We have to admit that when we first got this in, we jumped to the conclusion that Shelby Bryant was a gal singer/songwriter. Heh heh, Andee even misread aloud the album cover as "Shelby Lynn". Anyways, this Shelby is a fella, and he sings in a scruffy, thoughtful voice. His unassuming indie pop tunes brought to mind early Death Cab or perhaps a one-man Polyphonic Spree! Have to say though that his song "Patterns" drove us a bit nuts with it's relentless sing-song counting lyrics. Might be good for kids though!
As we're told in the liner notes, BS 2000 is Amery Smith and Adam Horowitz (aka one Beastie Boy). And they proceed to crank out the cheeziest of drum machine beats and meep-meep-y keyboard sounds. Silly dork music with lyrics that would make John S. Hall of
The legendary Roky Erickson and his 13th Floor Elevators are treasured by most psychedelic rock hounds, and deservedly so (recently the subject of a 10cd retrospective box set!). But the Elevators weren't the only sixties Texas psych band to release album on the Houston based International Artists label, of course, there was also the more avant garde Red Krayola... and THESE guys, best known for their hit "Hot Smoke And Sassafras", a song you must have heard at some point in your life, most likely without knowing it was by a band called Bubble Puppy. It starts off with an immediately catchy, chicka-chicka riff, one of THOSE killer riffs, funky and fuzzed, which leads into some primo '60s pop psych. Really it's the next best thing to James Gang's "Funk #49", or even some of Hendrix's classics a la "Purple Haze", in that long forgotten groovy acid rock style bands just don't do anymore. Great title too. "Hot Smoke And Sassafras" appeared on BP's lone 1969 album A Gathering Of Promises, now reissued in a limited edition, impressively thick deluxe "digibook" packaging complete with 8 bonus tracks!
Bubble Puppy are one of those sorta well-known yet still overlooked bands, who will forever be considered one hit wonders, but while "Hot Smoke..." is one REALLY good reason to get this album, they have other songs that are quite worthy too! Ferinstance, the title track is a great example of the other thing that BP do so well, a more mellowed out style of psych pop, another would be the Beatlesy "It's Safe To Say"... And then among the bonus tracks (some of which are merely mono singles versions of album cuts) you'll find "Thinkin' About Thinkin'", another energetic raver very much the "Hot Smoke..." style. Seems like they could have been a bigger band for sure, but International Artists wasn't able to take 'em there. Eventually these guys moved to LA and changed their name to Demian 'cause Bubble Puppy (an allusion to a childrens' game that figures in Aldous Huxley's novel Brave New World) sounded too bubblegum, which wasn't at all the intention - Bubble Puppy being a rock act whose very first gig was as support for The Who! Sadly, Demian never made it either, but at least these guys will forever be footnoted at least in the annals of rock n' roll thanks to "Hot Smoke...", though they deserve more than that based on the significant charms of this entire album.
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The local label Out of Round has been laboring quietly in the background, not calling a lot of attention to itself yet turning out record after record that are consistently of similar mood -- due to the fact that they all play on each others recordings. The homegrown label's "sound", then, is one of a grimy circus atmosphere, like Fellini's La Strada if it was set in some dusty corner of an urban American metropolis. There are lots of slowed down polkas and depressed waltz time-signatures, dour vocals, sad accoridans, and dolefully plucked guitars. Great mood music for the Tom Waits fan in all of us who feels like Waits is just too hip for his own good these days.
Check out www.outofroundrecords.com -- we carry all of their releases. For a limited time only, get an out of Round Records label sampler free with purchase of this disc.
