Los Angeles' synth-pop duo Soft Metals owe a considerable amount of their sound to Chris & Cosey, and they've never been shy of wearing this influence on their sleeves. After all, they actually produced a rather impressive cover of the TG's alienating disco number "Hot On The Heels Of Love" not too long ago. Soft Metals' Patricia Hall has a ghostly vocal delivery that recalls the sensually cool detachment that Cosey has imparted since the late '70s, and Hall & her cohort Ian Hicks revel in the minimal wave ethos of electronic arrangements and step sequencing circa 1984, with absolutely no interest in tapping the digitally driven productions from the mid-'90s onward. The simplicity and reductionism of their technologies and their musical structures can work in their favor, but of course they do have the advantage of hindsight in gazing back at what was truly successful from the golden era of minimal wave. Where the previous recordings from Soft Metals would situate a slinky proto-techno track next to something deliberately disjointed, Lenses operates wholly in the sleek surfaces of glistening electronic percolations layered throughout the acid-trax squelchiness and clockwork ticking drum programming.
We took preorders for this (and the deluxe box set version too) a few weeks back, but now we have it in stock, we got a few extras of the regular edition so folks who maybe missed out on the preorder now have a chance to grab one of these!
A long in the works new release from one of our favorite labels, Brazil's Essence Music, who in the past have brought us amazing records from Boris, Circle Acid Mothers Temple, Aidan Baker, Henrik Nordvargr Bjorkk, Atomine Elektrine, Merzbow, Drakh, Rapoon, Wolfskin and more. This latest comes from Tokyo psychedelic drifters and longtime aQ faves Suishou No Fune, who are teamed up here with local psyche rockers Numinous Eye, aka Mason Jones (Subarachnoid Space) and Mike Shoun (The Oh Sees), whose recent Clockwork Moon lp we raved about recently on the aQ list.
And this is not a split, no this is both bands together, we imagine in some dark dimly lit space, in the middle of the night, no words exchanged, just a gradual opening up, everyone slowly losing themselves in a sonic trance, and letting the music carry them off, cuz that's what this sounds like, woozy and washed out, laid back and lysergic, the rhythm section simple and shuffling, motorik and darkly propulsive, while the multiple guitars weave tangled melodies, and smear strange shadowy streaks of ambience and atmosphere. Chordal swells pulse of deep rumbles, wound around the unwavering rhythm, while above, the sky is filled with prismatic streaks, aching, lilting melodies, soaring, drifting, ethereal and ghostlike one minute fierce and fiery the next. There are vocals too, wordless croons, that slip into strange falsettos and then back again, a sort of monklike chanting, that becomes almost operatic, there's harmonica too! On the more abstract nearly 30 minute second track, the drums skitter loosely beneath streaks of melodies and shards of disembodied guitar skree, little bits of twang, and distant reverby textures, while the harmonica wheezes and whispers, that track occasionally coalescing into a sort of almost-krautrock, but more often than not, simply dissipating into loose clouds of drifting sound, free form psychedelic exploration, lush and textured, but super open and abstract, the various guitars holding things together with their aching melodic explorations.
"The Rainbow Dissolving In The Ocean" channels a little Haino, in the wailed vocals, over moaning, keening guitar buzz, peppered with flurries of drum skitter and cymbal shimmer, all blurred and smeared into heaving dreamlike billows, eventually building to a wild multi-guitar, psych-noise tangle, swirls of echo and reverb, thick thrumming bass, and swirling percussive shimmers, all wrapped in a prickly field of distorted guitar swirl. And finally, closer "Space Cruising", locks things down rhythmically, the drums and bass, laying down a languorous, sinewy slither, wreathed in shimmery guitar strum, and again, surrounded by constantly shifting streaks of psychedelia, twangs, rumbles, whirs, melodic squiggles, slow smoldering chord progressions, eventually the whole thing builds again to one final blowout, aching vocals, blown out guitars, wild drum pound, the sound noisy and heavy, but still strangely lilting and lovely, definitely channeling the spirit of Les Rallizes Denudes, as does much of the record!
