Deastro - Dead Kids EP (self released, 2009)

Deastro - Frozen Sound #7


Bright and shiny songs that are like a sun happy mix of M83, U2, and The Postal Service. The stuff is just full of so much energy and optimism without being drippy or disgustingly over the top, it's impossible not to love.

Full review on diskant.
Download Dead Kids EP.

Quilt - Quilt (Spooky Town Artifacts, 2009)

Quilt - Disco Music For Trees


If I told you I went to a yard sale this weekend and found this tape stuck way back in the drawer of an old desk, and then I hypothesized that it came from a band named Quilt, some lost folk punk gem from the '60s, you wouldn't have any real reason to disbelieve me. Especially after playing that audio sample. But I'm never lucky enough to find cool shit like that at yard sales. I usually just come home with another wicker basket for my bunnies to eat.

But this Boston trio's debut release totally sounds like that. Like a bunch of friends using shitty equipment to record songs in the big echoey shower in their basement. And it sounds fantastic. It's music that you know was a fucking blast to make.

Nothing on here ever gets too much into a certain genre for you to nail down. It's folky, yeah, and it can rock out at times, but there's also plenty of drone elements. Lots of bang-clanking and jingle-jangling, monotonous drumming, banjos, xylophones, harmonicas, and all sorts of fun shit. But I think one of the key ingredients here are the vocals. All 3 share the microphone and there's hardly a single moment of harmony throughout the whole tape. They frequently sing together, but sometimes it's so dissonant, in the intentional and almost pleasant way. I mean, sometimes they're nice and melodious but when they're not, it's suuuper eerie. And it perfectly matches the occasionally unsettling guitars.

For a debut, this bunch really could have fared a lot worse. Like, a lot. Quilt is a thoroughly solid tape that fits rights in with the weirdo lo-fi experimental folk scene here in Boston. Totally worth picking up for a mere $4 at Spooky Town.

Show Worthy 9/21 - 9/27

Greg & Ted via
Monday, September 21
Ted Lee at Weirdo Records (donate, 8:00, all ages)
Another Series show at Weirdo, this time with Feeding Tube Records main man Ted Lee. Anything could happen at this show. I mean anything.



SubArachnoid Space via by Bring Whoever You Want to Bring
Tuesday, September 22
SubArachnoid Space, OvO, Ehnahre, Double Awake at Great Scott ($9, 9:00, 18+)
There are some things I don't know about this show, but there are also some things I do know. Like, for instance, that Double Awake is playing. I know that even though it's not listed on Great Scott's site because Mr. Double Awake told me himself. So that's pretty fucking cool. I also know Ehnahre are awesome avant metal and Ricardo Donoso plays with 'em. I don't specifically know OvO or SubArachnoid Space but I do know that they're on Load and Crucial Blast (respectively) and both of those labels (CB especially) fucking rule. So this show is going to be loud and it's going to amazing. Similar to the Health/Pictureplane/Big Digits/Bearstronaut show at Harper's Ferry except less dancing. You should go to this one. It will be better.



Sewer Goddess via by Todd Brooks
Thursday, September 24
Summoning Hate, Witch Tomb, Martyrvore, Sewer Goddess at O'Brien's ($8, 9:00, 21+)
MOOOOORE METAL. This show will be quite heavy on the metal, possibly also on the sucking. It has that potential, because 3 of the bands I've never seen. But Sewer Goddess is sure to bore black holes through your skull with disgusting industrial blackened noise shit. Even if you just go for Sewer Goddess, it will be $8 well spent.




Friday, September 25
Big Bear, You Need New Glasses, Tinsel Teeth, Dead Cats Dead Rats at The Middle East Upstairs ($8, 8:00, 18+)
You know a Big Bear show isn't going by unnoticed here. I will promote the shit out of them until the day I die. So go see them. Even if you've already seen them a dozen times, go again because they're that fucking good. Providence's Tinsel Teeth also (supposedly) put on a ridiculous live show with their nasty noise punkish ways. You Need New Glasses and Dead Cats Dead Rats are doing the CD release party thing and they'll both be playing their own post garage math punk stuff that is highly enjoyable. YNNG has a free album out now that you can (and should) go download.



