Sorry for the extended absence; luckily, zwolf's still posting some excellent and entertaining reviews of pulps and such.
Meanwhile, on the homefront, my wife has beaten breast cancer and is well on her way to feeling fully healthy again, giving me a chance to use my blues song-a-month run here last year as demo fodder while seeking a new band with whom I can play locally.
And around the time that we got the good news on her cancer, I met up with local band Alamantra... they are some good guys who play well, though sadly, the stars did not align as hoped, and I'm no longer with them now, though our two gigs were quite fun and fairly rocked.
We played Friday night at the Nick in Birmingham, along with the High Fidelics, Asteroid Shop, and Looksy... (Thanks to super-soundman and all-around super-guy Victor E. Wilson for making everyone sound so damn good and for providing these photos!!!)
...and then Saturday night in Florence, with Planet Ink and, once again, the High Fidelics. Gotta say, everyone was very cool and all of the bands rocked. The High Fidelics were the real stand-out band for me... They play straight-ahead surf-rock, with the bassist splitting his time cleverly between a guitar slung as a Fender-6 and a regular Fender bass, and the guitar and organ workout all night during the set (which one night included a killer Henry Mancini medley of Peter Gunn and Baby Elephant Walk), but the real star of the band, for my money, is their bad-ass drummer, whose fills get more and more complex and over-the-top throughout the set, nicely staying away from the silliness of Tommy Lee by using humor as a musical weapon. Hard to explain, but amazing to behold... check 'em out!
So, that's where I've been... and now I'm looking to build another local band to slog the clubs here in town, playing blues and funk, rock and soul... looking for a drummer first and foremost, so hit me up if you are that drummer or if you know him...
(There's a few links below to click on, if you wanna find out more or hear some stuff...)
Administration Shock Him - 39:03 (blissed out post-rock) The Atomic Bitchwax - The Local Fuzz (one excellent long-ass stoner-rock riff-a-thon) Cave - Neverendless (weird + krautrocky) Charts and Maps - Dead Horse(crazy time-signatures + saxophone-infused math-y post-rock) Clouds as Oceans - Tides (some dreamy instrumental post-metal with lots of shoegazer-y washes of sound) Danava - Hemisphere of Shadows (sooooo full of crazy-insane riffs... 70's-worshippin' stoner metal at its finest)
Earth - Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light (intense + introspective spaghetti-western metal) Empire Express - Valleyland (excellent filmic post-rock) Eternal Tapestry - Beyond the 4th Door (kooky space rock - like Hawkwind trying to play Meddle-era Floyd) Felipe Arcazas - Induction to the Subconscious (desert rock very reminiscent of some of Brant Bjork's solo stuff... tasty guitarij) Fire Spoken by the Buffalo - Hiatus (intense guitar-heavy post-rock) Garage a Trois - Always Be Happy, But Stay Evil (freaky-ass post-rock meets jazz... with vibraphones! And the same drummer as Critters Buggin, if you're old like me...)
Giants - s/t (guitar-driven post-rock with some very pretty moments) Gillian Welch - The Harrow and the Harvest (absolutely wonderful strippt-down American roots music... Thoroughly recommended!) Grails - Deep Politics (some of the best trance-inducing space rock ever...) Long Distance Calling - s/t(amazing post-metal, with top-notch bass + drumwerks; even the songs with vocals are good...) Lunar Dunes - Galaxsea (future-retro space jazz... this'll be the music playing in the waiting room for your robodoctor in a coupla years) Mastodon - The Hunter (...it's less proggy than the last one; more heavy, shorter songs... good stuff)
Mogwai - Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will (typical Mogwai, with epic highs + tender lulls + bashing, crashing, angelic choruses of layered + effected guitars... some truly apotheotic stuff, esp live) Psychic Ills - Hazed Dream (space rock done right... loads of delay, reverb, sorta-tribal toms... downright psychedelic from git to go) Radar Men from the Moon - Intergalactic Dada + Space Trombones(instrumental Danish band with a sound that lands somewhere near classic Kyuss; bounces from heavy to brokedown in the best ways) Riding the Diplodoc - Dilettantes Like Lions (instrumental math-rock at its most frantically spastic...) Russian Circles - Empros (a departure of sorts, more bass-heavy - + the bass more fuzzy - than previous releases; still a great album, but with the band accessing a bit more noise than in the past, at least on record... seen em get rather noisy live + hope to again soon) Sonic Youth - Simon Werner a Disparu (this is the soundtrack to some Frenchie movie... but the band put the score together using outtakes from the Daydream Nation sessions, so I perceive this as really more of a bonus disc of those sessions, since it's unlikely that I'm gonna watch the film. If you like Daydream Nation, you should get this right away, cuz it's very much of that same tone, particularly regarding the guitar tones + tunings)
Tommy Guerrero - Lifeboats and Follies (another collection of tasty grooves from our favorite skater-hero... the basswerk is - as usual - ultra-tight + funky) U.S. Christmas - The Valley Path (another single, album-length track... not as directly stonerific as TAB's new one, but more of a psychedelic journey. Good, but it hasn't snagged me as viscerally as their earlier releases) White Hills - H-p1 (fucking rawk! trippy + wild + heavy + dripping with effects + incredible!!!)
