Septemver Vice Reviews

I guess it is Rocktober? I am confused.

Only a few this month.

September Reviews

Rolo Tomassi
Mini Album
Holy Roar

7 Re-issue of the EP that made everybody sit up and finally take of these Sheffield synth-screamo kids. It could go either way: fame, fortune and Warped Tours with Gallows or DIY clear lemon yellow 7”s and The Grosvenor on Sundays for evermore.

OM
Pilgrimage
Southern Lord

8 The two other guys from Sleep are still droning out making doom with lots of o’s while Pike does the riffs over there in High On Fire. This is a really great record but you can’t help getting a semi dreaming about them all getting together again and doing ‘Jerusalem’. Now that would be an ATP show worth going to.

Scott Walker
And Who Shall Go To The Ball? And What Shall Go To The Ball?
4AD

4 ‘The Drift’ was like an incredible, sweeping, magisterial, statement of everything Scott has ever stood for. This one sees him returning to obtuse experimentation just you know, 'cos he can. It’s actually his original soundtrack to a contemporary dance piece but no matter how much you like to name drop you will only ever listen to this once max.

Wooden Shjips
Wooden Shjips
Holy Mountain

9 Just when you though the whole nu-psyche, Wurlitzer organs, looped, shimmering vocals and endlessly repeating drums thing had been totally and utterly done to death this comes along and makes you remember how good it was hearing ‘Sound Of Confusion’ for the first time.

Okkervil River
The Stage Names
JagJaguar

6 Why do people keep calling stuff like this Americana? The Hold Steady record sounded more like an episode of the OC than ‘Gas, Food, Lodging’. This deserves the hype that record got but there needs to be at least one peddle steel involved before you can start chucking Uncle Tupelo references around.

Wolves in the Throneroom
Two Hunters
Southern Lord

8 This is shaping up to be one of my favourite USBM albums of all time. Up there with ‘Nocturnal Poisoning’ or the Weakling record. I once walked over Waterloo Bridge in the snow at about 4am listening to it and I am sure there was a little Wolf following me. It was probably a fox but it was still a pretty intense walk.

Dead Raven Choir
My Firstborn Will Surely Be Blind
Aurora Borealis

7 What began as a band doing black metal covers of Winnie-The-Pooh poems (no, really) has morphed into a terrifying, guitarless, creeping, death march dirge outfit. Like Burzum played at the wrong speed with the high ends cut out. Terrifying.

Georgie James
Places
Saddle Creek

4 How come when every great, original young musician guy gets old they just revert to becoming boring condensed versions of their dad’s record collections? Maybe the Beach Boys left a hidden aural dependency viral in their albums. Ex-Q and Not U goes chamber pop.

Ricardo Villaobos
Fabric 36
Fabric

9 Despite being filed away as part of the unending behemoth dance emporiums mix cd series this is essentially a brand new Villalobos album as it is consists solely of new material and collaborations by everyone’s favourite Chilean minimalist space cadet. People keep whittering on about about how Ricardo has chosen to release new stuff in this mixed format to prevent leaks after soundboard rips of brand new tracks began surfacing online. Who cares? This represents all of the elements that make a Villalobos set so special. It starts with bare bones clicks and whirs and takes you all the way through a milky kick drum led, blissed out odyssey. Bits of it almost border on the primally folky. It is all pretty special.

The Violets
The Lost Pages
Angular

7 Bare bones angular bass, guitar and drums post punk with a boner-inducing amalgam of Debbie Harry and Nico wailing up front. It’s only rock and roll but I like it.