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Wednesday 30 November 2016
Thursday 24 November 2016
Review - Body/Head - No Waves
Body/Head – No Waves (Matador Records)
Out now
Review by Ioan Humphreys.
A lot has been said and written about No Wave, Sonic Youth, free
jazz noise, New York Noise, etc., so i won’t labour the point here. Just check
out the various publications and compilations available and you will get a real
feel of what was so special about the art and music New York circa 1976 through
to 1982.
Personally, my life changed around 1989-1990 when on one Sunday,
ITV’s The South Bank Show aired experimental filmmaker Charles Atlas’
documentary of the late 1980s downtown New York City music scene called ‘Put
Blood in the Music’. Featuring early performances by Sonic Youth, John Zorn,
Hugo Largo, Ambitious Lovers, and appearances by Dan Graham, Glenn Branca,
Karen Finley and others, i was completely entranced by all of it. I urge
everyone to see this documentary if only to just get a starting point for a
certain ‘type’ of music to come from New York, and how it would change the face
of alternative music forever. The visuals, the sounds, the noises, the
violence, the art, the free form expression! Everything changed for me that
Sunday night and i will forever be indebted to that documentary for the artists
and bands that introduced me to the possibilities of music outside of what i
already knew and what i thought was set in stone.
Ok, onto Body/Head that is the vehicle of Kim Gordon (ex Sonic
Youth) and Bill Nace. They have been plugging their free form noise
experimentation for a while now and this EP showcases a live recording from the
‘Big Ears Festival’ in Knoxville, Tennessee March 28th 2014.
Across the 3 (ish) tracks, this EP really does reflect the length and breadth
of Gordon and Nace’s noise experimentation and how far they have come as a
physical ‘band’. And again Gordon is no stranger to extracurricular band
activity. Gordon has played with ‘Free Kitten’ (Julia Cafritz (Pussy Galore),
Yoshimi P-We (The Boredoms) and Mark Ibold (Pavement, Sonic Youth)); ‘Harry
Crews’ (Lydia Lunch) and Mirror/Dash (Thurston Moore)) so this is no way a
‘new’ thing.
First track ‘Sugar Water has a slow and steady start that gently
introduces Gordon’s sultry, yet haunting wailing vocals over the sedate guitar
noise. This sedateness crescendos and careens about as the guitar noise fills
the room.
‘The show is over’ again starts off slowly and gently creates a
noisy guitar orchestra of sounds not unlike Glenn Branca’s compositions.
Gordon’s vocals are again haunting and abuse the already aggressive guitar. The
two combine to create a tumultuous aural experience that comes to a
satisfying, yet grateful halt. Quite overwhelming and powerful.
‘Abstract/Actress’ (both from the 2013 ‘Coming Apart’ LP) start
off with an engulfing riff that encapsulates Gordon’s otherworldly vocals, yet
it gets noisier and noisier as the pair completely free form and settle down to
create the most gorgeous guitar noise i have heard for a while. And this noise
just continues to morph and change and coagulate into the second half of this
chaotic, corrosive opus that ends with an inspired harmonica outro and guitar
crescendo that absolutely kills this track! This piece more than the
others shows the capabilities of Body/Head’s as a band and the sonicscapes
and places that this band is capable of taking one to.
Sometimes it’s ok to say a big fat fuck you to the past and apply
one’s self to an uncertain and (often) clumsily orchestrated future. That is
life. But, as long as it means creating works of art that continue to shock and
disturb and upset and create excruciating noise, then i think Body/Head have a
great future. File as essential.
Published on Louder Than War 17/11/16 - here
Wednesday 23 November 2016
Review - IN-IS - Seven Days
IN-IS
– Seven Days
CD
/ DL
Out
Now
8.5
/ 10
Classical ambient IN-IS releases debut album.
You might think that you’ve never heard of Sheridan Tongue,
the man behind the aural sculptures of IN-IS, but you be very wrong as the
Belfast born composer is the sound behind several soundtracks including Silent
Witness, Spooks (for which he received a BAFTA nomination) and more recently
the Brian Cox TV series Wonders Of The Solar System.
Highly polished and beautifully constructed, Seven Days is a gorgeous
album. With just enough ambience to keep
the Eno fans of this world happy, interlaced with some quite stunning
orchestral arrangements it is a centrepiece of creator Sheridan Tongue’s
talent. Influences from the likes of
Kraftwerk and Mike Oldfield (Tubular Bells) are easy to see but perhaps the
most striking comparison is one with Rob Dougan whose criminally underrated
Furious Angels album intertwined large segments of Debussy styled orchestration.
The eight tracks are simply yet incredibly highly polished
and completely loaded with emotion and atmospheric quality. Our Story is haunting yet beautiful at the
same time as the delicate strings sweep around like a woodland mist holding
together a love-struck couple, and Scarlette In Love serves to confirm comparisons
to Dougan as it bears resemblances to the orchestral interludes in Clubbed To
Death. Tongue however remains firmly on
the subtler, classical side and it is a style which could quite possibly cross
over to ambient fans.
The album claims to take journeys through the unexplored and
the compared lakes, seas and water locations are easy to imagine oneself
floating on as are areas of discreet loveliness. Indian Dilruba and Japanese hang drums also
feature but they are treated and manoeuvred sounding like mystical tones
throughout.
Seven Days is a short album clocking in at less than twenty
nine minutes but, within those tracks is a universe of intricacies and quite
beautiful soundscapes, Reverie For A Small Ensemble for instance has enough
space and emptiness for the listener to disappear to whenever they like within
their mind, and Fjords yet again takes us on a trip of enormous uncertainty yet
gives enough familiarity for us not to get lost.