So, Earth's line-up this time around was Dylan Carlson on guitar, with cellist Lori Goldston, longtime collaborator Adrienne Davies on drums, and Angelina Baldoz on bass... (sorry, no pix from the show, cuz neither of us that attended had a camera worth a shit on us).
Surprisingly, the volume was not overpowering, though as songs progressed the dynamics certainly included some increase in volume that workt quite nicely to help with the songs swelling to epic proportions...
If you haven't gotten the chance to check em out yet, do so at your earliest opportunity! Like, now, motherfucker! Even at a reasonable volume, this is some trance-inducing stuff... not so much drone as spaghetti-western instru-metal, played in slow-motion...
Along with a few others, the setlist included:
Blackwater Slide (a cover of a tune by *Ann Riggs*? - sorry, I wasn't listening so well to words when they started... had me musick ears on!)
Old Black
Father Midnight (both from the new one)
The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull (from the 2008 album of the same name).
So, here's a handful of recent EPs, singles + demos that I found to be particularly interesting...
And So I Watch You from Afar
7 Billion People All Alive at Once
:: This single remix of one of the better songs off the newest ASIWYFA Gangs, gets into a very trip-hoppy synth-heavy spot early on, but shifts to a more Errors-style mix of synth-pop + electronica + post-rock. Neat, but only a must-have if you already have + like the full-length... which you should give a listen.
Arms and Sleepers
Digital
::
A Man, A Plan, A Canal: Panama
:: A pair of EPs of sumptuous sorta-loungy trip-hop. The full-length - The Organ Hearts - is really tasty + perfect for coming down...
Cosmonauts Day
Live Demos
:: Russian space-rock-tinged post-metal. Nicely done demo tracks. Don't guess they'll be touring anywhere near the American South, though... dammit. For fans of Russian Circles + Red Sparowes.
Empty Space Orchestra
Dark Matters
:: Heavy, distorted bass... tasty guitar-figures dancing over the top of some intense + stop-laden drumparts... and a saxophone. It's heavy, it's instrumental... Musically, it's somewhere, somehow, in a strange soundscape between Pelican and Mr. Bungle... Check it out + see what you think.
Felipe Arcazas
Yardang
::
Freedom
:: Two long desert-metal tracks, stone-y + psychedelic, with some lovely neck-pickup-toned leads. If you like Brant Bjork or Kyuss, this is waiting for you to crank up while you smoke up...
There'll be some more cool musicks spotlighted here over the next few weeks as I start to put together my Best of 2011 recommendations, so peek back soon + let me know what you think of the stuff I've brought to your attention...
As usual, I've been checking out some music recommended to me by friends, enemies, strangers on blogs... +, as usual, there's some good stuff out there, along with some that ain't really all that... Here's a rundown of what I heard this week (* ratings are out of a possible 5, btw):
Administration Shock Him - 39:03 (2011) *****
Post-rock the right way: instrumental + great for roadtrippin'. I hadn't heard of this band before they showd up on a couple of blogs I follow, but I will be keeping them on my radar from now on. The production is nice, giving this a polish similar to God Is an Astronaut. Music's in that same vein, too, with the big epic swells + tender little passages that keep it interesting + a nod of the head to post-metal's huge walls of guitars alongside some drum programming that tips its own hat ever-so-politely to modern glitch'tronica. The third track ('III' - yeah, it also has the typical post-rock pretentious-ass songtitles...) features a long audio excerpt from the Apollo 11 mission broadcast that adds so very well to some already-beautiful music. Big high-quality sound, solid dynamics... HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION!!
Dias de Septiembre - s/t (2011) ****
Firmly entrencht in the post-rock / post-metal styles, with lots of trilled single-note guitar lines, atmosphere to spare, bass parts that bounce from almost-static foundations to lovely + melodic lines + back, a wide dynamic range dominated in the huge-sounding sections by big guitars, tasty drumming (which synaethesia my wife really dislikes: "Drums are NOT tasty! And they're usually verrrrrry dirty!"). There are some vocals, but they're few + far-between + nicely coucht in the mix (mostly long, held notes with some harmonies, used almost like a synthpart for chordij behind the main musical parts). This band has an excellent capacity for smallifying itself during the more subtle + quiet moments in the music, + also builds back into the epic parts quite well. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
Eternal Tapestry - Palace of the Night Skies (2009) ***1/2
There's a certain something lacking in the production here, like it's a live-offa-one-mic recording, but the music is just so damn'd hypnotic + trippy that I can get past it. There's a callback to classic raga-rock here, with a cyclic building on the basic riff of each song that's allowed by the songlengths (2 outta 3 are around 17 minits) to develop from something sorta simple, or at least unadorned, into something more grandiose + embellisht-upon, before winding back down. I've heard 3 different rekkids from this band + have liked every one of 'em. RECOMMENDED!
