Album Review: Soulsavers - The Light The Dead See

For their last two albums Soulsavers (the partnership between Rich Machin and Ian Glover) had partnered up with 90s cult hero Mark Lanegan and the results spoke for themselves. Lanegan's sombre croon led the pair down the haunted alleyways of broke-down Americana and the music they made together was as bleak as it was emotionally stirring. Their previous album, 2009's phenomenal Broken, was also notable for the inclusion of the guest vocalists they got on board; including Gibby Haynes from Butthole Surfers, Richard Hawley, and Mike Patton along with newcomer Red Ghost. Three years can make a huge difference, the most primary of which is in the personnel. Lanegan (and, in fact, all vocalists) has been replaced by Depeche Mode's David Gahan for The Light The Dead See. At first this might seem a shocking about-face for Soulsavers, a move that throws their existing canon of work out the window, but the change-up is more logical and makes more sense on wax than it ever could on paper.

It is hard not compare this new album with its predecessor. Both open with dusty instrumental intros; one featuring a piano, the other a harmonica and strings. When Gahan enters he plays the part of the melodramatic specter with gusto. He might not be as gravelly as Lanegan (because honestly who is?) but the experience ingrained in his voice suits Soulsavers style of uplifting depression superbly. The middle passage of The Light The Dead See wallows in acoustic guitar-led ruminations with a trio of tracks ('Presence Of God', 'Just Try', and 'Gone Too Far'). The latter number builds up tides of organ wash and rapturous guitar fuzz into a majestic crescendo, Gahan soaring to new heights with his best Ian Astbury impression. You will be hard pressed to find an album this year with the same gravitas and grit that you find all through here.

Song titles like 'Presence Of God' and 'Bitterman' (which is the diabolical splicing of Leonard Cohen and Nick Cave) should be a less than subtle clue of the mood the album is trying to set. More traditional rockier songs like closing number 'Tonight' almost seem out of place on a record like this, as welcome as it is; a concession to the casual listener that has been alienated by the oceans of brooding melancholy but kept listening anyway. Gospel tones mesh organically with trip-hop atmospherics and spare jazz arrangements to make wonderfully rich, moody music to feed your soul – or perhaps to save it. The Light The Dead See is an album tailor-made to put on while you sit in the dark, scotch in hand, and let your mind drift away to another time and place.

Rating: A

Recommended tracks: Gone Too Far, Bitterman, In The Morning

Freak-When-See 101: Part 2 - Discipline (1981)

Good things take time, hence when part 2 of my Freak-When-See 101 series took more than a month to create. For this installment we fast-forward to the early 1980s when pioneering prog rockers King Crimson released the strangest album in their canon to date: Discipline. Release the freaks!

I do remember one thing. It took hours and hours but.. by the time I was done with it I was so involved I didn't know what to think. I carried it around with me for days and days.. playing little games like not looking at it for a whole day and then.. looking at it. to see if I still liked it. I did. I repeat myself when under stress. I repeat myself when under stress. I repeat myself when under stress. I repeat myself when under stress. I repeat.. The more I look at it the more I like it. I do think it's good. The fact is.. no matter how closely I study it no matter how I take it apart no matter how I break it down It remains consistent. I wish you were here to see it. I like it.

King Crimson – Indiscipline (1981)

The year was 1981. King Crimson, the founders of the progressive rock movement had been in limbo since they broke up in 1974. Never to be counted out they propelled themselves back into the spotlight with their strangest, most challenging album yet. The mighty King Crimson can claim this as a serious notch in their bedpost: they went from inventing prog rock to spearheading a bizarre breed of new wave in just over decade. These two styles made for unusual bed fellows but they actually had more in common than one might think. Both are made by 'outsiders' – the cool kids made Led Zeppelin, the reclusive intellectuals made Gentle Giant – the tough guys made Motley Crue, the dorks made Talking Heads. If that is all that King Crimson had accomplished in their career it would be enough to cement their reputation as legends. Fortunately for everybody they went on to do much more than just that (let alone what they had already done by 1981), but that is another story.

