One man brings the house down

One of the best recent decisions that I have made was to pick up a copy of Ten Stones, by Wovenhand. More than just a series of songs, Ten Stones is a total, superfluous story. Every piece in in it's place, and every place necessary. I had never heard of this, somewhat solo project from former 16 Horsepower frontman David Eugene Edwards. With five albums, an enigmatic yet charisma inflamed stage presence, a track for a double album in conjunction with a documentary about Sacred Harp singing, and now a tour of Scandinavia, Wovenhand are at the top of their game.

Edwards plays live with Ordy Garrison, the drummer from Slim Cessna's Auto Club, (another band well worth checking out), and bass player Pascal Humbert, now in the band Lilium, formerly of 16 Horsepower as well. And what a live performance it was. Crafting together the foundation of folk, combined with epic songwriting, and powerful musical composition, these tunesmiths carried the show aloft as if it were their last. The crowd spilled into the crypt-like space to witness this awe inspiring set. I must say, I always heard about the intensity of Wovenhand live, but they went far beyond my expectations.

You can find more updates from the group at their myspace profile here. And, you can also check out their records, and a few more videos here.

Here's a video of Wovenhand performing "Kicking Bird" from the Ten Stones album:


SXSW#15: Wovenhand performing at aQ/WFMU showcase from Denman C Anderson on Vimeo.

And the moral of the story is: never play LA

It's a shame that I was not able to get any live footage of the very kinetic, blown out, experimental French psych band Gunslingers. It was truly a set not to be missed, among the many that fit the same bill, at the aQ/WFMU showcase.

To get an idea of the frantic noise they bring, you check out their myspace profile here. They are still on tour, as I type this, so see if you can check them out in your town.

Gunslingers' newest album is called No More Invention, and while I could not find any direct link to the World of Sound Label, that put it out, I was certainly able to find it in the aQ webstore. If you don't believe that it's worth your time simply because I tell you it is, then maybe Julian Cope can change your mind.

At any rate, I was able to get an interview with the band that should be a direct parallel to the insanity of their live show. This is truly one of my favorite videos from the whole weekend:


SXSW#14: Interview with Gunslingers at aQ/WFMU showcase from Denman C Anderson on Vimeo.

Absu: Don't mess with black metal

Originally from Plano Texas, Absu was not only an area band on the aQ/WFMU bill, but also one of a small number of black metal bands in all of SXSW. (The only other BM band I can think of off hand is Wolves in the Throne Room). I find it odd considering the current popularity of not only black metal, but USBM in particular. Absu, however were not phased by this as they are currently basking in the glow of a large surge of popularity right now. Which partially explains how they found themselves on this very eclectic and buzz-worthy showcase.

The band has been through a fair number of lineup changes, and evolution in sound. (There is a fantastic bio on their myspace page.) They now have a new incarnation that is bringing back a truly grim black metal aesthetic. Beyond putting out a new album, which you can check out here, they are also embarking on an amazing tour with the fantastic French band Glorior Belli. You can check out the dates for that here

Proscriptor McGovern was kind enough to answer a few questions, and I was also able to get footage of their first song.



SXSW#12: Absu at the aQ/WFMU showcase from Denman C Anderson on Vimeo.


SXSW#13: Absu preforming at the aQ/WFMU showcase from Denman C Anderson on Vimeo.

Wildildlife (Thus begins the aQ/WFMU part of the blogging)

Wildildlife was a band I stumbled across on some now forgotten music blog. However what I read and heard piqued my interest enough to get a hold of the Six album that they put out on Crucial Blast in 2007. I thought it was a fantastic combination of a heavy doom-esque sound interspersed with, almost quiet and ambient, psych. Nothing, however, could prepare me for their live show. Beyond some great musicianship, they owned the stage the entire time they were on it.

I managed to get a very brief, very dark, and very loud interview with Matthew Rodgers, one of the members of Wildildlife. As he noted, the new album is out now, and you can check it out here. Everyone should check it out, as this is one powerhouse of a group.

Also, this is the first in several posts about the aQ/WFMU showcase. So keep checking in, because I'm loading these just as fast as vimeo will let me....(Which is painfully not that fast.....)



