To be completely honest, we didn't have such high hopes for this new Luna album -- their last couple of albums were just too easy-listenin' smoooth for our liking -- but boy, were we in for a pleasant surprise. What's most striking about their new full length is that it has some of the punchiest Luna tunes in ages. For years and years Dean Wareham and Co. have consistently stuck to their same albeit achingly pretty formula, almost as though they were resting on their laurels to the point of becoming a diluted version of themselves. Happily this Rendezvous reveals a freshly rejuvenated band. Even the slower dreamy numbers have a spark to them that's been sorely missed. Occasionally they bear a striking resemblance to recent recordings by Yo La Tengo particularly when Ira sings. In case you're unfamiliar with YLT, rest assured that this is a good thing!
The sixth album from Luna certainly sounds all warm and welcoming. And of course it's well-performed and well-recorded like any other Luna release - perhaps partly due this time to the presence of producer extraordinaire David Fridmann (Sparklehorse, Flaming
Finally released domestically, the long-awaited new Luna (long-awaited that is by those who haven't already bought the import that's been out for a year already!) includes a somewhat-questionable (but nice) cover of "Sweet Child O'Mine". Dean Wareham and co. don't break any new ground on this album, but instead continue to maintain their consistent wistful, melancholic songwriting style and lush melodic proficiency found on such past beauties as "Lunapark", "Bewitched", and "Penthouse".
Observing The Universe is the latest komsiche transmission from Greek synth wrangler and ambient alchemist Panos Alexiadis, aka Lunar Miasma, and is another gorgeous collection of spaced out synth drones and slow burn prismatic drift, operating in the same realm as folks like Expo 70, Oneohtrix Point Never, Emeralds and the like.
The intro track here is the real gem, a dark, brooding, thrum, rife with crackle and buried melodies, a slightly sinister soundtrack to some old light show that for some reason plays endlessly in some abandoned planetarium, the music of constantly shooting stars, every sonic streak here another contrail glowing against the inky blackness of spaces, simple Eno like melodies drifting outwards like ripples in some epic celestial pond. This woozy sprawl parked by what sounds like fragmented transmissions from the ether, the whole thing underpinned by deep rumbles, and thick swirls of blurred low end shimmer. We almost wish the whole tape was filled with an extended version of this track. But while the rest of the record is not nearly as dark, there's much to dig, the two part "Expanded Dimension" is all futuristic synth swirl, and prismatic cascades of analog melody, all hazy and dreamlike, and darkly cinematic, a blissed out sprawl of glistening crystalline sonic glimmer, culminating in the title track closer, which seems to merge the dark ominous thrum of the opener, with the glistening shimmer of the other tracks into the sort of dark, retro synth ambience, that will definitely appeal to fans of Carpenter, Zombi, Umberto, Majeure and the like, but unlike the driving pulsating krautiness and pulsing Euro-disco of those groups, LM's strain hovers much closer to a dreamlike cosmic new age.
No introductions necessary for Lydia Lunch and Roland S. Howard. These two had collaborated sporadically throughout the '80s, with an alliance between Lunch and The Birthday Party that resulted in an infernal split, live LP recorded in 1981, a near perfect single for 4AD of those two covering "Some Velvet Morning" in a round of comic-book horror / love-story genius, and the Honeymoon In Red album which is pretty much the best thing that Lydia Lunch has done outside the No Wave days. In 1991, they trekked from their respective dens of iniquity to Memphis, Tennessee with JG Thirlwell in tow to produce Shotgun Wedding. This album came after a number of years of spoken word performances and recordings for Lunch and right before Howard returned to the studio with These Immortal Souls to pen the masterful I'm Never Gonna Die Again album. With Howard recently dying of complications from a lifetime of heroin abuse, a flood of reissues seem to be in order. We can hope that Mute will do a proper reissue campaign for those two These Immortal Souls albums, as those were two of the forgotten gems in the wake of The Birthday Party's demise.
Nonetheless we have here Shotgun Wedding - a swampy, lugubrious album of druggy, shambolic blues rock with Lunch's caterwauling vocals dialing down the shrill assault and trying with degrees of success to sing along with Howard's world-weary guitar leads that are still the blueprint for a bleak, cowpunk transgression. There are a handful of covers on Shotgun Wedding, including Led Zeppelin's "In My Time Of Dying", the obscure (and unremarkable) "Burning Skulls" penned by Jeremy Gluck, and the one that really shines - a diabolically sassy cover of Alice Cooper's "Black Juju." Throughout the rest of the album, Howard's tunes are front and center, slinking and slithering through his guitar leads and Lunch spouting her sordid love songs mired more in sex and death than love. It has to be said that the album stumbles a bit from the first couple of tracks; but after that, Shotgun Wedding broods and sulks with the best of them. 1972 has also seen to including the aforementioned "Some Velvet Morning" cover at the end of the album immediately following the Alice Cooper one. Horror. Humor. Horror. Humor.
This is one of two new entries in the ongoing series of Suicide related 10" singles, celebrating Alan Vega's 70th birthday (despite the fact that he was born in 1948, a mere 60 years ago). Both sides feature versions of the horrific electro-thud masterpiece "Frankie Teardrop" from the classic eponymous record released back in 1977. The A-side is a new cover from like-minded misanthrope Lydia Lunch, screeching out the vocals on top of a monophunk electronic arpeggiation. It's certainly the best we've heard from Lydia Lunch in many, many, many years. The B-side is a demo version of "Frankie Teardrop," which finds Martin Rev's musical accompaniment for ominous, analog synths pretty much worked out, even in demo form, but Alan Vega's story about Frankie Teardrop himself hadn't quite evolved into a tragedy about an everyman whose life just sucks. Instead, Frankie is cast as a Vietnam vet / detective given a particularly unfortunate assignment. It's not as clinically articulated as on the proper album, but has more of a Philip K. Dick vibe going on. Limited to 1500 copies.
Two fine record reference works on the list this week, there's the Encyclopedia of Swedish Progressive Music (reviewed below), and this one, a tome devoted American private press musical weirdness from the psychedelic era; its subtitle is "Guide To Underground Sounds 1965-1982". And yes, it's an A-to-Z of bands, each release getting an opinionated write-up, sometimes from more than one reviewer, who don't always agree! Not just psych bands, but also folk-rock, hard rock, "incredibly strange music", sunshine pop, all sorts of stuff. As long as it's rare and obscure and has collectors salivating...
