Repeated Viewing - The Three Sisters Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2015) review

Repeated Viewing - The Three Sisters Original Motion Picture Soundtrack – CD, 12” – Wil-Ru / We/Me Records

Alan Sinclair has been around for several years at this point making his own patented version of the dark wave ambient sound that so many people have been biting over the last few years.  Sinclair on the other hand is no simple Carpenter worshipper, his love of the giallo, ambient, rock and horror genres all seamlessly blend together in Repeated Viewing.  He’s released a ton of stuff over the years digitally, but only recently during the horror boom that’s happening, has he finally started to receive a little bit of the much deserved attention that he has coming his way and started to get physical product out into the world.  He’s got a ton of releases in the works and I think one of the things that helped him finally garner attention from labels was this first release of some of his soundtrack work,in this case composed for the 2015 Daire McNab film The Three Sisters.  I’ve got to be honest and say that I’m not super familiar with either the film, or McNab’s work.  What I am familiar with is Repeated Viewing’s abilities when it comes to amazing composition and arrangement, honing his abilities over countless releases and years locked in experimental seclusion.  Even considering all of this, The Three Sisters OST is an absolutely monumental step forward for Repeated Viewing as a coherent and cohesive collection of tracks; especially highlighted by the track sequence, which was obviously done to fit the moving images it was written to accompany.  The Three Sisters perfectly showcases not only the hauntingly beautiful melodies that Repeated Viewing is known for while allowing him to channel his innermost giallo/horror vibes, but also the incredible breadth of sounds and emotions in between that he’s likewise more than capable of.  Opening with the six and a half minute “Main Titles” (Three Sisters) synthesized bells ring and echo out of a forbidding darkness before being joined by a bellowing low end and guitars.  Drums slowly slip themselves into the mix, dragging things into a lumbering convulsing procession before the song literally just explodes into a universe of sound.  The guitars screech and pop, rising and then dipping back in the mix, a sinister slinking synthesizer looms and threatens below the entire composition; the sound slowly taking on a more and more hideous and threatening form.  The main theme of the song begins to grow and then waver in the guitars and keys, threatening at times to almost disappear before the choir of sounds seem to convalesce into a perfectly conceived apex of sound, joining together in a unison call to dark gods and the ancient ones.  The end of the song almost reminds me of something from one of the Phantasm movies, a perfectly executed arpeggio repeating behind a droning choir of ethereal voices, tied together by an extremely minimalist Carpenter rhythm.  “Heartbeat” is the first song that should make it quite apparent you’re not just listening to any old horror soundtrack, that Three Sisters is something different and unique.  The haunting piano line that opens and repeats throughout “Heartbeat” is damned near perfect, and the almost Friday The 13th use of the vocoder – or what I assume is a vocoder at least – is genius.  The piercing calls of distorted breath are extremely unnerving, especially as they’re floating above a rising chorus of keys crawling up to the top of the mix, and finally fading away into nothingness.  “Alone At Midnight” is a great example of how much influence Sinclair pulls from Italian giallo and avant-garde horror soundtracks.  What starts as a seemingly random clamoring of sounds and blips, is slowly joined by a reticent drum track and a drone of bone shaking bottom-end.  It really sounds like it could have been pulled out of some Dario Argento library music, the obviously analog sounds battling for space in the chocked and dense jungle of noise.  Growing more emphatic the farther it progresses, “Alone At Midnight” slowly begins to take its’ enigmatic shape.  The shift at three minutes in, and the proceeding forty seconds though, is something that could have been pulled out of a number of killer Cannon or Hammer horror films. A screeching organ drifts off slowly in the mix as “Alone At Midnight” comes to a close leading the listener to the humming opening notes of “She Hears Him”.  Growing from the low bellowing tones of what sounds like a distorted organ or something, “She Hears Him” slowly begins to unhinge, little by little at first, tiptoeing along at a menacing pace. You almost feel like you’re peering through the eyes of a voyeur, slowly stalking their victim the sublime sounds in their mind growing darker and more intense with the passing of the seconds before fading slowly and giving way to the sound that follow it.  If “She Hears Him” reminded me of a stalking track then “Gunter’s Sympathy” takes things to a whole new level.  Growing from another echoed repeating sound very reminiscent of Manfredini’suse of vocal sampling on a plethora of Friday The 13th releases, the keys begin to slowly invade the soundscape, and their rhythmic pulsating finally almost overtakes the echoed cry desperately repeating in the background.  An ominous choir of voices extremely reminiscent of Carpenter’s work on Prince Of Darkness or Seagrave and Myrow’s work on Phantasm joins the demonic symphony and then suddenly sputters out into nothingness, spiraling back into the mysterious ether from whence it came.  “He’s Here” is intense and driving from the very get go; pulsing arpeggiation cycle in the background of a truly demonic sounding howl of low-end keys that rise like smoke and steam from a crack in the earth into the very depths of hell.  It’s clear that things have just been warming up as the song begins to move in a much more threating direction, the sounds becoming increasingly despondent and atonal before again metamorphosing back into the repeated sounds of the synthesizers that close out the track.  The haunting bells of “Resistance”hiss and breathe with cracks like a dirty tape crawling atop the seemingly placid surface and are joined by a rising wail of distortion and brain rattling guitars bubbling up from the depths of the mix.  Suddenly, the track erupts into an explosion of live drums, guitar and dissonant keyboards franticly jangling and screaming in the recesses.  “Resistance” could be just as at home in any of Elite Entertainment’s late 80’s action films as it would in an mid-80’s slasher flick, or The Three Sisters itself, at least I assume the latter.  The full rocking sound of “Resistance” quickly dissipates and gives way to the ephemeral smoking tendrils of sound of “Childhood Fantasy”. Again proving that he’s just as at home with the more avant-garde side of composition and arrangement as he is with precise, infectiously repetitive themes and suites, Sinclair introduces a horrific sounding carnival organ into the muddied concoction of harsh despotic sounds.  A single piercing note undulates and warbles, the other instrumentation and themes coming and going like ghosts in a haunted house the whole time.  While it may not be the most ‘fun’ song on the album, it’s most certainly one of the most unnerving, and I dare you to stick on “Childhood Fantasy” late at night all alone and switch out all the lights – because I guarantee it will creep the hell out of you.  “The Escape” is another long movement, around seven and a half minutes.  These elongated compositions seem to be, or at least in my opinion, where Repeated Viewing really shines the brightest.  His ability to grow a song from slow starting seeds and ideas that blossom into fully realized and multi-instrumental arrangements across an expanded time pallet and scene are what really set Sinclair’s work apart for me.  