Boris – Japanese Heavy Rock Hits Vol. 1-3

For a band operating with as much unparalleled prolificacy as Japan’s Boris, 2009 has been relatively uneventful. Although already having issued splits with fellow countrymen 9dw and pop-by-way-of-metal colleagues Torche this past August, it wasn’t unreasonable to expect news of even more Boris material by year’s end (just look back at calendars 2005-2008 for clear evidence of a sturdy fourth quarter release strategy). Arriving just in time to make it onto eager fan’s holiday wishlists, the unrestrained and always surprising trio has delivered Japanese Heavy Rock Hits Vol. 1, 2, and 3 – of all things, Boris’ own take on the vinyl singles subscription club niche. For as much as it can, it makes sense; regardless of which side of the fence you lean in discussions of Boris’ tendency toward specious production, the idea to market new material via such a setup for once plays the band’s fanbase correctly. Rather than create a frenzy (and the accompanying price-gauging) by pressing a limited number of varying versions across multiple labels and formats (ala Sound Track from Film “Mabuta no Ura” and Vein), Boris has decided to take it easy on the masses: if you want these 7” singles, Southern Lord’s got ‘em available individually, as a set (with bonus!), or as digital downloads. The only question then would be, with these songs so ripe for the (cherry)picking, are they in fact worth it?

Well-known for being tireless genre-hoppers release to release, as a platform to showcase this many-headed Boris at work, Japanese Heavy Rock Hits claims mixed results; the 7” single is unfortunately not suited to be the delivery system for monolithic slabs of droning doom or expansive psychedelic shoegaze – two styles the band can safely brand themselves masters of. What we’re left with, then, is material that uses elements of Boris’ prior song-oriented full-length Smile as a launching point. While I am a fan of that album, it is with the understanding that it was written largely in reaction to hangers-on of the garage-metal shitkicker stage the band brought to life so colorfully on Pink. Despite having its own collection of raucous cuts, Smile never disguised the fact that it aimed for the slicker appeal of pop over Pink’s unhinged-menace, resulting in a comparatively subdued listening experience.

Thankfully, Vol. 1 of the Japanese Heavy Rock Hits series opens with “8”, a track that after pulling the ultimate stylistic fake-out explodes into propulsive double-timed power-pop. It’s almost The Breeders circa­-Last Splash on amphetamines, employing the same sort of detached vocals featured on “Tokyo Wonder Land” (from the 9dw/Boris split) as a free-floating and hypnotic melody. “Hey Everyone” seems less determined to be out-and-out cool, and convinces me that at some point during the Lights In The Sky tour, Trent Reznor left a strand of With Teeth’s fuzzed-out club-isms somewhere on Boris’ side of the bus. It’s functional enough at proving that industrial garage rock can exist, but otherwise doesn’t really have the strength to follow the dazzling pummel of “8” – a minor gripe awarded to a minor catalog entry.

Japanese Heavy Rock Hits Vol. 2, by contrast, is the type of release that provides detractors of the band with ammunition in claims against Boris of hucksterism. The slinky post-punk of “Black Original”, Vol. 2’s B-side is actually serviceable, perhaps showing off the influence of former split-mates 9dw’s dancier moods. Definitely outside of Boris’ expected sonic palette, the song still manages to carry a warmth that drew me in; in a way, it’s the biggest (though not necessarily best) surprise presented in the series. That said, Side A’s “H.M.A. – Heavy Metal Addict” completely strips away any positive connotation “Black Original” may have left with me. It’s the first (and hopefully only) truly awful Boris song I’ve ever heard – an exercise in time traveling kitsch that will only garner support from diehards and try-hards. Touted as a celebration of “heavy metal tropes,” “H.M.A.” instead comes off as the type of watered-down testosterock that was used to introduce early-90s professional wrestlers to the ring. I have no problem with Boris exploring metal’s decadent past, but there’s at least a charm and sincerity to the band’s volcanic Motörhead worship. “H.M.A.” fails because it puts parody first – something I might be able to look past if this wasn’t the same band that shocked my body nearly to tears with powerful and genuine live renditions of “Farewell” and “Just Abondoned My-Self”. In brief: this is not how to save rock ‘n’ roll.

