Festwca

Uhm odradek, enthusiastic is a strong word. Let’s say that while it’s nothing groundbreaking, the S.M. are a good group. This is their first work, so they are definitely worth keeping an eye on. However, I'm "enthusiastic" about something else: the On (exceptional) and the latest from the Comets, for example. Track-by-track descriptions are my passion, you know well ;)

I also love Neil, but come on, this album is mediocre. Have you listened to it? (PS: the review is not great, I realize that, but I don't see the snobbish nonsense...)

Great!

They were just talking about Kranky yesterday in the review of Charalamibides. It promotes artists with few ideas but many minutes to spare—does this apply to K.F. Whitman as well? A listen is a must. Thank you for the beautiful page.

Wow, I have the double CD Double Bummer by Bongwater. It's crazy, after several listens I still don't understand a thing (awesome!). I already have this on my hard drive, I'll listen to it soon. Anyway, what a great character.

Techstep? Glitchcore?? Gabber kick at 200 BPM???? Raggamuffin from Montego Bay????? Do they activate peristalsis?????? Low-frequency sniffers??????? What the heck! (but why only two comments?)

Psycho, you might be right about Kranky, although I wouldn't call Roy Montgomery someone with few ideas (on the contrary, the Dadamah album, the second in the Kranky catalog, is in my opinion one of the greatest of the '90s) and Labradford aren't bad either. The Charalambides bore me as well, anyway.

I almost forgot: a shout out to geektheboy (waiting for a new review), ziabice (official supplier of indierock), damaskinos (stuff "remastered," but still good stuff, right?), Wanderer (ubiquitous), Donjunio (Steve Albini "records," not "produces," at least that's what he claims), Vì (it's that double voice that sounds very retro, I'm not completely convinced), kosmo&lewis (Guru, Ubu, and Can are certainly present, but not as much as you might imagine – you've been warned, so you won't be disappointed by the listen).

I'm late, I haven't read all the comments. Anyway: wow, you did the track-bai-tracche!! I couldn't finish reading it, sorry (it's the first time this happens with one of your reviews). By the way, didn't you promise a review of an album I would like? I'm eagerly awaiting it, so far almost all the albums have been very far from what I usually listen to. Festwca doesn't forget the promise ; )

@Antmo: no, no man, you’re mistaken, now I’ll go into specifics, I’ll give you a sort of track-by-track. So, let’s skip the first three tracks whose only surprises are the guitar from Drain Cosmetics which is taken directly from new-wave and Un-Deux which is a pop song in every sense. But from track 4 we start to soar: the opening of Candlelighted is pure, raw kraut, I’d say it’s taken straight from Faust IV, with a bit of Neu thrown in (obsessive rhythm and wandering guitars), then it transitions through a 60s acid guitar interlude before flowing into the usual shoegaze... Beehiver II is psychedelia, hardcore, and Sonic Youth, an energetic Rolling Stones-like rock that’s distorted and blurry, which then leads into beautifully violent Noise and becomes a chaotic mess (great track, I must say). Then, Sapphire Eyes has a more kraut and psychedelic intro than anything from MBV and the outro is almost noise-rock. In the opening of Chorale Lick, it feels like listening to Fugazi on acid and the final track, Your Blood In Mine, I’ve described extensively in the r4ece, is anything but shoegaze. Overall, I find a strong psychedelic component in this album that I don’t sense in My Bloody Valentine (at least not this much). I’ll tell you, trying to describe it more carefully I realized that the album is indeed very good and I undoubtedly confirm the 4. I’ve been listening to it for a few months now and it definitely deserves a spot on my 2006 list, I’m sure I’ll be listening to it again in January.