Category: Reviews

Live: LCD Soundsystem – Aragon Ballroom – Chicago, IL – May 26, 2024

It was the third night of a four-night residency for LCD Soundsystem at their favorite Chicago venue, the Aragon Ballroom. They’ve done shows there in the past, and it was the last place I’d seen them years ago. It was good to catch them again. One can’t help but wonder if James Murphy is going to pull the plug on the band for a second time.

They got off to a great start with “Us V Them” and soon surfed into “I Can Change.” “Tribulations” was another great spot in the set, and one I hadn’t heard live in a long while.

The crowd was great, many of whom had been to the first two shows and were already planning on coming to the fourth. It was warm in the Aragon, as it always is, but a little more so since everyone was dancing and going wild as they turned the whole place into a disco.

“Yeah” was a great touch, as it was the first time they’d played it on this tour (which they called the “Kinda Tour”), and “Losing My Edge” was, as always, an absolute ripper. I’d forgotten how good a track “Tonite” is until they played it live.

“Dance Yrself Clean” and “All My Friends” made for a great encore, but the nicest moment of the night was their tribute to the late Chicagoan and music producing legend Steve Albini during “Someone Great.”

It was great to see them again, and great to be in such a fun crowd. LCD Soundsystem never disappoint.

Keep your mind open.

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Review: Curses – New Wave Acid Punx DEUX – Secret Cuts

Just when you think you’ve heard your favorite classic new wave / no wave / goth-punk / industrial dance track of all time, a compilation like New Wave Acid Punx DEUX – Secret Cuts comes along and drops a bunch of stuff you’ve never heard and makes you nearly lose your mind with “How did I miss this?” types of questions.

This latest gem from Berlin-based DJ Curses brings out a wild mix of stuff that he probably found in a warehouse’s trash bin moments before the place was demolished to build a clothing store no one wanted. Chrome Corps‘ “Body Attestation” starts off the thing with industrial chops, and Curses himself includes a previously unreleased track of his own, “Get Lost,” right after it to keep up the dark vibe. Aura Nox and Christian Koupa‘s “Compound Lies” is a dark wave banger.

Notausgang‘s “Malphas” becomes a meditative synth-jam (even with birdsong at the end). Ghost Cop‘s “You Can Never Go Home” demands to be played at your next dance party. Nuovo Testamento‘s “In My Dreams” (the “Powerhouse Mix,” no less) is like opening a time capsule from the mid-1980s found under the remains of a British disco. Unconscious‘ “LivEvil” version of “Carnivora” is the sound of a robot hit squad coming after you in a 1985 shopping mall.

Gunce Aci‘s “Being in the Shadows” is a gothic dance track that’s phat with bass and makes you wonder if the title refers to being / standing in the shadows or a being that’s in the shadows. Curses gets back into the game with “The Deep End (Redux),” which adds a nice guitar element to the goth sound, not unlike old Wall of Voodoo tracks.

Paresse‘s “Journey of the Heart” (the Guy Tallo remix) brings a bit of ambient into the synths and is a track suitable for late night drives, workouts, or the trailer to your newest film about a fitness instructor trying to avoid a serial killer while dating a cop with a mysterious past. The “Modern remix” of You Man‘s “Third Eye” is the sexiest track on the record, with female vocals samples of “Oh my God…” blending with throbbing bass and smoky synths.

Much praise to Curses for finding these rare cuts and presenting them to us in a great mix. Don’t skip this one if you’re a fan of darkwave, synthwave, new wave, industrial, or acid house.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Eclectica!]

Review: Alexvndria – Hopeless Romantic

Well, this is lovely.

Violinist and now singer Alexvndria starts off her debut EP, Hopeless Romantic, with violin plucks and string arrangements in a brief instrumental (“Epigraph”) to make you think this is going to be an avant-garde jazz album.

Nope, it’s an EP of stunning love songs. “He Loves Me” is a lush cover of Jill Scott‘s song with a full orchestra and a jazz trio backing her. “Silly Me” (with great, subtle jazz drumming from Drew Marsh) was recorded while Alexvndria was touring with The Broadway Sinfonietta, and the whole EP was recorded over four months and in six different cities. The song has Alexvndria lamenting all the time she’s wasted waiting on a lover to finally commit.

“Stay” is a similar theme, with Alexvndria waiting for her lover to even just say, “I love you.” (“I might have gave my heart too soon, but I’m dying to know.”). You hear tracks like this and wonder, “How has she not been singing this whole time?” Her voice is perfect for neo-soul and someone needs to hire her to sing on their latest trip-hop or house music project. The EP’s closer, “Twilight,” started with a bass solo and, according to a quote from Alexvndria in the liner notes I received, “Before I knew it, I was calling up a friend to improvise over it and recorded the whole song in my living room.”

