9/24/15: The Avener, Guerrilla Toss, Markis Precise, Pentagram

@@@  The Avener: The Wanderings of the Avener (Casanova/Republic, 2015).  I would call this first tune spaghetti western club music.  Tremolo guitars, trumpet flourishes over big bass and a not fully baked un/tss club beat.  It’s a cool sonic formula but it’s not really going anywhere so if you’re not baked/stoned it might be a tad boring.  The second tune Fade Out Lines adds a husky female voice to the previous formula.  A little ’70s commercial rock/a shot of club funk.  I got to this record via the Beats highlights page.  Oh my 18 million hits on the GooglePimp, wasted on a lounge biscuit.

@@@ Guerilla Toss: Smack the Brick (NNA Tapes, 2015).  More dance music genre mash.  Big snapping straight beat with a yipping female voice and off kilter synth sounds.  Also popping funk bass, some disturbed scratch guitar to go with your synth oddities.  I would call this a sort of synth punk — she’s barking a bit like Yoko Ono and there’s a grating discord to the proceedings.  The second tune Be the Breeder raises the tempo to produce a freshly blend feel — like Devo on many lines of speed.  The third tune keeps the manic feel and fractured funk rock flow they established in the first two tunes.  It’s interesting, I don’t love it but it’s interesting.

@@@ Markis Precise: The Feeling of Flying (Ineffable Records, 2015).  #1 hip hop record this week on CFUV’s weekly playlist email.  After an intro piece, the second tune Frequency gets into chill funk vibe.  The rhymes are concious and it’s embedded in thick but not jeep bass, smooth-ish beats and a lot of laid-back organ sounds.  The third tune is more old school with upfront scratching and more urgent rhymes about a new MC reigning over hip hop.

@@@ Pentagram: Curious Volume (Peaceville, 2015).  Some hard stoner psych rock off the CFUV weekly email.  Big fuzzy wah guitars, a hard rock drum sound, a singer that sounds a bunch like Mark Lanegan of Screaming Trees fame.  Now with a band name like Pentagram I was thinking we’d be getting a healthy dose of goat horns, 666, and the Great Horned One, but alas it’s not so.  More angry flower than meth-y double kick sonic assault.  Oh the riffs are big and buzzy here so if that’s how you roll…

YTD recordings listened to: 764
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 440
Not good music: 262

Honorable Mentions: 20
Buys: 12

Possibles: Chris McGregor, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Dave Arner Trio, MAKU Soundsystem, Zomby, Retox, About Group, Jessie Mae Hemphill, Bone Dance, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, The Ballantynes, Debruit, Slidhr, The Whammies, The Chewers, Alexander Hawkins, Toxic Holocaust, Equal Stones, Comeback Kid, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, Lenguas Largas, The Coral, Spacesuits, T.O.M.B., Fofoulah, Lozen, Erase Errata, Mohamed Abozekry, Dawn Richard, Leo Welch, Mastery, Leviathan, Xibalba, Hartley C. White, Weed, Cold Water, Ellen Jewell, Akitsa, Richard Thompson, Jeremy Pinnell, Pat Thomas, Janelle Monae, The Alchemist, Luther Dickinson, Andra Day, Frog Eyes, Ruby Amanfu, Madd Again!, Fuck the Facts, Shannon and the Clams, Qwanqwa

Active Music Listening Wednesday November 12, 2014

YTD recordings listened to: 905
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 559
Not good music: 284

Honorable Mentions: 11
Buys: 16

Possibles:  Boyd Rivers, Chris McGregor, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Dave Arner Trio, Bill Horist, MAKU Soundsystem, Zomby, Retox, About Group, Jessie Mae Hemphill, Kendl Winter, Bone Dance, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee,  The Ballantynes, Debruit and Aljawal, Slidhr, The Whammies, The Chewers, La Misa Negra, Alexander Hawkins, Cheryl Pyle,  Toxic Holocaust, Equal Stones, Comeback Kid, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, Bio Ritmo, Lenguas Largas, Khun Narin, Doug Seegers, Shakey Graves, The Coral, Sleaford Mods, Simo Lagnawi

@@@ Wildbirds & Peacedrum: Rhythm (The Leaf Label, 2014).  Off last week’s All Music weekly email but there only be 1 track up on my Beats.  It’s got a whiteboy funky beat and it sounds a bit like an indie/hip hop mashup.  Female singer and drums, that’s it so far.  Ah, the whole biscuit is up on the bandcamp — I love the bandcamp.  I really like the beats here, but I feel like the singer is not unique enough to carry the load herself — I could use a bassist or another instrumentalist.  Get a bassist yo!

