Past Lives - Tapestry of Webs (2010)

 

Growing up in a small city with limited resources for bands, one that was never included on anyone's tour schedule, was frustrating for a young me. Situated firmly between NYC and Philadelphia, you'd think that teenage me would have many options. 

Life wasn't like that, however.

Fast forward to my first experience living in a bigger city. My desire for live music was so pent up that every year I would bankrupt myself seeing live music. It was like a drug. I would get yearly bonuses that would all be dwindled 4 months, where I'd inevitably pull money from my retirement fund to cover rent. 

One of the bands I saw in this time was Past Lives. I was working with the bassist from The Thermals, who were opening, so I had the rare opportunity to see a show for free, and I loved The Thermals so win win. Then Past Lives takes the stage and within minutes my little mind was splattered all over the walls of the venue. 

Past Lives featured Jordan Blilie on vocals... a very recognizable voice in the music scene of the Pacific Northwest. I'd loved his earlier band The Blood Brothers, but didn't really follow Blilie's career or even know what he looked like. So immediately when he started singing I knew he was standing right in front of me. 

Tapestry of Webs is post-hardcore pushed up toward colorful melodicism and away from the dismal, grey vibes more indicative of the genre. The music is energetic and thrashing at times but also swings towards balladry. There's singing AND screaming. Guitars AND saxophone and... is that a clarinet or a bassoon in there? A wild, beautiful, inspired record that 13 years later is still giving newness to my ears. 

Past Lives - Tapestry of Webs

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. 

Scrivener - A Signal (2017)

Olympia, Washington, where the smell of salt water competes with the aroma of roasting coffee (which smells a lot like burning toast), is also where some of music's most well known artists gestated and spewed forth definitive records of early American indie rock. It was ground zero for the Riot Grrrl movement, and both Beck and Modest Mouse recorded there. Kurt Cobain lived just east of downtown, where he wrote much of Nevermind - a record that sent a whole nation of angsty teenagers hurdling towards thrift stores, searching feverishly for smoke-stained plaid shirts. More recently, Olympia has spurred forth one of the greatest black metal bands in recent times, Wolves In The Throne Room, and has lead the country in amazing queer, d-beat, hardcore punk bands like G.L.O.S.S. and Slouch.

It's just happens to be a great town for bands. I remember walking downtown from my little black house near the San Francisco Street Bakery, and on almost every block you could hear bands practicing in garages, living rooms, and basements. The community is tight knit and insular which, while making the social scene a difficult nut to crack, makes for a strong and supportive environment for artists.

It's from this environment that my new favorite band has emerged. This is Scrivener's first recording I believe, and it's so good that I had to dust off this long-neglected blog to steer any lingering readers toward their bandcamp page. Their style is like glam-hardcore punk... and by "glam" I refer to the almost theatric vocal delivery. Usually with any genre of music, a vocalist will stick to one vocal delivery - singing, speak-singing (think post-motorcycle accident Dylan), screaming... etc. but Scrivener's vocalist moves fluidly through all, using a range of expression missing from the vast majority of punk singers, or rock vocalists in general. Take the screaming of any metal or hardcore band and add bit of animated, matter-of-fact conversation - it's such a fresh delivery that it keeps this record on constant rotation. Scrivener is simultaneously playful and brutal.

8 songs, pay what you want for digital or buy their self-released cassette tape through their bandcamp page.

Scrivener - A Signal

Favorite track:

EP Grab Bag vol. 105

Been meaning to get this one up for a while. Got lazy or forgetful or whatever, who cares really? It's here now. Anyhow, I am late in the sense that all the album art seems very well geared for Halloween, which I missed by a week. Oh well, better luck next year.

To be had here:

Peixefante - Lorde Pacal EP (2015)

Another EP I was sent from my Brazilian friend Barbara. Her impeccable is apparent in this awesome psychedelic indie/electronic pop outfit from Goiânia, Brazil. The songs possess a wonderful ethereal quality, just a touch spacey, but at their core they are wonderful modern psych tunes. They remind me of my favorite modern Brazilian psych-rockers, Supercordas, yet bent more toward pop music. An incredibly alluring EP, not to be missed.

