Given that I am off to Kabul in about a week, I doubt I will be taking in much new music the last two months of the year, and will likely miss out on the year end list time, so if it's alright with everyone, I will take a cue from Drink and plow through the 40 or so albums that I think people should take notice of this year. In no particular order at all, if anyone's interested in anything posted let me know and I'll get you a link to any of the records.

Start with one feauring the great Adam Kriney:

Quivers-2012



It should be noted right away that Kriney is an absolute monster and in my opinion one of the most underrated musicians out there right now. This album certainly displays his talent, but I would more recommend the La Otracina album from last year for more exposure to him.

Quivers is a quartet straddling the line between free jazz/improv and sheer noise. On 2012 Kriney takes a bit of a back seat on drums while the record is dominated by the cello and guitar (Chris Welcome and Minni Morgia respectively). Welcome's cello works in the same way Yeh has often succeeded as BSC. He mutates the strings to a point of non-recognition, at times pulling almost wind sounds out of the instrument. When thrown on top of Morgia's Keiji-esque guitar, the resulting dissonance (and at times cohesive drones) are some of the most bizzarre sounds I have ever heard come from traditional instruments. Overall the record succeeds by not fitting in to any format, following the Corsano formula of using jazz to expand the noise realm (or vice versa), with maybe some better mixing/recording this record/band could be truly great. Highly recommended. 8.5/10

Cool. I'll be looking forward to these.

Human Greed- Black Hill: Midnight at the Blighted Star



This is the first I have heard from these guys though apparently they have a few records out. I can't say that this one grabbed me immediately, and I certainly can't say I find it a neccessary album. It seems to exist entirely of negative space, subtlety, and decay. All things that I love and greatly appreciate, but think should be used to add certain texture to pieces, not be the center of anything (unless done to perfection). Perhaps if they would have taken the time to work this into one wholly-fleshed out thought/piece, it might work a bit better, but having the album broken down into 15 songs seems a bit lazy to me, for lack of a better word. Overall, this is just an extremely quiet gloomy album, that contains some, albeit brief, highpoints. The standout is "The Graces Departing" which contains an insanely haunting piano that just absolutely drowns you in sadness. If they would explore more of a mix with that and turn up some of the electric drones, they would be much more interesting to me. 6/10.

Eternal Tapestry- Palace of the Night Skies

[img][600:600]http://www.threelobed.com/tlr/images/tlr-069.jpg[/img]

Really this album can be summed up in four words: FUCK YES!!! followed immediately by MORE PLEASE!!! This is just a killer psych album that lives up to and maybe goes beyond the members' pedigree (Jackie-O-Motherfucker and Heavy Winged). "Prism Light Traveler" covers all of Side A and is nothing but percussion abuse and snarling blues by way of Berlin guitar. Small changes and a general forward moving groove keep everything from crossing into the jammy/wankery realm that has ruined so many promising tracks the last couple of years. The focus here is perfect, it doesn't take forever for the pieces to come together, the build is to the point so there is no question at any point that what you are hearing is going somewhere, there is absolutely no stagnation (is that a word even?). Just good rock and roll.

Side B, is a bit different. "The Hidden Void" is definitely quieter and a lot more slow moving. The layers of hushed vocals and brushed skins are interrupted occasionally by more smoky dualing guitar, though on this track I would say it's more rolling and fluid and understated than previously. Again though, the avoid the sparse (sometimes confusing) jigsaw type build of a lot of music in this vein. Every layer is presented as a definitive piece of an actual song rather than just a note that may or may not eventually turn into something.

The album as a whole is an absolute smoked out celebration of everything that has made psychadelic music successful for over forty years now. Absolutely essential for fans of Wooden Shjips to Phish to everything in between. 9.5/10

Stagnation is definitely a word even. I know it well for I have seen it in inaction.

I would be interested in hearing Eternal Tapestry, and was sold before/until I read the last line about Phish.

Blues Control - Local Flavor



This is a bit of a strange record. There are so many things right here, but at times it feels a bit disjointed. Opening with "Good Morning", a damn perfect straight ahead heavy psych track that is about half a step from what you might expect from Comets On Fire the album starts out fantastic. From there though the next track is a moody piano and horn and subtle string piece that just kind of floats around and doesn't get anywhere. It seems to have nothing in common with the first track, and honestly doesn't even sound like the same band. They seem to hit their stride on the last two tracks "Tangier" and "On Through the Night". Tangier (one of my favorite singles of the year) is propelled by a basic drum machine beat and layered with key repetition, bits of extraordinarily fuzzed out feedback loops, and just an overall really impressive blend of electronics and traditional instruments. Somewhat akin to Gang Gang Dance and other No Wave peers. This is where Blues Control not only excel but sound most at home. Finally, the closer starts with about 8 minutes worth of wavering drone and texture. There is little nuance to the drones here, the modulation is a bit off, resulting in some off key changes. These cats are not a drone outfit and might do better if they cut that down to maybe two minutes. Regardless, after the droning misstep they come back towards the end of the track with a very cool electronic hit again. Same formula as before, basic drum machine, but here it is infused with a bit of an almost Tropicalia feel coming from true percussion. The layer of tape click over it gives a nice analog feel which is even more completed somewhere around the 12 minute mark when they introduce what sounds like an off the shelf Casio synth hook to the mix. Then layered with chimes, another guitar feedback loop, keys, two more synths to close out, they reach the pinnacle of this album.

