Earn - Performance II | Album Feature

This is not a new direction for Matthew Sullivan's Earn. His droning, shimmering, and often cinematic compositions are at the forefront of some new breed of underground ambient music. This is ambient music for the generation that has come after hardcore and noise music have been assimilated rather deeply into musical culture. Sullivan has built a back catalogue of music that is knee deep since adopting the Earn moniker in 2008.

Yet has no been since  Performance II and its predecessor putting him into a prestigious tier of experimental composers by the shear fact through a focus on live recordings. I had the fortunate experience of seeing him perform, a rare treat for the east coast, and was blown away. This process showcases his mastery of live mixing away from the tools of studio control. The ability to control and subtly shift the ambient / noise environment requires attention to minute rhythms and builds of momentum and is what Sullivan excels at. This is some deep listening.

Earn's cassette Performance II is available now via Ekhein.

Mike Shiflet / Pete Swanson - "Bedside" b/w "College View" | Album Feature

Amish Records returns with another entry into their Required Wreckers Series and just in time for the crisp autumn days ahead of us. Mike Shiflet & Pete Swanson's split LP entry marks the fifth release in the ongoing series that has previously seen releases by Ben Vida, Keith Fullerton Whitman, Ensemble Economique, Gregg Kowalsky with Jozef Van Wissem, & Son of Earth. The series focus on the outer limits of artistic sound creation & each releases elegant packaging design sets it apart in a sea of over ambitious label's setting out to make a mark for themselves.

The split LP begins with Mike Shiflet's "Bedside" a beautiful, almost pastoral, electroacoustic composition. The track showcases a wide spectrum of sound and quality that incorporates multiple different sources a sound creation and processing. This ranges from the lo-fi hiss of distant field recordings to soft and lulling synthetic tones. As a listener I personally always enjoy it when a recording artist is able to seemingly blend together the history of recorded sound and new composition so thoroughly with each other.

Pete Swanson's side continues the rhythmic white noise explorations that he has been exploring for some time now. Screeches and crashes permeate the mix with a general air of chaos that is rendered with an edge of clarity that few "noise" compositions are able to capture. This isn't a sludge fest of blurry brown noise that seems to gobble up all other surrounding sounds like a black hole. There are indeed slight melodic phrases swimming throughout the fluorescent buzz and flickering bits of electronic overload.

Mike Shiflet & Pete Swanson split LP is available now via Amish Records.

holus-Bolus - The Earth for My Father | Track Feature

Here we are again. Finding ourselves face to face with the history of jazz music in the 21st century. It is an inexhaustible struggle between man & tradition. One half of the party is content to ride the rippling remains of a once great wave while the other is in a constant battle to learn how to destroy it. holus-Bolus is not a jazz group though and if they are then they fit snuggly into the second category previously mentioned. This is some seriously composed music one that requires strong musicians to complete but also falls apart into pure abandon in ways that only jazz-informed musicians really seem to know how.

"The Earth for My Father" is a turbulent affair that eases into its own existence, its own skin if you will. Slowly but surely saxophones and a clarinet begin to spin and swirl in background before the whole compositions itself turns into a tumbling cacophony of chattering woodwinds. It is not before long though that they reach their dizzying peaks and guitars chords and clattering drums precise as can be in their rambling nature. There is a lighthearted nature to the work which suites it well, making for a nice evening listen.

holus-Bolus's album Pine Barren is available now via Prom Night Records.

John Avery - Jessica In The Room Of Lights | Album Feature

I am not usually the biggest fan of albums that are essentially the soundtrack or sound component of a greater performative work.  Generalizations aside John Avery's compositional skill in Jessica In The Room Of Lights extends beyond it's original intent and forms a new life. It could be that the success of Jessica is that even in its original theatrical structure and performance the element of sound and the soundtrack held great importance. One could look towards the actors voices even being conveyed and spoken with through prerecorded tape playbacks. Either way Avery's Jessica In The Room Of Lights succeeds in its mission of creating an overarching narrative for the patient and acute  listener.

