3 posts tagged “or”
Wrote by Soup
Receiving a copy of Genevieve by Velvet Cacoon from Southern Lord was somewhat of a surprise to me. I've had the vinyl edition for almost a year, I'd guess, and to be honest, I just assumed the CD version had been out for about as long.
I'm not complaining, though. Writing about a band (the names Josh and Angela are the only clues given as to who they actually are – and there's speculation that Angela doesn't exist) as utterly absurd as Velvet Cacoon is something I've wanted to do for quite a while, and honestly, I was actually considering just writing a review of it earlier based on the vinyl edition. For those who don't know the story, Velvet Cacoon is a Portland based ambient black metal band that extols the virtues of DXM, the active ingredient in Robitussin. They made a name for themselves spreading rumors about the band's supposed ecofascist activism, the death of a band member in the Cascades, and accounts of incredibly violent live shows. On the album I'm reviewing now, they allegedly used a homemade invention called a “diesel harp” - a guitar with diesel-powered pickups amplified through aquariums. Of course, all of these things were later revealed to probably be completely untrue (except the diesel harp thing; in case your common sense hadn't tipped you off as you were reading it, Josh openly admitted it was after the album's release). Eventually they put recordings of Portland-based dream pop artist, Korouva (listen to this stuff; it's good) on their MySpace page as their own and faced further controversy after the plagiarism accusations. The band's response: to admit that everything about them is a joke, that they're horrible people and an excellent example of what too many drugs will do to a person, and announce a still-unreleased new album. Of course, this presented a hell of a lot more questions than it answered, and the band's intentions are even more unclear at this point than they were before.
Recently,
Southern Lord picked up a couple of the recordings that were
theirs to reissue. Northsuite,
an earlier recording, and Genevieve,
which is their actual debut album. And for a “joke” band, this is
a really great, really powerful album.
At the core of the sound here is fuzzed-out, noisy black metal. Droning ambient passages hide surprising melodies and drugged out, distant vocals. A thick, distorted haze surrounds everything, from the drugged out lullabies presented on “P.S. Nautical” and “Avalon Polo” to the sleepy clockwork guitars of “Laudanum” that fade out for a vocal break and then again for an ambient passage toward the end of the track. The title track probably sounds the most like traditional black metal, with fast drumming and buzzsaw guitars providing the backdrop for tortured raspy vocals and subtle keyboard holding down the melody. The last track, “Bete Noir” takes up a good third of the playing time of the album. This track is the album's comedown, a slowly building ambient track that exercises considerable restraint, consisting mostly of ambient noise and layered keyboard melodies, all hanging in the background for 17 minutes, getting noticeably louder and then disappearing completely in the last 30 seconds.
As for finding further information on this band, you're essentially limited to what Wikipedia and Google searches turn up. They haven't really maintained an official website (their current site features nothing more than an e-mail link and a picture of a lady on a bike) in quite some time, and they will probably never tour. Still, they're responsible for some of the most oddly atmospheric black metal in recent memory, and I have to highly recommend it to anyone who's into that sort of thing.
Soup wrote this:
Portland's Grails dropped their new album, Doomsdayer's Holiday on Temporary Residence today. They play a sort of heavy classic rock, blues and folk influenced post-rock kind of thing, somehow defying any attempt at categorization or pigeonholing.
The title track is probably as straight-up metal as these guys get, with its classic doom metal guitar bringing to mind bands like Black Sabbath and Candlemass without ever ripping off either of them. The second track, “Reincarnation Blues,” is definitely my favorite on here. Starting out simple with bells and a wind instrument (I'm not sure what it is) playing an awesome blues riff. Then the guitars come in and the track turns into an energetic psychedelic blues freakout that winds down into an ambient drone outro with some sampled chanting underneath it. “The Natural Man” is folk music for astronauts. It channels the feel of David Bowie's “Space Oddity” into something else entirely. Something that sounds undeniably classic without being too self-conscious about it. “Immediate Mate” seems to kind of want to hang in the background. Starts out with a quiet blues guitar riff and some keyboards and subtle percussion. It's sort of an ambient jazz thing, and the glitched out electronics and awesome jazz percussion keep it interesting. “Predestination Blues” picks up where “Reincarnation Blues” left off. It's a slower song, drowned in reverb with the same kind of feel. Meditative chanting provides a base from which swirling guitars build up over the last two minutes or so of the track. The next track, “X-Contamination” builds up from a droning keyboard into a swirling mass of samples and loops into an awesome spaced-out blues-rock thing, which is gone almost as soon as it began, degenerating back into the primordial soup it came from. The last track, “Acid Rain,” starts with a lazy, stoned Dark Side of the Moon style guitar thing with some electronics building up under it until they eventually overtake it in a sort of staticky climax that, much like the radio fading out, quickly fades out and disappears. There are some vocals here. Very subtle, buried under the guitars and bass and drums. Eventually, this fades out to make way for a warm, reverb drenched guitar meditation.
