Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Kyle Bobby Dunn - A Young Person's Guide To... (Low Point, 2010)


Kyle Bobby Dunn - Small Show Of Hands








I know there were probably, like, hundreds of you who creamed your pants over that supreme original art print/album The Intimate Rituals Of Kyle Bobby Dunn on Songs From Under The Floorboards. And you had every right to because it was fucking gorgeous. Well, Mr. Dunn has another release with more than twice as much music on it.

A Young Person's Guide To Kyle Bobby Dunn is a double disc of old(ish) material. The first disc is basically last year's digital release Fervency and the second contains songs culled from the same time period when the Fervency recordings were made. So all of these tracks were physical release virgins until now.

Have you ever been walking down the street and it was raining so hard that you couldn't see your hand in front of your face? And the clouds were so thick that not even a single beam of light could penetrate. And your entire body was comprised of water, soaked, quite literally, to the bone and you were bordering on hypothermia. Me neither. But you can imagine it, right? Imagine how fucking pissed off at the entire world you would be.

Then imagine you take another step and it's all gone. The clouds are gone. The rain is gone. The sky is blue and the sun's rays are warming your instantly dry body. Your shoes aren't squishing out water and you lay down on the dry grass basking like a lizard. You would be the happiest motherfucker alive.

That feeling of absolute luxury bathing in the sun when seconds prior you were about to kill baby unicorns is how I feel when listening to A Young Person's Guide To... The lush, majestic tones that float out of my speakers turn me to mush.

The way Dunn can digitally manipulate classical instruments is incredible. It puts him in the same class as Stars Of The Lid and William Basinski, though he imitates neither. Dunn may only have a handful of releases so far but this dude is going to go down in history as one of the masters of minimal 21st century drone. Grab as much of it now as you possibly can.

Monday, March 29, 2010

MP3: Robe. - Vacant (Crucial Blast, 2010)


Robe. - Vacant








Crucial Blast just put out this fucking killer 10 year anniversary, 54 track digital comp called Blastwave X with tons of shit you probably don't have. A lot of it is previously released material but there are a couple of exclusive tracks, such as "Vacant" by Robe.

A sprawling 12 and a half minute doom ride through the murky fog, this beast is fucking heavy. Turn your headphones up loud enough and your head starts vibrating. Beautiful gray ambient rumbling that just keeps diving downward into the abyss until you can't see or hear a goddamn thing except the total blackness of the lowest trench of the deepest ocean.

Totally. Fucking. AWESOME.

Here's hoping the next 10 years for Crucial Blast are as badass as the first.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Haiku Review: Counterspark - The Halpern Experiment (Resting Bell, 2010)


Counterspark - 5:39








Counterspark
The Halpern Experiment (download)
/reworked new age tape/
/clouds shimmer in golden pond/
/softly looped glory/

Friday, March 26, 2010

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

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Reuben Son - Glowing Departure (Private Chronology, 2009)


Reuben Son - B.1








It's becoming more and more apparent: Boston is one of, if not the best place for experimental music. It's about quality, not quantity. Sure, New York and San Francisco have throngs of artists living there, but in terms of the good/bad ratio? Boston's got this shit hands down. Add Reuben Son to the pile of 100% Boston quality.

Reuben's new to the scene, debut tape released on his debut label. Glowing Departure: "Three improvisations for tape on guitar." Dude knows how to push my buttons.

The A side is one 26 minute piece that spends most of its time hiding in your grandparents' attic. Dusty and hazy, barely there guitar plucks with an ethereal drone pressing underneath, made up of both Reuben's tape work for the song and the (presumably purposeful) inescapable tape hiss from your own copy. The piece is so thick you can see light beams shining through it, yet it's delicate enough that the slightest movement would cause an avalanche of disintegration.

But about 3/4 of the way through, the pace picks up and shit gets foreboding, like getting caught in a river and you just fucking know that there's a waterfall coming up. No matter, enjoy the ride 'cause this river is goddamn beautiful and you're fucking floating in it. OOOOOH my fucking god you're already falling down the waterfall. How did you not see it or hear it coming? It just fucking appeared and now you're falling to your death. But WOW. It's so gorgeous. It envelops you and rains chaos upon your head. Just you and the deafening water. And it lasts forrrrevvvverrrrrrr.

Click. Tape's over. Breath. Compose yourself. Flip it over.

The B side is just as outstanding as its A counterpart, though broken up into 2 tracks. The first one is super wobbly, plenty of tape fuckery going on, not too much guitar at first, then lots of droning e-bowed strings and singing bowls. The final piece is all guitar, all acoustic, like the beginning of the A side (sans drone) and like Neil Young doing a classical guitar version of the Dead Man Soundtrack.

So that's how Reuben Son does it. Fucking skydives into the scene with this killer tape and is just like, "Hey guys what's up." My recommendation? 1: Don't fuck with him. 2: Do nothing but stare at the Private Chronology website until he puts something else out.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Foxdye - M4g1c47 G71mm3r1ng R41nb0w (Fukdup, 2010)


Foxdye - Martha's Mega-Meowssive








Don't be fooled by the twinkling bookend ambient tracks. I promise that's not how the rest of the record sounds. Like, at all. It's just Foxdye's way of priming you for the rainbow storm that's to follow, and then smoothly easing you down off your sugar crash.