@@@ The Lonely Wild: Holidays (Not sure, 2014).  Opens up super Pink Floyd and shit.  Big nugget of space rock that gets a quasi-alt country male/female vocal tandem which is pretty nice.  It’s a sad song about the holidays.  I thought sadness had been outlawed in America — we’re #1 for fuck’s sake, there’s no time for sadness, the terrorists and the Chinese are coming to steal our shit.  Never mind the Mexicans taking our jobs.  Okay, back to the tune — I wish the space rock was happening during the singing but it kinda takes a back seat and then comes back for some instrumental action. ‘The holidays are coming to rip your heart open’ — oh my someone needs some medication.  It’s a good tune that gets all Neil Young and Crazy Horse on the outro.

@@@ Ironweed: Indian Ladder (Small Stone, 2014).  Off my weekly heavy music email.  A big ol’ schmatter of Stone Temple Pilots, a bit of that outfit Buckcherry, and a pube of Guns ‘n Roses.  Mainstream hard rock with a singer that I’m betting wears his leather pants to bed.  Rock stah!

@@@ Korallreven: Second Comin’ (Cascine, 2014).  Also off last week’s All Music weelky email.  Sounds like it’s gonna be a mad dramatical electronic rock affair — hand drum (once but nice!), sweet synth blasts, synth bass, moody male singer, ooh there’s even a little boom titch snuck-tated in there.  Handclaps too!  I thought it was going to be more goth, but I think it’s gonna be dark shopping mall teenage pop cheese.  Oh boy.

@@@ Exit Verse: Self-titled (Ernest Jennings, 2014).  A very mainstream guitar indie track I got to via a music publicist.  Could be this generation’s Eddie Money to my ears. Crisp, pretty/crunchy guitars, some herk-a-jerk in the arrangements, and an inviting welcome voice.  Nice Republican guitar solo, all the pieces are here.  Sounds a ton like that band with that dude Alex Greek dude — Everclear, Everready, Ever-something.  Wait a minute, Everclear!  Got it on the first try, but I wasn’t confident.  If you mourn the Everclear, or they’re in between records, or you just like the straight ahead American guitar rock you will splat over this.

Active Music Listening Tuesday April 2, 2013

YTD recordings listened to: 253
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 164
Not good music: 69
Buys: 9

Possibles: Sidsel Endresen & Stan Westerhus, Boyd Rivers, Abdoulaye Alhassane Toure, Cryptopsy, Nick Waterhouse, Patterson Hood, Skyzoo,  Chris McGregor, Brother Ali (2009), Alvin Youngblood Hart, Bob Gluck Trio, Ether Net, Oddisee, Holly Williams, Matt Davis’ Aerial Photograph, Hollis Brown.

@@@ Beached: Ride Your Heart (Dead Oceans, 2013).  I guess we have reached that point in rock music where the Strokes are considered to be a great influence.  Brisk tempos with minimalist arrangements, distorted but not disgusting sounding guitars, and a lack of solos.  If you take that formula, plug in a female singer and add a bunch of reverb to the various components of the mix, you pretty much have this record.  It’s solidly executed indie guitar rock, but not particularly noteworthy.

@@@ The Black Angels: Indigo Meadow (Blue Horizon, 2013)  A MOG new release page record.  A fuzzy stoner/garage thing with strong late ’60s/early ’70s post-hippie influences.  Great bass sound, but in my opinion the singer can’t carry the weight of the band.  I was never a big Blue Cheer kinda fella during my more youthful years, but I just checked one of their records on MOG and these guys are a more smoothed out and predictable Blue Cheer outfit.  Myself, I prefer Blue Cheer, it’s much wilder and the drummer is smokin’.

