Deerhunter – Revivial / Primitive 3D Single (4AD)
Atlanta’s Deerhunter are about to release their fourth LP for 4AD Records on Sept 28th. These two songs are the preview. Revivial is a two minute stomp about darkness and memories, and could have easily fit in on 2007’s Fluorescent Grey. Primitive is bright, upbeat and throughly drenched in reverb. The upcoming full length is called Halcyon Digest, and was announced along with an interactive photography project and fall tour of North America. While on tour with Animal Collective in Europe two years ago, Bradford announced on his blog that he was done writing songs about himself. Reading those words worried me. His earnest songs about growing up with Marfan’s Syndrome have been the highlight of his work in this band and in his solo project Atlas Sound. Judging the artwork he made for this photo project, it looks like he might have changed his mind.
Hands Tied – Through The Wreckage EP (Livewire)
“It’s been 8 years since this band has been on a stage. We’re back. This is not a reunion.” These were the first words out of Tim McMahon’s mouth when they took the stage at last weekend’s THIS IS HARDCORE fest in Philadelphia. This two song EP starts out with a massive Outburst style intro and deevolves into one long sing-a-long mosh part. New members Gordo, Mike Clarke, Tim Kriependorf play hardcore with the reckless abandon of B’last and the precision timing of Chain Of Strength.
Stornoway – Beachcomber’s Windowsill (4AD)
Four piece band made up entirely of students at Oxford University, including Ollie and Rob Steadman, a pair of brothers from South Africa. They signed to 4AD in March of this year after a fair amount of radio play on the BBC and an opening slot at Glastonbury in 2009. This record shows a pretty natural and instinctive songwriting ability along with some really interesting melodies. It’s pretty standard fare in terms of UK pop, with plenty of jangle and lots of lo-fi swagger. Lots of guitars, organs, deep background vocals and a great rhythm section. When American bands try to create a sound similar to this it’s usually embarrassing. Why is that?
Crocodiles – Sleep Forever EP (Fat Possum)
A pretty decent single from their forthcoming LP, Sleep Forever. If you liked their brand of hazy T Rex meets Brian Jonestown Massacre on last year’s Summer of Hate, then you’ll love this. So many people give this band shit for trying to popularize and repackage that old Austin or Spacemen 3 sound, but to a large degree those I think those people are idiots. However. I should mention that the entire B side of this record is a medley of Dee-Lite‘s “Groove Is In The Heart” and “California Girls” by The Beach Boys. Both of these are pretty bad decisions, but I’m still looking forward to the full length.
Reference Man – Who Benefits? EP (self released)
Peace punk meets early Carcass, boiled clean and dried in the sun of New Mexico. Husband and wife guitarists Luis Pena and Beata Tsosie-Pena cut through the crust punk mold to deliver something looks like a Crass record and sounds like Blatz covering Corrosion of Conformity. All the songs deal with some pretty heavy duty topics such as nuclear power, spreading disease and toxic black rain. But I wouldn’t want my crossover any other way. In their song “Reference Man”, singer Heathen Steven screams “Protect the brotherhood with the white coats on who’ve poisoned the children for so long”!
Denver 48 Hour Film Fest
This year, local film makers were given 48 hours to write, film and edit a short movie. All the films had to use three specific guidelines – they had to use a lamp as a prop, they had to include a line of dialog, which was “He told me not to tell anyone” and they had to have a character named Sherman or Sharon Woods who was an executive assistant. Those elements worked out surprisingly smoothly. The dialog and the acting was another story. At the end of the night, sitting in the darkest room I think I’ve ever been in my entire life, I was handed a voting slip. My friends and I sat in perfect silence without a single pen or pencil amongst us, trying to read the tiny print. Finally a dusty pen appeared out of a strange far away purse. I have no idea what the hell I voted for.
Outspoken – A Light In The Dark (New Age)
Vinyl reissue of their often criticized 1992 LP. When I was in high school, this band was worshipped by every hardcore kid I knew, and this was before any of us had seen them live. This LP is finally back in print, and continues to expand on the sweeping, melodic sound that Guitarist Mike Hartsfeld pioneered in his late 1980’s band Freewill. Along with Unbroken and Ignite these guys lead California hardcore out of the dark ages with their confrontational and thought provoking lyrics about humanity, animal cruelty and gay rights. More than just the west coast’s answer to Supertouch, they explored a lot of dark, abandonded places and turned most of what they found into compassionate and powerful songs.
Slowdive – Souvlaki (Creation)
Double LP 160 gram re-release with six bonus tracks. Shoegaze at it’s finest moment. This has always been a personal favorite of mine in a genre which can at times be hard to wade through. The wall-of-guitars approach that they started on 1991’s Just For A Day reaches a level of sonic perfection on this 1993 release. it’s heavier than Black Sabbath and more delicate than The Sundays, without even trying to compete with either.
Darker My Love – Alive As You Are (Dangerbird)
This is the third LP from these Los Angeles five piece, who originally started off playing noisy post-rock. The band is made up of ex-members of The Fall and The Nerve Agents and comes out (thankfully) sounding like neither. With each release they seem to be gravitating more and more towards a cleaner guitar sound similar to The Byrds or Buffalo Springfield , which is proving to be an interesting experiment sonically. A lot of the comments on iTunes for this record sound mad. A few people said that they think the band is turning into the Grateful Dead. That’s not really the case. There are some shuffles on this record, but they’re all well written and original. And none of them have eight minutes of guitar noodling. Overall, it’s a great record. It just needs better direction.
Ignition – The Orafying Mysticle Of… (Dischord)
Reissue on vinyl, limited to 300 copies. One of the most compelling and underrated bands to emerge from the Washington DC scene, with ex-members of The Faith, Embrace, Soulside and Iron Cross. These six songs were some of the last that they wrote until the band dissolved in 1989.
