My wife and I were staying on the eighteenth floor of a downtown Toronto hotel while on vacation, and one night I could hear dark, heavy drone rock coming from…somewhere. It seemed to be coming out of the sky like the hum of UFO engines and up from the darkest parts of the city’s sewer system at the same time.
“Do you hear that?” I asked my wife. “I think someone’s playing some drone rock over at the plaza.”
“Is that what that is?” She asked.
It was Northumbria. To be specific, it was Dorian Williamson and Jim Feld playing a guitar and bass loud enough for us to hear it one block away and eighteen stories above the street. Furthermore, it wasn’t just noise. It was ambient, haunting waves of sound that immediately changed the feel of everything around you. Their new album, Markland, is an impressive journey through shadows and starlight.
Take the opening track, “Torngat,” for instance. They somehow manage to create guitars that sound like baritone saxophones. “Sunstone” is appropriate for druidic rituals and flying through a rainy street while hunting replicants. “The Night Wolves / Black Moon” is sure to freak out your dog (as it did mine) with its creepy sonics.
Thunder hails “Ostara’s Return,” which seems like the right way to start such a heavy and creepy track. “Still Clearing” does bring to mind an early morning on a beautiful glen, but there’s a hint of menace underneath it – as if the glen is haunted by a dark tragedy. I think the sun referred to in the title of “Low Sun I” is the setting sun, because it has a creepy dread to it.
That dread is amplified to near-horror movie soundtrack levels in “The Shoes of the Suffering Wind.” It evokes images of rocky shores, ship graveyards, and glistening fish-men rising from black depths in search of prey. “Low Sun II” is the soundtrack ofa tired army marching across a swamp for dry land before the sun sets on them. The beautiful “Wonderstrands” gets me thinking about string theory, and with “The Stars As My Guide” to end the album, I suppose that thought process shouldn’t surprise me. The final track is full of cosmic guitars that eventually whittle down to a lonely hiss not unlike an open communications link between a dead astronaut and mission control.
Another amazing aspect of this album is that there is no percussion in it. It’s all guitar and bass effects (as far as I know) and it’s never boring. Markland changes your perception of everything around you whether you’re across the room or eighteen stories above the street.
My wife and I had missed Brian Wilson at Levitation Austinlast year when the entire festival (and thus his performance) was cancelled due to bad weather. I learned he and his band were touring the world and performing many Beach Boys tracks as well as all of their masterpiece, Pet Sounds. I was determined to catch this tour and to hear such an important record played by the man who wrote it. Luckily for me, Mr. Wilson brought his show to a theatre less than an hour’s drive from my house.
He had a killer backing band that included one of the founding Beach Boys – Al Jardine – and another Beach Boys guitarist – Blondie Chapman, and they opened with the the classic “California Girls.”
Other treats included Wilson having a fun time singing “I Get Around,” a lovely rendition of “In My Room,” and Al Jardine’s son doing a great job on the vocals for “Don’t Worry, Baby.”
The highlight of the night, of course, was hearing Pet Sounds played from beginning to end. I’d been humming “Wouldn’t It Be Nice?” all day leading up to the show and the band nailed it right out of the gate to open the second half. “Sloop John B” was a crowd favorite, and I forgot about the two fine instrumentals on the record.
Wilson got a standing ovation for “God Only Knows,” and “I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times” seems rather relevant today. The encore started with “Good Vibrations.” When Wilson asked, “Did you come here for bad vibrations?” I briefly hoped the Black Angelswould come on stage, but it was fun to hear the best psych-surf ever written live.
Other hits like “Help Me, Rhonda,” “Fun, Fun, Fun,” and “Surfin’ USA” followed, but Wilson ended the show, which he dedicated to his wife (It was her birthday that day.), the victims of the Las Vegas Mandalay Bay shooting, and Tom Petty, with the heartfelt “Love and Mercy.”
It was a lovely, fun show. Wilson’s songs are so ingrained into American culture that you can sometimes forget how good and fun they are. See this tour if you get the chance. Wilson is getting up there in age, and sometimes needed a steadying hand to walk him to his piano. He’s claimed this is the final time he’ll perform Pet Sounds, so don’t wait.
