This long out of print lp (originally released on vinyl via Yik Yak, then reissued on cd by Narnack) is finally available again on wax. 3 is one of the last of the early OCS records, before the OCS became Thee Oh Sees, and this one man bedroom project became a proper band, here's our original (slightly altered) review from WAY back in 2005, long before most of the rest of the world had gone crazy for Thee Oh Sees...
Ah, the sweeter side of John Dwyer. It's always been a struggle for Dwyer, between his sweat soaked spazz rock, club smashing, instrument battering side (Landed, Pink And Brown, Coachwhips, etc.) and his lonely boy, mix tape, bedroom, acoustic and sensitive side (OCS). Well by the time 3 was originally released, Dwyer's garage rock combo the Coachwhips had called it quits, making OCS Dwyer's main focus and setting the stage for the transition from OCS to Oh Sees. Dr. Jeckel has regained control and banished Mr Hyde to wait patiently in the background....
Like the first OCS record, released on Andee's tUMULt label (And still available!), this is a fantastic collection of beautifully ramshackle, intimate and home recorded lo-fi indie bedroom folk. However, unlike the tUMULt release, which included a second disc that was a clattery, crunchy, crashing NOISE record, the sound here steers clear of that sort of noisiness, and is chock full of simple strummed guitars, echoey percussiony, big empty room rhythmic clatter, distant distorted melancholy melodies, haunting reverby electric guitar, quavery falsetto vocals, drowsily affected jangle shuffling snare drums and hazy atmospheres... all occasionally peppered with swooping stuttering psych rock space effects, chirping birds, and creaking rattling soundmakers of all kinds. For fans of Sentridoh, Shrimper and all things 4-track, lo-fi, jangly, shuffley and strummy! Fans of Thee Oh Sees who missed out on the early years, would do well to check this out, and see where it all started...
We've never listed anything by SoCal psych ensemble Octagrape before, but we sure couldn't pass this one up! How cool is it, that they've made the alliterative choice to cover songs by these four quasi-obscure bands: Major Stars ("Syntoptikon"), Mayyors ("Ghost Punch"), Dymaxion ("Verfremdungseffekt"), and Marble Sheep ("Melted Moon")?! Now that's some big indie garage psych collector geek taste cred right there. Not sure which is the most surprising choice, who has covered any of those bands before? I guess we're most impressed with the choice of the Mayyors, good to be reminded of that short-lived, utterly amazing fuzz punk noise rock combo from Sacto (who played one of the SXSW showcases we did with WFMU a few years back). The Mayyors, damn.
And Octagrape do a 'grape' job on all these tracks, getting wild and woolly as necessary to live up to the originals; their cover of the Mayyors is appropriately loud and distorted (the lo-fi recording on Octagrape's "little 4-track" of course helps here), their take on Japan's Marble Sheep is perfectly plodding and howlingly spaced out, the Dymaxion one nicely quirky-jerky, and Major Stars are also done justice, their howling riff-fest bathed in hella distortion too. It's pretty freaking epic (all 15 minutes of it, outdoing the original by almost 5 minutes). Was the Major Stars' version even this good? This 12" this makes us want to check out some of Octagrape's own songs too, someday...
Around here at aQ we live for the moments of musical discovery that seem to appear out of nowhere. On a rare occasion those moments are created by an artifact dropped off in the store by the creator himself. In our age of internet buzz and blogosphere strip mining, it's exciting and refreshing to be floored by a piece of proper wax passed on in person, without us knowing a damn thing about it beforehand. This record represents one of these moments, and Laws, the brand new lp from LA's William Marshall, aka Octavius, is really blowing our minds right now, so much so that we absolutely had to jump on the chance to make it record of the week! A dizzying assemblage of fucked up outsider post witch house, damaged and deranged avant industrial and whispered, hiss-wreathed melancholic brooding downer experi-techno-pop!
Laws is a multidimensional excursion through the depths of urban isolationism. The dead dreams of metropolis living and lifelong plans falling apart seem to be woven into the sonic fabric. You're all alone in this burned out city, and it's a dark, dark time. The sound is grinding, buzzing, thumping and industrial. The beats are constructed with rusted rebar shards, rattling about the charnel house floor, like some subwoofer-shook bones long forgotten. Octavius' caustic and restrained sound world creates an intensely claustrophobic mood. On tracks like "Apartments" and "Of Mask and Money", the sounds of sharpening knives and blistering white noise blasts commingle with a tense, gasping for breath vocal delivery. As the songs flow onward, layer upon layer of noisy mechanical skree stack up against beautifully stark and forlorn melodies. Haunting, discordant synth stabs add subtle harmonic depth to the tunes, as the vocals, seemingly hacked to bits, syllables left out or cut short, writhe to the beat. The sounds are abrasive and damaged and robotic, but there is never too much going on at one time and everything sits in the mix in such a way that the songs really breathe. It's got that hypnotic sonic subtlety of Berlin era Bowie mixed with the pulsating noisy gnash of Throbbing Gristle. Speaking of Bowie, one of the raddest moments on Laws comes in the form of a "cover" of "Breaking Glass". The low slung, heroin sheen funk of the original is replaced by a fiercely mechanical drum machine stomp, some heavy as fuck JK Flesh-like digitally distorted guitar chugs bashing with the beat, while cascading doppler blips and scraping synths swirl around the stereo field. The only recognizable element are the lyrics, although delivered in the by now signature manner in which Octavius uses his voice, and that is to say fractured and corrosive, hissing hypnosis. Totally bent and completely AMAZING!
