Richmond, VA’s White Laces and Philly’s Arches both have a preternatural ability to stimulate the subconscious, transmuting life’s geography into a hyper reel of sonic film. So, after hitting the road over the summer together, it’s only natural that the two recently coalesced onto a split 7”, solidifying their bond on wax. Gotta love ‘95 romances.
White Laces opens on the A-side with the cathartic “Dissolve Into Color” initiated by vocalist/guitarist Landis Wine’s signature vacillating tremolo bar gouge. Drummer Jimmy Held navigates the dissonance with his syncopated, almost stumbling at times, raps and crashes, charting an alcove for Wines’ slurred moans to resonate above the hip-twisting discord.
Arches’ flip side contribution, “Late Last Night,” evokes the effervescent sway of (RIP) Desolation Wilderness. Recorded in a church and saturated with warm synth, the production is taken closer to the sun than Icarus could have ever imagined. Julien Greenberg’s vocals peel over his rhythmic jangle on the git, while co-founder Tom Herman’s exaggerated, delay bends melt into the steady bass and ethereal-jazz percussion. Twice the gang veers from the honey-drip tempo to explore brief bursts of excited crunch and crash just to make sure your head hasn’t wandered too far away from its feet. Scope the video for “Late Last Night” composed of footage from their autumnal tour, below.
Cop the White Laces/Arches split 7” over at Worthless Junk. (Via Impose)
Baby Erection|||Twenny-Six
There are so many unfulfilled prophecies at 26. And Baby Erection is right, we’re not going to be twenny-six for long. We’re all just getting older, slowly dying, hanging on to the dreams we had at 15, wondering where all the time has gone.
“I never really got started/never had the Wonder Years-years” bellows vocalist “Nick” over the intersecting sounds of punky-jazz percussion and tinny guitar hooked through a fuzz pedal into a 10W amp on the second track of the B-side of Baby Erection’s debut single.
“Twenny-Six” is a statement against the status-quo, benchmarks, milestones, production, instruments, relationships, maturity, and hate. Passive contention is all around us in the form of fashion, philosophy, and trophies. Fuck off; they’re (we’re) still trying to figure it all out.
Baby Erection’s self-produced 7” Lon Chaney Blues is available for stream and download on Bandcamp.
Teenage Mysticism|||Sweetheart
I feel like I’m not much of a writer these days. I can hardly call myself a writer because it’s not my occupation. I’m just a guy that hates his job, drinks, talks shit, dreams and has sex on occasion. A regular person, I guess. I’m fond of telling people that I have commitment issues, and that’s the reason for my sporadic and ephemeral relationships. Although this may very well be true, I’m not in any way trying to remedy my commitment issues. Loneliness is a bitch without a blanket. Relentless and cold. Ideas are romantic; application is awkward. Porn is mostly trite, but, never the less, finds success at a higher rate than most media. HBO just canceled Bored To Death. Nielsen didn’t project enough cum rags lying around the living room following the credits, I guess.
Here’s Joey DeMarco’s latest single as Teenage Mysticism. Velvet. Emotive. Saccharine strokes of innocence teetering on the end of a mattress tainted by yesterday’s sex. Thank goodness for fresh linen. TM’s forthcoming album Dead Channels drops Valentine’s Day courtesy of The Epiphysis Foundation.
Peaking Lights|||Westbound
White peeps been fucking with some good dub this year. Between Cameron Stallones’ (Sun Araw) new work with Duppy Gun and Peaking Lights’ latest, 936, we’re in a new era of psychedelic electro dub that’s a far cry from the Sleng Teng Riddim. ”Westbound” is a new track that Indra Dunis and Aaron Coyes, aka Peaking Lights, unveiled on Huw Stephens’ BBC 1 program last week. If you missed 936, then you probably missed the vid for “Hey Sparrow.” Check that below in addition to Duppy Gun’s video for their first single “Multiply” by Dayone.
White Laces|||Heavy Nights
White Laces comes to us from the SHDWPLY Festival in Norfolk, VA with new guy “Heavy Nights” from their forthcoming debut LP. Is that a maraca in Jimmy Held’s hand? Yes, and that’s guitarist Alex French taking a break from the Telecaster for some time on the keys.
In addition to their debut LP, White Laces has a couple of splits set for release early next year with Phil’s Arches and fellow Richmonders Snowy Owls. Check the vid for “Hands In Mexico” below off the upcoming White Laces/Snowy Owls 10” on HSAL.
