By Matt Sullivan
Back in the day, a flight on Pan Am was the stuff of legends. You were in the company of kings and queens, floating in a gilded jet stream with international or even interstellar ambitions, but more importantly, you were part of an adventure. Now that commercial flight has become standard and the size of the world has shrunk conceptually, that spirit is threatened by extinction. Luckily, Joe Knight-- the San Francisco-via-Dallas multi-instrumentalist behind Rangers-- has risen to the task of resuscitating and immortalizing those long-lost feelings of exploration in the form of his first double LP, Pan Am Stories.
It's honestly surprising that a character as humble as Knight has assumed such lofty ambitions; just a year ago, he was taking listeners on intimate, night-time detours through American suburbia in the backseat of a hot-boxed car. With all of the acclaim his debut LP Suburban Tours received in the blogosphere as a set of abbreviated Hypnagogic vignettes, it was easy to forget about the expansive psychedelia of Rangers' early sound collages. Those were risky, epic, and at times unwieldy, but in Stories, Knight is in full control, confidently refiguring those sounds into arena-sized rock epics in glorious lo-fi. What makes the album's centerpiece, "Zeke's Dream," a huge leap forward from, say, Low Cut Fades, is not necessarily any difference in structure, but an attention to detail that makes the progression of its varied dream scenes feel almost scientific in nature, not simply experimental.
In fact, that's one of Stories' biggest feats: making prog-- occasionally a dirty, four-letter word for elitist or just plain boring-- into something poetic and accessible. "John Is The Last of a Dying Breed," for example, unfurls slowly, opening with a sweetly strummed guitar progression that's been given a Cocteau Twins sheen. Knight's nuanced, dynamic playing allows the guitar to glide over the prophetic repetitions of the bass before all is suspended and silenced. As we start to wonder what clouds are peaking over the horizon, the song returns as a perpetually growing, funky groove with a winding, lyrical guitar melody as its backbone. But it's not always about adding layers until a fateful climax; "Jane's Well" employs a circular form where, after a similarly dramatic build-and-drop, and a bath of flanged, tremolo-picked guitar goo, there's a recapitulation of the A-section with an enchanting, echoing chime melody. The whole experience evokes something one would expect to hear if Stephen Malkmus led Pink Floyd, fetishized Chic instead of The Fall, and invited Curt Kirkwood to tag along on tour. It's spacious, stylish freedom grounded by a keen ear for melody and guided by a subliminal narrative.
That narrative is part of what makes this a great road trip record, in the tradition of American Water. The main difference-- the main reason we're traveling in a Boeing for this trip, and not a Volvo-- is the prevalent sense of fantasy. The scenes and settings are realistic, but the accompanying feelings are beyond this world. This Pan Am legend, unlike the ones of yore, transcends social status. It's a tale of the intangible luxuries of experience and discovery that the photo album can help re-kindle, but can't quite re-capture.
Pan Am Stories is available now on Not Not Fun
Joe Knight of Rangers says:
Chic became one of the most popular funk groups of the late '70s thanks to their disco hits and the impeccable production by Nile Rogers and Bernard Edwards. I find that a lot of funk and R&B from the late '70s has a unique sound caught somewhere in between the ultra-dry, dead room sound (think Aja by Steely Dan) and what would became the '80's synthetic sound of gated drums, digital delay and the highly coveted (or loathed) solid state logic console (think Avalon by Roxy Music). C'est Chic [1978] by Chic sounds incredible. It has the warmth and lushness of classic '70s records with the liveliness of early '80s records. It's not too warm or cold, too dry or wet.
"At last I am free," which clocks in at over 7 minutes, oozes out of the speakers at a snail's pace, too slow and strange to dance to. The first thing that caught my ear with this song was the snare drum, which is pretty much the best sounding snare I have heard in any song. It sounds big and dubby and full of reverb yet small and warm at the same time. Perfect. Bernard's flare for the dramatic gets us going with one of his singular mini-solos, which he later re-visits. Nile glides into one of the signature chord progressions that would end up being a huge influence on the Postcard [Records], Scottish Pop sound as well as Manchester's Johnny Marr and countless others. The vocals are not the focal point of the song but simply another color in the mix. Even the repeated chorus, "At least I am free,/ I can hardly see in front of me," doesn't make a whole lot of sense in context of a love (or failed love) song. It's a strange thing to say, but somehow it works, and it's as if the singers are experiencing sensory overload from the music (or are peaking on acid). The verses are the obvious weak spot but luckily don't last that long before crescendoing to the outro. The clever arrangement and the thick, ambiguously ominous atmosphere keep me from dismissing "At last I am free" as cheesy jacuzzi funk. To me it sounds like a sultry dub ballad on quaaludes.
