THE FIFTY BEST RECORDS OF 2009: Part #2

45. Crocodiles – Summer of Hate (Fat Possum)

So maybe it was just me, but it seems like everything I heard/read about Crocodiles in advance of giving this album a spin was fairly negative. Folks said that they were dull, arrogant hipsters, that their live show sucked, that they were just yet-a-fucking-nother aimless J&MC rip-off band jumping the lo-fi/whatever bandwagon a year too late, etc, etc. All of which may be true for all I know, but I’d just like to take a moment to say: actually, I think this album is pretty damn good. And I don’t think it even sounds that much like the ‘Mary Chain, contrary to every Crocodiles review ever written, except maybe for a bit of ‘Honey’s Dead’ era drum machine and sunglasses-after-dark shape-throwing. Oh, and that blatant steal of the verse phrasing from ‘Head On’ on ‘I Wanna Kill’, but I don’t mind a bit of stealing – after all, if you listen to bands like this enough, you learn that stealing is danger and danger is cool! Anyway, to my ears, what we’ve got here is a pleasingly ambitious heap of theatrical synth/guitar LA power-rock executed on a 4-track budget, with wave-yr-arms stadium choruses, sleazy fuzz riffing, maniac echo-abuse, strung out Lynchian dream-pop, weird druggy noise bits and lots of songs that are probably about strutting around neon-lit streets in a leather jacket, lookin’ for danger. In a straight to video movie. In 1986. Um… actually I’m making it sound pretty bad here, aren’t I? A Primal Scream support slot probably beckons. I don’t care. I like this. All the sounds on it please me. It’s good. Feel the danger!

Mp3>Soft Skull (In My Room)




44. Pens – Hey Friend, What You Doing? (De Stijl)

Ha ha – the guy from Pitchfork hates Pens. Yep, they really get him riled up, to the point where he loses it and yells about how they “can’t play”, thus disqualifying him from music crit discourse forever. Good times! Anyway, even if we take him at his word, it’s bullshit – Pens aren’t some primitivist art project, they’re a punk band, and they can play drums in time and play guitar and keyboard riffs over the top and shout real good and what the fuck more does he want? Something that’s boring and knows its place, I’ll wager. Something that’s not a bunch of one minute explosions of distorted-to-fuck self expression speaking of teeth-grinding frustration and lunatic hedonism, clawing back a sense of the same anyone-can-be-a-rock-star-now ethos of punk rock that brought us The Germs, The Ramones and the 70s-era Fall, most likely. What Pitchfork guy is probably trying to convey in his own ignorant fashion is that Pens certainly aren’t easy listening, and that their trash compactor assault course of a debut album will likely drive you up the wall, if it hasn’t already driven you out of the front door on a mission to end the evening sitting on a distant kerb crushing lager cans into your forehead. It certainly won’t inspire you to sit at your laptop nodding politely and penning a positive review, that’s for sure. Unless you’re me, I suppose. TWO THUMBS UP!

