Dead Rails is the second full-length from Air Conditioning, now quite at home on Load after a debut disc on Level Plane. They're from the same Allentown, PA scene as Pissed Jeans, and even (much more, whoah) noisier than those guys! They also were on a 4-way split LP we listed last time, the Tiger Tongue Pussy Cactus: Terminal Fantasies For Malefic Youth on Hospital Productions. Regarding that, we said Air Conditioning sounded like a supercharged noise rock Tim Hecker, all blown out buzz and buried melodies, and this follows suit.
Air Conditioning combine vacuum cleaner guitars with industrial-strength drum pummel for a noise rock delight, stress on the noise. Sheets of feedback shriek accompany indecipherable angst ridden punk hollers, all subsumed far below a tsunami of rumbling distortion. Although Dead Rails has its quiet, dare we say pretty side too, on the more ambient droning likes of "I Run Low". But when on the disc's final, 16+ minute track, Air Conditioning ask us to "Accept Your Paralysis", they've probably also caused said paralysis with their amped to the max geetar STATIC and mind-numbing rhythmic throb. Here, their noise rock gets almost psychedelic, like one of them Japanese bands, maybe Up-Tight or LSD-march veering into Hijokaidan territory!
An awesome 4 band pile up, the state of modern black noise, or blackened noise rock, or whatever the fuck you want to call it. This stuff is fierce and heavy and demented and so great. From the same label that brought us the primitive black metal of Malkuth (reviewed elsewhere on this list), the raw black fury of Bone Awl, those killer Akitsa reissues and a recent MB reissue, comes this killer 4 band anvil to the head. Up first is the Vegas Martyrs, featuring Hospital head honcho and Prurient mastermind Dom Fernow, and just like the recently reviewed lp, it's another gloriously blown out and beautiful slab of blackened pop flecked noise rock. In the red and on the verge of destroying your speakers, VM offer up a killer Maiden-like riff over super distorted drums, garbled FX drenched vocals, super hypnotic and repetitive, all wrapped up in a crumbling stereo killing production, finishing off with several minutes of glitchy grinding murky noise...
Up next is Air Conditioning, who sculpt their noise into something sorta pretty, huge swaths of blown out buzz over blurred buried melodies, layer upon layer upon layer, all shifting and shimmering, it almost sounds like a super charged noiserock Tim Hecker. Abrasive but surprisingly lovely. Up third is The New Flesh, show kick out the jams, ultra lo-fi style, a noisy practice space sounding garage rock sludge jam, all downtuned guitars, distorted trash can drums, and a weirdly deep voiced vocalist, who occasionally let's loose with a glass gargling screech. Dirgey, grimey, almost like some long lost Swans rehearsal tape. Finally, finishing things up are the Coughs, who weave some strange drone-y dirge with skronky sax and buzzy bass, fuzz guitar, all in short sharp bursts, creating a weirdly spacious plod, looped and cyclical, until the wild female vocals come in, and suddenly the Coughs sound like they're channeling old school Riot Grrl through new school noise. Out of nowhere comes a blast of spastic drum freakout before returning to that gorgeously relentless sludge-y pulse...
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We loved this record before we even heard a note. C'mon, the band's called Air Waves, the record is called Dungeon Dots, and the cover photo is a bearded man and his baby, both sporting chainmail made out of what appears to be beer can pull tabs. How could we not be smitten? And even though we loved it already, when we finally heard the music inside, it wasn't at all what we expected, yet we still loved it. In fact, we might love it even more for precisely that reason. With all the music coming out these days, that relies so heavily on atmosphere and ambience, echo and delay and reverb and lo-fidelity and buzz and drone, not to take way from that stuff, it's stuff we most definitely love, but enough of those things and much can be forgiven in the way of songwriting and performance. So we were sort of expecting another chunk of eighties beholden lo-fi lysergic garage pop, but instead, we were greeted by big jangly, strummy, sunshiney, melancholic warm, swirling pretty much perfect pop music. Softly crashing, dreamily bombastic, the basslines woozy and warm, the guitars chiming and lush and layered, and the vocals, well, let's just say we got so used to boys singing super high, and sounding female, that we were surprised to discover that Air Waves was in fact a one woman band, her vocals plaintive and emotional, the perfect balance for the jangle and strum, the shuffle and shimmer. The songs striking a similarly delicate balance between wistful and melancholy, sunshiney and dreampoppy.
Opener "Knock Out" sealed the deal within seconds, simple jangle guitars, some sorta twangy melodies drifting around that main riff, the bass warm and liquid, the drums crashing and loud, but not overwhelming, and the vocals, immediate and intimate, weary and emotive, all wound up into the sort of jangle pop we just can stop listening to. "Bisous" is another favorite, that starts out all brooding and melancholy, the vocals so bittersweet, over hazy minor key chords, a ballady dirge, drifting and droney, and subtly sad, but slow building too, eventually bursting into a super propulsive stretch of distorted fuzz pop, rocking and rollicking, but still retaining the pathos of the intro.
