#markus acher

[originalharmonysalad]

Since Markus Acher’s band The Notwist performed at Week-End Fest back in 2015 we have remained in close contact, sharing the music we love and organising shows together with artists we admire. His dedication and love of music is what our Mixtape series is all about, so we asked Acher to pick a selection of his favourite artists at present. The result is an hour-long, 19-song mixtape. Step into the world of Japanese pop music!

1. Asuna - Happy Misunderstanding 2. Wasurerogusa - 旅鳥 3. CAT or DIE - Peanuts 4. Maher Shalal Hash Baz - Crossing the Tama River 5. Tenniscoats - Flying Saucer 6. Hose - Baseball 7. OOIOO - Tune 8. Takashi Ueno - Ueno’s Phonemachine 9. Reiko Kudo - Mrs Wheeler 10. Grim Grim - Kazega Fuitara Sayonara 11. Nikasaya - Siroi Ohisama 12. C.Memi - Ishin-Denshin 13. Lunapark Ensemble - Mushikui Mandara 14. Kama Aina - Wedding Song 15. cCacoy - Yoko Mjikick Ono 16. Tsuby - Taiyo 17. Hallelujahs - A Wish 18. CAT or DIE - Marasada Donut 19. Eddie Marcon - あむぃんぼう (Amuinbow)

[hmgn3]

23-March 散財記録

01(wed) ・Alle / Alletiders (2020, used LP) ・Sleeper & Snake / Fresco Shed (2020, used LP) 03(fri) ・Caroliner Rainbow Customary Relaxation of the Shale / Sell Heal Holler (1995, used LP) 04(sat) ・Lawrence Le Doux / Host (2018, used LP) ・The Wingdale Community Singers / Night, Sleep, Death (2013, used LP) ・Sunburned Hand of the Man / A (2010, used LP) ・Bill Wells, Annie Whitehead, Stefan Schneider, Barbara Morgenstern / Paper of Pins (2009, used LP+CD) ・VU / Seven Grain (2000, used 2LP) ・Spiritual Vibes / Alternative Tracks (1994, used LP) ・Visions of Ludwig / Musik Für Luftschlösser Vol. 1 (1988, used LP) 05(sun) ・Gia Margaret / Mia Gargaret (2020, used LP) ・Monopoly Child Star Searchers / Bamboo for Two (2010, used LP) ・Nobukazu Takemura / child and magic remix e.p. (1998, used 12inch) ・Bob Keene Septet / Solo for Seven (1958, used LP) 08(wed) ・Ava Mendoza, Maxime Petit, Will Guthrie (2016, used 7inch) 09(thu) ・7FO / Music for Himitsu (2022, LP) ・Markus Acher / Like a Plane (2022, 10inch) ・Max Ruano / Acuchillame en la kitchenette (2021, 10inch) ・Satomimagae / Hanazono (2021, LP) ・Hailu Mergia / Yene Mircha (2020, LP) ・Blu & Exile / Miles: From an Interlude Called Life (2020, 3LP) ・Ricardo Dias Gomes / Aa (2018, 12inch) ・Nnamdi Ogbonnaya / Drool (2017, LP) ・anonymass / opus01 (2003, used LP) 11(sat) ・pocopen + koji shibuya / 鬼火/たのもしい王子 (2023, 7inch) ・Las Raíces / Gentrified (2020, used 7inch) ・Caroline Says / No Fool Like an Old Fool (2018, used LP) ・Randy Newman / Ragtime (1981, used LP) ・Brian Eno / Before and After Science (1971, used LP) 15(wed) ・Realistic Monk / Realm (2018, used LP) ・Judah Warsky / Painkillers & Alcohol (2013, used LP) 17(fri) ・シュガーダンス & どろうみ / 丸​の​内 & 九​龍​城​落​地 (2023, 7inch) 18(sat) ・Taiko Super Kicks / 波 (2021, used LP) ・Busdriver  / Fear of a Black Tangent (2005, used LP) ・Chemical Imbalance Vol. 2, No. 3 (1993, used 7icnh) ・Le Mystère Des Voix Bulgares / Volume 2  (1987, used LP) ・Willem Breuker Kollektief / Driebergen - Zeist (1983, used LP) ・Wiener Art Orchester / Tango From Obango (1980, used LP) ・Albert Ayler / The Village Concerts (1978, used 2LP) ・Claude Bolling / Original Ragtime (1967, used LP) 20(mon) ・Glue Scissors/Mermaid / Mach EP, Split (2019, used 7inch) ・Odeko / A History With Samus (2016, used 12inch) ・Telephone Jim Jesus / Anywhere Out of the Everything (2007, used LP) ・The Lonesome Organist / Untitled (1996, used 7inch) ・Deadline / Down By Law (1985, used LP) ・Weldon Irvine / Spirit Man (1975, used LP) ・Ennio Morricone / L'Uccello Dalle Piume Di Cristallo (1971, used LP) ・George Russell Sextet Featuring Don Ellis & Eric Dolphy / 1 2 3 4 5 6extet (1969, used LP) ・Miss Nelson & Bruce / Dance Sing and Listen (1963, used LP) 22(wed) ・ザ・なつやすみバンド / 蜃気楼 (2018, used 7inch) ・Shugo Tokumaru / Vista (2006, used 7inch) ・Splitting the Atom / Splitting the Atom (Parts One and Two) (1997, used 7inch) ・エマーソン北村 / Shine a Light (1990, used 7inch) 23(thu) ・Gut Und Irmler/Moebius Story Leidecker / Sometimes Less/Squib, Last Image (2015, used 12inch) ・Slowly Minute / Wish a Happiness (2003, used 12inch) ・Musica Libera / Dialog & Begegnung (1983, used LP) 25(sat) ・おおたようへいトリオ / WNDR (2016, CD+7inch) ・Sonic Youth / 4 Tunna Brix (1990, used 12inch) ・Acoustic Club / Manoir De Mes Reves (1982, used LP) ・Sly & The Family Stone / Back on the Right Track (1979, used LP) ・John Handy / Hard Work (1976, used LP) 26(sun) ・Awkward Corners / Amateur Dramatics (2021, used LP) ・Pedro Magina / 11 (2015, used LP) ・Chris Carter / Moonlight (2011, used 12inch) ・The Bikini Beach Band / Secret Agent Man (1998, used 7inch) ・Ladies Who Lunch / Kims We Love (1995, used 7inch) ・Jay Ansill / Origami (1989, used LP) ・Steven Brown / Searching for Contact (1987, used LP) ・Real Fish / Tenon (1985, used LP) 27(mon) ・The Kinks / Give The People What They Want (1981, used LP) ・The Kinks / Misfits (1978, used LP) ・Georges Delerue / Le Dernier Metro (1980, used LP) ・Nilsson / Nilsson Schmilsson (1971, used LP) 29(wed) ・Ailie Ormston & Tim Fraser / It Changes (2022, LP) ・太陽肛門スパパーン / 東京おらんピック (2021, 7inch) ・Belbury Poly / Farmer's Angle (2005, 7inch) ・Rino De Filippi / Nel Mondo Del Lavoro (1972, LP) 31(fri) ・Wolfgang Müller / Die Nacht Ist Vorbei (2021, used LP) ・killie / 殺しの呪文 (2020, used 7inch) ・Slim Wtig, Dirty Beaches, U.S. Girls & Ela Orleans / Statement (2012, used LP) ・anonymass / harusame (2004, used LP) ・Letta Mbulu/Lorez Alexandria / What's Wrong With Groovin'/Send in the Clowns (2000, used 7inch)

