Recent Albums
Various Artists - The Ruts: Babylon's Burning - Reconstructed - Dub Drenched Soundscapes
Collision (Cause of Chapter 3)
The legendary and underrated Ruts have long been due for some kudos and respect. Upon receiving this for review, I was not sure it was the best type of tribute to begin enlightening the masses with; a whole disc -16 remixes of one song is a risky adventure to embark on.
I have not subjected myself to a cable TV subscription for over a decade. On the rare occasion I do get to experience its cultural joys, usually while being a hotel room guest, one of the first things I search for ...
Who Made Who - Who Made Who
Gomma
What does Whomadewho the band have in common with the famed 1986 song by AC/DC? Not much! I have to wonder what the intentions of the trio, who’re signed to the Munich label Gomma, intended when they came up with their band name – a puzzling and minimalist inquiry into the nature of being? Nonetheless, there is something Whomadewho that teleports you back and forth between "then" and "now", between old-school disco and electronica, making it a congruent and enjoyable listening experience.
Various Artists - This Is Skateboard Music
Diggler
Germany’s Diggler Records specializes in long lost oddities and this time they've turned their sights on skateboarding. This Is Skateboard Music is a 14-song compilation of rarities created during the1970's skateboarding craze. From interviews I’ve read with skateboarders from this era, I’m guessing that most if not all of the songs on This Is Skateboard Music would not have been music that skateboarders were listening to at the time – these were the songs being made in an attem...
Various Artists - I Like It Volume 2
Compost
I Like It: Volume 2 is a compilation of the personal favorites of four music lovers. They aren’t your average music lovers, but people who have built their livelihoods on finding and playing that perfect track to move the crowd. To put their selections in context, I’ll give you a quick run down of each contributor’s background.
Trevor Jackson
Originally an album sleeve designer, Trevor Jackson was inspired by his clubbing experiences in the UK to start mixing. His first...
Gigantic - Some Suburban Road
Popboomerang
Australia seems to be a breeding ground for bands that know how to meld melody and understated power. The new EP by Gigantic on Popboomerang Records is another fine release upholding this tradition.
Kicking off with the title track in a swirl of delicate vocals, singer/ bassist / pianist Mark Di Renzo elegantly drives this catchy mid tempo tune. Mr. Sound, the second track is where it gets interesting. Drew Michael has a superior command of guitar tones and attacks keeping the son...
Castanets - First Light's Freeze
Asthmatic Kitty
“Let’s Dance for real this time,” is printed in the midst of the poem I found unfolding the CD booklet for Castanets’ First Light’s Freeze. Poetry awaits you throughout this melancholy, psychedelic folk-rock album, starting with “Freeze this Frame.”
Bewildered by the amount of sound, the amount of meaning and the amount of heart; I have fallen again for another Asthmatic Kitty artist. A challenge awaits me, to explain the sound and the components that make this experience so...
AKB - AKB EP
Lost and Found
I must admit that my knowledge of anything even remotely resembling electro is limited to Newcleus, old breakdancing compilations and Kraftwerk. Oh and course Herbie Hancock's Rockit. This album does remind me a little of all of those aforementioned electro delights. Do you remember Newcleus? Their big hit was "Jam On It" which featured little alien chipmunk dudes singing about superman. It was awesome. AKB doesn't have alien chipmunks. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. But ...
Daniel Patrick Quinn - Ridin' The Stang
Suilven
If you have never been to the UK, this is your chance to feel it as if you are there, absorbing the landscapes, the local flavor and the stories that may be shared over a daily pint at the local arms. Daniel Patrick Quinn's Ridin' the Stang is full of these treats.
Quinn’s take on indigenous sounds and folklore are offered through ambient instrumentation – violin, guitar, cello, trumpet, harmonica, synths, ‘broken bass’, and ‘shabby percussion’ as well as spoken-word/narrat...
Cerberus Shoal - The Land We All Believe In
North East Indie
In a perfect world, things would be imperfect and accepted the way they are. Censorship would have no place; everything would be living its will and would exist as it does in an artist's mind. In this world, nothing would really have to ever make sense. This is The Land We All Believe In, the soundtrack provided by Cerberus Shoal’s Erin Davidson, Karl Greewald, Colleen Kinsella, Tim Morin, Caleb Mulkerin, Tom Rogers, and Chriss Sutherland.
In this, their eleventh release, ...
The Life and Times - Suburban Hymns
DeSoto
The opening riff of "My Last Hostage" sounds like it's soaring gracefully above clouds, and sets the scene for the rest of Suburban Hymns, the new release from The Life and Times' featuring Allan Epley, formerly of Shiner.
The Life and Times deal in big spacious grooves that could be compared to shoegazer bands from way back when. Seriously epic drums courtesy of Chris Metcalf drive the album hard with sweet sixteenth note feels, backing up Epley's huge guitar riffs nicel...
