review Archive

Lava Ox Sea + Next Episode CD review at Louder Than War

Original post here

Our continuing exploration into the darker side of Chinese music has now unearthed the oddly monikered LAVA| OX| SEA| a band who have declared themselves to “have thrown down the gauntlet, and to challenge Western rock dictatorships, effortlessly pissing over anything referencing rock in the last ten years

LAVA| OX| SEA| are based in Hefei the capital city of Anhui Province in Eastern China; formed initially as The LOS in 2007 – since then they have established themselves as one of the most consistent underground bands with regular festival appearances across China, comparisons with Radiohead and Mogwai have certainly not done them any harm.

‘Next Episode: Lord Smart vs. Dr. Jin’ is their second full length release which was first put out on Chinese label Miniless Records back in 2009, however after a licensing deal with Australia’sTenzenmen Records the CD should be more widely available.

The album opens particularly strongly with instrumental track ‘Hey! Stranger’ a driving shoegaze style masterpiece, sheets of treated guitar ascend skywards driven by pummelling drums, definitely more My Bloody Valentine as opposed to Radiohead.

‘Vertigo’ continues in similar vein; thunderous, even militaristic drumming underpinning wave upon wave of blessed out dreamy guitar feedback, which drops away for a guttural vocal deep down in the mix, before the fuzzed out guitar reins victorious to close the track. ‘Home Hell’ veers away from the sonic blasts and its hear that the Radiohead references hold some water, the track being much more accessible – clear vocals and and a drum pattern infused with jazz leanings. ‘Kalidascope’ continues in this vein and could even be thought of as LAVA| OX| SEA| attempting to create pop music, albeit pop music with a twist – the almost post punk funk guitar will still catch some unawares. ‘3+6’ follows and continues the off kilter funk, though there is an interesting section were the vocals are used as instrumentation. ‘Scattered Stars Like Diamonds In The Sky’ – an indulgent title which sits ideally with this over indulgent instrumental workout. Back on track for ‘Concrete Avalanche’ as the track builds with a wall of jangiling darkly atmospheric guitar and a brooding bass line, ‘Aim Light’ aptly closes proceedings and is a simple guitar and vocal track, the vocals being sung in Chinese.

LAVA| OX| SEA have created a good album, an album that clearly demonstrates their musical ability, soaring ambition, and a desire to stretch themselves creativly; if you have a fondness for Radiohead, Godspeed You! Black Emperor then LAVA| OX| SEA are worthy of further investigation – the thing with a review is that it’s the authors personal opinion and as suggested I consider both ‘Hey Stranger’ and ‘Vertigo’ to be the albums clear standout tracks – such is the sheer power demonstrated, the remainder struggle to assert themselves, and its here that LAVA| OX| SEA need to perhaps restrain themselves; such was their apparent desire to include a cavalcade of styles they have sadly diminished the power, and urgency first hinted at.

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Carsick Cars + You Can Listen CD review at Louder Than War

Original post here

In late 2011 regular LTW contributor Kerry McCarthy MP travelled to China, whilst there she reported on the thriving music scene, particularly in Beijing – LTW has previously covered this and were responsible for bringing the ‘Beijing Punk’ documentary to the UK, the film receiving its premiere at The Rebellion Festival in summer 2011.

One of the bands Kerry mentioned were the now defunct Carsick Cars – after much searching we finally obtained a copy of their album ‘You Can Listen, You Can Talk’ fromTenzenmen Records in Australia, who have since licensed the album for re-release – Tenzenmen Records are themselves the subject of future LTW inspection.

Carsick Cars were one of the most potent Chinese underground bands and this their second and final album more than justifies how they were able to travel and perform in both Australia and the USA, plus an appearence at Primevera 2009, and their continuing legacy, it was whilst they were playing in New York that composer John Myers saw them; he was so struck by the band that he began to lobby for Wharton Tiers (prev. Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jnr, Helmet) to produce them – ‘You Can Listen, You Can Talk’ is the result of that meeting.

