Once again, the very nice folks at Already Dead Tapes sent me for reviewing purpose a very nice release that, once again, really deserves that I spent a bit of time to resurrect once more Underketing in order to spread the word about something that, you can ben sure, has its place in the list of the best cultural artifacts produced by mankind...
Yeah, cause, you know, I only talk here about the best releases that reach my ears. I don't want to write to say "uh, this is a good release but I don't like that much this or that", no, I write, outside the fact that it is because I can write, mainly to share what drove me to unknown skies at the speed of an alien star ship.
And, Nikta, with a definitive sens of what art should be, punched me down the ring with what is, to me, the best surprise from the world's dark electronica scene that I encountered since, say, Clathrus or *Ne Mochite Ranenyh Krotov*. Organic, sensual, soulful, dark but in the meanwhile emanating a strange and naive, innocent feeling of hope, I think that I have the new record to play in my flat when friends come around.
When the playback ended, I just thought, "oh, already ? " ; I would have enjoyed hours more of such a musical travel. The strange keys, the chord instruments, and, moreover, the omnipresent overdrive, drove me to a yet unknown land of discoveries and soft surprises ; I mean, surprises that are not brutal ones, but that insinuate into your mind at an unconscious level until you suddenly think "wait... This guy really did that ? ".
To sum up, I would definitively suggest you to give this album a listen. I'm not here to talk in vain, as I said before. I guess that most of people who will listen to my advice and click on the link above will also order one of the 50 lovely cassettes that have been printed. Definitively, a real, nice, good surprise for the current year, maybe the best release I heard in 2015, I don't know.
I wish that Nikta, formerly know as Fear Konstruktor, will never give up and keep on releasing for long. I hope that Joshua from Already Dead Tapes will for long still know what fits my mood and send me releases like this one. Once again, the label hit the bull's eye, and I just couldn't remain silent and sleep on this gem, I had to write a bit about it, and I'm done, forget bout what I said and go listen, make your own opinion, and you may eventually get to the same conclusion that came to me : here's the new soundtrack for when friends come home.
Oct 14, 2015
Jul 13, 2015
Netlabel Day 2015 - July 14th
Once a man came with an idea : let's celebrate independent music through a special day for netlabels, theses organisations publishing music online for free.
So then he started a blog, a Facebook page, and the dices rolling in the right direction, the thing rapidly became a really huge success. About 170 albums are awaited, from Indonesia to Argentina, from glitch to noisy-pop, for your breakfast and for your wedding party. With this collection of audio you'll get things to listen to until Christmas or later, and all of this for free, all of them located behind a single tag at Internet Archive. They are currently being uploaded, so if you have nothing to do for the next 19 hours until the official event hour, you can start listening at the collection as it is published...
So then he started a blog, a Facebook page, and the dices rolling in the right direction, the thing rapidly became a really huge success. About 170 albums are awaited, from Indonesia to Argentina, from glitch to noisy-pop, for your breakfast and for your wedding party. With this collection of audio you'll get things to listen to until Christmas or later, and all of this for free, all of them located behind a single tag at Internet Archive. They are currently being uploaded, so if you have nothing to do for the next 19 hours until the official event hour, you can start listening at the collection as it is published...
Apr 7, 2015
Peggy Lux - Phil spector's hairshop
That's absolutely a matter of luck if I found this 2000-2003 era gem, which was deposed by the Kollectif No Shape Music in the Dogmazic archive, which is currently offline, but as a volunteer for the no-profit I was beta-testing the future interface with a small subset of the archive loaded in it, and I found this album.
No need to say, you should be able to get your hands on it shortly, since much work has been done now and the Dogmazic music archive is about to be back again, and for good.
I've been deeply impressed by the high quality of this album, which reminds angrily of teenage loves, mixing Weezer, Buzzcocks, Pixies influence, but also able to sound like The Flamming Groovies on an intro...
I especially loved the versatility and audacity in the main vocals, which can, by moment, makes you remind of the young Richard Hell, but actually the main ensemble is at a very good level, with a punchy rhythmic section and excellent, simple and energizing guitar parts.
I must admit, there's also a strong Sonic Youth influence, here, quite it can be less evident than others. The production fits well the general mood of the album, with a clean and powerful sound for this garage-pop attack, and you can understand that we got what we use to have on this blog : an excellent recording. Because I won't waste my time talking about an average album.
I know I didn't reviewed much for the past two years, but this time, things had to be done... I couldn't find sleep if I hadn't shared with the world how good the record is.
Listen juste once to "I Can't Sleep" and you'll understand what I mean.
No need to say, you should be able to get your hands on it shortly, since much work has been done now and the Dogmazic music archive is about to be back again, and for good.
I've been deeply impressed by the high quality of this album, which reminds angrily of teenage loves, mixing Weezer, Buzzcocks, Pixies influence, but also able to sound like The Flamming Groovies on an intro...
I especially loved the versatility and audacity in the main vocals, which can, by moment, makes you remind of the young Richard Hell, but actually the main ensemble is at a very good level, with a punchy rhythmic section and excellent, simple and energizing guitar parts.
I must admit, there's also a strong Sonic Youth influence, here, quite it can be less evident than others. The production fits well the general mood of the album, with a clean and powerful sound for this garage-pop attack, and you can understand that we got what we use to have on this blog : an excellent recording. Because I won't waste my time talking about an average album.
I know I didn't reviewed much for the past two years, but this time, things had to be done... I couldn't find sleep if I hadn't shared with the world how good the record is.
Listen juste once to "I Can't Sleep" and you'll understand what I mean.