There's an image on the inside of the insert that probably explains the music more than words ever could. It's a smashed cupcake. Frosting, glitter, sprinkles, rainbow shit everywhere. It looks delicious, like someone ate the fuck out of it and then stomped on it with clown shoes. I don't know about you, but just that picture alone is enough to tell me holy shit this is going to be so fucking good.

I'm not sure if there's a genre already in place for music like this. Joycore, cupcakecore, candycore? They use the phrase happy hardcore occasionally, but I'm not too partial to that. It's a bit too long. Anyway, I'm sure you get the idea. It's unbelievably crazy awesome.

This shit is sparkle exploding ecstasy breakcore with a fuck ton of samples. Like Dev/Null plus Girl Talk plus rainbows. There's dubbed out wub-wub fart sounds, skwee tweeking, rave-offs, blasts of drill-n-bass, every electro dance sub-genre thrown into a breakcore Blendtec and shat out in the shape of hearts, stars, and neon dinosaurs.

And the samples. OH the fucking samples. They're incredible. Martha Stewart, farts, Jock Jams, keyboard cat, poop, that old Encarta "duhn-duhhhnnn" sound, Aqua Teen, more farts, yakety sax, Full Metal Jacket, Frasier, faaaarts, "Genie In A Bottle" (on "Christina Aguerilla Warfare" obviously), even the goddamn volume adjustment blips on Macs. Every pop song ever, old and new, that you secretly love chopped & processed to oblivion, barely recognizable. I can't believe I'm saying this but there's actually a fucking awesome version of "We Like To Party" by The Vengaboys. Just trust me.

I think it's kind of a prerequisite to like breakcore to enjoy M4g1c47 G71mm3r1ng R41nb0w, but I'd say you could probably enjoy this even if you've never heard breakcore and are just really into candy and bright colors. The only thing I ask is please don't write this off if you can't stand Girl Talk. I know there's a lot of GT haters out there but this is really different and only shares a few similarities. I can pretty much guarantee that you can love this and hate Girl Talk at the same time. Because this shit is so ridiculously good. I mean come on, it's happy hardcore.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Tom Plsek, Barn Owl, JaJuNo Trio, Mystic Out-Bop Review at The Griffen Theatre

Tom Plsek: invisible hand in front of your face pitch black, underwater warble trombone, near-Niblockian circular breathing trombone, LED spotlights, scattered black feathers, dozens of neon orange rods thrown at Tom's back, pierced cow heart with said rods, hung in the middle of the stage, fierce fear trombone played at the heart, collapse

Barn Owl: not that one, drummer = Eli Keszler + Dan from Neptune + Steve Albini, fairy dust turns entire bass into pickup, guitar gets the knife/screwdriver/ice pick treatment, nobody plays fair, those sounds? coming from inside your head

JaJuNo Trio: microtonal microcosm, theremin, voice, and sax sound like a drafty window and a tea kettle making love, one starts where the other begins, eruptions of magic in silence

Mystic Out-Bop Review: not quite weird enough restrained frenetic free jazz, not especially my cup-o-tea, except the DIY oscillator/synth/electronics box, very much my cup-o-tea

More photos on Flickr.

Tom Plsek

Tom Plsek

Barn Owl

Barn Owl

JaJuNo Trio

Mystic Out-Bop Review

Mystic Out-Bop Review

Monday, March 22, 2010

MP3: Girlfriends - The Day I Was A Horse (Ampeater, 2010)


Girlfriends - The Day I Was A Horse








I love Girlfriends oh so dearly, and after listening to their debut tape on repeat a hundred zillion times in my car for the past 4 months I really regret giving them a half-assed "list review" of their A+++ tape. So here's my chance to make up for that massive error.

Ampeater has put out another one of their world renowned digital 7 inches, this time with 2 "new" Girlfriends songs. The first is a revised version of the first track on their tape, "Good To Be True." It's cleaned up a bit, polished, and the alien theremin solo is missing. Not too different. But the other song is "The Day I Was A Horse." Yeah, it's a Vaselines cover!

It's short and sweet, with the female Girlfriend having to sing a bit more than usual (obviously). If you know the song and/or The Vaselines, you'll love Girlfriends having a go at it. If you're totally oblivious to The Vaselines, you'll still love it because it's a great fucking song and Girlfriends are the best.

Download the new digital 7" here.

P.S. They played this song at Blastfest III on Saturday. It was awesome.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Haiku Review: Dropa - Sloppyy Seconndd (Breakfast Of Champs, 2010)


Dropa - Sun Spot 1








Dropa
Sloppyy Seconndd (download)
/raddest bedroom beats/
/endless slumber dance parties/
/rain cloud cough syrup/

Friday, March 19, 2010

OOPs: The Mausoleums - Blackened Fawns Cleanse The Earth With Fire (Chinese Workers Labor Union, 2008)


The Mausoleums - Totem Pole








I reviewed this beast a couple years ago and it looks like it's disappeared since then, at least in terms of finding a physical copy. These two years have done nothing to wane by obsession though, because this motherfucker still destroys.

