Since I'm studying from home, and have been for more or less the last 7 years. I spent my days listening to music while I'm reading, writing or doing whatever. This gives me time to listen to a massive amount of new music daily, just too bad that the blog suffers constantly since I don't prioritize it that much. Anyway, it's due time for some musical tips!
Best albums of 2011, a bit late, but who cares:
Death Grips - Exmilitary Mix Tape This is the best hiphop album I've heard in my entire life. The vocal approach (or attack) is far beyond anything else, the spontaneuos use of live or sampled drums by Zack Hill is by far the most exciting beats I've heard. The sheer harshness, aggresiveness and violent approach is amazing. I can't even mention how many times I've listened to this album, it would be ridiculous to try.
Cut Hands - Afro Noise Vol 1 William Bennet (noise pioneer from Whitehouse) spent about 4 years making this album and the result is astonishing. The afro-rhythm inspired noise is pure gold. The voodoo ritualism is imagined as well as the tribal burial rituals and all sorts of primitive tribal ceremonies you could think of. That combined with some very Whitehouse-ish, yet more subtle, noise turns this album into one of the most-listened-to of the last two months. You could hear hints of what Bennet was planning on the Whitehouse albums Asceticists 2006 and Racket 2007.
PJ Harvey - Let England Shake It would just be sad to not mention this political and musical masterpiece. PJ does it again, with backing from Mick Harvey on a number of songs. The best PJ Harvey album since the 90's in my opinion, the balance between the earlier Harvey and the later, softer and more melancholic Harvey is great.
Honourable mentionings: Wreck and Reference - Black Cassette (2011) Broken The Dead C/Throbbing Gristle/Sonic Youth-reminding sludge from America. Kreng - Grimoire (2011) Jazzy, evil and cynic ambient/noise. All Ominous Recordings releases, of course!
Best shows: Swans at Strand (Stockholm, SWE) The Skull Defekts at Strand (Stockholm, SWE) Nicoffeine at Schokoladen (Berlin, DE)
New discoveries (or re-discoveries) of 2011: Sightings Whitehouse The Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation ANTIchildLEAGUE
For quite some time now I've been listening a lot more to noise/industrial and power electronics. I guess it started with my drummer moving back home to Norway, leaving me to start creating music on my own, and I needed some inspiration. After seeing a friend post a sample of the Tunnel Canary track Jihad on facebook, I started to check out the "related" stuff on youtube, found Maria Zerfall, got a tip to check out Blackhouse (a christian p.e.-group) and after that I was back in the swamps of the scene, scanning the net after weird industrial/noise/p.e.-tapes that were only released in 33 copies and stuff like that. I found a noise/industrial/p.e.-blog and started to check out the music reviewed there. On it, I found this album, and liked what I read:
"[...] a varied outpouring of sounds concerning control, oppression and patriarchy. The Father flits between spoken word and instrumental noise pieces, rammed with samples. Gaya Donadio intones the lyrics; her heavily accented Italian voice, emphasizing key words and segments."
That sounded really interesting right? After listening to the album, I was completely hooked. I've played it twice a day, almost, the last three days.
Soundwise it's a rather industrial story, with some harsher parts. But mainly it revolves around pulses, looped rhythms and buzz tones. The sound is cold, uneasy, dark and effectively creates a perfect atmosphere for the political lyrics of Gaya Donadio (vocalist).
Only One Mother (Track 9, my favorite on the album) "Nature, the real mother. Nature, the only mother. Mother of life. Nature, mother of death. The cruel nature, the cruel mother nature.
[...] She's vicious, she's pitiless, she's hurtless! Divine grace is all gone. She's the devil!"
Her lyrics are extremely relevant and extremely refreshing in a world filled with male acts/vocalists constantly using sexual abuse, porn and fascist thematics. I'm have nothing against that, I know the reason, the effectiveness and the thoughts behind it, but it can also get a little old sometimes. The spoken word parts move between whispers, snarls and emphasizings, but sometimes turn heavily distorted and aggressive.
Her heavy italian accent is to die for! I'm just saying. It gives the whole album a dimension it wouldn't have without the accent.
Ominous was invited by the good people in Ny Musik För Hållbar Utveckling to accompany them to Göteborg for a whole day of distro/dj's/live bands. So, apart from having a great time, I got my hands on some great music as well.
