I haven’t really kept up with Ceremony since freakin’
“Rohnert Park”, so, you know, I’m behind the curve. I’m well aware that they have changed their sound
significantly since that time and all that talk about artistic growth and
trying new things is all well and good.
However, this may be the same band members, but they’re a completely
different band now. There’s really
nothing present in their sound that has anything to do with the band that
infamously sung, “Thunder and lightning protect me from God/ I won’t be
skullfucked by faith, I am the upside down cross” (it’s a really good line by
the way). On “In the Spirit World
Now”, a record whose cover looks as if Trapper Keeper was commissioned to reinterpret
the art from a Genesis album, Ceremony go full-on 80’s. It’s kind of weird and I’m a bit
conflicted about how I feel about it all.
I mean, I lived through the 80’s.
Like the entire decade.
There’s a lot about that time that has not aged well. There’s points where Ceremony is
referencing everything from Gary Numan to Echo and the Bunnymen, which
works. But sometimes the heavy use
of synthesizers almost feels forced in a way that screams ‘GET IT? WE LIKE THE 80’s NOW!’ Still, they get a pat on the back for
writing “We Can Be Free”, the best Devo song not actually written by Devo since
“Oh No, It’s Devo!” (“Never Gonna Die Now” comes in a close second but edges
into early SoCal punk territory).
I can enjoy most of this record in a non-ironic way, even though these
guys could have made a killing serving up music for a wacky montage scene in a
Judge Reinhold buddy comedy with what they dished out here. (Relapse)
CLOUD RAT, “Pollinator”
What a fucking way to open an album, holy shit. Cloud Rat: “give us a minute and change
to blast yr fuckin’ face off. Oh,
and we have an entire album to go.
Thanks, see you in hell.”
There is a total perfection of the sort of technical precision that
takes ages for bands to get down, yet tempered with that sort of loose and wild
aggression, and Cloud Rat has it in spades. Usually bands either get boring
because they get bogged down in technicality, or (as is often the case with
grind bands) they kind of suck because they’re sloppy and go 100% with just
playing fast without considering much else. Cloud Rat certainly give you both the technicality and the
looseness to keep it exciting. I
really caught on to this group with their last proper full length “Qliphoth”
(which was already their third if I’m keeping track correctly) and was
astounded by it’s original take on grind music by adding lots of atmospherics,
dynamics, tempo changes, and still being pretty crust as fuck. Since then they have released about
1000 splits and I’m not sure how they keep cranking out quality material at
such a dizzying pace. And somehow
they have managed to gather the cream of the crop- 14 tracks- and cram them
into this astounding new full length.
It certainly picks up where “Qliphoth” left off, but with a sharper
production and cleaner sound overall.
I’d say it incorporates big, epic melodies just as often (if not more)
as their last LP, but doesn’t slow the pace into more atmospheric songs as
often. Instead, those melodies are
paired with raging blast beats from easily one of the best drummers in the game
right now, or they are transformed into gutclobbering breakdowns. “The Mad” and “Webspinner” may be the
strongest examples of being melodically aggressive and layering it over those
wild blasts. Meanwhile, “Al Di La” tosses in a section right in the middle that
would make Cold As Life run for cover, and they do it like it’s no thing.
Honestly, I can’t wrap my head around how Cloud Rat do it. They’re just a trio- vocals, drums,
guitar, that’s it. A constantly
impressive band doing incredibly good stuff. Oh, and just for the fuck of it, they made a companion
record to go with this called “Don’t Let Me Fall Off the Cliff” which is all
chillwave/goth-y/folksy mellow music.
Ya know, just because they had the time. Fuck me, right?
Get this at all costs.