There is a foreboding nature at work here. Cryptic samples permeate through with the odd voice throw in manipulated and mutilated to the core. While the atmosphere surrounding all of the more dramatic elements are created with a skittering electronic buzz. The title track "Jessica In The Room Of Lights" is the corner stone of the album. In effect, the track becomes an integral string holding Avery's somewhat foreboding narrative in place. As dark and dramatic as the rest of the album gets the title track goes the polar opposite route. For the first time a repetitive melodic phrase enters the sonic vocabulary created by Avery's opaque and dreamy synth programming. This moment marks a rebirth or realization perhaps as what follows is a much more subdued affair.  "Zero Zero One, Zero One, Zero One" and "The Day Serenity Returned To The Ground" match silence with subtle and slow melodies that feel as though they would crumble upon realizing they being listened upon. While "Almost (1986)" ends with what is close to a piano ballad bringing a theatrical ending to the whole affair.

John Avery's album Jessica In The Room Of Lights is available now via Forced Nostalgia.

Black Pus - Pus Mortem | Album Feature

Brian Chippendale returns with Pus Mortem his latest album as Black Pus. The noise artist / drummer extraordinaire has been exploring the one band form of Black Pus for some time outside of his main gig as one half of Lightning Bolt.  Chippendale has been hammering away at Black Pus since 2005 and during this time has been continuously fine tuning his own unique brand of noise rock / art rock to stunning effects up in his hometown of Providence, RI.

Pus Mortem brings out some of Black Pus's most accessible material to date interweaved throughout the album. Three tracks into the album "Play God" could quite possibly get some people swaying and dancing with it's simple yet powerful drum rhythm combined with some melodic samples and off-kilter approach. This may have been present in past work but have never been so front and center or as confidently executed. The rest of then jumps back into traditional swing with noise-rock zest with Chippendale's drums pound away like a war call on tracks like "Why Must It End?" and "So Sensational" to great effect while multiple walls of fuzz build and swell around everything before collapsing in. But that is what Black Pus does best.

Black Pus's album Pus Mortem is available now directly from the artist at bandcamp webpage now.

Zaïmph - Imagine Yourself Here | Album Feature

Marcia Bassett has worn many hats over the years, contributing to a large number of seminal underground groups whose names seems to pop up everywhere. These groups range from the classic Siltbreeze group Un, Double Leopards, GHQ, & Hototogisu to name a few. Yet it is under her solo moniker Zaïmph that it seems like Bassett gets into the thick of it. This may be an obvious statement though as every single other project previously mentioned have been group efforts, when left alone to examine the exact precipice of where one will take their own work is a wholly different matter.  
The sounds and movements that reveal themselves throughout Imagine Yourself Here feel thoughtful in their approach. It would be somewhat of an injustice to tag Bassett's work as drone, especially in these current times where that word has become something of an accessary. The weight of genre looms large but there is something altogether more serious and personal in what results in this work an understanding that slowly comes to light in the unhurried recesses of time. 
Zaïmph's Imagine Yourself Here is available now via Bassett's own Yew Records.

Colour Bük - Dethkill | Album Feature

The gruesome twosome are back with some more totally left-field out of this world, scene-less onslaught that continues to lay their claim as being one of the most perverse bands operating on the east coast. It's not like they even mean to be this way. It's only nature. True outsiders living in an insiders posing as outsiders kind of world. Colour Bük bring to light a whole new side of their reality with Dethkill, a concept album for the modern age of noise-punk-underground.

I've personally been championing these guys for years and I still don't even know where they're coming from. The band recently toured the west coast with similar genre freaks Smegma, something which is some sort of testament. "Bastard Earth" may be the catchiest track they have recorded yet, to say nothing of the new found clarity in production and intent.

"Wake up you're getting fucked / you're just a machine / you don't even cry / the world's on a string /  and it's a bastard earth / a bastard earth / a bastard earth/ a bastard earth / a bastard earth" these are men of many words. The rest of Dethkill follows this path so if any of the aforementioned appeals to you I would begin listening now.

