So here is a look of at the first five albums on my top 2008. Also I forgot to say in my last post Talons’ is coming to town, London, on the 14th Januray and will be playing at the George Tavern, the kind guys at ColourRide offered to put him on, you can check the last.fm event page here, its free as well!

Ok the link below is to a folder with my favourite track from each album.

2008 Top 1-5

Trouble Books

with The United Colours of Trouble Books

MIE Music

Last.fm

Cynics among you will think “Ahh what a surprise Trouble Books being top”. Well all you naysayers just listen to this album and be carried away on its subliminal fuzzy ambient pop sounds. Many reviews have picked up on their sound being akin to the time when you’re jut waking up on a sunday morning, its all hazy inside your head, the sunlights coming through the curtains, and you don’t need to do anything you can just float for a bit. Well as its a tough busniess and in a particularly tough time if you were interested in buying the record please go along to the MIE music site and help support me and the band. Fans watch out as Trouble Books are releasing , on MIE music, a new EP called Endless Pool in Easter. Easily my favourite album of last year.

Evangelista

with Hello, Voyager!

Buy The Album

Last.fm

About a year ago Carla Bouzlich was on the front cover of the Wire and I read the interview and thought she sounded interesting. I made a post about her new album Hello Voyager! which she released as Evangelista and I kind of left it by the wayside. Then when I was driving this summer around America I put this on and was just hit by the brute force which Bouzlich and her band put into this album. Its raw, ravaged and comprised of many semi-improvised soundscapes. Just listen to her howls of love in the title track.

Fennesz

with Black Sea

Buy The Album

Last.fm

Fennesz manipulates guitar and laptops to create an amazing dark grainy ambient electronic sound. It whisps and swirls around you. His latest Black Sea is much more guitar orientated to his previous works but it just exudes the most perfect sound of beauty and iridescence electronics. Much more laid back than Endless Summer it just is truely great album.

i’ll do the other two tomorrow.

1 comment

Dear all

Yup, I’ve been away for a while and I’ve been pretty slack on the updating. So I’m going to try and stick around this time. I haven’t really decided what kind of format to do it in, maybe a couple of mp3s with each post or a mix or so, maybe i’ll try do all both. Anyway its been too hard for me to rate my top albums of 2008 so I’m just going to list them all with a kind of gradient from top to bottom, top being the kind of best.

Trouble Books - The United Colours of Trouble Books
Evangelista - Hello! Voyager
Fennesz - Black Sea
Grails - Doomsdayer Holiday
Grouper - Dragging a Dead Deer…
Bohren & der Club of Gore - Dolores
Emeralds - Solar Bridge
Earth - The Bees Made Honey in The Lions Skull
Boduf Songs - How Shadows Chase The Balance
Boris - Smile
Sunn 0))) - Domkirke
GAS - Nah Und Fern (reissue)
Glissando - With Our Arms Wide Open…
Melvins - Nude With Boots
Aidan Baker & Tim Hecker - Fantasma Paradise
Yellow Swans - Deterioation
Fuck Buttons - Street Horrrsing
Times New Viking - Rip It Off
James Blackshaw - Litany of Echoes
Dead C - Secret Earth
Talons - Songs For Babes
Alva Noto - Unitext
Marnie Stern - This is it…
Windy & Carl - Songs For The Brokenhearted
Torche - Meanderthal
Benoit Pioulard - Temper
Harvey Milk - Life… The Best Game in Town
Growing - All The Way
Portishead - Third
No Age - Nouns

Ok and following on swiftly, today/tomorrow I’ll try get posts up for the top albums and work it like that maybe.

Also I’m getting pretty annoyed at all the spam comments I’m getting so I’m going to moderate the comments for a while, so post away but they’ll only appear when I approve them. Its not what I want to do but when I’m getting 50+ spam comments a day it does grate.

1 comment

Well, its been an age, I’ve been distracted and have hardly got round to updating for a while now.

My labels first band has released their first LP. Trouble Books’ The United Colours of Trouble Books, downloadable here, is one of my most favourite albums released this year, brilliant fuzzy ambient pop. available here at www.miemusic.co.uk .  I’m excited that its in Plan B magazine in december, and also we’ve been up to the dizzy heights of 10th in Norman Records most popular. The band and I would like to thank everyone whose supported us along the way, and Europeans will be glad to know there might well be a tour lined up for next summer.

Now also beacuse I haven’t really been updating much lately I think I’m going to change the way I do this website. At the moment there is too much but not enough so after this what I’m going to do is update with an hour long mix of select tunes I’ve been enjoying recently every week. Hopefully I can keep to this and everyone will have more interesting bands to search out every week.

