Monday, April 25, 2011

split cs FLOWER MAN / RENE HELL



to keep with the Caboladies family here is a relatively recent (summer 2010) split tape from Flower Man (aka Chris Bush of Caboladies) and Rene Hell (jeff witscher who also runs the label that put this tape out, the always wonderful Agents of Chaos). this is a relatively short tape and given that both artists are used to stretching out a bit more each gives us a slightly different sound from what we've come to expect.

Flower Man's side has three tracks of drum machine workout with a lot of flanging metallic synths floating around. at times has a weird mid '80s sci-fi vibe that definitely is a bit of a departure from his Cabloadies world, but still works wonderfully.

Rene Hell goes for more of a kosmische/krautrock workout that he's definitely hinted at before in a lot of his work. here he fleshes the ideas out a bit more and although it's bit subdued from his normal mode it works amazingly well.

listen to the tape here. physical copies are long gone, although i just got myself a copy on eBay for pretty cheap. great work from two great artists.

split cs CABOLADIES / ONEOHTRIX POINT NEVER



found on copy of this tape about a year ago from the my absolute favorite record store Mimaroglu. i bought it mainly because i was in a big Oneohtrix Point Never phase and hadn't yet heard of Caboladies. little did i know it would set off my new love affair with Caboladies as well as my love for this incredible tape label NNA Tapes.

the Oneohtrix Point Never side is great and on par with any of the stuff he was putting out around this time (Zones without People, and right before Returnal). completely solid synth poly-arpeggiator mastery. but the Caboladies side is pure brilliance.

it was recorded back in 2008 when Caboladies was still a 3 piece before pairing down to a duo on most subsequent releases. their side of this release starts off in a drifting world with random percussion and synths that move more in a musique concrete manner. but about halfway through the piece shifts into one of the more beautiful moments i've heard in a long while. borders on Nuno Canavarro style beauty that isn't heard as often as i'd like in some of the modern snyth meisters. really incredible stuff as is most everything else Caboladies have done.

the dudes in Caboladies also have some great solo projects that are worth searching for: Flower Man and Carl Calm. slightly different from their work as a duo, but still great and compelling stuff.

there are still some copies of the tape floating around (think there are even a few left at Mimaroglu.) Support NNA and buy a copy!

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Klaatu, a Mid-Day Pollinator's Dirge



Bear with me- it's afternoon in a seemingly mono-cultured field of Brassica Napus in the rolling plains and agronomic heart of Canada's bustling, singles' Anthophila community- and you've just finished your second glass of mead. The cooling winds stir from the tip of stamen your powdery pollen, whipping into the polite soon-to-be evening air your opportunistic amalgam of pseudo-sperms and incidentally heritable genetic materials, your- albeit brief- contract pollination now crowning the taut hairs of the swinging Osmia Ribifloris. You, my friend, are a vector pollinator- a monocotyledonic expression of the culture surrounding you- the sounds, the smells, the tastes- all blowing in an entropic system- you, an inbred scrapple of wieldy features mediated by the winged chaperone, an Olajuwon rebound. Like FM wavelengths strike the ears of those capable of cognitively deciphering its encoded messages, you too are the recipient of the data blowing about around you. And yes, it's up to you to distinguish the curd from the whey, the Sergio Leone from the John Ford, the XTC from the Dukes of Stratosphear. No matter to the Buster Brown or to the Doctor Scholl or to the pages missing in your favorite novel- the narrative is not novel, nor the shoe size mutable.

It's not until months later that what has happened on this meteorologically-erotic afternoon are made clear, abundant or otherwise. Your subsequent breeding to reduce the bitter bite of glucosinolates has afforded you the affable appeal of palatability, the communicative capital of commodity. Its the voice-led nectar-sweet sweat of Randy Newman, the refined backhand of George Harrison, the sexual liquidity of the Mael Brothers, and the linear dissolution of Metro. You, my friend, are Klaatu, the aural quintessence of Carter, Jimmy Carter, the benevolent extension of a dream world populated by Nilsson v Taupin.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

goldfoxradianthowl & cloudz SUNROOF!



gonna do a special post here for the one and only Matthew Bower and his solo Sunroof! project. you may know Matthew Bower from his many other projects including: Skullflower, Total, Hototogisu (his amazing project with Marcia Bassett of Double Leopards) and he has recorded two albums with Richard Youngs and often been a guest on many Vibracathedral Orchestra LP's.

