REVIEWS

fuck buttonsBright Tomorrow is a 2 song record that unites Aussie indie, tech-pop and drone. It is pleasant with ping ponging samples, repetitive fizzy synths and guitars, and it skirts along territory of M83 with a digital distortion drop :: Fuck Buttons/Bright Tomorrow (limited 7" ) - (ATP Recordings/Rough Trade).

mambo mangePosthumous LP from one of the weirdest bands i saw. New York (black) art/metal/prog/(huh?)/freak unit Angelblood comprising of Rita Ackerman and Lizzy Bougatsos from Gang Gang Dance and also members of NNCK blasting some cripped out/crypt slime a la Horrific Child meets death fuzz scum Norwegian scream and some middle eastern shredding thrown into the mix. Bullet belt belly dancing. Fucking awesome, eh -- :: ANGEL BLOOD/MAMBO MANGE - (Locust LP).

pjh white chalkPolly Jane Harvey's 8th studio release is not difficult to get into. It's a sad and melodic, sparse measure punctuated with percussive piano and high, even childish vocal register.The record's bare simplicity leaves time and space for the development of individual and personal desire of the listener. White Chalk stands as a gentle and sometimes cruel lullaby, and something quite different compared to previous albums. White Chalk outlines a haunting and volatile web even for Harvey. Despite its melody and gentleness, parts of White Chalk come off feeling coerced. Some songs seem to be pushed rather than flow naturally. "The Piano" has a shrewing lilt that drags its heels. Other parts skirt familiar territory, but not of Harvey's own descent. This is easily absorbed by the warmth of tracks like "Deparcher", "Dear Darkness" or "Broken Harp" which easily bring you back under the spell of simple, bewitching instrumentation :: PJ Harvey/White Chalk - (Island/Universal).

spiresIts becoming quite a thing to replicate animal sounds with human voices. But I never heard anyone try to mimic a bee, which is what I think the Spires do in their Bee Forms. The effect is super spooky and charming, and maybe its just me again, but I remember that bees were once considered the guides to the underworld. There's definitely a kind of walking barefoot the Styx vibe to the whole album. They've pulled together a botanical garden of acoustic instruments (zither, cello, mbira, rattles, harmonium) and of world folk influences, but without the educational, bourgeois sentiment of the botanical garden. Its as syncretic as theosophy and it doesn't call its raison d'etre authenticity. We are pulled from the potential nostalgia of anthropology by their name, first of all, which comes from a Baudelaire poem "The Voyage", reminding us of the early, questionable romantic yearnings that accompanied colonial conquest. The album is musically wonderful, literally entrancing, detailed, layered, discordant, haunting, kind of acoustic liquid liquid. Given that bees are now facing "colony collapse disorder" in the US, Americans can probably use some girl-turned-bees to guide them between life and death :: Spires That In Sunset Rise/This Is Fire - Secret Eye/A-Musik.