Earth - The Bees Made Honey in The Lions Skull

Earth’s Hex album, despite transgressing doom genre boundaries, turned out to be something of a touchstone for many artists in the field; its American gothic landscapes were quickly swallowed up as a new fixture in the death ambient vocabulary, and countless records seem to have been made since that have tapped into its stately Western gloom. The Bees Made Honey In The Lion’s Skull is a natural progression from Hex, taking the same template of slow, simplistic progressions and low-end riffing whilst adding liberal smatterings of keyboard instrumentation - hardly the sort of thing you’d expect from Dylan Carson and co. Some of this material is actually rather… pretty. ‘Hung On The Moon’ is augmented by Steve Moore’s Hammond textures and jazzy piano, transforming the repetitive doom structure into a far more interesting, matured sound, loaded with a harmonic ambiguity. Another key additional musician is Bill Frisell, who clearly spent some time looking for his distortion pedal for his stint on this album. In amongst the riff-mongering belligerence guitar passages break loose to open up the narratives. ‘Engine Of Ruin’ is a particularly fine example of this trend, with an end passage decked out with arcs of vibrant string bends and expressive, melodic phrasing. A considerable evolutionary shift for the band, this album sounds like the work of a very different group from the more ominous, monochromatic work of their droning past.

Boomkat

Residual Echoes - California

Holy Mountain seem to have a patent on balls out rock at the moment, it’s as if only people that have a connection to the label can get it right on. Even Comets on Fire contain Six Organs of Admittance man Ben Chasny who releases on the label, so hell. what are we waiting for? Yep along with epic rawkers Om, Residual Echoes are up in psychedelic rock heaven, and on this particular album their focus is California. The band are actually Californian, but they recorded this record after being away for some time, laying the tracks down on their return. The result is a heady journey into what sounds like semi-improvised heavy 70s rock music - you know the score, you’ve heard Jimi and Sabbath, you know what to expect and if you’re getting light on your feet then you ain’t gonna be disappointed. Get that tie-dyed poncho out of retirement, light a fat doobie and allow the Residual Echoes to rock you into the past baby, they sure ain’t fond of this future we got goin’ on by the sound of it. California without the OC. what a refreshing change.

Boomkat

Nisennenmondai - Tori Neji

Props to Smalltown Supersound for introducing this all-girl trio to non-Japanese audiences. Nisennenmondai (that translates to “Year 2000 Problem”, apparently) crank out raucous post-punk instrumentals, anchored in a vicious rhythm section dynamic and punishingly overdriven recordings, using song titles like ‘Sonic Youth’, ‘This Heat’ and ‘Pop Group’ to help signpost their influences. This album compiles the band’s two EPs Tori and Neji as a single long-player, here repackaged in new artwork by Kim Hiorthoy. You can hear a clear divide in the respective tones of the two EPs: Neji is characterized by a more comprehensively terrorizing aesthetic, with pieces like ‘Ikkkyokume’ laid down in a coarse, off-the-cuff fashion in keeping with all the best garage rock, whilst still exhibiting an impressive level of musicianship all round - the drumming is incredibly energetic, climbing to a state of euphoric frenzy in parallel with delayed guitar stabs, all of which eventually lapses into a single ocean of sound, fizzing and spluttering its way towards an inevitably feedback-soaked crescendo. Tori is a less saturated sounding affair, instead relying on a more naturalistic production and the trio’s own ability to wring noise out of their instruments, something brilliantly demonstrated on the Melt Banana-like scream-along ‘Kyaaaaaaa’.

4 comments

Its been a while but I’m back with a great selection of tunes.

First of all I’d like to point you in the direction of my new website, www.miemusic.co.uk, its for my record label and as you can see it is in the process of being built, it shouldn’t be too much longer though. Also you can pre-order my first release, Trouble Books’ The United Colours of Trouble Books. You might remember I was banging on about them early this year, well I decided with them to set up a record label and release their stuff in the UK and Europe. So this is the highly limited edition LP and CDr of the aforementioned album, it has different artwork from the US release and is in a very limited edition, only 100 ever! so go along to mie.bigcartel.com to pre-order your copy! thanks

Astrobite - Crush

I was recommended this by a reader after I said Rafel Toral’s Wavefield was a logical progression to MBV’s Loveless. I have to agree witht the guy that this album is a stunning rethink of shoegaze a decade later. Scott Cortez knows how to make an amazing album, also check out Lovesliescrushing.

