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dustedmagazine · 6 years

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Voting with our ears: Dusted spends the rent on Bandcamp.com’s Voter Registration day

On September 25, Bandcamp.com held a fundraiser for the Voting Rights Project, seeking to raise both money and awareness around voter registration. For the day, all profits on everything you bought on Bandcamp.com went to this worthy cause. Dusted writers saw the opportunity to a) buy stuff and b) promote democracy and said, “Hell yes, we’re in.” Participating writers included Ian Mathers (who is Canadian!!), Justin Cober-Lake, Jennifer Kelly, Bill Meyer, Isaac Olson (who definitely wins) and Ethan Covey. Check out what we bought and then, for the love of god, vote. We’re depending on you.

Ian Mathers

IDLES

For various reasons I wasn’t able to shop quite as avidly as I did last time we got together for one of these, but I managed to make one impulse purchase of a record I hadn’t heard yet (but had transfixed me with its singles) and combine that with two long-awaited additions of old favorites to my Bandcamp collection (and my hard drive, after having lost track of the files in one move or another).

IDLES — Joy As an Act of Resistance

Joy as an Act of Resistance. by IDLES

As you might guess from the fact that it just came out at the end of this August, Bristol’s IDLES is the impulse buy of the three, one that so far has worked out just wonderfully. Having been recommended the mockingly anti-Brexit(/xenophobia) “Great” on YouTube and being drawn from the immediately bracing, invigorating likes of that to this album’s more openhearted ode to the greatness of not hating people you don’t already know, “Danny Nedelko,” and the more Protomartyr-ish opening track “Colossus” (the latter of which also probably has my favorite music video of 2018), I couldn’t imagine any band capable of those three songs would somehow whiff the rest of a reasonably-lengthed LP, and the often political, always heartfelt Joy As an Act of Resistance. proved me right. There are certainly places where it gets darker (particularly “June,” where singer Joe Talbot relates in heart-wrenching fashion his wife losing a child to a miscarriage), but the overall feel of the album can be summed up by Talbot barking repeatedly at the listener to “love yourself” over a careening, punkish anthem. The album title isn’t a piss take, which is a relief in itself.

The Silent League — But You've Always Been the Caretaker...

But You've Always Been The Caretaker... by The Silent League

Back in 2004 I first heard of the Silent League, as I think most people did, because frontman Justin Russo had been in Mercury Rev (for 2001’s All Is Dream, the last Rev record I can say I fully loved), and their debut, The Orchestra, Sadly, Has Refused was interesting, lysergic chamber pop with some proggy and/or post-rock elements. I lost track of them for a bit after that album and was surprised that when I heard about them again it was because of an entirely different musician I was a fan of. Shannon Fields, then of Stars Like Fleas and since of Family Dynamics and Leverage Models (the last of which made my favorite record of 2013 and which is, incidentally, about to return), maker of a ton of records I both love and think have been overlooked, let me know that he’d also been a contributor to the Silent League for quite a while and that with their then-current album, 2010’s But You’ve Always Been the Caretaker… he thought they’d made something that represented a bit of a leap forward for the band. Not only do I agree, but the Silent League’s swan song (to date) now represents one of the most frustratingly overlooked records I know of, 15 sprawling songs in any number of registers, styles and tones tightly packed into less than 49 minutes that, fitting the circular and slightly foreboding title, packs a bunch of richly interwoven thematic and sonic depth into what feels like a whole universe of popular music. There’s proggy/ELO overture “When Stars Attack!!!,” the sound of a glam rock band practicing a particular soulful jam down the hall and four walls away on “Sleeper,” at least one just perfect string-led “perfect pop” song in “Resignation Studies,” and literally a dozen other things here. And yet But You’ve Always… never feels scattered or showoff-y. It’s a whole world, dense and rich and worthy of being studied in detail for its brilliance. I was thrilled to see it on Bandcamp, not least because this is exactly the kind of record that could easily slip through the cracks.

Tamas Wells — A Plea en Vendredi

(PB024) Tamas Wells: A Plea En Vendredi by Popboomerang

It’s been over a decade, but when I was in university I am pretty sure I first heard Australian singer-songwriter Tamas Wells because I saw the song “I’m Sorry That the Kitchen Is on Fire” somewhere and thought the title was hilarious. To my surprise the song itself was gorgeous, a gently folky little waltz with Wells’ high, gentle voice, carefully picked acoustic guitar, a lightly hypnotic piano refrain, and sparing hand claps. I fell hard enough for it that even back when the internet wasn’t at all what it is now I tracked down Wells’ 2006 album A Plea en Vendredi and found a shimmering little suite of song, some as gnomic and vaguely unsettling in their implications as “I’m Sorry That the Kitchen is on Fire” (like “Valder Fields,” which is apparently a place where our narrator and others mysteriously regain consciousness, or whatever you can make of “Lichen & Bees”), some much more plainspoken (including the slight political bent running through “The Opportunity Fair,” “The Telemarketer Resignation,” and the gorgeous little instrumental “Yes, Virginia, There Is a Ruling Class”), all just as twee-ly beautiful and enrapturing as my initial exposure had been. At the time Wells was working in Burma on a community development project, and from what I’ve been able to find his moving around and focus on non-music work has occasionally kept his album on the back burner, although he’s found an audience at home and in Japan and China (and of course, sometimes as far as Canada where I ran into his work). He’s kept releasing records since, most recently 2017’s The Plantation on a small Japanese label, but even if A Plea en Vendredi was all I’d ever been able to find it’d still find a regular place in my rotation; even when things get a bit darker, on “Valour” and the closing “Open the Blinds” there’s something so soothing about Wells’ music and this particular set of gem-like miniatures has been a go-to album for me during difficult times ever since.

