MELOMANIA rolls an 8, with seven new releases that traverse across boundaries of style and a reissue for YOU
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JULIEN CHANG - The Safe [LP/CD](Transgressive/PIAS)
Julien Chang’s dorm-room recorded demo/debut showed a lot of potential in a sort of post-Ariel Pink/Unknown Mortal Orchestra way. While Chang definitely has his sound firmly in mind, his once-formative songwriting has grown in leaps and bounds on “The Safe.” Chang wisely uses effects on his high voice to make his more evocative tracks linger as needed (the mostly acoustic “Time and Place”) and knows exactly when to lay out (the Lindsey Buckingham-esque build on “Marmalade.”) “Competition’s Friend” may be Chang’s best song yet. From its breathy, dreamy Grizzly Bear-esque open, it is hard to telegraph his Beatlesque tendencies taking hold at every level. It is a triumph in mood, arrangement, and execution that makes it a thrill upon multiple listens. If there is one choice for a single, it would have to be the funky attack/dreamy release juxtaposition of “Snakebit.” With a busy Thundercat-ish bassline and a stop-time beat, Chang sings at his best and winds through a guitar solo that could even play well with Steve Lacy fans.
Various Artists - SKIN GRAFT PRESENTS...SOUNDS THAT MAKE YOU SHUDDER!! [LP/CD/CS](Skin Graft)
Hang on before you dismiss this (Charles) Whitman's sampler of slicing, dicing, and eviscerating noisy/scary Indie Rock as just for Halloween (c'mon, they release Horror movies all year now!) Skin Graft has long been the home of music designed to make your hair stand on end - even on Arbor Day. "Shudder!!" runs through their murderer's row of happy nightmare makers. David Yow (and YOWIE) slither in to let you into this rogue's gallery of frights with "The Spider's Greeting." Favorites USA Nails unleash AmRep-meets-Skronk hell on "Horror Show," and Lovely Little Girls fill the lounge-y Mr.Bungle-esque (with horns) "Procreation of the Wicked" with cacophonous fear. Early Melomania darlings Terms gallop in like the Four Horsemen fighting off a killer bee swarm on "Mouthful of Moss" (with massive fills from the excellent Danny Piechocki and string-slinger Christopher Trull) only to let Tijuana Hercules cool it down to a swamp groove on "Long Slide" punctuated by the scorpion sting of some excellent low saxophone. Elsewhere, Pill Coit dances a fierce tarantella, The Butthole Surfers-esque PsychicGraveyard enlist John Dwyer for techno terror and Jim O'Rourke chillingly turns the screws on you with the ominous minimalism of "guising." The remainder will have you curled into a ball shivering at what's next from new discoveries (the ultra-quiet Strangulated Beatoffs) and old favorites (the string-lead monster lumbering of Bobby Conn and the abstract chromatic/blast-beat chase scene as orchestrated by The Flying Luttenbachers.) And there to embrace you in the end as the dawn breaks, Azita's very Zombi-like closing "Tss Tss."
SISTERS OF BLACK MOUNTAIN - "Crystal Raven/Edgar Allan Poetry"[7"](Outro)
NON PLUS TEMPS - Desire Choir [LP](Post Present Medium)
The Sixties Sunshine Pop of Saint Cecilia has tinted its music two shades darker on the witchy Garage Rock of its debut single. Cecilia Enriquez and Leah Engel create some irresistible Gothic Bangles harmonies on the swishy "Crystal Raven" and the horror-movie dream sequence opening of "Edgar Allan Poetry." Playing with drummer Joey Welcher they write tense melodies with great wordless releases and thrilling builds. Promising.
With a definite early Post-Punk minimal sound (also airy like Australia’s Exek,) Non Plus Temps sound like ESG as produced by On-U Sound's Adrian Sherwood and Keith LeBlanc. Tucked away in a West Oakland studio, "Desire Choir" is a document of when the band just found the groove. "Warm Laundrette" reaches for some weirdly soothing harmonies and saxophone while maintaining its steady African rhythm. "Facts Sound Like Myths" is their most Dub track lit up with slapback-echo vocals and switching the sound of its synth melody throughout. The true standout is the funky "Continuous Hinge" which beautifully matches a straight, loping beat with bongos that play in front of the beat and then behind it. Its trance-y Downtown '81 steadiness is further accentuated by Slits/Delta 5 style vocals from Amber Sermeno and a hypnotic electric viola part.
ART MOORE [LP/CD](ANTI/Epitaph/AMPED)
With their Lush production, California trio Art Moore make lovelorn Indie Rock that at times sounds like Phoebe Bridgers fronting Cocteau Twins. While they rarely pick up the pace, at a midtempo (“Sixish”) the emotions roll in like waves - even without former Boy Scout Taylor Vick’s vocals. However, there is nothing “girlish” or even “feminine” about Art Moore’s sad songs of destiny. Lyrics are written for universality (the heartbreaking “Snowy” and its “thinking about remember when.”) and impact (“October” asks a lot of questions but the answers like “Imagining a heart as soft as sand” hit hardest.) Musically, the trio veers between Beach House and Galaxie 500, but Vick’s double-tracked vocals are so melodic (especially the wordless runs in the high register like “Habit”) they guide everything along to translating these crestfallen impulses into dreamy Pop.
