Mothers (2016)

Whether or not the listener believes in Fat White Family as Stooge-ian fools / harbingers of the end of times plus gross-out humour as much as the listener wants to whenever she reads about Fat White Family as Stooge-ian fools " ", Songs For Our Mothers is one of the year's best pop-rock records so there

norman / -o- / spotify

that present (2014)

I'm gonna get you that present. Give me all your money, baby.

On the one hand, fleeting moodpieces. On the other, atmosphere (pulling that one out, lazily explaining why something appeals as being more than just the sum of its parts without having to put anything into words) and thematic coherence as flow (again...).

Which might describe the movie quite well, actually. Maybe it's secretly a musical!

Less about the presence of silence than the last JVW record I heard, more about the layering of cacophony into something pissed off, indifferent, and thoroughly felt. Cynics snort at rockist + Romantic clichés, but it's nice to think that if it's all gone to shit then what remains is love. And if that's too gooey, we've still got the Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light series for those who like their drones mortal.

try
stream
buy

ἀμήν (2014)

There's a 2-part abstraction at play here, one inevitable (sound), and one contrived. Because its form is vibration and its style is haze, it inevitably attacks its corresponding sense and then chooses to grab both head and heart, mush them together, and hurl them back in a sort of bombardment further fucked up by its self-conscious rendering of everything as very stoned and/or distant. If we give it/him/Love the benefit of the doubt, this stylistic vagueness aids in universalising the album's theme. It becomes direct and simple and so visceral- if we're made to feel anything while hearing it, it's our pain and/or happiness being felt and whether McMahon feels the same hardly matters at all. This stylistic death of author turns singer-songwriter autobio bs on its head and actually works if we believe in McMahon (Love's) generosity, but it's so obvious that if it fails in its task and we're made to feel nothing, we're supposed to blame it on the smog and not him or his songs. However stoned/distant/hazy, it's initially difficult to let Love float by unnoticed and this is largely thanks to McMahon's vocalisms. Like the music, it's not the details (words) that matter, but the delivery. And as is the case with the music, the delivery actively obscures the details. The reference point for this method is Astral Weeks, and as with Astral Weeks it's hard not to believe that he's beaten, bruised, and is expressing something genuine. The difference is that on Love, he's gone, vanished, and it's just us, the audience, left. Whether we leave feeling heavier (as we should) again comes down to smog- we could potentially just feel more confused, which without that feeling of heaviness means Love falls short- a formal study in smog and not the emotion at all. I sort of felt it but learned nothing- either it lost me, or I lost it. Unfortunately the intention is there but the work is not. And if that's the point I'm glad to let it go.

keep
stream
keep (physical)

Hash Jar Tempo - Well Oiled (1997)

Yaaaaaaawwwn. At the tempo of a fucking- OH SHIT. HEY GUYS DID YOU GET-

At the temple of a fucking Ash Ra! Right!! Drones take turns droning and twinkling, drums helping us through the chaos or forcibly driving us in, making sure we can't get up for air

here

Jacks - Vacant World (1968)

Jacks played depressi-psych years before it was cool. Vacant World is their first album. The songs are all folky and poppy with depressive/psych undercurrents there to keep the listener on edge and feeling bad over the course of the album. It never gives the listener a reason to be on edge because it doesn't explode at any point, and its psychedelia is more of an outcome in the listener than an explicit stylistic decision. Although its undercurrents remain undercurrents, Vacant World will depress you and it will make you dizzy, entirely because of these undercurrents. Undercurrents.

here

Mystical parasites (2013)

DIY psych so good it threatens you to mention its influences so it can ask do you feel better now? and enthralled you say not really and just experience it for what it is. It humanizes itself with an impressionistic breakup narrative whose details are lost in the noise- dynamic and repetitive, spacey yet dark. Through volume and improvisation the songs' feelings are expressed without any need for a literal narration any way. Without words the voice becomes our temperamental guide and protagonist within Pearl Mystic's chaos. It holds our hands through the first two tracks, but we lose it in the formless noise of i smartly sequenced just when it seems like nothing can derail Pearl Mystic's propulsive energy. It comes back defeated in the near-ballad In Our Time, and every time after that it's either seen attempting to fight its way out or just giving up. It's bittersweet when it tells us to say goodbye having found a pulse on What We Talk About, and the closer affirms this- free-form but weightless and blissed out like a grey cloudy sky just cleared.

