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12 July 2006

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Albums and Singles

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.

ICR

“June 22,” the first of the two half hour tracks, begins with the by-now familiar greeting of Utvaer’s most beloved Deadhead, echoed by his perky sidekick. As they vanish, something sinister appears in their place. The image most prominent in my mind is of a furnace possessed by spirits best left unidentified, swelling into aggressive bursts of volume in increasing lengths as the track progresses, with a particularly bone-rattling eruption occurring just after the twenty minute mark. Frequently the sound hovers like thick, humid air, as if waiting for an unnamed menace to slither forth from the darkness. A subdued alarm bell appears out of the fog from time to time, commingling with faint metallic overtones on the fringe of perception while revenant gasps hiss in the mist. Even listening to the this track in the daylight, I have to say that I found it to be one of the more viscerally thrilling and frightening Nurse With Wound experiences I’ve had in a while, much like the gut feeling I used to get just before the initial drop on a roller coaster.

As the last track in the Shipwreck series, “July 13” is quite the headcleaner. After the initial greetings, loops of the phrase “Welcome to Shipwreck Radio” are subjected to repeated unsettling voice manipulations that become a rippling landscape of their own, stretching syllables into unnatural technological groans. Each time the phrase returns, it is slower and contains more glitch material, eventually obfuscating the source completely. As the length of the recurring phrase increases, so too does the silence between the repetitions. The slower the voice gets, the more it sounds like broken zeros and ones, high-pitched tones with little musical value. Because of this, the track feels more like an algorithmic exercise than a creative one. I can’t imagine what was going through the minds of the Norwegians tuning in to this particular broadcast, though I wouldn’t be surprised if they smacked their radios a few times thinking something was broken. In some ways, the predictable pattern of “July 13” is the antithesis of the previous track’s ability to surprise, and it’s one I probably won’t return to frequently. Even so, the force of “June 22” alone is enough to make this release an invigorating addition to the group’s catalog.

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12 July 2006

Administrator

Albums and Singles

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.

Killer Pimp

Ken Ueno’s vocals are incredible. He goes from deep, booming growls to high pitched squeals, the kind that I would normally associate with a boiling kettle or Blixa Bargeld. Using circular breathing techniques Ueno keeps his vocals going continuously for large stretches of time (growling on the exhalation, squealing on the inhalation). As well as being physically impressive, it goes well with Whitney and Worster’s rhythms and noise. Ueno is ever present but sometimes gets overwhelmed by the other two. It’s not like he’s just lost in the mix, he still colors the sound at these moments. On “Delillo” he is particularly remarkable, his rumbling snarls sound like something from Lovecraft calling from the abyss.

The opening drone to “Following Thunder” is one of those drones that just capture your attention. It swells and pulses throughout the piece; it sounds primal and infinite like a good drone should. Ueno again is on top form here with some amazing throat and overtone singing. It is unbelievable how huge his range of vocals is, especially the buzzing sound he emits. The piece is the most hypnotic of the five on Axis of Blood, I had it on repeat for about an hour and it was easy to get lost in it.

The last piece, “Jet,” finishes off the album beautifully. The drum machine is set to a deep bass drum sound with a low BPM; it is reminiscent of Throbbing Gristle’s “Hamburger Lady” and much like the TG track it is full of dread. It completely dissipates the warm feelings that “Following Thunder” previously generated. This is cold, hard and unsettling. It feels about twice as long as it is (and it’s over twenty minutes long to begin with); it’s not that it’s tedious and I was waiting for it to end but that it’s monotonous and crushing. The noise surrounding the beats change slowly; there is a constant feeling that something is nearby and it’s not pleasant. As the song reaches its climax, the drum machine changes to a heartbeat rhythm and it is terrifying to listen to. If The Terminator was ever remade as an extreme Japanese horror movie then “Jet” would be the appropriate soundtrack.

Also included on the CD are two videos of Blood Money performing live. One is a complete concert that although it sounds good I found it hard to look at as when it's blown up to full screen it is too blurry and it's too small to watch comfortably when the picture is clear. The other video is a shorter extract from a live performance in much higher quality that was much more enjoyable. The material played live isn't a carbon copy of the studio recordings. There is a lot of improvisation and variation; the Blood Money live experience looks to be as good as they are on disc but the quality of the videos is quite low as they needed to be squashed onto the disc. As a bonus feature, it is a nice gesture. However I must admit that I rarely watch videos on CD Extra discs as I hate sitting at my computer watching a tiny screen with tinny sound. I'll be most likely sticking with the audio on Axis of Blood.