Keir Neuringer via by Eelco Borremans
Saturday, September 26
Keir Neuringer & Skinny Vinny, Skeletons Out, Andrew Newman at 381 Congress St ($?, 8:00? all ages?)
There's so little published info on this show. Still, it seems like this is the lineup and it's definitely at 381 Congress St. So there's that. Not sure if Keir Neuringer and Skinny Vinny are collaborating or if they're playing separately. Also not sure about price, time, etc. But this show will be killer regardless of all those menial details. Skeletons Out fucking owns (Howared Stelzer & Jay Sullivan) and Keir Neuringer is a crazy electronic noise motherfucker. You might even get some droning saxophone. You never know.




Sunday, September 27
Mono No Aware, Xanopticon, Edgey, Synnack, So So Gutter at The Armory ($11 advance / $15 dos, 6:00, all ages)
This show is going to be so crazy. 100% awesome electronic acts doing all sorts of different stuff ranging from drum n bass to ambient and slick video artists givin you something sweet to look at while you party. Voidstar and Force Of Nature are putting this on so you know you're gonna have a good time. And fucking Xanopticon man! How can you even think about not going to this!?

Haiku Review: Small Radio - Le Migré EP (rec72, 2009)

Small Radio - I Am Ricky Richardo


Small Radio
Le Migré EP (download)
/two scots mail some beats/
/non-genre electro forms/
/you party for free/

OOPs: Adilia Castillo - El Llano Venezolano (Comercial Llanero, 196?)

Adilia Castillo - Mi Recuerdo


I found this little gem in the furthest, darkest corner of a dingy record store and for some unknown reason, I was just drawn to it. The moment I laid eyes on Adilia's fantastic get-up, I knew I had to have this. And it's a damn good thing, too, because when I got home and threw it on, I was enchanted by "la voz de Adilia Castillo." El Llano Castillo is some old Venezuelan record that has lots of traditional Spanish sounding instruments and is in surprisingly high fidelity for such an ancient piece of wax. Don't worry, though, it still sounds wicked old. Some good times are assured to be had with this record, and if you have any Spanish friends, ask them to do a little Spanish dance when you throw this on at your next fiesta.

Also, I guess this is super rare. Not like "super valuable" or anything, just like I can't find even the smallest bit of info on this thing. If you know anything about this particular record, feel free to comment.

Yours thanks to the Fires of Media.

Locrian - Rain Of Ashes (Fan Death, 2009)

Locrian - Rain Of Ashes


Back in April, I discovered the wonder duo of Locrian with their debut full length Drenched Lands. It was an epic metal masterpiece that left my jaw on the floor. Grab your slicker and gas mask because here comes a tape equally epic by the name of Rain Of Ashes.

Locrian are brilliant masters of atmosphere. These guys walk the edge of every line out there, dipping their toes in funeral doom, metal, black ambient, drone, sludge, and thick noise. Without ever getting stuck in a single genre, they're able to create some of the most mind blowing darkness ever recorded.

Rain Of Ashes runs for an hour with two side long monoliths. But there's something special about the B side. If you look at the physical tape, all of the printed info is the same as the A side, except in reverse. Like, where it reads "Rain of Ashes" on the A side, it says "sehsA fo niaR" on the other side. See where they're going with this?

The audio on the B side is the same as the A side, only reversed. Now you might be thinking, "That's the lamest bullshit excuse for a B side I've ever heard." But don't you be so quick to judge. Because I assure you it's fucking awesome.

"Rain Of Ashes" is rife with bleak shrieks and crumbling decay, sounds that conjure images of Michigan in the dead of nuclear winter. Barren abandoned cities with giant yeti running around scavenging off of rotting human corpses. So you'd think that if you play something like that backward, you'd get puppies frolicking in the field with sunshine and rainbows. Or at the very least, the decaying sounds would blossom and become full of growth. Hardly. Somehow Locrian managed to create something equally decrepit forward and backward and not have "sehsA fo niaR" sound dumb.

