On their second Holy Mountain release, the heavy stoner psych rockers from up in Arcata, California leave their sunless world of redwood forests and venture into the blinding light and open climes of Dune Worship. With its slow grinding rhythms and spiraling washes of feedback, this album is a more hypnotic and meditative shamanistic exploration. These guys go so deep into visionary states, they even have a song called "Illusion Of Illusion," which begins with a low hum and builds into a ten-minute freakout, to crack open your slumbering third eye into a rude awakening with the pounding onslaught of "Ascension" that follows. For White Manna are no gentle psychedelicists, they always carry with them the swagger of the Stooges - even an unabashed wink at Jim Morrison can be heard in the vox throughout. For a more "modern" comparison, we'd recommend 'em to fans of Wooden Shjips and Psychic Ills both.
More heavy duty jammage from these Arcata hard psych space rockers, whose sound is often described as Hawkwind meets the Stooges, and not sure what else we can add cuz that's pretty dang spot on. This new one on UK psych/space label Cardinal Fuzz is a live set from Europe, recorded on tour in 2013, and finds the band unleashing their particular brand of heavy space rocking, all epic druggy sprawls of fuzzed out stoner stomp, and droney motorik fuzz rock drift, woozy, super melodic Sabbath like basslines and some seriously muscular drumming, all wrapped up in squalls of freaky guitar-noise and crunchy, buzzing riffage. The vocals are drawled and echo drenched, and surface throughout, but really, like most bands of their ilk, White Manna are all about the jams, and like their last record, Come Down Safari (originally a picture disc on Valley King, recently reissued on cd by Captcha) the band can jettison 'the song' at any point, and head for the heart of the sun, or the outer reaches of the cosmos, or the depths of some subterranean pit, filling whatever space they end up with oodles of psych freakout ("Acid Head"), but they can just as easily lock into straight up droned out, hard rocking psych pop ("Evil"), or sometimes that above mentioned Sabbathy vibe gets pushed right to the fore, with some super doomy heaviness ("X Ray"). Needless to say, heavy psych nerds and space rock headz are gonna want to grab one of these quick, before they're gone, and it's SUPER LIMITED, and on Cardinal Fuzz, so odds are they'll be gone before you know it.
Housed in a cool acid blotter sleeve. Includes a download too!
Disorganized folks we are, sometimes it happens that more than one AQ staffer writes a review for the same release! When that happens, we try to meld 'em together... or heck just run 'em both, its sorta interesting to see how similarly (or not) the reviews turn out. In this case, two views that aren't very far apart at all. See if you can tell which one was written by Andee and which one was written by Kirk...
Review A:
Another blast of transcendent, spaced out, garage psych from these Arcata stoners, and like past records, it's another gloriously drug fueled, FX heavy excursion into the outer reaches of the sonic stratosphere. Pan starts off with a bang, that bang being a heady sprawl of Stooges-y swagger, doused in some serious Hawkwindy-y swirl, a pounding, churning tranced out hypno-rock that never lets up. The vox are buried, a mumbled wasted drawl, psychedelic organs shimmer in the background, multiple guitars tangle into wild serpentine shapes, the songs oozing organically, stretched out into endless zoner jams, occasionally settling into something a little more tranquil, only to explode into action moments later, and once in a while, winding down into something even more drone-y and dirge-like. And while the rock shorthand for Manna was always Stooges + Hawkwind, Pan is maybe the most perfect distillation of those two sides of the band's sonic psyche, maybe their most rocking, but without sacrificing a bit of the seventies style bongsmoke freakouts, in fact, most of the tracks leave the pop realm altogether within minutes of launch, and never look back.
Review B:
Attention all stoners, trippers, rockers, punks, druggies, freaks, hippies, weirdos, and, well, psych and space rock fans, Arcata, California's own White Manna are back with full length number four (not counting the live one on Cardinal Fuzz)! If you've ever heard a White Manna album before, you already know that on Pan they'll be summoning the dense environs of their hometown, with huge walls of meditative psych dirge. And if you've listened to these guys before, you know they have a unique punk edge to them, often getting compared (by us) to the Stooges. On Pan, right off the bat you get back-to-back repetitive rock riffs that build and twist into spacey trips, definitely giving us that Stooges-meets-Hawkwind vibe. The attitude on Pan has definitely gotten meaner, and more aggressive, calling to mind the last release by Sonoran Desert heavies Destruction Unit. They aren't afraid to really let a song really breath, either, getting into some krautrock territory in some tracks, building and grooving into some 10+ minute jams.
Fans of our other favorite psych bands (Heads, Mugstar, White Hills) and the more punk psych bands like the aforementioned Destruction Unit are in for a treat. Far out.
Oh, and by the way, Captcha also released this as a digipak cd as well as on vinyl... except, that it's not a real cd for some reason, it's just a pro-printed cd-r. So, out of protest at them nonsensically not pressing a REAL cd, we're just listing the vinyl, but heck if you want the cd-r version, let us know, we can get it for you (and unlike the vinyl, it's got a live bonus track, a Hawkwind cover, "Master Of The Universe").
