Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Cold Cave-Oceans With No End



Cold Cave are already coming back from their wonderful "A Little Death to Laugh" 7" from last year, and are apparently going to release a new album very soon. Needless to say, woo! Even better, between that, Deathwish will be releasing the Oceans With No End EP, which will probably give us the best indication of what form the new album will take. The just released title track is more in line with what Cold Cave were making on Cherish the Light Years, with the intensity turned down a notch. The song is still as broading as ever, with the industrial drum beat and parallel distorted guitar to distorted synth lines. It's a near stagnate song, never diving into an explosive, emotive chorus or introduce bombastic instrumentation. Instead, we are give four and half minutes of darkwave bliss, and possibly Cold Cave have come to reproducing a New Order song in their own way.



Links:

Cold Cave's Website
Pre-order the Oceans with No End EP here, from Deathwish Inc.

Monday, February 25, 2013

Whatever It Is You're Doing Now Cassette Compilation



After a near year long hiatus, one of the best cassette labels around, Mirror Universe, will finally return and in a huge way. They have put together the Whatever It Is You're Doing Now compilation, a massive two cassette, 19 band, 92 minute collection that is nearly completely unreleased songs. Pulling together not only Mirror Universe alumni like Mr. Jenkins or Tapeworms, but the likes of Foot Village, M. Sage, Xander Harris, and even Lust for Youth appear on Whatever It Is You're Doing Now, which lets the compilation do the number one most important thing any compilation should do; introduce as many different bands as possible to those who have not heard them. For instance, the utterly hypnotic, Grass Widows-esque glory that are Southern Femisphere and their song "Transgander (When the Community Went Looking for the Lost Gayzling in the Wood)", four minutes of perfect subdued intensity and post-punk glory that I would not have discovered if not for this release. This is wonderfully put together release, one where you can tell the care and passion that went into it. Get ordering now.    



Links:

Pre-order Whatever It Is You're Doing Now here, from Mirror Universe
Southern Femisphere's bandcamp

Friday, February 22, 2013

Kurt Vile-Wakin On a Pretty Day



On the surface, it seems pretty absurd that the song that got me to finally pay attention to Kurt Vile is a nine and half minute jam that pretty much never varies during its entire duration, but I think that's a testament to Vile's song writing chops above all else. "Waking On a Pretty Day" (not to be confused with the upcoming album it's on Wakin On a Pretty Daze) is pretty much that; and Vile churning a lovely, jaunty alt-country tune that just goes on and on and on, and I mean that in the best way possible. It's like someone took Pavement's "Range Life", right down to hazy California twang and slacker vocals, and stretched it out even further. Pepper it lovely bits of psychedelic guitar riffs, plus an excellent, noodling outro, and here now is the definition of a breezy tune, one that start listening to, blink, and it ends. And while "Wakin On a Pretty Day" passes by so fast, it still manages to make you want to instantly listen to it over and over again.



Links:

Kurt Vile's Website
Pre-order Wakin On a Pretty Daze here, from Matador Records

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Album Review: Iceage-You're Nothing

Aggression and anger were the fuel that ran through Iceage’s New Brigade. The metaphorical life blood that powered the band, this is despite the fact that for the most part there was an underlying restraint to New Brigade. Sure, Iceage’s debut could become intensely loud and blistering fast, but looking back they held a lot back; letting their songs collapse beneath clanging, guitar created noise rather than detonating them, or within the lyrics, which communicated mood easily but emotions only in the vaguest of sense. The catharsis was always tangible, but never completely realized.

You’re Nothing is the long coming release, a band that has shed their protective, apathetic shell to embrace raw, pure emotional turmoil, anguish, and energy. The shift happens a minute into the opening cut “Ecstasy”, after just pummeling your ears with an metallic, icy, and coiled guitar and drum barrage, drops to a crawl for the chorus of “pressure/pressure/oh god no”, with frontman Elias Bender Rønnenfelt shifting his usual detached bark to a throat tearing yell. You can almost picture him clutching head as he sings the lines.

