Trapped in the Closet: Volume 1

This is the first of a "feature" I'll be doing--and stupidly calling "Trapped in the Closet". The basic idea is that over the year and a half I've been doing this, I have been sent so much great music, way more than I ever could have expected when I started, actually still pretty amazed people ever sent anything. Anyway, I play something from every package I receive on the show at some point but finding time to review everything is trickier. I started cleaning out the closet and looking through stuff I got but never actually reviewed. My apologies to all the labels/artists that sent stuff that I haven't gotten to. Hopefully, doing these periodically will help make up for it.
Diamond Lemonade – Diamond Lemonade [JK Tapes]
I’ll start things off nice and easy with this Diamond Lemonade cassette that came out on JK Tapes earlier in the year before the label closed its doors and rose from the ashes, phoenix-style, as the quarterback/space obsessed Young Tapes. Diamond Lemonade is Ulf Schütte, who knows a thing or two about labels with his Tape Tektoniks imprint. The sound source here, I’m guessing, is just bells or chimes but they are chopped, screwed and looped creating a constant flutter of frequencies. Things don’t change too much but the track zips off rather quickly, never outliving its welcome. The second piece is longer, and sounds similar but is much heavier on the murk factor. Tones rise and fall and flit around. There aren’t really “melodies”, per se, but through repetition and the overlapping, all the layers create weird little rhythms and pseudo-melodies, all concluding with vintage radio blips. Cool stuff, wish there was more here, though I remember seeing a Diamond Lemonade tape on Bread & Animals so I’ve got a hunch we’ll be hearing more from this project. Same jams on both sides.

Arklight – Welcome to the NHK Wasteland [Little Fury Things]
I was curious about this crew since I saw the name popping up across a bunch of very different kinds of labels. This disc showed up from NY label Little Fury Things and this disc is a mess in a good way. The title track evokes earlier Smog type stuff with sleepy monotone vocals and fuzzy guitar, and then lo and behold, a sample of “Bathysphere”, my favorite Smog song, kicks in. At first, I thought I somehow had two songs playing at once but nope. That track encapsulates the general sound of this CDr, if you can make the argument that the CDr has a “general sound.” “Store Lights” continues this blurry but propulsive style of bedroom rock. As far as I know this is a group, but sometimes it seems like just one dude sketching out any idea for a song that enters his mind. Maybe it is at times, or maybe everyone is just so connected it creates that vibe. Arklight, even in rock mode, walks a weird line between hooky chord changes and skronkiness, and finds it totally natural to switch to playing funk guitar riffs mid-song. “Cycle” switches up the style with heavy auto panning, filtered vocals and it’s driven by a drum machine-like beat and this weird sample/loop of electronic screeching. It all wraps up with 30 seconds of beautiful reversed guitar strums. “Wind Me in Grime” sets blues rock licks against a slow but pummeling drum machine (or is it live drumming?) and various effected sounds (one of which sounds like someone hammering). “Field of Motion” returns to that Wild Love-era Smog style but way more fractured/weird than Bill Callahan dared to get on that record. “Stolen Revolutions (Night Shuffles)” introduces a legitimately grooving drum pattern over which, various guitars and vocals float over. The potential is fully realized with the next track “Micro Mesh”, in which Arklight boldly wears its Miami Sound Machine influence on its sleeve. “Micro Mesh” is the best song on the record hands down and according to my girlfriend, “this song is awesome!” I’m inclined to agree. There’s a heavy Latin vibe here but that’s crossed with sitar runs and drones. The piece is propelled atop this short loop of electric piano, while acoustic guitar, delayed violin and vocal shouts are all introduced at different points. It’s a magical song. “Spit on a Queen” wanders along against twinkling keyboards until drum beats and organ loops come in, and maybe I’m psyching myself out but I think I’m hearing a U2 sample somewhere (a la “Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”). I think my mind’s probably playing tricks. “The Plague Years” is the resident folk ballad here but it’s still got a heavy drum beat and creepy recorded-in-a-cave backing vocals. “Death has No Imperfections” is the counterpart to “Micro Mesh”; it’s totally grooving, busy as a city and brings back the sitar too. Welcome to the NHK Wasteland has 15 songs and not all of them stick but there’s plenty of good stuff here to make the album worthwhile. And I do like that the record feels like this guy’s/these guys’ brain put on a piece plastic. Still in print.

