Fictional Colours – “Love Song Generation” – [Self Release]

Thurston Hunger   5/10/2023   12-inch, A Library

Dual-tracked vox with forked-tongue lyrics over hegrooving little rock and rollerblading numbers. Fresh (2020?) from the Oakland pavement. Ben Griggs strings and sings, Eric Faggin on jdrums, and some bass and he even sings on “Earthquake Kid.” You know you could capitalize that P in Pavement as this feels like a lost gem from when indie wasn’t necessarily mandatory (along those lines, pretty sure this vinyl is a sweet self-release. Unless the Squealer label wants to make a comeback?). Lyrics jump across history, we’ve got Watergate Babies, Governor Moonbeam and dishes stacked up in the sixties, look ma all hands, no washing machine. I dig the sprawl/jangle guitars, and Eric’s drumming is a trip (check “Civil War Surfing Buff”), but ultimately the lyrics filled my brain stein to the brim, mixing inside rhymes with outdoor crimes (falling from a plow and a bridge, sterilized lips, Earthquake Kid comes with multiple trips to the ER, California is on fire). “Tomorrow Tijuana” comes with a full tank and Ami Robbins’ trumper riding shotgun. Smooth ride, not a pothole for miles.

-Thurston Hunger

Iko – “’83 & Extra Studio Works” – [Le Backstore / On The Roof]

Thurston Hunger   5/10/2023   12-inch, A Library

Reissue of Montreal trio, with a love of synth and lyrics often citing movement (elevators, escalators, subways) make it hard not to hop on the Autobahn. Gatefold liner notes connect the KfrafTwerk motorvation while spelling out the IKO recipe – aka “Intelligence Knowledge Orgasm” Some of the songs seem to have that old nerdy need for non-automaton relations. Digital pheromones for the luteinizing hormones? The sound is heavily sequenced keyboard programming with those little key shift move up, move down moments. Quaint quasi-robotic singing and happy little handclaps, there’s a kind of retro-techno cosmopolitan optimism that would make chatbots of today smile. The first record is a reissue of their debut (and only official album from ’83) it’s very clean and percolating. I dig the bonus material unearthed on the second record (at 45 rpm!!!) – a little murkier and hypnotic. “Surrender to the Dream” what a nice way to go.

-Thurston Hunger

Dark Canyon – “Dark Canyon” – [Nudie Records]

Thurston Hunger   5/10/2023   12-inch, A Library

Once Upon a Time in the Midwest. Dark Canyon comes riding out of the long cinematic shadows of Chicago. We get The Good, the Bad and the Very-Well-Produced in this devoted homage from Mike Novak to guitar-inflected Westerns a la Morricone and Leone. For the imaginary soundtrack flair, there is a lot of tumbleweed acoustic guitar work, along with that sort of clean/dirty distorted/reverb electric guitar on top. Gleaming trumpets recorded atop mesas shine high, subtle and steady drum work here and there, a flute wanders in like a child through a gun fight. the Grosby choir soars whenever they appear, a jaw harp slithers in, a mellotron circles the wagon. The instros oscillate between lonely fugitive fugues and heroic crescendos. A couple of pieces feature vocals, “Through The Badlands” and “Old Blood Runs Thick” and “Pray for Rain” along with the familiar cover “A Taste of Honey” to close. Does the album have whistling on it? You bet, not just the last track but do not miss the towering “Bullets” as well. The album clearly is a labor of love, including the packaging with a gatefold full of the bandidas and bandidos who worked with Novak on this lp. In a way Novak here reminded me of Adrian Younge, modern studio sorcerers able to polish up every cranny and crag of sound that hearkens back while shining now. Dark Canyons in vinyl grooves well worth exploring. I’ll be curious to see if Novak pines for his own gold or becomes in demand by other audio pioneers.

