Seriously, all these damn opinions! It just makes you want to puke. Still, I feel compelled to write about the stuff I come across whether it's solicited, or if it's just something I think people ought to give some attention to. But that ought to come as no great epiphany at this point. Here's to closing out a weird year where I'm noticing that like a shit ton of great EPs were put out there. Year-end list is coming next.
BASHFORD, “Greener Grasses”
I’m nothing if not brutally honest. There’s a bunch of stuff on here that sounds just like Nirvana “Bleach” if it were a bit less engaging. And there’s some stuff on here that sounds like butt rock. And this band is like five albums in nearly as many years. There’s no doubt an appealing rawness to their sound when they’re on and for like the first 30 seconds of half these songs I’m ready to jump in, but then it just sputters out into rather hackneyed songwriting. (BigNeck Records)
BEAUTY PILL, “Instant Night” 12” EP
From one of the most interesting groups to make music over the last 10-15 years Beauty Pill present another EP while many of us fervently await a new full length. The title track starts the record off with collaborator Erin Nelson supplying soaring vocals over a BP trademark of playful instrumentation that bleeds into euphoric bliss and an additional trick of somehow maintaining a beat without once using percussion. Bass-heavy drones at certain points fill in the gaps. A lot of BP material is difficult to describe as they utilize such a wide range of instruments and production techniques to mold something entirely unique and “Instant Night” (the song) will certainly go on to stand out as one of their better songs that work into that semi-indescribable brilliance. A short instrumental interlude comes next with snappy, jazzy drumming and a pretty jingle atop it before the funky, “You Need a Better Mind” rolls in and honestly, if you’re not bobbing your head or straight up shaking your butt to this you got problems. Primary composer/ringleader Chad Clark uses his delicate and smooth voice to bring the song a relative calm amongst the calamity while a background chorus chants the songs title repeatedly. Finally, there’s a remix of “You Need a Better Mind” and oh how I dread remixes. They’re usually just a lazy dissection of a song with a bad techno beat over it and a waste of time. At least with this one Beauty Pill attempts to maintain the core of the song but adding a quick beat to it, changing the funk style of the actual version. It feels like background music to the scene in Akira where Kanada visits the arcade in the middle of the day when no one else is around. So in all takeaway number one- what does Beauty Pill sound like exactly? Imagine De La Soul being covered by Laurie Anderson being backed by Sly and the Family Stone… in the future. Takeaway number two- give us a damn new full length already. (Northern SpyRecords)
ENGINE KID, “Special Olympics” flexi 7”
As a hardcore kid I’ll always associate this band with releasing an album through Revelation and how that just never made much sense. I never got to see them, but they were apparently unbearably loud, even though much of their music then was melodic and wandering. But knowing what I know now, it makes sense how loud they were (members would go on to form Sunn 0))) and I see why Revelation was interested in them (members were in Brotherhood and there was a Sunny Day Real Estate-adjacent connection). And now I understand what Engine Kid were going for- Slint as filtered through big, burly Pacific Northwest grunge thunder. They were definitely kind of their own thing. It’s just that in 1995 I had no idea what to do with it. And I think neither did most other people who heard this band. So maybe it’s good fortune that the band finds themselves recording some songs again for the heck of it and gives us an EP to chew on now that culture has caught up. Earlier this year they dropped an impressive box set collection of all their material so I guess there’s a little momentum going here. This has three short burners that are heavier than anything I recall them doing in the past and it all sound like Torche going bananas. The fourth track sounds more like Engine Kid that I am familiar with- a long winding passage with sampled vocals, followed by a single heavy section, and back to the quiet stuff. Apparently this is finished versions of songs they were working on before they broke up some 25 years ago. Comes on a flexi record for all you lovers of music pressed onto a sheet. (Southern Lord)
EYE FLYS, “Exigent Circumstance” EP
I’ve been in and out with paying attention to this band. I have no good reason why, they rule pretty hard. Their first offering was kind of a bit too on the nose for me with the outright Melvins worship, but it was still good. They did an LP that saw them come into their own a bit more, and now we have this EP that was not quite a surprise release, but it did sort of sneak up all quick-like. And heck, why not just throw down four new tracks of ear-hammering sludgy riff worship to make sure people know you’re still doing the damn thing? They come out the gate with a track that could have been an outtake from Crowbar “Odd Fellows Rest” if I didn’t know better and then proceed to drag what’s left of your bloodied corpse through a tar pit with “Dead Larvae”. “Exigent Circumstance” has an almost Coalesce vibe with it’s noisy cavalcade off feedback and off-timed riffs heaped atop a ongoing chugging riff keeping things centered. The EP closes out with “Circular Motion”, which has a bit more of bro-y southern riff, but repeatedly clobbers you over the head with it for three minutes. In all, it’s 11 minutes of heavy damage with a screened b-side for you collector types. (ClosedCasket Activities)
GENOCIDE PACT, s/t
I’m by no means an expect of any sort on death metal. I occasionally dip my toes in to check some out, and usually I’m good for a few songs before I’m done. You could say I’m not even a casual listener. I do recall seeing Genocide Pact once back when they were probably just getting going and even then their punk and hardcore infused death metal was pretty easy to grasp. On their new record they seem to not have deviated too hard from that initial plan. Genocide Pact are not trying to be overtly flashy with wild technical prowess, though you will find ripping solos here and there. They are playing dirgy, grimy, filth-strewn death metal informed by a punk background, frequently shifting pace between plodding Obituary-style groove (“Mutilated Vision”) and more grind-y/faster paced Napalm Death-styled beatings (“Deprive/Degrade”). But hey, like I said, I’m no expert. Those just looking for something to melt the sleeves off your shirt (if you’re listening to this, why would you have sleeves on your shirt anyway?) and cause your jacket to sprout Repulsion patches will be pleased, those looking for a re-invention of the wheel look elsewhere. (Relapse)
