Motorik Rehumanises Maserati

I was on my way to see Maserati last week until an emergency pulled me away - and another great gig was missed. I have been listening to Rehumanizer (out now through Temporary Residence on amazing Exploding Sun vinyl now - see below and buy here) incessantly over the past month. I have been becoming more and more obsessed with electronic music that either makes method out of nihilistic noisy madness, or creates a motorik mantra fitting of a retro-futurist dystopia. Rehumanizer is definitely of the latter. Insistent on molding classic rock riffs into a cyclical barrel roll, blown up to resemble cyber colossi, substance and style intrinsically interwoven. The 21st century hard rock amalgam of Trans Am and Goblin (with 'Living Cell' sounding almost 'Great Southern Land' era Icehouse?!), Rehumanizer is both a throwback and a pitch forward, synthetically confronting yet organically immersive.

Video Vacuum - Trans Am, Catman, Pere Ubu, Lower Spectrum, Whirling Hall Of Knives, Goat, Ghost Wave

I'm moving house today. So I'm not going to be able to do any posts I'm afraid. So here is a lengthy A/V gem that I prepared earlier...

Trans Am - Insufficiently Breathless from Thrill Jockey Records on Vimeo.

I mentioned earlier this year that I was pretty happy to hear Trans Am were bringing out a new album. In fact I had pangs of sadness when packing my things to move to the UK and found my copy of Futureworld that I hadn't listened to in years - enough for it to soundtrack an afternoon of throwing out clothes and taping up boxes. Here is the film clip for 'Insufficiently Breathless' - a subdued, sonorous affair with film-like breadth, and the ethereal, woodsian music video fits the music perfectly. Hoping to see these guys play once more before 2014's candle burns out.

I spoke very favourably of Catman, the solo outfit for Adam Rogan. His guitar suite The Singapore Demos was a killer example of how to sweep away all semblances of the self in pure music. He is back with a new track, 'Joo Koon', and it continues the amazing vibes - I have listened to this song non-stop all day. Just hearing this reminds me of how much I love Mark McGuire's Living With Yourself - and how good Catman is. So many more people need to indulge in this magic.

Pere Ubu - Golden Surf II from fire records on Vimeo.

Trans Am onto Catman, then swinging back to an older classic band that are continuing their "comeback" in the form of Pere Ubu. A band I never thought I would get to see, but saw them at the Melbourne ATP last year (you know, the Altona one - the good one?) 'Golden Surf II' continues the brooding, bracing rock deathmarch that the avant-noise-weirdniks refuse to let go of, and in the process have crafted one of the most deliciously off-the-wall killers that they have brought out in some time. The beauty of the film clip is that Pere Ubu can sustain a band-filmed-in-a-room clip because of their ubiquity and magnetism, but the flick-card images that hammer throughout add the extra slice of the macabre. Great stuff.

LOWER SPECTRUM - KHLEVER (OFFICIAL VIDEO) from LOWER SPECTRUM on Vimeo.

Ned Buckley's climb as Lower Spectrum continues, now with the launch of the film clip for his single 'Khlever'. Another exquisitely shot clip that utilises the austere environs for its own nefarious aims, the alien objects and symbols shown throughout becoming more arcane in the frozen terrain that the young protagonist wanders through. Pagan ritualism based in the ancient future.

Further down the rabbithole we go, into the trancelike noise of Ireland's Whirling Hall of Knives. 'Scrap Assembly' blasts out like a warning siren, a nuclear meltdown of the senses, a groove intent on internal destruction, yet insistent on muscular movement and emotional attachment. The clip again creates this claustrophobic miasma of contracting and expanding, the tension growing just behind the cerebral vortex, the ghost in the machine in the self. Disturbingly simple, destructively seductive.

Goat have a new record out soon called Commune. I loved World Music. I really dig these krautrock demons from Sweden. And whilst 'Words' could have had a much more visceral film clip than this one, there is something foreboding and hypnotising about the triangles here. The band has always enjoyed angular design with their artwork, as well as multicoloured splashes, so the film clip still fits into the Goatosphere... Still, I want the masks and faux-camp darkness. This is an electric taste of what is to come though, so I'm not complaining.

OK, so let's try and pull out of this existential nosedive with one last clip. New Zealand band Ghost Wave have in 'Who's Doin' The Talkin'' crafted a languid psyc-out that is hazed and easy on the soul. Unabashed love of the motorik beat - as am I. Let's take a load off and unwiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiind...

NOW GET BACK TO WORK!

Waving At The Life Coach (Thrill Jockey Update #6)

Constantly churning out exploratory classics, Chicago's Thrill Jockey is privy to some amazing collaborations amongst likeminded souls. One I wasn't expecting (but still makes a fair degree of sense) is Life Coach. Last year Trans Am's Phil Manley released a solo record with this as its title, yet like Jason Molina and his Magnolia Electric Company, he liked the process enough to make it a project in and of itself. The collaborative process comes from Manley joining forces with Jon Theodore. This excited me for a number of reasons. Whilst Life Coach wasn't something that connected with me in 2011 (which is bizarre, since since listening to it again in the past week it's brand of kraut-inflected motorik minimalism is pretty damn awesome) I have always been in awe of Trans Am's sonic explorations - I bought Futureworld in my first year of uni based solely on its cover art and haven't looked back. Theodore was the original drummer from proto-prog act The Mars Volta (and for the record, I loved them in the beginning - De-Loused In The Comatorium is actually right up there in my favourite albums of the '00s - and I still kinda like em, despite their douchery - let the daggers fly), and he was by far the best. Since then he's ..., and there was that One Day As A Lion project he did with Zach de la Rocha. The key is that Manley and Theodore played together on Golden, and have been spiritual and musical buddies for nigh on two decades.