A reborn King Crimson meant a new line-up. Other than Robert Fripp (the only original member in the band since 1971) and drummer Bill Bruford (ex- Yes / Genesis, joined in 1972) who both carried over from the previous incarnation, the new quartet was rounded out with virtuoso bass player Tony Levin (having previously worked as a studio musician for Alice Cooper, Peter Gabriel, and Lou Reed) and vocalist Adrian Belew (ex-Talking Heads). It was the inclusion of Belew that had the greatest effect on KCrimson's new sound: awkward, angular, and sharp.

  

So what of the actual songs on Discipline? If you didn't believe that this was a brand new band with a brand new way of doing things all you would have to do is listen to the very first track, 'Elephant Talk'. Belew sets about listing a series of synonyms for speech in alphabetical order, starting at 'A' (Arguments) and reaching 'E' (Enfadulations, which I'm pretty sure he made up) before the songs ends. And that's it. From there it is a roller coaster through tense funk ('Thela Hun Ginjeet', an anagram or 'Heat in the jungle', AKA inner-city violence) to woozy ballads ('Matte Kudasai') to alien instrumentals ('The Sheltering Sky'). In amongst all of that is the album's centrepiece: 'Indiscipline'. I think that most people's initial reaction to the song is “What the fuck is this about?”. Read the lyrics at the beginning of this article and try to figure it out. Off you go, I'll wait for you …

… Done? Well, what do you think? It could be about pretty much anything. I have always found it to be a great metaphor for addiction, especially the part about “not looking at it for a whole day and then looking at it to see if I still liked it”. Apparently the lyrics are taken from a letter written to Belew by his wife about a sculpture she had made. Strange but true.

I believe that the legacy of King Crimson can be best measured by the fans. Members of Tool, Mars Volta, Melvins, Dream Theater, Mastodon, Muse, Nine Inch Nails, Opeth, Porcupine Tree, Rush, Primus, and Neurosis are admitted acolytes. Kurt Cobain kept his love of King Crimson's prog a secret from his punk friends for many years before coming out of the musical closet. Hell, even The Clash' Joe Strummer professed his admiration of their 1974 album Red in an interview in the 80s. In my opinion Discipline is so vital because it was a prog rock album from the 80s that was a product of its time without succumbing to the cringe-worthy tropes of the day. Just in case you should doubt my love of this album here is a picture of a tattoo I got a few years back.

I LIKE IT!

Album Review: Diablo Swing Orchestra - Pandora's Piñata

Disclaimer: I like my music strange. I like an album that needs to be explained to someone (they mix what with what while doing what? What?). A few years ago I discovered the brilliance of Sweden's Diablo Swing Orchestra through their second album Sing Along Songs For The Damned And Delirious. As the name might imply, this septet plays a mixture of metal and swing/big-band music but also includes prog rock and opera. This means that guitar riffs battle with violins, horns, operatic female vocals, and more. The concept might sound confused (or even over-stuffed) but it is to the band's credit that they can keep it all together, coherent, and awesome. I was overjoyed to learn of the arrival of album number three, Pandora's Piñata, and it is another amazing document of some of metal's greatest pranksters doing what they do best.

Pandora's Piñata opens in style with flashy lead single “Voodoo Mon Amour” and it is an absolute party starter. I dare you to blast the track at top volume and not want to swing dance til you drop. If this is how they open albums I can hardly imagine what their concerts must be like. The album moves from strength to strength with every new song offering a new take on their bizarre musical style. Sometimes their metal elements are more heavily emphasized (“Exit Strategy Of A Wrecking Ball”) and sometimes opera and orchestra reign supreme (“Aurora”). Diablo Swing Orchestra are at their best when finding new ways for these unrelated concepts to interact, such as the carnival metal of “Guerilla Laments” or the nightmarish Muppets meets Nightwish mindfuck “Black Box Messiah”. More frightening still is “Honey Trap Aftermath” which flirts with (gasp) popular music.

Special mention has to be made of vocalists Annluice Loegdlund and Daniel Håkansson. The former brings an undeniable element of class to a metal record, even when she's pushing her voice a little too hard. The latter has a more traditional rock voice but it is still a sweet instrument and he hold his own in the long run (he really brings the heavy on “Exit Strategy Of A Wrecking Ball”). These two make every single track – with the exception of short instrumental “How To Organise A Lynch Mob” - hook-laden and catchy as hell. Seriously, every song leaps out at you and you find yourself wondering how one band can cover so much musical ground and actually do it well. Both Loegdlund and Håkansson combine their powers to deadly effect on the heart-stopping closing track, “Justice For Saint Mary”. Diablo Swing Orchestra are a band who defy explanation; words fail to capture their full magic and glory. So stop reading and listen to the damned album already!

