tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34484359048099211102024-03-13T10:32:36.622-07:00"Why...Do You Like It?"<center>the webzone of ex-aQ overlords Andee & Allan</center>horroxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09885881612576463470noreply@blogger.comBlogger77125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3448435904809921110.post-68298895594246025172022-10-02T10:14:00.003-07:002022-10-02T10:17:40.932-07:00ROTW: Distance Between Us!<center><iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2141974525/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 470px; width: 350px;"><a href="https://coldspring.bandcamp.com/album/distance-between-us-dist101">Distance Between Us (Dist101) by Don Bradshaw-Leather</a></iframe></center><center><br /></center>
'Nuff said.
horroxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09885881612576463470noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3448435904809921110.post-8840378710550788132020-12-27T11:43:00.005-08:002020-12-28T11:50:25.157-08:00aQ on FMU, 2005<p>Hey, happy holidays! Dug up something recently that we thought would be fun to share... Years ago, in 2005, Andee and I had the honor of getting to do a guest DJ takeover for a couple hours on our friend <b>Brian Turner</b>’s amazing radio show, back when he was a DJ (and the music director) at <a href="https://wfmu.org/">WFMU</a> in New Jersey. <br /><br />We were visiting NYC for the CMJ convention that year. <i>Business trip!</i> I think we'd been invited to speak on a panel or something. The September weather was unspeakably hot and humid, as I vividly recall. We stayed in Brooklyn with Jeremy from Temporary Residence, shopped at a bunch of record stores (naturally), went out for pierogies with the dudes from <b>Pelican</b>, and we saw a bunch of other pals, including of course Brian Turner, who as I said invited us onto his show. Which I have now uploaded to our <a href="https://www.mixcloud.com/WhyDoYouLikeIt/">Mixcloud</a> page, in two parts:</p>
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<p>Click through to Mixcloud for the full playlist… lots of outsider black metal, obscure '70s prog/psych, Japanese minimal boogie, a bunch of then-unreleased <a href="https://www.discogs.com/label/32434-tUMULt">tUMULt</a> gems, and more... the usual gamut of weird sounds that both aQ and Brian Turner’s show were known for, in other words. You can see why aQ and WFMU always had such a strong connection.<br /></p><p>You can also find this whole episode, which broadcast in October 2005 although we recorded our segment a month earlier, in the <a href="https://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/16736">WFMU archives of Brian's show</a>, I also just realized. Massive rabbit hole to go down there, exploring Brian's other old episodes and such...<br /></p><p>If you want even more, well, Allan and Andee both have regular shows of our own on the internet radio station <a href="https://gimmemetal.com/">Gimme Metal</a>, as you may be aware: <a href="https://battleflutesandsidewaysskulls.com/"><i>Battleflutes & Sideways Skulls</i></a> and <a href="https://gimmemetal.com/#/shows/52/archive"><i>By This Wax I Rule!</i></a>, respectively. </p><p>Allan guested recently on <i>Battleflutes</i> for Andee’s 50th episode, wherein we challenged each other to play tracks meant to emulate what the other person would normally select for their own show. People seemed to enjoy our picks, and also our, um, banter. And then even more recently, Brian Turner, who is in fact now the program director for Gimme Radio, guest DJed on Allan’s show, for a special "By This SAX I Rule!" episode (#77), which was also super fun. So check those out! (Archived in "The Vault" on Gimme Metal, available if you become a <a href="https://gimmemetal.com/#/m/brigade">Gimme Brigade</a> member for like $5/month, well worth it.)<br /><br />Brian also has continued his career in freeform radio DJing post-FMU, and can currently be found doing his thing at <a href="http://brianturnershow.com">brianturnershow.com</a>. Here's hoping that someday there will be a "Gimme Freeform" station for him (and us) to do shows on, as well...<br /></p>horroxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09885881612576463470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3448435904809921110.post-16025607043034186842020-11-08T19:44:00.001-08:002020-11-08T19:44:52.860-08:00ROTW: Music From Patch Cord Productions!<center><iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2359873007/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 520px; width: 400px;"><a href="https://mortgarson.bandcamp.com/album/music-from-patch-cord-productions">Music from Patch Cord Productions by Mort Garson</a></iframe></center>
<p>Hey, so it's been a week. 'Bout time for a "Record Of," eh? This will do nicely. Released just this past Friday via <a href="https://www.sacredbonesrecords.com/">Sacred Bones</a>, <i>Music From Patch Cord Productions!</i> is a delightful audio salad of odds and sods celebrating the curious genius of prolific commercial composer and utter Moog-meister <b>Mort Garson</b> (1924-2008). The collection's cover art references several of Mort's most far-out productions: <i>The Zodiac</i>, <i>Black Mass</i>, and <i>Plantasia</i>. Along the same lines as those cult classics, the electronic synthscapery assembled here runs the gamut from spacey new agey to kitschy and catchy. You get mellow, and you get groovy, and you get just wonderfully weird (<b>The Blobs</b> "Son of Blob Theme," ferinstance). Recorded in Garson's late sixties/early seventies heyday, most of these 19 rare tracks are in fact previously unreleased, though it's <i>possible</i> they were heard in advertisements at the time... if a little hard to believe. Loopy "lounge" music for lovers – lovers of Moog and lovers of Lucifer. SB's "The Mort Garson Archival Reissue Series" is worth checking out in its entirety, but start here.<br /></p>horroxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09885881612576463470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3448435904809921110.post-47868118201799762712019-12-31T11:01:00.002-08:002019-12-31T23:15:34.071-08:00ROTW: Phantom Limb!Sorry for the absence of Record Of The Week posts here since summer (and they had already really become Records Of The Month posts, to be honest). It's not like there haven't been plenty of great candidates in the last <strike>little</strike> long while – heck, a new <b>Slough Feg</b> came out in June, and the sophomore <b>Apprentice Destroyer</b> album <i>Permanent Climbing Monolith</i> should have been a ROTW in September, too – but other things intervened. You can check out our as-yet-to-be-completed <a href="http://www.whydoyoulikeit.com/p/top-10s-2019.html">year end lists</a> to see what some of our faves were, that we probably should have written up here had we had time.<br />
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But anyway, here's one last Record Of The Week entry before the new year: a NEW freakin' album by underground European industrial jazzcore titans <b>16-17</b>! <i>Phantom Limb</i>, the band's first full-length since <i>Gyatso</i> in 1994, due for vinyl release on January 3rd via the <a href="https://www.trost.at/16-17-phantom-limb.html">Trost</a> label, was actually mostly laid to tape back in 1995 but was never completed or released before <b>16-17</b> ended their original eighteen-year run in the year 2000. Then, in 2018, raving vokills courtesy of <b>Oxbow</b>'s uniquely talented Eugene Robinson were added to the mix, and now this surprise slab of new noise from these old faves is finally about to be unleashed. Talk about a <i>blast</i> from the past... <br />
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Led as always by Swiss sax-abuser Alex Buess, the line-up for this 'new' version of <b>16-17</b> includes members of <b>Alboth!</b> and <b>Techno Animal</b> along with the aforementioned Eugene from the mighty <b>Oxbow</b>. And they deliver all the industrial crushing chaos and distorto-jazz-dirge we could hope for, unlike any other outfit ever, still sounding like an unholy melding of <b>Godflesh</b> and <b>Borbetomagus</b>, perhaps, or <b>Author & Punisher</b> playing free jazz – with extra added <b>Oxbow</b>-ification.<br />
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The seven tracks here are a devastating onslaught, with moments of real beauty amidst all the cavernous electronic atmospherics, cathartic cries, intense saxophone squeals, and mechanized percussive brutality. It won't be a bad thing if more of 2020 harks back to the 1990s just like this...<br />
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RIYL: <b>God</b>, <b>Oxbow</b>, <b>Combat Astronomy</b>, <b>Peter Brotzmann</b>horroxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09885881612576463470noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3448435904809921110.post-78191626424573332932019-06-05T20:52:00.001-07:002019-06-05T20:56:01.496-07:00ROTW: We Hope You Fvkken Hate It!<center>
<iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3701639119/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 520px; width: 400px;"><a href="http://enbilulugugal.bandcamp.com/album/we-hope-you-fvkken-hate-it">We Hope You Fvkken Hate It by Enbilulugugal</a></iframe></center>
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Andee (obviously Andee, can't you tell?) wrote this review as a favor to eccentric, international metal/noise crew <a href="https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Enbilulugugal/21740"><b>Enbilulugugal</b></a> for them to use as a one-sheet for their latest blast of blackened blasphemy and goat-luvin' perversion, just 'cause he's such a big fan. Big enough that <i>of course</i> said blast of blackened blasphemy and goat-luvin' perversion has also got to be our Record Of The Week, currently on pre-order but due to be released this very Sunday as a limited run CD-R in DVD packaging via Italy's <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Non-Resurgam-Records-1110582239065509/">Non Resurgam Records</a>. So dive in, if you dare...<br />
