Category: Reviews

Review: Skloss – The Pattern Speaks

You can interpret the cover of Skloss‘ debut album, The Pattern Speaks, in a couple different ways. Is the cover image light and matter being drawn into a black hole by its massive gravity well, or is it light and matter bursting from a void? Either option alters all reality around, within, and beyond it.

So does this album.

Husband and wife duo Karen Skloss (drums and main vocals) and Sandy Carson (guitars and backing vocals) create tremendous power that seems to change physics. Gravity feels heavier, colors look brighter, clouds move in strange patterns, trees loom larger, and sounds almost become solid masses. The opening title track is a reminder that patterns exist among the chaos of the universe. Knowledge is there for the taking if you give yourself the time to observe without judgement. The patterns will speak to you. The roar of the song shakes you like re-entry from orbit.

“Mind Hive” is almost the opposite. You’re not re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere – you’re leaving it. Carson’s guitar sounds like jet engines at multiple points in the song while Skloss’ echoing vocals are the thoughts in your mind sliding out and being left behind on the ground as your brain opens to the stars. On “Imagine 100 Dads,” Skloss puts lyrics aside for vocal sounds to create a hypnotic feel that leans the “cover image debate” toward the “It’s light emerging, not falling, from the void.” side…until the second half when Carson’s riffs are so big that they feel like they’re causing sinkholes under your house.

“Dead Bone” is your new favorite stoner / doom instrumental cut and might be the one that makes you think, “How is this just two people?” the most. “Snorkels Ask” mixes the sound of buzzing cicadas with angry hornet guitars. “Upper Attic” is just as fuzzy and suitable for a haunted house run by the ghosts of a metal band killed in a freak accident on Halloween. “Plugged into Jupiter” has us drifting around the giant planet, unsure if we’ll be able to escape its gravitational (guitar-induced) pull or if we’d be better off just hanging out for a while or maybe cruise along the surface of one of its moons.

Wrapping up with the heavy and haunting “Ghosts Are Entertaining” ends the album with another double-meaning. Are the ghosts entertaining guests, or are ghosts fun to watch in general? If it’s the former, then the sonic assault of the song makes you think that the ghosts are having a great time, but their guests might be terrified. If it’s the latter, then the fuzzy roar and cymbal crashes make us imagine we’re all thinking, “This is pretty damn cool.” while standing in the foyer of a haunted house as the ghosts rock out on a drum kit made of tombstones and a guitar made out of a cemetery gate.

So, what is the pattern? What is it telling us? Are we falling into a void or emerging from one? I’m still not sure. Skloss are able to pull us into the gravity well or slingshot us around the sun with equal skill. That might be the pattern: Two people, two instruments, two opposite yet equal forces creating one powerful record.

Remember the E.F. Hutton commercials of the 1970s and 1980s? Their slogan was, “When E.F. Hutton speaks, people listen.” When The Pattern Speaks, people transform.

Keep your mind open.

[Why not subscribe?]

Review: Joe Alterman & Mocean Worker – Keep the Line Open

Take piano from cool jazz cat Joe Alterman and mix it with beats, bass, samples, and loops from Mocean Worker in a tribute to a late jazz and soul legend, Les McCann, and you get a downright groovy record – Keep the Line Open.

Starting with McCann’s high-pitched, hysterical laugh on “I Love It!, I Love It!, I Love It!,” Alterman (who counted McCann as a mentor and friend) and Worker have a blast right away, zipping along city streets (Are those traffic and train samples I hear?) with the windows down and at least three pretty ladies in the back seat. Worker’s bass line on “Yay Yay Yay” is designed to make you strut, and Alterman’s piano is designed to make you dress sharp for the evening.

On “Burnin’ Coal,” McCann tells a story of how he paid an announcer fifty bucks to introduce him with grandeur at an early gig in California, and then Alterman and Worker slide into a sweet groove complete with samples of ladies cheering, clapping, and stomping in the background. “Never have I seen a tuning fork ever,” says McCann as he talks with Alterman on learning how to play on and out of tune piano. “I never knew the difference,” he says, and then “Gimme Some Skin” breaks open with one of the happiest grooves on the record (and that’s saying a lot, considering the whole album is a happy delight) as Alterman rips on his electric piano.