AMG

After years of hints, the occasional one-off comp appearance, and not much more, which along with the somnolent state of Lovesliescrushing brought many to despair of ever actually hearing anything more, Scott Cortez finally debuted his solo project in full with Crush. As Astrobrite, Cortez’s general approach isn’t too far off from the music with which he came to attention — fired-up, often quite massive, and astonishingly creative use and abuse of electric guitar on a four-track tape recorder, placing him up there with the likes of Dave Pearce rather than, say, yet another Lou Barlow wannabe. But this isn’t just Bloweyelashwish or Xuvetyn without the female vocals — Crush in general leans toward a generally more poppy bent, certainly a heavily distorted sort at times, but the feeling is a little less moody and ethereal throughout the album (a notable exception — the cascading wash of “Comet”). One gets the sense that songs like the tellingly titled “Radiofriendly” and “Peachfuzz” could find their own wider appeal, if it weren’t for the way he very intentionally plays with the mixes. His wistful, restful choirboy vocals often get lost beyond sheets of feedback squalls, but the hooks are still there — it’s not quite the Jesus & Mary Chain overdrive approach either, more a sweetness that doesn’t mind playing in the mud at all. When he does let the singing stand forth more readily, as the warm and winning “Overdriver” captures perfectly, the result is a treat. Meanwhile, moments like the woozy guitar on “Bottlerocket” and “Blown” have Kevin Shields written all over them, and beautifully so at that. If any more proof were needed that ten years on the likes of Loveless really did have an impact for musicians, Crush fulfills that brief; shoegaze never died — it just produced other, unexpected results along the way.

Carsick Cars - Carsick Cars

I couldn’t find much infomation on these guys but I have a friend who was out in Beijing last year and could tell me a bit about these guys. I could just get away with syaing the Chinese Sonic Youth, Thurstn Moores a big fan and they played EiTS ATP last year. One of my favourite albums this week definitly. Heres some words form their myspace:

In this short time Car-sick Cars have earned their reputation at the pinnacle of Beijing’s live music scene, with their gigs riotous explosions of pent-up energy. There’s a certain fearlessness to Car-sick Cars music, one that is born of the confidence of the talented: they are not afraid to write perfect, instantaneously catchy songs, and they are just as unafraid of detonating them midstream amid a howling wall of guitar noise. Live, this tendency towards violated beauty knows no bounds: anyone who was at D-22 in early December will remember the eleven minutes it took for Xiao Wang (already a veteran of Glenn Branca’s guitar army at only 21) to move between the final primal teenage-kick howl of “COME ON!” on I Wanna Be Your Dog, to being sat dazed and bewildered on the floor, guitar unstrapped, shards of white noise spitting from his poor abused amp, wondering - just as the delirious audience was - what the fuck had just happened. Such ecstatic flights, such abandon, is rare these days, so get in on the ground floor and catch it while you can. As the graffiti in the D-22 toilets says, I Love My Mom, I Love My Country and I LOVE Carsick Cars. And you know graffiti never lies.

Yellow Swans - Deterioration

Due to popular demand and the fact that their last album I put was completey amazing he is the last release, but not the final one, from Yellow Swans. Enjoy.

Originally released as a limited edition cassette, available only via a handful of European live shows, Deterioration has quite rightly been reissued as a proper compact disc via the Modern Radio imprint. The Day-Glo psych-noise nebulae of opener ‘Broken Eraser/Time Stretch’ ushers in a familiar Yellow Swans aesthetic, channelling tremors of guitar noise into a cavalcade of crumbling distortion and high frequency bell tones. Next up ‘Reintegration’ offers a very different approach, beginning slowly and gently with undulating guitar chords, gradually ascending into a more ferocious, overdriven state of being. ‘Burnt Dub’ continues to ascend through these sort of combustive, punishing sonorities, only for a comparatively brief, untitled piece to offer a moment of pause, allowing a few minutes of quiet reflection before a final sixteen-minute drone outburst carves up ‘Dirty Heads’. Awesome.

Now go buy Trouble Books!

3 comments

I’ve been pretty useless really recently and I apologise to everyone whose commented and I haven’t replied to them. I shall do it after this post. To update you on Trouble Books I’ve had two great reviews one here, The Line Of Best Fit, and another here, 3 Bar Fire, thanks to Tom and James for the reviews. Also Trouble Books are on the first page at Coke Machine Glow! Yes in the corner on the bit about the new podcast, one of their tracks is featured on the podcast.

Aix Em Klemm - Aix Em Klemm

One of the dudes from Stars of The Lid, Adam Wiltzie, and o the dues from Labradford, Bobby Donne, make music as Aix Em Klemm. If you like music by either of those bands then you should really like this. Its goood.

