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not-so-lovely-anya · 3 years
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dustedmagazine · 4 years
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Dusted Mid-Year Exchange, Part 2: Positive No to Yves Tumour
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Six Organs got a lot of mid-year love this time
Welcome back to part two of the Dusted Mid-Year Exchange, in which we tackle the second half of the alphabet. If you missed part one, with its lengthy description of what we’re doing here, you can read it here. Or just muddle through. Cheers.  
Positive No — Kyanite (Little Black Cloud)
Kyanite by Positive No
Who recommended it? Tobias Carroll
Did we review it? No.
Tim Clarke’s take:
Positive No braid tight bursts of guitars, bass and drums into upbeat yet agitated shapes. There’s a touch of Blonde Redhead’s Kazu Makino in Tracy Wilson’s vocal delivery, or My Bloody Valentine’s Belinda Butcher, especially on expansive opener “Elevator Up.” At just under half an hour, the urgent economy of Kyanite’s songwriting makes all the more sense when you learn that it’s the band’s final album, released on Valentine’s Day this year. As their parting gesture, nothing is wasted, everything invested. As one of the song titles says, “Get In, Get Out. Don’t Linger. Go On.”
 Raspberry Bulbs — Before the Age of Mirrors
Before The Age Of Mirrors by Raspberry Bulbs
Who picked it? Jonathan Shaw
Did we review it? Yes, Jonathan said, “Even in its heaviest metal moments, on ‘Reclaimed Church’ and excellent closing track ‘Given Over to History,’ the record’s punk vibe cuts and grins. It insists on a deadly aesthetic seriousness, and at the same time, it’s tugging the rug out from under its own feet.”
Jennifer Kelly’s take:
Raspberry Bulbs splices punk’s antic venom with metal’s storm and roar, shifting from one mode to the other inside individual tracks, sometimes measure to measure. Consider “Doggerel” which kicks off in a pogo-ing furor, rattling violently over rapid oi band rhythms, everything clipped and percussive, even the vocals, though hoarse and splintered. Midway through, a sirening guitar riff intercedes and the singing turns ominous and measured; all the sudden it’s metal. “Midnight Line” pulls the opposite trick, beginning in clanging, feedback-morphing guitar and larynx shredding howl, then introducing a punk rock palm-muted chug and anthemry. It’s a volatile mix, at times nearly playful, at others agonizingly heavy, at still others (the “Intervals” mostly) surprisingly lyrical.  I lean towards the punk-er tracks—"They’re After Me” and “Doggerel”— metal fans may feel otherwise.
 Stephen Riley — Friday the 13th (Steeplechase)
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Who recommended it? Derek Taylor
Did we review it? Yes. Derek said, “Knuffke and Riley are a directly collaborative pairing now and their partnership politely demands many more dates like this one.”
Justin Cober-Lake's take:
Saxophonist Stephen Riley has put together a quartet with a singular idea of playing these classic tunes on Friday the 13th in relatively straightforward and spacious renditions. Their take on Eddie Vinson's “Four” has Riley and cornetist Kirk Knuffke trading long solos. The rhythm section does its job, but it's a horn players' record. The album comes alive most when Knuffke and Riley interact more immediately. On Oliver Nelson's “Hoe Down,” they reveal how great a partnership they have, initially matching each other on the main melody before spiraling off. “Round Midnight” could have been too obvious a choice, but the combo's personalized take on the standard works out. Everyone sounds at ease enough within the song that they take a few more risks, and the horn players supplement each other nicely with more harmonic considerations. The album ends with a trio of spirited numbers, and in each case Riley and Knuffke play off each other's solos with a sharpness that by now makes sense. Riley's listening to Monk and playing like Rollins (hence the title track) as he and his group find ways to make old bop sound new.
  Gil Scott-Heron and Makaya McCraven—We’re New Again, A Reimagining (XL Recordings)
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Who recommended it? Jenny Kelly.
Did we review it? Yes. Arthur Krumins notes, “McCraven lays down a lush musical backdrop that allows Scott-Heron’s words to have emotional impact.”
Jonathan Shaw’s take:
The word “reimagine” has a sexy resonance, and for that reason, it’s often too casually used. But in the case of We’re New Again, the word is warranted. Drummer and producer Makaya McCraven doesn’t just remix Gil Scott-Heron’s final record, I’m New Here (2010); McCraven shuffles the track list, adds some relevant recordings of Scott-Heron’s voice, and creates entirely new arrangements, moods, and musical accompaniment for the earlier album’s songs. It’s ballsy — I’m New Here is justly recognized as a masterpiece, and it’s marked by a stylistic austerity. On that record, Scott-Heron sang and spoke and recited his poetry over minimalist beats, a strummed guitar, or his own piano playing. McCraven attentively reimagines the tunes, working with polyphonic, post-Bop ensembles; busy hip-hop soundscapes; gospel and funk quotations. Remarkably, none of the richness of Scott-Heron’s vocals and none of the complexity of his poetry get obscured. More often, McCraven inventively intensifies the impact of Scott-Heron’s songs. And the reordering and recontextualizing of the tracks reveals a different narrative, grounded in the resilience and the suffering of Scott-Heron’s upbringing and too-short life. You listen and you feel it. It’s a terrific record.