The second full length from these fuzzy popsters. A few years back they were being touted as the next big thing, and we were totally on board, their debut Astro Coast was a BIG favorite around here, and the song "Floating Vibes" from that record was reason enough alone to love it, one of THEE greatest pop songs in recent memory, one that ended up on almost every pop mix made since. And we gobbled up the Tarot Classics inbetweener ep, hungry for more Surfer Blood, and before we got to listen to this new one, we read tons of terrible reviews, slagging it for all manner of different reasons, so we were prepared to be disappointed, but in fact, it's so far from disappointing, in fact, we've been digging it like crazy. It IS a whole different best though. That first record was so meticulously crafted, a dizzyingly perfect blend of Pavement and the Pixies and the Beach Boys and XTC, the production seamless and so polished, and as much a part of the sound as the songs themselves, and it worked for sure, but this new one finds Surfer Blood sounding much more like a proper band. And it sounds like they're having fun, and like these songs might sound EXACTLY the same live as they do on the record, which we have to admit, we imagined might not be so true of record number one.
The vocals are the first change you notice, we're not sure if it's still the same vocalist, but this time around he sounds just like the guy from the Smoking Popes (who in turn sounds like Morrissey, and if you've never heard the Smoking Popes, trust us when we tell you that a pop punk band with killer songs and a vocalist who sounds like Morrissey is tough to beat!). The music too, is much more simple, and more classically indie rock, fuzzy distorted guitars, plenty of jangle, simple bouncy drumming, killer hooks, really nice organs and synths to fill the sound out, less weird than that first one, but for what it lacks in weirdness, it more than makes up for with some killer songs, that have been stuck in our head like crazy, some sound like they're made for the trailer of some romantic comedy, others like they're the deep cut you put on a mixtape for that elusive crush, others are peppered with rad shrieked screamo-y vocals, some are shuffly and strummy and almost folky, and others get seriously noisy and psychedelic. This week's list is loaded to the brim with new favorites for sure, and you can add this one to the list.
The cover story in this new issue of the UK's Terrorizer magazine delves into the future of black metal, with a symposium of sorts on the subject featuring speculation from members of Gaahl, Ihsahn, Dani Filth, and Tchort (and if you don't know who they are, you probably don't CARE about the future, or past for that matter, of black metal anyway).
Also: Autopsy, Aborym, Jex Thoth, White Wizzard, Skinny Puppy, Orphaned Land, Deicide, Necropsy, and plenty more. Including the usual news, reviews, ads for awesome European metal festivals you probably won't get to go to, and the free sampler cd stuck to the cover! Plus, in the 'Mix Tape Mayhem' feature, Kreator's Mille Petrozza picks a song by Lana Del Rey. ----* ----* In Stock, Not Yet Reviewed : ----* If you want to order one of these, just search for the item, then click on the buy button and it will be added to your cart! AGE OF TAURUS "Desperate Souls Of Tortured Times" (Rise Above / Metal Blade) cd 14.98 ALTO! "s/t" (Raheem) lp 14.98 ANGST SKVADRON "Flukt" (Obscure Abhorrent) lp 21.00 ANGST SKVADRON "Sweet Poison" (Obscure Abhorrent) lp 21.00 ASH BORER "Bloodlands" (Gilead Media) lp 16.98 ASTROMASON + BLUE SABBATH BLACK CHEER "Endless Black" (self-released) cassette 5.98 BATAGOV, ANTON & YUNGCHEN LHAMO "Tayatha" (Cantaloupe Music) cd 17.98 BATILLUS / WHITEHORSE "Split" (Vendetta) lp 16.98 BAXTER, LES "Hell's Belles OST" (La-La Land) cd 8.98 BEGGARS "s/t" (Lotus House) 2cd 13.98 BIRTH CONTROL "Operation" (Repertoire) cd 14.98 BIRTHDAY PARTY, THE "Live 81-82" (4AD) 2lp 22.00 BLACK DICE "Beaches & Canyons" (DFA) 2lp 23.00 BOYCE, R.L. "Ain't The Man's Alright" (Sutro Park) lp 14.98 BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS, THE / TEENAGE MONSTER (WALTER GREENE) "OST" (Monstrous Movie Music) cd 27.00 BRAN (...) POS "Den Of Ordure And Iridescence" (Rescipiscent) lp 15.98 BUG, THE "Filthy EP" (Ninja Tune) 2 x 10" 22.00 CARGO "s/t" (Pseudonym Records) 2cd 31.00 CLOSED ROOM "s/t" (Valse Sinistre Productions) cd 12.98 CLOUDS & CANYONS "A Challange To The Dark" (20 Sided) lp 9.99 COFFINS "Sewage Sludgecore Treatment" (Haunted Hotel) lp 14.98 COFFINS "The Fleshland" (Relapse) 2lp 27.00 COH "Retro 2038" (Editions Mego) cd 16.98 COLD STEEL "20 Years Of NY Thrash: The Demo Anthology" (Stormspell) cd 11.98 CRYSTAL SHIPSSS "Yay" (Three Ring / Raw Onion) 10" 12.98 DEAFHEAVEN "DFHVN (aka Demo)" (Sargent House) lp 16.98 DEATHCHARGE "Bad Dream Forever" (Unseen Forces) lp 14.98 DEN SAAKALDTE "Ol, Morke Og Depresjon" (Aesthetic Death) 2lp 21.00 DEVIL'S BLOOD, THE "III: Tabula Rasa Or Death And The Seven Pillars" (Metal Blade) cd/2lp 14.98/35.00 DIABOLIKAL SUPER-KRIMINAL, THE "ost" (Cinedelic) cd 15.98 DIE ANDEREN / APOCALYPSE "Kannibal Komix" (Long Hair) cd 19.98 DOVES, THE "The Lord Is My Shepherd" (Tembo) cd/lp 17.98/24.00 DRIVE (CLIFF MARTINEZ) "OST" (Lakeshore) cd 17.98 ECLIPSE BAND, THE "Inner Reggae Rhythm" (Onlyroots / Sydney Crooks) lp 15.98 ELEKTRO GUZZI "s/t" (Macro) cd 17.98 ELOY, JEAN-CLAUDE "Gaku-No-Michi" (Hors Territory) 4cd 60.00 ELOY, JEAN-CLAUDE "Shanti" (Hors Territory) 2cd 39.00 ENCOFFINATION "Elegant Funeral For The Unknown Dead" (Debemur Morti) lp 17.98 ENCOFFINATION "Ritual Ascension Beyond Flesh" (Self Made God) lp 17.98 EXTINCTION DE LOS INSECTOS "Untitled" (Lupus / Chingaste La Confianza) lp 19.98 FACTRIX / CONTROL UNIT "Elegy For Rusted Souls" (Backwards) lp + 7" 38.00 FLESH EATERS "No Questions Asked" (Mono) lp 17.98 FLOWERS, PHIL AND HIS UNITED FAMILY "Alpha And Omega" (Tuff City / Funky Delicacies) cd/lp 16.98/14.98 GIBSON, DAUGHN "Me Moan" (Sub Pop) cd/lp 14.98/15.98 GUITAR RED "Hard Times" (Funky Delicacies) lp 21.00 HACKAMORE BRICK "One Kiss" (Sony / Real Gone Music) cd 14.98 HIDALGO, JUAN "Tamaran" (Cramps) lp 15.98 HIGUCHI, KEIKO "Ephemeral As Petals" (Utech) cd 14.98 HUNX & HIS PUNX "Street Punk" (Hardly Art) cd/lp 12.98/13.98 HYETAL "Modern Worship" (True Panther) 2lp 23.00 ITO, AKIRA "Japanesque" (Bamboo) cd/lp 17.98/24.00 J. TEAL BAND "Cooks" (Vintage / Rockadrome) cd 13.98 JACUZZI BOYS "Double Vision" (Hardly Art) 7" 5.98 JANDEK "The Song Of Morgan" (Corwood Industries) 9cd 29.00 JERI-JERI "800 Percent Ndagga" (Ndagga) lp 22.00 JONES, GLENN "My Garden State" (Thrill Jockey) lp 19.98 KING GEEDORAH "Take Me To Your Leader" (Big Dada) 2lp 28.00 KING LOSES CROWN "You Can't Escape" (self-released) cd 7.98 KINSKI "Cosy Moments" (Kill Rock Stars) lp 17.98 KOWTON "Shuffle Good" (Boomkat Editions) 12" 17.98 LANEGAN, MARK / KAREN DALTON "Same Old Man" (Light In The Attic) 7" 6.98 LEE, OKKYUNG "Ghil" (Ideologic Organ / Editions Mego) lp 22.00 LEO BUGARILOVES, THE "Feelings" (Karkia Mistika / Ektro) cd 15.98 LESBIAN "Forestelevision" (Translation Loss) cd 14.98 LOS MICROWAVES "Life After Breakfast" (Dark Entries) lp + dvd 17.98 LYCIA "Cold" (Handmade Birds) 2lp 30.00 MAD RIVER "s/t" (Sundazed) lp 24.00 MAN OR ASTRO-MAN? "Defcon 5...4...3...2...1" lp 17.98 MASTER MUSICIANS OF BUKAKKE "Far West" (Important Records) cd/lp 14.98/17.98 MASTER MUSICIANS OF BUKKAKE "Twilight Of The Kali Yuga Tours" (Important) lp 21.00 MOIRA SCAR "Scarred For Life" (Resipiscent) lp 15.98 MOOMAW "Don't You Just Love" (Gazebo Music) lp 9.98 MORBUS CHRON "Sleepers In The Rift" (Pulverized) cd/lp 17.98/21.00 MOTION SICKNESS OF TIME TRAVEL / NOVA SCOTIAN ARMS "Crystal Anniversary" (Aguirre) lp 25.00 MR. ONDIOLINE "Le Siffleur Et Son Chien" (Finders Keepers / Cacophonic) 7" 10.98 MT. HAMMER "Dionysus" (self-released) cd 5.98 NATH FAMILY "Sounds Of The Indian Snake Charmer Volume Two" (Hanson) lp 21.00 NECROBUTCHER "Schizophrenic Noisy Torment" (Nuclear War Now! Productions) lp 17.98 NURSE WITH WOUND & GRAHAM BOWERS "Parade" (Red Wharf) cd 17.98 OCEAN CHIEF "Sten" (I Hate Records) cd 16.98 PALE MIST "Where The Darkness Is Praised" (Sinister Stench / Werewolf / Legion Blotan) cd 14.98 PALM HIGHWAY CHASE "Escape Fom New York" (Spectrum Spools) lp 22.00 PANZERPAPPA "Astromalist" (Rune Grammofon) 17.98 PARISH, JOHN "Screenplay" (Thrill Jockey) 2lp 19.98 PARMEGIANI, BERNARD "De Natura Sonorum" (Recollection GRM / Editions Mego) 2lp 32.00 PARTCH, HARRY "The Bewitched" (Finders Keepers / Cacophonic) lp 24.00 PEOPLE OF THE NORTH "Sub Contra" (Thrill Jockey) lp 17.98 PINK, ARIEL AND JORGE ELBRECHT "Hang On To Life" (Mexican Summer) 7" 9.98 RAINBOW "Rising" (Polydor) cd 5.00 RAINFOREST SPIRITUAL ENLIGHTENMENT "Black Magic Cannot Cross Water" (Blackest Ever Black) lp 23.00 RAMESSES "Misanthropic Alchemy" (Ritual Productions) 2cd 23.00 RAZOR "Armed And Dangerous" (War On Music) lp 17.98 ROGIE, S.E. "The Sounds Of S.E. Rogie Vol. 1" (Mississippi / Domino) lp 14.98 SACRED STEEL "The Bloodshed Summoning" (Cruz Del Sur) cd 17.98 SADISMO "ost" (Kritzerland) cd 8.98 SAI, YOSHIKO "Mikko" (Bamboo) cd 17.98 SALEM'S LAW "Tale Of Goblins' Breed" (Skol) cd 15.98 SALTY DOG "s/t" (Strawberry Rain) cd/lp + 7" 16.98/33.00 SATANIC THREAT "In To Hell" (Hell's Headbangers) cd 10.98 SCHLOSS TEGAL "Oranur III : The Third And Final Report" (Cold Spring) cd 17.98 SCHNITZLER, CONRAD "Conrad & Sohn" (Bureau B) cd 17.98 SCREAMING SAVIOR "Infinity" (Metal Hell) cd 14.98 SHANNON & THE CLAMS "Dreams In The Rat House" (Hardly Art) cd/lp 12.98/14.98 SHARPE, EDWARD & THE MAGNETIC ZEROS "s/t" (Vagrant) cd 14.98 SOKEA PISTE "Valikasi" (Ektro) cd 15.98 SPACE "Magic Fly" (Repertoire) cd 14.98 STEAMBOAT SWITZERLAND / WERTMULLER, MICHAEL "Zeitschrei" (Trost) cd 17.98 STRATOS, DEMETRIO "Metrodora" (Cramps) lp 15.98 STREETS KILL STRANGE ANIMALS "Plan B: Back To The Analog Time" (Modern Sky) cd 12.98 SUDO "Caligula" (Ektro / Harmanov) cd 15.98 SUN ARAW / RALPH WHITE "split" (Monofus) 12" 13.98 SUN RA "Continuation" (Saturn Research) lp 12.98 SURPLUS 1980 "Arterial Ends Here" (Delphine Knormal Musik) 10" + cd 10.98 SVETOVID "Natures Fury" (Brotherhood Of Light / Werewolf Promotion) cassette 5.98 T2 "1971-72" (Acme) lp 25.00 TAIST OF IRON "Resurrection" (Skol) 2cd 16.98 TENGGER CAVALRY "Sunesu Cavalry" (Metal Hell) cd 14.98 THE SOURCE FAMILY: MUSIC FROM THE ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK (Drag City) lp 17.98 TOODY / THE WESTERN FRONT "split" (Mississippi) 10" 14.98 V/A "Bollywood Bloodbath" (Finders Keepers / B-Music) 2lp 28.00 V/A "C'est Chic: French Girl