There are moments of dark meditation, such as "CCC CCC" and "331 155". Moody, drifting soundscapes of splintered metallic klang, ping-ponging singing bowls, bolstered with aphotic, creepy crawly Carpenter-like synth drones. Beautifully oscillating cinematic ambience laid over what sounds like a far off string section unfurling some somber, elegiac melody. Psychic TV's "Silver and Gold" comes to mind, except with a mechanical bass drum throb twisting beneath the surface. These hazy, murky moments of sonic darkness serve as tension builders. Haunting and anxious and mesmerizing respites from the churning corrosive elements that make up the bulk of Laws.
"Liars & Thieves" is definitely the centerpiece of Laws. Abusive electro-psychosis, uncomfortable and polluted with an industrialized cacophony, and scrap metal pounding rhythms, Octavius allows his reflections on failure and anonymity to unravel in a harrowing, stream of conscious cypher. Imagine Tricky rapping over Coil's "Fire Of The Green Dragon". Paranoid and demented, the noise and words melding to create a bleak miasma of isolation. Moody and tense and wholly original.
Laws pushes all the right buttons for us. It references the WAVES (minimal/NO/cold/synth), without getting mired in any particular sub-genre. It's noisy and abrasive and grim, reminding us of the gnarlier moments of Coil and TG, but produced in such a subtle manner that new layers of sound present themselves with each listen. It's got enough Suicide like swagger as not to get totally bogged down in its mechanized, vitriol pummel. Hypnotic and tensely mesmerizing, the album as a whole is so consistent in its vibe, we find ourselves listening to it over and over and over again, just to get lost, deeper and deeper, in its seedy sonic underbelly.
Packaged lovingly in a minimalist, silver embossed white card stock sleeve, with a beautiful 16 page book of lyrics as well as some killer collage work by Brooklyn based artist Justin Sloane. Do yourself a favor and snatch this twisted gem up quick, really some of the most mind fuckingly special and original music we've heard around here in a long time!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
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5" lathe cut of that skronky skree we love so much. Limited to 50 copies or something insane like that. We only got a handful.
Part II of the mighty Mithring cycle from screeching skronk and skree mongers Octis. Impossibly convoluted and gloriously obtuse. Utterly and completely fucking RULING!!!
The bad news is, of course, that this spiffy 5" lathe cut is ultra limited to only 50 copies, of which we were allotted about 5!! So fastest 5 get 'em, the rest of you will just have to struggle along through the rest of your miserable lives with that gaping Octis shaped hole in your heart...
Part III of the mighty Mithring cycle from screeching skronk and skree mongers Octis. Impossibly convoluted and gloriously obtuse. Utterly and completely fucking RULING!!!
The bad news is, of course, that this spiffy 5" lathe cut is ultra limited to only 50 copies, of which we were allotted about 5!! So fastest 5 get 'em, the rest of you will just have to struggle along through the rest of your miserable lives with that gaping Octis shaped hole in your heart...
Fretboard brainiac Mick Barr (of Orthrelm, Crom-Tech, Quix*o*tic, and Octis) is back with a new album from his solo manifestation Octis (and is also now living here in San Francisco, playing in the Flying Luttenbachers). Ocrilim is one 33 minute track of squiggly quasi-metallic guitar and drum machine. Electro-shock therapy too expensive? Try this! A tinny drone jabbed and jarred with manic outbursts of hyper spazz guitar, with which the drum machine can barely keep up. It's, in a word, maddening. And of course we love it.
Solo project of Mick Barr, formerly of DC superheroes CROM TECH! Octis is the polar opposite of Mick's other current band, Orthrelm, which wields lengthy pummeling epics. Octis is seventy two tracks of lightning fast lo-fi speed metal guitar solos
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Punishing split. One half insane technical freakout, one half chaotic noise damage. You figure out which is which...
Michael Lloyd, the creative force behind October Country, might be more familiar to some AQ customers as a member of the legendary West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band. While OC is not nearly as drug addled and far out as the WCPAEB, their sunshine-y, shimmery soft pop, equal parts Beach Boys, Beatles and Byrds, is still flecked with hints of lysergic psychedelia and brief glimpses of jangly trippiness.
