REYNOLS:
The Bolomo Mogal F Hits CD (AUDIOBOT) The
reports of Reynols' recent 'break-up' have been a bit exaggerated.
Maybe it's an American thing, or maybe just a bored-people-worldwide-with-internet-access
thing, but people just go into a tizzy when bands break up,
expressing their condolences, spreading gossip, lamenting
about how they're gonna miss 'em, etc. I've never understood
it myself, because last time I checked there were something
like 8,000 more records, with release dates varying from sometime
in the late 19th Century to approximately five seconds ago,
that I've 'totally' 'gotta' hear, so when a band breaks up
I think they're doing me a favor! Lightening the load a little
bit!
Anyway, I think the reaction
kinda freaked Reynols out because they quickly sent out a
follow-up announcement saying that it wasn't a 'break-up,'
it was a 'holiday,' and that they were still going to keep
putting out the occasional releases. I mean, here's a band
that's already put out, what, 200 or so releases? What, are
people worried they're not gonna get 7 (or 70) more?
See, here's a brand new full-length
CD (not CDR) by 'em already. Now, as for the music, we all
know that Reynols are a pretty odd one. I've listened to at
least 10 different releases by them extensively, and I'm just
now starting to realize that they usually do more or less
the same thing. I mean, sure, there's the conceptual stuff,
like the dematerialized chickens and the melting ice and the
singing cacti and all that stuff, and the fact that they are
more famous than a frozen glass of wool, but when it comes
to actually putting sound on tape I'd say 90% of the time
they're a psych-rock trio, playing a certain dirge of their
own creation over and over again; Tomasín plays the
perfect slow-plod drums and moans out lost vocals, while the
tinny alien processed guitars of Courtis and Conlazo grind
out endlessly unhurried post-punk psych moves. Sometimes there's
no drums, and the effects on the guitars vary from track to
track, but . . . . but . . . . see, as I listen to this I'm
starting to wonder, all over again, if maybe it's NOT usually
the same . . . . . Indeed, this Belgium-released CD features
a 'grab bag' of Reynols approaches, and as such is almost
as good of an introduction to the band as the Reynols/No
Reynols 2CD (2001) on Freedom From was. It's got stuff
from the Argentinian daytime TV show, watched by millions
of viewers, that they infamously served as the house band
for (1998), and it's got outtakes from their Pauline Oliveros
collab (1999) and from their Blank Tapes concept/release
(2001). And, it's got plenty of the good ol' psych-trio moan
& drone that I was talking about. So really, if you're
curious, and you can't find any of their Freedom From releases,
why not start here?
REYNOLS:
Clearly one of the best band photos ever. (There's a dog inside
the floor tom.)
SABBAT:
Satanasword CD (IRON PEGASUS) "Sabbatical
Thanks and Hellow to: Iron Pegasus Records/Tales of the Macabre,
Janne Sarna & Isten mag, Opyrosathanas, Wim Baelus, Volker
(Merciless), Sulphur & URN, Kolgrim & UNPURE, Azter
& DENIAL OF GOD & Horror Rec., HMSS Rec, Demonos &
BARATHRUM, COUNTESS, MAYHEMIC TRUTH, DESASTER, Black Star/Warlord
Rec., Luca (Iron Tyrant), FOREVER WINTER, GEHENNAH, Shaxul
(HIRILORN/Nihil Magis Zine) & EAL Prod., Ylva & Static
Age, Iron Pages, Ivars & Sadistic Sodomizer, Pavel Tusl
(View Beyond Rec.), Hellion Rec., Kabbala Mag, Legion Mag,
Lou (Holycaust Rec.), Mega Therion Rec., NIFELHEIM,"
and many, many more. And I am not smirking. In fact, I am
LOVING IT. Sabbat are another in a long line of Japanese tributes
to something Western, and in this case the Westerners being
feted are Cronos, Mantas, and Abaddon themselves, that's right
. . . Venom. The bassist/vocalist Gezol even 'dresses' like
Venom bassist/vocalist Cronos, and the drummer's name is Zorugelion
(!), which is almost a better name than Abaddon. The production
is loose and raw, and they can play better than Venom (which
isn't saying much, but these guys are good). They also add
plenty of their own touches, such as a freaky falsetto 'madwoman'
voice used on a couple tracks, and they can go epic if they
want, as the awesome 13-minute "Nekromantik" proves.
