January 29, 2021 at 6:17 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Terry Gross: Soft Opening
The title of
the first album by the newest project of Trans Am’s Phil Manley is totally misleading. This one freely storms out the gate, playing Neu!-style rhythms and riffs with the energy of a garage-punk band. The drummer breaks up the rhythms a bit so it doesn’t get too samey, and then it totally breaks down and heads into a group chant for a bit. Once they steer back onto another course, they sound more determined and charged than ever. “Worm Gear” does more Motorik-style trancing out, but feels more sideways and wobbly. Eventually the riffs get a bit more metal, and there’s some epic vocals that blast out at one point, as the band sludges toward the end, yet still keeping their composure. “Specificity (Or What Have You)” is shorter and more anthemic, starting with spirited verses before unleashing some dazzling guitar pyrotechnics. Just a joyous quest all around.
January 28, 2021 at 8:29 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Von Hayes: Wa La!
from Von Hayes sports a quote from Tobin Sprout, who states that there are no grand secrets to 4-track recording, just use tracks for overdubs and bounce the vocals to one track. “Mix and EQ to taste and wa la.” With that, Von Hayes keep doing it as they’ve been doing since the ’00s. This one has a few big rock singalong moments (particularly “I’m Tired” and “Zamp”, which has both harmonica and guitar solos), a mini-power ballad (“I Had No Idea It Was Today”), and tracks that are a bit mellower and more singer/songwritery than the band’s older material, like the nostalgic “Decades in the Breaking”. Both of the group’s singers duet on “And Always” while surrounded by brain-electrifying guitar noise and rumbling drums, but the second half of the song is sparse, barely audible acoustic strumming which gets interrupted by sudden, hair-raising jolts. “No Title #11” is a queasy, punch-drunk number backed by a swarm of creaking violins. “Quarantine Dreams” sounds like an R.E.M. demo, but with weirder, messier guitars. The album triumphantly ends with the space-themed pop epic “Message to the Sparkled Egg Star”.
January 27, 2021 at 9:00 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Reynols: Gona Rubian Ranesa
The legendary Argentinian experimental group Reynols returns with their
first studio album in 17 years, following a gargantuan 2019 box set and a collaboration with Acid Mothers Temple early last year. Blazing opener “Cameso Cator Sitero” definitely finds them in a sort of AMT free space rock mode, with leader Miguel Tomasin pounding out shaky but driving rhythms and excitedly shouting and la-laing to another galaxy while guitarists Anla Courtis and Rob Conlazo blaze paths to infinity. “Lintiri Teperoli” is slower, calmer, and more mystical, Tomasin improvising on an organ and Pacu Conlazo beating out earthy rhythms on hand drums. “Acotan Silago Foli” is more meandering and has multiple Tomasins wailing away, sometimes expanded to supernatural heights with reverb and echo effects. “Corlo Saturu” basically feels like their Krautrock jam, albeit looser and less disciplined than most of the bands associated with that term. Still, the flanged guitars and trebly, whistling flutes guide the music to some different spaces.
January 27, 2021 at 8:21 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Sverre Knut Johansen: Dreams Beyond
Norwegian composer Sverre Knut Johansen produces rich, expansive soundscapes typically exploring topics such as deep space and extraterrestrial life.
This one seems to be about the more fantastic aspects of nature, and how it shapes our dreams. The synths imitate bird cries and synthesize the feeling of flying over lush forests and between snowy mountaintops, also simulated by the soaring guitars. The beats are generally downtempo, but the music is in no way sluggish; tracks like “Skylight” feel like rushing over a landscape and you can’t catch all the details at once. “Dawn” is shorter and beatless, and mixes analog chirps with synthetic sunbursts. “Tatra Mountains” is another majestic flight over a grand range. “Causeway” actually does have some sludgier beats and textures, especially towards the end. “Human Connection” features cellist Henrik Silfverhielm, and feels closer to music for an Olympic procession. Still, there’s enough synth roughness and strange textures to keep this from sounding too clean and polite.
January 26, 2021 at 7:07 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Grid 707: Wind Grid
Portugal’s Grid 707 debuts on Degenerate Trifecta with a 4-song EP of raw, analog-sounding techno, heavy on craftily-timed delay effects. “Grid 101” has some haunting, doldrum-like atmospherics but the beat drives through it all. “Wind Power” is more heavy effects-laced minimalism, with icy shattering sequences as well as a steady kick drum which sounds armed and ready. The triangle-like ringing pushes it over the top, and the acid fluctuation is just icing on the cake. “Power Grid” fittingly feels sharper and more electric, with a rippling current of acid pulsations and a few static disturbances. An “Underwater Mix” of “Grid 101” takes the same idea but appropriately adds some clattering, sweeping effects which add an aquatic feel, and cuts the juice at 4 minutes.