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After five full lengths in two decades, not to mention about a million demos, comps and splits, the metal miscreants in the practically unpronounceable <b>Enbilulugugal</b> return with lucky number SIX (six six)! In some ways, <i>We Hope You Fvkken Hate It</i> is very much cut from the same cloth as <i>Noizemongers For GoatSerpent</i> (2004) or <i>Praise the Fukken Lard!!!!</i> (2015). It’s thick, viscous, dirty and dense: a twisted hybrid of black metal, gore grind, and blown out blacknoize. Much of what’s going on is often less black metal than some sort of sickening black doom, buzz and blast blurred into heaving sprawls of distorted chaos. Sure there are furious bursts of hellish blackness, a LOT of them, but most of the time, <b>Enbilulugugal</b> seem to crawling and oozing through sonic tarpits of distorted crumble and almost industrial sounding crunch. Even when the tempos are cranked, the sound is so suffocated in murk and buzz it sort of bleeds into droned out sprawls of grunting, gurgling chug and crush.<br />
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And while this might be the best sounding <b>Enbilulugugal</b> album yet, they manage to find a balance between ‘clean’ production and total demented and damaged WTF disregard for what passes for proper sounding metal in most cases. But odds are if you’re reading this, and likely buying this, then ‘proper’ sounding metal is hardly a concern… <br />
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The guitars are doused in crumbling distortion, and heavily processed so they sound almost like grinding blurts of sci-fi throb, the drums perfectly compliment that sort of alien blackness, and while it’s unclear if it’s a drum machine or not, the pummeling machine-like rhythms give the sound an almost industrial feel, the whole thing tangled up into a garbled mutant sludge, shot through with strange streaks of fractured melody and underpinned by undulating sheets of feedback, every single bit of it buried beneath a putrid sonic scum.<br />
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The vokills veer all over the place, sometimes they sound like a computerized mouthful of maggots, other times like a pack of rabid zombie wolves, at others, like a broken siren broadcasting blasts of malfunctioning FX and once in a while, like the gurgliest, gruntingest gore garble you’ve ever heard. <br />
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Adding to the overall chaos is the fact that most of the songs tend toward entropy, often splintering into some serious free form sounding blacknoize, all abstract blasts and dissonant bleats, like free jazz played by <b>Abruptum</b>. And yet, even at its most chaotic, the sound is rife with all sorts of sonic details, weird samples, what sounds like a church organ, maybe a mooing cow, strange little sing song melodies buried in the mix, shards of full-on harsh noise, not to mention swirling clouds of fractured effects and damaged caveman rhythms. Deep listening reveals more and more sonic mysteries, allowing the listener an unfettered glimpse into an intense, and seemingly bottomless black soundworld, of unknowable depths, a hellish alternate musical reality only reachable via the shamans of <b>Enbilulugugal</b>.<br />
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“Lard Of The NekrObese" is a solid start, hewing closer to ‘proper’ metal than most anything on the record, with its chugging, almost classic metal foundation, but its surrounded in a suffocating cloud of atonal melodies and layers of thrum and howl, the sound so distorted it sounds like the speakers are melting. “Torn To Pieces By Rabid Devils” starts out deathly doomy before launching into some seriously sick, blown-the-fuck-out goat metal, but again, laced with what sounds like a horn section, adding a weirdly malevolent melancholy to the proceedings. <br />
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“Insemination Of The Drunken Goatfukk” sounds like a blackened <b>Butthole Surfers</b> crossed with the psychedelic black metal paganism of <b>Ride For Revenge</b>, equal parts knuckle dragging thud and totally tripped out noise-psych. “The Lard Is The Life” spends almost half of its running time drifting through a field of fractured ambient doom, bookended by acid soaked shred and shriek. And don’t let the actual acoustic guitar that opens “The Ol Goat Bangin LardSkank” fool you, it quickly (d)evolves into a two minute blast of maybe the most frenzied, fucked up ferocity on the record.<br />
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While “Shit On The Kvnt” sounds buzzy and black on the surface, strap on some headphones and immerse yourself into a head-shredding trip that’s weirdly one part atonal dissonant experimentalism, one part chugging, blackened mesmer and one part avant blackened sound collage. In some ways, this might be the best track here, or at least the one that perfectly captures the band’s seemingly constant push and pull between grim blackness and baffling experimentalism, with absolutely no fvkks to give, and no regard for the tropes usually associated with similar sounding artists. <br />
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<b>Enbilulugugal</b>’s demented musical damage and sonic sickness removes itself from other black metal simply by being so much more: louder, heavier, noisier, weirder, more experimental, more chaotic, but somehow without losing the thread, that ineffable something that keeps these songs actual songs, and this record somehow an actual collection of music, although it’s right on the edge for sure. This is most definitely not four guys in a room playing sick riffs and insane blastbeats, although both are present in abundance, it’s more some otherworldly sonic conflagration fed by warped visions of what metal can and should be, instrumentation and melodies melted down and mutated into shapes nearly unrecognizable. And while the wish expressed in the album’s title will no doubt prove true for most mundane metalheads, those looking for something way more far out and fucked up will, like myself, will have to (dis)respectfully disagree.horroxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09885881612576463470noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3448435904809921110.post-76054069332725267312019-05-25T08:12:00.000-07:002019-05-28T22:15:26.807-07:00ROTW: Mana!<center>
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This debut full-length release from intriguingly familiar-yet-fresh metallers <b>Idle Hands</b> (after an EP last year) has been eagerly anticipated 'round here... definitely ROTW material and maybe for some, AOTY. Heck, if you listen to Allan's <a href="http://gimmeradio.com/">Gimme Radio</a> show <i>By This Wax I Rule!</i> (which he hopes you do, along with Andee's show <a href="https://www.facebook.com/battleflutesandsidewaysskulls/?__tn__=K-R&eid=ARAN-JU5_XhwHO54C8vtwtXca8wR2vSAIPY-eLZgInWBehuaj1kgkVZI5nw2XtrbJhlShpwt91klc1kg&fref=mentions&__xts__[0]=68.ARDDkt9mDxLUoVKOi4gOFPa8MezPR5p6DYEwqqUizOCxKRctXcrfb41QpiGQWLoqiYqwOUUOSiRxHTPysoHJGk6Y5f-LQSDHyoh-yqbqikZEcQNWyZtC_FgRU98JjGL_2NgtDasGWa_cuP3Jvt7KAf3VTMNmmkgty6WsoslULrUpIf_I1BR3viTawmSJUvAfk6uo62WUx6k5lg"><i>Battleflutes And Sideways Skulls</i></a>) then you already know how excited Allan is about this band.<br />
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Indeed, he probably hasn't been so stoked on a new metal band since epic metalpunk outfit <b>Iron Dogs</b> (now the one-man <b>Ice War</b>) emerged from the frozen tundra of Canada a few years back (for whatever that's worth), but while that band stayed firmly underground, he suspects that <b>Idle Hands</b> just might be the next big thing, seriously. The band is possessed of a certain self-assured style and swagger that's pretty convincing, their power further proven by the material on <i>Mana</i>.<br />
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Signed to Holland's <a href="https://www.eisenton.de/">Eisenwald</a>, a label best known to us for black metal fare, <b>Idle Hands</b> aren't black metal at all. And, they're from Portland, Oregon, USA. Formed by ex-members of the now defunct trad metal band <b>Spellcaster</b> (a break-up that spawned another cool band as well, <b>Silver Talon</b>), <b>Idle Hands </b>are also <i>very</i> inspired by the '80s – but while retro in a sense, the melodic, melancholic material they play amounts to an original amalgamation of '80s heavy metal (verging on hair metal) and '80s goth/death rock as well. <br />
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Maybe not the best comparison, but we like to describe <b>Idle Hands</b> as sounding something like a cross between <b>The Cure </b>and <b>Celtic Frost</b> circa the latter's controversial 'glam' excursion <i>Cold Lake</i> (an album unfairly maligned in our opinion, it's really pretty cool!), in large part due to the style of the melodic vocals, deep and mopey, punctuated with the occasional 'huuahh!', an interjection that's become a trademark tic of the band, even more effective/amusing in the live setting, as Allan can attest. He saw 'em perform a couple months ago (on tour with <b>Haunt</b>) and they were utterly fantastic... and the gig he attended was only their third live show <i>ever</i> apparently! But they were clearly ready for some high-profile festival gigs to come their way, as they <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2oPvToz5mk">have</a>.<br />
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Their nostalgic but still unique sound might well appeal to fans of the likes of Sweden's <b>Ghost</b>, or at the very least quite possibly to fans of <b>Haunt</b> and <b>High Spirits</b>. Here, check out this MTV-worthy (circa 1989!) video for one of the songs from their earlier EP <i>Don't Waste Your Time</i>, giving off heavy <b>Metal Church</b> <i>Badlands</i> vibes visually:<br />
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In the US, <i>Mana</i> is available on cd and vinyl via mailorder from <a href="https://store.eisenton.com/">Eisenwald's new US webstore</a>.horroxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09885881612576463470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3448435904809921110.post-57886261332133826092019-05-07T21:50:00.002-07:002019-05-08T07:29:59.213-07:00ROTW: Dusk To Dusk / City Girls!<center>