So what do Life Coach bring to the table? Alphawaves, effectively a continuation of Manley's cyclical solo instrumentals that nevertheless grow into amorphous beasts due to Theodore's unrestrained style of playing. He is a truly kinetic force, and his inclusion on songs like 'Lifeless Possibilities' is breathtaking. The album is further augmented by the inimitable Isaiah Mitchell (the brilliant Earthless and Golden Void) on lead on a few songs, most notably on face melter 'Fireball'. The album is apparently played in sequence in its entirety when performed live, and you can see why. Essentially an exploration in drone and rhythm in various genres, from Endless Boogie-esque free form rock to shoegaze, Alphawaves is unrelenting in its groove, failing to truly ease off its intensity, rather letting it shift incrementally. It's the variations in tone and style that shows off Manley's various artistic facets, and it becomes a bit of a masterclass due to the members involved.

You can buy Alphawaves here. Buy now and you can bundle it up with Life Coach too, well worth the effort. I don't expect Life Coach to be a long-term endeavour - but you never know. There has to be a music god out there somewhere...


Life Coach - Alphawaves
Life Coach - Fireball

In Between Mountains & Valleys Lies The Beach

Displaced Aussie Michael Beach had a nice little 7" out at the dawn of the year, A Horse (have a read and listen here). I really liked it. Well, he is releasing a mini-album to coincide with his forthcoming US tour, and it's the best thing he's done yet. Mountains + Valleys (through Spectacular Commodity and Twin Lakes) is a ballsy and accomplished collection of rustic rust, and it sounds amazing. This could do with the people he has roped in to help out - drummer Utrillo Kushner (Comets On Fire), Raymond Raposa (Castanets) on guitar and vocals, and Trans Am’s Phil Manley on the desk (Wooden Shjips and Barn Owl have enlisted his services in the past), Mountains + Valleys traverses darker terrain with more bluster than before, and is all the better because of it.


There are only 100 copies of these suckers (possibly much, much less), so try grab one here. Otherwise head here to get the digital. Its fantastic stuff. Reminds me of Jim Ward's or Jason Molina's solo stuff, but with Sonic Youth tracks occasionally coming across the radio wavelength. Really great stuff.

Michael Beach - Straight Spines
Michael Beach - Mountains + Valleys

Trans Am Thrills By Going Back To The Future

Thrill Jockey are an amazing label, and are having a blinding 2011 - but this will be nothing compared to what's in store next year, as the label prepares to enter its 20th year of existence in 2012. One of their core signings, Trans Am, is also preparing a look back into the Futureworld.

Starting late September, the wildly divergent and experimental trio will tour in the US performing the classic album Futureworld in its entirety, and Thrill Jockey will reissue a newly-remastered Futureworld on LP, with two digital bonus tracks - 'Nazi/Hippie Empire' which is a studio outtake from the Futureworld session, mixed by James Murphy (LCD Soundsystem - holy amazeballs!) and 'Now You Die, Thriddle Fool!' which was originally released by Strength Magazine on a split 7". This is incredible news - Futureworld is a stunning album, nothing like it exists. Spin magazine said when it came out that it was "the world's heaviest New Wave record" - and they weren't far off the mark.


The re-mastered Futureworld LP will be available in a limited edition on September 13, and is available now for pre-order here. The LP will be packaged in a high gloss jacket with high gloss inner sleeve, and for the first time will include a download card for the album.

Thrill Jockey will be re-pressing and re-issuing other classic vinyl in 2012 as part of its 20th anniversary, including albums by Tortoise and The Sea and Cake, plus many more new releases from the burgeoning stable of new, bristling psych/drone/experimental/whatever talent that's at their fingertips. If the Mayans get it right, and next year is THE END - well, it'll be all right by me...

And if you forgot, or aren't privy to the fact of this album's awesomeness, listen to the title track here, download it, and let it soundtrack your future life - this is what TRON really is...

Trans Am - Futureworld by thrilljockey

Cowering In The Shadowlands

Our second post about Thrill Jockey releases coming out tomorrow, this time we have San Fransisco droners Barn Owl putting out their own EP, Shadowland. I fucking dig this band - they have not put out a dud release yet - and Shadowland is no exception. Looking at Pontiak's Comecrudos art work, and comparing it to this, you can see that they are brothers in arms. The two-piece over the three tracks here mine similar territory to Pontiak also, evoking sinister emotions and foreboding that lurks in the darkness, refusing to come out into the night, thus remaining undefined and unknown, heightening the inherent fear. This is ambiance at its most controlled and dark-hued, and is electric in the juxtaposition of simplicity and complexity. This is aided by the man at the recording desk, Trans Am's Phil Manley.

Shadowland is out tomorrow. Get this here (the vinyl is immaculate!) - or even better, get it alongside Comecrudos as a bundle - you won't need to hear anything else of this ilk all year.

Barn Owl - Shadowland