Here's a few of the bands included: Anonymous, BF Trike, Cromagnon, David Allen Coe, Euphoria, Francisco, Josephus, New Hobbits, Charles Mason, Peace Pipe, Ya Ho Wha 13... that's a very small fraction (hey I bet Fraction is in here... let's see, yep) of what you'll find. There's literally hundreds and of entries. Hours of browsing to be had.
In addition to this "Acid Archive" of reviews, which include discographical info on both the original releases -and- (where applicable) reissues, there's some other special features to this volume. You'll find top tens and "fave raves" from the book's various contributors, also a buying guide for collectors on a budget, and a forward by Mike Stax of Ugly Things magazine -- and if you're a dedicated Ugly Things reader, you definitely want this book!!
15 years in the making, this is as authoritative and indispensable as it gets, when it comes to weird music from way back. It's not quite as deluxe as that Swedish Encyclopedia (and not as expensive, either), but still really nicely put together. Paperback, 11 3/4" x 8 1/4", 298 pages, three columns per page of text, lots of cool b&w graphics (album covers, record labels, promo photos). Trippy!!
By now it should be no big surprise that we here at aQ are HUGE fans of Lungfish and its offshoots. In the last few years we've seen an array of solo releases from singer Dan Higgs, and to a lesser degree from guitarist Asa Osborne who records as Zomes. And though we love all that stuff, Lungfish is one of those bands, like say, Fugazi, where the diehard fans just can't comfortably accept the "extended hiatus" thing. And yeah, as indicated by the "1999" in the title, this is in fact an archival release of songs the band recorded prior to their Necrophones album, where six of these songs showed up in re-recorded form. But why would we complain about that? While Lungfish have only ever sounded like themselves, the turn of the century found their approach becoming increasingly psychedelic and more "out of time" sounding, and these recordings, rougher fidelity-wise than their proper albums but still clear and upfront, are essential listening for anyone who considers themselves a fan. The feel here is more like a live recording and it really reinforces what an awesome band Lungfish was/is. Higgs is in fine form as always with his mindblowing lyrics and singular vocal delivery while Osborne's trademark cyclical riffing carries these songs forward into new realms. The always killer rhythm section (longtime drummer Mitchell Feldstein and, on these recordings, bassist Nathan Bell) does what only Lungfish could do, with the bass sounding particularly huge here. And goddamn does this stuff rock. But not, ya know, like Kiss or Led Zep... just in that strange Lungfish way. Whatever the future holds (we're still keeping our fingers crossed), this disc surely hits the spot and comes with an unsurprising but wholehearted recommendation.
If you're already a fan of Lungfish, you're familiar with their style of song-craft: each track is sort of like one super heavy, distorted riff that's explored and repeated through propulsive, psychedelic rhythms. This formula is still in practice on Feral Hymns, their 11th (!) album, though they've reached a definite "moment"... Dare I gush, but to listen to this album is to be FULLY immersed in the depths of Lungfish.
This is their first album (since their very first) to be recorded outside of the Discord-related studio, Inner Ear. And we definitely think it was a good move!! Not only does it sound great for being engineered by Tim Green at his San Francisco-based Louder Studio, but the temporary homelessness of the band during this process gave their collective creative mind the ability to breathe, to see their songs from inside and out and to fully sculpt the album as a whole and turn it into a very tangible, albeit visceral, expression.
The Balitmore foursome completely deconstruct each song/"riff" down to its essential elements. Following this, they gracefully rebuild, creating impressively engaging, hypnotic tracks that share an incredibly powerful depth. Dan Higgs' rich, throaty vocals proudly wade through these tracks with a force we all know and love but that force is especially intense, often riled up into an enigmatic, abstracted fury.
Although we thought Love Is Love was their heaviest album at its release, Feral Hymns weighs in far heavier, not really in the quantity of its sound but quality of it. This is an album that is so pared down to its most essential and amazing elements that repeated listenings keep rewarding in different ways every time.
Now, Andee really loves their record Necrophones, and Love Is Love (their last) had some definite great moments, including the addictive opening title track, but on Feral Hymns, the thorough exploration into the 'guts' of each song and the album overall, and the slow and meticulously elegant sonic sculpting of the band as a whole, works so so well it totally blows us away. Amazing!!
Not sure what it is about this Lungfish record in particular, but whatever it is, it got Allan to come up to see what we were listening to. He thought it was some sixties/seventies psychedelic rock band! While there are definitely elements of that, heavy distorted riffs, propulsive rhythms, and Dan Higgs gorgeously rich and throaty vocals, unlike that stuff, Lungfish take those riffs and repeat them endlessly, no verse chorus verse crap, just one riff stretched into a droning hypnotic riffscape for Higgs to proseletyze over. Melodic and hypnotic and so fierce. In fact this might just be the 'heaviest' Lungfish record yet. Actually you should probably just own EVERY Lungfish record. But this is a pretty great one to start with!
Everyone should know by now that we're HUGE fans of the legendary Baltimore group Lungfish, not to mention their side projects - Zomes, Pupils, and of course all the solo releases from the band's one of a kind singer Daniel Higgs. Even though they're not technically broken up and hold the title of being the longest running Dischord band ever, we haven't heard so much as a note since 2005's Feral Hymns. And no, this isn't a new Lungfish album, but since Dischord has been going through their catalog and remastering their albums to meet today's standards, we figured "why not?" If there's anything the ol' aQ website could use, it's more Lungfish. It's interesting charting this band's career, as they've always channelled a cyclical sound that hasn't really changed too much except that its become more psychedelic and... shamanistic?... over the years. The one constant is that Lungfish have sounded only like Lungfish. Pass And Stow dates back from 1994, at a point where their punk roots were more prominent and they were definitely flirting with a sound that owed a debt to other great Dischord bands like Rites Of Spring, Ignition, Soul Side, and so on. Still, Lungfish stood out. Higgs could never be mistaken for anyone else and Osborne has got to be one of the most underrated guitar players ever. Serving as the perfect anchor are drummer Mitchell Feldstein and, on this release, bassist Jon Chriest. The no-nonsense Lungfish rhythm section may in fact be the band's secret weapon, because their restraint and super solid ability to push things forward are what make this band so uniquely HEAVY. Like, monolithically heavy, in a way other bands simply couldn't understand. Listening to this band now makes it even clearer how unique they were (and are), especially considering other sounds coming out in 1994. Damn we love this band.
