Sons Of Magdalene is Josh Eustis' (of Telefon Tel Aviv) solo project. Epically minimal organic tape loop drones like Belong or Basinski. I'm fairly certain this is the only release he's put out under this name. IT IS AWESOME. Seriously, if you have any fond feelings towards either of those RIYLs then fucking download this immediately. Here's what I had to say about it back in '08 if you're interested.
Remember Gianni Rossi's soundtrack to Gutterballs? Remember how it was full of bass and synth and Italo horror disco awesomeness? Remember how much I loved it? Well Umberto'sFrom The Grave is... BETTER than the Gutterballs Soundtrack. There. I said it.
Everything you ever wanted from an old school horror soundtrack is present on From The Grave. Super moody, driving disco beats, chilling synths, and speaker blowing bass. The tunes are the type where you'd be throwing it down on the dance floor if you weren't running for your life from the undead.
The special thing about Umberto's tape, though, is that even though there are song titles like "Opening Titles," "Dream Sequence," and "Shower Scene," From The Grave isn't the soundtrack to anything except your nightmares (or maybe your next Carpenter themed dance party). And that's one of the reasons this is better than Rossi's soundtrack. You can let your imagination run wild when listening to this tape. Like when "It Came From The Swamp" comes on. What came from the swamp? It's totally up to you! You could be lame and go with Swamp Thing, or you could summon your inner 3 grade self and conjure a wicked scary drippy, mud caked 10 horned beast with teeth made of alligator claws. That makes for a much better experience than when you hear "Theme From Gutterballs" and all you can see is the Gutterballs logo. Trust me.
Real soundtracks can eat it. Umberto is the king of fake soundtracks. And now everyone knows that fake soundtracks are the fucking coolest.
Packaging shouldn't supersede the music, right? Well, it's hard when they name the record Black Talisman and you actually get a real honest-to-god black talisman with your purchase (etched with lasers). So I mean, obviously that's gonna be the first thing I mention.
Endless x3 aren't just about gimmicks, though. All of their brilliance wasn't wasted on badass kitsch. The music on Black Talisman is out of this world awesome. Think of the talisman as a prelude or a sign of the coolness to come.
Talisman is a noise drone record on it's intergalactic journey to a distant nebula. Tons of spacey synth blorps and glitchy star static that sometimes makes for a blissed out trip with cryogenic dreams or an unsettling paranoia filled nightmare. It all depends on what leg of the trek you're on. Like sometime going through the "Distortions" asteroid storm, shit gets pretty fucking hairy but by the time you've reached your destination on Planet "Washes" you're in fucking heaven and everything's as perfect as can be.
However, as super fucking cool as Black Talisman is, I have to fault E3 on the packaging of their packaging. My talisman broke in the mail. :(
I want to keep this review going just so I could write the name EENNNNDDLESSSSS in a bunch of different ways 'cause it makes me happy (good name dudes). But I don't really have anything else to say except Black Talisman is totally awesome and EEEndless are going places as long as they keep churning out ideas as sweet as this one.
S.C.E.N.E. = Salem's Chiptune, Electronica & Noise Extravaganza = all day electronic festival in Salem, MA coming Fall 2010 (that's twenty ten, not two thousand ten)
This Friday the 4th at 8pm, the FREE, all ages second promo fundraiser party for S.C.E.N.E. is going down at The Gulu Gulu in Salem, hosted/presented/organized by Radio Scotvoid and Moon Climb The Wall (both of whom will also be DJing in between sets all night). And the lineup for this is pretty fuckin sweet.
Active Knowledge's solid sweet 8bit goodness from the Cape, Bubblegum Octopus's WTF insanity from Jersey, and my personal favorite, circuit bender extraordinaire Computer At Sea from Portland (the East Coast one). Also opening up is Burlington's minimal Nuda Veritas doin her electro-acoustic thing.