He obviously takes his craft more seriously than a lot of the other people who set out to write much more upfront and hokey or intentionally retro synthesizer music.  And there’s nothing wrong with that kind of music, I personally love a nice cheesy synth, but that’s not necessarily a good game plan and it doesn’t always work.  When that’s the case the list of people to call upon who still work inside the industry and accompanying genre is extremely small, but Repeated Viewing should be near the top.  His ability to weave altering emotions, build and drop suspense at will is unbelievable, and it’s easy to see, especially when listening to tracks like “The Escape”.  Rising and building for nearly four minutes before it’s joined by any percussion, I’m not sure how the rhythm becomes so increasingly emphatic over that period without their being an abrupt or jolting shift.  I’m not even really sure how Sinclair peels the layers back once more revealing the innermost core of the song, and then almost instantaneously introduces a host of live instruments without it sounding like a completely different song, but how he manages to shift the mood to a completely triumphant and celebratory one from the dirges of the most ominous of threats is absolutely spellbinding!  There are those who will likely be turned off by some of the more rock influenced angles, upset it’s not completely synthesized sounds and solely electronica but they will be the minority and have obviously missed the point. Repeated Viewing does much more than imitate John Carpenter or rehashing ideas already done to death, but instead incorporates many more of the actual sounds that you would find in just about any horror or action soundtrack from the mid-80’s.  For me, it’s just another thing that makes Repeated Viewing’s music truly unique and an absolute pleasure to listen to.  “The Creator” is a quick reminder that you are indeed listening to a horror film soundtrack.  The dissonant discordant synth tones and disembodied percussion that start “The Creator” quickly grow into a full-fledged monster.  At a minute and a half “The Creator” begins to absolutely bleed giallo influences all over the place.  You can hear some amazing Lucio Fulci and Stelvio Cippriani proclivities melded with what I would definitely call a Chuck Cirino influenced style and tone.  “The Creator” sounds like it might work in Chopping Mall if you found the right scene. Like a song drug straight out of the 80s, although it’s a bit more dark and forbidding than Cirino’s compositions for Chopping Mall, “The Creator”defies time so deftly it could inevitably easily find a good home there.  The CD release of The Three Sisters motion picture soundtrack is finished out by a series of four remixes by various and pretty well-known faces in the ‘ horror soundtrack’ and accompanying genre/community.  The first is a remix of the opening “Main Titles” by Umberto, who is a ridiculously talented musician in his own right without a doubt, standing heads and tails above most of the rest of the recently arrived competition inside the horror music scene.  He does not disappoint here, stripping away nearly two minutes of the original six and a half minute arrangement. In doing so, Umberto strikes at the very core of the original composition and crafts something new and amazing from it, something unholy and dark, forbidding and sinister.  If you’ve ever stared pensively over the side of your bed wondering what horrors lie only inches from your face as you sleep beneath the slim covering of your sheets dangling like curtains to hide the hell beneath, than “Three Sisters” (Umberto Remix) should sound very familiar.  It’s as if my childhood nightmares were perfectly encapsulated in escalating outbursts of synthesizers, taking shape and eventually a physical form before your very eyes as the song progresses.  Reaching a frenzied peak of noise and commotion “Three Sisters” (Umberto Remix) finally breaks and rolls back in a wave of echoes and keys, only to be quickly replaced by the haunting tones of the “Gunter’s Sympathy” remix provided by none other than Vercetti Technicolor.  I’m not even going to get into a huge sidebar about how amazing Vercetti is or how it’s the solo project of the Giallo Disco label owner, how you can get his albums digitally for free from his Bandcamp page or anything like that.  What I will get into, is how Vercetti is able to cast a dreamy shadow of dark foreboding over the original version, making it even more ethereal and ghostly.  The ephemeral form of “Gunter’s Sympathy” (Vercetti Technicolor Remix) pays much less homage to the Phantasm influences you could originally hear, and instead replaces them with a healthy helping of Carptenter-esque avant-garde sounds, tones, and drone notes wafting listlessly in and out of the mix.  Nearly doubling the length of the original track, this is one of the rare occasions - where even though I love the original track, I think the remix might actually be a marked improvement; expanding the core idea of the song and allowing it more ample time to breathe.  “He’s Here” the Antonio Maiovvi’s None More Cosmic Mix on the other hand is the weak link in the chain here for me.  This is surprising as Maiovvi’s music is usually right up my alley, but in his more club-beat version of “He’s Here” I can’t help but feel like he stripped the heart right out of the track.  Maybe it’s the fact that I love the original so much, but I don’t think that the None More Cosmic Mix quite lives up to its name or does proper justice to the original.  The one thing I can say is that Maiovvi truly makes it his own, and it sounds much less like a remix than a completely new composition based on elements of the original tune.“Resistance” is given a new treatment by Night Sequels who I think much more aptly approach the tune and transform it into somewhat of a more club friendly sounding version of its predecessor. Half way through the song I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it, and then, exploding in a synthesized glitter of disco lights and glass floors I was rocketed onto the dance floor.  The remix feels funky, not forced, dancible and yet not tampered with.  I definitely prefer the original version of “Resistance”, but the new direction for the song that Night Sequels pulled off is pretty impressive in its’ own right.  All in all Three Sisters is without a doubt one of the most interesting soundtracks I’ve ever heard offered up and the remixes filling up the extra space on the CD was a really nice touch as well in my humble opinion, making this more than worth the admission price.  I love to see excess space filled up with something interesting or entertaining, and the four tracks at the end of the CD definitely qualify as all of that and more.  I recently finished up a small Q+A with Alan Sinclair AKA Repeated Viewing and I was informed that the Three Sisters soundtrack is going to be released on 12” vinyl by We/Me Records unfortunately excluding the four remixes.  However, vinyl enthusiasts fret not!  The ever amazing Sinclair has your back in the form of the Three Sisters Remixes 12” that is going to be coming out on Disko Obscura in December.  There’s a host of other Repeated Viewing releases in the works but I’ll talk more about all of that in my interview with him.  In the meantime The Three Sisters will operate as a perfect primer course of what to expect from Repeated Viewing and wet your pallet to get in on some insider info…  So what are you waiting for?  This had to have taken you the better part of a year to read! Get off your guff, listen to some tunes, and make sure to score a copy soon.  There’re only 300 copies of the CD and I’m pretty sure the vinyl’s going to be even more limited–read as: do not sleep on this release, it will sell out.  Make sure to keep an eye out for the interview coming soon and further reviews too, as I’m going to be on Repeated Viewing like white on rice from now on!