[stevenvenn]

The Notwist - Exit Strategy to Myself (from Vertigo Days) As I missed a post yesterday, I’m doubling up today! The Notwist are back with a new one Vertigo Days! This track starts out very Krautrocky and gets more interesting as it goes along.

[polaroidblog]

I wear my heart upon my sleeve

"Where will we go, after today? / Where will we go, after all?" Sembrano due versi innocenti e semplici. Arrivano da Wear My Heart, canzone quasi al centro di Two Windows, il primo album dei Lali Puna dopo oltre cinque anni di assenza, a sette da Our Inventions...

[l-e-r-o-y]

LeRoy / April - Dates

[dustedmagazine]

Dust Volume 8, Number 4

OHYUNG

Is this normal? After two years of upheaval, the world seems to finding equilibrium again, at least if you squint to avoid looking too hard at what’s going on in Ukraine. So we’re going out again on the regular, wearing masks (and you should, too), but otherwise like always, and oh my, are a lot of bands out on the road these days. A lot of them are putting out records, too, and as usual, we make an attempt to catch up with Dust, our monthly collection of short reviews. Read here for our take on country covers and Italian punk, crusty black metal and cosmic metal, improvisatory collaborations and fresh interpretations of music from farflung cultures. Contributors this time included Tim Clarke, Justin Cober-Lake, Jonathan Shaw, Bryon Hayes, Bill Meyer, Jennifer Kelly and Chris Liberato.

Caleb Dailey — Warm Evenings, Pale Mornings: Beside You Then (Alien Transistor / Moone)

Warm Evenings, Pale Mornings: Beside You Then by Caleb Dailey

Moone Records boss Caleb Dailey worked on this collection of covers of old country songs with some notable musicians, including Deerhoof’s John Dieterich, Nicholas Krgovich, and Kyle Field (Little Wings). At eight tracks clocking in at just over half an hour, it’s a short and lovingly rendered collection that rambles charmingly, featuring songs originally written by a range of country-rock luminaries, including Gram Parsons, Gordon Lightfoot and Blaze Foley. Even if you’re not familiar with the originals, all the songs sound appropriately well-worn and comforting, giving the listener space and reassurance to nestle in their melancholy. Dailey keeps things at a woozy, syrup-thick tempo, his low voice sounding like a 45rpm record accidentally played at 33 1/3. Though the songs unfurl slowly and simply, there’s plenty of space to weave hypnotic details into the mix. Early standout “Brass Buttons” swirls with lap steel, banjo and harmonium behind Dailey’s lackadaisically strummed acoustic guitar. “Dreaming My Dreams With You” features sparkling vibraphone over thick beds of organ and bass, and “If You Could Read My Mind” pulses with distant cosmic synths. Then, on closer “If I Could Only Fly,” featuring plaintive lead vocals from The Notwist’s Markus Acher, the album achieves lift-off amid a storm cloud of distortion, followed by a restatement of the song’s theme on piano by Dailey’s mum. Lovely.

Tim Clarke

 Deaf Lingo — Lingonberry (Lövely)

Italy's Deaf Lingo returns for their second album with as much energy as ever. The punk rockers add some increased melodicism to Lingonberry compared to their initial releases, but they haven't slowed anything down. After a heavier intro, single “Push It” has drifts toward skate punk as vocalist Sandro Specchia rants in favor of laziness. The track's irony lies not just in its decidedly not-lazy tempo, but also in its resistance. While the cut might ostensibly be about doing nothing, it considers that inaction as a form of resistance. Much of the album follows in this line, pairing a few different punk and alt-rock styles with concerns about disaffection or alienation. The group sounds its best when it leans into its poppier influences, but it would benefit — especially on its brighter tunes — from more separation in its production. The sound gets just a little muddier than suits the songs. Even so, Deaf Lingo feels like a band on its way up, catching its songwriting groove and finding its way with growing assurance.

Justin Cober-Lake 

 Feral Light — Psychic Contortions (I, Voidhanger)

Psychic Contortions by FERAL LIGHT

At its best, Feral Light’s new LP Psychic Contortions recalls the tuneful, crusty black metal of that terrific demo from Loss of Self that circulated about a decade ago, or the most blackened and melodic moments in Nux Vomica’s epic crust anthems. All of which suggests — accurately so — that Feral Light isn’t writing or playing anything particularly ground-breaking on this record, but the Minneapolis-based duo does this sort of thing quite well. See “Wells of Blackness,” which may have a title that’s just a little bit on the nose; it also has a riff with just enough roil, and crusty production that coats the music with just enough grime. The band has been kicking around since 2015, and Psychic Contortions is by far the best record they’ve released. “Self Disavow” might be the band’s best song, yearning and crunching in equal measure, and given over to intemperate spells of blasting intensity. If you like some blackened ash in your crust, give this a spin.