2017 has been a good year for shoegaze music because two legendary British shoegaze bands returned this year with excellent new material. One of these bands is RIDE, and the other is Slowdive (Nick Chaplin – bass, Rachel Goswell – guitar and vocals, Neil Halstead – guitar and vocals, Christian Savill – guitar, Simon Scott – drums).
Slowdive’s self-titled album is perhaps the lushest, loveliest record of the year. The opener, “Slomo,” immediately seems to lift you off the ground and send you into an idyllic sky with its floating guitars and ghostly vocals about “curious love.” The band has lost nothing in the last twenty years. They only seem to have improved on everything. The title of “Star Roving” (a song about sharing love even when it seems daunting) couldn’t be more appropriate. It’s a sonic blast that burns as bright as a comet.
Goswell’s vocals on “Don’t Know Why” start subtle but then the entire song opens like a flower and becomes a stunning piece about trying to escape the memories of a lover who has moved on to someone else. “Sugar for the Pill” was the first Slowdive had released in two decades, and it immediately set the music world on fire. It’s no surprise, because the song is stunning. Slightly goth bass, echoing guitars, lush synths, and smoky vocals about not being able to live up to a lover’s expectations all mix together to produce one of the prettiest songs of 2017.
“Everyone Knows” bursts with energy, whereas the follow-up “No Longer Making Time” is like a lovely walk through a morning fog that is lifted by the sunrise. Slowdive has mastered the art of making guitars both loud and soothing. “Go Get It” is a master course on how to put together a shoegaze song: shifting levels of distortion and reverb, solid drumming, and mysterious vocals.
The album ends with “Falling Ashes” – which is little more than a rain-like piano riff, subdued guitars, and quiet vocals (often repeating the album’s theme, “Thinking about love.”), but that’s all Slowdive needs to hold you in the moment.
I know most of this review is merely I saying, “This record is gorgeous,” but that’s the best way I can put it. Parts of it sound like Slowdive stepped out of a time machine from the 1990’s, but other parts of it are rich with new energy that’s hard to describe.
“Gorgeous” is the best word that comes to mind.
Keep your mind open.
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In this day and age, I’m fairly certain that few bands could make a good concept album. Fewer still could make one about a cyborg who wants to be fully human while interacting with a wizard attempting to stop a monster from destroying all of creation. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard have done just that, however, with Murder of the Universe.
In case you’re unaware, this is KGATLW’s second album of the year, and they plan to release three more before the end of 2017. The first was the excellent Flying Microtonal Banana and the third, a collaboration with Mild High Club called Sketches of Brunswick East is already available for pre-order.
Lyrically and sonically, Murder of the Universe links up well with Flying Microtonal Banana and the outstanding Nonagon Infinity. It’s like they’re a complete trilogy, and some people have suggested the robot in Nonagon Infinity‘s lead track, “Robot Stomp,” is the cyborg caught up in the Murder of the Universe. You can also hear the beginning of Nonagon Infinity‘s “People Vultures” on this new record (on “Some Context”).
The album’s intro, “A New World,” has a haunting poem spoken by a young woman describing the aftermath of a nuclear war and how even more horrible things are to come afterwards. The first is an “Altered Beast (Part 1).” The band comes out like an angry, roaring bear from of its den. Parts 2, 3, and 4 of the song alternate with the three-part “Altered Me.” The war’s survivor realizes he must adapt to the new environment and new beastly overlord to survive (or did the beast alter him for a dark purpose?). Each song flows seamlessly into the next and KGATLW slays each part. Guitars assault you from every direction but can still stop on a dime. The double drumming is insane, and the synths bring a wild, weird 1980’s horror film vibe to the whole thing.
