Burial – Truant / Rough Sleeper

December 17, 2012 • Hyperdub

I almost feel like I have to cover this release after being so thoroughly impressed with Kindred and gushing about it (like everyone else). Let the record show that I am by no means any sort of Burial fanboy—and I shall back this up by saying that Truant / Rough Sleeper is decent but still kind of a disappointment.

The music is taking a somewhat more stripped-down approach than usual (which is kind of saying a lot); more minimalist drum beats and deep bass lines with less reverb and wide-open atmospheres. The standard glitches and industrial samples and vocal clips are all there, though there are a few nice new surprises like the acoustic bass at the end of "Truant" and the organ opening "Rough Sleeper". It's the same old Burial aesthetic, though, which is a good thing if you're already into the older material.

But the songs themselves, especially "Truant", feel weak. While there are some good beats and well-constructed ideas, they almost never actually go anywhere, and if they do, it's not for long, as the music tends to abruptly cut off and fade into something totally different, which is very jarring. It makes it feel like these are either meant to be separate tracks, or there are meant to be transitions there that never got filled in. Either way, they always jolt me out of the music right when I'm getting comfortable with where it is.

There is a major highlight in the middle of "Rough Sleeper", though; the way the vocal samples are used alongside a more interesting shuffle beat is really nice. It sounds very fresh, somehow, even though it's most reminiscent of Untrue. Maybe it's the tubular bell samples (or whatever that is).

Anyway, on the whole, the EP is alright, but I'm not getting too excited over it. "Rough Sleeper" is a fine track, but some sections of it and most of "Truant" feel unnecessary. It's still worth a listen if you're already a fan, of course; just don't go in expecting something of the same caliber as Kindred.

5

Fuck...I'm Dead – Another Gory Mess

October 13, 2012 • self-released

And here I was, all ready to name Book Burner Grind Album of the Year... and then I found this.* I found their first album Bring On the Dead, listened, loved it, and forgot about it pretty quickly. But when I saw this come out, I remembered how much I loved their debut, and then I was floored by how much this band has improved since then.

However, it's hard to pinpoint exactly why Another Gory Mess is so good. It sounds like just another typical deathgrind release... and, well, it is; there isn't anything particularly unique or gimmicky about Fuck... I'm Dead's approach to the genre. Yet listening to this album is so incredibly satisfying. It's partly just the sheer intensity present during the whole album—a near-constant torrent of furious grinding guitars and some really intense and diverse drumming (insane blastbeats, thrashy grooves, punky rhythms, etc.). The band's performance is spot-on, and it sounds like they're using real drums this time around, I think, which is a huge plus. The drum machine on the debut was decent, but real drums make everything better overall. If they're not real drums, they certainly sound like it.

Even the album being as huge as it is—nearly half an hour and over twenty tracks—it's so relistenable and I am always tempted to play it a bit more. Riff after riff are just perfect; there's no point where things get boring or stale at all during the album and not a moment is wasted. Granted, they've had ten years to write these songs, but to me that was definitely time well spent.

Okay so maybe I'm gushing again, but really there's nothing bad I can say about Another Gory Mess. It's just pure awesome the whole way through. Better than Pig Destroyer? Hard to say. One of this year's best, in general? Definitely.

*Which I wouldn't, because I've only heard maybe five of the possibly hundreds of grindcore releases that came out this year. Not important!

7

Mary Shelley – In the Shadow of the Mountain

July 15, 2011 • self-released

Another band I found randomly perusing Bandcamp, Mary Shelley is another in a long line of Cascadian black metal bands trying to edge their way into the scene. I haven't dug as much into this niche of black metal as others, so it's hard to say if they're a worthy contender, but their demo shows that they can definitely hold their own.

In the Shadow of the Mountain unfortunately could be considered generic in a lot of ways, as it utilizes the sort of incredibly thick, hazy production that is typical of the Pacific northwest black metal school. The songwriting is pretty standard fare as well—long tracks with long sections stacked one after another without much apparent thought for overall structure and continuity.

But there are a few little tweaks which keep this demo from being too usual. The riffs in particular are very well-written; they tend to build up on each other a bit better than average and they often have a certain subtle elegance to them that stands out from the typical ugliness of this sort of music. The guitars are chunky and doomy and there isn't quite as much of the tremolo sound as I expected which is a nice change.

For a demo, it's very well-done; although it's nothing spectacular, I didn't expect the music to particularly wow me, and the band shows a lot of promise. With some more polished songwriting I can see them becoming something really great.

6

Record store haul: December 15, 2012

I didn't have any reason in particular to go today, aside from the fact that I'm home alone all weekend and had a paycheck burning a hole in my pocket. The goods at Used Kids weren't as good as usual, but there were still a few good things to be had.

