1971. Yeah, 1971. Why is this year significant? Because this is the real year punk broke. This is a story that should be legendary, shoot, this band should be legendary, but like a lot of visionary bands Death fell to the ax of the major label before the general populous could understand their genius. After …
DEATH – FOR THE WHOLE WORLD TO SEE (DRAG CITY, 2009) Read More »
Being a pretty marginal fan of both metal and hip hop, I nevertheless get pretty giddy when I hear stuff by Girl Talk and Birchville Cat Motel. When my brother puts on Girl Talk in the car we begin a tag-team dissection of cultural/musical references. He is all over the hip-hop tracks like, “this is the Ying-Yang Twins, duh” …
All you need to know about Lightning Bolt can be learned in a five second clip from the Peter Glantz directed documentary The Power of Salad. Brian Chippendale, teetering on top of his sky-scraper high amp, makes a daring leap from atop and lands squarely in his seat in front of the drum set starting off the song, …
I am going back to April for this one, but this album is more than worth mentioning even as we creep towards the years end. Boy In Static is a San Francisco based avante-pop duo of Alexander Chen on the Sequencers/drum machines/keys and Kenji Ross playing violin. Loosely associated with the Bay Area post-hip-hop collective anticon through tours and production from …
BOY IN STATIC – CANDY CIGARETTE (FAKE FOUR / CIRCLE INTO SQUARE, 2009) Read More »
Named after the siZulu word for “love”, “Uthando” continues the incredibly exciting string of singles in front of the release of “NOUS II”, composer Christopher Bono’s neo-classical / post-rock project featuring members of Liturgy, SWANS, Ghost Against Ghost and many others. This is post-rock done right. It’s inherently emotional peaks and valleys are not overwrought, …
Following up on the incredibly strong lead single “The Silence”, “Tarot Cards” is another slow-build dream pop banger that incorporates the quiet-loud dynamic to great effect. Bathe channels artists like Slowdive and Pale Saints in weaving her reverb-heavy verses into spectral leads and solos that take “Tarot Cards” into considerably heavier territory. Tarot Cards by …
Having worked with internationally renowned labels such as Kompakt, the Greek electronic artist returns with an utterly compelling track that drives the listener through several climates existing in harmony within the same track. Moving from ambient tones, to pastoral beat-led passages to heavier areas of techno, “The 5 Principles” covers a lot of ground within …
Having dedicated much of his latter career to composing scores for Chinese cinema, the founding father of Trip-Hop teams up with Chinese turnabilist DJ Wordy and video artist Hiraki Sawa to create a surrealist backdrop to his heavy bass line, cotton candy spun synths and ace scratching throughout. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcvbZpCw6zU
“Dead air hints at some kind of ominous, environmental issue”. This observation by Marconi Union co-founder Richard Talbot defines the tension and release formula present on the UK-based trio’s newest single. A slow build from a single oscillating tone, “Fractured” incorporates several additive tonal shifts before the track is broken wide open – vocal drones, …
the Cincinnati post-rock / jazz trio (post-rock like Tortoise not like Explosions in the Sky) explore several modes on their newest single “CNX”. These run from tight, syncopated grooves to mining open ended passages where Josh Jessen’s synthesizers and Stephen Patota’s guitar ping-pong of each with angular precision – making these miracle off-the-rim, blind alley-oop …