Shit and Shine - Jream Baby Jream

I’ve followed Craig Clouse through just about everything he’s done, most notably his more rock leaning projects like Crown Roast or TODD, but Shit and Shine has always been the most challenging of the bunch. More of an outlet to dabble in the harsher and possibly disorienting realms of power electronics, samples, basic guitar distortion, and synthesizers Shit and Shine is further muscled up with stacks of amps and multiple percussionists at times to create an amalgam of noise that really is quite like no other.

In the past Shit and Shine took to the chopped and screwed cuts of electronics and placed them against mammoth like simple riffing for desirable results more often than not. Blown out and punishing, the hulking mess created by such did well in further blurring the lines between straight noise and rock. Over the course of what has become a fairly prolific catalog, Shit and Shine has followed a similar track of that of fellow experimentalists Sightings. Both bands have went from the harsher beginnings of malfunctioning amps and sheer noise barrages towards a more bastardized form of rock that actually hits more nerves than their noisier pasts ever managed to. It’s with Shit and Shine’s latest album Jream Baby Jream where I believe they’ve really hit upon a great mixture of past and present, provoking feelings of paranoia, dread, and levels of discombobulation without sacrificing much of the groups infatuation with beat driven electronics. After a short thirty second intro, Shit and Shine hits with full force on “Dinner With My Girlfriend” by employing the use of swirling feedback to continually wrap around a HUGE blown out beat for the duration of nine minutes. It’s as close to “doom” as the group will likely ever get, but it’s an epically sized helping no doubt and one of the finest things on the album. Another highlight is on the flip side of the record with the roughly ten minute “Rodeo Girls” that develops a bit of a retro vibe to it thanks in part to an uncharacteristically danceable beat and guitar twang throughout that repeats in loop like fashion. It’s like one of those movie sequences where someone is walking down a huge city street surrounded by nothing but people, cars, and skyscrapers only the person walking is in no doubt inebriated and terrified. The album as whole operates greatly on a backbone of recurring beats and ambiance to create its creepy theatrics. The balance shown here though is fairly impressive.

Shit and Shine – Dinner With my Girlfriend (stream)

Those interested in grabbing a copy of Jream Baby Jream can do so by heading over to Riot Season. Limited to 400 copies with no repress.

VA - A Butcher’s Waltz (4-way split LP)

Ah, good to finally be back. Incredibly sorry for the long break there, but getting settled into my new living quarters took a bit longer than I’d expected. There are still some things to take care of, however time is freeing up some and BOAWS should be back in action now. And with that said, on to the music…

A Butcher’s Waltz may very well be the first four way split that I’ve ever really written about on these pages. After getting a look of the bands involved, it was made pretty clear to me that I’d probably find a lot to like on it. And even the one group that I wasn’t familiar with, Power Take Off, turns out to be the new band featuring Gus Engstrom formerly of Grids. As most of you know, that certainly makes it something of interest around here. The other bands contributing some songs are Seawhores, Skoal Kodiak, and Gay Witch Abortion. So yeah, a pretty nice collection of bands, to say the least.

Opening things up on the a-side of A Butcher’s Waltz is the collective known as Seawhores who, for whatever reason, have pretty much eluded me since their excellent LP Forest back in 2006. I do recall listening to Opus Magnanimous somewhere in between there, but at this point likely needs a re-listen. The band also put out a one-sided 12” on Amphetamine Reptile just last year, but I didn’t have the dough for that and in turn haven’t had a chance to hear it. Judging by the songs featured on this split however, I’m going to have make more of an effort to do so as the three tunes that they share with us here are pretty fantastic. Both “Our Embassy” and “The Cleaning Lady” are steamrollers of vaguely groove oriented noise-rock. And of course, they manage to throw in a bit of the spontaneity that has become sort of a signature to what they do with a track like “The Architect” that sounds more like Freddy Votel’s other project Skoal Kodiak here. Good set of tunes, and if anything, I’m happy that this record could jog my memory a bit about these guys.

