Released as part of the cassette-only Krapp Tape series from Wounded Knee (whose sonic experiments are effortlessly accessible by comparison) Fordell Research Unit fill side one of Heavy Petting with testing, nauseating noise. The dense feeback is slowly penetrated by a gentle guitar mantra, and for a moment it seems its tuneful loop will tame the track, but the noise proves relentless and oppressive to the end.
Side two brings a degree of relief, its sound clouds less abrasive but similarly avant-garde. It’s possible to interpret the Beckett allusion as a conceptual statement rather than mere pun (the press release is a cryptic pictogram, while online information is minimal, so either interpretation is surely possible), in which case repetition and deterioration are not just unpalatable, but key. If the riddles hidden in din excite, FRU will reward your attention, but others be warned: this may bring only displeasure.Out Now
That the press release for Unrequited Lovesongs can claim it mistakable for “an obvious and predictable grab for acceptance” reveals something of its creator’s usual idiosyncrasies. First, Dawn of the Replicants built a solid reputation for odd-pop experimentalism, now ex-guitarist Mike Sorensen Small’s Stone Ghost Collective embark on further musical adventures, including a forthcoming third album (also due in 2011) of “Pagan, indie-folk oratorios.”
In context, this is indeed relatively straightforward, but remains far from humble: She Doesn’t Care combines autotune and harpsichord for perhaps the first time, while The Saddest Truth swoops on sighing strings. When it strikes the correct balance, it’s eye-opening, but it often occupies an unforgiving hinterland – either too conventional to excite or too self-conscious to provoke a purer pop sensation. It’s not often such things can be said, but perhaps Pagan indie-folk oratorios will prove a more natural fit for Small’s intriguing talents.
Out Now
Zeroes QC is the first full-length from Montreal kraut-prog quartet Suuns, and they’re already out exploring infrequently charted waters. When entering the studio, the band reportedly wanted to avoid anything that might be tagged simply as ‘indie-rock’, a mission they’ve accomplished with conviction. There are similarities in scope to Battles’ Mirrored, another debut that felt like the product of a much older band operating with the hindsight of decades spent engaged in studio experiments.
A motorik beat underpins most tracks, with hints of Clinic on Up Past the Nursery’s sinister groove, but elsewhere they’re operating more singularly. The opening Armed For Peace ticks along 'til thick guitars crunch in and upend the mix, while Marauder resembles Rage Against the Machine if designed and performed by an actual machine; mechanical and prone to eye-opening direction-changes, a description both apt and yet utterly inadequate in attempting to summarise this startlingly assured calling card.Out Now
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