MPEG Stream: "Pan" [/audio/whitemannapan.m3u]
MPEG Stream: "Dunes I" [/audio/whitemannadunesi.m3u]
MPEG Stream: "Evil" [/audio/whitemannaevil.m3u] ----* ----* Relatively New In Stock, Not Yet Reviewed : ----* 999 "The Biggest Tour In Sport/The Biggest Prize In Sport" (Let Them Eat Vinyl) 2lp 31.00
ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE AND THE MELTING PARAISO U.F.O. "High On Heaven: Live In New Haven" (Safety Meeting) 3lp 38.00
AKKOR, KAMURAN "s/t" (Pharaway Sounds) lp 28.00
ALABAMA SHAKES "Sound & Color" (ATO) 2lp 28.00
ALTAMONT "The Monkees Uncle" (Valley King) picture disc 30.00
ALVA NOTO "Xerrox Vol. 3" (Raster-Noton) cd 17.98
AMBARCHI, OREN "Sleepwalker's Conviction" (Black Truffle) lp 26.00
APHEX TWIN "MARCHROMT30a Edit 2b 96" (Warp) 12" 14.98
AYLER, ROBERT "Spirits Rejoice" (ESP-Disk) lp 27.00
BAD GUYS "Bad Guynaecology" (Riot Season) cd/lp 16.98/27.00
BENSIINI "R" (Ektro) cd 14.98
BEST COAST "California Nights" (Harvest) cd/lp 13.98/23.00
BJORK "Vulnicura" (One Little Indian) 2lp 26.00
BLACK MARE / LYCIA "Low Crimes / Silver Leaf" (Magic Bullet) 7" 8.98
BLANCK MASS "Dumb Flesh" (Sacred Bones) cd/2lp 12.98/19.98
BORROWED TIME "s/t" (High Roller) cd 11.98
BRINKMANN, THOMAS "What You Hear (Is What You Hear)" (Editions Mego) cd/2lp 16.98/32.00
BROWNOUT "Brownout Presents: Brown Sabbath" (Ubiquity) cd 15.98
BUDOS BAND "Magus Mountain" (Daptone) 7" 6.98
BUILT TO SPILL "Untethered Moon" (Warner Bros.) cd 14.98
BURROUGHS, WILLIAM "In Dub" (Echo Beach) lp+cd 27.00
CALEXICO "Edge of the Sun" (Anti-) cd/lp 15.98/23.00
CARDUCCI, JOE "Life Against Dementia" (Redoubt Press) book 22.95
CAVE IN "White Silence" (Hydra Head) lp 22.00
CCR HEADCLEANER "Cokesmoker" (Stale Heat/Pollen Season) 12" 14.98
CHADWICK, SARAH MARY "9 Classic Tracks" (Siltbreeze) lp 15.98
CHASNY, BEN "The Hexadic System" (Drag City) book/playing cards 22.00/12.98
CHERRY, DON "Mu Pt. 1 & 2/Orient" (Charly) 2cd 21.00
CIRCLE "Silta" (Ektro) dvd 15.98
CIRCUIT DES YEUX "In Plain Speech" (Thrill Jockey) cd/lp 14.98/17.98
COHEN, CHARLES "Brother I Prove You Wrong" (Morphine) 2lp 26.00
COLE, CRYS "Sand/Layna" (Black Truffle) lp 25.00
COMMUNIONS "s/t" (Tough Love) 12" 12.98
CONFESSOR "Condemned" (Earache) lp 16.98
COTTRELL, DORTHIA "Dorthia Cottrell" (Forcefield) cd 8.98
CRAMPS, THE "Psychedelic Jungle" (Vinilissimo) lp 27.00
CROCODILES "Boys" (Zoo) cd/lp 13.98/15.98
CROOKS ON TAPE "In The Realm Of The Ancient Minor" (Pure Or Gone) lp 16.98
CROWN LARKS "Blood Dancer" (Space Lung/Land Breathing) cd/lp 6.98/12.98
DAMAGED BUG "Cold Hot Plumbs" (Castle Face) cd/lp 13.98/15.98
DAWN OF MIDI "Dysnomia" (Erased Tapes) 2lp 27.00
DEATH "N.E.W." (Tryangle) lp 22.00
DEATH GRIPS "The Powers That B" (Harvest) 2cd 14.98
DECERF, JEAN-PIERRE "Space Oddities 1975-1979" (Born Bad) cd/lp 15.98/21.00
DESTRUCTION UNIT "Live In San Francisco" (Castle Face) lp 15.98
DEVO "Hardcore Devo: Live" (MVD Audio) 2lp 31.00
DIAMOND YOUTH "Nothing Matters" (Top Shelf Records) lp 19.98
DISAPPEARING PEOPLE "Inventory" (Self Released) cassette 4.98
DOCTOR SMITH "Into The Unknown" (Stormspell) cd 11.98
DREAM, THE "Get Dreamy" (Cherry Red/RPM) cd 12.98
DROP DEAD "s/t" (Armageddon) lp 21.00
DUB CONNECTION (PRINCE JAMMY & THE UPSETTERS) "s/t" (Auralux) cd 9.98
EL HIJO DE LA AURORA "The Enigma Of Evil" (Minotauro) cd 17.98
ELECTRIC WIZARD "Dopethrone" (Rise Above) 2lp 34.00
ENFORCER "From Beyond" (Nuclear Blast) cd 13.98
ENSLAVED "In Times" (Nuclear Blast) 2lp 35.00
FAHEY, JOHN "Volume I: Blind Joe Death" (4 Men With Beards) lp 19.98
FAHEY, JOHN "Volume II: Death Chants, Breakdowns and Military Waltzes" (4 Men With Beards) lp 19.98
FAIRHORNS "Fuckup Rush" (Kindarad!) cd 14.98
FAITH NO MORE "Sol Invictus" (Reclamation) cd 13.98
FATHER JOHN MISTY "I Love You, Honeybear" (Sub Pop) 2lp 21.00
FELL, MARK & GABOR LAZAR "The Neurobiology Of Moral Decision Making" (The Death Of Rave) 2lp 28.00
FEVRE, BERNARD "Cosmos 2043" (Anthology) lp 22.00
FEVRE, BERNARD "Suspense" (Anthology) lp 22.00
FF "Ffeeling" (300 Mics) lp/lp+blotter paper 17.98/24.00
FIORE, GIACOMO "IV: American Electric Guitars" (self-released) lp 23.00
FUNKADELIC "Free Your Mind And Your Ass Will Follow" (Westbound / Ace) lp 17.98
FUZZ, THE "Golden Cage" (Genjing Records) 7" 9.98
GASCOIGNE, BRIAN "Phase IV OST" (Waxwork) lp 29.00
GERMS "Forming" (Superior Viaduct) 7" 10.98
GIBSON, DAUGHN "Carnation" (Sub Pop) lp 16.98
GILBERTO, JOAO "The Warm World Of Joao Gilberto" (WaxTime) lp 19.98
GORGUTS "...And Then Comes Lividity Vol 1" (War On Music) lp 21.00
GORGUTS "...And Then Comes Lividity Vol 2" (War On Music) lp 23.00
GORGUTS "...And Then Comes Lividity Vol 3" (War On Music) lp+7" 28.00
GRASSOW, MATHIAS & JOHN HAUGHM "Mosaic" (Dammerung Arts/Anthem) lp 17.98
GULD, MAX "For Enden Af Corridoren" (Dark Entries) lp 17.98
GUNN, STEVE & THE BLACK TWIG PICKERS "Seasonal Hire" (Thrill Jockey) lp 19.98
HAMMER KING "Kingdom of the Hammer King" (Cruz Del Sur) cd 16.98
HANZ BRONZE "s/t" (Range Life) cassette 5.98
HARLEY, RUFUS "King/Queens" (Atlantic) cd 10.98
HAWN "Badmans" (self-released) cassette 4.98
HAXAN: WITCHCRAFT THROUGH THE AGES (WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS) "(OST)" (Sotpackan) cd 17.98
HEADLESS LIZZY AND HER ICEBOX PUSSY "Criminalien Manipulature" (Ophidian Rhythym) cd 9.98
HENRY BLACKER "Summer Tombs" (Riot Season) lp 30.00
