This mysterious East Bay noisemaker known simple as Sixes makes his Jyrk debut with this dense little 3" disc. For being so small, it definitely packs a serious wallop. Ultra massive low end drones, huge reverberating continent shifting tectonic rumbles, crushing, pulsing black fuzz. An incredibly dense black hole of sound. Impossible to say what the sound source is, it sounds like someone took a bunch of analog synths, about a hundred guitars, the same number of wildly malfunctioning amps, and dropped them in a tar pit. Churning gut rumbling brutality laced with jagged streaks of clipped and stuttering high end, everything burnt to a crumbling black, like watching some massive black tower, slowly crumble to pieces, the sound absolutely deafening, a physical presence that threatens to not only blow out your ear drums, but blow a gaping hole clean through your chest, take your head off, incinerate you and leave a tiny pile of smoldering cinders. The sound eventually settles down to a low level rumble, still crumbling and super distorted, before beginning a slow build, thickening, getting more distorted, the high end streaks spreading and brightening, eclipsing the low end pummel, until the two sounds, the earthquake low and shooting star high, are all tangled up, an ancient battle in sound, the two eventually becoming indistinguishable, all that's left, a huge snarling grey cloud of fuzz and grit and grind that threatens to blot out all other sound before quickly fading to black. Phew.
Packaged in swanky silver metallic on black sleeve, housed in a mini 3" jewel case.
LIMITED TO 200 COPIES!!!
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Sixteen Horsepower are the masters of apocalyptic swamp folk, a dark and dolorous bluegrass infused with fire and brimstone, tales of Biblical damnation, and spiritual salvation, set to fiddle and accordion, banjo and mandolin, lit by a cresent moon and the dying embers of a campfire, delivered with the vitriol fury of a rivivalist preacher trying desperately to save our souls. Sixteen Horsepower (along with 16HP frontman David Eugene Edwards' side project Woven Hand) have been responsible for some of our favorite records of the last few years. The above description should tell you enough to know that these guys push all our buttons. So we were pretty excited to get this double DVD. The first, is a series of interviews, one a super arty, black and white, with the band by the railroad, among creepy mannequins, beautifully edited and gorgeously shot. The second is a standard sit down interview. The third is interviews with the various band members tracing the timeline of the band. All very interesting, especially to hear Edwards speak so unabashedly about his faith and growing up in the church. All evident in the music of 16HP but still sort of cool to hear explained in greater detail. Disc two is all the videos and some live footage. The videos, if you haven't already seen them, are perfect visual representations of the band's take on the dusty road to damnation, lots of grainy shots of desert, and leafless trees, plenty of high contrast black and white. The highlight being the 16HP video directed by the none other than the Brothers Quay, with animated white and black chalk in some alien battle between light and dark, good and evil, as a backdrop to the band performing!! Never having seen the band, the live footage was amazing. And they are just as intense live as you might imagine. And finally on disc 2 is a European behind the scenes documentary following the band around on tour, lots of backstage footage, travelling, soundchecks, and all that kind of stuff. Intimate and really interesting. This whole collection is a welcome glimpse into the minds and music of one of our favorite bands, which is especially exciting since in the past 16HP have been less than gregarious and hardly forthcoming in terms of interviews and such.
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Imagine the desolate and dreary stretches of highway leading from wherever you are to nowhere. Imagine the perilous climb from the bowels of hell, in search of redemption. Imagine the violence and hardship of life in the bayou or the unsettled West at the turn of the century. Imagine that mysterious drifter, lurking around town, exuding a magnetic pull, dangerous but irrestistible. Imagine tragedy, forgiveness, the world as a wasteland, the world as hell, the world as nowhere. The music of Sixteen Horsepower is all that and more. Dark and mysterious, heartbreaking and ominous, hopeful and tragic, timeless and unforgiving. Southern gothic dirges, shivering dark waltzes, and creeping midnight melodies. Vocalist David Eugene Edwards has a startling voice, trembling and plaintive, but at the same time ferocious and strong. Backed by a shuffling funereal ensemble of banjo, mandolin, acoustic guitar and brushed, minimal drumming, the effect is claustrophobic, suffocating, but with just the faintest glimmer of hope and happiness on the horizon. Some may be troubled (as I am) by Sixteen Horsepower's overt Christianity, but thankfully the lyrics are more subtle and spiritual than preachy, focusing on the human condition, hope, despair, love, hate, misery and joy. Four originals, four traditionals and two covers, 'Alone And Forsaken' by Hank Williams and 'Single Girl' by the Carter Family. This is record number six from these Colorado transplants (via L.A.) and I'm not entirely sure why we haven't listed them, since they're all stunning. If you're interested, inquire cause we should be able to get any of them. The closest comparison I can come up with is Nick Cave, but 16HP are an entirely different beast, jettisoning the drama, bombast and pagaentry that has plagued Cave in his later years, and instead stripping everything down and adding extra layers of murk and must, fog and frost. A gorgeous and cautionary Biblical tale told by wandering minstrels, as they slowly make their way toward salvation. So totally essential.
