And then it's time for Oxbow, and as soon as they kick in I'm kicking myself for missing out on them for so long. Eugene may not actually fight anyone, but he's definitely taken some lessons from The Gospel According to Iggy (and we all know the text) -- he knows in his bones that a good frontman needs to be a bit scary, a lot charismatic and be able to carry a tune. And also -- and this is key -- to get his kit off whenever possible.
A darkened ambience of spiralling guitar that extends the experience, anchored by a pulsing undercut as chords dramatically feast, density dine in wavering cut-ins, solar-flare the imagined vastness.
Boris have been ploughing a wide and varied furrow through the field of guitar-based music for more than quarter of a century. Dave Pettit has taken on the task of listening to all of their studio albums - here is part one of a series of reports as to what he found within them.
...tonight they're playing at the Troxy off the back of their latest criticially-acclaimed release The Beggar. Well, technically off the back of their last two albums, a whole shitload of dates for Leaving Meaning having been cancelled during Covid. Which was something of a double-edged sword for Swans fans, as being unable to tour for one album meant Gira found himself writing material for another one.
Thoughtful minor key repetition is allied to rolling percussion, a background rush that evokes cars passing on wet streets. It is no surprise that the first four pieces are titled "Murmurations" and "Meditations", the minimalist scene setting of the two finds the insistence of the piano notes needled by the prodding of drums that bubble and turn with constant presence
Ueda’s metal prayer paddles aloft in rattling baptism, added to by seashells and firefly frets, her voice soaring on through, hands outstretched, as the keys and guitars jiver-jade a proggy reverie, her face clearly smiling from within the ricocheting richness of it all.
Cyclic Law A full thousand years after its inception, Gregorian plainchant had an unexpected pop cultural moment in the 90s. Enigma — producer Michael Cretu — mixed chant, dance beats, and whispery sensuality to garner unexpected chart success. Soon, recordings of Gregorian liturgy enjoyed a spike in sales. Enterprising monks got in on the act, recording arrangements of songs like The Yardbirds‘ “Still I’m Sad” and REM‘s “Losing […]
Their reconvening finds them in robust mood with a touch of romantic disillusion, their tales of frustrated love and burning desire tempered by the reality of what it is like to really feel. The fourpiece set up is augmented here by strings, voices and sympathetic production that draws a series of lovelorn vignettes from a band that are confident enough to play it extra hard when necessary and then dial back to a tear-stained throb.
don't know what the popular idea is of Sonic Youth in 2023 -- I hope they're considered as slightly more important to younger people than just "yeah Dad, we get it -- New York, 1980s... well done". There's so much timbre from the unison strings, and so much harmonic invention from the tunings that it's really worth keeping them in the canon.
With one foot very firmly in the exotica camp, thanks to the dreamy vocals of Tatiana Nova and the lightness and deftness of the horn section's interplay. Ally that to a percolating rhythm section and you have what starts out as manna from supper club heaven, a late night '50s vibe, evocative of a breezy trip or a mild sashay across a smoky dancefloor.
Nine years after their triumphant 2014 return with Decline And Fall and A World Lit Only By Fire, Godflesh still feel reinvigorated by their thirteen-year hiatus, and Purge does little to suggest this is going to change any time soon.
The collaborative CARM project of trumpeter CJ Camerieri inhabits a unique sound world that, thanks to the number of personnel involved, moves surreptitiously through different perspectives, the sense of drama and remove lending a soundtrack quality.
If I was a drugs-music sommelier (and tbh that sounds great), I'd say this is a record that's going to complement a k-hole more than it is your bouncing uppers like ecstasy or speed. And either of those are preferable to the cocaine ambient of Warp's later output.
Sunshine pours out of these fourteen tracks, and although they were all penned by Yosef with assistance from producer Gilad Ronen, the input from the rest of the quartet is beyond essential. Soul Song's gentle, summery vibe is highlighted by Lionel's spidery guitar and the deft percussion that sits supporting all the other activity.
Taas Kerran, Äkkiä combines traditional Finnish folk musician Hannu Saha, who plays the kantele (a type of Finnish zither) with the electronic music duo Pakasteet. A relatively new(ish) improv group which consists of Circle founder and Pharaoh Overlord member Jussi Lehtisalo swapping his usual bass for synths, drum machine and prepared zither with film director and visual artist friend Mika Taanila accompanying him on tapes and synth.
There is one for each of the eleven pieces rendered here and they run the gamut from pen and ink minimalism to all-out felt-tipped abandon in much the same way that the musical pieces run about covering lots of ground with manic energy.
A proper overview of Goth is probably at least a decade overdue. The first band who could arguably merit the tag as exponents rather than just forerunners (and more about them later…) trod the boards around forty-five years ago, and music writing has proved distinctly tardy around giving the phenomenon some decent examination and analytic heft. In an era when the bookshelves of major retailers are fair groaning under the weight of mighty tomes covering the minutiae of everyone from EMF to The Shaggs, it seems curious that a movement that encompasses such revered names as Bauhaus, Siouxsie And The Banshees, The Sisters Of Mercy and The Cure seems to have remained so impervious to criticism for so long.
Here, with the first outing for his self-titled quartet, the atmosphere is sunnier, more vibrant and world-reaching, drawing the listener's attention to the current plight of the world and more specifically its oceans. However, rather than pound the message home with darkness and doom, the album has a far more sunny disposition, the whole album smiling through its six long tracks and forty minutes.