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February 2021 = |
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Causa Sui |
Yawning Man |
Kaleidoscope |
Southeast
of Saturn comp |
David Marquiss |
Big Eyes Family |
Saturnia |
Beauty
Hunters |
Earthball |
Fingerwolf |
Mainliner |
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CAUSA
SUI - SZABODELICO
(LP/CD/Digital
on El
Paraiso Records)
This
is a new phase Causa Sui album.
It takes a lot for a band to be called
legendary, but over 15 years, Jonas Munk
(guitar), Jakob Skøtt
(drums), Jess Kahr (bass), and Rasmus Rasmussen
(keyboards) have earned the title.
Over that span, the Danish instrumental
psych-jazz band have blessed us with far more
adventurous, imaginative music than we,
imperfect species that we are, deserve.
With Szabodelico, the band continues to
evolve into new musical strata that commands our
attention, and rewards it handsomely.
If
you’re looking for the long, psychedelic jams of
yore filled with Jonas Munk’s astonishing
shredding, spoiler alert, it isn’t here.
But in its place are 13 pieces crafted
with stunning invention and wonder, and melody,
melody, always melody.
Like the great Hungarian-American jazz
guitarist Gábor
Szabó
for whom the record’s named, the music itself
seeks its own direction, far out ahead of the
pack.
Brief
opener “Echoes of Light” is a warm-up, both for
Causa Sui and you, the listener.
It’s sort of the rock version of the
tune-up you’d hear a symphony orchestra doing
before snapping into focus and launching into
their program. “Echoes”
segues naturally into “Gabor’s Path,” an
uplifting, tuneful work that could be a swinging
soundtrack to a late Sixties movie.
The cool Sixties soundtrack vibe
continues and shoots into the Seventies with
“Sole Elettrico,” which sees Munk and Rasmussen
trade guitar and organ licks, with some
particularly propulsive rhythms set by Kahr and
Skøtt,
before ending with some moody flute.
“Sole Elettrico” is the kind of track you
might expect to hear by fellow Scandinavians
Dungen, which means it’s fabulous.
“Vibratone”
is almost a bossa nova-meets-surf track, and
they fit together quite well, actually.
Many
tracks
convey a sense of almost library music-like
cinematic mystery, such as “Rosso Di Sera Bel
Tempo Si Sera.”
The title track is about the only one to
traverse near the borders of Causa Sui’s classic
psych guitar jam realm.
At seven minutes, it’s the second longest
track on the album – another departure for them,
as that’s just a cup of coffee on some of their
previous LPs. Rest
assured, they’ve still got their chops.
What
sets Szabodelico apart, nay, elevates it from
previous Causa Sui works are its quiet, highly
effective mood pieces.
“Laetitia” is all warm electric piano,
flutes, and synth flourishes, a stop in a
tropical garden along our journey.
“Honeydew” sees Munk trade the clean
guitar tone for an effects pedal in a dreamy
desert oasis. The
rippling quasar “Premonitions” is my second
favorite song on the album, with Munk’s hypnotic
guitar looping in undulating psychedelic pulses.
But my
favorite by a mile is the sunshiny joy washing
over you of “La Jolla.”
Since La Jolla is a suburb of San Diego,
and earlier in the year Munk, as part of the
Ellis/Munk Ensemble, released the LP ‘San Diego
Sessions,’ I’m guessing “La Jolla” had something
to do with happy times during a sojourn in
bucolic southern California.
The track is pure laid back West Coast
heaven, somewhere between what you might hear
from yet another great Scandinavian band The
Amazing, and a Dickey Betts instrumental from
the Allman Brothers.
I could listen to “La Jolla” on repeat
all day long.
Although
the recording sessions predate the pandemic,
Szabodelico has many of the hallmarks of a 2020
album, with many of its songs aiming squarely to
bring comfort and encouragement for rough times.
That it’s so beautifully polished in
their Odense studio instead of a low-fi bedroom
somewhere is to our everlasting benefit.
Causa Sui remain faithful to their art,
their explorations as ever full of excellence
and creativity.