A-

go / get it

∞ dropout boogie (2013)

This is so fucking beautiful. All it cares about is sharing its c 1989 shut-in grungemonkey/lumberjack/biker/whatever fantasy and rocking with you (all niiiiight) in a way that seems natural and totally physical in the moment, that is, regardless of trends and any ideas related to seriousness and originality and longevity etc

A-

here

$World$

Not his best or anything but it's my kind of record- arrangements left to Mick Ronson and Tony Visconti, real artsy with cool heavy guitars and Bowie sorta on top of rather than inhabiting it all with stories about freaks and prophets. Killer concept rock rather than visionary singer-songwriter. Fucking genius

A+

ha

Sun City Girls - Torch of the Mystics (1990)

Sun City Girls belong to a fictional school of weirdo rockers I just invented called the 'post-Troutmask, post-Locust Abortion school of weirdos,' where they specialize in unpredictability, blending influences, and destroying rock and roll. Torch of the Mystics is a special record because it has the band blending psychedelic rock, 'world' music, punk, exotica, and folk without trying too hard to crack jokes, piss the listener off, or destroy any of the aforementioned influences. In fact, it's all pretty straightforward in its kaleidoscopic insanity. Space Prophet Dogon transcends their weirdness and lo-fi sensibilities because it's so beautiful. Burial in the Sky moves past 'world' appropriations and avant-garde intensity because in 38 minutes they earn genuine catharsis. All the weirdness of a band who looked back at Troutmask Replica's disemboweled rock through the scope of Locust Abortion Technician's new-psych mindfuckery, Torch of the Mystics is also as mysterious, exotic, and moving as the sources they assemble.

A+

here

Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O. - Absolutely Freak Out (Zap Your Mind!!) (2001)

Psych for perverts, or tasteful noise. Star Child vs Third Bad Stone and Supernatural Infinite Space - Waikiki Easy Meat are enjoyably washy, noisy, and dreamy. Grapefruit March - Virgin UFO - Let's Have A Ball - Pagan Nova is the 60s avant-garde + Suicide + noise. It's retarded. Stone Stoner finds something good every now and again as weird folk gets caught up in noisy leftovers and Makoto Kawabata's guitar work soars like Neil Young's does. The Incipient Light of the Echoes shows they didn't get Terry Riley completely out of their system with In C. Minimalism filtered through noise and drugs. Actually pretty awesome. Magic Aum Rock - Mercurial Megatronic Meninx reminds of Boredoms' Super Ae in that it's a constantly driving and messy noise workout. There seems to be no feel-good trance intention, however. Children of the Drab - Surfin' Paris Texas - Virgin UFO Feedback is Kawabata being Kawabata again... starts doing guitar freakouts even when the rest of the band can't keep up. Casually awesome. The Kiss That Took a Trip - Magic Aum Rock Again - Love is Overborne - Fly High is a nice little Yoko Ono-ish excursion (I like Yoko's voice) and a heavy psych excursion and the guitars at the end are nice. Psych for perverts.

B-

1 / 2
stream

Thin White Rope - Moonhead (1987)

1. Not Your Fault 3:49

2. Wire Animals 2:57

3. Take It Home 3:58

4. Thing 4:37

5. Moonhead 2:22

6. Wet Heart 2:47

7. Mother 2:57

8. Come Around 2:44

9. If Those Tears 3:22

10. Crawl Piss Freeze 5:37

This record is so fucking cool. I can't even tell if I like it or not, it's just awesome

Taking Smiths-y jangle stuff and Americana-izing it when the idea is trip through the desert at night would seem suitable- the Americana to the road and the adventure and whatnot, but Moonhead is uniquely nightmarish and surreal in its vibe, like there's ghosts and they're watching you and that's actually pretty creepy and Moonhead is a pretty creepy and unique album despite somehow fitting into and making a lot of sense in the alt/indie canon

B+

try
stream

Onna - Onna (2009)