After being out of print for WAY too long, this amazing live document finally sees the light of day once more. Or more appropriately maybe, the dark of night. Even more appropriately, the star flecked deep dark night, viewed through the dense canopy above the deep dark swamps of the South. This is 16 Horsepower after all, southern fried, revivalist, back woods countrified gothic stomp. Bleak tales of salvation and damnation. And what better way to experience the fire and fury of 16HP than live, beneath the ol' patched up tent, set up on the side of a road in the middle of nowhere, pouring rain, with mudcaked boots and huddled townsfolk jostling for a chance to be saved, a night of testifyin' for sure, live and sweaty and fearsomely intense, fierce as fuck, but still moody and dark and really, really creepy. Sort of like Deliverance:The Musical or something. Squeezebox, acoustic guitar and drums never sounded so good. Or so menacing. Those of you who know 16HP know exactly what this disc has in store for you. For those of you who have yet to discover the dark joy of 16 Horsepower (now sadly defunct) you just might just find your musical souls saved. Or damned. Either way, a treacherously brilliant musical path lies ahead, numerous 16HP releases all amazing, two Lilium records (2/3 of 16HP), as well as several Woven Hand records (the even MORE Biblically brutal and emotionally menacing post-16HP efforts by mainman David Eugene Edwards).
A handful of covers get the 16HP makeover. John Fogerty, Gun Club, and Joy Division all have their tunes somehow made even darker and more bleak.
Fans of Nick Cave, who were disappointed with his new shinier direction of late, and who still yearn for that misanthropic gloom, might find just what they're looking for with 16 Horsepower. And of course essential for fans of all things dark and swampy, who want their music steeped in fire and brimstone, confusion and misery, death and misery and the long hard road to salvation and the inevitable fall into damnation!
Lots of bands can 'rock' live, performing their record, their set, a little bit louder, a little bit wilder, a little more shambolic, feeding off the energy of the crowd, but rare is the band who can create a mood, evoke emotions, make standing in a smoky club feel like standing knee deep in the mud, in a swamp, watching the black night sky, thinking back over your life and just waiting' around to die. The music of 16 Horsepower is like that, a swampy backwoods bluegrass, hellfire and brimstone, Biblical damnation and spiritual salvation. A creepy campfire blues steeped in haunting late night misery and rainy day malaise. Banjos, and double basses, accordions and brushed drums, and the haunting soulful vocals of David Eugene Edwards. On record, closed eyes and open ears reveal a world long gone, preachers in tents set up in muddy fields, beat up old pick ups, the open road, the wrath of God and the loneliness of existence, all revealed through the slow slinky crawl of 16HP's funeral folk dirge, a murky gloomy beauty that is hard to describe. Live it's like watching a band possessed. Edwards grimaces and grits, strains and clenches, the accordion, banjo or bowed guitar like a serpent in his hands as he testifies, and tries to save our souls. This dvd conveys all the power and mystery of 16HP live. Disc one features a live show from 2002 in its entirety, recorded at Le Cirque Royal in Belgium, the sound is dark and dolorous, the stage set up is the same, dark and muted, Edwards up front bathed in a halo of muted yellow light, with soft blue light on the rest of the players, each in their own little corner, all summoning personal demons and exorcising them right there on stage. SO totally amazing.
Disc two features a handful of odds and ends. A live performance on German television show Rockpalast, complete with cheesy intro music and eighties neon logo, but a fiery and super intense set, the band possessed and inspired. Also a cool six minute montage of footage from their last tour, live performances, radio interviews, backstage, in the van, etc. as well as some footage of the band in their practice space rehearsing for their final tour. And maybe the most moving, live footage from a show in Antwerp, Belgium, intended for a documentary, but never used as that ended up being the band's last show ever. A handful of songs played in a cool dome-like outdoor amphitheater, with a strange fountain, right in front of the stage that sends up a tiny jets of water. A handful of songs, including a cover of "Heart And Soul" by Joy Division, which is the last song 16 Horsepower ever perform.
Comes with a big booklet of liner notes/photos. This disc is NTSC and region free.
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So this is where it all started. Those Woven Hand records we've raved about, the Sixteen Horsepower records that totally blew us away. All started right here. Olden collects Sixteen Horsepower's first two demos, as well as an early live show and some brief interview snippets with 16HP/Woven Hand front man David Eugene Edwards. Much more raw and immediate, and a little more lo-fi and less sonically adventurous, but lacking NONE of the biblical fury or musical brimstone that made later 16HP records so powerful. The two demo sessions on Olden are stripped down, loping waltzes, drunken slide guitars and wheezing bandeneons, shuffling drums and palpitating double bass, with banjos, jaw harps, and Edwards' Screamin' Jay Hawkins-meets-Michael Gira caffeinated preacher wail. Minor key and melodically tragic, dirgy and hypnotic, wild and calamatous, and occsionally slow, sad and creepy. This is gorgeous, timeless, American music. Equal parts country, folk, and rock, but delivered with such fervor, so intimate and personal, and with such brutal musical intensity, that the songs take on the gravity and urgency of sonic directives from some higher power.
