Quasi – American Gong

Some musicians like to keep things fresh with revolving doors and various memberships in several bands. A few stellar ones have their main band, their solo gig and a few side-projects spinning on the side. And most of the time, they take a steady amount of time off from other projects to focus on one primary one – even if it is temporarily. Well, what about Quasi, a band that for the longest time was solely made up of singer/musician Sam Coomes and drummer Janet Weiss?

Their discography is wide-ranging but they usually don’t venture very far out in terms of tours, publicity or even, developing new sounds. Whatever the case may be, there’s a strong indication that they were well aware of the capability American Gong would present. They have an expansive tour ready, they’ve fully welcomed bassist Joanna Bolme as their third member and with that aforementioned album, they’ve now amassed what is their best album to date. A stunningly rich and sprawling collection of music, it’s confidently secured with strong musicianship and songs that come to life beneath this trio’s masterful hold.

You can click here and read Carrie Brownstein’s genuine gushing on the album or you can very simply, go out, buy it and allow its rewards to come to you. Pushing the boundaries with songs that can rock and shake with focused propulsion or with darkly capered stomps, Quasi, as a band, has never sounded any better. As a songwriter, Coomes’ melodies are still rooted in the blues, with his crooning progressing into something thunderous and at times, gripping. And as for Weiss, well, she’s very frankly an impeccable drummer who adapts to these new changes with calm and ease. Bolme is the anchor; always steady and in full support, but even at just a trio, their mountain of sound beckons for mercy.

Somewhere along the way, there was a decision to indulge possibilities when it came to record American Gong. The lyrics are sharper and far more introspective, the music is on a grander scale, working towards an overwhelming amount of brilliance and radiance and each musician plays a vital role to the entire album’s fruition. The rockabilly comes with roaring heights on “Rockabilly Party” but at the same time, an acoustic guitar and depressing wordplay can just as easily amaze with “The Jig is Up.” It’s not just the fact that the styles are diverse but that they’re performed with fantastic results. And even the smallest texture – like the guitar’s modifications on the latter – will leave you thrilled by the excellent musicians behind it.

Fans could always pinpoint their trademark fixtures: a band that could jam with the best of them, a band that could laugh and joke through their lyrics and a band that could blow you away. And even though those features are still very much prevalent all over American Gong, they’ve been tempered and tailored into something substantially greater. Even when Coomes is declaring for all to “Rise up” on “Now What,” he sounds poised and as believable as he does on the raucous rocker, “Bye Bye Blackbird.” Through his Heatmiser days, there’s even the strong channeling of Elliott Smith on “Everything & Nothing At All,” with its unforgettable piano notes.

These are some remarkably awesome choices and they’ve found a good home on American Gong. It’s about time others got to relish in what Quasi presented and while many still lament the caves of emptiness left with Weiss and Coomes’ defunct bands, there is plenty to fall in love with on here. And trust me, it’s worth it.

“Repulsion” by Quasi

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Kill Rock Stars

Balmorhea – Constellations

Constellations always seemed to require too much focus and imagination for me. As a youngster, instead of getting psyched by trying to locate one in the night sky, all I could think of was how much of a stretch the whole enterprise was – how much it missed the forest for the trees. So it seems a little ironic to me that acoustic instrumental quintet Balmorhea’s frisky previous album, All is Wild, All is Silent was about seeing the trees, while the new album, which looks for the forest, is titled Constellations. Whereas All is Wild was a loose concept which envisaged settlers learning to live on the wild frontier, Constellations aims for feelings associated with the deep, wide-open sky. To try to communicate this idea, they’ve reined in most of their flashy ornate tendencies to focus more on the meditative and restrained, and they’ve done so to mixed results.

The presumable concept of this album, focusing on how humans impose form and meaning on vast unknowable voids, is intellectually interesting and commendable. Beautifully recorded by Andrew Hernandez, this album is not short on luxurious sounds and competent musicianship. However, the songwriting seems a little too minimal at times, allowing the momentum built by the stronger, more fully formed  and distinct pieces to dissipate like a piano note held in long sustain. Still, the high points are very, very good. “Steerage and the Lamp” steers full throttle into Philip Glass territory, adding a little orchestral mischief for tension and slowing occasionally for some ominously banged chords, and it is an absolute tour de force. With its up-front, barely-there drums and slow bass, “On the Weight of Night” plods along like a lost track from Mogwai’s Come On Die Young. Only the fantastic “Bowsprit”, teetering and ornate, really approaches a distinctly Balmorhean sound. It utilizes all of the band’s players and all of their strengths, presents depth through texture, interlocks some lovely and distinct parts, and puts the melody on display front-and-center.

