I was going to post something today much like I do every other day – a detailed run down of a new album that I think everyone should listen to, usually by an under-appreciated (or virtually unknown) artist. But I just couldn’t bring myself to ignore what’s happening on this inauguration day.
So, instead, here’s 73 minutes of harsh noise:Category Archives: 2014
Video: Swami John Reis and The Blind Shake – “Brown Room”
Swami John Reis and the Blind Shake “Brown Room” from Bryan Johnson on Vimeo.
Swami John Reis and the Blind Shake have teamed up to make “Modern Surf Classics” that pays tribute to classic surf rock albums by offering up modern takes in the form of 13 original tracks.
I don’t think I had ever really thought about it before, but placing the Blind Shake into the realm of surf-rock actually makes a whole lot of sense. Their brand of hyper-energetic, stomping, stuttering garage-rock isn’t that far removed. Their liberal use of reverb and scordatura places them, at the very least, in the same timbral category.
“Brown Room” starts off acoustically, but it isn’t long before the reverbed lead line comes in, moving through a few short riffs that cruise along at a relaxed pace. If you are familiar with Real Estate’s first album you’ll appreciate the sound that they’re going for here. The video complements the track nicely with that haze of nostalgia on the surface of every frame, dulled colors and slight blur accenting footage of surfers taking to the waves.
It would be remiss of me to not mention the great Picardy Third that closes out the track. It’s a nice touch.
“Modern Surf Classics” is set for release on January 27, 2015. The album can be pre-ordered right now, and will be made available on CD/LP/MP3 and FLAC formats.
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Stream: Espectrostatic – “Escape from Witchtropolis”
As soon as the drums come in on the song “Escape from Witchtropolis” you can tell exactly what is going to happen. It’s just got that perfect krautrock sound: the motorik beat, barely audible syncopated hi-hat and completely lacking in the drum-fill department. Some of the retro synth sounds remind of RJD2′s work to a certain extent. On top of all that I think that the track is perfectly named, with it’s winding, demented sounding lead line adding a whole new element to the mix.
There’s a lot going on across “Escape…” from the aforementioned brooding synths, to the bombastic percussion of “The Feral Kids,” which makes good use of the piano as a percussion instrument; those loud low end attacks really give you the force of the low fundamental with just a hint of the brightness from the upper partials. Colder synths prevail on “This is a War Universe,” working in all dimensions by adding a spaciousness to the recording. Though the synths are going direct, the piano has been recorded with a lot of room noise this time, opening up the recording dramatically. Still, though, “This is a War Universe” is largely a synth affair, continuing to capture the brooding atmosphere presented on previous tracks.
Espectrostatic also finds the time to play with form, shuttling from the more familiar structures of the beautifully contrapuntal, “The Obelisk” and the title track, to tracks that express an environment in their one-part form such as “Sinking into the Microverse.”
“Espectrostatic” is the solo project of Alex Cuervo of the Hex Dispensers. “Escape from Witchtropolis” is out now on Chicago’s Trouble in Mind records. You can purchase the album as a download from his bandcamp. The album is also available as a CD that comes in a gatefold miniature LP-style cardboard sleeve, or as an LP from the Trouble in Mind site.
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Stream – Bam Spacey – “1998”
Released last month, Bam Spacey’s “1998” is an album of layered synths and minimal textures. One moment we’re left floating in a hazy realm emerging from warm extended tones, for example in the opening introduction. Other moments are much more clearly built around pop structures with clear harmonies sung over top of those layers of ambience. A track like “Markbildning (II)” floats lazily between these two worlds; it’s ambient and minimal, while the vocal melody holds to its own regular phrasing, tracing strophes, spaced out with ambient interludes.
Echoes of Tim Hecker, from a timbral standpoint, pop up through the texture from time to time, such as on “Markbildning (II).” That dark ambience is, however, mostly left behind on “Upplyst,” a track featuring prominent drums and a pulsation that approaches traditional electronic dance music. This is also the case with “Ropar Från En Avgrund;” it actually breaches the line straight into more dance oriented territory.
Most of the album drifts across slowly, enveloping the listener in pure sound that languishes for extensive periods nearly undisturbed. The layers of synths are ripples on the water and Bam Spacey uses a delicate hand to slowly add more to those ripples while making sure that they don’t turn into overbearing waves. The ethereal quality of the atmospherics is maintained throughout the album, forming a cohesive whole that manages to straddle the boundaries of synth-driven ambience and dance music.
