Don't Miss This Passing Of Magnetic Seasons Ya Mug(star)

Tonight Liverpool psychers Mugstar launch their Rock Action lauded album Magnetic Seasons at London's Electrowerkz (with excellent support from Henge and SM favourites Cavalier Song - check it out here). This is something to get excited about - it is a proggish noise fest, not afraid to stretch out and run (all bar one track is over five minutes long, with two exceeding the fifteen minute mark). The 70s space drawl and Sabbath sprawl of 'Unearth', the reverb subterfuge underline a psych drive on 'Flemish Weave' (with a harmonised nod to the likes of Clinic), the kosmiche cowboy groove of 'Time Machine', the patient, subdued flutter and float that looks to the cool blue of an endless rustic horizon of 'Sky West & Crooked' - these instrumental soundscapes feel both restless and timeless, improvised and envisioned, embryonic and set in stone. Those two monoliths I mentioned? 'Remember The Breathing' is a classic Krautrock spiral - not downward, but through time and space, a kosmiche mantra that breathes new life into the staid term "classic; while closer 'Ascension Island' plays at once like a static-drenched grey post-apocalypse bit of aural residue, and a titanic uprising, the elemental Gods of yore rising up, the colossi casting us in their hypnotic shadow without ever going close to toppling us into the sea. It's a magisterial exercise in undulating restraint. Mugstar are masters of their domain - pre-order this excellent double LP here. Grab tickets for the show on the door for a tenner.

Exocomet Kill It

Exocomet are incredible. The self-titled album opens with 'Mercy Tongue' and that guitar reminds me so much of Clinic that it gives me goosebumps. That's a good thing by the way - Winchester Cathedral is one of my favourite albums from the past decade. The spikiness and incessant rhythms (aided and abetted by some excellent feverish drumming) is infectious - and to think this is all from a two-piece is phenomenal. The Bosnian ex-pats now call Brooklyn home - and if people don't start going rabid about these guys soon, there is something sore and sorry about this hollowed-out husk of a world. I'm sorry I haven't come to the party sooner - but now that I'm here, I'm never leaving.

Friday Cover Up - Shearing Off A Xiu Xiu

One of the first gigs I went to when I landed in London back in 2008 was at the beautiful Bush Hall in Shepherds Bush. I had been in the UK for about a month, and yet I was landed with the task of showing a friend around to see the sights. I had just started work out in Essex and was commuting in and out every day, and it was knocking me around - so we saw a bit of Trafalgar Square and Soho, ate some crumbed mushrooms (?!) then sunk some pints, before I convinced him to come see the double billing of Shearwater and the Constantines for five quid. Both bands played for over an hour, and I came away adamant that this was going to be the start of my love affair with the place. And so it was.

I have to say that I've had a crush on Texans Shearwater since that day too. So the fact that their latest endeavour is Fellow Travelers, a series of covers of bands that they admire and have toured with over the years, pretty much means that this segment is locked up til the end of the year. The first taste of the record is a cover of Xiu Xiu's 'I Luv The Valley (OH!!)', and it's a raucous release that energises. This has some resonance for me too - the only time I saw Xiu Xiu was the last show I reviewed for the first magazine I ever reviewed for, Low Rise, back in 2010. They were supported by a burgeoning Zola Jesus, who stormed around the stage like a trapped animal, howling and soaring over a backing track only - and she blew them out of the water. At least here Jamie Stewart gets a little ground back - but only because Shearwater are at the helm. And it's just in time for new ZJ material as well, hmmm... Fellow Travelers can be pre-ordered here - it sounds like the kind of covers album to savour with the likes of St Vincent, Clinic and Smog being reimagined. Have a great weekend everyone!

Beijing's White (K)Nights

Tenzenmen have some more quality releases from China out, with White Night being one of the best. The four-piece from Beijing noise travellers Chui Wan (named after Daoist philosopher Zhuangzi’s “Qi Wu Lun”, a mystical work on the relationship between nature and human life - the spirit of Zhuangzi’s thought is reflected in the modern Chinese idiom “When the wind blows, every sound may be heard therein”), their debut LP is filled with that mantra - quite often a song's hook or melody becomes buried in ephemeral sound, exotic sonics, and abrasive noise. It's not hodgepodge instrumentation either; instead careful composition that provides this layering, and creates a voice that seems to echo out of the ether, a spirit with mischievous, irascible intent. 'Swimming' could be a languid pop song but for the tinnitus-level whine and woozy delay; 'Berber' resides in My Disco terrain, but with bubblings and sonic touchstones that psych frontiersmen like Hear Hums incorporate colouring in the gaps; 'Another Kind Of Love' has all the markings of Deerhunter; and eleven-minute closer 'Tomorrow Never Knows' feels like a cross-section of Boris, Clinic, The Black Angels and the theme tune to The Burbs. Suffice to say, I fucking love this record.

A strident statement of intent, White Night leaves nothing in the back pocket, and is all the better for it. You can get White Night here - it really is great.

Chui Wan - Another Kind Of Love 
Chui Wan - Tomorrow Never Knows

Clinical Unease...

Not sure what to make of this one.

I am a big fan of the band Clinic - I think that Winchester Cathedral is a stellar album, and live they are awe-inspiring - but this, their latest, has me flummoxed. Maybe if it wasn't Clinic, but a band I was unfamiliar with, Id warm to it more. I miss the old Clinic I guess. Anyway, check out the clip below, see what you think...