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After a full year off from touring and releasing new music, A Place to Bury Strangers are still going strong with their balance of sharp hooks and sonic firepower. Much like the Jesus and Mary Chain's significant leap in fidelity from Psychocandy to Darklands, this five-song EP will likely generate more discussion about its production and mixing choices than its well-constructed tunes.
Onwards to the Wall signals a few significant changes for A Place to Bury Strangers; their move to a different label, Dead Oceans, is an obvious one. More significantly, though, APTBS have taken a step back from the full-frontal guitar maelstrom that has come to define their music, and toward a sort of traditionally hooky, guitar-based rock (still with a bite, of course) readying itself to thrive on the strength of its songwriting. While no more or less catchy than much of their previous work—several cuts from their debut still rank among their most hummable—the de-emphasis on having Oliver Ackermann's guitar at the forefront, cranked into the red at 110% capacity, makes it easier to focus on the songs at hand.
The most memorable moment on this EP is influenced by an addition to the band's core lineup: bassist and vocalist Dion Lunadon provides Ackermann with a foil, and a second voice, to play with in his songs. The title track deploys a call-and-response, boy/girl vocal structure—one of the oldest tricks in the pop songwriting book, right, Nancy and Lee?—fitted within a tense, echo- and feedback-laden framework that builds tension and tempo, with no easy release. Elsewhere, "I Lost You" harkens back to the debut, with its insistent pace and drum machine-esque rhythm section, though Ackermann's guitar is cranked down a few notches from "obliterate" to "incinerate." The most volatile song here is "Nothing Will Surprise Me," which crams an ungodly amount of pitch-shifted, tremolo'd guitar work into three short minutes. "Drill It Up" closes the set with fuzzed-out bass guitar and the industrial clank of the percussion leading the charge.
I'm guessing that Ackermann & Co. will absolutely tear these songs to shreds in a live setting, and at home, the production is solid enough to allow Onwards to the Wall to be cranked up to ear-splitting volumes and sound full of life. Sure, the guitars are set backward in the mix, but things still get fucking loud with a simple turn of the volume dial. The balance has shifted, and it's to the band's credit that they are no longer a walking advertisement for Death by Audio, Ackermann's day job building effect pedals (you gotta admit, the title of Ackermann's first pedal, "Total Sonic Annihilation," was a spot-on characterization of APTBS circa 2007). Instead, Onwards to the Wall sees the band evolving, making smart adjustments to their sound before their next full-length, instead of treading water and repeating their past work.
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I didn't know quite what to expect from a new Esplendor Geométrico album, aside from a lot of relentlessly repeating percussion loops.  However, I did know that I didn't expect Desarrollos Geométricos to be nearly as distorted and brutal as it is, as their last few studio albums have been comparatively clean and less-hostile.  In many respects, this surprise return to the fury of their youth is pretty striking and invigorating, but this Spanish duo still has yet to shake some of their more fundamental and recurring flaws.
Few artists are as unapologetically single-minded in their focus as Esplendor Geométrico, as Arturo Lanz and his varying bandmates have now spent three decades chasing the perfect beat to the exclusion of nearly everything else.  In fact, a near-obsessive fixation on rhythm is basically the sole recurring theme that defines EG's work.  Well, that and extreme volume–this, like most other EG albums, is meant to be played as loudly as possible.  That is both a blessing and a curse.  These are the sort of crushing, building-shaking beats that could completely entrance and consume me when played at jet-engine volume levels live, but their brutal simplicity often leaves a lot to be desired in a normal listening environment.  The actual "music" often feels quite half-hearted and tossed-off.  Also, Lanz and Saverio Evangelista sometimes display a very primitive and puzzling "shock" aesthetic with their samples that seems better left in the '80s.
That tactic arguably works with "Presión" though, which features a snippet of an anguished woman shrieking "call 911 now," but it only succeeds because she sounds so unhinged that it feels more like a threat than a cry for help.  It sounds like she is about to tear someone's goddamn face off with her bare hands, which unsurprisingly still seems quite powerful despite being wildly over-the-top.  Dramatically less successful, however, is "Criba mecánica," which artlessly incorporates a bunch of porn samples.  Few things are more embarrassing or uncomfortable than a clumsy attempt to be puerile or darkly sexual.  That musical crime is doubly frustrating in this particular instance, as the throbbing mechanized beat and dissonant feedback beneath the moans and whimpers is pretty awesomely menacing and dystopian-sounding.  Fortunately, that dubious piece is omitted entirely from the vinyl version of the album and the remainder of the songs eschew any similarly gauche or ill-advised loops.
