Category Archives: Lo-Fi
Crow Vs. Lion – Rest Your Bones (Self Released)
Crow Vs. Lion
Rest Your Bones
Self-Released
Rating: 3 out of 5
Link: http://www.reverbnation.com/crowvslion
Dan Gallagher presents and alternate reality within the singer/songwriter world. His lo-fi bedroom project Crow Vs. Lion is a lazy drawl of back country ramblings as Rest Your Bones feeds interesting songs on life in Bucks County.
As the album progresses, you get a better familiarity of what Gallagher is trying to convey, and you begin to settle down but in my mind I am painting a better mental image of Southern Georgia than rural Pennsylvania.
The recording is built like it was R.E.M.’s Chronic Town with the slight echo to his voice, like he found an abandoned church to record in. Sometimes the effect works, but other times it just sounds like a bad recording choice. It’s one thing to scruff up the music to accent the dusty prose, but when the prose itself becomes dusty, it takes a degree of tolerance to fully appreciate what is going on some of the songs.
Gallagher works best around a full array of instruments than with him as a solo venture. It adds depth and contrast to his songs like “Edgar Allan Poe” and “Time Inside My Years.” However, when he pulls something like the shanty “Sea Sick,” he does a pretty good at weaving a story with the sound of his guitar.
Pat Jordache – Future Songs (Constellation)
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MP3: Pat Jordache – Phantom Limbs (from the album Future Songs)
Pat Jordache
Future Songs
Constellation
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Link: http://patjordache.com/
Pat Jordache may be more well known in the Montreal circuit, creating a musical history in the Quebec city. Spending maybe as much time in isolation than on the scene, Future Songs is his testament.
Channeling the mantra of Richard Hell in an Elvis Costello nebula, Future Songs gives us a unique perspective on noise pop and a hail to the bop.
“Radio Generation” begins with a big sound as Jordache’s falsetto matches the sonic layers of guitars backing him up. It’s almost frightening the power he impresses on the listener. And what is even more impressing is that at one time stolen, the tracks were saved from a forgotten lo-fi mediafire copy and then remastered from that instead of the original intention of running through traditional studio methodology.
“Get It (I Know You Are Going To)” is what really brings this album to life. Its further proof how raw Jordache spins his yarn (he is responsible for most of the instruments). It makes the song seem otherworldy like it’s that great pop song stuck between two dimensions.
“Salt On The Fields” blend Asian themes with indie fervor that beckon marathon sessions of Kurisawa as Joy Division spin tales of woe in the background.
I’d like to say this album is easy, but it is not. Songs like “Phantom Limb” is dissident where you feel like Jordache is doing a great job at maintaining sincere restraint. “Gold Bound” could be thrown in the Sebadoh bin and for this song, it’s a hard pill to swallow.
But Jordache returns to his quirky self with “Song For Arthur” followed by the part spoken word of “The 2-Step,” where you are not quite sure if he’s drunk or just insane.
Either way, despite its lo-fi attributes Future Songs would not be as eclectically interesting if it had a much bigger and cleaner sound. So whoever thieved these tracks, thank you because it make Jordache more pertinent.
Sic Alps – Napa Asylum (Drag City)
Sic Alps
Napa Asylum
Drag City
Rating: 3 out of 5
Link: http://www.sicalps.com/
Sic Alps emits the impression that their live shows are an experience to behold upon the ears and eyes. A sonic artistic impression that shoot sound waves into the souls of those who stand in their way.
I can visualize where seeing them in the moment is something worth experiencing as their songs have room to transform from night after night and. As for their latest release, Napa Asylum is a hit and run of dirty feedback and dust-covered tracks that may not be the easiest to listen to, but these are songs that grow with appreciation and take on a life of their own. It’s as if the band took off in a beat up Chevrolet and hi-tailed to hidden town in deep America with nothing but a beat up amp and some instruments, lost their minds, recorded songs in a weathered and abandoned house, and came back to society with a reel of tape like it was the secret to the universe.
The subtle soul rock of “Cement Surfboard,” the low end after-hours pop rock of “Do You Want To Give $$,” and the wig-out psych rock of “Occult Display,” some of it is painful to listen to as notes bend out of tune and the lo-fi recording interferes like some estranged glitch in an old silent film. But in its bare-bones ruggedness, it’s also what makes these songs what they are. But it’s the equivalent of reading a comic in black and white versus color. The color version of this band? The experience is best when experienced together.
Let’s Wrestle – In The Court Of the Wrestling Let’s (Music Review)
Let’s Wrestle
In The Court of the Wrestling Let’s
Merge
Rating: 3 out of 5
Links:
Let’s Wrestle: http://www.myspace.com/letsfuckingwrestle
Merge: http://www.mergerecords.com/artists/letswrestle
Let’s Wrestle up steps by joining the Merge family. This rough and tumble band shows that they can ride along colleagues Lou Barlow and Butterglory with their lo-fi punk pop and geekishly charming dismeanor.
Although excessive on the song selection (16 songs lie total, which is about six to 10 songs too many), In The Court of Wrestling Let’s has its ups and downs. Often times they bring back memories of Archers Of Loaf, while trying to accentuate their British charm. “We are the most reliable guys in the world,” they sing on “We Are the Men You Will Grow To Love Soon.” You cannot help but find some adorement even when they sing out of tune or craft a song that is non-poetic and non-imaginative.
“In Dreams” sounds like it came from a dirty demo that carried over while “I’m In Love With Destruction” is exactly where they need to be all the time: sincere, noisy, and brazen like they are about to kick over the stage in order to give you a big hug.
The more you listen to this band, the more you are unsure where this band is going, traveling from a song about “Insects” to “Song For Old People” to “My Arms Don’t Bend That Way, Damn It!,” an amazing noise-pop song that deals with life and overcoming the obstacles.
One thing you can assure is that this band plays from the heart and it’s very obvious when you listen to this.
Friendo – Cold Toads (Music Review)
Friendo
Cold Toads
St. Ives
Rating: 3 out of 5
Friendo’s debut Cold Toads comes to us with a degree of simplicity that really is not so simple, but the delusion makes for a good listening experience.
The three-piece churn out seven songs of ‘70s punk aesthetics with what can only be explained as the Sonic Youth dissonant noise experience.
Although some songs feel a little too repetitious — “Young Fellows” and despite its ghostly vocal appearance, “Calling” — there are some real lo-fi sparklers on this album.
“Counter/Time” brings us into the band’s mindset with a cosmically hypnotizing guitar time signature and a thumping beat that tribalizes the experience. “Hailey Oman” slips into that late ‘70s/early ‘80s art punk sound like Cabaret Voltaire or some early 4AD band is to follow.
Michael Wallace, from Women fame, is a leader. With an album like Cold Toads, you immediately realize that despite the limitations, this is a band who is unashamed at leaving the boundaries of their musical periphery intact. It probably serves them best when you travel through their lo-fi means and soft rebellions.
Some songs you will find listening to over and over while others you may want to sit there and think about the songs you do like.
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