Robyn Hitchcock's remarkable body of work (both as a solo artist and with his band the Soft Boys) spans over a quarter of a century and is truly something to be cherished. Wry, witty, intelligent, eccentric, and definitely one of a kind. Now, he pays tribute to a fellow songwriting great - the one he credits as being his original musical inspiration. Robyn Sings is comprised of two cds full of Mr. Hitchcock performing the songs of Bob Dylan live in concert. In these sixteen renditions, he keeps relatively faithful to the originals but not without bringing his own unmistakable vocal inflections and personality to each. The first disc called "Stripes" (after Hitchcock's own trademark shirts) is mostly acoustic, just him singing and playing his guitar. It's graced with two versions of "Visions Of Johanna" - the one song that spurred him to become a musician - as well as "Desolation Row", "Not Dark Yet" and "Dignity". On the second entitled "Dots" (after Dylan's trademark shirts), he takes a fuller, more rocked-up approach presenting the songs in the running order of Dylan's Royal Albert Hall performance. It includes "Ballad Of A Thin Man", "Tell Me Mama" and yes... "Like A Rolling Stone". This entire collection is steeped with Hitchcock's immense respect and love for Dylan's work, very much like that which his own recordings have stirred from artists and fans alike.
Robyn Hitchcock rules, doesn't he? Yes, he does. Never disappoints, never falters, just goes about his unerringly fine songsmithery with little or no regard for current trends. His wry, witty brain-twisting stories/lyrics, creative guitar lines, catchy choruses and singing voice are all unmistakable. And while his pop supremacy hasn't gone unnoticed -- he's definitely influenced legions of young artists over the years -- it sure deserves a whole lot more. Listening to Ole! Tarantula reminded us not only of how much we dig his music but also of how many more recent artists sound like him (The Decemberists and Jets To Brazil to name just a couple). These days there's precious few artists of this high caliber and staying power. Actually the only ones who immediately come to mind are The Minus Five's Scott McCaughey and the Go-Betweens (Grant McLennan RIP). The former is one of the musical luminaries that make up Hitchcock's backing band The Venus 3. The rest of the trio are Peter Buck and Bill Rieflin. Additional guests include The Soft Boys' Kimberley Rew, Morris Windsor (also of The Soft Boys and The Egyptians), Presidents Of The United States Of America's Chris Ballew, Harvey Danger's Sean Nelson and Ian McLagan of Faces. Stellar!
The underheralded 1982 album from the most prolific of the post Radio Birdman groups. Includes rare singles, demos and live tracks from the period. A high-energy Sydney rock and roll classic!
"Barely Legal," the debut album from Swedish garage rockers The Hives, gets its domestic release on none other than Gearhead Records, whose catalog includes numerous full-throttle punk rock bands including The Pattern and Red Planet. This cd was
While The Hives definitely continue to fly the anthemic party rock flag on their latest album, it also seems like they took a silly pill while in the recording studio. The Black And White Album boasts one of the dorkiest songs we've heard in a long time! For one thing, it's self-congratulatory (the chorus features the line "We rule the world!"), it's got spelling ("H-I-V-E-S"), the vocals are delivered in an ultra nerd nasalness, plus the backing tracks are some uncharacteristic cheez-tronic synths and programmed rhythms. The latter three elements reappear on the second most dorky song "Giddy Up!" Weird and strangely endearing. Nonetheless, while the goofy songs are worth a couple of listens at most before they start to grate, the band's more familiar bombastic, blistering guitar pop rocks are still very much intact and gleefully make up the rest of the album. What's "Paaaarty!" in Swedish? "The Hives!"
How can you not love the Hives?! They're Swedish to begin with. And they look great, matching suits and all that. Plus the bandmembers have names like Chris Dangerous, Nicholaus Arson, Vigilante Carlstroem, Dr. Matt Destruction. And Dr. Matt Destruction just happens to be the most rocking guy to ever sport a serious paunch, a big ol' moustache and a combover. And besides all that, they totally rock. And they write great songs. Obviously if you like the White Stripes and other sort-of-garage MTV bands (Von Bondies, the Kills, etc.) you'll love or already love the Hives. But don't let the hype put you off. All you Stooges / sixties / obscure psych reissue obsessives might find you actually dig something from 2004!