Jonathan Shaw

 High Alpine Hut Network — 727/16 (Ansible Editions)

727 / 16 by High Alpine Hut Network

The Toronto-based Idée Fixe imprint has spun off a sister label. With a name originating in science fiction, Ansible Editions is true to its mission to explore the jazz cosmos and adjacent sonic galaxies. The imprint launched with an introductory batch of three editions, and this pair of tracks from High Alpine Hut Network is certainly the most cosmic of the lot. Comprising multi-instrumentalists Christopher Shannon, Benjamin Pullia and Jason Bhattacharya, this trio explores the intersection of Berlin school kosmische, deep house and jazz-infected hard funk. For this, their debut effort, HAHN enlisted the help of friends. The collaborative roster includes pianist Robin Hatch, Tobin Hopwood on guitar, percussionists Lauren Runions and Nathan Vanderwielen and the lush reeds of Joseph Shabason. “727” is a voyage that originates in the cosmos before strutting into electric Miles territory and eventually landing in the club. The snaky “16” is a bass-forward affair, bolstered by Hopwood’s limber guitar exorcisms and a propulsive percussive pulse. Overall HAHN keeps it exciting and extraterrestrial, a winning combination.

Bryon Hayes 

 Instruments Of Happiness — Slow, Quiet Music In Search Of Electric Happiness (Redshift)

Slow, Quiet Music in Search of Electric Happiness by Instruments of Happiness

Sometimes, the times catch up with you. Tim Brady of Montreal has been working with guitar ensembles of carrying sizes for nearly forty years, culminating in a production in 2014 entitled, Instruments of Happiness — 100 Guitares Électriques. Four years on, he had an economizing notion: why not put four guitarists in a large, reverberant space, and let the room do some of the work? Brady and three other guitarists — Jonathan Barriault, Simon Duchesne, and Francis Brunet-Tucotte — presented the first performance of this four-piece sequence of roughly quarter hour-long, commissioned pieces in a Montreal church in February, 2020. Obviously, follow-up performances were not an immediate option, but what better year than 2020 to record a small number of spread-out musicians? It’s kind of a shame that the music couldn’t be made immediately available, because folks enduring cabin fever might have found comfort in the quartet’s evocations of expansiveness. E-bow elongations and a seven-second digital delay, which duplicates the original space’s echo, impart a sonic experience that corresponds to the album cover image of the eventual meeting of ocean and cloud cover.

Bill Meyer

Interesting Hobbies Club — Spring Cleaning (Self-Released)

Spring Cleaning by Interesting Hobbies Club

It's not entirely clear what would qualify as an interesting hobby, but I’m guessing that day drinking, buying too many records on Bandcamp Friday and jogging the occasional 5K would not. Perhaps forming a florid, emotionally stirring indie rock band would make the cut, perhaps not, but these four LA musicians have been at it, regardless, for two albums now. And why not? Their second, Spring Cleaning (the first was recorded as Zero Degree), spins in indolent circles, a slow rock jangle lit up by the near-operatic tenor of front person Jules Caspole, who swoops and wails and roars in a volatile, vibrato-laced timbre. The songs this time are tinged with reminiscence, the best “One Year Ago Today,” a country-rocking lament for the girl that got away. Caspole sings ruefully of finding an old photograph of a live-in lover, prompting memories of domestic pleasures: cooking together, planting a garden, dancing in the backyard. The band twangs and rollicks in two-stepping time, and the whole thing puts a gloss on ordinary life that seems a little brighter, a little more meaningful than it usually is. “Middle of the 110” likewise throws a bolt of electricity into an indie rock shuffle, letting concentrated feeling lift it out of the ordinary.

Jennifer Kelly

 Kostnatení — Ohen Horí Tam, Kde Padl (Mystíkaos)

Oheň hoří tam, kde padl by Kostnatění

We are told that D. Lyons, sole member of Kostnatení, has created this record by adapting traditional Turkish folk songs for dissonant, lush and very effective black metal arrangements. Knowing nothing about Turkish folk music, this reviewer cannot comment on the veracity of the claim, nor can he opine on the nature of the tribute or obscenity these musical renditions have brought into the world. But taken on its face, this is a terrific record. The playing is supple and forceful, the tunes are weirding earworms, the sensibility and scale of things somehow mystical and grand. To be sure, there’s something interesting, if perverse, about using black metal to interpret the folk traditions of a nation that has experienced such volatile relations to religious faith — to say nothing of black metal’s more customary deployments by seriously pale dudes with even more serious investments in the lore of northern whiteness (Viking metal, anyone?). This, by marked contrast, is the black metal of the Global South, played by a guy last located by the internet in Tennessee. Say what? Beats me. Play the music.

Jonathan Shaw

 James Krivchenia — Blood Karaoke (Reading Group)

Blood Karaoke by James Krivchenia

Though you can hear clear links between the music of Big Thief and recent solo albums by frontwoman Adrianne Lenker and guitarist Buck Meek, drummer and producer James Krivchenia’s solo music is another matter altogether. Like having dozens of internet browser tabs open at once and switching randomly between them to sample whatever music might happen to be playing at the time, Blood Karaoke is a disorientating, bewildering and occasionally very funny listen. The easiest comparison is probably Oneohtrix Point Never, as the sounds of experimental electronica, vaporwave, and nu-metal collide, occasionally derailed by daft passages of yacht rock, smooth jazz or easy listening. It’s all very cleverly put together and can, at times, introduce moments of unexpected beauty and tenderness. However, as a front-to-back listening experience, it’s likely to leave you feeling a little frazzled and insane.

