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Death And VanillaCalifornia Owls
'Crackling recordings of old seances, inexplicably exploding tea cups… The supernatural is an important factor for Death And Vanilla as aesthetic source material and methodological starting-point. The Malmö-based duo loves library music, electronic pioneers and the golden age of analog synths, and they play their music on instruments and amps from the Fifties, Sixties and Seventies, not only in order to recreate the sound and the atmosphere they love, but also to channel the ghostlike qualities in old spring reverbs and loose contacts. A kind of analog glitch, you might label their practice. “From Elsewhere” is typical of the contradictory impulses in the name of the band. The sweetest melody is delivered by a female voice which seems conjured up from the other side, or at least the Seventies.'-- Joakim Norling, Friendly Noise
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Jefre Cantu-LedesmaLove After Love
'A master of romantic abstraction, Jefre Cantu–Ledesma is not new to the scene. In fact, he’s been releasing a steady stream of music for nearly twenty years. With the brilliant album A Year With 13 Moons, however, the ever–prolific Ledesma appears to be hitting a new high. Or low, depending on how you like to see things. Using a friend’s reel to reel tape player, Cantu employed electric guitar, modular synthesizer, drum machine and concrète sounds from his surroundings at the Headlands, recorded while walking to the studio, cooking in the kitchen, talking with friends, the ocean, films he was watching, driving in a car. Everything was record stereo to tape. There is only one track with overdubs – otherwise each take is a true document of an entirely live take. Born & raised in Texas, Ledesma’s formative artistic years were spent studying painting & sculpture in San Francisco. He began playing & releasing music in 1996 and has developed a steady relationship as a collaborator – he’s released notable collaborations with Liz Harris (aka Grouper) as Raum, with Alexis Georgopoulos in his Arp project and with their ensemble The Alps, as well as filmmaker Paul Clipson. Ledesma also founded the influential label, Root Strata, who have released music by Oneohtrix Point Never, Keith Fullerton Whitman, and Grouper, and continue to release new and archival works.'-- Mexican Summer
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The Blind ShakePollen
'Minneapolis three-piece The Blind Shake crafts dense, massive locomotive music—powerful sounds with the ability to careen through one cinematic, post-apocalyptic chase scene after another. The band’s latest album Breakfast of Failures comes clanging and crashing through these confused times. Fronted by brothers Jim and Mike Blaha along with friend Dave Roper on drums, the trio was tunneling through the underground since before telephones could talk. With six full-length albums to their credit, several singles, three collaborations with psych legend Michael Yonkers and another with downstroke warrior John Reis, The Blind Shake continues to push the sliding scale between catchy punk songs and pitch-red noise. “The Blind Shake is at once spacey, primitive futuristic, and brutal: a kind of backyard extraterrestrial minimal surf-punk party. One guitar, one baritone guitar, a fuckload of reverb, and a drummer who deserves an Olympic medal.”'-- SF Weekly
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Taman ShudViper Smoke
'Taman Shud is not ‘about’ working in a fucking office, it is about blood, sex and evil. We are a magical weapon against tedium,” states one missive posted by the London quartet – who released an EP with Fat White Family in 2013 – on their Facebook page. Debut album Viper Smoke goes some way to backing up that claim; an unholy combination of ghoulish moaning, the blackest strands of psychedelia and nightmarish song titles (‘The Hex Inverted’, ‘The Hissing Priest’s Remains’). On ‘I Tego Arcana Dei’ (Latin for ‘bury the mysteries of God’) a howling barrage of jagged guitars splices through rumbling bass and gloomy vocals, before ‘Book Of Lies’ slows to a reflective pace, and sounds even more cult-ish for it. Brilliantly terrifying.'-- NME
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An Autumn For Crippled ChildrenGleam
