The World Itself Is A Bad Dream

Artist: Various
Album: The World Itself Is A Bad Dream
Release: 2009
Label: Drugged Conscience

Tracklist:

1. Nazi Dust - Exhaustion
2. Nazi Dust - Impulse Control
3. Panzram - ...Life Deals Another Hand
4. Dead Stare - Nailed Shut
5. Dead Stare - Red Handed
6. Duress - Allergic To Hope
7. Bad Year - Sleep
8. Rational Animals - Games And Fun

Florida's Drugged Conscience yet again drops some treats on the kids with this short tape compilation entitled The World Itself Is A Bad Dream, which featuring both bands from Florida and other equally-depressing states. The main draw of this tape is the first two tracks featuring Nazi Dust from Tampa. I found their demo to be very solid, but lacking a certain something. The band was still fresh and still didn't seem to have gelled yet, but I not only still enjoyed it, but could tell something great was on the horizon. These two songs (which I believe will be re-recorded for their upcoming 7") are superior to their past material, showing the band doing what it does great: playing hardcore that deviates slightly from the standard sound, yet, fortunately, still has one foot firmly planted in no-frills, fast, straight edge hardcore.

It would be unfair of me to continue to rave about Nazi Dust's contribution to this tape when the rest of it is excellent, as well. Rounding out the A-side are Panzram (members of Merkit) and Dead Stare. The former is an excellent two-piece playing jagged, yet heavy hardcore. I very much enjoyed their demo tape and this song is no different. Dead Stare contributes two songs in under 30-seconds, doing the No Comment powerviolence-thing quite well, even if it is 2009.

On the flipside, we have a song from Duress from Chicago who are one of many incredible hardcore bands that have been popping up in the Windy City in the past few years. It's fast. It's hard. It's straight edge. Bad Year is the band I had never heard of on the tape and while the song is pretty good, I find it to be the least memorable of the songs here, though the blame for that is just as much on the other bands as it is theirs. The tape concludes with a song from the late-era Black Flag-worship of Rational Animals from Rochester, NY. From hearing this and their 7", I can say that this band rules. Will asked me if they could hop on at a show at my place in the absence of Nomos, and, while never having heard them, it was a great call. Even their belligerently drunk singer who rubbed every single person in the crowd the wrong way couldn't stop me from enjoying their set, even if it was a little long. Still, their song "Games And Fun" might be my favorite song on this tape, if not tied with the Nazi Dust jams.

Anyway, there's a lot to enjoy here and Drugged Conscience has yet again come through with an excellent tape release. Chris was nice enough to provide for us the best quality rip of this tape, so be sure to download this, as I've only heard a tape rip floating around out there.

Download Here

-Adam

Felt - Primitive Painters/Cathedral 12"

Artist: Felt
Album: Primitive Painters/Cathedral 12"
Release: 1985
Label: Cherry Red

Tracklist:

1. Primitive Painters
2. Cathedral

My 22nd birthday was a few weeks ago and it was the first time in as long as I can remember that I actually enjoyed my birthday. What made it different from every other banal and lackluster birthday? Two specific things: an awesome vegan sushi dinner with some of my best friends and, more importantly, a copy of Felt's Primitive Painters/Cathedral 12" single.

Felt is definitely one the best bands Scotland ever produced. Led by the enigmatic Lawrence [Hayward] and his Tom Verlaine-esque vocals, the band crafted some of the best guitar-driven pop ever; imagine Television as an indie pop band. Maybe? Anyway, the A-side of this single is Felt's "hit" and one of their most well-known songs and appeared on their album Ignite The Seven Cannons. Apparently, you can't be a true fan of the band if you haven't heard it, making me a huge poseur. I've been listening to a bunch of Felt's albums since mid-high school, but I had not actually heard this song until it was gifted to me. Why was I so out of the loop? The reason is simple: the full-length it appeared on is quite mediocre by Felt's standards and I didn't get far enough into the album to actually hear the song. I'm still kicking myself for that one...