Colour Bük's Dethkill is available now straight from the duo & their imprint Wir Wollen Wulle.

Black Past - Pitch Black | Album Feature

 Upon my first listen to the lead track off of Black Past's debut album Pitch Black I knew that I needed to get ready for a scenic adventure down the motorik highways of the mind. The album harkens back to the classics of this sound from around the world (Can, Neu!, Hawkwind, Tony Conrad and Faust et al.). It could be because I know better or just possibly that there is something inherently embedded in the music but the solo project of Gregory Boyd has a distinct american feel that's hard to shake. 
It's really no surprise that the album's alternative title is A Soundtrack For A Deranged Motorcyclist. The groove sets in immediately after the needle drops and doesn't let up. The non-stop action is well summed up with tracks "Girls" & "EG&S (Mood Ring)" which blends the minimal experimentations of the music's fore-bears with an updated twist of synth's and hooks. The analogy of the open road comes quite freely in association to what Boyd is creating here. It's driving music, it's psychedelic in the music's subtlety, it's mind and body music to the fullest bringing that metaphor of the open road full circle into something more slightly more meaningful. 
Black Past's album Pitch Black is available now and is the debut release via Dangerous Age Records.

SFV Acid - #2 | Album Feature

This is some totally baked stuff right here. SFV Acid make bonkers dance music for the 21st first century. It''s as if the 80's and 90's MIDI craze has come full circle  and back in style à la a more acidic (duh...) lens. I'm not trying to say Zane  Reynolds (the mastermind beyond SFV Acid) is on that tip. Honestly he probably has some sweet analog gear or something, who doesn't love that stuff these days) It must be something about the compositional structure mixed with the tones that's creating the reference to me. Each seem to have just the right amount of child-like playfulness and lack of pretension.

It's not all weirdo hysteric vibes though. When you get down to the nitty gritty Zane Reynolds has an understanding of the history of dance music, a knowledge that extends past the dawning of dubstep and ceaseless amounts of club ready minimal techno & house records that can make one want to vomit. There is a similarity here to adventurous techno pioneers such as Juan Atkins seen through a hypnogogic veil. A fun trip.

SFV Acid's #2 is available now via PPM Records. 

Michael Evans & David Nuss - Natch 6 | Album Feature

Michael Evans and Dave Nuss create a percussive jungle of sound unlike any others. It's not a surprise that when the two musicians came together they'd leave behind an beautiful mess of music in their wake. They are pushing the gamut for sure but how else could they get it done really?  Their entry in the Natch music series touches upon key elements of each musicians work over the years recalling moments of Nuss's involvement with the long running free improvisational group No Neck Blues Band who have become nothing more than an institution in New York's "underground" music community, while it touches upon any number of moments from Evans career with a vast number of collaborators over the years. 
Throughout Evans and Nuss's contribution focuses on what the two do best in the percussive alleys of their minds while also opening up their compositional reach into some fully formed song craft.  such as with track highlight "Dancing Stars". Beyond some loose thematic thread of dark hippie-isms gone awry into a psychedelic nightmare. A devotional air runs throughout creating an sonic atmosphere and vibe that similar attempts of a dark free improvisation can often lack when in the wrong hands. Definitely a keeper in the series. 
Michael Evans & Dave Nuss's entry into the Natch series is available now via Black Dirt Studios. Did I mention that it's free as always? So really there is no reason not to dig in and let the good times roll! 

Loren Nerell - Point of Arrival | Album Feature

As synthesizers continue to whirl, in these times perhaps more than ever (or so it would seem), more unearthed gems of synthesized beauty continue to leak out of the crevasses of time. It's only natural I presume as the dust often needs to settle before any real understanding and excavation of the scene can take place. Loren Nerell's album Point of Arrival is one of these cases. At the time of it's original release being lost in the fabric of the day what with the original, and at the time totally unhip, New Age movement going strong and synthesizers being embedded within the popular music world's everyday language. There are always diamond's in the rough though and thanks to the folks at Forced Nostalgia Nerell's work has been given a second thought and all the 2.0 New Age kids (or had the number greatly surpassed this) can dig there mind body and soul into what came before.