6majik9 – Ritualisimo Putrido [Music Your Mind Will Love You]
Of the handful of 6majik9 releases I’ve heard through the years this is the one that has best fulfilled the group’s potential. They seem to push things just to the precipice of totally falling apart. All sounds, percussive/melodic/amelodic, are scattered everywhere but each track, for the most part, feels entirely focused. The album is well paced, keeping everything moving along at a decent clip, letting the sounds stream by you and leaving it up to your ears catch them all. My favorite, the album opener, “No Sense Being” compresses the mindset of the album into two minutes and forty five seconds. A hollering saxophone and stumbling percussion lead to a deliberate beat that guitar feedback, sax and other instruments are molded around. “A Beauty That Needs of Blots” creates and maintains a subtle groove mainly due to two dueling acoustic guitars along with flickers of percussion and keys. “Outsider Basement” works with an entirely electronic palette (I think), resembling an even more sloshed, instrumental Excepter. There’s a heavy synthbass that nudges the track along for me. Various blips from keyboards and drum machines skate along on top of that bass pulse. At least until somebody hits the “waltz” setting on their rhythm programmer and the band slowly coheres around the beat. “To the Inverse One” is eerie. Featuring a slow hand drum pattern, a great sax part and organ and other creepy swells. A solid disc of rambling, Australian gangly jangle and packaged in the trademark, tactile MYMWLY style. Still in print.

Cursillistas – Wasp Stings the Last Bitter Flavor [Digitalis]
This is a beautiful little disc of folky drone. “Drone (Groan)” opens with a minute or so of drones/groans before authoritative tribal-ish drumming takes over. Totally suspenseful; the track then segues into a pretty track of layered guitar and I think maybe a wooden flute somewhere wayyy in the background with “Caves Carved in Golden Light.” There’s a touch of wordless singing before segueing into the next track, “Larks on a String”. The tracks creeps along for nine minutes with eerie clanks, faraway whistling, a minimal guitar diddy, looped percussion and spaced vocals. It’s a bit like a lovechild between the scores of a horror movie and a spaghetti western; taking its tonal direction and ghostly presence from the horror movie but with an interesting, somewhat sparse arrangement not dissimilar to ones in Italo-westerns. With less than a minute to go, there is a drastic shift to a lonely acoustic guitar strumming, leading to “Treestain”. The guitar continues before being joined by others, spare percussion and eventually a main vocal. Again, sounds wordless to me but maybe it’s another language or something, I’m certainly not the one to ask. The song builds to a rather lush, brooding cave-addled crescendo. “Moccasin Tramp” increases the tempo just enough for foot tapping to ensue, vocals and acoustic guitar are ever present there’s also a synth providing a simple melody. It seems a synth might not work with the organic sound of the album, but surprisingly it does and is rightly soft and unobtrusive. This segues into “Happened in the Sun/Moccasin Stamp”, creating the second suite of the album. This track reminds me a bit of that Panda Bear record from last year, lots of looped layers of percussion and vocals moving pretty quickly. Not really a straight Beach Boys vibe though, more like just what was going on earlier in the album but with the “catchy” switch engaged (not a slag to the rest of the album so we’re clear). Around halfway through the 10 minute track length, the drumming slows down continuously and the vocal layers come through a little clearer along with some quickly strummed accompaniment, leaving the track floating like a cloud. Beginning with the tinkling of a bell, “Show Them Love” finishes off the album in fine style. It develops very slowly; making it the mellowest point on the album. Backwards guitar (I’m guessing) is introduced to the usual cast of characters operating with a very simple, deliberate melody. Very pretty multi-tracked vocals show up at the end singing words this time, though all I can make out is “show them love”. I really appreciate the care that was taken in constructing this release as an “album” as it is sequenced very naturally and logically, and it’s cool that the two halves of the albums work as suites as well. Still available from Digitalis and definitely worth your time.

