Easter Weekend Music for the Whole Family (aka your audio escape from family)

 

G.L.O.S.S. - Demo

Girls Living Outside Society's Shit, or G.L.O.S.S. were a band from Olympia, WA that were absolutely fantastic. With all the current transphobic bullshit plaguing the US, it seemed only appropriate to post the first release by this trans-feminist hardcore punk band.

G.L.O.S.S. are no longer around but their impact and legacy will last generations, I'd wager. Especially as this nation moves in it's typical clunky and violent way towards acceptance. Just have to wait around for these old generation fascists to push up their daisies. 

This EP has 5 songs and all are under 2 minutes long. It's a very brutal release that gets the blood pumping. Perfect music to blast at your redneck neighbors while during their next confederate cook-out. 

Dolores - Peach Fuzz

Hailing from Madison, Wisconsin, the band Dolores caught my ears a few years ago despite their kinda terrible album art. The music is kind of a pristine, yacht rock meets psych-pop experience that is uniquely catchy. I mean it's like, mind-altering how catchy it is... it's weird. I'm not sure how to describe it honestly. 

It's maybe a little hokey... corny even. But there's serious talent at play. Singer Javier Reyes voice has such a clean tone he might as well be a '66 Fender Jaguar in human form. Since this band broke up, his talents have moved east to join another psych-pop yacht rock group out of Chicago called Post Animal, who are also definitely worth your attention.

Boise Cover Band - Unoriginal Artists

Here's a release that has been around for awhile but I only recently learned about it. 

Boise Cover Band is the band Built To Spill who decided to release some covers back in 2003. It's 7 songs and a nice little thing to hear. Built To Spill are one of those bands I could always listen to so to hear them perform a version of David Bowie's Ashes To Ashes, arguably my favorite Bowie song, is a treat. 

Both a Pretenders and a Captain Beefheart cover to boot. 

Not going to be your favorite thing Built To Spill ever did, but it's fun and maybe something you haven't heard. Also available on vinyl, if that's your thing.

Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru - Self-titled

Maybe Easter weekend is a shitshow for you. Maybe you're at the in-laws with your sister-in-law's husband whose a total energy vampire and bigot prick but everyone else loves him so you have to play nice. 

Well escape yourself to a bathroom immediately and take a dip into the soothing piano music of this Ethiopian nun whose original compositions are as relaxing as an unseasonably warm spring day... which have been in relative abundance out here in the wilds of central New Jersey (it DOES exist). 

Ms. Gebru recently passed away in late March at the age of 99, so she made it past the equinox with us. This is her spring. 

Music For Your Week

 

Unwound - The Future of What

Yesterday I had the pleasure of seeing one of the best American bands from the esteemed Olympia, WA scene of the 1990's. 

Their sound is one of destitution, anger, madness, and beauty as well. But not in an overt, cartoonish, Deftones-esque way... which in my opinion is low hanging fruit aggression. Rather, Unwound embrace dissonance in both harmony and chord progression to create a musical environment that's grey and depressed, with moments of churning, wild, desperate ferocity. 

The Future of What is the band's third record, originally released in 1995. Many of their most beloved songs are from this record. 

Olimpia Splendid - S/T

Speaking of "Olympia", the self-titled 6 track EP by  Finnish group Olimpia Splendid, was a welcome find this week. Formed in 2010, Olimpia Splendid are a trio from Helsinki making lo-fi, fever-dream, DIY indie rock. It was easy for me to lose myself in this release, and by the time I got to track 4, I was like... hold the fuck on a minute... is this snake charming music and I the snake? 

The write-up on their bandcamp states it best "their hypnotic music is a mix of weirdly tuned guitars, muddy drum machine loops, whispering vocals and trash can delays." They are signed to Fonal Records out of Finland, which seems a treasure trove of interesting Finnish music, so stay tuned for more choice picks from that.

thur-gone - Before Time

Here we have a simple recording of one Daniel Thurgood Bromfield, simply playing a piano. And it's not Bach or Mozart or anything, but one person's musical wanderings around the keys. From the sound of it, it's an inexpensive set up, with the microphone picking up all ambient sounds of the room and house.

The house is known as The Campbell House. I believe it's a student house on the University of Oregon campus. 

It's an interesting recording, and one can clearly hear a dryer or dishwasher in the background, and the occasional door or conversation happening in an adjacent room. A snapshot of someone else's life that could almost be your own.

Diplodocus - Slow And Heavy

There are a lot of niche markets out there in the world. Bacon flavored vodka, turkey and gravy flavored soda, and this... dinosaur themed dungeon synth. 

When you hear it, it totally makes sense... much more than meat-flavored beverages, anyway. You can probably already image what this sounds like... slow thudding, ambient synths with the sounds of dinosaurs roaring in the background. 

In a sense... very slow and heavy. A conversation starter for your water cooler breaks, if that's a thing that people still do.