Mammoth Mammoth

Australia has always been a land of finely-crafted music and compositions.

AC/DC
Buffalo
Today, Mammoth Mammoth valiantly carries the task of being awesome. How do I know that?

Because of this (from their website):


"WE ARE THE LOUDEST AND GREATEST BAND IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD. WE ROCK SO HARD THAT SOMETIMES IT CONFUSES US. WE THINK, "JESUS H CHRIST! WHAT WAS THAT?!" BECAUSE THE SIZE OF THE ROCK THAT WE MANAGE TO PRODUCE TRANSCENDS WHAT THE HUMAN BRAIN CAN MENTALLY TAKE IN. THE CEREBRAL CORTEX SHUTS DOWN.

WHERE AS SOME PEOPLE MIGHT SEE THIS AS A PROBLEM. WE, MAMMOTH MAMMOTH SEE IT AS THE ULTIMATE POSITIVE. IT IS WHAT SETS US APART FROM THE MEL & KIMS, SLAYERS AND MIDNIGHT OILS. IT IS WHAT MAKES US TRULY MAMMOTH.

FOR TO BE TRULY MAMMOTH BOTH IN SIZE AND IN SOUND, EACH MEMBER OF THE UNITED FORCE THAT IS MAMMOTH MAMMOTH MUST BE TRULY WILLING TO BLEED. BLEED FROM THE FINGERS, FACE AND GOAT BAG. THEY MUST BE WILLING TO PHYSICALLY AND MENTALLY PUNISH THEMSLEVES IN ORDER TO BRING OUT THE INNER MAMMOTH.

WE ARE MAMMOTH. FUCKING MAMMOTH. WE WILL DESTROY. WE HAVE IN THE PAST (666BC) AND WE SHALL DO SO AGAIN IN THE VERY NEAR FUTURE.

WHETHER THE WORLD IS READY FOR US IS A DIFFERENT STORY.

FUCK EM. WE ARE MAMMOTH.

BIGGER THAN JESUS. LOUDER THAN HELL!"

Hells Yes. 

http://www.myspace.com/mammothxmammoth

They have an EP and an LP out, both of which I have the utmost inexplicable admiration for.  They're respectively called "Mammoth Mammoth" and "Mammoth". How could you not like that?

Long live the Mammoth!

JNCT

List #6: Top Ten records of All The Times Ever

According to me (whatever that's worth):

• Master Of Reality by Black Sabbath
• The Velvet Underground by The Velvet Underground
• Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space by Spiritualized
• The Campfire Headphase by Boards Of Canada
• Live '74 - At The Cliffs Of The River Rhine by Agitation Free
• Beyond by Dinosaur Jr.
• Space Ritual by Hawkwind
• If You Want Blood (You've Got It) Live by AC/DC
• ...For The Whole World To See... by Death
• Maniac Meat by Tobacco

Yes, half of it's the same as the earlier Top Five. It was recent enough that I still agreed with it. Less is missing now though.


JNCT


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List #5: Top Five Records Of All Time. That's right. (Quick, before I change my mind)

A record label had "top five records of all time" question in its internship application.
I had a lot of trouble coming up with this, so I thought I'd use it as article material.

So, in no particular order, my top five best records of all time, at this very instant (Sunday, July 25th, 2010, 8:07pm)

• The Velvet Underground by The Velvet Underground
• Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space by Spiritualized
• The Campfire Headphase by Boards Of Canada
• Live '74 - At The Cliffs Of The River Rhine by Agitation Free
• Beyond by Dinosaur Jr. 

Reviews for all the albums that haven't been reviewed here yet to come very soon.

JNCT

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Prehistoric Dog, by Red Fang

No comment. Which, in itself, is a comment

JNCT

...

