Disco Doom - Mt. Surreal (2022)

Disco Doom is a Zurich-based band who have been active since 2002 when they released their first EP on their own record label, Defer Records. 20 years later, the band released Mt. Surreal - their 5th full length album - also released through their own Swiss record label but released in the US through Exploding In Sound Records out of Jersey City. 

I found out about this band as I've been recently obsessed the band Helvetia. Upon purchasing a Helvetia record on bandcamp, I see Disco Doom being personally recommended by Jason Albertini from Helvetia - who I would learn also played drums on Disco Doom's third full length, Trux Reverb, which was released in the US through The Static Cult Label, a label co-started by Duster's Clay Parton Albertini also played in Duster). 

So I give this album a listen and it's fucking great, as are the other releases by Disco Doom, who seem to only have gotten better with time. Weirdly enough, people don't really talk about this band. I can't find their album stocked in, supposedly wonderful, NJ record stores either despite being peddled by a local label. 

 

The band has an experimental indie rock vibe that's simultaneously minimal and psychedelic. They have moments where they are Built to Spill-esque if all the lushness was stripped away in favor of sparsity. They have toured with Built to Spill so this comparison might be too easy... I'm actually having a hard time finding a comparison. The music's very approachable but also slightly off-kilter and tense. Like Helvetia, they have a solid and steady rhythm section providing the canvas, but everything else ... the guitars, vocals and sonic ornamentation... is dripped and splattered across like paint from a saturated brush. It's not as chaotic as a Jackson Pollock, Disco Doom is more Pat Steir or Cy Twombly. 

Criminally underrated. 

8 songs.

Disco Doom - Mt. Surreal

Oscar Key Sung - Tape Voice EP (2012)

Still unsure about seeing the new Star Wars. I just get immediately suspicious of anything cultural that I feel is being shoved in my face. Like Adele, I don't know her music but I know I don't like it. Just think about this for a second: Hollywood will be flogging the jedi cash cow for the rest of your life on this planet. We will never be free from the question, "Have you seen the new Star Wars?" Never free from storm troopers advancing into department store television advertisements.

Not necessarily wanting to be left out of a cultural phenomenon, while not having the inclination to participate, I've decided to carry a standardized response to the "Have you seen the new Star Wars movie" question... which is "YEAH I SAW IT AND IT WAS COMPLETE GARBAGE"... just so it appears that I'm at least trying to keep up with things of cultural relevance, while encouraging those who ask to never repeat the question. Bah humbug.

I'm much more inclined to champion and gush over the great music of obscure folks who I think should be less obscure. For example, I was pleasantly surprised by this EP from Melbourne-based Oscar Key Sung. He seems to really have a knack using his voice as an instrument and not just a vehicle for delivering lyrics. Medulla-era Björk immediately comes to mind. The glitch-synth-drum loop elements suggest a Prefuse 73 influence. It's like Max Tundra - but instead of making you feel weird it makes you feel the mood for sexy times.

Free download, 4 songs.


Oscar Key Sung - Tape Voice EP

Pulco - Innovation In The Trade (2015)

Pulco has touched many soft spots of mine. Firstly, he's from Wales, and like many folks I have a endearment to the underdog, even in a rivalry between nations and cultures, which makes Wales a romantic place in my mind. Secondly, the album art is a simple abstract piece that reminds me fondly of Wassily Kandinsky. And finally the music is bizarre, artsy and utilizes spoken word like a British twee pop band I've greatly admired for years, Death By Chocolate (they were circa 2001, for if you google that name you'll first find some newer outfit I'm unfamiliar with). Basically, this Welshman had a lot going for him right away and he was anything but a let down.