“Circus Going Backwards” is a smoky, mysterious number. How can it not be with a title like that? “Get This to the People” could’ve been a hip hop jam in the golden era of 1990s rap (and still could be – someone needs to get on this). “Moses Gonzales” is so smooth that you could roll marbles across it in a straight line. “Lemme Tell You Somethin'” thumps and bumps in all the right spots.

The album closes with “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly / Les Has the Last Word” (as he should) – a great track of simple honkytonk piano from Alterman and a recording of McCann encouraging him (and us) to continue learning and growing.

It’s a slick record. Don’t let it slide by you.

Keep your mind open.

[Yay! You subscribed! Wait, you did, didn’t you?]

[Thanks to Kevin at Calabro Music Media!]

Review: Beta Voids – Scrape It Off

Congratulations. You just found one of your new favorite punk bands.

Hailing from Astoria, Oregon, Beta Voids have unleashed (a far better description than “released”) their debut EP, Scrape It Off, and given us a much-needed adrenaline shot and kick in the ass.

The first thing you notice about them on the opening track, “Nothing to Me,” is the great interplay between the two lead vocalists – Carrie Beveridge and Mandy Grant. They sing / yell / chant about stuff that you can care about, but they really don’t give a damn. Next you notice Alpha Rasmussen‘s wild, frenetic saxophone running around the studio and your speakers.

On “Meat Head Look” (a song, I think, about guys trying and failing to impress women), you notice Mike Vasquez‘s thudding bass that somehow is able to lock in all this chaos happening across the whole EP and give it free reign at the same time. “Palpitations” roars like Bleach-era Nirvana (thanks much to Dan McClure‘s buzzsaw guitar) if Nirvana dove further down the post-punk rabbit hole instead of the metal one in their early days.

“Alan” is a twenty-three-second tribute to famous people with that name. That’s it. That’s all you need to know, really. “Brain Malfunction” is as bonkers as its title. “Baby’s in Detox” is even crazier and seems to be about being sad about being sober.

The closer, “M-O-T-H-E-R,” is a solid rock track, reminding me of The Stooges and grounded by Seth Howard‘s straight-up garage rock beats. Ms. Beveridge and Ms. Grant either pay tribute to or complain about their moms. I’m not sure. It works either way.

The whole thing works. Beta Voids are here to stomp down doors and on faces. Get in the pit or get out of the way.

Keep your mind open.

[You’ll be everything to me if you subscribe.]

[Thanks to Chad at No Rules PR!]

Rewind Review: The Psychedelic Furs – Here Came the Psychedelic Furs: B-side & Lost Grooves (1994)

I scored Here Came the Psychedelic Furs: B-sides & Lost Grooves at a wrecka stow in Arizona last month. I had no idea this collection existed until I stumbled across it for a mere seven dollars in a used CD bin. The Furs have become one of my favorite bands in the last decade, although I have been enjoying them since I practically wore out their Talk Talk Talk album on cassette back in 1981. I missed a lot of their catalogue because most of it wasn’t available where I grew up. MTV, when it still played music videos, kept me up to date on their newest singles, but that was it.

As a result, this collection has allowed to me hear a lot of great stuff that I didn’t know existed. It starts off with a loud, gritty dance mix version of “Aeroplane” that’s over five minutes long, was produced by Todd Rundgren, and was the B-side of the “Love My Way” 12″ single from 1982.

“Another Edge” (the B-side of the “Here Come Cowboys” single from 1984) is pretty much a krautrock track with Tim Butler adding some great slap bass to the electro-beats and flashy horn section. “Badman” (taken from a promo-only 12″ release of 1989’s “Should God Forget”) has that cool psych-saxophone / spooky bass / cracking drums / drone guitar mix that only the Psychedelic Furs seem to pull off without effort.

“Birdland” is the B-side of the “All That Money Wants” single from 1988, and is a slick, dark bit of shoegaze. Up next is another five-minute-plus, Rundgren-produced dance mix from the 1982 “Love My Way” 12″ single – “Goodbye.” Richard Butler‘s vocals and lyrics are in fine form as he growls about the proliferation of apathy (“Yesterday’s news is today’s news…You don’t remember, you forget, that’s the way the stories all go…I’ll see you all around sometime if I ever go back there.”) and, at the same time, finding strength in leaving negativity.