Three former members of Spiritualized - Sean Cook, Mike Mooney and Damon Reece - regroup to form Lupine Howl. Brit rock imbued with a very similar swirling, space-y, psych sound, heavy soul influence and bombastic grandeur to that of their previous band,
Does anybody really care?
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Produced by Daniel Lanois.
This new release on Ektro, the debut from Lusiferiini Armosta (which means just what exactly??? we forgot to ask, though it sounds like something to do with Lucifer, doesn't it?) is yet another remarkable side project of the already quite prolific Finnish band Circle, featuring featuring Circle leader/bassist Jussi Lehtisalo (here playing guitar and singing) along with a rhythm section comprised of Circle's sound engineer Tuomas Laurila on drums, and Eetu Henttonen on bass. Well as you know we're really into Circle and all the various Circle related bands as well, so the more the merrier we say. And, unlike many recent Circle side projects, such as the Steel Mammoth highlighted last list, this ISN'T another entry in their own burgeoning "NWOFHM" movement (though you might guess otherwise from the t-shirts the trio are wearing in the cd booklet photos: Anvil, Motorhead, and Pharaoh Overlord). Nope, though it's plenty heavy and rockin', this isn't any sort of metal, instead Lusiferiini Armosta are a band inspired by '80s and '90s noise rock and punk, with influences ranging from Flipper to Scratch Acid to Drunks With Guns to the Strangulated Beatoffs to obscure Finnish bands we've never heard of before. They also cite both Pissed Jeans and Polvo, and we can hear those, as well.
The band describe themselves as having "one foot on the throbbing jugular of distorted Finnish rock, the other in the tumble dryer of the noise scene of 1980's New York", that works too. The vocals are all in Finnish (with lyrics printed in the cd booklet we can only puzzle over) and sometimes soar in that monkish chant way that Circle like to do, especially in their earlier days. The first track here, for instance, reminds us of older Circle (circa Meronia) mixed with the more angular attack of something like Lubricated Goat, perhaps. The nine cuts here are all pretty darn catchy, Jussi's singing deep and melodic (when not harsh and guttural), alongside chiming and choppy guitar riffs, poppy but powerful, the whole record heavily infused with feedback whine and chaotic psychedelic guitar soloing, the songs often building into noisy, shoegazing blowouts. We could draw comparisons to both Japan's White Heaven and New York's Television.
Imagine if Circle had somehow moved to NYC, in the '80s, jamming with Sonic Youth, hanging with Unsane, maybe eventually putting out records on AmRep or SST. That's Lusiferiini Armosta. Pretty f'n cool! Jussi & Co. never cease to amaze...
Latest from this Euro synthwave/gloom pop combo, a three song 12", the new track "Chasing The Light", contains everything we loved about the last LFY full length, a buzzy, murky artpunk new wave creep, all pulsing synths and crooned, almost yowled vox, robotic beats fashioned into some sort of Eurodisco glooom/goth synth pop, swirling and psychedelic, a darkly droning electro-pop dirge. That track gets a reworking on the A side, which transforms the song into something a bit more murky and Skinny Puppy sounding, loads of echo and delay, the whole song seemingly being transmitted though a pillow, the beat more industrial, tranced out, droney and super hypnotic.
The flipside is a sidelong sprawl of gloomy, gothy electro, clubbed up just a bit, a more house-y beat driving the proceedings, but the whole thing still muddy and washed out, the various sounds buried beneath all manned of deathrock sonic grime, a gristle soaked electronic doomscape, that definitely reminds us of some of Dominick Fernow's projects, like Christian Cosmos or Vatican Shadow, which is most definitely NOT a bad thing!
We first heard Euro synthwave combo Lust For Youth on a witch house mixtape of all places, which sort of makes sense, as the sound of most modern minimal wave synth groups is really not that far removed from some witch house. What we heard was buzzy and murky and washed out and yeah, kind of witchy, but it definitely gave us a taste for these guys (now apparently just one guy), and this new full length definitely hits the spot, fusing classic synth driven eighties pop, modern retro minimal synth music, experimental noise, kosmische synthscapery, and pounding EDM beats into something we find ourselves listening to constantly, and something that every time it gets played in the store, someone comes up to see what's playing.
The bulk of the record is made up of buzzy, dark wave synth pop gems, the synths gloriously distorted, wrapped around lilting melodies, and driving rhythms, the vocals drenched in echo and draped over the top. Just check out "Behind Curtains" which adds some post punk swagger to the otherwise moody swirly synth poppiness. "It's You" sounds like deconstructed Depeche Mode, another sprawl of pulsating distorted synths, woozy warble melodies drifting in the background, a definite kraut-wave vibe, motorik and hypnotic, again those vocals, weary and heavily reverbed, soporific incantations over shadowy synth pop.
Then there are tracks like "We Planted A Seed", which mix in some crumbling distorted noise, and unfurl very retro-futuristic sounding Carpenter style eighties chase scene synthscapery, all tense and dark, and slightly sinister. But then right on the heels of a track like that, a track like "Champagne" swoops in, all old school electro pop, but still, just buzzy and dark enough to retain some sonic malevolence. Imagine Breakfast Club recast as some sort of seventies horror art flick, this stuff could definitely be the soundtrack (there's a bit of Goblin going on too needless to say).
But sonically this is most definitely dark synthwave, slipping into something a bit poppier on some tracks, but then something much darker on others, ultimately culminating in the shadowy kraut-wave groove of "We Got Lost" which even manages to channel a little Suicide into the equation, not to mention some eerie sampled screams of terror, before finishing off with the almost M83 sounding "Neon Lights Appear", those wasted vox, the only thing keeping the track from slipping into full blown synth-gaze territory.
