Prog rock – Page 3 – 7th Level Music

Rewind Review: Bloc Party – Intimacy (2008)

Bloc Party‘s 2008 album, Intimacy, is perfectly named. Every song on the record is about love – new love, lost love, dying love, old love, hopeful love, desperate love, and probably another five or six variations that I’ve forgotten. The album is loaded with Bloc Party’s signature heavy guitars, stadium rock drumming, prog-rock switches, intricate lyric stories, and passionate vocals.

Opening track “Ares” has the band wanting to declare a war and expressing anger and rage in the only way they know how – through warning alarm guitars and car crash drumming (instead of breaking things with their fists). Lead singer / guitarist Kele Okereke wants to punch something, but would rather use those hands that “could work wonders, with their touch listening to dead singers in your room in ’98” for more intimate matters.

“Mercury” brings in electro-beats as Okereke warns “This is not the time to start a new love, this is not the time to sign a lease.” He wants love, though. He’s tired of “sleeping with people I don’t even like,” but “Mercury’s in retrograde” and everything is fucked up beyond belief.

Gordon Moakes‘ bass licks are on fire throughout “Halo” – a powerful rocker that tells a tale of two lovers desperate for a connection (“I ask you for the time, but I am asking for so much more.”). “Biko” is a tragic tale of a lover’s impending death and how there’s nothing Okereke or anyone else can do to stop it. “Was my love strong enough to bring you back from the dead? If I could eat your cancer I would, but I can’t.” The song is a beautiful gut punch.

“Trojan Horse” has Okereke trying to understand his lover’s depression (“You used to take your watch off before we made love.” / “Just take me back to the start, when your earthquake was just cracks.”). Russel Lissack‘s lead guitar sounds like angry hornets during his solo on it. “Signs” is another sad tale, with a ticking, chiming music box as its backdrop, of another lover who has passed from this world (or perhaps the same from “Biko”) and Okereke not quite being able to make sense of it.

Matt Tong‘s percussion and sizzling cymbals mix well with programmed beats on “One Month Off” – a tale of a cheating lover and Okereke claiming “I can be as cruel as you,” but by the end telling her, “If you need time…” Okereke admits his own faults on the choir-backed “Zephyrus” with lyrics like “Baby, I’m ashamed of the things I put you through. Baby, I’m ashamed of the man I was for you.”

“Talons” is story of impending death, but Okereke isn’t afraid of it (“When it comes, it will feel like a kiss.”). “Better Than Heaven” has Okereke settling down a bit and trying to seduce his lover as she becomes more and more tired of him (“You get sadder the smarter you get, and it’s a bore.”). Tong’s drum work on the track is outstanding. Okereke keeps up the sentiment of growing old in love together on “Ion Square,” with lyrics like “Let’s stay in, let the sofa be our car…All the bright lights do is bore me.” The synth-heavy track send the album out on an uplifting note.

Some versions of the album include extra tracks and remixes. The copy I own has four bonus songs and remixes of “Mercury” (by CSS) and “Talons” (by XXXchange). The bonus songs include a sharp post-punk track (“Letter to My Son”) and three electro dance-rock cuts (“Your Visits Are Getting Shorter,” the rave-ready “Flux,” and the slightly gothic “Idea for a Story”), and the remixes are top-notch.

The whole record is top-notch, really.

Keep your mind open.

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Review: Squid – Bright Green Field

Roaring in from London, Squid combine post-punk, art-punk, straight-up punk, no wave, jazz, and probably five other genres they enjoy into a cool, quirky record – Bright Green Field.

After a brief instrumental opener (“Resolution Square”), the album bops and funks with “G.S.K.” Saxophone honks, psychedelic bass, bright synths, and processed drums mix as Ollie Judge sings about the travails of staying up all night and getting into a car wreck. “I tried real hard. I think I made it up,” they say at the beginning of “Narrator.” The bass and guitar on it dance all over the place in it as the song explores taking control of one’s life amid external forces trying to control every aspect of what we consume. The song evolves into a wild, Pink Floyd-like psychedelic freak-out complete with Martha Skye Murphy screaming like she’s in a horror film one moment and in orgasmic throes the next.