Speaking of “Love My Way” B-sides, “I Don’t Want to Be Your Shadow” was on the flip side of the 7″ version of that single. It’s has a cool, pulsing beat and a surprising bit of guitar shredding. The 7″ remix of “Heartbeat” from 1984 originally appeared on the B-side of “The Ghost in You” single. It’s another track full of Richard Butler’s bass groove, this time churning out disco funk along with the guitars, and frantic saxophone blasts.

A cover of “Mack the Knife” (the B-side to the “Angels Don’t Cry” single from 1987) is a fun inclusion, barely recognizable, and a dark, broody version that turns the title character into someone probably found more in dark basement clubs than swanky jazz affairs. “New Dream” (taken from the 1987 “Heartbreak Beat” 12″ single) is a slick blend of 1980s city pop, shoegaze, psychedelia, and a goth of goth. It reminds me of some of The The‘s work from the same era. The guitar solo on it from John Ashton is especially good. Mars Williams was also on saxophone by this point, and you can hear how much he elevates the band right away.

The 12″ remix-edit version of “Here Come Cowboys” from 1984 is another fine example of Richard Butler’s vocals and lyrics, this time taking a jab at masculine stereotypes (“It’s so hard at times to take it serious. It really gets to be a drag when all we really need is love. Here comes cowboys, here to save us all.”). You can practically feel Butler sighing as his eyes roll upwards at the idea of angry dudes screwing things up yet again.

The extended 12″ mix (over eight minutes!) of 1987’s classic “Heartbreak Beat” is top-notch. The 7″ remix of “Angels Don’t Cry” from the same year is a picturesque love song that borders on pop-alternative, another type of song the Furs do well while other shoegaze bands chose to cover their feelings on love with walls of sound (which isn’t a bad thing, by any means, and can be quite effective and evocative). Want another remix from 1987? How about Shep Pettibone‘s 12″ remix of “Shock?” It turns the track into a nightclub hit with bright vocals, saxophone, and synths but never losing it’s rock edge.

The last two tracks are live cuts. The first is a recording of “President Gas” (a song that, unfortunately, never goes out of style) on The King Biscuit Flower Hour from 1983 and was on the B-side of the “Run and Run” single. The second is “No Easy Street” and was only released on maxi-cassette (Remember those? They were cassettes that featured one song per side.) in 1988. Both are sharp recordings. “President Gas” is fuzzy and growling, while “No Easy Street” is haunting stuff that borders on dark wave at some points.

This collection is well worth tracking down if you can find it, and it begs for the Furs to release a large retrospective. There has to be a vault of live cuts, demos, and other rarities somewhere on top of their already impressive catalogue.

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t be a badman or badwoman. Subscribe today.]

Review: Désordre – L’Échappée Belle

Hailing from Lyon, France, Désordre (Disorder) bring their three-song instrumental EP, L’Échappée Belle (The Great / Beautiful Escape – depending on how you choose to translate it) that’s indeed an escape from whatever reality you’re in now.

“Chèvre Bleue” (“Blue Goat”) is a cool track that builds from desert rock mellow riffs to heavy space rock lift-offs, and then back to desert rock, but this time you’re racing across the desert on horseback and instead of taking a slow ride on a camel.

“Ordalie” (“Ordeal”) stomps the gas pedal and cranks the volume, giving you the energy to power through whatever trial or tribulation you might be experiencing. It will make you feel like you’re in an action film at times, and like you’re meditating on a mountain at others.

“Débordé” (“Overwhelmed”) does this balancing act just as well, deftly moving back and forth between stoner rock power and psych-rock mind trips. It can indeed feel overwhelming at times, but Désordre know when to pull back and let you get a breath before they toss you into orbit again.

It’s a solid EP that bodes well for a future full-length LP from them. It feels like a pre-launch sequence to an interstellar mission.

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe!]

[Merci á Désordre!]

