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