The Slow Alarm

2008-02-19T02:14:00.006-02:00

Bon Iver

For Emma, Forever Ago

Jagjaguwar

Phosphorescent

Pride

Dead Oceans

As a sucker for folk music, I have recently stumbled upon these two very folky but very different records, both hailing from the new music conglomerate of the Secretly Canadian/Dead Oceans/Jagjaguwar family of record labels. Given, Phosphorescent’s Pride is a few months old at this point, as is For Emma… (as it was self released in a limited run in 2007), but both records have a certain amount of timeless quality to them, thus, why they are getting coverage now. Regardless of the timeliness of this, for the record, I always seem to find the slow-burn folk records in the winter months, and for as cliché as this sounds, I’m glad I came upon these records when I did, as I think I’m far more receptive to them as I would be if I found them in the mid-summer, now that I’m back in the frozen wonder of a Michigan winter. For starters, Bon Iver (French for “Good Winter”) brings to the table a bizarre brand of soulful, modern folk that will undoubtedly make quite a name for himself, aside from his own—a.k.a. Mr. Justin Vernon—while Matthew Houck offers up his fourth full length under his musical alias, Phosphorescent, in the form of a dark, gospel tinged acoustic record entitled Pride. Both artists seem to have carved out their own niche in acoustic guitar-driven semantics, despite the ideal that the winter of 07/08 offers a debut for Vernon, and what might be a solidification of musical tenure for Houck. The difference between these two records is stark, as with the debut Bon Iver record, listeners will get a heavy dose of a sole soul with something to prove, and on the nine tracks that make up For Emma, Forever Ago, we get nothing less than a falsetto voice telling anyone and anything a rather dismal but well-inflected story. But the story behind Vernon’s work reflects his madness, as he relocated himself to a solitary setting in the woods of Wisconsin for the winter last year to record what would become a pseudo-epic opus of loneliness and despair. Starting off with “I am my mother’s only one/ It’s enough” on the record’s opening track “Flume,” tells a portion of Vernon’s bleak story in itself, one of questioning things beyond one’s control, and the rest of the record follows suit, finding his voice at odds with life’s tribulations surrounding love, loss and what one can only imagine else. There has obviously been a relationship woe or two, as tracks like “Skinny Love” and “Creature Fear” state blatantly, and Vernon tells it on the mountain, as if to proverbially scream to anyone who will respectively listen; with lyrics like “When all your love is wasted/Then who the hell was I?” and I was teased by your blouse/spit out by your mouth. Both tracks showcase an intimate moment that shouldn’t be, and knowing the story behind Vernon’s escape, one can only appreciate his telling soul. Houck on the other hand states a bit of a different tone, but manages to convey his own brand of religious, relationship hysteria in “Cocaine Lights,” a track of confounding desperation. As he croons in his own broken drawl, “Lord, truly I am awake/Lord, truly I am afraid/Lord, truly I remain,” solidifying his mellow frenzy with “In the darkness after the cocaine lights, I will miss you with no warning," Houck exhibits a different side of sickening sadness. Although it’s rather simple to see similarities between these two in a matter of content, the delivery is truly what separates the two—whereas Bon Iver’s melancholy relies more on a lonely nature that shows deliberately; Houck’s darkside comes more in the form of a resounding chorale of gloom, literally. It’s not uncommon, for a number of voices to accompany Houck’s over the course of Pride, which offers a very dismal overtone to the work—mainly on “Picture of Our Torn Up Praise” and “Be Dark Night”. However, the standout track on the record finds Houck alone, in “Wolves,” a solo sung ballad, rich in imagery, about said animals confining one to a house that they are ravaging. It is hard not to think that the track might be a metaphor for something or someone else. But with lines like, “They’re staring with blood in their mouths/Mama, they wont let me out,” its hard not to be sold, as even if this is Houck at his worst, he remains starkly convincing as he croons over what sounds like a ukulele and a funeral organ, with a demeanor somewhere between weeping and exploding. Ironically, Vernon offers up his take on the Canis lupus as well, with “Wolves (Acts I and II),” but goes straight to the point of dismay, stating “Someday my pain will mark you,” keeping his symbolism to a minimum but keeping pace with Houck, furthering his case with “With the wild wolves around you/In the morning I’ll call you…can’t you find a clue?”. Where we find Vernon in his constant state of contemplation of things, Houck seems to have figured things out for himself, staking his claim on things with “At Death, A Proclamation,” which might be some of the strongest last words anyone has maybe never said, long before their death, complete with regret and solitude. It is in this light where Phosphorescent dimly shines (all puns intended), and shows rightly his scars of trials himself. Where Vernon acts as a man in the moment and immersed, Houck glows of a man in afterthought; aged and well versed. “The Waves At Night” and “My Dove, My Lamb” are both testament to this, as the former addresses a quaint love and it’s intermissions, while the latter expresses a lullaby of youth, love and balladry in the most poetic of contexts. For as much as these two modern songwriters differ, it’s evident that the age old practice of folk music—no matter what face it takes—turns out best in it’s most raw form; songs of love, scorn, loss and reflection—thus, the reason for the genre in the first place, one might attest. Before this becomes a thesis paper, and for what it’s worth, Pride made it’s way onto a number of best of lists at the tail end of 2007, and I’d be willing to bet that Bon Iver’s debut reissue will probably make it onto a shit-ton of them in 2008. Regardless, these records are both great examples of new takes on a genre that will never cease, and kudos to the triumvirate of labels (DO/SC/Jagjaguwar) that has always been known to support songwriters and their crafts to find and release such works. For fans of folk music of any likeness, Pride and For Emma, Forever Ago offer windows of personal tastes melding with the basic knack of songwriting that is anything but generic, creating listening experiences that come highly recommended.

Bon Iver
Phosphorescent
Dead Oceans
Jagjaguwar

2008-02-18T14:53:00.004-02:00

Dub Trio

Another Sound Is Dying

Ipecac

I’ll admit, the premonition that a dub group being released on Mike Patton’s Ipecac Records, intrigued the shit out of me when I first stumbled upon this release. And it’s an intriguing listen to say the least, especially for a group dropping the dub genre in it’s moniker. For starters, Another Sound Is Dying isn’t your daddy’s dub record, nor is it the same type of tunes your stoner roommate in college had blaring from his Marley poster-adorned, smoke filled bedroom; it’s a brand of dub that is far more cerebral than a delayed bassline and some upstroked bar chords over a slowed down 4/4 beat. Basically, this is a band that uses the most basic dub elements and lifts the genre to a completely different, heavy plane that surprisingly enough fits as equal parts Don Caballero, Angel Dust and King For A Day… era Faith No More (believe it or not), and—when Patton is guesting on “No Flag,” the record’s only track with vocals—Biohazard or Sick Of It All. Yes, this might sound like a bizarre combination of bands to associate with a band with some stripped down reggae influences, but their all here and the proof is in the recording itself. The record opening “Not For Nothing,” pushes the listener into their brand of tripped out, head-metal rather quickly, with an off-time guitar riff set over a pounding bassline, only to be stripped away to make headroom for a gaggle of effects and echoes which loom in the track for the first few minutes. The guitars feedback and interject into the track, as one might imagine in a typical dub composition, but with lots of low-end sustain and fuzz as opposed to the clean, compressed guitar tone one would likely hear on a platter from 1970’s Jamaica. However, the trio gets back to a more traditional musical nature with the album’s most concrete example of what these guys are capable of, paying homage to some of the dub masters with “Mortar Dub,” which sounds like it could be a classic recording. Lots of delays, effects, and a rolling reggae drum beat make, what could be the most out of place track on the record one of the most prominent. “Felicitation” ventures into a much more abstract take on the sound, adding a rather atmospheric bend to heavy instrumentalism for the song’s first half, relying on the rhythm section to do the dirty work, which allows the band to further accentuate their knack for reaching the outer limits of their respective musical arena. Other tracks that stand out are the deconstructed “The Midnight Rider,” which calls to mind the discordant jazz tempos of the aforementioned FNM records, and finishing off with a typical 90’s metal progression; “Agonist,” the record’s longest track, which delves deep into the psychedelic nature of classic dub sound and clashes it with some So-Cal speed-punk riffing; “Jog On,” the quickest blast of stoner rock one might ever hear; and the jah-infused, slow-metal burner of “Fuck What You Heard,” which might be the thesis statement for the whole record as it seems to balance out the slow, skank-inducing riddims with otherwise thunderous guitar work. On the whole, this record is quite fitting to be one of Ipecac’s new kids, and it’s no doubt why Patton picked these guys up after collaborating with them in the past on his Peeping Tom project and on one of their older releases as well. It will be interesting to see if Patton’s meathead contingency will pick up on this one like they do most other things he puts his hands on; but this might be a little too brainy for his legions of mosh-pit minions. Regardless, Another Sound Is Dying is a great versatile listen that spans multiple genres despite a band’s attempt to pigeonhole themselves into one. Most purveyors of heavy, time signature-ignoring music will find this one a true delight. And hippies be warned, this record will scare the shit out of you.

Dub Trio
Ipecac

2008-02-13T01:42:00.002-02:00

Li Jianhong

San Sheng Shi

Archive

For those unfamiliar with who Li Jianhong is and what he does, to set the record straight, he hails from Hangzhou, China and is a one-man guitar/effects virtuoso of sorts, who is slowly beginning to get his name heard outside of mainland China. With that said, Archive has come forth with perhaps his most available release on this side of the Pacific with San Sheng Shi, a 51-minute guitar overture that showcases Jianhong's ability to manipulate the guitar to otherworldly sound parameters. Starting off with what must be an ebow and a slew of effects (delay, reverb, sustain and probably more), Jianhong plays a call-and-response between himself and guitar, feedbacking and delaying a sonic melee of sorts for the first 10 minutes or so of the piece. Slowly and dramatically layering in effects and distortion, a wave of reservation sweeps over the piece about 12 minutes in, relying more on an intensifying delay pattern and what manipulations Jianhong can add to it. Quick enough though, the piece takes on a harsh noise identity, almost as if Jianhong is pitchbending while playing, which he very well may be doing. It's hard to decipher exactly what he's running his axe through, since he seems to go from a swirling mess of sound to something more stripped down rather quickly, and back again a few times over in this epic masterwork. At 21 minutes, Jianhong has worked the piece into a dense wall of static, with some guitar tones ruminating deep in the background, leaving any musical overtone out to dry. The piece continues to transform throughout, but never lets up on the effects, which might lead one to wonder what Jianhong would sound like playing a clean guitar, or an acoustic instrument for that matter. Just past the halfway point, the piece makes a stark drop in content, retreating from a droning intensity to a minimal experimentation in tone and sustain. It's easy to say that this is the most elementary moment of the work, as the content reluctantly goes a bit dry and simple. However, it's a nice departure from the mounting intensity that at this point, was building for 33 minutes, and separates the track somewhat into two distinct parts. It's a working listen, and a draining one at that, but with bit of patience, one will eventually get to the end. After a brief pause, for the end of San Sheng Shi, Jianhong adds a bit more of an atmospheric tone over some shrieking guitar riffing and a light amount of white noise, forming the track into something a bit spacier than the first part. It's still a bit overdone, but for what would be construed as the grand finale of such a work, its equal parts harsh psychedelia and catharsis that seem to fit well together to wrap the track up. The closing of the track tones down a bit for the last three minutes in a dark, dirgy drone for a solemn yet fitting end to this rather intense and difficult listen. All in all, the track is quite a work, but this might be a bit too deep for some. This isn't exactly the record you'd want to put on to entertain or to wind down to after a rough day at the job. It is however, a great backdrop soundtrack, that's not going to let you fall asleep; an arousing listen to say the least. For those who look forward to super-epic noise works, this record will appease and astound.

Li Jianhong
Archive

2008-01-22T01:43:00.000-02:00

Black Mountain

In The Future

Jagjaguwar

After hearing the first critically acclaimed record from Black Mountain, it would be hard to imagine the band’s sophomore effort to sound like much of a departure from their established, 70’s throwback rock sound. Plainly put, chief songwriter Stephen McBean laid critics to rest with his updated neo-hippie anthems set to pummeling guitar work, a la Sabbath/Zeppelin/Rainbow/etc. Shit, even Vanity Fair gave the band props before they blew the lid off of other bands struggling to do a good job at what Black Mountain made their natural-sounding musical vehicle. Maybe it’s the water, or something that grows from the ground up in British Columbia, but genuine sounding R’N’R has been flowing out of the Vancouver area since these guys showed up. And back for round two, McBean and company have upped the ante yet again, with a sophomore record that has all the right production twists and lyrical accompaniment to secure their place in the oxymoronic arena of intellectual stoner rock. The record opens with the thrashing riff-heavy “Stormy High,” which is rather reminiscent of their past chug-centric jams like “Druganaut” and “Don’t Run Our Hearts,” but there is something distinctly different about the overall sound, which actually amounts to a numerous elements when broken down. A seasoned Mountain listener will notice right away that the synthesizer steps up considerably in the mix, adding diversity to the record that looms throughout for a solid augmentation to the sound. Also, vocalist Amber Webber lets her vocals out of the box that separates her fom the “back-up” singer stigma that she may have been associated with in the past. It’s somewhat ironic, but makes perfect sense, that the band has come around in such fashion, as the space between records made time for all members of this project/collective to venture off into side projects - Blood Meridian, Lightning Dust, Pink Mountaintops, and Sinoia Caves, respectively - only to bring back to the fold some newer elements that fit the band very precisely. “Tyrants,” the first of two epics on Future exhibits this exactly, as the band’s intertwined instrumentation takes the psychedelia to a completely different plane than on any past Black Mountain release; jaunting in and out of minimal rock noodling, a climactic building crescendo of acoustic tones, dismal harmonization and dirgy guitars, only to rain down a musical hellfire of sorts with a thunderous interlude, complete with a call-and-response conclusion of gratuitous soloing and pummeling drums, sealed off with a calm harmonized, dismal lullaby. It’s big. Real big. And believe it or not, it blows some of the largest works by these guys (and their side projects) out of the water. Other tracks, such as “Wucan,” “Evil Ways,” and the Webber-sung “Queens Will Play,” show yet another avenue to the group’s evolving sound, opting for an almost drum-circle/lounge-act brand of psych rock that sounds just as original and unnerving as the band at their most outright and direct. “Stay Free,” a priarily acoustic track, also seems to fit in with the rest of the differences here, providing listeners with a much more organic side to McBean’s songwriting that works better than the last Mountaintops record, relying heavily on the work’s bombastic but soft production. It’s a great living room rocker to say the least. The only track that forces a bit of head scratching would undoubtedly be “Bright Lights,” with it’s glamorized drug-induced drawl. It’s the second epic work of the record, and in all of it’s 16-plus minutes of glory, it touches on about every aspect of the record twice over, but suffers from weak lyrics. After a few bong rips, the words probably make more sense, and the “adventure” metal-tinged theatrics of the track make up for any verbal shortcomings. The record ends on a somewhat rapturous note with “Night Walks,” a quieter, synth-toned downer, probably aimed at easing the listener out of any rock-induced haze that may have occurred over the course of the album. Sure, it sounds somewhat cliché, but this record has some weight as far as rock records go and I highly recommend this record for those who like non-pretentious rock that would do better in an arena than a basement. Black Mountain’s time is coming…

Black Mountain
Jagjaguwar

2008-01-18T13:24:00.000-02:00

Ulver

Shadows Of The Sun

Jester/The End Records

Scandinavian Metal is its own breed. From band to band, we never really know what to expect. This is never more apparent than on this record, one I really cannot make heads or tails of. Aside from the minimal back-catalogue of Ulver material I am familiar with, to me, this sounds like a concept record of some kind, or maybe even a soundtrack to some terrible melodrama. Equally appropriate at a funeral pyre or a 14-year old goth kid’s belated circumcision rite, this record offers up very little of anything. First track “Eos” sets the tone for the album, offering a slow-moving, drony bore with very elementary lyrics. Think if Tom Waits regressed 20 years, learned how to actually sing, picked up the ability to gracefully sustain his vocals, and sang lyrics written by any thriving new-metal vocalist (i.e. Aaron Lewis from Staind…), backed up by Silver Mt. Zion on three weeks worth of valium. Second track, “All the Love,” gives us a mere droplet in the still-pond monotony of the rest of the album. Instrumentation varies, vocals actually change in tone, pitch and volume, which ultimately all amounts to what sounds like it could be an unmixed demo of an outtake from Pink Floyd’s Division Bell. At this point, I found it meaningless to pay attention to the songs, as they casually drift into one another, creating the auditory illusion that this record might actually be one long uneventful song. As the record trudges through it’s lo-fi hum of noise, we hear some piano, possibly the use of an E-Bow, some background vocals that sound like a supermarket PA system, and a very out of place brass section offering for a few seconds, a jazzy touch to an otherwise bland and desolate soundscape. The best kept secret on this record—if you can get there—comes in the form of a long silence at the conclusion of the last track. Maybe Ulver thought the listener would hear this epic nuclear explosion of a record and would need 42 seconds of silence upon finishing it to come down from the inherent high this record would give them. This being said, the next time I am ass-naked in a wigwam sweating out the ounce of peyote I just ate, I really hope this record is there to guide me through my vision quest. That’s about the only place I can put this record. I can’t conceivably see it anywhere else, let alone in someone’s record collection—least of all, my own. I don’t think I have ever heard anything as downright boring as this. File under: “Naptime.” Bottom line, this record is a piece of shit, but don’t count it out yet, it could win a lifetime achievement at the Grammy’s for being the most non-climactic record ever.
-RTMA

Ulver / Jester Records

*Ed. Note: The contributors have spoken!

2008-01-16T21:46:00.000-02:00

Tim Hecker

Norberg

Room 40

When Tim Hecker isn’t busy writing and releasing his acclaimed works for various labels, he’s out doing 20 or so shows a year in differing locales worldwide. And in between studio releases, he’ll occasionally get some of his work out to chide fans over or give insight as to what he might be formulating for an upcoming LP. His contribution to Staalplaat’s Mort Aux Vaches series in 2005 spliced some of his various sound elements from Mirages (Alien8, 2004) into a much warmer and refined work, attributes that could be said of his last full-length, Harmony In Ultraviolet, released on Kranky in 2006. With this, his latest offering, Hecker again leads one to wonder what he’s got up his sleeve for his next studio mix. Recorded live in Sweden, Norberg is a 20-minute overture of sorts that finds Mr. Hecker seamlessly blending a barrage of sounds into a pastiche work that touches on various elemental parts of his back catalogue. Starting out with some static tones and what sounds like a well played xylophone, the work slowly forms into a clutter of white noise and oscillations, helped out by some drenched reverb acting as some sort of compression. Sounds drift in and out of Hecker’s work, as a few minutes in, it is very evident that the artist is in his element, and his live skills are quite well-honed. For a few minutes, traces of the scratchy guitar nuances of “Acephale,” the opening track off of Mirages, can be heard blazing out of the enveloping noise that Hecker has built up, only to tone down to a very minimal but dense moment, before working into a much more sparse, organic tone reminiscent of some of the less distorted works on Harmony. An active listen will undoubtedly sing praise to Hecker’s busy hands and brain for this performance, as minimal effects are thrown in at an alarming rate, changing less of the soundscape as a whole, placing emphasis on the input. At the halfway point, the work is at its most delicate, with waves of delay and reverb washing over the composition giving it a very solemn and suspended feel. Here, Mr. Hecker shines, as a constant backdrop for the work settles in, allowing him to experiment with what’s going on at the forefront of his performance, creating a multidimensional field of sound, so to speak, that is both cavernous but very spacious. Shards of white noise wash back in, around three minutes before the piece ends, returning the work to a complex minimalism that races toward the end of his performance. The performance ends on a harsher note than the whole work itself conveys, but to the delight of the audience. It’s hard to tell if this is standard live fare from Hecker or not, since there isn’t much live stuff of his floating around in cyberspace or released in hardcopy. Regardless though, Hecker’s performance is both intimate and verbose, and by no means overdone. Norberg is a great encapsulation of a modern master at his craft.