-Thurston Hunger

Earth Room – “Earth Room” – [Related States]

Thurston Hunger   5/10/2023   12-inch, A Library

Brooklyn trio led by Robbie Lee on woodwinds, creating improv instros that feel like electro-organic music. Electronic effect and synthesizers swaddle tracks, at times a drone-esque chill but definitely active. I think the fact that the drummer+ John Thayer engineered the recording was key. I dig how he pushes songs thru transitions (embrace the “Empty Way/Full Way”) Thayer adds a lot of electronics and even some fender rhodes to the albums more shimmering moments. Ezra Feinberg completes the trio on various strings including electric ukulele. All of side A, but especially the opening “Bridge of Waves” feels like the perfect early dawn greeting. The “Sound on Sound” is Lee tracking multi-rivers of bass clarinet. Side B starts with the most jazz-inflected playing but paired with a sorta John Carpenter foreboding vibe. “Owl Light” vibrates with both wind-blown squalls & sweeping synth ambience. In all, a sense of relaxed concentration.

-Thurston Hunger

Cheval de frise – “Cheval de frise” – [Computer Students]

Thurston Hunger   3/29/2023   12-inch, A Library

I have a clear memory of getting this album on CD from the excellent Sonore label back in 2000. Since then it’s had a lot of love from various KFJC DJs, and if you wonder what is Grawer, well in part it is this. Thomas Bonvalet is blazing on acoustic guitar with a pick-up and drummer Vincent Beysselance whips the horses into a frenzy. The album is a two-man stampede that absolutely surges. The Cmptr Stdnts label loved this debut as much as KFJC did, so they re-issued it on 45 rpm vinyl – double gatefold and side D is left blank so you can just sit and reflect on what just hit you. There are a lot of doors into this, every few years we have some Don Caballero fans wander into our pit, and they get magnetically drawn to the power calculus of this. I remember Sonore had released a killer Ruins album and this duo is similar in their jaw-dropping telepathy. Others can come from a flamenco or Derek Bailey guitar desire to hear six strings sound like 60, and this does the trick. Bonvalet at times drives into an amp’s distortion, he slides around the neck of his guitar in and out of dissonance, Beysselance on his tail never misses a beat. Part of their talent is finding brief resting spaces in tracks like the opening monster “Connexion” or “Le Vestibule De Laches” before re-launching the fury. On “Douche Froide, Harmonium” there is no harmonium and no drums, just a relatively gentle quick exploration. More often tracks like “Lundi et Mars” and “Construction D’Ecorces D’Arbres” (two faves) just blow the doors off your mind. Unfortunately Bonvalet paid the aural price with hyperacusis, though he’s still creating sounds on Murailles Music. Beysselance last seen drumming in Tormenta, might be more into his cello these days? Anyways a heroic reissue capturing the harrowing beauty that a Cheval de Frise looks like in sound.

-Thurston Hunger

<looks like this review and some others were lost during the weather-induced system crash early this year>

Iceblink – “Carpet Cocoon” – [Moon Glyph]

Thurston Hunger   3/29/2023   12-inch, A Library

Iceblink is Lynn Avery, this 2020 release of instros was created during that winter in Minneapolis aiming to create a cozy vibe. Pieces do radiate a warmth, a weird-but-not-jaded joy. At times I felt like I was in the neighborhood of Peewee’s Playhouse. Kindergarteners bloom on #6, and several tracks have very clean sax visitors drop in. Cole the Pulice on 1, 2, 3, 5. Mitch the Stahlmann adds Saxo-Flute on 3, 5, 8, 9. On “Vocoder Upright” I’m not even sure I heard a vocoder but apparently Lynn’s nylon guitar was fed through one at times, maybe more on “The Old Tape.” The nylon guitar is her predominant instrument, keyboards chirp in often, and some electric guitar burrows in to the carpet at times. I enjoyed the back half of this sort of new age mini-golf homekit. “Microsong” leads with synth and adds in round metallic gongs, a bird paradise opens up and tape flutters a little noisily before the song verges off into a sort of toy gamelan land. “Duet” rises and falls, and rises and falls, like your breath waiting for the cocoa to cool. A very gentle psych flavor, more tiny marshmallows than mushrooms. “Carpet Cocoon” indeed.
-Thurston Hunger

Nichunimu – “Un Cacho De Metal, Un Resto De Vaiven” – [577 Records]

