We had never heard of Nick Nicely before, but thanks to Captured Tracks we have a new psychedelic electro-pop obsession (did we have an old one?). Hard to explain exactly what NN sounds like, but there's definitely a sort of Gary Numan vibe, but wedded to a sort of classic pop, a la the Zombies or early Bee Gees, a sort of baroque classical pop futurism? The sound are lush, drum machine driven, with soaring strings, subtly processed vox, and gorgeous hooks, just check out the sound samples and you'll be hooked. Hard to imagine folks like Ariel Pink and John Maus wouldn't be totally obsessed with NN (in fact, we're tempted to think they were both heavily influenced).. It makes sense that this would end up on Captured Tracks, cuz it actually sounds like it could be some weird new retro popwave combo from Brooklyn, except for the fact, that this stuff is so genuine, and so genuinely quirky, whereas most modern bands can get the sound right, they can rarely back it up with songs. But NN is a master of both, total crazy catchy electro-pop / post-punk / minimal disco / psychedelic synth rock that sounds more and more like the bastard pop child of Gary Numan every time we listen to it. We even hear a little XTC, but NN manages to take all these disparate influences and sounds and creates his own perfect electro-psych-pop. Fuzzy, groovy, synthy, quirky, druggy, tripped out, hooky as hell and totally twisted, and just about the coolest thing we've heard in ages. A new (old) favorite!
- MPEG stream: 1
- MPEG stream: 2
- MPEG stream: 3
- MPEG stream: 4
Captured Tracks recently released an lp collection called Elegant Gaze, from mysterious psychedelic electro-popper Nick Nicely, and after doing a little research, we discovered that most of those tracks were in fact culled from a cd compilation called Psychotropia, this compilation right here in fact. So for the digitially inclined, here's your chance to dig into Mr. Nick Nicely's strange and wondrous soundworld...
It's hard to explain exactly what NN sounds like, but there's definitely a sort of Gary Numan vibe, but wedded to a sort of classic pop, a la the Zombies or early Bee Gees, a sort of baroque classical pop futurism? The sound are lush, drum machine driven, with soaring strings, subtly processed vox, and gorgeous hooks, just check out the sound samples and you'll be hooked. Hard to imagine folks like Ariel Pink and John Maus wouldn't be totally obsessed with NN (in fact, we're tempted to think they were both heavily influenced).. It makes sense that this would end up on Captured Tracks, cuz it actually sounds like it could be some weird new retro popwave combo from Brooklyn, except for the fact, that this stuff is so genuine, and so genuinely quirky, whereas most modern bands can get the sound right, they can rarely back it up with songs. But NN is a master of both, total crazy catchy electro-pop / post-punk / minimal disco / psychedelic synth rock that sounds more and more like the bastard pop child of Gary Numan every time we listen to it. We even hear a little XTC, but NN manages to take all these disparate influences and sounds and creates his own perfect electro-psych-pop. Fuzzy, groovy, synthy, quirky, druggy, tripped out, hooky as hell and totally twisted, and just about the coolest thing we've heard in ages. A new (old) favorite!
- MPEG stream: 1
- MPEG stream: 2
- MPEG stream: 3
- MPEG stream: 4
Classic and most essential Nico Record.
This is a send-shivers-up-your-spine record, and I mean that in a couple ways -- it all depends on where you stand opinion wise in regards to Nico's talent, in or out of the context of the Velvet Underground. I personally beleive that Nico is an artist of some great depth, as evidenced by this immeasurably cold and beautiful record from the ultimate ice queen. On "Desertshore," originally released in 1970 and now repressed on vinyl by the good people at 4 Men With Beards, the primary instrumentation is Nico's harmonium, with additional backing from John Cale. The harmonium, Cale's viola, and Nico's distinctive voice blend to create multiple layers of incredibly dark, extended, buzzing drones. The overall picture is mysterious and bleak; it's not only my favorite Nico record, but also one of the best post-Velvets records by any former members.
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.
Nig Heist was punk rock band fronted by Black Flag roadie and SST employee Mugger, a joke band formed specifically to open for Black Flag, with the sole intention of pissing people off, and by all reports, mission accomplished. Big time. Infamous live shows, ridiculous costumes, super antagonistic audience baiting stage banter, stupid songs, over the top sexist and misogynistic lyrics, basically everything Mugger and company could think of to rankle the punk rockers. That crew, typically drawn from members of Black Flag and various bands who happened to be opening for Black Flag, over the years included: Bill Stevenson, Dez Cadena, Chuck Biscuits, Greg Ginn, D. Boon, Tom Trocolli, Spot, and maybe hardest to believe, Ian MacKaye of Minor Threat/Fugazi.
The key to the group's 'sound' being that the members were called on to join Nig-Heist, and play whatever instrument they didn't actually normally play, which is part of why the songs sound a bit warped and warbly. Sonically, NH slip easily from jangly garage pop, sounding uncannily like the Leaving Trains, to Black Flag style gnarled punk rock, to skronky atonal jazz, to dirgey, downtuned heaviness, reminding us a bit of SST metalheads Saint Vitus, they also dabble in Misfits like sing along punk pop, and jokey cock rock that in places definitely sounds like aQ faves Bad News. Black Flagisms abound of course since the core of the band was in fact primarily members of Black Flag, but to dig this, you definitely have to be prepared for songs like "Hot Muff", "Tight Little Pussy", "Surfbroad", "Whore Pleaser" and the like. And yeah, it's silly and stupid and goofy, and the lyrics are cringeworthy (although they are of course meant to be), but fans of punk rock of that era, Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Fear and all that, will find it tough not to love this stuff, and knowing how how nuts the crowds must have gotten back in the day, not knowing these guys were taking the piss, only makes it that much better.
Now reissued on vinyl, also includes a bonus live cd from Henry Rollins' private collection (ahem) and features artwork by Raymond Pettibon (of course).
This silly local metal band, featuring members or ex-members of Fuckface, Dystopia and other Bay Area punk and grind outfits, shows us the way with their debut. Notorious for their (ironic?) usage of 1970's homoerotic imagery in flyers and now, on this release -- though that really doesn't relate to the music in particular. They call it sci-fi sex rock, and I guess that's a good (as any) description for their music. The guitars and drums are definitely in a hardcore or metal style, as are the screamy vox (with lotsa "fuck" and "whore" in the lyrics), but the pomp keyboards are as new wave as they are black metal. The songs are about things like drugs, robot girlfriends, and even "OJ's Wild Ride" (some topical humor kinda past its sell by date, there). Several are intended as parodies of various underground punk genres. Definitely kinda stupid, but lots of people like stupid stuff like this. Fun for fans of the Dwarves, the Accused, Antiseen, Crom, uh, and of course Rick the Desert Dick! (The star of several of the photos you'll find and enjoy in this cd package.)
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
A few months ago, a mysterious disc showed up in the mail. Or more accurately, discs. Four cd-r albums of fucked up fractured outsider pop. No information anywhere on the discs, or the packaging, other than the words Crystal Shards. Which seemed pretty perfect. That's exactly what that stuff sounded like. Jagged and fragmented and crystalline and shimmery and totally bizarre and beautiful. So of course, as is our way, we become a little obsessed, and decided we had to track more down, so we could share these sounds with the aQ faithful�
But searches for Crystal Shards revealed almost nothing, and the label was sold out, and there were at that time no plans to make more Crystal Shards. SO we hd all but given up, until the label got in touch, and mentioned plans to release a proper cd, collecting various tracks from the Crystal Shards cd-r's, and we were thrilled, anxiously waiting its arrival, knowing that it would have to be a Record Of The Week.
And so here it is, but strangely enough, the band is no longer called Crystal Shards. In fact, there is no mention anywhere of Crystal Shards, instead, the band (actually, the man) is now called Night Control, and this disc, Death Control, collects some of our favorite Shards from those previous discs, and weaves them into a perfectly imperfect album of minimal murkiness, moody shimmer and lo-fi pop, generously dappled with effects and feedback and distortion, hooks and jangle buried in buzz and hiss. Woozy, dizzy, druggy, tripped out, and catchy as fuck. Think Ariel Pink, Gary War, John Maus, Ty Segall, Wavves, Blank Dogs, Kurt Vile, Night Control definitely fits pretty comfortably amongst those lo-fi fractured pop denizens, but definitely brings his own vibe to the party, offering up something folkier and prettier, more classically poppy, even Beatles-esque at times, but still plenty murky and freaked out and fucked up, and deliriously off kilter. We also hear some Grifters in there as well, which is never a bad thing.