Haven't had the chance to get myself through all of it but I just had to mention Yo Amoeba (Myspace). Therese Holm (Yo Amoeba) was institutionalized, suffering from schizophrenia, bought a digital recording device and recorded sounds from inside the ward and on furlough. This 7'' is not very long, each side runs on 45rpm and contains mostly (first track on each side is the longest) short samples/snippets, but it's so extremely compelling and honest. It also has piano, guitar and some vocals, but mainly sounds. I am amazed by how a track called "the Elevator", that probably isn't longer than 30 seconds, can give me the feelings and connotations I got. This 7'' is well worth a purchase. So get it from her as soon as you can!
Nicoffeine! Was in Berlin last weekend and finally got my chance to see them live. First heard about them from Arthur (Under The Pledge Of Secrecy), the promoter who organized two Digression Assassins shows at AZ Aachen 2008/9. I was looking through a box of vinyls he had brought with him to the show in 2008 and he showed me the two he had with them and told me about it. I was instantly intrigued but being on tour, I had other things to use my money for, like food, so I didn't buy them, but as soon as I came home I started scanning the net for music to dl. Since I didn't find anything they sort of disappeared from under my radar until the next year I was in Aachen with D.A again, but again, wasn't that rich ufortunately. So I didn't buy a vinyl then either. It wasn't until this year actually, when hosting sites made the music search a whole lot easier that I actually came across the three latest albums (Savant Lies Away From Home, Admiring Those Artholes and Lighthealer Stalking Flashplayer) that I finally got the chance to listen to more than live clips and videos on youtube. They blew me away, just as I had expected, it only took 3 years. I listened quite a lot to those three albums, and then when me and a friend decided to go to Berlin and visit friends there I saw that they were playing our first night there. So, of course, there was no question about it. I had to see it live! And it was an amazing show. I don't even know how to describe it, on record the rock is a lot more audiable or how to decribe it, but on stage this three-piece was controlled chaos. Impressive, hard-hitting and technically skilled drummer Jörg Schneider in the back, guitarist/vocalist Soheyl Nassary in the middle to the right, stomping on effects, screaming, headbanging, completely shattering all pre-existing thoughts of how to use a guitar, and at the front, lefty side of Schneider, bassplayer Guido Lucas. Him I don't even know how to describe, a very friendly looking man, possibly around his fifties (forgive me Guido if I'm wrong), wiping sweat from his forehead with the curtains to the stage and ordering (getting?) drinks from the audience. It was a massive sonic assault and as soon as it was over I was over by the merch stand to get my hands on a number of vinyls. Bought "Savant..." and "Lighthealer...", then got talked into getting the split with Lude instead of "Admiring...". Then I started talking to Soheyl and Guido and said that if they were interested I would love to do a tape release with them on my label and that I really wanted to try and bring them to Stockholm for a show. Now, a couple of days later, a release has been decided and Nicoffeine will release a 40 min live set on a tape through Ominous Recordings and I have already started to get in touch with contacts in order to try and get them a 4-5 dates mini tour through Sweden. I guess that Stockholm will be the hardest place to get them a good venue, preferred supporting bands and the audience. But I'll work on that. Well, enough excitement and egoboosts, back to music. AIDS Wolf is amazing Arab On Radar-ish noiserock with female vocals. Really noisey, atonal, freakishly improv-feeling-y and harsh. Have listened a lot to The Lovvers LP, Cities of Glass and March to the Sea. Also listened a lot to A.H. Kraken and actually contacted them to ask them if they would be interested in releasing a tape on Ominous, but all I got was the very sad news that they are no longer active and have disbanded. Their debut album "Elle avait peut-être 19 ans mais pour moi elle en aura toujours 12" is amazing. The new wave of no wave! After a quick listen to a friends ipod I went home and looked up Phantom Pregnancies and have played their album "The Compilation That Could Have Been A Contender" a load of times, really skronky punk/rock (the good kind you know). After stocking up on some ugExplode items and getting some for myself of course, I really got hooked on the band White Suns, they recently released thir debut album on ugExplode, entitled "Waking In The Reservoir" and is well worth both your money and time. Really noisey punk/hc/sludge!
I don't even know where to start! I have listened to a shitload of excellent music this summer.