Ghost - Opus Eponymous (2010) **
Extremely-overhypt Eurometal... The whole thing has excellent production, but it otherwise sounds like a lost metal record (maybe Cirith Ungol with a different + somehow worse singr + a Keith Emerson or Rick Wakeman wannabe on keyboards...) from 1985. The guitars + bass sound great, but waaaay dated. The drums are really solid, + they're comfortably coucht in the metal playbook, as are the lyrics. But the singr (+ vocal harmonies) + the keyboards are anomalies to the music, sounding way too much like they came from some 1970s prog-rock sessions or an album by Europe ("It's the fiiiiinal countdown!" 'toot-too-toot-toot toot-toot-toot-too-toot)... When I first heard about these guys, vocal comparisons were made to King Diamond; thankfully, that wasn't quite the case, except that, just like with Mercyful Fate, the vocals totally ruint this band for me. I'd love a copy without any singing or keyboards, cuz the rest of the music is straight out of my high-school metal memories. But this is being hypt as some ground-breaking shit, + the only way I see this breaking ground is in a graveyard with a shovel, digging up + defiling some classic metal corpses + putting 'em on an album. Sorry, but just... no. (The album cover's good, though.)
Gnod - Ingnodwetrust (2011) ***
Oh, good googly-moogly, just look at that fucking beautiful cover... Psychedelic-as-fuck, this two-track 30+minit rekkid has dangerously-throbbing bass + a hypnotic drone-thing going on that sucks you right in. First time that I heard these guys a while back, Gnod + I didn't mesh well. Then I checkt out the Gnod Drop Out with White Hills stuff + decided I should give em another shot (cuz if White Hills likes em, maybe there's something there). I'm glad I did, but I'd only recommend it to my weirdest music-friends (or is that weirdest-music friends?)... Over the throbby, repeated bass-figures surf a range of crazysounds: delay effects on guitars + synths + samples. a knob-twiddling heaven. Raga-licious stuff. If you dig White Hills (see a trend here...?), this one is much stranger, but might also tickle yer pickle.
Henryspenncer - To the Timeless Valley (2010) ***
This is a strange one, with elements of Krautrock, Ennio Morricone's spaghetti western scores, prog rock + Bruce Licher's post-Savage Republic desert-instrumental band, Scenic, all bubbling to the top at times. It most sounds like the soundtrack to some non-existent obscuro-cinema-europa film, composed by somebody kickt out of, I dunno, Goblin, maybe? It's good, but it doesn't really grab me like it needs to (especially considering how little space remains here for more music now). Not memorable enough to really recommend, but I definitely suggest checking it out to any fellow deep-catalogue-delvers...
John Coltrane - Cosmic Music (1966) ****
Some far-reaching + inspired free jazz from a true jazz pioneer here, but not for the faint-of-heart... Alice Coltrane + Pharoah Sanders are also featured players on this one, which will definitely help the already-familiar decide if it's at all up their alley. Trane + Pharoah are really flying free here, building huge walls of sax + then tearing 'em down, though there are some tender + more melodic moments that surface unexpectedly at times, + Alice's trademark modal piano style is on full display. There's even some vocals, an invocation reminiscent of the one that introduces 'Om' shows up on 'The Sun,' which closes the album on a nice piano riff of Alice's that fans of her Journey in Satchinanda album will dig. Recommended ONLY for fans of Trane's free jazz excursions + fans of Pharoah Sanders' + Alice Coltrane's rekkids as bandleaders. (Others will likely think it sounds like a gaggle of geese flying headlong into a woodchipper made of drums + pianos.) HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! (but ya gotta read the stipulation above...)
Pyrior - Oceanus Procellarum (2010) ***
This shit rocks! It's a nice representation of what the young people call stoner-metal nowadays, with some of the quieter moments sounding a bit more post-metal... instrumental + grooving, heavy-as-hell, with chugging basslines + monster drumming + big wah-driven guitars + an obvious love of Black Sabbath. Definitely something I'd recommend for fans of stoner-metal stuff like Karma to Burn, but after a bit, it loses my attention, sitting on some riffs a bit longer than I'd like.
Sigmoid Argonaut - s/t EP (2009) ****
A very math-rock EP (under 25 minits), with the requisite excellent musicianship, + a particularly notable rhythm section - the drummr + bassist are tight + funky + in total control of dynamics. Guitars are tasty + prominent, along with some very prog-flavored synth parts. And the music is badass; points of reference for me include Blind Idiot God, Maps + Atlases, early Trans Am, + even some old Yes or ELP (cuz that synth is soooo damn'd retro sometimes!) + old krautrock... if any combination of those makes yer liver quiver, go hunt this down! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
Voice of the Seven Thunders - s/t (2010) ***1/2
This sounds like some late 1960s heavy psychedelia, with that characteristic-of-the-time fuzztone all over the guitar sound. Not that that's a bad thing... There's an acoustic folk-chedelia vibe here that screams 'Sandy Bull!' at times, along with a lot of sorta-meandering Bevis Frond-y jams with tons of guitarij. I'd think that the folks at the Ptolemaic Terrascope really dig this. RECOMMENDED!
White Hills - H-p1 (2011) *****
I love this band! This is their newest (double) album, + it's a huge slab of blisst-out psych-rock with their typically-heavy spin + a raga-stylee patience-in-development that lets songs build + fall (over a decent span of time, a few of the tracks are 10+ minits), grow + diminish - all while still recalling or echoing the central riffs. Huge distorted guitars + trippy synth bits + kooky effects-noises ride upon a monster tide of big rock drums + fuzzy bass. The vocals also work well - not a lot of vocals, really... usually some harmonized he + she vox that're not too loud, not buried... just kinda floating inside the mix, intertwined. And don't get the wrong idea; the album is plenty dynamic, with some softer, introspective moments intersperst throughout, drafting a well-crafted ebb + flow to the music. If you like the recent (more Hawkwind-flavored) Mudhoney albums, this is right up yer alley! HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION!!!
