Mini Reviews Pt. 3
The Men Leave Home (Sacred Bones) CD - Latest from this Brooklyn 4 piece offers up squealing old school noise punk with an anthemic edge riding stomping bass/drums and wiry post punk guitars, buried in so much angular riffage you'll never guess what the hell their singing about, though the first track appears to be a mantra of the words "Die, I don't wanna die" over a hypnotic psych punk squall like a garage Hawkwind (or Spacemen 3). Speaking of which,"()" is almost a destroyed cover of "Revolution". Hear The Men live on WFMU here.
Birds of Maya Ready to Howl (Richie Records) 2LP - Mike Polizze's (Purling Hiss) other band, so you might know what to expect: less pop and more PSF garage snarl across three tracks (one short, two long) that open on a semi-controlled note and dissolve into white noise oblivion. Scuzzy, vintage, fuzz drenched Stooges worship cracked over the head with a bottle and bleeding out all over the puke green shag carpet.
Art Yard "The Law" B/W "Something In Your Eyes" (Ride The Snake) 7" - Sweet single of two cuts originally dropped on a Propeller Product comp cassette way back in 1981, offers up a convincing blueprint for what would become the classic Matador Records sound or identified as Paisley Pop soon after. Somewhere between Mission of Burma and early Teenage Fanclub. Very tasty.
White Hills Live On WFMU (Who Can You Trust?) CS - Oh hell yarss, Live... is a fine live set by Brooklin's White Hills recorded for the legendary WFMU. Features choice cuts from Heads on Fire and the excellent self-titled LP, among others. Nodded heavy jamming and deep space Hawkwind worship, plus a fine little interview too! Live... shows us a psych power trio operating at full capacity, course set for the heart of the nearest sun.
Gnod Ingnodwetrust (Rocket) LP - Fresh off their dandy 2LP collaboration with White Hills, England's mighty Gnod returns with this amazing two track psych rawk opus that's as fun to look at as it is to freak to. Strobe lit pulsating grooves, stomping heavy psych freakouts, post Loop guitar trances, from the void vocal howls and socio-religious commentary all compressed into a tight green ball and stuffed into the bong of God (Gnod), and that's just the first track. Serious contender for psych freakout of the year. Pressed on cocaine white wax.
Eternal Tapestry & Sun Araw The Night Gallery (Thrill Jockey) LP - Brilliant meeting of the heads across four tracks of spontaneous smoke and dust looks to be the single most important collaborative psych record since Tom Carter set foot into The Lemur House to record 4/23/04.
Boris Attention Please / Heavy Rocks (2011) (Sargent House) both CD - Two new blasts from these former monsters of doom. No doubt, some heads feel betrayed by Boris's development in the last few years, but I'm not one of 'em. Attention Please offers a decent mix of shoegaze, high velocity electro rock and J-Pop (that's Japanese Pop), which makes it perhaps the farthest outside the realm of expectation so far, though a couple of the dreamier tracks on Smile hinted in this direction. Guitar Goddess Wata handles most vocal duties; the mood is bubbling and kind'a mellow. WTF!
Heavy Rocks (not to be confused with Heavy Rocks 2002) is more in line with what you'd expect from the groop, perhaps closest in spirit to Rainbow (w/ Michio Kurihara, playing on half the tracks here), split down the middle between up-tempo metallic crunchers and more spacious, erm, heavy jams. Heavy Rocks if you will. Not essential but not crap.
Li Jianhong Classic of the Mountains and Seas (PSF) CD - Outstanding solo guitar work from China's Li Jianhong comprised of blistering smokestacks of distorted howls and endless acid leads that sound like a chance meeting between Keiji Haino and Roy Montgomery. Transcendent and visceral as all get out.
Horseback / Locrian New Dominions (Utech) LP - Lovely/grim collaborative LP from the mighty Chicago noise ambient trippers Locrian and the equally monolothic Horseback, split down the middle between defeated black metal/drone hybrid and stoic apocalypse doom mantra.
Wire Red Barked Tree (Pinkflag) CD - The long playing follow-up to Object 47 sees these art punk legends coming full circle and returning to the oblique perfection of their most vital period (Chairs Missing, 154). Further down the road and not as rabid as their classics, but still compellingly recorded, alternately snotty, brash, ethereal and completely worth my time.