Six Organs of Admittance — Companion Rises (Drag City)
Companion Rises by Six Organs of Admittance
Who recommended it? Jennifer Kelly
Did we review it? Yes. Jenny said it’s “straight-down-the-middle Six Organs, not as loud and abrasive as the first Hexadic disc, not as reticently wisp-y as the older folk-derived records.”
Patrick Masterson’s take:
Back when Dusted was still a dot-com, we talked about making a site-specific canon for our 10th anniversary, a kind of “Dusted 500” field guide. There was a shared spreadsheet and talk of a benefit show and a mixtape comp and so on that never amounted to anything for myriad reasons, but I can promise you Ben Chasny would’ve figured into it somehow — and nearly a decade on from that, my promise stands. The latest (30th? Let’s call it 30th) Six Organs of Admittance record is a beautiful slow burner that shows why, all astral spirits and slow-rolling starlight guitar plucks that is, as Jenny rightly notes, a Six Organs line drive. My belief after numerous spins since early February — mostly in the mornings, for which this music also seems suitable accompaniment — is that, like the rest of Chasny’s oeuvre, it will appeal to anyone who likes guitars or reads this. On the off chance you stumbled in here or haven’t heard this record yet: Welcome. It’s always been this way.
Patrick Masterson
 Spanish Love Songs — Brave Faces Everyone (Pure Noise)
Brave Faces Everyone by Spanish Love Songs
Who recommended it? Ian Mathers
Did we review it? Yes. Ian said, “it’s more a record of solidarity and mutual support than it is anything more prescriptive.”
Patrick Masterson’s take:
L.A. quintet Spanish Love Songs occupy a very specific point on what I like to think of as the Bar Band Spectrum, where one end is a bottom-rung covers-only collective found in just about any weeknight dive pre-COVID playing for beer money out of boredom and modest ambition… and the other end is Bruce Springsteen. This band isn’t as ramshackle as, say, Ladyhawk, nor have they yet hit a glass ceiling à la the Constantines; they sound to me more like Beach Fossils or Single Mothers, where everything from their songwriting to their slightly glossy production suggests they’re as ready as they’ll ever be for arena life. And what a record to make the case, too: Brave Faces Everyone is the sound of Run for Covers Records growing up or early onset Gen Z realizing a glass of wine after everything is, in fact, a coping mechanism for adulthood in a profoundly uncaring world. It’s got a big, young heart to match its big, old sound. It says, loudly, that in the increasingly untethered reality of 2020, we are all losers forever — but there’s still a “best of it” to be made if you wanna and the bravest face is an optimistic one. I’ll rock with that (from the quarantined confines of home and the other side of another lousy livestream, of course).
Patrick Masterson
Squirrel Flower — I Was Born Swimming (Polyvinyl)
I Was Born Swimming by Squirrel Flower
Who picked it? Patrick Masterson
Did we review it? Nope.
Arthur Krumins’ take:
Making the most of a dour mood, Squirrel Flower squeezes disaffection from her vocal delivery. The instrumentation is reminiscent of a less noisy Built to Spill, or maybe Julie Doiron, and is effectively now a retro indie rock sound originally from the late 90s or early 2000s. The jamminess of some of the drawn out riffs feel both pretty and sad, and could be a good soundtrack to a rainy drive. The heaviness is well developed without being bogged down. The lyrics catch your attention with their plainspoken narration of conflict (“You slap me, I’ll slap you right back” she repeats in “Slapback”). A fitting album for looking your troubles head on while still being totally surrounded by them.
 Waterless Hills — The Great Mountain (Cardinal Fuzz)
Waterless Hills - 'The Great Mountain' by Waterless Hills
Who picked it? Bill Meyer
Did we review it? No.
Arthur Krumins’ take:
A dissonant flow that steadily increases in intensity starts this record, which is a live recorded improvisation. The combination of aching, modal violin by dbh with slightly overdriven cascading electric guitar by C Joynes makes for a feel reminiscent of “Venus in Furs” by the Velvet Underground. The percussion by Andrew Cheetham, a drum kit plug some extras like a hung Chinese gong, creates texture and mood. Sometimes there’s just a steady counting of time in the background, at other moments waves of cymbals crash and make a cacophonous emphasis as the music rises and falls. The overall effect of the jams is hypnotic, like getting absorbed in a swirling light show. The players’ sensitivity to the musical interplay of their instruments, combined with a masterful looseness, makes it a trip worth taking.