And so it goes. We could definitely go song by song, and sure there's reverb and delay and echo, but it's used way more judiciously here, cuz really the songs don't need 'em, but they are subtly colored by the various effects, the chords and arrangements, the melodies and the vocal lines powerful enough to carry even the most barebones sound, but thankfully, Dungeon Dots is anything but, it manages to be lush and lustrous and layered, but still simple and minimal and pretty and hooky and catchy. And sneaking in just hours before the end of the year, which will most likely require an adjustment to our year end top ten, since this definitely is one of our favorite pop records of 2010. Anyone who dug recent aQ faves like Jaill, No Joy, Avi Buffalo, or who loves stuff on Captured Tracks and Sacred Bones, or who digs classic modern pop like the Shins, Built To Spill, Neutral Milk Hotel and all that amazing nineties indie rock that still sounds so great, odds are you're gonna love this too!
Here is a new ep from this power pop trio of twenty year olds from El Paso Tx. They sound like emo boy rock, ala Slint (only harder) Drive Like Jehu or June of 44. You know what im talking about. three songs. Full sounding and driving with dual vocals.
Guided By Voices' Robert Pollard and Tobin Sprout have assembled an album's worth of material that just as well could (should? would?) be GBV. This is the second full length from this recently reunited pair of extremely prolific songsmiths. As with other
Mr Robert Pollard has been quite prolific as of late. This is #13 in the Fading Captain Series. All new material and the first full-length collaboration between Robert Pollard and Tobin Sprout, since 1996's Guided By Voices 'Tonics And Twisted Chasers'. Of
Oh, those familiar voices and just as familiar chord changes of Bob Pollard and Tobin Sprout. In my opinion, the most successful tunes here are the more upbeat ones, the slower ones tend to somewhat trudge along. The title track I've fondly renamed "Hold Your
We had first heard about this local SF duo via various blogs, hyping them to high heaven, as the next big name to watch out for in the ever expanding world of 'shoegaze black metal', but from the very beginning, their sound was at the most tangentially black, the blackness implied in their gorgeous hazy, blown out, blissy shoegazey gloom pop sound. And even at their most buzzy, their songs still oozed pathos and passion and more importantly, melody, and moodiness, this new one is no different, if anything, it's their best sounding records yet, but also maybe their heaviest, but that heaviness is again tempered by a masterful command of melancholia and minor key melody. The opening title track should tell you all you need to know. Beginning with a slow progression of crumblingly distorted chords, sprawled beneath a female spoken word, everything hazy and reverby, we'd honestly have been happy if that's all it did, but then when the song proper kicks in, it's not with a bang, but a strange oozing melty drift, the programmed (?) drums spare and skeletal, multiple guitars winding around each other, spidery melodies and fuzzy strum, all beneath the vocals which are breathy and wistful, and just on the edge of sinking below the surface of the dreamily gauzy mix. But hold on, near the end of the song, the guitars slowly build to something more frenzied, the drums following suit, blossoming into something more Godspeed like, but then into a proper double kick blast, but as mentioned above, the sounds themselves continue to soar and swirl.
But it's not all cotton candy guitarchords and prismatic dreampop buzz. The second track gets all post punky, with yelped swaggery vocals over more powerful drums, the guitars though, still a bit soft focus and fuzzy, and then in swoop more layers, and some oooohing and aaahing background vox, the drums flitting into blast beat mode occasionally, but really barring the strident vocal yowl, this would still be pretty dreamy and shoegazey. Which is right where the sound ends up on the third track, channeling Swervedriver and Spacemen 3 through something more urgent, the vibe post punk death rock, like a super charged Joy Division, given a slightly metallic makeover, the vocals slipping back into something more poppy, Airs delicately balancing urgent gloom punk churn, epic emo, and shoegaze dream pop, and not just on that track, throughout the whole record, and we presume, their whole career.
There's definitely a sonic thread holding these songs together, but they definitely shift pretty dramatically over the course of Adore. "Missing" is a wistful dirge of a distortion doused ballad, a creeping tempo, lots of guitar buzz and rumble, but the vocals, super emotive and heartfelt, the main melody wistful, a potent combination of sonic heft and dream pop delicacy. Which is followed by "Adrift", another stripped down sprawl of psychedelic downer pop, multiple vocal lines intertwined, lots of swirling sheets of feedback, thick swaths of buzzing riffage, but all blurred and smeared into something much more dreamlike, building again to a soaring majestic Godspeed like coda, swirling and noisy and chaotic, but still lush and lovely.
The rest of the record plays out similarly, a churning, driving, nineties style blast of heavy shoegaze pop, that's a dead ringer for pretty much everything we listened to and obsessed over in our twenties, but maybe supercharged a bit, gives way to some noisy, mathy, post punk, frenetic and a little bit jagged, and with a cool bombastic stop start breakdown, but still swathed in shoegazey shimmer, and finally finishing off with a short burst of what sounds like shoegaze screamo, which if it wasn't a genre already, it is now, or really should be, cuz that last two minute blast, will most definitely leave you wanting more. Tripped out, heavy, psychedelic, gloomy shoegaze blackened buzz pop bliss of the highest order.
While not necessarily recommended for black metal folks, if your BM tastes rung more towards Alcest, Amesoeurs, Les Discrets, Deafheaven, Hypomanie, Lonesummer, Lifelover, then this could very well be your new jam. And really anyone into broody, blissy shoegaziness of all stripes, Tied To The Branches to Swervedriver, My Bloody Valentine to Foreign Cinema, Moonbell to Grave Babies, will definitely dig this big time.
