San Francisco's Eric Haney is the man behind the powerdrone project Phantom Pains, which has been popping up in a few gritty warehouses around the Bay Area with a few cassettes under his belt as well. Obelisk is the first tape we've been able to check out, but it's definitely piqued our interested for more. The fuzzy droneshot of guitar/synth/pedals/whatever comes across at first like unkempt variations of the electroid-psychedelic smears of Grasslung or Pulse Emitter; but Phantom Pains stratifies such toneshift with a good chunk of muffled distortion and puretone feedback suspended above a deep and distant roar of jet-engine noise. Despite all of fuzz, hiss, and crunch, Obelisk is quite placid, glacial in movements in and out of the these chunks of activity that slide past each other like stealthy icebergs at midnight. Elsewhere, bell tones coagulate around tape noise into a glistening track not all that far from Peter Wright's guitar drones accelerating through the layers of murk, ash, and grit only to be engulfed by a gasping drone of flanging reverb and Maeror Tri industrialized shadow.
Monorail Trespassing continues to release amazing cassettes of unknown and obscure acts from the US underground of floorcore noise and gnarled drone, and this one from Phantom Pains is certainly one of their best.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Strange hip hop from Glasgow, and not just because it's from Glasgow! Slow, unsettling and slightly mutant with one part electro-ness, a hefty dose of goth, dialogue samples, sub-bass and laid-back keyboards.
Phantom Payn Days was the mid-to-late '90s solo project of Juergen Gleue, who some of you might know as one half of Germany's mysterious electro punks 39 Clocks. Musically Phantom Payn Days shares a similar approach, with results that are perhaps a little more upbeat and less nihilistic, at least in the sound department. While the Clocks displayed an appropriately stripped down approach, things are even more so here, which of course makes sense, as it's just one guy who was already part of an expertly minimal project in the first place. Despite the demo like recording quality here - which is actually just as good and more effective than a lot of stuff that comes out today - Gleue's songwriting talents and his grasp of melody are what make things stand out. Dreamy keyboards, sparse percussion, and highly melodic droney guitars accompany Gleue's detached, accented vocals, which will be immediately recognizable to anyone who's heard 39 Clocks. The lack of information here adds to the weird, timeless quality and you certainly won't think "90s" when you hear this. Scuzzy but surprisingly melodic, hazy and ethereal, Phantom Payn Days is another winner from this dude we know next to nothing about.
It may look like a collaboration, but is actually a tribute.
If only we all commanded the sort of indie rock power that Robert Pollard does. He wishes aloud for the chance to sing for eighties art-jazz-punk rockers Phantom Tollbooth and -Poof!- The band erase all the vocals from their definitive album Power Toy, and present it to Pollard, so he can sing and rewrite all the vocals and melodies. Now why you would feel compelled to do that to a record that you already loved, just the way it is, is a whole other question and I'm sure the answer involves the mighty EGO in some way. But I digress. Power Toy was an awesome record of murky, college art rock infused with some skronky jazzy bits and some punk rock aggression. They sort of hovered somewhere between the Homestead / Touch And Go Midwest punk rock scene (Husker Du, Killdozer, etc.) and the NY art rock world (Bongwater, King Missle, Shimmy Disc) and featured Dave Rick who did time in Yo La Tengo way back as well as guesting in lots of NY bands at the time. So what does Pollard bring to the table? Lots of familiar melodies, that scruffy, almost-fake-British accent he does so well, and a pretty interesting take on a record most people have probably never heard. Being that I love the orginal, it's harder for me to get into the Pollard-ized version, but for folks who haven't, or for folks who are GBV completists, this is just a really cool art/pop/punk/rock record and is just the next eclectic step in Pollard's unpredictable artistic path. And hopefully this will kick someone's ass to reissue the proper version of Power Toy. And in case anyone's listening, Andee would really like to play the drums on Bastro's 'Sing The Troubled Beast' and would really like to sing on The Frogs' 'It's Only Right And Natural'! Now we wait....
MPEG Download: "Mascara Snakes" [/audio/phantomtollmascara.mp3]
MPEG Stream: "Mascara Snakes" [/audio/phantomtollmascara.m3u]
Perhaps you remember (and/or have in your cd collection) the Atomsmasher cd released by Hydra Head last year? Lead by avant/ambient guitarist James Plotkin (formerly of weird Earache metal band OLD), and featuring drum god Dave Witte (Human Remains/Discordance Axis/Melt Banana/etc.), with processed "AudioMulch" vocals from DJ Speedranch, Atomsmasher got a pretty enthusiastic recommendation from us at the time, as a unique blend of live (but inhumanly played) drums, avant-noise-sampling guitar, and computer-created chaos. Grindcore electronica?
Well, after a ridiculous legal wrangle with some uptight, clueless pop band that apparently had the rights to the name Atomsmasher (and absurdly accused this Atomsmasher of intentionally 'stealing' it), the Plotkin/Witte/Speedranch project changed their moniker to Phantomsmasher. (I think they should have just called themselves Atomsmashersmasher.) Now they've come out with a new cd, on Mike Patton's Ipecac label. At first listen we weren't sure, and thought maybe the original Atomsmasher cd was superior. This one seemed a bit too...post rock. Not quite like Tortoise or Gastr del Sol though, more metallic (but by no means actually metal) and aggro, kinda like Don Cab. Witte's drumming sounds more real, less computerized than before. There's still insane blasting parts, but also some more straight-ahead boom bap. And Plotkin's thick bass slabs get almost funky. From the get go (track one, "Bishop Hopping"), with Speedranch's weirdly child-like Mulched vocals, it reminded us of a Ruins or Hella record, but thrown in a blender on "high". Cool, but not nearly as out-and-out insanely intense as the noisefest of their first album, though still pretty nuts. But things get more interesting as the Phantomsmasher disc goes along. The chaos coalesces into something more like actual songs, not totally random rhythms and noise-eruptions. In its own, densely complex, distorted, and noisy way, it's kinda catchy! Definitely different from the debut, but they've chosen a worthwhile direction to explore.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
When you first see the Atomsmasher lineup: James Plotkin (ex-OLD), Dave Witte (Discordance Axis, Human Remains) and Speedranch (of '& Jansky Noise' infamy as well as contributor of vocals to the first Venetian Snares record), you might be thinking this would be the most insane metal record ever. And maybe you'd be half right. While this -is- extreme, -and- insane, there is not a riff in sight. Instead Atomsmasher is an unholy mix of super processed, super distorted spastic sort-of-grindcore, sputtering malfunctioning electronica and howling indecipherable shrieks and howls. James Plotkin turns his guitar into some sort of bizarre sampler, spitting out slabs of sound and walls of screech, rarely resorting to playing his guitar like a guitar (to be expected from his ambient improv projects of recent years, post-OLD). Speedranch contributes a litany of caterwauls that are so heavily processed they often sound like another guitar, or even more drums?! And then there's Dave Witte, quite possibly one of the best and fastest drummers around. And this to me is the only bummer about Atomsmasher. It seems like Witte's considerable drum talent is wasted, in that all his parts are distorted and triggered and chopped up and filtered and processed to the point that he sounds like a drum machine anyway. I'm nitpicking though. So think equal parts DHR, V/VM, and Drop Dead. A jawdroppingly complex and ridiculously experimental slab of metallic electronic weirdness. Definitely Recommended.