Though actual drone metal doesn’t make an appearance in the series, Japanese Heavy Rock Hits Vol. 3 comes closest to appealing to fans of that corner of the Boris catalog. “16:47:52” is a meditative excursion in minimalism carried along by Wata’s whisper-thin vocals, recalling what slowcore stalwarts Low were doing ten years ago rather than Boris themselves. “Rainbow”, the title track from Boris’ 2006 collaboration with Michio Kurihara seems to predict the song more so than any of the strange branch-offs that populate Japanese Heavy Rock Hits, but reinforces its own limited affair with well-placed soloing courtesy of the Ghost guitarist. A similarly strong guitar presence within “16:47:52” would have likely raised it to higher ground; the slight shades Wata briefly imparts during the song’s center simply don’t capture attention enough. The diminished performance of “16:47:52” does, however, expertly create the type of dynamics the Japanese Heavy Rock Hits series has lacked until Vol. 3 – when “…and Hear Nothing” finally lumbers in, it’s with tense crashes of excitement. A spiritual successor to “Farewell” and “Untitled”, “…and Hear Nothing” finds Boris comfortably pounding out the low and slow. Sinister, feedback-bathed riffs give rise to ethereal and somehow-triumphant vocals, a formula Boris has been toying with for ages. It may be the least “experimental” cut to be found across these vinyl releases, but for me “…and Hear Nothing” was the most-easily enjoyable.

As interesting as the scattered glimpses of Boris expanding their sound throughout the Japanese Heavy Rock Hits series are, I can’t say I’m convinced that more than half of this material should have been officially released. A fairly grave denouncement, I know, but the fact that every moment of iridescence corresponds to an equally-uninspired rote reinterpretation of songs that have frankly been performed better elsewhere is extremely disheartening. If you’re a fan on good terms with the band, stay that way by purchasing “8”, “16:47:52”, and “…and Hear Nothing” through a digital outlet, and pass on the by-now-hard-to-find 7” singles. I won’t angrily shake my fist at Boris for carrying out a musical and commercial experiment at the same time; hopefully the exercise of releasing Japanese Heavy Rock Hits Vol. 1, 2, and 3 has reinvigorated the outfit for its 18th year of existence, and they won’t shy from baring their artistic teeth. I won’t soon forgive them for “H.M.A. – Heavy Metal Addict”, either, but let’s say the healing’s already begun.

Southern Lord Records

John Nolan – Height

Having done time as the front man for both Taking Back Sunday and Straylight Run, songwriter John Nolan has decided to break free and go the route of the solo artist. His first proper full length – fresh on the heels of Straylight Run’s About Time EP – finds Nolan digging through the vault and emerging with several songs that balance the volatile emo-pop of his first band with the wistful indie rock of his more recent outfit.

Though Height benefits tremendously from Nolan’s knack for penning memorable melodies and sophisticated arrangements, the album’s ten songs don’t exactly delve into unprecedented sonic territory; most of the tunes carry the same glossy pop sheen as the bands that were spawned by Taking Back Sunday’s breakthrough into the mainstream some five years ago. And true to emo’s ethos, there’s no shortage of lyrics here that read just like the sappy musings of love-struck adolescents: heavy on both self-deprecation and regret. Yet if none of these detractors are of concern to you, you’ll likely be more than content with Nolan’s acoustic guitar and piano driven soul bearing.

“The End of the Beginning” is exactly what its title implies: a transient collage of blips, drones, and backmasking effects that sounds like something more substantive coming unraveled. This soundscape segues directly into “Til It’s Done to Death,” which begins with a deliberately strummed acoustic guitar before being overtaken by an unexpectedly epic drumbeat and delay enhanced ambience. Vocally, Nolan is more defiant than whiny here as he sings, “Hold your tongue, boy / hold onto your breath / it’s not done till it’s done to death.”