Burning Star Core – Papercuts Theater (2×LP, $15)

The "new arrivals" section was pretty dry on good stuff, so I went with the new(ish) double album by Burning Star Core. Seems pretty standard fare based on his older stuff—lots of layered, droning noise and hectic drum improvisations. A bit hard to digest, perhaps, but definitely interesting.

Subtitle / John Wiese / Adlib / The Cherry Point – Split (7", $4)

I saw John Wiese and The Cherry Point (two awesome noise artists I already enjoy) listed on the front and couldn't resist—what I didn't know was that Subtitle and Adlib weren't track titles but hip hop artists. An odd combination, though their style is a bit unusual, atonal and noisy in their own right (especially Adlib, who's barely hip hop at all); so I guess it's more fitting than I originally thought. Wiese and The Cherry Point each bring short tracks typical of their own noisy style; good stuff all around.

Kazumoto Endo & Blazen y Sharp – Ask for It by Name (7", $3)

Completely awesome harsh noise, as Kazumoto Endo is known for. I have never heard of Blazen or Sharp before, but the collaboration of all three musicians is just as good on this EP as Endo's other stuff (like While You Were Out). Very satisfying, and a great purchase. For some reason it came with a name patch (according to Discogs, this is standard). Mine says "Paul" on it. A bit weird.

Hair Police – Strict (7", $3)

I don't know if I even liked Hair Police when I heard a couple of their albums a long time ago, but I felt compelled to get this anyway, somehow. On the A side: Extremely noisy noise rock, like Raccoo-oo-oon behind a wall of overdrive pedals and Sunn amps. On the B side: More subdued material, a bit creepy; scraping metal and background groaning. Not too unusual for the group, but much neater than I remember them being.

Arrested Development – 3 Years, 5 Months & 2 Days in the Life of... (cassette, $1)

They never have much of a selection in the way of hip hop at Used Kids, so I take what I can get. I've never heard this group before today, and they're supposed to be good. To me this album feels a bit generic and unexciting but it's not bad. Standard early-'90s southern rap stuff with a touch of stripped-down Digable Planets. Something like that.

Chumbawamba – Tubthumper (cassette, $1)

Before you laugh, know that Tubthumping was the very first album I ever owned, and my girlfriend's as well. So it has a bit of a special quality to it that I just had to grab this copy. Maybe we'll jam to it in the car sometime soon.

And you know, for all the criticism it gets, I think it's actually a pretty decent album. Nothing spectacular, but enjoyable, worth hearing at least once.

Charles Mingus – Epitaph (cassette, $1)

I hate when this happens—Epitaph is a two-CD set (or two-tape, in my case) and the bastards only had the first one. Why would you only sell one and not the other?

Anyway, yeah it's just another Mingus album, so I figured it would be good (I have only really disliked maybe one album by him I've heard, out of at least a half dozen or so).

Mystery tape (cassette, $1)

I think I might be the only person who gets anything from their avant-garde section, a mysterious place full of tapes with confusing and obscure labels (if there is any text on them at all). This tape seems professionally-made, but the only words on it are "Xenophobe" and "001" inside the J-card and two extra pieces of paper, one saying "55/88" (indicating a limited run) and the other with a stamp saying "Adeste Fideles" (perhaps the publisher?) and a cat. All of this came in a zip-top bag with a Lego walkie-talkie and Lego assault rifle (I think that's what it is, anyway). The music itself is very atmospheric noise and drone (figures, right?), and all the tracks are quite different so it's hard to pin down a particular style.

Anyway usually with some deep Google searching I can figure out what these sorts of things are, but this one completely eludes me. It's annoying because it's actually pretty good and I want to know who made it! If anyone has any ideas, please leave a comment. I'll scan and put up the cover art sometime in the next couple weeks and I can upload the music as well if anyone wants.

The Holy Mountain – Entrails

May 31, 2005 • No Idea Records

Entrails is an easy album to describe, yet a tough one to review. Its sound is straightforward, balls-to-the-wall Discharge-style punk—heavy guitar riffs, angry gang vocals, furious and nonstop drumming. This isn't anything new for punk, and The Holy Mountain is simply piggybacking on a style that's been around for about twenty years at this point, but to be honest they do it pretty well.

It doesn't strike me as a prime example of the genre—not a lot from the last decade really has—but for throwing back to the early '80s sound it's fine. They do switch up their approach now and again, such as the occasional groovy breakdown riff like the end of "Slaves" or the powerviolence-like blasting of the end of "Oversight". The aesthetic provided on this album is pretty nice if you're in the mood for something aggressive.

Unfortunately it's a bit tough to say much else about them as there isn't a lot unique about this album. If you're into the D-beat style, this is just another competent and enjoyable addition to its history, and that's just about all that can be said.

6