Friday, October 13, 2006
will guthrie
spear
[2005, antboy]
despite being a card-carrying member of the eai fraternity, i guess australian drummer will guthrie suffers from what bruce russell once poetically diagnosed as "the urge to let one rip" (not in the musical sense). rather
than unleash a touch of muhammad ali on his semi-devotional collaborators, he's confined himself to this 8 or so minute effort on the french antboy label. which isn't to say that spear is pure brutal cathartic release... the plasmatic bar room miro-ism of the cover art seems to have as good a grip on the contents as anything.
on to the sound: recognisable scraps of drumming survive from a core of live performance, sandwiched in production by two bouts of studio tweaking and tinkering. viewed from afar the substrata meld into a slab whose erratic momentum gets a kick of the boot when it looks to be petering out; even stretches of relative calm and modern familiarity aren't left to unfurl into a sense of inevitability. in a general sense the key elements of space and a knowledge of, if not a deference to, the hallowed idioms he operates around enable a sort of boundary-smothering mania to run rampant through this brilliant work.
even tempered as it is by occasional noise and improvised touches, the work as a whole still gives off the ramshackle radiance
befitting your more traditional electroacoustic masters than anything. which now leads to the uncomfortable position of having to admit that trans-tasman villains australia are tracing the vague outlines of a compelling new compositional approach (exhibit b: philip samartzis' perennial knack for sound arrangement).
oh, and since it's a mere 8:25 you'll be getting no sound sample. besides, any attempt to slice up a representative extract from this'd have to based on a fairly abitrary logic.
[2005, antboy]
despite being a card-carrying member of the eai fraternity, i guess australian drummer will guthrie suffers from what bruce russell once poetically diagnosed as "the urge to let one rip" (not in the musical sense). rather
than unleash a touch of muhammad ali on his semi-devotional collaborators, he's confined himself to this 8 or so minute effort on the french antboy label. which isn't to say that spear is pure brutal cathartic release... the plasmatic bar room miro-ism of the cover art seems to have as good a grip on the contents as anything.on to the sound: recognisable scraps of drumming survive from a core of live performance, sandwiched in production by two bouts of studio tweaking and tinkering. viewed from afar the substrata meld into a slab whose erratic momentum gets a kick of the boot when it looks to be petering out; even stretches of relative calm and modern familiarity aren't left to unfurl into a sense of inevitability. in a general sense the key elements of space and a knowledge of, if not a deference to, the hallowed idioms he operates around enable a sort of boundary-smothering mania to run rampant through this brilliant work.
even tempered as it is by occasional noise and improvised touches, the work as a whole still gives off the ramshackle radiance
befitting your more traditional electroacoustic masters than anything. which now leads to the uncomfortable position of having to admit that trans-tasman villains australia are tracing the vague outlines of a compelling new compositional approach (exhibit b: philip samartzis' perennial knack for sound arrangement).oh, and since it's a mere 8:25 you'll be getting no sound sample. besides, any attempt to slice up a representative extract from this'd have to based on a fairly abitrary logic.
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
spires that in the sunset rise
okay, so not quite. while stitsr are quite popular, i think that a few of the solo albums from their members are just as deserving of your time and attention. maybe even more so.
traveling bell
scatter ways
[2005, secret eye]
chicagoan kathleen baird is better known as a part of the witchy folk four-piece, spires that in the sunset rise. originally releasing her works under the traveling bell moniker, she's since taken to using her real name, atleast for this year's lullaby for strangers cd, also put out by the secret eye label.
to sum it up, scatter ways is a good folk album peppered with some terrific moments (the gorgeous through my sleeves for one). where spires' sound is overwrought, traveling bell tones it down quite a bit. it's not completely stripped down though, there's enough going on musically to hold interest, but gone are the fiddles and banjos, gone is the heavy eastern
european influence and gone too are the vocal theatrics. what kathleen's left us with feels more sincere, more comforting. familiar, that's the word i'm going for, this is an album that i like going back to because of that feeling that it evokes. alas, i stray, but going back to what i was talking about, there are tracks on here that are more minimal than others, indecision song, as an example, is comprised of some faint chimes, acoustic guitar and kathleen's multi-tracked vocals. there's a lot of vocal multi-tracking on scatter ways, which might bother some purists, but i've always been a fan of them, it's a cheap trick that gives you a fuller sound, and it's done expertly here, adding to the spooky atmospherics. solving dissolving forces best demonstrates this.
