Todd Tobias - Tristes Tropiques (2015)

Had this album laying on the hard drive for a stretch and would have the worse of luck trying to sit down and hear it. My life seems much busier and I feel like I spend much more it waiting in lines and behind bad drivers than ever before. But seeing as it is unbearably hot the night I'm writing this and I cannot even pretend to try to sleep in my un-air-conditioned apartment I finally found myself with little recourse than to slip into the ambient with Todd Tobias.

Todd Tobias isn't new to SRM, I have very fond memories of listening to his Calvino-inspired album, Impossible Cities. Therefore, I entered listening to this album with some rather high expectations, which I am glad to report were not dashed in the slightest. The long, winding songs are all sublimely amorphous soundscapes. It is astounding how much weight is packed into every one of them despite their relatively sparse composition. It causes a transformative affect to occur in the diligent listener, altering mundane happenings into something absolutely poetic. For my second listen I sat on my balcony on a cloudy morning, watching birds peck around for food. With the help of Tobias's music, it was pretty damn epic.

Tristes Tropiques was released by Tiny Room Records and Hidden Shoal. Each labels worth worrying about to say the least. 

To be had here:
Todd Tobias - Tristes Tropiques

EP Grab Bag vol. 101

Back to basics with 101. One of the main things I've enjoyed about writing this blog over the years is the combination of new and returning artists that I get to experience. Hearing evolution and new beginnings all the time. So with that in mind here are a few new artists to the blog and a couple of returning favorites.

To be had here:

Lindberg Hotel - Cotton Chains (2015)

The second entry from this lo-fi band out of Curitiba, Brazil.  Do check out their prior work, but I can't imagine a better introduction to the band than this EP. Has three new songs and two covers, including an exceptionally good cover of the Velvet Underground's "I'll Be Your Mirror." Now, the first three tracks with you having them pegged as a power pop outfit that can do a fine cover, but listen to the final two to hear how warped and experimental they can be. A fine juxtaposition and some really really good musicianship.

Cities - Manning Alaska EP (2015)

A stunningly done post-rock experience from a Welsh band. The EP is remarkably accessible, even for the those who don't often listen to post-rock. This is because the songs are quick while being equally spacey and jazzy. The technically precision is akin to my buddy Frankacles's band Jura. I don't say this lightly, as Jura really had their ducks in a row. Not an album to be missed by most anyone, but certainly a must-hear for the post-rock fans.

Nevski - Nevski (2015)

French pop music is some of the damned best stuff ever. I always make sure there's a heathy supply of it playing at any place I work and any party where I can chose music at. That said, Nevski is not making a knock off of yé-yé from the 1960s, rather is a charming display of modern indie pop that happens to be sung in lovely French lyrics. The songs are all impeccable with some light, air musicianship and soft, sweet vocals. Really the sort of music that sells itself, just give it a listen.

Bicycle Day - City Streets (2015)

Here's a special treat, a new EP from Oakland's Bicycle Day. Some of you might recall their full-length, I Had A Place To Be, which came out July of 2014. A wonderful example of hazy garage rock causing me to eagerly look forward to hearing this new release. These four songs do nothing to disappoint, being fuzzy gems of post-punk-ish, droning rock. The track "Self-Help" has been my jam all day, and I doubt it'll stop being so quickly.

YONI YUM - Clam Glam (2015)

The second time I'm writing of this band as well. YONI YUM still very much strike me as an art rock project, albeit of an incredible self-aware and irreverent variety. The songs are catchy and the singer is remarkably talented at belting out all sorts of entertaining vocal flourishes. I listening to it while reading the Russian Futurist writings of Daniil Kharms and it was amazing how well these two different version of eccentric artistic expression gelled.

EP Grab Bag vol. 100

Took a bit but I got myself to sit down and listen to some of the now outrageously large pile of submitted material. There's no way I can really post it all, but these caught my eye and I feel they're very strong EPs that I would be remiss not to share with everyone I can. These span a pretty large geographic swath of the English-speaking world but mostly fall into the rough category of psychedelic lo-fi. Gotta love that lo-fi. Oh, and looks like we did this 100 times now...

