Friday, December 21, 2007
autoerotic asphyxiation and
thousand year frog
choking on lines of sand
[2007, cut hands]
this is a collaboration between two hamilton, ontario projects. thousand year frog is steve smith and he's put out a handful of releases on fossils' middle james co. label. apparently, there's another autoerotic asphyxiation (not surprising), based out of los angeles, i think. whenever there's multiple of the same band on myspace, a look at their friends list will quickly sort things out. this as, is darcy atkinson. darcy's also in the noise rock trio rocket pony! with michael higgins and kenneth gibson.
they'll start off the disc in not much of a hurry. first is the minimal and the sky, full of stars. i really like whatever this background noise is. i can't place it at all, and maybe the mystery adds to the allure. in addition to that, there's occasional frequency modulations and incomprehensible reverberated vocals. rotten birds keeps them on a similar path, though, without that great noise that they began with. again, minimality is the focus; a majority of the noise comes by way of distorted static, and that's hardly overused. every now and then we also get some high pitch tones weaving through the silence, but they're all about keeping things crawling in the onset.
while i could appreciate the texture and subtleties to those first tracks, i was happy when the duo began to build off of that with the final four pieces, which all have a continual flow to them, which i like. it starts out with objects in motion. now, there's less time spent on spacing out the sounds, as the pieces become more involved. over a slow, throttled, base of dense noise, steve and darcy will string together some memorable patches of tone work. towards the end of the track, we're introduced to a high pitched whine, which will get sustained throughout the duration of the album. objects at rest, ironically, continues to add to the sound, rather than take a step backwards. i enjoyed the trade-off between the tonality of the previous piece and the use of fluctuating frequencies on this one. there is one sound, which resembles an affected aol instant messenger alert, that i'm not too sure about. mostly because it's reminding me of times that i've been online and people kept bugging me.
the title track is definitely where this duo hits their stride. the denser noise is replaced by a repetitious rhythm (nothing beat oriented or anything, just a kind of distant knocking sound) and then we're carefully ushered into squealing electronics that sound like a flock of seagulls (not the band) being tortured. i dig that, and the lulling motor humming away underneath everything. one of the simple approaches that they've taken is the rehashing of sounds: the omnipresent whine, the aol noise, the dense base, they all serve to establish this sense of familiarity, so you appreciate them when they come back. well, except for that high pitched noise, that almost never goes away, but the same idea applies. even when the rest of the sonic landscape is different, there's that one sound to grasp onto until the new track sounds less foreign.
sunburned mind won't lose any of the momentum from lines of sand, largely in part to another nice implementation of rhythm, though it's more of a central figure here than the brief usage during sand. its sparse hits create the perfect sense of isolation in tandem with the cold background drone. the sporadic affected vocal noise plays into this nicely as well. the cherry on top comes by way of a terrific siren-esque howl. cold, detached and even though it's vaguely industrial, i really like this track.
Sunburned Mind
autoerotic asphyxiation @ casbah lounge; hamilton, ontario, 5/30/07
thousand year frog @ fort ping pong
[2007, cut hands]
this is a collaboration between two hamilton, ontario projects. thousand year frog is steve smith and he's put out a handful of releases on fossils' middle james co. label. apparently, there's another autoerotic asphyxiation (not surprising), based out of los angeles, i think. whenever there's multiple of the same band on myspace, a look at their friends list will quickly sort things out. this as, is darcy atkinson. darcy's also in the noise rock trio rocket pony! with michael higgins and kenneth gibson.
they'll start off the disc in not much of a hurry. first is the minimal and the sky, full of stars. i really like whatever this background noise is. i can't place it at all, and maybe the mystery adds to the allure. in addition to that, there's occasional frequency modulations and incomprehensible reverberated vocals. rotten birds keeps them on a similar path, though, without that great noise that they began with. again, minimality is the focus; a majority of the noise comes by way of distorted static, and that's hardly overused. every now and then we also get some high pitch tones weaving through the silence, but they're all about keeping things crawling in the onset.
