sotomayor
sotomayor
13 dec 17

DeRank™: 8,72

I continue the #zot2016 review with an album I’ve been meaning to check out for a while (i.e., I wanted to listen to it since it came out).

Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions - Until the Hunter (Tendril Tales).

'Until the Hunter' is Hope Sandoval's (Mazzy Star) third album with the Warm Inventions. Released on Tendril Tales on November 4, 2016, the album was produced with the collaboration of Colm O Ciosoig (drummer of MBV) as producer and features a significant special guest, Kurt Vile, who co-wrote the song 'Let Me Get There' with Hope, a pop-soul ballad with very seventies vibes that can even remind one of giants like Marvin Gaye and Gil-Scott Heron. The album is undoubtedly a quality product, elegant and stylish, as is typical of Hope, alternating more pop tracks like 'The Peasant Ballad', 'Day Disguise', 'Isn't It True' with more minimal and evocative pieces like the ballads 'A Wonderful Seed' (which recalls the famous 'Spanish Caravan' by the Doors), the bluesy 'Salt Of The Sea', and the country western 'I Took A Slip', leading up to the conclusive 'Liquid Lady', which, along with 'Let Me Get There' (I confirm that I now prefer Kurt Vile in his collaborations, including the one on the LP with Courtney Barnett, more than in his solo work), is probably the most convincing song on the album where Hope Sandoval showcases all her performer abilities. Ultimately, it's an album by a singer-songwriter who knows how to write well but may lack expressive strength in the arrangements, just as her vocal performances are not always as convincing as Hope has accustomed us (perhaps too well) to in the past. 3/5

Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions - Let Me Get There ft. Kurt Vile
 
sotomayor
sotomayor
13 dec 17

DeRank™: 0,00

The 'Buzzin' Sound' series continues (look for the #buzz label for all episodes of the series) where I let myself be guided by @[ALFAMA] through the most mysterious and experimental corners of the music world, as if he were Virgil and I Dante, while Beatrice is absent. But today I present to you these French artists who, whether you like them or not, are or are destined to become a true cult object among fans of progressive music or more atypical and experimental music from the seventies.

Archaia - Archaia (1977)

The French group Archaia (Pierrick Le Bras, Michel Munier, Philippe Bersan), devoted to the sound of Magma, set up this project in the mid-seventies, reinterpreting those typically progressive sounds in a more experimental way and constructing compositions without drums, primarily based on a particular use of percussion. The final result was something that is still genuinely difficult to find even among experimental formations today. The eponymous album, produced by Dominique Calmel, was released in 1977 and remains to this day the only testament to their music. The album, with its mysterious atmospheres and laden with esoteric content like some of the progressive episodes of those years, revolves around the fundamental role of the bass, which is quite peculiar and in some ways anticipates certain uses of the instrument in the following decade, starting from the birth of the so-called no-wave. The guitar plays a definitely secondary role compared to the massive use of synths, which recall certain sounds that are indeed typical of progressive bands of the era, and the characteristic vocals. Over it all shines a certain intellectual theatricality of the period. The best moments in my opinion: 'Soleil Noir', the reverberations of 'Sur les Traces du Vieux Roy', the drone of 'Massa Confusa', the visions of 'Le Grand Secret', 'Vol du Phoenix', the garage acidity of 'Chthonos'.

archaia - chronos (1977)
 
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sotomayor
12 dec 17

DeRank™: 0,00

The #zot2016 review returns after a one or two-day absence that surely kept you all on your toes.

Dreamtime - Strange Pleasures (Sky Lantern Records/Cardinal Fuzz).