The other day a mail order customer called up and ordered Finnish post-rockers Circle's tUMULt release "Andexelt", and also "Ciudad de Brahman" by Argentinian stoner-rock outfit Natas. I immediately suggested that he also get a copy of this debut cd by
Whoo-hoo! Hypnotic as ever, here's the third studio album (and fourth disc overall counting the live Battle Of The Axehammer) from Circle's so-called (by us) "stoner rock" side-project. Well now we'd have to say that stoner rock tag is a bit inaccurate, an oversimplication. I mean, we were kinda hoping they'd always stay "heavy" but I think that they're not so much "the stoner rock version of Circle" now, than they are simply a stripped down, instrumental Circle with more psych guitar action. Very very krauty. This actually actually sounds a lot like Salvatore, as much as Circle, for that matter. Which is most definitely a good thing!
Stacked up alongside the rest of Pharaoh Overlord's albums, it's not so dark as II, not so fried and blown-out as Battle, and probably comes closest to #1. And it's definitely something stoners are still gonna dig, but while they do heavy it up riff-wise sometimes, the psych aspect is laid-back and mellow just as much. Can you imagine the vibe of that last Dead Meadow mixed with a Circle style rhythmic pulse? This is all about tracks like opener "Test Flight", a druggy ten minute psych-jam, or track three, an epic, but almost funkily tight number called "Laivius 17", that builds up over 13 minutes and 13 seconds, getting more and more psych-guitar-skronked until it snaps -- into track four, "Autobahn", nothing but a droning, distorted guitar-burn solo. It's ten minutes but I wouldn't mind it for a whole album! That then swivels into the tick-tock, low-key groove of "Octagon". Very Can, that one. And on it goes... If only Pharaoh Overlord/Circle could come up with a way to make their cds automatically repeat when they reach the end, that would utterly satisfy the Circle aesthetic. Of course, you, the listener, will probably want to hit play again, but that's assuming you're not too zoned out to move your arm.
Another one to file under "NWOFHM"! New Wave Of Finnish Heavy Metal. That's Pharaoh Overlord/Circle bassist Jussi's little joke. Only now it's gone waaaaay beyond joking. Or to another level of joke anyway. What we're saying, is that this fourth Pharaoh Overlord opus is a headbanger's delight, for real. Sure, Pharaoh Overlord were already supposed to be the "heavy" Circle side project, and they were, but not like this. This ain't mere 'stoner rock', this doesn't sound anything like Kyuss anymore. Instead, they've adopted chugging speed metal riffage that could be from an Accept album circa 1984, lashed it to their usual repetitive krautrocky rhythms, unleashed some very metal vocals, and gone entirely over to the dark side (which, by the way, is the title of one of our favorite tracks here, the album-ending 8+ minute instrumental epic that just drives a mean riff into your brain like the spiked fist thru the face of the skull in the cd booklet!!)). They even snuck a little umlaut in over the 2nd 'o' in 'Overlord' on the spine of this cd.
Circle (and Pharaoh Overlord at this point have pretty much the exact same lineup as Circle, it's basically the same band) have dropped big hints about their love of metal before -- making references in their graphics and in their music, with many tracks on such albums as Sunrise and Tulikoira being pretty darn metal, as we've noted before -- but here they go whole hog. They sound less like a spacerock band who want to give a nod to metal with a riff here and there, than like a really weird actual metal band! It's rifftastic, hypnotic biker metal with a strange psychedelic side to it. And best of all -- it works! It's a high concept success (and as we mentioned, they've been seemingly high on this concept before, but never have been this tight with it). The unpredictable predictability of any Circle or Circle-related album, their basic kraut-inspired, "circular" formula, stands up to and indeed seems to embrace this metallic obsession. The tick-tock percussion and cyclical riffs just wind up tension, even as they entrance the listener, making this so very heavy and ominous in a way that maybe no other metal band would or could explore but they'd have to appreciate. AMAZING!!
Can Jussi and Co. get any more metal than this? Well soon we'll see when we get the upcoming Circle cdep Earthworm which features Bruce Duff from '80s alt-metal band Jesters Of Destiny on vocals! Supposed to be pretty darn heavy. Stay tuned.
The good news: at last, we finally got some copies of this recent vinyl-only PO album! The not-so-good-news: we only were able to get a few, not nearly as many as we'd wanted. And that's it, when they're gone they're gone. So, if you're a fan of Finland's Pharaoh Overlord (and/or their mothership act Circle, which this could just as easily be, sonically), act fast if you want one.
Some further info: the four (long!) tracks on Horn were recorded live at something called "Space Force 1, 2nd Flight" in Lahti, Finland in late 2010. Three out of the four are exclusive-to-this-record PO compositions: "Lalibela", "Solar Stomp", and "Sky". And then other one's a cover of "Revolution" by Spacemen 3. All are riffy, raucous, rhythmic noiserock, with some stray pretty piano plinking and enthusiastic crowd response whenever the band takes a between-song break. And the packaging is sumptuous, the thick gatefold sleeve bearing colorful artwork, band name stamped in golden foil... Limited to only 500 copies and as we said, we got all we're gonna be able to get, ever.
Well, we probably don't need to say a whole lot more, but absolutely have to quote the blurb on the sticker on the cover. Pretty much sums it up: "Horn documents 'The Lord' in their rawest, nastiest live mood. Like an early Mudhoney jamming with Crazy Cavan and The Rhythm Rockers, or Sonic Youth tearing it up with Elakelaiset." Yeah, we totally agree! Even though we've never heard of ('70s teddy boy rockabilly act from Wales, it turns out) Crazy Cavan and the Rhythm Rockers before, nor novelty Finnish "humppa" band Elakelaiset, neither. But the Mudhoney and Sonic Youth, we hear, yeah.