(Mark
Feingold)
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YAWNING
MAN – LIVE AT GIANT ROCK
(LP/CD/Digital
on Plastic
Cactus
Records and Heavy
Psych
Sounds Records)
Yawning
Man, perhaps the kings of Desert Rock, offer
this sensational release – both an extraordinary
album and a DVD, recorded and filmed live in the
middle of the pandemic with maximal social
distancing, since besides the band not much is
out there besides rocks, sand and a few distant
rock climbers. This
is about a great band coming full circle.
The
band got their start in the mid-1980s playing
“generator parties” with friends in the Mojave
Desert, when there were no real venues nearby to
play or see live music in their distant outpost.
Decades later and a successful recording
and touring band, their schedule was cleared
like everyone else’s with the arrival of the
pandemic. Yawning
Man has wanted to do this project for about 20
years and the time was right to finally put it
all together.
What
you get is 47 minutes of some of the most laid
back, yet electrifying stoner groove committed
to plastic. Beginning
with the hum of the portable generator, followed
by some outer space effects, the band launch
into the 15 minute “Tumbleweeds in the Snow,”
the longest track in the sequence.
Guitarist Gary Arce sets a truly
mesmerizing tone that just won’t quit, and bass
player Mario Lalli and drummer Bill Stinson
provide the perfect rhythm, crunchy at times,
placid others. It’s
slow and majestic, Arce’s guitar ringing and
echoing through the empty desert’s sand and
boulders. Oh,
and one more thing:
You must play it loud.
To
be honest, the rest of the tracks in the
improvised set don’t deviate much from the sonic
blueprint of “Tumbleweeds in the Snow” and it’s
rather pointless to discuss the finer aspects
track by track.
Normally that’s a demerit for an album,
but not in this case.
Live at Giant Rock plays as one long
master class of desert space guitar hypnotism,
with tiny breaks separating the tracks.
Only the bonus track “Space Finger”
varies slightly to my ears, going one more
galaxy to the left and deeper into space than
the others, though your mileage may vary.
Yawning
Man were inspired by ‘Pink Floyd Live at
Pompeii’ for their template, and the comparison
is apt. Gary
Arce’s guitar playing has some Gilmour elements,
and Bill Stinson’s drumming is as rock solid but
uncomplicated as Nick Mason’s.
The DVD, honchoed by Sam Grant, is well
worth watching.
Three quarters of it was shot with
iPhones, the rest with a drone and digital
cameras. When
you see it, it’s quite impressive how far one
can go in filmmaking these days with the
ubiquitous handheld phone.
Hard to imagine, but due to the desert
heat, recording and filming began at 5 AM, and
was wrapped by noon, all in one day in May 2020.
When
considering locations, the band reportedly
considered among other sites a former nudist
colony called the Nude Bowl, but eventually
settled on Giant Rock.
The scene looks a little like Mars as
seen by a NASA rover with a rock band
conspicuously spotted.
When I asked my Southern California
dwelling son where Giant Rock was in the Mojave,
he said “Dad, there are a lot of giant rocks out
there.” But
it’s a landmark in the middle of nowhere popular
with UFO investigators, world travelers and
scientists. It’s
one of the largest freestanding boulders in the
world, and was even bigger until a huge chunk
broke off in 2000.
Giant
Rock might also be a good way to describe
Yawning Man’s towering performance.
The album and DVD are a standout, sure to
make you forget about winter frostbite and
plagues for a little while.
(Mark
Feingold)
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SKY
CHILDREN: THE BEST OF
KALEIDOSCOPE & FAIRFIELD PARLOUR
(CD/DVD
available on Beyond
Before)
This
career-spanner
collects 17 tracks from cult psychedelic
favourites Kaleidoscope and their proggier
successors Fairfield Parlour, including three
non-LP singles and a rare 1964 demo recorded
when they were known as The Sidekicks. Tipping
heavily towards their Kaleidoscope incarnation,
the collection is ostensibly geared towards the
US market, as all of these tracks have been
previously available across numerous UK
compilations. However, it will appeal to all
fans due to the inclusion of a DVD featuring
previously unreleased archival footage of a 1967
performance on French TV, an unaired 1970
performance recorded for the legendary German Beat
Club programme, plus the final
Kaleidoscope performance, filmed in 2017 as part
of their Tangerine Dream 50th
Anniversary Tour.