January 25, 2021 at 8:19 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
ACT!: ‘Grey Matter AR’ Snapchat Compositions [100]
David Psutka, formerly known as Egyptrixx and Ceramic TL, recorded these pieces as a
soundtrack for a series of Snapchat filters designed by artist Karen Vanderborght, created after she interviewed 10 senior citizens and intended to explore to potential of Augmented Reality. The compositions are all ordered by section, and they consist of 20 brief movements with full stops and starts. Yet it all plays like a continuous album rather than a series of ringtones strung together. There’s variations, with different note sequences, more sparkling effects, stranger pitches, and sometimes more lingering sensations. But they all feel like a brief plunge into a strange lavender-tinted pool, with every trip revealing different details.
January 23, 2021 at 1:25 pm | Posted in Reviews | 1 Comment
Jon Mueller: Family Secret
Percussionist Jon Mueller (of Volcano Choir, Collections of Colonies of Bees, Mind Over Mirrors, and other projects) recorded
this album at home using gongs and singing bowls, among other instruments. As he created these four pieces, he experimented with perception change, particularly by using different lighting conditions. He’s been doing these lighting and perception experiments since he was in college three decades ago, and doing this has had nearly hallucinatory effects, and helped him engage with his family’s past. The music itself is sparse, haunting drone that sounds like it’s emanating from a cave. It’s not unlike Thomas Köner’s gong experiments, or some of Lustmord’s more lo-fi dark ambient works. “Black Glass” is a particular highlight, establishing a drone that feels like shining, gleaming light and then striking it with sudden flares of darkness. “Ignited Hands” is shorter and more metallic, sounding like a bucket of chains being whirled around in an echo chamber, and resembling dronier Nurse With Wound, like a reduced excerpt from albums like
Soliloquy for Lilith or
Trippin’ Musik. “Welcome” is a more stretched out variation on the album’s techniques, and seems to be the one produced under deepest concentration, rewarding deeper listening.
January 22, 2021 at 7:15 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Craig Padilla & Marvin Allen: Strange Gravity
Synth explorer Craig Padilla and guitarist Marvin Allen return for a sequel to their 2019 collaboration, presenting
an album of lengthy pieces which reflect on the strangeness of our journey through life and the quest for friendship and compassion. Like their first album, this one mixes deep space synths (and Allen’s homemade theremin!) with spacious guitar melodies worthy of Steve Hillage or David Gilmour. There’s some longer suites here that head in a few different nebulas, particularly opener “Strange Gravity” and closer “All Around Us”, but there’s also the System 7-style techno of “The Revelation”, sort of a continuation of the more beat-driven side of their debut. “Friendship” starts off contemplative before a beatbox rhythm drifts in and it ends up turning into a sort of smoothed-out synth-funk groove for a minute. Then after some cosmic mist, an entirely different slow rhythm emerges before the track draws to a close. The duo keep things moving in different directions instead of just focusing on one idea and zoning out, and it keeps their work fresh and unpredictable.
January 21, 2021 at 7:34 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Christopher Parker & Kelley Hurt: No Tears Suite
Composed by pianist Christopher Parker and lyricist Kelley Hurt,
No Tears Suite was written about the
Little Rock Nine and the battle for desegregation in public schools during the 1950s. Musically, it’s gorgeous, flowing jazz with spoken narration telling the story on the opening overture. “To Be a Kid” is a truly joyous instrumental piece, meant to express the wonders of childhood. “Roll Call (Canon)” is a more somber piece with another monologue, but one with a positive outcome, as it details the successful lives of the Little Rock Nine. “Don’t Cry (Warrior’s Song)” is much more swinging, and Hurt sings a few bold, encouraging verses. “Crisis” is a brief free jazz interlude, and “Jubilate” is a triumphant conclusion. Even though this album is about a very serious subject and a particularly turbulent chapter of American history, it’s ultimately a story full of hope, and the music is appropriately strong and uplifting.
January 18, 2021 at 3:28 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Material Girl: Tangram
Part of the online collective No Agreements, Material Girl patches together genres and moods on this inventive, masterful
debut album. Every unexpected segue, beat flip, and effect takes the narrative in another direction, and it all feels mysterious but inviting. “Flood” is the woozy centerpiece, slowly fading in strings and horns before a druggy sample (“I’m so fucked up”) precedes a bit lifted from an SWV slow jam. Then it switches to an absolutely haunting beat built around Linda Perhacs’ “Chimacum Rain”, laced with Dilla sirens, and the lyrics are delivered from the edge of panic. Just an overall chilling moment, and one that cements this album as something powerful and touching. “Funeral Parade of Roses” plays more with sounds and textures, from the abrasive sax squeals to the glitchy beat vibrations, before a brief, off-the-cuff verse reflects on life and death. Then looped sighs melt into ’90s ambient guitars and then the beat blasts back with a smooth sax solo and some half-dissolved words repeating in the back of your head. While there’s some recurring elements, most of the tracks flow through different sounds without returning to them, but nothing sounds random or out of place. It’s all very deliberate and meaningful, and it’s uplifting and resonant even if it sounds gloomy and lost. Seriously beautiful work.
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