SXSW#10: Wildildlife interver at aQ/WFMU showcase from Denman C Anderson on Vimeo.


SXSW#11: Wildildlife performing at aQ/WFMU showcase from Denman C Anderson on Vimeo.

DC's Doomsayers

So, it's safe to say that everyone in DC knows Darkest Hour, or at least everyone that I know, knows the guys in Darkest Hour. We always come out to support them when they play in the DC area, and we weren't about to change that now. It was just that DC had to go to Austin for that to occur. Which was no problem, since a large percentage of both Lovitt and Exotic Fever Records were there to catch the show. And sure enough, after other bands from similar stretches of the east coast, Ruiner, and The AKA's played, out came the boys themselves, and as usual, they did not disappoint, plowing through a raging set (There were much "bigger" bands playing after them, who I was not inclined to see, including The Bouncing Souls. We could hear them playing while the aQ/WFMU show was setting up, and Andee kept asking,"Are they still playing that same song?").

John says they've been in the studio hammering out a new album, so be on the lookout for that. In the meantime, here is the first song they ripped through at the showcase, Doomsayer:


SXSW#8: Darkest Hour-Doomsayer from Denman C Anderson on Vimeo.

And then we got unruly....

The Unruly Records showcase, at Friend's Bar, on Saturday night, was a total throwdown. When we got there, DJ Class was on the mic, and the crowd was starting to get active. Through the pumping fists, I was able to get a fairly good video of him crooning a couple of his new hits, old hits, and total bangers.

The redlight informed me that my time with the Flip was short, so I tried to conserve enough to get some of the Nadastrom set. Unfortunately, this meant that I was not able to get any of the Blaqstarr set, where in, techical problems stopped the beats, and backed only by a live guitar, he plowed through a bunch of killer tracks, getting the crowd hyped despite the situation.

Finally Nadastrom got on, and it turned into a full scale disco-riot. The crowd went nuts, and since our hands were already up, we followed DJ Class's advice, and just tore the fucking club up. This video does not begin to communicate the level of insanity that went down.


SXSW#7 DJ Class at the Unruly Records showcase from Denman C Anderson on Vimeo.


SXSW#8 Nadastrom at the Unruly Records showcase from Denman C Anderson on Vimeo.

More videos later

For now, I thought everyone might be interested in seeing the first song from the Frodus reunion show at the Lovitt Records showcase. Plus, a little bonus footage. I'll be uploading more of these non stop as soon as I get back to DC.


SXSW#5 Frodus/Lovitt first day in Austin from Denman C Anderson on Vimeo.


SXSW#6 Frodus reunion show at Lovitt Records showcase from Denman C Anderson on Vimeo.

So much to post, so little time....

So,

It's 6:00 AM here, and there is no way I could possibly go into all the details of the absolutely amazing weekend that I've had here at SXSW. Once I find the time, I will go into much more elaborate detail. I'm trying to upload videos right now, but each one wants to take half an hour. Fear not, however, I have many, many, many videos to post. If you were following All Our Noise on twitter, I told no tails. Every video I promised, I have, and I'll post them all as fast as I can. In the meantime, here is a very short version, (for now), of how today went. God knows how but after two and a half hours sleep, I was able to get up at 10:00, and make it to the Lovitt Records showcase in plenty of time. I was deliriously happy there, seeing many fantastic bands including, Edie Sedgwick, Medications, Des Ark, Milemarker.....And of course, Frodus, just to name a few.

After that I ran into Dave Nada and Matt Nordstrom, and we headed to a Ticketmaster event that they were djing, in a house converted into a makeshift club. It was mostly Dj's hanging out in the kitchen, er, I mean, dj booth. And after we staged a spontaneous dance party, we stepped out onto the porch to ponder the burning question,"Who, in fact, are all these people?..." Eventually we went over to the Unruly Records showcase, where people like King Tut, Scottie B, Blaqstarr, DJ Class, and our very own Nadastrom were turning Austin into Murderland. Everyone upped the ante minute by minute, until Nadastrom hit the decks, and all awesome hell broke loose. The night ended in pandemonium, and in my opinion, was a total success. After that.....there were some shenanigans, and catering. Then we all a parted ways, and here I sit. All in all, this was the epitome of a life affirming weekend.