And that, aside from two sucky recent EPs + an older ambient rekkid that blew chunks, all from artists who shall remain unnamed here, is what got heard here this weekend!
Later!
B*>
2011 is shaping up to be another good year for music... I've already mentioned some earlier stuff from this year, but more keeps coming out!
The newest Lunar Dunes - Galaxsea - is out now, + like the previous From Above, this is a wonderful trip through spacetime. This is a sort-of side-project for some members of Cornershop + Transglobal Underground that I categorize as space rock; they sound like the lounge band on an retro-future orbiting space station... The atmospheric female vocalizations + wild, wide palette of instrumentation, along with the lightly-jazzy swing of many of the tracks, calls to mind a modern-day interpretation of Martin Denny or Arthur Lyman. Cannot recommend highly enough! Get this shit! Now!
The Atomic Bitchwax is back, this time with Local Fuzz, a release that's a single long (40+ minits) stoner-metal riff-festival. Props to the band for keeping the riffage interesting, too, cuz I don't recall any vocals at all. Maybe there were some, but the riffs were too big for my brain to process anything else...
White Hills have a new one coming down the pipe, H-p1. The first track, The Condition of Nothing, is available from Thrilljockey as an MP3 freebie. Space rock at its modern finest! Now, if they'll just reschedule a live show for Birmingham, AL, before too long...
Valleyland by Empire Express came out of left-field to smack me upside my head. Not a lot of really new ground covered here for fans of guitar-centric post-rock, but they've really nailed the blissful + majestic thing well, with arrangements that sweep nicely from delicate to epic + back again.
Eternal Tapestry's newest is Beyond the 4th Door; it's a trippy, serpentine bit of space rock, with the characteristic gyric song structures of the best recent raga-reminiscent rock.
And a recent reissue of an overlookt 90s Nels Cline Trio rekkid - Silencer. Nels is, of course, in Wilco now; in the 90s, he hosted a New Music night for out + free jazz at the Alligator Lounge in Venice that was often amazing. His original compositions for this rekkid are excellent, as is the lead-off track, a reinterpretation of Gil Evans' Las Vegas Tango that starts out fairly straight before moving into some interesting + innovative reharmonizations...
And that's a few tasty + recent rekkids I've encountered... What'd I miss that I shouldn't've?
Mogwai stoppt thru Birmingham, Alabama, with supporting act Errors, at WorkPlay a couple of nights ago. And what a fucking show. Check out the included pix (courtesy of pal + snappy local musician, Donny Guitar).
Errors started up just after 8p + played a 45 minute set that included much of the material from their recent rekkid Come Down with Me. Their set was a tasteful-yet-freaky combination of post-rock + electronica, and there were moments that their keyboard-driven sound was highly evocative of some of the best early synth-punk. Excellent. Fucking. Band.
The only thing that could come close to a complaint is that, to a set of ears tuned to the Deep South, a Glaswegian accent is hard to follow (+ I bet that it was waaaaay worse for the band members, trying to understand some crazy-ass redneck accents)... but, really, that nigh-impenetrable Scots brogue was quite endearing. The skinny here is that Errors is another Scots band, one which Mogwai signed to their rekkid label. And one which shares a drummer - one James Hamilton - with Mogwai this tour (Mogwai's drummer was unable to tour with em this leg). And Hamilton is fuckin' amazing, keeping a super-tight groove-pocket pulsing + living while playing stuff that also incorporates a good bit of sequenced keyboard parts. Of particular note in that regard: "Supertribe" off Come Down with Me by Errors, which leaves me with a big shit-eating grin + a delicious aftertaste of very early New Order or classic Tubeway Army...
Mogwai took the stage after a very short 'twixt-break (which was a nice opportunity to chat with a dude at a neighboring table, there to see Mogwai for the 26th time - !!! - + to dip outside for a quick cigarette - cuz tobacco smoke is on the way out as a health risk at the same time that people are knocking back alcoholic bevs left + right...) + blew the doors off the space!
Their sound continued to grow larger + larger, louder + louder, throughout the set, creating epic soundscapes that pulled everyone into the mix. The set included choice tracks from their newest, Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will + featured the band playing some serious musical chairs, as everyone except the drummer (+ he played for BOTH bands, so he wasn't exactly slackin', either) proceeded to switch instruments repeatedly during the set, including some HUGE sonic moments with guitar upon guitar upon guitar layering that yielded some of the most epic-sounding live music I've gotten to experience.
(Ho... Lee... Shit... wouldja just look at all them pedals! There were more pedals onstage for the Mogwai set than in any local music store's stock... gives you serious gear-wood if you're a musician...)
