Sebastian Melmoth – The Dynamics of Vanity

For about the last week I’ve been obsessed with listening to NTS Radio and not just whatever is live but going back through archives of particular hosts, so much so I even put the app on my phone (which close friends will probably retort with ‘where is Jay and what have you done with him?’). I have mentioned them before but I originally only went there for that one host. I just had this desire one day to listen to dubstep for a while and I only have early Burial stuff so that made me wonder what would happen if I looked around here.

So the final track on this album – all 14 minutes of it – was featured on a show which made me go to this album and check it out. It is far from the only thing that’s happened with, and more posts may follow once I’ve checked out the relevant bandcamps, etc. But the reason I mention that is because – what is not to absolutely love about radio that plays 14 minute experimental tracks? This was far from an outlier, too.

I’m the last person in the world to go around dispensing descriptions. Sebastian Melmoth do experimental post-punk, according to the description on this page though it is a vague pointer at best. Art rock? maybe, whatever that is. That last track I mentioned is a classic but I would have no idea how to describe it. Ambient post-punk maybe. But the E.P. / album is all over the place stylistically. Not sure I can think of a meaningful reference point – at an absolute stretch, maybe one of the tunes reminds me of Faust.

Rape Tape – Прочь

So this is another Russian bus, with a few more stops this time.

Some people don’t like getting on this bus because of what they named it, but when you look into their reasons for doing so, then it seems to me that these are thoughtful human beings who are ultimately amongst us good guys, so the ride has to be worth a go.

Now, I don’t speak the lingo so I don’t understand the signs and frankly I can’t even map the cyrillic symbols even slightly to sounds that I associate with words. So, I’m going on overall sound and feel alone, and let me tell you, I really enjoyed this ride.

Russia make good buses. I’m particularly looking forward to the next multi-stop ride from Shortparis.

Locean – Object/Disco

Six white pigeons lined on a roof
Re-arranged to give the order of proof
The magus waits until his hands have finished
Then asks them what they did

Six wide angles in a time of doubt
Give way to senses and what’s allowed
The disease waits until his hands are full
Then he asks them what they’re doing

Six meets seven then multiplies
It’s a universe but a smaller size
The maker waits til his hands are empty
And asks them what have they done