Music Reviews

Tomb Mold “The Bottomless Perdition” [Blood Harvest]

atavist   2/28/2023   A Library, Cassette

Debut 2016 demo release from this Toronto-based project. Sci-fi sounding intro in the opening track drops into a deliciously knuckle-dragging doom section before the all-out pummeling begins. This is fast, relentless stuff. “Valley of Defilement” has a hardcore feel based on its blistering speed. Fierce, hateful energy. Some great tone despite the lo-fi demo-quality recording, and the technical mastery is already there in the tight instrumentation. Massive death-metal vox and raw overdriven guitar sound, brief soaring leads that foreshadow more polished subsequent releases, like 2019’s “Planetary Clairvoyance”. Nothing extra, just tight fucking death metal. Super consistent, every track is killer. The last track takes us out with a slower, epic breakdown section, so hit that for a slightly different feel.

Desekryptor “Chasm of Rot” [Blood Harvest]

atavist   2/28/2023   A Library, Cassette

The air is thick with vile rumblings over Fort Wayne, Indiana. This represents Desekryptor’s first post-demo release, from 2017. Featuring the super-reverbed death vox we know and love, massive, thick guitar, and concussive drum attack. Sprinting through the darkened halls only to stumble and writhe in the fetid bog of moldering corpses. Medium-length tracks for the most part (3–5 minutes) enable you to drop in a bit of crushing filth into your set with relative ease. Descend the crypt, inhale these malevolent odors, and await the end.

Pussy Gillette – “Pussy Gillette” – [Bad Rope Records]

beastofbourbon   2/27/2023   12-inch, A Library

“If you like to live life on the edge, this one is for you, baby,” 

Masani Negloria

I love Texas! The food, whiskey, horses, but especially the music: The Dicks, Rosie Flores, Scott H Biram, The Rev, Geto Boys, Sheverb, Willie & Waylon. This is Pussy Gillette; a trio out of Austin that are keeping it cool and weird. Guitarist Nathan Calhoun of Chain Drive/Butthole Surfers and recently with touring with Flipper, drummer Brent Prager of Cherubs and Fuckemos are joined by bassist/vocalist Masini Negloria to play gnarly garage infused punk rock. Recorded and produced by Calhoun on a 4 track cassette in March 2021 this record brings us into a world of partying “Hard Livin’”, “Wild Nights” and fruit “Banana”. But on a serious side “Mala Noche” (one of two songs sung in Spanish) questions religion and “Walking Crime” deals with police brutality as a Black Woman. All songs are short but they get their point across with tight musicianship and a standout front woman. 

Beast of Bourbon

Zenizen – P.O.C. (Proof of Concept) [Topshelf Records]

aarbor   2/27/2023   A Library

Proof of Concept is a series of vignettes from Opal Hoyt’s life. It’s kind of like if Peter and the Wolf was about a woman who was adopted in Alaska and moved between DC, Jamaica, Vermont, and New York. Opal Hoyt is a singer and a songwriter She’s also a skilled producer with an ear for excellent arrangements—the kind of musician who enjoys meandering and allowing her artistic vision to percolate. Her life is a journey. Her music is a journey. Sometimes it sounds like you are listening through a haze or a watery memory. (My picks tracks 4-8) AArbor

Junk DNA – “Kopk Kopa” – [Helen Scarsdale Agency]

cinder   2/23/2023   A Library, CD

A new project of Brian Pyle (Ensemble Economique, The Starving Weirdos, and RV Paintings). Kopk Kopa translates from Lithuanian as a directive to “climb the dune”… which one can vision as Pyle radiates a ‘dark hypnosis of eerie tones that rasp, buzz, and shimmer within vertiginous orbits and arching crescendos’. It’s gloomy and doomy, murky fog laden damp corridors of ambient electronics, creeping around the corner tones, making your bumps goose with each sudden stab of sound. Or traveling back to the sand dunes of the desert, this might be what one hears as the sun beats through their eyes, frying & melting their sweat vapored skin.

Golem, The [coll] – [Reboot]

cinder   2/23/2023   12-inch, Soundtrack

A new re-score of the 1921 silent horror film, ‘The Golem’ – the Jewish Frankenstein that inspired the Boris Karloff original. Featuring original music by Scott Amendola, Steven Drozd (The Flaming Lips), and Steve Berlin (Los Lobos, The Flesh Eaters) / Threshing Floor (Alan Licht, Gretchen Gonzales Davidson, Rebecca Odes, John Olson, Nate Young) / Meg Baird, Charlie Saufley and Jeremiah Lockwood / Universal Eyes (members of Slumber Party and Wolf Eyes) / Michael Morley (The Dead C) / Sharon Gal / Marika Hughes and Shahzad Ismaily / ∈Y∋ (Boredoms). It’s a masterfully done experiment in modern silent film. Whispering horns, pulsing pedals, scratchy strings, a doomy underbelly growling below the surface. There’s tracks for the minimal deconstructed experimental fans, and tracks for the psych peeps. Nice longer tracks.

Forbidden Overture – “Turned On!” – [Dark Entries]

cinder   2/23/2023   12-inch, A Library

Two side long tracks from soundtrack to the film Turned On!—a gay bathhouse fantasy from 1982. This is pretty magical. Unless you already know it’s from a porn flick, you’d have no idea. You could possibly mistake this for an old Cluster release. It’s tasteful, no moans, groans or dirty birdy words. Just pure outer space, psychedelic krauty synths, floating through the cosmos, ready to blow their loads off in fantasy orbits… sorry, had to. It’s lovely and pretty.

The Assurance Compilation [coll] – [Juba]

aarbor   2/22/2023   A Library, CD

Assurance is a documentary about the obstacles that female DJs face, both on and beyond the dancefloor. It shows their defiant navigation of these issues as they pursue their career ambitions. The documentary came from British-Nigerian DJ Juba’s pursuit for new perspectives in the gender debate. This curiosity led her to Nigeria, where she connected with three DJs: Sensei Lo, DJ Yin, and DJ Ayizan in order to get an insight into their experiences in the context of Lagos. This CD is the music of Assurance. It’s all women artists: DJs and Producers representing Latin America, Asia, The Pacific Islands, Africa and the Middle East. The sound ranges from Deep House, to Techno, Amapiano (South African House) to Baile Funk… Enjoy! AArbor

Jobarteh, Sona – “Badinyaa Kumoo” – [self-released]

aarbor   2/22/2023   CD, International

Sona Jobarteh was born in London, but her father’s family are well-known griots from Gambia. She started playing the kora at age 4. She wrote all the music on this, her 4th album. It includes at least two well-known musicians: Youssou N’Dour and Ballake Sissoko, as well as others. Instead of setting words to music, she says she writes the meloday and the rhythm before the words, and fits the words into the song. She has a lot to say about many topics, but the lyrics are not in English. The music is gutsy and the playing is excellent. AArbor

Akyol, Gaye Su – “Anadolu Ejderi” – [Glitterbeat]

aarbor   2/22/2023   CD, International

This Gaye Su Akyol’s 4th album, she’s from Istanbul. The title means Anatolian Dragon and it certainly breathes fire. She says that she started with Anatolian folk and pop, then added African and Middle Eastern sounds, the soul revolution, disco, and rock from other cultures. The music is quite psychedelic, but it connects to different areas, all the pop genres that she loves. It takes some chances, the lyrics offer an exploration of politics in today’s Turkey. Enjoy! AArbor