Belong - October Language

Blew me away on first listen, here’s Boomkats thoughts

The collaborative venture of Turk Dietrich and Michael Jones, Belong inhabit a sonic territory that seems perpetually out of sight - giving the same effulgent warmth as standing with your back to a sunset, or glimpsing a blizzard through a frosted window. Understanding that all beauty has an inherent element of decay, Belong resemble a colourful photo left out in the sun to fade - combining an operatic scope akin to Kevin Shields, with an eroded sensibility that flirts with Baskinski and shares a certain predilection with Fennesz or Gas. Constructed with an attention to detail that borders on the compulsive, Belong open with ‘I Never Lose. Never Really.’; wherein a camera-obscura approach slowly reveals a static fuzz of sprawling soundscapes and awe-inspiring intensity that shares its scope with Sigur Ros, whilst resorting to none of the orchestral bombast on which they rely. The fact that Dietrich has collaborated with Telefon Tel Aviv (whose Joshua Eustis guests on the title-track) also becomes apparent throughout ‘October Language’, not so much due to an overt similarity in sound, but more through the wide-screen production and starburst intensity in which they both revel. With the likes of ‘I’m Too Sleepy… Shall We Swim?’, ‘Who Told You This Room Exists’ and ‘The Door Opens The Other Way’ all possessing a corroded elegance that can be interpreted as either majestic or malignant, ‘October Language’ is a masterclass in dignified disintegration. Phenomenal.

Yellow Swans - At All Ends

AMGed

On their second album for Load, Gabriel Mindel Saloman and Pete Swanson again make a lot of righteously gloomy noise soundscapes for the masses — they wouldn’t have it any other way, of course. With Daniel Voss again providing engineering help while Marcelo Spina oversees production, Yellow Swans begin the album with the title track, a slow swell of a throbbing dark rhythm the bedrock for a series of overlaid drones and feedback wails, Swanson’s guitar turning slowly into a triumphant crescendo somewhere between a minimal sitar piece and pure overload. It’s perhaps the most straightforwardly rock thing the band’s recorded in some time but even then it’s not quite normal, and a good thing too. From there much of the album seems to take on a desert theme, at least due to three successive song titles — “Stretch the Sands,” “Our Oases,” “Mass Mirage.” Alliteration and assonance aside, all three find Swanson fully embraces space-rock dramatics filtered through the vast soundscapes created by the likes of Flying Saucer Attack, sheets of feedback howl and moan turning into something utterly transcendent, with “Our Oases” the most spectacular example even at being the shortest in length. “Endlessly Making an End of Things” concludes the album in a more astrigent fashion initially, though like the opener more and more sound builds on it while mournful wordless vocals snake through the mix in counterpoint as distant siren songs.

Husker Du - Zen Arcade

Some band called Husker Du and a slightly influential album, I’m surprised I haven’t posted it before.

AMGed

In many ways, it’s impossible to overestimate the impact of Hüsker Dü’s Zen Arcade on the American rock underground in the ’80s. It’s the record that exploded the limits of hardcore and what it could achieve. Hüsker Dü broke all of the rules with Zen Arcade. First and foremost, it’s a sprawling concept album, even if the concept isn’t immediately clear or comprehensible. More important are the individual songs. Both Bob Mould and Grant Hart abandoned the strict “fast, hard, loud” rules of hardcore punk with their songs for Zen Arcade. Without turning down the volume, Hüsker Dü try everything — pop songs, tape experiments, acoustic songs, pianos, noisy psychedelia. Hüsker Dü willed themselves to make such a sprawling record — as the liner notes state, the album was recorded and mixed within 85 hours and consists almost entirely of first takes. That reckless, ridiculously single-minded approach does result in some weak moments — the sound is thin and the instrumentals drag on a bit too long — but it’s also the key to the success of Zen Arcade. Hüsker Dü sound phenomenally strong and possessed, as if they could do anything. The sonic experimentation is bolstered by Mould and Hart’s increased sense of songcraft. Neither writer is afraid to let his pop influences show on Zen Arcade, which gives the songs — from the unrestrained rage of “Something I Learned Today” and the bitter, acoustic “Never Talking to You Again” to the eerie “Pink Turns to Blue” and anthemic “Turn On the News” — their weight. It’s music that is informed by hardcore punk and indie rock ideals without being limited by them.

1 comment

A saturday morning post this is. As the end of the year is in sight now I thought I’d go all retrospective and lay down a brief review of the albums which feature in my “famed” top 34 albums of 2007. Don’t expect journalistic expertise I just thought I’d let everyone know how my taste has altered dramatically or how it hasn’t.

34. Eluvium - Copia

Sadly an album which I know is great but I just never get round to listening to much, I’ve put it on a couple of times this year but it never intices me to have repeated listens.

33. The Field - From Here We Go Sublime

I have gone minimal in recent times but just not in this direction, theres just some certain tones in this album I find too cloy.

32. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver

No, just no, no listens since 2007.

31. Deepchord presents Echospace - The Coldest Season

A great album, worthy of a much higher placing. A very late night record for me, sublime in effect.

30. The Autumn Defense - The Autumn Defense

Boring middle of the road wilco side project americana

29. Castanets - In The Vines

A great album of dark americana, Ramosa has perfected his style and the electronics fit in perfectly.

