Heron Oblivion

Supergroups are usually such a bad idea. At least, they used to be back in the days the majority of music was released on major record labels. I have a suspicion that it might not be quite so straight-forward now that most of the best music is now located away from the mainstream and those oh-so-glaring lights of commercial expectation.

SO anyway, Heron Oblivion are comprised of members of Comets on Fire and Espers, amongst others, two artists who between them made 4 of my favourite albums from the first decade of this millennium, including one of the contenders for Best Tune Ever (that would be Dogwood Rust by Comets on Fire for those of you not into link-clicking and/or not got speakers available as you read this). No pressure, then. To complete the line-up, Charlie is from Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound, a name I’m familiar with have never heard music by until I searched for that link.

I first read about this when it came out but for whatever reason I did not check it out. Then someone posted a performance in their year end list, and that did it for me. I immediately slapped myself a bit – though not too hard because that would just be silly and I do try my very best not to be silly – and went and added this to my wishlist. And now with payday having been and gone, I bought it. Possibly my one buy for the month.

This isn’t all that much like either of the bands that made their reputations, it has more of a laid back west coast classic rock from the seventies type of feel, the most obvious reference point being Neil Young and Crazy Horse in the Zuma-era. Having said that, though, the music is recognisably by those same players, even though Ethan is actually playing bass rather than freaky guitar and Noel is playing guitar instead of effects’n’drums. The drums are handled by Meg, obviously. The songwriting is superb, the riffs and the playing are all fantastic, and Meg Baird’s vocals are as transcendent as ever. She has to be one of the best of this generation.

But, as with so much to do with great music, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts – yet another reason I don’t tend to go into detail regarding the parts. This album is best digested in a sitting, although as I rarely, if ever, do the shuffling playlist these days then the tunes may very well work in that aspect too, who knows? But do give this album a listen. It has much to offer the receptive listener.

Mixpost 4

Because 2016 was so very, very interesting in so many ways, I am now in the position where I am unlikely to be buying much in the way of new music for a while. I mean, my finger and the pulse are better described as acquaintances rather than friends under the best of normal circumstances anyway, but it’s going to be straying far and wide as I do the next best thing to finding new music by rediscovering stuff I’d forgotten about.

Equally as much fun is music that other people recommend because they get a platform on which to do so; Dusted’s Listed feature is such an example and I recommend it to those who don’t reckon their music taste in terms of genre.

And, completely without planning, I’ve somehow made the following flow quite well…

I’m going to start with something poppy and popular because I love it. We did a kind of stoner version of it in my old One Dog Clapping band back in 2005 which was riotous fun to play (I ‘sang’ it an octave lower), but I make no secret of my love for the mighty Goldfrapp:

It is disappointingly hard to find any music by Appliance over the web – Mute Records, aren’t you supposed to playas? What are you playing at? So you’ll just have to take my word for it that if you spot one of their albums somewhere, snap it up. Amongst the very best artists from the turn of millennium.

I first discovered Kaophonic Tribu on MySpazz back in the Noughties (do peope call it that?), and I downloaded a song from their page which I played many, many times. Sods law, I can’t find it now, but I have found the album éliso déli, a delicious mix of electronics and ‘ethnic’ (i.e. not your standard dadrock bands instruments) sound sources. There’s a few of their tunes on the Googletube, this is one and rather good:

Because of this Listed, I found this, which I subsequently found is also on Bandcamp, and has been added to my hopelessly long wishlist:

It seems a bit lazy to then put the next song from the same feature, but damn this is good:

Henry Flynt is my kind of outsider, having rejected places in some ‘cool’ crowds over the years. I could wax on about why I personally think that’s a good thing, but I don’t think he did it to impress anyone, least of all me. Listen to this, though, all 15 minutes of it:

Words cannot describe Catherine Ribeiro’s wonderfully true singing, and since I’ve brought you into the realm of the epically hypnotic, then let’s finish with this:

 

 

 

Zement – Werk

So, my way around using that descriptor of music that I really don’t like* is to use a different one – or two, or three, or many – instead, because I just love when genres get divided and subdivided and so on. But stay with me on this.

“Krautrock” (the last time I will ever type that word) can arguably be said to comprise of (at least) two elements – motorik and kosmiche. So, without further ado, I hereby tag this particular music motorik, because it has that driving rhythmical quality to it so prevalent within the field. I would argue that it isn’t particularly kosmiche – I personally am more likely to ascribe that quality to the output of Ash Ra Tempel, Gunter Schickert, etc. But that doesn’t mean this music can’t transport you, it is heavy on repetition after all, and repetition rocks. When done well, anyway. Though I suppose an argument can be made to call it something like industrial drone. But I’m not going to do that.

Other reference points for this include but are not limited to Minami Deutsch, Follakzoid, a more up-tempo Appliance and there’s also a riff they use quite often that can be found on Hey Colossus‘ magnificent Cuckoo Live Life Like Cuckoo (those of you familiar will know what I mean, it’s on the track English Flesh).

*just to clarify, because the sentence is not all that clear, it’s the descriptor I don’t like, not the music. If I didn’t like the music it wouldn’t be here.

The Soundbergs of 2016

You know, I don’t think this is the best time of year to be saying what my favourite albums of last year were. I mean, I have literally just tried out a bit of the Heron Oblivion album, and my first instinct is that if I’d have got on that when it came out, it would be vying for a place in the list below. And my list last year didn’t give anywhere near enough prominence to Pridjevi and Anna von Hausswolff, mainly because I’d not long got on them – they were to dominate my early 2016. Maybe I should do it at the end of the academic year instead?

