Zelienople - Give It Up

I realise I'm a little late to the party on this one, but Type are streaming the new Zelienople record, 'Give It Up,' over at their website. Unsurprisingly, it's an astounding - and absolutely heart-breaking - listen; there are very, very few bands who hit in me in the gut quite like these guys. I'm eagerly awaiting delivery of my physical copy on vinyl - and for those who are yet to take the plunge, head on over to Boomkat while they're still stocking the vinyl with a bonus, full-length soundtrack CD - but I think it's safe to say that this one will be very, very high on my EOY lists. On a related note, the new Black To Comm record is similarly outstanding; Type, it seems, can do no wrong.

Hear the album: http://typerecords.com/releases/give-it-up

A belated round-up

Yo, yo, yo...firstly, apologies for the lack of recent updates. I'd like to claim it's been down to my jam-packed, totally awesome professional life but in truth I've just been a bit lazy. In lieu of a proper post sometime in the next few days, I thought I'd provide a run-down of my musical month. So basically like the last post but minus the formatting. Excellent. Anywhoo, the autumn has always been a pretty fertile month for new records, but the past few weeks really have been ridiculously amazing. On that note, I'll start off by declaring my undying love for the new Lightning Bolt record because while I've always enjoyed their albums, nothing quite prepared me for the unadulterated joy of 'Earthly Delights.' Maybe it's the production (a little beefier unless my ears deceive me) or maybe it's the fact that they've abandoned a few of their proggier tendencies in favour of rock-solid grooves, but this record hits stupendously hard and has sky-rocketed up my end of year charts (which will likely never see the light of day). While we're on the subject of reevaluations, witnessing Fennesz's show at St Giles In The Fields last week has prompted a total reappraisal of his music; so much louder and more visceral than I ever expected it to be, the all too brief 45 minutes he played left me a shaking emotional wreck. Absolutely astounding. I should probably mention that both Grouper and Natural Snow Buildings were equally amazing and that Blackest Rainbow's reissue of TwinSisterMoon's 'The Hollow Mountain' is predictably beautiful. Perhaps less predictably (I am truly a master of continuity), I've found myself obsessing over Cold Cave; I'm pretty sure that if at the beginning of 2009 someone had told me that I'd spend a solid week of the year listening to 80s indebted synth pop, I'd have lolled heartily but both 'Love Comes Close' and, in particular, 'Cremations' are seriously addictive. Maybe it's the Swans influences I can hear in there. I've also been rinsing Zelienople's back catalogue in anticipation of their forthcoming album on Type (no chance that won't be amazing) and I'm pleased to report that the collaborative effort between Pyramids and Nadja is far, far, far better than I was expecting. And finally I'd just like to express my pleasure that more people are picking up on the genius of Elm's 'Nemcatacoa;' seems it's been recommended by both Boomkat and Insound, so let's hope this heralds many more releases (and maybe a UK tour). Still need to hear 'The Conjurer' though. Damn. So yeah, apologies for my laziness once again and I'll start updating again more regularly in the very near future. Peace.

Some records I've being enjoying recently pt. II

In the absence of anything more original to write about, here are a few records that have shone a ray of musical light into the desecrated husk of my life over the past few weeks.

Demdike Stare - Symbiosis
While 09's been a great year for music, I can't say I've been bowled over by too many purely electronic releases, so it gives me great pleasure to report that this, a collaboration between Modern Love's Miles Whittaker and Sean Canty of Finders Keepers, is pretty outstanding. In some ways, it sounds exactly like you'd expect it to given the two individual's backgrounds - deep, minimal dub-techno fused to eerie, sampled fragments of exotica - but that's precisely what makes it so intriguing. There's definitely a Turkish/Iranian vibe running through the whole thing, which becomes ever more pronounced as the album progresses, but the record as a whole references everything from Chicago house to dubstep and drone. In fact, the record it recalls more than anything is Murcof's incredible 'Versailles Sessions,' occupying a similarly ambiguous space between the cutting edge and the antiquated. Great stuff...

