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Monthly Archive for November, 2009Page 2 of 3

Tune-Yards – Bird-Brains

Published
by
Kenny Bloggins
on November 17, 2009
in Praise and Malaise
. Comments

614HfnEQFVL Tune-Yards - Bird-Brains

There’s a method to the madness, I tell ya. The blog ran a contest a couple of weeks ago, asking our readers what they’d like to see more of. A sort of suggestion box or comment card. A common theme was “shorter reviews.” Alright then, I’ll try to keep the brevity rocking hard on this one.

In a nutshell, Tune Yards (which is officially denoted as tUnE-yArDs, but since typing toggle case is kind of an ass pain, I’ll stay with MLA style) is one of the most schizophrenic and beautiful records to grace these ears this year. Bird-Brains is completely demented and angular, kinda like Xiu Xiu, but without treading the blurry line between “artistic vision” and “just fuckin’ around” that Mr. Stewart always straddled firmly. Perhaps a better description might be To Live And Shave in LA meets expressive female vocals and a folk-centric headspace. Bird-Brains, on the surface, is mostly constructed from spanish guitar, drum machines, found sounds, broken samples, and a sort of totally fucked, anything-goes “playfulness with artistic purpose” that almost evokes the ethos (though not necessarily the sound) of Captain Beefheart and Sun City Girls. And with this pallette, Tune-Yards explores the vast strata of freak folk, druggy pop, and musique concrete. As a taste, “Lions” almost resembles a sea chanty, “Sunlight” is a sort of brooding acid pop, “News” is a sunny kitchen sink sing-along with panged lyrics and general vibe of “just dropped off a song to the studio on the way to the store,” “Fiya” is a perfect stab at early psych folk, “Jamaican” builds a barely danceable beat around a recording of what I believe to be a child’s cough and a drill, and “Real Live Flesh” is sorta dubby. And that’s less than half the album represented. Oh yeah, almost forgot… there’s yodeling to be found on “Hatari.” Wowzers. So to that end, I love this record. Anything that’s challenging for me to describe always gets two thumps up and repeated listens on the ghetto blaster. I have no idea what’s happening half the time, and that keeps the intrigue level strong.

This statement might sound snobby, but whatever, it’s gotta be said. A lot of people are going to say they like the Tune-Yards album because it’s picking up a little buzz and it’s considered, ya know, arty. And these people will be goddamn liars. This album is as difficult as a Throbbing Gristle record. It just happens to have hooks and deceivingly positive vibes.

So don’t go into this listening experience expecting Dirty Projectors or Grizzly Barrrrr or whatever the fuck. Tune Yards are next level. You’ve been warned.

Anyway, Kenny Bloggins thinks 4AD should give all its St. Vincent budget to Tune-Yards to keep writing, recording, and touring. This shit is gospel. And it’s available this week, so go see about it.

For fans of:  Tickley Feather, Xiu Xiu, Holy Modal Rounders with beats

MP3 :::
Tune-Yards – Sunlight
Tune-Yards – News

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The Decibel Tolls is Looking for New Contributors!

Published
by
Michael Hansen
on November 16, 2009
in General Communique
. Comments

kermit

We’ve been really psyched on all the love that Web 2.0 has shown us in our first year up, so we’re looking to expand our output and get a couple new people aboard. While our focus will remain on music review/commentary/etc, we could really use some people who could help us take photos at shows and/or conduct interviews. Of course, if you don’t have a camera or live in the middle of nowhere that’s okay too, just send us 2 writing samples of your stuff (these don’t have to be published articles). Also, if you’ve got ideas for some feature writing, we’d be happy to house your scene reports, essays, analysis, or anything else you can make interesting. Honestly, we’re flexible as hell with content, all we really ask is that you:

-Understand the general taste and ethos of this website. (i.e. what genres we cover, who our pin cushions are, who butters our bread)
-Have a decent grip on the English language. (if you can fake it with spellcheck, more power to you, we’ll never know)
-Be able to contribute ideally 2-4 times a week. (or as much as you want)
-Can dig that this is a labor or love and therefore compensation will come in the form of free music, dumb e-mails from Bloggins and I, and being able to gain a little bit of exposure/practice in the world of music journalism.

So, if this sounds agreeable to you, send an email to mh[at]thedecibeltolls[dot]com letting us know a little bit about yourself, what kind of music you dig, what you’d like to do for The Decibel Tolls, and a few samples of your writing and/or photography. Happy applicating!

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[Documentary] Krautrock: The Rebirth of Germany

Published
by
Kenny Bloggins
on November 15, 2009
in Visual Aids
. Comments

The recent BBC Four documentary Krautrock: The Rebirth of Germany, the most thorough examination of the genre since Julian Cope’s definitive Krautrocksampler, has finally made its way onto the Interwebs. And it’s as solid as you’d expect.

