Sounds and Words
I break from my usual routine this morning...instead of growling at the latest political nonsense in the US or suppressing violent impulses while thinking about GW Bush and crew, I will walk on a kinder path today and dispense a few blurbs about what's currently in the McBain CD player and on the McBain reading list.
I haven't been purchasing music at my normal rate lately--not due to disinterest, but rather to lack of funds--but when I have been buying I've forced myself to scour used bins like never before. I've been on a hot streak though, finding some good stuff at some low prices. Titles that I even would've paid full price for, in most cases. So in the munificent mood that today finds me, I will dabble in a little cultural writing and offer some capsule reviews on a few books and discs.
On my way to see Fly Ashtray in the West Village a few weeks back, I snuck into Revolution Records. I rarely have occasion to check them out, as my path does not cross the West Village much anymore, but it is a good store. They have a great selection of obscure metal of all genres, and though pricey, it's staffed with knowledgeable types who aren't all that annoying to talk with. The real deal in the place is downstairs, where the used bins are along with a variety of other rock merch like t-shirts and posters. Anyway, I found a copy of Orthrelm's OV there and snapped it up. For those unfamiliar, Orthrelm is a duo featuring Mick Barr on guitar and Josh Blair on drums. The two men possess staggering technique, and create a bizarrely original sound together, both dense and tinny simultaneously, equal parts metal guitar shredding and free jazz. OV is a single composition, forty-five minutes in length, that uncoils like a predatory snake in a dark forest; it borders on the mesmeric in its use of repetition. I think it's fantastic, but Orthrelm is the type of band that will alienate as many as it will entrance. This release, with its tightly structured repetitive format, can tax the patience of the most patient listener. Repeated listenings only reveal the excellence contained within their frenetic riffs, as far as I'm concerned.
Other used nifties that I've recently grabbed have come mostly from Kim's on St. Mark's Place. I found Oren Ambarchi's My Days Are Darker than Your Nights EP there, recorded with Ambarchi on guitar and devices along with Johan Berthling on harmonium. It is not as engrossing as his Grapes from the Estate LP; this little one-track EP finds Ambarchi playing with a simple insistent drone, one that changes little throughout the 32-minute piece. The harmony achieved is a dissonant one, and there is little dynamic fluctuation in the piece. That day also yielded a used copy of Tom Carter's Monument disc, released on Kranky Records in 2005. While different from the work of Carter's main gig Charalambides, this live to 2-track recording of Tom's solo electric guitar improv is pretty cool in spots. It starts out incredibly sparsely, and then doesn't fill in a whole lot after that; overall its spareness lends a sense of fragility to the guitar tones. I had seen some other reviews that really hammered this release, but I found it to be interesting. His playing is dextrous and his efficient use of delay, slide, and e-bow results in some very nice guitar textures. Again, this release is not for every listener, as it requires some patience to get into it. The last thing I found that day was a copy of last year's Kites/Prurient split on Load Records. The Kites material is more noisy and discordant than their Metallic Gardener full-length of '04, but it is enjoyable nonetheless. Prurient's two pieces steal the show on this release for me, with the instrumental I Lay Down on the Ground in the Woods and Fell Asleep of particular note. The last track is a collaboration between both bands and it can best be described as an excursion into noise hell. Still pretty cool though.
