Monday, December 31, 2007

oh, 2007?

some albums that i listened to this year
that came out this year
and i enjoyed this year:




Times New Viking presented The Paisley Reich and I welcomed it with hugs and hifives.

It's lo-fi guitar scrambles and floortom loudpounds were enough to pull any rock and roll obscurist of the future back from their Deerhunter Cryptograms induced moonage daydream; if only for a week or two.

While confined to the solid ground of the earth realm, far from psychedrone rumbles of those which are registered socially and any recordings from any room of rare books one can take comfort, if in nothing else, clean, dry, words.



Brendan Fowler just wanted to hold someone just wanted to hold someone just wanted to hold someone. He let us know on the song, that happened to be the single, off of BARR's Summary. I've not been known for my love of spoken word. People feel they have to push it so hard, make it interesting. BARR doesn't have to pretend anything he's saying has any deep, poetic meaning. It either just does, or just doesn't. It's not dressed up. No messy theatrics; it's just BARR. And it's good.

And so you hear words. And they are spoke. But why say whole words? why not just syllables? sounds? Get something across with few choochoochoochoo's? a beepbeep?
Why not be the best fucking band evvvverrr?



Because noisepoppers Deerhoof already claimed that title. for the 8th fucking time this year.

i dont even need to talk about it.

i would just get so excited, i would start screeching
like a
like a fucking pterodactyl

like a
!!!

Pterodactyl's self titled/unofficially titled Blue Jay was an excitement this year. Loud, fast, Lighnting Bolt-esque drumming kept warm with with a thin layer of tremeloed distorters and high squawk melodies, but not too warm, not warm enough to fall asleep, which it briefly considers when surrounded by such beautiful ahhh harmonies.

ahhhs?

fuck and yes.



With all the buzz, it was a hard one to miss this year.
Not to mention the fact that you could download the entire EP off of the bands myspace. And I feel it was warranted. The buzz, that is. I thoroughly enjoyed all four tracks off of Black Kids' Wizard of Ahhhs and a discussion with dear friend Erie about it actually led to the creation of this blog.

and now i will go


Marnie Stern's In Advance of the Broken Arm really was in advance of a broken arm. Whether it was hers from just flat out shredding too hard, mine from couchdancing too hard, or both mine and yours from hi fiving me so fucking hard after i showed you this. Solid.



No Age Weirdo Rippers was my favorite album of the year


and the death of rock and roll.

Have a good new year.

Sunday, December 30, 2007

i love the shower girl







Black Dice are champions. This is taken as common knowledge and isn't stated nearly enough.

Start. This year's Load Blown made the "list" of my top albums of 2007 which I should be posting soon enough.

The album cover for Broken Ear Record is my favorite.

You can play with it in all of it's digital wonderfulness here.


Now,
former dicer Sebastian Blanck has some solo songs off his EP up for listen here some neat intimate paintings, rubbings and art stuff here and a cute baby here.

His music is far from his former psyche/noise terriblings of Black Dice, with an almost Jose Gonzalez feel. Vocals are very fittingly meek and whispered, and the songs in their entirety come off as very humble. It's a nice theme that he follows in both his music and paintings; it's all very sincere. He is not a bad songwriter either. I thought Neil Young when I heard the "without you" in the chorus of I Blame Baltimore and could see his golden heart singing it himself. Give it a listen. If nothing else, it's something to fall asleep to tonight.

Have a good new year's eve and I'll hopefully be posting some albums I liked this past year before it's too far over.

Saturday, December 22, 2007

MMVII.

I've been reading loads of year-end reviews and top albums reviews and have seen a consistent few that appear on every single one. These are your Neon Bibles, your In Rainbows, and now and then your occasional Person Pitch and Kalas, which I'm all for. But I've got to give the top honors to a certain couple of albums which may not have made such a huge impact on the indie scene as anything, but made my time a lot more fun, and well, maybe they're really not the best albums of the year. This could officially be called the most-fun-albums-of-2007-for-layhee post.