From the BBC: “Between 1968 and 1977 bands like Neu!, Can, Faust and Kraftwerk would look beyond western rock and roll to create some of the most original and uncompromising music ever heard. They shared one common goal – a forward-looking desire to transcend Germany’s gruesome past – but that didn’t stop the music press in war-obsessed Britain from calling them Krautrock.”

I really dig John Weinzierl’s (of Amon Duul II) logic early in the film, when he says “we wanted to be international,we tried very hard to not be Anglophonic and not to be German. So… space is one solution.” And it’s totally worth mentioning that Werner Hertzog shows up for a bit. Action packed.

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Onra Makes Mince Meat of the Far East

Published
by
Michael Hansen
on November 14, 2009
in MP3
. Comments

choinoiseries
Well shit, snoozed on this one. Considering my obsession with Dilla’s Donuts, you’d think I’d have an ear open when an album comes out that’s just as flavorful. So to cut to the chase, your collection of instrumental hip-hop is busted if it doesn’t include Parisian beat maestro Onra’s 2007 release Chinoiseries. Similar to the recently dropped Ethiopium, this project focuses it’s sample source on a geographic location, mining the vinyl era of Chinese and Vietnamese music exclusively. If you like your beats staggering, erratic, and sweet, this is 32 tracks of top shelf, Adult Swim worthy jams. Chopped, layered, and ready to serve. Stop reading this, go buy it.

You can cop Chinoiseries here.

For fans of:  J Dilla, Madlib, Oh No

MP3:::
Onra – One Day
Onra – What Up Duyet?

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Dragon Turtle – Almanac

Published
by
Michael Hansen
on November 13, 2009
in Praise and Malaise
. Comments

dragon_turtle_almanac_wb Dragon Turtle - Almanac

Dragon Turtle, the duo of Brian Lightbody and Tom Asselin (of Lewis & Clarke), is the newest project to arise from the enigmatic La Société Expéditionnaire. Their debut full-length Almanac, is an expansive 45-minute trek that explores an alternating fear and awe of the natural world, and everything in between. They didn’t pack lightly either, hoarding a curious mix of folk, kraut rock, post rock, and small touches of world music.

The maiden voyage of “Causality” pushes off with warm cider acoustic picking, muffled distant bongos and various textural percussion. Mountain-enveloping swarms of foggy synths drift in and idle as quiet wails in the background provoke riffs to thaw out slowly from the mix. Other tracks like “Moon Fallout” follow suit with cloud-bursting strings and downtrodden vox that somberly consent to the ebb and flow, setting up thematic contrast for the desolate episodes that explode like glorious outbursts of cabin fever. So even when ambient side paths like the 11-minute “Hourglass” seem static, and probably run on for longer than they need to, they still manage to artfully contribute tension to the tracklist. This is definitely an album that makes more sense when listened to in one sitting.

At times, the mingling of antiquated instrumentation evokes the hermetic splendor of the Microphones opus The Glow Part 2, while the anxious kraut pace of “Island of Broken Glass” marries fireside calypso, dislocated melodies, and charred guitar work into something that could easily be mistaken for the collage work of Faust. This is exampled especially on the claustrophobic vignette “Apophis”, sporting bizarre french speak-singing, banjo twiddling, and choppy samurai licks.

What we have here is very much a studio-crafted album, with many exhaustive hours spent in the band’s personal hideout One Forest, experimenting and harnessing the perfect textures for their cause. At times, the obsession with pure sound can borrow a limb from their focus on composition. A few cuts like the oddly naked pensive noodling of “Hometime” feels like an afterthought, or a puzzle piece that didn’t quite fit but was jammed in anyway. Almanac is not perfectly conceived, nor is it always spectacular, but it is consistently immersive the entire way through, culminating in some of the most intense moments of frantic beauty to come out of my speakers all year. The unique sound space that these two have carved out is worthy of your attention alone. Highly conceptual with little pretension, and passionately constructed, these ten tracks turn over enough gems along the way that I am already salivating for their next release. Not an album to miss out on.

Almanac is available now through the folks at La Société Expéditionnaire.

For Fans Of: The Microphones/Mt. Eerie, some Faust, Six Organs of Admittance

MP3 :::
Dragon Turtle – Island of Broken Glass
Dragon Turtle – Moon Fallout

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Tomorrow Night in Louisville – Cursillistas, Egret, and Little Gold at The Swan Dive

Published
by
Kenny Bloggins
on November 12, 2009
in Rockshows
. Comments

l_17552dcc094d4e31b6babe3f5c157ef4 Tomorrow Night in Louisville - Cursillistas, Egret, and Little Gold at The Swan Dive

Good stuff tomorrow night at local vegan restaurant, bar, and de facto freak flag flyin’ headquarters The Swan Dive (which has a website now).