Filling up the rest of the main side is Power Take Off, which as I previously mentioned, is the project of former Grids member Gus Engstrom. The track “Plow Share” is the lone helping here from the band, however it happens to span a lofty 10 minutes. If you’ve ever had the pleasure of hearing one of Rusted Shut’s lengthier noise excursions on any of their records, then you already have an excellent idea of what Power Take Off sound like. The track leaps into a slow distortion heavy trudge that rolls along for a good portion of the track, really only taking a very small break somewhere in the middle of the song for what I would assume is a sample of an auctioneer at a cattle auction. Ah, the Midwest. This isn’t as hateful/miserable as Rusted Shut, but certainly has the same crunch to succeed in the same type of way. Dig it and definitely look forward to hearing more.

On the b-side is Skoal Kodiak leading the way with two songs that certainly fit the bill for this project of mutated noise and dub heavy beats. They are fresh off a solid record that was just released on Load Records, and it’s safe to say that those of you out there enjoyed that, then these tracks will likely be of interest. Often sounding like every part of every appliance you own circling the drain, Skoal Kodiak skillfully sketch together funk laced beats and the swirling noise to present something that often truly sounds otherworldly. It’s no secret that Minneapolis has been a breeding ground for this type of experimentation over the years, and with Votel’s time in both the Cows and Seawhores, this almost seems natural. Almost.

I feel that the pairing of Skoal Kodiak and Gay Witch Abortion on the b-side was a good idea, as they both tend to explore an uncomfortable mutoid type of rock and give this record somewhat of a tale of two sides feel. Gay Witch Abortion kind of sit closer to something like Lightning Bolt I’d say, with a rather significant focus on percussion. They have six songs on the LP, and as you may have guessed, they are quite short in length. The briefness of it all almost makes it sound like the entire thing runs together for one longer bi-polar track, which actually kind of works in their favor. I like it, but need a bit more to get me off the fence on these guys.

Seawhores – Our Embassy (stream)
Power Take Off – Plow Share (stream)
Skoal Kodiak – Ruined Rings (stream)
Gay Witch Abortion – Angola Rodeo (stream)

Anyone looking to pick this up can do so by hitting up Learning Curve Records. Definitely worth it if you’re a fan of one or more of these groups.

Britches - Demonstration

Happened upon the St. Louis trio of Britches awhile back when they had a five song online demo up for download. Admittedly I didn’t give them much thought afterward, but then this album showed up late last year and happily gave them another go around. At the very least the demo was oddball enough to warrant it. They seem to have a recurring thing with incorporating the word “demo” into the name of their releases, this one being Demonstration and the previous release titled Democracy. I assume that these aren’t just cleverly named demos though. Really, this is pretty much a different band than what I remember listening to some time ago when it sounded more like some guys just screwing around and being outwardly weird. With Demonstration the group sounds far more focused; taking a big step away from the simple basement sort of jamming and creating a distinct mood/vibe with a mixture of psych and abrasive noise experimentation. When I received this, it was described to me as being a type of “noisy rock”, which certainly rings true as far as the noisy part goes. However, Britches rock more so in the way of bands like Mouthus and later era Sightings choose to rock. They don’t necessarily achieve the twisting mind altering levels like either those bands tend to, however are certainly operating within the same type of dark and post apocalyptic world. It should be interesting to hear these guys moving forward.

Britches – We’re Both Ready [MP3]

If you’re interested in just checking the entire thing out, the band has it available for free download via their Bandcamp.

Trabajo - Slow Pageant

Can’t say that I get too many 3-inch CD’s in the mail. In fact, I don’t think I ever have until this little four song EP from the Brooklyn duo Trabajo showed up. I wasn’t really too interested in ripping it to my computer as I remember the only other time I had to deal with one of these was a lengthy and troublesome time spent getting it out of my computers CD tray. Thankfully they had this one up elsewhere for free download and saved me the worry of having to possibly deal with that sort of thing again. That aside, Trabajo present an interesting take on post-punk with the tracks featured here that often lean more so to the noisier/experimental side of things. They rely heavily on big distorted drum & bass beats and a number of samples that often have a tribal/ethnic side to them, which makes for a nice listen whenever it pops up. The vocals are a bit unnecessary in the grand scheme of things here, as they are indecipherable and mixed a bit too low to even have them be noticeable anyway. Overall though, the music has some good ideas going for it that seem to be put to use in different ways from track to track. Consider me intrigued.