Singers Of The 1960s" (Ace International) lp 25.00 V/A "Frozen In Time: Music To Accompany The Films Of Ingmar Bergman" (Black Horizons) 3 x cassette 19.98 V/A "King Funk" (Ace) cd 16.98 V/A "Psychedelic Pernambuco" (Mr. Bongo) cd 14.98 V/A "Rough Guide To African Disco" (World Music Network) 2cd 14.98 V/A "Summer Of Fuzz Volume 2" (Fuzz City) cassette 8.98 VELA EYES "The Pleasure Sunrise" (self-released) 10" 9.98 VHK "Veled Haraptat Csillagot!" (Full Contact) lp 21.00 VINLAND SPECIAL SERVICES "Cemetary Without Crosses" (Brotherhood Of Light) cassette 5.98 VINLAND SPECIAL SERVICES / COSMIC BREATH "Hanoi Hilton / Five Pointed Snow Mound" (Brotherhood Of Light) cassette 5.98 WAKE, THE "A Light Far Out" (Factory Benelux) lp 41.00 WALLS "Urals" (Ecstatic) 12" 14.98 WATSON, CHRIS "In St. Cuthbert's Time" (Touch) cd 15.98 WHITE POPPY "Drifters Gold" (Constellation Tatsu) cassette 5.98 WILD ONES "Keep It Safe" (Party Damage) cd/lp 9.98/14.98 WOO "Whichever Way You Are Going, You Are Going Wrong" (Emotional Rescue) cd/lp 17.98/26.00 WORK / DEATH "Phone About To Ring" (Type) lp 22.00 XEX "Change" (Dark Entries) lp + dvd 17.98 XX, THE "Fiction" (Young Turks) 7" 6.98
Longtime AQ faves True Widow are one of those bands that people seem to naturally want to assign some new genre tag to. "Doomgaze" is one that gets tossed around, and "Stonegaze" is one that even the band use to describe themselves. But neither one of those really seems right. Terms like that seem to imply that True Widow just shoves adverse sounds together to try and find something new, which so many bands seem to do nowadays. Nor are they all that doomy or stonery when it comes right down to it ("Trollstigen" is the only song here that gets anywhere close to doom, or metal of any kind, but it's definitely to great effect). It's almost over thinking and under thinking the band simultaneously (if that makes sense). Like most great artists, they don't need to fit into a cozy genre - they just need to sound like themselves. And simply put, what True Widow sound like is very slow, very atmospheric, very effective rock music. You certainly wouldn't be miles off drawing comparisons to Codeine or Slowdive, but True Widow seem much less confined by scene constraints than many of the bands they get compared to. Circumambulation is at times quite dissonant (some of the riffs definitely recall Spiderland-era Slint) while at other times can be beautifully melodic. The production on the record is absolutely fantastic. There is space everywhere - giving the songs tons of room to breathe. The drums are perfectly understated. The duel vocals of Dan Phillips and Nicole Estill are gorgeously disaffected and aloof, and compliment each other perfectly (the circular nursery rhyme vocals melody of "Fourth Teeth" is a perfect example of how hypnotic a vocal part can be). The guitars flutter back and forth between a dirty bonfire crackle and a moody, almost country twang. It would be easy to describe True Widow's music as sad, but that's not really accurate. A better word is "moody" or "brooding" - maybe even a little bit sexy. A bit like the hint of a lost echo carried on a Summer breeze. A bit of an over the top descriptor?? Maybe! But don't be surprised if similarly poetic imagery crosses through your mind while you're strolling down an empty city street at 3 am, with only a pair of headphones and Circumambulation for company! Above all it's a perfectly subtle rock record that rewards patience and attention - utterly alluring and completely bewitching.
