 Artist: ChromaticsAlbum: Night DriveLabel: Italians Do It Better “I feel like night has no beginning. I feel like night, it has no end.” While the boogie-oogie disco beatmakers of the ’70s overstayed their welcome, a contingent of disco devotees continued on into the early ’80s to make sparse, moody affairs, mixing the more dark and dangerous parts of Giorgio Moroder with the evocative soundscapes of Italian soundtrack hero Ennio Morricone – disco for beyond the dance floor. Producer Johnny Jewel has obviously studied the form. His work with both Glass Candy, and the Chromatics purely captures the dystopian brilliance of the Italo-disco genre and imbues it with languid sexuality. His disco is slow and plodding (proudly set at 107 bpm), evenly in line with the silence that surrounds the streets between the hours after the clubs close and when you set out for that walk of shame. Fans of GSL-era Chromatics might be weary of the band's journey from dirty punk-rock noiseniks to their new euro-disco dalliances, but the transformation has been surprisingly seamless and completely earnest. The revamped line up of Ruth Radelet on vocals, Adam Miller on guitar and production/programming by Johnny Jewel, contributed three excellent tracks to last years After Dark compilation on the Italians Do It Better label, which served to spark renewed interest in the genre. Following a string of singles, the band's first full length, The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack to the movie Night Drive (also known as Chromatics IV) is a subtle, yet well planned set up to an imaginary, (Dario) Argento-styled, horror film. The album starts with a telephone call. Amidst ambient street sounds, a woman calls her lover after coming out of the club. Small talk ensues and she agrees to meet him after she takes a drive, which leads the listener perfectly into the sonic narrative of the album's title track; it effortlessly mixes shimmering gothic guitar with a pulsating drum beat, the perfect match for the lightly excited palpitations of the heart that go along with a pending after-hours rendezvous. The eerie and most appropriately named “The Killing Spree” brings forth the classic-sounding high-tone piano to signify something evil is on its way, before moving the story along and giving way to the post-punk guitar work on “Healer.” Night Drive's attention to narrative detail is shown most readily by the choice to cover Kate Bush's “Running Up That Hill.” Long a fan favorite, the version here does little to stray from the original. Radelet's vocals are simultaneously enchanting and disinterested, while the synth swashes are warm and enveloping, adding to the unnatural calm of the song. The lyrics are eerily fitting as Radelet sings “There is thunder in our hearts, baby / So much hate for the ones we love? / Tell me, we both matter, don't we?” This is what she contemplates on this little “night drive” before popping in to curb her desires. There is no actual film for Chromatics IV, yet the Chromatics have framed an album, such that by using intricate pacing – the icy cold distance of Radelet's breathy vocals and sexy, pulsating beats – you can picture each and every scene as if it were right before you on celluloid. So much great art has been formed in the dark and secretive recesses of our hearts, and you can add Night Drive *This review originally appeared at Dusted Magazine on 01/11/08 |
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 Artist: EnonAlbum: Believo!Label: Touch and Go After the death of Brainiac lead singer Timmy Taylor, the band's guitarist John Schmersal holed himself up in an old hotel and recorded a solo effort called John Stuart Mill. It was much different than the type of music he'd been playing with the band, and served as a catharsis, paving the way for him to later record two singles under the name Enon. As Enon, Schmersal showed that his herky-jerk guitar work and Pavement-vs.-SY sensibilities from his days in Brainiac were never far from the surface. Already a creative and adept sound manipulator, Schmersal moved to New York and teamed up with the similarly minded Rick Lee and Steve Calhoon (both former members of the band Skeleton Key). With Calhoon on bass, Rick Lee brought a custom-wired suitcase full of sounds and a junk-kit of drums to compliment Schmersal's alternate guitar tunings and vintage synths. Much to the delight of many a Brainiac fan, the trio recorded Believo! which was released by the indie label See Thru Broadcasting in 2000. Critics found the album to be difficult and unpredictable, but at its heart, it was as much a pop record as any Beck pastiche of the day. Upbeat tracks like "Conjugate the Verbs" and "Get the Letter Out" take abstract, powerful drumbeats, and match them with