The Broken Face

After the goldrush #49

When describing Steven R. Smith’s first disc under the Ulaan Khol moniker I wrote that it sounded “like an unholy mix of Fushitsusha, Smith’s solo work and Roy Montgomery at his most abrasive. Candles flicker in the night to help us remember the ones on the other side. Memories slowly fade away but just like the sun they'll keep coming back”. That’s still very much the case on 2 (Soft Abuse) and in this case more of the same is actually a great thing. If you’re a fan of any of the above or Ash Ra Tempel and Agitation Free you can’t really go wrong.

Interviews

Just a quick note to let you know that two interviews I recently did with Zelienople and the Goner have been published at the Deep Water site.

After the goldrush #48

Michigan-based husband and wife duo Windy & Carl is back with a new full-length album entitled Songs for the Broken Hearted (Kranky) and it's once again overflowing with mood and atmosphere. Every epic track seems to be the perfect tool to seductively pull you into their world of densely layered guitar and keyboard drones. Underneath a glacial hurricane of zoned out distortion and shimmering, slow motion washes of guitar bliss this duo tears off lovely traces of melodies. In some cases we get stretched-out, barely distinguishable vocals on top but it doesn’t really matter if that’s the case or not as it’s all shockingly full of emotions and small unsettling details.

After the goldrush #47

Donovan Quinn might still be best know for his work in the brilliant Skygreen Leopards combo, but given the way his solo music has developed in recent years that might very well have changed when it’s time to wrap up his career. Donavan Quinn & the 13th Month (Soft Abuse) finds insistent strumming and naked vocals floating right across psychedelic folk waters and like you would expect Quinn is rarely in a hurry, taking his time to suck out of the very core of his elegantly crafted folk songs. File somewhere between Dylan and the most structured side of the Jewelled Antler repertoire and you’re in the right ballpark.

After the goldrush #46

The Declining Winter’s Goodbye Minnesota (Rusted Rail) is an ideal companion for entering the fall. As a matter of fact I think I’ve read four or five descriptions of this album and every single one of them pointed out the connection to this season. Anyway, what we have here is the solo musical project of Richard Adams, a co-founder of former Broken Face cover stars, Hood. Hood has always been the uncrowned tzars of finding the well-hidden gates between electronica, indie rock, dub and folk-induced pop minimalism. Goodbye Minnesota sounds quite a bit like mid-period Hood, like a mixture of Rustic Houses and Forlorn Valleys and The Cycle of Days and Seasons, which beyond praise basically means fall reveries draped in moody acoustic drone hypnotism. I am a sucker for this kind of rain-soaked, blurry soundscapes and if you like me still return to those Hood albums on a regular basis you can’t really go wrong with this one.

Pelt Dauphin Elegies (VHF)

I know that writing about Virginia’s Pelt probably means preaching to the already converted, but after seeing these guys’ phenomenal set at Terrastock 7 nothing can ever stop me from spreading the gospel about their work. Their most recent album on the always-impressive VHF imprint is a droning affair that moves across a plane of acoustic unease, devotional noise –improv and spiritual, corrosive resonance. The first two tracks display jarring gongs and drifting tones that give way to screeching strings, but what really sets the standard here is the epic third track, “Cast Out to Deep Waters”. This is 32 minutes of sonic enlightenment at its finest, with dense layers of slowly unfolding, slightly exotic drones that come packed with anxious beauty of isolation and doubt. It’s a spectacular procession of aural bliss that actually gets close to the live experience, and that is definitely saying something. When it’s time to move across the line to the other side I can’t think of a better companion than Pelt.

Cloudland Canyon Lie in Light (Kranky)

This half-American, half-German duo delivers seven high and lonely krautrock epics draped in beguiling cosmic otherliness. The sound range from atmospheric droning buzz and wavering electronic gravity to relentless kraut grooves and homebrewed psych and although pretty much all of it borders familiar terrain, dating back to Germany in the ‘70s it’s still pretty stellar. Mainly so because of the band’s talent for combining and blending influences to something that in most cases sound like their own thing. There has been a wave of cosmic music recently and if the quality of this disc is any indicator that trend will probably last for a while yet.