Tag Archives: julie’s haircut

2014, music, reviews, songs, Soundcloud

Stream: Inutili – “Music To Watch The Clouds On A Sunny Day”

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Psych-rock jam. Italian psych-rock jam.

It was a few months ago (I think, to be honest the days all sort of blend together) that I wrote about a new tape that came out on Crash Symbols by Julie’s Haircut, an Italian psych-prog band that creates complex and lush arrangements across intertwined songs to create a work that is more or less album oriented. Well, here is something similar, but different.

Inutili is also a band from Italy, and they are also constructing epically long tunes, but they are approaching the composition of those songs from a much different angle. Inutili, which by the way means “useless” or “pointless” in Italian, is creating their music on the spot. Instant composition coming to life organically through improvisation. In the track above, a 19+ minute rocker called “Fry Your Brain,” nearly the entire jam is held together by a bass ostinato. Similar in fashion at the outset to something like Neu, or Can, the track gets noisier and noisier as it continues. Guitars thrash about, the drums become increasingly bombastic, erupting into frantic fills that expand until the last few minutes collapse completely into utter cacophony. That distorted, near white noise  of overlapping everything adds a bit of a garage rock dimension to the whole affair.

And below is another track – different release, same general principle. “Satori” gets down to the noise a little faster, and is a little less bass driven at first. At about 5 minutes in there’s a breakdown, ideas are gathered, things are regrouped, and the band starts to gel once again and takes off.

“Music To Watch The Clouds On A Sunny Day” is out now from Aagoo records and “Satori” is from the “Satori/Useless Asshole” album that comes to us from Boozy Records and Bat Shit records. Each label, for that latter album, released a limited run of 100 copies that feature different artwork. The Boozy releases are sold out, but there are still copies available through Bat Shit records.

Finally, if you follow the link to Soundcloud from “Fry Your Brain” you will find that the track is available for download.

2013, albums, music

New Release: Julie’s Haircut – “Ashram Equinox”

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Julie's Haircut - "Ashram Equinox"
Julie’s Haircut – “Ashram Equinox”

Julie’s Haircut is an Italian pysch band, though I’m really trying to think of a point of reference to clue you into the essence of their sound. There are elements of Stereolab in the synth work, but those are criss-crossed with more complex atmospherics, akin to Air’s output.

And that might be a good jumping off point. Julie’s Haircut is creating atmospheric, meditative psych-prog with songs that would fit nicely onto “Moon Safari” or some of the more kraut-rock inspired, motoric Stereolab tracks. I don’t think that those two things need to be mutually exclusive, and the pieces on “Ashram Equinox” explore the sound possibilities of mixing these two worlds to varying degrees. Where “Johin” is more of a driving force, with a persistent rhythmic backbone and droning harmony, “Taarna” is more melody driven, with buzzing and echoed synths casting long lines over top, finishing out with textless vocals, adding a rich complexity to the texture as the piece draws to a close.

I hear the album not only as an exploration of the atmospheric and the motoric, but also as an overall arch form where middle track, fittingly named “Equinox,” is nothing but mood, color and drones. But added to that mix is an unmistakable Eastern influence, imitating tabla and the tense sounds of an Oud, managing to evoke an entire landscape with only a few plucked notes.

The latter half of the album continues the trajectory of the first, the balancing act, with more moody instrumentals and driving rhythms. “Taotie” is the most active track on the album, perhaps calling to mind Kraftwerk’s “Tour De France,” while album closer “Han” uses silence effectively to create more space in the texture with a beautiful simplicity that seems to me to the best way to close an album. The relative silence and calm of “Han” focuses on one short repeated keyboard phrase, cycling around in minimalist contemplation.

“Ashram Equinox” was released on Crash Symbols on October 11th, and as such is currently available from their bandcamp page. The cassette is limited to 100 and are still available. Personally, the artwork goes so well with the album it is definitely worth the few dollars to get a physical copy of the album. In my opinion, it’s always nice to have something tangible anyway. Check out the album above and visit Julie’s Haircut’s site for more info and downloads. And be sure to check out the videos below that work as companion pieces to the album.

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