Where as a lot of those other bands seem willfully obscure, the weirdness in Night Control's music seems more like a natural byproduct. As if the creation of these hauntingly perfect little pop fragments, invariably resulted in the sonic cast offs that litter the record, be they sheets of gauzy buzz, or jagged slivers of feedback, the songs at their very core, are pure pop, but that core is protected by layer after layer of noise and hiss and shimmer. Yet unlike many artists who make their pop 'weird' by adding random crap on top, or record on the shittiest equipment possible, the two sides of Night Control's sound, the jangly pop, and the lo-fi buzz, seem to meld into something totally new, a sound that couldn't exist with both those elements. The guitars jangle and strum, but often explode into blow out leads, or super crunchy textures, the bas burbles below the surface, but it too can sometimes crumble into a cloud of swirling buzz, the drums are simple and spare, but hold the whole thing together, along with the lilting vocals, always wreathed in reverb and delay. Every song here is a gem. And every song manages to reference classic pop, while filtering it through the new fractured noisepop style. Sebadoh covering Tom Petty, Cheap Trick as envisioned by Strapping Fieldhands, or imagine the Beatles or Kinks, if they were growing up today, and released handmade cd-r's. There may be noise and distortion and grit and buzz and hiss, but this stuff is way too poppy to really appeal to the noiseniks, instead this takes the sort of lo-fi pop of early Pavement records and Shrimper cassettes, and re-imagines it as some sort of alternate reality top 40, not like the bizarre alien FM radio of Ariel Pink, but something much more earnest and heartfelt. Total sad boy, late night mix tape nirvana for sure.
Hard to pick favorites, as this is a sort of greatest hits, culled from a catalog that as far as we're concerned is ALL hits, but two of our favorites are "Two Hard", with its lilting jangle, rubbery underwater bass, and some incendiary lead guitars, weaving lush sun dappled textures over a sort of repetitive post rocky drift, and "No Making", a woozy, drifty torch song, the bass driving the song, the whole thing warped and warbly, the tape speed subtly shifting throughout, causing the whole song to subtly shift and twist and making it feel like your speakers are melting, and as if that weren't enough, then there's an awesome soaring bridge / chorus, with some incredible lush guitar harmonies that could go on forever (and you'll wish they would).
Hopefully some of the other Crystal Shards stuff will surface in one form or another, but for now, there's plenty here to get lost in, a fantastic and phantasmagorical document of blissed out hallucinatory outsider noise pop. ESSENTIAL!
The origin myth of Night Control is almost as fascinating as their music, it was explained in great detail in our review of the first Night Control record from a while back, but in a nutshell, Night Control was at one time called Crystal Shards, and that band released a whole mess of super limited cd-r's, all amazing and tripped out and weirdly poppy, but before we could get our hands on any of those cd-r's, the band resurfaced with a new name, Night Control, and a new record, Death Control, which cherry picked all the best songs from those impossible to find cd-r's and voila, and all time aQ favorite, twisted, fractured outsider lo-fi pop, that managed to infuse hook filled classic sounding pop music, with all manner of rhythmic aberrations and sonic inconsistencies, transforming NC's music into something truly original and transcendent.
So here we have what could be considered to be the first proper NEW Night Control record, and thankfully, all of the weirdness is fully intact, and the songwriting has seemingly grown by leaps and bounds, without sacrificing a bit of fuckedupness. So, just like Death Control was, it's gotta be a Record Of The Week! Night Control's sound is still firmly positioned amongst the current crop of warped lysergic lo-fi popsters: Ariel Pink, Gary War, John Maus, Ty Segall, Wavves, Blank Dogs, Kurt Vile, etc., but there's just something about Night Control, that makes this music different. And special. Not better necessarily, although in some ways it definitely is, but just special, the songs are ramshackly, but fully formed, catchy as all get out, but laced with all manner of clatter, and squealing feedback, the vocals are generally buried, so sometimes the melody is more suggested than anything, but somehow all the woozy warped parts fall (im)perfectly into place, and yet again, Night Control has created a songsuite, that is at once warm and familiar, but also alien and abstract.
There's no denying the fact that these songs are tighter, and more rocking, and it definitely sounds more like a real band, than a bedroom project, the opener "CS" is heartbreakingly good, warm and woozy and lush, drum machine, loping piano driven melody, big rich guitars, and a main vocal line that is so dreamy and melancholic and definitely harkens back to classic sixties pop a la The Zombies, but the record immediately changes gears, and "There's A Chance" begins as a stumbling chaotic lurching kitchen sink pop workout, very New Zealand sounding actually, the drums are distorted and tangled, the vocals are processed and all wrapped up with streaks of high end and feedback, all under a blown out haze, making the song's poppiness all the more subtle. "Take Apart" is super rocking, with actual burly guitar riffing, pounding drums, even some squirrely almost-leads, but it's interspersed with some wheezing atonal organ, some detuned guitar squiggle, some surprisingly active rubbery basslines, and the whole thing is wrapped in a cloud of hiss and crumbling distortion. It's like a Joe Meek track gone haywire.
And so it goes, the whole record veers from perfect pop to deconstructed lo-fi pop flecked weirdness, drums get blown out, vocals slip way up in the mix in a reverbed Lou Reed like sung spoken croon, guitars warble, chords jangle, rhythms are flipped backwards, fragments of songs are looped and layered, some tracks skip and skitter, you can hear someone push the stop button on the tape player, the 'ka-chunk' becoming part of the song, vocals pile on top of one another creating big lush, dense harmonies, long stretches of barely there sound drift and shimmer, like a pop song muted and melted into shimmery sonic strings, new wave collides with new age, classic rock stumbles into power pop, drum machine driven skitter explodes into druggy garage rock, hazy riffs coalesce into crystalline space rock, and on and on and on. The final track might just be the most beautiful, a nearly 8 minute stretch of processed guitars, all delicately intertwined, looped and layered, melodies and overtones surfacing and then fading into the background, notes pulse and throb, creating sort-of-rhythms, a little pop ambience, a little abstract Appalachia, warm and lush, the perfect rainy day dreamdrift, and a fitting way to finish off this perfectly imperfect record. One of our new favorites for sure.
We loved the last Night Marchers record, See You In Magic. It perfectly pushed all of those Rocket From The Crypt buttons, which had remain sadly unpushed for years, while at the same time soothing the hurt we were experience due to the recent dissolution of the Hot Snakes, 3/4 of which made up the bulk of the Night Marchers including of course Mr. John Reis himself, he formerly of Rocket, and of course the late great Drive Like Jehu.
On record number two, very little has changed, but then very little needed to. The songs are just as driving and catchy, the vibe maybe even more RFTC-like this time around, slithery and swaggery, lots of crunch and stomp, howl and slither. It took a while for us to make it past the opener, "Tropical Depression", which we found ourselves listening to over and over and over, the perfect mix of Jehu, Hot Snakes and Rockets, and while initially, the rest of the record doesn't quite reach such great heights, repeated listens seem to prove otherwise, as every song here reveals itself as a dark, twisted, gem, and within the framework of the sound these guys have mastered, they mix it up big time, frantic shuffles (complete with harmonica), pounding groovers, loping poppers, stonery blooz jams, catchy call and response jangle (with horns!), after listening to this whole record a bunch of times, gets harder and harder to pick a favorite, needless to say fans of RFTC, Hot Snakes and even Jehu (and definitely all three), will dig this big time.
Another Record Store Day release we were super excited about, a split 7" between the Night Marchers, which is essentially Hot Snakes redux, with John Reis of Rocket From The Crypt and crew kicking up some super hooky Rocket style noise pop - including this little gem, which might be the poppiest thing we've heard from them yet, with lilting melodies, a bouncy rhythm, and hooks galore, a big chorus, and lots of "la-la-la" style vox, which sort of makes sense since they're sharing this split with San Diego pop combo Mrs. Magician, whose Strange Heaven record (released last year on Reis' Swami label) was easily our pop record of 2012, and MM's side of this here split is more of everything we loved about the full length, a little bit surfy, a little bit garage-y, the sound washed out and reverby, lots of chiming harmonics, fuzzy jangle, kinetic drumming, amazing vocal harmonies, the whole thing a insanely hooky blast of crazy catchy practically perfect garage pop, that has us hankering even more for a new full length.