The survivor has become an altered beast by the end of “Altered Beast IV,” feeling nothing but still remembering his humanity and the idea of freedom. He has lost the concepts of “Life / Death,” but still clings to the idea of revenge. He finds a possible ally in “The Lord of Lightning” (in which lead singer Stu Mackenzie yells “Nonagon infinity!” a few times). It’s a wicked song that would leave anyone who’d never heard a KGATLW song before dumbfounded. It tells the story of an epic mystical battle yet the song blasts by you like something shot from a catapult.
“The Balrog” could be the altered beast, but he is certainly the Lord of Lightning’s enemy. The song is a sonic fiery claw in your brain with crazy percussion and even wilder guitars. “The Floating Fire” is all that’s left after the war between the Balrog and the Lord of Lightning. The Balrog becomes “The Acrid Corpse” by the end of it, but only eternal darkness remains after the Lord of Lightning leaves.
The future is left to the few survivors who have become cyborgs in order to live in the new world. It’s all “Digital Black” in this new time. People have willingly given up their humanity (“We’ve turned our bodies into computers…”) in a quest for what they thought was perfection. The bass riff in this is great, as is the hard-hitting beat throughout it.
One such cyborg is “Han-Tyumi the Confused Cyborg,” the survivor of the original meeting with the altered beast. All he wants is to vomit and die. He wants pain, stench, and some sort of end instead of his endless digitized illusion of life and pleasure. His “Vomit Coffin,” a machine of his own design, might help him do it. It’s another weird rocker mixed with digitized vocals and synth grooves as Han-Tyumi gives himself over to full digitization in order to free himself (and perhaps the world) from his living death.
The title track has Han-Tyumi expanding far beyond his physical form until he’s traveling at the speed of light and infiltrating every living cell and atom. The only way for him to find death is to destroy everything, and he does it.
So, yeah, it’s not a happy-go-lucky record. It’s a crazy concept record about a giant monster attack nearly destroying the world and changing the few survivors left into cyborgs who are left with an even bleaker world after a lightning god battles a giant fire monster, which drives one of the few cyborgs with any shred of humanity left to destroy the entire universe in order to free himself from an eternal life of cold, digital monotony.
Why haven’t you bought it by now?
Keep your mind open.
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“Welcome to an Altered Future,” has the cyborg, Han-Tyumi, describing how the digital age led to the death of the world thanks to artificial intelligence. “We turned our bodies into computers,” the band’s lead vocalist, Stu, sings on
Australian psych / stoner rock powerhouse Comacozer have returned with another instrumental freakout – Kalos Eidos Skopeo. The name of the album, of course, is a play on the words “kaleidoscope” or “kaleidoscopic,” suggesting that the music can be viewed / interpreted many different ways at once.
Take the opener, “Axis Mundi” (the cosmic / world axis), for example. It begins with squawking guitars that sound like something from a slasher film soundtrack, but the track becomes almost a meditative piece by the time it reaches the five-minute mark thanks to skillful use of guitar reverb and subtle yet precise drumming.
“Nystagmus” might bring on its namesake (involuntary twitching of the eyes) with its cosmic jam guitars, slightly creepy bass, and doom metal drumming. I love how “Hylonomus” (the name of the earliest known reptile) starts off sounding like it’s a spaghetti western song and then morphs into a Middle Eastern-flavored dream that might be happening in the mind of an ancient lizard dozing in the stump of a massive, dead tree. It then morphs a second time into a great groove that belongs in a car chase sequence in a big budget film. It’s great to hear Comacozer cut loose like this.
Need to knock out a wall in your house to expand your kitchen? Don’t bother with sledgehammers. Just play the closer, “Enuma Elish,” and aim your speakers in the right direction. The song is about the Babylonian creation myth which involves – among other things – the god Marduk defeating the goddess of the oceans and creating the earth and sky out of her body. Comacozer somehow manages to put all this epic stuff into one song (that last nearly 12 minutes).
You might have noticed that this album only contains four songs. Don’t let that worry you, because all of them are around thirteen minutes in length. It’s a full album of instrumental cosmic psychedelia and worth every penny.
Keep your mind open.
