dyvnzmbr

I'm a bit late to this, but one of my absolute favourite music blogs out there, DAYVAN ZOMBEAR, has started up a Kickstarter to fund DZ TAPES, the record label that's soon-to-be-a-thing. I can't tell you how much great, great stuff I've gotten from that page; it's an absolute goldmine of everything falling under the umbrella of "Experimental", from noise to pyschedelia to lo-fi pop with a whole lot of made-up genres that sound like exactly the sort of thing you want to hear. So with your contributions, DZ TAPES is going to be releasing original up-and-coming artists (oh god, "up and coming", did I really...) which, if the rest of the blog is any measure of taste, will all be fantastic.

Don't think I'd ask you to donate for nothing, though. For your donation of $8[US]/$10[CAN/MEX]/$12[THERE ARE OTHER PLACES?], you'll get a tape (and MP3s) full of ~exclusive~ tracks by a bunch of artists that fall into the (vast) DYVNZMBR vibe, including some big[ger] hitters like Foxes in Fiction, Sleep In, and Chris Rehm (who recently put out a killer record called Worries, etc which I have yet to write about and yes, I do hate myself for being so slow on it). The real cool part is that your donation also buys a tape for one of the contributing artists, so they have something to cherish/sell/show off for their efforts. And you're helping launch what's sure to be an incredible label. Win/win/win.

PUT YOUR MONEY HERE

help me out, guys

Caddywhompus - "Age of Wild Spirits" (single)
[experimental pop, post-everything, proto-somethingelse]

Yeah, with a name like that, you know you're getting in to something good. "Experimental pop" is way too vague, I know, but that's really what it is. It's an entirely manic single: impossible to follow but curiously hook-laden thanks to the vocals. It's a total blast to actual hear something that you can't predict, from the drone-swell build-up to the spazzy bursts of blastbeats and all sorts of off-kilter mathy riffing recklessly thrown about when it's not a flattening wall of sound. The sort of song that begs to be immediately re-listened to even if you didn't like it because you'll want to try (and fail) to understand the thing. But, I mean, you won't not like it, that's impossible, sorry.

Now there is where you help me and help yourselves: if you click that link below and download the single, and do it 7498 more times (or tell your friends of whatever, this thing just needs to hit 7500 downloads total), the new Caddywhompus EP gets released right then and there instead of in May. I, for one, can't wait that long for more of whatever this is, so download it and get all your bros to do the same.

DOWNLOAD.

Kurdaitcha

Mamaleek - Kurdaitcha

[black metal, experimental]
Alright, quick one today, basically to tell you to go listen to this. Yeah, yeah, it's tagged "black metal", but only because "post-black metal" would be silly. But this really is beyond what you think of as black metal; absolutely recklessly creative. I could say a million more things about this but I don't feel all that qualified having only listened to it once. What I can say in absolute confidence is that there are exciting things happening in black metal once again, and it's all coming from an anonymous bedroom in San Francisco. Grim, huh? (Ok, maye not all of it, because the new Gnaw Their Tongues is fantastically out there for the genre, too). The whole thing is available as a "pay what you want" download or as a high-quality, limited to 150 vinyl record.

Download | Donate | Buy




Also, here's why I haven't been keeping up:

bear with me

Seeding the clouds

Right off the bat, Whitesand/Badlands are a band that I'm going to get along with [ideologically]. Their debut double-LP is limited to 250 copies at a cool $20 (post paid), which immediately sends a couple of messages: first and foremost, they care about music as an art, and two, obviously put out a product they have to be proud of, because pressing vinyl - especially independently - does not come cheap or easy. You can also download this at high quality in a pay-what-you-can set-up where that 'what-you-can' becomes discounted from the price of the vinyl, should you choose to buy the physical record after loving it digitally. Which you will.

Like I said, putting out vinyl independently shows both dedication and pride in a piece of music, and Seeding the Clouds is such a fantastic piece that certainly deserves proper release like that. It brilliantly straddles genres or outright draws-and-quarters them as it sees fit, taking an overarching, dense shoegaze aesthetic and drenching it in beautiful natural reverb, ably throwing in vaguely post-rock complexities and elsewhere taking a kitchen-sink approach, like the heavy, doomy break towards the end of "Whale Song".

What really makes this album special is its albumness, it's natural flow and unified feel as an album, which is becoming an increasingly rare art form. Moreover, its an incredibly nuanced set of songs; you remember how your first spin of Loveless went, don't you? It's very much like that: at first, it's a one-dimensional blur of a daydream but one that begins to open up if its given proper attention, when the ghostly male/female vocals begin to coalesce and the riffs really begin to emerge through the vast space of this record and begin to sort of make a bit of sense (but not too much, not enough sense to lose it's spectral appeal).