Tellingly, the strongest songs on Desarrollos Geométricos don't offer many frills at all, just insistent bludgeoning with machine-like precision.  My favorite is "Cada día más," which stomps and crunches along for four-and-half-minutes with little more than an eerie hum and some panning tricks to augment the unrelenting pulse.  In most cases, however, these songs could benefit greatly from even the slightest nod towards conventional musicality.  I'm not delusional–I don't expect anything crazy like actual songs or dynamic variation from Lanz, but it seems EG invariably errs either on the side of adding practically nothing to their beats or adds something far too brazen, distracting, and attention-stealing.  I'm sure there is a middle ground somewhere that Arturo and Saverio could find that might elevate their work into something less niche.  I wish they'd look for it.
It is undeniably a bit frustrating to see that Lanz and Evangelista are just as inconsistent and incapable of fully realizing the raw potential of their work as ever.  However, it is also quite heartening to see them return to abrasive roots with such enthusiasm and raw power.  Esplendor Geométrico are still definitely at the top of their game as far as constructing huge, hypnotic, and ingeniously textured rhythms: there is no one else I'd rather have playing if I was throwing an orgiastic Industrial dance party in an abandoned aircraft hangar.  I just wish they'd figure out a way to make their music as rewarding in other contexts.
(Note- the CD and vinyl versions of this album have radically different track listings.  Six of the nine songs on the CD are not on the vinyl release and three of the six songs on the vinyl are not on the CD.  This is a review of the CD version.)
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*SKURA ~ Complete Works, 2005-2011, Book + DVD-R
2nd Edition : 2nd February, 2012
*SKURA comprises the artist's complete musical works published through Sustain-Release: 20 albums, 93 tracks, over 12 hours of music.
Previously available as a highly limited 20-disc set, *SKURA is now available as a collection of high quality, 320kbps MP3's on a single DVD-R. This edition is accompanied by a 122-page book featuring a full discography, artwork, poem fragments, liner notes and introductory essays by The Wire's Tony Herrington and Mojo's Andrew Male. Each copy is signed by the artist.
More information is available here.
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Young God Records has announced the release of a new live Swans album We Rose From Your Bed With The Sun In Our Head, a 2 CD set.
We Rose From Your Bed With The Sun In Our Head is Handmade and Assembled With 2 Color Woodblock Print Sleeve of Original Drawing by M.Gira. Each One Uniquely Signed and Numbered and Further Personalized by M.Gira.
This Version is a Limited Edition of 1000 and includes Exclusive Solo Recordings of Songs for New Swans. Album in Progress (as well as narrations/explanations re the new songs, exclusive to this version).
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TRACK LISTING:
disc one: 1. intro/no words no thoughts 2. jim 3. beautiful child 4. the apostate 5. yr property 6. sex god sex
disc two: 1. the seer (intro)/ i crawled 2. eden prison 3. 93 ave. b blues / little mouth... demos/special website only recordings: 4. hello there 5. lunacy 6. the mother of the world 7. the daughter brings the water 8. a piece of the sky 9. the seer 10. goodbye.
SWANS: michael gira - guitar, vocal; norman westerg - guitar; phil puleo - drums, duclimer; thor harris - drums/percussion, vibes, clarinet, melodica, violin; christoph hahn - double lap steel guitar; christopher pravdica - bass.
http://www.younggodrecords.com/home/handmade-live-cd-bundle
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What if Tito Puente, Kraftwerk and electric Miles Davis had jammed ...what would that have sounded like? German electronic duo BerndFriedmann (aka Burnt Friedman) and Uwe Schmidt (Atom Heart, SeøorCoconut, etc.) may provide the answer with their Flanger collaboration,this being the third album in just a few years for Ninja Tune. Theirmusic is thoroughly jazz - warm, spacious, latino jazz - where everysound glows with clarity and every song comfortably glides over theeardrums, even when it's frantic. Vibes, electric and upright basses,guitar, synth, organ and some saxophone and vocoded phrases provide thepalette, framed within often complex and rapid rhythmic layers. It's aninternational affair all around with many live players recorded inSantiago, Copenhagen and Cologne, some track titles in French, Spanishand German, and the album title inspired by an essay by British sci-fiauthor J. G. Ballard. Uwe and Burnt seem to enjoy obscuring the linebetween what is programmed and what is 'played', only revealing thedigital enhancements and editing here and there, when they choose to.Not that it really matters mind you. The all important question is'does it have soul?' and the answer is a resounding 'yes'. It's anotherstellar 46 and 1/2 minutes worth of Flanger, more focused than ever.
