Krieg are like a USBM institution. Going on 15 years now, with an insane number of lineups, and close to 30 releases, yet they somehow remain so much more underground than their USBM brethren, Krieg are indeed, truly KVLT. Krieg mainman Imperial's public persona definitely got a bump recently with his involvement in the black metal supergroup Twilight, and some of that band's experimentalism has definitely bled into Krieg, a little, and the new line up reflects that, with Leviathan's Wrest on bass and Woe's Chris Grigg on drums, not to mention Sanford Parker of Minsk (among others) on "grinding synthetic nausea. With that sort of roster, you might in fact be expecting some tripped out psychedelic blackness, or some sort of droned out grim blacknoize, but Krieg remain TROO and offer up some seriously grim and buzzy blackness, furious blast beats, howling hellish vokills, and some dense gnarled riffage, the sound grimy and gritty and filthy, the way true black metal was meant to sound.
Sure there are moments that deviate a bit from the black path, "All Paths To God" is practically poppy, a moody and melancholy dirge with a surprising hook, there's the tripped out spaciness of "Depakote", and the blown out glitchy staticky dronefield that finishes off "And The Stars Fell on" as well as a couple shorter tracks that ditch the buzz and blast altogether, offering up instead stretches of moody melancholic meander, and the last track blasts wildly until it seems to slow down, melting into a droning black morass, but for the most part this is Black. Metal. Heavy on the black. And heavy on the metal. Dense, and dark, black and buzzing, ominous and sinister, harsh and hateful, brutal, grim and fucking awesome.
Imagine Ariel Pink, if he was a she, and crafted twisted warped lo-fi late night seventies FM radio, drug party, sci fi sexy soul music, and you'll begin to get an idea of what to expect from LA Vampires, teamed up here with fellow lo-fi beatscaper lo-fi groove architect Matrix Metals (of Outer Limits Recordings).
The two have created a haunting neon lit late night landscape of Casio keyboards primitive beats, warped warbly melodies, fractured synths, fuzzy bass, new wavey soundtrack swirl, loads of FX, the whole thing sounds like some warped disco 12" being played on one of those battery powered turntables and broadcast through a transistor radio, but then the whole thing plugged into some retro futuristic sound system, that somehow transforms the whole thing into some sort of twisted Goblin / Carpenter future disco, all of which is simply a backing track for Miss LA Vampires to croon over, her vocals, smokey and monotone, a sort of reverbed icy croon, more spoken than sung much of the time, you can almost imagine her as some sort of painted up cyber chanteuse, perched on a light up pyramid, wreathed in dry ice smoke, while all around her, gorgeous sparkly ladies and buff cybernetic boys shuffle rhythmically to here haunting coked up midnight jamzzzz. Dig it!
Full length number three from these black drone audio alchemists, offering up their latest sprawling epic, this one conceptually based on a JG Ballard novel about a leper colony, and the mysteriously crystallizing forest that threatens their existence. Heady stuff, but the sort of concept perfectly suited to Locrian's sprawling sonic mystery, epic and cinematic, haunting and harrowing, the music of Locrian already plays like a soundtrack, their sound evoking all manner of other worlds and alternate realities, lost civilizations and spiritual planes, underworlds and inner worlds and what lies between.
Normally a duo, here Locrian have been expanded to a trio, with an additional member contributing electronics and percussion, allowing the band to expand their sound even further, stretching out into lengthy explorations, drifting from deep buzzing drones to starry fields of glitched out electronics, swooping spacey black ambience to lumbering blackened doom, abstract post rock to churning crumbling low end dirges.
After what plays like a black metal power electronic intro, all corrosive black buzz, layered drones, distant buried melodies, howled anguished vox, and delicate tinkling chimes, the record shifts into a more tranquil blackness, the two tracks connected by those tinkling chimes, that melodic refrain, distant melodies drift beneath chant like vocals, processed guitar throb and thrum, eventually evolving into a stretch of gorgeously epic doomic plod, deep ominous vocals over keening high end melodies, subtle tribal drumming, and swirling ambience, a glacial groove that finally dissolves into a squall of white noise.
Gorgeous looped proggy guitars drift over electronic squelches, dizzying and hypnotic, multiple guitars layered into a mesmerizing harmony, eventually, another melody, and a thick crumbling distorted riff join in, drums too, and it's a fantastic bit of hypnotic chaos, laced with squealing guitars and bursts of free drum splatter.
The record unfurls an epic bit of hushed dronemusic minimalism, that also eventually erupts into some abstract rhythmic churn, looped and cyclical, all over grinding guitars and FX drenched squealing electronics, before slipping into some caustic blackened drones, abject and grim, the guitars rumbling and crumbling and super distorted, while voices wail and howl way off in the distance. Finally the record finishes with a long stretch of moody melodic doom, acoustic guitars, crooned wordless vox, swirls of psychedelic guitar, high end electronic streaks, which expand into another pounding dirge, this one strangely pretty, even the anguished vokills can't take way from the track's lilting loveliness, a hazy bit of metallic slowcore, wrapped in increasingly frantic psychguitar, before all of that fades out completely, leaving just acoustic guitar, strings and what sounds like harmonium or accordion, a darkly emotional outro, culminating in a wild tangle of frenzied freaked out strings.
But that's just the first disc. Disc two continues with a nearly 54 minute single track, all instrumental, an epic sprawling, ever shifting chunk of blackened dronemusic, that could have easily been its own record. Deep ominous pulses, give way to hazy washed out melodies, laid over that ominous low end creep, which slips into spaced out looped electronics and haunting stretches of chantlike chorales, blown out blasts of white noise psychguitar splinter into blurred expanses of soft focus static, all wrapped around buried melodies, and muted metallic riffage, huge pummeling sheets of blown out black rrrrooaar plunge directly into black hole shimmer, laced with woozy bass thrum, and finally a stretch of tinkling echo drenched ambience, a swirling cloud of tinkling guitar melodies wrapped in thick black rumbles, and creepy looped laughter.
Epic and gorgeous, LIMITED TO 1000 COPIES! Housed in a super swank Stoughton style cd gatefold with gorgeous grim art by aQ pal Justin Bartlett, aka Vuberkvlt.
During these chilly months we seek any and every way to warm up. While it isn't quite as effective as an electric blanket or a roaring fireplace, a hearty belly laugh does help a bit! Enter the latest issue of The Lowbrow Reader zine from NYC, once again featuring contributions from the likes of Royal Trux's Neil Michael Hagerty, Silver Jews' David Berman, and Duplex Planet's David Greenberger. Topics covered within: Adam Sandler's movie 'Billy Madison', clowns, the elderly, and some music. That said, the absolute highlight of the zine though is a brief interview with Muhammad Ali. Yeah, holy shit!
Oh, and by the way, if you've missed previous issues, we do still have a couple of Issue #7, but we've just heard that Drag City will be publishing a Lowbrow Reader anthology in the near future. We'll keep you posted!
Listening to all these great mixes Madlib has been self releasing lately is sort of like the audio equivalent of reading Wax Poetics, one of our favorite magazines. You pretty much just get totally schooled in different eras of soul, funk, and jazz. This time out Madlib takes us on an upbeat adventure in the early '80s landscape of post-disco, boogie delights. Sounds that really bridged the gap between the disco era and electro-funk. In fact we could see folks like Dam-Funk and Hot Chip blasting this backstage at their shows and at after-hours parties 'til the break of dawn. All kinds of fun!
Berlin-based, Detroit-raised Magda makes minimal techno for people who love Umberto and Demdike Stare! She did a Fabric mix that started off with a Goblin track, and the first cut on this debut full-length of her own productions is called "Get Down Goblin", so you know she's got a thing for vintage Italian horror soundtrack prog-funk. Another track is titled "Doom Disco", and that's sorta the concept for this whole dark and groovy album, replete with eerie echoes and subtle whip-cracks, music for a darkened, desperate dancefloor. Sometimes the propulsive beats thump like the tell-tale heart, at other times they take a backseat to the hauntological electronic atmospheres.
"Get Down Goblin" begins with the creepy caresses of a keyboard in horror movie mode, shimmery, ominous, before percolating rhythms bubble up, jittery grooves commence, and you can get down indeed to her off kilter, zombified funk. And so it goes. Later, the likes of "Little Bad Habits" ride on steady beats interspersed with atonal piano stabs and tinklings and other eerily abstract, almost modern classical flourishes, clearly suspense film inspired, in fact that one reminds us a bit of David Shire's classic score to the Taking Of Pelham 1-2-3.
We're smitten, From The Fallen Page is totally techno that's up our alley as fans of anything Goblin-y... Recommended!