We went a little crazy for the last Lust For Youth full length, Growing Seeds, having only just discovered the group via some random witch house mix, and while as we mentioned in that review, LFY are most certainly no witch house, they definitely share some of the sonic traits, swirling and psychedelic, murky and electronic, but LFY has a definite Euro EDM vibe, a post industrial new wave feel, that when fused to LFY's more witchy, moody atmospheric inclinations, the sound is transformed into something super cool, and weirdly warped. Check out opener "I Found Love", which begins with clouds of cricket chirp electronics, woozy synth melodies, sweeping chordal swells in the background, weird skittery rhythms surface, as does a weirdly reverbed loop of a woman laughing (sobbing? hard to tell), but as that loop is repeated, and a pounding pulsing beat swoops in, the swirls dark and minor key, the vocals proper a sort of shouted sloganeering, that weird sample becomes a bit more intense, the whole song brooding and mesmerizing. Rhythmic and groovy, swirled in shimmery psychedelic colorations, minimal and abstract, but darkly intense and a little bit sonically harrowing.
And while the rest of the record isn't nearly so dark, that shadowy something seems to run through the whole record. "It's You" sounds like it's gonna be some Depeche Mode style electro pop, and it sort of is, a thick warm main melody, soft billows of analog shimmer, a super hooky main melody, but then those vocals come in, mush mouthed and lazy, doused in reverb and effects, sucking the energy out and transforming this electro pop, into something creepier and darker and more menacing, the vocals sounding like they were plucked from an Iceage song and dropped into LFY's woozy electro swirl.
And that's definitely the vibe of the whole record, a cool. twisted juxtaposition between synthy electronic pop, pulsing rhythmic dance music, and crumbling distorted synths, those sneery washed out vocals, pulsing beats draped with billowy synth swirl, the sound just on the edge of distortion, everything blown out and in the red, also giving the record a more sonically intense vibe. Like DHR produced Depeche Mode maybe, but it's those vocals that really give the music it's sort of wasted nihilistic vibe, made even more pronounced when they're paired with super melodic synths, or almost groovy rhythms. Whatever it is, we dig it a lot, a gloomy, dystopian synth-kraut gloom pop darkwave that somehow fuses the abject future funk of Suicide to the blissed out sci-fi synth pop of M83 and comes up with THIS! Awesome!
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Luster is a straight-forward indie rock trio from right here in the Bay Area. Their second album Besides And Other Rarities is high spirited and empassioned in a similar vein to early Sleater-Kinney. Check 'em out.
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Believe it or not, Lustmord's Heresy was the first cd I (Allan) ever bought, back in 1990 when it was first released. (Not my first tape or LP, but my first cd -- the second, if I recollect correctly, was either Nirvana's Bleach or Lights...Camera...Revolution by the Suicidal Tendencies...someday I'm gonna do a 'zine on the subject of 'first records purchased', but I digress). I think I'd read about it in some magazine, and was intrigued that it was apparently recorded deep underground in some cave or crypt. These subterranean origins are certainly believable when you listen -- it's dark and deep indeed, an ambient well of sound echoing with what sounds like the cries of buried, ghostly whales, a fog-shrouded hour of droning unease. Haunting, beautiful, something enjoyably scary to listen to alone at night. As the first-ever cd in my collection, of course it's near and dear to my heart, but it's the music that prompts me to tell you it's a great album. We're glad that it's finally now been reissued (in a spiffy digipack, still sporting the fantastic, apocalyptic cover piece "The Great Day Of His Wrath" by English Romantic painter John Martin), all tracks remastered by Brian Lustmord in 2004. Highly recommended. If you're at all into dark/ambient/drone musics, you ought to have one or two or more Lustmord discs in your collection, and I'd say Heresy should be one of them.
Perhaps beginning with the soundtracks that Throbbing Gristle supplied to Derek Jarman films and Coil's rejected score to "Hellraiser," industrial culture has slowly been creeping into more and more mainstream venues through its affiliation with film. Brian "Lustmord" Williams' work is certainly no exception as he began his musical career during SPK's most devistating period back
In the mid '90s, Williams followed the lead of SPK's Graeme Revell by working on the sound design for big Hollywood movies. Revell, in fact, is credited with scoring the "Tombraider" soundtrack (amongst 30+ others)... Quite a long way from the autopsy imagery of SPK's "Information Overload Unit!!!" Anyway, "Metavoid" marks the first proper Lustmord album in almost seven years, and the time that Wiliams has spent toiling for Hollywood has undoubtably affected his own work as Lustmord. While the slashing drills and unnerving screeches blast from his gaping drones, Lustmord has laced these already threatening pieces with unneccessarily theatrical synthetic strings and mystical flutes that seem better suited for "Xena" than a Lustmord album. A disappointing return.
Lustmord's nightmare aesthetic continues to map out aural manifestations of subconscious terror. "The Monstrous Soul" was originally released through World Serpant in 1990. While the earlier Lustmord records had been acoutic in nature, this time, the digital prowess of Adi Newton (Clock DVA, T.A.G.C.) was enlisted to add a digital clarity to the psychoacoustic malevolence.
"The Monstrous Soul" is a series of
dark ambient environments sounding like some Lovecraftian haunted forest ready to send its trees tumbling on top of any trespassers. Ominous tectonic plods, loops of Crowley's incantations, and samples pronouncing the intention of demonic possession are interspersed between the dark ambient passages rich in deep reverberations. A perfect bridge between the avant black-metal of Skepticism and the dadaist dirges of early Current 93.
The Rise Above Relics label's first two releases -- Possessed and Luv Machine -- are bound to intrigue all fans of obscure, early '70s psych/prog heaviness...we know there's a few of you reading this! And both of these albums were recorded in the magical, mystical year of 1971 that we (well, Allan) is always going on about. The band at hand, Luv Machine, were originally from Barbados, but took their groovy psych-pop hard rock to the UK to try to make it big, revamping the lineup in the process with the addition of a few British musicians replacing members who got homesick for the West Indies. Definitely influenced by Cream and the Jimi Hendrix Experience, and sounding to us a bit like another obscure band of the era, The Next Morning (who also hailed from the Caribbean, by way of NYC instead of the UK), they're certainly a fun listen. Not terribly heavy at all, really, but still pretty cool -- cool enough that they became pals with The Sweet, who took 'em on tour to Italy! Yes indeed, a quite funky lil' band with plenty of fuzz guitar crunch and a sunny disposition. There's a few weak cuts, some stuff that just seems a bit "off", but then again that might be intentional weirdness (like the crazy sped-up tape manipulation that occurs at the end of "Maybe Tomorrow", for instance, and the more Jimi than Jimi styled vocals at times). Mostly though this is soulful and psychedelically quirky, a foot-tapping good time, dated but delightful. Imagine if you can a blend of Shocking Blue and the Band Of Gypsies...