'Tis wild stuff, not exactly in PO's "New Wave Of Finnish Heavy Metal" style like their recent Out Of Darkness album, but definitely ROCK, channelling Spacemen 3 (obviously, since they do the cover) and Funhouse-era Stooges. But noisier! It's blasting, throbbing, distortodelic overload, that WE might compare to a rabid combination of The Heads and Circle. Awww yeah!
Yay. Pharaoh Overlord is the all-instrumental so-called "stoner rock" side project of our favorite Finns, Circle. Now they're back, with the aptly titled "II", and a new line-up that's apparently all members of Circle. Interestingly, while Circle themselves went kinda metal with "Sunrise", Pharaoh Overlord seem to have have mellowed out. Well not quite, as track 4 amps up the riffs a bit. But you'd be hard pressed to call this "stoner rock" anymore. It's more like a really relaxed Circle, still "heavy" but in a way that has less to do with being loud than being low (a bit like them other AQ-faves Bohren and Der Club Of Gore). Repetitive trance-inducing space rock, all deep, rumbling, and spacious. A real nod-scene. Metronomyic drums, meandering guitars, six long tracks of minimal, mellow menace. Even darker and dubbier than their first album. Definitely dubbier. But still totally psychedelic. Goes well with the disc Argentine stoner rockers Los Natas recorded for Circle's label Ektro, "Toba-Trance". And Circle fans will of course be pleased -- we're reminded of Circle's "Paint It Black" cover... Lovingly packaged courtesy of No Quarter, a label also responsible for some excellent releases from the likes of Earth and Laddio Bollocko.
Bow down, people. Just bow down. If extended, repetitive, droned-out krauty stoner prog a la Circle is your thing, then this disc definitely for you, surprise surprise. Sheer hypnosis. Utterly mesmeric. Sounds sooooooooooooo gooooooooooood. It's hard to think of these guys as just a band, the music here seems produced by some organic force. It's a living thing really. A throbbing monster of an album.
Just like their sister band Circle, of which they're all members, Finnish psychsters Pharaoh Overlord have built a discography (they're up to six albums now, counting this one) that somehow maintains a core identity yet always does something different each time out. They started off with the stoner rock riff mantras of #1, then went to the mostly subdued noirishness of II, followed that with the live-and-raw Battle Of The Axehammer, then came back with the krautrockingly Circle-like diversions of #3, all before delving into the absurdly headbanging metallisms of #4 that even added vocals to their previously instrumental lineup. So, now what? What next? A second live album, this time called Live In Suomi Finland, recorded in Helsinki in May of 2006. On it the regular Pharaoh Overlord lineup of Jussi, Tomi and Janne is augmented by two more Finnish friends, and special guest Hans Joachim Irmler of legendary krautrockers Faust! His electric organ grind here adds an extra dose of distorted drone to the proceedings.
Of the two live PO discs this is definitely the best sounding. It's not as raw and blown-out as Battle Of The Axehammer, it's got better fidelity, but if anything it's even heavier!! Perhaps its the additional "remixing" credited to Irmler, whatever magic he worked in later in the Faust studio definitely makes this more than "just" a live album.
There's five tracks here, though it's a very continuously flowing disc... starting with the infectious riffery of "Black Horse" (which has appeared previously only in another live version on Battle Of The Axehammer), followed by two totally new tracks, "Tutankharmony" and "Zero Gravity" that relax the volume and mood a bit with a sense of smokey, improv mystery. Then they launch into "Skyline", the heaviest cut from II, before winding up / blowing out with a quarter-hour rendition #1's "Mangrove". An incredible 50+ minutes all told. Boy, we wish we'd been there! Too bad SF-Helsinki flights aren't quick or cheap...
Finland's Pharaoh Overlord return with this devastating double lp on Aaron Turner and Faith Coloccia's vinyl-only Sige label. Whilst we have many favorite Finns, these guys (and their mothership Circle) are among our very favoritest. Yours too probably, so we imagine these are gonna fly out of here fast.
This Circle sideproject is certainly VERY "circular" here, full of repetitive minimalist vibrations to the max, utter stoner neo-kraut hypnosis for sure, with a heavy metallic undercurrent and some freaky cosmic jazziness to it too. Of the couple most recent previous PO efforts, Lunar Jetman aligns more closely with the space/noise rock of live lp Horn, rather than the "song-ier" classic metal of Out Of Darkness, harking back also to the dark stoner soundscapes of some of their earlier albums as well; but as always, it is its own entity.
Lunar Jetman features six tracks, mostly quite long, sprawling over four album sides, for far more than an hour of slow burning, steady building, all-instrumental Overlord action. The album begins with the insistent gallop of the nearly 11 minute long "Rodent", which almost sounds like Maiden gone motorik! With extra spaceage shoegazey shwooshing and wooshing thrown in. It'll have you totally transfixed before it's even half over. The distortodelic kraut-iness continues amidst the metronymic percussive percolations of the even-lengthier track two, "Palmyra Cali"; then "Cardinal" is a much shorter, blissed out improv-sounding interlude.
That's followed by the 16+ minutes of "Black Horse", at long last a studio version of a composition earlier documented in briefer versions on both PO's 2004 live album The Battle Of The Axehammer, and then again on 2007's Live In Suomi. Here, it begins with much skitter and skree, before hammering into the happy heavy churning riffage we recognize. This one's definitely bound to be a fave of all the Wooden Shjips' fans out there.
Finally, Lunar Jetman delves deep into the dirge, with the two-part, nearly half-hour, massively moody "Cave Of Hair", a detailed, obsessively repetitive soundscape of ominous chuggery, building from quietly brooding near ambient creepy-crawl to metallic majesty...
Another awesome Overlord recording, in other words. And fyi, Lunar Jetman features Faust's Hans Joachim Irmler on keyboards, who has performed with PO previously, appearing on Live In Suomi - and who produced Circle's 2002 Klangbad release, Alotus. Not that PO nor Circle need Irmler to make 'em any krautrockier, they already had that covered!! But this IS plenty krautrocky.
Double lp fancy limited (530 copies) vinyl for now via Aaron Turner's Sige imprint; cd version expected also from Ektro, someday soon we hope...
It's "NWOFHM" in overdrive overload this week, with not one but two new albums from key exemplars of that Circle side project "scene" up there in Finland. The new vinyl-only offering from Steel Mammoth called Radiation Funeral, you'll find reviewed elsewhere this list, and then there's this, Out Of Darkness, the new cd from Pharaoh Overlord. With fists in the air (and tongues possibly not in cheek?) these two releases have really upped the ante regarding the METAL part of the NWOFHM equation.