I have to admit I never would have imagined putting out a two song tape and making the second song just your first one in reverse would be a good idea. I don't think there's too many bands out there that could accomplish that with such grace and brutality as Locrian have. But bravo dudes. And good job putting this on tape. It wouldn't make a lick of sense on CD.

MP3: Brendan Murray, Ben Owen, & Mike Shiflet - Live at Supreme Trading 10-15-08

Brendan Murray, Ben Owen, & Mike Shiflet - Live at Supreme Trading 10-15-08


Here's another delicious treat from the increasingly amazing Compost And Height. Brendan Murray, Ben Owen, and Mike Shiflet did a live collaboration in Brooklyn and you probably weren't there. But fear not. A recording of this quality makes it easy enough to imagine that you were.

It's only 15 minutes long but it's totally trance inducing. That is, except for the one time pop of somebody slapping their hand on the floor. That snaps you right back into your living room, until you space out again and start soaring through the deep clear valleys, foggy forests, and silent mountaintops. So so good. Makes me wish these guys would do something like this in Boston.

Hrvatski, Sharpwaist at The Butcher Shoppe

I went to The Butcher Shoppe (Burger Stoop) on Friday night. I saw some people play music. I didn't see some other people play music. I saw some friends. It was fun.

I caught some of Typical White Male's set. Good stuff. Then Sharpwaist. Also good stuff. Mavis Concave was cool but not especially my thing. And then Hrvatski, the reason I went to BS in the first place.

Hrvatski is Keith Fullerton Whitman. It's the name he used when playing his glitch/breakcore shit. He doesn't really do that too much anymore. Mostly droney/noisey stuff now. But he was/is the fucking MASTER glitch man. To see him play as Hrvatski live was like a fucking dream come true. Very rare, very exciting. Totally mind blowing. Best electronic set I've seen all year.

Hrvatski

Hrvatski

Hrvatski

Sharpwaist

(see them enlargified at flickr)

Video: Boys Noize - Jeffer

I'm currently in the process of getting my shit together to apply for grad school, consolidating old student loans, and trying to buy a condo. Even if I was just doing the home buying thing, it would be too much, but no, I just gotta go balls to the wall. Posting might be a bit slow for a little while until shit gets straightened out and I've bought a place and moved and all that fuckin stuff.

Here is a visual representation of my brain right now.

Boys Noize track "Jeffer" is a fucking great electronic dancey number and the video is 100% analog glitchery done by Pomp&Clout. Everyone involved gets pat on the back from me.

Before you click that play button, I recommend heading here to watch it nice & big in all of it's glorious high definitions.



via Walrus Blog's Twitter

Nicholas Szczepanik - The Chiasmus (Basses Frequences / Sentient Recognition Archive, 2009)

Nicholas Szczepanik - The Silhouettes Of A Winter's Sunset


Pretty sure this is the year of the drone. Or maybe it's just me. But I can't remember the last time there were this many mind blowing drone records in a single year (Mountains, Golden Sores, etc). Now we can add Nicholas Szczepanik's debut full length to the list.

The Chiasmus is fucking enormous. Super spacious drone, tons of breathing room, just open your ears and float around. Everything is slow moving and wide open, yet still contained. I get the feeling like I'm drifting through the cathedral sized room in some undiscovered prehistoric cave system. Somewhat dank and ominous but mostly breathtaking and heartwarming.

Most of the song titles are especially apt at describing the music found within, like "Temporary Inundation Of Sleep By Open Windows" and "Lose Yourself..." But "We Define Everything In Desperation" is a real charmer and definitely one of my favorites with it's smooth hidden tones that hover around the blissful ceiling. And "The Silhouettes Of A Winter's Sunset" is absolutely fucking gorgeous. Heavenly colors weaving back and forth through each other, creating a blanket of euphoria.