Lloyd was a musical prodigy: publishing deal at age thirteen, composed the soundtrack for Spielberg's first short film, played in a group called the New Dimensions as well as the WCPAEB. Through some random circumstances he began writing songs for the newly christened October Country (after a song he wrote, they were formerly the Last Two) and eventually became their primary songwriter and a sort of de facto band member.
The sound is light and breezy, sunny and care free. Think the Free Design, the Hollies, the aforementioned three B's. All bubby bouncy bass, jangly guitar, playfully honking horns, occasional sweeping strings, and lots of glorious harmonies.
Definitely not a 'weird' record at all, just a really awesome lost pop classic!
Octomutt swiftly follow up their recent Pretty Side album with this pipin' Hot Stove. When the second song (the album's title track) kicked in, we imediately noticed the vocal presence and anticipated that the album was going to be quite a lively (almost feisty) affair in comparison to its considerably more gentle instrumental predecessor. Just check out that tune's thumpin' churn! The rest of the album however settles into a more loping, folky blues pace. As usual, the SF duo's fantastic musicianship is in full bloom as they spin their latest quirky musical yarns. Nice!
Fine veteran SF musicians Ted Savarese and Ashley Adams refuse to follow flavor of the day trends, instead they continue to follow their own muse. This time their song selection weighs heavy on respectful cover versions which might involve sweet lullabies, old tyme waltzes, old movie and show tunes (for instance, the theme from the 1960's Tammy series which starred Debbie Reynolds) and/or outbreaks of jazz -- all beautifully performed with loving care. The entirely instrumental Pretty Side is much less obviously trippy and offkilter than their previous self titled album or Savarese's other project Drizzoletto, but it's no less whimsical. Their intimate arrangements of guitar, bass, accordion and trumpet might remind you of a bygone era when things moved at a much slower pace.
Another project from the folks who brought us the quirky Drizzoletto Live At KXLU disc a short time ago. Octomutt are Ted Savarese and Ashley Adams and they weave meandering guitars and slinking loops with an easygoing anchor of standup bass. There's a definite down home, earthy feel to Octomutt's music - seeming very casual and off the cuff - however an occasional detour into more trippy, eccentric territory is certainly not out of the question. They're joined on the final track "Monkey And The Dolphin" by Drizzoletto co-hort and man about town Ralph Carney (tenor saxophone, flute and bongos).
Reissue of obscure British pop-psych band from the early seventies. Sounds like a perfect mix between The Pretty Things and The Beatles, so if you dug the Aerovons, or Truck, you might want to check this out too. Contains their lone 1971 album, Restless Night, and ten bonus tracks, including a dead on cover of The Beatles "I Am The Walrus".
Whoa, the mixed bag of words that make up not only the groups' band names but also the album's title sure reflect the mixed bag that is the music! Each track is radically different from the next. It's almost as though you're listening to a compilation. A little bit of everything. if you dug Black Moth Super Rainbow all on their own with their album Dandelion Gum, then you're gonna keep the love alive with The House of Apples and Eyeballs, their collaboration with The Octopus Project.
Squiggly synth tentacles wrap their suckers around the lite funky grooviness. Clitter clatter percussive sounds both from a drum kit and a drum machine, softly strummed guitar chords, and spacey vocoded vocals are chopped up, tumbled together and baked in the summer sun. Tweaked, fluffy wooziness. If your town still has a rollerskating rink, they should have this playing non-stop!
It's on Not Not Fun, so we were sort of expecting something a bit noisier and heavier, but instead, Odd Clouds traffic in some sort of fractured stoner folk, stumbling shambolic space rock, skittery and skeletal, lysergic and lethargic, some seriously druggy weirdness.
The opening track is a rickety campfire crawl, with some almost black metal sounding vocals, growling and gurgling, beneath some scraped guitars, some simple drumming, everything detuned and melty sounding, tribal and ritualistic, almost sounds like some cool Avarus / Abruptum mashup, also sounds strangely medieval. The second track introduces horns, the guitars get more pronounced and driving, but the vibe is no less fractured and chaotic, if anything, when the horns come in, Odd Clouds begin to resemble late great Northwestern outfit Reeks And The Wrecks, whose sole record (released on tUMULt) channeled the same sort of drunken druggy sprawl.
The record dips into krautrock and space rock, but even in those moments the band tend to ramble and wander, we hear hints of No Neck and Sunburned Hand Of The Man, free and flowing and abstract, but dark and sinister, the drums usually offering up splatters of percussion instead of rhythm, everything hovering in a haze of reverb and delay, playful melodies surface here and there, often only to be swallowed whole by those creepy vox, the horns add a strange jazzy vibe once in a while, but just as often bleat and moan and just make the proceedings sound that much more haunting and otherworldly. Really really rad, a nice surprise for sure, and WAY recommended
Very lovely! Odessa Chen is quite a one-woman band, composing, singing and performing nearly all of the instruments for this, her debut album. Her voice soars gracefully from childlike whisper to haunting wail to crystal clear heights over the dramatic waves of guitars, keyboards, strings and percussion. Charles Denison provides backing vocals on the fifth song "Fringe" making for a nice earthy counterpoint. The atmosphere is filled with heartache and yearning. Definitely for fans of the impassioned voices of Tori Amos or Sarah McLachlan.
