While this solo project from Wolf Eyes member Mike Connelly has been active for over five years, most of the output has been limited to small run tapes and CDRs that only those "in the know" had a chance to get. Here's a chance for the average person to check out Connelly’s distinct, creepy take on bleak dark ambience without having to outbid Henry Rollins on eBay.
Hotter than July. This week's episode has plenty of fresh new music by Marie Davidson, Kim Gordon, Mabe Fratti, Guided By Voices, Holy Tongue meets Shackleton, Softcult, Terence Fixmer, Alan Licht, pigbaby, and Eiko Ishibashi, plus some vault goodies from Bombay S Jayashri and Pete Namlook & Richie Hawtin. Solstice moon in West Midlands, UK photo by James. Get involved: subscribe, review, rate, share with your friends, send images!
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Although not quite as celebrated as Factory, this Belgian imprint initially shared many of the same artists and was very nearly the equal of its Manchester friends in terms of style and eccentricity (they put Current 93 on a damn Christmas album in 1984, for example). This compilation, however, mostly avoids the label's bigger names and focuses solely on the lesser-known (and poppier) female half of the Crépuscule roster. Despite containing a few artists best left forgotten and ample evidence of a rabid, but thankfully short-lived fascination with Bossa Nova, there are more hits than misses here and quite a few obscure surprises.
This Colorado duo have always inhabited a rather improbable and lonely niche with their "bootgazer" aesthetic, but their third EP makes it sound like the most natural thing in the world. Due to superficial vocal similarities, I suspect that Joe Sampson and Jeffrey Wentworth Stephens are probably doomed to a lifetime of Wilco comparisons, yet the two groups are pursuing very divergent aesthetic ends: Wentworth Kersey have staked out their own spare, intimate, sublime, and sun-baked territory and betray no aspirations towards changing that any time soon. What has changed, however, is that they keep getting better and better at doing it. Their last EP was certainly pleasant, but it didn't have nearly the wealth of great, instantly memorable songs as they’ve managed to assemble here.
For those Hototogisu fans that are sometimes unlucky enough to miss out on limited editions, this Important Records release is a godsend. Some Blood will Stick takes tracks from both 2004’s Swoon Scream and 2005’s Awful Symmetry (both editions of 100) and it’s unlikely you’ll stumble across one of those for less than thirty pounds these days. The addition of an unreleased track makes this a compulsory purchase for any fans of Matthew Bower (Skullflower/Sunroof!) and Marcia Bassett (Double Leopards/Zaimph).
Wolf Eyes’ second album on Sub Pop follows on from 2004’s Burned Mind like nothing has happened in between. Human Animal may come in slicker packaging but it is more of the same Gristle-worship. That being said, it’s very good and they manage to pack extra menace into every second of every piece.
The Letting Go took me a little a while to get into but that’s something I find with all of Will Oldham’s albums, no matter what name he’s recording under. By now, this album is in my top five albums of his. The songs are of a high standard to begin with but the addition of my favourite drummer, Jim White, and some sublime vocals thanks to Dawn McCarthy have pushed The Letting Go into the Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy big league.
Jessica Rylan dominates this record. After a while the drums and guitars start to fit together and Vampire Belt show themselves to be an entertaining bunch of aspirin-endorsing rockers (who have also worked with Jandek and John Olson), but Rylan's noise is immediately alluring above and beyond their ruckus.
Forgive me for not being excited that one of the Wolf Eyes guys has another record out. It'd be a surprise if one of them, or Wolf Eyes themselves, didn't have a record out once every month or two. While Bad Dreams is not one of those must-have records for mad collectors and noise lovers everywhere, it is a good piece of quiet noise that refuses to enter the "sounds like everyone else making annoying music" field.
This is Jandek's first album since releasing the live document of his performance with Richard Youngs and Alexander Neilson in Glasgow, Scotland. I had feared that some of the mystery that made him so appealing was going to disappear with his emerging worldly presence, but Raining Down Diamonds is as baffling as his legacy and far darker than one might expect from a musician who recently invited his audience far deeper into his house than ever before.
About five years after first announcing it, Peter Christopherson has finally completed the monolithic tombstone for Coil in the form of this lavish 16 DVD box set. Compiling videos of live performances from 1983 up until their final performance in 2004, Colour Sound Oblivion charts the evolution of a sensational group through one of their most fecund periods. Coil seemed to be on a consistently upward spiral in the time period covered by this collection, John Balance's artistic vision becoming stronger and more compelling when connecting with an audience. Despite some ropey moments either in terms of sound quality or the certainly not HD video, Colour Sound Oblivion exceeds all expectations and is as remarkable as could be ever hoped for.