“1998” is available now as a download from the Ceremony Recordings bandcamp page, and is also available as a limited vinyl release. There will only be 300 copies in the first pressing, so head over to the Ceremony Recordings website to pick up a copy.
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Stream: Black Pus – “Pus Mortem”
Brian Chippendale is at it again. Well, not again, because that would possibly imply that he stopped for a second. Either way, his latest release “Pus Mortem” is another solid 8 tracks of overdriven and explosive drums, synth and warped to beyond the point of intelligibility vocals.
At this point I just assume that most people are pretty familiar with Chippendale’s style. I’ve been listening so long that I just assume it’s common knowledge. In case it’s not, it breaks down like this: a non-stop swirl of drums, filling up every single microsecond, with pitch shifted, distorted vocals buried deep in the back of the mix. Actually his music is exactly like his visual art; every available bit of space is taken up, and nothing is wasted. There is very little in the way of negative space in either his music or his paintings and drawings.
“Pus Mortem” does, however, manage to balance the bombast with moments of relatively thinner textures. Take for example “Neuronic Knife” where a constant, rapidly pulsing kick drum is periodically overshadowed by rapid fire snare rolls and vocals. The foot-pedal controlled synth lays down thick, fuzzed out low frequencies that dive-bomb in and out of the track.
The constant pulsation that exists on “Neuronic Knife” is pretty prevalent throughout the rest of the album as well, strengthening the underlying primal element that are at least partly implied on any album that is drum-centric. Additionally, the album opening adds to the primal element with a snarling exhale that serves to kickstart “Heebee Geebees.” Also, just because a track focuses around an idea on a rhythm, doesn’t mean that the music is completely devoid of melodic elements. This album opening is not short on melody one bit.
Synth and vocals play a bit more of a central role on “Supergenius.” The delayed vocals rise and fall, building dramatic tension over the low ebbing synth creating an overall foreboding vibe. “Off With His Head” ramps up the spastic drumming with layered and looped vocals over top, finding time to carve out a more complex and fluid structure that opts for something that resembles a more improvisatory approach than a one-part minimalist rumination on a single pattern.
“Pus Mortem” is available right now through the Black Pus bandcamp page for any price you choose. I would highly encourage supporting Chippendale in all his efforts. It’s important to help sustain someone that is sustaining themselves completely through creating art. Throw down at least $5 I would say. Even that doesn’t seem like enough, but it’s a start. Better yet, grab it on vinyl here.
And, like it says on the Bandcamp page: “PS. I PLAYED THIS LOUD SO YOU SHOULD TOO.” Follow his orders.
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Stream: Mono – “The Last Dawn”
The most difficult part about writing anything about a post-rock band is that each song is such a journey, and the albums seem to be massive offerings. It’s more about the journey than it is about the little pieces that make them up. Mono, throughout “The Last Dawn” manages to weave together extended sections of tranquility with blasts of euphoric noise. The slow unfolding of each track (as is usually the case) relies on short repetitive melodies that are built up in every way possible. This, of course, is not exactly out of the ordinary. Post-rock tends toward the slow-burn, slowly blending in element after element until the full fabric is complete. It’s a lot easier said than done.
There are many moments on “The Last Dawn” that sound close to Explosions in the Sky’s treatment of guitar, with open string voiced chord extensions are carefully articulated. Mono makes extensive use of a piano as a complement to the quieter guitar parts.
What it all really boils down to is a series of beautiful moments. Specifically, the moments of martial drumbeats and roaring guitars strummed wildly. After so much waiting and placidity, once the album really opens up, and it does so at only a few key moments (which isn’t to say that it should happen more often. On the contrary, the pacing is maybe the most important thing to listen to here), it’s something that gives the listener pause. Those moments are made all the more explosive and awe inspiring in that Mono has made you wait for them. As much as “The Last Dawn” is a collection of songs, it really is more about the journey across the entire album.
And the journey doesn’t end with “The Last Dawn,” the album was recorded simultaneously with their other new release “Rays of Darkness.” The albums are counterparts, but aren’t to be thought of as the same entity. “Rays of Darkness” stands in near opposition to the hopeful, sometimes joyous nature of “The Last Dawn.” Both of these albums are currently available on LP and CD through Temporary Residence Ltd.