Yay, the '70s Japanese psych rock reissues continue! Years ago this one was available on cd as a fancy expensive Japanese import, but that's been gone for ages so it's nice to have this new reish. A Path Through Haze (great title, eh?) is the mostly instrumental 1971 solo album from acid guitarist Mizutani, a fixture of the scene as a session axe, you'll find him supplying the fuzzed out leads on such records as Love Live Life +1's Love Will Make A Better You and People's Ceremony - Buddha Meets Rock. With this, he stepped out on his own with what proved to be his only album as leader. It's an ambitious affair, employing not only an all-star cast of his heavy friends from the psych scene, but also both string quartet and woodwind quartets. Also prominent on this record is the Hammond organ, piano, and Moog synth of Masahiko Satoh, who did his own album also entitled A Path Through Haze somewhat later. Confusing, eh? "A Path Through Haze" is also a song on both albums, it seems it's a Satoh composition. Here that song starts off with gentle keyboard shimmer, before Mizutani gets his licks in about halfway through, amidst much spaceiness of effects. And that's sorta how it goes with this record, lots of pretty keyboards, yes, plenty of nice moody melody, but Mizutani (usually) eventually unleashes the fuzz, particularly on rockier/riffier numbers like the Hendrix-y "One For Janis". The "chamber rock" restraint characteristic of some of this record only lasts so long, the likes of "Tell Me What You Saw" being a bit of a freak-out, with mathy prog rock rippage galore. And its Satoh's synth that goes nuts some of the time too.
This one didn't make the top 50 in Julian Cope's Japrocksampler, by the way... in fact, he actually bags on this one a bit, but WE like it, so there. Cope also didn't like Foodbrain either. While we'll agree that we'd have been happy to hear Mizutani wail away here even more than he does, it's still a beautiful album, and even its most stonery sit-com soundtrack fusion moments have a certain charm.
Fancy Black Friday Record Store Day version of this latest slab of hook filled stoner space rock heaviness from these long time aQ faves, comes as a deluxe digibook, with two bonus tracks, housed in a fancy box with a little window through which you can peep the USB drive, which contains the whole record in MP3 form, bonus tracks and all, as well as ringtones, an interview with MM mastermind Dave Wyndorf, desktop wallpapers and a Napalm Records sampler...
We're gonna just come out and say it. Monster Magnet have NEVER made a bad record. Ever. They've come close for sure. And there have definitely been some bad songs, but every record has had at least a handful of MM classics. Sure maybe once they made the shift to a more pop oriented sound, there was no hope of them ever making another Spine Of God. But that was just fine with us, we love Dopes To Infinity or Powertrip as much as we love Spine Of God. To be fair, being superfans, we're probably not the most objective when it comes to MM, but we will say, the last couple of records, Monolithic Baby and 4-Way Diablo, were probably the weakest of all the MM records. That said, there was plenty on both to dig, just in comparison to some of the other stone cold classics, those two maybe paled. So we were maybe expecting more of the same, another Monster Magnet record, that maybe didn't rule, but that was pretty great, and had at least a few killer jams, but then BLAM. First song in, and we're digging the heaviest, fiercest MM record in ages. "Hallucination Bomb" is low slung and sinister, swaggering epic stoner space rock bliss, fat fuzzy bass, a killer main riff, wild loose leads, and ridiculous over the top lyrics, what more could we ask for? How about a whole record that good! That's right, you got it, solid top to bottom, with another clutch of ridiculously genius song titles too: "Bored With Sorcery", "The Titan Who Cried Like A Baby", insanely inspired lyrics like "I'm a pumped out freak on a big wheel..." and some of the sickest riffs since God Says No.
We could go song by song, but why bother, if you're like us, you'd buy a new Monster Magnet no matter what, and the fact that it totally rules, only makes it that much better. And if you've somehow made it this far without hearing MM, holy shit man, what's wrong with you, total epic over the top stoner space rock genius of the highest order, buy this one, then go get Spine Of God, Superjudge, Dopes To Infinity, hell, you're gonna want them all. And odds are you'll have a new favorite band. It's a Satanic drug thing, you wouldn't understand. Trust us.
Absolutely recommended.
We've been digging the latest Monster Magnet record Mastermind lately bigtime (you should be too!), a total return to form for sure, and as if that wasn't enough MM for all the space lord motherfuckers out there, along comes this, a super limited tour only 10", that besides being available exclusively from the band on tour, or from the band's website, is also available from aQ! We're one of, if not THEE only store to have these, and we won't have em for long, limited to just 500 copies, we got a batch direct from the band, so grab one while you can.
The A side is a rerecorded version of the MM classic "Superjudge", a stripped down version, that manages to be as heavy and psychedelic as the original, all spaced out with spidery Eastern guitar melodies, minimal drumming, and some SERIOUSLY fuzzed out bass buzz, that gives the song some skull caving crunch for sure, killer vox, a dead ringer for the original, but set amidst this new arrangement, pretty hard to fuck with, and pretty awesome that decades on, these guys can still slay, and like all MM jams, the song blossoms into an awesome spacey psychedelic freakout near the end, not super heavy and blown out, more sort of trippy and druggy, which suits the new version to a tee.
The B side is a similarly rerecorded version of a song from Mastermind, the main riff like a muddy, murky slowed down Stooges, and like "Superjudge", it's a stripped down practice space jam, more minimal, but still explosive and heavy and epic, a little dirgier than the original, complete with those majestic cock-rockin' choruses and the sort of epic space rock riffery that still kicks ass over most of the other wannabe spacerockers out there.
Released on the band's own label, limited to 500 copies, we got a handful, but guessing these might go quick...
Long before local garage rockers Thee Oh Sees were Thee Oh Sees, they were in fact called the OCS (need proof? Check out the double cd on tUMULt!), and were a much different beast, a duo, equal parts bedroom folk and abstract experimental noisiness, the duo at that point was made up of John Dwyer and Patrick Mullins. At some point, Mullins left, Dwyer expanded his 2 piece OCS into the 4 piece Oh Sees and the rest is history. Mullins went East, became a baker, but kept recording, and Don't Go To Sleep is the result.
A haunting collection of fractured meandering abstract soundscapes, dreamlike drones, and constantly shifting textures, from twisted dark electronics-laced folk to minimal musique concrete, to deep swirling dronemusic, to blissed out soft noise, all assembled from field recordings, electronics, effects, guitar and musical saw.
The opener is lovely, sounding a bit like Scott Tuma jamming with Whitehouse, a high end electronic pulse laced over delicate slow-mo Appalachia, hypnotic and alien, but so mysteriously beautiful. That's the sound that grounds most of the record, with Mullins constantly returning to that sort of woozy softly psychedelic glitchy electronic folk. But in between, the record constantly shifts gears, from pure field recordings, voices, and insects, thunderstorms, to drone-y minimal electronics, lushly layered yet raw and primitive, from blown out hazy Tim Hecker like blurscapes, to thick corrosive downtuned minimal doomdrone churn, to fields of gauzy drift, rife with buried melody and muted guitar strum, to glitched out digital crunch, to barely there ambient shimmer, finally culminating in the lengthy close, which begins as a hushed thrum, only to expand into a strange soundscape seemingly constructed from the sounds of rushing water, processed into textural smears, and laid over lush deep chordal swells. So nice!
LIMITED TO 100 COPIES!!
Not new, but we've been fans of this record for years and had never reviewed it, in part 'cause in recent years stuff on the Second Battle label has been notoriously difficult to stock consistently. But one of our suppliers just managed to score a batch of these so we saw our opportunity to write it up for those of you as yet uninitiated into the krautrock awesomeness of My Solid Ground. How awesome is that? Well, the very first track is called "Dirty Yellow Mist" and is over 13 minutes long, featuring a relentlessly repeating distorted guitar riff ceremonially intoning over and over and over as wordless female vocals, droning organ and tribal percussion build up around it. If you're like, "cool!" then this record is for you, it's as good as that sounds. This 1971 (aha, 1971! says Allan) album exemplifies druggy, downer spaced-out psych, being very reminiscent of Pink Floyd circa Meddle (another awesome album that we really should properly review some day!) and Amon Duul II -- along with other krautrockers like Siloah, Necronomicon, Agitation Free and early Guru Guru. And the Floyd feel isn't just 'cause of the cartoon pigs that adorn the cover art either. But there's also a side to the band that's more along the lines of garagey hard rock, with several Kinks-riffed attacks to shake your shack. As primitive heaviness goes, this is a classic. Hazy and weighty and often ominous (check out the mumbling vocals on "The Executioner"). Includes seven bonus tracks (the original 24 minute version of "Flash" not least among them), and comes packaged in a swank digipack.