HIPERSON "No Need For Another History" (Maybe Mars) 2lp 24.00
HOCKEY NIGHT "Neutral Zone Trap" (Ikuisuus) lp 14.98
HOLDERLIN "Holderlins Traum" (Zyx) lp 21.00
HOLY SERPENT "s/t" (Riding Easy) lp 19.98
HOLYDRUG COUPLE, THE "Moonlust" (Sacred Bones) lp 15.98
HOME BLITZ "Foremost & Fair" (Richie) lp 15.98
IMPLODES "Reverser" (Gilead) 12" 24.00
KING DIAMOND "Tells the Tale of Abigail" (self-released) lp 23.00
KING KHAN & BBQ SHOW, THE "Bad News Boys" (In The Red) lp 15.98
KISS CAM "Kiss and Tell" (self-released) cassette 3.98
KOZELEK, MARK "Rock 'N' Roll Singer" (Badman) lp 17.98
LAST EXIT "Iron Path" (ESP) cd 14.98
LEER, THOMAS "Private Plane International" (Dark Entries) 12" 14.98
LELAND "A Self-Taught, Decathlon, Hard Rock Musician!" (Stoned Circle) cd 17.98
LEVY, BARRINGTON "Shaolin Temple" (Auralux) cd 11.98
LITTLE WINGS "Explains" (Woodsist) lp 15.98
MAY, BRIAN "Turkey Shoot OST" (Dual Planet) cd 14.98
MCLUSKY "Mcluskyism" (Too Pure) lp 17.98
MEDIEVAL "One Morbid" (Buried By Time And Dust) 2lp 32.00
MICACHU "Feeling Romantic Feeling Tropical Feeling Ill" (DDS) 2lp 28.00
MINSK "The Crash And The Draw" (Relapse) cd 14.98
MODEST MOUSE "Strangers To Ourselves" (Epic) 2lp 29.00
MONDO DRAG "New Rituals" (Alive) cd/lp 9.98/12.98
MONDO DRAG "s/t" (Kozmik Artifactz) cd/lp 14.98/22.00
MORRICONE, ENNIO "Veruschka OST" (Dagored) lp 34.00
MORRISSEY "Autobiography" (Penguin Classics) book 18.00
MOTHMEN, THE "Pay Attention" (On U) cd/lp 16.98/22.00
MOUNTAIN GOATS, THE "Beat The Champ" (Merge) 2lp 23.00
NIGHT DEMON "Curse Of The Damned" (Century Media) lp 16.98
NISENNENMONDAI "Live" (Clouds Hill) cd 16.98
NO JOY "More Faithful" (Kemado) lp 23.00
NO MORE "A Rose Is A Rose" (Dark Entries) lp 22.00
NOACK, EDDIE "Ain't The Reaping Ever Done (1962-1976)" (Omni Recording Corporation) cd 17.98
NUN "s/t" (HoZac) lp 14.98
OBNOX "Know America" (Ever / never) lp 17.98
OGRE "Dawn Of The Proto-Man" (Minotauro) cd 17.98
OGRE "Seven Hells" (Minotauro) cd + dvd 17.98
ORCHESTRA BAOBAB "Pirates Choice" (World Circuit) 2lp 30.00
OUR LOVE WILL DESTROY THE WORLD "Carnivorous Rainbows" (Ba Da Bing) lp 17.98
OVERSCAN "Conscious" (Constellation Tatsu) cassette 4.98
PEOPLE OF THE NORTH "Era Of Manifestations" (Thrill Jockey) lp 18.98
PHILLIPE, ANNIE "Sensationnel!: Ye-Ye Bonbons 1965-1968" (Ace) lp 17.98
PLANNING FOR BURIAL "Leaving" (Flenser) 2lp 25.00
POLLARD, ROBERT "Faulty Superheroes" (Rockathon) lp 15.98
POPULARE MECHANIK "Kollektion 03" (Bureau B) cd/lp 19.98/27.00
PORES "Zero Swim" (self-released) cassette 4.98
PORTOPIA '81 "Jet Stream" (Constellation Tatsu) cassette 4.98
PREKOP, SAM "The Republic" (Thrill Jockey) cd/lp 14.98/17.98
PRINCE JAMMY VS CRUCIAL BUNNY "Dub Contest" (Auralux) cd 8.98
PRISONERS, THE "A Taste Of Pink!" (Big Beat) lp 17.98
PYRAMIDS "A Northern Meadow" (Profound Lore) lp 34.00
QUTTINIRPAAQ "Dead September" (Rural Isolation) lp 13.98
ROBERTSON, TIM "Outer Planetary Church Music" (Aguirre) lp 25.00
RUSSELL, ARTHUR "Corn" (Audika) cd/cd 16.98/21.00
SAN UL LIM "The Second" (Granadilla) lp 27.00
SANDWITCHES, THE "Our Toast" (Empty Cellar) lp 17.98
SCHARPLING & WURSTER "The Best Of The Best Show" (Numero Group) 16cd+book 113.00
SCHLIPPENBACH, ALEXANDER VON "Pakistani Pomade" (Cien Fuegos) lp 32.00
SCORPIONS "Lonesome Crow" (Universal) lp 27.00
SETH "s/t" (Minotauro) 2cd 17.98
SHANA FALANA "Set Your Lightning Fire Free" (Team Love) lp 14.98
SHERWOOD, ADRIAN "Sherwood At The Controls Volume 1: 1979-1984" (On U) cd/2lp 16.98/27.00
SHOVELS "s/t" (Homeless) lp 19.98
SILENCE, THE "s/t" (Drag City) lp 25.00
SILVERFISH "Fat Axl" (Southern) lp 16.98
SIR LORD VON RAVEN "The Age Of Machines" (Guitars And Bongos) 2lp 24.00
SLEAFORD MODS "Tiswas" (Invada) 12" 26.00
SNICKERS "On The Hi-Fi" (Poor L'Amour) 7" 4.98
SNIPES, JONATHAN "Starry Eyes OST" (Waxwork) lp 34.00
SOCIETY OF ROCKETS "Plutonian Blues" (self-released) lp 14.98
SONIC YOUTH "Bad Moon Rising" (Goofin') lp 15.98
SOUND PROJECTOR, THE "Presents Pandaemonium" magazine 9.98
SPEAKING CANARIES, THEE "Platter Base Must Be Constructed Of Moon-Rock" (Chunklet) lp 16.98
SPELLJAMMER "Vol. 2" (Riding Easy) lp 19.98
SPRINGSTEEN, BRUCE "Born in the USA" (Columbia) lp 23.00
SPRINGSTEEN, BRUCE "Born To Run" (Columbia) lp 23.00
SPRINGSTEEN, BRUCE "Darkness on the Edge of Town" (Columbia) lp 23.00
SPRINGSTEEN, BRUCE "Greeting From Asbury Park, N.J." (Columbia) lp 23.00
SPRINGSTEEN, BRUCE "The River" (Columbia) 2lp 38.00
SPRINGSTEEN, BRUCE "The Wild, The Innocent, & The E Street Shuffle" (Columbia) lp 23.00
STRINGTRONICS "Mind Bender" (Fifth Dimension) cd 17.98
SUN RA "The Heliocentric World Of Sun Ra Vol. 1" (ESP) lp 27.00
SUN RA "The Heliocentric World Of Sun Ra Vol. 2" (ESP) lp 27.00
SWAMI JOHN REIS & THE BLIND SHAKE "Modern Surf Classics" (Swami) lp 14.98
SYNTOMA "s/t" (EM) cd 22.00
TACTICS "The Re-Mastered Plan" (Minotauro) 2cd + dvd 32.00
TAU CROSS "s/t" (Relapse) lp 23.00
TEENAGER "The Magic Of True Love" (Essex Records) lp 19.98
TELESCOPES / DEADLY CRADLE DEATH "split" (Genjing) 7" 9.98
THEESATISFACTION "Earthee" (Sub Pop) lp 17.98
THEM ARE US TOO "Remain" (Dais) lp 21.00
TIARAS "s/t" (Mt. St. Mtn.) lp 15.98
TONY TEARS "Follow The Signs of the Times" (Minotauro) cd 13.98
TOOP, DAVID "Lost Shadows: In Defense Of The Soul (Yanonami Shamism, Songs, Ritual, 1978)" (Sub Rosa) 2cd 19.98
