Everything Johnny Jewel touches these days turns to sultry dancefloor gold. Whether it's Glass Candy, the Chromatics, or a handful of other groups on Italians Do It Better that have felt Jewel's magic touch, he has really been largely responsible for making IDIB a label to trust when it comes to sizzling, late night spaced out disco!
What sets Desire a little apart from other acts on Italians Do It Better is that it's much more of a full band effort, with an affection for analog synthesizers as well as strings, percussion, piano, and it's got an overall delivery that is much more warm and rich than some of the other similar sounding outfits on the label. Desire still have that icy-detached aesthetic that can be found in the sounds of Chromatics, but there is something a bit more personal sounding in the songs here. While most records in this genre tend to be filled with super immediate hooks that sometimes lose their staying power on repeated listens, this record is a serious grower. In fact on first listen we thought maybe this was going to be a bit of a let down, but we're so happy we gave it a few more spins, cuz we were eventually totally sucked into the moody, sultry stylings that Desire conjure up. Between this and the Nite Jewel record we gushed about recently, our late night coming down soundtrack is sounding better then ever. Feel the slow burn!
Always an exciting day at AQ when a new slab of vinyl from Italians Do It Better comes our way. Earlier this year we got totally addicted to the debut full length from Desire, a record that was so spot on in its 80's sleek and sultry, late-night dance jams infused with a dark romantic aching yearning. With the intoxicating vocals of Megan Luise setting such a perfect tone for the impeccable production of Johnny Jewel (Glass Candy, Chromatics, etc.). So it's rad to get different versions of two of our favorite songs from the album. Side one gives us a totally lysergic slow burning stretched out version of "If I Can't Hold You Tonight" and then a completely stripped down minimal vocal version. Side two starts off with an instrumental version of their cover of "I Can Dream About You" followed by a goosebump inducing 8-track demo of the song that proves that Desire are not just about style and dancefloors, but that their music really does evoke such strong emotions. The 12" offers a much more minimal and slow burning side of Desire then the more over-the-top, all out 80's disco vibe of the full length. We're melting into this wax!
Hailing from Olympia, Washington, Desolation Wilderness create hazy dreampop that's the perfect twilight of summer soundtrack. With shimmering guitars, breezy vocals, infectious melodies swirled amongst the fog and haze, this record has been reminding us of so many bands we love, like Chapterhouse, Spiritualized, The Chills, 764 Hero, Galaxie 500, Sparklehorse, Ride, etc. While there is a definite shoegaze element to their sound, the songs also have a spark and punch to them. We also can't help but think of a very awesome and underrated '90s band from Los Angeles called Strictly Ballroom who similarly found enticing ways to evoke this kind of daydream nation. New Universe is one of those records that's perfect for so many occasions - the long ride home, the blissed out late night walk through the city, the lazy Sunday afternoon... Desolation Wilderness pleases on so many levels!
Those Desoto Reds sure have a knack for writing the sweet pop hooks and winking lyrical twists. Each tune comes with heaping servings of horns, organs, vocal harmonies... and fun! The first song "Allowed Loud" sounds like a cross between the themes from two incongruous TV shows (The Partridge Family and Crank Yankers). It's a playful pairing of punchy and perky pop. Whoa, is that enough 'p' words for ya?! Definitely for fans of those seemingly long-forgotten quirky early '90s college radio pop bands such as Too Much Joy (remember them?).
The return of grindlords Agoraphobic Nosebleed, here teamed up with fellow grinders Despise You, who offer up their first new material in a decade, although their sound has definitely not changed. Despise You traffic in furious, punishing hardcore heaviness, blurred buzzing riffs, wild thrashing drumming, dense super intricate arrangements, slipping from chug and churn to frantic blast, punk pound to mathy lurch, the songs short and sharp, cramming 18 songs into about 16 minutes, even tackling Fear's "I Don't Care About You", the boy/girl vocals (mostly boy) yelped and howled, the sound rough and raw, filthy and crusty, total fast core power violence style, definitely harkening back to the old school Pessimiser / Theologian / Slap A Ham sound of the nineties. Which we STILL love like crazy...
Agoraphobic Nosebleed counter with their own take on that sound, starting their half out with some downtuned doomed out sludge, the vocals a heavily effected guttural bellow, the sound grooving and slithery, a chugging churning almost Black Flag-ish bit of gnarled hardcore, it's not until the second song that the band explode in a frenzy of hypergrind, complete with dive bombing Slayer style leads, the sound thick and corrosive, the riffing insane and intense, super intricate and mathy, cramming tons of parts into super short blast of sonic fury, finishing off with another chunk of tangled doom flecked midtempo hardcore pound, that grinds and howls and creeps until it fades into a spaced out sprawl of psychedelic feedback and swirling distant drones. Killer.
Everyone knows (or should know) that with the apparent cessation of recording/performing by TLC (the R+B band EVERYONE liked, even my 'metalhead' housemate Josh loves 'Fanmail') that Destiny's Child is the only R+B group that really and truly matters. They look
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What is Destro 1? Well, on an initial listen the general consensus around here was that it sounds like circa-'88 Seattle grunge fury (think Skin Yard or Soundgarden) filtered through the Olympia, WA punk scene. Loud. Raw. Vocal chords ripped to shreds. Let's put it this way, a bunch of emergency vehicles blazed by AQ with sirens screaming while this was playing and... it fit perfectly. Produced by Steve Albini, no less.