As mentioned above, this was a Record Store Day release and thus was extremely limited - we do have a handful left, far fewer than we'd like though, and the last we'll see. White vinyl, with a thick printed full color insert.
It was a sad day when The Hot Snakes called it a day, after delivering three of the most impassioned and fiery rock albums of this decade. So we were super excited when we learned that 3/4 of the band had come back together (minus vocalist Rick Froberg) to form a new band called the Night Marchers. With John Reis taking lead vocal duties this really does sound and feel like a mix of the melodic qualities of Rocket From The Crypt and the more driving and charged elements of Hot Snakes. We can't stop listening to the first half of this record filled with burners that made us remember why we fell so hard in love with Reis in all of his incarnations in the first place (Drive Like Jehu, Rocket From The Crypt, Hot Snakes, etc). While there are a couple slower middle of the road tracks towards the end that don't quite do it for us, when the songs are on fire, this is still one damn fine rock n' roll album not to be missed.
Yet another amazing discovery in the realms of unheralded heaviness from the '70s. Krautrockers Night Sun released this, their only album, back in 1972, and probably the only heavier sounds produced on earth that year were produced by Black Sabbath (and,
Wow, just a bit different from other stuff we've heard from Australia's Homeless label, who usually specialize in gutter-dwelling punk noize (Cuntz, Bits Of Shit, etc.). The Night Terrors aren't punk, they're prog, being all about instrumental suspense film soundtracky synthscapes and spacey theremin vibes - in fact, they supported Goblin on the recent Australian tour by those Italian soundtrack-prog maestros. So, yeah, this is one for fans of artists like Umberto, Zombi, Steve Moore, Majeure, and The Oscillation. Again it's a bit surprising this came out on Homeless; it sounds more like it belongs on Death Waltz!! But while quite cinematic, The Night Terrors are undeniably a (post)rock band, albeit one with more lead theremin than lead guitar.
Sometimes gently atmospheric (someone mentioned Sigur Ros), sometimes noisy and distorted (someone mentioned MBV), always compelling and evocative, The Night Terrors almost seem specifically designed for aQ appreciation. Plus, this is one of the song titles: "Existential Revelation In The Circle Pit At Slayer"!
So yeah, pushing all our buttons: there's lots of lovely moody moments on this record, with the theremin suggestive of wordless female vocalizing, as well as plenty of heavier parts too - the majestic melodic synth swoosh going toe to toe with the churning rhythm section, all heaving Magmoid bass burble and propulsive drumming.
It's import, gatefold, numbered, colored double vinyl, remastered from the original cd release circa 2009. Includes download. We've got the last 5 copies we could get of this record (the label is sold out), but if you miss snagging one, don't despair entirely 'cause they DO have a brand new album, Spiral Vortex, on the way quite soon, we're told.
You know Australian synth & Theremin laden all-instrumental prog band, The Night Terrors? Hopefully yes, since we made their last release, Spiral Vortex, a Record Of The Week earlier this year! So, here's an idea: get them to create an album using what's reputed to be the Southern hemisphere's largest Grand Pipe Organ. Have 'em record it on Friday the 13th and release it on Halloween. (Yep, we've had this in for just a little while� but it's perfect 'nightmare before Christmas' timing on our part listing it now.)
Really, what could be better? The Night Terrors, who specialize in sinister, bombastic, soundtrack-sounding stuff, going to town on a big ol' pipe organ, plus their usual synthesizers, percussion, and of course trademark Theremin. The results are atmospheric, spooky, a grand sonic hallucination you could dance the jitters to. The human-yet-inhuman voice of the Theremin sings intensely over propulsive suspenseful beats and electronic zipzap, while the organ looms ominously behind/above/below it all. It's like John Carpenter goes to church. Very Death Waltz, and pretty darn cool! Two "movements" / sides, eight tracks, vinyl-only.
We got turned on to the synth-heavy, cinematic post-rock of this Aussie outfit last year, when their previous album Back To Zero was released on vinyl. Their secret weapon, a virtuoso theremin player, who coaxes all manner of weepy, wavery giallo-worthy ooohs and aaahs from that electronic instrument, its lovely, lachrymose vocal-like-timbre soaring over some seriously intense sci-fi zip-zap synth sounds and the massive momentum of the heavy, propulsive rhythm section. So powerful, and melodic! We're excited that they're now back with a brand new album, albeit with a stripped-down lineup: they're just a duo now, not that you could tell, having shed a couple of synth players in the interim (and switching out drummers, too). Multi-instrumentalist Miles Brown, he who plays the theremin, as well synths, bass, and "noise", takes up any and all slack, however. This sounds BIG.
When we reviewed Back To Zero, we noted that they had opened for Goblin, and that their own brand of soundtrack-y, Goblin-y horror movie prog sounded like it should have been released as an lp on the Death Waltz label. Perhaps you should just go read that review elsewhere on our site ('cause for one thing, the compact disc version of this new record is actually a double disc set, also including a reissued cd of that album as well), but we'll quote ourselves a bit: "Sometimes gently atmospheric (someone mentioned Sigur Ros), sometimes noisy and distorted (someone mentioned MBV), always compelling and evocative, The Night Terrors almost seem specifically designed for aQ appreciation." Indeed they do. We love this stuff! The new record has perhaps less of the gentle moments, devoting even more of its considerable energy to the crunching keyboards and math-rock rhythms. Tracks like "Monster" even hint at some form of adrenalized Euro-disco techno. Taken in sum, this almost approaches overload. Spiral Vortex is the perfect title; the sheer buzz and bombast of it all becomes quite headspinning. And demands to be played LOUD!! In a car, driving fast, even better. Makes us think of, like, if Emeralds got hopped up on Red Bull and challenged the Trans Am guys to a synthesizer drag race (whatever that means, but you know what we mean). This could be the soundtrack to all manner of suspenseful, futuristic action noir scenarios. Melody, majestic melody, is effectively employed throughout, not just on moodier cuts like "Celeste". Always, the awesomely distorted, low-end tones from the synths and bass are perfectly balanced by the more ethereal, high-end "singing" of the theremin. Technically, though, this is mostly instrumental, but for some uber-distorted robot vox on the very last track, "Force Field".
We mentioned Zombi in our other review - and basically these guys sound a lot like an over-the-top Zombi, if Clara Rockmore (you know, the famous classical thereminist) joined that band. Other obvious "recommended-if-you-like" references include: Umberto, The Oscillation, Maserati, Majeure, Nightsatan, and even the likes of Fuck Buttons and Black Moth Super Rainbow.
As mentioned, the cd edition, is a double with Spiral Vortex on one disc and Back To Zero on the other. Whatta deal! Meanwhile, Spiral Vortex is also available by itself on limited edition 180 gram red vinyl w/ download code.
We got turned on to the synth-heavy, cinematic post-rock of this Aussie outfit last year, when their previous album Back To Zero was released on vinyl. Their secret weapon, a virtuoso theremin player, who coaxes all manner of weepy, wavery giallo-worthy ooohs and aaahs from that electronic instrument, its lovely, lachrymose vocal-like-timbre soaring over some seriously intense sci-fi zip-zap synth sounds and the massive momentum of the heavy, propulsive rhythm section. So powerful, and melodic! We're excited that they're now back with a brand new album, albeit with a stripped-down lineup: they're just a duo now, not that you could tell, having shed a couple of synth players in the interim (and switching out drummers, too). Multi-instrumentalist Miles Brown, he who plays the theremin, as well synths, bass, and "noise", takes up any and all slack, however. This sounds BIG.
