Category Archives: Music Review
24th Of June 2011 Update & Reviews
(Warp Records)
Not many albums can be considered both experimental and accessible, but Gloss
Drop deserves that distinction. It may be tough to imagine that Battles would
maintain their unique sound after guitarist/vocalist Tyondai Braxton’s 2010
departure, but this album shows that the remaining members have successfully
carved out their niche. Describing the music is a true challenge, but I think it
instantly connected with me because it reminds me of video game music; catchy
melodies that remain infectious after extended periods of listening, backed with
instrumentation that freely thrives outside conventional “pop” songwriting. All
three members have truly intense, complex musical talent, and the four tracks
with guest vocals are very unique. Standouts include the uninhibited, irresistible
and sweetly speckled “Ice Cream” (featuring Chilean artist Matias Aguayo) and the
invigoratingly epic “My Machines” (Gary Numan.)
Better known by his stage name Eluvium, Cooper has composed a rich, iridescent
ambient score for the titular film by fellow Portlander Matt McCormick. The subject
matter of Some Days Are Better Than Others is “strangers whose lives occasionally
intersect as they navigate their way through the struggles of personal attachment
and disconnection,” according to the label’s site. As Cooper watched the film, he
was inspired by the theme of our “out with the old, in with the new” society, so he
chose to use damaged instruments as a means of demonstrating their abandoned
potential. The resulting music does not sound “broken” at all, but rather beautiful
and meaningful. Since his specialty is crafting an ambient atmosphere, he uses
several electronic instruments. An organ/synthesizer particularly stands out, along
with strings in several tracks. Listening to this score is like a spending a day for an
introspective analysis of one’s own life – a sobering method of finding solace.
We’ve had copies of this featured at the front of the store for a while, but people seem to not notice. That sucks ’cause it’s good! Wolves was oneo fthe bands to crawl out of Orchid’s rotting corpse. These dudes play the jazzy version of screamo peppered with audio clips over feedback to get you rev’d up. PLAY IT LOUD! Comes with a download. FFO: Off Minor, Neil Perry, Forstella Ford
[Reviewer: Josh]
17th of June 2011 Update
at Redscroll Records
LPs & 12″s
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*AR “Wolf Notes”
Altarboy “Who Is Who”
Antibalas “Rat Race (12″)”
Bamba, Sorry “Volume One (1970-1979)”
Barn Owl “Shadowland”
Bathory “Bathory (Unofficial)”
Battles “Gloss Drop”
Black Dahlia Murder, The “Ritual (Ltd. Ed. 180 Gram)”
Bon Iver “Bon Iver (+ D/L)”
Boris “Attention Please”
Cash, Johnny “American Outtakes (Unofficial)”
Cash, Johnny “Devil’s Right Hand: The Man, The Myth, The Concept (Unofficial)”
Chris & Cosey “Exotika (Remastered Ed.)”
Delfonics, The “The Delfonics – Including: Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time), Trying To Make A Fool Of Me (Re-Issue)”
Deskonocidos “En La Oscuridad”
Doors, The “Waiting For The Midnight Sun (Unofficial)”
Doors, The “Absolutely Rare (Unofficial)”
Ema “Past Life Martyred Saints (180 Gram + D/L)”
Esplendor Geometrico “Mekano-Turbo (Ltd. Ed. #/500)”
Father’s Children “Who’s Gonna Save The World”
Fifty Foot Hose “Cauldron (180 Gram)”
Ford & Lopatin “Emergency Room (PIC 12″)”
Friedberger, Matthew “Old Regimes”
Fullerton-Whitman, Keith / Ben Vida “AggregatePulseRipper (Damaged III) / 080114”
Givers “In Light (Ltd. Ed. 180 Gram)”
Goblin “Nohnosonno: A Film By Dario Argento – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (White Vinyl + Poster)”
Halo, Laurel “Hour Logic”
Hector, Karl & The Malcouns “Tamanrasset (Ltd. Ed. /1000, Screened Cover)”
Immortal “Pure Holocaust (Unofficial)”
Jeff The Brotherhood “We Are The Champions (+ D/L)”
Jesuit “Discography (Members Went On To Be In Converge And D.E.P.)”
King Curtis “Soul Twist With King Curtis”
La Urss “Product”
Led Zeppelin “Led Zeppelin (Unofficial)”
Lonely C + Baby Prince “Not So Lonely EP”
Madlib “Madlib Medicine Show #9: Channel 85 Presents Nittyville (Deluxe Silk-Screen Cover Ltd. Ed.)”