More rad psych rock reissue action here, courtesy of the Shadoks label. Their latest batch of cds delve into the prog rock past of a place known for interesting music (and volcanoes, and fairies), Iceland! Svanfridur, Trubrot, and this one, Odmenn, which we're reviewing first 'cause it's one we'd heard before, we already knew we loved it, and it's possibly the heaviest of the bunch. Poppy too, though, these songs are syncopated, swinging ear candy for those into what DJ Andy Votel over at Finders Keepers likes to call "hairy funk". The band formed in 1966, and after several years spent perfecting their groovy and rather heavy progressive blues rock, this record was to be their only full-length release. A double album, 15 tracks, originally released in 1970. All but one of the songs sung in their native Icelandic.
It's a joy, full of irresistibly loping grooves, fuzzy riffage, gentle folky parts, wild guitar solos, and lyrics pertinent to political protest and hippy ideals (so we're told, not understanding Icelandic), yeaaah! There's beautiful, blissed out melodies ("Kaerleikur") and sheer freaked out acid rock excess (the 20 minute, side-long album-ender "Frelsi") and lots of groovy stuff in between. Well, not in between those particular two tracks, as they follow one another, but in between those extremes, across the whole disc, we mean.
We'd recommend Odmenn to fans of other killer Scandinavian psychedelia such as Moses (another recent Shadoks reish), Baby Grandmothers, Mecki Mark Men, and, latterly, Dungen. And it comes with extensive liner notes, as well as vintage photos and graphics, in the thick cd booklet. Very cool.
Yeah we know, here at Aquarius Records it's always Jewelled Antler this, Jewelled Antler that. They're our friends, we're big fans, and we wax enthusastic about all the great music they make all the time (heck there's at least one other Jewelled Antler item on this very list). And we know a lot of you out there are equally enamoured of the Jewelled Antler thing. If that's you -- and like us, make sure to get EVERY Jewelled Antler related release that comes out -- then you can pretty much stop reading this right now and just buy this darn disc, you need it / want it / must buy it. But if you're more of the casual Jewelled Antler fan, or not yet familiar with their stuff but curious, then, well, we'll say pretty much the same thing, just buy it! Yep, that's because this new Of opus is one that we'll be pointing Jewelled Antler novices to as a true JA essential (and not just 'cause its in print and on cd, as opposed to being one of their many out of print cd-rs, although that helps). Of is the "instrumental" solo project of JA linchpin Loren Chasse, whom you may also know from such sonic congregates as Thuja, Blithe Sons, Child Readers, Coelecanth, and Id Battery among others. He's done other solo recordings under the L.Chasse name but as Of he takes his textural, field recording approach and makes it into something more overtly, hauntingly musical, something like a one-man Thuja, his ear exploring both the wilds of the woods and the sounds he could conjure on his own with an array of instruments and objects. Allan immediately recognized (with nostalgia) the field recordings of Pennsylvanian night-time buzzings incorporated in the track "Glowing Prints". Such sounds of nature merge perfectly with Chasse's own darkened drones, percussive textures, distorted strum, shimmering tones from bells and bowls, wheezing harmonium, etc. It's music to drift off to sleep to, to dream strange dreams and then awake immersed in sound, wondering where and what you are. Utterly utterly beautiful. What a darn great second Of album! (fyi: the first, The Infant Paths, originally a cd-r, is to be reissued soon on cd as well!)
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
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Oooh this is good. Haunting, gentle, abstract-seeming but musically very pretty stuff, in the vein of the best folk/drone from Tower Recordings and Kemialliset Ystavat, Popul Vuh and Brian Eno. Perhaps you've heard the Atrium Musicae "Musique de la Grece Antique" disc? This too sounds like imaginary ancient music, maybe made by wood-spirits before the dawn of man. An elemental, atmospheric sonic ritual. Of is the new solo project of AQ-pal Loren Chasse. You might know him from Thuja, Id Battery, Blithe Sons, Child Readers, Coelacanth, numerous other "Jewelled Antler" projects... There was an Of track on Jewelled Antler's Heat & Birds compilation, and this cd-r is the debut full-length release from Of, dedicated to Loren's grandmother who passed away recently. Now maybe you're wondering, doesn't Loren already record solo as under his own name, putting out stuff like that great Hedge of Nerves cd on Anomalous, so what's with this Of moniker? Well, with Of, Loren takes the field recording / experimental sound collage ideas that he brought to Id Battery and his previous solo projects and brings it into a live-recorded, improvised *musical* context, where --this is important-- in addition to minidisc and contact mic, he's also playing more traditional sorts of musical instruments. Kinda like a one-man Thuja, or Blithe Sons or Child Readers. There's guitar, oud, bells, harp, pipes, whistles, bowed wires, harmonium, drumkit, and a 150 year old mellodion (pump organ) employed here, plus the usual assortment of rocks, sticks, and other natural debris that Loren "plays". Also to be heard is record crackle from an old Victrola, and recordings of wind and water made by his mother on her sailboat. All lovingly lo-fi home (and outdoors -- in California, Maryland, and Pennsylvania) recorded and mixed with handheld tape recorder, mindisc, and computer. Sleepy, dark, and meditative, "The Infant Paths" is a perfect example of the Jewelled Antler aesthetic, a musical methodology where lapping water sounds complement harmonium drones and carefully plucked guitar strings; tinkling bells and crackling branches accompany simple, fragile melodies found on broken organ keyboards; where nature and the environment are musical collaborators with poetic souls like Mr. Chasse.
