Howdy and welcome to edition #25 of Crow’s Nest. As always, if you’re reading this, thank you for doing so, I hope you find something within you enjoy.
I was reviewing some info a few weeks ago about Crow’s Nest and saw that last issue came out exactly 1 day before the 1-year anniversary of me first hitting send on one of these babies. So this issue means I’ve been writing Crow’s Nest for over 1 year now! I don’t really have that much in terms of reflections or celebrations on that but it feels very good to be able to say I’ve been doing this for over a year. External praise hasn’t been the biggest motivator for me on this, but I do want to say thank you so much to each and every one of you who have signed up for this and told me that you enjoy reading these or have found some new music from them. That does mean a lot to me.
Send more heads pats my way:
This issue would be just-about-perfectly timed for year-end lists … but this issue isn’t one of those. My listening queue is still in spots backed up to October, and, per my previous writings on the subject, I’m not a fan of them. So this issue is just more stuff that, like the others, may be a highlight from the year, or something more ephemeral that’s caught my attention. I hope you enjoy regardless.
No big essay this issue. Important note way at the end though. I do have one essay idea floating in my mind to write, but it will require doing actual work beyond typing, and my capacity for that is more limited than usual as a result lot of other stuff I cram into December and that. Stay tuned for that in the next issue, maybe, perhaps around New Year’s?
Anyway let’s get to the music. I got the ‘Post too long for email’ warning well before popping everything in here so open in the browser if needed.
I have a distinct memory of seeing Helm opening for Blanck Mass at the Bottle a couple years ago, running through the title track and Tower. It is one of the few times I recall pulling out my earplugs at a show and the sound quality improving as a result—there is a little-paralleled, master-level detail to Luke Younger’s sound design on these tracks. A great record in that regard, and thankfully the music itself is solid too.
I was getting a drink between sets at Sleeping Village when this caught my ear over the speakers. Talking with the DJs to get the track ID, I learned this wasn’t some knowledge gap of mine on legacy noise rock or post-punk but instead an alive and kicking group from Minneapolis. Hell yeah. They have an, uh, irradiated charm to them, sounding like a decade-younger DEVO that embraced existentialism after 3 Mile Island. Putting Stereolab lounge synths over said outro is a great choice. There are multiple full albums from them I need to dig into more, and the DJs mentioned trying to get them to play here soon so I will be there if/when that happens.
As evidence of how far behind I am on the music I want to listen to, I just got to Pond’s new album from early October this weekend. Yeah. Luckily good music has no expiry date unlike the bagged salad I chucked from my fridge, and the group’s 9th album is solid. Comparisons to Tame Impala are inevitable given their close association, and while it’s now easy to sneer at the bigger Aussie psych group and its fans, a healthier alternative has to be giving this another spin. YouTube embed as no Bandcamp to my knowledge.
Audiobooks’s 2018 debut was a pleasantly off-kilter, twee-absurd electronic project I really enjoyed as I was settling into stable long-term employment. The followup continues in this vein, with the caveat that singer Evangeline Ling seems to have gone increasingly feral through lockdowns and the pandemic. Relatable tbh. Another October release that I need to spend more time with.
I called this ‘music to check your vibe to’ on Twitter during my first listen, and I feel that holds up—this 7” is the perfect length to examine your headspace and where you’re at under the influence of various intoxicants. Psychedelic, dubby as hell rock from a Höga Nord staple—perhaps one of the most quintessential, exemplary releases from the label.
Chunky electro bangers out on the anything goes Psychic Liberation label. The grittiness imparts a nice flavor to this release, like something out on L.I.E.S. or CLEAR that helps it stand out from the pack of dance music I only spin a few times before forgetting. (I’m not going to share the term I just came up with for that, out of respect to all artists I don’t give enough attention to.)
Plastic Crimewave’s longrunning Secret History of Chicago Music series has been an excellent recent reading discovery of mine. One of the latest entries was on late 80s Champaign-Urbana post-punks Stark. A compiled album out of demos was recently put out by the group, and certainly shows potential as to what they could have done had they sticked around longer.
I am not at all familiar with disco—I loved What’s Your Pleasure? from last year but both of my parents easily could have been at Comiskey for Disco Demolition night—and diving into the genre and its half-century of music and surrounding culture is intimidating, to say the least. This sampler came to my attention a month or two ago though, and quality music is quality music, so I will trust that this is what it says quite prominently—like Ivkovic with Goa trance—and encourage you to give it a spin. I have a 33-track compilation from the same (or perhaps closely aligned) label queued up in my Bandcamp tabs from this weekend and recognize none of the names involved.
The first time I spun this over the summer, I wasn’t too impressed by this album from local post-punk group The Lipschitz, but seeing the duo live (yes, it’s only 2 people, no bass!) changed my view, especially the humor and energy they had onstage. Catch them live when you have the chance and give this or one of the many different colored versions of the LP a spin in the interim.
Tokyo producer boys be kko has been a staple producer for Amsterdam’s Atomnation label over the past few years, and his debut unsurprisingly continues being a marker of high quality. The subtle kawaii inflections of these numbers are a nice inclusion, and this whole record could have easily come out on a more whimsical European label like Pampa or Studio Barnhus.
