It can boil down to the question on whether or not the distillation of the raw energy of sound in a open space competes well with that of the closed session. It may even determine the movement of the masses or the travel of the bits downstream to the many peer-to-peer network jackers. Jacked in and into the stream of consciousness that can be given and taken from the aural stimulants found breathing and pulsating on the shiny side of things to come. If it works, it works. If it doesn't, regrets and misgivings for the future to come.
Belvedere Jehosophat - Friday, 28 August 2009
When M. Gira toured through Australia earlier this year on the All Tomorrow’s Parties bill he played a few sideshows, including one at The Basement that I was fortunate enough to catch. At that show, Gira played some songs from We are Him. What was notable about the performance – aside from Gira’s booming vocals – was the simplicity of the arrangements. “Promise of Water,” for example, on the night, consisted solely of a shuffling guitar part and judiciously stamped feet.
Read the rest of Angels of Light - We are Him review
Belvedere Jehosophat - Sunday, 28 June 2009
To be honest, I only purchased Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle because I wanted to test Robert Forster’s thesis in his excellent “In Search of a Songwriter” essay/review for The Monthly. Briefly, his search for a songwriter is a search for a new genre, and one in which nature ceases to be the dominant muse.
Read the rest of Bill Callahan - Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle review
Belvedere Jehosophat - Monday, 22 June 2009
Of all the fake elements that make up this record – the Joseph Lieberman endorsement, the back catalogue, etc – there’s one aspect that rings true: that the bulk of the album, ten out of the eleven songs, were recorded between 3:00 and 3:35 pm.
Read the rest of Condo Fucks - Fuckbook review
Belvedere Jehosophat - Monday, 28 April 2008
Kid Koala records are, by and large, fairly consistent affairs, and this, the third Kid Koala LP now to offer the same charming mixture of nonsense samples and expert turntablism clinging to a skeleton of old jazz and funk records, doesn't disappoint. As per usual, Your Mom's Favorite DJ flaunts Kid Koala's excellent nose (ear?) for samples, which range from the terribly hip (Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant) to the incredibly banal (CSI: NY) to the completely obscure (just about everything else).
Read the rest of Kid Koala - Your Mom's Favorite DJ review
Belvedere Jehosophat - Tuesday, 1 April 2008
(The Jicks now feature Janet Weiss of the late Sleater-Kinney.)
Read the rest of Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - Real Emotional Trash review
Belvedere Jehosophat - Tuesday, 25 March 2008
How does My Disco top Cancer, that exercise in harsh, mechanical, angular, minimalist rock music? Well, by becoming harsher, more mechanical, more angular and manifestly more minimalist than one could imagine possible.
Read the rest of My Disco - Paradise review
Belvedere Jehosophat - Sunday, 20 January 2008
La Cucaracha is the brown-sounding album that Deaner promised quebec would be all those years ago. It's hard to tell whether Ween are sounding more manic than usual (or at least since Chocolate and Cheese) or whether it just seems like that because La Cucaracha, in terms of production, lacks the sheen of their previous few records.
Read the rest of Ween - La Cucaracha review
Belvedere Jehosophat - Thursday, 17 January 2008
It's been twelve-odd years since Thurston last released a record of what could comfortably be described as pop music, and Trees Outside the Academy is a seamless collection of catchy, catchy pop songs.
Contrary to the picture on the cover of the record, Thurston in fact spends the bulk of his time playing an acoustic guitar. If that weren't unexpected enough, his principal cohort (apart from fellow yoofer, Steve Shelley, on drums) is violinist, Samara Lubelski. These rather unpredictable developments, it must be said, gel completely to make for a record that is criminally catchy and criminally well written.
Read the rest of Thurston Moore - Trees Outside the Academy review
Belvedere Jehosophat - Tuesday, 2 October 2007
None Shall Pass is conceptual, I'm sure of it, though the concept I've yet to penetrate. And in the crafting of this alleged concept, Aesop Rock has twisted together a claustrophobic, dark collection of songs whose sounds waver between three points demarcated, somewhat roughly, by Labor Days, the nicer parts of Bazooka Tooth and Fast Cars, Danger, Fire and Knives.
Read the rest of Aesop Rock - None Shall Pass review
Belvedere Jehosophat - Thursday, 6 September 2007
It's been a few years now since Shellac released their last record, 1000 Hurts, and, luckily, nothing has happened during this time to compromise their tendency to be completely unaccommodating and unpersonable. Shellac is still Shellac, and for this we should be thankful. The skronky guitars are still in play, as are the bizarre time signatures and that strange Albini production wherein the vocals are so low in the mix that it's hard to make out the lyrics.
Read the rest of Shellac - Excellent Italian Greyhound review
Belvedere Jehosophat - Wednesday, 16 May 2007
No Shouts No Calls is an undemanding record, perhaps the most undemanding of Electrelane's career, and the reason looks to be a simple one: Verity Susman's heart has broken, and, as a result, abstract artiness has given way to candor.
Read the rest of Electrelane - No Shouts No Calls review
Belvedere Jehosophat - Tuesday, 1 May 2007
It's been a few years since El-P unleashed his last monstrosity, Fantastic Damage, onto the world. It's nice to see that, in what is relatively quite a long time, none of El-P's misanthropy has been compromised. Make no mistake, I'll Sleep When You're Dead is a jarring, irate record. Aided by a misfit collection of guests: Aesop Rock, Cage, Cat Power, The Mars Volta and Trent Reznor, plus some additional backing vocals from several other notable figures, I'll Sleep When You're Dead is, too, ambitious in scope, stitching together a vast array of clashing sounds. And therein lies the genius of both this record and El-P: the production. El-P's beats are a spectacular mess, so mind-bogglingly removed from the typical kick-kick-snare, that they leave you feeling a little off-kilter, trying to find some semblance of pattern or consonance.
Read the rest of El-P - I'll Sleep When You're Dead review
Belvedere Jehosophat - Monday, 19 March 2007
Squeezing eight songs into a slender 24-minutes, My Disco's Cancer is a jarring, incredibly noisy record that marries mechanical, angular guitars with a superbly tight rhythm section.
Read the rest of My Disco - Cancer review
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