Seamus O'Muineachain - Blood Apple (2015)

The songs of an Irish songwriter. Minimal in composition, ambient in tone, and folksy in style they are lovely instrumental songs. Done largely on guitar and piano they songs are a finely interwoven tapestry of those instruments, though a healthy level of percussion is used as necessary. It's as if that sort of acoustic music you've doubtlessly heard played in a coffeehouse could carry many times it's weight by utilizing more musical avenues than the bare guitar playing. So much so it is more sedimental than many lyrically based compositions.

Waylon Thornton and the Heavy Hands - Black Pudding (2015)

This Floridian outfit has routinely sent me music over the years, though I have failed to always post it. I am sloppy like that. However, I did take the time to hear this seven-track release and found myself enjoying even more than I already imagined I might. The songs are short garage rock jaunts. And I mean short, not any of them top the two minute mark. All upbeat lo-fi with howling singing reverb in the vocals and great distorted guitars. Check them out and look into their admirable catalog while you're at it.

The Dyna Jets - The Calling (2015)

Recently I posted the Fizz Pops, a garage pop band from Capetown, South Africa. Well, two members, Johnny Tex and Warren Fisher, of that band also have another project called the Dyna Jets. So here is the EP they put out this summer and I somehow missed until a couple of weeks ago. Two-piece garage rock as it should be, markedly fuzzy and playful, has a very surfy tone in the guitar playing. Four brief songs that left me eager for more. I Hope there will be more, under whatever name the choose to use next time.

Enema Noise - manual pouco prático do desapego (2014)

Back to Brazil, this time to the capital city of Brasilia. Lo-fi rock for sure, though of a more intense sort than the prior two EPs of this Grab Bag. Post-hardcore, which is a genre that is hit or miss for me overall, but there's not a doubt in my mind that Enema Noise is anything other than a hit. This release is absolutely exciting. The speed, intensity and excellent musicianship engaged me from the very start. I would love to hear them play in a dirty basement for sure.

Gazer - Fake Bulbs/Phone Commercial (2014)

Gazer are from Cincinnati, Ohio. A city that stands out in my mind for two reasons. Firstly, I went to see the Tallest Man on Earth in Newport, Kentucky in a venue that's built in house of the inventor of the Tommy Gun. Upon drunkenly crossing the pedestrian bridge over the Ohio River from Cincinnati to Newport to find out cigarettes were like $3 was rather epic. Secondly, when crossing the same river in a car as a kid I witness a crashed minivan all wrecked to fuck on the vehicular bridge going south to Nashville and on the way back a week later.  Different minivans, what are the odds? Now I get to add Gazer to these stark experiences.

When done well I can really get into post-hardcore. Gazer does it very well in my book. They're loud, lo-fi and brash sounding. As it should be, no? At least for this variety of intense punk rock, absolutely. The tracks are  mostly short, markedly fast and full of screeching, pounding and hollering vocals drenched in DIY recording fuzz. It is the kind of music to stomp around to, maybe getting a black eye or jammed thumb in the sweaty mosh pit. I'll be standing aside though, as I am already too old for that shit. Yet I'll smell that angst and intensity, enjoying it entirely. Fake Bulbs/Phone Commercial is a double release with each side of the 12" vinyl bearing one of these two EPs. They're on separate pages on bandcamp, but I trust you'll navigate that just fine. 

To be had here:
Fake Bulbs & Phone Commercial

Kooba Tercu - Kooba Tercu (2015)

Our friends in Greece are back and have sent in another rock album for us all to enjoy. Spinalonga Records has submitted their new release from the band Kooba Tercu. Consisting of Johnny Tercu and his 'crew' musicians from Athens. They've neglected to tag the album on the bandcamp page, and more power to them as what they've produced doesn't fit neatly into any of these genres. That's to be expected, even hoped for. Nevertheless influences are apparent and include psychedelic, post-hardcore and even some metal. This might give the wrong impression if I don't stress how their sound isn't simple to boil down. I guess I have to try anyway, that's what I fucking do here.

