June 12, 2016 at 8:38 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Bichkraft: Shadoof
Second album from an Ukrainian electro-rock band. Kind of frantic indie rock which feels a little like it’s falling apart, but it’s upbeat and urgent. More arty than catchy, but it doesn’t seem indulgent. Drums seem mostly/entirely electronic, and there’s some nods to techno and drum’n’bass in the tones/beat patterns, but it still sounds clearly like a rock band. Vocals seem kind of flat and out of tune, but it’s not like you’ve never heard indie rock dudes sing this way before. “Fashion According to Macbeth” is a bit more of a dark post-punk thing, some of the other tracks are brighter, especially “Blu” and “Rawness”.
June 12, 2016 at 12:05 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Laniakea: A Pot Of Powdered Nettles
Magickal collaboration between Massimo Pupillo (Zu) and Daniel O’Sullivan (Ulver, Guapo, Miracle, Grumbling Fur, etc). “The Contagious Magick Of The Superabundance” has dark bassy loops, viola, mantra-like vocals. “The Sky Is An Egg” has proper vocals, and has more strings and a bit of deep bass guitar. “Zone In Parallel Rose” is a bit more industrial-sounding, with rapidly thumping drums and more strings and choral vocals and more upfront vocals/lyrics. “Calcite” is kind of a continuation of the theme of the first song, but it goes into a different direction, with wordless choral vocals/moans, screeching tape noises, a phoned-in children’s voice, some more dark rumbling bass guitar, and other sounds/sensations. Really good, recommended for fans of Coil and anything World Serpent/United Dairies-related.
May 27, 2016 at 3:48 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Phi Bui: Unnoticed Moments (eilean 96) CDr
Falls somewhere between fragile loop-based ambient and crushed, eerie abstract hip-hop/illbient. Lots of samples from scratchy records, acoustic instruments, birds chirping, unnerving strings, children singing, operating warbling, and clanging metallic instruments. Beats show up on some songs, but not all. When they do, they’re often creep low to the ground and feel like they’re weak and carrying too much and about to topple over and spill everything. A very haunting, original release.
May 27, 2016 at 3:39 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Ennio Mazzon: Pavement Narrows
This one opens with harsh, swarming noises which remind me of Astral Social Club, but then the rhythm comes in and it goes in a different direction. Harsh organ drones and scrambled feedback, but also slow, pulsating beats. There does seem to be a reverence to melody, as well as suspenseful pacing, but it’s still intense and blown-out and overpowering. During the lengthier “Masu”, things fall apart and then start phasing back together. The album is filled with flying sparks and shrapnel, and “Salmon Run” is particularly bruising. There’s calmer moments, too, but for a lot of these tracks you might want to wear a helmet while listening. It’s incredible, though.
May 27, 2016 at 3:29 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
DJ SCSI: The Ghetto Tech Seven EP 12″
Here’s an unearthed bit of Detroit techno history. DJ SCSI only released one record in 1997 on electro/ghettotech label D-Bass Records, but the mysterious artist recorded more tracks afterwards, and this EP gathers 4 of them dating from 1997 to 2002. Mostly minimal but busy grooves, with some choppy Bmore-ish breakbeats, and also some electro bounce to it. “Lapdanz” is faster and has some sporadic vocal samples as well as a smidgen of a fat bass tone. “Strictly 4 Da Jitterz” is a faster, more space-age electro track with a racing rhythm created expressly for dancing (of course), pausing a few times to catch breath. A fitting record to kick off DEMF weekend (although I’m skipping it and going to Trip Metal Fest instead).
May 27, 2016 at 3:07 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Moth Eggs: Adventures Away
Moth Eggs is the solo lo-fi bedroom pop project of one Francis Carr Jr., and it’s perfectly at home on OSR Tapes along with people like Zach Phillips (whose “Better As Billy” is covered on this album), Chris Weisman, and Joey Pizza Slice. Carr’s songs sometimes have the angularity of Phillips’, especially tracks like “Puddle Jumper”, but they’re overall closer to bubblegum power-pop, with some nods to glam, classic rock, surf, etc. “Cartoons” has high-pitched alien vocals and cartoon sound effects, and helps set the animated, childlike tone for the album. “Tele-Kiss” is another excited, gee-whiz pop anthem. “Silver Sandz” is longer and slower and definitely not as cheerful. “Low Voltaage Angel” is also around 6 minutes and is riddled with sound effects, mysterious voices, and curious melodies, recalling a more chilled out Cloud Becomes Your Hand. Carr definitely does not have a professionally trained singing voice, so his exuberant but off-key vocals can get kind of grating, but there’s a decent amount of ideas and his gleeful try-anything spirit carries the release.