Last year, the woozy melodies of Rangers totally blew us away; Suburban Tours was one of our favorite records of last year. Now, we're psyched that the Joe Knight-fronted project will be releasing a new double LP called Pan Am Stories on the always awesome Not Not Fun. Sink your teeth into the first shoegaze-glazed exercise in hypnagogic pop to drop, "Conversations On The Jet Stream." --Ric Leichtung, Altered Zones via The Fader
MP3: Rangers: "Conversations On The Jet Stream"
Keep an eye on Not Not Fun for more info on Pan Am Stories
--Previously
2010 was more of an "oldies but goodies year" for San Francisco's Rangers, whose eery, degraded guitar-loop vignettes have had our heads spinning since he dropped his debut Suburban Tours LP on Olde English Spelling Bee in February. To celebrate the end of the year, Joe Knight sent in a photo of his roommate holding a cat in a Santa outfit and a handful of the glam, post-punk, kraut, prog, funk, and industrial classics he's had on repeat this year. Obscurer highlights include tracks by Stockholm Monsters, MX-80, Throbbing Gristle, The Chemistry Set, Spectrum, Loop, and La Dusseldorf.
As 2010 draws to an close, Altered Zones brings you its collective year-end recap. Today, we list our favorite albums of the year. Check our list of tracks here, our list of videos there, and don't forget to stay tuned through the holiday break for daily year-end mixtapes from our favorite artists.
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti: Before Today [4AD]
MP3: Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti: "Fright Night (Nevermore)"
When attempting to blurb Ariel Pink's ambitious masterpiece Before Today for my own year-end list, it occurred to me that literally every dialogue about this record and its brilliant, transcendent pop songs had been exhausted elsewhere: Ariel emerges from his bedroom, abandons lo-fi, records in a real studio with real musicians for a real label, drops his breakout record, some irrelevant shit about chillwave, etc. So I enlisted the opinion of chillwave inventor Carles of popular weblog Hipster Runoff fame, a longtime Ariel Pink fan himself, who summed it up like this: “It seems as if perhaps the world has finally caught up with Ariel Rosenberg, and our ears are finally ready for his textures. Before Today is history, while the future is a mystery but today is a gift which belongs to Ariel Pink." --Chris Cantalini
Autre Ne Veut: Autre Ne Veut [Olde English Spelling Bee/Upstairs CDR]
MP3: Autre Ne Veut: "Two Days Of Rain"
Of the many R&B-nodding white guys making conceptual pop music this year, Autre Ne Veut's debut on Olde English Spelling Bee/Upstairs was one of few that had a completely unique spin. While HTDW had a darker, more pained take, ANV was minimal, clubby, filled with strange effects and unusual instrumentation. And, unlike HTDW, his live show was amazing, with him squirming on the floor and flailing his limbs like a wounded lamb. What that lamb proved was that Toni Braxton-loving white guys can have their cake and eat it too, and not in some W'burg 2006-era ironic way. This is the pop music everyone makes in their shower or in front of the mirror, only it's real. --Michael P. McGregor
Big Troubles: Worry [Olde English Spelling Bee]
Big Troubles' LP dreams finally came to fruition in the third quarter of 2010, when Olde English Spelling Bee released their debut full-length, Worry. The 14-track record bristles with buzzing grit and downright catchy vocal parts, penned by Big Troubles co-masterminds/songwriters Alex Craig and Ian Drennan. Their sound is often touted as a perfect marriage of searing shoe-gaze distortion and early '90s radio rock, but the sum of the descriptors proves greater than its parts. Big Troubles truly champion an exciting and relentlessly loud form of rock and roll. --Ian Nelson
Clive Tanaka y su orquesta: Jet Set Siempre 1° [Tall Corn]
MP3: Clive Tanaka y su orquesta: "All Night, All Right"
Clive Tanaka is a mysterious figure. Signs point to him being from Japan, Chicago, Brazil, and other far-flung locales, but no one's been able to pin him down yet. It's almost as if he's attemping to throw you off his path by giving false clues. But the international hook works: His Jet Set Siempre 1° tape melts down sounds from all over the globe into vintage synth bangers. How many people can make a robotic voice sound so damn passionate? In futuristic utopias, Clive Tanaka definitely owns the night. --Jheri Evans
