Chem-Farmer

!!!! Thee Oh Sees make me wanna scream !!!! But seriously, this prolific San Fran band is headed by frontman John Dwyer,keyboardist/singer Brigid Dawson, bassist Petey Dammit, and drummer Mike Shoun. With unspeakable chemistry and an instinctual bond that borders on telepathic, the band has taken its wildly cacophonous and setlist-free live show to must-see status, turning music venues populated by arm-folding spectators into anarchic riot scenes. In fact, they just played the Bug Jar this past Monday! An Oh Sees show is a place where combing the floor for your shoes when the house lights come on becomes ritualistic, where getting kicked in the face by a renegade crowd-surfer provokes a shit-eating grin instead of a scowl. Most of the band's best albums serve as recorded documents of their live sets; you can practically hear Dwyer swallowing microphones and spitting upwards to the rafters.

2011's Castlemania was the poppiest and most melodic we’d heard Thee Oh Sees yet, but Carrion Crawler/The Dream completely flips the script, capturing the range, energy, and freedom of their notoriously raging live performances in a way none of their previous records have. Recorded in June around the time of Castlemania’s release, this could be attributed to the addition of Lars Finberg (the Intelligence), who joined the band on tour as second drummer and makes his recorded debut on this release. And while Castlemania begged speakers to bubble over with eccentric effervescence, the assault of driving double-drum rhythms and scuzzy bass riffs on freakouts “Contraption/Soul Desert” and semi-eponymous “The Dream” threaten to blow them clean out.

Please rock out to Chem-Farmer below and take a peep at a video while yer at it!




Buy your own copy of Carrion Crawler/The Dream by stepping into the shop or emailing marta@alternativemusic.com

Say Somethin' (Joel Ford Revoice)

King Midas Sound is a collaboration between Kevin Martin (God, Techno Animal, the Bug) and vocalists Roger Robinson and Kiki Hitomi. They came out in 2007 on the Soul Jazz Records compilation, Box of Dub. KMS linked with Kode9’s Hyperdub label, where they made their proper debut in October 2008 with “Cool Out,” a relatively rugged A-side backed by remixes (of tracks that had yet to be released) from Dabrye and Flying Lotus. Another 12”, Dub Heavy: Hearts & Ghosts, came in June 2009, containing dub versions of tracks that -- once again -- had not been released in original form. The despondent “Meltdown” led off October 2009’s 5 Years of Hyperdub compilation and previewed Waiting for You, King Midas Sound's debut album, released the following month. For me, this was quite a distinctive album of the time due to its throbbing bass (in a non-cheezy dub-step kind of way), vocal treatments and how it sounded like hip hop or R&B of the future.

Now we have Without You, a remix album two years after the fact. It's not really a track-by-track revisit, and there's a deep focus on some songs in particular-- like the Kiki Hitomi feature "Goodbye Girl", which gets three different reinterpretations from three different remixers. Each mixer brings a special treatment--either minimizing the song even more, such as with Flying Lotus' version of Lost, which also features the record player static featured on his own songs. I really dig it when I can hear the remixer's touch or even a complete reconfiguration to the original, rather than just as extended version of the song, as we used to hear with 80's 12 inch dance singles. It's another ball game entirely on Without You. There are "remixes" and "revoices" by the likes of Flying Lotus, Scritti Politti's Green Gartside, Ford & Lopatin's Joel Ford, Gang Gang Dance, Cooly G, D-bridge, and Kuedo to name a few. This album is a bad-ass, I highly recommend it. Then you should go back and listen to the original. Nothing else really sounds like this at the moment in the shop.

Listen to Joel Ford's revoiceing of "Say Somethin'" here


Buy your copy of Without You here. or email marta@alternativemusic.com

Angel Is Broken

Bradford Cox is an interesting fellow. When he is not busy with Deerhunter, he sings atop his solo project, Atlas Sound. Parallax is the third official release and in case you were wondering, refers to the visual phenomenon that affects the perception of objects’ relative positions depending on the viewer’s distance from them, a term typically used when speaking about stars. Yet, it seems like an appropriate title; Cox references distance, motion, and emotion on this set of songs, oscillating between the sparkling pop he does so well with this project as well as Deerhunter and the hazy experiments that are all Atlas Sound. He seamlessly moves between blurry edges and glorious pop. I was already getting the inkling that he is the next Sparklehorse (Mark Linkous) and on this record, I hear it even more, but sans precious xylophones and 4-track hiss. But that tenderness, that vulnerability and vocal experimentation between light and affected, sneers and melody that Linkous characterized can be heard through Cox. I don't know what his official position on Sparklehorse is and for my purposes it doesn't matter--the similar vein alone is enough to fulfill my interests and to see Bradford Cox as someone special amidst the many trending musicians now.

Parallax feels like a more complete work than any other Atlas Sound record, with the differences between the songs less distinct and everything flowing together more naturally. There are no such loose strands here, and the closing "Lightworks" ends the album wonderfully with a tremoloed guitar shuddering against Cox's hankering vocals. There's no kraut-rock-y jam this time, like the one from the last album, with Laetitia Sadier, which kind of disappointed me, but, to have another song like that just for the sake of it wouldn't be a good move either. That lightness of touch is on display throughout this album, bringing the listener closer to Cox's brittle self-examination. I don't know what it is about Cox that seems so small, alone, and cut adrift from the world, but the way these songs breathe suggests he's more comfortable in his own skin, allowing him to draw his audience closer than ever. It's that artist-created inner world that gives the work a sense of authenticity and honesty. You just can't fake that tenderness.

Picking a stand apart track doesn't seem right, but hey, take a stab at "Angel Is Broken".


Buy your copy of Atlas Sound Parallax here.

Raconte-Moi Une Histoire

M83's Anthony Gonzalez is back with Hurry Up, We're Dreaming, a delightful synth pop gem, spanning more sounds and moods than any of M83's previous work, resulting in a collection of impressionistic moments rather than a grand statement. My first impressions of it were somewhat blase, a bit too heavy handedly ripping off the 80s, particularly Men At Work, but upon subsequent listenings, I found it to be an album channeling our inner child, trying to tap our psyche and get us to feel both exaltation and melancholia, focusing us on memories of when we were young and felt optimism towards the world and that anything was possible. Surprising to me, I read that this album was heavily influenced by Smashing Pumpkin's Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness! We still hear the familiar vocal stylings that Gonzalez sings and Zola Jesus' Nika Rosa Danilova sings on the opening track, "Intro". He also takes us through tender piano, slap bass, sax solos (so Clarence Clemens!), and children's choir. Somehow it works across this double album because it is polished and it is clear that Gonzalez has honed in the sounds he has already given us and he has settled into a clear artistic vision.

More than any of M83's other albums, Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming feels like a destination to explore; while it may not be quite as striking as Saturdays = Youth, it delivers a welcome mix of classic sounds and promising changes.

Listen to"Raconte-Moi Une Histoire", or tell me a story, about a magical frog. Some might consider this a throwaway, but I am fascinated with songs that turn the absurd into a delight.


Buy your copy of Hurry Up, We're Dreaming here.