8. Best Fwends- Alphabetically Arranged

Awarded Worst Album of the Month (for August I think) by Vice Magazine, Best Fwends' Alphabetically Arranged was a common and constant anthem heard around the newly-defunct shardhouse. Following their EP release in February 2005, this album featured an astronomical 34 tracks, allowed by the 2-minute average of the lengthier tracks. The sporadic and sentimentality-shift towards the vastly diverse influences heard on this album make it one of our favorites and number 7 on this far-cry from a legitimate readerworthy heap of a blog. Buy it from Moshi Moshi if you didn't get a chance to this year.

7. Health- HEALTH
health
LA. LA was a good place for music this year, making me realize that I was still into music from LA even if the last punk album I bought was in the 8th grade. This thing was recorded within the confines of The Smell and sounds pretty great. With the danceability of the CC remix of Crimewave and other such collabs and covers, not only was this release granted coolness points over most others, but also prompted the unwarranted, immediate, and simultaneous purchase of HEALTH shirts by aaron and i. Not wearing one of those shirts on the same day has proven to be easier than expected though. BuyBuy buy this at LovePump United now!!!

6. White Denim- Let's Talk About It EP

This came to me late in the year. I don't even know when it was released, and I'm not really excited about checking that right now, but when Let's talk about it (availible for listening here) hit my earholes last month, it was basically worth wearing those ridiculous earbuds that came with my phone in order to hear it in the most unconventional places (bathroom stall).

5. The Hood Internet- Mixtape Volume 1

Mashups, remixes, and the overall generalization of "computer music" was enhanced this year by the Hood Internet's perfect pitch of laying raps and rhymes over those damn catchy and untiring beats of the likes of some dope bands: Deerhoof, Hot Chip, CSS, Fujiya and Miyagi and shittons more. Whether or not people want to call this a legitimate album release is irrelevent, it's still damn good and tha best bump'n'grind music... if you're into that. I'm personally not a big fan of Hip-Hop, I don't enjoy it, and I don't think I would listen to anything you would call rap for any other reason you would listen to music. I do, however like the fluency of the words, the stylized enunciation and the occasional ridiculous praise to boobs, alcohol, or cappin' niggas. The Hood Internet sugar-coats the otherwise unnappealing poecism of these songs and sets them to more of my taste of musack. Thank you Hood Internet for familiarizing me with Lil Mama and Dizzee Rascal. Download the entire thing here. Yes! it's free!

4. Chromatics- Night Drive

Somber at times, always a good sound to fall asleep to, I found. Night Drive gave me an eerie, self-aware feeling, paranoiacal and almost tragic especially "Tomorrow is So Far Away". Just an overall solid listening-to and perfectly fitting title, for it is indeed what I would've listened to had I been driving at night for any portion of the fall of '07. Plus they cover Kate Bush. Listen.

3. Je Suis France-Afrikan Majik

First heard these guys with their second full-length which was released in 2003 on Athens-based Orange Twin (Elf Power's record label/land conservation project). Anyway, Afrikan Majik is indisputably majikal, with tracks such as "Sufficiently Breakfast", a sixteen-minute introductory to a release I had previously overlooked but had to come back and add to my albums list. Listen to "Whalebone", and watch the video for "That Don't Work That Well For Us", as ridiculous as it may be.

2. Deerhunter- Cryptograms
deerhunter cryptograms
Out early this year in January, it didn't come to me until around April when a certain Von Doesn'tleavehiscardoorlocked allowed me the pleasure of hearing such grandiose noise. This album later came to be one of my automatic favorites and recently came to mind when trying to decide what my favorite albums this year were.

1. Of Montreal- Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?

It's just so faggy, only it does have soul power.
That's all.
-----
Honorable mentions:

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

The Social Registry...

So, if you don't know about the Brooklyn based label The Social Registry yet, then you need to check it out. They have, in the past few years, released some of the best music available today. The Social Registry is home to personal favorites like the Psychic Ills, Gang Gang Dance, Blood On The Wall, and Telepathe.
With new signees Growing, who have already established themselves as major players in the experimental psych/drone scene, and Blood On The Wall coming out with a new album in January, it seems like its just getting better and better.
You can check out some of their bands and get more info at the labels myspace page or the label website at thesocialregistry.com

p.s. Psychic Ills please come out with a new album soon!