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Hurrah! The much anticipated third album from our favorite world-weary pop angels has arrived! Very '60s Brill Building girl group style production but with less naive, sugarcoated lyrical sentiments. Sooooo sssplendid! Beautifully recorded, with layer upon layer of beautiful melodies and instrumentation. This band really does just get better and better. Their recordings have the hugeness and details reminiscent of Phil Spector or Joe Meek. And the use of reverb is flawless. The soft echoey lovely vocals just melt my heart and the songs are so individually rad that they stand on their own and apart from each other. This record is softer and sadder in some ways, perhaps their darkest work to date. Less poppy or optimistic than previous songs I've heard. I really can't take it off my stereo at home. Absolutely, totally and completely recommended!!!
Hurrah! The beloved Aislers Set return with this 3-song 12". It contains two versions of the title song (sung in English and Spanish) as well as "I'm So Glad To See You Go". Super splendid pop once again from Amy, Wyatt, Yoshi, and Alicia. Slinky'n'jangly guitar, low-key organ, a vibrant horn section and the always welcome vocal pairing of Amy's unmistakable sweet, drowsy lilt and Wyatt's gentle, boyish charm. Sooo good. And this is just a little hint of what's to come in their third full length due in February - certainly cause for celebration. Can't wait!
This is the debut album from the highly anticipated new project from Amy of Henry's Dress/Go Sailor, Alicia of Poundsign, Wyatt Trackstar, and Yoshi of Scenic Vermont. And what a debut it is! There's certainly no shortage of fine songsmiths in this SF combo, and the resulting pop chemistry is pretty darn magical. Soft, pretty and a bit droll, but with ample bounce and feist when required. Superb indie pop gems that are not to be missed... really! You need this now... or bear the wrath of Sadie!
Local popsters Aislers Set finally return with their second, super anticipated full length. Unabashed mod-pop fans of the Postcard Records/Belle&Sebastian/Zombies variety, the Aislers' first album Terrible Things Happen has been a steady bestseller at AQ ever since it came out 2 years ago. Look for the same to happen with The Last Match -- it's that toothsomely good and that insanely catchy. Warm, jangly with honest to goodness real songs. Belle and Sebastian are rumored to be big fans, and coincidentally enough, when we play this in the store some folks mistake the Aislers Set for B&S when Wyatt, not Amy, is singing.
SF pop heroes return with a newly recorded version of "The Red Door", from last year's highly acclaimed LP "The Last Match". Also included are two new songs, a live cover of Girls At Our Best's "Warm Girls" and "Summers Reprise".
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A Henry's Dress reunion of sorts. Side A is more lovely pop from local favorites The Aislers Set, while the B side is from her ex-bandmate, now in How, engaging in a little blatant Who worship.
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Split single from two beloved local groups doing the noisepop so well. The Aisler Set track is a version of the French pop classic. Lovely artwork and foldout poster by comic book artist Adrian Tomine of Optic Nerve fame.
These once local legends have their two full lengths reissued for a legion of new fans who missed their winsome noisepop the first time around in the nineties. Basically they are the band that defined the sound of Slumberland. Here is what we said about them way back when, in the days of briefer reviews:
This is the debut album from the highly anticipated new project from Amy of Henry's Dress/Go Sailor, Alicia of Poundsign, Wyatt of Trackstar, and Yoshi of Scenic Vermont. And what a debut it is! There's certainly no shortage of fine songsmiths in this SF combo, and the resulting pop chemistry is pretty darn magical. Soft, pretty and a bit droll, but with ample bounce and feistiness when required. Superb indie pop gems that are not to be missed... really!
For fans of Grass Widow, Belle and Sebastian and any of the above bands.
Oh, and their third and final album, How I learned To Write Backwards, released on Suicide Squeeze back in 2003, is also now available again, just ask!
These once local legends have their two full lengths reissued for a legion of new fans who missed their winsome noisepop the first time around in the nineties. Basically they are the band that defined the sound of Slumberland. Here is what we said about them way back when, in the days of briefer reviews:
Local popsters Aislers Set finally return with their second, super anticipated full length. Unabashed mod-pop fans of the Postcard Records / Belle & Sebastian / Zombies variety, the Aislers' first album Terrible Things Happen has been a steady bestseller at AQ ever since it came out 2 years ago [now 16 years ago!]. Look for the same to happen with The Last Match - it's that toothsomely good and that insanely catchy. Warm, jangly with honest to goodness real songs. Belle and Sebastian are rumored to be big fans, and coincidentally enough, when we play this in the store some folks mistake the Aislers Set for B&S when Wyatt, not Amy, is singing.
For fans of Grass Widow, Belle and Sebastian and any of the bands on Slumberland.
Oh, and their third and final album, How I learned To Write Backwards, released on Suicide Squeeze back in 2003, is also now available again, just ask!
One guy from Stars of the Lid, one guy from Labradford. Making lovely sounds together not unlike those of the aforementioned bands. Spacious. Soothing. Pretty. Kranky. (The label, not the feeling.) We like.