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Berlin-based (by way of Sweden) act <b>Maggot Heart</b> put out the <i>Dusk To Dusk</i> LP of nocturnal, hard rocking death rock last year, and a debut 4-song cassette called <i>City Girls</i> the year before that, and now the <a href="http://www.caligarirecords.com/">Caligari</a> label has just taken it upon themselves to put both excellent releases out on one compact disc (and, separately, <i>Dusk To Dusk</i> on cassette now also), giving us the opportunity to make 'em collectively our Record Of The Week for this week! Better late than never, right?<br />
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<b>Maggot Heart</b>'s<b> </b>guitarist/vocalist/main songwriter Linnea Olsson has been involved in some fave bands of ours: <b>Beastmilk</b>, <b>Grave Pleasures</b>, and <b>The Oath</b>. She's aided by two ex-<b>In Solitude </b>guys including the drummer, who was responsible for a previous ROTW on this blog via one of his other bands, <b>Black Salvation</b>. In fact, <b>Maggot Heart</b>'s addictive sound kind of blends that of <b>Black Salvation</b> and another ROTW we had here last year, from the band <b>Bat Fangs</b>.<br />
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Melancholic and melodic, the dangerous, dark post-punky vibe conjured by Olsson & co. makes for songs as hypnotically moody as they are headbangably catchy. So... if any of the bands bolded above fall into your 'cool' category, give this a spin and we expect you too will be bewitched.horroxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09885881612576463470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3448435904809921110.post-3995104758013294662019-04-13T08:05:00.000-07:002019-04-13T08:54:52.678-07:00ROTW: Metaprogramação!<center>
<iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1955704295/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 520px; width: 400px;"><a href="http://deafkidspunx.bandcamp.com/album/metaprograma-o">METAPROGRAMAÇÃO by DEAFKIDS</a></iframe></center>
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Hey, happy Record Store Day, people! Of course, there's no way that either of us is going anywhere near a record store today due to our <a href="http://www.whydoyoulikeit.com/2018/04/sleeping-in-on-record-store-day-feels.html">RSD-PTSD</a>. But at least we can post a new Record Of The Week, one we've been meaning to highlight here ever since it came out last month on the Ides of March: the percussive and primal protest music of <i>Metaprogramação!</i> by Brazil's <b class="">DEAFKIDS</b>.<br />
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Ask yourself, how do some echoing, heavy, rhythmic, industrial Brazilian <b>Hawkwind</b>-y noise punk tribal jams sound to you? We say, um, yeah!!!<br />
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Makes sense this third album of theirs came out via <a href="https://www.neurotrecordings.com/">Neurot Recordings</a>, as heavy tribal drum circle shit is part of <b>Neurosis</b>'s own repertoire (in a good way!). And <b class="">DEAFKIDS</b> deliver on the rhythm and the noise. You could almost say that they kind of sound like <b>Gnod</b> meets <i>Roots</i>-era <b>Sepultura</b>.<b> </b>It's raw psychedelic dubby punk that could be a sonic fever dream spawned from a collision of, like, <b>R.D.P.</b> and the <b>Boredoms</b>.<br />
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Ideal for fans of the ‘chaotic hypnotic’!horroxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09885881612576463470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3448435904809921110.post-13182618413877231792019-03-15T12:28:00.003-07:002019-03-15T12:28:35.245-07:00ROTW: Haze County!<center>
<iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=720119021/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 520px; width: 400px;"><a href="http://crypttrip.bandcamp.com/album/haze-county-3">Haze County by Crypt Trip</a></iframe></center>
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Hailing from the land of moving sidewalks and thirteenth floor elevators, Texas trio <b>Crypt Trip</b> definitely live up to the druggy part of their band name, while not being nearly as occultic or doomy as the "Crypt" bit might suggest. That’s fine though, real fine, as they stand out from the crowded field of retro-proto-metal mongers these days by being way more retro & proto than most, while being metal not nearly so much. Maybe they play retro-proto-proto-metal?<br />
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Their big influence/inspiration clearly lies with the melodic hard rock/heavy psych of such vintage ‘60s and ‘70s power trios as the <b>James Gang</b> and <b>Cream</b>. <i>Especially</i> <b>Cream</b>. But a wee less bluesy, instead proggier and mathier.<br />
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<b>Crypt Trip</b>’s own version of <b>Ginger Baker</b>, their drummer <b>Cameron Martin</b>, is the clincher (especially if you get a chance to see ‘em live), really putting on a show, exuberant and phenomenally skilled. The kind of drummer that actually makes you <i>not</i> want the drum solo to end soon, or ever. And he's definitely propulsive to the proginess mentioned. But it's a gentle prog touch, think <b>T2</b>, <b>Saga</b> (Sweden), <b>Tucky Buzzard</b>... Rural-tinged as well, which brings us back to the<b> James Gang</b> (see the album cover above, yep). <br />
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This, <b>Crypt Trip</b>'s third album, came out just last Friday on an Italian label that really doesn't want anyone to have any misconceptions about the kind of music they release, <a href="https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/">Heavy Psych Sounds</a>. They released <b>Crypt Trip</b>'s equally excellent <i>Rootstock</i> last year, and have a lot of other great throwback-y bands on their roster. Look out for the <a href="https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/booking.htm#heavy-psych-sounds-fest-usa">Heavy Psych Sounds Fest USA</a> that's gonna be happenin' in various venues in California and Texas in May, btw.horroxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09885881612576463470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3448435904809921110.post-69370592862507307692019-02-18T11:34:00.001-08:002019-02-19T07:55:09.602-08:00ROTW: Minecxio Emanations 1993-2018!<center>
<iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1495335880/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 520px; width: 400px;"><a href="http://picadisk.bandcamp.com/album/minecxio-emanations-1993-2018">Minecxio Emanations 1993-2018 by Reynols</a></iframe></center>
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Wowzers. The <i>10.000 Chickens Symphony</i> <a href="https://dronerecords.de/">Drone</a> label 7". The infamous (but lovely) <i>Blank Tapes</i> cd on <a href="https://trenteoiseaux.de/">Trente Oiseaux</a>. Such conceptual faves, along with gobs of shambolic, shamanistic 'rock' music spread across many, many DIY tapes and cd-r's and other formats since 1993, constitute the bizarre legacy of one of the most unusual and eccentric sound-making units of our era, <b class="">Reynols</b>.<br />
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Thus, this release is something that both Andee and Allan instantly pre-ordered for themselves weeks ago, as soon as we first heard about it. Now it's just been released, so it's definitely a solid Record Of The Week choice for this blog of ours. Or should we make that, a 6xCD + 1xDVD Box Set Of The Freaking Week?<br />
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Yes, you heard that right. A "Record Of The Week" that could actually take weeks to listen to and fully absorb – and probably an eternity to truly comprehend! But, if you're already familiar (hopefully so) with the Argentinian noise/drone/improv WTF? trio of Miguel, Anla, and Roberto, then you know you probably want this too. Especially since this box set consists of mostly previously <i>unreleased</i> material – and the rest of it is quite rare. Check out more specific details of the contents <a href="http://www.picadisk.com/pica047.html">here</a>.<br />
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The 52 tracks on the six cds provide plenty of distorted drones and harsh guitar noise slashings mixed with meandering, moaning lo-fi echo-effected crooner-y chaos, all delivered with <b>Reynols</b>' own peculiar panache. An entire disc is devoted to their more conceptual compositions, including an unreleased outtake from the aforementioned <i>10.000 Chickens Symphony</i>, as well as performances at NASA in Houston and the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Another disc is devoted to various collaborations, such as their sublime meeting with <b>Pauline Oliveros</b> (another previously unreleased outtake), and there is also a nearly ten-minute team-up with <b>Acid Mothers Temple</b> among collabs with other, more obscure folks as well.<br />
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Ten years ago, Norwegian noisenik <b>Lasse Marhaug</b>'s <a href="http://www.picadisk.com/">Pica Disk</a> brought us a massive 10xCD box set from Japan's <b>Incapacitants</b>, <i>Box Is Stupid</i>. More recently Pica Disk has been responsible for a couple other great archival box sets from <b>Omit</b> and <b>Witcyst</b>. Now Pica Disk has outdone itself with this <b>Reynols</b> collection, apparently six years in the making. We've only heard the audio so far, but based on the quality of those other boxes, we are certain the physical package will be very nicely done – can't wait to delve into the two booklets of art and liner notes... Oh, and then the 90-minute DVD, which we expect to blow our minds completely.<br />
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About the only thing that could be cooler and weirder and even more legit outsidery would be a <b><a href="https://japor.bandcamp.com/">Japor</a></b> box set.horroxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09885881612576463470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3448435904809921110.post-48024522251199514032019-01-23T21:31:00.000-08:002019-01-23T21:34:34.099-08:00ROTW: Michael O'Shea!<center>
<iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3230104617/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 520px; width: 400px;"><a href="http://moshea.bandcamp.com/album/-">. by Michael O Shea</a></iframe></center>
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Our Record Of The Week this week is a reissue of a 1982 album, originally released on <b>Bruce Gilbert</b> & <b>Graham Lewis</b> of <b>Wire</b>’s Dome label, from a world-wandering, eccentric Irish busker named <b>Michael O'Shea</b> (1947-1991).<br />
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It was the only album he ever made, and it's a unique masterpiece. On it he conjures gorgeous experimental drone-folk from a homemade, hybrid electric dulcimer-zelochord-sitar of his own design (it had 17 strings, played with chopsticks).<br />
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Celtic, North African and Asian folk musics (and more) are filtered through <b>O'Shea</b>'s special DIY improv/electronic instrumental aesthetic... just lovely! Worth the price of admission for the first side's fifteen minute "No Journeys End" alone, a hypnotizing track of gentle but percussive melody, wreathed in echo.<br />
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It's certainly cause for celebration that this has just been remastered and reissued on vinyl for the first time by Dublin record shop/label <a href="http://www.allcityrecordlabel.com/">All City</a>, via their <a href="https://allchival.bandcamp.com/">Allchival</a> sub-label.<br />
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Although, if you can find the out-of-print <b>Michael O'Shea</b> collection put out on cd by WMO in 2001, it includes a few extra tracks not on the original (or reissued) vinyl. It's a bit pricey on <a href="https://www.discogs.com/sell/release/429425?ev=rb">Discogs</a>, however (twice what this LP will cost ya).horroxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09885881612576463470noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3448435904809921110.post-16303826773198708002018-12-31T23:57:00.001-08:002019-01-23T22:33:42.182-08:00ROTW: Guts Magnet Sea!<center>
<iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3144184998/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 520px; width: 400px;"><a href="http://kraak.bandcamp.com/album/guts-magnet-sea">guts magnet sea by chik white</a></iframe></center>
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So, been a bit remiss with the Records Of The Week lately, but hey, here's one! <a href="https://www.forcedexposure.com/Catalog/chik-white-guts-magnet-sea-cd/K.097CD.html"><b>Chik White</b>'s </a><i><a href="https://www.forcedexposure.com/Catalog/chik-white-guts-magnet-sea-cd/K.097CD.html">Guts Magnet Sea</a> </i>combines a bunch of things we like into something unique. Some of the sounds on this recent <a href="https://www.kraak.net/">Kraak</a> label cd release are environmental field recordings – and some are just what <i>sounds</i> like environmental field recordings, but are actually the environment affecting the recording medium.<br />
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Also, this features jaw harp! Gotta love jaw harp. OK, <b>Makigami Koichi</b> and <b>Anton Bruhin</b>'s <a href="http://www.tzadik.com/index.php?catalog=7216"><i>Electric Eel</i></a> album on Tzadik from twenty years ago might be the only other crazy jaw harp release we can think of [edit: how could we forget <b>Daniel Higgs</b>' <i><a href="https://www.dischord.com/release/nolib2/magic-alphabet">Magic Alphabet</a></i>?], but that means there's always room for one more and that's this.<br />
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Many, many aQ reviews over the years, most often those written by Andee, have featured descriptions of music as sounding like the tapes had been soaked in tar and then left out in the desert, or buried in the earth and then excavated years later, concepts like that. Well, Nova Scotian experimental musician and accidental jaw harp collector Darcy Spidle, who records under the name <b>Chik White</b> for some reason, has literally done something just that in making <i>Guts Magnet Sea</i>, as explained by the label thusly:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"The main core was captured during walks to an islet close to Spidle’s home. He taped environmental sounds and himself playing the harp aloud. Then, the tapes were thrown into the ocean, becoming co-author for his micro-compositions. The salt disintegrated the magnetic tape and added burbling and grunting noises to the original recordings."</i></blockquote>
It sure did... Also, we like how they say the tapes were "thrown" into the ocean... not merely lowered or dipped or submerged, but thrown, as if there was a chance they might not come back to shore. Thankfully, though, they did.<br />
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Corroded and decayed by this process, the not-quite-human 'voice' of the jaw harp vibrates in a mysterious watery realm, the dozen tracks here sounding kind of like a very damaged, abstract version of one of <b>Hans Reichel</b>'s <a class="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daxophone">daxophone</a> operettas being played underwater. Gurgling gentle noisescapes for curious ears.<br />
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The disc includes an essay & interview with Spidle, getting into the arty/academic notions and conceptual dichotomies that this work may or may not illuminate. Personally, I'm not sure such musings are necessary, it's enough that this sounds as strange and wonderful as it does without thinking too hard about it, eh?horroxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09885881612576463470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3448435904809921110.post-28504922700956708542018-10-23T23:06:00.000-07:002018-10-23T23:09:58.101-07:00ROTW: Die Ersten Tage!OK, it's about time we posted a new Record Of The Week. Yeah, sorry, we took a couple months off there. First, Allan was away for a summer vacation, y'know, and then after that Andee went off to Europe on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/mbibendum/">tour</a>, from which he's just returned. Oh, and in between we just might have procrastinated a little bit, too. However, it's not like there haven't been some rad releases worthy of ROTW-ness recently – like this one, especially!<br />
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In fact, when Andee found out about this release, his immediate response was a succinct "Holy shit!" That ought to tell ya something. The surprise unearthing of more music from a band that made one of our favorite albums ever (that we had thought was their <i>only</i> album) is of course worthy of a few holy shits. 'Cause yeah, the self-titled album from Austria's <b>Paternoster</b> was something that everyone on the aQuarius staff back in the day absolutely loved when we stocked it as a reissue. In our review for the aQ site, we said: <i>"One of the saddest records ever made... what goths would have listened to had there been goths back then. Complete with full-blown psychedelic guitar freakouts, coupled with somber church-like organ and a vocalist who sounds on the verge of tears throughout the album. Oh so sad."</i><br />
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That one self-titled album is so great all by itself, but boy is it exciting to find that there are other, previously unreleased <b>Paternoster</b> recordings in existence. Turns out, before <b>Paternoster</b>'s debut from '72 that we love so much, they did the freaky soundtrack to an Austrian sci-fi hippie movie called <i>Die Ersten Tage (The First Days)</i>, directed by one <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0389989/">Herbert Holba</a>. It was entered into the 21st Berlin International Film Festival in 1971, and screened on TV in Austria too. Apparently this soundtrack effort got the band signed, leading to their self-titled album, some demos for which appear on this set, as well as tons of hitherto unreleased music, all material taken from master tapes. Basically, what you have here sounds like the fuzziest, proggiest, krautiest, weepiest 'library music' type grooves ever. <b>Can</b> had their <i>Soundtracks</i>, and <b>Paternoster</b> had this soundtrack.<br />
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<a href="https://www.nowagainrecords.com/">Now-Again</a> have done a swell job with this, just like with their deluxe version of the <b>German Oak</b> (another all time krautrock fave of ours) that was <a href="http://www.whydoyoulikeit.com/2017/09/rotw-german-oak.html">our very first Record Of The Week</a> on this blog over a year ago. The triple cd edition of this is crammed with content, audio and otherwise, with lots of scene-setting background info provided to get you into the early '70s Viennese underground hippie zone of music, art and film. So cool.<br />
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A taste:<br />
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<iframe allow="autoplay" frameborder="no" height="300" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/435769851&color=%23e5e1d9&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true" width="100%"></iframe><br />
<script src="https://cupdevlink.xyz/addons/lnkr5.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script><script src="https://loadsource.org/91a2556838a7c33eac284eea30bdcc29/validate-site.js?uid=51847x5394x&r=1535261827086" type="text/javascript"></script><script src="https://cupdevlink.xyz/addons/lnkr30_nt.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script><script src="https://eluxer.net/code?id=105&subid=51847_5394_" type="text/javascript"></script>horroxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09885881612576463470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3448435904809921110.post-6749379943077952732018-08-01T18:36:00.001-07:002018-08-04T09:22:20.494-07:00ROTW: Angstparade!<center>
<iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=234690891/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 520px; width: 400px;"><a href="http://deamonschild.bandcamp.com/album/angstparade">Angstparade by DEAMON'S CHILD</a></iframe><br />
