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.
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 MarieLimiñana‘s friend frequent video collaborator Foulquesde 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
An acquaintance once described Castle Rat‘s music as “the feeling of opening my (Dungeons & Dragons) Player’s Handbook for the first time.” He’s correct. Into the Realm feels exactly like that.
The opening riffs of “Dagger Dragger” alone are enough to hook you as you and your party of first-level fighters, clerics, magic-users, and thieves head out on a quest given to you (and the band) by an ancient wizard. The Rat Queen herself, Riley Pinkerton, sings about fighting demons and, thanks to Henry Black‘s massive guitar riffs, you have great confidence about the fight ahead. “Feed the Dream” is great Sabbath-inspired doom. After the brief, bass-led (Ronnie Lanzilotta III) instrumental of “Resurrector,” “Red Sands” creeps up on you like a foreboding wind across a dune and then hammers you like a sandstorm.
“The Mirror” is another short instrumental, perhaps luring you with its bright surface and mysterious sights within it before “Cry for Me” gets hold of you and puts you in a trance. You apparently didn’t make your saving throw versus spells. Pinkerton’s vocals on it are haunting.
After another brief instrumental interlude (“Realm”), Joshua “The Druid” Strmic‘s drums unload on “Fresh Fur” behind Pinkerton’s screams and calls for warriors to charge behind her. The album ends with the massive “Nightblood” – bringing together the band’s love of fantasy, doom, and a bit of prog-rock.
It’s a great first campaign for you, involving magic daggers, cursed mirrors, bloody battles, and cryptic visions. Roll for initiative!
I hadn’t been to Indianapolis’ Old National Centre since it was called the Murat Temple Theatre…and that was sometime in the 1990s. Entry was quick, and the woman checking IDs and handing out “21+” wristbands told us, “Straight ahead and down the stairs.” I figured Osees were playing in the large performance space in the building. I figured wrong. They were playing two floors below street level in a room the size of an average wedding reception hall.
Stone pillars on the mosh pit’s four corners.
Low ceilings, no windows, two entrances / exits, and a lot of people. My first thought was, “It’s going to be loud as hell in here.” I also saw many people who weren’t well dressed for an Osees show, possibly because they’d never seen them live before now. There were women in high heels, men in hooded sweatshirts and stocking caps, and a majority of the crowd without earplugs.
My prediction about the volume immediately was proven correct when, all the way from Japan, DMBQ took the stage to open the show and unloaded a crazy set of noise / kraut / punk / acid jazz / chaos. Lead guitarist and singer (and journalist) Shinji Masuko) was a wild man, drooling, slapping and punching himself, kicking the air, and creating a collapsing wall of sound while drummer Shinji Wada played stuff that would make many prog-rock drummers jealous and bassist Maki was a cool anchor the entire time. Again, you could tell that most of the crowd had no idea how to react to so much sound in such a small space. They had a lot of new fans by the end of their set.
Dynamite Masters Blues Quartet
Osees came out almost immediately after DMBQ finished crushing us, set up their gear, and started their wild, sweaty set at 9:01pm. Any place is a good place to see Osees, but a small space like the one we were in is perfect. The band and their fierce, energy is right there and it almost overpowers you.
A rare calm moment.
They tore through favorites like “Carrion Crawler,” “The Dream” (during which I started the crowd surfing, you’re welcome Indianapolis), and a fun, somehow even more raucous version of “Contraption” (with bassist Tim Hellman being an absolute beast with his groove).
It was a set of many classic cuts from them, with noting newer than material released in 2018 (“C” from Smote Reverser, which closed the show). This might have been because they hadn’t played an Indianapolis show in a long time. Lead singer / guitarist John Dwyer apologized at the start for them not playing there in many years: “Hey, Indianapolis. I’m sorry we never come here but (drummer) Dan (Rincon) hates it…No, I’m only kidding. He hates that fucking joke.”
A much louder moment.
“I Come from the Mountain” (again, with a killer bass line from Hellman), “Tidal Wave,” and “Ticklish Warrior” were big hits with the crowd, and I was happy to hear old cuts like “I Was Denied” (from 2010’s Warm Slime, the first Osees record I bought) and “Meat Step Lively” (from 2009’s Help).
