Why I Bought It #1
Brief explanations of stuff I bought
Why I Bought It is a series where I, a full-time heavy metal idiot and occasional music writer, try to explain my Friday music purchases to a dog.
Alessandro Barbanera - Oblio
Hey, Lady. What up, pup? We'll go for a walk in a second. I need to explain to you, my furball friend, why I spent money on music instead of...I don't know...getting you a new toy or hiring a lawyer to bring that infernal doorbell that you hate to justice. OK? Lady? You fell asleep. Great.
I shouted out Lontano Series on a bonus episode of Runout Grooves. The label, a division of Rohs! Records, deals in ambient, new age, electroacoustic, minimalism, and the like. Usually, that stuff is hit or miss for me, but Lontano's hit rate is better than Aaron Judge's this year. Even better: For Rohs! Records' 15th anniversary, every Lontano release has been priced at €1. And, if you think that's a steal, get ready to get your alibi in order: Until October 31, you can snag 43 Lontano releases for €12.90.
Oblio is another winner in the Lontano catalog. This one is by Alessandro Barbanera, an Italian composer. Opener "Nostalgia," per the Bandcamp liner notes, "explores and expands the space between two notes in a particular passage of 'Adagio Religioso' from Béla Bartók's [Piano Concerto No. 3], an almost scientific attempt to vivisect that melodic cell and observe it at microscope, to try to understand 'what is there,' why it is precisely in that micropassage that all the melancholy of the world seems to be enclosed." Yep. Here's a euro. Needless to say, that is extremely my thing, plumbing the depths of a modern classical masterpiece and building a drone track out of whatever one finds at the bottom. The rest of the tracks are good, too; all blown out and fuzzy, like listening to an orchestra at the bottom of the sea.
Neural Indent - Brainless Infant
You are such a good gir-did you barf? Yeah, I stepped in it. You barfed. OK, lemme tell you about these next few while I clean up.
Neural Indent is the next band up from the extremely hard bop/free death scene that has taken root in California. It's not clear who is helming Neural Indent, but you can take a guess. Brainless Infant, its debut, and a fitting description of yours truly, sounds like a grindier version of Effluence, complete with the The-Thing-tummy-growls vocals and Pollock-ian approach to instrument splatter. The drums, which I think have been programmed, fire off like automated perimeter machine guns trying to protect a base from a xenomorph zerg rush. I mean, hell, the entire damn album sounds like an AI dying while trying to replicate a Disgorge song. Recommended.
Darkswoon - Bloom Decay
Darkswoon's newest album, Bloom Decay, is quickly becoming one of my favorite albums of the year. The Portland, Oregon, trio is vocalist/guitarist Jana Cushman, bassist Norah Lynn, and synth/keys/drum machinist Rachel Ellis. The stew of sounds the three cook up is really something. (Jerry Holkins voice: Imagine a dark soup...) It's a mix of shoegaze, dream pop, and electronic music, a combination I have no other choice describing as...well...a dark swoon of sound. "Eaten By Wolves," the first single, has huge The Jesus and Mary Chain guitars, industrial-strength synth washes, and electroclash crashing drums constructed into patterns that sound like ambient techno. (Cushman said in an interview with Femme Cult that she's fond of Aphex Twin's "Xtal." Perhaps this is why I have fallen for this album. "Xtal" is one of my favorite songs.) But, and I seem to be writing this a lot these days, it's the humanity, the feelings and emotions, that drive this album. "My body's not mine," Cushman sings in the chorus with a gut-punch croon that has the same effect on me as Johnette Napolitano's. 2022, folks.
Lukah - Raw Extractions
It was going to be tough to top Why Look Up, God's In The Mirror, Lukah's masterful 2021 album. But, hey, we're quickly learning the Memphis rapper is just getting started. Raw Extractions, Lukah's newest, is its predecessor's equal, if not besting it. The formula is the same: gritty and brooding boom-bap beats a la Black Moon providing an ample foundation for Lukah's Memphis flow to nimbly muscle its way into and around the pocket. Think the aural equivalent of Ja Morant breaking down a defense and driving to the tin. The pleasure is in the awe of witnessing someone who so clearly has "it."