They maintain a heavy edge through most of the album but other than that it's hard to pin anything down. The first track "Ukunta" is fucking amazing with the chanting and drums and bass. Hooked me straight away and prepared me for the weird album that follows. The songs are complex in composition, with them distinctly shifting through several styles in a three minute track. Has a healthy degree of post-hardcore abrasive singing, post-rock-like crescendo building, dreamy psychedelic repetition. It's a fine debut and an excellent use of time for those underemployed Greeks. Maybe an increase in artistic output could be the silver lining to all that financial hardship Greece is suffering? If so I look forward to hearing more of it.

To be had here:
Kooba Tercu - Kooba Tercu

Pile - Magic Isn't Real (2010)

Nostalgia is a strange thing. It's as if people, places, and things carve their own unique notches in our brains, and as soon as we catch a wisp of something that fits those shapes, our whole mood changes and we find ourselves lost in some hungry memory.

Boston band, Pile, stir up those sentiments for me. They have a post-hardcore Pixies meet desert rock Foo Fighters kind of thing going on... and I mean that in the best possible way (big Pixies fan, less so "The Foos"). They have loud and chunky riffs, melodic and distorted bass lines, and vocals that both croon and scream. If 1990's revivalism bands were making the Billboard charts, you'd find Pile somewhere in the top 100 (ok, I realize The Pixies were more of an '80s band, but they were ahead of their time so that makes them a '90s band in my book).

But honestly, I've been enjoying Magic Isn't Real much more than output from other recent bands flying the plaid flag of the grunge decade, like Yuck and Speedy Ortiz. Solid songwriting, good production... and I feel like I'm driving around Allentown, PA in my parent's shitty Nissan when I listen to it.

A little nostalgia for your Xmas eve.

10 songs, name your price.

Pile - Magic Isn't Real

EP Grab Bag vol. 70

Here's what's coming in through the email submissions. A diverse group of EPs that range from post-hardcore to nu disco, so I hope you're feeling as erratic as I am.

To be had here:

Sex Snobs - Ugly (2014)

Punk rock from Oklahoma City. Sex Snobs play on the more hardcore side of things, and talk a good deal about God being dead in a nihilistic fashion. The three short songs are this EP are high energy and got me off my fucking ass this morning and ready to write up this and a slew more of amazing albums. That's a good sign for punk rock, instigating action. Nothing like good, heavy punk guitar and thundering drums to get me into a mood for doing shit, good for me or not.


Phooey! - Upright Animals and Their Ridiculous Tricks (2014)

Our Ukrainian friends in Phooey! have made another EP to follow on the heels on Hello, Doubt early this year. Like that release, this one is made up of brief, strange tracks of bedroom pop, art rock and 'baroque punk' blending together. Full of falsetto and remarkably amusing guitar riffs the EP just blazes by and requires repeated listening. Seems like they're been little rest on the musical front for Phooey! as theirs a long covers album that came out in May as well to check out.

Tape Eater - Bleeders (2014)

Hope you're in the mood for something even more hardcore. Tape Eater is on the far edge of hardcore, with the hollered lyrical delivery and intense power cords in the guitar work. This New Bedford, Mass band really know now to bring it, yet they can ease up when necessary to craft a good tune and slip into trippy, math rock moments to do so. It has been sometime since I've sat down and listened to post-hardcore but these guys make me question why I haven't, also maybe sitting down isn't the best way to take it in...

Lucian - Rekla EP (2014)

Lucian is a New York musician that does many righteous electronic remixes. These are five tracks he's put together to show off what he's up to, which is makes some very exciting tunes that covers a lot of territory of electronicia. Knowledge of the ins and outs of electronic subgenres is beyond me, but he's tagging the stuff Nu Disco and Tropical House amongst other things. All seems fucking awesome to me, as I don't need to know what to call it to like it.