Other new used discs recently acquired: Radian's Juxtaposition (Thrill Jockey)--excellent; a great mix of weird noise and futuristic drum technique. The Blithe Sons' We Walk the Young Earth (Family Vineyard Recordings)--pretty acoustic guitar-based mostly instrumental improv from Loren Chasse and Glen Donaldson of Thuja and various other Jewelled Antler Collective projects. My only complaint is that it's a little on the precious and boring side, as a couple of numbers meander into double-figure track times without developing much beyond their original ideas; plus the singing on the disc is lovely and underutilized. Max Richter's the Blue Notebooks (Fat Cat) is also a very pretty release, in the vein of neo-classicists the Rachels. Violin, viola, and piano are the primary instruments on this disc, but Richter allows himself some serious experimentation within what could have been a restrictive format--the disc even ventures into quiet dub-influenced soundscapes, all the while retaining a taut compositional discipline. Some pretense, of course, is present--a female narrator appears in a few tracks, reading excerpts from Czeslaw Milosz and Franz Kafka, but such potentially ham-handed material is incoporated without giving much offense. In fact, without explicit reference to the texts in the liner notes, the conceit may have gone undetected by most listeners. Whatever. It's still worth checking out. Last on the used parade is Et Sans' Par Noussss Touss Les Trous de Vos Cranes, featuring Fly Pan Am's Roger Tellier-Craig and Felix Morel, along with Montreal scenester Alexander St-Onge and Godspeed You Black Emperor's Sophie Trudeau. Released on Alien-8 Recordings last year, this band purports to be the noisy cousin of such American bands as Black Dice and Wolf Eyes. Hyperbole aside, Et Sans does not come close to the outbursts of noise of such acts; rather they use synths and vocal loops to create a weird psychedelic morass of sound. It is a sound that is much more melodic than their American counterparts. The disc is not bad, with some surprisingly cool dinky synth sounds that seem to have more in common with NYC club music from the early 1980's than the new noise of the 21st century. Titles are impenetrably written on the disc insert, and helpfully they are listed only in French. Fans of Fly Pan Am will like this, but it is not the easiest listen at first, as the material is quite repetitive. I'm glad I found it used; I was curious enough to buy it new.
Discs I've been listening to lately--a whole lot of Southern Lord material, like the new Earth disc. It's called Hex--or Printing in the Infernal Method. Along with a great title this disc finds Earth playing a reflective and spacious brand of slow-tempo rock; nothing like their earlier records, this one is composed and song-oriented rather than droning, blissed-out guitar work. The drumming is excellent and spare too. I picked up the new Twilight disc also. They're a black metal supergroup of sorts, featuring Malefic from Xasthur and Wrest from Leviathan along with 3 other black metallers from the USA. It's awesome. Lo-fi evil, claustrophobic production, and some of the coolest, most abstract, and most fucked-up vocal sounds around. The most recent Boris (Akuma no Uta) is OK, not as great as I'd hoped. They seem to be on a real Stooges kick on this disc; but my faves are the instrumentals that open and close the album. Both are doomy, drony, and intense. My favorite release by this excellent label was one from a few months back--a Chicago band called Lair of the Minotaur. Their disc Carnage is just great. Top shelf metal, referencing bands like High on Fire and Celtic Frost if you really had to name influences, but they write good songs on top of playing in a properly mean-spirited way. They get extra points in my book for using the Greek myths as the lyrical template of the album too.
Some other repeated listens of late include the new USAisamonster disc (Wohaw, Load Records), the new Pelican (the Fire in Our Throats... HydraHead Records), and the Spire: Live in Geneva Cathedral double disc on Touch Records. The last is a compilation with Fennesz, Philip Jeck, and BJ Nilsen using their laptops to wreak havoc on some amazing pipe organ source material. Also included are several organ works in full, performed by Charles Matthews and Marcus Davidson. It's pretty engrossing stuff; the long Philip Jeck piece in particular is excellent, while the Fennesz piece is also tremendous.
As far as books go in NYC, no place is better to the broke reader than the Strand. I've been grabbing books 3-4 at a time when I've been there lately, but usually spending less than $25. Recent good scores for me include Marzieh Gail's Avignon in Flower (1309-1403)--an entertaining study of the history of the Avignon papacy; Procopius' Secret History--a courtier and propagandistic historian of Byzantine emperor Justinian revenges himself upon the emperor and his wife by publishing a scandalous collection of fact and rumor after his own death; Philip Ziegler's the Black Death--a comprehensive overview of the details of the great plagues of 14th century Europe, still possessing merit though its 1970's-era conclusions as to the nature and causes of the plague have been somewhat discredited; Simon Winchester's Krakatoa and Korea--two outstanding books by the wildly erudite and verbose Mr. Winchester, which alternately find him investigating the eruption of Krakatoa in 1883 and walking the length of the South Korean half of the Korean peninsula while digressing into countless historical and scientific anecdotes. Also snagged there recently were Bertrand Russell's the Problems of Philosophy--in which Mr. Russell attempts to take on various theories of knowledge; Richard Pipes' excellent history of early Russia entitled Russia under the Old Regime, which deals with the formation of Russia in the 12th and 13th centuries and its development into the tsarist state; and lastly, Orlando Figes' magnificent cultural study of Russia, Natasha's Dance.