“Bowsprit” also seems to be the one track that comes closest to meeting the human-centered theme they set out for themselves by approaching the idea of constellations. Relative to the other tracks here, it seems to play up the distinctly human elements of unpredictable emotion and unbridled thought – common reactions to deep reflection brought upon by confrontation with cosmic insignificance. While the moodier tracks can also be indicative of other appropriate reactions to metaphysical ruminations, the human spin that invoking the idea of constellations puts forth seems difficult to sense. Much of the emotion here feels a bit mechanical, and the feeling comes of more funereal than awe-inspring.

Constellations is only remarkable when it is given your absolute attention, but it doesn’t come up with enough ideas to keep it on its own, lulling the listener with too many serviceably dramatic but non-descript piano-led pieces. This makes the work as a whole somewhat impenetrable, even as it can feel satisfying on a piece-by-piece basis with some attention. There are undeniably great moments here, but they sound too much like strongly defined moments from the great works of other bands to really give this concept the continuity it deserves. So, I have a similar problem with Constellations that I have with constellations – there are a few that really stick out, but overall, the payoff seems limited compared to the amount of effort and imagination required to see what’s going on.

Balmorhea

Western Vinyl

The Hussys – Japanese Graffiti

Fun is the name of the game for The Hussys, who pass up the somber for the joyous. Musically, The Hussys aren’t terribly unlike Wolf Parade with their mix of stiff rock instrumentation and spazzy electronics. I wouldn’t dare to say the music carries the depth of Wolf Parade, but the idea is similar. Vocally, Wolf Parade is out of the question. Steph, the vocalist, has some Karen O attitude in her, but lacks Karen’s phenomenal melodic sense. Steph’s energy is nice but she doesn’t “own” the songs with defining melodies, as she tends to meander along with the music. The Hussys, however, have managed to catch attention without the hook that I’d like to hear out of them. They’ve been featured on “The Hills” and “Paris Hilton BFF,” as well as a couple of movies and advertisements. Those MTV shows, though, aren’t exactly “The Wire.”

“Pick a Loveheart” is one of the few songs that stand out from the crowd. The Hussys dial back the rock instrumentation and use a bossa nova acoustic guitar riff, with an electronic rhythm following suite. Steph gets into the groove of the song and begins to stand out a little bit, helping the song get where it needs to go. All in all, “Pick a Loveheart” is the song you’d want to replay with this album in your car. “Hot Electronics” sounded weird to me because musically everything sounded like it does on the rest of the album, but whenever Steph sings, especially in the chorus, the melody sounds like a country song. It’s not really bad or good, it was just something that sounded strange to me, and maybe it’s only something idiosyncratic that I picked up. Neither bad or good is sort of the theme of Japanese Graffiti, as most of the songs are fairly nondescript when stacked against one another. They digi-rock their way through three minutes and by the end, nothing Steph has sang or the band has played will stick with you. The good news is that it’s only a thirty minute album, so you’d be more than welcome to check it out and hardly be out any time. If you felt like saving your thirty minutes for something else, however, I couldn’t blame you; this album is nothing if not forgettable.

Short Takes

Little Boots – Hands

Warner Bros

Step aside Lady Gaga, Kylie, and Annie while Little Boots (aka Victoria Hesketh, former lead singer in the band Dead Disco) delivers a big dance-pop kick on the album Hands, due Stateside on March 2^nd.  Already out in the U.K., the platter is an ear-pleasing delight of supremely melodic, immediately appealing, electro-dance-pop numbers that zip along or glide by with Victoria’s sweet and nimble vocals taking center stage and her short-phrase lyrics displaying more emotional depth than the typical pop album.

