Igorrr - Very Noise

 #Igorr #Gautier Serre #extreme metal #breakcore #experimental #industrial #baroque metal #trip-hop #death metal #electronic #Meat Dept #animated music video

We have a challenge for you: Watch Meat Dept’s latest video and try and keep a straight face. Chances are you probably can’t. A weird and wacky music video created to accompany French musician Igorrr's track,Very Noise, it may surprise you to hear that there is a quite a serious meaning behind it – amidst all the madness. “Very Noise is an attempt to transcribe on video the synthesis of numerous testimonies of stroke victims that we have collected over the past few years,” explains David Nicolas of Meat Dept. “About 3/4 of the stroke victims are heterosexual white males over 50 years old, and the visions that arise from these experiences are in common with the neuroses of this category of the population. Identity disorder, existential anxieties linked to erection problems, transfer phenomenon to a more sporty image of the father, a burning desire for extreme but playful activities such as motocross or solo rock climbing…”
What on the face of it seems to be impossible to link together, was actually created with a lot of consideration and much thought. “The notion of figurative abstraction is also very significant in the stories, it is a form of link between two ideas that challenge each other, one could speak of a remedy for cognitive dissonance generated by overlapping fantasies,” explains David.
Bearing in mind the serious subject matter underpinning the project, Meat Dept have approached it in a typically humorous and open manner. “We just opened our psychic channel and went fishing for ideas,” recalls Laurent Nicolas. “We basically took the ideas as they came and translated them instantly into images, without any filter or thinking, like the “cadavre exquis.” Then we connected the dots to create some kind of story and everything made sense.” The team behind Meat Dept are David Nicolas, Laurent Nicolas and Kevin Van Der Meiren, who's varied backgrounds across animation, design, art and film have proved quite a prolific combination. As a collective they have previously had a short film premiere at Sundance and produced idents for Adult Swim, alongside their own personal film and music video projects. They are currently working on their first series, entitled Black Holes, which has been signed by a US television network.
Looking through their portfolio, it is clear that the team has a unique way of looking at things, that manifests itself in such intriguing work. Their process that facilitates this seems to be one which snowballs from one idea: “The deal with Igorrr was total freedom. We started from a motion capture bug in a loop David was working on: the chewing gum character on the boxing ring. Then we improvised and built around it, with a lot of experiments,” explains Kevin. “Then what’s important in our approach is the attitude we have towards the variety of tools and techniques we’re using. Technology plays a very important part in our process. We are as excited about the technology as the art itself. We love to play around with new tools and push them to their limits. As we said, the starting point of the video was some weird bugs and distortions in motion capture movements. From this technical problems can sometimes arise interesting forms. You have to be open to that kind of discovery.”
When they were approached by Igorrr, the team were experimenting for an exhibition that focussed on loops. David explains that this was where the collaboration began: “At the time we were preparing an exhibition of living paintings, made of loops, basically an animation sequence that loops perfectly and can be watched endlessly,” he says. “Gautier loved the concept, but listening to the track, we were really disconcerted. It’s very violent and unpredictable.” The fast and varied nature of the track itself is obviously something that drives the visuals, and many of the scenes are directly synced to the beat - something that Meat Dept considered important. “Of course, especially for a track like Very Noise, it’s all about rhythm. Towards the end of the process, we adjusted the cuts together with Gautier and he tweaked the music a little bit and added some sound design to make it perfectly fit with the images,” says Laurent. “Some say he’s a genius but he’s just a maniac really! Jokes aside, it was great working with him. Great guy!”
The video has had an amazing reception so far, with millions of views on Youtube and the inevitable reaction videos alongside them. Famous fans of the piece also include Mike Judge, someone that Meat Dept hugely admires. Based on the success of Very Noise, attention turns to where they go next. We ask them if any of the characters may make an appearance again in the future, to which Kevin responds: “Haha! The Grandpa biker is definitely coming back…”  From: https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/meat-dept-digital-film-310120

Gentle Giant - On Reflection

 

#Gentle Giant #progressive rock #British prog #eclectic prog #classic prog #hard rock #experimental rock #jazz rock #neoclassical #medieval #1970s #animated music video