@@@ The Besnard Lakes: Until in Excess, Imperceptible Ufo (Jagjaguwar, 2013).  I’m a little lazy getting back in the swing of things, so I’m just going to write off the new release page on MOG.  Pretty and mopey indie rock with touches of shoegaze and 1980’s synth/soft rock.  Fear not, this is indie that takes you in its arms and gives you a meaningful hug.  The sound of the reord is well put together, but the songs just seemed to move past my ears without grabbing my attention.  Just to wrap up, I’m hearing a hint of Beach Boys threaded through the record so I just wanted to pass that on as accuracy matters.

@@@  The Band Perry: Pioneer (Republic, 2013).  Corporate country rock from the MOG new release page.  Very predictable songs and lyrics presented with expensive, modern production.

Active Music Listening Tuesday March 12, 2013

YTD recordings listened to: 220
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 143
Not good music: 60
Buys: 9

Possibles: Isaiah Toothtaker (2011), Sidsel Endresen & Stan Westerhus, The Ones to Blame, Boyd Rivers, Abdoulaye Alhassane Toure, Cryptopsy, Nick Waterhouse, Patterson Hood, Skyzoo,  Philippe Petite, Chris McGregor, Brother Ali (2009), Alvin Youngblood Hart, Bob Gluck Trio, Kayhan Kalhor, Ether Net, Oddisee, Holly Williams, Matt Davis’ Aerial Photograph, Hollis Brown.

@@@ Cy Dune: No Recognize (Family Tree, 2013).  From CFUV’s weekly email.  A glam/nihilistic rock sound with circular driving guitars and a lot of static.  Literally static.  I find some of the playing to be high quality and the formula to be interesting, but the sound of the record didn’t work very well for me.

@@@ Latyrx: Disconnection (Latyramid, Inc, 2012).  I got to this hip hop record via the CFUV weekly email.  Tough but not gangsta with a medium heavy club music influence.  Some tasty synth keyboard bass lines and heavy synth sounds abound.  Flow on the mic is quick and technically advanced.

@@@ Bon Jovi: What About Now (Island, 2013).  What to say about Bon Jovi’s latest epic slab of keep your chin up arena rock?  Bon Jovi is here to make you feel better and help you keep on keepin’ on.  Also some of the most vapid, cliche lyrics I’ve heard since, well, the last Bon Jovi record.

@@@ The Mary Onettes: Hit the Waves (EMI Label Services, 2013).  It’s all here.  The gated snare sound, the mopey reverbed voice, the synth clouds and the sweet melodic 1980’s musical stylings.  Oh, how I miss you Ronald Reagan — your obsession with Communism, your denial of AIDS, and your Alzheimer’s Presidency that has been wrongfully designated as genius.

 

Active Music Listening Friday March 1, 2013

YTD recordings listened to: 194
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 128
Not good music: 52
Buys: 7

Possibles: Isaiah Toothtaker (2011), Sidsel Endresen & Stan Westerhus, The Ones to Blame, Boyd Rivers, Abdoulaye Alhassane Toure, Cryptopsy, Nick Waterhouse, Patterson Hood, Skyzoo,  Philippe Petite, Chris McGregor, Brother Ali (2009), Alvin Youngblood Hart, Nico Muhly, Bob Gluck Trio, Kayhan Kalhor, Ether Net, Oddisee, Holly Williams

@@@ Galoshins: EP1/EP2 (Aremellodie, 2013).  I like this much better than the Scott & Charlene’s Wedding record above.  Quirky rock in the XTC tradition with a hair of Devo and maybe the Minutemen and Elvis Costello thrown in just to keep you on your toes..  I dig both the drummer and the guitar player as they do unexpected things within the songs.  These guys have some good shit going on — high energy, weirdness, some rockin’ and they sound like a band.  These guys can play, I really dig this.  If you take the second EP, which is a bit different but still high quality and you put it together with the first EP, you pretty much have a full record.  Funny how that works.  I wish they hadn’t compressed the record so much, but I still dig the songs.

This record is going on my best of 2013 list.

@@@ Scott & Charlene’s Wedding: Para Vista Social Club (Critical Heights, 2012).  Garage-y guitar rock with a singer who has a bit of Iggy Pop/Lou Reed nihilism in his voice and phrasing and a guitar player that sounds like he owns some of the early Pixies discs.  I found this recording via the Skinny out of the UK, which I’ve been pulling records from all week.  The record also has a sort of plodding Velvet Underground feel to it.  I’m not super enjoying it.