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We've long been champions of Mr. David Eugene Edwards, in both of his swampy apocalyptic folk ensembles, first the late great 16 Horsepower, and then later, his more personal, and seemingly more spiritual Woven Hand. As long time readers of the aQ list know, Edwards is like a modern day revivalist, conjuring up demons and darkness, death and pestilence, but simultaneously light and hope and sometimes even redemption. With a sound that shifts from stripped down and intimate, to dense and heavy and ominously rocking, the music of Edwards is easily some of the most powerful and passionate we've heard. Woven Hand played the aQuarius SXSW showcase, and our first impression was holy shit, these guys are HEAVY. And loud. And so intense. In fact, considering how many actual metal bands and super heavy rock bands played that showcase, it's pretty remarkable that WH might still have been the heaviest band in the lineup.
Secret South is one of our favorite 16HP records, originally released way back in 2000, and out of print for AGES, this was their first record after leaving their major label, and thus seems to be infused with an extraordinary amount of anger and darkness. This record is FIERCE, the classic 16HP lineup is on fire, the vocals incredible and impassioned, the guitars raw and rough, the drumming powerful, the bass thick and enveloping, strings moaning and singing, but the magic of 16HP is how all those elements are woven together, it's difficult to imagine a mere band could evoke this sort of ominous atmosphere, this sort of dread and darkness, this is so much more than music, it's energy in sound, it's sweat and blood rendered in notes and melodies. A swampy mysterious gothic folk, but infused with elements of classic bluegrass, dramatic cabaret, plenty of doom and gloom... You can check the aQ site for other reviews where we rave on and on and on about both 16HP and Woven Hand, needless to say, both bands are all time favorites around here, and Secret South ranks right up there as one of the best by either.
Both the cd version and the lp comes with a bonus dvd featuring the whole record in 5.1 surround sound DVD audio.
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Austin, Texas, bootgazers formerly on Trance.
Now here on cd! Here's What We Had To Say about the vinyl version a few years ago:
This 3 piece from Oakland CA play arty, chaotic, somewhat dark, noisy sort-of-punk-rock. The influence of electro, goth, darkwave, new wave and post-punk all do battle in a Sixteens song, and the outcome is inevitably a draw. Not surprisingly the trio are friends and musical allies of SF local scary ones The Vanishing, The Phantom Limbs, and Black Ice. Intense girl and boy vocals over hectic, deranged sludgy noise. 8 songs = 51 minutes.
Here's a four song follow-up to the Sixteens' album Casio which was release a few years ago on Bay Area label Cochon Records. This release has found its way across the country (and maybe across a border too) to the Montreal, Quebec / New York City label Hungry Eye (who've also released recent stuff by Saros, Black Ice and Bellmer Dolls).
This Oakland trio continue to churn up their dark wave post punk torment. Sort of the musical equivalent of conjunctivitis... uh, in an inflamed, good way. We'd venture a guess that the Sixteens wouldn't shy away from (or maybe even take particular glee in) popping a few pus-bloated boils and brewing the residue up into a cauldron full of song. Such is the feeling we get from their particular musical disfigurement. With cover art by Genesis P'Orridge.
Sweet indie rock of the Elephant Six / Kindercore / post-Beatles / post-British Invasion variety. Mostly acoustic, with melodica, tambourine, boy and girl vocals. Unpretentious but also unexciting in any way. With members of the Essex Green.
Here's something else that would have been been perfect for last weeks' Christian-music-themed in-between list, a lost-in-time '80s Xian psychfolk gem now dug up and reissued on vinyl by the folks at Numero Group. Deep Night (nice title!) is deep all right, the inspired work of a musically-inclined priest from somewhere in Illinois and a few local musicians he recruited, conjuring a desolate burned out California vibe, like something hippie out of Laurel Canyon in the '70s - despite being from the Midwest a decade later. And don't worry, it comes across as more universally spiritual and mystical than outright preachy.
We like this for the 12-string guitarwork in particular, and of course the sincere, heartfelt, outsidery, trippy vibe. There's some kind of flange or phaser effect on the guitar that gives it a very psychedelic feel! As for the vocals, well, they could draw comparisons to Bob Dylan and Norman Greenbaum.
Apparently this was "recorded during a single pre-dawn marathon, and mixed live-to tape in an isolated chapel", and it sure sounds like it.
The very very much-anticipated second collection from Stephen Merritt's 6ths. In case you aren't familiar with this particular project of Mr. Merritt's, well here's the deal: all the songs are written by the man himself and sung by various notable chanteurs and chanteuses. The first album "Wasps' Nests" instantly became a favourite of mine with its beautiful songs beautifully sung by the likes of Georgia Hubley of Yo La Tengo, Lou Barlow, Mary Timony, and Mac McCaughan of Superchunk. Quite simply, it melted my heart. This time around Stephen Merritt has rounded up a less indie-pop crowd of voices. Among them are Odetta, Gary Numan (yay!), Melanie, Clare Grogan (remember Altered Images?), as well as the ultra-melodramatic Momus, Dominique A and Marc Almond. Not as immediately infectious as its predecessor, but a very lovely and intriguing collection nonetheless.