Curstillistas, hailing from the Pine Tree State (that’s Maine, ya’ll), are a mysterious and mercurial collective who amalgamate soaring, sunny rhythms with totally schizophrenic instrumentation. Freak folk, yes, but there’s also a visceral accessibility and pulsating, aquatic vibe that makes you feels comfortable while it secretly slips LSD in your earl grey. These dudes are enlightened. They’re on MySpazz, of course, so go see ’bout them. Recommended if you dig Os Mutantes’ more chill repertoire, Benoit Pioulard, and High Places with a touch of Bark Psychosis. Broken twang folk dudes Little Gold and the gorgeously sparse and spacey western haunt of Egret (who you should look out for on the next round of Kentucky Fried Psychedelia) round out a totally fucked acoustic evening. Should be wicked, especially on a crisp fall evening with a body buzz. More info at Joel Hunt’s place.

Speaking of Maine, Phillip Bailey at LEO is reporting that Gucci Mane will not be playing in town next week because his ass is in jail. That sucks. It looked like I could’ve scored free tickets. “LOL Smiley Face,” with Trey Songz and the Soulja Boy, is the third best song of the year. The second is “The Be Colony” from Broadcast and the Focus Group. And the best is Das Racist’s “Combination Pizza Hut Taco Bell.” That’s what’s up, folks. That, and the show info below:

Cursillistas, Egret, and Little Gold
Friday, November 13
The Swan Dive
921 Swan St., Louisville (map that shizz)
9 p.m. / $5 / 21+ (FaCeBoOk)

MP3 :::
Cursillistas – Bag of Feathers

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Relearning Your Interstellar ABC’s

Published
by
Michael Hansen
on November 12, 2009
in MP3
. Comments

alphabet 1968

Marc Richter may be best known as head honcho of Hamburg-based Dekorder Records, but since 2007 he’s run a parallel campaign as the dark ambient project Black to Comm. Closer in spirit to experimental figures of yesterday like Moondog and Bernard Herrmann than current artists, Richter seems dead set on completely disorienting our frame of reference. His new full-length for Type Records, Alphabet 1968, is a collection of oddities featuring: ‘kitchen gamelan’, smudged and disguised samples of vinyl, radio, and live recordings. Fairly static in composition, these ten tracks of densely forested clips provide a panoramic view of his meticulous sound dioramas.

The fragmented nature of this trip was designed to evoke the sensation of Richter’s favorite records, creating moods ranging from dark, gloomy ambient to sentimental musique concrete. Sparse traces of minimal techno are infused into the pulse of “Forst”, the album’s longest episode, a hat tip to fellow German pioneer Wolfgang Voigt. Dusty interludes like “Rauschen” and “Traum GmbH” tap curiously poignant receptors using only skeletal motifs of dry acoustic notes, phantom organ swells, and an omnipresent, but nearly subliminal backdrop of flickering voices, submerged tape loops, and field recordings. While frustrating at times, Richter does manage to arrive at moments of extremely cinematic avant-garde music that’s unlike much we’ve ever heard before.

Alphabet 1968 is available now through Type Records.

For Fans of:  Burning Star Core, Eric Copeland, Gas

MP3 :::
Black to Comm – Rauschen
Black to Comm – Traum GmbH

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Kentucky Fried Psychedelia Part 1

Published
by
Kenny Bloggins
on November 11, 2009
in Local Anesthesia
. Comments

local Kentucky Fried Psychedelia Part 1

Louisville and the surrounding area considers itself a regionally and culturally ambiguous area. There’s probably truth to that. This mindset definitely yields some undeniably unique artists and groovy tunes that will rip open your mind with good vibes. It’s about time to highlight some of the music in the area that brings engaging cosmic riffage with a hint of colloquial charm. This is the first in an ongoing series of features. Here’s the first taste…

TinyFights051904 Kentucky Fried Psychedelia Part 1

I’ve been meaning to write about Tiny Fights forever – at least since they debuted on the shortlived podcast back in May. This Louisville/Lexington collective straddles the median between driving motorik krautrock and crushed-lo fi freak folk bruisin’. These guys are next level. They fly on tattered and gnarly magic carpets, chiefing on the doom fire. Sonic warriors in every respect. I’m excited at the prospect of collaborating with Adam from Tiny Fights sometime in the near future (czech yo’ email, homes). “What’s Mine” is the club banger for the Sirens of Titan. Keep up with live shows on their MySpazz. (photo credit to Matty J @ Picasso)