“Ecstasy”, besides signifying the new emotional/cathartic release that Iceage embrace throughout You’re Nothing, also establishes how the band has somehow managed to become much noisier in their songs, yet somehow also become catchier in the process as well. Take the second track “Coalition” which is an even more of a blur than “Ecstasy”. It sounds like a hardcore band playing a shoegaze song, right down to the sexual confusion of the within the lyrics, the guitars are little more than rising and falling pitches of distortion. Yet, they work so well, giving way to a chorus with even more guitar ferocity that still manages to contain the central hooks of the songs as the lyrics are spewed out in the blink of the eye. The album follows this formula nearly throughout, presenting a bleak, angry, aggressive, but memorizing beginning before launching into a chorus that doesn’t shed any of these elements, but still brings in a new, addictive sheen that cements the likes of “In Haze”, “Burning Hand” and “Awake”. Even songs that deter from this like the piano laden “Morals” (which I don’t know how the band managed to pull off within the context of You’re Nothing but did), still operates perfectly on the principle of tension and release that Iceage create throughout this record.

The band’s lyrics and Rønnenfelt’s vocal delivery are the secret weapon on You’re Nothing though. What will probably be an over looked element due to Rønnenfelt having a Colin Newman level accent, the vocals are not the most prominent element in the mix, but are a notch higher than they were on New Brigade. Their higher presence is a necessity to emphasis the increase lyrical power the band has obtained on You’re Nothing. The lyrics are clear, goth influenced prose that capture a growing sense of despair, lack of self-worth, and emotional torment caused by other people. But the lyrics are not just black hole of darkness; the band paints in shades, bringing flickers of light and understanding, however brief their presence maybe. He sings with such pitch-perfect vitriol that even when listening to a track composed entirely in Danish, “Rodfæstet”, one can still feel the intensity contained in every word. By the time the album reaches its closing and title track, the repeated shouting of “YOU’RE NOTHING” feels anything but one dimensional, instead feeling like no other lyrics would do the song justice.

Aggression-rooted music truly isn’t a style that truly allows for evolution because then next step for those emotions (sadness, apathy, possibly happiness) are in such a different direction from the source the end result winds up sounding nothing like the starting point, and in turn worse. You’re Nothing proves how wrong this is, how fury, channeled Joy Division-like realism and intensity, channeled through nihilistic prose can result in something not just better than their last effort, but glorious as well.




Links:

Iceage's Website
Buy You're Nothing here, from Matador Records

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Home Alone: Teddybears & Weed Cassette



Before I dive into Home Alone's excellent debut release, please take a moment to appreciate the fact that he named it Teddybears & Weed, and how absolutely amazing of a title that is. Did you do it? Good.

Home Alone is the musical project of one Tom Mazurkiewicz, who makes utterly gorgeous, dreary bedroom dream-pop. What allows Home Alone's debut to stand out above the usual genericism of the hundreds of other bedroom pop composers is two key aspects. First, the lovely production, which is decidedly lo-fi but in the gooey, inviting dimension that has begun to emerge with the tag, which immediately lulls the listener into the songs' worlds. And the songs themselves, which show Mazurkiewicz's willingness to jump between the different boundaries that dream-pop encompasses, producing hazy guitar pop a la Atlas Sound on "Wishful Sinking", tinkering, blurry guitar-drone filled beats like Guilty Ghost on opener "Keep Breathing" or "No One's Awake", or even reduced lo-fi pop like Dead Gaze on "Teenage Tide".

There's a slight weirdness on Teddybears & Weed that seems to come part and parcel with bedroom pop (and would you expect otherwise from someone who would name their release Teddy Bears & Weed), but it never detours from the music, instead feeling more like infusion of Mazurkiewicz's personality straight into the music , like on the Antlers-informed-by-rap title track or the weirdo sound sample/collage "Stuck" that ends the tape. They not only work in the context of the tape, but are above else good songs that regardless. Teddybears & Weed is a wonderful slice of bedroom dream-pop bliss, a great opening salvo, and deserves props just because Home Alone do an awesome cover of Modest Mouse's "Sleepwalking".



Links:

Home Alone's Tumblr
Get the Teddybears & Weed cassette here soon, from Orchid Tapes

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Live: Ty Segall/Ex-Cult @ The Mohawk 1/25/13



The Ty Segall/Ex-Cult show I saw should have been the Ty Segall/Ex-Cult/OBN III’s show that I saw, but travel problems caused me to arrive to the Mohawk literally the moment the OBN III’s finished playing. Which sucks, both in terms of missing a great band but everyone saying how excellent they were that night. Thankfully, the two bands that I did manage to see that night more than satisfied the garage-punk craving that had been building inside me for far too long.

