Get it here:
Memory in Plant - Eyes Up (2014)
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
Memory in Plant - Eyes Up (2014)
Get it here:
Memory in Plant - Eyes Up (2014)
Monday, June 9, 2014
Chvad SB - Crickets Were the Compass (2014) & Electric Bird Noise - Kind of Black (2014)
Silber Records does not put out pop ditties on 7 inch records. The music they push is the crank of the artistic community; dissident, difficult, yet timely. This North Carolina based label was kind enough to send me 2 CDs of their newest releases. Little did I know the rabbit's hole of rewarding terror I was in for.
Chvad SB is a Brooklyn based noise/ambient artist that has been chugging along for a few years now. This set of songs might be his most cohesive to date, with some of the oddest and most terrifying sounds you may here this side of the haunted house. No, this is not music that is intended to revolt, but the haunting atmospheres sustained for extended periods of time will surely cause some discomfort in many listeners. Not me however, as I am a serial killer always looking for a new soundtrack to haunt my prey to. This is not "easy" music, but it is worth your time.
Electric Bird Noise is another well established noise artist that is pushing two decades of activity. Crafting hypnotic yet challenging experimental music, this is the dark side of nu-age. No phantom crystals or spiritual transcendence here, this is music to pull your soul right into the muck from which it came. Your alien godparents may be flying by on a saucer overhead, but if you are listening to this, they may assume you have already been conquered by Lord Kinbote and abandon your soul to lesser beings. Beware this record's power.
Sunday, June 8, 2014
Saturday, June 7, 2014
High/Low - Stuck in a Void (2014)
The debut album for this lo-fi rock outfit hailing from the United Kingdom, Stuck in a Void is a very fast-paced and fuzzed out set of song meant to be heard loudly. The influences of High/Low seem to be heavily embedded in the 90s with the post-grunge vocal qualities of raw emotional strain tempered by certain whimsicalness. It is a tension that works brilliantly when employed well and it never hurts to be loud as all fuck when going for it. High/Low has accomplished this feat and then some, with the franticness of their compositions that are packed with guitar riffs, bass fuzz and thunderous drums that middles between rhythmically acute and dissonance. All that said, and wholeheartedly meant, the tracks with some angular playing thrown caused by ears to perk up even more such as "What Is It?" and "No Light" and had it repeatedly listening to them. Additionally, they've already got out their Forty and Raygun EPs as well, and although physical copies are sold out they are NYOP digitally.
To be had here:
High/Low - Stuck in a Void
Friday, June 6, 2014
Gustave Tiger - At The Idyll's End (2014)
A submission from Hungary that followed close on the heels on my latest write up of Budapest's Piresian Beach. This group bears some resemblance musically to her releases, but with a wider variety of stylistic influences. Power pop, math rock and psychedelic are all swirled into this album that I think might be best called noise pop. One of the strongest assets of At The Idyll's End is the diversity of styles that creates tracks that are different enough from one another that rewards re-listening. The singing alternates between different vocalists through the course of the album, and if you pay attention to the guitar work it is noticeable how much range it covers throughout as well. I found the dreamy track "Spes Deorum" particularly alluring, along with the horn flourishes at the end of "Gourgandine Simaitha" and very math rock tune, "Imperial Bride." While the lyrics aren't easily understood in the song (as it ought to be), they make for a good read on the bandcamp page, and the last track is in their own Hungarian. Finally, they put out a very solid EP called Mitanni Mares last year that is worth checking out as well.
To be had here:
Gustave Tiger - At The Idyll's End
Thursday, June 5, 2014
EP Grab Bag vol. 63
Here's a collection of EPs from America's eastern seaboard with a German group thrown in for good measure. Sure it is lo-fi, but it isn't garage rock which is perhaps usually for me in a grab bag but I am all about these solo and duo acts doing this insanely awesome stuff that bridges genres and influences to such a degree they are nearly rendering those taxonomies obsolete. Heavy on social commentary, which has really true for all these EPs, it makes me feel a bit down that the messages are true but comforting in how at least all these guys are here explaining it to us. Good summertime music to enjoy, then get a bit bummed out, then remember that gin is certainly a thing and you could sure could use some.