Andy Futreal – Orphelia Wanders [Harha-Askel]
This is a CD-r of pretty acoustic picking released on the Finnish Harha-Askel label. This is a nice intimate album. It’s really great to relax and take it in. “Laterite Road” appears very early on and is one of my favorites. Futreal has a wonderfully gutsy style of playing. Sometimes when I hear solo acoustic guitar stuff it comes across as too smooth or even sounding, but Futreal isn’t afraid to use the guitar’s overtones and its odd, incidental sounds. That isn’t to say he can’t pull off plush, florid playing as he does on the title track. “Christmas04” has a magnificent melodic refrain which is altered ever so slightly each time it appears. “Frontporch” is a recording of just that, wind gently on chimes (on a porch I’m assuming). “Over Across and Down” has a tenser vibe, while “Minus5postbenadrylslide” is a tranquil, lighthearted slide guitar romp. “Occasional Rain” has a great, slightly musty feel. It’s a rather simple melody but played so expressively by Futreal that it’s quite gorgeous. “Chickenwing” is another standout. I’m pretty sure there’s multi-tracked guitar here, and if there isn’t then I’m very impressed. The track moves between fuller, strummed passages and sparse, brittle breakdowns—all of it beautiful. “Timezone II” surprisingly reaches for some heavier low notes and a noticeably “rock” vibe, but Futreal even skews that. Most tracks on the album fit into the 1-3.5 minute spectrum but Futreal unfolds “In the Failing Light” little by little over 12 minutes and pulls an amazing trick where he’ll slowly let his listener drift away before reeling him back in with an unassuming refrain; and he pulls this trick throughout the piece. Oh yeah, apparently these pieces are all improvised, which makes the playing all the more amazing. At 56 minutes, I think the album is a little long but there’s a lot of great material here and Futreal certainly has an interesting voice in the solo acoustic guitar sphere, and if you have any interest in that sort of thing you should definitely check him out. CD-r still in print at Harha-Askel as I write this.

Mudboy – MUDMUX Volume 1 [DNT]/Mudboy – Hungry Ghosts! These Songs are Doors [Digitalis]

Two releases by Providence’s Mudboy here, the first a 7inch where he “muxes” two preexisting tracks by other artists and the other is a full length which appears to be considered, by many, his opus.
I’ll start by saying that this 7inch is absolutely phenomenal in every way. The music, the art/packaging—all top notch. Now that is out of the way, I can get to the music. Side A is titled “Lil John Carpenter Tribute Song” which is a pretty great name because it describes the song perfectly. Eerie organ/electric piano riffs but with a major groove. The pristinely constructed keyboard parts are offset by trashcan percussion rumblings courtesy of someone called Jeremy Lazy Animal Magnet Harris. If that person is also Lazy Magnet then I saw him play a long time ago, if not then I don’t know who he is. That’s beside the point though. This track is somehow a resurrection of a MIDI file of an Extreme Animals’ song “RockRapPopRocks” that was recorded onto a floppy disk. I’m not familiar with Extreme Animals, but somehow I feel that even if I was I would have no idea how the whole MIDI floppy disk thing translated into this.
This track is amazing. It’s moody and catchy as hell and through the 100 times I’ve probably played it’s never gotten old. Things start with a grouping of keyboard lines and the track just builds through its duration piling on more and more warbly, grooving keys, weird electronic sounds, cut up percussion, the works. Totally brilliant. The flipside is “Come Home”, which is based on a song by a band called DarkDarkDark. Vocals and main accordion are credited to Nona Marie Dark, so I’m guessing this isn’t a “remix” and she recorded her part specifically for this piece. This song is much different than the A-side but just as great. First of all, this appears to be a wonderfully well-written song so credit to Dark for that. She has a beautiful, expressive voice and the loping, smoky accordion is a perfect accompaniment to her voice. Mudboy plays it very minimally to his credit here. He places the vox/accordion front and center and then places little details throughout the track and subtly manipulates the voice and accordion. The track vacillates between folk/pop song structure and extended, almost drone-like passages. It all culminates with Dark’s electronically colored vocals over pulsing electronic loops. Another brilliant piece that, after all the times I’ve listened to it, is always fresh and inspiring and gorgeous. One of the best releases of the year.