While Hands has “mass market appeal” stamped all over it, especially in light of Lady Gaga’s massive popularity (or is that due to her outrageous and outlandish outfits?), that doesn’t take away from a catchy clutch of songs touched by Victoria’s light and silky vocals that deftly change from softly velvety to delicately melancholic to innocently girlish to sharply aware to suit the vibe of each song.

With its carefree, hands-in-the-air, sing-along chorus of “I’m gonna take you out tonight / I’m gonna make you feel alright.” “New In Town” makes for a perfect dance album opener, even with the addition of a bittersweet later verse about Victoria knowing what it’s like to be alone and far from home.  A seismically deep synth line rumbles through the start of “Earthquake” as Victoria shifts from a subdued, feathery tone on the verses to chorus segments where she tumbles down from gentle exclamations into a creamy, lower register that mingles with angelical sighs in the background.

“Stuck On Repeat” will linger in the brain for days, and quite possibly weeks, as Victoria’s nuanced vocals pensively modulate between velvety warmth and breathy melancholy amid Depeche Mode-like dark synth distortion.  The only cure is to listen to the uplifting “Remedy”, a dose of pure dancefloor pop buoyed by electronic whirs and pulses and an enticingly demure Victoria sing-talking “I’ve found the antidote / Music is the cure.”

Another standout track is “Meddle”, a cautionary tale which boasts a heavily rhythmic, clanging beat, fatly squelching synth notes, and the sharply sung, incisive lyrics “Don’t go…messing with her mind / or messing with the things that are inside / You don’t know what you’ll find / You don’t know what she hides.”  Victoria pairs up with Philip Oakey of The Human League for the smoothly sparkling goth-pop duet “Symmetry” and they shadow each other while singing “Love me in perfect symmetry / Only you can make me feel complete.”

http://www.littlebootsmusic.co.uk/home.htm

Ruby Throat – Out of a Black Cloud Came a Bird

Sleeplikewolves

The delicate alt-folk blues ruminations of British duo Ruby Throat’s sophomore album materialize as subtle apparitions imbued with a quiet devastation.  These introspective laments feature an emotionally-insular KatieJane Garside on vocals and Chris Whittingham on gently-picked acoustic and slide guitars.  KatieJane murmurs her lyrics in an airy, intimate tone as Chris picks out lucent, chiming melodies on songs that mesmerize and haunt despite, or possibly because of, their muted translucently.

The gossamer, emotionally-tender “Billows Her Skirts” is a fine example of this, with a hushed, but plaintive KatieJane bittersweetly sing-talking against contemplative guitar refrains and tinging chimes until the chorus lifts up and is bolstered by layers of floating vocals and guitar lines.  On “Shark” there is an underlying frisson of strings and a low, sustained reverberation that matches the perturbation of KatieJane’s vocals as she whispers “In the darkened sea all I loved / is submerged in the tide race.”

The ephemeral “Bolt the Horse” is way too brief at under two minutes of just a verse and chorus, yet it still captivates with its short-phrase choral propulsion.  Chris utilizes several slide and acoustic guitars on the murder ballad “Barebaiting”, with KatieJane in story-teller mode, singing in a light, matter-of-fact tone about a husband who declares “My wife / fell on that knife.”  “Beneath My Undress” is an evocative Badlands ballad with Western-sounding slide guitar and KatieJane singing “Same time I escaped the rope / …I put it back around my throat.”

The bitter roots of the lyrics (originally written by Townes Van Zandt) “Burdens…crush you down into nothing.” yield a tender musical shoot on “Nothing” with its gliding, limpid guitar lines and a subdued KatieJane revealing that solitude is a precious thing.  Deeper reverb guitar refrains warm up “A Bus Stop on Hollowway Rd.” while steely slide guitar strings cool off title track “Out of a Black Cloud Came a Bird”, which are both graced by KatieJane’s soft, breathy, yearning vocals.

http://www.myspace.com/katiejanegarsiderubythroat

Inkraktare – You Have Reached Your Destination EP

Fwonk.com

Inkraktare is a collaboration between Dean Garcia (Curve, SPC ECO, KGC) and Mark Wallbridge (Vasko The Pig, Viejos Hombre de Abejon) and this 5-song EP fluctuates between a massive attack and a mellow flow of electronics, beats, bass lines, and vocal samples.