Last issue I highlighted Call Super’s latest releases, and this time I have his can you feel the sun label mate/co-founder Parris’s album to feature. Skater’s World alone makes this worthy of inclusion but the full release has plenty of blissful electronics you you to enjoy.
I’m quite a fan of BBE’s archival jazz compilations, not so much the more contemporary stuff under its umbrella. Their most recent compilation is meant to pair rare releases with wine vintages from the same year as they were released, spanning from the 70s to 2016. I very rarely drink wine so I can’t speak to how well the concept works, but I can say this is a good listen with a different intoxicant beginning with a ‘w’, to say the least.
The press release on this EP out on Shall Not Fade calls it ‘post-disco’, which I believe just about all contemporary dance music qualifies as? I’ll leave it there since I have little room to talk (see above) and also describe most everything I spin with guitars as post-punk. Anyway, these tracks sound a lot, to my ears, like a spaceship taking off or other space age, groovy galactic party music. If I find much of the SNF roster disposable this one’s got my ears for sure.
British trio Still House Plants are certainly an acquired taste even if you’re into dry, deconstructed art rock and consider Laughing Stock unimpeachable. This single on AD 93 may be long gone as a dubplate but thankfully the only thing you need to worry about wearing out with the digital version is your own interest in it.
A few issues back I highlighted Tresor’s massive 52-track, just under 5 hour long 30th anniversary compilation. While you’d think being able to play the full thing for nearly an entire club night would be enough, the label arm of the institution is continuing the party with some specially-labelled techno EPs. My gut says Donato Dozzy’s is the best of the bunch so far (and some of his best recent work) but the new-to-me producers TV Victor and Israel Vines aren’t slacking here, all are worth checking out.
Pete Swanson and Gabriel M. Saloman, formerly of Yellow Swans, have been revisiting their archives during the pandemic, and posting a glut of reissues for various Bandcamp Fridays, some reaching mass audiences for the first time. Of the most recent batch, my favorite is this set of lightly edited (?) live recordings from the noise legends early on in their career. To me this is danceable stuff, like the time I saw Merzbow play a Red Bull party at a warehouse on Goose Island.
Local producer Oui Ennui began re-emerging in 2019, only to have his momentum thrown off by the pandemic. Battling a case of long COVID, he set himself a goal of releasing one album a month and has remarkably managed to keep not only that promise but also the quality of music high. The liner notes on this one, a number of longform psychedelic-leaning dance productions, suggests he’s going to take it slower moving forward. I’ve not yet managed to catch him live yet but look forward to it soon, no matter where he goes with his music.
You probably won’t be surprised to learn the latest EP from Gary, IN producer Jlin is high-quality. The tracks move away from footwork and towards techno, while keeping things interesting with footwork’s frantic pace and changes coloring the release.
Footwork, ghetto house, juke and other underground Chicago styles continue spreading and inspiring young producers across the country and world. Juke Bounce Werk, a South Los Angeles-centered collective, has risen prominently over the past few years, and considering I only know a small fraction of the names on the 9th (!) compilation they’ve put out, clearly the sound has a lot of life left to it.
I featured this over the summer but as I’ve been to a number of post-punk heavy indie rock shows recently, this album has gotten a few more spins from me, particularly opener ‘Overcast Forever’ which is certainly the mood around this time in Lakeview. If this isn’t my top sleeper hit/underrated imo release of the year, it’s certainly up there on said theoretical list.
At about twice the music of a regular issue, I’m calling it here. If you’ve made it this far, as always, thank you for reading, I appreciate your support and hope you’ve gotten something from this issue or at least one of the past year’s Crow’s Nests. Ideally all but I get it. Take care this holiday season.
One more thing: be sure to protect your hearing! The Helm album and the ‘tinnitus-sampling’ beat on GAS’s latest album have reminded me of this recently, especially the latter which I cannot hear no matter how hard I try. Listening to loud music is one of life’s great pleasures, yet the effects of hearing damage, tinnitus and other auditory sensory disorders are very real, largely irreversible, and have led people to psychosis and suicide. Rumor has it Daft Punk broke up in part because one of them (I’d guess Guy-Manuel) has it bad enough to be functionally deaf. Some hearing loss is natural, yes, and I’ve known I’ve had some loss since I was 17. Still, quite literally not hearing things others do is disorienting considering how unprovable it is to you. And surely, for me, this is easy/mild compared to others with similar habits.
I’ve worn earplugs to shows since I was 19 and cannot recommend it enough. You lose some of the intensity of the show, which I feel impacts your memory of it, but on the whole you do hear the show itself so much clearer and better that it would be worth it even if there weren’t any health benefits to it. I use Etymotics plugs and they are easily the best $20 or so I have ever spent. Not to tell you how/where to spend your money, nor do I know if they’d arrive in time for the holiday, but I would highly recommend getting a pair for you or the music lover(s) in your life ASAP.
Until next time, cheers.