This clip of them live is from just a coupla days earlier on the same tour:
Gotta say that this easily ranks with the best shows I've seen, which includes some excellent shows: Sonic Youth / Mudhoney / Kurt Cobain / Pavement at Castaic Lake in 92, repeated Tortoise shows at the Palace, Knitting Factory LA, etc., Isotope 217° / Jet Black Crayon / Nobekazu Takemura somwhere in LA (99 maybe?), Pharoah Sanders (and, like, wow! was that old dude insane + awe-inspiring!!!) at Catalina's Hollywood (97 maybe?), fIREHOSe at the Ivory Tusk in Tuscaloosa (90 or 91?), Jane's Addiction doing an impromptu acoustic set at Amoeba Hollywood in 02 while I was working (nice getting paid to do a job you love + see a band you like do songs you love), Nirvana / Das Damen at the Omni/New Daisy in Memphis right after Nevermind's release...
Now, if we could just get Tortoise to come back Alabam' again... (+ maybe our sometime-posting brother Da5e will post about the next night of the tour in Atlanta, which he + Lady Da5e were scheduled to attend...)
Maps + Atlases and Menomena played a show this Monday (14 March, + how appropriate to check out the math-rock stylings of M+A on Pi Day...) at the Bottletree Cafe, on a sporadically rainy Birmingham night. I did not know Menomena prior to the show (or if I did, I'd dismisst what I'd heard quickly), but I very much dig Maps + Atlases' weird melodic spin on the math-rock genre + was looking forward to seeing them play a live show. The Bottletree is a great venue for seeing bands (the food's pretty good, too, though I've only luncht there in July, when the patio is too fucking hot for habitation - the interior's comfy, though) + the rainy weather didn't seem to keep folks away, as there was a good turnout...
Davison a-singin' + a-tappin' his little heart out!
Touring in support of their new album, Perch Patchwork, Maps + Atlases were the opening act last night, which turned out great for me, since I still got to leave early enough to get some sleep, but should've, based on their bad-ass set, been the headlining act. The singer + lead guitarist, Dave Davison, employs a very personalized playing style, with lots of two-handed tapping + flamenco-y sweeps + flicks. I never noticed him using a pick, but his fingerpicking was unique + utterly compelling + he was - impressively - singing during most of the intricate guitar bits.
Added percussion by the blurry + beflanneled Shiraz Dada
Rhythm guitarist Erin Elders also diddled a little Korg for some kooky looping noises, + he + the bassist delved into drumming duties together for a bit as well while the drummer turned to a bells kit for some clever + unusual melodic interplay with the guitar + vocals (those vocals grow on you, but they are rather strange at first blush). The bass player, Shiraz Dada, was solid (with some thoughtfully put together parts + some tasty up-the-neck stuff) + tight with Chris Hainey's drums for the entire set, which were as insane as Davison's guitarwork. Lots of complex rhythmic patterns, with a healthy use of the kit's hardware for lots of woody cliks + klaks + a powerful control of the tempo, with time variations that ramp up or tone down the songs' dynamics... some AfroPop-influenced interplay at times between the guitars + drums, with the bass augmenting the connection, bubbling in + out tastily.
Fucking excellent band (+ really nice guys)! Repeatedly during their set, I caught myself with a beaming smile on my face... the stuff they were doing musically was so infectious + filled with that creative whatever that I was just swept along in the fun of the show. Go see them when they come to your town, dammit!
Maps + Atlases rock the Bottletree (3.14.11)
The wonderful 'Solid Ground' was the set closer; hopefully, I'll have a vid of that to post later (though shot with a drunkenly-handheld Blackberry, so no promise of high-quality)...
Menomena, on the other hand, really never took off for me. Granted, the crowd was really there to see them more than Maps + Atlases - or so it seemed from the abundance of pretty young scene chicks dancing up front + fawning over the handsome-skater-lookin' bass player + drummer, but even with their solid musicianship + the tight set they were layin' down, I was just kinda left flat + headed out to the club's patio to smoke for a few minits before cutting out early.
Maps + Atlases... that's who!
I did, of course, stop by the merch table on the way out + snag a Maps + Atlases t-shirt with a super-snazzy owl design...
Check out the Bottletree Cafe's Show Calendar for more cool upcoming bands: April showers bring May flowers + some fucking promising April shows by Maserati, Cloudland Canyon with White Hills (!!!!!) + lots more!
[Pix from the show, courtesy of excellent local guitarist Donny K.]
Continuing in the same vein as HEX: Or Printing in the Infernal Method + The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull, Angels... sounds like the Ennio Morricone soundtrack to a lost Sergio Leone spaghetti western... Kinda bleak + barren, sorta sparse + airy... The perfect accompaniment musick for a viewing of Alexandro Jodorowsky's El Topo.
I've had an on-again, off-again relationship with the music of Mogwai for years now, finding some of their music brilliant but being wildly disappointed by other stuff...
Gotta say that this rekkid is mostly brilliant, with some truly surprising bits popping up from time to time. And 'surprising' doesn't turn up as often as it ought to when describing new music... not as a good thing, anyway!
Both rekkids have super-snappy cover art, + both make for excellent long-distance driving musicks, too, so start planning that roadtrip!
Lots of interesting music from an array of cool bands. Pictured are the 30 best releases of 2010 (in alphabetical order), but my personal favorites of the year are (in no particular order...):
Red SparowesThe Fear Is Excruciating, But Therein Lies the Answer
This is an incredibly beautiful record. Maybe it's just me, but I hear the influence of Animals-era Pink Floyd here. In the best of all possible ways, like Animals was a starting point now far behind them. Saw 'em live in support of this record + was completely blown away by the depth of their sound + the well-pulled-off-live intricacies of their material. Go get this, dammit!