Ex-Cult



Ex-Cult were an interesting bunch. They gave off the air of a bunch of drunk hooligans, five kids who just wanted to play their untamed rock songs on stage, without caring how it came out on the other end. The thing was despite a degree of sloppiness during the set (and it was there), Ex-Cult are actually a really tight outfit. All three guitars, the twin guitar roar and throbbing bass through out the set, brought forth the post-punk tension that lays within Ex-Cult's songs, held steady by the drummers frantic but constant pounding. Lead singer Chris Shaw had an magnetism to him, yelping his lines and twisting his body on stage, akin to a slightly more crazy Brendan Suppression. It was a deeply entertaining set that definitely helped to set the stage to what Ty Segall and co. were soon to deliver, hindered only slightly by the poor mix that was coming out of the soundboard.

Ty Segall



Midway through Ty Segall's set, I think I realized only half the crowd at goes to see Ty Segall to actually watch him and his cohorts create music onstage. The others use the show as a sort of  soundtrack for their release, the unleashing of tucked in excitement, aggression, and energy that they save just for Ty Segall shows. At few other times, including the hardcore punk shows I've attended, has the been so much madness, a flurry of people jumping off stage and everyone trying to mosh at once. There is a collective euphoria to this, with the smiles across people's faces during the whole show, as violent as it was. All this isn't to dismiss Ty Segall's performance at all though. He was on fire as usual, there's no other way to put it. His ability ot just step on stage, barely say a word during the entire set, and barrel through garage scorcher to Black Sabbath sludge-garage worship to manic blast of garage-punk fury is close to memorizing if you weren't being thrown around by the crowd. It was an honest to God rock show in the truest form, one that no one stood still for and left you with you're ears ringing, if they hadn't been blown out instead.

Friday, February 15, 2013

Video: Super Wild Horses-Alligator



Fifteen from Super Wild Horses was one of my favorite releases back in 2010, a collection of tunes that lay at the intersection of the sparse, post-punky sound Vivian Girls use to have and fellow Australian brethren Eddy Current Suppression Ring. Then after it's release, silence. That is, until yesterday, with announcement that their second album Crosswords and the video for the opening track "Alligator". Woo! "Alligator", on the surface, is just as simple as the tracks Super Wild Horses made in the past, nothing but guitar, drums, and intertwining vocals from the duo. However, there is an added sheen to "Alligator"; the production has been upped, and with it the darker undercuts that usually lay more deeply hidden within their songs. It's personified by the song's video, which appears to be a silly video of the band members being smeared with shaving cream, but looking at the editing and feel of the video, there's a bleaker edge attached to it than you would think.



Links:

Super Wild Horses' Facebook
Pre-order Crosswords soon here, from Dot Dash/Remote Control Records

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Youth Lagoon-Mute



"Wow" were the words I think that must have lit up in everyone's mind when they heard the new Youth Lagoon tune "Mute", first as in "Wow, is this really Youth Lagoon?" then "Wow, this track is unbelievably incredible". "Mute" really is that incredible. It comes barreling out of the gate, the guitar chords soaring, hymn like synths swirling around, and powerfully reverb soaked drums that make "Mute" ascend even higher. And this is the intro of the song, as "Mute" dives into its sprawling core, composed of firefly-like synth beeps layered over My Bloody Valentine's "Touched" before the extended guitar solo starts ringing and plays the rest of the song out. "Mute" works so well not only because it shows how will Youth Lagoon is now to experiment with their sound, but by throwing every precedent for how they normally do out the window. The only constant is Trevor Power's airy vocals, but even those fall by the way side half way through the song, letting "Mute" sustain on the creativity swirling inside of it. "Mute" is an utterly lush, gorgeous track that also demonstrates how a band can properly expand stylistically without missing a beat.



Links:

Youth Lagoon's Facebook
Pre-order Wondrous Bughouse here, from Fat Possum Records

Nerves Junior-Craters EP



First, a thank you to We Listen to You for introducing me to this EP and possibly my new favorite band. Nerves Junior are a band from Louisville that have been around for a while, but have completely flown under my radar for no good reason. Craters is their newest EP, a sort of starting over point due to various lineup changes occurring within the band, though you would never know it from how fully formed this release sounds.