The dearly departed Jeff Buckley left behind a legacy of several perfect albums and EPs, but such was his talent -- heartbreakingly emotive vocals; soaring songwriting; unusual, complex chords filled with subtlety -- that while he was alive, a rabid track-trading network of unreleased material sprung up amongst his most ardent fans. Acknowledging their hunger for more material, Buckley's family has begun releasing much of this stellar music. This legacy edition of Buckley's best album, Grace, spreads over two discs, and we have to say that if you already own the single-disc Grace, you should just trade it in right now. That's how good these extra tracks are. There are 13 rarities, 8 of them previously unreleased, including a sweet, genuine take on Dylan's "Mama, You've Been on My Mind"; a tender version of Nina Simone's lament "Other Woman"; a must-hear-to-believe version of Big Star's "Kang-A-Roo" stretched out to an ecstatic, super epic 14 minutes; and the MC5's "Kick Out the Jams". And if that wasn't enough, there's a third DVD disc in the package containing an newly updated, expanded version of a "making of" Grace documentary, five videos from the album, and a discography. AQ is often wary about re-releases, smelling a rat when it seems that money is the objective, but in this case, while a too-early death halted Buckely's life, at least his music is still slowly being made available to his fans. We miss him.
It's a little confusing to call this Live at Sin-E since the original Live at Sin-E EP that Buckley put out comprised only four of the *34* tracks included here. Anyway, this is being billed as the ultimate fan experience, a triple cd set that includes monologues and performances culled from Buckley's early solo performances at the cafe, before he had released his debut Grace, the album that made him famous. Covers include songs made famous by Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, Bob Dylan, Zeppelin, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (whoah!), and others. The recordings are slightly lo-fi, but hardcore Buckley fans should find the project very moving, if they haven't already obtained all this stuff thru the prodigious Buckley trading network already established...
The third disc is a DVD that includes interviews and three live performances. In a deluxe four-panel foldout digipack with tons of liner notes and an outer sleeve.
In July 1995, one year after the release of his debut full length album Grace, Jeff Buckley, whose popularity was small but growing in the United States, played two concerts at Paris' famed Olympia, on a stage that had held James Brown and the Velvet
A mediocre posthumously-released document of live recordings. Not as good as the live performances we have seen by Buckley, but a nice document nonetheless. Buckley's aunt was recently quoted as saying that as long as Buckley fans wanted (i.e. willing to pay for) material he recorded, she'd keep releasing it. Well, the money is going to charity, that's always a good thing. Listen, if you're a big Buckley or Radiohead fan, AQ recommends you also check out Muse or Justin Clayton, two up and comers who'll satisfy that angst-ridden yearner in you cos they sound EXACTLY like Jeff Buckley and Radiohead anyway.
Posthumously-released album of studio and four-track recordings he was working on before his untimely death. Lovely, dense, worth your time.
In the time since the late great Jeff Buckley's debut album Grace, many of us have come to know and love his music. This posthumously-released collection of tracks is not throwaway material; rather it is a lovely compilation of soundboard tapes, studio demos of now-beloved songs like "Grace", and live material. All of it features downtown New York avant musician Gary Lucas, who Buckley met in his early twenties at a tribute concert to Buckley's father Tim. Lucas' shimmering, moaning, yowling guitar lines are a *stunning* counterpoint to Buckley's similarly haunting voice and guitar. Less of the thick, full sound from Buckley's solo work -- more twanging, resonating guitar picking, lighter renditions of songs that made it onto Grace... the effect is very pleasant and may even serve to garner a few new fans in addition to showing established Buckley fans another side to the man's aesthetic. Atmospheric, whooshing guitar, meditative whisperings, a joyful Sam Cooke-style soul cover, many tracks sans drums. A couple songs have a pronounced blues tone and there's even a fiery punk(-ish) number! This record is absolutely gorgeous and a worthy addition to your Buckley collection.
Rare and unreleased tracks.
Most known for being his "difficult album", Tim Buckley shocked a number of his fans when he released this 1970 record, his first for David Geffen's Asylum label. Extending his vocal gymnastics to almost wearying avant garde extremes and infusing jazz improvisation with folk instrumentation, Buckley led the way for artists like Joni Mitchell, Judee Sill and Phoebe Snow (all Asylum labelmates) to distinguish their highly individualized singer-songwriter leanings from their folk and folk-rock progenitors. Reissued on beautiful 180 gram vinyl. The way it was meant to be heard!
