Here’s a bit of a meaningless opening text for this issue so you don’t get the wrong impression from the preview about what I’m gonna talk about. Anyway, Bandcloud, the 8-year music recommendations newsletter by Aidan Hanratty out of Dublin, has officially ended after 403 issues. As I’ve written before, Bandcloud was one of the publications that inspired me to finally start a newsletter/blog/personal writing thing a few years ago. Staring down the 2020-2021 winter COVID surge, I found myself in an eat/sleep/work/repeat rut and realized, well, the self-publication tools aren’t getting any easier to use, no one’s going to knock on my door to ask me to contribute to their thing, surely I could do something a fraction as good as someone like Aidan—just some guy (in a good way!) writing up the things he enjoyed—and if I don’t give this a try now, when will I ever? I didn’t want to know what the answer would be if I didn’t, so I set myself up and started writing some words down. A bit under 2 years later, here we are.
Notes of support from Bandcloud, whether his signup to Crow’s Nest, occasional responses, including something he seemed to find via me, and more made me think I was, you know, on to something with this. Many of you are getting this email after he recommended me to you, for which I am grateful. And thank you especially to Bandcloud as well.
I spent my most recent therapy session discussing the notion of making plans and doing things by myself, realizing that, amongst my circle, I am most often the one proposing things to people and initiating plans. That was a bit of a revelation to me given I’m an introvert and not someone who proposes plans super frequently! As I explained, well, I’m not the type who’s ‘in’ with a number of people and naturally finds myself invited to join in or contribute. Which is fine, this is my cross to bear, and as we discussed I more often than not can get over myself and go out and do things by myself, even if I can’t perfectly fit into the background or accept that in a place. Nobody calls you out for being a loser by yourself in public (you’re not), and many respect your capacity to do so. Still, loneliness does get to me when there’s a stretch of no plans on the horizon, and I’ve known for a while (and am still trying to fully internalize this) that if I don’t put myself out there … the odds aren’t too great that anyone else will invite me. So if I don’t, who will? The answer can be more disappointing, upsetting and irritating than you’d like. Thus we take the initiative, shoot our shot and see what happens, hopefully score and open up a path to something further, better or more connected. Or get frustrated when people waffle on committing to anything, if they respond. The only guaranteed outcome occurs when you choose not to play, in which case you lose by default.
Of course no one is really under much of an obligation to do anything, whether that’s make plans, invite me to do stuff with them (though I would appreciate the offer for sure!), write about independent, underground music or anything else like that. The world continues to turn independent of what you choose to do (or not), and while that happens someone should really write about all these great tunes other people aren’t covering. I’m not sure if I’ve got ‘it’ (whatever that may be) from here. I guess there’s only one way to find out.
Even for prolific music labels, the amount of material they receive and pass over, not to mention the attention required to properly release and promote, is enormous. But even then a love of the game means wanting to put out more than what’s reasonable, which is no doubt the motivation for Hausu Mountain’s Max Allison (Mukqs) recently started Bandcamp page Blorpus Editions. 4th release “Lime Matrices Deep Afield” from prolific Kazakh teen OMS is a mind-bogglingly wild ride in the experimental, post-vaporwave realm, with shifting loops and layers sounding like 3-4 separate songs on top of each other. I’ve not listened on headphones per Max’s recommendation but even over speakers this is insane noise. Leftfield techno/bass and drone taking cues from Fluxus artists like Henry Flynt and Milan Knížák, free jazz, The Dead C, Carl Stone, Brainticket’s self-titled track on Cottonwoodhill, and Ghédalia Tazartès (perhaps) spring to mind as I listen to this and the handful of other releases from OMS's (and his peers’s) back catalog spread across numerous Bandcamp pages. It’s a pleasure to get lost in material like this.
Sometimes all you need is a good 7”. And vinyl too! Can’t relate if you can get by with less. Anyway uhhhhh Gothenburg’s Höga Nord has hit the spot again with this single from Belfast producer Black Bones, delivering a sharp one-two punch of a pair of innovative tracks quite unlike anything I’ve heard recently. The A-side takes a maloya beat ironed out into 4/4 for a chiller dance floor moment; part of me hopes that doesn’t catch on and music in this style maintains 6/8 as its standard time signature, another part just likes a solid groove like it delivers. The B-side starts like a NHK yx Koyxen buildup, upping the ante before delivering an asynchronous electro-blast beat, like your finest 2000s noise underground turned techno artist returning to his roots for a second, just to feel something and remind audiences of a more ‘real’ past era. Not that this single, which does more than many producers turn out over a full album cycle or ‘era’, is lacking in authenticity. But it’s exciting to see a producer like this cast their net into new territory, expanding the realm of possibility rather than ride a current trend.
Shackleton continues his excursions to the outer world of post-dubstep, post-tribal music on this EP out on Honest Jon’s. Working off of recordings made in Senegal the month before shit really hit the fan worldwide, you have 3 longform pieces that take syncopated percussion to their breaking point over minimal backing. If you’ve ever had that fantasy of taking an off-beat rhythmic line out past any bridge or point of good taste just to see what happens, these are for you. Mark Ernestus has a coda of a dub on the end that does absolutely nothing for me in the wake of the three originals.
Recent readings:
-Ted Gioia examines the conflict between the Blues and Greens factions of chariot racing fans during (and after) the Roman Empire and what a seemingly senseless phenomena can mean for us. (This is behind a paywall but reach out and I will forward it to you)
-Mariana Timony writes of ‘Philadelphia, Again’ and trying to find meaning and belonging in circular places, times and situations which resist simple interpretation
-Clare Coffey, in Gawker, writes about personal responsibility and functioning in the contemporary age, and why you can’t and shouldn’t blame capitalism writ large for your malfunctioning malaises.