TRAFFIC SOUND "A Bailar A Go Go" (Lion Productions / Repsychled) cd 15.98
TUNNEL, THE "Apparition Overdrive" (Glorious Alchemical) cd 9.98
TWIN PEAKS "Wild Onion" (Grand Jury) lp 19.98
U/V LIGHT "Cenotaph" (Medical) lp 21.00
UFO "UFO 2: Flying One Hour Space Rock" (Repertoire) lp 27.00
UMBERTO & ANTONI MAIOVVI "Law Unit" (Death Waltz) lp 37.00
UMILIANI, PIERO "L'uomo Nello Spazio" (Dagored) lp 28.00
UNDER THE SKIN (MICA LEVI) "OST" (Rough Trade) lp 19.98
UNKNOWN MORTAL ORCHESTRA "Multi-Love" (Jagjaguwar) lp 17.98
UNREST "Imperial F.F.R.R." (Teen Beat) lp 19.98
V/A "Des Jeunes Gens Modernes Vol. 2: Post Punk, Cold Wave Et Culture Novo En France 1978-1983" (Born Bad) cd/lp 15.98/19.98
V/A "Don't Think I've Forgotten: Cambodia's Lost Rock And Roll OST" (Dust To Digital) cd 14.98
V/A "Ever Alive: A Tribute To Snowy Red" (Weyrd Son Records) 2lp 27.00
V/A "Punky Reggae Selecta: 19 Punk Club Classics" (Spectrum) cd 9.98
V/A "Remembering Mountains: Unheard Songs by Karen Dalton" (Tompkins Square) cd/lp 14.98/17.98
V/A "Step Inside My Soul: Rare '70s And Modern Soul" (Cree / Bear Family) 2lp 25.00
V/A "Synesthesia: Medical Records - The First Five Years" (Medical) 2lp 25.00
V/A "White Glove Test: Louisville Punk Flyers 1978-1994" (Drag City) book 60.98
V/A (OBSIDIAN TONGUE / IN HUMAN FORM / AUTOLATRY / INFERA BRUO "Northeastern Hymns" (Acephale Winter) cassette 6.98
VALKYRIE "Shadows" (Relapse) lp 23.00
VASAS "s/t" (Space Cassette) 7" 5.98
VATICAN SHADOW / CUT HANDS "Azar Swan Variations" (Handmade Birds) 12" 22.00
VIET CONG "Cassette" (Mexican Summer) lp 22.00
VISION FORTUNE "Mas Fiestas Con El Grupo" (Faux / Gringo) lp 24.00
WALLS "Urals" (Ecstatic) cd 17.98
WARNER, EDDIE "Progressive Percussions" (Fifth Dimension) cd 17.98
WAXAHATCHEE "Ivy Tripp" (Merge) lp 17.98
WEEPING RAT "Tar" (Handmade Birds) cd 10.98
WELBURN, JAMES "Hold" (Miasmah) cd 19.98
WHITE EYES "s/t" (Numero Group) lp 16.98
WICKED WINDS "Eyes On The Road" (self-released) cd ep 6.98
WICKER MAN, THE "OST" (Silva Screen) lp 44.00
WIRE "s/t" (Pink Flag) lp 29.00
WITCHGRAVE "s/t" (High Roller) cd 11.98
WITCHTHROAT SERPENT "s/t" (Emetic) lp 22.00
YOUNGS, RICHARD "No Fans Compendium" (VHF) 7cd 45.00
ZERO DOWN "No Limit To Evil" (Minotauro) cd 12.98
It's about time Arcata, California produced a spacey psych band, don't ya think? It is, after all, the home of drop-out hippies and farmers of Mary J. Wanna. Happily, we report that Humboldt County's sons are just as tripped out on distortion and fuzz as the new wave of other space-rock outfits - Lumerians, White Hills, Sweden's just plain 'ol Hills, and a whole host of other bands whose names may or may not contain the word "owl." But judging by the album art, White Manna don't want to travel space so much as explore the dense redwood forests of their homeland. What has this quartet found in the thick of those gentle giants? 1. Massive volume, on levels akin to that of a Who concert. 2. Crazy wah-wah sounds and spiraling guitar solos, like you just took a hit off a four-footer for the first time since 10th grade. 3. Vocals shouted from the depths of a tunnel.
Best of all, White Manna distinguish themselves with their ability to hang a song on the nail of a bluesy hook. Further, they forego slow build-ups - the addition of saxophone on the opening of "Don't Gun Us Down" is about as much of a prelude as you're going to get here - and tend to cut to the chase pretty quickly on each of this strong EP's five tracks. It's almost as if they want you to actually dance to their particular brand of neo-psychedelia, unlike Holy Mountain label-mates Wooden Shjips, whom we enjoy equally but differently. Track 2, "Keep Your Lantern Burning," blares with a Stooges three-chord dissonance. The last two tracks, "Don't Gun Us Down," and "Sweet Jesus," seriously boogie. The latter boldly ends with a variation of the "Mr. Mojo Rising" mantra until it breaks free into the most sprawling freak out of the whole set. We thank White Manna for ushering us behind the redwood curtain and can't wait to see what they do next.
This is at least record number 3 or 4 from White Mice, but somehow, we've never reviewed anything by these drugged out noise makers before now. Not sure how that happened exactly but these guys are long overdue for some aQ love...
Lots of bands, especially if they're sort of spacey and druggy get compared to the Butthole Surfers, who pretty much defined spaced out drug rock, but no one truly embodies the same sort of fucked up frenzied sonic chaos like White Mice, who sound a bit like Lightning Bolt crossed with Shit And Shine, which if we do the math correctly does basically add up to the Butthole Surfers, or at least some way heavier, way noisier modern day equivalent.
Take album opener "Passsthefissst" one part, pounded on over and over and over, wild relentless tribal drumming, throbbing buzzy bass, and distorted to oblivion guitars, locked into an endless loop, hypnotic and mesmerizing and mantra like but also totally blown out and filthy and noisy and heavy, with some sinister demonic vocalizations over the top. You can almost imagine how insane this shit must be live, nothing but strobe lights, the band a blinking blur, the crowd a writhing mass of bodies, an endless lysergic freak out free for all.