- Listen to some music here: https://repeatedviewing.bandcamp.com/album/the-three-sisters

- Buy some music here:  http://wil-ru.com/shop/repeated-viewing-the-three-sisters-ost-cd/

Review made by Roman Rathert/2015

© Copyright http://psychedelicbaby.blogspot.com/2015

Mountain Movers - Death Magic (2015) review

Mountain Movers - Death Magic (Safety Meeting Records, 2015)

The Mountain Movers aren’t a new band, but one can be forgiven if they make that mistake.  It’s been nearly five long years since their last release and for those that were already listening to them this is going to be some eagerly anticipated news, to the uninitiated - a chance to get in on one of the best kept secrets out there, the Mountain Movers.  “Short Life” starts Death Magic off right, the lyrics “I want to live” encompassing the optimistic if sometimes sullen or downtrodden feeling of the album pretty well in my opinion.  Death Magic has been a long time coming but this fact it doesn’t sound labored or contrived or confused in the slightest.  Lithely drifting lazily along a snaking river of jangling guitars “Short Life” gives way to the slowly building and receding tones of “Before I Get Out Of Bed”.  There’s an almost REM feel to Mountain Movers music as they slowly wander down their own path - examining the world piece by piece as they pass it by, picking it apart and then reassembling it into a tiny slice of existentialist thought, via murky rhythms and hazy smoked out progressions.  Like some sort of fractured fairy tale “Before I Get Out Of Bed” slowly churns, growing and building until the vocals simply slip away into the warm summer night of sound, the guitars beginning to frolic and espouse sweet nothings to the universe in the form of six string strums and eloquently executed clamoring waves of feedback and distortion.  I didn’t quite know how transitioning directly from a less than two-minute long song directly into a seven minute jam would work, and I had my doubts looking at the track listing, but where other bands may have struggled or simply fallen flat on their face - it doesn’t sound the slightest bit out of place or long winded.  Instead the transition allows the echoing ebb of “Floating Holiday” to dreamily slide into place almost without the listener noticing what’s happening.  There’s a distinctive Brian Jonestown Massacre sound to Mountain Movers and “Floating Holiday” is a great example of that.  “Floating Holiday” may have a little less bite and aggression than some of Anton’s work, but it’s got the same ethereal, borderline Lewis Carroll, drug induced hysterical reality quality about it.  Levelling off the run times at a little under four minutes “Floating Holiday” shudders and then quietly slips away with a shimmer of tambourines.  “Dead Tomorrow” rises from its ashes and again brings an almost REM reminiscent feeling to the party.  A playful up-tempo beat clamors along, teamed with delightfully and playfully dark lyrics that make for an extremely interesting concoction.  “Dead Tomorrows” tows the line between tongue-in-cheek play, and a deeply personal outpouring of emotion - musically masked by false and fading smiles that disappear in the bright light of the sun.  The guitar work on “Dead Tomorrow” definitely takes things to another level on Death Magic for me as well.  I’m an avid believer that there’s almost always room for a nice tasty solo, or at least a lead line or break, and “Dead Tomorrow” drives that point home, making several pit stops along its way to “Nightsong Of The Sea”.  Once it begins “Nightsong Of The Sea” slowly creeps along, sounding more like you would imagine “Dead Tomorrow” to sound from the name.  In “Nightsong Of The Sea” a contemplative beat tentatively explores the soundscape inquisitively, along with reverberating and jangling guitars, slowly illuminating the expanses of sound presented therein.  If I didn’t know better and I heard “Nightsong Of The Sea” Mountain Movers could definitely pass for some big British band that I’d never heard of being locked away in the xenophobic musical world of the US.  There’s a familiar rattle and hum to the music that draws the listener in like potent opium or hash drifting through the air, slowly slipping up your nostrils driving you deep into the heart of a dream state perfectly personified by the recycling and decomposing cycle of lyrics and feedback that finish out the song.  “I Watch The Sea” brings some punk swagger of sorts to the table, it’s obviously utilized in conjunction with several other prevailing elements, but the seething energy level explodes in fits of distorted feedback before receding and giving way to a rhythmic chanting of vocals below them.  The cool thing about “I Watch The Sea” for me, is that it’s the least obvious place for the album to really begin spreading it’s wings, but the farther you traverse into the rocky and dangerous terrain of the song the more you’re overwhelmed and assaulted by fits of spastic noise and distortion, chaos and noise, all held together by a somehow unwavering drum and bass rhythm that keeps the entirety of the nearly seven minute long freak-out from dissembling in some sort of high speed come apart.  The more I listen to Death Magic the more I become convinced that “I Watch The Sea” is the best thing on the album.  It’s far too long to be released as a single and I’d hate to hear a single second of the perfected Molotov cocktail of sounds that is “I Watch The Sea” tampered with, but damn would it make one hell of an introduction to Mountain Movers.  “I Watch The Sea” lithely drifts along the razor’s edge of perfect noise rock and out and out sound, the song continuously transmogrifies and mutates before the listener’s ear and is most definitely the highlight of the album for me.  “Stray Cat In The Street” cuts the runtime and the noise level back severely following on the heels of the afore mentioned burner.  Crooning melodic vocals replace the aggressive fits of feedback and sound on the track that preceded it and “Stray Cat In The Street” begins to expound on just how much diversity of sound is present on Death Magic.  It’s a collection of tracks that should seemingly be schizophrenic when you’re listening back to them, like they were placed in some random ramshackle order by the band while on a bender one night.  But the genius of switching things, times, tunes, tempos, emotions and explorations up like this, at least doing it well like this, is absolutely genius.  “Stray Cat In The Street” is really just a stepping stone, moving you along to the dreamy sounds of “Pacemaker”.  “Pacemaker” definitely begins to recall the early album openers, but it also has a larger expanse of sound, allowing it to really open up and evolve as a tune, rather than sticking to some sort of formula or idea of how the songs should sound together.  The dream like tone of “Pacemaker” is again teamed with almost playfully dark lyrics that pass themselves off as more of a joke or parody of things than they really are.  The vocals on Death Magic, and especially the lyrics, begin to really stand out as an instrument all their own, subconsciously setting the tone for a song while lingering somewhere in the back of the mix for the most part.  “I’ve Been Moved” again begins to recall some of those smoky British influences that I mentioned earlier, but it deftly pairs them with an almost country-esque The Band sounding composition.  Paying heed to earlier tunes while still attempting to move things in a direction that will sum up the parts that are Death Magic as the album begins to come to a close, Mountain Movers throw in these delightful instrumental breaks that shine like a sun breaking through the clouds of a fresh rain, a delicate fog rolling and disappearing down the side of a hill and back into the field from whence it emerged.  It’s difficult not to call what Mountain Movers do on these standout tracks as jam music, but I don’t think that does the arrangements justice, I think it’s a lot more than just a jam.  It’s not just some guys making up stuff as they go along and improvising, which is impressive as hell in its own right.  What it is, is people who have written a song and allowed enough space and forethought to allow sections of the song to naturally change and shift, evolve and breathe like a living being while the people playing lay it down.  Or at least that would be my guest.  The fusion of sounds that manifest in the complex and mutating arrangements that make up Death Magic definitely make it apparent what Mountain Movers have been doing with the last five years or so.  Apparently, they’ve been locked up in some sort of sonic cavern perfecting the craft they had already held a near mastery of before their entry.  “A Bird Flew My Shed” brings things around full circle and could literally be the album opener if Mountain Movers had so wished.  It’s an interesting statement from an album that seems to unfold like a piece of origami from track to track.  Perhaps the more down-tempo sound of the song simply worked well as an album closer, but I’d like to think there was a little more thought put into it than that.  The unwaveringly, unapologetically lyrics that accompany it are little more than the half formed words that slip from the lips of a young lover in the sun of a bright morning; whispered sweet nothings of times to come that will never manage to live up to the experience that they’ve just had.  Growing more and more dissonant as it progresses “A Bird Flew In My Shed” closes out with a single sustained guitar note ringing out and brings Death Magic to an end.  Limited to some pretty strict numbers, and after a wait of five years, don’t expect Death Magic to stick around long.  As always there are links to check out the music and pick up an LP or download if you want ‘em.  Enjoy and remember to keep It Psychedelic Baby!

- Listen to some music here: https://safetymeeting.bandcamp.com/album/death-magic

- Buy some music here:  https://safetymeeting.bandcamp.com/album/death-magic

Review made by Roman Rathert/2015

© Copyright http://psychedelicbaby.blogspot.com/2015

Lovebyrd - Lovebyrd (2015) review

Lovebyrd - Lovebyrd (Hairy Records, 2015)

