Music For Your Weekend

 

Nüshu - Sexe Étranger

Some of my favorite music over the past 10 years has come from the Montreal. It's to the point that, if I'm browsing music websites and I see a band from Montreal, I will drop everything to listen to them. 

I mean literally. My dinner will burn. My dog won't get walked. My son will go hungry. So of course, when I saw Nüshu's Sexe Étranger some through the pipeline, my family ate charred pizza that night. 

This release is wonderfully produced, the songs are unconventional rock in the best way, and I listened to the whole thing from start to finish several times this week. Maybe they will cast a similar spell on you.

Kendra Morris - Nine Lives I'm equally a sucker for modern soul. Kendra Morris is from New York City by way of Florida, but she sounds like she's from 1960's Detroit. 

Soulful, funky jams lay the foundation over Kendra's smooth and sultry vocals. It brings to mind other soul revivalists of recent such as Adrian Younge, Nicole Willis, and Daptone label artists. 

Ms. Morris is not a new-comer by any means, with an impressive list of collaborators including DJ Premier, MF Doom, and Ghostface Killah, she is both a seasoned musician and filmmaker to boot. She does great music videos, check out the awesome animation she did for this MF Doom/Czarface video.

Datach'i - Bones

One of the things I want to accomplish with these "music dumps", as the kids call them, is to explore other genres perhaps less familiar to typical Spacerockmountain fare. 

While rock music is my love, I've flirted heavily with electronic music in my day. Love me some Plaid, Venetian Snares, and Aphex Twin. Those are basically the only electronic groups I know. 

Luckily for me, this release by LA-based electronic artist Datach'i brings all those three references to mind. There's something truly beautiful about this record... melodically it's pretty obvious... but I also enjoyed reading about how it's a tribute of sorts to his recently departed father. Immediately engaging. 

Shitty Life - Limits To Growth

There are certain things that will grab my attention when looking through the vast ocean of music that is Bandcamp. One thing that will always catch my attention is album artwork that's clearly the insert for a cassette tape release. Music therein will be worth my time, nearly 75% of the time. The other is profanity. 

I cannot help it. Arrested development is not just a funny TV show, it's something that happened to me in my youth. Poop jokes never have fallen out of fashion for me, unfortunately for my wife. 

This is just a great Italian punk band that I have no notes for. The music is catchy and hard without the trappings of that pop punk schlock. 10/10.

Generacion Suicida - Todo Termina 12" (2015)

Took a couple of days off there, but I'm coming back with a noisy vengeance. You may recall the blog Teenage Lobotomy and the label that its Croatian writer began, Doomtown Records. If not you should double back and check out most righteous releases Divided Minds and Modern Delusion, which I've already written up. Today, we've got one of the newest releases from the burgeoning label, Generacion Suicida.

In what appears to be Doomtown's preferred style Generacion Suicida is an outfit that makes very loud, fast punk rock. This isn't to imply that the music of all the bands are the same, but they share the attributes of lo-fi punk. In fact Generacion Suicida is quite different from either of the releases from the label I've previously mentioned. Most obviously that the songs are sung excitedly in Spanish. Even went so far as to call it Latino punk. And the songs are everything you'd hope for from such a descriptor. Todo Termina doesn't have a dull moment, hardly even a second to take a breath. Moreover, it is incredibly well executed music, far from merely a sloppy mess. They clearly know their way around their instruments and any fuzz, distortion and otherwise is a purposeful effort. Punk rock from L.A., sung completely in Spanish, issued by a Zagreb-based indie label. Oh, and Spain's Trabuc Records and France's Symphony of Destruction Records. Can't say nothing good came from globalization. 

To be had here:
Generacion Suicida - Todo Termina 12"

EP Grab Bag vol. 66

The latest selections of EPs that I've heard. An assortment of submitted material and my explorations of labels that I've found interesting from prior submissions and poking around in the catalogs of. I feel like between Elvis and I that we burn right through the EPs we get sent, so I particular encourage you to send your band's EP in or tell your music making pals about it. They don't even have to be especially new, but it helps if they sound fucking sweet. Naturally, these are not in any order other than just what I clicked on first.

To be had here:

The Madcaps - The Madcaps (2014)

To begin with a French lo-fi garage punk band, which is nearly without question something I'd be down to fuck around with. This EP was put out by the French label, Howlin' Banana that you might recall from the last Grab Bag with Qúetzal Snåkes. So anyway, this Rennes-based group has a far more retro sound that will invoke the 60s pop and rock. The songs are even sung in English, which lends to the feeling of mimicking the British Invasion. However I think it is in an irreverent, tongue-in-cheek attitude based on the lyrics. Yet all that said, I cannot deny for a fucking second that they songs are absolutely fucking amazing.

The Cruelest Animal - After The Waves Devour Us All (2014)

A submitted EP from a Los Angeles band that makes some heavy-duty tunes. Combining aspects of electronica and metal with things I am too oblivious to recognize these guys have made some music that is intense, full and as rhythmic as it is dissonant at times. It kinda sounded like club music for robots and hulks, and that is to say the only sort of club music there ever need be. I mean this shit got me pumped up in unexpected ways and each time left me thinking it could've been longer and I would have just kept liking it.