Sweden's The Hives finally fire up a second full length after a three year wait. And quite an awesome, rockin' one it is! Since their debut, they've clearly honed their rock style, stance and power. This album was released in 2000 in Europe on the Burning
The Hoahio girls are back with their second release for John Zorn's Tzadik label's New Japan series. As before, this trio concoct exciting, experimental pop music that's at once both very strange and very charming. However, Sachiko M's sine-wave sampler is no longer present in the group, which now consists of avant-vocalist Haco, koto virtuoso Yagi Michiyo, and new member Era Mari on multifarious percussion: marimba, vibes, xylophone, etc. Yet even without Sachiko, a big electronic element remains, as Haco toys with various synths, effects, and thermin (along with playing electric mandolin on several songs). Sundry other samples and sound sources -- a speed-skating broadcast in one song, crickets in another -- mix with Haco's lovely, supple voice. Some tracks are delicate, atmospheric and folky, while others utterly rock out with quirky, spunky abandon. Bravo Hoahio!
Been trying to review this for a while, but everyone kept selling out, the debut full length from these hardcore punks, their sound a furious, grinding frenzy of wild drumming, distorto rigging, and some seriously SICK vokills (and yeah, usually vokills are metal, but this guy could be doing time in a black/death metal band if he wanted), which make this sound seriously fucked up and frantic, the production massive, the guitars monstrous, and those vox, vitriolic and borderline disturbing. There's an intro here (penned by Phamakon!), which is all buzzing rumbles, and weird grinding industrial sounds, coughing and vocal grunts, all swirling and murky and extremely ominous, but once the record proper kicks in, it's a nonstop face melting crush. The sound's a bit sludge-y and crusty too, especially when they slow down into churning, lumbering tarpit dirgery, but i's never long before they explode into another frenzy of blasting pounding ferocity. And did we mention leads? Yep, the occasional burst of shredding lead guitars, angular and atonal, which are generally quickly swallowed up by another onslaught of hardcore pummel.
There are some weirdly melodic moments scattered throughout the record, and lots of surprisingly lush textures, some almost Godspeed-y slow builds, but those elements are less 'weird' and 'experimental', than just another facet of their sound, seamlessly woven into what is essentially some seriously crushing, classic metallic hardcore, that KILLS. Punk rock record of the year hands down. Even though it's from last year. But odds are you're not gonna hear a record this brutal and heavy and punk as fuck this year anyway, so there.
One of the most elaborately packaged punk rock records in recent memory too. A fold over full color jacket, with a super striking, dude-hanging-from-his-foot-from-a-tree cover image, and inside, SIX, that's right six, HUGE two sided posters!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
The wise folks at Revolver distro and/or Road Cone summed this one up pretty well: "The debut album from these Nor'west out-edge dream sailors. A delightful calm of Near East folk melodies, crafty electronic daze, Krautrock-inflected sound collages, musique concrete and percussive drones. Features such nifty sound machines as Theremin, harmonium and cumbus (Turkish banjo-mandolin) as well as staples like guitar, bass and percussion. Nine uniquely beautiful songs featuring some former members of [old AQ-faves] the Irving Claw Trio." We won't argue. Recommended.
Second album from this Pacific NW combo, folks who've seen the same lights in the sky witnessed by the likes of Six Organs of Admittance, the Sun City Girls, and the Davis Redford Trio (whose Mr. Lobdell engineered this disc). Their debut, "I Love You", was all about exotic/ethnic instrumentation, folky drone, and druggy low-key musique concrete. With this oddly-titled follow-up, it seems that they've moved out of the confines of their bedroom studio into the practice space to kick out the jams a little bit more, for a groove-laden, rock-of-the-kraut-persuasion experience. Still very exotic sounding, just more head-nodding at spots. Psychedelic pick of the week.