New recordings from Detroit's legendary Destroy All Monsters, recorded between 1998 and 2001. Less rock and more sound art pieces, some utilizing vocal tracks (from master tapes!) of Sun Ra and samples from Masaya Nakahara (aka Violent Onsen Geisha). Also
Not a new album, but a glimpse at some earlier, pre-New Pornographers Dan Bejar's songcraft. This bard of Vancouver, BC's particularly impassioned, often-pinched Hitchcock / Nilsson-esque vocal delivery weaves his eccentric, poetic and moving tales
Don't wanna sound corny, but... awww to hell with it, we've gotta say that this Vancouver band must've plucked their Rubies from the Wicked Witch Of The West's ruby red slippers cause there's some magic happening here. Wow! Bandleader Dan Bejar's eccentric blend of folk, glam, psych and pop reaches new heights and depths on this, their sixth album. Destroyer's Rubies positively overflows with confidence, ambition and grandeur. Over the years, Bejar's music has drawn comparisons (by us and other folks) to the elder likes of Robyn Hitchcock, Harry Nilsson, David Bowie and Cat Stevens. This kinship has primarily resided in the lilting warbly vocal department, but there's also a good deal of similar shading in each of the songwriters' often cryptic and deeply personal tales. Ever the nomadic troubadour traversing the wilds of Canada at whim, Bejar's lyrical storytelling takes a similar roaming, stream of consciousness path. And it's such a pleasure to be able to join him for this ten song spell. Check out the album's centerpiece, and definitely one of its highlights "Looter's Follies". Fantastic in every sense of the word!
Despite his usual laidback West Coast-y '70s mellowness, Destroyer's Dan Bejar is keepin' the '80s vibe alive in more ways than one on this album. He keeps a steady groovin' pace with mid-tempo electronic drum beats, and swoons along with synth sequences and saxophone lines. Sounds like he even scooped the hook from OMD's "Enola Gay" on "Savage Night At The Opera", doncha think? Fans will be happy to find his unmistakable, cryptic lyrical chops still intact though. His tales always leave us gently scratching our heads in slightly bewildered but gleeful wonder!
A short time ago we heard that he had decided not to release any more music. We were pretty damn sad to hear that, but at the same time had a full respect and appreciation for his decision to do so. Then he put out a collaboration with Tim Hecker and Loscil (Archer on the Beach / Grief Point 12"), and now this full length. So, we're not quite sure where he stands on the subject at this point. Mind you, it is called Kaputt, so??? Maybe he's gonna be like KISS, and keep comin' back for more... his band name is Destroyer after all. Heh heh!
Now that Daniel Bejar has left the New Pornographers (yes, sadly it's true) to return to his solo wanderer's journey (with stops already in Spain and Montreal), this album appears almost as a marker of the occasion. Fear not, the NPs will continue forth, as
Lead by one very talented Daniel Bejar - a fellow whose voice and songwriting draw shades and moods reminiscent of those of Robyn Hitchcock, Harry Nilsson, and Cat Stevens but ends up sounding like a more twee Modest Mouse (his voice is occasionally a dead ringer for Isaac Modest Mouse's indie warble)- Destroyer is a veritable Vancouver indie rock supergroup. Starring such notables as Jason Zumpano (yes, drummer and namesake of the wonderful Sub Pop pop group Zumpano here handling piano and keyboard duties) and John Collins (bassist/producer who has donned the colours of garage pop vets The Smugglers, The Evaporators, not to mention the noise pop crowd known as Superconductor). On 'Thief', Destroyer exhibits similar pop polish and flourish as that of Zumpano. At times rollicking, at times sensitive, pretty and low key. A great summer album.
At long last Destroyer (aka Dan Bejar and co.) receives some well-deserved widespread distribution, thanks to the wonderful Merge Records. The previous three albums (Thief, City Of Daughters and Streethawk) were released on small indies, and as a result probably haven't reached as many hungry ears as they deserve. For those unfamiliar, apart from his fine solo efforts Mr. Bejar was also a significant songwriting force along with Carl Newman for the New Pornographers' Mass Romantic album, lending his distinct, slightly more eccentric lyrical twists to their pop magic. But shortly thereafter, he took to the road, travelling from Vancouver to Montreal, Spain, New York, and who knows where else. Somewhere in there he found time to write and record these fifteen songs. A modern day roaming minstrel? He's joined on this album by Fisher Rose (former NP drummer), Chris Frey and Nicolas Bragg. This Night is full of his oft-obtuse, yet deeply poetic writings, and is perhaps his most fleshed out, lush and consistent album to date. Swimming against the current flood of singer/songwriter folk-inflected melancholia, Bejar's songs do more than tug at the heartstrings or play with the emotions. This is not the music of a quick fix although his sweet jangly pop hooks do surface every so often ("Here Comes The Night"). Almost seeming from a different time, the first three songs alone will sweep you up into his world - keeping you on your toes with tempo shifts and his particular vocal inflections - and draw you back again with each listen. Recommended.