Quick recap for those out of the loop: Finnish space prog neo-Kraut band (and massive AQ faves) Circle like to dabble in the metal realms, on their own albums and also by means of various side projects, enough of which exist to populate a self-proclaimed, quasi-parodic New Wave Of Finnish Heavy Metal movement, NWOFHM for short. These bands usually use metal "signifiers" for their own twisted purposes, making music that's as much experimental and pop and prog as it is metal, but done up in leather and spikes basically for fun.
Circle offshoot Pharaoh Overlord was originally more of a stoner rock take on Circle's motorik mesmerism, dark and psychedelic and heavy. But not "metal". Then they did the album entitled #4, which was NWOFHM almost to the point of being "actual" metal (though still totally repetitive and hypnotic a la Circle of course). But #4's follow up, their previous disc to this, Siluurikaudella, was, while we liked it quite a bit, a definite departure, more of a freakout/improv thing, definitely not remotely metal (or NWOFHM).
So for anyone a bit confused by Siluurikaudella, you'll be happy to hear that Out Of Darkness returns PO to headbanging territory, and then some!! Definitely a metal album, and a rockin' one. Well, it starts off with a lovely acoustic guitar intro, "Eyes Of The Pharaoh", but starts rockin' about 43 seconds later, when the title track erupts, total classic metal riffage with Danzig meets Hetfield vocals courtesy of the singer from US stoner metal band Night Horse, who also appears on the disc's killer final track "I Am The Light". He's not the only guest, as Circle's big hero Bruce "Jesters Of Destiny" Duff and his bandmate Frank Meyer from LA sleaze rockers Angus Khan have cameos too, providing some guest vocals and lead guitar on a few of the cuts here as well.
The nearly ten minute "Devastator" demonstrates that Pharaoh Overlord haven't abandoned the "Circular" style of minimalist repetition, that track devastates indeed with its seeming endlessness (which is awesome). Somewhat poppier is the next track, the chugging "Doomsday Mourning", that's got some psychedelic Uriah Heepishness to it, laden with synths, psych soloing, and dramatic vocals. And that's more the norm, this album being really pretty darn catchy throughout, Pharaoh Overlord mixing their '80s metal obsessions with some Teutonic '70s proginess, and whatthefuckever else they desire. Our heads aren't just banging, they're spinning. Turns out they weren't kidding with the song title "We Came To Rock"! Ok, it gets a bit goofy on the two Bruce Duff sung tracks (especially "No Speed Limit") but that's entertaining too, however for the most part this is a REAL metal / hard rock album, or at least sounds that way, being strange rather than silly when it's not full on metal. For fans of Circle, Queen, krautrock, Thor, La Otracina, Blue Oyster Cult, Accept, Judas Priest, Metallica, Steel Mammoth, Destruction, Anvil, Lucifer's Friend, White Boy And The Average Rat Band, uh, and everything else that's awesome.
Oh, if this wasn't cool enough already, love the outer space neon lazer tiger cover artwork!!! Purrfect for the tight ripping soundz within. The cd booklet also contains an interesting quote from R. Buckminster Fuller. Didn't know he was a metalhead.
FYI, there's another new PO album too, vinyl-only effort called Horn, that we're hoping to get soon too. Haven't heard it yet, don't know where it falls on the NWOFHM spectrum...
Our favorite Finnish hypnorock band Circle, and related offshoots, are always both doing the expected, AND the unexpected. Expected, in that in almost all cases, Circle hew to the repetitive, rhythmic, krautrock-inspired "circular" grooves from whence they get their name. Yet, while adhering to that basic concept, they've managed to put out umpteen dozen upon dozen albums that are all completely different... some spacey and pretty, some heavy and riffy, some with Gregorian style chant, some with operatic metallic vokills, and all brilliant (ask anybody, but especially us!). Pharaoh Overlord, one of the more popular and prolific Circle "side projects", with a lineup almost (exactly?) the same as Circle, has pretty much followed the same path. Originally, ostensibly a "stoner rock" version of Circle (which you can definitely hear on the live lp we recently listed), they got even more truly metal with their last album, #4, maybe the ultimate "NWOFHM" statement from the Circle camp.
That said, this new, 5th album from Pharaoh Overlord is way more unexpected than the expected, content-wise!! Totally different from #4 for sure. There's three long, instrumental tracks here, and each of them is quite different too. The disc begins with the 22:33 of "Vesitorni", a seemingly improvised piece that's extremely quiet, abstract, mysterious. Sudden skitter of the drums. Chiming glimmer of the guitars. Shimmering cymbals. Pulsation of the bass. It's almost "onkyo" in its sparse, low-key, quasi-jazz loveliness. Really nice, and really not at all remotely "NWOFHM".
Then, wham! Maybe we shouldn't even warn you. Track two, "Valujuhla" (12:47) erupts with a frenzy of loud, chaotic, freeform freaking-out. Here is where we wonder, is Siluurikaudella the record on which the PO/Circle guys go free jazz? Seems like it. And it kinda makes sense. Up until now, they've been famed for their motorik, locked-in, precise clockwork rhythms. With this, it's like those clockwork gears have come unsprung, gone completely haywire, and everyone's playing everything all at once, anarchy reigns! It had to happen, something had to give. But, then this track too quiets down, and we can tell Pharaoh Overlord still have it under control.
Following that, the eighteen minute "Piirros" takes over the final portion of the disc. It shares some similarities with the first track, staying mostly quiet and abstract. But it's definitely got more of a propulsive groove-shuffle going on underneath. And rather than abstract jazz... it reminds us of an abstract, creaky, cavernous blues. Super moody and dark and weird. Probably our favorite of the three.
So, PO definitely surprised us with this one. Took a short while to get our heads around. But now we're definitely digging it. And think that Circle, Doktor Kettu, Keiji Haino, Nels Cline, Tetuzi Akiyama, even Jandek fans will totally dig it too. Improvised, instrumental, eccentric! Oh yeah.
Latest from these Cali non-gangsta-rappers is a laid back and jazzy affair, advanced hiphop stuff for fans of Del and the Roots (whose Blackthought guests on one track).