RennFaire gone Rock In Opposition? Italian prog meets medieval madrigals?? We're still puzzling about how to describe this wonderful, wonderful disc, a remastered cd reissue of a rare LP (long awaited by some, totally new to us but very welcome -- thanks Robot!) which was recorded by composer Kay Hoffman in Florence, Italy in 1977, though not released until 1985, on vinyl in Japan only! On Floret Silva, Hoffman and her collaborators, including members of the very excellent and arty Italian prog band Pierrot Lunaire, took a trove of medieval Latin poetry known as the Carmina Burana -- poems written by anonymous authors around 1200AD that are both religious in nature as well as very earthy and real, about such subjects as love and money -- and set them to music. The settings are diverse (as befits the variety of these texts), and the results are often eerie and pretty and even a little bit groovy, with quirky chamber ensemble/prog rock backing and even the use of field recordings. Utterly magical for the most part, most especially due to the delicate vocals of Jacquline Darby. One song reminds us strongly of Stereolab, others call to mind (rather more obscurely) that Flamen Dialis album we've raved about before. This should appeal to experimental psych-folk fans for sure, even if this unique treasure is really something outside almost any genre designation you'd care to come up with!
NOW ON VINYL!
The Hold Steady follow up their widely embraced third album Boys And Girls Of America with a mountain of more burly college radio ready rock that harkens back to the glory days of Husker Du, The Clash and The Replacements. Y'know what we're talkin' about - crunchin' electric guitars strummed by mannish fists, vocals sung through husky workin' man beards, and gang-style backing vocals probably contributed by everyone who was in the building at the time. However, The Hold Steady show their softer side getting a little more fancy pants with the addition of horns and harpsichord among other pleasantries. In fact, we'd might even liken them to the bleak weathered Scottish romantics The Arab Strap. All of these are of course good things in our books!
If you read any rock magazines, Rolling Stone, Spin, whatever, or watch MTV or whatever channel they have now that shows videos, you've probably heard of the Hold Steady by now. This is their second or third record already, but they're only now being touted as the next big thing. But with a weird angle. they've been really pushing the 'bar band' or 'club band' angle. As if every young band didn't spend all their time rocking little clubs all over. But in this case it seems to be more that they 'sound' like a classic American rock band, heartland, beers, and after work parties, old pickups and Pabst Blue Ribbon. That sort of thing. We weren't really sure what to expect, it is on Vagrant after all, so maybe we were feeling a little Get Up Kids or something, but holy shit! This really is modern American roots rock bar rock bandanna rock and roll. Lots of piano and organ, simple drumming, big crashing guitars, and a vocalist who has a weird lazy drawl, and who sort of slurs more than sings. And while that combo is totally infectious, and the songs are hooky as all get out, we don't hear the Replacements and Soul Asylum (Dave Pirner guests on a few tracks!) and other classic Midwest rockers that often get mentioned. Nope. We hear lots of Springsteen, and as hard as it may be to believe, a whole lot of Eddie And The Cruisers!!! Sounds funny but it's true, and in no way is that a bad thing. Bad ass working class rock and roll, every song a tale of workdays and weekends, cars and chicks, life and love, but given a modern day, Vagrant Records, big guitar emorock spit shine, but without losing the rootsy goodness and working man shit kicking get drunk and rock hard vibe. Definitely makes us want to head down to the local watering hole, sidle up to the bar, and spend the night getting sweaty to loud wild rock and roll, and hopefully not going home alone...
The Hold Steady follow up their widely embraced third album Boys And Girls Of America with a mountain of more burly college radio ready rock that harkens back to the glory days of Husker Du, The Clash and The Replacements. Y'know what we're talkin' about - crunchin' electric guitars strummed by mannish fists, vocals sung through husky workin' man beards, and gang-style backing vocals probably contributed by everyone who was in the building at the time. However, The Hold Steady show their softer side getting a little more fancy pants with the addition of horns and harpsichord among other pleasantries. In fact, we'd might even liken them to the bleak weathered Scottish romantics The Arab Strap. All of these are of course good things in our books!