Free Hand was Gentle Giant's seventh studio album and first for new label Chrysalis Records. It was also their highest charting album in the States. It’s a strange prospect to promote an album 46 years after it was recorded. “I don’t think any of us were thinking back then that any of this would happen now with us in our 70s… it is a bit odd, really,” says Gentle Giant’s Kerry Minnear (keyboards, mallet percussion, vocals and a multitude of other instruments) in his soft, Dorset burr. Derek Shulman (lead vocals, main lyricist, woodwind) adds: “Honestly, I’m enjoying talking about it, because when the band finished… it could have been grief, but I just didn’t want to go back and revisit [Gentle Giant]. But now it’s a pleasure. There was no expectation that this was going to be preserved.” “That’s very true,” says Minnear. “I think the multitracks only survived because Gary [Green – guitar and vocals] stepped in and then dumped them on me when he moved to the USA. They’d been up in my loft for years, until interest started to bubble and they’ve served us really well.”
In many ways, the creation of Free Hand in the spring of ’75 was an artistic venting at the relief the band felt having finally escaped from a troubled professional relationship with the WWA record label and from equally disheartening management obligations. They were primed and ready.  “We were at a pretty good high, we’d established the band and were doing comparatively good business in Europe and North America. I think we were quite mature as a band and recording Free Hand proved a happy experience,” says Derek. Ray Shulman (bass, strings, vocals) expands, “As bands develop they tend to splinter and move apart, and I think that it was the last album we made where all of us were together in Derek and my home town of Portsmouth to write and rehearse.” “And we weren’t in London,” Derek emphasises, “we were in Portsmouth of all places, so that was us cocooned on the south coast! And Gary and poor Kerry were sequestered to leave their own homes and join us.” “That’s alright,” says Minnear with a laugh, “I got a wife out of it!”
Reportedly, the whole writing and recording process for Free Hand took about seven weeks – “I don’t think we ever spent longer than four weeks doing the actual recording,” recalls Ray. “In fact, [1973 album] In A Glass House took about 12 days from start to finish,” adds Derek, “We worked our fingers to the bone to get what we wanted when we recorded. We didn’t like to drag things out and jam all day – that would have been a terrific waste of time.” Ray agrees, “We were very structured in what we did.” The focus was very much on Ray and Kerry to deliver the music. “Although Kerry and I had collaborated on earlier albums, by the time we recorded Free Hand we were working on our songs independently initially. I’d go to Kerry with my backing tracks for help with top lines and to Derek for the lyrics. Kerry was a bit more self-contained, he’d get a little bit further on before looking at lyrics with Derek. I used to start the Revox and just play. Then, listening back, if phrases caught my ear, I’d develop them,” explains Ray. Derek elucidates his role: “Lyrically, it was partly abstract, but as the album title suggests, it was about getting out of the record deals and ugly contractual obligations and I think we felt free and at ease. Free Hand was much more personal than our previous album, The Power And The Glory, which was a statement on world affairs and how power corrupts, and the whole Nixon/Watergate thing. Free Hand looked at things that were personal to the band and what was going on immediately around us.”
As far as musical influences are concerned, the group were rarely tuned in to the sounds of their fellow proggers. “We never really listened to any of our contemporaries, not that I recall. For me it would be more like James Brown or things like that!” says Ray. “I listened to Charlie Parker. We listened to a lot of modern jazz, the American band Spirit, and Frank Zappa – Zappa was an influence, I have to say. Hot Rats was one of my favourite albums of that time,” Derek recalls. “We had such eclectic tastes and weren’t really interested in other bands labelled the same as us, although not for any particular reason,” says Ray. “Ray was classically trained on the violin, but we were both in pop bands in the late 60s,” says Derek. “R&B and soul were major factors in our upbringing and we loved that music, and Kerry was classically trained and considered Tchaikovsky a sort of mentor. Whatever was good we liked – ABBA or whatever – I don’t think we shut anything out.” “Those diverse backgrounds were also part of our secret,” reflects Ray, “Gary would play these kind of progressive, jazzy lines with a blues inflection, which made it quite unique, and the combination of all of us perhaps shouldn’t have worked but did.”
Displaying maybe some of Gentle Giant’s trademark precision and attention to detail, Ray Shulman isn’t about to give their 1975 album a completely uncritical ear. “Funnily enough, on Free Hand, some of it sounds a bit under-rehearsed to me. The next album, Interview, is a lot tighter playing wise. There are some loose bits on Free Hand, which kind of annoy me…” He won’t be drawn however on exactly what he might want to change. “All of it!” he exclaims initially, much to his compatriots’ amusement. “No, there are just some bits I hear now and go, ‘Hmm.’ It’s a great album, it’s just parts we could have done differently… and if I’d realised I would have commented at the time, but we didn’t have the time!” Minnear also recalls a missed opportunity, “One of my laments is the fact that the track Free Hand had a different ending live that Ray wrote – it was a much better ending than what I wrote on the album. Live Free Hand came over as a much more killer track when it went into this sort of interesting French waltz.” Derek, however, is unperturbed about any perceived weaknesses: “I’d rather do an Édith Piaf: ‘I regret nothing’ –  it was what it was,” he affirms. He is clear about something he particularly likes, though: “I think the beginning of Just The Same, with the finger snaps and the counterpoint piano and other instrumentation, that’s really clever. It’s pretty hard to hear where the downbeat is. Having dealt with many other bands [Shulman has worked in various record label executive roles over the last 30 years or so], there aren’t many who’d have started a song like that.”
Conversation moves over to Steven Wilson’s role in remixing and preparing the Dolby Atmos and 5.1 surround sound versions. It’s been a positive working relationship since 2014’s re-release of The Power And The Glory, as Ray explains: “He originally contacted me through my involvement with DVD and Blu-ray authoring, and asked if we still had the original tapes for In A Glass House, because that was the one he could really see sounding better. Unfortunately, I had to tell him that they had gone forever. On some albums, like with some of the Octopus mixes, he said that he really couldn’t make them sound much better than the master we had, because he’s enough of a fan and technocrat that he knows what’s achievable. He’s a fan and wanted to remix stuff and we were like, ‘Well, yeah, okay.’ We had talked about getting some 5.1 mixes previously but Kerry and I felt that we didn’t have the experience or equipment, so he came along at absolutely the right time. I think we’re probably among the least fussy of the artists he’s worked with. Other projects give him explicit notes after every mix and he’s on to version five or more before they master. What he brings to it and what his ears suggest really works and we’re always really chuffed by what he does. He lightens everything up and there’s more space around everything – I don’t know if that’s a technical feature or whether it’s just his ears… I think probably it’s just his ears. I don’t think we’re ever done more than two revisions, have we, Kerry?” “No, it’s just been one or two places where it would be nice to hear some specific things,” agrees Minnear, “but usually what he brings out is very sensitive to what we were doing. You just have to mention something and he’s quick to see what you mean and he gets it.” Ray chips in. “Yeah, tiny bits really, nothing major.” “He’s really nice to work with as well,” offers Minnear. For Gentle Giant and Wilson fans alike, Derek has some additional breaking news and a heartfelt plea. “Ray has been working with Steven on two other albums, which will be released in the next few months: The Missing Piece and Interview. Hopefully, people will like the Free Hand remix enough to generate further interest. I really wish we could get hold of In A Glass House because it was a milestone for the band – I would love Steven to work on that, it’s a really interesting album. No one seems to know where the multitracks went. Could Prog put out an APB for it, because we would really love to find it? The best thing we could ever do would be to remix it and make it sound like it should have sounded, because it was done under such bizarre circumstances that it really deserves it.” “Possibly check in a skip outside WWA’s offices in Mayfair first!” quips Ray. Alongside the Atmos and 5.1 versions there’s also a Blu-ray included with Free Hand with specially created visuals accompanying each track created by Derek’s son, Noah.
Derek shares some final thoughts; “Everyone’s done their best possible work on this and it shows. Our music has really stood up and more and more young musicians and fans have caught on to what we were doing 40-45 years ago. We’re not Led Zeppelin, we’re not Pink Floyd – for that to have happened is very heartening. To know that what we did has some legacy to it. What we did was authentic, we weren’t following anyone, and the fact that the audience has become much, much larger is the most bizarre thing – kids are listening to it and trying to play it – something for all of us to be proud of.”  From: https://www.loudersound.com/features/on-reflection-gentle-giant-and-the-making-of-free-hand

Diane Coffee - Soon To Be, Won't To Be

 

#Diane Coffee #Shaun Fleming #ex-Foxygen #retro-1960s #retro-1970s #art rock #pop rock #psychedelic rock #glam rock #animated music video

A ’60s-ish rock-and-roll experience that recalls Phil Spector and doo-wop and leisure suits and even a slew of one-hit-wonder bands from back in the day are somehow updated and given present-day indie-rock treatment in this band that is named after a fictional character. No, I don’t think that Diane Coffee is front man Shaun Fleming’s alter ego, even though he crowds the issue a bit by wearing eye shadow and presenting in a distinctly feminine voice. Adding confusion to the issue is the band’s Wiki page — it states that “Diane Coffee is Shaun Fleming...,” and later, NPR likened Mr. Fleming to both David Bowie and Mick Jagger. Yes, Fleming’s a true Motown-glam show-stopper in that respect.
Diane Coffee’s leader and chief songwriter got his start in showbiz as a child actor by voicing characters in Disney cartoons. Later, he got busy with the drums and joined the band Foxygen, a group that started during high school in the L.A. suburb Fleming grew up in. The Diane Coffee thing came about after he moved to New York. There, he hunkered down with a guitar and wrote songs that would see the light of day via a DIY recording and subsequent release titled My Friend Fish. The pop-music critics at the internet music magazine Pitchfork resonated with the new music Fleming made; they, too, made subtle jokes about the band name, but they posted releases of Coffee’s singles and later gave Diane Coffee a performance slot in their own music festival.
Fleming got tired of New York, lives in Indiana now. He claims the band name is a hybridization combining the singer Diana Ross with a song titled “Mr. Coffee.” He once told a reporter to pick any name — just make good music. Which, at least on its face, appears to be what Fleming is doing.  From: https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2016/feb/24/of-note-man-called-diane-coffee/

 

His Name Is Alive - Are We Still Married

 #His Name is Alive #experimental rock #dream pop #avant garde #alternative rock #indie rock #neo-psychedelia #art rock #Quay Brothers #animated music video #stop-motion

