Simon Whetham – Understory

December 2008 • Trente Oiseaux

Man, do I ever need something to clear my ears after all the grindcore I've saturated myself with recently... how about something light and airy; perhaps some field recordings? Simon Whetham's Understory is one of a huge collection of avant-garde material available from the excellent Trente Oiseaux netlabel; unfortunately it's not one of their better releases.

Essentially, Understory contains a wide variety of sounds recorded by a lake in Brazil, both naturally-produced and otherwise, such as birds and insects, storms, and bits of static, noise, musique concrète, etc. The recordings are assembled together, mostly unprocessed, for a sort of "raw" experience of the nature of the area. It's mostly presented in a very quiet, non-intrusive, ambient fashion, the kind of sound you can easily ignore if you want, with a few exceptions scattered here and there (like the sudden metallic noises near the end).

It's an interesting collection of sounds, to be sure, but I'm not really a huge fan. It feels very disjointed and aimless; one sample leads into another with little warning. It feels like watching a slideshow of someone's vacation photos—perhaps there are some that are nice, but stacking them all together doesn't make them any more interesting. I mostly find myself feeling bored listening to Understory. I don't see the appeal; I could go out to the suburbs and make a recording and it wouldn't sound much different.

Perhaps Understory is good as a jumping-off point for taking nature and making something out of it, but that isn't what happened here.

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Fuck the Facts, Bastards, Earthburner, Domestic Terror

January 25, 2013 • Carabar, Columbus, Ohio

I promised myself I wouldn't go back to Carabar ever, due to their atrocious booking skills that caused two shows I attended back in 2010 to last until 3 AM. However, they make it darn hard to resist with free shows and some really excellent bands. You may recall from my Disgorge Mexico review that Fuck the Facts is a pretty awesome band too, so I had to check this one out. It wasn't a fantastic show (largely due in part to the horrible audience), but it was fun all the same.

Domestic Terror

I didn't have high hopes for these guys going in, having sampled their stuff online, so I wasn't too disappointed by their mediocre performance. They market themselves as "shitty, but fun to listen to" (direct quote from someone who gave me a CD-R of their album), and at least the first part was right. As far as their sort of juvenile grindcore goes, there's definitely a way to do it right (Anal Cunt) and wrong (these guys). "Funny" song titles is not how you be a good band. Their drummer was actually pretty decent, using an interesting alternating-hand technique for blastbeats, but the guitar work and songwriting was poor.
3 • Most China Cymbals Award, Like Seriously

Earthburner

I did have high hopes for Earthburner, being more of a "sludgecore" band, but I found them to be a slightly disappointing example of it. Their music is very repetitive, as basically every song is the same open chugging over and over, with the occasional hardcore section sprinkled here and there. Decent for a song or two, but it got boring quickly. Still, they weren't horrible, and knew how to put on a decent groove. It might have been better if anyone in the audience seemed to care (aside from the half-dozen drunkards idiotically dancing around).
5 • Fanciest Les Paul Award

Bastards

Now here was a decent surprise. I was ready to dismiss them as being unprofessional after their incredibly long setup time (silly, I know), but they put on a hell of a set. They play a sort of death metal-influenced strain of grindcore, with lots of tempo and rhythm changes for thirty-second songs, and were technically very impressive. Particular praise should go to their drummer, who seemed to be making the fastest snare blasts I've seen by sheer force of will alone.
7 • Nerdiest-Looking Grindcore Band Award

Fuck the Facts

Unfortunately I don't have a whole lot to say about the headlining band's set—basically my opinion on the band was already laid out in my previous review, and their performance was reflective of that. Good energy, great songs—well, see for yourself! Someone was kind enough to tape the show. I don't think you can see me in it, though.
7 • Vocalist Who Looked Most Like a Receptionist Award

Mathbonus – Languid

November 18, 2012 • self-released

After clamoring about the redemption of the witch house scene that was Shrines, it seems a bit unfair that I'd basically ignore the genre after that, even though I do have an interest in the original groups. Mathbonus isn't pure witch house either, and if the original scene ripped off southern hip hop, the new stuff is after electronica. Languid still retains the dark, gloomy atmospheres and club-like beats of the older groups, but strips it down and refines it a bit into something definitely more tolerable.