So like I said, more blogs, more details, and many, many, many, more videos....

See you back in the diamond district...........

So

At this point I have no idea when I'm going to get to computer to
blog, let alone upload videos.

We'll start by quickly getting most of the day's happenings out of the
way. I can always add more later. This morning I got up all too early
to get breakfast with the guys from aQ and WFMU. We went to an unknown
hole in the wall...that everyone in Austin goes to. None the less, it
was excellent. Then I ran into the Frodus guys (you may know them...),
and we all jetted over to see Darkest Hour (a good time as always).
After a bit of meandering it was finally time for the aQ/WFMU show. It
did not dissapoint, and every band played an amazing set. Check the
AON twitter feed for the blow by blow, and be on the lookout for videos.

After that I was supposed to go to AM Only, but was met by the Berlin
wall. With no plan, I sent out an APB, and was told that I needed to
attend the bridge party. After receiving many directs, and doing a
charity walk, infound myself, indeed on a bridge, surrounded by a
plethora of crusties and hipsters. I slowly navigated the crowd till I
reached a clearing with band equipment being set up. Apparently I had
arrived just as Annihilation Time was about to go on. As I pondered
this explaining the crowd mixture, it literaly began to rain shoes.
Yes. Shoes. I sincerely doubt whatever corporate sponsor sent these
out, had this in mind. It would be safe to say that no one actually
walked away with a pair.

That is what we will call the calmest part of the set, and what
happened next, we will refer to as the hell breaking loose. For
posterity's sake I am going to post the video that may look like
chaos, but will give you a visceral idea of how things played out. I
quickly put the borrowed HD Flip away lest it meet the shattering fate
of my sunglasses. It was damn near a riot on a bridge, and even though
I was thrown onto broken glass, I loved every minute of it.

As the debris was removed, and the Vivian Girls cued up, I ran into an
inebriated Josh Sisk. This usually leads to a long string of very good
bad ideas. "We're going to a rave. You're comming with us!" No
explanation of sleep or videos would sway him.

As the full group asembled, it was now decided that we would first
catch the tail end of the iheartcomix event. So we hopped into a car,
and off we went. Iheartcomix was still bangin' hard when we got there.
The stage was flooded, the floor had a sticky brown goo coating it,
all there was to drink was tequila and diet vitamin water, and there
were more photogs than you would find at the oscars. Still and all, it
was insane, in a good way.

Suddenly, then sound went off, the lights went on, and that was that.
As we reenacted scenes from Dawn of the Dead, we realized our ride had
left us, and after about 45 minutes, we were able to get through to a
taxi agency. This was followed by much street fighting over arriving
cabs, until we finally got one. And what a lucky one it was too. The
driver had a tricked out computer system, and insisted on showing a
video of," the ultimate conservative cat fight."

And now I'm here. Here being a rave. A real rave, in a warehouse
somewhere, with "ravers," and lasers. I imagine this will be the last
stop for the evening, seeing as this ends at 10:00 AM. Which, if I
stayed for the whole thing, would give me an hour to get to the Lovitt
showcase.......

I'd like to see that not happen. Besides, I'm not sure how many beaded
bracelets and pacifiers I can take. But I will say, it has been one
crazy day, the kind that only SXSW can bring.......

Sent from my iPhonenenga

Aaaaaand Twitter is down!

Hopefully it pops back up soon; I've got much to share. (hopefully my
phone doesn't die as well.....)

Sent from my iPhone

SXSW blog w/videos #1

O-K

So, I finally got out of DC, and on down to Texas today. For most of us, a layover is mandatory, and soon enough I found myself stuck in Houston for an hour. However, while walking down the terminal to my gate, my cognitive resources could help, but focus in on a group of people coming my way. The planets aligned, and out of all the people to end up on a flight with, there were all the guys, from the DC area's own, Darkest Hour. So, we exchanged facts and figures about SXSW, and in about half an hour we were there.