This slipcased reissue includes all the tracks from their collector-coveted 1971 album (which boasted some "tasteless", "pornographic" cover art, not used by Rise Above Relics but fortunately at least reproduced inside the thick, heavily text and illustration laden cd booklet), plus six previously unreleased cuts.
NB. the track "Reminiscing" was written by Vernon Pereira of Possessed, and was recorded by that band on their album Exploration.
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Hey Rondelles fans. Check this out! More pop from Albuquerque. Boundless bounce and fun. Music for the highschool science or math class geek in all of us.
It has to be said this is not the Lycia record that we would have picked get reissued on vinyl; but it is very interesting that the highly acclaimed label Handmade Birds has dug into the back catalogue of the dour doom-goth-pop outfit Lycia to publish their first ever vinyl release. Lycia was probably the best known band on the US goth label Projekt, originally a one-man project from Mike VanPortfleet which expanded to a trio with the addition of Tara Vanflower and David Galas by the mid-'90s. But the vision for Lycia was always that of VanPortfleet, through his funereally paced dirges draped with suffocating amounts of reverb, whispered vocals, and his signature, effect-laden guitar work. Cold was the band's fourth studio album dating to 1996, but was the only proper album that found that trio working in the studio together. The albums before didn't feature Vanflower, and the albums after didn't feature Galas. The chemistry between the three does make for a very consistent record, and that was something lacking even from Lycia's strongest album A Day In The Stark Corner which came out a few years earlier. The tracks uniformly float at a ghostly pace, occasionally swooning in step to a forgotten Victorian waltz, with Vanflower's ethereal vocals countering the whispered baritone of VanPortfleet. As is the case for all of Lycia's albums, they managed to craft a strongly recognizable sound that nonetheless draws heavily from the somber atmospheres of New Order's first album, the claustrophobia of The Cure's Pornography, and the black-trenchcoat theatricality of Fields Of The Nephilim.
Bay Area's The Lymbic System bring us instrumental indie post-rock pop with a jazzy lean, a la Tortoise. That said, their ep Carved By Glaciers maintains a looser and slightly edgier sound, thus keeping a safe distance from truly formal post-rock constructions. Low frequency distortion, hints of a Moog-y synth, a Wurlitzer, layers of electronic melody and many incredibly delicate moments form these songs within a generous spatial structure. Very nice guys! May we have another?
No one is scary and sexy like David Lynch. Of course, this IS David Lynch, so the phrase "scary and sexy" includes images of some weird dude just standing in the middle of the sidewalk with his dog a la Blue Velvet, more than a bit of violence, and possibly rabbits. Music and sound production have always played large roles in Lynch's movies, from the squirrel-cheeked cabaret number in Eraserhead to Club Silencio in Mulholland Drive, and for much of that span, Angelo Badalamenti has been the primary musical composer and performer. As much as Badalamenti's beautiful piano work is missed, Crazy Clown Time definitely holds its own among the ranks of Lynch's oeuvre: accessible on the surface, but pretty fucking weird when you dig into it a bit.
Lynch follows two basic themes for much of the record: reverb-laden, stark guitar-driven pieces similar in vein to his work in Thought Gang (on the Twin Peaks soundtrack) or the Mullholland Drive soundtrack, and lusher, sometimes faster electronic tracks. The production on the entire record is phenomenal. The lows rumble and the white noise really crackles and everything has this great washiness that doesn't so much blur clarity as it does add depth. "Pinky's Dream", featuring Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, opens the record. Vague imagery of potential car crashes and open mouths is conveyed through Karen O's sexy delivery. The rest of the tracks feature David Lynch himself doing the vocals, sometimes more effectively than others. He doesn't have the greatest voice, but he plays this limitation off well through various effects and by not taking himself too seriously as a singer.
Numerous parallels can be drawn between Crazy Clown Time and Crispin Glover's record The Big Problem Does Not Equal the Solution, the Solution = Let It Be, and not just because they are both records done by Hollywood types of the weirder variety. They both feature clowns (Lynch's title track and Glover's single Clowny Clown Clown). Their vocal deliveries are sometimes uncannily similar, although at times Lynch also sounds a bit like Alan Bishop performing as Alvarius B at other times remarkably like Sparklehorse, both music AND vocals. Both Lynch and Glover like to have a lot of sex and like to write songs about it. Both records also incorporate spoken word. The longest track on Crazy Clown Time ("Strange and Unproductive Thinking", running at seven and a half minutes) is basically a lecture about transcendental meditation given by David Lynch-as-a-computer. At first maybe a bit jarring, the song is actually totally hypnotic in its stream-of-consciousness. Where Glover is overt in his self-deprecation, however, Lynch's humor is more complex and subtle, and overall, Crazy Clown Time commands more respect from its listener.
This record in no way comes off as a vanity project. It is a well-conceived, well-executed piece of art. FYI, regarding the vinyl version: download card? Yes!
Sacred Bones, who brought us (briefly!) the all too limited Eraserhead soundtrack vinyl reissue, now present the latest musical endeavor from the eccentric auteur himself, David Lynch. As a follow-up to 2011's Crazy Clown Time, this is again, OF COURSE, still fairly weird, but also somewhat more accessible, Tom Waits-y pop music, with Lynch singing/speaking lyrics that only he could dream up, in his distinctive drawl, sounding a bit like a nasal George W. Bush, or the guy from Jon Wayne (the band). The music, a sort of slow-motion, almost dubby electronica meets rockabilly, is less surreal than on Crazy Clown Time, and the lyrics are less -overtly- surreal as well - there's no "Rotting Teeth" this time around. Maybe the weirdest thing is hearing Lynch do a cover of Dylan's doomy "The Ballad Of Hollis Brown". Yet how, dare we say, PLEASANT this is is maybe even more disturbing, 'cause you know being by Lynch it's still creepy at heart.
