ROJI - Dual Gaia

Nein, es kommt nicht von ungefähr, dass das Cover dieses Albums eine auffällige Ähnlichkeit zum Artwork vom Almeida|Lopes|Ernsting-Werk "Misanthrope" hat. Beim verantwortlichen Künstler handelt es sich nämlich um Gonçalo Almeida, der ebenso auf beiden Alben den Bass bedient. Man darf also aufgrund dieser Personalie schon ahnen, dass sich der musikalische Inhalt dieser CD irgendwo im Spannungsfeld zwischen Jazz, Avantgarde und metalaffinem Krach bewegt.

I'VE ALREADY WRITTEN AN ENGLISH REVIEW FOR THIS ALBUM HERE ON VEILOFSOUND.COM! 

ROJI - Dual Gaia (CD) (2022)

Tatsächlich haut das Quartett, welches außerdem noch Joao Almeida an der Trompete, Patrick Shiroishi am Altsaxophon und Jörg A. Schneider an Schlagzeug und Elektronik umfasst, verdammt brachial auf den Putz. Das erinnert im eröffnenden Titeltrack stark an den Superbass-Dub von The Bug mit einer ordentlichen Schippe den Rhythmus fast komplett unterbutterndem, dröhnendem Chaos obendrauf. Nur die wie ein von Stromschwankungen geplagter Automat durchtickernde Hi-Hat gibt hier noch musikalischen Halt.

Die folgenden sechs Stücke sind großenteils schneller und rhythmusbetonter - und sie lassen dabei sowohl das Drumkit als auch die restlichen Lärmquellen klarer erkennen. Es bleibt dabei allerdings immer noch klar in der Tradition von Brötzmann und Zorn stehender trommelfellzertrommelnder Hirnfick, in dem Das-ist-doch-keine-Musik-mehr-Jazz und derber Krach eben doch mit unglaublichem instrumentalen Geschick aufeinandertreffen und eine herrlich asoziale aber halt doch nicht fürs ganz simpel gestrickte Prollvolk ausgelegte Party schmeißen.

Und wenn mittendrin am Anfang und Ende von "Concrete Lymph" noch frech Dexter Gordons "Three O'Clock In The Morning" beinahe-zitiert wird, dann gibt's gar keinen Zweifel mehr daran, dass es auf diesem Album vor allem ganz einfach um gute Mucke, die Spaß macht, geht.

Wer gerne zu Imperial Triumphant auf seiner Veranda einen kühlen Sommerdrink genießt und es auch mal noch eine Ecke jazziger haben möchte, der sollte zu "Dual Gaia" ebenfalls ganz entspannt chillaxen können.

cassette craze chronicles XVI (feat. ANGEL OLSEN, GOZ, SORDIDE)

I'm trying to hold myself back a little with music purchases (well, guess how successful I am with that), so it took a while for this new installment of my cassette craze chronicles. But here we are again!

GOZ - Domus (2022)

A bassist plays a solo.

No, it's not a setup for a bad musician joke, but the actual content of this album by Goz, also know as Conçalo Almeida, whose work with several bands and projects (among them Albatre and Spinifex) I've  already covered here. With the help of some effects he has created an intense and interesting work of experimental drone. It's clearly made for fans of the genre or the farer verges of jazz. For those the two A-side tracks "Epicurus" and "Domus" offer a quite unique characteristic voice. On the B-side things get a little more noisy and atmospheric at the same time, as in "Sinius" Goz is joined by a friendly bloke called Torture Corpse on synths and knobs and stuff (I guess).
A great buzzing, swelling, scratching piece of free-form music. Nicely packaged, I only wish there was a way to optically differantiate both sides of the tapes. That always bothers me little - and is of course also a common vinyl annoyance.

SORDIDE - Les Idées Blanches (2021)

Do I even want to talk about this album in detail? The French trio Sordide is going to perform it at Roadburn only two weeks from now, but it's going to happen parallel to Jo Quail's "The Cartographer", which is quite mandatory for me. You know the great Judas Priest hit "Victim Of Clashes", right?