Listen: http://lovebyrd.bandcamp.com/

I don’t know where Lovebyrd has been hiding, but their debut album, the self-titled Lovebyrd, is being released by Hairy Records on my birthday and it already sounds like they’ve been around for years.  They have a simplistic, mellow, laidback feeling to their music; shoegaze tripping through wave after wave of reverberation and jangling shimmering percussion onthe entirety of their 10 track debut album.  “Spinning Around”,which was previously available on Lovebyrd’s EP cassette tape from the beginning of this year (2015), opens up Lovebyrd like the glistening psychedelic gates of some kind of paisley paradise.  There’s a melodic, warm, enveloping melody that oozes out of your speakers and gunks up the needle, dripping from your poresand beading up on your skin like sweat before long.  The angelic voice of Steffi Krauth is what really makes these tunes, minimalist sounds, and slowly shifting arrangements that comprise Lovebyrd standout.  The dream-pop label drifts slowly up like smoke rising from a crumpled joint pursed in your lips, smoke exhaling from the undulating guitars that clamor and rattle in the distance of “We’re Shining Through”.
 Although it was available on the cassette EP, I don’t know ifthey’re the same recordings – and either way it sounds just as at home on this angelic slab of wax as it did on the tape that preceded it.  The abrupt end of ”We’re Shining Through” leads the listener directly into the echoing chambers of the third track, “Floating Up”.  “Floating Up” is the first song on the LP not to be featured on the original EP tape, and you can tell straight away.  The writing and composition are just a little less muddy, more concentrated, and absolutely gripping from the moment that it starts.  The hollow cavernous walls of sound instantly recall the guitar work of The Byrds and Jefferson Airplane while also showing off Lovebyrd’s unabashed Tame Impala influences.  There’s a very almost, dare I say it, Oasis vibe to “Floating Up” as well.  It has that hazy Beatles-esque swagger that so very few people are able to conjure up without becoming either completely consumed orlosing their sound in.  Slithering through the finale of the song it’s hard to imagine why I haven’t heard anyone mention The Raveonettes in the same sentence as Lovebyrd before.  The thundering fuzzy tentacles of sound that erupt from “Shot From The Sun” only help to reinforce this idea, the simplistic repetitive guitar line crunching and popping above the dreamy vocals and vibrating drum track.  It’s interesting how well the combination of material originally written for the cassette EP and the stuff done specifically for this 12” work together.  A lot of times you can easily pick out earlier compositions from bands as they move into their first release, but not always so with Lovebyrd.  “Shot From The Sun” is a much needed dose of psychedelia, a sweet shot in the arm for the album pretty early on.  Lovebyrd draw you in with fuzzy, dreamy, melodies before then slowly begin to supplant heavier and heavier tones,heaping more and more distortion to the guitar and thus allowing the vocals to waver atop them like some sort of guardian angel.  “Nothing Is Real” is actually the first Lovebyrd song that I ever heard, and even now when I listen to it, it’s easy to remember why I was instantly hooked.  As gentle and kind as it is menacing and heavy “Nothing Is Real” is the perfect primer course for Lovebyrd as a band, and happily finds a perfect home here in the middle of their debut album.  “Nothing Is Real” doesn’t quite have the same amount of in your face distortion as “Shot From The Sun” does, but somehow it manages to feel even heavier and more urgent.  This is probably in large part due to the ephemeral vocal track that croons through the entirety of the song, teamed with a guitar that at times sounds more like a sitar than just a regular six-string axe, with added effects and you have a recipe for ensuring that anyone who makes it this far is going to be flipping to the other side of this LP ravenously searching for more of their psychedelic dream sequence fix!  “Magnetic Levitation” kicks off a string of songs that were written specifically for the album and I think also begins to demonstrate just how much Lovebyrd has grown as a band, even in as little as less than a year.  The instrumental “Magnetic Levitation” instantly transports the listener off of the planet, onto some serene landscape far from the prying eyes of anotherliving soul.  Sanguine strands of smoothly melding sound convalesce and blend to make way for “Floating Down” but “Magnetic Levitation” leaves you wanting more.  It’s not easy to stick an instrumental song in the middle of an album, they normally just don’t work for one reason or another when crammed in between a bunch of other stuff, but man, oh man, am I glad that Lovebyrd kept “Magnetic Levitation” around as it may be my favorite song on the album.  “Floating Down” picks the energy level up again a bit, bringing back memories of the more easy-going album openers, while still continuing to expand the scope of the music and make things feel like the album is still opening up into a never ending tundra of relaxation and infinite echoes, gleefully bounding and leaping about the open niches of the soundscape.  “Floating Down” is one of those rare psychedelic tracks that you hear where you know you could just as easily be listening to it on an underground radio station broadcasting out of some enlightened individual’s backyard, as some random top 40 station; a rare breed indeed.  I’m still kind of unsure as to how Lovebyrd sound so genuinely original, while still wearing their influences on their sleeve and still make it all work.  I’m not going to ask too many questions though, don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, right?  Finally “Black Sweet Sunny” sets pace for the ending of the album, brining an urgent distorted choir of flanged guitar and vocals to the party.  The continuous call of Steffi’s voice seems to be the only thing holding the song together as it continues to start and stop, lurching back and forth between life and in-animation; lingering on the very precipice of silence and darkness before fading out into the final two tracks of the album, “Prologue & Leave Me Blind”.  Reversed guitar slices through the slowly building tension like a knife through butter, leaving an exposed nerve of sparse pulsating drums beats that flitter and glimmer like stars in the blackness of the night sky.  Erupting from the quiet restrained opening, Steffi’s vocals instantly make the song.  I don’t mean to gush, but it really isn’t often that you hear a lead singer with pipes like Steffi Krauth.  There’s a sincerity that you can’t fake, and a sultry sense of naivety and sensitivity that exudes from every line of vocals on Lovebyrd.  It’s her voice’s inescapable beauty and horrifically captivating siren’s song call that keeps beckoning and pulling you back in to the music time after time.  I don’t say it often, but this is going to be a classic album someday.  I don’t know how long it will take for people to catch on to Lovebyrd’s sound, but when they do this is going to become one of those mythical albums that everyone talks about and no one can understand why they don’t own it yet.  But you don’t have to be one of those people.  This LP is limited to only 300 hand numbered copies on Smoke White Vinyl and it’s not going to stick around long.  Make sure to pick up a copy of Lovebyrd here and keep an eye on Lovebyrd because if this first album is any indication on where they plan on heading from here, I can’t even begin to fathom what the next one is going to be like!

- Listen to some music here: https://soundcloud.com/lovebyrd-1/sets/lovebyrd-lovebyrd

- Buy some music here: https://hairyrecords.bandcamp.com/

Review made by Roman Rathert/2015

© Copyright http://psychedelicbaby.blogspot.com/2015

Lewd Flesh interview with John Madsen, Casper Nilsson, Malene Pedersen, Nanna Braunschweig Hansen

I’m not going to beat it into the ground and I normally don’t drag gender into the picture when it comes to art, but god damn is it nice to hear a female fronted Stoner Rock band!  From the moment the needle drops on Lewd Flesh’s debut 7-inch for Spaghetti Cassetti Records Op I Røven, Dø I Smerte things are hot and heavy.  Malene Pedersen’s vocals bellow and scream from the center of the entropic sludge of psychedelia and metal, pummeling distorted guitar and bass melodies washing corpses ashore intow as the drums trundle and smash their way to the surface of the bubbling concoction.  It’s not often that I hear a band who would be as much at home in the mid-90’s rock explosion around Seattle here in the US as they would be in the burgeoning metal scene which has finally managed to gain some much deserved traction again in the past few years especially in the EU, but Lewd Flesh draw from such a wide and varied array of sounds it’s hard to pinpoint just when and where they’re actually from.  The title of the single obviously does a little more than hint at the fact they’re not from here state side, but the music contained on the sickeningly addictive slab of sinister 7-inch wax is much more difficult to pin down.  There’s an undeniable almost grunge meets desert rock twinge to the distorted guitar feeding back and screeching throughout, at times suddenly turning on a dime and devolving into full on Sabbath worshipping Sleep comparison inducing state of transcendent riffage.  The bass humms and pops alongside for the entirety ride, drawing you deeper and deeper into the festering pit of sound with it’s siren’s song.  I also must say that it’s not often I notice drums on a recording either honestly.  But here though, the drums help pay homage to that same Sabbath proto-metal meets Motorhead or full on Badmotorfinger era Soundgarden sound that is such a destinctive and unique combination in Lewd Flesh.   Over the past few years I’ve been lucky enough to get exposed to some of the lesser known bands from across the EU who haven’t had a chance to break here in the US yet, and there have been some amazing finds, but Lewd Flesh is definitely at the top of the list for me.  It’s been months in coming but I managed to get the band to sit down with me and dish about all things Lewd and Fleshy for all you lucky folks.  They’ve just finished the recording phase on their upcoming debut album which should be out before too awfully long.  But before that happens though, I highly recommend you give this a read.  Make sure you click on the Bandcamp link below, check out some tunes, and prepare yourself for the oncoming onslaught because you will not want to miss out on anything that Lewd Flesh releases!  Did I mention they offer all of their stuff digitally for free?  I didn’t?  Well, now I did – so what are you waiting for!?!  Dig on in to a healthy helping of psychedelic stoner delight now and you can thank me later...

- Listen while you read:  https://lewdflesh.bandcamp.com/releases

- Or you can find us on Spotify:  http://open.spotify.com/album/7GQhs6Gb2rstedKDggZpkE

What’s the lineup in Lewd Flesh right now? Is this the original lineup or have you all gone through any changes since you first started? 

John:  The original lineup was Malene on vocals, Nanna on guitar and Sabine Tørnqvist Føns Andersen on bass.  Additionally, Carl Johan Hanberg played the drums for a couple of years around the time the 7-inch was recorded.  Before Carl, there were a few different drummers.  The current lineup is Malene on vocals, Nanna on guitar, Casper on guitar, Jakob on drums, and myself on the bass.

Are any of you currently in any other bands or do you have any side projects going on right now? 

John:  Jakob and I were playing in other bands before joining Lewd Flesh and we’re still active in those bands.  Jakob is the drummer of a hardcore band called No Fealty and I am playing bass in an experimental black metal band called Molok.

Have you released any music with anyone other than Lewd Flesh in the past? If so, can you tell us a little bit about that here?

John:  I released an album with Molok, back in ‘09 I believe.  It was a little less experimenting back then, and it isn't much of an indication of what we currently do.  Most of our music, released and unreleased, can be found on SoundCloud or YouTube, if you don’t mind doing a little digging, that is!

How old are you and where are you originally from? 