To be had here:

The Diane Plains - Somnambulist EP (2015)

A London outfit that makes lo-fi experimental tunes that span a remarkable range of styles simultaneously. While all are rough and psychedelic, they sort of have one foot in the electronic sphere and another in the analog. It is like a chillwave band got some guitars and a drum kit before they set to it. I mean it is trippy, electronically manipulated and oddly nostalgic but still retains much of the trappings of shoegazing, psychedelic noodling and droning bliss that we all know and love. It hears tingly, if you get my drift.

Shredded Sun - Let It Collapse EP (2015)

Shredded Sun is a new formation of three members of the now defunct Fake Fictions. Sadly I'm not familiar with Fake Fictions, but I can say I'm already a fan of Shredded Sun. Lo-fi garage pop that has oddly poignant lyrics and experimental stretches. The shorter songs on this EP have already gotten solid locked into my head and I find myself thinking of them without realizing, however it'll be the two longer tracks "Change My Mind" and "Swing Philadelphia" make this EP most worthy of sharing.

Surprise Party - Circle of Death EP (2015)

There yet more lo-fi rock, this time coming from the Manitoban capital, Winnipeg. They've got the EP all tagged up with cute labels like 'disaster rock' and 'sexy music' but at it's core it is some fuzzy psych-rock. Don't get me wrong, it's lovely stuff. The very sort of washed out rock that I can't ever get tired of. It is somewhere between droning and jangling, certainly heavily influenced by shoegazing. I liked it enough to put checking out their full-length, Heart of Love, from last year on my agenda.

Nanaki - Dandelion Radio Session (2015)

Several times I have written up the music of the Manx musician known as Nanaki. I've always praised his epic, beautiful post-rock and still find it moving and wonderful to hear. He's still making astounding instrumental music in this EP, yet it shifts into a more post-punk/art rock mode. It is more showy and aggressive at times while other moments are surprisingly cheerful. Undoubtedly one of the more talented guitarist and composers I get submitted to this blog, can't recommend hear Nanaki enough.

Dusty Boots - Rebel on a Rainbow (2015)

Finally stirring away from the psychedelic, here's an example of charming contemporary folk. If this was from the U.S. I would call it New Weird America, but as it happens Dusty Boots is a man from Australia who wrote these songs with his girlfriend while sleeping in a van. It is happy and a bit hippie-like as you might imagine from that background, however this should not take away from how lovely these songs really are. I recommend it if you liked Rented Rooms by C. M. Slenko, Slight Birching or even the Nashville sound of Caleb Groh. 

Full Crumb - Maelstrom Protocol (2014)

Full Crumb are from the United Kingdom, not sure where exactly, as I wasn't told. Yet through an unknown series of events is being issued on cassette and digitally by the Athens, GA-based label Fall Break Records. However, after listening to Full Crumb's output, I can understand why they'd be eager to release it.

Maelstrom Protocol is a particularly tricky albums to describe. It really is the sort of thing that is best experienced without too much preface and pondered about by the listener for days afterwards during the likely sessions of re-listening. Truly a whole range of genres are applicable to the Maelstrom Protocol, being in near equal measure krautrock, British new wave, psychedelic, experimental pop and shitgaze. Perhaps the only caught-all term that works is art rock, but as we all know that doesn't tell you much about the songs really sounds. Let's put it this way, there's something of Orange Juice or the Fire Engines sort of Scottish late-80s thing, strange audio clips serving as intros, dreamy pop numbers, and an overall feeling perverted reverence throughout. Go on, have a listen.

To be had here:
Full Crumb - Maelstrom Protocol

Nanaki - The Dying Light (2014)

Nanaki is the moniker of a Manx musician that makes experimental instrumental. In fact he has been making it for some time now, and this is his first full-length album since 2003. He hasn't been silent in the meantime, there was an EP he released early last year called Afterlight. As the title of this new album poetically implies, The Dying Light is a follow-up to that EP and expands the guitar-heavy post-rock to an epic scale.

