.NEW.MUSIC.FRIDAY. setting up 10 pins and casting YOUR judgement as the bowling ball
Will it be a strike? Or the dreaded 7-10 split? Only one way to find out!
LUNA LI - Duality [LP](In Real Life)
For all the similarities this talented Canadian singer/songwriter has to all the others who started with YouTube/TikTok videos, Luna Li is more on the ball at making today’s sound her own (the confessional R&B of “Flower (In Full Bloom) with the promising Dreamer Isioma.”) The harp sounds over drum machines on “Cherry Pit” and the swishy Nineties almost-Britpop feel of “Alone But Not Lonely” are surprises. However, the accomplished single “Silver Into Rain” (with beabadoobee) is her real calling card. Custom built for Indie Rock kids on rainy days, this dreamy track even finds a way to tease that it secretly rocks.
SCOTT HARDWARE - Ballad Of A Tryhard [LP/CD](Telephone Explosion/Redeye)
Toronto’s Scott Hardware (Harwood) is a throwback to the bittersweet guitar Pop of the mid-Eighties before Rock on the radio went all Metal. His wisp of a voice is not there to sell his hooks. On “Watersnake,” it acts as a wanting counterpart to the tough minor-key Power Pop he is pitching to someone (the background vocals also beautifully elevate the desperation.) “Summer” waltzes in on his chiming guitar and Jules Shear-esque chorus. His brilliant single “Love Through The Trees” appears out of what sounds like XTC tuning up. A terse love song during the verse, “Trees” finds release during a monster chorus. Beautifully written Power Pop that is well-orchestrated (in that homemade Emitt Rhodes feeling too) and bursting with melodies.
PEACH PIT - From 2 to 3 [LP/CD](Columbia)
Vancouver's Peach Pit makes a huge leap from Indie Rockers to major label AAA prospect on their Columbia debut. While their songs have always had the echoes of breezy Seventies Laurel Canyon in them, it is nice to hear them brought into the forefront with their harmonies. "Vickie" is silly, true. However, Peach Pit manages to blend the Beatlesque chords with keyboards so well, and layer those with a phased guitar that makes it all easily more worthwhile than most of that Rootsy music that constitutes most of the format's chart. The breezier "Look Out!" hits those high gated harmonies that fans of Lord Huron will love. However, Peach Pit builds their songs so well. No part ever is played too much or even to distract you to the point of notice they might have tacked something on to sound different. "From 2 to 3" feels so familiar to fans of all those bands that dominate AAA radio - but works hardest (without you knowing it) to sound different.
LAMMPING - Stars We Lost [LP](We Are Busy Bodies/Redeye)
Canada’s Lampping is toying with Indie Rock in a very Pavement-ish way. The duo of Mikhal Galkin and Jay Anderson write songs that are immersed in 60s Garage and 90s Alt Rock. All hooks (the Ty Segall-ish “Beyond The Veil”) and no real Verse/Chorus/Verse structure. Instead, they keep spinning their memorable riffs in a haze of booming, distorted electric guitar, organ, and those steady big drums. “Everlasting Moor” is a brilliant song that erupts in a thrilling trilling overdriven electric guitar wasp’s nest only to immediately take flight when you least expect it. In the end, that unpredictability seems to be Lampping’s purpose. Keep toying around with us as you please.
MERIL WUBSLIN - Alors quoi [LP](Disques Bongo Joe SWI)
This Swiss/Belgian duo cross more borders than between their two home countries on a weirdly soothing (in places) yet haunting album. Christian Garcia-Gaucher's deep. almost whispery low blend with the girlish highs of Valerie Niederoest with a little too much ease. So, the music they play with keyboards, drone-strummed guitars, and percussion help from Jeremie Conne really shakes things up. "C'est Faux" starts simply with staccato striking a couple of chords on a classical guitar. Then the long notes enter from a naive and distorted synth. As the two find their nexus, Christian and Valerie join singing in tandem like a strange nursery rhyme whose melody you know - but you keep forgetting on every one of their iterations. "Alors Marche" has a hollow almost Turkish sound before growing into a chilling vocal piece. The natural-sound recording of Christian singing on "Bruit" spirals around the guitar chords while his every breath even works into the clock-tick rhythm of the song. Meril Wubslin's "Bruit" is a fascinating album that almost defies description - therefore, it must be heard.