Well Yells — We Mirror the Dead (Self-released)
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Who recommended it? Ian Mathers.
Did we review it? Yes. Ian Mathers notes, “tipping towards the slightly industrial/EBM side of the genre, We Mirror the Dead gains a kind of gloomy propulsion without losing any of the atmosphere or intensity of [the band’s] prior work.”
Jonathan Shaw’s take:
The Gothic is not famous for stylistic restraint, and neither are the various contemporary subgenres that have inherited goth music’s romance of dark interiors, painfully fraught feeling and highly stylized self-fashioning. A few recent acts have cut against the grain of those established maximalist textures: see the grim industrial rancor of Street Sects, and the more experimental, sample-based austerities of Wreck and Reference. Well Yells’ music feels similarly stripped down to a pulsing electronic essence. But the record is more interested in the strobing spaces of Clubland than in decrepit factory ruins, and the darkwave gloss of We Mirror the Dead presents a more conventional relation to goth’s sensations. At its best—as on album opener “Kill the King”—the music of Patrick Holbrook, sole member of Well Yells, snaps and glimmers with compelling dread and arch sophistication. Holbrook’s breathy tenor is a useful counterpoint; his vocals are vaguely reminiscent of the best of those other habitués of Clubland, the British New Romantics (remember Bronski Beat?). It’s good stuff, somehow simultaneously polished and dirty.
  Lucinda Williams—Good Souls Better Angels (Thirty Tigers/Highway 20 Records)
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Who recommended it? Justin Cober-Lake
Did we review it? No.
Bill Meyer’s take: I haven’t listened much to Lucinda Williams; the one record I have by her, Sweet Old World, is 28 years old. The first thing that hit me when I listened to Good Souls Better Angels is what’s changed. Williams’ voice is much rougher, and she’s adjusted the music correspondingly, adding Hendrixian guitar flourishes to “Bone of Contention” and coarsening the domestic violence scenario “Wakin’ Up” with bad-trip electronics. The next is how pissed she sounds. Violent boyfriends are bad enough, but having a charmless sociopath for president is even worse. Fortunately, bile hasn’t overwhelmed her writing chops. Big-sounding roots rock isn’t really my thing these days, but if I feel the need to change that, Good Souls Better Angels is a good place to start.  
  Wire — Mind Hive (Pink Flag)
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Who picked it? Andrew Forell
Did we review it? Yes, Andrew said, “Mind Hive is concise yet full of restless intelligence, musical ideas and willingness to push boundaries.”  
Derek Taylor’s take:
I tapped Wire late and left early. That truncated exposure lends a narrow vocabulary in describing their music contextually, pre- and post-reunions. This latest missive sounds alternately like what I remember and at least several zip codes removed with a heavy lean into synths. “Be Like Them” and “Primed and Ready” fall in the former category, while “Off the Beach” trades gangly ennui and menace for what almost resembles instrumental optimism until the lyrics stack dutifully into another ode to the disaffected and disconnected. “Oklahoma” feels inscrutably weird. “Hung” drops as the album’s extended, incremental, post-industrial dirge. There’s additional insulation sheathing this Wire, an inevitable adjunct of ascendancy to elder status, but the current foursome is still dependably conducting current.
 Yves Tumour — Heaven to a Tortured Mind (Warp)
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Who recommend it? Patrick Masterson
Did we review it? No.
Ian Mathers’ take:
Listen to music for long enough and you might realize that most of the time when you hope any artist goes in any particular direction with their work, you’re bound to be disappointed. But every so often, maybe after a promising album that you just didn’t fully click with, an artist does exactly what you were hoping for and fully manifests all the potential promise you thought you glimpsed. Yves Tumor’s 2018 album Safe in the Hands of Love was admirable in many ways, but it was really only on crucial single “Noid” that all the combustible elements were really brought together into something that properly bangs. Well, Heaven to a Tortured Mind might not have as many showcases for the ambient/noise chops that Tumor definitely has, but it does consistently bang for 36 minutes of should-be alternate universe pop hits, from the brassy “Gospel for a New Century” to the floaty duet “Kerosene!” For anyone who loved “Noid” and then found more to respect than the viscerally love on Tumor’s last record, this is the record you were waiting for, and it is magnificent and ferocious.