This was the first music video that the Quay Brothers were entirely responsible for, having previously contributed animated sequences to Peter Gabriel's 'Sledgehammer' (d. Stephen R. Johnson) in 1986. They had previously been approached by Warren Defever, the Michigan-based founder of the musical project His Name Is Alive (alongside vocalist Karen Oliver and drummer Damian Lang), who wanted to licence extracts from Street of Crocodiles (1986) for use in one of their music videos. The Quays refused permission, but were sufficiently intrigued by Defever's work to agree to shoot a music video for him from scratch.
'Are We Still Married?' was originally released in 1991 as a track on His Name Is Alive's second album Home Is In Your Head. This is very typical of the band's work, and indeed many other releases on the 4AD label, creating a dreamlike ambience through selective distortion of instrumentation and vocals, to the point where it's often hard to make out specific lyrics. Naturally, this approach suited the Quays down to the ground, and they duly ignored the song's textual content in favour of a typically oblique evocation of childhood.
The most immediately striking image is of a young girl, whose head is barely visible, but whose ankles expand and contract in a rhythmic motion. This looks as though it was computer-enhanced, but the effect was in fact entirely mechanical - the Quays' regular technical collaborator Ian Nicholas built a hinge mechanism in the girl's ankles. Around her, a somewhat moth-eaten white rabbit plays a manic solo game of ping-pong.
The video was initially inspired by an image by an anonymous photographer of a girl standing in front of a door holding a paddle. There was also a white doorknob in the picture, which the Quays initially mistook for a ping-ping ball. Although the Quays claimed not to have read Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, there are unmistakable echoes, from the general theme of little girls growing and shrinking before one's eyes, mysterious bottles of unidentified substances and doorknobs that turn into ping-pong balls.  From: http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/1222875/index.html

His Name is Alive are a rather eccentric experimental rock project from Livonia, Michigan, currently based in Detroit. Founded in 1990 by guitarist, composer, and sole constant member Warren Defever, the band is fond of Genre Roulette, having recorded songs ranging from Dream Pop, alternative rock, funk, prog rock, and Baroque Pop to experimental noise and gothic ambient compositions. The band was originally signed to 4AD Records, under whom they released a string of critically acclaimed records throughout The '90s, but were dropped by the label in the early 2000's after failing to meet sales expectations. After this, the band went defunct until 2006, when Defever revived the project with a new lineup. Since then, the band has steadily released new records and shows no signs of slowing down.  From: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Music/HisNameIsAlive

Sparklehorse - Dog Door

 #Sparklehorse #alternative/indie rock #alternative country rock #lo-fi #slowcore #psychedelic rock #animated music video #stop-motion #Quay brothers

Although its name suggests the presence of a full band, Sparklehorse was essentially the work of singer/songwriter Mark Linkous, an alumnus of the mid-'80s indie band the Dancing Hoods. A tenure in the Johnson Family (later known as Salt Chuck Mary) followed, as did stints sweeping chimneys and painting houses. He began working as Sparklehorse in 1995, honing his spooky, lo-fi roots pop in the studio located on his farm in Bremo Bluff, VA. After a demo made its way to the offices of Capitol Records, Linkous signed to the label and issued Sparklehorse's acclaimed debut, Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot, scoring an alternative radio hit with the single "Someday I Will Treat You Good."
In early 1996, after a Sparklehorse concert in London, Linkous nearly died when he passed out after mixing Valium with prescription antidepressants. He spent 14 hours unconscious on his hotel's bathroom floor, his legs pinned under the rest of his body, and the prolonged loss of blood circulation nearly left him crippled. Many months and countless surgeries later, he was quite literally back on his feet, and his recovery provided inspiration for 1998's Good Morning Spider. Linkous then collaborated with PJ Harvey and the Cardigans' Nina Persson on 2001's radiant It's a Wonderful Life. In between that album and 2006's Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain (which featured contributions from Tom Waits and Danger Mouse), Linkous contributed songs to the soundtrack of the film Laurel Canyon and produced Daniel Johnston's 2003 album, Fear Yourself.
The next Sparklehorse project was truly an ambitious one: a multimedia sound and art gallery done in conjunction with Danger Mouse and filmmaker David Lynch called Dark Night of the Soul. The project featured several singers, including James Mercer, Gruff Rhys, Jason Lytle, Julian Casablancas, Frank Black, Iggy Pop, Nina Persson, Suzanne Vega, Vic Chesnutt, Scott Spillane, and David Lynch, whose photographs made up the 100-page accompanying book. Although slated to appear on the Capitol label in 2009, Dark Night of the Soul ended up dry docked by a legal dispute between EMI and Danger Mouse. Dark Night of the Soul was left marooned as an adjunct hostage in a complicated legal entanglement. Copies leaked out in different configurations, but it became apparent that Dark Night of the Soul's legitimate release was in serious jeopardy. Cutting his losses, Linkous instead turned his attention to a collaborative project with laptop artist Christian Fennesz. The two had previously recorded music together in 2007, and excerpts from those sessions were packaged together, forming the 2009 release In the Fishtank. As of early 2010, Linkous had moved to Hayesville, NC, and was reportedly nearing completion of a new Sparklehorse album. On March 6 of that year he was visiting friends in Knoxville, TN, when he committed suicide at age 47 by shooting himself in the chest with a rifle.  From: https://www.allmusic.com/artist/sparklehorse-mn0000008549/biography

Well she's as mean as a needle
Don't get too close to the heater
She's like a mean shop keeper
Who got an extra gun
She about 6'4" and she's a wrecking ball
Now go ahead and kiss her
She brought the bad weather with her
She got you coming through the dog door
She got you coming through the dog door

Now pigs get fat hogs get slaughtered
You ought to walk away
Well you can't but you ought to
Climb the rickety stairs
She got the long black hair
But don't sit there
Electricity chair
She got you coming through the dog door
She got you coming through the dog door

Pitchfork
Crowbar
Claw hammer
Hot tar

She's got ruin in her name
But she can make it rain
She's a small town jail
And she's starving in the belly of a whale
She got me coming through the dog door
She got me coming through the dog door

Pitchfork (Pitchfork)
Crowbar (Crowbar)
Clawhammer (Clawhammer)
Hot tar (Hot tar)

Avatarium - Boneflower

 #Avatarium #doom metal #heavy metal #heavy psych #prog metal #folk metal #metal supergroup #Swedish #animated music video

Here we have the debut from the Swedish doom super-group that are calling themselves Avatarium. At the helm is bassist Leif Edling (Candlemass, Krux), along with guitarist Marcus Jidell (Evergrey, Royal Hunt), drummer Lars Skold (Tiamat), keyboard player Carl Westholm (Jupiter Society, Carp Tree) and pop-rock vocalist Jennie-Ann Smith. The band mixes the crushing, epic doom style of Black Sabbath and Candlemass with the classic metal influence of Rainbow, the psychedelic hard rock of Blue Oyster Cult, the prog of early Genesis, and the bluesy folk of early Jethro Tull. Sounds like an interesting combination right? Well, it most certainly is. Smith has a lovely voice, and lends her gorgeous vocal passages to songs that are brimming with doomy might, classic rock sophistication, and the occasional pastoral prog touch.
"Moonhorse" kicks things off in fine fashion, as angelic vocals supported by folk guitars give way to behemoth doom riffs and scorching lead guitar work. The mysterious "Pandora's Egg" once again combines the folk with some psychedelia and massive riffing, as Smith just soars here over symphonic keyboards and some of the biggest riffs you'll hear this year. Absolutely crushing doom meshes with tasty prog rock keyboards on the melancholy title track, an epic, memorable number that also features some splendid lead guitar & slide work from Jidell, who at times on this CD reminds a bit of Ritchie Blackmore from the Rainbow Rising album. And, if you can imagine Heart's Ann Wilson singing in a doom band, well, that's kind of what you get with Smith and her amazing vocals. "Boneflower" is more of an upbeat psych/hard rocker (for fans of Ghost & Blue Oyster Cult) filled with tasty keyboards, riffs, and Smith's alluring vocals, while ominous Mellotron from Westholm permeates the doom laden dirge that is "Bird of Prey", a venomous number driven by huge Uriah Heep inspired Hammond organ & Sabbath styled guitar riffs. Rainbow-meets-Black Sabbath on the grandiose "Tides of Telepathy", with Skold delivering some amazing drum fills alongside Edling's massive bass grooves, and Jidell & Westholm layering in plenty of thunder to support Smith's emotional vocals. This amazing album ends with the folky prog of "Lady in the Lamp", a tranquil meeting of Heart, Rainbow, and Genesis, as lush Mellotron, lilting guitar chords, soaring slide guitar, and those incredible vocals just grab at your heart and refuse to let go.
For a debut, this is astounding material from Avatarium. They could have easily gone the safe route and created a straight doom record, but thankfully they wanted to do much more than that. Any fan of '70s heavy rock, psych, folk, doom, and prog will find lots to love here, and hopefully this is the first of many releases from this very fine ensemble. The musical pedigree of the members goes without saying, and Jennie-Ann Smith is truly an incredible singer.  From: https://www.seaoftranquility.org/reviews.php?op=showcontent&id=15550