Mp3>Freddie





43. Liechtenstein – Survival Strategies in the Modern World (Slumberland)

As you may recall, I was mightily impressed by an earlier single I picked up from this Swedish trio, deeming them to possess “..the whole essence of a great band, playing some defiantly UN-twee pop, with dignity, substance and self-belief”. Subsequently, this 10”, nine song almost album initially left me a bit disappointed by comparison. In blunt terms, this one’s a lot less post-punk, a lot more indie-pop. Less stern, more cutesy; meh. That was a really dumb conclusion to jump to though, because this is a real grower if you give it some time. With its bedroom closet sound, thin, DIed guitars, shimmery vocal harmonies and super-crisp reverb, ‘Survival Strategies..’ could easily pass for a lost artefact by some obscure early ‘80s girl band. And if Slumberland had fraudulently marketed it as such, I’m sure we fans of such things would all be holding it to our hearts as a holy relic of all that era’s goodness, as Liechtenstein survey the landscape and pick up some wallflower reserve and heartbreaking unhappiness from The Marine Girls, some strident tough love melodicism from The Shop Assistants, pop sass from The Mo-dettes, and just a touch of LiLiPut’s strident agenda-setting still creeping in at the edges. Beyond the wishy-washy sonics and cozy genre references though, repeated listens reveal a kernel of genuine anger and disaffection beneath Liechtenstein’s songs that still really sets them apart. The lyrics might not jump out and get in yr face like I hoped they would, but the fragments that do cut through the harmonies are brutal and disconcerting enough to give pause for thought, especially as the band quietly twist a cinematic moodiness into the pop framework, via the distant, Morricone-ish whistling of ‘Sophistication’ and the brooding guitarwork of my favourite song here, ‘Wallpaper Stripes’ – all frozen breath on the bus window and 6am cigarettes on the runway, like The Marine Girls ‘Flying Over Russia’ blown up into Fellini-scale widescreen. Also worth a mention is ‘The End’, a beautiful, bereft 3/4 acoustic lament whose speechlessly gorgeous melody recalls Ellie Greenwich’s ‘You Don’t Know’ or Carole King’s ‘Crying In The Rain’. More proof, lest I should doubt further, that Liechtenstein are a very good band indeed.

Mp3>Wallpaper Stripes



42. Mastodon – Crack the Skye (Reprise)

By rights, Mastodon should suck by now. Two albums since they signed to Warners, three since the astounding “Leviathan” when people started proclaiming them the natural successors to Metallica, and they waved goodbye to their death/grind past, setting out upon the treacherous path toward longer songs, a cleaner sound, ‘progressive musicianship’, and collaboration with Bruce Springsteen’s producer. Yep, much as I loved “Remission” and “Leviathan” (best metal album in, like, forever, dude), the omens for their continued relevance do not look good. So it was more out of curiosity than with fiery conviction that I picked up “Crack the Skye” second hand. Then I put it on, and ‘Oblivion’ burst forth from the speakers, and… I felt my hands describing familiar patterns in front of me, I felt my neck involuntarily start to nod back and forth, tossing my hair into my eyes…. I was air guitaring, like I haven’t since I was fourteen. Spread the word: “Crack The Skye” ROCKS, in ten foot high capitals. Sure, songs may ramble on past the ten minute mark and have – cough – ‘mature themes’, like Opeth or something (like, I don’t think any these are even about monsters, man), and I could definitely do without the quiet bits and Neurosis style angsty, operatic vocals, but when Mastodon get down to the essential business of layering up mountains of huge, volcanic, time-shifting RIFF, with elegiac lead lines crashing down atop them like the angels rising over Mt. Sinai, they still blow the doors off the joint. Listening to this, I can imagine their corporate label boss – who I imagine being, like, some old school Lou Adler kinda dude who makes a big show of caring about the music - standing outside the studio smoking his cigar as the band work out some multi-octave middle eight in 7/14 time or whatever, and thinking, yep, we sure signed up the right boys this time. Those who fear the spectre of progressiveness (and there is much good reason to) need not fear, as Mastodon prove here that they have the necessary skill and good taste to adopt the King Crimson approach to prog, eg, being really, really fucking GOOD and playing mighty, intensely focused music that is fun and uplifting to listen to, with self-indulgence excised at the planning stages (or at least, kept within carefully monitored boundaries). Everyone in this band is a powerhouse, and they’ve all got enough discipline to stay on-message at all times, with face-peeling results. Mastodon still make me want to raise my fists triumphantly, and go “GRRR!” and daydream about mountain ranges and commanding legions of tanks, and, yes – air guitar. Say what you like about metalhead fourteen year old boys, being one was fun.