Gulu might not be the first place you'd think of to check out some crazy 8bit shit, but they're super kind and brave enough to host something as cool as this. My only complaint is that there's hardly any room to get your groove on/rock/spazz out/be a total nerd if the spirit moved you because the "stage" is right next to tables. This is a restaurant after all and people want to sit, eat, and enjoy some good tunes. Maybe there will be more partiers and dancers this time. Who knows. Either way, this should be a great fuckin time and certainly worth coming out of Boston for.
Here's a short video of a book Computer At Sea made. But there's a twist! Hint: It's not just a book.
You: You just reviewed the album this was on, like, yesterday.
Me: Oh, thank you kind sir for pointing that out to me. You see I have a hard time remembering what I blogged about on my own goddamn blog. So let me explain to you in list form why I am currently writing about this song.
1. Shut your fucking mouth this is my blog. That's just mean.
3. You need to listen to more A Faulty Chromosome, regardless of how much you currently listen to them.
4. This song is brilliant. It starts with sprinklers and ends with fireworks and is catchy as fuck. The sprinklers stay through the whole song, making a sweet beat but the best part is, they pan channels. 'Cause that's exactly what a sprinkler does. Pans channels.
5. I wanted 5 things in my list.
P.S. They successfully raised enough money through Kickstarter to get a physical release for Craving To Be Coddled So We Feel Fake-Safe. WOOOO!!
Brandon Terzakis played an e-bowed guitar and a regular bowed cymbal, making gorgeously delicate and intricate drones.
Animal Hospital is nuts live, building dozens and dozens of loops up all by himself until he has a warm, lush song that washes right over you.
Aidan Baker was brilliant, even despite one of his cables cutting out midway through a song. Totally soporific and absolutely stunning. And Kevin (Animal Hospital) played drums for him which was awesome.
Aidan Baker
Aidan Baker & Kevin Micka (Animal Hospital)
Animal Hospital
Brandon Terzakis
P.S. Then I went to see Melt-Banana at The Middle East and, as always, they were fucking insane. They played their new "no guitar/all synth" stuff which was 100% chaos, then played some old favorites, some brand new stuff, and finished with a cover of Toots & The Maytals' "Monkey Man." So, yeah, best night ever.
Who are The Sad Cobras? I dunno. Friends with Hot Lava I guess. And they make good music. Appropriate for a split with Hot Lava. So that's cool.
BUT 3 NEW HOT LAVA TRACKS. That's why you're here, right? Because you love Hot Lava. Because I love Hot Lava. THE WORLD NEEDS MORE HOT LAVA.
"The Auctioneer" is where it's at. That song alone will hold me over until the next HL LP. 'Cause she sounds like an auctioneer. Which is funny. Also, "Lady Postman?" Great title. Oh man. I love these guys so much.
There are a few pretty cool shows coming up this week (Fuck Buttons & Growing, Melt-Banana Lite) but there's one that's worthy of an entire post dedicated to it.
Aidan Baker's coming to town again. Last time he was here was when Nadja played at The Middle East Upstairs, and I freaked out a bit. This time, however, he's going solo, creating much softer music than he does with Nadja.
And the coolest part about this show (other than Aidan Baker, HOLY FUCK) is who's opening. Animal Hospital and Brandon Terzakis. Fuck. Me. This show is so epic. Going down at Outpost 186 on Tuesday the 24th at 8:00, all ages, donate the shit out of this show. Thank you Sound Pool.
Bring lots of $$$$ 'cause Baker is ridiculously prolific and you don't want to miss out on any super limited shit he might have with him (I hope he's got that new split with Noveller). Not to mention AH & Terzakis's stuff. Oh man. I AM SO PUMPED.
P.S. Weirdo Records (right down the street from Outpost) is having a sale this month. Might as well stop by beforehand while you're in the area and support the coolest record store in Cambridge, while simultaneously getting awesome shit on the cheap.
