Mouthus - Divisionals

Mouthus
Divisionals
(2009, Ecstatic Peace)
RIYL = Skaters, Religious Knives, Double Leopards

I don’t know if I could get through with a Mouthus review without writing the word ‘clatter.’ So there, I did it. Divisionals contains the signature industrial clatter that Mouthus has been honing in on for years now and it never gets old. A limited edition vinyl release on Thurston Moore’s scattered Ecstatic Peace imprint, Divisionals isn’t going to claim the spot of Mouthus’s most quintessential release (Saw A Halo was just too good), but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t totally worthwhile, gritty Mouthus working it out massively as always. With two tracks to a side, Mouthus boils through four long droney scraping epics that occasionally come off as more pleasant than excruciating, at least when gaged with their previous work. You know what, when I step back I regocnize that I really shouldn’t like this stuff whatsoever. There is not really any logic to enjoying such brittle, carnivorous noises, and yet I just devour it up. Why is that? I wanted to mention also that I was sitting with Sassigrass (my co-Forest Gospelateer/wife) and she was talking some mad trash on a few well known blogs about the kind of music they cover and so I asked her to explain what kind of music she thought Forest Gospel featured and she said that it was primarily super obscure and ultra boring music and that those designations weren’t mutually exclusive. Slam! Heh, well Mouthus probably fits that description for a lot of people, but I can’t help but really enjoy it. One man’s music is another man’s tools for tortured interrogation. It is funny to see that popping up in a lot of hater's descriptions of some of the noise popularized in the last couple of years. Well, I tell you what, if I was getting interrogated to Divisionals I wouldn’t give up an iota of information. This trash can cluster crunk of cracked percussion and grating electronics is just too too good. Naw, but grill me with some Lady Gaga in the background and I’m bound to spit up some info in 10 seconds flat.

-Thistle

Mouthus with my homeboy (and apparently theirs as well) Axolotl

Be Your Own Pet - Get Awkward

Be Your Own Pet
Get Awkward
(03.2008, Ecstatic Peace)
Verdict = Bratty High School Angst

I feel really awkward (and not because the album title tells me to) about liking this record. It is pretty embarrassing to listen to and not just because everyone else in the Forest Gospel troupe seems to despise it. I’m listening to this thing on headphones right now and my cheeks are getting just as rosy embarrassed as they would if I played it in front of, well, anybody. I mean read some of these lyrics: “eating pizza is really great / so is destroying everything you hate” and “you signed my yearbook and that was pretty rad / but now I’m getting sick of you and it’s just too bad” and “lunch time is just not fair / hot dog mustard in your hair“. I mean could the lyrics be anymore inane? There is really no shortage of cringingly juvenile lyrical moments but for some reason it feels like that is just the way it should be. It’s almost as if the band wanted to make sure that everyone knew that they were immature high schoolers and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was all just a big joke. To be honest I don’t even know if they are still in high school or not. Self conscious ridiculousness or not, Get Awkward is just the righty bratty, fast paced, sucky indie punk rock to blast while cruising main on a Saturday night and in true high school form. Be Your Own Pet has created a record that requires you to play it repeatedly until it is absolutely the last thing you want to hear but somehow you still have to. So in conclusion, this is really an admission to my being really immature and wanting to break stuff occasionally and just act like a general loser (something Sassigrass can attest to). It is just unfortunate that I’m in the age bracket where I have to be careful about engaging in “criminal mischief”. I guess I’ll just settle with toilet papering my parents. Hooray for Get Awkward bringing out the worst in me in all of its childish cussy glory!

-Mr. Thistle

Wooden Wand - James & The Quiet

Wooden Wand
James & The Quiet
(06.2007, Ecstatic Peace)
Verdict = Grand

Further separating his solo material from that of his free jazz/folk/psych musings with The Vanishing Voice, James Toth, AKA Wooden Wand, has released an engaging follow up to last year’s Second Attention release with The Sky High Band. Removing the bands aesthetic all together, Toth has stripped his songs straight to the bone leaving a gritty core of damaged, folkish Americana. Paraded vulnerably, James & The Quiet emerges as a glorious collection of ultimately affecting songs. The left field lyricism and dusty guitar are really all that’s needed (and mostly all that’s there) to carry the album. The dusty skeleton of the work finds Toth with some of his most beautiful and definitely most catchy tunes to date. It isn’t a secret (if you check my 2007 album rankings) that I have a deep affection for this album. It is just one of those classic, solid collections of songs that garner references with histories songwriting elite. I just can’t seem to elaborate more on it. It is just solid.

- Mr. Thistle

Wooden Wand - "Spitting At The Camaras"

Thurston Moore - Trees Outside the Academy

Thurston Moore
Trees Outside The Academy
(09.2007, Ecstatic Peace)
7.5/10

For a man pushing fifty years of age with an innumerable amount of output to his credit it is pretty amazing that Thurston Moore has remained a relevant figure in the modern musical landscape. In fact, the past few years have seen a resurgence of critical success for the living legend that is Sonic Youth. With Trees Outside the Academy Moore continues this streak of success with a group of vibrant guitar led songs that break into some pretty territory with the help of some violin accompaniment and more pared down feeling than on Youth-ian recordings. In a sentence, Moore’s latest recording isn’t necessarily groundbreaking but is an undoubtedly solid group of wonderful songs; pretty straight forward. What I can’t quite grasp is what has compelled Moore to continually record music for as long as he has. I mean he is well past the age when his songs might see the light of day on MTV or the illustrated glory of The Simpsons. I think the short answer is a true love for music. That is what is respectable and what makes his continued contribution to the music world relevant. When music is created for the love of the craft that passion tends to bleed through and push the context of the songs beyond their preconceived parts; a notion for which Trees Outside the Academy is a perfect example.

-Mr. Thistle

Thurston Moore - "Wonderful Witches"