Category: Reviews

Review: Worg – Il Piano di Medea EP

If you were a DJ on the street and handing out “free will donation” CDs of your latest EP, and you told me, “It’s a deep house rendition of the tale of Jason and the Argonauts and their quest for the Golden Fleece.” I would tell you to stop right there, hand you some money, and take the CD.

Such is the case with Worg‘s excellent EP, Il Piano di Medea. Medea is one of the key figures in the Greek myth who helps Jason reclaim the throne taken from him by his half-brother, Pelias, while Jason and his companions quested for the Golden Fleece.

The opening track, “Oracolo,” gets things off to a brooding, dark house start with rumbling bass that serves as a portent of dangerous (and, let’s admit it, sweaty and sexy) things to come. The second track is the Neel Remix of “Oracolo,” which speeds up the mantra-like beats and puts a bit of a snake’s hiss distortion to the background.

“Il Vello del Oro” (“The Golden Fleece”) is as shimmering as its namesake and pulls you in with its promise of glory, light, and transcendence – transmitted through echoing beats and deep synth-bass. I love how it’s the longest track on the EP and has time to hypnotize you and shine.

The beats on “Eryx” hit harder and sharper, like dangerous reefs under the surface of the water as you sail back from a long journey with untold riches. The bass throbs like a pulsating jellyfish.

This is the fifth in a series of deep house EPs based on Greek mythology from Lykos Records. I need to seek out the others. I’m in for a treat if they’re all this good.

Keep your mind open.

[Thanks to Pull Proxy.]

Review: Bass Drum of Death – Say I Won’t

I first saw Bass Drum of Death at the first Austin Psych Fest my wife and I attended in 2013. I had no idea at the time that the lead singer and guitarist, John Barrett, did all of the songwriting and instrumentation (on the first BDOD album) all by himself. He kept doing it all by himself for the next album, which makes his new one, Say I Won’t, even more interesting because it’s the first BDOD album written and recorded by Garrett and his touring band (Jim Barrett on bass and Ian Kirkpatrick on drums) – with The Black Keys‘ Patrick Carney doing production no less.

The result is a great album of 1970s-inspired garage / van rock suitable for road trips, surfing, backyard parties, or keeping you motivated to finish a housing project. Kirkpatrick’s snappy drums on “Find It” get the album off to a great start. “Head Change” cranks up the fuzz and swagger. Jim Barrett’s bass line will make you feel like a dangerous motherfucker. “No Soul” has John Barrett singing about how he keeps going back to a woman he knows is bad for him.

“Say Your Prayers” is a team-up with Mike Kerr of Royal Blood, and you can hear the thick bass groove he brings to the mix. “I don’t want to have the keys to your city. I just wanna take a ride,” Barrett sings on “Keys to the City,” in which he tries to convince his girl he just wants a simple night with her instead of constant partying. The swagger of “Wait” is outstanding, hitting heavy at all the right moments.

“I see the world for the takin’. Hold tight. We’ll sort it out,” Barrett sings on “Swerving,” which seems made for stomping the gas pedal and veering around traffic. “White Vine” is, believe it or not, a good power rock ballad. “No Doubt” has some southern rock twang to it. You can practically feel Memphis humidity through it. “Everybody’s Gonna Be There” reminds me of some tracks by JEFF The Brotherhood with its fun grooves, call to party, and the promise of a good time with everyone.

The title track has one of Barrett’s best guitar solos (and all-around chops) on the album, and “Too Cold to Hold” could almost be a ZZ Top song with its shuffling groove and an arena rock song with Barrett’s high-register lyrics mixing with shouts to the back of the venue.

It’s good to hear a good straight-up rock record. We don’t seem to get a lot of albums like this nowadays.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Jo Murray.]