Rather than rewriting my 2009 top ten, here's the one for the first 7 months of 2010 / List #4

In no particular order:

•  Fang Island by Fang Island
• Nomadic Pursuits by Yawning Man
• White Hills by White Hills
• Maniac Meat by Tobacco
• The Soft Pack by The Soft Pack
  
• Appalachian Incantation by Karma To Burn 
• Holy Ground: NYC Live by Mono with The Wordless Music Orchestra
• Made The Harbor by Mountain Man
  
• Sloath by Sloath
• Innerspeaker by Tame Impala

Any objections?

JNCT

...

Hexagon Sun Collective, Mud Season, Deeply Fried Schnitzel

another pretty nice cover, don't you think?

Sloath by Sloath

Riot Season records, 2010 

Doom usually is a straining listen. The point is to go on and on, in a Terry Riley on downtuned fuzz sort of way. As many other genres with a philosophy, you see how many ways this could go wrong. To make someone actually listen to same riff, usually a thick groove-laden sludgy slab of fuzz guitar,  played over and over again at often excessive volumes, the compositions need to be clever in their minimalism and smart in their choice of sparse ornamentations.

Earth did it by getting the meanest riffs out there, and assembling them in a way that made sense, that willfully made you want to listen to the same 3 (ok, maybe 5, tops) riffs for the 32 minutes that Extra-Capsular Extraction went. When that weird anvil-being-hit sound came, followed by the longest note in rock history, creepy vocals & weird noise, well that was just the black cherry on top of the dark chocolate cake of doom.

Today, Sloath does it by mixing early style Earth riffing (maybe a tad dirtier) with a gloomy version of Hendrix feedback and vocals reminiscent of the ones mentioned above (i.e. echoed yells from far away, think flute from Hawkwind's Space Ritual era). This record should satisfy your most primary needs for monolithic 4/4 riffs played at 40 bpms, and in style.

"Black Hole", "Cane", and "Please Maintain" are the names of the 3 divisions in this creamy guitar and cymbal crash 44 minutes epic. Divisions are superfluous though, as Sloath manages to make these 3 tracks feel like just one very well orchestrated song, with interludes of feedback and the physical necessity of flipping the record. After the first half, the opening of B-side behemoth "Please Maintain" sounds surprisingly mellow. Rest assured, it's not a reassuring or nice instrumental in an Explosions In The Sky sort of way. The occasionally discordant guitar work maintains the unsettling atmosphere, which (by lack of accurate verbal description) is perfectly encapsulated in the cover of Black Sabbath's first LP:

You're thinking: "what is this?.. What's going to happen?.. Why are all the colors weird?.. And who is that person?.. " after 7 minutes, it's obvious you won't escape the sludge, and by the 10 minutes mark, the only thing you want is the sludge. An apocalypse made of over-the-top guitars. Which they give you.

I'm not sure you can call what happens at this point a solo, but a guitar adds a high pitched echoed maelstrom of notes to the general chaos. Reminiscent once again of a Hendrix or a Manuel Gottsching, but on horse tranquilizers.

I'm also not going to write what happens in the last ten minutes, you should discover it yourself. Let me just tell you how you feel after it ends: incredibly calm. If you weren't lying down while listening, you will probably want to, just for a second, and listen to the surrounding noise. It should be at a much more common volume. Birds chirping away. People talking. Maybe take a deep breath...

So what's the fuss with new age records? If there's one way to do yoga with music, it's probably with a doom record. Until better comes along, it'll be Sloath's self-titled for me, please.

Myspace

Riot Season (cool people)

Angry Chairs post about Sloath by Tim

I thought I'd add a little disclaimer about how all the record reviews signed JNCT are written: late at night, with said record on repeat. If I feel like I don't know the record well enough, I review another one.

