Sure, the best-of list is already out, but I would be remiss to not take this opportunity to admit missing a few pretty good recordings this year.  New Orleans’ Belong was one of them, and I stumbled upon said artist by way of a time machine.  I was rummaging through a stack of old magazines when I found a copy of Arthur from the summer of 2006 – the one with Brightblack Morning Light on the cover and their interview where they talked about how rad they think nature is.  I had read “Heavy Air” before, a much better title for an article on Belong than the stupid Internet meme I referenced.  However, something really struck a chord with me reading it this time around.  But more on that in a minute…

Belong’s latest is called Colorloss Record.  It dropped a while ago, actually.  But I’m slow at the punch sometimes.  Colorloss Record is a collection of covers, though you probably wouldn’t discern that from just listening.  It doesn’t sound like any of the originals.  Therein lies the power of Belong, covers or originals – Belong appropriates elements of shoegaze, ambient, minimalism, and drone without falling into or sounding like any of the aforementioned genres.  They sound like a pop band through a thick filter, like listening to a neighbor’s stereo.  Really unusual, and pretty exciting.  The volatile surges and swells of balmy, warm analog noise peppered throughout invoke the eroded and washed haze of William Basinski’s The Disintegration Loops by way of Kevin Shields.  Despite hailing from a warm and humid climate, I must say that Belong sounds quite majestic as the soundtrack to the silent and cold winter night we’re enjoying here in Louisville tonight.

Belong is Turk Dietrich and Michael Jones, and both gentlemen probably have a lot of love for Tim Hecker, Lichens, and the Goslings.  But on Colorloss Record, they show a love for the likes of Syd Barrett, July, and Tintern Abbey, laying to tape some obscure covers in a completely unrecognizable, sonically aquatic fashion.  Dig “Late Nite” and “My Clown,” por favor.  Yes, the music really is supposed to sound something like the transmission of an extraterrestrial and/or underwater shortwave station broadcasting distant psychedelic pop music, and it’s unabashedly balls to the wall. Totally otherworldly. 

Now, why I decided Belong belongs in my collection (I’m sure this isn’t the first time they’ve gotten such a punishing statement). Turk Dietrich said a couple of things in the interview that really lit a fire for me:

“I think a lot of people’s ears like stuff really loud.  The depth, maybe, that fuzz brings?  You can layer a bunch of noise, something that’s aliasing in a track, it can bury other elements of the track and it kinda makes you pay attention, to work harder as a listener to find the hook in a track.  I think that’s one reason why people love bands that are totally fuzzed out and are not.. it’s a way to make things less obvious, I think.  It reminds me of the effect I get from some Glenn Branca stuff. It’s just like really repetitive for a while, he’s banging on the same chord and then you start to hear different things that maybe weren’t intended to be there.”

Man, it’s refreshing to hear that.  It’s basically the exact same approach to music that I take when I’m writing, as I’ve done with my Meridian Signals project.  It’s really easy to rehash tired rock music.  It happens all the time.  For me, riffs are not enough.  Texture, tonality, detail, intensity – these are the elements that cultivate a rich listening experience.  Melody is better when not as obvious, which is why records can grow on people and catchy songs can wear out easily.  Tweaking certain elements, such as volume or resonant frequencies, to their absolute breaking point can truly reveal remarkable facets within a piece of music.  This is probably why I write and listen to shoegazing in particular, a genre that celebrates the boundaries of sound and layers of ideas, trojan-horsed betwixt major-key harmonies and melodies. It doesn’t have to be challenging to listen to for the music to challenge the preconceived notions of rock and/or pop.  Who cares how incendiary your finger-tap solos are (although my finger-tap solos are pretty incendiary).  Fuck rock and roll, make your music sound awesome!  So to this end, I’m thankful for Turk’s insight, which certainly assisted in me taking extra special notice of what Belong’s been tinkering with lately.  You can grip Colorloss Record here for the right price if you want to get a better idea of what I’m talking about (and Turk, as well).

MP3 :::
Belong – Late Nite
Belong – My Clown

Post-punk pioneers Wire were oft recognized as a group in a strange nether region – one that was too artsy to be punk, too punk for the art kids.  Wire was angular and minimal, with gorgeous melodies remaining subtle and rewarding.  As such, it makes total sense to extract those under-the-surface pop structures, add dense layers of sound that the band sometimes hinted at, and reimagine this begrudgingly poppy gem as shoegazing, whose artists also tended to be begrudgingly poppy. 

Covers of the song “Outdoor Miner” (from Chairs Missing) spanning ten years or more eventually all ended up on a limited release compilation called A Houseguest’s Wish from the Words on Music label.  Flying Saucer Attack’s reimagining of the song, with a 1995 copyright date, indicates one of the last recordings from the original Flying Saucer Attack before Dave Pearce disappeared for a while. Flying Saucer Attack, as expected, provides the loudest rendition.

Lush’s dream pop interpretation keeps closest to the original structure of “Outdoor Miner,” while Austin neo-shoegaze collective Experimental Aircraft tastefully expands the song into a bombastic, anthemic, hummable wall of sound with a driving groove.  Enjoy this rare treat!

MP3 :::
Flying Saucer Attack – Outdoor Miner
Experimental Aircraft – Outdoor Miner
Lush – Outdoor Miner