M.B. (Maurizio Bianchi) “Symphony For A Genocide”
Mekurya, Getatchew And His Saxophone “Ethiopian Urban Modern Music Vol. 5”
Merzbow / Mammifer / House Of Low Culture “Lou Lou… In Tokyo (Ltd. Ed. #/330 2LP)”
MF Doom “Special Herbs: The Box Set (10LP+7″+Poster+D/L)”
Mind Over Mirrors “The Voice Rolling”
Noveller “Glacial Glow”
Nucular Aminals “Nucular Aminals”
Oddisee “Odd Seasons (2LP+7″ /1000)”
Onyeabor, William “Anything You Sow”
Orchestre-Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou-Dahomey “The 1st Album (1973)”
Pan/Tone “Rescue Me”
Psudoku “Space Grind”
Ramones “Surfin’ Birds: Minneapolis, MN July 27th 1986 (PIC)”
Ramones “It’s Alive (Import)”
Random Axe “Random Axe (Black Milk, Sean Price, Guilty Simpson)”
Rimshots, The “Soul Train “
Rob “Funky Rob Way”
Samhain “Initium (PIC Numbered)”
Samhain “N.Y. Breaks Loose… In 1985 (Unofficial Color Vinyl)”
Sebadoh “Bakesale (Re-Mastered Ltd. Ed. Color + D/L)”
Slowdive “Pygmalion”
Tallest Man On Earth, The “The Tallest Man On Earth (+ D/L)”
Toro Y Moi “Still (Remixes)”
Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band, The “Hot Heat And Sweet Groove”
White Hills “HP-1”
Wube, Akale “Akale Wube”
Electronic 12″s
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Broker/Dealer / Psychonauts “Dig Deep / World Keeps Turning”
Daedelus “Tailor-Made”
Dance Disorder “Metallic Italic”
Delay, Vladislav “Latoma”
Dels “Gob” (12″)
Dels “Gob (2LP Ltd. Ed. + D/L)”
DOP “Your Sex”
GusGus “Arabian Horse (+ CD)”
Holy Other “With U”
Hyetal “Diamond Islands”
Kode9 & The Spaceape “Otherman”
Mr. Statik “Even Giants Have A Soft Spot”
Simko, Kate “Lights Out (2LP)”
Surgeon “Breaking The Frame”
7″s
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Clash, The “Complete Control”
Dance Gavin Dance “People…”
Glenn Danzig “Who Killed Marilyn”
Libertines “What A Waster”
Ramones “Do U Want To Dance”
Ramones “We Are Getting…”
CDs
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Battles “Gloss Drop”
Bon Iver “Bon Iver”
Boris “Heavy Rocks”
Boris “Attention Please”
Desert Sessions “Vol 1/2”
Desert Sessions “Vol 3/4”
Hook, Peter (Bassist Of Joy Division)… “Performs Unkown Pleasures”
Jesuit “Discography”
Kyuss / Queens Of The Stone Age
Madlib “Madlib Medicine Show #9: Channel 85 Presents Nittyville”
Manson, Charles “Commemoration”
Planks “Darkest Of Grays”
White Stripes “Let’s Have It All”
Magazines
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Cometbus #47-53 (Back Issues!!!)
Maximum Rock N Roll #337
Wax Poetics #47
Wire #329 July 2011
Reviews
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EMA is Erika M. Anderson. Formerly of Gowns, she now has her own project. You can read up on her in depth over at her artist profile on Altered Zones. There are a couple musical clips and a short interview there as well. Noisey pop/poppy noise songs lie/lay within this one. Haunted lo-fi echoing folk songs. You like the grimier side of PJ Harvey? Here you are. I do too.
[Reviewer: Rick]
Foundation When the Smoke Clears LP
Foundation’s “When the Smoke Clears” is the latest addition to the
Bridge 9 catalog, and stands to be the label’s heaviest release in
years. While most other releases on this label lately are more
melodic, or even poppy (IE: Lemuria) Foundation adds something I
haven’t seen on this label in a while, and that’s pissed off, moshy,
straight edge hardcore. The lyrics are riddled with notes of internal
struggle and some referring to the current state of hardcore (“What
happened to the code of honor that we used to entrust? Ideas carved in
stone have now turned to dust.”)
This comes in a nice gatefold jacket with a variety of tour photos. It
also has a huge “Thank You” list, which I find less and less with
hardcore releases lately. Bring ’em back!
