Avey Tare’s Slasher Flicks - Enter the Slasher House

Avey Tare’s Slasher Flicks
Enter the Slasher House
7 April 2014
Domino

4 stars out of 5

 

Animal Collective’s Avey Tare, former Dirty Projectors member Angel Deradoorian, and former Ponytail drummer Jeremy Hyman have joined forces to create music as Avey Tare’s Slasher Flicks. In case you’re wondering which of Animal Collective, Dirty Projectors, or Ponytail—all incredibly enigmatic ensembles—shows through the most on Enter the Slasher House, it’s Animal Collective, which shouldn’t be much of a surprise considering it says “Avey Tare” in the freakin’ name of the band. If you can picture more of a rock sound (owing to the new bass and live drums rhythm section behind AT) to some classic AC material, then you’ve got the general idea as to what’s going on here.

The songs are dense, frantic, complex, and uncompromising, as also should be expected. Tracks like “A Sender” and “The Outlaw” are dynamic compositions that transform themselves every few bars into entities more and more remote from their first few moments. The catchy “Little Fang” will probably find its way onto every hipster’s iPod by the beginning of the summer. Deradoorian’s voice is finally audible on the great “Strange Colores,” an energetic—if less experimental—hedonistic romp. The dub reggae touches and kraut rock-ish jam section of “Your Card” close the album nicely, showing for the first time that this music is indeed a collaboration rather than simply an Avey Tare solo outing.

Much more satisfying than 2012’s Centipede Hz, the looser and seemingly less deliberate Enter the Slasher House is an intricately nuanced yet immediately enjoyable record. It rewards during both close listens on quality headphones and as background noise to loud parties full of young people wearing beards and ironic trucker caps. It will be interesting to see how much more Deradoorian and Hyman come to the fore in future records by this trio.

reviewed by Richard Krueger

SOHN - Tremors

SOHN
Tremors
7 April 2014
4AD

4 stars out of 5

 

SOHN is the pseudonym of English singer and electronic musician Christopher Taylor. Tremors is his debut LP, released on the legendary label 4AD (cue heavenly church choir “ahhs” and glowing gold halo over the label’s name). Taylor has a soulful voice (he’s probably compared to James Blake every few minutes) and some interesting ideas concerning production, but most important is his good pop song writing sense that holds everything on Tremors together.

“The Wheel” is almost four minutes of near perfection—though first released as a single in 2012, it still sounds just as fresh now as it did then. “Artifice” is a good example of the solid pop song structure which forms the basis of Taylor’s compositions, while the music is created out of many interesting little pieces of electronic textures. “Lights” is a more straight forward electro-New Waver, with hints of Bronski Beat in the vocal melody and 2-step in the beat. “Veto” and “Lessons” are a couple of great bitter takes on love gone bad.

While James Blake is an obvious comparison, it might be Kanye West whose spirit is most present in Taylor’s production and songwriting. Tracks like “Tempest” and “Tremors” could just as easily back West’s egoist raps as they do Taylor’s electro-soul exercises in angst. Granted, tracks like “Bloodflows” and “Ransom Notes” are decidedly un-Kanye-like, so you can probably discount my suggestion above as the ramblings of someone who needs more sleep in his routine and less ramen in his diet. Regardless, Tremors is an exciting debut and should turn a few heads in 2014.

reviewed by Richard Krueger

Kaiser Chiefs - Education, Education, Education & War

Kaiser Chiefs
Education, Education, Education & War
31 March 2014
Fiction

3 stars out of 5

 

As derivative records go, Education, Education, Education & War at least keeps its “influences” (read: “people it rips off”) on the cool(-ish) side. Kaiser Chiefs were one of the less interesting or original higher-profile bands to come out of the UK indie rock explosion of the mid-oughts, and while they’ve put together a group of catchy tunes here, they’re still not terribly interesting or original. Therefore, in order to give credit where credit is due, I will give a brief sketch of the “influences” rather than worry about the present record as an entity in and of itself (which it isn’t, really).

“Factory Gates” could be from an early-‘90s Inspiral Carpets record, Moog-laden as it is, while “Coming Home” could be a mid-‘90s b-side by The Cure. “Misery Company” is straight outta Country Life-era Roxy Music. “Ruffians on Parade” is a ‘70s rocker by Heart (okay, maybe not so cool), while “One More Last Song” is early-‘80s Platinum Blonde (therefore, by extension, slightly earlier-‘80s Duran Duran). “My Life” and “Bows & Arrows” are two more lost Inspiral Carpets tracks, while “Roses” is basically every Britpop band that ever was.

Oddly enough, through all of this runs the narrative of a concept album about the nature of the modern military industrial state. From the opening “Factory Gates” to the closing “Roses,” we follow a British everyman from the depressed post-industrial ruinscapes that dot the English map to the economic hope offered them by the war machinery that is far more likely to turn them into decapitated bodies than into decorated heroes. It’s an ambitious if somewhat derivative idea (see The Final Cut or The Monitor) that the band doesn’t quite have the skills to pull off. It’s certainly a catchy attempt, though.

reviewed by Richard Krueger

Timber Timbre - Hot Dreams

Timber Timbre
Hot Dreams
31 March 2014
Arts & Crafts

3.5 stars out of 5

 

“You turned me on, then you turned on me,” and other spooky tales, as told by Taylor Kirk and company on their fifth LP, Hot Dreams. At times like Leonard Cohen with singing lessons (“Beat the Drum Slowly”), at others like a less dark Bill Callahan (“Hot Dreams”), Ontario’s Timber Timbre (there’s gotta be a Tim Hortons joke in there somewhere) play a highly theatrical brand of artsy country folk, almost bordering on kitsch at times (“Bring Me Simple Men” and “Run from Me”).