When we reviewed Back To Zero, we noted that they had opened for Goblin, and that their own brand of soundtrack-y, Goblin-y horror movie prog sounded like it should have been released as an lp on the Death Waltz label. Perhaps you should just go read that review elsewhere on our site ('cause for one thing, the compact disc version of this new record is actually a double disc set, also including a reissued cd of that album as well), but we'll quote ourselves a bit: "Sometimes gently atmospheric (someone mentioned Sigur Ros), sometimes noisy and distorted (someone mentioned MBV), always compelling and evocative, The Night Terrors almost seem specifically designed for aQ appreciation." Indeed they do. We love this stuff! The new record has perhaps less of the gentle moments, devoting even more of its considerable energy to the crunching keyboards and math-rock rhythms. Tracks like "Monster" even hint at some form of adrenalized Euro-disco techno. Taken in sum, this almost approaches overload. Spiral Vortex is the perfect title; the sheer buzz and bombast of it all becomes quite headspinning. And demands to be played LOUD!! In a car, driving fast, even better. Makes us think of, like, if Emeralds got hopped up on Red Bull and challenged the Trans Am guys to a synthesizer drag race (whatever that means, but you know what we mean). This could be the soundtrack to all manner of suspenseful, futuristic action noir scenarios. Melody, majestic melody, is effectively employed throughout, not just on moodier cuts like "Celeste". Always, the awesomely distorted, low-end tones from the synths and bass are perfectly balanced by the more ethereal, high-end "singing" of the theremin. Technically, though, this is mostly instrumental, but for some uber-distorted robot vox on the very last track, "Force Field".
We mentioned Zombi in our other review - and basically these guys sound a lot like an over-the-top Zombi, if Clara Rockmore (you know, the famous classical thereminist) joined that band. Other obvious "recommended-if-you-like" references include: Umberto, The Oscillation, Maserati, Majeure, Nightsatan, and even the likes of Fuck Buttons and Black Moth Super Rainbow.
As mentioned, the cd edition, is a double with Spiral Vortex on one disc and Back To Zero on the other. Whatta deal! Meanwhile, Spiral Vortex is also available by itself on limited edition 180 gram red vinyl w/ download code.
East Coast weirdo rock label Corleone gets a West Coast blood transfusion, but the results sound just as Providence damaged as anything actually raised and bred in Rhode Island. Best known around these parts as the label that brought us the rubber encased, supremely damaged metallic onslaught that was Throne Of Blood (and rest assured we have been hassling the label constantly for a repress), Corleone offer up this latest blast of off kilter propulsive noise rock drone jam groove that fits pretty cozily amidst their like minded but opposite coasted noisemaking brethren.
Night Wounds have all the right ingredients, angular scrape and skree guitar, chaotic but strangely funky drums, blown out bass, strangled almost new wave vocals, even a saxophone that manages to skronk and kick ass and not sound at all cheesy (which is quite a feat, apologies to Gerry Rafferty). The cool thing about Night Wounds is they almost sound like they could be some forward thinking no wave/new wave band from back in the day. A killer blend of Crispy Ambulance, James White And The Contortions (due mostly to the sax and the damaged jazz vibe), Pylon, and a handful of others whose names escape us right now. All tangled up with bursts of nineties style mathy complexity, stretched out hypnotic grooves, and squalls of noisy chaos.
Imagine if Factory Records had continued on, it's not difficult to imagine that Night Wounds might have embodied "The Factory Sound" circa 2007. A weirdly catchy, super groovy, damaged and demented, gloom infused tribal workout, alternatingly woozy and weird, freaky and funky, as likely to send the dancefloor into a herky jerky frenzy as it is to make the pit explode in a sloppy sweaty tangle of limbs.
Finland's self-proclaimed Undisputed Kings of Lasermetal are back! Note that 'Lasermetal' as a genre exists ONLY in connection to Nightsatan, and is definitely NOT actually metal, though these guys do look pretty metal - you've got one guy, Inhalator II, wearing all sorts of studded gear, including studded headband; another guy, Wolf-Rami, who has a scary skull face inside his motorcycle helmet; and a third, Mazathoth, who wears a Boba Fett style helmet, and a cape, and has antlers inexplicably growing out of his back. But they're an instrumental synth trio, not metal in the slightest, except conceptually perhaps.
If you recall, we made Nightsatan's debut album Midnight Laser Warrior an aQuarius Record Of The Week a few years back, blown away by their brand of "crazy, futuristic, electro prog", a soundtracky, synth-heavy sound inspired by John Carpenter and Tangerine Dream, not unlike Zombi or Umberto, but taking that into a ridiculously fantastical Finnish realm of over-the-topness. Well, with this new release they somehow go even FURTHER over the top, 'cause instead of just sounding like a soundtrack, it IS a soundtrack, to a real movie that's included here on its own dvd disc packaged with the cd. And the movie stars Nightsatan, playing themsleves, as surreal sci-fi superheroes wandering a futuristic wasteland encountering (and slaying, or having sex with) strange characters. It's an homage of sorts to Italian '80s post-apocalyptic exploitation cinema, complete with dialog dubbed in Italian (English subtitles are provided). It comes across like a mix of Mad Max and Jodorowsky's Holy Mountain, truly bizarre and absurd, full of gory special FX and nudity. Sex, violence, and synthesizers! Basically, an extended, insane music video for Nightsatan. It's a professional production, including some impressive special effects (it's worth watching the 'making of' bonus feature to see how they did it - 'cuz we didn't think they had deserts in Finland), with a plot involving, yes, 'loops of doom' - we can't explain it but it does sort of make sense. it's really a bit disturbing at moments, and twistedly funny too, and of course the music is pretty rad, and you can enjoy it alone on the soundtrack cd, which is twice as long as the movie, consisting of 14 tracks, 48 minutes of Nightsatan's retro-futuristic synth-splorations, droning and glistening, often underlaid with propulsive beats via Inhalator II's 'laserdrums'. Mood-wise it ranges from sinister suspensefulness, to exciting electro-rock, to maudin, melodic 'love theme' moments.
Fans of Umberto, Trans Am, Blizaro, Emeralds, all ought to dig - imagine a mix of all those, but with an added element of pure Finnish WTF?-ness. It's hard to believe that Nightsatan are NOT one of the so-called NWOFHM bands put together by the guys in Circle, like Steel Mammoth. But nope, they're just friends, apparently this sort of thing just what they do in Finland these days. Ah, Finland. Ah, Nightsatan!
They're from Finland. They're called Nightsatan. Their record is called Midnight Laser Warrior and features on its cover some helmeted ghoul with a knife, and a sawblade, and a bullet belt, and tons of spikes and studs on the leather jacket that barely obscures his rotting zombie flesh. They have song titles like "Four Eyed Cyclops", "Death Chess 2000", "Karelian Stairmaster (Evil Lucifer)". The record was mastered by two members of aQ faves Finnish hypnorockers Circle. We saw a YouTube clip of Nightsatan performing, where a certain member of the crowd got so worked up he decided to sing along, that person was none other than Albert Witchfinder of the mighty Reverend Bizarre (and The Puritan, among others). Their drummer is credited with player "Laserdrums". And most importantly, they play "LAZERMETAL". Which is in fact, not metal at all, nor even "NWOFHM", instead it's some sort of crazy, futuristic, electro prog, like Goblin or John Carpenter, or any of the current crop of Carpenter worshipping retro futurists (Majeure, Umberto, Zombi, Blizaro) but filtered through some ELP, or Yes, or even more obscure prog faves like Il Balleto Di Bronzo or the New Trolls. Sure the sound is synthy, and retro and electro and will no doubt appeal to those folks, but it's also twisted and proggy and FINNISH, which makes this something else entirely.
The cool thing about these guys, ONE of the cool things, is that they're a proper band, this isn't just a studio project, assembled at a desk with a computer, no these guys are a BAND, and there's tons of footage of them playing live, and most notably, they have a DRUMMER, who plays drums, electronic drums sure, but they give the sound a sweaty, urgent, human element missing from lots of similar stuff, not to mention, these songs are epic and complex and again PROGGY.
Opener "Four Eyed Cyclops" begins with a bit of Tangerine Dreamy synthiness, accompanied by some growled cookie monster vox, but it doesn't take long for the track to get going, with some awesome syncopated rumming, locked tight with the synths, then another buzzing bit of low end synth swoops in, and while it's not metal, we can definitely feel the same sort of power and energy and intensity. All the synths drop out, leaving just the buzzing low end one to unfurl a serious slithery riff, the drums come back in, and it's like some weird electronic electro-doom, the metal vibe, more in the vibe than the sound, but it's definitely weird and heavy and electronic, with lots of bent notes wound into electro leads. Awesome.
"Death Chess 2000" starts off with more buzzing low end synth riffage, some "Iron Man" style kick drum, before slipping into another bit of electro-doom, only to have everything suddenly speed up, and transform into a car chase Autobahn soundtrack that returns briefly to that opening electro doom, before stripping down to just minimal synth and a skeletal rhythm, and more of those weird raspy vox, finishing off in a blaze of swirl and buzz.