The pit, as you might imagine, was a sweatbox being in such a small space. I had to back out after “Tidal Wave” (almost halfway through the show) to avoid overheating and burning the rest of the few calories I had in me. I slugged down a big cup of tonic water and then spent the rest of the show out of the pit but within view of the stage. I overheard a woman, seeing them for the first time, say, “They’re playing all my favorites.”
Mikhail Galkin and Jay Anderson, sometimes known as Lammping, are a Toronto duo known for producing beats, combining genres, and making interesting, and sometimes weird, decisions that create intriguing music you feel like you’ve heard before…but you’re not sure.
Nowadays, the duo have released the first of four experimental EPs — Never Never, this one with rockabilly one-man-band Bloodshot Bill, whom John Waters once described as “Roy Orbison with a head injury.” Take someone like that and put them in a studio with trip-hop and psych-rock music producers and you get a fun record.
The opening title track alone, with its brush beats, looped saxophone, and upright bass is enough to stop you in your tracks as Bill sings / raps about an unexpected love connection. The somewhat melted guitar on the instrumental “Coconut” oozes into mind-melting beats. “One and Own” is a fun example of Waters’ “head injury” description of Bill as he sings about his girlfriend but sounds like he might be punch-drunk.
“0 and 1” is a fun instrumental trip-hop cut that would fit right onto a St. Germain or Air album. Bill’s vocals on “Won’t Back Down” sound like he’s trying to keep up a brave face while crying into his beer. The gooey, chewy beat loops and western guitar on the track are slick — especially the guitar solo. In a just and right world, the quirky instrumental “Anything Is Possible” would’ve been remixed by MFDOOM by now. The EP ends with “Nitey Nite.” You can just barely hear Bill’s backing vocal sounds in it, which give way to his whistling (which is sprinkled throughout the record) that sends us out with a grin.
The whole EP will keep you grinning. It’s a lot of fun and a great sign of things to come over the next three projects.
Here’s an interesting one. Ty Segall‘s sixteenth album, Possession, taps into Americana, 1970s groove rock, and some psychedelia to tell tales of people dealing with economic disparity, injustice, and finding meaning in the minuscule and simple.
“Shoplifter” is about Segall, working in a store, falling for and refusing to turn in a woman for stealing from the place because he knows she’s broke. The title track is a tribute to women tried and punished as witches and a skewering of those who did so. “Buildings” has a great bass groove and a great message about holding your head up during the daily grind (“Don’t stop tonight. You can make it all right. They say get up. You got what it takes to ride.”). The slightly off-key electric piano on this is a cool touch.
Remember me mentioning 1970s groove rock? You’ll hear it on “Shining” — a song about cruising in your convertible. “Skirts of Heaven” seems to be a tribute to hard-working moms (all of them). “Fantastic Tomb” is the story of a man who agrees to help with a burglary and ends up trapped in the house they hit…but he’s happy about it because he realizes he, like the rich man, doesn’t need “crystal, lace, vulgar paintings, too,” “a silver horse that looked right at you,” or “a big, empty bed covered in fur.” Segall’s guitars mix with slightly warped saxophone to good effect. Those guitars turn just the fuzz on “The Big Day,” a song encouraging everyone to stay strong in these strange times (“Love is here to stay. Don’t let them break us now.”).
“Hotel” might be a song about a prostitute who’s trying to find a way out of the business or one half of an illicit love affair looking to end something that’s become a an addiction. It mixes piano and drums to create a slightly panicked rhythm while string instruments portray the confused thoughts of the song’s main character. “Alive” pushes acoustic guitars to the front and blends them with slightly frantic string instruments to give you a sense of the anticipation / apprehension of the song’s main character.
Segall wraps up the album, and perhaps a vision of his career’s future, on “Another California Song.” He mentions, with the help of thick bass and fuzzy guitars, how, perhaps down the road no one will be calling him to record new music or tour (“Waiting on the studio. Hell, the landlord says I go to go. A star I was supposed to be. Now nobody’s calling me.”). It’s a fun, self-deprecating track Segall probably had fun writing.
The same goes for the whole record. Segall is enjoying his newfound role as a storyteller, and Possession is a fun story.