I hopped out of the airport, into a cab, over to my friend Kyle's place, and then back into a cab to go to Silhouette's for Do it to it, to go hang with Dave Nada, Jesse Tittsworth, and Matt Nordstrom among others. Of course, none of them were there yet, so went into the mutual of Omaha's wild kingdom in search of food. Kyle and I met up with Keller, who is also here from DC, and while getting vegan dogs from a street vendor, ended up eavesdropping on a Dinosaur Jr. show.

Of course, meandering away from that site, we ran into Darkest Hour all over again, and hung out with them until it was time to go back to Do it to it, where Tittsworth was just getting crankin. By the time Nadastrom took the decks, the roof was torn off, and it was like a DC party all over again.

Not to let the party stop there, Josh Sisk showed up, and said that we should head over to the Fools Gold party. This was, apparently, the one step too many. By the time we got there, there was one of those unfortunate "club lines" outside, that looked like a bad LA traffic jam. After randomly spotting Steve Aoki , we gave up, and called it a night.

Now I'm trying to hammer this stuff out before dawn, as I'm leaving for breakfast, with Andee from aQ at 9:30!!!

SXSW#! from Denman C Anderson on Vimeo.


SXSW#2 from Denman C Anderson on Vimeo.


SXSW#3 from Denman C Anderson on Vimeo.

(Believe it or not, it is now the next day, and for brevity's sake, I've had to cut this short one video, but I will have it up in the next post!)

Test test

Just seeing if this mobile blog works.

Sent from my iPhone

SXSW!

So,

I'm about to get on a plane to head to Austin for the weekend. I'll be posting here the entire time, but I'll also be posting to All Our Noise, and on Twitter.

Beyond blog updates, and tweets, I'll also have a flip vid, and will be posting footage from SXSW as well.

I'll be spending all day with aQ+WFMU at their event which features groups like Absu, Wovenhand, and Wildildlife. I'll be hitting up several DJ events such as the Unruly showcase, and the Mad Decent showcase. I'll also be going to the Frodus reunion at the Lovitt showcase. Who knows what the hell else I'll be doing so keep checking in here, follow me on twitter, and check out All Our Noise.

On two sides: the love and hate of the music of Blank Dogs

Even in the underground there are darlings. Some are nothing more than badly spun snowballs of hype, while others are absolutely warranting of the attention. The newest “big deal” in the murky nether regions of the music world is a hot bed of controversy as to exactly which of the above they fit under. Having an onslaught of versatile releases come out no longer than two or so years ago, Brooklyn’s one man fractured pop machine Blank Dogs is dead center in the eye of this genius/fraud storm. Name dropped and written up on blog after blog, the strings of comments below each always seem to be a heated boxing match of opinions. Only time will tell which side will ultimately win out, but here is what we do know currently:
Not much.

The entire musical project of Blank Dogs is wrapped around a core of mystery and anonymity, almost as thick as the layers of lo-fi effects that haunt the music itself. There is no definitive website for Blank Dogs. No real information on the Myspace profile. No Wikipedia entry. Nothing but third party speculation, and a lot of pictures of cloth-hooded figures. In fact, that theme seams through all of the releases as well; most of which feature layouts of masks. While I’m certain that the truth can be parsed, sifting through the misinformation would be like trying to cut out a slice of the ocean. Which may be another reason why the popularity of this music endeavor has risen to such a height.

Of course, no amount of image and reputation can make a musician truly popular if this spine is not solid: the music. Considering the divergent (and caustic!) views on this particular artist, I can only describe, and judge it from my own point of view. Quite simply, I love Blank Dogs, and absolutely fall into the category of “genius.”

But let me say that I came to Blank Dogs through the kitchen door, and not getting bumped around by photographers at the red carpet entrance. I simply saw a Blank Dogs release on the new arrivals list of the Fusetron distro, and, intrigued by the description, thought I would give it a chance. After realizing that I had definitely made the right choice, I thought I might look the group up on the internet, and well, you know what I know now…………

So, with that slight bit of objectivity, let me say that, if you come from the bed room aesthetic, or the low-fi following, or the noise scene, or even the first wave goth and new wave school, then Blank Dogs is most certainly your type of music. Murky and brittle, these records sound like a porcelain doll, coated in pop, dropped onto a cold hard tile floor. I don’t want to be another person to make this comparison, so let me say that there is a similar idea here, that I firmly believe is organic, to that of a group like Joy Division. This music is rough around the edges, slightly disjointed, and though haunting, sounds like it’s just teetering on the edge of stability.