"Karelian Stairmaster (Evil Lucifer)" might be the proggiest of the bunch, another swirly Logan's Run sounding intro, all arpeggiated melodies underpinned by thick wheezing synth buzz, while the snare drum drives the rhythm, before blossoming into a hazy, futuristic soundscape (which more than one customer mistook for the Tron soundtrack! If only!), that warbles woozily, and eventually switches tempo and becomes the perfect score for some lost eighties VHS tape horror movie futuristic dystopian city montage. Throughout, the song offers up some strange detours, intense super dynamic stop/starts, with pounding drums, and some gorgeous woozy video game soundtrack balladry (which again has us thinking how much better these guys would have been for scoring Tron).
"Ninja Apocalypse" is creepy, and haunting, with the sound of fake rainfall, deep bass swells, and a main keyboard melody that would most definitely not be out of place in a Halloween or Friday The 13th movie, but like all the songs, the track continually shifts and transforms, minimal and hauntingly creepy one second, supper progged out and propulsive the next, soaring and majestic the next, and druggy and psychedelic the next. "Steel Diamond Part 4" (parts 1 and 2 are on the 7" reviewed elsewhere on this list, not sure where part 3 is though), is another electro prog workout, that features a super soundtracky main melody wreathed in layer after layer of synth buzz, the drums dense and intricate, the sound swirling and shimmering, evoking images of alien planets, of crashed starships, of subterranean lairs, of strange creatures chained up and walking into the depths, of the blackness of space, which leads right into the final track "Stars, Our Destination", which takes that space synth sci-fi sound even further out, pulsing and throbbing, the melodies tangled and intricate, hypnotic and totally mesmerizing, the sound dramatic and emotional and epic, and so totally cinematic, every track in fact here plays out like the music to some climactic scene from some lost eighties sci-fi adventure epic, with "Stars, Our Destination" being the perfect culmination, the drums less rhythmic, and more dynamic, pounding alongside the synths, the vocals more breathy exhalations, soon joined by thick rubbery low end pulses, everything growing more and more intense before fading into a swirling drift of warbly synths, swirling FX and whispered urgent voices. There's a short hidden track, another sort of Halloween gone electro synthwave, with a pulsing house-y beat, creepy raspy vocals, and a main melody that sounds like it had to be created for some horror movie, tense and intense, this final coda brooding and moody, but also propulsive and weirdly motorik, the perfect sci-fi, electro house, futuristic synth wave hypno krautrock finish to a pretty much perfect sci-fi, electro house, futuristic synth wave hypno krautrock record!
And all this talk of soundtrack and cinema is not just us, the artwork on the back cover, which features a modular synth, with the various patch bays altered to read as song titles, also includes various inputs for things like "Doom & Gloom", "Heavy Pounding" and maybe most tellingly "Extra Giallo". So good. Easily our favorite of this new batch of synthy soundtracky sci-fi sounds. There is vinyl, but it's not out yet, a few weeks still. And if you dig this, be sure and grab one of those 7"s too!!
If you found your way here without reading about and most likely buying the full length Nightsatan record, best to take a second and go check out that review, we get WAY more in depth there about the band and their fantastic futuristic sounds. And if you already added the cd to your cart, and just need MORE, then heck, skip the rest of this, and throw one of these in your cart too.
But for those who need to know more. Nightsatan are from Finland, and play "Lazermetal" which is in fact less metal, and more futuristic soundtracky sci-fi synth wave prog.
"Steel Diamond" parts 1 and 2 make up the bulk of the 7" (part 4 is on the full length, no idea where part 3 is), and is a sprawling synthscape of fat, fuzz drenches electro future prog, swirling synths, propulsive electronic drums, sweeping arrangements, epic swells, the bass buzzy and blown out, all wound into some sort of electronic krautspacefunk soundtrack. There are some breakdowns and interludes that are so thick and heavy, the bass SO buzzy, that it almost does sound metal.
The second part of the "Steel Diamond" quadrilogy offers up a plodding super dramatic space opera lazer prog workout, wild tangles of synth leads, evoking the final march up to the castle, the final battle, knights versus aliens, the vibe is definitely doomy, but synth-doom, building to a wild proggy break, that gets all electro-metallic before slipping right back into that spaced out synthy futurism.
The other track here, "Space Revenger" (awesome title!), is a pounding Teutonic bit of synthy electro prog metal, but with all the metal guitars replaced by MORE SYNTHS, epic and dramatic and intense and cinematic, with some surprisingly crushing parts that remind us a bit of MIDI metal (those cheesy electronic versions of classic metal sounds, YouTube it) but cranked WAAAAAY UP!
The cover art here is cool too, the band in metal T's and studded wristbands, huge black shades, obscured by red lights, looking very metal, with a shiny silver sticker that says "Finland's No#1 Nightsatan - File Under LAZERMETAL", while the back boasts two different legends, one reads "No guitars played on this record", the other "DEATH TO FALSE LASERMETAL". Fuck Yeah. Pressed on LAZER-RED vinyl too...
The Greek answer to Monster Magnet! Seriously.
We know pretty much nothing about these guys, other than they're from New York, their live shows are tripped out and psychedelic-light heavy, and more importantly, they make some awesome electro synth-wave abstract downer pop. Equal parts, haunting Witch House-y brood, block rockin' beats, and lo-fi home brewed electronica, Nihiti meld simple skeletal beats to pulsing fuzzy melodies, letting the tracks lock and loop, before crumbling and decaying and gradually transforming into something way more abstract.
The record opens with "Vulture Mentality", which takes minimal high end guitar strum, loops it, and lets it drift beneath a thick throbbing wave of crunchy distorted guitar, all wound around a super skittery barely there beat, which eventually drops out, leaving just that haunting guitar refrain. Perfectly setting the tone for the rest of the record, mysterious, ominous, otherworldly, claustrophobic, the sound cinematic and soundtracky. "No Angel Came" takes some Coldplay like piano, loops it, adds some chugging fuzz guitar, some post rocky drums, and layers various melodies over the top, making the whole thing wonderfully woozy and off kilter. "Mighty Neon Fragment" is all twisted minimal pop, slightly atonal and detuned, wrapped around a simple stuttery beat, and pounded piano chords. "The Ringing In (The Sun Is Rung)" is about as close as these guys get to a pop song, swoonsome vocals over rubbery bass, and muddy muted melodies, sort of funky drumming and out of tune piano, everything panned super hard so different sounds come from different speakers...
But it's "Black Cars (A Sinistra)"that might be THEE jam here, with it's minimal electro pulse, its stuttery synthy rhythms, all over a spare skeletal groove, pulsing and pounding, like a super lo-fi, way more minimal Basement Jaxx or Chemical Brothers. And the rest of the record stacks up just as well. Tripped out, groovy, abstract, druggy, rhythmic, synthy and spacey...
We weren't sure what to think when we first laid our ears on this, but it's quickly becoming a new favorite. Anyone into Balam Acab, oOoOO, How To Dress Well, Salem, Water Borders, Von Haze, Fuck Buttons, Small Black, Washed Out and all that sort of electronic weirdness, check this out...
It certainly is nice to be constantly guessing what this label is going to be putting out, as the last two releases we got in from Rune Grammofon were the bleak musique concrete from Arne Nordheim and the weird avant jazz from Supersilent. Here, Rune Grammofon presents Tove Nilsen, a Swedish chanteuse who sounds quite similar to and who gets a lot out of her backing band to create some lovely acoustic grooves (also quite similar to Bjork).