Highlights among Kaleidoscope’s eight
tracks (four each from their two brilliant
Fontana albums, Tangerine Dream (1967) and Faintly
Blowing (1969)) include their sensational
1967 psychedelic pop debut ‘Flight From Ashiya’,
Faintly
Blowing’s mesmerising title track and
headswirling, phased monster ‘Music’, their
eponymous “theme song” ‘Kaleidoscope’, the
Donovanesque epic ‘Sky Children’ (cf., ‘Legend
Of A Girl Child Linda’), and two jaunty singles,
‘A Dream For Julie’ and the swaying sea shanty
pub singalong ‘Do It Again For Jeffrey’. Sadly,
neither troubled the charts.
The band recorded the sprawling
conceptual prog opera White-Faced
Lady in 1970-71 but it remained unreleased
for two decades, which is a shame as its
orchestral and brass arrangements, eminently
memorable score, and refreshingly original
literary story place it alongside such other
acknowledged masterpieces as Nirvana’s Story
Of Simon Simopath and the Bee Gees’ Odessa.
Of three selections on offer (and by no means
the best), the mournful ‘Long Way Down’ and
melancholic story of ‘Nursey Nursey’ hint at the
pleasures within.
Philips released a single of the band’s
official theme song to the 1970 Isle Of Wight
festival under the pseudonym I Luv Wight
(unfortunately not included here). Both tracks
were written by band songwriters Eddy Pumer and
Peter Daltrey, also using pseudonyms. This may
have been for legal reasons, as the band had
signed to Vertigo and officially changed their
name to Fairfield Parlour, releasing their only
album From
Home
To Home the same month (August). Similar
to the unreleased White-Faced
Lady in its elaborate arrangements and
elegant brass and string embellishments, two
tracks feature here, the best being the haunting
‘Emily’ with a dreamy mood that’s sort of a
cross between “Eleanor Rigby’ and Donovan’s
‘Young Girl Blues’. Fairfield Parlour also
released the wonderful flowery pop single
‘Bordeaux Rosé’,
included here in all its sitar-drenched frilly
finery.
The band’s formative years are
presented via a demo from their 1964 incarnation
as The Sidekicks, ‘What Can I Do’. Daltrey
previously released all known Sidekicks acetate
recordings on his Alchemy imprint in 2003, so
fans of this decidedly more raucous beat sound
should seek that out. ‘What Can I Do’ is a
catchy rollicking workout with a sweaty
Stones-meets-Who/High Numbers groove.
The half-hour DVD is the real prize
here. The first segment features the band miming
to both sides of their ‘Flight From Ashiya’
single (‘Holiday Maker’ is the flip) while a
typically bored Serge Gainsbourg looks on and a
fruging France Gall dances onstage.
Disappointingly, their psychedelic finery is
lost in the black-and-white footage. The two
performances and interview from the French TV
show Le
Petit Dimanche Illustré
were originally broadcast 22 October 1967.
The German Beat Club performances are presented in glorious colour with
suitably psychedelic effects and product
placements galore and feature Fairfield Parlour
miming to three selections from their lone From Home To Home album released two months prior to the October
1970 taping. The trippy ‘Free’, brilliantly
dreary death rattle of ‘Emily’ and a silly
Barrettesque ‘Sunny Side Circus’ wherein the
band seem to be having more fun than the viewer
are a treasure for newcomers and collectors
alike. The latter two tracks were released as a
single (mysteriously, only in Australia!)
Finally, two selections from a
fan-filmed performance of Daltrey fronting the
latest incarnation of Kaleidoscope for the
Tangerine Dream 50th Anniversary Tour
at Hoxton Hall on 11 November 2017 give us a
swooning ‘Dive Into Yesterday’ in all its myriad
time signature changes and brain-frying glory
and a rafters-rattling ‘Music’ featuring the
return of original drummer Dan Bridgman! In a
heart-warming final adieu, the release is
dedicated to former members Steve Clark, the
bassist who died in a car crash in 1999 and
guitarist/songwriter Eddy Pumer who died in
September 2020.