Compilation of cartoonist Keizo Miyanishi's psych project- Onna. A few tracks are lo-fi psych mixed with new wave as weirdo drum machines and bass keep the songs moving or just repeating and moans and guitars play around over the top. Like if LSD March were inspired by Suicide, but I don't think of Onna quite that highly. I get the feeling most people seek this out to hear a young Michio Kurihara on the live tracks that come after the aforementioned DIY bedroom psych ones. There's four of those, and they're pretty good

B-

buy
spotify

Bob Seger - Ramblin' Gamblin' Man (1968)

Was at some point known as Tales of Lucy Blue

But then it was not

Bob fuckin Seger. Not the most popular dude I've ever posted music by, and maybe for good reason. But here's Ramblin' Gamblin' Man any way

Some of Seger's most hateful haters like Ramblin' Gamblin' Man because it's so different to what you expect from him. They find it's either good, admirable, or interesting. Or maybe all of those, I dunno. Seger fans on the other hand (I half count myself as one), might find issue with it because it's NOT unpretentious HARD WORKING blue collar heroism, and is in fact PSYCHEDELIC. I have my reasons for not giving a shit about psych-seger, but here's some RAMBLIN' ones to flesh this page out: Seger's hard-working blue collar freedom loving lyricism, aesthetic, and fanbase, are largely at odds with the idea of the psychedelic if one takes Morrison's and then Kael's (>implying I've ever read Kael) ideas seriously- that the naivete of the psych-fan is a sugar-coated pill of lies and optimism available solely to those of privilege, the denial of things evil, which is dangerous as for all that optimism, hedonism, and intellectualism, when those of high-profile get involved, it's all the more irresponsible, blinding, and is in fact wholly immoral. Make sense? No? Good. Ramblin' Gamblin' Man has a few really good tracks on it- 2 + 2 = ? might be a protest song, but it's a good pissed off garage rock one that'd indicate the tipping of the pendulum toward Seger's world-weary working-class narratives, or at least the end of all the dumb joy to the world bullshit that Ramblin' Gamblin' Man accidentally half-embodies. Is it his fault? Nah, it half seems like he's tried to cover up his psych material (okay, I made that up), and the fact that this was released in 1968 just reminds me how hard he had to work to break into any real fame. Also, I haven't read any of the lyrics 'cause frankly I'm not moved by how this record sounds. For all I know, he acknowledges time, place, gender, ethnicity, and income, making even his psych record far from blind, but I'm just so indifferent to Ramblin' Gamblin' Man that I guess I'll never know. I mean, that hardly ever happens! I find music crazy polarizing! Ramblin'? Good! Check it out if you're a Seger-hater! Or maybe get it for 2 + 2 = ? 'cause that song rules

C

Boredoms - Rebore vol. 0: Vision Recreation by Eye (2001)

1. 7 8:40

2. 77 6:31

3. 777 7:27

4. 7777 8:42

5. 77777 4:46

6. 777777 7:26

7. 7777777 6:54

*COUGH* OKAY, LET'S ENJOY LIFE AGAIN

Eye's polarizing re-working of the band's classic Vision Creation Newsun. I'm not gonna argue that it's better, but sometimes I like it more. The celebrated drum workout of the original becomes electronic in these remixes, and I prefer them as a 2000s Neu! any way. This way it's like they could show other artists relying on repetition (electronically or otherwise) a thing or two about their craft. Critics point out that the live energy of Vision Creation Newsun vanishes when remixed, and I guess I can't argue with the fact that it no longer sounds live or energetic in any organic sense, but how could it? If you don't mind your music electronic, you'll probably enjoy this. Knowing it's a guy cutting up originals and reworking them really doesn't spoil the magic for me. In fact, listening to the quasi-world cut+paste of 7 in the sun is one of my favourite pastimes. And the baby noises in 77777 make me go awwwwwww!

Then again, I was hooked on this ages ago when I sat around the house for 4 months playing WoW and only eating carrots so I wouldn't put on weight. So if my opinion isn't skewed because of THOSE SWEET TIMES, it'd be a damn miracle

B+

buy (1 new $150 HAHA OKAY THEN)