**SALE **SALE* *SALE**
**SALE **SALE* *SALE**
So were you ever listening to Interpol, or Maximo Park, or Franz Ferdinand, or the Killers and just thought to yourself, "If only this band ROCKED a little bit harder. If they were just, you know, REALLY HEAVY"... well, then Nine Black Alps is for you. Sure they have the whole angular new wave guitars, the pusling groove, the killer hooks, but what they have that those other bands don't is guitars. We mean GUITARS. Big, loud, fuzzy distorted guitars. And real riffs. Er, that is RIFFS! Interpol or the Killers might make you want to dance around or bounce up and down or nod your head to the beat, but rarely do any of those sort of bands get your head banging and send you careening around your room in a wild rock frenzy of air guitar-ing or air drumming. Somebody (me maybe?) once described Nine Black Alps as a heavy metal Franz Ferdinand which isn't too far off the mark. We also hear a little Burning Brides, umm, actually the more we listen to this the more BB we hear. Which is definitely a good thing. Nine Black Alps are sort of like the perfect mix of neo darkwave electro new wave whatever-you-call-it and fuzzy grungy hard and heavy garage rock. Take all that angsty new wave and Joy Division worship, tight pants and angular haircuts, rought 'em up a bit, roll 'em in the dirt. smear the make-up a little, exchange some of that silk and sharkskin for some denim and leather, and then lock 'em in the garage with some Marshall stacks, some BIG drums, a handful of LSD and a bunch of weed! Fuck yeah!
Nine Horses is a collaboration between David Sylvian, Steve Jansen (Sylvian's longtime musical partner in Japan, Rain Crow Tree, etc.), and Burnt Friedman. In contrast to Sylvian's universally applauded Blemish album which fluttered elegantly to Christian Fennesz' arctic pixelations, Sylvian and co. adopt a cinematic jazz-pop pose for Snow Borne Sorrow, the first effort for Nine Horses. Sylvian's romantic croon takes center stage in front of Nine Horses' spare arrangements for stand-up bass, chiming vibraphones, in-the-mood-for-love atmospheres, sporadic percussive skitter, and perfunctory noirish saxophone solos that pop up wheneven Sylvain steps away from the microphone. Snow Borne Sorrow also features guest appearances from Stina Nordenstam, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Arve Henriksen. In two words, synthetically silky.
Like Radiohead before them, Nine Inch Nails decided to embrace the digital download delivery method as a preamble to the 'proper' CD release. In addition to a super cheap download price -- $5.00 for all of the material on 2 discs -- Trent Reznor also offered a hyper-commodity in the form of an overpackaged vinyl set costing something like $300.00 a pop. As novel as these forays into the brave new world of e-commerce are, it's just a shame that Nine Inch Nails made such a boring record. Sure, Trent Reznor has demonstrated some great taste in early Autechre and Coil, but his ability to manufacture an instrumental record like his influences is woefully lacking. Yes, Ghosts I-IV wants to be an ambitious double cd set of instrumentals; but the lock-step electronic loops, hackneyed sequencing circa 1991, and ambient smoke & shadow lack any real direction. At its best, Ghosts I-IV comes across like a more jet-black cyborg version of Labradford, but the languid guitar moments are few next to the tepid electronics. Maybe this is a post-modern throwback to the early '80s when post-punk and new-wave were experiments with what could be done through minimal equipment; but why not write a decent song? Considering that all of those recent compilations of French electro-punk from back in the day totally kick the ass of this sad-sack record, there's little point...
Holeeebuhgeezus! The opening of this new Nine Inch Nails album comes tearing out of your speaker like a torrent of mayhemic noise. After those few bars that effectively jar bowels, rattle nerves and reset clocks, Trent Reznor lays down some huge sounding, multilayered metallic modern rock. Despite the concept album's overriding aggressive machismo and dystopian machinations, the sixteen tracks can't escape Reznor's ever-present sensitive side and definite pop sensibilities. Sure it's all buzzing, thick and nasty, but at the same time it lays into some razor-sharp hooks. Sure to become a staple at industrial dance clubs across the nation, Year Zero is soooo much better than the last NIN album, the biteless [With_Teeth] from 2005.
Such a great title wasted on an album so lacking any bite. Groan, sorry, but how can you resist when it's served up on a platter like that?! So prepare yourself, you're probably gonna be reading a bunch of similar pun-infested NIN reviews.
Trent Reznor must've had a falling out with the old friendly wizard who guided him in the creation of his career defining brilliant album The Downward Spiral 'cause nothing he's done since has come anywhere near its stunning magic and potency. The most immediately noticeable difference on this, his first full album in five years, is the prominence of vocals. Yes, we were forewarned with prerelease interviews and press releases of this new focus, but we weren't quite prepared for Reznor actually *singing* this much. Frankly, next to his lyrics which do have a tendency to be cliche-ridden and nursery rhyme-y ("Will you bite the hand that feeds? Will you get up off your knees?"), his voice is his weakest instrument. It's great when he screams or whispers, but anything in between falls into uh-oh territory. That said, when his teeth-baring rage does surface (such as when he screams "Don't you fucking know what you are?!), it still seems somewhat forced and hollow. The fact that he says/screams/sings the word 'fuck' rather frequently offers little compensation. It's just a lazy substitute for actual fury. Furthermore, he recycles elements from Downward Spiral with far weaker results here (such as the 'stripping things down from an angry wall of guitars to a solitary piano' treatment -- even ending the album in said fashion). While Reznor has certainly crafted a great *sounding* album, he's done little to distinguish it from the rest of the pack. There's so many bands that sound like this these days. His past influence on other artists seems to have come full circle and collapsed in on itself. For instance, the thumpin' industrial dance-y fourth song "The Hand That Feeds" could easily be mistaken for something by The Faint, while at other points his delivery drips with faceless nu-metal emotiveness. Most puzzlingly though is the album's lead-off track "All The Love In The World" that veers off into a funkiness oddly resembling Fat Boy Slim's gospel-tinged "Praise You". Strange... and strangely disappointing.
Another awesome electronic oddity from the fine folks at Hospital Productions, this one the work of a duo called Ninos Du Brasil, who, true to their moniker, traffic in a strain of Brazilian music - but a warped, experimental version, the likes of which you've likely not heard before. Brazilian carnival music is definitely a reference point but so too is Southeast Asian gamelan music, as well as various strains of techno and electro, we hear shades of fellow modern experimental techno-technician Cut Hands for sure, and heck, they even have a song called "Sepultura", which is apparently in fact an homage of sorts to that Brazilian metal band, and their later records on which they did in fact incorporate traditional Brazilian percussion into their music. Weird stuff, but sonically, it all meshes into something super mesmerizing and hypnotic, and something not altogether removed from some of the other Hospital releases, like Vatican Shadow, Ron Morelli, Christian Cosmos, Silent Servant, etc.
After a brief bit of straight up Brazilian percussion over a bed of birdsong, the record quickly slips into some murky house, all deep muted pulsations, over which, wild percussion comes tumbling, and then also some synth bass, and martial snares, the result is a strange hybrid of Brazilian funk, drum corps and avant minimal house music, with the Brazilian percussion WAY up in the mix, and driving the sound. The song is also peppered with plenty of FX and subtle dub-isms, and once they lock in, barring some subtle fluctuations, it's totally looped and tranced out and endlessly mesmeric.
The more minimal tracks, like "Legios De Cupins", definitely sound right at home on Hospital, again, murky and a little bit muddy, strangely sequenced arpeggiations, the Brazilian influence much more subtle, but still groovy and darkly funky, with occasional bursts of more traditional percussion, the coolest bits are when they all blur and bleed into some fantastically heady hybrid. The "Sepultura" track, perhaps predictably, is the fiercest, the drums and percussion, blown out and super distorted, sounding very much like a Brazilian marching band, we could easily have listened to a whole album of this, but it soon slips back into something more traditional sounding, "Miragem" sounding like Brazilian street music, underpinned by some super subtle techno filigree, before blossoming into maybe the most 'party' sounding of the bunch, with distorted call and response vocals, more wild percussion, all anchored by a four on the flour techno pulse, before finally finishing off with the gorgeous sprawling "Novos Misterios", a low slung, downtempo creeper, sounding a bit like a Brazilian Tom Waits, all steep drum melodies, wreathed in record crackles and warm swaths of tape hiss, the rhythms here laid back and subtle, woozy and weary, and the perfect comedown, at least until the final few minutes, when the sound quickly builds to a noisy, psychedelic, heavy house, stutter rhythm / droned out finale!
The Tomlab label keeps their recent spell of eclecticity going with this new addition to their roster. Meet German artist Niobe (aka Yvonne Cornelius)! She joins the varied likes of Casiotone For The Painfully Alone, Tujiko Noriko, The Books, Rafael Toral and Final Fantasy. Heck, she's pretty darn varied all by her lonesome. On White Hats, she jumps around from one dark grooviness to another, be it RnB, bossanova, downtempo or soul. At times her warbly, woozy music almost sounds as though it's being played on a cranky antique, malfunctioning record player that randomly lurches in speed. Most of her vocals are heavily effected and processed, making for a somewhat disorienting, druggy feel, but when her voice comes through the haze relatively unadulterated, it gives off a richly smoldering tone much like Lhasa. Overall, the album possesses an intoxicating, strange sultriness in a David Lynch / Angelo Badalamenti sort of way -- alternating between dream and nightmare.
