***From the sun-bleached groves and terminal beaches of the Southland comes ERNEST GIBSON’s (NET SHAKER) debut LP—a weathered, mysteriously adorned block of sonic timber, soaked in watery reverb and awash in sinewy skeins of damaged tape. Island Records ventures ever deeper into dense primeval territory, only roughly intimated on his prior releases and further still from the scorched-earth urbanism of his group Net Shaker’s recent long-player. Trading those sputters of failing machinery and abstract paranoia for more hypnotic twilight vibrations, Gibson coaxes his own strain of mutant exotica from this suite of thirteen serpentine compositions. Trailing a procession of shadows across the dunes, Gibson moves at an oneiric pace worthy of Maya Deren—easing repeatedly at an enigmatic and sinister motif, whose full appearance never quite manifests beyond the glassy confines of the unconscious. Circular bass lines and loping rhythms crisscross the landscapes of these songs leaving wet footprints, while the album progresses with the indeterminate persistance of a febrile, paranormal pursuit. Occasional squalls of tremulous guitar burst forth, Poison Ivy-like, as on anti-anthemic opener “When You Get There,” while on tracks like “All Of Us Together,” incantatory verses hover just below an intelligible frequency—untold rites, issuing from an elusive cavern’s hidden entrance. For Gibson, each record acts as a field report from some newly imagined country—shorthand notes describing local rituals, glimpsed through the wary eyes of an itinerant stranger. Broadcast from this Delphic perspective, Island Records is a series of barely overheard conversations and half-remembered discoveries, staggering along the creeping...
LP $13.50
11/26/2013
***New wave/no wave Montreal punks THE PINK NOISE have crawled out of the basement and into the light with their latest album entitled Greedy Heart. Released on the Copenhagen-based Skrot Up imprint, the band’s 6th fulllength album sees them shaking off the claustrophobic sounds of tape hiss and ghetto blasters that resulted in their being named “Montreal’s most nihilistic band.” Originally the solo-project of Toronto-native MARK SAUNER, The Pink Noise first established itself with a series of highly regarded albums on Sacred Bones, Kill Shaman, Night People, Almost Ready, and Pleasence Records. Now based in Montreal, The Pink Noise operates as a full band, with a sound that re-imagines the impulses that characterized the earlier work through more structured songwriting, higher fidelity, and lyrical clarity. While still rooted in the retro-futurism of Sauner’s previous albums, Greedy Heart expands the vision by adding the cold wave synthesizer of Electric Voice Records’ MATT SAMWAYS, the abstract guitar of Psychic Handshake Recordings’ GRAEME LANGDON, and the Crass-like drumming of PORN PERSONS and INTERNATIONAL LOVE TRIANGLE’s TARA DESMOND. With its mix of psychedelic colourful effects, gritty guitar, and booming drums, the result is an album full of dynamic tension that conjures the band’s equal interest in glam rock, post-punk, and new wave while at the same time embodying a newness beyond its allusions to classics like Television, Soft Cell, The Fall, or Roxy Music. Limited edition pressing of 300 copies.
LP $13.50
08/27/2013