Being thankful for an earful.
Brand new music by Marie Davidson, Niecy Blues (feat. Joy Guidry), CEL, Marisa Anderson and Luke Schneider, Stina Stjern, Carmen Villain, Murcof, A Lily, and Far Golden Pavilions, with music from the vaults by Tomaga, Ozzobia, Jan Jelinek.
Sushi photo by Lindsay.
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In re-releasing the Washington, DC band's single full-length effort,Polyvinyl brings back a morsel of guitar-laden goodness that's stilltasty 10 years later. I for one am damn glad they did.
This collection of the Leeds, England band's Rough Trade singles andmore showcases a hard-edged and unique sound that's more thanworth digging out of out-of-print oblivion.
Whenthe previously obscure scores were widely released on CD by MotelRecords and Crippled Dick Hot Wax in 1995 as the compilation Vampyros Lesbos: Sexadelic Dance Party,its newfound popularity was in large part responsible for thesubsequent wealth of ‘60s and ‘70s European B-movie soundtracks to bereissued. 
One of the inevitabilities of putting together best-of year-end listsis that there’s always one or two albums that don’t make it on theresimply because it didn’t surface until it was too late. Volcano!, ayoung band from Chicago, make music akin to a nervous fit of rage andare a perfect example of such an unfortunate circumstance.
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Minotaur Shock’s second album (third if you count the compilation of previous EPs and related tracks) is an above average album that slips into self indulgence a little too often. Luckily the album is redeemed by having a strong smile inducing effect thanks to a lot of cheery and buoyant tracks.
4AD
The first couple of minutes of the opening track “Muesli” were not at all promising. The clarinet (which I didn’t like on any of three tracks it appears on) and percussion do nothing for me; the arrangement is far too fussy. Only in the last thirty seconds or so of the song does it gel together when the accordion kicks in. This problem of finicky arrangement thankfully doesn’t continue throughout the record. The tracks fall into one of two groups: the “really laid back and enjoyable” group and the “trying to be imaginative and innovative but failing miserably” group. An example from the first group being “Hilly,” which is good but slips too much into Aphex Twin patented blips, beeps and washes of synth. The second group is mercifully the smaller of the two with the aforementioned “Muesli” being the worst offender.
That being said there were many tracks that engaged me. “Vigo Bay”is a quirky, fun, and uplifting piece. It doesn’t rewrite the rules ofmusic but it bops along delightfully. The track that follows it, “SixFoolish Fishermen,” continues this feelgood vibe. The music soundsbouncy, like something that would be played in a cartoon about sailingaround exotic places having adventures with an animal sidekick(whatever animal that may be).
The biggest problem with Maritime that, when listening to the album in one go, many of the tracks don’t sound that distinct. In smaller doses the little idiosyncratic moments become more noticeable. Unfortunately they are normally hidden under the similar synths and beats that populate all the tracks on the album. As a mood enhancing album this works a charm, the January gloom is lightened considerably whenever I play Maritime.
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With the exception of his 2001 collaboration with Noto and a 12" in 2003, the otherwise prolific Mika Vainio has kept his most respected moniker all but dormant for roughly eight years. Yet 2005 served as a year of resurrection for Ø, with a vinyl reissue of the classic Metri and this curious collection of material recorded during the interim.
Well, the end of 2005 came and went and we unfortunately couldn't coordinate a big hoopla this year for the Brainwashed Year-End Readers' Poll. However, with the new system, we've organized what has been the most popular articles from our site to arrange some kind of a list. Of course, it will differ from everybody else's, but then again, we gotta be us!
Keep in mind, this is the Readers' Poll, this isn't what the staff list as their faves of 2005. (If you want to see that, see the Meet The Staff section and find out more there!) In fact it might not even be what the readers think is the best, but was the most popular reviews they read this year. Kinda lame but it's something....
So, without further adieu, here it is!
Top 50 albums of 2005:
Top 10 Singles of 2005:
Top 5 Compilations of 2005:
Top 10 Reissues/Old Things of 2005:
Top New Artist of 2005:
Lifetime Achievement Recognition:
This category was chosen by the Brainwashed Staff and not the readers. Each year we collectively agree on who to recognize for their devotion to innovative music and this year, once again, we chose to honor a person who's not known for the music he's released but the mark he's left on the world of music. Unfortunately, this year's honoree is also no longer with us to see our appreciation but we know those close to him will.
A lot of names were tossed around in the discussion of this year's Lifetime Achievement recognition, and nobody on our lists came as close to truly defining what it means to have a lifetime of achievement as Bob did. Some of our dear friends were very close to him, and we are all very sad at the world's loss, however, much more important we feel is the world's gain. Bob Moog has effected nearly all the music we geeks listen, mostly indirectly but often directly.
NormallyI'd be suspicious of something like the Lady Sovereign phenomenon—thehype machine, the registered trademark, the inevitable references tothe name that's on everyone's lips (M.I.A.)—it all feels like a setup, and it probably is. But something about "the white midget" justmakes me want to get stupid and bounce, and I think that's clearly thepoint.
Noise is an acquired taste requiring an open mind and maybe a little background information. I've never known anyone to hear one noise group and instantly fall in love with the genre. Phil Blankenship's noise project is out to make that fact doubly true. Night of the Bloody Tapes is noise for noise extremists. Its fuzzed out, unrelenting, damaged presentation is confrontational and angry. The attack simply never stops on this record.Troniks
The Cherry Points work with Yellow Swans was loud as hell, but lacked the confrontational edge Blankenship has molded on his latest full-length. For over forty minutes a steady stream of feedback, white noise, and the sounds of fire turned up to ear-bleeding levels pours through the speakers. It isn't lazy noise, it's noise bound and determined to tear some things to shreds, to remove limbs from bodies, and to generally wreak havoc. The cover art and accompanying stickers suggest Blankenship is trying to fuse some B-movie horror with his noise, but I can't imagine this noise as a soundtrack to anything but an orgy of blood. (A real orgy of blood, not a movie version.) The intensity feels so real and unhinged that I finally got a glimpse of how the most extreme of metal and noise gets compared.