Chock up another dandy from Destroyer! Love, travel and other projects (New Pornographers, Swan Lake, Hello Blue Roses among others) sure haven't kept Daniel Bejar from his main musical outlet. Unlike many other multi-taskin' music folks these days, with Bejar nothing gets the short end of the stick. You can always count on consistently high caliber pop songcraft, artful arrangements, wryly witty and obtuse lyrics, and that voice -- equal parts Donovan, Marc Bolan, and Cat Stevens. Ultra liltingly sensitive and so darn Canadian-earnest! And it's all stamped with the indelible, unmistakable mark of the Bejar... Free spirited and fantastic!
Always keeping his audience on their toes and following his own eccentric whim, Canadian musical vagabond Dan Bejar (also an erstwhile member of the New Pornographers) shook things up a bit and took a slightly different path for this, his fifth Destroyer album. He, along with (fellow New Pornographer) John Collins and Collins' JC/DC Studio partner Dave Carswell, brought his trusty acoustic guitar and percussion to the recording sessions, but also chose to delve into the land of MIDI programming! We heard rumors a month or so ago about this being an album of radical changes for Bejar, however the actual results aren't all that drastic nor alienating nor all that MIDI apparent. In fact, they're pretty darn consistently top-notch Bejar albeit much more grand and lush in orchestration a la Van Dyke Parks or Bacharach. Give a listen to one of the album's highlights, the lovely "New Ways Of Living". Aaaah, definitely right up there with his last few albums! More gorgeously heartfelt, melancholy epic pop, with Bejar's unmistakable keening sad boy voice that always gets us!
Geez Mr. Bejar, the paint is barely dry on your last album Your Blues and you're already revisiting and reworking some of those songs! Unlike other artists whose intentions (and their record label's) might be more suspect (i.e, marketing ploys, etc), Bejar's artistic sincerity is untarnished. You do believe that this ep's existence is not due to an unhappiness / dissatisfaction with his previous renderings. No, not at all. Instead, perhaps inspired by the volatile artistry of his recent tourmates (and AQ faves) Frog Eyes, Bejar has approached these songs with a slightly more unhinged vision. Whereas Your Blues was thoroughly composed and grand, this is much more stripped down and guitar-driven. The contrast is immediately noticeable from just one look at the two releases' cover art - the subject matter is the same, but the brush and pen strokes are drastically different, one is calmly shaded while the other is almost violently slashed out. What these six songs really unveil though is the fresh, potent chemistry that flows between Bejar and the Frog Eyes crew who perform with him on this release. Sparks fly with a tingly energy! Check out one of the cd's highlights, the title track "Notorious Lightning" on which F.E. mainman Carey Mercer joins Bejar at the mic. Pretty darn great! Should cause much cross-pollination between the two bands' fanclub memberships.
Pretty sure these will be gone in a flash, so we'll keep this review short and sweet! Likewise, if you want one, please don't dilly dally. A limited edition 12" by a super Canadian team-up of aQ faves - Destroyer, Loscil, and Tim Hecker. Dan Bejar wrote and sang the lyrics, while the other two gents of ambient artistry composed and performed the atmospheric backdrop. Zoweee! Includes a digital download coupon.
Sacred Bones' description of Negative Feedback Resistor is worth a read, as a glimpse into the total drug-addled, sun-drenched mind fuckery that goes into Destruction Unit's output. We won't quote the whole thing, but, the last paragraph is essential: "This is crazed-psychedelic-freek-noise guerrilla warfare and these are our streets. The pigs of the law can use their system to manipulate and censor our messages. The control creeps can keep their airwaves safe and comfortable. But none of them have been able to make us turn our voices or our guitar amps down. Destruction Unit sacrificed their ears to make this album as loud of a statement as possible. Will you lend them yours?"
If you haven't heard Destruction Unit yet, that manifesto might give you an idea of what you're getting into here. This record makes their last album, 2013's Deep Trip, seem downright spacious. This is total claustrophobia, every last instrument (and there is surely a lot) is pushed into the red, screaming but also buried in the muck. The rhythm section constantly pounds away, switching between a crushing d-beat and a half-time mosh-encouraging, knuckle-dragging hardcore stomp. The layers of guitar and synth blend into such a tornado of sound that it's often hard to tell what's what. Heavy, heavy, heavy psych that tries to recreate the effects of taking a bad dose of LSD in the middle of the desert, but with better song writing chops then they've ever had.
Almost nothing will top seeing them live (seriously, go see them live, it's a sight to behold), but this record comes damn close.
What kind of sounds would you expect from a band called Destructo Swarmbots? Don't bother guessing because you'd probably be way off. No squealing, grinding metallic mayhem here, instead this mysterious duo offer up three extended tracks of warm and creepy, fuzzy rumbling drone. As if you were sneaking through a mazelike series of tunnels, only to discover a whole legion of Destructo Swarmbots, secretly toiling away in an underground cavern, assembling some mysterious organic machine, and the huge space reverberates with the ominous humming and whirring of the 'bots incessant laboring. Definitely for the drone minded among you. Cool 3" cd packaged in a normal sized jewel case.
Ahh, the eyes they may be wandering, but Canadian country/folk songstress Angela Desveaux knows where she's goin' with her impressive debut on Thrill Jockey. Indeed, her first full length is a remarkably accomplished, golden affair with quite a luminous array of guests, mostly pals from a little Montreal music scene you just might be familiar with (former Arcade Fire drummer Howard Bilerman, Hanged Up's Genevieve Heistek, Harris Newman, Wooden Stars' Mike Feuerstack, and Mike Moya of Molasses, Set Fire To Flames, Hrsta et al). She alternately brings to mind the sweet youthful earnestness of current girlish singers such as Jenny Lewis or Laura Veirs and the aching world weariness and womanly wisdom of Lucinda Williams and Gillian Welch (in press photos she actually looks like she could be Welch's long lost younger sister), leaning more heavily in the range of the latter two. Recommended!