Mp3>Quintessence


41. Zola Jesus – The Spoils (Sacred Bones)

Although operatically trained, Nika Roza Danilova most frequently favours a deep, resonant tone reminiscent of a ‘60s soul diva on her solo recordings as Zola Jesus. When listening to the dense fog of distorted sound being slowly forced into the shape of songs around the anchor of Danilova’s voice, I find it hard not to picture some Tina Turner of Martha Reeves figure, all set for her big TV appearance, with the bandstand set, the lights burning and the cameras rolling, only to find as she steps up to sing that the floor has fallen away to reveal a bottomless, starry void, and that the brass section has transformed into a sticky mesh of floating cobwebs that are encircling her, stopping her from falling. Then the mics are feeding back everywhere, and the audience are ghosts, and the steady hand of the drummer has been replaced by a menacing robot crocodile that’s stalking closer, eating up the backing singers. But she’s used to taking things like this in her stride, so she goes with it, tailoring her performance to fit in with the overall vibe of hallucinatory terror. In fact she could get used to this – it’s kind of a blast. By rights, you’d expect Zola Jesus to deal in lonesome, emasculating dirges in the lineage of Nico, Diamanda Galas et al. The elements from which she builds her musical style are instant shorthand for fragmentation, distance, confusion, loss, entropy… and an imminent collapse into gothic cliché. But, brilliantly, there’s no negativity or angst in these songs at all – each one conveys instead a feeling of exultation and wonder, like a romantic sunset-on-the-baloney moment, preserved forever in bedroom portastudio overload, each with the degraded skeleton of a massive, Ronettes-level pop smash hiding deep below the surface. And OMG, Wikipedia says she was born in 1989 and has been releasing music since ’06! Why aren’t all angry 17 year olds making a great noise like this? Verily, it is a deep and comforting and righteous listen.

Mp3>Clay Bodies

Labels: best of 2009, Crocodiles, Liechtenstein, Mastodon, Pens, Zola Jesus

SINGLES!
March/April/May ’09, Part # 2:

Part #3 coming up before you know it!

Graffiti Island / Rapid Youth / Old Blood / Male Bonding split 7”(Paradise Vendors Inc.)

Four way transatlantic split between some up and coming art-spazz-noise types, with a big ol’ lysergic alsatian on the front! Nice! Of the four groups represented, I’m only familiar with Male Bonding, who I caught live one time and quite enjoyed. A quick listen to this one might save me wasting a few sweaty evenings up at Barden’s Boudoir though, right?

So let’s see….

Graffiti Island: Wow, I take back all my expectations, this is AWESOME. I mean, really awesome! Sounds kinda like… Nodzzz if they were totally evil? Ok, maybe not, but man, this is some wonderful, weird-ass mutant nerd-rock with fuzzed-out swooshing noises, odd-ball lyrics, strong rhythmic backbone and a killer tune – real deviant Cleveland vibe, like Electric Eels hectoring meets early-Pere Ubu art-noise-pop? Their song is called “long-necked tribe”, and it’s actually about a tribe of people with long necks. Right on. I wanna see these guys, and shake them by the hand too, if possible/ advisable.

Rapid Youth: Oddly, sounds quite similar to Graffiti Island – especially the singer’s voice. Not sure I like this one quite as much though. The guitar is somewhat over-busy in it’s high-end doodling, and the vocals verge into a kinda Liars-esque chant thing that’s a little annoying. To further my Cleveland state of mind, it sounds a bit like Paul Marotta’s work in The Styrenes, if you get me. You don’t? Well fine, you’re not missing much, and I’m just being an obscurist bore.

Old Blood: Christ, this is rather less welcome. Overloaded no-fi sound that pushes all the harsh frequencies ala Times New Viking, but unlike TNV I don’t hear much pop or positivity worth digging for beneath. The drumming literally sounds like somebody banging on some bins with a stick, which I’d usually be into, don’t get me wrong, only nobody in this band sounds like they give a fuck, so I don’t see why I should either.