You’re completely impressed with Laurie Nankivell‘s bass work by the time you get to “Boy Racers.” He has a way of playing that almost sounds like he’s doing whatever the hell he wants but yet fitting in perfectly with what the rest of the band is doing. The song becomes a weird, psychedelic, synth-heavy trip about halfway through its length, and I’m all for it. The build-up at the beginning of “Padding” is outstanding, as the band sings / chants, “Patient and in control…Dig holes like a mole…Patient and oars in stow…Just do what you’re told.” Louis Borlase and Anton Pearson chug out post-punk guitar stabs over Judge’s racing heartbeat drums when the song kicks into high gear.

“Documentary Filmmaker” has strange, warped horns and is pretty much a free-flow jazz tune, which makes sense when you consider that the members of Squid bonded over ambient jazz. “2010” is a crazy, prog-rock-inspired track that bounces back and forth between Arthur Leadbetter‘s spacey jazz keyboards and the rest of his bandmates playing proto-funk to wild cymbal crashes from Judge and crazy guitar swells from Borlase and Pearson.

“Where were you when the ice came to town? Where were you when the ice came around? You don’t remember? You don’t remember!”, Judge sings / yells on “Perry St.” – a song that could be about turning a blind eye to bigotry, but don’t quote me on that. I can tell you for certain that it’s a rocker, however. They don’t hold back much, even when the song hits the brakes and becomes a simmering pot of jazz / prog / post-punk stew. “I’m so sick and tired of dancing,” Judge proclaims on “Global Groove.” It’s interesting that he would write that lyric in the last year or so, when none of us could go out dancing and were doing all our dancing in the kitchen, while doing laundry, or with our pets as somewhat-reluctant partners. The song samples canned laughter and the guitars seem to be crying one moment and yawning the next – summing up the groove the entire globe has been in for a long time. Judge acknowledges this pandemic funk further on the closing track, “Pamphlets.” He growls about not wanting to leave the house, or even needing to thanks to all the pamphlets left on his doorstep claiming everything can be brought to him – food, entertainment, you name it. He’s become a hermit due to forces beyond his control, but he’s not sure if he wants to re-emerge into the world (“Legs still, but the herd is in motion.”). Squid predicted “re-entry anxiety” before it became a buzzword.

Squid predicted, and confronts, a lot of 2021 angst on Bright Green Fields. It’s one of the sharpest albums of the year so far.

Keep your mind open.

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French post-metal legends Year of No Light announce 20th anniversary box set.

Bordeaux, France post-metal sextet Year of No Light announce their forthcoming fifth studio album Consolamentum today, sharing the first single “Réalgar” via all DSPs. Hear and share “Réalgar” via Bandcamp, Spotify and YouTube.

Consolamentum is the band’s first album on Pelagic Records. To celebrate joining the label and Year of No Lights‘s 20th anniversary, they will release a limited edition deluxe wooden box set of the band’s entire discography, titled Mnemophobia on July 2nd. The handmade, hand-silkscreened wooden box features 12 vinyl LPs in 6 gatefold sleeves, exclusive colored vinyl variants, a slipmat, metal pin, patch and poster. For more information, see HERE.

Year of No Light’s lengthy, sprawling compositions of towering walls of guitars and sombre synths irradiate a sense of dire solemnity and spiritual gravity, and couldn’t be a more fitting soundtrack for such grim medieval scenarios. But there is also the element of absolution, regeneration, elevation, transcendence in the face of death. Consolamentum is dense, rich and lush and yet somehow feels starved and deprived.
It comes as no surprise that ever since the beginning of their career, the band have had an obsession for the fall of man and salvation through darkness. The term “consolamentum” describes the sacrament, the initiation ritual of the Catharic Church, which thrived in Southern Europe in the 12th – 14th Century – a ritual that brought eternal austereness and immersion in the Holy Spirit.

“There’s a thread running through all of our albums”, says the band, collectively “an exploration of the sensitive world that obeys a certain telos, first fantasized (“Nord”) and reverberated (“Ausserwelt”), then declaimed as a warning (“Tocsin”). The deeper we dig, the more the motifs we have to unveil appear to us. Yes, it’s a bit gnostic. This album is invoked after the Tocsin, it’s the epiphany of the Fall.”