And that's pretty much how the White Mice roll, every song is another effects drenched low slung damaged psychedelic sludge jam, sometimes frantic and super intense, other times slowed down and all Brainbombs-y, but always totally in the red and blown out and trippy and freaked out. Makes sense that these guys are from Providence Rhode Island, home of Lightning Bolt and Landed and Pink And Brown (R.I.P) and all of those like minded costumed noiserockers, pretty sure they're part of the same crew too, the best part about them being from RI, is that there's a good chance they play live with big ol' tails and fucked up furry mice heads, which is pretty much the only way you could make this stuff any better.
Still have a few of this Record Store Day 2014 release in the racks. Did peeps not know who White Mystery was? Maybe. But this is already the Chicago-based band's 4th studio album - or at least half of this is, the other lp in the set being a recording of a live show.
So, they're a brother-and-sister duo, kinda like the White Stripes (well, but they're siblings for real, we're pretty sure - they have the same frizzy ginger hair, and lots of it) playing hard hitting, high energy garagey rock'n'roll, the girl on guitar and vocals, the guy on drums. They kick out stripped down, anthemic songs about (to judge from the song titles) some fairly ridiculous/fantastical subjects. It's raucous good times for sure, simple and fun, for when you find yourself standing there with a PBR in your hand.
Ltd. to 1000 copies, colored vinyl. RSD release, so we don't think we'll be seeing any more than the handful we have.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
White Noise's first album has long been one of the holy grails for kosmische / space rock collectors. Kinda strange, actually, because it's actually more on the "exotica" Moog side of things, as opposed to a Klaus Schulze or Conrad Schnitzler production... Released in 1968 on Island in a total vacuum, An Electric Storm could be a Perrey & Kingsley soundtrack to a Radley Metzger soft-core porn film with twee psych-pop vocal melodies (a la Beach Boys, Free Design, Monkees) topped off with lots of bizarre electronic squiggles that originated in the BBC's Radiophonic Workshop (home of the Dr. Who title track). White Noise's mastermind David Vorhaus keeps things pretty surreal with a track based around the recordings made at a orgy and with a precursor to the John Balance vocal mumbles about how "darkness was enshrouded by darkness and the darkness was deadeningly dark."
Everyone into Wooden Shjips, Moon Duo, Spacemen 3, Loop, A Place To Bury Strangers, Swervedriver, Black Angels, The Heads, White Hills, Lumerians, Mugstar, Monster Magnet, Serena-Maneesh, Telescopes and similarly drugged out, psychedelic hypnorock, best make some space in your music collection for this, the latest addition to your blissed out space-psych drug rock section (what? doesn't everyone have one of those?), the debut from Welsh space rockers White Noise Sound, who pretty much sound exactly like a heavier, modernized Spacemen 3, all it'll take is a couple minutes of record opener "August", with its motorik drum machine, sung/spoken vox, looped psych guitar mesmer, and then when the band kicks in proper, heavy guitars and propulsive drumming, explosive and hypnotic and if you're anything like us, which we're guessing you probably are, you're done for, just let yourself be pulled under, and dragged along through thick billowing clouds of psychedelic effects, of gloriously bleary drugged out churn and chug, surprising female harmony vocals, wild squalls of psychedelic leads, buzzing sitars, whirring synths, heck there's even some glockenspiel! To be honest it took us a while to get further into the record, as we found ourselves playing that first jam over and over and over.
But it's worth the effort, the whole record is gorgeously lysergic, slipping from propulsive drone rockers like the opener, to tripped out blissy drifts like the follow up "It Is There For You", with its tinkling chimes, clouds of cymbal shimmer, skeletal guitar strum, and motorik pulse, spaced out and spacious. But even those mellow ones build to serious freak outs, the guitars exploding in shards of prismatic shimmer, coruscating sheets of feedback drenched melody, Hawkwinded heart of the sun jams that could (and should) go on forever and ever. In fact, the record for all its explosive moments, definitely spends more time in hazy, druggy, dreamy bliss out mode, letting the synths and sitars weave gloriously gauzy expanses of weightless sonic shimmer and softly pulsing kosmische drift, which only makes the heavier parts that much more dramatic and kick ass.
Reissued on cassette for a limited time!
White Noise's first album has long been one of the holy grails for kosmische / space rock collectors. Kinda strange, actually, because it's actually more on the "exotica" Moog side of things, as opposed to a Klaus Schulze or Conrad Schnitzler production... Released in 1968 on Island in a total vacuum, An Electric Storm could be a Perrey & Kingsley soundtrack to a Radley Metzger soft-core porn film with twee psych-pop vocal melodies (a la Beach Boys, Free Design, Monkees) topped off with lots of bizarre electronic squiggles that originated in the BBC's Radiophonic Workshop (care of Delia Derbyshire!). White Noise's mastermind David Vorhaus keeps things pretty surreal with a track based around the recordings made at a orgy (as well as a Satanic mass!) and with a precursor to the John Balance vocal mumbles about how "darkness was enshrouded by darkness and the darkness was deadeningly dark." A sonic touchstone for Broadcast, The Focus Group and the Ghostbox label. Limited to 100 copies.
The only thing we've heard from local psychedelic noise collective White Pee, was a split they recorded with psychedelic space rockers, White Hills, but as that was a collaboration, it was sort of difficult to parse just what these guys sounded like. But finally, the band have released their first proper record, and it's a doozy, featuring at least one member of local psych rockers 3 Leafs, along with a bunch of other SF noisemakers, White Pee reveal themselves as less 'noisy', like we imagined, and definitely more psychedelic, the opening track gets right into it, with some dense gnarled riffage, draped over a simple motorik rhythm, it's still noisy, but here that noise is employed in swirling clouds around that main riff/groove, swirling FX, all manner of buzz and thrum and skree, in a constant swirl. It's downright doomy actually, a dirgey doomkraut groove, laced with what sounds like some bizarre strain of vokills, the sound is most definitely psychedelic, and very trancey, the whole first track essentially a single part looped and locked, the band pounding and grinding away, the sort of heavy psych bliss out that induces deep sonic mesmer in the listener. After a brief bit of actual noise, a freeform drift of warped samples, drum splatter, horn bleat, and effects overload, the group bring it all back together for another kraut-flecked psychedelic jam, after some swirling ambience and mysterious samples, the band lock into a killer groove, the drums simple and propulsive, plenty of piano, lots of squiggly synth, and still more effects, it's a bit like a way more active, much noisier Necks, there's a Circle vibe too, that same sort of endless circular hypno-rock, wrapped in a thick squall of wild synth swirl, and while the band wind it up after about 6 minutes, it easily could have stretched out for another 6 (or sixty!). Finally, there's the epic 11+ minute closer, which begins all twangy and dolorous, woozy and washed out, buried drums, scraggly acoustic guitar, burbling sound effects, the first eight minutes or so spent drifting dreamily, the sounds hazy and blurred and softly psychedelic, before the guitar grows more urgent, horns surface from the murk, the piano gets pounded, the guitar grows angular, only to quickly settle back down into a gorgeously murky slow burn fade out.