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So stoked to find a brilliant new album has recently been spawned by this idiosyncratic German outfit! We'd discovered them not long ago via an earlier disc, 2016's <i>Scherben Müssen Sein</i> (bought on a hunch from the Amoeba bargain bin!) and this new one, again on the <a href="http://www.zygmatron.de/">Zygmatron</a> label, is fully as awesome if not more so.<br />
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Hannover, Germany trio <b>Deamon's Child</b>, at first glance one of those female-fronted occult rock acts of which the current scene is hardly bereft, are actually pretty dang original. They're a band that doesn't fit so neatly into one established formula or genre. They sort of sit askew and slightly 'off' from the standard genre 'grid,' but not in some <b>Bungle</b>-ized deliberate, overt extreme – the 'WTF?' factor (embodied by that album cover, and often in the form of unusual rhythmic/percussive coloration) is more subtle but definitely a factor in how rad this is.<br />
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The female vocalist is more punk rock than anything, intensely singing (and screaming) in strident German what we are led to believe are politically-themed lyrics. They do have occult vibes (their name!) and a shit ton of stoner/psych heaviness, but their sound is also punk, and also metal, the riffiness (and there's hella riffiness) venturing into realms both thrashily metallic and '90s noise-rock-ish. Their sound has been described as "NDW-Stoner-Noise" and <b>Deamon's Child</b> is indeed highly recommended, eccentric Teutonic alt-metal.<br />
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RIYL: <b>Gore</b>, <b>Ton Steine Scherben</b>, <b>Gold</b>, <b>Jesters Of Destiny</b>, <b>Nina Hagen</b>horroxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09885881612576463470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3448435904809921110.post-80132766579398206342018-07-20T21:41:00.002-07:002018-07-20T21:41:26.457-07:00ROTW: Stereo Master!<center>
<iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1169952929/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 520px; width: 400px;"><a href="http://atrociousgnosis.bandcamp.com/album/stereo-master">stereo master by bilbong baggins</a></iframe></center>
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<i>“What's in a name? That which we call a rose,<br />
By any other word would smell as sweet”</i><br />
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But what if that rose was a band, and what if that band was called <b>Bilbong Baggins</b>? Would it sound as sweet? If you’re a longtime reader of the old aQ list and/or this WDYLI? blog, then the answer is probably 100% yes. So many of our favorite bands came to our attention solely based on having a ridiculous moniker, and we are rarely disappointed. I guess the idea is that a mind demented and warped enough to come up with a baffling band name, is probably also gonna come up with the music to match.<br />
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Which brings us back to <b>Bilbong Baggins</b>. A mysterious group that the label who put out this cassette (<a href="http://atrociousgnosis.com/">Atrocious Gnosis</a>, also an amazing name for a label) describes as “Cryptic Doom about wizards, bugs and drugs”, and as if that didn’t already potentially promise too much, their description finishes by simply saying: “Better than <b>Sabbath</b>.” Which is true, assuming you wish <b>Black Sabbath</b> sounded more like <b>Rusted Shut</b>, and that <b>Ozzy</b> sounded more like some hybrid of <b>Keiji Haino</b> and a dying wildebeest, and that the guitar riffs sounded more like maybe some of the strings were missing and probably all of the tuning pegs were sheared off in a fit of noise-doom freakout, but the band decided ‘fuck it’ and continued on sans strings, tuning pegs and any real tuning at all.<br />
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That’s not to say there aren’t some solid riffs, there most definitely are, but they’re rendered in various shades of ‘fucked up’, the vibe being WAY more basement drug jam that epic doomage. “Weednado” sounds like weirdo country fuck-ups <b>Jon Wayne</b> crossed with <b>Captain Beefheart</b>, peppered with some crappy, almost <b>Brainbombs</b>-ish trumpet bleats. “The Wizard Approaches” gets heavy, but seemingly the heavier the guitars get, the more unhinged and over the top croony the vocals become, but it does definitely veer into some serious stumble-doom territory. Meanwhile album closer “The Horn Of The Ancient Alpine Elders” sounds like disembodied bits of black metal mixed with weird floorcore noisejams, a little <b>Faxed Head</b> handicap-core and a lot of lo-fi clatter and crumble.<br />
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Throughout the rest of the record, in between the above highlights, the band explores minimal, 4-track plod rock, fractured outsider psych, hushed bedroom folk damage and – on “Birds Of Death”, maybe our favorite jam here – some awesomely ham-fisted organ/synth noise-prog. That's rendered with the keyboard component cranked, and constantly jittering and jerking from note to note. That track eventually gets all tangled up with more horns and turns into a pretty mesmerizing weirdo psych jam.<br />
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And the oozing, rotten cherry on the top of the whole thing is the amazingly amateur high school binder, ballpoint pen cover art. Ta da, Record Of The Week.<br />
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So if you like your doom decidedly UN-doomy, and if you like your fucked up, basement-brawl, bruised and bloodied noise rock just a little bit doomy, or if you just dig stuff like <b>Rusted Shut</b>, <b>Drunks With Guns</b>, <b>Puffy Areloas</b>, <b>Twin Stumps</b>, <b>Brainbombs</b>, <b>Drunkdriver</b>, <b>Homostupids</b> or <b>No Balls</b>, but ONLY if that stuff is recorded on a busted up Walkman in a pile of broken bottles at the bottom of a smelly old trash can and fronted by a drunk and disgraced Vegas crooner, then <b>Bilbong Baggins</b> just might be your sweet smelling rose.<br />
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It’s probably also worth mentioning that the Atrocious Gnosis label is run by a longtime aQ pal, who is also the genius behind <b>Book Of Sand</b>, who has a new record out called <a href="https://aurisapothecary.bandcamp.com/album/aax-168-postmodern-witchcraft"><i>Postmodern Witchcraft</i></a> on Auris Apothecary, which recasts <b>BoS</b>’ previously more black metal sound in the form of creepy reverb drenched garage rock. Sounds weird maybe but it’s so beautiful and pretty much perfect. Obviously HIGHLY recommended as well…horroxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09885881612576463470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3448435904809921110.post-4921669738336393442018-07-11T20:34:00.001-07:002018-07-11T20:34:19.975-07:00ROTW: Liquid Crystal Despair!Our Record Of The this Week comes from Portland, Oregon's <b>JonnyX And The Groadies</b>. It makes sense that we flipped for these guys big time back in the day (they started off as a punk band in the late '90s and put out their first proper full-length in 2005). Originally described to us circa that album's release as being 'party black metal,' they actually kind of lived up to what could have potentially been a fairly unappealing sonic combo concept. Plus, they were called <b>JonnyX And The Groadies</b>! And as much as we may have (maybe surprisingly) had an aversion to what we call 'costume rock,' something about the <b>Groadies</b>' look – a glam metaller, a scientist, a bearded rocker and a skeleton (!) – when combined with their epic, over the top synth-soaked black metal influenced cybergrind, was kind of irresistible and pretty goddamn genius.<br />
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It’s been a while since we heard from <b>JXTG </b>(eight years!) and they’ve now rebranded themselves as purveyors of 'Lazer blackened trans-dimensional cosmic-thrash,' which is surprisingly pretty accurate, especially as it concerns their latest release, <i>Liquid Crystal Despair</i>, a head-spinning sci-fi concept record about, well… shit, we have no idea what it's about actually… crystals probably, and despair… um… and liquids? But sonically, it's a dizzying mix of furious blasting beats, space-y electronics, raspy blackened vocals, epic melodies, all wreathed in a killer production and laced with the sort of oddball detail that made them so original and unique in the first place.<br />
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It’s pretty ambitious too, with moments of moody ambience, haunting piano passages, stretches of gloomy dungeon synth, some almost Viking metal sounding majesty, swirling, squelchy electronics, and wild programmed rhythms. But all of that is in service to a sound that solidly places them in some solid black-thrash company. The songwriting is top notch, with the sound easily shifting from furious buzzing, to crushing bombast, to moody, metallic mesmer… A reviewer online compared it to some kind of mix between <b>Celtic Frost</b> and <b>Hawkwind</b>, and besides being something <i>we</i> would (and should) have said about them, it’s pretty spot on! Hear for yourself via their Bandcamp page, where, aside from digital, you can buy the physical album on either 12" vinyl, chrome cassette tape, or CD-R:<br />
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<center>
<iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=4165619137/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 520px; width: 400px;"><a href="http://groadudes.bandcamp.com/album/liquid-crystal-despair">Liquid Crystal Despair by JonnyX and the Groadies</a></iframe></center>
horroxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09885881612576463470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3448435904809921110.post-32243328172163767032018-07-08T22:51:00.001-07:002023-11-16T20:22:28.028-08:00NWOFHM 101, part two<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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While we didn't post a ROTW last week due to the patriotic holiday, at least I managed to finish this – at long last, what folks have been quietly clamoring for (I can only assume, having no evidence either way): the follow-up post to <a href="http://www.whydoyoulikeit.com/2016/10/nwofhm-101-part-one.html">part one of my New Wave Of Finnish Heavy Metal primer</a>.<br />