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I still don’t know why Kasabiandidn’t sell out their Chicago House of Blues show last week. They sold out Chicago’s Metro a couple years ago when I saw them with Bo Ningen. Yet, here they were with fellow Brits Slavesin a venue about the same size, but tickets were still available at the box office an hour before the show. As one guy behind me in the crowd said, “These guys sell out at Glastonbury. Where the hell is everybody?”
That’s not to say there was barely anyone in the place. The venue was nearly full, and I was happy to see so many people there in time for Slaves’ set. I’ve been keen on this duo since I heard their single “Where’s Your Car, Debbie?” Their newest album Take Controlwas one of my top records of 2016.
They came out oozing punk attitude and were soon tearing through songs like “Sockets” and “White Knuckle Ride.” My friend, Portia, had just seen them open for Buzzcocks earlier in the month and knew their set. She and I were the only people in the audience, it seemed, who knew how to reply when Slaves’ drummer and lead singer, Isaac Holman, told the story about how a man once asked him, “Where’s your hi-hat?” after a gig. The correct response, by the way, is “Fuck the Hi-Hat.” My friend and I were yelling it so much during the build-up to the song that people around us thought we were angry drunks.
People were still buzzing about them after their too-brief seven-song set, and I’d like to see them in a small venue where they’re the headliners. I’m sure that would be nuts.
Kasabian soon emerged and ripped into a fun set that had the crowd bouncing for most of the show. They started with “Ill Ray” and “Bumblebee” and had the crowd in their hands by the time they reached “Ez-Eh.”
A funny moment happened when they messed up the introduction to “Underdog.” “That’s the first time that’s happened,” said lead singer Tom Meighan. “I’m glad you were all here to see it.” They jumped back on the horse and nailed the song. Everyone laughed with them. Up next were three solid cuts, “Shoot the Runner,” “You’re in Love with a Psycho” (from their newest record, For Crying Out Loud), and “Club Foot.”
The rest of the show was just as fun, with “Empire,” “L.S.F.,” “Bless This Acid House,” “Vlad the Impaler,” and “Fire” being good highlights. It was a fun Tuesday night crowd (perhaps that’s why it didn’t sell out) rocking to two solid bands. It’s too bad if you missed it. Much praise also to the HOB and tour sound crews. The mix for both bands sounded great.
She-Devils’ (Audrey Ann Boucher and Kyle Jukka) self-titled record is a lovely blast of electro dream pop that we need more of in this world right now. The opener, “Come,” is a slightly trippy seduction and (“Don’t try to resist me,” Boucher sings) I think a salute to orgasms. It’s the best song about such subjects since Frankie Goes to Hollywood sang about them. The follow-up, “Hey Boy,” mixes shoegaze and electro so well that you can barely tell where one influence ends and the other begins. I like the low-tuned guitar throughout it by Jukka, and Boucher’s voice is playful and a little bit dangerous. It’s the kind of track the Dum Dum Girls used to make.
“Make You Pay” feels like something out of a shoegaze sweat lodge as Boucher sings about exacting revenge (via firearm) against her cheating lover. In “Darling,” however, she professes her love again as the guitars shuffle like a soft shoe dancer around her. “How Do You Feel” and “Blooming” are ethereal dream pop songs in which Boucher questions both her lover’s intentions and her desires. “I can’t do anything for you,” she sings on “You Don’t Know.” Her lover doesn’t know what love is, so she can’t help him see what’s bugging her.
On the weird and wonderful “The World Laughs,” Boucher boldly proclaims “I want to go inside of you…” Well, well, well. The guitars sound almost like something from a reggae record that’s been left out in the Jamaican sun too long. Trust me, it’s pretty neat. “Never Let Me Go” and the closer, “Buffalo,” are haunting love songs with Boucher’s vocals coming at you like incense smoke down a dimly lit hall and Jukka’s instrumentations ranging from Angelo Badalamenti influences to hints of psychedelic-era Brian Wilson.
This is the kind of album that makes you want to hear the next sooner rather than later. Improving on this already fine record will mean something stunning in the future.
Keep your mind open.