With debut album Nord (2006) and sophomore release Ausserwelt (2010), the band madethemselves a name in the European avant-metal scene. Extensive tours of Europe, North America and Russia in 2013 and 2014, including two appearances at Roadburn festival, Hellfest and a spectacular performance in a 17th Century fortress in the Carpathian mountains introduced them to a broader and quickly growing international audience.

With their seminal 3rd album Tocsin, released in 2013, Year Of No Light reached the peak of their career thus far – a logical decision that Consolamentum was made with the same team again: recorded and mixed by Cyrille Gachet at Cryogene in Begles / Bordeaux, mastered by Alan Douches at West West Side.

“We wanted this album to sound as organic and analog as possible”, comments the band. “All tracks were recorded live. The goal was to have the most natural, warm and clean takes possible, to give volume to the dynamics of the songs. We aimed to have a production with a singular personality.”

For the adept listener, Consolamentum seems to be venturing deeper into the dark and claustrophobic spheres explored on Tocsin – but the band doesn’t conceive of the evolution of their music in a linear way, as it would be apparent from looking at their discography.

“It’s more a matter of sonic devotion. Music against modern times. Year Of No Light” is above all a praxis. We wanted intensity, trance, climax and threat, all of them embedded in a bipolar and mournful ethos.”

Consolamentum is huge, poignant, frightening, sublime, smothering and cathartic – and, much like Decibel Magazine says of its predecessor, it’s “audacious, memorable and supremely confident.”

Consolamentum will be available on 2xLP, CD and digital on July 2nd, 2021 via Pelagic Records. Preorders are available HERE.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Dave at US / THEM Group.]

black midi take it “Slow” (sort of) with their new single.

Today, black midi present a new single/video, “Slow,” from their forthcoming album, Cavalcade, out May 28th on Rough Trade. In conjunction, they announce a fall North American tour, plus a new KEXP interview and performance. A full circle moment for black midi, their first KEXP performance (live from Iceland Airwaves in 2019) is how many first experienced the band. Following lead single “John L,” “a zoomed-out optical illusion, making you question what you’re witnessing at every turn,” (Pitchfork, “Best New Track”) “Slow” is one of two Cavalcade songs fronted by bassist Cameron Picton. The music for “Slow” was written just before black midi’s February 2020 UK tour with the lyrics finalised when demos were recorded in June 2020. They tell the story of a young and idealistic revolutionary dreaming of a better world who ends up being shot in the national stadium after a coup d’état.

“The ‘Slow’ video was made to fit the oscillating dynamics of the song. Going from calm to chaos over and over again,” says director and animator Gustaf Holtenäs. “The video tells the story of a character who creates AI-generated worlds. To emphasize this, I let real AI’s generate a lot of the backgrounds in these worlds. So they are partly AI-generated, but It isn’t long before an AI could create the whole deal and create endless iterations of fantasy worlds. It can already create a random beautiful landscape painting in 1 second.”

Watch black midi’s Video for “Slow”

Cavalcade is a dynamic, hellacious, and inventive follow-up to black midi’s debut, Schlagenheim, one of 2019’s most widely-praised albums. Cavalcade scales beautiful new heights, pulling widely from a plethora of genres and influences, reaching ever upwards from an already lofty base of early achievements. black midi — Geordie Greep (guitar, primary vocals), Cameron Picton (bass, vocals), and Morgan Simpson (drums) — picture Cavalcade as a line of larger than life figures, from a cult leader fallen on hard times and an ancient corpse found in a diamond mine to legendary cabaret singer Marlene Dietrich, strolling seductively past them.
Watch New KEXP Session