Justin Cober-Lake

David Ramirez

Ashley Walters — Sweet Anxiety (Populist)

Ashley Walters // Sweet Anxiety by Ashley Walters

I’d been wanting to hear this one for a while. I first noticed cellist Ashley Walters on Wadada Leo Smith's America's National Parks, a remarkable album that I spent considerable time with while writing a couple features on it and Smith (including interviewing Walters). I was even more impressed after understanding what went into the work and seeing that ensemble perform it live. Walters writes of this album, “I seek to challenge your perception of what the cello, a stereotypically gentle instrument, is capable of,” and it's fair to say she succeeds. It's a demanding listen, more aggressive than expected, but Walters and her composers blend technical challenges with theoretical ones. At times, Walters cuts loose, and at times she works with tonality, often using nonstandard tuning to odd effect. Smith composed one of the brightest numbers here, making a nice shift in sound without lowering the difficulty level. Luciano Berio's “Sequenza XIV” provides the most interesting piece, not only for the actual performance but for the reconstruction work on the score that Walters highlights in the liner notes. This one's well worth a focused listen, and I'll need to give it quite a few more to properly process it.

The Beths — Warm Blood (Carpark)

Warm Blood by The Beths

In August, the Beths released one of my favorite albums of the year, Future Me Hates Me, a blast of pop-rock easily good enough to warrant going back, more or less, to the beginning, with 2016's Warm Blood EP. Both lyrically and musically, the group hasn't quite found its footing, but that says more about the focused energy of the full-length than it does about these five songs (including “Whatever,” which reappears on the album). The hooks are there now; the guitar on “Idea/Intent” represents the band as well as anything. The vitriol of that track fits in less well with the attitude the band generally puts forward, one that's self-reflective and confident without claiming to know all the answers. Some of the joy of the music is in Elizabeth Stokes' searching, but that's turned around on a track like “Rush Hour 3,” a comedic bit of come-on (and the rare track not written by Stokes). Warm Blood works as a nice look back at a band, but it's not just a history lesson — it's an enjoyable set that adds to the playlist of a group with only one album out.

David Ramirez — The Rooster (Sweetworld)

The Rooster EP by David Ramirez

I've been working my way backwards with David Ramirez, too, starting with last year's We're Not Going Anywhere (which didn't adhere to his previous folk-ish sound but did make me wonder why I hadn't found my way to the songwriter earlier). After spending time with the fantastic Fables, there was the live show that utterly sold me on him, in part because he has a bigger voice than you might notice at first, even in his sparser productions. The Rooster EP, a fitting complement to that album, feels like an ascent. His vocals are assured, even as he searches for clarity, or at least anchor points amid turbulence. Tracks like “The Bad Days” and “Glory” offer unrequested hope, and “The Forgiven” provides a meditation on performance, art, and faith that's central to his work. The five cuts on this EP have the gravitas of something bigger and strengthen my sense that Ramirez should be a songwriter that everyone listens to.

Grand Banks – Live 8-25-2018

Grand Banks live 8-25-2018 by Grand Banks

Any sort of bonus shopping day provides a good excuse to support local music. This time I went with the latest release (such as it is) from Grand Banks, their live recording from August 25. The duo don't shy away from volume, but their focus on minimalist ideas and sonic experimentation makes for unusual experiences. Over this single 30-minute track, the pair builds with patience, even when developing a haunted-house sort of melody on the keys. The second half of the piece increases the challenge, with guitarist Davis Salisbury pulling an odd series of sounds out of his instrument (for the curious, you can try it at home with an electric guitar, a tuning fork, and a fuzz pedal, and probably some sort of sonic laboratory). The effects build on Tyler Magill's creepy keyboard work – maybe this one's an unintended seasonal release. The study in space and harmonics gives way to a chirpy conversation and surprisingly (in this context) guitar-like guitar moment before placidly drifting away, an apt conclusion for the performance.

Jennifer Kelly

The Scientists

I bought five different records this time, mostly, but not all, falling somewhere in the punk/garage continuum. I liked them all in different ways, but the one that absolutely killed me was…

IDLES—Joy as an Act of Resistance (Partisan)

Joy as an Act of Resistance. by IDLES

This is Ian’s fault, really. He talked me into it. Plus, it turned up on the Bandcamp recommendation engine. Which, by the way, is just so much better than Amazon’s recommendation engine. (I see you like the Pixies. Wanna buy every Pixies album ever?) But turns out, they’re both dead on. Idles is vitriolic and literate like the Sleaford Mods but backed by a ripped-to-the-teeth full band a la Protomartyr. Yes, two of my favorite current bands in one, plus a whole other thing of jagged, jitter-drunk percussion and wind tunnel howl. There is a song called “Never Fight a Man with a Perm.” So glad I got to hear this. Score one for voter registration.

The Sueves—R.I.P. Clearance Event (Hozac)

R.I.P. Clearance Event by The Sueves

Butt-simple garage rock from Chicago, punctuated by weird little intervals of found sounds. Beautifully unhinged and uncomplicated, it reminds me the most of Demon’s Claw and after that maybe the Hunches and then the Monks. I bought it partly because I wanted to get those “we have a new record” notices from Hozac, but they know what I like.

The Scientists—Blood Red River 1982-1984 (Numero)

Blood Red River 1982 - 1984 by Scientists

Guess who got to see the Scientists last week? They were awesome. They played “Frantic Romantic” in the encore (which is not on this disc, by the way). I knew some of the early stuff from the Do the Pop compilation of Australian punk, but immersing myself in these clanking, droning, post-punk juggernauts was the best and most enjoyable concert prep ever. “Solid Gold Hell” and “Swampland” were my two faves, and they played them both.