Trabajo – Two Horns [MP3]

From what I understand this thing was super limited and has probably long since sold out. However there is nothing stopping anyone from grabbing it for free on their Bandcamp page, albeit track by track.

Free Clinic & Half Nelson Split LP

Relatively new split LP out on Ulja Factory from two Pittsburgh bands in Free Clinic and Half Nelson, one of which I’ve had the pleasure of hearing before and another that is new to these ears. The a-side is comprised of eight tracks from Free Clinic. Their demo from last year was a pretty promising piece of plodding lo-fi noise that likely perked the interest of those who consider Drunks With Guns, Killdozer, and Feedtime among some of the greatest bands ever. Even if that’s not the case, fans of noise-rock in general should have taken notice. Unfortunately I do not have the piece I wrote about it at the time, but to summarize…I enjoyed it quite a bit. No surprise there I imagine. With their side on this split Free Clinic doesn’t really move away from that approach at all, coming back with eight more tunes of down tuned bass heavy THUD. While a bit more audible this time around, it’s still not by much and the “budget on a dime” character remains as well. The vocals this time around seem a bit more relegated to the background with less shouting/screaming and more of a detached spoken type of thing going on, similar to that of Michael Gira and early Swans. In fact, the track below that I am posting for the Free Clinic side is named SWAN, which I imagine has to be an homage in some way, if it’s not…it’s a hell of a coincidence after hearing it. These tracks though are every bit as punishing as those found on their demo. If you enjoyed that, then this split is a must.

As for Half Nelson, this is my first time hearing the group, project, or whatever it may be. While also lurking around the realm of all things noise, as one would figure here, Half Nelson is a particularly different beast resulting in a rather interesting pairing here. They have a single untitled track consuming the entire b-side of the record. Shifting between a myriad of different clangs, squeals, and motorized hums Half Nelson seem to mash what occasionally sounds like found sound of the inner workings of a power plant and the subtle manipulations of electronics/distortion. Their approach isn’t one that strives to overpower with noise, but rather achieves a certain level of depth with the reduced volume sparking an interest in uncovering more. It’s similar to that of putting your ear against a door in an effort to deduce what may be taking place on the other side. I may not know what I’m hearing, but it remains interesting for the duration and its ability to act as a soundtrack to some degree allows my imagination to run some.

Free Clinic – SWAN (stream)
Half Nelson – Untitled excerpt (stream)

For anyone interested in picking this up, it’s available currently through Ulja Factory. I believe Katorga Works also has some copies of this as well. Only 250 copies pressed, so get it quick. Enjoy!

Trunks - On the Roof

Last time I heard from French band Trunks was with their two song single for Kniee & Journey to the Line from a year or so ago that greatly showcased two different sides to the band, a nice taste of what might lie on the horizon. In a couple weeks the band will release their second album On the Roof, which judging from a few runs through now, should interest those who were into what they were doing on their previous single.

Much like the aforementioned single, On the Roof jumps drastically between wild jazzy improvisation and the melodic ambiance/tension building of post-rock. Some of the more noisier moments that involve a heavy dose of saxophone give them a bit of similarity to their fellow French peers Cafe Flesh (who are also fantastic by the way) however less “rock” based, and obviously Italian avant rockers Zu are good reference point here as well. On the Roof carries a hint of solemness that creeps in every so often on tracks like “Blue Dot” and “First Train Home”, where at least on “Blue Dot” it’s heavily carried by the wonderful voice of Laetitia Sheriff and a backing sax. For the most part however, Trunks keep things urgent and upbeat with a specialty in remaining unpredictable from track to track. On the Roof capitalizes nicely on a single that came loaded with potential and for those that enjoyed it there is an extended version of “Kniee” on the record to be heard.