Vinyl version includes a bonus 7".
Another gorgeous missive of warped hazy dream pop from the guy who is fast becoming a sort of figurehead for that scene, a scene that includes Ducktails, Ariel Pink, Gary War, John Maus, not to mention the more rocking outfits like Thee Oh Sees, Sic Alps, Ty Segall, but Lynch has definitely struck out on his own, chucking the reverb and low-fidelity-for-low-fidelity's-sake for something much more melodic and heartfelt, a soft focus classic pop that is as much about song as sound, and which definitely looks to groups like The Kinks, the Bee Gees, the Zombies, and other classic pop combos, but manages to infuse that sound with some of the fuzzy warble that the kids seem to dig so much.
These two songs are no exception, "Droplet On A Hot Stone", is a loping, fuzzy, heart-on-the-sleeve pop gem, lots of fuzzy keyboards, lush vocals, simple spare drumming, jangly guitar, some crunchy buzzy psychedelic melodies, all wreathed in a gauzy sun dappled production. "Nen Vole" dips back into a little bit of the tropical summer flavor that was such a big part of Lynch's former outfit Ducktails, it's the lo-fi pop equivalent of mint juleps on the lawn, a lazy hazy summer afternoon pop drift, acoustic guitars, and still more wheezing keyboards. It almost sounds like Ween, if they were less jokey and more serious about crafting perfect pop. So nice.
And both songs were originally recorded for a full length called Born2Run, which was never released, but is included as a bonus cd-r here, with both the tracks from the 7", but also the rest of that unreleased record, all of which is just as nice, woozy, washed out, fuzzy, softly psychedelic, a little bit tropical, a lot summery and sunshiney, jangly and dreamily warped. And other tracks are definitely more warped than the single's tracks, mostly instrumental, with lots of tripped out production, a sort of Joe Meek meets The Beach Boys vibe, heavy on the experiments, but even the experiments end up being dreamy and hooky and gorgeously mesmerizing. WAY recommended.
Full length number two from Lynch, the latest super hyped phenom in the ever expanding world of warped and warbly, garage pop, and for good reason, after having been a sideman for tropical folk bliss outfit Ducktails, Lynch has really come into his own as quite a crafter of dreamy lysergic folk pop, slippery woozy acoustic guitars drifting through starry fields of undulating shimmer, his sound both stripped down and spare, lush and lysergic, trafficking in similar sounds as Ariel Pink, Gary War, John Maus, a sort of retro pop re-envisioned, but Lynch doesn't douse everything in reverb, or wrap sounds in damaged FM radio detritus, instead he weaves intimate hushed pop songs, lacing them with subtle psychedelia, abstract spaceiness, his vocals a soft falsetto, drifting over minimal muted drumming, folky acoustic guitar strum, buried wah guitar warble, dreamy druggy laid back basslines, fluttering flutes, tinkling chimes, twisted fuzzy synths, the vibe abstract and ramshackle, a bit dubby here and there, a little new wave-y in places, but for the most part, Lynch weaves lush little stretches of hazy dreamy folk pop, his vocals ethereal and angelic, making everything sound wistful and heartfelt.
There is at least one moment of rambunctious rocking: "Ears" features big drums, some tangled incendiary psych rock leads, some freaked out damaged squalls of guitar noise, but even then, it's super melodic and poppy. Just a subtle variation in the sweetly serene folky fabric of the rest of Mare. Which keeps it from sounding like just another in the seemingly endless stream of homebrewed bedroom garage pop records, and transforms it into something much more timeless and classic sounding, a sort of sweetly twisted modern folk flecked soft rock, so good!
Comes with an mp3 download card as well...
Latest from this hazy psychedelic dreampopper, and a bit of a left turn for sure, as these tracks are original instrumental compositions created as the score to a film, the music here borrowing heavily from classic Indonesian music, as well as incorporating some serious classic free jazz as well, the opening track alone should be enough to convince you that this is not a normal Lynch record. The gamelan rhythms, the moaning horns, the looped cyclical arrangements, the label mentions that all of these elements are woven into Lynch's bedroom psych, and there is in fact a little of that that finds its way into each of these tracks, the production is a bit fuzzy, there's one track with some cool wah wah effects, but the psych element definitely takes a backseat, letting the distinctive rhythms and melancholy melodies drive these songs, they are pretty fantastic, even removed from the visuals, some seriously cool and mysterious, Indonesian influenced free jazz gamelan psychedelia. Nice!
Comes with a download code.
First full length (as far as we know) from this sometimes Ducktails collaborator, who seems to be making his move lately for some solo recognition, and he's bound to get it, occupying as he does a sonic station similar to Ariel Pink, Gary Way, John Maus, Ducktails (obviously) and that whole new breed of warped lo-fi sunshiney downer pop.
Thankfully, Lynch brings his own take on THAT sound, creating something much more washed out and abstract and haunting, with sorrowful vocals, throbbing Joy Division-y basslines, gnarled super effected wah wah psych guitar, and of course, LOADS of murky haze.
The vocals tend toward a delicate falsetto, often hovering over whirring synths, warbly organs, skittery drums and almost always some crazy weirdly wild and almost unhinged sounding guitar squalls. A seriously strange mix of hushed jangle balladry and wild psych freakout. There's also some strange electronics, a little drum machine, some distinctly new wave stretches, even some tropical sounding calypso moments that betray his Ducktails past, and of course plenty of abstract tweakery, but at its very core this is pop music, a bit fractured and fucked up for sure, but still plenty dreamy and drifty and divine.
Latest full length from one of our favorite purveyors of warped and warbly lo-fi lysergic garage pop, which had us a bit confused, as the first track starts off with some smoldering sexy sax, over some woozy almost funky sounding bass, sure there are some strange sounds swirling around, but we were definitely wary, until the song proper kicked in and we were back in more familiar territory, laid back acoustic guitar strum, warm whirling atmosphere, and some sweetly crooned, softly reverbed vox, the only remnant from that intro, the loping bassline, there's harmonica too, it's a strange jam, all laid back and wistfully woozy, but it's definitely not that far removed from past Lynch outings.