Mike Pace and the Child Actors—Smooth Sailing (Self Starter Foundation)

Smooth Sailing by Mike Pace and the Child Actors

This one, from the former Oxford Collapse frontman, was a little more Raspberry-ish power pop than I was expecting, but it’s growing on me. “Escape the Noize” is my go-to track, a lush jangle of melancholy, a tetchy bristle of palm-muting, then a sweeping swooning chorus. It’s about leaving the music behind, which Pace clearly hasn’t, and good thing.

Onoto—Dead Ghost (Taiyo)

DEAD GHOST by ONOTO

Let me the first to admit that I haven’t gotten to the bottom of this one, a swirling, enveloping miasma of guitar tone, wrapped around confoundingly weird vocal samples. “Shake Well for the Eye,” is droned-out chaos that parts like fog for bits of mid-20th century menstrual advice (avoid vigorous exercise, horse-riding, skating, cold showers, hah!). Other cuts eschew narrative for slow moving landscapes of instrumental tone. The title track lets guitar notes hang for unmovable eons, with only sharp shards of harmonics to break up the endless vistas. As a straight through listen, the disc makes more sense as you go along, meaning, you have to adapt to its oddity and it changes you.

Bill Meyer

Canary records

Kemany Minas and Garabet Merjanian — When I See You: From the November 1917 Recordings, NYC (Canary)

When I See You: From the November 1917 Recordings, NYC by Kemany Minas & Garabet Merjanian

Various Artists — And Two Partridges II: From the Earliest Turkish-, Arabic- Armenian-& Kurdish-Language Recordings in America, Feb-Aug, 1916 (Canary)

And Two Partridges II: From the Earliest Turkish-, Arabic- Armenian-& Kurdish-Language Recordings in America, Feb-Aug, 1916 by Canary Records

Various Artists — Oh My Soul: Armenian-American Independent Releases, vol. 1: ca. 1920-25 (Canary)

Oh My Soul: Armenian-American Independent Releases, vol. 1: ca. 1920-25 by Canary Records

Various Artists — Why I Came to America: More Folk Music of the Ottoman-American Diaspora, ca. 1917-47 (Canary)

Why I Came to America: More Folk Music of the Ottoman-American Diaspora, ca. 1917-47 by Canary Records

I buy stuff via Bandcamp fairly often, and my purchases are nearly always hard copies. Downloads may be convenient, but a record you can’t hold in your hands seems to me to be one of those bad 21st century ideas like a Trump presidency or an unrepentant frat-creep on the supreme court. But when Bandcamp puts its income behind a cause, I relent, and when I do, I buy downloads from Canary Records. These albums are all compiled from recordings made by Anatolian exiles who fled genocide, war and poverty to take their chances in the USA. Many of these recordings predate the first blues records, and collectively they make a case that our notions of what constitutes American music are needlessly exclusive. After all, why should the music of people who came here from the Ottoman Empire be any less American than people who came here from the British Empire?

Billy Gomberg — Live Sets 2016-18

live sets 2016-18 by Billy Gomberg

Well, there go the rules. This DL-only compilation of concert performances by one of my favorite ambient recording artists of recent years shows that the carefully wrought, ultra-deep atmosphere of his recent cassettes is no fluke.

Various Artists — Two Niles To Sing A Melody: The Violins & Synths Of Sudan (Ostinato)

Two Niles to Sing a Melody: The Violins & Synths of Sudan by Various Artists

Back on solid ground at last! This hardcover book + 2 CDs (there are also vinyl and DL versions) shows how sounds blur from one culture to the next when people live along the same rivers and coasts. These recordings from the Sudan blend the nimble rhythms and ardent longing of Arabic pop with just a hint of the sinuous melodic quality of Ethiopian popular music.

Tashi Wada with Yoshi Wada and Friends — FRKWYS Vol. 14—Nue (RVNG)

FRKWYS Vol. 14 - Nue by Tashi Wada with Yoshi Wada and Friends

If you’ve caught Tashi and Yoshi Wada in concert, you know that there’s no louder or more mind-melting drone that a drone that incorporates multiple bagpipes and alarm bells. This record puts Wada fils in the composer / arranger’s seat, and while it uses the same materials as those live performances, the music is much gentler. Sometimes you want to boil your blood, sometimes you just want to kick back and zone out. A portion of the proceeds from this record will go to the National Immigration Law Center.

Isaac Olson

Ustad Abdul Karim Khan

Toshiya Tsunoda/Taku Unami — Wovenland (Erstwhile)

Wovenland by Toshiya Tsunoda/Taku Unami

I bought this collection of chopped and screwed field recordings on the strength of Marc Medwin’s review and the fact that Erstwhile dedicated their profits for the day to the Voting Rights Project. Pieces like “Park cleaning / Crickets chirping,” “In The Park”, “From the rooftop, railway terminal station” are both ear-tickling and intellectually stimulating. The rest are more stimulating intellectually than auditorially.

The Weather Station—S/T (Paradise of Bachelors)

The Weather Station by The Weather Station

I slept on The Weather Station in 2017 because the music didn’t grab me enough I wasn’t interested enough in the music to tune into the lyrics. I’m not sure what compelled me to give it another try, but I’m glad I did. Songwriter Tamara Lindeman has crafted a compelling take on early adulthood in an anxious age, one that, once I started paying attention, resonated with me in a highly personal manner I haven’t felt or sought in years. The b-side is almost too subtle, but Lindeman is a sharp enough writer to bring it off.

