Haiku Review: Hautain - Glass Desert (self released, 2010)

Hautain - 1


Glass Desert (download)
/windstorm sand nightmare/
/gritty blasts of feedback skree/
/scraped rusted machines/

Double Awake - Leaving Nowhere Forever (self released, 2010)

Double Awake - Drooling Tears


This dude kinda came outta nowhere in Boston. One night I went to a noise show where he was opening for Geoff Mullen & KFW which he totally owned, next thing I know he's also playing in the psych outfit Mind Yeti, booking shows as Slow Blood Music, playing live every chance he gets, and banging out screen printed CD-Rs like a motherfucker.

Leaving Nowhere Forever is Will Mayo's newest disc of synthy drone noise. Compared to his previous efforts like Infinite Classroom and Not Enough Noise In Vermont, this one's definitely my top pick. Real classy stuff, gritty & smooth, moody as fuck, waves of a static sea swirling all over each other. It's 4 tracks, 3 new "studio" pieces and a killer 28 minute live set from Problem House.

The best part of all this is he's finally got some web presence. He started up a Bandcamp page where you can download Leaving Nowhere Forever as a pay-what-you-want deal. There's only one other EP up at the moment, but the plan is to make the rest of his previous CD-R's available as well. Trust me, you want to get in on this.

Woolgathering - Jamaica Plain Bedroom Recordings (self released, 2010)

Woolgathering - It's Called "Found Footage," Not "Worthless Filmstrips."


The dude over at Mango Nebula, the totally rad Boston based blog that keeps you abreast of all the new cool shit going down around town, is a sweet creator of lo-fi bedroom folk pop.

Woolgathering, which means something along the lines of absentminded daydreaming, is pretty straightforward stuff, a lonely guy singing soft with a guitar and the occasional glockenspiel. Great lyrics & voice, solid picking, and poor recording quality with lots of hiss, but for demos it sounds damn good and I wouldn't mind some of this haphazardness finding its way into a legit record.

Grab digital copy for however much you want on Bandcamp, or swipe a limited hand numbered/doodled physical copy for a mere $5.

P.S. For context, Woolgathering is also the same guy I caught bein a boss at Weirdstock playing rockabilly guitar for Cave Bears.

The Maine Coons - The Maine Coons (self released, 2010)

The Maine Coons - Ghetto Queen


The Maine Coons are two dudes from Boston that have been playing local shows like crazy for a year or so and now that they've finally put out an actual record, they're ditching us and heading to Austin. Ain't that some bullshit? I guess it's hard to blame them when they've got a song that goes "I am a motherfucker living out my dreams."

Well, regardless of where they are in this glorious country of ours, they'll be rocking the fuck outta anyone who gives a shit. The Maine Coons play some rock n roll scuzz pop straight from a '70s garage. Seriously awesome stuff. The best of the best, crunchy buzz guitars, humming catchy organs, jangly hooks, and frequently hilarious lyrics (see "Ghetto Queen," "Hey Dickhead," "Hologram (Urinals)," or "Pull The Plug On Grandma"). It's just begging to be blasted from a boombox on your shoulder, walking to the pizza shop sportin your jean jacket & Ray Bans.

If you've been digging Girlfriends or The Needy Visions or any other of Boston's new wave old fashioned rock bad-assery, then The Maine Coons are essential. I've pretty much been playing this nonstop since I got it. And you'd be doing everyone a great disservice if you didn't crank this motherfucker until your ears ring & every last one of your pals hears it and comes over to party.

And just look at that fucking cover. Fucking brilliant, man.

Nekrasov - Perishable Things EP (self released, 2010)

Nekrasov - O Fool!


Nekrasov's chaos is the best kind of chaos. Full on black metal noise. This is black metal, certainly, but there's so much fucking noise, too. Massive walls of distorted feedback totally obscure the vocals, riffs of static melt your face, neverending blast beats bore through your skull. The metal is evil and loud, but the noise is fucking brutal. "O Fool!" barely constitutes black metal at all, it's just one big slab of caustic insanity. But it's there, and that's what makes it so goddamn awesome.

A short & sweet EP given away for free by Nekrasov on Bandcamp. Hurry up and download that shit, then hurry up and wait until the next full length comes out on Crucial Blast.