Thing is, I'm a late-comer -- this is like their tenth full-length
album, and they've been a band since 1983! Sounds good to
me though.
SABBAT:
That's my man Gezol on the left, and on the right is
their original guitarist, from 1983-1985! His name is
Ozny.
SAPAT/THE
SB: Seed and Surgery CDR (FREE103POINT9) Well,
the Free103Point9 Audio Dispatch series is up to #15 now,
which is this split release, one track apiece by Sapat and
The SB, recorded live at the Free103 gallery on September
13, 2003. Both bands have been mentioned in Blastitude before,
favorably, with good reason. (In fact, I just realized that
these sets were reviewed
in Daniel "Dis Master" DiMaggio's New York Show
Report, last issue.) Sapat are essentially based in Louisville,
Kentucky, but I get the feeling they're one of those "Well
we've got our core of 5 but tonight we're gonna be augmented
by those two guys from the other touring band, and the doorman,
and did you ask that dude outside with the broken shopping
cart yet?" type bands. On this recording they start with
a basic post-NNCK drift jam template and waste no time taking
it to the Magic City Interzone, via firey saxes and trumpets.
Free jazz, except that it's not free jazz. A little bit hotter
than your average Jackie-O jam. (This just in -- Roy
Campbell, Jr. was sitting in with the band on trumpet
on this night.) As for The SB portion, it's more of their
'cold drift' style that you know, this time featuring black
hole suction sounds that are kept within the earth's gravity
by the efforts of one nimble mellow bass guitar. Around the
10-minute mark I'm almost sure the black hole is going to
swallow this unassuming anchor completely, but at the end
the bass is still there, nimbling along. Nice release. Good
cover, too.
SCREAMIN'
MEE-MEES: Live From The Basement 1975-1997 CD (GULCHER) Wow,
last issue I was talking about a 1997 single by Bruce Cole
as a "weird lost record." Well, it's been found,
and reissued on this CD, which collects the "complete
singles & EPs" that this band has put out in three
different decades. If you don't know what the Mee-Mees were/are
about, well, you could call it 'punk,' or maybe it's just
'garage rock,' or it might even be 'proto hardcore' -- but
the only thing I can call it for sure is 'a couple dudes from
a hick St. Louis suburb totally fucking around in their basement.'
This music is 100 percent scene free, and I know that you
know how hard it is to find that anymore. The couple of dudes
in question are the legendary Bruce Cole and John Ashline
using a shitty guitar and drumset to play rock 'n' roll mixed
with weird electronics, "green monster guitar,"
guest vocals by 10-year-olds and harelips, totally absurd
humor, all played and recorded with totally crappy equipment.
One of the most definitive songs on here, recorded in 1978
(but not released until 1995) goes "I'm too young to
shave! / I ain't no Indian brave . . . / I'm too young to
shave! / Don't call me a knave . . ." What more do you
need to know? Well, here's a couple more things: right in
the middle of the disc are a couple early 90s hard-ass throwdowns
("Family Tree" and "Life Never Stops!")
that sound like Behemoth and Laughner fronting Rocket From
The Tombs if they had read less poetry chapbooks, more Hustler
and Mad. There's also songs about drinking hot soda pop, covers
of Silver Apples and The Twinkeyz, titles like "Goin'
For Grease," "Pigs," and "Pull My Finger,"
and, once again, that amazing left-turn atmo-weird 1997 Bruce
Cole EP. 20 tracks in all. All hail the Mee-Mees, perhaps
the first ever in what has been an impressive lineage of St.
