Amenra - Mass V

(Neurot Recordings / Soul Slayer Records, 2012)

I’ll admit that I was blissfully unaware of Amenra‘s existence until about a year ago when I read that uber-producer Billy Anderson was due to record their then-upcoming album. While I generally sit up and take notice of anything a luminary like Anderson gets involved with, the tide of great releases already under 2012′s metaphorical belt meant that my hopes for another fantastic album in 2012 were diminishing, and my investment in the project was little more than a vague interest. Released by Neurot Recordings, the Belgium band’s new album Mass V is their fourth full-length, and the latest in a long list of releases that span their nearly decade-long career and it’s exactly the kind of album that will draw you into Amenra’s musical world.

Though the album packs the inevitable punch, it does so without as much focus on the sub frequencies as many of the best heavy releases of 2012 have had. Rather, Mass V is taut – a veritable hotbed of tension and despair that reveals itself through moments of quiet exasperation and uproarious storms of wiry guitars and tortured screams. On first listen the album’s four songs owe a great deal to early-to-mid era Neurosis, the Jesus Lizard and a host of 90′s post-rock, post-hardcore royalty. But there is also a hypnotic air amongst the clamour, a kind of droning groove that also ties the band’s sound to sludge and doom. Second track ‘Boden’ illustrates this perfectly; after a lengthy meditative section characteristic of post-rock, the band kicks in with a familiar, almighty doom rhythm thus weaving the two genres seamlessly.

The post-rock feel continues on devastating final track ‘Nowena I 9.10′ which starts with an unflinching, intimate melodic sing-speak vocal style that recalls Slint’s Brian McMahan, Colin H. Van Eeckhout delivering the line “Look into my eyes, there’s no better place to hide” with a suitable sense of vulnerability. Then a moment of calm lures you into a sense of security before a tidal wave of emotionally-charged guitar and shrieking vocals swallow you whole. While each of the four tracks distinguish themselves from one another they’re best enjoyed and appreciated as a whole suite, and almost seem to flow into one another without cross-fading trickery. Rather, this is by virtue of their tense nature – you won’t know if a pause in the action signals a gap between tracks or a lure into a calm state before another aural attack.

As I said, through my own ignorance I wasn’t expecting much from Mass V – hype so often kills an album or a band and in my case I just had no idea what to expect. To my delight what I got was a fantastic album that felt like it was over too soon. Only 4 songs long, and averaging about ten minutes each, my only criticism is that there aren’t more tracks for me to enjoy. But the album is actually well-paced and structured to facilitate an enjoyable listening experience without ever testing patience or pushing the envelope too far. From humble beginnings (in my mind), Mass V is the last great album of 2012 – shove that in your stocking.

[Originally published by the Sleeping Shaman, 12/12/2012]
http://www.thesleepingshaman.com/reviews/album-reviews/a/amenra-mass-v-cd-lp-dd-2012/

Seabuckthorn - The Silence Woke Me

(Bookmaker Records, 2012)

Prolific craftsman of ambient acoustic raga soundscapes, Seabuckthorn returns with another evocative collection of songs, boosted by a subtle but tangibly bigger emphasis on rhythm than last years fantastic In Nightfall. Relying this time on his trusty 12-string acoustic, shruti box and whatever percussive instruments he had lying around, Seabuckthorn (aka Andy Cartwright) weaves together ten cohesive tracks that take you on a metaphysical journey through the Serengeti, the Amazon rainforest, Mayan ruins, with a few fleeting stopovers in the middle east and all with an underlying Indian drone. And he does all this without ever descending into the arena of Paul Simon's studied take on 'world music' or staying loyal to any particular geographic region, tribe or sect. Instead Cartwright has a natural propensity to folk music that feels ancient and steeped in mysticism. Enjoy the album as a whole and you'll soon forget the wettest British summer in a hundred years. An exceptional treasure.

[Originally published in Oxford Music Scene magazine, November 2012]

http://oxfordmusicblog.co.uk/Oxford%20Music%20Scene-21.pdf

 

Various Artists - Audioscope: Music For a Good Home 2

(Audioscope download, 2012)

Firstly, massive apologies to one and all for the lateness in bringing news of this most excellent and worthy digital compilation to your attention; originally released in October in aid of the homeless charity Shelter, Music For a Good Home 2 is the work of Stuart Fowkes (Listing Ships) and Music In Oxford's very own Simon Minter and features many exclusive tracks from not only internationally renowned artists such as Four Tet and Wire but also the cream of Oxford's musical crop. But with Christmas fast-approaching and with it being the season of charity and good-will to your fellow man, there is no time like the present to donate five pounds (every penny of which goes straight to Shelter) in return for the 40 excellent tracks contained herein.

Before getting to Oxford's musical contributions, a few words on the out-of-towners. The compilation kicks off with Four Tet's appropriately-titled 'Audioscope', a song full of Kieran Hebden's trademark sputtering rhythms, warm, organic synthesisers and a sly sense of melody delivered here by twinkling keys; it's a gentle start to the collection but Four Tet's inclusion is a real coup for the curators and sets the tone in terms of quality and the diversity of artists involved. Case in point: Wire, whose contribution (a live version of 'Moreover' from their 2011 album Red Barked Tree) is also fantastic – relentlessly fuzzy and fiercely energetic, it's the sound of a legendary band who've lost none of their post-punk power in the course of their 36 year career. Elsewhere, other exceptional contributions include Boxcutter with his subverted take on dubstep, Fujiya & Miyagi's funky Krautrock, Karma to Burn's raucous instrumental stoner-rock, and Caretaker's insanely intricate post-hardcore racket. Truth be told there are so many gems to explore over the course of these 40 tracks that one could easily go on at much greater length but you're really better off exploring the compilation, which will likely throw you more than a handful of (pleasant) surprises, spanning a diverse breadth of genres. (One of the unexpected treats for me was Magnetophone, a band who I've told myself to investigate further).

However what's most pleasing about Music For a Good Home 2 for this Oxford writer is that many of the best contributions here are from Oxford artists. Listing Ships are the first to bring their shimmering post-Krautrock jam 'American Steam Company' to the party and remain one of the true highlights once the compilation is all over. Message To Bears, perhaps one of the greatest and most exquisitely beautiful artists to come out of Oxford in years, represents here twice – once with his own heartbreaking 'Opus 1' and again with a remix of the equally fantastic Flights of Helios' 'Dynah and Donalogue.' As far as possible at the other end of the spectrum is The Cellar Family who never fail to out-freak themselves with their psychotic-punk soundtracks to no-doubt deviant acts; their contribution, 'Someone New', sounds like an even more lysergic take on 'Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite' – a real bad day at the circus. Elsewhere The Rock of Travolta also shine with their classical yet electronic post-rock hybrid on 'Loose Lips Sink Ships', as do the now-defunct ute with their delicate but characteristically dark 'Dissolve.' Again, there are many more worthy local contributions that are only ommitted here to spare you all a tedious track-by-track breakdown.

You may be reading about this compilation late but with the winter months drawing in and the frost already descending there has really never been a better time to engage with this extremely worthwhile cause. Five pounds gets you fourty excellent tracks and will directly help someone find Shelter this winter. That's real value for money.

