2.28.2012

Bat Chain Puller is shipping

The whole frustrating story behind the 34-year delay in the release of Captain Beefheart's "Bat Chain Puller" is elegantly told by John French (Drumbo) in the liner notes. Time to experience the original album in full-fi!

Bulbs shoot from its snoot
And vanish into darkness
It whistles like a root snatched from dry earth
Sodbustin’ rakes with grey dust claws
Announces its coming in the morning
This train with grey tubes
That houses people’s very thoughts and belongings.

It looks like Zappa.com is the only source, and the only available format is CD. Exciting, though I do wish the packaging contained at least a glimpse of the original intended artwork:


2.27.2012

A quartet of power trios



I've long thought of string quartets as an excellent form to showcase compositional approaches. They're small but incredibly flexible ensembles that can take nearly limitless musical journeys in a capable composer's hands. While making satisfying music unto themselves, listeners can often find all of the major elements of a composer's style presented in relatively unobstructed view within quartet writing: dynamics, use of space, articulation, polyphony, etc.

Recently I have received a number of power trio recordings--I'll use the "classic" definition of a power trio consisting of guitar, bass, and drumkit. As I dug into this music, I realized that I've loved dozens of power trios over time, and that the power trio format provides a similarly reliable platform for the presentation of compositional ideas through rock instrumentation. Frequent servings of improvisation are one place where the analogy falls short, as most string quartet music is fully composed. While some power trios focus on composed music, most incorporate improvisation, together or in solos. But the clarity of approach is consistent: think of the power trio efforts of folks like Bill Laswell, Fred Frith, or Vernon Reid, and how their power trio-based projects inform the compositional and improvisational strategies they bring to work in various larger ensembles.

After several weeks of power trio immersion therapy, here are four of my recent favorites:

Hyrrokkin - Astrionics
For having recorded the music for this cassette EP less than three months after forming, Hyrrokkin sounds like they've been playing together for years. And for being only an EP, this music has a long reach. Hyrrokkin leans heavily on intricate composition--other than short intervals within occasional rhythmic/textural cells (most notably in "Sephfus"), I don't hear much improvisation on this album. That puts them in a small class of power trio comp maniacs like the "Void" era configuration of the Flying Luttenbachers, or Colin Marston-related units like Behold the Arctopus or Dysrhythmia. Hyrrokkin bring the same amount of energy to their music as those bands, but they gravitate toward relatively cleaner sounds, and they're not afraid of melody. Timbrally, the guitar sounds remind me of my favorite early post-hardcore sounds, or even earlier crunchy goodness like "Hard Attack" era MX-80.

Edward Ricart and Paul Larkowski alternate guitar and bass duties on different songs, and they have remarkably complimentary sounds on either instrument. Both lay down hypnotic and propulsive bass riffs (Paul on "Super Agoinst" and Ed on "HAARP," for example), and both take their turns at guitar fearlessly, alternating between long-tone melodies, inventive diad-based harmonic/rhythmic ideas, and occasional outbursts of atonal/chromatic speedpicking. Drummer Brett Nagafuchi's approach unites jazz and math-rock ideas brilliantly, sometimes taking a stop-time approach on thorny, unison riff sections, alternating with a jazz approach to teasing cymbals through longer grooves. In between those percussive extremes, there are a lot of busy ideas happening in the guitar and bass parts throughout the record which the drum work sensitively delineates into palatable sections while keeping the energy level very high.

A masterful debut, and I'm psyched for more. Fortunately, Hyrrokkin are planning to record a full-length soon and tour throughout 2012. Much love to label New Atlantis for bringing this group to light. This one is a cassette/CDr release, already in a second printing since September, and you can find New Atlantis releases online at http://sundmagi.com.

Scorch Trio - Melaza
Scorch Trio is almost the opposite of Hyrrokkin in approach: they too create a forceful sound with the energy of rock, but their collective vocabulary outlines roots mostly in jazz and improvised musical systems. There are occasional repeated figures that serve as collection points along these wild rides, but these songs are very free, with emphasis on texture, soundscape, and in-the-moment conversation between the musicians. Raoul Bjorkhenheim gets brutal with his guitar, pulling many unexpected sounds from his strings, bending, tapping, sliding, and finally firing through a ring modulator in the last few minutes of the album. Ingebrigt Haker Flaten digs into his bass just as fiercely at times, loudly and percussively tremolo picking into a frenzy.