A lack of liners, the standard
inclusions/omissions dilemma (most egregious
being the absence of perhaps their finest moment
and one of the apogees of UK psychedelia, ‘Dive
Into Yesterday” that only happens to feature as
the background music of the DVD promo!), and the
frustrating non-chronological sequencing that
alternates tracks from the two very different
projects (and releases) are the only detractions
from a representative set that should encourage
newcomers to seek out the complete catalogue.
(Jeff
Penczak)
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VARIOUS
ARTISTS
– SOUTHEAST OF SATURN
(LP/Digital
on Third
Man Records)
You
could be forgiven for thinking of Detroit as not
exactly the sweet soft center in the candy that
is the shoegaze or space rock movement.
But during the 90s the Motor City was
home to a small but thriving underground scene
of Brit-loving youth, enraptured by the
reverberating sounds emanating across the pond.
That fleeting self-contained world is
lovingly encapsulated in Southeast of Saturn,
robustly rounded up by Michigander Jack White’s
Third Man Records.
At 19 tracks and nearly 80 minutes, the
set gives you an excellent glimpse of the
microcosm.
If
fire requires three elements – fuel, oxygen and
heat – the burgeoning Detroit shoegaze and space
rock scene’s version of the three elements was
the independent Play It Again record store,
which stocked choice imports picked up by owner
Alan Kovan on trips to the UK; local DJ Larry
Hoffman’s radio show; and Hoffman’s small Burnt
Hair record label.
Most of the tracks on this collection
were originally released on 7-inch wax.
Of course, with a comp like this you’re
going to like some offerings better than others;
but the playlist is so strong, even if you
encounter a track not to your liking, you’re
sure to go not more than a song or two before
scoring big elsewhere.
Southeast
of Saturn divvies up the preponderance of tracks
to roughly, but not exclusively more shoegaze in
the first half and space rock in the second
half. Mind
you, when we say space rock, we’re not talking
of lengthy Hawkwind or Pink Floyd missives, but
rather short hit-and-run statements with enough
brevity for a 7” record, often not fully formed
into coherent song structures, and wonderful for
it.
Kicking
off with Majesty Crush’s ode to a creepy stalker
“No. 1 Fan,” the indebtedness to Slowdive,
Spacemen 3, The Jesus and Mary Chain and My
Bloody Valentine is evident.
Füxa,
who’d go on to a relatively long, if unfairly
undistinguished career, contributes the dreamy
instrumental “Photon,” which nearly floats away
on a cloud. The
Delta Waves continue with nearly the yang to
Photon’s ying, the repetitive, hypnotic,
downward-looking “Andromeda Drone.”
We
have from Windy & Carl - perhaps the
best-known artists of the lot - the bright,
chiming guitar “Instrumental No. 2.”
One of the collection’s most interesting
tracks is Ten Second Dynasty’s “Continuum.”
Starting out with a 90s indie downer
groove (why was everyone in the 90s so damned
depressed?), it morphs into an extended space
rock section highlighted by a tip-toeing guitar
line and liberal helpings of fuzz.
Naming
Mary’s “Stardriver” spreads spindly guitar
tentacles around you like a space alien boa
constrictor. In
a perfect follow-up, Glider’s “Shift” is
outstanding, pummeling lo-fi heavy rock.
Jazzless’s oozing instrumental “Something
Warm About the Rain” effortlessly captures that
intrinsically shoegaze ultra-processed guitar
sound, interestingly without the rest of a band.
Calliope’s
jangly, 6/8 time “Laughing at Roadsigns”
could’ve been on a mid-period Al Stewart album.
While perhaps low on the shoegaze or
space quotient, the song is an earworm
nonetheless, and most welcome on this
collection. The
curators do a magnificent job of transitions,
and “Laughing at Roadsigns” segues beautifully
into another highlight, Auburn Lull’s
all-too-brief, shimmering piece of cloud fluff
“June-Tide.”
Southeast
of Saturn captures a scene few of us were likely
to have experienced, but are more familiar with
its bigger cousins.
