KFJC 89.7FM

Music Reviews

Boyle – “Psych-Jazz Collage I”

carsonstreet   8/10/2022   CD, Jazz

On bandcamp they say: “A most succinct and descriptive album title Boyle’s Psych-Jazz Collage I is exactly what it advertises. Brilliant cut-and-paste in the spirit of Faust Tapes, layers of reeds drone while percussion skitters across the stereo field. Pure endlessness.” All instruments and voices by Boyle. No effects or backwards masking used in this recording. Wild stuff psych, jazz and noisy stuff. One long track (43:29) fade in and out and have some fun.

Guitarist Gary Boyle was born in India, 1941. In the early sixties he attended the Leeds College of Music in the north of England. Before releasing his solo debut album in 1977, Boyle had played and recorded with many kinds of artists, e.g. Dusty Springfield, Bert Jansch, Keith Tippett and Stomu Yamash’ta, and had founded his own fusion group Isotope in 1973.

El Universo – “El Universo”

carsonstreet   8/10/2022   A Library, CD

El Universo (Eder Ademar) says: “One day I was watching a documentary about the first manned trips to outer space, I remember they were talking about the tests they carried out with Monkeys & Apes and it occurred to me that that could be a great name for a band, at that time I listened to a lot of kraut and space rock and I really wanted to start a new project, I took the guitar I started to make some bases and on that some riffs while I ran the documentary in silence, I started to create the soundtrack of the documentary and then I did the same about a series of the universe, finally the project was not called Monkeys & Apes but I made a song with that name to remember Ham, the first hominid to fly into outer space. All instruments played and recorded by El Universo (Eder Ademar). Space, psych and rock all mixed together.

Smith, Steven R. – “Spring”

carsonstreet   8/10/2022   12-inch, A Library

Steven R. Smith is the man behind projects like Hala Strana, Ulaan Khol, Ulaan Passerine and Ulaan Markhor, but also makes music under his own name. Active since the mid-90s, Smith has recorded a staggering amount of work, and every release is as good as the next. Joining Smith on Spring is Gareth Davis, the Amsterdam-based bass clarinetist and occasional collaborator of Machinefabriek, Merzbow and Elliot Sharp. The restrained interplay between Smith (on guitar, piano, percussion etc.) and Davis create a warmth and intimacy. Relaxed drone like ambience. Recorded at Worstward Studios, Los Angeles, December 2019 – May 2020.

Sheverb – “Once upon a time in Bombay Beach” – [Self Released]

Cousin Mary   8/7/2022   A Library, CD

Is it surf? Psych? Spaghetti Western? Country (especially track 5)? In the liner notes, they call it “surf-infused, desert-fueled rock & roll”. Whatever it is, this mostly female 5-piece band from Austin, Texas delivers a powerful, rich sound and irresistible momentum in these instrumental tracks. This album was made during a month spent at Bombay Beach near the Salton Sea in California. Really unique, absolutely wonderful!

Veik – “Surrounding Structures” – [Fuzz Club]

Mister S   8/7/2022   A Library, CD

Veik are another band I discovered traversing various rabbit holes of musical genres during my work from home status due to circumstances created by the pandemic. This particular rabbit hole was again located in France. I don’t recall if I came across them via their label or an algorithm as I had also come to discover the band Vanishing Twin who they collaborated with on a remix of the track Honest (I Don’t Wanna Know). Again, I reached out to the band and Boris the band’s drummer/percussionist responded. Luckily again the rest of the world speaks much better English and French than myself and sent me a 24 bit .wav file for the station to add! Merci!

The band creates an evocative universe of their own. It is an atmosphere that is both hypnotic and disturbing. Synthetic and acoustic rhythms flown over by a voice that harks to the lifeless vocals of Suicide’s Alan Vega. Chateau Guitar is the most straightforward guitar track that will likely see lots of airplay. Don’t miss out on any of the other tracks. Great rhythms and haunting subject matter to cogitate upon during the current socio-cultural political times of today, and perhaps even more pressing, the future.

