March 6, 2020 at 7:02 pm | Posted in Reviews | 1 Comment
John Collins McCormick: Ad for Nails
The artist once known as Sky Thing presents two sidelong compositions consisting of found sounds and music performed using non-musical objects. I’ve seen him perform twice, and the first time it was during an outdoor event, and he was so quiet and so far away from me that I didn’t even know he was playing until after the performance had ended. The other time it felt like more of a live sculpture or art-making session than a concert, the audio definitely seemed secondary. This album begins with a chaotic, blown-out drum solo, then there’s a long stretch where it sounds like motors running or oscillators humming. It’s hard to tell if these are just normal items he’s found that he’s operating, or special machines or devices that he’s built or re-assembled, and listening to it makes you question what difference it makes if it was either, because it’s the sound itself that matters. And eventually some more free jazz-like drumming re-emerges, and some thin but persistent electronic tones seep through. It gets near silent for a moment before more fractured drumming occurs, and there’s a low rumbling behind it. Then there’s some low reed hissing and fluttering, even sounding like a didgeridoo at one point. The second side seems a bit more scattered, with sounds that may be clanking keys and failing car motors, lots of conversational recordings, and also a few unpredictable bursts of some basement noise eruptions. More so than the first side, this one sounds like different perspectives of environments crashing into each other, reflecting several ways in which we hear sound and perceive our surroundings.
March 1, 2020 at 2:22 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Leandro Fresco & Rafael Anton Irisarri: Una Presencia En La Brisa
Absolutely lovely, billowing ambience from two longtime masters of the genre. Super rich and expressive. It washes over you but at the same time it holds you captivated and you get lost inside of it. At certain points there’s windy guitar drone, or there’s lurching pulsations, but it all feels equally soothing and melancholy, and it’s all incredible.
March 1, 2020 at 1:51 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Jacoti Sommes: Travel Time tape
Somehow managing to be funk, ambient, and IDM at the same time, Jacoti Sommes’ first Orange Milk tape is smooth and relaxed but filled with complex, imaginative rhythms. “Subblue” encapsulates this fusion of brainy electro-funk with soothing pads washing through it all. “Pulse Start” is a more straightforward crowd-mover, then “Push On” is where you realize this is actually a journey through the cosmos. This is one classy rocket ship though, and even while we’re shooting through the galaxy, there’s such a laid back party atmosphere that nothing feels out of the ordinary, it feels just like celebrating at a friend’s house. “Everything Is Fine” ups the good-time factor with some disco strings and pianos, and “I Got Your Back” is just a friendly and reassuring as it sounds. Really positive, uplifting, and just naturally different.
February 29, 2020 at 7:06 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Christopher Icasiano: Provinces
The first solo album from Christopher Icasiano (of Seattle-based jazz group Bad Luck) contains two continuous suites (“Provinces” and “Taho”) related to the complexity of cultural identity as a second generation Filipino-American. The album consists entirely of complex, sometimes frenzied drumming mixed with ambient synths as well as some field recordings from the Philippines. On the first track, which goes for ten minutes, he keeps up a rapid beat which almost sounds like grindcore drumming but isolated from the smothering guitar riffs, but then he twists it into some mind-bending phasing patterns. Then the second track begins with a breakdown, after which the drumming returns, more splintered and broken, and the synths rise up into some triumphant melodies. by the fourth track, drums have been replaced by icy drum machines and the synths are like a gust of frozen wind. Finally, a wistful late-night melody emerges, and then in the last movement the drums return as an explosion of color and feeling. “Taho” begins with some more brain-scrambling rhythmic patterns, but then the second movement is more of a study of experimental drumming techniques, some very outside-the-box stuff. The final movement is where an abstract melody whisks back in, along with more partly electronic drumming. Really creative stuff.
February 27, 2020 at 7:45 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Longmont Potion Castle: 17
The newest LPC is somewhat of a back-to-basics release: only one disc, little more than an hour, and no bonus content, as far as I can tell. For the most part, it’s his typical “neighbor” scenarios, he calls random people (or not so random, there’s some reoccurring and familiar voices) and asks to borrow something or test something or deliver a package, and when they ask specifics, he dodges the subject and reiterates what he already said or adds some weird effects on his voice. There’s also a lot of patching different lines together on “Complect Calling” (no Trebek this time, though, for obvious reasons), and on this track, LPC almost seems like a conductor, commanding various orchestra members to play their parts while he stays silent. He does add a few twisted piano notes or sound effects, though. “Meat Medley” is simply a series of jump cuts from his various calls to butchers asking for bodily fluids. Probably the most gutbusting moment is when he calls somebody and adopts an exaggerated cowboy accent, calls himself Trent Tripp, and plays this utterly ridiculous “song” filled with rapidfire vocals that sound like chipmunks speaking in tongues. The runner up is “Netiquette”, a long sequence where he keeps rattling off jargon to someone at a company called System Solutions. After a while she keeps asking “are you a computer?”, and he typically keeps avoiding the question, which is just as ridiculous as anything he’s saying. He also calls someone claiming to be a massage therapist, but says that he plays saxophone during his sessions (the way he pronounces “saxophonist” is priceless), and adds some of his cheap MIDI saxophone playing in there. Not a fan of the track where he repeatedly calls a Motel 6 and asks them to patch him into this one woman’s room, though, that’s legit creepy.