[Reviewer: Sean]
10th Of June 2011 Update
at Redscroll Records
LPs & 12″s
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Afrika Bambaataa “Looking For The Perfect Beat 1980-1985”
Axemen “Three Virgins (+ D/L)”
Biafra, Jello And The Guantanamo School Of Medicine “Enhanced Methods Of Questioning (+ D/L)”
Black Moth Super Rainbow “Dandelion Gum (PIC Disc)”
Black Pus “Primordial Pus”
Black Swans, The “Don’t Blame The Stars”
Bootsy’s Rubber Band “Stretchin’ Out In”
Clash “London Calling”
Coathangers, The “Larceny & Old Lace (+ D/L)”
Dawes “Nothing Is Wrong (2LP + CD)”
Deftones “Adrenaline (180 Gram)”
Echo & The Bunnymen “BBC Radio Tapes ’79-’80”
Esmerine “La Lechuza (+ CD + Ltd. Ed. Poster)”
Fungus Brains “Ron Pistos Real World”
Garbes, Ryan “Sweet Hassle”
Grave Babies “Death Face”
Guthrie, Woody “This Machine Kills Fascists”
Husker Du “Flip Your Wig”
Husker Du “Zen Arcade”
Johannsson, Johann “The Miners’ Hymns (+ D/L)”
Junior Boys “It’s All True (2LP + D/L)”
Karma To Burn “V”
Land Of Talk “Some Are Lakes (+ D/L)”
Lifeless “No Love For The World”
Nadler, Marissa “Marissa Nadler”
Oneida “Absolute II (+ D/L)”
Owl City “All Things Bright And Beautiful (+ D/L)”
Pleasure Leftists “Six Song EP”
Pollard, Robert “Lord Of The Birdcage”
Radiohead “Supercollider”
Reatards “Teenage Hate (First Album Plus Bonus LP Of Early Recordings + D/L)”
Rosebuds, The “Loud Planes Fly Low (+ D/L)”
Scott-Heron, Gil And Brian Jackson “From South Africa To South Carolina”
Sonic’s Rendezvous Band “Too Much Crank!”
Starkweather / Overmars “Starkweather & Overmars Split”
Urban Waste “Urban Waste (+ D/L)”
Vetiver “The Errant Charm (+ D/L)”
Within The Ruins “Omen (Ltd. Ed. Color + D/L)”
Wonder Years, The “Present: Suburbia I’ve Given You All And Now I’m Nothing (+ Poster)”
Yuppicide “Shinebox (Remastered)”
Yuppicide “Fear Love (Remastered)”
Electronic 12″s
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Addison Groove “This Is It”
Aguayo, Matias “I Don’t Smoke EP”
Basic Channel “Reshape”
Bicep “EP1”
Bicep “EP2”
Blondes “Lover / Hater”
DJ Yellow “Night In Tranzylvania (DJ Yellow E.P.)”
Dubkasm “More Jah”
Joker “The Vision (White Label)”
Mochipet / Dkon “Remixes”
MyMy & Emika “Price Tag EP”
Plastikman “Consumed”
Plastikman “Plasticine”
Secret Cinema “Minerals EP2”
Secret Cinema “Minerals EP3”
Skream “Where You Should Be 1”
Skream “Where You Should Be 2”
Stott, Andy “Night Jewel”
Stott, Andy “Tell Me Anything / Love Nothing”
Stott, Andy “Bad Landing EP”
Stott, Andy “Brief Encounter”
Teeth of the Sea “Hypnoticon”
Tejada, John & Leviste, Arian “Western Starland Remixes 2011”
Tobin, Amon “Isam (+ D/L)”
Tokimonsta “Cosmic Intoxication”
Vincenzo “Wherever I Lay My Head”
10″s
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Floating Points “Post Suite / Almost in Profile”
Iggy & The Stooges “Rough Power”
Iggy Pop & James Williamson “Jesus Loves The Stooges”
The New Christs “Woe Betide”
7″s
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Choke Up “Spent”
Gaz-66 Intrusion “Power”
Jawbox “Jackpot Plus!”
Kendl Winter “At The Same Time”
Lab
La Dispute / Touche Amore (Yellow & Brown Versions)
Leather “Sterile”
Okkervil River “Rider”
Pygmylush “Cold World / Guilt”
Reviver “Potential”
Rites Of Spring “All”
Soldiers “Hit The Bricks”
Unlearn “When The Reaper”
Warhead “This World Of”
CDs
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Alpinist “Lichtlaern..”
