Category: Reviews

Review: Lust for Youth & Croatian Amor – All Worlds

Lust for Youth & Croatian Amor looked to the stars for inspiration on their new album, All Worlds. Specifically, they focused on the idea of the “Golden Record” set into outer space by NASA in 1977 to greet anyone who might find it. They wanted to create a portrait of a world in where each song evoked a sense of place and time.

Starting with “Friendzone,” the album gets off to a trancey-dancey start with arpeggiating synths and thumping bass. A lot of the songs on All Worlds are about belonging and the quest to find community and kinship. “Friendzone” is a wake-up call for those put in it. The smart ones accept the assignment. “Passerine,” with guest vocals from Emma Acs, adds shoegaze guitars to snappy electric beats as Acs sings about being disconnected to the world around us.

“Dummy” reminds us that “It’s all right. These hearts were built to fight.” It’s an uplifting track. “Everything changes,” they say. Things can turn around if you give them the chance. “Akkadian” reminds me of early Orbital tracks with its vocal loops, trip-hop beats, and clockwork synth riffs.

“Lights in the Center” adds Alan Watts Zen philosophy to soft synthwave. A woman claims, “I don’t know where I went.” at the beginning of “Kokiri.” She might’ve gone to the dance floor, judging from the great house beats in it. “Nowhere” feels like a cat stretching in the sunlight beaming in from a living room window as it dreams of strolling through a park as busy humans run to and fro.

“Fleece” would be a good song to play while drifting along the Voyager spacecraft carrying the Golden Record, because it feels like zero gravity under your feet. “Velella Velella Wind Sailors” is minimalist techno as a woman speaks about animals washed up on a beach and schools of jellyfish that resemble blue coral. Closing with “Still Here,” the song reminds us that we can persevere. We can survive. We can thrive.

It’s a neat experiment by a cool team. Each track has its own pulse. They paint several pictures for you. It’s easy to get lost in them. Go ahead and try it.

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe!]

[Thanks to Kate at Sacred Bones Records!]

Rewind Review: Vuelveteloca – Sonora (2017)

I discovered Vuelveteloca at the 2017 Levitation Music Festival where they played a great show at the now long-gone Barracuda club. I hadn’t heard them before then, but their Chilean version of metal, psych, krautrock, and stoner metal was something to behold. I snagged their Sonora album from their merch table…and it got lost in a stack of CDs in my office for years. It’s a shame I’m finally getting around to reviewing it eight years later, because it’s a slick record.

First, you should know that the band’s name translates as “Go crazy.” in English. That lets you know what you’re in for with this record. It’s a fitting name.

The album’s title translates as “Sonorous” – which implies something deep and powerful. Opening track, “La Niebla” (“The Fog”), stomps the gas pedal to the floor and charges through the titular weather with reckless abandon. The brief moment of coasting (around the 3:30 mark) lets you feel the wind on your face for a bit before the guitars from Marcos De Iruarrizaga and Tomás Olivos come back to melt it.

“Alta Montaña” (“High Mountain”) displays their love of stoner metal and cosmic rock, as Juan Gili hammers out mantra-like beats to induce rhythmic head-nodding. “Ataque Masivo” isn’t necessarily a tribute to the band “Massive Attack,” but I wouldn’t be surprised if Massive Attack were an influence on them. The track has krautrock leanings, but also synth touches that lean it a bit in Massive Attack’s direction.

The fuzz returns in full force on “Carnaval,” sending us on a trippy journey down streets full of masked people who might have dark intentions. “L.A.” slows things down into 1960s psych-rock. It’s a neat change in tone from the heavy stuff that’s come before it as the song builds in power and volume. “El Lado Frio” (“The Cold Side”) takes that power and volume and uses it to cause your brain to swirl in your skull.

“Tormento” (“Torment”) is a song you’ll want to blast while competing in a demolition derby. “Chepical” dives back into krautrock, but adds soaring cosmic rock guitars to the mix. Ending with the interestingly titled “Cientologia & Altiplano” (“Scientology & Plateau”), the album uses Jose Navarrete‘s bass grooves to maximum effect and creates a great jam track with limited vocals and maximum head-trip riffs.