Tim Hecker
Room 40

2008-01-16T19:05:00.000-02:00

LSD POND

LSD POND

Archive

For those in pursuit of some new outer-limits rock recordings, perhaps the best place to check is figuring out what Scott Slimm has up his sleeve for the new year. The latest addition to his Archive catalog comes in the form of a two-disc collaboration between various members of Slimm’s back-catalog as LSD POND, a collection of improvised recordings between members of Philly-based noise rockers Bardo Pond, and two of Japan’s highly revered psych acts, LSD March and Masami Kawaguchi’s New Rock Syndicate. Having done recordings for Slimm in the past, one can only imagine that this was a dream come true for the man and his label when these three groups of musicians decided to shack up in a practice space between tour dates sometime late last year. The finished product—which is beautifully hand packaged with foil stamping and a nice floral design motif—is truly one for those looking for epic rock ‘n’ roll works tinged with a heavy dose of a drug-induced swagger. Seriously, there are moments all captured here that make strong cases for why certain mind-altering substances exist, all in musical form. Of the two discs of material—that together comprise a whopping almost-two-and-a-half hours of music—this release offers up, it must be noted that the players vary on each disc, but the sum of the parts justify the whole here, without a doubt. Cutting to the chase, the first disc shows a side of down-tempo stoner works, complete with gratuitous soloing and rolling bass lines that could fit the bill at even the worst of the “Jam Band” scene’s venues. “We are LSD POND,” as the introduction (on both discs, ironically) is called, serves as the 17-minute space-rock segue into “Hikari Naki Sekai,” which easily puts this prior claim to rest. It’s hard not to imagine being trapped at some wacky hippie festival only to find that these guys might be the saving grace of the whole thing, based solely on the idea that their bass guitars are the right amount of “fuzzed out” to make it bearable. Really though, the rhythm section and wah pedal madness, makes a strong case that genuine hippie music will never die, but the bombast that goes along with up to 8 people playing out simultaneously (it doesn’t specify just how many people are actually on each piece, but a honed ear can hear at least six) sets this apart on a similar astral plane so to speak. At 15 minutes in though, the track somehow manages to coalesce into a noisy stoner rock mess that is very delightful as it is deep. The other tracks on the first disc offer more sides to this multi-talented ensemble, as “Tamerai To Kurushimi” incites a very swampy, dissonant piece that might have listeners reminiscing of some of the more listenable Sunburned works, complete with a primal tom beat, some fuzzy bass, lots of tolerable feedback and swirling guitars. “Utuwa No Naka No Mizu” is the fourth offering, which, with its driving upbeat drumming makes the track almost danceable. For all of the frenzied guitar work here, the cacophonous nature of the track fits together well at the hands of an even amount of sustain, phaser and distortion, putting everything in balance. This may be the tightest track of the collboration, relying on much of its rhythm section, and is probably what Acid Mothers Temple’s studio material should sound like, if they didn’t always go ape shit with oscillators. The last offering on the first disc is a solid free-form work, and fits nicely as the last track, giving listeners a very spacey send-off into the sinister fray that is the other half of this monstrosity of sound. Whereas the first disc of material ventures into more of the psychedelics rooted in, say, San Francisco, disc two will leave the listener somewhere far, far away. In three tracks, the left brain to this project takes a quite different approach, with the addition of vocals and electronics that veers off path if you will, to a much darker place. Think whatever acid was killing people at Woodstock, and one would be on the right path. The second “We Are LSD POND” starts off on a much different note than the first one does, with a massive distorted, lurking bass line that volleys around a looping, utterly Asian influenced guitar riff until various elements seep in and turn the work into a sludgy bastard-cousin of doom metal. It’s like night and day in comparison to the previous material, and continues on with no sign of abandon. About 18 or so minutes in, ghastly, female vocals careen into the mix to create a sound that is outright, impure sexual psychosis. The electronics are heavy and blatant, as is the rest of the music being created. Plainly put, it must have been insane to be in the room at the time of this recording. The longest track on the recording is “Sugatanaki Kyofu,” the middle track here, and is by far the most introverted work from this collection, as it starts out in all the glory of low-end rumbling and shrill effects that sound as though something is coming to a boil. The track does not sound as though it was an on-the-spot conception of these guitar-wielding artists, relying more on a noise aesthetic; but nonetheless, takes a hostile amount of time building into an erratic squall of sound experimentation. Feedback and some glacial guitar soloing clear a way for the most subdued music here, enveloped in a heavy mass of tone, noise and random percussion. Somewhere beyond the midpoint of the track, it retreats to somewhere in the realm of Black Metal (of all places)-- there’s a flute being played, and a heavy wave of tone splicing the track, but all the while, holding onto the natural character that the work has become. The last offering is perhaps the deepest head trip of the bunch, as vocalist Isobel Sollenberger again lends her larynx to the mix for another round of tortured song. There’s a heavy rock element driving the vibe here that will have listeners nodding along in the mildly psychotic way that Boris drives people to. In addition, there’s also a live radio, tribal drumming and some creeped out electronic scribbling that close the work out on a rather chilly note. This is by far one of the deepest psychedelic rock records I have ever come across, probably due to the fact that it is a shit ton of sound. Almost 2.5 hours of wild music makes for a somewhat fatiguing listen. This work is very well done for a live session with no overdubs, as the sound is as impeccable as the content is otherworldly.

Bardo Pond
LSD March
Archive

2008-01-06T17:41:00.000-02:00

KTL

3

OR

Towards the end of last year, the uber-dark collaborators known as KTL offered up their final release of musical media for 2007 in the form of a one-sided 12" simply titled 3--following suit with their previous installments of studio recordings. For the record, Stephen O'Malley and Peter Rehberg had their hands quite full in 2007 with many live dates for the release of their second LP, the tracking of a new score for the 1922 silent film The Phantom Carriage (set to release in February), and the release of two live recordings, but somehow the duo managed to give followers of their craft this two-song work, which is testament to the drive that KTL have to keep their successful collboration growing. Where their previous studio works found the two at the basis for a sound concept (KTL) and the refinement of said concept (KTL 2), 3 finds the collaborators at each of their roots--electronic tweaking and for the first time, blatantly recognizable slow riffing--on the first track, "Loud Game." Not that O'Malley hasn't brought the sludge out on previous KTL works, but the opening moments of "Loud Game" will have Sunn0))) purists rejoicing in some sort of black rapture as his well-toned guitar drones carry the five-minute track into a flurry of Rehberg's oscillations and tone bends. There are moments when the piece seems to let up on the heaviness, but the practice between these two has become seamless, and even when the low-end isn't as present, O'Malley and Rehberg make up for it in crafting a sonic organ-like haze that is every bit as malevolent. "Sunday" is the second work, a much more sparse track, that leans further towards the previously epic nature of the duo. Lots of speaker panning and chorus effects border "Sunday" on a slow and minimal psychedelic note, as the track sounds very aquatic and luminous, but holds onto the dismal identity that KTL made their own on KTL 2. Well-timed feedback squeaking and a pulsing bass tone add a nice atmospheric sense for a sound experience that looms with despair. For two tracks, O'Malley and Rehberg have put together an abridged version, so to speak, of what they've previously done and have also brought a few new ideas to the fray. As far as instrumentation goes, these two have stuck to the same formulas for three records thus far, and they still continue to progress their sound, which should be quite exciting for fans and those who might not be fans yet. A great shorter listen which might be more accessible for those who aren't acquainted with this project yet.

Peter Rehberg
Stephen O'Malley

A Morning Stumble

2008-01-05T16:44:00.000-02:00

I came across a great website with lots of streaming audio of some great artists this morning, located at RADIO WNE, which is a radio programme based in France. On their Live Archives, there are hours upon hours of high-quality live recordings of many bands we've covered here and a whole lot more. They also have a page on a popular social networking site that you can access HERE.

Happy Hunting.
-D

2007, A Year...

2008-01-02T00:18:00.000-02:00

2007 was a very trying year for me to say the least, and I before going any further I want to thank anyone who contacted the Slow Alarm, left comments, sent along CDs for review, or read my writing; it is sincerely appreciated in the highest of regard. For what started off as a personal outlet to keep my mind off of other aspects of my life that are now in the past, this page was more so a personal venture into writing about things I found intriguing—and never did I expect the amount of communication and feedback that I did receive for the eight-or-so months that I plugged away at covering music (while I should have been selling mortgages at work). Regardless, a shortlist of people I’d like to thank for getting me motivated to write this past year would be as follows;

- The folks at Kranky, Public Guilt, Alien8, Community Library, Peter at Editions Mego, Eric at FE, Scott Slimm at Archive, and Adam Tercala. And if you are reading this, I thank you wholeheartedly for taking the time to stop by. 2008 will find me somewhat settled at last, and I will devote more time and effort to continue posting here, and I will also be enlisting the help of some fellow minds to help me spur the Slow Alarm along. I hope all of you have a well and just holiday season, check back regularly for some more content—I look forward to it as I hope you do.

-Dan

With that being said, here is our lengthy 2007 recap of 20 or so records we found to be outstanding in their own right, whether I covered them on The Slow Alarm or not. And there are also a few records reflected upon by Richie, my sole contributor and brother. Enjoy.

Slow Alarm’s Best Records of 2007

Apparat – Walls
I felt like I slept on this record when it came out, but to be honest, I couldn’t stop listening to it for long enough to sit down and write about it. It is an excellent record for a car ride, as Sascha Ring’s latest electro-pop masterpiece completely envelopes the listener with impeccable production, bass-heavy beats and overtly sensuous vocal tracks courtesy of Raz Ohara. This record took me back to when I first heard National Skyline some years ago, but works the same formula into something much bigger and much better. The typical electronic nature of this recording is completely overshadowed by its complexity, making Walls one of the standout records of 2007 whether or not it got the coverage. This is multi-faceted record that anyone could enjoy that deserves every bit of praise it has received. Excellent to say the least.

The National – Boxer
2007 was the year that, amongst other changes in my life, I got back into rock and roll—due largely in part to this record. Given, The National is quite different of a breed of music than I covered here, but it’s hard not to like a record that is truly “pure” in nature from beginning to end. Boxer starts and finishes strong, is honest in demeanor, flawless in delivery, and is hands-down, the best rock record of the year. I was always one who never trusted the hype engine, but it seems the indie-media-circus got this one right, and the Brooklyn-via-Ohio quintet came forth with a work of art with their latest. With vocalist Matt Berninger’s starkly sincere lyrics accompanied by the rest of the band’s musical output, this is truly a “band” record in every sense of the word.

Besnard Lakes – Are The Dark Horse
This was another record that got me back into pursuing various rock records this year, and for good reason. Perhaps the most overlooked record of the year, Are The Dark Horse brings the best aspects of rock and roll –big stoner riffing; dual male/female vocals; dismal, paranoid lyrics; throwback tone and epic, cinematic climaxes—and puts it all into a contemporary rock context that is accessible as it is incredible.

Strategy - Future Rock
Paul Dickow was one of the first DJ-oriented noise/drone artists I got into back when he dropped Drumsolo’s Delight some years ago. This past year he dropped the shimmering loopy nature of that record to forge Future Rock, which is a record of exactly that—a musical brand that is way before it’s time. I reviewed this one so if you haven’t read it, do some digging here and you’re sure to find it.

Plies - The Real Testament
In and amongst the exaggerated world of hip-hop loudmouths and red carpeteers, there still remains a glimmer of hope that rap still has what created it in the first place: reality. While the Kanye's and the Luda's tout money and mansions, Plies takes a page out of the hip-hop history books somewhere among the Geto Boys and Ol' Dirty Bastard, focusing on what his blingy brethren seem to have forgotten, life's unsexy dark side. Through fifteen cognac and adrenaline fueled tracks, Plies takes us to the courtroom, the cell block, the strip club, and the heavily-armed trenches of a snitch's front yard hedgerow. Preaching his gospel of staying true, staying up, and a free wheeling by-any-means-necessary lifestyle, Plies sets himself at least a bullet or two apart from hip-hop's headliners. Culminating in "Murkin Season" (see urbandictionary.com Murk-1. to beat one's ass so badly they die from their injuries, or 2. to kill), a caveat to the rest of the album's testimony, Plies reiterates that loose lips do none more than increase the lead content in your blood- a fitting conclusion to the rough ghetto portrayal we are presented with in the preceding fourteen songs. Further, at a time when some cultural figureheads are issuing salvos for a cleaner hip-hop image, Plies keeps his material a little closer to the streets, rife with mysogyny and crime, reminding us some 350 times why the likes of the Reverend Al Sharpton and Russell Simmons are not his boys.

Ween – La Cucaracha
I will forever be a Ween fan, and anxiously look forward to every release of theirs. This one was no different, and as Ween continues to write music along their, now, 20-plus year tenure, La Cucaracha finds them comfortably doing what they do best. A solid record for Ween fans and new listeners alike—just listen to the song “Object,” which is lyrically, one of the best Ween offerings ever--and a record closing smooth jazz piece entitled "Your Party" which features the legendary David Sanborn, laying down some porno-sax madness.

Magnolia Electric Co. - The Black Ram (from Sojourner)
Jason Molina is a busy troubadour, and the Sojourner Box Set was aimed to capture his wandering spirit through various sessions he recorded with different musicians. Although the box is a great collection of works, The Black Ram session, recorded with David Lowery (Cracker, Camper Van Beethoven), manages to encapsulate Molina’s dismal, darkside of songwriting more so than anything he’s done since Songs: Ohia’s Didn’t It Rain. This is a great but short listen, and just goes to show the value of the producer when it comes to the finished product of a record.

Nadja - Radiance Of Shadows
One of four records that Nadja released in 2007, Radiance Of Shadows offers listeners three almost-half-hour songs of ambient doom soundscapes. I could go on and on about how deep and big this record is, but I wouldn’t do it justice. It's absolutely huge. Loud drony heaviness that is well done.

Okkervil River - The Stage Names
Another record that got me back into rock music this year was this one. I think because the writing on it is erratic and stream-of-consciousness, that The Stage Names threw me for a loop because in all of my closed-mindedness I expect pop-rock records to be pretty straightforward. The lyrical content here is a lot to grasp, but as a writer, I really appreciate it, and the music is great as well. The record can be a bit neurotic and folky at times, but it does this record a favor or two along the way. Homeboy’s got a lot to say. Another record that was overlooked I think.

Witchcraft - The Alchemist
I never heard of these guys until I was back in Detroit on a whim and they happened to be playing a show—and I had’ne been to a show in so long, I up and went… These Swedes have their shit together. I could only liken it to the best aspects of Sabbath and Zeppelin (songwriting, riffs, vocals, etc…) thrown together for the absolute tightest live show I’ve ever seen. Apparently these guys were a tribute to the doom band Pentagram, but they’ve come a long way. The record itself has a raw, stripped down quality to it that lets the band’s live side shine, while uncompromisingly showing the true essence of what good stoner metal should sound like.

RV Paintings - Trinity Rivers
Another record I covered from the extended Starving Weirdos family tree, that gets deeper and murkier with each listen. Just put this one on the other day after a long break from listening to a lot of noise stuff, and it truly takes me to a different place. Read the review in it’s entirety on the site.

Black Dice - Load Blown
Black Dice have long been hit or miss with me (As has the whole Animal Collective/Paw Tracks crew as well), but after hearing Load Blown, I can truly say I am a Black Dice fan. I’ve seen them a few times to mixed feelings, but after their last record and this one, I think these guys are coming around in some sort of evolutionary way that is sitting better with my outer-limits tastes. Hopefully it’s sitting better with more folks too, as I see big things for these guys and their weirdo electronic crafting.

Modeselektor – Happy Birthday!
Truly one of my favorite records of the year, I gave this one some grand praise here on the site and it is well deserving. Look up the review to hear me getting all stiff over this record. I put this on at a soiree I was attending a few months ago, and the whole room got blown away. This record comes highly recommended for one of the best techno/electronic records of the year. Go buy it.

Orthodox - Gran Poder
I got into Doom metal a bit all over again this year too, and Orthodox is one of the reasons why. I think this record came out back in ’06 but was released domestically by Southern Lord this year. Regardless, it’s a jam—a glacially paced, slow jam—with some crazy vibrato vocals and low-end crunches a-plenty. They released another record this year I have yet to get my hands on, Amanecer en Puerta Oscura, but I’m sure its quite pleasing to the slow-metal palate. All around, a great exciting band hailing from Spain of all places, that are sure to make some wake in the metal world in the near future.

Matthew Dear - Asa Breed
I have to throw some praise at one of my hometown favorites, Matthew Dear for his latest work, Asa Breed. This record came out of nowhere for me, as I wasn’t as enthralled with some of his previous work as friends of mine were. But to no avail, I find this record to be one of the year’s most captivating, as Dear covers all the bases as a singer, songwriter and a producer here, and the end result is a playful yet carefully constructed take on electro pop that is neither cliché nor overdone. A great record that definitely did not get the nod it should have this year.

The Field - From Here We Go Sublime
I’m sure this record is on just about every hipster’s best of list this year, and it’s on mine too. It’s fucking incredible for how not incredible it is—if that makes any sense.

Pastorius/Williams/McLaughlin - Trio Of Doom
I got my hands on quite a few jazz records this year, and this one is by far the best of the bunch. Recorded live at the Havana Jazz Festival in 1979, this 25-minute improvisation is a blazing example of jazz greats being thematically on point for a live show. Pastorius and Williams are nearly metronomic in their ability to keep time over McLaughlin’s lightning fast fingers and arpeggios, for a live experience that is overly energetic and begging to be heard. Apparently the tapes were kept under wraps for quite some time, and along with their release are some studio attempts to capture the magic they had on stage that night—for a 40 minute record of some truly heady jazz. Solid, and a must have for Pastorius fans as his bass work is just ridiculous. The more one listens to this, the wilder it gets.

KTL- 2
Dark, drony, creepy, scary, cold noise records that aren’t totally stupid are tough to come by, and KTL redefines the genre. 2 took the already existing formulaic properties of KTL and twisted it up in all the right fashions. This is an avant-garde masterpiece of sound exploration, for two dudes who have continued to receive much critical acclaim for their one-off collaboration that has blossomed into much more. Highly Recommended.

Radiohead - In Rainbows
Radiohead does it again. The biggest band in the world scourges the recording industry first, by releasing their own album, and again, by issuing a download-by-donation-only sale at initial release. Admittedly, I was skeptical about this release and the hype engine surrounding it. This particularly based on my lack of enthusiasm over their previous few albums, but upon hearing In Rainbows, found myself pleasantly surprised. All in all, what we get is a brilliant synopsis of the band's capabilities through a well produced layering of sounds, textures and vocals, reminiscent of the band's entire back catalogue. Where with Radiohead it seems that pundits and critics are always longing for something "more Bends, more OK Computer", this album comes closer than any previous effort. Instead of reverting to techniques and styles from their earlier works, Radiohead seems to mature and evolve beautifully, bringing their updated forays with them, almost as if they'd redone some demo's from along the way with the superb production and technique that has come to characterize their present day audible incarnation. What the band offers us is an album essentially full of singles. "All I Need" and "Videotape" are true gems, with the rest of the record offering exceptional support. The bottom line- this is Radiohead's best album since OK Computer- and does not disappoint.