Hungry Ghosts! These Songs are Doors kicks off with the title-trackish “Hungry Ghosts! (Intro-Induction)”. It’s a pretty minimal piece with a few looped not-quite-beats and occasional whispery vocals. About halfway through, the track takes a left turn into fuzzier, almost cackling territory, a texture that really drives the rhythm home before another left turn into bells and what sounds like backwards babytalk. This segues into “Swamp Things”, featuring Larkin Grimm which is quite cool. It’s a pretty droney piece with many layers of sustaining organ parts. About five minutes in, a guitar made of light materializes in the ether and Grimm provides a few vocal touches. Mudboy follows this elongated piece with the brief “The Wisher Man”. Beginning with electronic squiggles and reversed percussive sounds, the piece morphs into a lovely bit of organ and chiming bells. “The Last Song” comes next though it’s not the last song actually. A slow walking organ line is augmented with little melodic flourishes until it becomes a big shimmering mass—always changing, always the same. Quite possibly my favorite track here. “Wwhirlpool Wwindow Liight Nightt” marks a shift in tone. Louder and lead by a vaguely Arabian organ line, backed by a drum machine, and with all sorts of reverbed, effected vocals flying in between; it’s the records rock anthem if you wanna talk in relative terms. “The Quiet Song” is cut from the same cloth as many of the other tracks (layers of organ lines) but it stands out because it has a rougher tonality then the smooth, bell-like organ sounds of other tracks. And it has a particularly great final minute. “Shockwave!” continues the overdriven sound, but has almost an industrial-lite vibe; it’s repetitive and driving but still manages to float and before the end of the track things switch white noise and waves breaking. It has me perplexed. “In Which the Sea Hag is Lead Away or We are Lead by Her?” closes the album on a strong note with a great toy keyboard demo-esque part but it sounds legit and mesmerizing cause it’s played on organ. There’s some whistling that pops up occasionally before a man sings “Run away, run far away” and disappears. It’s hard to pinpoint what makes it so, but the piece is very pleasant, distant and a bit ghostly. It reminds me of standing on the beach in the cold.
This is the third time this record has been released, a CDr and an LP on Not Not Fun came before; I’m not sure if this album is that good to warrant so many releases but it’s definitely a cool record. Very nice, very mellow—easy listening, in a great way.
Both DNT and Digitalis did unbelievable jobs with the artwork. MUDMUX Vol. 1 has a foldout 4 pass silkscreen cover by R. Lyon and Kevin Hooyman with a radiant, fitting color scheme and it comes with a very informative insert. The 7inch itself is crystal blue with cool silver/graphite grey labels. Utterly fantastic, and only 5.50 postpaid. Likewise, Digitalis did an incredible job with the Hungry Ghosts! CD and, not that anyone was competing, it visually blows away the NNF LP. The CD comes in a super intricately laser cut sleeve that’s even burned around the edges a little and stuffed with a double-sided insert and CD that fill out the design. Probably the best packaging job I’ve seen on a CD, definitely one of best I’ve come across on any format. And coming from a known CD packaging-disser, that’s a big compliment. Additionally, it’s an enhanced CD with a video by Mudboy that pops when you put it in a computer, if yr into that sort of thing. Mudboy really inspires the best in labels I guess.
Both releases are still in print and available from the labels, the 7inch is limited, though, to a generous 535 copies. Don’t sleep on it.

Theo Angell & the Tabernacle Hillside Singers – Auraplinth [Digitalis]

This is the first time I’ve gotten a real advance promo copy of something, so I made sure to get a review done by the day it came out. Rather than mess it up, by finally getting around to writing a review in three months or something. So anyway, this Theo Angell record comes out today, on Halloween man. It seems like on odd day to release Auraplinth on because it’s not really spooky or ghostly at all. But maybe it’s here to cheer us up during the dreary upcoming Thanksgiving season.