At moments this record hits something truly great, but it's incosistency is more than disheartening. Hopefully on the next album they will hone in a little and realized they don't need to cover every single aspect of experimental music in 45 minutes, and just focus on doing what they do well. Promising but not perfect. 6.5/10

Stay safe and Godspeed.

Thanks Todd, I appreciate that man.

Now, Expo 70-Psychosis:



Expo 70 is Justin Wright, a little KC dude who has been very quietly slowly building one hell of a following over the last couple of years. I think he released four or five albums this year, all of which are really damn good, however, to avoid overkill I'll just stick to my favorite Psychosis. That being said, if you can still track down any of his stuff you can't go wrong.

Psychosis is two suites broken down into three sections. Side A, Sleeping Corpse, is the weaker of the two here but still very nice. Everything starts with some seriously heavy bass drones and scratching guitar that is echoed to almost infinity. Great space created right away that eventually lends itself to some very fucking cool guitar soloing. The guitar here stays in that nice little bluesy almost country place that Earth has pretty much mastered. With that there is some great filtering throughout. That top end twang rings through and is fairly clean, while the low end just rumbles and shakes into the straight harsh noise realm. There are some startling subtleties thrown in, a bit of a stray voice here, some tape hiss there, all of which lend a very odd analog warmth throughout what is otherwise a superbly brooding piece.

The second piece here Widow Planet is just flat out awe-inspiring dark heady drone piece that simultaneously funnels the best of Krautrock, Boris at their gloomiest, and Badgerlore at their most patient. This is, and I have no reservations about saying this, the best piece of dark ambient I have ever heard. I am no writer, so for this purpose of attempting to do some sort of justice to this piece here's a bit of a review from earlier this year:



Can not recommend this highly enough. 9.5/10[/quote]

Thanks for the send, but not feeling this at all, dude. This could be any recent psych/drone record (on first listen, it's unremarkable).

Sorry for the disappointment dude. I love it. I think it's a near perfect psych record. It has a lot in common with other recent stuff for sure, but the movement, and honestly just overall feel (especially on the first track) of just outright fun is something I think has been lost a lot in recent psych records. So many come across as a bit formulaic and almost too thought out, whereas I still get that nice blend of plan+improv on this one.

Hopefully one of my next few will hit be a little better for you, again sorry about the disappointment for sure. Pulling down that one you sent me now, look forward to giving it a listen.

Another kind of straight ahead psych album here.

Wooden Shjips-Dos



I unapologetically love Wooden Shjips. I think they just consistently have made really good rock and fucking roll that makes me want to do a lot of illegal things (which is a good mark of a band to me), and they did it again here on this record. I think most everyone here is probably familiar with them, and there really isn't too much of a departure on this record from what you would expect from them at this point. Standout on this record for me is the second track, "For So Long." I love that hopping little bass line, the nice swirling guitar that seems to just get to do it's own thing yet still blends in with all that is happening, and those super smooth can't rattle my game vox, all come together perfectly on it. They follow the same formula for most of the album here, with the other high point coming on the closing track "Fallin'" which chugs along driven by a chiming guitar, super sweet organ riff, and spaced out nicely mildly echoed vox. The track as a whole truly could have come straight out of a 1967 garage.

It's nothing earth-shattering, it is built on simple repetition, and it sounds a bit like about fifty other records you probably own, but to me this record is catchy, it's cool, it makes me want to cook out, and drink beer, and smoke cigarettes, and sit by a lake, and just bullshit for hours on end while listening to Velvet Underground and Roky Erikson records, and you know what, any record/band that makes me feel like that is A-OK by me. 7.5/10

I'll give another listen in a less hostile place.
Let me know what you think.
Expo 70 sounds interesting, especially for the Earth reference.