“It Takes a Long Time” exhibits some of Nolan’s strongest aural signatures on Height, namely the amalgamation of folksy coffeehouse rock and Postal Service style electronica. In what seems to be a retrospective reflection of bad decisions made, Nolan sets the groove with heavy bass drum, acoustic guitar arpeggios, swirling synths, and the occasional piano plink. The layers get thicker and heavier until all that remains is a solitary guitar and Nolan’s remorseful voice singing, “I’m constantly defining my inhibitions.” Sadly, the track never reaches the epic heights implied by its tension-building verse. Other songs that feature this electro-acoustic hybrid include the industrial-sized “Screaming into the Wind” and anti-climactic closer “Not to Let Go.”

Height’s most satisfying moments are also often the most puzzling. There’s a fairly unimaginative but nonetheless entertaining cover of the Primitive Radio Gods’ 1996 hit “Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth with Money in My Hand,” which goes a bit heavier on the piano than the original and finds Nolan interjecting his own vocals where B.B. King’s sample (“I’ve been downhearted, baby!”) used to be. “Here I Am,” with its hopes of starting fresh, sounds at first like Depeche Mode in lounge mode before veering into a Trey Anastasio-inspired psychedelic guitar jam. There’s also heavy exploitation of dynamic contrast, with soft and tender moments suddenly yielding to intense swells in volume. It’s a cliché move, but damn if it doesn’t feel good anyway.

Regardless, Height is an overall lackluster project that ultimately feels like a superfluous addition to John Nolan’s otherwise impressive back catalogue, unlikely to capture any long term interest from the previously uninitiated but certain to send the most hardcore of fans back to a more fulfilling Straylight Run or Taking Back Sunday record.

Ichabod – 2012 EP

Part System Of A Down and Swedish D-beat phenomenon Disfear, Massachusetts’ own Ichabod blasts into this 8 song EP with the distinct technicality of the likes of Mastodon and Bloodlet. Enough name dropping in one sentence?  This only raises the bar and puts Ichabod at a non-distinct level where they remain un-categorizable. The riffs are that of sludge in the middle of a Mississippi summer, but melodic enough to please even the most astute stoner metal aficionado.

I find it ever so relevant that the first track off of their fourth release over a ten year stint is titled “Sleeping Giant”. Ichabod may be just that. Like that of a hiss playing through a blown speaker, “Sleeping Giant” begins slow and rather mellow. At around two minutes – like a punch in the face – the track rages into high speed only to break back down, churning for a few moments before picking it right back up. “Sleeping Giant” is a four and a half minute literal juggernaut of sludge and speed, ending with the most annoying of all back woods sounds noticeable to anyone who grew up in the middle of nowhere surrounded by swamps. The very Alice In Chains-esque “Giving Up The Ghost” may seem to fit with this comparison seeing as how both are just as illusive as their musical counterparts. “Giving Up The Ghost” breaks off mid-way and opens into a terror of a track as vocalist Ken MacKay swallows glass and blows his throat with white knuckle fury. “Breathe a sigh of relief” MacKay howls and it feels like it’s the only answer, even if it isn’t.

Track three, “Gentlemen Of The Choir”, haunts very much in the same way as the Montesano, WA legends The Melvins did on “Night Goat” from their Houdini album. Here we are treated to a mystery as to what happened two years ago on Christmas night in Lowell. The sirens wail in the first offering and are slow to begin here on “Gentlemen Of The Choir”. It is like that of a rocket and light show that echo their dream-like state throughout the opening. Yet again, Ichabod explodes with raging, gas fuelled disregard. Not to be mistaken, the members of Ichabod have a total regard for their instrumentation and are fully aware of how they craft it. Ichabod amaze at the use of what appears to be a flute in the last bit of this track. Such an odd instrument to be included on this eight minute opus but, consider it a rare gift that Ichabod can garnish the audacity.

We see it clear on track four with a cover of the Pink Floyd song “Nile Song”. Being a fan of just two Floyd records, Umma Gumma and Meddle, I still bow and give my kudos to these four Massachusetts gentlemen for even attempting such a feat. A superior cover with an “Interstellar Overdrive” shadow – ironically enough a song also covered by The Melvins. All things interweave in the music world more or less and we are blind if we cannot notice the similarity in all styles and genres. Think of music as a whole, a community of like minds and you’ll understand how everything is influenced by everything and that we hear many a likeness to particular bands when we hear other artists. I always enjoy and appreciate when bands step outside the box and show their influences head on. We saw it on the Evergreen Terrace album Writers Block as well as the Between The Buried And Me album The Anatomy Of.