first off is a pretty rare Sunroof! LP called "goldfoxradianthowl" courtesy of the Melted Mailbox subscription series which unfortunately only lasted for one year, but put out some great one sided LP's by Keith Fullerton Whitman, Ariel Pink, Carlos Giffoni, Dino Felipe and more. this one sided beauty is a solo live set from Mr. Bower in Leeds back in 2005. from Bower himself:

"made of: guitar and microphone signals, singing and feedback, folded and exploded"

what starts off pleasantly enough from high pitched drones slowly turns into exploded feedback and controlled choas that isn't far off from some of his work in Skullflower and Total. not necessarily what i was expecting considering Sunroof! was his slightly tamer project focused more on drones and zones. still this short and sweet set shows Bower's control and sense of direction. great great stuff. good luck finding a copy of this LP. only 500 printed I believe and it's long OOP. i was lucky enough to find one on eBay a while back. it's a beautiful package if you can get your hands on one. in the meantime listen to it here.




next up is my favorite Sunroof! record that i've heard, the other thing about Bower is that he is incredibly prolific with close to 80 releases to his various projects in the past 2 1/2 decades!!! this one is a studio album in the best sense.

released by the wonderful VHF label back in 2003. Bower again starts off with high pitched drones but adds more subtle touches like piano, drum machines and lots of gurgling electronics and keyboards as well as his signature guitar moves (just minus the layers of distortion common on Skullflower recordings). at times it could almost be mistaken for a weird electronic record.

but all in all this is a really tolerable and quite listenable album for even the casual listener. it gets a little harsh at times but overall kinda comes across as a noisier and slightly updated version of Ashra or other later krautrock/kosmische albums. only on 3 of the last 4 tracks does Bower get into his heavier guitar driven sound ("tornado rose canoe" pulls out some killer psych moves with bower even kinda playing some solos, sorta) but it all comes to a beautiful close on "silver zero" with a light drum machine and some nice floating keyboards. this is truly an incredible album that everyone should have.

unfortunately was never released on vinyl (if there was ever a reissue on vinyl i'd be the first in line though). CD copies may still be available at VHF. listen to it here to get your mind blown for real.

rhinestone river LIMES



this LP was kinda a sleeper hit of 2010. picked this up at the always wonderful Trailer Space Records. i probably never would have given this LP a chance if Spot hadn't played it while i was in the store one day. i didn't pick it up that day, but the idea of the record kept lingering in my head and finally I got it a few weeks ago. i got nothing against Goner Records, their record store is really incredible, but lets just say i'm usually not the biggest fan of garage rock. but this one really works for me.

Limes is the more or less solo project of Shawn Cripps who records with various Memphis all stars like Harlan T. Bobo and other scene regulars. Rhinestone River is the only Limes LP i've heard (although they have one or two earlier ones) and it brings to mind all the great things about Silver Jews, Bill Callahan and even Country Teasers that i love.

i don't mean to put down the record by saying that it reminds me of those people but the LP works best when thinking of it in terms of reference to those. he lacks some of the wit of David Berman (and let's be honest, hardly anyone can match David Berman), but he ups the ante on Bill Callahan's drawl delivery. the record has a bluesy garage vibe to it, but incorporates a lot of weirder elements with some backwards pscyh guitar solos, some trumpet, and some great sloppy riffs ("Good Times" and "Bottom of the Hole" sound like a continuation of Country Teaser's "Satan is Real Again" album).

completely solid album that grows on me more and more with every listen. highly recommended! listen to it here. then go buy it from Goner or your local record store!

reflector ANTELOPE


going way back to 2007 for this one. i definitely missed this one when it came out but luckily thanks to some friends i've now discovered this little gem released by Dischord. Antelope features a ex member of El Guapo/Supersystem, plus it was recorded by Ian MacKaye in his house and has a great dry sound to it. these guys keep it simple with great clean tones and the recording sounds incredibly tight, loud and simple.

short and sweet at 25 minutes (to me a great length for a record, sometimes you don't need 50+ minutes of a band) these guys lay down some great simplistic songs that are barely songs (in a good way). most songs are just one idea stretched out for a few minutes and over. almost like a krautrock influenced Lungfish with some of the polyrythmic ideas of Gang Gang Dance.

i think in 2007 this probably wasn't dance/punk enough for the Rapture fans out there. but this album has aged really really well. sounds really fresh to me now (granted it might also be due to my recent infatuation with Lungfish). the vocals can get a little intense for me at times but it all works so well.

CD is still in print, unfortunately the vinyl version is long gone. listen to it here.