Thurston Hunger   3/29/2023   12-inch, A Library

Chilean three-piece improving with sticks, circuits and brass. Drummer Matias Mardones is a ton of fun to focus on, lots of ominous rolls like on the opener or stinging sterling clangs and cymbal crashes on “Entrechocanse.” That standout track showcases Nicolas Carrasco as the circuit inciter. His use of synthesizer drones for coloring and aggressive squelches, never overpowers nor disappears on tracks. Carrasco is the sky to Mardones’ sturdy earth, so then add Benjamin Vergara on trumpet to bring fire, moments of flame-throwing bursts but more often Vergara adds a lyrical warmth that meshes so well with the other two. At times Carrasco spins his pitch wheels to dial in notes near Vergara’s sustained horn. Is it jazz? Sure or perhaps as their title translates it’s “A Chunk of Metal, A Remnant of Swing.” Purists for either will dismiss this, but those purists can so suck a dirty snowcone. KFJC noise workers could juxtapose “Suplidos” before a full Merzbow blow-out, and Friday’s collective could easily connect the dots from electic Miles to any track here. I dug how the trio summon as much a Supersilent flavor as a Rob Mazurek goes to Brazil vibe. “La Calma Manda” is the longest track but check out how Mardones digs until he hits a groove after 5+ minutes. Viva Noise Soul Music?!? Hmmm, I think their bandname could be Quechuan for “I Don’t Know.” Perhaps they tired of saying “No se” when peole asked them what they play? As always, that which avoids clear borders is most interesting.
-Thurston Hunger

Glands of External Secretion – “Neck Pillow” – [Siltbreeze]

Thurston Hunger   3/29/2023   12-inch, A Library

Barbara Manning and Seymour Glass are back again to pull on your collective legs and sundry other body parts. They may topple a toupee while trying to “Keep Your Heron” – this album on Tom Lax’s stellar Siltbreeze is loopy in all the right ways. Is this the duo’ “pop masterpiece” with plunderphonic chops, a false spanner in “true” Spandau Ballet, minor Travoltage from Manning, eavesdropping acid. Mostly short tracks, “A Can of Hash” and “Raoul Tinybear’s 115th Dream” each get ~4mins, but others are half that or quicker and invite the needle to stay engaged for multiple hits. People Like Us Like These Glands? Real actual acoustic guitar, taste the Fahey-flavored “Gutter Mud.” “Diamond Jim Brady” feels like an alternate universe where Barbara leads Mecca Normal with a drum circle of a single point. Possible notion, if you like the titles, you’ll love the songs. I pray this doesn’t disappear to the cornfield. Even if I am missing 85% of the inside jokes, this still puts a smile on my headphones. One not-so secret ingredient here is the editing, samples deftly deployed with that “round” aspect that has worked ever since “Row Row Row Your Boat.” Worthy o’ a standing ovulation!

-Billy Mumy

Ashtray Navigations – “Apotheosis of Vavavoom, The” – [VHF]

Thurston Hunger   3/29/2023   12-inch, A Library

Psychedelic bombast from a band well-represented in the KFJC library. Twelve albums, and myriad appearances on collections and hundreds of plays, Ash Nav continues to be piloted by Phil Todd. On this a full fledged four piece, performing all-instrumental blitzes that mix guitars and other stringed things wailing and synths going to drone and beyond. Space hippies tripping out in pachoulli nebulae even the name conjurors up a variation of Dune’s Spice Guild but traveling on tobacco roads. A sense of humor from the band’s “about” page to titles here (exactly how much is that “Slush Puppy Window” – a track that might be Blind Idiot God garage jamming with Aphex Twin?) Jamming is the key, tracks are more riff-fried than chune-chunks. “Appropros Tower” shakes a sitar over a mighty mellotron breathing apparatus. “Drainwave Sensual” features a drum machine built from parts of an old Dalek. I dug how that piece definitely takes the listener to another place at the end. When in doubt, freak out.
-Thurston Hunger

Diode – “Diode” – [Under The Gun]