The Divorce - The Gifted Program
Made In Mexico
“I like this album” decided the thing in my head that decides what’s good, what’s bad, what’s fun, what’s boring. It all happened within the first thirty seconds of the first track.
First, the cynical part of that ‘thing’ got all stirred up about at the ‘funky’ guitar, the emotionally supportive lyrics, the pulsing bass, the in-your-face, contrasting structure.
Then the part of the thing that likes dancing and listening to ‘Be My Girl’ slapped the cynical part of the ...
The Bangkok Five - 10 The Hard Way
Aeronaut
I went to LA for the first time last year, the thing that blew me away was this feeling that scenes long forgotten by the rest of the world can survive and even thrive in Los Angeles. I saw metalheads wandering around playing electric guitars in the streets, metal kids lined up for miles outside of guitar centre, and golden-haired skater kids down at Venice beach looking like they'd just stepped out of the classic Stacy Peralta film Freewheeling.
The Bangkok Five has a distinctly ...
Bender - ...Bender
Satellite/TV
More a project than a band, the new album from Bender is a strange and brooding record. This full swing shift - post apocalyptic - medicated blues is alluring and hypnotic but it also has its moments of narcoleptic drone. Bender likes to use a lot of unconventional analog reverb treatment and pitch shifting. The whole record has a melting morgue floor feel.
Geraldine Swayne, James Johnston and Steve Gullick have a cohesive vision. Building repetitive textures and ominous sound wall...
Captain Bringdown and the Buzzkillers - Feel Good Tunes
Skarnival
Solid album of snotty ska-punk from Texas. Solid skanking guitars, nice horn unison lines, lots of spirited group vocal choruses, and great Farfisa organ.
The album starts out sounding hardcore but kicks into gear with a dapper punk guitar line before finally settling in to the super-catchy, high-energy skank of "Psshhh. Like in Handcuffed". The singer sounds like a snottishly cartoonish ska version of Ian MacKaye; it's not a bad thing, but it sounds funny when the band tries their...
smallspace - no matter
Speedywagon
We are in an age where electronics are considered musical instruments just as much as guitars and pianos. With sampled MIDI sounds, beat production and manipulated live instruments, the doors to a whole new world are wide open.
Many people can certainly attempt this type of composition but it is very rare that you find someone who has a knack for it the way that Jon Faber (vocals, guitar and "noises"), Mark Mulder (bass, Fender Rhodes, piano, backing vocals), Mike Knorr (guitar, "...
Boduf Songs - Boduf Songs
Kranky
Kranky’s newest release, Boduf Songs, is Mat Sweet an English psyche-folk artist who was signed on the basis on a home demo, the same demos that comprise the recordings on Boduf Songs, in fact; Kranky didn’t want Mat to lose the energy or intimacy of the original recordings.
Primarily acoustic guitar and vocals, Boduf Songs also benefits from tasteful sprinklings of cymbals struck and bowed, toy piano and field recordings.
The sound is rather like a cross between In Gow...
Ed Chang & Han Degc - Nois und Stringe
Quodlibet
This six-track release from Quodiblet Records featuring Ed Chang on Noise Machine and Han Degc on Acoustic Guitar comes with a sticker on the cover proclaiming, "at the intersection of abrasion and vibration" and " If Merzbow and Segovia Got busy "!
First claim.... Agreed.... second claim ... with Segovia on PCP ...maybe. I personally enjoyed a large portion of this work, but it's not for your average music lover. You won't be taking this one to the keg party.
The fir...
Test Shot Starfish - Test Shot Starfish
Kanpai
I think the two major pitfalls in electronic music – maybe in all genres of music – are over-complexity, and over-simplification.
By over-complexity, I mean random bleeps and bloops, which can only be appreciated on a completely intellectual level, for their technical mastery and/or experimental, conceptual vision. They often make me feel dizzy and irritated, and I am left wondering why I am blasting a “soundscape” (as it often lacks melody, and musical cohesiveness) through my be...
cordova - lie until it becomes the truth
Limekiln
Cordova is the new project from James Alex Snyder previously of Weston. They play super-angsty, epic, grungy alt-rock with chunky guitar and killer hooks. Cordova are very tight. They have a great drummer in Matt Balikian, and I bet they'd be a really good band to see live at an outdoor summer show. It would also be a great soundtrack to getting laid on a hot summer night; it's super passionate, the energy is constantly rising and falling in waves and after the upbeat first song, Atomic Lips...
Motion Pictures - Motion Pictures
Sat-On
The more I listen to this soft-psyche album from the Isle of Wight, the more it grows on me. I think that the reason it takes time too appreciate is that it's very understated and subtle – there isn't a recognizably distinct sonic brand and the singer doesn't have an instantly memorable vocal personality. But apart from that immediate sonic hook recognition that makes people so instantly attracted to an artist like Joanna Newsom or Devendra Banhart, Motion Pictures are one of the finest new b...
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