The Go Rounds - Purple Mountain Travesty (2014)

This group is from Kalamazoo and put out by the Double Phelix label/studio run by the guys behind Lasso. Like Lasso this is incorporation a Western sound, though more subtle in the Go Rounds. Instead the music is more vocally bend, with a clearly talented singer taking the lead on for the majority of the tracks. Not to downplay the musical prowess of this group at all, mind you, as they make some very beautiful and nearly symphonic sounding tunes.

EP Grab Bag vol. 35

Even Elvis Dracula needs lovin’, and he has taken a lovely ghoul out for the night and listened to a few submissions with her along the way.

Just Friends and Lovers – What, Colour? (2013)

I have been to Glasgow. Great music scene, crazy fucking people. I think I was threatened 5 times between a house show and the club I was attending to see an old Sarah Records band play. Perhaps Scotland puts all its ruffians in one city to spare the rest of the country. Anyhow, this band reminds me of the Sarah Records label, with its pretty female vocals, pop melodies, and well applied reverb centered guitar work. This is fun, enjoyable, and worth your time even if they are from Austrian and not made up of lovely Scottish lassies.

Nuns – Of Colloquial (2013)

So my lady enjoyed the first record, the second less so. I am not sure why to be honest. This is dark and brooding stuff, with layered instrumental lines placed just underneath two distinct vocal traces that sounds like a nightmare in any language. It’s interesting, lush, and yet subdued enough to be enjoyed for its minimalism. I was taking my date to a Goth club, but her reaction to this pleasant set of songs has made me revise my plans. I think I will play “Case and Point” one more time for good measure.

 

Carton – Sunburst (2013)

Ok, she is bobbing her head to this release. It has big guitars and sing along harmonies. She didn’t care for all the yelling that followed it, but the poppy guitar work seems to have brightened her mood and given me a new idea for the night. We will drop by our local rock club and take in some fine guitar pop that will (hopefully) lead to some lovely sexytime. “The Catholic Channel” demonstrates the skill this band has and provides a hook-heavy tune that really should be featured in NME and played anytime a fist pumping is required. Thanks for getting my lady into the mood.

Graham Repulski – Cop Art (2013)

We had plenty of drinks at the show, and this ghostly woman is looking for some harder stuff. Something to take her mind into a different realm. I don’t have cash for drugs, but I do have some out-there pop music to play. I don’t know if this group is a single guy or a band, but fuzzy, blasted out guitar licks are their delivery method for a fan’s necessary dose of tape hiss. This is pop music, I can tap my foot to it, and she can sit back on the couch and space out for a bit. Best of all, it is fun. Lord knows I don’t need any downer shit right now.

Patient Barney Penrose – ST (2013)

Time to seal the deal. If I don’t move in now, she may think Elvis Dracula has turned into some eunuch, I pop on this release out of Richmond to slow things down and let us move with the candlelight. I will spare you the specifics….but it was pretty filthy. Not the music mind you, but my body grooving. This slowcore-styled release was a pleasant background to slow, sweaty bodies grinding against each other. Only after the deed had been done that I read through the group’s vocals and was happy with their content, even if the heartbroken nature of them would have ended my love making had my lover heard them.

 

Lisabi - Senseless (2012)

Prog is treated by some to be the ugly, fattened alternate reality to the more "real" punk and garage rock sounds that came to replace it in popularity and hip credibility. That's a shame really, and I say that as a very committed garage rock aficionado. I like my music dirty and fast. I dare say that I also enjoy well studied musicianship that puts a premium on intricate solos.

The passion, authenticity, and immediacy of any 3 chord punk song can be heard in Brazil's native sons Lisabi. Their new release, "Senseless" takes Prog and throws out all the references to Tolkien and replaces them with anger and angst at the modern world. Half the songs are in the band's own tongue, something I am always happy to see. Best of all, these kids are on tour in the US this July, and that means you have a chance to come out and help them along their way. This record is a mere 4 bucks, but their first release is absolutely free. So get them cholo!