That Pulco's music is technically impressive while being lo-fi and so well-composed for experimental tunes makes sense considering the man behind the project, Ash Cooke, has been an accomplished musician for a bit now. He was a member of the group Derrero, who've got several albums out, have toured some some great bands including a favorite of mine, Super Furry Animals, and even got to sit down with John Peel. However, I am not acquainted with that band, not yet at least, but I can very much vouch for Pulco's Innovation In The Trade. As I referenced earlier the album bears a likeness to the spoken word-laden indie pop I recall from over a decade ago, this is particularly apparent in whimsically enjoyable tracks like "The Blazing Hat Pt.2," "Graham" and "Stan & The Bike" were the 'lyrics' are more of recited poetry or storytelling. On the other hand "A Ferry To Your Own Life," "Prank" and "A Man Shouts" show how incredible of a writer of pop songs Mr. Cooke is capable of being. Or there's ones where it just gets weird such as "Fan Heater" and "Pabell." It's a multifaceted effort that's very coherently woven together. If you want more of this, you're in luck as he's got quite the catalog on to browse through on bandcamp.

To be had here:
Pulco - Innovation In The Trade

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

Opposites - Poorly Captured Practice Vol. 3 (2014)

Chicago's Opposites have a loose sound and structure, as they name of this album would imply, as if they were practicing. This doesn't mean it isn't interesting, more that there's a certain lack of urgency that makes the songs relaxing, even when they're relatively fast. Once again I am gonna have to rely on my love of Elephant 6 for a comparison, as the singing reminds me of Andy Gonzalez of Marshmallow Coast, and the vibe of the album reminds me of his Marta Tennae side project. Strange, psychedelic but never overwhelming or intense, a subtle but effective sort of meandering in sounds. Although, Opposites seem to have a more rock and roll sound that those projects, the feeling is there. All that said, I felt very comfortable listening to this and found myself endearing to the tracks and looking forward to the same little bits and flourishes with each play.

This album is being put out by Grandpa Bay Recordings of Chicago, which some of the more attentive readers may recall from the Mao Tzu albums they've releases in the past, including the split with This is Lorelei earlier this year.

To be had here:
Opposites - Poorly Captured Practice Vol. 3

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

Alex Calder - Strange Dreams (2014)

Sometimes I enjoy a record so much that I forget that I was going to write about it. Or sometimes it's not that I forget, but that I delay writing anything because no words seem to do the music justice.

A combination of the two has kept me from sharing Alex Calder's "Strange Dreams" for nearly a month now.

Alex Calder is a Canadian songwriter out of Montreal that makes curious and bewitching indie-psych songs. It's pop without sugar. It follow conventional formulas but the production and melodies are creative without being too colorful. A few years back he was the drummer of a great Canadian band out of Vancouver called Makeout Videotape, which also featured current Pitchfork indie darling, Mac Demarco. There are stylistic similarities in the production of "Strange Dreams" and Demarco's output, and both songwriters have releases on Brooklyn's excellent Captured Tracks. This makes me think think one or the other is involved with one or the others solo stuff... or maybe, JUST MAYBE, they're the same fucking person.

If only we had indie rock conspiracies.

Anyone familiar with Demarco's records will hear what I mean. There's a pervading warble... a bending in and out of tune.. the kind of warping that happens to cassette tapes that have been in a moist basement for 15 years. This slightly detuned effect gives the music a strange and dreamlike quality. So... great name for this release.

Psychedelic bedroom pop with an unsettling quality. "Strange Dreams" is a perfect records for days so hot and humid that your brain begins to denature and you become one with your clothing.

10,000 stars.

Alex Calder - Strange Dreams

Basic Printer - Moon Gear (2012)

Here we have a submission from Jesse Gillenwalters of Binghamton, NY, who makes creative electronic pop songs under the moniker of Basic Printer. "Moon Gear" is one of an impressive 9 releases, and is a concept record where the music serves as soundtrack to a fictional game about the planet of Platonia. It's easy to imagine, at least if the game is a video game, as this is synth-heavy music lending immediately lush, warm and colorful tones to these 10 songs.