@@@ Attica Rage: Road Dog (Off Yer Rocka Recordings, 2012)  Riffy mainstream hard rock from Scotland (I think).  The second tune ‘Hack for Vanity’ gets more into a Van Halen state of mind.  These tunes are an amalgamation of big name hard rocks bands — a shmear of Metallica, a bit of Van Halen, a wee bit of Motley Crue.  

So if that’s how you roll….have at it.

Active Music Listening Wednesday January 2, 2012

YTD recordings listened to: 9
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 8
Not good music: 1
Buys: 0

Possibles: Isaiah Toothtaker (2011), Ondatropica, Sidsel Endresen & Stan Westerhus, The Ones to Blame, Boyd Rivers, Abdoulaye Alhassane Toure, Cryptopsy, Nick Waterhouse, Patterson Hood, Skyzoo,  Bettye Lavette, Philippe Petite, Chris McGregor, Brother Ali (2009), Bio Ritmo, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Nico Muhly, Bob Gluck Trio, Eric Boeren Quartet, Wadada Leo Smith/Louis Moholo

@@@ Pall Bearer: Sorrow and Extinction (Profound Lore, 2012).  #1 on Invisible Oranges best of 2012 over here.  Get your epic on with this record — these guys are on a big ride — power chords, a full on pimped out majesterial vibe — the sauerkraut and the mustard for you shittas!  If you thought you couldn’t take a singer and some of the vibe of the 1970’s geniuses Styx and mix it with today’s stoner/down metal gloom and get something magnificent think again motherfucker.  I want to go climb a mountain right now.

@@@ HIgh on Fire: De Vermis Mysteriis (eOne Music, 2012)  Not full on thrash, but the energy on this #4 Invisible Oranges best of 2012 metal record is high.   I like it and the Motorhead thread that runs through it, but I dig more of the freakout metal — your Converge and your Pig Destroyer, for example.  Check it out.

@@@ Haim: Forever EP (Columbia, 2012).  Off a New Year’s MOG email of bands to watch.  This music takes indie/country/rock sounds and layers on a lot of new r&b vocal stylings.  A lot of background vocals cutting in and out of the mix and melodically closer to r&b than indie.

@@@ Daughn Gibson: All Hell (White Denim, 2012).  In the MOG editor’s picks section, it’s labeled as country music but again it’s a hybrid of styles including mainstream pop.  The arrangements are rock-ish, but the singer comes in on like Nick Cave with a cowboy hat.  It produces quite a different impression.  I appreciate the different-ness of it, but I think it’s more for the folks who are way deep into the cough syrup.  Be forewarned, his voice will make you want to go nap.

@@@ Moonshine Blues: Through (Hidden Vibes, 2012)  This drone recording comes out of the Ukraine via Anti-Gravity Bunny’s top 10 drone records of 2012 and you can download it from Bandcamp.  I would describe this drone as medium slow with sounds in the violin area with additional higher tones and a good steady pulse but as it’s on Bandcamp and you can download it for free, don’t be lazy and check it out.

@@@ Joe Fiedler Trio: Joe Fiedler’s Sackbut (Yellow Sound, 2012).  In my MOG recommendations.  3 (count ’em three!) trombones and a tube doin’ their thing together. Sweet, obviously brassy, and funky in spots it makes you want to put on a thick sweater and smoke a bone.  Maybe not, but it’s good.  That was a random image that came up while I was listening.

Active Music Listening Monday October 22, 2012

YTD recordings listened to: 765
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 450
Not good music: 274
Buys: 26 (not all 2012 releases)
Possibles: Zani Diabate, Isaiah Toothtaker (2011), Ondatropica, Sidsel Endresen & Stan Westerhus, The Ones to Blame, Boyd Rivers, Abdoulaye Alhassane Toure, Cryptopsy, Nick Waterhouse, Patterson Hood, Wahid, Wadada Leo Smith ‘Ten Freedom Summers’, Skyzoo, Pig Destroyer, Bettye Lavette, Philippe Petite, Paul Giallorenzo, Chris McGregor

@@@ Sinking Heads: Silent Pilot EP (Self-released, 2012)  Starting the week out with some DIY music from Dingus On Music over here.  This recording is an interesting lounge/indie hybrid.  A bit Radiohead-esque but lighter in sound and less on the existential angst.  Other tracks on the EP get a bit more indie — if you dig the melodic, lighter indie British influenced rock check this out.

