Mar 2024
Sorry, I got totally distracted by writing an entirely new section of the site so totally forgot to do the month-post. I also had my birthday and I went to Paris. Maybe I'll get better at meeting deadlines next month (I have not yet started to write the April month-post).
What I've Been Listening To #
Amen Dunes - Boys #
"Freedom" is an obviously classic record and it's been an agonising wait for Damon McMahon to follow it up. While I (and many others!) would have been totally content with a "sequel" to "Freedom", as always McMahon totally upends our expectations and returns with a radically new sound. "Death Jokes" appears to be eschewing the more accessible "classic rock" style of "Freedom" for a far more experimental sound that seemingly defies classification. "Boys" is the most conventional of the songs released from "Death Jokes" so far but still deliberately thwarts any attempt to neatly slot it into a playlist by dedicating a quarter of it's runtime to a wildly noisy sound collage. It seems like this is an album to be taken as a whole and it's one of my most anticipated releases of the year.
They Are Gutting A Body of Water, Greg Mendez, SUN ORGAN - krillin #
I'm sorry but I'm just a total sucker for a collaboration between several acts that create music that can be described as "guitar based music that originates from Philadelphia, USA".
US Maple - Open A Rose #
One could subsist entirely on the produce of the Jim O’Rourke extended universe and be entirely fulfilled. Not only does this band have connections to O’Rourke, they’re from Chicago, this album came out between 1990-2005 and it was released on Drag City. Those facts alone make it a worthy listen regardless of what the record actually sounds like but I guess I'll describe it for you anyway: late period Captain Beefheart inspired free-form post-punk with a singer who sounds like they have a hole in their throat and has something very urgent to tell you (that you can't understand). In other words, it rules.
Hotline TNT - I Thought You'd Change #
Finally came around to this after initially not feeling the production (the drums had to grow on me) and it being sonically similar to my least favourite of the big-three-1990s-shoegaze bands (you can guess!). It kinda goes to show that once you take a leaf-blower to the smog generated by the guitar-fuzz-smoke-machine, the best shoegaze songs are just great songs at their core. Really regret not seeing them at The George!
Listen to "I Thought You'd Change"
Happy End - 風をあつめて #
Haruomi Hosono is similar to O’Rourke, any record that can be connected to him is worth listening to (especially ones in which he produces, plays or writes on!). This record is particularly notable for being one of the first popular rock albums with Japanese lyrics. The music on here is lushly produced and inspired by The Beatles, The Byrds and The Kinks. Just the first of many indelible marks Hosono made on music as a medium, hopefully this track will make you embark on a voyage to discover the rest of his incredible work!
BBBBBB - Shin God 2 #
Positive Violence was one of my favourite records of 2023 and this new EP is maybe even more ridiculous? One of the members also has probably the coolest pair of jeans I've ever seen (that I'd never have the courage to rock myself). 20th century Boredoms for the 21st century.
Full Body 2 - ador//ation (Audiotree Live Session) #
I'm sorry but I'm just a total sucker for live recordings from an act that creates music that can be described as "guitar based music that originates from Philadelphia, USA".
Patch Notes #
There's now a works page! This meant digging out two projects (What If They Don't Have Eyes and Atamaca Garden Web Portal) and making them work again after a few years. I also wrote up my time making an interactive exhibit for the V&A South Kensington Museum. More to add soon :)
There's still no email subscription (yet) but it is being worked on (I promise!).