When we first heard this we had no idea what the heck it was, all we knew was that it RULED. Lots of short tracks, constructed from looped, sped up soul samples, stuttery 808 drum machines, and short snippets of vocals, chopped up and looped into rapid fire weirdly hypnotic mantras. Like the backing tracks to some lost Kanye West record, looped and then rapped over, but the rapping is just the same phrase repeated ad infinitum. Seems weird, and it is, but it's also totally cool and bizarre.
Only later did we discover that this collection of tracks, created by 20 year old DJ Nate, gathers up all of Nate's Footwork tracks, tracks specifically created for 'Footwurking', maybe better known as Jukin', a Chicago dance style that's frantic and frenzied and is a big part of local dance battles. These tracks are gathered up from various tapes and cd-r's and YouTube videos, and are so good, warped and mysterious, the drum programming super complex, little bursts of rhythmic complexity laced over the main beat, and those sampled vocals, so intense, often laid over each other to create strange melodic passages that eventually stop sounding like words at all, and those repeated phrases are meant to hype up the dancers during battles. It's not just the vocals either, the samples, those soul loops, are sped up and slowed down, distorted, layered, often shifting back and forth repeatedly in the same song, making everything sound woozy and warped and weirdly druggy and psychedelic.
Total ADD hip hop trip out. Listen to the samples. We can't stop listening to this, but it seems to drive some folks crazy, although most of our favorite records do!
Now reissued with tons of bonus material (1 alternate version, 2 new songs, 2 B sides and 3 live recordings) and slightly altered packaging...
The National broke out big with their last album from a few years ago, Boxer, so we are always nervous/excited to see how a band follows up a record that hurl them into a whole new world, with a new level of attention and acclamation. And guess what, they've done it totally right, making a record that might even surpass Boxer. Right from the stunning opener "Terrible Love" we were stopped in our tracks as it's one of those songs that you know when you hear it for the first time you are about to become totally obsessed with it and play it for everyone you know, as we have in the last couple weeks. Luckily the record maintains the strong emotional and driving quality of that song, managing to create songs that are bittersweet, brooding and dour, yet which flow which such ease.
High Violet captures a similar spirit to so many of our favorite '90s records by folks like Red House Painters, American Music Club, Tindersticks and Low. And we even think about what Interpol or The Editors might sound like if they were doused with a healthy amount of valium and brought in a much more stark, emotional quality to their music. We've got a feeling this is going to end up on a lot of year end best lists and it will be totally deserved!
Whew! Housed in a bright pink digipack, this is a seriously WEIRD reissue (or not so seriously, 'cause it's pretty silly, but weird in any case). 30 tracks, 74 minutes of pure WTF?, '70s style. A private press rarity from Baltimore, originally released in 1974, OHO's Okinawa is one of those obscure underground '70s artifacts that combine experimental prog, psych, and proto-punk into one trippy package. Deserving of whatever cult status it has, no doubt.
Some folks will be drawn to this for its garagey, manic energy and and shocking angular guitar action, but you gotta be able to deal with the gonzoid goofiness too. And unhinged vocals that even have a bit of Jello Biafra-like warble to 'em... though sometimes the singing is quite lovely, like at the outset of the song "A Frog For You", which features a chorus of voices sweetly intoning such lines as: "What's that on your face... it looks like shit... ", before some screaming begins, and someone yells, "Let's rock!", and indeed they do, (sarcastically?) channelling Chuck Berry/Jerry Lee Lewis, tossing in some Zeppish riffs too.
We'd have to assume that these musicians had some Frank Zappa and the Mothers records in their collections. But they avoid jazzy wank (though there are horns), and their hippy freak humor isn't as obnoxious as your typical Zappa fare. Less scatological, more surreal and non-sequitur. Song titles like "Ain't Life Dumb", "Brown Algae Is Attractive", "The Unfortunate Frankfurter Vendor", "Hairy Bag", "Chess Is Boring", "Fast Bananas", and "Pale Hippo" might give you some idea. Syd Barrett's Pink Floyd could be another inspiration for all this trippiness, they also kinda remind us of the Hampton Grease Band, Beefheart, and some of the wackier British prog acts of the ear.
This handsomely packaged, remastered reissue, includes a ton of bonus material recorded at the album sessions that wasn't included on the original release. We mentioned 30 tracks (some of them but brief interludes), only 16 actually appeared on the 1974 lp. But now that it's on cd, you get the entire extreme OHO Okinawa experience/overload as it was meant to be. It's acid-fried, theatrical, quite intentionally insane, and actually pretty amusing... plus prog and hard psych types will enjoy all the distorted guitar stabs and crazy changes. Fans of modern day, mathy indie pop acts like Heavy Vegetable might also dig.
Pan American is the solo project of Mark Nelson, who we first discovered via the late great Labradford, a group whose gorgeous brooding minimal post rock most definitely informed much of what's gone on since. Nelson began Pan American to explore his blossoming interest in computer music, electronica, dub and techno, stretching the sounds he created in Labradford and crafting dark landscapes of mysterious electronic sound, dreamlike stretches of minimal droning drift, and skittering softly stuttering and swirling textured ambience.
For Waiting For Chasing was originally released in a super limited edition back in 2006, and is easily PA's most minimal outing, skeletal and spare, haunting and otherworldly, the songs here drift, and slowly unfold, the rhythms are less rhythmic, and more textural, the opener here, "Love Song" is the perfect example, chittering clicks are draped over lush layers of whirling chordal thrum, chiming bells unfurl muted melodies, the sounds softly smeared into bleary streaks, bits of field recordings, static, glitch, all woven into PA's gorgeous soft swells of sound. Absolutely lovely dreamlike ambience, but flecked with distinctly un-ambient elements, which is what makes the sounds here so compelling.
Later PA records definitely moved in directions that some of us found way less appealing, but it's pretty impossible not to love this one.
Fields of crackle and mournful creak, looped melodies buried under layers of hiss and hum, woozy and warbly and dreamily indistinct, crumbling textures, smoldering layers, hazy fields of glimmer and muted loops, Oval like underwater swirl, dubbed out barely there beats stretch into heartbeat like pulses, bell like tones, glitch bursts of staticky melody, it's all just so fantastically hushed and lovely, culminating in the final track, "Amulls" which is as much about the melody, way down in the mix, off in the distance, a softly reverbed lullaby, tinkling piano, drifting minor key melody, all beneath a patina of crackle, a crackle which almost begins to sound rhythmic, like the some nearly invisible crystalline framework, around the delicate melancholy within. So so nice.
We've long been fans of this Louisville post rock supergroup, featuring members of Crain, Ariel M, The For Carnation, and Rodan. Simulacrenfield might just be their best yet. Mesmerizing and hypnotic, equal parts melodic meander and rhythmic churn, they often sound like a heavier Tortoise, locking into hypnotic, almost jazzy grooves, but without being afraid to infuse those jams with thick distorted guitar crunch, tangled complex woodwind interplay or buzzing sci-fi synth shimmer. With an arsenal that includes clarinet, bass clarinet, tenor saxophone and synthesizer, augmenting the classic rock guitar / bass / drums (not to mention some banjo here and there), these guys craft gorgeous, timeless instrumental post rock, the sort few bands play anymore, and even fewer can pull off.
The opener, "Destruction Paper" perfectly displays everything that's so good about these guys, a dizzying blend of post/math/kraut rock, the horns and synths adding so much breadth to the group's sound, standing in for vocals in a way that keeps the sound from getting boring, while simultaneously elevating the sound, adding a sort of prog/art rock element. "Camus" is more of the same, the band locked tight, the core instruments laying out an irresistible groove, while the horns wind and whirl and intertwine. The banjo on "Jalepenooptics" totally transforms the song into some sort of strange twang flecked post/kraut workout, the horns giving it a sort of chamber ensemble vibe, and definitely reminding us of Tortoise again.
Over the next few songs, the sound swings from dark Slinty brood, to almost Decemberists sounding Victorian jangle, to Godspeed like slow build and finally to the nearly 11 minute closer "Sea Of Bubbly Goo", which also has some serious Slint going on, the guitar parts creepy and skeletal, drifting amongst clouds of cymbal shimmer, gradually growing more and more propulsive, the sound fantastically tense and hypnotic, the tempo building, effects whirling, the horns adding plenty of melody, finally exploding in a skronky, crunchy, epic denouement, before fading out into a cloud of rumbling slow fading distorted low end. AWESOME. Definitely for fans of Tortoise, Chevreuil, Trans Am, Circle, Fridge, Maserati, Explosions In The Sky, Resonator, Salvatore, Woodsman and various other practitioners of the lost art of post/math rock...
