2012: Year Of The Apocalypse…?

A Round-up of the Year that Failed to Destroy Itself

Those wacky Mayans, eh? Just like Nostradamus after them, they seemed to promise the (end of the) world but here we all are, still trudging through a dark winter’s day, broke, cold and full of malice. And while I, like all of the writers here at the Sleeping Shaman, am broke, cold and full of malice, I am also one of the few who answered the call, like some kind of Pavlovian chump, to attempt an end of year round-up. When head Shaman Lee came-a-knockin’ this time last year I’d only been writing for the Shaman for a few months and had only gotten a few reviews and features under my belt. I wasn’t as hugely engrossed in the scene as I am now, and while it may just be a sign of my ever-growing love for all things heavy, it really seems like this year has been a vintage one for the scene.

Seriously, how fucking good has 2012 been for heavy, alternative music?

We’ve seen well-established bands release career-defining albums and returning to action after long hiatuses, and we’ve seen a ton of underground bands come through the ranks to release demos, EPs and albums that have made a huge impact, contributing to an ever-growing scene full of top-quality musicians and noise-mongerers. And although we only have a few days left until 2013 (and the Apocalypse is looking less and less likely) the amazing music will stay with us for years to come.

Ever the festival of the calendar year, Roadburn 2012 certainly didn’t disappoint with a frankly ridiculous lineup of great UK and international talent that included almighty sets from the likes of Sleep, The Obsessed, Voivod, d.USK/dISEMBOWELMENT, Chelsea Wolfe, Conan, OM, Yob, Jesu, Bongripper and a stupid amount of others who I ought to be ashamed for not listing in full. The Jus Oborne-curated 2013 lineup is already taking serious shape and looks to continue Roadburn’s trend for setting the bar high for alternative, metal festivals.

A fantastic new festival also emerged on our own front door this year; in April Desertfest played host to Karma to Burn, Orange Goblin, Corrosion of Conformity, Church of Misery, Zoroaster and a who’s who of British stoner/sludge/doom bands across three venues in Camden. After the success of the 2012 event, the organisers have already starting announcing some impressive bands for 2013 including a host of reformed bands and Desert scene godfathers. Right on. Elsewhere Damnation Festival boasted an equally impressive line-up with Doom-stalwarts Electric Wizard, 40 Watt Sun, Pig Destroyer and Amenra. The ATP I’ll Be Your Mirror event at Alexandra Palace in May brought legends Sleep, Melvins, Harvey Milk, Slayer, Yob, Codeine, Mogwai and many more together under one (presumably worse-for-wear) roof.

But for many people the highlight of 2012 came late in the year with the return of Neurosis who released their tenth album Honor Found In Decay in October and played a triumphant co-headline show at the Forum with Godflesh in December, an event which many people – in an inevitable hyperbole-haze – presumed would bring about the end of days. For others, it was just another in a long line of fucking awesome shows that 2012 offered us.

Once again though it’s the quality of underground bands that have either emerged or continued to produce amazing work that really proves that the coming years will continue to be good for all of us. As ever, it would be difficult (not to mention foolish) to try to list all of the bands who did stellar work this year but the fact that the task would be so hard just shows the huge variety and quality of music being produced here and around the world.

I’m going to end this admittedly lop-sided round-up with a partial list of some of my favourite albums released this year (in no particular order). Feel free to comment/deride and/or discuss your own favourite releases on Facebook, Twitter or any other social medium or vacant wall.

But for now, whatever your creed, wherever you are, happy holidays everyone…

2012 List

Swans ‘The Seer’
Godspeed You! Black Emperor ‘Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!’
Amenra ‘Mass V’
Samothrace ‘Reverence to Stone’
Earth ‘Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light II’
Ishmael ‘Hell is Empty and All the Devils Are Here’
Eagle Twin ‘The Feather Tipped the Serpent’s Scale’
Conan ‘Monnos’
Baroness ‘Yellow & Green’
OM ‘Advaitic Songs’
Scott Kelly, Steve Von Till & Wino ‘Songs of Townes Van Zandt’
Bong ‘Mana-Yood-Sushai’
Caravan of Whores ‘Road to Kurti’
Grimpen Mire ‘A Plague Upon Your Houses’
Off! ‘Off!’
Wizard’s Beard ‘Four Tired Undertakers’
Drcarlsonalbion ‘La Strega and the Cunning Man In the Smoke’
Seabuckthorn ‘The Silence Woke Me’

Reissues

Sleep ‘Dopesmoker’ Noothgrush ‘Noothgrush’
High on Fire ‘The Art of Self Defense’
My Bloody Valentine ‘Loveless’

Rest in Peace Wiht and Dopefight. And a massive RIP to MCA.

[Originally published by the Sleeping Shaman, 22/12/2012]
http://www.thesleepingshaman.com/articles/2012-year-of-the-apocalypse-tom-mckibbins-end-of-year-round-up/

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