JNCT

...

and thanks to Sandra for the title inspiration

Old list one finds on random parts of digitalia - List #3

Top Ten Records of 2009 (no order), written December 20th, 2009

• Subway: Subway II
• Black Moth Super Rainbow: Eating Us
• Dirty Projectors: Bitte Orca
• Assemble Head In Sunburst Sound: When Sweet Sleep Returns
• Oneida: Rated O
• Hush Arbors: Yankee Reality
• Pelican: What We All Come To Need
• Wye Oak: The Knot
• Weird Owl: Ever The Silver Cord Be Loosed
• Yawning Sons: Ceremony To The Sunset

While we're at it, top 30 of the decade (watching snow fall is very inspiring as to what one can do with his time)

• Vampire Weekend: S/T
• Eels: Daisies Of The Galaxy
• Air: 10,000Hz Legend
• Animal Collective: Strawberry Jam
• Ali Farka Toure & Toumani Diabate: In The Heart Of The Moon
• Black Angels: Passover
• Black Moth Super Rainbow: Eating Us
• Black Mountain: In The Future
• Boards Of Canada: The Campfire Headphase
• Dinosaur Jr: Beyond
• Dirty Projectors: Bitte Orca
• Earl Greyhound: Soft Targets
• Earthless: Live At The Roadburn Festival
• Firebird: Hot Wings
• Foo Fighters: In Your Honor
• Goldfrapp: Seventh Tree
• Yawning Man: Vista Point
• The Libertines: What Became Of The Likely Lads (EP)
• McLusky: McLuskyism
• Motorhead: Better Motorhead Than Dead
• Nebula: Atomic Ritual
• Pelican: What We All Come To Need
• Secret Machines: Now Here Is Nowhere
• Sinoia Caves: The Enchanter Persuaded
• The Strokes: Is This It
• White Stripes: Icky Thump
• The Dandy Warhols: Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia
• Lords Of Altamont: Lords Have Mercy
• Spiritualized: Songs In A & E
• Hush Arbors: S/T

updated list to come soon, maybe

JNCT


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Moutain Man: Made The Harbor / Lightning Reviews, Part III

Who threw a really heavy hula-hoop in the water? Who?

Made The Harbor by Mountain Man

Partisan Records (for the US), 2010

Three girls from Bennington, Vermont. Playing three-part harmonies with a guitar. Can't be half bad, can it? 

Well, there's a number of way it could, but Mountain Man definitely didn't chose from those. 

Going from ballads to playful tunes with a melody so beautifully catchy you'll end up singing at the supermarket, even if you never sing (watch out for "Buffalo" and "How'm I Doin'" in particular).

Describing their influences as" train engines mothers Redwoods Pines Oaks kale vegetables dogs breasts mountains ocean (seaweed) Wild West Colorado date orange scones Cora" there certainly is a timeless quality to their music that makes pointing out references unnecessary. It draws from a number of things, none of which I could accurately name, but I think that actually helps appreciate the record. Stopping the thinking, listening to the pastoral melodies, and letting them bring you this sense of calm, accepting friendliness.

There is some amount of old-style hum on this record, which probably has to do with the fact that they recorded Made The Harbor in an early 20th century ice cream truck (dixit Allmusic). Amidst the arpeggiated harmonies, this hardly noticeable roughness helps this record be more genuine. And even though these compositions are relatively silent, those artifacts become unnoticeable as soon as the song actually starts, because even though sparse, these composition command all your attention. In fact it's pretty hard to listen to it at the same time as writing about it. So excuse me, I'll go get my headphones and put it on repeat album for a while. 

please make the record a littletinybit longer next time!

Myspace (2 songs)

Partisan Records Moutain Man page
Serious Fucking Business Post (in french)

JNCT (human)

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Neurotic to the bone, no doubt about it - Lightning Review, Pt. II

You read that right. It's a line from Green Day's Basket Case, off of 1994's Dookie (Reprise Records):

And that's the album being reviewed here.

To those of you in the back already making disgusted faces, don't worry, it'll be quick.

Imagine a time where the 80's were still the recent past, where Gulf Wars were being dealt with by Bush Sr. and where Green Day actually made stuff that made you smile (in happiness). That stuff is Dookie.

I'll admit I was 3 when this record came out, but that's barely the point. Listening to the almost-40 minutes of California Sun encapsulated on this slab of polycarbonate and aluminum makes you imagine another time, when you thought you didn't give a shit and all you wanted was hang out with your buddies. Listening to Dookie.