The EP ends with a quick fade out, like a lover rushing out the door to make it to their flight back across the country. You want more, and part of you knows you might not get more, but you’re willing to wait and you’ll always have the memories.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Ryan at Clandestine Label Services.]

Review: L’appel Du Vide – Metro

The members of Germany’s L’appel Du Vide (Flatty – guitars, synths, sequencers, Friday – drums, Rene – vocals, Suse – bass, vocals, piano) describe themselves as “gloom punks.” That’s an apt description of both them and their debut album, Metro. It mixes doom with post-punk, darkwave, industrial, and a hint of psychedelia.

Starting with “Nacht” (“Night”), they get off to a raucous start with Suse’s bass leading the charge. The whole song feels like a fight could break out at any moment. “Verschwiegen” (“Secretive”) has Flatty unleashing (Dare I say?) Thin Lizzy-like riffs that turn into psych-metal meltdowns.

“Offenbarungseid” (“Oath of Disclosure”) starts off with goth dread and then kicks in the door to the underground club and causes a mosh pit to break out an absinthe and clove cigarette-filled ashtrays to spill everywhere. “Woanders” (“Somewhere Else”) builds from a quiet bass drum beat to a fiery post-punk punch in the face. Suse’s bass on “Verbrennen” (“Burn”) is absolutely crushing, and everything else is on fire around it. It reminds me a bit of a Pixies track with its frequent changes in volume levels.

“Fleisch” (“Meat”) opens side two of the album with Flatty’s guitars and Friday’s drums taking on a gothic touch…until they and everything else into erupt into a punk rager. “Warteschliefe” (“Holding Pattern”) returns to the post-punk buzz, but doesn’t skimp on the punk part of that genre. Rene’s growling, snarling vocals are the prime example of that.

“Ausgeliefert” (“Delivered”) chugs along with heavy bass from Suse and cosmic-level shredding from Flatty while Friday opens and closes his hi-hat so fast that you think it’s going to break at any moment. “Fragezeichen” (“Question mark”) ends the album with more goth-punk stuff that borders on horror-punk with the slight sense of dread throughout it.

It’s a wild record, and a delightful discovery this year. I’d love to catch their live show and see and hear how they create all of this buzzing, slightly creepy rock together.

Keep your mind open.

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[Dank an Flatty!]

Review: Operator Music Band – Four Singles EP

It’s not every day you put out a groovy EP of acid house tracks. This is especially true after one of your band members falls over twenty feet through a skylight, breaks both wrists and six ribs, and sustains a head fracture that results in permanent hearing loss.

Yet, Operator Music Band did just that with their new Four Singles EP. How? You got me, but Jared Hiller figured out a way, and, along with Dara Hirsch and Daniel Siles, crafted a slick record.

Blending house with some krautrock and synthwave, “As It Goes” comes out of the start with a drippy, bass-filled bang, wicked hand percussion, and low-end vocal effects to warp your brain even further. “Screwhead” is a sexy, slightly industrial (Those drums!) track with sensuous vocals (“Focus is a function of ecstasy. Let me go slow. I’ll be right back.”).

“Oval” is bouncy and bubbly that, at the halfway point, turns into almost a dance-punk track with its almost frantic drums. “10 Days” continues this dance-punk theme with percussion and synths that sound like they’re coming through pipes and pneumatic tubes in an abandoned factory where a rooftop rave is taking place.

It’s all over too soon and leaves you wanting much more, as any good EP should. Many accolades should be given to Operator Music Band for creating something this good after Hiller’s harrowing accident. That kind of grit is rare.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Cody at Terrorbird Media.]

Review: Dez Dare – A Billion Goats. A Billion Sparks. Fin.

Australian musician / producer / happy weirdo Dez Dare‘s new album, A Billion Goats. A Billion Sparks. Fin. sounds as intriguing and quirky as its title.

Opener “Got a Fire in My Socket” is a song about what its like to have a neurodivergent brain in a world that’s constantly clamoring for your attention. Dare mixes solid drum beats with post-punk guitar riffs and weird keyboard bloops. “Matter Vs. Matter” is about hoarding not only physical stuff, but e-clutter and mental trash as well (“10,000 options across 30,000 featured posts.”), and the only way to clear it out is by blasting it with fuzzy guitar power.