even though i've listened to this atleast ten times, i'm still not sure what she's talking about on any of these songs, but dammit, i know that whatever she's singing about sounds good to me. (and still sound good ten plays later!) that's what's most important, right? how it sounds. you are my blood has kathleen talking about 'absinthe and potions'. i don't listen to this kind of music for its lyrical content, that's for sure. i kid, kathleen's lyrics are a perfect match to the mood of the album. i'd say that they don't really deviate from what's been heard so far on the spires' releases.
i think that one of the other things that makes me more keen on traveling bell rather than spires that in the sunset rise is scatter ways' ideal track lengths. there's a lot of two (or nearly two) and three minute songs, whereas spires' longer lengths wore me down. this album is just thirty-three minutes long for thirteen songs, which is the absolute perfect length for this.
the first time i heard stitsr i thought, 'hey, i like this', but after subsequent listens my feelings shifted to 'eh, this is ok'. i don't know if spires is a case of too many kooks in the kitchen or what (don't get me wrong, i like some of their stuff, but feel on the whole, they're a tad overrated), but i much prefer ms. baird's solo work, well, for scatter ways atleast. lullaby for strangers seemed to drop all desire of being a memorable album, and, for the most part, was just there. the standout tracks on that were the instrumental interludes, morning song #1 (that one was especially good though) and morning song #2. scatter ways, in my opinion, is a much better album. it still has that darker feel to it, but there's great moments here, memorable songs, a definite melodic center to it which is what kathleen's latest release sorely lacked. lullaby for strangers has the same sort of sound that kathleen's songs on four winds the walker had, just not as interesting. i'm hoping that she resurrects the traveling bell moniker and continues to put out albums that are as good as this one was.
Let You Go
tar pet
the artist revealed is taralie dawn
[2002, self-released]
this project belongs to taralie dawn (or is it peterson, i'm confused, the stitsr website says it's the latter. marriage perhaps?).
if you think of kathleen baird's solo work as an easier to digest extension of the spires that in the sunset rise' sound, tar pet may be considered its experimental side. the artist revealed is taralie dawn (which predates that group's recorded output) definitely has
elements that can be heard currently in her group effort, but also has its own unique identity. this here is lo-fi, experimentally-inclined bedroom folk. the darker feel that four winds has to it is also present in tar pet's music, but it's not the centerpiece. sure, there's also some of the banshee-esque shriek singing and warbling that is a spires [pictured right] trademark, but, thankfully, it's put to use sparingly. i don't know, i'm sure some people like it, since they're a well regarded band, but it's not my favorite thing to hear. though i love me some buffy sainte-marie.
over the course of fifteen tracks taralie does a good job of keeping her sound interesting. there's minimal pieces, more conventional sounding lo-fi folk, nice change of pace instrumental/non-instrument interludes as well as darker songs.
the first time i listened to this, i wasn't that into it (though i did have it on more as background music), but after giving it another chance, it's grown on me significantly. it's not a catchy album by any stretch of the imagination, though there are a few songs which are more memorable than others. there's some tracks on here that are grounded by traditional song structure that are thrown into the mix, but overall, like i emphasized, it has more of an experimental slant to it that, when you combine it with the word bedroom, could be a recipe for a snoozefest, but that's not the case here. the artist revealed (reissued last year on twelve inch format by eclipse and galactic zoo) is not always immediately engaging, such is unconventional music, but it is an interesting album that's also nice to listen to. taralie's efforts (and successes) to make something different, along with her talents as a musician, are the album's greatest attributes. taralie makes us want to hear more, rather than just making a forgettable folk album.
as a side note, if i never have to type the word spires again, i'll die a happy man.