Compared to the other tracks on this EP, the all-instrumental “Inchin” is short and compact at just under 3 minutes, jam-packed with bleeping electronics, zippy glitches, sizzling zigzag distortion, a taut beat, and deep bass line.  It is the sound of machinery and electronics at their most ferocious and foreboding, but the storm gradually eases up towards the end, drifting off with only a few innocuously chirping electronics filling the void.

The next number, “Yakob”, samples dialogue from a film (“Jacob’s Ladder” perhaps?) as a man speaks of ‘better living through chemistry’ with the refrain of “Please, let me help you.”  A menacing vibe pervades the atmosphere as electronics take the form of blips, squirks, and high-pitched whistles, coming off like a demented R2-D2.  The abstruse ambience also includes simmering cymbals, sustained, sunken-register synths, a deep beat, and buzz-cutting bursts of noise over which the film dialogue is reprised before settling down to a low-flame intensity.

“Sunloop” is the calm after the storm and its framework is constructed from a slow, deep, but constant beat and another measured, repeatedly- hit note.  Wind (or is it someone breathing?) is couched in the background, along with other dripping, percolating, and crackling emissions.  A ‘new-day-dawning’ sound prevails over it all, along with a soft wash of water, creating a contemplative, relaxing, and natural feel to the track.  Rough and soft sonics clash with other each on “Revoksbane” as a found audio clip of a psychologist talking to a patient is played with the patient stating “I feel crystal clear.”  Typewriter keys tap amid laser zaps, skittering, tinkering electronics, and the high screech of rewinding tape, while the commotion is pitched against a placid, sustained backdrop of Rose Berlin’s (singer of SPC ECO and daughter of Dean Garcia) airy, wordless sighs.

“Plan Nine” begins with a laid-back beat and mild static which is overlaid with an audio clip of a man’s echoed and distorted voice, where discerned words include “future”, “mysterious and unexplainable”, and “That is why you are here.”  Varied electronic glitches flit in and out until a faster rhythm is built up from them, working against the initial slower beat.  Halfway through the tune, the electronics get fired up, swelling into a complex pattern that builds and then recedes in repeating cycle.

http://fwonk.com/FW037.html

New EP from Luther Russell in March

Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Luther Russell will release the six-track “Motorbike” EP on March 15, 2010 on Wool Recordings/Ungawa.

The songs on the EP are taken from Russell’s upcoming fifth solo album ­ a double entitled “The Invisible Audience” ­ and were selected and sequenced by Sarabeth Tucek, who also sings on “Somehow Or Another.”

Musically the EP takes in the psychedelic Americana of the title track, which is reminiscent of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club circa “Howl,” the stripped-down blues of “A World Unknown,” the power-pop of “Tomorrow’s Paper,” and the short, but sweet “Dead Sun Blues” and “Et Al,” which sound like outtakes from “Sweetheart Of The Rodeo” and “Third/Sister Lovers,” respectively. What keeps these seemingly disparate influences together is Russell’s effortless way with a melody and the warm, analogue sound.

“It was recorded to eight-track one-inch tape with most instruments played by yours truly,” says Russell, who has produced records by Richmond Fontaine and the aforementioned Sarabeth Tucek. “People have really responded to the song “Motorbike,” so I thought an EP built around it would be a nice way of calling attention to the new album.”

As well as a digital release it will be available on an extremely limited-edition white vinyl 12-inch, which comes with a postcard shot by underground filmmaker Cam Archer. Archer, who has previously worked with Gus Van Sant and made videos for the likes of Xiu Xiu and Six Organs Of Admittance, is currently working on a video for “Motorbike.”

http://www.myspace.com/lutherrussell
http://lutherrussell.com/

New EP from experimental pop duo Boxharp out soon

The 23rd of February will see the release of Loam Arcane, the new EP by American ambient experimental pop duo Boxharp.  For the uninitiated, Boxharp are Scott Solter (producer/engineer for the likes of Spoon, The Mountain Goats, John Vanderslice, St Vincent etc) and Wendy Allen (Tarentel, The Ballustrade Ensemble).