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I'll be the first to say I'm not that big of a fan of Venetian Snares.He seems to be praised and lauded from every corner of the earth as agreat innovator and musician, but most of his stuff bores the crap outof me. For the most part, he seems to be "experimental forexperimentality's sake," with a sort of anti-rhythmic edict and anI-must-change-time-signatures-every-twelve-seconds attitude. That getsreally annoying, in my opinion, and it's probably the biggest problemwith this latest album, but nonetheless I like it quite a bit.That's right, I like the album quite a bit. The atmosphere and samplesreally work well (not to mention the *awesome* Trevor Brown artwork) -"we be friends with a child killer..." but of course the mainattraction is the percussion. Which is the best part of the album aswell as the worst part of the album. Like on the last track, "All theChildren Are Dead"... that is insane percussion. And I mean *insane*.
But then, as on the first track, "Pygmalion," the percussion can holdso much potential and then fall completely utterly flat. Crazy awesomebuildup, as if everything were going to explode right in your bigstupid face, and then - it stops - and doesn't start again. What aGODDAMNED let-down. And these same kind of moments occur throughout thealbum... points where you THINK you should hear a break, or a drum, orsomething - but no! Aaron Funk is experimental! He is not drum'n'bass -this is not dance music! Yeah, whatever. Go have sex with Kid 606.
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I wish I could properly credit whoever once said, "Talking about musicis like dancing about architecture." To Rococo Rot have assembled acollection of music about architecture that, could very quite easily bedanced to. The group return to the core trio for this unique release,out now on the German Staubgold label. The disc features twelve new,unnamed three-minute tracks which provided the sound for anarchitectural exhibit earlier this year. The music is meant torepresent the building of the same name, which consists of twelveequally sized single units, efficiently designed for both living andworking space. (Gosh those Germans sure do love their crafty designs.)While the group consciously chose to work within the 3-minute frameworkfor each track, the tracks are far from identical. Everybody gets thesame amount of space but can do whatever they want within that space,essentially. While it may not be considered a bonafide, typical fullTRR release, many of the songs are quite clearly TRR, using a healthyvariety of electronic beats, organic bass and guitar, and warm synths.The songs vary from mid-tempo multi-instrument interplays to beat-lesssoftware-based aural wallpaper. While it may have been designed for amore chin-scratching artsy acceptance, it's a great listen in,ironically enough, the home office.
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If you own any records from The Faint, Ladytron, Fisherspooner, I am Spoonbender, Adult, or G.D. Luxxe, owning no Fad Gadget albums is completely unacceptable. Mute began releasing Fad Gadget (their first signing in fact) back in 1979, and over the course of four full-length albums, Frank Tovey managed to firmly establish electronic music as a new form of punk, combining abrasive synths, punchy drum machines, the occasional vibrophone or other organic instruments, and clever lyrics.
Over the years, I have played Fad Gadget to many friends and have always recommended 'Frank Tovey: The Fad Gadget Singles' as a starting point, but that album was only ever available through mail-order in the UK as far as I can remember. There hasn't been a real interest in Fad Gadget in years. It's a shame, however, as analogue-synth punk has become all the rage with the hipster indie kids. Regardless, Tovey is clearly an original. This collection gathers everything from that collection (all the A-sides and a few more classics), adds a couple more b-sides and an entire second CD of remixes. Forceful power-synth gems like "For Whom the Bells Toll" and "Collapsing New People" (satirizing Einsturzende Neubauten or club-going industro-goths) will be recognizable to anybody who has visited goth/industrial clubs while "I Discover Love" is an easy pleaser for the swinging Foetus fans. My favorites include the much-overlooked single "Life On the Line" and incredibly haunting "Lady Shave". My only complaints about this collection are about the poor mastering job: the levels on disc one are so loud that there's an unavoidable clipping going on, while much of the material on disc two has been mastered from the records themselves. But hey, clicks and cuts are "in" as well, so many people won't mind as much as me. 'The Best of' is available now in Europe and will be released next week in North America. Add it to the Christmas list of your favorite analogue-synth lovin' punker.