Cloudland Canyon: Fin Eaves [Holy Mountain]
MP3: Cloudland Canyon: "Mothlight Pt.2"
Kip Ulhorn's euphoric plunge into synth-driven psych hides an underlying swell of sadness beneath its gauzy pop structures. With the addition of his wife Kelly to the fray, Ulhorn steers Cloudland Canyon away from its Krautrock roots and into a gloriously lush shoegaze present. The result is some of Cloudland Canyon’s catchiest songwriting yet, ensconced in shimmery pop foam and radiant noise, spiraling ever closer to bliss. --Andy French
Earl Sweatshirt: EARL [OFWFKTA]
OFWGKTA: soon to become a household acronym striking fear into the hearts of parents nationwide. These adolescent Los Angeles natives don't just produce their own warped beats; they spit rhymes that even Ted Bundy would find kinda fucked up. Their now missing member, Earl Sweatshirt, isn't any less twisted than the rest of his crew; he's just able to make some of the most vile verses sound eloquent. On "Assmilk", a track from OFWG founder Tyler's Bastard LP, Earl calls himself the "reincarnation of '98 Eminem", a pronouncement that rings true in both content and delivery. His eponymous LP was self-released earlier this year, and the kid leaves no rock unturned. With themes ranging to threesomes with Pam Anderson and Miley Cyrus to stabbing cops and cannibalism, he's definitely not tackling your everyday high school problems. Unfortunately, his parents failed to see anything creative about this and shipped him off to boot camp (or so we think). Hopefully, he'll take this as a learning experience and come back even more ferocious than before. #freeEARL --Nathan Smith
Games: That We Can Play [Hippos In Tanks]
It's interesting to watch our perception of the '80s evolve from a kitschy, "what was I thinking?" decade into an endearing, "those were the days" one. Once upon a time, the era was the butt of as many jokes as Steven Seagal, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Chuck Norris combined. Despite flashbacks of gaudy clothing, nowadays the '80s would seem to have some lasting value after all. With their That We Can Play EP, the Brooklyn electronic duo of Joel Ford and OPN's Daniel Lopatin sums it up in a phantasmagoria of lithe synths, robotic melodies, and stiff drum-machine beats. Their songs bring back childhood memories of lying on the living room floor watching Airwolf and MacGyver, or wishing you had more Atari games to play. It's precisely this sort of nostalgia that makes for GAMES' best instrument. That We Can Play soundtracks our memories with sounds as familiar as they are fresh. --Will Abramson
Gatekeeper: Giza [Merok]
Gatekeeper’s Giza EP is an immaculate sound wave designed to paralyse unexplored areas of the human psyche with fear and delight. "Look in the mirror", say Gatekeeper three times. The only valid boarding pass for this voyage is your soul, so please have it open and ready. Upon launch, "Serpent" burrows its way down to the spinal column, where it takes control of your body with an injection of Front 242 serum straight to the nervous system. The rest is a feverish hallucination of wild contortions and glimpses from horror films that were never made. This EP is literally a killer. --J
How To Dress Well: Love Remains [Lefse/Tri Angle]
MP3: How To Dress Well: "Walking This Dumb (Live)"
How To Dress Well has had an amazing year, and much of that centers around Love Remains. The songs are inspired by R&B from the late '80s and '90s , but they have a distinct bedroom sound that elevates their emotional resonance. The entire album holds together seamlessly, but each track stands just as strong on its own. Love Remains grabs you by the heartstrings and allows you to experience How To Dress Well's most impassioned emotions, and that's no small feat. --Jheri Evans
James Blake: CMYK [R&S]
On this his third EP, released through legendary label R&S, London's unspeakably prolific James Blake came into the collective consciousness and established himself as one of the most forward-thinking, genre-defying, and exciting producer/songwriters of the year. Whilst all four songs on the release continue to hold their own, its status as landmark of the last 12 months is won by the title track's chopped, haunting R&B sample, and its seamless transition from a sparse and subtle, atmospheric arrangement to a heart exploding, sub-bass tour de force. --Sahil Varma