It’s a wild record, and one I slept on for too long. Don’t do the same.

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe!]

Rewind Review: The Jesus and Mary Chain – Automatic (2009 reissue)

The Jesus and Mary Chain‘s 1989 album (their third), Automatic, is the second one to be made by the Reid brothers, William and and Jim, with backing from a drum machine and synth-bass. Some fans derided this back in the day, but the album is now considered another classic from them.

Opening track “Here Comes Alice” is a full-out rock ode to a hot lady on a hot summer day. “Coast to Coast” is another sizzler and perfect for fast driving down long highways (“I got a cat-scratch engine, takes me on the road. Wheels get back rolling to the world I know. Take me just as far as I can go.”). The guitars on this are great – roaring one moment and squealing the next.

“Blues from a Gun” is one of TJAMC’s biggest hits, even reaching the top spot on the U.S. “Modern Rock” charts back in 1989. It’s about someone misreading a situation that they think is romantic but is strictly platonic (“If you’re talking for real, then go cut a deal. You’re facing up to living out the way that you feel.”). It’s no surprise it was a big hit, because it hits all the right notes. The chugging guitars and sharp but simple electric drum beats perfectly mix together.

“Between Planets,” a song about a woman who might be schizophrenic, is so catchy it could’ve been the theme to an MTV show in the late 1980s. The programmed drums are heavy on “UV Ray,” and the machine-like guitar riffs (mixed with a bit of surf!), give the song a bit of an industrial dance club feel. “Her Way of Praying” has Jim Reid singing about a woman who drives him crazy with her “hip dippin’ trick of all time done right.”

“Head On” was so popular that Pixies went on to cover it on their Trompe Le Monde album. It’s easy to see why it was an influence on them: Quieter verses mixed with loud choruses and louder guitars. “Take It” is about giving yourself to a lover and not worrying about anything else.

“Catch me ’cause I’m falling apart,” Jim Reid sings on “Halfway to Crazy” – a song about, you guessed it, going mad in a world that’s even crazier than you are. “Gimme Hell” is appropriately heavy as Jim Reid sings / growls about a cantankerous relationship that threatens to singe both parties. The drug reference of “Drop” is hard to miss, as William Reid sings about seeking solace after a breakup (“I should have guessed when I took that pill. Do I love her still?”). The album ends with the drum-heavy instrumental “Sunray.”

It would be interesting to hear these tracks with live drums and bass, but they’re all good and all influenced generations of musicians.

Keep your mind open.

[Head over to the subscription box before you leave.]

Review: Bonnie Trash – Mourning You

The thing about grief is that it comes on hard and unrelenting in the first few months, or even the first year. After that, you learn to live with it, to work with it, to manage it, but you never know when it will come out of nowhere and flatten you.

Bonnie Trash do a deep dive into grief, and the looming spectre of death, on their new full-length album, Mourning You. Opening, after an instrumental intro to set the creepy mood, with “Veil of Greed,” lead singer Sarafina Bortolon-Vettor admits that she’s helpless before such a powerful force (“I bow down before you, and I know you feed.”) while twin sister Emmalia knocks out industrial-meets-doom riffs.

“My Love Remains the Same (Kisses Goodbye)” is beautiful. It could be a Psychedelic Furs track in another dimension somewhere. Emma Howarth-Withers‘ bass line locks in the whole track while Sarafina says final goodbyes to a loved one…or at least tries to do so (“My love remains the same, and I won’t let you go.’). The song is surprisingly upbeat and primed for radio play by somewhat subversive DJs looking to sneak a great goth track past their programming directors.

“I wish it was different, but I see you in my dreams every night,” Serafina sings, tricking you into first thinking “Hellmouth,” despite its title, is going to be a love song…and it is, but it’s a song about how the amount you loved someone will equal the amount of grief you will experience after they’re gone. Trust me on this.

Dana Bellamy‘s hammering drums on “Haunt Me (What Have You Become)” almost knock your teeth down your throat at first, but then turn into a stressed heartbeat. It’s a song that belongs on the soundtrack for The Babadook (one of the best movies about grief I’ve seen). “and in the end, I’ll wait for you” reveals the band’s love of Joy Division. I mean, listen to Howarth-Withers’ bass and tell me she’s not a fan of Peter Hook. “I will like awake, living through my life,” Serafina sings, evoking images of her “Longing for all the times we shared…” as she wonders how she can go on alone.