while i could appreciate the texture and subtleties to those first tracks, i was happy when the duo began to build off of that with the final four pieces, which all have a continual flow to them, which i like. it starts out with objects in motion. now, there's less time spent on spacing out the sounds, as the pieces become more involved. over a slow, throttled, base of dense noise, steve and darcy will string together some memorable patches of tone work. towards the end of the track, we're introduced to a high pitched whine, which will get sustained throughout the duration of the album. objects at rest, ironically, continues to add to the sound, rather than take a step backwards. i enjoyed the trade-off between the tonality of the previous piece and the use of fluctuating frequencies on this one. there is one sound, which resembles an affected aol instant messenger alert, that i'm not too sure about. mostly because it's reminding me of times that i've been online and people kept bugging me.the title track is definitely where this duo hits their stride. the denser noise is replaced by a repetitious rhythm (nothing beat oriented or anything, just a kind of distant knocking sound) and then we're carefully ushered into squealing electronics that sound like a flock of seagulls (not the band) being tortured. i dig that, and the lulling motor humming away underneath everything. one of the simple approaches that they've taken is the rehashing of sounds: the omnipresent whine, the aol noise, the dense base, they all serve to establish this sense of familiarity, so you appreciate them when they come back. well, except for that high pitched noise, that almost never goes away, but the same idea applies. even when the rest of the sonic landscape is different, there's that one sound to grasp onto until the new track sounds less foreign.
sunburned mind won't lose any of the momentum from lines of sand, largely in part to another nice implementation of rhythm, though it's more of a central figure here than the brief usage during sand. its sparse hits create the perfect sense of isolation in tandem with the cold background drone. the sporadic affected vocal noise plays into this nicely as well. the cherry on top comes by way of a terrific siren-esque howl. cold, detached and even though it's vaguely industrial, i really like this track.
Sunburned Mind
thousand year frog @ fort ping pong
Thursday, December 20, 2007
gravitar
trial by fire c48
[2007, psychform]
here's a new, yet, not-so new, cassette by michigan's gravitar (eric cook, geoff walker, mike walker). these songs were mostly culled from a 1997 practice tape
, with no additional production; how they were recorded, that's how they're presented. the last track, shimmy shimmy cocoa pop, is the only one that's previously seen the light of day (in one incarnation, or another); it was included in the gravitar box set that wm. put out on enterruption, and was also on the magnets at the bottom of the sea tape.
gravitar are kicking out the jams on trial by fire. while these might not be fully realized songs, they never come across as merely being unfinished works. whenever you're dealing with lost recordings, the preliminary thought would be that this is something that's going to mostly appeal to die-hard fans. not the case here, these tracks could've easily found their way onto any of gravitar's releases. it's a pretty good testament to how rad this band was when even their practice jam sessions can hold their own. if there's to be any issue with the cassette, it'd most likely come from the lo-fidelity of the recordings. i'd have to think that those complaints would be rather moot points since gravitar played a sludgy, rumbling style of psychedelic rock. that plus lo-fi equals perfect, right? geoff's vocals are really the only things that suffer due to the lack of production; they could stand to have been higher up in the mix, but that's a minor gripe. anyway, the vocals were never the main attraction to the band, they were just a well used additional layer of sound.
trial by fire begins with, what i'd consider, the most polished effort of the cassette, 11/97 4. here, memorable guitar chords trade off with slow thunderous riffs. geoff's singing has a bit of melody to it, as well, adding to the structure. there's no chorus, just the repetition of the rhythm to provide the cohesion. where a track like this could easily stretch upwards of ten minutes, it cuts off at six and a half minutes, when the tape runs out. bummer. great song, though. 11/97/5 is their epic length cut, clocking in at a hefty sixteen minutes. it's more uptempo, with cook's frantic drumming laying down the foundation for the looser noisy jamming. 5 also has vocals, but these are more affected and fit in organically alongside the rest of the noise, as opposed to being their own unique element.
