A big deal has been made in the underground music press about China’s new music. Comparisons with other geographically unified music scenes like New York’s No Wave movement echo throughout the web but as Sub Rosa’s recent overview of Chinese music has shown, the idea of a single scene (or even a geographical localisation of protagonists) is a false notion. This duo from Beijing sound nothing like any of their contemporaries and they sound little like their admitted influences. White impressed me greatly last year when I saw them live in London and now that their debut album is finally available, they have floored me yet again.
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While Conference Live does not come near to representing the true live sound of Om (mainly due to the amplification limitations of any home stereo), it is a huge step up from the miserable-sounding Live at Jerusalem LP that emerged last year on Southern Lord. That recording’s muddy sound quality turned Al Cisneros’ and Chris Hakius’ thunderous roar into a tinny yawn. This time, the music is clearly defined and has buckets of body to it. Sound is not the only change, Emil Amos from Grails is now beating the skins instead of Hakius. It is a big change but Amos fills Hakius’ drum stool most capably.
Taking a moment out from Jackie O Motherfucker, Nick Bindeman’s schizophrenic assault on psychedelic pop has resulted in a filthy and ecstatic collection of songs that makes his usual band sound meek and girly by comparison. Throughout this limited edition cassette, Bindeman tries to merge as many different streams of rock and pop music together into one glorious, drugged mess.
Following his brilliant stoner rock by way of minimalist compositions album The Invisible Mountain, Horseback’s Jenks Miller has delivered another release of carefully calculated minimalism in the old school vein, but here with a bit more of a noise and shoegaze sense.
Both artists on this brief 7" are going in directions that are perhaps unexpected with their sound, and that’s for the best. The Stillbirth track mixes elements of traditional noise and bits of music, while Prurient’s work is an electro-acoustic collage with some overt synth work that’s not far from something that’d be heard from his work in Cold Cave.
A new album from Lisa Germano is always a noteworthy event, as each of her periodic hiatuses has threatened to be a permanent one. Magic Neighbor, Lisa's first new album in three years, shows that an evolution has been occurring during her recent silence: an unexpected amount of light is now filtering into her creaky, melancholy, and decayed little sonic snow globes. This shift in direction, however, is still in a bit of an awkward stage.
The Tupac Shakur of dissonant Islamic dub, death hasn’t slowed down Bryn Jones, who has still been prolific for over a decade after he passed away. The 11 tracks on this LP and 12" set are all from his most prolific period in 1997. Unsurprisingly, this is Muslimgauze by the numbers that does nothing drastically different or innovative than the slew of other releases from the era, and thus is really only recommendable for hardcore zealots and the dabbler who hasn't picked up an album from Jones in awhile.
An appropriate coda for the URSK series on Utech, the slew of drone oriented releases from both established (Skullflower, Final) and the up and coming (Aluk Todolo, RST) ends with a new project featuring visual artist Steven Kasner (the SK of URSK) and collaborators including Yoshiko Ohara (Bloody Panda) clashes ethereal and oppressive dynamics to maximum effectiveness.
Kristin's principled self-emancipation from record labels seems to have had a noticeably invigorating effect on her work, as Speedbath features some of her strongest songs in recent memory. Notably, Hersh's newfound career optimism has not infected her songwriting one bit: these 12 songs brood and bristle with characteristic dark intensity (even more so than usual, actually).
In 2007, To Kill A Petty Bourgeoisie began their first album on Kranky with a shriek of piercing noise. The album that followed was layered with dirty rhythms and walls of sound that were as dense and deformed as they were pretty. On Marlone, Mark McGee and Jehna Wilhelm have opened up their sound and, as a result, crafted a spacious and sprawling album far more dynamic and layered than their debut.