'Carving a little niche as one of the better and more evocative offshoots from the much-maligned ‘blackga(y)ze’ genre, An Autumn for Crippled Children have produced their fifth full-length in the beautifully desolate The Long Goodbye. Still as mournful as their titular season and child welfare status and yet uplifting as though hope is breaking through the oppressive clouds, everything that you liked before is here. I really can’t review this badly since I feel they absolutely nail the style that they strive for – this is the best work AAfCC has produced – but there is a distinct feeling that the Angry Metal Guy’s Law of Diminishing Recordings™ will soon hit. This is their plateau and they must develop in order to remain relevant. As before, AAfCC are at their melancholic best when crafting expressive soundscapes and atmospheres. The judicious deployment of synths across their oeuvre is stronger than ever here, as principle conveyors of melody. Sweeping strings and deft keys adorn all tracks and serve to afford some hope and uplift the mood, while the fuzzy guitar leads and tortured vox tussle to drag you through myriad upsetting emotions.'-- Angry Metal Guy
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Shit and ShineElectric Pony 2
'Craig Clouse is many things, and one of those things is a man with a dream. Specifically: a dream to repeatedly offend the boundaries of taste, logic, and definition. The vehicle with which he achieves that dream is his band Shit and Shine, which due to Google now implementing some nanny blocker, I can apparently no longer plug into Google. So here we are, 10 years into the lifespan of Shit and Shine, and the band has become an ever-evolving line-up of musicians for an ever-evolving sound. Their new album 54-Synth-Brass 38 Metal Guitar 65 Cathedral suggests a more electro direction, while the presser promises that the band’s “essence is morphed and feverishly formulated into extraterrestrial aural landscapes.” I personally wouldn’t be surprised if Grouse had found a way to record and speed up the sound of tectonic plates colliding.'-- Tiny Mix Tapes
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K-X-PMelody
'As a listener, the way that frontman Timo Kaukolampi talks about his band K-X-P's sophomore LP II might make you a little concerned about your own mental health. And for good reason, as K-X-P are band not to be trusted, perhaps even feared. Take the Finnish group's regrettably overlooked but excellent self-titled 2010 debut, which orbited a smorgasbord of maximalist pop fragments around lockstep motorik rhythms, ultimately leaving brains pleasantly gooped like a sous-vide egg. But it's with III that the self-proclaimed "anti-band" has taken things to a new level, as Kaukolampi has attested to infusing their sound with "free jazz, drone, noise, pop, rock," with an overall emphasis on trying to tap into something "more punk." He's even adopted a sort of alter ego, combining the personalities of "a lunatic occult reverend, a yoga teacher, John Lydon, Freddie Mercury and Rob Halford." Because why not? For a band that should've gotten your attention the first time around, there's no better time to fly off the handle a little bit than with your new release.'-- Zach Kelly
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Jojo HiroshigeBlack Night, White Snow
'I first started creating tapes with an open reel deck at home in 1974. I formed the improvising band SLOTH in 1977, and in 1978 formed ULTRA BIDE, who started touring live houses – I played bass. A year later, I formed Rasenkaidan and Hijokaidan. Hijokaidan started to get popular in 1980, and we appeared on the V.A. compilation Shumatu Shorijo. We released our first album Zouroku no kibyou in 1982, and released our 35th anniversary album Saita hana ga hitotsu ni hareba yoi in 2014. I began my solo activities in 1997, started BiS Kaidan in 2012 and Hatsune Kaidan in 2013. That same year, BiS Kaidan debuted on Avex. We disbanded in 2014. I basically try to play improvised noise without conventional song structures or melodies. There are many artists who influence me. A few that come to mind are Zunou Keisatsu, Yamashita Yosuke Trio and Derek Bailey.'-- Jojo Hiroshige
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TlaotlonOdys
