Whether or not Hella’s freakouts would transfer from their overamplified electric environment to an acoustic one has never been a question that’s plagued me. However Hella have chosen to answer the question anyway. This EP shows that a good Hella song doesn’t need a large amount of electricity powering it to make it work. I’d go so far to say that the pared down approach is the best approach for them.  |
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Whether or not Hella’s freakouts would transfer from their overamplified electric environment to an acoustic one has never been a question that’s plagued me. However Hella have chosen to answer the question anyway. This EP shows that a good Hella song doesn’t need a large amount of electricity powering it to make it work. I’d go so far to say that the pared down approach is the best approach for them.
6349 Hits
While Japan may have birthed some of the most elegant and elegiac experimental rock of this decade so far, it has also seen a rise in acts that tear massive holes in speakers and fry amp cables. Taking this disc as evidence, this trio of Yamamoto Seiichi (Boredoms), Tatsuya Yoshida (Ruins), and Tsuyama Atsushi (Acid Mothers Temple) appear in the latter category. Few bands can safely combine the excitement of rock while negotiating the worlds of traditional music and out-there wig outs.
8490 Hits
Singer/songwriter Alex Lukashevsky has a decent gravelly voice and his tongue-in-cheek lyrics are frequently entertaining, which makes it all the more disappointing that these hints of potential go unfulfilled on this album.
6853 Hits
This live recording from 1999 features Oren Ambarchi on guitar and Robbie Avenaim on percussion. Originally released in a small quantity as a 3” disc that same year, this single track is an 18-minute improvisation that isn’t too far from a clock that winds up and then springs apart, exposing the underbelly of gears and sprockets that keep it functioning.
10141 Hits
The new album from Norway's Kaada is the perfect soundtrack for break-ups, homesickness, or rainy day navel-gazing. Since there isn't that much going on that commands attention, it's an album that's not distracting during moments of introspection.
5540 Hits
I would be telling a big fat lie if I said that I predicted this would be Mouse On Mars' next move, despite the live show they put on during their most recent, but extremely brief North American tour giving every indication.
7401 Hits
There are only so many manipulated found sound albums that I can give my time to in life. Many artists in this realm are poor at best and their music isn’t worth the discs that it’s pressed on. This album from Chris Herbert stands head and shoulders over all these pretenders. Landscapes more than soundscapes, the music on Mezzotint is dreamy and rolls around the room like a ghost.
7271 Hits
Intended for release on a tour that was ultimately cancelled, this unique collaboration between the Hafler Trio, Colin Potter, and Andrew Liles is a strange expedition into frost-bitten realms. Siren-like, the intoxicating lure of unraveling mysteries impels further descent into its cavernous depths, with little hope of return.
9211 Hits
Recorded at four separate studios, mastered by two different individuals, and performed by nine musicians, Fading Trails is looser, perhaps a little grittier, and heavily stripped down compared to What Comes After the Blues. Where that album sometimes seemed a bit too full, packed to the brim with sound, this is the Company's return to a looser, more open sound.
10366 Hits
While I never feverishly anticipate everything this Hoboken trio releases I do enjoy their music for the most part. When Matador gave the opening track away, the killer 10+ minute "Pass the Hatchet, I Think I'm Goodkind," I was excited for an album that could live up such a promising track. Unfortunately, what follows is a deluge of mediocrity.
9378 Hits
"Dogwood Rust" activates the fuzzed-out, manipulated, rock-crushing side of this five piece from the get-go and lambasts the speakers with the same kind of punishment they've made a name for themselves on. Comet on Fire have undoubtedly changed, though, adding a melodic, tuneful side to their chaotic free-form rock.
5428 Hits
The second album from Brooklyn’s instrumental electrodisco darlings Ratatat is a remarkably flat-footed affair. Operating under the guise of familiarity, the group manages to leave almost no distinctive imprint on this somewhat boring album.
5331 Hits
Hive Mind's Greh Holger either wanted this release to spawn spells of deafness or his particular taste for extreme noise is of the most outrageous kind and he just couldn't help making it this loud. It's no secret that harsh noise isn't my cup of tea and this particular release exemplifies why.
10033 Hits
Recently I was lying on a very comfortable couch in a quiet house. For a couple of hours I was mostly asleep or in a semi-conscious dreamstate. Later I discovered that in a room nearby was a cat who had infrequently remembered that it wanted to get out and engaged in brief episodes of door-rattling. Listening to this record is very like that experience: peaceful, hypnotic, slightly disturbing, repetitive, flawed, transporting.
7765 Hits
Two of the more difficult to find albums from the Coil back catalogue have been reissued with new mixes and material bundled on. While most reissues don’t need a new review, considering these albums have been expanded and remixed, a reappraisal is in order. This is especially true of Black Antlers which was essentially only a demo disc in its original incarnation.
18238 Hits
The double album solo debut from Matthew Friedberger of The Fiery Furnaces is a mixed bag that’s often exasperating. While there are great songs buried within both albums, it takes a bit of digging to find them.
4472 Hits
Nobody will ever convince me that the best musicians make the best music. Case in point is the newest from Daughters, a quintet of unhinged talent practically bursting at the seams with ideas, but incapable of stringing them all together in a satisfying way. There are some truly exquisite moments of furious cacophony on Hell Songs, but they're all fleeting and call the album's already brief running time into question.
6030 Hits
This is the debut from a trio who could easily be considered the supergroup of strings for Montreal. Sophie Troudeau's name should be familiar to anybody who follows Godspeed You Black Emperor, Silver Mt. Zion, or Kiss Me Deadly; Genevieve Heistek's name is on Molasses, Hangedup, and Set Fire to Flames releases; and Beckie Foon has also worked in Silver Mt. Zion and Set Fire to Flames, as well as being one half of both Fifths of Seven and Esmerine.
13084 Hits
Over the course of only four songs, this former Cocteau Twin has managed to rope me back into being a fan after Continental—the disappointing LP released earlier this year, also on Darla.
7196 Hits
Black metal has officially disintegrated and transformed into a genre that's as deserving of the adjective "metal" as it is of "ballet." Malefic's dense, foggy, and self-abusive Xasthur project might feature guitars, unintelligible vocals, and all the drama a high school student could ask for, but it is a creature deserving of its own musical kingdom. All the Sunn O))) relationships and mentions of Darkthrone in the world won't make this a metal album.
11320 Hits