These guys are playing a show on October 12th with Sunn o))) in Portland. After that, they're going on a short east coast tour with the Silver Apples (who I am frankly surprised are still around, but it's an appropriate fit, I think)! As always, more information can be found at the band's official website.
Oct 12 2008 8:00P Berbati’s Pan, w/Sunn0)) Portland, Oregon
Nov 11 2008 8:00P Empty Bottle Chicago, Illinois
Nov 12 2008 8:00P Skull Alley Louisville, Kentucky
Nov 13 2008 8:00P Hi Tone, with Silver Apples Memphis, Tennessee
Nov 14 2008 9:00P Caledonia, with Silver Apples Athens, Georgia
Nov 15 2008 8:00P Drunken Unicorn, with Silver Apples Altanta, Georgia
Nov 16 2008 8:00P Emerald Lounge, with Silver Apples Asheville, North Carolina
Nov 18 2008 8:00P Local 506, with Silver Apples Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Nov 19 2008 8:00P Ottobar, with Silver Apples Baltimore, Maryland
Nov 20 2008 8:00P Bard College Poughkeepsie, New York
Nov 21 2008 8:00P Union Pool Brooklyn, New York
Nov 22 2008 9:00P Knitting Factory Manhattan, New York
Soup wrote this.
The Shaky Hands, from Portland, Oregon, might be one of the more interesting bands playing this kind of indie rock. Their new album, Lunglight, came out earlier this month on Kill Rock Stars, and it's pretty good, I'd say. Kind of has the feel of 1960's British garage rock and late-70's/early-80's post-punk all with a distinctly American edge and thankfully, enough originality to stand out at least a bit in a pretty crowded genre.
What I dig in particular are the tracks where they break this mold. For example, the off-beat guitar with the butt rock fills and stomping drums on “Loosen Up” are really cool, and the kitchen sink percussion and clean, trem-picked guitars of “Air Better Come” are really cool. The chorus of “We Are Young” completely and unexpectedly changes the mood of the song, and I like that effect. “Neighbors” adopts more of a post-punk sound with heavy percussion and discordant guitars, and leads seamlessly into “World's Gone Mad,” which reminds me a lot of early Arcade Fire, with harmonized vocals and a pretty similar melodic sensibility. “No Say” is a quieter song until it's interrupted by a chaotic burst of guitar noise that turns into a catchy post-punk lead flourish that gives the whole thing a new sense of urgency. The driving percussion of “Settle On” makes the song for me. In fact, the best tracks on this album are the ones where the drummer steals the show, like he does on “Love All Of,” with its awesome almost-reggae percussion backbone and snaking guitar lines. Unfortunately, this song goes on way longer than it should, considering it doesn't really go anywhere. And, unfortunately, the laid-back folk rock of “Wake the Breathing Light,” while likeable at first, wears thin long before the end of the song, and the build-up at the end is just kind of too little, too late. I kind of wish these two songs weren't placed back to back because they definitely drag the second half of the album down, and I'd imagine a lot of listeners are just going to be skipping these songs after repeated listens. Luckily, the last track, “Oh No,” picks up the slack a bit. The violin and piano and the change-up in the bridge save this one, despite it being just as long as the last two songs. It's a great song to go out on, and a great song either way.
Anyway, more information can be found at the band's official MySpace page. Also, they're heading out on tour in October. They sound like they'd be pretty fun live. So here are the dates:
16 Oct 2008 20:00 Doug Fir w/ The Acorn Portland, Oregon
17 Oct 2008 20:00 Tractor w/ The Acorn Seattle, Washington
19 Oct 2008 20:00 Sam Bond’s Garage w/ The Acorn Eugene, Oregon
21 Oct 2008 20:00 Hemlock w/ The Acorn San Francisco, California
22 Oct 2008 20:00 Crepe Place w/ The Acorn Santa Cruz, California
24 Oct 2008 20:00 Spaceland w/ The Acorn Los Angeles, California
25 Oct 2008 20:00 Modified w/ The Acorn Phoenix, Arizona
28 Oct 2008 20:00 Hi Dive w/ The Acorn Denver, Colorado
29 Oct 2008 20:00 Slowdown w/ The Acorn Omaha, Nebraska
30 Oct 2008 20:00 7th Street Eatery w/ The Acorn Minneapolis
31 Oct 2008 20:00 Café Montmartre w/ The Acorn Madison, Wisconsin
1 Nov 2008 20:00 Schuba’s w/ The Acorn Chicago, Illinois
4 Nov 2008 20:00 Middle East, Cambridge, Massachusetts
6 Nov 2008 20:00 Johnny Brendas Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
8 Nov 2008 20:00 Mercury Lounge new york, New York
10 Nov 2008 20:00 local 506 Chapel Hill, North Carolina