'Twisted, maximalist and hyper-cerebral electronica from New Zealand (now Melbourne-based) producer Tlaotlon aka Jeremy Coubrough, who has produced a number of distinctly frenetic records in the last few years for Dungeon Taxis, Epic Sweep and Trensmat. After recently replacing the old PC (a rugged dusty chunk of components in an exposed case with no protective panels) on which he built those experiments in noise and dismantled techno, Coubrough explores a new kind of narcotically euphoric virtuality on a new machine, with added synthetic stimulation from a new e-cigarette. Synths, distorted samples and drum sequences hustle for space and attention only to crumble outward into wide open space, an endless-point-cloud vapourized/vapourizing domain. Insanely manipulated, growling digital vocals are drilled into huge, rapturous synth chords that are above all suggestive of an escapist urge to interact with but ultimately soar above power and technology, whether it’s the machine of the NSA, marketing, or emojis.'-- 1080pcollection.net
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Marching ChurchHungry For Love
'Elias Bender Rønnenfelt is best known as the lead singer of Iceage, but his solo project Marching Church has been in existence since 2010. Today it was announced that Marching Church will release a full-length album titled This World Is Not Enough in late March as a collaborative project between Rønnenfelt and an impressive host of musicians, including Kristian Emdal and Anton Rothstein (Lower), Cæcilie Trier (Choir of Young Believers), Bo H. Hansen (Hand of Dust, Sexdrome) and Frederikke Hoffmeier (Puce Mary). In a press release for the album, Rønnenfelt comments: "Improvisation, something I have never done before, was crucial in the making of this album. The album works because of the band’s incredible ability of breathing life into these loosely written and at times very simple ideas and experiments. Though Marching Church might be a dictatorship, This World is Not Enough was very much a collaborative effort. Everyone involved does other projects as well, but I wouldn’t want to see it as a “side project.” That term seems degrading."“Hungry For Love” is atmospheric and audibly improvisational, beginning with Spanish murmurings followed by Rønnenfelt’s trademarked, panting vocals.'-- Stereogum
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Anthony NaplesRis
'Anthony Naples crash-landed in dance music pretty much out of nowhere, creating a hubbub with the first song he ever wrote. Since then we've watched him grow, moving through a number of different dance styles. Perhaps the most compelling bit has been his artsy phase, partly represented by two EPs on The Trilogy Tapes. He continues that streak with his debut album, Body Pill. The breezily off-the-cuff way Naples assembles these tracks feels natural and intuitive. It's the mark of an artist who learned to make music himself, on his own terms, rather than following anyone else's rules or guidance. Even the smaller moments have merit, like "Pale," a two-minute diversion that sounds like a gentle snowfall and then just disappears. Body Pill is thoroughly understated throughout. It's an odd little album that only shows us part of the Anthony Naples puzzle, which is probably appropriate for an artist whose work seems to come in small and unusual bursts of inspiration.'-- Resident Advisor
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Kreng Depression
'The Summoner is a tricky album to address. It’s based on five established stages of mourning, but the songs represent personal retaliation to losing a number of close friends. It takes the listener on an almost structured journey that seems so far removed from the actual physical state of grieving that it has every potential to fail at the first hurdle. Grief and loss are often perceived as chaotic sensations constantly in flux, and to feel sympathetic while being guided across a linear suite of bereavement is quite an ask. That’s how I’ve ended up approaching this record: with both curiosity and an unhealthy dosage of skepticism. Because as much as we would like to rationalize the process, mourning can’t be so easily simplified into set stages or sequences that a person passes through — and even if mourning does happen to fall in line with these stages, the transitions through them are purely subjective and certainly can’t be allotted a specific time frame. “Acceptance,” the supposed final stage of mourning and the closing track on The Summoner, can be blown apart at any moment, only for the entire set of stages to recur. The album is therefore conceptually interesting on various levels, because the more attention one pays to the structure of each piece, the more the album begins to develop as an apparent rejection of categorization, outlining the one certainty that binds our lives together.'-- Tiny Mix Tapes