The second track is pretty laid back too, super slowed down, the guitars warbly and spidery, the vocals a lovely falsetto, a dark, woozy dreampop ballad for sure, but we're getting the idea, that maybe this is a different kind of record for Lynch, which is definitely confirmed by the next track, after a big crashing open chord, the songs lips into something much more mellow, minimal muted percussion, reverbed piano, a sort of smokey lo-fi ballad, rife with some extra percussion, little bits of oddness here and there, but for the most part, still more mellow gold.
It's not until "Canopy", 4 songs in, that the sound is cranked up a little, with distorted drums, slithery bass, a blown out production, but even here, it's far from raucous, in fact, the sax returns, adding some smoky smolder to the proceedings, somehow managing to avoid sounding cheesy.
In fact the sax is all over the second half of the record, as well as what sounds like some other horns, lots of acoustic guitar jangle, some psychedelic buzz swirled in, but again, all washed out, dreamy, laid back and mellow. If the other Lynch records were to get the party started (already a mellow party by most standards), then Terra is to bring it down, as the last guests trickle out, the fire begins to flicker, the sky begins to glow with the impending dawn, this is the sort of long night, bleary, dreamy drugpop that sets the mood. Or at least it's the soundtrack to those last few minutes before you drift off. Nice.
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.
The latest in a long line of 'post rock' bands actually trying to stretch the boundaries of everyone's favorite non-genre. Some of the sounds are the same, but presented here, by these guys, it sounds pretty fresh and new. Ultra precise, and with a complete mastery of their chosen dynamics, Lynx mange to kick serious ass (without the unnecessary showiness of Don Caballero) while crafting actual 'songs' that you may find stuck in your head after repeated listens. Maybe not as far out or as mind blowing as AQ faves Fuehler, but Lynx still pack quite a wallop, easily out-posting their post rock peers. Definitely for fans of Shellac.
Hey! Check out this new female duo from LA who call themselves The Lynx Technique! Their smart energetic pop struts with a little bit of swaggerin' attitude. April and Grace seem to be channeling the stellar spirit, sound and songwriting of Throwing Muses's Kristen Hersh and Tanya Donnelly. This five song ep features lots of craftily arranged crunchy guitars, interesting tempo'n'mood changes and cool vocals that alternate between a slinky coo and a snarky sneer. This is a terrific debut cd stunningly packaged in a special screenprinted digipak, and comes with 1" buttons for the band and label. Fans of Pretty Girls Make Graves, Tegan & Sara and Metric just might appreciate the non-textbook, tuneful schooling of The Lynx Technique's Algebra.
Psst, plus these goodhearted gals not only named themselves after the endangered North American Lynx, but they're also donating 1% of this cd's proceeds to non-profit organizations who aid endangered species.
Jeff "Monoman" Conolly has gotta be one of rock 'n' roll's awesomest unsung legends. First off, he fronted DMZ, Boston's garage punk answer to the likes of the Stooges and the New York Dolls, in the mid-'70s. Then, out of the ashes of DMZ, he formed Lyres, who traded in some (just some) of DMZ's scuzzed out heaviness for retro Vox organ driven power poppiness in the style of the best '60s Nuggets outfits. There's a new cd that brings both bands together, half the disc DMZ demos from '76, the other half Lyres live in '82. It's also available as two separate vinyl releases, this one's the Lyres half, with a line up featuring 4/5s of DMZ, live at an Italian restaurant that doubled as a punk rock venue by night, back in the day. As with the DMZ set, there's lotsa killer covers among these 15 tracks (The Wailers, The Sonics, The Young Rascals, Kenny and the Kasuals...) and they do a DMZ tune too - but the main attraction might be the raw, raucous versions of Lyres own songs, Conolly compositions that shoulda been big hits, like early single sides "Help You Ann" (Andee's favorite Lyres song EVER) and "I Really Want You Right Now". Considering that reissues of Lyres studio albums are not easy to come by these days (why oh why are they out of print?), the release of this live recording, which makes up for in sheer energy what it might lack in high fidelity, is quite a boon both to fans and folks who, upon hearing it, will immediately become fans!
One of two new reissues from legendary garage rockers the Lyres, founded in the late seventies by Jeff Conolly, after the break up of the seminal punk rock outfit DMZ, and before he would go on to found the Monomen. And while sonically, the Lyres were only one of many bands doing that sort of organ-heavy sixties inspired garage rock, they were most definitely one of the groups doing it BEST, combining classic sixties Beatles-y pop, classic Yellow Pills style power pop, garage rock crunch and swaggery RnB style stomp, into something fierce and catchy, super rocking, jangly and groovy, slithery and snarly, elsewhere on this week's list you'll also find the Lyres 1984 debut On Fyre, but this one here is their 1985 follow up, Lyres Lyres, which has all the energy and catchiness of their debut, but is way more well produced, and is much heavier on the covers, most of them super obscure, so much so that we never even knew they were covers until recently. This record also features a different lineup than their debut, and finds Conolly's voice even more powerful, dramatic and soulful this time around.
Right off the bat, the band start off with the groovy soulful stomp of "Not Looking Back" with a blatant "Live For Today" organ riff that the band make their own, and transform into some serious garage soul swagger. They group quickly switch gears for the brooding ballad "She Pays The Rent", with Conolly singing his heart out, over effects laden guitar, simple stripped down drums and swirling organ, groovy and darkly soulful. Then the band tackle the oft covered "You'll Never Do It Baby" (maybe most famously by the Pretty Things), which is a crunchy, swaggery garage rock blowout that totally sounds like a Lyres original. "I Love Her Still, I Always Will" revolves around a "House Of The Rising Sun" riff, and blossoms into a cool swirling groove, all shimmery guitars and funky drumming,
And so it goes, the rest of the record a pretty even split between covers and originals, the sound fantastic throughout, the power poppiness of "No Reasons To Complain", the woozy waltzy druggy dreaminess of "The Only Thing", the churning distorted guitar driven swagger of "How Do You Know?, and the band's "You Won't Be Sad Anymore" a total power pop garage rock gem, all jangle guitar and whirring organ, and vocals that transform the lyrics into near gibberish, sounding a lot like a slowed down garage rock Dickies! The reissue also tags on four bonus tracks, which are as good as anything on the record proper.