“This Low Commotion” is one of the album’s highlights, for both its theatricality and its pure pun power. It’s a slow retro-country grind that could perhaps find itself at home on a David Lynch film’s soundtrack—such is its cinematic and Badalamenti-esque nature. If The Cure ever wrote a song in Timber Timbre’s chosen genre, it might sound something like “The Three Sisters,” a gorgeous instrumental mood piece that would be completely at home on a re-recorded Faith or Seventeen Seconds. It’s the best track on Hot Dreams—perhaps because it contains the fewest cubic centimetres of kitsch. Don’t be surprised if it shows up on a movie soundtrack or three within the next couple of years.

It’s difficult to take Timber Timbre seriously at times (this is the same band that named an album Creep On Creepin’ On, after all), though the simple act of having a sense of humour generally shouldn’t count against anyone. There are some nice things happening on Hot Dreams, and while a lot of said things might seem like carefully-constructed jokes, they are very pretty and listenable jokes nonetheless.

reviewed by Richard Krueger

Mac DeMarco - Salad Days

Mac DeMarco
Salad Days
1 April 2014
Captured Tracks

3.5 stars out of 5

 

Salad Days is Brooklyn-residing Canadian Mac DeMarco’s second LP under his own name, coming after several self-released offerings under the moniker Makeout Videotape. It’s the kind of slacker tropicalia tomfoolery that evangelical preachers warn you about during their fire-and-brimstone laden sermons. It’s pure devil music, and the devil appears to be a very chill dude, sipping an umbrella drink while he watches the sunset from his beachside hot tub. If you doubt me, just remember that DeMarco is the kind of guy who is likely to remove several articles of clothing while performing such deceptively mellow tunes on stage. Enough said.

DeMarco’s sonic arsenal includes a very smooth voice—something like a cross between Kurt Vile and Bill Callahan—and an electric guitar that is apparently equipped with fifteen or so whammy bars. Accompanied by a rhythm section that enjoys to stretch out and relax, DeMarco’s songs go down easily, invoking a kind of dub-hypnosis along the way. Stand-out tracks include “Let Her Go,” “Passing Out Pieces,” and “Treat Her Better.”

Enjoyable if not terribly challenging, Salad Days is a good record to soak up some poolside rays by. I might even join you there, provided that you supply the umbrella drinks. What, you think I make money writing these reviews? Oh, how terribly naïve you are, gentle reader, but I love you for it.

reviewed by Richard Krueger

Cloud Nothings - Here and Nowhere Else

Cloud Nothings
Here and Nowhere Else
1 April 2014
Carpark

4 stars out of 5

 

After having listened to “Psychic Trauma,” the third track on Here and Nowhere Else, the third studio LP by Cloud Nothings, multiple times, I am firmly convinced that their drummer, Jayson Gerycz, is fucking insane. He has no business drumming that ferociously. Nor does any other non-cyborg human being. As a whole, the record is a few notches more intense than their previous outing, the much-acclaimed Attack on Memory. The somewhat sloppy and unhinged post-hardcore of that record is still sloppy and unhinged on Here and Nowhere Else, but somehow they seem to be tighter in their sloppiness now, managing to refine it and perfect it, if that makes any sense at all.

Tracks like “Quieter Today” and “No Thoughts” are great little emo (in the original sense of the word) ditties that will have the mosh pits frothing over with bloody noses and ecstatic shouts of approval. “Just See Fear” and “I’m Not Part of Me” see the band pushing farther into pop vocal melody territory than ever before, with fantastic results. And then there’s the incredible beast of a song that is “Pattern Walks.” If you, gentle reader, will permit me to reconstruct this song for you out of its Goo equivalents, it’s got a “Mildred Pierce” verse, a free-wheeling “Tunic (Song for Karen)” breakdown, and a “Titanium Exposé” return to the beat. And then, after all of that, it finds an almost gospel-esque ecstasy in the repeated vocal refrain which wraps things up.

Here and Nowhere Else hides many subtle hints of beauty that it reveals more and more with each subsequent listen. If it doesn’t take hold of you right away, have patience, give it some time. You will hear the good word, and you will be converted.

reviewed by Richard Krueger

Perfect Pussy - Say Yes to Love

Perfect Pussy

Say Yes to Love
18 March 2014
Captured Tracks

4 stars out of 5

 

Syracuse punksters Perfect Pussy’s first LP, Say Yes to Love, stays true to the punk tradition in that you can listen to it three times in a hour. (Well, almost three times, anyway.) Packed into the album’s eight songs is enough energy to explain why 7 WTC fell when it was nowhere near Ground Zero. This record basically explodes out of the speakers. Singer Meredith Graves frantically delivers the goods without seeming to take a breath during the entire thing. Loaded with liberal doses of feedback, static, and hum, Say Yes to Love sounds about as analogue as it gets.

Though at its essence this is a hardcore punk record, touching on post-hardcore here and there, and infused with a healthy dose of noise rock, it has the feel of being an art record, an abstract impression of punk. To be found between the two-minute bursts of punk energy are ambient swirls and doodles, as well as minimalist exercises in static, more “One Minute of Silence” than Minutemen. “Interference Fits” progresses like one of Kim Gordon’s song-poems, while “VII” is an abstract and beatless industrial piece built upon distorted keyboard noises and Graves’s spoken word meanderings.

It’s refreshing to encounter such experimental enthusiasm in a hardcore band. As a statement of intent, it’s very impressive. It will be interesting to see what Perfect Pussy can show us with a longer set.

reviewed by Richard Krueger