Loam Arcane
Loam Arcane is an EP of two mesmerising halves. The hallucinogenic pop of the first half springs to vivid life with opener ‘FanFin’, which ricochets with disorientating beats and refracted vocal melodies as if some sort of life-sized zoetrope. Sparkling single ‘Rainbirds’ follows, interweaving ambient textures with Wendy Allen’s pure vocals, giving way to a transcendent harmonised middle eight. The melodies return, crested by sparkling, wavering tones – and then it’s over.

In the second, more abstract and haunting, half of the EP, the stunning ‘The Postcard’ slowly dissolves  the floor from under your feet. The track plays out like a consoling friend who turns into gas just as you need them most. And finale ‘Who Are Your People (South Shoal)’ is a glorious marriage of rhythmic  bark, distant ghosted fauna and warm, flowing synths – slow motion tribal music for electric ghosts.

Availability
The Loam Arcane EP is an exclusive digital-only release through Hidden Shoal Recordings. The EP will be available in all digital formats via the Hidden Shoal Store and all good online stores such as iTunes, eMusic, LaLa and Amazon. Boxharp’s forthcoming album The Green is released on 4th May 2010, preceded by a single on 5th March 2010.

Official Site: http://boxharp.com/

Spy Island – At The Vegan Witch Trials

On their new LP, Spy Island retains some of the endearingly rough edges that defined their earlier efforts, while taking their music-making talents to new heights. Thanks to clever instrumentation, glued-together harmonies, and a few gambles, rock and pop music thrive on At The Vegan Witch Trials.

This mostly Portland-based band alternates between noise rock and quiet, acoustic-centered pop. A muted nerdiness may filter through at times, but this is overshadowed by a homey slacker vibe. That vibe is frequently attributed, often unfairly, to Northwest regional bands like Spy Island. A lot of work went into At The Vegan Witch Trials, and it shows. Download the album here.

The relaxed, dirty little song, “Blue Pillows”picks up steam with a harmony that spills right into the chorus, where music and vocals both shine. This song actually gets better as it goes, taking a sudden but welcome turn at the bridge, where doting piano keys lead right back into the chorus. This chorus is almost anthemic in slacker terms. “Blue Pillows” also reveals the band’s refined ear and unique arrangements. Here and elsewhere on the album, assorted keys, trombone, and saxophone make themselves at home. This music doesn’t just find its comfort zone. It makes it.

Moving from rock to acoustic pop, “Walls of Home” showcases smart lyrics shared between the male-female vocals, sometimes trading off, sometimes in harmony. The band’s down-to-earth persona gushes through the vocals: “I know it comes from the armchair, but I’ve got suggestions. I want to help. I’ve got all these ideas.”

Weak spots are few and far between here. At The Vegan Witch Trials excels. The band’s smarts translate into the music, and the music has never been better.

Spy Island’s Web site

How I Became the Bomb – Deadly Art

Quick background on How I Became The Bomb: Tennessee band, been around for 5 years or so, has played shows in various parts of the world with some major acts, has kept a pretty low profile. The band writes pretty involved pop songs, something like The Shins crossed with Black Kids. It’s not as bland as you might think when you hear “pop band,” even if it’s not especially groundbreaking.

Deadly Art likes its dance songs and its heartfelt, emo-ish vocals. The writing benefits from some decent interplay between the synths and guitars, so even on the groove-oriented “A Formal Occasion” there’s a little something more than just basic songcraft. The album has a polished, tight sheen that evinces the band’s attention to detail. If you’re going to write this kind of music, you’d better go all the way, right? On the more dance-oriented tracks, it’s as though the band took early and late Ultravox and put them together.

“Tomorrows Date” ups the rock quotient at times, as does “Blood Will Tell.” The latter makes use of some big reverb for its spacier, shoegaze moments (a little unusual for a band making hits like the vocoded “Salvage Mission”). Not content to stick to just affairs of the heart, the band gets somewhat political on “Killing Machine,” a first-person war protest whose lush choruses compete with its essential message against war: its final refrain of “The Army has taught me a lot about life” has a nice double meaning without sounding too preachy.

It’s clear that How I Became The Bomb has spent a good bit of time getting its sound and its compositions “just so,” and it might just find an audience with those who like Postal Service records but wish that band had more oomph to it.