The record begins with “In About a Half Hour”, built around autoharp, tambourine/rattles, acoustic guitar and hand drums. And of course Angell’s voice as well. It’s a nicely off kilter folk ditty with a few choice melodic flourishes, pretty characteristic of the rest of the record. The only thing I’m not digging on the track, is some not so subtle use of effects namely autopan, it distracts from the song a tad and feels superfluous among the all-acoustic arrangement. “Crows Landing” follows focusing on Angell’s vocals. His voice’s only accompaniment is a repetitive, unchanging pattern on a banjo (I think). Had the vocals been dull, the track would have easily floundered, but Theo does a hell of a job carrying the song and being the central source of melody on the track. “On the Willow” returns to a bit larger arrangement this time rattle, electric and acoustic guitar, glockenspiel and a (wooden) flute. But again, Angell is the main melodic presence, and leads the band to strange but beautiful places, with subtle additions by the various instruments. Both “Stuttgart Summertime” and “Bountfling” are short tracks based around acoustic guitar and vocal, they are both nice enough but don’t leave a particularly strong impression after they’re done. When I listened to this album the first time, the first track that really grabbed me was “Have U Seen the Birds Lately”. Angell moves back and forth between a stronger deeper voice and a witchy falsetto. Though his voice leads the track, the simple accompaniment sounds determined and effective. Basically, just a rapidly plucked guitar, a couple insertions of a slide guitar and some nice subtle backing vox as well. It’s hard to say exactly what about it works so well, but it does nonetheless. “Written With the Word” is a brief acoustic ditty, a little reminiscent of Devendra Banhart before he started making really shitty records. However, it’s the next track that everyone is/will/should be talking about/listening to.
”Apparently Someone Tried To” is one of the best rock songs I have heard in a long time. From the first to the zillionth time I’ve listened to it, the track is always absolutely incredible. It’s kind of funny, that when conventional rock elements (i.e. drum kit, electric guitar) are introduced, Theo Angell creates his most sublime work. The whole track is just a little askew, the guitars are melodic but not in a predictable way, drums are steady but not repetitive. And like many other places on the record the song is taken to unexpected, though fitting, places. One of my favorite aspects is there is a guest vocalist (maybe one of the Hillside singers) that just fucking rules! He has a great, cunning Bill Callahan-esque voice and navigates his way through the track with a strange sing-speak that, somehow, just totally works. I’m not actually sure what he’s talking about, but it sounds so cool just by the way he delivers the lyrics. Props to Theo for, being chill enough, to let another guy sing lead on his album. By the way, Angell provides backing vocals and sings the chorus and his voice blends beautifully with the voice of the mystery guest. Seriously this track is just fantastic, and I don’t feel like I am adequately describing it which frustrates me but whatever, take my word—you know I’m good for it. I keep drawing this paragraph out just so I can listen to the song again. If I ever made some ‘Sweet Stuff From Double Oh Seven’ mixtape, “Apparently Someone Tried To” would be there, without a doubt. I’d have to put it first too, so it’d be easy find for all the times I’d want to play it again. I might not actually end up listening to the rest of the tape if I did that though.
So after the profound, momentous “Apparently Someone Tried To”, come the albums three weakest tracks. “Flurdrid Mourning” is a pseudo-drone type track with a single looped drum hit and weird alien-through-a-wahwah vocals. I don’t mean to sound like a jerk, but I don’t understand how the track made the cut. It would be one thing if it was a one minute interlude or something, but it gets very tiresome after its relatively unchanging five plus minutes. “Is the Worst Ever Best?” works a little better, though it isn’t a strong track in itself. It is a vocal and tambourine duet, and it does what it does and moves on quickly. “The Golden Hour” certainly has some pretty moments but on the whole feels aimless and adrift, not quite cohering as well the stuff on the first half of the record. Footing is regained for the next tracks though. “Gardenfull” is similar to “Written With the Word” but with some really nice backing vocals which add a lot of dynamics to the track. There is also a great change-up towards the end, taking the track out on a high note. The title track features first-rate flute accompaniment and a strange sinister/beautiful vibe. “She King”, the album’s longest track, has kind of a Wooden Wand backed by a super-subtle Family Underground type sound, which is something I never thought I’d hear but it sounds good. The finale, “Forward With the Veil”, sounds similar to something off the most recent Justin Shay record on Foxglove, not one of the strongest tracks but gives the record a low-key finish.
