CIRCUMAMBIENT

CIRCUMAMBIENT ::: FUCKING ABOUT FOOD

I just downloaded iTunes to hear a 22 second preview of the newest XTC single, the digital-only "Where Did the Ordinary People Go?" This was one of Colin Moulding's better songs put forward for Nonsvch in 1990/91, out of a batch of at least ten complete stunners. This 2006 recording fits neatly between the two 'Apple Veni' - an uptempo rockerbopper with pizzicato strings. It sounds like a pastiche of Andy Partridge's latter-day songwriting style.

iTunes is a beast. I'm going to uninstall it now. Between WinAmp, Quicktime, RealPlayer and Windows Media, the last fucking thing my PC needs is one more system-hogging media player. My god.




CALEXICO
Garden Ruin

Modernish Americana acoustic twangy-voice almost country rock but not. "Cruel" gets down like a more self-aware American Music Club. Pedal steel. Horn section. "Yours and Mine" is acoustic guitar & singing. "Bisbee Blue" is moderately uptempo. I guess you guys who like Wilco and all that shit will already be lickin' this. Everyone else can join me in getting the hell away from it.



CASIOTONE FOR THE PAINFULLY ALONE
Etiquette

Damn, that dude's voice really sounded like Mark Eitzel at first. Shit freaked me out. Not so much now that I know it's snot him. What do you got here. You got lo fi drums, piano, maybe bass, maybe synths. And low-register mushmouth dude singing too many words, awkwardly. I guess I've heard worse, but I'm still glad the songs are short - 2-3 minutes each. "Young Shields" adds a tense but danceable drum groove & undulating bass bit to the sad synth chords & vocal mannerismae. "I Love Creedence" is more of the same & now I know what he's doing, he thinks he's Mark Kozelek - messy singing, highly personal lyrics, classic rock references. I get it now. "Love Connection" inserts similarly unsettled female vocals & lyrics to the mix, which is somehow preferable. "Holly Hobby" sounds like His Name Is Alive. Not horrible but still highly unlikely I'll listen again.


ENSIFERIUM
Dragonheads EP

Almost poppy death metal, if you can imagine that. The guitars sound like fifty million bucks, the drums sound great too & the wee little choon sounds like some fucking, I don't know, Scottish Highlander shit. Viking boat sea shanty 'sailing' 'together we fight' thing. The lead vocals are tuneless black metal. Weird. This is probably what passes for pop music in Europe now. It's not bang-your-head heavy. Or is it. Couple of progressive moments there with the time signature. Okay. The choral backing vocals are just weird. Oh shit, halfway through there's a keyboard-stab breakdown that sounds like vintage Yngwie or, heh, Europe. "Warrior's Quest" is like a Lord of the Rings ballad or some shit. Everyone slow-dance to the death metal now! "White Storm" adds a thrashy bit, almost a blastbeat but not quite. And yet, wow. Stunningly un-stunning. Take that, weird fake Euro poppy death metal.



MONO
You Are There

Six songs in an hour. The first track takes its time building up from cool ambience to spacy freak-out-rock. Sigur Ros minus the songs. It's kind of like Sonic Youth in reverse. Mono starts with a quiet, pretty riff-thing and adds or subtracts to the atmos from there. Slowly building. "Yearning" is 15.5 minutes of the same formula. Prettiness, starkness, minimalism, into full-bore rocking-out. Eh, it tickles my new Bark Psychosis bone. I like this a lot, hopefully I'll remember to listen to it again.


HARDKANDY
Last to Leave

Lo-fi/downtempo/chillout. American singer dude, not so sure. He's not bad but he's not exactly great either. His vocal style makes me think that he thinks he sounds like Jeff Buckley. I say that because of the falsetto action and the lyrics. "Triage" has a decent groove. "Advice" is like a dude version of Beth Orton. Meh. I mean, so many other artists do this sound so much better.



KELLEY STOLTZ
Below the Branches

Soaring piano-pop like Flaming Lips or an American hoping to sound like XTC. Layers of activity make the songs sound more interesting than they maybe really are. "Little Lords" starts with some sad alt-tuned acoustic guitar & singage, building up slowly & adding instruments as it goes. Beatley. So, what does that mean, Guided By Voices? Flaming Lips again? "Ever Thought of Coming Back" is a nice happy moper. "The Rabbit Hugged the Hound" is a happy happer. Not bad but not lifechanging either. Or maybe it is & I just need to hear it 50x in a row.



MESH
We Collide

All the generic band names today. We are Mono! We are Mesh! We are Feedback! We are Aether! This Mesh is dancey techno pop metal rock. Which means, "Open Up the Ground" has quarter-note bass drum pulses, Depeche Mode style synth treatments of basic chord patterns, distorted guitars on the chorus, and decent dude-vocals. These guys are definitely in Depeche mode. The production is very good. The vocals are compressed to hell. There are tunes. Couple of DM-style ballads. This is very well done for what it is. Unfortunately I also happen to have no use for what it is.



MATISYAHU
Youth

What the fuck is this shit? White college kids pretending to be from Kingston Jamaica? I don't fucking think so. It sounds like Snow fronting 311. Get this shit away from me now and let us never speak of it again.


THE FLAMING LIPS
At War with the Mystics

Speaking of Flaming Lips. Y'know, I've never been a fan, despite trying on several occasions to get into them. Whatever that means. The first song uses an old Casio patch that was also used by me. And later the Moonbabies. So, what can I say, this sounds like the fucking Flaming Lips to me. End of story. You don't need me to tell you what to think. There are more layers of meaning in every song than I'm prepared to deal with right now, frankly.



SHE WANTS REVENGE
She Wants Revenge

Oh shit, Interpol got a drum machine!


THE WONDER STUFF
Suspended by Stars

It's been a long time since the Stuffies troubled the British top 40. And even longer since they troubled the American top 40, ie never. Two true statements that have no bearing on anything. I've only gotten into the early Wonder Stuff albums recently. I was always more of a Neddies fan myself. And Poppies. The Stuff doesn't suck, nor does it rule. Old-timey guitar rock with nice choruses & choony verses. I mean, if I listened to this in the car every day for a month it would probably be my favorite. Or not. His lyrics are cheesedick quite a high proportion of the time. Not that Ned's lyrics weren't. Or the Poppies, at times. So, fair play to them, I guess.