Male Bonding: Wheee! Rocking, high-energy dual guitar cartoon prog-punk here, served with a mischievous grin. Far more light-of-touch and good-of-feeling than the name ‘Male Bonding’ would tend to suggest, but with all the rock muscle and low-end fuzz present and correct. Actually reminds me a lot of Deerhoof – same undeniable rad-ness, only less precocious and annoying. Result! I’m not sure I could stand listening to these guys for very long at a single sitting, but their songs are short, and so are their live sets, so it’s not like they’re not asking anyone to. Gentlemen to a fault!

CONCLUSION: Hey, all in all, that was a great listen, and a lovely surprise. I kinda expected a lot of ‘rainbow vomit’ types with squelching pedal noise and bad, self-indulgent drummers, but actually at least half of it takes a trip down some interesting, non-conformist punk rock avenues, and, in Grafitti Island’s case, a pretty damn exciting one. All that, and I bet I just managed to wreck some idiot’s one-search-result googlewhack thing by laying down ‘lysergic alsation’ in my preamble too. I don’t think it even is an alsation. I’m not into dogs. Rock on!

http://www.myspace.com/graffitiisland
http://www.myspace.com/rapidrapidyouth
http://www.myspace.com/oldbloodmusic
http://www.myspace.com/malebonding
http://www.myspace.com/paradisevendorsinc

The Hot Melts - Edith (Epitaph)

Yeah, I confess, I bought this one just based on the cover art. I mean, a record that looks like this has got to be a hit, right? (Ok, if you share my aesthetic sensibilities, a record that looks like this has got to be a hit.) It was only then that I noticed it’s on Epitaph; oh well - could go either way. As it turns out, it’s none too great – kinda watered down Rocket From The Crypt on the a-side, with a flat recording nullifying whatever life used to be in the big guitar riffs. The song never really makes an impression; singer sounds like he’s trying too hard. The b is better, in that it’s a total rip-off of ‘Sweet Jane’, which is always welcome. I kept waiting for them to spoil it by launching into a big, dunderheaded chunk riff….. and they held out for so long, I was just starting to think they’d bring the whole thing into harbour safely, but no, the predictable ‘hey, let’s go loud and sing all gruff’ bit cleaved into view to sink my hopes. Basically I suspect this record is the work of lifetime card-carrying Rock Dudes trying to write pop songs and then realising they’ve got no idea how to make the deceptively simple geometry of pop work for them. Oh well, you live and learn. Gimme Foxburo Hottubs any day!

http://www.myspace.com/thehotmelts

Jacuzzi Boys – Ghost Ghost b/w Age of the Giant Jellyfish (Florida is Dying)

Sounding like a ready-made support band for Thee Oh Sees, I must admit that Florida’s Jacuzzi Boys press a lot of the right buttons with me at present, and it’s swell to find an actual, physical copy of this 7” after surviving on a few downloaded mp3s for a while. Totally spooked-out, propulsive garage-psyche is what Jacuzzi Boys do, and if that description already has you reaching for the bat-phone then their warped 12-string jangle, overdrive pedal lead vocals, droning echo, inscrutable harmonies and admirable lack of quirk should be right up your alley.

Maybe it’s reading too much into things to say there’s a distinct Florida feeling to this band’s music, an atmosphere slightly suggestive of the state’s queasier, weirder cultural legacy? Like the almost hallucinatory turquoise on some rotting roadside motel in bright sunlight? If somebody took acid in a Hershel Gordon Lewis movie, it might sound like this. Great cover shot only drives home my point, with the band bearing lanterns, looking sinister. They have another 7” out called “I Fought a Crocodile”. I love it.

http://www.myspace.com/jacuzziboys
http://www.myspace.com/mutinyproductions

Kim Phuc – Wormwood Star b/w Freak Out the Squares (Criminal IQ)

“You just had to find the most horrible record in the shop, didn’t you?”, said my friend Pete in regard to his 7” as we sat in the park surveying our respective purchases the other day. And yes, apparently. Yes I did.