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Two years in the making, Michael Gira (SWANS, The Angels of Light) andDan Matz (Windsor for the Derby, The Birdwatcher) casually created andrecorded a dozen songs together in the relaxed setting of Matz's homes.Both men are simply credited with various instruments and vocals (plusengineering by Matz) and generally alternate lead vocals track to tracksave for a lone instrumental. The instrumentation is actually quiteextensive, approaching the ornate fleshing out of an Angels album:acoustic and electric guitars, bass guitar, organ, piano, synth,drums/percussion, drum machine, harmonica, banjo, a few samples andsome guitar by James Plotkin and background vocals by Anna Neighbor. Ifyou're coming to this disc via Gira and/or Matz's other endeavors, youwon't be surprised but will probably be as pleased with the results asI am. These are 'simple', spontaneous 'pop' songs as affected byAmericana as they are the avant-garde. And the pair's voices, poetryand basic song writing skills and styles complement one another well.The sound and feel is mostly slow and subdued, the mood in varyingdegrees of what I like to call 'uplifting melancholy'. Brief commentson a handful of tracks: "Pacing the Locks" beautifully mourns thepassing of time, "Is/Was" becomes soaked in shimmering synth bath andbell tones, "Lines" is pretty pop steeped in blue grass roots, "BrownEyes" and "Waiting Beside Viragio" are sparse, seemingly solo lovesongs, "Forcing Mary" will nod your head with driving guitar stabs and"Sunflower" is the peculiar instrumental, a droning hum with sprinklesof piano, guitar and whistling. Though I'm not (yet) as taken with"What We Did" start to finish as I am The Angels of Light's "NewMother" and "How I Loved You", I'm still more than happy with what theydid. Gira is currently on tour with The Angels of Light in NorthAmerica through mid December.
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Two years in the making, Michael Gira (SWANS, The Angels of Light) andDan Matz (Windsor for the Derby, The Birdwatcher) casually created andrecorded a dozen songs together in the relaxed setting of Matz's homes.Both men are simply credited with various instruments and vocals (plusengineering by Matz) and generally alternate lead vocals track to tracksave for a lone instrumental. The instrumentation is actually quiteextensive, approaching the ornate fleshing out of an Angels album:acoustic and electric guitars, bass guitar, organ, piano, synth,drums/percussion, drum machine, harmonica, banjo, a few samples andsome guitar by James Plotkin and background vocals by Anna Neighbor. Ifyou're coming to this disc via Gira and/or Matz's other endeavors, youwon't be surprised but will probably be as pleased with the results asI am. These are 'simple', spontaneous 'pop' songs as affected byAmericana as they are the avant-garde. And the pair's voices, poetryand basic song writing skills and styles complement one another well.The sound and feel is mostly slow and subdued, the mood in varyingdegrees of what I like to call 'uplifting melancholy'. Brief commentson a handful of tracks: "Pacing the Locks" beautifully mourns thepassing of time, "Is/Was" becomes soaked in shimmering synth bath andbell tones, "Lines" is pretty pop steeped in blue grass roots, "BrownEyes" and "Waiting Beside Viragio" are sparse, seemingly solo lovesongs, "Forcing Mary" will nod your head with driving guitar stabs and"Sunflower" is the peculiar instrumental, a droning hum with sprinklesof piano, guitar and whistling. Though I'm not (yet) as taken with"What We Did" start to finish as I am The Angels of Light's "NewMother" and "How I Loved You", I'm still more than happy with what theydid. Gira is currently on tour with The Angels of Light in NorthAmerica through mid December.
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No, it's not a much-needed tribute to the KLF/JAMMs, it's another 2xCDcollection of electronic music from friends of a musician who runs hisown label. It might not be as varied or densely packed like aTigerbeat6 comp or thematically tied as a Morr comp, but it doescontain some fine moments of both label-promoting and friend-promoting.Hrvatski's guitar and click "Lullaby" contribution reminds me all toowell that there aren't enough Hrvatski albums in the world, MikeParadinas' alias Kid Spatula serves up a dish tastier than any Mu-Ziqrelease I own, and the thoroughly entertaining collage of illegal hiphop samples, "Turntable Savage" by Hellfish. However, there are a fewvery weak spots: like the Vincent Gallo-lite contribution by Dykehouseand the obvious oversampling of Coil's "Hellraiser Themes" in thedrum-and-bass-by numbers "Defluxion" by Venetian Snares or theover-predictable, skippable Tusken Raiders track, "Pansy". In allhonesty, this collection would have probably been much more noteworthyif released in 1997. In the end I'm left affirmed by my affection forElectric Company and my interest in whoever this Joseph Nothingcharacter is. Must research deeper,...
samples:
- Kid Spatula - Sharemaker
- Hrvatski - Lullaby
- Hellfish - Turntable Savage
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