[Originally published on Music In Oxford, 05/12/2012]

http://www.musicinoxford.co.uk/2012/12/05/various-artists-music-for-a-good-home-2-audioscope/

NOTE: Please give serious consideration to donating money to Shelter through this Audioscope release at the following link: http://audioscope.bandcamp.com/

Phil McMinn Feature for OMS

It seems that Phil McMinn was as disappointed as anyone else when his former band, local favourites The Winchell Riots, broke up in October last year. "After the band split I put down my guitar and stopped playing music for a year. I was so disgusted by the process surrounding the break up of the band that I couldn't have music as part of my life." But absence clearly makes the heart grow fonder – McMinn is now back with a solo EP, A Crystal / A Diamond / An End / A Start, released this month via Beard Museum. "In the last few years I had to work out whether I really wanted to play music again but ultimately I realised I don't have a choice in the matter."

Many people in Oxford will be glad to hear of McMinn's compulsion to create music, but I asked him whether he had noticed a void in the local music scene, perhaps an arena-sized hole that had been left by his former band. "I feel a more general absence in the local scene of a time that has passed when the Zodiac was the centre of the world; there was a community of people working towards a common goal, and everyone was friends with everyone else. That doesn't exist anymore, not that I can see. It's a lot more broken up now."

After being in two of Oxford's most hotly-tipped bands in the past decade (Fell City Girl and The Winchell Riots) one can imagine how easy it would be to become jaded with the music business in general. "There's only so many times you can see a band form, get signed, get hyped, get dropped and split up before you start to become a bit more serene about it all. And that cycle was getting me down so I stopped listening largely." But McMinn hasn't entirely given up on Oxford bands – he still has place in his heart for the likes of Family Machine, Gunning for Tamar and Oxford's elder statesmen Radiohead.

But it was his formative experiences of being in bands that informed McMinn's decision to go solo in 2012. "I've worked with bands for years and I just got tired of the process of having to 'consult' before I booked a gig, or check with girlfriends whether we could go on tour, or have my songs put in front of people for inspection before we could proceed and work on them. I trust myself just about these days, and I don't need other people to quantify that."

Along with former Winchell Riots bassist Rich Leicester, McMinn slowly brought together A Crystal / A Diamond / An End / A Start, a process which he describes as "me trying to break Pro Tools." But with one beast tamed, how has McMinn taken to being a solo artist, devoid of the bombast of a backing band? "I made a deliberate decision to engage with the fact that I can't be as loud or brash as either of my bands have been, and that was important. With an acoustic guitar and a vocal there's no hiding, so I had to relearn how to play and how to be on stage, which is something I'm still getting to grips with." But fans of Winchell Riots will no doubt find the transition a much smoother one because, as McMinn notes: "I was the songwriter in The Winchell Riots, so there's bound to be some continuation there musically."

I ask McMinn if there will be a solo album if all goes well with the EP: "It's always about money, which dictates how much an artist can achieve. I get so mad with bands who put some shit out in some shit artwork they did themselves - surely there is much more at stake than that? There has to be value to music and I don't want to flood the world with music unless it's totally worth it.” The earnest singer-songwriter leaves us with his philosophy on the importance of music: “People die to music, people break up to music, people get born to music. So that has to be respected. Charles Bukowski says it better: "unless it comes unasked out of your heart and your minds and your mouth and your gut, don't do it." 

[Originally published in Oxford Music Scene magazine, November 2012]

http://oxfordmusicblog.co.uk/Oxford%20Music%20Scene-21.pdf

Godspeed You! Black Emperor - 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!

(Constellation Records, 2012)

With characteristic little fanfare, Godspeed You! Black Emperor are back with album number four, an album that was announced the day they released it at a gig in Boston on the 1st October 2012, fourteen days before it’s official release date. In a time when record labels feel a need to give a release a good three month PR blitz prior to release to ensure complete saturation of the market, it’s a refreshing change of pace and a real thrill for fans of the band – a band who admittedly need no introduction or pompous self-aggrandizing. No cock-tease audio samples, no slow release, just an end product on your lap from a band who are spoken of in only the most revered terms as innovators, anarchists, and artists. Don’t fear friends, ‘Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend! is exactly the kind of Godspeed album you’ve been waiting ten years to hear.

And building on the innate sense of anticipation that is carried with a new album from a cult band, Godspeed immediately kick things into a flurry with opening opus “Mladic”, a song that had been performed by the band in a slightly different form all the way back in 2003 (along with “We Drift Like Worried Fire”). Atop a bed of drone, guitars chime and whine like some demented birdsong before a backbone of rhythmic drums, piano and distortion unfurls, propelling the song into an insanely energetic and chaotic episode. High guitar notes introduce a middle-eastern-tinged melody before the bass sweeps in to double up on the melody, adding significant clout to the now all encompassing atmosphere of noise the band has created. Ten minutes into the song and you suddenly realise that you’re short of breath and the hairs on the back of your neck are standing to attention – Godspeed have always been a magnificent band, but having been largely absent for ten years you can now appreciate just how much you missed them.

As “Mladic” simmers down, “Their Helicopters Sing” comes droning in. One of the two ‘drone’ tracks on the album, it sounds like the disorientated, shell-shocked aftermath of some air-strike. It’s on this song that I became intrigued by the disarmingly serene photograph gracing the cover of the album of a isolated, white, flat-roofed building in what looks like a desert or otherwise-arid landscape. One can imagine a scene in which this enigmatic building is soon levelled by bombs and gunfire, and “Their Helicopters Sing” soundtracking the ensuing, otherworldly, slow-motion chaos.

“We Drift Like Worried Fire” begins with tense plucked strings before relaxing into a glacial, Tortoise-like groove. A lulling, repeated guitar refrain is joined by strings and slowly building layers of noise and rhythm to euphoric effect. But just when things are seeming a bit too life-affirming for comfort, the song takes a decidedly minor-key turn, you’re left with a slightly bitter taste in your mouth and you’re reminded that in Godspeed’s world there’s no such thing as black-and-white. It’s all about the broad range of emotions and mental states, and judging by the ominous strings that lead the song out, not all is hunky dory in the world of Godspeed’s imagining. Final drone track “Strung Like Lights at Thee Printemps Erable” is the slow-burn comedown to the album, an atmospheric afterglow of amps warming down and order being restored.

You honestly couldn’t have asked for a better album from Godspeed You! Black Emperor at this point in their career. So many bands return after a long hiatus for the wrong reasons and sound like shadows of their former selves because of it. But Godspeed sound like they’ve picked up right where they left off, with the same intention and the same commitment to the music above any desire for glory, sales or lucrative tours. This is exactly how to do a comeback album correctly, now let’s just hope they don’t make us wait another decade for album five. Welcome back Godspeed, oh how we’ve missed you.

[Originally published by the Sleeping Shaman, 06/11/2012]
http://www.thesleepingshaman.com/reviews/album-reviews/g/godspeed-you-black-emperor-allelujah-dont-bend-ascend-cd-lp-dd-2012/

Listing Ships - The Hayling Island Sessions

(Idle Fret/American Steam Company Recordings, 2012)

All the best bands are nautically themed aren't they? Well, apart from Aqua. But think Shipping News, June of 44, Tortoise and Slint and you'll get the idea. Listing Ships have emerged as one of the best new bands in Oxford but their love of the sea has gone to the next level on this latest release with the band choosing to record three new songs in a converted Lifeboat station on the South Coast. Combining field recordings from the recording sessions and their own brand of kraut-leaning post-rock, Listing Ships continue to evoke oceanic textures on the the restless, tumultuous 'Baychimo' and the alternatingly rough and serene 'Alba Adriatica'. Combined with three of their previously released tracks, The Hayling Island Sessions marks the band's first foray onto that most highly-regarded of formats, the 12” vinyl, so it will serve as an excellent introduction to the band or a prized collectors item for existing fans. Either way, it comes highly recommended.

