Music Reviews

Field Of Fear – “Beyond The Reach Of Light” – [Whited Sepulchre]

whngr   5/1/2024   12-inch, A Library

BLACK-AMBIENT DOOM-SCORE DARK-INDUSTRIAL

A carefully honed expulsion of mental collapse in myriad strata composed of drone, field recordings, electric and acoustic instrumentation, sparse vocals often heavily manipulated. Deeply considered with a focus on repetition and power there exists an intense amount of variety in sound though the feel is primarily haunted, vexed and hopeless. From bleak industrial compositions with black metal intonation that evoke a contemporary reflection/distortion of Ministry (B2 “Descent”) to mid/heavy weighted power electronics behind synthesizer swells (B4 “Lost”). An inversion of Sunn O))) with buried and modulated screams of pain (B1 “Consumed”) and intermittent minimalist melodies. There are even some sparing moments of gentle ambient drone that still manage to allude to something profoundly amiss (A4 “Cold”).

More than just a soundtrack to a major depressive episode and more than a document of the same, Beyond The Reach Of Light is an intensely personal vehicle in search of catharsis that we believe is represented well in the philosophy of their Cincinnati based label, “Every record is a tomb where the ghosts of our former selves live – every spin is a form of necromancy.”  

Field Of Fear Is one Drew Zercoe based in Oakland, CA. Beyond The Reach Of Light was produced and guided by New York based experimentalist David First (Notekillers, Echoes Of God) and mastered by James Plotkin. Compelled listeners can find several other releases by Zercoe on cassette that feature a revolving cast of co-conspirators.

Whited Sepulchre – 2023

slowcoach – “sabbatical year” – [Pacific Rock]

Isotope   5/1/2024   7-inch, A Library

This five-song EP, which slowcoach started recording before the pandemic, and which was finally released in 2024, revels in its low-fi post-punk indie sound and its sense of aimlessness. With music by Bob Reich and Ian Conley, and mastered by Todd Tobias of Guided by Voices, four of its five tracks are one- to two-minute-long plaintive briefs about finding a different way to live, or rules to not follow. Or sometimes they’re simply about dissatisfaction. The second track, titled, “these days with,” is a sweet, almost romantic three-minute instrumental piece that I liked a lot. The titles of the five songs, read together, form two sentences of a sort, or maybe it’s a line of poetry. Indie low-fi post-punk aficionados will like what they hear. The music is worth listening to for the sweet indolence of finding a pathway without a destination.

12 Compost Disco Years [coll] – [Compost]

Preston Peace   5/1/2024   12-inch, A Library

German label Compost stepped away from future jazz for their Compost Disco imprint, and this LP celebrates the imprint’s 12th anniversary (in 2022). 15 tracks of electronic disco in a variety of styles and moods, the commonality being disco’s 4-on-the-floor beat and tempos ranging from 110–120 bpm. Some more organic and vocal-driven, others with a more technoid flair, all these tracks will get your body moving.

The mysterious Ed Lee’s two tracks, both featuring Alison David, hew closest to a ‘classic’ disco sound, with live instrumentation and vocals. Grosso Modo and Sharp 9 also get in on that groove with funky live guitar.

On the bleepier side of things, AN-2’s tech-house influenced “Sunburst” and Manuel Tur’s “S6 Hansaring” are particular highlights.

Elsewhere, Dmitri from Paris and DJ Rocca diverge the furthest from genre conventions, turning in an extended jazz fusion keyboard workout, accented with snippets of vocoder.

15 tracks doesn’t mean 15 artists; Chocolate Garage Production gets a threepeat, and some others are aliases and collaborations—check the sleeve notes—but there’s still a surprising variety here within that disco template.

Collisionville / REQ’D [coll] – [Wondertaker]

Preston Peace   5/1/2024   7-inch, A Library

Country-tinged alt-rock and punky Americana from two local bands (both out of Oakland). Collisionville steals the show with their punky twang inversion of typical heartbreak fare, while REQ’D shares a tale of God’s arboreal wrath, more alt-rock in style. Neither take themselves too seriously.

Split release on Booplet (Collisionville) and Wondertaker (REQ’D).

Suzi Analogue – “Infinite Zonez” – [Never Normal Records]

aarbor   5/1/2024   A Library, CD

Suzi Analogue, whose birth name is Maya Shipman, is the creator of the Never Normal Records label (based in Miami). According to her website, her work is “shaping culture”. She is a producer, songwriter and composer. Her music has  found homes on Billboard charts, New York Fashion Week runways, Networks like Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, Boiler Room and worldwide radio. She describes her work as electronic experimentation with cutting edge music technology and synthesizers. This is a showcase of Suzi Analogue’s work from 2016-2019. AArbor

Herbert, Matthew – “Plat Du Jour” – [Accidental Records]

aarbor   5/1/2024   A Library, CD

Plat du Jour is the Daily Special in a restaurant. This release from 2005 is a sample-driven concept album about the relationship of food to politics, society and celebrity. Among the topics addressed: industrial chicken farming, fluoride in drinking water, pesticides, celebrity endorsements, sugar, bread, diet food, the final meal of a convicted man, sewers… Matthew Herbert made a series of field recordings for each track with a definite agenda: foods, their production processes and cooking methods. Chicken farming, pigs in shit, recordings of salmon milling around, cans of Coke fizzing and beet sugars crystallizing. In the final track ‘Nigella, George, Tony and Me’ Herbert drives a tank over a picnic that recreates the meal Nigella Lawson cooked for George Bush and Tony Blair marking Britain’s support for the war in Iraq. AArbor

Flummox – “Rephlummoxed” – [Needlejuice Records]

Jay Omega   4/30/2024   12-inch, A Library

Reflummexed, released in 2022, is Flummox’s fourth album, and is essentially a rerecording of the best of their first two albums. Besides being a project that could be undertaken during the Covid lockdown, an A/B comparison of one title made it very clear these tracks deserved the effort. The mix of the earlier version was unpleasant to listen to, and the artistic level of the new recording is at a much higher level. It’s possible to be put off by the cliché elements from 70’s prog and metal, but these elements are brought together with an overall complexity and artistry that won me over.  

The album is categorized Prog Metal on Discogs, but the band considers themselves “genre-fluid”. Throw together Les Claypool, Frank Zappa, Black Sabbath, some hair metal, a dash of B52’s, Pink Floyd, and a bunch more stuff, and you get the heavy, lighthearted, serious, jocular, Doom, Thrash, Stoner, Metal, Avant guard album that is Reflummoxed.

Buzzy Frets – “The Return of Buzzy Frets” – [Lossless]

humana   4/27/2024   A Library, CD

This San Francisco band turns in some stand-up surf tracks, all instrumental, and straightforward fun. Standouts for me are “Agent H,” “The Third Man Theme,” and “The Pink Panther Theme.”

El Borko – “Surf” – []

humana   4/26/2024   A Library, CD

This band from Eugene offers up some mighty great surf tunes here punctuated and enhanced by sax, steel guitar, and moog. The only track with vocals is “Square Rhumba.” “Zotika” sounds a bit like surf lounge. Every song on here leaves you feeling better than you did before, particularly “Super FKN Happy” and “Oh Marcia Reef.”

Tongue Depressor + Larkin, Austin – “Tongue Depressor + Larkin, Austin” – [Redscroll]

humana   4/26/2024   12-inch, A Library

What do sirens, bagpipes, violins, lap steel, and violas have in common? The meld together to create the long drones on this clear piece of vinyl. At first all I could feel was the industrial noise, but then things got better for me once I got further into the drone. Lose yourself.