The “untitled” fifth track is a short eighteen second thunderous rant ending with what could be heard at the end of a game show question where the contestant is left for a moment to ponder before stating his/her answer. Straight into track six, “New Years Prayer” is a sample more or less warning us all of a new world order, a doomsday premonition that could be seen as just filler among the eight tracks. “2012″ has a welcomed bass intro, snare hit, and ride cymbal dome slamming Gojira style “Oroborus” head up and down track. Slow in its movement and just as impressive musically as the rest of the album, a raging Kim Thayil bred solo bolts through the track and lifts the listener just as the ambient, tribal ending of this track does. Closing out the record is track eight, “2012 Outro”. In the spirit of making sense, “2012 Outro” begins as “2012″ ends on that of a tribal, end of the world message fitting the recent news flash of 2012 being the year of our eminent doom and destruction. This album outro will truly frighten the listener much as that of an exorcism. If you’ve been “fortunate” enough as I have to have heard the recordings from the Anneliese Michel exorcism then you’ll know where I’m coming from. Picture if you will “2012 Outro” being the soundtrack to the opening of the film 28 Days Later where the lone monkey is strapped to the table watching television screens of violence and murder.

Ichabod has the works of a true and non-genre specific style. Although comparisons are easy if one pays enough attention but it is quite a noble thing for an artist to go above and beyond and create something new, and unique. Ichabod have done just that. With 2012 they’ve successfully put out an album that will fit nowhere, I mean that as a compliment. Their listener will welcome them, and find as I did a sound that knows no limits in its uniqueness. The eight tracks are from the same band but cannot be boxed, even after ten years.

Rootsucker Records

Interview with David “Moose” Adamson of Jookabox

Following the release of their latest triumph, Dead Zone Boys, David “Moose” Adamson – the grand Grampall of Jookabox – took time out of his busy schedule to catch up with Delusions of Adequacy’s Bryan Sanchez. And even when they’re on their way to Brooklyn for another terrific show, Adamson sounds bubbly, energetic and raucously alive.

Delusions of Adequacy: I know you guys just started touring; do you like the touring scene or not so much?

David Adamson: I like it; it’s definitely like ‘bizarre-o world.’ It’s weird just being in a completely different place each day. It makes you tired but it’s fun and we like to have fun and drink every day.

DOA: Awesome! I live in Texas and Austin is a booming city with a great music scene. You’ve done Fun Fun Fun Fest and South by Southwest, any chances you’ll do Austin City Limits?

DA: Yeah definitely, that’d be awesome. I don’t know how to go about booking that but it seems like a great festival. I mean, Austin is sweet and we’ve got a show at The Mohawk on this tour that will be sweet.

DOA: You started on drums and guitars but yet a lot of the stuff you do deals with pitch modifications and unique instrumentation, what do you credit that to?

DA: I think I just like to play with the music to make it more interesting. I had a handheld tape recorder that I would modify it with a speed knob and I really liked what it did to the music. It provided this weird, unnatural timbre that I liked.

DOA: There aren’t a lot of Jookaboxes running around so was there any specific reason for dropping the Grampall part?

DA: I think that when I first started playing, there was more people in the band, but now it is a new band. I am the Grampall, but we together, we are the Jookaboxes. I’m the leader, everyone in it are my children and everyone has to do what I say (chuckling.)

DOA: I had seen an interview where you mentioned you wanted to start playing with a band, how was that decision process?

DA: I think that when we were making new changes, it was hard to make it with a few people. Especially live, running too many things through a PA system, and if it was junk, then the show would be awful. And we’d leave disappointed. So at first, we knew more people would be better.

DOA: How has the reception been to these new changes?

DA: Really good, everybody we’ve played for and everybody we’ve talked to really likes it. They say “it’s a sweet show.”

DOA: Do you think you’ll keep things the way they are now?

DA: I think I’ll keep it. I like it and we are writing new music that will have even more twists. The more the better! I want the whole thing to be twisty maze by the time I die.