May 26, 2016 at 10:23 pm | Posted in Reviews | 1 Comment
CE Schneider Topical: Antifree
CE Schneider Topical is the duo of Christina Schneider and Zach Phillips (formerly of the astonishing Blanche Blanche Blanche), both of whom appeared on the most recent Jib Kidder album. Both of them wrote the songs (alone and together), but Schneider wrote most of them and sang them all, in addition to playing guitars and drums. Phillips plays a considerable amount of instruments, including some rusty Wurlitzer organ. The songs are generally under three minutes and have the sort of sophisticated arrangements and offbeat charm as BBB, but with less of that group’s dry sarcasm. A few songs such as “Look At What Happened” and the vulnerable “Seeing Eye People” echo BBB’s more sentimental moments, and songs like “Totally Masked Out” contain the type of wordplay Phillips is known for. “Female in Images” balances twee sing-songy vocals and screwy guitars, and “I Think I’m Dead” is a scrappy, catchy, morbid singalong. A few tracks such as “No Eyes Too” and “Roadside H.O.X.” feature the type of minimal arrangements that made BBB’s early albums recall the minimalism of Young Marble Giants. It’s an excellent, varied record and is further proof that Phillips and OSR Tapes are responsible for some of the best lo-fi weirdo pop of the moment. Listen on
Bandcamp now.
May 26, 2016 at 7:35 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Bloody Knives: I Will Cut Your Heart Out For This
Bloody Knives are an Austin-based group whose name makes their intentions clear. Their sound is harsh and violent, recalling shoegaze at its noisiest (
Psychocandy, Skywave) as well as the most aggro industrial. They do have their dreamy moments though; the vocals aren’t distorted screaming, they’re often kind of drifty and sighing, and the guitars also float and soar as much as they scorch and singe. Most of their songs are fast and frantic, even approaching punk tempos on songs like “Buried Alive”, but there’s also a few (relative) breathers such as “Static” and 2-minute interlude “—–“. The group’s overwhelmingly loud sound is harsh and crushing, but they still leave ample breathing room. They’re absolutely gory compared to most other shoegaze bands, though.
May 22, 2016 at 5:00 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Thee Koukouvaya: This Is The Mythology Of Modern Death
Usually Saint Marie Records is a home for dream pop and shoegaze, but this is entirely different. Shapeshifting electronic music which is ambient and reflective one moment, then hypnotic and dancey the next. “The Magnetic State” is calm and mysterious, with a gorgeous sunset of synth pads and softly tapping beats, but the electronics simmer and almost overheat by the end. “Anacaona” gets us firmly in n5MD-type melodic, atmospheric IDM, with mutating glitch beats and big, stratospheric melodies. “Chicago Warehouse Party 1995” is exactly what its title implies, with a big stomping beat, although it might be too melodic and the bass is too wub-wubby for 1995. “Drunk Machine” is a shimmering, dubby halftime stumble. After the brief factory scan of “40.207958 74.041691”, “Phantoms In The Last Age” is another slow, somewhat dubstep-ish track with all sorts of eerie screeching in the background, and even a few dolphin-like sounds popping up from the surf. “Prismatic Sun” is one of a few songs on here to bury some vocals in the fog, but it works really effectively here. “A Life In A Portolan Chart” is another drifting afternoon daydream landscape with strong yet calmply placed beats, and then more mysterious vocals (possibly in Greek?) as the songs lulls to a close. The whole album is really nice, I wasn’t expecting it to sound the way it does so it surprised me.
May 19, 2016 at 6:20 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
v/a: Secret City Vol. 1 LP
Neat little comp of current Portland indie pop bands. First and foremost, I like the fact that this compilation is at 45 RPM and is short. It does what it does and then it’s over and you have time to listen to something else. You get a small taste of each of the bands, and if you want more, you can do your research and hear more. Some of it is kind of more downcast and sort of like the Field Mice or Felt or the more fey, girlfriendless stuff on Sarah Records. The songs by Honey Bucket are the peppiest ones here, and also Mope Grooves’ “Shape of a Pocket”. Lamebrain’s “What a Mess” is a pretty decent bummer power pop songs. It wouldn’t be entirely accurate to call this “twee”, but if the phrases “indie pop” and “Northwest” bring to mind K Records and the surrounding scenes/communities, you’ll have a good idea of what this sounds like.
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The Answer Is In The Beat 