Watch “John L” Video

Pre-order Cavalcade

Purchase “John L”/“Despair” 12”

black midi Tour Dates:
Mon. Oct. 4 – San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
Thu. Oct. 7 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda Theatre
Fri. Oct. 8 – San Diego, CA @ The Casbah
Sat. Oct. 9 – Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy and Harriet’s
Mon. Oct. 11 – Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line Music Cafe
Tue. Oct. 12 – Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall
Thu. Oct. 14 – Lakewood, OH @ Mahall’s
Fri. Oct. 15 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Spirit
Sat. Oct. 15 – Kingston, NY @ Tubby’s
Mon. Oct. 18 – Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair
Tue. Oct. 19 – New York, NY @ Webster Hall
Thu. Oct. 21 – Baltimore, MD @ Union Brewery
Sat. Oct. 23 – Asheville, NC @ The Grey Eagle Tavern
Tue. Oct. 26 – Birmingham, AL @ Saturn
Wed. Oct. 27 – New Orleans, LA @ Republic
Fri. Oct. 29 – Austin, TX @ ??????????
Sat. Oct. 30 – Houston, TX @ The Secret Group

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Sam at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Top 35 albums of 2020: #’s 5 – 1

Here we are. We’ve reached the cream of the cop.

#5: Yardsss – Cultus

This album is “only” three tracks, but one of them is over twenty-three minutes long. The other two are over seven minutes each. Even more impressive? This entire psychedelic / prog-rock album was improvised. Yardsss came in without a game plan and created a monster of a record that you can’t believe was done on the fly.

#4: Caroline Rose – Superstar

This is Caroline Rose’s best album to date. She tackles subjects like fame, flying your freak flag, sex, love, lust, and finding the self with power pop riffs, playful, lovely vocals, and some of her wittiest songwriting to date.

#3: Windhand – Levitation Sessions

I watched several livestream concerts this year, and all were good. This one by doom metal giants Windhand, however, literally gave me chills. That moment came during “Forest Clouds” when I could feel something happening. The hairs on my arms stood up and I couldn’t stop grinning. It was a powerful moment that I needed to remind me that live music will return. Nothing can stop it (or Windhand, it seems), and this entire live album was like being handed a battle axe as a hobgoblin army advances on the city.

#2: Automatic – Signal

I knew right away upon hearing Signal that (A) it was a post-punk gauntlet thrown down at other bands, (B) it was sexy as an underground 1960s dance club in Paris, and (C) it was going to be my favorite debut album of 2020. Everything on this album works at a high level. It makes you feel like a sexy bad ass, and all three ladies in Automatic are such. Tread lightly, however. They’re not screwing around and might whack you with a claw hammer if you cross the line.

#1: Flat Worms – Antarctica

This psych / garage / punk masterpiece by Flat Worms went into my #1 spot upon first hearing it in April 2020 and never moved. It is stunningly powerful and chock-full of killer lyrics about fighting against the rat race, internet addiction, the depersonalization of others, economic inequality, and toxic relationships. This is one of those albums that sounds new every time I hear it. It’s a shame they couldn’t tour to promote it, because this album could’ve and should’ve made them big-time draws.

I’m already hearing good stuff in 2021, so let’s stay healthy and get back to shows and festivals.

Keep your mind open.

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Top 35 albums of 2020: #’s 25 – 21

The top 25? Already? Yep. Here we go.

#25: Death Valley Girls – Levitation Sessions: Live from the Astral Plane

Your live psychedelic rock album can’t miss when the first track is a guide to astral projection. You also can’t miss when it’s full of wild rock, passionate vocals, and, for all I know, tantric magic.

#24: Deeper – Auto-Pain

Wow. I mean…Wow. This post-punk record covers some serious subjects (suicide, existential angst, boredom, ennui, technological creep) and does it with serious chops and resolve.

#23: All Them Witches – Nothing As the Ideal

All Them Witches returned with possibly their heaviest album to date. Nothing As the Ideal is almost a Black Sabbath record in its tone and sheer sonic weight. It sounds like they were getting out all their frustration of not being able to tour on the record. It’s a cathartic gem.

#22: Protomartyr – Unlimited Success Today

Protomartyr put out one of the mots intriguing records of 2020. Unlimited Success Today is layered with stunning guitar chords, powerhouse drumming, and mysterious lyrics that sometimes read and sound like a madman yelling atop a milk crate in the middle of a busy intersection in your town.