Tim Clarke

Nyles Lannon — Pressure (Badman)

PRESSURE by Nyles Lannon

Nyles Lannon played with Film School in the early aughts and has made several highly regarded solo albums, including Chemical Friends, named best folktronica album of 2004 by SF Weekly. Pressure was originally released in 2007; here Badman celebrates its 15th birthday with an expanded, remastered version with the tracks remixed to Lannon’s specifications (he never liked the original version). Not having heard Pressure the first time around, it’s hard to say how much the alterations helped, but this is a very good album of mostly acoustic indie folk-pop. Lannon’s voice is high and gentle, not too different from Elliott Smith, the mood bittersweet and the guitar/electronic accompaniments unassumingly pretty. “Better with Nothing” eddies and swirls around a melancholic melody, its pace quickened by scratchy, shaken percussion, its contours defined by bright, lucid guitar lines. A little bell rattles at the bridge as fuzz guitars spin off into psychedelic inquiry, the drama flares, then Lannon pulls it all back into the kind of tune you sing to yourself on rainy days just because.

Jennifer Kelly

 OHYUNG — imagine naked! (NNA Tapes)

imagine naked! by OHYUNG

Asian-American artist OHYUNG generously presents the receptive listener with nearly two hours of sparse, reflective ambient music on imagine naked! Mostly conceived and created across a single 72-hour period, the album is book-ended by 15-minute opener “my torn cuticles!” and 37-minute closer “releases like gloves!” Based on its duration alone, the album does feel like quite a commitment. However, step inside these welcoming musical environments and feel time slip away as the album’s unifying aesthetic becomes cumulatively transportive. Occasionally there are hints of Aphex Twin’s early records (“to fill the quiet!”), Satie’s minimal piano works (“yes my weeping frame!”), and Eno’s process-based experiments, such as Discreet Music. The album certainly fits Eno’s specification that ambient be “as ignorable as it is interesting” — play imagine naked! in the background, and let it gently color your mood, or don some headphones, listen closely, and become lulled by the music’s hypnotic repetition and deeply grained textures.

Tim Clarke

 Sote — Majestic Noise Made in Beautiful Rotten Iran (Sub Rosa)

Majestic Noise Made in Beautiful Rotten Iran by Sote

Iranian producer Ata Ebtekar composes in two different modalities. His electroacoustic constructions incorporate sounds from the traditional instruments of his homeland. Alternatively, he eschews acoustic instrumentation to focus on electronic synthesis itself. Majestic Noise Made in Beautiful Rotten Iran falls into the latter category, although the sheer physicality of the music belies its purely electronic origins. Mined from the same vein as 2020’s MOSCELS, this album is full of highly visceral, almost aggressive sounds modeled in clouds of electrons. Opener “Forced Absence” features the assault of machine gun percussion and collapsing clockwork mechanisms on unsuspecting string arpeggios that resemble harp strums. The urgent, almost video game-like rhythm of “I’m Trying But I Can’t Reach You Father” appears to originate from an orchestra of baroque instruments. That track’s successor, the gentle yet emotional “Life,” emulates a string quartet robbed of all its bows. Majestic Noise Made in Beautiful Rotten Iran is Ebtekar’s most personal collection of material thus far. He’s asking us to endure both the majesty and the noise that lie at its core. This is a challenge that’s worth accepting.

Bryon Hayes

The Web of Lies — Nude with Demon (Wrong Speed)

Nude With Demon by The Web of Lies

For better — and, in one instance, for worse — on Nude with Demon, Edwin Stevens and Neil Robinson pull moves that you don’t quite expect them to pull. The Scottish duo let their garage groove swing like a pendulum on “Receiver,” summoning the spirits of LAMPS and A-Frames, but they gussy the sound up with sly, folk-rock half-licks. Now we know what that sounds like, you’ll catch yourself thinking, and you’ll be damned: it works. As does “Yeah Yeah Yeah,” which chugs along like Spacemen 3 towards a tunnel through which it doesn’t quite fit. When someone finally yanks the emergency brake, it’s already much, much too late, and the track scratches, scrapes and squeals towards a comically slow halt lasting a full couple of minutes. It’s not the metaphorical train driver I want to go back in time and shake awake, then, given the chance; it’s whoever voted the throwaway “Best Friend” onto the album’s track list. Batting in the cleanup spot, the otherwise innocuous Silver Apples-style ditty stops the record’s momentum dead in its, ahem, tracks, as one bestie answers the other’s mumbled monotone call by repeating the title phrase, ad nauseam, in a cartoonish car horn voice that’s frankly exhausting. Luckily, the one tune is not enough to derail the album as a whole, which nonetheless has the potential to become a favorite of the year, for those who like to smile and nod along to the sounds of loud, off-kilter guitars and humans doing their thing.

Chris Liberato 

 Wet Tuna — Warping All by Yourself (Three-Lobed)

Warping All By Yourself by Wet Tuna

Matt Valentine’s space grooves take on more of an organic texture in Warping All by Yourself, at least compared to the wigged-out electronics of 2019’s Water Weird. “Raw Food” arises out of the sound of waves, then shuffles off in a twilight meadow hum, electric guitars sparking wild sprays of sonic color into a lulling haze. “Ain’t No Turning Back,” is funkier, faster and more playful, a bit of Zappa in its out there zings and blurts and pulses, a touch of Royal Trux in its nodding, dissolving choruses. “Sweet Chump Change,” bumps and rolls like a 1970s jazz-funk-fusion epic transported somehow to the fertile hollows of rural New England. Everything spirals in a dizzying, cosmic way, but nothing rushes. You could be here all week without moving. Valentine works mostly alone, bringing in acid folk compatriots like Samara Lubelski, Mick Flower, Doc Dunn and (his partner) Erika Elder for communal touches, but essentially following his own spirit through classic rock, soul, kosmiche music and funk. The whole experience seems like one of those changling folk tales, where if you eat the food, even a little bit, you’ll stay in the enchanted woods forever.