Red River Dialect—Broken Stay Open Sky (Paradise of Bachelors)

Broken Stay Open Sky by Red River Dialect

This is another record where the words carry the music, which means, like The Weather Station, I initially passed it over only to connect with it in unexpectedly personal ways after honing in on the lyrics. While I loved the fiddling from the jump, it took time for the rest of Broken Stay Open Sky to grow on me, but grow it did. (Check out Eric McDowell’s review here).

Ustad Abdul Karim Khan—Ustad Abdul Karim Khan (Canary Records)

Ustad Abdul Karim Khan: 1934-1935 by Abdul Karim Khan

Classical Indian vocal music is a complex, highly systematized artform that I can’t pretend to understand, so rather than take my recommendation that you should listen to these recordings, take LaMonte Young’s: “When I first heard the recordings of Abdul Karim Khan I thought that perhaps it would be best if I gave up singing, got a cabin up in the mountains, stocked it with a record player and recordings of Abdul Karim Khan, and just listened for the rest of my life”.

VA—100 Moons: Hindustani Vocal Art, 1930-55 (Canary Records)

100 Moons: Hindustani Vocal Art, 1930-55 by Canary Records

A traditional performance of a raga can last hours. A 78 can hold about three minutes of music.

As such, the performances on this collection lack the the breadth and depth of a traditional raga performance, but they more than make up for it in intensity.

Ross Hammond and Jon Balfus— Masonic Lawn (Self Released)

Masonic Lawn by Ross Hammond and Jon Bafus

Sacramento guitarist and improviser Ross Hammond (whose record with Hindustani vocalist Jay Nair is also worth your time) teams up with percussionist Jon Balfus for a set of blues and folk inspired improvisations that manage to feel spacious despite the dense polyrhythmic approach. Masonic Lawn’s improvisations are optimistic, wide-eyed meditations on Americana.

Melvin Wine—Cold Frosty Morning (Roane Records)

Cold Frosty Morning by Melvin Wine

Old-time music, like most folk traditions that arose in relative isolation and pre-date the record industry, isn’t particularly well suited for album-length listening. That said, if you’re in the mood for scratchy, crooked, dance and trance tunes, West Virginia fiddler Melvin Wine is a great introduction to the distinctly non-bluegrassy mysteries of this music.

Note: This recording features a minstrel tune titled “Jump Jim Crow”. How we’re to deal with this in the modern, right-wing nightmare age we inhabit is a complicated question, so if you’re digging this music but that title bothers you (and it should), check out these articles by Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Mechanic.

V/A—Usiende Ukalale: Omutibo From Rural Kenya (Olvido Records)

Usiende Ukalale: Omutibo From Rural Kenya by Various Artists

Like the Melvin Wine recording above, Usiende Ukalale exhibits a local folk style that evolved in relative isolation and is, for the non-local and non-expert, enchanting in small doses and merely pleasant over the course of a full album.

VA—I’m Not Here to Hunt Rabbits: Guitar and Folk Styles from Botswana (Piranha Records)

I'm Not Here To Hunt Rabbits by Various Artists

I reviewed this one back in May and I’ve listened to it so many times since that it was high time to buy it. Highest recommendation.

Jess Sah Bi & Peter One—Our Garden Needs Its Flowers (Awesome Tapes from Africa)

Our Garden Needs Its Flowers by Jess Sah Bi & Peter One

This unusual gem combines the loping rhythms, slide guitar and harmonica of American country music with traditional Ivory Coast village songs. Its breezy Bakersfield meets Yamoussoukro vibe belies its anti-apartheid lyrics. Mp3s of this one have been floating around the internet for a few years, so it’s great to see it get an official re-release.

Ola Belle Reed—FRC 203 - Ola Belle Reed: Recordings from the collection of Ray Alden and the Brandywine Friends of Old Time Music

FRC 203 - Ola Belle Reed: Recordings from the collection of Ray Alden and the Brandywine Friends of Old Time Music by Ola Belle Reed

From the indispensable Field Recorders Collective, this release documents a 1973 performance by Ola Belle Reed. Reed’s music exists at the nexus of old-time, bluegrass, early country, and gospel, but it feels wrong to box in the wisdom, humor, and generosity of spirit that shines through this release with anachronistic genre tags. Best of all is the Reed original, “Tear Down the Fences”: “Then we could tear down the fences that fence us all in/Fences created by such evil men/Oh we could tear down the fences that fence us all in /Then we could walk together again.” Amen.

Ragana— You Take Nothing

YOU TAKE NOTHING by RAGANA

I don’t listen to as much metal as I used to, but while this fundraiser was happening, Brett Kavanaugh — case study in patriarchal resentment and mediocrity — got one step closer to a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court. Ragana’s raw, sludgy, anarcha-feminist take on black metal really hit the spot that day.

Ethan Covey

Weak Signal

Omit — Enclosures 2011-2016 (Pica Disk/End of the Alphabet)

Enclosures 2011-2016 by Omit

Clinton Williams, the New Zealander known as Omit, has been quietly releasing nocturnal electronic compositions of uncompromising quality for the past couple of decades. Enclosures 2011-2016, released jointly by Lasse Marhaug’s Pica Disk and Noel Meek’s End of the Alphabet labels, provides an overview of five years of Williams’ output in a 30-track, six-hour package, available digitally and as a limited 5-CD set. Omit has previously been anthologized on two compilations courtesy of the Helen Scarsdale label, Tracer and Interceptor. And past releases have popped up via Corpus Hermeticum and PseudoArcana, as well as — most prominently — Williams’ own Deepskin Conceptual Mindmusic imprint. Great listening, all, if you can find ‘em. For those curious to dive in without too much digging, Enclosures is ideal. Much of Williams’ genius lies in composing tracks that are edgy, yet beautiful, creepy and experimental, yet profoundly listenable. It’s forward-thinking electronic composition that checks a lot of avant-garde boxes without feeling like a task. There’s a subtle, krautrock propulsion to the best tracks — the opening “Turner,” the “Echo Dot” pieces — where the listener gets locked into the rhythm and time slows to an elegant crawl — like a soundtrack for night driving on an Autobahn upended.

