Slipped Discs June 2012
Discs You May Have Missed
by John Noyd
Sarah Aroeste
Initial Thoughts
Not to slight electro-pop wise-guys STEPDAD’s effervescent menace, “Wildlife Pop,” erupting drummers MAN FOREVER’s rumbling undulating tsunamis, “Pansophical Cataract,” or slow-burning heart-breaker BOBBY WOMACK’s cyber-funky, “The Bravest Man in the Universe.” but this month is focused on females. Check out Latin rock-pop feminist SARAH AROESTE’s luxurious diversions, “Gracia,” angelic dream-pop duo THE HUNDRED IN THE HANDS’ interstellar revelry, “Red Night,” or American nomad IMANI UZURI’s noble trans-global soul, “The Gypsy Diaries,” because whether driving force or fashionable collaborator, women rule June’s grooves
Disc Reviews
Nouela - Chants
Nouela
Album title: Chants
Record Label: Control Group Records
Marrying matter-of-fact melodramatics to arresting piano-based pop “Chants,” plants scorching torch-song scorn alongside prowling nightclub lust. Unveiling lively insights inside sophisticated sizzle, former People Eating People front-woman composes imploring stories rich in major mojo. Playing the majority of instruments as well as co-producing, Nouela’s beguiling trials bring swinging invigorating taunts born of world-wounded wisdom and drenched in flirtatious jungle stealth
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Nouela online:
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Kelly Hogan - I Like to Keep Myself in Pain
Kelly Hogan
Album title: I Like to Keep Myself in Pain
Record Label: ANTI
Embodying doe-eye survivors and embittered vixens, Hogan tackles Texas kickers glazed in café academics and honky-tonk philosophy rousing gospel-blues wearing cowboy boots, sneakers and high heels, “Pain,”: hosts smoky tones inside jukebox bop, Bubbly condolences hug observant mercies, funky country confessions stocked in battered kindnesses and wronged romance supply supple scenarios fueling dusky Delta voodoo, post-fiesta heartache and organ-driven R&B.
(2316) Page Views
Kelly Hogan online:
• Website • Facebook • Wiki
• Purchase I Like to Keep Myself in Pain on Amazon
Echo Lake - Wild Peace
Echo Lake
Album title: Wild Peace
Record Label: Slumberland Records
Poltergeist rock steeped in sleepy reverb, “Peace,” radiates cagey patience; icy, isometric psychedelics traced in fiery spirals. The London duo’s nebulous efforts yield restlessly propulsive results as singer-songstress Linda Jarvis sparkles inside Thom Hill’s spelunker’s wonderland. Purring, whirling space-age stoner sonar stirs shiny calliopes into tissue-paper tempests, stitching galactic mattresses stuffed with serrated jangle, subatomic harlots and corrosive rainbow solos.
(2431) Page Views
Echo Lake online:
• Website • Facebook
• Purchase Wild Peace on Amazon
Neneh Cherry and the Thing - The Cherry Thing
Neneh Cherry and the Thing
Album title: The Cherry Thing
Record Label: Smalltown Supersound
A groovy Medusa, Cherry reworks the Stooges, Suicide, Ornette Coleman and her father’s fringe binges in avant-garde decisions. Conjuring cathartic visions via roller-coaster devotions, “Thing,” yearns for complex pleasures, exhuming the brutal and the beautiful, expressing turbulent worries through free jazz fevers, braying sax, bullish bass and Tommy-gun drums; bold, controlling emotions wrapped tight aching to embrace the world.
(2212) Page Views
Neneh Cherry and the Thing online:
• Website • Facebook • Wiki
• Purchase The Cherry Thing on Amazon
Marissa Nadler - The Sister
Marissa Nadler
Album title: The Sister
Record Label: Box of Cedar
Trolling ghosts strummed from courtyard guitars lifted in slightly surreal tranquility, Nadler’s ephemeral gems shepard rainy-day phrases roasted over fond remembrance and hung under widow silhouettes; wind-tossed blossoms simmering in minstrel eloquence, seasoned in spell-binding ambience. The plucked, struck and quietly corrupted performances cavort in post-modern folk as stately sorceresses cast, “Sister,” in whispering steel-guitar sympathies and supportive keyboard choirs.
(2221) Page Views
Marissa Nadler online:
• Website • Facebook • Wiki
• Download The Sister from Amazon
• Purchase The Sister on Amazon
The Mynabirds - Generals
The Mynabirds
Album title: Generals
Record Label: Saddle Creek
Armed in barbaric bass and tribal beats, bombshell mambos get dressed in contrapuntal thunder pasting neo-New Wave ruckus to girl-group goose-steps. Lo-fi pop cinched in synth-rinsed rock, “Generals,” generates thrill-ride exuberance. Guided by explosive blues-fueled momentum, The Mynabird’s brain-child Laura Burhenn crafts muscular melodic odysseys; charming armaments commanding tantrums in tantric chants micro-managing savage ballad aftermaths while channeling rallying challenges.
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The Mynabirds online:
• Website • Facebook
• Download Generals from Amazon
• Purchase Generals on Amazon
Final Thoughts
Take away the human voice and music becomes genderless but certainly not androgynous. From deep-fried slide guitarist SONNY LANDRETH’s squealing cactus boogie visiting Caribbean rhythms and swamp-water blues during, “Elemental Journey,” down to versatile brass-plated pile-drivers MUCCA PAZZA’s mesmerizing klezmer, honkin’ stomps and gypsy conniptions inside, “Safety Fifth,” instrumentals possess multi-faceted personalities. Summer summons schizophrenic jazz trio FLY’s self-determined murmurs, languid language and unfettered meditations on, “Year of the Snake,” and conservatory cross-pollinators PORTLAND CELLO PROJECT’s orchestrated playfulness reinterpreting Lil Wayne, Kanye and Jay-Z in the silky-smooth, genre-busting, fun-loving, “Homage.”