We humans do seem to like lists, though, especially those that seem to quantify things. In fact, I suggest a hypothesis – we love lists all the more if their subject matter is inherently subjective and unquantifiable (which is waaaaay more things than you may currently believe).

A funny thing happened to me in 2016. Well, lots of things happened, but this one in particular was that after I put out my album in April, thus finishing a series, I stopped listening to heavy music. Just wasn’t in the mood. There were exceptions – Hey Colossus released a wonderful EP that I mentioned in my summer chat post that isn’t an album but is good enough to be on some sort of year end so at least I’m mentioning it now, and there were a couple of later releases mentioned below, and now that I think about it, Anna von Hausswolff.

This may seem like an order, but it is malleable. Take it all with however much salt you deem appropriate.

Our Solar System – In Time. This album is perfect. Jazzy-Funky-Mellow-Spacerock. Most played album of the year from this year.

Karina Vismara – Casa Del Viento. Acoustic female singer-songwriter isn’t usually my thing. Only, this is wonderful. The vibe is magnificent, as is the songwriting.

Fire! Orchestra – Ritual. The meat of this album is staggeringly ambitious, but doesn’t lose sight of its tribal nature. The sort of trance-like jazz that just doesn’t happen often enough.

Horse Cult – Daydreams and Nightmares. The top 4 of this year could easily all be the winner in their own right, and this is another acoustic one. Like a more medieval/folksy Espers, but again with brilliant content behind the style.

Menimals. In a way I’m using both albums for this entry, saving me repeating it below, because one was pre-this year but I discovered it looking for the later one. Dark and menacing but not depressingly so.

Jon Mueller – Tongues. Another two track album and another with ritualistic drumming and chanting. Pounding trance music.

Narcosatanicos – Body Cults. As mentioned above, not much heavy did a lot for me. This was an exception, and I loved it because it is so very much like their first album, and at the same time it isn’t. I love it when bands do that.

Black Bombain and Peter Brotzmann – Free-jazz meets improvised psych-rock, with frequently brilliant passages.

Zulus II – Loud and in your face. They’ve got hella groove considering the nature of the music they play, really hard to do as well as they do. And Gemini is a drop-dead classic, as agreed by my boy.

Scroll Downers – Hot Winter. Sort of grungey indie-rock, I suppose. I realise that doesn’t sell it. They call themselves both ’90’s’ and ‘not 90’s’ so I think they might have trouble with a description, too. However, it is yet again the songwriting that does it, and it also sounds like they had a blast making it.

City of Djinn – Ether and Red Sulphur . I was going to just miss this out because I was worried it was still a bit too fresh but I listened to it again and it was blissed out brilliant, trance music.

Just missed out:

Muy Biien – Age of uncertainty;  Heavy Moon 7;  Sula Bassana

From before 2016

Pridjevi – For me, 2016 was utterly dominated by Pridjevi, helped also because my now 10-year old son has got with the groove on 2 of their tracks as well, and car trips went through a phase of him playing Pozuri Polako on repeat, which must have spent roughly 3 months in the summer going around my head non stop. Far more preferable to his other taste at the time, Goblins From Mars.

Anna von Hausswolff – The only album that came close to the dominance of Pridjevi in the first half of 2016. Not a concept album but sounds like one because of its wonderful atmosphere. That organ sound is transcendent. I keep forgetting how heavy this actually is.

Sungod – One of those all-over-the-map kind of artists. Kind of a less proggy Ozric Tentacles, if you want an inacurrate but lazy easy comparison.

Big Blood – This band have such a huge back catalogue, and this year has seen me mining the earlier years of it, which were just as good as the later years, but a bit different, naturally. They don’t seem to have done much this year. I noticed on their blog about an album coming out on Turned Word records, but that’s been up for ages and there seems to be no sign. Also, where are Turned Word records? They seem to have no presence since 2012.

Phil Cohran & Legacy. This thing took me by surprise, but probably shouldn’t have. It is stunningly beautiful music.

Pharoah Overlord – Lunar Jetman. Mainly because of the second track, which appeared via a Dusted magazine listing, but the whole album turned out good too. They seem to have finally got with the idea of easier access to their albums though the discography is incomplete.

Bitchin Bajas – Vibraquatic. Really mellow and meditative, and amongst the most regularly played albums of the year.

Gram Rabbit – Braised and Confused. Reading my original post, I’m struck by how much I seem to want to justify the fact that this album is fun. It is fun. But that doesn’t need justification.

Death Blues – Non Fiction. Part of Jon Mueller’s ongoing project, which I’d completely forgotten about since the first Death Blues album came out, so I’ve been trying to catch up when I get the chance. If anything, I like this even more than Tongues.

Fela Kuti – I returned to Fela Kuti, particularly Zombie, and have been playing his stuff regularly since the summer. It was brought on by the B-side of a single by Goat which had a really snaky groove but was only 3 and a half minutes long. I was instatntly reminded of Fela, and had a hankering for that kind of groove, but not the shortened version so I’ve been a regular visitor ever since. I also bought He Miss Road which is frankly wonderful.

Nudity is God’s Creation – This issue came out this year, but the music is from mid way through last decade. Yet another reason year end lists are crap, and yet here I am writing one which is taking me a lot longer to write than it will take you to read. Another reason I didn’t put it in the main list is because I didn’t like the bonus tracks much. They were obviously unreleased for a reason.

So. In conclusion, that’s it.