Maserati - Inventions For The New Season
This record became my proverbial “chill-out” record (or whatever the kiddies are calling it) of 2007, as it’s trance-like rock qualities just always put me in a great mood whenever I listened to it. This record is all about the tight nature of instrumental rock that a lot of the dime-a-dozen “post” rock (again, whatever the kiddies are calling it) bands don’t know shit about. The swirls/loops/delays/madness that these guys manage to hash out on this record are truly the work of well-tuned masters of analog instrumentation. A great listen.

Modest Mouse - We We’re Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
This record just rips all the way through, and not just because Johnny Marr is their new guitar player…well, maybe he has something to do with it, but regardless of all of the hub-bub about this record, it really is that good. Sure Isaac Brock is a super creep to some people, but he can craft some great songs despite that this is his 17000th record. That and much of this record metaphorically encapsulated much about what was going on in my life in the first half of 2007, and for that I guess I have some personal connections, but even though, this is a damn fine sounding record of hopelessness and despair. Priceless.

Honorable Mentions:

Puberty/Miguel/Catacata – In The House of Whores
The Ponys- Turn The Lights Out
Pig Destroyer - Phantom Limb
Baroness - The Red Album
Sunset Rubdown - Random Spirit Lover
Grails - Burning Off Impurities
Growing - Vision Swim
Jesu - Conqueror
Devendra Banhart - Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon
Starving Weirdos - Shrine Of The Post-Hypnotic
Stars Of The Lid - And Their Refinement Of The Decline

There you have it. Agree? Disagree? Drop us a line.
Cheers.

2007-09-06T21:53:00.000-02:00

Baroness

The Red Album

Relapse

When I first heard Baroness, I’ll admit that I wasn’t into the metal stuff as much as I was a few years beforehand—however, I’ll always have a soft-spot in my heart for well-done thrash metal. And when I came across the first two Baroness EPs (First and Second, both released on Hyperrealist in 2003 and 2005 respectively), I was taken aback by the group due to their stripped-down and raw sound that was rather captivating in regards to the direction that metal has been head-ing (all puns intended) in the past few years thanks to bands like ISIS, Pelican, Jesu and numerous others. But opposed to the thick, full, progressive sound of the newest wave of metal powerhouses, Baroness strode close in demeanor but still managed to be riff-and-lead heavy while maintaining a balance of tone and sludge for a uniform sound. This might be what got them the nod from Relapse, but whatever the cause, the legendary metal label most recently offered up the band’s latest, The Red Album, and surprisingly, it steps away from the rawer mix for yet something else the band can call their own, a grizzly but clean tone of metal that will definitely push the envelope. From the outset of the record, it is evident that the band is charting new waters, as the opening track, “Rays On Pinion,” starts on somewhat of an atmospheric note before blazing into a delay/reverb/ride cymbal drenched introduction to the album’s most epic track—one that will have listeners wondering where the crunch is. But before long, the band picks up steam and rolls headfirst into some pitch-bend heavy, southern-tinged riffing to give the record a taste of what’s to come. The vocals thunder in, shouting “Save your soul!” in textbook Von Till-styled, gravelly growl—however, the guitar tone sounds surprisingly clean for a metal-record-opening track. It’s bittersweet, as dueling guitars quickly follow in some truly Maiden-esque fashion, giving Baroness’ new sound an identity all its own; not pretentious but still forceful and well done. Track two, “The Birthing,” barrels in without warning with loud pummeling riffs and drums, finding the band at it’s most rooted, and it sounds profound. Chainsaw guitar riffs weigh nicely against a well-mixed blend of rhythm and vocals, only to make way for more dueling leads that are technical and progressive, but not in a prog-rock way. “Wanderlust” also displays this trait almost deliberately, as a spaced out guitar driven intro makes way for yet more dueling, labyrinthine guitar work. The track itself might be best suited for what the layman might refer to as a “single,” as it brushes close with the vibe that neu-metal gods Mastodon have been channeling for the past couple records. Regardless, that’s about as close as the comparison will get, as Baroness isn’t feeding off one band more than they feed off their intra-band energy. The record also shows a left-brain to its right, as a couple experimental tracks grace the plastic here—namely the acoustic psychedelics of “Cockroach En Fleur” and “Teeth of the Cogwheel,” which finds the band on a superbly heavy, instrumental space-rock jam, complete with masturbatory free-form guitar soloing and primal drumming. It’s this diversity that Baroness can call their own, as this is a “metal” record, but keeps each track separate and original, creating an exciting new work that the genre needs more than the band needs the genre. It’s far to early to speculate, but it’s a great sense of wonder to see what these new-schoolers will put together in the future. If they stay on their same route, history repeating itself is not in the cards for Baroness, and whatever they do next will more than likely justify its means. The Red Album is at the least deserving and needs to be heard. Highly Recommended.

Relapse Records
Baroness

2007-09-05T19:08:00.000-02:00

Modeselektor

Happy Birthday!

Bpitch Control

The need for a drawn-out introduction for this record is at best, miniscule. Why, one might ask? Because this is the record of 2007. It’s got something for everyone, right down to it’s title, and as far as electronic records go, Modeselektor has trashed the genre for something much more accessible and easygoing without compromising any of it’s true aesthetic. What does Happy Birthday! have to offer? Lets see… Throw-back techno? Check. Futurist electronica that could make Daft Punk weep? Check. Thrashing sleaze-rap? Check. French Hip-hop? Check. Outer-space dancehall anthems? Check. A mantra featuring Thom Yorke? Check. The list goes on and on, and as cliché as it might seem, this Berlin duo manages to pull it off in the most genuine of fashion—akin to what Lavelle and Shadow did with UNKLE’s Psyence Fiction, only opting instead for multi-faceted electronica as opposed to independently-spirited hipster trip-hop. Happy Birthday! is the duo’s second long-player for Berlin’s Bpitch Control, and wastes no time in making the statement that techno-bred tunes can still be playful and serious, and at times still tongue-in-cheek. “Godspeed” a heavily layered, slowed-down electro-ascent, sets the immediate tone for the record, that it’s going to be a hell of a time, as we ride the psyches of Sebastian Szary and Gernot Bronsert through 17 of their latest offerings, which peak with diversity while holding close to their club-pounding roots. The first vocal offering (courtesy of Parisian hip-hoppers TTC) is an attention-deficit-dream of a song, straddling a fence that separates spastic electronics and the finest in French club hip-hop. Although some might never fully understand the track (its sung completely in French), it’s hard not to love “2000007,” even if only for it’s sarcastic title, or the fact that the chorus hollers out the numerals in a French-English hybrid of “Two-zero-zero-zero-zero-zero-SET!” The other lyrical selections all include guest musicians, and every one of them fit seemingly well into the context of what Modeselektor as set out to achieve. Otto Von Schirach offers his noise and vocals in the super-fun, collaborative shout-out/party banger “Hyper Hyper;” The Puppetmastaz—Germany’s premier porno-rap puppet show—contribute to “Dark Side of the Sun,” which dabbles in silly, dirty raps and a radio-friendly beat that could give Lil’ Jon a run for his money; and notably, Thom Yorke offers his vox up for “The White Flash,” a stark and tripped-out, but superbly produced number that acts rather minimally in it’s demeanor. However, as Yorke’s vocals are predominantly at the front of the mix, he only offers up two or three repeated lines, as the Selektors delve deep into dark electronica for a truly haunting beat. It’s in this moment where it is evident that Happy Birthday! doesn’t rely on star power at all, as Modeselektor is blazing their own trail with unknowns and known artists alike. Further proving this is, “Let Your Love Grow,” which features Dominican expat Paul St. Hilaire giving due diligence to what Caribbean dancehall might sound like some years in the future. It’s absolutely stunning, and for as experimental as this track might be, it comes off clean and experienced, for one of the album’s standout tracks. The remainder of the record is largely music-only, and shows off the roots-ier side of Szary and Bronsert’s engaging craft. The title track throws in some almost gypsy-esque synthesizer lines in with a party beat for an innovative twist; “Sucker Pin” ventures into the analog styling of 8-bit video game music with astounding, ass-shaking results; and “The First Rebirth” offers an updated take on old-school futuristic science-fiction music, complete with a distant synth loop for a truly vintage feel. However, “The Wedding Toccato Theme” might be the party jam of the record, as its dirgy nature feels both gangsta and club, for a truly liberating listen. What the title is all about is beyond me, but the audio content alone is worth every second; it’s a metaphor for what this whole record is about, baffling at times, but a strong release in every sense of the word. This is definitely one of the best records of the year, and it’s fair to say that whatever is left to be released in 2007 has some serious competition as Modeselektor has effortlessly raised the bar with Happy Birthday!. At equal parts jam to beat to pulse to lyrics to whatever else, if you can’t shake your ass to this record, you simply can’t shake your ass—this record is of priceless quality.

Bpitch Control
Modeselektor

2007-09-04T14:26:00.000-02:00

Kemialliset Ystävät

s/t

Fonal

When it comes to outer limits collective music, few names come to mind when addressing those who truly push the envelope when it comes to musical sound aesthetic. Sunburned Hand Of The Man and No Neck Blues Band might be a couple that one can think of stateside, but outside of the good ‘ol USA, there’s more than likely a bumper crop of such artists that will rarely get recognized for their tripped-out, discordant output, one of which would undoubtedly be Finland’s Kemialliset Ystävät. I’d be willing to bet that since this side of the pond rarely focuses on things going on in Scandinavia, that only true purveyors of the avant garde and acid-folk circles have ever heard of this outfit, but their sound should definitely reach further than the blotter paper and headphones of these select few people. On their self-titled fourth LP, this ever-changing collective of musicians explore, well, whatever it is they explore, with reckless abandon for anything traditional as far as song structure goes. “He Tulivat Taivaan Ääristä” starts the record on a briefly pulsating synth note, quickly joined in by what sounds like vintage typing samples before the track adopts some flute-like tones, feedback and various other erratic sounds—creating much more of a sound collage than an actual “song” per se; and the rest of the record follows suit, for a bizarre and strange audio voyage into a mess of deep psychedelia. “Tulinen Kiihdytys” accentuates this as the freakiest of folk meets the freakiest of electronics for some serious sound-pandemonium, only to fade into a somewhat monotonous cacophony of plucked strings, electronic spasms and what sounds like some pretty primal growls. Things stick pretty close to this murky nature, with the exception of “Soluskye,” which can only be described as the most spacey offering here, going heavy on oscillations and blips for just under two minutes, long enough for listeners to get a grip before heading into the most musical offering, “Superhimmeli,” which will be the most accessible track for new listeners. It draws a miniscule parallel to what AMT might sound like collaborating with the multi-instrumentalism of say, Tarentel, but to even put such a comparison out there probably won’t do the track much justice. And it’s this ideal that finds Kemialliset Ystävät in their element, one that is truly hard to decipher, and about as difficult to take in. In my best lack of being able to explain this, this offering might be too rich and deep for some of the more experienced purveyors of head-music, not to mention, outright baffling to someone who is not familiar to such a musical culture. Despite all of this, the record closes on somewhat of an organic note with what must be some field recordings manipulated into a vicious texture that begs to be explored, but even in such a context, “Älyvaahtoa” still overflows with various sound elements to it’s breaking point. The closing track, “Himmeli Kutsuu Minua” differs greatly, and with good measure, as chanting permeates through a very, very far-eastern melody (!) that could rightly-so be from a desert planet far away from here. Think if you will, what the cantina band from Tatooine might sound like on some of the craziest pharmaceutical-grade mind drugs, and we might be getting close… or just further away from describing this. This record might take a few solid months of listening before anything sets in. Heavy, real heavy.

Fonal
Kemialliset Ystävät

2007-08-16T15:22:00.000-02:00

False

2007

M_nus

Fresh off the heels of his well-received Asa Breed full-length, Matthew Dear delivers yet another long player in what sounds like a studio-cut DJ set under his minimalist club moniker False. Titled 2007, Dear showcases that in addition to developing as a producer, musician and vocalist—that he still can attack the turntables and mixer in veteran fashion. In his first CD release for Richie Hawtin’s Minus imprint, Dear strips off the fuller sound that his recent releases under his own name and as Audion have offered up, opting to go into full lounge mode with a mellow but well timed record full of activity. There’s track titles thrown in for good measure, but the record plays all the way through without pause and flows effortlessly, which leads one to wonder why the titles exist and the set is broken up into 14 tracks. However, I’m sure its for the digital age of sampling an artist’s work, etc. and despite this, it doesn’t effect the overall playability of the record. Starting off with “Indy 3000,” the record starts silently and slowly builds in volume with the sound of engines blazing before the metronome kicks in for tempo allowing a solid and silent transition into “Meat Me In The Market,” which slowly begins to breathe life into the work. The metronomic rhythm turns to a blip-heavy beat before long with echoing synth sounds chiming in and out for a great evening starting track. It’s not so much anything that’s too dance floor-ready, but this would start to get people moving with ease. The record really picks up with “Timing,” the fourth track, about 10 minutes in, starting off in a much more blatant club fashion, before slowly changing to a rhythm heavy, aquatic sounding techno thumper with some sound samples looping in the background. As the track turns into “Alright Liar,” kicks and claps usher in and the track is momentarily overflowing with sound before subtly fading into a more synth-heavy work, accentuating Dear’s layering abilities. “Face The Rain” and “Fed On Youth,” two tracks that were featured on a 12” single earlier in the year also make appearances here, with the former standing alone as a piece for only a couple minutes; and the latter as part of a medley later in the record accompanied by “HLM” and “DLG” for one of the disc’s longer and most danceable works complete with foghorn synthesizer tones, phased out arpeggios and a hyperactive tapping beat. “Stomachs/Anklebiter” is the longest section of work here, coming in at almost nine minutes of experimental techno, starting with what sounds like xylophone tones for melody getting trampled down by an electronic hi-hat beat before getting targeted with what sounds like the firing sound from the Lazer Tag knock-off Photon gun, delayed and reverbed out that rushes around in the background. Its probably the most active and entertaining of “tracks” here, and an ample one to hold for later in a set. The closing remarks if you will come in the form of “Forgetting,” which starts on the actual audio samples that are manipulated throughout the end of “Anklebiter,” some sort of dialogue from what sounds like an old cult movie, but it’s hard to decipher as the beat rushes in and the sample itself is hazed out with effects. But it is clear that some of it says “signing off,” which puts a unique playful spin on the artist’s finale/exit. It ends on a waterlogged, eerie sounding note of almost horror movie-score qualities as the dialogue ventures back into the sound-frame. It’s almost as if Dear is toying around as the sound clip says “You heard it live folks” before ending with a minute of ringing silence. 2007 is a solid hour’s worth of music that is an easy listen that could appeal to more folks than the techno heads who eagerly awaited this release. In addition to being a headphone wonder, 2007 could easily adopt the role of a social record that does well in the car or as background music. Although not as much of a banger as some of Dear’s other efforts, this one is not meant to be, but rather a solid representation of Dear’s many schools of thought nonetheless.

M_nus
Matthew Dear

2007-08-16T13:05:00.000-02:00

Kevin Drumm and Daniel Menche

Gauntlet

Editions Mego

Recently, both Menche and Drumm have released solo works of their own, but Editions Mego has offered up the first collaboration between these two as it’s latest release, one that definitely shines a new light on these two accomplished artists with a stunning improvised piece. Titled Gauntlet, the piece dabbles in the otherwise metal imagery the name suggests, but comes off more as a dark, heavy work that allows both to showcase their respective workings in musical noise. Starting off with a hypnotic guitar line that goes heavy on distorted tone, the track takes on a deep feel instantaneously with an otherwise traditional introduction. But before long, Gauntlet morphs and submerges into something quite different, with Menche’s sound fashioning bleeding into the work, diluting Drumm’s guitar with a hazy static element that changes the identity of the work into something far more drone-based and electric. It’s difficult to pin down what exactly Menche is working with (besides an Organ, which he is credited as using)—but that’s in his nature, forging sounds with an array of mechanisms—however, it does the track due diligence by forming an intense reverberation that one could definitely expect from these two. Seven or eight minutes in, the two of them come close to tapping into the brand of shimmering noise heard on the first KTL recording, but in a much more up-front fashion, as the guitar sounds have turned heavier on reverb and distortion, while Menche’s cloud-of-tone creeps slowly towards the forefront of the work. Close to the 10-minute mark, hisses of feedback scrape along before some noisy pulses sound off against a phased-out loop of static for yet another textural element to the piece. There is definitely a lot at play between these two masters as the track shifts seamlessly through various textures and depths. Almost 20 minutes in, listeners will find Gauntlet at it’s most subdued, stepping away from the volume, with the first inkling of some lonesome drone as some mild oscillations wave in the background before resigning to some high-pitched static for a few minutes. The work slowly grows back into layered experimentation towards the outset of the almost 29-minute piece, then fades out slowly but actively, before closing out in dead ringer fashion, leaving the listener hanging, in a sense. There would be no right or wrong way to end such an improvisation, and in the end, the track is fitting all the way though, effortlessly bridging the gap between intensity and calm for an otherwise cathartic piece. Similar to other such collaborations, Gauntlet continues to grow with each listen, and should definitely please fans of harsh noise and heavier drone alike. Highly recommended.

Editions Mego
Daniel Menche
Kevin Drumm (Wikipedia)

2007-08-13T17:20:00.000-02:00

RV Paintings

Trinity Rivers

Root Strata

As Starving Weirdos continue to churn out release after release on various labels in various formats, RV Paintings comes as a breather between whatever the Weirdos are planning next. Here, Weirdo Brian Pyle offers his hand to something else; an intimate styled recording with his brother and a third party that yields some gracefully dynamic sounds. Not that SW doesn’t typically deal in dynamic sounds, but for the noise-wielding, sometimes-dissonant, outer-limits styled compositions that they manage to conjure up, Trinity Rivers manages to tap into something a bit more reserved than the heavy-on-the-mindfuck that we’re used to hearing from these guys and their associated parties. What RV Paintings brings to the table is a recording of majestic qualities contrasted from the Weirdos’ macabre, that further accentuates the “without borders” approach to music making that we’ve come to appreciate from this north Californian collective of musicians. Starting off with “South Fork Trinity,” the recording takes a slow, almost ambient approach, drifting effortlessly for close to 12 minutes with a cacophonous blend of guitar sustains, percussive elements and slow acid-folk guitar plucks for a track that comes off in film score-quality glory. It’s an otherworldly meditative track in comparison to some of the recent material we’ve heard from Pyle and company, and manages to hold to its nature without effort before fading to silence. The other two tracks here, take a subtle but different approach, using some decisively different elements to create some equally masterful works. “Mad River” introduces a tape loop to the structure of a quickly growing sound that resonates in cyclic fashion with increasing speed only to slow to an effect-laden piece that transforms into spaced-out ambience with great ease. Swells and oscillations permeate the background with such delicate manner that sounds almost begin to shuffle from the mix and take over one another, shrouded in increasing static tones. It’s a deep, constant listen that doesn’t change too much in its demeanor that states RV Paintings’ ability to work within a minimal but deep context. Before the track ends though, the focus drifts further from its initial premise, offering a sparse, dark soundscape that flows into an unconscious place, finishing off with a field recording sample of waves crashing for a truly organic feel. The last track, “North Fork Trinity” holds stable in defining the sounds of this project as well, but begins on more of an industrial feel. Not in the pulsating, KMFDM-like manner, but there’s something surprisingly mechanized about how the final track takes off that will have listeners wondering what these guys are channeling; and, with what are they making such sounds? Regardless, “North Fork Trinity” ties the record together in all of its differing manners to be it's most complex and active work, as cymbal crashes drift into play simultaneously with some guitar functioning that makes way for a chaotic build to a docile climax of the track at it’s midpoint. The record itself drifts out in it’s last eight minutes or so with a forged sound collage of sorts, as mild percussion taps over a mess of manipulated field recordings and audio samples, before building into an intense drone to finish. On the whole, Trinity Rivers is a deep listen into uncharted territory that is probably best navigated by a Weirdo to say the least. However, the delicate nature that this release can be handled in is also a plus as it shows an expansive sound that is far from camp yet strikingly solid for the first recording for this trio. Let’s hope it’s not their last.