while the sound of the guitars can range from memorable riffs, noisy squalls to psychedelic escapism, one thing that remains constant throughout is the terrific drumming. on the b-side opener, 11/97 1, eric puts forth a commendable pummel that allows his mates to concentrate on conjuring as much noise as they can from their instruments and pedals. 2 is just under three minutes long and marks a return to the catchier guitar playing (enhanced by cook's driving, yet, still minimal percussion). i dig geoff's falsetto wailing, which actually benefits from not being louder in the mix. all of that initial build-up will lead to a great noisy apex, which again, just abruptly ends. that's okay though, because they'll bring it back from the dead on 3. it's not a complete retread as there's no vocals in the beginning this time out. 3 is trial by fire's penultimate jam. in its nearly ten minute state, it'll expertly show off a nice soft / loud dynamic. after climbing to a rising swell, which threatens to fold in on itself, they'll regain some composure, reverting back to the minimal drive that they started out with. the inclusion of electronic oscillations during this downtime is a great one. soon, they'll venture back into the hazy chaos, aptly led by eric's clamor. the aforementioned shimmy shimmy cocoa pop features gravitar in attack mode. who needs texturing and dynamics when you've got two, loud, noisy, dueling guitars and dynamite in your drum kit. as assaulting as shimmy is, it's pretty fucking catchy, too. probably not in your traditional sense, though; i'm just really drawn in by one of the guitars.
trial by fire is a nice unearthed gem from gravitar and is sure to please their fans. the balance between more focused and ready songs along with the looser, less structured ones will also make a fine enough starting point for anyone who digs pummeling psychedelic noise rock, but hasn't familiarized themselves with this band yet. limited to fifty copies.
11/97 2
[2007, psychform]
here's a new, yet, not-so new, cassette by michigan's gravitar (eric cook, geoff walker, mike walker). these songs were mostly culled from a 1997 practice tape
, with no additional production; how they were recorded, that's how they're presented. the last track, shimmy shimmy cocoa pop, is the only one that's previously seen the light of day (in one incarnation, or another); it was included in the gravitar box set that wm. put out on enterruption, and was also on the magnets at the bottom of the sea tape.gravitar are kicking out the jams on trial by fire. while these might not be fully realized songs, they never come across as merely being unfinished works. whenever you're dealing with lost recordings, the preliminary thought would be that this is something that's going to mostly appeal to die-hard fans. not the case here, these tracks could've easily found their way onto any of gravitar's releases. it's a pretty good testament to how rad this band was when even their practice jam sessions can hold their own. if there's to be any issue with the cassette, it'd most likely come from the lo-fidelity of the recordings. i'd have to think that those complaints would be rather moot points since gravitar played a sludgy, rumbling style of psychedelic rock. that plus lo-fi equals perfect, right? geoff's vocals are really the only things that suffer due to the lack of production; they could stand to have been higher up in the mix, but that's a minor gripe. anyway, the vocals were never the main attraction to the band, they were just a well used additional layer of sound.
trial by fire begins with, what i'd consider, the most polished effort of the cassette, 11/97 4. here, memorable guitar chords trade off with slow thunderous riffs. geoff's singing has a bit of melody to it, as well, adding to the structure. there's no chorus, just the repetition of the rhythm to provide the cohesion. where a track like this could easily stretch upwards of ten minutes, it cuts off at six and a half minutes, when the tape runs out. bummer. great song, though. 11/97/5 is their epic length cut, clocking in at a hefty sixteen minutes. it's more uptempo, with cook's frantic drumming laying down the foundation for the looser noisy jamming. 5 also has vocals, but these are more affected and fit in organically alongside the rest of the noise, as opposed to being their own unique element.
while the sound of the guitars can range from memorable riffs, noisy squalls to psychedelic escapism, one thing that remains constant throughout is the terrific drumming. on the b-side opener, 11/97 1, eric puts forth a commendable pummel that allows his mates to concentrate on conjuring as much noise as they can from their instruments and pedals. 2 is just under three minutes long and marks a return to the catchier guitar playing (enhanced by cook's driving, yet, still minimal percussion). i dig geoff's falsetto wailing, which actually benefits from not being louder in the mix. all of that initial build-up will lead to a great noisy apex, which again, just abruptly ends. that's okay though, because they'll bring it back from the dead on 3. it's not a complete retread as there's no vocals in the beginning this time out. 3 is trial by fire's penultimate jam. in its nearly ten minute state, it'll expertly show off a nice soft / loud dynamic. after climbing to a rising swell, which threatens to fold in on itself, they'll regain some composure, reverting back to the minimal drive that they started out with. the inclusion of electronic oscillations during this downtime is a great one. soon, they'll venture back into the hazy chaos, aptly led by eric's clamor. the aforementioned shimmy shimmy cocoa pop features gravitar in attack mode. who needs texturing and dynamics when you've got two, loud, noisy, dueling guitars and dynamite in your drum kit. as assaulting as shimmy is, it's pretty fucking catchy, too. probably not in your traditional sense, though; i'm just really drawn in by one of the guitars.trial by fire is a nice unearthed gem from gravitar and is sure to please their fans. the balance between more focused and ready songs along with the looser, less structured ones will also make a fine enough starting point for anyone who digs pummeling psychedelic noise rock, but hasn't familiarized themselves with this band yet. limited to fifty copies.