BRING HER - Comfort In The Shame [CS](Knife Hits)
Like a female-led (by Nadine J.) mid-period Ministry, Pittsburgh’s Bring Her launch their own synaptic assault with gauzy Synth Punk. “Comfort In The Shame” is jam-packed with effects-thickened Eighties-style minimal Goth. Songs tend to stretch out across each other with guitars, driving electronic drums, and ominous bass lines. “While You Rise” balances the attack the best with a thunderous pair of verses and a unique break where the chorus/echo/delay cloud is paused to let the words and beats cut through. “Give Me To Them” follows this striated pattern to swell into an almost Siouxsie-esque wailer. With the solid beat far up front, cavernous guitars crunch and chime as you feel their descent into despair. Closer “Mourning Again” is even more visceral with its monosynth rumble and “Psalm 69”-style Industrial danceable drive. Bring Her is steadily approaching the darkest wave.
SIMPLE MINDS - Sons and Fascination/Sister Feelings Call [CD](Virgin Intl. NED)
Signed to Virgin, Simple Minds used their fourth album in three years to smooth out their Post-Punk tendencies (the tribal drums show through in a very familiar Steve Lillywhite-ish clatter (although he will bring the "Sparkle" later) courtesy of producer Steve Hillage of Gong. "In Trance A Mission" opens the album as their best early example of building and maintaining tension while singer Jim Kerr leads the band like a new shaman. "Sweat In Bullet" toughens up Simple Minds further sounding closest to what is coming on "New Gold Dream (81/82/83/84.)" ("Boys From Brazil" is a little more slight, but looks farther ahead to the confidence that "Sparkle In The Rain" exudes.) "Sons" is not without its experimental edge. The dense "70s Cities As Love Brings The Fall" sounds like King Crimson 2.0 with hints of Eno/Byrne's "My Life In The Bush of Ghosts." While the quieter cuts on "Sons" are a little less controlled and therefore monochromatic, they make up for it on the companion EP "Sister Feelings Call." "20th Century Promised Land" almost promises you a miracle before wisely fades down when the energy of its beat is lost. "The American" demonstrates their love (and producer Hillage too) of Musik Kosmiche casting Mick MacNeil's sequencer/synth chords against Derek Forbes' slap bass and the first truly memorable Jim Kerr syllabic chorus. However, "Sons/Sister" is largely a refinement of what Roxy Music was trying to do on "Manifesto. Where the most successful Roxy songs succumbed to the dancefloor, Simple Minds remains strident that they are chasing anthems. The addition of "Sister" is most worth it for the masterful instrumental "Theme For Great Cities." "Sons/Sister" seems to demonstrate that their best songs rose from jams ("This Earth That You Walk Upon.") When Simple Minds find that elusive hook, cloak it in their ability to control tension, and then release it into the wild on "Love Song," the propulsion is unstoppable. (One can only imagine what a show was like in 1981 when they opened with "Great Cities" and dovetailed into "Love Song.") Their first entry into Eighties Pop placed them on the same page as U2, Echo and The Bunnymen, and The Psychedelic Furs as the purveyors of the next wave in Rock.
ALHAJI WAZIRI OSHOMAH - World Spirituality Classics 3 [LP](Luaka Bop/Redeye)
African spiritual music which finds a unique halfway point between the dense polyrhythmic pulse of Fela and the bubbly, jumpy melodies of King Sunny Ade. Oshoman above it all sings and intones his Muslim lessons like William Onyeabor (“Forgive Them Oh God - Amin Amin” whose singers weave repetition of lines into a hypnotic prayer.) Oshoman steps up the Nigerian Funk with a wild gated organ line on the traditional twelve-minutes of “Jealousy.” Stretched out to seventeen minutes, Oshoman’s tribute to a village leader may be his best example of the nexus of funk, African rhythms, and sincere testimony. The organ on “Alhaji Yesufu Sado Managing Director” sounds almost Middle Eastern. While the serpentine guitar runs (either in single-note melodies or inventive double stops) provide the response to each line of his story and alternately build/release tension. However, as subtle as the groove is (the secret to Oshoman’s beautiful music may be the “gulping” bass,) Oshoman deftly veers between spirited singing and speech. In every pause, Oshoman even gives you a moment to savor the melodies he has just communicated. Most importantly, it is not that his music for dancing is secondary - the entire release is one that makes you sit up and listen closely.
Well, another week, another list of several different styles and pursuits in music for you. Enjoy. Listen again. Share as you wish.
NEW RELEASES lovingly compiled for you from this very week!
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