Rating: A+

Recommended tracks: Voodoo Mon Amour, Black Box Messiah, Guerilla Laments ... fuck it, I recommend the whole album.

Album Review: Storm Corrosion - Storm Corrosion

Storm Corrosion is the name of the collaboration between Opeth's Mikael Akerfeldt and Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson. The album has been around in one stage or another for the past few years. It even had Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater, Avenged Sevenfold) scheduled to be behind the drum kit at one point. With Akerfeldt apparently leaving his death metal origins in the dust (see Opeth – Heritage for details) and Wilson pushing further and further away from the relative structure of Porcupine Tree (see his 2011 album Grace For Drowning), what on earth is Storm Corrosion going to sound like?

What you have is a lovingly crafted throwback to the early 70s. It was a time when Jethro Tull and Gentle Giant reigned supreme. King Crimson had yet to discover new wave and Pink Floyd weren't stuck behind The Wall yet. It is even the correct length for a classic LP, less than 50 minutes of music , as well as having an easy to find A-side and B-side. Sonically Storm Corrosion is pastoral, almost to the point of being quaint, but there is no denying the dark current that runs through it. When it threatens to explode from beneath the surface (such as the third quarter of the title track) it could easily consume the entire record. It is a tribute to the duo's sense of restraint that allows the album's dark side to show itself without dominating. None of this is at all a surprise. These two men have a well documented history over the past decade or so, it was Wilson who encouraged Opeth to indulge their non-death metal elements to the fullest in the early 2000s. They are kindred musical spirits who are finally given the opportunity to unleash a full-album collaboration.

This is primarily an album focused around voice. There are a myriad of other instruments involved but it is in the interplay of Wilson's and Akerfeldt's voices that the true magic happens, overshadowing everything else. In the moments where the instrumentation really takes off (like the brain-hammering drum solo of “Hag”) it is of course wonderful but tends to lack the sheer magic that the pair's singing brought to the table. Storm Corrosion is an unabashedly traditional prog rock rock album from two well-heeled gentlemen who have been prodding at the term 'prog' for well over a decade (closer to two decades in the case of Steven Wilson). Singles and Top 40 charts be damned, this album is all about the intricate compositions and the feeling of a bygone era fully realized in the 21^st century. Storm Corrosion is unlikely to change the world but fans of the two men involved should find plenty to be enamored with.

Rating: A-

Recommended tracks: Drag Ropes, Hag, Lock Howl

New Release Wrap-up: March - April 2012 Part 2

A few weeks back I posted a metal-centric new release wrap up article (which can be found here for all you lazy cats). I'm back with part 2 which has a more general focus, covering a lot of ground from blues, to afrofunk, to weirdo pop, to soul, to rock. Enjoy - Prof. Ricardo

#1 Bobby Womack – The Bravest Man in the Universe

On his staggering 27^th album The Bravest Man In The Universe, soul singer Bobby Womack is expounding devotion and skepticism in equal measure which is a hard balancing act to maintain. Though he made his name in the early 70s Womack's star has been on the rise in the last few years, helped by his recent work with Gorillaz. It appears that it wasn't a clean break with Gorillaz / Blur alumni Damon Albarn helping out on production duties. The title track swims in a slinky trip-hop groove while the retro funk of "Love Is Gonna Lift You Up" is crisp and refreshing. On The Bravest Man In The Universe Womack has completely overshot neo-soul and landed in the future - an incomparable blend of soul, R&B, electronica and old school grit that proves once again that you can never count the crafty veteran out.

Rating: B+

Recommended tracks: Jubilee (Don't let nobody turn you around), Love Is Gonna Lift You Up

#2 Rocketjuice & the Moon – Rocketjuice & the Moon

Rocketjuice & the Moon is the first of what is supposed to be many post-Gorillaz projects from mastermind Damon Albarn. For this album Mr Albarn has hooked up bass player Flea (RHCP) and legendary Nigerian drummer Tony Allen. The result is typically funky (as you would expect with the talent on board) but is all over the place creatively and lacks any kind of focus. Guest vocalists like the always excellent Erykah Bahu and Ghana's M.anifest help to turn the rambling afrofunk into something more palatable but their efforts are often too little too late. Not a bad album but it is just a mess to listen to. Perhaps I was expecting too much from Albarn and his talented ensemble?