From the golden era of hip-hop, The Pharcyde's 1992 debut Bizarre Ride II is available on vinyl once again. West Coast equivalents to A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul, Bizarre Ride II completes a trifecta of essential hip-hop records that includes 3 Feet High and Rising and Quest's The Low End Theory, though it's probably not as well known outside of hip-hop circles as either of those two. Based in South Central LA and comprised of choreographers and street dancers who did stints on "In Living Color", the Pharcyde drew on early funk samples, skits and interludes and an "everyone on the mic" approach to rap that was more present in East Coast rap at the time. Though they released three records over 14 years (a Record Store Day box vinyl set is in the works!), it was their debut that gave them the most acclaim after going gold. Their most well-known track, "Passin' Me By" with its stony Quincy Jones sample of "Summer In The City" making it an infectious groove, is the perfect song for cruising in your car on a hot summer day. Did we say essential?
Pharmakon is the nom de guerre for death-industrialist Margaret Chardiet, who has catapulted out of nowhere into the spotlight thanks to this high profile release on Sacred Bones. There's no way that Pitchfork would touch a Sudden Infant album of fucked-up, Dada noise or some of that infernal terror of Blue Sabbath Black Cheer. What the hell would they do with Caroliner, for fuck's sake? But Pharmkon's first proper album of blood-curdled screams, dehumanized martial rhythms, and blistered noise did get a rather glowing (if off the mark) review from Pitchfork. The thing is that Abandon is a pretty damn good record, and it would only be nice if the media outlets that claim to have the fingers on the pulse of musical culture would dig just a little deeper beyond Wolf Eyes, Prurient, and now Pharmakon to showcase just what is festering in the noise underworld. Of course, that's never going to happen. Avid readers of this aQuarius recOrds newsletter will certainly know that even what we manage to get in is just the tip of the iceberg. But here stands Pharmakon's Abandon. Dragging chains and muffled whispers scrape through the elongated scream of the opening salvo of Abandon. Her vocals have the demonic rage of William Bennett's throatripping, although Chardiet is not one to enunciate her poetry with the clarity of Bennett. When she switches to a Diamanda Galas deep vibrato moan on "Pitted" to match the flatline death-throe drone and slow, metal bashed rhythms, Chardiet gets at what all of those solo Jarboe records *should* sound like, with those harrowing vocalizations accompanied by a lumbering crawl akin to those channelled by Brighter Death Now. "Crawling On Bruised Knees" could be a lost SPK track circa Information Overload Unit, perfectly encapsulating the sound of industrial dread and horror circa 1981. Like we said, this is a pretty damn good album. The cd has a 27 minute bonus track!!
Didn't like it as much as her first.
Most aQ customers by now are familiar with (and fanatic about) both Circle and Pharaoh Overlord. Kind of like Parliament-Funkadelic, the two Finnish groups are more-or-less the same band really, making more-or-less the same kind of music, the Circle-Pharaoh Overlord thang all about repetitive, "circular", psychedelic sounds. Sharing members and a mesmeric M.O., both Circle and Pharaoh Overlord are masters of spacey hypno-rock, often heavy, sometimes "metal", frequently quite WTF?, all of which is what you get here for sure, in both cases, on this pair of vinyl-only live records with similar, sharp cover graphics and the same dang title. Turns out these are the first two in what promises to be a series of "high quality, multi-channel 'live' recordings" under the 6000 km/h banner (a name meant to connote "speed, dynamism and goal-orientedness" according to the tongue-in-cheek corporate jargon employed by the label's press release).
Pharaoh Overlord's 6000 km/h release documents the band's performance at a festival in Turku, Finland, Summer 2014. There's four songs here (one straddling two sides), all of them exclusive "world premieres". Typically it's jazz groups who make live albums that are actually 'new albums' in that sense; rock bands doing live recordings historically tend towards greatest/latest hits collections - not that that's what you get with Circle's 6000 km/h, either, even though they're not (all) new songs on there� Anyway, there's something jazzy about this, and proggy and noisy too, PO sounding both epic and experimental on such cuts as the 16+ minute "No Ota Sitten Kolmekymppia" (that's the one that starts on one side and ends on the other). Groovy, dense, strange...
Oh, and we love that it admits on the sleeve that there are "a couple of overdubs... but who gives a **** anyway!"
Black vinyl is what we've got, limited to 350 copies only!
A band that loves black metal, Motorhead, and thinks that killer trees are cool?? French death n' roll juggernaut Phazm is just such a band. Rampaging trees (like the Ents from Lord of the Rings) menace fleeing humans on the disc's cover art, and in such songs as "Vicious Seed" and "Forest Recipe". It's kinda like Godzilla but with giant, malevolent trees instead of a big lizard. A bit silly, though environmentalists should approve. But the trees vs. humanity theme (one done very differently by Hammers Of Misfortune on The Bastard) shouldn't necessarily be what sells you on this anyway (or not). That'd be the music -- loud n' blackly, blastingly metallic, with pumelling drums, nasty guitars and gruff, raw vox, but with passages of melody as well, and a good helping of midpaced rock n' roll catchiness in the riff dep't. Almost like a black metal Kiss. And there's also an excellent and not entirely incongrous (even though it's not about trees) Motorhead cover here, a greatly gargled n' grinded version of "Dogs" from Motorhead's Rock N' Roll album, which serves to perfectly wrap up this debut blast of aggro-arboreal, black metal RAWK!
Includes a cd-rom low-budget video clip for one song.
As much as we loved the late great Silkworm, and ALL their records, we'll always have a special place in our hearts for those first few, the ones that featured Joel Phelps, whose super distinctive vocals, aching and soaring, and dripping with pathos and emotion, made those first few Silkworm records like the most EMO indie rock records ever. And the fact that 3 of the 4 Silkworms sang, it made those records super diverse, and each of the vocalists had dramatically different voices, which made for wildly divergent sounds, and strange, but impossibly unique harmonies. That said, Phelps was always our favorite, and while we were heartbroken when he left Silkworm, he continued to make amazing records solo, in fact his 1995 debut, Warm Springs Night, might still rank as one of our all time favorite records EVER.
So now Phelps, with his longtime backing band the Downer Trio have returned with a brand new record after almost a decade, and it's so great to hear that voice again, still as strange and beautiful and emotional as ever, the music a perfect match for his heartfelt oddball delivery, a sort of woozy, bluesy indie rock, dynamic, noisy, space-y, with lots of space, the guitars distorted, beautifully gnarled, and when Phelps belts it out, it still gives us chills, the opener "Nashville Sound" manages to transport us back to 1995, but at the same time, manages to sound modern and kind of timeless, the arrangement, very reminiscent of classic Silkworm, but with Phelps stunning vox, transforming the already powerful, nuanced music into something truly next level.