Much of the music Nanaki makes on this new album is gets near post-metal in the degree of heavy guitar playing, but I'd place it nearer bands like Lebanon, Maserati and Kinski which I compared the Swiss band, Viaticum, to as well. During seven minute plus songs "Unholier Than Thou," Nanaki seems to be at the pinnacle of his guitar-wielding powers. However, the style of the album doesn't stay to the droning post-rock guitar throughout. Roughly halfway it gets more experimental and some of the tracks, such as "Perpetual Commotion" begin to veer away from the guitar and rely more on the piano in an elegant mid-album tonal shift. Thereafter the songs become more cinematic, the piano creating the effect of many unseen tales having taken place with these enthralling compositions in the background. While I'm not familiar with his music prior to his elongated period of hiatus, I can confidently say he is growing in composition skills since Afterlight already. The longer, more dramatic songs really allow him to paint a sonic landscape more thoroughly and rewardingly.

To be had here:
Nanaki - The Dying Light

EP Grab Bag vol. 86

What we have here is a little exercise in Scandinavian-American relations. I have taken to calling this "Scando-Amero Amigos" in my mind. Hope that particular coinage makes it into the zeitgeist. Three EPs from the United States plus one each from Sweden and Finland. A transatlantic mixing of artistic, chaotic, acoustic and psychedelic sounds.

To be had here:

This Heel - e.p. (2015)

All the way from Malmö, Sweden we've got some sweet noise pop. Three tracks that are full of exciting fuzz and some excellent bass rumbling beneath, then an acoustic number that's all the remarkably sweet after experiencing the energetic songs before it. This nine minute EP shows they've got the chops for both noise pop or folk. If you a fan of lo-fi rock you gotta at least treat yourself to "A Man In The Mirror." I can't get it out of my head. Also, This Heel is a side project of Dog, Paper, Submarine and will be put out by Small Bear Records.

Sun Cinema - Symmetry (2014)

I stumbled upon this Philadelphia band looking for I forget what... Doesn't matter what I was looking because I found Sun Cinema. They've got all sorts of tags on this that seem like nonsense to me, for they're not funk or garage, rather they seem like an artsy indie rock outfit. And they're fucking good at that, so it's nothing to hide under a bushel basket. The songs are fantastically well composed. They seem like the exact sort of thing that could attract a lot of attention and playtime by more than just a no-name blogger like myself.

YoloSuicide - i listened to your answering machine, got nervous and hung up (2014)

YoloSuicide is a woman from Postdam, New York that is expressing herself the best she can with a few short songs concerning this damnably confusing concepts of love and sadness. Seem sappy? Sure it is a bit, but also beautiful and simple. These are as much poems recited aloud with a guitar strumming as they are songs. It certainly helps that she is a good poet, at least according to my sensibilities. Only a coldhearted fool couldn't help but be charmed by them at least a little bit.

Lasten Hautausmaa - Lasten Hautausmaa (2014)

I can't say the name of this band, nor can I understand the Finnish that they sing in. No surprises there, but also unshockingly I fucking love this EP. Finding it was no accident is related to an envisioned series of posts I have been pondering, but for now we need to focus on Lasten Hautausmaa. It has got it all, melodic and entrancing vocals in an language you can't even pretend to get over a mixture of folk, rock and world elements into something unbelievably righteous. If the first tune, "Kiputyttö," doesn't hook you then you may be dead inside.

SPANYURD - OOW EP (2014)

It has been some time since I have post any noise rock this harsh. I mean this shit is Lightning Bolt, Le Shok or Lake of Dracula harsh. It is near utter chaos that only lets up so the singer can give you the whillies with how he gets all creepy. So yeah, it is pretty damned cool. Came to be by way of Evan Lacksmer who plays in this and a few other Chicago outfits and is buddies with math rock duo, Imelda Marcos. After hearing this your might question who would be friends with such a fella, but don't worry he won't come to your house as you enjoy the noise. I don't think he will at least.