Rating: C+

Recommended track: Poison.

#3 Santigold – Master Of My Make-Believe

Back in 2008 when Santogold (now Santigold) released her self-titled debut album she was a flag bearer for a new kind of hybrid modern pop that the world was desperately in need of. Fast forward to 2012 and many major pop acts have followed her lead and are looking to embrace their inner freak. So where does that leave Santigold? Master Of My Make-Believe is a competent album that, try as it might, cannot reach the heights of her superb debut. “GO!”, full of defiant slogans and agitated beats, sets the scene nicely. Even at 37 minutes the album feels a little long, probably because there are no obvious standout hits (unlike, say, “L.E.S. Artistes” from '08). It sounds as though Santigold is getting closer and closer to the “real her” which bodes well for album number 3. Can we all finally drop the hackneyed MIA comparisons yet?

Rating: B-

Recommended tracks: GO!, Fame.

#4 Torche – Harmonicraft

Miami's Torche are a hard act to define. Collectively the members have backgrounds in stoner rock, sludge metal, and grindcore yet Torche make something more akin to pop rock – albeit of a very furious kind. Harmonicraft is their third full length album and their modus operandi is still to make bite-sized chunks of heavy rock with razor sharp pop hooks (e.g. “Walk It Off at just 1:26). Listening to the album is like pouring pure rock music directly into your ears without any of the radio-friendly pretensions of their contemporaries. 13 songs in under 40 minutes is one hell of a pace to keep up with but Torche don't even think about slowing down. The only track to break the four minute mark is album closer “Looking On”. Harmonicraft is full of the fun, dynamic, but heavy rock we have come to expect from Torche. Rock on!

Rating: B+

Recommended tracks: Walk It Off, Snakes Are Charmed

#5 Dr John – Locked Down

New Orleans swamp rock legend Dr John has kept up a steady rate of work since the late 60s, having released 29 albums in total. The most recent, Locked Down, is set to be one of his most commercially viable and accessible. This is in no small part due to rocker de jour Black Keys singer/guitarist Dan Auerbach on production duties. The album is an improbable mixture of blues, gospel, voodoo funk, and

boogie woogie rock'n'roll but it is a damned good time to be had strart to finish. The title track throws you immediately back into the murky mid seventies, and the organ solo on “Revolution” perhaps even further back than that. Older Dr John fans will find plenty to like here and potential fans have a great inlet into his odd little world of music.

Rating: A-

Recommended tracks: Revolution, Getaway, Ice Age

Local Talent: Arc Of Ascent

Last week I had a lovely wee chat with Arc Of Ascent who hail from my hometown of Hamilton, New Zealand. The band (Craig Williamson - vocals/bass, Sandy Schaare - guitar, John Strange - drums) meditated on the success of the debut album, the local music scene, their individual pasts and plenty more. Keep reading after the interview for my review of their sophomore album, The Higher Key.

Professor Ricardo: Just to start off can I ask what made you decide to become musicians in the first place?

Sandy Schaare: I know exactly what it was that started me on my career to being a musician. It wasn't the heavy stuff that I listen to now. It was playing tennis racket guitar to Elvis Presley's 'Hound dog' as a very young 10 year old. Within six months I had a real guitar and that was the start of the end.

Craig Williamson: I wanted to play music to be in a heavy metal band.

John Strange: I was in the same boat but I was too shit to play guitar so I learned drums.

CW: I was too shit to play guitar so I learned bass.

SS: I'm too shit to play guitar so I play guitar.

PR: I would consider you to be one of our town's reliable and sought after acts these days. What do you make of the music scene in Hamilton (New Zealand) at the moment?

SS: It's pretty dismal really. I think that Hamilton for a really really long time has had a couple of artists that have “punched out” but for the most part the underground scene has struggled a lot. It's a town that has a reputation for having a lot of cover bands and that type of thing, probably because of the bar scene. There just aren't enough live acts being pushed within Hamilton which is why we end up playing in Auckland all the time. Although that being said I have to admit within the last six to twelve months there seems to be a bit more of a scene developing.