It is agreed, even by his most ardent supporters, that out of the near fifteen releases in about two years, there are both hits and misses. But if you listen to samples across a linear timeline, you can year the sound tightening, and the pop aesthetic hiding underneath growing in strength and form. Don’t get me wrong, there are still layers upon layers of gelatin-like effects, and warble, and songs that abruptly stop with a small delay wave or two crashing onto the shore. But then, it wouldn’t really be a Blank Dogs record without this. No matter which release it may be however (for a while you could download the entire, now very hard to find, back catalogue online, of which I have three hard copies), for me personally, it’s a pretty damn near perfect symphony of synthesizers, bass, drum machine, effects of all types, just off kilter vocals, and other (literal) odds and ends. I think it all comes together in one of its finest moments on the Trouble Man release, On Two Sides. I can’t find a weak link on this chain, and I have listened to this particular album more times than I’d care to admit. You can hear bits of everything from Sonic Youth, to New Order, to, I swear, even Giorgio Moroder. I know that The Fields LP just came out on Woodist, but I think if you could only get one Blank Dogs record, it should be On Two Sides.

As for the future of Blank Dogs, I’m very curious to see how this turns out. Obviously there are more releases lined up, and people are already grabbing them up like Cabbage Patch Kids in ’85. Deciding to be contrary to all the popularity of his ambiguity, Blank Dogs has begun to play shows as an actual band. In fact, they are even slated to perform as part of this year’s absolutely amazing lineup for No Fun Fest (along side such stellar acts as: Merzbow, Sonic Youth, Bastard Noise, Grey Wolves, and Skullflower). So, while we love to raise certain artists up to the stars only to crucify them a short time later in a firestorm of backlash, I tend to believe the fate of Blank Dogs lies more in Blank Dogs themselves. Something is going to have to happen. And I’m curious to see whether he (they, it?) decides to compromise his style enough for a much more mainstream popularity, or whether it all becomes too much, and the sounds pulls further into obscurity where most people can’t reach it.

Whatever the future may hold, for the time being there is a lot of quality music here to love or hate. I hope everyone enjoys whichever camp they choose to come down in.

Upcoming on Agipunk

My connections to this Italian label notwithstanding, I have to say that they're becoming the most significant crust label in the world - without limiting themselves to just that genre. Take a look at their 2009 release schedule: vinyl reissues of classic material by Wolfpack, Deviated Instinct, Scatha, Hellbastard ("Ripper Crust" and "Hate Milita" demos), a Hellshock non-album collection double LP, a new Contrast Attitude LP (this has been on their plate for a long time, so who knows when to expect it, and it's supposed to sound a lot different than past CA records)... the list goes on. And that's on top of last year's releases by Stormcrow, Vitamin X, Uncurbed, and house bands Kontatto and Giuda. I probably won't hear everything on their '09 roster (I certainly didn't in '08), and heck, I don't even like all of the bands they're releasing. But their consistent output of solid new and classic material shouldn't go unnoticed.

In the US, reliable distributors of Agipunk include Ebullition, Havoc, and my bandmate's distro.

Grouper/City Center split 7"

This is out now.

Merry Christmess

Q: What do Santa and Toadliquor have in common?



A: THE POWER IS THE WEIGHT

Compact reviews

My box of digitized goodies from the Small Doses distro sale I mentioned in my last post arrived today. Figured I'd post my thoughts as I make my way through the stack.

20.SV - Apocalyptic Desert - Digging this. Crossover noise release with rhythms, melody, and progressive composition. "Industrialized Post Apocalyptic Bio-Nuclear Radiative Frequencies Recorded In Tripoli - El Mina, Lebanon By Xardas." Comes in a slipcase featuring terrible Photoshopped artwork. Looks like a shitty promo, honestly. On Autumn Wind Productions. Oh, and I guess 15 minutes of this is all my shitty CD player will allow me, as it's started skipping.