We will be the first to admit being skeptical of records comprised of ambient tones and poetry, but the Piiptsjilling collective has produced a beguiling and beautiful record that never forces the issue either through the spoken word or through the contemplative, cinematic abstractions they produce. One of the principle soft-noise makers in Piiptsjilling (which we've been instructed to pronounce as 'peep-chilling') is Rutger Zuydervelt better known as Machinefabriek. Alongside him, the ensemble is fleshed out by Jan Kleefstra, Romke Kleefstra, and Mariska Baars, but for all of the members in Piiptsjilling, the quartet is to be noted for their restraint. Quiet loops from the various guitars slowly build over the course of each extended track, with elegant, emotionally pregnant phrases of half-melody / half-shadow worthy of a Stars Of The Lid track messed against the minimalist tension of those early Main recordings and dappled with the scrabbled guitar work that Blixa Bargeld managed on the understated Neubauten record Fuenf Auf Der Nach Oben Offenen Richterskala. The poems come by way of Jan Kleefstra, who quietly utters everything in Frisian, an obscure language spoken in the northern corner of the Netherlands, and his voice is just a hair above a whisper. So even if we could understand Frisian, the soft-spoken nature of his delivery further pushes the words as faint, ghost-like utterances. The Machinefabriek aesthetic can certainly be felt in Piipstjilling, although the compositions he helped build here are far more serene and spacious than anything he's produced before. Fans of Machinefabriek should definitely take note of this! That also goes for those keen on Oren Ambarchi and Celer.
Good grief, how rad is this! Another one, where we think, do we really even need to write a review? Authentic African garage groove from the '70s, by a band that was freakin' called THE PSYCHEDELIC ALIENS! From the same label that brought us the likes of Ofege, and the Lagos Disco Inferno comp. C'mon, what else do you need to know?
This archival release collects everything ever recorded by this Ghanaian band, who put out just 3 super rare records in their day: two 7"s and a 12" ep. Thanks to a several years of dedicated effort by the compiler, Frank "Voodoofunk" Gossner, all those tracks are here (8 of 'em, 23 and a half minutes total), and they are plenty groovy indeed, bursting with lively rhythms, wildly jamming organ, James Brown influenced funkiness, and not just a little bit o' fuzz guitar, especially on the mind-melting "Okponmo Ni Tisitsi Emo Le" that wraps this up in a throbbingly mesmeric finale. While we can't tell you what that particular title means, there are 3 here in English: "Hijacking", "We're Laughing", and "Extraordinary Woman" which might (or might not) give you a sense of what sorts of things this band was concerned with, lyrically.
We've been lucky lately, so many great reissues from the '70s African rock/funk scene, Ngozi Family, Amanaz, Witch, Tirogo, Sweet Talks, now this! Of course if you're familiar with those, these Aliens won't seem quiet so alien. For instance, if you liked that The World Ends comp, these guys (who weren't on it, as that was all Nigerian acts) woulda fit right in! Due to the rarity of these records, and possibly the name of the band, this is considered by some to be one of those "holy grail" releases, though spoiled as we are already by those other great reissues we are just happy to have even MORE great African '70s garage to groove to.
The compact disc comes in a swank hardcover package, with a 32 page booklet. The regular vinyl lp edition is nice too... and then we have ONE COPY (though we can maybe get more) of the expensive, ultra deluxe 4x7" box set version for those who need such a fetish object in their collection.
Here's a new-to-us volume of the Dynamophone Folio series! We've known that this Bay Area label features some of the prettiest drone music around, both of the experimental and more pop leaning kind. The Refractors are a fine addition to the fold. So soothing and mesmerizing. An angelic female voice surfaces on the second song, and whispery murmurs materialize at later points in the proceedings. The tracks with the added vocal dimension are definitely our faves of the release, although the rest of the dozen tracks are mighty lovely too! This cd compiles eight recordings circa 2001-2008, as well as reissues four numbers from the label's now out of print 2009 Parcel 3" cdr series.
The proto-metal lovin' legions who read the AQ list should be quite pleased with this reissue - take a trip down this particular Road and it's heavy riffing all the way, early '70s style! A power trio put together by former Jimi Hendrix Experience bassist Noel Redding in 1972, Road only made this one record for a rock-oriented Motown sub-label (the eco-friendly Natural Resources) before they broke up, and it quickly became lost to the mists of time, though we'd have thought Hendrix fans, if they'd heard it, would have been chuffed... anyone who likes stoned hard psych, with loads of wah wah wailing will dig this, it's total hippie heaviness (well, "I'm Going Down The Country" isn't so heavy, it's an acoustic jam, natch). There's some sixties sike-pop to it as well. But tracks like "Mushroom Man" and "Spaceship Earth" are spaced out and heavy all right, these three long hairs dishing out quite the din, with the 9+ minute album closer, title track "Road" gettin' almost DOOMY riff-wise.
Certainly deserving of recognition in the proto-metal realm, Road goes with Toad, Cactus, Moses, Tiger B. Smith, etc., and is probably the best thing that Redding did post-Hendrix, though we haven't heard his whole discography, to be sure. But it beats Fat Mattress, in volume and heft for sure, despite that earlier outfit's name (the drummer here was also in Fat Mattress, by the way, while the guitarist hailed from Rare Earth).
This is one of several new reissues from the new Relics label (Churchills, Aguaturbia are some other, more internationally-oriented titles that just came out, we'll be listing soon too). Nice to have, though the booklet's a bit skimpy, the cover reproduction looks kinda washed out and blurry. It does include something in the way of liner notes, though, from which we learn that Redding fell down some stairs at Frank Zappa's place prior to the formation of Road. Hmm, that almost sounds like the description of a band, but not this one! Thankfully he recovered from the accident and added Road to the list of awesome proto-metal obscurities.
Ultra obscure, freaky French '70s underground psychedelic proto punk reissued, oui!! Crazy how there's still stuff like this out there ready to be (re)discovered. The Rob Jo Star band originally put this out in 1975, probably under the influence of the Velvets and the Stooges, kinda like cult Canadian contemporaries Simply Saucer. Like SS, the Rob Jo Star Band packs these tracks with all kinds of ridiculous synth blurt, electronics swooshing and bleeping and farting all throughout this album, other key elements of which include jangling distorted guitars and heavily accented vocals... Pretty darn cool if you ask us! There's moments that sound like a French version of The Cramps, inside a spaceship; others where the singer gets kinda Damo, and basically it's a healthy (or perhaps unhealthy) dose of throbbing fuzz, chugging rock n' roll rhythms, handclaps, wild vox, with song titles like "Acid Revolution" and "Blood Flower". File with the likes of Soggy, Angel Face, and Metal Urbain...
Limited edition, import.
We've gone kind of nuts for Chicago 'juke' music, the soundtrack for a distinctly Chicago dance style called footwurking, a frantic frenetic sort of dancing, that required an appropriately frantic and frenetic soundtrack, and this is most definitely it.
We recently listed a record by another juke/footwurk legend, DJ Nate, and described the sound like this:
"Looped, sped up soul samples, stuttery 808 drum machines, and short snippets of vocals, chopped up and looped into rapid fire weirdly hypnotic mantras. Like the backing tracks to some lost Kanye West record, looped and then rapped over, but the rapping is just the same phrase repeated ad infinitum."
Which most definitely could describe this collection of footwurking jams from Chicago's DJ Roc, but if anything, Roc takes that sound even further, makes it darker, less reliant on soul samples, and moves it into more of an almost DJ Screw sounding bit of ominous stuttery groove. The samples grim and minor key, the soul samples set amidst groaning synth swells, modulated choral samples and low slung bass lines, and those looped mantra like sampled vocals, way more angry and bad ass "You ain't gonna do shit", "Fuck Dat", "They Can't Fuck With Me".
Already maddeningly repetitive, to the point that folks are pretty much split right down the middle on this stuff, most of us can't get enough, but lots of people we know are driven crazy within minutes. Give the samples a listen, you'll know right away if this is your cup of tea. Roc definitely nails it here, his production and arrangements are pretty fantastic, if he applied the same methods to dubstep or some other 'hip' style, he'd be HUGE. "One Blood" sounds like a sped up way more manic Burial, "Let's Get It Started" is all wrapped around a killer creepy Twilight Zone sample, "They Can't Fuck Wit Me" is the perfect mix of haunting murderous creep and sped-up-soul, "Gun Smoke" takes a chunk of horns and tangles 'em all up with some dizzying rhythmic skitter, we could go on, track by track, but by now you get the picture.