For starters I should mention the bands releasing on my label Ominous Recordings later in August: Avgrunden and Stillheten. Avgrunden could be described as a more minimalistic Earth or a Bohren & Der Club Of Gore who out of nowhere decided that folk/drone was the new shit. Stillheten tends to the same crops as Badgerlore and other similar, more folk/ambient, artists, subtle yet powerful and hauntingly beautiful.
Also, finally, taken myself the time to listen to The Dead C. Started with the albums "Harsh 70's Reality (1992)", "Trapdoor Fucking Exit (1993)" and "The White House (1995)" which are supposed to be the "best" ones. All three excellent albums, but I have to say that "Trapdoor Fucking Exit" is my personal favorite.
Also got a Lau Nau CD from my drummer. I enjoyed it but didn't think that much about it. It was something else, different but with certain connotations. But then a week ago I got a mail from discogs saying that one of the items in my "want list" was for sale, (Badgerlore - We Are All Hopeful Farmers, We Are All Scared Rabbits) and then saw that the seller had two albums by Islaja for sale, after realizing it was similar music to Lau Nau, that made me re-listen the Lau Nau album. It really opened a new world for me, new finnish folk psych. Since then I have listened to Lau Nau, Islaja and Kuupuu daily. At least one album from one of the artists.
The seller also had a Charalambides album for sale, a reason for me to check out what the Carters are mainly doing, besides working in Bastard Wing and Badgerlore
This is just some of the stuff I have been listening to.
Since I want to update this blog often with new tips for you, I have decided to do it in a smaller scale than planned. I'll just post album covers, titles and short reviews on a hopefully daily bases, since I listen to music every day and almost the entire day. From time to time there will be larger "articles" and of course I'll do live reviews when I find the time.
Here's the first daily update:
Ches Smith - Congs For Brums (Free Porcupine Society) It's drums, percussion, vibraphone. The man has provided drums for acts such as 7 Year Rabbit Cycle, Xiu Xiu, Redressers, Good For Cows, Secret Chiefs 3, Trevor Dunn's Trio Convulsant, Marc Ribot, Tom Waits. What else is there to say? This album is interesting, gripping and exciting even though it's just the man and a bunch of drums and junk.
Death Grip - Exmilitary Mixtape (Free download at http://thirdworlds.net) A week ago a friend of mine told me about this Zach Hill-project. As I downloaded their free mixtape Exmilitary and gave it a listen, Death Grip rose to be the best hiphop I've heard for a very, very long time.
Redressers - To Each According... (Free Porcupine Society) Jazzy decadence from Ches Smith, Devin Hoff, Karla Kihlsted and Marika Hughes. It's given me pictures of old black/white films, booze smuggling and a dirty nightclub. Well worth your time.
I didn't acutally think about going to this show until the afternoon yesterday. When I saw the promotion for it a month ago or so, I thought to myself that I should go to that one since Stefania Pedretti of OvO was performing with her soloproject. But I hadn't slept for two nights because my daughter's been ill, so I wasn't that eager to leave home. I checked the event invite I got on facebook and saw that it was between 19-22 so, I thought to myself, ?Alos (Stefanias project) would probably be pretty early on the evening, and since it's only 3 hours maybe I'll be home by nine or so again. I visited ?Alos myspace and listened to two tracks, I was impressed but not really convinced that I should go. It wasn't until I saw this video that it was clear that I needed to attend this evening:
When I got there and paid the entrance, I asked at which times the acts were playing, and I was informed that ?Alos wasn't going on stage until ten, the earliest.
I walked over to the merch stand, gazed over the ?Alos CD's and other Stefania-related releases, I asked her if the song that she performed in the video above was on any CD and she told me that it wasn't yet, it will be on her coming CD, but she was going to perform that song live this evening.