That's not to say this is a noise album. While this seems mostly improvised, the trio carefully incorporates contrast into the music. Tracks like "Raitru" are delicate and quiet, and others like the title track are high energy but with a more melodic sensibility--at times the guitar tones almost drift into Bill Frisell territory on that one.

This is the fourth Scorch Trio record, and the first to feature Chicagoan Frank Rosaly on drums. Rosaly keeps the drum approach here eerily similar to that of his predecessor, Paal Nilssen-Love. In comparing this record to "Brolt!" immediately before, the only substantial difference in drum textures that I detect is that Nilssen-Love spends a lot more time with his snare in passages that Rosaly more often fills with tom work.

This is a solid and exciting record, but I must admit that I hear a degree of hesitation at the extreme noise pole of their concept. In comparison to Kawabata Makoto of Acid Mothers Temple, for example, Scorch Trio heads bravely into sheets of pure sound, but they arrive with trained musical sensibilities that seem to include an attendant sense of reservation which peeks through in moments of potential psychedelic reckless abandon. But maybe I'm being unfair to compare the playing of Bjorkenheim to Kawabata, a man whom I once saw play guitar with his ass. Ahem. CD and LP available from Rune Grammofon.

Many Arms - Missing Time
I wasn't familiar with Many Arms until I picked up their 1st self-released disc "Palabras Malas" at the merch table of a Zevious show (bassist John DeBlase capably serves in both bands). Zevious, by the way, is another excellent power trio with two good albums and a truly great live show. But I think I like Many Arms even more: for me, this band reaches to the top tier of thoughtful and visceral power trio music, and deserves to be celebrated with classic trios like Blind Idiot God and Massacre.

Many Arms splits the difference between Hyrrokkin and Scorch Trio on the composition-to-improvisation continuum. Songs are mostly composed, but many feature intensely high energy solos. And they really excel at both. Compositionally, this music nods to math, prog, drone, psych, jazz, thrash, and more contemporary NYC scenes without bursting at its seams. In terms of playing and soloing quality, the whole band can exhibit an almost punishing display of technique, but they pull it off without turning into "shred" music. Nick Millevoi's guitar playing in particular floors me. He can spin endless jazz lines or angular stabs of sound with a particularly assertive picking technique. He's not much of a legato player, but I've never heard picking articulation that so effectively demands attention. This is a guitarist to watch carefully. He also recently released a powerful 12-string electric solo record on New Atlantis that I'll be covering in the near future.

Though John DeBlase is the least flashy performer in Many Arms, maintaining structure when the guitars and drums go wild, he writes a lot of the band's music, and he gets an especially satisfying fuzz bass workout on the epic "Enfolded Within a Great Flow." And drummer Ricardo Lagomasino sounds comfortable in every stylistic context he tries, from jazz to blast beats. He's especially inventive when shifting accents and densities over ostinato bass figures, a technique that makes "Extraction" rock both weirdly and hard. That approach is also responsible for my favorite section on their "Palabras Malas" album, the outro of "The Year 500 Billion."

"Missing Time" is available from Engine Studios, but also be sure to check the Many Arms BandCamp page, where you can find all of their music. And stay tuned in March--Tzadik Records is set to release the third Many Arms full-length, followed by some April tour dates with Hyrrokkin.

Hedvig Mollestad Trio - Shoot!
Another recent power trio offering from Rune Grammofon, the Hedvig Mollestad Trio debuts with a good, though uneven, record. It's a refreshing blend of jazz and rock influences, including some Touch & Go vibes and even sludge/doom/drone riffs in songs like "For the Air" that would be at home on a Melvins or Earth record if one added a little more distortion. In fact, they even cover the Melvins' "Blood Witch," which features the only vocals on the album, yelled/sung by the band in the background and seemingly picked up by room mics.

But that's a weakness of the album: there is a lot of space in the music where vocals could comfortably sit. Maybe too much room. Answering the "how to fill space" question is surely one of the most difficult aspects of playing in a power trio configuration: you can fall into a trap where everything sounds too similar timbrally, but it's also easy to go too far in the opposite direction and sound gimmicky. And each instrument is so critical to the sound--there is no place to hide. If both melodic/harmonic instruments are locked into playing riffs together for minutes at a time, even transitioning between verse and chorus forms, I start to crave melodies above the riffs. Sometimes guitarist Hedvig Mollestad Thomassen takes some thoughtful and interesting solos while the bassist Ellen Brekken holds down the riffs alone, but I wish there were more of those moments, and more interlocking riffs/countermelodies in the compositions, like one finds in "No Encore," or the bass melodies in "Doom's Lair" while the guitar maintains the song structure chordally.