HELMET, “Live and Rare”
Having seen Helmet not that long ago I can say they still sound great. But, to me, nothing will really compare to their classic lineup. I think each of those players in that initial lineup were astounding in their own right as musicians, regardless of how much of the music was composed by Page Hamilton (not too shabby of a musician himself). So I’m happy to report that this live record is two sets- one from CBGBs in 1990, early in the band’s formation. The other is from an Australian festival in 1993, quite possibly at the band’s apex of hype. And both sets are the band in their original lineup. I always love hearing documentation of this sort- how a band sounded early on, how they were captured in a live environment, especially when it’s a band as important as Helmet. The CBs set- from some sparsely attended weeknight calendar filler- somehow sounds better and more vicious than the stadium-sized, professionally recorded festival set at a point where the band was touring non-stop. Chalk it up to a group that rehearsed fervently and were hungry to demolish audiences. This is pre- “Strap It On” Helmet, though you get a primitive version of “Murder” (which manages to come off as even more grating and disturbing than the studio version) and a slightly less ominous performance of “Sinatra”. The rest is fast-paced crushing noise played as loud as humanly possible. It’s the singles stuff, not on their actual records. The festival set shows a band that now has nice gear and playing out primarily “Meantime” material (as well as their go-to cover of the Melvins “Oven”). Maybe it’s the people recording it, maybe it’s Hamilton’s tipsy demeanor (in the linear notes he admits to knocking back a few too many before playing), but there’s whole sections of guitar missing on “Give It” (probably one of their best songs ever) and “Blacktop” that are sort of essential to the songs that’s a bit of a letdown. The rest of it sounds pretty good. I tend to dig live albums for the warts and all aspect that bands don’t need to sound perfect live, and that’s part of the charm. However, with a touring history as long as Helmet has had over the last 30 years one would think they could pull a live set from the vault that’s a little better. (earMUSIC)
POMELO, “Validations”
Rochester, NY trio Pomelo presents their debut full length that shows them flexing their art-punk brains to give the listener 11 tracks that fall somewhere between the taut post-punk of bands like Stuck with the DC-leaning math rock of groups like Faraquet if they were a little less playful and more somber. These songs primarily move at a slower pace, bringing plenty of breathing room to emphasize the studious interplay between guitars, vocals, and rhythm but keeping things far from dull. Sure, they will draw some fans whose noses are permanently up their own ass, but I’d like to think some folks who are just into good, thoughtful, and carefully constructed math rock can easily enjoy this as well. There are 11 songs here for you to decide for yourself. (self-released)
RID OF ME, “Traveling”
Philly’s Rid Of Me has really made a heck of a full length with “Traveling”. Comprised of a few re-recordings of several songs from their various demos, as well as a clutch of brand new songs, it makes for a cohesive whole worthy of repeated listens. While initially this band had the feeling of a low-key project to do when members weren’t off doing the similarly-minded Low Dose, it seems that now Rid Of Me is the main group for the songwriting team of Mike McGuiness and Itarya Rosenburg. Starting as a trio (rounded out by former Fight Amp alum Mike Howard on drums) they also enlisted second guitarist Reuben Polo (Soul Glo) to fill out the sound and this may be his first real deal recording with the band? Either way, the record sounds like a band that has gone from project to the real thing and it shows. The slightly wistful post-punk vibes on the first couple tracks come off as a nice addition, but ultimately the DNA of filthy rock stemming from the Fight Amp/Low Dose resume cannot be ignored and is present in some way on all these songs. Things are at their most cacophonous on the raging “Broke Shit”, which takes the spot of my favorite song here. Bassist/vocalist Rosenburg has really come a long way with utilizing her voice to easily shift between going with the melody to add emotional texture and screaming to fuck with yr skull, frequently blending both to great effect. Though smoking is pretty gross I gotta say I love the cover of this record, which kind of acts as a metaphor for the album as a whole- it’s an artful depiction of various pictures of the members hands all holding cigarettes. So ya know, artistically engaging, but still kind of gross and ugly. (Ghost IsClear/ Knife Hits)
SUNSTROKE, “Cryin’ Wolves”
I don’t think I’m out of line to say the art the band is using for this new single is directly an homage to Melinda Beck-illustrated “Dine Alone” 7” from Quicksand. It looks almost exactly like it, and while I’d take a guess that the members of this band are fans and their music could presumably fall under the vast umbrella of ‘post-hardcore’, they don’t sound all that much like Quicksand. Sunstroke fall somewhere within the upbeat, melodic sound of current groups like One Step Closer and the rowdy, swirling hardcore rock sound of past bands like Swiz. “Cryin’ Wolves” is a stand-alone single that follows up on a another single from a few months back (“I Wanna Be Ignored”) where they did lathe cuts, which seems a bit wasteful to me. After all, it’s tough to justify paying nearly $20 for a single song on a crappy format (lathes), which is what the plan seems to be for this single as well (which is currently just digital). Maybe waiting and putting both songs on a single record would be a bit more convenient. Still, I like this band a lot and think they’re making really cool music so at the very least it’s worth checking them out. (New Morality)
No comments:
Post a Comment