Category: Classic Album Review

Reviews of older and classic albums

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Classic Album Review

Lebanon Hanover Weaves Dark Magic With “Abracadabra”

Photo by freestocks on Unsplash

Coldwave duo Lebanon Hanover has just put out an absolutely frigid new single.

“Abracadabra” is a melange of genre-typical disaffection, gyrating sensuality and the occult. With Larissa Iceglass on vocals and minimalist synth and drum machine instrumentals, the track lumbers like an ice-cold corpse.

Iceglass sighs doleful, barely intelligible lyrics with the detatched affectation characteristic of the coldwave genre, the repeated word “abracadabra” wispered between hardly-parted lips.

Despite the song’s stripped-down quality, the lyrics are starkly carnal.

I feel the magic in your caress
I feel the magic when I touch your dress
Silk and satin, leather and lace
Black panties with an angel’s face

Lebanon Hanover, “Abracadabra”

For a band whose songs typically center around the romanticism of death and decomposition (“Kiss Me Until My Lips Come Off” and “Gallowdance” come to mind), “Abracadabra” is surprisingly restrained. The song’s theme is plain: a woman so alluring she leaves the speaker spellbound.

The complexity lies in the song’s trancelike beats and dark, moody atmosphere. A pulsing drum machine adds a borderline industrial quality reminiscent of old Depeche Mode tracks while vaporous synths create the auditory illusion of cool fog.

It’s an essential track for those at the goth club who like to sway their arms and gyrate.

-J

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Classic Album Review Music News and Interviews

Machine Girl Releases New Single, Teases Upcoming Album

Cover art for the upcoming album "MG Ultra" by Machine Girl

Experimental digital hardcore and drum and bass duo Machine Girl has announced their upcoming LP, “MG Ultra.”

The album is planned for release October 18. The project was teased alongside the single “Until I Die,” which will be the first track off the album.

The project follows the two-part soundtrack for the FPS platformer video game “Neon White,” which was entirely produced by Machine Girl.

Sonically, there’s a lot of resemblance to the aformentioned soundtracks, with the addition of the harsher-sounding digital hardcore aspects that are heard in some of Machine Girl’s prior albums, such as “The Ugly Art.”

The album appears to be shaping up as some type of amalgamation of all of the differing sounds that the band has dabbled in, feeling like a kind of “updated” version of their earliest works.

Cover art for the single "Until I Die" by Machine Girl
Cover art for the single “Until I Die” by Machine Girl

In addition to the album’s announcement, the band also plans on launching a North America tour beginning on Halloween at the Brooklyn Steel in New York.

Among the scheduled tour dates includes a show at the Lincoln Theater here in Raleigh, a show I’m personally quite excited for. The last time the band had performed in the area was back in May of last year, where they served as the opener for hyperpop duo 100 Gecs, a show of which I was an attendee.

Overall, I’m definitely looking forward to this addition to Machine Girl’s discography, as well as what feels like a whole new chapter for the band with a unique sound.

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Classic Album Review

Yikii’s “Crimson Poem” – A Modern Music Horror

Album Cover for Yikii's "Crimson Poem"
Album Cover for Yikii's "Crimson Poem"

“Crimson Poem” is an album by the Changchun-based experimental artist, Yikii. Released in 2021, this album answers the age-old question, “What happens if you give a Chinese vampire access to late-career Björk?”

In “Crimson Poem,” Yikii combines the sounds of neoclassical darkwave and art pop, adding dashes of post-industrial along the way. This combo creates an odd but satisfying energy in the album, teetering the duality of fear and delight. The commonality between both sides is just how intricate the sound design is.

Known for her disorienting production, Yikii’s primary focus in her music is immersion. Through both subtle atmospheric tracks and shrieking cinematic moments, Yikii creates an experience that sounds perfect for a horror film. With an experimental style of song structure, throwing around new ideas every few seconds, there’s always something new to let your brain wrap around.

Songs

Songs like “Disillusionment” are a prime example of how immersive Yikii gets with her songs. Backed by a trip hoppy electronic beat reminiscent of early Portishead, Yikii supports this with her precise, cloudy, whispery vocals. Various other elements of sound design fill the mix and maintain the presence of the music. These include things like the creaky whine of a swing set, the trill of thousands of bugs moving, reverberating ghoulish synths.