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Stream: Buffalo Tooth – “Gardeners of the Devil’s Lettuce”
Can one put together stoner rock, hyperactive punk, thrash and metal and still make it make sense? According to Buffalo Tooth, yes. Their debut full-length, “Gardeners of the Devil’s Lettuce,” hits us with one guitar assault after another. This band is not kidding around, with thirteen tracks of stoney thrash, there is hardly a moment’s rest. From the hard driving blues based riffage of “Little Girl,” to the fingerboard tapping dual guitar freak-out of “Sex Priest,” Buffalo Tooth has all the bases covered.
One minute the vocals can sound like Danzig, the next they might have just a shade of Jello Biafra in them; the same can be said of the transformation of the guitar styles emerging across the album – one minute slow and heavy, the next fast and clean. Also, let me just state for the record how nice it is to listen to an album that isn’t afraid to just throw in some guitar solos. The influence of Black Sabbath does factor in here, but in perhaps equal measure with some harder edged punk and metal. More than a hint of Bad Brains can be detected without question, but listening close I’m also picking up on some early Metallica, for example a little taste of “Master of Puppets” toward the close of “Street Poo.” Then there is some East Bay Ray style guitar tone and technique on the punk-rock boogie of “Laced Up.” Appropriately, the vocals reach maximum Jello Biafra delivery here. Finally, on the closing track “Greenbacks” we get some riffs that sound like early Nirvana that get thrown into a blender, sending the entire song into a speed metal tailspin before closing out the entire album with riotous noise and incessant aggressive drumming. If you love everything that Ty Segall has done, especially with his band Fuzz, then you are going to love this album.
Lyrically things don’t tend to get too serious here, as if you couldn’t tell from the song titles “Sex Priest,” “Street Poo,” “Smells Like Jello,” and “Street Polygamy.” Speaking specifically to this end are the lyrics to “Snacktology,” wherein we hear how much the singer loves snacks: “I love, I love snacks. I’ve got the munchies man, all I wanna do is eat some snacks.” What could be more stoney than that? Not much.
“Gardeners of the Devil’s Lettuce” is out now on Captcha Records on 160g black and white splatter vinyl, and you can choose to add a 24″×36″ “How to Tour Tijuana” poster to that. You can check out all that stuff on Buffalo Tooth’s bandcamp page.
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Stream: Deep Waters – “Visions in Flame”
I’m going to start the week on a much more relaxed note than I usually do. The latest release from the small-batch vinyl and tape label Already Dead released Deep Waters’ latest six-song EP offering as a limited cassette, as per usual, but has also made “Visions in Flame” available as an even more limited (only 25 produced) cassette bundled with a full color, hand-made book. You can check out the detail of the book in the video preview below.
The limited edition book looks to truly be an extension of the music. As a companion piece the design, with pictures of the American landscape deepens the country inflected folk that Deep Waters presents us with throughout “Visions in Flame.”
Specifically, the songs create a laid-back atmosphere that takes equally from the sound of Jason Molina and Canadian country-folk-rock band Cuff the Duke. The up-front vocals, somehow both perfectly mellowed and rough around the edges, are nicely contrasted with lush reverted lead guitar lines that emerge from the arrangements organically. The mostly instrumental “Holiday” opens up with co-mingled lead lines from steel string acoustic and reverbed electric before the vocals and ubiquitous supporting vocals enter, building up the texture little by little across the brief song, clocking in at just under two minutes.
The highlight across the EP are the perfectly executed harmonies. Take, for example, the opening track “Golden Flame;” the interludes interspersed between the verses add an affecting lift to the underlying rhythmically active foundation. The entire release seems to focus around these guitar breaks, maintaining a timbral similarity throughout. Such a focus is always something that I appreciate, it never fails to help an album to cohere, and this album is no different. The ambience curated across these six tracks, with the guitars and understated backing vocals occasionally backed with a delicately played piano, evokes the image of an intimate setting, perhaps in a small performance; or listening to the car radio on a cold fall day early in the morning down a quiet back road.
“Visions in Flame” is currently available from Already Dead tapes. You can listen to the entire album above and head over to Bandcamp to pick up the limited cassette with or without the special edition book.
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Stream/Video: Corners – “Maxed Out on Distractions”
Los Angeles area band Corners just released “Maxed out on Distractions” at the beginning of the month; an album full of post-punk’s angular approach to rhythm and echoed guitars combined with the analog synths of chillwave, and even some honest pop hooks. The songs that make up “Maxed Out…” are all coming from the same dark world of Joy Division, but on tracks like “Buoy” they work hard to break out of those constraints, chugging along with a more aggressive guitar riff that sounds closer to The Blind Shake than it does Ian Curtis and co.