Recently we reviewed -- and have been selling hella copies of -- the debut album by Om, the band formed by two-thirds of local revered stoner rockers Sleep. Om are just two guys, just bass and drums, dealing out the pot-fueled heaviness. Well coincidentally (?) we also just got these, the absurdly-long-awaited reissue of the truly legendary Population II album by guitarist Randy Holden, recorded in 1969 shortly after his brief but fruitful stint in San Francisco's Blue Cheer, playing only on the killer side two of that band's third album, New, Improved!
The connection? Well, as you might guess from the album's title, Population II is also a two-piece effort, just Randy on guitar (bass also on the album) and Chris Lockheed on drums (and bass pedals live). Beyond some sort of spiritual bond of two-piece heaviness, though, there's of course one major, obvious difference: Om's got NO guitar, whereas Holden's album is ALL ABOUT guitar. Heck the first track is simply called "Guitar Song". And he's a self-proclaimed 'guitar god' for a reason. On "Guitar Song" the lyrics are basically all about how he's in love with electric guitar playing, and loud. And as much as we enjoyed the Om album, Population II definitely reminds us that WE love guitar too!
Randy, with his trusty guitar and an ominous array of amp-stacks, conjures up some of the heaviest rock n' roll sounds heard on Earth up to that point in time for sure. Blue Cheer of course are a close comparison ("Fruit & Iceburgs" from side two of New, Improved! is reprised here) as well as Hendrix and Iron Butterfly...and soon enough Black Sabbath would up the ante further. But in the history of heavy, this album deserves some major recognition.
It's super trippy, doomily plodding, Randy's reedy vibrato voice calling out over the wail of his guitar. This rocks in the sludgiest sorta way for the day. And speaking of loud, you want Sunn amps? Randy's got Sunn amps! Check out the live shot on the back cover, these two assuredly blowing the roof off some San Francisco ballroom.
Not just a reissue, but actually the record's first OFFICAL, Randy Holden-approved release. And they're hand numbered and autographed by the man himself in gold marker just to make it really, really offical. Limited to 2000, pressed on 180 gram wax, this is a holy grail (or facsimile edition of a holy grail anyway) for all of you for whom "heavy" is akin to religion.
Oh Courtney.....
From Unrest to The Rondelles to Plus/Minus, Mark Robinson's TeenBeat label has long been a reliable source for indie pop treats, and here's another one! Holland is just one fella Mr. Trevor Kampmann, but this veteran TeenBeat producer and engineer sure does work up a delightful racket all by himself! His short'n'sweet driving pop tunes run the gamut from propulsive rock numbers to blanket-y organ dreamies. Fans of Quasi and Pinback, lend Holland your ear. We're quite certain you won't be disappointed!
Hush now... You'll greatly regret it if you miss the gentle folk stylings of Ms Jolie Holland. Her debut album is a down home treasure. Each song is ever so earthy with rough-hewn acoustic guitar, fiddle, bells and percussion providing the spartan backdrop for her distinct, softly lilting voice. Her music truly seems from another time sounding as if it were whispering out of a rickety victrola -- haunting memories of lonesome porchswings at dusk and dirt roads leading off into the dark. At once, it's both achingly intimate and immediate. The dozen songs are peppered with waltzes and borrowed Syd Barrett lyrics (in her song "The Littlest Birds" taken from "Jug Band Blues"). Lovely!
Ms Jolie Holland has never been a shy wallflower, but we've never heard her sound as gutsy and world-weary womanly as on this, her fourth full length! Whereas her first two albums (Catalpa and Escondida) were hushed timeless jewels set in wistful earthy rural landscapes and perhaps intended to be listened to in small intimate gatherings, her last album Springtime Can Kill You brought more of the city folk and country rock into the fold, and The Living & The Dead continues forth. Stellar guests include M. Ward and Marc Ribot! Her sparkling performance here might be likened to a coming together of Cat Power, Lucinda Williams and Lisa Germano. Fans of those fine artists, definitely check this out! As well, on songs like "The Future" she almost sounds like a female Conor Oberst... not a bad thing in our books! Highlights: "Palmyra" and "Fox In The Hole" and the giddy album closer "Enjoy Yourself".