The Sight Below - Murmur EP
While we're on the subject of techno, the man responsible for one of my favourite (semi)electronic records of not only 2008 but of all time, has just released a new EP. Compared to the full-length 'Glider,' this is a little more guitar-oriented, with everything coated in a thick layer of warm, analogue fuzz but it still occupies the same, gloriously melancholy headspace. The blurb accompanying it on the Ghostly International website (where it's available as a very reasonably priced download or as 12"+ mp3s package) mentions a newly 'funky' approach to percussion but, in honesty, all I'm hearing is the same 4:4 bass drum thud, mixed slightly higher and accompanied by some spare hi-hat accents. That said, this is nothing less than wonderful, representing a perfect amalgamation of Voigt's restrained minimalism with the billowing atmospherics of Slowdive and I can't recommend it - or indeed 'Glider' - enough.

Simon Scott - Navigare
In a bid to maintain this seamless continuity, I'll focus on this, the debut full-length from ex-Slowdive drummer Simon Scott on Erik Skovdin's ever-impeccable Miasmah label, as he contributes a totally excellent remix to the aforementioned 'Murmur' EP. As something of a Slowdive fanboy, I was pretty intrigued to hear what Scott had up his sleeve (particularly as Neil Halstead has apparently decided that touring with Jack Johnson is a great idea) and 'Navigare' doesn't disappoint. Perhaps unsurprisingly, I'm hearing a few echoes of Scott's former band in there, but that's more to do with the plate reverb that swathes most of the more immediately recognizable guitar parts and aside from that, 'Navigare' is an original and incredibly diverse example of modern ambient music; imagine Belong's 'October Language' transferred from the heat of New Orleans to the grey skies of Southern England, combined with the hauntology of Basinski and a nice line in crushing, post-shoegaze atmospherics and you're getting close to the genius of this record.

Kevin Drumm - Imperial Horizon
Following on from last year's mind-blowing double album 'Imperial Distortion,' Kevin Drumm has pretty much cemented his position as one of the most essential ambient artists around. Seriously, this is some other-worldly shit. The overlapping tones he generates are so distinctive that I won't even bother trying to describe them, but I defy anyone with even a passing interest in drone not to be completely entranced by this. Simultaneously soothing and unsettling, 'Imperial Horizon' is one of the finest pieces of ambient music I've ever had. Completely essential.

An interview with Elm

As regular (and in all likelihood fictive) readers of this blog might have gathered by now, few musical projects have blown me away to quite the same extent as Jon Porras' work under the Elm moniker, so I'm immensely grateful that he took the time to answer some of my questions. I really do feel hugely honoured to present this interview and his responses are genuinely fascinating. Please read, circulate and comment on it, but most importantly of all, please check out his music if you haven't done so already. A massive thank you once again to Jon Porras for making this possible.

Firstly, how did Elm come about? Was it something that grew out of your contributions to Barn Owl or has the prospect of writing solo material always appealed to you?

I’ve always enjoyed home recording and had accumulated a bit of material before I had the courage to let anybody hear it. I sent a cdr to Brad at digitalis, and he was very supportive and encouraged me to put something together.

How would you say Elm differs to the material you produce with Barn Owl?

I would say my goals for Elm are to use the hermetic idea of isolation to traverse parallels between melody, density, and composition. While I’m not formally trained in composition, I thankfully learn what I can from peers who are Mills alumni. I very much appreciate the act of arranging movements with the aim of creating an immersive narrative, an entire world of light and shadow to lull in. While I consider Barn Owl to be an expression of a dialogue between Evan and me, Elm hangs in isolation, left only to channel the mystery around me. Lastly I’ve always wanted to play in a dark shoegaze band, and Elm is the closest thing I have to it.


To me, ‘Bxogonoas’ seemed to evoke the same kind of Western frontier atmosphere as ‘From Our Mouths…’ but ‘Woven Into Light’ and the new songs you’ve posted on your myspace possess a hazier, sadder quality. Would you say that’s fair and was that an intentional move upon your part?

Yes, as I was recording Woven Into Light I found myself obsessed with Paysage D’Hiver, anything associated with Dave Pearce, and Chatham’s A Crimson Grail. I tried to convey a looming darkness that I was hearing in the weirdo black metal stuff I was into, but wanted to emphasize a close attention to harmonic detail, organic richness and conveying this deep sense of mystery or unknown. The kind of feeling you get when you see a giant storm heading your way on the horizon.

