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.
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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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
With songs about drowning, roadkill, and nails in the head, the second album from Made Out of Babies finds the group assaulting the ears, leaving welts and bruises as tokens of affection.
Processed sound of this nature pales in comparison to what z'ev has done in the past. The album begins with a bang, thrusting an assault of metallic sound out of the speakers immediately. As it progresses, and true to the rather esoteric liner notes, this symphony of sorts descends into a calm stillness that does not grab my attention in the same way that much of z'ev's work has before.
Grails show the extent of their skill on the nine songs included here with a departure from their established sound. Black Tar Prophecies is easily the best thing they’ve done so far. They’ve found their own distinct sound and are all the better for it.
Hats off to anyone who managed to collect all 13 lathe cuts that this LP compiles, but you can now file them away for a rainy ebay. It’s refreshing to see a label that’s specialised, so far, in miniature runs of lathes attempting to get the music out to a wider audience. As well as being considerably lighter on the wallet, Aryan Asshole Records Compilation Volume 1 is an excellent snapshot of the current cream of the crop in the American underground. Stick this in a time capsule, give it twenty years and it’ll be the new Nuggets.