Julian Lynch: Mare [Olde English Spelling Bee]
MP3: Julian Lynch: "Just Enough"
Sound-shaper Julian Lynch composed the low-key, non-traditional psychedelia of Mare in his home states of New Jersey and Wisconsin. With its eclectic instrumental palette, ranging from Eastern to Western and Native American spiritual, the LP boasts more influences than the ear can absorb in one sitting. Like lots of '60s and '70s psych-folk songs, Lynch's have a carefree and endearing yogic leisure about them. --Ryan Ellis
Mark McGuire: Living With Yourself [Editions Mego]
MP3: Mark McGuire: "Brain Storm (For Erin)"
Guitarist Mark McGuire is perhaps best known as one-third of Cleveland Kosmiche revivalists Emeralds, but he has released no less than 30 solo albums in his 23 years on Earth. His Living With Yourself LP on Editions Mego is not only one his most accessible works to date (read: physically available), but also his most technically accomplished. Across eight loop-based sound collages, McGuire whisks through a psychic landscape as vast and minutely textured as America seen from 10,000 feet above. But Living With Yourself is less an exploration of space than an excavation of time, setting McGuire’s processed guitar reveries alongside sound-fragments from the musician’s own childhood. Hard not to feel a little bit like a voyeur when we hear a five-year-old McGuire introducing himself as “Mark”, but who are we to say that pop music hasn’t always been the highest form of autobiography? --Emilie Friedlander
oOoOO: oOoOO EP [Tri Angle]
"NoSummer4u", the track that put San Francisco-based bedroom recorder oOoOO on the map, is an enchanting, gothic-tinged synth-pop ballad, underpinned by foreboding atmospherics and a clinical, hip-hop-inflected beat. His debut self-titled EP presents a darker, more confused vision; oOoOO's skewed take on commercial electro-pop celebrates its decadent glamour while going out if its way to expose its rotten core. From the stuttering, fractured R&B wasteland of "Mumbai" to the barren faux-funk of "Hearts", oOoOO is a beautiful still of urban yearning and mindlessness captured through the stained glasses of a romantic outsider, a guttural fairy tale orchestrated by delayed vamps and diseased synth tones. --Noam Klar
Oneohtrix Point Never: Returnal [Editions Mego]
MP3: Oneohtrix Point Never: "Returnal"
Returnal sees psychedelic-drone linchpin Daniel Lopatin's amorphous, ambient landscapes mapped with more definition than ever before. Attached to OPN's ever-so-slightly rigid structures, the sad, far-out sprawl and bottomless celestial drip of "Drifts" render a consistently beautiful, frequently devastating effect. OPN draws sadness and redemption out of distinctly alien textures with the deftest of touches. --Jack Shankly
Rangers: Suburban Tours [Olde English Spelling Bee]
MP3: Rangers: "Deerfield Village"
Every time I put on the debut full-length from fellow former-DFW-suburb-dweller Rangers, I find myself moved by all the woozy, warped filmstrip vibes, inextricably tied to murky memories of a time and place in my youth. I think this is the kind of (possibly manufactured) nostalgia Nick Sylvester was talking about in his piece about Ariel Pink and hypnagogic pop, where he jokingly describes "half-sung melodies refracted through the quarter-remembered chopper blades of the opening sequence of Airwolf as I fell asleep in my basement." Okay, good point; but Suburban Tours emanates an affectingly real, often melancholic warmth that transcends any of these increasingly derogatory, of-the-moment genre tags.--Chris Cantalini
The Samps: The Samps [Mexican Summer]
On their self-titled debut EP, Haunted Graffiti member/new Nite Jewel full-timer Cole MGN and his side-project the Samps take deconstructed, sample-based pop to a whole new level. Their chopped-and-flipped retro-futuristic electro-funk is never anything less than exhilarating, elevated as much by the crew's obvious affinity for pioneers like the Bomb Squad and Dilla as their desire to create "glorious compressed FM gold." The whole thing's a blast; more than anything else, this shit gets us psyched to see where the Samps and like-minded dudes like Games are going to take this steez next. --Chris Cantalini
Sun Araw: On Patrol [Not Not Fun]