On that note, how does ‘Nemcatacoa’ compare to the material you’ve released thus far?

On one hand, Nemcatacoa is the closest thing I will probably ever get to a conventional ‘band’ sound, as on a few tracks I was tracking drums and guitars as if to create the illusion of some lost shoegaze group. The guitar arrangements were designed to suggest an arid desert rot, maintaining a sort of cold haziness that looms under the rustic twang. On the other hand, there are also several long-form, more drawn out pieces that hinge on layered density and big movements of washed out electric guitar and fuzz, to materialize a shroud of resonance that blankets the listener. This is the direction I see myself heading as far as future material as well.

How do you approach the writing process?

It varies, but I usually begin with a framework written on the guitar that I slowly build layers of other instruments around. Sometimes I’ll work out a piece in my head or on paper, then tinker with some sounds or instruments and things unfold on their own.

You’ve got an extremely distinctive guitar style. Who would cite as your main influences?

That’s kind of you. Tough question though, hard to narrow down, for now I’ll say Bill Frisell, Dave Pearce, the compositions of Ennio Morricone and, though you may not hear it, Neil Young.

The titles of your records would suggest an interest in Amerindian (more specifically, pre-Columbian) mythology. In what way has it influenced your music, if at all?

The imagery and language I employ refers not to any Amerindian references, but to my heritage of pre-colonial Colombia. The manner in which indigenous musics allow for the intervention of the supernatural is both intriguing and inspiring to me. Though not all indigenous South American music is spiritual or sacred, there are social and celebratory musics as well, and though the act of music as a conduit is nothing unheard, I feel what is important is that music may possess functions that we as westerners may not fully realize.

I see you have a forthcoming cassette release on Cabin Floor Esoterica. How does that compare to the rest of your material? Was there anything specific about the medium which influenced you whilst writing material for that release?

The new cassette is a bit different. One side could fit right in on my past releases, while the other side is a piece I wrote for three pianos. It’s a slow moving, hazy piece that draws attention to tonal intervals and fractalized melody.

I’ve been speaking with friends recently about the way the internet seems to have essentially removed any form of mystery from music and the artists behind it (I can’t imagine a figure like, say, Jandek could emerge in the current musical environment). Would you say that’s true and, if so, is that a positive or a negative?

To me, the mystery behind music must always remain. Mystery lies in the manner in which music can move the listener. But you’re right, as far as the journalistic information behind the music, no one can escape its reach.

My biggest qualm with the internet is that it has shortened the attention spans of listeners, where something is all the rage one day and the next it is outdated. On the other hand, the internet has strengthened small, tightly knit communities and has granted musicians access to world distribution with the click of a mouse.

But if there is a demystification of music, I would attribute it to a general worldview rooted in western science (manifested through the internet), an ideology that relies on scrutiny, deconstruction and accumulative knowledge.

Your compositions are immensely layered. How do you go about translating them into a live setting?

For live sets I use layers of live loops, prepared cassettes, electric guitar and some trusty effects.

What have you been listening to / reading / watching / experiencing lately? Any good recommendations?

Hmm, just a few things laying around my desk here.. really enjoying Tom Carter’s “the dance from which all dances come”, Amp’s “astralmoonbeamprojections”, Debashish Bhattacharya, the Deep Listening Band and Steven R. Smith’s “cities”. Have also been enjoying a cassette from a band we met in Vancouver, BC in august by the name of Solars, really incredible stuff.

Just returned the book San Francisco Tape Music Center to the library. A lot of awesome writing about the avant-garde music scene in the late 60’s in SF, stories about improv sessions that lasted for days, Steve Reich showing up to the center with a bag full of peyote, great stuff.

As far as experiences, hmm… The other night some friends and I went for a night hike in Muir Woods, which is a national forest right across the golden gate. By the time we got out there we realized we had no flashlights, only a candle. So about thirty minutes into our walk, we hear this blood hurtling scream, may have been human maybe not, but we immediately stopped in our tracks and our candle went out. We were completely terrified, in the middle of the woods after midnight, in utter darkness, with some creature/being/thing screaming at us, meanwhile we are huddled together in terror, haha. We figured we should get back to our car asap, but with every step we took the scream would howl through the crisp night air, seriously. Long story short, we eventually made it make to our car safe, but we never figured out what the noise was.