The Artist Revealed Is Taralie Dawn #7
traveling bell
scatter ways
[2005, secret eye]
chicagoan kathleen baird is better known as a part of the witchy folk four-piece, spires that in the sunset rise. originally releasing her works under the traveling bell moniker, she's since taken to using her real name, atleast for this year's lullaby for strangers cd, also put out by the secret eye label.
to sum it up, scatter ways is a good folk album peppered with some terrific moments (the gorgeous through my sleeves for one). where spires' sound is overwrought, traveling bell tones it down quite a bit. it's not completely stripped down though, there's enough going on musically to hold interest, but gone are the fiddles and banjos, gone is the heavy eastern
european influence and gone too are the vocal theatrics. what kathleen's left us with feels more sincere, more comforting. familiar, that's the word i'm going for, this is an album that i like going back to because of that feeling that it evokes. alas, i stray, but going back to what i was talking about, there are tracks on here that are more minimal than others, indecision song, as an example, is comprised of some faint chimes, acoustic guitar and kathleen's multi-tracked vocals. there's a lot of vocal multi-tracking on scatter ways, which might bother some purists, but i've always been a fan of them, it's a cheap trick that gives you a fuller sound, and it's done expertly here, adding to the spooky atmospherics. solving dissolving forces best demonstrates this.even though i've listened to this atleast ten times, i'm still not sure what she's talking about on any of these songs, but dammit, i know that whatever she's singing about sounds good to me. (and still sound good ten plays later!) that's what's most important, right? how it sounds. you are my blood has kathleen talking about 'absinthe and potions'. i don't listen to this kind of music for its lyrical content, that's for sure. i kid, kathleen's lyrics are a perfect match to the mood of the album. i'd say that they don't really deviate from what's been heard so far on the spires' releases.
i think that one of the other things that makes me more keen on traveling bell rather than spires that in the sunset rise is scatter ways' ideal track lengths. there's a lot of two (or nearly two) and three minute songs, whereas spires' longer lengths wore me down. this album is just thirty-three minutes long for thirteen songs, which is the absolute perfect length for this.
the first time i heard stitsr i thought, 'hey, i like this', but after subsequent listens my feelings shifted to 'eh, this is ok'. i don't know if spires is a case of too many kooks in the kitchen or what (don't get me wrong, i like some of their stuff, but feel on the whole, they're a tad overrated), but i much prefer ms. baird's solo work, well, for scatter ways atleast. lullaby for strangers seemed to drop all desire of being a memorable album, and, for the most part, was just there. the standout tracks on that were the instrumental interludes, morning song #1 (that one was especially good though) and morning song #2. scatter ways, in my opinion, is a much better album. it still has that darker feel to it, but there's great moments here, memorable songs, a definite melodic center to it which is what kathleen's latest release sorely lacked. lullaby for strangers has the same sort of sound that kathleen's songs on four winds the walker had, just not as interesting. i'm hoping that she resurrects the traveling bell moniker and continues to put out albums that are as good as this one was.Let You Go
tar pet
the artist revealed is taralie dawn
[2002, self-released]
this project belongs to taralie dawn (or is it peterson, i'm confused, the stitsr website says it's the latter. marriage perhaps?).
if you think of kathleen baird's solo work as an easier to digest extension of the spires that in the sunset rise' sound, tar pet may be considered its experimental side. the artist revealed is taralie dawn (which predates that group's recorded output) definitely has
elements that can be heard currently in her group effort, but also has its own unique identity. this here is lo-fi, experimentally-inclined bedroom folk. the darker feel that four winds has to it is also present in tar pet's music, but it's not the centerpiece. sure, there's also some of the banshee-esque shriek singing and warbling that is a spires [pictured right] trademark, but, thankfully, it's put to use sparingly. i don't know, i'm sure some people like it, since they're a well regarded band, but it's not my favorite thing to hear. though i love me some buffy sainte-marie.over the course of fifteen tracks taralie does a good job of keeping her sound interesting. there's minimal pieces, more conventional sounding lo-fi folk, nice change of pace instrumental/non-instrument interludes as well as darker songs.
the first time i listened to this, i wasn't that into it (though i did have it on more as background music), but after giving it another chance, it's grown on me significantly. it's not a catchy album by any stretch of the imagination, though there are a few songs which are more memorable than others. there's some tracks on here that are grounded by traditional song structure that are thrown into the mix, but overall, like i emphasized, it has more of an experimental slant to it that, when you combine it with the word bedroom, could be a recipe for a snoozefest, but that's not the case here. the artist revealed (reissued last year on twelve inch format by eclipse and galactic zoo) is not always immediately engaging, such is unconventional music, but it is an interesting album that's also nice to listen to. taralie's efforts (and successes) to make something different, along with her talents as a musician, are the album's greatest attributes. taralie makes us want to hear more, rather than just making a forgettable folk album.as a side note, if i never have to type the word spires again, i'll die a happy man.