Root Strata

Starving Weirdos

2007-08-07T16:40:00.000-02:00

Scarecrow Frequency

Somber Atlantic

Somber Atlantic Records

For every dead end road that leads nowhere, there’s probably a “last resort” saloon somewhere along the way to warn those who venture of their last stop before their impending trip to empty earth. And for every one of these fine such establishments, there’s probably no house band, but alas, there is now an act that could fill such shoes, in the form of a solo project by Mr. John Argetsinger, an Alaskan native songwriter/photographer, aptly named Scarecrow Frequency. Maybe it’s the vast expanses that the state offers, or the months with no sunlight, one can only imagine, but at his best, Argetsinger manages to convey a distant, sparse nature to rock music with this first effort recorded at home on an 8-track cassette recorder and PC. But regardless of where the project hails from, the imagery that is captured so well sounds like that from a vagabond, as Argetsinger’s music gives a sense of wonder as well as a sense of wander in all it’s grandiosity. Tracks like “Hope” and “Body In The Slot Canyon” offer vignettes of musical introspection in a clean, instrumental fashion that calls to mind a small part of Explosions In The Sky’s rock sound of crisp tone. “San Antonio” offers a similar vibe, but with a mellow almost-jazz drum beat to hold it together. On a different note, “And I’ll Sell All My Nightmares” conjures up a shoegaze pace of clean guitars over a reverb-heavy guitar backdrop with longing vocals shuffling forth in the mix for a strong, constant, one-parted number that will have one digging out early Mogwai records. Although most of the record is instrumental, Argetsinger also play’s a bit with tape loops and sound samples to keep the record interesting, namely on the title track and “1963,” which offers the artist’s take on providing a musical soundtrack to Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream…” speech. All in all, Argetsinger’s work here feels like an artist’s first, bleeding with vision and in an entirely deep manner that new artists embrace with something to prove. It’s no doubt that this kid’s got a future ahead of him in music, as he carves pretty deep into creativity with Somber Atlantic. However, the only thing the record has working against it is that some of it tends to blend too well, with added elements being the only things that separate some of the tracks from sounding too much like others. Despite this though, if this aspect truly is the Achilles’ heel of this release, Scarecrow Frequency will be pretty close to invincible if Argetsinger sticks to the same nod that brought him to this point. There’s room for growth here, but all in good time. This would be a great driving record for those times when you’ve got nowhere to go.

Scarecrow Frequency

Somber Atlantic Records

In Rotation: Summer 2007

2007-08-02T13:32:00.000-02:00

Summer is hot in South Florida, and I'm still in denial about just how hot it is. For the record, for as much time as I spend listening to all sorts of great sounds, I can't listen to psych and noise all the time, so when the rest of the folks down here have their windows up and their A/C blazing, these five records have been on repeat in my car at questionable volumes:

Matthew Dear

Asa Breed

Ghostly

As Dear is poised to have a great year between all of his musical aliases (Audion, False, among others), his recent release under his actual name shines through as a template for blazing electro-pop that many could take a cue from. His synth chops, beats and guitar lines on Asa Breed meld effortlessly to forge a clean record that transcends numerous genres as his vocal arrangements haunt speakers in the most playful of fashion. "Neighborhoods," "Shy" and "Midnight Lovers" are all exceptional songs, but the closing track, "Vine To Vine" might just take the cake for one of the best death ballads (!) of all time--done only in the manner that Dear calls his own.

Geto Boys

Greatest Hits

Asylum Records

Growing up a suburbanite youth in metro Detroit at the peak of the gangsta rap explosion of the early 90's, the Geto Boys offered a nice departure from all the west-coast shit that eveybody was passing around. I still remember buying the single for "Crooked Officer" in the wake of Bodycount's "Cop Killer" controversy, and thinking it was totally bad ass. Well the greatest hits might be the only record one should own by Houston's finest MC's of the old school. It's got all the tracks that are essential, from "Mind Playin' Tricks" and "Damn It Feels Good To Be a Gangsta" to some more raw cuts like "Mind Of a Lunatic" and "Geto Fantasy" that go nice on a hot, humid drive home from the office. It makes me feel bad for the kids these days who think that Chamillionaire and Paul Wall are Houston hip-hop, when the Geto Boys will forever own the Fifth Ward.

Maserati

Inventions For The New Season

Temporary Residence

I was unfamiliar with Maserati before I stumbled upon this record, and I ended up liking it a lot. I rarely read reviews of stuff before I give it my own assessment, but I was surprised to see some of the marginal press this record got, based on what people think instrumental rock should sound like, as if it has a formula that makes it worthy or not. Regardless, this record has great production and has a lot going for it. For starters, the tracks vary in length, which is nice in the day and age of bands releasing instrmental music in epic proportions for each song. It's also great that the effects and such stay rather subtle in the context of what these guys are doing, as none of the delays or reverb are too overdone, creating a strong sounding record that sways, sustains and grows in monsterous fashion. "Inventions" is a great rock song, "Kalimera" offers a more mellow spacey side to the band, and "The World Outside" ends the record on a rather poppy note, but the whole record is a great timed listen, whether it's driving, playing Scrabble or cooking, this is a great soundtrack.

Pig Destroyer

Phantom Limb

Relapse

I saw these guys a few years ago in a gymnasium and it sounded like total garbage, but on record, Pig Destroyer slays just about any other grind band in it's wake, and their newest record takes no prisoners. Apparently they got a full-time drummer and a noise-artist for added texture to their sound, but regardless of the changes, the riffs and growls make this record what it is. Either you hate grindcore or you love it, and Phantom Limb probably won't convert any haters, but for those who are into fast, blistering metal, Pig Destroyer are the masters. "Thought Crime Spree" and "Girl In The Slayer Jacket" are unstoppable tracks.

Okkervil River

The Stage Names

Jagjaguwar

I heard good things about these guys, but aside from hearing the name thrown around, wasn't too familiar with what they do. I still picked this one up on recommendation and can't get enough of the stripped down songwriting and bombastic musical score that accompanies it. Its a truly refreshing record without the pompous nature of contemporary artists like Arcade Fire and Conor Oberst--of whom I'm sure this record has already been compared to. Its already available for purchase/free download from Jagjaguwar but doesnt officially get released until next week, but this record is off the chains, and if it doesnt make some of the top-whatever-lists for this year, I would be very surprised. "Our Life Is Not A Movie" might be one of the best track-one's I've ever heard; much more fitting than "Smells Like Teen Spirit," but maybe not in comparison to "Bring Tha Ruckus."

If anyone has further recommendations for summer records, comment them to me, I'd love to hear what anyone else is playing out. Cheers.

2007-08-01T17:37:00.000-02:00

Death Ambient

Drunken Forest

Tzadik

For those that are unfamiliar with John Zorn’s Tzadik imprint, the not-for-profit label is home to many gems of avant-garde music, and has been for many years. Based loosely around a cricle of well-known master musicians including Mike Patton, Fred Frith, Sylvie Courvoisier, Zorn himself, and countless others, Tzadik showcases a side of music that is unwilling to yield, and as experimental music continues to thrive, will do so well into the future. In the wide ranges of focus that the label covers (Radical Jewish Culture, a composer series, Oracles – which focuses on vivid musical output of various females, and countless others), Tzadik’s focus on new music hailing from Japan is one it’s strongest aims. Within the series, one will find countless releases from some of Japan’s rising artists such as Afrirampo and Melt Banana, as well as some of the country’s cornerstone noise forgers such as Merzbow, Ikue Mori, Keiji Haino, and Ruins. However, some of the releases that hold the strongest are numerous collaborations (of which Tzadik offers many), one of which is Death Ambient; a super-group if you will, comprised of Mori, Frith, and multi instrumentalist Kato Hideki. Drunken Forest is the trio’s third and latest release for the label, and features guest percussionist Jim Pugilese to round out the effort for a unique venture into electro-acoustic sound. The most noticeable aspect of this collaboration right off the bat, is the use of various instruments that create this musical window into the heads of the four players. The sound is delicate at times, and at others, crushingly intense as the calculated blending of such an instrumental array comes off deep and heavy. Most notably, “Belarus” shows this early in the recording, reeling off of the two opening tracks with a somber violin segue into a vast-but-tight weaving of carefully practiced electronics, ukulele and guitar that offers a glimpse into a stark existence of sinister darkness, carried off by what sounds to be Mori’s superb electronics. “Cocktail of Chemicals” follows nicely behind starting on a completely different note, with a fractured guitar line and what could be field recordings of birds—but with such a foursome at the helm here, it could very well be any of the instruments, played with such mastery. There are also some live recordings in the mix of liquids being titrated, for a much more blatant feel of a “cocktail,” accompanied by some low-end noise. At times it’s hard to pinpoint what is exactly going on, but Mori’s live laptop-ing shines through much of the recording, especially on “Yellow Rain,” as her work is chased around by distant banjo plucks and some distorted guitar sustains, but still manages to take precedent. However, others manage to let their craft shine as well, as does Pugilese towards the end of the track by percussively simulating rainfall, and also on tracks like “River Tigris” and the title track, with erratic but well timed rhythms. Hideki and Frith also shine on “Drunken Forest”, as they do for most of the recording offering a hypnotic intertwining of their instrumentation skills that creates a strong force of sound, resulting in one of the disc’s most solid works. The rest of the record remains as more force to hold the project up, as none of it is “filler” material but well orchestrated pieces of outer-limits ambience that will have fans of “noise-band” outfits like Tarentel and Bardo Pond finding a subtle new context to appreciate. This might be over the heads of folks expecting something a little more rock oriented, but for an atmospheric experiment into a dark, murky world, Drunken Forest excels with effortless composure.

Tzadik

2007-08-01T15:38:00.000-02:00

Alexandre St. Onge

Mon Animal Est Possible

Alien8 Recordings

For many, putting a single identity to Montreal’s vast and multi-faceted music scene is quite a task, as it should be, with artistic ideals hailing from various sorts of outlets that permeate the city’s rather large amalgamation of musicians. Originally thought to have spawned from the prevalence of its world-renowned jazz festival, the music community in Montreal began to flourish in the 1980’s into something a bit harder to grasp, as an influx of artists began to experiment with music that was then unclassifiable, thus forming Ambiences Magnetiques as an avenue for avant-garde sounds to be accessed and heard. From this point, Montreal’s scene began to flourish, and in the following years to the present, many artists have ushered in their own styles, following in the footsteps of their predecessors to keep the city’s underground identity strong and profound. Where Alexandre St. Onge fits into this back story started in the mid 90’s as an emerging player known mostly for bass and double bass duties in largely improvised free jazz circles, but became part of the Ambiences Magnetiques family in 1997 as a member of Klaxon Gueule—a group of electronic improvisers with Michel Cote and Bernard Falaise. Since then, St. Onge has been on numerous recordings (and labels, including his own microlabel Squint Fucker Press) as a solo artist, collaborator or as a member of many bands including Et Sans, Shalabi Effect and Feu Therese. His latest effort comes in the form of a collection of electronic love songs, and while it does stay tightly crafted to his experimental nature, Mon Animal Est Possible (his second solo release for the Alien8 imprint) also manages to find St. Onge at his most charming and developed. Musically, the record is as many-sided as the musician is himself, but somehow manages to come off as a uniform release, if only in its collected obscurity. The title track acts as an introduction of sorts, but does nothing to pave the way for “La Passion De La Transparence,” which acts as the opening track in all of it’s epic and erotic glory. Film score-quality strings arrangements offer a minimal sustain that delicately blankets the aura of the piece, as St. Onge and Fanny, his female counterpart, give due diligence to sexuality in slow sound--with him layering in vocal tracks in call and response fashion to her panting, gasping and moaning—for an experimental perspective on erotica. Other tracks here deliver a similar overtone, but none in such blatant fashion. “L’extase Spectrale” follows, with a calm after the storm if you will, relying on more of a drone based inflection with softly spoken vocal arrangements and some textbook clicks and blips; and later in the record “L’epiphanie Duride” offers a dialogue of sorts in a stark, spacial context, leaving the listener in slight contemplation as the track largely relies on words rather than the musical aspect. Perhaps the most dynamic work on the record is “Bebe,” which begins in much more of a mellow atmospheric note as distorted tones shuffle quickly and effortlessly with speaker pans, vaguely calling to mind a harpsichord of all things, before vocal tracks take over, in coos and whispers to end the piece on a quiet but weighty note. For a record as exploratory as this, St. Onge seems to have honed in on something he can truly call his own—not unlike his previous solo works—in a fashion we have not seen so much in his back catalogue. Mon Animal Est Possible is testament to yet another side of Mr. St. Onge’s versatile musical abilities that is unique as the scene that spawned him, leaving us wondering what’s to expect from him in the future.

*For a detailed selection of some of St. Onge’s various works, head to Actuelle CD, the home of Ambiences Magnetiques and many other great Montreal based labels.

Alien8 Recordings

2007-07-30T16:42:00.000-02:00

Erdem Helvacioglu

Altered Realities

New Albion Records

Little is known about Mr. Helvacioglu on this side of the Atlantic, but that hasn’t stopped him from releasing a few records accessible to the ears of north American listeners through various outlets. For reference, Erdem hails from Istanbul, Turkey and excels in live guitar manipulation similar to the alchemy that we’ve come to know from artists like Oren Ambarchi, Christian Fennesz and Keith Rowe—bending the traditional guitar sound into something far more dynamic than the typical plucks and strums. Perhaps his most known work in the USA comes in the form of field recordings of a Turkish Market (A Walk Through The Baazar - Locust Music, 2003), which gained him international acclaim a few years back, but with Altered Realities, Helvacioglu takes a more personal, hands-on approach to his craft, forging glistening soundscapes from guitar and electronics, recorded live in the studio without overdubs or any post-production. The record as a whole, is a rather quiet meditation of warm tones and sounds with a predominantly minimal approach, that leans towards a “new age” vibe in its acoustic feel. However, as non-eventful as some such records tend to feel, Helvacioglu bypasses the stark, open vibe of typical contemporary new-age records for a decidedly deep listening experience; and despite it’s atmospheric nature, this is no mid-afternoon yoga soundtrack. “Bridge To Horizon” starts the record off justly, preparing the listener with warm tones and heavily effected pick scrapes, before slowly building with blended, icy guitar lines into a sonic tapestry of various electro-acoustic tones. The track slowly climaxes with some hazy reverbed noise resulting from the amalgamation of guitar and electronics to resign rather abruptly, but to its credit, leaves the listener with a blunt imprint of what to expect. The remainder of the record follows suit, but with various differences in sound experimentation, to show Helvacioglu’s various musical perspectives, namely “Frozen Resophonic” and “Pearl Border On A Dune.” Both tracks start on the most guitar-oriented notes on the record; the former on almost a folk-y fingerpicked note, only to transform itself with various echoes and manipulations into one of the record’s most psychedelic and introspective representations, while the latter shows a very vast and stark side as the track pulses along with lots of delays and sustain in a very relaxed fashion. It’s an interesting formula that Helvacioglu plays with on Altered Realities, one that straddles the lines of noise, ambience and minimalism very tightly that could very well get listeners to open up to sounds outside their audio-comfort zones. “Sliding On A Glacier” might exemplify this point the best as the background sounds set quite a backdrop to numerous guitar sounds fading in and out of one another, as various elements stop and go, pause, and creep in and out of the composition in possibly the most outer-limits work on the record, but despite it’s oblique nature, the track is still very listenable—even to an unsuspecting ear. Naturally though, Helvacioglu still has some work to do, as he is still developing his musical identity, and the only reason this record would fall flat for some is that it sticks pretty close to its roots and seems to overlap itself at a few moments. Regardless, this is not a downside to the record, but rather a fold which Helvacioglu will iron out with experience, and he’s got a big future ahead of him from which we can expect some solid things.

(For more information on Mr. Helvacioglu, check out his site through the link below, as he has some very impressive accomplishments to his name)

Erdem Helvacioglu

New Albion

2007-07-16T22:20:00.000-02:00

GOAT

Oceanic Thrones

Nurse Etiquette

When it comes to harsh noise, it seems that the term "harsh" goes more so to alarm the listener than it attempts to classify the 'type' of noise, and in the case of the new long-player from Andy O’Sullivan’s GOAT, it might be an understatement. Given, O’Sullivan’s craft involves making some of the most intense noise sounds that one might label as akin to more accessible artists such as Wolf Eyes, Carlos Giffoni, Bastard Noise and some of Merzbow’s more unlistenable material, but with Oceanic Thrones, he takes the term further solely with the length of the first track, “Ask For The Ancient Path.” Bluntly put, O’Sullivan outdoes himself and his contemporaries with this opening blitzkrieg of a track—a full on audio mind-fuck of crashing waves of white noise and static that clocks in around 50 minutes. It is in this element where the ‘either-you-get-it-or-you-don’t attitude about noise artists comes heavily into balance, as this would definitely work to drive someone unbeknownst to such sound experimentation absolutely insane. 16 minutes into the work, it remains pretty uniform, with the exception being a couple of split seconds of empty sound that go very well unnoticed, before the track juts into a wild blend of multiple oscillations that work their way into static-based pulses almost effortlessly, despite the amount of effort that is being pummeled in. at 25 minutes in, the track relies more on feedback scrapes and anti-texture as it transforms yet again into a truly torturous mess, of which by this point has either alienated it’s listener or just peaked their intrigue. This is where the bombast and/or mental capacity of GOAT sets in, that as the track approaches the half-hour mark, it’s difficult to tell where this is going or if it’s going anywhere; but it is far from over. Credit is due in immense proportion to even keep a work like this going for the length that it has, not yet factoring in that there is yet, still another 17 minutes or so before this work comes fizzling to a close. From being totally immersed in the sound for such length, ones ears probably feel the sensory application that a tooth is subject to during drilling and the vacuum that clears excess moisture away from said tooth during a cavity operation, and in all honesty, “Ask for the Ancient Path” is truly a work of madness. The other work here, “Blood Atonement,” fades right in from the finishing moments of “…Ancient Path,” and follows suit in a whirling rage of distortion. Lots of low-end static rumbling with some high end frequency bending take this track in a different direction from it’s predecessor that, for what it’s worth, offers listeners a different side to O’Sullivan’s dark craft, albeit briefly. All in all, this is not for the weak-willed or faint at heart, and just because one might own a couple of Dilloway’s solo recordings or things of the like, GOAT offers listeners no compromise. This is a serious recording that, I’d be willing to bet, many people wouldn’t be able to get all the way through. Regardless, for those up for an audio “challenge,” Oceanic Thrones may just be it. Be brave and good luck.