“Five Layers of Crimson Snow” starts off with these tribal drums and tension building strums of what sounds like a yangqin, taking inspiration from traditional Chinese music. Slowly the tension grows more with the drone of a vocaloid choir and Yikii’s vocals in their creepiest form. Combining all this with the hollow ring of some electric strings, “Five Layers of Crimson Snow” is just screaming to be put into a horror classic.

“Scavenger’s Daughter” is a full on throbbing industrial track, with the exhilarating rhythm of a song from NIN’s “Pretty Hate Machine.” Yikii contrasts the dark instrumentation with piercing high and disorienting vocals. This song feels like a panicked run in the woods from something incomprehensible to the human brain. The haunting atmosphere that Yikii creates from just a few distinct elements is something worth appreciating.

“Liminal Space” sounds like the soundtrack to a really old silent film. The atmosphere is bumped up to ten with this mostly experimental track. With the cold sound of old, detuned piano and an uncomfortable string section that sounds like a swarm of bees, this song was made to make your hands clammy.

Conclusion

Yikii’s “Crimson Poem” is anunderrated gem. This album feels like the result of a ten hour YouTube spiral that really paid off in the end. If you are a fan of horror movie soundtracks or simply experimental music, I highly recommend giving this a try. With all of the atmosphere that Yikii develops with her uniquely erratic array of instruments and timing, it is hard to explain why she isn’t as popular as she should be.

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Classic Album Review

Soundbites: Jitwam – “I’m a Rock”

Jitwam in the streets of Assam for his 2019 album "HONEYCOMB"
Album cover for "HONEYCOMB" by Jitwam (2019).

“I’m a Rock” is a track from Jitwam’s 2019 album “HONEYCOMB.”

I would say I heard it far too late in life, but I think I actually might have found it at the perfect time: the height of autumn, driving up a windy mountain road, being caressed by cold air and cedar wood smoke. It was the only song I listened to for about 72 hours.

It’s sultry and bluesy, a formless tango in orange floodlight from the jump: a funky little cowbell beat and backing synths like molasses, both moving together in viscous ecstasy. At around one minute and twenty-six seconds is an inquisitive gliding melody. Inarguably my favorite part; it’s intoxicating, it reminds me of the ceaseless groove we commit to as humans, up and down and high and low again.

Its warmth is not limited to its sound. Jitwam writes about wading through time, trying to find a more sustainable source of peace than lazy, fleeting highs:

“In the middle of the ocean / Life is here in slow motion / I’m a rock, and I’m destined to find / I’m a rock and I’m going to clear my mind / of these feelings, these feelings.” 

Simplistic enough in their presentation, the lyrics touch on a spiritual desire that doesn’t quite require eloquence or extravagant rituals. With enough replays, it then becomes something of a chant.

“I’m a Rock” so gracefully weaves between genres. It’s patchwork soul—lo-fi like indie and smooth like house—and it humbly brings something new to the table. Through the right headphones, its ambient seduction is an affair with the ears in full bloom.

Check out Jitwam’s other work here.

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Classic Album Review

Shadow of the Erd Tree’s Best OSTs

Photo by Tobias Tullius on Unsplash

FromSoft has finally dropped the long-awaited DLC for Elden Ring. And in classic FromSoft fashion, they’ve casually imbued it with some of the most riveting OSTs of the century.

Quick disclaimer: I’m not a gamer. I’ve tried playing Elden Ring (at my younger brother’s behest) and was laughably horrible, dying immediately any time I encountered one of the hundreds of blood-hungry NPCs that roamed the map.

However, I do love good music, and Shadow of the Erdtree delivers. Here are the (in my expert opinion) best five tracks from the DLC.

“The Twin Moon Knight”

In terms of sheer emotional impact, “The Twin Moon Knight” is comparable to the iconic “Slave Knight Gael” from Dark Souls III.

Undoubtedly a far more complex composition, “The Twin Moon Knight” requires multiple rounds of listening for proper appreciation. Each time I replayed the track, I was struck by a new detail — a backdrop of plaintive vocals, a muted strain of ethereal strings, a subtle callback to Rennala’s theme, etc. — and the song’s tangle of sounds began to solidify into a frankly insane composition.

