Black Spring / The Engineer - Split Cassette (2015)

Here's something I nearly lost in the shuffle. A submission from England from a few months ago that I listened to and meant to write up speedily, but as you can witness I failed utterly at that. It is a split release, a no wave rock outfit called Black Spring and a project called The Engineer. The reason I am posting it here rather than in a Grab Bag despite it have only two tracks is that each of the tracks are over 19 minutes long, so it is a damn full-length so far as I am concerned. They're fucking weird, meandering and spooky experimentations of sound. Music that is disorientating strange, something that is worth taking the time to soak in occasionally. Noise, reverb and all manner of dissonance are the hallmarks of the track from Black Spring. On the other hand the Engineer is more structured, and while still very heavily low fidelity, it has eerily lovely singing and righteous organ playing. Also a loud clanging that reoccurs frequently, but I didn't mind that. Both of these artists are on a small English label run by a fella known as Milton Keyes, Monocreo.

To be had here:
Black Spring / The Engineer

The Basement Demons - Baby Teeth (2014)

The Basement Demons are the sort of band that grabs your interest for what it is as much as what they sound like. What we've got here something akin to The Shaggs. If you're unfamiliar with the Shaggs I'd suggest you get to reading up on it, it is one of those wonderful underground phenomenons of rock music history. However, the basic concept was a father that had his four reluctant and untrained daughters form a band, envisioning them to become a famous act like he was living in a real-world Partirage Family. It didn't work out for him, but the band had some undeniable appeal with their poorly timed playing and bizarre singing.

While in what I hope and imagine is a less coercive fashion than the Shaggs, another family band was formed for a recording session. The impromptu Calgary band was made by a fella called Seth, a member of the SRM featured Soft Cure, who was joined by his younger sister and two female cousins. At the time they were 18, 7, 10 and 13 years old respectively. He said the girls had no experience using the instruments before and they recorded in a just a couple of days. The results are an extremely lo-fi set of tracks, so low is the production it easily crosses into the realm of no wave. Noisy, sludgy and filled with the screams and howls of young ladies the albums doesn't even attempt the pop sound at which the Shaggs faltered so infamously. Rather what we have are unadulterated noise rock experiments from the unpretentious and curious minds and unrefined handiwork of a mostly untrained musicians. It most assuredly has the outsider art appeal that many a young indie music fan explores for as they've grown sick of radio pop hits. Be warned there is no shortage of girl screams in the "songs," so keep your finger need the volume nob if you're gonna blast the album.

To be had here:
The Basement Demons - Baby Teeth

Negro Leo - Ilhas de Calor (2014)

Sometimes with music, I get so fed up with prettiness. To take that even further, I get tired of consonance. To slim down the world of music to only western music, and then slim that down further to my preferred genre of rock music, one is ill-pressed to find that minuscule sliver, that sub-sect of a sub-sect of musicians playing anything that veers aways from one of 2 scales: major and minor. Why is it that in rocknroll, with all it’s supposed swagger and rebelliousness against all things status quo, that so few are willing to embrace a little dissonance? 

But in a world that seems to consciously fight for the right to be unconscious of anything ugly, bands like Negro Leo are a much needed reminder that you can’t have one without the other. Hailing from the beach city of Rio de Janeiro, their music seems to avoid structure almost exclusively, like free jazz but with rock instruments.. free rock, maybe.. or no wave. Dissonance reigns supreme, never once allowing the listener a hook or a moment of beauty. This idea is perfectly represented by the cover art for Ilhas de Calor, which depicts a dirty puddle surrounded by tarnished metal. 

As all the words are in Portuguese, it isn’t easy to know what Negro Leo is telling us. Google Translate gives some insight, and the insight is bleak, bizarrely astrological, apocalyptic, and somewhat violent. One of the only songs in English, Xereca Satânica …. which I think translates to Satanic Cunt…  goes, “Be nasty to your cock, Hold it against the cop, Be violent to your pussy, Hold it against the rocks”. 

Ok, so not exactly music for a Sunday morning drive, but if you’ve got an itch for something new and different in your musical diet, you couldn’t do much better than Negro Leo.

