Psychedelic : Shoegazing : Reverberation
Nooooooooooo!!!!!
An intense ice storm swept over Louisville this week. Something like a quarter million people around Louisville are still without power. Things are apocalyptic. And my car has a branch on it. Continue reading ‘My Car Has a Branch On It’
In an effort to make this blog, ya know, legitimate, I’m looking for another writer. Maybe two more writers. Why not? Being a contributor to the Decibel Tolls requires no knowledge of how to run a website – I take care of that. I just need a few good writers. I’m looking for thoughtful, articulate people with a passion for music, bizarre topics, and the ability to connect the two.
Considering that I work full-time and will be trying to get my dumb ass into law school over the next few months, your help is needed more than ever! Mas informacion after the jump… Continue reading ‘Love Fucked Up Music? Love to Write? Contribute to DT!’
I failed to mention last week that Psychic Ills also dropped a heavy one on Obama day last week. Mirror Eye is out now and sounds mighty nice. Replete with skulduggery and a radiating sense of paranoia (not to mention better production this time around), Psychic Ills do well to keep Social Registry evil.
“Mantis” comes correct with tribal bangin’ and a fluid bass line riding the song through ten big minutes of finding yourself lost in a cave. “Eyes Closed” offers a slight kraut feel, or if you will, modulating jungle bogged down on purple drank, with the sinister aura that Indian Jewelry perfected. Both dirges make supreme use of space – sounding bigger and expansive by what’s not there.
Recommended. Grip it here and save a couple of bucks.
MP3 :::
Psychic Ills – Mantis
Psychic Ills – Eyes Closed
There’s a few big albums dropping today, amongst other significant events today, too. Lest we forget, though, that the prolific MV & EE with The Golden Road drop a new one as well. Drone Trailer is great. The last record with The Golden Road, Gettin’ Gone, was decent enough, though spent more time exploring swampy blues and Neil Young riffs than the free flowing shattered acid folk that Matt Valentine and Erika Elder perfected with The Bummer Road’s 2007 Green Blues. “Anyway,” the opener and included below for your consideration, offers a nice throwback to Tower Recordings, albeit with a more electrified timbre.
As for other MV & EE goings on, they’ve packed the camper, the bong, and everything else to hit the road and party moderately. When going to see them, please note that their recognizable canine friend Zuma, pictured left, is cute, BUT NOT FRIENDLY. Do not approach. I learned this when I went to a show in support of Green Blues. Before show time, I approached the merch table, where both Matt and Erika were present, and reach down to give Zuma a lil’ rub on the dome. Matt was looking right at us for quite a while, though I don’t think it registered immediately, at which point he said “ahhh… oh, hey man… I wouldn’t… I wouldn’t pet the dog, man. She’s kinda weird around people.” So, moral of the story: don’t pet the dog, man. That’s my public service announcement for the day. Grip Drone Trailer here.
Six Organs of Admittance has dusted off the old tapes and collected some of his earlier and rarest material for the forthcoming RTZ, a fan-aimed compilation hitting shelves next Tuesday. And zounds! That shit is evil. Of course, I mean this is the most loving sense. Those of us familiar with School of Flower, The Sun Awakens, and the like know Ben Chasny and friends for engaging modalities, Fahey-esque and internationally-informed guitar noodling, and drone examinations, all with a slight bucolic, freewheeling, and sometimes whimsical aura. Not so much on RTZ. Well, the noodling and drones are here, but the earlier material reflects a lot less of the good-times-pass-the-bong vibe that has oft defined many folks’ association with 6OA.
“Warm Earth, Which I’ve Been Told” is a tribal distress chant, or possibly a primitive summoning spell to seed clouds and deploy locust swarms. Ben sings smoke signals and convinces you that living in the forest and off the land would be a pretty simple transition. Interestingly enough, and without the hyperbole, this particular chanty, notwithstanding the collapsing midsection, resembles Chasney’s Comets on Fire acoustic, despite having been recorded a number of years before Blue Cathedral reared its head. With styles and a replete repetoire like Chasny’s, it’s fun to try to trace where ideas may have come from.
“Creation Aspect Earth” sounds like a tune you’d hear at Aleister Crowley’s last dinner party, or what the four horsemen would bump on their over-the-shoulder ghetto blasters whilst igniting thatched-roof cottages. Though “Creation Aspect Earth”sounds like a Jan Hammer album, this, I assure you, sounds nothing like Jan (though both Ben and Jan rule, but for different reasons). If the song scares you at first, everything clams down after the 6-minute mark, and you are duly treated to an intimate glimpse of just Ben and his guitar hangin’ out and spitballin’. Both movements are beautiful, however.
So to answer your question, fuck yeah it’s good – grip it here on dos discs or a 3-LP set. And for more background info and fUn FaCtS on RTZ, head over here.
MP3 :::
Six Organs of Admittance – Warm Earth, Which I’ve Been Told
Six Organs of Admittance – Creation Aspect Earth
Today’s lesson: if you have a music blog, don’t say anything less than glorifying about whatever Animal Collective just dropped, lest you want to feel the fury of indie rock dorks. It’s understandable. As far as I know, The Decibel Tolls is the only blog, or media in general anywhere, that didn’t find Merriweather Post Pavilion boner-inducing while traditionally praising the group in the past. It’s also the second most viewed post on this blog of all time. Far out. Some selected comments from the review and my responses behind the jump… Continue reading ‘Merriweather Post Pavilion Strikes Back’
Long time no write. I’ve been too busy sorting through the copious amounts of hate mail I’ve received for calling the new Animal Collective record slightly disappointing. Anyway, I figured that there hasn’t been much Super Swingin’ Mix action happening as of late, so that seemed fitting for the first entry of the year.
Quite a lot of winter left to go for those of us living in the humid continental climate zone who experience four distinct seasons. I dunno about you, but I enjoy expansive, sparse, spacey, folk-inclined music during frigid winter evenings, when there’s a shimmering blanket of frost on the ground and a stillness in the air. Maybe you don’t. If so, too bad, because that’s what this evening’s mix is about. Eight club bangers carefully sequenced and best enjoyed after dark.
MP3 :::
Broadcast – Unchanging Window
Jessica Bailiff – Evidence
Grouper – Stuck
Chef Menteur – Europa
Faust – Giggy Smile
Red House Painters – Mistress
The Byrds – Draft Morning
Marmoset – Winter