Kudos to Third Man for putting together
this compelling time capsule, and to the bands
who made it possible, most of whom should’ve
made it bigger.
(Mark
Feingold)
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DAVID
MARQUISS – S/T
( self released CD)
This is the debut album by Bristol based guitarist and singer David
Marquiss. It’s been quite a while in the making;
recorded about ten years ago, before being mixed
late last year. It’s very much a home recording
but not because of any issues with sound etc. -
just captured as and when he had the time. The
albums eleven tracks feature just his superb
guitar playing and his voice.
He taught himself finger picking by listening to records by the likes of
Skip James and Blind Boy Fuller but more
importantly by artists such as Bert Jansch, Nick
Drake and especially John Renbourn and the
players that were prevalent in the sixties for
the folk revival; who let us not forget were
themselves very much influenced by the country
blues before in time absorbing British folk
music.
He is a very expressive player, mixing a few instrumentals into the album
throughout. It starts with a great version of a
traditional song ‘The Blacksmith’, a done me
wrong song. Another traditional song ‘Sovay’, is
also tackled with great aplomb. ‘Firefly’, shows
off his skill as a guitarist, with just the
right amount of attack and restrain, creating a
nice tension. Another of his original
compositions ‘Before The Rain and Past The Fire’
also shows off his dexterity, a guitar piece
which he makes sound easy “of mandrake root and
black cat bone”. ‘Reasons For Being’, is a very
complicated acoustic guitar piece, which again
he nails, with plenty of bends and runs.
‘Lute’, is a stunning instrumental
guitar piece. ‘Flying a Flag’, is about taking a
short break in the mountains, in which his very
lyrical guitar arrangement really shines
through. ‘The Soil’ has an impossibly beautiful
and tricky intro, a questioning song of
archaeology which delves deep and of the results
of acid rain on ancient monuments. The album
ends with ‘The Raven’, a cathartic early morning
forest walk upon which the narrator finds his
true love lying out on the ground and a lone
Raven nearby who appears to be mocking, but in
retrospect it tries to help by tearing out three
of its tail feathers, declaring “it wasn’t I who
caused her pain, but take these feathers and
braid them with her tresses which will have
restorative powers”, but as we all know there is
always a price to pay “I shall no longer be a
Raven but will become your lover”, by the act of
mixing up my feathers with her hair. It’s a bit
like when Robert Johnson sold his sole to the
devil and a cracking end to a fine album. The
album is available from www.davidmarquiss.bandcamp.com
(Andrew Young)
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BIG
EYES FAMILY – THE
DISAPPOINTED CHAIR
(LP from www.sonicopolifonico.co.uk
)
Previously Known as The Big Eyes Family Players this Sheffield based group have released seven albums they
have trimmed down the name and changed their
sound a bit with a more psychedelically inclined
pop sound. This is an album of originals with
one cover which is a Dusty Springfield song
entitled ‘Summer Is Over’ which was tucked away
on the b side of one of her singles released in
1964. The band consists of James Green-electric
guitar, synths, piano and backing vocals,
Heather Ditch – vocals, flute and zither, James
Street – organs and synths, Neal Heppleston –
bass and double bass, Guy Whittaker – drums,
with Dean Honer the producer adding additional
synths and tambourine.
The album eases in with ‘Sing Me Your Saddest Song’ immediately the sound
is great with plenty of space around the
instruments; it’s firmly in the folk rock genre,
but of the kind practised by Stereolab. The
bouncing bass and drums introduce a far more
spacey sound to the proceedings with ‘Blue
Light’, a simply wonderful song sung beautifully
by Heather and infused with some nice swirling
synth. Then comes the Dusty cover ‘Summer Is
Over’ introduced by calliope style organ, it’s a
bit like a Nancy Sinatra track but oh so modern,
you just know that its rooted in the sixties but
played by a very now sound, it’s also a superb
song and before you know it its gone, man this
could be far longer it’s brief and very sweet.