On his fourth LP, Sun Araw, aka Cameron Stallones, delves deeper into the heavy-psych he's been maneuvering in for a few years. On Patrol was not only a manifesto, but a coming out party for this deepest of zoners. His work with Magic Lantern and releases on Not Not Fun and Woodsist have been extremely influential on kids tempering in mystic psych explosions. On Patrol, a 2xLP featuring some of the most vibe-encompassing album art I've seen in a long while (also by Stallones), is the culmination of the exotic psych-dub sound he has been chipping away at for ages-- one that is uniquely Sun Araw, while harking where the diesel rumblings are headed. --Michael P. McGregor
Ty Segall: Melted [Goner]
Whether you pump Dead Moon full of steroids or blast The Stooges through a megaphone, you'll probably get something equally as robust as Ty Segall's third album Melted. It's a throwback album, treading retro ground as far back as The Sonics, and taking a flame to the oil stains that dripped on the floors of garage rock for so many years. Simultaneously, Ty manages to ignite the same fire in the current, gaseous cloud of seemingly omnipotent, hazy, nostalgic rock. Melted is a step forward from the snarky days of his debut Lemons, with Ty letting go of the defiant angst he once harbored. He still keeps that punk rock sword in hand, but rather than flail around wildly, he dishes out calculated thrusts and slices. --Will Abramson
Yellow Swans: Going Places [Type]
MP3: Yellow Swans: "Limited Space"
The Portland drone duo of Peter Swanson and Gabriel Saloman recorded the majority of Going Places after deciding to part ways in 2008. With a backstory like that, it’s hard not to feel touched by these six wooly excursions into the void. Relying more on tape loops and field recordings than their previous efforts, Going Places piles fuzz, hiss, bells, and aborted melodic lines into mile-long vistas of undulating, overtone-speckled squall. It's as dense as a brillo-pad, as tender as a beating heart, and as devastating as the sound of a distant werewolf howling past the point of exhaustion. --Emilie Friedlander
Zola Jesus: Stridulum [Sacred Bones]
Between Stridulum and Valusia and collaborations with LA Vampires and Former Ghosts, 2010 has been a busy year for Zola Jesus. She cast her biggest stride early in the year with Stridulum, a departure from '09's considerably lower-fidelity, "diamond in the rough" album, The Spoils. Stridulum paved the way for a clearer, more sonically refined and diverse Zola, exchanging 15 crunchy, overly saturated noise pop tracks for 6 fully developed, silky smooth synth pad and drum-machine driven songs. Zola's voice is undeniably among the most unique and arresting around. But it would fall flat if the atmosphere that fostered it weren't as lush and subtly nuanced as its counterpart. Swelling crescendos, doom, and gloom in all the right places. --Ric Leichtung
In the last several years, there's been an explosion of small-scale DIY music. Altered Zones is a team of 14 music blogs dedicated to exploring these emerging musical worlds, traversing genres from psych and drone to electronic and underground pop. Our mission is to highlight the most notable and adventurous new artists, and to serve as a focal point for the flood of creativity coming from deep within the music underground.
To launch the site, we've each chosen one favorite track, cassette, and album. from the first half of this year. Over the past two days, we've covered tracks and cassettes, and today, we feature albums. Our regular posting schedule begins Monday. We hope you enjoy reading and listening.
Welcome to Altered Zones.
Memoryhouse: The Years EP
Delicious Scopitone says:
In all our internet meandering, endlessly seeking those rare extra-terrestrial sounds born of hearts and minds weighed down by unique talent, one band in particular confirmed this year that all the effort is worthwhile. Whenever we're ready to throw in the towel and convince ourselves that all our time spent trawling is utterly pointless, we remind ourselves of the sumptuous beauty of Memoryhouse. First hearing Deniese Nouvion's bewitching voice on the Guelph, Ontario band's transversal, heavenly dream-pop demos felt like reason for marvellous new hope. Receiving the fully-realised Years EP was more a case of consecration.
MP3: Memoryhouse: Lately (Deuxieme)
The Years EP is available for free download at Arcade Sounds Ltd.