JS: I would say places like (popular venue) Static would be largely to thank for that sort of thing.

CW: If you are comparing now with when I started making original music it is quite sparse. In the early 90s it seemed to be quite healthy. We would do shows and there would be quite a few people turning up. Instead of going out to see bands people these days must be either staying at home or doing other shit. There has definitely been a change of attitude.

JS: In regards to Hamilton specifically, there has always been a pretty strong undercurrent of mainstay circles, like there being a “metal crowd” that tend to stay relatively strong. I came from hardcore and punk and that scene is all largely still there. As it stands at the moment I think things are on the up and up. It helps that a lot more bands from out of town are coming through as well, Hamilton is a tour stop effectively. Even some internationals like Guitar Wolf.

SS: Not trying to blow our own trumpet but I reckon it's because there are bands who stop in Hamilton just so they can play with us. They would have to be Made In China. Osmium, Beastwars, and House Of Capricorn. They come here because we can get something together with them.

JS: If we're not going to be making thousands of dollars a show we might as well have a good time with our mates.

PR: How do you go from being a band from Hamilton to having interest and albums out around the world?

CW: That would probably be my history with my solo work (Lamp Of The Universe) and before that with Datura who were around in the mid-to-late 90s. We were fortunate enough to have a guy in Taupiri, who went by the name Cranium Music. When we would release an album instead of push it in New Zealand he would try and sell it overseas, build it up that way. When all of that folded I decided to take it on myself, selling when copies we had left of Datura as well as starting my own project. I was pretty much fucked if I was just trying to sell my stuff to Kiwis. Maybe it was the aftermath of Datura not being completely understood here. I never tried to move it locally, always going overseas first to gauge their reaction. From all of that I have gained some old, good friends in Europe and America who fortunately trust what I am telling them. It was all about having a platform where we could say “This is our stuff, what do you think?”. I guess any band can do that if what you have is good enough. There are New Zealand bands who are doing it now – like Ulcerate and House Of Capricorn – who have international profiles by, you know, not fucking around and putting out international quality albums. Its easy if you feel you have a quality product then get it out there to be heard. Our first album [2010's Circle Of The Sun] I just put that out through my label and we got asked to release it on vinyl, we didn't pursue anybody about it, they came to us.

SS: It was all about all three of us all having the same goal. Our goal was simple: put an album out. We were all on board, we all wanted to do it, Craig has the contacts.

CW: Yeah, let's put it on that platform to gauge how we are doing.

JS: To be honest, the biggest following we could ever get at home would only be a piss in the puddle compared to a place like Germany. There are tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people who listen to this sort of stuff there. It makes you want to gravitate further afield to test the waters.

SS: It's easy to forget that all of New Zealand is like one major city in Australia, and even that is not a big market by international standards.

CW: I guess our advice to any young band is to practice really hard and be 100% happy with what you are doing. Be ambitious and work hard.

PR: Going back a few years to when you released Circle Of The Sun, the album was very well received both locally and abroad. How did all of that affect your approach to the follow up album that you have just released?

CW: The moment that Circle Of The Sun had come out, even before anybody had heard it, The Higher Key had already been written. There was actually no pressure and no thought as to how it would be received simply because the new album was already ready. By being so far ahead of the ball you eliminate that. Yes, we were surprised by [the reaction] but it did not change anything about how we were approaching the second album at all.

PR: Does that make a really good argument for being that ahead of yourself, so to speak?

CW: Exactly. I mean, I understand the reviews, good or bad or whatever, but as an artist you just have to do what you have to do. If we had gotten really shit reviews for the album then we are going to have a reaction to that. Circle Of The Sun was just a snapshot of what we were doing at the time, whether they like it or don't like it … well I'm fine with that. Hopefully they did like it. Good reviews just turn more ears onto what we are doing.

SS: The thing about being a musician is as soon as you walk on stage you are putting yourself out there to be judged. Never mind your albums or whatever, you are opening yourself up for criticism. It makes you resolute to be even better and work even harder.

CW: There was no deviation because of the reviews, no trying to make a “part 2” or anything like that. There you are, you're in that moment doing it, you move on, you do something else. You can't go back to when you were eighteen years old and write an album. Everything has got to progress.