The Craters EP is three slices of perfectly pieced together electronica informed indie rock, the result of listening to everything Radiohead released since Kid A, but not trapped by their influence like, per se Alt-J are. They all have a gradual, steady build to them that the band manages to effortless pull of within each song, adding an extra "hmmph" to the tracks that could just get away with their steady, haunting pace. The way the title track shifts from cool synth lines and house style beats and clicks to the ringing guitar line takes over the song, rising the track before all these elements collide near the end in a perfect swirl. "Intern", the best track on the EP, is a near recreation of "Reckoner", from the central, shimmering guitar riff to new front man Zachary O’Renick matching Thom Yorke's falsetto to an impressive degree. However, the song throws you through a loop, swelling without detection before exploding with a dark intensity (communicated through the instantly electrified guitar and O'Renick's anguished vocals) that is just instantly memorizing.

"Goodnight Nobody" continues the intensity "Intern", but operating on a peak and valley system, with Nerves Junior knowing just the right moment to drop to nothing but bass and electronic percussion, and when to detonate every instrument at once. The soft, lush finale that ends "Goodnight Nobody", along with the EP, is a lovely touch, a simple way to contrast all the creative bombast just heard. It maybe just three songs, but the Craters EP is one of the best things I've heard all year; for someone who does not usually enjoy meticulously produced, deeply mechanical bands, Nerves Junior so much more than that, capturing a wonderful creative sound with these three tracks.


Links:

Nerves Junior's Facebook
Buy the Craters EP, from the band themselves

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Heathers-Teenage Cloths



Heathers is a brand new band (which I would have never found if not for Weekly Tape Deck, so shout out to them) that formed when Michael Avishay left Portland (and his band Ghost Animal) to return to LA. Now Avishay has formed Heathers, which switches the noise surf-pop Avishay use to make for clean, breezy, C-86 perfection in every sense. "Teenage Cloths" is just insanely infectious indie-pop perfection, the same jangle addiction that Weed Hounds crafted with "Skating Away from the Cops", minus the shoegaze sheen which is slightly more impressive. Describing earworms is a near pointless endevor though, so just listen to the near three minutes of pop bliss Heatehrs managed to craft, their very first song too.


Links:

Heathers' Facebook

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Thee Oh Sees-Minotaur



To say Thee Oh Sees are back always seems wrong because they never really leave. If they're not releasing a new album, they're releasing a new single. If they're not touring (and they are always touring), then they are collaborating with another artist, or running Castle Face Records to help bring more music into the world. The energy required to keep track of everything they do is quite massive, but well worth it for a band as creative as these four art damaged, garage weirdos. Everything about their upcoming latest album screams that nutball mentality, from the eerie/trippy/crazy cover art and equally freaky (but awesome) title Floating Coffin. However, "Minotaur" the closer from that album, invokes not just the opposite of all that, but almost the opposite of everything one knows about Thee Oh Sees now.

It is a slow burner, a near waltz in it's percussion and John Dwyer's vocals, which are stripped of their usual falsetto and instead now contain lovely, near cool mid-tone to them. Their guitar chords are deliberate and strong, never noodling or flying off the hinges, perfectly enhanced by the strings that float around the song. Even during the band's early, sun baked folk days did they create something this cohesive or melancholy. This probably the most mature Thee Oh Sees have ever been, and while a tag like "maturity" seems ghastly inappropriate for them, "Minotaur" proves just the opposite.



Links:

Thee Oh Sees' Website
Pre-order Floating Coffin here, from Castle Face Records

Friday, February 8, 2013

Show to See: Blues Control @ Holy Mountain 2/9/13



Due to unfortunate circumstances (the main one being that I'm stuck in San Antonio for the next few months with little opportunity or ability to go to other places), I can't make it to see all the bands I want that constantly flow in and out of Austin. However, that doesn't mean if you live in Austin, you should miss the bands I have to, especially the likes of Blues Control. Blues Control are an excellent, deeply unclassifiable experimental duo who's live shows are a sight to behold as they recreate and twist their compositions before your eyes. See their latest video for "Opium Den/Fade to Blue" for the smallest taste of what one will see live. They'll be playing at the newly opened, 200 capacity Holy Mountain on February 9 with fellow experimentalists Same Sack, Thousand Foot Whale Claw, and Expensive Shit. This will, without a doubt be one of the crazier, more cerebrall shows you will see in the coming months, so don't miss it.

