28 April 2008

Administrator

Albums and Singles

Wire is proud to announce that it has completed work on its 11th studio album, continuing the momentum that began with the band's 2006 reactivation and Read & Burn 03. Dubbed 'Object 47' - 47 representing its position as the 47th release in the Wire discography - the album finds Wire utilising the core writing partnership responsible for Pink Flag, Colin Newman and Graham Lewis. The latest release is described by the band as having "tunes with zoom", and this is best illustrated by the melodic and textural development already suggested by elements of last year's Read & Burn 03.

The full track-listing for the album is: One Of Us; Circumspect; Mekon Headman; Perspex Icon; Four Long Years; Hard Currency; Patient Flees; Are You Ready?; All Fours.

Object 47 will be on sale later this year, direct from PostEverything and via record stores worldwide. A final release date will be announced shortly, and so sign up to the mailing list to be the first to find out when the album will surface.

27 April 2008

Administrator

Albums and Singles

Durto/Jnana

Everything Nature Unveiled expressed with brevity and eloquence is unnecessarily confused and extended on Dogs Blood Rising. All the familiar symbols and references to Christianity, Satan, redemption, fear, human impotency, apocalyptic trauma, and positive biblical fables are present, but without the strength of a unifying esthetic. "Christus Christus (The Shells Have Cracked)" begins well enough with looped chants, abstract and breathy tones, and a sense of direction. It is an invocation of Christianity's dark side, a dimension characterized by death, burning, God's terrifying judgment (who will be saved?), and humanity's capacity for evil. "Falling Back in Fields of Rape" continues that promise of a new direction by solidifying it with a distinct meter, evenly recurring and reversed percussion loops, and a seductive chant deep in the background. Nature Unveiled was not without its structure, but at the beginning Dogs Blood Rising seems more thoughtful and coherent by virtue of its more conventional form.

Steven Ignorant's opening lines a few minutes into the song arrive unexpectedly, breaking the song's established vocabulary, and with his words Stapleton simultaneously increases the audio frenzy. The sequence of audio events presented in a short time is impressive. A metallic and vertiginous crash realizes the act of falling suggested in the song's title, then there is a moment of near silence before the now familiar words "In a foreign town / In a foreign land" are delivered. Ignorant's tone is initially narrative-like and it maintains the structure suggested by the song's opening moments. However, his delivery is quickly made ferocious, his voice reaches a feverish pitch, and in no time at all the music becomes equally crazed. The song is then transformed and a child's voice becomes the focal point, and then again another change occurs as a deranged and slightly forced growl makes its way into the mix, and then yet another change. This time a woman recites various cruelties to which humans are subjected while an organ slowly drones away beneath her voice. Over and over again the song mutates without warning, almost as though it were punishing the listener for expecting any kind of order. An unnecessary drum machine briefly makes an appearance before Tibet's dry and unnerving voice enters the fray, calling to mind his performance on I Have a Special Plan for this World. Unfortunately the song attacks the listener almost too literally, inspiring frustration more than fright, sympathy, remorse, or any other emotion. What could've been a new direction for Tibet and Stapleton instead devolves into a less powerful version of everything presented on Nature Unveiled.

Neither "From Broken Cross, Locusts" nor "Raio No Terrasu (Jesus Wept)" improves the album much. The former is a consistent song in both tone and structure, but it quickly becomes dull. For much of the song Tibet simply repeats "Antichrist" over and over again; his voice is amplified, distorted, and extended in various ways with little more than a martial and repetitive drum-beat to accompany him. The latter is, for some reason or another, dedicated to Japanese author, playwright, poet, philosopher, essayist, nationalist, and imperialist Yukio Mishima. Perhaps Mishima's literary and personal emphasis on the body inspired Tibet, but making any definite connection between him and the album is nearly impossible and suggests that Tibet was, at the time, juggling too many influences to make anything definite and powerful of them. Most interesting is the concluding piece, "St. Peter's Keys All Bloody." In a conversational tone Tibet greets darkness by way of Simon and Garfunkel's "The Sounds of Silence." It's an especially interesting musical reference considering the song's generally accepted message, which touches on the absence of love in public life and lack of communication between individuals, public or private. In any case, the song also signifies Tibet's interest in more structured music, especially folk music. As the lyrics to "Scarborough Fair" while away beneath Tibet's scathing delivery I'm reminded of Tibet's synthetic sensibilities on Nature Unveiled. It's clear to me now that while Tibet worked initially within an industrial (or at least experimental) mode, he was from the start trying to break away from it. Simon and Garfunkel were almost the complete antithesis of what was happening in London's more underground venues in 1984, yet their influence appears on this record.

