... it’s hard to advise against grabbing all three of these quite limited Brown Spirits reissues in one go. Whilst your bank account and storage space might not thank you in the moment, your ears will do long into the future.
...the perfect encapsulation of their ability to wrap the elements of boredom and frustration in a fizzy coating that makes the truth easier to swallow. The whole album can be taken in one sitting and then played again straight away while other bands are still lumbering to a conclusion. Power Of Now is well worth the effort.
...an agricultural dystopia with drones derived from snoring livestock and battered tractors to create an otherworldly sonic texture suggesting sleeping horrors to be awakened.
Recorded at the Church Of The Immaculate Conception in Budapest, this suite of pieces fuses circular breathing techniques, intense rhythmic attack and percussive textures into a whole that flickers across light and dark as if watching a projector film of seabirds at play.
...hiccuping hypnotics and slivering interchange shot through with darkened instabilities. A heady otherness The Stargazer’s Assistant have been worshipping from the get-go, imbued with ghostly burrs and vocalising vapour, spidering into a noisy abstractive rub.
lulling you into calmer waters after the frantic pace of the preceding tracks. Once again Let Spin show how much life there is in this post-jazz world, twisting the vaguely familiar into new and compelling shapes.
They don’t let the intensity dip; they just hurl themselves at their instruments and search for each others’ groove. They find it, and then they keep going. We want them to. People in the audience are finding their inner head-banger.
Between them they bring a wealth of experience in the free improv scene, but the first effort for this line-up is a forty-six minute journey through relationships that go beyond the professional and somehow manifest into something magical.
These pieces are meant for immersive listening rather than dancing; Saggar calls them prayers, tying their purpose into the meaning of "bhajan", the Sanskrit term for a devotional song. More spiritual practice than entertainment, it’s only right that the album is listened to and judged as such.
...an album that sees the light after thirty years and not before time, Kenny perhaps at the peak of his later and smoother era, playing with friends and concocting a session that is well remembered by all those involved.
Everything about this nineteen-minute selection is indeed just a joy — from the neat inviting 10” vinyl presentation right down to the deep hooks embedded in its actual grooves.
...like other ‘noise’ rock bands but also strangely unlike most of them in that, even at this early stage, it felt like every note was deliberate. If it sounded like an unGodly accident then that was exactly how it was supposed to sound. These freaks could play; there might even be some kind of score.
Whilst the somewhat murky mix and generally unhurried pacing dissuade instant gratification, the slow burn approach of Eternity Bores Me will reward those already in thrall to the consistently reliable micro-scene from which it comfortingly emanates.
From the very first shot, the director / cinematographer wreaks destruction upon the sanctity of the family unit, even affronting his own characteristic practice of telling his stories through a series of almost still images held slightly too long to be comfortable for the viewer. Pálmason trusts our natural curiosity and filmgoing experience to help us look for the telling detail in his squared-off frames.
The people on the bill tonight feel like threads from the same dark bass wagon; they don’t necessarily sound alike (although they share a sympathy for low tones and steel beats) but they feel like they are parts of a wider subliminal zeitgeist.
It is this evocation of distance and stretching of time that Sol.Hz manages so well, pushing us out of a recognisable orbit; yet it engages and moves in equal measure.
We definitely aren’t able to successfully sound like anyone else -- it would be nice if people saw us as our own thing that transcended some of the things we borrow from elsewhere. I think live we have our own thing -- whether or not we can capture that on record at some point remains to be seen. Double live album time!
As on 2023's Weejuns, six tracks are collated, but here things are a little more succinct although wildly diverse in approach and once again the three draw elusive patterns from one another.