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Judging from the cover - a sunset like watercolor wash in oranges, greens, and violets, filled with high-flying painted birds framed in a dark border with Moroccan design corner details, the band logo crowned by a majestic horse symbol - we naturally assumed (read: hoped) this was some lost '70s Asian psych release in the Far East Family Band vein of using traditional instruments in the service of proggy composition. As it turns out we weren't too off the mark, except that this is brand new group from China mining traditional Mongolian instruments as well as folk songs and themes, to create a retro-mystical hybrid of old sounds in new modern combinations. Using flutes, strings, gongs, mouth harps, and throat-singing, there is almost a Celtic/Viking vibe that runs throughout largely aided by the employment of traditional Mongolian singer Qinggele, whose upfront vocal delivery has a brogue-ish character one expects to hear in ancient British and Irish folk songs. In fact, one can detect an influence of both Jethro Tull and The Pogues (especially on "Bunburei") as if they were teleported to the wild plains of Mongolia to tame majestic steeds (Ajinai is the name given to a horse worthy of royalty). Comes with a booklet with lyrics in English translation, and explanation of the traditional context of each song.
Brand new tape from this mysterious Texas three piece, Old Norse Mara marks aQuarius' first exposure to the sounds of Ak'chamel. They seem to be the latest in a long line of iconoclastic badasses from their home state - going back to Blind Lemon Jefferson, Leadbelly, the 13th Floor Elevators, Jandek, and so on - where the rules of the game are continually ignored, rewritten, and used at the band's convenience to create a sound that refuses to fit within any specific label, recalling everyone from the Sun City Girls to Moondog to Dead Raven Choir, often in the same song. Dark, folk-tinged melodies merge with a warped punk sensibility, but these songs surely exist in their own fucked up world where categories are pretty much useless. Beginning with the awesomely titled "Pussy Gloating The Give", where banjo and murmured vocals clatter below weird chipmunkish voices and an unsettling atmosphere, the tape gets weirder from there. Things get sunny for a brief moment with "Slalom", a quick Meat Puppets/Minutemen styled jam, before getting more evil sounding. "Mountain Of The Sleeping Lady" comes off like some Sublime Frequencies field recording of a street performance in Cambodia being reprocessed into weird quasi-industrial ambience. The tape is strangely and surprisingly cohesive despite its lack of easy reference points and Ak'chamel's voice is truly their own. A killer surprise from a band we can't wait to hear more from!
Whoo-hoo! Here's a whole disc (or double lp) of music by a band from that great Those Shocking Shaking Days compilation of Indonesian '70s fuzz/funk/psych/prog we made Record Of The Week not long ago... one of the bands we liked so much we picked 'em for one of the sound samples accompanying our review of that comp. This best-of AKA collection is the first release on the Strawberry Rain label, formed by the very fellow who compiled Those Shocking Shaking Days, to reissue more vintage Indo-rock treasures. We're already salivating at the prospect; with this anthology Strawberry Rain is off to a pretty darn badass beginning. We imagine you'll agree, if you're into the international language of screaming vocals, acid rock guitar, swirling synth, and seriously funky grooves. Hard Beat is aptly titled.
According to the liner notes provided here, AKA started off in East Java, giving wild live performances playing material by such Western artists as James Brown, Jimi Hendrix and Grand Funk Railroad... and listening to this, we'd guess that some Deep Purple was probably part of their repertoire too. Eventually they started writing their own stuff, got signed to a label, and made eleven albums between 1971 and '77, selected songs from which are presented here - including the two tracks comped on TSSD, "Do What You Like" and "Shake Me", along with 12 others (13 on the cd, it's got a bonus track), all of 'em equally awesome, but varied between ants-in-the-pants JB's style funk (including their #1 in Australia hit, "Crazy Joe"), groovy psych-pop, and Purplish heavy rockers... several songs somehow managing to combine all of that, all at once, in fact!
For fans of sundry other purveyors of hairy funk freak rock from around the world, say like Los Dug Dug's, Speed Glue & Shinki, Modulo 1000, Black Merda, Bunalim, Ngozi Family, Juan De La Cruz, etc. Highly recommended; good grief this is good. Here's hoping Strawberry Rain do a Hard Beat volume two someday, though of course there's other bands from Those Shocking Shaking Days we'd like to hear more of too!
Compact disc packaged in gatefold mini-lp style sleeve, the double vinyl also in a gatefold, both limited editions.
Calling all crusty black metal punx: We have something new and filthy for you! We submit for your approval this debut demo courtesy of Oakland, California's very own Akatharsia - a supergroup of sorts, all slathered in slime & grit, featuring members of aQ faves Lycus, Negative Standards and Fell Voices - and taking an equal amount of inspiration from Burzum as they do Amebix! Here we have eight short sharp shocks of driving lo-fi black metal thrashing wildly back and forth between dizzying blasting, primitive d-beat and fist-pumping black & roll - the riffing simple, catchy and direct; the vocals hoarse and agonized. There are moments of quieter ominous respite, but make no mistake, this is no frills, fist-in-the-face stuff - spiky, grisly, & hateful, and definitely recommended for fans of Bone Awl, Raspberry Bulbs, Tare and other like minded anarcho grimsters. Hand numbered to 250 copies!
Having recently reissued hard rocking Turkish '70s pop star Edip Akbayram's self-titled 1974 debut, now Pharaway Sounds moves on to the man's next album, done with his killer band Dostlar (Friends), originally released in 1977. It's a severe collision of Western electric rock and Middle Eastern folk, akin to other vintage Turkish psych faves like Mogollar, 3 Hur-el and Erkin Koray, but particularly '70s-sounding in a polyester suit, shag carpet kind of way.