“We hesitated a lot and took a few days before writing the following post, as we feel neither legitimate nor qualified to deal with the topic and as we did not want to give the impression to take advantage of the tragic situation of the war in Ukraine. However, we felt the need to express our support for the Ukrainian people for several reasons. 

In 2017 we released ‘Maidan’ on an EP whose theme was the 2010s protest movements. ‘Maidan’ was written as an attempt to grasp the contrasting faces of Ukraine and what was happening there at the time. Moreover, the name of the band is also imbued with this imaginary. Among its multiple origins, the name Veik is a reference to Kiev (Kyiv) in reverse.”

CD

Original Deluxe Edition, Limited Edition, Pink vinyl

Released 2021

Fuzz Club

Adrien Legrand, Boris Collet, Vincent Condaminas

Caen, France

Experimental, Krautrack, Post-Punk

Slift – “2016: Spacetrip for Everyone” – [Six Tonnes De Chair Records]

Mister S   8/7/2022   A Library, CD

Slift are a band I discovered via the Levitation Live series on ewetoob stuck working from home during the pandemic.  The Slift session is a must watch! From the location to the acoustics, I found myself itching to see these guys live.

2016: Spacetrip For Everyone is the first entry into my personal collection before I reached out to the band to see if I could obtain the most recent album on behalf of the station, providing the band link from the kfjc web page, Ummon and/or the Levitation Live album. Both were sold out but they offered to send me 24 bit .wav files to my joy!

Slift are influenced and are of the Prog, Psych-rock denomination with the energy of punk and metal. I am sure there are many dj’s at the station who will enjoy this title with title with another to come soon. I won’t name bands that have had an influence so that you can form your own thoughts.

If you enjoy Carson Street’s show and reviews, this title will be one to add to your playlist. Many thanks to Slift, the Music Department for the add and Carson Street for a link to an interview with the band after I sent him my discovery!

Psychdelic Rock, Krautrock, Prog, Post-Punk

CD 

May 2019 Release

Six Tonnes De Chair Records

Original a single-sided 12”,

Limited Edition heavy weight paper hand screen printed jacket

Canek Flores, Jean Fossat, Remi Fossat

Touluse, France

THIS A SONIC ARTIFACT FROM THE PAST

WHOEVER YOU ARE, WHEREVER YOU ARE IN THE GALAXY :

WE SALUTE YOU FROM THE DEEP SPACE AND THE NIGHT ! -Slift

Diverse – “Jus Biz” – [Chocolate Industries]

Mister S   8/7/2022   12-inch, Hip Hop

12″ Vinyl

2004 Release

Produced by Madlib

DJ Norman Rockwell Side A

DJ Sapien Side B

Great beats and samples in the Madlib tradition. Vocal tracks contain FCC’s, DJ’s beware. Favorite track is Beyond, Beyond from the b-side. 2nd favorite is also on th b-side, the instrumental track from Beyond, Beyond. Dig it!

Ruin Lust – “Ruin Lust” – [Psychic Violence]

whngr   8/3/2022   12-inch, A Library

N.Y.C. Death Metal

Furious gnashing teeth, tar paced passages, and catastrophic detonations of primal focused vigor. Deep wells of suffering and ability from members of Yellow Eyes, Morhoraam Atta, Vanum, Mróz, et alia. Bellows, gallows, wails, and snails’… pace… progression. Some pinch harmonics on track B1, “Skin Hunger” that doesn’t enthuse this volunteer but the composition is varied and interesting enough that I am willing to allow it… this time. And though I tend to prefer the onslaught/optimal carnage passages to the glacially paced doom element, I do appreciate the contrast. I can get behind a slower-than-everyone-else and faster-than-everyone-else ethos on a single 13 minute side-long track… that also culminates in a glorious atmospheric locked-groove. 

All FCC’s, if they do indeed exist, are entirely unintelligible.

New York – 2013

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