Catamaran|||Walking Visions
Manahattan’s Catamaran depicts industrial ambient as though it’s spawned from isolated nights in a dorm room fueled by cold pizza, a strobe light and James Cameron’s early works on his debut for LA’s TwoMichaelJordans.
Cop Catamaran’s s/t cassette from MJMJ.
Cough Cool|||Older
Right in time for winter, Bathetic gives us a wonder of a debut LP from Phil’s Cough Cool. There’s nothing like a dose of gauzy-drone pop to help you appreciate your bed-ridden, half-naked depression. Just one thing: Do everyone a favor and wipe the gizz off your chest before inviting anyone into your lair to burn one to Lately.
Below, Cough Cool’s Dan Svizeny puts on some clothes before inviting us into his bedroom to watch him totter in front of his Flyers blankie for the title-track video. Lately drops tomorrow on Bathetic.
Thee Oh Sees|||Contraption/Soul Desert
This song is a drug. Wrenching on my headphones with the palms of my hands, as if the action were to yield a higher decibel level, I feel as bare as the skinless creature donning the cover of Thee Oh Sees’ latest LP, Carrion Crawler/The Dream; flesh exposed, brain-matter filleted, privacy invaded. The mesmerizing brutality of “Contraption/Soul Desert” is a beast without identity, an unprecedented force, whose abstract and visceral bulk lays waste to the doorframe of modernity.
Pants rolled up to the knees, anticipating the rise of vocalist/keyboardist Brigid Dawson’s fuzz-organ soup, Petey Dammit, bass à la guitar, locks down the rhythm upon our entrance, ensuring its stability throughout the five-minute assault. John Dwyer’s fluctuating frog-pitch is lubricated by Dawson’s cathartic grace allowing the awkward poetry to glide along the rusty rails constructed by duel drummers Michael Shoun and Lars Finberg. The tumultuous bridges are entrancing, provoking the body into convulsion with each stroke of power and bend. Perhaps it has to do with having witnessed multiple Dwyer freakout solos where his expressions mimic that of a zombie. But, as the manic chorus of “ah-ah”s gives way to the bridge, I can’t help but to feel my eyes roll back in my head, tongue slide over of my bottom lip and body begin to seizure as if I were under the spell of a subliminal trigger.
The lyrical content of the song seems to be dealing with an unspecified “contraption” of stagnation which is expressed in all three verses: (1) It stops all the feel ups, that go under the tables (2) a spread that has been wasted (3) so, pull your nets right in/find a couch or table/and recreate the zero, you suspect you are
According to the LP insert, the part of this song that is “Soul Desert” — which is most likely a play on the esoteric title rather than an actual half — is constructed by Can’s Malcolm Mooney. While Can did produce a song by the same name, the lyrics share no similarities. Despite a lack of lyrical connection, both songs share a consistant driving rhythm of percussion and bass accented by bluesy whips of lead at the end of each bar.
In conclusion, I will not bastardize this particular piece with a masturbatory and maladroit genre homogenization. I would rather express the resulting feelings and opinions in a more concise way: This is the best song I’ve heard all year.
Carrion Crawler/The Dream is out now on In The Red. Check an interview I did with Dwyer on a boat in the Bermuda Triangle and Can’s “Soul Desert” below.
obvs :(
forward to 2:00
Yep, that’s your boy topping the NewYorker.com article “The Mayor Takes On Island Smokes.” It doesn’t help Mayor Bloomberg’s cause in suing Island Smokes—a tobacco shop that offers free use of equipment to roll the comparably super-cheap loose tobacco it sells you—for “selling cigarettes with no tax stamp,” being “in violation of the Federal Contraband Cigarette Trafficking Act and the New York State Cigarette Marketing Standards Act,” and “being a public nuisance for selling cigarettes not verified as ‘fire-safe,’” when you add an “anonymous” and incidental figure like Dirty Beaches’ Alex Zhang Hungtai to the mix.
Whether it was writer Benjamin Shapiro’s—who also authored a Talk of the Town piece on Island Smokes last month—or photographer Rebecca Smeyne’s—live music photographer—idea to feature the photograph of Hungtai, it was a good move that will not only get nods from the indie music community, but also garner some outside support for an alternative to the egregious state of cigarette taxation.
I’ll be walking the four blocks over to Island Smokes after work in lieu of both the $12 and the cheaper but guiltier, black-market options.
Scope Show Me Deals Show Me Deals’ interview with Hungtai and Lantern’s Zach Fairbrother Devereaux below where we discuss the obvious, cigarettes, in addition to other things that aren’t as relevant to this post.