Who'd have thought we'd be so taken with an album that opens with a song about "Six Space Shuttles and 144,000 Elephants"? For that matter, who the heck would MAKE an album with a song called "Six Space Shuttles and 144,000 Elephants"?? Well, a 63 year old 'outsider' artist, Alabama's one of a kind Lonnie Holley, would, and did. This is it, and it's pretty special.
We highlighted Holley's Dust-To-Digital debut last year, Just Before Music, which was not only Holley's first released recording but also Dust-To-Digital's first 'contemporary' release (as opposed to all their well-researched vintage reissues), and this is the equally fantastic follow-up.
Apparently Just Before Music garnered him some fans, as two of the seven tracks here, including the lengthy & hypnotic 13+ minute "Other Side Of The Pulpit", find him collaborating on the music with Bradford Cox (Deerhunter, Atlas Sound) and Cole Alexander (The Black Lips). At first, we were like, oh no, he doesn't need hipster indie rockers messing with his sound - but actually the music on those songs fits in perfectly with all the other tracks that he did all by himself, so no harm done, and probably a great experience for those guys.
Holley's music, if you've heard the debut, you know is sparse and minimalist, with some thumb piano, some synth wash and warble (making us think of Tennessee's improv hillbillies the Shaking Ray Levis at times), and a bit of simple drum machine and other percussion. Reminds us a bit of some of the tracks on that Personal Space comp of electronic '70s soul. Often hypnotic and lovely, and an important part of Holley's unique sound, the electronics and instrumentation still take a back seat to his singing, the main event here, which we'd have to compare to an "outsider" Louis Armstrong when Holley belts it out, with lots of rough garrrrrrgle in his voice. His more gentle, mumbling moments are more akin to Arthur Russell, as we mentioned in our review of Just Before Music ("Holley's vocals, which come across as a shamanistic Arthur Russell as he sings a primitive-futuristic brew of blues mantras that twist into strange abstracted vocalization").
That's for sure true, and those vocalizations - sometimes multitracked, as on the very much mantric "Sun & Water" - when not utterly abstract, convey some wonderful lyrics, poetic and sometimes quite strange. That "Six Space Shuttles" song, one of the hardest to grok here, has something to do with the Queen's birthday (Queen Elizabeth II?) and how Holley wants to celebrate it by sending "expandable, transformable, solar adaptable" space shuttles the size of "the Hindenburg and the Titanic both put together" off into the universe, and when they come back "they can heal the air and fix the water", and wouldn't that be nice? Not sure if we quite get what he's sayin', but we're digging it a lot anyway. Other songs, however, are much more straightforward, like the aforementioned "Sun & Water", its title the main portion of its lyrics.
What all his lyrics have in common is that Holley is "testifying", as he describes it in his brief liner notes. All his life, he says, he's been testifying, in both is visual art and now his music, testifying about his life, a life that almost ended before it really began, when he was dragged under a car as a small child and left in a coma for three months. His life and thoughts since, both happy and sad, is what he's Keeping A Record Of, in his art and music - that's where the title of this cd comes from. And we're so glad Holley has chosen to share his testimony with us, especially since so much of it is such a "joyful noise", as one short piece here, a conversation with members of his church, makes reference to.
Perfect paisley pop from these British Invaders, whose gorgeous harmony vocals and expert songsmithery garnered 'em many a hit from the mid sixties through the early seventies, including "Bus Stop", "Carrie-Anne", "King Midas In Reverse", and ten others
Along with Laughing Stock, the final Talk Talk album from 1991, Ba Da Bing has also reissued on vinyl this breathless 1998 solo album from Talk Talk frontman, Mark Hollis. While most folks thought that Laughing Stock was perhaps the ultimate understatement from a band that went from bright Euro-pop sensations to clandestine and worried experimental minimalists, Mark Hollis' solo album (and perhaps final statement?) has taken that tendency even further. Severely recorded at hushed volumes, the songs were born out of months of improvisation with jazz and chamber orchestra musicians and then excruciatingly labored over and crafted into discreet compositions. Every lyric coming from Hollis's milky voice feels almost too painful to rise above a murmur, but exudes a powerful complexity that is not freely offered. This is a very tender and moving record that begs for close listening. Like Laughing Stock, it continues to amaze upon repeated listens to those who have the disposition to absorb its bracing spareness. It's not a light album by any means, but its emotional weight is secretive and uncompromising, begging us to focus on the subtle beauty of the rich muted atmospherics that barely cover deeper wounds. A rainy day record if there ever was one!