Wand - Passage of the Dream

 #Wand #psychedelic rock #shoegaze #stoner rock #noise rock #garage rock #animated music video

On their third album, Los Angeles’ Wand gracefully sidestep the potential pitfalls of psychedelic songwriting—meandering guitars, rambling lyrics, directionless tracks. They ground the blurry, bizarre visions established on their previous efforts, Ganglion Reef and Golem, in colorful imagery, so that the faces of the monsters they’ve written about on past records come into full focus.
While the shadow of Wand’s mentor Ty Segall still hovers over Wand’s blown-out garage sound, the band’s own flickering light is beginning to shine through more often. They have added some progressive folk rock to the mix, fondly recalling unique and memorable records like Mellow Candle’s Swaddling Songs and Comus’ classic First Utterance without sounding like a carbon copy. Cory Hanson’s voice shimmers  against the acoustic palette of songs like the beautiful closer "Morning Rainbow", the song that also contains 1000 Days’ key lyrical thesis: "We will see this world together in its terror."
Paralysis, paranoia, disappearance, erasure, pure fear, and curdling dreams are all themes that reappear in Hanson’s lyrics for 1000 Days; even the titular song, a concise bit of folky garage pop with a sunny-sweet choral melody, seems like it might be a love song at first but quickly turns into the nightmare of relationship stasis, depression, and ennui ("I don’t need a thing ‘cause I’ve had every dream"). The mingling of beautiful, honeyed melodies with dark, bleak lyrical content is nothing new, but Wand do it especially well, and they have a precision in their songwriting that keeps their music from spinning off into glazed burnout territory.
Though one worries that with such a prolific release schedule that Wand will run out of ideas, 1000 Days is a heartening record, a record that sees a young band picking up steam, playing with their influences more deftly than on their prior LPs, and bringing a thoughtful approach to old and well-traveled sounds. There’s enough interesting moments on 1000 Days to hold onto these songs, go back to them, and explore within them. That’s more than many of their cohorts within the cluttered and long-trendy field of psychedelic garage—there are hundreds of disposable tape-label bands with little to say out there, and it’s wearying to search through all that crud for the occasional gem, which does exist—have to offer.  From: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/20995-1000-days/

Art of Bleeding - All Things Nice

 #Art of Bleeding #avant-garde #experimental #performance art #multimedia #culture jamming #animated music video

Art of Bleeding was a Los Angeles-based multi-media performance troupe providing darkly comic, faux-educational programs in first-aid and safety at clubs, galleries and art events. Staging shows from an actual ambulance, The Art of Bleeding creates what their press release refers to as a "paramedical funhouse" wherein puppets and costumed characters interact with a crew of nurses wearing medical-themed fetish gear. Events are hosted by costumed characters reminiscent of children's programming including the company's "beloved mascot," Abram the Safety Ape and RT, the Robot Teacher. In their performances and web videos, the group promotes an ill-defined and intentionally cryptic metaphysical doctrine that they call "True Safety Consciousness." The group's ambulance also functions as a mobile recording studio for their Gory Details Project, in which true-life tales of medical trauma are gathered from passersby to be shared in an online library of movies and mp3s. Some of these stories are also re-enacted within the framework of what would appear to be a tragically misguided children's show, the "Gory Details" web series.
In addition to live shows, videos, recordings, and paramedical-themed music, The Art of Bleeding has also choreographed public performances of bandaged and crutch-enabled dancers, created grisly anatomical walk-through installations, and staged a parking-lot display of smoldering, freshly wrecked cars peopled with bloodied actors sharing their cautionary tales. The troupe was founded by Al Ridenour, former leader of the Los Angeles branch of the Cacophony Society. When asked about the nature of his group, Ridenour has said, "Think of Art of Bleeding as a sort of public outreach multi-media brainwashing course in emergency medicine, and you'll have a good handle on it. At least better than me..."  From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_of_Bleeding

Deerhoof - Scarcity Is Manufactured

 #Deerhoof #indie rock #experimental rock #noise rock #art rock #noise punk #animated music video

At the beginning of 'Can’t Get You Out of My Head', the latest documentary by historian and filmmaker Adam Curtis, is a quote by anarchist activist David Graeber: “The ultimate hidden truth of the world is that it is something we make and could just as easily make differently.” It sets the tone for a sprawling thesis about how we’ve arrived at our current state of global affairs, reminding the viewer that there’s always another path. The film shares the same message at the heart of 'Actually, You Can', the 18th studio album by San Francisco’s Deerhoof. It’s a record of re-imagination, revolution, and reconstruction in the face of a seemingly inevitable status quo.
However, gleaning a clear message from Deerhoof’s music is like drawing water from a stone. Though singer/bassist Satomi Matsuzaki’s lyrics are playfully inscrutable, they contain moments of clarity. Chaotic opener “Be Unbarred, O Ye Gates of Hell” casts wealth disparities and labor rights into the metaphor of who benefits from a household appliance. Next, the shambling guitar-pop of “Department of Corrections” proposes that it’s time to reclaim autonomy from the powers that be: “O jailer, who’s in charge around here? And if not you then is it I? Yeah.” And the anthemic tangle that is “Ancient Mysteries, Described” switches to straight-up power chords for its ode to civil disobedience. Still, for each line that seems decipherable, twice as many are charmingly enigmatic.
The music of 'Actually, You Can' gets its message across much more effectively. With little more than two guitars, a bass, and drums, Deerhoof conjures anxious garage funk, Tejano-infused noise rock, introspective dissonance, mercurial power pop, and just about everything in between. Guitarist John Dieterich has described the record as “utility music that makes you move and motivates you,” and indeed, each of these nine songs contorts with joyous abandon. A song as chock full of dueling riffs and fleeting tangents as “Be Unbarred, O Ye Gates of Hell” could only put people on their feet. Greg Saunier’s splashy and relentless drumming turns art-rock jams “Department of Corrections” and “Plant Thief” into songs that could soundtrack an uprising. Even the dislocated, slow-burning “Our Philosophy is Fiction” still feels like a rallying cry in the hands of a seasoned and uniquely expressive band like Deerhoof. Whatever 'Actually, You Can' may lack in pointedness, it makes up for in raw energy.
Yet with all of the intensity and musical bedlam at work here, the brief sections of calm somehow resonate the longest. There’s something oddly hopeful and pure in the softly strummed verses of closer “Divine Comedy,” where Matsuzaki muses on yet to be realized possibilities for change. The tone of her delivery is flat and her cadence is hard to follow, but they are coupled with tender guitar chords, inviting the listener to dig deeper into the ideas behind this rare emotional break. Such reserved divergences are uncommon on 'Actually, You Can'. So when Deerhoof does step back from their onslaught of prismatic garage band tropes, it’s a welcome reminder that rock & roll spectacle isn’t the only way to inspire change.  From: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/deerhoof-actually-you-can/