Also included in the first 1,000 copies of this reissue is a complete album remix by Andrew Liles titled Dogs Blood Ascending. It is in every way an improvement upon the original. The sudden and unappealing shifts of "Falling Back in Fields of Rape" are transformed into a unified and explosive expression of anger at the loss of innocence. The song, in its remixed form, begins with the child-like voices that populated the middle portion of the original and then proceeds to Ignorant's spite-filled diatribe. It's as though, by a simple rearrangement and some improved atmospherics, the entire album is given a perspective and force that it originally didn't have. War is clearly declared on the evils of the world, the pounding of drums that were previously wimpy synthetic thuds assume a meaningful dimension that they couldn't have had in the original, and all the musical changes that bogged down the original are given new life because of Liles' determination to maintain some semblance of unity within the song. The percussion on "From Broken Cross, Locusts" also benefits from Liles' careful hand. Instead of being monotonous and ineffective, they achieve a truly martial status that reminds me more precisely and fully of a fascist dread marked by the terror of marching and perfectly polished boots. Tibet's Antichrist-chant is invigorated by various effects and benefits from being truncated slightly. The song is thus made into the whirlwind of hatred I suspect it was intended to be. "Raio No Terrasu (Jesus Wept)" is given the most radical transformation. On Dogs Blood Ascending it is a quiet, subdued piece, emphasizing the somber quality of Christ's sacrifice. It's a real tribute to Liles' talent that he managed to latch onto the record's major themes and improve upon their presentation without rendering the album completely unidentifiable. It also shows that all the necessary pieces to the puzzle were available to Tibet in the crafting of this album; they were ready to be assembled in a powerful way, but simply weren't realized as well as they could've been. The remix ends with "St. Peter's Keys All Bloody," but this time a musical accompaniment that approximates "The Sounds of Silence's" melody is the main feature. Tibet's vocals appear, too, but the contrast between the toy-box melody and his pronounced groans adds a depth to the song not present in the original.

samples:

• Falling Back in Fields of Rape
• Falling Back in Fields of Rape (Dogs Blood Ascending)
• Raio No Terrasu (Jesus Wept) (Dogs Blood Ascending)

27 April 2008

Administrator

Albums and Singles

5/28/08    DC9          Washington DC
5/29/08    Pianos       New York NY
5/30/08    the Saint    Asbury Park NJ
5/31/08    The Khyber   Philadelphia PA
6/1/08     TT the Bears Cambridge MA
6/3/08     TBA          Baltimore, MD
6/4/08     Local 506    Chapel Hill NC
6/5/08     The Rocket   Asheville NC
6/6/08     Barley's     Knoxville TN
6/7/08     The Earl     Atlanta GA

27 April 2008

Administrator

Albums and Singles

27 April 2008

Gary Suarez

Albums and Singles

African Glory / Rockers Town

Topically par for the course with the bulk of modern roots, The Most High finds Daddy Rings constantly and affably singing praises for Empersor Haile Selassie and the virtuous tenets of Rastafarianism. Those unfamiliar with this music might be put off by these spiritual and heavy-handedly judgmental verses, conveniently located in an uncharacteristically fat booklet.  Still, any dedicated reggae fan will recognize the talents of this practiced performer on songs such as "African Glory" and the cautionary "Cut Off." 

Not committed to any particular style, Daddy Rings revels in the joys of variety, as with the saccharine pop ditty "Hard Road," replete with lilting backing harmonies, and the rugged Mavado-like dancehall militancy of "Rise With Jah."  As someone more than appreciative of ganja anthems, "The Weed Song" just about exceeds my expectations and, in my estimation, surpasses the socio-politically apt though musically dated "Herb Fi Bun." 