From Brisbane, Australia, here come the Dreamtime (Zac Anderson, Cat Maddin, Tara Wardrop, Fergus Smith), a psychedelic band dedicated to settings that hover between psychedelia and fairy-tale imagery. The album 'Strange Pleasures', recorded by Darek Mudge at Shed Recording Studio and by George Bennett at Unicorn Planet, effectively brings back this dreamy and fantastic imagery that is historically typical of certain progressive music from the seventies and its derivatives. The attempt is therefore to combine this tradition with cosmic music and space ambient, with results that are alternately successful and likely to appeal only to those accustomed to complex sonic constructions. An album with very acidic sounds and a certain taste for Middle Eastern tones reminiscent of the atmospheres from the oriental tales of 'One Thousand and One Nights', which certainly makes the sound of Dreamtime something quite unique, but for my tastes, it turns out to be challenging and overly structured. Each song seems almost never-ending, and reaching the end feels like an almost heroic feat typical of the protagonists of those dreamy suites narrated by the beautiful Sherazade. 2/5

Dreamtime - Golden Altar
 
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sotomayor
11 dec 17

DeRank™: 0,85

I proceed with the #buzz review dedicated to the most experimental and avant-garde sounds suggested by Mr. Buzz aka @[ALFAMA], featuring an artist already presented previously within this same review.

Alameda 5 - Duch Tornada (2015)

After the release of 'Pozn krolestwo' under the name Alameda 3, Kuba Ziolek expands his project with a lineup this time of five members, completed by the usual Mikolaj Zielinski on bass and new additions Lukasz Jedrzejczak on keyboards, Jacek Buhl on percussion, and Rafael Iwanski on drums. The choice to add a percussionist is not casual but rather a precise decision in what is the concept developed in this album released in 2015 and titled 'Duch tornada'. Once again, Kuba Ziolek proves to be a brilliant composer and musician full of insights. The album develops in a completely different way from 'Pozne krolestwo'. First of all, it is fragmented into multiple compositions (13 in total), all still with a fairly long duration. But secondly, what matters most is that the sounds diverge from the previous album and instead of looking to space, they almost seem to plunge us underground or to the depths of the abyss in a process that is not destructive but rather recalls themes from the early science fiction of Jules Verne, the alchemical experiments of Arne Saknussemm, and a timeless space that corresponds to an ideal furnace where droning sounds merge with underwater suggestions, claustrophobic sensations, primitive percussion that repeat obsessively from the first track to the last, urban nocturnal jazz, acid psychedelia, and the trumpeting of elephants, processions of Tibetan monks. As if an ancestral creative force could not hold back and unleashed itself all together with the power of a tornado. As much as charts may matter, it is difficult to determine which album is better between this one and 'Pozne krolestwo', because the two appear as two faces of the same coin.

Alameda 5 - Duch Tornada
 
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sotomayor
10 dec 17

DeRank™: 7,45

I continue the #buzz review series, with which I aim to collect all the incredible and fascinating suggestions from our @[ALFAMA]. This is, so to speak, the second 'episode.'

Alameda 3 - Pozne krolestwo (2013)

Alameda 3 is a project by Polish multi-instrumentalist Kuba Ziolek, along with drummer Tomek Popowski and bassist Mikolaj Zielinski. We are presented with an album, 'Pozne krolestwo' (2013), that might seem monolithic or at least an episode of heavy psychedelia akin to that of various bands in the psychedelic scene like Cosmic Dead or Mugstar. Stuff we can say we've had enough of. But not this time. Because this album is a kind of space-opera that essentially unfolds in two long sessions of ambient drone music, where a liturgical sacrality reigns in the contemplation of creation, and which ultimately explodes into a thousand chaotic splinters of avant-garde noise fury. This is essentially the content of the last track of the album, which evokes certain experimental sounds of Japanese psychedelic music celebrated by archdruid Julian Cope, as much as contemporary episodes like the experiments of Colin Stetson and Mats Gustafsson. In between, there are three small sketches of folk psychedelia that recreate the same attitude of religious approach to other forms of life in our universe, in a quest for space as much as for inner analysis. Overall, there are sounds where the drone reigns supreme, filled with reverberations and at times classical suggestions of psychedelia. A work that reconciles us, first of all, with humankind and that ideally revitalizes the classic imagery of science fiction, condensing in thirty to forty minutes an entire imagination that spans from '2001: A Space Odyssey' to 'Solaris' and then to what is true science itself, man on the Moon, Spirit and Opportunity, the long endless journey of the Galileo probe.

