Dude, I love “Linger.” Don’t give a fuck.
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Baby Sloth Spirit would be a pretty weak ghost story but I think it fits just fine for this California down tempo project. His new self-released Eyes EP kind of sounds like Boards of Canada re-imagined by Paper Rad or bit-crushed flashbacks of arcade game victory screens. You know, the kind of psychedelic 80’s melange you’d expect from someone who still rocks unicorn t-shirts and has a Myspace that’ll make your eyes bleed. Mummified dance beats sweat warm tape saturation to vaguely tropical keyboard workouts that owe more to the New Age Tapes collective than chillwave artists. This is a great way to relive your childhood without having to scrounge for quarters. Selective memory never sounded so good.
You can download the Eyes EP here.
MP3 :::
Baby Sloth Spirit – Dolphin Orgonite
Baby Sloth Spirit – Eyes
No words. Have a look at these videos. Pretty sure this has got to be a prank. Surely. Surely? Well, LOL Baltimore either way, I suppose.
UPDATE: So The Daily Swarm is claiming it’s hoax, but they don’t elaborate. It’s hilarious either way, in my book.
UPDATE REDUX: Baltimore City Paper is also calling shenanigans, though they present strong evidence. I didn’t even catch this quote when I watched it, but at one point Coward says “I don’t actually have a job because I’m just a musician so the days kind of blend together.” Yeah dude – self-awareness is a dead giveaway. That’s a good style, dudes.
MP3 :::
Teeth Mountain – Keinsein
I hate to tease you guys with a song when I have no info to give, but the amount of times I’ve listened to this particular one in the past couple days seems exception-worthy. World of Witchcraft’s jams are just too perfectly executed by their hazy, opium riddled, post-Joy Division prowess for me to care about much else. All I can tell you is that he/she has a 7″ coming out some time on Captured Tracks (shocker) and that they’ll be playing with the equally rad Cloud Nothings in Brooklyn this March supporting Abe Vigoda. You can stream a few cuts on their myspace. Thanks to our buds @No Conclusion for the tip.
MP3 :::
Witchcraft – Funeral Song
You can place Serena Maneesh into a number of columns, but neogaze is not one of them. Their 2005 eponymous record hinted at a band on the verge of realizing their sound, and Abyss in B-Minor is the result of such ephiphanies. Abyss in no way resembles a rehashing of my favorite movement in rock music. Sure, the essential elements are there – hall reverb, dynamic loudness, a blend of ambience and pop sensibility, blurred album art, and all the general ad infinitum shoegaze/dream pop reference points. However, there’s an intrinsic punk-informed aura about the group. They eschew the trends that defined the tongue-in-cheek shoegaze term. There’s no detachment, no navel staring, no aloofness – Serena Maneesh is a rough around the edges, delightfully gutteral collective. They will beat your ass. If you don’t believe that, exhibit A: they recorded this album in a cave outside Oslo. However, outside the album’s epic bookends, Abyss in B-Minor is a body of pop songs, and each one is deceivingly brutal under the shimmering surface. If you could strip away the nasty gale of noise and fuzz that I imagine the apocalypse would sound like, you could possibly play this record around your folks. But since that’s not the case, I don’t recommend it.
Unlike that Raveonettes album that (actually) was entirely in B Minor, Serena Maneesh is all over the place. You’ve already been treated to the bubblegum pop of “I Just Want to See Your Face,” but the following track “Reprobate!” really showcases what makes this band great, demonstrating their sweet and sour technique. The vocals are crystalline, delicate, almost gossamer, yet backed with a wailing squall of noise that’s more apropos to a Wolf Eyes jam session than a traditional dream pop love song. “Melody For Jaana” recalls early Slowdive without replicating it – the band’s visceral harshness still runs afoot even in slower, more ambient numbers. “Honeyjinx” is one of the more interesting moments on Abyss, a song that wavers between dissonance, Swans-style dungeon doom rock, a soaring vocal pseudo-chorus, and a pastiche of electronic snippets as the composition implodes on itself. Intriguing and enjoyable. “Blow Yr Brains In the Morning Rain” captures an uncharacteristic (for these guys) sloppy garage aesthetic and juxtaposes it against a celestial sheen and panning, layered rhythms. “D.O.W.S.W.T.T.D.” shows the band at its most synth-driven, while “Magdalena” ends the album with flutes and surprisingly sunny vibes for a sect of Scandinavian individuals. See? All over the place.