All the tracks are written by front man Zhang Shouwang who is clearly able to create quite complex musical structures, but also understands the importance of a subtle melody and the impact of full on guitar riffs. As such the tracks switch between Sonic Youth/No Wave style noise and the more refined aspects of early Joy Division – clearly Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore themselves were impressed as they selected Carsick Cars to open for them in Vienna and Prague back in 2009.

The guitar riff to album opener ‘One Of Them’ is pure Sonic Youth with the rising drum pattern and the incessant lead, clipped sparse vocals sitting over a chugging beat; ‘Dear Friend’ occupies similar territory with the track building over a full five minutes to a crashing crescendo. ‘Neu’ could be a homage to the legendary krautrockers, as feedback and white noise herald the songs arrival before a motorik beat kicks in gathering together all the dissonant sounds into one almighty wave of squall and feedback.

‘Invisible Love’ is perhaps one the albums more accessible track which allows Shouwang to showcase his voice (sung in English) – which is nestles nicely next to the tracks looping bass line, and the warmth offered by some slide guitar. ‘Digu’ ups the tempo, with quickened vocals, a grinding bass its perhaps Carsick Cars getting poppy – there hints of Pixies here. The 6 minute plus ‘Unit 2’ opens with burst of captured snatches of radio before the lead once again takes over, the track propelling itself forward – the vocals are so low in the mix that it’s difficult to work out whether they are sung in Chinese or English, as the track takes you upon a journey, riding out waves of hypnotic noise, opening your senses to new previously unexplored aural delight before retuning you to the damaged radio.

‘A Friend From Big City’ could easily sit alongside many more well known alternative rock singles, the driving bass the catchy, the jangling poppy lead all make this even radio-friendly, but please don’t let that get in the way.

Title track ‘You Can Listen, You Can Talk’ is glorious; drivingly repetitive Joy Division style semi tribal drum patterns, a deep pummeling bass with soft initially distant vocals that build in intensity to a chant ‘You Can Listen, You Can Talk, You Can Listen, You Can Talk, You Can Listen, You Can Talk’

The album offers up a slightly bleak sound-scape; to the less adventurous the pitch of the lead will at times grate with its other worldliness, its angry, on occasion its brutal, its challenging and delivered with an urgent breathless almost righteous zeal – Carsick Cars believed in this album. There is much to enjoy here – if you have ever listed to Sonic Youth, PIL et al then Carsick Cars should be worthy of your attention.

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Hinterlandt + Motion Migration Movement CD review at Louder Than War

Originally posted here

Imagine if you will; you are on a journey, perhaps as a passenger in a car, perhaps on a train, certainly a journey that allows you to relax –instead of looking out across the altering landscape Hinterlandt suggests that you substitute visual stimuli for audio stimulation – no longer will rolling hills become mountains and valleys, each feature will be replaced by sound and the sound will evolve as you travel through it.

The CD cover bears the legend “Thanks for believing in unusual music and sound” – couldn’t really have been any more succinct…

‘Migration, Motion, Movement’ is the eleventh release from Sydney-based solo artist Jochen Gutsch aka Hinterlandt; The German-Australian musician also has also performed live right across the globe including performances in Sydney, London, Rome, Helsinki, Berlin, and Cologne. What Hinterlandt does is challenge the open minded music fan. This is accomplished by taking the listener on said journey whilst being stimulated by a vast array of instrumentation. Hinterlandt produces acoustic sounds overlaid with electronics, gentle percussion, manipulated noise and distortion – the result being a truly unique, and carefully considered soundtrack…
The album opens with ‘Migration’ a 22 minute piece that heralds its arrival with a near 3 minute lone trumpet refrain, before without any real warning dropping a snatched clip of math-rock which without transition sees a single guitar and basic beat take the lead, as the journey progresses a selection synths filter in an out accompanied by some guitar distortion which almost takes on an aquatic feel, as the waves dissipate the math rock returns altering the beat entirely; the track slows and then the disparate parts fall away before reconstructing themselves into essentially dub; a huge cavernous bass holding all together – but this brief moment of recognisable rhythm soon dissipates to be replaced with all manner of wind instruments, insect noises and I guess wind chimes carry you onto an ambient plateau; any opportunity to consider just what you have listened to is destroyed as a harsh blast of a industrial/EBM guitar, beat assault ensues – the track finally closing after a near 22min kaleidoscope of sounds and styles.