Originally intended to be a Record Store Day release, the awesomely and confusionally titled Racial Golf Course No Bitches is the first full length from UK noise rock weirdos Dethscalator, fulfilling the promise of their kick ass split with fellow heavies Hey Colossus from back in 2009, somehow managing to trump their jams from that split, pushing the sound even further, getting heavier, filthier, noisier, and weirdly more melodic, and even dubbier too.
On the surface, these guys are total old school AmRep knuckle dragging numbskulls, sounding like a revved up Brainbombs or (slightly) less drug addled Rusted Shut, but dig deeper to discover all sorts of twisted shit going on. The above mentioned dubbiness is all over the place, drums, vocals, guitars, doused in echo and reverb and sent spinning into clouds of distorted noise, it's subtle in places, but not even remotely in others, the sound, like on the split, feeling almost looped in places, the band locked into churning cyclical riffage, that just grinds endlessly, while all around it, drums pound, FX swirl, vocals howl.
Check out opener "Black Percy" which pairs a Motorhead riff with some Butthole Surfers style tribal drumming, before exploding into a full on metal punk blowout, with wild unhinged David Yow (Jesus Lizard / Scratch Acid) style vocals, but then out of nowhere in swoops a crazy metallic melody that's so catchy, it almost sounds like another song. But it works somehow, and ends up being probably the catchiest jam here, which, as surprising as it might sound, is saying something, cuz there's a lot of unlikely catchiness tucked amidst all this skull caving, rib cage rattling noise. Tracks like "Grotto Crank" take a riff and work it to death, stretching it way out, while yowled vox disappear in clouds of dubbed out FX and are transformed into another layer of buzz, the song lurching and lumbering, almost like some sort of brain damaged slo-mo prog, before finally launching into some serious metallic pummel, only to almost immediately splinter, and collapse into some feedback drenched dirgery, again, everything dubbed out like crazy, turning an otherwise noisy plod into a freaky psychedelic damaged dirge. Fuck yeah. Another favorite is the awesomely titled "World War Two Hitler Youth Dagger", which adds some serious math to the mix, a roiling sprawl of tangled riffage and caveman drum pound, but laced with some soaring guitar shreddery, some droned out psychedelia, and again, some seriously damaged dubbiness as well.
We could go track by track, but by now, having read the above, and presumably listened to some of the sounds below, you know if this is your cup of PCP laced sonic tea or not. It most definitely is ours. Easily the best noise rock record of the year, and most certainly vying for a year end top ten spot, noise rock or otherwise.
Needless to say, fans of Brainbombs, Drunkdriver, Rusted Shut, Violent Students, Billy Bao, Twin Stumps, No Balls, Mayyors, White Mice, Liquorball, Hey Colossus, Homostupids, Shit And Shine, and other sonic shit stirrers, you can add Dethscalator to your arsenal of room clearing, ear drum destroying, speaker shredding crush.
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While we're sure the Detroit Cobras remain as volatile and fiery as ever in the live setting, but for their newest album Baby, it sounds like they've toned down the flammables just a bit. At a few points in the very first song, it wouldn't seem at all unlikely for the band to segue right into "Dancing In The Streets" (the original Martha & The Vandellas version, not the Bowie/Jagger one, mind you!), we bet they'd do a pretty rad rendition (that is, if they haven't already, which wouldn't be at all surprising since covers make up the bulk of their repertoire). Perhaps, this might disappoint a few of their old fans who are more accustomed and addicted to the sweat'n'whisky soaked retro blues rawk recklessness, but it just might win them a bunch more on their surprising new label home, the Americana haven Bloodshot Records. When taken in the context of their new usually alt-country-centric label digs, the guitars take on more of a desert twang, the bass a more gunslinger stance, and the drums a galloping pace. But of course it's Rachel Nagy's soulful vocals that define the Cobras' ultra rad sound, and as always her performance keeps you riveted right up front and center. Psst, this is an 'enhanced cd' which means it includes a video for their tune "Cha Cha Twist"!
This is the second full length from this band, not new really but worth bringing to your attention. They really do live in Detroit, they don't tour much, but when they do they put on a kick ass show, see them if you get a chance. As I (Sadie) wrote in my review of Mink Rat or Rabbit, they formed back in 1994, and two albums, 3 singles, and several personnel changes later, they are still kickin' serious garage ass!!! Sure, they -are- a cover band: they cover mostly old Stax / Motown songs, but the ones they pick, and and the fire and fury and sexiness and funkiness that they add is what makes them so special. Lead singer Rachel has the deepest sexiest voice ever. EVER! Fans of old soul and garage, especially the Nuggets and Pebbles comps definitely need to check these cats out!!
This is yet another cd that is not new but is -so- important to our Sadie that we are listing it now. "Mink Rat or Rabbit" was the first release by this lovely Detroit quintet, a band I just can't shut up about. I've convinced, like, seven of my friends to buy
We weren't expecting a new album yet from the mighty Detroit Cobras, but they went and surprised us with the super satisfying Tied & True. On this their fourth full length they continue on with the more 'reigned in' but no less potent approach heard on their last album Baby -- exuding barrels of '60s girl group charm and sass coverin' old Stax and Motown gems in their own tight yet loose rock'n'roll fashion. All the raw grit, the sultry soul and the lusty blues you've come to love and count on from this band is here in spades. This time around Rachel Nagy's always awesome, lusty voice frequently reminded us of a young Chrissie Hynde. Go figure! Great stuff!