The very first track might throw you for a loop, but past that sappy, poppy number with its soft-rock strings and horns and tinkling piano, this record suddenly gets a whole lot rockier, heavier, and funkier. Imagine an Anatolian Pop score for some groovy car-chase flick... the schlocky, sizzling vintage '70s synths enhance the kitsch value and sound good amidst the traditional ethnic instrumentation (arranged by one of the Mogollar guys). Edip and the Dostlar dudes dish out the hard rock and funk with a groovy bottom end, plenty of psych guitar riffage, Edip's powerful vocals and wah-wah augmented Turkish saz. With proggy weirdness like flute attacks and studio tape speed manipulation, this is some badass 'exotica' for sure. Anyone addicted to the Turkish psych rock scene-sound from back in the hazy day like we are will find this a fine addition to their collection. Remastered, includes extensive new liner notes by Andrea Sawyer of Weirdo Records.
Glad tidings for Turkish psych freaks, or those soon to become Turkish psych freaks (just give this a listen!): here's a new must-have collection crammed full of swirling, fuzzed-out electric saz, impassioned vocals, and traditional Turkish folk gone funk! If you are indeed into the groovy East-meets-West psychedelia that flourished in Istanbul back in the '60s and '70s, artists like Mogollar, 3 Hur-el, Baris Manco, and Erkin Koray, chances are you may already be familiar with Edip Akbayram and his band Dostlar (formed in '73), as a while back we reviewed a compact disc reissue of Edip's circa '76 album Nedir Ne Decildir and gave it a hearty recommendation. This new Edip Akbayram double disc on the Shadoks label contains 24 tracks, including ten of the 14 cuts found on that previous reissue (meaning, if you already have that cd, you still will want this for the whole disc and then some of songs you don't have... and you can't get rid of the Nedir reissue either if you want those four songs that don't overlap). So this is definitely the Edip set to get at any rate.
The colorful music of Edip Akbayram and Dostlar is pretty much the hardest-rockin' all the Turkish psych acts of the era we've heard... darn heavy in spots. The Anatolian folk-rock of the sixties is blended with a polyester '70s wah-wah funked-up progginess here. It's vibrant and colorful music to make you feel like you're in some smoky, swinging nightclub on one of the warren of narrow, twisting side-streets off of the hip main drag Istiklal in the Beyoglu neighborhood of Istanbul, back in the day, sweating on the dance floor or sitting back, sucking on a hookah.
The cd booklet is full of cool photos, and a page of liner notes, giving Edip's bio but no info on the tracks themselves, we're just told that they're from his first two albums and singles. However, they do include English translations of the song titles, which should give some idea of Edip's seemingly dire outlook on life (or the outlook shared by his Turkish folk sources), with such songs as "Sorrow And More Sorrow", "Miserable", "In Vain", "Our Village Is Full Of Smoke", "Don't Touch My Sad Soul", "Tyrant", "Gallows Pole" and even "My Car Broke Down"! Sounds like a bummer, yet many of these tracks are amazingly upbeat musically!
Edip definitely belongs high up in the reissued ranks of all the incredible, obscure, groovy sixties/seventies psych sounds from all around the world that we can't get enough of here at AQ: Os Mutantes, San Ul Lim, Mogollar, Blo, Bango, Brincos, Krysztof Klenzon, Juan de la Cruz, Los Dug Dugs, He 6, the stuff on comps like Cherrystones Rocks, Welsh Rare Beat, Prog Is Not A Four Letter Word, Studio One Funk, etc. etc. etc.
You can tell a lot about a band by how they creatively they describe each member's role, what they play, and what they do, this is mostly applicable to metal bands, but avant Japanese grinders AKBK (featuring members of recent aQ faves, progressive space psychedelic death rockers King Goblin!) put most metalheads to shame with their liner notes, no 'drums' or 'vocals' here. Instead it's: 'Judas Preacher', 'Hard Puncher', 'Dirkschnoise', 'Anal Backfire' and 'Noise Gigolo'. And those aren't their 'rock names', those are the instruments they play, or at least the roles they fulfill in the band. And heck before we even get to the music, we might as well mention the amazing song titles: "Bug In Your God's Ear", "Have A Jail Lunch", "Let Me Eat Whales", "Sexual Response Of The Intact Male", "Give Back My Horse", and the super cool colorful abstract collaged artwork, and before we make our spiel about how amazing these guys are, and how twisted and gloriously fucked up and heavy this record is, have a look at the obi which features testimonies from a few metal, noise and grind luminaries: Rich Hoak of Brutal Truth, Tabata Mitsuru of Zeni Geva, Lasse Marhaug of Jazkamer, and Analtoshit of Butcher ABC, who describe AKBK as "a non-stop terrorist attack in the brain" and "like being crushed by a mountain" and as "a prog rock grind metal excursion", and Marhaug even wants AKBK to be played at his funeral!