I can't believe how staggeringly amazing This Chiasmus is. I mean, not that Szczepanik isn't qualified (he clearly is), but I guess this just kinda came out of left field for me. Maybe I shouldn't be too surprised with someone who has great enough taste to put out albums by Ophibre and Medroxy Progesterone Acetate (Szczepanik runs SRA, which seems kind of the norm for noise/drone dudes these days). But I digress. The Chiasmus is top fucking notch and basically deserves a spot in everyone's drone collection, especially with it's beautiful 16 page booklet filled with photos from Avery McCarthy.

MP3: Lawrence English - Wind For The Trees

Lawrence English - Wind For The Trees


A song made by throwing a hydrophone up in a tree, Lawrence English (the guy who released the wish-I-made-it Kiri No Oto) captures the normally inaudible sounds of, well, wind and trees and stuff. If you like your music so minimal it barely exists, then fucking download this shit. But of course, you'd probably rather grab the high quality .aiff on Compost & Height as opposed to this shitty MP3 I got streaming here.

Show Worthy 9/7 - 9/13

OMG you guys there's like something TOTALLY AMAZING going on every night this week. Too bad I'm working every fucking night this week.



Brendan Murray by R. Yau. via
Monday, September 7
Brendan Murray at Weirdo Records (donate, 7:00, all ages)
You may be thinking to yourself, "Wellll, it's a Monday night, I can see Murray pretty much whenever I want, and it's only him playing..." If that's the case then you need take a step back and fucking realize what this shit is about. Mr. Murray is doing a motherfucking drone installation. I have no idea what that means but it sounds pretty fucking great. It'll run from 7-9 so that means you can space out for 2 hours in a tiny record store and have a highly enjoyable evening in the process.



Raed Yassin Quartet by Intangible Arts via
Tuesday, September 8
Raed Yassin Quartet (Raed Yassin, Audrey Chen, Morton Olsen, Jeff Carey), Skinny Vinny at Outpost 186 ($10, 8:00, all ages)
Fantastic group playing here. Yassin doin his acoustic bass thing, Olsen on percussion, Carey with the electronics, and Chen who does some seriously amazing vocal work while fucking with her cello. Skinny Vinny's weirdo improv noise jazz will kick things off.



Rise Set Twilight by almost foodies via
Tuesday, September 8
Rise Set Twilight at Cafe Fixe (donate, 8:00, all ages)
The next "experimental coffee house" at Cafe Fixe presented by Non-Event has Rise Set Twilight coming to town for the first time in 3 years. Projections, analog shit, and all sorts of noise while drinking some delicious fucking coffee is probably the best way to spend your Tuesday night in Brookline.



Bruno Pronsato by von boot via
Wednesday, September 9
Bruno Pronsato at Phoenix Landing ($5, 10:00, 19+)
Bruno Pronsato (aka Steven Ford) makes killer electronic beats that are perfect for dancing or chilling. If Raster Noton decided to put out some dance records, Bruno Pronsato would be the first release.



Dirty Three by fishplums via
Thursday, September 10
Dirty Three, The Low Lows at ICA Boston ($25, 7:30, all ages)
I was this close to going to this show. I got the day off and everything. But then I was like, "FUCK. Am I really going to spend $25 on Dirty Three?" Maybe if they were playing Ocean Songs like they are at ATP NY. Otherwise, no. Sorry dudes. But if you got some extra cash this week, then this would the place to spend it.



Hrvatski (as Keith Fullerton Whitman) by Seth Tisue via
Friday, September 11
Mavis Concave, Hrvatski, Sharpwaist, Typical White Male, Nathan Trites & Max Lord, Karlheinz, DJ Travis England at Butcher Shoppe/Burger Stoop (donate, 8:00, all ages)
I can't tell you how pumped I am for this show. Do you see that fucking lineup? It's a fucking powerhouse. By the end of the night, the Butcher Shoppe is going to be leveled because it won't be able to contain all of the awesomeness. You got your noise, glitch, drone, power electronics, and everything in between. So so so cool. And yeah, they're attempting to change the name from Butcher Shoppe to Burger Stoop so keep your eyes peeled.