So funky, and frenzied, and frenetic, dark and sinister, and like that DJ Nate record, total ADD hip hop trip out. WAY recommended.
The best way we can think of to describe Sex Worker, the solo project of Daniel from Mi Ami, is like a lo-fi, lysergic pop Prince, the music is minimal and electronic, slipping from James Ferraro like warped tropical loopscapes, to super minimal dubbed out house, to eighties disco by way of Ariel Pink, to lo-fi 4-track electro, the perfect back up tracks for Daniel's sexy crooned falsetto vox, but there's more to Sex Worker than faux soul, shit gets pretty fucked up throughout.
Sure, much of the record is spent slithery sexily through dimly lit neon soaked eighties nightclubs, crooning in dark basement underground discos, and speeding along empty roads with tinted windows and the top down, but the sound definitely gets weirder than all that, brooding and ominous and almost sci-fi here and there, super distorted and blown out elsewhere, the vocals an anguished howl over buried beats and warped looped melodies, loopy squelchy playful electronic skitter butted up against, skittery, stuttering almost skipping sounding soundscapes of warped FX drenched buzz and warbly glitched out crunch, before finally settling back down for the final 10 minute workout, "Honeymoon Babylon", haunting and electronic and minimal, the beats crumbling and distorted, laced with ghost like melodies, and all sorts of creepy effects and twisted production, and after a brief bit of falsetto crooning, the song devolves into an awesomely fractured futuristic electro jam, all droney and woozy and seriously druggy and psychedelic.
Another warehouse find, this one from the Spiral Joy Band, a sonically similar offshoot of raga drone combo Pelt, who here team up with a guy called John Fail for three extended tracks of some sort of imagined Asian hillbilly music, all long droning tones, scraped strings, tangled melodies, the Eastern vibe is definitely present, especially in the first track, which sounds like some sort of avant Koto battle, culminating in some seriously percussive crashing and banging and buzzing. Atonal and agitated, a swirling psychedelic chaos that gives way to the much more tranquil meditative almost 40 minute second track, which channels the spirit of Henry Flynt, sawed strings, long stretched out streaks of metallic buzz, laid atop one another, the overtones shifting constantly, creating dark tonal shifts and subtle barely there rhythms, like bluegrass slowed way down and pulled apart into some strange sort of Appalachian raga. The track does indeed grow more and more raga like, the sawed strings smoothed out into lush undulating swells, darkly dreamy and gorgeously buzzy.
The record closes off with another burst of buzzing strings, like a tuning orchestra wound into a fierce buzzing drone, infused with subtle bits of melody and hints of bluegrass, but those elements are buried beneath a swarm of fantastically thick and corrosive and (in)tense steel string buzz.
Wow. Definitely cool. And we only have 5 or 6 of these, so if you want one, better be quick.
We've been so happy that Cherry Red has made available some of the wonderful records of late '60s early '70s UK folkstress Bridget St. John. Last time we listed the wonderful Thank You For... and this time it's the lush sounds of Songs For The Gentle Man that we have been swept away by. This is for sure one of her most beautiful albums. Teamed up with producer Ron Geesin who she was introduced to by their mutual friend John Peel (his record label Dandelion originally released this in '71). Geesin's production was such a perfect match for the breezy and beautiful sound of St. John's voice. He actually co-wrote one side of Pink Floyd's Atom Heart Mother as well as making lots of interesting, challenging records of his own. The lush arrangements on this record will make you think of Vashti Bunyan more so then maybe any of St. John's albums. There is that same gentleness meets strength in her voice that listen after listen sinks deeper into our ears. We've got a feeling that Isobel Campbell might have been a big Bridget St. John fan as so many of these songs remind us of Campbell's contribution to early Belle & Sebastian records. Not a weak song in the whole bunch and her take on the Donovan penned "The Pebble and the Man" is pretty damn irresistible... as is this entire album. Highly recommended!
Another great British folk re-discovery! Bridget St
John was on the scene during the late 60's/early 70's and recorded just a handful of albums. A few of which were originally released on John Peel's Dandelion label. Luckily Cherry Red has gotten a hold of the original reels so those of us who missed out first time around can finally hear what we missed. And wow what a great voice and presence she had! She had this great ability to be both delicate and breezy, recalling the best of her contemporaries like Nick Drake and Vashti Bunyan while dipping her feet a bit more in carefree wind-in-her hair styling. Her voice also reminds us a lot of Marianne Faithfull and even at times Nico on a sunny day with a smile on her face. Some of the standout tracks on the record like "Fly High", "Lazarus" (which was her sort of hit), "Silver Coin", "Thank You For.." are the kinds of songs you know will be on every mix tape (ok...mix cd) that we make this year. So nice when songs recorded 34 years ago can still resonate so strongly in the present moment. Oh that's called timeless...and that's what this record is!
Damn we've been digging lots of stuff coming out of Australia lately. We made the latest from Fabulous Diamonds our record of the week a couple months ago and we've been getting really into Total Control and now Super Wild Horses are our newest Australian crush. We imagine you might get super smitten too for SWH's punky high energy fuzzy pop that is totally refreshingly unpretentious, super impassioned and brimming with an integrity that can't be denied. Funny that the record is named Fifteen, as it kind of reminds us a lot of the heyday of Bay Area pop punk with bands like Fifteen, Tilt, Crimpshrine and J Church. We're also reminded of some of our favorite and way underrated bands on Simple Machines from that era like Tuscedero, Scrawl, and Tsunami. In lots of ways SWH seem to connect the dots of that era to the current wave of rad lo-fi minded garage popsters like Brilliant Colors, Wetdog, and Grass Widow. So good!
Oooh. Hexagonal!!! And a picture disc. It hardly matters what music is on it, does it?? Especially since it's a limited edition "Black Friday" Record Store Day style release, not long for this world, and we are down to our last 3 copies!
But, in case you are for some reason curious about the music too, we can tell you it rocks. Two songs from everyone's favorite hipster heshers (ha, well, we like 'em), one from their recent Warp Riders opus, the Thin Lizzy-ish "(The Night The Sky Cried) Tears Of Fire", backed with a previously unreleased tune in a similarly heavy, sci-fi '70s stoner rocking vein, "Farstar".
And it comes with a hexagonal sticker too.
The latest batch from Utech is all excellent stuff (as usual), we're reviewing three this list, including the Locrian double disc (one of our Records Of The Week), the new Gog, and this, from Japan's Tetragrammaton.
The first thing one of the AQ Overlords here said when he heard this one is, if not entirely accurate, a good starting point for a description: "Sounds like a black metal Taj Mahal Travellers!" While it's NOT black metal, there's a menacing, mesmeric vibe here that some black metallers might appreciate. Possibly also some Buddhist monks, too. Part freeform psychedelic rock exploration, part dronological soundscapery, Tetragrammaton's Points Of Convergence is a beautiful and frightening trip into the void-dark expanses... that this trio is Tokyo-based is no surprise, seems like if Utech hadn't put this out, PSF should have. Band members TOMO, Cal Lyall, and Nobunaga Ken utilize a wide array of instruments to conjure up intense music that's both detailed and active, and droningly atmospheric: hurdy-gurdy, guitar, saxophone, crystal bowls, percussion, voices, Rhodes piano, hydrophone, gongs, drums, bells, bowls, taisho-koto...
Track one, "Disjecta Membra", begins as if recorded inside of a giant cauldron; echoing, haunting, with mysterious scrapings and billowing distortion, it builds up and up, over the course of 14+ minutes, spiralling into dense hypnotic drones, before a climax that takes the form of a free improv freakout, an electric tangle of guitar, sax, percussion... As quick as that erupts, it subsides, and track two, "Portrait Of Turab (Part I)" starts in with sustained bell tones, shimmering in the cauldron-blackness. Later still, the textural drones of "Sol de Paula" evoke all the awe of the 2001: A Space Odyssey monolith! And elsewhere watery textures and strange pipe-fighting percussion take center stage.
This unit's previous release, a double disc, was one of Julian Cope's Records Of The Month some time ago (btw, whatever happened to his Record Of The Month? the Head Heritage site hasn't been updated with one since the summer). If there's enough interest in this (which there should be!), perhaps we can import some of those, too.
The usual Utech packaging, nicely designed, slim sleeve, oversized. Lots of black.
