Slipped Discs December 2019

Discs You May Have Missed
by John Noyd

Annie Hart formerly of Au Revior Simone - photo by Sebastian Kim

Annie Hart formerly of Au Revior Simone - photo by Sebastian Kim

Initial Thoughts

Tactile and actual, tangled in the tangible, December album titles are living in the material world. Scoop up FM power-chord choirboys THE WHIFFS’, golden retro-rock, “Another Whiff,” then pick among sensitive alt-pop fence-sitter ANNIE HART’s thoughtful electro-acoustic prudence, “A Softer Offering.” or rock god Robert Plant’s podcast-based vinyl box-set, “Digging Deep.” Ashes to ashes, dust to slowcore legends DUSTER’s heralded return to recording after nineteen years, the gravity-strapped, synaptic-blasted, “Duster.”


Disc Reviews


Electric Litany - Under A Common Sky

Electric Litany - Under A Common Sky

Electric Litany

Album title: Under A Common Sky
Record Label: Apollon Records

Pitched in cinematic syntax, airborne angst and sophisticated insurrection, “Sky,” amplifies worldly concerns into existential menace, cradling social mazes in ephemeral surrenders while snakey bass crawls through withering situations and singed synthesizers spar faraway guitars beneath throbbing prog-rock after-shocks. Lost prophets lavishing embattled compassion over vast canvases, Electric Litany’s muted battle-cries rise through glorious discourse, orchestral stretches and cancerous fantasies.

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Anna Nalick - The Blackest Crow

Anna Nalick - The Blackest Crow

Anna Nalick

Album title: The Blackest Crow
Record Label: Chesky Records

Guided by a well-tuned ear, intuitive chanteuse Nalick gathered an eclectic mix of Country, Folk, American Songbook and Britpop for a songsmith’s set-list that gifts craft alongside sincerity, celebrating timeless feelings captured in classic lyrics possessing posh, melodic competence. Backed by acoustic guitar, cello, upright bass and drums, “Crow,” flows in restrained arrangements beautifully supporting Anna’s supple, casually confident vocals.

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Anna Nalick online:
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Download The Blackest Crow from Amazon
Purchase The Blackest Crow on Amazon



Lee

Lee "Scratch" Perry - Heavy Rain

Lee "Scratch" Perry

Album title: Heavy Rain
Record Label: On-U Sound

Rock-steady grooves moving beneath phantom chants, haunted harmonica and sad brass, “Rain,” rains, “Soldiers collecting souls,” and “Children of the Night,” over slippery redemption days blazing in faith served by curdling serpentine certainty. Karmic shaman Perry’s scrubbed dub companion to this year’s revelatory, “Rainford,” welcomes mothership liberations; baptized night-walker trance channeling blessed messages through loose, echo-chamber complacency and studio-proven juju.

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Lee "Scratch" Perry online:
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Purchase Heavy Rain on Amazon


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Purchase Heavy Rain


Emily Yacina - Remember the Silver

Emily Yacina - Remember the Silver

Emily Yacina

Album title: Remember the Silver
Record Label: self-release

Lived-in pop props Yacina’s sensible premonitions against deceptive mid-tempo affections connecting rhythm-driven perceptions to calm, collected, level-headed introspection and inviting kind candor inside systemic memories from smart hearts. Personal journeys turned into happening maps, “Silver,” fills unavoidable joys with better judgment assumptions sealing the deal in learning-curve verses and well-informed choruses customized in friendly empathy, attentive mentions and centered defenses.

(767) Page Views

Emily Yacina online:
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Pedro Kastelijns - Som das Luzis

Pedro Kastelijns - Som das Luzis

Pedro Kastelijns

Album title: Som das Luzis
Record Label: OAR

Zany mania tamed in psycho-samba soufflés, “Luzis,” muses in jarring cartoon lunacy, commanding gizmo-prone jabberwocky waking and shaking narcoleptic benders riding bold, dismembered tropical-pop dropped into rabbit-hole side-shows. Basted in booming bass, tasty bossa nova escapes and bouncy gaucho detours, psychedelic Brazilian Kastelijns’ lavender caverns spew groovy tunes fire-roasted and slightly singed, crispy fringe-art binges rattling cages and sparking imaginations.

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Pedro Kastelijns online:
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Hurt Valley - Glacial Pace

Hurt Valley - Glacial Pace

Hurt Valley

Album title: Glacial Pace
Record Label: Woodsist

Good-natured scoundrels, shaggy string-band brethren Hurt Valley leads ghost-town honky-tonk from pioneer cheer to hobo emo, thick with braided guitar licks and starry minor-key harmonies. Rolling-hill road-trips through Zen-centered relationships conjuring intricate rest-stop rambles radiating stray bohemian dreams, “Pace,” grazes sunrise highways, kicking up dust with wagon-train refrains in urban cowboy cadence, washing waltzing folk-rock off-spring in heady riverbed sedatives.

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Hurt Valley online:
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Download Glacial Pace from Amazon

Download Glacial Pace


Final Thoughts

December albums are rare beasts but January promises to make amends with incredible releases from musicians whose tour plans include Madison dates. From paisley angels OF MONTREAL visiting the Majestic March 10th with lip-smacking electro-pop sparkle, “UR Fun,” to velvet tigers POLICA bringing their life-affirming gloss-rock, “How To Stay Alive,” to the High Noon March 19th, winter heats up fast. Meanwhile alt-rock stalwarts COLONY HOUSE invades the High Noon March 13th with, “Leave What’s Lost Behind,” and divergent musical surgeon DAN DEACON’s, “Mystic Familiar,” livening the High Noon April 4th.