Many Mansions by Asteroid M via
Saturday, September 12
Boston Underground Summit (Round Robin style with Many Mansions, General Interest, World Map, Big Digits, The Needy Visions, Crystal Understanding, Mmoss, Life Partners) at Outside The Lines ($10, 6:00, all ages)
Kinda self explanatory, right? You know about the Round Robin thing done by Dan Deacon multiple times. Except now it's with some of Boston's best experimental bands. There's no way this isn't going to be the coolest thing ever.


Sunday, September 13
Ulysses' Crewmen, Diagram A, Xiphoid Dementia, Zerfallt, Bitchneck at Outpost 186 ($5, 8:00, all ages)
Alright, so this is really confusing for me. I think Ulysses' Crewmen is a play. Something to do with Insurgent Theatre and Existence Establishment. And Diagram A, Xiphoid Dementia, Zerfallt, and Bitchneck are all "involved" and probably performing their regular noise. But I'm not totally sure. Either way, all those dudes are fucking cool as shit and it should be a great time.



Telefon Tel Aviv by florena via
Sunday, September 13
Telefon Tel Aviv, The Race, Coralcola, DJ Pandai'a at Great Scott ($10, 9:00, 18+)
If you're not quite feeling the noise thing Sunday night, you should be at Great Scott. Lots of lush electronic soundscapey tunes. And this is the first tour for Telefon Tel Aviv since Charles Cooper died and Fredo Nogueira has (temporarily?) taken his place helping Josh Eustis on stage. And Coralcola has that new epic song "Egggirl" which I'm sure he'll play. So this show is going to be fucking awesome. Obviously.

Haiku Review: X-AM - Is In Love... (Computer Club, 2007)

X-AM - An Overlook, My Love


X-AM
Is In Love... (download)
/killer synth grindcore/
/sex and mayhem in the dirt/
/screams of joy and pain/

OOPs: Jefre Cantu-Ledesma - Shining Skull Breath (Students Of Decay, 2007)

Jefre Cantu-Ledesma - Shining Skull Breath


OOPs is going to be a regular (Weekly? Every Friday?) post where I'll upload copies of albums that I have that are out of print so that all you fine folks can join in on the fun.

Jefre Cantu-Ledesma runs Root Strata and is the founding dude of Tarentel, two totally awesome things that automatically make JCL worth checking out regardless of what else you know about his music. Turns out, though, his music is fucking great. Shining Skull Breath is a darkish drone record that's 1/4 power electronics, 3/4 Belong type bliss. I originally reviewed this around a year and a half ago and although I'm pretty embarrassed by my shitty writing back then, I'll still link to it for those of you interested in reading more.

Yours thanks to MediaFire. Link removed by request.

Ultra Bonbon - Infants Grip (Husk, 2009)

Ultra Bonbon - Vinegar Balloons


If you're wondering what's up with the whole Bonbon thing, fear not. It kinda makes sense. That Vastieu Ramen tape was released on Bonbon Bruises, which is run by half of Ultra Bonbon. For some reason, Infants Grip was released on Husk, though, home of many Teeth Collection releases and Cadaver In Drag's debut full length. So there's your 6 degrees of whatever.

According to UB, this tape isn't what they normally sound like. After listening to Infants Grip, it's kind of hard to imagine these guys doing anything less than brutal but apparently they typically make quieter music (probably sounding like "Pregnant" on their Myspace page).

But Grip is an all out blast fest and the exact opposite of Easy Listening. Blown out obscured vocals a la Prurient with high end stretched out skree and scummy electronic filth. The title track is a perfect example of what to expect. The entire song sustains a piercing feedback squeal with episodes of crackling static that fade in and out. I imagine it could act as one of those electronic pest removers to drive out the mice that currently inhabit my apartment.

I think "Vinegar Balloons" might be my favorite, though. It's almost like some fucked up disco power electronics track. So much buzz and crunch with a semi-steady pulsing and just a hint of something pleasant going on underneath. Something tells me I might be in the minority about that, though.

Power electronics are something that need to be done right. You can't just flip some switches, turn some knobs, and scream into a busted microphone and expect people to go crazy for it. I don't know what the secret is but Ultra Bonbon definitely do. They know exactly how to beat your ass, smear your face with shit, and have you ask for more.