18 Songs.

Negro Leo - Ilhas de Calor

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

Lake of Dracula - Lake of Dracula (1997)

I recently got back into this album, and these guys are insane. Call it no wave, noise rock, or whatever you want, it is intense and strange and makes me all warm inside. It reminds me of placing my head in a motor and screaming, and loving each second of it. If you like stuff like the Coughs, Neon Hunk and Athletic Automation then you'll be hankering for some of this stuff. I wish more of the kids here played shit that sounded such as found herein.

To be had here:
Lake of Dracula - Lake of Dracula [192 kbps]

Neon Hunk - Smarmymob (2003)

Neon Hunk is a noise rock duo made up on a boyfriend-girlfriend pair. The noise rock they make is unique is some fashions. It is not like the rough and raw screeching sounds of harsh noise or is it like the pounding, scream-filled noise of groups like Coughs and Arab on Radar. There is much more use of electronic instrumentation to be found in Smarmymob. Like Lightning Bolt with a keyboard, Neon Hunk makes an amazingly dance-able sound. However, the lack of screams as a predominant feature doesn't meant there aren't screams here. For those who dislike noise, this will surely be unappealing, but it is excellent to anyone who possesses an ear for noisy rock. Definitely different from most noise makes in the decade. Nevertheless, a hallmark of noise is seen in the way that songs are very short, not even one breaches the two minute mark. I was throughly surprised by the way these two made music despite my frequent play of noise rock.

To be had here (192 kbps):
Neon Hunk - Smarmymob

The Seconds - Kratitude (2006)

I find the name the Seconds to be ironically fitting of the fact that two members of this trio are more famed for their playing in other bands, yet attempt to maintain this is not merely a side project. Brain Chase, drummer of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Zachary Lehrhoff of the most righteous noise rockers Ex-Models. The third fixture is one Jeannie Kwon, who's musical output consists the two albums the Seconds have release, as far I can tell at least. For fans of Chase's contributions to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, they certainly will not be disappointed in his musicianship, but they aren't going to find any garage punk songs with somebody like Karen O. singing. This music is rougher, much more in the vein of Ex-Models' noise driven sound. If you enjoy noise rock, especially if influenced heavily by the no wave movement that preceded the modern interpretation of the genre (if you like the Coughs I posted previously too). Kratitude is their second album, relased 5 years after the first that is entitled simply Y. I have even got the first album, but if someone wants to share it that'd be most prime.

To be had here (256 VBR kbps):
The Seconds - Kratitude

Suicide - Second Self-Titled (1980)

It still blows me away to think that this album was released in 1980. There's one quote that always comes to my mind when I think about suicide: "... I never heard anything avant-garde. To me it was just New York City Blues." - Alan Vega 1980.
Suicide are a duo that formed in New York City in 1971... blah blah blah, they impacted bands such as OMD, Human League, Spiritualized, Orbital, Pulp, Soft Cell, Nick Cave, Jesus & Mary Chain, Primal Scream, Chemical Brothers, Luna, Foil, Bloodstar, etc etc). Bruce Springsteen covers suicide live sometimes. weird.


Suicide - The Second Album (Second Self-Titled) (1980)

Coughs - Fright Makes Right (2004)

Coughs are a noise rock, alternatively they're referred to as no wave, group from Chicago. The lead singer is one Anya Davidson, and she seems to be angry at something. Be prepared for loud screams, hollers, and crackling lyrics lain over loud, distorted bass. Basically, what I look over when I wake up. Giving the music more flavor is the use of horns in some tracks to a creepily unsettling effect. There are some damned sweet guitar sounds blasted throughout this album, and all the booming drums one could hope for (including the playing of 55 gallon oil barrels). They understand the art of the calm introduction and exciting climax of song craft very well. However, they do know to shake that up too, with a unnerving yet wonderful spastic beginning in tracks like "Penal Colony." The light-hearted "Come Back To Me" is seemingly out of place, but very enjoyable, break in the blasting audio. The tracks "Elephant" and "Narwahl" are just long enough to really get into. Be sure to give these guys a deservingly loud listen.

To be had here (192 kbps):
Coughs - Fright Makes Right