DOA: The previous album (Ropechain) was pretty extraordinary in that I think I remember you wrote it during a weekend when you cancelled a bunch of shows, how was the recording process different for Dead Zone Boys?

DA: It was different because I recorded it alone, I started it at home and then we took those tracks to San Diego and recorded it with producers there. I went over there and did live drums in a nice big room, so I think it sounds a lot fatter because of that. Whereas the old one was done in a basement.

DOA: I know David Smith (DM Stith) made the artwork for your album, any chance you guys would write some music together?

DA: Well we kind of already did, we did a cover of a song called “Thriller” by the popular music artist Michael Jackson – you may have heard of him – and it’s somewhere online. It was for a Halloween mix but we haven’t written anything new together. We do like recording stuff through the internet and passing it along, and I told those guys we should have an internet band.

DOA: You’re definitely characterized by your playful demeanor but how serious should everyone else take your music?

DA: Oh you know; they can take it however they like it. I think a lot of people pick up on the ‘fun side’ and that’s fine with me because I don’t care how people take it.

DOA: There’s definitely a darker sound to this album, what were you channeling at the time?

DA: I was just thinking about different things, like if you go too far down a big pass, and what if you can’t come back. And like the power of darkness and the power it can give you. Trying to be a monster.

DOA: From what I’ve gathered, you didn’t live in the best spots of Indianapolis, how has that time of your life affected your writing and music styles?

DA: Some of that was kind of blown out of proportion. The neighborhood I grew up in was weird but it wasn’t that bad. It was kind of on the outskirts of the city in the far, far east side. It could have gone ether way and it went downhill and more and more people started to move in around us and it got weird. But it wasn’t a terrible situation.

DOA: Each album has followed a different theme and sound; do you find yourself wanting to make something different each time out?

DA: Not really, I think I’m just always listening to new things and that has an affect on the sound – whatever I’m interested in at the time. But I don’t think about, trying to make a gem each time out or anything like that.

DOA: Being on Asthmatic Kitty, they enjoy featuring unique acts like yourself, but I always have a hard time pin-pointing your brand of music, how would you describe it?

DA: Ghost punk! They (fans) keep saying ghost punk on this tour.

DOA: You agree with that?

DA: Hell yeah, I like that; we are spear heading a movement. It’s called asthmatic pussy.

Solo debut from Jason Boesel slated for January

For the last 15 years, LA-based drummer Jason Boesel has been planted firmly behind the kit, keeping time for some of the decade’s most influential indie bands (Rilo Kiley, Bright Eyes). Boesel was inspired to write his own record after his friends raved about the first song he ever wrote: ‘Hustler’s Son.’ Now, he’s ready to take “the bull by the horns” (AOL Spinner) with the release of his solo debut for Team Love Records: ‘Hustler’s Son’ (out January 12, 2010).

Listen to the first single “Hand Of God” here: http://bit.ly/JBoesel_HandOfGod_MP3

While “Hand of God” is nearest to Boesel’s breezy alt-country leanings, the entirety of ‘Hustler’s Son’ is a road trip of an aural and emotional experience. Boesel isn’t shy to admit his soft spot for the Southern California sound, but his sonic inspirations are as diverse as the places he’s visited on the road. The music proves it: Dark “Black Waves” rolls in with West Palm Beach’s “hurricane sand” and psychotropic guitars, “French Kissing” rocks to allusions of Santa Barbara’s shores, “Burned Out And Busted” finds Boesel stranded in the desert, and the insatiable jam “I Got The Reason #1″ leaves Jason in the lobby of a hotel, waiting for the next surprise.

MySpace Site: http://www.myspace.com/jasonboesel

Chris Brokaw – VDSQ: Solo Acoustic Volume 3

Whilst Chris Brokaw’s collaborative roles, as both a full band member (in Codeine, Come, Pullman et al.) and an on-hire guest-player (for Evan Dando, Steve Wynn, Karate, ad infinitum), have been quite easily definable, his solo career – which began around the turn of the decade - has been far harder to pin-down and pigeon-hole.  Zigzagging through wordless eclectic guitar/drum exhilaration (2002’s Red Cities), warm unplugged singer-songwriter terrain (2003’s Wandering As Water), murky soundtrack mood-setting (2004’s I Was Born But…), curveball-throwing folk-rock (2005’s Incredible Love), and most recently, inside-out electro-acoustic experimentation with a penchant for atonal dronescapes (2008’s Canaris and 2009’s Gracias, Ghost Of The Future), Brokaw hasn’t make it easy to keep up with his seemingly still embryonic one-man journey.  Although this latest LP, for an all-acoustic-guitar and vinyl/download-only series on a fledgling New York label (Vin Du Select Qualitite) may not be the definitive Brokaw collection it does at least come closer to boiling down his talents into a rich and well-rounded essence.