Thurston Hunger   3/5/2023   12-inch, A Library

This is Diode that sure gets current flowing quickly. A ’22 reissue of a 2020 release from an LA (well somewhere near Santa Clarita and Lancaster) band. Dig this 45 rpm record 12″ that burns up all resistors. Lead vox from Kiana obliquely tweaked my Su Tissue sensors. Her voice can pogo from a husky hurry to a fierce angular quick scream especially as she ends a word. Another key element is Theo’s fantastically filthy synth. Please enjoy that beautiful end of “Ugly.” Anyways your ears get pierced by Kiana, and then fuzzy encrusted by Theo, next Bill on guitar has martian-stacked guitar processed to wobble your earlobe around, and Vinny completes the force-piece, his sticks to your eardrums. Lyrics come and go (quick turn review on this from the web from hopefully the record has a sleeve with words and Kiana’s art work). “Eye Pop” is pretty loud and clear gouge to the male gaze, “If you see me walking around You best keep your eye on the ground, turn around and walk away” even when I’m not sure about the words “With my pelican (?!?), in my hand…I’m a man” there’s no mistaking the energy and ire. Feels like KFJC (and the country at large) needs a punk refresher these days. There are not enough asses in the world for this band to kick!
-Thurston Hunger

Visualize her voice via her art at : http://www.voodoovinylrecords.com/featured-artist.html

Nighttime – “Keeper Is The Heart” – [Ba Da Bing!]

Thurston Hunger   3/5/2023   A Library, CD

“Keeper of the Heart” offers swirling ballads. Despite some of the blustery scenarios and lyrics, there is warmth in this Nighttime. That flows from Eva Louise Goodman, her voice frequently multitracked. She is Nighttime, in song and various instrumentation, but a constellation of other musicians clusters around her. Notably Adam Lytle adds a very deft mellotron touch. Acoustic guitar anchors the songs, but light psych flute dapples certain tracks. Strings on “Spring” add that ol’ timey ache. Certain chord progressions are familiar, with a gentle righteous (non-denominational) resolve to them. In particular I’m thinking of “The Fool” and “The Sea.” On first listen, it was hard to shake the Nico from my headphones. That said she’s an Amercan gal (Hudson Valley, NY) raised on UK 60’s folk promises. For more recent references, I could hear this album woven in a set with Josephine Foster and Weyes Blood even some Paula Frazer (“Ring of Fire” offers a ghost western smoke lament). Almost an invocation to summon Espers’ “Dead Queen” but Goodman’s voice is more tied to the seasons and soil, less ethereal; Nighttime’s sound more burnished, less lysergic. Still a charm of a sonic locket.

-Thurston Hunger

Cigarettes, The – “You Were So Young” – [Optic Nerve]

Thurston Hunger   2/21/2023   12-inch, A Library

Missing link piece of UK punk from a three piece that only lasted two years (back then officially just had a three-song single and a two-song EP). Hearing this extensive recovery of those and unreleased material is a massive WFT. Ye olde John Peel though heard ’em and connected the dots, four Peel seshes wrap up this absolutely brilliant compilation. Two of the gents, Rob Smith (guitar) and Steve Taylor (bass) ran merch for a tour of the Buzzcocks, osmotically Side A has that kind of brightly agitated punk flair. Side B adds more chops, reverb and a dub splash of things to come. Still that kind of sweet and sour anxiety. Side C revs up the Mod engine, drummer Adam Palmer at his perkiest. Side D has the Peel appeal and stamp of approval. Rob and Steve share vocals through-out, damaging your health and peaking your pique via your freaking speakers. Songs are catchy, tight and well-revived, hell “Stay Inside” has a whole ‘nother pandemic pop. Kudos to Optic Nerve and previously Detour, I was bummed when I missed the latter’s first pass at this. Chuffed to puff puff pass this along finally. Sounds from ’79 and ’80 still smoking in the 2020s.

-Thurston Hunger

Ausmuteants – “Band of The Future” – [Aarght! Records]

Thurston Hunger   2/21/2023   12-inch, A Library

Panic dancing, quirk and jerk punk, piss take piss tank rank and defile. I still taste a little Mr. Devo DNA in the Silent Genes. Here in the USelessA, we take perverse pride in our Florida, but these Aus Mutatos have their own Floridated blunder down under. Are they laughing all the way to the bank while upside down? Well they should be. The twitchy guitars and power synth punk solve all energy crises, matched with so dumb so smart so dumb lyrics should be worth Slapping a Grammy or two down. I envision their synth pitch wheel the size of a ferris wheel. The whole band is a gift, those herky-jerky slam dance by numbers cuts but something about Jake Robertson’s voice puts a perfect bow on it all. At times his voice can get that happy anguish I associate with the Icky Boyfriends, a sort of confident nervousness. Cartoon cosmic comic. Top notch trash. Release from 2016, but unlike this world, built to last!
-Thurston Hunger