The great Tim Buckley live in 1968, singing "Dolphins" and others. Most tracks are from a couple of BBC sessions, plus there's a 12-minute version of "I Don't Need It To Rain" from a concert in Copenhagen (discovered on a disintegrating reel-to-reel tape found in a box at his home).
For those who missed, or couldn't handle the unbridled scope of the two cd anthology of Tim Buckley, here is a condensed version of his more popular and least difficult songs from his most enduring records: Hello Goodbye, Happy Sad, Self-titled, and Starsailor.
The Merge record label strengthens their already mighty musical forces by one with the addition of Mr. Richard Buckner to their roster. Following up his wonderful 2002 album Impasse which was released on Overcoat Records, this remarkable veteran songwriter's newest studio album Dents And Shells is yet another fine collection of his trademark dark smoldering Americana. We've gushed on and on in the past about his strong yet subtle voice, and we can't help but continue to do so. When combined with the crushing emotional weight of his lyrics, geez, who can resist it? He's assembled a full band of top notch musicians for this album, most notably former Bob Mould and Meat Puppets bassist Andrew DuPlantis and would you believe King Coffey of Butthole Surfers on drums? Recommended.
Hurrah! A new album of Mr. Buckner's gorgeous, shadowy americana. In fact, it's his first full collection of original material in four years! In that time his debut was re-issued and he released The Hill which was his interpretation of Edgar Lee Masters' Spoon River Anthology. Impasse, the newest album, is another winner. His strong honeydripping voice, laden with grit and sincerity, is melting, especially when accompanied by chiming chords strummed on acoustic guitar. A few songs even veer into Fleetwood Mac-ky soft rock shuffling tempos... in a *very* good way, methinks. No, he's not just another singer/songwriter -- Buckner's good. Springsteen, move over.
Sharing just one track with Rick Buckner's upcoming full length, Impasse-ette is a li'l ole pre-album teaser (albeit not with a li'l pricetag). Buckner, as you may already know, is a big fave here at AQ. His big, juicy, impossibly dextrous and emotive voice is pretty irresistible, especially when accompanied by chiming chords strummed on acoustic guitar. No, he's not just another singer/songwriter -- Buckner's good. In addition to his trademark dusty bittersweet sound, there's a track here that combines a private press recording of a woman discussing prayer, heavy with sincerity and laced with record static.
We've got a couple of new albums from two ol' reliable, looongtime aQ faves -- Bonnie Prince Billy (his latest full length is The Letting Go) and this gent, Mr. Richard Buckner. Like a visit from an old friend, there's a good deal of comfort that comes in their solid songwritin' and storytellin'. Yeah, it might seem a little strange to find such solace in both artists' well-worn melancholia, but we do! This is Buckner's terrific follow-up to his equally terrific Dents And Shells album of 2004.
Comparisons have frequently been drawn between Buckner and American Music Club's Mark Eitzel as well as Son Volt's Jay Farrar, and they're still very applicable here -- all of them mighty fine singer/songwriters who probably have a few fans in common.
Third album from SF's own Rick Buckner, the man with the juicy velvet voice. Previous efforts' dark twang is even less evident here, where he tempers his melancholia with help from Syd Straw, Tortoise's John McEntire, David Grubbs, Dave Schramm, etc.
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We've never listed this ambient, avante-garde masterpiece before and when we realized it was Harold Budd's 75th birthday last week, we figured it was the perfect time to honor the man, and the amazing dreamy sounds he has given us over the years.
While best known to some for his collaborations with Brian Eno, and Cocteau Twins, there is also the deep well to explore of his vast solo catalog. But for many, Pavilion Of Dreams originally released in 1978, ranks as one of his best, a perfect melding of 20th century composition and warm, weightless shimmery ambience, creating pieces fragile and prismatic, as if they were suspended in glistening, glimmering bubbles.