’From The Corner Of My Eye’ is half spoken half
sung and altogether a lot more forlorn and
winsome, a song for the wee small hours, this
song sets things up nicely for ‘Modern Witchery’
a deathly slow narcoleptic song which really
shows off the strength of the playing of these
intuitive musicians to fine effect, again it’s
the space around the notes played, it builds and
has a sinister sweetness, the kind achieved by
Nico or maybe Broadcast.
Side two begins with ‘Cassini’s Regret’ a song about a satellite orbiting
Saturn, big fat bass, a great drum pattern,
arpeggio electric guitar and layers of synth
dancing around each other, another band I am
reminded of when listening to this album is The
Soundcarriers. ‘The Conjurer’ is a little more
straightforward with some nice piano throughout
and beautifully sung by Heather, she hits some
very pure notes. The title track ‘The
Disappointed Chair’ follows this, a song about
Edie Bouvier Beale, who was Jacqueline Kennedy
Onassis’s cousin, apparently; it’s a song with a
yearning quality, of regret and loss which
develops to become quite a dense swirling song
with a touch of discordance. ‘Hawked Bones’
clatters and throbs throughout its duration,
again it’s a touch rockier than most of the
other songs on the album, being quite busy and
full. We now arrive at the end of the record
with ‘For Grace’, providing us with a suitable
ending to an excellent record.
(Andrew Young)
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SATURNIA
– STRANDED IN THE GREEN
(LP/ from www.sulatron.com )
Sulatron records have just released the 8th album by
Portuguese space rock band Saturnia, all of
their previous albums were released by
Electrohasch. This album was recorded outside in
the green, well actually in a vineyard to be
precise. The band consist of Luis Simoes
–vocals, guitar, sitar, tampura, bass, organs,
synths, piano and mellotron along with Ana
Vitorino spoken word and Winga adding a bit of
Djembe, limited to 500 vinyl and 500 CD’s
After a brief interlude of psychedelic cow bells on ‘Pan Arrives’, the
lengthy ‘Keep It Long’ is heralded in, swirling,
spacey synths, sitar, Djembe, Mellotron and
backwards guitars dance around each other
creating a dense African accented, Eastern
flavoured space rock song which is most
appealing. ‘Fibonacci Numbers’, follows this,
It’s an entirely different beast, informed by
patterns found in nature; it’s a slow languid
song which drifts along quite pleasantly.
‘Smoking In The Sun’, slowly unfurls into a
cosmic dream. Then we arrive at a three part
nature infused song entitled ‘Super Natural’ in
the first part the gods of Bacchus,
Ra and Varitus are celebrated, with much
birdsong and backwards guitar before we drift
off into an endless
meadow suffused with plenty of ’tron
concluding with the spacey bubbling lilt of intelligent
light, a terrific suite of songs.
‘When I’m High’, features a lovely
piano intro before a foggy Mellotron entirely
cloaks it. ‘Perfectly Lonely’, again features
lots of waspish backwards guitar and cymbal
crashes. Birdsong and sitar herald the arrival
of ‘Butterfly Collector’, which swishes a cosmic
net around to fine effect. And so we arrive at
the end of the album with the excellent ‘Just
Let Yourself Go’, this song has the most
beautiful, slightly jazzy guitar playing
throughout. I think that is an excellent album
indeed, and if it wasn’t so cold at the moment I
would love to lie down outside and drift off
into a transparent dream.
(Andrew Young)
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BEAUTY
HUNTERS – ANIMAL MAGMATISM
(LP on The Weird Beard
Records)
Beauty Hunters is the side project of Mudhoney’s Guy Maddison aided and
abetted by Sean Hollowell and Curt Buchberger.
This is their second album outing and is about
as far away from the classic Sub Pop grunge rock
of Mudhoney as you can get.
‘Animal Magmatism’ gives us two lengthy pieces of music, recorded live
and which take the listener on a journey for the
imagination to vintage analogue synthesiser
soundworlds that echo the classic longform
excursions of Tangerine Dream or Klaus Schulze.