@@@  Gary Clark Jr.: Number (Warner Brothers, 2012).  There’s no way you can hear the mammoth riff/mudshot that kicks off this tune and not think of Buddy Miles era Jimi Hendrix.  Clark’s voice sounds a lot like Paul Rodgers’ voice of Bad Company fame, sort of clean smooth.  It’s a nice meltdown and I dig the guitar tone, but he’s pulling the weight by himself from what I can hear.  How about the drummer drivin’ the bus?  Doesn’t he understand how this game is played.  Clark uncorks a pretty face ripping solo and I would be jumping up and down if they got somebody to push him around from the rhythm section.

@@@  Il Albanico: Crossing Colors EP (Self-released, 2012)  Another band from here. Baroque Brooklyn twee indie.  A lot of layered vocals, a lot of clean jangly, guitar and quirky arrangments.  The Bandcamp page says they’re a Colombian duo, but if they can play all the instruments I hear, they’re far more talented than one could possibly imagine.  Excellent drum work on the second track ‘Solo’.

Ch

@@@ Chad Valley: Young Hunger (Cascine, October 30).  Via a music publicist email and you can stream it here if I can’t get it to embed below.  A super dramatic, nay flamboyant male singer doin his thing over the full electro-pop show.  The music is so compressed it sounds like it’s coming out a television speaker.

@@@ Dark Tranquility: We are the Void (EMI, 2010).  I caught this record over here at apeshit.org.  These guys are a blend of FM radio metal riffage, some hardcore, and a singer you can almost understand.’  There is also some synth (I think) tucked back in the mix so there’s a little bit of a blend of influences at work here.  It’s a bit mainstream for my taste, but that’s just one meathead’s opinion.

 

Active Music Listening Wednesday October 10, 2012

YTD recordings listened to: 710
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 415
Not good music: 255
Buys: 23 (not all 2012 releases)
Possibles: Left Lane Cruiser/James Leg, Dennis Bovell, Seluah, Donnie and Joe Emerson,  Zani Diabate, Isaiah Toothtaker (2011), Ondatropica, Sidsel Endresen & Stan Westerhus, The Ones to Blame, Boyd Rivers, Abdoulaye Alhassane Toure, Cryptopsy, Nick Waterhouse, Patterson Hood, Wahid, Wadada Leo Smith ‘Ten Freedom Summers’, Skyzoo, Pig Destroyer

@@@ Kiss: Monster (UME, 2012).  An unfortunate grab bag of recycled Aerosmith guitar licks that should have been sent to Florida to retire and play shuffleboard.  Paul Stanley, the singer, can still do his thing but with Gene Simmons’ constant tirades against downloaders decreasing his supply of hookers and blow you know these cats are cranking up the nostalgia machine one last time to extract more dollars from their eternally adolescent fan base.

@@@ Wolf People: Steeple (Jagjaguwar, 2010).  I came across this band via a British music blog that was talking about them being added to a Black Mountain gig in the U.K.  I tend to dog out a lot of indie bands for being soft as butter but these guys flex some muscle on this record.  Personally, I think this band would be shit without the drummer — he’s quite the animal.  He holds this thing together and provides the muscle that allows the other guys to do their Jethro Tull thing over what he does.

@@@ Warren Byrom and the Canelands: The Fabled Canelands (Self-released, 2012).  I found this record via the blog over here at You Ain’t No Picasso.  The record works a folk/rock formula.  I like the singer’s voice — no oversinging but has a slight strain to it.  The third tune ‘Home’ is the best of what I listened to from these guys.

@@@ The Spring Standards: Would Things Be Different (Self-released, 2010).  I found these guys over here at Seismic Sound.  A classic indie sound — rocking but still sweet, poppy but not overly so.  They spent a lot of time arranging the vocals for these tunes.

@@@ Disclosure: The Face EP (Greco-Roman, 2012)  I found this record over here at Hilly Dilly.  It’s an uber smooth club track with groomed multi-layered female vocals over your standard club beats.  This is sexy people music.

@@@ The Script: #3 (Epic, 2012).  A combination of pop, epic rock, and white boy hip hop flow.  Not much good to say here.  The singer is overwrought, the lyrics are cliche, the music familiar.