Louis post-punk goofballs: Drunks With Guns, Strangulated
Beatoffs, the Dazzling Killmen/Grand Ulena, Panicsville, John
Wiese/Arrmy of Robots, the guys who started the Skin Graft
label, Max Prairie Pusher, and then right back to the Screamin'
Mee-Mees, who are still fuckin' around in the basement . .
.
SCREAMIN' MEE-MEES: Debut 7-inch single, released
1978. "The sleeve looked ridiculous -- crude even by
1977 DIY standards," writes Eddie Flowers in the Live
From The Basement liner notes.
TERROR
AT THE OPERA: Snake Bird Blue CD (NO
SIDES) Have
you noticed how Detroit currently has this 'shimmery 50s/60s
pop' scene? Bands like Saturday Looks Good To Me, the Alphabet,
Slumber Party . . . okay, I've never heard Slumber Party,
but I wouldn't doubt they have a little of that classic girl
group sound. This album certainly has it, and it features
Gretchen Gonzales, who is a member of Slumber Party, as part
of a duo with another woman by the name of Faith Gazic. They're
basically a guitar and accordion duo, with I guess some keyboards
and drum machines and a whole lot of shimmer, and both sing
in voices semi-wasted and a little cynical but also undeniably
sweet. It's a good record.
VARIOUS
ARTISTS: Old Tyme Lemonade CD (HOSPITAL
PRODUCTIONS) "Eclectic
compilation of independent music from Providence including
noise, grind, hardcore, electronic, and experimental."
If you're at all into, say, the Load Records artist stable,
you will probably really like this comp, as all the roots,
branches, splinters, fallen leaves, and infested mud from
the legendary Olneyville ecosystem are represented very well.
(Um, I think I just compared the Providence/Olneyville scene
to a tree.) Dig the way the comp goes from Beefheartian panic
rock (via Landed) to 20 seconds of straight harsh noise (via
Noise Nomads) to instro panic metal (via Necronomitron --
these guys are good!) to Mindflayer music (via Mindflayer
-- almost free-jazzish drumming by Chippendale while Brinkman
makes space monster sounds) to toy synth damage (Knights of
Timbre) to black techno metal (Em Dath Rir) to deep horror
noise (Prurient) to old-school Olneyville screamo (Dropdead
-- from 1996, live in Finland??) and on and on, making a nice
little mosaic of noise, foolishness, recklessness, levity,
gravity, experimentation, and blastedness. Over at his Agony
Shorthand joint Jay Hinman already recommended this CD
to the people who read Blastitude -- and Blastitude seconds
the recommendation! I mean, don't forget, we also like other
stuff, like 70s rock, hippie psych, country music, country
rock, folk, blues, jazz, hip hop, hardcore, and much, much
more, and we hope our readers do too, but YES, when it comes
to fucked-up noise and noise-rock, this is a truly excellent
comp! Good design, too, utilizing the see-through jewel case
and subtly weird color scheme.
VARIOUS
ARTISTS: Pushing Product CD (INSOUND/VICE/OUTWARD SOUND) Remember
that issue of Vice Magazine I reviewed in #16? Well, I forgot
to mention this free CD that came with it, a collaborative
effort between Vice, Insound, and Outward Sound. If that doesn't
have you running for the hills already, just check out that
'ironic' title so you can be sure to vomit all the way. Anyway,
feeling journalistic, I decided to listen to the damn thing,
and it's even worse than I thought it would be. The Stills
. . . Lucero . . . Atmosphere . . . Radio 4 . . . Laguardia
. . . I don't even remember how any of these bands specifically
sounded, except that Atmosphere was third-rate Eminem and
Radio 4 are yet another 'dance punk' band that actually named
their song "Dance to the Underground" -- are they
serious? I don't know, maybe I'm out of touch, or way too
prejudiced, but everything on here sounds like it could be
from the Dawson's Creek soundtrack. Even the one band on here
I thought I would like, Young People, have a disappointing
song. (Although I'm guessing that the MBA's behind this comp
just pulled the most 'upbeat' Young People tune they could
find so that Old Navy employees playing this over their store
speakers wouldn't turn it off.) Surprisingly, there is one
band on here I didn't think I would like, My Morning Jacket,
that has kinda blown me away with a lost 'verbed-out ballad
called "Run Thru." I could almost swear it sounds
more like something that would come from Tony Rettman's turntable
during one of his 'nothing recorded after 1974' weekends than
from a free hipster 2004 jeans-store comp like this one. So,
um . . . . do I dare check out their album?