-Damon Krukowski examines a recent controversy in the audiophile realm and what really matters when it comes to high-quality playback
From The New Yorker:
-Nicola Twilley looks at cold chain technology and Rwanda, and the work being done to improve (or even implement) it there
-Adam Entous looks into the Biden family history of alcohol issues and status anxiety, and what they might show us about the President
-Hua Hsu takes a look at the relationship between him, his father, Taiwan, assimilating in America and connecting to one another through Kurt Cobain
Tweet too good not to share behind the lock:
I’ve no clue what the details of the ‘Male Idiot Theory’ this Belgian group calls itself entails, but I’m willing to bet that theory’s a bit like gravity. Wonderful, noisy mix of post-Devo angsty rock like VISION 3D—perhaps they share members?—Uranium Club, Girlsperm, touches of folks like Automatic and ROUGE in there too. All groups featured in Crow’s Nest issues in the past year! Feel free to peruse previous issues if you’re not familiar. This is that ‘egg punk’ stuff people talk about? Send more of it my way I guess and I’ll put it on heavy rotation.
Last night at the Hooveriii show at the Hideout, Mexico City-based psych group Petite Amie opened for them. You’re forgiven for thinking the band came from overseas instead, given the strong French psych pop influences on their sound. They were a lot of fun onstage and having a lot of fun while doing so, and I would definitely recommend catching them on this tour or the next time they roll through when you can.
Glitchy, dubby experimental dance music out of Oakland via Berlin. I’ve had to ration my listening of this since hitting the Bandcamp paywall on it—it’s pricey and not otherwise available to stream, I think—but opening a second browser to listen to this again as I write it up, I hear a kinship with footwork, Beatrice Dillon and other producers fearless enough to throw the kitchen sink into their productions and have something come out absurd yet tasty.
It’s not clear whether anachronistic interpretations of German music in predecessor genre styles is one of those peculiar Japanese subcultures I’m not familiar with, or I’ve simply featured 2 groups in that style in back-to-back issues. Anyway, ever wonder what Kraftwerk would sound like as an instrumental surf rock band circa pre-1964? No? Interested? If so, prolific Otia trio The Routes’s The Twang Machine is for you. It’s a fairly comprehensive survey of the synth pop group’s back catalog, in zippily precise renderings that highlight the timelessness of Kraftwerk’s songwriting strengths. It can feel a bit destabilizing if you’ve long felt Kraftwerk were Japanese to some degree but it’s hard to argue with a quality work such as this.
Bay area indie rock group Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 are practically the definition of a cult act; both Elf Power and The National have covered/interpolated them, and Ryley Walker managed to sell out a couple runs of authorized bootleg merch last year. New archival label Bulbous Monocle has kicked off with a pair of (needed, evidently) reissues from their catalog. Listening to them, it’s easy to see them as predecessors to freak folk and the indie rock wave of the 2000s. Their weirdness and genre agnosticism apparently riled purists of their day—opening for both Sun City Girls and Pavement made them unique—and gives a major point in favor on the poptimists. Time to get lost and get weird doing what you want.
It feels a bit weird, being a late millennial in Chicago watching younger ones come up from behind in the so-called ‘young indie’ scene blossoming in this metropolitan area at the same time as they come of age. Anyway, Lifeguard. All members still in high school afaik. EP recorded at Electrical Audio, so on the harder side of things within their scene. I think I bought a t-shirt off of one of them last summer, working the merch table after his dad’s band FACS played the Bottle? Final track ‘Typecast’ is the highlight and about half the EP length, descending into This Heat-ian realms. They have a curfew, I probably should get a bedtime. Agree to not think about this too much as I rock out and give them some spending money at a future show, and see just how much better this can get.
Was 2018 a good year for club music? It’s hard for me to say, but that’s the thought that seeps into my mind as I listen to this. Out on Hakuna Kulala, the club sublabel to Nyege Nyege, is this white label from the South African producer. Strong notes of Ramos and Transition 2 come to mind as I give this a spin, fused with gqom and similar fare in a way that feels contemporary if not the freshest thing in the market. Do you remember where you were that year when you first heard Slikback and stopped, slack-jawed, wondering just what the fuck he was doing and how? Club tools for the adventurous DJ and a good spin even for those not stepping up behind the decks.
Nostalgia for past parties, eras you weren’t there for and other rave memoirs are as much of a staple of the dance floor and club culture as the actual tunes and current parties are nowadays. Few do so as uniquely or powerfully as lianne hall has done here though. Using a largely folk pop palette instead of the same electronic gear, there’s still some drum programming and vocal runs that, if turned up a few notches, could easily slot into present-day bangers. It makes for an evocative portrait of the past instead of a self-pity party that you’re not Sanna Marin when you realize you don’t feel up for going out as often anymore.
(Note: I write Crow’s Nest non-sequentially and did this before Bandcloud’s announcement, should the below be a bit confusing in comparison to what’s above.) German producer Sam Goku, a staple of the Atomnation label and probably a couple other similarly minded ones that are less all-black hardcore rave and more sensual/melodic, put out this EP with only the note ‘Bandcamp exclusive release’. Which makes me wonder: did he shop these tracks to labels, or did he want them out more quickly than your standard label could do justice? If the latter that’s understandable considering their quality, if the former I’m scratching my head at why any label in this stylistic realm would pass on them. Judge for yourself as though you do A&R for a boutique-ish operation with a sub-1,000 vinyl pressing and see whether you’d put these to wax or not for this guy.
Well, here we are at the end of issue #38 of Crow’s Nest. If you’re reading this, as always, thank you for doing so, I hope there was something within you appreciated. Spread the word or spend some cash on this if you like it, and I’ll be back soon enough with the next edition of this. Take care until then.