Wow, 2010 really turned out to be an amazing year for electronic music. And not just one style or passing trend. We loved the resurgence of truly creative artists making such varied and dynamic sounds in the world of electronica, reminding us of those special times in the mid '90s when we really fell for this music so strongly to begin with.
From Demdike Stare and Pantha Du Prince to Luke Abbott and Actress, there has been so much awesome and varied and super unique sounds to get lost in during this year.
And now comes yet another major contender for electronic record of the year courtesy of Norway's Bjorn Torske. For all the attention his Norwegian peers like Prins Thomas and Lindstrom have received, we really hope this amazing album starts getting him the wide praise he so rightfully deserves. On Kokning, Torske demonstrates an amazing ability to create graceful and elegant sounds while also still allowing those sounds to be playful and exploratory. The album really does flow so perfectly from beginning to end, exploring many different sounds and soundscapes in the process. Like the electronica we will always love most, Torske is not just a one note artist, he can create the most tender and beautiful of songs while also traveling though left-field dancemusic brimming with African drum rhythms and ecstatic cosmic revelations. We're deeply addicted to this record right now and we've got a strong feeling you will be too!
By now, most AQ customers are probably well familiar with Mr. Scott Tuma, who we of course first discovered playing guitar for legendary stoner slow-mo-country geniuses Souled American, in some ways, his underwater woozy guitar haze helped define that group's sound, and after striking out on his own, that sound became more and more distinctive, and we of course became more and more obsessed with Tuma's incredible abstract Appalachian soundscapes, equal part ambient drone music and haunting minimal guitar music.
Dandelion might just be Tuma's darkest and most abstract outing to date, after several brief tracks of music box ambience, delicate chimes, hazy melodies, wheezing smoldering rumbles, disembodied shimmer and rickety barely there rhythms, the record unfolds into it's first longform piece, an absolutely gorgeous driftscape, clouds of hiss and blur swirl softly and in slow motion, before a skeletal banjo, picks out a mournful melody, one note at a time, letting each note drift into the ether, before sending the next to follow. Around this haunting bit of abstract drift all manner of field recordings, sirens in the distance, chirping birds, whipping winds, tinkling chimes, rustling branches, a riveting stretch of folkdrone ambience for sure.
A brief bit of tangled glistening guitar melody leads into the second epic, this one ominous and foreboding, slivers of guitar buzz and shards of feedback draped over a softly swirling morass of muted buzz and smeared psychedelic swirls, clouds of cymbal shimmer hover in the background, as do tinkling chimes and flurries of abstract percussion, before fading out into a hushed bit of skeletal Appalachia.
The flipside is three loooooong tracks, the first taking up almost half of the side, beginning with dense swells of low end, a blackened dronescape that almost sounds Wolf Eyes worthy, abject and bleak, grim rumbles beneath ashen layers of whir and hiss, those sounds seem to gradually coalesce into melodies, and what sounds like strings, the mood shifting dramatically, more cinematic, and epic, still haunting and dour, but infused with a warm glow, laced with still more random free drum skitter and glimmering cymbal shimmer, the gradually evolving sound stately, and elegiac, darkly and mysteriously lovely.
The record finishes off with two more tracks, more like the older Tuma recordings, less dark, with that woozy Souled American vibe, delicate crystalline guitars set over reverbed landscapes of amorphous sway and drift, the two tracks forming the perfect sun dappled cloud covered coda to a fantastic, and fantastically enigmatic songsuite, from one of our favorite sonic alchemists...
Sadly it's R.I.P. for Brooklyn-based artpunk combo USAisamonster, this is indeed their final recording (though we're pretty sure that despite disbanding, they still think the USA remains a monster). As their many previous offerings displayed, these folks are part prog rock, part druggy jamboree, part campfire singalong, and thus pretty unique, and quite delightful. With both singsongy mathrock spazz pop and synth-driven psych-outs, along with references to Native American folklore, this record fits firmly in the grand USAisamonster tradition, and makes for a fitting epitaph to their confusional career. The distorted screaming attack of "Four More Years" stands in contrast to the much more melodic vocal approach found on most of the tracks, vocals which are sometimes chanted in a way that makes us think of The Shaggs just a bit - though unlike The Shaggs, this unit of course has got hella technical chops (just check out the jazz fusion-y guitar soloing of "Heavner"!). With odd timings, plenty of melody, quirky surprises, and their own original, undefinable X-factor, it's difficult to make comparisons to other bands, but if you like, we dunno, say Deerhoof, Lightning Bolt, The Ex, 31knots, Talibam! (a member of which guests here) and, uh, Thingy, you should check these guys out if you haven't already. USAisamonster's legacy is to leave the world of music a little richer... and possibly more bewildered. They will be missed. Don't miss this.
Last list we had the Great Googly Moo, a delightful compilation of nonsense novelty tunes from the early rock era, from the mid '50s thru the mid '60s. We mentioned it was the sequel to another comp, this one, Great Googa Mooga, released in 2003. Same idea, songs with wacky verbiage. Like it says on the cover: "These Words Don't Make No Sense!". And what words they are, here's a sampling from some of the song titles, all run together: ookey ook bip bop bip um bow bow bim bam ting ting boom scat voo-it voo-it du-bi-a-do oochie pachie mamo mamo boom pacha boom ooh poo pah doo yacka hoom boom ay la bah mama oom mow mow bama lama bama loo oo-ma-liddi loo-key doo-key!!! Plus of course you get, not only "Great Googa Mooga" (by Tom & Jerrio, 1965), but also "Good Googa Mooga" (by The Magic Tones, 1953). Little Richard appears here, also LaVern Baker, The Rivingtons, Little Anthony & The Imperials, Richard Berry, and plenty others, more obscure, that we hadn't really heard of before (except on the other comp, maybe). The Bobbettes, Billy Byrd & His Penguins, The Chips, Dolly Cooper, King Coleman... There's 27 tracks in total. Some more RnB, some more doo wop, some more surf. Great stuff, just like its sequel, loads of fun. Makes you wonder if these early rock n' rollers were inspired by the church meetings of snake handling holy rollers, the whole speaking-in-tongues thing, 'cause the vocals/lyrics here are positively glossolaliac! There's obviously some connection.
Comes complete with a thick cd booklet of detailed liner notes. Now we want more, hoping a third volume is in the works!
Wow, what an amazing artifact! Smithsonian Folkways have just reissued this 1959 release of urban folk song recordings made by six 11 and 12 year-old youths from the Harlem projects. With only bongos and bottles to beat out percussive rhythms, the kids make rhyming songs, chants, and stories that relate to their experiences of rough street life and how they cope with them. An argument can be made that these recordings are the nascent beginnings of what would later become rap, but the song's basic forms sound much more rooted in early blues, call and response rhymes, and tribal African rhythms, in that they still have the feeling of being tied to an older tradition of folk music. That they are being made by kids with such exuberance and charm in the face of real hardship make these recordings truly special.
So we've actually already had quite a few amazing compilations of '60s and '70s popular music from Thailand, including a whole bunch of discs from the infallible Sublime Frequencies label (Thai Pop Spectacular, Siamese Soul, Molam: Thai Country Groove, Shadow Music Of Thailand, etc., etc.), and also the Subliminal Sounds label's Thai Beat A-Go-Go series, but we were still super excited when we heard about the upcoming release of this new comp of vintage Thai tunes, 'cause it's been put together by Soundway, the UK-based label that also seemingly can do no wrong when it comes to international crate diggin'. Soundway is responsible for all those Nigeria Special comps, and the Ghana Soundz ones too, among other fine collections and reissues, most focused on music from Africa or Latin America. This is their first venture into Southeast Asia, as far as we know, and boy did they do the job well! A more lively, colorful comp could hardly be imagined. The compilers, who have spent hours and days on the ground in Thailand searching out vintage vinyl, know their stuff (their DJ night, "Bangkok Paradise", must be a blast).
Nineteen tracks, 66 minutes of music, ranging from yearning love songs to super groovy funk, all of it quite undeniably 'exotic' to our ears, so that even with Western psych and pop influences, incorporating surprise rock riffs, synths, and brass sections, it's most definitely music from Thailand, utilizing Thai folk traditions, sung in the Thai language, though some of it also reminds us of Bollywood stuff (which makes sense), or possibly the Ethiopiques series as well (a less likely connection there). We recognize a few of the artists' names from those other abovementioned comps, though they seem aware of what's been comped already and we're assured that most of the tracks here have never been released outside of Thailand before.
