Haiku Review: Jason Lytle - Yours Truly, The Commuter (Anti-, 2009)

Jason Lytle - Ghost Of My Old Dog


Jason Lytle
Yours Truly, The Commuter
/it's no sophtware slump/
/but much better than sumday/
/yes sir i'll take it/

Pleasant Surprise

Windy & Carl - Btwn You And Me (AGB Remix)


I was digitally transferring my copy of Windy & Carl's Instrumentals For The Broken Hearted (their limited edition 12" tour LP) the other day and something strange happened. Halfway through the A side (not to be confused with the 1 side) Audacity went all glitchy and weird, making everything sound distorted. It made whatever I was recording sound like it was running through a 1-bit filter or something. Kind of like some of the lower fidelity songs on Ophibre's Drone Works album. Anyway, I actually liked the result and kept on recording. You can still hear the original lying underneath the digital fuzz and I think it sounds awesome. So I figured I'd share it with you. Happy May Day.

I'd also just like to point out that I don't seriously consider this a "remix" by any means. Something fucked up on my computer and the result was cool. I don't want anyone to think that I'm taking credit for what happened.

Video: All The Saints - Sheffield

My friend turned me on to All The Saints, one of Touch & Go's last great exports. It's hard to believe these guys have received hardly any attention, especially when everyone was talking about how T&G is essentially kaput. They're fucking awesome. Like some sort of wicked psychstonergaze. "Sheffield" is a totally badass song and the video, directed by Woody Stockridge, is all sorts of fuzzy, choppy, and violent. It might be a bit too literal with the fingers aflame but hey. I'm not one to argue.

Windy & Carl, Benoit Pioulard, Lambs Laughter at Oxfam Cafe

Windy & Carl

Benoit Pioulard

Lambs Laughter

More images on Flickr.

Last night was like a lucid dream. I was aware of my surroundings and able to control my body but actually hearing Windy & Carl live was nothing short of spectacular. Coupled with the strange visuals projected during each performance, I was forced to doubt whether or not it was actually happening.

Lambs Laughter started the show off. I saw them (read: Windy and Thomas Meluch of Benoit Pioulard) play at Brainwaves in November and it was fantastic. Their performance last night was just as good. Super droning with little to no plucking of strings which made every smooth and organic. At times, the music sounded almost like some sort of blackened ambient doom but then they would snap right back to the sunny harmonic drone. The last song was entirely a cappella and their voices echoing together sounded beautiful.

They were off stage for less than 5 minutes before Meluch came back to perform as Benoit Pioulard. His was truly astounding, forming all sorts of magical sounds from his guitar and array of pedals. Performing alone, he had to create the loops on the spot for the foundation of his songs. Then he would sing in that inimitable voice that sounds slightly Irish and slightly like Julian Koster. Hearing him live is nothing like listening to one of his records. It's a much fuller and more dramatic experience.

The best way to enjoy Windy & Carl would be to lie on your back spread eagle in the middle of an enormous open field where the grass is greener than it should be and the breeze is keeping you perfectly cool on an otherwise too hot day. I had to settle for the second best scenario. Sitting curled up in a ball, holding my knees to my chest with my head down while Windy & Carl played less than 2 feet in front of me. It seriously felt like I was in a dream. Their drones are simultaneously soporific and uplifting, a magnificent combination.

They're still on tour for another month or so, heading down the coast to NY, Richmond, Asheville, Atlanta, Lexington before they head west. It's a given that everyone should see them live, but as an extra incentive, they're selling a limited edition tour 12" (500 copies) with hand painted and screened covers. You know you need one.

Comanche Peyote Songs Vol. 1 (Indian House, 1969)

Joy Niedo & Roe Kahrahrah - The sun's up now. It's time to get up.


I kind of feel like this review doesn't have to be much more than "This is a record where Comanches get high on peyote and sing songs." Because it's pretty self explanatory and I'm pretty sure you're gonna know whether or not you like it based on the title alone. But if you need more than that, I shall indulge you.

Pretty minimal stuff. Almost every song features a single drum and rattle accompanying a single singer. Occasionally a second or third person will join in if they know the words. Very repetitive and hypnotic although nothing that sounds intrinsically peyote related. If the title wasn't so revealing, I probably would never guess that the singers were inebriated. But knowing that they are is half the fun. Either way, though, this is some mesmerizing music that is truly awesome even when you disregard the novelty factor.