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Out of all the classic New Age artists, the one that gets a definite pass around here is Deuter. Though many of his later records (Nada Himalaya excluded) venture into the cheesier areas of the new age genre, his early records are great examples of German kosmiche music and are just as good as Popol Vuh, Cluster and Agitation Free. For instance, Aum, which we just got in to list for the first time (though it's not a new reissue). Aum was recorded in 1972 and released a year after his debut record, D. While D was more about tape effects and studio experiments, Aum is his first obvious venture into a more spiritually based musical practice. Sounds of storms and birds, guitars and flutes open up the disc in what could be a track by South American psych-folk groups Satwa or Congregacion (or even Citay or The Alps!). But the following tracks venture into a quiet but pensive meditation of tablas, and warbling bass, simmering sitar drones and subtle chanting. The track "Sattwa" is a sitar and piano interaction while "Surat Shabda" is a trance-y exploration using ethnic percussion instruments. But the longest and prettiest track is "Susani", an eight minute delayed electric guitar excursion around a few rhythmically repeating chords over low minor key vocal drones and far off ocean swells that burn off into a fading hum. It's definitely one of those limbo records, mining a deeper territory of minimalist composition with psychedelic effects that would eventually be marketed as New Age. But this is long before that genre got ruined, and any fan of the bands mentioned above should check this out for sure!
Years ago when we listed the compact disc reissue of this Krautrock classic, the home-recorded 1971 debut from eccentric electronics specialist (and soon to be New Age pioneer) Georg Deuter, we called it quite brilliant, a hallucinatory affair of studio experiments, tape effects, and guitar explorations, that we recommended for fans of both early Kraftwerk, and most of the Kranky contingent. Still do, now that it's back on (unfortunately expensive) vinyl. Certainly, it's THEE Deuter album to get (though we also like some others he has done). If you dig the back cover photo of a barefoot, mustachioed Deuter (wearing those round John Lennon style shades), crouched in front of some reel-to-reel tape gear, playing the bongos, you'll probably also dig the sounds on this album, from the Eastern drone of "Krishna Eating Fish And Chips" to the underwater ambience of "Atlantis"! This record is not not nearly as blissed-out as Deuter's later output, with many sequences that attack with jarring yet hypnotic intensity, reminding us a lot of another kraut fave, A.R. & Machines.
This was given to me as a gift, from a friend who shares the same love of the deep dark ominous drone as we do, and before he let me unwrap it, he had all of these provisos: ignore the horrible cover, promise to listen to it before you pass judgment, ignore the fact that it's on New Earth records and that it says "Music For Meditation" on the cover, ignore the rainbow logo and the cheesy landscape, ignore the blurbs on the back cover, basically, try to ignore everything BUT the music. I did, and I'm so glad I did. So now we must do the same for you, faithful AQ customer. Listen to the sound samples, close your eyes and let these gorgeous mystical drones carry you off.
Some of you may know of Deuter before he went all 'new age' -- he was responsible for D, an awesome early '70s Krautrock document of studio experimentation, tape effects, and guitar explorations. While this is a completely different beast, and may have been intended for a whole different audience, it's actually quite stunning. This definitely holds up to any of our favorite dronelords, Chalk, Coleclough, Mirror, in fact this is another one of those releases that if it were some super limited homemade cd-r imported from Finland packaged with twigs and some wire, people would be freaking out BIG TIME! So let's just pretend that this IS some weird obscure drone cd-r, that way we can skip all the bullshit and totally dig in to this divine droney drift.
Made completely from the sounds of Tibetan bells, bowls and chimes, these two tracks (skip the third track, a two minute recording of a burbling stream) are lengthy gorgeous meditational drifts, a deep sea of overlapping tones, shimmering resonance, slowly drifting ovetones, beating gently against each other, creating a dense swirl of microscopic colors and warm subtle shadings. Nearly fifty minutes of divine drone, simultaneously dark and ominous, bright and dreamy, close listening reveals layer after layer of hidden almost-melodies, super subtle mysterious sonic events, a divine dreamworld of deep drifting ambience. So totally and utterly amazing. Pretty awesome that one of our favorite new drone records is not a cd-r from Finland, but a cd from a German ex-hippie new age guru living in New Mexico. Fuck yeah!
Yet another record from Mark Deutrom, previously and probably still best known for playing bass in the Melvins once upon a time. But for a while now, Deutrom has been cranking out incredible solo records, most on the Rock Is Hell label, and somehow remaining well under the radar. We'd say something like "this one will change everything", but we're guessing it probably won't, and who knows, perhaps he's content to be right where he is. We sure are if it means we keep getting more and more records like this.