On Point of Arrival a Nerell blends a myriad number of influences coalesce into a well thought out and entrancing adventure.  The album takes off with cold precision in opening track "Eldolon". It mixes bits of industrial elements and dance music, coming off like a serious cousin to the work of Chris & Cosey at the time. Things continue in this vein at moments dipping into the psychedelic end of electronic drones and even further into another post Throbbing Gristle act Coil came to be known for, if slightly more melodic in execution. The epic composition "Waves of Time" takes over the second half of this album. "Waves of Time" slowly builds over it's 22 minutes beginning with a quite hush of the ocean scape at dawn before the sequenced synthesizers and drum machine pulse fully takes form. It's the ideal ending for this adventurous record.

Loren Nerell's Point of Arrival is available now via Forced Nostalgia.

Herbcraft - Flowering | Album Feature

Herbcraft are presenting some next level stuff right here. The action is in full bloom, minds are racing at a snails pace, and smoke is filling the room. It's a journey to the center of your third kind of trip and one to be taken seriously as Herbcraft has already settled into some serious psychedelic adventures with two LP's on Woodsist offshoot Hello Sunshine already under their belt. Maybe the group's name gave all of that away already though...

"California Poppy" and "Journey To The Center Of Your Hive" go far in demonstrating what's really going on here. In each track one can only imagine the lights were dimmed almost immediately letting incense guide whoever was present through their surroundings as the vibe sets in. Spiritual in nature, psychedelic in execution, it's hard not to relax and let the world wither away before all the smoke settles bringing you back into reality. A heavy trip indeed.

Herbcraft's Flowering is available now via Julia Dream Recordings.

Tin Horses - American Radiance | Album Feature

This is some Rock N Roll stuff right here, capitalized in all it's glory. Ramshackle to a tea and with a total unpretentious attitude that can catch you off guard if you're not looking out. Tin Horses hailing from Philadelphia, PA let their guitars blaze and their classic flags fly high. Coming strong out of the gate with tracks such as "Amphetamine" & "You Took Care of Me While I Was Dyin" showcasing some touching moments of narrative story telling that seems to be quickly vanishing or being obscured in the current musical landscape.

It may be worth mentioning that the group share main man Kiel Everett with the dirge fueled rockers Purling Hiss. Where that project usually tends towards an overblown fury that takes in hard psychedelia and noise-rock to great affect Everett and the rest of Tin Horses set out on a dusty road of americana rock. A more restrained Crazy Horse come to mind with Everett's charming nasal drawl keeping everything in focus and the guitars keeping everything moving.

Tin Horses American Radiance is available now on CD & free download on their bandcamp.

The Prefab Messiahs - Peace Love & Alienation | Album Feature

The Prefab Messiahs come at you like a gritty inside joke leftover from a college acid trip. You were either there or are trying to catch up. A strange brew that mixes together sarcastic 60's counter culture rhetoric, new wave goofiness, and some of the best lo fi Casio drum machine rhythm tracks you're likely to hear. The group's music has been lovingly resurrected for contemporary ears via Gary War & Taylor Richardson's Fixed Identity label. 

It's easy to place an "outsider" label on The Prefab Messiahs and there is some ample evidence pointing  to why.  The group formed in the college town of Worcester, MA 1 hour outside of Boston, it's a town not exactly known for a fertile music scene. When you combine this with the total weirdo nature of the group, their ties to other musical freaks of the scene, & the fact that their work from the time has essentially existed outside of any mainstream or fringe circles for near 30 years. Though this is due in no small part to the lack of available recordings of the band. It's now time to dig in and there's no time time like the right time which is now. 