Because Dookie is a record where melody works with energy, where bass breaks fit perfectly with power chord riffs, all in a joyful tongue-in-cheek atmosphere. It's nothing hard, nothing complicated, the lyrics probably aren't even that clever. But it's hard to beat the 4/4 head noodling joy these people used to make in this bright summer. Green Day never looked like they really hanged out in the sun (more likely some basement, padded with egg boxes, beer crates piled in the corner and instruments instead of couches), but their records sure were better when they sounded like it.

Welcome To Paradise.

JNCT

...

Upside Down Clouds - Lightning Review, Part 1

 please stand in awe in front of this glorious, beautiful cover

Fang Island by Fang Island

Sargent House, 2010

Fang Island's debut is like a sandwich.

Start with a delicate slice of airy bread. Bite through some lettuce and juicy tomato, both tasty and refreshing. Then comes the meat and cheese. This analogy doesn't work with vegan subs, no, here the cheesiness / meatiness are of the utmost importance. Every song is a bite of this progressive pop metal sandwich, where animal guitars roar, childish synths oscillate, voices yell senseless hymns and the drums cheerily guide the whole procession. Dense, thick and rich passages veer down into glorious breaks/outros, in a mix of AC/DC bravado, Muse keyboard work and Amon Düül II nonsense.

The problem with eating a really good sandwich (and boy is this a delicious record) is that even if it's massive, you'll eat it fast (in 31:27, actually), and you'll end up wanting a second one.

This is where the sandwich comparison ends: if you'd have to buy another sandwich, the repeat button is free. Don't you wish we could eat music?

myspace 

Sargent House 

Fang Island Store 

JNCT

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Summer Bash mix // #2 or exp(iπ)+1... = 0... but only if i = √(-1)?

this actually is the view from my window. It only looks like that about a minute a week. And there's a lot you're not seeing.

I was going to make this article a mashup made up of lyrics from songs in this mix. But that was really cheesy. And way too hard. And a number of other negative things, so I trashed that idea.


And leave a comment! 

Summer Bash, Volume 2: Clouds, Palms, Sands & Mountains

1. The Dodos: Undeclared (The Visiter LP)
2. Belle & Sebastian: If You're Feeling Sinister (If You're Feeling Sinister LP)
3. Blonde Redhead: Spring And By Summer Fall (23 LP)
4. The Dandy Warhols: Godless (Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia LP)
5. Boards Of Canada: Hey Saturday Sun (The Campfire Headphase LP)
6. Do Make Say Think: A Tender History In The Rust (You, You're A History In Rust LP) 
7. Eels: I Like Birds (Daisies Of The Galaxy LP)
8. The Clash: Train In Vain (London Calling LP)
9. Dum Dum Girls: Yours Alone (I Will Be LP)
10. Sweet Tea: If I Were A Carpenter (If I Were A Carpenter 7")
11. Eric Clapton: Walkin' Blues (Live Unplugged LP)
12. The Beta Band: Dry The Rain (The Three EPs LP)
13. Foo Fighters: Down In The Park (The Colour & The Shape LP)
14. Fast Burn: Lost Boy (Altered Zones)
15. Hawkwind: It's So Easy (Sonic Boom Killers Best Of)
16. This Is Real: Best Coast (Saucony Originals Perfect Pairs Download)
17. Beige: In Kind (Altered Zones)
18. Beck: Girl (Guero LP)
19. The Drums: Saddest Summer (Summertime! EP)
20. Monthy Python: Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life (Monty Python Sings LP)

Have a Happy 14 Juillet.

 JNCT

...

"How To Make A" Don't Be Evil

 

What's Better: Google, or the people who use it?

 tues. 13th, 8:52 pm: let me rephrase this. What's funnier, Google or the people who use it?

Oh Epic Fuzziness, Oh Summer - Take it to Eleven!