In addition to being their most popular jam, it's also most definitely one of their best singles or songs, period. Produced by Robin Guthrie with guest vocals from my favorite singer ever, Elizabeth Frasier (both of the Cocteau Twins), the song actually sounds like the perfect combination of both Felt and Cocteau Twins. I know, I know, Guthrie DOES has a tendency to ruin a lot of the things he touches by ignoring bands' strengths and just trying to make them sound like his own band (look no futher than Ignite The Seven Cannons), but it works marvelously on this song. Felt's guitars are at their poppiest and Frasier's vocals actually soar higher than the majestic keys. It's six minutes of pure, aural ecstasy.

The B-side song of "Cathedral" is more standard Felt, meaning it's still a great pop gem. Not as immediately catchy (or as good as) "Primitive Painters," the song is still worthy enough to share wax with the classic title track. I very much enjoy this song, but I do find myself not flipping the record as much as I should. Cot damn cushes, that title track rules.

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-Adam

Rafael Toral - Wave Field

Artist: Rafael Toral
Album: Wave Field
Release: 1995
Label: Moneyland

Tracklist:

1. Wave Field 5
2. Wave Field 6
3. WF Radio Edit

If you actually manage to make it through Mike McGonigle's self-centered, overly tangential 33 1/3 book on My Bloody Valentine's Loveless, you'll find one of the few more cohesive, interesting parts: the idea of an album that could follow Loveless. McGonigle suggests this.

Wave Field is a two-part guitar composition composed and recorded by Toral in his home studio. The album does not, in fact, sound like a follow-up to Loveless. What it does sound like is everything organic, ethereal and wonderful about Kevin Shield's opus distilled into a crystalline essence and then melted slowly and beautifully, with the results put to tape. Toral's Fender overdubs simmer and soar with equal profundity.

I'm not much of a drone fan-- I hate, say, Sunn 0)))-- but this is record sounds like one gigantic guitar canvas. I've been sitting here with the lights off listening to Wave Field on this depressingly rainy day and the sublime vibe it gives off is absolutely perfect.

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-Asa

Muslimgauze - The Rape Of Palestine

Artist: Muslimgauze
Album: The Rape Of Palestine
Release: 1988
Label: Limited Editions

Tracklist:

1. Shadow Of The West
2. The Muslim City
3. A Nation
4. Ways Of Faith
5. The Power Of The Word

"This record is dedicated to the victims of Israeli brutality in occupied West Bank and Gaza"

So goes the quote from what is possibly Bryn Jones' most inflammatorily titled work, The Rape Of Palestine, whose name essentially and unapologetically represents the political sentiment of his Muslimgauze project. This album stands as my second favorite album of his, standing only behind the stunning Abu Nidal.

For the uninitiated, Muslimgauze is not only the sound of one pissed-off individual, but also a hybrid of experimental techno, droning ambient, and samples derived primarily from the Middle East. It's kind of like if worldbeat was actually well-concieved, or even just palatable, really. His main sound is very percussive and, aside from the purely ambient excursion of "A Nation," this release is no different. It's hard to say what sets this release apart from others (there is a lot of repetition in both the musical and, arguably, ideological themes in Jones' work), but I would argue that the album never becomes dull or falls into the pitfalls of some later releases. Still, most dwell on the politics of Muslimgauze, which is unfortunate as the music is incredible and should be paid equal mind, if not be the main focal point.

Whether allied to or in conflict with it, focusing solely on Jones' political diatribe against Israel and the West is terribly lazy. I would certainly never even think to consider Jones an anti-Semite for his work created under the Muslimgauze banner, nor would I take the use of that tired and oft-misused slur seriously. On the flipside, I wouldn't exactly label his work Orientalist in nature, as it's not deprecatory towards the Other; Jones is merely speaking out against what he views as a crime against humanity from the perspective of a Westerner and is in no way attempting to speak for the Palestinians, Arabs, or the colonized, in general. Therefore, his ideas should not be discredited along either of those lines.