With every record it's sort of hard to know what to expect, the last couple were sort of matched out proggy pop, and super catchy sooner rock heaviness, but this new one, begins with an epic 20 minute side long jam titled "Dick Cheney", which spends its first 4 minutes droning ominously, lush layered textures, slowly shifting, finally some buzzing metallic guitar drifts in, as does some percussion, it feels like the song is about to explode, but then instead, transforms into a lurching minimal avant doom creep, spaced out chugs, loads of space, the vibe very Harvey Milk-ish actually, and then the vocals come in, and the song is somehow transformed into something way catchier and popper than it has any right to be. Especially near the end, when the guitar swoops up into a super catchy melody, before devolving into a weird little chug flecked, industrial noise outro. Phew. Most bands would be content with that 20 minutes, but there are three more sides here to dig, all of which display Deutrom's mastery of whatever the fuck he wants to do, from the brooding slow burn psych of "Winter Haystacks At Twilight", that almost sounds like the intro to some doom metal jam, to the very Melvins-y "Sky Full Of Witches", which also displays a seriously poppy vibe, a woozy, lurching stoner pop groove that sounds like it could have been plucked right off some Kyuss B-side. And that pretty much sets the tone, the sound lurches from groovy, mathy, prog-sludge, to groovy stoner pop, to dreamy almost jazzy psych, to super trippy avant abstract space-doom, to twang flecked, reverie balladry, often with several of those bleeding into each other.
Goddamn, this guy is a genius, and a seriously unsung one at that. Fans of the Melvins, Harvey Milk, Prizehog, Kyuss, and just twisted abstract heaviness, and moody metallic avant-gardery, get this and every other thing you can find. You'll thank us later!
Mark Deutrom might be best know for (previously) playing bass in the Melvins, but as longtime readers of the aQ list can attest to, his solo records are pretty goddamn great, and weird, and heavy, and freaking cool. And this new one is no different. A brief three song 12", the title track of which is the soundtrack to a totally eye popping video, check it out here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r22d9BxVV_8
And it's not just the visuals that are amazing, the music more than lives up to the crazy video, a wild, mathed out, prog-metal, noise rock jam, that's bombastic and crazy catchy, freaked out and super psychedelic, an instrumental blowout, that we played like 5 times in a row, and would have probably played more had we not wanted to check out the other two jams here, both of which, equally awesomely mathy and metallic, progged out, intricate, super dynamic, catchy like crazy, wild and weird, and really really good. It's a wonder more folks aren't hip to this guy and his solo records. It's short, but totally worth it. Killer cover art too, with artwork from the Ruckus Juice video. LIMITED TO 207 COPIES, each cover hand silkscreened!
We can probably count the major female figures of Krautrock on one hand. Most of them like Rosi Mueller of Ash Ra Tempel, Renate Knaup from Amon Duul II, Djong Yun from Popol Vuh, or Sabine Merbach from Gila were either singers or muses for their male-led bands. And don't even mention Clara Mondshine, which was a pseudonym for Walter Bachauer, a very real actual man. But even among those women, you don't find too many female krautrock composers. Actually, we really couldn't think of any, offhand. Can you? If so, please enlighten!
Thankfully, the brand new reissue label, Medical Records, who has bolted out the gate running with not only one but two amazing (and amazingly limited!) vinyl-only reissues, sets the record straight! The other reissue, Alexander Robotnick, reviewed elsewhere on this list, is a weirdo Italo-disco / French electro classic we've known about for awhile and we're super psyched to see finally reissued. But this one, Deutsche Wertarbeit , the solo project of Dorothea Raukes, is altogether completely new to us and what a fantastic discovery it is!
Released on Sky Records in 1981, Deutsche Wertarbeit was Raukes' first solo effort after years of being the singer for a German Progressive band we're not familiar with called Streetmark, who started in 1968, and released 4 lps between 1976 and 1981. Two of those were also released on Sky Records and one of them was even recorded in collaboration with Wolfgang Riechmann, the same year he was murdered. What? Really? Why didn't we know of this already? Just goes to show, there are still many treasures to be unearthed.
And if you dug Wolfgang Riechmann's Wunderbar reissue, that we raved about awhile back, or Klaus Schultze, Tangerine Dream, Cluster, Peter Baumann, or even some of the later Manuel Gottsching recordings such as New Age of Earth, then add Deutsche Wertarbeit to the essential kosmiche synthscape canon. But while she definitely fits in with those artists, she carves out her own defining sound of warm minimal hypnotic rhythms and vocoder voicings that display a joyous exhuberance you don't see as much in artists like Schultze or Baumann. In fact this would fit in well with the stuff on that Dirty Space Disco comp, as it sounds like a mystical combination of Vangelis and Popol Vuh, expansive and cosmic, upliftingly propulsive while keeping it all beautifully reigned in.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES, each 180 gram colored vinyl and hand-numbered. We're not sure how long we'll have these, so don't wait too long. Highest Recommendation!!!!!!
How could you not love the gently dark and introspectively romantic music made by two orphaned French girls who met as teenagers dealing with the tragic grief over the sudden deaths of their parents? The music of Claudine Coule and Gemini Forque defies easy categorization, but its placid pastoral melancholy plays out like a meeting of Durutti Column, Dif Juz, Maurice Deebank, and Woo, a woozy collage of meandering guitar, wobbly synths, tape collage, and lyrical filigree that fit right into the gentler soft-wave streak of British post-punk at the time. They released three records in the eighties before disappearing altogether. Only a final letter remained saying the girls took a spiritual quest to India where they met with more hardships. Poor girls!