JS: Even as it stands we have more than our third album written. The follow up to The Higher Key, whatever it might be called, is already planned out.

PR: You have been on the bill with some excellent homegrown talent as opening for visiting foreigners. What has been your favourite show you have played?

SS: Beastwars at The Thirsty Dog (Auckland) for me. It's only a little venue and it was so packed. We might not have even played a very long set, it was all a bit of a blur.

JS: Stonerfest in Christchurch, 09 I think, that's going back a bit. Playing to a whole bunch of unfamiliar faces and seeing that crowd were at least superficially way more into it than any other audience we have ever had. Sometimes you play to a semi-circle of crossed arms but in Christchurch they were already partying before we started.

CW: Mine was with Left Or Right and Mountaineater at King's Arms (Auckland) last year. Those guys are just so easy to get along with. The southern charm came through that night.

JS: That was the same week as our gig with Russian Circles, too. Converge at King's Arms was a funny one; playing to a bunch of hardcore kids. I'm not sure they got it.

PR: What would be your dream gig, either to play at or just to see?

CW: Roadburn

JS: Roadburn.

SS: Sabbath. Original line-up. At Roadburn. With Neurosis and Sleep.

PR: What is the best part about an Arc Of Ascent show for you guys?

CW: Finishing.

SS: It probably is finishing because you come off, you are buzzing, and it's time for a beer.

JS: You get that moment of honest reflection before people come up and start talking to you about it.

CW: You hit that last note, say thank you and they are either cheering or you can look into their eyes and see that they weren't that into it.

SS: As soon as we are done we tend to know if we have nailed it. If I turn around and no-one is looking at me I know we did not nail it. Most of the time we do.

JS: I think the best part about an Arc Of Ascent gig are the two days afterward when your ears are just going [dull beep].

PR: Thank you, guys

Album Review: Arc Of Ascent - The Higher Key

Arc Of Ascent are a ridiculously hard-rocking trio from Hamilton (New Zealand), consisting of vocalist/bassist Craig Williamson, guitarist Sandy Schaare, and drummer John Strange. In the review for their debut auspicious debut album The New Zealand Herald wrote that “Not since Shihad's Killjoy has a New Zealand album - or many other albums for that matter - lurched with the power, brutality and beauty that Arc Of Ascent's Circle of the Sun does.” Such a wealth of expectation must have made the follow-up record difficult to conceive and execute. But two years later that is exactly what they have done. It is called The Higher Key and it fulfills every promise of the first album as well as blowing expectations out of the water.

The first thing that strikes you as opening track 'Celestial Altar' starts up is how good the album sounds sonically. It is clear that much of the past two years has been spent refining their sound and getting every single tone on the record pitch perfect. As such the highs soar higher and the lows cut deeper than ever before. There is a magic in all of this that is hard to put your finger on. Perhaps it is in the wordless chanted chorus of 'Elemental Kingdom' that bleeds into Schaare's blazing guitar solos. Or maybe its in the ominous vocal harmonies of 'Land Of Tides'. More likely though it is the rock-solid groove that the band establishes on the first song and holds onto until the very last note has faded from your speakers. This unity of purpose culminates on the gob-smacking closer 'Through The Rays Of Infinity' that lives up to its name and much more. The Higher Key maintains a deft balancing act between mountains of sludgy guitar squall and deliberate rhythms throughout, garnering the odd comparison with Tool or Black Sabbath along the way.

What you have in The Higher Key is a more focused collection of songs than Circle Of The Sun, a lot of which owes to the fact that album was written, recorded, and produced within a much shorter period of time than their debut was. This more deliberate approach might not make for any obvious singles (Circle Of The Sun's 'Godhead' was destined to be such) but it makes for an engaging listening experience which will be hard to top this year. The key to their success is that these three gentlemen work seamlessly together like a single three-headed, twelve-limbed rock monster. Basslines and guitar riffs share the spotlight, each knowing when to wax, when to wane, and when to freak out with reckless abandon. Drummer John Strange is again a workhorse on the kit, pounding away as if his very life depended upon it. The Higher Key is a wonderfully crafted and heartfelt record that gracefully sidesteps the dreaded sophomore album slump and is bound to put the band back on the map.

Rating: A
Recommended tracks: Celestial Altar, Elemental Kingdom, Through The Rays Of Infinity