Hey everyone, welcome to issue #63 of Crow’s Nest. As always, thank you for opening, reading, listening, checking this out, checking in, all that jazz. Though not too much jazz in this issue.
I don’t really have a year-end list or reflections for you. We’ve still got 2 weeks of the year to go, with one of those days being my birthday, so the conflation of those with a corresponding pause in experiencing the new has never sat too well with me. I also have jury duty on Wednesday, a reminder that our legal system operates year-round as well. Things might be slow regardless, but there’s still plenty of new (or new-to-you) stuff to flesh one of these issues out. I haven’t really gotten to anyone else’s year-end lists yet! I also personally have been feeling woozy the past few days due to what I’m attributing to as foolishly eating some undercooked chicken, and smoking weed seems to help keep that at bay, which doesn’t in turn positively impact my productivity or desire to do much outside of that. Anyway, have you heard these records?
It’s quite possible that the shape of post-rock and film soundtracks would have a significantly different trajectory were it not for Lincoln University (NZ) environmental management department head Roy Montgomery. This has probably less to do with Montgomery’s actual records, unfortunately, but more for the fact that, per You’re With Stupid, Godspeed You! Black Emperor obtained the contact info for the kranky label through one of his records, looking for a gig in Chicago, which led to the wide release of F#A#∞, Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven, and so on. Can you imagine those genres with GY!BE less prominently in the mix?
One of Montgomery’s kranky records—YWS doesn’t specify which one GY!BE had—has (finally) been pressed to vinyl, with some additional recordings included. That record, Temple IV, is a masterful mix of lushly strummed ambient guitar mixed with some Moog drones. Inspired in part by a trip to northern Guatemala, which apparently included spending the night on top of a temple there, that Montgomery took while processing the death of a partner, it’s an incredibly beautiful record well worth spending some time with and basking in its melancholy. There are few people who can compare to Montgomery’s stature is the underground both in New Zealand and in general, and Temple IV is one of his highlights.
Portland, Oregon’s Paul Dickow has been making dub-y electronic music for 2.5 decades now, with over 20 albums to his name—well, to his production alias Strategy at least. True Believers, out on Longform Editions, takes a bit of a different path. It’s an exploration of first-hand reports of peoples’ encounters with UFOs, mulching their oral recollections into a woozy deep listening experience. The piece isn’t all folk horror, with Dickow turning the piece into something approaching a New Age, 4th world, ambient dub techno thing. You don’t need to believe in UFOs yourself to know how good whatever this thing is.
You could probably classify Water Machine as part of the next wave of Scottish indie rock, but they’re just getting started and certainly are primed to be more than another name in the scene. Effectively a local supergroup, this new 7” wastes no room across 6 minutes, artfully cramming in peculiar jangle rock breakdowns, post-punk grooves, gang vocals, Raincoats-ian violin, hooks galore and more into but 2 songs. Bands usually require at least twice as long to maybe do as much here. If you like tightly wound art-punk records such as Wombo’s Keesh Mountain or Spread Joy’s LPs filtered through an Antipodean outlook, be sure to grab this one before it’s out of print and going for ridiculous sums on Discogs.
This is one of those blurbs I could probably do as an escalating Vince McMahon meme. Robert Hood & Femi Kuti perform together—need I say more? Fine,—in tribute to James Brown for France TV. Originally recorded in 2019, Femi’s on sax while Hood handles drum machines and keys. It’s a very jazz-funk thing, heavy on Femi’s impressive playing, but what I also find astounding in addition to that is that it’s only Hood performing with him. Were it not for the documentation to prove it, I would not believe that were the case. If you (or someone you know) thinks techno or other dance music is soulless, put this on. If it’s for someone else, do not tell them it’s only Hood and Femi. I’m blown away by that every time I listen. Buying this nets you the full unedited performance, I should note.
The latest official archival reissue from Les Rallizes Dénudés, BAUS ’93, is here, documenting the band’s first comeback gig 30 years ago, a few days before the CITTA’ ’93 gig. I’m not convinced this one is better than CITTA’ ’93, but the highlight here is the closing version of ‘Darkness Returns’, a half-hour long rendition dominated by a massive screech of a solo by bandleader Takashi Mizutani. It’s the type of thing where, if you’re not fully listening to it, at some imperceptible it morphs and suddenly becomes fully engrossing, as you hardly believe what an incredible piece of music it is. Essential for your inner noise addict.