So if you're going to come looking for choruses and climaxes and things all-together obvious then yeah, look somewhere else. You're not one of the 250 people this album was made for. But if you're the sort of person who is going to put into an album as much thought as the artists did, then you'll be plenty satisfied when the end of "Witch Hunting" pokes its head through the smoke or when "Brandspeakeasy" lures you in with its almost-nonsensically murky opening and then pulls your farther than you thought it ever could.



Whitesand/Badlands - Brandspeakeasy

Download/buy the album here.

I Hope I Can Feel Something Like That One Day

"Excuse" is an ugly word; it has connotations of lie, like a reason that is a lie, at least partially. But "I've been busy" isn't a lie, per se, it's just such a bad reason that it feels excuse-esque. So there's my reason (however poor) for not keeping up with this, though I'm sure it must feel like an excuse to one Devin Hildebrand who emailed me a few weeks back about his sound-collage project Dth. Excuse me.

A lot of this new EP seems to stem from forlorn distress, from the slightly heartbreaking title I Hope I Can Feel Something Like That One Day to the individual songs ("I Always Feel Like Crying (For Mom) is a knee-jerk " :'( "), but musically it isn't quite so hyper-depressive, nor is it as explicitly annoying/boring as sound collage can be. After the clusterfuck and appropriately titled opener "[!]" the album unscrambles and is surprisingly delicate and deeply personal, culling samples not just from random found-sounds but "From our VHS labelled "X-mas '95 / Jodi". It's all set to understated ambient instrumentation, some synth drones and acoustic guitar mostly, it seems, but nothing to overpower the star(s) of the show here (though that being said, cut-up sample set to a live drum beat at the end of the title track is a definite highlight). The whole album is beautifully balanced, between collage and composition, between the vaguely hopeful and the utter despair, between cacophony and ambiance but, somehow, it always ends up an entirely compelling and a quietly disturbing experience.

The highlight here is probably the closer, "Humans are like Ripples", which is probably the simplest in terms of structure and use of samples, but is strangely hypnotic as a whole crowd of people is asked "how was your day?". It sort of epitomizes the forces at work on the album, as the answers range from humorous to somewhat worrisome (sometimes simultaneously) and the music fluctuates accordingly, apparently with some science behind it:
Notes on a set scale (0-20, including halves of numbers) droned accordingly to numbers spoken in spontaneous dialogue prompted by "how are you feeling today, 1-10?"

Basically, I Hope I Can Feel Something Like That One Day is a wildly curious set of songs, which is meant entirely as a compliment. It's the sort of quiet headphone listening for one of those days. When you're not quite sure you want a pick-me-up or if you'd rather throw on Unknown Pleasures as a hold-me-down, then go ahead and try Dth. It'll kind of do both to you, and you'll like it, promise.



Click here to download/stream the whole thing.

You’re either crazy or dead, you just weren’t well bred.

Curious circumstances tend to breed curious albums, and generally the results are charming, unique, and can give an added layer of distinction to an already great album. Take, for instance, Ariel Pink beat boxing the drums on The Doldrums, or With Throats As Fine As Needles holing up in an abandoned bunker to record their self-titled album. Not that these quirks can save a bad album, but it’s always an added pseudo-sentimental bonus in an age of Pro Tools and recording budgets that could drag a third world country out of debt.

What is so remarkable about Our Brother The Native is their youth: releasing their 2006 debut on FatCat Records at the ages of 16 and 18 is incredibly impressive, and makes this now-trio either almost or barely 20, barring any sort of time machine-related accidents. What is equally remarkable is the rate of maturity and refinement of their sound, which results in Sacred Psalms being an early contender for one of the albums of the year.



Immediately clear from the opening “Well Bred” is the impeccable production: there is no studio-based “fullness”, but rather an entirely organic feeling lushness about the whole record; in fact, “lush” (in the “pleasantly full-bodied” sense of the word, not the colloquial bastardization) is probably the best adjective to encapsulate the feel of the album. Perpetually layered (and yet somewhat subdued) vocals and organ drones form the basis for stuttering acoustic percussion and all matter of idiophones and stringed instruments including guitar, banjo, mandolin and probably more and probably some I identified incorrectly and probably instruments I’ve never heard of. All ten tracks are positively flourishing with this feel, this cherry-blossoms-and-sunset sort of colourful je ne sais quoi, this mood which I’m going to stop wasting adjectives on because it’s meant to be experienced and not talked about.