Way recommended for fans of 3 Leafs, Circle, the Necks, Carlton Melton, and other cosmic psychedelic explorers...
Collaboration number two from this oddball pairing, NY psychedelic space rock duo White Hills, and local avant noiseniks White Pee. Even though we're guessing it was maybe the shared 'White' in their monikers that got them together, they do make a pretty good team. This set, recorded live, starts out as a warped, sprawl of turntablism, sounding not unlike the work of White Pee member DJ Female Convict Scorpion, but soon, the space rock drops, and we're off, swirling FX, slow motorik drumming, blurred distorted riffage, White Hills locked into a seriously druggy, hypnotic groove, while it's presumably White Pee providing all the sonic filigree, whether that's dense swirls of garbled thrum, buried voices, disembodied samples, layered textures, all in constant flux, swirling in a lysergic cloud around the psychedelic mesmer at its core.
The set goes through all sorts of metamorphoses, from ambient drift, to near metallic chug, to Hawkwindy trip out, to hazy, cosmic drift, and finally to blown out psychedelic freakout fused with warped sound collage, a heady combination, that makes it sound at times like there's some free jazz going on, and at others, like the instruments are slowing down and gradually melting.
Killer stuff for sure. And WAY recommended for fans of the further out realms of psych and space rock. Fantastic packaging too, a beautiful letter pressed sleeve, with a glued on full color insert, LIMITED TO 150 COPIES, each one hand numbered. Our only complaint, why is it a cd-r?!? The music is so good, the packaging so swank, would have been worth it to make proper cds. Oh well. Still totally and absolutely worth it!
White Poppy's gaze down the Pacific Coast requires quite a powerful telescope to get through all the fog, rain, mist, and redwood trees that are situated between her native Vancouver and the fun-fun-fun-in-sun hamlets of Santa Barbara, Laguna Beach, and of course Los Angeles. But, White Poppy's Crystal Dorval is an artist entertaining all of those warm and fuzzy thoughts of California dreaming from her Canadian perch without any of the malaise attributable to Hollywood overload, traffic congestion, Helter Skelter bad vibes, and ongoing draught conditions. Yes, things can look so much better at such a wide distance. These wistful tunes of bliss-pop imperfection make for a luminous continuation of her previous, eponymous album on Not Not Fun released at the summer's end, 2013. Natural Phenomena was granted a midsummer release in 2015; it would just seem wrong to listen to this stuff in the heart of winter. Ringing guitar lines free-float amongst optiganally sounding drum programming, cotton-mouthed synth warbling, and Dorval's breezy, drifting vocalizations. There is even more of a shot of Ducktails' elixir of tropical intoxication to this, to match White Poppy's sunkissed 'n' stoned productions of buoyantly cherry-colored psychedelia. Get it while it's hot (out).
There must be fluorescent paintings of ladybugs, dancing mushrooms, and the beaming smile of an anthropomorphized sun adorning the walls of Crystal Dorval's bedroom, where she's been dashing off charmingly, disheveled bliss-pop tunes as White Poppy, which eventually caught the sympathetic ears at Not Not Fun. If not, her bright psychedelia oozes with acid-kissed warmth would be well served by such confines. It's definitely a vivid, touchy-feely and eye-dilating psychotropic drug that is Dorval's choice and not really the opiated stupor her moniker alludes to. The swirling spaced-out pop songs that drift through her eponymous album are graced with titles like "Skygaze," "Dizzy," and "Joyride" all of which are nearly onomatopoetic in describing what you'll hear. Although it does have to be said, she pens a track called "Existential Angst" which is anything but. Oh well. On some of her tracks, she adopts the drugged out, loop-station hypnosis that wouldn't stray far from the orbit of Motion Sickness Of Time Travel's electronic miasma; but Dorval is at her best when she deconstructs the bittersweetness of girl-group, fuzztone pop into a deliriously catchy and happily acid-damaged version of the Cocteau Twins. Yup, hypnogogic pop at its finest, right up there with Peaking Lights, if you ask us.
Whoo hoo! Kranky cranks out another colorful psychedelic dose of nu new age dream-hop from Portland's Adam Forkner, aka White Rainbow.� Considering Mr. Forkner has been at the forefront of the pysch-pop new agey dream drone thing for awhile now, its no wonder he's perfected his trance dance, acid bathed tribal ambient shtick into a polished slab of catchy tunes, that fit somewhere between Cluster, Cocteau Twins and the golden gate park drum circle. Wavering angelic vocals soar across space and time, trails of colors fall to the ground as sprawling nebulous rhythms come in one ear and out the other. Definitely one of those records where listening on headphones uncovers all kinds of details and special secrets. Dreamy, fuzzed-out rainbow riffs gazing over pitter-patter percussion and waves of ambient wash, the doors of infinity are open, are your chakras aligned??
Where past White Rainbow releases might have been more guitar and vocal driven, New Clouds seems to offer much more awesome synthesizer wizardry, which we dig. But compared to Prism of Eternal Now, it seems New Clouds offers less variation and is more one dimensional, maintaining a steady sonic thickness that may be very satisfying to some, but a bit monotonous for others. Any way you look at it, New Clouds is a fantastic edition to the Kranky catalogue and a perfect soundtrack for your next out of body experience!
If there's any justice in this world, it should be anytime now that Adam Forkner becomes a household name, well at least in houses that care about awesome underground music. His past bands, Yume Bitsu, Surface Of Eceyon and the ambitious project [[[[VVRSSNN]]]] all had amazing moments that swept us away, but we think it's in his newest incarnation as White Rainbow that he's truly tapped into some serious musical magic.
Much like his recent collaboration with Honey Owens for the limited cd-r by their duo World, Forkner has found a way to stretch out his sounds and tap into something transcendent. With it's Dr. Brommers inspired manic packaging, and it's equally metaphysical title, this is a record whose sounds are well able to back up the mysterious belief system its entire aura points at. Channeling the living spirit of folks like Terry Riley and LaMonte Young, Prism Of Eternal Now is not merely just a tribute to those icons but living proof of how their influence has touched and inspired a younger generation of musicians aiming to create dense, enchanting, and alive sounds.
The album reveals many different shades of Forkner's musical explorations. From the dreamy, subdued and shoegazey side to the active, relentless and spacious. This is music to get lost in, lost to and lost with. The kind of record you put on and that immediately has you drifting off in a million different directions. Forkner has made his own brilliant Rainbow In Curved Air for a new generation. Highly recommended!
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White Stripes = Mr. Jack White (of The Go on vocals, guitar, piano) and Ms Meg (percussion). Although the sleeve design and photos stylistically suggest a more mod candy-striped music direction, this is bare-bones blues with riffin' and slidin' swerve around wheezing harmonica, spartan piano and violin. Quite good, indeed.