A delightful and charming album which deserves any accolade
that will come its way.
Listen! - Rachel Mason - Das Ram FULL ALBUM STREAM!!
Over the past couple of months we have grown to love Rachel Mason. She is a true original.
On Das Ram, her thirteenth album, she fuses varied styles under a huge alternative pop umbrella which ducks and dives in and out of familiarity and strangeness. Rachel is not just a musical artist, her art and exhibitions command as much attention and quite rightly so and the attraction seems to be when both arts fuse.
Her recent videos for Heart Explodes and Tigers In The Dark show not only musical originality but also a keen eye for what makes our sense of sight explode. In some ways like Kate Bush represented both art forms to us, so Rachel does a similar thing.
Often tinged with a little darkness, the videos are simple but mind-blowing.
Eight tracks of unequivocal quality make up Das Ram and surely one of the albums of the year.
Website
Monday 21 November 2016
Sunday 20 November 2016
Review - Noura Mint Seymali – Arbina
LP / CD / DL
8/10
Out Now
Review by the Unarmed Bandit.
When this crossed my desk, my instant feeling was
trepidation – I was not convinced I would like it as I have not been exposed to
any music of Moorish descent. How wrong could I be?
Noura Mint Seymali hails from Mauritania with a deep-rooted
heritage in music, being a descendant of Moorish griot and this definitely
shows in the songwriting. For those who haven’t had the pleasure of listening
before, the sound is a fantastic fusion of African, Asian and Western
influence. Each of the songs on the album has its own identity, at different
times showcasing the guitar playing of Noura’s husband, Jelche Ould Chigaly,
the bass of Ousmane Toure and the drums of Matthew Tinari. The full drum kit
opens up the traditional sounds to Western ears and the bass which at times
offers the percussive effect of a tabla – I suspect this is down to years of
mastering the instrument and developed intentionally – paves the way for a
series of overlaid guitar riffs that highlight the Afro-Asian influence. All of
these support the soaring vocals of Noura without ever clashing. There is no
doubt that the story she is telling is the focal point of the songs.
While each of the tracks merit a mention, Ghizlane really
stands out for me. It starts quite calmly with a gorgeous melody being held up
by a selection of riffs, building slowly with the addition of bass and drums
until it climaxes into a cacophony of glorious celebration.
At the end of the day, this has opened my ears to a style of
music I probably wouldn’t have searched out otherwise and that I will always be
grateful for. Next stop, an online search for the first full-length album,
Tzenni.
Review - The Bordellos – How To Lose Friends And Influence No-One
The Bordellos – How To Lose Friends And Influence No-One (Small Bear Records)
CD
/ DL
Out
Now
8.5
/ 10
St Helens Indie Folk Rockers release their new album.
On their latest album, How To Lose Friends And Influence
No-One, The Bordellos seem to have created not a pop album nor the alternative
Indie folk that they label themselves as, but instead an album of incredibly
addictive anti-pop. Anti-pop in the
sense that there are amazing pop efforts squirming to break free but in their
own divine way don’t need to become polished and glitzy affairs.
There’s a wonderful beauty and simplicity about the
tracks. Sure, the vocals aren’t the best
ever recorded and neither are some of the guitar breaks but, that is the key to
this impressive thirteen tracked collection.
It highlights D.I.Y. music if you like but more importantly defines what
music is really all about. It shouldn’t
be elitist, it shouldn’t just be made by the privileged few with their big
budget videos and bigger name producers.
It should instead reflect the voice of everyone and more importantly in today’s
climate, the few.
Much recognition has to go to record label Small Bear Records
who once again put their proverbial money where their mouth is and back the
ordinary which in turn becomes the extraordinary. Indeed label supremo Phil Reynolds may even make
an appearance somewhere on the album as he often does, and perhaps the
involvement further endorses the relationship between band and label.
Album opener, I Don’t Believe In Motherfuckers Anymore surely
sets the scene as the sleeve notes clearly profess the music industry claiming
“it’s all about the music” when the music is always about nothing. The dismay of discovering every boys
childhood hero had in fact been a paedophile (albeit as the words dictate –
‘when he was naff’) on Gary Glitter, and an interesting slant on the finest DJ
of them all in the tortuously titled Did The Bastards At The BBC Kill John Peel. An interesting claim and one that could be a
conspiracy theorists wet dream particularly now that the constantly moving show
(maybe a thorn in the Beeb’s side?) has a series of attempted emulations on Radio
6.
Pink Torpedo and I No Longer Speak The International
Language Of Kojak Kapiche show how Brian, Dan
and Ant Bordello can craft some quite sublime songs. The melodies are quite near perfect and evoke
memories of the birth of the Indie scene with those tunes that weevilled into
your head and refused to leave. Unhappy
Song again recalls the writer’s favourite songs from youth and artists from The
Smiths to The Supremes, from Ramones to House Of Love – sad songs sometimes,
but in the most part from writers that had the ability to inject humour into the
most depressing sounding backdrops.
How To Lose Friends
is a lesson in D.I.Y., but more importantly it’s the story of a band wearing
their heart on their sleeve and believing in what they do and is one of the
most enthralling releases of the year. In
a world of sequined, over produced mediocrity, The Bordellos represent the
alternative world of anti-pop where passion and feeling count just as much as the
words and music.
This is the
root of music.
Saturday 19 November 2016
Listen! - Arrows Of Love - Famous Blue Raincoat
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