While piano is at the center of Pavilion Of Dreams, there is some of the most sensual and dreamy sax we've ever heard, played by Marion Brown, a wildly under-appreciated free jazz artist who played with everyone from John Coltrane to Anthony Braxton, as well as an extensive catalog of his own recordings that deserve to be explored.
The album opens with the 18 minute "Bismillahi 'Rrahmani 'Rrahim", a track that feels like a passage from one of Alice Coltrane's most majestic tracks taken to a new age inside a mystical castle looking over the ocean. Then there's the mezzo-soprano classical vocals of Lynda Richardson are featured in the second and third tracks of the album. Don't let them scare you away. Even if you are not usually a fan of opera or classical vocals, Budd uses them in such drifting and compelling ways. They would have been perfect for a chilling scene in a Stanley Kubrick film. The album closes with "Juno", one of the most perfect ambient daydreams of all time. We realized we've said the word 'dreamy' a ton of times in this review, and well the album is called Pavilion of Dreams, and even though the term dreamy is so often overused, this is a record that really does take you to another state of consciousness. We hear the influence of this recording on so many of our favorite artists like William Basinski, Circle (on Miljard), Colleen, Seefeel, Johan Johansson, Sigur Ros, The Knife, The Durutti Column, Michael Harrison, Koss, Klimek and more... Absolutely essential!
Daptone's The Budos Band has always been pretty fantastic, kicking out the killer instrumental '70s style Afro-Soul-Funk jams, super tight and groovy and quite authentic-sounding (even though they're from, like, modern-day NYC). We've dug all three of the ensemble's previous albums, but Burnt Offering (pointedly not titled Budos Band IV, even though it follows II and III) might be their best one yet. First, it's got some cool artwork of a Gandalf-lookin' wizard on the cover, a total stoner/psych image that looks like it should be on a Sleep album (or the side of a van). That art might clue you in that The Budos Band has been goin' through some changes... well, what's happened is that they've seriously heavied up their sound, the guitar parts are fuzzier and riffier, supposedly inspired by '70s heavy psych and proto-metal, like Black Sabbath and Pentagram!! They're still quite funky, though, so it's not a total extreme metamorphosis into doom metal or anything. We had kind of figured that meant this would sound like '70s Zambian garage-fuzzsters the Ngozi Family or Witch, but no, not exactly, 'cause what with their big horn section, they still sound like, well, themselves, but just with an additional edge of fuzzy, gritty guitar. Along with the hard-hitting rhythms, and spirited, darkly soulful brass, it's pretty darn cool. Think Fela Kuti gone super heavy psych, with a dark Ethiopiques vibe. Also, this new Budos Band sound reminds us of that awesome Italian 'library music' reissue by Blue Phantom, just a bit. Oh, and we halfway wonder if this transformation wasn't perhaps inspired by the success of Swedish Afro-fuzz voodoo psych sensations Goat?? Certainly Goat fans ought to dig this, too!! Super recommended.
Digipack cd, or gatefold vinyl w/ download.
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Some of the AQ shoppin' stoner rock contingent ought to remember Buffalo, an honest to gosh band of Austrialian proto-metal pioneers from the early '70s. We used to stock a 2-fer-1 disc (can't get it anymore, dang) that collected their more Monster Magnet than Monster Magnet ever wuz albums Volcanic Rock ('73) and Want You For Your Body ('74). Missing that disc as we do, we were happy to find a few copies of this, a cd reissue of their prematurely tired-of-living debut from 1972. Dead Forever (nice title, they had a knack for that) was originally released on Vertigo, and at the time Buffalo were probably tipped as an Aussie version of Vertigo best sellers Black Sabbath. Close, no cigar, but what they're smoking has its charms anyhoo. This album's a graveyard of grinding dirgey yeah-yeah-yeah rockers, the kind that demand (as the back cover literally does) you to "play this LOUD". You've got to 'cause this band's lurching riffs and electric psychedelic blues bashings need all the help they can get since producers back then didn't yet know exactly what real metal required. True, this has a few quiet, balladic numbers on it (not bad ones either) but will be 'specially valued for trudging lead-foot boogie blooze proto-DOOM like you get with the album-closing title track coffin-nail-hammerer. For folks who also dig the similarly lost and wasted, stoned guitars and wailing vocals of such acts as Captain Beyond, Randy Holden, Juan de la Cruz, Toad, Leafhound, and Sir Lord Baltimore.