So great, and a whole lot different than the group's debut, so much so, that lots of fans were freaked out, not understanding what happened to the raw feral garage rock energy of On Fyre, but listening to both back to back, they sound pretty perfect together, definitely different, but weirdly complimentary, it makes sense that they were reissued together, and while lots of folks will prefer one over the other, we're pretty sure if you're anything like us (and would you be reading this if you weren't?) odds are you're probably gonna want both!
If you've never heard the Lyres before, just listen to the sound sample below for "Help You Ann", we'll wait...
Odds are, if you're anything like us, that song is all it'll take to convince you how goddamn great the Lyres were. And are! Especially with the current crop of garage rock combos, it's easy to forget, that bands were doing something similar, and in some cases, WAY BETTER, more than 25 years ago. Case in point the Lyres (another case in point, the Fuzztones, who we'll no doubt gush over once there's a fancy new reissue), a garage rock outfit founded in Boston in the late seventies by Jeff "Monoman" Conolly, after the break up of the seminal punk rock outfit DMZ, and before he would go on to found the Monomen. And while sonically, the Lyres were only one of many bands doing that sort of organ-heavy sixties garage rock, they were most definitely one of the groups doing it BEST, combining classic sixties Beatles-y pop, classic Yellow Pills style power pop, garage rock crunch and swaggery RnB style stomp, into something fierce and catchy, super rocking, jangly and groovy, slithery and snarly.
On Fyre, the Lyres 1984 debut, is one of THEE sweetest slabs of garage rock EVER, there's "Help You Ann", which is obviously a stone cold classic, but opener "Don't Give It Up Now" is nearly as good, full of swirling organ, wild drumming, killer jangle guitar, Jeff Conolly's snarly soulful vocals. It's super energetic, intense, the sort of sweat soaked garage rock energy groups like Thee Oh Sees traffic in, but three decades earlier. But the sound isn't all fuzzed out jangle and pound, tracks like "I Confess" display the group's poppier side, lilting and jangly and catchy as all get out, hearing this stuff now, it's hard to believe more folks aren't totally obsessed with these guys. Then there's the "You Really Got Me" riff of "I'm Tellin' You Girl", the vocals super raspy and soulfully feral, that main hook splintering into a weird almost proggy stuttery breakdown, weird and so cool. They also do a killer version of the Kinks' "Tired Of Waiting", their version a bit more loose and ramshackle, but the song suits them, and totally sounds like it could have been a Lyres original.
This reissue tacks on a handful of tracks that were recorded at the same time but were left off the album proper (although they were included on an older reissue), and they're all pretty much just as good as the album tracks, the bluesy groove of "Never Met A Girl Like You", the propulsive punkiness of "Busy Body", and more more more (yep, three more!).
The whole record is brimming with garage rock classics, that sound as fresh today as they did nearly thirty years ago, and hopefully this reissue will turn a whole new generation of garage rockers on to one of the bands that made it possible for all the bands they love to even exist in the first place!
Sometime last year we made reissues of the first and second records from legendary Boston garage rockers the Lyres, our Records Of The Week, and for good reason, both records brimming with incredible garage pop jams, hooky as hell, timelessly kick ass, and displaying a sound that somehow ended up being as relevant today as it was then, with a whole new crop of young'uns aping that sound: Thee Oh Sees, Ty Segall, Blasted Canyons, heck pretty much everything on Castleface and In The Red and a ton of others, owe a little tip of the hat to the Lyres, and that genius actually didn't stop with record number two. Here's 1988's A Promise Is A Promise, finally getting the deluxe reissue treatment as well, and pretty much takes up right where Lyres Lyres left off. A heady concoction of classic garage rock, sixties freakbeat, another killer mix of originals and covers, and for those not super well versed in the era, it's actually hard to tell which is which, speaking to both the Lyres radness, and the impeccable song choice.
Beginning with "Here's A Heart", which we would have just assumed as a Lyres original, but is in fact a cover, Jeff Conolly (previously of seminal punks DMZ) joined by Stiv Bators from the Dead Boys on vocals, the song super catchy classic sixties pop roughed up and transformed into a fuzzed out Lyres style garage rock classic.
Which leads directly into the second track, an original called "On Fyre", and that's where the band remain for the duration, on fire, crunchy guitars, wild drum pound, Conolly's feral raspy how, plenty of Stoogesy stomp, whirring organs, woozy basslines, and as mentioned a whole batch of killer covers, "Jagged Time Lapse" by John's Children (Marc Bolan pre T-Rex), the first half of which is all shimmery power pop jangle, until the vocals come in, and it gets super weird, and catchy, then there's "She's Got Eyes That Tell Lies" originally by Him & The Others, all slithery creep and minor key twang, with a wicked catchy chorus, dark and ominous, and again, EASILY could have been a Lyres original, there's also a live version of the Sonics' "Witch", and it's on the live tracks that you can really hear the power and intensity of the band, the organ driving everything, the vocals blown out and crazy sounding, fierce and freaked out and so goddamn good! They also give an old DMZ jam a Lyres makeover. It's all great stuff, and needless to say if you dug both of the previous Lyres Records Of The Week, you're gonna probably want this one too. And while On Fyre might be our all time favorite, A Promise Is A Promise is pretty goddamn great too. And like the other two is HIGHLY recommended.
Comes in a mini gatefold lp style sleeve, with one of those band family trees printed in the gatefold, and a big booklet filled with liner notes and rare photos.
Yes, it's true, Jason Lytle's solo album sounds remarkably like the sprawling yet cozy aural blanket of his old band Grandaddy, but maybe slightly more direct in its approach... and that's a super good thing because many fans were terribly crestfallen when that band decided to call it a day a few years ago. So needless to say, there's much for their devotees and most other folks to love here. Yours Truly is definitely a keeper for any lover of splendid, swirling sun-dappled pop! Unmistakably a descendent of that delicious '70s West Coast soft rock sound, this is a dozen finely crafted pop songs that strike a balance between the intimate and the epic, the warm'n'fuzzy and the glisteningly orchestral, the heart-swellingly bittersweet and the breezily blithe. This is an album that'll gently draw you into its snuggly embrace! Really recommended!