John:  I'm pushing thirty one.  I was born in Sri Lanka and raised in the outskirts of Denmark, near the German border

Casper:  I’m twenty four born, born to a Danish mother and a Swedish father, and was raised in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Malene:  I just turned thirty.  I grew up in one of the richest cities in Denmark.  My father is a farmer and took care of a large rich man's farm, we had no money but we were surrounded by huge superficial assholes.  As a result as a child, I spent most of my time in the nature by myself.

Nanna:  I'm turning thirty in a few months, and grew up in a small town at the northern coast of Sjælland, surrounded by water, trees and family.

What was your home like when you were growing up?  Was there a lot of music around or anything like that?  Were either of your parents or any of you close relatives musicians or extremely interested/involved in music? 

John:  The short answer is no!  A couple of teachers at my school put in a lot of effort to get kids involved in music, and that’s where it began for me.

Nanna:  We had a piano in my home, where I improvised music to the atmospheres of my friend’s stories; a lot of fun.  I went to piano lessons from like four to the age of about eleven, and took guitar lessons one year after that.  But my sister, who is four years older than me, was certainly a big influence on my taste in music, and brought me along to a lot of metal concerts from the age of twelve and up.   

What was the local music scene like where you grew up?  Did you get very involved in that scene or see a lot of shows when you were younger?  Do you feel like it played a large role in shaping your musical tastes or the way you perform at this point? 

John:  A nearby town had a great music scene, with all sorts of genres.  I went to my first show there.  It was local thrash and death metal bands.  So yeah, that definitely played a role in both my tastes and the way I play.  Also, living close to the German border meant that the Wacken Open Air Festival wasn't too far away either.  I first went there at sixteen and that experience did its part as well.

Malene:  As a teenager, I dyed my hair black and wore black clothes that I made myself and hung out with a small group of boys who skated and listened to a lot of different gloomy and ‘fuck it all’ music.  We soon started drinking, smoking, and going to concerts, hanging out in rehearsal rooms, jamming, playing music for each other and fleeing from the norms around us.  But I never really fit into any group.  I’ve always preferred to keep to myself.  And I’ve also always been known to be an untamable, flowing energy force.

Nanna:  I've always gone to a lot of concerts in Copenhagen, both big and underground.  I seem to surround myself with metal and punk loving people, and the energy of such live concerts has always touched my heart; energy I hope to be able to give back when performing myself. 

What do you consider your first real exposure to music to be? 

John:  Playing my first concert at school or going to my first proper show, probably.

If you were to pick a moment, or a small series of moments, that seemed to opened your eyes to the infinite possibilities that music presents and changed everything for you, what would it be? 

Malene:  When I was eighteen I joined my first band with some guys who were like ten years older than me.  I had black hair and braces at the time.  They played a lot of smooth heavy blues, soul and old psychedelic rock for me, which is a big part of my style today.  I was kicked out of the band because I was a young unstable wreck at the time though.

John:  Being introduced to jazz, wink…  On a serious note though, I still get that feeling whenever I'm being introduced to music that pushes boundaries in a creative way.  If I were to pinpoint specific moments I vividly remember the first time I listened to Cryptopsy, a Canadian death metal band.  The song is called “Cold Hate, Warm Blood” completely blew me away.  I just couldn't understand what had just hit me!  Also, hearing the Norwegian avant-garde black metal band Dødheimsgaard/DHG was a big one.  The first time I heard their music, it was a song called “Traces of Reality”, and it was an eye opener for me.  It genuinely felt like boundaries and rules being smashed to bits.

Nanna:  I've been surrounded by peoples who were playing music for a lot of years, without playing myself.  At one point I started spending a lot of time jamming with people for fun and I experienced the great feeling it gave me cooperating and making a musical universe together.  

What was your first instrument?  When and how did you get that? 

John:  A Fender Telecaster.  I was probably around twelve.

Casper:  I bought a cheap ass acoustic guitar when I was around eleven or twelve at my local supermarket.  No idea where it is now... 

Malene:  I’ve always sung to myself in my room.  My mother hated it! She would come in and shout at me, telling me I had to turn down the music.

Nanna:  Besides an old acoustic guitar an uncle gave me and my sister as children, which was the reason I choose the guitar later on actually, I bought an old, cheap, soon to be broken electric guitar off a friend when we started Lewd Flesh.  Tape can fix a lot of things…

When did you decide to start writing and performing your own music and what brought that decision about for you?  Or, was it more of just a natural reflex to being given a new outlet and opportunity to create something of your own and express yourself in a new way?

John:  I never cared too much for playing cover songs, so I guess it happened naturally.  That doesn't mean it was easy, though!  When I first started writing my own stuff, man, it was absolute shit!

Casper:  When I first started to play guitar, I was really into Jimi Hendrix and quickly tried to learn most of his songs and started off mostly playing Jimi Hendrix covers.  But at one point I started to write my own songs, which just came naturally to me.  Now I like to play my own songs, but I’m not afraid to play a cover song now and then either.

Malene:  I’ve always had a huge need to indulge myself creatively.  I depend on it to keep my mind balanced.  It’s like a refuge for one's frustrations and demons, a universe where you can let go of your thoughts and bestial nature.

How and when did the members of Lewd Flesh meet?

John:  I met Malene and Nanna at a party/concert for the bands sharing our rehearsal space some years back.  We were in four or five bands sharing the same place, and decided we should all meet and listen to each other’s music.  Us sharing the rehearsal room was also the reason I eventually joined the band when they needed a new bass player.

What led to the formation of Lewd Flesh and when would that have been?

Nanna:  The band started in early 2011 when a fresh and initiative girl collected a group of friends, who didn't know each other, but all had boyfriends who played music, and all wanted to have an excuse for meeting once a week to drink bears, eat cake, enjoy each other’s company and play some music together.  We had varied musical experience, but were all pretty inexperienced at our instruments.  I myself hadn't played in any band before or played guitar since I took a year of lessons at the age of around twelve, so it was like brand new to me.  Even though we didn't know each other at first, we really enjoyed each other’s company.  Luckily, we all had an agreeable idea of sound.  Slowly music was being made and the band began to evolve.

What does the name Lewd Flesh mean or refer to in the context of your band name?  Who came up with it and how did you go about choosing it?  Are there any close seconds you almost went with you can recall at this point? 

Malene:  Since we didn’t have a name to start with, our good friend thought that we should be called UP MY ASS DIE IN PAIN in Danish.  All of our friends thought it was really cool and called us this for a long time, hence the name of our 7-inch.  We searched for a name that expressed and embodied sensual freedom.  I saw a film on television by chance which took place in late 19th century.  It was about a priest who was in love with a young woman.  The young woman had a seductive, joyous, magical mind and the priest used the word 'lewd' to describe her many times.  I didn’t know the meaning of the word at the time, but I thought she and the word were so beautiful.  The priests’ frustrations with his own desires lead him to have her burned as a witch at the end of the film.  I often think that if I had lived back then I would definitely have been banished, admitted to a lunatic asylum, or burned at the stake as a witch.

Is there any sort of shared creed, code, ideal or mantra that the band shares or operates by, spoken or unspoken?

John:  Not that I'm aware of!  We’re all quite different, and I think that actually works in our favour.

Where’s Lewd Flesh located at currently?  What’s the local scene like where you’re at?

John:  We are located in and around Copenhagen.  The scene is actually quite vibrant; lots of bands and small venues and festivals, radio programs, blogs etcetera for a ton of different genres.  Much of it is kept alive by the passion of people who really care about music.

Are you very involved in your local music scene in your opinion? Do you book or attend a lot of local shows or anything like that?

John:  We’re not really involved in booking shows, but we all attend a lot of them.  But there’re so many shows, it's impossible to attend all of them though.

Has the local scene played an integral role in the sound, history or evolution of Lewd Flesh in your opinion or do you feel like you all would be doing what you’re doing and sound basically like you do regardless of where you were at or surrounded by?

Nanna:  As we all goes to concerts in Copenhagen and the surrounding area, I don't think anybody can reject being influenced by the feeling of a great musical experience.  But I don't think we use it directly or deliberately.  We’re all different people, with different influences, bringing different sounds and new ideas to the band.  Curiosity is a great thing.