Finally, is there anything else you’d like to say?

Thank you to all who continue to support experimental music.

Link: www.myspace.com/jonporras

Barn Owl-related Bonanza Pt. II - Elm's 'Nemcatacoa'

And so I move onto the second installment in this wildly successful series, with what was very probably my most eagerly anticipated record of the year. I say that because, quite simply, there are very, very few records I've heard which have ever moved me to quite the same level as Elm's previous releases, 'Bxogonoas' and, especially, 'Woven Into Light.' The latter, something of an impulse purchase way back in January of this year, has never been far away from my headphones since and I'm delighted to report that, if anything, 'Nemcatacoa' is even better. Opening with the stunning title track's disembodied vocals and vast, funereal swathes of bowed guitar, this is a record that's pitched almost imperceptibly between hope and despair - for every pitch-black drone there's a ray of sunlight, however watery - but one that never lapses into post-rock banality; it's stunningly, stunningly beautiful but never saccharine. In fact this is, to me, profoundly devotional music, occupying a similar space to Arvo Part but connected instead to the landscape in which it was produced; the San Franciscan landscape is a recurring theme in the few interviews I can find with Porras and tracks like 'Arc Of Wisdom' sound like nothing less than musical communion. If that sounds in any way new age, I don't mean it to. Rather, 'Nemcatacoa' is such a profoundly atmospheric record that it's impossible to avoid making connections with some form of real life environment, whether it's the foggy San Franciscan valleys or, in my case, night-time bus rides home from work. On that note, the stand-out tracks are the two that have, thus far, hit me hardest in the gut as I've been stuck in post rush-hour traffic. The first of these, 'Breath Of Midnight Still' is quite possibly the most beautiful piece of music I've ever heard; beginning with a single, melancholy guitar line, covered in reverb, it gradually builds into a searing wash of distortion that reduces me to an absolute wreck every time I hear it. Digitalis have been kind enough to upload a clip of it, here:

http://www.foxydigitalis.com/06-breath%20of%20midnight%20still.mp3

This is swiftly followed by the 10-minute epic, 'Three Rings Drawn In Sand' which, to my mind, sums up everything that's so essential about Elm's music; vast sheets of distortion - part My Bloody Valentine, part Earth - offset by chiming high notes slowly dissolve into a cavern of inky reverb, with subtle washes of delay and stark acoustic guitar combining to absolutely stunning effect. In fact, ultimately, my words are never going to do this record justice. It's an astounding piece of work and one that I feel totally privileged to have experienced. I'd urge absolutely anyone who reads this, even in passing, to buy a copy straight away. Trust me, you won't regret it.

Link: www.myspace.com/jonporras
Buy the record and support a great label here: http://www.digitalisindustries.com/ace028.html

Barn Owl-related Bonanza Pt. I - Evan Caminiti's 'Psychic Mud Shrine'

What a gloriously catchy title. Anyway, as the above might suggest, the Digitalis double whammy of Barn Owl-related goodness dropped through my letter box this morning and needless to say, my mind has been well and truly blown. I'll start my run down with this, the first readily album (assuming you don't count the Students Of Decay CDR that I still haven't received) from Caminiti because, quite simply, this is in the top three best things I've heard this year. As the cover art indicates, this is resolutely bleak stuff, with Caminiti summoning all kinds of spectral drones and layers of ominous textural scree from his guitar but the sheer breadth of ideas and the excruciatingly perfect atmosphere he creates are, to my ears, incredibly energizing. Such is the quality, I feel like I'm doing this record a disservice by throwing around comparisons but imagine if 'Monoliths And Dimensions' had been influenced by Cormac McCarthy and classic Americana and you're somewhere close to the genius of 'Psychic Mud Shrine.' In fact, the McCarthy link is something I can't seem to shake when listening to this; Caminiti's music simultaneously possesses a darkness and an almost stately grandeur that almost perfectly complements McCarthy's prose. In that respect the obvious comparison is latter-day Earth, but as much as I love them, this album blows them out of the water in terms of evoking the stark, unforgiving desert environment. Part of that is undoubtedly down to Caminiti's impeccable use of space and sense of restraint; he's unafraid to let single notes and tones hang in the gloom, but he also knows when to let loose with a searing, bleached psych workout. The 19-minute epic 'Melting Temple/Plumes Of Babylon' probably best illustrates this, morphing from an extended exercise in low-end drone and disembodied vocals into an arid, emotionally arresting guitar (I think, it's difficult to tell) solo before finishing with an acoustic coda, but the quality never once slips during the entire record, with the comparatively brief ghostly folk shapes of 'Midnight Road' providing another highlight. So yeah, I might be a bit of a Barn Owl fan-boy, but I find it hard to imagine that anyone who's interested in genuinely forward-thinking guitar-oriented music will be anything other than utterly enamoured with this album. Make no mistake, 'Psychic Mud Shrine' is a very, very, very special record.