Live: Dry Cleaning – Thalia Hall – Chicago, IL – January 13, 2023

I’d been trying to see Dry Cleaning in concert for a couple years. I was always missing their Chicago sets due to work, and then they had to cancel their appearance at the 2022 Levitation France festival. Now, they and I were finally going to be in Chicago on the same day, so I wasn’t going to miss the show. I’m glad I bought my ticket early, because it was a sold-out performance. I didn’t arrive in time to see Nourished By Time, but Dry Cleaning came out and wasted no time in engaging with their passionate fans.

Starting with “Kwenchy Kups” and then rolling straight into their ode to a lost tortoise (“Gary Ashby”), Dry Cleaning put on a fascinating set. Lead singer Florence Shaw isn’t the most dynamic front woman out there, but that’s kind of the point. She’s the calm in the storm whipped up by her bandmates. Her low tones aren’t without passion, but she’s more of a storyteller than a singer. “Scratchcard Lanyard” and “Viking Hair” are hits not only for Tom Dowse‘s screeching guitar licks (which sound like Andy Gill riffs live), but also for Shaw’s tales of strange things that are so weird that they have to be at least partially true.

There were moments in the show, like in the above image, when Shaw, dressed in her sweatshirt and baggy jeans, and with her straight long hair and perfect fingernails, looked like a wraith in the lights and smoke on stage. This, combined with her smoky voice, and Lewis Maynard‘s thumping bass, was a cool effect – especially during tracks like “Don’t Press Me” and “Conservative Hell.”

Nick Buxton keeps the whole thing from devolving into a spooky haunted house ride by putting down post-punk precision drumming (“Magic of Meghan” being a prime example). The encore included a song Dry Cleaning doesn’t play often, as it’s still fairly new, “Liberty Log.” It was a special treat for all of us.

The whole show was a special treat for their fans. Plenty were dancing, cheering, shouting lyrics, and going wild with every buzzsaw solo Dowse played. It was a good start to my 2023 concert season.

Keep your mind open.

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Review: Skull Practitioners – Negative Stars

The first full album from shoegaze / post-punk rockers Skull Practitioners, Negative Stars, is as wild and mind-bending as the cover image suggests.

“Dedication” opens the record with thundering drums from Alex Baker and guitar work from Jason Victor that sounds like he set his instrument on fire. Kenneth Levine, not be to outdone, growls the lead vocals on the track and pumps out enough fuzz on his bass to potentially blow out your speakers. Victor takes over the vocals on “Exit Wounds” (something he and Levine will trade back and forth throughout the record, with Victor singing the majority of the tracks) – the album’s first single that has a heavy garage-surf influence to its riffs and beats.

Levine’s bass rolls all over “Leap.” The chorus has a bit of a pub rock feel to it, which I like. The long (over seven minutes) and fuzzy “Intruder” is a great track for the middle of the record (or end of side A, if you prefer), combining shoegaze, goth rock, and dark punk. Post-punk Gang of Four-style bass and guitar riffs rip through “What Now” – which seems to be an angry rant against people who take, take, take. This song makes me want to see them and Protomartyr on the same bill.

“Fire Drill” is one of two instrumentals on the record, the other being the album’s closer, “Nelson D.” Both are sharp. “Fire Drill” has some Joy Division vibes to it with its sparse and haunting bass, precision drumming, and predatory guitar licks. Victor’s guitar work on “Nelson D” sounds like it has a bit of a Johnny Marr influence, and Levine’s bass is like a lion’s roar throughout it. “Ventilation” amps up the band’s appreciation for Joy Division even more.

It’s great to finally get a full album from these guys. I’m sure all of these sounds are even louder and wilder live, so I hope they get on the road soon to promote an album this well-crafted.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Jo Murray!]

Rewind Review: The Psychedelic Furs – Made of Rain (2020)

The Psychedelic Furs came back strong in 2020 with Made of Rain, their first album of new material since 1991’s World Outside. Richard Butler‘s voice and songwriting hadn’t lost a step and the rest of the band had plenty of pent-up pandemic energy to release.