Unlike Blithe Sons or Child Readers, this is all instrumental -- nope, you won't hear any vocals from Loren here, the only singing is done by birds. Someone else (Richard Youngs, Greg Weeks, the Blithe Sons themselves) might have been tempted to sing over these tracks, but they're plenty magical without any wispy vocals or lyrical content. Dense and detailed, suitable for your own dreams and reveries. Wow. We knew he had it in him, but still we're impressed. One of our favorite releases by Mr. Chasse yet!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
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Not only did Thuja's Loren Chasse so very recently grace us with a phenomenal full-length cd from his solo project Of (reviewed last list), he has also now just brought in a handful of these Of cd-rs he originally produced to sell on Thuja's December jaunt to a festival in Scotland. Maybe 12 bucks might seem just a little pricey for a 25 minute cd-r, but Loren's made 'em look really nice (each one with an individual leaf-rubbing and handwritten credits) and more importantly, the music makes it well worth it. The first, five minute track begins with some pleasantly harsh distortion before settling into a soothing drone, Chasse weaving together both field recordings and his own instrumental improvisations into one seamless, organic whole. This is but the warm-up for the other, twenty-minute track on here that's an exquisite late-night humid dreamscape that you won't want to wake up from, which makes hypnotic use of what I think could be frog croakings but also sound a lot like a ticking clock... Needless to say, any and all Of fans need this, and as well it's recommended to all of you into nocturnal, eternal nature-boy drone!
Loren Chasse, one of the chief swamis of the collective Jewelled Antler sound through such projects as Thuja, Blithe Sons, Child Readers, Franciscan Hobbies, Ov, and too many more to list (boy, they used to crank out those cd-rs!), records solo under the moniker Of (the similarly named Ov being the duo of Chasse with his wife and AQ-employee Christine, full disclosure). Simply put, we love Of (and Ov), of course... and are always happy when Chasse takes some time away from his other activities (the somewhat less musical of which being his day job as a public school teacher) to craft a new Of album, a phantom tendril from his own personal dreamworld reaching through our shared reality to caress our ears and cause imaginary crystals to glow softly somewhere within that part of our minds attuned to such blissful vibrations. Not to make this sound like any sort of New Age fluff though, as while as ethereal and meditative as this is, Chasse always incorporates some primitive grit into his work, his music full of feedback hiss, quiet distortion, ambient elemental field recordings of nature, the magnified rubbings of rocks and plants, objects close to the ground, part of the earth, illuminated (and given shadow too) by the radiation of a far-off, flaming star.
The music of The Sun and Earth Together is akin to a slowly turning mobile, as if it were giving off drones and tones as well as glinting with color and the reflections of light. As light shimmers, so does this music. As light dims, it dims too. The abstract sculptural shapes of this imagined mobile move in beautiful indeterminate patterns, much as the sounds Chasse conjures from disparate sources* as cymbalom and stones, autoharp and voice, bells and bowls, guitar and zither all drift delicately, and droningly, in phosphorescent clouds and constellations. This disc clocks in at 51 minutes, consisting of four tracks, each one longer than the last, from the three minute opener "Ignimbrites" to the 26 minute closing title track. All composed of tingling, whispered layers of lo-fi loveliness, gentle and graceful and ultimately glorious.
*we're guessing on some of these...
More candy-coated lo-fi Beatles-esque pop chews from Kevin Barnes and friends (some of which are fellow Elephant 6ers Julian Koster, Scott Spillane, and Eric Harris). A super earnest and tweeee theme album of sorts with some unexpected, interesting and
Kevin Barnes recorded these songs on a four track before moving to Athens, GA, to fall in with the super talented and inspiring Elephant 6 posse of popsters (Neutral Milk, Olivia Tremor, Apples etc). Much better than most musicians' four track "early" stuff I can think of, this release sports lush melodies, honest-to-gosh songs you can tell he labored over, and heartstraining sensitivity a la Neutral Milk Hotel. Luckily the charmingly lo-fi production doesn't get in the way, but adds to the light, bedroom quality of the record. Pretty, plaintive and sincere. It might be a little too sweet for some folks (in the past they've triggered definite swoons from some listeners and decisive spit from others), so listen to the sound clips first. Bonus weirdness: all songs named after Dustin Hoffman ("Dustin Hoffman Needs a Bath," "Dustin Hoffman Eats the Soap," "Dustin Hoffman's Wife Makes a Sarcastic Remark, Cuts the Head Off a Duck, Places It Where the Tub Was and Begins to Groan," etc).