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50 questions tag game
@slytherinoftarth Yay, thanks for the tag :)
What is the colour of your hairbrush? I don’t brush my hair (it’s super curly, so to brush is instant death), but my wide-toothed comb is light blue
Name a food you never eat: oysters bleurgh
Are you typically too warm or too cold? Hmmm well I don’t mind being a bit cold but I hate being too warm so I’m gonna go with too warm
What were you doing 45 minutes ago? Helping my mum full-screen a livestreamed church service from Geneva bc she is technically challenged
What's your favourite candy bar? ooooh I love those old raspberry choc logs
Have you ever been to a professional sports game? Maybe three times? Once to the cricket and twice to rugby (World Cup games)
What was the last thing you said out loud? “*GASP* HELLO MR POODLE” which is just an embarrassing thing i say to my dog when I want to get his attention. it’s not even his name lol
What is your favourite ice cream? Gonna go with cookies and cream or anything cheesecakey
What was the last thing you had to drink? Waterrrr
Do you like your wallet? I mean it’s tiny and it’s falling to bits and it doesn’t latch properly any more but we’ve been through a lot the two of us
What was the last thing you ate? Weet-Bix with milk (which totally gives away my nationality)
Did you buy any new clothes last weekend? During lockdown i’ve literally been wearing the same three raggedy old outfits on rotation, so... no
What's the last sporting event you watched? Probably when I had to live-caption the tennis for work. Can’t even remember which comp it was
What is your favourite flavour of popcorn? not a connoisseur, but so long as it’s plenty salty and kinda buttery I’m happy
Who is the last person you sent a text message to? One of my best mates from uni
Ever go camping? We used to go ALL THE TIME as kids, up until I was like 14. Those are some of my best memories
Do you take vitamins? Nooope
Do you go to church every Sunday? My parents do, but I haven’t for ages
Do you have a tan? Hhahahahahahahahaha. no.
Do you prefer Chinese food or pizza? PIZZA
Do you drink your soda through a straw? Not usually
What colour socks do you usually wear? depends how much my shoes reveal. If you can see them, black or white. If you can’t, it’s literally anyone’s guess
Do you ever drive above the speed limit? *whispers very quickly* istilldon’thavemylicence
What terrifies you? Yikes. Many things, but a massive one is disappointing people
Look to your left. What do you see? Two loaded clothes horses and lots of paintings
What chore do you hate most? Vacuuming and mopping because I get obsessive about it and that makes me anxious
What do you think of when you hear an Australian accent? Our neighbours across the ditch, mate. Also Steve Irwin. Also my Voice tutor from drama school
What's your favourite soda? Pepsi Max
Do you go in a fast food place or just hit the drive-thru? I just go in, when I go, which is infrequently
What's your favourite number? I don’t know if I have one. If I did, I think it would be nine
Who's the last person you talked to? My motherrrr
Favourite cut of beef? not a massive fan of beef tbh
Last song you listened to? some romantic-era piano piece I can’t remember the name of for the life of me
Last book you read? Still Fire and Blood. I started The Silmarillion but got distracted, gotta pick it back up
Favourite day of the week? I don’t really have one. Maybe Saturday
Can you say the alphabet backwards? I’ve never tried, so probably no
How do you like your coffee? with a small amount of milk and an obscene amount of sweetener don’t judge me
Favourite pair of shoes? shoes make me nervous because my feet are too big and I have no sense of fashion, but the shoes i’m most attached to are an old second-hand pair of stage shoes that I wore as Susan in The Marriage of Figaro. The heels have worn off now, but they were clacky and fun and I got to wear long white socks, a skirt and a corset with them. I’ve never laughed so hard as I did rehearsing that show
Time you normally get up? Depends on my shift, so anywhere between 5 and midday usually
Sunrises or sunsets? Sunsets.
How many blankets are on your bed? Two - one woollen, one faux mink
Describe your kitchen plates. Ye olde willow pattern
Describe your kitchen at the moment. looking pretty respectable tbh
Do you have a favourite alcoholic drink? when you say ‘favourite’...? I mean my go-to is vodka, but also I’ve had so many baaaaad experiences that the smell makes me feel physically ill
Do you play cards? hahaha no I suck at cards. I even suck at Snap
What colour is your car? um well my family car is silver-grey
Do you know how to change a tire? From American to British spelling, you mean? Of course! tire = tyre. (otherwise..........no)
Your favourite state? We lived in America for nearly four months when I was nine, and we sort of roved around the western states, visiting all the national parks - I don’t wanna pick, they were all so beautiful. But we mainly stayed in Utah
Favourite job you've had? The one I have now is good. I write captions for TV
How did you get your biggest scar? (@slytherinoftarth duuuuuuude I have dermatillomania too, what a shitshow) Not a cheerful answer, but self-harm
tagging @wildlingoftarth @resthefuture (or anyone!!!)
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