Nothing beats cheap books and cheap music. Without them I could not live.
I haven't been purchasing music at my normal rate lately--not due to disinterest, but rather to lack of funds--but when I have been buying I've forced myself to scour used bins like never before. I've been on a hot streak though, finding some good stuff at some low prices. Titles that I even would've paid full price for, in most cases. So in the munificent mood that today finds me, I will dabble in a little cultural writing and offer some capsule reviews on a few books and discs.
On my way to see Fly Ashtray in the West Village a few weeks back, I snuck into Revolution Records. I rarely have occasion to check them out, as my path does not cross the West Village much anymore, but it is a good store. They have a great selection of obscure metal of all genres, and though pricey, it's staffed with knowledgeable types who aren't all that annoying to talk with. The real deal in the place is downstairs, where the used bins are along with a variety of other rock merch like t-shirts and posters. Anyway, I found a copy of Orthrelm's OV there and snapped it up. For those unfamiliar, Orthrelm is a duo featuring Mick Barr on guitar and Josh Blair on drums. The two men possess staggering technique, and create a bizarrely original sound together, both dense and tinny simultaneously, equal parts metal guitar shredding and free jazz. OV is a single composition, forty-five minutes in length, that uncoils like a predatory snake in a dark forest; it borders on the mesmeric in its use of repetition. I think it's fantastic, but Orthrelm is the type of band that will alienate as many as it will entrance. This release, with its tightly structured repetitive format, can tax the patience of the most patient listener. Repeated listenings only reveal the excellence contained within their frenetic riffs, as far as I'm concerned.
Other used nifties that I've recently grabbed have come mostly from Kim's on St. Mark's Place. I found Oren Ambarchi's My Days Are Darker than Your Nights EP there, recorded with Ambarchi on guitar and devices along with Johan Berthling on harmonium. It is not as engrossing as his Grapes from the Estate LP; this little one-track EP finds Ambarchi playing with a simple insistent drone, one that changes little throughout the 32-minute piece. The harmony achieved is a dissonant one, and there is little dynamic fluctuation in the piece. That day also yielded a used copy of Tom Carter's Monument disc, released on Kranky Records in 2005. While different from the work of Carter's main gig Charalambides, this live to 2-track recording of Tom's solo electric guitar improv is pretty cool in spots. It starts out incredibly sparsely, and then doesn't fill in a whole lot after that; overall its spareness lends a sense of fragility to the guitar tones. I had seen some other reviews that really hammered this release, but I found it to be interesting. His playing is dextrous and his efficient use of delay, slide, and e-bow results in some very nice guitar textures. Again, this release is not for every listener, as it requires some patience to get into it. The last thing I found that day was a copy of last year's Kites/Prurient split on Load Records. The Kites material is more noisy and discordant than their Metallic Gardener full-length of '04, but it is enjoyable nonetheless. Prurient's two pieces steal the show on this release for me, with the instrumental I Lay Down on the Ground in the Woods and Fell Asleep of particular note. The last track is a collaboration between both bands and it can best be described as an excursion into noise hell. Still pretty cool though.
Other new used discs recently acquired: Radian's Juxtaposition (Thrill Jockey)--excellent; a great mix of weird noise and futuristic drum technique. The Blithe Sons' We Walk the Young Earth (Family Vineyard Recordings)--pretty acoustic guitar-based mostly instrumental improv from Loren Chasse and Glen Donaldson of Thuja and various other Jewelled Antler Collective projects. My only complaint is that it's a little on the precious and boring side, as a couple of numbers meander into double-figure track times without developing much beyond their original ideas; plus the singing on the disc is lovely and underutilized. Max Richter's the Blue Notebooks (Fat Cat) is also a very pretty release, in the vein of neo-classicists the Rachels. Violin, viola, and piano are the primary instruments on this disc, but Richter allows himself some serious experimentation within what could have been a restrictive format--the disc even ventures into quiet dub-influenced soundscapes, all the while retaining a taut compositional discipline. Some pretense, of course, is present--a female narrator appears in a few tracks, reading excerpts from Czeslaw Milosz and Franz Kafka, but such potentially ham-handed material is incoporated without giving much offense. In fact, without explicit reference to the texts in the liner notes, the conceit may have gone undetected by most listeners. Whatever. It's still worth checking out. Last on the used parade is Et Sans' Par Noussss Touss Les Trous de Vos Cranes, featuring Fly Pan Am's Roger Tellier-Craig and Felix Morel, along with Montreal scenester Alexander St-Onge and Godspeed You Black Emperor's Sophie Trudeau. Released on Alien-8 Recordings last year, this band purports to be the noisy cousin of such American bands as Black Dice and Wolf Eyes. Hyperbole aside, Et Sans does not come close to the outbursts of noise of such acts; rather they use synths and vocal loops to create a weird psychedelic morass of sound. It is a sound that is much more melodic than their American counterparts. The disc is not bad, with some surprisingly cool dinky synth sounds that seem to have more in common with NYC club music from the early 1980's than the new noise of the 21st century. Titles are impenetrably written on the disc insert, and helpfully they are listed only in French. Fans of Fly Pan Am will like this, but it is not the easiest listen at first, as the material is quite repetitive. I'm glad I found it used; I was curious enough to buy it new.