Weak Signal — LP1 (self-released)

LP1 by WEAK SIGNAL

Weak Signal are NYC’s Sasha Vine, Tran Huynh and Mike Bones. Bones has previously released a pair of strong albums of indie songwriting courtesy of The Social Registry. As a guitarist, he’s done time with Endless Boogie, Matt Sweeney’s Soldiers of Fortune and Prison. This album was a tip from Danny Arakaki of Garcia Peoples, and it’s a swell one, 30-minutes of slack fuzz pop bashed out with energy and swagger. The majority of the tracks strut by on solid riffs, backed by boy/girl vox that slide into chant-along choruses. Like new wave bled dry, leaving a beautiful bummer. The eight-minute “Miami/Miami Part 2” stretches out into a haze of increasingly rapturous guitar soloing, string screeches and a spoken word coda. Lotta promise here, for sure. Here’s hoping they stick around for an LP2.

Raising Holy Sparks — Search For The Vanished Heaven (Eiderdown Records)

Search For The Vanished Heaven by Raising Holy Sparks

Seattle’s Eiderdown Records has been releasing some of the best contemporary psychedelia around, and the latest by Raising Holy Sparks is no exception. The project is the work of uber-prolific Irishman David Colohan, and is offered in double and triple cassette, as well as digital, versions. The “short” cut of the album is an hour and a half long, and the triple cassette and download versions stretch that to well over two hours. Per the credits, the album was recorded in somewhere around 40 different locations over four years. Colohan is credited with over 30 instruments and is joined by baker’s dozen of likeminded collaborators. What they deliver is, like most of Colohan’s music, long, slow and often eerily beautiful. “I Am In The Mountains While You Are In My Dreams” passes in its 23-minutes through Popol Vuh-style ambience, spoken word incantations that sound like Coil if they’d truly embraced the countryside and a whole lot of birdsong. It’s a good overview of the general proceedings — accented occasionally by louder blasts of synths, random percussion that sounds like drum machine presets and banjo-plucking krautrock. On paper, that sounds like a head-scratching combo, but it works. One gets the impression Colohan’s dedication and attention to detail is such that the grab bag of sounds weaves together into a surprisingly fascinating whole. Listen with attention and you’ll want to follow along as each stretch and segue unfolds. Oh, and as is typical with Eiderdown, bonus points for exceptional artwork, this time courtesy of Aubrey Nehring.

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bethoumyvision123 · 3 years

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Lancaster The Prison Itself is the Crime Album Review

This album I stumbled across while running into an extremely well spoken pink haired fellow at a show recently. Emily Clement and Amanda Fama at bobby’s idle hour tavern. Here is a review of his psych-folk album:

Would You Call a Dog a Prisoner?

The opening track captures the country-folk and world influences that characterize the album. It talks about the unjust nature of death-row. The harmonies are heavenly, and we hear weird alien electronics sparkled over parts. This is a cool garageband trick I think. The whole album was supposedly recorded with a Toys R US mic, so it is very lo-fi, yet most of the instruments used are extremely high quality.

Everyone is Younger Once

This begins and is fluttered with chants that I want to understand what they say. The country folk voice turns to straight amish. The song talks about there being hope despite naysayers. This song sounds straight out of Harry Smith’s Folk Anthology. As is many of the tracks on this album.

The Earth Rang Like a bell for a Million Years

This has a Doc Watson Wayfaring Stranger vibe. Sings about Appalachians, dinosaur extinctions, and my personal favorite/creepiest line, seeing his twins that are grateful for him in the apocalypse. Some of the lines in this track are a little too much TbH... like the earth being sexually molested was not a line I liked.

Do What you need to do babe

This sounds straight off bringing It All back Home, except with a deeper country voice. More Cowbell!!! Kinda droney but cool.

Within the Well of the World

The voice is perfect here. So country with visceral Americana lyrics. Then in a surreal fashion, he talks about the unjust nature of how armies treat children in third world countries. It has jewish symbolism about something I never heard of called a Leviathan. I believe he is talking about the unjust nature of Israel and Palestine.

I’m Not Crazy, but Maybe I Am

Talks about crackheads, baby mama’s, and uncle sam needing to admit their flaws. The electronics come back with a wailing harmonica line reminicent of Obviously Five believers, Charlie Parker style.

I Am a Lone Rider

This is partially to the tune of With God on our Side, which I am sure goes back even farther than that. It’s another sorrowful ballad of separation. You begin to hear the the obviously profound influence that Leonard Cohen has on him here, vocally.

At the Ashram

The first of many left turns on this album. Singing about smoking pot and learning Hinduism. Of course there’s a sitar. The world rhythm from the first track returns here. I am not sure if this is a nice comparison, but I think at this point that Lancaster was influenced by brian Jonestown Massacre

The Prison itself Is The Crime

This recalls the 20s and 30s folk recordings with a clawhammer sounding picking pattern. It is a very childlike melody, with interesting sounds of percussion such as what I think is a wrench clanking. It likens a prison to a tough love. Really tight chorus of voices here. Sings about pitchforks and torches too.