28. Mum - Go Go Smear The Poison Ivy

hmmmmm, Mum lost it when they lost the sisters, still not by any means bad.

27. Of Montreal - Of Hissing Fauna…

They really annoy me now, I can’t stand it at all.

26. Menomena - Friend and Foe

in reflection just a bit dull.

25. The Twilight Sad - 14 Autumns and 15 Winters

I still like this a lot, and the new EP showed a interesting and subtle change in direction.

24. Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala

A bit twee for my liking

23. Tunng - Good Arrows

I love Tunng just I think this album lets down the other two.

22. Grinderman - Grinderman

I’ve got it on vinyl and it gets the odd play for the lovely vocal spit Nick Cave fires off.

21. Efterklang - Parades

still a great majestic album, i’m a big fan

20. Dirty Projectors - Rise Above

I haven’treally listened to it since, bit meh really.

19. Deerhunter - Cryptograms

I’ve had a huge Bradford Cox surge this year what with the countless Atlas Sound releases and Deerhunter stuff, one of my most listened to bands in recent times now.

18. Radiohead - In Rainbows

Yawn.

17. Chris Bathgate - A Cork Tale Wake

Yawn, Bon Iver is better.

16. Stars Of The Lid - And Their Refinment of Decline

A huge abum for me, a complete turning point, this has destructively altered my outlook on music. Could well be my favourite album of 2007.

15.Battles - Mirrored

If I go back to Battles now, which is rarely, I head straight for the EP’s

14. Bill Callahan - Woke on A Whaleheart

Smog is my most played artist on Last.fm, the guy can do no wrong.

13. The National - Boxer

They’ve had a huge year and it was deserved, something about them which touchs people.

12. Marnie Stern - In Advance of Broken Arm

Sadly lost along the wayside, I do it sometimes and forget about albums, I’ll pick this one up again soon.

11. The Sea and Cake - Everybody

I can’t think of a warmer sunnier sounding album but it just leaves me a bit empty on occassions.

10. Avey Tare & Kira Brekkan - Pullhair Rubeye

Still an amazing record, the right way,.

9. Fridge - The Sun

I haven’t listened to it that much even though i have it gatefold transparent red vinyl but it’s still up there.

8. Les Savy Fav - Lets Stay Friends

Still fun but whether it deserves to be up here

7. Low - Drums and Guns

Still great.

6. No AGe - Wierdo Rippers

Yup still great, much better than Nouns

5.  Mice Parade - Mice Parade

Another case of being left by the wayside, still a great album

4. Burial - Untrue

Classy.

3. Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam

Great live band, great album, looking forward to their next.

2. Robert Wyatt - Comicopera

Worthy of 2nd, I’ve actually listened more to Rock Bottom recently.

1. Panda Bear - Person Pitch

I’ve over listened to it, still an great album, top ten 2007 definitly.

7 comments

It’s been too long.

I was working all last week and couldn’t sit down and find time to update but here I am now. I’d like to point you in the direction of www.myspace.com/miemusicuk ,  which is the temporary residence of MIE until I get my website up and running, please feel free to add and say hi. End Of The Road Festival was simply amazing, The Local espically being fantastic, the last four bands on Sunday were just stormin. Constantines, a.P.p.a.T, Denis Jones and Wildbirds and Peace were some spectatular way to end a great weekend.

Rafael Toral - Wave Field

After reading the 33 1/3 on Loveless I think everyne goes out and buys this album. The author of the book extolls the virtues of this album as the natural successor of MBV’s Loveless. It ain’t half bad.

Boomkat:

Reissue of the 2nd album by this Portuguese guitarist/composer, originally issued by the small Moneyland label 1995. Dedicated to Alvin Lucier, with instructions to be played “very soft or very loud,” this features Toral’s trademark sound (lush, interstellar ambiance - not immediately identifiable as guitar-derived) at its finest. Purely radiant and suitable for the ultimate immersion, this is an artifact of sonic genius. ‘Wave Field 5′ and ‘6′ were recorded to hard disk from the vibrating body of a Fender Jaguar wired through a Morley wah, Korg guitar synth (no synth, filters only), Dod graphic EQ, Alesis reverb and compressor, Ashly Parametric EQ and Sansamp. Amazingly warm, evocative drone music - highly recommended.

Constantines - Shine A Light

One of my major discoveries at End Of The Road, they were absolutely blinding live.