Nurse Etiquette

2007-07-11T15:25:00.000-02:00

Zelienople

His/Hers

Type Records

As far as classifying artists goes, Zelienople are truly at the forefront of whatever it is that they do, be it an acidic and cosmic blend of noise, folk and rock elements that tax the music world for what its worth. The history of these Chicagoans dates back to 2001, with numerous records released and re-released in the years since, making them more accessible as their music continues to flourish. Following up to their Stone Academy LP released on Root Strata last year, and an EP titled Enemy Chorus released earlier in the spring courtesy of the Time Lag imprint, Zelienople have come forth with His/Hers, a 5-track long player of epic proportion that finds the band at their most polished. Staying true to their somewhat folk-styled demeanor, the record leans in at its most sparse moments from the outset with “Family Beast,” drifting into what will become a dark musical excursion by the time the record finishes. The opener is stark and dismal with some soft vocals over slide guitars and deeply plucked acoustics to create a melancholy, mild psychedelic work that serves the rest of the record up nicely. “Moss Man” follows solidly afterwards in more of a rock-context, but only to end in the antithesis of its predecessor with the track building up to a composure of erratic drones and masturbatory feedback-drenched guitars for an utterly torturous finish. At just over nine minutes (as three of the tracks are, and one coming in four seconds short), the track takes time to mature, but as it unfolds, the timing is what makes it work, as it isn’t rushed and transforms evenly in nature, to the heights of intensity. “Parts Are Lost” is the band at their most upbeat on the record, but gives way to a drifting spaced-out interlude that becomes the polar opposite of “Forced March,” a heavy drone piece that sticks to an ultra-vague beat that sounds somewhat native in it the context, and it’s here where the really drugged out nature of Zelienople shines on His/Hers, calling to mind some of their prior, more heavily-based noise experimenting. The track slowly but effortlessly becomes a monotonous wall of fuzz coming abruptly to a fading halt about halfway through, only to explore minimalist drone for the remaining time. This nature of songwriting (or spontaneity) is definitely what Zelienople has going for themselves, but will probably make newer fans to their brand of music wonder where their headed. However, for the psych/drone crowd, tracks like “Moss Man” and “Forced March” alike will appease the deepest of tastes, and the rest of the record, including the sparse, acid-folk “Sweet Ali” will suffice to their more accessible desires. All said, Zelienople definitely have a vision they are working towards, and what it is, is far from here. His/Hers lets listeners in, almost like an intimate look into the depths of their creativity. However, few will pass this record off in misunderstanding—but for those in the know of Zelienople’s craft, His/Hers is an outstanding listen.

Zelienople
Type Records

2007-07-09T16:23:00.000-02:00

Life on Earth!
Look! There Is Life On Earth!
Subliminal Sounds

A few years ago, who would have thought that the next hotbed of psychedelic music would come calling from Sweden of all places? Probably not many, but somehow a young talent named Gustav Ejstes, brought up on his father’s collection of school-teaching instruments, would record many home recordings that ultimately became the stealthy roots of Dungen, the band he would become world renowned for. After Ta Det Lungt (Kemado, 2004) hit the ears of the masses (yes, Americans too), folks went ape for his refined, folky, and gratuitious brand of psych rock, and for good reason—it was a solid effort that combined elements of various musical aesthetics and plainly put, laid waste to the rehashed stoner rock passed off as “psych,” despite that it was sung in all Swedish. Regardless, as fans eagerly awaited their proper studio follow up, Tio Bitar (Kemado, 2007), Estjes’ multi-instrumentalist bandmate Mattias Gustavsson went to work on his solo record as well and unearthed yet another musical identity to come screaming from Stockholm, aptly titled Life On Earth!

The record itself is a collection of songs based around all sorts of everyday life-isms, right down to such tracks as “After A Few Years We Settled Down, Got Kids And Bought Our First Car.” There’s a bit of sarcasm in the title and some of the track names, thrown in only for good measure, as the record comes off clean and without cliché. But even with all the puns intended or not to be, the record boils down to a few key points, and it’s sung in English for all those haters that, for linguistic reasons, couldn’t stomach the brand of rock that got Gustavsson to such a musical vantage point.

Right off the bat, as the record starts with a monstrous flute solo, it might seem as though Gustavsson has a point to make, and shortly after the woodwind assault that is rarely seen on any rock record aside from (of course) Jethro Tull, he begins hammering the point home; it is possible to make a feel-good rock record with more than hooks and bridges held together by a guitar and drum framework. And although the first track of any given rock record is rarely the tell-tale teaser of what’s to come, Life On Earth! shatter this ideal and go straight into infectious song after another in pursuit of musically showcasing a side to life that is organic, well-structured, and just about a spontaneous as life can be, declaring on the title track; “I’m going back to Florida in my mind!”

And what a trip it must be, as joining Gustavsson on his first solo masterwork, are instrumentalists from Dungen, Mia Doi Todd, and Adam Vida (of Bird Show), and all aid in his vision of wild rock songs with a plethora of instrumentation. “Sell Your Soul To Me” starts off with a lazy sitar-drone as Gustavsson chants a woe-is me ballad that ends on a more playful note after some campfire sing-alongs. In opposition, the epic “You Are There” throws some mild harmonization into an almost-lullabye, echoing some of the Beach Boys’ calmer moments without the grandiosity, before going full-on into a dark haze of more sitar, electronics and sparse instrumentation. In it’s nine-minute, drugged-out glory, the track ventures all over the map of obscurity with some paced-out piano interludes, noise samples and what might be some insect noises, but with the array of musicians adding to the pot here, it’s difficult to know exactly what is being done—which adds nicely to the record’s mystique. Much of the record follows suit, although not in obscurity, but definitely in grandeur and musicianship.

For the evident similarities that Life On Earth! holds to it’s, for lack of a better term, brother act (in Dungen), it is a shame that it will probably get little recognition in comparison. Despite this though, purveyors of Dungen’s work and well-done psychedelic pop will find this record to be a true gem in the quarry of already-been-done rock records. For those who can get through a record that is multi-faceted in its demeanor, Look! There Is Life On Earth! will be a worthy listen for those green gatherings that leave listeners hazy eyed and feeling good, but it also has something to offer for folks looking for a genuinely fresh summer record.

Life On Earth!
Subliminal Sounds

REVIEW Thomas Fehlmann Honig Pumpe Kompakt

2007-06-13T16:51:00.000-02:00

As far as techno music goes, for as basic of a priniciple that drives it, the genre is rather limitless. And in the subsequent years following the onset of this musical form, from Detroit to Berlin and practically everywhere in between, innovators of mixers, tables and faders have come and went; a cycle that will most definitely be followed for years to come as electronic music continues to grow. Most recently, ones taking charge have come in the form of a new school of artists hailing from the Ghostly camp out of Ann Arbor, and many other fresh faces have emerged onto the scene in years past with their own styles of what techno is while the masters of the craft have waited in the wings, and for good measure—to keep things fresh and interesting. However, when one of the masters steps up and raises the bar, it can only do well for the music, and Thomas Fehlmann has done just this, in the form of his latest offering for Kompakt, Honig Pumpe.

What Fehlmann’s knack for penning deep electronic instrumentals has to do with honey might remain a mystery to some, but what his latest record offers is, to the point, something thick, organic, and transparent; which, well, are three attributes of the sticky substance that some folks take with tea. But with all clichés and similarities aside, Fehlmann does what he does best, and as the contested creative force behind The Orb, he steps away from his collaborative realm to dabble in something a bit more personal but equally complex for a heady experience in modern, lo-fi electronica. And amazingly, Fehlmann has kept up, despite being one of the aging originators of German electronic music, to form a record that is timeless in both craft and demeanor, that could rival releases from today’s techno whizkids.

Starting on a rather sultry and intimate note, Honig Pumpe entices listeners with “Stralensatz,” one of the more atmospheric and lax tracks on the record, with swirling textures and some whimsical strings arrangements. Its almost as Fehlmann is graduating into the work with something rather accessible as opposed to something a bit more beat heavy, and it works quite well. “Soziale Warme” follows suit with yet warmer tone and dome drifting synth delays, as if to build up to the end-of-the-night comedown madness that consumes the record a few tracks in. However, as mellow as the record leans to be, it still offers just enough blips and pounds to hold the most adamant of clubber’s attention.

On that note, “Bienekonigin” is easily the most active and club-ready track on the record, heavy on layered beats that offer a tribal flavor to the ‘honey,’ coming full circle with speaker-pans a plenty and some effective delayed beats primed up to keep the floor moving. Here and on other more active tracks like “Arbeitstitel” and “Dusted With Powder” is where Fehlmann seemingly forces the club-elements and abstract ideals of his trade to coexist, creating a starkly unique sound that is a transient as it is concrete, with a mixed identity of influences. The former grows apart from more industrial tones at its beginning into a noisy, deep-space drift, while holding tightly to a pounding bass thump; and the latter starts on a drony explorative vibe only to come rushing into a futuristic party hit that echoes what Daft Punk might sound like (sans their overt French-ness when it comes to beat making) some years in the future, before winding back down to a minimal haze. There are some more explorative works here as well that not so much redefine Fehlmann’s work, as they just show his propensity for psychedelic beats—namely in “Atlas” and “Atlas 2,” however it’s difficult to determine if these are companion tracks or not as they differ from one another quite much.

As hard as it is to determine just where this record departs from Fehlmann’s work with The Orb, its hard to imagine that some of the creativity here wasn’t or won’t at some time be shared with his other project. However, he does go to show that his solo works still come together with the bombast that The Orb has become known, or were formerly known for. Doing things on his own offers a more introspective side to his style, one that adds a nice dynamic to the Kompakt roster. And with other genre bending releases like The Field coming from the Deutsch label, it will be interesting to see if Honig Pumpe can help carry the momentum Kompakt has going for it. Regardless, this release marks a point for Fehlmann, noting he’s not ready to give up the craft he’s long been perfecting, and if he continues to channel this kind of creativity, then he’s probably got enough honey in his pot to go around for a few more jaunts into the modern electronic world he’s done so well creating. And for the sake of the age-old practice of headphone listening, let’s hope so.

Kompakt
Thomas Fehlmann

REVIEW Lasse Harhaug and Nils Henrik Asheim Grand Mutation Touch

2007-06-06T14:17:00.000-02:00

When it comes to classifying drone based music, many would probably call to mind more modern works, achieved through multiple effects and guitar sustains, contemporarily achieved by the likes of Windy and Carl, Oren Ambarchi and in an extreme sense, the doom-based lords of Sunn O))). And despite the thorough differences in such artists, the genre is mostly looked upon as rather concrete--people love it or hate it (get it or just plain don't). However, when Touch Music began its Spire series in 2004, which grouped Fennesz, Phillip Jeck and other modern musicians from its roster into the classical settings of age-old European cathedrals and their pipe organs, a bit of the drone dynamic changed, as the nature of the music transcended it’s modernity, ultimately giving it a more organic feel. Continuing on with Touch’s pursuit of eclecticism based on a similar principle, they offer up Grand Mutation , the first recorded collaboration between Norweigan noise master Lasse Marhaug and fellow countryman Nils Henrik Asheim, a renowned organ improviser/pianist.

Recorded in the Oslo Cathedral just before it closed down for a few years of renovations, Grand Mutation is a hybrid of dense organ tones and finely honed sine waves and other erratic, electronic meanderings that surprisingly compliment each other. It’s a different realm of sound than other contemporary avant/noise collaborations, even for the groundbreaking Touch catalogue, which also recently released the similar, second recorded work of Fennesz and Ryuichi Sakamoto, Cendre. There’s a diverse dynamic at play with Grand Mutation, that’s hard to pinpoint, but the fluidity that’s exhibited between Marhaug and Asheim with two entirely different engines of sound makes quite a statement about their finished product.

“Bordunal” starts the record off on a slow crescendo, with both players lazily building and honing their craft, like they're striving to align their tones into something workable. Comprising almost 16 minutes, the track itself uses the time to create the essence, as Marhaug creeps behind Asheim’s root sounds with shrill oscillations and some well-timed knob-twisting and pitch bending. At eleven minutes the work makes a bit of change, with both players swirling their respective elements into a cacophony of drones and sounds before they seemingly have it out over Asheim’s macabre pounding of the keys. As creepy and well developed as the work comes to be, it hardly, however, sets the tone for the rest of the recording. “Phoneuma” is the calm after the storm, with Asheim providing an angelic, constant backdrop for a showcase of Marhaug’s mellower side. Both provide softer tones for a rather rhythmic balance that works very well in their favor, before Asheim opens up the pipes with some primal improvisation for a good five minutes, capping off the first half of the recording.

Surpassing the first two tracks brings the listener to a midpoint in the record which offers listeners “Magnaton,” a short, blasting piece of call-and-response work that goes heavy on Marhaug’s more traditional noise values, as if daring Asheim to counter. At almost two minutes, the track barely scratches the surface of where this could go, but in good time, it seems to stretch away from where the work should go. Regardless, the latter half of the record (“Philomena” and “Clavaeolina”) sees Marhaug taking the reins a bit, ushering in yet another side to this rather multifaceted work.

The former delves right into a dark electronic-led haze, with both players nicely tuned to one another, but some stray electronic tones start flaring, giving way to a flurry of high-pitched pipe screams. At this point, “Philomena” becomes the most diverse work, sounding as if both artists are doing their best mimicry of each other’s handicraft. There are even some moments where it’s hard to decipher who’s playing what with all of the sound forging going on, and despite the complexity of the piece, its sounds equally effortless. “Clavaeolina” closes the work, and in a separate demeanor from the rest of Grand Mutation, almost in what sounds like blatant resignation. This might be the most basic ‘drone’ track on the record, with both players adding nothing but textures in exchange for their previous forty-or-so minutes of audio routing. It’s a delicate closer that comes crawling to the finish, but despite its worn state, in all glory and grandiosity.

On the whole, this record is truly capable of getting some head scratches out of even some of the well-versed purveyors of head-music. It requires a bit of tolerance, might have worked better as a one-track play for some; but where the artists decided to break this improvisation up truly does add to its creative measure. Whether this is a one-off work or these two have more upcoming collaborations in the works in unbeknownst, and if these two never set foot in the same room again, Grand Mutation will undoubtedly serve as a well-put document of two masters at work. Highly recommended for fans of drone styled works.

Lasse Marhaug
Nils Henrik Asheim
Touch

REVIEW Destructo Swarmbots Clear Light Public Guilt

2007-06-05T15:43:00.000-02:00

Little is known about the minds behind Destructo Swarmbots, and aside from remixes of various artists over the past few years, not much has surfaced. But regardless, Mike Mare has crafted himself a niche in the underground drone/noise realms with his knack for dark soundscapes and minimalist ambience. Most notably speaking, the Swarmbots name probably became familiar to most from Isis’ Oceanic: Remixes and Reinterpretations, on which Mare transformed “From: Sinking To: Drowning” into a field of white-noise, drone and aquatic tones from its initial source material. The track becomes increasingly vague and spaced out, before developing into more of a textural work of the deep blue than resembling anything close to the progressive metal style that Isis brought to the table on the initial Oceanic recording. From this it would seem, Mare has since come into his own, and released a three-track EP and now his first LP with Clear Light, a four-track offering of mammoth proportions. While it is truly a long-player, it could technically still be an EP, since the record is comprised of three short(er) tracks, and the opening super-epic space drift, “Banta.” It’s a pretty detached work that lacks any kind of structure, but between the reverbed tones, delayed blips and waves of sound and the erratic speaker panning, somehow the track works. Be it an outer-limits soundtrack to doing the laundry, cooking dinner or a fried-out dope haze on the couch, “Banta” an effortless listen that requires a passive but wide attention span, since there’s much to be heard in such a vast proportion. The remaining tracks on the record, which combined account for less than half the length of the first track, offer a more direct and focused approach to the Swarmbots wares, noted almost immediately in “Phases.” The introduction of percussive elements offers the listener a nice change of scenery, along with a much more rhythmic backdrop of hums and blips, from which squalls of feedback relay in front of, before phasing out of volume in a full on drone. “Fireberry” shows a reprisal of the drifting nature of “Banta,” but with a very minimal approach, which doesn’t do much for it unfortunately, as the track itself might do better as a work for a film than it does as a “song” if you will. Nonetheless, “Fireberry” seemingly fits here and goes further to show the type of sound experimentation Mare is treading in. Closing the release is “Sipping On The Fog” which is easily the most cerebral work of the record--and quite fitting--with a drifting curtain of drone shrouding some chime-like tones and an emerging glacially-paced wave of distortion, that makes for an utterly swampy track. It is well-developed and comprehensibly placed here, shining the record to a close, and ultimately leaving listeners wondering what else Mare has up his sleeve. Although the record is an experience in itself, one can’t help but long for some more focused works, as it’s evident that the Swarmbots are capable of capturing an epic essence while keeping things short as well. If this is truly Clear Light, it will be interesting to see what’s next from the Swarmbot camp under different conditions.

Destructo Swarmbots
Public Guilt

REVIEW Strategy Future Rock Kranky

2007-05-24T18:46:00.000-02:00

Paul Dickow is a busy guy. Between running his own label/production company, resident DJing at Portland’s Holoscene, remixing tracks for The Blow (and others) and moonlighting as a band member of Nudge, it’s hard to believe the guy has enough time balanced for his solo works. However, he does, and regardless of how much Dickow has on his plate, his musical palette continues to grow—rather flourish—into a wide array of sounds and ideas. Last time around, he offered up Drumsolo’s Delight a carefully crafted offering of bedroom electronica meets club-ready techno for a delightfully (no pun intended) received record. With his latest efforts, Dickow is ready to take on a new musical animal, and take it for broke at that, with Future Rock, a standard-setting record for music to come.

Not as much of a concept record as it sounds like it would be, Future Rock takes the framework of rock and pop and puts a delicate spin on it. The tracks here are comprised mostly of well-done electronics, but live instrumentation washes over the record as well—creating a bizarre but head-friendly brand of rock-tronica that has yet to be dabbled in on American soil. At times an overly French lounge-y sound structure manages to seep into the record, but for the most part, this is Dickow’s baby, and a well-fed one at that.

Starting on a formally electronic note, complete with muddled Vocoder lyricism, “Cant Roll Back” sets the tone for the remainder of the record. Despite the track’s blip-heavy, white noise haze, its becomes very clear that the boundaries of “genre” will be blurred. From a sultry trumpet blaring away in the distant background to the layered synthesizers and loops being held together by a minimal house beat, its as if Dickow is out to prove that genre, in essence, means nothing—and with Future Rock in access to the world’s ears, it shouldn’t. And the rest of the album pounds this point home.

Aside from the opening track, the record really “starts” with two epic pieces, the title track, and “Running On Empty,” which exceed 18 minutes between the two of them. “Future Rock” starts off in similar fashion to the glistening electronic of past Strategy releases, with a sparse percussion tampering that slowly builds to a full on mess of beats, feedback, oscillations and loops before fading into a lounge-ier set of tracks. “Running On Empty” begins with a more down-tempo note, featuring some 80’s-pop styled synth noodling that highlights the track as one of the most expansive on the record. Keeping the work in balance, Dickow offers up two “interlude” tracks that separate ideas on the record, while maintaining its cohesiveness, and in the middle of it all is the standout anti-pop anthem “Stop Spinning”—an ode to a night’s end. Or maybe an era’s end. Or could it be Dickow’s musical awakening of resigning his formal musical identity to pursue a parallel universe of sound wrapped up in lines like “everyone in the room stop spinning/everyone on the dance floor stop swinging around?’ We’ll probably never know, and for the sake of music, probably shouldn’t.