The subtitle doesn't say "leftfield" for nothing, this probably isn't the most typical mainstream Thai pop from the period, more like the hippest and freakiest, though often from quite popular artists, many revered to this day. Soundway treat us to some wonderfully eccentric picks, gems like Waipod Phetsuphan's "Ding Ding Dong", a song inspired by a dumb 1971 Italian sex comedy about prehistoric cavemen (and cavewomen) that was inexplicably a hit film in Thailand. And the spaced out lounge-jazz of The Viking Combo band's "Pleng Yuk Owakard" must be mentioned. Mindblowing. Walking bass, spooked out electric organ, maniacal vocals, loud shuddery chords, sudden percussion, woah it's a weird one, almost disturbing. Whichever DJ/collector first dug that one up must have been stoked. So much good stuff here, our point is, the treasures of vintage Thai pop are plentiful enough to require this comp, those that came before, and hopefully many more to come. You gotta be thankful when you think about it, without the efforts of labels like Sublime Frequencies, and Soundway, etc., we'd be missing out on so much incredible music that we now listen to on a daily basis, whether it be from Thailand or Nigeria or wherever.
This comes in a digipack with a thick 24 page booklet that boasts plenty of full-color graphics (lots of vintage record sleeves and labels, plus pics of some of the artists, and a couple shots of the interior of a vinyl shop in Bangkok) and extensive liner notes. There's a lengthy essay discussing the development of, and distinctions between, such popular musical forms as luk thung, luk krung, and molam, with the impact of Western sounds such as surf rock and Santana also being discussed. Then each track gets its own detailed explanatory note as well, often giving some insight into the sometimes peculiar lyrical content the songs. (Also one mentions that Ethiopian groove-master Mulatu Astatke once spent time in Thailand, and has been quoted as having found some of the sounds of Thai music quite similar to those of his own country, so it's not just us.) Super thorough and informative, much as we expect from Soundway. Yay!
We were pretty bummed out when psychedelic metallic space rock new wave weirdos Lansing-Dreiden decided to call it quits, all of their records were twisted and genius and were huge faves around aQ land, but we were psyched that at least some of those L-D's recently resurfaced in a new group called Violens, whose sound is way less obtuse and challenging, and way more poppy.
The new wave element is still in full effect, with a sort of eighties UK indie rock vibe, lots of jangle guitar, thick rubbery basslines, lush vocals, lots of harmonies, and while it may not seem weird on the surface, there are lots of sonic subtleties that keep Violens from being a straight pop band, moaning bleating horns, squalls of crunchy psychedelic guitar, wild tribal drumming, streaks of electronic buzz and that's just on the first song.
The vibe is definitely new romantic, with shades of the Smiths, Style Council, Simple Minds, OMD, even Duran Duran here and there, and barring the tripped out production, and weirdo elements, this really could be some eighties artifact dug up and reissued. That said, the songs here are pretty great, the opening track "The Dawn Of Your Happiness Is Rising" is the opening track for a reason, the retro pop hit of the season, and the one flecked with the most weirdness, without losing sight of the pop prize. "Trance-Like Turn" is another good one, a more broody washed out ballad, sounding more like Talk Talk, with lots of rumbling ambience, and swirling guitar shimmer and murky jangle. The record is just so full of eighties signifiers, sax solos here and there, deep new wave reverby crooned vocals, big lush production, but the way those elements are melded to the modern weirdness is what makes this work, whether it's the thick undulating low end buzz and fuzzy distortion that flows throughout "Another Strike Restrained" (which in every other way is pure eighties pop) or the Animal Collective flourishes that color "Acid Reign", or the distorted backwards guitar psych-out that closes "Are You Still In The Illusion?", it all manages to sound just right, the weirdness doesn't sound tacked on for weirdo alt cred, and the pop doesn't sound forced, it's lush and hooky and emotional and sincere, and those two disparate elements of the band somehow manage to balance, creating a pretty fantastic slab of modern retro pop, that we're digging BIG TIME.
Maybe best known for counting actress Shannon Sossamon as a member, Warpaint managed to downplay any sort of celebrity hype and create a brooding doomic chunk of gloomy murky indie rock loveliness. Equal parts shimmery shoegaze, mumbly slowcore, and soft focus noiserock, the band slip easily from hushed whispery jangle to full on psychedelic freakout to classic fuzzy sixties pop. These six songs are super varied, but do manage to sound perfect together. "Stars" is all Mazzy Star meets Blonde Redhead, glimmering, moody and minor key, the vocal harmonies so lush and angelic, the music perfectly warm and lugubrious. "Elephants" features weirdly processed vocals, over heavy drumming, chiming guitars, lots of reverb and delay, and gets all Sonic Youthy part way through.
"Billie Holiday" might be the best track on the record, so warm and druggy and dreamy, with sixties girl group vox, muted guitars, droning synth/strings, and a killer main hook. Although "Krimson" might be a contender too, with it's looped sounding main melody, throbbing bass, and super emotive vocals, the sound is very early nineties indie rock, but manages to sound all modern at the same time, and so so good. A super fantastic ep for sure. Surprised Warpaint aren't way more popular than they are. Could be because this was originally self released in a super limited run, and is only now getting reissued, so odds are, a record this cool won't stay a secret for long....
The colorful magazine covering all the rad sides of soul, funk, jazz, hip-hop and beyond is back with another classy issue. This time out War and Syl Johnson each get one of the covers. Inside tons of awesome stuff including features on The Budos Band, DJ Muggs, Melvin Davis, Claus Ogerman, Johnny Colon, and Al Kooper. As well as awesome articles on the minimoog, photographer Lyle Owerko's obsession with boomboxes, and our always favorite "re: discovery" section where the best rare groove albums get the page & attention they so totally deserve. As always another smoking issue of Wax Poetics!
Finally! The full length debut from these SF jangle noisepoppers, and it's as good as their two song Mexican Summer 10" had us hoping it would be.
Fuzzy, jangly, shoegazey, reverby, a little new wavey, a little droney, super catchy and buzzy and dreamy, pretty much everything we want a new pop record to be.
The first song "Coma Summer" is a dizzying collision of sounds and styles, that displays everything we love about these guys. Jangly Unrest style guitars chime beneath distant crooned oooooh's, eventually buzzy crunchy guitar rock wraps itself around the original guitar, the bassline buzzy and Joy Division-y, the sound repetitive and trancey, then still MORE guitars come in, some seriously MBV worthy buzzsaw blur, over which vocals keen in the distance, then the vocals proper come in, all deep and dramatic and new wavey, accompanied by woozy washed out warped sounding melodies that seem to melt before our ears, and so it goes, shifting from loping brooding jangle to soaring bleary psychedelic bliss to fuzzy minimal new wave pound, and it's not just that it sounds amazing, but that the amazing sounds have been crafted into a killer song, hooky and hazy and damn near perfect.
The second song is more of the same, we heard "Youth Haunts" on that Mexican Summer 10" which we then described as something akin to "a Woodsist band doing covers of Nowhere era Ride, or a less monochromatic Crystal Stilts letting loose on Unrest covers, or The Chills crossed with early My Bloody Valentine" and that pretty much still totally applies, and not just to this track, but to the whole record. Lush yet lo-fi, broody and propulsive, but also noisy and blown out, sunshiney and poppy here and there, but just often, dark and melancholy, easily one of our new favorite records, from one of our new favorite local outfits.
We really want to hate Kanye. He seems kind of like a dick. Anyone who spends that much time shooting his mouth off, most definitely deserves to at least be ignored, if not openly ridiculed. But you know what, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy gets him a pass. Big time. Sure he's probably nuts, and most definitely a prima donna, but he's also apparently a twisted visionary, cuz this record is so far removed from hip hop as you know it, it's hard to believe this is mainstream shit, that this is probably the most popular record in the world, or at least one of em. Some seriously NEXT level shit. This stuff is fucking WILD, and sprawling, and over the top, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy indeed. Assuming Kanye's fantasy was to create some sort of progressive rock opera hip hop epic, which is pretty much precisely what he's done.
None of that tired rapping over loop and beats, this is so much more. Beginning with "Dark Fantasy", which opens up with a lush vocal/piano refrain, majestic and dramatic, sounding like some Antony / E.L.O. collaboration, before the beats kick in, and then over the course of the track, strings soar, soulful vocals are crooned, which leads into the fuzzed out psychedelic groover "Gorgeous", with it's buzzy psych guitar leads, and yeah, we said GUITARS, more awesome vocals wound around those guitars too, and sure there's rapping, but the vibe is more psych pop than hip hop. Then there's "Power", odds are you've probably heard it by now, it's pretty much a game changer, driven by chanted female vocals and handclaps, not to mention some fat fuzzy bass, loping rock drums, and bursts of crunchy guitar, super processed distorted vocals, and of course, a perfectly placed sample of King Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man". One of those rare tracks that doesn't have a single misstep. Dark and intense, funky and groovy, but also rocking and intense and emotional.
