Summer squalor: July rotations
Been a minute but the hits keep comin’. Three picks each on three different formats. No cure for the sweltering heat but these’ll sure take you elsewhere for a minute. Bon appétit.
75 Dollar Bill, I Was Real 2xLP (Thin Wrist/Black Editions)
NYC’s foremost crate-and-guitar duo continue to osmose into an ever-larger recording entity, though the results are hardly bloated. Like Joshua Abrams’ Natural Information Society, 75 Dollar Bill specializes in patient sprawl, as on “Every Last Coffee or Tea” or the title track, a sort of musical kudzu covering more area, absorbing genres and instruments. Some shorter upbeat tracks are on display here, like “Tetuzi Akiyama” and “There’s No Such Thing as a King Bee” (featuring Knoxville’s own Carey Balch), and on the whole I Was Real’s double helping of material should please any and all fans of Wood/Metal/Plastic/Pattern/Rhythm/Rock. They’re not rehashing, they’re honing in on what works, and the ecstatic closer “WZN#3” is the life-affirming proof.
Crazy Doberman, s/t LP (Mastermind)
Being only familiar with last year’s I Dischi Del Barone 7″ and some of the group’s personnel, I was expecting Crazy Doberman’s latest LP to be two sides packed to the brim with exhausting third eye jazz freakouts. Instead the group flexes restraint across this self-titled record’s two tracks, more of a creeping horror soundtrack than freedom music’s untethered brawn. Horns and woodwinds scrape and screech from cobwebbed corners, synths ooze up from cracks in the floor, and occasionally, as on the beginning of the B-side, the band coalesces into a dense, foggy shroud of noise. The electronic elements provide a very lush feel, though the heavily forested area you find yourself in suddenly obscures and distorts the way from which you came. The clarity and simultaneous panicked thoughts provided by being truly nowhere. One of my favorite records of the year. Not sure if there’s a North American source, but the Danish label can get it to ya - here.
Robert Turman, Flux 2xLP (Spectrum Spools)
Almost 40 years since Flux was first released on cassette, and 7 years since Spectrum Spools first brought it back to life on CD and vinyl. I preferred Way Down to anything else Turman did back when it was first reissued, but nowadays I’m inclined to agree with Low Company’s assessment of Flux as an “all-timer.” Single notes are strung together on piano or kalimba and delicately layered, every one given space to breathe and expire, the bass-heavy recording ever-so-slightly hinting at something melancholy, the pleasurable kind afforded by momentary and true isolation. The remaster sounds fantastic, loud enough to fill the room and spare enough to emphasize the negative space.
Constant Mongrel, “Experts In Skin” b/w “Shnuki” 7″ (Upset the Rhythm)
New 7″ from Constant Mongrel featuring two tracks that could’ve made the cut for Living In Excellence in style and spirit. “Experts In Skin” showcases the steadily building tension they mastered on the last LP, the chorus-heavy guitars swelling to include sax that puts an exclamation point on the track. “Shnuki” has Amy Hill taking a role as co-vocalist, a move that oughta be replicated again given the bouncy and comparatively poppy results, kinda like if Terry could manage a snarl. Well worth the import price of $1/minute. Clear vinyl, 400 copies only, no inner sleeve and a beautifully close-cropped picture of Amy’s face on the B-side label. Sorry State, Digital Regress, and Feel It all have it in stock in the US.
Long Hots, “Nickel & Dime” b/w “Give & Take” 7″ (Third Man)
Somewhat unexpected for Long Hots to be scooped by Third Man after last year’s self-released cassette, but the wider exposure is certainly deserved. The 7″ sports “Nickel & Dime” from the tape and adds on “Give & Take,” maybe my new favorite song by the Philly trio. A mean guitar lead sets the stage for the sneering vocal delivery, the dust kicked up by the guitar in between verses a clear warning to keep your distance. "Give & Take” could, and maybe should, be twice as long as the 7″ format allows. It’s not often enough that garage rock brandishes the glint of a pocket knife amidst all the bluster; Long Hots’ll give you the business. Order direct, or check your local shop for a taste.
Small Cruel Party, La Chrestomathie Du Désespoir 7" (I Dischi Del Barone)
Unidentifiable sounds pinging away at each other, sometimes forming into plasma globules but more often staying in place while the projected scenery flashes behind them. Trying to spot the source of the sounds in the two 5-minute pieces is an exercise in futility, as the listener is kept at arm’s length, separated by the heavy curtain made of the “inherently mysterious.” You already know where you stand with stuff this impenetrable (or maybe with Small Cruel Party), but anything I Dischi Del Barone puts out is worth rolling the dice for. The latest round of releases from IDDB/Fördämning Arkiv in July are especially enticing. Careful Catalog is where to go for this 7″ in the US.
Itchy Bugger, Double Bugger cassette (Little Winners)
New Itchy B, on a limited cassette that sold out in a flash, and it finds the main man in a more reflective mood than last year’s Done One. Needling guitar lines still stick in your craw for days - “Fooled by the Sun”/”Fooled by the Song” and “The Wanker From Mataranka” especially - but tracks like “Sometimes” and “Have You Seen John?” attempt to put words behind the yearning glossed over or cut short on the debut. Bittersweet pop in the Australian tradition, growing older, grappling with work/life balance (”Nothin’ Tougher Than Hard Yakka”) and trying to sell oneself on the idea that you’re not just treading water as the weeks slip away. Not sure that I rate it as highly as Done One just yet, but bits like the tangled, desperate outro of “I Gotta Is A” make it more memorable with every listen.
Jay & Yuta, Condemned Compilations cassette (Little Winners)
A collaboration between Yuta Matsumura from Orion and Low Life, and someone named Jay. Do you know Jay? Yuta’s vocals are immediately recognizable to anyone who’s heard the Orion LP, and the way he nails the sidewinding melody on opener “Unprecedented Nation” proves he’s only becoming more acrobatic. Musically the duo sample from several eras of electronic sub-genres, be it murmuring and irresistible pop reminiscent of Broadcast (”Be More Kind”), Brian Eno’s work with David Bowie (”Fruitbat Odori”) or industrial throb by way of New Order (”Mysterious Flaws In The House We Built Ourselves” and “Hahagana”). Condemned Compilations plays out like a mixtape, as Sorry State said, and though the lyrics occasionally belie the presumed low stakes of the recording sessions, it is pure, unabashed fun, summer’s readymade cruising soundtrack. Sold out from the source, but you can still grab the tape from Sorry State or Papertown Company.
Overt Hostility, s/t cassette (Loki Label)
Two 20+ minute versions of Jonathan Richman’s “She Cracked” from Philly’s finest feedback-conjuring troglodytes? Not since Cheater Slicks’ “Thinkin’ Some More” has a song been so savagely gutted, thick layers of mangled and distorted guitar covering the windows and the walls and suddenly you’re knee-deep in some warm primordial muck and you can’t get enough of it on you. Low fidelity captures the whole mess perfectly. Pure aural torture to my partner, and the only thing I want to listen to for hours once it’s on. I love this fuckin’ tape. 50 copies, long gone, sorry bub.