Oneohtrix Point Never///Power Of Persuasion///Replica (Mexican Summer 051111)
Dan Lopatin’s latest work as Oneohtrix Point Never reaches beyond the ostracizing terminology of avant-garde by emulsifying found commercial sounds into a fluid procession of beauty and warmth. Lopatin’s use of synth, pianos, and loops as the vertebrae of these arrangements allows him ample space to play with the multitude of sounds he’s gathered from commercials that aired during breaks of shows like St. Elsewhere, Golden Girls, and Perfect Strangers. The importance of these samples are up to the listener which allows the record to be enjoyed on multiple levels giving Replica the versatility of a great album.
I can’t help but to relate Replica standout “Power of Persuasion” to Vangelis’ work on the Blade Runner soundtrack. Maybe it’s the similarities in the violin-like strokes of moody synth, or maybe it’s replicating the future envisioned in the past.
Replica is now available at Mexican Summer. Check Vangelis’ “Love Theme” from the Blade Runner OST below
Charts///We Got It Good///Eggy 32 (Eggy 011111)
The music blared from his room down the hall where his clock read 10:43 pm. It had only taken about two minutes to bathe himself, but the shower of almost scolding hot water compelled him to prolong his stay almost half an hour. Winter’s cruel breath crept through the cravasses that riddled the lining of the windows and doors to his poorly maintained townhouse. ”If I had your refrain, I’d sing it again and again…” echoed the man in the speaker down the hall and into the bathroom. His roommates had already departed for drinks at Avalon an hour or so prior to his shower. He dreaded removing himself from the womb he had concocted, but he’d be without beverage and without chatter if he didn’t move quickly. In Virginia, your night reaches an anticlimactic end pretty early if you wait around till midnight to do anything about it. ”Dumb Dadadum…” cried the man in the speaker. He exited the warm embrace of the shower, steaming, and took his first step out onto the cold tile. Shivering, he searched for a towel. ”I’m such an idiot,” he murmured to himself in realizing the towel he was looking for lie on his bed in the room down the hall where the man in the speaker trailed “again…” He glanced toward a wash cloth draped over the edge of the sink, an area of the sink not affected by dried toothpaste and what he hoped were just beard trimmings. The thought of drying his whole body with a four inch by four inch piece of cotton most certainly crossed his mind. ”Not efficient, but immediate,” he thought for a good five seconds. No, no. He was a big boy, and the big boy thing to do was… Dripping wet, teeth clenched, naked, shivering and in full stride, he jetted toward his bedroom leaving wet footprints in his path down the hall where the man in the speaker had ceased his woeful wail.
Charts’ debut split cassette with fellow Portlanders Besties is out now on Eggy
White Fang///It’s On The Table///Positive Feedback (independent 070811)
I’ve been heavy into Gnar Tapes & Shit lately, especially the White Fang crew. Admittedly, it gets tough to keep up with groups that crank out self-produced, digital releases multiple times a year. With five groupings of recordings in 2011, White Fang is no exception. The notable aspect of their persistance lies in their exploration of visceral pop, which leads us to the recent highlights ”It’s On The Table” and “4-Track Mind;” not to mention their recent addition of “Shit Happens” to GNARCOTICS UNANIMOUS—a compilation of unreleased tracks, some of which will find a second home on upcoming Gnar releases.
Positive Feedback is available on White Fang’s Bandcamp, and is anticipating either a vinyl or cassette release in the near future.
Monster Rally and RUMTUM///Raindrops///MR&RT (Waaga 070212)
Recently, Monster Rally presented us with Coral II: The Remixes where we first saw a mesh of Columbus, OH talents Ted Feighan and John Hastings on RUMTUM’s remix of “Splash Talk.”
The two teamed up and produced the MR&RT EP which is slated for release early next year. ”Raindrops” is the duo’s first offering which combines Hastings’ minimalistic tendencies with Feighan’s knack for knitting loops of obscure vocal tracks into a fabric of exotica and hip-hop. Be a good aural steward and put those headphones on; it’s essential. (via YVYNYL)
Pre-order the MR&RT EP at Waaga
“There is no superiority in terms of music. There is no good music; there is no bad music. I mean, music is designed specifically catered to a taste, so there’s preferences. There is no good or bad music. People who judge music as good or bad are thinking of it as fucking sports or something…”
Scope another take on Hungtai’s new guy “Silk Stockings” below, shot at Phil’s First Unitarian Church by blkpnts.