Friday, December 14, 2007

I am selling a bunch of cds. They are $5 each.
Here is a list (sorry I didn't do it alphabetically...i'm lazy)
Lull-Cold Summer
Lithops-Scripts
Lungfish-Sound in Time
Microstoria- Reprovisers
Mouse on Mars-Varcharz
Ciccone Youth-the Whitey Album
Carribou-the milk of human kindness
Captain Beefheart-trout mask replica
Congotronics 2
Bowie at the Beeb-Sessions 68-72
Berlin- pleasure victim
Blight-Detroit:the dream is dead
Bananarama- WOW!
Pat Benatar- Best Shots
Aids Wolf-the lovers
Sonic Youth-self titled; experimental jet set, trash and no star; rather ripped;sonic nurse; nyc ghosts and flowers
Bad Brains-rock for light & i against i
pere ubu- dub housing
Beck- One foot in the grave
Blur- parklife
Coachwhips- bangers vs. fuckers
Archers of Loaf- speed of cattle
Locust- new erections
Wilco-a ghost is born
Walkmen- pussy cats
Wire- ibtaba
White Rock- tarpit
Wilderness- vessel states
Wooden Wand and Vanishing Voice- Gypsy Freedom
Weird War- if you can't beat 'em bite 'em
Wizardzz
Flaming Lips- Soft bulletin; EGG
Devendra Banhart- nino rojo
Codeine- frigid stars
Belle & Sebastian- Books ep
Boris and Merzbow-sun baked snow cave
Ultra Vivid Scene- Rev
Xymox- twist of shadows & pheonix
Vaselines- a complete history
Pleasurehorse- bareskinrug
Elliott Smith- from a basement on a hill
Seam- are you driving me crazy
Rocket from the Crypt- hot charity
Q and Not U- power
Quintron- are you ready for an organ solo
Piano Magic-writers without homes
Primal Scream- vanishing point
Prinzhorn Dance School
Of Montreal- Coquelicot...; sunlandic twins
Dr. Octagon- the return of...
Dat Politics-tracto flirt
Eats Tapes-sticky buttons
Happy Mondays- pills, thrills and bellyaches
His Name is Alive- detrola
A Frames- black forest
Melt Banana- charlie
Moldy Peaches
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds- best of; murder ballads
Butthole Surfers- independent worm saloon
Folk Implosion- take a look inside
Husker Du- warehouse
Le Tigre
Sugerhill Gang- best of...
tribute of Throbbing Gristle
Forcefield- lord of the rings modulator
13 Floor Elevators- easter everywhere
Promise Ring- nothing feels good
Human League- greatest hits
Silver Daggers-new high and ord
Liars- self titled; it fit when i was a kid and the other side of mt. heart attack eps
Gang Gang Dance- rawwr ep
Speedking-the fist and the laurels
Imperial Teen-what is not to love
Ace of Base- the sign
A Minor Forest-flemish altruism
Boredoms-seadrum/house of sun
Squarepusher-ultravisitor
Panicsville- sterile
Blonde Redhead- La mia vita violenta
Royal Trux- self titled
Beat Happening- black candy; self titled
Scissor Sisters
Soft Cell- best of...
Coughs- fright makes right
Psychic TV- were you ever bullied at school? do you want revenge?
Kraftwerk-minimum maximum
Dead Meadow- shivering king and others
Live Skull- Dusted
T REX- ultimate collection
Old Time Relijun- witchcraft rebellion
Microphones- the glow pt.2
Mogwai- come on die young
Hot Chip-the warning
Fucking AM- gold
Enon- hocus pocus
Animal Collective- grass single and video
Blood Brothers- Crimes
Make Up- in mass mind
Dead Can Dance- self titled
Pedestrian Deposit- volatile
Pavement- slanted and enchanted deluxe repackage
Lee Scratch Perry- revolution dub
Dark Psyche- black metal sampler
K-tel presents back to the 80s


YOU SHOULD TOTALLY BUY BUY BUY


two E's

OCS, Orinoka Crash Suite, The Oh Sees, Thee Ohsees: John Dweyer, of noise rock champions Coachwhips, has a new one on the way. Falling in love their 2006 The Cool Death of Island Raiders is a joy if you haven't done so yet. I missed their last release,Sucks Blood but the band's myspace has a couple tracks off of it which I am impressed with and will be purchasing as soon as the new The Masters Bedroom Is Worth Spending A Night In comes out. Listen to Ship if you're into Deerhoof. Then listen to Visit Colonel to get amped for the new album.