Well, this album still is of course a great banger. The tape version not being the most typical WV Sorcerer Productions release, this is a pretty "big" and modern sounding black metal album, which often gives me vibes similar to classic Samael and Behemoth, yet also - mostly subtly - hints at Blut Aus Nord, dissonant death metal and dreamy blackgaze. Awesome!

ANGEL OLSEN - Aisles (2021)

No, it's now the newest idea out there. Among many others Miley Cyrus has done it actually quite convincing. Long before her Atrocity have done it quite atrocious.

Yes, this EP is a throwback to the 1980s featuring five more or less schlimm hits. "Gloria" (Laura Branigan), "Eyes Without A Face" (Billy Idol), "Forever Young" (Alphaville), you name it! But Angel Olsen's lush yet still minimalistic synth - plus the occasional cello or guitar - renditions  of these song makes you forget that you have heard enough of this for a lifetime. Her emotional but never knödelig voice doesn't hurt either. The laconic lana del reyish sluggishness in Men Without Hats' "Safety Dance" also suits her.
The only track I can't really get warm with is "If You Leave", probably because the original by Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark already reminds me too much of Nena's "99 Luftballons" in certain passages.

All in all the roughly twenty-five minutes of this EP still remain an entertaining and given the subject matter astonishingly intriguing affair.

2021 physical latecomers (feat. ALMEIDA | LOPES | ERNSTING, COALTAR OF THE DEEPERS, GNOD & ST. VINCENT)

It's still January, so I think it's also still ok to cover releases from last year, right? Here's a bunch of stuff, which I just bought too late to review it in 2021:

COALTAR OF THE DEEPERS - Revenge Of The Visitors (gold, red and blue swirl vinyl Earth Ride edition LP) (2021)

Somehow this album got my attention, while I was browsing for tapes, but ultimately the vinyl version landed on my wantlist and sat there for a while until I finally got my hands on it. Lucky me, because the unique mix of post punk, shoegaze, (death) metal/core (or whatever?) and a dozen more or less likely ingredients is just as captivating as it is strange. And I guess the naturalness with which the silly, catchy sweetness and the heaviness find together in this music, is kind of a typical Japanese thing. Or at least it presents itself in a way that makes me think that? I hear some elements which remind me of Envy's "The Fallen Crimson" or Boris' pop album "Attention Please!".
But then what I think is not always right. So I still thought that "Revenge Of The Visitors" was the reissue of a classic, when it was already spinning on my turntable, while in truth in the style of artists like Sodom and Taylor Swift it's actually a present-day re-recording of the 1994 debut CD "The Visitors From Deepspace"! It still looks super 90s though: the cover artwork with its good idea being almost ruined by layout and typo choices is totally of that time. Interestingly the coloured vinyl really kind of legitimizes and saves the rest. Yeah, this looks cool now. Still weird, but that's exactly what this album requires.

The songs are the same as on the original, the only difference being that the opener - a cover song from The Cure - has been renamed from "Killing An Arab" to "Killing Another" by the original artist in the years between the releases. From what I have compared, the music of the original must have been a completely mind-blowing experience back then, but the production really didn't stand the test of time. This new version sounds superior in every way and is also performed better. So yes, if you want to transfer your own old music into new times and keep it relevant - this is how you do it.

GNOD - La Mort Du Sens (CD) (2021)

Gnod are known to be quiet fluid in form and style, so this new album being the blatant reprise of "Just Say No To The Psycho Right-Wing Capitalist Fascist Industrial Death Machine" that it is, comes as a little surprise. However it's a good one. The throwback to the sound of the 2017 angry psych classic with the even more iconic cover artwork is actually very welcome. This is in no way a one to one copy, but the politically charged, punkish English working class spirit, embedded in a huge, smashing and hypno-tantalizing machine of industrial noise frenzy, perfectly hits the same nerve - brutally, repeatedly and merciless. "La Mort Du Sens" sits halfway between the "Filth" of Swans and Ministry's ""Filth Pig", adds some heavy psych overtones and doesn't shy away from throwing either some dirty fucking La Muerte rock'n'roll or a wild saxophone on top of it. The just anger and pulverizing bass of this album might fuck you up or call you to action - in the best case both. I almost feel like I want to blow right-wing light-brain anti-vaxers from the streets with this. They don't deserve to hear this great shit though. Clearly a hot AOTY list candidate, if I had only gotten it earlier! Just like the LP the CD comes in a gatefold with a cutout cover, so you can change the colour of whatever this is supposed to be from blue to red.