Easyboy is the solo stuff from Eric Farber, member of the insane electro-tribal awesome dudes Truman Peyote. Friends is his first (?) release of hypno pop jams and it's 100% worth your ear time.
I'm not sure that Farber was straight when he made this tape because it reminds me a bit of Farmacia's Nosocomio Manicomio and they were almost certainly fucked up on Robotussin when they made that tape. Now you could be a lame-ass and call Friends "bedroom pop" but it is so much more than that. It's amazingly weird with songs that aren't songs and plenty of found sounds that Farber most likely dug out of someone's attic.
There's all sorts of fun tunes on Friends that could end up on your next "happy times" mix tape or perhaps your "I'm gonna weird my friends out" mix tape. "Chest Swimmers" for example is some peppy garagey Jacob Berendes type song and then "Wrenchin'" could be a lost Dan Deacon/AnCo/Passion Pit collaboration. But the 54 second "Markers" sounds like grade school children got high and watched old Japanese cartoons. Friends is not the easiest thing to pin down but it's consistently fantastic.
Oh, and as always, Spooky Town shit is as cheap as it is fuckin awesome. Friends will only set you back $5.
I've had this for wayyyyy too long, and while I can make excuses for not having written about it yet (like I moved and couldn't find my copy to scan for the artwork, or I've been too busy, or I couldn't think of anything to say because it's so fucking brilliant) they're all pretty much irrelevant. Reason being: Acre'sIsolationist is unbelievably amazing drone.
Let's face it. Winter's coming (southern hemisphere excluded). And like a bear fattening up on salmon and squirrels for the long hibernation, you too should be gathering as much cold weather appropriate tunes for the forthcoming blizzards. Isolationist is a necessity for your stockpile.
Acre's drone is the fucking best. Super long form, like Wada or Niblock except with the lushness of somebody like White Rainbow or Eluvium. It's so thick and dense and warm (key word here). It's like a golden blanket from the gods sewn with threads of magic from the fabric of clouds to keep you blissfully cozy no matter what hardships you must endure.
This is the kind of drone that's maximized at full volume. You need this shit to envelope every atom of your being. Let it hug your bones. It'll keep you warmer than that quilt Grandma made for you last Christmas.
And the image up there looks nothing like the actual CD. The artwork is neon orange and there's a geometric pattern that isn't so much a color difference than it is a textural one. Totally awesome. You need to see it irl.
Manners is a dude that I preemptively dissed one night when I was cranky because I didn't get to see a band (Psychic Ills) that I went out of my way specifically to see and in my mind I kinda blamed him a little bit. Since then, I've matured into a great benevolent man and have grown to love Mr. Greg Beson and the fantastic music he makes.
Look Into Look Unto is Manners' newest outing in the folky experimental scene. He takes a different approach than everyone else, though, because he doesn't rely on fuzz and blur to entertain. A solid voice and supreme songwriting skills are all Manners needs to make a totally enthralling record.
The songs are all super low-key. Chill, easy going, and borderline depressing. Actually, not so much depressing as just moody. The hooks are scarce but there's plenty of harmonies and sweet melodies to make up for it. And as if Greg's voice wasn't enough to keep things going, occasionally some female backup vocals pop up that are absolutely wonderful.
This type of acoustic singer/songwriter folky stuff isn't something that gets too much play around here but I've been making an exception for Manners. Look Into Look Unto is just a really pleasing listen, especially now that the nights are coming quicker and the sun isn't rising as high. Perfect fall music.
I Want To Review Your Music If you make music and you want it reviewed on my blog, just send me an e-mail. I would love to hear what you're making and give you a little more exposure in the process.
Disclaimer All of the music on this site is for promotional and sampling purposes only. If you enjoy it, please consider buying the record or going to see the band live. They will appreciate it, I promise. If you own the rights to a song on this site and you would like it removed, please contact me and I will do so as quickly as my tiny paws allow.
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