These are all morning songs, which means that the Comanches start partying at sundown, smoking, praying, singing, and eating peyote until the sun comes up. "The coming of early dawn after this long, arduous night is frequently a source of great inspiration to the participants. Many of the dawn songs are composed at this time, and some of the most inspiring singing is performed."

Download

Show Worthy 4/27 - 5/3

Lambs Laughter at Brainwaves 2008
Monday, April 27
Windy & Carl, Benoit Pioulard, Lambs Laughter at Oxfam Cafe (FREEEEEE, 8:00, all ages)
I was psyched for this show only knowing that Windy & Carl were playing. But then I saw that Benoit Pioulard and Lambs Laughter were also on the bill and I almost fainted. Lambs Laughter is Windy & Thomas Meluch (of Benoit Pioulard) and I saw them play at Brainwaves last November and it was earth shattering. In a good way. Can't wait to see this show. Windy & Carl's first tour in 6 years.



Spectrum at ATP NY 08 via
Tuesday, April 28
Spectrum, Broken River Prophet, Ghost Box Orchestra at The Middle Easy Upstairs ($10, 8:00, 18+)
Spectrum is Sonic Boom from Spacemen 3. That's pretty much all you need to know. Unless you need proof. In which case I saw Spectrum play at ATP NY. It was amazing.



Buraka Som Sistema at SoCo Cargo via
Friday, May 1
Buraka Som Sistema, DJ Sega at Harper's Ferry ($10, 8:00, 18+)
PARTY TIME. BSS are slick and but you should already know that. Sega plays wicked tight breakbeat hip-hop stuff. Gonna be a good time. Guaranteed.




Friday, May 1
Now, Now Every Children; The Hush Now; You Can Be A Wesley; Let's Whisper at TT The Bear's ($10, 9:00, 18+)
This is the third week in a row in which a famous music blog has put on a show. First it was Enough Cowbell, then last week it was Ryan's Smashing Life, and now it's Bradley's Almanac. Brad brought in Now, Now Every Children all the way from Minneapolis to play their wonderful indie pop. Add Boston locals The Hush Now and You Can Be A Wesley to the bill with Vermont's Let's Whisper and you got yourself one helluva show. If you're leaning more towards the indie rock side of things instead of the dance party that will be Buraka Som Sistema (above) or the noise fest of Work/Death (below), then this is the place to be on May Day.




Friday, May 1
Work/Death, Pedestrian Deposit, Earn, Double Awake, Animal Steel, Luke Moldof at The Butcher Shoppe ($?, 8:00, all ages?)
Noise. Lots of it. Earn is Matt Sullivan of Privy Seals. Luke Moldof is in the super awesome Perispirit with Ricardo Donoso. The flyer says to wear an animal mask. More info.




Saturday, May 2
Tape Jazz, Powerlines, Shitshow, 1929 Till I Die, Planned Communities at The Westend Theater (Gloucester) ($7.00, 6:00, all ages)
If you're gonna be up north this weekend, perhaps it would be worth your time to head to The Westend Theater in Gloucester. It seems like some of the bands might not be all that great, but then there's Tape Jazz. They're from JP and make some weird ass noise that I like to listen to. Powerlines might be alright but there's no Myspace page or anything. And Black People may or may not be playing.

Haiku Review: Hit Factory - Party Animal EP (self released, 2009)

Hit Factory - Delicate Army


Hit Factory
Party Animal EP (free download)
/chipper indiegaze/
/turn volume up, windows down/
/sunny weekend time/

Shit, b°tong, Oldine, Tamagawa at Oxfam Cafe

Tamagawa
Tamagawa
Oldine

Tamagawa: thick heavy mind-boring guitar drone

Oldine: Ty Braxton style vocal/guitar looping with hints of pop and Americana

b°tong: sample-heavy minimal industrial power glitch

Shit: had to leave before Shit played

Malinalli - Path Of The Fruit (Cloud Valley, 2009)

Malinalli - Side A (Untitled)


Malinalli seems to be a mysterious dude(s). I can't come up with anything on Google that seems to be related to the same Malinalli that made Path Of The Fruit. All I got is the Cloud Valley Myspace that links to Dream Safari in the description of Path. And the DS page has as much info as Google does on Malinalli so that doesn't help much. Does Dream Safari = Malinalli? Who knows, man. Those are just minor details, though. All that really matters is how fucking crazy amazing Path Of The Fruit is.

