Kevin de Broux: Pink Reason: 2007: Cleaning the Mirror: scotch tape epicness. Siltbreeze of course. Have you heard Cleaning the Mirror? No? Yes? Either way, it’s worth revisiting/discovering. It’s sooooooooooooo good.
Kevin de Broux doesn’t assemble Pink Reason albums very quickly. Pink Reason isn’t prolific. Cleaning the Mirror was six songs, was released in 2007. Four years later for a follow-up and we have, briefly, six more (though, to be fair, there were quite a few 7”s to account for). I’m not complaining about the lethargic-seeming pace though, I'm not. If that’s how long it take you, Mr. de Broux, to lay waste to six-odd three-to-five minute rock n’ roll songs, for placing each rip of scotch tape in its careful place, for upending the side table—building the crumblingness of it all—then that’s the way it is. I’m ok with that. The effort is evident in the end product. Swaths of back alley swirl in this album. “Holding On” with its junk drum machine pummel, “Sixteen Years” with its rock noise lambasting puree, “You Can’t Win” with its ramshackle, meandering flower pluck. Time has been favorable (though short) in over-shoulder views of Cleaning the Mirror. I imagine the same for Shit in the Garden. Well played, de Broux, well played.
Andromeda Mega Express Orchestra Take Off! (2009, Alien Transistor) RIYL = Leonard Bernstein, Lawrence Welk, Steve Reich
Composed by Berlin compositionalist Daniel Glatzel for a 20 piece orchestra, Take Off! is a melting pot of retro styles that have been chopped up, reassembled and invigorated with a hyperactive youthfulness that has taken a lot of music listeners by storm. This isn’t really the music you’d expect to be blasting through your average college aged hipster’s headphones as they’re bobbing down 3rd South in SLC, but after indulging myself, I can’t really think of anything better. It's simply cool stuff. The part that kills me is that Glatzel is 25 years old (my age!) and he has pulled off one of the most adventurous orchestral compositions of this decade. Combining orchestral jazz, film, classical and, well, lots of other stuff, the Andromeda Mega Express Orchestra touches just about everything on this astounding debut. I’m not going to be surprised to see this on plenty of year end lists this year (I’ve already noted it on a lot of pre-emptive ones), it is just too refreshing, too exciting, too smile-inducing and too much fun.
Blues Control Local Flavor (2009, Siltbreeze) RIYL = Peaking Lights, Wet Hair, Oneohtrix Point Never
I’m having difficulty comparing and describing Blues Control’s music at the moment. I have been listening to Local Flavor for a couple weeks and can’t seem to pin any descriptors or RIYLs to it that feel right. And I'm pretty sure this has always been the case ever since they debuted with Puff. Of course that doesn’t mean that I’m not going to make an unwieldy stab at it for this blurb. Combining guitar, piano/keys and a variety of processing methods, LocalFlavor finds Blues Control at their milkiest, murkiest, weirdest and, as a whole, their best (I just love that first track off of their self titled album on Holy Mountain). This is really delicious stuff. Not quite noise, not quite not noise; just some beautifully bizarre psych “blues” and loopy swamp drone that is sure to leave you waterlogged and floating dead down the Amazon. And who wouldn’t subscribe to that?! I wish I could present something more cohesive because I’m liking Local Flavor enough to think its deserving of it, but alas, my words fail and all I can leave you with is a healthy, fragmentated description/recommendation: good mucky forward pedaling crocodile rock to die to(?).
Ruby Ruby Ruby TheShadow of Your Smile (2009, Zarek) RIYL = Billie Holiday, The Magic I.D.
Ruby Ruby Ruby is the result of an offhand suggestion that was unexpectedly taken in to consideration and then blissfully realized. Margareth Kammerer of The Magic I.D., along with a troupe of class gentlemen (when you listen to the album you’ll realize that they could only be classy), rework ten gorgeous jazz standards in a classic smoky way that makes everything turn to black and white when it’s playing. There is nothing groundbreaking here, but Kammerer’s voice is just so pleasing and her guitar along with the rest of the instrumentation (bass, drums, sax, organ) just oozes a simplistic majesty that is far too fleeting in music being released in this era of electronic polishes and auto-tune (I hear you Jay-Z). For youngsters like myself who haven’t been fully immersed in these type of tunes, The Shadow of Your Smile is a gateway drug. Looks like I am going to be doing some heavy digging for more of this ancient bluesy, swingin’ jazz in this vein. Loverly.