“The Boy That Invented Rock & Roll” launches the album with shoegaze guitars and Richard Butler singing about himself to some degree (The Furs are one of the most influential UK post-punk bands still going.) and probably about others he’s seen in his long career who burned out (“the suicidal drunk dance, the sense that things will fall apart”) too soon. “Don’t Believe” has stadium-level grandeur with its expansive sound courtesy of Rich Good‘s guitars.

“When the new black is white and the new lows are high, in the ticking of the time, you’ll be mine,” Richard Butler sings on “You’ll Be Mine” – a gorgeous track with string instruments, alto saxophone work from Mars Williams, and celestial synths from Amanda Kramer. The chorus increases in power every time Butler sings it. Speaking of Butler’s power, it’s on full display on “Wrong Train” – a song about walking away from a relationship and the mixed emotions that come with it. “This’ll Never Be Like Love” continues this theme.

Paul Garisto‘s drums on “Ash Wednesday” seem all over the place but are actually loaded with highly technical fills. “Come All Ye Faithful” isn’t a cover of the traditional Christmas song, but rather a bit of a goth track, as is “No-One,” which has some Cure-like guitars behind Tim Butler‘s heavy, growling bass. A harpsichord plays the role of clock chimes on “Tiny Hands” – a song that seems to be about how time often gets away from us before we realize it’s gone.

“Hide the medicine from the kids,” Butler sings on “Hide the Medicine,” a sad tale of someone trying to hide their depression from their children hidden in a lush rock song. “Turn Your Back on Me” is just as lovely, with Good’s guitars seeming to echo from the back of a workshop behind the studio. “Stars” starts slow and then builds into a big, screeching song that drops out in a quick distorted plunge.

The Psychedelic Furs had a lot to get out of their heads when making this record, and the end result is a fine piece of work.

Keep your mind open.

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Review: Jorge Ciccioli – ORBITAL XPRNC

Thank your lucky stars that Jorge Ciccioli has sent this three-track EP from Argentina to us, because ORBITAL XPRNC is a great trip into orbit, out past the moon, and then back again.

The title track opens the EP with space shop bleeps and bloops, sweaty dance floor drum beats, upper atmosphere synths, and rocket rumble synth-bass. “Dappled” ups the bass, making it like an electro-syrup oozing over the waffles you’re eating at someone’s house party at 3:14am. The final track, “Noor,” is the sound of a panicked android running from bounty hunters armed with laser rifles.

Short? Yes. Quiet? No. It’s like pushing the “launch” button on a cartoon rocket and holding on until you’re free of gravity.

Keep your mind open.

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Review: Goat – Oh Death

I knew Goat‘s new album, Oh Death, was going to be a treat when it opens with a sample of a song from the film The Undertaker and His Pals.

That track is “Soon You Die,” and it brings back Goat back after a year with so much fuzz that you might think your speakers are faulty. The lyrics are about the inevitable coming of death to us all, but how it’s really nothing to worry about when you stop to consider it. “Soon you die, but don’t you cry, ’cause there’s still time to go party.” It’s great to hear the strange, intoxicating sounds that only Goat can seem to create on guitars – even as they fade out and leave you wanting more.

“Chukua Pesa” brings back their love of Middle Eastern instrumentation, rhythms, and vocal stylings. “Under No Nation” has Goat proclaiming, with groovy hand percussion and sweat lodge dance beats (and plenty of wild, acid jazz saxophone), that they’re free of labels, borders, and limits imposed by others or themselves. If you aren’t moving by the time “Do the Dance” comes along, you certainly will be after it starts.

It wouldn’t be a Goat album if there wasn’t at least one song with the word “goat” in the title, and Oh Death has two. The first is the weird, drunken hornets’ next “Apegoat” instrumental and the second is “Goatmilk” – a space-age psych-lounge cut. It perfectly flows into “Blow the Horns” – a call to beings above and beyond us whose guidance we can all use right now.