And you have to laugh upon learning that Merritt picked 6ths as the name cos it's the hardest word to say, as are the 6ths' album titles.
Songs composed and played by Magnetic Fields mastermind Stephen Merritt, but sung by a variety of wonderful artists including Lou Barlow (Sebadoh, Folk Implosion), Georgia Hurley (Yo La Tengo), Amelia Fletcher (Heavenly, Marine Research, Tender Trap), Chris Knox, Mac McCaughan (Superchunk, Portastatic), Dean Wareham (Luna), Mary Timony (Helium) and more. Can music possibly get more bittersweet and lovely?
Some sort of psychsploitation artifact, all Floyd covers!
It's been a little while since we heard from Sixtoo, and in the meantime he's somehow found his way on to Ninja Tune which considering his new direction isn't all that bad a match. Chewing On Glass is Sixtoo's attempt at making a real record, with composed and played music, using real players and real instruments. Sure it's all tweaked and chopped in the ol' computer, but this still definitely sounds sweetly organic. Gorgeously spaced out, laid back and slightly creepy downtempo hip hop flecked electronica ala Endtroducing. Warm and languid Rhodes piano, stuttering sleepy beatscapes, spy movie strings, big booming live drums, huge thumping basslines, occasionally late night and jazzy, but always dark and funky. Sounds a bit like a DJ Shadow record on Anticon. Tons of liner notes, all unfortunately very dry and technical and of very little interest to most of the headz who just want to throw this on and chill out. Guest vocals on one track from Can's Damo Suzuki, who whispers, and sort of speaks (apparently improvising in the studio) along with a fierce hiccupping, super-reverbed rhythm over a dark sultry backdrop of ambient fuzz and sinister buzz. So good.
Part of that whole advanced hiphop Anticon label collective, Halifax rapper Sixtoo (MC/producer for Sebutones and 1200 Hobos as well) presents his second (I think) solo disc, all written, recorded, produced and mixed by him. The lyrics are clever, the music
Bay area black metal masters Von were responsible for two of the most important USBM documents ever, the Satanic Blood and Blood Angel demos, considered by many to be the first US black metal record(s), and to this day, those records continue to inspire a legion of musical hordes, who strive to emulate that furious idiosyncratic raw that few can reproduce. What few people know, is that right after the release of those demos, the members of Von shifted their focus to another project, with a way different sound and vibe, called Sixx, which was anything but black metal, instead a dark, creepy, brooding, gothic deathrock, think Bauhaus, Christian Death, Specimen, all minor key spidery guitars, swirling dark ambience, pounding new wave drums, and of course, super dramatic crooned vocals.
It seems almost prescient, considering that this sound is enjoying a pretty serious resurgence these days: past Record Of The Weekers Soror Dolorosa, Hateful Abandon, Factums, Dial M For Murder, Cold Cave, Crystal Stilts, etc. But this demo, recorded in 1991, was as mentioned above, recorded hot on the heels of two of the most grim and raw, blasting black metal records ever! And while it may not directly inform the actual sound, it does speak to what a strange and special record the Sixx demo was and is. Chiming guitars and krauty rhythms, lots of reverb and delay, a dark brooding ambience, we hear lots of classic goth and darkwave and new wave, Kommunity FK, Human Drama, Tones On Tail, and the more we listen to it, the more the link between Sixx and Von crystallizes, both bands trafficked in simple stripped down songs, most with only one or two parts, vocals repetitive and mantric, in fact, in some ways, Sixx almost sounds like Von with all the distortion removed, right down to those classic Von goaty grunts. That said, just 'cause you like Von, doesn't necessarily mean you'll like Sixx, but if you dig that sound, and any of the above mentioned bands, then Sixx's Sister Devil might just be your lost reissue / rediscovered gem of the year.
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Hip hop remix. Rhythm = "Wait A Minute" (Ray J).
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Hip hop remix. Rhythm = "Who's That Girl" (Eve)
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Hip hop remix. Rhythm = "One Minute Man" (Missy Elliott).
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Hip hop remix. Rhythm = "Oh Yeah" (Foxy Brown) mixed with Maytals "54-46". B-side says "version" but has Elephant Man on it singing his theme song with "Spiderman" melody.
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Hip hop remix. Rhythm = "I'm A Thug" (Trick Daddy).
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Rhythm = "We Thuggin'" (Fat Joe).
Finally! The return of Eikenskaden, whose mastermind (and only member as far as we know) was also responsible for the baffling brilliance that was Mystic Forest. Long time readers of the aQ list will no doubt know how much we love Stefan Kozak, and both Mystic Forest and Eikenskaden, so much so that Andee even released Eikenskaden's amazing 665.999 on tUMULt.
