MELOMANIA ponies up two can't miss tracks with soulful relaxation and its extreme
Oh yeah. There's a Listening Journal too.
First up, two tracks you cannot miss.
DREAM WIFE - “Leech” from Social Lubrication [LP/CD](Lucky Number/Redeye)
Three albums in and Brighton trio Dream Wife establish themselves as the next phase in Riot Grrll Punk. While we cannot really claim to be fans, “Social Lubrication” does have its moments (the dancing at 3 AM in the romantic “Mascara.”) However, “Hot (Don’t Date A Musician)” repeats its clever idea so that you do not have to listen to the song again and they at times even veer a little too close to the successful Wet Leg.
However, the searing “Leech” is a brilliant Punk Rock tone poem that descends from Patti Smith, travels through Bikini Kill’s shrieks and Sleater-Kinney’s strident sloganeering choruses (“Just have some empathy!”) The verses are not just another “talking” song. They are empowering and blood-boiling. So, there is no more perfect union for this jeremiad than to unleash screams that have not been heard since John Lennon’s Arthur Janov days. We support you on the basis of this one blistering track.
PANTAYO - “One More Latch (Give It To ‘Ya)” from Ang Pagdaloy [LP/CD](Telephone Explosion CAN/Redeye)
Toronto’s Pantayo has all the ingredients for a unique and intoxicating sound. While they may follow the formation of another Indie band, their main thrust is to create seductive R&B (“Must Have Been A Fool.”) At the same time, they can turn all of their percussive instruments into a maelstrom (the closer “Basta”) and use their kulintang gongs and bells to make familiar-sounding songs different (“Sapa(n)ahon.”) However if they are searching for a balance of power to leap to the next level, they found it on the danceable opener “One More Latch (Give It To ‘Ya.)” Like an Arthur Russell track melded with that first Macha album, this is Seventies Soul mixed with Downtown NYC circa 1980 en route to the Philippines. The best part is those bell-like tones ringing out above its inescapable beat. More cuts like this and Pantayo will lead the charge toward funky gong Pop.
QUICKLY, QUICKLY - Easy Listening EP [CS](Ghostly Intl.)
Graham Jonson’s 2021 “The Long and The Short of It” was a brilliant introduction to his advancement of Bedroom Pop. While it was funky, it was not trying to be. For all his weirdness, Jonson always felt sincere. On this 2023 EP, Jonson sounds like he is out to challenge Thundercat for Funk/Jazz/Indie Rock supremacy. A druggy mix of five songs that spin into and out of each other with tape trickery and echoey samples, “Easy Listening” is like Silver Apples (“Falling Apart Without You”) playing dreamy minimal Soul. Jonson’s greatest accomplishment here is making the whole EP sound open and airy, not claustrophobic, and pushing its limits like most homemade lo-fi. Songs are light confections. “Photobook/Easy Listening” wants to be the evocative Yacht Rock-ian serious moment. Instead, it comes out sounding like Beck doing a “Sea Change” -ish song with the instrumentation from “Midnite Vultures.” When Jonson arrives at his grand conclusion on “Natural Form,” you can tell all his synapses were bursting at once. First, he overwhelms you with a massive swell that will make you hear the VU needles peaking out into the red. Then, knowing that he has exhausted all of his possibilities (for now,) Jonson dovetails it beautifully with streams of arpeggiating electric piano.
