MASON MERCER “God’s Creatures” C15 (God’s Creatures Records)

Sometimes you get a hankering for some lo-fi experimental indie folk, don’t you? You’re sitting there, eating lunch, drinking from your grape juice box, and then you’re like, “Hey, where the heck did I put all my tapes? The ones that I made on my Tascam. Let’s master those!”

Mason Mercer has a knack for making the studio, or “studio” depending on where he actually did the recording, work to his advantage, piling on all kinds of effects that mask the basic guitar-and-vocal tracks underneath. He’s pretty inventive, and on God’s Creatures he pushes his limitations to their logical extremes. It’s a bit Sebadoh (with Loewenstein at the helm), a bit early Beck (without the rap), a bit Animal Collective (without the insane outward expressions or kitchen-sink approach to electronics). So those are some positives.

God’s Creatures is quite listenable, and fairly unassuming. It doesn’t often get in your face. I read a review name-dropping Monster Magnet and Marilyn Manson. I just have to say – what? I think you were listening to the wrong tape dude. Whatevs.

I could take a moment to dig into the lyrics, but after a quick scan, I’ve decided I’m not reading them. I’m not really a lyric guy, and if they’re bad, they’ll pretty much spoil the whole thing for me. These might be bad. I have no idea though. Read at your own risk. I have a feeling they’re too serious and will spoil the mood.

http://masonmercer.bandcamp.com/

http://masonmercer.co/

--Ryan Masteller

NEW DOUBT “Demos” C17 (Self-Released)

These folx effortlessly weave together angular guitar riffs and that matter of fact, confident speak-singing that made bands like Jesus Lizard and the Pixies so commanding.  The first song jumps back and forth from 7/4 to 5/4 without sounding forced in the least and I had to cheat by looking them up on bandcamp first to figure out what the hell that sound was, Synthesizer or UFO guitar pedal? Turns out it’s the former.

Even during the standard 4/4 songs, the syncopation involved with this quartet(?) is gripping and well worth repeated listening. I’d love to hear more textural synth-work, droning somewhere in the low-mids, too, but that’d be too perfect for me, especially from a demo. Keep it up, all!

www.newdoubt.bandcamp.com

- - Jacob An Kittenplan

KI ONI “Elephas” (Inner Islands)

Ki Oni is a producer from California with a thing for elephants. Specifically, Sumatran elephants. As a fellow elephant lover, I was intrigued when reading that they were the inspiration behind Elephas. I typically don’t listen to very much beat or ambient music but I was eager to give this one a listen in the name of elephant appreciation.

I appreciated the ways the nature influences were brought to the forefront. Ultimately though, the music felt pleasant but repetitive. I listened to it all the way through multiple times and each time I reached the same conclusion. Songs do build, yet when they take shape the end results are inconsistent.

For instance the track “mandopop” didn’t engage me at all. There were a lot of good and cool parts to the tape though. I really liked the weird sample on “mantanga” and the chill but danceable song “autumn breeze”. I found more redeeming value than that on the tape too. I just couldn’t get into it as a whole as much as I wanted to. I highly urge those who might be more into danceable ambient music than I am to still give it a try.

Stream + Buy: https://innerislands.bandcamp.com/album/elephas

-- Roy Blumenfeld

FLOWER ORGY “It’s the Pits!” (New Camp)

I’m not sure what this band is about, their other stuff could be nothing like this, but I’m curious. This is way better than the discount-bin computer font (MS Paint?) cover would lead you to believe. Is it too soon for these fonts to be ironic? Is it ever too soon?

Whatever. Forgive and forget.

This is a fun/weird one: lo-fi clunk-beats, delayed chanting, minimal clutter grooves, alien jingles, downer pitch-shift art-crunch, etc.

Definitely feeling this. Good variety, too. At one point there is some alien-vibed psychedelic folk that could accompany a children’s t.v. show, & there’s also a jam that sounds like the result of Katrina & the Waves and Suicide swapping members. No shit. Somewhere in the weird pop-ness things occasionally fall apart & takes trips into chaotic nightmare land (a good thing, duh), before catching itself and wandering back into the ditty.

Probably the new GG Allin? Up the punx 2006.

https://newcamprecords.bandcamp.com/album/flower-orgy-its-the-pits

-- Garrison Heck

WILD COW “The Present” (Wos Records)

Wild Cow, who call themselves “Wild Cow” for who fucking knows why, came this close to having me write them off before I even listened to them, mainly because of that name, but also because they’re two guys from Brooklyn who wear pastel and have dubbed themselves the “sultans of the psychedelic summer.” That’s – how many strikes is that? That’s four strikes. That’s one more strike than you get in baseball. And I didn’t even stop there! They’re getting a fifth strike from me, because I’m continuing toward listening to the music! I’d make a godawful umpire.