Cloudland Canyon Fin Eaves
This weirdly-gorgeous record of poppy melodies run thru a food processor sounds like somebody found some Loveless-era MBV tracks + rerecorded them with John McEntire + Daedelus co-producing... Fucking excellent, but be careful: this record could feasibly cause hallucinations! And could definitely accompany some...
Intronaut Valley of Smoke
Intricate + involving prog-flavored post-metal, with stand-out vocals (+ harmonies!) + an outstanding fretless bass player (which'll almost always win my heart over...)
Julie ChristmasThe Bad Wife
Wow... She looks like a pretty scene-grrl, but she sings like PJ Harvey-raised-on-metal... soft + childlike + breathy shifts to wry + sarcastic melds into Satan-possesst blood-curdling murder-screams (really... a vocal + emotional range to make Chris Cornell envious - even the 1990s Chris Cornell, who could actually hit those crazy notes live...); she's one of the few female singers whose work really hits me + it hits hard. Hell, one of the few singers, period. I'd just rather not hear most people's lyrics + vocalizations, as they're too often the weakest parts of the songs... nobody complains about Tortoise's vocals or harmonies live, y'know... Anyway. Evidently, JC brings it all to the stage, too, though, so I'll definitely be checking out Made Out of Babies or Battle of Mice or her solo live show if any of em comes around the podunk Deep South...
Mugstar Sun, Broken...
Another space-rock masterpiece from mostly-instrumental Mugstar! They were way prolific this year, also releasing Lime (some crazy extended jams!!!)
White HillsWhite Hills
These folks also droppt tons of space-rock; alongside this release were Stolen Stars Left for No One + the Gnod Drop Out with the White Hills team-up with Gnod (extended spacejams, very Bardo Pond-y...)
Maserati Pyramid of the Sun
Pulsing + Kraftwerk-y, with some of the best late-night, open highway driving music in a loooooong time.
UFOMammut Eve
An EP that develops one looooong track across five movements, bringing the best aspects of stoner-metal together in a bubbling stew.
God Is an Astronaut Age of the Fifth Sun
More epic instrumental post-metal; these guys always rock; this one seems more like a soundtrack than ever...
Kylesa Spiral Shadow
Super-tasty + intelligently-composed metal with 2 percussionists! Huge + driving, with wonderfully intricate drum parts buttressing some major riffage...
the rest of the Top 30...
Post-Rock:
The Album LeafA Chorus of Storytellers
Algernon Ghost Surveillance
The American DollarAtlas
Deadhorse We Can Create Our Own World
El Ten ElevenIt's Still Like a Secret
Souvenir's Young AmericaThe Name of the Snake
Trans AmThing
65 Days of StaticWe Were Exploding Anyway
IDM / Electronica:
Bonobo Black Sands
Errors Come Down with Me
Fourtet There Is Love in You
To Rococo Rot Speculation
Space-Rock:
Quest for Fire Lights from Paradise
U.S. ChristmasRun Thick in the Night
Stoner Metal + Post-Metal:
And So I Watch You from AfarLetters
Bison B.C.Dark Ages
Electric WizardBlack Masses
Gifts from Enola Gifts from Enola
Sasquatch III
And, in the Post-Hardcore/Alt-Rock genre:
Maps + AtlasesPerch Patchwork
... as well as some honorable mentions...
Negurã BungetVоrstele Pamоntului
A freaky-ass melding of Eastern European folk + death metal. Still growing on me, though, + certainly worth a listen... Their last one, OM, was outstanding + this new release continues to show the evolution of these musical weirdos!
Yakuza Of Seismic Consequence
The vocals took this one out of the running for me, though the music is (typically of Yakuza) well-done + all over the place, touching down at various times as wild iterations of brutal metal, complex ambient, + out jazz...
The Orb + David GilmourMetallic Spheres
I wanted this to be, well, fucking badass Dark Side of the Moon revisited kinda shit. It's good, but sadly falls short of its true potential...
Brian EnoSmall Craft on a Milk Sea
Held high hopes, this one did, with Eno's culling of 'songs' from hours of improvisational jams with some noteworthy musicians. It's a solid ambient record, for sure, but I'd looked forward to another sonic Eno-vation, like his work on Music for Airports or that lush effects-dripping guitar-driven production on U2's The Unforgettable Fire, + this does not cut any new musical cloth...
Monster MagnetMastermind
This is more of the same from these cats... It's really pretty good, but has too many of those drumless segments driven by Dave's 'clever' lyrics to really stay rockin' long enough for the "herbal medicines" to really kick in...
La OtracinaReality Has Got to Die (cool + heavy psychedelic rock)
Stonewall Noise OrchestraSweet Mississippi Deal (Soundgarden-y vox over some solid stoner metal riffage)
Hellas MoundsNew Heaven / New Earth (heavy + epic post-metal)
EmpiresFreshwater Reflection (also heavy + epic post-metal)
High PlacesVs. Mankind (cool afrobeat rhythms + twisty pop melodies)
Jaga JazzistOne-Armed Bandit (a giant post-rock/jazz emsemble from Northern Europe... like a more prog-estra Tortoise)
Now, naturally, we don't host any of these here, but you can certainly find some or all of em with some thoughtful searching.