The Superions – s/t EP

Fred Schneider of The B-52’s fame is ba-a-ack, along with Noah Brodie and Dan Marshall, and they’re packing enough ham ‘n’ cheese sandwiches and a heaping helping o’ corn to satisfy even the most ravenous at the disco-pop picnic party.  This EP includes three original songs “Those Sexy Saucer Gals”, “Who Threw That Ham at Me”, and the oddly alluring “Totally Nude Island”, along with one remix of “Who Threw That Ham at Me” by Casper & The Cookies and a whopping three remixes of “Totally Nude Island” by The Lolligags, Ursula 1000, and Marshmallow Coast.

It would be easy to dismiss these songs as silly and superficial, but where’s the fun in that?  Fred is all about the fun and he brings his odd-pop sensibilities, quirky charm, saucy, nasal tone, and giggle to groan-inducing lyrics to the table, so dig in heartily, but keep the antacid tablets handy just in case.

The lyrics of “Those Sexy Saucer Gals” would be sexist smarm if not for the fact that it’s Fred talking with unctuous tongue firmly in cheek and for the comical comeuppance at the end of the story-telling track.  The comic book antics involves who else but sexy girls from a flying saucer who land on Earth and ‘get busy’ with the men (Fred suggestively drawls “…it wasn’t long before we deduced / we was gonna get seduced.”) and then turn the tables on the guys by leaving right after with the promise of returning in 9 months.  The song ends abruptly at this juncture, hinging on a punchline that can be seen coming from outer space, but that doesn’t diminish the zany fun of the prospect of what will happen to the men during those, ummm, 9 months… As far as musical content goes, the fast tempo is akin to “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)” by Dead or Alive with percolating blips and ghostly wavering synth lines.

Next number “Who Threw That Ham at Me” is the outright dance track of the EP, with an upbeat, thumping dancefloor beat, short bursts of horns, strings, and Fred introducing a dance move called ‘Disco Garbage Can’ where you “flip your lid”.  Check out the dance move in the official video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoePXkHWdw4 .  Sonically it recalls the electronics of “Crackers” by Ghostigital (The Sugarcubes’s Einar Orn’s current band with KatieJane Garside on guest vocals for that song), as well as for the indignant vocal delivery and for events taking place within a supermarket (“The Piggly”, in Fred’s instance).  The Casper & The Cookies Remix of “Who Threw That Ham at Me” streamlines the track, bringing the rock with added guitar growls, a harder drum beat, cymbals, and extended horn blasts.

“Totally Nude Island” is a relaxing respite from the previous tracks, with a languorous wash of ocean waves, mild xylophone hits, wavering flute, gulls calling, and Fred speaking in a sexy-suave voice about the “tropic of desire” and “nary a stitch of clothing in sight.”  Proving that a remix can improve upon the original song, The Lolligags Remix of “Totally Nude Island” one-ups the original, transforming it into a sensual dance track by adding a cantering drum beat, blippy and squelchy electronics, bass line undercurrent, pulled strings, and more lyrics which are seductively sung by Leslie Dallion of The Lolligags, sounding like a darkly sharp Siouxsie Sioux.  Fred’s vocals are echoed and hypnotic against the eerie strings so that he sounds like a travel guide on Valium pointing out the delights of Totally…Nude…Island.

Cortney Tidwell – “17 Horses”

“17 Horses” off of Cortney Tidwell’s second album Boys is a constant build up, pushing you back while you patiently await for the inevitable shock and/or punch to the chest. All the while she skips around, her vocals dance like a boiling pot of honey, both with matching sweetness. Tidwell’s Bjork-like intensity shines on “17 Horses”. Finally, around a minute and a half in, a very fitting My Morning Jacket tirade a la “Gideon” off of their album Z throws you out of your chair. By fitting I mean of course the collaboration on a track with Jim James from MMJ, credited as Being Crosby. Hailing from Nashville, Tennessee – home of the Grand ‘Ol Opry -  I challenge you to make any comparison you can think of. Location aside, Tidwell sets fire to your insides and there’s not a glass of milk in site. This song is a crash coarse explosion with wailing intensity. Boys is an album worth your while.

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