fuzzy distorted guitar hooks, while "Cruel" is full out David Lynch Film Noir, with Schmersal pulling down a sultry Motown croon amidst a slightly jazzy, low-fi kit. After a brief tour in support of the album, Lee and Calhoon departed the band, to be replaced by Toko Yasuda and Matt Schultz. The band's second album, High Society, moved slightly away from the experimentation of Believo!, with Yasuda providing cutesy J-pop vocals on a number of the songs. Gone were the days of metallic clangs and random distorted samples attacking you from all sides; 2003's Hocus Pocus showed an even more polished blend of Schmersal's love of electronic pop and rock, which culminates in the release of their latest album Grass Geysers…Carbon Clouds. Grass Geysers is larger and more radio-friendly than earlier releases, but the songs are attempts at paint-by-number indie fare. The newly reissued Believo!, stands in stark contrast, with its disparate mechanical noises, and weirdo background samples sounding more like accidental surprises (happy mistakes) than calculated cacophony. Where Grass Geysers is slick and safe, Believo! even seven years after its initial release, still pushes the boundary of what a pop record can, and should be. At the time of its release, Believo! barely caused a ripple, but when compared to some of the darling acts of its day, namely the Beta Band, Clinic, or any of the Elephant 6 collective bands, it ages surprisingly well. Schmersal's solid song-craft, and fractured pop hooks combined with the intricate beats, noises and whatnot from the efforts of Calhoon and Lee make Believo! the shining gem of the Enon canon, and arguably one of the best indie records of the decade. *This review originally appeared on October 12, 2007 @ Dusted Magazine |
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 Artist: Voice of the Seven Woods
Album: Voice of the Seven Woods
Label: Twisted Nerve Guitarist Rick Tomlinson is one of those rare individuals able to synthesize the influences of a diverse record collection into something far greater than its disparate parts. As his alter ego Voice of the Seven Woods, he's released a stream of 7"s and CD-Rs (the 'R' stands for rare) that have given psychedelic folk fans a reason to live in the present again. Truly, a man of Tomlinson's pedigree deserves wider recognition. It's practically impossible to track down most of his transmissions (a fact that no doubt plays a large role in his current niche appeal) and that's a shame, since Tomlinson is one of the few psych stars with the talent and melodicism to attract a crossover audience. That's all about to change. Thanks to the label Twisted Nerve and Manchester UK cartel B-Music, Tomlinson finally has a stage befitting his abilities. His eponymous debut, Voice of the Seven Woods, is no ramshackle rustic recording. These 10 sprawling compositions are intricately arranged and produced with almost glossy precision, like a drab forest brought to life through anHD lens. The exquisite guitar work and Middle Eastern sensibilities (extended ragas, bongos and fuzzed-out guitar tones) places Tomlinson clearly in the camp of Jack Rose and Sir Richard Bishop (even the mondo obscure Wilburn Burchette), but he's more akin to Sandy Bull or hyphen-folk pioneers Pentangle. Like Bull, Tomlinson manages to find ways to extend his fretwork into mesmerizing tones atop quiet undercurrents of simple percussion, his pieces evolving slowly into mass hedonism. And unlike most of his contemporaries,Tomlinson works equal parts Krautrock, Turkish psych and British hard-folk into his pieces. For instance, "The Fire in My Head" starts with a watery Middle Eastern guitar rhythm that builds over a tambourine/bongo beat, then morphs into a massive groove with enough hard-hitting kit to make John Bonham proud. The lone vocal track, "Silver Morning Branches," grows from whispers and intricate fret board meanderings to full-blown psychedelia. Considering Tomlinson's exemplary technique, this could have turned into a wanky showcase for another guitar wunderkind who fell in love with '70s folk music. But Tomlinson proves himself much more than just a guitarist. The arrangements are perfectly off-kilter, and songs like "Second Transition" burn in the best tradition of British folk rock. You could call it fret-folk freak-beat (not bad, actually), but inordinate labels like that complicate what's in essence a pure - and purifying - listening experience. Simply put, Voice of the Seven Woods is a vibrant, intelligent and engaging record, simultaneously delicate and dangerous, and sure to be one of the best things you'll hear in 2007.
By Dustin Drase*This review was originally published September 7, 2007 @ Dusted Magazine |
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