AMG

Though this is their second album, so few people heard the Constantines’ self-titled debut that, in effect, Shine a Light is the introduction to the band’s sound for many. Fortunately, it’s a good one, delivering on the rough-hewn ambitions of the Constantines with a fiery intensity that few of their contemporaries can match. On harshly brooding songs like the title track and “Nighttime/Anytime (It’s Alright)” — on which singer Bryan Webb sounds like it’s anything but — and on quiet mood pieces like “Goodbye Baby & Amen,” the Constantines sound focused, meaningful, and, above all, smart. Indeed, this intensity and intelligence can be overwhelming at times; the sharply restrained focus of Shine a Light’s first few songs borders on the dour, and strangely enough, many of the album’s more accessible songs come toward its end. Still, there’s no denying the stark magnetism of “Insectivora” or the anthemic charge of “Young Lions,” which reaffirms that the Springsteen comparisons surrounding the band are well-founded. Despite its occasionally intimidating sound, the group is capable of crafting fairly poppy songs without sacrificing any of its smarts or edge, as displayed by the excellent “On to You” and “Poison,” which sound a little bit like a tougher, more soulful Spoon. Similarly, even the Constantines’ most aggressive songs have intricate touches, such as the keyboard flourishes on “Scoundrel Babes.” A tautly crafted, thoughtful album, Shine a Light more than follows through on the promise of their debut, and proves that the Constantines have the ability to be both down to earth and dramatic within their grasp.

Grouper - Dragging a Dead Dear Up a Hill

A stunning album

boomkat

With the label’s hiatus well and truly over, Type Records follows up Peter Broderick’s amazing ‘Float’ with a brand new album of midnight Shoegazer classics from Portland’s Liz Harris - and it really is one of the most special albums you’ll hear this year. While the filtered, tape-fuelled obfuscation of her signature sound remains, Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill is far more resonant up front about the songs at the heart of her work. Opening track ‘Disengaged’ offers a segue from the cloudy, amorphous Grouper output of old and this current strain of more easily deciphered writing: it’s a mass of mesmerising magnetic hiss and soft noise, with a voice cloaked in lo-fi haze somewhere at the back. Soon after, Harris’ guitar and voice emerge, reverberant and phantom-like, and yet comprehensible. If previously you’ve struggled to make out Grouper lyrics, and wondered what’s going on beneath that veneer of musty, degraded audio, ‘Heavy Water/I’d Rather Be Sleeping’ offers you a way in. Those dense recording techniques have become a unique production signature and it’s virtually impossible to separate Liz Harris’ creative identity from that uniquely ghostly sound of hers, but now it feels like a conduit to her songs rather than a barrier. There are echoes of her earliest work on the album too, as on the wordless, partially acappella atmospherics of ‘Wind & Snow’, but the overall impression left by this album is one of inspired creative renewal, and the unveiling of a songwriting talent that’s previously been content to dwell in shadows and deflect attention with smoke and mirrors. A real milestone release for Harris, and a definite high point for the rejuvenated Type label, we’ve been unable to stop listening to this incredible album for weeks - it’s an absolute must. Essential purchase.

volcano! - Paperwork

boomkat

Chicago avant-rockers Volcano! have previously billed ‘Paperwork’ as being themed around “disillusionment in the workplace”, but far from the office-bound drudgery that suggests, the album is filled with angular guitar-spun extravagance and Animal Collective-style uncategorizable whimsies. Erstwhile single ‘Africa Just Wants To Have Fun’ takes a math-rock slant on 2008’s Afropop fad, but there’s so much more to this record than mere trend-following, and however hard to follow some of the more frenzied prog-influenced shifts in style and tempo, at every turn there’s something bizarre and lurid going on to hold your interest. Unlike fellow professional kooks like the aforementioned Animal Collective and Yeasayer, Volcano! do sound a bit like they’re making it up as they go along - particularly in terms of the vocal melodies, which pour out of these songs a little too indiscriminately for their own good, and so in an odd sort of way, the band make more sense when they’re in all-out free-jazz mode, as encapsulated by the blistering, noisy confusion that erupts midway through ‘Kitchen Dance’. A real mess in places, but Paperwork’s well worth adding to your in-tray.

8 comments

No, not the end of the road of the website, no matter how sparsly i’m updating at the moment, moving flats always gives difficulties to updating, but actually tomorrow I’m off to the End of The Road Festival down in North Dorset. Hopefully the rain will stay away and I’ll be able to catch some great acts like, Micah P. Hinson Low, El Guincho, Akron/Family, Dirty Three, Bon Iver, David Thomas Brouhgton, Bowerbirds, Sun Kil Moon, Jason Molina, Shearwater, and Jeffery Lewis to name but a few.