As soon as you hit play, it sounds like you entered a much less epic Temple Of Doom. I don't think there's any vocals, but the sounds created have that chanting monk like quality to them. It's a gorgeous blend of tones that are both unnerving and relaxing. It's a very confusing piece, the kind that fucks with your head a bit.

The B side is just as monk like, only this time it has a much stronger vocal feeling to it. Totally weird stuff. I just keep coming back to the Temple Of Doom thing. Like I went spelunking in a deep uncharted cave in the middle of Peru and stumbled upon some long lost almost inhuman tribe and this is the language they use. Nothing too religious or anything, just loooooong drones, like these people have lost all concept of time and communicate in the slowest way possible.

Path Of The Fruit is an enchanting listen. It might only be appropriate for very specific times in your life (like when you have your parents over for dinner) but when that time comes, this tape is gonna be fucking perfect.

V/A - Have It Or Grab It Or Go? (Clowny Clown, 1996?)

DJ Pete Hothead - Split


I grabbed this one at the Record Exchange in Salem on Record Store Day based almost solely on the album art. I mean look at that. A white kid with a white afro and a black kid with a black afro wearing a shirt that says "Soul On Ice"? There was no way I wasn't buying that. But the more I looked at the record itself, the more I realized I had no idea wtf it was. There's no artist info and no pressing or release info. What I got is an album title (Have It Or Grab It Or Go?), a label (Clowny Clown Productions), and some song titles. That's it. So now I had an album with ridiculously cool art and a shit ton of mystery. Sweet!

From what I gathered on this site, Have It Or Grab It is somewhat like a cross between a split and a mixtape. The A side features a bunch of badass beats from DJ Pete Hothead. And they are fucking slick. Due to my utter lack of knowledge in the genre, the best comparison I can make is Clutchy Hopkins. They're instrumental and repetitive, kinda jazzy, kinda funky, and they got plenty of soul. Perfect music for pretty much anything.

The B side is the mixtape part, with Hothead picking some of his favorite "lost breaks." Luckily, the site I found listed the artists for 4 of the 6 tracks on the flip side, narrowing my labor intensive Google searching to 2 songs. My best guess is that "You Tried To Warn Me" is by Piero Umiliani (which strangely enough is the B side to the "Máh Ná Máh Ná" single) and "Sunday Morning" is most likely The Velvet Underground. Other than that, the only other artist I'm familiar with is the Moog master Gershon Kingsley who does the title track. Then there's Pool Pah (did the soundtrack to the blaxploitation film The Flasher), Ralph Carmichael (whose "Switchblade Theme" is from The Cross And The Switchblade), and The Glimmer Twins, who are actually Keith Richards and Mick Jagger. Their song on here is "Aladdin's Story," which may sound familiar because Death In Vegas covered it on The Contino Sessions. I mean, this all sounds about right but I have no real way of knowing. All I know is that these tracks are all fucking killer and I've been listening to them nonstop. They fit perfectly with Hothead's style.

Since I doubt you'll find this available anywhere, I have no problem letting you download the whole thing, which I highly recommend. You won't regret it. Just an fyi, I'm not super picky with the clicks and pops when transferring vinyl so you're just gonna hafta deal. The record is in great shape and sounds fine, with the exception of the second track by Hothead ("Snack Food"). There's a skip in it that I tried to fix a little but it's still noticeable. I don't want any complaints, though, 'cause you're getting this fucking sweet ass gem for free.

Locrian - Drenched Lands (At War With False Noise / Small Doses, 2009)

Locrian - Obsolete Elegy In Lost Concrete


Locrian's first full length of (mostly) new material, Drenched Lands, has been written about on many blogs, some high profile (lookin' at you Brainwashed) and others only slightly bigger than I. Normally when something gets too much exposure, I tend to pass on writing about it for (hopefully) obvious reasons. Unless said record is that good. Good enough to warrant another review on another blog in the hopes that maybe even one more person will hear about it. Drenched Lands is more than worthy of another post. In fact, it demands it.