(Artefact)
GLOOP, “Smiling Lines”
Gloop have made some big strides in a short amount of
time. Their last record, “The
Tourist” was released last year and they’re already back with a new one. They continue with their hyperactive
weirdo punk, but things sound significantly bigger, more confident, and even
further into bizarro land. Of note, there is ore emphasis than before on the
vocals, which are probably the wildest aspect of this group and I’m reminded
pretty heavily of Brainiac, minus any synthesizers. They just have a way of being heavily abrasive, but wacky
and completely uncontrolled at the same time. It’s cool to see what Gloop are continuing to do in their
relatively short tenure, thus far, as a band. From the more punk/weirdo corner of the noise rock spectrum
Gloop’s in a pretty good position, if you ask me, to aggravate and annoy a
bigger crowd with just how well they do whatever weird shit they get up
to. I enjoy it, that’s for
sure. (Grimiore Records)
KALKI, cd
If you can make out what they’re screaming about here via
the death growls straight from a cave Kalki leave no room for poetry as they
are lyrically extremely blunt in regards to our current political station. Song titles like “Embrace the Hate”,
“Fake News”, “Enemy Of the People”, and “Massacre At Home” make it all the more
clear as Kalki deliver nine metallic crushers on their formal debut after an
initial demo. This is their most
realized effort to date and mingles those echo’ed growls with musty death
metal, crusty grind, and slow, dirge-y hardcore grime. I know, that’s a lot of deep cleaning
to do, but Syracuse is kind of a grimy town so you’ll understand where these
characters are coming from. And
I’m sure they’ll love this, but I hear just a touch of old Blood Runs Black and
Damnation AD in a couple of the songs.
That’s a good thing, whether intentional or not. Give ‘em a whirl, see what the big
skull pile on the cover is all about.
(Cult Of Nine Records)
MULTICULT, “Simultaneity Now”
Multicult are a band that are all incredibly masterful
players who have all their tones dialed in perfect, their recordings sound
amazing, they build their own guitar pedals, and have checked off bands like
Jesus Lizard, Big’n, and Dazzling Killmen as reference points that they often
exceed in terms of potent delivery.
So if that impresses you, and it should, Multicult will deliver the
goods on this, their fourth record, with nary a reason for complaint. I feel like maybe they can get a little
too in their own head, or perhaps go over other’s head at times, and don’t
always roll with a good hook when it presents itself. But that is made up for how they steamroll you with
incredible use of tone and rhythm, while guitar skronk rips you in half;
usually all within the space of two minutes. Multicult have consistently sharpened their sound over their
productive time as a band and it shows with each record the progress they
achieve. They work on new tricks,
perfect well-worn ones, and fans will know exactly what they’re getting and be
impressed with what they hear. And
that’s not a bad thing at all, is it?
(Learning Curve/ Reptilian)
SOME GIFTS, “Facts?!?”
My man Vic Lazar has played in impressive bands since the
mid-90’s and I became aware of these groups not long after moving to Buffalo in
’97. Since that time, and about 25
bands later, my man has settled in the LA area and this is his second record
with this Left Coast group. And
once again, it’s an impressive collection of indie rock where the vocals sound
like David Lee Roth putting Cheap Trick through a blender. It’s pretty wild and gives the music an
added dimension. Musically, if
you’re a fan of stuff J. Robbins has done (Burning Airlines, Office Of Future
Plans), later-era Braid, or current groups like Prawn you will probably get
some enjoyment out of this. I
bring up the vocals again because music of this sort is often accompanied by a
sing-y, or sensitive kinds of vocals, but here it’s a little more wild and I
like the way it’s somewhat out-of-type for these kinds of bands. So good on them for some
originality. Of course, the
musicianship is wonderful and balances a knack for wanting to noodle around and
show off chops with just fucking rocking out. They bring some fun to the table with the aforementioned
qualities, as well as funny song titles like “Business Casual Is Killing Me”,
and some great children doing back-ups on album opener “Deregulate It”.
(self-released)
UV-TV, “Happy”
I took a chance
on this just off of hearing a
couple parts of songs and isn’t it a great feeling when it pays off? To just randomly come across something
that you end up really liking? Such is the case for NYC-by-way-of-Gainesville
group UV-TV. Their new LP is a
quick burst of garage-y, shoegaze-y punk that feels like it goes by super quick
over it’s 9 songs. Some of the
tracks take on a rapid fire pace, like “Sand” while others take a drawn out,
psychedelic approach, such as the shuffling “Walk” (which takes a turn to a
more upbeat pace halfway through).
But one of the best songs on this whole thing is A-side closer “World”
and it’s dreamy meandering, coupled with soaring vocals. Speaking of which, the vocals take a
strong position in this band as they range from poppy and full of excitement,
to ethereal and somewhat somber.
They certainly offer a strong foundation to this group’s sound. My only complaint would be that, at
times, the drumming feels way too busy and disjointed for the sound of this
group, particularly in the songs that go for faster tempo shifts. The drumming seems to be playing
quicker than the band is trying to go and it feels out of place. The rest of the time things are on
point. So, here’s to taking
chances and discovering a fun new record to check out. I suggest you give it a try as
well. (Deranged)
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