We have to say, anything that we could mistake for Pink Floyd one moment, and Freedom Hawk the next, is pretty darn cool. And thus, this is! The vinyl-only debut release from a local San Francisco groop whose hypnotic, propulsive neo-kraut rhythms are wedded with muscular rock riffery in a kind of stoner rock meets retro prog blend that should appeal big time to folks into the likes of Wooden Shjips, Moon Duo, White Hills, Lumerians, 3 Leafs, and Circle.
The guitars sprawl psychedelically, the drums (played by the former drummer of trance-inducing Bay Area black metal legends Weakling, also ex-Saros) lock into endless grooves, and upon occasion cleanly-sung melodic vocals soar up and over those mesmeric beats and churning, chiming guitars... There's also heck of analog synths put to traditional good use here, especially on the album's big finale, the nearly quarter hour "Fading Twilight", an epic track, both gorgeous and powerful, that you could play alongside your favorite, most spaced-out, pot-perfumed '70s album sides for sure. Hollow Mirrors really display their authentic love for real old school prog (a la Atomic Rooster, Eloy, Far East Family Band, ELP, Steve Hillage, and anything Roger Dean ever painted an album cover for, probably) on that one! And elsewhere too, although overall Hollow Mirrors are a modern, original band, not a retro exercise to the extent of say, an outfit like Astra or BigElf (cool as they are).
If we had to make any (hopefully constructive) criticism at all about these killer spacegothkrautstonerjams from Hollow Mirrors, well, maybe we'd like to hear a bit more dirt and grit in the production next time, it's almost a bit too clean, and could possibly be heavier too, considering the metallic pedigree of some of the folks involved (like the aforementioned drummer!). But that's not really a criticism, just an observation. They can do their thing their way and we're happy to hear it. 'Tis fine stuff we think a lot of you will like. A lot.
'90s style downer rock pop.
Bombastic UK glam rock disguised as electronica funk with guest appearances from Jon Spencer, Bobby Gillespie, and Martina Toppley-Bird (whose duets with Tricky were featured on all his early records). Not as bad as UNKLE's "Psyence Fiction," but a similar idea of throwing every coked-up idea at a sampler (the result of glorifiying DJs as artists and then forcing them to make records--what else are they going to do but get a zillion guest to come in and actually make the music?).
Two things I could never quite get into: funk/soul compilations, and David Holmes. As far as the compilations, they always seemed either too familiar, or too "Whoo, let's dance and get funky". Ugh. Especially when there's so much seriously intense and dark funk and soul floating around. And as for Holmes, he always seemed on the right track, his 'film' music always just barely missed the mark, falling too much in the 'chill-out music for the Kruder and Dorfmeister set' when you could somehow tell he was capable of so much more. So imagine my surprise when one record proves me wrong on both counts. Holmes has picked out some ridiculously obscure soul gems, but more importantly, these tunes are amazing: dark and sultry and so catchy. Once in a while, he masterfully mixes beats and atmospheres into some of the soul jams turning them into modern, bumping, top-down, cruising classics. The interludes here are performed by Homes in his 'classic soul' guise as The Free Association. Occasionally these interludes kind of break the flow, with 'LSD' clips and stuttery samples and that sort of thing, but even more often, he manages to emulate the tunes found elsewhere, coming up with some dirty grimy neo-soul. Plus, this features what has to be the most amazing and intense flute tune ever, taking Roland Kirk's speaking/screaming/hyperventilating flute solos about as far out as you can. Been listening to this non stop!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
First we've heard from these Swedish punks, and we were a bit mislead at first, having played the record at 33 in stead of 45, which transforms the opening intro, all pulsing synths and slithery basslines into something that sounded more like Goblin mixed with Joy Division, but when we discovered our error, and cranked it up to 45, out of the speakers poured some fantastic new wave post punk, ramshackle and distorted, the drums dirty and lo-fi, the vocals sounding like classic eighties new wave vox, but throughout, thick fuzzy bass, tribal drumming, crunchy guitars, the songs laced with plenty of cool dubbed out effects and some wild fuzzy guitar leads, the sound actually reminded us quite a bit of classic seventies punk, but with the addition of the synths and the effects it ends up having a way more new wave / post punk vibe. Definitely psyched to hear more!
