Nature - Nature (self released, 2009)

Nature - Growing Season


But Nature is so much better than the dime-a-dozen bass/drums duos. They’re a bit more metal and really into the groove. Lots of repetition that oozes the stoner doom vibe without being too cliche or ridiculous.

Full review on diskant.

Niagara Falls - Sequence Of Prophets (Honeymoon Music, 2009)

Niagara Falls - Sequence Of Prophets Part 1


Philly's Niagara Falls have gone through some line-up changes and their third record, Sequence Of Prophets, finds the trio of Sam, Noah, and Norman supposedly departing from the band's previous sound. But if, like me, this is your introduction to these guys, then that doesn't mean too much. All you got is a name to go on, Niagara Falls. Well, their name is kind of descriptive, but not in the white noise waterfall kind of way. More in the "we're one with the Earth" kind of way.

Sequence Of Prophets opens with "Flatlands," a track that sounds like they just put a microphone in the rainforest, teeming with insects, wind, and flutes. Flutes aren't normally found in the rainforest, I know, but just imagine this is a special rainforest, OK? The kind where it's normal to hear twirly electronics and tribal drumming. But once that track is over, the overt nature sounds are given up for more abstract and subtle ones.

For the most part, Prophets is a dark synthy affair not unlike Popul Vuh. I keep imagining some awesome movie, like if David Lynch directed Ferngully. This isn't so much the soundtrack to that movie but more like the music that inspired Lynch to make it. It has an organic sound that is brings forth feelings of the supernatural and sinister. There are a couple of exceptions, however, such as "Goloka" and the second half of part one of the title track, which is super uplifting. The epic crescendos and cymbals crashes make it more like something you'd hear during one of Animal Collective's happier, more post-rocky moments.

Fuck. I was trying really hard to not mention that band that I don't even care about. The one that gets name dropped everywhere and people the world over cream themselves over when there's the slightest mention of a new song. Niagara Falls are not an Animal Collective rip-off. Maybe they occasionally share similar musical elements but shit that happens all the time. So do yourself a favor and forget I mentioned AC and head over to Honeymoon Music to drop 12 bucks on this sweet ass vinyl. It's completely fucking worth it.

A. T. Gaul - Sounds Of Insects (Folkways, 1960)

Sounds Of Insects (No Vocals) [LINK REMOVED]


I found this in the back room of a local record shop and almost pissed myself when I saw it. I didn't care how much it cost. It had to be mine. Luckily, it was only about 12 bucks; the vinyl and jacket were in great condition and it came with the info booklet detailing how the recordings were made so I made out like a fuckin bandit.

Most of the sounds on here aren't field recordings, they're from experiments done in the lab (insect torture included). The record was probably a teaching aid at some point. A. T. Gaul delivers scientific commentary for the duration, saying this is this bug doing this, and look how the sound changes when you do this. There are things on here that I was surprised to learn about and it could still be used for educational purposes. But that's not why I got it.

What I did was edit out (almost) all of the vocals and created one long track of insect sounds. If you were ignorant of the source of these sounds, you could easily mistake a lot of them for experimental music. The power electronics of a giant beetle stomping around, the freak folk clamor of a wasp eating meat from a fish bone, the drone of the hornet fatigue experiment, or the spastic freakout buzz of a fly caught in flypaper, but mostly it sounds like minimal ambient noise and it's fucking great. Of course, when you get to the recording of a cicada out in the field with children laughing and planes flying overhead, it brings you back to the scientific reality of what you're listening to.

This record is so awesome. You really just need to listen to it yourself. I recommend listening to it first sans vocals (which you can download above), and then head to the Smithsonian Folkways website where you can purchase it on CD or cassette (really) so you can discover what each sound is and how it was recorded. Totally worth it, trust me.

Ophibre; Nature; Hunted Creatures; Peace, Loving at Church

Ophibre

Nature

Hunted Creatures

Peace, Loving

More photos on my Flickr.

I'm pretty sure it's mostly futile writing this review. Last night was the first night of the monthly, I dunno what you wanna call it, residency? of JP's Whitehaus at Church. The first Tuesday of every month, The Whitehaus will be presenting a show with various Whitehaus and non-Whitehaus related bands at Church for free. But seeing how this was the first night of that, and it was also the opening day for the Red Sox, there were almost zero people at the show. Literally, I was one of about 5 people there that wasn't in a band or "with the band." So this review? Probably only relevant to a dozen or so people. In the world.

This was another show with some serious lineup shifting, going almost in reverse. Peace, Loving was up first and they were almost nothing like when I saw them about a year ago. I remember them being very minimal, lots of scattered noise, earthy, and haunting. There was a little bit of that last night, with their wooden frame with tons of metal scraps and tape recorders playing various found sounds and radio broadcasts. But there was actually a lot of free jazz, too. I mean, most of the time, they all played actual instruments. A few drums, guitar, bass, saxophone, it was just how they played that made them less of a "jazz band" and more of a "free spirited, do whatever the fuck we want noise band." I gotta give the banjo player major awesome points, too. He played the banjo right next to a regular microphone (banjos aren't the loudest instruments, after all) and when things started getting a little crazy, he would scrape the mic against the banjo strings. It's such a simple thing but I was just so impressed by that. It sounded amazing and I fuckin loved it. Good job, banjo player.

Hunted Creatures was up next. I was really excited to see him because he put out that exquisite split tape with Ophibre and I knew his live stuff was just going to be spectacular. And of course, it was. Similar to the piece on the split tape, there was a low rumble that resonated throughout the room, creating the foundation of the song. Unlike the tape, however, there was a lot of easily recognizable beauty with something that sounded like a bagpipe (bagpipe imposter?) and the second half of the song was filled with swaths of (appropriately Church related) organs. So wonderful. It wasn't just all drone, though, as he added a bunch of pre-recorded percussion that sounded a lot like the clattering of bricks and wooden 2x4s being rolled around and dropped in a huge warehouse. Similar to the industrial sounds from the split tape, but not nearly as scary.

Nature was a band I knew absolutely nothing about prior to the show except that they were on tour with Hunted Creatures. There were two of them, one sitting behind a drum kit, the other hunched over some electronics with his back to the audience. There was a lot of quiet layered static coming from who knows what in the beginning. Eventually, the non-drummer picked up a guitar and then they started playing some awesome post-metal-noise-rock stuff. The guitar was completely washed out with distortion and delay and the drummer was just going nuts. These guys fucking destroyed. Totally was not expecting anything resembling "rock" at a show like this. The drummer picked up a set of big headphones and used them as a microphone, sounding similar to the vocals from Lightning Bolt or the songs where the drummer sings in Neptune. Fucking amazing. They finished off with weird minimal processed percussion and guitar feedback static drone that ultimately faded away into nothing.

Shit, man. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Ophibre's drone is of the highest quality. Last night's set was spacey and slightly New Agey (fuck you it can be done right) in an Emeralds sort of way. I don't know if you used to watch Battlestar at all (and if you didn't, wtf start right now) but the bedrock of Ophibre's piece was like the sound the Cylon Raiders made when they were scanning something with their red eyes going back and forth. Ophibre used it in a way that I would almost call a beat if it was regular or consistent enough, which it wasn't. But what he carefully laid down on top of that was just so perfect and special. I completely lost all concept of time and physical reality. I literally caught myself from falling over a couple of times because I just stopped paying attention to my body. I think I was traveling through space, 30,000 light years away to a sun drenched ice planet and I was exploring one of it's sparkling caverns. When Ophibre's set ended, I couldn't tell if he'd been playing for 15 minutes or an hour. I guess it doesn't really matter though. It was fucking unbelievable. That's what matters.