All in all, Auraplinth is a pretty good record with many magnificent moments that will delight anyone into folk-pop oddity. I hate to tell someone else how to make their art, but to my ears, the album would have been stronger if it had been cut down to eleven maybe twelve tracks, but that’s just me. Angell has done a good job establishing is own sound and the record is definitely one that gets better the more you listen to it, which is probably the greatest quality an album can have. Oh, and in case you missed it, “Apparently Someone Tried To” is one my favorite songs of the year.
Other notables are: the album is released today-according to the press release, comes in a “heavy duty gatefold jacket w/ full lyric sheet” and was mastered by Pete Swanson. Czech it out.

Robedoor + Pocahaunted – Hunted Gathering [Digitalis]

Both the Robedoor and Pocahaunted crews have been making a name for themselves this year, especially when in tandem it seems. They opened for Sonic Youth in collaborative live form pretty recently, and their first shot at a collabo release, Mouth of Prayer, was reissued by Blackest Rainbow only mere months after it came out in the first place. This double disc split/collab slab, courtesy of Digitalis, is the next piece in the ever expanding RBDR+Phaunt puzzle.
The excellently titled, Hunted Gathering starts off with Robedoor in classic dread drone mode. There is sloshed vocal murk a plenty, but what Robedoor has always been killer at is the way they incorporate rather typical instruments into their palette of scuzz and hum. This track, “Plague of Settlers”, has an organ of some sort, bass, a drum kit perhaps a guitar, all mingling and forming into a heavy monolith exploding underneath the Earth’s surface. Pocahaunted follows with “Roman Nose”, beginning in typical Phaunt fashion, two guitar chords cycling back and forth and female vocal séance. In addition, the girls are joined by subtle drumming (I’m assuming by Goliath Bird Eater’s Bobb Bruno) and I’m pretty sure I hear a male voice in there too but don’t quote me. It’s a nice unified procession, almost to a fault, but vocal “solos” towards the end help break the sameness up a bit. Another Pocahaunted track, “Crow Scout” follows but it doesn’t quite do it for me. The central melody and arrangement doesn’t gel well enough to sustain the piece across its almost 14 minutes. There are some of those classic, sublime Pocahaunted vocal moves in it though. My ears like that. Robedoor gets back on the mic and closes out the first disc with “Spectral Outpost”. It’s a long, gradually winding piece, like riding a rollercoaster in slow motion, in the dark. Except instead of being filled by excitedness, like you would be on a rollercoaster in regular motion, you’re filled with utter creepedoutness. This is real digging-up-bodies-on-an-ancient-Indian-burial-ground shit, total looming doom. Give it a few minutes and you’ll be under its spell, marching hypnotized into oblivion just as I am.
Robedoor opens up the second disc as well. But out of left field, it’s a pretty serene piece called “Ancestress Moon”. And it’s the only track length on the album that doesn’t make it to double figures. It doesn’t go anywhere particular but it doesn’t really have to, it’s a nice comedown after “Spectral Outpost” AND it’s a great lead in to the final solo Pocahaunted track “Warmest Knives”. “Warmest Knives” starts out almost identically as “Roman Nose”, but soon enough it morphs into a rather lush echoing piece. The mysterious Laena (whose violinwork was the standout on the Phaunts’ Rough Magic tape) makes a much welcomed appearance here. Her violin isn’t front and center, but it comes in at all the right places. This may be the foggiest Pocahaunted has ever sounded and it suits them well. The track still feels a bit long, but the fine use of dynamics by all parties involved excuses that. “Razed Terrain”, Robedoor’s final bout, is a decent enough though repetitive vocal-dominated affair, that can't quite compare to their excellent cuts on the first disc. Though I do dig the cymbal smashing towards the end. The grand finale, the collaborative title track, is a very disembodied sounding piece. The Pocahaunted element is prominently on display while the Robedoor faction snakes around in poisonous mists. Towards the end of the track the intensity has increased a bit but it doesn’t sound too much different from when it started. It feels more like a Pocahaunted piece with Robedoor sitting in rather than a full on meeting of the minds, though maybe it’s just me.