Nire is the lovely folksy Bay Area duo Erin Morgan and Josh Hinton. The two snuggle up close and sing ever so softly in your ear. Their slightly cryptic lyrics are often quite reminiscent of Jeff Mangum, Daniel Bejar or John Darnielle as they're delivered in a withery hushed Elliott Smith-esque way. The gently picked and strummed guitar parts and piano key strikes almost threaten to drown out their voices. We think Vespers' highlights are the fourth song "Girl In The Moon" and the fifth "White Owl". The duo truly hits their stride mid-album, blossoming before our ears. Very intimate and liltingly pretty.
This legendary grunge classic and big time aQ fave now available as a NON deluxe, way more affordable vinyl lp.
Really, what needs to be said about Nirvana's Bleach? Nothing probably. But also everything. Most of the folks here probably rank Bleach as their favorite Nirvana record, and some of us might even include Bleach in our best of all time list as well (c'mon, we know you keep one too, even if it's just in your head). And listening to this again today, it's shocking out great it sounds, not at all dated, better than 90% of the music coming out today, and it cost like $600 to record. EVERY song here is a goddamn classic, equal parts punk rock, pop, sludge, grunge, everything perfect, the vocals raspy and raw, the drumming killer, the guitar parts weird and wonderful, thick and heavy and grimy and so utterly catchy. Half the bands around today wouldn't even exist if it weren't for this record, hell, the musical landscape would be WAY different if it weren't for Nirvana, sure we grew up listening to Bleach, but we can only imagine discovering this record today, it would blow your fucking mind. How could a band on their first time out create a record that would basically reinvent rock for a new generation. Odds are most folks probably have this, and some of you are probably big ol' Nirvana geeks like us and will need to buy it again, for the improved sound, the killer packaging, the bonus live show tacked on the end, but if for some crazy reason you've yet to hear this, drop everything, don't buy another record until you take this one home and immerse yourself in its utter rock genius. Listen to the sound samples, and either be reminded how good this record is, or discover your new favorite band and let your life be changed, the way ours were when we first heard this 20 years ago.
Really, what needs to be said about Nirvana's Bleach? Nothing probably. But also everything. Most of the folks here probably rank Bleach as their favorite Nirvana record, and some of us might even include Bleach in our best of all time list as well (c'mon, we know you keep one too, even if it's just in your head). And listening to this again today, it's shocking out great it sounds, not at all dated, better than 90 percent of the music coming out today, and it cost like $600 to record. EVERY song here is a goddamn classic, equal parts punk rock, pop, sludge, grunge, '60s garage, everything perfect, the vocals raspy and raw, the drumming killer, the guitar parts weird and wonderful, thick and heavy and grimy and so utterly catchy. Half the bands around today wouldn't even exist if it weren't for this record, hell, the musical landscape would be WAY different if it weren't for Nirvana, sure we grew up listening to Bleach, but we can only imagine discovering this record today, it would blow your fucking mind. How could a band on their first time out create a record that would basically reinvent rock for a new generation. Odds are most folks probably have this, and some of you are probably big ol' Nirvana geeks like us and will need to buy it again, for the improved sound, the killer packaging, the bonus live show tacked on the end, but if for some crazy reason you've yet to hear this, drop everything, don't buy another record until you take this one home and immerse yourself in its utter rock genius. Listen to the sound samples, and either be reminded how good this record is, or discover your new favorite band and let your life be changed, the way ours were when we first heard this 20 years ago.
The bonus tracks are from a live show recorded in Portland back in 1990, and it sounds amazing. Admittedly, Nirvana live were a dodgy proposition, or at least Kurt was, often singing weirdly or not at all, fucking up songs on purpose, or sometimes not on purpose, but this set is wicked tight, and loud and heavy, the vocals are pretty much perfect, they do some killer covers, some rad non-Bleach songs, and a few songs that would show up on future record, but it's cool to hear with this lineup, live all rough and ragged. And yeah, the new packaging is pretty badass too, no new liner notes but tons of photos and flyers and stuff, the perfect companion to the Live At Reading set which was also just released, and which we'll probably review on the next list.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Nirvana were always a pretty iffy proposition live. Always sloppy and chaotic, sometimes inspiringly so, other times not so much. It wasn't always clear whether it was a drug thing, or a disdain for playing live, or being sick of the music business, but for all of the perfect pop and classic heaviness to be found on their records, live, things often devolved into total mayhem, often gloriously so. Fucking up songs, destroying drum kits, mixing in random covers, letting songs just sort of stumble to a halt, or more famously, changing the lyrics, singing in a deep baritone and hamming it up when forced to lipsync on TV, or not playing the hit the TV people were expecting, instead playing one of the super noisy thrashers. All part of what made Nirvana so cool, and so fun to watch. We had the records if we wanted to hear those songs, we'd much rather see the trainwreck that often occurred live.
This show, for all it's fucked-up-ness and weird goings on, was anything BUT a trainwreck. Widely considered to be one of the best live recordings of the band, hearing this again, all polished up definitely drives that point home. Lots of stuff from both Bleach and Nevermind, the band sound incredible, the recording does too, and even Kurt's vocals are pretty together, the crowd goes apeshit between songs, and rightfully so, witnessing a band totally hitting their stride, and for a band prone to falling apart live, just utterly destroying.
For folks who don't necessarily watch music videos, the cd should be plenty, but we'd have to recommend getting the dvd too, as there was some crazy shit going on (Kurt being rolled on stage in a wheelchair wearing a hospital gown), hilarious between song banter, some equipment destruction and other stuff worth seeing, that was edited out of the recording for the proper release.
Essential for Nirvana fans, and if you need some convincing as to the merits of Nirvana, check out some of the other reviews elsewhere on the aQ website, and we'll do our very best to convince you that Nirvana were indeed one of the best bands EVER.
What really needs to be said about Nirvana's Nevermind at this point that hasn't already? For people our age, it might just be thee most iconic record of our lives. Bleach might be better, more raw and urgent, but Nevermind is probably the coolest punkest record to get as popular as it did. If you want to read a gushing heartfelt appreciation of Nirvana, check out the review of the With The Lights Out box elsewhere on the aQ list. Needless to say, this band, this record, and Kurt Kobain himself, meant a lot to us. And while we played this record to death back in the day, it's been just about long enough, that we can listen to this with fresh ears, and holy shit, it still sounds so good. It may be poppy and hooky, but it's also heavy, and noisy, and in its own way raw and angry, even "Smells Like Teen Spirit", had you not been forced to hear it a million times, just imagine hearing it for the first time again, even now it would be mind blowing. And as much as that song does rule, the record is full of better songs. "In Bloom" for sure, with one of THEE greatest choruses ever. "Drain You" might be even better, so catchy, so heavy, with impossibly melodic drumming, one of the few songs where the verse is essentially the chorus, an anthemic sing along VERSE. And don't forget "On A Plain", another one of those verse as chorus classics. On the heavier side there's "Breed", fuzzy and feral, minus the more polished production, it sounds like it could have been plucked straight off of Bleach. Same with "Territorial Pissings". But besides all the rockers, there are the brooders, the dark creepy plaintive ballads, that still are amazing, so utterly haunting and moving and gorgeous. Obviously we're probably preaching to the choir (as pretty much everyone in the world loves this record, and if you say you don't you're either lying, or don't like music), so this 20th anniversary reissue (has it really been two decades?) is really only for megafans, most everybody has Nevermind already, but there's lots here for the obsessives, the first disc is augmented by all the singles' B-sides, with some killer classics (including their Wipers cover which is amazing), as well as a whole mess of rad live recordings. But the second disc is probably what most people are after, the first few tracks are early demo sessions for Nevermind recorded with Butch Vig at Smart Studios, and features lots of Nirvana classics, but in a rougher and a much more raw and lo-fi form (including their Velvet Underground cover). The second batch of tracks might be our favorites, a handful of boombox demos, which sound appropriately super blown out and shitty, the sound rife with drop outs, and every time the band kicks on the distortion the sound peaks, but for crazy fans, hearing those songs like that, it's pretty fucking cool, and there's the rarity "Old Age" which was in the boxset, but otherwise seldom heard. And finally, a couple BBC sessions, a super rocking version of "Drain You" and a gorgeous, haunting and surprisingly heavy version of "Something In The Way". Apparently there's gonna be an even more deluxe version, 4cd and a DVD, which will include all this stuff as well as the real Nevermind holy grail, the un-remixed version of the record that was rejected and sent to Andy Wallace to be gussied up. But odds are for most folks, this is more than enough.