Whenever I talk to bands for these interviews I inevitably have to describe how they sound to be a bunch of people who’ve never heard them before and it can be a little bit intimidating to say the least. How would you describe Lewd Flesh’s sound to our readers who might not have heard you all before?

John:  Stoner/doom/psychedelic.  I know I'm just putting a label on it, but I always try not to be too descriptive about my music.  Ideally, I would like people to experience the music with a tabula rasa, and let them make up their own minds without being told what something sounds or feels like.

You all obviously have one foot firmly planted as far as influences go, but I feel like you pull from a bunch of different places as well to round out your sound. I’m curious who you’d cite as your major musical influences? What about influences on the band as a whole rather than just individually?

John:  I think we touched on it earlier, but it’s a difficult one because I'm not so sure that we, as a whole, could name any influences.  As you yourself said, we’re influenced, at least individually, by very different things.

What’s the songwriting process like for Lewd Flesh? Is there someone who usually comes in to the rest of the band with a riff or more finished idea to work out from there with the rest of you or do you all like to get together and just kind of jam and let things happen and evolve until you hit on an idea that you’re interested in working on and refining?

John:  We usually start of from a single riff and work it out together.  The funny thing about that is that you may have a feeling about a riff you made, where it’s going, what it will sound and feel like.  But when the others start doing their thing, it all changes and becomes something completely different from what you had in mind.

Casper:  Malene writes all the lyrics, usually one of us comes up with a riff or some chords, and we just jam on it together, but sometimes one of us has an idea for a whole song, and tries to play it to the others.  From there we slowly try to combine all the instrumentation to make it sound right.  Malene will try to come up with some words and sing along in the moment, while writing some lyrics down.

What about recording? I think that most musicians can appreciate all the time and effort that goes into recording when they’re finally holding the finished product in their hands. But getting to that point though, getting things recorded and sounding the way you want them to, even seemingly little things like getting the completed recordings mixed and mastered properly can prove to be excruciating tasks. What’s it like recording for Lewd Flesh?

John:  I’ve only recorded some demo songs with Lewd Flesh, but that was a nice experience.  It all went quite nicely, and the guy who did the recording was great as well.  Normally, though, I just want it to be done with!  As you said, there it’s a lot of work, especially the post-recording stuff.  The whole recording and post-production experience is probably my least favourite part of playing music, but it’s usually worth it once you get to listen to the finished product.

Is there a lot of time and effort that goes into working out exactly how a song’s going to sound when you record it, with all of the different parts of the arrangement and composition worked out and planned meticulously before you record? Or do you like to get a good skeletal idea of what something’s going to sound like while allowing for some change and evolution during the recording process where you feel necessary or prudent?

John:  We’ve only done some demo recordings together, but personally I feel that there should always be room for change and evolution in a song, even after it’s been recorded.  Not necessarily major stuff, but little tweaks here and there.  We do try to be at a point where we know how the complete structure of a song should be before we record it, but sometimes a person who hasn't heard it a million times can give you valuable input, and that shouldn't be dismissed.

Do you all like to take a more DIY approach to recording where you handle most of the technical aspects of things on your own so that you don’t have to work with or compromise on the sound with anyone else, or do you like to head into a studio and let someone else worry about that headache so that you can concentrate on getting things to sound the way you want them to from the very start?

John:  We do have an idea of how we would like it to sound, but as I said above, outside input can prove very useful.  However, that being said, we do like to make sure that a sound guy has an understanding of the kind of music we play.

You all released you first material that I’m aware of this past year in 2014. The Op I Røven, Dø I Smerte 7-inch for Spaghetti Cassetti Records is ridiculously heavy and gnarly! Can you tell us a little bit about the recording of that first material? Was that a fun, pleasurable experience for you all, or more of a difficult nerve-racking proposition at that time? When and where was that material recorded? Who recorded it? What kind of equipment was used?

Nanna:  We recorded the 7-inch with Rune Stilling Buck and Kim Møller Mikkelsen, who also made the masters at their Copenhagen bunker in the summer of 2013; some very hot days.  They were very cool, professional, and easy to work with.  Rune has a lot of patience, which I can personally attest to.  It was hard work, but we also had a lot of fun! 

Does Lewd Flesh have any music besides the Op I Røven, DøI Smerte single that we haven’t talked about yet, maybe a demo or a single that I don’t know about?

John:  We have been recording a two song demo with songs from the upcoming full-length debut.  The demo should be available for free download off our Bandcamp by the time this is published.

With the release of the Op I Røven, Dø I Smerte 7-inchthis past year in 2014, are there any other releases in the works or on the horizon for Lewd Flesh that you can talk about at this point?

John:  Yes, we’re working on our full-length debut right now.  We’re aiming at getting that completely finished and then finding someone to put it out, hopefully sometime this upcoming summer.

With the completely insane international postage rates these days I try and provide our readers with as many possible options for picking up imports as I can.  Where’s the best place for our US readers to pick up your music?

John:  That would be through our Bandcamp.  Unfortunately, we don't know of any way to get it from within the US right now.  Hopefully that will change one day, because you’re absolutely right about the international postage rates!

What about our international and overseas readers?

John:  Again: our Bandcamp.  We want to keep prices as low as possible on our records and merch, which is about as much as we can do.  The other solution for everyone out there would be to download our music, which can be done for free.  That way you get a chance to hear it as often as you want, and you can decide if it’s worth your hard earned money for a physical copy.

And where would the best place for our interested readers to keep up on the latest news from Lewd Flesh like upcoming shows and album releases be at?

John:  We share all our news through our Facebook account.  It’s not ideal as some people aren’t going to get the updates in their feed, but it’s the easiest way for us at the moment.

Are there any major plans or goals that Lewd Flesh is looking to accomplish in 2015?

John:  It would be great to have the full-length released this year.  Apart from that, we will see what happens.  We would like to get a chance to play outside of Denmark, though, and are hoping for a tour in some European countries in late 2015.

Do you all spend a lot of time out on the road touring?  What’s life like on the road for Lewd Flesh? Do you enjoy being out on tour?

John:  We haven't been on a tour together yet, I'm afraid.

Nanna:  The old lineup of Lewd Flesh with Sabine and Carl went on a small festival tour to Thylejren and Kildemose in the Danish country in summer 2013, which was a lot of fun.

What, if anything, do you have planned as far as touring goes right now?

John:  We’re looking to make something happen in the Fall/Winter, when our individual schedules should be clearing up a bit.

Do you remember what the first song that Lewd Flesh ever played live was? When and where would that have been at?

Nanna:  The first time we played live was in early 2012 at our rehearsal room in Copenhagen, at a party for all the bands who rehearsed there.  Almost all of us knew each other in some way, and we still share rehearsal space with those bands.  It was actually at this party that our old drummer Carl decided to join Lewd Flesh.  We played our first two songs that evening, which were “Cage” and “Hangover Blues”.  And in case anyone is wondering, these songs aren't on our Bandcamp for download anymore.

Do you give a lot of thought to the visual aspects that represent the band to a large extent, stuff like flyers, posters, shirt designs, and cover artwork? Is there any kind of meaning or message you’re attempting to convey with the visual side of Lewd Flesh? Do you have anyone that you usually turn in your times of need when it comes to the visual aspects of Lewd Flesh?

John:  I’m not sure if there’s a deeper meaning to the visuals as a whole.  We’ve been using different artist, and, as far as I know, they have just been free to interpret our music and lyrics in whatever way they wanted.  Of course we want it to represent what we do in one way or another - I can’t see us using an image of puppies playing in a field of flowers anytime soon.

Nanna:  At our release party we had our good friend Martin Bollerup decorate the room.  He also made the cover art for the 7-inch, and has decorated the Kildemose Festival the last two years, where we played at.  He has a fantastic creative mind, and makes some beautiful, adventurous and magical universes. 

With all of the various methods of release that are available to musicians today I’m always curious why they choose and prefer the mediums that they do. Do you have a preferred medium of release for your own music? What about when you’re listening to or purchasing music?