Here is the review written by Buzz on March 1, 2015: POZNE KROLESTWO - ALAMEDA 3 - Recensione di Buzzin' Fly

Alameda 3 - Teraz widzę już tylko rzekę...
 
sotomayor
sotomayor
10 dec 17

DeRank™: 0,00

Every now and then, even the legendary #zot2016 review stumbles upon something completely useless. At least in my opinion. Like today.

Pictish Trail - Future Echoes (Fire Records).

This little record was released last year by the historic Fire Records. Pictish Trail is the moniker of Scottish Johnny Lynch, one of the most interesting names in the British scene when it comes to a certain folk sound mixed with indie electronics. Stuff that, in its minimalist expressions, fits perfectly in situations like the Green Man Festival. The album is titled 'Future Echoes' and is produced by Johnny's longtime collaborator, Adam Ihan, who also contributes to the making of the record. In 'Future Echoes', moments of more dub-step rhythms alternate with Radiohead-esque atmospheres like 'Far Gone (Don't Leave)', mostly typical expressions of indie pop aesthetics such as 'Dead Connection', 'Lionhead', 'After Life', and 'ambient' moments that pay homage to Bonobo like 'Rhombus'. Overall, I couldn't digest it, but it seems to me like a record that's past its prime in relation to certain patterns and schemes that are now well behind us, even within the indie landscape. 1/5

Pictish Trail - 'Far Gone (Don't Leave)' Official Video
 
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sotomayor
9 dec 17

DeRank™: 3,00

The #zot2016 review is happy to present you with etc. etc.

Stay - Mean Solar Times (Picture In My Ear Records).

Stay is a Catalan band made up of frontman, vocalist, and guitarist Jordi Bel, bassist Ivan Lopez, keyboardist Israel Palacio, and drummer Jordi Casal. Their latest album, 'The Mean Solar Times', was released on February 9, 2016, by the Minneapolis, Minnesota label Picture In My Ear Records. Produced by Owen Morris, a collaborator of Oasis and Verve in the nineties, the album effectively captures a range of sounds typical of British pop-rock from that decade. Starting with the references to Ride ('Pinkman', 'Smiling Faces', 'Dirt and Alone'), due also to the active collaboration of Andy Bell in the album's recording; then to Oasis ('Dirty and Alone', 'Shake the Sun'); and finally to Kula Shaker ('Mind Blowing (Extended Version)'). Certainly negligible episodes include the ballads 'Always', 'You Know It's Right', 'Hide Away'; 'Smiling Faces' recalls the Dandy Warhols, while 'All In Your Eyes (Extended Version)' reflects the sounds of Jacco Gardner and the latest Temples. Worth mentioning is the hypnotic groove of the remix of 'Pinkman' by Andy Bell. Not bad. If you like the Brit-pop sounds of the nineties laced with a good sense of psychedelia, you can’t go wrong. 3/5

Stay - Pinkman
 
sotomayor
sotomayor
9 dec 17

DeRank™: 2,63

I begin today a new review dedicated to those who propose so many interesting things (that interest me) on these pages that it’s hard to keep up with them, namely @[Buzzin' Fly] aka @[ALFAMA]. The review aims to be methodical in following my friend through his many suggestions and is titled 'Buzzin' Sound'; the reference label is #buzz and this is the first chapter of a series that promises to be potentially endless. Thank you, Buzz, for the thousand 'gems' you give me (us) every day.

International Harvester - Sov gott Rose-Marie (1968).