Jennifer Kelly

 Joe Williamson / Dennis Egberth — The Great Escape Plan (Tilting Converter)

Joe Williamson Dennis Egberth - The Great Escape Plan by Joe Williamson Dennis Egberth

When escape is the plan, it behooves the planner to avoid notice. This runs counter to the motivation for many musicians, which is to make sure that the audience’s neck and ears are craned in their direction. The tension between this intentions is the crux of encounter between two Stockholm-based musicians, percussionist Dennis Egberth and double bassist Joe Williamson. It is a studio recording, so the players’ needs for attention had to be met by each other. Their readiness to listen is evident though-out the album’s two vinyl-sized sections (titled, appropriately, “Plan A” and “Plan B”), and it contributes to the complementarity of these performances. Each muted cymbal tap, sizzling brush strike, thwack of the bass’ body or rustle of its bow is the punctuating gesture that completes what the other man plays. Hints of melody and rhythm arise discretely from constellations of mutating sound, like departing parties sticking their heads up to see if the coast is clear.

Bill Meyer

  Eri Yamamoto, Chad Fowler, William Parker, Steve Hirsh — Sparks (Mahakala)

Sparks by Eri Yamamoto, Chad Fowler, William Parker, Steve Hirsh

These four musicians had never played all together before, and they made no plans about where their collaboration would go or what it would sound like once they convened in a room, post-COVID, in New York City. Yamamoto, the classically trained pianist steeped in improvisatory jazz, had worked with bassist Willam Parker before. Chad Fowler, the reedist and proprietor of Mahakala records, has played in a variety of configurations with drummer Steve Hirsh. They call what they’re doing “improvised folk music,” but, really, it’s four skilled practitioners listening hard, finding synchonicity, then careening away from that accord into a wholly new set of considerations. It’s a wild ride, sometimes pensive and beautiful, with sweet, well-considered piano chords framed by bowed and plucked bass reverberations, sometimes turbulent and quick, drums kicking up furious eddies of swirling dust, saxello blowing wildly over the top. None of these principals are averse to finding the still, beautiful center, in long haunting sax tones or vibrating throbs of bass, but nor are they afraid to catch the exhilarating edge of chaos, hammering, squealing, thumping, pounding to stay on top of the wave. How beautiful is it then, when Yamamoto’s clear liquid runs of piano tumble over the rough tumult of Hirsh’s skittering, striated layers of percussion in “Taiko” or when Fowler’s saxophone swaggers across a punch-drunk melody in “Sparks,” peeling back a pristine tone to see what’s raw and ugly underneath. Sparks fly, indeed.

Jennifer Kelly

 Young Guv — Guv III (Run for Cover)

GUV III by Young Guv

Radiant power pop a la Teenage Fanclub, Guv III careens in trebly sweet tunefulness over spiked and raucous guitar work. Guv proprietor Ben Cook wrote this first of two COVID-era albums in the New Mexican desert, surrounded by stunning natural beauty. Yet the songs burst like Sour Patch candies with acid-sweetness. Guitars slash with New Wave swagger in “It’s Only Dancing” and pace with coiled Nick Lowe-ish tension in “Only Want to See U tonight,” as giddy pop vocals swirl and eddy around their contours. I’ve been listening to Matthew Sweet’s Girlfriend lately for no reason whatsoever, and this is in the same power pop family, soft and hard, yearning and joyful at the same time.

Jennifer Kelly

[chaospanics]

January 2021 Roundup

Or a perpetually-incomplete list of new stuff I listened to (and actually liked lol) this month with a couple personal highlights. 

Some favourites from this month include:

The Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes Are The Last of the Great Thunderstorm Warnings

Ignited by their love for each other, for playing music together, the sextet found themselves unspooling the most uncompromising recording of their career. Despite all its grandeur, ...The Last of the Great Thunderstorm Warnings honours the very essence of punk rock: the notion that a band needs only be relevant to itself. At last, the Besnard Lakes have crafted a continuous long-form suite: nine tracks that could be listened together as one, like Spiritualized's Lazer Guided Melodies or even Dark Side of the Moon, overflowing with melody and harmony, drone and dazzle, the group's own unique weather.

The Body - I’ve Seen All I Need To See

The Body is a prolific musical force whose creativity is matched only by the astonishing weight of their sound. Duo Lee Buford and Chip King have established their own musical language that reimagines how rhythm, dynamics, and sonics can shape or dismantle song structure. Over the course of two decades, the duo has consistently challenged assumptions and defied categorization, redefining what it means to be a heavy band. On their new album, The Body are again pushing limits and testing the boundaries of the studio to explore the extremes and microtonality of distortion to find its maximal impact. I’ve Seen All I Need To See is The Body at their most incisively bleak, a towering monolith of noise.

Fax Gang - Aethernet 

When asked about what a listen through Aethernet is like, PK Shellboy describes it as “using a consistent sonic palette while also melding the influences of the whole group.” The way that the varying atmospheres find cohesion is through bitcrushed layers that provide a similar otherworldliness to the production on shoegaze albums. Unlike many experimental hip hop artists being enveloped by lo-fi production (intentional or otherwise), Fax Gang's material almost physically crumbles under its own weight. What is left is the rubble in which Shellboy manages to clear with his hypnotic vocal refrains & repetitious bars to completely entrance the listener.

Vicious Blossom - You Breathe Inside Of Me

Pennsylvania artist Viscious Blossom, in conjunction with EJ Hagen from the fabulous HIghspire, makes his debut on Somewherecold Records with this magnificent selection of tracks. Centered in shoegaze, the album harkens back to albums released in the early 2000's but updated with his own style.

Conny Frischauf - Die Drift

Viennese artist Conny Frischauf’s music is a whirl of Kraut, leftfield electronica and synth pop. She playfully shines a new light on on tradition to create a fresh, contemporary sound. Having released a brace of EPs – Effekt & Emotion“ (International Major Label, 2018) and Affekt & Tradition“ (Kame House, 2019) – Frischauf now presents her debut album, Die Drift.

