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.

Planning For Burial - Leaving (Enemies List, 2010)

Planning For Burial - Oh Pennsylvania Your Black Clouds Hang Low


Planning For Burial's Leaving was available as a free download for quite a while, since sometime last year actually. Despite its shear fucking awesomeness and the dozens of times I've listened to it, Leaving never managed to get any time on AGB. That is absolutely despicable.

Now that it has a supremely packaged physical release on one of the newest/coolest labels, Enemies List (home to Have A Nice Life), I can't ignore the power of Planning For Burial any longer.

It made the rounds a bit on the blogs and stuff so I'm hoping most of you already known what this shit is all about. Hence this review is more for the physical release than the actual music but for those that haven't yet imbibed, let me fill you in. Leaving is quite possibly the most amazing record ever to mix shoegaze, metal, doom, drone, and everything beautifully badass. Seriously epic songs that fill your heart with joy and make your ears fucking bleed. Crank this motherfucker up and let the bliss wash over you while you bang your head. Honestly, just listen to that track up there and tell me that you've ever heard a better song.

Now it's time for everyone to praise Enemies List for bringing the ethereal to this mortal world in the most fantastic way possible. For $10, you get one from an edition of 200 hand numbered copies in an oversized black envelope. Inside there's 3 large black & white cards with images of rooftops & houses & the like which all line up to read "TIMEISNTALWAYSGOOD" (I think) on one side and liner notes on the other. And then there's the CD-R itself, housed in a glossy cardboard sleeve with the art seen above and tracklisting, and the same cherry blossom art is printed on the actual disc. This couldn't be any more fucking perfect.

Video: The Besnard Lakes - Albatross

The Besnard Lakes are a band on the cusp of fame that kind makes me feel I shouldn't really write about them too much on AGB. BUT I LOVE THEM SO MUCH. Thankfully, I have absolutely no problem posting a video of theirs.

"Albatross" comes from their newest ...Are The Roaring Night and is totally single worthy. Superb cinematography, the video is a weird drama noir type thing with a couple of mysterious movie critics and it has the most contextually relevant "found footage" I've yet to see in any music video. And the obligatory sweet climax, like most Besnard Lakes tunes. If you're not listening to them, you should be.

MMOSS - i (self released, 2010)

MMOSS - Woolgathering


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

Video: 2muchachos - Northern Sea Ghosts

The Russian 2muchachos have a new album called Formanta coming out any minute now on Parallax Sounds. But until that happens, watch this video for one of it's fantastically special tracks, "Northern Sea Ghosts." The song starts out full of ambient hissing noise and unidentifiable percussion, turns into a sad bastard ballad with droning organs and hushed echoing vocals, and finishes in a semi-climax of some really awesome glitchy/IDM type stuff that catches me off guard every time. The video is nicely shot, lots of layered tundra effects, with the obligatory ghostly figures, and a cool "life flashing before your eyes" moment at the end.

Ultra Bonbon - North American Family Bond (Tanzprocesz, 2010)

Ultra Bonbon - Gods Bubbles


The dude that brought you the Harsh Noise For Your Wall paintings is back with some more (mostly) harsh noise for your speakers. Yes, Ultra Bonbon is here to fuck up some more shit.

North American Family Bond opens with the title track of warped oscillating drone, looped into synth waves with white static caps, and echoing bursts of radiating pulsars. Super fuckin cool and not harsh at all. Pretty chill actually. Then in rolls the "Fog Of Magog" with it's rumbling chaos and twisted squalls of acid. It's like the inside of a steamroller, totally fucking massive. And the vocals are the usual splintering, blown out, wayyyy in the red type stuff.

The B side is a single track, "Gods Bubbles," and I hate to be the lamest dude on the blogs, but I'm getting much more of a Satan's Swamp vibe. Or something like the Bog Of Eternal Stench From Hell. Low end bubble-like throbbing with self contained crusty explosions. You can just tell there's no chance of making it out alive. This shit is going to swallow & digest you whole and then have a fucking dance party to celebrate. "Gods Bubbles" is the inglorious finale to your life and this tape.

Tanzprocesz was kind enough to give North American Family Bond the special treatment. Red case & cassette with a folded super thick tracing paper insert, nicely printed with art that looks like you without your skin plus one of the increasingly trendy triangles.

Alcest, Have A Nice Life at Cafe Nine (New Haven, CT)

Have A Nice Life is worth a trip or two to see live. Especially if Alcest is playing right after them. Their set in New Haven was much more tight and polished than it was at their live debut in New York. Cafe Nine was a decent place to see them, although the stage was way off in the corner and it was awkward finding a place to stand (lots of poles and stools and stuff).

The best part about seeing HANL in a bar as opposed to The Stone was there were no fucking seats. Yes, I could stand up and rock the fuck out as much as I want. And trust me, that is the only thing you want to do when HANL is fucking melting amps 2 feet in front of you.