Colin Menzel and Patrick O’Malley make low-key beachside bedroom pop/indie R&B, and it’s as unassuming as that sounds. Gentle guitars, keys, programmed drums, and crooned vocals populate the late-night tiki bar vibe. What’s that you say, girl? Your margarita’s running low? Let me get you a new one. You’re my kind of special lady.

There’s a certain subset of skeeze at work here, and it’s not the overt sexuality you might expect – it’s sort of a dorky come-on, and while the implications of sex are still clear, we’ll need a few more rounds of fruity island drinks before we get there. Because let’s face it – nobody wants to go to bed with anybody they can see clearly at this office retreat, right?

I don’t know. The music’s not bad, I guess, but it doesn’t really change all that much. It’s music for middle-aged losers, made by two guys who are clearly not middle aged. Why they’re getting a head start on this is beyond me. Maybe they’re the guys at work who are in charge of event planning. But no, no they’re not. They can’t be. They just can’t be. And I’m at the end of this tape, and there wasn’t much movement, so there it is, strike five, you’re out, Wild Cow. You get a lukewarm review. Hey, could’ve been worse!

http://www.wosrecords.net/

https://wildcow.bandcamp.com/

--Ryan Masteller

FUTURE STORMS “Chew Me Up” C12 (Self-Released)

Right down to the hurried cursive (scrawled on masking tape no less) this tape is the embodiment of that good ol DIY punk spirit.  In the sparse liner notes reads the block print: “ALL SONGS RECORDED AT NACHO MOUNTAIN/CRAP ISLAND SPRING 2015 OAKLAND, CA (drawing of a tiny lightning bolt) I DID EVERYTHING MY GODDAMN SELF. –IAN A.M.

If you’re guessing that the five songs spanning twelve minutes involve raw, distorted, down-strumming of electric guitar, dirty, dirty, dirty, heavy bass re-enforcement and medium to fast-paced 4/4 drumming, by golly, you’d best get yourself a deck of tarot cards. The one non-cookie cutter piece to this effort is that it kinda plays like a Minor Threat 45…purposefully played at 33rpm instead. The vocals are much more prosaic, maybe jaded? At one point on the second side, the intro even has (what I assume, for the sake of variation?) the dreaded sound of what old thriftstore tapes do all too often upon first rescue, that lurching-squealing threat to spill their dusty-magnetic guts into your treasured tape deck.

The jump to my stereo to stop, pull out, and examine this false alarm was quite the adrenaline rush…maybe this is performance art and I just spoiled the surprise?

((No links on the information super-highway to be supplied, but looks like this guy’s got his own make-shift recording studio, so I’d expect more in the future.))

- - Jacob An Kittenplan

KID MILLIONS & SARAH BERNSTEIN “Live at Gravesend Feb. 11, 8pm” C40 (Gravesend Recordings)

So this is fun – Gravesend Recordings, a studio at the Silent Barn in Brooklyn, puts on these in-studio performances by duos, and records the proceedings. “Concert”-goers get a free tape of the experience as a part of it. (I did not experience it, yet that is a pic of my promo tape up there, you guys. Suck it!) It’s a pretty cool setup if you ask me – most of the performers have been duos, and for this one, Gravesend After Hours No. 5, drummer Kid Millions of Oneida and Man Forever is paired with NYC violinist/composer/poet Sarah Bernstein. Yeah, drums and violin! I’m ready for it.

As you’d imagine, the result of a 2-sided improvisational session between two elite members of the avant-garde music scene yields many exciting moments and surprises. Other experimental-improv duos spring to mind – Thurston Moore and Loren Connors on their 2013 RSD collab, Flower/Corsano, C. Spencer Yeh and whoever he ends up playing with, Greg Saunier and whoever he ends up playing with, etc. Here, Millions’ drumming is at once inventive and restrained, a bed for Bernstein’s virtuosic performance. Her violin sometimes resembles a human voice, and her voice, although she seldom uses it, and wordlessly when she does, exists around the same frequency, so it’s difficult to tell sometimes when one ends and the other begins. But she knows how to sling that violin, let me tell you – she’s all over the place with it, a hurricane of notes and texture, proving that you don’t need brass for avant jazz.

The players ebb and flow – there are moments of downtime, but Millions and Bernstein whirl recklessly around each other, maximizing their sonics and probably almost falling over each other in the confined studio space. I think I can hear Bernstein’s violin whacking Millions in the head a few times as she gets a little too close to him. That’s probably my imagination though. But I am going to Google “Kid Millions studio head wound” now, and hope for some juicy pics.

http://www.gravesendafterhours.com/

http://gravesendrecordings.com/

--Ryan Masteller