“Poison Kiss” is sure to be on many goth mixtapes (“Your poison kiss is a special kind of hell.”) in the future. “Please don’t leave me rotting in the ground. Please don’t leave me when you’re dead and gone. I wish I knew you better,” Serafina laments on “Your Love Is My Revenge.” “When will I see you again?” she wonders. We all wonder that after a loss. She struggles with acceptance, regret, and the loss of not only a loved one, but also of a sense of purpose and time. Emmalia sounds like she’s taking a belt sander to her guitar at some points, while Bellamy opts for simple but massive drum fills. The combination works quite well.

The album ends with the creepy, somewhat hypnotic “it eats shadows.” It’s over seven minutes of guitar drone while Serafina’s spoken word lyrics loop over and over to make the hair on the back of your neck rise.

Bonnie Trash have used heavy guitars, drums, and lyrics to sum up the massive weight of grief. It can feel like a hydraulic press crushing you, first in one sudden blow, and then slowly squeezing the life out of you. Bonnie Trash know that a crucial step to living afterwards is to express your rage. You have to release it, and this album will help.

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe while you’re here.]

[Thanks to Kate at Stereo Sanctity.]

Rewind Review: The Jesus and Mary Chain – Darklands (2009 reissue)

The Jesus and Mary Chain‘s second album, Darklands (from 1987), was the first without a drummer. Bobby Gillespie had left the band to become the lead singer of Primal Scream, so drum machines were used for the percussion on the record. The Reid brothers, Jim and William share vocals throughout the album.

William is on lead vocals for the opening title track, which dials down the fuzz tones of Psychocandy, but doesn’t lose any of the groovy hooks JAMC can create. Jim sings on “Deep One Perfect Morning.” William’s strumming guitar chords on it create a shimmering effect that turns into a driving storm on the following track – “Happy When It Rains.” It’s a song about being caught in a bad relationship that sometimes feels like you have a good thing going.

Jim Reid sounds exhausted as a young man on “Down on Me,” with lyrics like “Twenty-five years of growing old. It just hangs in front of me.” William’s guitar work on it is excellent, even bringing in some surf-rock elements. “Nine Million Rainy Days” has William back on lead vocals, and he sounds like he’s been devastated by a lover (“As far as I can see, there’s nothing left of me. All my time in hell was spent with you.”). It’s a sad, haunting track and, upon hearing it again, makes me realize how much JAMC are an influence on Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.

Jim asks for answers from a departing lover on “April Skies,” which was the first single released from the album. “Fall” (which seems to have influenced The Raveonettes) brings back some of the growling fuzz of Psychocandy as Jim tries to explain to everyone how he’s dried up from constantly being pressured by the world. “Cherry Came Too” is easily the naughtiest song on the record and a tale (with doo-wop touches!) of kinky sex and obsessive compulsion.

William returns on lead vocals for “On the Wall,” a song about being stuck in time and place and not having much motivation or opportunity to change the situation. Despite the many songs on Darklands about bad relationships, misery after a breakup, and the motivations behind love, the album ends with the hopeful “About You,” in which Jim thinks maybe it can work out this time (“You and me, we’ll win, you’ll see…There’s something warm in everything…There’s something good about you.”).

Many were expecting another loud, raucous shoegaze record after Psychocandy, but the Reid brothers took the band and their sound in a different direction for the follow-up. It was a good decision.

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe!]

Rewind Review: Flat Worms – Live in Los Angeles (2022)

I have yet to see Flat Worms live. This seems like a crime to me. They’re a great power trio with darkly humorous lyrics and power you cannot deny. So, Live in Los Angeles (recorded in 2019) will have to do until I can catch them at a somewhat dingy venue that feels like a sweatbox and smells like beer mixed with incense.