Review: The Limiñanas – Faded

French psych-rock / yé-yé enthusiasts The Limiñanas have returned with a new album, Faded, that includes an impressive lineup of friends helping them pay tribute to many forgotten (faded) film stars of a bygone era.

The opening track, “Spirale,” brings you back to smoky, sexy 1960s French nightclubs with simple, elegant piano tones and guitar fuzz. They team up with Primal Scream‘s Bobby Gillespie on “Prisoner of Beauty,” in which Gillespie sings about women being thrilled with the exotic worlds of modeling and film and later feeling trapped there as time takes its toll. Their team up with French actor / musician / composer Bertrand Belin on “J’adore le Monde” (“I Love the World.”) is a gritty, groovy rocker, as is “Shout” featuring another Frenchman, Rover. “Shout” moves back and forth between trippy verses and a sharp call-and-response chorus while Lionel Limiñana uses his guitar to create a weird atmosphere around you.

Penny joins the band on the title track, and her lovely vocals evoke memories of long-gone girl groups and classic country singers. Anna Jean‘s breathy vocals on “Catherine” will leave you wondering, “Catherine who?” and “Where can I find these women?” You can tell there’s a fascinating story here.

“The Dancer” is an instrumental tribute to Lionel and Marie Limiñana‘s friend frequent video collaborator Foulques de Boixo, known as “The Dancer” or “The Dancing Man” in so many of The Limiñanas’ music videos. Appropriately, it has a great beat from Marie that will have you dancing with de Boixo in spirit.

“Space Baby” is one of two collaborations with Jon Spencer and Pascal Comelade on the album and it has Spencer singing about a woman who’s so far out of his reach she might as well be in space. “Tu Viens, Marie?” (“Are You Coming, Marie?”) can be taken a few different ways. Does it refer to Marie Limiñana herself? That’s a good guess, as the vocals are back and forth between her and Lionel. Does it refer to a journey or something, ahem, else? I like the mystery of it, so I’ll leave it as such.

Their cover of “Louie Louie” is the type of cover only they could pull off, as they turn the weird garage rock classic into a whispered, yet loud, psychedelic freakout. The couple give us a tour of their house, and the stuff from all over the world throughout it, on “Autour de Chez Moi” (“Around My House”). Again, it seems like only they could perform a song like this, turning a walk-through of their place almost into a meditative mantra.

Mr. Spencer and Mr. Comelade return on “Degenerate Star” with Spencer singing about forgotten fame and how fast one can fall from the public eye when the next big thing appears (“All I’ve got is this picture, and your smell. Where did you go?…I was a star, the biggest, brightest star. Don’t you remember? Have you forgotten everything?”).

The album ends with their cover of Françoise Hardy‘s “Ou Va la Chance?” (“Where Does the Luck Go?”). Hardy was a yé-yé icon in the 1960s, who, like de Boixo, died in recent years. She often sang about heartbreak and missed opportunities for love, and the album fading out with a song written by her is a perfect way to end a record about fading stardom.

Faded is a lovely and groovy record that assures us that the Limiñanas aren’t fading just yet and that those who came before them will stay with us a while longer.

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t fade away without subscribing!]

Review: The Quality of Mercury – The Voyager

Check out that album cover. That pretty much sums up how The Quality of Mercury‘s new album, The Voyager, is going to sound.

Jeremiah Rouse, otherwise known as The Quality of Mercury, has come back from a nine-year journey to release his new record, and my guess is that was how long he was cruising around in that spaceship on the album’s cover because The Voyager is full of cosmic riffs and epic sounds that seem to drift around distant planets or alongside speeding comets.

“Moonrise” starts off the journey with Rouse proclaiming, “Sleeping giant rise. It’s time to breathe the stars.” The sleeping giant could be us, the moon, the Earth, a celestial being, or just the sound of the entire album. “Radiate” blasts you with Hum-like intensity and an intense tale of an astronaut fleeing a burning, crumbling ship in one last ditch effort to leap from his craft to a space station and hope his oxygen doesn’t run out before he can reach it. “Ganymede” is a story of how the future, or even distant moons, aren’t far enough to escape heartbreak (“Thirteen was the number of the airlock where you left me…Now I’m broken and still frozen on this ice moon where you left me.”).