Norihiro Sekitani

As Cesar Cruz once said, “Art should disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed”. And personally, I’m pretty mentally deranged - at least, according to the average twitter tween. So, I think it goes without saying that I often find myself disappointed with many music videos created for my favorite hardcore music. It’s like - yeah, wow, cool, the artist is whipping his hair, or moving erratically. That’s cool and all, but the music without the video produces such an abstract brutality, that your crazy dances don’t really cut it. I could see crazier things if I went down the street and gave my local individual without a home five bucks and told him to dance. It’s for this reason that I was so enthralled with the abstract body horror of Cyriak when I was younger. I wanted to feel a fear that would never meet me in the physical realm - a horror existent within only the creative hellscape of the human mind. Later in life, I discovered music that evoked a similar visceral reaction to Cyriak’s art - and I couldn’t help but think, “what if we combined that aforementioned surrealism with hardcore music, and turned them both up to 11”? Welcome, to the beautifully twisted surrealism of the prolific Japanese mixed-media artist, Norihiro Sekitani. Norihiro Sekitani is a legendary visual artist when it comes to the Japanese ultra-hardcore scene. Hell, he’s even done some videos for hardcore breakcore metal. To give you an idea of his specialty, I’m just gonna read you the names of some bands he’s made visuals for: DJ Rainbow Ejaculation, Zombieflesheater, Maruosa, you probably get the picture. The Pink Tentacle blog described his work as, “medical book meets manga meets [suggestive material].”  From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFZU_E1R2iU

 

Maruosa - ACA

 

 

Zombieflesheater - Face Destroy

 

 

DJ Rainbow Ejaculation - At Numerous Discos On Any Given Night

 

His Name is Alive - Can't Go Wrong Without You

 #His Name is Alive #experimental rock #dream pop #avant garde #alternative rock #indie rock #neo-psychedelia #art rock #Quay Brothers #animated music video #stop-motion

The ever-changing project of multi-instrumentalist/producer Warren Defever, His Name Is Alive have explored a veritable record store's worth of music during their decades-spanning career. In the early 1990s, they helped define the sound of the arty indie label 4AD with the experimental dream pop of albums such as 1991's Home Is in Your Head and 1993's Mouth by Mouth. As time went on, their rotating lineup mirrored their shifting sounds. Defever and company surveyed sunny, Beach Boys-tinged pop on 1996's Stars on ESP just as deftly as they channeled gospel and R&B on 2001's Someday My Blues Will Cover the Earth. A few years later, they fused their dream pop roots with African and Asian elements on 2007's Xmmer. His Name Is Alive entered a particularly creative period in the 2010s, combining the ambitious and heavy sounds of prog and metal with ethereal vocals on the concept albums Tecuciztecatl (2014) and Patterns of Light (2016). Later in the decade and into the 2020s, Defever revisited early ambient recordings on collections such as 2019's All the Mirrors in the House (Early Recordings 1979-1986) and reworked them on mixtapes including 2020's Ghost Tape EXP.  From: https://www.allmusic.com/artist/his-name-is-alive-mn0000681402/biography

Starting from the late 70s, US born/England based duo of identical twins Stephen and Timothy Quay produced a whole number of stop-motion animations and their unique style, in turn, influenced a whole number of other animators. Much of their work is based on the writings of Franz Kafka and Bruno Schulz, features little to no dialogue, and relies heavily on musical scores/soundtracks. Their connection with musical world became more pronounced as they directed music videos for His Name Is Alive, Michael Penn and 16 Horsepower. Some  incorrectly assume that they are responsible for creating videos for the band Tool (undoubtedly, very similar in style to Quay’s work, but created mostly by the band’s guitarist Adam Jones).
The two videos that the Brothers Quay directed for His Name Is Alive are “Can’t Go Wrong Without You” and “Are We Still Married.”  From: https://ihrtn.net/brothers-quay-his-name-is-alive/ 

Rickshaw Billie's Burger Patrol - Death Wagon

 #Rickshaw Billie's Burger Patrol #heavy metal #stoner metal #stoner rock #fuzz rock #animated music video

Space: A treacherous realm where terrifying unknowns eclipse manifest hazards. For example, if one’s spacesuit rips, they fall unconscious before swelling into a bloated mass in mere seconds. And when encountering a black hole, prepare to be stretched into human linguini. Still, what about wild card dangers – aliens, galactic hostage taking, burger babes?
Austin trio Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol ventures to the stars on brand new album Burger Babes from Outer Space - 8 terrifying tales of death to investigate. Is space really the place for a greasy rock band? The adventure unfolds today with a video for “Death Wagon,” animated by Katie McDowell and shot by Billie Patterson, in which members Leo Lydon, Aaron Metzdorf, and Sean St. Germain rocket through the cosmos on a sweet cheeseburger shaped craft until something goes horribly wrong. The expanse beyond our third stone from the sun swirls in silence, but not so when RBBP arrives. In “Death Wagon,” the unit blasts a sonic groove epitomized by Lydon’s exquisitely distorted 8-string guitar/bass hybrid and high vocals. Eventually, the track opens up into a near death metal squall that proves the perfect soundtrack for having your head torn off by the force of an exploding star.
Of the new album, Lydon reveals: “The Burger Babes have always been a symbol of feminism and power. I thought it would be cool to take them into outer space as a superior race of beings that were for peace, but instead, all the Earth guys start catcalling and whistling and try to pick them up, so they end up ‘evaporated’ by space weapons. It’s a very Mars Attacks kind of premise, I guess, but ‘Death Wagon’ comes into play from being in the road. Our van is the spaceship or death wagon. The whole thing is a metaphor for sacrifice and connecting, and giving your life to your art until eventually you die doing what you love. That spaceship burns and explodes as it enters the atmosphere, but no one will ever forget how bright it was when it did.”  From: https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/music/2020-11-13/watch-rickshaw-billies-burger-patrol-die-in-space/

Nurse With Wound - The Bottom Feeder

 #Nurse With Wound #Steven Stapleton #experimental #industrial #avant-garde #noise #dark ambient #drone #sound collage #plunderphonics #animated music video #stop-motion

A challenging, amorphous entity that has revolved around Steve Stapleton for almost forty years, Nurse With Wound has operated at the vanguard of industrial, drone and ambient music with fearless clarity. Steve Stapleton’s Nurse With Wound project is regularly positioned in the same universe as Current 93 and Coil on the basis of shared roots, ongoing social connections and a vague genre definition. What really unifies NWW with the other two, however, is the sheer uniqueness of the musical vision at play - each band has defined a sound world that echoes known genres, while belonging to any and all they might wish. In the case of Stapleton, his work has rarely featured a front-man or a conventional vocal presence, meaning the focus has always been on his abilities to reinvent and reimagine sounds in new contexts and new situations via his skill as a sound collagist. His focus on the moods and emotions evoked by what he creates has ensured a truly expansive set of alternative visions within his long discography.  From: https://thevinylfactory.com/features/an-introduction-to-nurse-with-wound-in-10-records/

As a testament to the random disorder and beauty of life, London’s Nurse With Wound (Steven Stapleton) functioned outside the normal musical channels for a decade, experimenting with tape collages of disjointed phrases, improvised music, electronics and found sounds on a series of intriguing, provocative, humorous and frequently entertaining self-released records. Between 1978 and 1988, Stapleton collaborated with such likeminded sonic adventurers as David Tibet of Current 93 and Tony Wakeford of Sol Invictus to produce a prodigious body of work that embraces surrealism in both content and graphics.