While "Moon Gear" is a very accessible listen, it's not a straight-up pop record by most stretches of the imagination. There are stringed instruments throughout steering this toward the realm of chamber pop but the warped synth tones, of which there are many, keep that tag at a long arm's length. The record overall also stretches into the progressive and weird, especially on "Flora Aetus" and my favorite track "Knockout Mouse". But Gillenwalters' voice maintains a pop timbre when not heavily effected, giving some songs a Max Tundra meets Har Mar Superstar sort of vibe.

This is the second record I've heard out of Binghamton, NY that I've really dug (the first being Underground River). I'll have to put Binghamton on the short list for a possible Scenes Of A City post (check out previous posts for Guayaquil, Ecuador and Vilnius, Lithuania).

Get it here:

Basic Printer - Moon Gear 

Red Pèrill - Planeta Crunch (2014)

I have a large number of club/dance records that can not be danced to. They exist solely for the distorted movements you create when drunk/high and in your room late at night in the absence of company. Many were made by experimental artists with a pop bent (or vice versa), so they are not simply an exercise in creating music that is a challenge; many of them are well recorded and have a sturdy beat to lead your feat, but are just strange enough to make their way off any respectable DJ's set-list. It's a shame really, and while you can find clubs that allow for such tunes on an odd Tuesday evening, they generally keep it boring and predictable.

There is nothing "boring and predictable" about Spain's Red Perill. This record leaps in each and every direction, a sign of a musician not willing to play it safe and stay within the confines of any one genre. Much like those dance records in my collection, the structure and heart of Perill's tracks is pop, but the scattered beats and vocals are anything but conventional. Hell, he reprises the title track of this record with an acid-jazz drenched variation that was my favorite track on the record.

It costs a few Euros, but at least give it a stream on Bandcamp.

Get it here:
Red Pèrill - Planeta Crunch (2014)

Memory in Plant - This Love (2014)

Memory in Plant are not new to this blog. This Israeli band's single from a few months back received glowing marks here at the site and on the podcast and earned them a spot in the SRM hierarchy.

The band is about to drop a full length record, and they have a new single to boot. More crazy and spastic guitar and beat changes wrapped in a melodic wrapper, then filled with lyrical nugget that could only be described as boundary pushing. When you sing "Another day ends/ Before you give birth/ To this love/ Like a Ballerina in a death's head/ You make me scared," you are definitely not looking for a spot on next year's Eurovision. This is music for the future, so you can take all your retro records and throw them in the trash now.

Get it here:
Memory in Plant - This Love (2014)

Memory in Plant - Eyes Up (2014)

You heard this track off the most recent episode of the podcast, and thus you know everyone here at SRM loved this Israel band's new single. Sonically, this is all over the place merging found-sound files with a driving pop rhythm that the most accomplished acts would be hard pressed to produce. In less than 3 minutes, this band takes you on a ride that is one of a kind. A call to prayer is interrupted by eastern guitars and aggravated acoustic strumming as the band sings "My darling, the bed is made/ What other dead rabbits do you have down your sleeves." Insane as that sounds, this is clearly a group that has a capable ear for catchy pop gems, and if their forthcoming full length is anything like this single, it may be one of the best records of the year.

Get it here:
Memory in Plant - Eyes Up (2014)

This is Lorelei / MaoTzu - Spilt Cassette (2014)

A new release from MaoTzu and this time he brought a friend. This is a split cassette put out by Chicago's Grandpa Bay Recordings featuring these two musically like-minded fellows. The songs are experimental pop made with a combination of electronic and acoustic instrumentation. While This is Lorelei isn't something I've heard before this release, I can confidently say it is right up my alley, especially in light of this current minor obsession with bedroom/experimental/psych pop songs (just look at what I've been posting for evidence). The songs are short, upbeat and charming in their irreverence and nearly schizophrenic changes in tempo, instruments and tone. And this goes for both of the musicians, and while they each undoubtedly possess personal qualities in this songs that are unique and awesome, it is at the same time like to sides to a coin in many ways as they are so incredibly complimentary in sound. If you've liked the recently share Nate Henricks, Pill Wonder, or Wizard Oz you'll likely be down with this, even if you lazily never got to those and are a fan of Elephant 6 I'd still get it.