SÓL ÁN VARMA [LP/CD](Ván Records UK)
Black Metal is so dangerous in the right hands. This Icelandic group manages to bring out a whole new chill in their Doom-laden grief-swollen works. “I” may be leaden to the pace of landing one blunt force blow on you every 30 seconds, but the guitars/synth wash behind them take an ominous chilling bend. The nine minutes of “II” is staged a bit like a Prog song, quickly establishing its theme and then letting the drums thunder in and take over. As the thumping groove catches up, whatever rays of melodic sunshine were in the sky are wiped out by an Emperor-like storm of shredding vocal cords, maddening drum triplets, and bleak clouds of guitars. While there is a lot of space to sprawl here (songs actually get shorter as it trudges forth - another brilliant idea,) Sól án varma prove they can be frightening when quiet (“III”) and glaringly loud and fast (“V” and its Mötörhead-ish gallop blurs into Black Metal beastly blast beating. ) “VI” displays all the tenets of Black Metal (those guitars snarl so beautifully) but weirdly finds a weird Tool-ish peak before connecting it to Gothenburg-esque melodic reach. “Sól án varma” is a strong debut and could hopefully lead to more Metal from Iceland.
LISTENING JOURNAL
FIELDS OF THE NEPHILIM - Dawnrazor (1987)
Donning knee-length dusters and dusting themselves with Mother's Pride flour, it might be too easy to see their wicked Goth-Rock act as a synthesis of the prevalent bands. However, set aside the apparent inspiration for the stomping "Laura II" (especially in the verses) and Fields of The Nephilim actually scored a few songs that still hold up reasonably well.
"Dawnrazor" actually makes you wonder why Goth Rock is such a sturdy subgenre. While there are so many parallels to the music that precedes it, a thunderous cut like "Slow Kill" finds a way to race through those sinister intervals and then pull off a Church-ian pre-chorus into an instrumental chorus. Thanks to the production of Bill Buchanan, the lows are deep (that driving bass line on the American single "Preacher Man") and a mix of chorus and delay hangs off Nephilim's music like the powdered halo around them.
Now, it is not all fun and games - after all this is a debut from the five-piece. "Volcane (Mr. Jealousy Has Returned)" is almost too good with its guitar/bass riff quickly fused together and chiming chorus adorned with synth frosting. However, this organization alerts you that the song itself is slight. Carl McCoy's repetition on "Slow Kill" held some surprising turns. Here it detracts from the power of the ranting of a man possessed. So, when McCoy arrives at its peak, it is just one wordless squall after another until there is no trick left in the book except to bellow against the stops and starts.
In defense of McCoy, the lengthy brooding walk "Vet For The Insane" shows surprising range. Whether it is the ability of the band to build/release the tension behind him, or the sheer will of McCoy to fully commit to exemplifying the Gothic version of an existential crisis - it works and resonates exactly in the way you would want your last song concluding Side One.
The second side changes up Nephilim's sound and "Dust" has a different attack. The doubled bass lines and the sixteen-to-the-bar drumming propel and yet provide these brief moments of space before the synth and guitar are able to sound monumental. In moments like these, you might hear the specter of the Southern Death Cult/early Cult, but Nephilim is taking it well beyond its logical conclusion. The galloping "Reanimator" beats out its slightness songwriting-wise with great high-hat pulling as stops.
There is a lot of confusion between the different versions (UK/US.) While "Power" was the obvious single (especially given McCoy’s Peter Murphy-esque vocals combined with the locomotive shuffle from Love & Rockets’ “Yin and Yang (The Flowerpot Man,)” "The Tower" is the cut that actually best illustrates their next change in direction. With its Joy Division-esque ("Twenty-Four Hours") drive, Nephilim expands its sound to double-tracked McCoy (very effective) and add saxophone. The latter did not age well even though it was recorded before "Dawnrazor." Nonetheless, the original closers "Dawnrazor/The Sequel" earn points for completing the album with a massive burst and the "End Title" that leaves you ready for their next chapter.
Finally, there is the curious addition of "Blue Water" which with its minimalism and attention to chord changes that strike like lightning bolts makes this perfect Nephilim single for 1987. McCoy's voice sounds amazing in his high-range pushes and the band never loses their intensity or speed.
We hope you enjoyed this music. We always leave hoping that there was something on the list or the page for everyone. Support these artists. They are working on music that they love and firmly believe could be loved by others too. Glad to be your musical sifter/selector. Thank you.
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