The Notwist - Vertigo Days

On Vertigo Days, the first album in six years for The Notwist, one of Germany’s most iconic independent groups are alive to the possibilities of the moment. Their music has long been open-minded and exploratory, but from its engrossing structure, through its combination of melancholy pop, clangorous electronics, hypnotic Krautrock and driftwork ballads, to its international musical guests, Vertigo Days is both a new step for The Notwist, and a reminder of just how singular they’ve always been. Most importantly, the core trio of Markus and Micha Acher and Cico Beck are reaching out: as Markus reflects, “we wanted to question the concept of a band by adding other voices and ideas, other languages, and also question or blur the idea of national identity.”

Robbie & Mona - EW [nsfw]

EW experiments fearlessly with sonic textures and song structures, and yet the songs can still carry the emotional weight of a Magic Radio ballad. While the overall vibe of the record takes many cues from dream pop and lo-fi indie, nothing is certain on first listen. EW expertly toes the line between deep emotional resonance and alienating disarray.

Luis Vasquez - A Body Of Errors

With this album, Vasquez felt the urgency to break away from The Soft Moon realm and deliver an even more intimate, self-reflecting body of work, while further unveiling inner demons & vulnerability. He continues to explore his notorious angst and visceral pain, but places them in the context of his own physical being, creating the deeply personal, yet relatable and compelling oddity that is A Body Of Errors, which Vasquez describes as a collection of themes to living in the human body.

Full (for now.. still quite a bit in my backlog 🤦) list below.

LP/EPs:

Alphabet Holds Hostage - Truth In Habitual (EP)

Baio - Dead Hand Control

Bear Call - Systemizer

Beautify Junkyards - Cosmorama

The Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes Are The Last of the Great Thunderstorm Warnings

The Body - I’ve Seen All I Need To See

Buke & Gase and Sō Percussion - A Record Of (EP)

Buzzy Lee - Spoiled Love

Carlo Alfonso - The Little Things We Both Shared

Carmen Villain - Sketch For Winter IX: Perlita

Cathedral Bells - Ether

Collapse Of Dawn - ... Of Dreams & Nightmares

Conny Frischauf - Die Drift

Dave Scanlon - Pink In Each, Bright Blue, Bright Green

Dekalb Works - Duologue

Divan Draw and the British Public - The New Chicago Sound

Dosser - Brainscan (EP)

dvr - u can call me dillon (EP)

ELLES and Violet - Midnight At The Premier Inn (EP)

Elori Saxl - The Blue Of Distance

Fax Gang - Aethernet

Foley - Songs Of The Lyrebird

Frat Mouse - Plywood

Hether - Sticky Thumb

Hilang Child - Every Mover

Kate Davis - Strange Boy

Katie Dey - Urdata

Kyozo - EP 01 (EP)

Lande Hekt - Going To Hell

Lauren Lakis - Daughter Language

LICE - WASTELAND: What Ails Our People Is Clear

Luis Vasquez - A Body Of Errors

Nicolas Fehr - Violet XLVIII

The Notwist - Vertigo Days

Robbie & Mona - EW

Shame - Drunk Tank Pink

Spirit Of The Bear - Spirit Of The Bear

The Spy - Deep Dream

Still Corners - The Last Exit

Subsonic Eye - Nature Of Things

Typhoon - Sympathetic Magic

Vicious Blossom - You Breathe Inside of Me

Widowspeak - Honeychurch (EP)

Singles:

Alice Glass - SUFFER AND SWALLOW

Amulets - Heaviest Wait

Bunny Hoova - WEAK

Cal Fish - Checking In On A Friend

caro♡ - 7 waves

Chelsea Wolfe and Emma Ruth Rundle - Anhedonia

Cigarettes For Breakfast - Wait

The fin. - Deepest Ocean

Glass Beach - Beach Life In Death

Goat Girl - Badibaba

Half Waif - Orange Blossoms

Juan Wauters - Presentation (ft. Nick Hakim and Benamin)

Little Comets - Total Abject Paranoia

Mia Joy - Haha 

Mint Julep - Black Maps

Mogwai - Ritchie Sacramento

Ruby Haunt - Reverse Creek

Sarah Mary Chadwick - Full Mood

Sculpture Club - Just One More

Spunsugar - (You Never) Turn Around

Sweet Trip - Walkers Beware! We Drive Into The Sun

Tomaga - Intimate Immensity

Wy - Come Here 

Xiu Xiu - A Bottle Of Rum (ft. Grouper)

For the past 4 years I’ve always published my yearly playlist on my birthday at the end of December, but I’m considering sharing it earlier this year to make it more collaborative and maybe help people get more out of it by discovering new stuff at the same time I do... I just don’t like making public something so incomplete LOL. So for now, these monthly posts will do while I sit on this obviously very life-altering decision 😂If you’re reading this please always feel free to recommend anything to me 💚

my last.fm ～ spotify 

[musicollage]

Lali Puna. Faking The Books, 2004. Morr Music.  ~ [  Album Review |      1) Pitchfork  +  2) Tiny Mix Tapes  +    3) Stylus Magazine  ]

1) Even now, amidst this international shitstorm of laptop-meets-okay-musician circle jerks, the Weilheim, Germany supergroups-- The Notwist, Ms. John Soda, Lali Puna-- have maintained fairly unique personalities. Let's oversimplify: The Notwist remains the camp's darkest shade, preoccupied with melancholy and perhaps the most electronically involved. Ms. John Soda straddles rock and pop equally, coaching chocolately sweet vocals and the camp's most peppermint hooks. By analogy, Lali Puna is to riffs what Ms. John Soda is to melodies-- this is Weilheim's face of rock, its most outwardly energetic outfit and the closest this town gets to sweaty basement shows and fucking shit up wholesale.

Which doesn't say much, as Lali Puna's idea of fucking shit up on their 2001 release Scary World Theory seemed to be, at worst, breaking into a building and rearranging the furniture. Still, at the time, the album's gruffest tracks offered the most aggressive sounds Weilheim's palatable pop spectrum had yet delivered. And then last year, Ms. John Soda released their heavily rock-oriented While Talking EP, which, though only marginally enjoyable, branched out into harder terrain. Now, with Faking the Books, Lali Puna snatch the Weilheim riffing crown back from Ms. John Soda-- and thankfully, even top their labelmates melodically.