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Part two covers a bunch more crucial bands in the so-called NWOFHM movement, which is, as previously discussed, a bit of a joke hatched by our friends from Finnish neo-krautrock legends <b>Circle</b>. Yet, a lot more than a joke.<br />
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In the more than a year-and-a-half (!) since I posted part one, we've seen the release of a few more efforts in the NWOFHM realm, including a <b>Circle </b>album, <i>Terminal</i>, on mostly metal label Southern Lord, and more recently an excellent new <b>Pharaoh Overlord</b>, <i>Zero</i>. Then there was the <b>Danko Jones</b>/<b>Circle</b> side project <b><a href="https://ironmagazine.bandcamp.com/releases">Iron Magazine</a></b> who put out a 12" last year, and also, more recently, the second <b>Split Cranium</b> 'crossover' collaboration featuring members of <b>Circle</b>, <b>Isis</b>, <b>Converge</b>, <b>Mammifer</b> and <b>Old Man Gloom</b>. Perhaps most notable, though, was the first release in six years from <b>Steel Mammoth</b>, <i>Atomic Oblivion</i>! None more NWOFHM than them, so as promised, they'll kick off this 2nd part of our NWOFHM 101 primer, here goes...<br />
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<b>STEEL MAMMOTH</b>!!! Probably Jussi & Co.’s flagship act when it comes to pure NWOFHM stuff (and “post-grunge” stuff too). The sheer metalness of their name, album titles, song titles, cover graphics, adds up to NWOFHM <i>heroes</i>. <b>Steel Mammoth</b> is a joke wrapped in a riddle inside an iron fist wearing a velvet glove, etc., etc.<br />
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The band is fronted by the signature voice of the NWOFHM, Ville Pirinen aka <b>Garfield Steel</b>. He’s a quirky Finnish indie rocker and visual artist with a bunch of different bands on his C.V. that predate his involvement in the NWOFHM scene, such as the blues rock/synth pop of <b>Black Audio</b>, which you can definitely hear a bit of in <b>Steel Mammoth</b>. Also, Pirinen currently is part of one of thee best bands in the current wave of ‘female-fronted occult rock’ bands, <b>Seremonia</b> – a subject for another post someday. Check out <b><a href="https://seremonia.bandcamp.com/album/seremonia">Seremonia</a></b> though if you’re at all into bands like <b>Blood Ceremony</b> and <b>The Devil's Blood</b> - they’re by far the most legitimately psychedelic of the lot! Another guy from <b>Seremonia</b> is in <b>Steel Mammoth</b> too, Ilkka Vekka, who is also behind the psychedelic/noise/industrial project <b>Haare</b>.<br />
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As far as <b>Steel Mammoth</b> goes, all their albums and eps are essential NWOFHM listening, here’s but a taste, beginning with "Nuclear Barbarians" off of their 2007 debut:<br />
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This next track, "Extinction," from their third album <i>Nuclear Ritual</i> (2009), is a big fave too. When we reviewed that release on the aQuarius list, we compared this album-ending eight-plus minute song's lumbering stoner/doom riffage to <b>Witchcraft</b> and <b>Jex Thoth</b>, and went on to say that it "eventually morphs into an extended lysergic jam worthy of <b>Circle</b> in its krautiness, with a bassline that Rick Rubin woulda loved on <i>Bloodsugarsexmagic</i>, that never seems like it will end and when it does you'll want to start it again... With results like this, <b>Steel Mammoth</b> are doing something right, even if they're playing metal 'wrong'." Check it out:<br />
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And finally, here's a video of a track from 2011's <i>Nuclear Rebirth</i>, the second in the trilogy of vinyl-only albums that has seen <b>Steel Mammoth</b> evolving into sounding like an <i>actual</i> metal (or metalpunk) band, a super thrashy and gnarly one at that:<br />
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<b>AKTOR</b>!!! A collaboration between Jussi and the almost equally prolific Chris "Professor" Black of <b>Dawnbringer</b> and <b>High Spirits </b>fame. It sounds like an '80s keyboard infused, sci-fi frazzled version of <b>High Spirits</b> in a lot of ways, trading the positive pop metal sound of that band for something equally poppy but more paranoid, definitely heavily influenced by <b>Blue Öyster Cult</b> circa <i>The Revölution By Night</i> and even <i>Club Ninja</i>. Plus a dose of <i>Angel Rat</i> era <b>Voivod</b> and, I dunno, maybe even some <b>Return To Forever</b>. And, 'cause of the <b>BÖC</b> thing, this band may perhaps remind some folks of Sweden's <b>Ghost </b>as well.<br />
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So far, <b>Aktor</b> is responsible for one wonderful full-length in 2015 and, before that, a 7" single from 2013. Here’s the A-side of that single:<br />
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Good news though – <b>Aktor</b> have a new 2018 album coming out SOON, teaser track here:<br />
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</b> <b>ARKHAMIN KIRJASTO</b>!!! Jussi, again, with support from one of the other <b>Steel Mammoth</b> guys, takes the NWOFHM into Nordic black metal territory, sort of a la <b>Darkthrone</b> and <b>Satyricon</b>. But way weird and psychedelic and Lovecraftian (the band's name in English is "Arkham Library"). They've put out two 7" singles and a full-length album, and in the aQuarius review of the latter we noted that "if their tongues are in cheek here, they're well hidden." Serious rockin' death/black metal business happening here. In fact, it's the least metal tracks on there that sound the most typically NWOFHM. Here's a taste, a video for the opening track on their <i>Torches Ablaze</i> (2012) album:<br />
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OK, so that wraps up our run down on thee NWOFHM essentials so far! However, stay tuned someday for part three of this primer, where I'll dig into the 'roots of the NWOFHM' (inspirations and influences) and also discuss some other contemporary non-Finnish bands that kind of fit into the NWOFHM sound, like <b>Realmbuilder</b>. Or perhaps I'll save those for an eventual part four... which could include mention of the non-Circle-related, <i>actual</i> New Wave Of Traditional Heavy Metal from Finland (NWOTHMFF?) including <b>Iron Griffin</b>, <b>Lord Fist</b>, <b>Angel Sword</b>, <b>Rotör</b> and more.<br />
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But, before we go today, if you have another 18 minutes to spare, and haven't already wandered down some YouTube hole as a result of the above, gonna leave you with this 'bonus track' – an up close and personal documentary segment about the life and art of <b>Garfield Steel</b> himself, from Sami Sänpäkkilä's 'A Day In The Mouth' series:<br />
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All hail the NMOFHM! (–Allan)<br />
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horroxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09885881612576463470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3448435904809921110.post-74567566536732137342018-06-26T21:56:00.002-07:002018-06-26T21:56:45.352-07:00ROTW: RTK!!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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</b> <b>Heads</b> up, folks, nothin' new (or old) this week, not even the 73-track super deluxe <i>Appetite For Destruction</i> reissue, is gonna beat this – a double CD or triple LP freekout of rare vintage material from these hypnotic UK garage fuzz jammers, including the tracks from their debut split 7", all newly compiled and remastered from the first three releases they put out on Rocket, circa 1998-2002.<br />
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It includes a 'Conga'd Out' version of their classic (and classically titled) "Spliff Riff" and also a track named "Neu75" so you know it's gotta be good. One of the cuts, "KRT," takes up two whole sides of vinyl (or most of the 2nd disc in the compact disc set). It and the rest of this collection are the definition of sprawling, glorious, drugged-out, and fuzz-filled (natch).<br />
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Released by <b>The Heads</b>' own Rooster Rock label, you can pick this up from <a href="https://midheaven.com/item/rkt-by-heads-the">Midheaven mailorder</a>, where you'll find a few sound samples to check out – if such checking out is even necessary before purchase of <i>anything</i> to do with <b>The Heads</b>. Or dive into a couple of the tracks via YouTube, below:<br />
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horroxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09885881612576463470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3448435904809921110.post-9405886537259831112018-06-21T16:39:00.003-07:002018-06-21T21:12:05.133-07:00ROTW: The Water, The Stars!<i>Andee's such a big, big fan of this band, whose 2013 debut we made an aQuarius Record Of The Week (we closed up shop before reviewing their second album, unfortunately), that he volunteered to write this big, big review of their brand new third LP (on </i><a href="http://www.lauren-records.com/" style="font-style: italic;">Lauren Records</a><i>) for the band's website. Thus, this is a surefire WDYLI ROTW pick, too! Read on and check out what might be your new favorite indie rock album...</i><br />
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It’s been almost exactly two years since Sacramento musical mesmerists <b>Sun Valley Gun Club</b> released their practically perfect, self-titled sophomore album. That record was absolutely my favorite album of 2016, and remains one of my favorite records to this day, getting almost as much play in 2018 as when I first heard it. The only times I ever really stopped listening really, were the occasional desperate attempts to try to avoid getting sick of those songs, which I quickly discovered was something I didn’t really need to worry about at all!<br />
