely black and buzzy, almost blissed out, not really in a shoegazey way, but more like an effects laden space rock.
Finally to finish things off, Njiqahdda takes the last song and dips back into a soundworld much more grim and black, the riffing much less effected, more a churning buzz, still swathed in effects and keyboards, the vocals hissy wraiths hovering overhead, the cymbals so hot and sizzly, they seem to never decay, adding a whole 'nother layer of high end shimmer, finally giving way to a weird looped abstract riffscape, with guitars, roiling pulsing, flecked with stuttery glitch and random abstract crunch, eventually becoming a soft minimal whisper before blinking out.
Shit yeah. If anyone is pushing the boundaries of black metal, it seems to be the ones not even playing it. Unblack is definitely the new black, especially if you like your grim buzz tripped out and seriously fucked up.
First actual, non cd-r, cd release from this mysterious one man ambient doomy un-black metal band. Like all of the EEE and related bands, Njiqahdda are tough to describe, black metal is the source and the root of their sound, but what is done to that sound, how it is twisted and processed and effected, the arrangement, the production, the recording, are all as important to the sound as the sound itself.
Like the last Njiqahdda record, this one is all about repetition, the riffs and parts looped over and over, the drums locked into rhythms that often stretch the length of the song barely wavering. But like that record, the sound here is fantastic, alien - sure there's the requisite buzz and blast, the distortion and growled guttural vox, but they are twisted into truly strange shapes. The guitar, the main riff, is blurred and murky, turned into a throbbing pulsing drone as much as an actual riff, occasionally stripped down to an almost indie rock like jangle. The drums, programmed and machinelike, offer up a framework for the various elements to hang on, the vocals too are heavily effected, a blown out howl, that sometimes transforms into what sounds like radio interference. And like most tracks, there is always one element that makes everything else seem downright normal, here it's the cymbals, which stutter and hiccup, like they're super processed, or perhaps they're just recorded so hot, that they cause the tape heads to malfunction, either way, it sounds amazing, and sort of like some blackened Chain Reaction record. So for half of the first track's 16 minutes, these elements loop and shift sucking the listener in, mesmerizing with its trancelike groove. At which point the track pauses, before relaunching, this time with thick streaks of distorted melody, and soaring sort-of-leads, blown out Nadja-like majesty, before the distortion and buzz is pulled back, revealing the murky strummy underbelly of the song, leaving just drums and jangly guitar, and a layer of distorted hiss, peppered with weird percussive throbs and dropouts, which only add to the track's weirdness.
And so goes the rest of the record. Loooooong tracks. The riffing so hot and blown out and in the red, that the various distortions and crumbling tape hiss, add a whole other element to the sound. The drums buried in the mix, the cymbals acidic and hissy, sometimes washing out all the sounds around it, other times bathing the main riff in a shower of sizzle, the guitars white hot, slipping from blinding and effulgent to blackened and falling to pieces, what sounds like keyboards, smeared streaks of buzz and drone, deep fuzzy bass, harsh vokills, all the various elements going through various stages of distortion and decomposition, doused in effects and processing, recorded in such a way, that they often don't sound like guitars, or drums, or vocals at all. Each song a series of blackened riffy drones, long stretches of clean shimmer, of lilting jangle, of stumbling dizzying abstraction, even longer stretches of looped mesmerizing buzz, but always run through with lilting melodies, buried hooks, subtly catchy, blissed out and black. A record as much about riffs and beats as it is about sound and timbre, texture and mood, a dreamy blissy blackened dronescape of buzz, blur, loop rhythm and ambience, twisting its unblackness into something haunting and hypnotic and unforgettable.
With a name like Njiqahdda, and a record title like Njimajikal Arts, all the text written in some unreadable Eastern script, and cover art consisting of lush green foliage and nothing else, with the promise that this was some mysterious alchemical psychedelic naturalist atmospheric doomed black metal, you know we were seriously intrigued. But at the same time, we really had no idea what to expect. We got these from E.E.E. one of our current favorite labels, home to all of the amazing unblack metal we've been raving about forever... so at first we assumed it was another unblack metal offshoot of one of the many E.E.E. bands, but the label assured us it wasn't. Later we discovered, it was actually a sort of experiment to see if folks reacted differently to stuff on E.E.E. if they thought it wasn't Christian. So, after all, it ends up, it is actually guys from Flaskavsae and Drommer, who together have whipped up one of the weirdest and most gorgeously fucked up (un)black records of the year. Which is saying a lot considering how twisted and far out most of the E.E.E. stuff is...
Where to start? Two discs, looooong tracks, weirdly washed out buzzing post rock, with lots of clean guitars and haunting atmospherics, all tangled up with thick blasts of dense black buzz, and with super freaked out production and lots of unlikely and not very metal sounds and arrangements.
