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20 July 2006

Black Moth Super Rainbow, Lost, Picking Flowers in the Woods (Graveface)
The opening of Lost, Picking Flowers in the Woods rises out of the silence with the sticky intensity of a hot summer thunderstorm. It gathers itself together, as thunderstorms do, thickens, and then lets loose with crashing sheets of rain. Turn up the volume and you're engulfed. The album is short but it pushes a lot of action and heat into 25 minutes. It's a psychedelic mixture of gong, flute, drum, and analog synthesiser, recorded onto tape and then pieced together on computers. Every piece of the minimal singing has been fed through vocoders, dragged out, and made to echo, bleed, and vibrate until it sounds barely human. (The distortion is so pronounced that it took me a while to realise that the lyrics to the first song are, "Lost, picking flowers in the woods", repeated four or five times.) Despite the absence of acoustic sound the album seems organic. The way it was put together has left it stippled with analog fur, and the headstrong energy of its progress gives it the charge of a natural force. Lost, Picking Flowers in the Woods is a strong piece of work. [Insound]
      — Deanne Sole
"Lost, Picking Flowers in the Woods": [MP3]
multiple songs: [MySpace]
Pop / psychedelic  

Bill Madden, Gone (Madmuse)
With some help from musicians like Billy Mohler from the Jimmy Chamberlin Complex (and Mr. Chamberlin himself), Bill Madden moulds a rich string of warm, roots-y, singer-songwriter pop. This is indicative on the shining opener "Weight of His Words" that is a mid-tempo, adult contemporary gem. Madden outdoes himself with the adorable, cuddly "Path of the Heart" or the winding, ambling and trippy "What in the World" that brings to mind Tom Petty circa Wildflowers. Even the starker "Might Have Been" has a dreary tone with Madden at times speaking the lines more than singing them. There's an earnestness or honesty in the singer's voice that makes "Friend" glide along almost too nicely. Think of Dylan at an earlier time and you would get the gist of this nugget. "Gone" has him channeling Lenny Kravitz though and "Art of Being" is a quirky, spacey bit of pop rock that misses the mark. But the folksy, haunting "Awful Good" atones for those less-than-great moments. [Insound]
      — Jason MacNeil
multiple songs: [stream]
Singer-songwriter  

Rauhan Orkesteri, Sylissäin Oot (Ache)
Wild... two saxophones alternating flute or ocarina, double bass, and percussion even mightier behind a roaring siren of reed unison, this Finnish set of free music has its quieter moments: the wind players drop out during performances, and three performances are by a bass and percussion duo. The atmosphere's often rustic, with strange bells and other peculiar percussion items or uses of percussion items. Occasional vocalisations sometimes use wind instruments, some not, often suggesting creatures of folktale and fairytale. Electronica is sterile, dull by comparison. Sometimes a there's a notion of a few dozen piping pixies, with an exiled bass virtuoso gigging at one of their weekend dances. Delightful innocent engrossment, and the occasional squabble, so that after a squawky rejoinder the listener produces a "you don't say!" "Woo-hoo!" one participant exclaims just as it's clear some curious clicks are being made on a saxophone reed. Is this a Pygmy war-dance I hear? Scenes from the Kalevala, Finno-Ugrian saxophony with churning cymbals and drums as if the little folk were going to stream forth from their mounds and take over some hostelry. And carry on arguing among the beer-taps. There are certainly examples of building momentum, and a lot of sounds I've not heard before. If these comments don't warn you off you might regard them as a recommendation. The band name translates as Peace Orchestra. Lively. [Insound]
      — Robert R. Calder
Jazz / Free jazz  

Ashley MacIsaac, Pride (Koch)
Nova Scotia native Ashley MacIsaac made a name for himself as an energetic fiddle player who combined traditional music with a punk sensibility to create energetic and infectious folk roots music. He achieved international success as a relatively young man. His 1992 debut album sold hundreds of thousands of copies, and he headlined folk festivals around the world. Since then, MacIsaac has made a handful of albums in a host of styles from electronic ambient to heavy metal. He's also behaved a bit weirdly in concert and in the press, most famously for lifting his kilt (with nothing on underneath) while performing on Conan O'Brian's TV program and telling a magazine interviewer about his sexual fascination with urination while MacIsaac was running for public office in Canada. MacIsaac's latest album is a rockin' affair and aims to shock, with couplets like "I wanna kill you/because I love you," "You took the gun/from my head" and "You're a bitch/so I want you". The problem is, MacIsaac's not very clever and while he aims for Ramones-like stoopid, he frequently comes across as just dumb. The music is meant to be grating, but it irritates more than buzzes. MacIsaac offers some crunchy moments, such as on his tribute to Patti Smith, "Sick of Rock and Roll," but not enough of them. [Insound]
      — Steven Horowitz
multiple songs: [streaming]
World / Celtic  

The Povertyneck Hillbillies, The Povertyneck Hillbillies (Rust Nashville)
I'd been hoping for something a little more rugged from this Pittsburg-based seven-piece. Something a little unshaven and mildly hungover, perhaps. Something just a little pissed off at the world. Instead, the Povertyneck Hillbillies are all mainstream pop country keen to suck corporate dick on Nashville's Music Row. Here a little Terri Clark, there are a little Mark Willis, everywhere a whole heap of Dierks Bentley. Hamfisted anthem, "The Hillbilly Way" leans towards Montgomery Gentry, and falls over. "Kinda Cool, Ain't It?" recalls Chris Cagle. And so on and so forth. There's nothing here to say the Povertyneck Hillbillies won't eventually come up with something as likeable and successful as their sources. But there's nothing here yet that cuts that mainstream mustard. [Insound]
      — Roger Holland
multiple songs: [MySpace]
Country  

.: posted by Editor 7:14 AM