Footage from that gig was shown as part of a photo exhibition of LRD hosted at the Empty Bottle in June here in Chicago. As part of that, a tribute gig was presented at the Bohemian National Cemetery, featuring local and international tribute sets to the band, headlined by a full set of LRD material by a band fronted by Oh Sees’ John Dwyer. I didn’t attend as I was in Japan then, oddly enough, but I found a recording of the set Dwyer posted to one of his Bandcamp pages. While the reissues are heaps better audio fidelity-wise to the bootlegs and this live showcase, the band here does a very capable job imo of replicating the LRD sound. It also includes Dwyer in part singing in Japanese I think, though he switches to English for part of it too. It’s well worth the time if you weren’t able to make it out to Chicago for the gig, and proceeds benefit local charities.
A friend of mine introduced me to one of the guys in the band Sprite at a house party last year. Cool dude, we chatted about Uranium Club, great night all around. I went and tried to find their music online afterward and couldn’t; as it turns out they hadn’t released music until this tape last week. It’s a nice lo-fi rock record mixing in influences from grunge, emo/post-hardcore and shoegaze. I am not classifying it as a Stuck side project even though the bassist plays guitar here and the lead singer/guitarist mastered it; nevertheless I will remain on the lookout for them to pop up on a local gig lineup and have a solid night out listening to them.
As you might be aware, I am quite into peculiar sounds, but admittedly the new American shoegaze scene centered in Philadelphia is something I haven’t figured out. That became clear on Friday when I checked out that scene’s Full Body 2. I’ve liked listening to their latest EP while stoned, as it mixes Loveless-indebted gazing with some cybernetic sheen to it. Live, the band alternated between the former and SP-404 dance music of the trance/worst-tasting stuff of the late 90s/early 2000s, triggered by the frontman from TAGABOW I think? Like, it was clear their primary influences were Kingdom Hearts, Adventure Time, and shitposting about Loveless online. I relayed this to friends I ran into on the bar side of Sleeping Village afterward, and they concernedly asked about the implications of this, “Are we old?” My response is that I think it’s what the kids are into, and that they are not concerned about our Millennial opinions about it. A weird one for sure. (Do not tell Shawn Reynaldo about this band.)
The intrepid crate diggers behind Sweden’s Subliminal Sounds posted this 1969 record back on to Bandcamp recently, or repressed it again considering the 2014 initial reissue. Describing it as a lost grail of the 70s NYC rock underground, Madrigal were 2 dudes with guitars and a drum machine making some dank, dark psychedelic music like many of their peers on both sides of the Atlantic in this era. I’m not convinced it can replace anything in that canon per se, but it’s a ‘good’ time especially when you’re under a haze yourself.
Chinese dance music producer Ciel, based in Toronto, is someone whose name pops up frequently on scattered releases and club night lineups such that it’s a bit surprising to learn she hadn’t released a full album until last month. This record combines her love of disparate dancefloor genre mainstays and traditional Chinese instrumentation as a way to counter anti-Asian sentiment she’s encountered especially since the pandemic started. Wonderful material.
A solid EP from the depths of Bandcamp that resurfaced in my inbox last week. The second track ‘Book 05’ is the clear highlight, with a strong yet woozy energy emblematic of some of the most iconic dance music material that came out in the middle of last decade.
I don’t have any real insight into who Patrice or his friends are for this one. I’ve followed their work for a while, since it came up in one of those mid-2010s FACT Magazine Bandcamp roundups before normies knew about Bandcamp or vaporwave. (Some of those releases are no longer available on the platform, which is unfortunate.) The work continues to be a kind of sketch-y, tableaux-like mix of funk, juke, and LA beat scene material which feels like momentary glimpse into the idealized versions of the hedonistic parties of yesteryear. I’m really not sure there’s anyone doing work quite like this elsewhere.
Alright, even if my body weren’t affecting my head right now, it’d probably be the time to call this an issue. Thank you for reading and listening, as always, I hope you found something within that made it worth your while. Have a wonderful holiday season and new year, I’ll see you again in a few weeks.