But conversely for the sake of music, everyone might want to pick this record up. Sadly, it’s probably even now ahead of it’s time, and realistically might not have a huge impact on what music should sound like in the future. In a perfect world, maybe, but until we drive on rainbows and get our kicks pushing around on hoverboards, Strategy probably won’t turn the amount of heads that Future Rock is capable of doing. But the one truly moving thing about the record is that its elemental properties make it an accessible listen for many different styles of musical purveyors, which is one step ahead of artists whose music pigeonholes its listeners to its fans. This is a truly astounding listen. 2007’s remaining release schedule looks pretty bleak in comparison to Future Rock. A very enjoyable record.

Kranky
Community Library

*On an editorial note, I had the opportunity to review Drumsolo's Delight back in 2003 when I wrote reviews for 30music.com. Check the review out HERE if you so desire. -D

REVIEW KTL 2 Editions Mego

2007-05-18T18:29:00.000-02:00

Initially conceived as a complimentary piece for a dance performance in Brest, the initial KTL recording was the first collaboration between Peter Rehberg and Steven O’Malley. Subsequently and thankfully, the two of them continued their musical experimentation beyond the initial sessions to come up with a new long player of existential darkness, aptly titled 2. Regardless of the expectations for a second bout of collaboration between these two, 2 comes in just as the first KTL record did, defying pre-concieved ideas about the content right off the bat—despite giving listeners a concrete idea of what was to come. Where the first record left off, this record begins, but it’s easy to see what’s different with 2, mainly in it’s focus. Where KTL started off with the epic slow number “Estranged” and followed with “Forest Floor (1-4),” 2 starts with a shorter track, that is even more minimally focused and expands from there. “Game” sets the work in motion at a crawl, and gradually ushers in two monstrous pieces that would be the duo’s most accomplished works to date. Taking the role as the record’s centerpiece I would say, is “Theme,” a gradually building work that is the duo’s longest yet, clocking in at almost a half an hour. Beginning in silence, the track unhurriedly builds almost unnoticeably into a heavily layered haze of sonic macabre; heavy on Rehberg’s erratic knob-tweaking and texturing, while being shrouded by O’Malley’s penchant for dramatically effected strings noise. For a solid 18 minutes or so the track is relentless in drive to come to an abrupt calm in time for “Abattoir,” the other epic piece on 2. Much more reserved but equally as driven, “Abattoir” presents the closest elements to O’Malley’s signature black-doom sounds as the record will yield. But rather than the crushing (s)low-end, the track leans closer to the antithesis of doom, with a higher pitched demeanor in similar presentation, echoing some of the more shrill moments of the ‘Forest Floor” parts from KTL. Despite the apparent difference, “Abattoir” will more than likely be the favored by Sunn O))) fans who dare to delve into the KTL material. The final elements of 2 are much more introspective ones, as the record closes with “Snow 2,” which reprises the closing track of the same name on KTL. Similar in their respective “quieter” natures when compared to the rest of their respective recordings, “Snow 2” is quite separate in direction, which sees it trading much of Rehberg’s noisier elements for ones of equal candor in a minimal sense; with what I’ll believe to be O’Malley providing a rather musical ending of reverb heavy guitar picks. It’s gothic, sparse and cold, but a brilliant way to end such an audio-portrait of dismay and darkness. On the whole, 2 is easily more accessible and on a more personal level than it’s predecessor. It’s easy to see how Rehberg and O’Malley put such a piece together given their previous framework, but they really blow expectations away with the reserved nature of what’s here, and by not re-creating their first record. This is a must-have for fans of dark ambient noise recordings, and one of the best records of 2007 thus far.

Editions Mego
Peter Rehberg
Stephen O'Malley

REVIEW Lichens Omns Kranky

2007-05-16T13:03:00.000-02:00

When Rob Lowe released his first works as Lichens back in 2005, listeners were graced with an introspective approach to acoustic based droning all tinged with a bit of dark psychedelia—for a unique new sound experiment. Titled The Psychic Nature of Being, Lowe introduced three epic tracks to the Kranky catalogue and creating a brand of his own solo work that was critically acclaimed and well accepted. Now Lowe is back with his second offering under his solo moniker, Omns, an updated version of his initial dabbling. Now before this gets construed as a wasted effort or anything of the sort, please note, it is anything but—it just relies on the same principles as the first, but with much more dynamics added to his musical pallette. For starters, it seems like there is much more of a vocal presence on Omns, not lyrics though, but a good use of vocal cords to accentuate the analog textures Lowe has become so versed in creating. The opening two tracks, “Vevor of Agassou” and the aptly titled “Faeries” delve right into his most conceptual vocal offerings, both in very similar fashion, despite their differences. Where “Vevor…” is the fundamental first track, notably shorter and more to the point, “Faeries” offers the first glimpse into the epic side of Omns, and takes a more reserved approach, closely echoing “Shore Line Scoring” from the first Lichens disc. Despite the more vocal stance Lowe brings to the table, the record is also a chock full of the sparse guitar work as well, as “Bune” begins rather hastily with, and continues throughout its eight-minute plus entirety. Practically a bare-bones, drawn guitar solo, the track comes quite alive due mostly in part to its slow pace that ironically keeps time and interest despite its speed. It deftly shines here, and with due-diligence as the record’s centerpiece. The latter half of the disc features the most epic offering, the very cryptically titled “M St R Ng W Tchcr Ft L V Ng N Sp R T.” Regardless of how to pronounce it, this is the most drone-inflected work on the record, bringing to the forefront, a piece that could be championed amongst some of the classic records the Kranky family has spawned. Very sparse, and slowly shifting to what sounds like a strings arrangement, the song ascends to a cacophony of chirping birds back to an uber-minimal context, to which Lowe has yet to venture to. It all keeps in well with what he has done minding to keep tuned what he has yet to experiment with and it works very well. Given, it might sound to some that he kind of gives up on the track, but as an artist, he’s got free reign and it’s still one of his better works. Following up, the album closes with “Sighns,” a slow closer that calls to mind some influence ala early Labradford, but also hones in on Lowe’s still emerging solo identity. As a bonus, the disc also comes with a DVD of a live Lichens performance at Lowe’s home stage at Chicago's Empty Bottle, to give the listener a visual accompaniment as well, which makes for a solid release of an emerging avant-garde artist. Omns is definitely worth the investment, and another stellar release from the Kranky catalogue.

Kranky

In The Van: Caspian

2007-05-15T22:34:00.000-02:00

A record that slipped under the radar a month or two ago was Caspian’s The Four Trees (Dopamine, 2007), a work by a group of relative newcomers to the post-rock helm. If you’ve never heard the band, you probably should, as they have a profound notion of writing tracks that keep to an epic aesthetic, but do well in getting to the point. Opening with the solid execution of "Moksha," the band's latest offering is a worthy disc of 11 tracks that show a diverse range of musical experimentation. From the soaring sustain of “Sea Lawn,” to the reverb heavy “The Dropsonde,” Caspian creates instrumental tones and tracks that can hold the weight of their epic-minded contemporaries while keeping things from getting overly drawn out. As the band wraps up their spring tour, I managed to hound them to see what their feeding off of musically on the road:

1. Beware of Safety - It Is Curtains
2. Junius - Forcing Out The Silence
3. Joanna Newsom – (any and all of it)
4. Cornelius - Sensuous
5. Giants - They The Undeserving
6. Joy Wants Eternity - You Who Pretend To Sleep
7. North – Ruins
8. Isis - In The Absence of Truth
9. Eluvium - Talk Amongst The Trees
10. You.May.Die.In.The.Desert – (rough mixes of their upcoming split)

The Four Trees is now available. To hear a selection of tracks, head to the band's myspace page. This is recommended if you like Red Sparowes, Explosions In The Sky, and other likeminded artists.

Caspian
Dopamine Records

In Rotation: May 2007

2007-05-07T17:28:00.000-02:00

Grails

Burning Off Impurities

Temporary Residence

I'm not going to lie, but although the earlier Grails releases were well done, they honestly bored me a little bit, which left me a bit hesitant to pick up the latest of their works. However, upon recommendaion of my fellow psychedelic overlord J.P. O. The Third, picked up this one and was thoroughly impressed. Gone are the slow-psych days of your that resonated on The Burden of Hope and Redlight as Grails pounds through some untrodden desert landscapes on this one. I'm kind of convinced the title of this record might have something to do with the band giving up the Mexican brick-weed for pure, unadulterated Moroccan hash; or thats what the record would lead one to believe. This is some strong psychedelia tinged with a bit of middle-Earth twang, that pummels even through the soft songs. The acoustic guitars sound stellar, as does all of the spacey elements that tie this record together. This record is equal parts epic jams to riffs-a-plenty, and will without a doubt garner many more heads for their rapidly growing fanbase. A great transitional record.

Stars Of The Lid

And Their Refinement Of Decline

Kranky

After 6 years or so, Adam Wiltzie and Brian McBride have temporarily ditched their solo works to reconviene as Stars of The Lid for a massive onslaught of minimal ambience, much to critical acclaim. And clocking in at just over 2 hours of music, this is well recieved and rightly so. Heavy on the drifts and swells, And Their Refinement Of The Decline is overfilled with the tone and timing that these two became best known for on their Tired Sounds Of... record, taken to the next level. This recording is slow and driven, and relies much on a patient listener. To be honest, I haven't even gotten through all of this record(s) yet, but of what I have made it through, this is a beautifully engaged collection of tracks and continues to hold the timeless cinematic quality that these two collectively possess.

Prurient/Death Unit

Terminal Cases

Archive CD

After releasing some studio works and such, Slimm decided a nice return to form would be this nicely packaged 2 X 3" CD set of up and comers Death Unit and already vocally established Prurient. Both offer up about 20 minutes or so of live terror, as Death Unit (featuring noise-maestro Carlos Giffoni, the otherworldly metrnomic Chris Corsano and a couple other shredders) literally pounds their way through just about everything with the make-up of dual drummers and noise/guitar fighting; whereas Domenick Fernow's Prurient does his best to exorcise the voices from your head with his own (and feedback, and distortion...). Its a solid listen, not for everyday enjoyment, but solid nonetheless. Definitely not for the enjoyment of your neighbors either. This one is long gone, and probably sells for a shit ton on eBay, but is worth pickng up if you've got an ear for the harsh stuff.

REVIEW Growing Vision Swim TMU/Megablade

2007-05-07T16:33:00.000-02:00

By delving a bit further into obscurity with each release, Growing never ceases to amaze; and for the duo behind this ever-expanding project of two guitars and a shit-ton of equipment, it’s a trait that comes with ease. Why? Who knows, but the fact that these two can set themselves apart (from themselves) release after release might have something to do with it. When I first became familiar with the band upon release of their Kranky debut The Sky’s Run Into The Sea, I didn’t quite know what to make of their outer-limits approach to doom-style riffing except that it was like nothing I was overly familiar with, and that it was some strong material. But its what the band has done since with their sound that keeps me very interested in what they’ll do next, and their latest release, Vision Swim continues nicely with their artistic evolution.

The band’s Kranky releases were mainly low-end influenced drone works—lighter on textures and heavy on tone—as both releases (the aforementioned The Sky’s Run… and it's follow up The Soul Of the Rainbow and Harmony of Light) yielded powerful volume, intensity and experimentation. However, the next wave of works recorded for Megablade were a bit different—featuring prominent vocals (on one track) and cleaner production, and were overall more refined and textural. Their present incarnation of which began in the wake of His Return, the band’s transitional EP after the Kranky releases, is more focused on lead riffing and the heavily effected thereof, that create a mesmerizing texture that is much detached from their older low-ended works. It is thought to be a change after a tour with Black Dice that influenced their sound change, but regardless, it works for Growing and will continue to do so, as the band shows us here on Vision Swim.

Opening the record is “Limbo,” a very short track for Growing that more or less acts as the record's intro. Shortly into the track there are some heavy bass pulses that almost act as a drumbeat, which is a first for the band aside from some cymbal experimentation from their Kranky days. The rest of the record follows suit for the band with some longer tracks, but by comparison the content is altogether shorter on Vision Swim than on any of their other works.

“On Anon” brings some real substance right off the bat to the record, as intricate layers of feeback, echo and sustain form a solid rhythm (similar to what Christian Fennesz, Jim O’Rourke and Peter Rehberg achieved on their Return of Fenn O’Berg collaboration) before the track blips out with processed noises panning from right to left before fading into “Morning Drive.” As the third track, it remains the centerpiece of the record, and as so, relies on much more of a constant nature with plentiful loops and echoes. Despite the song’s mellow nature, the intensity lies in the dueling effects battle between Kevin Doria and Joe Denardo, as the track builds and swarms to the finish in a discordant harmony. The record ends with two tracks that together are shorter than either of the two epic pieces beforehand. “Emseepee” might be the most detached piece on the record, sounding rather mechanized and riddled with static, while “Lightfoot” closes the record with sweeping waves of distortion and resonance. The final track here is almost a throwback of sorts, and brings to mind some elements of the Soul Of The Rainbow… record, complete with the oceanic feel to it that permeated it, but with a space rock influence presiding over.

On the whole, Vision Swim is a rather short record in comparison to their older works, but it shows a lot of dynamics in retrospect to the rest of their musical catalogue. As much as it is a departure further away from where the band began, it’s hard not to see it as Growing more so progressing. Sure, they take it one step at a time, as not much changes from record to record, but it’s easy to look forward to what the band will come up for it’s next offering when they constantly keep it interesting with each release, and Vision Swim is no exception. I highly recommend this record.

Growing
TMU/Megablade

REVIEW Starving Weirdos Shrine Of The Post Hypnotic Root Strata

2007-05-05T17:03:00.000-02:00

Somewhat fresh off the release of their previous long-playing Eastern Light reissue, Starving Weirdos and Root Strata deliver another installment of head sounds from god knows what. To say that Shrine is a much more of a dynamic release than their previous work might not be accurate, but it does work a different element than its predecessor. Given, it’s a shorter record, which maybe shows a more focused side of the band, but regardless, it still offers listeners the same dish of the distant, epic drone that the Weirdos do so well. Opening with “Crewell,” a nine-minute overture of various layers of feedback, the duo glaze through five tracks here—three of which might be shortest of their readily accessable material. The title track acts as the record’s centerpiece and rightly so, practically bisecting the material with a truly minimal and distant offering. There’s some delicately placed cymbal tones blended effortlessly with what seems to be a field recording of the sea shore—complete with the calls of crowing sea birds—as various drones usher in and away, creating a break-point to the latter half of the disc. What follows next is a descent into more creepy areas of sound, accentuated by the Weirdos’ knack for well-executed echoes and oscillations. It’s unclear what is actually being played on “From the Northwest Swells,” but it’s a gloomy atmospheric piece nonetheless, before it drifts into a low-end spaced-out suite with bizarre percussion, all doing so in under seven minutes. It is here where it seems the Weirdos have become more focused, as the track is every bit as good as some of their longer and longest works. The final track, entitled “Wartime Sunrise,” is the longest piece on the record, creeping in at a couple minutes longer than the almost 16-minute “Droned and Poned." Both start rather noisily, but are quite different. In actuality they are opposite in context, with “Droned…” starting full-on for nine minutes or so with some heavy cymbal rolls and other high-volume antics and fading out; and “Wartime Sunrise” being aesthetically similar to that of a sunrise, and coming to a climactic “peak” of sound. “Sunrise” has some nice phase shifting going on to make it quite a mellow psych piece, and a good track to end the record with. On the whole, Shrine Of The Post-Hypnotic works like an abridged Starving Weirdos release, but in doing so shows that the band can still work their craft effectively and turn in songs that are a bit shorter than those on Eastern Light. Either way, the Weirdos are perfecting their ways and Shrine sure does the band justice and seems like a fitting entry into their sure-to-be piling discography. What they will come up with next, who knows, but we’ll eagerly wait and see.

Starving Weirdos
Root Strata

REVIEW Sunburned Z Ecstatic Peace

2007-05-02T15:55:00.000-02:00

The first and only time I saw Sunburned (incarnated as Hand Of The Man at the time) I was terrified. Well, not in a sense of running to mom scared or anything, but terrified at the wonderment of what was going on in the minds of the six or so folks on stage, which was in a conference room at the MacRock festival a few years back. I’d heard the name thrown around, but never listened to them, so I figured I would check this one out, as they played one of the later closing shows of one of the festival days. For those of you who don’t know about the band, what Sunburned does is equal parts free-jazz, drone, noise, psychedelic folk, and complete utter mind-fuck. Seriously, Sunburned plays some of the furthest-of-the-outer-limits stuff I’ve heard to date, and probably should be taken in (in a live setting) while in a mild state of intoxication. I’m willing to bet that most Sunburned fans are probably in agreement with this, and I would suspect that my friend James and I weren’t the only ones in attendance buzzed up a bit. Regardless, as the band began to play I found myself a bit confused since I didn’t know what to expect. It was like something out of the sixties I’m sure; a bunch of transient looking musicians playing together without any sort of cohesion, whilst front-man John Maloney (I think) uttered random vocals over jazz-timed drums and spaced out noise. This was quite interesting despite my initial sense of confusion, and was able to enjoy it once it became clear to me that just this is what the band does. One guy also had a mask on and was pretending to fuck another person on stage, which triggered the intrigue of a nearby police officer, who I think called for back up and proceeded to stand right in front of the stage, to watch with hawk like stature. I’m sure some folks found the whole thing a bit wild, and when the cops were pacing around in a state of disturbed confusion, it made for an uneasy feeling which permeated the room, but I think the band fed off of this, and kept playing. Anyway, the band stopped some time later and the cops left, but I can honestly look back in retrospect of that show and say it was probably one of the most fucked up shows I’ve ever been to, and after listening to the Z for the first time, recreated that same feeling all over again. For all I know, the band could have played Z in its entirety that night, as the formula is quite the same. Cacophonous cymbals/drumming, spaced-out noise, some weird chants, a few minutes of droning and noise, and some truly disturbing screaming and howling make up the gamut of this release. By all standards, this fits comfortably into the Sunburned catalogue, and more than likely uncomfortably into the minds of unsuspecting listeners. A description of the record stated that “Z is the sound of that feeling you get when you think you're being watched or followed by the omnipotent one,” and I’ll have to agree. It is truly a work of epic paranoia, and I wouldn’t recommend it to people who aren’t familiar with Sunburned’s sound. I can’t go so far as to say it’s a “great” listen either, but it is a complex one, and for listener interpretation. I could see a lot of people getting freaked out by this record. For a further blurb on Z that I whole-heartedly agree with, scroll to the bottom of this page.