By rooting himself to one spot (his home studio) and one instrument (a 12-string acoustic guitar, albeit multi-tracked and sometimes heavily-treated), for this functionally-titled vocal-free album, Brokaw finds a renewed melodic focus as well as rediscovering his gifts for diversity.  It’s easy to make lazy connections with the post-folk wares of Pullman throughout the set, but Brokaw cuts deeper and wider than the long-dormant group’s often more restrained and narrower reach.  Side A’s flickering meditative opener, “God’s Forgotten Rooster,” may pay a near-obligatory direct homage to the godhead of solo-acoustic exploration, John Fahey, but from thereon in it’s a less straightforward ride.  The joyous jangle-strum of “Out My Window” slides in some lovely Latin vibes that also reappear across a balmy cover of Spanish-Danish songstress Christina Rosenvinge’s “Dream Room.”  Elsewhere, the desert-rock edginess of Red Cities reappears on the gripping rustics of “Spy Pond,” the viciously-ragged “We’ll See You All At Oki Dogs” flashes fleetingly back to Come’s dense Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and the cyclical ruminations of “Midnight” cross-reference Jim O’Rourke’s Bad Timing.

The flipside is equally unpredictably, yet still sturdily-underpinned, stretching the restrictive instrumentation remit to even more imaginative breaking-points.  Hence, “The Rule Of Ten” merges urban ‘80s 4AD aesthetics with rural dread; the percussive “Undrum” imagines an irregular heartbeat heard through rotten floorboards; and “Russian White Bear” wades itself into desolate Dead Can Dance waters.  To offset the encroaching darkness of the second side, lighter and more traditional tones come through a fresh take on oft-covered blues-folk standard “Death Don’t Have No Mercy” and a heavily-deconstructed revision of Brokaw’s own “Blues For The Moon” (previously heard with vocals attached on Incredible Love).

Overall, VDSQ:  Solo Acoustic Volume Three benefits from an infectious intimacy that few others could sustain without slipping into self-indulgence.  Moreover, by concluding his first full decade as a soloist with such a delicious and hearty stew of wordless yet lyrical nuggets, Chris Brokaw proves that his long-haul trajectory is well-worth following into the 2010s.

www.chrisbrokaw.com

MEM – Archaea

If you dislike Coldplay, then you’ll probably hate MEM. Yes, the former band eventually won respect in some indie-elite circles, but a lot of the same complaints heaped on Chris Martin and company would apply here, too. The chief concern is that MEM’s Archaea rides innovative rock formulas towards adult-contemporary land–that templated, manicured suburb many rock fans avoid.

To be fair, some of these songs are good. Mixing rock instrumentation with heavy digital apparatus, this talented five-piece from NYC are good musicians, and some of their mixes and arrangements gel nicely. For example, the album’s best track, “I Just Can’t”, achieves a crisp and complete sound in which almost every embellishment works and the vocal harmonies flow. But, when misused, such arrangements and high gloss production can also spell doom, and most of Archaea is proof.

“My Own Demons” starts with a nice guitar figure, and builds with the guidance of a popping snare. But the music is self-incriminating, and the more it tries to say, the worse it sounds. Long before the song ends, the edge has worn off and the amassing evidence soon exposes the whole thing as drivel thrown together by over-reaching musicians and an under-qualified producer. Then the band inexplicably tries its hand at R&B on “Leave It Up to Me”. Subjecting the vocal to auto-tune, this track abandons all context in failed hopes of crossing genres. This musical tragedy is matched only by “Dip Me In”. Here, the mature sound that kept Archaea going commits suicide by digital tween pop.