[Originally published in Oxford Music Scene magazine, issue 20]

http://www.oxfordmusicscene.co.uk/images/oms_issue20.pdf

Grudle Bay - Zoo Papa EP

(Self-released, 2012)

Zoo Papa, the first proper EP from Abingdon duo/sometime-foursome Grudle Bay is a stylistically strong effort from the keyboard, guitar and disco-beat-loving band. That being said the three songs are not without some major issues. Vocally the band punch somewhat above their weight which detracts from the songs' pretty melodies. 'Flyta', for example, features some questionable harmonised scatting which sounds (at least to these ears) both flat and out of time with the drums and the verse comes across like Culture Club's 'Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?'. It's actually the keyboards that are the most pleasing part of each song, and the most musically interesting. Case in point is final track 'Aperture' which begins with some beautiful, lonely, deep keyboard notes. But once the incessant uptempo drums kick in the impact is largely lost, making me long for the forlorn, elegant EP closer that the song could have been if the keyboards had been left largely unadorned. Grudle Bay have repeatedly flirted with a formula that works well for the light-as-sifted-flour sound that they're going for – usually when they combine the airyness of, well, Air and the miser-indie/experimentalism of Radiohead. Don't get me wrong, this is a good start but let's hope they continue to evolve into the ethereal, electronic funk-miserablists they could be.

[Originally published in Oxford Music Scene magazine, issue 20]

http://www.oxfordmusicscene.co.uk/images/oms_issue20.pdf

Interview with Justin Greaves

Few people in the sludge and doom scene have lived a life quite like Justin Greaves, having played in such legendary bands as Iron Monkey, Electric Wizard, The Varukers, and the illusive Teeth of Lions Rule the Divine. Plus plenty others. But these days Greaves is best known as the founder, core member and multi-instrumentalist of Crippled Black Phoenix, a bombastic, misery machine of a band whose lush, cinematic music has won them legions of fans around the world. With the release of their new EP No Sadness or Farewell fast-approaching and a few line-up changes throwing the band into upheaval, I caught up with Justin to talk about the last few turbulent years in CBP, idiots ruining Iron Monkey, recording in a broom-cupboard and an alternate universe in which he had made the soundtrack to Mad Max. Welcome to the world of Justin Greaves.

Hi Justin, thanks for doing the interview – I know you're currently preparing to head off on another lengthy European tour to promote Crippled Black Phoenix's new EP, No Sadness or Farewell, so I appreciate the time. It's been a chaotic few years for CBP but a productive few – already this year you've released a double album, Mankind (The Crafty Ape), undergone a huge European tour, released a triple live LP, and now you've just recorded another EP. Firstly, how have you coped with the last year and what has inspired such productivity for you and the band?

I'm not sure I have coped to be honest [laughs]. I don't know why it's been productive few years for us – it certainly 'looks' like it has been. I mean, we put out the live album which was just from a gig anyway, and it was just lying around and Todd wanted to put it out on vinyl and because it turned out so well we figured we might as well do something with it. I'm not a massive fan of putting out live albums, unless they're like official bootlegs or limited edition vinyl like we did, but now Mascot wanna put out the CD as well so we're like “Why not?” - it sounds alright.

But you know what it's like, it's just a case of you have a bunch of songs and when they're ready you want to do something with them.

It must be nice to have a label who are so supportive that they're willing to put out all these things?

Well, I think they might get a bit coerced into doing things when I want to do them [laughs] – there's a little bit of persuasion going on. If it was up to them they probably wouldn't have pushed me to do this EP, but I guess it proves that they actually are supportive because they're putting it out, so that's good. 

Before the most recent tour you parted ways with long-time CBP singer Joe Volk and recruited an unknown singer (Matt Simpkin) to fill in for the live dates – do you want to speak about why you parted company with Volk?

To be honest, I've avoided this question so many times – I mean, a lot of people have asked about it and I keep sort of saying the same thing: “He wants to do his solo thing blah de blah, we've both just moved on, next question” sort of thing. But the truth is there's a lot more to it and it dates back a good few years as well. And you know, I've got nothing against the guy, it's no disrespect or anything, I think he did a great job with the band and I'm grateful for it. But if you ask me “Am I relieved that he's gone?” then the answer would be “Yes, I am relieved.” And I think that's because, on a personal level, it's never nice when you're coming to blows on a regular basis and I think we're both much better-off going our separate ways. I think we can just leave it at that.

How have the fans taken the news? How did fans take to Simpkin on the live dates?

Well, it's always a bit weird. There are always some people who are upset and you're never going to please everyone, all the time, especially when it comes to singers. It's something that get a bit frustrating. But that's because this band has never been about the lead singer and it's never been about any one individual or even the group of individuals – it's always been primarily and purely about the music. Without being too cold about it, it kind of doesn't matter who is making the music – even with some of my favourite albums, I don't know much about the band and I quite like that element of mystique. But these days with the Internet being a constant stream of information fans often want to know more and more and it can get kind of intrusive.

But some people liked Matt [Simpkin] and some people liked Joe [Volk] and I know people are gonna like [new singer] John E. Vistic. I think Matt did an amazing job on the last tour, I really do. He stepped in, really last minute, he had a lot to learn and I mean, you've got to give him credit – he sang the songs note-perfect. But it's about more than just being able to sing the songs, you know? You kind of have to be CBP if you see what I mean. But to his credit, again, I think even he knew he wasn't quite right for the band and we all knew he wasn't quite right. Some of the band wanted to keep Matt because he was note-perfect, but for others that didn't matter because ultimately it's about whether it works or not and we knew that we needed something a bit different. All credit to Matt though, I think he's a great guy.

How was the last European tour? Was it a challenge to bring the ambitious songs on Mankind (The Crafty Ape) to the stage each night?

There were some songs that I thought we'd really struggle with but they were a pleasure to play and they sounded great but there was another couple of songs that I thought sounded good in rehearsal but then we played them on stage and it just didn't work so we dropped them. It's always a bit of an experiment when you record an album and then the band has to learn them. We're not one of those bands that like “jams” songs and then records them. Our songs come together very differently – they're demoed, we record them and then we sort of have to learn them to play them live, so it's always a challenge. But you've just got to stick to what you do best; it was a challenge but the tour was one of the best we've ever done, even though it was so long. I don't like to be away for so long. 

Yeah, it looked pretty gruelling on paper – it was 31 dates in 31 days right? Did you visit any new places?

35 in all, but that's because we we did a few shows in Greece then came home, then went off again, and we did one gig in London at the end. We visited Serbia for the first time and that ended up being one of the best gigs of the tour – it was brilliant.

What was so special about it?

Just the vibe mostly – you just find sometimes that you get somewhere and you get along with the people and the people just get it, and Serbia seems to be one of those places for us. And although there were only about 50 or 60 people there, they were really going for it – the energy from the crowd was amazing. The venue was a building that had been bombed during the war and the owner had just built a little makeshift stage and put in a bar so it was just this sort of shell of a building, really small, virtually no PA but it really didn't matter because at the end of the day it was one of the best gigs. I much preferred that to playing in front of fifteen thousand people at Herzberg Festival, you know?

On that note, as I mentioned, CBP have also released a triple LP, Live Poznan 2011 AD, which was recorded on the tour last year. What was special about this show that it warranted a live record, and does Poznan hold much significance for the band in general?