Raw Extractions' early highlight is "Thoughts Made Divine." Helmed by frequent Lukah producer Walz, the song utilizes hanging strings that never seem to resolve, dousing the track in malevolence. When Lukah starts in on the verse, rapping over the remnants of the hook like he has no patience for that to finish, he's already red-lining his instrument. Hard as hell. Reminder: just getting started.
Octo Octa - Love Hypnosis Vol. 2
Big Lady Bear, you doing OK? Where are you? I haven't seen you in a s-WHERE DID YOU FIND A DURIAN FRUIT? OH NO. STOP GNAWING ON IT. ABSOLUTELY NOT. TAKE IT OUTSIDE! NOW!
Big fan of Octo Octa's Where Are We Going? and Resonant Body, the last two LPs this New Hampshire DJ released. I was curious what was happening in the Octo Octa camp. And so I surfed to Bandcamp and spied Love Hypnosis Vol. 2, a 70-minute mix with 50 percent of the profits donated to the Sylvia Rivera Law Project. No brainer. And hey, the mix rules. The song selection is choice. No surprise. Side A's longer transitions glide by, transporting you to full immersion. Side B is a total party.
I love Octo Octa's note about the mix, so here's that in full:
I heal myself weekly with the music I play. I listen deeply to the words buried within; the intention behind the lyrics either peppered-in or chorused. So much of the house music I connect with is rooted in love. It’s rooted in desire and hope. It’s rooted in narrative, “Do you want to trip with me?”, “I’ll outstretch my hand”, “I won’t forget about you, you won’t forget about me, we won’t forget about love vibrations!”. I listen to the messages to remind myself what I need and why I continue to move forward.
Vol.2 is represented in two mixing styles; long-melded blends (Trippin’ On Love) and fast, tight radio-style cut mixes with overdubs (Slammin’ With Love). Both convey the deep need for connection to one’s body and to others. It’s this connection energy that I find so powerful about house music’s healing magic.
Xoxo Octo Octa
Purchase digital/physical here
Orion - Ferroportal
Juska Wendland's Orion is one of a few projects that has jumpstarted my interest in modern techno. The four new tracks on Ferroportal rip. This is techno in the purist sense: pounding, repetitive clangers created to make the weekend occupants of a warehouse move. Me? Pretty much accompanies me working on spreadsheets while I fantasize about being in Hackers (1995). Can't win 'em all. Also, this stuff drives Lady insane. It's like when we had that crow's nest in the gutters.
Roc Marciano & The Alchemist - The Elephant Man's Bones
Me listening to Roc Marciano is dangerous. It's too addictive. Soon, I'm thinking in his unique flow. My brain just can't get enough of his linguistic acrobatics, like how people in the employ of the Royal Shakespeare Company must just start thinking in iambic pentameter. Pour cereal in the bowl/ Raisin Bran Crunch my K-hole, etc.
Anyway, we've been waiting a long time for this, haven't we? Roc Marciano plus Alchemist. A top MC and a top producer. Like the first Dream Team, The Elephant Man's Bones doesn't disappoint. Each spurs the other to a higher level.
Marciano goes off on an absolute crime rap spree. The thing that sets Marciano apart from a lot of the crime rap curmudgeons is that he's funny. Like, not "responding 'lol' to a text with a straight face funny," actually funny. Here's the thing, though: very, very dark. It's like a coroner laughing at new arrivals.
Alchemist soundtracks these noirish tales with his typical flare, a Morricone deftness when it comes to understanding atmosphere. And he gives Marciano so much space to work. Listen to how wide-open "Quantum Leap" sounds. Besides that gigantic, JB's-type pocket, the only other sounds are the psychedelic wormholes that open and close dubbily. Rules.
All of The Elephant Man's Bones is mean as hell. Lady, this is why I'm scowling when I'm waiting for you to finish sniffing a fence, trying to look hard while I unfurl a plastic poop bag. The Elephant Man's Bones is tough but I am not. I can't even get you off the couch when you have muddy paws.
Preorders to come:
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