“Heaven’s Gate” is indeed about the doomed cult of the same name, but not about its ideals. It’s about how those people wanted to find something in the stars that they were missing on Earth…even though it was around them the entire time. The thick bass line Rouse plays on it is a good touch. “Desperate Measures” has two lovers on opposite sides of space taking great risks to reunite. This theme of longing for connection is prevalent on the whole record, and Rouse has said how “…relationships, both human and spiritual, are at the center of everything.”

“Receiving Hertz” has Rouse (Who, by the way, plays everything on this record.) singing about wishing for a human connection across vast distances as he gets “signals from a distant light. Receiving hertz, but still out of sight.” Rouse’s guitar work on “Selenite” has so many layers to it that it feels like he’s terraforming a landscape with it. The title track, which ends the album, has Rouse leaving on his journey into the stars to search “…for purpose and meaning, but the space goes on and on. Tranquil horizons deceiving.” He thinks he’ll be alone, and he might be right, but he also knows he has to make the launch.

We all do at some point, be it into adulthood, parenthood, a new job, a new relationship, a move across the country or the cosmos. We’re all seeking connection here on Earth and even across our galaxy. It’s the eternal quest, and The Quality of Mercury invites us to take it.

Keep your mind open.

[Be sure to subscribe before you go.]

[Thanks to Shauna at Shamless Promotion PR!]

Review: pôt-pot – Warsaw 480km

The debut album from Irish / Portuguese quintet pôt-pot, Warsaw 480km, is an album about feeling adrift during dark hours but also knowing that light eventually will come.

Lead singer / songwriter / multi-instrumentalist Mark Waldron-Hyden wrote most of the album while bouncing around different landscapes and residences…all the while dealing with grief over the death of his father. What emerged was a pretty damn cool post-punk / krautrock / Ennio Morricone (and, believe it or not, James Brown)-inspired album.

“22° Halo” opens the record with a fierce bass lick from Joe Armitage and guitars that you think are going to overwhelm you for a moment but then fade into the shadows. “Sextape” started out as a jam session and became your next favorite song to put on a psych-rock mixtape. The blend of male and female harmonies between Waldron-Hyden and Elaine Malone and Sara Lelsie and near-surf rock guitars from Waldron-Hyden and Mykle Oliver Smith are instantly hypnotizing, and Malone’s harmonium is like incense in your meditation chamber.

“WRSW” was inspired by the road sign mentioned in the album’s title as Waldron-Hyden was riding in a car with his father’s ashes. As the story goes, he saw the sign emerge along the road on a dark night and it gave him the sense that he’d get through both the night and his grief (even in the latter would remain to some degree for a lifetime). The upbeat krautrock rhythm gives you (and Waldron-Hyden) the power to keep moving forward. “Fake Eyes” is a haunting track that seems to just…hover.

The press release I received for Warsaw 480km mentions how “I AM!” is indebted to Lou Reed. That’s correct, as it sounds like a groovy Velvet Underground track you forgot existed. Waldron-Hyden’s swaggering beat on “Can’t Handle It” reminds me of Cramps records – as do the repeated lyrics of “Tell me, baby, do you feel all right? Tell me, baby, would you take my life? Because I just can’t handle it.”

The guitar work on “The Lights Are On” is a great mix of psych-garage and dark country twang. “Hot Scene” continues that Morricone influence and adds a bit of Delta 5 post-punk flair as it builds to a loud buzz in your head. The album ends with “Change Your Life,” which could be a suggestion made by Waldron-Hyden to us, a friend, a lover, or himself. I’m not sure…or if it matters.

What does matter is that you give this album a spin. It’s a great debut and portends more good things to come from them.

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe!]

[Thanks to Kate at Stereo Sanctity.]

Review: LUCKYANDLOVE – Humaura

LUCKYANDLOVE‘s new album, Humaura, has an interesting dichotomy running through it. The band love analog synths, Moog synthesizers, drum machines, and other electronic instruments and deftly use them to create lovely synthwave and dark wave music…

…and yet Humaura opens with “I Am Human” – a song that encourages us to “cut the wire” and back out of all this technology that consumes and does more to separate us than keep us together. Shut off your phone, stop binge-watching shows, get outside and breathe for a bit.