If you've followed the evolution of ex-Elephant 6-ers Of Montreal it won't come as a total surprise when you hear the spazzed out sugar-pop songs that make up this new outing. Over the years they've slowly shed their Elephant 6 roots and dipped their feet into more dramatic and charismatic waters. Their last outing Sunlandic Twins was chalk full of instantly catchy dance floor gems. And with Hissing Fauna they've sort of turned into Sparks playing at a teenage dance party! And this is sure to be a hit with all the kids, and for good reason, it took a while but the indie rockers finally learned how to shake their asses and make music that demanded such movement.
Many of the Elephant 6 Collective members have been resurfacing as of late. Not only have the wonderful Olivia Tremor Control's exploratory pop albums been reissued, but many of the bands in the E6's second tier are stepping forward with new albums! Of Montreal are one of those bands. In the E6 family, Of Montreal have always been sorta like OTC's younger less adventurous, more toothsome brother. This time around on Satanic Panic In The Attic, it sounds like Kevin Barnes and co. have taken it easy on the cookie jar and explored a wider palette of musical styles (than the usual E6 folk, psychedelic and pop). Indeed, this just may be their most focused and least obtuse album to date. Fear not though dear fans of their trippy pop sound, it's still very much in bloom with moments of pure psychedeli-twee (just check out their songtitles and lyrics)!
Of Montreal sure have come a long way in the decade since their birth. While they began life as the next generation torch carriers for the Elephant 6 scene, their sound has evolved into their own very distinct, eclectic and ambitious colorful pop music that's not afraid to shake asses and lay on lots of dramatic sass in the process. Skeletal Lamping finds them continuing their Sparks like take on grandiose and multipart pop suites with all songs bleeding into each other as Kevin Barnes sings boldly about his sexual desires and curiosities. Barnes for sure sounds like someone who needs to be at the center of attention at all times and his lyrics can often sound like they should be coming from someone half his age but as long as he keeps creating such entertaining and creative pop then we can live with that. And the packaging on both the cd and vinyl is as colorful, elaborate and compelling as the sounds contained inside.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
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Nice to see that some branches of the Elephant 6 Collective are still bearing pretty blossoms and juicy pop fruit. In addition to the debut from A Hawk And A Hacksaw (the solo project from Neutral Milk Hotel's Jeremy Barnes), stalwart E6ers Of Montreal have released a new album. While those Apples In Stereo folks remain on hiatus, Of Montreal's Kevin Barnes has kept the flame aglow on their Brian Wilson torch, assuming the E6 pop helm with plentiful ability and enthusiasm. Amid the tilt-a-whirl glee of their predominantly sweet, jangle perkiness, the band doesn't shy away from funking things up (on the third and seventh songs), strange-ing things up (on the twelveth track) or diversifying in other ways. Much like on their previous album Satanic Panic In The Attic, they've continued to keep their musical scope set to 'panoramic view' with heavy doses of piano, thick synthesizer textures, dance-y beats, soaring near-operatic vocal grandeur and ultra wordy song titles. Sometimes however it can be almost too heavyhanded, threatening to topple and crush the more delicate aspects of the band. Definitely check out the two brief song samples though, but keep in mind that they can't really do the breadth of the Sunlandic Twins album justice.
Recorded in Nigeria in 1973, the members of Ofege were only in high school when they made this album, but damn! In any battle of the bands competition our money would for sure be on these guys! Infused with a really keen sense of melody as well as nice fuzzy guitar sounds, great drumming and catchy vocals, this is truly a lost Afro-rock gem! We first heard Ofege on the African volume of the Love Peace & Poetry series and then on the great Sound Way compilation Nigeria Rock Special, and if you are like us and can't get enough of those special sounds that were pouring out of Nigeria in the '70s, Ofege will surely hit the spot! We're reminded a bit of that great Chrissy Zebby Tembo reissue we freaked out about last year. Heavily influenced by Western rock of the time, lots of great wah wah jams and that fuzzy guitar sound we never get tired of. Pretty amazing that these guys ranged in age from 15-17 when they made this as it sounds so confident and accomplished.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
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THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Everyone's always saying they just don't make punk rock like they used to, and for the most part that's pretty much true. But, these guys do. Really. Just like the old days. In fact, if you didn't know better, you might find yourself wondering what old SST 7" this is playing, or thinking it must be produced by Spot, assuming they're probably from Hermosa Beach, pretty sure we saw them open for Black Flag, the record probably has cover art by Raymond Pettibon� well ONE of those is true (the cover art), even though this record sounds like they ALL must be.