And we're happy to report, that besides being just as cool and weird as we remember, along with a strange name change, Eikenskaden is now known as The Skaden, the sound has gotten even MORE bizarre and all overt the map, which is definitely a very good thing.
Right from the outset, the intro to the first track "Pain and sexual Overdose Delusion" (yes there's still a definite BDSM vibe, in the song titles, subject matter, even artwork) Kozak confounds by opening with what sounds like a black metal theme to a James Bond movie we'd kill to see, with it's frantic jangle clean guitar, moaning horns (sounds like horns at least), and super moody melody, but soon, the song kicks in full bore and we're in more familiar Eikenskaden style soaring epic melodic black metal territory. But things get WAY weirder pretty quickly, as the song shifts gears and transforms into a sort of string laden sea shanty, like some strange musical, dramatic and playful, but still growly and buzzy and sinister, a truly weird combo. The second track, is a brooding Katatonia like slab of dour doomic black metal, with lots of slow jangly guitars, spaced out stretches of dramatic post rock, complete with whispered female vox and soaring guitar melodies. And the record just continues to confound, the strange loping almost jig-like fiddle on "A Peaceful Moment", along with the haunting slow build Godspeed like string quartet gone black metal second half of the same song, the wild progged out frenzy of "Grand Final" with frantic speed picked distorted riffing, jangly clean guitar, and tangled flutes laid over growled black metal vox, like some sort of Burzum / Tull mashup, that eventually morphs into some super hypnotic blackened noise rock, the flute along for the whole ride, and finally, the final track, the title and lyrics all in Japanese, which at the outset appears to be the most truly black metal track on the record, but as you might expect, the track seesaws from black buzz, to lurching dramatic cabaret, to haunting shimmery string laden skitter, all the while a female recites the lyrics in Japanese way down in the mix, and those horns return, cloaking the track in a serious noir vibe, before it lurches back into some blasting blackness. Some serious what-the-fuck for sure, but we love it. Did we mention EVERY song begins with the sound of wind blowing? So good.
If you already dig Eikenskaden and Mystic Forest, this is obviously essential, otherwise, if you're looking for something black metal, but still super melodic and WAY WAY twisted, you probably couldn't hope for anything better, or weirder than this!
An impressive collaborative debut from two Italian turgid noise projects, Skag Arcade and Meanwhile In Texas. The A-side floats along a sea of corrosion and toxic blooms by way of discordant coronas of controlled feedback and amplifier form destruction. These layers of grit, dust, debris, hiss, and fuzz bleed together into a murky swirl of noise, whose tangles appear carcinogenic at first but devolve into desolate atmospherics tinged with dread. All of this wouldn't be out of place next to any of Matthew Bower's freeform projects of psychedelic noise (Sunroof!, Total, etc.) or even more drone-centric aspects of the NZ free-noise community (Dead C, RST, and especially Surface Of The Earth). The B-side bares its teeth with a ferocious amount of scalding noise that strafes the aggregated drones of coalesced fuzz and woozy yet radiant tone-floats. As with all of the Luce Sia cassettes, limited to 60 copies.
Anarchic is the long in the works second full length from Cascadian black metal duo Skagos, and unlike their debut Ast (which for some reason never got reviewed here) it's less about blown out black buzz onslaught and more about, well, it's hard to say. Metalheads will definitely be a bit confused by the opening few movements of the 35 minute, 4 part opener. The record begins with dense swirling swells of feedback, preparing the listener, one might presume, for a barrage of blasting drums and insectoid riffing. A gorgeous haze of feedback and spare drifting acoustic guitars, but instead of launching into it, what sounds like pulsing synths surface, and then the vocals, a lush, reverbed croon, and suddenly, we're in shoegaze dream pop territory, and not HEAVY shoegaze either, drifty, and wispy, and hushed, the vocals almost a whisper, the instrumentation barebones, and the harmonies, WOW, who would have thought these guys had it in 'em? At this point we were sort of hoping there would be NO metal, cuz what a total mindfuck, some Cascadian black metal that actually sounds like Low or Stars Of The Lid, it's really quite lovely, and we would have been perfectly happy had the whole first track unfurled similarly. But fear not, the song soon explodes into wild chaotic drumming, soaring swirling black buzz, the vibe appropriately epic and majestic, and the heaviness retaining much of the melodic wistfulness of the unlikely opening. Like many like minded bands, Skagos' sound is obviously informed by so much more than black metal. Post rock, math rock, indie rock, it all finds its way into the sound, sometimes subtly, sometimes not so much. And when those harmonies resurface during the blasting buzz, it's a gorgeous combination, we almost wish the harsh vokills weren't there to obscure what is essentially a swoonsome shoegaze black buzz that's crazy melodic and catchy, but even with the rasping howls, it's still pretty stunning stuff. Alcest and Amesoeurs are definitely apt comparisons, although Skagos are WAY heavier and noisier. And so it goes, the first 'track' moves through its movements, melding hazy dreamy driftiness to blurred furious riffing, devolving at one point into some super hooky post rocky riffing, before exploding into probably the most chaotically black passage on the record. There's so much going on here, the sound shifting constantly, the composition epic and seriously proggy, the music itself, tending to always drift back toward the more melodic, as if instead of this being a black metal record with weird shoegazey bits and pretty melodies, it's exactly the opposite, some twisted heavy dreampop shoegaze record with black metal bits. In fact in the whole last ten minutes of the first track there's no metal to be found at all. Loping drumming over acoustic guitars, swirling psychedelic drifts, backwards melodies and distant rumbling drones beneath crystalline melodies, and then when the vocals come back in, holy shit, it sounds like Kiss The Anus Of A Black Cat or Woven Hand or something, the vocals passionate and emotional, super dramatic, all over what sounds like accordions, everything underpinned by a hushed black ambient drift, a weird tangle of apocalyptic folk and psychedelic ambience that is pretty goddamn great. And more to have many metalheads scratching their chins.