But don't just trust those guys, take our word for it, this stuff is incredible, the core sound is definitely grind, with shrieked vocals, blasting chaotic drums, wild flailing gnarled guitars, and there's probably some bass in there too, buried under an avalanche of blown out crunch and howling ultra distorted chaos. But like Agoraphobic Nosebleed, AKBK twist everything up into super intense, ultra complex, and skull crushingly heavy prog-grind-metal weirdness, time signatures shifting constantly, riffs turned inside out, lurching start stop arrangements, super intricate tangles of melody wound around lumbering almost doomy dirges, which lead right into freaked out psychedelic math rock grind, and then back into some primitive D-beat pound, a furious stumbling confusional outsider grind juggernaut spitting swirls of atonal melody, insane blasts of woofer shredding double bass and pealing streaks of feedback drenched powerviolence. Yet the thing is, for all of this record's weirdness, it's not goofy at all, maybe the guys making this are funny guys with great senses of humor (the song titles and various non-musicial stuff seem to indicate that might be the case) but AKBK's music is anything but, this is some serious, and seriously devastating heaviness, furious and frantic, experimental and avant for sure, but essentially just a beautifully brutal chunk of twisted metallic grindcore. We imported these direct from the band in Japan, and only have a few on hand...
When I asked someone recently if they liked Akimbo, they responded with "Well, I like Karp." Not sure that's entirely fair, although Akimbo do definitely share some sonic similarities with the sadly defunct Karp. Howled vocals over simple but pulverizing riffing. However, Akimbo up the ante significantly, by having BIGGER riffs, LOUDER guitars, and WAY WEIRDER songs. Very proggy at points with lots of that dual guitar harmonizing, you know...that keening NEENEENEENEENEENEENEENEENEENEENEENEENEE before exploding back into a crushing downtuned pummel. And also unlike Karp there's some definite stoner rawk going on not to mention some sludgy doom. Makes sense that they're on the same label as doomsters Buried At Sea. We raved about the last Akimbo record, but this one is definitely even better. Imagine the crusty metallic crush of Neurosis or Isis, the post-rock-meets-metal of Dazzling Killmen, the churning repetitive chaotic crunch of Helmet, and the insane howling of the Jesus Lizard's David Yow and you'll get a rough idea of why this band kicks our asses so hard.
Those of you in need of some serious sonic sludge, some pummelling crushing metallic dirge, and who have maybe also been missing the Neurosis of old, should stop right here. Imagine Neurosis' Enemy Of The Sun or Souls At Zero filtered through hardcore kids in the Northwest, and augmented with furiously complex black metallisms, insane start/stop time signatures and shrieking metalcore crunch. Sound good? That's 'cause it is good. Really good.
Akimbo are another one of those new breed of heavy bands, sort of straddling that line between heavy metal love and heavy metal parody. Whenever you have a bunch of young guys, kicking up a serious metallic skree you have to wonder if those guys truly have souls of metal or if they're just johnny come lately's who realize that maybe it's okay to play metal now. Especially when they mix distinct metallic elements and imagery with goofy over the top artwork and dorky song titles ("Rockness Monster", "Spooning With Disaster", "Ground Control To Major Bummer"). But the sound, while indeed metallic, owes much more to post rock and heavier indie bands -- Karp, Unwound, that sort of thing -- the overall vibe is still pretty metal, with some seriously metallic riffs, plenty of 'evil' artwork, an inscription that reads "Sharpen swords, polish the armor, it's feeding time", but metal or not, this is just a fucking kick ass blast of sludgy pummeling RAWK, big fuzzed out riffs, pounding drumming, throat shredding vocals, their sound incorporating Neurosis-y crustsludge, Unwound post rock and grooved out Kyuss-y stoner rock into one massive crushing black (w)hole! Definitely for all you folks who dig stuff like Buried At Sea, Conifer, Tides, Dazzling Killmen, Warhammer 48K, etc.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
There's a certain breed of rock band that just rocks. Or RAWKS. They're not punk or metal, emo or indie, they just kick boatloads of ass, destroy live, are fun and funny, wild, over the top, and their rock tends to transcend scene politics or genres. Cuz who doesn't love a rock band that RAWKS, right? Karp were probably the ultimate example. A band that were legendary, and rightfully so. A Karp show would be packed to the rafters with punks and metalheads and indie nerds, and white belted emo kids, and goths. It didn't matter, you could hole up in your bedroom and listen to whatever you wanted to the rest of the time, but Saturday night, when it was time to go out and get wild, Karp was the soundtrack.�
There have been a few bands since, who managed the same sort of RAWK magic, but none so deftly as perfectly as Akimbo. In the past, we played down the Karp comparisons with Akimbo, cuz they tended to be WAY heavier, and much more of an actual metal band, channeling Neurosis as much as if not significantly more than Karp, but on this latest slab of rock and roll fury, Akimbo have stripped down and rocked up, sounding less metal and more like some supercharged AC/DC, and it sounds fucking awesome.�
From top to bottom this is pure rock, a tour van with horns on the hood and a mast and sail mounted to the top, plowing through stormy seas on the cover, song titles like "Wizard Van Wizard", "Dungeon Bastard" and "Huge Muscles", but it's what inside that really counts (just like your mother always told you) and inside are some mega huge ultra shredding riffs, wild howled vocals, crazy catchy hooks, and some of the most bad ass drumming ever, just check out the proggy drum solo intro to�"Wizard Van Wizard"! Holy Shit. We have been rocking this disc like crazy since it came in. And for those of us who have seen them live, they most definitely deliver the goods there too. Maybe even more so.�
So for those of you who need your ROCK FIX, this is exactly what the 'doctor' ordered!
This long form EP (7 songs, 30 minutes) is the follow up to last years eponymous debut and it displays even more of this cultish collective's enigmatic relationship to any sort of defined sound. Songs weave from cosmic mantra chants to space rock epics, improvised skronk jams to pastoral psych-folk reverie and country inflected Flaming Lips-style indie rock, creating a rich sonic tapestry that is engaging as it is perplexing. Delightfully head-spinning!
