Monday, August 24, 2009

Cyclic Defrost Magazine

Cyclic Defrost Magazine

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Apricot Rail – S/T (Hidden Shoal Recordings)

Posted: 24 Aug 2009 05:25 AM PDT

apricotrailalbum
Apricot Rail has this post rock instrumental lark down pat. As if some fresh breezes wafted down from the West Australian wheat belt this quintet play the line between rock, instrumental soundscape and a border edged skirmish with pop and experimental. The album saunters open momentarily before the axe's fall on what could very well become another melodic grunge pop outfit however it is a flourish as Apricot Rail move towards a considered, honed sound. It is almost as if on their first outing they have achieved a 'mature sound' without having to go through the teething stages of raw visceral grunge . However they change again and 'A Public Space' introduces complex guitar melodies, a second movement with arpeggiated guitar, pause and back into a slow build textured clarinet melancholy followed by a free jazz explosion.

'If you can't join them, beat them' is almost the clarion call of the groups idea, a densely textured sound highlighting the idea of the band as a form of orchestration, tight interplay and weaving of elements without the insistence of singularity to dull the colours. The one vocal track 'Car Crash' writes its familiar imagery discretely, emphasis blunting reception before the bleak refrain of "I hope you die in a car crash", a hail of power chords ensues drowning their pleasantries. So they may not be poets yet they have a charm that rock has not entertained for a long time and the movement towards an orchestral sound makes for axe murders. With the interesting tunings of the guitar, the giddy delight of intricacies and nuance of instrument voices, an excellent hold on movement between stylistic patterns as flourishes and displays of control Apricot Rail seem intent to prove that rock and roll may not die but may well usurp itself into the academy.

Innerversitysound

Editorial Issue 23 – August 2009

Posted: 24 Aug 2009 05:00 AM PDT

Cyclic Defrost Issue 23

Without planning it that way, Cyclic Defrost #23 appears to split neatly down the middle. On one side we’re taking stock of enduring purveyors of experimental music (Pimmon, Castings, Jon Hassell) and on the other welcoming a slew of new faces (Swoop Swoop, Peaking Lights, Mata & Must).

The former are fascinating artists who continue, even a decade into their careers, to blaze paths through the dense foliage of experimental music. Pimmon’s influence in Australia’s experimental scene is undeniable, while Castings’ idiosyncratic improvised tension has yet to be properly documented, despite their reverberations being felt nationally. On the other hand, Mata & Must’s dad answered the phone when we called, and Swoop Swoop is fast emerging from Perth’s sun-drenched obscurity.

Suneel Jethani steps back from the perennially-burgeoning wonky hip-hop movement to make sense of the scene. It’s already causing a ruckus, just wait for the counter arguments.

Of course, there’s plenty more than what unfolds in this here magazine.

Huge thanks to Adam Bell (Bureau) for our new look website and to Chris Bell (BlueSkyHost) for our continued and expanded web hosting! We hope you enjoy it as much as us!

Shaun, Lex, Matt
Editors
Cyclic Defrost

Section 25 – Nature + Degree (LTM/Inertia)

Posted: 24 Aug 2009 03:28 AM PDT

What is worse than kids recreating their parents’ favourite records? Probably their parents recreating their own records. Section 25 tread a very fine line on Nature + Degree. The generational issue is also further weirded up by the fact that original (now deceased) vocalist, Jenny Cassidy, has been replaced by her daughter, Beth. I’m not totally convinced Section 25 haven’t stalled forever somewhere in 1985. There are a few moments of transcendence, but it’s hard to get past the feeling that the band is just taking advantage of the fact that their era has swung into fashion by offering up paint-by-numbers pastiches of their original work.

Things start reasonably with the instrumental ‘Pop Idol Pt 1′, a driving rhythm with occasional searing synth buzzes. The album’s highlight is undoubtedly ‘Attachment’, which is almost the 80s updated to Modular levels, complete with dirty bass line. Some polite synth washes keep the music small, though, something which no amount of reverb can mask. ‘Saddled With Something’ adds different musical textures in the way of live string quartet. On the whole, however, I spend most of the time listening to Nature + Degree and working out where I’ve heard that drum machine pattern, where I’ve heard that vocal intonation, where I’ve heard that guitar sound before. Section 25’s main claim to fame is their presence as an early and relatively long lasting Factory Records band. And it is towards that label that much of the trainspotting ends up being directed, particularly at acts such as The Durutti Column and Tunnelvision. Fringe-goth synth-pop rears up in ‘Mirror’ while some of the Cure’s lesser mid-80s album tracks are ghosted in ‘Agenda’, with the addition of some horrible lead guitar that Robert Smith would never have stooped to. There are also glimpses of some of the bands that grew out of this era – ‘Remembrance’ could almost be an electro-ed Darling Buds and Larry Cassidy’s vocals continually hint at Shaun Ryder, no more so than on the pop hooks of ‘L’Arte Du Math’ or sometimes sub-Madchester groups like Northside on ‘Singularity’ with unimaginative drum programming and more polite production.

Nature + Degree is earnest. I’m sure there is a heyday in there of which the original members are eager to remind the world, and when they do hit on the odd killer vocal or bass hook, the music is enjoyable. On the whole, however, it feels like listening to a long lost recording from a past era, of which the passing of time has not been particularly kind.

Adrian Elmer

Our Brother The Native – Sacred Psalms (Fat Cat/Inertia)

Posted: 24 Aug 2009 03:27 AM PDT

Our Brother The Native return with their third full length album on Fat Cat (as well as an extra EP last year) – fairly remarkable considering core duo of Chaz Knapp and Joshua Bertram are currently 21 and 22 years old respectively. They deal largely in the type of lysergic folk they share in common with Fat Cat labelmates Animal Collective, though Our Brother The Native tend towards a stronger and clearer rhythmic focus. But the washes of percussion underpin the banjo picking, 70s retro-futurist synth drones, toy piano plunking, jerky electric guitars and chanted vocal melodies that define the (relatively) commercial end of new wyrd amerika. And a joyous racket it is, too.

Clicking off with ‘Well Bred’, the rims of tom drums are clattered in time with a-melodic thumb piano. Peaks and troughs form around the squalling sax and growled vocal sections. Swathes of reverb and other traditional psychedelic production techniques (reversed sound, flailing stereo imaging) give the work a traditional grounding as it reaches for the stars. ‘Someday’ plays out drones over coughing and other background noises before settling into a lo-fi Sufjan Stevens banjo cycle and cracked vocals. ‘Child Banter’ gets more aggressive as even the lyrics head for an american arcana – “I am not your mid-wife Negro/But I’m here to deliver your people/Praise these words that I preach to you/And take these words to your grave/Because I already dug it for you/My wife couldn’t handle the stress on her insides”. As the music freaks out and the opening two line refrain is repeated over and over, an ecstatic unease is created.

Our Brother The Native don’t pull off melody as memorably as some of their peers so the tracks can run into each other without lodging specific memories, but this would be my only (and minor one at that) criticism of Sacred Psalms. Their rhythmic interplay often takes the role of the ‘hook’, and the sheer diversity of sonic information, all gauzily focused into euphoric treacle, is pretty astounding. It’s an album that warrants repeated listening.

Adrian Elmer

at 5:39 PM