My story with Poznan goes back to the Iron Monkey days, and it's a great place anyway but I had a really bad experience there and I didn't go back for years until I started Crippled Black Phoenix. And when I did finally go back there it was like the show in Serbia – we had such a good time and the vibe there was really good. So we've kept going back and it just seems to get better and better, and the recording was just an idea from the promoter in Poznan. There was also a film crew who wanted to film some of it and we thought “what better place to do it than Poznan?” The thing is, the show wasn't even as big as the one we did in Warsaw – which is more of a bells-ringing, singing and dancing kind of a place – it was just in a little blues club, in the basement of a castle [laughs]. It was a really, really good vibe and I'm glad we captured that in Poznan because we just seem to have a special connection with that place.

Talking of filming, CBP's made their first ever music video for the song “Laying Traps” in January this year; what made you want to make a video for it, what was the idea behind it and where was it filmed?

Well, we had some shit drummers in the video for a start [laughs – reference to the fact that I may or may not be one of the drummers wearing a Hazmat suit in the video]. I'd never really thought of doing a video for CBP before, but I'd been doing some soundtrack work with a director friend of mine, Sean Hogan (see next question), and we got talking about music videos and we thought it would be quite interesting. He's a good friend and we thought it would be a fun thing to do really, and then Mascot [CBP's record label] gave us a little bit of money to hire some costumes and for make-up and special effects and so on. Sean brought his own team and they were fantastic – they worked for free, they brought props and they made the banners which we now use as our backdrop on tour which is cool. The whole thing was filmed on the old airbase where I live in an old sports hall – the whole setting was really good.

I'm not really into band videos so the idea was to go a bit vigilante with it and suit-up which meant I could cover my face, and as soon as that was decided then I was fine with it. And the “Laying Traps” thing is about bringing down the establishment and all that subversive loveliness so we thought we'd get some volunteers involved and get a mob going. Loads of people turned up which was amazing because it was a really, really cold day, in the middle of nowhere, on an old, abandoned air base.

CBP's music has a very expansive, cinematic quality to it, and I know you've done a few film soundtracks, including horror/thriller director Sean Hogan's most recent movie, The Devil's Business. What's it like doing soundtracks? Is it something you've always been interested in?

It's something I've always really liked the idea of, yeah; I've always sat up and taken notice of movie soundtracks - it's one of those things I've always been really influenced by. I really got into the idea of doing it myself because I found that it enables you to make music that's anonymous. You don't have to do the press, you don't have to have your photo taken, you don't have to go on tour – all you have to do is make music, so it's kind of music in it's purest form, in a way, and it's adding something to another artistic medium which is very gratifying. Like you say, some of CBP's music could fit into movies here and there but I'm digging doing the soundtracks because it gives me more chance to make that miserable music I like doing [laughs].

So can you see yourself working with Sean again in the future?

Yeah, I'm actually in the middle of making some music for him right now for a theatre thing he's doing for Halloween. And after that I think he's looking to complete the funding for his next film (The Wait) which will hopefully happen next year. That'll be a much bigger budget film. The Devil's Business was made for no money – this one, the production value is gonna shoot up and it'll be nice to record some music for it properly.

The Devil's Business has been doing really well hasn't it, and the soundtrack is coming out on vinyl soon too?

Yeah the soundtrack coming out on Death Waltz [Recording Co] is really cool, it's a really nice thing to have – I'm knocking up the vinyl releases this year! But The Devil's Business is great – it's doing really well and getting good reviews even though it was made, like I said, for literally no money so it's really nice to see it doing well. 

If you could soundtrack an existing film, what film would you choose and why?

Probably the Mad Max films – Mad Max, Rollerball, something like that. I mean, I really like those films and their soundtracks anyway but I'd have loved to have gotten my teeth into something like that.

Moving onto the new EP No Sadness or Farewell, it features a new singer, John E. Vistic who brings a lot to the band's sound – is he likely to become a permanent member or will you work with different singers?

Well that remains to be seen, but it's all looking good with Vistic – he's done a really good job on the album. In an ideal world yes we'd want him to stay and for it all to work out and for us to just move on down the line. But it's one of the things with this band – you just never know. I'm convinced that Vistic has the right motivations for joining the band and that he “gets it” but it doesn't always work out. Not to be negative... I just really hope it works out this time so I don't have to worry about it anymore. And that goes for the whole lineup, not just Vistic. But he's definitely my kind of singer for this kind of music.

The EP also features a stunning vocal turn from Swedish singer Belinda Kordic (of Killing Mood). How did she get involved in the recording process and is she likely to feature on future recordings or in a live capacity?

Who knows? [laughs]. I asked her to do it because I had her album (Killing Mood) and it was on regular rotation in my car – I really liked what she did on the album and I really liked her voice and I always wanted to do more with female vocals anyway. Obviously we've had Daisy [Chapman] singing and we've had Miriam [Wolf] singing but I wrote this song and I knew that I wanted Belinda to sing on it. Now, originally she got involved on Mankind (The Crafty Ape) – she had sort of retired from music but we got in touch through mutual friends and she was up for doing it so she did it and it turned out really great and we kept in touch and then we ended up as a couple. So I asked her to do something on this EP and she agreed again. She may well feature on some CBP stuff down the line. But regardless we are actually going to make an album together under the name Se Delan. It's kind of a big thing for me not just because it’s a little weird doing music with my girlfriend, but also it'll be the first time I make a proper album away from CBP. I'm very much a one-band man these days; I went through a phase of playing in two or three bands at once and it was never very smooth going. These days I like to do one thing at a time so I can put everything into it, but I'm really happy to be doing the project with Belinda because it kind of takes the pressure off CBP a little bit – we won't really tour or do much press, we just want to make some music, put it out there and just see how it goes.

As for former bands, in the ten years since Johnny Morrow tragically passed away Iron Monkey have become one of the most revered underground metal bands in the world and have inspired countless imitators. What is it like for you to see Iron Monkey gain all this recognition, the likes of which (by your own admission) they never received while you were still together? Is it weird seeing Iron Monkey become this massive source of inspiration for these bands?

Yeah it is weird because we never, ever would have imagined it when we were together, you know what I mean? With that band – you could just never imagine it. Obviously, you can take it as a compliment or whatever but it is kind of weird and it'll never happen again. I mean, that time, and that scene and those people, the bands, the attitude and everything – it's never gonna happen again. It was a product of its time I think and a product of certain people coming together and doing something. I'm proud of being part of it obviously but I don't tend to linger on those past memories or anything. I could tell plenty of stories about Iron Monkey if I was asked, but it's in the past and they are just stories now. It's a memory, and sometimes it's a fond memory and sometimes it's fucking horrible to think about what happened.

Yeah, there were definitely some ups and downs with that band...

[Laughs] Oh yeah. Absolutely.

In May there was an all-day event in Nottingham called Morrowfest in honour of Johnny and it featured bands, or at least band members who had been in bands that you used to play with back in the day – do you have any thoughts on the event and why did Crippled Black Phoenix not play it (even though they were publicised as being part of it)?

Well the reason we didn't play it in the end is because it would have cost us a lot to do it – it was in between a couple of tours and everyone had kind of gone their separate ways – Miriam was in Switzerland for example and a few other people were scattered elsewhere. It would have cost a lot of money to organise ourselves and we're not rich – none of us had the money to do it. And to the organisers' credit, they offered us some expense money to do it, but at the end of the day I'd have preferred it if he'd given that money to Johnny's charity and given another band a shot at playing. I'd have loved to have done it but I can remember Johnny and I can honour Johnny in my own way, I don't need to play a gig to do it. I don't think anyone would have missed us really – we're not the same kind of band, it's not like CBP is in that scene anyway so I think it was probably better that we just bowed out really.

What are your thoughts on Earache re-releasing the classic Iron Monkey albums? Rumour has it that you were not consulted about the plans to reissue the albums on vinyl...