#21: Gordon Koang – Unity

Possibly the most uplifting album of 2020, Unity is the tale of refugee Gordon Koang finally becoming an Australian citizen. Koang is a musical superstar in Africa, but fled the continent due to civil war and threats on his life. Despite all his tribulations, Unity is a record full of hope (not to mention fun Afrobeat tracks) that we needed last year.

The top 20 of 2020 are coming up next!

Keep your mind open.

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Review: Yardsss – Cultus

I’m not sure what is most impressive about Yardsss‘ new album, Cultus. Is it the epic riffs? The space / stoner jams influenced by early Pink Floyd? The way invites you to get lost in it like a hedge maze?

It might be that the entire album was improvised. Yes, Krist Kreuger, Robin Levy, and Paul Schaefer made up this entire record as they went along – completely trusting each other and letting the journey take them to unknown places.

It’s only three tracks (“Cultus I,” “Cultus II,” and, you guessed it, “Cultus III”), but the first two are over seven minutes each and the third is almost twenty-two minutes in length. All three are stunning pieces. “Cultus I” builds to a spacewalk playlist jam with swollen riffs, rolling drums, and rocket fuel synths. “Cultus II” dives straight into the deep end of the hard rock pool with furious riffs and then swims to the shallow end for a shot of tequila for a bit.

“Cultus III” could be a transmission from V-ger in the first Star Trek movie for all I know. It’s weird, wild, and cosmic. It rolls along like a war machine across a Jack Kirby-drawn landscape in a Kamandi comic.

It’s a stunning piece of work, and proceeds from its sale go to charities that focus on homelessness and prisoners. You can’t miss.

Keep your mind open.

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Review: Oh Sees – Levitation Sessions

Recorded live in the parking lot of the famous Pappy and Harriet’s music venue in Pioneertown, California, Levitation Sessions by OSees is another great live set put together by the Reverb Appreciation Society and the folks behind the Levitation Music Festival. It’s also another great live album from Osees / Oh Sees / Thee Oh Sees / OCS (By the way, John Dwyer, if you’re reading this – I recommend “Eau Seas” for the next spelling, possibly calling the album under that moniker Water Weird.) that brings out some old tracks the band hadn’t played in years.

The album / show starts with the crowd favorite “Carrion Crawler,” getting things off to a deceptively quiet opening before unleashing rock fury. Mr. Dwyer (lead singer / guitarist) and his crew (Tim Hellman – bass, David Rincon – drums, Paul Quattrone – drums, Tomas Dolas – keyboards) give you a four-count to catch your breath before launching “I Come from the Mountain” at you like a rocket. “Static God” is the re-entry burn of that same rocket, and by now you’re holding on for dear life. Hellman’s bass is the harness keeping you in the rocket’s seat while Rincon and Quattrone are the sounds of the heat shield nearing critical failure. Dolas’ keys rise as Dwyer screams, “It doesn’t matter at all – your fucking institutions!” Impermanence is the only real thing.

The post / garage punk of “Sewer Fire” is outstanding and might cause you to pogo in your living room or office. Just try not to do it in your car while driving. “Chem Farmer / Nite Expo” blends keyboard-heavy prog-jazz with mammoth-heavy riffs and cymbal crashes. It ends with Dwyer yelling, “We have fun!” “Dreary Nonsense” is both fiery and goofy, which means it’s great. “The Fizz” is one of those older tracks they haven’t played in a while, and it has a great call-and-response chorus and fun keyboard dexterity from Dolas.

“Corrupt Coffin” and “Together Tomorrow,” both each under two minutes, blend together like a punk cocktail made out of Red Bull, sweat, vodka, and highly caffeinated Earl Grey tea. “Night Crawler” is pure psychedelic fuzz to lull you into a smoky headspace. You take a breath, and then “Terminal Jape” comes around the corner to mug you and then shove you into oncoming traffic. “The system has been broken down!” Dwyer grunts as the whole band turns into a tsunami. “Rainbow” slows things down a bit, but it’s almost a feint because “Heart Worm” is a straight-up punk boot to the head. “The world’s so fucked up!” Dwyer sings. It’s hard to argue with him if you watch the news.