That said, everyone plays beautifully, it's beautifully recorded, and I suspect that the Hedvig Mollestad Trio will evolve into an even more exciting group with time. And the gentle closing song, "The Valley," is a nice wind-down after several weeks of listening to many, many power trios.

--Scott Scholz

First published at Killed in Cars

Other Music playlist for 2-26-2012

A fairly wide range of musical directions for 2/26. Scott played:

Yugen - Danze Carazzate - Labirinto d'acqua
OOIOO - Ina---- - Feather Float
Annie White head/Barbara Morgenstern/Bill Wells/Stefan Schneider - Brown Recluse - Paper of Pins
Jason Ajemian and the HighLife - His Name on Records - Riding the Light into the Birds Eye
Eyvind Kang - Inquisitio - Athlantis
Les I - Inquisitio - Ou Bien
Power Animal - Rough Year (Interlude) - Exorcism
Prick - No Fair Fights - Riverhead (demos for his s/t album)

And Malcom found a fascinating unnamed parallel, playing:

Kronos Quartet/Allen Ginsburg - HOWL (edited) - HOWL, USA
The Cure - untitled - Disintegration
R.E.M. - untitled - Green
Neutral Milk Hotel - untitled - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
Low - untitled - Things we Lost in the Fire
Sigur Ros - untitled - ( )

2.20.2012

Other Music playlist for 2-19-2012

I've received a surprising number of "power trio" submissions lately (guitar/bass/drum trios), and it turned me toward a fun search through my collection, reflecting on the many power trio-based albums I've loved over the years. This Other Music show was inspired by my search--I did an hour of instrumental power trios, one song per band, but I actually put together 3 hours of 1 song-per-band material for more shows later. It's amazing how much potential the humble power trio has to make music inclusive of many styles, genres, and approaches. Soon I'll be posting a review of four recent power trio submissions that particularly grabbed me, but for now, here's a playlist that includes a track by each of those bands. See if you can guess which four I'll be covering in more detail...

For the 2-19-2012 Other Music Show, Scott played:

Ahleuchatistas - No Sleep - Location Location (okay, these guys recently became a duo, but...)
Free Form Funky Freqs - Over and Under - Urban Mythology Vol. 1
Zevious - Inciting - After the Air Raid
Scorch Trio - Melaza - Melaza
Many Arms - The Year 500 Billion - Palabras Malas
Hedvig Mollestad Trio - For the Air - Shoot!
Hyrrokkin - Haarp - Astrionics
Dub Trio - Control Issue Controlling Your Mind - IV
Mary Halvorson Trio - April April May (No. 3) - Dragon's Head
Trevor Dunn Trio Convulsant - I'm Sick - Sister Phantom Owl Fish
Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog - Never Better - Party Intellectuals
Arto Lindsay Trio - Imbue - Aggregates 1-26
Gorge Trio - Living With Tigers - Open Mouth, O Wisp
Blind Idiot God - Sawtooth - Undertow

2.13.2012

Other Music for 2-12-12

Whitney Houston died, we started to thaw out of a crushingly cold weekend, Valentine's Day was just around the corner, but we mostly ignored those things and "mixed it up" on the 2-12-12 edition of Other Music.

I played:
Summer '77 - MX-80 Sound - Hard Attack
Lonely Walk - Greetje Bijma - Barefoot
Mad, Mad, Mad Year - Dominique Leone - Instrumentals
Gongsong - Gong - Magick Brother
Eno and the Actor - Mike Keneally - Hat
Horse - Friendly Bears - Friendly Bears/Infidel?/Castro! "A Split Experience"
Study 2a (Conlon Nancarrow) - Bang On a Can - Big Beautiful Dark and Scary
Creeping Things Dig Slowly - Lovely Little Girls - Glamorous Piles and Puffy Saddlebags
Karel Zeman on the Moon - Ergo Phizmiz - Music From the Shoes of Fulcanelli Soundtrack
Millions of Mischiefs: I. Julia Sets - Jonathan Leathwood - Malloy: Millions of Mischiefs
Tears of the Judge - Yakuza Heart Attack - Yakuza Heart Attack II

2012 upcoming releases

Announcements for interesting 2012 albums are coming in faster than I can keep track of them. Here are just a few amazing albums we can expect this year:

Normal Love - Survival Tricks: It's been a long wait since the s/t Normal Love debut on High Two, but if you're a fan of the "brutal prog" approach, music with dense, complex compositions played with furious precision, this will surely be among your 2012 essentials. This one is expected around May on vinyl and CD, co-released by ugEXPLODE and Public Eyesore. A taste of what we can expect:


Normal Love's Upcoming Full-Length Album from Normal Love on Vimeo.