The Artist Revealed Is Taralie Dawn #7
Sunday, October 08, 2006
dihd
trevor pennsylvania of new brunswick, nj sent me this three album (and amusing zine) package. one tape was from the bone tooth horn label, the other two albums are self-released items that dihd is distributing.
namarrgon
demo cd-r
[2006, self-released]
first up is the lone cd(-r) of the pack, and it's a demo by namarrgon. i'm going to assume that these guys (justin david mccarthy, michael mccoskey and kyler) are jersey boys, just based off of what i know about other acts on dihd. outside of their names, about the only thing that i can find out about namarrgon is that that name is from an ancient aboriginal spirit, the god of lightning. seems fitting for a metal group, even if australia doesn't seem very metal.
admittedly, i'm no fan of the genre, but these four tracks, roughly twelve minutes, aren't bad at all, for metal anyway. all the earmarks of modern day metal are present here: guttural and growling vocals with fast guitars. the vocals are what always ruins this kind of music for me. i can deal with screamy singing, but not growly. regardless, the guitar breakdowns are what keeps this interesting for me. i'm certainly no authority, but i think it's safe to say that metal fans might want to keep an eye out for namarrgon in the near future.
Hunting With Dick
human adult band & penis in vagina
god's life c14
[2006, bone tooth horn]
piv is a side project of kevin winter, who is 2673 and also features christopher hayden. on the flip side, human adult band [pictured, kind of] is andrei (feedback mixer and microphone)
dana (tambourine) trevor pennsylvania (bass and vocals), mike mccoskey (guitar and he's also in namarrgon) and king darves (drums). the former's music is more experimental noise-based, while the latter's is lo-fi rock. god's life is actually the second live split between these two, the first was a thirty minute cassette entitled god's work, which is no longer available. there's still copies of this one though.
hab starts things off and their sound is lo-fi and self-described as murky. i'd say that murky is definitely accurate. the recording quality isn't the best, but it makes them more endearing. after a slow, but groovy, beginning, things pick up about half-way through when mike starts jamming on guitar more. the song's onset seemed to center around trevor's catchy bassline and the guitar was used more as
an added layer. memorable rhythm and memorable vocals make this a terrific track all around. their second song is another head-nodder. the vocals are a bit harder to pick up, here's where murky really fits the music. the combination of trevor's smooth bass playing and mike's complimentary (though, decidedly, not in sync) guitar are a great pairing. this track had less of a structured song feel to it, and i could've stood to hear them jam a bit longer, but, unfortunately, it's only a fourteen minute long tape.
penis in vagina's side consists of one track. it starts off with more of a slower experimental (not harsh) noise style, with feedback and sparse drumming, then it switches over to an electronic hum. with a few minutes left, there's a little bit of noise with drumming over the top of it. it's not my favorite thing that kevin's been involved it, but it might be interesting to hear something longer than seven minutes from them as this short live set really isn't the best introduction to their music.
bottom line, if you want to hear some good lo-fi rock music, check out human adult band. i'm not going to bother with posting an mp3 from them since their whole side is only seven minutes long. instead, check out their myspace page, listen to hot hands and be impressed.