You can certainly hear such influences in the
sumptuous, hypnotic, almost symphonic waves of
sound in ‘This Place In Time’ which was recorded
live on the 40th anniversary of the
eruption of Mt. St. Helens in 2020. It’s a warm,
sometimes dark, sometimes reflective and
sometimes playful piece where church organ
drones, arcade game themes, horror and science
fiction soundtracks for yet to be made films and
occasional moments of static and broken melodies
work in harmony and keep things more than
interesting. ‘Olympic Ring of Fire’ is more
overtly experimental and improvised in character
with more diverse melodic ideas that stop, start
and stutter. The sound is more spacious with
beeps and fizzes of electronic sound, snatches
of synthetic rhythm and a more intense and
dramatic tone. The ghosts of early electronic
and concrete composers, Kosmiche pioneers,
progressive titans and post punk adventurers
visit this piece and a respectful nod to
Kraftwerk is subtly present when the faint
rhythms of the Trans Europe Express occasionally
come into earshot in this engrossing tapestry of
sounds.
This is a captivating release which celebrates the classic, comforting
Kosmiche sounds of yesteryear but also takes the
music to a forbidden planet and plays with more
experimental and indeed rewarding ideas around
electronic sound. The music is widescreen and
cinematic at times and yet has lots of subtle
details in its inner sound which draw the
listener’s attention and that’s what makes this
record stand out for me as a synthesiser record
to listen to rather than drift happily away to.
As Beauty Hunting goes this record has certainly
found the big game prize.
(Francis
Comyn)
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EARTHBALL
– FRUITING BODIES
(Cassette on MISOPHONIA
RECORDS)
FINGERWOLF
– WORKING FOR THE BLACK GAS
(Cassette on MISOPHONIA
REC0RDS)
The continued fashion and indeed passion for vintage formats is to these
ears a welcome thing having grown up with the
joys of compiling tapes and choosing cassettes
as the pocket money friendly option for many new
releases. A brace of new releases on Misophonia,
demonstrates the extreme breadth of their wares
available on lovely limited run cassette
editions or if you prefer download editions that
will live longer than Keith Richards (who is of
course indestructible).
Earthball present the 5 track ‘Fruiting Bodies’ which beyond the title
has little to do with fungi and more in common
with fun. Earthball
are a trio with other members joining for each
new project. The opening tossing and tumbling
torrent of ‘Me, You and I’ delivers
hallucinogenic noise and distorted vocals
combining the easy listening pleasures of free
improvised abandon topped by wailing almost
Haino/Fall-esque vocals and leaves the listener
with a clear choice of a quick fast forward to
avoid a neighbour dispute or hanging on in there
to see what follows – I happily chose the
latter. It’s clearly intense and on the edge of
insane but also draws you into their black hole.
‘The Asteroid Huang’ slows things down but drips
with dark menace and scuzzy, dense stoner riffs
wrapped in a spacey rumbling drone. ‘Open
Eyelids’ is a more spacious exploration of sound
with a rambling, psychedelic Doors-esque, post
punk feel and mysterious chanted vocals keeping
that dark mystery to the fore. ‘Difference’ is a
lengthy improvisation that blends free
improvisation and free folk colours and dynamics
– it starts with a gently clattering world of
percussion, woodwinds, vocal textures and
underlying jazzy guitar which gets noisier, more
frantic and loose as it morphs into a
psychedelic free jazz jam with added dissonant
vocals wafting and wailing over the top. The
strangely titled ‘Plumbers Waltz’ (no tap
dancing jokes please) is driven by a mechanistic
beat over which vocals, hazy, scuzzy guitar
colours and off kilter melodies create an odd,
experimental tune which ramps up the
amplification to the finish. It’s unlikely to
soundtrack your plumber’s two step but would
certainly make boiler repairs more interesting
if it did. This is an eclectic release with
interesting ideas, spontaneous sounds and
sometimes wonderful moments in particular on
‘Difference’ which rewards repeat listening.
Fingerwolf is the project of Jon Dickinson based in Buckinghamshire where
according to the accompanying notes not much
happens and even lately even less happens. Well
we’ve broken the monotony here I’m pleased to
report with ‘Working for the Black Gas’. The
album was recorded in 2020 and is described as
being based on a half remembered jumble of
places, people and events from the 1980’s. It
certainly does have that nostalgic, clean
electronic percussion and synthesized sound
associated with the new technologies in music
from that time which in lesser hands could be
bland elevator or telephone hold music but here
has enough compositional nous and imagination in
play to take it to a more interesting level.