‘Motion’ is possibly the album’s most accessible track. Again a lone trumpet opens the melody for the first section, the time of the signature altering ever so slightly as we journey into the piece – a almost motorik beat draws us in with delayed/distorted guitar before a brief rather funky trumpet refrain returns; this piece positively pulses and hums; the sort of engaging genre hopping soundtrack often favoured in those painfully trendy bars – but then the entire beat shifts again during the breakdown just to remind you of the joy Gutsch must feel knowing he is gently unsettling your understanding of music.

Final track ‘Movement’, is built around a strong driving bass line – this is verging on pop music, skittish funky lead guitar, the warmth built further with some synth lines before these are substituted by that trumpet once more, and some hushed foreign language vocals – As with the entire album there is just so much going on, just as you being to comprehend the shift in time signature, the switch to differing instrumentation it happens again, and then again, before the piece signifies its close with further industrial rasps. None of this should work, but this is the skill of Hinterlandt, he is literally juggling with sounds, distorted, altered beats, patterns and rhythms and yet somehow making sense out of it all.

If you have ever felt you want to be listening to something that little bit more challenging, then Hinterlandt may well be exactly what you are looking for.

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Orlacs Hände + CD review from Goossens’ Ghost

original post

Another dead band. Fuck you, Australia. And why didn’t we march the streets for this one? Was it the Queensland thing? Was it “too early?” Was Opeth touring or something? Orlacs Hände are the sort of band that had their funeral plan all written down, anyway. The black suits and red satin coffin lining off-setting their pallid faces, too altered from the impact of the fall for the morticians to iron out. But the coffins remain open as per their instructions, fervently scratched out on lined paper, filling three exercise books. A4, no less. And no eulogy, thanks, no need for comforting words and humanising anecdotes; just the greatest elegy that can be afforded them: this recording. You can hear the room in this one and if you close your eyes you can almost fool yourself into thinking you can hear the very lights bleaching the colour out of their contorting forms as they pour this venom into some little, nondescript room on a cool, dry night, somewhere in Brisbane. The metronomic rim shots summon us into the world of the opening song: Life; a one round fight to the death. The guitars are defiantly clean on this track (and throughout); a truly unique choice in their sound and a real testament to the emotional power of their songwriting. We are given a melancholic riff that makes you feel like you’ve come into the story half way through, faded yellowing newspaper cut-outs and unopened mail, sporadically lit by the shivers of a dying fluorescent light. Flashbacks of moments of pain born in the dry wails of the vocals, fighting their way to be heard over the heaving bass and the twitchy rhythms of the drum kit. Finally, the trudging onslaught gives way and the old ugliness buries us in the present, howls of relapsed horror flecking the walls with blood and saliva against the dirge-like bass, rattling the snare with its mournful trajectory before the melancholy returns, waving us into the darkness. We are on the shore and then,  in a moment, we are in amongst the waves, then in the rip and gone. “Embrace the strength of the tide until you expire.” Orlacs Hände are the perfect ghost.

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Hinterlandt – Migration Motion Movement CD review (Cyclic Defrost)

by Nick Giles

Sydney native Hinterlandt must have a very active brain. One second he’s playing a steady trumpet line, before suddenly turning 180 degrees and careering off to the pace of rapidly shifting drumlines, then suddenly halting completely and dropping some serious dub rhythms. And that’s just in one minute. However, beneath this limitless shifting it’s evident that nothing is done without reason, as each section blends to the next with a deft precision. This is the work of a highly skilled, inquisitive, and highly erratic mind.