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I missed Day One of the 2017 Middle Waves Music Festival(Curse you, full-time job!), but I managed to make it to the latter half of Day Two. Sadly, I didn’t make it to Headwaters Park in Fort Wayne in time to catch Diarrhea Planet‘s set (Again, curse you, full-time job!), but I heard it was outstanding.
I snagged my press pass and soon spotted this pedicab nearby.
Yes, that’s an MGMTpedicab. You could hook up to a couple mp3 players attached to it and hear four songs of their upcoming album. It was a neat gimmick, and the four tracks weren’t bad either.
I wandered to the food court to snag a slice of pizza and noticed one vendor truck was a portable barber shop / styling salon giving out free haircuts. I debated partaking in one, but opted to check out some music instead.
One thing Middle Waves does that makes them stand out from most other music festivals is that they offer two free stages for the entire two days. This is genius. Some of the best bands play these free stages, so make sure you check out these shows next year. Again, it costs you nothing to see them.
I saw two local bands on a free stage this year, and both were excellent. The first was Wolfbearhawk. How do you not see a band with that name? They played a solid rock set, and it was good to hear some power chords after a long, hot day of work.
Wolfbearhawk – Possibly the best named band of the festival.
I then walked to the other free stage to see Selector Dub Narcotic. This wasn’t to be, however, because SDN (known in real life as music producer Calvin Johnson) was yanked off the stage as soon as I arrived after he stood on one of the monitors.
SDN / CJ has a chat with a Ft. Wayne PD officer while he and fans wonder what just happened.
I was told by two other press members that Calvin Johnson attempted to move two monitors from the center of the stage just before I arrived and the sound booth guy told him not to move them. He then attempted to move them again and the sound booth guy warned him he would be cut off if he attempted it a third time.
As I arrived at the stage, the sound booth guy was standing at stage left and watching CJ as he performed a freestyle rap without any microphone or instruments. CJ then stood on one of the monitors at center stage and the sound booth guy told him he was cut off / done and he pulled him to stage right. Another man came out from stage right as CJ was being pulled away. Fans began yelling, and one yelled, “You can’t do that!” The man who entered from stage right yelled back, “Yes, we can. That’s OUR stuff.” So, the guys contracted to do sound for this stage were concerned CJ was going to break something.
Fans began pounding on the stage and nearby police officers ran to the scene and made sure nobody stormed the stage. No one was injured. No arrests were made. No one was handcuffed. No pepper spray or Tasers were deployed. I didn’t see the officers put a hand on anyone in the crowd. One officer stood on stage while CJ packed up his minimal gear and seemed to be having an amicable chat with him as fans booed. CJ told fans he’d take his gear somewhere west of the stage and play there. He instead came into the crowd and finished his rap among the fans, took some photos, grabbed his backpack and then left without looking back while a MW volunteer walked with him. The sound booth guy who shut CJ down did at one point walk to down center stage and attempt to get his attention while he was rapping amongst the fans. I don’t know if this was going to be an offer to play his set, but the dye was cast by then and CJ was out of there.
Calvin Johnson finishes his song in the crowd.
I hung out by the free stages for a little while and eventually caught a great set by Ft. Wayne’s Love Hustler. They put down a great set of electro-disco-funk. I knew it was going to be a good set as soon as I saw a key-tar and a “golden throat” guitar effect microphone on stage. They put on the best set of the day, in my opinion. I’m eager to hear their upcoming EP.
Love Hustler – Also possibly the best named band of the festival.
The Middle Waves Twitter feed recommended getting to the main stage early for headliners MGMT. They figured a long line would be the result of extra security checks there. They were right.
I got in quick thanks to my press pass (Thanks again, Middle Waves!), and MGMT were already playing their blend of trippy electro and psychedelic rock.
This was my first time seeing them live, so I was surprised to see five people onstage. MGMT is mainly two guys, but I’m sure they need more people to replicate their sound live. They played a good mix of old and new tracks. One big highlight, of course, was “Fated to Pretend,” which sent the crowd into a frenzy.