I Am Free from the Chain Gang Now

Cant have a folk mega-album without a yodeling track. Lancaster is no one trick pony. He knows he has a malleable voice that can do a lot of different folk stylings.

Judgement Day

A perfect midpoint of the album. Personal fav track on the album, a very unexpected synth-pop track that shakes the bone. The shift from baritone choruses and tenor verses showcases the characters that this fellow seems to be tortured with. Makes for genius music with a perfect balance of control in chaos. An extremely lo-fi guitar and 808 drum morph this track. There’s even some funny falsetto voices to top off the vocal range in the verses. Sonic touches of alien electronics are cool. A bluesy vocalling come’s in at the end singing about “gray matter.”

Way Over in the Promise Land

This traditional song is a needed reorientation into reality. With Carter Family strums, the amish style vocalizing returns.

Leaf-blower blower blues (whatever Polly Wants She Gets)

This returns to the early folk clawhammer stylings. I am starting to miss the strange-ness that we experienced two times on the album, though the quality voice is perfect for country blues.

The Old Revolution

This Leonard Cohen cover is not a rip off. He uses his natural voice for it, and it sparkles with harmonies and chimes. It has what sounds like either a harpsichord or a plucking of piano strings on it, and they make it sound huge. Thematically, this is is a self proclaimed protest album, and this adds to it. He talks about everyone betraying the revolution in such a nonchalant manner.

Who built This House on Top of me?

A softer tune. A much needed metaphorical ballad that helps with the lows on the album.

I’ve Got A Thousand bucks in Vinyl Ill Never Use

Another fast paced country-blues number that would probably make money busking in the Gulch if that was allowed. Cool phonetic vocal rolls litter the track babababurn.

Life On Parole

No vocal masking here. It sounds like his normal talking voice. It’s a ballad that lyrically resets the album’s themes in the context that more people probably relate to, or know someone that does. Nice falsettos fluttering the track. His harmonizing is really always on point despite often being inconsistently littered around the tracks, and the phrasing is often unmatching, it still adds charm, especially because the pitch is on point.

This Is How the blues Got To Mexico

The voice is partially amish, and partially country-folk here, but the instrumental that would be a beautiful performance at the local Plaza Mariachi. The electric trumpets are kind of a joke, but it adds to the accurate vibe. The song is not a joke. It’s a serious critique of the Mexican government. With a cool spanish lyric that bookends the choruses. Obviously there’s a lot of love for hispanic culture here, which I should have anticipated knowing that this guy went to Lipscomb (they have a lot of missions trips there).

Iron Lady

This kind of has a hint of Irish sound and intensity to it. A visceral picture of someone on death-row and how twisted it is, and the twisted sympathy involved. “A rich man never died upon the chair.” Strangely, it’s a woman doing the killing here? Maybe I heard wrong. A very intense song indeed.

The Great Danville Elevator

This is a topical song that sings about the land in an amish fashion. With percussive bird sounds that depict a bright and sunshiny day. Cant have a folk album that doesn’t sing about transporting stuff by train. It has a lot of cool topical imagery, but I dont really know what the song is about. More animals flutter throughout the track.

I Need A break From Going Nowhere

This is an anthem that has yelling and general loudness. The refrain is a nice crescendo.

Sitatapatra Prayer

This tops off the eclectic nature of the album by what I believe is more Hindu stylings, except it’s all in Hindu. The second a-cappella track, which makes me with the first one had more voices like this one. Very rhythmic and almost throat singing.

To be an Accomplice You Must be a Juror

Finially some reverb on the vocals that take us out in a live venue setting. Gladly the weird electronics return with that garageband 808 if I am correct. A nice combo of his tenor and falsetto vocals. It sings about impending fears. A beautiful freak-folk album complete.

https://ommanipadmehung.bandcamp.com/album/the-prison-itself-is-the-crime-2

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mint-sm · 7 years

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LOS CAMPESINOS! REVIEW/ANALYSIS: Sick Scenes

Note: I haven’t found a full album post video and some of the songs aren’t available on Youtube for me to cite like with my other reviews, sadly. Listen to it on Spotify or something lol

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So... that was a long time, wasn’t it? Not just the gap between my last review, but between albums. There was a four-year gap between “Sick Scenes” and the band’s last album, “No Blues,” a product that I could see some appeal in but was personally unsatisfied with, but I was still eager to hear another record from them. Unfortunately, we had to wait this long gap, since things have changed, and simply put: the band has grown up.

Not necessarily in just a literal or maturity-level sense, but the fact that the world we’ve been living in has kind of grown unkind to everyone in the last few years. Not only has the music scene the band was affiliated with been changing to something else that’s -- for the lack of better words -- kinda boring, and not only has it also become less profitable, with the band resigning to day jobs for a while (thank God for commemorative football jersey sales!), but this has been a long stretch of time where everyone’s gone much more weary, especially as the world starts bombarding you with crappiness.

Worrying about a quarter-life crisis, fighting physical and mental illnesses, watching all the things from your youth slowly crumble away while past generations trivialize and demean your current problems, watching all your current interests go to shit, and also becoming increasingly uneasy with how crappy and seemingly suicidal the world at large has become, especially with the US presidential election, the Brexit vote, and most importantly, Euro 2016 being largely terrible.

I bring this up because it finally seems to provide the backing for something I desperately missed from “No Blues”: Context. I’ve went over the musical issues I had with “No Blues” a bit more in-depth in my review of it, but lyrically and thematically, there was just a sort of vagueness and a lack of a definite focus that also really turned me off from liking it very much. “Sick Scenes,” however, feels like it’s much more of a return to form in that finally, we do have a more concrete approach to the album, in that we actually know what went behind its philosophy, and now there’s actually more to latch onto and relate to other than vaguely pretty, overly-precise and clean production.