NWW’s debut, Chance Meeting of a Sweing Machine and an Umbrella on a Dessecting Table, welds introverted, spacey guitar to converging hemispheres of intergalactic blips. Then, like much of the band’s music, it veers into sketchy doodles: between intermittent lulls of humming and buzzing, there are bursts of frenzied screeching, torture chamber screams, piano scales, women speaking French, etc.

To the Quiet Men From a Tiny Girl resembles a nest of vibrating insects, with clinking chains, someone practicing saxophone, an operatic soprano and other voices. “Ostranenie” suggests a house of a hundred rooms — with a different noise in each.

Merzbild Schwet is as challenging as a Buñuel film, with repeated lines (like “We have fallen silent - lost the power of speech - our heads are empty”) as women laugh and sing. Other ingredients: clanking, ripping velcro, angry voices and something like a sick elephant honking.

Those first three albums were later reissued in a CD boxed set (Psilotripitaka), which also includes Ladies Home Tickler, another bizarre cut-up collage: snippets of sappy tunes, electrical noises and taunting laughter. Present the Sisters of Pataphysics compiles passages from the first three LPs.

The avant drippings on Sylvie and Babs — the most guest-laden NWW effort, with dozens of contributors as opposed to the usual one or two — include more laughter and repetition of the word “pardon.” The two Automating albums collect material from the many compilations to which Nurse With Wound has contributed. Slices of show tunes, repetitive background beats and advice like “Never eat anything bigger than your head” are sprinkled throughout. Volume II addresses the hierarchy of biological existence; one segment could be the soundtrack for a science fiction feature about giant rampaging tarantulas.

A pair of 12-inch EPs paired as an album, Gyllensköld bristles the coarsest of hairs with scratching and horror dungeon screams while Brained adds the demonic voice of Clint Ruin yet contains a movement that could accompany an underwater Cousteau documentary.

A Sucked Orange offers 20 experimental vignettes, many of which justify their titles: the scraping murmur of “Flea Bite,” the repetitive clank of utensils beneath a spoken loop of “It ain’t necessarily so” on “It Just Ain’t So,” the catchy ditty plinked out on “This Piano Can’t Think.”

Soliloquy for Lilith is Stapleton’s surprising chef d’oeuvre, a three-album box of contemplative, atmospheric experiments employing treatments of a stringed instrument of his own invention.

Over time, however, the group’s usual organized chaos gained a certain predictability. At the end of 1988, Stapleton moved to a farm in Ireland.

More accessible than much of Stapleton’s ’80s work, Rock ‘n Roll Station is rhythmic almost to the point of being dancefloor-friendly. The combination of rhythms, noise and ambience is in line with work done in the mid-to-late-’90s by artists on the Warp label. The title track begins with a clipped rhythm aided by random vocal samples; “The Self Sufficient Sexual Shoe” repeats the idea with male vocals replaced by female whispers. “Two Golden Microphones” is a multifaceted 17-minute sonic beast that throws together fragments of pop songs, surf instrumentals and tribal rhythms. “A Silhouette and Thumbtack (A Dance in Hyperspace)” slides from spooky ambience to a beat interrupted by random samples/noise. “R+B Through Collis Browne” works together female screams and guitar samples. The disc ends with three minutes of “Finsbury Park, May 8th, 1.35 pm (I’ll See You In Another World),” ambient-drone accented by a thumping beat.

From: https://trouserpress.com/reviews/nurse-with-wound/

 

 

Steven Stapleton

The Claypool Lennon Delirium - Blood And Rockets Movement I

 #The Claypool Lennon Delirium #Les Claypool #Sean Lennon #psychedelic rock #art rock #experimental rock #progressive rock #alternative rock #neo-psychedelia #ex-Primus #ex-The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger #music video

The curious tale of The Claypool Lennon Delirium
Kernel: the central or most important part of something, a homophone for colonel, and Sean Lennon’s nickname for  his creative co-conspirator, Les Claypool. “He has that colonel vibe; he’s the captain of the ship. He runs the desk on our sessions, he engineers the sessions, he’s kind of at the front of the ship. And he calls me ‘Shiner’ because it’s one syllable apart from Sean!” laughs Lennon from his snow-swept studio in upstate New York. When he speaks of Primus’ head honcho, it’s with great respect, awe and a touch of disbelief that he’s working with a musician who he’s admired for many years.
“I’d never really played in a band where someone was a legend on their instrument,” he says. “Les is on a short list of very respected bass players and I was surprised that he really wanted to start a band with me, so I did a lot of scales to get my chops up because I wanted to make sure I could hang musically with him.” When we catch up with the bespectacled multi-instrumentalist, he’s taking a break from working on a new solo album and some “exciting” top secret projects. Despite being so busy, he seems genuinely happy to finally be able to chat about The Claypool Lennon Delirium’s second full-length album, South Of Reality.
The surprise project came about in 2015, shortly after Lennon’s The Ghost Of A Saber Tooth Tiger opened for Primus. The duo’s colorful chemistry led to the release of their psychedelic debut Monolith Of Phobos the following year. A covers EP, Lime And Limpid Green, was released in 2017, just a few months ahead of Primus’ conceptual The Desaturating Seven, and hinted at some of their inspiration with renditions of The Court Of The Crimson King and Astronomy Domine. By the time they regrouped for South Of Reality, both Lennon and Claypool were brimming with ideas.
Where their debut was inspired by the soundtrack to The Monkees’ Head, album number two is a hypnotic blend of prog, psych and Sgt. Pepper's punctuated by Claypool’s complex funk-driven basslines. The pair share vocal duties and instrumentation, with Lennon further enhancing vintage elements via a Mellotron simulator and Coral electric sitar. The album’s nine satirical tracks were written and recorded over the space of two months at Claypool’s Rancho Relaxo studio in California, and are as much a journey into their eclectic musical influences as a thumb through the stranger sections of the National Enquirer. Cricket Chronicles Revisited is the thematic follow-up to Monolith’s two-part psychedelic explosion The Cricket And The Genie that explored the modern trend of over-medicating adults and children, while the lead track Blood And Rockets focuses on the strange life of occult rocket engineer Jack Parsons.
“I wanted to write a song about him and that was maybe one of the first ones I wrote for the album,” says Lennon. “He wound up helping us get to the moon but he was also part of the Ordo Templi Orientis [a religious organisation made famous by occultist Aleister Crowley]. It’s, like, this really weird story because Parsons ends up blowing himself up in an alchemical experiment. The end bit is in 5/8, which I thought was funny because a pentagram has five points. It cuts to the section when, in my mind, he’s crossing the threshold from this reality to another dimension.”
From: https://www.loudersound.com/features/the-curious-tale-of-the-claypool-lennon-delirium 

Black Pussy - I Wanna Get High

 #Black Pussy #stoner rock #psychedelic rock #garage rock #post-punk #animated music video #Malice in Wonderland

Black Pussy is a group of rock n’ roll pot-smoking fun-loving hippies that are passionate about art, creativity and the dynamic human spirit which refuses to submit. They encourage all ages and creeds to take the ride with them. For Dustin Hill, the creator and songwriter of the band, Black Pussy sounded like a fantastic name. It encapsulates exactly what the band is: a psychedelic, ’70s-influenced, hide-your-daughters-because-they’re-coming-to-town rock ‘n’ roll band that sounds like Tarantino directing a Thin Lizzy video in the low desert.
Black Pussy approaches their music style with influences across three decades of rock: the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. The result is a cohesive blend of Kyuss, Hawkwind, The Cars, Monster Magnet and Queens of the Stone Age. Their classic, upbeat and relentlessly hooky tracks embrace traditional pop structure within heavy rock and led to Hill coining the phrase “stoner-pop”. Their catchy music tends to seduce anyone, even those who wander in a club after seeing the intriguing band name on the marquis. There is no contrived contention, just fun, love and good tunes. Everyone is invited to this party.
From: https://first-avenue.com/performer/black-pussy/ 