Pain Dimension - Brainwash (2014)

Bopping right back to France with this Parisian band. These guys have been associated with Cheap Miami, a label that is endearing itself to me every week lately. This EP is made up of fuzzy, loose psychedelia bringing constant bass, flailing guitar and distorted singing. Bluesy, incomprehensible, bass-heavy and energized enough to shoot a rocket into the air. This fits right into the sweet, sweet void that my soul has and makes me forget troubles. My motherfucking bread and butter, dogs. For real, I think if my heart beat to these rhythms I'd be a superman.

Calliope - ORBIS (2014)

Now I drop the closest to my home we'll get today with fellow Midwesterners from Milwaukee. When I put this release on for the first time I was like "yeah, could dig this..." and by the second track I was already thinking "shit, this is really damn fine." The vaguely country-punk vocals really charmed me utterly. Then the instrumentation's softly psychedelic vibe with a bluesy and purposefully retro sound sold me completely on Calliope. I must imagine to see them live is a real treat, and I don't mean that to take a thing away from the wondrous recording they've got here.

Czar Rose - Death Honey (2014)

Trip hop is a genre that emerged out of Bristol's graffiti and breakdance scene in the early 1990s. Many credit a group called The Wild Bunch, which was a conglomerate of DJs and vocalists, with creating the genre, which would peak in it's popularity thanks to one of The Wild Bunch's original contributors, a sinister alien-voiced rapper by the name of Tricky. Other notable members of the group include all 3 original members of Massive Attack (probably most well known in the States for writing the song used in the opening credits of House), and Nellee Hooper, a former member of of one hit wonder RnB group Soul II Soul and current big time producer who has worked with the likes of U2 and Madonna.

While Tricky and Massive Attack still make records (and are reportedly collaborating on an upcoming release), it's not everyday you come across new contributors to the genre of trip hop, which seems to almost not exist anymore. But if there's one city in the United States that resembles the cold, grey, economically struggling city that was Bristol in the early 1990s, it's .... Los Angeles?

Czar Rose, a duo that hails from the sunny city of angels, harnesses the sound of Mezzanine-era Massive Attack pretty damn well. Slick hip hop beats slowed from 120 to 80 BPM, marauding baselines with lush arrangements over top, this is music for rainy, city nights. They manage to put their own swing on the sound, adding occasional guitar to the mix and, at least on the last song and album namesake "Death Honey", a mega-compressed beat reminiscent of another LA-based artist of recent repute, Flying Lotus.

Overall the vocal delivery feels slightly derivative of Robert Del Naja's airy, cigarette-scorched voice. Also in the last song, the vocalist (can't tell if it's a different vocalist or the same with a voice-deepening effect) sounds incredibly similar to the foreboding croon of other Massive Attack vocalist, Daddy G. Can I hold this against Czar Rose? Fuck no. Massive Attack were a favorite band of mine for years and to head sic a true-to-form contribution nearly 20 years later, it's a valid homage (even if they didn't mean it to be).

I applaud Czar Rose for this solid contribution to a genre that's ripe for return.

7 songs, pay what you want.

lightsystem - Lost Language (2013)

Los Angeles has seen a sizable, consistent, progressive music scene develop over the last two decades. When you have  a city with so many cultures and ideas forced to mix together, it is hard not to follow your music down the fusion proverbial hole. Some have borrowed from the 60s and 70s British scene, others embracing the metal and dark drone sounds. lightsystem seem to take from both while still charting the road Tool has well worn.

When the first track Glossolalia came through, other than the moody atmospherics one comes to expect from prog, I got a distinct whiff of Sting's Soul Cages, which was a pleasant surprise. I don't think I have ever recieved a press release from a band claiming to sound like Sting, so I hope they add that to their bio. Once the band worked its magic on their opening jam, it was time for the larger-than-life guitars and existential lyric embellishments. Well crafted epic tracks that did not drag or feel monotonous.

If this wasn't conceived as a soundtrack to some film, it should have been. Overall a very enjoyable release, I just wish I had a physical copy and was not limited to mp3 files.

Get it here:
lightsystem - Lost Language (2013)

Fatal Jamz - Vol. 1 (2013)

GNAR Tapes has been putting out an impressive number of out-there pop records over the last few years. They had a SXSW showcase this year, and have released splits with the always awesome Burger Records. Fatal Jamz is just one of those releases.

This tape is the work of Marion Belle of Bowery Beasts and Dan Horne of Beachwood Sparks, so you know the pop pedigree here is top-notch. Take out the Beach Boys inspired surf-rock used in some 50s summer flick and throw Fatal Jamz in its place, and you will have a workable soundtrack with just a tad more psychedelia. It’s polished, laid back, and I dare say timeless in its execution. 

Download it it here:

Fatal Jamz - Vol. 1 (2013)

Buy the tape:

GNAR Tapes

Ali Helnwein - Strange Creations (2012)

Ali Helnwein’s music is great Halloween fodder when you have exhausted your trashy garage-rock collection, and are looking for your own private backing track as you drift through your neighborhood half drunk and hopped up on candy. Released on cassette by Spring Break Tapes, this is probably the only tape I own from an artist that can boast that they have earned an Emmy. All that respectability permeates from this release!

Strange Creations calls to mind Danny Elfman’s Tim Burton soundtracks, as Ali weaves minimal string arrangements to perfectly fill an empty space. Tracks like “Greed” are whimsical yet sinister, reminding the listener that once the sun goes down, familiar places take on a baleful quality. As much as I enjoy Black Metal and Drone cassettes, this is the first tape I have played that my girlfriend also enjoyed, and I can sincerely say that this release should be in as many hands as possible.

Buy it here:
Ali Helnwein - Strange Creations (2012)