Had this at all been true, it would have been a very devastating story, but alas it's not true at all! Claudine and Gemini were the fabrications of Simon Fisher Tucker and Colin Lloyd Turner, two musicians who met in an early incarnation of the group The The. They created the personae of Claudine and Gemini to work on music of a gentler nature and figured no one would take them seriously if they worked under their own names. To their credit, they remained committed to the conceit over the course of the project. They often went out, wrote music, and even performed live as if they really were Claudine and Gemini. That level of commitment informs the music with its strange otherworldly outlook and ponderous naivete.
Silence and Wisdom (1982) and Double Happiness (1983 - where we can only assume Gary Floyd got the name for his band Sister Double Happiness!) are brought together as a 2lp release for the first time on vinyl after being sought after by collectors for years. Highly recommended for fans of the bands above, or eighties underground labels like Factory Benelux and Les Disques Du Crepuscle.
Special one sided, vinyl-only single featuring the 10 minute long "White Reggae Troll". This half-reggae / half punk disco jam, often performed live as an encore, shows Banhart stretching the freak-folk genre down a few different rollicking avenues. We believe this is a one time only pressing, so once they're gone we're not sure we can get them in again! Plus it's called WHITE REGGAE TROLL!!!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Italian vinyl-only reissue of Mick Farren's 1968 pre-Pink Fairies psych-proto-punk band's best-loved album.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Another disc of horrifying progressive creepiness from Italian underground masters of the bizarre and the frightening, Devil Doll. Never was a band more suited to scoring horror films (since Goblin), but Devil Doll don't, they just weave epic and haunting
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Still even more haunting and lush frightscapes from this Italian troupe of musical miscreants. Orchestral and progressive and heavy and occasionally carnivalesque. Super distorted creep-out piano abruptly shifts to a melancholy soundscape underpinning mad
Another Devil Doll record that we finally managed to get our hands on. This is apparently a fan club only re-release and the sleeve warns that "this music can alter your mental health". It sure is strange enough that it might make you wonder what the hell
More Devil Doll insanity. It seems unfair to always compare Devil Doll to Goblin, but it's sort of unavoidable as they both traffic in the same creepy proggy nightmarescapes and they are both so good. To be fair though, Devil Doll have more room to play
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Bay area "dub" band (which may actually be called Ben Wa, it's hard to tell) that features the likes of Buckethead, DJ Disk, Brain, and M.I.R.V.
Ok, sometimes it's true: a cool name, cool logo, and cool cover art DO mean the music is gonna be cool too. At least that's case with Holy Mountain's latest release, the debut from Devil Worshipper, which is a throbbing pounding distorted beast of black-and-chrome motorpsycho bad trippage. Imploding with droning druggy vocal chant, wild unhinged psychedelic guitar soloing, doomy riffs and propulsive hynorock percussion, yeah, this is everything we could have hoped for based on the name & cover, a trance-inducing 'cycle ride into darkness and devil worship. But, there's more... it's not all pedal to the metal Mainliner mainlining, there are tracks like "Ash Brume" that get all liquid and moody, mesmeric in a more mellowed-out way; and also songs equipped with eerie synth and other instruments - including what sounds like pan flute (?), delicate and doodly amidst the mungy grind of the endlessly repetitive "Into Radiation Wave", ferinstance.
We suspect the mysterious Devil Worshipper to be a one-man-band (they're not the Devil Worshippers, plural, after all, plus pretty sure that's a drum machine set to trance-induction), a la the likes of King Blood and GR & Full-Blown Expansion, we could compare 'em to both, as well as such somewhat larger ensembles as Aqua Nebula Oscillator, Follakzoid and Monster Magnet - heck the track "Chemrails", with its uber-echoing groove and sheer distorto-plod, somehow sounds like the magical midway point between the latter two mentioned. Damn good for one guy, if that's the case, and another winner from the Holy Mountain label, who can be counted on for this kind of shit for sure. A solid slab of Satanic-psych blissout oblivion, just like we were hoping for!!
We LOVE this album, and have for a long time. We first reviewed a reissue of this "exotic" 1967 garage-fuzz gem back in 2001, in fact making it a Record Of The Week. That reissue was a somewhat odd 2-fer-1 deal that included an album by another, pretty much utterly unrelated '60s psych band, The Freak Scene, kinda cool but not Middle Eastern styled like The Devil's Anvil. And it was The Devil's Anvil that was the real treasure on that disc, as far as we were concerned. If you haven't heard it yet, you're in luck, 'cause it's just been reissued again, getting a disc all to itself this time, courtesy of vintage rock specialists Rev-Ola, who do their usual nice job with the packaging and all.
The cover art shows the band hangin' in the desert in front of the pyramids of Egypt - but don't be fooled, they were actually mostly Arab-AMERICANS, based in New York City. Still, their rock n' roll was as authentically "Middle Eastern" as their Turkish contemporaries. They could have held their own with the likes of Erkin Koray and Mogollar.
The Devil's Anvil got together in the happenin' mid sixties Greenwich Village scene, playing their Middle Eastern influenced music at folk cafes and rock clubs. Eventually they hooked up with classical musician-turned-rocker Felix Pappalardi (producer of Cream's Disraeli Gears, later to play alongside Leslie West in Mountain). He began playing bass with the band and eventually scored the group a record deal. The resulting album was truly one-of-a-kind and would certainly made greater impact had it not been released on the very eve of the Arab-Israeli war in 1967. Thus, we're told no New York radio stations would play it and unfortunately the album has remained an expensive collector's find until its cd reissue.