February 23, 2020 at 12:25 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Dr. Pete Larson and his Cytotoxic Nyatiti Band: Misiginebig LP
The latest LP from nyatitist Dr. Pete Larson boils down two recent live gigs onto one side each. The first side was recorded at Trinosophes with percussionist Mike List and guitarist Fred Thomas, and it’s one long jam depicting Misiginebig (an underwater horned serpent) fighting its sworn enemy, the Thunderbirds. It’s almost like peaceful battle music: furious and persistent, but it’s very meditative, and it seems more about bringing light and positivity than causing bloodshed. The second side was recorded at Outer Limits Lounge with Shells on guitar and Tom Hohmann on drums. This one has four shorter songs, but they all similarly feel like a continuous outpouring of energy, with a web of nyatiti melodies atop steady but complex rhythms. “Abiro” has some ecstatic shouting in it, and “We have come too far” seems to sort of straighten out into more of a galloping rock rhythm, then “To all our friends and the Snakes” is a quieter breakdown which slowly builds back up.
February 20, 2020 at 8:41 pm | Posted in Reviews | 1 Comment
Hollan Holmes: Milestones
Hollan Holmes’ first Spotted Peccary release is an excellent set of post-Berlin School, sequencer-driven space music. Most of these ten of these tracks surge forward, cruising deep into the stratosphere without idling for a moment. This is not merely pretty background music or zoned-out droning, there feels like a definite purpose to all of this, and even though it might not be as bombastic or ornately arranged as an opera or a neo-classical metal record, there’s a comparable level of passion here. “One Giant Leap” points to the desire to explore new terrain, using a familiar Neil Armstrong sample. “The Truth Laid Bare” almost sounds like a Mike Paradinas melody, but filled with heartache, and minus the crazy beats. “Slipstream” is a bit more of a relaxed drift, it definitely feels like an easing up compared to other tracks. “West Texas Backroads” feels like you’re driving along said roads and only following the stars to guide you — you have no clue where you’re going to end up in the morning. “Bulletproof” is where things start getting a bit dramatic, and even quite sorrowful. “Inner Sanctum” starts out cold and mechanical but quickly melts away, sinking deeper as the heart cries out louder. “Ayyappan” is where it all winds down, looking back on all that’s passed and putting serious consideration into what’s left to be done.
February 9, 2020 at 12:55 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Suumhow: Secuund
Suumhow wasted no time putting out a follow-up to their startling 2018 debut. This isn’t all that different — it’s more IDM with abrasive, crunchy beats and reflections-on-a-pond melodies — but it’s just as excellent. It moves from harsh, scattered blasts like “Muuscl” and “56” to more straightforward, pattern-heavy rhythms like “Bora Bora”, and several tracks have jumbled, subliminal voices underneath. “Cabin” is prime winter hideaway music. Really, all of this is a good soundtrack for snowbound seclusion.
February 1, 2020 at 1:37 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Spray Paint: Into The Country LP
This is Spray Paint’s first album since 2016, and it was actually recorded that year. The band has slowed down their pace, and two of the members have moved to different countries, but they’ve released a few singles, including a
Live at Third Man EP and collaborations with Protomartyr and the Rebel, and they reunited for a Monofonus Press R.I.P. weekend last year. This album is pretty different than their others — it’s not as heavy on mind-bending guitar noise, and there’s a surprising amount of electronics and drum machines. The vocals are as acerbic as ever, and some of the lyrics are apparently sourced from Info Wars comment sections. “Keep on Googlin'” is an early highlight, with a buzzing, galloping rhythm leading up to the piercing refrain “Please never talk to me.” “BRW’s Theme” (presumably referring to the Rebel’s B.R. Wallers) has sort of a nervous bounce to its rhythm, and the lyrics are just as twitchy and uncertain, yet it somehow ends up being the album’s most chipper song. “Bed Death” is basically their idea of techno, with a bleak, pulsing beat and heavy echo on the vocals, which sound like they’re being shouted down a well. “Bins Out” is two minutes of jagged, high-speed guitar terrorism, and “Can’t Help But Kill” is 80 seconds of pure anxiety in public spaces. Nine-minute Final track “Cleaning Your Gun” is a profane, synth-laden descent to the depths of the internet.
January 31, 2020 at 6:24 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Rocket 808: s/t LP
Rocket 808’s 2018 debut 7″ was a very pleasant surprise, making vintage drum machines and twangy, distorted guitar riffs sound like the most natural combination in the world. Now we have a full album of the stuff, and it’s another motorik cruise through a Western desert landscape filled with big neon signs which have been flashing nonstop for decades. Early on, he covers Suicide’s “Ghost Rider”, seemingly getting the most obvious comparison out of the way quickly, and simultaneously beaming the song into the past and the future. However, he doesn’t sing on much of the album; the focus is more on Link Wray-inspired guitar shredding. “Digital Billboards”, the A-side of the previous single, still sounds like the Cramps recording an instrumental demo with a drum machine, and much of the other songs follow this lead. The other cover is a synth-punk update of Ersel Hickey’s rockabilly chestnut “Goin’ Down That Road”, with a dilapidated drum machine slap matching the song’s “boom-chick-a-boom” refrain. Following the similarly racing (but slightly slower) instrumental “Black Test Car”, Rocket 808 joins the elite club of bands with self-titled songs on a self-titled debut album. “Rocket 808” features acoustic drumming along with the 808 pulse, as well as a brief guitar/drum freakout.
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The Answer Is In The Beat 