It's really hard to be objective, Phelps is easily one of our favorite vocalists ever, the old 'he could sing the phone book' thing is totally cliched, but impossibly true when it comes to Phelps, it is an odd voice though, love it or hate it for sure, but if you end up loving it, which we're guessing lots of you will, it inspires the sort of love that borders on slavish devotion, and he's not just singing, all that strange guitar playing, that's Phelps too, who works his guitar like he does his vocals, nothing standard or even remotely traditional about it. Instead, Phelps and his Downer Trio have crafted yet another totally distinctive, and utterly unique collection of songs, that traffic in a strain of indie rock, that seems to be the exclusive domain of these guys, and nobody else, anywhere. So impossibly great...
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Finally another Joel Phelps release to tide us over until his next full length. Ex-Silkworm guitarist/vocalist/songwriter has got the most heartbreaking voice this side of Elliot Smith and Eitzel. Includes a gorgeous cover of Tom T. Hall's "Spokane Motel Blues". Can anyone recommend a good Tom T. Hall record for me to start with?
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Ex-Silkworm guitarist's haunting solo album drips with emotion. For fans of Mark Eitzel.
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Joel (ex of Silkworm) has the kind of voice that breaks your heart no matter what he's singing about. A new 5-song (with an unlisted sixth track!) ep of beautiful sad songs, including a bare bones piano-and-voice version of the Clash's "Guns of Brixton."
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This record marks a strange turn in the career of one Joel Phelps, seeing as we were all under the impression that he quit Silkworm because he was tired of 'rocking', but this record really rocks, sounding a lot like the old Silkworm records that didn't suck ('Libertine' & 'In the West'), replacing the delicate folk of the Downer Trio with a wailing blustery rock not heard from Joel (or Silkworm for that matter) for years.
For being maybe one of our favorite singer/songwriters EVER, Joel Phelps is definitely WAY underrepresented on the aQ site. Another instance of an artist whose recorded output either preceded the aQ list/website or was in the very early days of the new aQ, well before the long long reviews. Phelps was originally a member of long running indie rock outfit Silkworm, and as we've no doubt mentioned in Silkworm reviews, his departure definitely changed the dynamic of that group, and it was a long time before we could listen to them without missing Phelps too much to enjoy it. The upside of Phelps' departure was a series of solo records so stunningly sublime, in retrospect it was almost a relief to not have to review them. Phelps voice so distinctive, achingly emotional, the musical arrangements minimal, but simultaneously lush and expansive. Every single record Phelps released, on his own, or with the Downer Trio, was, and IS practically perfect. Most sadly long out of print, including this one, but the label that released this on vinyl found a stash so we grabbed a bunch and figured that plenty of folks may have missed out on this record, and on Phelps in general, which is a shame, cuz this stuff is so incredible.
Before we get to the review, let's just mention a list of artists and groups: Will Oldham, Songs:Ohia, American Music Club, Red House Painters, Herman Dune, Mt. Egypt, Mt. Eerie, Sparklehorse, Appendix Out, Smog, Souled American, Vic Chesnutt, Timesbold, we could go on, but anyone into ANY of those, will very likely love Joel Phelps, his music the same sort of super intimate, dark and emotional heartfelt sound that few are able to conjure up, and even amongst this esteemed company, Phelps is unique and distinctive. It's that voice. And his delivery. As we described in a review of another Phelps record: "there's something achingly gorgeous in the way he will s-t-r-e-t-c-h out a vowel until it twists upon itself painfully", his voice clear, and high, and powerful, slipping easily from moody croon, to emotional wail, and the songs here, and all of Phelps's songs in general, dark and delicate, haunting and mysterious. The opener here sets those vocals in a weirdly jazzy setting, upright bass, sweet sad horns, it's strange but it definitely works, although the next track is a tad more traditional, strummed acoustic guitar, woozy lapsteel, and Phelps plaintive wail. And so it goes. A very understated record, and sound, the drums, when there are any, shuffle sadly alongside the guitars, the bass a subtle anchor, the guitar, equally subtle filigree for Phelps' haunting lyrics and again, THAT voice. The vibe is definitely country, or folky, definitely a bit twangy, but set in a more timeless classic downer pop context, bittersweet ballads, that tug the heartstrings, but without being maudlin, instead, these are simply powerful, beautiful songs, from an incredible songwriter, one of our favorites for sure.
VERY LIMITED!!! Long out of print, these were a warehouse find, so we're not sure how many more we can get, if any, so grab one while you can. You won't be sorry.
It took until today for me to realize how similar indie rock crooner Joel Phelps (formerly of Silkworm, now of Downer Trio) can sound to country singer Iris DeMent -- there's something achingly gorgeous in the way both singers will s-t-r-e-t-c-h out a vowel until it twists upon itself painfully. Here Phelps delivers one plainly gorgeous original (which appears to be about the premature death of his sister) amidst six covers: two songs by the aforementioned angel-voiced DeMent, plus tracks by Fleetwood Mac, Steve Earle, Townes Van Zandt, and the Go-Betweens. This is one of those quiet, simple, very very subtle singer-songwriter records that will creep under your skin if you let it -- and it doesn't matter that he didn't write all the songs because Joel's delivery redefines each one (indeed, fans of the covered artists will love this record, as will worshippers of Elliot Smith and Will Oldham). With acoustic guitar, piano, and occasional understated percussion. Absolutely lovely and highly recommended.
Let's be honest. Joel Phelps was the best thing about Silkworm. Nothing against the other guys, they're all great musicians. But Phelps was the magic ingredient. His aching anguished wail, and ultra miserable, pensively bittersweet songwriting turned an indie rock band into something so much more. We loved old Silkworm, but when one of Joel's songs would come on, it would seriously bring us to the edge of tears. So fucking brutal and intense and emotional and just so goddamn good. So while it was a sad day for Silkworm when he left, we didn't have to wait long for Joel to strike out on his own and form his appropriately monickered Downer Trio. Most of Phelps's records have had severely limited lifespans falling out of print almost as soon as people could discover them. Which is a huge shame as Phelps is definitely one of the most important, and possibly least well known songwriters today. But that HAS to change soon, as Phelps has the most heart rending, soul stirring voice this side of the late Elliott Smith. But unlike Smith's whispery rasp, Phelps has a HUGE voice, a wailing almost falsetto, that is rough around the edges and only gets rougher when he belts it out, threatening to crack, but always right on. His band in the past has woven delicate, twangy moody indie rock janglescapes to back him up, and still does some of the time, but quite often on Customs, the Downer Trio have their amps on 10 and the sound is loud and raucous, but no less emotional and intense. Still minor key, still pained and dripping with gorgeous miserablism. Each song is an exercise in tension, building and building, chugging guitars and minor key melodies with Phelps vocals sending shivers down your already goosebump covered spine. If only all 'indie rock' was this intense and perfect!