“10,000 Monkeys + An Argument with Time” uses sounds from what seem to be 16-bit video games to highlight how time is easily wasted even in a time in history when all this technology is supposed to save us time. “No One Wants to Hear It” is a fun takedown of virtue signaling with crunchy guitars and fight scene drums.

According to Dare’s notes on the album, “Gotta Cold Feeling” is about “That time when someone talked about something so boring, so long, it felt like time had fractured.” Haven’t we all been there at some point? “Entangled Entropy” is Dare apologizing for his sometimes uncontrollable behavior and explaining what it’s like to be autistic (“The wires don’t connect sometimes. Don’t you see? My waves aren’t free.”).

On “Call My City, Don’t Call My Telephone,” Dare pleads with everyone not to waste his time (or anyone else’s). God bless him for calling out time wasters, “shirtless bros,” and “standing in line” with his shredding solo and growling bass. “Josephine Says Explode” has Dare encouraging us to let our emotions out now and then. That stuff will eat you from within if you don’t.

The Osees-like fuzz and funk of “Schrödinger’s Apocalypse” is a fun track about living in a time of uncertainty, and how perhaps ignoring the uncertainty is the best path. “The Elasticity of Knowing” takes down racists and xenophobes by challenging them (and all of us, really) to travel and experience other cultures in order to see and acknowledge that others exist outside our little cocoons.

Finally, on “A Billion Voices Screaming, Hello Void!”, Dare encourages us to embrace the end and not fear death (“When the call comes, fear not for what’s been done, we all return to where we begun…”). The garage rock drums and distorted guitars certainly help give you confidence to step into the void.

This is a fun, wild record that mixes punk lyrics with touches of Zen. Don’t skip it.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Dave at US / THEM Group.]

Review: Punchlove – Channels

Every now and then, you hear a new band described as arriving “fully formed” on the scene. It’s actually true in Punchlove‘s case, as they sound like they’ve been making shoegaze since at least 2010. You hear their debut album, Channels, and think, “This can’t be their first record.”

Yet, it is, and opening track “Breeze” hits you as heavy as any track Hum would’ve put out in their heyday with roaring guitars and crushing drums. The album was created not only post-pandemic, but also post-move from one continent to another. Jillian Olesen and Ethan Williams landed back in NYC after being forced out of Prague by the COVID-19 lockdowns. They met up with other NYU music technology students and Punchlove was born.

So were songs like “Screwdriver,” which sounds like The Cure meeting Failure in a battle of the bands. The ethereal fuzz of “Pigeon” is wondrous to behold. “Dead Lands” might be about Jillian Olesen’s feelings about returning to the U.S. to find it shut down and essentially empty thanks to the pandemic. It’s a lovely track.

“Apartment” is warped and weird. Every guitar and vocal in it sounds like it was partially melted in a studio fire that almost got out of control. “Birdsong” flies back and forth between bursting guitars and subtle chords. “Guilt” takes those bursting guitars and somehow pushed them further until it feels like you’re racing downhill with the band in a tour van without brakes.

I don’t know which is louder on “Elapse,” the driving guitar riffs or the drums hit and cymbal crashes that sound like Godzilla kicking over a power line tower. The album closes with “Corridor,” which could be thematically interpreted as a song beginnings or endings depending on where the corridor leads. It’s the softest song on the record and probably the most haunting as well.

This is all fine shoegaze stuff from Punchlove, who are already far ahead of other current bands in the genre. A lot of people are scrambling to catch up while Punchlove is making it look easy.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Tom at Terrorbird Media.]

Review: LFZ – Raveled Veiled Known

LFZ, otherwise known as Sean Smith, has dived even further than usual into his exploration of soundscapes and sound technology on his new album Raveled Veiled Known.

The album combines Smith’s hypnotizing guitar work with sound loops, vintage synths, field recordings, and probably song structures based on numerology for all I know. I mean, the album cover of embroidered art by Smith reflects numerological, tarot, and mystical themes.

I like how the album is bookended with long tracks. The opener, “Extinction Burst,” sounds like a Wall of Voodoo instrumental mixed with a John Carpenter film score and is described in the liner notes as “a characterization of the psyche’s potential to utterly resist change.” It’s all weird synths and reverb-laden guitar flourishes, and it’s all neat for over twelve minutes. In case you need a slightly radio friendly version, “Extinction Burst (edit),” at about half the length, follows it.

“View from Here” was improvised and recorded in one night and uses a lot of tape loops and “…represents themes of being trapped inside the boundless prison of one’s solitary perspective and the peace and madness that can coexist.” I mean, holy cow. LFZ is into some deep water here, and he’s floating on it like a cork while encouraging us to do the same when the water gets choppy.