It was the lyrics as printed on the back of the sleeve that sold me I think. Opening lines of ‘Wormwood Star’ are:

I knew it right from the start
That your were born to be a witch
Should have carved ancient sigils
Across my chest

‘Freak Out the Squares’ meanwhile opts for:

Why don’t you and me get together
And cut each other with razorblades
Trip down naked, huff some butane
Find a strip mall to invade

Sounds good to me! Whilst I’ll save both you and Kim Phuc the embarrassment of a full transcription, suffice to say, both songs get progressively more ridiculous(ly wonderful) from thereon in. In fact, all in all this single represents the greatest feat of laugh-out-loud, sleazy, nihilistic, batshit teenage sociopath-styled lyrical derangement I’ve encountered since I gave up listening to Cannibal Corpse. Respect, of a sort, is due.

I’m not sure what my favourite bit is. I’m torn between the line “you can take an average Friday night / and turn it into rights of pain!”[sic] on the A-side, and “Gonna fuck on Ronald Reagan’s grave / we’ll wipe our shit, piss and cum / with the American flag!” on the B. Shocking stuff huh readers? I trust you're appropriately 'freaked out' by these daring iconoclasts.

So, can Kim Phuc possibly measure up musically? Well… ‘Wormwood..’ gets off to a good start, sounding like The Scientists playing ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog’, but overall both of the tracks are somewhat meandering and leave something to be desired, as the musicians attempt to form an uneasy truce between classic Stoogoid punk, brooding death-rock ambience and endless tension/release metal-core breakdowns, emerging in a deeply unsatisfactory position where the best elements of all those forms have gone AWOL rather than compete with the singer’s tuneless, self-harm obsessed death-freak ranting. He sounds quite serious about it all, bless him. Social services have been informed.

http://www.myspace.com/kimphuc
http://www.myspace.com/criminaliqrecords

Liechtenstein – Everything’s For Sale
(Drill Buildings CD-R)

I was kinda lukewarm on Liechtenstein when I saw them live last year. So, your sound and aesthetic leans heavily on Kleenex/LiLiPUT, I thought to myself. Well that’s just great. But if that’s ALL it does..? Needs more… SOMETHING… to really make an impression. Thankfully, that ‘something’ is provided in spades on this fantastic single, which I’ll admit has really blown me away. And what’s more, it doesn’t sound very much like Kleenex/LiLiPUT either. So that’s me told, with my lazy stereotyping of central European female post-punk trios.

What it does sound like in places though is all-time Flying Nun girl-pop heroes Look Blue, Go Purple, and that’s a BRILLIANT thing to sound like. A backbone of suppressed fury and serpentine suspicion, hidden and soothed behind layers of tidal guitar jangle, nursery rhyme melodies, cavewoman thump. Listening to a-side ‘Everything’s For Sale’, it finally makes sense that Liechtenstein are turning up on so many indie-pop bills too, as the song revs up like a more ascetic, militant Shop Assistants, ending with a few rounds of three-part ‘sha-la-la’s. But it’s b-side ‘The End of the World’ that really elicits the LB/GP comparison, a quiet, heartfelt, gritted teeth vocal holding ground beneath a reverbed swirl of ‘What Goes On’ strummage. And, as if to taunt me, 50 second bonus track ‘Low Sugar / Low Fat’ totally brings the LiLiPUT. “We look good when we’re undressed”, Liechtenstein chant over staccato bass and muted trumpet, an oblique/obvious protest as perfectly formed as any ‘Pink Flag’ nugget.

Scarcely six minutes of music here, but within it I think we can hear the whole essence of a great band, playing some defiantly UN-twee pop, with dignity, substance and self-belief.

http://www.myspace.com/liechtensteinia
http://www.fractiondiscs.se/

Labels: graffiti island, Jacuzzi Boys, Kim Phuc, Liechtenstein, Male Bonding, Old Blood, Rapid Youth, singles reviews, The Hot Melts