The second track, and the three remaining movements, follow a similarly unlikely sonic path, starting out with a bit of hushed ambient shimmer, which is soon joined by muted pulsing drums, shot through with softly squiggly psychedelic theremin like melodies, it's a slow build to, yep, you guessed it, more sort of drifty, dreamy post rock jangle pop, a little bit slowcore, chiming melodies over a skeletal rhythm, the vocals a soft chantlike croon, again the vibe sort of darkly folk, and druggily dreamy, and then finally, at about the ten minute mark, the song dramatically splinters into a seriously dense blackened onslaught, a swirling chaotic frenzy, utterly at odds with what came before, but then sort of not, again the band deftly weaving the melody of the non metal part into the grim black buzz, at which point the band spends the most time they have yet on Anarchic in full on metal mode, but soon, they slow down to a slithery black doom crawl, buried double kick stutter under woozy riffic churn, and belched black rasps, before the metal peels away, leaving softly swirling steel string shimmer, shuffling jazzy rhythms, sing songy and melodic, the drums played with brushes, the group locked into a mesmerizing psych pop drift, that does get heavy, but barring the return of the rasp, is more like some sort of Godspeed / Explosions In The Sky sort of epic melodic coda, the soaring clean vox return, and it's pretty dramatic and intense, and not all that black metal sounding, the whole thing gradually settling into a slow shifting, hazy, washed out soporific slowcore dreamgaze fade out.
Such a fantastic surprise, and as you may have surmised by now, not so much for the true grim hordes, as folks into epic experimental, VERY melodic heaviness. Definite contender for year end top ten lists. Ours most certainly!
The return of our favorite anarcho vegan pagan black metal band, Kentucky's Panopticon, here teamed up with Canadian duo Skagos, who we'd never actually heard before, but had heard OF, and were dying to check out.
But first, three new tracks from Panopticon, a one man band from the South, whose crusty weirdo math abstruse black metal we went nuts for, a buzzing blasting pounding onslaught of Pagan fury, rife with samples and all manner of strange sonic filigree. The tracks here begin with a strange sampled folk song, simple percussion, lots of cheers and group vocals, very Teutonic, until the track explodes in a gnarled frenzy of furious blasting blackness, dense and brutal and weirdly melodic, an epic jam shifting from mathy churning stutter to frantic lightspeed buzz to loping post rock meander, and finally to shimmery shoegazey ambience. The second track begins a gauzy rhythmic dronescape, washed out and hypnotic, the drums sound programmed, stuttery and shuffly, while melodies unfurl and blur, the whole thing hazy and dreamlike, until the guitars come in, the track instantly transformed into some churning Neurosis like heaviness, breaking down at one point, to just super fuzzed out bass, drums, and weirdly tortured and effected vokills, before finishing off in a blaze of total blackened sonic chaos, which somehow manages to still sound melodic and melancholy.
And holy shit, the last track is a monster, right out of the gate, an impossibly insanely complex squall of looped buzzing riffage and frenzied drumming, so heavy and dense and intense, over the course of the track, shifting to hushed soft focus drone laced with tinkling chiming melodies, to spacious post rock drift, wreathed in echo-ey shoegaze guitars and maniacal shrieked vocals and anchored by still more incredible drumming, grinding to a halt, leaving a just a strange sample of deep chanted singing, and a mysterious German conversation, angelic choirs, and the sounds of birds and streams in the background.
As if that weren't enough, we've got two lengthy epics from Skagos, both seeming to fit in with the whole Cascadian black metal sound (Wolves In The Throneroom, Fauna, etc), the sound as post rocky as it is black metal, very melodic, and melancholy, blasting beats and harsh vokills laid atop swoonsome melodies, and some super surprising clean vocal pop parts, very distinctive, not typically black metal 'clean vocals' either, almost like Modest Mouse or Built To Spill, an indie pop croon over woozy minor key riffs and simple rhythms, eventually erupting back into some seriously fierce heaviness, but never losing that element of emotion and melody, the track getting mathy occasionally, with cool start / stop rhythms, twisted arrangements, and plenty of blissed out ambient haze, so much going on over the course of the 12+ minutes.