I've never been informed of anything Earache has ever done and that includes these vinyl re-releases, that includes the bloody double-CD version of the albums, that includes t-shirts – fucking loads of stuff that they've coined-in on the back of this band. I don't think any of the band probably knew about it and if they did, I didn't hear about it anyway. I think they just go ahead and do it and deal with the consequences afterwards, but Earache are like that.

I just thought it was in bad taste to re-release the albums to coincide with things like Morrowfest and then say they're doing it in his memory because, and I think everyone needs to know this: when Johnny got really ill in Poland on that last tour, he had to go to the doctor there - that was the start of his kidney trouble and he was very, very ill. The doctor told him that he needed to fly home right away or he could die. So we called Earache and they refused to give us any money to fly him home because they didn't want to put any more money into the tour. And so we called the management and they basically said the same thing - “What do you want us to do about it?” Fuck you as well then. And in the end it was the band we were touring with – Propane, god bless their souls – who gave us money out of their band kitty to get him home and we had to play the last few weeks of the tour with no singer.

The point is, Earache didn't fly Johnny home when he could have died, then he did die and people want to to honour his memory and Earache want to sell records off his name. To say it's in his memory when they didn't give a fuck about him when he was alive, I think that is in very bad taste.

So the 'Ruined by Idiots' Iron Monkey slogan could easily be applied to Earache then?

Oh god yeah – it applies to Earache, and it applies to the management, and it applies to plenty of other people who screwed us over. That band split up as a result of Earache, the management and various other things that were exasperated by that situation. I mean, we didn't fall out among ourselves although we did kind of split into two with a couple of people doing a band here and a couple of people doing a band there. To be honest that band was probably never gonna stick together for much longer anyway because it was five very belligerent, strong-minded individuals who basically didn't really want to do anything that they didn't want to do, you know? [Laughs] It was never gonna last, but the end came because of other people, not because of people in the band.

What are your fondest memories of the Iron Monkey days?

I don't know if there's anything specific, we just seemed to always have a really extreme time – whether it was extremely good or extremely bad. So much shit seemed to always land in our camp – we weren't very well respected, people generally ignored us or thought it was a bit of a fucking joke or whatever, and these are the people who now say “Oh, they're such a classic band.” 

Did that spur you guys on? People not getting it or mocking the band?

It didn't really spur us on, we were just caught up in our own little world really. The thing is we didn't take any notice of what was going on around us, we didn't pay attention to the press or the London scene – we were never into the partying or anything, we just had a laugh together. And that's probably my fondest memory – having a laugh with the guys in the band; making people go “What the fuck was that?” and then we're all there laughing.

Another band that took people a while to catch up with is Teeth of Lions Rule the Divine, the project you did with Lee Dorrian, Greg Anderson and Stephen O'Malley. There's a lot of mystery surrounding you guys and Rampton. Could you briefly explain how it came about?

That was one of those things where we were all in a certain place at a certain time. I met Steve before Sunn O))) had even released their first album, and I think they were supporting Goatsnake on one of their tours – they were playing in some really small little clubs and I think I met him in Derby. So we got talking and we thought it would be cool to do some ridiculous band that would “out-Melvins the Melvins' first album,” y'know? We just thought it would be a cool thing to do. And then Steve came over and stayed at my house and we got to jamming and talking about ideas; originally the plan was to have Mark Deutrom (who was in the Melvins at the time) to play bass on it and we booked a studio around the corner from my house which was like a broom-cupboard. But then Mark went AWOL – he just sort of disappeared – but as it happened, Greg was in the country at the time and he said “I'll play bass on it” so he came and played the bass. And then because we were all friends with Lee (I'd known him for a long, long time) we said “Come do some shouting on it” and that's how it happened. We just basically jammed it in the evening, just made it up as we went along and then recorded it the next day – we just did it all live in one day and that was it.

Do people still pester you about the band?

Yeah, occasionally, but the question is always: will there be another album? But who knows? I mean, me and Steve have talked about it and if we were ever in the same situation again and it was spur of the moment and it was spontaneous then it could happen but we wouldn't want to plan it because that would turn it into something else and we'd probably be thinking about it too much. We've both been so busy with our own things over the last few years anyway that it's rare that we see each other but every time we talk we sort of mention it. We came close to doing a second album – that was right before I started Crippled Black Phoenix. In fact, some of the really early CBP demos that we never used I originally did for the Teeth of Lions thing, it was really slow and heavy but then I got into CBP and that was the last time we really made an effort to do it. But who knows? I would never rule it out but I think it's very, very unlikely [laughs].

Was Earth a huge influence on the project or did you just choose the band name (taken from Earth's album Earth 2: Special Low-Frequency Version) because you liked how it sounded or how it represented the music?

I don't think they were a particular influence on the music that we made but Steve was the one who brought the idea forward of using that name and it was a kind of a tribute to Earth. But we didn't sit down and discuss that we wanted to do a band like Earth or anything, it was just a cool idea.

Are you ever likely to return to making sludge or doom music?

I wouldn't say that I'm not interested in it anymore, I'm just not inspired that way at the moment. It's just a different time for me really but who knows what the future might bring. Obviously it's been a huge part of my life, being in super heavy bands and stuff, and of course I love that music but I'm not as inspired these days and there aren't many bands that make me think “Wow.” You've got to have some kind of motivation to make the kind of music you make.

Saying that, I'd love to be in a band playing drums on stage again because I really miss it but I'm not going out of my way to find something like that. I kind of slowly drifted away from that whole scene, if you can call it that, because people started making music almost to compete with their peers – to make the “next big heavy fucking album” or whatever – and I don't feel that that's the best motivation for making music. But who knows – maybe one day.

Do you listen to much new music?

No. I have an insatiable appetite for new music but it's getting harder to find music that I like – you can fall into thinking that you've heard it all and it's rare to find something that really grabs you as “new” or “different.” I'm not saying that CBP are making anything new or original particularly but I guess many artists make music that they want to make because they can't find it anywhere else and that's what I'm trying to do. I'm keeping an ear out for new bands all the time but they don't fall in your lap like they used to. The networks aren't the same, you don't have as many DIY distros or anything, and you don't have as many record shops where you go in and they'll play something for you and say “Check this out” you know?

On that note, do you have any feelings about record labels like Hydra Head going out of business?

Well, it’s a shame, and I hope people start to realize that not paying for music and downloading illegally is causing the downfall of indie labels, and also record shops and distribution, basically the whole network. It’s a long and emotional subject that we could talk about for days, and it’s not easy to make a stand when most people see the constant easy access to music as a good thing, which i can understand, but at some point there won’t be any labels to support underground bands, then we’d be left with really shitty quality music made in peoples bedrooms on one hand, and the major labels squirting out their dogshit on the other. Labels like Hydra Head deserve more than what’s happened to them, they are one of few labels that genuinely support their bands and strived to release really good and interesting packaging for underground bands. Obviously, these days, the good guys don’t win. It’s all disappointing and pretty scary.

With the release of the EP coming up, do you ever worry about how the fans are going to react to the new material?

I tend not to think too much about what kind of reaction we'll get because we should just be trying our best to do a good job and that should be enough. People pay good money to come see us so we always make sure that we try to put on a suitably good show. I'm a big worrier like that because I never think we're ready before we go on tour but we're always OK by the end [laughs].

So you find your feet by the end of the tour then...

[Laughs] Yeah, the last gig is always not bad.

At this point in time, the term 'supergroup' is a rather lazy descriptive for Crippled Black Phoenix isn't it? That's not what the band is about anymore is it?