Altar Of Plagues “Mammal”
Black September “Forbidden…”
Engineer “Crooked Voices”
Holy Other “With U”
Johannsson, Johann “The Miners’ Hymns”
Oneida “Absolute II”
Origin “Entity”
People Like Us “Welcome”
Queens Of The Stone Age “QOTSA”
Reatards “Teenage Hate”
SepticFlesh “Great Mass…”
Tyr “Lay Of Thrym”
Various Artists “King Size Dub V. 15”
Vastum “Carnal Law”
Other
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Judge Banner
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90s, I was much more interested in the heavier pissed off CTHC bands
(Hatebreed, Fear Tomorrow, Mans Ruin, Death Threat etc..) and even
less interested in any CT bands defecting to Boston. I was also just
way too angry to be into a youth crew band that shared borders with
pop punk.
Fastbreak for those that don’t know was a Connecticut youth-crew
styled hardcore band. Formed by members of Cornerstone in 1994. These
dudes put out some 7″s, then went on to put out full length releases
on Revelation & Big Wheel. Members were also in In My Eyes, Right
Brigade, & Piebald. Recently we bought a collection of used hardcore
LPs and there were a couple copies of “Fast Cars, Fast Women” in the
mix. I decided to give this another whirl and the verdict is, 26 year
old me thinks this is a solid record.
(check out baby Wes Nelson [Schematic of a Waking Life, Estrogen Highs, other bands] on stage)
[Reviewer: Josh]
Kode9 is Steve Goodman. Steve Goodman lectures in Music Culture at the School of Sciences, Media, and Cultural Studies at the University of East London and is the founder of the record label Hyperdub. All this information can be verified at his website www.sonicwarfare.org – not so coincidentally he’s also penned a book with the name Sonic Warfare (by his credentials you might suspect that this is not a light read – you’d be right. It is dense with information [read: textbok]). Kode9 knows how to make bass music. Add his friend the Spaceape to the mix for some dynamism and you get a very nice future dub record. At times more dub and at times more bass (nevermind if that doesn’t seem to make sense, just take it like it reads). These aren’t really dancefloor bangers. These tracks are headnodders. Of course, I can go for a good headnodder from time to time on the dancefloor – these tracks just aren’t what you’d call “Killer Kuts.” Bonus time: It’s a double LP with a gatefold done well/right with lyrics and a short comic on the inner sides. Keep bouncin’.
[Reviewer: Rick]
Reviews: Johann Johannsson & Esmerine (NEW REVIEWER!)
A truly successful film score does not merely complement a film’s visuals; it also
radiates with an aura of the film, managing to stand independently in its own
right. Iceland-born composer Jóhann Jóhannsson’ s score for The Miners’ Hymns
fits this description well. The film in question, according to the description on Fat
Cat Records’ website, focuses on an “ill-fated mining community in North East
England” and the Miners’ Gala that celebrates their lives. Despite the fact that
I have not yet watched the film, I seriously want to check it out now, thanks to
the poignant atmosphere painted by the predominantly brass and organ-based
ensemble. I’m amazed by how heartrending and sentimental a film score about a
coal mining community can be. Each piece’s title was carefully selected from actual
slogans printed on trade union banners, providing very fascinating descriptions.
A somber mood blankets the overall experience, from the emotional ten-and-a-
half minute opener “They Being Dead yet Speaketh” to the triumphant, swelling
conclusion of “The Cause of Labour is the Hope of the World.” A particular standout
to me was “An Injury To One Is The Concern of All,” which explores a particularly
ominous, treacherous wasteland of orchestral spikes that soar like walls of fire
in a suffocating, dense landscape. Jóhannsson adds his share of subtle electronics to
complete the mood, giving an almost otherworldly essence to set it apart from most film
scores.
Imagine river rafting across an unfamiliar land, absorbing the beauty of both natural
and man-made sights without another care in your mind. Using only instruments
such as cello, harp, percussion and occasional vocals, the four-piece Esmerine make
La Lechuza an emotional, ornate experience. The river comparison is especially
well justified with mellow-yet-compelling songs such as “A Dog River” and “Little
Streams Make Big Rivers.” Personally, I’m feeling a strong, rich East Asian vibe from
the lively percussion and flowing strings, despite this band’s Montreal origin (its
members have contributed to several fellow local acts, such as Godspeed You! Black
Emperor (percussionist Bruce Cawdron) and Thee Silver Mt. Zion (cellist Beckie
Foon.)) The closer “Fish On Land” is particularly engrossing, as it was written and
sung by the late Lhasa de Sela, recorded with Cawdron and Foon in 2009, the year
before she lost her battle with cancer.