With contributions from heavyweights Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare, along with several other producers and session players, The Most High doesn't surpass leading lights like Luciano or Sizzla, though it certainly reminds that modern roots music doesn't begin and end with the more prolific ones.  Daddy Rings' return to the full-length album format was well worth waiting for.

27 April 2008

Gary Suarez

Albums and Singles

Sub Pop

The youthful group's impressive chart success in their native country might not translate to similar appreciation stateside, though listening to these sensational, emotive, and often electrifying tunes, that hardly seems relevant. 

Foals make a joyful though secular noise throughout Antidotes, from the percolating opener "The French Open" all the way through the duo of exclusive bonus tracks which Sub Pop has astutely chosen to include.  With some of the best usage of horns in rock music this side of The Stooges, the band constantly raise the bar for other post-millennial indie upstarts with the splendid singles "Cassius" and "Balloons," the latter having practically burnt a hole in my now-deceased iPod from excessive repeat play.  The multitracked vocals of Yannis Philippakis mount the sturdy rhythms and quirky melodies of quality tracks like "Olympic Airways" and the spacious, arena ready anthem, "Big Big Love." 

Somewhat famous already for rejecting the initial production work done by Dave Sitek of TV On The Radio, Foals have little need for name-checkable collaborators, as these intelligent, angular party tunes more than compensate for their neophytic status.  Ignore at your peril.
 

27 April 2008

Administrator

Albums and Singles

Dangerbird

Despite the pedigree and undeniable talent of these performers, Deconstruction's self-titled 1994 album proved no match for Porno For Pyros' own eponymous debut released a year before, which boasted the quirky, blithely apocalyptic alterna-rock classic "Pets."  Avery's quasi-gothic tone starkly contrasted Farrell's anti-commercial, yet nonetheless familiar, over-the-top vocal presence, and, quite possibly, the fickle marketplace simply may not have desired two post-Jane's acts.  Curiously, when Jane's Addiction opted to reunite later on in the 1990s, the co-founding bassist passed on the presumably lucrative opportunity, much to the dismay of many dedicated fans.  After a few years of operating under the radar of the increasingly commercialized and undermined alternative music scene under the moniker Polar Bear, Avery seemingly withdrew from public life, resurfacing occasionally and under odd circumstances, perhaps most notably auditioning to replace Metallica bassist Jason Newsted in the unintentionally hysterical documentary Some Kind Of Monster.  In recent years, his former Californian cohorts have stayed in the news if not in the charts, with Farrell devolving more and more into a hippie punch line and Navarro starring in his share of reality shows, including an embarrassing behind-the-scenes series chronicling the lead-up to his doomed marriage to Carmen Electra.  It is unsurprisingly though commendable that Avery chose to return to the scene with dignity and self-respect when he could have just as easily taken up residence on some VH1 D-list celebrity atrocity.  Uncompromising and independent, Help Wanted sets just the right tone for his reemergence from the shadows a startling seventeen years later.

Returning to a musical life in the shadow of band as monstrously popular and revered as Jane's Addiction would be daunting for any musician, especially with this much time having passed.  Yet within the two minutes of epic album opener "Belly Of An Insect," its unsung bassist has clearly returned reinvigorated with an edge that his former cohorts’ most recent efforts (Farrell’s Satellite Party, Navarro and Perkins' The Panic Channel) excruciatingly lack.  Based on the lyrical content of many of these songs, the years haven't brightened Avery's life all that much.  On "Beside The Fire" the hypnotic rhythm section briefly make room for tortured, almost paranoiac self-evaluation "I don't know why sometimes I lose my mind / When everything seems just fine" before soaring guitars and creepy organs overtake the mix.  His impressive, sincere voice channels Ian Curtis and Peter Murphy without the pretense of today's so-called gothic artists, as on the bluesy single "All Remote and No Control" and the moody yet often bombastic "Unexploded."  Avery gives up the reins occasionally for a few notable guests, not the least of which being Shirley Manson of Garbage, who lends her typically unmistakable pipes to "Maybe," a slow burning and stirring ballad.  Picking up the tempo a bit, "Porchlight" shifts from folksy comforts to Southern rock between verse and chorus, repeating with great effect.