Diskrepant Diskrepant kicks off this evening with a very impressive performance containing contact mics and an ensemble of objects: a small fan, two bottles, necklaces and what looked like a toy car that you could wind up so it started going forward. Might be because of the need for precision that he remained seated the entire performance, but I really dislike seated noise artists, well all artists unless they are playing piano or acoustic guitar. I never expect to really feel the noise before I attend noise shows, but when I'm there it's so soothing just to feel that wall of sound, the vibrations from the bass in it, to try and find the notes, the pulse or the "groove" in that sheer, distorted noise. In the end it got a bit static, but all together a nice experience. Diskrepant's myspace
Thomas Watkiss It doesn't start well for Thomas Watkiss. First of he has a laptop on stage which, in my book, is a huge mistake. It doesn't look like he's doing anything besides turning the switches on his little mixer beside the laptop, and where's the sound he distorts and manipulates coming from? For all I know, the sound if just prerecorded, so the turning of switches could easily do nothing at all. Another thing that strikes me is that he looks like either a neo nazi or a former boy band member, who kept his look despite the fact that it was 20 years ago that he was the cute one in that group. After the first song, he talks a bit to the audience, makes them laugh, all in all he seems like a very likeable guy, too bad his music isn't that interesting. Continued digital noise, which is a huge difference from analogue noise, the digital stuff lacks the depth and just feels cold a lifeless, in a bad way. Enter the bass. He grabs his six stringed bass and walks to the front of the "stage" area, takes a metal pose and starts playing a cheesy melody on top of the preprogrammed static noise. But I got to give him credit for taking that metal pose in front of a seated audience, and playing with his eyes shut, really living it. Nothing I couldn't live without, wouldn't have missed anything if I hadn't seen this. T. Watkiss' Myspace
?Alos Stefania enters the room, clad in a glittery dress, fishnet stockings, and a black veil. In her hands she carrys a bowl filled with some sort of liquid, and she's singing/chanting something in italian. She walks up to each member of the audience, starts with me, and holds the bowl up to our faces. None of us are sure what to do with it, so I dip my finger in it and then stroke the finger across my forehead, the rest of the people were either doing the same as me or drinking directly from the bowl. After this little introduction, she walks to the center of the room, "stage", grabs that guitar she uses in OvO as well, which looks gigantic on her little figure, and fills the room with a crushing doom riff. I don't know if it's the reason for me liking OvO, but the simplicity in her guitarplay is so brilliant, she makes very banal and clichéd riffing sound really thought through and not cliché at all. The first song is a very OvO-sounding piece of doom based around two riffs, with a guitar loop backing her up on some parts of the song. I am amazed by how fucking possessed she sounds, it's really fucking evil, she crushes the majority of singers trying to sound evil, and without breaking a sweat it seems. The second song is also a very OvO-like song, like the tracks on Croce Via, a massive doomy riff that breaks into a hysterical noisey guitar with demonic screams, or a very subtle and simple lite guitar loop over which she sings something that sounds like "sweet, so sweet". The last song for the evening is the song from the video above, the song I asked about and she said she would perform. She let's the feedback go with the guitar loop as she hangs off her guitar, puts on an ankle bracelet with bells, picks up more bells and she moves to the center of the room where she sheems to be in spasms, bells chiming, she chants, sings, screams, she dances, stumbles, waves her long dreads (i which she's tied in bells and tiny, tiny cymbals). She moves across the room, and moves backwards and bumps into where I'm sitting. She sits down on my lap and keeps chanting and dancing, it felt very fitting since this was the only reason for me going out tonight, what I asked her about and what I was looking forward to. Afterwards I was shaking for about ten minutes, that final song was such a great performance, I can't even explain it. I wanted to record a video for myself on my phone, but I had to stop in midst of it and just watch. This was one of the most moving performances I have ever seen. I have no idea what the lyrics are, I assume they are in italian. But just how she uses her voice, the strength in it and everything was just amazing. ?Alos myspace
Amber Asylum Hadn't heard anything before they started playing. I was texting with my drummer earlier in the evening, me trying to convince him to come. He said that he had listened to Amber Asylum on myspace and thought it was too polished. I knew exactly what he meant when they started. The info for this evening said that they were something between chamber music and postrock, melancholic and romantic, I was just bored. They looked like a mother with her two daughters on tour, the mother and one of the daughters on violins (they were talented without a doubt, but you can have talent and still make boring music) and the other daughter played keyboard, guitar or piano depending on which songs. The vocals were, as expected, in a really high voice with a lot of wailing, very pretentious and epic, but very boring. The keyboard, guitar and piano melodies were really cliché and without real content, just not interesting. I am not in a position to talk about the violins since I never tried to play one or feel that I can judge their skills. But al together they performed pretty boring music that I'm sure a lot of people find calming and soothing to listen to, but wasn't doing anything for me. Amber Asylum's Myspace