Tiny Fights – What’s Mine
Tiny Fights – Passing Music For Trees

5694_727480670870_12931524_41027449_7461766_n Kentucky Fried Psychedelia Part 1

Idiot Glee was mentioned earlier this week, as he’s playing our show on Friday. I felt it was totally unfair to simply describe his music as “Brian Wilson incarnate,” because it’s so much more than that. Sure, James Friley belts out the distant harmonies coming from 50 fathoms under the sea as Wilson did (and Panda Bear and City Center currently do). But the unpolished cadence and hypnotic loops are what really makes Idiot Glee distinct, keeping the sun-bleached psychedelia slightly askew at all times. Friley slays all the chillbrocore artists (i.e. Neon Indian) that the blogosphere’s currently chubbin’ for. This shit is solid, and I can’t wait to hear the full length. And James… keep the production dusty and warm. Shrouds of mystery are what’s happenin’. Hear more on his MySpazz. (photo credit to James’ FaCeBoOk lolz, as captured by Jamie Lazich)

Idiot Glee – It

phantom_small Kentucky Fried Psychedelia Part 1
invaders Kentucky Fried Psychedelia Part 1

I’ve already discussed these groups in depth, but it’s worth noting again that Invaders and Phantom Family Halo are still the some of the best of Louisville. They are the monsters of folk. To the max. The Halo is touring with Russian Circles this fall, and are probably coming near you (if you’re a Yank). Go see about them. Invaders continues to come correct on the hashish sludge garage pop. They make Times New Viking look bushleague (and I like TNV a lot, no disrespect). And how fucking convenient… you can see both bands at Al’s Bar in Lexington on November 19. Epic. Both respective groups’ albums are available on heavy vinyl from local label Karate Body.

Phantom Family Halo – These Flowers Never Die
Invaders – Sinking Ship

Speaking of Phantom Family Halo, Softcheque is opening their album release show at Lisa’s Oak Street Lounge on November 25 (Turkey Day Eve). They exist hard in positive chillspace, cultivating a sort of live, art-damaged trip-hop teeming with good vibes. Think of them as Blues Control with pretty vocals, or a more sparse Broadcast/older Stereolab. Czech it, and if you’re in the area, RSVP to the event. I’ll be there style:

l_4d619e66d83d88bbb36ed9c37a32d108 Kentucky Fried Psychedelia Part 1

Pax Titania is like Silver Apples in the sense that PT’s Christopher Cpreck keeps the wrecked retro-futuristic electronic vibe thick by way of nothing more than homemade electrical equipment. See?

1070613827_l Kentucky Fried Psychedelia Part 1

That’s DIY, son. It’s true beauty in dissonance. Pax Titania builds just enough tremolo-saturated structure to make shag music, yet just enough sonic distraction to appease the most post of post post rock talismen. No MP3s right now, but you can head over to his MySpaceTimeContinuum for a sample. “Terminal Implant” is a cut and a half.

Perhaps now would be a good juncture to share with you all that my own bedroom recording project, Meridian Signals, is now on Amie Street and Band Camp, which I greatly enjoy over MySpazz. Go see ’bout it (self-promotion lol). Just did a cover of Status Quo’s “Pictures of Matchstick Men” that Nathaniel at IGIF described as the fuzziest thing ever. It made mommy tear up.

Alright, until next time…

Oh, and if you’re in the area and feel you fit the description of… what did I call it? “Engaging cosmic riffage with a hint of colloquial charm,” I think. Yeah, so if that’s you, feel free to shoot me a submission at kb@thedecibeltolls.com. No Grizzly Bear weenie shit, though.

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Trailer for Mogwai ‘Burning’

Published
by
Kenny Bloggins
on November 11, 2009
in Visual Aids
. Comments

This will rule.

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Introducing Golden Ages

Published
by
Michael Hansen
on November 10, 2009
in Interviews and MP3
. Comments

golden ages

Impressionist splatters of found sounds, bright porcelain reverb, and ecstatic song shifts color the work of Philly’s Golden Ages. Working under this project for a little under a year now, he’s just self-released his debut EP Sitting Softly in the Sea. “I had this silly DJ/dance project that I grew apart from,” he told us, explaining his transition from “unabashedly electronic music into something more organic.” Throughout the EP’s four tracks, you can see both sides of the fence. On “Black Swan” ambient post-rock full of Fripp-inspired fuzz and lo-fi textures take a sharp turn into male/female harmonies mingling above minimal electronica beats.

“I’ve been invited to play a few shows but I’m holding off on performing until I finish the first album,” he told us when asked about the project’s future, “once that’s finished I’m going to take things live, which I’m really excited about.” Golden Age’s debut full-length, called Tradition, is set to drop in the near future. “The upcoming album will in some ways have a different mood than the EP. The EP was a reflection on all of the difficult things going on at that time,” he explained, “the new album is equally as introspective, but it’s more positive.” You can keep up with Golden Ages updates via his myspace, where you can also download Sitting Softly in the Sea for free.

For Fans of:  M83, High Places, Wild Nothing

MP3 :::
Golden Ages – Black Swan

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