Todd Tobias - Impossible Cities (2014)

Todd Tobias, who is one half of Brother Earth, has made an album inspired by Italo Calvino's book, Invisible Cities. Calvino is a writer I like tremendously, and I have been 80% done with Invisible Cities for about a year now, but after misplacing it I just haven't found my way back to polishing off the last few pages for whatever reason, though this album might be the kick in the ass I need. However, as the book has no linear plot, is filled with creative anachronisms and intensely poetic passages nominal based on an city that Marco Polo describes to Kublai Khan discussing death, memory and all sorts of existential issues it is a doozy to comprehend. And Todd Tobias thought it was good fodder for an album. Turns out he was totally right.

Borrowing the titles of the album and the tracks from the text of the book, Impossible Cities, is eccentric and unexpected as Calvino's writings in many ways. Purely instrumental the songs paint a picture, a sonic landscape akin to the prose poems of literature. They range from spooky and sparse ambient compositions to melodic and harmonized psychedelic experiments. While the book itself often as not provoke no small amount of dismay for me, Tobias's album had none of the negative dilemmas. It proves to be a delightful, unique experience. Impossible Cities has been released by the Australian label, Hidden Shoal, the guys that put out Makee, Markus Mehr and Kramies just to name a few. Streaming on bandcamp naturally, downloadable for a $7 and CDs available.

To be had here:
Todd Tobias - Impossible Cities

Swimming in Bengal - Vol. 1 (2014)

The name of Swimming in Bengal and the album art adorning an elephant seemingly floating should be enough to suggest what sort of music is on this release. The band already summed it up nicely on their bandcamp and what I hope doesn't mark me as lazier than I am, I'll relate that: "Improvised out-jazz/art rock with a focus on Middle Eastern/South Asian melody, rhythms, and drones." 

That would have been more than enough to have gotten me to give this album a listen, but I didn't get this album sent in, not in a straightforward fashion at least. However, a couple of years ago I was sent in an EP called Drought Times by a group called San Kazakgascar, which proved to be an incredible listen and well-received by those few readers that give me feedback. In an unfocused review of past posts and I have curious to see what that group had released since only to find a new name but on the same bandcamp page, on the same tiny label, Lather Records. It seems San Kazakgascar took a break and the gourd guitarist (yeah, gourd guitar, people) formed a new group to make music inspired by the Indian Subcontinent and Middle East. Swimming in Bengal is this renewed effort's results, and if the naming Vol. 1 is a hint, hopefully just the beginning in a series of releases.

Now, this is improvisational music, a sort of free jazz with Eastern instruments. Therefore, it is something to be heard while chilling out and having something at least a touch mind altering, even if that's just a nice pipe of tobacco or a bottle of cheap wine. Or it could be Larry's weekly allowance for robotripping, however you manage it, the album is fucking great when you get into the right headspace. You'll know it when you get there. Or hear it sober, it is still great.

To be had here:
Swimming in Bengal - Vol. 1

TURN TO CRIME - Can't Love (2014)

I got a ticket today, going to the suburbs to get my brother to help me out with food to eat, that's how tight my budget has gotten. Of course I got popped in a money grabbing speed trap if the fuckhole city of Ferndale, MI. Go there, get $40 in food and $150 ticket for my troubles, fuck them. There's gonna be some unruly city council meetings in the future if I get my way. Nothing to lose when your broke I guess. Anyhow, I needed something to redeem my faith in the Detroit region, and I've found it in Can't Love by TURN TO CRIME. Let's hope it quells my rage before I get myself arrested... again.