EVP - Postmortem Canticles of Necromancy - This wants to be a 70s horror/thriller film score I think. But it's not creepy enough. Too much cheese for my tastes as well. Someone put a lot of work into this, but I can't get into it on first listen. Sharp DVD-style packaging. Also on AWP.

Alkerdeel - Luizig - Mostly slow "kvlt" black metal from Belgium (although not too kvlt to have a Myspace address printed on the sleeve, haha). Their site lists doom and psych influences as well as BM, and they do come through on the recording. This stuff is ok, not great. At War With False Noise re-release of an uber-limited cassette. Beautiful gray-on-black cardstock print job.

Behemothaur - Darkcrystal - Is it noise? Black metal? Free doom? Noise rock? All of the above, assembled in no particular order. Kiwi band featuring the CJA dude. Might take another listen to grow on me; I feel like the band is not sure exactly what effect they're going for, especially given the linear narrative of the accompanying booklet. Which is sharp as hell in the standard 200mg A4 style. Apparently an edition of 100. Neither release I've heard on this label has blown me away, but they get props for distinctive packaging.

Gargotheron - Black Metal Supreme - Another 200mg release. US black metal. Not into it. Fast/manic stuff featuring a drummer with some real chops but very rough around the edges. If this band is young, as I sense they are, they could go on to awesome things. But this doesn't do it for me. Edition of 100 in sharp packaging and a theme of being maimed in the desert by desert creatures or something.

Marzuraan - Five Years Worth of Fuck All - The Marzuraan LP is so good that I'm expecting great things from this collection. Things were going fine until my CD player got its panties in a bunch and started skipping double dutch. Anyway, this band is great. At War With False Noise put this out.

Not getting reviewed tonight: Ondo "Low" CD-r and Detritivore demo cassette. Tune in next time...

Lazy Saturday

Hanging out with the cat before band practice. Here's what's been playing around here recently:

Spektr - Mescalyne 10" (drum machine bm from France, cool mix of blasts, ambience, and funky parts)
Mamaleek - Fever Dream LP (drum machine bm/psych/jazz weirdness from California...some of this sounds like a noise record, and some of it you could lindy hop to)
v/a No State = No Sound one-sided LP (new Am Tapes offering of manipulated/processed "silence" in the studio...noisier than you might think...includes Iron Lung and No Fucker alongside a slew of noise bros)
Exit Hippies / Aostrapos - split LP (didn't give this a close listen when I got it last year or earlier this year...just threw it on a minute ago...Aostrapos side sounds cool at 33 or 45!)
Tovahaunted - one-sided LP (Tovah vs. Pocahaunted, Tovah wins...way abstracted take on Phaunted)
Illusion of Safety - More Geography and Violence LP (first heard this long-running project on the RRRecords "Testament" comp I picked up a few months ago, then Aquarius had a brand new CD-r that I grabbed that was way worth it...this is their first vinyl output from '88, great soundscape/collage work with contemporary news fragments worked in...so good, I need more IoS stuff!)
E. Lunde / Hands To - split LP (got this from the same dude as the above LP...Lunde is also on the "Testament" comp...good but not great, too much pretentious spoken word content (like on the comp)...Hands To side is dronier and betterer)
Ox - Aftermath LP (Earth worship, unimpressive)
Xasthur - Nocturnal Poisoning 2xLP

A few news items while I'm at it (which is what this blog is supposed to be for anyway):

The initial release from Mark McCoy's quasi-bm project Ancestors has been pressed on vinyl after an initial cassette run. This came out a few weeks ago, limited to 300, who knows if it's still around. Youth Attack is apparently doing an even more limited test press version that has not yet been released. A 7" of new material is due out in the near future.

Have A Nice Life's sprawling bedroom shoegaze double CD Deathconsciousness is going to get a vinyl release next year, according to the band's label Enemies List. I will be keeping a close eye on this label next year; these guys seem attracted to the unorthodox.

