Slipped Discs August 2022
Discs You May Have Missed
by John Noyd
Child Seat
Initial Thoughts
Catastrophes and disasters plague August albums. From aura dislodger RACHIKA NAYAR’s, nebulous exodus, “Heaven Come Crashing,” to tawdry alt-rockers CHILD SEAT’s sensuous menace, “Bad Holiday,” bummers tumble unencumbered. Commiserate with avant archeologist DIAMANDA GALAS’ mystical limbo, “Broken Gargoyles,” twang-soul storytellers THE WESTERN EXPRESS’ Tex-Mex Americana, “Lunatics, Lovers & Poets,” and moonlit gypsies SISTERIA’s bronco-blues subterfuge, “Dark Matter,” before finally facing buff winged persuaders SONG SPARROW RESEARCH’s earnest, “Don’t Look Now.”
Disc Reviews
Stella Donnelly - Flood
Stella Donnelly
Album title: Flood
Record Label: Secretly Canadian
Peppered in welcome plain-talk and well-considered images, the sweet, subtle, “Flood,” treads lightly on deep waters, balancing talented gallantry atop unfolding disclosures, pedestrian friendliness and modern indie-folk poetry. Donnelly’s spunky calm carries infectious charm coupled with serious sincerity; real, sensible apprehension coated in sublime rhymes where candid ear-candy whispers sizzle in coffee-shop gossip and choreographed courtesies conjure cordial chamber-pop sorority.
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Stella Donnelly online:
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Kal Marks - My Name Is Hell
Kal Marks
Album title: My Name Is Hell
Record Label: Exploding In Sound
Calloused shadow-dancing with corrosive bulldozers, marauding toppler Marks’ cunning uphill testaments bludgeon jumpy boxer’s shuffles into jittery ninja fits kissed by kettle-whistle blitz, ham-fisted calamity slamming in muscular punctuality. Soaked in high-voltage polemics on an electric-fence tightrope, “Hell,” swells in relentless tension, each song making steady headway from edgy oppression to effective connectivity emblazed in collective rage and synchronized visions.
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Kal Marks online:
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Kiwi Jr. - Chopper
Kiwi Jr.
Album title: Chopper
Record Label: Sub Pop
Holding back this side of breaking down, “Chopper,” bops in cool grooves, a foppish mockery taunting rock’s honesty with civil wit fashioning detached actions cooked in jangle-emo hooks and sparkling snark. Comedic, cultured, class-war survivors and unashamedly brazen art-rock romantics, Kiwi Jr infuse laconic pity into electric New Wave Britpop, floundering in strait-jacketed compassion with stainless-steel feelings and doomsday ennui.
(250) Page Views
Kiwi Jr. online:
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SRSQ - Ever Crashing
SRSQ
Album title: Ever Crashing
Record Label: Dais Records
Glazed in tasteful, celestial flamboyance touched in undulating funk and painted in palatial pathos, SRSQ’s phosphorescent sentiments glow beneath velvet proclamations, yearning harmonies reaching past heartaches’ maze braving flashy orchestral collapses in underwater operas. Cavernous hazards challenging craggy dramatics ghosting emotional moments behind lightning-swift riffs and hungry, thundering hooks, “Ever,” revels in sophisticated mayhem, fabulous happenings, bold, voluptuous and scintillating.
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SRSQ online:
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The Mountain Goats - Bleed Out
The Mountain Goats
Album title: Bleed Out
Record Label: Merge
Reliable mile-marker rhetoric varnished in barking irony, “Bleed,” telegraphs concise, instructional mutterings from coded slogans negotiating Zen warrior journalism in a variety of required vibes, from delicate and dangerous to divisive and diplomatic. Reflex rhythms administering hospital-corner lyrics soliciting mercenary missions, The Mountain Goat’s chameleonic abilities jog, sprint and charge as the incredibly competent unit issues reprieves, restitution and reprisals
(285) Page Views
The Mountain Goats online:
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Ezra Furman - All Of Us Flames
Ezra Furman
Album title: All Of Us Flames
Record Label: ANTI-
Electro-shocked glam-rock walks bittersweet glitter-swept runways in triumphant comeuppance and bruised ruminations while introspective pep-talker and hindsighted night-stalker Furman turns messy confessions into redemptive adventures. Pirates, petitioners and pariahs steeped in poignant memories, abandoned regrets and large scars, “Flames,” claims underdog bragging rights manifesting winners among sinners, trampled champions quaking in leather boots and trembling in lean, unlaced, life-long pursuits.
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Ezra Furman online:
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Final Thoughts
Between eclectic hepcat RICH RUTH’s cosmic freefall, “I Survived, It’s Over,” tough, fuzz-encrusted firecrackers FAYE’s gnashing, “You’re Better,” and upbeat dreamer CLAUDE’s precious, affectionate, “lot’s gotta change,” late-summer releases weather several storms. Resilience filters into natural collaborators PETER MULVEY AND SISTASTRINGS’ rebooted roots, “Love Is The Only Thing,” off-road loners DUST STAR’s frenetic head-spinners, “Open Up That Heart,” and swinging EMILY ELBERT’s crisp jazz-folk initiatives, “Woven Together,” while dynamic phantoms FRANKLIN GOTHIC’s jangly tranquility, “Into the Light,” and mega-conceptualists MUSE’s edgy prog-rock pledges, “Will of The People,” march ever forward.