Slipped Discs - November 2012

Discs You May Have Missed
by John Noyd

El Ten Eleven

El Ten Eleven

Initial Thoughts

There’s just no stopping autumn’s restless musical testament. From messy confessors ROYAL TRUX’s reissued blues-grunge plummeting, “Accelerator,” to majestic instrumental alchemists THE CALM BLUE SEA’s tidal post-rock recitals, “Arrivals and Departures,” nomadic strategists rule. Capture Blue Nile front-man PAUL BUCHANAN’s pensive, gentle, ” Mid Air,” or Americana imaginist TIM ERIKSON’s sublime maritime folklore, “Josh Billings Voyage,” before snaring matrix-layered percolators EL TEN ELEVEN’s beautifully elusive, mega-meticulous, “Transitions.” Ready, set, go.


Disc Reviews


Black Forest Fire - Transit of Venus

Black Forest Fire - Transit of Venus

Black Forest Fire

Album title: Transit of Venus
Record Label: Sedimental Records

Sweet bee-hive vibes float, coat, storm and swarm conjuring corrosive hypnosis from free-floating jangle, “Transit,” channels rapturous aftermaths past sizzling six-string narcolepsy enlisting rumbling drums, skittery riffs and ghost-riddled vocals to mobilize BFF’s spongy alt-rock stunners. Cushioned in vertigo-inducing diversions, the Austin trio’s effusive debut swoops, dives and glides in half-abandoned rambles, landing in undemanding reverie and stolen candy-coated emotions.

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Bambounou - Orbiting

Bambounou - Orbiting

Bambounou

Album title: Orbiting
Record Label: 50 Weapons

Brittle digital disco-militant turned knob-twiddling citizen, Chinatown Parisian Bambounou paints acrylic breezes inside robot-driven legions, tapping pneumatic habits and punctuated passions through plastic-wrapped splashes and dribbling squiggles. Chicago House boxed and restocked, swift clicks stitch while palpitating synths squawk, peripatetic actions packing funky false-starts sends, “Orbiting,” off the charts plotting twitching minimalist partnerships between icy flights and scalding hip-hop gestalt.

(1988) Page Views

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Goldenboy - The New Familiar

Goldenboy - The New Familiar

Goldenboy

Album title: The New Familiar
Record Label: Eenie Meenie Records

Savory, paisley chamber-pop dressed in shimmering licks, plush harmonies and coiled chords, “Familiar,” morphs well-oiled formulas into passive narratives held in tightly-knitted nets; radio-friendly assemblies pour sensitive medicine from poignant appointments extracting melodic charms from intricate incidents. Worldly-wise and quietly obliging, Goldenboy’s soaring voyages explore subtle detours, landing listeners on sunny shores, a patient oasis painted in brilliant chromatic ploys.

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Clinic - Free Reign

Clinic - Free Reign

Clinic

Album title: Free Reign
Record Label: Domino

Unglued blues prowl and peruse while muddled clubhouse curmudgeons creep, creak and brood, steely-eyed and serpentine, Clinic’s wiggling post-punk addictions and woozy basement-rock convictions cast murky magic over dank, clanging dangers; chain-rattling wranglers driving sleepless dreams between jazzy fog-bound travesties and mild-mannered psycho-ticklish ministries. Straining in mournful horns, jumpy percussion and spooked-out guitars, “Reign,” reclaims abrasive dockside savior’s endgame shenanigans.

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Holly Herndon - Movement

Holly Herndon - Movement

Holly Herndon

Album title: Movement
Record Label: RVNG Intl

From dilating diaphragms to intergalactic collapse, “Movement,” molds audible monsters infiltrating cyber-jungle rumbles dropping modulated mazes framed in asthmatic mathematics. Congregating oscillations breathing alien, synthesized transmissions spawn suspense-filled pauses between sinister hissing, subtle mechanical insistence from oddly organic dissonance. Eerily disquieting, intriguing and secretive, Herndon’s inter-breeding machinery hatches captivating, elastic soundtracks bathed in gurgling turbulence, trapped gasps and vacuum-sealed squeals

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John Cale - Shifty Adventures of Nookie Wood

John Cale - Shifty Adventures of Nookie Wood

John Cale

Album title: Shifty Adventures of Nookie Wood
Record Label: Domino

Cagey innovator and stoic, art-rock mischief-maker, Cale’s dark, carnival electro-pop lobs zombie trots and halting waltzes, crafting savage fabrications from industrial muscle, flying wise, dignified indictments beside juicy eulogies and mountainous pronouncements. Beyond European salons, African rhythms absorb New Wave beats as, “Shifty,” visits delicious hybrid glitches, lifting slumbering undulations into cantering tangents, tweaking Old World flair with digital visions.

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Final Thoughts

Rich in coincidence, November’s mixed bag manages random convergences. Witness chillwave’s heavenly hallucinogenic manipulator TEEN DAZE’s synthonic sonnets and soft, cosmic mnemonics, “Inner Mansions,” beside fearlessly sincere alt-folk rockers THE BABIES’ ranch-hand swipes and garage-powered snipes, “Our House on the Hill.” Opposing viewpoints draw slick, neo-romantic CHAD VALLEY’s soul-drenched discontent, “Young Hunger, “next to plugged-in Twin Cities trio SOLID GOLD’s cybernetic dance-fusion,”Eat Your Young.” Finally, disco-Bowie buoyant, jabberwocky-rockers OF MONTREAL’s eclectic funhouse funkfest rarities collection, “Daughter of Cloud,” orbits electronic renaissance man LEE J. MALCOLM’s incredibly heady edifice, “Terrestrial,”