We LOVE this band. You should love this band. How can you not, that is if you're lookin' for some proto-metal, psychedelic stoner '70s rawk action?? Buffalo is 100 percent the Real Deal. These Aussie rockers were basically what Monster Magnet (and all the other bands in the modern "stoner rock" scene) would have liked to be, doing it first and best back in the day. Once upon a time, we used to stock a 2-on-1 reissue of Buffalo's Volcanic Rock and Want You For Your Body albums (from '73 and '74, respectively) but that's been out of print for ages now. So we're super thrilled that the Aztec label from Down Under has brought Buffalo back into circulation, as part of a '70s reissue campaign featuring a bunch of other Aussie acts we're eager to check out, like Coloured Balls (reviews pending). Both of these Buffalo discs are authentically heavy '70s cock-rock from the band we've judged to be Australia's answer to, if not Black Sabbath, at least Grand Funk... no, better n' heavier than that. Sir Lord Baltimore, for sure. Did we say cock-rock? Hell, there's even a penis on the cover of Volcanic Rock! The lyrics are of the sort that amusingly confuse being sexist with being sexy (a la Spinal Tap), as in Want You's lead off track "I'm A Skirt Lifter, Not A Shirt Raiser", and they're delivered with much gusto and backed by some powerful guitar riffing that blows those stoner rock bands of today out of the (bong)water.
Volcanic Rock is unstoppable, definitely an aptly titled album. Music for rolling Mad Max style on the highways across the Australian outback. Bonus tracks include the single versions of crucial cuts "Sunrise (Come My Way)" and "Shylock". Want You For You Body is equally awesome, and features the powerful "Dune Messiah". Killer vocals on that one and you can't get much more '70s than a song about Frank Herbert's popular sci-fi classic, short of writing songs about Tolkien! Bonus tracks include a live version of "United Nations". And the fact that you can't get both albums on one disc anymore is made up for by the presence of the aforementioned bonus tracks on each cd, digital remastering, thick booklets, and generally nice presentation in digipacks.
So if you're a patron of our "proto-metal" section, into Blue Cheer and Bang and Leaf Hound and the like, you've gotta get Buffalo!!! Same deal if you're a fan of Kyuss, Monster Magnet, Heavy Rocks style Boris, etc... Highly recommended.
[Also available, is the Aztec reish of Buffalo's debut Dead Forever, which we'll list next time!]
We LOVE this band. You should love this band. How can you not, that is if you're lookin' for some proto-metal, psychedelic stoner '70s rawk action?? Buffalo is 100 percent the Real Deal. These Aussie rockers were basically what Monster Magnet (and all the other bands in the modern "stoner rock" scene) would have liked to be, doing it first and best back in the day. Once upon a time, we used to stock a 2-on-1 reissue of Buffalo's Volcanic Rock and Want You For Your Body albums (from '73 and '74, respectively) but that's been out of print for ages now. So we're super thrilled that the Aztec label from Down Under has brought Buffalo back into circulation, as part of a '70s reissue campaign featuring a bunch of other Aussie acts we're eager to check out, like Coloured Balls (reviews pending). Both of these Buffalo discs are authentically heavy '70s cock-rock from the band we've judged to be Australia's answer to, if not Black Sabbath, at least Grand Funk... no, better n' heavier than that. Sir Lord Baltimore, for sure. Did we say cock-rock? Hell, there's even a penis on the cover of Volcanic Rock! The lyrics are of the sort that amusingly confuse being sexist with being sexy (a la Spinal Tap), as in Want You's lead off track "I'm A Skirt Lifter, Not A Shirt Raiser", and they're delivered with much gusto and backed by some powerful guitar riffing that blows those stoner rock bands of today out of the (bong)water.