“Remind Yourself” is a reminder that we can only bring peace from within. In order to project peace, we must first remember that we have it all within us. It’s there, we often just choose, consciously or not, to not accept it. The mix of distorted guitars with clear marimba beats is a wild one. The brief instrumental of “Blessings” drifts into “Passes Like Clouds” – a lovely instrumental to remind you that thoughts, pain, pleasure, life, and, yes, death, all eventually drift away and reform like clouds. Thich Nhat Hanh once said that we are like clouds and “A cloud never dies.” Goat knows this, too, and they want to share that knowledge with us.

Keep your mind open.

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Review: King Buffalo – Regenerator

Strange, beautiful, psychedelic, and mesmerizing – King Buffalo‘s newest album (and fifth in just the last two years), Regenerator, is another stunning work from them.

Starting with sunrise synths on the opening title track, the album lifts you off the ground much like the cover image astronaut being pulled up from an alien world. The song’s lyrics tell of embracing the sun and Sean McVay‘s guitars seem to reach escape velocity in order to do it. The drums on “Mercury” at first sound like they can’t decide which time signature they want, but you soon realize that Scott Donaldson is playing at such a high level that he’s weaving intricate patterns like a bee creating a hive.

Dan Reynolds cranks the bass fuzz on “Hours,” a song quite suitable for blasting while you’re dodging asteroids in your star fighter. “Interlude” keeps the cosmic vibes rolling as we emerge from the asteroid belt and cruise past a swirling nebula. “Mammoth” is about leaving the past behind so we, like a mammoth, don’t get frozen in it and stuck there forever. It’s a heavy-psych Zen lesson.

McVay’s guitars on “Avalon” have a lovely psych-shimmer to them throughout it as he sings about his hopes of finding paradise after death. “Firmament” brings us back to the ground for just a moment before another, final liftoff. “I have become one with the great eternal blue sky,” McKay sings, and you believe him – especially when the massive bass riffs and Donaldson’s hammering drums join him in orbit.

You’ll likely join them as well when you hear this record.

Keep your mind open.

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Review: Gary Holldman – URA87

Clocking in at just four tracks (with one of them being a remix), Gary Holldman‘s URA87 EP is a solid trance-dance record that will make you want to dance, kickbox, shag, or perhaps all three.

The opening title track is a slick, futuristic one with slippery synth-cymbals, heartbeat drums, and pulsing bass. The ORBE remix of it follows, turning the track more robotic and industrial.

“SAM22” floats back and forth between sweaty dance club beats and subdued make-out bass, getting you in the mood or keeping you, ahem, in the game, if you get my drift. I don’t know if “NAT20” refers to a “natural 20” roll in Dungeons & Dragons (which usually indicates at least double damage done to an opponent), but the track is naturally groovy with muted teletype-like cymbals building up to throbbing KMFDM-like bass.

Yes, it’s a short EP, but it packs a wallop about equal to the cover image.

Keep your mind open.

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Rewind Review: Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol – Burger Time Classics (2017)

The debut EP from Austin, Texas’ Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol, Burger Time Classics, is a protein-packed wallop in just six songs.

I mean, the opening chords and vocals of “Born to Lose” alone will smack you upside the head – and that’s before the heavy snare pounding and cymbal sizzling enters the fray. “Dickhead” starts sounds like an old Weezer track they never released and then drops chugging guitars that Weezer still dreams of playing.

“Maggot” is almost sludge metal. “Kill for the Thrill” is so hot and that it’s practically charbroiled. It’s hard to tell which instrument is putting out the most volume in it. The title of “All Beef, Patty” is not only funny, but it also lets you know what’s in store for you over the next three minutes and thirty-seven seconds: pure beefy rock with a little extra grease. “Maniac” has touches of thrash metal sprinkled in for good measure.

It’s short, but satisfying – not unlike a slider.

Keep your mind open.

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