Haiku Review: Concord Ballet Orchestra Players - Palindromes (self released, 2010)

Concord Ballet Orchestra Players - Boston Did Not Sob


Concord Ballet Orchestra Players
Palindromes (download)
/grooved out psych noise fuzz/
/quick third eye glimpses of time/
/homespun texture beats/

MP3: Aboombong - Daymare

Aboombong - Daymare


The dude who runs the Pen & Mallet blog is also a music-maker as Aboombong, and a damn good one at that. He's got a few "name your price" albums up on Bandcamp, but "Daymare" is from my particular favorite, Asynchronic. It's a super lush muted free jazz/post rock workout, chaotic enough to blend everything together into a homogeneous blur of skittering drums & intense guitar noodling. Well worth your time, and I highly recommend checking out the rest of his stuff.

Spermwhales - Time Warp EP (self released, 2009)

Spermwhales - Time Warp


Spermwhales, the dude who crafted that burlap cased Endless Sea Of Clouds, has offered up a free 20 minute EP and it's glorious. It's a textured drone love affair with lots of water squiggles & warble glitches thrown over some unhindered hypno-drone. It sounds like The Snorks partying in a champagne ocean, or The Jetsons buzzing along in their aerocars during a golden sunset. So, obviously, there's no reason not to grab this.

Talk To Animals / Destroy It - Kill Your Neighbour; Embrace Your Computer (self released, 2008)

Talk To Animals - Jurassic Park


Nope, this ain't new at all. But goddamn is it good. Destroy It (now Tiger Islands) does chipper chiptunes for the dance floor in the raddest way possible. Talk To Animals is some crazy fuckin girl doing SUPER AWESOME hardcore Crystal Castles/Zola Jesus/Kap Bambino type 8-bit noise that's lush and kinda droney but still definitely the stuff you wanna crank real loud at your balloon party. They do a couple of collab tracks on this, too. And it's totally free. Everybody wins.

Forest World - MMX (self released, 2010)

Forest World - Bury Me With My Money MMX


Forest World are honestly one of the best bands out there right now. Not sure how they're not blowing up all over the fucking place. They do the raddest minimal chiptunes ever (like on Fvtvre) and then they do sweet electro pop (with plenty of chiptune elements like on Super Bright Skullz) and all of it is just super fucking great.

MMX is their newest output and it's mostly the electro pop stuff, although there are a couple of straightup chiptune tracks. The music they make isn't some lush elaborate grandeur of emotions, it's just really straightforward and stripped down pop. And for music this basic to be so goddamn good means these guys are seriously fucking talented. They must have this super secret formula for all the right buttons to push to elate you and get your feet moving.

I really don't know how they do it. I mean, there seems to be an infinite number of other people doing almost exactly the same thing, but everyone else just falls flat. Forest World nails it every fucking time. And they're making sure you have multiple options for listening to MMX: buy the handmade physical copy for $5, stream it or download it for $4 on Bandcamp, or share it and get a free download.

They're on tour right now and you should definitely go out to seem them because I missed them when they stopped in Boston and that's a fucking tragedy. :(

P.S. There's a "hidden track" that's a MIDI cover of "Like A Prayer" that is probably the funnest Madonna cover ever.

P.P.S. Watch the insanely twisted video for the single "Jodie Jensen" because it gives an entirely different meaning to the song.

Haiku Review: Ryan Postlethwait - Mega Beardo (self released, 2010)

Ryan Postlethwait - Flash Man


Ryan Postlethwait
Mega Beardo (download)
/killer shredding man/
/mega power metal man/
/sweet riffs galore man/

MP3: Doomstar! - Rainbow Bloodsucker

Doomstar! - Rainbow Bloodsucker


"Rainbow Bloodsucker" is the title track from Doomstar!'s latest BandCamp EP. It's a loud jangly mess of garage psych pop from Boston that's ridiculously pleasing on the ears. The echoed vocals, the sweet catchy riffs, the relentless drums, this is some high quality/high energy shit that fits right into what's going on in Boston right now. You can grab the whole EP for just $5.

Bunny's A Swine - Nothing Bad Will Happen (self released, 2009)

Bunny's A Swine - Valium Bread


More awesomeness by way of Western Mass! Bunny's A Swine hail from Northampton, which means I won't get to go out and see them in Boston whenever I want to, but that doesn't stop any of us from gettin down to their fantastically awkward pop rock.

Nothing Bad Will Happen has an unnatural feeling to it and I think it's mostly due to the male vocalist. He's got an abrasive voice similar to Falco from McLusky, and it's always got this discordant sound to it, even if he's in the right key. I'm not quite sure how to explain it, but the one thing I need to get across is that it's not annoying. It might be if it were on its own, but it's paired with a girl singer, and it ends up being just totally fucking magical. A beauty & the beast kinda thing.