Teen Daze - Four More Years EP
The Road Goes Ever On says:
The eight songs featured on Teen Daze’s debut album, Four More Years, are a neon wash of samples and synths. In "Shine On You Crazy White Cap," the line "let's drive to the coastline tonight" glistens against heavy bass, beckoning to the tide and warmer places. The entire album exudes this warmth, making it an ideal collection of songs for today and the rest of the summer. With a delicate mixture of hazy synthetic effects and more traditional instruments, Four More Years is a debut that proves Teen Daze's ear for balance and positions him as an artist whose creations leave you wanting to hear more and more.
MP3: Teen Daze: Shine On, You Crazy White Cap
Four More Years is out soon on vinyl on Arcade Sound Ltd.
Skeletal System: Skeletal System EP
20 Jazz Funk Greats says:
It's strange to think of something arriving, without warning, quite as perfectly formed as this. No label involvement, no svengali. A 5-track EP sitting there, for the world to download, perfectly judged artwork and all.
"Dialogue" is the hook, sounding like Galaxie 500 reformed and signed to Hyperdub. The other delights on the self-titled EP reveal themselves more slowly, like a cold fog engulfing the wharfs of the band's San Francisco home. Primitive cold-wave tendrils arch their way through the mournful post-punk guitar and dream-pop vocals, giving them an electronic base from which to launch evocations of post-millennial dub and echoing house.
MP3: Skeletal System: Dialogue
Skeletal Systems is available for
free download on Bandcamp
The Samps: The Samps EP
Transparent says:
We've been lost deep in the grid-locked, sweltering partyscapes of The Samps' eponymous debut EP for a good moment now, and escape does not seem imminent, so densely packed are its six tracks of warped porno-funk and red-light retro-futurist boogie. Promoting the same white suit, top-down, purple haze AM fantasy as buddy Ariel Pink, Cole Neill and co. have put a magnet to the circuits of main-room house, techno, and disco and come up with a fried, haywire hijacking of modern dance music full of sleazy promise, woozy groove and, most vitally, illicitly good fun.
The Samps is out now on Mexican Summer
Big K.R.I.T.: K.R.I.T. Wuz Here
Yours Truly says:
What sets Big K.R.I.T. apart from every other emcee breathing on a beat? Maybe it’s those home-cooked canvases-- born in his bedroom in Meridian, Mississippi-- brimming with soulful samples, live instrumentation, and patience beyond his 23 years. Maybe it’s his voice, slow and low, drenched in drawl, refreshing as a glass of sweet tea. Maybe it’s his honesty; the kind that comes from feeling completely at home in one’s skin; the kind that lets him write about his grandma, his contradictions, faith, relationships and fears without a filter. This unfiltered integrity-- the courage to be truly transparent-- is actually wildly experimental for a genre that expects masks. K.R.I.T. Wuz Here succeeds at setting a new precedent for southern rappers to do something truly innovative: be themselves.
MP3: Big K.R.I.T.: Country Shit
K.R.I.T. Wuz Here is available for free download on DJBooth.net
Lindstrom & Christabelle: Real Life Is No Cool
Friendship Bracelet says:
I didn't really get into Lindstrom until last year, when, after constant recommendations from a friend, it finally clicked for me. His recent work with Prins Thomas is fantastic, but it’s the sugary disco of Real Life Is No Cool that I find myself revisiting time and time again, hanging on every sultry vocal that spills from Christabelle's lips. As the title suggests, this album is made for escape from grim day-to-day sexualised hyper-reality to a place where fashion is luxurious and the drinks are straight.
MP3: Lindstrom & Christabelle: Lovesick
Real Life Is No Cool is out now on Smalltown Supersound
Pocahaunted: Make It Real
Get Off the Coast says:
Over the last year I've become a huge fan of Pocahaunted's music. Their weirdo vibes, woven into beautiful tribal-sounding journeys, never fail to entrance me, and Make It Real is no exception. The addition of several new members on the album results in countless warped dimensions, with the band at times slipping into fractured planes of existence. The entire album is a desert space odyssey, fueled by hallucinogens and filled with dark magics that stir your spirits into a frenzied beat.