Opener ‘Migration’ opens steadily with a reflective trumpet motif, before sneaking a snippet of math-rock noodling from almost nowhere. As a single guitar and basic beat take the lead, synths filter in an out as distorted guitar swell ebb and flow. The math leanings return in a big way. With such a disparate collection of instrumentation and note movement, I can’t help but draw comparisons to early Mars Volta material: single tone guitar raging away as brass and synths shuffle and sing together atop an endlessly reconfiguring beat. As the track slows and builds again like a tide, it gently morphs into what could be considered dub territory, with a massive sine bass holding down a easy trumpet swing. Things get more dubby as they reduce, panned echoes pop around the stereo field as the beat disintegrates. Flutes and mallets hum out a quiet moment of reflection, before field recordings of lorikeets an coconut windchimes transport us to a suburban Sydney backyard. Swaggering dub lifts the mood, before industrial guitar and drums blast through the pot smoke, grinding along before the birds return. Phew, that’s track one done. ‘Motion’, as the title implies, moves with purpose. A lone trumpet leads the melody for the first third, changing time signatures as the head weaves its way. Delayed guitar takes its place as things get funky. Breaking the piece down to its core, the timing bends into almost a 15/8, if such a thing exists. Plucky organs and ticking blips complete this math workout. Funk guitar blasts open ‘Movement’, which sounds for all intents and purposes like the theme to a 70s cop flick. Western trumpet tones break the momentum momentarily, before the unstoppable bassline that is the backbone of this piece slides back in. Europop startles the funk out of existence, as distorted drums hammer it out off a skittery organ. As the track gets its math jacket back on, blasting its way to the end, woozy synths surface for a last gasp of air, before blastbeats pound them down and close out the release.

There’s a lot going on here, and it can be difficult to keep up. But between the endless genre-hopping, there’s an amazingly heady and accomplished mix of well-executed instrumentation, with a keen ear for interesting melodies and spacial refrain. If you can keep pace with this, it makes a highly rewarding listen.

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DEAD + THUNDAAAAAH! review (vinyl version)

originally posted to metalobsessison.net here

Melbourne’s DEAD are a sludge/punk duo who have years of experience playing in the Australian music scene, though they’ll never tell you that. That band consists of Jem on drums and Jace on bass/vocals and.. that’s it. The entirety of DEAD’s rather epic sound on their debut “THUNDAAAAAH!”  emanates from these two members. As a result the album has a very bass driven sound, much like their Brisbane contemporaries No Anchor’s Real Pain Supernova. However DEAD have quirkiness that No Anchor lack, with certain sonic elements more akin to Big Business and the Melvins. The bass player does an excellent job of filling the melodic gap left by their lack of a guitarist with aggressive yet melodic bass riffs and aggressive vocals, while the drummer does a superb job of keeping the groove machine going, an important aspect for a band that is essentially a rhythm section.    

The first half of the album has a very punk/hardcore feel to it, with shorter songs like “You Just Lost My Appetite” and “Preventable Disease”. Things take a turn for the weird (but certainly not worse) with the fourth track, “Wherever You Go We Will Catch You”. It starts off slower than the other songs and even features some whistling. It’s a touch reminiscent of those strange ten minute tracks of the Melvins, like “Lividity” or “Spread Eagle Beagle”, weird and kind of out place, but enjoyable none the less.

The album now takes a turn towards a slow sludgey sound, starting with the slow, ominous instrumental “We Don’t Take Advice”. It sets the mood for the nine minute funk epic, “Prick Rodeo”, which is one of the longer and better songs on the record. It starts off with an undeniable groove that DEAD just jam on, Jace throwing in a couple of awesome bass riffs before his screamed doom vocals burst through the insatiable rhythm. Suddenly the funk is brought to a stop, and replaced with a menacing downtempo section, with Jace doing his impression of the singer from Big Boys. The song marches to its own end at this pace, slow, steady and rather doomy.

This sluggish pace is continued by the next song, “Of All The People I Hate Most I Hate You More”, a song of pure misanthropic doom and rained out sludge. The song marches along, the singer’s vocals fuzzed up and blurred in the background, building a whole dark and tense atmosphere around the song as it ploughs to its finish after eight minutes of slow, snail paced movement.

The last track is a cover of The Stranglers’ “Shut Up” and features an awesome bass solo, and is a rather quirky and interesting way to bring the album to a close.