The rock contained herein is absolutely kick ass, with bluesy and impassioned Arabic vocals, electric (or at least amplified) oud, bouzouki, tamboura, durbeki as well as the usual rock suspects of (fuzz!) guitar, bass and drums. The majority of the tracks here are either rock arrangements of traditional Middle Eastern and Greek numbers or original compositions, but a couple are actually straight traditional numbers with no western instruments at all. Plus there's an excellent Middle Eastern-esque rock arangement of surf classic "Misirlou" (of course, a song with its roots originally in Greek rembetika) that's perhaps the best version ever recorded, in our humble opinion. And the record ends with a Devil's Anvil original that kinda reminds us of one of the Beatles' more Eastern-influenced tunes. This is about as good as it gets. Very, very highly recommended! Nay, ESSENTIAL.
The cd booklet of this new reish includes original album graphics along with brand new liner notes from one of the writers at Shindig magazine, and a blurb on the back that just might have been parapharased from -our- Record Of The Week review of this album.
Profound Lore brings us this cd ep (five songs, nigh on 28 minutes) from The Devil's Blood, a female-fronted Dutch psychedelic hard rock act from Holland, who possess (or are possessed by?) a Satanic/occultic lyrical bent. Claiming inspiration from vintage sixties and seventies proto-metal and psych, The Devil's Blood have quite a lot in common with another "Blood" band with a witchy female vocalist reviewed here just last list, Blood Ceremony. We bet the two would get on famously. They sound different enough though, TDB not being so overtly retro-doom-metal, and more of a rockin' deal, no flutes or nothin'. Some '70s progginess comes in from the keyboards, infusing these tracks with cinematic bombast, but while this doesn't quite sound modern, it's not like they're trying to recreate the music of an earlier era, exactly, either. Although, like Witchcraft, they're big Roky Erickson fans, and cover the Rok's "White Faces" here.
Vocally, Jex Thoth haters might again have issues, but perhaps not. We're reminded a bit of Heart (who kicked ass upon occasion, don't you forget it, or let Sarah Palin ruin "Barracuda" for you). How else to describe this? Maybe imagine if Shocking Blue sang about Satan, and of course were quite a bit heavier too...
Sorta a surprise from Profound Lore, and a pleasant one. I guess not so strange since it kinda fits in with their recent Hammers Of Misfortune opus, the female vocals and keyboards and melodic content and all. Oh, and if you care, which we think you should, they get the thumbs up from Fenriz of Darkthrone, who included 'em on his list of record recommendations in the liner notes to Dark Thrones and Black Flags, reviewed here last list.
Ah, scenes, waves, movements, trends, genres, we all know rock critics love 'em. We gotta admit we do too, if only 'cause it makes writing our reviews a bit easier sometimes, when you can stick something in a category. To wit, take this thing happening now with all these "female fronted, occult-oriented, rock/metal" bands, one of the most popular examples of such, being Dutch outfit The Devil's Blood. While some of these bands are super sludgey and doomed-out (Wooden Stake, The Wounded Kings) and others hark back to the '70s proto-metal psych scene (Blood Ceremony, Jex Thoth), and still others are straight up NWOBHM steel (Christian Mistress), this one, The Devil's Blood, while displaying elements of all the styles just mentioned, is by far the most "classic rock", with almost a '60s vibe, reminding us especially of Heart! Huh, well that's cool 'cause we heart Heart.
One of our friends theorizes that as modern metal has gotten more and more extreme, it's reached a point where, with bands like The Devil's Blood and Ghost, it's gotta go full circle back to completely classic, melodic roots. That's the new extreme! That's his theory, anyway.
And scenes and theories aside, we are digging this new Devil's Blood for sure. Eleven new tracks of their swirling, retro rockin', sweetly Satanic sounds, laced with great guitarwork and graced by THAT VOICE, which will be the deciding factor for most listeners, the soaring singing of "F. The Mouth Of Satan" (yep that's what she calls herself!) being an un-ignorable element, the crucial crux of this band, and either you'll fall under her spell or you won't. If you do, the rest of their witchy wall o' sound will fall in line, the dramatic organ, the urgent rhythms, the powerful production, the catchy choruses...
Heck, but chances are you already have found yourself smitten, as we sold plenty of this album's predecessor The Time Of No Time Evermore, and before that, their debut ep Come, Reap. If you liked those, you'll like this, as The Thousandfold Epicentre builds on their strengths, maybe generating more of a mystic mood than the last one. Their talents are especially on display during this album's tour-de-force finale, the 15 minute ritual of "Feverdance". There the band's balance of melody and menace tips to way outside of pop territory by virtue of sheer eerie epicness alone.
Another friend of ours, who runs a local label that puts out a lot of vinyl reissues (mostly '80s era new wave / electronic / coldwave stuff), was in the store the other day when we were playing this new album by The Devil's Blood. He thought it sounded like a band from the sixties, the vocals anyway, reminding him of acts like The United States Of America, Ultimate Spinach, and probably Jefferson Airplane, stuff like that. And he was quite taken with it, funny 'cause he's a guy who would normally not have been checking out a band with the evil/metal look and name The Devil's Blood has! They're not only for metalheads, that's all we're saying. Even though The Devil's Blood is happily (la-la-la!) serving Satan all the while.