Growing - All The Way

boomkat:

Growing, the duo of Joe Denardo and Kevin Doria, have been plying their trade across such notable labels as Kranky, Rock Action, Troubleman Unlimited and of course The Social Registry, who host this latest exercise in strobing, rhythmic ambience. From the opening quickfire throb of ‘Green Flag’ you’ll instantly recognise that familiar Growing template, but the formula is undoubtedly at its most refined on All The Way, sounding like a more layered and complete record than just about anything the group’s done previously. ‘Green Flag’s tremolo flickers merge with unnerving bullfrog-like croaks and wheezy oscillations to fashion a peculiar melodic quality, and further to that, deeper into the album and beyond the expected shimmering soundscape effulgence, ‘Rave Pie Only’ sounds like a techno record infected by some strange mutant virus, having an effect not unlike Black Dice at their most effective and alien. Elsewhere ‘Lens Around’ toys with Kompakt’s Pop Ambient sound to great effect, before ‘Reconstruction’ caps off the album with ’60s organ-fuelled psych and monstrous, insectile sound effects. Ace.

Landing - Seasons

AMG

Landing’s string of captivating psychedelic-into-shoegaze releases continues apace with the lovely Seasons. Having now created more of a trademark sound for themselves — balancing post-Slowdive blissout with a deft, light touch that results in any number of rich but never overpowering songs — the quartet really comes into their own on the eight-song release (not counting the occasional brief instrumental break). Aaron Snow’s singing shows welcome variety here; while always understated, more than once he’s mixed upfront instead of being constantly in the haze, which can provide a gentle tension on songs like “Encircled.” Adrienne Snow remains no slouch either; her lead turn on “First Snow” — a wonderfully evocative title alone that the music easily matches — is a slow-motion siren call sliding sweetly among the digital delay effects. The opening “Fall Song” readily demonstrates how well it can come together; not two and a half minutes long, it’s a masterpiece in miniature, the lead guitar figure backed by a rich full-band arrangement that allows plenty of space amid the blur. The short codas at points make for fine additions to the flow of the record; the swirling, spaced keyboards on “(Through Fallen Leaves)” and the gentle space out of “(Into the Woods)” need no further justification for their presence than that. The combination of “Ruins in the Morning” and “(So Cold)” is arguably the album highlight, the lush guitar overdubs and soothing Aaron Snow vocal giving way to, amusingly enough, as perfect a Low tribute song ever recorded. Certainly one can easily imagine Alan Sparhawk on vocals and Mimi Parker on the steady drumming. Ending with the almost anthemic (in its own way) “Blue Sky Away,” just upbeat and straightforward enough without sounding like a radical difference from the rest of the album and fading out on a final keyboard flourish, Seasons is one fine listen.

Nicola Ratti - From The Desert Came Saltwater

Boomkated

Bringing a fresh sound to the Anticipate label, Italian multi-instrumentalist and sound sculptor Nicola Ratti sets out to transform the instantly familiar timbres of guitar and piano into something slightly more concealed and - as the label would have it - subtractive, meaning that certain elements of this language are removed, leaving a more vague, impressionistic approach to instrumentation. Add to this the understatement of Ratti’s electroacoustic treatments and the end result is an absorbing and beautiful listen. This music is atmospheric in the most ambiguous sense, even on the comparatively upbeat, strummed processing of ‘Coconut’ there’s a sense of emptiness lurking at the heart of it all, and the major key setting is more by implication than practice. Ratti is at his best when he embraces this emotional vacuity, as on ‘Dew & Curfew’, largely characterised by ghostly guitar phrases, often bookended by slow string bends into nothingness. The loudest thing on the whole piece is probably the fret buzz that intermittently catches your ear. When Ratti sings, his music is no less distant, still very much divorced from the conventions of songwriting. His whispered intonation sounds almost apologetic on the closing ‘Beneath’, which characterises itself with an combination of vacancy and intensity, resulting in a resonant phantasmagorical impact. Another lovely release from this exceptional label.

Rhys Chatham - A Crimson Grail

This is a recording of a piece commissioned by the city of Paris in October 2005, which saw the experimental composer directing a 400-strong guitar orchestra who performed on the steps outside Sacre-Coeur in Montmartre. The opening movement of the piece is overwhelmingly symphonic. All the conventional timbral properties of the electric guitar are dissolved into a vast, swirling gestalt body of sound that shifts around in a surprisingly organised, harmonious fashion. It’s immensely beautiful stuff, and must have been quite something to have witnessed in-person, on the streets of Paris. The second part of the piece is markedly more sparse, with some individual isolated drone notes discernible from within the sonic mist. Keeping time are bassist, Ernie Brooks and drummer Jonathan Kane, who are inevitably overcome by the sheer oceanic sound of all 400 guitarists in full flow. For the third and final part of the piece, the dynamics of the performance are gradually heightened to a furious assault on all 2400 strings, bringing the event to an impossibly dense, clamorous finale. An absolutely fascinating document of a remarkable event.

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Hello.