ALL THESE / SICK SCENES PLAYED OUT IN MY MEMORY / WAKE UP / I'LL TELL YOU EVERYTHING HONESTLY /

The album has actually toned down a lot of that overly pristine mixing and production of “No Blues,” and there’s actually a lot more grit, texture as well as tightness to it. It’s not “Romance Is Boring”-levels noisy, but there is a certain rawness and thump to a lot of the instrumentation again; one standout thing is the snares and kicks like from the song “Sad Suppers,” which feel a bit more crackly, but also god-loads tighter, and in a way that actually has a sort of “dirty” quality to it that I’m a huge fan of for this type of music.

“Sick Scenes” has also been a step-up compositionally as well. The melodies feel a lot catchier, with many of the bangers feeling a lot faster and more driving than those in “No Blues,” and they tend to have a consistent or growing momentum to them that actually feel powerful. “Renato Dall’Ara (2008)” is an awesome opening track because of this, starting off with like these awesome “spiralling-down” backup vocals, a really catchy chorus and more definitive sonic evolution as it goes on, it’s just great (as of this writing, there’s now word this song’s getting a music video next week! Can’t wait!)

THEY WOULD PLAY MY REQUESTS AT THE GUESTLIST’S BEHEST / ANY DISCO ALL ACROSS TOWN / BUT THINGS CHANGE, NOW STELLA’S A LAGER / AND BOY SHE IS ALWAYS DOWNED /

Los Camp have even much improved most of their slower ballads, or at least their sort of “breather” tracks, which now actually have a lot more going for them musically and lyrically. “5 Flucloxacillin” and “The Fall of Home” are especially surprising since basically, praise heaven almighty, GARETH CAN ACTUALLY SING! Like I don’t know what the hell happened in these last 4 years, but holy god Gareth can actually pull of being gentle and melodic, and in a way that actually conveys a lot of emotion and isn’t boring, especially with the subject matter.

Like I said, “Sick Scenes” feels like much more of a step up from “No Blues” and even “Hello Sadness” in that it definitely feels more about actual definite things, but a lot of the mentalities that I did think could’ve made both of those two albums much more interesting than they ended up being are still present here. It took me a while to figure out what made it so different, but I think the early days of “Hold on Now, Youngster…” fell more along the lines of being more actively emotional and visceral, trying to thump these feelings of weirdly upbeat melancholia into your head, whereas things like “No Blues” and this album seem to want to treat it more playfully, look at it with contemplation and humility, trying to find a dryer sense of subtle wittiness to it.

In that sense, “Sick Scenes” feels like it’s sort of blending the best of both worlds by approaching the focused definition, viscerality and sound of the “Youngster” days, but mixing it with a much more self-reflective and mature philosophical method. It’s a reasonable approach for the album considering its subject matter and consistent sense of fond nostalgia, and while it does tread a bit more of older ground as a result, it feels a lot more comprehensive and less overly stuffed or boring, while giving a bit of a wink back to the days of old. Hell, “Renato Dall’Ara (2008)” seems to directly reference “Youngster,” not just with the general feel and attitude (and it’s snarky as hell and I love it), but also that title (hint hint, the “2008” in the title is NOT referencing the Renato Dall'Ara).

PICTURED READING KARL MARX BESIDE HIS PARENTS’ POOL / FACING RIDICULE HE BLEATED / “THAT DOESN’T MAKE ME RICH, NO WAY, / IT’S ONLY OUTDOOR AND IT ISN’T HEATED” /

Unfortunately, a bit of a strike against this more grown-up-approach is that it means some parts of the album fall into the same trap as with “No Blues,” in that sometimes the lyrics can get a little too witty for their own good, and can get a little too obsessed with esoteric referential wordplay rather than actual content or coherence. “For Whom the Belly Tolls” (couldn’t find a video for this) to me feels like one of the weaker links on the album, in that the music isn’t particularly dynamic nor all that catchy for me, and would be ultimately rather unremarkable if not for that spontaneous choral bridge at the halfway point... which to be honest, transitions AWESOMELY.

Also, there are just some occasionally “No Blues”-esque deadpan moments on this album, which again, I can totally find appreciation for, but for me tend to end up kind of samey-sounding and a little boring, especially later on the album with “A Litany/Heart Swells,” or “Got Stendhal’s.” I dunno what to really say about these tbh, not only do they just kinda get repetitive after a bit, but they also feel like retreads to stuff Los Camp’s already done before, like with the “Heart Swells/Pacific Daylight Time” from “Doomed” or “What Death Leaves Behind” from “No Blues.”

However, with all that said, just about every other song on the album has something to offer as I’d expect from Los Camp’s standards, in that the music and subject matters feel diverse and intricate, eliciting conflicting yet consistent feels, and I do mean “feels,” since while this album is mostly much more vibrant than these last few albums, it’s actually still very gloomy and impending at times. Honestly, while that cover art above is still that popular pastel-y pink color that I kinda hate, it actually does feel rather indicative of the album in a good way: This kind of vacant, slacking and tired, nearly zombie-like person that’s so utterly fed up with how life and the world is playing out that they just want to lay there in the middle of a supermarket like an idiot who’s been up all night thinking about how shitty the world is. It’s indicative, interesting, kinda bleak, but also really funny.