Sharing Dangerbird's small but respectable roster with Silversun Pickups, a band with more than their share of reasonable comparisons to nineties' acts, Avery appears to have made a wise strategic decision.  Dangerbird, in turn, surely benefit from releasing this album mere days before Avery agreed to reunite with his fellow bandmates as Jane's Addiction is dubiously honored by an overrated British tabloid music publication best known for defaming Morrissey and attempting to portray drug addict/occasional musician Pete Doherty as a tortured genius a la Shaun Ryder.  Still, this win-win situation should be viewed not as cheap tactical marketing but, rather, serendipity.  Help Wanted is by far the best thing to come from the Jane's Addiction breakup this century, and an outstanding release in its own right.

samples:

• Belly Of An Insect
• Maybe
• Porchlight

27 April 2008

Administrator

Albums and Singles

Sunbeam

The constant stream of rediscovered legendary lost releases can be wearing for those of us who feel that many of those works were lost for good reason: they weren't up to much in the first place. The Strange Tale of Captain Shannon and the hunchback from Gigha deserves a chance, though, not least for the sincerity and openness of the singers. Their songs hail from a period in modern Europe (and maybe in the lives of McNiven and Rew) when everything seemed freer and permissible; an era of full employment, a loosening of gender roles and sexual morality, and cheap continental travel. The simple inspiration behind each poetic song is also made clear in the copious liner notes. The material is good enough to stand this transparency and the fact that the writers have woven some childhood experiences into song merely adds to the allure. The notes also give off a strong whiff of earnest late night  philosophizing—the kind that some artists might choose to hide under a veil of cynicism.      

The record opens with "Hymn to Sylvia," concerning McNiven's chance meeting with a female biker in England after he walked across Northern Spain and hitchhiked the length of France. This song and the closing title track (set on a remote Scottish island) are epic, immersing pieces that, along with Danny Thompson's upright bass and Terry Cox's drumming, give the album a solid yet flexible spine. Apart from a few small sections of forgivably pretentious gibberish (it was 1970 after all) the psychedelic or acid aspect to the music is so low-key as to be virtually non-existent. By which I mean that it sounds hypnotic and transporting without being wrapped in obvious elements that have come to be misheard as representative of psychedelic music.

Of course, not everyone will swallow the wide-eyed optimism of lyrics such as "So draw your magic circles in the sky/Take a chance on all your dreams before they die," and those who enjoy the naturalistic production may be outnumbered by those who find it wooden. I find that, along with the nimble clarity of the guitar work and richness of the voices, the "flawed" lyrics and "dated" production are actually the strengths of this recording. And the fact that the duo still live in the landscape of Scotland lends an air of resilience to their music. After all, anyone could be a hippy troubadour in the Californian sunshine, right?

Previous member Carolyn Davis is featured on one song and her voice bears a pleasing resemblance to that of the great Lal Waterson. There is an affecting breeziness to Rew's voice and McNiven's has a sensitivity akin to that of Lindisfarne or (the vastly underrated) Ralph McTell. McTell is best known for his recurring hit single about the plight of London's homeless people, but it's worth hearing The Boy With A Note (his album about Dylan Thomas) and Kenny the Kangaroo and (the imaginary village) Tickle on the Tum are among the best albums of genuinely innocent songs ever made.

The group take take their name from a 1950s Italian movie, a romantic comedy. Captain Shannon… was originally intended for release as a double with Bread Dreams and Love's Amaryllis album which is also just reissued by Sunbeam Records.

samples:

• Hymn for Sylvia
• Butterfly Land
• Masquerade

27 April 2008

Administrator

Albums and Singles

Metropolis

Autoimmune refers to reactions which inolve the body's immune system misrecognizing certain constituent parts of the self, and attacking them as if they were foreign invaders, the other. In a world in which fiercely pitched ideological and physical battles are being waged in the name of nationhood, religion, ethnicity and class—all of which hinge on the differential identity of self and other—autoimmunity becomes an interesting metaphor for political and cultural unrest. This bodily metaphor may be particularly close to Jack Dangers, as he suffers from psoriatic arthropathy (the Singing Detective disease), an autoimmune disorder, and thus is the living embodiment of the self turned against itself, the breakdown of the "body politic" metaphor in the age of unprecedented control, wiretapping, globalization, climate change, sleeper cells and hacktivism. Though the embodied, rhythmic ("meat beat") manifestoes of Dangers have always danced at the edge of politics, this album seems particularly apocalyptic, an acknowledgment of a world gone mad.