Discs I've been listening to lately--a whole lot of Southern Lord material, like the new Earth disc. It's called Hex--or Printing in the Infernal Method. Along with a great title this disc finds Earth playing a reflective and spacious brand of slow-tempo rock; nothing like their earlier records, this one is composed and song-oriented rather than droning, blissed-out guitar work. The drumming is excellent and spare too. I picked up the new Twilight disc also. They're a black metal supergroup of sorts, featuring Malefic from Xasthur and Wrest from Leviathan along with 3 other black metallers from the USA. It's awesome. Lo-fi evil, claustrophobic production, and some of the coolest, most abstract, and most fucked-up vocal sounds around. The most recent Boris (Akuma no Uta) is OK, not as great as I'd hoped. They seem to be on a real Stooges kick on this disc; but my faves are the instrumentals that open and close the album. Both are doomy, drony, and intense. My favorite release by this excellent label was one from a few months back--a Chicago band called Lair of the Minotaur. Their disc Carnage is just great. Top shelf metal, referencing bands like High on Fire and Celtic Frost if you really had to name influences, but they write good songs on top of playing in a properly mean-spirited way. They get extra points in my book for using the Greek myths as the lyrical template of the album too.
Some other repeated listens of late include the new USAisamonster disc (Wohaw, Load Records), the new Pelican (the Fire in Our Throats... HydraHead Records), and the Spire: Live in Geneva Cathedral double disc on Touch Records. The last is a compilation with Fennesz, Philip Jeck, and BJ Nilsen using their laptops to wreak havoc on some amazing pipe organ source material. Also included are several organ works in full, performed by Charles Matthews and Marcus Davidson. It's pretty engrossing stuff; the long Philip Jeck piece in particular is excellent, while the Fennesz piece is also tremendous.
As far as books go in NYC, no place is better to the broke reader than the Strand. I've been grabbing books 3-4 at a time when I've been there lately, but usually spending less than $25. Recent good scores for me include Marzieh Gail's Avignon in Flower (1309-1403)--an entertaining study of the history of the Avignon papacy; Procopius' Secret History--a courtier and propagandistic historian of Byzantine emperor Justinian revenges himself upon the emperor and his wife by publishing a scandalous collection of fact and rumor after his own death; Philip Ziegler's the Black Death--a comprehensive overview of the details of the great plagues of 14th century Europe, still possessing merit though its 1970's-era conclusions as to the nature and causes of the plague have been somewhat discredited; Simon Winchester's Krakatoa and Korea--two outstanding books by the wildly erudite and verbose Mr. Winchester, which alternately find him investigating the eruption of Krakatoa in 1883 and walking the length of the South Korean half of the Korean peninsula while digressing into countless historical and scientific anecdotes. Also snagged there recently were Bertrand Russell's the Problems of Philosophy--in which Mr. Russell attempts to take on various theories of knowledge; Richard Pipes' excellent history of early Russia entitled Russia under the Old Regime, which deals with the formation of Russia in the 12th and 13th centuries and its development into the tsarist state; and lastly, Orlando Figes' magnificent cultural study of Russia, Natasha's Dance.
Nothing beats cheap books and cheap music. Without them I could not live.
posted by alyosha mcbain at 8:18 AM
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