MELT YOURSELF DOWN - Pray For Me I Don't Fit In [LP](Decca UK)
With all the fantastic London Jazz that is brewing in their underground, the collective Melt Yourself Down brings it to a strangely commercial yet No Wave-echoing Punk-ish peak on this massive album. Melt Yourself Down attacks their grooves both acoustically and electronically resulting in a group that at times sounds like The Comet Is Coming playing with Atari Teenage Riot. Vocalist Kushal Gaya is giving it his all AND singing through a myriad of effects. Sounds skate around him as saxophones bellow against drum machines, or mammoth synth bass lines pound it out with drums. Either way, the ongoing mixture is intoxicating. On the slower cuts like the very Nineties "All We Have," they play well with tension and desperation. However, it is the faster tracks that carry the true excitement as they all try to outpace each other. "Sunset Flip" could be Stereolab until saxophones come in and it slows down to a hard Reggae groove. However, when they manage to slip everything through that wall of effects on "Boots of Leather," the simplicity of song leaves Melt Yourself Down so much room to rumble, chant, and stomp it out. They say only in Britain., However, given the Stateside acceptance of Comet, Kamaal Williams, Theon Cross, Moses Boyd, and the fact that it is largely vocal - consider yourselves welcome.
Step into some METAL, shall we?
THE BODY/OAA - Enemy of Love [LP/CD](Thrill Jockey/Redeye)
As far as Noise albums go, the latest collaboration between The Body (“I’ve Seen All I Need To See” remains a master course in taking minimal sounds through distortion to maximalize their impact.) and Los Angeles’ more Electronic/Glitch composer OAA is all you need to get the current state of it. First of all, “Enemy of Love” is LOUD and very Metal-friendly (“Barren of Joy” features Dylan Walker from the awesome Full of Hell.) with its loudest tracks playing like an Industrial version of Black Metal (the screaming, squelchy nightmare of “Devalued” - which kicks off the album.) Second, unlike the aforementioned Body album - there are tons of sounds that remain unidentifiable. Beats literally explode and recoil. Guitars are struck but so gated their sound swirls around you in a sinister cloud. “Fortified Tower” is the most exemplary track here. Some kind of alarm. Skating beats and those gated chiming guitars over percussion that is so persistent it makes you itch. The middle implodes into a Doom-worthy single note that rattles the foundations of your home at a good volume. Then, The Body and OAA bring it all back together like a curtain call. A thriller from start to finish. Although, you might need some silence when it all finishes.
KADAVAR & ELDER - Eldovar: A Story of Darkness and Light [CD](Robotor GER)
When a pair of unlike artists get together in the realm of Metal, it is often a testament to mutual admiration. Stoner Metal band Kadavar and the very Prog Elder come together in this album-length suite of songs designed to remind you of both Seventies Pink Floyd and perhaps expansive Biker Rock. About 70% Prog and 30% Stoner Metal, “Eldovar” really hits its stride when each band seems to handoff from one to the other. “From Deep Within” opens the album with a neck-snapping middle section that is quite like “One of These Days” played by a Metal band. However, the eleven blissful minutes of “Blood Moon Night” best illustrate their balanced attack. The odd-time rhythms mix perfectly with the Beatlesque chords meshed with single-note Sabbath-esque tritone melody. As the tale changes in tone, Kadavar’s Metal side rages out like a werewolf seeing the first full moon and the cut gallops along with surprise Synth twist and guitar riffage until it gently drifts to an end. A great start for a pair of bands who need to play/record together.
Now, how about a couple of choice reissues?
MELVINS - Eggnog EP [LP](Boner)
MELVINS - Lice-All [LP](Boner)
Viva La Melvins! Without the Melvins, Metal would likely be unsafe at slow speeds. Given their acumen for low-frequency oscillations that take minutes to travel across the void to your brain, The Melvins always knew the secret to truly play ROCK was in the note fulling possessing those who heard it. They have to feel it. 1991's "Eggnog" is a blistering 20 minutes that has more in common with a Butthole Surfers record than Metal per se. First, they slam the opening home with the 1-2 gearshift-that-throws-you-into-the-windshield. Then bring it down to unholy extremes with a religious sample and 12 minutes of "Charmicarmicat." "Eggnog" simply cannot be ignored. It places the Melvins right in your face until you feel it all the way down to your feet.
1992's "Melvins" or "Lysol" or now "Lice-All" plays out like tribal Doom. The ten-plus minutes of "Hung Bunny" are more visceral than most modern Metal. You can hear the distortion almost frying the cables it is passing through. Dale Crover's solitary cymbal crashes grow into massive tom pounding. When Crover finally stomps on the upbeat, "Roman Dog Bird" commences with Osborne's delayed yowl making you check your drink. As it heads for its almost bluesy ending, we dissolve into the Sabbath-ish grind of Flipper's "Sacrifice" as guitars squeal and Osborne's vocals against his lone bass notes and Crover's mammoth snare hits feel cavernous. Next, the Melvins bring out the fright in Alice Cooper's "Ballad of Dwight Fry," before shutting it down with the benedictionary slam of "With Teeth." The Melvins turn 40 next year. Metal owes them a great debt for staying loud and slow.
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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