Rob and Lindy & Co

Different Noises 42

On this edition a lot of new releases, some classic tracks, and albums I have been focusing on recently. There’s jazz, metalcore, hardcore, indie rock, and some other things that defy categorisation which makes this a genre hopping selection of very different noises. Some of the language is rather choice in places so be warned. There’s also a bit of a theme of COVID disrupting the plans of some of the musicians.

PLAYLIST

1. SnarskiCircusLindyBand “I Don’t Think I’ll Ever Sleep With You Again” from I Know I Know

2. Mammoth Penguins “A Plea For Kindness” from Here

3. Belong “Image of Love” from Realistic IX

4. Hyeena “Rambling” from Proxima

5. Dave Graney Show “Lieutenant Colonel Cavalry” from The Dave Graney Show

6. Natasha Blackwood “Who Is It For” from Love Songs for Good Machines

7. swan•seas “Frosted Glass” from Songs in the Key Of Blue

8. End of Dayz “Searching For A Way Out” from Searching For A Way Out

9. Catharine Cary “Dust and the Middle” from AIR CAKE and other summery occupations

10. Nduduzo Makhathini “Iyana” from uNomkhubulwane

11. Blokeacola “Dial-Up Modern Brain” from Quasars and Fluff

12. A Shoreline Dream “Everything Turns” from Everything Turns (feat. Mark Gardener)

13. Ari Joshua “Star Light Mountain” from Star Light Mountain

14. Lauren Henderson “Sombras” from Sombras

15. Argentina Durán “Cuatro Danzas Mexicanas (Manuel M. Ponce) - I: Vivo – Meno mosso, espressivo, II: Vivo – Pi. lento, III: Vivo – Meno mosso, IV: Vivo – Poco meno” from Rapsodia Mexicana

16. Eamon The Destroyer “Rope (Alternate )Take” from Alternate Piranhas EP

17. 2 Lost Souls “Take Me To The Bridge” from Prudence

18. Belong “Souvenir” from Realistic IX

19. Nocturnus AD “Mesolithic” from Unicursal

20. Scientist “Scientist Say Papa Coxsone Gone” from Dub Wars - Coxsone vs Quaker City

21. Modern Black Music Ensemble “Noble Life” from Saruya

Play the show here:

NOTES

SnarskiCircusLindyBand  

This release features further collaborations between Snarski & Morrison, as Lindy puts pen to paper and Rob finds melodies to swirl, curl and spin their way through. It includes “My Sweetheart Always Comes Back”, “Somewhere, Sometime” and “Parapet” [sung by Shane O’Mara]… as well as Rob writing an answer song to their earlier pop-hit “I Don’t Think I’ll Ever Sleep With You Again”, a Covid-lockdown song sung by ‘Evil’ Graham Lee, and a sweet, ethereal instrumental tune to close the 6-track mini album called “Wild Bluebells”.

Mammoth Penguins 

A 3-piece indie powerhouse, showcasing the songwriting and vocal talents of Emma Kupa backed up by the noisiest rhythm section in indie pop (they say). May 2024 saw the release of their fourth album Here on Fika Recordings. After 2019’s big, bold and confident There’s No Fight We Can’t Both Win, and the initial shock of the global pandemic cancelling a trip to SXSW in 2020, the band returned to the studio in the summer of 2021 to start recording. The new record leans into a raw pop-punk power-trio sound more than ever, with a deep growl in layered guitars and bursts of percussion and harmony.

Belong

Realistic IX, the third full-length by the duo of Michael Jones and Turk Dietrich, aka Belong, is both an expansion and excavation of their signature acid-washed songcraft. Bleached guitars, metronomic drums, and buried voices rev, swirl, and seethe across shifting gradients of haze and hypnosis, alternately driving and diffuse. Melodies surge closer to the surface, flexing their form before resubmerging into quickening currents of feedback. Elsewhere the elements dissipate into a dusk of murk and microtonalities, electricity liberated back into infinite night. Although it’s been 13 years since Belong’s prior Kranky offering, Common Era, none of the duo’s rare synergy has decayed in the interim. Jones and Dietrich’s commitment to oblique states of motorik drone and liminal emotion continues to evolve and unfold, increasingly tactile and unreal, an alluring glow glimpsed through fogged windows at witching hours.  Realistic IX will be released via kranky on 9th August. Tracks "Souvenir" and "Image Of Love" are out now.