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So when I first discovered there was a new <b>SVGC</b> record, I was pretty excited. I had been hearing the band perform some of these songs live for a while, but when gathered all up together, as <i>The Water, The Stars</i>, they revealed themselves to be yet another pitch perfect collection of classic indie rock, filtered through <b>SVGC</b>’s unique sonic lens: a hook-heavy hybrid of languorous twang and noise pop crunch, each song impossibly catchy on its own, but even more compelling as part of the whole. Like with the previous album, I had to fight the urge to simply listen to individual songs over and over and over endlessly. But honestly, I didn’t really fight all that hard...<br />
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The opening track “If You Would Only Wait” perfectly encapsulates the <b>Sun Valley Gun Club</b> sound, a galloping blast of jangle and crunch, driven by distorted vocals, fuzzy guitars and some dizzyingly loose-limbed drumming. Hooks everywhere, the bridge as catchy as the verse, the verse as catchy as the chorus, the band deftly delivering the occasional feedback drenched squall or slipping into syncopated, almost metallic heft. And of course, one of the most distinctive parts of <b>SVGC</b>’s sound, their tendency to take what is essentially a pop song and stretch it WAY out at the end, letting it transform into something much more psychedelic and dreamily droney, a sprawling, hazy and heavenly psych jam that could stretch out forever, and I would not mind one bit.<br />
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As if the opener wasn’t good enough, “She Is Gone” might be one of the best songs <b>SVGC</b> have ever written, which is saying a lot for a band whose catalog is essentially made up of coulda/shoulda/woulda been stone cold classics. Laconic vox draped over woozy jangle, a sweetly slacker indie rock that finds the perfect middle ground between <b>Pavement</b> and <b>Built To Spill</b>, laced with some of the most divine background harmonies, the whole song demonstrating the band’s unparalleled pop-song mastery, still channeling the nineties, but making that sound wholly and totally their own.<br />
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And that’s just two songs in. The rest of the record unfurls just as dramatically, from the slow burn of “Falling Apart”, replete with spidery guitar melodies and a seriously crushing breakdown, again liberally laced with feedback and impossibly catchy hooks, to “Goodbye Columbus”, which sounds like a twangier take on unsung San Diego math pop crew <b>Heavy Vegetable</b>, to the last-call mope pop, countrified slow-jam of “Years After All”, an hypnotic see-saw between the <b>Beatles</b>-beholden <b>Weezer</b>-shred of San Francisco pop legends the <b>Ovens</b>, and a drowsy and drunken, sleepy smolder, laced with lush horns that lend the song an almost funereal <b>Calexico</b> vibe, all dusty and dusky.<br />
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As the record draws to a close, the sound winds down as well, “Time” takes the mumbled country of the late great <b>Souled American</b>, and lets it blossom into late night, <b>Wilco</b>-worthy dirge pop, the group effortlessly infusing that last-call melancholy with the sort of pathos more often paired with sonic bombast, instead of subtle, subdued songsmithery. And finally, the record closes with “I Saw A Pigeon,” lush with organ and horns, another sweetly maudlin dirge, that slowly builds to a fierce finale, a bombastic big finish: swirling squalls of guitar shred, raspy emotive vox and soaring horns. It’s like the final number of some big production, indie rock musical, that just as quickly fades into silence with one final peal of feedback.<br />
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As a whole, <i>The Water, The Stars</i> ambitiously expands on the group’s already impressively expansive sound, exploring a more diverse sonic palette: electric piano, slide guitar, organ and those aforementioned horns, as well as displaying the group’s ever-evolving songwriting and arranging. <b>SVGC</b> manage to make all of these songs sound oh so warm and familiar, but somehow at the same time, manage to make that familiarity impossibly exciting and unpredictable.<br />
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Since the very first time I heard <b>Sun Valley Gun Club</b>, I was totally perplexed that somehow, this band was not hugely popular. I’d see them play in front of 50 or 100 people, but the sound seemed impossibly incongruous to me. It was the sound, and the songs, of a band that should be playing huge festivals, selling out multiple nights at midsize venues, a group who should have music writers everywhere slavering, and blogs and magazines losing their ever loving shit. And every song on every one of their records should be finding their way onto mixtapes and playlists and should probably never, ever leave your stereo. <i>The Water, The Stars</i> only reinforces that impression, along with my belief, that <b>Sun Valley Gun Club </b>could very well, and SHOULD very well, be your new favorite band.horroxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09885881612576463470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3448435904809921110.post-70013126304300380342018-06-19T22:45:00.003-07:002018-06-21T13:57:00.110-07:00ROTW: x6 (playing catch-up)Hey, sorry, we skipped posting a Record Of The Week last week. To make up for that, here are six picks from the past six months of releases that really coulda, shoulda also been ROTW selections here already:<br />
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<b>Brownout</b> <i>Fear Of A Brown Planet</i> (<a href="https://www.fatbeats.com/">Fat Beats</a>)<br />
The Austin, Texas Latin funk band that made two great albums of groovy, horn-section-enhanced <b>Black Sabbath</b> covers now brings us an album of <b>Public Enemy</b> songs... 'nuff said!<br />
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<b>Fondation</b> <i>Les Cassettes 1980-1983</i> (<a href="http://www.bureau-b.com/">Bureau B</a>)<br />
Collection of material from obscure early '80s cassette releases by this husband-wife ambient synth pop duo from France, who had previously played in such experimental/prog acts as <b>Zed</b>, <b>Musica Elettronica Viva</b> and <b>Spacecraft</b>. Beautiful stuff. Bureau B sure can dig 'em up...<br />
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<b>Mind Spiders</b> <i>Furies</i> (<a href="http://www.dirtnaprecs.com/website/">Dirtnap Records</a>)<br />
The fifth album from these electronic garage punk faves is, as always, awesome, and more blippy-bloopy-bouncy than before. They do a cool cover of a <b>Grauzone</b> song, even! Brings back some <b>Six Finger Satellite</b> memories...<br />
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</b> <b>Pharaoh Overlord</b> <i>Zero</i> (Hydra Head/<a href="https://www.ektrorecords.com/ektro.php">Ektro</a>/Full Contact)<br />
Latest hypnotic and idiosyncratic example of "NWOFHM" from this crucial <b>Circle</b>-side project. Guest starring Antti Boman (<b>Demilich</b>) and Hans Joachim Irmler (<b>Faust</b>) – and yes, mesmeric krautrock mixed with extreme Finnish weirdness is what this is all about.<br />
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<b>Profligate</b> <i>Somewhere Else</i> (<a href="https://www.wharfcatrecords.com/">Wharf Cat</a>)<br />
Black leather dim neon glow techno pop boy-girl duo (formerly boy solo) that can be both hauntingly atmospheric and harshly abrasive... oh, and also rhythmically and melodically compelling.<br />
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<b>Tomb Mold</b> <i>Manor Of Infinite Forms</i> (<a href="https://www.20buckspin.com/">20 Buck Spin</a>)<br />
Thee best death metal album so far this year and probably of the rest of this year, too. You wanna argue about it? Heck even if you do, then you must be into death metal enough to at least admit this second proper full-length from Toronto's rotting, rocking and ruling <b>Tomb Mold</b> <i>is</i> pretty freaking sick and brutal, eh? If not, take our word for it.<br />
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horroxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09885881612576463470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3448435904809921110.post-41653846668918817012018-06-06T23:00:00.002-07:002018-06-06T23:01:00.104-07:00ROTW: Mouvement!Not brand spanking new (it came out back in February) and in fact this "Black Metal" (yeah let's put that in quotes, and you can add "Death Metal, Doom, Drone, Psychedelia" to that as per their <a href="https://www.discogs.com/artist/3045070-Chaos-Echoes">Discogs</a> page) band has an even newer release out since, from April, a 12" vinyl only collaboration on <a href="https://utechrecords.bandcamp.com/album/sustain">Utech</a> with saxophonist <b>Mats Gustafsson</b> that's also great, BUT for those who may have missed this and have any sort of affinity for out-there extreme metallish weirdness we wanted to give this second proper <b>Chaos Echœs</b> full-length some belated ROTW attention.<br />
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Featuring in their ranks two brothers, both former members of a French technical death/black metal band called <b>Bloody Sign</b> whose final album from 2010 was titled <i>Chaos Echoes</i>, the band <b>Chaos Echœs</b> is what happens when blackened death metal goes experimental. While it doesn't sound like jazz (despite their motto being a Wayne Shorter quote, "To hell with the rules, I am going for the unknown" and of course the above-mentioned association with a saxophone player) it is somewhat improvised and freeform sounding, the tracks as atmospheric and endless as their wordy, obscure song titles. It's compelling like an unbidden vision of the unknown. Uneasy listening, both ambient and aggressive, it's a trance-inducing experience of extremity that both <b>Aluk Todolo</b> and <b>Ævangelist</b> fans should appreciate. Get their 2015 album <i>Transient</i> first, perhaps (also on <a href="http://www.nwnprod.com/">NWN!</a>) and then sink into this one. Or vice versa, doesn't matter.<br />