Record number two from these gloom punk Swedes, and like their self titled debut, which we described as sounding a bit like Interpol via Iceage via the Undertones, Forever is another batch of crazy catchy pop jams in goth rock clothing. Right from the get go, Forever manages to be somehow even poppier than the debut. Opener "A Sacred State" is all dramatically crooned vox, pounding distorted drumming, fuzzed out guitars, and when the chorus hits, holy shit, chiming eighties style guitar shimmer, and a hook any band would kill for. It's the kind of jam that would/could/should have found its way into some arthouse version of a John Hughes coming of age pic. Total teenage moody pathos and mix tape melancholia. And it never really lets up, every song here is super epic, ultra catchy and totally rocking. the production this time around even better than on the first record, managing to be noisy and reverby and psychedelically echoey, but still lush and layered, letting the hooks shine through, and as mentioned before, there are hooks galore, even the noisiest jams here deliver the sort of choruses that sound simultaneously casually tossed off and meticulously crafted. Synths swirl over barrages of tribal drumming, guitars crunch and shimmer, and the vocals, way up in the mix, but right where they should be, dramatic and powerful, a gorgeous gothy croon, that we can only imagine has fans all a swoon. All of that wound up into some of the best songs we've heard in ages, and a record that gets spun in the store all the time, and one that has us constantly dashing up to the front of the store to see what's playing, convinced we know what it is, that it's some old favorite, only to be (pleasantly) surprised to find out it's the new Holograms!
We were pretty into the debut 7" from Swedish post punks the Holograms, but sadly, we were never able to get enough to list, but the A side from that single is included here on their debut full length, and displays exactly what we dig about these guys, the sound raw and urgent and stripped down, pulsing synths and jagged angular guitars, over powerful drums and a throaty yowl, all driven by thick sinewy basslines, and all woven into a crazy catchy chunk of punky pop that leans way more toward the pop than the punk. But as much as we love(d) that track, there are plenty of other gems here vying for that top spot, just check out opener "Monolith", with its creepy slow build intro, all plucked bass and staticky buzz, which transforms into a doomy dirgey creepy, the vocals WAY up in the mix, an echo drenched croon that sounds a lot like Robert Smith of the Cure, but a bit more punkish and feral, and then finally the track explodes into a driving punkish blowout that sounds a bit like Interpol via Iceage via the Undertones, gloomy and gothy, but driving and punky, the drums surprisingly high in the mix, giving the Holograms some serious heft, and the occasional bit of synth giving it a new wave vibe as well. "Chasing My Mind" is CRAZY catchy and poppy, a 'single' if there ever was one, but then keep digging and there's the herky jerky agit-pop of "Apostate" or the driving bass heavy jangle pop of "Stress", or the stripped down dirgey groove of "Fever", we could go on, but pretty much all the tracks here kill, a seriously sweet collection of hooky poppy post-punk that is gloomy enough for the punks, but jangly enough for the pop kids, and pretty much perfect for everyone else in between.
Straightforward, brittle country folk from Gainesville, FL warmed and embellished by some slinking slide guitar, cello, trumpet, piano, some sweet backing vocals, and mainman John Orth's earnest lead vocals. Quite reminiscent of Uncle Tupelo.
Straightforward, brittle country folk from Gainesville, FL warmed and embellished by some slinking slide guitar, cello, trumpet, piano, some sweet backing vocals, and mainman John Orth's earnest lead vocals. Quite reminiscent of Uncle Tupelo. You might've also heard him on the recent album Sharpen Your Teeth from indie super group Ugly Casanova along with members of Black Heart Procession, Modest Mouse, Califone and Red Red Meat. Actually RRM's Brian Deck and MM's Isaac Brock both make a number of appearances on this debut album -- and a solid one it is!
