| #526 |
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2000 |
A stack of new releases have arrived and here’s a sampling of some with more in weeks to follow. First, the long awaited new Godspeed You Black Emperor double album on Constellation, locally distributed by Inertia. Titled Lift Yr Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven, it presents an even more ambitious sound than earlier Godspeed releases. Skinny Fists is split into four long epic tracks which pull together several shorter ‘movements’ once again chronicling a bleak vision of a wasteland of Americana. Unlike their first album, F#A# Infinity, however, this extra length gives way to straighter-sounding segments of minor chord rock over rumbling drums which punctuate rather than rise out of the sparse aural tumbleweed of strings, tape and guitar loops. This, combined with themes of religious redemption that run through several of the sample-sources, moves on from the end-of-the-world, millenarian feel of F# A# Infinity but at the same time is a less edgy listening experience. Skinny Fists isn’t so much disappointing as possibly too long and as a result more diluted. Moving on from avant-rock it is worth tracking down the recent compilation put together by Morr Music called Putting The Morr Back In Morrissey. Its got nothing to do with The Smiths but instead collects together a series of tracks and remixes from the likes of Arovane, Fleischmann, Lali Puna, Kandis, Solvent and Schneider TM over two long CDs. One of the best compilations of the year there are some exquisite tracks here – E*Vax’s Glacier layers a synth chord progression that is close to Joy Division’s classic Atmosphere over crackling slow electro beats whilst The Notwist, Christian Kliene and Kevin & Paul all deliver tracks that cross early 80s electro-pop sounds circa Human League with Boards Of Canada-style trappings whilst Kandis and Fleischmann experiment with minimalist clicks. In all it’s a very well structured compilation running to 140 minutes of some excellent electronic melancholia. Also working with what sound similar to early 80s sounds is Turner who returns with his second album on Ladomat and locally distributed by Creative Vibes. Turner put out one of my favourite albums last year – simple and melodic but with some odd unexpected turns – and his new album Disappearing Brother is similarly unpredictable. Containing a lot of processed and looped vocals this new Turner album starts out with two tracks that could be straight from 82/83 (in a good way) before spreading out with out of time beat loops and clever use of compressed, distorted and subtlely skipping sounds. Although there are a few straight tracks the most of Disappearing Brother is interesting enough to warrant investigation as an example of strange experimental pop. That’s pretty much it for this week but keep an eye out for the Salmonella Dub show at the Metro on November 3 which will have Ozi Battla on the mic again. There’s also a big Wires animal welfare benefit on the 4th. And Frigid over the next fortnight has Meem and Soma Rasa live on the 5th and Andre Calman aka DJ Peludo from 2SER and Inertia on the 12th. Yellow Peril (www.snarl.org)  Goto
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