John:  Op i røven, dø i smerte was released on vinyl and I'm sure any future releases will be as well.  Also, I think we will continue to offer our music digitally for free, or a price of your own choosing.  I guess it depends somewhat on expenses, but I hope to make our music available through as many mediums as possible.

I grew up around a pretty massive collection of music and both of my parents really encouraged me to listen to anything that I wanted to from a pretty young age. My dad taking me out to the local shops on the weekends is what left the biggest impression though. I developed a whole system, a kind of ritual for listening to music that I’ve never abandoned and has led to a lifelong love, or obsession depending on who you talk to, with physically released music. I’ll rush home, snatch up a set of headphones, kick back with the liner notes, reading them over and over again while I staring at the cover art. There’s something about having a physical object to hold in my hand’s and experience along with what I’m hearing that seems like it offers a rare and brief glimpse into the minds of the artists who created it and makes for a much more complete listening experience for me. Do you have any such connection with physically released music?

John:  Ha-ha!  That brings back fond memories, man.  I don't do it to the same extent these days though.  In fact I most often listen to music while doing something else.  I mostly listen to music digitally, but physical copies still leave me with a much deeper experience.

 Like it or not right now, digital music is here in a big way. I think that’s just the tip of the iceberg though, when you combine digital music with the internet, that’s when you have something really interesting on your hands! Together they’ve exposed people to a literal world of music that they’re surrounded by and it’s also allowed for an unparalleled level of communication between bands and their fans all over the globe thereby eradicating a lot of geographic boundaries and limitations that would have crippled bands even just a few years ago. On the other hand though, while people are being exposed to all this amazing new music, most of them aren’t really that interested in paying for it at this point. I think a lot of people have start to see music as a sort of disposable thing, to be used and then deleted as a result of digital files as well. I think a lot of what you make of a situation just depends on how you look at and deal with it. As an artist during the reign of the digital era, what’s your opinion on digital music and distribution?

John:  This is a huge question!  It’s something I’ve always been passionate about, and debated with other people.  I tend to look at music as having two dimensions: music as business and music as art.  These two, of course, are not completely separated, but on one hand you have an industry hell bent on making money, even if it means ridiculous lawsuits against kids downloading music off the internet, and on the other hand you have people playing music their whole life without ever making a living off of it, often actually spending lots of money doing so.  The industry, it seems, was exceptionally slow in understanding and accepting the internet, not to mention making use of it, often fighting it rather than adapting to it.  Individuals and small bands, on the other hand, seemed to embrace the opportunities it brought along, making their music available through various mediums.  I believe music as an art form benefits from it, but I’m biased here.  I have no intentions of 'making' it with my music, of having it become a full time job.  I want to do other things for a living and keep playing music as a hobby, something that I can enjoy.  As such, I love how easy it has become to experience new music from around the world, and how easy it is for people around the world to experience our music.  I understand your point about people not wanting to pay for music and thinking of it as something disposable, but is that really a problem?  Of course, if someone spends large amounts of money on producing something, they would at least hope for the costs to be covered, but there are, as always, other ways to do things. One of the best examples I know of, is a group called In Death it Ends.  What they do is to continually release digital singles for free download and then physical albums are released in a limited amount, which is based on how many express an interest in buying it through a preorder.  Each physical copy is of exceptional quality with a lot of care put into the details and there are little extras to make it worth it.  That seems to be a great way of making sure you don’t end up spending huge amounts on production without being able to cover it.  Now with regards to digital music being disposable, rather than something you keep and cherish: I simply do not believe we can talk of a right or wrong here.  I have a rather large collection of physically released music, and it‘s only going to grow, because I like it that way.  At the same time, there are records that no longer hold any value to me; some stand the test of time, some don’t.  If the process of getting and getting rid of music has sped up these days, then so be it, it doesn't necessarily have to be a negative.  What matters, I think, is how music affects the listener, not the length of time it does so.

Nanna:  I agree with you, John.

I try to keep up with as many good bands as I can but there’s just not enough time to listen to everything out there. Is there anyone from your local scene or area that I should be listening to I might not have heard of before?

John:  We have been playing a lot of concerts with a band called Gaia, whom are definitely worth a listen.

DISCOGRAPHY

(2014) Lewd Flesh – Op I Røven, Dø I Smerte –7” – Spaghetti Cassetti Records (Limited to 104 copies)

Interview made by Roman Rathert/2015

© Copyright http://psychedelicbaby.blogspot.com/2015

Orgasmo Sonore - Revisiting Obscure Library Music (2015) review

Orgasmo Sonore - Revisiting Obscure Library Music (Cineploit Records, 2015)