(IT SEEMS UNFAIR) TO BE A ROTTEN HORN OF PLENTY! / (IT SEEMS UNFAIR) TO BE CADAVER FOR A CURSE! / (IT SEEMS UNFAIR) TO BE AN OVERFLOW FOR EMPTY! / (IT SEEMS UNFAIR) TO TRY YOUR BEST BUT FEEL THE WORST! /

Tracks like “I Broke Up in Amarante” and “A Slow, Slow Death” manage to encapsulate a lot of complete and utter frustration in an incredibly bombastic and grand veneer. Even though they do feel like they’re about completely different EXACT subjects (which I’m pretty sure are the aforementioned Euro 2016 and Brexit, respectively), they manage to feel oddly cathartic, but in a weird, kind of restrained but still natural-feeling way. There are also a lot of references in the songs like with “No Blues,” but overall it doesn’t feel as overbearing with these tracks, since the lyrics feel like perfectly comprehensible metaphors as is, and I find them pretty charming and relatable, as well as accessible.

“Here’s to the Fourth Time” (couldn’t find a link for this one) is also pretty humorous but also kind of awesome, and it honestly feels like the closest the album gets to “Romance is Boring”’s sound. The melodies are pretty poppy and catchy and have like this sort of just “grooving” and textured flow and feel to them that I love, and the last third of this song goes onto like this really noisy but badass-sounding breakdown with looped drums, distorted guitars and vocals, but in addition to that, the lyrics manage to be probably the most charming on the record, in that obviously the situation is cringey as hell (it’s about sex, and sex in a Los Camp song can never end well) but also kind of awkwardly hilarious and sympathetic, especially given the context the bandmates, now being 30-something-year-olds contemplating their quarter-life crises.

“5 Flucloxacillin” and “The Fall of Home,” once again, do feel the most indicative of that mentality of “I’m so fucking done with this place”-ness, but they approach it in such unique ways to what you’d expect from typical Los Camp fare. “5 Flucloxacillin” is kind of like this livelier indie rock ballad, with again, Gareth’s great vocals, but it’s surprisingly more “mellow” than “gentle”: the vocals are smooth and lively, but there does sound like a bit of deep-seated resentment hidden as the lyrics go into the frustration and bitterness that one would have with taking a lot of medications for things like acne or depression, and growing up in a world of utter chaos while being shittalked to by the people who made it that way whilst undermining your problems, and how even though years have passed and you probably should’ve grown out of them… you still haven’t.

(Hint hint! This song is about baby-boomers being assholes! Do you like this song yet?)

AM I A PIGGY BANK OF OBSOLETE CURRENCY? / AN ORDER OF MERIT FROM COUNTRY KNOWN FOR TYRANNY? / ANOTHER BLISTER PACK POPS, BUT I STILL FEEL MUCH THE SAME / THIRTY-ONE AND DEPRESSION IS A YOUNG MAN'S GAME /

“The Fall of Home” takes a much more intimate approach to these subjects in a way that feels rather basic, but gut-wrenching. It’s a guitar ballad, and while this could’ve easily been boring, it just sounds so nice, with like these great piano and violin accompaniments, and Gareth’s gentle, almost kind of fragile-sounding but beautiful singing, basically listing all the miserable losses of everything you once loved, locally and nationally, going down to shit by simple virtue of time having passed by and the present not being kind to them. It manages to be the simplest, but most poignant track on the entire album, and is honestly probably one of Los Camp’s newest classics.

BATTERY DIES ON YOUR MONTHLY CALL / BUDGET CUT AT YOUR PRIMARY SCHOOL / ANOTHER FAMILY FRIEND FELL SICK / GAVE THE FASCISTS A THOUSAND TICKS /

The ending track, “Hung Empty,” is alright. It’s got some great flow to it and a very catchy chorus hook, and it ends in a way only Los Camp can really get away with, valiantly shouting “Feels like I've been waiting on it, nearly all my life, but what, if this is it now, what if this is how we die!?” in a way that almost feels defiant or daring. It’s a creditable finisher, but at the same time it kind of feels… expected, you know? It feels like a typical Los Camp finisher, but it’s also just kinda basic. It’s actually kind of a microcosm of the entire album for me: it’s good! But some parts of it feel like they’ve been done before.

Like I’ve said, this album does feel like a much more pleasing return to form for the band’s earlier works but approached with a more grown-up, more exposed-to-the-world and vaguely “doomed” mindset, and for the most part, it’s very compelling! It’s got some great songs, and its feel feels a lot more definite and impactful than their last albums, it’s just that there’s a bit of crows feet here and there, and it kinda feels like even with the new perspectives it explores, some of it feels a little by-the-numbers at this point.

Not in a ruinous way, but I hope that for next album they do go even more adventurous than they did here. Again, I do think they already made a good effort; I was going to give this more of a 3.5/5, but after being given more time to appreciate the little intricacies of this album and realizing where a lot of it is coming from, it’s grown on me pretty well, it’s just I kinda wanna see more in the future, y’know? Who knows? Maybe they actually will, and I’m kind of excited by that prospect. We’re just going to have to wait and see.

Maybe if they manage to sell another thousand more of those “Doomed” football jerseys. I don’t care much about football, but goddamn I kinda want one anyway.

LC!4LYF (4/5)

FAVES: “Renato Dall’Ara (2008)”, “Sad Suppers”, “I Broke Up in Amarante”, “The Fall of Home”, “5 Flucloxacillin”, “Here’s to the Fourth Time!”, “Hung Empty”

aaaaand there you have it! Reviews of all the major Los Camp albums! Ahh… fuck

I might do more reviews of different albums in the future, but maybe not. Iunno, maybe I’ll do a few one-shots of albums I wanna talk about, like Gorillaz or something, but I don’t really know what I can really offer for that lol. We’ll see.

#music review #los campesinos #sick scenes

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