To be had here:
The Amount of Light We Give Off - LIST (2014)Starting off with a motherfucking doozy, German post-punk that integrates some wonderful noise, new wave and darkwave. Had this album in the inbox for a minute so I have gotten a chance to hear this several times, each endearing me more to the merits of this EP. The songs are very catchy and sound much more dance-able than you might imagine with the kinda dark and moody genres they've blended. The single "Together Apart" is an epically fine track that I cannot get enough of.
Mason Mercer - SLOBBER (2014)I just got this EP and was delighted by what I heard. New York-based bedroom pop musician Mason Mercer uses sampling, looping and bizarre chord progressions to make a surreal and very primal sound. This is absolutely prefect for anyone that is a fan of Nate Henricks or Pill Wonder. While the whole of this five track EP is pretty golden, "Scrappy-Doo" has climbed into my head like the most oppressive of earworms. But I don't mind, it is good shit.
This is put out of the Connecticut label Obscure Me Records, who rather consistently submitted good tunes, but whether I get a chance to write up or not is different. This EP by J. Chance found me at the prefect time, I've been in the mood for shimmering, otherworldly lo-fi music and this met the bill and delivered beautifully. Genre-wise it is hard to place, so I'll call it folksy avant-pop. The cite both the Beach Boys and John Cale as influences and that seems like a match made in heaven.
Alright, wanted more of the last two EPs? Well, this Dreamlife obviously unique it seems to share elements with each of them. Muteboy is New York by way of Cleveland musician that makes use of sampling and computerized effects to make psychedelic and surreal pop songs. The tracks are dreamy and can also be twangy, washed out and sweet. Sentimentality as it is meant to be heard.
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
Czar Rose - Death Honey (2014)
Trip hop is a genre that emerged out of Bristol's graffiti and breakdance scene in the early 1990s. Many credit a group called The Wild Bunch, which was a conglomerate of DJs and vocalists, with creating the genre, which would peak in it's popularity thanks to one of The Wild Bunch's original contributors, a sinister alien-voiced rapper by the name of Tricky. Other notable members of the group include all 3 original members of Massive Attack (probably most well known in the States for writing the song used in the opening credits of House), and Nellee Hooper, a former member of of one hit wonder RnB group Soul II Soul and current big time producer who has worked with the likes of U2 and Madonna.While Tricky and Massive Attack still make records (and are reportedly collaborating on an upcoming release), it's not everyday you come across new contributors to the genre of trip hop, which seems to almost not exist anymore. But if there's one city in the United States that resembles the cold, grey, economically struggling city that was Bristol in the early 1990s, it's .... Los Angeles?
Czar Rose, a duo that hails from the sunny city of angels, harnesses the sound of Mezzanine-era Massive Attack pretty damn well. Slick hip hop beats slowed from 120 to 80 BPM, marauding baselines with lush arrangements over top, this is music for rainy, city nights. They manage to put their own swing on the sound, adding occasional guitar to the mix and, at least on the last song and album namesake "Death Honey", a mega-compressed beat reminiscent of another LA-based artist of recent repute, Flying Lotus.
Overall the vocal delivery feels slightly derivative of Robert Del Naja's airy, cigarette-scorched voice. Also in the last song, the vocalist (can't tell if it's a different vocalist or the same with a voice-deepening effect) sounds incredibly similar to the foreboding croon of other Massive Attack vocalist, Daddy G. Can I hold this against Czar Rose? Fuck no. Massive Attack were a favorite band of mine for years and to head sic a true-to-form contribution nearly 20 years later, it's a valid homage (even if they didn't mean it to be).