Buy them all,
we'll hang out.

and if you're still not convinced that they are wonderful, I took the time to hunt down a free cybervers of dabomb song The Gilded Cunt here on a tinyways podcast.

Just give it some time to load, then click the trash skip slider and drag it right until you see the wonderful numbers 38:13.

Go on, do it. You have the time.
and it'll be worth it.

But I do apologize, it's the best I could do, with us being too lame to have a server and me only having six minutes left on my library internet time.

I hope you like it,
let us know
let them know.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Longing for a headache



First of all the new Sightings album "Through the Panama" is awesome. They take their whole guitar, bass, and drums approach to whole new levels channeling bands like Harry Pussy and old Einsturzende Neubuaten and create the most psychedelic and aggressive music... oh, and if you don't know about Harry Pussy, you should check them out. They were from the '90s and made this thrashy, noisey, complex music that is as hard to explain as it is to listen to, and I mean that in a good way.
Speaking of thrash, I'm sure that everyone has heard Black Dice and is more likely than not a fan of their disorienting electronic sounds and samples, but if you haven't heard the first two or three Black Dice albums you need to! The self titled, "Cold Hands", and "Semen of the Sun" are so different from anything they're doing now. Its crazy experimental art thrash, or at least thats the closest I can come to a description of it. Its rumored that they used to play biker bars and throw pool balls at hells angels. If going to art school and getting into fights with bikers while playing the loudest, craziest music doesn't make you want to go out and buy those albums, I don't know what will.

Monday, December 10, 2007

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Cats in Paris, Abe Vigoda, Operator Please


These are cats. They're in paris. How happy does this band loook? Check them out at their website, (catsinparis.org). Listen to their songs (2 of them) and be happy despite overwhelming amounts of writing and memorization that finals week has brought upon you. Cats In Paris, according to (DrownedInSound) "are not only the best emerging experimental band in Britain sans Fuck Buttons, they also look like a real proper rock band as well." Apparently they are good musicians AND good-looking. Similarly, comes out of the Smell in LA, "self-proclaimed tropical punks" Abe Vigoda. Yes, named after the 87 year-old actor who played Waponi Chief in 1990's Joe Versus the Volcano. Regardless, be sure to listen to these. On their myspace.

So goddamn cool.

-----

I can't forget about Operator Please, whom all seem to be under the age of 20. Perhaps it's a record-label gimmick. Like they're trying to pull a Jackson 5. Doubtful, but there is indeed nothing immature-sounding about their music. Head on over to their feature on RCRD LBL. Then watch their Virgin Airlines Commercial. If you can't help but stomp your foot whilst listening for the first time, they've done their job well, and have therefore accomplished a lot more than I myself can say I've accomplished at age 20. All these bands will be featured in our first show, which should be scheduled for the following Sunday, December 9th at 7pm on KMSA. Even though I was never trained on the equipment, and still having to find about 120 more minutes worth of music to play without losing too much continuity or relevance before finals will be a little difficult. Oktanksbai now!

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Can't


Yeah, fake nostalgia can be a real pain in the ass. I can't help it though, its awesome. A few months ago I was really stoned listening to records with my friend Mason. He was showing me his usual assortment of new obscure noise records that rip your face off-Sissy Spacek, Contagious Orgasm, Prurient. I was looking through his stuff and a CD caught my eye. It was an album of "covers" by Can't. Can't is Jessica Rylan- a female noise artist from the east coast. What I had heard from her in the past was pretty good, but nothing too spectacular. This one seemed cool though. It had a school picture of a girl in the mid to late '80s on the cover, and the liner notes were a real love note. I got chills. It seemed so personal and voyeuristic.  The "covers" on the album were all songs like Pat Benatar's "We Belong" and Kajagoogoo's "Too Shy"- you know, stuff that this girl would actually being listening to in her room-and they were the actual songs, just distorted and warped like an old cassette. Needless to say I'm working on a time machine to teleport myself back to her room and love her.