Also set forth in the opener are the clumsy, though frequently lovely and often clever, lyrics. And “clumsy” is not meant here as an insult, but in the sense that they weren’t penned for metre or rhyme, but to fit with the song (or vice versa?). Though as odd as the chorus of “Ph. D, BA, I am your doctor, so listen to what I say” may seem, Our Brother The Native make it as restrainedly catchy as their timid vocals will allow. The rest of the hooks in the album are omnipresent, no doubt, but require some work on part of the listener; Sacred Psalms is a textbook “grower”, with each additional listen revealing some eccentric chorus buried so deep it takes five listens to uncover.



If there is any critique to be brought against the album it’s that this all-pervading feeling is truly all-pervading, with most every song having the same super-layered, faux-catchy vibe. Tracks that break this mould are unsurprisingly the standouts: the sample-focused, reverb-drenched “Dusk” brings to mind a lost Set Fire To Flames track, while “Sores” brings its chorus to the forefront and serves as one of the more immediately memorable numbers.

That being said, the quality of the album is such that any feelings of repetition are quickly pushed aside by feelings of “well hot damn, this is a fantastic record!”. At this rate, I’m impossibly excited to hear what Our Brother The Native will be doing five years from now, and quite honestly, a little scared about how brilliant another morsel of maturity could make their next album. Until then, we have Sacred Psalms, and we have one of the year’s best.

Our Brother the Native - Well Bred
Our Brother the Native - Someday
Our Brother the Native - Sores

As always, buy what you like. Pick it up here if you're in North America, or click here if you're across the pond.

Comus rape, Comus break, sweet young virgin's virtue take!

It's always a pleasant surprise when the most interesting and experimental bands you can find were actually active 40 years ago. Such was the case when I stumbled upon Comus roughly over a year ago. A tragically short lived and largely-membered group of musicians from the UK who released one of the most "out-there" albums of the early (early early) 70's, First Utterance. Seriously, it is difficult to conceive that must like this was released in 1971, and even harder to imagine it was conceived 2-3 years before that. HOLY SHIT.



It's sort of hard to describe, but imagine a group of medieval minstrels on LSD on acid playing some sort of proto-freak folk (in the sense that this is freaky and it is folky, not in the sense it's that made-up genre people sometimes label Animal Collective as.) Thematically, the song varies in themes from rape to more rape to torture to rape and torture (to the oddly out-of-place celestially-themed prog-rock wankery of "The Herald", which is probably a metaphor for rape (i.e. "flutes", etc.)

None of this would really be half as interesting as it is if it weren't for Roger Wootton vocal style, which ranges from yelping to screaming to warbling to sometimes actual singing; definitely download "Song to Comus" to see what I mean, because it really makes the songs extra-special. EXTRA SPECIAL.

Most exciting of all and most extra special is that the band recently announced a goddamn reunion after a 35-ish year split. I will donate any part of my body (you hear that, Comus? Any part.) for a Toronto date. Please.

Comus - Diana
Comus - Song to Comus

Comments are always appreciated. Tell me what you like, what you don't, want you want more or less of, or send me some recommendations or anything. And if you wanna link to me, I'll link to you. No homo.

My holy bones are best for breaking.

I don't think I can throw enough "crossover"s or "post-"s into a genre description to make This Song Is A Mess But So Am I communicable in just words. Experimental-electro-noise-crossover? Harsh post-dance with industrial influence? -core?

This was a project started by Freddy Ruppert after the death of his mother, so as one can imagine, this album follows a frantic sort of emotional roller coaster. That being said, the variety works surprisingly coherently: from straight-up noise ("God and Cancer") to straight-up dance ("Song for Donna Ruppert") to acoustic experimentation ("High Fives for Jamie") to creep-rock ("Bones Bones Bones") to God knows what they are all tied together quite nicely, by both Ruppert's distinctive voice and the subject(s) at hand.



What really sets this apart from other experimental electronica, and in fact, most music as a whole is the passion behind this record. Every note and every word is absolutely meant which is far more than you can say for a distressingly large percentage of current artists. We're talking a pg.99 level of feeling here.

Appropriately, this project was laid to rest after it had run its course for Mr. Ruppert, at which time he graciously made all the project's material free for download. I'm still going to put up a couple MP3s in case you aren't quite ready to commit to a whole .zip file.

Since you can't support this band, give his new band, Former Ghosts a listen.

This Song Is A Mess But So Am I - God and Cancer
This Song Is A Mess But So Am I - Bedridden and Dancing



Is it just me or was this entry not as well-done as my others? Something feels off.