Julia Holter's dynamically percussive voice is simply hypnotic, lifting and lilting to the point of almost completely becoming one with the orchestral string arrangements which populate Have You In My Wilderness.
Between Ducktails, Beirut, Joanna Newsom, and this delightful masterpiece from Holter, 2015 seems to mark the rise of beautiful, ever-so-slightly experimental baroque pop. Balancing moments of explosiveness and reservedness, the album builds to a stunning finish in its title track. Singing of the battle between settling in love and seeking autonomy, Holter leaves us on the most perfect exhalation of sound. Don't miss this masterful release!
Here be the first full length album from Mountains-man Koen Holtkamp. You may recall we got in (and sold out) his contribution to the A Room Forever series of LPs commissioning artists to match a field recording on one side with a sympathetic composition on the other. Where his offering there was a dark-hued, ominous crescendo of crackled drone sourced from acoustic guitar, Field Rituals has its head in the clouds. Holtkamp begins the album with a lovely round of brightly rendered acoustic guitar finger picking with some tricked out ring modulation effects giving each of the tones a sun-flecked glow and funhouse mirror curvature. Sustained drones from loops of melodica and harmonica mutate into an ersatz harmonium with the soaring overtones and sweeping fluctuations of tonalities gently crashing into each other. The loops every once in a while coalesce into a rhythmic underbelly, but mostly they settle as a effervescent bubbling of overlapping delay patterns and softly shimmered ambience. On top of all of this, Holtkamp dapples everything with his shimmered guitar and occasional crackles of tactile objects (he mentions water, seeds, ice, and paper) as well as field recordings of giggly children romping in a playground. The effect is somewhere between the immaculate pieces from Keith Fullerton Whitman's recordings and the bright-eyed naturalist wonder of the Jewelled Antler camp. Really gorgeous stuff from the ever impressive Type label.
A brand new solo record from Mr. Holtkamp, who besides crafting lovely droning blissed out records on his own, also plays in long time aQ faves Mountains. On this latest record, Holtkamp set out to document his shift from digital to analog, combining both live performances, and studio recordings into a single whole. That whole being these two extended tracks.
The first, combining synths, electronics, harmonica, organ, acoustic guitar and a glass of ginger ale (!). The result is hazy and washed out and a little pop ambient, muted minimal bits of percussive thump and crackle, hover over streaks of warm liquid low end and shimmering static buzz, a sound that seems to fall right between new age-y krautdrone and Oval's skittering sonic experiments, mesmerizing and subtly psychedelic, the various elements shifting slowly, a forward momentum that borders on glacial, but deep listening reveals a symphony of subtle shifts and gradually mutated tones and overtones, the timbre changing as well, from brittle and hissy, to warm and lush, the whole thing fantastically dreamy.
The second track, "Loosely Based On Bees" is in fact loosely based on bees, a field recording of actual bees made on a friend's roof, the various studio elements tuned to a sympathetic frequency so the organic sounds and electronic sounds would blend somewhat seamlessly, the sound shifting so it's difficult to discern which parts exactly are the bees, and which are the bee-like sounds. Hardly matters thought, cuz the whole thing is a warm, softly smoldering bit of deep dronemusic, tranquil and peaceful and surprisingly melodic, the sound of the bees eventually recedes and becomes more textural, leaving analog synths to unfurl undulating layers, which seem to pulse and throb, before eventually blossoming into a full on distorted buzz drenched psychedelic blowout, blissy and shoegazey and almost heavy, but still remaining melodic and cyclical until finally settling down into a warm whirring outro. As always, gorgeous stuff from Holtkamp.
LIMITED TO 1000 COPIES, and packaged in a gorgeous letter pressed hand pasted sleeve.
The Gern Blandsten label has quite the full stable of post-punk, emo-drenched boys. Most wave the retro Brit flag, but The Holy Childhood leans more towards the more rootsy side of things. Emotive howling dominate over the folky guitar melodies.