Archaea chronicles the life being orchestrated right out of MEM. The sparks of talent and creativity that jump here and there are stifled by slick and indulgent packaging. The first three tracks–all having a measure of commercial appeal–prove to be the best of the worst. This band is probably, hopefully better than this. But I don’t care to find out.

MEM’s Myspace

Signer – Next We Bring You the Fire

Isn’t it amazing just how much music can pass us by the wayside, before we’re even able to notice? As Signer, New Zealand native Bevan Smith has already made three other albums that unfortunately, I’ve never had the pleasure of listening to. It’s especially disappointing when one thinks about how much music they feel they have heard and how much they think they know. For many of us, we’ll spend our entire lives loving music with a deep and profound passion and for others, they’ll never understand it. But mostly, no matter how hard you play, how fast you try, or how smart you think you are, you’ll always be behind.

But still, optimism is key in what is easily a good problem, our uphill battle with music and its endless possibilities. Take the title to Signer’s fourth album aside for a moment, because there is nothing controversially harsh about Next We Bring You the Fire. Instead of assuming that this will be something ridiculously booming, it is better described as ambient music that deals in the lighter side of techno. Electronic music that comes close to reaching a high only a few times, Signer’s keyboards and melodies never allow the music to weigh in.

And all of this is a welcome option because even if the title doesn’t fit the music, the music is still – on its own – a mesmerizing amount of goodness. On “We Should Touch Teeth,” an apparent love song, Signer weaves a rustling synth in between tapping beats and a begrudgingly quiet bass. Waiting for a breakthrough of sounds, it never comes but instead, you have handclaps and soaring, almost choir-like vocals. For all of the outs Signer had available, you wouldn’t think he’d downplay it as much as he does and yet, it works. Elsewhere, on “Languidly Good,” the beats come stronger and this time, they are brought to the forefront. Smith’s misty vocals are lost in the obscure fog and what can only be described as machine gun barrels bring the music to a promising escape.

According to the press release, Next We Bring You the Fire was “inspired by the sonic possibilities of synths, the sophistication of modern pop and the sci-fi other-worldliness of Techno,” and if you really try, you can sort of hear this description in the music. For his spectrum, Smith could very well be matching the haziness with stunning capacity. Except, Smith has the tendency to get lost in his own cloudy atmospherics and more often than not, they muddle his initial proposition. And even it it’s meant to be indistinct or even unclear, you’re left wanting that directly affecting moisture that never comes.

The choppy time of “Don’t Be a Forest Cow” lends an almost dubstep feel over a mostly IDM departure for Smith. While he’s trying his best to channel some kind of Junior Boys moxy, it lacks the focal point they’re known for. Things change when the bass arrives and it allows you to forget the repetitiveness that is occurring behind it with a slamming of propulsion. Don’t be mislead, Next We Bring You the Fire is an accomplished album on its own regard. And it’s definitely something that warrants checking out his other music, but it just might not live up to the other cream at the top of the crop of electronic albums for this year.

Carpark Records

New sophomore album from Wes Willenbring

American post-ambient craftsman Wes Willenbring releases Close, But Not Too Close and it shows Willenbring developing on the gorgeous palette of tones explored on acclaimed debut Somewhere, Someone Else. As with Willenbring’s debut, Close, But Not Too Close is all about time in both its broadest and most discrete sense. There is a deliberation present in its composition that makes for a level of engagement far beyond any easy notion of what ambient music is or should be.

Close, But Not Too Close is now available on CD and in all digital formats (including lossless). The CD is distributed through n5Mailorder in the US, Asia and Europe and through Hidden Shoal Distribution in Australia. Check the Hidden Shoal Store for all availability info.

Best,

The HSR Team
Label Site: http://music.hiddenshoal.com
Label Store: http://agora.hiddenshoal.com

MEandJOANCOLLINS – 2009 Boston Music Award Nominee

The gritty garage and glam rock stylings of Cambridge-based MEandJOANCOLLINS have garnered the band a nomination at this year’s Boston Music Awards. DOA’s review of the band’s swaggering debut LP, Love. Trust. Faith. Lust., is available here. You can also help the band clinch the Pop Act of the Year award by voting on the BMA homepage

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