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Ahhh the new long awaited White Stripes major label debut! At first listen I was scared that this was gonna be too slick 'n' radio friendly but I thought it would grow on me, and it did. It's really great. I can appreciate the tough position the band must have been in what with all the hype and expectations, and really they did a good job of keeping their charming qualities yet moving forward and doing new stuff, ya know 'evolving'. My (Sadie's) favorite record is still De Stijl for the stripped down bluesiness of it, but I am listening to this one over and over cuz it's new, and damn good too. The songs range from stadium rockesque guitar wankyness to simple simple stripped down rawness. The lyrics are clever and sweet yet mean as always. One song is sung by a girl whom I assume is Meg. Then there's this really funny track with both Meg and Jack White and guest Holly Golightly doing this lil' conversational piece. Kinda silly but I still eat it up. And a Bacharach cover, "I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself". There's not much more to say really, if you are a White Stripes fan, and there are so many of us you probably are one, you won't be disappointed!
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Yay! The new album from Meg and Jack. Well of course this bad boy's gonna sell gadzillions of copies without any help from us, so this review is more of a cursory first impression kinda thing, more of a formality than anything else. But in case you care, the consensus here is that this is indeed pretty dang great! Get Behind Me Satan sure enough sounds like the White Stripes we all know and love. Not sure if it beats out their last one Elephant in any way, but it doesn't disappoint either. Andee thinks that it sounds like the 'Stripes are really channelling Led Zep 3 here... it's kinda acousticky, and Jack's doin' some Robert Plant for sure. Standout tracks (at first listen or three) include "Take Take Take" (which we all keep singing) and riffy opener/single "Blue Orchid".
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It's hard to hate on a band as awesome as the White Stripes. So why bother?! If you're in the market for some slithery fuzzed out Zep infused garage rock stomp, can't do much better than the WS. Plus the title track is SO FUCKING GOOD, killer riff, crazy squiggly guitars, fractured synths, all wound up into a hook filled jam that DESTROYS. Dig it... their latest, and greatest, as far as Andee is concerned.
Jack 'n' Meg fans, here's a lil' something to stuff in a stocking of someone near and dear (or of your very own)! Not sure why they chose to do so, but the duo have covered Canadian twin sisters Tegan and Sara's tune "Walking With A Ghost" and made it the title track of their latest release... and it's quite a different, strange and gnarly rendition if we do say so ourselves... but then again that might be a good or not so good thing depending on your particular palate. Also included are live versions of "Same Boy You've Always Known", "As Ugly As I Seem", "The Denial Twist" and "Screwdriver". Sure to please diehard fans, but it might not be the best place to start for someone who has yet to be White Striped.
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Following the growing trend of recent albums being reissued with bonus material (dvds, videos, extra tracks, etc), V2 offers up a new run of the White Stripes' third album with a bonus dvd. Why? Because V2 are nice, generous folks? To extend the life of a popular album a little longer? Hmmm. Regardless, fans of Meg and Jack, here for you is the White Blood Cells cd with a dvd containing two "previously unreleased" extra tracks (actually they should instead be called "rare" 'cuz one of the songs "Lafayette Blues" was actually previously released and re-released on a 7", while the other "Hand Springs" was also formerly available on 7" and a compilation - I guess V2 didn't consider those to be officially "released") and four videos ("Hotel Yorba", "Fell In Love With A Girl", Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground", and "We're Going To Be Friends"). As for the album itself here's what we had to say about it last year when it was initially released:
People love 'em and Jack White's certainly got a great voice, and he's a lot less annoying and attitudinal than his contemporary-in-sound Jon Spencer, but I think I'm missing something here. Or maybe not. Upon listening to "White Blood Cells" (their hotly awaited third album) I put aside any preconceived opinion of how I thought I was supposed to react to the music and realized that it isn't the songwriting (good, garagey Detroit-style stomp) so much as it is the Iggy-tastic enthusiasm and love of making music that makes the White Stripes incredible. And I think it shows, just listen to the music -- it's not bad, but not the second coming either, but it definitely rocks. It makes you want to drink beer and fuck shit up. Just like rock n' roll should.
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Meg and Jack's debut!
The White Stripes live and rocking and while it's not bad, it's not great either, and sort of feels like one of those contract obligation fillers...
Recently, through several friends of aQ, we've been introduced to a bunch of really cool indie rock from China, Boyz & Girl (reviewed elsewhere on this week's list), Pairs, Snapline, Mr. Graceless, Carsick Cars, Duck Fight Goose, but the one that really grabbed us the most was this one right here, the oddly monikered White+, which is in fact not really indie rock at all, but is in fact an experimental offshoot of the Chinese indie rock group Carsick Cars. This duo describe themselves as being a "hardware electronica band", although the friend who turned us on to these guys, described them as sounding like Neu! crossed with Yellow Magic Orchestra, which thankfully is pretty dang accurate. Utilizing a set up of customized keyboards, pedals, samplers, loops and live drums (and the occasional bit of spare ethereal vocals), White+ lay down some droned out, super mesmerizing, darkly motorik krautrock influenced electronic hypnorock, that sounds like a weird hybrid of Circle, the Boredoms and Fabulous Diamonds, or something like that, just check out the opening track here. A cascade of skittering programmed beats, looped and layered, chopped and collaged voices, live tribal drums, swirling electronics, dizzying FX, the sounds warped and constantly shifting speed, the vocals processed into strange streaks of psychedelic melody, the various other loops slipping from crunchy chug, to spaced out shimmer, the whole track churning and propulsive and utterly hypnotic. The second track is where the Neu! first pops up and shines through big time, the band locked into a serious psych-kraut groove, a sound that positions these guys squarely in the current movement of kraut-psych space rock revisionists, but their sound is definitely more electronic, and much more beholden to classic krautrock, albeit here wreathed in psychedelic effects and layered with warm washes of keyboard melody, not to mention clouds of swirling FX.
And here's where we'd usually say something like "and that's how it goes from there on out", but these guys aren't so simple to peg. The next track takes seriously driving drums, and adds some electronic bagpipe sounding synths, the result some twisted Amps For Christ / Maserati hybrid, with brief bursts of twisted FX heavy warpage, where the sound slips into near Aphex Twin territory.
From there on out, all bets are off, bloopy and bleepy, skittery and playful one moment, all lilting melodies, and hazy dreamlike kraut-age shimmer, brooding buzz drifting atop wild dense drum damage the next, all supporting soaring echo drenched vocals, the vibe ritualistic and trance-like, definitely a sound that fits perfectly alongside modern day Boredoms. The live drums are really what make the band, even the most ethereal sprawl of soft focus electronic ambience, takes on a whole new vibe when anchored by some pounding rhythms, and the mix of programmed beats and real drums makes for a heady rhythmic concoction, with the surrounding sounds just as compelling, equal parts melodic pulsation, kosmische cascade, and tripped out sonic swirl, some tracks sounding like a full on, heavy as hell hypnorock band, others like ultra abstract avant kraut experiments, the vocals transforming some of the tracks into near popsongs, but more often than not, the vocals splinter and are transformed into something more textural or rhythmic, the song following suit, taking that pop element and wedding it to something much more abstract and psychedelic.