ST. VINCENT - Daddy's Home (LP) (2021)

Yeah, this is another one which would have really messed my 2021 favorites list up, especially the category of huge pop music releases. Which almost sounds like an insult when you speak about the work of singer and multi-instrumentalist Annie Clark aka St. Vincent. The dry electronic funk of "Masseduction" still lies at the foundation of some tracks on "Daddy's Home", but she so skillfully and confidently adds so many more exciting facets to her music - something new on each and every song - it's a pure joy to travel with her. There's Americana, lots of 70s rock, even pinches of Motown. And so much awesome and beautiful guitar and vintage synthesizer goodness. And damn, no matter what this woman does, her songwriting and arrangements are just world-class.

If you don't fall in love with this album at the latest after its fourth track "Live In The Dream" - a six-and-a-half-minute psychedelic Beatles worship ballad for the gods - you probaly have no soul. Or maybe it's just not your thing. Anyway, you won't get this masterpiece of a record. It's not a double album, so the scope can't match the reference, but in terms of addiction potential and sheer quality this is pop close to Janelle Monáe's "The ArchAndroid" level for me! St. Vincent just got the vibes. "You can't hide from me." she sings. You're right Daddy, we can't.

ALMEIDA | LOPES | ERNSTING - Misanthrope (CD) (2021)

But now back from the popular limelight to the world of the obscure! Fittingly (at least if you interpret the cover as a very abstract Christmas tree) released on December 25th, "Misanthrope" is a quite dark and gloomy, but also super busy and exciting live improvisation by Albatre bandmates Gonçalo Almeida and Phillipp Ernsting with guitarist Luís Lopes. In six tracks with a total playing time over 55 minutes the trio hits a whole bundle of nerve fibres between Pulled By Magnets and Dead Neanderthals, Sumac and Naked City in me.
 
THAT'S WHY I'VE ALREADY WRITTEN A WHOLE DETAILED REVIEW ABOUT THIS MASTERCLASS IN FREE DOOM JAZZCORE OVER ON VEILOFSOUND.COM!

The physical release on CD (limited to 50 copies) on the Indian label Subcontinental Records is a rather unspectaculary package coming in a slim tray, but it looks fine - and undoubtly has amazing  inner values.

2021 digital latecomers (feat. SPINIFEX, THISTLE and TUSKS)

Since we don't know yet, if there will even be Bandcamp Fridays this year, I guess I'm just going to highlight some stuff I downloaded without a specific occasion from time to time. Today let's take another look back on previous year, with one freebie I got gifted from Stoned To Death and two releases which waited long ebough on my wishlist and now finally found their way into my digital collection:

THISTLE - Teleopsia (2021)

This mini album of the Czech/Finnish electronic duo Thistle draws you into an almost meditative environment of hypnotic ambience, without lingering on any idea so long that it gets torturous.
Even though it drifts into some darker places, it remains a soothing affair. Don't mind the dangers! In this vessel you can close your eyes, lay back and be safe. Have an epiphanic journey! "Teleopsia" is also available as a limited cassette edition.

TUSKS - Change EP (2021)

Last year's EP by singer/songwriter Emily Underhill aka Tusks is also at home in the realm of droning electronic ambient music, but shows you that this categorization in itself is quite loose, because the ethereal vocals and wafting dream pop appeal of these three tracks - which are all reprised in instrumental versions - leads you to a completely different place in your imagination than Thistle. Even though they don't go far beyond the five-minute-barrier, the songs on "Change" use their layered textures to build impressively vast and beautiful landscapes. Apart from the need for more I can find nothing not to love about this little art pop gem.