TURN TO CRIME seems to be a getting a reputation, perhaps more than most Detroit bands I've run across in recent months. So for me not to throw in my two cents about this band might be a small and less than noteworthy thing as this group has gotten press from much more significant outlets like Stereogum and The Fader, yet I don't suppose that's any reason to penalize them at all and not to share them as they are meeting the core requirement of this blog. This being as simple as having the album be streamable online and someone that writes here likes it. It isn't an album that's easy to place genre-wise, as it shifts from song to song from post-punk to noisy ambient pop and always has anti-pop irregular catchiness inherited from Lou Reed. If you forced it, you could called Can't Love art-pop, which is code for classily undefinable. As in someone knows how pop music works but can subvert it enough to make it into something more than popcorn. Some of the songs like "Nightmares" are totally noise-filled post-punk, which I do enjoy, however the real brilliance is in the very Velvet Underground-esque songs "Sunday's Cool" and "Forgiveness." I can already hear the out podcast pal Craig saying he'd rather just play VU, but I like to hear something new too, even if it is recalling something old. Everything is a building mound of cultural references and struggles to sort and redefining yourself against and in harmony them. Which I'll keep in mind when I am yelling at suburban officials and know I am hopeless underpowered to succeed. I won't be the first one nor the last.

To be had here:
TURN TO CRIME - Can't Love

Grime Kings - Honeymooning (2014)

Grime Kings is the work of an Ottawa-based musician named Callum Runciman. Although it sounds like a full band plays these 11 songs on 'Honeymooning", his second full length, the credits specifically state that all songs and instruments are by the hand of Callum. So, he's a bit of a phenom, as you are about to hear should you be smart enough to sit with this record ASAP. Super proficient and inventive musicianship, production, and chord progressions.. especially for a guy that, from what I understand, is in his early 20s.

Perhaps youth is why these songs, which are like lo-fi progressive pop songs with a fever, are so cerebral. Fewer years obliterating brain cells with alcohol. But you know how when you get a high fever and you become dizzy and your thoughts are crooked and slightly manic? Callum Runciman must feel like that all the time. Luckily his music doesn't suffer for it.

However, at times "Honeymooning" delivers so many ideas that songs can sort of explode, leaving smears of color slowly dripping down your walls. The danger with this, is being able to reign that chaos back into something that's both cohesive and relateable. Experimentalism is best when you can still make some sense out of it - without having to be a musician yourself. Grime Kings goes to both extremes: at times engaging and at times alien. The turnover happens quickly enough, though, that you're never left waiting long before you're reminded that you're listening to some very unique and very, very fucking awesome rock music.

Grime Kings - Honeymooning

EP Grab Bag vol. 55

Last time I poached from the top of the submission pile in an a fit of laziness (excuse my oxymoronic phrase). These I dug a bit deeper into so my apologies to the musicians for the tardiness but better late than never as they say.

To be had here:

White Owl - Death to White Owl EP (2014)

Coming from Bristol, UK is the lo-fi garage rock band White Owl. I am aware of at least one member of this band having been in the previously written-up, now defunct group, the Moles. It's slow, humming sort of garage sung with a hypnotic British accent that gives it a romantic quality to my decidedly American ears. It gets quite psychedelic, especially the guitar playing, yet they've also a healthy amount of punk. These four lovely tracks left me wishing they already had a full-length for me to hear. Also get their prior EP, Death to the Blind Owl.

Phooey! - Hello, Doubt (2014)

Straight out of the international headlines and to your ears come the youth of Ukraine, this time with a six track EP. Phooey! reminds me of The Floral Prints from the last Grab Bag with their skirting screamo at times. However, the real shining songs on this EP are the latter ones as they become more bizarrely psych-pop (who would have guessed I preferred that, eh?). They most certainly got me pondering on what direction they'll go from here.

 Geyser - Geyser (2014)

Post-punk/garage rock from, well I am not sure (hopefully they tell me). This EP caught my attention immediately and held it firm. Four excellently crafted rock songs that I am sure I'll be playing frequently in the days to come. It is heavy guitar and unintelligible singing that one could liken to Oblivions, the Hiss or even those defunct but not forgotten South African wonders the Revelators. I loved every second of the EP and positively demand more from this group.