Listed this on vinyl last time, turns out Death Waltz has also done cd folks a favor and released on on that format as well! (Wish they'd do that for all their soundtracks). Here's what we said about the lp version:
It's hard not to get a bit obsessed with perfectly curated labels, and few do it as well as UK horror soundtrack reissue label Death Waltz - every release stunningly packaged, with super interesting liner notes, amazing new artwork from incredible artists, and the soundtracks themselves, running the gamut from must haves like all the classic Carpenter soundtracks (They Live, Halloween III, Escape From New York), to super obscurities (Living Dead At Manchester Morgue) to modern soundtracks (The Devil's Business, Let The Right One In). We find ourselves anxiously awaiting every new Death Waltz release, whether we've seen the movie or not, heck, whether we've even heard of the movie at all. We have actually heard of Twins Of Evil, from 1971, set in nineteenth century Europe and starring Peter Cushing as a witch/vampire hunter, who is tasked with caring for orphaned twin girls, who may or may not be EVIL! A classic Hammer Horror for sure, produced right when the age restriction for British films was relaxed a bit, which means like many movies of the time, Twins Of Evil is more violent and sexually explicit than many Hammer films. We have yet to see the movie, but the stills look pretty amazing, Cushing as the dapper, troubled witchhunter, a gaggle of scantily clad, nubile vampire witches, what's not to like!
The music itself was recorded by Harry Robinson, who had written songs for the Eurovision song contest, the Children's Film Foundation and even Nick Drake! He had some pop chart hits, but for Twins Of Evil, not his only Hammer horror score incidentally, he looked to the spaghetti westerns for inspiration, and it's easy to hear in Robinson's compositions, with some of the tracks sounding like they could have been plucked from some obscure Morricone score (sans twang and whistling of course), the score is bombastic and dramatic, swirling strings, martial snares, booming timpani's, those strings are sawed ominously and almost violently in places, leading to stretches of the soundtrack that dip into a sound more traditionally sinister, with more obvious horror score moments, ominous drones, tense minor key strings, a good balance for the more orchestral movements. Again, it's hard to say how the score matches up to the visuals, but on their own, it's pretty fantastic.
WTF? The debut album, circa 1995, from this totally WTF? band has just been reissued on vinyl, yay! Looking back, we see that though we're big fans of this, shall we say, unique, Chicago avant-indie rock ensemble, and we've reviewed every other U.S. Maple release, we never actually reviewed this first one. Even though we know we loved it. Well, maybe it just took a while for us to figure out how to put the U.S. Maple "thing" into words. In our reviews of their later albums, we've said things like: "A seeming haphazard mess of gimpy sonic bumps and bruises" or "mathrock made with melted slide-rules", always emphasizing how abstract and confusional their unusually hard to describe compositions are.
This one, though, is their most skronked but still identifiably ROCK effort, and definitely a good starting place for anyone new to the USM experience. Exploding with spiralling shards of guitar and breathy bursts of weirdass vocals, Long Hair In Three Stages is a delightfully counter-intuitive take on heavy mathy noise rockin', like if Captain Beefheart were on AmRep or something. Though as always that really doesn't describe it - and that's a testament to what a great band these guys were, they're their own dang thing for sure. Highly, highly recommended!!!