Black Pussy draws its name from the 1970s pornographic era. An obvious objectification by the white boys of the group — white boys who relish the privilege of benefits of a pre-established patriarchy. The same patriarchy whose dominant ideology promotes women to be sexually subservient to men, denies women equal pay, denies the protection of discrimination based on sex and ownership of their reproductive health and bodies.
Last weekend Black Pussy played to an average-size crowd at Scout Bar in Clear Lake. Listeners milled about near the stage, with far less than a scattering of females in the audience. No one of African-American descent was to be seen. An opener for a mock-tribute band, Black Pussy played a short set to a muted response. Yet I couldn’t help feeling at first uncomfortable at their name, but later rage and guilt that my attendance could possibly be seen as complicity. Absolutely no, not ever. Who the fuck are these jackasses and why are they playing in my town?
I do not claim to speak for all women, nor would I ever attempt to speak on behalf of black women. But I will call bullshit when I see it, and the name Black Pussy, the members of the band and the hype they’ve created are easily one of the worst conceptions in music. Willfully ignorant and refusing to acknowledge their privilege, bands like Black Pussy will never achieve success because their notoriety is far more important than their art. Ignorant and unapologetic, they’re not unlike Mushroom Head and their painfully uneducated allegiance to the Confederate flag.
Despite societal norms forcing such antiquated messages to expire, those who hang onto them — like Black Pussy — believe in their own moral superiority or assertion of rightful speech. Yet they will actually fade into oblivion. It’s a gimmick, and a shitty one at that. These are not artists. These are not musicians. These are white men who have an agenda of perpetuating the system of oppression that already exists to suppress women and minorities. And if they really are the innocent, ignorant stoner boys they claim to be, they’ll change their fucking name and focus on improving their shitty music instead of calling dead black women their “fans."
I call total bullshit on this band. Total. Fucking. Bullshit. But, watch this — they won’t change their name and they’ll continue to gain notoriety, mock the scandalous attention and the negative press all while claiming, It’s just a name, people. Because that’s what racist, sexist bigots want you to believe.  From: https://www.houstonpress.com/music/black-pussy-worst-band-ever-7806166

Tucson-based stoner-rock/"boogie-pop" band Black Pussy—whose members, as you can see, are white men—were slated to play the Funhouse on Saturday, March 17, but that show is no longer happening. According to a February 26 post on the group's Facebook page, it was their decision to cancel. However, El Corazon boss and Funhouse co-owner Dana Sims says, "I’m not sure what they are talking about exactly. The show was cancelled by the club on Saturday. After some constructive discussions with people I love and respect both in the scene and the community at large, I felt it was the right thing to do."
Attracting much scathing criticism over the last few years for what many perceive to be their racially insensitive and objectifying name, Black Pussy have doubled down on their reasons for keeping the moniker. On their Facebook page, they deny that it derives from the original title of the Rolling Stones' "Brown Sugar," as some detractors have accused. In a phone interview, Black Pussy frontman Dustin Hill admits that Sims "pulled the plug" on the gig, but he made that Facebook post to stress that he doesn't "want to work with people who are racist and sexist and not inclusive. That’s what they are, so since they’re pulling the plug on us, I’m pulling the plug on them, simultaneously." When asked what exactly is racist about the Funhouse's decision, Hill says that, "The people attacking us personally about the Seattle show continuously call me ‘white’ and ‘male,’ and I shouldn’t play Seattle because I’m white and male. I think that’s some sexist and racist stuff. It’s my band name and because I’m white and male, I’m not allowed to have this band name. That’s it.
"I’m fed up with being called a Nazi and a racist and a sexist because some people don’t like my band name," he continues. "I’m none of those things. My music is none of those things. My band members are none of those things. The reality is, it’s the other side that are those things. Dana is siding with the sexists and racists." Does Hill not understand why people are upset about the name, or does he just not care about their reactions? "No, I don’t understand why people are upset with the name. The name is ambiguous, a multi-entendre. It’s art, and art is ambiguous — at least my art is. And it’s rock and roll, real basic shit. We’re just trying to have a good time. These identity politics - I don’t get it. It has nothing to do with my band."
From: https://www.thestranger.com/music/2018/02/28/25858810/why-did-dubiously-named-rock-band-black-pussys-seattle-show-get-cancelled 

Alice Glass - Suffer and Swallow

 #Alice Glass #electronic #goth #industrial #electropunk #avant-pop #ex-Crystal castles #animated music video

Alice Glass’s Los Angeles home is a picture of gothic splendour. Her kitchen resembles a graveyard of dead flowers; she is annoyed that her living black lilies never droop when she is looking. There is a fake Goya on the way down to her basement studio, where skulls surround the drums. A spider crawls out of the toilet roll when I use her bathroom. It is probably not part of the decor. Glass is less macabre: there is a tattoo of Bambi on her thigh. She loved the royal wedding. Her voice only rises above its perpetual whisper when she calls to her cats, Mr Peanut and Fuzzy, the alpha who dominates her pit bulls, Jacob and Shadow. She apologises for the boxes that entomb the sofa, merch from her recent debut solo tour. She had polled fans on Twitter to ask which song she should play from the back catalogue of her former band, the anarchic electro-punk duo Crystal Castles, which she quit in October 2014. Ultimately, she decided to play the material to which she still felt connected – “where I’m feeling worthless and hopeless”, she says. It took time in rehearsals to shake off their negative associations.
It was not until allegations surfaced against Harvey Weinstein that Glass (born Margaret Osborn) was emboldened to go public with detailed allegations of abuse against her ex-bandmate, Ethan Kath (real name Claudio Palmieri). She felt it was her responsibility, “especially after I had been told he had done similar things to at least one other woman”. Glass had previously alluded to her experience when she released her debut solo single, Stillbirth, in July 2015: “You don’t own me any more,” she shrieked over music that she likened to “being eaten by fire ants”. The song allowed her to speak covertly at a time when she was scared of going outside in case she was served with a lawsuit, she says, claiming that Kath started making legal threats in response to her tweeting stats about domestic abuse fatalities shortly after she announced her departure from the band. Glass says she received cease-and-desist letters from the same firm that represented Bill Cosby, which quoted her tweets and intimated that Glass was making these statements to benefit her career. But seeing other women speaking out about abuse last October was like watching “someone jumping off a cliff”, she says. “If someone goes first, it lets you know that you’re safe. It really put things into perspective. If it wasn’t for them, I’m not sure how long it would have taken me to speak out.”  From: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/jun/15/alice-glass-on-leaving-crystal-castles-the-cruelty-never-ceases-to-amaze-me

Pom Poko - Crazy Energy Night

 #Pom Poko #art rock #post-punk #noise rock #indie rock #avant-pop #pop punk #Norwegian #animated music video

Norway's freewheeling Pom Poko combine their jazz school training and experimental leanings into equally sugary and explosive music. Inspired by math rock, post-punk, West African music, and weird pop bands such as Deerhoof, the group introduced their loose-limbed, playful style on 2019's Birthday, then emphasized the contrast between their meticulous compositions and chaotic performances on 2021's bracing Cheater. Named after a film by Japanese animation powerhouse Studio Ghibli, Pom Poko consists of Ragnhild Fangel Jamtveit (vocals), Martin Miguel Almagro Tonne (guitar), Ola Djupvik (drums), and Jonas Krøvel (bass). Tonne, Djupvik, and Krøvel met while studying at the Trondheim Music Conservatory and initially aspired to be a noise punk trio. However, when they were asked to perform at a literary festival in 2016, they added Jamtveit on vocals and quickly wrote a set of sugary pop/punk songs with unexpected twists.  From: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4RkC3KmYWnr6PM1FM5Shwz

