Our friends over at P.O.G.O. Records have released a record which relates very well with acts like Big Black and The Jesus Lizard. Black Ink Stain are from Belgium, and I have to say this album is as brutal as anything labels like Touch & Go Records released at their peak. The production is a bit raw, but it makes the album sound like an authentic post-punk record. The magazine Muzzart does a good review of the album in French here.
Considering how bad Top 40 music is, I never listen to the radio unless I’m subjected to such torture when I visit a mall or other public place of business. Because I was doing some late night work related to China, I figured I would take a look at a link which popped up for the BBC radio program hosted by a lady whose name doesn’t come to mind right now, but who is on my Twitter feed, and it led me to hearing this track. JIM is the monicker of James Baron who was a member of an indie…
There’s not a lot more to say about the legendary Curve that I could add to, save for most of the 1990s, they were among the best shoegaze bands, and it could be said that maybe only My Bloody Valentine were more highly esteemed, yet the members never seemed to stop working. Dean Garcia maintained a great career as a session musician and even playing in a band with his daughter called SPC ECO (Space Echo), while lead singer Toni Halliday started two other projects called Scylla and Chatelaine, as well as appearing on a track with the American band…
Record label and magazine La Souterraine offer the best indie music coming out of France these days. Their latest release by Suzanne Belaubre is bound to be a cold wave masterpiece. The tracks are short and the production is excellent, if sparse. That sparseness works well with the music, and it gives the music an odd, very French, electro-pop vibe to the tunes. It’s a quirky album, but well worth hearing a few times.
I would never have come across Lorelle Meets The Obsolete, a Guadalajara, Mexico-based band without the help of my new friend, Ali, whose taste in music is absolutely impeccable. There is something wonderfully retro about the band, who reference a lot of bands like the Cocteau Twins, My Bloody Valentine, and even Joy Division in the track Unificado. A worth release.
κτίρια τη νύχτα (Buildings At Night) release an album of mostly instrumental music, though vocals peek through now and then, complementing the shower of guitars that mixes shoegazer, lo-fi, and, believe it or not, a touch of the 4AD Records sound. It’s a subdued, dark album, maybe not something I would listen to everyday, but it may well serve as a soundtrack to a dark, quiet evening.