“Waiting for Esme” is about Smith awaiting the birth of his daughter and the nervous anticipation of such an event. It has the most “normal” structure of the album’s tracks, but is no less full of strange synth effects. The long closing track, “Naturally I Found It Within,” reflects the outward journey that always returns inward – using buzzing guitars and dark wave synths to create moments of chaos and clarity.

It’s a weird, neat record. It’s strange at times, and soothing at others.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Ryan at Clandestine Label Services.]

Review: LAIR – Ngélar

Indonesian psych-funk? I’m there all day.

That’s what you get with LAIR and their new album, Ngélar – an album that salutes the band’s hometown, Jatiwangi, and the earth that provides most of the areas income through terra-cotta production, and discusses the struggles to reclaim that same land from deforestation.

“Tatalu” gets things off to a fast start with wild beats and exotic guitar work. “Pesta Rekyat Pabrik Gala” takes on a sorrowful tone that sounds like a call to ancient ancestors and spirits. “Tanah Bertuah” has more stellar guitar work from Tedi Nurmanto. “Hareeng” is almost desert rock with beautiful vocals from Monica Haspari. “Boa-Boa,” with its car horn honks, fuzzy bass riffs from Andzar Agung Fauzan, is one of the coolest songs on the record and will go straight onto your psych-rock playlist.

The chant-like vocals on “Bangkai Belantara” dance back and forth between power and celebration. “Kawin Tebu” is a lively track that makes you want to dance, sing, and invite strangers to a party at your house. The title of the album, after all, refers to a local custom in Jatiwangi of musicians roaming around the town, playing music for anyone, and celebrating whatever happens to need celebrating. “Setan Dolban” brings in some synthesizers and these cool microtonal guitars that would make King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard drool.

If you didn’t know LAIR was from Indonesia, you might think they were from the Algerian desert upon hearing “Gelombang Pemecah Malam,” which is a brief instrumental of sand dune rock. The closer, “Mencari Selamat,” is a lively song of thanks and uplifting beats made to help you forget troubles.

This is one of the most uplifting albums I’ve heard so far in 2024. It comes at a time when we need music like this to expand our horizons and jolt us out of any bad funks we’re in right now.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Kate at Stereo Sanctity.]

Review: Church Chords – elvis, he was Schlager

elvis, he was Schlager, the debut album from Church Chords, is difficult to describe, but that’s part of what makes it so good.

Combining recorded field sounds and samples with live performances in the studio, the album is a blend of musical influences from three cities: Philadelphia, Chicago, and Los Angeles. It’s the brainchild of producer / multi-instrumentalist Stephen Buono, who decided to become more of a producer / bandleader / circus ringmaster with a wide number and variety of musicians from those three cities.

The result is a neat experimental record that somehow blends electro, post-punk, psych-rock, jazz, and other stuff I can’t quite define into sort of a calm chaos. It’s like the album cover, a woman stopped along a roadway while forest burns immediately next to her and she records the growing danger on her phone…or perhaps is reciting her thoughts for future meditations.

Songs like “Recent Mineral” and “Apophatic Melismatic” combine killer bass riffs with soft vocals and hip-hop drums. “Spacetime Pauses” reminds me of some of MC 900 Foot Jesus‘ jazz-psych fusion tracks.

Songs like “Warriors of Playtime” bring in wild jazz horns and prog-rock guitars. “She Lays of a Leaf” has industrial beats and, I think, vocals from Chicago alt-rockers Finom to make it a weird robot-dance / lounge club groover that builds into something that would fit into a late 1970s French erotic thriller. “Owned By Lust,” on the other hand, would fit into a modern horror film with its panicked guitar licks and rambling madman vocals.

“Then Awake” has sultry vocals over a synth-bass line that moves like a snake across a sand dune at midnight. “Man on a Wire” reminds me of some Siouxsie and The Banshees tracks with the vocal stylings, goth synths, and post-punk saxophone and beats. The vocals on “I Hope You See” are layered with extra effects to almost make them unintelligible, but also make them more ethereal.

In case you’re wondering, as I was, “Schlager” is a type of European pop music characterized by catchy beats and love-song lyrics. I suppose Elvis Presley was that for many of the masses. This record has catchy beats and love-song lyrics, but it’s not Schlager. It’s too experimental, too stream-of-consciousness, too odd.

But it’s not too much of any of that either. It’s one of the most interesting records I’ve heard so far this year.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Cody at Terrorbird Media.]