DEAD have managed to fuse punk and sludge together on a single record, and it works surprisingly well. There are plenty of fast in your face songs, and plenty of slow doomy songs. If you enjoy the Melvins, Big Business and No Anchor, then I must insist you find a copy of this record. It’s not a decision you will regret.

9/10

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Proximity Butterfly Reprieve CD review at City Weekend Shanghai

by Dan Shapiro – original here

A complex and sophisticated effort, Reprieve: The Auspicious Occurrences of Dr. Chen’s Past Lives (Maybe Mars), the latest release from Chengdu heavy psychedelic quartet Proximity Butterfly, is a 58-minute odyssey through a fictionalized account of the very real Wenchuan Earthquake that sent shockwaves throughout China in 2008.

Beginning with the Sichuan-opera influenced “The Thousand Faces,” Reprieve travels from one sonic landscape to the next, crafting a fine line between beauty and violence to tell the sobering tale of a man stuck beneath the rubble, hallucinating and fantasizing while helping victims of the natural disaster.

Mixed and mastered by Proximity Butterfly frontman Joshua C. Love, the album, the band’s fifth studio release and first since 2008’s The Antikythera Mechanism, is a definite victory for a band that’s been at the forefront of the Chengdu rock scene for the better part of a decade, a complete concept piece that strikes listeners with its aural maturity, crafty songwriting and skillful studio production.

Of note are the industrial tinged “Aggress,” eerie funk rocker “Tiptoes of Shiva” and jazzy space-jam “Vanity,” songs that exemplify Proximity Butterfly’s mix of hard and progressive rock and use of time signature changes and tempo shifts.

While Reprieve sees Proximity Butterfly further carving their niche as China’s top flag-bearers of psychedelia, the band, at times, too closely references their influences, best heard on the ethereal acoustic-driven “Sacrifice,” which has a striking resemblance to The Mars Volta’s “Televators.”

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Proximity Butterfly Reprieve CD reviews at BeijingDaze

original post here

‘Daze Review:

I’ve been keeping both eyes on this band for a while now as one of the most exciting bands in China that is not based in Beijing. I’ve quite enjoyed their previous records, especially Arcana! The latest one, from 2008, failed to grab me as much despite some interesting sounds. How would the new release measure up?
Much was made about this record’s connection to the Sichuan Earthquake and it’s evident in the dark edges that surround pretty much every song. The introkicks things off with an dreamy instrumental that reminds me of the Tibetain song of the dead, and even if it’s not, it sets up the field for what’s to come.
Tiptoes of Shiva, the following number, is haunting! I have had the song stuck in my head for a few days already. It’s easily the strongest number as far as i’m concerned with great vocals, interesting progressions and tempo changes. I can’t wait to check it out live.
Aggress is the other song that stands out! Extremely heavy with unmistakable influences from early 70s hard rock and metal, akin to Sabath and Maiden… It’s freaking heavy, violent with extremely distinctive vocals. The other songs, while all good, fail to stand out as much in my opinion. That’s to be attributed to how good the other songs above are.
The song Earthquake is a bit baffling when you just get the audio. It’s a weird cacophony of unrelated sounds, heavy beats, humming and more…. I’m assuming this one will stand out live as well.
Overall, one hell of a good record, befitting my expectations of the band and probably the best non-Beijing release of the year so far.

Ruby Review:

Two new CDs arrived in my hands this week and both are distinctly related, yet sound so different. The first “The Harbour Union” a blues/country collection Christchurch musicians put together to support rebuilding the city after it’smultiple devastating earthquakes over the last 9 months. The second “Reprieve: The Auspicious Occurrences of Dr. Chen’s Past Lives” a concept album by Chengdu psychedelic rockers Proximity Butterfly based around theWenchuan earthquake of 2008.

To say I’ve been waiting for this album and the China tour that goes along with it could be a slight understatement! I discovered Proximity Butterfly at Midi in May 2010 and since I stumbled across their 2008 album ‘The Antikythera Mechanism‘ in C-Rock, It’s become one of my most listened to Chinese albums. This show has been marked in my calendar as unmissable for months now, I hope my parents understand my ditching them for one night (yes, I did offer to take them!)