Penis In Vagina God's Life Side B Excerpt (from 0:00 to 3:05)
asps
you ain't got time to die c45
[2006, self-released]
asps are new brunswick's kevin winter, again, (2673, thee black one, penis in vagina) and king darves [pictured] (king darves, human adult band, gorgot). asps
aren't as harsh as 2673, and aren't as folky as king darves' solo work. okay, so they're not folky at all. what they are, however; is a nice balance of noisy sounds.
if i'm reading the tracklisting right, there's four tracks on here, three on the a, and only one on side b. you ain't got time to die starts off with the three minute long jesusshit. at first, it's a little on the loud side, but settles down into an interesting experimental electronic affair. torrents of greed part 1 begins with wolf howls that are interspersed with a little noise for good measure until the howls themselves start to sound like noise. combining those two elements is what this track does and they pull it off to great effect. a side closer, dickwolf, is the most minimal piece on the side. there's a higher pitched noise for the duration, with some other inoffensive sounds buried
underneath it. the second side starts off with a vocal sample, which asps borrow a phrase from to name their tape, a man saying "...don't give up, you ain't got time to die...", amongst other motivational sayings. after about three and a half minutes of samples, the noise starts, and thankfully it's varied enough to hold your interest for nearly twenty-three minutes, all while avoiding the prolonged rumbling static noise! that makes me happy.
you ain't got time to die (presented in a blank tape's packaging with the name asps painted across the front of the cassette's case) is a great introduction to a new project from a couple of guys who should be garnering more attention than they currently are.
Jesusshit
namarrgon
demo cd-r
[2006, self-released]
first up is the lone cd(-r) of the pack, and it's a demo by namarrgon. i'm going to assume that these guys (justin david mccarthy, michael mccoskey and kyler) are jersey boys, just based off of what i know about other acts on dihd. outside of their names, about the only thing that i can find out about namarrgon is that that name is from an ancient aboriginal spirit, the god of lightning. seems fitting for a metal group, even if australia doesn't seem very metal.
admittedly, i'm no fan of the genre, but these four tracks, roughly twelve minutes, aren't bad at all, for metal anyway. all the earmarks of modern day metal are present here: guttural and growling vocals with fast guitars. the vocals are what always ruins this kind of music for me. i can deal with screamy singing, but not growly. regardless, the guitar breakdowns are what keeps this interesting for me. i'm certainly no authority, but i think it's safe to say that metal fans might want to keep an eye out for namarrgon in the near future.Hunting With Dick
human adult band & penis in vagina
god's life c14
[2006, bone tooth horn]
piv is a side project of kevin winter, who is 2673 and also features christopher hayden. on the flip side, human adult band [pictured, kind of] is andrei (feedback mixer and microphone)
dana (tambourine) trevor pennsylvania (bass and vocals), mike mccoskey (guitar and he's also in namarrgon) and king darves (drums). the former's music is more experimental noise-based, while the latter's is lo-fi rock. god's life is actually the second live split between these two, the first was a thirty minute cassette entitled god's work, which is no longer available. there's still copies of this one though.hab starts things off and their sound is lo-fi and self-described as murky. i'd say that murky is definitely accurate. the recording quality isn't the best, but it makes them more endearing. after a slow, but groovy, beginning, things pick up about half-way through when mike starts jamming on guitar more. the song's onset seemed to center around trevor's catchy bassline and the guitar was used more as
an added layer. memorable rhythm and memorable vocals make this a terrific track all around. their second song is another head-nodder. the vocals are a bit harder to pick up, here's where murky really fits the music. the combination of trevor's smooth bass playing and mike's complimentary (though, decidedly, not in sync) guitar are a great pairing. this track had less of a structured song feel to it, and i could've stood to hear them jam a bit longer, but, unfortunately, it's only a fourteen minute long tape.
penis in vagina's side consists of one track. it starts off with more of a slower experimental (not harsh) noise style, with feedback and sparse drumming, then it switches over to an electronic hum. with a few minutes left, there's a little bit of noise with drumming over the top of it. it's not my favorite thing that kevin's been involved it, but it might be interesting to hear something longer than seven minutes from them as this short live set really isn't the best introduction to their music.
bottom line, if you want to hear some good lo-fi rock music, check out human adult band. i'm not going to bother with posting an mp3 from them since their whole side is only seven minutes long. instead, check out their myspace page, listen to hot hands and be impressed.