New Pig Heart Transplant 7" out on Deer Healer, 400 copies.

Big label/distro sale on at Small Doses, lots of good prices.

Looks like aRCHIVE got some more copies of the Acid Eater LP in stock. Japanese garage rock blown out Disclose style with Masonna on vocals. 300 copies.

There's a new Dead C LP out that I haven't heard. Ditto for Dolores, the new Bohren record. Ghosts of the new Lifelover record are floating around the internet, but I have yet to get ahold of one.

Sadly, from here on out it will only be Ex-Yellow Swans

So I picked up a copy (unfortunately not one of the color copies) of the Ex-Cocaine/Yellow Swans split LP. I, like John, deeply lament the decided separation of the Yellow Swans duo, and this release is one more reason to feel that way.

But first, let's spend some time with Ex-Cocaine.

I will have to admit that I had never heard of this group before. This says less about their relevance and more about my ignorance. But upon giving their side a spin, I was pleasantly surprised to hear, not what I had prejudged to be some sort of noisy, angular nowave inspired group, but instead, slightly abstract gently rolling psych.

Made up of yet another duo, Mike Casler and Bryan Ramirez are described as,"Two heavy mellow bros on congas and fuzz [who] amble through underwater psych murmurs delivering freak tales and out of control throwdowns," on their Last.FM page, and whatever that may mean, I could not agree more.

Black Cat Lament, the first song of two by EC on this record, spills in with gentle percussion rolls and swaying guitar riffs. It simply takes this basic idea and swirls around with it for a while. Accepting whatever comes after the jumping off point and let it take the music wherever, I think what I like best about this track is how a-rhythmic it is. There is never quite one single tempo, and synchronization takes a back seat to exploration. Normally this would throw most listeners off, but the way they approach this song, and the gentle mood they create makes it all fit right into place.

Everything pulls together in the second song, Sexy Music. A solid yet simple track of just barely atypical psych. I should point out that unlike many of their contemporaries, Ex-Cocaine don't really apply that many effects or lo-fi aesthetics, to this recording at least. Just a little delay here and there, and beyond that it's pretty straight forward. Which I think in the fringes of music where we are now, is something that not many groups could do and still maintain a following. What makes this track for me is the vocals. They have a slightly haunted quality, and though according to the liner notes they are only sung by Brian Ramirez, they have an odd choral sound that I feel pulls the song to where it should be. Once again, simple guitar and percussion, doing what would normally be a very traditional style, but tweeking it, organically, to move it to a place not only of originality, but also hypnotic appeal. I look forward to adding more Ex-Cocaine to my collection.

The flipside is, of course, one long and haunting track by the much lauded, (and rightfully so), sadly now defunct, Yellow Swans. Creeping in with a fuzzy undertow interrupted here and there with melancholic tones, Comedy Hypnosis is one of the final examples of what made this group great. Minimal at first, the track doesn't so much build, as grow. The tones lead to slight guitar, and muted notes of feedback at regular intervals. Somewhere in the distance murky vocals, not even attempting to come through the mix, add another layer to the composition. It's the type of music that, when you see it explained in words, sounds very underwhelming, but when you hear the simplicity, subtlety, and complexity of the sound you simply get swept away. Finally the lower registers drop off as the rippling walls of static white noise raise up like smooth concrete enveloping everything around it. The pressures hiss, pop, and crackle. The vocals begin to take on the sound of metal twisting in the wind. And as soon as the distortion, which is never grating, peaks, all the complex layers begin slipping away one by one until we are left nearly at the very place we started. The great part about the end of this piece is that the sound dies, and yet, after a beat, the final echo pops up again, and then another beat, and quieter again, and then again, always a little longer, and quieter to an almost imperceptible degree. And it doesn't die away until there is no vinyl left.



This is, in my opinion, a solid record on both sides. From the quiet and simple to the broody and complex. You can check out the myspace profiles of both Ex-Cocaine and Yellow Swans to find out more about the bands, and hear some samples of their work. You can also go to the Not Not Fun webstore to purchase a copy, with, PS, great album artwork, which I believe is still available.