It never was. It was never a “supergroup” – there've been plenty of misconceptions about this band, and I don't even know what it is really but it's certainly not a “supergroup.” There's nothing super about being in a group – being in a group is shit!

What's next for you? Are you going to take a break after the next tour or do you want to keep making new music?

I think the next thing I'll do will probably be the album with Belinda; I'll probably work a bit more with Sean [Hogan]. As far as CBP goes, I think we might do another small tour, maybe in March or something, but we've had a lot of things come out this year and I don't want us to overstay our welcome, y'know? But I've definitely got another CBP album in me and I might want to record it this time next year. Sooner or later I'll have a bunch of songs ready and I'll get impatient and want to do the album, and it could be soon or it could be in ten years, who knows?

...and it could be a quadruple album?

It might be! It might be a quadruple album that's basically one song, it might be a 97-track EP. It could be a project called Gibbon Dream – we'll play super fast with no distortion and everything'll be tuned-up really high. Long live Gibbon Dream! 

Cheers Justin! 

[Originally published by the Sleeping Shaman, 11/10/2012]

http://www.thesleepingshaman.com/interviews/g-q/interview-with-the-infamous-justin-greaves/

Drcarlsonalbion - La Strega and the Cunning Man in the Smoke

(Southern Records/Latitudes Sessions, 2012)

You might not have noticed it but Dylan Carlson is a real Anglophile; his work with Earth has occasionally referenced English folk stories, songs and lore but his latest persona, the mysterious Drcarlsonalbion, is the strongest representation yet of his fixation with our Fair Isles. If you happened to hear the extremely rare debut outing of Drcarlsonalbion, the  cassette-only Edward Kelley’s Blues (a lo-fi release that recalled the atmosphere of early Earth recordings) you may be expecting a similarly abstract experience on La Strega and the Cunning Man in the Smoke. Think again. Recorded during a recent trip to England whilst conducting research and making field recordings at reputed fairy-sights and along the muddy banks of the River Thames, this collection of songs for the Latitudes Sessions is an elegant, meditative and charming introduction to Carlson’s Britain, a kingdom of faeries and magik.

Carlson’s love of British folk records is well-documented, and the influence of Fairport Convention really shines through on La Strega and the Cunning Man in the Smoke, both in terms of song selection and atmosphere. Largely a collection of covers, the record traverses the new and the olde in an incredibly cohesive fashion. Arrangements of traditional songs such as “The Faery Round” and “Reynardine” sit side by side with more contemporary songs by the Kinks and fellow grunge-era survivor PJ Harvey, but as the album plays out, songs written centuries apart find common ground thanks to Carlson’s penchant for ambiguity in both storytelling and melody. The Drcarlsonalbion project also has a real asset in singer Teresa Colamonaco whose voice is a plaintive spectre on these recordings, capable of bringing out emotion and menace in the songs in perfect harmony with Carlson’s simple, lush guitar-playing.

Title track (and the album’s sole original composition) “La Strega and The Cunning Man in the Smoke” will sound immediately familiar to fans of Earth’s most recent record, Demons of Light, Angels of Darkness Pt II, featuring a cyclical, understated guitar loop which creates an intoxicating air of hypnosis while Colamonaco reads passages from some mysterious and (no-doubt) dusty old poem. The almost nonchalant manner of her delivery, combined with her hard-to-place accent and the timeless sound of the guitar lends real gravity to the words, disembodied as they may be in this new musical setting. The traditional Elizabethan composition “The Faery Round” also gets a radical reworking, Carlson giving each individual note plenty of breathing space to cast its spell on the listener while a bed of yearning, droning feedback lulls you into a waking-coma over the course of thirteen-minutes.

A truly stunning rendition of the folk ballad “Reynardine” follows, and though modelled closely on Fairport Convention’s version it has enough of its own shimmering ambience to stand its ground.  Colamonaco turns-in a poignant vocal performance, the cavernous reverb on her voice adding an element of vulnerability and tragedy to the already devastating Celtic melody. Elsewhere, a stripped-back take on the already-sparse Richard and Linda Thompson song “Night Comes In” manages to successfully capture the mystical inspiration of the song’s origin. Again, this can be attributed to Colamonaco’s naturally sultry voice, the singer sounding like she was born to sing lines like “Night comes in like some cool river/ How can there be another day?”

The most unlikely cover here – purely because of how contemporary it is – is “Last Living Rose”, a song taken from PJ Harvey’s 2011 album Let England Shake. But then again the song illustrates themes at the core of English life and history – relying on past glories, the perpetual greyness of the weather and a culture in the process of disintegrating and reinventing itself. It’s a song that both praises and condemns England, one that’s in love with it despite it’s inherent flaws. Indeed, there’s nothing more British than self-depreciation and for an Anglophile like Carlson, Harvey’s “Last Living Rose” may be one of the finest and most lyrically succinct summations of this phenomenon. Carlson even covers a song from The Kinks’ Village Green Preservation Society, perhaps the most inherently English rock record ever produced. From fairies to quaint village tearooms, Dylan’s got England pegged, or at least some warped take on it.

The idea behind the Lattitudes Sessions concept is to give artists “the opportunity to spend some time recording something spontaneous, collaborative, fun or experimental” in one day, and in this sense La Strega and the Cunning Man in the Smoke is not only impressive but also a huge success. Anyone who caught Drcarlsonalbion’s debut performances in London earlier this year will recognise these songs, only slightly embellished here with the benefit of some studio layering. The intimate nature of the compositions and the interplay between Carlson’s guitar and Teresa Colamonaco’s voice is still very much at the heart of the record’s appeal and the results are often enchanting. Depending on your preference you may feel that the cover of “Wicked Annabella” (which is dead-centre in the tracklisting) is either a welcome break in the atmosphere or an ill-advised diversion from it but as a whole the album is a fantastic snapshot of an artist’s fascination with, and interpretation of, this Fair Isle’s mythical history. Ever the pioneer, Carlson may have just invented faery doome folke.

[Originally published by the Sleeping Shaman, 08/10/2012]
http://www.thesleepingshaman.com/reviews/album-reviews/d/drcarlsonalbion-la-strega-and-the-cunning-man-in-the-smoke-latitudes-session-cd-lp-2012/

Stinking Lizaveta - 7th Direction

(Exile on Mainstream, 2012)

Cult instrumental power-trio Stinking Lizaveta are back again with 7th Direction, their (surprise, surprise) seventh album, and the band are clearly not short on ideas, sounding more invigorated than ever. Bringing together elements of funk, metal, punk, jazz and blues with the same kind of cavalier oddball brilliance as Frank Zappa, Stinking Liz are a really unique band whose music possesses a truly bombastic groove and a freewheeling spirit of improvisation and fun. There’s a lot to like about these thirteen songs and the band have such a diverse sound that there’s bound to be something here for everyone to sink their teeth into.

Stinking Liz can do heavy but what’s great about them is that they also infuse their music with emotion and humour – even when the band is rocking-out hard you can pretty much hear the wry smile on their faces. Opening track “The Seventh Direction” is almost comically bombastic, entertainingly badass – the first ascending riff is so pompous that it sets the mood for the rest of the song, Alexi Papadopoulos’ walking bassline providing the perfect grounding for  his brother Yanni’s virtuoso, psychedelic guitar workouts. Elsewhere, “Moral Hazard” has a slight desert-scene flavour, recalling Queens of the Stone Ages’ early material, while “Burning Sea Turtles” is technical, shamelessly proggy and relentlessly changeable, not giving you a moment to second-guess what might happen next.