OM - God Is Good

I have to admit, I'm utterly perplexed by some of the criticisms that have been directed toward this record from certain quarters and, in light of that, I'll address a couple of the most prominent issues a lot of people seem to have with 'God Is Good.' Oh, and I'll accept both cheque and paypal thanks, Mr. Cisneros. Perhaps the overarching sentiment that I've encountered in connection with this record is that Emil Amos has basically transformed OM into Grails mk. II. Now even leaving aside my belief that more bands should probably try to sound like Grails, I just can't hear the similarity; sure, Amos has an incredibly distinctive style, but he keeps things a lot more straight-up here, laying down the same kind of ride-heavy rhythms on that defined Hakius' contribution on the album's centre-piece 'Thebes.' Admittedly, he loosens up for 'Meditation Is The Practice Of Death' but really, is that such a bad thing? Certainly, for me, previous OM releases tended to sound a little too linear and I'd say that was primarily down to Hakius' approach; with Amos now on board, everything feels a little more improvised and unpredictable, and the percussive aspects of the music can, for the first time, share the spotlight with Cisneros' amazingly fluid bass lines. This brings me on to the other issue people seem to have with Amos' contribution, namely the added instrumentation. Now seriously, the apoplexy of certain critics had led me to assume the band had roped in a 200-piece orchestra or some shit, but no, it seems people have been wanking themselves into a frenzy over a couple of tambura drones, a flute part and...er...not much else. I realize that a large part of OM's appeal resides in their minimalism but to these ears, the band have very much incorporated these elements into their particular aesthetic; it's elegant, it's interesting, but it's still very much OM. In fact, the only criticism I can really level at this record is its sequencing, which is, in all honesty, pretty dreadful; while the final two tracks are by no mean insubstantial, the fact that they follow the 20-minute 'Thebes' completely unbalances the flow of the album. Hell, maybe next time around the band could even consider releasing a record that breaks the 35-minute mark...

Friday night drone - TouchRadio 6: Philip Jeck

Having spent the last 48 hours running around London and participating in an apparently endless series of interviews - and with the prospect of Fuck Buttons at the Cellar tomorrow - my Friday night is going to consist of little more than tea, Peep Show and a thick blanket of analogue drone. On that note, I've been delving through the archives of TouchRadio, Touch record's excellent podcast and there's some seriously, seriously great stuff. I decided to pick this hour long set from Jeck, as well as a half hour cut from Stephan Mathieu, primarily because I know their previous work and this kind of drone is always great for total immersion. I've not had a chance to listen to the Mathieu cast yet, but this Jeck one is all kinds of awesome; it's from 2005, but I can definitely hear some of the source material that surfaced on last year's amazing full-length 'Sand.' There's also some more percussive material thrown in there, which isn't something I've heard from him before and while it really surprised me on my initial listen, it's done pretty tastefully and it definitely works within the context of the whole cast, which is basically divided up into a series of smaller vignettes taken from various live performances and out-takes. So yeah, this one's free and totally legal so there's no excuse not to check it out. In fact, I intend to download every single one of these podcasts because they'll undoubtedly contain some more solid gold material.

