Geographic Music It seems that quite often in my reviews I am cheering the welcome return of bands that appear to have gone missing in action and enthusing about those returns, but I am particularly thrilled to be listening to the first Crescent album in ten years.
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Pica Disk Originally released on LP in 2003 on the French label Élevage De Poussière, Dietrich was the solo debut of noise rock band Borbetumagus‘s saxophone player Don Dietrich. Here it comes in remastered form on CD
Beggars Arkive Buffalo Tom were part of that wave of post-hardcore guitar bands that came out of Boston in the late Eighties along with the likes of Dinosaur Jr and Lemonheads. They were friendly with J Mascis and he produced their first couple of albums, and that connection dictates a little as to the sound of those two albums.
Play Loud! Floating di Morel‘s Goal Less Play LP is a sparse, spittle-mouthed wonder nuzzling into some glinting sparks of acoustika. Bursts of sonic weirdness lurk between the main feasts – brief sketches that clear the palette for the more song-oriented goods
Bureau B I think the first thing that should be mentioned about this record is the press release. Breaking all form and convention, it’s readable, witty, descriptive and — get this — actually tells you some information about the record.
File 13 I must confess The Poison Arrows are a new one on me, but a great discovery because they ply the kind of slinky bass-heavy American post-hardcore that the likes of Girls vs Boys (GVSB) and The Jesus Lizard put out years ago.
Bristol 26 May 2017 The stage may have dwarfed her stature, but Little Annie‘s cabaret queen antics were larger than life, completely over-spilling the place. Cloaked in Eastern silk, her waist a blaze of African bracelets, Annie’s hoarse vocal was something to be treasured – both warm and vibrant, bursting with wit
Dais “This is what it’s like.” A softly whispered, wraith-like voice appears during one of the tracks and it’s an exemplar: this is one (relatively) short descent into a steaming woodland of madness. There’s great chasms opening up all over the land and we’re listening to ourselves being swallowed.
Paradigm Discs These recordings make up part of the Kymatik archive and were recorded nearly 20 years ago, yet are timeless and unfold at our leisure.
Adaadat White was the pairing of percussionist Shenggy Shen and guitarist and singer Zhang Shouwang, and this, their first album, was originally released in 2007. Now Adadaat have given White its first outing on vinyl, and it not only sounds but looks good ten years later, the striking cover image by Marcin Cybulski adding a Dada feel to the album.
Constellation This is Do Make Say Think‘s seventh album for Constellation since their inception twenty years ago and the first in eight years and it is a glorious, Technicolor addition to their already wonderful pantheon. For me, no other band sounds like DMST
BMG When Nick Cave experienced the tragedy above all tragedies as a parent in 2015, it would be no surprise that all artistic output would be set on hold. This compilation was in the process of being finished, but was yielded maybe because the need of finishing Skeleton Tree that came out last year.
Thoofa If this was a knitting pattern it would be full of lopsided colour, tangled dimensions and probably more armholes than really necessary. This second helping from Prescott has been well worth the wait. The musicianship is blinding, each track built up on little stabbing motifs playing footsie with Commodore computer tape loadings
Sub Rosa It’s becoming a little unpopular, and there seems a tiresome insistence creeping in that music should stand for itself (I completely disagree), but I love electronic music that’s about something; I love a history and a context. The words surrounding a release are as important to me as the music within. Almost.
London 11 May 2017 There’s a scene towards the end of John Carpenter’s turbo-charged 1982 creature feature The Thing when the titular metamorph – just before being blown to shit by Kurt Russell’s vengeful sticks of dynamite – writhes and transmutes in all its slimy, gory glory.
Optic Nerve There seems to have been a lot of bands returning to action over the last few years, but surely one of the most welcome must be The Wolfhounds.
Bristol 12 May 2017 French violinist Agathe Max warmed things up with a stunning set of looped riches, her bow floating with the gymnastic gait of a trapeze artist as she filled the canvas with different textures and tonal depths.
MIG Music Klaus Schulze is one of the pioneers of electronic music; his expansive cosmic music from the 1970s changed the face of modern popular music, and along with Tangerine Dream, it gave the world the Berlin School sound.