Feb 2, 2015
No Monster Club - People Are Weird
Well, first off, you know how much I value No Monster Club's contribution to nowadays' culture.
This said, I would say that this album is like what "London Calling" was to The Clash.
In other words, Bobby went back to his roots with Dublin Duck Dispensary, but not only, okay the cheap keyboards are here, but also excellent backing vocals in the high tone, and some popper, mainstream-candy arrangements that we did not hear from No Monster Club before, and that are not a losse.
I would retain "People Are Weird", with its african music influenced riff, I think, as the most catchy song of the album, but don't misunderstand me, the whole release is excellent.
As a maintainer of a music review blog, I've been able to get my hand on this record just a few minutes before Bobby finally decided to release it for streaming to the public, and this is a good thing, since I can write, for you, a review before the album is officially released.
And what should I say ? Excellent, over anything, excellent. You know I think that Bobby, with No Monster Club, is dynamiting the garage-pop scene since a few years. Excellent poppy garage tunes, and as I said before, No Monster Club is now back with more general-public catchy tunes, and, as they do it in their unique way, it is simply very good.
In conclusion, as an hardcore No Monster Club fan, I didn't find betrayed by this release. In contrary to that, I see my band evolving, reaching new playgrounds, at the great pleasure of listeners. It got so tropical here, that I removed my grunge 90's wool shirt.
You should definitively give a listen to it. There are short run CDs and cassettes, I give you the link for the European store, if any north/south american is interested by buying the tape, please post in the comments !
Pre-order "People Are Weird" now (CD or Tape)
This said, I would say that this album is like what "London Calling" was to The Clash.
In other words, Bobby went back to his roots with Dublin Duck Dispensary, but not only, okay the cheap keyboards are here, but also excellent backing vocals in the high tone, and some popper, mainstream-candy arrangements that we did not hear from No Monster Club before, and that are not a losse.
I would retain "People Are Weird", with its african music influenced riff, I think, as the most catchy song of the album, but don't misunderstand me, the whole release is excellent.
As a maintainer of a music review blog, I've been able to get my hand on this record just a few minutes before Bobby finally decided to release it for streaming to the public, and this is a good thing, since I can write, for you, a review before the album is officially released.
And what should I say ? Excellent, over anything, excellent. You know I think that Bobby, with No Monster Club, is dynamiting the garage-pop scene since a few years. Excellent poppy garage tunes, and as I said before, No Monster Club is now back with more general-public catchy tunes, and, as they do it in their unique way, it is simply very good.
In conclusion, as an hardcore No Monster Club fan, I didn't find betrayed by this release. In contrary to that, I see my band evolving, reaching new playgrounds, at the great pleasure of listeners. It got so tropical here, that I removed my grunge 90's wool shirt.
You should definitively give a listen to it. There are short run CDs and cassettes, I give you the link for the European store, if any north/south american is interested by buying the tape, please post in the comments !
Pre-order "People Are Weird" now (CD or Tape)
Jan 27, 2015
Matthew Squires and the Learning Disorders - Where the Music Goes to Die
From time to time I get an email from Already Dead Tape. I always have a listen to the link, mostly for a few seconds.
But, as often, since Already Dead Tape is a very good label, choosing their artists among the most talented they get in touch with, I often have a very good time listening to Already Dead Tapes releases, and, quite often, I feel motivated enough to write a review here.
This is now the case for this album, that you can buy for a small price, which is simply excellent.
A large smile came on my face when listening to the second track, and I knew that I would have to review it here.
The three things that seduced me the most in this release, talking about the music performers, where the sharp and clean-sounded guitars, the voice full of emotion, and this violin always pertinent without being too present.
I also liked the very nice production, just sufficiently lofi to be pleasant.
But the most interesting point of the album, despite of the very interesting quality of the arrangements,is certainly its pop/rock songwriting quality, with an overall very good approach of what music should be, according to my own taste. I think, if you are reading this post, that yours are similar, that's why I strongly suggest you to scroll back to the top of this page and to stream the entire album, which is available so, from the link I indicated.
I don't think that I am talking in vain. This album is very good, and I'll probably make any friend coming to my home listen to it for the next few months. It is an unique blend of indie, pop and rock aesthetics, that is highly enjoyable and should be liked by most people fond of these kinds of music.
Definitively, an album that you should listen to, and that will probably be on your side for many more years.
But, as often, since Already Dead Tape is a very good label, choosing their artists among the most talented they get in touch with, I often have a very good time listening to Already Dead Tapes releases, and, quite often, I feel motivated enough to write a review here.
This is now the case for this album, that you can buy for a small price, which is simply excellent.
A large smile came on my face when listening to the second track, and I knew that I would have to review it here.
The three things that seduced me the most in this release, talking about the music performers, where the sharp and clean-sounded guitars, the voice full of emotion, and this violin always pertinent without being too present.
I also liked the very nice production, just sufficiently lofi to be pleasant.
But the most interesting point of the album, despite of the very interesting quality of the arrangements,is certainly its pop/rock songwriting quality, with an overall very good approach of what music should be, according to my own taste. I think, if you are reading this post, that yours are similar, that's why I strongly suggest you to scroll back to the top of this page and to stream the entire album, which is available so, from the link I indicated.
I don't think that I am talking in vain. This album is very good, and I'll probably make any friend coming to my home listen to it for the next few months. It is an unique blend of indie, pop and rock aesthetics, that is highly enjoyable and should be liked by most people fond of these kinds of music.
Definitively, an album that you should listen to, and that will probably be on your side for many more years.
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