Off! is most definitely a punk rock super group, Keith Morris (Circle Jerks, Black Flag) on vocals, Steven McDonald (Redd Kross) on bass, Mario Rubalcaba (Earthless, Clickitat Ikitawi, etc) on drums, and Dimitri Coats (Burning Brides) on guitar. Sort of an unlikely lineup, but you'll only think that until you hear these guys play. Blasting, hooky, three chord old school hardcore / punk rock, 16 songs in 18 minutes, originally released as four 7" singles, these songs are short and sharp and are dead ringers for all the bands we loved back in the day. Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Redd Kross, Fear, the Germs, listening to these totally brings all that right back, Morris' distinctive yowl (sounding more and more like Jello Biafra), those killer riffs, the pounding propulsive drumming, the lo-fi production, and the songs, simple but catchy as hell. The jams KILL.
Awesome Pettibon cover art just seals the deal. It's been THIRTY years since the Decline Of Western Civilization came out and introduced punk rock to a whole new audience, and Western civilization is still in decline, and this shit still sounds better than most of the music released over the last three decades...
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.
What else needs to be said about these guys that we didn't say first time around? A kick ass punk rock super group, featuring members of some of our favorite bands, doing pitch perfect eighties punk rock / hardcore, that sounds EXACTLY like from back in the day. Dimitri Coats from Burning Brides, Keith Morris from the Circle Jerks and Black Flag, Steven McDonald from current AQ Record Of The Weekers Redd Kross, and Mario Rubalcaba from Earthless, Clikatat Ikatowi, etc. all kicking out the jams, short and sharp, swaggery and snotty, brief blast of serious punk energy, catchy as hell, check out "Wiped Out" which is a dead ringer for Black Flag's "Nervous Breakdown", and really you might find yourselves constantly casting back to classic punk jams and/or experiencing a permanent case of sonic deja vu, which in this case is not a bad thing at all.
Christian Vander's post-Magma "jazz" project, along the lines of Alice Coltrane's or Pharoah Sanders' 70s stuff mixed with his drumming in Magma. Fantastic. Vander comments: "3rd album of Offering and a decisive new step in my evolution. For the very first time, I apply my theories: don't dream, be aware of reality, don't lose yourself in the maze of intellectual endless sentences; Dig profoundly to learn how to go higher but with your feet still on the ground. It's a key-album, which announces what will be my next albums."
Offering is Magma mastermind Christian Vander's '70s style cosmic jazz meets Magma outfit, and this box set collects their four albums and additionally includes a half-hour bonus track. Thumbs up from Allan the Magma maniac.
New Offspring. You've heard it on the radio, I guess. They gave away a million dollars to a fourteen year old girl who downloaded their single. That was nice of them.
Over the top, '70s worshipping B-movie sci-fi stoner rock? Yes indeedy. You gotta give 'em props for this. Whacked out heavies Ogre from up in Maine - who we already liked for their riff rockin' retro-proto-doom-metal on such previous albums as Dawn Of The Proto-man and Seven Hells - have upped the ante with this new release, totally progging it up with a concept album consisting of just one long song (that's right, one track, but it's over 37 minutes long)! Although it's programmed as one track on the cd, it consists of eleven seamlessly segueing parts, including "II: End-Days", "IV: Queen Of Gasoline", "VIII: Battle At Doom Capital", and "XI: Dawn Of The Proto-man". To be sure, after a few listens, we're still not quite ready or able to summarize the narrative here, but we get the idea that it has something to do with a post-apocalyptic scenario involving environmental catastrophy, gasoline rationing and rampaging dog-men? It's all very Flash Gordon, campy and comic book-y (hence the Kirby-esqe cover artwork) with an underground comix '70s Heavy Metal magazine vibe.
Musically, at various points, and for various reasons, this reminds us of King Crimson, Black Sabbath, Blue Oyster Cult, Queen, Jesus Christ Superstar, and, let's see, Steamhammer's Speech (at about the 27 minute mark). Among other things... The storytelling aspect also might appeal to fans of Hammers Of Misfortune's The Bastard and Slough Feg's Traveller (which also features dog-men), though Ogre isn't at all power metal.
Vocally, Ogre are as always eccentric and expressive, the singer sounding sorta Ozzy-ish, but really dramatic, rising into unhinged screams. He's a bit Mike Patton-y, too (circa The Real Thing?). Once again, we have to say that the vocals here will make it or break it for a lot of folks. Well, that and the whole uber-prog concept deal. Yup, Plague Of The Planet is a love it or hate it proposition for sure. We happen to love it, and say kudos to them for going for it like this. And there's no question that the rollicking riffage on offer is gonna be a positive for anybody who likes, you know, heavy music. (Heavy this is, several members of Ogre also now having joined the new lineup of cult doomsters Blood Farmers by the way.)