MP3: Pocahaunted: Make It Real
Make It Real is out now on Not Not Fun
Nice Face: Immer Etwas
Raven Sings the Blues says:
It’s hard not to love a band bestowed with one of life’s greatest insults as a name. I’ve been following Nice Face since some early Sacred Bones singles piqued my interest with their decomposed garage covers and tar-lunged originals. Then Immer Etwas came along and shredded everything Ian Magee had previously laid to tape. From slow-crawl, motorik-beat-laden creepers to explosive fuzz-punk, Nice Face cover a lot of territory on Immer Etwas, avoiding the sound rut that can sometimes plague lo-fi’s current crop. The addition of seasick keys and spiraling guitar effects, paired with some true hooks buried under the evil veneer, lift the album to classic status.
MP3: Nice Face: I Want Your Damage
Immer Etwas is out now on Sacred Bones
White Fence: White Fence
Weekly Tape Deck says:
While best recognized for his work as the frontman for Darker My Love (and as the background singer for The Strange Boys), it’s Tim Presley’s solo exploits that have been keeping our phono needles busy. His debut under the moniker White Fence is absolute ramshackle-scatterbrain-chaos, revealing an equal affinity for the acid-soaked psychedelia of Syd-era Floyd and the noise-caked post-punk of The Fall (see Reformation Post TLC). Even while traversing a wide variety of moods and personalities, this kaleidoscopic LP is masterfully complete, and an understated portrait of the savvy genius behind it.
MP3: White Fence: I'll Follow You
White Fence is out now on Make a Mess
Herbcraft: Herbcraft Discovers the Biter Water of Agartha
Chocolate Bobka says:
The vibration of life, a quiet rumination buried deep beneath tectonic plates, is 7.8 beats per second. It's inaudible to most, though some sense it in the knees. Much like this vibration, the fractal textures of Herbcraft Discovers the Bitter Water of Agartha are not easily heard by all. But those willing to drift in and explore Herbcraft’s glowing world are rewarded with rustic ragas and melodic noise dirges, proving him to be a real being in nature. They cull the Earth’s roots, creating a dense spectrum more akin to the ancient landscapes of Arcadia than the pointless architecture of the 21st century.
MP3: Herbcraft: Road to Agartha
Herbcraft Discovers the Bitter Water of Agartha is out now on Hello Sunshine, and available at Woodsist (limited to 500)
Rangers: Suburban Tours
Gorilla vs. Bear says:
Suburban Tours, the stellar debut LP from former TX resident Joe Knight (aka Rangers), immediately struck a chord for me, given that the record essentially plays out like a hazy sonic projection of youth spent in the endless DFW suburban sprawl that Knight and I both called home as kids in the '80s. Knight's "elevator psyche" evokes an affecting, very real nostalgia for childhood moments, all faded grade-school film-strips and late night bike excursions through cookie-cutter 'hoods, at once comforting and kind of sad.
Suburban Tours is out now on Olde English Spelling Bee
Sun Araw: On Patrol
Visitation Rites says:
According to Sun Araw’s website, On Patrol is an “application of the philosophies of Heavy Deeds,” a process of moving from thought into action. And as hard it is to ascribe thought to sound-- let alone practical advice on how to live the good life-- Sun Araw’s latest full-length will add a swagger to the step of anyone who has ever wandered our concrete jungles without a destination. Each beat is a new step forward, each scorched guitar line and flyaway word a reminder that that you have to see the street lamps and sign posts in double and triple before you can understand why they’re there. On Patrol elevates the aesthetics of dub to a creed, and delay is the new Hallelujah.
On Patrol is out now on Not Not Fun (limited to 500)
James Ferraro: Feed Me
Rose Quartz says:
Since we caught Ferraro's homemade VHS camcorder movies of Hollywood Boulevard in May-- featuring gross TV dinners, stop-motion skulls, and MTV punks-- he's been ripping it with muzak way more schizoid than even before, riding new transient and alien frequencies. These shorter pop experiments are distinct and nightmarish (but also super fun) responses to our mainstream culture, mirroring its repetitions in delightfully gunk-filled FM absurdism. There are plenty of SNES and cartoon memories slotted in trebly loops, but those weird nostalgias flash by faster than ever here, as though there were never time to remember them properly in the first place.
MP3: James Ferraro: Feed Me (Excerpt)
Feed Me is out now on CD-R via MuscleWorks, and available at Olde English Spelling Bee
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