The International Harvester is the reincarnation of the cult Swedish band Parson Sound (whose only release is indeed a true cult object, having been rediscovered and brought back to light only in 2001 after practically over thirty years) and under this name, they released an LP in 1968 titled 'Sov gott Rose-Marie', equally worthy of consideration as the first LP, if not more. While 'Parson Sound' somehow looked towards the experimental rock sounds of the Velvet Underground or the Rolling Stones, here the group filters these sounds through, on one hand, the folk traditions of their cultural background and, on the other, by proposing a certain avant-garde sound, an expression of total dissent against capitalist forces and thought, specifically dedicating themselves to the naturalist cause. The result is one of the best records of those years. On side A, more garage and obsessive sounds alternate ('There Is No Other Place', 'Ho Chi Mihn') with more experimental moments like the introductory 'Dies Irae', a kind of triumphant fanfare in the style of the peplum films of those years; the hypnotic and almost deafening 'Klocan Ar Mychet Nu (It's Getting Late Now)'; the psychedelic ballad with Eastern hints 'Sommarlaten (The Summer Song)'; the expansive atmospheres of the Scandinavian landscape that find their maximum expression in the evocative title track, 'Sov Gott Rose-Marie (Sleep Tight Rose-Marie)'. Side B, on the other hand, opens up to pure, wilder experimentalism. 'I Mourn You' wipes out everything the VU do in 'White Light/White Heat'; 'How To Survive' sounds like 'Tomorrow Never Knows' if it had been written by Tinariwen; the twenty-five minutes of 'Skordetider (Harvest Times)' anticipate bands like the Dead Skeletons by forty years. Charged with ideal content and at the same time wild, like the scent of the coniferous forests of the Russian and Scandinavian taiga, here is an album that shows us how the Swedes have always historically constituted a kind of avant-garde in the cultural and musical scene even in years when attention was clearly focused on the USA and the UK. Fundamental.

International Harvester - Skördetider (Harvest Times)
 
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8 dec 17

DeRank™: 0,71

This time the proposal for the #zot2016 review is truly unique.

Eternal Tapestry - Sleeping On A Dandelion (Sky Lantern Records)

This album, divided into two long tracks, is essentially one very long jam session lasting half an hour, recorded live at the Mississippi Studios in Portland, Oregon on April 28, 2014, and released by Sky Lantern Records just last year under the title 'Sleeping On A Dandelion,' which clearly references a line from the first Pink Floyd album. Knowing Eternal Tapestry, we can expect anything, and indeed our heroes deliver nearly everything, creating, in half an hour, real sonic ramparts of drone sound based on an imposing bass line and the wah of the guitars, with the use of saxophone placing the two compositions somewhere between no-wave and kraut-rock, evoking bands from the past like Can or Amon Duul II, as well as contemporary acts like the more psychedelic Kikagaku Moyo. The use of vocals in the first track is particularly striking, being practically a long, chilling wail from the beginning to the end of the song. It's something even Damo Suzuki couldn't pull off. As far as I'm concerned: unmissable. 5/5

Eternal Tapestry - Sleeping On A Dandelion (2016) Full Album
 
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sotomayor
7 dec 17

DeRank™: 3,00

Since this is the #zot2016 review, today we present a usual album released in 2016 that we didn’t listen to last year but have now revisited, more or less beneficially.

Kyle Craft, born in 1989, is one of the emerging names on the roster of the popular label Sub Pop Records. With his second album set to be released soon (the first songs are already circulating), I suggest his debut album ('Dolls of Highland') which came out in April 2016. Clearly inspired by the sounds of the sixties and seventies, particularly the glam rock of Marc Bolan, a certain Elton John, David Bowie, and some shades of the more polished Lou Reed and derivatives (like New York Dolls), not to mention some southern rock inflections (he’s American) and a few Bob Dylan pretensions... Kyle Craft is undoubtedly one of the catchiest and most convincing newcomers in the pop-rock scene, and perhaps with his next album, he could become so 'hype' that he might completely overshadow the garage revival of Ty Segall as the most considered mood in the indie scene which evidently now desires music that’s different to chew on. As far as I’m concerned, the thing about this guy is that he’s perhaps too talented, and for that reason, he kind of gets on my nerves, but his songs are undeniably too listenable not to enjoy.

