Revisionist Western

A lot of our understandings of decades or generations are deeply filtered through media. So how we represent and remember the 1980s, for example, is as much about how the 80s looked via Blade Runner as it is about actual representations of that decade. The 80s was ringer t-shirts, acid washed jeans, and moppy hair as much as it was synths and neon, and yet those sounds and images have become indelibly imprinted on our understanding of that time period because of the media we associate with the 80s.  I'm actually old enough to remember the 1990s. As such, I’m fully authorized to say that Djunah is a band that fully captures what I remember as being exciting about that time of period of music more than almost any current band.  Let me explain.  Djunah are a sludgy, two-piece post-metal band from Chicago whose new album, Femina Furens, is an early contender for my favorite album of the year. The songs are a mixture of fist pumping, driving, anthemic rock (Seven Winds of Sekh...

 My band Huntress of Stars is on the new comp by Weedian "Trip to Illinois," along with a whole bunch of other amazing bands. Standouts for me are Dead Sacraments, Minsk, High Priest, Our Earth is a Tomb, Wizzo, Earth Witch, Plague of Carcosa, Scientist, and Night Mother. Check out all the Illinoise.  Trip to Illinois by WEEDIAN

On December 2, when I saw the new, surprise Tiny Vipers EP "American Prayer" pop up in my Bandcamp feed, I had a full body visceral reaction, like whatever the exact opposite of a panic attack is. I was alone, but I instinctively looked around the room, wanting to announce to someone that Jesy Fortino had just put out new music and everyone in the world needed to stop what they're doing and recognize the gravity of this occurrence. Tiny Vipers' 2009 album "Life on Earth" is one of the most intricately woven folk albums of the 21st century. It's sparse in its sound, though Fortino's achingly human voice, aided by her confessional lyrics, manages to fill up all the space left over by her minimalist guitar playing, giving the album an atmosphere that is as warm as it is suffocating. Since then, she's put out an excellent collaboration with Grouper called "Mirroring" along with some more ambient and electronic work, but nothing that returne...

Much as I love minimalist and ambient music, it can be tricky to review or even talk about because to explain what makes a particular ambient album "good" somewhat eludes the confines of language. Some of my favorite ambient acts- Kali Malone, Maria w Horn, Ellen Arkbro, Hollie Kenniff, Stars of the Lid, Eluvium- occasionally produce songs or even full albums of little more than a few droning notes. The act of describing what is meaningful about such austere music inherently requires you to delve into what a song even is, and how a series of notes weaves its way into your psyche or our life. That's a long wind up to say that ambient project 1 Mile North is one of the most important musical acts in my personal biography and the album they released this week, "The Sunken Nest," is a beautiful reminder of exactly why that is. 20 years ago, I had a soul-draining job that sucked up too much of my time for comically little compensation. The best part of my day was, ...

  I've been very busy and haven't had time to post, but I have a few things in the pipeline. In the meantime, I put out two records yesterday. The first is by an instrumental sludge project called The Last Cold Fire of Dusk. The second is from a dark ambient project called In Fiction and the Illusions. Check them out. Sing the Song as if You Are a Stranger in a World Where Nobody Believes You Exist by The Last Cold Fire of Dusk Nostalgia For Presence by In Fiction and the Illusions

I have a soft spot in my heart for one-song albums. I've never done one myself, but I always respect the audacity and ambition that goes into trying to hold a listener's attention through a single, long, uninterrupted track.  My Hair is a Rat's Nest, a largely one-person "screamo" (scare quotes because I have never liked that term) band, fills "The Longing Machine" with more than enough interesting twists and turns to make the one, nearly 25 minute long, song that composes the album interesting throughout.  An almost shockingly broad array of influences seem to weave their way through the song. It starts out with some classically dissonant 90s style screamy hardcore, with angular riffs, busy drumming, and shrieked vocals. But, as the minutes click on, the song adds layer upon layer, bringing in lush atmosphere and textures to complement the more traditionally aggressive approach of its first few minutes. By the end of the track, My Hair is a Rat's Ne...