Extra Life - Dream Seeds: Extra Life continues to change lineups and instrumentation from album to album, but "Dream Seeds" is sure to be another deep, wild trip. Look for it on April 10th from Northern Spy.

Power Animal - Exorcism EP: If this is anything like Power Animal's debut, "People Songs," it will be a must-hear and the latest addition to a rich tradition of quality avant-pop from Philly. "Copernicus" in particular was a beautiful, touching song among my favorite musical moments of 2010. This one will see cassette and digital release in late February.

Captain Beefheart - Bat Chain Puller: The long-shelved "original" Bat Chain Puller is due to hit the mail via Zappa.com any minute now. They're taking pre-orders now. Relatively clean test tape bootlegs have circulated for years, but I'm definitely curious to hear the finished mixing and mastering from the source recordings. Bat Chain Puller a year after Smile! I guess there won't be anything left in the closets of rock & roll now.

Giant Claw: It looks like there are at least 3 new releases from the Giant Claw camp: a split with Electroluminiscent and a cassette release, "Clash of Moons," are already out--and an LP, "Haunted Planet" is on the way soon. If you're looking for some very well-composed and arranged synth music with nods to both pop and classical camps, Giant Claw is money.

Ergo Phizmiz - Eleven Songs: As noted at the end of a recent review of Things to Do and Make, we can expect a new Phizmiz record this summer. I'm still loving Things, and I'm amped to hear this one.

Eyvind Kang - Narrow Garden: Kang's latest release on Tzadik is due Feb 14th (tomorrow already!), and reviews are already coming in. It sounds like it's going to be a fairly tranquil, cinematic experience...

Mike Pride: Pride, one of my favorite drummers and composers, is working on a million bands and recording projects at once (as usual). Two I'm especially looking forward to hearing are a new recording from Period (with Charlie Looker of Extra Life, Darius Jones of Little Women and From Bacteria to Boys, and Chuck Bettis), and an album from the new "Nothing But Blues Trio" with Mick Barr and Jon Irabagon. A live-for-radio clip:


Ron Anderson - the man behind the mighty Molecules and Pak will be part of a quartet record arriving on Public Eyesore this month called "Closed Encounters of the 4 Minds." I don't know anything about this one yet, but I'm always interested to contrast Anderson's playing in improvised situations with his compositional style, and I'm guessing this one will be partly or mostly improvised...

Many Arms - s/t: Many Arms will be one of the next bands to get the "Spotlight" series treatment on Tzadik. I really dig what they brought to the gtr/bs/drm trio format on their last 2 full-lengths, and I'm psyched to check this out. I don't know how I feel about all of the Spotlight series records being eponymous, though. Obviously that's pretty conceptually limiting. I've loved all of the bands featured in that series so far, but I'm also glad that the Time of Orchids and Kayo Dot releases on Tzadik slipped through in the Composer Series, conceptually intact. Those were some beautiful albums with equally compelling album titles...

Ahleuchatistas: another wonderful--and often hyper--guitar/bass/drums trio, their website reports completion of a new album slated for release later this year. While they've been on the prolific side lately, this band's approach is so inclusive and creative, I doubt I could ever get tired of hearing new records them them.

A couple of potential releases: Will Gorguts finish a new record? Rumors are floating around that the band isn't happy with the recordings made so far and might be doing some extensive re-recording...Now that Behold the Arctopus has a new drummer (Weasel Walter of the legendary Flying Luttenbachers), will a recording studio be in their near future? Will a new album eventually surface from the Japonize Elephants, who have hinted at recording progress occasionally in the last couple of years? And Skerik of Critters Buggin and Les Claypool fame is working on a Kickstarter campaign to finish a record by an unusually "conceptual" group of his called Bandalabra--I haven't heard the music, but the description makes me think it might be a sort of West Coast version of NYC bands from the Zs family...

2.12.2012

2012 is a music year!

Last year was okay for new music, but not as jaw-dropping as some recent years that left my ears full and my wallet empty. Fortunately, 2012 is looking to be an amazing year based on the strength of even the few releases already out or announced. Here's a quick update on music that's already been released into this exciting new year.