Volcanic Rock is unstoppable, definitely an aptly titled album. Music for rolling Mad Max style on the highways across the Australian outback. Bonus tracks include the single versions of crucial cuts "Sunrise (Come My Way)" and "Shylock". Want You For You Body is equally awesome, and features the powerful "Dune Messiah". Killer vocals on that one and you can't get much more '70s than a song about Frank Herbert's popular sci-fi classic, short of writing songs about Tolkien! Bonus tracks include a live version of "United Nations". And the fact that you can't get both albums on one disc anymore is made up for by the presence of the aforementioned bonus tracks on each cd, digital remastering, thick booklets, and generally nice presentation in digipacks.
So if you're a patron of our "proto-metal" section, into Blue Cheer and Bang and Leaf Hound and the like, you've gotta get Buffalo!!! Same deal if you're a fan of Kyuss, Monster Magnet, Heavy Rocks style Boris, etc... Highly recommended.
[Also available, is the Aztec reish of Buffalo's debut Dead Forever, which we'll list next time!]
I never really got into Buffalo Daughter until I saw them live in, like, 1998 or something. And man, are they good live, and that's what has made me love their records. The band is two Japanese girls and a guy drummer who seems to change with each album.
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Japanese female quartet mix power pop and funk and electronic noodling into a surprisingly appealing whole. Bonus points for throwing Gregg Turkington's "Great Phone Calls" pranks into the mix, barely there but so very there.
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On this funky lil' 7", Buffalo Daughter bring us a live (and lively) recording from a show in Osaka. They've taken their wellknown song "Socks, Drugs And Rock'n'roll", and ditched the socks in favor of a little sax! Throw in some twisted vocoded vocals and the result is a fun, skronky sample of Buffalo Daughter live action. The b-side is a lovely sonic rendering of a jellyfish. Languid, dreamy, underwater/deepspace-y. A nice little release to tide us over 'til their next full length.
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Remixers include Alec Empire (very recognizable!), Stock, Hausen & Walkman, Money Mark, and U.N.K.L.E.
Tape hiss, simple melodies, mechanical rhythms, dubby reverb... Nice! We're diggin' on the 16 tracks, 33 minutes�of blissful, bedroom-recorded Casio-dub instrumental music here, this cd-r being the second solo joint from Oakland's Adam Bugaj, a Pennsylvania transplant who played "lysergic barn rock" with underground psych acts Peacefeather and Clear Spots back in PA. Rather than rockin' out, though, this is lazy Sunday stoned music from the man, lo-fi DIY mesmerism, like a Jewelled Antler production of home-brewed Kompakt techno, shimmering with hiss and distortion. 'Tis spacey and mellow, sometimes subverted by sudden manual tape edits... Throw in a bit of Fahey folky guitar ramble here or there, and broken electronics that get accidentally cosmic and Cluster-like, with echoey keys, heartbeat drum machine pulses, minimal drones, fractured rhythms... Imagine, maybe, a more outsider version of Pantha Du Prince, recorded on, like, $15 worth of yard sale equipment and cheap cassette tapes. Yes it's pretty nice!
All kids should be raised on psychedelic children's television shows! The world would be a way better, or at least way crazier place! The Bugaloos was the follow up show to Sid & Marty Krofft's other totally out there children's TV show HR Pufnstuf. Both shows were filled with psychedelic metaphors and totally infectious rainbow colored pop melodies. Kind of touted as the UK version of The Monkees, but of WAY more airy, trippy and psychedelic, the Bugaloos were a band of insects (cute interracial teens in tight clothes with cute little wings on their backs) who lived in Tranquility Forest, where they flew in the sky, battled the evil Benita Bizarre (played by Martha Raye) and spread their glorious pop, a heady concoction of lush string arrangements, candy coated harmonies and an overall Wizard Of Oz on acid vibe that made them a big hit, not just with the tots but with older folks too. We were so delighted that this was finally made available here in the states. There was a Japanese reissue a few years back but it was still hard to get and was quite pricey. Fans of The Free Design take note as this possesses that same kind of over the top poppy, happy and slightly warped cheerfulness. One listen and you can totally tell that there had to have been plenty of... um... well let's just say all sorts of mind altering goodies, involved in the creation of this far out show and the amazing and sweetly trippy pop soundtrack. Electric kool-aid for all the kiddies!!