The tunes on this are some of the catchiest anti-twee indie rock I've heard since A Faulty Chromosome, although here we have a lot more buzzing walls of guitars and feedback than busted Casios and handclaps. But they fucking rock. This is the stuff I want to blast when I'm done with Pavement or Built To Spill. These are the songs I'm gonna put on mixes for when my friends come over (the friends who aren't really into the weird noise/drone shit I so often listen to) and they're gonna be like "OMG what is this it's fucking great make me a copy i'm gonna put this on my ipod and listen to it everywhere i go and learn all the words and be their biggest fan ever thank you so much justin for turning me on to this amazing stuff." And I'll be their hero.

Honestly, it took me a few listens to really get ahold of what Bunny's A Swine was going for, but their website claims they're "your new favorite band" and while there are a couple of stipulations that go along with that (add a couple of subgenre terms, then we're talking), they're absolutely right. I fucking love these guys. I can't get enough. I just want more and more of their off-kilter rock. PLUSSSS it's all Creative Commons so everyone hop on the remixin train and have a fucking BLAST.

MMOSS - i (self released, 2010)

MMOSS - Woolgathering


MMOSS
i (download)
/dreams in jangly psych/
/climb mountains, embrace the sky/
/lush gardens of warmth/

Jakob Battick & Friends - Heavy The Mountains, Heavy Are The Seas (self released, 2010)

Jakob Battick - Nine Brothers & The Wolf


Jakob Battick (and friends), the creator of that dusty autumnal EP Hiding In The Orchard made of recycled bingo cards, is back with another piece of folky amazingness. Although instead of making another charming record, he tore a hole in the gray sky and twisted his folk roots into some unsettling black monster.

Heavy The Mountains, Heavy Are The Seas starts out normally enough with "Always Returning / Never Returning," a nice slow moving acoustic number. But that track quickly devolves into a screaming epic of soul wrenching, howling at the moon type stuff. Loud, abrasive, and nothing like what I was expecting.

The next 3 songs follow suit. Creeping through midnight meadows, with lilting guitars and deep throated vocals echoing in damp attics. There's lots of loud-quiet-loud moments, spun around in a Battick-afied whirlwind of emotion, even some horns thrown in to complete the massive kitchen sink crescendo. And the final track, "A Silent Prayer," is where the magic happens. Grand as grand can be, crushingly beautiful, intense passion pouring out of Jakob. Absolutely amazing.

This isn't your average folk record guys. I'm not even sure it should be classified as such. It is, however, damn fine, regardless of labels. Jakob Battick has made another truly great fucking record. And, thankfully, I believe a full length is in the works.

Coralcola - Egggirl EP (self released, 2010)

Coralcola - Egggirl (Kat Fyte Re-Rub)


I slept 11 hours and I'm still fuckin exhausted so what I need are some chill beats to ease me in and then wake me the fuck up. Lucky for me (and most likely you too because, after all, it is Monday) Coralcola has finally released his Egggirl EP, complete with 2 new jams and 6 title track remixes from Boston(ish)'s worthiest and most capable remixin dudes.

When "Egggirl" came out last July, I was listening to that blissy techno shit every day and was really looking forward to the upcoming EP, supposedly coming in the fall. Clearly that didn't happen. But you know what? It was totally worth the wait and for 2 reasons. 1: IT'S FREE so any argument is invalid. 2: It's just that fuckin slick.

Check out who lent their skills in making "Egggirl" all it can be: Die Young, Nooka Jones, Kat Fyte...? Yeah. This is it. They all take their own original style, warping the song into something entirely different, making listening to "Egggirl" 7 times 100% enjoyable.

What you need to do is go download this EP for free and then you'll be the head master of Party Town USA all week at work.

OOPs: The Advantage - Underwear: SO BIG! (self released, 2006)

The Advantage - Gremlins II


You should already know The Advantage. The dudes who play punk math rock covers of video game tunes? And Spencer Seim, the guitarist for Hella, plays drums?

Well, I saw them back in 2006 and they were selling this tour only EP called Underwear: SO BIG! so I obviously bought it. The tracklisting speaks for itself. Clearly, you need to hear every single one of these songs.