Live: Purity Ring/Young Magic @ The Mohawk 1/22/13



Shows don’t really sell out for bands in Austin. Usually, no matter how popular or how much buzz is behind an band, and trust me when I say they will still draw a huge crowd, it is near always possible to just go to the venue and grab a ticket there. So when the blackboard outside the Mohawk read "SOLD THE FUCK OUT", that should give the proper sense of how much people wanted to see Purity Ring and Young Magic. The emails, texts, and phone calls I made to make to make personally to secure my own ticket just to see the show was more effort than I have ever invested in order to see a show. But after I emerged the show, sweaty from uncontrollable dancing and experiencing minor seizures from the lights, I honestly think I can say it was all worth it.

Young Magic



Young Magic managed to set the vibe of the night early with their set. They came on stage without a peep, and proceeded to play a blend of deeply atmospheric blend of modern psychedelic-electronica infused with bits of a post-Merrieweather Post Pavilion sound. Dark, moody, blood violet lighting was shined on the band throughout their set while various film clips were projected on the right side of the Mohawk; the band was trying as hard as they could to draw the crowd into trance-filled, other-worldly sound. Unfortunately, despite being able to craft the night’s atmosphere, Young Magic didn’t really succeed with their own music. Live, Young Magic’s music gained unattractive drone quality that while fitting in with the general hypnotic tone, also made the music blend together too. Also, being cramped under Purity Ring’s stage set-up and their projects going unnoticed as well as being obscured removed solid chunks of their aesthetic that probably help to rise their live show. Instead, Young Magic set just felt meandering, going in no particular direction until it ended.

Purity Ring



Purity Ring’s set, on the other hand was just the opposite of Young Magic. They roared to life, from the moment Megan James and Corin Roddick stepped on stage, the entire place lit up, both metaphorically and literally from the catacomb like light rig the band uses to enhance their both bright but off-kilterly dark style. It has been deeply impressive to see how Purity Ring’s live show has evolved through the years from when they were using mini-pipes to produce their beats live, to the introduction of the light-up, beat triggering lantern rig and homemade backdrop that followed. This show felt like a cumulation of all that, from the fully manipulated light scheme to the aforementioned illuminated catacombs that hovered over the band to the smoke machine that was the perfect last bit of atmosphere instead of tacky add-on. Not to mention the band was an absolute fine from, sounding pitch perfect the entire set through with James shining like a crystal and Roddick never missing a set with his production duties, mechanically jumping between his sampler, the lantern rig, and back. Purity Ring were so good that the Soulja Boy cover they included near the end of their set made perfect sense rather than feeling like a “why the hell did they do that”. While not every aspect of Purity Ring’s songs managed completely to come alive during their set (the more sinister and darker aspects being obstructed by the positive vibes of the dancing front row), at times did feel like hearing Shrines being constructed right before your eyes, something that should express how impress the duo was onstage.

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Single Review: Fuzz-This Time I Got A Reason b/w Fuzz's Fourth Dream

Let's get this out of the way. Yes, Fuzz is a brand new project by Ty Segall, on drums and vocals, with bandmate Charlie Moonheart contributing his guitar expertise to the project too. However, their is nothing "reduced" or "lite" to Fuzz or their debut single. Instead, what Segall and Moonheart have crafted here is taken from the vein of Black Sabbath love they expressed on Slaughterhouse, particularly the stoner-garage sludge of "Wave Goodbye".

Not that Fuzz's tunes should be seen as if they were just demos that the duo decided to throw haphazardly on record. No, these two tracks are distinct Ty Segall songs, ones that may be simple in creation and sound, but don't lack an ounce of the energy or intensity he invests in his all his songs. A-Side "This Time I Got a Reason" all exemplifies this, built around Segall's slowed down but still frantic drumming and Moonheart's well...thick, fuzzed out guitar playing that manages to serve the duel nature of giving the song a driving guitar force while also being the track's sludgy, bass backbone. The '70s stoner vibe the band makes is even stronger in B-Side "Fuzz's Fourth Dream", which does sounds like a lo-fi take on "Iron Eye", though the solos Moonheart strategically places through out the track lets the song rise up above generic garage band ripoff to feeling like a lost track from the era. The mini-freakout that helps end the track particularly cements the awesomeness of Fuzz. The fact that Segall isn't lending his distinct guitar playing to this band helps give Fuzz such a distinct sound from his other projects. There's barely any garage influence to Fuzz's sound, instead pulling from a darker, more murky spectrum that gives the project a unquige feel from Segall's other bands. It's awesome that the aggression and energy Segall and co. created on Slaughterhouse was not a one time deal, and has now found its home within Fuzz.