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Original motion picture soundtrack. This is excellent!
This time around Bugskull is just Portlander Sean Byrne with a coupla guests. The album, like Snakland before it, continues to develop the band's "Tomorrow Never Knows"-obsession (this is a good thing) with more synths and even some mellow almost-breakbeats that make us think Sean's been listening to music other than rock (also a good thing). Pop songs, layered and full, but not dense and definitely not too sweet.
Portland's indierock synthmasters strike again.
Bugskull records are always so pleasant. And since it's been three years since Sean Byrne's Portland-based project has released anything, this is a welcome record. Utilizing prettily chiming, repetitive organ lines, occasional metronomic drums, fuzzy wistful guitar, and woozy in 'n out synth phasings, they're like a Stereolab without the tension (or the constant pressure to innovate.) Thus the music is relaxed and seems to issue forth effortlessly. This is a very, very pretty album of easy, layered, warm blanketed layers. Sorta vintage-y sounding (old vocal snippets, record crackle, space-age whooshes) and very lulling. It won't blow you away and it ain't tryin' to; think, oh, Mouse on Mars or a simplified Harmonia if they were indie rock West Coasters and you're somewhere in the vicinity of Bugskull.
Once you get past the cover (trust us, it'll take you a minute) which features a lovely young lady, holding a bag of oranges in her teeth, with the bag, her hair, and arms, perfectly positioned to keep the image, if not chaste, then at least sorta PG-13, but yeah, once you get past that, inside you'll find the latest from Minneapolis noiserockers Buildings, and within seconds of dropping the needle, you'll get a serious earful of classic old school AmRep style pigfuck heaviness. Albini sounding drum bombast, sharp edged guitars, slithery swaggery tempos, a guttural vocal bellow, which we know comes from one of the skinny dudes on the back cover, but sounds more like it should be coming from the mouth of a bearded monster man, breath stinking of raw meat, dead babies, dried blood, old cigarettes and lots and lots of booze. And for a singer, in this kind of band, that's most definitely meant as a serious compliment! The songs are dense, and driving, tangled and confusional at times, creepy and brooding one second, explosive and progged out and chaotic the next. Jesus Lizard is a HUGE influence (check out "Noxema Gurl", which is like Buildings' "Mouth Breather"!), as is pretty much the whole Amphetamine Roster, in fact if it was 1995, these guys would be touring with the Unsane and the Melvins and people would be losing their shit. But for those of you (like us) who LOVE this sound, and miss those days, Buildings bring it all back, their sound positioning themselves along the current crop of sludgey, noise rock heavies: Kowloon Walled City, Gay Witch Abortion, Multicult, Keelhaul, Hex Machine, Catalyst, Clockcleaner, Dead Meat, Rabbits, Seawhores, etc. Odds are if you dig any / all of those bands, these guys will hit the spot too.
But to be fair, it's not just straight up old noise rock revisionism, no Buildings definitely make these songs and that sound their own, adding lots of weird textures, some slippery slide guitars, slowing things down throughout, often filling the songs with as much space as pound and crunch, deftly and subtly adding all sorts of hooks, vocal AND riff, so you may end up finding yourself humming some weird little melody, only later to remember it was a random Buildings riff, which is always a good sign. Heavy as hell, brooding, and hypnotic, dirgey and tranced out, mathy and moody and really fucking great.
Includes a download coupon too! And on green vinyl while they last!