The rest of the record continues in a similarly obtuse and surprisingly prog rock fashion, the songs convoluted and sprawling, the rhymes fucked up and funny and super clever. The other standout (on a record full of them) is probably "Monster", a stuttery bit of twisted dark pop, with tons of guests, most notably, Nicki Minaj, whose verse pretty much puts ALL others to shame, even Jay-Z, whose verse is particularly bad ass, but Minaj is a twisted weirdo, slipping in and out of characters, flitting from accent to accent, growling, yelping, crooning girlishly, talking endless amounts of hilarious shit, the track finishes off with still more moody crooning, reminding us that this is so much more than a run of the mill verse for verse trade off
And so it goes, soulful, funky, proggy, dark and dreamy, heavy and crunchy, strings, guitars, beats, and of course Kanye's twisted unorthodox flow (best line: "I got two White Russians, but we also need some drinks"), a dizzying masterpiece of truly bizarre and epic prog hop.
The Not Not Fun label's Bored Fortress subscription split 7" series has been going on for a few years now, and is always killer, featuring a who's who of hip underground weirdo rock combos, not to mention some seriously fantastic packaging, and for whatever reason, this year, a handful of the previously subscription only singles have been made available to non subscribers, but not for long, as these babies are crazy limited.
We've yet to review anything by Peaking Lights, but this chunk of murky bass heavy jangle dronepop has us definitely hankering for more. Big thing low end throb, beneath distorted drums, weary woozy vox, and some glimmering jangly guitar melodies, the song constantly drifting into full on psychedelic dub territory, everything wreathed in reverb and echo and delay, totally spaced out and druggy and divine. More more more!
Wet Hair, formerly known as Raccoo-oo-oon, deliver some spacey, minimal almost kraut sounding hypnorock. Beginning all super hushed and skittery, before building to a gorgeously motorik jam, rife with whirling organ melodies, and super dramatic over the top vocals, all very proggy and psychedelic and way way druggy. Seriously good stuff, sounding almost like a way more tripped out lo-fi Circle, which is most definitely not a bad thing.
Also, we have another Bored Fortress title, besides the ones we're listing now, the Infinite Body / No Age split 7", VERY few copies of that one, not enough to list, just ask if you want one and IF we still have some left, it could be yours!
Still another lost warehouse stash discovered, found a handful of the third volume in the ongoing Magical Crystal Blah recycled music series by noise freak John Wiese (Bastard Noise, occasionally SUNNO)))), wherein Wiese remixes the REmixes from volume 2, done by KK Null, Panicsville, Zbignew Karkowski, Gerritt, Joe Colley, Damien Romero, Mike Shiflet and others, -those- remixes being versions of original music from Magical Crystal Blah volume ONE. Phew, this is the third time around for these sounds, and as far as we can tell, they do actually keep getting better, all crushed and compacted this time around into 37 tracks in just 17 minutes.
We're not huge fans of noise, and our love for Bastard Noise really blossomed when they began to infuse their Merzbowian din with more texture and melody and dynamics, and now, BN are a force to be reckoned with, and the sounds here demonstrate just why. We're way too far removed to have any idea what the originals sounded like, or the remixes, and frankly who cares, these miniature bursts of noise play out like a proper record, some moments are indeed caustic and brutal, but those moments are seamlessly woven into the whole aligned with long stretches of stereo panned shimmer, of mysterious industrial whir, of crunchy rhythmic lumber, of bleeps and bloops and rumbles and grinds, many of these songs are less than 10 seconds, so it really does seem to be conceived as a whole, and as a whole, it's pretty fantastic. Definitely recommended for folks into creative and far out noisemusic, but it's also the sort of noise that just might appeal to the normally noise averse. Just sayin'...
Only have 5 or 6 copies of this, and pretty sure once these are gone, they are GONE.
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Hot on the heels of their great debut full length that we've been playing to death, comes this new ep brimming with songs that are adding fuel to our Wild Nothing addiction fire. The title of the ep, Golden Haze, accurately sums up the sound here as well as the mood and vibe we find ourselves drifting off into when listening to these perfect '80s inspired dream-pop gems, that manage to keep a sharp focus while still allowing for plenty of shoegazing drift. They tap into so many of our favorite bands like Ride, Slowdive, and Swervedriver and just the right amount of sounds borrowed from groups like The Cure and New Order. And while so many other bands may share very similar influences, we've been taken with how Wild Nothing have been able to bring those influences together and create songs that already have a distinctive imprint and don't just come off as a lesson in nostalgia. Their songs make us want to be a passenger in a car with the windows down, wind rushing by with our destination unknown. So great!
We didn't really know too much about Women (insert joke here!), we missed their self-titled debut completely, but this new one is really fantastic, a hazy, reverby dark pop record, but unlike the legion of lo-fi homebrewed retro rockers, this is a gorgeously lush, expansive and seriously experimental record. The blurred, snowswept front cover is what caught our eye, and the music inside is the perfect soundtrack, channeling the sort of gauzy washed out blurriness we love so much (a la Jeck, Hecker, etc.), but winds it all up with a more classic sounding dour pop.
The record opener is the perfect example, a lush, layered swirl of sound, a muted high end skree, wrapped around a minimal almost Joy Division-y bassline, the vocals laid back and wreathed in delay, those weird textural high end parts adding a strange bit of melody, the song drones and drifts, the sounds growing more and more effulgent, the buzzes thicker, the hazy atmospheres pulsing and undulating, it's hard to describe, almost like an Interpol demo, covered by some eighties industrial band, played back at the wrong speed during a performance by Philip Jeck. That sounds pretty goddamn great, and it is.
The whole record is not nearly as murky and abstract, the band mix in some more traditional pop, angular guitar jangle, propulsive drumming, squiggly atonal melodies, low slung bass, a sort of broody new wave one second, jangly Byrds-y strum the next, but always just a little twisted and obscured, whether it's bits of distortion, or thick swaths of crumbling distorted ambience, the sound as varied as it is, manages to flow so organically, the whole thing so hypnotic and inviting.
The title track is total slocore dream pop, Galaxie 500 by way of Beach House, while "Bells" is not actually bells, but instead, a lush, thick, softly distorted gorgeously layered dronescape. "China Steps" is a loping bit of drone drenched post punk, but infused with plenty of warm whirring luster, the song flitting from looped dirgey mesmer to clanging crashing crunch, "Untogether" is a woozy bit of hazy soft psychpop drift, but laced with streaks of buzzing hiss, the whole rest of the record unfurls as a collection of lazy sun dappled dreampop, like Pavement meets Interpol meets Best Coast, but the residual buzz and blur of that opening track, clinging subtly to the otherwise hooky jangle.
Definitely a new favorite.
Latest issue of the mighty Yeti, a collection of the coolest, weirdest, most fascinating music, art, culture, comics, fiction and photography. A fantastically varied barrage of words, sights, sounds, all lovingly curated, and presented in magazine form. This time around, heavy focus on art and photos and comics. Inside number 10 you'll find fiction by Stacey Levine, Miami's Jacuzzi Boys, photographs by Gracie Remington, an interview with NZ indie rock legend Robin Scott (of the Clean and the Bats among others), drawings by Saul Chernick, photographs of Memphis (and lots of Elvis's) by Ted Barron, an interview with write Amelia Gray, drawings by Cassie Ramone, collages by aQ fave Ilyas Ahmed, Disco Inferno (the band), Russian Artist Pavel Tchelitchew, and tons more, lots more pix and drawings and other fantastic weirdness.
As always the ads are in their own section near the back, to peruse at your leisure, and of course, Yeti also includes a cd, chock full of rare and exclusive tracks from tons of bands we love, or should love, or could love, and apparently this will be the last Yeti cd comp, as the mag will be switching formats, to a different zine size, with an accompanying 7" single, like the pre-Yeti mag Chemical Imbalance. So dig this one while you can, featuring jams from Noveller, The Gories, Starving Weirdos, The Clean, The Bats, Robert Scott, Jacuzzi Boys, The Weeds, Electric Blood, O Paon, Alkiobor Gignor, Jousting Vandals, Joan + Anthony, Heavenly Dreamers, Abba Ag Gargando, The Golden Hours, The Babies, Cheikh Ag Mohammed, Daniel Kroha, Derek Monypeny, Orca Team, V>L>A>D>R>M aka Viva L'American Death Ray Music and more... ----* ----* Selected New Arrivals : ----*