I found no fault with this album (barring my aversion to videos on CDs). A cynical reader would think “Of course he wouldn’t find a fault” considering Brainwashed’s Jon Whitney is on it. I must point out that even though he sends me some lovely CDs to review, he also sends me some absolutely horrid ones so there’s no chance of critical nepotism here. Axis of Blood is an excellent release, anyone with half an interest in challenging music performed deftly should be making a beeline for the samples below.

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11 July 2006

Administrator

Albums and Singles

From a seed of a gentle warm up drone this single untitled track becomes a wrenching guttural live thing that just won‚Äôt settle. With all this spiky movement the track doesn‚Äôt have an overall feel to it; it‚Äôs more like a smeared splurge of sound across the disc. It works but it‚Äôs not giving anything away.

Low Point

In its early stages a heavy languor rolls through the air as chimes of tin and steel slowly rattle around its core. These free percussion rolls come forwards in rushes as cymbals pick out glints of light. As this metal icing slides up and down, there‚Äôs a fierce choleric underlying hum that pervades much of the eighteen minutes.

This feedback rends through the arbitrary structures emblazoning it with almost comprehensible rock sourced sound. There are stretches of busted balled trio wrecking performance in here, but its lack of overall tone means it comes over as a little unsure of its destination or even its purpose. Still its punchy and thick enough at times to keep me engaged even if its isn‚Äôt giving any easy paths/atmospheres to follow.

The artwork is an outstandingly smart accompaniment, a black and white Vertigo / Damien Hirst crossover. It‚Äôs a vast improvement on the label‚Äôs second release art, which was a yellow wallpaper sample.

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CDR#3

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11 July 2006

Albums and Singles

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.

11 July 2006

Administrator

Albums and Singles

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.

Arts & Crafts

The jazz-inflected opener “Inside (The Corrections)” finds Seltmann singing in the role of a child while Lekman answers as the adult, overshadowing her with his confidence and pleasant voice. The inequality is more evenly balanced when she accompanies him, but he clearly steals the show on this one. Likewise, Broken Social Scene’s remix of “I’ve Got You and You’ve Got Me” is the highlight of the EP. After initially turning her voice robotic, the song becomes a surprisingly delicate, dreamy pop tune that transcends the original, which itself has the dubious distinction of appearing in a television commercial. Seltmann’s other version of this song also included here has a likeably weird intro and the music’s performed on distorted guitar, a genuinely different take that slowly disintegrates as the melody gets lost in the feedback. The other three songs are all respectable, if not terribly memorable.

The prettiest of these, “Trigger,” is an adaptation of a song by Rae Howell, who also plays the mellophone on this track. “The Beginning of the End” finds Seltmann strumming a guitar in her most chanteuse-like moment, singing what’s very nearly a lullaby. Although slightly marred by a few awkward phrases, the song’s redeemed by her earnest sincerity. On the other hand, the chamber pop of “Stay Here While You’re Gone” feels somewhat too earnest and goes on longer than necessary to get the point across. Seltmann’s child-like voice and light arrangements may not have won me over completely, but there are enough fine moments on this EP to keep me interested.

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11 July 2006

Administrator

Albums and Singles

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.

Audraglint

One look at the roster put together for this celebratory release had my mouth watering. Perhaps my laziness had gotten the best of me, but I had no idea that Audraglint had released music from so many fantastic bands. Upon listening, I was practically jumping for joy because all those fantastic bands I did know were joined by a gaggle of spectacular sounding bands I was entirely unfamiliar with. If Audraglint is a label that has you scratching your head, then here's the quick rundown: among other things Brian Foote of Nudge is the co-owner and label manager, they've been releasing their music in the same format from the start (white wax vinyl only, matte digipaks for compact discs, and all artwork by David Nakamoto), and they've released music from artists who have also appeared on labels like Kranky, Kitty-Yo, Community Library, Tigerbeat6, and Morr Music.

All songs are exclusive to this compilation and nearly all of them are little gems that run the gamut from sexy and seductive to goofy, funky, and unexpected. Grizzly Bear rises out of a fog of soft vocal delivery and strummed acoustic guitar only to reveal that they are covering a song from one of Yes' worst albums. "Owner of a Lonely Heart" turns out to be one of the highlights on the disc. It is a balladic, minimal interpretation of a song that was known for its excess and remembered fondly by me for its outrageous drum solo and weird use of synthesizer. As the disc continues, the diversity this label has represented really begins to show. Some bands give you what you might expect from a compilation with Kid 606 on it, others deliver a song or a piece of music so unexpected that it's hard to believe the whole comp fits together as well as it does.