To be had here:
MaoTzu / This is Lorelei - This is Lorelei / MaoTzu

esprit 空想 - virtua.zip (2014)

This is my first post on this blog, so allow me to introduce myself: my name is Evan. Okay, so this past week esprit 空想 released his last installment for this particular moniker. esprit 空想 has been making some of my favorite plunderphonic synth funk music, and I certainly consider his music to be on par with similarly funky contemporaries in the "vaporwave" "future funk" scene (lux, macross, reverb lite (b), ultra, yung bae (yumi?)). Honestly, esprit 空想 does something most of these other bands don't/perhaps can't do; he actually composes the music and uses samples as "a brushstroke rather than a canvas." Not that there isn't anything to be said about utilizing samples as a canvas, but the fact that these songs are built from scratch is something that gives esprit 空想 a sort of authenticity that can't be diluted by recognizing a song in a sample and thinking, "my gaht, the original was so much better, is this abomination trying to ruin the song?" example of such https://soundcloud.com/therealyungbae/waves-bansheebeat-yung-bae the original song is entitled Mermaid by Tatsuro Yamashita--you may like it, but I can't help but cringe at yung bae's interpretation. The point being, esprit 空想's music speaks for itself rather than through something else, which makes his music particuallarly compelling. Would it be pertinent to talk about the aesthetic dimensions at work within this particular scene and esprit空想's music? Probably not, there has been so much "critical theory" done to this genre so far, I figure the best approach is to just listen. Go take a gander and immerse yourself in some funky synth music reminiscent of John Maus, Roland Young, Dwight Sykes, and VHS warble. Reminiscent may be the wrong word/// to be had hear

Biosexual – The Window Wants the Bedroom (2013)

When I go vinyl digging, I find many copies of Van Halen, and very few experimental releases. Perhaps it is the ultra-limited nature of this genre, or the overly collectable mindset of those who partake in it, but these types of releases exist for a short period of time online and at select shops and then seem to fade into obscurity.

This Sacramento based band will assuredly enter that aforementioned place in the history of rock music, but that doesn’t mean you have to miss out on this excellent release. Put out on vinyl by Debacle Records, it finds itself comfortably dancing between scratching eclecticism and reverb heavy pop hooks. If you didn’t already know, that is where you want to find your experimental record (take a note kids). I loved Sleigher, but I will allow you to pick your own favorite track.

Get it here:

Biosexual – The Window Wants the Bedroom (2013)

EP Grab Bag Vol. 36

Remember when every small town across America had a record store? No?!? Well, I do and since we live in the digital age, I am treating these releases like they are fresh off the rack at my local music shop.

Bully Mammoth – EP 1 (2013)

These lads are a lucky bunch: their record just so happened to be at the end of an aisle at the very front of the rack. Prime browser buying territory. Deep vocals slide evenly into prolonged squeals of feedback and held together with a steady guitar line that keeps this noise-rock firmly in the rock territory. You know this record had some indie cred with its individualized screen-printed cover. 

Prevart – Symbols (2013)

I bought some of those massive, multi-disc Smashing Pumpkins releases back in the day. I still have them on my shelf, and I love that "this will be a converstaion starter" quality that comes with this. But this Kansas City experimental pop act takes this release a bit further, and has it on multiple formats that include a USB drive. I am not even sure how they would file that in the record bin, but it would probably earn it a little place at the front near the cash register. That ends up being a good thing as this release is a fun romp through delightful electronics and swirling synth lines laced with communicable vocals. I think I saw someone picking up a Kraftwerk record when they grabbed Symbols, so I imagine that fan base would enjoy this fine release.  