Their "mini-tour" is done and most likely won't be playing any shows for a while. But when they do, you should take a note from Katherine who flew out from Colorado just to see them play in Connecticut. I thought taking a 5 hour bus to NY to see them play and immediately catching the 1 am bus back to Boston was crazy? No way dude, nothing compared to Katherine. That girl is fucking hardcore. Applause!

Out of the 750+ photos I shot, I narrowed it down to less than 20. That means they're all awesome. There's a few here and the rest are on Flickr where you can see 'em bigger & better.

Oh yeah, Alcest was cool too.


Have A Nice Life






Alcest

MP3: Skogar - Take A Holiday

Skogar - Take A Holiday


Sweden's Skogar is back with a brand new track that's a helluva lot more chipper than his last release. "Take A Holiday" is from the 3 song Golden Hits and is a synth heavy mess of blissed bedroom rock. All blown out drum machine loops and sweet Casio melodies, this one's a fuckin dreamer, sights set on cruising with the windows down on mid July nights.

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.

Haiku Review: German Shepherd - 203 (Sunrise Acoustics, 2010)

German Shepherd - A


German Shepherd
203 (download)
/righty gone lefty/
/white hum nestled in warm grass/
/sky high shimmer drone/

Joseph McNulty - The Earth, In Veins (Sentient Recognition Archive, 2009)

Joseph McNulty - My Neighbor's Dog


Yes indeed this is another release from the infallible SRA label. No it's not the newest. Actually The Earth, In Veins was the first (and probably the last) cassette release for SRA. And it's still available! I think...

Joseph McNulty's tape is the stuff the sky is made of. Purely ethereal drones, it looks like something solid and tangible from a distance, but upon close inspection, everything fades away into bliss. Unbelievably relaxing tones, with twinkling layered guitars, gentle washes of static, and the occasional vintage sound bite. It has similarities to the pop click ambience of Christopher Willits, the sweet catchy loops of Et Ret, and lush drones of Eluvium, and McNulty is just as awesome as all those dudes.

You probably have a dozen euphoric chill drone tapes that you listened to a handful of times before it got lost in your couch cushions. But I promise you that you don't have one that sounds like The Earth, In Veins. This one is special. The drones are extra droney, the bliss is extra blissy, it's just extra fucking good on every front.

Video: Kira Kira - Bless

Kira Kira's "Bless" is somber & intimate, set to a suitably matched video with fantastic animation about a dude who dreams he turns to old man made of paper and meets some strange creatures like a llama Zen master and a flying horse with a squid tongue. Probably not the best thing to help wake you up this morning, but if you're already on your fifth cup of coffee, "Bless" should ease you off your buzz.

NHK - Special (Important, 2010)

NHK - Mogra


Holy. Fuck. Guys. This is it. ROTY 2010. Callin it right now.

NHK's Special is a motherfuckin understatement and a half. "Special" doesn't even begin to describe the awesomeness of Special. This record is OUTSTANDING. Like infinite Reese's Cups amazing. No, like giant ridable bunnies amazing. That's how ridiculously good this record is.

This is some of the best electronic music I've ever heard. It takes noise, dubstep, glitch, some other mysterious sounds, and makes something unlike anything else I've heard (including NHK's debut, Ununumium). It's so fucking dirty & crisp, precise & distorted, like if Dan Friel did techno and put out a record with Kid606 in his Down With The Scene days. The sort of thing I would listen to every day for the past 2 months (hypothetically, of course).

Special is sold out at Important, but probably still available at various shops if you search around. And trust me. It is totally fucking worth it to search around. Only 300 of these bad boys were made. Maybe more will come later, but until then, do yourself a favor and make finding a copy of Special your number one priority 'cause NHK are fucking tearing it up.

Diagram A / Chrome Jackson Split (Spooky Tree, 2010)

Chrome Jackson - The Icicle Men March


Another one of the new Spooky Tree 7 inches, this one's got more fucked up noise from a Western Mass dude (Diagram A) and a surprisingly delightful track from an ex-Arab On Radar guy living in Rhode Island (Chrome Jackson).

Diagram's A side "Artery Drawing Anterio" is absolute insanity. Electronic squalls of vertigo and heaving piles of low end thrumming, it's like electro-shock therapy for your ears. It's strangely captivating, can't quite get away from it no matter how bad you want to look away, like driving past a car wreck. Guaranteed to make your gums bleed.

Chrome Jackson's half "The Icicle Men March" is just as fucked but a bit more pleasing on the ears. A catchy blown out guitar loops around like a circus is coming through town, except this circus is the kind that makes your eyes melt and gives you a bad acid trip just by hearing their clowns laugh. So so fucking good. Could listen to this on repeat all day long. #1 pop jam of the week!