Active Music Listening Tuesday August 28, 2012

YTD recordings listened to: 547
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 316
Not good music:199
Buys: 19 (not all 2012 releases)
Possibles: Left Lane Cruiser/James Leg, Dennis Bovell, Seluah, Donnie and Joe Emerson,  Zani Diabate, Isaiah Toothtaker (2011), Ondatropica, Lianne Le Havas, Sidsel Endresen & Stan Westerhus, The Ones to Blame, Boyd Rivers, Abdoulaye Alhassane Toure

@@@  Robag Wruhme: Olgamikks (Nachtdigital, 2012).  Some techno I find very childish, and some I find very funky.  This is pretty funky sporting more than just your ordinary four on the floor, although it does have it the core boom tsst goin’ on.  More percussive elements added to the music, with delays, brings this a bit away from the club genre towards dub and for me that’s a good thing.  It’s still club music but it has some funk sauce added to it.  Solid shit and how can you pan somebody named Robag?  I can’t.

@@@ Katatonia: For Funerals to Come (Peaceville Records, 2012).  A somewhat unique metal formula with this band.  Very riffy and epic guitar player and a caveman out front.  Like Metallica but fronted by a singing bear.  Not bad, just different.   The band has that epic metal quality — big power chords and big ass riffs.

@@@ Divine Fits: A Thing Called Divine Fits (Universal Canada, 2012)  A ‘supergroup’ from its AllMusic description this rock ‘n roll music aspires to get by on the tension from using minimalist amounts of all musical elements.  Combines a lot of 1980’s styles — bits of Elvis Costello’s Attractions, a pubic hair of U2, a dash of Duran Duran.  Very professional, very tame.

@@@ Matthew Dear: Beams (Ghostly International, 2012).  Oh, how I struggle with trying to find something positive to say about the indie electronic genre, subgenre, file folder, whatever you call it.  It’s just so baby powder soft I can not listen without feeling my testicles starting to shrink up into my abdominal cavity.  While Mr. Dear may be perfectly competent in his stylings, I have not found a space where I can sit and listen and get with indie electronic.

@@@ Grandfather Child: Grandfather Child (New West, 2012).  A full on 1970’s roots rock/soft FM/blue eyed soul explosion.  Wow, breathtaking and I don’t mean that in a bad way.  We are talking maximum white boy loverboy persona by the lead singer.  The second tune ‘Gonna Have Ourselves a Vision’ is more rockin’ — we may be in for the poo poo platter of roots music.  The third tune ‘Magical Words’ is a sort of mid tempo ballad, lots of layered harmonies.  I have not heard such a genuine channeling of the Doobie Brothers in a long ass time.  Kudos!!

New Music Listening Thursday May 3, 2012

YTD listened to: 278
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 141
Not good music:123
Buys: 11 (not all 2012 releases)

Need to check out:
Kyle Bobby Dunn – record not out yet.
Sidi toure — have not heard full record yet.
Horse Feathers — haven’t had time to check out the full record.

@@@  You can read about and check out Kyle Bobby Dunn over here at Anti-Gravity Bunny.  He’s a Canadian or New York or both guitarist doing drone/classical — no beats, waves of tones.  Usually I find this style to be too New Age-y, but this is so minimal you can’t say that.

You can stream the tune from next month’s release at Anti-Gravity Bunny, and his older stuff is on Youtube and on Spotify.

This is some pretty high quality drone/sound/minimalist music.

@@@  Speaking of underground (92 copies selling on Etsy, awesome), Slowcoustic is featuring Portland Maine’s Rural Ghosts over here and you can check their tunes over here at Reverbnation.  They’re raving about him over at Slowcoustic.  I think it’s above average but not great.  Other folks might not think the same so check him out.

@@@ Staying on the electronic tip, record of the day at AllMusic.com is Cluster‘s debut record, Cluster 71.  It’s faster paced than Kyle Bobby Dunn with more sonic manipulation.  In a word, more psychedelic.  I prefer the Kyle Bobby Dunn music, but you can check the Cluster below.

@@@ I gave a quick listen to Santigold‘s new record as she’s getting a big ass push here in New York City.  It’s compressed beyond belief and her voice has a bit of that fingernails on chalkboard vibe, but booty bumpin clubbers will push her up.  I could not find much redeeming in this record.