Morby, Kevin – “Harlem River” – [Woodsist]

Thurston Hunger   2/21/2023   12-inch, A Library

Certain keyboards and vocal phrasings have a definite dialing for Dylan vibe. Morby cut loose from the
Woods (but still on Woodsist) and no longer one of the Babies, this 2013 release was his solo debut. Confident, competent folk pop, and a apparent cross country love letter after moving to Los Angeles back to New York. The title song really stood out for me, super hypnotic with a hint of yodel, a bassline that keeps climbing your vertebrae. Nine minutes of sweet and shady suspense. Cait Le Bon sweeps in on the caboose of “Slow Train” and gives it a sort of death-mask shine. The track after that “Reign” is actually more locomotive; blues bopping down the tracks harmonica hanging out the window, next stop Hell or Petticoat Junction? Hop on board! Cool green vinyl with a mellow burnt orange audio warmth.

-Thurston Hunger

Belgrado – “Obraz” – [La Vida Es Un Mus]

Thurston Hunger   2/21/2023   12-inch, A Library

Suave gothic/post-punk stylings out of Spain. Patrycja Proniewska is the front-woman and lead vampire. Guitar from Fernando Marquez is a great dizzying swirl, he adds synth too along with Jonathan Sirit who also guides the drum machines. Renzo Narvaez adds bass to this 2016 release. Start, but don’t stop with “Wiatr” (“Wind” in Patrycja’s native Polish). Sure Bela Lugosi is still dead, but it’s time for you to expand your grim dub punk rotations. I dig “Krajobraz” and its mysterious instro, synthesizers whinnying in their corrals. Fog machines are NOT optional. Artwork is maybe a mix of ransom note and Bauhaus. Like the music, beckoning strange with a starkness to it. See also Fatamorgana as a Patrycja project on La Vida Es Un Mus. Belgrado dials down the synth and cranks up the dirgey punk club vibe with crucial dub highlights. That transition from “Nierealne Realne Społeczeństwo” to “Na Ten Czas” Aces!!!
-Thurston Hunger

Generacion Suicida – “Regeneracion” – [Drunken Sailor Records]

Thurston Hunger   2/21/2023   12-inch, A Library

Puro punk fresh hecho in these Estados not so Unidos. 2022 Los Angeles, flying under the radar and soaring over all those classic tracks from Bloodstain collections. Damn shame we missed the blood red vinyl. This Drunken Sailor edition brings Tony Abarca’s vox to up front with anthemic urgency. Tony is the rhythm slash and burn, on top Mario Quezada’s lead work can ricochet like a bullet with a purpose or wash up in surfy reverb. Tracks like “Balas” and “Ilusion” gallop, and if you aren’t moving fast enough, Kiwi Martinez will be after you like a heart attack. Her drums, your arteries! Elias Ramone on bass rounds out the quartet, okay Elias’ real last name is Jacobo. but that bass is vital as you feel it 10 blocks away before you even hear the band. Sung in Spanish, but as the Bloodstains taught us, punk is its own language. The album ends in Violence, the band I hope lasts many more decades (they started as kids). Feels like Generacion Suicida has that kind of Dead Moon durability and DIY dedication!

Long may they rock!
-Thurston Hunger

RedGreenBlue – “The End and the Beginning” – [Astral Spirits]

Thurston Hunger   12/6/2022   CD, Jazz

Note for the Goodwrench DJ Review send two KFJC boxtops to the station…

You could start at the Beginning, side A listen for a few minutes to the upright bass question mark, over organ drone and gong/rim-shot/tap of drums, and take a guess where they are from. The land of Art Ensemble, of Underground Duo/Quartet/Orchestra Something about Chicago that produces the slinkiest, suavest grooves. This album feels like a separated at birth twin to Joshua Abrams’ “Represencing” – mystical winds blowing in off the Lake? Charlie Kirchen’s bass leads the meditation, Ryan Packard’s percussion is aquatic, but keep an ear on Paul Giallorenzo’s keys which hit your BuddhaMachine right on the third eye towards the end of this side long piece. Or perhaps start on the flip side with “The End” where Kirchen is more insistent, but still a man making a bass statement. His mates are joined by Ben LaMar Gay who percolates on his cornet for 10 or so minutes before Giallorenzo’s organ shimmers in for a calming respite. The quartet spends some time in a darker place before rising radiance before a solemn end to “The End.”
-Thurston Hunger
PS Hah, looking up Ben, he’s connected to the Natural Information Society helmed by Abrams. Chicago improv scene a small world with big sound!