A unanimous new aQ favorite, and literally every time we play this in the store, we sell a copy! We have a whole bunch, but when we sell out, we'll have to get more from China, so might take a couple weeks. Needless to say, grab one NOW! Super deluxe packaging too, sweet design, massive booklet, obi, etc.
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For some strange reason this is the first record we've reviewed by Emily Jane White, but Ode To Sentience most definitely has us smitten, and also has us wondering how it is we're only discovering her now. The sound here is a gorgeous sonic concoction, equal parts classic Americana, brooding torch song and dark psychedelick folk, her voice mesmerizing and magical, a lush and velvety croon, powerful and throaty, with a tone that's rich and lustrous, presented way up in the mix, wreathed in just a smattering of reverb, the kind of voice that has you realizing the music is really only secondary, that old 'singing the phonebook' adage comes to mind, and when her vox are multitracked and she harmonizes with herself, it's downright divine.
We've seen White compared to Chan Marshall from Cat Power, and Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Star. Kate Bush of course, but we also hear less obvious comparisons, one that really struck us was David Eugene Edwards of Sixteen Horsepower and Woven Hand, they have a similar phrasing, and seem drawn to the same sort of melodies and progressions. But unlike Edwards' music, which tends to be harrowing and apocalyptic, White's songs are definitely shot through with a little sunshine, whether it's a playful bit of slippery slide guitar or some surfy twang, that said, ode is definitely a dark record, sonically and lyrically. Just check out the opener, "Oh Katherine", which we find ourselves playing over and over, a lush bit of Appalachia, wreathed in moaning mournful cellos and soaring lyrical violin, one of the prettiest songs we've heard in ages. And while "The Cliff" is a little bit jaunty, it's also about someone leaping to their death (literally or metaphorically it's hard to say), a strange country folk love song, appropriately doomed, but musically hopeful, that maybe just, something else waits at the end of that interminable fall. "Black Silk" is another gorgeous lush brooder, dense tangles of steel string buzz, wreathed in clouds of cymbal shimmer, a darkly dirgey ballad that manages to be impossibly catchy without being the least bit cloying.
And so it goes, each and every song a dark softly psychedelic folk gem, lush twang flecked balladry that manages to fuse classic country/bluegrass tradition with a more modern doomfolk songsmithery, into something we can't seem to stop listening to. Lovely stuff for sure. And we'll definitely be tracking down the two records we missed as well...
Never has a record's title more accurately described its contents, cuz we really had no idea what to expect from Hartley C. White's This Is Not What You Expect. Based on the cover, we thought this would be some sort of blues rock, but this is WAY further out. Some serious outsider, next level avant-blues-dub-reggae-funk weirdness, that careens wildly from echo-drenched, looped and layered a cappella rounds, to fractured lo-fi funk, to dirgey, groovy, doomy, psychedelia, to hard rocking, angular, buzzing, sung/spoken WTF? trippiness. White, who was living in Queens when he recorded these jams (between 1984 and 2009), was raised in Jamaica during the turbulent sixties. He conceived of his sound, which he describes as 'Whopazootic', as a musical reimagining of Bruce Lee's martial arts, White's 'broken rhythms' meant to be both offensive and defensive. Wow. But this stuff actually does kind of conjure that vibe, lots of overdubbed vocal workouts, but just as many Funkadelic style freakouts, all wound around classic Jamaican dub styles, some swirling sampled strings, some seriously confusional avant pop, dreamy psychedelic balladry, singsongy almost lullaby like sweetness, all crafted from funky basslines, fluttery flutes, skronking horns, shimmering kalimba melodies, primitive drum machines and FX heavy guitar strum, White's vocals alternately sweetly crooning, chanting hypnotically, or toasting boisterously. The label sez recommended for fans of 10CC, Sly & The Family Stone, Willis Earl Beal and Ariel Pink, and while we'd usually scoff at such disparate comparisons, in this case, that's really not that far off.
Jim White's third album Drill A Hole In That Substrate And Tell Me What You See is brimming with warm, lovely songs (and it's also brimming with an unbelievable list of special guests... more on that later). Occasional atmospheric flutters of slide guitar slinks and horn flourishes mingle with White's smoky, achingly emotive vocals sorta like the more recent recordings by Calexico (he does bear a striking vocal resemblance to Calexico's lead singer Joey Burns), but when female vocals surface to join White's, the songs much more brings to mind Yo La Tengo's murmur-singing duo Georgia Hubley and Ira Kaplan. If you're familiar with either of those groups, you know they're superb company to keep, and actually the further into the album you go the more White leans into the more obtuse territory of Calexico's comrade Howe Gelb (just check out "Jesus Drove A Motorhome"). We should add however that although White's music may at times ring rather similarly to those artists', for the most part he definitely has his own thing goin' on. Sometimes soaring and elegant, sometimes lulling and earthy. Now, what about all those guest players that we alluded to earlier? Here goes: Aimee Mann, The Sadies, M. Ward, Bill Frisell, Joe Henry, Ralph Carney, Eyvind Kang and uh, the Barenaked Ladies. That's just scratching the surface. Plus it was produced by David Byrne. Wonderfully enveloping music for hideaway evenings far away from the hustle and bustle.
First we've heard from sampledelic South London producer Paul White, whose new album for Now-Again ought to appeal to everyone who liked the Madlib Medicine Show No. 6 disc we listed last time (which was a crazy DJ mix of vintage psych/funk/prog from around the world). Paul White likewise takes a chopped-up, dial-spinning, hiphop approach to quite similar, psychedelic material coming from but ONE source: the records of cult Swedish psych purveyor ST Mikael (who records for the Subliminal Sounds label, same as Dungen). Sampling, editing, looping, and layering snippets of ST's stuff, Paul also contributes additional synth, percussion and vocals, constructing a veritable psychedelic fantasmagoria, 25 delirious and delightful tracks that mash n' meld hiphop beats, popsike melody, Eastern string zing, folky strum, freaky electric guitar, odd sound FX, head nodding funky grooves, mystical atmospheres, non sequitur spoken bits, etc.
While we must admit we were only passingly familiar with the work of ST Mikael (and what we'd heard, or maybe it was just his record covers, seemed a bit cheesy, in an aging New Agey hippie sort of way, he's from the '90s after all) but Mr. White's hiphop makeover of Mikael is definitely cool. The results are a bit like the aforementioned Madlib, also remind us of When albums like The Lobster Boys and Pearl Harvest, as well as the likes of DJ Shadow, BMSR, and Rockford Kabine. Dreamy and druggy and definitely A.D.D. Recommended for sure. YOUR brain will be purple by the time you're through listening.
The cd version comes in a cardboard wallet, the vinyl in deluxe "paste-on" jacket, and in addition, the vinyl version includes a bonus 12" (first 1000 copies only) featuring Paul White together with Guilty Simpson.