VARIOUS
ARTISTS: Space Is No Place Volume 2 (PSYCH-O-PATH) I
usually don't get into comps that much, even when they're
good, but these two Space Is No Place comps on Psych-O-Path
are two of my favorite 'new releases' of the past year. And
I didn't even think I liked any New York City bands! Okay,
I knew I liked five or six of 'em, but with these two comps
there's over twenty bands and I swear there's not really a
single 'duff track'. And, volume 2 is better than 1, even
though it has even fewer bands on it that I've ever heard
of. I mean, Tuba Mirum? Spaceman? Beard-o??? Chaw Mank? Cocaine????
Squaw????? Have YOU ever heard of these bands? I didn't think
so. It turns out three of 'em are (possibly one-off) projects
revolving around Sightings and/or Mouthus, e.g. Beard-o is
Axolotl + Mouthus, Chaw Mank is Sightings + Mouthus, while
Cocaine is Excepter + Sightings. (Axolotl and Sightings and
Mouthus were on Volume 1 but have no tracks on Volume 2.)
All three of these tracks are great, especially the one by
Cocaine. Squaw, aka John Lee (gtr) and Henry Till (perc, el),
are also impressive, with the best two-man rock-band wall-of-noise
I've heard since the Mouthus track on Volume 1. Other 'most
memorables' are some band called Verbalala which kind of sounds
like Schooly D except the rapping is by a big city white girl
who might be a grad student. Jah Division are good -- apparently
their deal is doing "dub versions of Joy Division songs"
but when I heard it from the other room I just thought it
was good new punk basement dub. Another thing about this comp
is that it starts out really low-key (Aero & Anderegg
with mellow new-age krautrock and then Tuba Mirum, which is
actually sparse and academic-in-a-good-way solo tuba), and
then steadily gets noisier and noisier, which means that attention
is paid to an overall narrative arc, which is something all
albums, including compilations, should try to do.
JULIAN
WILLIAMS: Leaf Rain 1995-2000 CDR (THE
RHIZOME LABEL) I
had to hear this album when Eddie Flowers of Slippytown
described it by saying, "This buries the kind of fuck-you
posturing that too many American puds have recently (re-)
embraced." What he was talking about was American underground
rock and noise scenes. Now, of course, fuck-you posturing
is part of underground rock and noise music -- always has
and always will be -- and that's what gives it its particular
edge, and makes it "crucial," as the Bad Brains
would've said, or "hot, blue, and righteous," as
ZZ Top would've said. The problem isn't the "fuck you"
at all, and it's not even the "posturing." The problem
is with the "too many" and the "embracing"
part. Ya'll are squeezing too tight! Relax a little. Be yourself.
And Crawlin' Eddie's right about
Leaf Rain 1995-2000. Julian Williams isn't some imaginary
message board's idea of what a noise-rocker should be -- he
just's being himself. Take the album title -- sounds like
a laptop folk album or something, right? Ah, but it's actually
fuck-you electronic drone/improv/noise music that moves in
many different directions, and moves well. Williams is an
Australian who was in that band you might've heard of a few
years ago called the Hi God People. I heard one of their discs
for about 5 minutes once back in the 20th century, but that
didn't prepare me for this. Hell, a lot of this sounds like
(Williams's countrymen) Volvox! (Which means, roughly, the
sound of a bunch of loudly mic'ed industrial rubber bands
being played by a small group of sea lions, one of whom happens
to be moaning lead vocals. Played at 16RPM.) Meanwhile, the
first track is death-disco that might even be almost as good
as the Excepter LP!