The group are preparing for their 30 year reunion and in celebration have planned, a Massachusetts heavy, "micro-tour" around their home in the north east US. New England psych-folk legend Bobb Trimble, a occasional producer of the group, will be coming along for the ride too making these dates a little extra special. Last Nights has been fortunate to present the New York concert at Death By Audio in Brooklyn, which should be a spectacular night. You can find more info and dates for the tour below.

6/6 - Cambridge, MA @ Middlesex Lounge w/ Jesse Gallager

6/7 - Northampton, MA @ The Sierra Grille  w/ Sore Eros

6/8 - Brooklyn, NY @ Death By Audio w/ Spectre Folk, Weyes Blood and the Dark Juices

6/9 - Worcester, MA @ The Firehouse w/ Secret Lover

The Prefab Messiahs Peace Love & Alienation is available now via Fixed Identity.

Tracey Trance / Run DMT - Little Treats / The Road Soda | Album Feature

The sounds on Tracey Trance and Run DMT newest split cassette begin dripping out of the stereo in a slow-syrupy motion. It's something akin to waking up on a saturday morning and finding your Aunt Jemima left out over night, upside down, and ready to join the THC butter spread all over your pancakes. The first bite is irresistible and sets off the surreal rabbit hole of reality you're about to venture through. All breakfast analogies aside there is some sort of serious nostalgic vibes and pseudo (or maybe not so pseudo) musical naivety happening here that blows the roof of this split. Searching back in some sugar addled recess of the mind where absurdist humor, TV soundtracks, and pop music meet.

Tracey Trance starts things off here with a blurry of fuzzy & faded keyboard patterns that could be the theme song recorded straight from the TV to cassette (albeit one that's been around the block a few times, if you can dig where I'm coming from). Now that I think about it the whole side carries this sort of sound all the way. One could make a rather crude comparison to the BBC Radiophonic Workshop as well, if those men & women were children of post-Thachter era. At times haunting and deeply moving while maintaining a total naive weirdo vibe.

Run DMT's side "The Road Soda" has a brief spoken word that sounds as if it could have been taken from a youtube video describing a mysterious clip found at the beginning of a video tape. The clip is of a "guy in a strange mask." On these words a synthesizer rolls into the mix announcing what the listener has in store for themselves throughout the composition. A messy yet cohesive collage of found sound dialogue, synthesizers, noise, and similarly to Tracey Trance's half an eccentric sense of humor and approach to music. A approach that is wholly in line with the times and one that each have helped define and refine.

Tracey Trance and Run DMT's split cassette is available now via CGIFRIDAY (a label who have been killing it as of late, keep an eye out.) 

Alan Watts - ...Is The Fantasy Band | Album Feature

Alan Watts have covered a large amount of ground during their brief existence. Here on  ...Is The Fantasy Band, their second recorded outing, they really begin to cut loose and unwind a bit. For those that need to get your "hit" you can skip right to "Africa Bats" with it's hints of psych rock and Velvet Underground cool.  But for the rest of us the EP is pretty rewarding listen that manages to explore a spectrum of structures & styles. Yet throughout there is a certain indefinable dynamic all their own.

Throughout the album hints & traces of a ton of contemporary underground/alternative touchstones are hit most notably the eccentric electro-squelches of Black Dice, snippets of Animal Collective's hazey hypnotics, & the irreverent nature of some of Factory Records more upbeat releases. Sorry to go on a name checking spree.  Honestly I think one would need to really be looking for some of this stuff as Alan Watts do such a beautiful job synthesizing all of these influences into something unique to them. Something that all those aforementioned groups did a great job at too. Looking forward to seeing where Alan Watts go next.

Also there is no relation to the original new age forefather Alan Watts (to my knowledge).

Alan Watt's ...Is The Fantasy Band is available now via Blackburn Recordings.