There is a sense of miraculous deconstruction in the work of Norwegian foursome Pom Poko – a drive to pull down the support structures of their influences and create something slathered in both art-punk ferocity and a welcome assortment of wickedly colorful pop impulses. It all feels so prickly and slightly out of phase with everything around it, possessing an endearingly boundless perspective on how to combine certain sounds for full impact while also knowing when all that should simply be torn down in favor of something without any recognizable parts. Similar in feel to the genre-hopping of Deerhoof or Xiu Xiu, the zigzagging branches of Pom Poko’s music are unconcerned with specific genres or the limitations they can present.
Their 2019 debut Birthday was built from outbursts of burly pop noise and lonesome lyrics, setting a stage both emotionally forceful and sweetly combustible. A product of the band’s tightly-wound instrumental expertise and singer Ragnhild Fangel’s insightful narratives, it was a taut and expressive collection of songs, filled with punk-lite eruptions of sustained energy and art-rock elasticity. This feeling of cheerful adaptation has carried over to their second record Cheater, and the band has further pushed onto the fringes of their collective inspirations. They embrace this ruptured pop chaos and expect their audience to do the same.  From: https://beatsperminute.com/album-review-pom-poko-cheater/

Squirrel Nut Zippers - Animule Ball

 #Squirrel Nut Zippers #swing revival #retro-jazz #Americana #Harlem jazz #New Orleans jazz #jump blues #gypsy jazz #punk jazz #retro-1930s #retro-1940s #animated music video

The Squirrel Nut Zippers began their musical journey in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, in the mid 1990s, as a musician’s escape from the cookie cutter world of modern rock radio at the time. Jimbo Mathus along with wife Katherine Whalen and drummer Chris Phillips formed the band as a casual musical foray playing for friends and family around town. It wasn’t long before the band (which had grown in size) developed a reputation for pioneering a quirky mix of jazz chords, folk music, and punk rock leanings and attracted a national audience. Outside of the rollicking concerts which were rapidly growing in attendance, NPR was the first significant national media to take notice of the band followed by an appearance on Late Night With Conan O’Brien. With grunge and alternative rock in full swing back in 1995, the Squirrel Nut Zippers debut album ‘The Inevitable’ sounded like nothing happening musically at the time.  From: https://thevogue.com/events/squirrel-nut-zippers-november-8-2022/

Since 1995, the Squirrel Nut Zippers have sacked and plundered old, weird America then sailed off to further distant lands. They have used New Orleans as their hideout and base of operations. Jean-Lafitte-like, they hide on the lee side of Barrier Island, receiving goods and masking dark back channel deals, hiding in cellars or in plain view. On Sept. 25, fans will be able to gaze into the tea leaves that make up their brand new album, ‘Lost Songs of Doc Souchon’, to see if they can discern their own destiny. The first single from the album “Animule Ball” was originally recorded back in 1938 by Jelly Roll Morton.
“This new album was inspired by all of the mysterious characters from the history of New Orleans jazz music,” commented band leader Jimbo Mathus. “It speaks to the hidden roots of where our aesthetic, interests and philosophy comes from. It pulls on the hidden thread.” As mentioned above, the album’s first single is a cover that dates back to 1938. In keeping with that time period, the band turned to Fleischer Studios (home of Betty Boop) to use some of their historic animations for a brand new video for the track. “When I first started the Zippers, the Max and Dave Fleischer cartoons were a huge part of our inspiration. The look, the music, all of it,” Jimbo said. “So to have their blessing to use some of these characters and create something new with it is thrilling to me.”
“Fleischer Studios has a long history of bringing together the best in music and animation, so the opportunity to continue that great tradition with a band like the Squirrel Nut Zippers, nearly 100 years after debuting the first sound cartoon in 1926, is a wonderful honor, and one that would surely put a smile on Max Fleischer’s face,” commented playwright Jeni Mahoney, who serves on the Board of Directors for Fleischer Studios.
From: https://parklifedc.com/2020/08/10/song-of-the-day-animule-ball-by-squirrel-nut-zippers/ 

IC3PEAK - Fairytale

 #IC3PEAK #experimental rock #electronic rock #witch house #industrial rock #electro-metal #political #subversive #Russian #animated music video

IC3PEAK, a Russian experimental electronic duo, position themselves as an “audiovisual terror” project. Since their third studio record, 2017's Sladkaya Zhizn (Sweet Life), they have started singing almost exclusively in Russian. The vocalist, Nastya, explains: “There was a desire for dialogue with my own generation that happened, and in my native language; it erases distance”. This decision reflects rising nationalism in Russia since 2012 and runs parallel to anti-Putinism in Russian rap. In 2018, the band’s activity caught the eye of the authorities, and concerts were constantly disrupted by law enforcement, resulting in lingering paranoia and social anxiety for the band. IC3PEAK’s music references ongoing Russian socio-political issues, critiquing Putin’s eternal regime in “Death No More,” suppression of individual and democratic rights in “Marching,” and domestic violence in “Boo-Hoo.” All three songs are accompanied by grim videos that are immensely popular worldwide. Nastya draws on a wide range of vocal techniques, from whispers and chastushka-like recitations to yells in verses, while displaying Russian pevuchest’ (melodiousness) in bridges and choruses. Altogether these elements present a personal emotional outcry.
 
“I’m from a scary Russian fairytale!” shouts Nastya Krestlina from IC3PEAK (pronounced “I speak”) on their 2018 record Skazka (Fairytale). IC3PEAK are a Russian electronic duo from Moscow; they are one of a handful of Russian bands who are daring to comment on current socio-political issues in their home country.  IC3PEAK’s vocalist, Nastya, and producer, Nikolai (Kolya) Kostylev, have been collaborating since 2013. From the band’s inception, Nastya takes charge of writing all song texts and melodies, while Kolya produces accompanying beats and layers the multiple song components. The two collaborate closely, aiming to create a final product that equally presents their creative visions.

From: https://ummusicandpolitics.ii.lsa.umich.edu/articles/music-and-protest-demonstration/ic3peak-whispers-and-screams-po-russki-in-russian-of-cultural-downfalls-in-russia-today/

Jesus on Heroine - Ardhanarishvara

 #Jesus on Heroine #psychedelic rock #shoegaze #noise rock #garage rock #drone #Danish #animated music video 

One of the most exciting new bands we’ve come across this year is unquestionably Jesus On Heroine. Two months ago, they blew our minds with “Musasabi,” which was a monumental, psychedelic experience. It is also a candidate for song of the year, but the same argument could be made for their latest single. If you’ve bathed under a waterfall, you will know the exhilaration that overcomes you as the refreshing stream splashes on your head while the warm sun beams on your body. This same sensation is experienced on “Ardhanarishvara.” There isn’t a single element that stands out, but instead the psychedelic guitars, the dabbling of the ivory keys, the throbbing bass line, and the stuttering drums cascade together like a refreshing wave of sound. The harmonies are majestic, bursting like a congregation worshiping its gods. “Ardhanarishvara” is another tremendous tune from a band that we will start worshiping as of today. For what it’s worth, Ardhanarishvara is the androgynous form of the Hindu god Shiva and his consort, Parvati, so maybe we are chanting to a god. If you are interested, the video for the song is a must-see for its eye-popping animation.  From: https://therevue.ca/2017/06/29/the-matinee-june-29th-2/