For a limited time, comes with a bonus disc featuring two extra originals and three covers, "Pink Frost" (The Chills), "24 Hours" (Joy Division) and "Right Now" (Townes Van Zandt).
This is the first release from the French Trio Pheromone, released on Bruce Russell's Corpus Hermeticum label. This trio makes spare and expansive soundscapes using guitar, hurdy gurdy, electronics, contact mics and various electro-acoustic devices. This single piece (tracked as 2 tracks) was recorded live and mixed by Eric La Casa and Pierre-Henri Thiebaut at home. The band sets up in the corners of the room and surrounds the audience, while enveloping them in an abstract cloud of stuttering samples, rhythmic pulses, clicks and scrapes, hums and whirs, buzz and skree, strum and clatter that all seemingly follow some mysterious and non linear-narrative. Gorgeously difficult.
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It starts with an old man firing a rusty old shotgun into the sky, and from that point on, it's a dizzying three days of festivities, music, dancing, and lots and lots of drinking. Oh and quite a few giant phalluses. A local medium deems what day to begin, and on that day the three day festival of Phi Ta Khon commences, a tribute to ghosts and demons, which occurs at the beginning of the rainy season, and is meant to ensure healthy and bountiful crops. Like all the Sublime Frequencies DVD's it's a fascinating and overwhelming experience. A new world, a completely wild and wonderful celebration, a community banded together, dancing and singing and drinking toward a common goal. And it definitely feels like you are right there. Houses and people, animals, foliage, musicians, parades and processions. And rice wine. A whole section is dedicated to Isan's liquor of choice, and the Phi Ta Khon festival does indeed involve much drinking. Pretty much every stage of the festival is marked by ritualistic imbibing of spirits. Which might go to explaining why it's such a crazy three days.
Another important part of the festival is the creation of incredibly elaborate masks, so intricate and amazing, beautiful and creepy. A dizzying array, from long fanged demons, to mysterious winged bird creatures, to super colorful, kabuki style headdresses. Part of the festival used to involve tossing the masks into the river at the end of the festival, but folk art collectors would fish the mask out of the river to sell them, so now they are saved to be used again, or the mask makers sell the masks themselves.
And the phalluses. Everywhere. Puppets, masks, staffs, all in the shape of giant vividly painted members. It is supposedly good luck to touch the wooden members. They provide comic relief and encourage licentious behavior.
It's totally mind blowing to experience another culture's customs so immersively. For many of us who might never get a chance to visit Thailand, these dvd's are amazing tools, helping us to learn about, understand and enjoy the art and music and culture and magic of other peoples. It's also amazing to note how little violence and aggression there is even with three days of nonstop drinking. Hard to imagine something like that ever happening here without at least one fight or someone getting shot.
The dvd comes with a bonus short film, Spirit House, a video tour of various Spirit Houses filmed over repeated visits to Thailand. Spirit Houses are a bit like our graveyards but so much more colorful and intricate. Supposedly these houses are home to departed loved ones and guardian spirits and are decorated as such, bright colors, multiple levels, lots of windows and doors, small statues, shapes and images, a gorgeous brief glimpse into the spirit world. With haunting musical accompaniment by the Climax Golden Twins.
Finally, the accompanying music is fantastic, it's Molam, which was featured in a previous installment of the Sublime Frequencies cd series, a glorious lively festive music, characterized by lilting almost yodelled male / female vocals, mouth organ, performing traditional Thai songs, often arranged for modern instruments, but still closely connected to the past (Butthole Surfers lifted a Molam classic for their song "Kuntz" on Locust Abortion Technician).
Absolutely amazing. And of course very recommended. As is the Molam: Thai Country Groove From Isan cd which we also stock! ----* ----* Long out of print Steven R. Smith cds back in stock : ----*
Japan's Imai Kazuo, an improvising guitarist/electronics experimentalist who was a member of both the legendary psych group Taj Mahal Travellers and the equally legendary free jazz unit New Direction (led by Masayuki Takayangi), teams up here with respected European double-bass improv maestro Barre Phillips, who has played with everyone from Louis Armstrong to Albert Ayler to Peter Brotzmann. Here's another great collaboration for the both of 'em.
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Not at all surprisingly, this full length collaboration between Luna's mainman Dean Wareham and Luna's bassist Britta Phillips is a feather-soft dreamy affair. Very much in the tradition of pairings such as Gainsbourg/Birkin or Sinatra/Hazlewood, and yet overall, it's not really all that dissimilar to that of their main band -- if perhaps with an increased air of sophistication and filled with a few more swirling string and keyboard arrangements. They take turns delivering drowsy droll (Wareham) and wispy cooed (Phillips) lead vocals, occasionally hooking up for a lovely duet or two and covering songs by Buffy Sainte-Marie ("Moonshot"), The Doors ("Indian Summer") and Madonna ("I Deserve It"). Produced by Tony Visconti no less!
Dave Phillips doesn't give us a lot to go on here, but all of the clues point to this being the most fucked-up break-up record ever. Sure, there's plenty of emo bands and sensitive singer-songwriters who pine over their broken hearts with oh-so earnest lyrics and anthemic crescendos; but if you were to break the heart of a twisted Swiss aktionist with a penchant for violent noise outbursts, industrial-doomscaping, and slaughterhouse ambience, you get an album far more wracked with the depths of abject loneliness. Like we said, we can't be sure that this is a break-up record, but Phillips does state the album was recorded as a "therapeutic process during a period dominated by severe disturbances of loss, mental abysses and despair." And he does dedicate this album to Thala, who may have been his girlfriend at one time, but certainly had appeared in several rather disturbing performances with Phillips. Those performances involved a mattress wired up with numerous contact microphones and the two engaging in rather violent sex, with the noises of the groaning mattress tossed back at the audience through explosive amplification.