It's the case with lots of our favorite bands that the magic and awesomeness of any group comes from the collaborative energy every member puts forth into the overall sound. It's not so much one member leading, or one guitar part, or one vocal hook that makes a band awesome. Put it this way, the whole is always greater than its parts. After leaving the infamous Young God Records and losing key member Ryan Vanderhoof, Akron family find themselves in a state of creative purgatory. We were surprised to hear Set 'Em Wild sounding so unconfident and unsure, one song lead by a post-rock guitar splurge, then the next a funky bassline from some sweaty disco romp. Not to say we don't fully appreciate the weird and unconventional approach these dudes have always taken, but there's something missing here. In all fairness, the production and performance is up to par with past Akron records, rich group harmonies, catchy pop hooks, atmospheric wash and delay, but the overall magic that linked all these key elements into something tangible seems to have unfortunately faded away...
This review comes courtesy of our pal Forrest, longtime AQ customer and fellow massive music geek:
Akron/Family comfortably fit within the same free-flowing post-rock continuum as many of Michael Gira's other signings for Young God. Like Larsen and Ulan Bator, instruments drop in and out of the mix as needed, making it hard, on first listen, to tell how many musicians produced the music on the album (there are four). Like Devendra Banhart, their lyrical preoccupations tend toward the sweetly metaphysical, with occasional bits of unconscious derangement popping out. Like Gira's Angels of Light (for whom Akron/Family are now the backing band), occasional moments of darkness and creepiness intrude in the mix, although Akron/Family are never as dark, heavy, or gravel-voiced as Angels of Light, following instead a wandering course between Jeremy Enigk's metaphysically obsessed solo album and the warbling sweetness of mid-period Flaming Lips. Gira produced the album, and brings to it what has become his trademark: the album is recorded as a densely-woven suite, with songs fading from one to the next. Like Larsen's Rever, this gives it a seamlessness that may not be to everyone's taste, as the album feels longer than it is. Unlike Rever, there are lots of actual songs, and while the music is occasionally muscular post rock (with synths, chimes, toys, found sounds, and whatever else seems to work), the songs themselves belong more to the school of psychedelic folk popular with folks like Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom, and Six Organs of Admittance. It's hard to describe Akron/Family without making reference to other bands, as much in their sound is very familiar. Just the same, like every other Young God release, this record sounds like a transmission from some strange other dimension, being both very definitely a Young God record and its own unique thing.
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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A fat new release from cult faves Akron/Family, a cd AND (while they last) bonus dvd chock full of their uniquely freaked mix of tribal chant, symphonically folky indie pop, catchy rock, improv abandon, and several extra kitchen sinks worth of sounds. It runs the gamut from quiet and pretty to joyously chaotic, via artfully arranged, dynamic songs. Perhaps their noisier, more out-there (yet composed) stuff is what we like the best, as when their collective voices rise together in sweet harmony in the midst of stomping jangle ramshackle drone jams. Whereas the more intimate singy songy stuff can get a bit sappy for our tastes. For us, it's things like the seasick distortion effect that takes over towards the end of the album that we want to hear more of, for them to take that path of fucked-upedness a lot further.
The weird thing about this band is that, despite all the craziness on the surface, somehow they just don't seem all that weird to us. Sure, they use a psychedelic array of bright colors all over the place ("There's So Many Colors" is the title of track 6) but still they're carefully coloring inside the lines. Nothin' dangerously experimental here, when all's said and done. We could compare 'em to another anarchic sonic collective, Volcano The Bear -- that is, if they sold Volcano The Bear cds at Starbucks. Quite nice, really, and no surprise they're popular. A safe choice though. And while they last, this first pressing comes with a bonus dvd with performance footage from their notoriously full-on live shows!
It's no surprise that we like this a lot, as it's a collaboration bringing together some big aQ faves (and friends of ours), Aktor consisting of Jussi and Tomi from Finnish prog weirdos Circle, joined by American metal musician Chris "Professor" Black of Dawnbringer and High Spirits fame! Wow, what a great idea! Jussi, Tomi and the other Circle guys already can do no wrong, their unique brand of "NWOFHM" quasi-metal weirdness being hugely popular around here. Put Professor Black into the mix and you've got gold!
This debut 7" features two songs, about three and a half minutes each, of hook-laden, sadly majestic, melodic rockin' heaviness, definitely inspired by the '70s likes of Blue Oyster Cult (a reference made by the title of the A-side song), there's A LOT of synthesizer keyboards all over this, getting a little R2D2-ish with the sci-fi bleep and bloop.
Darkly poppy, rhythmically driving and suspenseful, with the keyboards and catchiness it's sorta like the recent Falcon (Ex-Circle) album, but much more metal and more prog too. And of course with a different, very distinctive vocalist - Professor Black's emotive, softly weathered voice always a pleasure to hear. Great existential lyrics too.
If you're already a fan of High Spirits or Dawnbringer, you'll be right on board with this, 'cause it basically sounds like the most melodic gallop of either of those bands given an extra dose of WTF? electronic action. As the label (i.e. Jussi) says: "Aktor plays Top 40 Heavy Metal with a delicious psychedelic flair". Meanwhile, if you're coming at this as a Circle/NWOFHM fan, well, the extra-proggy B-side has a "lalalala" part that's very Circle-ish...