Since I'm the person who started this blog (and probably one of 5 people who read it), I can pretty much do whatever the hell I want on it as long as its not too illegal. For the moment, that still includes making playlist for things I'll probably never do. Here, I'll go for the much fantasized but probably never happening Drive in the Desert. might as well be prepared, right?

Plus, it's somehow related to summer. Because it's really hot here, but you probably guessed that.

this is the view from my window. No seriously.

Eleven songs about love and girlfriends and flowers. Just kidding. Turn it up! (all the way to erm... 11)

Drive in the Desert - Summer Bash: For The Love of Fuzz

1. Mammoth Mammoth - Slacker (Mammoth Mammoth EP)

this song is pure Australian asskicking. I have no idea what the guy's singing, but it sounds awesome. Plus the cover art is glorious. Find it!

2. Kyuss - Green Machine (Blues For The Red Sun LP)
Classic desert rock. Green Machine is probably a metaphor, or not.
3. Fu Manchu - Cyclone Launch (In Search Of Space LP)
More Fuzz, more cheesy covers - I'm in.
4. Nebula - Clearlight (To The Center EP)
What I listen to when I need to clear my brain - or, how to be a stoner yet make dense, richly hallucinated work.
5. Karma To Burn - Forty-six (Appalachian Incantation LP)
Wear earplugs when you go see them. They're from West Virginia, apparently that's a good reason to get fucked out of your mind and be pissed
6. Karp - Bacon Industry (Self Titled LP)
Something about Bacon and turning you on. Don't ask, enjoy.
7. Queens Of The Stone Age - You Think I Ain't Worth A Dollar But I Feel Like A Millionaire (Songs For The Death LP)
No comment.
8. Rage Against The Machine - Down Rodeo (Evil Empire LP)
"Can't waste the day when the night brings a hearse!" what?
9. Black Sabbath - Into The Void (Masters Of Reality LP)
Off "Masters Of Reality", Sabbath writing the gloom version of Hawkwind's space epics.
10. Electric Wizard - Witchcult Today (Witchcult Today LP)
English Doomsters pick up where Sabbath left to see what you could do with synths, a.k.a. the end
11. High On Fire - 10,000 Years (The Art Of Self-Defense LP)
"Heavy... it's about being a warlord on the battlefield... Like if some dude chopped some guy's head with an axe, and you have a riff that plays the same way that way... that's Heavy." (Matt Pike, Such Hawks Such Hounds - more or less direct quote).

Hope you'll enjoy!

And Remember to drink lots of fluids. Seriously.

JNCT


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Do! Make! Say! Think! Yes Brain, but don't you think we should check the gas tank first? + List #2

After a "Fuck Postrock I'm listening to Torche" phase, it seems to be that I cannot get away from long instrumental tracks by bands with overthought names. Some of them are just so good...

 why do I like record sleeves so much??? I'd put it even bigger if I could

 Do Make Say Think 

"Other Truths"

CST062 - Constellation Records, 2009

On their 2009 (and I guess latest) installment for Montreal's Constellation Records, Do Make Say Think have assembled four tracks, intelligently titled, let me surprise you... : 

1. Do
2. Make
3. Say
4. Think

Were they lacking inspiration? Or is this a statement that after more than a decade after 1998's self titled LP, DMST has redefined itself, reaffirming their position as one of Canada's prime export (after Salmon, wonderful accents, really really good smoked meat, and Broken Social Scene).

Do opens the album with soft, fast paced arpeggios and a mood that's not quite belligerent, but definitely victorious. Comforting you in this feeling after a few seconds of intro are the second guitar, bass and drums. These two are then given a break of restrained epicness, kicking in the stomach any of those Muse fuzz bass+drums breaks I used to drool over in high school and sending them in the stratosphere, ass first. Dynamics is the main focus in this song (or just of "postrock" in general), in a progression that's ultimately resolved by silence. Start smooth, add layers (is that a choir I hear on the way?) give it it's distinctive Canadian touch by adding strings and brass instruments, then return to silence like you're going down the other side of the musical mountain you've just conquered. 

