The latest album from Vienna’s B. Fleischmann embraces the electric guitar, especially the characteristically warm and full sounds of the humbucker style pickup. It is an enjoyable if forgettable album. The songs all blur into each other and the album plays through in what feels like an instant; there is nothing of any real interest on it. |
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The latest album from Vienna’s B. Fleischmann embraces the electric guitar, especially the characteristically warm and full sounds of the humbucker style pickup. It is an enjoyable if forgettable album. The songs all blur into each other and the album plays through in what feels like an instant; there is nothing of any real interest on it.
6880 Hits
Recorded live at Newcastle upon Tyne’s intimate Morden Tower venue during his 2005 European tour, these two tracks are more radical rethinks than acoustic tributes. As one third of Sun City Girls, its Bishop’s obvious right to explore his own material, but these beautifully energetic takes seem utterly revitalised by anyone’s standards.
10173 Hits
Former Japanese hardcore group Envy continues their growth with their latest album, one of soaring guitar epics that are marred only by a sameness in mood and approach. While starting strong, the album starts to unravel as the group adheres to its own formula too frequently.
7016 Hits
Inside this inverse carcass sleeve art comes a slice of fresh white vinyl, a very un-Dead Machines like piece of plastic; most Wolf Eyes side projects look like they’ve been scraped from the walls of a suicide watch art workshop. This is Mr and Mrs John Olson’s most straight and soundtrack-like work to date, managing to upset the neighbourhood’s canine contingent while retaining that trademark low tech malignant sound.
8515 Hits
Compiling two separate albums on one disc, this Striborg release is a relatively disappointing affair. Over 70 minutes of pedestrian black metal is not something I need in life.
6877 Hits
Jessica Bailiff's fourth full length for Kranky is easily her most approachable work to date. Feels Like Home provides all of the familiar elements of Bailiff's unique songwriting, but in easily-digestible three minute slices.
8123 Hits
For his fourth CD, Yoshio Machida improvises on a steel drum, using no electronic processing as he has previously and only minimal overdubs to create music that’s both impressionistic and meditative.
10547 Hits
The impression that I got from various official sources for the band is that Everlovely Lightningheart are some kind of artistic commune that have tapped into some abstract spiritual plane and have brought back enlightenment in the form of music. While there is a lot of beautiful music on this album, Everlovely Lightningheart are far from the cultural monument that they're portrayed as.
11283 Hits
Lisa Germano's latest record (her first for Young God) is beautifully weird. Any record that lays out the line "Go to hell/Fuck you" as the sing-along hook to a lush, folky lullaby can't be bad!
7439 Hits
After puzzling some and dazzling others with the bizarre and inaccessible detour 'Plat Du Jour', Matthew Herbert makes a long awaited, though less than thrilling, return to the forward-thinking discotheque.
7990 Hits
The fourth album from the Welsh experimental rock band Ectogram is a heavy going yet rewarding experience. Elements of angular post punk guitar playing are mixed with krautrock influenced rhythms (Ectogram being tour buddies with Faust make this no surprise) and some unusual “do I like it or hate it?” vocals to make a pair of intricate and fascinating CDs.
5058 Hits
Milwaukee's stalwart psych rock veterans F/i are back with the reissue of a 2003 album that was previously only available in a limited quantity and also marks the return of original member Richard Franecki. Strange song titles like “Hit the Kill Switch, Eugene,” “Prelude to the Afternoon of a Daisy Cutter,” and the title track itself highlight the band's otherworldly aspirations.
6879 Hits
Phil Blankenship’s harsh noise project remains one of the most intense I’ve had the (dis?)pleasure of hearing. 2004 saw the release of three 3" compact discs from The Cherry Point, each on a different label. Blankenship has been kind enough to round all three up into one package and it’s a good thing he did, too. The Cherry Point sound more intimidating than intense on this collection, the use of open space serves the project well.
10515 Hits
Originally released in 1994 only on vinyl, this is the CD reissue of the first album by Alvarius B, the solo project of Alan Bishop of Sun City Girls. Despite the inclusion of over thirty instrumental tracks all performed on acoustic guitar, the album is an exercise in restraint in that the songs are brief, moving quickly from one idea to the next, and often leaving me gasping for more.
6750 Hits
Alas the weary travelers conclude their two-month sojourn above the Arctic Circle with Final Broadcasts. Released last month at the group’s North American live debut in San Francisco, it’s an album of startling power that deserves wider distribution.
7746 Hits
The debut album from this Boston trio is something else. It takes influence from dozens of different sources and combines them seamlessly without being an academic chore or a self indulgent amalgamation of record collections. It is just a fucking great album.
5366 Hits
From a seed of a gentle warm up drone this single untitled track becomes a wrenching guttural live thing that just won’t settle. With all this spiky movement the track doesn’t have an overall feel to it; it’s more like a smeared splurge of sound across the disc. It works but it’s not giving anything away.
9632 Hits
When I first heard that Current 93 and OM were releasing a split EP, I tried not to get my hopes up as I was sure I was going to be disappointed. Luckily, the final product sees both groups in fine form. OM provide a trademark hypnotic mantra while Current 93 throw a curveball with an entirely unexpected piece that is heavier and sludgier than the vast majority of the Current 93 back catalogue.
13704 Hits
New Buffalo is the project of Australian Sally Seltmann, who not only sings but also creates almost all of the music as well. This self-titled EP, featuring a few new songs as well as an alternate version and a remix of a track from her full-length The Last Beautiful Day, includes contributions from Jens Lekman and Broken Social Scene.
5750 Hits
Label compilations should be compulsory in some cases, a necessity imposed on those labels that release too much music for the average college student to keep up with. Unreleased tracks by Kid 606, Tarwater, Charles Atlas, Nudge, Signaldrift, Strategy, The Sems, Stars as Eyes, a killer cover of a Yes song by Grizzly Bear, and many others all help make this compilation truly great, both as an introduction and a retrospective.
7346 Hits