This was originally released last year on the Japanese stoner/doom label Leaf Hound, who have unfortunately since folded. Thankfully, Shadow Kingdom in the USA has picked up this disc for domestic reissue.
Do John Dwyer and his Oh Sees comrades ever sleep??!! In the last year it seems like they are either playing a show in town, on tour (by the way they are sooooo on fire live right now!) or putting out records. But hey we ain't complaining cause the less they sleep the more rad music we get. This new split with Paul Cary (we don't know much about him), finds Oh Sees (what happened to the THEE?) sounding more slowed down and slightly stoned, which is a side of the band we do really dig, but don't get to hear that often.
Paul Cary reminds us a bit of The Entrance Band all stripped down and playing on someone's front porch, sort of a rustic bluesy lo-fi folk. But like us you are probably here for (Thee) Oh Sees side of this split which finds them doing two covers, "Hey Buddy" by Iran and "Coma" by Trio. Both tracks were included on the now out of print cd that came with the Zork's Tape Bruise LP release a few months back. And we're stoked that more people will finally get a chance to here these covers as they were two of our favorite tracks from that collection. No matter what incarnation or direction (Thee) Oh Sees take they seem to be able to do no wrong as of late, and we have to say we feel pretty lucky to get to see them play as much as we do!
Singles collection number three from these local garage rock heroes. The first was a double lp, and while packed with rarities, collected a lot of the singles we already had, but this one, this one we were super excited about cuz it gathers up a ton of tracks, that we, and presumably many of you, were never able to track down AT ALL, including two jams from their split with David Shrigley, their track from the Bruise Cruise split with Ty Segall, as well as the tracks from a split with Quintron as well as a split with The Mallard. They also toss in their tracks from the two Group Flex comps, as well as one track from the Floating Coffin sessions and two unreleased tracks, so minus 2 or 3 tracks, if you're anything like us, this is essentially like a whole new Oh Sees record!
And since it's all singles, it's all over the map, even moreso than Oh Sees records proper. There's the goofy garage pop lope of opener "Ugly Man", there's the percolating, fuzzed out jangle of "Girls Who Smile", and the blown out, almost Redd Kross sounding "Crushed Glass", everything in the red and blown out, a sixties style psychedelic stomp that kills. There's a killer cover of Sonic youth's "Burning Spear" that we might dig even more than the original, "What You Need" is all tribal drumming, Dwyer's reverbed high pitched yips, and yet still more fuzzed out guitars, heavy on the effects and studio fuckery too. "FBI2" from the split with Quintron finds Dwyer and co. doing their own version of a Quintron jam, a seriously primitive swampy graveyard garage rock stomp, while "Wait Let's Go" is pure jangle pop bliss out. "Always Flying" from the second Group Flex is a cool broody, fuzzed out garage pop dirge, all spare and swaggery, which leads right into "Devil Again" from the Floating Coffin sessions, and it sounds like it could easily have made it on the record proper, all sci-fi organs and garagey groove, rollicking and rambunctious, and finally, two live tracks, the first from the SF Eagle, an extended psych-fuzz groove, with some seriously kick ass breakdowns and some wild guitar slinging, and an even more lo-fi / raw live track captured at Death By Audio, which captures the sweat soaked bloody knuckled energy of the band pretty goddamn perfectly.
Packaged in a cool eye popping reflective silver digipack (vinyl out in December), and features the latest in the ever changing Castle Face logos, this one maybe our favorite, a grimacing castle/turret/volcano with braces!
John Dwyer has been a busy bee as of late. His great new free jazz outfit Swords & Sandals has been playing fiery short sets all around town. He's started his own record label, Castle Face and his first release on the label is his latest Oh Sees (OCS) record which just might be the best one yet! Produced by Kelly Stoltz, Sucks Blood has a wonderful focus that gets stoney, blurry and all bleary and sunsoaked yet the songs still feel so well crafted and the record so perfectly paced. The opening track finds Dwyer reconstructing his garage rock roots with a smokin' lo-fi burner that would make Roky Erickson proud. As the record moves on there is an intoxicating hazy moodiness that emanates so effortlessly from every track start to finish. We love how timeless this record sounds and feels. It's doesn't at all feel like a part of any current trend or scene. Instead it sounds like someone locked up in their room with a window half open as sun, clouds and wind mingle in the sky and songs grow and blossom organically. With no one to please but himself, you get the feeling that Dwyer was able to totally relax and make exactly the record he's been wanting to make for ages. We've already been listening to this in our headphones as we walk through the city, on those afternoons made for wandering aimlessly just to see where you might end up, and this is the perfect soundtrack for sure. Whether laying in the grass, or sitting on the porch, or staying in bed till late in the afternoon, this is the perfect sounds for being busy doing nothing. So totally nice!