Then come back for the dance party that is “Feelz So Good,” because you do feel good after a break from the cyber-world. You always do. You always remember how good it feels to be present. “Run on Run” is a saucy tale of finding and walking away from love with April Love repeating “Just let me go.” to her former lover, as they’re not “the only one who can have some fun.” Speaking of love, “Name of Love” has some of Love’s best vocals on the record as the song goes from dark wave to electro-disco.

“Lonely at Night” is pure goth-wave as Love relates to all of us feeling isolated in the darkest hours of the evening. “You’re the only one who gets me,” Love sings on “Down to Black” – in which she happily (as happy as you can get in a goth dance tune, that is) sings about finally finding someone who understands her.

Loren Luck ups the percussion on “Secret Is Out,” which is about a vampire who needs to reveal their nature to a lover but is debating the decision. Will it bring relief or misery? “Hawks Do Cry” is another showcase of Love’s excellent vocals. “Melt in Sunshine” might refer to the vampire in “Secret Is Out.” It’s a slick track, with some of Luck’s best beats. It almost becomes dream pop at some points.

Again, it’s an interesting dichotomy – An electro record made with modern and analog technology that encourages you to put away technology, investigate yourself, and find love and human connection. In other words, LUCKYANDLOVE have delivered one of the most important messages of the year.

Keep your mind open.

[Yes, cut the wire, but subscribe first.]

[Thanks to Shauna at Shameless Promotion PR.]

Review: Osees – Abomination Revealed at Last

Osees‘ latest (Their thirty-second?) album, Abomination Revealed at Last, is a rager against the current state of affairs in the U.S.: Trump, religious leaders, tech companies, you name it – all of them are smacked around by John Dwyer and his crew.

The opener, “Abomination,” sounds like early Devo at times and near-thrash metal at others as Dwyer sings / yells about our phones poisoning us and horrible things corrupting us with violence. “Sneaker” has Tim Hellman alternating his bass riffs from funk to fury while Dwyer sings about how insidious everything seems and feels now. “I don’t buy that you have words with God,” Dwyer says on “God’s Guts,” giving televangelists and religious hypocrites a punch in the gut.

“Infected Chrome” might be an Osees tribute to Chrome (whom they’ve covered many times) and a cry for everyone to wake up and maybe take a look around with sober eyes for a change (“Can we not drive around on a dope run?”). Dwyer’s solo on it is short and superb, as it is on “Glue” (A love song! Well, a song about obsession, I suppose.). “Ashes 2” has Osees warning us of “a quiet overthrow” and how people obsessed with politicians can’t see how those they idolize and worship are screwing over all of us.

“Coffin Wax” is a karmic warning to those same politicians and has Paul Quattrone and Dan Rincon going nuts on their drum kits while Tom Dolas creates a freaky synth sound around them. Quattrone and Rincon continue their bonkers assault on “Ashes 1” and “Fight Simulator” (in which Dwyer tells you it’s his – and our – responsibility to tell you what’s wrong with the world). On “Protection,” they call out Mark Zuckerberg, (“Fuck Zuck.” is the first lyric.), Elon Musk, and “Emperor” (You probably can guess.), letting them all know “Revolution’s coming!”

“Glass Window” (which, to my delight, contains a Suspiria reference) is a call-out to folks younger than Dwyer who are too busy being distracted to be enraged at what’s happening around them. For example, the entire subject of “Glitter-Shot,” in which Dwyer reminds us “We are info. We are bait…They own our memories and DNA.” and that “Lies keep the Capitol alive. The tyrant needs attention to survive.” It’s a great closer, with Dwyer’s vocals almost a soapbox rant with a rock-solid groove behind them.

It’s another winner from Osees, and I can’t help but think the title infers it’s a sequel to 2015’s Mutilator Defeated at Last – which had songs named after horrible monsters and references to death. “Mutilator’s” identity might be a few people or institutions from a decade ago, but it’s easy to figure out who and what the “Abomination” is. It’s not Emil Blonsky. It’s someone you see on TV or your phone every day.

Keep your mind open.

[Subscribe at last!]