And while it's unlikely we're gonna sell you on this import 7" if you're NOT already into one side or the other of the Aktor equation, any random BoC fans reading this, oughtta give the sound sample a listen!
We REALLY hope there's gonna be a full-length.
Gorgeous collection of psychedelic guitar drone from one half of Destructo Swarmbots. Lovely hushed dreamlike shimmer meets buzzy druggy blur.
Local pro-tech, anti-poor people, hate-filled smut rag (and not in a good way) The Bold Italic recently posted an absolutely vomit-inducing "eulogy" to the "dead" Bay Area music scene. At best these business-casual mongoloids are unapologetic in their ignorance of anything interesting happening here (just read our newsletter, we review local bands on every list), and at worst they are, you know, the root fucking cause of the difficulties of being a creative person out here. There is one flippant statement of truth in that garbage heap, though, and that's that Oakland has rapidly become the epicenter of some of the best music being made in the Bay Area. Enter Oakland's Alaric, who perfectly channel all those anxieties and fears about life and its future, in the Bay Area or otherwise. Following a couple of releases for 20 Buck Spin over 5 years ago, and a (thankfully temporary) breakup, End of Mirrors is pitch-perfect master class in doomy, gloomy post-punk songwriting.
Featuring Russ Kent of Bay Area legends Noothgrush on guitar, Alaric certainly show off their metal pedigree, but End of Mirrors is a far cry from the overwhelming pummel of those East Bay doomsters. The Neurosis influence, too, is definitely noticeable - especially given this a release on Neurot - but any heavy band from the East Bay has a hard time NOT paying homage to the all-time masters of ritualistic heaviness. A more accurate point of reference here is the visceral, anthemic earworm metal-cum-pop of Killing Joke, fronted by the organic baritone of the Baron from Amebix. Like Neurosis, Alaric manage to let the tracks on End Of Mirrors breathe and grow organically, but like Killing Joke they do so without being overbearing - the fat has been cut in favor of razor sharp songwriting. A fantastic record, and a candidate for some of our year-end top ten lists!
Super-raw carnal energy is all over this album. Alarmist's sound is pretty thin but not for lack of punk energy, they just have minimal layers of sound and maybe when they recorded, only a handful of tracks to work with. There are certainly some small angular aspects of magic somewhere sprinkled in and all around this album. Its female singing is a little bit Exene Cervenka, a tiny bit Kim Gordon. One maintains a sense of danger when listening throughout though. Evil Works ends with a curious track: cats meowing meowing meowing and suddenly becoming an untamed human chorus of wild growls. Whoah. Recorded in Portland, OR at Smegma Studios by Mike Lastra of you guessed it, Smegma.
In case you hadn't noticed, we've been totally in love with the latest Bardo Pond record Ticket Crystals, so we were pretty dang excited to discover this new release by Bardo side project Alasehir (just one of many, see elsewhere on the list for Vapour Theories another side project as well as a new live album!). Alasehir is the work of Bardo brothers the Gibbons' and is absolutely kicking our asses. 4 long instrumentals equal parts heavy, heady and blissed out. It may be 4 distinct songs, but taken as a whole it's a serious psychedelic monster! The guitar sound is so instantly recognizable, effortlessly unfurling blown out stoner riffs other bands can only dream about. After the first two tracks, rife with heavy riffs and fluid grooves, "Seven Tongues" finds the brothers busting out their sitars and unleashing a dreamlike stream of sweetly buzzing star gazing sounds. This is the kind of record that gets your head bobbing, not quite head banging and not quite daydreaming but some wonderful place in-between.
John and Michael Gibbons of the infamous Bardo Pond have been on quite a roll lately. As if the three other recent Bardo Pond related vinyl-only releases on Important weren't killer enough, here's another one to complete the four piece series of mind melting guitar driven psychedelic haze. Alasehir finds the Gibbons brothers in cahoots with drummer, Jason Kourkouni. The result is a smoldering heap of fried out, stoned to the bone, free psych madness! Plumes of smoke rising behind towering tube amps and blistering feedback, stoner doom riffs plodding on and on into the distant horizon, menacing solos hovering above waves of crashing cymbals and driving drums, all building and building into some Parson Sound, doom kraut heaviness. We love how blown out the record sounds, every instrument being dragged to its far off limits, we could've sworn we heard the wax start to melt right under the needle. This one is also limited to 500 copies, and those of you with a sweet spot for blistering guitar heaviness will not want to miss this. Recommended!
The first album from this indie rock super duo! Alaska's roster boasts the talents of Russ Pollard (Sebadoh, Folk Implosion) and Imaad Wasif (Lowercase, Folk Implosion). This is all soft'n'mellow pop prettiness with whispery male vocals over subdued jangly guitars, some cello and piano. The song "Sun Don't Shine" features '80s poptart Josie Cotton (!) singing backups. Have to say, this is sooo much better than the new album from the Folk Implosion on which these two fellows make up the new F.I. line-up (along with a gent known as Lou Barlow). Like early summer sun beams glinting through tree leaves, these songs glisten and lull you ever so warmly. Very very nice.
MPEG Download: "S.S." [/audio/alaskass.mp3]
MPEG Stream: "S.S." [/audio/alaskass.m3u]