Kudzu - Fliesch Parade (2014)

Remember this awesome album by the Gorlons that we shared with you all here and on the podcast? Well, it just so happens the keyboardist and bassist of that outfit play in another band called Kudzu. This is there EP from January this year, and it is four solid psychedelic tracks. While all the songs are short and ridiculously easy to re-listen to over and over, I love the very short "Same Wife" and it has served as a tiny anthem for me lately. Not sure why, never had a wife at all.



Feefawfum - Feefawfum (2013)

Quite late of to the game on this one, but it got lost in the shuffle. However, I decided to post it now anyway because it is pretty bizarre and that sort of shit as been really tickling my fancy lately. Feefawfum are from Montreal and they play experimental music in the vein of Captain Beefhart and the Minutemen, and they also cite prog influence such as King Crimson. Trust me it is weird, like totally weird, but it is cool and jazzy all the same and I had little trouble getting into it.

The Sea Life - In Basements (2012)

The full-length follow-up to the EP by the Sea Life that was part of the 17th Grab Bag. There's only one track carried over from the EP (the most wonderful song "Sleep"), with the remainder being material that was at very least all new to me. The Sea Life has found a most charming blending of styles like shoegaze, indie pop and general lo-fi fuzz. They're capable of being awesomely dreamy for a track and then shift into a flawlessly guitar-driven number just after. I do try to give most everything that I put up on the blog 3 or more listens before writing anything up, but I must have listened to this album 3 times daily for over a week. What more is there to know, they done did it right.

To be had here:
The Sea Life - In Basements

Antique Pony - Museum of Blood (2012)

An eccentric album from a Glasgow-based group of self-professed art rockers. The songs shift in mood and style throughout the album, but altogether they've got a wonderful mosaic of neatly strange tracks. It reminds me of a mingling of various bands I' gonna rattle off knowing full well it'll makes sense to like 3 people on earth: Bunky, Bablicon and Pill Wonder. However, an easier comparison would be Deerhoof, you all know that, right? Regardless of similarities they're doing their own odd thing and doing it right. Really do make the effort to listen to the album fully in one sitting. I found that really rewarding, even if slightly exsperating of the unsettling moods created from my reading Knut Hamsun's Hunger simultaneously. You get what you ask for though.

To be had here:
Antique Pony - Museum of Blood

EP Grab Bag vol. 18

Here's what I've got to offer out of the old submissions box. I think it is a pretty fair crowd of EPs to be heard and none of them the garage rock or lo-fi whatnots I preach about. Good to get around with music even if it is discouraged in other facets of life.

To be had here:

Marble Lion - Foliage EP (2011)

A four song EP from a Montreal based band. They've got a pop/noise sound going on incorporates spoken word and ambient sounds to provide the songs with a cinematic vibe. They've got a sweet middling tone that's between cheerful and gloomy. Lends the EP that profoundness normally the realm of post-rock epics but in shorter doses.
 

Tres Face Von Dingo/Goat Lightning - C.D.D 1-5-3 (2011)

A split album with 5:1 ratio of songs between Tres Face Von Dingo and Goat Lightning. How these cats decided to make a split is unknown to me, as one's tagged from Missoula and Boston for the other. Fuzzed out, jangly sort of numbers from the former with a singer that's vaguely reminiscence on Coner Oberst. The latter's offering is a psychedelic electronic tracks that imaginatively loops about (note: they linked me to something else orginally, but it's all good). Purchasable at the label's site.


Johnny Newman - Late Summer, Red River (2012)

This fella's a folk musician whose reference to nature in his lyrics are picturesque. Does remind me of acts like the Tallest Man On Earth, Josephine Foster or even Pete Seeger, yet his vocals are more plain-spoken and clear than either of them. His poetic use of words makes for as fine traditional folk as I've heard lately. Streaming via bandcamp and to be bought for $6.