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WireJoust and Jostle (live)
'Wire, the sparse and fearsome British postpunk heroes, are on a very, very short list of important and influential bands who are still making music that can hang with their early material. The band has stayed plenty active in recent years, and if you listen to any of their records from the past decade or so, you will hear a band who knows the value of hypnotic repetition, of slash-and-burn guitar riffs, and of general ferocity. The band’s last album, 2013’s Change Becomes Us, was made up entirely of unrecorded songs that they’d written decades ago, and good though it was, it felt like it might be an early sign that this band was finally slowing down. But they’ve just announced that they’ve got a brand-new self-titled album coming out this spring. And “Joust & Jostle,” the first song they’ve shared, shows how wrong that impression was. “Joust & Jostle” is a tough and terse two-minute song, but it has a sweet sense of melody underlying its menace.'-- Stereogum
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NotsDecadence
'There were a number of fine bands that sprung up in the late ’90s post-Riot Grrrl surge who were left fumbling in the fog of alternative rock’s exhaust. Groups like The Need, Shesus, Satisfact, The Not (a Cincinnati band), and a few other early Wire-inspired punks added synth squeal to their agitated, basement gig screech. The Gossip made it out of that retreating time, otherwise much explosive femme fury was forgotten. This Memphis crew reanimate that skizz while retaining some of the recent trashed-up tradition of their home digs and label, Goner. First formed a couple years ago as an aside for Natalie Hoffmann (guitar) when she was in Ex-Cult, and her pal, drummer Charlotte Watson, Nots have become a fearsome foursome, honed their group yell, nervous drum slapping, slightly echoed grinding guitar and three-finger keyboard whirring, and are ready to tour out on this quick cut ‘n’ run debut slab.'-- CMJ
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p.s. Hey. ** David Ehrenstein, Ha ha, good suggestions. Actually, a Nabokov novel/video game adaptation is not a horrible idea at all. ** Alistair McCartney, Hi, Alistair! Greetings to sun-baked you (and Tim and Frida) and Venice from clouds-cooled me and Paris. Giant yay about the continued revising and its winning ways. Can not wait! Do you have any idea when you'll be 'finished' finished? Love from me. ** Thomas Moronic, Hi, T. Yeah, that happy segue was almost a complete accident. Almost. Very, very close. Things are looking slightly more upward re: the film stuff as of this morning. Fingers crossed. But, yeah, we shouldn't have been put in the position to have to do and sweat all of these problems. Spilt milk, I guess. I think the film might actually be amazing. Fingers still crossed. ** The Dreadful Flying Glove, Glove! Glovester! Awesome! Wow, I don't think I knew about that Thomas Disch work. That's completely fascinating. I will join you in poring over it imminently. Might even swipe a bit for the blog, come to think of it. Thank you! Those are delicious sounding puzzles, yeah. I've already waxed frequently here about 'Eternal Darkness', the old game where, using the heights of the tech available at that time, that time being early '00's, I think, the game made you go insane, literally. Not just your character/protagonist but the real you too. Second year of your PhD! That's going well, I hope? Can you give any basic detailing to what that's like and about? I offer you a preliminary welcome to the world (body?) of vegetarianism. Anything particularly hard for you to give up? The only thing that was particularly hard for me to lose way back when was salami, for some bizarre reason. I didn't make the gig. Long story. Oh, well. I really like Holly Herndon, so missing her is sad. I just glanced/peeked (can ears peek?) at that acreil stuff, and I'll definitely be indulging further later. Nice! Thank you! Coincidentally, there's some stuff up above that I've been listening to of late. I might especially recommend Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, if you don't know his stuff. Pretty enchanting. Greatness to see you! ** Bill, Hi, B! Thanks on behalf of me and anonymous. The film stuff is a drag, but we might be over the biggest hump. We might have found a sound mixer. We'll maybe know if that's the case this afternoon. IRCAM is a great idea that I hadn't even thought about. Thanks! 