The album opens with the introductory "International," trying to cleanse the geopolitical borders literally and metaphorically from the outset. The dense layers of sound and samples from radio and television place the album immediately in the territory that MBM inhabits so well: the multimedia, audiovisual perceptual landscape. "I Hold the Mic!" is pulse-pounding dubstep with dancehall vocals and yawning layers of echoplexed sounds, the audio equivalent of Tokyo's Ginza district as seen in Ridley Scott's Blade Runner, a teeming human metropolis in which all markers of nationality, ethnicity and language have disappeared, and all that remains is a confounding, extra-geographical hybrid. "Hellfire" gets more diabolical, with a vocal formant synth spitting out nonsense syllables over a deep, resonant dubstep groove that keeps dipping itself into the fiery magma of distortion, with haunting X-Files melodies weaving in and out, and frequent samples of the familiar phrase "This is a test." It's interesting to compare this track to something that The Orb might have done in the late 1990s: the techniques are similar, but MBM ends up with a track that is less playful, more urgent.

"Children of Earth" is a standout, beginning with a child intoning "Hello from the children of planet Earth," and quickly entering the land of loping, rubbery riddims and elastic acid basslines that fly across the stereo channels. It's a particularly frightening soundworld, bearing some similarity to the backing tracks created by The Bug and J.K. Broadrick for their Techno Animal hardcore HipHop project. On tracks like this and "Guns n' Lovers," MBM seems to nod to past associations with industrial music, as these rhythms never tire of toying with barely-reigned-in distortion, constantly flirting with the red, and never shying away from playing up the machine aesthetic, reminding us of our technological inheritance rather than attempting to obscure the methods of production. "Return to Bass" sounds like something that might be at home on the Ant-Zen label, if any of the artists on Ant-Zen were interested in bringing some groove along with their taste for violent distortion. It's Miami Bass for a generation weaned on Venetian Snares and Otto Von Schirach. "62 Dub" is the closest Dangers gets to bringing a rocksteady, traditional dub groove, but it is still dark and distorted as fuck, with treated didgeridoo (a la Love's Secret Domain-era Coil), and echo drops that make me feel like I've suddenly lost my footing and I'm falling through a vacuum.

"Colors of Sound" is something else entirely, a whole track given over to the chirping of analog synths, weird alien skronk from a galaxy of wacky oscillators and filters, complete with tape-cuing sounds just like vintage musique concrete. It's an interesting ambient stopgap, and sounds like nothing else on the album. Eclectic is never a bad word in my book. Then comes my favorite track, "Spanish Vocoder," which combines the hardcore breakbeat of earlier tracks with some devious and delicious Detroit electro action. I don't mind HipHop and dubstep, but electro is like crack to me, and Dangers really knows how to bring the Cybotron in his own inimitable style. Though this track certainly feels a brighter and less apocalyptic than the rest of the album, it nevertheless maintains an intensity and urgency, with chopped-up vocoderized vocals and layers of choral voices weaving in and out of the mix. The didgeridoo is also back, this time treated to sound like a buzzsaw. By the end, the track fades out into ambient territory, with only the vocodered voice left to frantically attempt to communicate its message, fading out into deep space.