This is just meant as an observation and not as a judgment or anything, but... anybody'd who'd buy a Jackson Browne album would suck a cock. Which is fine if that's what you're into, nothin' wrong with that, but, just know where you stand. Or kneel, however you go about it, and god bless ya.
When I was a kid he was always described as "rocker Jackson Browne," but I beg to differ. What did this guy ever do that "rocked"? Okay, "Running On Empty" could possibly be good if The Drive By Truckers or somebody kicked it in the crotch and did a beefed-up, grittier version of it, but that's about as "rockin'" as I've ever heard this tired, Daryl-Hannah-smackin' washrag ever get. Most of his stuff makes James Taylor sound like... well, I was gonna say Lemmy, but that's not really true, because even a comparison with Bread can't make James Taylor sound like Lemmy. But Jackson Browne does make The Eagles sound like Motorhead! How's that? The accuracy sends chills down your spine, no? I guess it's wrong to hate somebody just for making music, but when it's that music, I think maybe it's fair enough. Death to false soft-rock!
Is it wrong to wish that Jackson Browne start dating Tila Tequila? They deserve each other. (If you haven't heard about that, read up on it here and here and here - it's one of the most pathetic ploys for attention anyone's ever done. Did she really think nobody was going to check up on that shit? She says she has multiple personalities, but from what I've seen she doesn't even have one). Who mated Angie Dickenson with a chihuahua, that's all I wanna know.
Wow, I'm really being an asshole today.
Anyway, since I've told you what's bad, I guess maybe I should do a few music reviews and tell you what's good, eh? Okay... attention, you fucks! (Man, I still miss Bruce Rohers). The best stuff I've heard in the past several months is actually something I heard in the mid-80's. Medieval. I got this band on vinyl back then, one of my blind "this looks heavy" purchases, and I quickly loved the damn thing. The crunchy, dirty home-grown production made them sound like a garage band, and they looked like a bunch of preppy high-school kids. Nobody in a thrash band had short, normal-guy hair back then.
And while they were speedy enough, they weren't trying to play faster than everyone else, like most bands at the time were doing. And while bands were coming up with crazy names like "Slayed Necros" and "Satanic Slaughter," these guys were three brothers named Timmy, Willjious, and Terror (okay, maybe that one was made up, but he just did production so I'm not sure it counts) with a bassist named Elwood Chew. Seriously... Elwood. And they were from Kalamazoo, Michigan. In other words, there was NO pose to this band. They weren't playing the game, just the music.
Would Slayer or Venom include such a photo on their lyric sheet? I think not!
And the music was crazy-great. It was stripped-down and simple (except for some crazy shredding frequently layered all over the bottom end) Motorhead-influenced stuff, but ultra-catchy. When all my vinyl got buried under piles of video-hoarding and I didn't hear 'em for over a decade, I could still remember nuances of this music. Finally Renaissance Records released a limited-to-1000 CD of it, and I promptly went to their website to order one. Never do that -- Renaissance Records is a rip-off and took my money and never mailed me anything, never answered e-mail, nothin'. But, a couple months ago I found a guy in Greece selling a copy of the CD for a reasonable price, and he delivered and it hasn't left the stereo since. Until a reliable company re-releases this masterpiece on CD, you can find a download on this site. I don't usually recommend downloads 'cuz I'm all into supporting-the-band and stuff (I tried, guys!), but since it's so hard to track down and a definite must-have, you may want to try it. Up to you. The band is apparently still somewhat-active, since the CD had a few new tracks on it, and those also killed! I hope these guys put out some new material, 'cuz I'd definitely be buying it.
I've gotten a few other CDs lately... I'm not sure I've really listened to them enough to be reviewing them yet, but, what the hell, I'm irresponsible, I'll do it anyway.
Exodus has a new one, Exhibit B: The Human Condition, which they may be considering the second half of a double-album that started with the unholy-great The Atrocity Exhibition: Exhibit A. Exodus is keeping up with Slayer for the title of ol'-man-band-that-still-kicks-ass. Listen to this as you read (you fucks!).
Lyrics to that are a bit cheesy (but considering the previous post covered Manowar, I think we've established that cheesy lyrics can actually be pretty cool), but that riff kills. And you gotta love thrash bands that let you hear the bass. Is Tom Araya even plugged in? This next one starts out a little Iron-Maiden-y and then goes into this crushing thing, laying waste to all in its path.
And you can always win me over with an attack on the Christian right, and this one rages. New vocalist Rob Dukes sounds kind of like an amalgamation of their previous vocalists, and I like that you don't really need a lyric sheet to make out most of what he sings.
While I'm on Exodus, let me harken back to a song on a previous album, Shovel Headed Kill Machine. The song is "Deathamphetamine," and it has possibly the craziest, how-the-fuck-are-they-playing-that?!? riff I've heard in a decade. It starts at exactly a minute into the song, and it's insane.