François Riendeau, better known to most by his musical alter-ego, Orgasmo Sonore has been expanding my musical tastes for quite some time now.  I discovered him while plumbing the depths of the Cineploit label’s back catalog after hearing Zoltan, who blew my mind, for the first time.  Most of the Cineploit stuff was either right up my alley or I just couldn’t get into it for one reason or another, but I think that most experimental stuff is like that to be honest though.  When I first came across Orgasmo Sonore I honestly didn’t even know what to think.  His SoundCloud page had me listening to it for days after a while, just checking out all the different kinds of stuff that he was into.  There was some instant common ground that we shared, especially Ennio Morricone, and I knew if he could approach the work of such a talented individual as that with enough reverence to do it justice and not screw it up, I could probably trust him to open up some new doors for me musically.  I was especially fascinated by his knowledge, of all things, of ‘library’ music.  With all the love and attention the giallo genre is enjoying right now there’re a ton of other styles of soundtrack work that deserve just as much praise.  Unfortunately, it’s hard to even hear a lot of that stuff without watching whatever it was used in and next to impossible to find out who performed or wrote some of it.  That’s where someone like Frank Rideau steps in and under the helping guise of the Orgasmo Sonore moniker, walks you through some of his favorite compositions that you probably had no idea even existed.  His latest release Revisiting Obscure Library Music is specifically aimed at just that in fact.  As always it was done for the Cineploit label and is available in your choice of 12” vinyl, CD, or digital formats (hyperlink is a direct webstore link, US orders can be made for some stuff through LiTA).  While Orgasmo Sonore’s previous releases have concentrated a little bit more on some of the more widely accepted types of soundtrack work from across the globe that have seen a big resurgence in popularity lately, Obscure Library Music instead focuses simply on what Orgasmo Sonore likes and listens to.  Flutes abound on the opening track “L’Erba Di Prima” and it instantly conjures images of just about any Italian film I have ever seen right from the get-go.  Orgasmo Sonore’s unique ability to translate and reinterpret soundtrack work has long been an envy of mine, but this album truly takes things to another level.  The intensity with which he recreates the soft, vibrant pallets of sound from the 60s, 70s and 80s without any of the expensive equipment is almost unbelievable.  It’s his sheer will and determination that shine through on these tracks, immaculately constructed, composed and executed by a single man.  The second track “Prairies” moves more into the Morricone zone that I felt so comfortable with when I first heard Orgasmo Sonore, the twanging guitars and wah drenched rhythm tracks bleed Spaghetti Western from every pore.  I should also point out that Orgasmo Sonore’s drumming is done live with a real drum kit, it’s not synthesized or programmed, which for me adds to the finished product of his work in a big way heavily influencing his style and setting him apart from a lot of people that use canned or synth drums.  “Prairies” sounds like a song out of time in many ways, it was obviously written and performed sometime ago, but Orgasmo Sonore breathes such a vivid new life into it that it’s hard to imagine it’s not just a pastiche or homage piece to the songs of the past, but is in fact the real deal.  Following on “Prairies” heels “White Sands” is the quintessential idea of international film muzak to my mind.  Soft, totally non-threatening guitars croon beneath a lithely shifting section of warm mellow strings and keys.  To be honest, “White Sands” actually sounds a lot like something off of the Manos: The Hands Of Fate soundtrack, which is also coincidentally going to finally be seeing an official release on vinyl this year as well.  The surrealistic tones and bizarre structure of much of the Manos material is quite evidenced in “White Sands” and give a very good clue of where the composers from Manos were drawing much of their inspiration.  “Viadotti” keeps the playful warm energy going with the next track, this time relying more on synthesized horns than strings though.  All I can imagine is two young lovers running about in a brightly lit sunny field playfully flirting in the most cheesy innocent 70s cinema sense.  The drums bound and bubble while the bass follows it accordingly and the flutes are most definitely back at this point; you can actually hear several different types if you’re paying attention in fact.  The funky, almost disco vibes of “Viadotti” are seriously infectious to say the least.  Even if you’re not a big fan of this type of stuff normally, I guarantee that this song’s going to get you!  “Tempo Suspero” instantly shifts back into my wheelhouse from there, the original composition is after all by Bruno Nicolai who I have a pretty deep affection for.  The tense, hammered harpsichord key progression that jangles above the ebbing waves of choral voices chanting beneath them, they mix and blend with the distorted electric guitar delivering a secondary lead line for the song, almost battling it out with the synth harp, before seamlessly melding together into a perfect combination of both during the apex and subsequent ending of the song.  “Tempo Suspero” is absolutely, undeniably, certifiably, one-hundred percent bad ass!  And in my opinion “Tempo Suspero” makes Revisiting Obscure Library Music worth the price of admission simply on it’s own, far outshining it’s original counterpart and standing as a glowing example of the magic that Orgasmo Sonore is able to interject into his music even when it’s someone else’s composition.  “Canon” contains a clip of some dialogue from some film from some country, though I have no idea what language it is, what movie it’s from, or what they’re talking about.  All I know is that it isn’t English, but you can draw enough from the way the dialogue is emoted to form an emotional linchpin for “Canon” which is important.  It’s a well thought out plan on Sonore’s part that, as always, plays out nearly flawlessly.  Gentle and yet somehow strong, like green wood able to bend forever without breaking, able to resist fire, able to re-grow and rebound, living and breathing – the music of “Canon” is truly breathtaking.  The seemingly simple shifting melody of haunting strings behind soft muted flutes that breath atop them are at times ghostly and haunting, while at all times absolutely beautiful.  “Canon” appears to be the essence of this project, and I think that Orgasmo Sonore has an ability, an ability to see what others can’t, an ability to breathe a new life into the sounds and emotions that he can see and perceive in the world around us that others miss and “Canon” may be one of the strongest examples of that.  “Canon” should probably come off kind of hackish or uninspired, but instead Orgasmo Sonore drives it home to a deeply emotional place based, in the most simple and pure of memories and emotions.  It’s a level of thought applied to music that very few people outside of the actual soundtrack field are even capable of beginning to comprehend, let alone apply.  Moving forward “Confronto” is another piano and harpsichord driven song.  This time though the song’s much more in the thriller vein, the piano and harpsichord being teamed beside groaning organs and a series of echoed bass lines that hold the entire piece together.  I’d really love to hear Orgasmo Sonore tackle one of these Revisiting albums with just his choice of mystery and thriller stuff as I think that’s where he shines the most, but maybe that’s just my closed mindedness speaking because honestly, given a choice, I’m not sure I’d see a single limitation placed on Orgasmo Sonore outside of something Frank would dream up himself.  His work is always intriguing and his vision unparalleled, being just a few of the reasons he’s one of my favorite things going right now.  His intricate ear for detail and attention to such things makes him perfectly suited for creating rich and vivid performance, even if like “Confronto” they last only about two minutes.  During this finite period of time “Confronto” wavers back and forth between suspenseful mourning tones and fits of diabolical fear of some unknown thing that’s stalking you through dark streets and darkened alleyways of Orgasmo Sonore’s music that lead to “Moonlight Drive”, which is another of Revisiting Library Music’s most interesting moments.  It starts off woefully sullen, a choir of voices chanting in unison behind a slow melancholy melody, before exploding into a synthesizer lead a la the original 60s Star Trek and getting funky with it.  And I do mean funky.  The bass and flutes begin to square off and shimmy down repeated progressions of call and repeat with each other.  Now, some of this album feels like much neglected soundtrack work that could have been, or was, drawn from some of the great composers of the giallo and horror world, but this is not one of those tracks.  “Moonlight Drive” attempts to really bring home the idea that you’re listening to a much more inclusive and altogether probably more interesting and intelligent collection of music than such a stilted pigeonholed view of music from that period.  “A Mind Level” combines¬¬¬ the two opposite sides of the same coin in one convenient package right after that, as if subconsciously agreeing with me.  It’s at once both very rooted in the Carpentercore synth heavy sound of horror as well as the funky giallo and westerns soundtracks from around Italy.  It’s an extremely interesting combination to say the least.  Jazzy 80s guitars team up with a romping bass to tag team on and off with the heavy lead synth lines that permeate from “A Mind Level” from the bottom up.  The next track “Electric Manages” takes the world music genre and ingeniously flips it on its head.  At first it sounds like fairly generic world music, but then the creepy synthesized progressions and blips of keys begin to appear.  It’s also the only song on the album that I’m aware of that utilizes a vocoder, if only for one line ‘electric nightmares’ which is echoed several times throughout “Electric Manages”.  It’s as funk and giallo disco as it is discombobulated horror or thriller fodder, and it thinly treads a line of foraying into almost laughable territory.  But somehow it never once even sets foot there.  Again I think this is proof of Orgasmo Sonore’s impeccable taste and untouchable knowledge of the proud heritage from where he draws his sounds, influences, and sometimes as in this case, even compositions.  “Space Team” may well be the best track on Revisiting Obscure Library Music but I’m not sure I can explain exactly why that is.  The tightly wound synth arp in the background melts into the undulating synthesizers that probe the gritty world around them, gliding effortlessly above the rest of the mix.  It may be the almost flute like tones that Orgasmo manages to smuggle into the song, but it’s one a minute and forty seconds and I’m kind of unsure how such a short piece of work can be my favorite piece amongst such an impressive collection of otherwise pretty well full-fledged full-length songs.  Finishing out the album is the track “Gypsy Manou”.  “Gypsy Manou” seems to combine every type of music present on Revisiting Obscure Library Music, the few extremely heartfelt almost ballad like songs such as “Canon” notwithstanding, however it’s the only other track on the album with any dialogue, and again in another language, so don’t ask me what they’re talking about.  There’s funky dissonant electric guitar in the background though, tight lively drums holding a tightly wound jazz rhythm most definitely inspired by Goblin, and there’s some wonderful piano work as well.  It’s amazing to think that one person is able to simply pick up this many different instruments, sounds and unconnected pieces and then assemble them back into a reconstructed interpretation of music of which most people would have dismissed or simply forgotten about.  The triumphant lead lines of the electric guitar that build and grow along with a hissing synthesizer snarling a repeated melody along it’s side begin to break down more and more and when it’s finally greeted by a small symphony of strings, it exudes one last call into the darkness before withering away into a shrinking pinhole of sound to end the album.  Revisiting Library Music is an impressive album for a lot of different reasons, but none more so than its subject matter.  This is music that other people considered toss away stuff, nothing to be acknowledged or admired.  Frank Rideau not only vehemently disagrees with this sentiment, but with his absolutely back breaking release schedule I have no doubt that he’ll be delivering more testaments of his sermon in his continued attempts to win people over to this kind of music and his style of viewing music.  His all-encompassing, all welcoming acceptance of all things presented to him with a truly open mind.  I still remember the note that he sent me with the LP.  All it really said was, “Hope you enjoy this and it introduces you to a whole new world of music”.  It has Frank, it most certainly has.  I pay more attention to every note on every single thing that I watch or hear.  I appreciate cues and clips more.  In short, Orgasmo Sonore made my world a little bit of a better place with this album and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to thank him enough for it.  If you want to get in on the experience than I highly recommend you get a move on.  Everything that Cineploit puts out is limited, even their CDs are usually limited to no more than 500 copies.  So swing by there brand new webshop (don’t worry there’s a link below, no need for nasty Google searches) and if you need more testament to the skills and diverse nature of Orgasmo Sonore’s music than check out the SoundCloud link below for everything you’d ever need.  Oh, and enjoy!

- Listen to some music here: https://soundcloud.com/orgasmo-sonore/sets

- Buy some music here: http://www.cineploit.com/?page_id=182

Review made by Roman Rathert/2015
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