Links:

Buy the Fuzz 7" here, from Trouble in Mind Records

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Mikal Cronin-Shout It Out



Mikal Cronin has helped make so much music (The Moonhearts, bassist in the Ty Segall Band, the Reverse Shark Attack album), it's sometimes hard to believe he only has one proper solo album to his name, his excellent self-titled affair from 2011. However, that will all change come May thanks to Merge Records with the release of MCII, and if "Shout It Out" is any indication MCII will be even more of the be more of the wonderous jangly psych-garage that Cronin crafted on his debut. "Shout It Out" is two parts bright '60s pop with a sunny acoustic jaunt opening the tone that makes up the verses, and 2 parts garage as the perfect fuzz pedal is hit to launch the song into its distorted chorus. This prominent undercut is what makes "Shout It Out" work so well, as it not only enhances the song's hook, but emphasizes the confusion and dissidence that is captured by the song's lyrics. That, and the fact that Cronin knows how to write a really, really catchy song.



Links:

Mikal Cronin's Bandcamp
Pre-order MCII here, from Merge Records

Monday, February 4, 2013

Youth Lagoon-Dropla



Youth Lagoon's The Year of Hibernation was easily one of my favorite albums of 2011, eight tracks of overwhelming melancholy and beauty that at it felt at times like the most emotional gut punch in the world. Band master mind Trevor Powers just has a win being able to capture pure emotional heft with a hazy piano, warbly vocals, and slow cascading build. And now that has all that has returned with "Dropla" from Youth Lagoon's upcoming Wondrous Bughouse. From it's first moments "Dropla" is just as dreamy and lovely as anything on The Year of Hibernation, but within those moments too are the new dimensions Youth Lagoon has evolved. The percussion is real and not beat made, giving the track a much more organic dimension compared to their previous fractured sound. Powers' has grown-up as well, with his vocals no longer the quiet echo in the background, but now the pained, driving center of the song. "Dropla" whirls and buzzes, never crescendoing like Youth Lagoon's previously did, but instead rising and falling slowly with subtle, expansive sweeps that more accurately parallel the emotions of the song. Even when the song reaches its peak with the Powers' repeating the last line of "You'll never die" over and over, it doesn't just crash but follows into a quiet, spacy outro that personifies "Dropla"'s reflective nature perfectly.



Links:

Youth Lagoon's Facebook
Pre-order Wondrous Bughouse here, from Fat Possum

Friday, February 1, 2013

Video: Iceage-Ecstasy



Their is something ironic in a band like Iceage releasing a track named "Ecstasy". The title invokes a sense of utter happiness and joy, and of all the emotions Iceage tend to evoke with their music, happiness or joy really aren't there. However, watching the video for "Ecstasy" it a makes sense; the track is about release, whether that involves going crazy at a show, being with friends, or burning flowers. The almost collage of images used manage to be very simple and homemade, but also deeply evocative at the same time. It also helps that "Ecstasy" is an utterly incredible track, an insanely twisted post-punk song that manages to be both catchier and more aggressive than anything they have ever made be for. Elias Bender Rønnenfelt's cries of "pressure/pressure!" that make of the song's chorus is an equal cry of rage and anguish that perfectly captures the dual nature of the track. Iceage have been slowly peeling back their stoic rage with their new songs, revealing an angry and pained center to their songs that makes them even more powerful, something makes "Ecstasy" greater than it already is.



Links:

Iceage's Website
Pre-order You're Nothing here, Matador Records

Video: Blues Control-Opium Den/Fade to Blue



Blues Control make a strand of deeply hard-to-classify music. A deconstructed mixture of kroutrock, drone, spaced-out electronics, ambient new age, free-jazz, along with tons of other bits and piece of whatever other musical genres they can get their hands on. When you listen to last year's Valley Tangents, it's a bit hard to believe you are listening to the same band on each track, the genre and style hopping being so great, yet threaded in such a way that Blues Control essence manages to be there in every track. Needless to say, when they decided to make a video for "Opium Den/Fade to Blue", it followed an equal amount of progression and 'where did that come from?' styling. The video is a mash of '90s digital art, VHS effects, and the faceless guy from "Spirited Away". Yet some how, some how the video never dives into incomprehensible territory, instead being a trippy, visual representation of the track, the steady progression and twisting the visuals mirroring "Opium Den/Fade to Blue" very spot on.



Links:

Blues Control's Facebook
Buy Valley Tangents here, from Drag City