Another good thing I got lately was Same Thoughts Different Day by The Subhumans (the Canadian punk band, not the one from the UK, although I love them, too). This is a re-recording of their classic Incorrect Thoughts LP. The band wanted to re-release the original, but discovered a defunct label they never heard of claimed ownership of it, even though they never got a penny from this company. There was no documentation to prove ownership, either from the label or the band, so rather than go through a legal fight the band decided to do what Doom did with their "Fuck Peaceville" album and just re-record all the songs, problem solved. I've heard the original (thanks to the magic of bootlegs) and these new versions have much more oomph to 'em. I'm fond of the spare, minimalist sound of the original, but the re-recording is a definite improvement in every way. Can't find anything off the new one, but here's one of their old versions just so you can get the flavor of the band. Top-notch punk for you fucks!
Got another punk band, Th' Inbred, Legacy of Fertility. I'm a bit dense, I guess, 'cuz I didn't get the joke in the title until I noticed that the font was a copy of The Misfits. They're rough hardcore with some weird time signatures thrown in there (they used to be compared to Victims Family, and I can understand why, although these guys were more hardcore and raw than VF, and perhaps not as musically talented (but then, who is?)).
Speaking of Victims Family, Ralf is now playing for Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine, which sounds a good bit like the Dead Kennedys did at the end of their career (Frankenchrist, Bedtime For Democracy). I was never super-crazy about the Dead Kennedys last couple of albums, so I feel pretty similar about this new project. Jello's lyrics aren't as cuttingly clever as they once were, but still, it's nice to see him still in the game, and even though this band didn't blow me away, they're far, far from bad, either, and I'm still glad I bought it.
The intro is long, but Jello's always fun to listen to, so, go ahead and click it.
Nice, ominous bass intro on this one...
Anyway, if none of this stuff appeals to you, then I suggest some Jackson Browne.
Another interesting stretch of musicks, giftd to me during my Saturday delivery route by the Shuffleuppagis inside my iPod. Some comments follow.
The Flaming Lips covering Shine On... is, of course, excellent, + reminds me that the physical version (the digital version came out late last year) of the 'Lips + Stardeath and White Dwarfs Dark Side of the Moon should be out anytime now. If you're into the whole "things" thing, the vinyl would definitely be a cool "thing" to have.
Circle of Wolves is typical Phantom Tolbooth, though from the later Power Toy, which is considerd a less potent distillation of the Daylight in the Quiet Zone / One-Way Conversation era PT. Don't take that to be anything other than a subtle hint to go get those earlier releases... there ain't no shitty Phantom Tollbooth rekkids!
The Curse from Bison B.C. is a solid rockr from these British Columbia-based stoner metallrs earlier album Earthbound... their new one - Dark Ages - should be available right now. Go get it!
Van Buren by Arms + Sleepers is from the 2009 split (with The American Dollar) EP From the Inland Sea. I checkt out the EP cuzza TA$, then went back + scored the earlier Matador from Arms + Sleepers. Good stuff!
...and that's my iPod RoundUp for this weekend. Hope you find something interesting to check out!
As this year progresses, I find that there've already been some pretty good musick releases in 2010. After spending a good bit of time determining my Best Music of 2009 list thru that November, I worried that perhaps last year's bumper crop of kick-ass would be followed up by a dryspell. And I was - thankfully - wrong about that! Since most of my life is spent working in my underground lair or driving, I get lots of unbroken listening time without too many distractions. Some stuff you like might be missing... I might not've gotten to it yet, so lemme know what else is rockin' the One-Zero... here's what's tickled my ears so far:
POST-ROCK / ELECTRONICA:
The Album Leaf - A Chorus of Storytellers
The American Dollar - Atlas
Fourtet - There Is Love in You
To Rococo Rot - Speculation
Bonobo - Black Sands
...I'd recommend any of these to my post-rock + electronica listenin' friends, who are prob'ly already aware of each of em, as all of these artists have been releasing records for years... I'm most fond of the new ones from The American Dollar + The Album Leaf. Still top-notch for fans of the earlier werks, but with enough maturation in sound + scope (+ production) to remain compelling. Excellent music for late-night open highway driving... Download the "Second Sight" MP3, a freebie offa The American Dollar's Atlas!
...and the HEAVIER STUFF:
Red Sparowes - The Fear Is Excruciating, But Therein Lies the Answer
Consistently impressive with their ability to craft powerful tracks that develop in intensity + depth, offering up beautiful soundscapes built on the fundamental vocabulary of (post) metal (+ pedal steel) + the scope of a concept album or filmscore.
Mugstar - Sun, Broken...
White Hills - White Hills
Wow. I'd only found these bands when Trensmat released the Sonic Attack series of split 7" singles of current bands doing Hawkwind covers (late last year). Stony-as-hell space rock at its best, vocals that don't overpower the musicks... little sonic bombs 'splodin' behind my eyes. Check out the new Mugstar at Discogs! Preview the new White Hills at the ThrillJockey website!
Still on the fence about these last few, though; you oughtta give em a listen anyway + then make a case for / ag'in em here... The Dillinger Escape Plan - Option Paralysis (I like this one, but it doesn't seem to be a development forward in the growth of the band's sound, just more of the same.) Dead Meadow - Three Kings (it's so no-frills that the songs either cut to the bone or fall flattr than my jokes) High Places - High Places vs. Mankind (I sure do like the drums / percussion on this'un, though... + the lovely album cover) Errors - Come Down with Me
So, now you've got a few new rekkids to listen to while you do whatever else there is to do besides listen to musick...
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