Music Reviews

Revenant Marquis – “Anti Universal Compassion” – [New Era Productions]

whngr   11/27/2020   12-inch, A Library

No fidelity spooky black metal with synth interludes from Wales. Dark, brooding and buried. Wet, caves of despair cloaked in a fog of misery with strange off-key hooks and brooding laments for the spiritually bereft. Solo project of one highly prolific and recondite, S. The sole member of this prolific Welsh abomination. Having released six(6) LP’s (one of which is single sided) since 2018 the one you now hold being the third and perhaps most visually striking. Who can deny the appeal of impending erotic violence or the allure ritual sex magic? “Not I.”, said the miserable sonic goblin, “Not fucking I.”

Coughin’; Vicars – “Post Omission Overtures” – [Self Released]

whngr   11/27/2020   A Library, Cassette

Rock from Britain reminiscent at times of Killing Joke or early Wire, elsewhence The Cure, Joy Division, ersewhile Echo and the Bunnymen or maybe The Fall. Building on the well-laid foundations of their forebearers, there is a something slightly retrospective about CV but not necessarily derivitive. An homage to post/death/goth/punk perhaps while still offering their own unique, and in my miserable opinion, exceptional voice to the arena (killing floor). A majestic sermon for the lost, an admonishment for the defeated, draped in lavish guitar effects. A shouting chant bellows above the angular and terse rhythm. Reverb and chorus swell and fade like shadows in the dreary pre-dawn of a deserted Liverpudlian landscape. We are being watched…

FCC on 3 Karma RuminationTrack 7 is an unlisted reverse tracked, somber and heavily affected guitar signal. Coughin’ Vicars is helmed by Russ ‘WeasHELL’ Longmire aka @sketchstance and credited as Roman Remains, vocalist, artist, skateboarder, and man of the 11th hour. Limited, numbered, and hand crafted on this second run of cassettes released by the artist.

Kult Offenzivy – “Tak Jsem Ji Prizval K Sobe” – [New Era Productions]

whngr   11/27/2020   12-inch, A Library

Cold, inscrutable Czechian Black Metal. Grim and fierce. Guttural and hypnotic. There is little variety on this LP so whereever you drop the needle you’ll find buried blast beats, anemic trem-picked guitar, and stolid, grim pharangeal vox in Chechen. What it lacks in virtuosity it makes up for with pure unadulterated spite.

A slightly cryptic entry in Mettallum states:

“Some session members are also in Sator Marte, Dirris and Valraukar, but the main person and former behind Kult ofenzivy isn’t a member of any other bands.”

Horrid Red – "Radiant Life" – [Soft Abuse]

Thurston Hunger   11/25/2020   12-inch, A Library

Fourth full length from this band with Bay Area roots and a distinctly Teutonic tincture. Bunker Wolf sings in his native German tongue (while titling the songs in English) his voice is perhaps the most rough, brazen instrument on the record. Edmund Xavier (Glenn Donaldson) along with
Clay Ruby veer far from their Jeweled Antler daze and Burial Hex nights respectively. The drum machines here are happy little robots, not hammering industrial death magnets. No trace of sonic cthonics, or hazey
texture-based Blithe drone drifters. These songs have pep. And polish, while they would fit in with ein track from Cassettencombinant, they eschew the raw for refined. The German words I cannot decipher, I will say their songs “Still Suffering” and “Last Flower of Youth” both feel really happy to me. Hell “End of the Age” even has digital handclaps. Maybe Wolf is singing poems from Rilke, somehow I don’t think so? The title track has a nice slinky vibe to it (cool clinking percussion and a bass line that prowls).
The song before it “Pity The Sun” rang a doppelganger bell to “Under the Milky Way.” That might just be me. It also kinda echoes “Nothing in My Heart” from Horrid Red’s debut. That album had a more punk bent (or see the older Teenage Panzerkorps with Bunker Wolf aand Edmund/Glenn), this is solidly pop, but both have the unmistakable bite of Wolf’s vocals.
BTW: This one’s on the stellar Soft Abuse label, just saying a FreakWeek focus on that label would be mighty tasty.

-Thurston Hunger

Tobin, Amon – “Bricolage” – [Ninja Tune]

aarbor   11/25/2020   12-inch, A Library

Bricolage is Amon Tobin’s second album from 1997, the first released under his own name, and his first on the Ninja Tune label. It was a departure from his first album, Adventures in Foam as Cujo (which KFJC owns), incorporating a heavier blend of jazz melodies and intense jungle rhythms.  The track Easy Muffin has appeared in a soundtrack, an ad and other places online so you may have heard it before.

AArbor 

Snowboy Presents – New Vintage Volume 1 [coll] – [BBE]

aarbor   11/25/2020   A Library, CD

21 versatile tracks of “New Vintage” Jazz, Latin, Swing, Funk, Rockabilly, Mambo and Northern Soul from a wide range of artists assembled by Snowboy to accompany the Vintage festival in the UK. The musical experience at the Vintage Festival covers decades, genres and styles that have affected Britain over the years. They even have Vintage Nightclubs to suit all musical tastes  AArbor 

Up, Bustle and Out – "Compared to What/Emerald Alley" – [Ninja Tune]

aarbor   11/25/2020   12-inch, A Library

A variety of remixes by Up, Bustle and Out of their tracks Compared to What and Emerald Alley. Enjoy the sitars and other Indian instruments. AArbor

Haare – “Brain” – [Aussaat]

lexi glass   11/25/2020   A Library, CD

Ingest the pyromaniac manna of the underworld hosts and sink into the slimy depths of Brain. This newest album from Haare (Ilkka Vekka of Hämeenlinna, Finland), a melding of blackened noise and heavy psychedelia, surely would have found a spiritual home mixed into one of Cy Thoth’s Firebunker superimpositions. Twisted melodies and churning feedback storms from effected guitars, uncurling reptilian feelers, and howling voices make up the psychic disturbances, building towards a final solemn procession of flute, drums, bells and gongs that signal the arrival of a fearsome supernatural presence. Our first addition from the German industrial label Aussaat.

Greenleif, Phillip – "Bellingham For David Ireland" – [500 Capp Street Foundation]

humana   11/23/2020   CD, Jazz

This is a fascinating jazz experience made richer by reading the liner notes as you listen to the 60+ minutes of jazz diffusing throughout the David Ireland House (which is an art installation created by the late artist David Ireland) in the Mission District of San Francisco. Greenlief composed this map-work, which, if you look closely at the album cover, is just that–a score based on the jigsaw pieces of maps of Bellingham, Washington, where Ireland grew up. The live performance was based on the score, but also on the conversations among the musicians placed in various locales of the house, along with the ambient noises such as sirens coming from both the inside and outside of the house. Greenlief set up in the entryway with his sax where he hoped to be able to hear the gongs, percussion, contrabass, violin, voice, tuba, and electronics emanating from different rooms in the two-story house. This is an ineffable aural treat.

WOW – "Come La Notte" – [Maple Death]

humana   11/23/2020   12-inch, A Library

“Like the Night” is the translation of “Come La Notte”–and the sounds of this Italian “garage-pop” duo definitely give off the nocturnal vibe. I put “garage-pop” in quotes because it is as good a label as any, if you have to put a label on it. China Now is the percussionist and vocalist, and Leo Non is the guitarist, and together they create an atmosphere that does sound like their experimental night club Bad Peace. The pace picks up with the last track on Side A, and the first track on Side B sounds like surf guitar at the beginning. I encourage you to experience the music for yourself before boxing it into any genre.