Of course, Phillips is a member of the Schimpfluch-Gruppe of Swiss aktionists, alongside Sudden Infant, Rudolf Eb.Er, Raionbashi, and G*Park. He was also the man responsible for that Dead Peni record released in 2008 on Blossoming Noise, and was the drummer for Fear Of God, which was like the Swiss equivalent to Napalm Death way back when. In all of those references, this album with all of its fragmented noises, nocturnal events, funereal dirges from an accordion, and fatalistic dronescaping falls more on the G*Park end of the spectrum, preferring mystery through abstraction rather than scatological expulsions of bloodcurdling skree. A few brief interludes of softened white noise dappled with various forest-dwelling field recordings opens the album, snapping to a halt with a 12 minute uncomfortable track that seems to recycle one of those sexually explicit performances. Phillips clips and cuts the moans of a woman rapt in sexual ecstasy, matching that with a male voice which has been pitch shifted way down to a demonic growl. Yes, this gets into the same problematic territory that you get with Brainbombs or Whitehouse, but given how Phillips treats the male protagonist in this exchange (and especially, if he is the man behind that voice), it's very clear that there is to be no sympathy for him. The despair to which this album speaks is of his own making. At the conclusion of this track, Phillips turns to his accordion which sways between two dour notes and a series of nocturnal recordings. Clusters of notes hammered at the very low end of the pianos keyboard are struck and extended into Lustmordian passages of bleak ambience, and there are further examples of Phillips' Aktionist pedigree with a scream session rhythmically locked to a series of meat-cleaving blows. There is nothing pretty about this album, and it is really quite a depressing opus when you come down to it. Break-up record or not, it's utterly powerful and absolutely not for the squeamish.
Dave Phillips began his musical career when he was 17, co-founding the hardcore extremists Fear of God in 1987. As Fear of God developed into Switzerland's answer to Napalm Death or Carcass, Phillips began to see that their faster, shorter, noisier approaches to grindcore were merely a springboard for more psychologically challenging and physically demanding artforms. Soon after Fear of God's demise in 1989, he met up with Rudolf Eb.er of Runzelstirn & Gurglestock and joined the actionist Schimpfluch-Gruppe which has followed the traditions of abjection and transgression as dictated by the Viennese Aktionists (i.e. Hermann Nitsch, Gunter Brus, Otto Muhl, etc.). In performances punctuated with short sharp bursts of noise, the Schimpfluch-Gruppe quite literally plays with vomit, blood, and all of the fluids from bodily orifices. If it sounds juvenile, it is; but both Phillips and Eb.er also manage to make their gross-out sessions numbingly effective manifestations of the nether regions of the human psyche. Along with the official Schimpfluch-Gruppe actions, Phillips has performed with Sudden Infant, PK, and Ohne which had received a considerable amount of acclaim with their Mego debut of electrocutionist musique concrete.
On IIIII, Phillips recorded work proves to be just as absurdist, nihilistic, and nauseating as his performances. The noise comes quite sporadically, and when it does, Phillips clobbers you over the head with volatile sick tones and splattered distortion; but the bulk of IIIII waits with a tense silence until wooden hammerings, demonic growlings, blister-pricked ruptures, and unsettling screams shatter the empty spaces. As a result, Phillips' work is far more nervewrecking that maximalists like Merzbow or The New Blockaders. Even if you have a stomach strong enough for R.H.Y. Yau and Runzelstirn & Gurglestock, Phillips makes for very difficult listening.
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Five years in the making, Illusion Is a Natural Condition brings together two of the finest noise artists the world has ever witnessed. Sure, Merzbow and Hijokaidan can hit you with their molten sounds of psychedelic excess; but San Francisco's Randy Yau and Switzerland's Dave Phillips achieve their tempestous recordings through a violent dichotomy between silence and sound. This sharp contrast effectively puts you on edge throughout the listening experience, as you never know when the next attack is going to arrive. In any given track, Yau and Phillips pack together recordings of their gutteral screams and dribbling gurgles of one of the actionists shoving something down his throat that just doesn't belong there. Occasionally, the sound of flies circle around the sickened vocalizations, as if investigating a hospital patient with a sucking chest wound. Pigs squeal. Demons roar. All of these sounds are compressed into track rarely longer than a minute, punctured by extended silences and ruptured by terse blasts of motorized noise and absurdly rendered ultra-violence that would bring joy (or is that pain?) to die-hard Wolf Eyes' fans. Recommended noise for those with a very strong stomach.
Reel Music keeps churning out the underrated soul gems! Along with the Yvonne Fair (reviewed elsewhere on this list), we've got Esther Phillips' second album for Creed Taylor's Kudu label released in 1972. Phillip's had a hard-living life and that deep hurt shows in every note. With a smokey nasally voice that recalls Dinah Washington and sometimes Nina Simone, Phillips had unbelievable vocal talent with forays into jazz, blues, disco and even country. But her versatility made her difficult to market and most of her early records met with varied success. Plus her constant battles with drug addictions that began in her teen years took such a toll on her life that she was dead before 50. But she found some success later in her life for the five records she recorded for the Kudu label in the seventies. These featured stellar session players such as Ron Carter, Bernard Purdie, Maceo Parker and Eric Gale. Her seasoned experience after stints in rehab, reverberate throughout the proceedings, making every emotive note truly felt. Her first record From A Whisper To A Scream is perhaps our favorite (And we hope that gets reissued too!) with its devastating cover of Gil Scott Heron's "Home Is Where The Hatred Is". But Alone Again Naturally is perhaps the least known to us, though it garnered her a second Grammy nomination. Released for the first time on cd, it starts out with Bill Wither's stalwart soul-funk classic "Use Me" and covers much sultry and smokey soulful ground including songs by Aretha Franklin, Gilbert O'Sullivan (the title track, natch), Eddie Floyd, and Big Joe Turner. We're very glad to see this underrated soul singer get some much due recognition!
Tomas Phillips is a literary professor (currently teaching at NC State) and a lowercase electronic composer, whose work has been alternatingly brilliant and somewhat banal. Such is the dilemma in using minimal constructions and reduced sound sources as Phillips is wont to do. His 2003 On Dit album for Trente Oiseaux was an impressive album for sure, harkening back to the earlier musique concrete sensibility of Jim O'Rourke especially the album Scend. But since then, the albums have been rather polite but somewhat uninteresting. Fortunately, our skepticism ends with Les Mailles, an album Phillips composed with fellow North Carolinian Dean King.
The title translates from the French as 'the meshes' and specifically references Maya Deren's 1943 film Meshes Of The Afternoon, one of the earliest successes of American avant-garde film that worked through repetitively imagery to unveil an interlocking series of psychological symbols culminating in the protagonist's own suicide. Where that films is quite striking in its imagery even in its slow repetitions, the Phillips & King construct is incredibly subtle, maintaining a slow rumbling drone pocked with small renderings of digital artifacts, ghostly harmonic swells, and quiet field recordings of incidental sounds from enclosed spaces. At times, the album can be quite reverberant and achieve a similarly wintery paralysis that comes from listening to Thomas Koner's recordings; but out of these darkened passages, the two interlock distilled melodies (maybe from the digitally tricked out sounds of a piano?) and fizzing textures that align much more with the 12K / Richard Chartier ethos. Very nicely done.
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