The second track is even longer, and just as varied, beginning with crystalline clean guitars, underpinned by haunting atonal strings, before erupting into some seriously filthy raw blasting black metal, that eventually dials it back, and reveals a strangely pretty melodic element lurking just below the surface, the vibe is a little Neurosisy too, heavy and epic and a little bit crusty, slipping into a cool churning chugscape, before a burst of loping doomic crunch, and then more delicate ambient prettiness, just gorgeous guitar suspended in a dreamlike haze, where the clean vocals return, this time sounding like Jeff Buckley, super emotional and intense so at odds with the rest of the track, which is why it's so cool. Makes us almost wish they would have that singing all the way through, instead of the harsh vox, how cool would that be?
Eventually, the track winds down with a final burst of pounding downtuned blackened howl, but it's those mysterious clean vocals, and the strange melodic elements that run throughout both tracks that definitely make Skagos something special.
Comes packaged in a super swank digipak, full color, printed with reflective UV ink...
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
One of the more poppy releases to come out on Type. Very breezy & flowing indie folk along the lines of Kings Of Convenience.
Skapel are two electronic musicans from Poland who do an incredible sample/cut/paste job with some obscure and anonymous (to us) '70 Eastern European jazz LPs being used for their sound sources. This duo is right on in their constructions built from mellow bass grooves, funky drum loops, glistening vibes, horn vamps, snatches of soulful female vox, etc., generating a head-nodding, smokey, noir-ish atmosphere of breakbeat jazz plunderphonica. Imagine an extremely jazz-oriented DJ Shadow and you'd be close... DJ Shadow meets '70s Miles Davis or Herbie Hancock maybe. Throw some of David Shire's the Taking Of Pelham 1-2-3 soundtrack in there too. As with Shadow, these tracks are built from other folks' records but stand on their own, the edits all flowing, the samples (including some record crackle to hint at their origin) integrated seamlessly, such that you might be fooled into thinking you were listening to the product of a real live band of musicans actually all playing together at the same time and place... though some electronic manipulation and looping will clue you otherwise. Still, there's no wip-wip-wap turntablism going on to get in the way of the music and mood. Really nice (though you've gotta like jazz of course). And it certainly makes us wish that the Skalpel guys would put together a compilation of Polish '70s fusion so we could check out the originals too!
The cd version of this comes with a bonus remix disc entitled 1958 Breaks, featuring remixes by Skalpel and others (Quantic, Dr. Rubberfunk, Backini, Paradowski, etc.) of stuff from Skalpel's first album. It has its moments but I won't be listening to it as much as the main disc 'cause the more techno/hiphop/whatever mixes tend to detract from the "I can't believe it's not real live jazz" authenticity that Konfusion does so well.
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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Another gorgeous discovery courtesy of Japanese reissue label EM, this one from Algerian composer / pianist Mustapha Skandrani, who recorded this record in 1965 in Paris, and raised quite a few eyebrows (and invoked much scorn and derision) by choosing to record a handful of traditional Algerian vocal pieces (istikhbars) transcribed for piano, the most European of instruments (hence the derision). But purists of the time be damned, the results are stunning, these solo piano pieces are so lovely, haunting and stately, melodic and lyrical, with Skandrani presenting two versions of each piece, first the modal istikhbar, and then a subtly more fluid and loosely expressive improviastion based on that istikhbar, directly following it, a pattern that continues for the duration of the record, which definitely displays the two seemingly disparate influences, European and Andalusian, interacting and complimenting each other, these variations and interpretations not at all divisive, as the naysayers would have had listeners believe, but instead a bridging of musics and cultures, the liner notes mention this sounding a bit like Glenn Gould, Skandrani's Istikhbars & Improvisations like a modal Goldberg Variations, although we also hear a lot of G.I. Gurdjieff, an Eastern tinged moodiness and sinuous fludity that also brings to mind Ethiopian pianist Tsegue-Maryam Guebro.
So beautiful, and so recommended.
Like all EM releases, gorgeous packaging, with extensive liners notes in both Japanese and English
Another gorgeous discovery courtesy of Japanese reissue label EM, this one from Algerian composer / pianist Mustapha Skandrani, who recorded this record in 1965 in Paris, and raised quite a few eyebrows (in fact, nvoked much scorn and derision) by choosing to perform a handful of traditional Algerian vocal pieces (istikhbars) transcribed for piano, the most European of instruments (hence the derision). But purists of the time be damned, the results are stunning, these solo piano pieces are so lovely, haunting and stately, melodic and lyrical, with Skandrani presenting two versions of each piece, first the modal istikhbar, and then a subtly more fluid and loosely expressive improvisation based on that istikhbar, directly following it, a pattern that continues for the duration of the record, which definitely displays the two seemingly disparate influences, European and Andalusian, interacting and complimenting each other, these variations and interpretations not at all divisive, as the naysayers would have had listeners believe, but instead a bridging of musics and cultures, the liner notes mention this sounding a bit like Glenn Gould, Skandrani's Istikhbars & Improvisations like a modal Goldberg Variations, although we also hear echoes of G.I. Gurdjieff, an Eastern tinged moodiness and sinuous fluidity that also brings to mind Ethiopian pianist Tsegue-Maryam Guebro of Ethiopiques Vol. 21 fame.