Eyvind Kang - Visible Breath: 3 long tracks of brooding, mysterious atmospheres from one of my favorite composers. Available on LP from Editions Mego.

Kayo Dot - Gamma Knife: It's early to be making album-of-the-year predictions, but the new Kayo Dot album is a damned strong candidate, and my favorite record of theirs since 2003's Choirs of the Eye. Available now as a download from their BandCamp site, Gamma Knife will be released in physical format(s) later this year. But spend the $5 on BandCamp now, seriously. And be sure to check KayoDot.net for updates on both the physical release and upcoming tours, as Toby Driver & company seem to spend half their lives on the road and the other half in recording studios. It looks like plans are coalescing around May...

Secret Chiefs 3 (Traditionalists) - La Chanson De Jacky/The Western Exile 7'': Notoriously slow to release his almost impossibly sophisticated albums, 2012 has already brought us 2 new SC3 recordings, and there is a special twist: Mike Patton sings this La Chanson De Jacky cover. This is the first recording of Patton and Spruance together since the days of Mr. Bungle. Could a new Bungle album actually be possible some day? I imagine that remains unlikely, but Bungle's albums are incredibly dear to me, and a fellow can dream.

Pepe Deluxe - Queen of the Wave: To be honest, this record hasn't fully grabbed me yet, but its concept is amazing, and I suspect that it's going to grow on me with time. And huge props are in order for the immense effort toward recording with exotic instruments in exotic locales, most notably the Great Stalacpipe organ in Virginia's Luray Caverns, the largest musical instrument in the world.

Bang on a Can All Stars - Big Beautiful Dark and Scary: this new doubledisc celebrates the 25th anniversary of Bang on a Can, and it was available for free download from the band in January. Among many interesting gems, I was intrigued by the three compositions written by Dave Longstreth, though ultimately surprised at both their brevity and reserve (how about releasing some recordings of the live Getty's Address performance from a few years ago, everyone?). My favorites, though, are the arrangements of a few of the bluesier player piano studies of Conlan Nancarrow--breathtaking. I hope this record gets a vinyl release with some anniversary memoirs in the liner notes. In any event, CD release is scheduled for late February. This has been a great productive period for BOAC founder Michael Gordon, whose percussion piece "Timber" has received well-deserved positive attention recently. Here's an excerpt from Timber if you haven't heard it yet:



Son Lux - Break Thru Radio Session: No new studio recordings since last year's experimental monthlong conception-to-finished album creation, We Are Rising, but anything Son Lux is worth a mention. You can find this one at the Son Lux BandCamp page. I'm always interested in how folks who create such complex, dense arrangements choose to recreate their music live. Son Lux leans on the piano, and it works.

Space Blaster - Blastoff: I missed this release last November, but for fans of the Sweet Snacks or Mega Mousse, this newest effort from the Japonize Elephants family will be essential. Of all those projects, this one feels closest to the Mega Mousse vibe, blending elements of surf and spaghetti westerns with that signature sound that always makes Sylvain Carton's projects delightful. This one is available in physical format from CDBaby, or check their BandCamp for the digital version (and a few sample tracks).

Kevin Kastning projects: I also missed the initial releases of these in late 2011, but the recent Kastning
releases Balazs Major and I walked into the silver darkness are fascinating albums that deserve intense listening. These came into KZUM, where the Other Music crew has spun a few tracks over the last several months, but I'm going to need to investigate these beautiful albums more deeply as soon as I can. Fans of extended-range guitar approaches can find ordering information on Kastning's discography page.
Dominique Leone - Instrumentals: This one is a BandCamp-only release so far, and it's a fun way to explore Leone's architectural tendencies, combining shifting arpeggios in urgent, forward-leaning tracks that are good on their own but also sound like they'd be happy to accommodate "choir of Leone" vocal treatments. I'm still looking forward to the next "official" DL release, but some of the insanity here like the pointillistic "Uncertain Samba" or the stop/start buildups introducing "Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Year" will tide me over.

Next post: the dizzying array of albums already announced for 2012 release...

