This is awesome. Verges from dirty prog to psychedelic 'world' sounds, to tropical, kraut-y electronica with dashings of pop thrown throughout. Amazed this isn’t being released by some super cool tape label yet.
Music is at its most exciting when risks are taken; when the artist doesn't stick to the easiest route; where something could potentially go wrong. Surely one of the main reasons that bands like Elbow, although loved by many, are disliked by arguably many more is that they take few risks, that their music is so very down the middle.
The first I heard of Ohio musician S.R. Woodward was when he emailed me a track a few months back. No introduction, barely a hello, no information on who he was, what he did, or even the name he makes music under – just a few words and the track. Although this isn’t usually the best method of ensuring your music is heard, it intrigued me, and the song even more so. With S.R. Woodward, the music definitely has that risky edge, that potential to go wrong but it comes out the other side all the better for it.
The first track I heard was ‘When The Bunny Chomps’. It’s so unusual, so random, daring, and just plain odd. There isn’t much of a song, more an artist thinking out loud, but you have to admire the risk-taking. It’s S.R. Woodward’s other material where the brilliance is revealed. Songs made by a man seemingly entirely unaware of what music everyone else in the last ten years has been making, it’s so alone in its sound and influences. Listening to it, you really wonder what SR Woodward must be like in person, but the only conclusions you can ever really reach is ‘unusual’.
S.R Woodward - Izzbeon
Songs range from the weird, jaunty, synth-laden retro pop of Girl On The Moon or Don’t Listen To Mr. Dead which sounds like they’ve come straight out of a scene on Sesame Street, to the kind of 50’s inspired acoustic tender, laziness and beauty of I Gotta Right, Three Birds and Tomorrow (Dreams Come True), to the seemingly Zappa influenced oddity of What Do I Know, and the downright psychedelic of Izzbeon.
S.R Woodward - Don't Listen To Mr. Dead
In fairness, sometimes it doesn’t work – that’s bound to happen when you take the odd risk – but when it does work, the risks really pay off: Intriguing, almost confusing at times, but sometimes utterly brilliant. Listen to stuff throughout this post, or grab a whole EP at bandcamp for free.
Just noticed this new track by Red Psalm that popped up on SoundCloud a few weeks ago. Just like the rest of Kansas City-based artist John Dickson's work, it's pretty top.
Red Psalm - Light Sleepers
Also heard that Red Psalm might be teaming up with New York based lo-fi weirdo psych-pop artist Arc Light to put out a split release, which will be well worth keeping an eye on over the next few weeks.
Time constraints mean this isn't the most comprehensive of lists but still, even a list this poorly planned highlights some decent record releases from the alternative crowd.
The other week I posted about New York shoegazers Asobi Seksu, speaking about their latest album Fluorescence as well as getting a bit excited by their upcoming UK tour.
Kindly, the folks at One Inch Badge Records have got in touch to say they'd be more than happy to to give away two free tickets to their show at Brighton Audio on April 21 to one lucky frequenter of this here blog. That's pretty cool, 'cause my guess is it'll be a really good (and pretty darn noisy) show that will be difficult to forget.
To be in with a chance to win the two tickets, all you need to do is send the correct answer to the following question to basementcompetitions[at]gmail[dot]com with an email headed 'Asobi Seksu' (or something like that).
What was the name of Asobi Seksu's second album? Was it: a) Citrus b) Orange c) Lemon
A winner will be picked at random on April 10. One entry per person. If you're entering, please be sure you can make it to the gig. If you're a bit stuck, Wikipedia might be of use here.
Get yourself even more excited by listening to the brilliant Perfectly Crystal below. Find more info on the gig at the Facebook event page.
Struggling to find words to describe this. Kind of an unusual juxtaposition of catchy and fairly light and 'normal' music with shouty, atonal, difficult to understand and certainly unusual lead vocals that ends up as kind of experimental punk? God knows, I dunno. As much as it perhaps shouldn't work, it kind of does and I like it. They're a London five-piece, by the way, just so this blog post has some actual information.
They just played the Hackney Working Girls Club night and got photographed by Vice Magazine, so maybe expect to hear quite a bit more in the coming months. Listen to sounds below.
03.00
fiqih nufi