Drenched Lands is a very very special record that dances along the lines of drone, noise, doom, and black metal and it does it so well without ever actually being really metal. At most I'd say it gets to being dark and heavy but never quite metal. It opens with "Obsolete Elegy In Effluvia and Dross" and has a melancholic guitar riff that sounds like a doomed out Americana. Definitely no metal here. Then "Ghost Repeater" shows up with it's haunting buzzing blackened ambience that drones on for over 10 minutes in the most glorious way possible. And there's a gong! Like one of those giant ones you see in ancient Tibetan monasteries. "Barren Temple Obscured by Contaminated Fogs" starts out straightforward enough, with some creepy droning synths and guitars but then Terence Hannum comes in, wailing over the discordant static with his best BM vocals. Totally fucked. Totally awesome.

"Epicedium," one of my favorite tracks, is mostly guitar, all echoes and feedback, with a synth core that creates a frightening yet laid back atmosphere. And "Obsolete Elegy In Cast Concrete" is probably the most metal track out of the bunch, with relentless strumming and more BM vocals that end up conjuring the same riff from the first song. Somehow they manage to make it edgier, making it one of the best slow moving metal riffs I've heard in a while. It's the kind of riff that's mournful and beautiful at the same time (aka my favorite kind). This is seriously one of the best songs I've heard all year. Fucking dramatic as hell, so epic and gorgeous.

One of the best parts of Drenched Lands is also the only song that's not new material. The last track, "Greyfield Shrines," is a 30 minute masterful monument that is easily one of the best songs on the album and could have a review all for itself. It's labeled as a "bonus track" because it was released as it's own 12" last year. As awesome as this probably sounds on vinyl, I'm sure it's nice to be able to listen to the whole thing uninterrupted, without having to flip the record over. So thanks for that, guys.

I feel like Locrian have really channeled all of their energy into Drenched Lands and it absolutely shows. This is a fucking stunning album that deserves all the praise it's been getting. Now that Locrian have made this ridiculously amazing album, I hope they haven't tired themselves out. They better have something up their sleeves for the follow up.

Kill And Eat - Green Bushes (Alright Now, 2009)

Kill And Eat - Green Bushes


I listen to straight up jazz once every year. Thanksgiving. I'm all dressed up, wearing fancy clothes, driving around town hitting up each and every side of the fam, and I tune into whatever station is on the low end of the dial playing jazz. And hopefully it's raining outside. Kill And Eat's Green Bushes is the record I hope that radio station is playing.

But I understand once a year might be a little too sparse to listen to one record. Perhaps you should make it part of your daily ritual. You can throw it on in the morning when you wake up and are reading the latest RSS feeds from your favorite blogs (AGB!) drinking a hot cup of coffee. Green Bushes is perfect for that.

It's a sprawling 18 minute sweet low-key jazzy drone piece. If you can imagine what it would sound like if Ben Folds took some classes from Lubomyr Melnyk, then you have a pretty good idea about what Bushes sounds like. It's a nice, easy going listen that doesn't judge you too harshly and would probably make an offer for you to sleep with it after all is said and done. And knowing you, you'd probably say yes.

Kill And Eat have Green Bushes in it's entirety (meaning the 18 minute title track plus two shorter "sketches") available to download for free on their website. There is a physical release which can be yours for a recommended $5 donation. But there's no "cover art" (only "packaging" as seen above). Which means you get a green CD slipped nicely into some white origami style folded printer paper. For 5 bucks. Like everything else, the choice is yours.

Show Worthy 4/20-4/26

Monday, April 20
Gary War, The Beach Eagles, DJ John Barera at ZuZu! (FREEEEE, 10:00, 21+)
Gary War is part of that whole scuzzzzz rock stuff like Ty Segall, Wavves, Vivian Girls and the like and he's just as awesome as the rest. The Beach Eagles are a local band that go by the name of Headband except tonight it's "headband with wooden guitars. same olde character assasination rock, now without the pill overdoses." Promises to be fun, if nothing else. And hey. Ya can't beat the price.



Area C via

Tuesday, April 21
Mudboy, Area C, Skeletons Out, Work/Death at The Middle East Upstairs ($8, 9:00, 18+)
This one's put on by Intransitive which means total awesomeness. Fantastic line up. Skeletons Out is Howard Stelzer & Jay Sullivan duo, tapes and turntables and shit. Do not miss this.




Tuesday, April 21
The Lights Out, Logan 5 And The Runners, Fishhawk, Hundred Years War at Great Scott ($8, 9:00, 18+)
Presented by Ryan's Smashing Life, the much loved Boston music blog. Lots of sweet local bands including some recent almost winners of the Rumble, The Lights Out and Logan 5 And The Runners (who, by the way, have one of the best band names).