Fester's Quest
Gremlins II
Gradius II: Boss
TMNT II: Technodrome
Megaman III: Sparkman
TMNT: Minefield
Solar Jetman: Truckstop
Final Fantasy

Yes, Gremlins II, Solar fucking Jetman, and the damn near impossible Minefield level from Ninja Turtles. These guys pick some of the coolest games to cover and they make them sound so badass. Like "Fester's Quest" is pure fucking evil. I know there are a lot of video game cover bands out there but The Advantage is hands down the best one ever. And I can't think of a single reason you shouldn't download this.

NES FTW

Book Of Sand - How Beautiful To Walk Free (self released, 2010)

Book Of Sand - Hidegen Fújnak A Szelek


Awesome news everybody! The dude from Light (Dan) has gone from making fucked up doom metal with Emily to fucked up black metal all by his lonesome (with a little help on the drummin). So Light is officially no more, and not that I'm happy about it, but with 3 kick ass records, they had their time to crush minds with the doom. Now it's time to bring the motherfucking black rain down upon your sorry souls.

The filthy buzz, blast beats, and tortured screams are so refreshing to hear coming from a guy that just recently put out an hour long record of a single piece of glacial sludge. But even though the genres are almost polar opposites in the metal-sphere, there's still so much in common that you can tell the same guy is at work. The vocals haven't changed all that much, which shouldn't be a surprise because the singing in Light sounded like it was coming from a fucking screechy angsty demon and that fits just as well in doom as it does BM. Then there's songs like "The Night And Day Will Pass Away" which for it's breakneck speed is just as creepily foreboding as any Light song.

What makes Book Of Sand stand out amongst the hordes of BM bands is his lack of focus on the necrotic decay, instead finding inspiration in things like veganism and feminism. A BM dude that cares about chicks and animals? Fuckin POSER. Haha. I kid. Not only are animals THE BEST (do you see that bunny up there?) but he's also a whole-hearted supporter of VHEMT (The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement). See how that works? He's SO metal and self loathing that he thinks the entire human race should be wiped from the planet. But seriously though. What the fuck ever. Politics and ideals and moral arguments are all fucking bottom rung when it comes to music. I mean yes, it adds another (possibly cool and interesting) dimension but this guy could prance around in a rainbow tutu sprinkling glitter in his trail, and How Beautiful To Walk Free could be about flowers and marshmallows and it wouldn't make a bit of difference. The fact that he put this album out makes him the coolest motherfucker ever.

Lucky for you, How Beautiful To Walk Free has that same style of glorious hand made packaging that the 3 Light releases had, but they made, like, 5 times as many copies of it. It's still limited though (only 1000 made), so make sure you grab one of these hot bitches. Just look at how badass this packaging is.

Tom Vourtsis - The Driver (self released, 2010)

Tom Vourtsis - Green


Tom Vourtsis did it right. He e-mailed me, complimenting AGB, talking about which posts he liked, what albums he bought because of reviews he read, and then told me he makes music, linking to his SoundCloud. Clearly, I'm going to at least give whatever he made a whole hearted listen with my full attention. And if it's good, I'm going to write a review where I basically cream my pants over it. Well, guess what...

The Driver is a wonderfully delicate work of clicky drone, with each of the 6 songs named after a color ("Chrome" is too a color, stfu). I'm not too good at the "This song makes me see this color" sort of thing (although my wife is the fuckin queen of that) so I'm not too sure if the colors he's ascribing to each song are appropriate, but I'm gonna just say yeah, they're totally appropriate, because why tf not.

The tunes are something of the Mountains/Eluvium/Hecker variety, although at the same time not quite like any of them. Lots of digital processing, but also super organic. Smooth blissful tones washing under everything, with little water bugs skimming across the surface creating the tiniest of ripples that catch the sun rays. Warm air drifts through the green canopy, just enough to rustle the leaves while raindrops trickle down the branches. Sweet euphoric mind candy.

But it ain't all flowers and rainbows, sometimes the rare bald eagle makes an appearance, fucking shit up and taking out some of the smaller birds, being as graceful and majestic as nature can be. Beauty in the macabre, glory in the static bath, harmony in the glitch.

So yes, The Driver is fucking incredible. Absolutely gorgeous ambience that will cleanse your regrets and free you of guilt. And did I mention it's free? It's free. Download it now and you'll be swimming in awesomeness as fast as your internet connection can allow.

Haiku Review: Michael DuFault - MicroD (self released, 2009)

Michael DuFault - Palisade


Michael DuFault
MicroD (download)
/one-bit music cubed/
/genius in simplicity/
/silver tones evoke/