High School Heroin Addicts – The Grand Shazam and Other Tales (2013)

The local gutter punks always park themselves right in front of the shop with their poor dogs. Most of the folks that pass them by think they are all high, but I don’t get that impression. I am not even sure they know where to buy heroin. The closest they may get is a handmade copy of this groups new CD. It isn’t fast and angry, but it is a great romp through the psychedelic pop field. “Heart Rays” is the soundtrack to a long evening coming down from who knows what. These Canadians are part of something called The Order for the Black Dawn, and while I don’t know what that is, it sounds scary as shit, and so you should download this right away as to help bring about the coming of Satan.

Mobility Chief – Search Beneath Earth (2013)

There is a bearded guy with a Fender t-shirt buying this record, so I gather this is the kind of stuff proper musician’s rock out too. I hear some awesome, grandiose dueling guitar lines, and enough hooks to keep even those not accustomed to long instrumental pieces happy. No doubt these Knoxville kids get a lot of comparisons to Tortoise and Godspeed, and those would be fair associations. Not bad company to keep however. 

Temple Goer – Petrified Forest National Park (2013)

Some poor bastard didn’t have the funds needed to get this record, but they knew they didn’t want someone else to have it as it was crammed between the Incredible String Band portion of the folk section. I don’t know if the ISB followers would dig this, as it is very lo-fi experimental folk/drone material, but it stands to reason that this music lover will be back in the coming weeks to buy or steal this bad boy. I highly recommend this one for anyone looking for well constructed collage music that still retains an infectious guitar focused quality.

EP Grab Bag vol. 34

Sunken Seas – High Rise (2013)

I love Acid Mothers Temple, and I got a distinct whiff of that band in this first EP from New Zealand’s own Sunken Seas. Layered psychedelic guitar effects hang over a driving, constant beat that eventually introduces a pulsating riff. If you like your rock and roll to be spacey and experimental without losing its rock sensibilities, this is a record for you. As I pull on my work clothes, this is the kind of music I want to hear.

The Inverted Orange – ST (2013)

It was a psychedelic morning here at SpaceRock when I played through the aforementioned release and then this nice release from Prison Art records in Brooklyn. I assumed someone had spiked my coffee with acid, but then I realized I always eat an omelet with magic shrooms. This release is more on the bedroom pop, reverb heavy side of the equation and would be a fine wake up set for any of you struggling to face another day as a mindless wage slave. 

Wonderflu – No End in Sight (2013)

I am on to my drive to work. Lots of assholes moving in and out of traffic. I catch a view of a kid on a skateboard and wish I would have chosen that form of transportation to get to where I need to go. France’s Wonderflu only added to my angst, with their fuzzy 90s inspired power pop and more-than-pissed vocal delivery. 

Gasoline Eyes – Gasoline Thighs (2013)

Speaking of kids, this group from Los Angeles is made up of lads all still in high school. That pisses me off, because this is great lo-fi garage rock that only makes me think of the wasted years I spent as a teenager trying to bang cholas and get trashed. It is pretty lo-fi and heavy on the fuzzy side of rock, but if you read this blog you probably think that is a good thing. I do, and I dig this shit. 

Sneeky Creeps – Bell St. Radio (2013)

Fuck, my boss is a dick. So what if the woman in the cubicle next to me is a uber-Christian and doesn’t like the sweet sound of Slayer? Ok fine, I’ll put something “nicer” on. The Sneeky Creeps are two dudes from Kansas City that make some pleasant mid-tempo trash rock. I really loved this sound back in 1999, and I am glad to see some folks are still out there doing it right. 

Dead Leaf Echo – Thought and Language (2013)

I don’t know about you, but the last 3 hours of my work life is a drunken haze. Today especially so. Too many people have pissed me off, and I need music that will relax me and take me to a different place. Thankfully Dead Leaf Echo has come along with their outstanding new shoegaze release. Tracks like “Kingmaker” provide the lush vocal/guitar harmonies that you have come to expect from the genre, and give me a taste of relief from the terror that is cubicle life.