Tomasz Bednarczyk- Painting Sky Together



This is a pretty little record. Nothing really revolutionary here by any means, but still a very nice little piece of electronic ambient/found sound minimalism. There is a lot of very simple "music", if you will, here (used to delineate between notes and field recordings here). Most of what is actually played is a few keys or tones (at times just one) or chords that are then fragmented and sequenced with variation in volume or in time, creating a really warm and full sound from very little. Those basic tones then set against what sounds like footsteps on some tracks, or maybe someone rowing on another, with just a bit of tape hiss, make for a near perfect soundtrack for some Autumnal wandering. Most well constructed ambient is soothing, but this is also warming, and for an electronic album very inviting and human. It's highly successful in showing how two things that have been criticized by purists (early minimal works by classical purists for it's mechanical repetition and lack of huge sweeping movements, and electronic composition by the very traditional string and wind community for (again) being mechanical in nature) can express something strong and human and work on a very grand scale and be remarkably well COMPOSED, in spite of very little note-to-staff composition. Very enjoyable listen, headphones are a neccesity though. 8/10

Mokira- Persona



Pretty much anything Type releases I am going to hold an extremely high standard. With that, I can't think of a single Type release that has ever let me down and this is no exception. There is a ton of really cool stuff happening on this little gem. The album opens with a ten minute exploration of TB303 low end and hiss that is filtered and processed over and over into this constantly flowing/moving piece of ambient bliss. From there he moves seemlessly into an almost shoegazey track that wouldn't sound out of place on maybe an early Spiritualized record. Not what I expected but works really well. The two high points on the album for me are "Valla Torg Kraut" and "Oscillations and Tremolo". The first there being exactly what you would expect, that driving analog bass and filter sweeps that made so much of what Can and Neu and Faust did sound so damn perfect. A really great update on a very classic sound there. Derivative? For sure, but if you're going to steal why not steal from the best, right? The same holds true for "Oscillations and Tremolo". This is the harshest sounding piece on the record, but it never gets terribly sharp, the tones are controlled with super precision here. That being said, this could have shown up on (the listmania included) either Silver Apples record and sounded right at home. It's just a basic tone, processed through a LPF and sent to pan, process repeated, external tremolo added. Nothing fancy, just a basic piece of electronic processing done to near perfection. Very cool album with a ton of obvious influences up front that get a decent little update, enough seperation between tracks to keep from ever getting boring, really no complaints here. 7.5/10

Gareth Hardwick-Aversions



There was a good bit of hype around this record when it came out due to it being less of a Hardwick record and more of a reimagining of Hardwick pieces by some serious heavy hitters (Library Tapes, Machinefabriek, Steinbruchel, to name a few). There are a few new Hardwick pieces in here to be fair and they are plenty good. What is most impressive about this record though is how many people contributed remixes, yet the record sounds like a complete thought. It doesn't come across as individual thoughts, differing points of view, it's all so damn cohesive that it's borderline remarkable.

I can't say that this is drone in a pure form at all, but it certainly owes greatly to it. There is a lot of really expansive tones that control the album. They are met with a few piano chords, some string touches, but overall the tones just loom, kind of hover and wash out for a second, then quickly reemerge. The are two remarkable tracks on here. The first is Steinbruchel's remix of "Carnations" which sends at least 7 different tones all at once, each one panning from one side of the phones to the other, all in different sequences, and octaves, yet there is no dissonance, it's complete harmony, almost trance inducing from what is a half step or half second away from spinning into total chaos in lesser hands.

The second is the Apalusa remix of "David". Built around a low end drone that sweeps a full cycle every 8 seconds or so, Apalusa introduces some nice string sequences that float in and out every 10 seconds (about) but are offset from the initial drone so the entry is a bit different for each of the first 10+ cycles. Following the strings is nice wooden percussion and then muted bass drum that sounds like it is about a mile off. The whole thing is just completely enveloping powerful stuff. Around the 7 minute mark he introduces a subtle synth(?) line in a different scale to the whole mix and just sets the whole next few minutes in motion before the 8:45 (ish) mark when the synth build comes in, the drone is turned up, sounds are bouncing off each other, the point where one tone begins and another ends are just unimportant, and everything is transported somewhere else. This track, to me at least, embodies everything that is so right with drone based music. All that it can make you feel, the state of mind that you can be transported to, just like that Sudafed guy in the old commercials, remember him? With the medicine head, where his head would get all big and float off like a balloon, yeah, that's how that track makes me feel, and I approve.

Obviously there are some superb moments on here, but the Xela remix of "High Tension" is a seriously low point, also Hardwick's "Interlude" seems a bit out of place (in spite of being a really pretty piano piece). Would still very much recommend this as an entry point for drone based music as there is enough melody throughout that I think it can be enjoyed by a lot of different people, and recommend those into the less electronic/more organic drone at least give it a listen. 8.75/10

I have only heard three of these, but knowing your taste and by the strength of these reviews guess I'll have to buy the rest.

Stay safe in Afganistan.