Akusmi – “Fleeting Future” – [Tonal Union]

Thurston Hunger   11/30/2022   12-inch, A Library

J’accuse Akusmi as Pascal Bideau behind Big Ben with the candleabra. But the album has a whirlwind of world winds, Pascal plays a bunch of diverse instruments and enlists Berliner Ruth Velten to help share sax duties. Add in some trombone from Florian Juncker, and a dash of drums from Daniel Brandt, and the album feels like a larger group, in part due to the multi-work of Bideau. There are clues of Philip Glass on the minimalist beach here, maybe recorded in part in Indonesia, thought I tasted a bit of Brazil, German precision on the arpeggios. All instro, with piano and other percolating percussion. This LP slightly reminds me of Club Foot Orchestra meets Bang On A Can with Arnold Dreyblatt cracking the baton/whip. “Neo Tokyo” builds a cartoon cityscape before your eyes, really all tracks have that bustling urge. Hyper clean recording, this Future feels uplifting.
-Thurston Hunger

Sunfear – “Octopus” – [Dark Entries]

Thurston Hunger   11/30/2022   12-inch, A Library

I was digging out behind the back of One Eyed Jacks looking for Laura Palmer’s real diary when I found this pristine 12″ record buried beneath the clumps of mud and whiskey-soaked weeds. Turns out “Sunfear” is Eylul Deniz, and this is one sweet soulache of bedroom fi beauty. Drenched in reverb and multitrack mystery, enjoy a girl and her best friend, her guitar. When things move smoothly, Slowdive vibes arise. When things are pretty but broken, Julee Cruise’s profile emerges on a full moon. This is a Dark Entries entree, but not one plucked from long ago, Deniz is a current poet/artist/singer/songwriter out of Istanbul. She may have a doppelganger DJ bumping beats in Berlin’s Boiler Room, I think I saw her there or maybe that was Maddie Ferguon? Anyways this album is slow-core supreme. I was almost shocked when a drum-machine stuck its tentacles into the title track. The leadoff instro dips your ears into the waters, which return later with vox punched in between waves. The lead track is called “Dokun” which apparently translates as “Touch” in Turkish and while that as a tactile found sound swirl, the
low-fi slow pop here is ethereal.
-Thurston Hunger

Niton – “Cemento 3D” – [Pulver Und Asche]

Thurston Hunger   11/30/2022   A Library, CD

From musique concrete to prog cemento? Niton is a three piece (we have their “Tiresias” also at KFJC), in the center is Swiss cellist Zeno Gabaglio – his bow/scrape done on an electic instrument, joined by Italian soundscapers Luca Xelius Martegani and El Toxyque (who apparently performs and bathes in a beautiful blue and silver helmet). This is a remixing of their 2021 Cemento, re-poured through samples, filters and odd audio processors. In 3D! Gabaglio’s e-cello serves as fiber for each piece, “Asmant” & “Maas” have pulses added for percussion. I was trying to listen to some of the original Cemento and at times had both that and this playing (worked as a form of “Mixed Cemento”?). The recordings are atmospheric enough, but more active than drone. Kind of a Cluster booster. Electro-acoustic sound clashing too at times, I don’t think those are synthetic chains scraping sepulchral. Other samples and/or voices are spliced in as well. “Baylanis” holds a portal for our myriad metal-heads. The cello groans, electronics wince. Zeno’s conscience elevates this album, gorgeous sharp slices on “Shuini” w/ some astral vox and perhaps found flute. Track titles are not Magma-fied, but instead translate to cement through-out the world. This really grew on me, and comes with a clever flexi we will also add.
-Thurston Hunger