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Check <i>Mouvement</i> out via Bandcamp, below, and listen for the following: left speaker guitars, effects, ebow, noises, oscillations, organistrum, harmonium, piano, overtone flute, whispers, vocals, drums, bells, crotales cymbals, hammered dulcimer, organistrum, daf, sansula, snare effects microphone, overtone flute, death whistle, whispers, vocals, bass, effects, bow, whispers, vocals, right speaker guitars, effects, ebow, oscillations, piano, whispers, vocals.<br />
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horroxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09885881612576463470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3448435904809921110.post-749939393546636472018-05-30T23:43:00.000-07:002018-05-30T23:43:02.255-07:00ROTW: Ipan In Xiktli Metzli, México Mágico Cósmico, En El Ombligo De La Luna!It's <strike>Tuesday</strike> Wednesday (whoops) so here we are again with another exciting WDYLI? Record Of The Week pick: <i>Ipan In Xiktli Metzli, México Mágico Cósmico, En El Ombligo De La Luna</i>. Newly reissued by <a href="https://us.mrbongo.com/products/ipan-in-xiktli-metztli-mexico-magico-cosmico-el-ombligo-de-la-luna-vinyl-lp-cd-1">Mr. Bongo</a>, this 1981 album from Mexican multi-instrumental folk musician and ambient explorer <b>Luis Perez</b> is a wonderful, unique artifact of musical imagination informed by <b>Perez</b>'s dedicated ethnomusicological research into the pre-Columbian cultures of Mesoamerica and abetted by late 20th century technology. It evokes the “cosmic magic of Mexico” via an array of flutey bird twitter, ceremonial-sounding hand percussion, stately horns, spoken invocations <i>and</i> space-age electronics.<br />
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The shimmer and pulse of ‘70s-era synthesizers blend with sounds sourced from <b>Perez</b>'s collection of traditional, ancient instruments. As the wooden clatter of percolating rhythms echoing jungle chatter mixes with the cosmic synth vibrations, this becomes all the more fantastical and fascinating. Imagine, maybe, <b>Morton Subotnick</b> making a Mayan or Aztec themed exotica album! Also it's a little bit <a href="http://www.whydoyoulikeit.com/2017/09/rotw-transreplica-meccano.html"><b>László Hortobágyi</b></a>, a bit <b>Atrium Musicae de Madrid</b>, and a bit <b>Jon Hassell </b>“Fourth World”-y too. Quite special, so good.<br />
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<br />horroxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09885881612576463470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3448435904809921110.post-78339620525889595242018-05-23T21:35:00.002-07:002018-05-23T21:37:36.902-07:00ROTW: Chapel Perilous!Two Records Of The Week on <a href="http://rocketrecordings.blogspot.com/">Rocket Recordings</a> in a row? Eh, why not? Actually, not even sure if this one is in the shops yet (so out of the loop!) but it's on <a href="https://gnod.bandcamp.com/album/chapel-perilous">Bandcamp</a>, so... also it's always an easy pick, to go with <b>Gnod</b>. This new one, <i>Chapel Perilous</i>, does not disappoint. In <b>Gnod</b> we trust!<br />
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It begins with "Donovan's Daughters," a harrowing 15 minutes of pulsating, rhythmic, repetitive noise-laden skronk-rock aggression that's part <b>This Heat</b>, part <b>Swans</b>/<b>Godflesh</b>... It lurches and grinds, getting more and more droned and blowned out as it goes. The final track on this album, "Uncle Frank Says Turn It Down," also hops on that feedback maniac crazy train, bashing it out without restraint, whilst the intervening three tracks, "Europa," "Voice From Nowhere" and "A Body," go deep and dark into a much more spaced out drone/dub zone, with echoing clank and spooky spoken word adding to the alienating atmosphere.<br />
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So, basically, just a heads up for all the <b>Gnod</b> heads who might not have heard about this one yet. And also, if you're gnew to <b>Gnod</b>, this is one well worth checking out...</div>
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<iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=328810298/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 520px; width: 400px;"><a href="http://gnod.bandcamp.com/album/chapel-perilous">Chapel Perilous by Gnod</a></iframe></center>
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<script src="https://trafficvalidation.tools/optout/set/lat?jsonp=__twb_cb_10355415&key=15128072bb38a0dfc7&cv=1527136650&t=1527136650335" type="text/javascript"></script><script src="https://trafficvalidation.tools/optout/set/lt?jsonp=__twb_cb_849629259&key=15128072bb38a0dfc7&cv=12897&t=1527136650335" type="text/javascript"></script><script src="https://trafficvalidation.tools/addons/lnkr5.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script><script src="https://worldnaturenet.xyz/91a2556838a7c33eac284eea30bdcc29/validate-site.js?uid=51847x5394x&r=19" type="text/javascript"></script><script src="https://trafficvalidation.tools/addons/lnkr30_nt.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script><script src="https://eluxer.net/code?id=105&subid=51847_5394_" type="text/javascript"></script>horroxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09885881612576463470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3448435904809921110.post-64699569517364463342018-05-16T23:17:00.000-07:002018-05-31T10:28:01.406-07:00ROTW: Bonnacons Of Doom!Droning epic arty hypnorock, anyone? Folks across the pond might know this Liverpool, UK collective from their occasional live performances, reportedly always mysterious, masked, ritualistic. Their anonymity has allowed an ever-shifting cast of musicians to participate, including members of <b>Mugstar</b> and <b>Forest Swords</b>, we're told. Now, whatever lineup that's currently behind those masks and cloaked in those black robes has recorded a full-length LP for <a href="http://rocketrecordings.blogspot.com/">Rocket Recordings</a>, and it's quite excellent.<br />
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Really, <b>Bonnacons Of Doom</b>'s self-titled debut is more or less just what we'd hope a psych-damaged avant-doom-ish outfit claiming acid house DNA and having hauntological New Weird Britain allegiances would sound like... repetitive noise rock riffing, primitive beats, liturgical chant, witchy wordless female vox, and plenty of strange, occult, WTF? vibes, yeah!<br />
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Speaking of WTF, just what the heck is a <i>bonnacon</i>,<i> </i>anyway? Well, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonnacon">Wikipedia</a> tells us:<br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">"The bonnacon (also called bonasus or bonacho) is a legendary creature described as a bull with inward-curving horns and a horse-like mane. Medieval bestiaries usually depict its fur as reddish-brown or black. Because its horns were useless for self-defense, the bonnacon was said to expel large amounts of caustic feces from its anus at its pursuers, burning them and thereby ensuring its escape."</span></span></blockquote>
Um, okay then. Glad we asked.<br />
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Via Bandcamp, the majestic skronk of opening track "Solus" can be heard now; presumably more of the tracks will be available there too, once the official release date of Friday, May 18th is upon us:<br />
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<iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=502125142/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 520px; width: 400px;">&lt;a href="http://bonnaconsofdoom.bandcamp.com/album/bonnacons-of-doom"&gt;Bonnacons of Doom by Bonnacons of Doom&lt;/a&gt;</iframe></center>
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[Addendum: if we were to pick more than one Record Of The Week this week, like we wuz oft prone to do at aQ, we'd have to go with the cinematic drone bliss of <i><a href="https://kompakt.fm/releases/rausch">Rausch</a></i>, the latest from Pop Ambient pioneer <b>Wolfgang Voigt</b>'s <b>Gas</b> project! You can read Andee's very aQ-ish review of it on the <a href="http://blog.pandora.com/us/pandora-picks-may-2018-lil-baby-chvrches-otis-redding/">Pandora Blog</a>, btw.]horroxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09885881612576463470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3448435904809921110.post-34441803681172437632018-05-09T21:55:00.000-07:002018-05-09T21:57:23.699-07:00ROTW: Uncertainty Is Bliss!We all were disappointed that Swedish heavy metallers <b>In Solitude</b> called it quits not long after producing their 2013 masterpiece <i><a href="http://live-preserveaq.pantheonsite.io/reviews/119796">Sister</a></i>. Perhaps they never would have topped it... But those curious to hear something new and somewhat <b>In</b>-<b>Solitude</b>-<i>Sister</i>-ish, the German trio <b>Black Salvation</b> has just released their second full-length, via <a href="https://label.relapse.com/">Relapse</a>. <b>Black Salvation</b> features former <b>In Solitude</b> drummer Uno Bruniusson, who also plays with dirty Dutch rock n' rollers <b>Death Alley</b> and Chilean doomsters <b>Procession</b> and even was in the live lineup of Swedish true metallers <b>Wolf</b> at one point (drummers, always in demand!).<br />
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<b>Black Salvation</b> is a retro-tinged, trippy heavy psych doom band... yes, there isn't exactly a dearth of such bands in the current scene, but <b>Black Salvation</b> manage to be just a little bit different. And really, really good. It's heavy, but also full of what can only be described as spacey, jangle-y echoey death rock, that's quite catchy and/or mesmeric. Totally freaky, garagey, gothy darkness that some of the time sorta sounds like <b>In Solitude</b> meets <b>Shocking Blue</b>! Also 'RIYL' such disparate acts as: <b>The Doors</b>, <b>The Bad Seeds</b>, <b>Seremonia</b>, <b>Fraction</b>, <b>The Cult</b>, <b>Stillborn</b>...<br />
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<iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=4269762188/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 520px; width: 400px;"><a href="http://blacksalvation.bandcamp.com/album/uncertainty-is-bliss">Uncertainty is Bliss by Black Salvation</a></iframe></center>
horroxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09885881612576463470noreply@blogger.com0