So beautiful, and so recommended.
Like all EM releases, gorgeous packaging, with extensive liners notes in both Japanese and English.
Excellent collection of dub from some of the best. Recorded in 1975, at the zenith of dub engineering technology by the master of the knobs and faders (and acknowledged inventor of dub) King Tubby. But no dub record would be anything without an excellent set of musicians to boot, and in this incarnation of the Skatalites you have a giant heaping tablespoon of them, including (but not limited to): Roland Alphonso, Tommy McCook, Ernest Ranglin, Ras Michael, Augustus Pablo and Jackie Mittoo. Lots of long, no hurry jams, with gobs of spring reverb, a smattering of tape echo, and pounding Nyabhinghi rhythms. So stoney that it's almost guaranteed to make you forget what you were doing if you listen to this disk long enough.
All you folks who have been in a Sunroof! / Avarus / Kemialliset Ystevat / Jewelled Antler tizzy lately and can't get enough free-noise-drone-folk-psych weirdness, would do well to check out the Skaters, a lesser know outfit from right here in SF. These cats kick up a serious skree, huge swirling clouds of overblow guitars, washes of crumbly distortion, chaotic drumming, all over a bed of caveman percussion and plink plonk ambience. Closest comparison might be Avarus with Keiji Haino on supersonic black hole lead guitar. Or a Dead C / Sunroof! jam session gone mental. SUPER LIMITED. In fact this was tour only, the tour is over and we have the only remaining copies. Released on the Finnish Humbug label.
Okay, we don't really have a VCR here so no one has been able to actually watch this video, but judging from how freaky people have gotten about local free noise outfit the Skaters recently, we figured we oughta list it anyway, especially since we only managed to get 8 copies. As far as we know these are the last copies and then it's gone for good. Made for their recent tour, Diminishing Shrine Recycles is the perfect lo-fi visual analogue to the Skater's dense sonic skree. First come first serve. These will probably be gone in a heartbeat...
Yet another gorgeous chunk of musical murk from these Berlin based noisemakers. Not sure what they do or how they do it, but they manage to make tape hiss sound divine, and warbly defective recording equipment sound like it was meant to be busted.
This latest 12" is more of what we've come to love about these guys. A grimy, gritty dream world of dripping low end and thick sludgy ambience.
One side is completely vocal based it sounds like, with lots of moaning and coo-ing and mumbling and chanting and wailing and groaning and howling, all drenched in tape hiss and amp buzz and reverb and delay and whatever other effects seemed to be within reach, all of these disparate vocals get all tangled up into a weird swirl of sound that almost sounds like a bunch of dusty old 78s being played at once.
The flip side is more standard Skaters fare, weird muted rhythms, mumbled vocals, guitar hum, synth buzz, snake charmer melodies, all sorts of rumble and warble and shimmer smeared into goopy soundscapes that crawl and ooooooooze.
Packaged in a super glossy full color collage sleeve with hand screened liner notes on the inside.
Latest chunk of murky throb from the Skaters, a gorgeous expanse of alien ragas and primitive tribalism, all wrapped in that distinctly lo-fi Skaters swirl of sound. The band recently relocated to Berlin, thus these tapes, already sort of expensive, had to be shipped from Germany and ended up being even more expensive, but we only got a handful, and will not be able to get more, and to be honest, as expensive as it is, it might be the best thing we've heard from these guys.�
Strangely propulsive, Dripping Avenues is�some sort of�muted krautrocky jam, with simple tribal rhythms,�chanted throat singing-like vocals, and strange streaks of high end sound smeared into the backdrop of constantly shifting shimmers. Eventually a haunting Eastern tinged raga surface from within the murk, and adds a strange drone quality to the proceedings. But it's the production that really makes the Skaters' sound so unique. It's like listening to everything underwater. Warbly and thick and syrupy, as if the air was some sort of liquid, and the sound waves were struggling to make it through. Tape speed variation, hiss and whir, all whipped into a mantra like blur. Imagine the No Neck Blues Band playing on the bottom of the sea, while you float on the surface, your ears just slightly submerged, the strange ramshackle grooves slowly drifting upwards, completely warped and warbled by the time they reach your ears.�
The overall vibe is some sort of alien ur-drone raga ritual, a murky mesmer, endlessly repeating, slowly and subtly shifting, a divine dreamlike drift dipped in Skaters grit and grime and allowed to ooze into the tape recorder and out of your speakers...
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.