With every song it becomes clear that this is what we all keep hoping Interpol will bring us, yet they disappoint us time and time again. Corners are coming in to fill the void, picking up where “Turn on the Bright Lights” left off. Corners, instead of trying to fill every possible second with complex and cerebral contrapuntal constructions, are happy to let the silences and ambiance speak. For example, the extended outro of “Against It” makes a point of capturing and even highlighting the environment in which it was recorded, creating and solidifying the overall aura of the album.
“Love Letters” centers a bit more around the bass and synth than some of the songs on the first half of the album, but I think that the guitar is actually the most important part of the song here. It’s used so sparingly that when those few notes come ringing in over top of the synth you realize that it’s what had been missing all along, or maybe not missing, but it becomes what you as a listener want to come back. The guitar, second only to the voice, is maybe the most affecting part of the song, it’s the hook.
Each track finds Corners taking a slightly different approach. Title track “Maxed Out on Distraction” is at first driven completely by bass and drums, while “On the Run” is clearly a guitar-centric instrumental that borders on surf-rock at some points, and “Love Letters” brings the focus to the vocals.
You can listen to the album in its entirety above from the band’s bandcamp page and check out the video for “Love Letters” above as well. The album is out now on Lollipop and Burger records as a CD, LP or Cassette. You can, of course, also purchase it digitally from the bandcamp page (but why would you do that? That’s boring. Buy a physical copy). You can also find their West Coast tour dates below. If you’re in Washington, Oregon or California, definitely go check them out.
“MAXED OUT” WEST COAST TOUR
10/25 Observatory, Costa Mesa, CA (Beach Goth Party)
10/26 Continental Room, Fullerton, CA*
10/27 Milk Bar, San Francisco, CA*
10/28 Chillanova, Davis, CA*
10/30 Doug Fir, Portland, OR*
10/31 The Cannery, Everett, WA*
11/1 TBA, Seattle, WA*
11/2 Sam Bonds Garage, Eugene, OR*
11/3 Duffy’s Tavern, Chico, CA*
11/4 Townhouse, Venice, CA*
11/5 Federal Bar, Long Beach, CA
11/8 Regent Theatre, Los Angeles, CA (w/ Connan Mockasin)
- w/ Drinking Flowers
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Stream: Fleeting Youth Records + r/cassetteculture – “Blooming”
I mean, how could you even go wrong? Fleeting Youth Records, one of our favorites and based out of Austin, Texas, has put together a compilation of 33 bands that clocks in at over 90+ minutes. Every single song is a noisy, feedback and fuzz soaked garage-rock stomper ready and waiting to be loaded up onto your tape deck and blared until the speakers add yet another layer of distortion.
It’s hard to tell even where to begin. Covering such a substantial paean to garage rock is not something that can be taken down track for track. A (relatively) random sampling is going to have to suffice.
First off, true to it’s name this compilation truly is “fuzz-fucked.” Every track seems to be following the same production standard of no production standards. Appropriately, the opening track, “Vent” by the band Weak Nerves, comes screaming out of the gate with a few squeals of feedback before introducing some super crunchy and fuzzed out riff-rock. There is a mix of garage-rock noise with groundswells of shoegaze awe. Somehow Weak Nerves are able to float between these two worlds, creating a really interesting and expansive sound that adds significant depth beyond just fuzzed out noise.
I’m also happy to see Chat Logs getting some space here. They had a pretty exciting release on Already Dead tapes a while ago that I still enjoy. Their jittery, aggressive approach with Earth-shaking low end violently contrasted by screeching guitars fits perfectly amongst the garage-rockers and punks that fill out the rest of the album.
There really isn’t a bad track across this collection. It’s all just perfectly amped up rock. Post-Child’s “Stop What You’re Doing to Me” cuts the noise with pop hooks and bouncy synth sounds, while Goners intone their teenage depression before cutting into an extended guitar solo; and toward the end of the album The Void bring us back to the mid-90’s with the fuzzed out, Smashing Pumpkins-esque bliss of “Summer.”
I could probably just go on all day, moving through each track one at a time, but instead I’ll leave you to it. Start with these tracks and just keep listening from there. While you’re at it, grab a copy. Limited run blue cassette with full-color 3-panel j-card featuring amazing hand drawn art from Valentino Tettamanti. Head over to the Fleeting Youth bandcamp to pick one up, and to listen to the compilation in its entirety.