Mathbonus, to me, sounds like the Burial of witch house, believe it or not, mostly due to the abundance of pitch-shifted vocal samples and clattery shuffle beats. While Burial's use of vocal samples never sat well with me, it seems to work rather well for Mathbonus somehow. Other elements like the deep, clean, atmospheric drones and cold melodic lines behind the loud beats bring the dubstep giant to mind—not to mention the arpeggio lines in "Haunt Me" that seem lifted straight from "Ashtray Wasp". But it all clicks together pretty well, and there isn't a lot that feels forced about the EP's sound (though the vocal samples can be a bit jarring at first, especially in "Orchid").

Hopefully, Languid is indicative of a maturing trend when it comes to witch house and garage; a more stripped-down and reasonable sort of music without the tacky "eerie" moods (or, at least, less of them). Or maybe I just like this more. Who knows?

6

Bastard Sapling – Dragged from Our Restless Trance

October 23, 2012 • Forcefield Records

I saw this band play (briefly) back in their infancy in 2010, and while I was nonplussed by their early EP V: A Sepulcher to Swallow the Sea, I was pleasantly surprised to hear of the recent release of their full debut and that it's actually pretty good. Admittedly, it's nothing particularly special, but it's very well-done and scratches that black metal itch just right.

Bastard Sapling simply plays a very old-school variety of the genre. Lots of atmospheric, hazy tremolo guitars, fast drumming with plenty of blasting, choral samples, the works. It's relatively generic black metal—and I don't necessarily mean "generic" in a bad way, not in the same sense as "average" and they definitely aren't amateur. They simply take the tried-and-true atmospherics, moods, and intensities of the old standards and bring their own songwriting to it, and it's successful.

And what songwriting it is, too—such a diverse selection of riffs, some catchy, some melodic, some with unrelenting dissonant fury. It's a good mix, one that prevents the album from getting too repetitive, which is a relief considering the length of the songs. At no point do they pull out a line and repeat it ad nauseum like many atmospheric black metal bands tend to do. "The Apex of Suffering" showcases the songwriting best, where the rhythms and melodies shift quickly from softer melodic strains to deep, crunchy grooves to angry blasting. At no point does it ever really feel unnatural, either, giving everything a very organic feel (highly desirable, to be sure).

If I had to make one complaint (and of course I do), the vocals definitely come off as the weak point—and, considering how far back in the mix they are, I wonder if they knew it. While they aren't horrible, they don't really have much kick or emotion to them until the last couple minutes of the album. Maybe that's just me.

Regardless, for any fans of the first-wave black metal sound or modern atmospheric stuff, that's more or less what you're getting here and you'll already know if you will enjoy this. While the album may a while to really sink in, it's worth the time, and I congratulate the band for an impressive improvement over the last couple of years.

7

Atira – Ins†rumen†als vol. I

September 9, 2012 • self-released

I went browsing Bandcamp just for kicks, as is my wont, this time looking for some cloud rap, not knowing I'd stumble onto one of the greatest hip hop productions I'd ever hear. Sound like strong words? Yeah, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but Ins†rumen†als vol. I is still beautifully-crafted and I've been loving every minute of it.

Atira's production is the "cloud" sound at its most pure—triumphant choirs, glittery sci-fi synths, ambient drones, deep bass, all drenched in reverb and glued together with some stripped-down yet rock-solid drum beats and the occasional trap hi-hat rhythm. It's a pretty basic formula, one that doesn't change much between songs, but it's one that I think is done better here than I've heard just about anywhere else. Okay, yes, you have the great Clams Casino instrumental mixtapes, but Atira's sound is a much different style—much more classical-oriented than Clams' soul-based music. (An oversimplification, but you get my point.)

Being instrumental, I suppose that one's enjoyment of this album would rely on how long they can handle these kind of ultra-dramatic beats (and I know more than a few people find this kind of music to be cheesy), but I don't feel that it really needs any vocals (especially not the sort that usually go with cloud rap). I feel like it would ruin the pristine vibe the music gives off. True, without vocals it does get a bit repetitive as it goes on, but I'm probably not really "supposed" to be listening to it all the way through at once. But you never know, the right rapper could add a lot to these beats, someone just has to try and find out.

Anyway, Atira has really got something great going on here, and deserves a much bigger audience. Maybe it's just me who thinks that cloud rap is one of the most interesting new scenes, but if so, albums like this will probably change peoples' minds.

8