Hyeena  

Massachusetts-based post-metalcore trio with their second album. Formed in 2019, the line-up is guitarist/vocalist Keith Holuk (ex-Ligeia), bassist Mike Verlizzo, and drummer Julian Fernandez. Striving to go in a different direction than previous endeavours, the band aimed to create a post-metalcore sound with wild vocals, melodic singing, and energetic lyrics. They drew from their influences such as the Deftones, Gojira, and Misery Signals when they set about writing material, adding the occasional metalcore breakdown for good measure.

The Dave Graney Show  

If you’ve not heard these shows before then I need to let you know I play something by Dave Graney and Clare Moore each week. Having exhausted the newest album (strangely) (emotional) it's back to the back catalogue which I have been slowly working my way through over the last few years. Now it’s time for the 1998 album which was released on Festival Records. The first of four releases under this band name on that label. Eschewing big budgets and big labels the sound is certainly different from the preceding Coral Snakes music. Dave says “One of our best. Created after I split up the Coral Snakes. Clare and I cooking it up with a keyboard and a computer. The other half we played with our new beat combo of Adele Pickvance on bass and teen jazz prodigy Stuart Perera on guitar”.

Natasha Blackwood  

Newfoundland vocalist and saxophonist Natasha Blackwood’s Love Songs for Good Machines is a jazz album with pop sensibilities rooted in modern-day folk storytelling. These songs are love letters to the working class, addressing themes of labour, love and resilience. They are sharp and witty, tongue- in-cheek, and rich with subtle Newfoundlandia. They bring to mind the work of Joni Mitchell at mid-career: these are songs that bend notions of genres and take risks, with soaring melodies and thoughtful stories framed by arrangements that sound both complex and effortless at once.

Swan•seas  

‘Songs in the Key of Blue’ consists of nine tracks that crystallise the band's early phase of life, which developed around the time of the Covid-19 pandemic and was characterised by continuous line-up changes. The tracks revolve around the classic guitar/bass/drums triangle, but the sound palette is also enriched with electronic inserts and drum machines. The musical coordinates are based on 90s indie rock of both the UK and US school, tinged with shoegaze and dream-pop nuances. Waddafuzz! Records and Shore Dive Records released it  on CD, LP and digital on May 24th 2024.

End of Dayz  

The Washington-based hardcore quintet with their official debut EP, Searching For A Way Out, released through Creator-Destructor Records and Code Of Conduct. The group was formed on the cusp of the world shutting down, with COVID lockdowns beginning after the band released their debut demo and played their first show in 2020. During the two-year isolation, the band released their second demo in 2022 and wrote the tracks that would become this release With five new tracks of no-frills hardcore, “a slow burning process about our frustrations with life” is how END OF DAYZ describes the exercise of writing Searching For A Way Out and its lyrical content. The band’s foundational influences are apparent; an antagonistic delivery of slamming hooks and adrenaline-jacked breakdowns.

Catharine Cary

As Catharine Cary herself aptly puts it "AIR CAKE is an invitation to see the world upside down." Indeed this recording — Cary's first—makes what seems like an absurd proposition. On it, she takes her original children's stories, themselves the whimsical product of spontaneity, and combines them with improvised music. As she brings these peculiar tales to life, in her characteristic animated delivery, the words bounce and flutter beside and between the contributions of her two musical compatriots Eric Lewis (Cornet, Bass Clarinet and Toys) and Ivan Bamford (Drums and Toys). It all comes together seamlessly.

Nduduzo Makhathini  

South African pianist, composer, healer, and philosopher Nduduzo Makhathini announced the June 7 release of his third Blue Note album uNomkhubulwane. The transcendent three-movement suite—which pays homage to the Zulu Goddess uNomkhubulwane and explores Africa’s tragic history of oppression—features Makhathini’s trio with bassist Zwelakhe-Duma Bell le Pere and drummer Francisco Mela. Throughout uNomkhubulwane, Makhathini acts as both a futurist and an ancient, venturing into the unknown by exploring concepts that return him to the dawn of time. 

Blokeacola  

Yet another track from the ground breaking album Quasars and Fluff which I am featuring in its entirety’

A Shoreline Dream  

The debut single from the album "Whitelined", which arrives in full on July 19, 2024. Co-Written and Produced by Mark Gardener of Ride.