While I wouldn’t call Hunted Gathering either group’s best work, it’s still a good showing (especially for Robedoor) and unlike the rest of the groups’ other work, it’s still available. All in all, the whole thing is a classy, well put together project by Digitalis. The sound is crisp thanks to Bobb Bruno and Pete Swanson, on recording & mixing and mastering duties, respectively. The sweet collage plastered all over this thing is by Manda and Bethany of Pocahaunted (also Roy Tatum of Buried Valley is credited to layout, as well as additional instruments) and it’s just totally fun to look at, especially the inside. So if you’ve yet to hear either subject of this review, I suggest you pick this up. It’s definitely the best bang for your buck. And if yr a fan of either group, well, you already know what to do.

Fantastic Magic – Witch Choir [Abandon Ship]/CJA/Smokehouse – Whiskey & Freedom [Abandon Ship]/Turner Cody – Buds of May [Digitalis]

What we have here is a trio of folkish releases (tri-folk-cta of releases?) that aren’t all that connected except by their vague (sometimes not so vague) folkiness. Well two of them came out on the same label but I’ll just ignore that connection for now. All are pretty great and add or develop a different dimension of “folk”—I used it a million times in the opening sentence, what’s one more gonna hurt.
Xzibit number A: Witch Choir by Fantastic Magic. Leave it to Nate Rulli over at Abandon Ship to be the man to hook me up with something I never knew existed and never knew I needed so badly. This tape flat out rules, murdering the competition with one fell swoop. These guys have an uncanny accuracy with words, this tape is fantastic, magical and sounds like the sweetest damn bunch of witches you ever heard. I’m reminded a bit of the Cherry Blossoms but where they jam (and jam unbelievably well) on zany hillbilly ground, Fantastic Magic have a lightly tripped out, free floating and totally bewitching vibe. And just like the Blossoms they are totally addicting. The tape runs through 10 tracks in 25 minutes so it’s not really worth singling specific ones cause they fly by so fast and, really how can you pick out highlights when the whole thing is a highlight. I’ll try though, at the end of the A-side there is a brilliant Morricone inspired spaghetti western breakdown, and throughout the rest of the tape you’ll hear dreamy forest lullabies (especially the album opener), lots of lo-fi lushness, dazzling, ear catching melody after melody after melody (and so on…) courtesy of voice, guitar, trumpet, and, um, everything else they play. I’m not fucking around here, you gotta hear this. I’ve forgotten how many times I’ve listened to it and its always new and great and with the melodic hooks continuously popping up in my mind and on my lips. I will say two things though; one, there is some pretty high pitched singing on here in spots which initially took a bit of getting used to, but it isn’t annoying or anything. The other is there is a free jam on the second side that goes on a bit too long but it’s still short anyway, so really not much to complain about actually. But no matter, go buy this before these guys are big stars and on Paw Tracks or something. Highly recommended. One of my favorite things all year. And it only costs 5 bucks postpaid! Small price to pay for an eternal smile on yr face. And word from Nate is that he hopes to have a Fantastic Magic LP out by the end of the year, so start drooling, I already have.