“Fated to Pretend”
They announced that their upcoming album is “rugby themed,” and played “Me & Michael” from it. It’s a catchy tune, and I thought, “Yeah, MGMT recording an entire album about rugby seems right.”
Outside the main stage area, fans were peeking through the fence and standing on pillars and what-not to see and hear MGMT’s set. It made me grin. It’s always good to see “old school” concert cheating like that.
Fans watching and listening outside the main stage fence.
So, another good festival put on by the Middle Waves crew. There were some bumps, like any other festival, but I think they’ll improve on them and come back stronger next year.
This has been a good year for shoegaze. Two legendary British shoegaze bands returned after long absences with great records. One of them is RIDE (Andy Bell, Loz Colbert, Mark Gardener, and Steve Queralt), whose newest record, The Weather Diaries, is a welcome return and a sharp piece of work.
Opener “Lannoy Point” has the layered, echoing guitars you love from RIDE and lyrics about being wiser with the passage of time. They’re ready to get a lot of stuff off their chests. You can’t help but think the hard-hitting “Charm Assault” is about certain politicians on both sides of the pond. Lyrics like “Your charm assault has scarred the world. It looks so ugly as your lies begin to unfurl.” and “Privilege abused at every turn. Serious as a heart attack, he’s standing. He sets fire to your world and lets it burn.” hit as hard as the drum beats.
“All I Want” was one of the first singles off the record, and the decision to make it so was a no-brainer. It blends shoegaze and electro very well (and those drum beats are jaw-dropping), and the lyrics cover familiar shoegaze ground – loneliness and the urge to improve one’s lot in life. “Home Is a Feeling” is lovely dream pop, and the title track could be about global warming, but I think it’s about being overwhelmed by media (“When I was younger, it was simple. You didn’t have to question everything.”) – and the guitars build to a static-like roar by the end.
The name of “Rocket Silver Symphony” pretty much sums up the way the song sounds. It’s electric, bold, bright, and bursting with energy. “Lateral Alice,” a song taken from some of Andy Bell’s dreams, is a kick-ass rocker. “Cali” is Bell’s love letter to surf, sand, and sun in the U.S. The guitars in it are as wonderful as you hope they’ll be in such a song, and the vocals get ahold of your mind and won’t let go. You’ll want this on every summer playlist you make now.
“Impermanence” is a beautiful song about the end of things – life, relationships, even random physical objects like windowpanes. Bell tries to cope with the end of a relationship (while guitars soar all around his vocals) by meditating on the impermanence of all things, but it doesn’t help him much. “White Sands” (another song referencing beaches) muses on illusions we create and our struggles to let go of them. It’s hypnotizing in many ways, as is most of the record.
Good shoegaze always hypnotizes you. It causes you to get lost in dreamscapes and to notice the moment around you. It’s nice to have these musical Zen masters back among us.
Thanks to RIDE for being groovy cats when I met them at Pitchfork Music Festival earlier this year.
Toronto garage / psych-rockers Goodbye Honolulu (Max Bornstein – drums, Fox Martindale – guitar and vocals, Jacob Switzer – guitar, bass, and vocals, Emmett Webb – guitar, bass, and vocals) bring infectious energy on their debut EP No Honey.
The EP is five fast tunes starting with the catchy, bass heavy hit “Back to Me” – a clever song about the lead singer realizing everyone he knows hates him. He’s on a quest for the good ole days when he wasn’t such a hipster elitist, even if that means he’ll just be “drinking beer and smoking lots of weed.”
“Mother to a Brother” hits hard like a long lost Weezer B-side. The guitars on “Where You Wanna Go” somehow blend garage rock with a bit of reggae chops during the verses.
The title of “Bloody Hands” seems appropriate for how hard the entire band plays on it. It reminds me of early Wavves tracks with its slight surf-vibe. “Typical” closes the EP with jangly psychedelia as the singer laments his routine of loser behaviors such as drinking too much and then calling a former lover.
No Honey is too short, but so are all good EPs. They leave you wanting more. Say hello to Goodbye Honolulu (Am I the first to make that bad joke?).
Keep your mind open.
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