Chad VanGaalen - Diaper Island

(Sub Pop, 2011)

The answer is yes. Yes; you can love, possibly more than anything else, at least for the moment, an album titled Diaper Island. What Chad? You get a kid or something? It’s definitely a less death-focused VanGaalen affair (and more Womenly, given his recent exploits).

Chad VanGaalen - Sara by subpop

Black Mold - Snow Blindness is Crystal Antz

Black Mold
Snow Blindness is Crystal Antz
(2009, Flemish Eye)
RIYL = Kemialliset Ystavat, Squarepusher, Dan Friel

I didn’t miss out on Black Mold last year due to not knowing about it. As an avid fan of all things touched by Chad VanGaalen, I was well aware of this release. Nor was it because I didn’t listen to it. The album was simply too much. It absolutely overwhelmed me with the sheer volume of ideas. Honestly, even with a cursory understanding of the genuine awesomeness that popped up on the few listens I did give it, something about it short circuited my brain and I had to distance myself for rewiring. After completing my bachelors degree this spring, I rediscovered Black Mold, and now, with full mental faculty, I’ve found this to be quite the underrated enigma. It still short circuits my brain frequently, but, growing accustomed to the occurrence, I now welcome the experience as part of the instrumental soup that VanGaalen has prepared with this side project. Both electronic and not, I’ve found it a bit difficult to categorize or compare Snow Blindness is Crystal Antz to anything. There are a few elements of everything lodged in there, but there is a whole lot of newness – some genuine world-making – as well that makes this something you’ll not want to sleep on. It’s a whole new…thing! Of course, VanGaalen’s fingerprints show through quite a bit, but it’s a wonderful thing to experience a creative vision so unique and personal, especially after coming to know VanGaalen so well through his pop records. Oh, and the music videos (also illustrated by VanGaalen) are insane.

- Thistle

Women - Women

Women
S/T
(07.2008, Flemish Eye)
Verdict = Sunny oscillation from Canada

Sassigrass actually had dibs on this review. I think that Wooly Mammal had his eyes on typing something up on this band as well, but I’ve decided to sneak it away from both of them, for better or worse. It is not that I feel that I will be able to do some exceptional justice to the album, it’s just that I am way too excited about it and literally couldn’t last another day without it adorned on our little blog. Sorry guys. I personally feel that 2008 has been blossoming exceptionally as of late with albums from Aufgehoben, The Fun Years, Navigator and now this (along with some reviews to come), it seems like every genre is getting rocked with some sort of awesomeness. Women actually fall into the somewhat trendy “poorly-recorded-hook-laden-art-rock-with-token-bits-of-textured-ambience” crowd. Catch that? I’m talking the about No Age, Times New Viking and the endless troupe of conspirators coming out of the Siltbreeze label (lets throw Deerhunter in there as well, just for fun!). Yeah, Women could rightly be compared to all of them, but that comparison is also somewhat lazy because Women are pretty much way freaking better in my personal opinion. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some Times New Viking and think Nouns is alright, but by golly, Women is just pristine. So what makes this brand of art rock so much better than the rest? Well, for starters, while Women may have found similar joy in the beauties of low fidelity recording (thanks, in part, to the awesomeness of Chad VanGaalen who produced it) they don’t over do it or rely on the recording aesthetic to save them from poor songwriting. By that I think I mean that Women (who, for the record, are actually men) seem authentic; there is no artsy pretensions here, just great songs executed with passion and enthusiasm. Oh, and there is the charm. I guess one of the major differences between Women and their previously cited contemporaries is their mining of left-field 60’s pop. Women straddle the line between the modern analog grit and The Velvet Underground, The Kinks and The Zombies - and they do it well. With their self titled debut Women have managed an Album with a capital A. Ten tracks of glorious tape hiss married to sunny pop and endangered rock. So, my apologies in being competitive, Women just have better hooks, better textures, better influences and better songs. If there is one thing that I know for sure it’s that you will not want to miss this album; sheer pop destru/perfe-ction!

-Mr. Thistle

Women - Black Rice