11/97 2
Monday, December 17, 2007
gremlins
untitled (one-sided) c60
[2007, dreamtime taped sounds]
gremlins! easily my favorite christmas movie. anyway, this is probably the weirdest tape that i've heard come from any of lieven's labels. what we have here are a multitude of snippets from the movie, ranging from thirteen seconds, to four minutes. a lot of weight is placed on the film's score, giving it a feel not too far removed from what dutch oven was doing with their horror soundtracks. the dialogue, random noises, silly gremlin voices along with mogwai's squeaking give it more character, though. i also like the fact that the movie's cut down into tiny segments (sequential), so this cassette doesn't come across as merely being gremlins on tape.
if you've seen the movie, you know to expect a good deal of silliness (did that gremlin really just say "gizmo... caca"?), so a large portion of your level of enjoyment will hinge upon your appreciation of that. it's important to keep in mind that this is a musical release, though. nearly all of the clips have some musical aspect to them, most of which is from the score (the other comes by way of gizmo's singing), and i dig it, even the cheesy stuff. speaking of which, the best of the cheese has to come during one of the action sequences towards the end; out of nowhere comes this ridiculous synthesized monstrosity; it's beautiful.
i've always been a fan of older horror movie film scores, and while gremlins is hardly a horror flick, i'm finding that its soundtrack has that similarly identifiable quality. granted, it's not quite like tubular bells are to the exorcist, but the string arrangement in gremlins that gets deconstructed, reprised and built upon throughout the middle of the tape is memorable and even manages to build up a (mildly) creepy atmosphere, at times.
this is, without a doubt, a novel release. not quite a joke, but more of a wink and a nudge. with that in mind, i like the tape. it's funny, but i also think that they (lieven?) did a great job of isolating (and enhancing) the score, making me really appreciate it. not recommended for everyone, but if you're old enough that the 80s bring about nostalgia, but not so old that the 80s represent a cultural albatross, you can probably enjoy this cassette on some level. i think i'm going to go and download the movie now...
Excerpt
[2007, dreamtime taped sounds]
gremlins! easily my favorite christmas movie. anyway, this is probably the weirdest tape that i've heard come from any of lieven's labels. what we have here are a multitude of snippets from the movie, ranging from thirteen seconds, to four minutes. a lot of weight is placed on the film's score, giving it a feel not too far removed from what dutch oven was doing with their horror soundtracks. the dialogue, random noises, silly gremlin voices along with mogwai's squeaking give it more character, though. i also like the fact that the movie's cut down into tiny segments (sequential), so this cassette doesn't come across as merely being gremlins on tape.
if you've seen the movie, you know to expect a good deal of silliness (did that gremlin really just say "gizmo... caca"?), so a large portion of your level of enjoyment will hinge upon your appreciation of that. it's important to keep in mind that this is a musical release, though. nearly all of the clips have some musical aspect to them, most of which is from the score (the other comes by way of gizmo's singing), and i dig it, even the cheesy stuff. speaking of which, the best of the cheese has to come during one of the action sequences towards the end; out of nowhere comes this ridiculous synthesized monstrosity; it's beautiful.
i've always been a fan of older horror movie film scores, and while gremlins is hardly a horror flick, i'm finding that its soundtrack has that similarly identifiable quality. granted, it's not quite like tubular bells are to the exorcist, but the string arrangement in gremlins that gets deconstructed, reprised and built upon throughout the middle of the tape is memorable and even manages to build up a (mildly) creepy atmosphere, at times.this is, without a doubt, a novel release. not quite a joke, but more of a wink and a nudge. with that in mind, i like the tape. it's funny, but i also think that they (lieven?) did a great job of isolating (and enhancing) the score, making me really appreciate it. not recommended for everyone, but if you're old enough that the 80s bring about nostalgia, but not so old that the 80s represent a cultural albatross, you can probably enjoy this cassette on some level. i think i'm going to go and download the movie now...
Excerpt