3.5-4/5 for principle.

Kyle Craft - Full Performance (Live on KEXP)
 
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sotomayor
6 dec 17

DeRank™: 3,00

The review #zot2016 bla bla bla...

Moaning Cities - Dr. Klein (Exag' Records)

It seems that 'Dr. Klein' is a successful TV series, but why Moaning Cities decided to name their latest album after it is a mystery to me. Hailing from Brussels, one of the most significant bands in the Belgian neo-psychadelic scene and a key player in the Belgian label Exag' Records, as well as direct organizers of the psychedelic festival in their city, Stellar Swamp. 'Dr. Klein' was released last year and is a truly unique neo-psychedelia album, in the sense that despite some references to the Black Angels or BRMC, it remains, in my opinion, a fairly original work in a world where there are indeed a lot of 'duplicates' (some might say 'copycats,' but I don't think they are merely copying; if someone does something you like and you play, then you try to recreate the same kind of sound, it seems quite normal to me...). Garage, acid, and rich in some bluesy nuances and convincing vocal performances by the two vocalists, siblings Valerian and Juliette Meunier, 'Dr. Klein' is one of the most interesting records I have dug up from last year 2016, and I suggest it to you here on a silver platter as if it were the head of Saint John the Baptist, martyr.

Moaning Cities - Vertigo Rising (OFFICIAL)
 
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sotomayor
5 dec 17

DeRank™: 3,00

@[Pinhead] as you know, I know very little about your idol Billy Bragg. However, I am listening with great pleasure to this last EP. Conceptually, it made me think of an album by an artist who is certainly far from him for a thousand reasons, but who was also focused on the same concept ('Bridges not Walls'), namely 'Peace Trail' by Uncle Neil Young released last year.
 
sotomayor
sotomayor
5 dec 17

DeRank™: 8,41

I had forgotten to update the must-see #zot2016 roundup that so fascinates all DeBaser users. Here I am.

The Asteroid Belt - Do Whats Right.

The Asteroid Belt is an open collective of psychedelic music from Adelaide, South Australia. They've been around for about ten years and have basically always followed the same formula: all songs are essentially psychedelic jams recorded mostly live and without overdubs. The result was a kind of psychedelic garage infused with blues. However, in this case, the attention to sound seems more careful, resulting in a cleaner and less raw output than in their previous albums, likely due to a successful subsequent mastering effort. What else to say? 'Do Whats Right,' features five extremely acid compositions of space rock, motorik 4/4 beats, and plenty of phaser, plus a kind of interlude, 'Radiation Mutation,' with more meditative, subtle, and experimental sounds. All good and right things that are always worth a listen.

The Asteroid Belt "Bulkhead"
 
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5 dec 17

DeRank™: 0,00

@[imasoulman] Do you know Jim White? Don't tell me I've caught you off guard here.

JIM WHITE - Sweet Bird Of Mystery
 
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sotomayor
3 dec 17

DeRank™: 0,23

Before I run off to watch Inter, I renew the #zot2016 review with a proposal that's all Made in Italy.

1997EV - Love Symposium Alien Spider (Boring Machines)

This time I’m suggesting an Italian album. The artist in question is 1997EV, the moniker of Andrea Ev, a Sardinian artist and musician who, with this album titled 'Love Symposium Alien Spider', released last year by the Treviso label Boring Machines, pays homage to his homeland through a series of vigorous psychedelic drone compositions. We move from the Sonic Boom reverberations mixed with Suicide-like hallucinations in the eleven minutes of 'DrySun Acid' to the Amorphous Androgynosus electronics of 'Post-Organic Lullaby' and 'Sleepstone', the psychedelic ballad 'Oceanic' and the ritual drone of 'Magnetospleen' and 'Ologramatic', right up to 'Black Christine', which indeed recalls that thrilling cinematic vibe of John Carpenter's 'Christine'. Truly a great album. Highly recommended.

1997EV - Love Symposium Alien Spider | Boring Machines
 
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