How to describe Proximity Butterfly’s sound to those who’ve never heard them?Passionate, ethereal, hard rock, I’ve heard them compared to Pink Floyd andThe Mars Volta, but I think also they sound a little like Wolfmother, especially the song ‘Tiptoes of Shiva‘. ‘Reprieve‘ is a psychdelic journey through the eyes of those in Sichuan during the earthquake, from eerie rumblings of ‘Ruin‘, to the soulful wailing of ‘Sickness‘, and the thunderous riffs of ‘Agress‘. Lead singer Joshua’s soaring vocals and clever lyrics lead the listener though the story. I like how this album includes Chinese lyrics as well as English, and also traditional Chinese instruments begin the journey before the quake on ‘The Thousand Faces‘. The band produced and mixed the album themselves in true indie fashion and have created an exceptional follow up to ‘The Antikythera Mechanism‘. I’m looking forward to seeing them live on Saturday!

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Hinterlandt remix album available for free download from Feral Media

FM64 | HINTERLANDT Presents: Through The Motions
CATALOGUE: FM64
ARTIST:
 HINTERLANDT PRESENTS
TITLE: 
THROUGH THE MOTIONS
FORMAT: 
DIGITAL
RELEASED: December 2011

hinterlandt - feral media

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TRACKLISTING:

1. Particle Motion – Broken Chip
2. Motion Sickness – Puzahki
3. Mouth In Motion – AFXJIM
4. One Element Stabbed Into The Black Of Eternity – Lawrence English
5. Kosmische Bewegung – Telafonica
6. Transmotion City – Godswounds
7. Motion Detectorz – Simo Soo
8. Motion/Static – Seaworthy

ARTIST(S):

The original track Motion was written and performed by Jochen Gutsch.
The remixes/re-workings contained on this release were created by the respective artists.

RELEASE DETAILS:

In September 2011, Hinterlandt asked fellow Australian artists Broken Chip, Puzahki, Afxjim, Lawrence English, Telafonica, Godswounds, Simo Soo, and Seaworthy to create their own music based on a handful of tiny sound snippets that were taken from the original Hinterlandt track Motion.

The open briefing and limited source material led to a compilation that is fresh, surprising, and decidedly experimental in its nature. While glimpses of the source material peak through here and there, the results are as diverse as the artists themselves. From driving electronic beats via industrial drones and ambient sounds to psychedelic prog rock – Through the Motions is a pro-diversity statement showing what artistic creativity can achieve.

Hinterlandt is deeply honoured by the results and would like to thank all the artists involved as well as Feral Media for their efforts, their resourcefulness and their patience. Furthermore, thanks go out to Istanbul-based photographer Refik Anadol for the great cover image.

The original Hinterlandt track Motion is part of the album Migration Motion Movement, released in September 2011 by Tenzenmen and Bird’s Robe Records.

Album artwork:
Photo: Refik Anadol
Design: Jochen Gutsch

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Proximity Butterfly – Album of the month From Chengdu-based psychedelic rock quartet. (Time Out Beijing)

original page here

The fifth studio album from Chengdu-based psychedelic rock quartet Proximity Butterfly may well turn out to be among the top albums of 2011. It offers a level of rock ecstasy unmatched in Beijing, along with heavy guitar riffs and hypnotic yet violent instrumentals. The fact that Reprieve was inspired by the 2008 Sichuan earthquake even adds pathos to its musical depth.

The album offers up dark, hallucinatory stuff in ‘The Thousand Faces’, ‘Ruin’ and ‘Sickness’; while great tempo shifts, eclectic guitar solos and heavy distortion can be found in ‘The Sex’, ‘Tiptoes of Shiva’ and ‘Babies In Trees’. The seven-minute-long ‘Emperor’, on the other hand, is the most mind-blowing track. Multi-instrumental guru Douglas Li plays enchanting – and sometimes almost flirtatious – tunes on his urheen (a Chinese string instrument) in harmony with the inexhaustible psychedelic guitar of Joshua C Love. Reprieve captures a band at the height of their musical powers.

 

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