But there are also surprising moments of calm and cool on the album as well. One of the album’s highlights, “The Space Between Us”, is equally menacing, darkly comical and surprisingly romantic, with bluesy minor 7ths contributing to the unusual emotional pull of the song. You can hear similarities with some of the Louisville post-rock bands, suggesting Slint and Rodan may be an influence on these guys. On a similar note, final track “Johnny Otis” is one of the least complicated but most memorable songs on the album – a jazzy progression of chords repeat all the way through, ending the often-chaotic album on an almost contemplative note.

Of course, it doesn’t really need to be said (especially considering the band has been together since 1994) but the musicianship and band-dynamic on display on 7th Direction is nothing short of sublime. No member is any more or less important than another; yes, Yanni’s guitar solos come blasting out of the speakers with clockwork regularity, but all three members shine equally bright. Alexi’s bass playing is hugely important to the band’s sound – his upright electric bass leads many of the songs along (see the jazzy, improvisational “Stray Bullet”) but he also contributes deceptively complicated rhythms to many sections. Likewise, Chesire Agusta’s drumming is fantastic throughout, whether maintaining a steady beat amidst the chaos or adding to the maelstrom with a flurry of tom and snare hits. Yanni’s beyond-impressive guitar playing is really the icing on the cake – the guitars are so vocal you can see why they never bothered with a singer.

Like their pals Fugazi, Stinking Lizaveta are a punk band who refuse to be limited by the genre’s – and sometimes, the fans’ – stubborn musical parameters. The result is an intoxicating blend of snarling punk attitude, shifty post-rock dynamics and pure stoner head-banging riffs. They follow whatever musical whim takes them and rarely does it sound thrown together or cluttered. True, one or two tracks go by without leaving much of an impression (or at least not enough to distinguish themselves from the pack) but as a whole, 7th Direction is an extremely strong album. Unsurprisingly, it’s not an album that says a huge amount but it does reaffirm that Stinking Lizaveta are one of the most interesting and quirky heavy instrumental bands around.

[Originally published by the Sleeping Shaman, 04/10/2012]
http://www.thesleepingshaman.com/reviews/album-reviews/s/stinking-lizaveta-7th-direction-cd-lp-2012/

[Later reposted by Roadburn Festival as their 'Album of the Day', 07/10/2012]
http://www.roadburn.com/2012/10/album-of-the-day-stinking-lizaveta-7th-direction/ 

Chelsea Wolfe - Live at Roadburn 2012

(Roadburn Records/Burning World Records, 2012)

When Wovenhand took to the stage at Roadburn 2011 the general consensus was that they brought down one of the heaviest sets of that weekend – they weren’t necessarily the loudest bands to play, but they were the one of the heaviest. You’ve got to take your hat off to the good folks at Roadburn  for bringing such disparate artists to their festival, artists that don’t all necessarily deal in distortion but who all bring an equally dark musical atmosphere to the stages of 013. This year’s breakout Roadburn success had to be the enigmatic LA folk doom-weaver Chelsea Wolfe whose 2011 album Apokalypsis earned her more than her fair share of fans, many of them in the metal community. Indeed, Chelsea Wolfe was probably the last person on Earth who expected to have a large following of hairy, stoned men but her appearance at Roadburn (to a sizeable crowd) and the fact that her set is now being released as a limited edition vinyl is testament to her truly breathtaking collection of ghostly songs.

Creeping-in spectre-like with the beautiful ‘Halfsleeper’ from her debut album The Grime and the Glow, it’s clear that Chelsea has the audience encapsulated from the off, her simple guitar work allowing her commanding voice to take centre stage to deliver the songs’ incredibly dark lyrics. It’s a bold start to her set, one that really puts her out there by herself before the band kicks in towards the end, seguing into the more-familiar trip-hop shuffle of ‘Movie Screen’ from Apokalypsis. The fast-paced ‘Demons’ follows before the fantastic, tumultuous waking-dream of ‘Mer’ closes side A. At this point it’s impossible not to be won-over by the strength of the songs and the quality of the performances – ‘Tracks (Tall Bodies)’ opens side B, the keyboards shimmying elegantly beneath the guitars and Wolfe’s darkly romantic vocals: “We could be two straight lines/ In a crooked world.”

One can hear the genesis of Wolfe’s sound in these live renditions of the songs; the ragged ‘Noorus’ and ‘Moses’ both recall PJ Harvey; it’s hard not to think of Beth Gibbons and Portishead on ‘Movie Screen’ and throughout there is a certain aura of tragedy and enigma that brings troubled troubadours like Jeff Buckley and drug-era John Frusciante to mind, in feel if not in any immediate musical similarity. But Chelsea Wolfe is an organic amalgamation of her influences, and in her own way, a progression too. She creates music that feels removed from normal life – the closing ‘Pale on Pale’ has a hypnotic groove and an almost Indian-style vocal that can’t help but shift the atmosphere around you, and in this live capacity, with the inevitable festival weed-cloud filling the air, you can imagine the force that her songs would have when you can feel the kick of the drums and her wailing voice beating in your chest.

These live renditions aren’t very far removed from their recorded counterparts and this could be an issue for certain artists releasing a live vinyl – you’d assume there’d be a desire for alternate versions, extended jams or radical reworkings to make it a worthwhile venture. But when you’re an artist who has concocted two such otherwordly albums, it’s actually impressive how well-represented the songs are in the hands of Wolfe and her talented band. Don’t come to Chelsea Wolfe Live at Roadburn 2012 expecting controversy or change, come for the atmosphere, the likes of which few artists are capable of creating.

[Originally published by the Sleeping Shaman, 01/10/2012]
http://www.thesleepingshaman.com/reviews/album-reviews/c/chelsea-wolfe-live-at-roadburn-2012-lp-2012/

[Later reposted as Roadburn Festival's 'Album of the Day', 01/10/2012]
http://www.roadburn.com/2012/10/album-of-the-day-chelsea-wolfe-live-at-roadburn-2012/ 

Seabuckthorn - The Silence Woke Me

(Bookmaker Records, 2012)

Seabuckthorn is one of those artists best enjoyed over the course of an album rather than in small doses and on this latest release his impressionistic acoustic guitar work once again manages to conjure up dreamy landscapes, campfires and woodlands, all with his signature sense of menace and foreboding. The Silence Woke Me is Andy Cartwright's second album for French label Bookmaker Records but is at least his fifth release (not taking into account various self-released EPs and small-runs of mini CDs) and at this point in time Cartwright is a masterful composer. Building upon last year's excellent In Nightfall, The Silence Woke Me weaves a lot more rhythm into the mix, drums adding heft to Cartwright's 12-string flourishes, and even going so far as to introduce a pretty funky groove to final duo 'Gathered and Unkempt' and 'Good Honest Thievery.' While Cartwright's music has always flirted between atmospheric minimalism and frantic, multi-instrumental frenzy, the layered, rhythmic approach applied here strikes a perfect balance between scarcity and bombast which gives the album a more dynamic feel as a whole. And while it's not a term that really applies to the kind of music Seabuckthorn makes, The Silence Woke Me has more 'hooks' than anything he has done in years. Many of the songs elegantly shimmy in from silence and build tantra-like before reaching a central pattern of notes around which the guitar meanders – 'As Fire Moves', 'The Cool of the Coming Dark' and the closing track all find repetitions which give the songs a heated, hypnotic feel. The cymbal washes and relentless stomp of 'It Swept Across the Open' creep up on you before you realise you're in the centre of a storm of arpeggiating guitars and reverb-drenched notes that sound like whale song. The 12-string acoustic is the binding force that patches together not only all the songs of the album, but also elements like drums and shruti box – a kind of droning, Indian harmonium, played by sometime-collaborator Duncan Scott.