Download the TouchRadio 6 here: http://www.touchradio.org.uk/touch_radio_6_philip_jeck.html

View the full array of podcasts here: http://www.touchradio.org.uk/

Natural Snow Buildings - Shadow Kingdom (Reprise)

Well, well, well...look what dropped through my letter box this morning. It seems a little wrong to be passing any kind of opinion on this record when, in true NSB style, it consists of two 80-minute discs but y'know, gotta stay on the bleeding edge of poorly written blog-related hyperbole. Firstly, I should probably point out that the artwork is absolutely stunning, with the two CDs housed inside a full-colour and ridiculously intricate comic book. Check the Blackest Rainbow blog for a closer look, here:

www.blackestrainbow.blogspot.com

If I'm honest, I'm not actually a great fan of Solange's style - and having skimmed through said comic book, I think I'll choose to remain blissfully ignorant of the story behind the music - but nevertheless I've not been this blown away by a record's packaging in a long, long time. I can only imagine what delights the vinyl version holds. On to the music, and the first thing that's immediately apparent is the presence of three tracks which exceed the 20-minute mark. The first of those, the album's opener, is a full-on Arctic drone odyssey, with swirling bowed guitars prominent in the mix and a brief - but completely gorgeous - flute part, which heralds a run of more folk-inflected tracks. I guess you could argue that it's no real departure for the band, but the duo are so inventive in their approach that I don't really think it matters a great deal, and the higher fidelity production (pretty sure this isn't just my imagination) really works, providing a seriously enveloping headphone experience. In that respect, the 13-minute 'Os Deus Cannibais' is the first disc's initial standout, with an almost medieval melody overlaying frosty synth arpeggios and staccato guitar tremolos, while the comparatively stripped-back 'Sunbone' is a great way to herald the start of the second disc. In fact it's the second disc which really represents a development for the duo (at least in relation to the material I've heard thus far); 'Gthonian Odyssey' is a bizarre, twenty-minute kraut-folk epic while the multi-tracked e-bows of 'A Burial At Sea' provide a truly glorious closer. Obviously, on first listen it's all a little overwhelming (takes me back to the first time my 16 year-old self heard 'Lift Yr Skinny Fists' for the first time), but I'd say the second disc brings the drone a lot more heavily than its compatriot. Depending on how pro-active I'm feeling, I might return to this in a few months time with some fresh impressions, but for me, the NSB listening experience is all about total immersion and I'm not too sure I want to compromise that by approaching it from a critical standpoint. Either way though, I'd say it's pretty clear that people will be rating 'Shadow Kingdom' right up there with the band's best work. Grab a copy while you can.

I've no doubt this will leak in due course, but please support the label and band by picking up a copy here:

www.blackest-rainbow.moonfruit.com

Disposable Music - Various Artists Sampler

As a general rule, I tend to avoid compilations (absence of any meaningful coherence, multitude of questionable tracks etc etc) but this collection of music from various library archives is genuinely fantastic. The amount of stylistic ground covered over its 17 tracks is pretty mind-boggling but, amazingly, the quality remains extremely high throughout; I can only really liken the experience to that of listening to some sort of long-lost radio show beamed from another dimension. The whole aura of mystery is enhanced even further by the obscurity of the pieces, few of which exceed three minutes in length and which seem, for the most part, to be essentially unknown. For the sake of brevity, I'll pick out a few select cuts which have really caught my imagination, chief amongst them the two contributions by a Pakistani pop artists the Tafo Brothers. Apparently, the recordings unearthed by DiM are the fruit of EMI's decision to give the brothers free access to a state-of-the-art studio containing everything from echo-plexes to analogue synths, resulting in some of the strangest - but most compelling and melodic - psych-pop you're ever likely to hear. Equally intriguing are The Crime Sound Orchestra who, perhaps unsurprisingly, deliver a super-slick take on what I can only assume are old cop show themes; 'Crime Sound 8' is particularly bitchin' with an inspired jazz-funk shuffle segueing some wonderfully recorded organ parts and a seriously sleazy guitar line. Finally, the 'Supernatural Lancashire' numbers by one S. Mcloughlin are probably worth mentioning for their proto-Boards Of Canada approach to pastoral electronica, but the record as a whole is never anything less than fascinating and surely represents one of 09's worthiest reissues.

Buy the CD at:
http://www.normanrecords.com/records/109779
http://www.boomkat.com/item.cfm?id=225206

P.S. I'm also very, very excited and incredibly honoured to announce that there should be an interview with the wonderful Elm on this here blog within the next week or so. A massive thank you in advance to Jon Porras for taking the time to do this.