Throughout its 7 tracks there are hints of
soundtrack friendly atmospheres and images,
early Japanese electronic pop fusion akin to
Yellow Magic Orchestra, jazzy and progressive
colours, touches of dance ambience, nods to
later period Kosmiche and the laid back
sophistication of Air. This is an elegant and
engaging listen which could soundtrack many an
occasion including, if you really want, a
nostalgic trip back to the eighties but if you
want music for today and tomorrow this is an
engaging, easy on the ear and thoughtful slice
of time well spent.
(Francis
Comyn)
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MAINLINER
– DUAL MYTHS (LP/CD on Riot Season
Records)
Mainliner is the trio of Kawabata Makoto, Koji Shimura and Kawabe Taigen
and they whip up a wild and nothing short of
incendiary freak out psychedelic guitar, drums
and bass storm as you might imagine. This is no
surprise considering their credentials which
include Acid Mothers Temple, White Heaven and Bo
Ningen to name a very few lines from the C.V.
‘Dual Myths’ is a long awaited follow up to
‘Revelation Space’ from back in 2013 after which
there are stories of scrapped recordings that
never saw the light of day.
It’s a double album consisting of four side long tracks and to the relief
of many fans I can confirm there are no ballads
– let’s be honest, they wouldn’t survive in this
weather. The band describe the record in one
word – ‘nasty’. Whilst that might make
interviews somewhat brief and to the point it
does succinctly describe the loud and lengthy
mayhem brought about by the onslaught of
stinging, acid fuelled and generally unforgiving
‘motorpsycho guitar’ and the accompanying
frenetic, pummelling rhythm which desperately
keeps up an outrageous level of energy
throughout the best part of 80 minutes. It’s a
masterclass in letting the music do the
shouting. ‘Blasphemy Hunter’ opens with a false
sense of security for the ears and heart with a
gentle echo laden folk and Fleet Foxes flavoured
melody before a supercharged change of tempo
engulfs it with a fuzz filled blizzard of
guitars and it crashes into a wall of sheet
metal noise. The rhythm section brings its own
wild energy where the bass can barely hold it
all together under crazed cymbal smashes and
frantic snare patterns. Guitar solos abound and
might only be reigned in by use of a
tranquilizer dart and distant harmony vocals
lurk in the background fighting to get through,
just about managing to soften and add texture to
the incessant heavy riff.
It’s an exhilarating start and not for
the faint hearted. ‘Hibernator’s Dream’ follows
in a more experimental mode with spacey, echo
drenched cries and wails underneath freeform
bursts of feedback, violent squally soloing and
drums before a crisp jazz tinged shuffle joins
forces with a crazy minimalist and pulverising
metallic riff
to take the increasingly intense and noisy brew
forward with impressive and unstoppable
momentum. This is sonic mayhem with a toe
tapping beat if you’ve got fast feet.
‘Silver Guck’ takes the speed down a
notch but we get a deep heavy Sabbath-esque riff
and more prominent spacey vocals, increasingly
distorting at the edges as the noise ratchets up
with the guitars going feral and once more it
never lets up for a moment. ‘Dunamist Zero’
completes the ride with a distorted, more
angular riff complementing spacey vocals,
leading to a freeform section dominated by
shards of screaming guitar and increasingly wild
vocals and building up to an exhausting and no
doubt exhausted climax.
This is a high octane and totally exhilarating record where the onslaught
of crunching riffs and often crazed guitar and
noise adventures could become overwhelming were
it not for the touches of invention and texture
that musicians of this class and understanding
bring to the table. Perhaps a full 4 sided blast
could be a bit much for one sitting but take any
side on its own or in combination with another
and you’ve got something that will excite and
energise your day. Let’s hope we get another
blast of creativity from this titanic trio
before another 8 years passes or maybe even a
live show which would no doubt pin the audience
happily to the wall. We can but hope but in the
meantime get a little bit of nasty motorpsycho
guitar mayhem in your life.
(Francis
Comyn)
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