After a pleasant but ultimately faceless title track opener, Lali Puna provide a double-shot of well-wrought rippers: "Call 1-800-FEAR" is the first, boasting a no-nonsense drive, tight instrumental harmonies and undistracting electronic loops that bolster the song's pulse. Atop it all floats bandleader Valerie Trebeljahr's underwater vocals, processed enough so as not to sound incongruous or (gasp!) bedroomy. "Micronomic", the album's second single, follows in similar temperament, and while not my favorite track on the album, speaks to Lali Puna's ability to cradle their listener gently in melody for one second, and to punch him in the face with a dirty riff in the next.

"B-Movie" and "Left Handed", however, are without a doubt the album's standouts, and maybe the best rock songs in Lali Puna's catalog. "B-Movie" pulls off the Kim Gordon sing/speak that Ms. John Soda attempted to lesser success last year: Trebeljahr just nails that been-there-done-that apathy which works so well with the song's contrasting manic rock groove and pointed bass pulse. The loud, guitar-heavy chorus of "Left Handed" steps further away from Weilheim's distinguished trademarks than the band's other material. Its roaring rock factor was a point of contention when it was released as the album's first single, but in the context of the album it doesn't seem out of place at all: The song sports similarly atonal-to-tonal lyric deliveries as "B-Movie", and remains anchored firmly by the nervous, high-pitched synth line that opens the song and rides it out to the end.

As for the rest of Faking the Books, it's pleasant, and hardly unrealized, but it falls just a bit too close to the IDM pop lark that takes up so much space on CD racks and FireWire drives. And on an album on which this band so beautifully exceeds itself with songs like "B-Movie" and "Grin and Bear", tracks like "Geography-5" and "People I Know", which are content to simply be pretty, are just further proof that the gimmick of pairing electronic and traditional rock instrumentation has lost its edge, and that the genre must now rely on stronger songwriting to succeed. That said, Faking the Books is a confident stride in the right direction, and proves that, even within the confines of a tired concept, a great hook still goes a long way.

2) The history of brilliant electronic efforts fronted by mind-altered, bot-driven avatars is not a short one. From Kraftwerk to Devo to Miss Kittin, electronic music has always had a soft spot for people who can sing just like computers can. And, admittedly, it is all pretty cool. There is a certain awesomeness in imitating computers, a turn of the tables from trying to get computers to act like humans (which has never worked out very well).

Problem is, Lali Puna's latest effort, Faking the Books, isn't really going for fun, and there is hardly a wink in Valerie Trebeljahr's vacant, utterly sterile delivery; not even a raised eyebrow. We're talking about corporate takeover in "Micronomic," political corruption in "1-800-Fear," and cheating (!) in title track "Faking the Books"; and that's just the first three cuts. In an album heavy on concept, it all comes off as a trick, utterly unconvincing and disturbingly jaded.

To be sure, Faking the Books is still a worthy effort, and contains some undeniably beautiful moments. A lean string section on "Crawling by Numbers" serves as perfect counterpoint to spare, haunting keyboards. The driving percussion of "B-Movie" is as close to a rock-out track as bastardized IDM has ever previously achieved. And throughout the album's twelve tracks, an unlikely confluence of sound often gives way to the kind of sonic landscaping that few electronic acts can approach.

It's just hard what to make of all of it. Listening to Faking the Books makes you feel utterly alone; and maybe that's the whole point. It's difficult to play the album through and not recall Markus Acher's striking vocals on The Notwist's Neon Golden (who also provides guitars here); he's sullen, fairly quiet and not particularly dramatic, but entirely convincing. I want to believe Lali Puna. I just need for them to believe, too.

3) Lali Puna is one of the myriad groups putting out consistently intriguing material without taking the final step toward a defining masterwork. Their first album, Tridecoder, was often sterilized by their Stereolab-worship, and though they progressed towards a Teutonic amalgam of their own with Scary World Theory, they were still hampered by peculiar translation barriers. Often the lyrics came out deadened and awkward, as though misled by a translator fond of cruel pranks (the title track and its allusion to the ‘cookie monster’ was particularly strange). On their newest album, Faking the Books, Lali Puna move one step closer to triumph. They touch greatness at several points, if never truly digging their nails in and grabbing hold.

Opening with the gorgeous stuttering vocal samples of the title track, Lali Puna establish the same vague working area as previous works, but there is a distance in the similarity. It’s as though you’ve just met a good friend’s identical twin, and he’s posing as your friend. His voice sounds different, and he parts his hair wider of center. He doesn’t use the same expressions, and there’s a gleam in his eye that tells you something’s up. The driving organic rhythms of “Call 1-800-Fear” remind of much of the first album, but just as you become accustomed to its propulsive thrust, the drums fade into quick-stepping electronic beats and a solemn piano muffles the song into a deep restless stirring. “Micronomic” uses a similar mechanical breakdown to cool down its squelched sax blurts and lively drums.

Perhaps the greatest difference is Valerie Trebeljahr’s improved emotional range. At times in the past, she was content to play the heroin-dead heroine, reclining with sang froid and cold Germanic grace into an emotional deadpan. On many of Faking the Books’ best songs, Trebeljahr reaches beyond this detachment to an impassioned query, giving the album a greater sense of depth and development. Suddenly, even in the face of vague uncertainty, Trebeljahr seems more confident, more willing to put her ego on the line and risk a sullen retreat. “Geography-5” finds her alluring and come-hither, and since the song is built upon one of the album’s simplest arrangements, her voice is the necessary focal point. Atop a simple bass-drum part and twilight chimes, she sweats out a sexuality that doesn’t bring to mind black leather, dog collars and torturous candle wax. On the gorgeous closer “Crawling by Numbers,” she similarly warms up the chorus with a beautiful reach—the juxtaposition of her voice with the song’s dirgeful strings making for a mesmerizing finale.