“Pearl” starts off the raucous set with Will Ivy‘s guitars sounding like a sped-up hotel fire alarm and his vocals bringing angry post-punk lyrics about keeping up with the Joneses to the crowd. “Motorbike” roars like its namesake and Justin Sullivan‘s chops on the drums turn on a dime at any given moment. The live version of “Into the Iris” slows it down a bit but doesn’t lack in power. It’s almost a sludge rock tune in the first half and then kicks into near-punk fury for the second half. It’s songs like this in which Tim Hellman excels on bass. He can lock down any track at any speed and in seemingly any genre, and he plays like a time bomb is about to off on “Plaster Casts.”

“Condo Colony,” a great takedown of gated communities and HOA madness, absolutely slays on this. It’s impossible to choose which of the three is killing it more. The short-instrumental “Scattered Palms” explodes into the snarky “11816.” The album ends with “Red Hot Sand,” and yes, it’s blistering. Hellman’s bass is frantic, Ivy’s guitar is a race car tearing up a dirt track, and Sullivan’s drums threaten to crack the floor under you.

It’s a great capture of a trio clicking on all fronts and crushing everything around them. If you can’t see them live, this is a worthy alternative.

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe!]

Review: Goat (self-titled)

It’s always good news when Goat decides to release a new album, and their self-titled album from October 2024 is full of their characteristic voodoo-psych sound with complex guitars, hand percussion, dual female vocals, and themes of death, rebirth, and how our spirits are never-ending.

The opening track is even called “One More Death.” It’s a song about reincarnation and how death isn’t anything we haven’t already experienced. The drums and percussion on it grab you straight away and you’re encouraged to cast away fear and step forward on the new journey…and, good heavens, when the guitar solo kicks in it almost shoves you into the astral plane.

It wouldn’t be a Goat album without a song with “goat” in the title, and this time it’s “Goatbrain” – a song about, among other things, “vibrations made by love, moments on Earth.” It has this cool rhythm to it that only Goat see able to create. The flute of the instrumental “Fool’s Journey” seems to come to you from the other side of a valley you’ve only seen in meditations.

“Dollar Bill” is a gritty, great takedown of upper crust rich and the illusion of wealth (“Everyone is going mad. Dollar bills inside your head.”). “Zombie” brings in hip hop beats and loops and is an absolute jaw-dropper. You’ll want this booming out of your car windows. If this doesn’t get you dancing, then “Frisco Beaver” certainly will with its themes of giving up worry (“Do what you like.”) and fear (“Don’t be afraid.”). The guitar riffs sizzle across the whole track. “Look and you will find light of the fire,” they say, and you believe them.

“The All Is One” is another guitar-rich meditative track that weaves back and forth from psychedelia to desert rock. The addition of birdsong in it gives you a contented smile when you hear it. The album ends (Or does it?) with “Ouroboros” – a song named after the symbolic snake eating its tail. Dance beats mix with echoing vocals that remind you that “God lives in every part of you.” The bass kicks in and you’re dancing all over the place, happy to know that all is endless and death and rebirth is not to be feared (and don’t miss the epic saxophone solo!).

It’s one of Goat’s best albums, and that’s saying something since they’ve yet to make a bad record. They’re somehow still one of the best kept secrets out there.

Keep your mind open.

[You’ll be the GOAT in my brain if you subscribe.]

Review: Federico Albanese – Blackbirds and the Sun of October

As producer, pianist, and composer Federico Albanese put it, his new album, Blackbirds and the Sun of October, is “about coming home, and reconnection.” It was recorded in his home region of Monferrato in Italy.

The album is beautiful and combines classical stylings with contemporary music and even electro dance beats at one point. “Into the Sun” is perfect for your morning meditation. It blends so well into “Ulysses” that you might not notice the space between the songs. “A Story Yet to Be Told” is like a gentle breeze bringing you intriguing scents you want to find, and it’s an interesting warm-up to “Bloom,” which could fit into a giallo thriller.

“The Prince and the Emperor” brings in almost sorrowful strings to portray perhaps a tragic tale of the two main characters. “Blackbirds” drops those electro-beats, making you sit up and take extra notice of the track. It’s a neat artistic decision by Albanese. I meditated through “Your Spell” and “Adelasia,” and the tracks produced different reactions. The first was great for slowing down my breathing, and the second lit a fire in me.