FYI, Skin Graft also reissued this in two different, deluxe METAL cover editions, but both were a wee bit too expensive for us to just stock, like seventy bux retail. Might still be able to get you one though if you want us to check, though, just ask.
Kilo finds our man Mika Vainio returning to the rhythm and noise once again, and very few people have ever done that combination as successfully as this Finnish electronic artist. Vainio's career, as you probably know, began in the early '90s through the project Panasonic (which later had to be rechristened as Pan Sonic for obvious reasons), with slippery grids of pure-tone bleeps and clinical atmospheres haunted a swaggering techno that aligned in equal parts with Plastikman, Suicide, and Throbbing Gristle. The monumental 4cd set Kesto by Pan Sonic from 2004 marked one of the most exhaustive statements of experimental electronica EVER produced; and the resulting world tour led to the collapse of the Pan Sonic. Vainio remained steadfast in his solo productions since the demise of Pan Sonic, alternating his major albums between the rhythmic workouts and sleepless landscapes of drone-splattered electro-acoustics. Even on an off day, Vainio's rhythmic explorations are at the top of the heap... And on Kilo, Mika Vainio is in top form. His post-techno, breakbeat rhythms have always enjoyed a bad-ass swagger, and those grooves persist on Kilo through an industrial barrage of jackhammered sequencing, Martin Rev-esque pulsations, and cyclotron velocities spun from his analogue noiseboxes. Another very impressive album from Mr. Vainio!
At first you're greeted by the warmth of an ethereal new age synth that wouldn't sound out of place on a Vangelis record, and then the peace is broken by a repetitive staggered static echo, followed by driving throbbing bass and then pounding toms. Finally the plucked echo of guitar strings emerges and crescendos into an all encompassing wash. And then the vocals come in, almost like a distant echo. It's literally like hearing all the pieces of a band fall into place over the span of a couple of minutes. It's a great start to a record, and the perfect introduction to Weekend's brand of shoegaze drenched post-punk. Jinx is Weekend's second album, and since they're from our neck of the woods it's hard not to feel a little hometown pride as we submerge ourselves into their reverb soaked dreamscape. For those who are new to the world of Weekend, the quickest way to describe them would be: a shoegaze band you can actually dance to! A bit like if My Bloody Valentine had formed a few years earlier and hopped onto the Factory Records roster. There are serious hooky Joy Division/New Order bass lines aplenty, filling the songs with a sense of urgency that make it almost impossible to sit still, complimented nicely by some upbeat high energy drum work. But on the other end of the spectrum there are the guitars and the vocals - all ghostly echoes and sorrowful blanketing melodies. As soon as that first chorus kicks in with the repeated refrain of "I feel sick, sick, sick in my heart" it becomes clear that you may have just entered into the saddest dance party ever. The vocals are arguably the most classically 'shoegaze' thing about the record in fact. They drift in and out of the songs like some half forgotten memory. Only on "Celebration, FL" do they and the rest of the band ever approach something that could be considered joyful, and even then there's a lingering bittersweet wistfulness throughout. It ends up making for a really great mix, taking the best bits of both genres and using them to their fullest effect. While some shoegaze bands have a tendency to drag, Weekend's rollicking uptempo rhythm section never allow this to happen. And while post punk can often be overly tuneless or sparse, the wall of sound guitars and haunting vocals apply some much needed texture and melody to the proceedings. Clearly it's a good time to be 'gazing in the Bay Area with the likes of Deafheaven and Whirr currently making big crashing waves in the genre as well, and we certainly wouldn't hesitate to add Weekend to the leading lights of that ever growing list.