There's a lot more here --
and in fact it might be a little too long -- but the good
news is that Williams has given thought to how to present
the length, splitting it up into four theoretical 'sides',
so you can imagine it like a double LP, and I think the music
herein would not sully even that holiest of formats. For now,
the CDR is available from The
Rhizome Label of Australia.
Books:
FORTRESS
OF SOLITUDE by Jonathan Lethem(DOUBLEDAY) First
of all, I can't even really evaluate this novel from any sort
of objective critical distance, because it's about a kid growing
up in the seventies who loves comic books, and I also was
a kid growing up in the seventies who loved comic books. In
fact, this book refers to specific issues that I owned, such
as Omega the Unknown #1, Logan's Run #2, and more. There's
also more knowing music references than you'll even find in
a George Pelecanos novel, with a sharp appreciation for 70s
soul and funk on vinyl, the beginnings of hip hop, and even
Genesis's "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" getting
some play.
But really, on top of
all that pop culture stuff, there's a pretty serious epic
sweep to this book that really depicts modern life, the brief
bursts of joy, the more general stretches of melancholy, the
bouts with confusion and general trippiness of perception,
the complex relations between family and friends and neighbors,
the way we are framed and molded by the cities and regions
we move in. I'm favorably reminded of two other American epics
of recent years that ambitiously got into all that stuff:
Infinite Jest by Dave Wallace and The Corrections
by Jon Franzen. Fortress of Solitude has flaws, but
even those mostly end up being part of its big daring charm.
For example, he tries to get all magic realist on us by giving
his main characters actual superhero powers. When I first
got to these scenes, I almost automatically groaned -- I didn't
think it was going to work very well at all -- but I ended
up really enjoying these scenes, because Lethem is aware,
as film critic Dave Kehr once wrote regarding the work of
Luis Buñuel, "how much realism is required in
surrealism."
The
reports of Reynols' recent 'break-up' have been a bit exaggerated.
Maybe it's an American thing, or maybe just a bored-people-worldwide-with-internet-access
thing, but people just go into a tizzy when bands break up,
expressing their condolences, spreading gossip, lamenting
about how they're gonna miss 'em, etc. I've never understood
it myself, because last time I checked there were something
like 8,000 more records, with release dates varying from sometime
in the late 19th Century to approximately five seconds ago,
that I've 'totally' 'gotta' hear, so when a band breaks up
I think they're doing me a favor! Lightening the load a little
bit!
"Sabbatical
Thanks and Hellow to: Iron Pegasus Records/Tales of the Macabre,
Janne Sarna & Isten mag, Opyrosathanas, Wim Baelus, Volker
(Merciless), Sulphur & URN, Kolgrim & UNPURE, Azter
& DENIAL OF GOD & Horror Rec., HMSS Rec, Demonos &
BARATHRUM, COUNTESS, MAYHEMIC TRUTH, DESASTER, Black Star/Warlord
Rec., Luca (Iron Tyrant), FOREVER WINTER, GEHENNAH, Shaxul
(HIRILORN/Nihil Magis Zine) & EAL Prod., Ylva & Static
Age, Iron Pages, Ivars & Sadistic Sodomizer, Pavel Tusl
(View Beyond Rec.), Hellion Rec., Kabbala Mag, Legion Mag,
Lou (Holycaust Rec.), Mega Therion Rec., NIFELHEIM,"
and many, many more. And I am not smirking. In fact, I am
LOVING IT. Sabbat are another in a long line of Japanese tributes
to something Western, and in this case the Westerners being
feted are Cronos, Mantas, and Abaddon themselves, that's right
. . . Venom. The bassist/vocalist Gezol even 'dresses' like
Venom bassist/vocalist Cronos, and the drummer's name is Zorugelion
(!), which is almost a better name than Abaddon. The production
is loose and raw, and they can play better than Venom (which
isn't saying much, but these guys are good). They also add
plenty of their own touches, such as a freaky falsetto 'madwoman'
voice used on a couple tracks, and they can go epic if they
want, as the awesome 13-minute "Nekromantik" proves.