MBM certainly aren't the first to link up electronic music with cyber-age political outrage, but they do an excellent job of it. Part of what makes Autoimmune work is that its nods to contemporary trends—British dubstep, HipHop, post-Jungle IDM—are combined with sounds that are utterly out of fashion, and would sound more at home with the outmoded '90s chillout-rave or breakbeat sound. This isn't a problem for Dangers, who is clearly uninterested in staking out a clear position in the marketplace, instead allowing his eclecticism free reign. Paradoxically, this gives the album a timeless quality, as it moves between eras and styles effortlessly, evoking the contemporary mediascape in which time seems indefinitely frozen, and past and present sprawl out in front of us on the magic screen, organizing themselves in infinite combinations, with unpredictable results.

samples:

• Hellfire
• Children of Earth
• Spanish Vocoder

27 April 2008

Administrator

Albums and Singles

Southern Lord

The band largely strays away from their noisy drone material (such as their collaborative releases with Merzbow) and instead fully embraces the idea of doing singular, stand-alone songs.  This isn't really a NEW thing: older works like Akuma no Uta had a few pieces that stood alone as individual tracks but here there is less abstraction and more focus.  While somewhat formulaic, the opening half of the disc does call to mind 2006's Pink pretty overtly, with a few subtle tricks.  While Pink opened with an extended, furious take on shoegaze, "Flower Sun Rain" starts furiously, with a monolithic sludge guitar tone that grabs the listener’s attention before retreating. 

The track largely remains a gentle cover of the PYG track, with the only harsh elements being an overdriven guitar lead.  And then, just like the transition on Pink, it goes into full on rock mode with "BUZZ-IN," relishing the lo-fi garage rock sound that they do oh so well.  However, it becomes obvious that even in the blistering chaos, there is a greater sense of structure and complexity.  There is a great amount of layering and subtlety in the mix that was not as noticeable on the previous albums.

Interestingly, the thicker production and inclusion of some electronic elements give the tracks an overall different sheen:  "Laser Beam" feels like a sunnier, non-drug-addled take on Ministry's The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste with its rapid guitar riffs and tightly structured synthetic percussion elements.  While this might be somewhat of a stretch, it does definitely set it apart from some of the band’s previous work. 

This new found attention to song becomes most overt on "Statement" and "My Neighbor Satan," the latter featuring collaborator Michio Kurihara on guitar.  "Statement" is probably the greatest concession to popular music the band has made:  although it still features the blown amp overdrive inertia the band is known for, its length and double tracked vocal stylings (and cowbell) make for a much more pop, if somewhat psychedelic in nature, work than most in their catalog.  "My Neighbor Satan," on the other hand, shines more in its structural nature:  the track shifts pace from more gentle, melodic work to full throttle blast in a way that makes perfect sense.

It wouldn't be a Boris album without a bit of abstraction, and "KA RE HA TE TA SA KI-No Ones Grieve" and the untitled final track fit the bill.  Both are longer than the previous tracks in duration (9 and 15 minutes, respectively) and allow for more space exploration than the tighter, conventional tracks preceding.  The former is a fast pace number with lots of distortion, occasioning building to impermeable walls of noise, but features some of the softest, most melodic vocals ever on a Boris track.  The latter, featuring Stephen O'Malley on guitar as well, alternates and mixes the more restrained elements of the tracks with the distorted, drone guitar work Boris is also known for.  In a way, it’s a perfect encapsulation of the band in its use of pop rock elements infused with some drone metal and a hint of pure noise as well.

I feel the need to editorialize a bit, however.  My promo copy of this intentionally omitted the track "You Were Holding An Umbrella" in a ploy by Southern Lord to ensure everyone buys a copy.  We here at Brainwashed aren't making any sort of salary for contributing reviews, our only compensation is the free music when we spend an inordinate amount of time analyzing and promoting via review.  To be told I should still have to purchase a copy after spending my time writing this review is a bit annoying to say the least.  Other labels have adopted this tactic as well, sending plain sleeved CD-Rs and links for "virtual promo" mp3s.  Seriously guys, we're not just doing this out of the goodness of our hearts, we like to get rewarded once in a while.  Rant over.

Although they haven't completely rewritten their playbook, Boris has shown that they are consistently tweaking and adjusting their approach with each release.  Smile manages to successfully follow up Pink without letting the listeners down, and even though their edging nearer and nearer to the mainstream with each release, Takeshi, Wata and Atsuo  keep it real with dissonant blasts on every album as well.  While I still personally like Pink as the better album, I have also had that one around for a few years longer, so perhaps my perspective will change on this one over time.  

samples:

• Flower Sun Rain
• Statement
• KA RE HA TE TA SA KI