Dolores Boys - S/T Cassette | Album Feature

There is something in the air, in the water even, these days (that is the past couple of years) that has created a new breed of punk. People have been talking about it. Spoke of it. Mentioned it maybe. I know you've heard something about, or at least overheard something about it. Dolores Boys fit within this conversation. They are noisy, use electronics, & are definitely verge on the weirder / more experimental end of things.

The group have a gasps of industrial currents running through their sound with I would venture to say bits of metal. The rolling thud of drums continuously working to guide sheets of dark metal sludge is a common theme. But it is the when Dolores Boys take it easy a bit & loosen up on tracks such as "Jesus Gave Up on Blues Singers" that a more diverse & organic sound emerges hinting at thing to come. In fact it is this break that allows for the group to begin exploring new territory such as the cheekily titled "Lead Singer in a Cover Band." By allowing silence & subtlety (or an attempt towards it at any rate) into their work a dynamic treat is created.  One fitting of these new times.

Dolores Boys self-titled CS is available now via Psychic Mule.

Ed Schrader's Music Beat - Jazz Mind | Album Feature

I saw Ed Schrader's Music Beat perform a few years ago and was immediately blown away. All he had at his disposal was a single drum & his own twisted musical vision which he milked for all they were worth  It was one of those moments where it seemed like everything could & possibly should go wrong. It didn't. I was wrong and it is now one of those performances I have held onto over the years.

Ed Schrader's Music Beat's most recent album Jazz Mind follows a similar line of logic. The main difference here is the expansion of the project into a duo with the addition of bassist Devlin Rice (of Nuclear Power Pants) whose subtle contributions really help propel Schrader's vision into the outer realms.  They explode out of the gates with "Sermon" a tune that immediately grabs a listeners attention with it's punk aesthetics before letting us know what's really going on here.

The mood over the rest of the album drastically changes from the hard-edged punk of the aforementioned track to more open ended vocal music that seems to searching for some sort of spiritual transcendence through odd-ball mantra's & weirdo associative logic. Ed Schrader's Music Beat are really doing their own thing here delving into a sound and musical philosophy few are willing or able to pursue.

Ed Schrader's Music Beat's Jazz Mind is available now via Load Records.

Nude Beach - II | Album Feature

In a city whose streets are increasingly filled with the sounds of bleeps and bloops, it's a breath of fresh air to discover some good ol' boys with guitars flying under the radar. Meet Nude Beach, a power trio out of Brooklyn whose penchant for chiming guitars and herky-jerky rhythms recall a host of artists from yesteryear, yet feels as fresh as Spring's first blooming daisies.

The songs on their second release, appropriately titled II, run the gamut from straight ahead pop jams to lyrical, anthemic bursts of fist-pumping rock; ripping guitar leads intact. Case in point: mid-album track "Love Can't Wait," a lovely bit of earnest, yearning rock n' roll, perfected by the likes of Springsteen and Co., has you obediently bopping along until a Mascis sized guitar solo comes in to steal the show. The guitar work on this record deserves special praise for accomplishing a feat many an axeman struggles with, combining proficiency with melody and purpose. Each guitar figure is carefully constructed to serve the song it's anchoring, not a note wasted.

Guitar geek-outs aside, the album is a no-frills excursion into the back catalogue of rock n' roll as we know and love it. Influences such as the aforementioned Springsteen, The Replacements, and The Attractions are payed unabashed tribute. "Walkin' Down My Street" sounds like a long forgotten b-side from Costello's first record, while the whole affair is slathered in the slop-pop aesthetics of The 'Mats. This is not to detract from Nude Beach's songs in the slightest; these are the types of loving homages that make you smile rather than cringe. Bottom line: this is some of the most fun you'll have listening to guitar pop this upcoming season. While the group may keep a low profile, their only internet presence being a Bandcamp and bare-bones Angelfire site, I have a feeling it's only a matter of time until that luxury escapes Nude Beach. Here's to 'em. Raise your glasses.

II is out now via the band's own Nude Beach Records. They're currently doing a full album stream and a "pay-what-you-wish" type of deal over at their Bandcamp, so get it while it's hot.