Penis In Vagina God's Life Side B Excerpt (from 0:00 to 3:05)
asps
you ain't got time to die c45
[2006, self-released]
asps are new brunswick's kevin winter, again, (2673, thee black one, penis in vagina) and king darves [pictured] (king darves, human adult band, gorgot). asps
aren't as harsh as 2673, and aren't as folky as king darves' solo work. okay, so they're not folky at all. what they are, however; is a nice balance of noisy sounds.if i'm reading the tracklisting right, there's four tracks on here, three on the a, and only one on side b. you ain't got time to die starts off with the three minute long jesusshit. at first, it's a little on the loud side, but settles down into an interesting experimental electronic affair. torrents of greed part 1 begins with wolf howls that are interspersed with a little noise for good measure until the howls themselves start to sound like noise. combining those two elements is what this track does and they pull it off to great effect. a side closer, dickwolf, is the most minimal piece on the side. there's a higher pitched noise for the duration, with some other inoffensive sounds buried
underneath it. the second side starts off with a vocal sample, which asps borrow a phrase from to name their tape, a man saying "...don't give up, you ain't got time to die...", amongst other motivational sayings. after about three and a half minutes of samples, the noise starts, and thankfully it's varied enough to hold your interest for nearly twenty-three minutes, all while avoiding the prolonged rumbling static noise! that makes me happy.you ain't got time to die (presented in a blank tape's packaging with the name asps painted across the front of the cassette's case) is a great introduction to a new project from a couple of guys who should be garnering more attention than they currently are.
Jesusshit
å
å
[2006, die schachtel]
the trademark echoes of what was hazily defined as post-rock all linger on in Å's debut effort, and the first of die schachtel's documents of the modern day italian scene. the overly clever track titles, locked grooves and slick production aren't enough to suffocate what seems to be best described as a mix of impulsive and archetypal sound exploration.
any comparisons you'd be tempted to draw between die schachtel's excellent reissue program over the last few years and this album probably wouldn't throw up a particularly meaningful result. instead they fit much more readily into the scope of italy's modern day "romantic electroacoustics" (see: 3/4hadbeeneliminated), which shouldn't be a shock given that the mastering was taken care of by bowindo labelhead giuseppe ielasi. the closest the other side of the atlantic seems to have come to nailing this kind of thing is collections of colonies of bees' customer, whose more rigid and inflexible approach only occasionally intersects Å's rich mercurial exoticism.
and there's your problem in trying to nail down an album like this, which thrives on an unusual (but never jarring) flow of melody and ideas. while the band themselves might've had a clear intent, the first exposure can lead to heady disorientation which makes for a great tonic but can completely drown you and leave you at a loss to follow the thread of events. give it a few listens though, and the rock structure that backbones the album ultimately offers up enough landmarks to help construct a ready narrative flow.
the wheeling out of their inaugural modern work i'm sure was reason enough for high fives all round down at die schachtel hq. deserved high-fiving too; i can't help but find the clutter homey and the ambition more ecstatic than pretentious.
[2006, die schachtel]
the trademark echoes of what was hazily defined as post-rock all linger on in Å's debut effort, and the first of die schachtel's documents of the modern day italian scene. the overly clever track titles, locked grooves and slick production aren't enough to suffocate what seems to be best described as a mix of impulsive and archetypal sound exploration.
any comparisons you'd be tempted to draw between die schachtel's excellent reissue program over the last few years and this album probably wouldn't throw up a particularly meaningful result. instead they fit much more readily into the scope of italy's modern day "romantic electroacoustics" (see: 3/4hadbeeneliminated), which shouldn't be a shock given that the mastering was taken care of by bowindo labelhead giuseppe ielasi. the closest the other side of the atlantic seems to have come to nailing this kind of thing is collections of colonies of bees' customer, whose more rigid and inflexible approach only occasionally intersects Å's rich mercurial exoticism.
and there's your problem in trying to nail down an album like this, which thrives on an unusual (but never jarring) flow of melody and ideas. while the band themselves might've had a clear intent, the first exposure can lead to heady disorientation which makes for a great tonic but can completely drown you and leave you at a loss to follow the thread of events. give it a few listens though, and the rock structure that backbones the album ultimately offers up enough landmarks to help construct a ready narrative flow.
the wheeling out of their inaugural modern work i'm sure was reason enough for high fives all round down at die schachtel hq. deserved high-fiving too; i can't help but find the clutter homey and the ambition more ecstatic than pretentious.