SPINIFEX - Spinifex Beats The Plague (2021)

And finally here's one longer album, which breaks the one-hour-mark. It's also hands down one of the best jazz releases of all year and crying to be put out there in some physical format. The title already tells you, that this is one of those pandemic times works, but you can be sure that Spinifex don't wallow in self-pity, but meet the viral shit show with a fight! Each and every one of the nine tracks, which range from under one to over thirteen minutes length, is a big energetic fuck you with just the right mixture of powerful positivity and artistically resolved anger. With a line-up of bass (I've mentioned Gonçalo Almeida before in this blog), guitar, drums and a wind/brass section of two saxophones and trumpet, Spinifex alternate between sounding like the most brassy instrumentals of prog/funk/soul/metal/whatever fusionists Thank You Scientist helped out by Turkish avant-garde jazzers Konstrukt, including some nods to their orientalisms. The drive and vibe also points to John Zorn's covers of Ornette Coleman, and in the shortest tracks even to the noisier projects which followed later in his discography. The songwriting of this heavy jazz rock album is quite intricate, at its best even rivaling the mastery of Yazz Ahmed, while being decidedly rougher around the edges. The dirty bass, wild drumming and those jumps into pure jazzcore territory take care of that. This is the shit. Awesome!

BANDCAMP DAY November 2021 mit CLARA ENGEL, GONÇALO ALMEIDA / YEDO GIBSON / VASCO FURTADO, NADJA und SWITCHBACK

Warum habe ich diese Rubrik eigentlich nicht Bandcamp Friday Haul o.ä. genannt? Denn eigentlich ist es ja meistens nur das erste, noch gar nicht allzu sehr mit der Musik vertraute erste Überfliegen der virtuellen Einkaufstüte. Kuck mal, was ich mir gekauft habe!

Heute fasse ich mich mit Details auch wieder kurz, weil ich in drei meiner vier Einkäufe erst so richtig eintauchen möchte, sobald die CDs bei mir eingetroffen sind.

Zum einen wäre da "Thaumagenesis" aus der unüberschaubaren Diskographie der experimentellen Doom/Drone-Experimentalisten Nadja, ein einstündiges Single-Track-Album aus dem Jahr 2007. Solch ein Brocken atmosphärischen Gewummers, Gedröhns und Geknarzes von Aidan Baker und Leah Buckareff - da ist das Siegel für allerhöchste Qualität eigentlich schon in die Bassfrequenzen gestanzt!



Bassist Conçalo Almeida kenne ich vor allem durch seine heavy Avantgarde-Mathcore/Jazz/Metal-Band Albatre. Auf "Multiverse" einem gemeinsamen Album mit Sopransaxophonist Yedo Gibson und Schlagzeuger Vasco Furtado aus dem Jahr 2018, nimmt der Portugiese allerdings nicht den E-, sondern den Kontrabass zur Hand und huldigt ganz offen und unüberhörbar dem Giganten John Coltrane, spezifischer dem späteren, komplett ungezügelten, spirituellen Freejazzer. Gibsons Saxophonspiel verschiebt oft ganz im Sinne des Meisters die Grenzen des mit dem Instrument physikalisch Machbaren bis in alleräußerste Winkel, während der Bass diesem brillianten Tribut z.B. gleich im tief brummend unterlegten Opener "Chanty" eine zusätzliche sehr moderne Note einhaucht.

Eigentlich hatte ich vom selben polnischen Label Multikulti Project schon seit Monaten auch noch ein weiteres, eine ecke kaputter orientiertes Album Almeidas auf die Bandcamp-Wunschliste gesetzt, mich dann aber spontan doch für eine 2016 veröffentlichte Aufnahme "Live In Ukraine" des amerikanisch/polnisch/deutschen Quartetts Switchback entschieden. Einfach weil mir nach einer meisterhaft dynamischen, alle Stimmungen der klassischen Free-Jazz-Tradition auslotenden Killershow war. Großartiges Zeug!



Und zu guter Letzt habe ich mir noch eine gerade Ende Oktober erschienene, eine rein digitale Do-It-Yourself-EP gegönnt. In den "Cicada Sessions" spielt Clara Engel vier Songs (drei davon vom letzten Album "Dressed In Borrowed Light") in noch reduzierteren Interpretationen, bei offenem Fenster mit Nebengeräuschen; deswegen auch der Titel. Wie schon auf "Dressed", so musikalisch entkleidet vielleicht sogar noch mehr, transportiert die Musik der kanadischen Modern Folk-Singer/Songwriterin vor allem reine, transzendente Schönheit. Zum Genießen!