For the first time, Lali Puna’s control doesn’t seem so absolute. It’s possible that they aren’t cooler than you are (though it’s still likely). A few cracks have spread in their frozen facade, and that sudden vulnerability, glimpsed in the desperate “Do you?” on “Alienation” and the minimal aquatic squiggles and tribal drums of “Small Things,” makes the group that much more compelling. They work under the protective hush of simplicity at times, and this sparseness allows the broken-nosed shatter of their more propulsive material the intended effect. They aren’t there yet, but the maturity on Faking the Books serves as notice they may only be one album away.

[thepassengertimes]

Music & Visions – projects selected by Massimo Di Roma + ThePT

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Lali Puna

Valerie Trebeljahr started Lali Puna after her first band – the all-girl-band L.B.Page – dissolved. The line-up was soon completed by Markus Acher, Christoph Brandner and Florian Zimmer. After some changes the group today consists of Trebeljahr (vocals, keyboard, computer), Christan Heiss (keyboard, computer) and Brandner (drums)…read more

Lali Puna ‘s website ∞ twitter ∞ facebook ∞ soundcloud 

              Catherine Song aka CSONG “Hey, my name is Catherine! I have an insatiable appetite for sweets and a thirst for adventure. Most of all, I love to draw!”

Contact: csong.kijung@gmail.com

Mike Monaghan ‘s website ∞ tumblr ∞ instagram ∞ vimeo 

Follow The PasseNger Times on facebook ∞ instagram ∞ twitter

  Music * Lali Puna – Deep Dream / Illustration * Catherine Song aka CSONG – Nameless Music & Visions - projects selected by Massimo Di Roma + ThePT click to enlarge…

[thebowerypresents]

The Radio Dept. made it seem effortless last night at The Bowery Ballroom. Read our review and see the rest of these cool, moody photos.

Photos courtesy of Charles Steinberg | charlesosteinberg.com

[phroyd]

The Notwist

“Where In This World”

From: The Devil, You + Me (2008)

Markus Acher — guitar, vocals (1989–present)

Micha Acher — bass (1989–present)

Andi Haberl — drums (2007–present)

Martin Gretschmann (aka Console and Acid Pauli) — programming (1997–2014)

Martin Messerschmid — drums (1989–2007)

Phroyd

[prettyinnoise]

EVENT: The Notwist, 22.09.2022 @ Werk 2, Leipzig

EVENT: The Notwist, 22.09.2022 @ Werk 2, Leipzig

Seit über 30 Jahren sind sie eine Institution der nationalen und internationalen Indieszene: The Notwist aus Weilheim, einer kleinen, beschaulichen Stadt in Oberbayern, die normalerweise niemand kennen würde, im Jahr 1998 aber vom legendären britischen Musikmagazin The Wire aus Gründen zum „neuen Seattle“ ausgerufen wurde. Für derlei Schmonzenz hat sich das Trio um die Acher-Brüder Markus und…

[stevenvenn]

The Notwist - Pick Up the Phone (from Neon Golden) Hitting up some early aughts bands I love today. I was especially enamored with The Notwist’s Neon Golden in 2002. Such a great album! “Pilot” and “One With the Freaks” also great tracks. I remember listening to it over and over that year (and one of the Acher brother’s other band Lali Puna). German indie rock at its finest. They’re still touring and releasing work (last album was 2016). Need to catch up with them.

[affairesasuivre]

Scary World Theory /  Lali Puna (Morr Music, 2001)

Ce deuxième album de Lali Puna provoque les mêmes effets que les dernières productions de The Notwist (dont le chanteur est ici à la basse). Un subtil travail sur des sons et des rythmiques électroniques sert de carcan à de superbes chansons pops. 

Tout est ici minutieusement mis en place, la recherche électronique n'étouffant jamais la sensibilité de la chanteuse Valérie Trebeljarn, les nappes de claviers, ou la basse très New Order de Markus Acher. Certains titres comme "Nin-Com-Pop" ou "Scary World Theory" sont réellement bouleversants, d'autres comme "Contratempo" ou l'instrumental "50 Faces Of" sont carrément entrainants, tout en gardant un côté sombre. Lali puna apparait ici comme un groupe à la fois pop, mélancolique et moderne.

[noloveforned]

no love for ned air on wlur at the top of the hour. it already feels like summer here in lexington so there are a bunch of songs with summer in the title this week. tune in or check out last week's show below!

no love for ned on wlur – june 3rd, 2022 from 8-10pm

artist // track // album // label herman düne // new jersey cross concrete // mash concrete metal mushroom // shrimper twenty-two degree halo // ripple // garden bed // sleeper girls // lust for life // album // true panther sounds helpful people // you don't have to know where to go // broken blossom threats ep // burundi cloud pin ups // frontwards // lee marvin // midsummer madness mary lou lord // some jingle jangle morning // she'd be a diamond // fire mj lenderman // hangover game // boat songs // dear life kills birds // offside // married // royal mountain onetwothree // oh boy // onetwothree // kill rock stars long odds // mostly roses // fine thread ep // (self-released) warren zevon // bad karma // sentimental hygiene // virgin timeshare // time out // yellow ep // osborne again local tourist // colors // other ways of living // lovers weekend simon joyner // caroline's got a secret // songs from a stolen guitar // grapefruit markus acher // you danced // like a plane ep // moone amanda whiting // temptation // lost in abstraction // jazzman shabaka hutchings // ital is vital // afrikan culture // impulse! luke stewart // patrice lumumba // 'assassinations' for free-jazz quintet // catalytic sound carlos niño and friends // peace four // live at commend, nyc cassette // rvng intl sam gendel and antonia cytrynowicz // wondering, waiting // live a little // psychic hotline james wavey // beach comber // snowy beach // dandy boy azar lawrence // shadow dancing // shadow dancing // tidal waves seduction // two to make it right // nothing matters without love // a&m yves jarvis // enemy // the zug // anti sofi royer // baby // cult survivor // stones throw partner look // speed limit // by the book // trouble in mind r.e. seraphin // stuck in reno // swingshift ep // mt. st. mtn. the ocean party // quarter life crisis // split // spunk quivers // when it breaks // golden doubt // ba da bing! bmx bandits // disco girl // c-86 // glass modern