It's like The Mamas & The Papas black metal. You know how Torche became the poster boys for pop metal? Well The Mausoleums are the fucking wizards of speaker shredding blown out black pop metal. Seriously seriously killer.

Download this regardless of your taste in music. It will blow your fucking mind no matter what you like. But you'll probably only enjoy Blackened Fawns if you're into the whole having your mind blown sort of thing.

THE POWER IS YOURS!

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Black Pus, Sissy Spacek, Nautical Almanac, Wittmer & Knowles, Weyes Blood at Great Scott

Black Pus: whirlwind chaos, heavier and more metal than on record, surprisingly chill crowd, "Fuck the beat police!"

Sissy Spacek: dude had guitar with springs for strings, Wiese looks like a creepy pedophile (via The Lovely Bones), indescribable noise that somehow didn't (but should have) shattered my lens

Nautical Almanac: crazy ass rear projections on a giant's sheet distracted from the already distracted radio-scanning incomprehensible clatter

Wittmer & Knowles: performance noise, Germanic human robots played tuning forks with their feet, the mouth of hell opened up, dragged to a cacophonous world of guttural growling & strobe lights, wall of mayhem, sight & sound cease, robots collapse

Weyes Blood: shamanistic organ drone pop with Zola Jesus vocals and warped backwards tapes of wind & dust, the man made her blown out her essential mood-enhancing candles

Some photos below, shit tons more on Flickr.

Black Pus

Black Pus

Sissy Spacek

Sissy Spacek

Nautical Almanac

Wittmer & Knowles

Wittmer & Knowles

Wittmer & Knowles

Weyes Blood

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

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.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Feedback Makes Everything Better

Wayne Rogers of Heathen Shame at First Night 2010

I'm going to be redesigning AGB a little bit and I figured while I'm at it, I should take a poll and see if there's a strong feeling out there for me to do anything differently. Because you, dear readers, are the reason I do this, and my sole purpose in life is to make you happy.

Feel free to elaborate on anything in the comments, especially if there's something you'd like to see that isn't one of the options listed.

So just check away on those little boxes down there. Check as many as you'd like. Maybe if you wish hard enough, it'll come true!



Sunday, March 14, 2010

Show Worthy 3/15 - 3/21


Tuesday, March 16
Black Pus, Sissy Spacek, Nautical Almanac, Gerrit Wittmer & Paul Knowles, Weyes Blood, DJ 2xA (Double Awake) at Great Scott (8:00, $10, 18+)
Whoa everybody. Calm down. Just because Lightning Bolt drummer Brian Chippendale's solo noise project Black Pus is playing at Great Scott with Sissy Spacek aka John motherfuckin WIESE is no reason to freak out. So everyone just chill the fuck out. Don't get too excited. It's just another show.



Seijiro Murayama & Jean-Luc Guionnet by wot nxt via

Wednesday, March 17
Seijiro Murayama & James Coleman & Greg Kelley, Keith Fullerton Whitman at Outpost 186 (8:00, donate, all ages)
Murayama is the dude from Absolut Null Punkt (along with KK Null), he's played with Keiji Haino, and he put out that collab with Lionel Marchetti on Intransitive. He's just plain awesome. He'll be doing percussion shit with Coleman on theremin and Kelley on trumpet. Guaranteed to be rad. Plus KFW is opening. Holy shit?




Saturday, March 20
Blastfest 3 at Cambridge YMCA (11am-11pm, $5-$10, all ages)
I already did a whole post dedicated to Blastfest 3. Fuckin read it! It's going down this Saturday.




Sunday, March 21
Barn Owl, JaJuNo Trio, Tom Plsek, Mystic Out-Bop Review at Griffen Theatre (Salem) (7:00, $10, all ages)
Guys! Cool shit is coming to Salem!! That means I don't have to drive or take the train to have fun and see awesome experimental music. This is the first show in the Sonorium music series (put on by the Qfwfq Duo) and they're making sure they're on the map right from the get go bringing fuckin Barn Owl to town. Plus JaJuNo trio is playing, who consists of James Coleman on theremin, Jules Vasylenko playing the saxophone, and Noell Dorsey "singing." I wrote about them when they played at The Piano Factory with Lord & Karhlheinz, and Audrey Chen & id m theftable. They were incredible. This show would be so fucking cool if it was in Boston, but it's in Salem, and that just makes it a hundred million times cooler. Can't wait to see what Sonorium's got up their sleeves for round two.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Haiku Review: Michael T. Bullock - A Mountain (Coming Around) (Homophoni, 2008)


Michael T. Bullock - A Mountain (Coming Around)








Michael T. Bullock
A Mountain (Coming Around) (download)
/twisted contrabass/
/expectation filled silence/
/vacant raucousness/