As a whole, Abyss in B-Minor is much more song-focused than their self-titled release, though also a little less cohesive. However, the craftiness in which Serena Maneesh can swing in and out of moods and tones like a sine wave is both jarring and exciting, separating Abyss from previous efforts (not to mention other newgaze groups) and marking a more mature and complex album. Expect to see Serena Maneesh placed among the best of the year.
Abyss in B-Minor is out on 4AD on March 23.
Fagen-Becker Quality Rating
MP3 :::
Serena Maneesh – Reprobate
Photo credit Ohmpark
A Carbiou live show is a hell of an experience, at least circa the Andorra tour, and he’s coming to Louisville this summer with Toro y Moi. The show goes down June 8th at the quite intimate Zanzabar. Considering the double drumming extravaganza and brain melting visuals, it should be an utterly devastating show. Production Simple is responsible for delivering the goods, so thanks dudes.
Caribou with Toro y Moi
Tuesday, June 8th
Zanzabar
2100 S. Preston St., Louisville (map that shizz)
9 p.m. / 21+
Tickets on sale 2/26 at ear X-tacy, $12
MP3 :::
Caribou – Medium Sized Working Dog
And it sounds muy bueno. Enjoy “Car.” Emily Reo is on some next level hauntological shit.
POSSIBLY RELEVANT :::
Emily Reo’s Haunted Graffiti
MP3 :::
Emily Reo – Car
…on the new Velvet Davenport 7″? How? Am I really that inept of a blogger? Guess so. That’s pathetic, ya’ll. When news of the Get Out + Run vinyl deployed from the mighty Sdwply Records all the way back on February 6th, we should’ve been on that like flies on horseshit. But we weren’t. Ridiculous.
Anyway, enough with the self deprecation and on with the jam. “Get Out” is included below for your purusal. This collaboration reminds me a lot of The Vaselines weirder work (or a more focused R. Stevie Moore track), so I’m very much in love. Visit Shdwply if you want to swipe your copy, which you do, so get on that. And mucho grasias to Microphone Memory Machine for properly reporting this news in a timely manner, as opposed to our sorry ass.
This goes without saying, but: Velvet Davenport, Ariel Pink, and Gary War Collaboration > We Are the World 25.
MP3 :::
Velvet Davenport (feat. Ariel Pink and Gary War) – Get Out
Over the past few months I’ve listened to a ton of poorly recorded drone music, so it’s pretty refreshing to hear a beautifully mixed ambient album like loscil’s Endless Falls. loscil, a.k.a. Scott Morgan, is from Vancouver, and this is his fifth album under the loscil name (he also drums in Destroyer). Beginning and ending with the sound of rain, Endless Falls is a dour, contemplative album that uses the tools of dub techno (phasers, heavy echo, flangers) and instruments like viola, piano, and harp (?) to create poignant soundscapes that are both tense and becalming. Like fellow Canadian Tim Hecker, Morgan is a master at creating instrumental music with hidden depths; songs that seemed pleasant on the first listen later sound on edge, and vice versa.
According to the album’s press release, many of the songs are built around samples of rain recorded in Morgan’s backyard. This is most apparent on songs like “Showers of Ink” and “Shallow Water Blackout,” which capture the way in which the rhythm of the rain can be both eerie and comforting. “Lake Orchard,” which I’m including for streaming, has a deep low end that pulses beneath shimmering loops and strings–it’s an amazing track.
Endless Falls will be available March 1 on Kranky.
timelapse1 from loscil on Vimeo.
MP3 :::
loscil – Lake Orchard
Two things worth immediately mentioning about Cold Pumas. One, I will never make friends with the band’s name. I picture a crate of refrigerated shoes, which is apropos imagery for my recent post-quitting smoking Lynchian nightmares. Two, that’s completely irrelevant, as the music is awesome. Cold Pumas is a stalwart power trio from Brighton, and are fairly accurate in describing themselves as “HEALTH but in Neu time.”
On “Tropical Guilt,” Cold Pumas summon precise 4/4 kraut apache rhythm and augment it with tape echo-laden punk vocals, light rapid-fire surf guitar, and unadulterated hypnosis. The amalgamation of chilly motorik and bouncy beach punk is a welcome juxtaposition, and I’d love to see their tag line be “motorik for partying.” Because that’s exactly what it is. Highly recommended. Cold Pumas find themselves on the MySpaces and the Tumblrs.
For fans of: Neu, Black Dice, Melt Banana
MP3 :::
Cold Pumas – Topical Guilt