Signaldrift contribute a smooth, nocturnal and club oriented track that rumbles with Bowery synthetic work and all manner of twitching glitch accompaniment. Caural invokes a breath of the exotic, Tarwater tap into the robotic and monotonous only to come away with a unexpectedly sweet result, Magwheels bring vocal harmony to a world of drift and desert swarms, Marc Hellner unleashes sweet programmed melodies and feather-soft percussion, and just about every second each of the other bands put to this disc is equally worth mentioning, but if I were to mention them all in the detail they deserve, you'd be looking at a book of a review. All anybody needs to know is that Audraglint and all the bands involved filled up 73 minutes of compact disc with nothing but solid, entertaining, surprising music. The last time I heard this kind of quality all in the same place it was Kranky doing the compiling. A great part about the whole deal is that this is a great place to start with the label, a great way to learn about some bands that obviously need a bit more exposure, and a chance to catch some new material even if all the bands on this disc have already made their way to your ears in one way or another.

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11 July 2006

Administrator

Albums and Singles

Neurot

“Inerrant Infallible (Black Ships at Ninevah and Edom)” continues the lyrical themes found on Current 93’s most recent album. Musically it has little in common with that album, apart from the grinding riffage found on the title track. In addition to some wonderfully bizarre vocals (ranging from the biblical to the hallucinatory to Reese Witherspoon), Tibet also contributes a great repetitive bass line and a shroud of dissonant guitars. Catriona MacAffer plays some powerful bagpipes which complement both Tibet and the mood of the song. This is further proof that Tibet is at the top of his craft right now.

On the other side, OM’s “Rays of the Sun/To the Shrinebuilder” is exactly what I was expecting from them. Al Cisneros provides some seriously killer bass and his lyrics, although still impenetrable, are better than on OM’s two albums. Chris Hakius’s drumming is impeccable as usual. I was a little disappointed with their last album, Conference of the Birds but this has dusted away any doubts that they had lost their way too soon.

Inerrant Rays of Infallible Sun (Blackship Shrinebuilder) is an imposing and impressive release. Current 93’s side is slightly better than OM’s but both are of a high quality. I look forward to the forthcoming CD release as I imagine this 10” will become well worn over the coming weeks.

samples unavailable, sorry

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10 July 2006

Matthew Amundsen

Albums and Singles

The Cherry Point and Comets on Fire‚Äôs Noel von Harmonson create a monstrous cauldron of noise on this one-sided 7" record.

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TRONIKS/PACrec

Recorded live in Los Angeles, the piece begins with a small voice before what sounds like a revving motorcycle kicks in. Pulsing chaos, feedback squeals like tortuous wails, and rifling electronic exhaust combine in a miasmic fog that could erase memories. Ending in a prolonged screech, the cacophony seems but a short-lived nightmare once the needle lifts.

Part of me appreciates the uniqueness of such a slab of one-sided vinyl, yet the other part of me wonders what further mischief this pair could get into were they allowed more room to grow.

10 July 2006

John Kealy

Albums and Singles

This split 7” features two very different artists from Dublin: Paul O’Reilly is a softly sung singer songwriter and (retards) are no wave disco funk electronica or something along those lines. This is a bit of a lukewarm release, not bad but not essential by any means.

Plastic Donkey

This is my first time hearing O’Reilly and, while I’m not particularly bowled over by it, “Take Care of Each Other” is a nice, simple song. The keyboard melody backed by a drum machine is delicate and relaxing and his lyrics are engaging but it didn’t really click with me. I’d have to hear more of his work to make my mind up on whether I like him or not.

As for (retards), “Ich bin ein Shitlander” is a bit of a break from their usual headfuck. It starts off with a minute or so of a discordant refrain which doesn’t go anywhere in particular. It then breaks into the song proper which sounds more familiar but lacks the full noisy assault that they normally employ; usually samplers and synthesiser are rattling my skull. However a new drummer does bring a new element to their sound that is promising. As I know (retards) are capable of better, this release wouldn’t be top of my list of tracks to recommend to someone unfamiliar with them.

10 July 2006

John Kealy

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