Sunburned
Ecstatic Peace

REVIEW Earth Hibernaculum Southern Lord

2007-04-25T14:37:00.000-02:00

Alas, another studio return from Earth. And what can be said but; it’s Earth, albeit a refined one, but not much change. The band still owns its effortless drony qualities that they became known for years ago, and they’re still formulating the same brand of slow-jam. But what we do get on Hibernaculum is some great production that amps up the overall eeriness of the record, and in a sense, perfects it’s vision. The record itself is a series of works re-recorded, three of which appear on their Live Hex record, released on Archive last year, which featured the band using uber-clean tone which accentuated their distant, stark sound—especially in the live setting. Hibernaculum takes that refinement one step further and with some minimal experimentation, changes the dynamic of these songs into something deeper and more developed. To be honest, Live Hex got a bit boring for me a few listens in, with what seemed to be the same guitar tone and tempo throughout. Although it seemed a bit too constant, it was a good release regardless, but could have benefited from more variation akin to what type we see with Hibernaculum. Although its not much, the mild distortion and added reverb on “Ouroboros is Broken” goes a long way when colliding with the newly present synthesizers into giving the track a warmer more wholesome feel. “Coda Maestoso in F (Flat) Minor” gets a similar treatment with some well-done slide guitar added for the right amount of texture, and the same goes for the rest of the record. A dismal piano goes up against some drenched sustain on “Miami Morning Coming Down,” which is easily the most cinematic track here, as it emits an utterly creepy vibe that might fit well into a suspenseful horrific scene somewhere (think The Shining as opposed to some slasher flick). The last track is the epic “Plague of Angels,” originally released on a split 12” with Sunn O))), and by getting a dose of production outshines its previously released live version. All of the tracks here are well done, and sound great, and if this is the formula by which future Earth releases will be adhered to, then their upcoming material will undoubtedly be well-received. Another track (or two) might have done Hibernaculum some good, but the record still stands on its own at just 4 tracks. A good offering to say the least.

Earth
Southern Lord

In Rotation: April 2007

2007-04-17T14:18:00.000-02:00

The Field

From Here We Go Sublime

Kompakt

I haven’t found a techno record that I could listen to repeatedly in quite some time--maybe because I don’t listen to all that much techno--but ever since Moby released The End Of Everything (Elektra, 1997) under his Voodoo Child moniker, I’ve long since had a soft spot for some of the minimal techno stuff. Anyways, I recently picked up a copy of From Here We Go Sublime after hearing it was worth a listen, and I must say, it is quite an astounding techno record. Rather than it being a pounding, club-type of techno, it’s a bit more reserved and straddles the ambient side of the genre respectively. There are a few tracks here that might be more dance-floor ready than others, but on the whole, From Here We Go Sublime is equally as fitting in your living room, or wherever in your house you gather... I guess.

Air

Pocket Symphony

Astralwerks

My brother turned me on to Air in my late teens, when he purchased the film score that they did to The Virgin Suicides (by Sofia Coppola) and Premiers Symptomes, and I’ve been an off-and-on fan since. I hadn’t picked up their last record, Talkie Walkie because I wasn’t that impressed with what I’d heard from it. I picked up this one on a whim, and it’s a different, more loungy side to the band than some of the neo-pop/electronica stuff they’ve been pigeonholed into. Still though, its an Air record and fits nicely into their catalogue with a few guest spots on it and such, but it’s got a sparse, down-tempo side to it that is refreshing as it is different for these guys. I recommend it, a good late night record.

Strategy

Drumsolo’s Delight

Kranky

I was unfamiliar with Strategy until 2003 when I was reviewing records for 30music.com and a copy was shipped my way. You can read my review of it HERE if you so desire. Mind you, it was written a few years back, but I will say that in retrospect I really liked this record when I heard it and recently I found it after my move and have been getting reacquainted with it. "Timing is everything" as they say, and ironically, Strategy has a new record releasing in a month or so entitled Future Rock that I’ll be covering as well. And without giving anything away about this upcoming Kranky-released follow-up, its of equal candor of its predecessor. Paul Dickow is the man behind the madness of Strategy, and he’s slowly setting himself far apart from the rest of the electronica world. If you haven’t heard much of his material, dig it up for a nice audio treat. Take my word for it.

REVIEW Alasehir The Stone Sentinels Archive CD

2007-04-11T00:36:00.000-02:00

As one of the latest installments from Archive’s quickly expanding library of releases, The Stone Sentinels explores one of the many side projects of Bardo Pond players/brothers John and Michael Gibbons. In stepping away from the rooted Bardo Pond sound--not unlike other Bardo alter-egos Baikal and Alumbrados, Alasehir drifts far from its musical foundations into a hazy world of stoner-rock riffing and dirge. This isn’t to say that the Gibbons bros. have abandoned their old ways; with this release they’ve more so expanded them, to have their go at a different side of psych-rock under the Bardo identity.

The first Alasehir release (Sharing The Sacred, Important Records) saw the boys dabbling in some heavily sustained interpretations of the dark riffing that Black Sabbath became known for, with a bit of Sitar thrown in for good measure. But what we get with The Stone Sentinels is a bit different however, it keeps with the initial context. Absent is the Sitar and then-drummer Michael Zangha (replaced with current Pond player Jason Kourkonis), and brought into the mix is some seriously warped electronics and mellower drumming than their debut, to give the band a distinct new edge to their sound.

“Nazca” opens the record with dueling acoustic guitars being abused with slides, for a nice folky prologue to the forthcoming content. Shortly after the outset of the record, the track gives way to a mess of drone-inflected, electric guitars which phase in and out over the 12-minute plus track, slowly giving way to a noisy, feedback-drenched clashing-of-tones to the finish. As far as similarities are concerned, “Nazca” would be following suit from Sharing The Sacred, whereas the other two tracks here feature a guest electronics-guru, that ultimately leans the band further into the outer regions of psych-rock. Respectively titled “Lost City” and “Shroud,” both tracks call to mind the freak-out nature of Acid Mothers Temple (albeit just a similarity), as both are heavy on the synth oscillations, sustain and wah pedals, and delve into the epic proportion we’ve come to expect from the AMT camp. Given, none of the tracks on The Stone Sentinels are as long as the 2 tracks on their debut release, but there’s enough going for the latter two pieces to give this release an equal amount of bombast.

“Lost City” breaks down abruptly around the 12 minute mark to segue into a mellow piece of deep-woods, psychedelic folk before minimally ending into a cacophonous drum melee. Comically speaking to put it in perspective, this is what I would picture the dudes from Sunn O))), Sunburned Hand of the Man, and Acid Mothers sitting around a campfire to. The last track, “Shroud,” is probably the furthest example of their developing sound yet, as it starts on more of a percussive note, with a stark drumbeat being chased around by pitch bends and more oscillations. It takes a few minutes to get going, but when it does, it stays as slow paced with the addition of feedback and some swirling guitars, and suddenly returns to form with some slow, heavy bottomed-out riffs. It also goes ape-shit on the electronics with some phased out pulses that add a nice deep-space element to the track. It’s a heavy listen, and a great closer for this nicely timed release. I found myself listening to the whole record repeatedly and it didn’t feel like I had to “endure” it, and to be honest I had second thoughts about picking this one up, but it really came through. For a deep listen, this record has is it, and in solid fashion.

Alasehir
Archive

REVIEW Nadja Touched Alien 8 Recordings

2007-04-09T14:09:00.000-02:00

Few artists are continuing to take their respective genres into their own directions, and one area of music which is falling prey to an overabundant amount of artists would be that of “progressive-metal,” or whatever people are calling it these days. What I’m talking about is the brand of heaviness that Neurosis and Godflesh pioneered, and that artists like Isis and Pelican have ran with. Anyway, it seems like there’s another atmospheric metal band showing up every few months or so showing their affinity for (s)low-end riffing through various effects pedals, and for these dime-a-dozen acts, there is an answer, in Nadja; and Touched is their latest offering. Bluntly put, Touched is the third proper studio cut from the Toronto-based duo, and fresh off the release of their one-track epic Thaumogenesis released earlier in March on ArchiveCD, it seems as though it's back to refining the basics of doom and putting it into an aural sonic context.

As opposed to their previous efforts, this is the longest (in number of tracks) record they’ve released, and they have done so in solid form, keeping things moving from track to track effortlessly, but not in a redundant fashion. “Mutagen” opens the record in blazing instrumental glory, with thick guitar drones washing over one another in a slow pattern. It’s a great opening track, and doesn’t commence until its end, some 14 minutes later only to usher in “Stays Demons,” a rapturous ascending track. It’s the funeral dirge for shoegaze, complete with angelic sounding lyrics aloft above the low-end swirl below, and as it slowly dies off into a haze of delayed and chopped lyrical content, it should be of realization to the listener, that the first 25 minutes are just leading to the midpoint of the record—the 18-plus minute “Incubation/Metamorphosis.”

It’s a lot to take in, as Touched is unrelenting in its well-produced demeanor. Not only is the record overflowing with rich, warm distorted tones, but the fact that the tracks are so monstrous in length leaves little less for the listener but to give in to an otherwise pummeling listen. Where track 3 offers something of a breather to the listener, Nadja hits back with “Flowers of the Flesh,” which is an equated nod to the power of Black One by Sunn O))), minus the blanketing shrill tones that overrode much of the distortion. In addition, there are some heavily distorted vocals permeating through the mess of drones, but in less of a lyrical fashion, leaning more towards adding yet another layer of sound to the mix.

One thing that listeners might note is the use of drum machines as opposed to real drums, which Nadja has done on most of their releases. It’s a bit different to contextualize electronic drums into such a guitar-driven genre of music, but it seems to fit well into the way the band puts things together. Regardless of how cliché some might think it is, it just goes to show the band’s identity as not just another doom band, but forging their own brand of dark ambient metal for a very engaging listen.

Nadja
Alien8 Recordings

Interview: Scott Slimm

2007-03-27T13:32:00.000-02:00

If Archive CD isn’t on your radar yet, it should be, as owner Scott Slimm has continually without flaw, released some of the most solid releases (packaging and audio) to come out in the past 2 years or so. By accurately capturing the live sonic-artistry of such artists as Growing, Sunn O))), Boris and countless others, not only does his back catalogue of releases speak volumes about the recording that he does, but leads one to wonder what records we can expect to come from Archive in the future. His next batch of releases is due out this coming Friday (March 30), and beyond that, we’ll eagerly await what comes next. Amazingly, somewhere in between hand-packaging releases, recording live shows, managing all his works currently in process, and his day-job, Slimm had a few moments to answer some questions about the origins of his label, some of the more recent things he’s recorded, what to look out for this year in artists and releases and a whole lot more.

*As an editorial note, I was initially going to write this up as a feature, but knowing just how longwinded I can be, figured I’d never get it done. So in all it’s glory (yes, all of it), it will remain in an interview format, since this is a hefty load of words with a lot of substance. Thanks again to Scott Slimm for the content. -D

TSA: What was the first live show that you recorded? And what device was used to record on? (and if you wouldn't mind disclosing the tricks of your trade…) What do you currently use to record?

SS: I can’t exactly recall the opening band for the show but I remember it was late 98 at the old stalag13 in Philly and the headliner was Damad. I was running a Sharp MD722 with a set of low-cost Coresounds cardioids. I stood by the guitar side of the stage up in front of the tiny PA that used to hang from the ceiling and got wiped out by guitar, which was too loud for those mics, so there was lots of breakup. Some years ago I sent the master MD to a friend to convert to CDR for me since my MD stop working and he since disappeared from the face of the earth. I’ve since collected a bunch of gear and use different things depending on the situation. My standard rig for highly portable situations is a set of DPA 4052’s fitted with high boast grills which run directly to a Sound Devices 722 hard drive recorder--a total beast of a piece of gear. I bought that piece when it was out for like 6 months from and the dealer who informed me that they had just sold 8 of them to Lucas Films for mobile sound purposes--which is actually the main application for the unit—but it’s a fantastic piece of gear for doing what I do as well. If it’s a smaller type of gig where I can set up gear, I’ve been screwing around with using a Millennia M-2B tube pre-amp with the same mics and recorder, and I’ve had some good results with that so far. And more recently I was messing around with my buddy Gene (from Philly) doing a multi-track on-location recording, and the result was pretty awesome.

TSA: What got you into live recording in the first place?

SS: Just being a super-fan in the 80’s of hardcore and stuff mostly. I used to do lots of tape trading with other heads who I’d networked with through classified ads in the back of MRR. I remember I used to get lots of great tapes from Rennie from Starkweather, who used to get a lot of boards from Tommy Victor of Prong who ran the board at CBGB’s. In those days it was really appealing since it was a big deal to be able to get an LP, so lots of content was floating around that never saw a real release. Later in the 90’s I was pretty annoyed with not being able to get good sounding live recordings of bands I liked, and as my taste got more obscure it became harder and harder to find good sounding stuff. In 1997, I hooked up with Geoffrey Nicholson of Chicago who was the first guy that sent me a tape direct from his DAT master, which was Zeni Geva from the Empty Bottle in ‘96. I was stunned as to how amazing the set was, how clear and on fire the music sounded, and that it was completely devoid of tape hiss. Some months after that, I went out and bought my first rig after talking with Geoff.

TSA: When did you decide to begin releasing some of the material that you had recorded?

SS: I guess it was like 2004, and I had been taping for some time and the recordings were getting better and better as I upgraded gear and figured out slowly what I was doing. Sunn 0))) had just played back to back shows in Brooklyn and the Knitting factory and I sent a CDR up to O’Malley which was complete with the photo I took of Greg Anderson printed as an acetate. I had some back panel I made up with ugly text and a photo of blue smoke and fog swirling around and basically asked Stephen if they’d want to do a CDR release and he said ok, and re-did the text, tweaked the design and did some mastering on the audio. That recording went on to become the Sunn 0))) “Live White 5” + 3”CDR”, and basically got the ball rolling in terms of Archive being a label.

TSA: What is your favorite show that you have documented, whether it was released or not?

SS: Hmmm… tough to hit on one, but here’s a few: Merzbow at the Swiss Institute in NYC. This was actually released with a board recording on some small NYC label (not my version). Fushitusha in ‘99 doing a double set at Tonic was one of those eye opening shows were I was like, “Wow, I didn’t know music or performance could be like that…” Angels Of Light in 2005 (I think), at Khyber Pass in Philly with Akron Family as the backing band. I actually dislike Akron Family a good bit but goddamn, what an amazing night of magical tunes. The recording is really good too, and I’ve approached Gira about doing it and he was like “I think its ok and if I want to release it I’ll do so on my own label…,” which was totally disappointing because would have been a great release. Highrise, back to back nights in NYC and Philly in 2001; I actually mentioned these recordings to Narita the other day in email and he agrees my versions are better then the one PSF released of the NYC show. High On Fire in 2000 at The Continental in NYC. It was their first show in NYC, and they took the stage at 2:30 am. Matt Pike had no shirt on in the middle of the winter looking all fucked up with a black eye or some shit, and they blew the roof off. The Melvins, at the Knitting Factory in July 1999, played 2 back to back sets with Hovercraft’s drummer acting as a second drummer on like 5 tunes and Adam of Tool doing noise guitar on a few tunes (including the set closer for the first set, doing a 13 min version of Eye Fly’s). For the second set, they came back and did the exact same tunes in reverse order, which was totally unreal.

TSA: I'm sure you have multiple recordings for many artists, but is there one artist that you like to record more than others? Or one type of music/performance?

SS: I kind of have a mental hotlist of artists I do not miss when they are in NYC or Philly, and here’s sort of current standings; Easy Action, Keiji Haino, Sunn O))), Boris, Bardo Pond (and side projects), and Jack Rose. I’m normally a sucker for Japanese psych and noise guys, and I figure if they come all this way to play I should go to see them. I used to love to see Khanate, what a shame they don’t play anymore. It’s funny too, that I don’t think I ever really nailed any of the shows I ever did of them even though I saw them like 12 times. There was always something off a little either in mix, or Plotkin blowing up something on stage. They were an amazing live band though, that really could notch some major levels on the meters. In terms of “styles,” I’m sort of across the board. I think I prefer certain rooms more than styles of music. The Khyber in Philly works really well with my gear, and I also really like doing recordings at Big Jar books in Philly as Patrick always gets beer and it’s totally a comfy hang-out with your friends kind of room.

TSA: As far as venues go, what venue has the best sound to record in?

SS: Well, for the gear that I normally run, I like smaller rooms that have overhead or floor standing PA’s, with soundguys that aren’t totally pussies and will actually run guitar through the board. I only saw a few shows when I was in Japan, but I was so impressed with the way they did things there. I saw Boris at Shelter, which is a really tiny venue that maybe holds 150 people. They had a massive board at the venue, and did an extensive soundcheck of like 5 tunes (for Boris). When the bands played they had guys standing by each side of the stage and if a mic fell off the drums or something, a guy came out and fixed it during the set. Domestically, I like the Khyber Pass a good bit but I think that’s an accident as the sound guys are normally pretty weak. I had a killer spot at CBGB’s taping my mics high up on this 2 x 4 right underneath the crows nest for the lights guy… fuck, they used to run the best sound at CB’s, with a powerful PA and everything went through the board. The Mercury Lounge in NYC is really good as well. Generally big rooms with high ceilings don’t work well with my gear, as I tend to get to much boomy room sound and echo. Ironically, I’m not a big fan of the Northsix even though that’s were the Sunn O))) “Live White” and ½ of the Growing CD were recorded. Freepoint Radio in Brooklyn is a cool little spot as well.

TSA: Whether you plan to release them or not, what are the last few performances you recorded?

SS: Donald Miller, Zaimph, and Borbetomagus, which was a killer weekend. Alumbrados and Baikal; and Serpent Throne, a great new band from Philly.

TSA: Recently, Archive has released a few studio recordings, beginning with the Plotkin/Wyksida and Goslings discs. Do you have plans to release more studio recordings as well as live documents?

SS: I really intended for Archive to be this ultra specific label dealing with live documentation, but then I heard the Goslings “Between the Dead” CD and fell in love with them. Then Plotkin mentioned he had a recording project going on as well and I figured I’ll do some of these as well, but I definitely think the backbone for the label will always be live content. In the future, I’ll probably do some of each though. If I have a great project, I’ll do it if it’s live or studio, but I don’t think the label will ever be the vehicle for a fairly viable band, with a budget, to do a multitrack recording to release on my label hoping to sell several thousand copies of their newest studio masterpiece. I’m really un-interested in operating on that level. That is a totally different way of thinking, and not really the direction I want to take.

TSA: Your releases always have intricate packaging and artwork. Is this decision usually conceptualized by you, the artist, or collaboratively?

SS: It depends on the specific project, some releases have been total artist control, where others have been a collaboration, and some I’ve totally done. Basically, step one when I start a project is to feel out the artist as to if they want to do graphic work. Some artists are very specific about having control over that and if that’s the case I might just sort of present a format for them in terms of a sleeve size or print medium and then go from there. Jack Rose was really great to work with. He was like “here’s the master, do whatever you want, your releases always look great.” I got Utech to work that one up and think the final result was really pleasing both in audio and visually. But again, it depends really on the release. Working with Stephen O’Malley, Atsuo (Boris) or Joe from Growing on layouts is really great, and for some releases, I had strong photographic images, and was able to hack out visuals myself. Other releases I’m totally lost with what to do with them; a great example of that was the Nadja disc. I just really didn’t have any type of feel with how to approach that one so we asked Seldon Hunt, who had worked on Nadja works in the past, to do it and he did an amazing job. Normally what I do in most cases is present a sleeve style and size and print medium. This is typically the case as the format for the Archive releases is non-standard in size.

TSA: Do you think presentation goes a long way as far as people purchasing music as opposed to downloading it?

SS: Ohhh man totally. I think it’s the obligation of the label to make the release visually appealing to hopefully make people want to own the actual object instead of just owning a bunch of 0 and 1’s in the form of a download. As a kid I bought lots of vinyl and just love the substantial feel and size of a 12” LP or 7.” But falling in love with what the digital format can offer in terms of audio clarity and length of play, I really wanted Archive in presentation to sort of mesh those two things together. To approach the CD format as a non-throwaway package and maybe approach it more along the lines of what you’d expect a 7” to come in.