The opening track, "Blister Within The Hive" is based around a super Slinty' guitar riff, looped and repeated, the drums weirdly staggered and mathy, the vocals a muted mumbly howl, super distorted and demonic, but not like black metal, more like noise rock. The main riff shifts and gets more and more dramtic and lush, while the vocals become more distorted and more unhinged, transforming into swirling clouds of harsh hiss and blurred white noise. With the repeated almost looped riff, it's like an un-black metal Circle, relelntless and mesmerizing, and totally hypnotic. The guitars and drums slowly fade out leaving a twisted, slithery buzzing low end drone, super minimal, as it crawls through a field of glitch and shimmer, like some cd-r drone record.
The second track, "A Tale Of Ancient Tergue" is more traditional black metal, but it's all relative. A loping Burzumic midtempo buzz, with tho seame freaked out alien vocals, the drums and cymbals super hot and way up in the mix, threatening to overload everything, the main riff and melody surprisingly melancholy and catchy, again locking into a continuous loop, until the main riff drops out, and suddenly a haunting chorus of voices takes over the main melody, humming and crooning over the still poundin and crashing drums, creepy and so beautiful. All hovering in a thick cloud of swirling FX and spaced out shimmer.
The disc finishes off with the nearly half hour long "Blue Wintry Days", a doomy surge through fields of hissing white noise buzz, the guitars soaring, the drums again sizzling white hot all over the place, mournful and melancholy, but so weirdly washed out at times it sounds like Tim Hecker vs. Burzum vs. Merzbow. About halfway through the various elements become less and less distinct, and the song transforms into an almost static blur, before shifting back into a dark doomy plod, but still always, a bit more mathy and post rock and spaced out that any black record has a right to be. And we love it.
The second disc is just two long songs. The first, "Ancient Tergue Recital" begins all ambient, with deep cavernous drones and birdsong, shimmering metallic reverberations and delicate chimes, a sparse ambient sprawl, that builds and builds, getting darker, and more ominous, the melodies turning minor key, but continuing to drift, a tranquil black ambient lullaby wrapped around a lilting and haunting music box melody.
The final track, "The Wintry Grey" is another long ambient workout, this one even more minimal than the first, more in line with Coleclough or Chalk, minimal and nearly static, subtle overtones shifting gently as the various layers rub against each other almost imperceptibly. A keening high end draped over a warm whirring low end, the two all tangled up in a divine dreamy drift.
Definitely one of the coolest, darkest, weirdest, doomiest, dreamiest (un)black metal records of the year.
It's been a little while since we've heard from these long time aQ faves, the near unpronounceable one man black metal band Njiqahdda, but this latest quickly reminds us why exactly they've remained out of our favorite bands. A lot has changed in the Njiqahdda camp, sonically and spiritually (E., the man behind Njiqahdda, runs the E.E.E. label, which was home to most of the UNblack (Christian) metal bands we knew about), but that's part of what made this band so exciting, and wow, the sound on this new one is incredible, the production is massive! The songwriting is expansive and almost proggy, the first track alone, the six minute "Gaia" is a multi part mini epic, the sound not so buzzy and black, but more sprawling and chuggy and churning, wild dense tribal drumming, bellowed raspy vokills, the guitars thick, almost Neurosis like at time, the sound weirdly (and purposefully we assume), distorted and overdriven in places, strange squalls of percussion, some soaring leads, all wound into a dense, and tense blast of moody metallic heaviness, that while maybe not buzzy and black enough for the grim hordes, the rest of is can revel in these twisted, avant sounds. And it doesn't get any less far out and progressive. The second track is even more dense and mathy, the drumming more intricate, wound around flurries of notes, before finally coalescing into a chugging pound that sounds almost more hardcore than metal, that same sort of ferocity, and it suits the sound, which weds this punk fury to blasting double kick drumming, and swirling sinister ambience, not to mention, a super melodic / dynamic breakdown, complete with crooned vocals, and crazy drum splatter. As amazing as it is to listen to this, the thought of how someone conceives of music this twisted and intricate and perplexing is still a fantastic mystery.
The record never slips into pure black buzz, so for folks looking for THAT sort of blackness, better steer clear, but if you like your blackness laced with gloomy death rock ("With Clouds"), or twisted spaced out psychedelia ("She Which Water Holds"), or groovy Khold like blackend Nirvana style heavy riffing ("Exclave"), then there's plenty here to love. And yet amidst all the aforementioned sonic weirdness, there's plenty more, all deftly woven into a bigger, and impossibly cohesive whole, metallic heaviness, warped riffing, dreamy dark psych drift, hooks galore, crooned gothic vocals, spidery math rock breakdowns, loping post rock rhythms, and soaring epic sonic majesty. As much as we love everything we've heard from Njiqahdda, it's hard to believe how far this sound has come, and how much it's grown and expanded over the years, somehow managing to retain the black energy that made those early records so vital, but infusing it with a wide eyed experimental streak, that most definitely makes this a contender for metal record of the year. So great!
Sadly though, this is ALREADY OUT OF PRINT!! We got about twenty copies, but these are the last we'll be able to get, so act fast. Packaged in dvd style cases with full color printed inserts.