'Strawberry Statement', cool, you watched that! How in the world did someone decide on that title? The Strawberry Alarm Clock must have been big at the time? Here's to the slow down! Lovely Monday, pal! ** Steevee, Hi, Steve. Thanks. Yeah, the stuff we're having to figure out and do is supposed to be the producers' job for absolutely sure. Ours are used to putting out much looser, trashier looking/sounding films that can be kind of half-assed visually and sonically with no problem than the rather meticulous film we've made. Anyway, things are maybe looking up now, and live and learn, and all of that. I saw 'My Friend Victoria', actually. I can't even remember how. Yeah, it was an interesting film, for sure. I liked it quite a bit. I don't know 'Wild Life', I don't think. ** Misanthrope, Hey, G. I do remember that, yes. Yeah, Carson seems like the usual Republican candidate just with his own jostling particulars. I do also remember that walking conversation and our agreement. Yeah, that doesn't surprise me that much. I mean, I'm not the kind of anarchist who's interested in vocalizing in an insistent way that anything systematic is bullshit, etc. Listen and learn. I've heard of Hannibal Burress, I think. Wasn't he in the news recently or something? That was a sweet sight you saw, and, yeah, you probably should have praised his gentlemanliness, but he probably knows he's cool or something. Weird to get allergied-out at Game Stop. They let dogs in Game Stop? Why not, I guess. I hope you feel right as rain now. Wow, 'right as rain', where did that saying come from? Strange. ** Kier, Denella like Nutella I hope? Or like ... what's-her-name from '101 Dalmatians'? Denella Deville? Or both simultaneously? I'm jonesing for that game manual novel I wanted to write -- and still want to write -- too. Do you feel better? Do make that appointment if you don't. I didn't go the concert. Should have, probably. Gisele and Stephen went. I'll get their review today. Rain, rocky beach, lighthouse, sad surfer? Has there been a better combination of anything? Can't think of one. Shit, about the chicken and the disease. RIP, and hopes against its further spread. You go to Oslo on Friday? Wow. Nerves are natural, but it'll be exciting, K-ster! My weekend: On Saturday. we didn't work on the film as planned 'cos Zac wasn't feeling so hot. So I worked on the theater piece script, which is almost finished now. I contacted two people looking for leads on a sound mixer, and one recommended someone, and I wrote to him, and he says he might be available and into doing it, and we're going to talk to him today. So, that's promising. Zac's and my dear friend -- and the subject of our ongoing documentary film -- Fujiko Nakaya, the great Japanese fog sculptor, is in Paris, and we made a plan to meet with her, so that's exciting. I made a couple of blog posts. And, hm, probably other stuff I'm forgetting. On Sunday, Zac and I spent all day into the evening doing the sound edit on Scene 5 of our film, and we got about a little over halfway through, and we'll finish that and maybe start a new scene today. We have to keep sound editing, marathon-style, this week to get the film ready to be mixed asap. Editing took up most of the day/night. And then I came home and just did some emailing and stuff. What happened during your Monday? Oh, I wrote to you this morning. Hope it helps a little, and, like I said, if you want to talk, let's do it! Love, me. ** Keaton, I think in most cases? I suppose there could be tons if you happened upon some paranormally virile guy or were being team tagged? I suppose the stuff's temperature could be hot if the emitter had a high fever or something maybe? Video games are good for the writing. Well, for mine. I hope your lief arrives by Fed Ex Overnight. ** James, Hi, James. Nice childhood story, man. I didn't play games a a kid either because there weren't video games when I was a kid, sadly. We just had pop-up books. My frames are not radically different. Different shape. More rectangular than the old ones and than I wanted. I guess they're not so different, though. Almost everyone who's seen me wearing them don't even blink much less ask what happened to my glasses. Happy Monday to you! ** Okay. There's my new gig. There's some of the new music I've been liking. Hear what you think, I guess. See you tomorrow.