Trunks – Blue Dot (stream)

On the Roof will be available on the 29^th of September. Keep an eye out on their website or Bandcamp for purchasing. Enjoy!

Pink City - Designing Women

If I still had all the old content available on the blog, you’d probably quickly notice that Pink City is becoming a popular name among these pages. Featuring their two previous online singles in some form or another, they’ve quickly responded by pumping out their debut album Designing Women and again pushing their way from my speakers and onto these pages. Also, If the name of the album is a reference to the past TV show of the same name, then kudos. My mother is a huge fan.

Pink City is an interesting case even with the music removed from the picture. The two individuals who make up the band actually live nowhere near each other. I’m talking across major masses of water here. However, you’d never know it by listening to these tunes or any of their previous material for that matter, as Pink City are no different than if three or four guys were banging out these tracks in a garage somewhere. Aside from the drum machine, there really is no telling and even with that it gives the band the sort of mechanized aesthetic that works to their advantage. The sort of primitive drubbing that it provides in combination with the bands mass of gnarled noise gives them a very cold and menacing sound that shares similarities to that of early Swans or, as I’ve mentioned before, Distorted Pony. With Designing Women however, Pink City show off a side to them we hadn’t heard yet by laying off the distortion some and veering somewhat into full experimental noise mode. Tracks like “Family Therapy” and “Endless Night” are prime examples and see the band pursuing darker territories with the latter even adopting a bit of a gothic vibe to it. Very cool and in a way reminds me of some of what the Pain Teens would occasionally churn out. It’s good to see Pink City not fully relying on overpowering noise however, and realizing that the combination of noise and atmosphere is a very powerful tool when done effectively. They’ve certainly accomplished that here with Designing Women. Great stuff.

Pink City – The Operator (stream)

Anyone interested in picking up Designing Women can do so by simply hitting up their Bandcamp page. Well worth it if you dig the tune above!

Myself - Haro!

I fear that as I write this that the context of which I use the bands name is going to become increasingly confusing, so my goal I guess will be to reference Myself as little as possible (shit already screwed it up). A fine joke I suppose on those out there that find themselves writing about this album. At least it’s a bit more clever than bands that have names that are so intentionally vague that searching for a website or whatever becomes overly frustrating. Myself thankfully avoid having that be the only memorable part of their existence with their recently released second album Haro!, which is out on Whosbrain Records, by offering up something interesting to those who appreciate a bit of improvised noise here and there. The French trio features saxophone player Claude Spenlehauer, guitarist Nicolas Gully, and drummer/synth player Pascal Gully (who also does work in the Tzadik jazz/noise outfit Zakarya). It would appear that due to the ties of some of the members and their other projects, and also probably because of the inclusion of a saxophone, that the band often gets slapped with some bizarre tag like “jazz-core”. Not surprising considering that just about anything can have “core” attached to the end of it now and then bam you have yourself a new genre. All I know is that Myself have really very little to do with jazz aside from some of the more free form aspects of their approach, so if that’s something you’ve read then forget about it. Myself are more of a rock band at their very core, surrounding the deeper rhythmic sounds with the harsh rubbing down of sax, synth, electronic looping, and the occasional vocal spewing to bring forth what is a rather impressive display of wildly erratic yet aggressive sounds. Most of the songs on Haro! are balled up into two to three minutes bursts, which serves as pretty much the perfect canvas for Myself to work with considering their highly energetic nature here. I’m sure their drummer appreciates that as well, as he is getting quite the workout on the album and is a joy to listen to as well. For those that enjoy stuff like Zu or could go for maybe a less lo-fi version of Violence Jazz, then Myself is definitely worth a listen.

Myself – G Point of a Bitch (stream)

Those that are interested in picking up a physical copy of Haro! can do so by hitting up Whosbrain Records. For those that aren’t interested in overseas shipping rates, the band also has it available through Bandcamp for digital download. Enjoy!