While we're tempted to nominate Ariel Pink's teet for something, we'll settle for throwing both of his releases on this lengthy list of our favorite musical moments caught to tape and otherwise for June 2010.
In its stead we'd like to show some love for the art of the careful compilation. While the re-release of the Dark As Night tape with Sleep ∞ Over, oOoOO, Terminal Twilight, and Survive blew our minds anew, there was also the second installment of the illuminating Next Stop… Soweto series, and La Station Radar's 25-track sea monster.
Best Album
La Station Radar (LSR 030) compilation
We say:
Featuring a carefully culled roster track-listed in the precise order
to blow the top of your mind in under an hour and twenty minutes (one
hour, 19 minutes and five seconds, to be exact). Most impressive about this release was it's ability to put a definitive exclamation point on our moment in outer-limit rock, noise, experimental. The roster on this release is incredible, and filled with so many obscure gems that it already feels lost in time.
Best Releases of June 2010
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, Before Today
We say:
With an extensive, decade long history of lo-fi recordings, dodgy live
shows, noise terrorism and genre jumbled Paw Tracks releases, he has
now done something that has captured the collective attentions,
wonderment and critical ears of fans and the music media.
Al Lover, Woodsist Remixed
We say: There are some real gems in here, and some real rough edges, which is part of what makes it fun to listen to, as a process that's taking pretty limited edit tracks and throwing them together into something kind of spooky and beat-driven.
Super Chron Flight Bros, Cape Verde
We say: It's as though we lived parallel childhoods in front of the TV, indulging in the same crush on Winnie Cooper.
Robert Turman, Chapter 11 (Reissue)
We say: Turman seemed to have taken over where the last of the great synth based kraut artists left off in the 70s, infusing the spiritual meditation music with his own brand of loop hypnosis, slowly moving drones, industrial patterns, guitar fuzz and even some in-your-face 80s style synth work.
Deastro, The Mind Altar EP
We say: Deastro, earth name Randolph Chabot, is possibly the closest encounter we've come musically to the third kind. The Mind Altar EP is a further honing of his synth-transmissions.
Mr. Dibbs, Dead World
We say: Mr. Dibbs switches styles for no man. His format of buzzsaw metal riffs over brutal drum breaks has been a staple of his sound since his Turntable Hardcore tapes series.
Mount Pleasant, The Flood
We say: Tropical/noise combination plates may be the budget item of the blogateria but it will always take some special sauce and a few secret ingredients to spark an aroma like Mount Pleasant's.
Ariel Pink with Added Pizzazz 12-inch
We say: That's right, you are listening to some kind of alternative cool jazz. Not the kind Miles Davis invented, also not quite what you hear in dentist's offices, unless your dentist sucks nitrous oxide and cleans his own teeth with dry martinis.
Big Troubles, “Bad People” b/w “Drastic and Difficult” 7-inch
We say: Olde English Spelling Bee's starting up a new 7-inch series, beginning with New Jersey's Big Troubles. Four bummer scuzz tracks to be realized in analog.
Sleep ∞ Over, oOoOO, Terminal Twilight, and Survive, Dark As Night (re-issue)
We say: There's another chance to get Sleep ∞ Over's willowy pop hymnals in physical form on the recently reissued Dark As Night cassette on Bathetic Records.
Various Artists, Next Stop… Soweto Vol. 2
We say: For the second volume, Strut hits the nail on the head with a heap of soul, funk and psych that is nothing short of amazing.
DJ Mr. A*OK, Famous Class Action! Vol. 1
We say: No surprise that Famous Class are offering up a free mixtape from their resident southern rap-loving beat maestro.
CVLTS, LVST
We say: CVLTS are a midwest band who hit us up recently with a collection of tracks including “Corpus Dei”, a slow burner that sounds like locusts descending lazily and devouring a golden landscape in slow motion.
Emily Reo, Witch Mtn
We say: The first thing I noted when meeting the Florida-based songwriter was that the second I pulled my casio out of a bag, her eyes were locked to it. What model is it? Could she see the samples? No surprise that her spare and haunting melodies rest on the vintage oom-pahs and organ drolls of a late 80s model.
Change Leopardon, Juchitán
We say: Here's a track graduated from the school of new age crystals chopped and screwed by Oneohtrix Point Never's crew, slathered with a flattering layer of ambient bliss, and locked into some square beats for the long ride from the bandcamp page to your hard drive.
Gucci Mane, Mr. Zone 6
We say:
With no Ursher nor Mario appearances in sight, Gucci came back this
time with something for the street. And dude sounds like he's been
practicing.
Doldrum's VHS release
We say: Doldrums are a Toronto-based band who live at Everlasting Joy, the showspace where members of DD/MM/YYYY also reside. Their VHS release is visually destroyed as only tape can destroy – mind-bending, fractured, and backed by haunting music that we're looking forward to hearing more of.
Psychic Ills, Catoptric
We say: An album of dispersal that extends diaphanous instrumentals longer than last year's Mirror Eyes LP, with raaga style incantation and unresolved tone prattle rising like glowing elements from their low-burning flame pit.
Factor, Lawson Graham
We say: Lawson Graham can hardly be considered a solo record. Beyond the guest vocal appearances by a plethora of mostly Canadian and west coast rappers, the album is rich with live instrumentation that make Lawson Graham feel far more organic than the average hip hop record.
White Fence, White Fence
We say: Is there anything Darker My Love’s Tim Presley cannot do? In between working on the upcoming DML album and providing guitar and additional vocals for the Strange Boys, he has saved some of his wildest material for solo project; White Fence.
Caddywhompus, Remainder
We say: Panda Bear vocal inflections ride guitar licks siphoned through tracks that can reach prog-like levels of structural complexity. And there are moments that should make Double Leopards proud.
Delorean, Subiza
We say: Subiza is less interested in “simpler” pop music than its predecessor: it favors texture over quick hooks, richer sounds over cascading anthems, moodiness over perma-celebration, and genuine lyrics over one-line sing-alongs.