A busy week has gone past, I’ve been sorting out all the promos and press-releases and sending them. I’ve already got one review, you should head on over to the website The Line Of Best Fit to read a great review of the Trouble Book’s album. Here. I also managed to catch Fuck Buttons at Rough Trade East on Monday, a free show, and theyw ere great as usual. I think I heard three or four new tracks, and definitly their last one was the best, kind of beaty. I also managed to get Alva Noto’s Unitext on vinyl and finally I found John Maus’s Songs on opaque pink vinyl, what a find!

anyway today i have two monolithic works but both are stupendous and then a great little album from the Wrens.

Patti Smith and Kevin Shields - The Coral Sea Part 1

The Coral Sea Part 2

Released at a time when Kevin Shields is conspicuously active, this album finds the My Bloody Valentine architect playing in support of Patti Smith in a live interpretation of her epic poem The Coral Sea (originally published in print circa 1996), Smith’s tribute to controversial photographer (and her former lover) Robert Mapplethorpe. The album is presented as two different recordings: one from 2005, the other from 2006, though both recorded at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. In both cases, the poem is read over the course of an hour while Shields single-handedly concocts a guitar-based sonic backdrop, responding to Smith’s agile, bewitching verse. Significantly the two performances mark two differing approaches on Shields’ part. The first is characterised by billowing sheets of guitar, floating and humming, sympathetically following the cues set out by the text, while the second proves to be a more confrontational, combustive interpretation - something matched by Smith’s own performance, which sounds manic and evangelical by the time we arrive at the poem’s fiery climax, during which Shields fashions a great monolith of guitar sustain, shimmering with a vast, sprawled out intensity, which seems to grow and gather its resolve as the piece reaches its conclusion. Of the two renditions, the earlier 2005 recording proves to be thee most captivating and nuanced, and certainly the words feel more central to the listening experience. The 2006 disc is almost a duel between the two artists, growing ever more tempestuous over time, perhaps stifling some of the elegance and all round gravitas of Smith’s writing. The subtlety of that initial meeting will likely be regarded as the more definitive (if such a thing can be said) of the two versions, best representing the poem as the modern day heroic-epic it was surely designed to be. Spoken word albums are seldom an easy ride, but there’s real poetry in The Coral Sea, and it’s probably one of the very best records Patti Smith has made in some years.

Jim O’Rourke - Long Night Part 1

Long Night Part 2

Boomkated again:

While we eagerly await new material from Jim O’Rourke, we’ll be more than happy to revel in the prodigious brilliance of his archived works. This two-and-a-half hour drone piece, split across two discs, is a fairly intimidating prospect, not to mention a substantial investment in time. Recorded in 1990, this was composed around the time of Jim O’Rourke’s graduation from music school, and like so many of the recordings to be recently exhumed from the long-gone days of his academic career, it might at first seem glacial, inert, or even sterile to anyone braced for another Insignificance, or something in the vein of Loose Fur, but those already versed in the language of O’Rourke’s primal, minimalist electronic works will recognise this one as being among the finest of all those reissued to date. The electronic tones morph and modulate incredibly slowly at first, and you can barely identify any sense of motion or progression, only occasional strobing effects caused by the gradual shift of interwoven oscillations and their resultant overtones. Once you’re past the quarter-hour mark, the initially quite shrill, unforgiving sonorities lapse into a more approachable, deep-set stillness, and after an extended period of concentration and perseverance, O’Rourke starts to make his presence felt, tweaking frequencies at an ever-increasing rate of change as the first disc draws to an engrossing, surprisingly active close. The second disc continues in this mode, acquiring an organ-like texture as the piece opens up, meaning there’s an added vibrancy to the latter half of Long Night, which only moves back into a muffled, disciplined state of being for its final twenty minutes, the various component signals of the drone detuning and bristling with activity. Fans of its genre will immediately recognise Long Night as a real triumph, and a major work within the context of O’Rourke’s unearthed academic recordings, coming close to the sublime synthesis experiments of Eliane Radigue in its measured stillness. Extremely limited copies available - an absolutely Essential purchase.

The Wrens - Secaucus

Must be the shortest Pitchfork review I’ve seen:

Secaucus is one of those albums that’s bursting at the seams, loaded with so much goodness that you can’t fully appreciate it until you’ve listened to it several times. Once you’re past that hurdle, it’s tastier than chocolate-covered potato chips and nowhere near as fattening.

Things kick off with the skittering “Yellow Number Three”, which sounds like Wire coming off of its spool in a big fucking hurry. The empty spool then drops to the floor and gets an XTC push across the floor, giving birth to “Built in Girls”. The spool tumbles outside and is run over by a drunken, testosterone-fueled Superchunk with “Surprise, Honeycomb” plates. And so on.

One song begets another with a completely different influences. I also hear echoes of The Beach Boys, Robyn Hitchcock, Thinking Fellers, and anybody who has ever yearned to pick up a glockenspeil. This album gets thicker and juicer every time you toss it in the CD player. Warp speed, baby.

4 comments