 Tuber - Tuber EP 12" (2012)

This is a real fresh one for a change. Tuber is an instrumental post-rock from Greece with the membership consisting of three brothers. They play on the heavier side of post-rock so many would likely aver to classify it as stoner rock. Whatever terminology makes you more comfortable is fine but the music shouldn't be underestimated. Epic is something these boys have got down to an art, makes me wanna go back and listen to Maserati and Tracer AMC.

U.S. Maple - Long Hair In Three Stages (1995)

I don't know why I came into work today ...I should be eating meat and drinking beer in honor of those who have served this crazy nation. Though I don't know how anyone can eat meat after hearing about what happened in Miami this weekend. And while I can't imagine what would be going through my head if a naked man was eating my face, I can imagine the soundtrack to such a scene sounding like U.S. Maple's Long Hair In Three Stages.

This is a band that no one sounded like before and no one will sound like ever again. They formed with the express intention to deconstruct rock music. All the key elements are still there; melody, harmony, rhythm. But there isn't any chorus you can sing along to, as vocalist Al Johnson wheezes and coos unintelligible lyrics. Years ago, my brother likened his singing style to cartoon character Snagglepuss talking with his tongue cut out... and I still think that's pretty spot on. There are no major or minor chords in the guitars ...they squeal, meander and buzz in a drunken and mechanized, insectile anger. The rhythm section is probably the most conventional element to the band, keeping the insanity of the guitars and vocals grounded into something discernible as rock music. 

If you're at all into dissonant bands like Brainiac or The Jesus Lizard, you might like this. Not for everyone's tastes but worth a listen if you want to hear something new and strange.

Produced by Jim O'Rourke, who has produced records by Sonic Youth, Smog, and Wilco... among many other greats.

U.S. Maple - Long Hair In Three Stages

WET PAINT DMM - DMM (2009)

Wet Paint DMM are a now defunct Seattle 3-piece who are too good to not share with you, though I'm having difficulty describing their sound in a non-convoluted way. I keep wanting to say "deconstructionist post-punk performance art" but then I immediately want to punch myself in the mouth.

Their sound is minimal - one drummer, one guitarist, and one singer - but what they achieve is quite dynamic.

The drums provide a brutal, dark and tribal canvas over which the guitarist paints strange and dissonant colors. At times, like on "IT IS THERAPEUTIC"  and "LION TAMER", the guitar sounds like it's being played through circuit-bent effects processors. The most striking element of Wet Paint, however, is their powerful vocalist. Her dramatic delivery is just that: part poetry, part performance. At times she sings, but mostly it's a very animated and urgent one-sided conversation that sometimes devolves into moaning or animal noises ... like she's either having an orgasm or killing someone. Maybe she's doing both. Her contribution alone would put Wet Paint's non-existant record into the "Kabuki theater performed in an insane asylum" section of the record store.

Long and short of it is... Wet Paint's sound is dichotomous and treads lines between art and rock; sex and nightmares; blood/soil and extraterrestrial mechanics. It's intellectual meets visceral, the line between which lies the heart. It's postmodern, I suppose, but without pretension because what they achieve is very authentic and full of heart.

This is aortic music ...bubbling up from a prehistoric stew.

Wet Paint DMM - DMM

SexyWaterSpiders - Black Gold (2010)

When I moved to Portland, Oregon, one of the first things I noticed were the bumper stickers and signs everywhere that read "Keep Portland Weird". Over the course of that first year, Portland's weirdness revealed itself in many ways, usually in the form of costumed pub crawls and costumed (or naked) bike rides. At first I was intrigued by the weirdness; then proud. I even participated in a pub crawl dressed as a lumberjack in hot pants. But everyone gets to the point where Portland's weirdness becomes embarrassing and/or annoying, as it has for me 6 years later.

Listening to SexyWaterSpiders, though, I've become intrigued again. 