I applaud Czar Rose for this solid contribution to a genre that's ripe for return.
7 songs, pay what you want.
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
The Citradels - Droned and Rethroned (2014) & Our Lord's Secret Service (2013)
Following up on what I said in the Grand Rapids post, I looking into other bands on Melbourne's Psych Ward label and it seems they're got a small but fantastic roster. The Citradels are the other band that they're promoting now and even since the release of 2013's Our Lord's Secret Service the band has put out another full-length, Drone and Rethroned, although it doesn't appear to be via Psych Ward. Nevertheless, I liked them both well enough that instead of deciding which to write up in some possibly chronological confusing manner I thought I would just cover both. How's that suit you? Good? Fine.
The Citradels influences are quite easily identifiable even if they didn't literally tag their releases with Velvet Underground and Jesus & Mary Chain on their bandcamp page. And there really isn't a point is brining in more examples of what they're akin to as those suckers are two of my go-to references that I think most all of the readership should know well. Yet as they say the devil in the details, so I'll try to enlighten everyone a bit better. Earliest release first I suppose, Our Lord's Secret Service is full of experimentalism a healthy degree of anti-pop. However, it's not a clone or knock off, although I'd consider it a loving reference to VU throughout, especially the earlier John Cale co-written songs. What's most noticeable is the use of psychedelic droning to warp that sound into a lovely contrition. The late 1960s is a dunked into a bucket of noisy wall-of-sound. Now, Droned and Rethroned as the name suggests is even heavier on the droning. It is basically a collection washed out, dream-state inducing epic tracks that have identifiably Indian music swirled in. To sum it up, they are both fucking excellent records and I've been throughly impressed by what I have found coming out of Melbourne. Always knew they were up to something down there I was missing out on.The Citradels - Droned and Rethroned
&
The Citradels - Our Lord's Secret Service
Monday, June 2, 2014
Ted Allen - Human Health (2014)
Ted Allen is a solo project by a guy out in Richmond, VA whose name is neither Ted nor Allen, but Ben. Influences on Human Health, a record that's been a few years in the making, are varied and shattered, so pinning down certain bands or genres for comparison is akin to sewing together a flag from a pile of rags. If you held a gun to my head, I'd call it melancholic bedroom psych-pop with a propensity for unsettling quirks.Listen to the first 4 tracks and you'll think you have an understanding of where the rest of Human Health is going. It's introspective and psychedelic; autumnal and mellow. Then the track "Rented Library Books" comes on, and you find yourself listening to montage music straight out of a David The Gnome cartoon. But even here, or, most evidently here, is that destabilizing aspect to the songs of Ted Allen. Even in this whimsical interlude, where you can almost see Maya The Bee traipsing through the undergrowth... a foreboding rumble slides it's way over the synthesized oboe and bells, smothering them quickly into silence.. reminding us that every moment of happiness is ultimately tainted by the realization that it can't last forever.
And therein lies another repeated theme of Human Health. You'll hear something during the record and think, "Oh wow this is cool" and then it will end before it's had a chance to flourish. From the killer organ in the final moments of "Lors du Mariage, il S'ennuyait" to the expertly Neu!-esque vibe in the beginning moments of "Espression/Texts", my ears were bent and my interest piqued, but then the moments ended abruptly.
A little disappointing at first, but my initial naivety was quickly tempered as the give and take of the music lured me in. And there is much that delivers in these 10 songs, the final three being the strongest, the last of which is a beautiful and haunting piece called "Sontag". A perfect end to this record.
Fleeting but inviting, ghostly but warm, Ted Allen's Human Health is a work of ambition and obvious talent, both in song writing and production ... a soundtrack for that moment immediately after you wake up, grasping at fragments of some beautiful dream you can't quite remember.
Listen to it.
Sunday, June 1, 2014
Space Rock Mountain Podcast 14 - Cults and Kool-Aid
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