Full length number three from this LA blackened ultradoom trio, whose M.O. has thankfully not changed too much since their debut, which was a stunning mix of Khanate style arty abject sludge creep, Habsyll like downtuned minimal crush, harrowing black ambient dronemusic, and suicidal slo-mo grim buzz, all tangled up into a heaving, churning sprawl of multiple o'd funereal doooooooooom. This new one definitely pushes the envelope even further, the opening track displaying the group at their twisted, outsider best, fusing loose clattery percussion, and No-Neck / Sunburned style free form skitter, to harsh, hateful vokills and keening arcs of downtuned guitar moan, the vibe almost more Jandek or Derek Bailey via Bunkur or Moss than anything more traditionally doom, the group's secret weapon, bassist Darea Plantin, who in addition to providing the black hole low end, also wields an unlikely but super distinctive arsenal of not traditionally metal noises, including drone machines, circuit bent instruments, Moog and field recordings, all of which are featured prominently, defining much of the music here, if not the band as a whole, and not just arty filigree, the ambience and atmospherics smoldering and sinister, long stretches of strange haunting drifts and murky pulsations, distant pipe fights and free jazz percussive splatter. Even when the sound does coalesce into some proper chug and churn, it's still so far removed from actual doom, as to be some new genre entirely, tranced out and minimal, but dense and layered and heavy as fuck.
"Blood Stained Hope" might be one of the more traditionally doom tracks here, but it's really all relative, cuz it's still spaced out and warped, the rhythms lurching from doomic pound, to super loose and off kilter, at one point locking into a rhythm that seems to be totally at odds with the rest of the music, creating a woozy tension, that transforms what might otherwise be a knuckle dragging crawl, into something wild and warped, damaged and demented, those more 'rocking' parts balanced by long stretches of hushed, haunting thrum, of softly crumbling ambience, and distant rumbling drones, the whole thing an ever shifting, at times skeletal, at other times strangely psychedelic, and at others still, abject and utterly depressive, avant experimental doom epic. Two shorter tracks find the group's sound coalescing into some warm washed out almost dreamy doominess, before again splintering into a weird sprawl of brittle high end plod, all buried murky guitar melodies, simple drumming, anguished vox, all wreathed in a cloud of swirling psychedelic noise, hissing and buzzing, swaths of crackle and blurred melody, all woven into woozy billows of abstract soft noise atmosphere, through which, the band trudges along, a lo-fi doom death march. Until we reach the closer, a near 11 minute epic, that begins with simple minor key clean guitar strum, super effected vokills, that sound almost like guitar feedback, swaths of field recordings, eventually erupting into full on doomnoise, but never getting totally doomy, instead, it's a glorious cacophony, the guitars tangled and detuned, the vocals hissy and hateful, the drums more like rattling chains and big sheets of metal smashing into each other, eventually, for the last few minutes, building to a gorgeous, thickly layered sonic fugue, super dense and tranced out, an ultra intense, and weirdly tranquil coda.
As always, amazing stuff. Very likely WAY too arty for the true doom set, but very recommended for all you doomlords into Bunkur, Khanate, Habsyll, SUNNO))), Monarch, Fleshpress, Nihill, Otesanek and the like, as well as folks into tripped out arty free form psych, who maybe never imagined that stuff like that could be utterly crushing and tarpit heavy!
There's been a bit of a mini-explosion of bands from our neck of the woods as of late, all of whom have been specializing in their own unique take on shoegaze. There was Deafheaven's recent lp which we reviewed a couple of lists back, that masterfully collides classic shoegaze/post rock with ferocious black metal (Whirr does feature an ex-Deafheaven axeman in fact). Elsewhere on this list you'll find a review of Weekend's latest, an infectious blend of shoegaze and driving post punk. Now we can add to that list of our gazing hometown heroes a brand new ep from San Francisco's very own Whirr (formerly Whirl, naturally). Whirr deal in a bit more traditional strain of shoegaze. The songs are minimal - sparse, but also drenched in that wonderful, all encompassing reverb - and melodically quite mournful. There's certainly a wistful sorrow running through Whirr's music, at times maybe even sounding like Red House Painters run through a million effects pedals and cranked to 11. What's immediately apparent about Whirr in fact, is how heavy they can be. There are moments here that could almost pass for funeral doom - like the airy coo of a My Bloody Valentine vocal cut fluttering over the crushing heft of Asunder. This is thanks in part to an enormous cavernous drum sound as well as some seriously weighty guitar tones that thankfully set Whirr apart from some of their airier peers. Around is a dense immersive set of songs, so much so that the term ep doesn't really seem to do it justice, as that seems to imply some kind of stop gap release - something a bit disposable. But this is as crushing, consuming and satisfying as any full length you'll hear this year, and is surely essential listening for your most dreary-eyed late-night comedowns.