A Portland by way of Salem trio, SexyWaterSpiders play an adolescent, bluesy psych rock. They don't take themselves too seriously, and they don't want you to take them too seriously, either. This point is made evident by their 10 minute forays into new age psych pop and cheesy power metal. Actually, all the songs on Black Gold have a tongue in cheek sneer through which the tongue is more directed at the listener …almost to test your patience and ask "why so serious?"

First listen aside, they aren't just a weird Portland band. They're a breath of fresh air in a city that's nearly choking to death with conventional rock bands uninterested in testing the boundaries of their own "coolness". That said, there is something undeniably cool about them. Their songs are good and at times evoke the likes of Jon Spencer, Royal Trux, Railroad Jerk …even The Fugs. And while they may not be as garage or punk as those groups, the SexyWaterSpiders approach their music with a similar playfulness that escapes a lot of musicians these days.

Loosen your buttons.

SexyWaterSpiders - Black Gold

Spiral - The Traveler (2012) & The Capital in Ruins (2011)

An interesting project from Albuquerque, wherein these fellas are aiming to make a story in three parts via space rock/prog rock albums. So far the first two parts are completed and downloadable, both filled with epically long tracks that are as much a poetic story as psychedelic rock. Almost seems like the sort of thing one might stumble across as a rare recording by a 1970s German progressive rock collective, but even better as the lyrics can be read on their bandcamp page. They provide an overview of the story on the page for The Capital in Ruins. However, even if you're now down for story time, it is the music is worth hearing if you're a fan of haunting psych/prog rock or have a thing for long-ass tracks. Certainly gotta give them credit for being so ambitious.

To be had here:




The Traveler











The Capital in Ruins

Fat History Month - A Gorilla (2011) & Fucking Despair (2011)

The fine gentleman at Sweaters & Pearls Records was cool enough to send me some of their releases on 7" vinyl. First vinyl I've gotten in the mail and was quite jazzed to receive it, so many thanks. Fat History Month was just one of two bands I was given, in particular their A Gorilla EP. However, I felt each band had enough for me to write up separately. Fucking Despair was the full-length that came out before A Gorilla, on Sophomore Lounge Records. It is arty lo-fi rock with spoken word sections mingling with singing, sorta like Car Seat Headrest and Forest Porridge in that sense. Guitars that shuffle between droning and melodies are what stood out most strikingly to me when I first these these guys. The style of A Gorilla is the same, if perhaps a bit more brooding, which is to be expected when it was release right on the heels on the LP. However, they're both finely made releases. The goldenrod colored transparent vinyl that A Gorilla is pressed on is certainly a nice aesthetic touch as well. I'm linking to the bandcamp pages for the releases below where all the songs can be streamed and purchased, or if you want to go directly through the label you can find those links within this posting.

To be had here:




A Gorilla











Fucking Despair

Destroy All Monsters - Bored (1999)

Destroy All Monsters is a band I should've had up here a long time ago. Many will be familiar with the band due to Thurston Moore issuing a large compilation of their songs in the 1994, and since there has been several more new live and studio albums released. What makes Destroy All Monsters a big deal is that it was a cutting edge sound when the band played shows in the mid-70s and how it was embraced by members of Southeast Michigan's rock and roll notables, such as members of MC5 and the Stooges joining their ranks. American post-punk of the late 70s and 80s has some considerable roots in acts like this, using unconventional insturmentation like vacuum cleaners and what have you along with the unrefined style of composition. While Bored isn't that wild if compared to other shit I've heard, the connection of Destroy All Monsters and Sonic Youth or fellow Ann Arbor band Half Japanese are undeniable. The singer, Niagara, and Jad Fair have an eerily similar cadence to their vocals. For a band that never released a proper album in their original stint nor got too much popularity outside of North American and Japanese experimental rock fans, it did have a disproportionate impact. Bored is a good starting off point as it is rather easily digestible and much stranger music of the band can be sought afterward.

To be had here:
Destroy All Monsters - Bored [192 kbps]