Het Zweet – “Fase” [Self-release]

Albion Moonlight   3/10/2023   A Library

Het Zweet (Sweat), is a one man outfit Marien Van Oers who was a native of Breda, Netherlands and was active from around 1983 to around 1988, playing his own particular brand of tribal industrial drone music.

This 2022 re-release of an 80’s cassette features 8 sound collages using self built instruments (shopping carts amplified with pickups, blown cardboard tubes and shouted vocals.)

For the millennial and younger crowd Van Oers shows what your grandparents were doing in the 80’s before Makerspaces were mandatory for subcultural creative expression. The tracks are low fi, trancelike and only mildly headache inducing (Gee, that must show my age).

The cassette features a beautiful 3 color hand screen printed on Gmund Heather tangerine 240 g/m paper cover.

Albion

[COLL] Pink Flamingos – “Pink Flamingos” – [Hip-O Records]

Albion Moonlight   3/10/2023   A Library

From the filthy mind of John Water’s comes this collection of 50s songs that constitute the soundtrack to his cult classic “Pink Flamingos”. On their own these mostly by now well known tunes don’t seem out of the ordinary, but curation by John Waters shines a light on the salacious underbelly of these songs.

“Chicken Grabber” by the Nite Hawks, will you ever be able to look at this song the same? With the line ‘If she smiles then beef steak become well done’ Little Richard’s “The Girl Can’t Help It”, similarly tickles the imagination. Even Patti Page’s “(How Much is) That Doggie in The Window” takes on new significance. Recommended and tell ’em John Waters sent ya!

Albion

Noah Garabedian – “Consider the Stars Beneath Us” [Outside In Music]

Albion Moonlight   2/17/2023   CD, Jazz

Albion Moonlight 2/22/23 CD, A Library

Bassist and composer of Armenian descent, Noah Garabedian leads a quintet including Dayna Stephans (saxophones), Carmen Staaf (piano), Jimmy Macbride (drums), and Samuel Adams (Effects, programming, additional recording), who also produced the album. The album is dedicated to Garabedian’s father, about whom he says “… this album is neither a eulogy nor a memorial. It is a celebration of his life and spirit, as well as all the celestial bodies who continue to guide us through life.”

The production is sublime. The electronics are very subtle. Garabedian says ” …releasing a purely acoustic album would have been misleading as to whom I am as an artist right now. …it’s all about finding balance between acoustic and electronic sounds.” The quintet’s playing is very light and precise. It has a 70s ECM Records feel. Lush and pleasant.

Albion-

Surplus 1980 – “Kremlin Gremlin (A Dull Fiddler)” – [Surplus Industries]

Albion Moonlight   2/17/2023   7-inch, A Library

Albion Moonlight 2/22/2023 7-INCH, A Library

Oakland-based musical collective Surplus 1980 returns with a single the proceeds of which benefit the Vet Crew in Ukraine, who aid animals displaced in that war. Moe Staiano and collaborators joined by J.W.Sok on vocals give us a polemical post-punk tune skewering Russian President Putin on side A, complete with Fripian guitar. Side AA (B) is a dub remix of one of the songs to come out on their forthcoming album. This music is bouncy and fun! A real time traveling experience back to the 80s. Recommended!.

The 7” single is half blue/half yellow colored vinyl to emulate the Ukrainian flag.

FCC ‘Sh*t’ and ‘Sh@t’ on Side AA (B) – ‘Some Few Facts (And One False One) About Birds

Albion-

Wasteland Jazz Ensemble – “S/T” – [Gilgongo Records]

Albion Moonlight   2/9/2023   12-inch, A Library

Albion Moonlight 2/12/2023 12-INCH, A Library

Describing themselves as playing ‘destroyed music’, the Cincinnati duo of Jon Lorenz and John Rich expand their soul-sucking feedback-saturated reed work into a 7 piece group including guitar, bass, electronics, and percussion. This release features 7 tracks, ingeniously titled I – VII on two 12″ LPs. Not a whole lot of variation between tracks. There are a couple of less frenetic cuts, but overall this is balls to the wall, unrestrained noise, electronic, full-throated, unrelenting. Noise aficionados may find subtlety and variation within but to this neophyte mostly familiar with free jazz skronk, I kinda felt like I had just had an MRI done. Nonetheless, I applaud the dedication to their ethos.

-Albion

Hermanos Gutierrez – “El Bueno Y El Malo” – [Easy Eye Sound]

Albion Moonlight   1/29/2023   A Library, CD

Guitar duo Hermanos Gutierrez, brothers Estevan and Alejandro are Ecuadoran-born musicians who reside in Zurich, Switzerland. These 10 instrumental tracks are rooted in Western (‘the old west’) and Latin American music traditions. In an NPR interview, they stated that they are heavily influenced by movie film scores, hence the release’s title. What results are beautifully haunting compositions featuring electric guitars and sparse percussion, with lots of reverb and sustain; surf music of the Pampas perhaps?

This release was recorded in Nashville and produced by Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys. Highly recommended. Take a journey with the brothers to unimagined tonal vistas both familiar, strange, and melancholy.