That should give you and idea of what Make, Say & Think are: 10 minutes and longer tracks, conveying emotions through sound (psychoacoustics is a mess of a field), going from warm to epic in more than 5 minutes (and not 0 to 60 lightyears/millisecond in less than 6 mississippis like most things today). Compared to the majority of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Grails, Explosions In The Sky and their own other albums, DMST's Other Truths incorporates people singing. That doesn't seem like such novelty, but let me tell you, in this context, it is. Albeit scarce & ambient, vocal contributions from other Canadian artists are notable and surprising, giving additional depth to this "pastoral" record (dixit Pitchfork).

In conclusion, why should you listen to this record? Two possibilities: 

a) you like a similar band. In that case, you don't really need a reason. DMST are at least as good as EitS, GY!BE, SMZ and a bunch of other bands with long or short names.

b) you've never heard anything quite like it before. In that case, I suggest you take a seat, maybe lie down, maybe get a book, and let yourself listen to it. If you like it, there's a lot more where it came from, if not, you'll have a fancy band to mention to a hipster next time you want a pbr. It's a win/win situation.

...

Back to Macro. Instrumental rock music seems to have taken a number of different paths, one of which is epitomized (what a word) by this record. Rather than writing long pompous explanations as to what I mean, here are a few top 5 for these different interpretations of making rock music without vocals.

Will you be able to figure out what logic there was in the order of said records?

Instrumental Rock, Version 1 - Top 5

Explosions In The Sky "How Strange Innocence"
Tortoise "Millions Now Living Will Never Die"
Pelican "What We All Come To Need"
Do Make Say Think "Other Truths" 
Mogwai "Mr Beast"

Instrumental Rock, Version 2 - Top 5

Agitation Free "Live At The Cliffs Of The River Rhine"
Earthless "Live At The Roadburn Festival"
Yawning Man "Rock Formations"
Colour Haze "All"
Neu! S/T

Ok, "All" isn't completely instrumental, but like DMST's record, vocals are more ambient than anything else

Instrumental Rock, Version 3 - Top 5 

Popol Vuh "In Den Garten Pharaos"
Tangerine Dream "Ricochet"
Klaus Schulze "Moondawn"
Ash Ra Tempel S/T
Cosmic Jokers S/T 

Instrumental... well it's not really rock anymore but that doesn't matter, Version 4 - Top 5

Boards Of Canada "The Campfire Headphase"

Manuel Gottsching "E2-E4"
Fuck Buttons "Tarot Sport"
Subway "Subway II"
Beak> S/T

wasn't getting rid of vocals a good idea?

JNCT

...

Summer Bash # 1

Well, we've been waiting for it for a long time, and it's here, so it's gotta be celebrated. I personally don't know what my summer is going to look like, but I hope it's something like this.

Tracklist

1. The Radio Dept. - Heaven on Fire

2. The Drums - Let's Go Surfing

3. Vampire Weekend - California English

4. Best Coast - Boyfriend

5. Aeroplane - We Can't Fly (Original Edit)

6. Dom - Rude as Jude

7. Male Bonding - T.U.F.F.

8. Japandroids - Younger Us

9. Tennis - Marathon

10. Harlem - Be Your Baby

11. Rolando Alphonso - Blackberry Brandy

12. Big Boi - Shine Blockas (ft. Gucci Mane)

13. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Round and Round

14. The Avalanches - Etoh

15. Cults - Go Outside

16. Ganglians - Lost Words

17. Surfer Blood - Take it Easy

18. Dum Dum Girls - Bhang Bhang, I'm a Burnout

19. Tobacco - Heavy Makeup

20. Caribou - Kaili

21. ceo - Illuminata

22. Wavves - Post Acid

23. Happy Birthday - 2 Shy

24. Woods - Get Back

... (Link Removed by Request)

FC

Coming Up Next on ESS!

 Reviews!

Photos!

 Fuck Yeah

Mixes!
Ramblings!
Kartaufel!

Booyahkashah,

JNCT