Americans must stop doing so much to make us Brits look stupid. The amount of good music emanating across the Atlantic lately is quite startling (if you’re startled by music) or exciting (if you like music), even if ‘fessing up to loving imports like The Drums will earn you a blanket party from some corners.
But Fang Island should be much more appealing to such aggressors. Combining the sort of electronic blown-out sound of Animal Collective with harmonising guitar leads, restless rhythms that give them a nouveau Rush appeal with the occasional chanted vocal.
Toronto noiseniks Ten Kens return with a second album due on FatCat Records on August 30. For Posterity sees the band exploring gloomier, psychedelic avenues than on their self-titled 2008 debut. ‘Screaming Viking’ is a blistering preview of what the album has to offer: dense riffs, obfuscated vocals and a real penchant for harnessing guitar noise. The album tracklisting is below and a US/European tour is apparently in the works.
Note: Andy Sharp has been lurking behind the scenes of the Kelburn Garden Party since its inception in 2007. Here he reflects on his experience of the festival’s most successful year to date -Ed.
Video: Captain Slackship’s Mezzanine Allstars perform at KGP2010.
“Once again we are delighted to welcome you to Kelburn Castle for another weekend of musical discovery, woodland japery and frivolities of many kinds! We’ve been working hard to create a unique boutique, homespun playground for you to explore, and we’re honored that you have made it here to partake in it with us.
There’s not a lot about Harmony Korine’s film Trash Humpers which hasn’t already been said. It’s an absurd, and frequently disturbing (in the best way possible mind you) docu-style flick, which follows a gang of bat-crazy, trash-humping, vandalising, old age pensioners, as they terrorise middle America. The film is shot in a rustic VHS style, which gives it the feel of a lunatic’s homemade snuff movie (without the snuff obviously… but the trash humpers’ behaviour more than suffices), and it’s already won some pretty prestigous awards across the board. Korine of course is the directorial mastermind behind the likes of Gummo and Kids, who already has a plethora of awards and film plaudits to his name. So basically if avant garde, weirdnik, off-Americana filmmaking is your kind of cup of tea, then Trash Humpers is just the best fucking cup of tea ever.
Ólöf Arnalds is back, and the Icelandic singer-songwriter’s work remains something of a delicacy: try to imagine a Scandinavian Joanna Newsom singing over the guitar work of Nick Drake and you’ll be somewhere close. ‘Innundir Skinni’ (’under the skin’ in English) - the title track from her forthcoming sophomore album - finds Arnalds cawing in syrup-sweet Icelandic over a sparse guitar piece, while the flip side features a note-perfect cover of Arthur Russell’s ‘Close My Eyes’.
New York native and electronic provocateur Dan Deacon adds to his not inconsiderable discography with Woof Woof - an EP based around the track of the same name from last year’s excellent album, Bromst. The original mix is a gung-ho workout featuring wonky synths and hyper-accelerated vocals. Of the 3 remixes, Luke Abbott turns out a lovely version of ‘Surprise Stefani’, but the real gem here is Hudson Mohawke’s epic, conga-loaded reinterpretation of the title track.
[Out now on Amazing Sounds, limited to 500 12" / dandeacon.com]
john fahey went insane in nineteen sixty four and died shortly thereafter. he spoke to me in his last minutes on his dying bed and said: “take down my old guitar and smash it against the wall so i can die easy.” i did so and he passed away with a chthonic smile on his face.
not just a musically contextual quote but one that echoes the themes (one assumes…) of mortality, death, time, remembrance on shawn david mcmillen’s new record - y’know, walking home at the end of the night, no time left in this place, a morning with dead friends.
If Nina Nastasia isn’t telling us anything we didn’t already know on Outlaster, its because she doesn’t need to. Its always more meaningful to have those things we’ve known all along re-told in new, more concise, devastatingly accurate ways, and that’s where Nina comes in, approaching our mangled bodies as we lie bleeding on the road, pointing out the pedestrian walkway and with a gentle pat on the back, reassuring: Its not your fault, its okay, you didn’t know it was there.
Noise fiends: get your ears wrapped around this. I speak, of course, of the self-titled new album by shouty, abrasive rock types Eternal Fags, which is now available as a free download from Winning Sperm Party. This snarling banshee of a record is part punk, part dirge, and contains just over 17 brilliant minutes of pure, rock-filtered belligerence. Enjoy.
Meursault must be thinking talk about difficult second releases is just nonsense, after producing one of the albums of the year with All Creatures Will Make Merry. This collection of musicians has talent to burn, and the ability to bring musical directions of North and South to a wonderful centre point is what makes this album so special.
Ólöf Arnalds is back, and the Icelandic singer-songwriter’s work remains something of a delicacy: try to imagine a Scandinavian Joanna Newsom singing over the guitar work of Nick Drake and you’ll be somewhere close. ‘Innundir Skinni’ (’under the skin’ in English) - the title track from her forthcoming sophomore album - finds Arnalds cawing in syrup-sweet Icelandic over a sparse guitar piece, while the flip side features a note-perfect cover of Arthur Russell’s ‘Close My Eyes’.
New York native and electronic provocateur Dan Deacon adds to his not inconsiderable discography with Woof Woof - an EP based around the track of the same name from last year’s excellent album, Bromst. The original mix is a gung-ho workout featuring wonky synths and hyper-accelerated vocals. Of the 3 remixes, Luke Abbott turns out a lovely version of ‘Surprise Stefani’, but the real gem here is Hudson Mohawke’s epic, conga-loaded reinterpretation of the title track. 