Next up, CJA/Smokehouse, which despite the slashing punctuation is in fact a 100% collabo. Don’t know Smokehouse at all but, I’ve heard a few things by CJA before. Anyhow, both guys sing, play guitar, organ and drums. Though it seems like they only do them at a time. Most tracks sound pretty minimal, like maybe voice with guitar accompaniment. This tape has a real nicely beat up lo-fi aesthetic, a tad warbly and fuzzy and warm. Opener “I Need Her” is a stand out cause the dude singing (CJA?) just sounds so tired and wrecked, slumped over a few beautifully simple guitar chords. Also “Vegemite Eggs on Toast” closes out the A-side with a lone guitar ringing out many a sweet, heart wrenching chord. Basically encompassing, in guitar chords, the misery of the dude who sang on the first track. No easy feat I must say. In between the two there is the incrementally more riotous “Let Her Go” which features some drumming in addition to guitar and vocals with a bit of an anguished, frustrated vibe. Maybe a sequel to “I Need Her”? There are also a couple almost interlude like tracks with organ and whatnot, which I guess add a bit of atmosphere but not that much else.
On the flipside, we’re met with a much more confident, bordering on bombastic strum on side opener “Sunshine Stream”. Things get unexpectedly noisy, and it’s actually rather cathartic even just for the guy (me) listening to it. That is something I’m really digging about this tape is the basic emotional connection it forges with the listener, in spite of (or maybe because of) such a limited palette. “In Bed” follows with a guitar/organ dirge, with the weird vibrating organ tone overtaking the much more mild mannered guitar progression. “Another Day, Another Beer” sees the voice that I think is CJA’s get back on the mic, this time with a much stronger guitar accompaniment which overpowers his vocal in some spots. There is a second guitar too, which is a welcome presence adding different aborted guitar solo-type deals that get occasionally spattered across the rest of the song. “A World Without Love” is another solo guitar instrumental, with a very angsty alternative vibe (didn’t I say that about a Buck Paco track too?). All in all a cool release, though the A-side is a bit spotty in places, there is more than enough good stuff to dive into here. Again, really dig the emotional presence that resonates in the majority of the tracks too.
Buds of May is the most traditionally “folk” of the three here. Turner Cody is a pretty prolific songwriter who has garnered rave reviews from Wooden Wand and Glenn Donaldson, who I heard know a thing or two about writing songs. As exhibited on excellent opener “Break for Boar”, (I’m all about the openers today) Cody shows his penchant for ambling about bouncy blues-inspired progressions and sings with a bit of swagger and confidence. Though he certainly knows how to sing, Cody definitely retains that everyman vibe in his voice that all the best vocalists have (Will Oldham, Bill Callahan, Bob Dylan etc.) “Lashes That Go Wide” reminds me of the more acoustic moments of Magnetic Fields. Cody gives a droll, dry delivery but manages to be incredibly tuneful as well. Tough to pull off, but he does so admirably. “Up Up High” has a catchy jaunt a la Pixies’ “Vamos” and some classic cowboy lead guitaring. Definitely a foot tapper. I always have a hard time writing about simple acoustic ditties such as these, but I really wish I was good at it because “The Casual Joke” is a killer. It’s one of those songs that just hits you and knocks you out. One of those, you hear for the first time and know it’s special and you’ll be damned if you don’t listen to it another hundred times. Everything comes together to absolute perfection. Cody’s voice winds through the lyrical lines wonderfully and the chord progression is a tearjerker. I feel like maybe the best thing I can about this album is there is nothing bad about it, nothing to criticize or nitpick. It’s just incredibly well written, well sung/performed, well paced (12 songs in a half hour). It’s just a bunch of great songs, with lyrics snaking around the chords united by the overarching melody. Also, I’m totally not doing justice to Cody’s lyrics in this review but I’ve never been a big fan of taking lyrics out of context and using them in reviews (though in a second, I’ll render that statement irrelevant, sorry) His lyrics are often very clever and always have an odd but fitting sort of structure and syntax. A unique voice to be sure. I will leave you, however, with a quote of Cody’s that I think sums him up pretty damn well: “An image is a prison, babe/and I ain’t got one”
Both Abandon Ship releases come packaged totally classy as usual, transparent color tapes and color inserts. Cheap too. Buds of May is Digitalis’s first release under the new Arts & Crafts guise, and it’s got a beautifully printed three-color arigato pack, very very nice and professionally pressed CD. Obviously, I’m in love with Fantastic Magic, but you can’t go wrong with any of these whatever way you go.