“The Libertine” isn’t a party track, and it doesn’t exude lust or sex. It’s a bit heartbreaking, as if the title character is trying to figure out why all the pleasure still doesn’t make them happy. “Song for the Village” is a lovely tribute to Albanese’s hometown.

“Sway” is so subtle that you almost miss it. “Re-Sphere” reorganizes your brain a bit with its haunting strings and chilled, almost ghostly piano. The album ends with “Wallpaper of Dreams” and sends you out like a paper toy boat cast across a fountain.

It’s a fine ambient record, a fine classical record, a fine contemporary record, and a fine tribute to his home.

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe!]

[Thanks to George at Terrorbird Media.]

Review: Rontronik – Zero Nine

Ron Croudy, otherwise known as Rontronik, has been crafting soundscapes and experimental electronic music for a few years now, and his latest album, Zero Nine blends lush atmospherics with field recordings and even dance beats.

“Zero Nine One” layers birdsongs over day spa synths. “Zero Nine Two” is like being a long tunnel while riding in a neon-accented car driven by a robot. “Zero Nine Three” is like following a falcon in flight over a desert and around a giant red rock formation before it lands to face the rising sun. The rattlesnake beats at the end of it become industrial crunch doubled with throbbing bass on “Zero Nine Four.” It’s jarring at first, but it becomes somewhat hypnotic.

The first half of “Zero Nine Five” continues the industrial feel, but it switches to trip hop in the second half. “Zero Nine Six” is a calm track perfect for meditations with floating, lava lamp synths that take their time to massage you. If that doesn’t work, then the final track, “Zero Nine Seven,” will because it’s over nine minutes of birds singing and a river flowing across smooth rocks that lead into synths that sound like they were recorded in a mountain temple somewhere.

It’s a lush record, and one you’ll probably pull more from with each listen.

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe!]

[Thanks to George at Terrorbird Media.]

Rewind Review: Slowdive – Pygmalion (2011 reissue)

This might be one of the most divisive albums ever made.

It’s rare that you find someone like yours truly who thinks Slowdive‘s 1995 album Pygmalion is “Okay.” People seem to either love it or hate it. The lovers contend that it’s an ambient dream music masterpiece and the haters think it’s an atmospheric Neil Halstead vanity project that barely qualifies as music.

The first thing that strikes you is that there’s almost no percussion on this album. Drummer Simon Scott had left the band, and was replaced by Ian McCutcheon…who doesn’t have that much to do apart from making background noises. Don’t expect massive drum fills, cymbal crashes, or rock beats on this album. They’re not here. Acid jazz beats are, albeit quiet ones.

The album opens with “Rutti,” which is over ten minutes long and I think is about death, or perhaps embracing the process of aging. I know it’s mesmerizing if you give it a chance. “Crazy for You” starts to let more sunlight through the clouds, and Slowdive fans back in the day were probably thinking, “Here come the roaring guitars!” during its first minute…but they never arrive. It’s just mantra-like guitars and vocals for almost five minutes.

“Miranda” has unintelligible vocals from Rachel Goswell, who co-wrote it with Halstead, and looping synths that border on becoming white noise. The same goes for “Trellisaze,” but the synths are replaced with guitar strums and slow, almost mechanical hand percussion.

The quick instrumental of “Cello” leads to “J’s Heaven” – a song about depression (“Why am I so low? Isn’t life cheerful?”) with Goswell’s vocals sounding like they’re coming from a haunted well. Goswell’s vocals on “Visions of LA” are clearer, and are a beautiful song to a friend she’s trying to calm as he battles with fear.

“Blue Skied an’ Clear” is the most upbeat song on the album (even with the slow, faint drums and airy guitars and vocals), as it’s about finding encouragement in life when a lover tells you, and means it, that everything will be okay. “All of Us” seems to be about aging, and the realization that it comes to all of us at some point.

This isn’t an album you crank on your hi-fi. I wouldn’t listen to it while driving, as it might make you fall asleep some late night behind the wheel. It’s a classic “headphones record” that is best for times when you just need to lie back and look at the sky while everything races past you.

Keep your mind open.

[Dive into the subscription box!]