I've seen people dance and head bang at noise shows before. I watched and thought it was supposed to be ironic or sarcastic somehow, a product of the scene's disgust for convention. Only a few times have I ever felt noise move my body and that was usually in a violent manner. The Cherry Point convey a heaviness, though, that makes me want to throw up my hands and bang my head until my neck is sore. The ferocity Blankenship has unearthed in the static and rumble of his machines isn't unlike the blister forming guitar work of the heaviest death metal bands. Gone are the growling vocals, replaced by the sheer sound and a total disregard for listenable melodies or conventional rhythms of any kind. Death metal took sound further away from the norms of rock and pop, but noise has sent it over the edge. A live show like this might inspire head banging; it might also cause bleeding ears, spontaneous violence, and rioting. This does not bode well for Hollywood, Blankenship's base of operation. I find it interesting that some of the most extreme music this side of the Pacific is coming from the land of plastic surgery and generally fake dispositions. Either Blankenship is tapped into the violence that is bubbling just below the surface or he's giving everyone a taste of where that senseless, star-worshipping, shallow approach to everything can go.
That said, I'm surprised by how many times I've hit the play button on this disc. There are plenty of noise records I enjoy listening to about once a month. Night of the Bloody Tapes has found its way into my car, onto my computer's play list, and into my walkman when I go running. I've listened to it three times in the last two days. For all its violent destruction, the constant stream of noise it provides eventually blanks my mind completely. I wouldn't say it puts me in a safe or contemplative place, it just completely zaps my memory and my ability to function. I wouldn't make this my first noise purchase, nor would I heartily recommend it to anyone already listening to noise. This is for the enthusiast, for the noise addict who simply needs something more insane and more intense. Night of the Bloody Tapes is abusively harsh noise and one of the only records of its kind that I've come to enjoy.
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This will either sound like attractively sweet pop or derivative reminiscence depending on who is listening. I tend to think 90% of the material is total crap and, at times, I can sing the songs Ariel Pink is copying from because his material is so obviously dependent on its influences. It'd be easier to outright hate this record if the songs weren't catchy at times.
Paw Tracks
Instead of naming the ten or so bands that immediately came to mind while listening to whatever song, I'll just be quick to point out that sometimes imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and that Ariel Pink is at least flattering bands I like on House Arrest. I was tapping my foot on many of the songs and, after listening to the album about three times, I learned to skip the ones that just bored me. This makes the album a hell of a lot more enjoyable; it eases the pain of Ariel Pink's forced delivery, cooling his pseudo-sexual pout and extending the shelf life of the decent songs by quite a lot. After three listens, however, House Arrest as a whole loses all of its appeal. Whatever gimmicks caught me ear the first few times lose their glimmer and suddenly even catchy songs like "Alisa" are cast in a new, and not so shining, light.
I have a hard time understanding why anyone would want to devote their time and album space to musical endeavors already explored by other bands in the first place. Anyone with talent like Ariel Pink has should be writing music that tries to go somewhere new instead of wasting that energy on pop rock that's been done better elsewhere. So few bands can improve on another band's style without sounding contrived, anyways. Why not just take some chances and make an album you haven't heard before? That aside, I know some people like hearing nostalgia. Ariel Pink is good at it, but the spells he might cast on listeners won't last long after everyone wakes up and decides they want to hear something new and exciting. Consider this a temporary fix for music enthusiasts that just can't get enough of what Ariel Pink has to offer: bopping, rattling, synth-laden, catchy pop melodies with dance rhythms.
Until this whole nostalgia thing passes over, Ariel Pink's name will get tossed around a lot; the name itself will evoke a kind of indie awe, I'm sure, because Ariel Pink is the real underground deal doing the real underground pop. It doesn't matter who is doing it, though, nostalgic music for people who weren't even around when the original musical movement happened is the same no matter who is making it or what label they're on. Some just handle their influences better than others. I'm surprised the throwback syndrome has reached as far as the Paw Tracks label and Ariel Pink. I understand his style is of a strange heritage, but honestly there is nothing amazing or particularly "out there" about Ariel Pink except for his strict worship of AM radio. Maybe once every year or so I'll get the urge to hear some of these songs, but the rest of the time House Arrest will remain locked up in a box or on a shelf somewhere, waiting to be played and collecting dust.
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A rerelease and reworking of long out-of-print album, this two-CD set was worth the wait. The second CD, Sideways, a remix of the first CD, 1998's Underarms. Underarms itself is a reworking of The Hope Blister's ...Smile's OKalbum. Trying to describe this album is like looking into two mirrorsfacing each other: the music echoes and comes back to itself, rather likemirrors reflecting the same image into each other for eternity. Sideways is the Underarms disk remixed into a blurry drone. It's a smooth river rock of an album, with few of the rough edges of Underarms.It's pleasant and enjoyable, but it's not radically different from,say, the "Sweet Medicine" tracks on Underarms, with the spacey blurpsof "Iota" arising on "Sideways 4."
I can see myself often putting on these CDs for an evening curled upwith a thick book, a glass of chianti, and maybe a dozing cat at myfeet.
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