Tag: Lo-Fi

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The Chills – Scatterbrain / Scatterbrain​-​Storms: Outtakes

We have two releases today to share with you.  Both come from New Zealand’s greatest indie rock band, The Chills, and at least to my ears, should be seen as one cohesive session.  The first, Scatterbrain, came out in September of 2021 is a rather lush affair, quite different from the early, stripped-down lo-fi albums.  Great production, choruses, an almost proggy feel to some tracks dot the album, yet the songs still have that hallmark Kiwi indie sound.  Scatterbrain​-​Storms: Outtakes is quite different, however.  Three tracks, more stripped down and raw (well, they’re outtakes for a reason, right?), and I have to say this sounds like the Chills of the early 1980s and 1990s.  Still, both releases have their charms, and are worth exploring.

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handwrist – The Forty Martyrs of Sebaste

As we celebrate Christmas on the Julian Calendar this day, I thought it nice to share with you an album I found from a Portuguese composer called handwrist, working in the medium of psychedelic, progressive and drone rock, perhaps with lo-fi touches, basing his compositions on the aforementioned Forty Martyrs of Sebaste, whom St. Basil the Great wrote about in the 4th Century.  Merry Christmas to one and all.

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noemienours – The Dry Path

It’s hard for me to make out the influences of this album, but I can say with certainty that listening to this rather weird album was a pleasure.  From noemienours’ Bandcamp site:

““The Dry Path”, noemienours’ 5th LP, developed around a Gobi Bear narrative of barren edge conditions as an access point to supra-natural realities, is definitely a turning point in the noemienours discography, notably because of its introduction of harpsichord in the noemienours instrumentarium, but also because of its recourse to a widened approach of its lo-fi musical approach, by creating a new musical form somewhere between Swedish post-black metal influences (Hypothermia, Armagedda,…) and the 17th century dislocation of musical forms through the ”Vanitas” topos as developed by Froberger or Louis Couperin, while retaining its magical Scandinavian forest hue. But of course noemienours’ musical approach to genre has never been anything else than a way of submitting apparently meaningless musical forms to the very meaning of its ursidae qualities.”

Wordy, yes, but the music is sparse and, in its own way, sublime.

All proceeds of digital sales are donated to Gobi Bear Project to support the conservation effort of the about 40 remaining Gobi bears. www.gobibearproject.org
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gobi_bear
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Music

Al-Qasar – Who Are We?

The bad news about the release of Al-Qasar’s new album is that there is currently only one track available to hear at the moment.  The good news, however, is that it features Sonic Youth guitarist Lee Ranaldo as well as Dead Kennedys frontman Jello Biafra.

From the band’s Bandcamp site:

““Al-Qasar was born in the Barbès neighbourhood of Paris,” explains band leader Thomas Attar Bellier. “I’ve lived in Los Angeles, Paris, New York, Lisbon… I wanted to start a project that was in tune with the daily life of people living in these international cities, something diverse, radically colourful, with a fresh, contemporary outlook on what societies really look like today”. The musicians came together, from France, Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, and the United States. Shows followed, first in France, then in Europe and the Middle East. They put out an EP, the widely-lauded Miraj, recorded in Cairo. In the same time frame, Attar Bellier collaborated with the likes of Emel Mathlouthi and Dina El Wedidi, two of the most exciting names in contemporary Arab music.”

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L’Aventure des Plantes – L’Aventure des Plantes

I can’t say where L’Aventure des Plantes are for sure, but their record label, Kotorosl Records, is from Barcelona, Spain.  The music is highly influenced by Berlin School electronics, experimental music and ambient music, and they do honor to the genres.

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Donny Vegas – Pharmakós

It seems like Donny Vegas has been listening to all the right post-punk records for my taste.  One can hear influences of early Cabaret Voltaire, Suicide, a touch of Throbbing Gristle, and yet, by some odd miracle, it sounds both fresh and lo-fi.  A quirky release, but I like this.

Thanks to Filip of Z Tapes for the magnificent suggestion.

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Of Sun And Rain – The Flutter of Wings

Starry Earth is a record label out of the United Kingdom offering lo-fi electronic artists with stunningly beautiful minimalist artwork and packaging, releasing cassettes as well as digital downloads.

Of Sun And Rain were of particular interest, as the music is hauntingly sparse and engaging.

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Tothmo – Spider (and a bunch of other songs)

If you can believe it, this Czech EP was recorded by a 17-year-old kid who has a profound appreciation for bedroom pop, new wave and indie.  He’s quite a decent storyteller, and despite the lo-fi production, there’s a lot of charm in this album.

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Ty Segall – Lemons

Ty Segall is a garage-rock music phenomenon, and this album shows him at his beat-rock best, mixing garage, psychedelic rock and the aforementioned beat music this album oozes.  Remarkably raw and impressive.

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Music

miserable.noise.club – Frost Confinement

miserable.noise.club is a collective of incredibly talented musicians based in Jordan, China and the US + other collaborators in East Asia and the Middle East.  The music they make is, by some miracle, a solid blend of experimental music, a paean to post-punk and lo-fi psychedelic rock.  It’s hazy enough to remind me of some of the great music coming out of New Zealand in the late 1990s revolving around luminaries such as Roy Montgomery or The Dead C.

Once the radio podcast begins, I have a feeling these folks will be featured heavily.  Very impressive.  Much respect to Abood Ashqar for telling me about this most fascinating project.