Ari Joshua 

"Star Light Mountain" featuring Ari Joshua on guitar, Russ Lawton on drums, and Ray Paczkowski on organ. With Ari Joshua's down to earth vocals and emotionally delivered  guitar solos, Josephine Howell’s soulful backing vocals, Russ Lawton's dynamic drumming, and Ray Paczkowski's masterful organ work, the trio, filled out with electric bass, and layers of sound creates an modern take on a classic rock groove that captivates listeners from start to finish. This release showcases the trio's chemistry, synergy and virtuosity in a way that compliments their previous 12 releases. 

Lauren Henderson 

Over the course of Sombras, Henderson unravels her own history through original compositions, fashioning stories reflecting her African Diasporic background. The album’s title, Sombras, is a Spanish word that translates as “Shadows”. This title evokes the idea of one’s ancestry being the shadows of oneself. This, then, depicts a metaphor that as one’s present actions and self are the light and the visible world, one’s genealogy is the unspoken and hidden driving force that subtly forms a person into who they are. Each song on Sombras plays with this balance of the seen and unseen and the myriad elements, decisions, and events that have led each person - even from generations before - to where they are today. Musically, the body of work presented on Sombras stands as a triumph of expression and concept. The lyrics, all of which are original, encompass two languages—English and Spanish which symbolically represent the wealth of influence the African Diaspora has had on Henderson through her family tree and on the wider creative world. These impassioned lyrics are set with an intentionally specific orchestration of vibraphone, piano, bass, and drums, lending each song a mesmerizing sonic palette. 

Argentina Durán  

Mexican Pianist Argentina Durán with her newest release Rapsodia Mexicana. Produced by José Luis Esquivel and Rosino Serrano. Recorded at Estudios Churubusco’s Sala Silvestre Revueltas by Luis Felipe Herrera. Sadly the promo on this one was lacking any further information.

Eamon The Destroyer  

Dave from Bearsuit says “it’s a 5 track thing (24 minutes in total) entitled, “Alternate Piranhas”. These are different versions or takes from the recording “sessions” of the “We'll Be Piranhas” album of last year. They're a little noisier and a little more chaotic than the finished album versions – but on listening back we liked them so much we thought we'd put them out”.

2 Lost Souls 

The run of mini albums continues. Ian and Paul continue to deliver remarkable work

Nocturnus AD 

With 2019’s Paradox, Nocturnus founder/Sci-Fi death metal godfather and original Morbid Angel co-founder Mike Browning resurrected Nocturnus lore under this new version. It allowed Browning the opportunity to finally continue the approach that came before with the legendary album The Key – which would become one of the most influential death metal albums of all time -- nearly thirty years after its release. Paradox proved a proper follow-up to The Key, both musically and thematically where the story and themes vocalist/drummer Browning initially laid out continue through the lens of the occult. Paradox's story follows the journey of Dr. Allen William Magus (aka Dr. Magus), a scientist ravaged by a war plague disease and kept alive by creating a bio suit, the aftermath of the events revealed on The Key. This new album Unicursal sees Browning, along with guitarists Belial Koblak and Demian Heftel, keyboardist Josh Holdren, and new bassist Kyle Sokol (bass on Unicursal was performed by now-ex bassist Daniel Tucker), continue the journey of Dr. Magus following the events of Paradox. Armed with his bio suit, on Unicursal Dr. Magus is sent on a mission to traverse through the Spheres of the the Kabbalistic Tree Of Life to conquer each sphere and collect its respective sigil/symbol. The story of Dr. Magus is featured on the album’s second half where the album’s first half  continues to explore ancient occult themes and mysteries from the unknown, separate from Dr. Magus’ story.

Scientist 

Hopeton Brown better known as The Scientist and sometimes known as Overton Brown, from Kingston, Jamaica was a protégé of King Tubby (Osbourne Ruddock), and one of the originators of dub music. The Scientist burst onto the reggae scene in the early ’70s with a reckless mixing style that outdone even King Tubby’s wildest extravaganzas. He began his career as an engineer at Tubby’s in the mid 70’s. Originally released in Canada in the early eighties featuring Scientist's deep & heavy mixes of Bunny Lee produced riddims featuring some of Jamaica's best musicians of the time Bobby Ellis, Sly Dunbar, Ansel Collins and many more.

Modern Black Music Ensemble  

The debut live album a Free Jazz/Guided Improvisation orchestra conducted and directed by Renee Baker who performs Jazz songs composed by her, through scores written by her.

Meat Puppets 

Originally released on SST in 1984. The difference between their debut album and this was palpable with the band going in a completely new direction. One of those albums from the mid 80s you really ought to hear. Nirvana covered three of the tracks on this release.