2.06.2012

Other Music for 2-5-12

Scott played:

Severe Confection - Normal Love - Normal Love
A Cloud No Bigger Than a Man's Head - Cerberus Shoal - Bastion of Itchy Preeves
Zhagunk - miRthkon - The Illusion of Joy
the Damaged Country - Mute Socialite - More Popular than Presidents and Generals
In the Cave/My Flaming Thirst - Pepe Deluxe - Queen of the Wave
History of Rock and Roll - Andy Partridge - Morgan Fisher Miniatures

Malcom played:

Columbia vs Challenger - Rebuild Deion - Haywire
Panda Bear - Drone - Tomboy
Don Pullen & the African Brazilian Connection - Yebino
Spring - Live...Again
Thievery Corporation - Where it All Starts - Culture of Fear
Angels of Light - Promise of Water - We Are Him
PJ Harvey - The Words that Maketh Murder - Let England Shake

2.03.2012

Lakookala - Songs for ZeMean



Here's a great debut! This record was a huge surprise for me in the fall of last year, and I've found myself putting it on a few times a week for the last 3 months. It's a very short EP, clocking in under 13 minutes, but it's a dozen minutes that I'm compelled to experience again and again.

Lakookala is a solo effort of drummer and vocalist Nicole Ranalli (Nico), who fronted Pittsburgh's Medic Medic before relocating to LA. While Medic Medic was a fairly conventional band working in rock and punk idioms, Nico's solo writing unites a range of dark and dramatic styles with exceptional vision. Other reviews of this record namedrop PJ Harvey and Corin Tucker, and I can hear the resemblance, but I'm hearing deeper and darker influences in this music. For me, it evokes that short-lived window in the early 80s when punk and pop influences collided in goth drama: post-punk and No Wave, those late Birthday Party EPs and early Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds albums, Suicide and Lydia Lunch. All of that music happened "before my time," but I got really into it in the early 'oughts, fascinated by that moment's particular blend of melodic sensibility and reckless love of noise/texture.

The first moment of Songs for ZeMean dives headfirst into that vibe, with an obscene guitar stab played by Phil Anderson Blythe that sounds like it could have come from a Birthday Party album. Then Nico's drums enter, keeping more of a tribal-meets-playful figure than a "normal" beat. Then the vocals: in most places, Nico employs at least 2 voices at a time, sometimes overdubbing herself and sometimes with backing vocals from Blythe. The song form of "Bad Timing" wastes no time with verses and choruses, progressing instead through melodic variations that build in intensity, finally abandoning lyrics altogether for the last 40 seconds with a primal vocal/drum workout bathed in reverb. In little more than two minutes, this song makes a bold impression.

Most of the album continues to avoid verse/chorus repetition, composed instead of evolving riffs or sustained textural ideas over which vocal melodies can emerge organically. The exception is the 2nd track, "Mother Biiiirds," whose piano/guitar-driven blues reminds me of early Siouxsie and the Banshees. "Bad Timing" is my favorite track, but the lead track on the B-side, "Without You," is a close second. It features a sparse but capable arrangement, carried by drums and voice for its first half, and supplemented with a forceful piano riff in the 2nd half. Occasional distorted mellotron and synth lines are scattered on the album as the perfect ambient punctuation, but it's remarkable how forceful these songs come across with so little orchestration.

I'm not the best fellow to ask about lyrics, as I find myself so focused on other aspects of music that I rarely even catch the words. Briefly, though, these lyrics focus thematically on "relationship issues," and are conceived thoughtfully enough to satisfy me. Nico, one might suspect from the lyric sheet, has been wronged a few times: a dangerous prospect for future suitors if she can turn their routines into music like this.

Regarding formats: this album is available from the usual e-music outlets, but while there might still be some available, I want to mention the availability of a small run of 300 copies of the album on 10'' pink vinyl. Like the music, the packaging is a very personal affair, with a hand-screened jacket and handwritten copy for the liner notes and lyrics. I took a picture of the vinyl package to run with the review instead of using a stock image, because it's a really well-done record. Check the Lakookala Bandcamp page for any remaining copies.

I only wish this record was much longer than five songs in 13 minutes. Many folks have been putting out debut EPs in the last decade, but I really like to jump headfirst into full lengths. But to the extent that these shorter records function as "teasers" while artists start gigging and touring, this one has obviously succeeded, as I'm incredibly curious to hear what comes next.

--first published at Killed in Cars

2.01.2012

RECORD REVIEW FACE

Ladies and Gentlemen, introducing Record Review Face, where you can review records using your facial expressions. A picture instead of a thousand words. Please submit your photos, and I'll approve them and add 'em to the site.


http://recordreviewface.tumblr.com/


Obviously I'll continue doing "normal" reviews as well, but the opposite concept is the most fun thing ever! And I hope that Record Review Face will be more of a social interaction site...