1) http://adderallcanyonly.bandcamp.com/album/influenza-10
2) fire! orchestra: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqoBUuA8g1o
3) http://californiax.bandcamp.com/album/californiax
4) joy formidable:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nzWUNmsHhpFAb6lwTKbo0e9qQaXxIZ9ZY
5) http://ghibli.bandcamp.com/album/clubs
6) autechre: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1yYEMwtFZHNP6hwp1lgEEQqkfFXIeqcS
7) oxykitten: http://shop.fieldhymns.com/album/fugue-state-2
8) mbv: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLV5Dj2xlNnONJWlHRLnxoEDHp89rKoNpO
9) the first time i saw them play last year, opening for somebody, they played a bass/drums instrumental set that was all over the place, expertly jumping through metal, grunge and punk riffs and into jazzy lines that wouldn't be out of place on a dmst record, all wrapped up in a catchy-as-fuck dance punk package. excellent show.
the record is far more focused, but it's still pretty top notch noise rock for fans of the albini sound.
http://big-dick.bandcamp.com/
10) gazelle twin: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkwDAamep2c
11) http://noxiousfoxes.bandcamp.com/album/epochalypso
12) man...or astro man?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWFMPH5C4lc&t=1s
13) http://indricothere.bandcamp.com/album/ii
14) i initially put this in my iffy pile, but i need to accept it as disappointing. musically, it's not terrible; the renaldo clone does a convincing job, even when he misses the subtleties (and i'm not at all being fair to the guy). vocally, it's sort of embarrassing.
there's an obvious kneejerk reaction to this along the lines of "yikes, this old guy's trying to be krallice and instead ends up coming off like billy corgan in his cyber-metal phase", but you have to understand that thurston moore has been obsessed with that point where extreme punk meets noise for going on thirty years now. and, "he was there": outside of being in sonic youth, which was kind of an important noise band that you've probably heard of, he was also in an early incarnation of swans, involved with branca's orchestra, etc.
it's weird.
1) he happens to be doing this in a point where it seems hipster,
2) who would deny thurston moore is a hipster? he's the archetype.
3) & yet, it doesn't seem like he's trying to be trendy.
the truth is closer to the idea that he's liberated by not having to deal with that goddamned hippie, lee renaldo, anymore. i can hear moore: "fine, he can go do his grateful dead shit, i'll go start a rock band.". there's just an age where it doesn't work anymore, and this is the first time moore has crossed that line - perhaps because his former bandmates, and ex-wife, are no longer there to yell NOOOOOO.
worse, the songwriting is a little lazy. i can handle thurston moore being a loser because that's the irony in the persona. when did he stop being a loser, y'know? but i can't handle him being a disingenuous loser that's out to prove a point or something.
the next one will probably be better. but whatever energy it was that sparked this missed it's target.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kdN2Q3g0_7zOS-dYot8Ao0aRGmD1xij80
15) black pus:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2MI88lUiQM
16) the flaming lips have released a lot of records. there's a couple that are amongst the best records released in the modern era, a couple that are almost unlistenable and a lot that are sort of mediocre. following up embryonic was going to be difficult, there's no question. given how wide of a spectrum their releases occupy (on a quality scale), it's hard to talk about expectations; however, this is certainly in the range of possible expectations, if maybe on the low end. i'm not particularly impressed, but i can't honestly claim i'm disappointed because i had to expect something a little less impressive after the last one.
the truth is that they're still cleaning up ideas that came out of embryonic.
they seem to have three basic "modes": catchy, spacy and trippy (which combines catchy and spacy). i've found that they're at their best when in "trippy mode". their "catchy" mode is usually sappy to the point of being irritating (i don't hold their early records in as high a regard as some others do) and their "spacy" mode is often boring. but, when they can splice them...
this disc is all spacy, but it doesn't just come off as boring, it commits the sin of being cheesy prog. with the retro feel of the ancient synths, it's even cheesy 70s prog. again, it's hard to accuse somebody that helped invent a sound of trying to cash in on it after the fact but is it a coincidence that it sounds like chillwave spliced with kosmische, produced by mgmt? you may find something enjoyable here if you're into that particular type of retro music, but the truth is that what this record actually is is a masturbatory pastiche of references to 70s music that will go over most listeners' heads.
i'd forgive that, though, if it had more hooks - if it didn't come off as such a tepid blur. there are a few moments, but there just aren't interesting songs underneath the haze of production.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oad6At_a9M
17) as always, jello has interesting perspectives, but he's moved into a muscle rock musical space on this disc that i can't really enjoy that much. i have to balance it out to iffy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oi14822rcB0