Thing is, I'm a late-comer -- this is like their tenth full-length
album, and they've been a band since 1983! Sounds good to
me though. 
Well,
the Free103Point9 Audio Dispatch series is up to #15 now,
which is this split release, one track apiece by Sapat and
The SB, recorded live at the Free103 gallery on September
13, 2003. Both bands have been mentioned in Blastitude before,
favorably, with good reason. (In fact, I just realized that
these sets were 
Wow,
last issue I was talking about a 1997 single by Bruce Cole
as a "weird lost record." Well, it's been found,
and reissued on this CD, which collects the "complete
singles & EPs" that this band has put out in three
different decades. If you don't know what the Mee-Mees were/are
about, well, you could call it 'punk,' or maybe it's just
'garage rock,' or it might even be 'proto hardcore' -- but
the only thing I can call it for sure is 'a couple dudes from
a hick St. Louis suburb totally fucking around in their basement.'
This music is 100 percent scene free, and I know that you
know how hard it is to find that anymore. The couple of dudes
in question are the legendary Bruce Cole and John Ashline
using a shitty guitar and drumset to play rock 'n' roll mixed
with weird electronics, "green monster guitar,"
guest vocals by 10-year-olds and harelips, totally absurd
humor, all played and recorded with totally crappy equipment.
One of the most definitive songs on here, recorded in 1978
(but not released until 1995) goes "I'm too young to
shave! / I ain't no Indian brave . . . / I'm too young to
shave! / Don't call me a knave . . ." What more do you
need to know? Well, here's a couple more things: right in
the middle of the disc are a couple early 90s hard-ass throwdowns
("Family Tree" and "Life Never Stops!")
that sound like Behemoth and Laughner fronting Rocket From
The Tombs if they had read less poetry chapbooks, more Hustler
and Mad. There's also songs about drinking hot soda pop, covers
of Silver Apples and The Twinkeyz, titles like "Goin'
For Grease," "Pigs," and "Pull My Finger,"
and, once again, that amazing left-turn atmo-weird 1997 Bruce
Cole EP. 20 tracks in all. All hail the Mee-Mees, perhaps
the first ever in what has been an impressive lineage of St.
Louis post-punk goofballs: Drunks With Guns, Strangulated
Beatoffs, the Dazzling Killmen/Grand Ulena, Panicsville, John
Wiese/Arrmy of Robots, the guys who started the Skin Graft
label, Max Prairie Pusher, and then right back to the Screamin'
Mee-Mees, who are still fuckin' around in the basement . .
. 
Have
you noticed how Detroit currently has this 'shimmery 50s/60s
pop' scene? Bands like Saturday Looks Good To Me, the Alphabet,
Slumber Party . . . okay, I've never heard Slumber Party,
but I wouldn't doubt they have a little of that classic girl
group sound. This album certainly has it, and it features
Gretchen Gonzales, who is a member of Slumber Party, as part
of a duo with another woman by the name of Faith Gazic. They're
basically a guitar and accordion duo, with I guess some keyboards
and drum machines and a whole lot of shimmer, and both sing
in voices semi-wasted and a little cynical but also undeniably
sweet. It's a good record. 
"Eclectic
compilation of independent music from Providence including
noise, grind, hardcore, electronic, and experimental."
If you're at all into, say, the Load Records artist stable,
you will probably really like this comp, as all the roots,
branches, splinters, fallen leaves, and infested mud from
the legendary Olneyville ecosystem are represented very well.