Where fellow Oxford-based instrumental prodigy Jerome 'Message to Bears' Alexander's pastoral chamber folk evokes a sense of child-like nostalgia, Cartwright is like Jerome's feral brother, raised in the forest by wolves. His music, while equally evocative, feels exotic and otherwordly; it invites you in with it's warm, campfire tones but leads you on a journey through treacherous, bizarre landscapes, all under the cover of darkness with only fire and moonlight illuminating you on your way. 

[Originally published in Nightshift Magazine, issue 207, October 2012] 

http://nightshift.oxfordmusic.net/2012/oct.pdf

Swans - The Seer

(Young God, 2012)

The return of Swans has to rank among the least cynical of comebacks/reunions/rebirths of any band in recent years – few bands command as much respect and fear (in fairly equal measure) as Michael Gira’s merry circus of outcasts and deviants, and The Seer is nothing if not a huge statement of intent. Only a handful of musicians retain the youthful fire of experimentalism in their bellies for so long, and for a man approaching sixty Gira has to be up there with Tom Waits and John Cale in terms of being a restless musical innovator, continuing to make interesting music while his contemporaries are getting ready to claim their pensions. The Seer is the culmination of thirty-years of ear-shattering, soul-crushing musical experience in an often overwhelming but awe-inspiring two-hour package.

Starting with something of a curve-ball, opening track ‘Lunacy’ is a lush orchestra of chiming guitars and Gira’s booming vocals, backed angelically by Low’s Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker. But it’s second song ‘Mother of the World’ that brings us into more familiar Swans territory – jarring rhythms? Check. Mind-melting repetition? Check. Slowly creeping sense of bewildering insanity as layers of ambient noise and freak-out vocals weave in and out of your speakers? Oh yes. The song’s overtly sexual lyrics (another Swans hallmark) are drilled into your brain with a repetition that mirrors the music: “In and out and in and out agai-ai-ai-ai-ain.”

The album’s centrepiece is the half-hour title-track which wastes no time in bringing the noise, a kind of drone palindrome, beginning with a racket that most drone bands would take half-an-hour to create before slowly clearing space for a clattering rhythm of twinkling piano, drums and frenetic cymbals, deep hypnotic bass notes and a queasy guitar slide. The song organically warps, twists and turns through prolonged crashes, drawn-out notes and even wailing harmonica before settling into final death-rattle groove, Gira purring “I love you too much” and various maniacally gibberish phrases. More than any other song on the album, the shapeshifting nature of the instrumentation demonstrates the immense skill of Swans in their current incarnation, a line-up that Gira has called the best ever. They cater to every musical whim so naturally – it’s really quite breathtaking.

The band further display their adaptability on ‘The Seer Returns’ which is a kind of blues shuffle, Gira delivering his lyrics like a whisky-voiced beat poet. In stark contrast ’93 Ave. B Blues’ is pure feral, nightmare noise – all swooning low-end, crashing cymbals and crying discordant strings. ‘A Piece of the Sky’ begins with nine minutes of drone before relaxing into a longing, melodic stomp and finishing with a Velvet Underground/Silver Jews-like twisted pop song. It’s one of the most lush moments on the album, an unexpectedly beautiful symphony of bells, pianos, mandolin, and a bouncing bassline with Gira crooning wonderfully. It turns out to be the final respite before album closer ‘The Apostate.’ It lulls you into a false sense of security with a relatively tense but chilled beginning but then six minutes in the band let rip. Screeching, headache-inducing guitars, crashes and a bizarre free jazz outro bring this dizzying, rollercoaster of an album to a close.

Swans are not a band known to make easy records and The Seer is no exception. For starters, it’s two hours long; some tracks contain sections of pure noise and feedback that are longer than some bands’ entire songs and the album includes songs that are longer than some bands’ entire albums. That being said, The Seer balances the classic abrasive Swans sound with moments of elegant beauty. The second disc opens with a straight-up country track, ‘Song for a Warrior’ which features Karen O on vocals, and is the prettiest track on the album, particularly when Gira joins in with backing vocals towards the end of the song. When Michael Gira said that he had utilised everything he had learnt in the last thirty years making this album you can hear that it’s true. Swans don’t need to make another Cop – they’ve made The Seer, a mature album from the mind of a man who refuses to grow old quietly.

[Originally published by the Sleeping Shaman, 21/09/2012]
Swans - The Seer

Samothrace - Reverence to Stone

(20 Buck Spin, 2012)

Releasing albums with the same tectonic urgency that they propel their songs along with, Seattle’s Samothrace have recently released their second album, Reverence to Stone, four years after debut album Life’s Trade. This album has been highly tipped as one of the finest doom records of the year and I must admit that it was this fanfare, rather than a previous knowledge of the band, which tempted me to review it. Having had a good while to absorb the record, it would seem that this two track, 35 minute epic of an album has earned its praise in what must surely be considered a vintage year for doom and sludge metal.

Samothrace distinguish themselves from the rest of the sludge/doom pack in quite subtle ways when taken at face-value but over the course of the album they leave a distinct impression through the awesome breadth of their compositions. They’re not so slow and sparse as to draw Sunn O))) comparisons and not as reckless and unruly as riff-bringers like Eyehategod but Samothrace do occupy some kind of middle-ground between the two camps; on the one hand they’ve pensive, emotional and tense and on the other they offer up a huge, aggressive storm of guitar action and tortured vocals, held together by the atmospheric clatter of drums.

Reverence to Stone has been a long time coming due to the band relocating from Kansas to Seattle and subsequently recruiting a new drummer, as well as former guitarist Renata Castagna. This jolt spurred the band back into action and forced them to overcome personal problems to finish the 20-minute epic “A Horse of Our Own” and rewrite “When We Emerged”, a song which originally appeared on their 2007 demo.

Something about the melody that opens “When We Emerged” is instantly familiar and it soon gets carried away on the wings of a mighty, lofty riff above waves of dissonance, distortion and decay; the song has a sweeping elegance without betraying the underlying crushing core of the band’s sound. The combination of ambience, melody and menace, not to mention Bryan Spinks’ disturbing howl, brings to mind Eagle Twin but only as a reference point – Samothrace are their own beast.

“A Horse of Our Own” begins with a lot of sludge-doom swagger and blues bombast, with solos recalling (of all people) legendary Funkadelic guitarist Eddie Hazel (particularly “Maggot Brain”) and a generally destructive emotional feel before giving way to a lengthy quiet section, which in turn erupts and then settles back into another malaise before a final wind throws the ashes back in the air for one last doom waltz. It’s an amazing track, one that truly confounds presumptions about doom or sludge being repetitive or whatever; the song goes places, creates emotional atmospheres and rocks hard too.

These two tracks are definitely companion pieces – they share a certain desperate, hopeful/hopeless mood – and it’s hard not to think of them in terms of the personal turmoil that has been a part of the band’s life in the four years since Life’s Trade came out. This gives Reverence to Stone an ultimately triumphant feel when it’s all said and done – a sense that they survived, and they fucking conquered. There are moments of despair, certainly, but Reverence to Stone could be seen as the light at the end of the tunnel, and Samothrace are suddenly huge contenders in the sludge/doom world once again.

[Originally published by the Sleeping Shaman, 06/09/2012]

http://www.thesleepingshaman.com/reviews/album-reviews/s/samothrace-reverence-to-stone-cd-lp-2012/