Thee Oh Sees The Master’s Bedroom Is Worth Spending a Night In (04.2008, Tomlab)
I blame this 2008 omission on Wooly Mammal. After listening to the record, his basic sentiment was ‘meh’ and you know what? I listen to way too much music to be bogged down by some meh-worthy album. However, I kept seeing the record lauded all over the place and finally decided that I needed to find out for myself and thank goodness I did. The Master’s Bedroom is a garage psych bliss fest! Awesome hooks underscored by a generally bombastic guitars the twist and warp like vibrant specter. Thee Oh Sees got weighed down a little too much by lo-fi tag; no, this is pure, adulterated rock music at its grimy best.
Love Is All A Hundred Things Keep Me Up At Night (11.2008, What’s Your Rupture?)
A perfect return to form after a three year hiatus, Love Is All delivers their second album filled with the same sugary Swedish charm that we fell for with their debut. It only took a couple plays before the anthemic, hook-heavy nature of A Hundred Things Keep Me Up At Night was vying for my soul (just like any good pop album). So, yeah, beware because there is a good chance that you won’t be able shake this album once you’ve heard it, AKA, the album provokes binge listening and will most likely end with a call to a local addiction hotline. Pure audio candy.
Sic Alps U.S. Ez (07.2008, Siltbreeze)
Sharing members with my adorably effed up lo-fi troupe of 2008, The Hospitals, Sic Alps produced an album that inhabited the lighter end of the Siltbreeze’s feedback-conscious community and turned out stronger for it. On U.S. Ez, Sic Alps must’ve busted out large portions the ceiling they were recording in because there’s plenty of sunshine shining through these tracks. Sure, there are some squealing amps and light fuzz that crops up here and there, but U.S. Ez is more interested in untainted song craft. That is the heart of the album – a collection of beautifully left-of-center pop songs to relax and sip lemonade to. It would be interesting to see if a more celebrated lo-fi band like Times New Viking would sound even close to this good if they stripped back their songs like this. Whether successful or not, there isn’t a chance it could be as good as U.S. Ez.
Psychedelic Horseshit Magic Flower Droned (10.2007, Siltbreeze) Verdict = The Goodest, Lowest Lo-Fi Record
It’s unavoidable. This may mark me as a prude or something, but Psychedelic Horseshit is the worst band name I’ve heard since the Butthole Surfers. So terrible…in fact the name alone dissuaded me from listening to them even though I knew that I would like them from different tracks that I had overheard. Maybe you like lame band names but I have some weird disorder that allows me to let ridiculous band names bug me. I even missed the show they played at Red Light Books last year in some lame protest. Well, I finally came to a resolution that may be helpful to others out there dying to listen to this record, but without the mental block of a bad band name. I decided to separate the band name into three words. So now on my Ipod, the debut album Magic Flowers Droned is attributed to the band “Psychedelic Horses Hit.” Heh, I really can’t help but laugh at myself. This is totally literal; I am being completely honest here. You want to find out who Mr. Thistle is? Find the kid with Psychedelic Horses Hit on his Ipod and you’ll know. And what do you know, the album is an essential. Marrying ramshackle garage rock with the worst possible production available, Psychedelic Horses Hit is a wreck. I would not be surprised if the bands instruments were found in a dumpster, further destroyed and then taped back together with duct tape before recording. Fortunately, PHH’s songs are strong enough to keep them from being completely undefined ramshackle recording methods. I’m sure some will disagree, but something about the band’s debut reminds me of The Who and The Kinks (if they were processed through a meat grinder). Anyways, nuts awesome band, incredible debut album, senseless (revised) name. Psychedelic Horses Hit are super duper.
