Heavy on the Mellotron, fuzz tones, and paisley, The Black Hollies Softly Towards the Light has more psychedelic homage than a stack of Bomp! fanzines. You wouldn't guess, then, that three out of four members of the band had toiled long and hard in the New Jersey post-hardcore outfit Rye Coalition. But that hoodie-to-turtleneck-and-sunglasses swap-out [...]
Moritz Von Oswald Trio: Vertical Ascent (Honest Jons Records)
Vertical Ascent may not have much in the way of melody, harmony, or even pre-composed structure, but in comparison to German electronic music producer Motitz Von Oswald's other work, it might as well be "Turangalila." During the '90s Oswald and partner Mark Ernestus produced a series of [...]
Jim O'Rourke: I'm Happy, And I'm Singing, And A 1,2,3,4 (Expanded Edition)
From his collaborations with Sonic Youth, to his abstract guitar improvisations, to his seemingly bottomless catalog of drone compositions, Jim O'Rourke has made a lot of records. However, if one were to name the quintessential O'Rourke LP, it would have to be I'm Happy, [...]
Black Dice: Repo (Paw Tracks)
You've heard Black Dice do shrieking hardcore-noise and you've heard them do meditative new-age bliss. Now, get ready for Black Dice's hiphop record. Sort of. Nobody's dropping any rhymes or boasts on Repo, the New York trio's 7th album, but there's lot of sampler twiddling. Had Boredoms crashed into J Dilla's [...]
I.U.D.: The Proper Sex (Social Registry)
I.U.D, the New York duo comprised of Gang Gang Dance's Lizzi Bougatsos and Growing's Sadie Laska, isn't just assertive about female sexuality, it's down right aggressive. The group's first full-lenth, The Proper Sex, is sort of the all-girl avant-garde equivalent of 2 Live Crew's As Nasty As They Wanna Be. [...]
Extra Golden: Thank You Very Quickly (Thrill Jockey)
Never mind the geographic difficulties that face Extra Golden, its members split between two countries and three cities (Washington, DC, Chicago, Illinois, and Nairobi, Kenya, to be specific). No, the group’s most vexing problem has simply been to prove that it’s a real band and not just a [...]
Kurt Vile: God Is Saying This To You... (Mexican Summer)
Believe it or not, ambient music and classic rock have at least one thing in common. Both of these genres are capable of tapping into the vastness and romance of the American landscape–you know, the fruited plain, the templed hills, the Jersey Shore. This basically [...]
Black Lips : 200 Million Thousand (Vice)
The dumber Black Lips act, the better off they are. The closer the Atlanta-based garage rock quartet teeters towards total brain death, the more interesting their music becomes.
And by that virtue, Black Lips are in good shape these days. If the band was only huffing paint on ’07s Good [...]
Mountains:Choral (Thrill Jockey)
Everything about Choral, the third full-length LP by Brooklyn duo Mountains, is relaxing. The water-noises, the accordions, the wind chimes. Everything. Fall asleep in a Sharper Image massage chair while listening to this record and you might wake up as Gary Zukav. Brendon Anderegg and Koen Holtkamp conjure billowing electro-acoustic drones from [...]
The Gris Gris: Live at the Creamery (Birdman)
On the scale of psychedelic emotions–running from mush-brained paranoia to lysergic elation–The Gris Gris placed itself squarely in the center of the dark side. Singer/guitarist Greg Ashley's songs had more bad vibes than an Alister Crowley dream journal. The titles alone say it all: "Big Engine Nazi [...]