(Um, I think I just compared the Providence/Olneyville scene
to a tree.) Dig the way the comp goes from Beefheartian panic
rock (via Landed) to 20 seconds of straight harsh noise (via
Noise Nomads) to instro panic metal (via Necronomitron --
these guys are good!) to Mindflayer music (via Mindflayer
-- almost free-jazzish drumming by Chippendale while Brinkman
makes space monster sounds) to toy synth damage (Knights of
Timbre) to black techno metal (Em Dath Rir) to deep horror
noise (Prurient) to old-school Olneyville screamo (Dropdead
-- from 1996, live in Finland??) and on and on, making a nice
little mosaic of noise, foolishness, recklessness, levity,
gravity, experimentation, and blastedness. Over at his 
Remember
that issue of Vice Magazine I reviewed in #16? Well, I forgot
to mention this free CD that came with it, a collaborative
effort between Vice, Insound, and Outward Sound. If that doesn't
have you running for the hills already, just check out that
'ironic' title so you can be sure to vomit all the way. Anyway,
feeling journalistic, I decided to listen to the damn thing,
and it's even worse than I thought it would be. The Stills
. . . Lucero . . . Atmosphere . . . Radio 4 . . . Laguardia
. . . I don't even remember how any of these bands specifically
sounded, except that Atmosphere was third-rate Eminem and
Radio 4 are yet another 'dance punk' band that actually named
their song "Dance to the Underground" -- are they
serious? I don't know, maybe I'm out of touch, or way too
prejudiced, but everything on here sounds like it could be
from the Dawson's Creek soundtrack. Even the one band on here
I thought I would like, Young People, have a disappointing
song. (Although I'm guessing that the MBA's behind this comp
just pulled the most 'upbeat' Young People tune they could
find so that Old Navy employees playing this over their store
speakers wouldn't turn it off.) Surprisingly, there is one
band on here I didn't think I would like, My Morning Jacket,
that has kinda blown me away with a lost 'verbed-out ballad
called "Run Thru." I could almost swear it sounds
more like something that would come from Tony Rettman's turntable
during one of his 'nothing recorded after 1974' weekends than
from a free hipster 2004 jeans-store comp like this one. So,
um . . . . do I dare check out their album? 
I
usually don't get into comps that much, even when they're
good, but these two Space Is No Place comps on Psych-O-Path
are two of my favorite 'new releases' of the past year. And
I didn't even think I liked any New York City bands! Okay,
I knew I liked five or six of 'em, but with these two comps
there's over twenty bands and I swear there's not really a
single 'duff track'. And, volume 2 is better than 1, even
though it has even fewer bands on it that I've ever heard
of. I mean, Tuba Mirum? Spaceman? Beard-o??? Chaw Mank? Cocaine????
Squaw????? Have YOU ever heard of these bands? I didn't think
so. It turns out three of 'em are (possibly one-off) projects
revolving around Sightings and/or Mouthus, e.g. Beard-o is
Axolotl + Mouthus, Chaw Mank is Sightings + Mouthus, while
Cocaine is Excepter + Sightings. (Axolotl and Sightings and
Mouthus were on Volume 1 but have no tracks on Volume 2.)
All three of these tracks are great, especially the one by
Cocaine. Squaw, aka John Lee (gtr) and Henry Till (perc, el),
are also impressive, with the best two-man rock-band wall-of-noise
I've heard since the Mouthus track on Volume 1. Other 'most
memorables' are some band called Verbalala which kind of sounds
like Schooly D except the rapping is by a big city white girl
who might be a grad student. Jah Division are good -- apparently
their deal is doing "dub versions of Joy Division songs"
but when I heard it from the other room I just thought it
was good new punk basement dub. Another thing about this comp
is that it starts out really low-key (Aero & Anderegg
with mellow new-age krautrock and then Tuba Mirum, which is
actually sparse and academic-in-a-good-way solo tuba), and
then steadily gets noisier and noisier, which means that attention
is paid to an overall narrative arc, which is something all
albums, including compilations, should try to do. 
I
had to hear this album when Eddie Flowers of 
First
of all, I can't even really evaluate this novel from any sort
of objective critical distance, because it's about a kid growing
up in the seventies who loves comic books, and I also was
a kid growing up in the seventies who loved comic books. In
fact, this book refers to specific issues that I owned, such
as Omega the Unknown #1, Logan's Run #2, and more. There's
also more knowing music references than you'll even find in
a George Pelecanos novel, with a sharp appreciation for 70s
soul and funk on vinyl, the beginnings of hip hop, and even
Genesis's "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" getting
some play. 