I've already given too much time and credit to the tired debate over his politics, so I'll leave you to listen to a major work of one of the most fascinating figures in experimental music in the past thirty years.

Download Here

-Adam

Pollution - nasty.DNA

Artist: Pollution
Album: nasty.DNA
Release: 2008
Label: Self-Released (Cassette Version)/Feast Of Tentacles (12" Version)

Tracklist:

1. tiny.black.burns
2. Failure
3. Upsidedown Trough
4. drop.die
5. Fly Upon The Garbage
6. Camphor
7. White Gas
8. shock.no exist

Pollution is an exciting new band from New York City. They combine metal aesthetics with strong hardcore punk sound quality and style. "Naaaasty.DNA" is one of two cassettes the band has floating around now, the other previously posted on this blog. Their songs average in the one-to-two minute range, with three exceptionally longer tracks on this tape. In general I find Pollution original and different. Where they succeed the most in creating their particular vision of metal/punk crossover are on those songs that have punk rhythm sections with heavily reverbed, and darkly moded guitars. "drop.die" is a good example of this. There are moments that drag (see "Upsidedown Trough"), but perhaps fans of riffier or droning metal music may appreciate these slower songs. Best track, "tiny.black.burns", opens the tape; it has eerie bent harmonics and a wicked nu-metal/tribal drum beat that makes me want to overturn tables in the library.

Feast of Tentacles has reissued this amazing tape on vinyl, so be sure to pick it up because it will surely sound better.

Download Here
To buy the new vinyl version, email feastoftentacles@hotmail.com for worldwide shipping rates

-Colman

The Charlottes - LoveHappy

Artist: The Charlottes
Album: LoveHappy
Release: 1989
Label: Subway Organization

Tracklist:

1. Are You Happy Now?
2. Cold
3. Keep Me Down
4. Stubborn
5. See The Danger Shine
6. Everything To Me
7. In My Hair
8. Love Happy

Introduced to me by my coolest friend (sorry, it's not you, Trey) fairly recently, the pre-Slowdive band the Charlottes have seem to flown under most peoples' radars and I don't exactly understand why. The band predated the shoegaze movement, releasing their final LP Things Come Apart in mid-1991, around the time of the birth of the genre. That album stands as an unheard pillar of early shoegaze and is certainly a milestone of the sound. It seems to me that most people seem to cite that as their masterpiece (it sounds shoegazey, their hit "Liar" is on it, etc.), but I actually enjoy their debut LP, LoveHappy more.

LoveHappy sees the band in a more embryonic state than Things Come Apart. First, the album's sound is rooted way more in the noise pop and indie pop of the 80s in the U.K. than shoegaze or dream pop, making it more poppy and energetic; I've even heard to it referred to as "tweegaze." This is made apparent from the get-go with the ultra-poppy opener of "Are You Happy Now?," which is potentially the definitive moment of this earlier sound. The band is just sloppier and more fun here than on their later material. This energy is partly due to the driving percussion of future Slowdive drummer, Simon Scott. While he drummed on both albums (and other singles), the more pop-structured songwriting on this album allows for him to go crazier. Only the slower, druggier "Keep Me Down" and "Love Happy" break the pop mold of this album and foreshadow what the band would eventually become.

Another difference between the two albums is the length. While Things Come Apart is 48 minutes, LoveHappy is only 22 minutes, which is a godsend. It's the perfect length to an album of this kind. I certainly don't get bored during Things Come Apart, but the length LoveHappy is just perfect; it's just long enough without any hint of wearing on the listener and its pacing is flawless.

This has quickly become one of my favorite noise pop records and while not as revolutionary as their sophomore release, I find this to be the stronger effort. Still, one should definitely seek out both of their albums because this band deserves to be heard on a much wider scale.

Download Here

-Adam