Nice packaging with lots of cool pix, including the original photo of the baby with a handwritten note that reads "if anyone has a problem with his dick we can remove it". Not much in the way of liner notes, but it hardly matters. One of the greatest rock records ever, from one of the greatest bands ever.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
We got a lot of unwarranted flak for our recent review of the Nirvana box. I think it was when we said that -everybody- liked Nirvana, and those who claimed they didn't were just trying to stay cooler than everyone else. Well, we still sort of believe that's true, but in the interest of keeping folks less riled up, let's just say ALMOST everyone loves Nirvana, and why the hell not? (Rhetorical question there, so no emails please.) They were scruffy little fuckers who hit the jackpot, and then fell apart with the whol world watching. The death of Kurt Kobain was our generations Lennon, or Morrison. And like Lennon, and Morrison and pretty much every superstar, the minute they hit the dirt, the maggots came out of the woodwork looking to cash in. Sad to think it's now happening to Kobain and Nirvana, there was a time, where the thought of pointless best of's and perfect Xmas gift box sets would have been laughable. But here we are, with a "best of the box" collection. If you are a fan of Nirvana, enough to want a bunch of weird demos and boom box recordings, would you really hesitate to spend $50? We thought not. So who the hell is this marketed to? Dicks in big trucks who want to blast "Smells Like Teen Spirit" don't want to hear a demo version of a b-side recorded on a boom box. But hell, it's almost Xmas and Courtney Love needs to support whatever habit she's got going on, and the guys in Nirvana could use a few bucks (well Dave Grohl is probably doing okay with the Foo Fighters) so there are bound to be some folks who are slightly curious about the early days, and rougher rawer side of Nirvana but aren't willing to part with that $50, so this then is for you. The rest of us, who LOVE Nirvana, and were blown away by the box set, get a nice little 'fuck you' in the form of this little collection. Three 'unreleased' tracks, which they assume means we'll all rush out and buy this, even after picking up the boxset, cuz (be sure to realize this next bit is being written -facetiously-) we bet those three tracks just couldn't fit on those three discs in the box, or they were probably 'discovered' just after the box was released (okay, end sarcasm here). Well, unless you're loaded and have money to burn or are truly a completist, best to probably pass, or just wait for the inevitable BOX SET II. But if you do dig Nirvana, but your thriftiness manages to outweigh your love of the band, well then this disc just might be what you've been waiting for!
Been trying to figure out what to write about this for a while now. Every time I sit down to write it, I feel like I'm trying to write a euology for an old friend. Which should speak volumes. We knew this was coming. And man, were we excited. And it is not a disappointment in any way. If anything, it's more than we could have hoped for. See, everyone loves Nirvana. Everyone. Those of you who say you don't are just trying to be c'ool'. Sort of like the people who talk about how the Beatles suck. The Beatles did not suck. They wrote more perfect pop songs than any band in the history of rock and roll. Nirvana also don't suck. And are also responsible for some of the best songs ever. It's not cool to pretend you don't like Nirvana. Not at all. In fact, it's unbelievably UNCOOL. Why deny yourself some of the most important, visceral music of the last 15 years? Because it gets played on MTV? Because jocks blast "Smells Like Teen Spirit" after the big game? Nope, sorry. Not good enough.
Nirvana were one of those bands we could all love. Heavy enough to appeal to headbangers, raucous enough to still be punk, but equipped with a pop sense unrivalled, and thus able to whip out the most beautifu pop song in the world without a second thought -- usually sandwiched between two swirling snarling blasts of stage destroying chaotic rrroooaaaar. But that's part of what was so charming about Nirvana. Even when they were huge, they acted like you or me. Stupid jokes, smashing guitars, unlikely covers, ripped jeans and t-shirts and greasy long hair. It was like your pal or your older brother was snatched out of your suburban hellhole of a life and made a rock star. And how could you not love that (once you got over wishing it was you)? Which also goes to why it was such a blow when Kurt Cobain died. I literally cried. At the time I remember thinking "Why the fuck am I crying." I mean, it's not like he was a friend of mine or something. But he was something special. To me. To everyone I know. And Nirvana was something special. Our generation's Beatles? Maybe. But definitely the most important band of the nineties. Responsible for reshaping popular music, killing off hair metal, and giving us music that would be the soundtrack to our lives: breakups, mixtapes, road trips, broken hearts, life and death, fucking and fighting. Sounds like hyperbole but it's really not. This band was and is really important to me, and millions of other folks. Which is pretty remarkable. After the death of Cobain, and after getting over the sheer sadness and loss, one could not help but think about all the amazing music and the songs that would now never be written. Callous maybe, but the music is what made us love him/them. Their recent greatest hits disc offered us the unreleased "You Know You're Right", which was at the time the greatest thing we could've heard, a song as good as any of their others, seemingly pulled from the ether. And now we have this. A collection of what is supposedly everything. or at least everything worth releasing. And it is absolutely fantastic. I literally got all teary listeing to this, and the DVD had me all choked up as well. Can't remember the last time a record did that to me.
So, what's on it? If you're like me, it hardly matters. Just knowing that it's stuffed to the gills with rare and unreleased Nirvana songs and I'm sold. If you need more than that, here goes. Don't sell back your greatest hits though, "You Know You're Right" only appears here as a solo acoustic recording from 1994. This version may not rock as hard, but it is a lot more intense and personal. The box is basically in chronological order, so disc one is definitely gonna hit the spot for those of us (like Allan) who loved Bleach the best. Demos and acoustic tracks and live on the radio, this is all Holy Grail sort of stuff. Live versions of Zeppelin's "Heartbreaker" and "Moby Dick" done in suitably ramshackle chaotic Nirvana style. Live versions and demos of tracks that would show up on Bleach. But by far the most exciting tracks are the unreleased songs. "White Lace And Strange", "Help Me I'm Hungry", "Mrs. Butterworth", "Grey Goose", "Token Eastern Song" and more. Disc two has less unreleased tracks but lots of alternate versions of tracks from future records, as well as loads of b-sides (their split with the Jesus Lizard, maybe one of the best Nirvana songs ever) and covers (Wipers!) and a big ol' chunk of solo acoustic versions of classic tracks that sound even more intense and harrowing performed sans band. Disc three brings us close to the end. A handful of demos and more solo acoustic versions of songs you already know and love. Highlights include the track "Sappy" which was a secret track on a benefit compliation and was originally titled "Verse Chorus Verse" and is another of their best curiously relegated to being hidden uncredited at the end of a random comp ("Train In Vain" anyone?). Also "Marigold", the only Nirvana song sung by Dave Grohl, an obscure b-side, that hints at Grohl's Foo Fighter future. A sweet and jangly Vaselines cover and more. The set ends with a solo acoustic version of "All Apologies" and if you hadn't gotten all emotional yet, this one will definitely do it to you.
The DVD is pretty amazing as well and adds to the whole feeling of Kurt being an old friend who passed away. Mostly home movies, the first chunk is a party / rehearsal in Krist's mom's house and features the band rocking out in a panelled, carpeted basement, while various rockers sit around drinking beer. Cute and sad, and funny and sort of remarkable how amazing they were as a band even so early on. The rest of the DVD is made up of various tracks filmed live in various locations, from small clubs to huge arenas. Lots of hilarious onstage banter, lots of drum kit destroying, and lots of powerfully off kilter versions of all of the best Nirvana songs.
Beautifully packaged in an oversized hardcover book, on the front an embossed metal plate featuring the band in their Sunday best, as if they were at a funeral. Or a wake. Because as sad as this is, and as much as this makes us miss someone we felt we knew as well as our best friend, and a band who meant more to us than almost any in our memory, under the circumstances, we couldn't be happier.