Pearl & The Beard at The Cupping Room 11/20/08 via Lola
Thursday, April 23
Pearl And The Beard, Dinosaur Feathers, Jimi Zeppelin at O'Brien's ($6, 9:00, 21+)
Pearl And The Beard sound cool. Dinosaur Feathers ARE cool (proof). And the verdict is still out on Jimi Zeppelin. Good luck finding anything about him/them.




Thursday, April 23
The One Man Drone Tour at Oxfam Cafe (FREEEEEE, 8:00, all ages)
Man, I ALMOST passed this up. I didn't know what this "One Man Drone Tour" was and figured it might be cool, maybe I'd give it a shot. But then I found out what it is. Kind of. I at least know who's involved. b°tong, Shit, Oldine, and fuckin Tamagawa. I don't know if they're doing separate sets or if it's all one big collaboration but either way, this shit is gonna be epic.




Friday, April 24 through Sunday, April 26
Megapolis Festival all over the city (Pass: $45 advance/$50 dos, Student Pass: $30 advance/$35 dos)
The Megapolis Festival is going down all over the city for a few days this weekend. Lots of fun stuff, like The Lothars and Peace, Loving playing at the Elk's Lodge in Cambridge on Friday. And tons of workshops, etc. There's a nice big schedule. You should check it out.




Saturday, April 25
+/-, Harlem Shakes, more at WMBR Spring Weekend Music Festival at MIT (FREEEEEEE, noon, all ages)
Here's what you do. Perfect Saturday. You go to the steps of Kresge Auditorium at MIT at noon. Spend zero dollars. Stay 7 hours and see Supa Dupa, Bustin Timberfakes, Space Faces, Sleepyhead, CaUSE-CoMOTION!, Harlem shakes, and +/-. You must know at least 3 of those bands and you know they're awesome. Otherwise go away. Then go see Crank Sturgeon at Third Life Studio...



Crank Sturgeon via
Saturday, April 25
Crank Sturgeon, Charlie Kohlhase Explorer's Quartet, Grizzler at Third Life Studio ($7, 7:30, all ages?)
Presented by Opensound. You probably know Crank Sturgeon. And if you don't, you should. He's awesome. Just look at that picture. Charlie Kohlhase is playing as a quartet but I still have no idea who he is or what he does. And Grizzler is actually this enormous collaboration between 14 sound artists including Brendan Murray, Lou Cohen, Jarrod Fowler, Forbes Graham, Ryan McGuire, Jed Speare, Jay Sullivan, and Jules Vaselenko. So far, that's 2 seriously epic shows happening this week. Sometimes Boston's not quite as bad as it seems.



Giuseppe Ielasi via
Sunday, April 26
Giuseppe Ielasi & Renato Rinaldi, Brendan Murray at Elk's Lodge ($5 w/ Megapolis Pass / $10 w/o, 8:00, 21+?)
This is presented by Non-Event and is sorta part of the Megapolis Fest but it's a "post festival sponsored event" so I thought I'd list it separately here. Also, it's amazing enough to deserve it's own spotlight. Giuseppe Ielasi is fucking fantastic. Dude's from Italy and he's playing Boston with Rinaldi who seems just as great. And everyone loves Mr. Murray. So yeah. More awesome noisey droney experimental stuff. Great way to start/end the week.

Haiku Review: Diamond Black Hearted Boy - EP (self released, 2009)

Diamond Black Hearted Boy - The Cat And The Cross


Diamond Black Hearted Boy
EP (free download)
/ummmmmmmm muy wtf/
/this shit is fucking nasty/
/legs jiggle, mind blown/

via Better Than Sex

Guitar Hero Metallica

No real blog post today. Busy rocking my ass off. Just picked up Guitar Hero Metallica which is ridiculously fun despite having to listen to lots of Metallica. Playing Metallica songs in GH is actually a ton of fun because they're wicked hard and their solos are fucking killer. Not to mention that is also has Mastodon, The Sword, Slayer, Kyuss, Judas Priest, Motorhead, and a bunch of other stupidly awesome metal. Now if you'll excuse me, I shall go play "Blood & Thunder" and "The Black River" until my fingers bleed.

Mastodon - Blood & Thunder (with clowns)