TSA: Furthermore, if it was cleared with the artist, would you consider making any Archive releases available for download for fans that couldn't get their hands on a hard copy?

SS: I think that’s already the case. I’ve actually seen message board threads where in the same thread that I was posting about a release being for sale, you could download the thing for free. I totally don’t care about that stuff, and honestly look at it almost as a public domain kind of thing. That also ties into my answer about why I feel the way I do with packaging, and also why the pressing sizes are always finite.

TSA: If you could record any artist that you haven't had a chance to record yet, who would it, be?

SS: Wow. Let’s go through the dead and gone first; Hendrix, The Doors, and Black Sabbath in a smallish size hall. I really wonder if these guys recorded with current mics and gear, if they would sound just totally nuts live. Albert Ayler, and John Coltrane; but Coltrane would be less critical as so much of his work is properly documented, but for ego I’d love to have my own master recording. I always look at having my own masters of a particular artist as like big game hunting, collecting trophies. Of defunct artists, Les Rallizes Denudes not that big of a deal since so many amazing boots exist; Black Flag, but again, lots of good boots out there already. Other things like Jerry’s Kids, and Void; more contemporary stuff like Amebix, Winter, early Slayer, and, here’s one from left field—Michael Hedges. From the “going-to-make-happen” hit list, Corrupted is right at the top of that fucker… and it might come down to me going to Osaka this year to see them. It’d be a double score if Greenmachine was playing the same show too! I’d also be really into recording a Merzbow analog set, and I’d want to see Sitaar Tah! again, who of course played with Haino on that double disc I released.

TSA: What records have you been listening to lately?

SS: To be honest, I spent like 95% of the time listening to things I’ve recorded although this is rarely what I’ve released. A lot of that is mental notes on what things sound like what I could have done differently that type of shit, but lately I’ve been 100% present on Blutch “Materia” on Delboy. Probably one of the only two bands I would ever use the “early Melvins” comparison with to describe (the other being very early Boris). Harvey Milk’s “Special Wishes” has found its way into my CD tray a good bit. Bardo Pond’s “Ticket Crystals” is really nice as well. Li Jianhong -“A Brief History Of Time” is an advance CD from a Chinese noise guitar player who I’ve been warned about by my secret agent in Tokyo and is a total flamethrower. People are going to hear more from this guy. Vulture Club - “Live Young Die Fast” on Utech is kickass also, as it’s always super exciting to hear some new band from some odd place doing interesting stuff. Earth’s “Hibernaculum” is a total masterpiece as well.

TSA: Anything coming up for Archive that you would elaborate on?

SS: I can’t divulge my secrets. Actually I learned fairly early on not to talk about upcoming shit till you have the goods in your hand. Nothing worse then a label that gives a list of releases that never happen as like 1 million things can go wrong. I remember Autofact and all the fabled releases he had upcoming… the fucking guy should have actually made the releases and sold them he had some great stuff slated. I will say that James Plotkin and I are working on a DVD imprint that will follow in some ways the devolvement that Archive has taken. I couldn’t be happier working with Plotkin as; A) I think he’s really a very talented sonic and video editor, and; B) I really find his NJ breed anger damn funny and it lots of ways I can really relate to the guy. I’m also getting itchy to do some LP’s although I hate with all my soul to ship the stuff.. But the next batch of goodies up are CDs from Alasehir and Numinous Eye, and the Death Unit / Prurient double 3” CD (due out Friday, March 30)

Archive CD

REVIEWMachinefabriekSlaapzuchtRoot Strata

2007-03-20T15:26:00.000-02:00

One of the latest releases from the Root Strata camp collects two self-released EP’s from Machinefabriek and caps the release off with another epic work for a solid and surprisingly flowing release. Titled Slaapzucht, the work feels less like a collection, but rather an vivid introspection into the musical mind of Rutger Zuyderfelt, comprising of three dynamic works over six tracks. The initial releases of Slaap and Zucht came in the forms of 3” CDs released in mid 2006 and showcased two very different ventures into sound. The former is comprised of three tracks, all of which are slowly developing crescendos that place emphasis on different aspects of Zuyderfeldt’s experimentation. “Slaapdronken” starts the piece off with a soft thunderous boom, only to take its time and develop, ironically, like the onset of a coming rain. Various elements and effects come into play as the static builds and swells to the abrupt, intense ending of reprised rumbling; at which point “Slaapwandelen” begins. The second piece of three follows suit in its building nature, but starts with an entirely different approach. Very and minimal at the start, the track really doesn’t pick up until 4 or 5 minutes in, at which point it melds into a dense tonal haze, and teases the listener with time signature over evenly-spaced, soft bass thumps. As it fades out effortlessly, the closing piece, “Slaapmiddel” ushers in with much subtlety and develops into a heavily layered work, with heavy emphasis on sustain, courtesy of what sounds like an eBow. This doesn’t necessarily build in volume as much as it does in density of content, but completes the trilogy nicely before fading into the two Zucht pieces. The transition is smooth as well, tying these two separate releases together as “Zucht 1” drones in after a second reprise of heavy low-end rumble at the outset of “Slapmiddel.” The next two pieces are longer in length, together encompassing 22 minutes (in comparison to the 18 minutes of the first three), and rely more so on a drone than variation. Both “Zucht 1” and “Zucht 2” are epic soundscapes, effortless and flowing, and more in the vein of what Gregg Kowalsky taps into on his more minimal works from Through The Cardial Window than their precursors. The last track here, “Still” is a 22 minute overture that continues on with the minimal work, but goes heavy on the effects for more of a textural sound. The tones are heavy and full, and with some reverb, a minimal amount of oscillation and some added static, “Still” ends the release on a rather cathartic note, comprising the whole release as a very diverse but full listen. The only issue with the release from a personal perspective is that the Slaap tracks seem to be mastered for the highest volume, as some of it can’t be heard through weaker speakers. In the car, and in surround, the tracks are a huge, full listen with a glut of yield—but with general stereo speakers it sounds a bit lacking compared to the rest of the disc. Altogether, this record may require some patience for people expecting more movement, but it grows after a few listens. For reference, this record made me think of the first times I heard Fennesz’ Hotel Paral.lel or his collaboration with Ryuichi Sakamoto, Sala Santa Cecelia.

Machinefabriek
Root Strata

REVIEWTotal Lifes/tAnimal Disguise

2007-03-12T18:30:00.000-02:00

What one might expect from only one player of a two-member outfit might not typically be of interest to most, but in the case of Kevin Doria -known for his sonic masterworks as one-half of Growing— “half” is an understatement in his solo work’s context. Testament to this is the newly reissued LP of his Total Life project recorded in 2005, which finds Doria right where we would have expected him, experimentally resting comfortably between sounds tracked on their 2005 EP His Return and 2006 full-length Color Wheel. Given, without counterpart Joe Denardo, there’s not as much motion here that would likely be found on a Growing release, but as far as dense texturing is concerned, Doria misses no beat in forging thick walls of sound—presumably in the same fashion that Growing does. In fact, the record calls to mind the more minimal work of Growing’s older cassette-released material for Animal Disguise in more of a recent, updated format. From the A side of the LP, “A Thousand Lights” brings together a few elements of Growing’s catalogue, marrying the foggy, static drone of The Sky’s Run Into The Sea with the more complex call-and-response type guitar splicing found on Color Wheel. Thick with effects and minimally drifting static, the track is a monstrous piece of drone, and despite it being rather constant in it’s looping, it manages to captivate attention. Consider it a meditative piece for someone who can handle hourly doses of the more ear-splitting/brain-burning Merzbow material. Flip the record over for “Peaks,” which is less on the riffing, but attains the magnitude of naturally shifting waves of drone with quiet, soft bass pulses evenly spaced throughout. Without getting the stopwatch out, the track is a solid 20 minutes or so, but retains enough transition to make it an enveloping listening experience. This is a record that most Growing fans will undoubtedly like, but stands far apart from the progression that the band has been recently making. That’s not to say that their next record, Vision Swim out April 24th on Megablade, couldn’t return the band to the more gritty side of their roots, as the band really has no set parameters to follow, but if you really liked the density of Growing’s older works, Total Life is a great LP. Well, it’s great regardless and it’s in limited release, so head to Animal Disguise to get a copy soon.

Growing
Animal Disguise

REVIEW Do Make Say ThinkYou, You're A History In RustConstellation

2007-03-07T18:28:00.000-02:00

As Do Make Say Think deliver us their fifth record, it becomes hard not to look back on their weighty catalogue and begin to wonder where they’ll end up on their next release. Given, a week or so after the release of You, You’re a History In Rust might be too soon to contemplate such ideals, but even after one quick listen, its evident that the band is mid-stride in some sort of progression that continues to bloom effortlessly and timely.

As a brief musical recap of sorts, their self-titled first record trolled along as mostly improvised dub passages, with many constant aspects looming from track to track and fittingly, although a good listen, comes off as their most amateur work. Their next record and most critically acclaimed Goodbye Enemy Airship The Landlord Is Dead saw the band departing for a more of a jazz-related context, while holding tightly to more of a rock aesthetic; & Yet & Yet followed next with the band dabbling into more mellow ambience and the introduction to a human voice (used more so as an instrument) to their work. And lastly, their previous effort, Winter Hymn Country Hymn Secret Hymn showcased the band branching their sound out further with their first tracking of a strings arrangement thrown midway into a concept record of sorts with the recording’s nine tracks comprising to make three “hymns” if you will—which, of course, is up for interpretation, as most music is and should be. And keeping up with their subtle changes, DMST has returned more or less, with a sound that isn’t so much a departure from any of their previous sounds, but an amalgamation of works past.

First and foremost though, we find new aspects to the band that has not been previously explored, as Akron/Family members guest on “A With Living” as vocalists, complete with lyrics. It is truly the only head-scratching moment on the record, simply because it sounds a bit foreign. Despite being the first venture into an actual sung “song,” the lyrics fit and the track turned out well. Also, “Herstory Of Glory” continues with the use of strings arrangements and brings back the dually simplistic, sparse drumming that the band relied heavily upon in the Goodbye Enemy Airship… days; and as a third point of interest, listeners will also delight in the reprise of the slide guitar on “You, You’re Awesome.”

There is another aspect at play here though, that seems to come as more of an influence on this newest recording, probably stemming from the moonlighting that some members of the band do with Canadian uber-group Broken Social Scene. Now, this isn’t meant in a negative way at all, but there is a noticeable “rock” element at play on a few of the tracks that might lead listeners to believe that DMST and BSS share a symbiotic relationship of songwriting. “Executioner’s Blues” and “The Universe” both exemplify the playful, pop feel that some of the more obscure BSS tracks reek of. Well-produced guitars and head-bob inducing riffs are a-plenty at play here, but manage to hold onto the DMST identity very well.

And when it comes to identity, maybe DMST manages to keep themselves identified by keeping in touch with their roots while expanding their horizons a bit (albeit a small one) to keep things progressing as opposed to regressing. And thus far, I will say they have done well in doing so, as all of their records continue to win them praise. This is a great band doing great things, and it will be of much interest as to what their new experiments do to their live show. I’m sure it won’t compromise much of what they do and how well they do it, but will undoubtedly give concertgoers a new experience. Highly recommended.

Do Make Say Think

REVIEW NadjaThaumogenesisArchive CD

2007-03-01T15:13:00.000-02:00

Nadja returns with their newest studio recording since Truth Becomes Death released on Alien8 Recordings. While staying true to their form of slow, crushing sound experimentation, Thaumogenesis finds the duo at their most experimental, ushering in an hour-long, one track piece that is heavy on layers and more so on tone. Starting off at an ambient volume, the bombast of the recording crashes in around the five-minute mark and careens at a glacial pace for the next fifteen minutes or so with an abstract blend of subtle electronics, distortion-drenched guitars and a drum machine—to give the work somewhat of a pulse. Mainly sticking to one part with minimal variation, Aidan Baker and Leah Buckareff manage to keep it cohesive and interesting with slow effortless drifts in an otherwise pummeling array of sounds. Despite the repetition, the guitars remain thick, warm and reverberated enough for an enveloping listen (think the clean, distorted guitar tone of Isis’ Oceanic only with tenfold the intensity and volume). After crawling to the 22-minute mark, the record makes a return to ambience of sorts, but rather than relying on drones alone, the slowly crashing dirges continue to create an equally intense and deep soundscape. The last half hour (!) introduces the listener to a hazy, fuzzed out riff of equal speed, while Buckareff’s bass tones continue to bring a subdued but harsh low-end to this monstrosity of doom. The work finishes in epic proportions with noisier drone workings that call to mind some of Baker’s solo works, only to be drowned out by the rather climactic end. If you’ve got an hour to spare to take in this piece, it is an hour well invested. Thaumogenesis is a solid precursor to what Nadja’s sound has developed into, and if this is what we can come to expect, then their next release, Touched (to be released on Alien8 later this month) will be quite a production in itself. A great release altogether, complete with great packaging courtesy of Archive as always.

Nadja
Archive
Alien8 Recordings

Best of 2006 (Part 3)

2007-02-08T15:28:00.000-02:00

A brief rundown of records we loved in 2006 (Part 3)

Kieran Hebden and Steve Reid - The Exchange Sessions
Domino

it has been stated that this seemingly unlikely duo are "musical soulmates," and with the onset of the first two installments of The Exchange Sessions, the aforementioned quote my in fact, be true. Albeit both volumes were recieved rather shakily by critics, both records show a natural fluidity between both artists regardless of praise. Where the relationship will venture to next, we'll see with their upcoming Tongues recording, which promises to take the duo to newer, more direct areas of songwriting as opposed to the drawn-out minimal approach that the two fostered in their initial recordings. Expect big things as these two grow together in music.

KTL - Self Titled
Editions Mego

Formulated after the two collaborated for a musical production, Stephen O'Malley and Peter Rehberg bring a refreshing take on electronic darkness to the Editions Mego catalogue. KTL is stark in the middle of these respective artists' recent explorations. O'Malley brings his low end dirge to the table, perhaps leftover from his Sunn O))) project's Black One; and Rehberg reciprocates with his own distraught electronics that we've come to recently expect. The resulting concoction is effortless and a deep, dark listen. Harsh at times, but overall, a step this side of "ambient" instead of straight noise. Highly recommended.

Best of 2006 (Part 2)

2007-02-07T13:38:00.000-02:00

A brief rundown of records we loved in 2006 (Part 2)

Textured Habitats - Know Your Dwelling
Nurse Tapes

A little-known-about side project from little-known-about Fat Cat signees Our Brother The Native, Textured Habitats explores a very organic side of coexisting electronics and instrumentation. "Know Your Dwelling" is a one-track overture that clocks in at 27 minutes or so, drifting in and out of full-on psychedelia to minimal rumblings and back again. A highly recommended work to get your hands on from a small label that is doing great things.

Feu Therese - Self-Titled
Constellation

In the wake of the announced hiatus of Le Fly Pan Am, guitarist Jonathan Parent forged ahead to bring forth a 6-track exploration away from his currently defunct band. With the help of Alexandre St. Onge and a tight-knit rhythm section, the band delves into a poppy side of modern psych-rock and even dabbles a bit into minimalism and noise for a well-rounded release. Whether or not this will become a full time act or not, we'll wat to see, but even if this was a one-time deal, it was yet another astonishing collaboration from some great Montreal players.

Pan American - For Waiting, For Chasing
Mosz

Last year also saw the return of Mark Nelson's Pan American project, and it's first as a venture away from Kranky to the Austrian Mosz imprint. For Waiting For Chasing finds Nelson departed even further away from the last Pan American record, into a sound that is blurred and slow in comparison. His latest work brings to mind the sound shifting of Fennesz and Tim Hecker more than is shows remnants of Nelson's past work. Quiet and soft, For Waiting For Chasing is an easy listen and a deep record. There is much to hear here from a well active listen.

Starving Weirdos - Eastern Light (Reissue)
Root Strata

Originally released in 2005 in an edition of 150 copies, Eastern Light is a spanning collection of tracks (5 in total) over two discs. Very tempermental and abstract in both content and composition, the Weirdos bring a spectrum of sound to the table, in epic proportions. Its drone, its noise, its ambient, its whatever you'd like to call it, but most of all its nothing short of incredible. Perhaps the best attribute of the record is it's length, and by no means will ever be a quick listen. For the full effect of this release, it must be taken in, in all its vastness. Huge.

Best Of 2006

2007-01-31T19:04:00.000-02:00

A brief rundown of records we loved in 2006 (Part 1)

Gregg Kowalsky - Through The Cardial Window
Kranky

Kowalsky brings a well accomplished work to Kranky for his first release with the label. On the whole, the record is uniform throughout--but equally dynamic-- as Kowalsky effortlessly creates soundscapes in architectual fashion. Simple but complex, Through The Cardial Window exhibits what Kowalsky will become known for, and for good reason. A brilliant collection of mood-music at its best.

James Plotkin/Tim Wyskida - 8 Improvisations
Archive

Plotkin and Wyskida, best known for their work in Khanate, deliver a mixed long player full of various explorations into live studio recording. As a great representation of the quality works that Archive is releasing, to say the least, 8 Improvisations is a strong, multi-faceted collection. There's drums pummeling against walls of low-end static-induced heaviness, overdriven jazz numbers, some elemental percussion recordings and even some dreamier, uber-psychedelic guitar works. This recording is testament to the idea that side projects can be every bit as well done as the initial project that the members hail from.

Tortoise - A Lazarus Taxon
Thrilljockey

To keep fans tided over, Tortoise offered up a collection of past b-sides, remixes and out-of-print recordings complete with a DVD. Given, that not all of these tracks are new, and most of them were accessible to those of us who ordered international versions of past records, this is still quite a treat to get 4+ hours of Tortoise in one bundle. The remixes are a treat, especially a never-before-heard "Cornpone Brunch" re-done by Mike Watt. The live footage is well done too, and doesn't come across as a thrown-together concert DVD, as much of it is snippets from various performances. The packaging is great too for all those who love beautiful releases, and then again, who doesn't?

Tarentel - Ghetto Beats On The Surface Of The Sun
Music Fellowship

Tarentel keep pushing releases year after year, and the latest installments of their craft come courtesy of mostly improvised recordings. In 2005 and early 06, they released Home Ruckus and Live Edits: Natoma on their Root Strata imprint, almost as a precursor for what was to come. Then late in the year, the band released the first two installments of Ghetto Beats..., which is to be a massive work, spread over 4 LPs (with the other two on their way in early 2007 and a CD version to follow later in the year). Volumes 1 and 2 are both massive works with numerous instruments dabbling in various styles of instrumentation, which can only lead to a great assumption about what kind of weight volumes 3 and 4 will hold. A monstrosity of music, sound and noise.

Welcome to The Slow Alarm

2007-01-31T15:45:00.000-02:00

The Slow Alarm is a voice for active listeners. Our aim is to be a voice about and for sound artistry that focuses more on the listener than on song structure or lyricism. It's what we embrace and what we wish to convey to our readers, a different perspective on modern "music" that continues to grow and flourish. We'll act as a forum; we'll review new recordings; we'll offer sound samples; interviews and much more in our time here. We'll also try to be as straightforward and honest about what we write so that readers will get an unbiased perspective on things to come. We'll keep you updated with what's new, what's next and what's down the road, but for now, stay tuned.

*If you'd like to submit recordings for review, contact theslowalarm@gmail.com for information. Not everything we recieve will get reviewed, but we'll try to get to everything.

Welcome. Enjoy.

Dan - The Slow Alarm