The band pauses a moment before “Transparent World Jam” melts your mind and perhaps your body into lava lamp ooze. As Oh Sees like to do, they end with a mostly instrumental jam. This one is the nearly twelve-minute-long “Block of Ice” – a track that reminds you of Zappa, Allman Brothers, 13th Floor Elevators, and My Bloody Valentine all at once.

Few things can top the energy of a live Oh Sees show, and capturing that energy in a recording is a colossal feat. Levitation Sessions sounds great and the record’s mastering by J.J. Golden cannot be understated. This is a nice appetizer for, hopefully, many more live shows to come.

Keep your mind open.

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Yardsss’ “Cultus II” is a wild burst of drone rock.

Portland, OR band Yardsss — ethereal music brainchild of Southerly and Sndtrkr leader Krist Krueger — share the first track from their forthcoming new album Cultus today via TrebleZine. Hear and share “Cultus II” HERE. (Direct Bandcamp.)

The album is performed in the full trio lineup of the band, Paul Schaefer, Robin Levy, and Krist Krueger.

The first two Yardsss releases, the Foma EP (2013) and Granfalloons EP (2016) were masterpieces of sonic effluvium, walking the fine line between abrasive noise and gorgeous, sometimes cacophonous melody inviting comparisons to Swans, Glenn Branca, White Suns and Godspeed Y!BE. Later efforts like the collaborative 333 (2016) and musical stream-of-consciousness Epithets (2017) explore conceptual themes of text as well as lineup. With the newly solidified delineation of Yardsss’ varying entities, Krueger and interlopers are free to expand upon ideas as they arise without fear of confusing fans.

Krueger is best known for his work with Southerly, whose 2007 debut Storyteller and the Gossip Columnist was met to national critical acclaim. His collective-run label, SELF Group, began a major relaunching in late 2015, with new releases from like-minded outfits Southerly, Mothertapes, King Who, C^VES, Swansea, Scriptures, and more.

Cultus will be available on September 11, 2020 via SELF Group. Pre-orders are available HERE.

On The Web:
selfgroup.org/yardsss

facebook.com/Yardsss

twitter.com/Yardsss

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Dave at US / Them Group.]

Top 30 albums of 2019: #’s 30 – 26

Here we are at the end of 2019. As always, there’s too much good music released every year for anyone to hear all of it, but here are my top 30 albums of 2019 (of 60 that I reviewed) this year.

#30 – Vapors of Morphine – Lyons, Colley, Dupree Live at the Lizard Lounge 5/25/2007

This is a recording of a 2007 show that was the beginnings of what would become Vapors of Morphine. It’s a great recording of jazz, low rock, delta blues, and a bit of psychedelia and was a welcome gift for this lover of Morphine.

#29 – Black Midi – Schlagenheim

This album is difficult to describe. Is it prog-rock? Post-punk? Both? Neither? I think it’s neither. I do know that it’s a wild mix of crazy guitar riffs, epic drumming, and bizarre, frantic lyrics. It’s unlike anything you’ll hear, and I fully expect (and the band has pretty much said) that the next Black Midi album will be completely different.

#28 – BODEGA – Shiny New Model

BODEGA can pretty much do no wrong in my eyes and ears, and Shiny New Model was another sharp, witty post-punk record from these New Yorkers. BODEGA capture existential ennui, technology paranoia, and the annoyance of the daily grind better than most.

#27 – Cosmonauts – Star 69

I knew as soon as I heard the single “Seven Sisters” for the first time that Star 69 would be in the top half of this list. Sure enough, the entire album is a shoegaze wallop with their heavy wall of distorted guitars and California sunshine (intentionally mixed with a bit of smog, let’s be honest). Sharp lyrics about being tired of parties and sick of hipsters are an added bonus.

#26 – King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Fishing for Fishies

Never ones to fear experimenting with multiple genres, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard decided to make a blues record and mix it with synthwave. It works. They’re probably one of the few bands who could do it, let alone make it a concept record about environmental issues and the constant creep of more technology into our lives.

Who’s in the top 25? Come back tomorrow to find out!

Keep your mind open.

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