A thought..before we start.
Much of this week has been spent digging into “playlist” mode in streaming and experimenting with how it hurts/helps the releases that the DNA of these machines wants to pair it with. Honestly, most of the examples program everything so similarly that after a few songs, you wind up hating what you started with (could that be the point?) However, if you can manage to beat the system and discover a style, an artist, or even just a sub-sub-sub-genre that it cannot readily declare “Oh, you should have the red wine with this meal!” - get ready for a wild ride. Keep pumping them in your “liked songs” list too.
MANDY, INDIANA - I’ve Seen A Way [LP](Fire Talk/Redeye)
A debut album is one where you establish your sound. In addition, you also must successfully leave any previous singles or EP efforts in the dust. After making your first grand statement to the world, those become formative steps toward the path you are on. French/Manchester synth punks Mandy, Indiana drill you in the skull with a booming, reckless, thrilling Young Gods-like minimalist album (looking at you 1992’s “TV Sky.”) Every sound needs to slam into you like it was from the great unknown. On “Drag [Crashed]” the string stabs, oozing gated foghorns, and the This Heat-ish primal drums sound immediate and visceral. In addition, the normally tiring four-on-the-floor beat that plagues most Electronic is so obscured in places, you think that your heart is beating with it. Mandy’s heated beats (with unreal natural reverb - maybe the best drum sound of the year) are often broken up by coaxing very upfront House (“Injury Detail”) and Hip-Hop (“The Driving Rain (18)”) rhythms from their drum machines. The effect is typically jarring as their minimalist textures sound massive and bleed into the corners of your room (when you listen LOUD - as you should.) Even in its more quiet moments (the opening of “2 Stripe” and the Tangerine Dream-ish cuts “Love Theme (4K VHS)” and the final two songs,) there is no loss of energy. These are more like changes in color than “pauses” between the savage attack of their other tracks. Finally, there are Valentine Caulfield’s vocals that are in French but communicate a world of confusion and disorientation (the “airport” sound of her on “Drag [Crashed]” drowns in effects that use her wordless gurgles to delay the shock of its Throbbing Gristle-style ending.) With careful attention to detailed production, crystallizing their ideas, and reinventing the noisy past in higher fidelity, Mandy, Indiana has laid the seeds for their own Industrial sound - one that you are going to be hearing everywhere very soon.
GIÖBIA - Acid Disorder [LP](Heavy Psych Sounds ITA)
Milan, Italy’s Giöbia are experiencing an evolution of their sound. Now several albums into their career after an opening frame of Nuggets-style Garage Rock, Giöbia is morphing into a groove-based Space Rock band that seems to have more in common with the dusty desert Metal of Kyuss than Hawkwind. After exploring their inner space on the swirling Pink Floyd-ian opener “Queen of Wands,” they get far out into Uncle Acid-like gloom on “The Sweetest Nightmare.” It works because they downplay its similarity pretty well and hang everything on it being both a song that works and leaves vapor trails. “Consciousness Equals Energy” is Kyuss-ian in structure but drawn out with effects that make its thunderous drums and guitar riffage resemble Hawkwind without their signature driving beat. This skillful maneuvering away from the typical overdrive rhythm leaves Giöbia more signposts ahead to insert more Floydian mystery and other Prog-ian ideas. From song to song, Giöbia is having a huge time emulating their idols and taking them into deep space. The delayed, driven lick on “Screaming Souls” and the “bending key changes” on the PFM-at-a-circus instrumental “Circo Galattico” also highlight where their subtle changes show promise.
FOR TRACY HYDE - Ethernity [LP](P-Vine JPN/Light In The Attic)
These Japanese Shoegazers find both the majesty of post-Hardcore and the heart-tugging melodic drama of Emo on this 2021 album that weirdly embraces both Nineties Alternative (“Chewing Gum USA”) and American culture in general (their best work to date; “Interdependence Day (Parts 1 and 2".”) With their skillful doubled vocals and smart chording, For Tracy Hyde turn the spritely “Welcome To Cookieville” into a R.E.M song with Todd Rundgren-esque changes (and a dynamite fake fade-out.) At so many points in “Ethernity,” For Tracy Hyde keeps you wondering why Shoegazers have always sought inspiration from the UK bands and not their US counterparts. For all the jangly beauty inside “Ethernity,” the band behind the vocalists and hazy guitars is tough allowing for a balance of drive and lushness better than most Shoegazers do. If they write another chorus as bittersweet and beautiful as the sweeping “Radio Days,” we are going to need to clear a path for J-Gaze.
ALY EISSA - Gouda Bar [LP](Akuphone FRA)
As intoxicating as Middle Eastern music can be, when traditional instruments and melodies are mixed with modern ideas - it tends to sit together like oil and water. With these long, evolving tracks to wind all their melodies around, “Gouda Bar” is a bit like Egyptian music with hints of classical, Pop, and even Funk. The twelve-minute odyssey “Barrel’s Dance” opens with an upbeat section and neat organ parts. However, once you let it slow down and arrive at the middle - it switches to double-time with fascinating notes descending and each instrument following along in an almost Jazzy manner. “Virgin” is far more meditative and gives you the best chance to hear Eissa’s skill and beauty at playing his Oud. For all of Eissa’s panache, “Gouda Bar” is largely a “group” record. “Camel” takes a highly interesting turn from slow, methodical, and reverent to a big finish with organ chords pounding and otherworldly synths. While there is nothing meditative about “Gouda Bar,” it feels welcome because there are too few records from this region that really show us a night on the town.
ENTIDAD ANIMADA - Pruebas de Existencia [LP](Umor Rex MEX)
Marcos Diaz’s homemade minimal guitar/Spacemen 3-ish wash of songs is a collection of moods. “Costa dorada” allows to you dovetail your listening with its gentle drifting synths and beckoning horn. Then, Diaz allows it to further cool with the looping but driving “Holos” where you keep expecting Sonic Boom or J.Spaceman to intone a few helpful words above the shifting waves. However, then Diaz settles into his flight pattern with the twinkling synths and “take-off” bass and beats of “Sueño tangible.” Suddenly, the organs high in the mix trigger your memories of Popol Vuh and Diaz finally vocalizes like a good captain from the flight deck. As Diaz takes control, he cycles through hypnotic Cocteau Twins-ish deep chorus (“Nueva brisa,”) Mexican carnival music filtered through a myriad of effects (“Cámara de bruma continua 1,” and Kraftwerk-ian minimalism (“Teorias.”) “Pruebas” carries Diaz’s realizations to several unreal planes. While envisioned as experimental, Entidad Animada has largely created a work of Shoegazer music with a broad spectrum of colors.
We sincerely hope that this was time well spent. We thank you for reading, listening, subscribing, and most of all supporting the artists listed here. Thank you.
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