Get it here:
Lisabi - Senseless (2012)

Fugazi - The Argument (2001)

As American voters go to the polls today, it is important to remember that the best thing to come out of any political regime is the music that challenges it. There are so many great records directed at the powers that be and changing society that I was literally at a loss last night figuring out which one I would share today. When it comes to the general malaise maintained throughout last decade, no one addressed the issues of the day better than Washington DC’s hometown heroes, Fugazi. On their last record “The Argument” they had this to say about the state of their city:

 “on the morning of the first eviction they carried out the wishes of the landlord and his son/ furniture's out on the sidewalk next to the family/ that little piggie went to market, so they're kicking out everyone/ talking about process and dismissal forced removal of the people on the corner”

 Ian MacKay even directs his furor at fellow punks and activists who have gotten too close to power and lost their moral compass.  

“it's all about strikes now so here's what's striking me that some punk could argue some moral abc's when people are catching what bombers release”

I surely want one side to win today’s election, but great records like the Argument remind us the power music has to focus our concentration on what matters.  
Cashout           
The Argument

Get it here:
Fugazi - The Argument (2001)

White Coward - Relaxer (2012)

Everyone has their own opinions on what music is and isn't. I remember going to school with metal kids (collectively labeled "the headbangers") who'd refuse to call hip hop music. Others balance their opinions on the fulcrum between "pretty" and "ugly". There are those, for example, who fill their music collection exclusively with the likes of The Beach Boys or Sufjan Stevens, while others focus primarily on bands with names like Cannibal Corpse or Vomiting Rectum.

But, in the end, it's all music, as whatever anything "is" lies in the eye of the beholder.

White Coward is a Seattle 3-piece whose music expertly evokes the emotion of trepidation, traversing those dissonant grounds between post-hardcore and noise. There's nothing that shimmers or jangles here, unless you'd consider guitars that rattle and clank like curtains of knives in a windstorm. The vocalist wails with both urgency and desperation... a great voice that adds to the overall tension of Relaxer. The drums are heavy but have a pace that runs the gamut from slow and driving to the alarming intensity of an over-adrenalized heartbeat.

White Coward snarl like an abandoned factory that whirs, buzzes and grinds despite years of rust and decay. Even though I'm a complete whore for strong melodies and harmonies, I can't deny the appeal of this music. Along with the recently defunct Wet Paint DMM, and the amazing post-Blood Brothers group Past Lives, I'm beginning to see Seattle's Bedlam-scene on par with the best output of midwest record labels like Touch And Go, Amphetamine Reptile, and Skin Graft.

6 songs, pay what you will.

White Coward - Relaxer

Lisabö - Ezlekuak

Lisabö is for me on the harder side of my listening spectrum, as I do not fancy metal or screamo whatsoever. However unfitting it might seem, there are many post-hardcore bands that I do have a liking for. Lisabö is one such group, and one of the better ones amongst them in my opinion. The band comes from the Basque Country of Spain, and thus are the only band I have ever heard that sings in the Basque language. Accordingly, I haven't a clue what they're saying, but it doesn't sound like Spanish. I cannot say for sure they don't sing in Spanish ever, and I wasn't able to tell perfectly, but I don't believe there's any Spanish on Ezlekuek (which if my years of French have served me well, is not a Romance language rooted word as they don't commonly use the letter 'k'). Information of the band is hard to come across, at least in English. Last.fm states they utilize a dual drumming band set-up, which is logically with the large amount of percussion on the tracks. The band isn't a brash post-hardcore along the lines of These Snakes Have Arms, but more of a calmer thought out style with post-rock leanings in some parts. The singing is fantastic if in impossible to understand save for the world's very small percentage of Basque speakers (being unrelated to the Spanish, Catalan and French doesn't help). If you're in the mood for something unique, but not merely an oddity, they're an excellent choice.

To be had here:
Lisabö - Ezlekuak