Where “Slave Knight Gael” is initially slow-moving, laboriously working up to its climax — much like Gael by the end of the game — “The Twin Moon Knight” is quick-to-strike and unrelenting from the first second, popping off immediately with woodwinds, percussion, vocals and heartwrenching strings.

It’s poetry. It’s opera. It’s devastating, and I can’t not go back for more.

By the end of the song, you’ve been utterly sliced to ribbons by ebullient arrangements of overlaid strings and stomped into the dust by a thudding percussive finale. It’s a song of many arcs, richly loaded with atmosphere and lore.

“Divine Beast Dancing Lion”

The Dancing Lion is one of the most grotesque creatures I’ve ever laid my eyes upon. Its corpse-green eyes and pearly white mouth of teeth, paired with its bruised and filthy human limbs, drive me absolutely crazy with revulsion.

It’s only the best kind of ironic that such a uniquely repulsive creature would possess one of the coolest OSTs in the franchise.

Composer Shoi Miyazawa expertly matches the OST’s sound to the beast’s whirling chaos, with susurations of stony male vocals and buzzing strings creating the illusion of churning air. When the Lion reaches its second phase, the atmosphere grows thunderous and the strings reach a frantic, lilting speed.

Arguably one of the most unique tracks from the DLC, “Divine Beast Dancing Lion” is frenetic and unforgettable.

“The Lord of Frenzied Flame”

While “The Twin Moon Knight” and “Divine Beast Dancing Lion” were exemplary for their complex, high-energy compositions, “The Lord of Frenzied Flame” is good because it’s plainly horrific.

From the first note, “The Lord of Frenzied Flame” drips foreboding. A percussive thud barely audible beneath a string and woodwind arrangement gives the impression of footfalls, of a horrible and formidable foe lurching ever-closer.

Also composed by Shoi Miyazawa, this track captures the fight’s — as stated by YouTube commenter TuomasH– “you have to kill this guy before he leaves the room and ends the world” kind of vibe.

Others compare the sound to the Bloodborne soundtrack — dark, dyspeptic and laden with unease. Pure drama from beginning to end.

“The Promised Consort”

This, according to my brother, is the single best track of the franchise. And I think he’s got a good argument going. To put it simply, the song is epic, the perfect backdrop for a long-awaited battle featuring legendary characters.

Twin swells — uproarious symphony for Radahn and delicate strings for Miquella — punctuate the track’s first phase before dissolving into something downright heavenly. Diegetically, the energy is intense, everything culminating in an unforgettable finale.

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Classic Album Review

Kravitz and Cree: “Street Faërie”

album cover for "Street Faerie," by Cree Summer (1999)

If any album can convince you to get a belly button piercing, it’s going to be this one.

Most of us know Cree Summer as the raspy-voiced woman behind our childhood cartoons as “Numbah Five” from “Codename: Kids Next Door,” or Susie Meyerson from “Rugrats” amongst many others.

My Gen X-ers know Summer as the ever-spunky Freddie on “A Different World.”

However, my favorite incarnation is the scratchy and soulful singer of the here-and-then-gone 1999 album “Street Faërie.”

Summer’s lyrics walk the line between fresh and cynical, intimate and erotic, poetic and plainspoken in a way that feels almost reminiscent of Erykah Badu’s work.

She effortlessly weaves that earth-mother-barefoot-beauty with a decidedly tough, no-nonsense sensibility.

“Street Faërie” was produced by Lenny Kravitz, whose fingerprints are sonically all over the album.

From lush arrangements to backing vocals, he added tangible shape and color to Summer’s vision.

Forget Don Henley and Stevie Nicks; Kravitz and Summer create auditory leather and lace together.

Her vocals are equal parts delicate and forceful, uniquely free of her signature spoken rasp, whereas his guitar has that tell-tale driven ’90s crunch laced with powerfully ’70s swagger.

While the album reeks of what I can only imagine is Lenny Kravit’s spicy cologne, it feels like a disservice to dismiss it as his pet project as some reviewers have.

As far as content goes, it’s all Summer – from “Curious White Boy” to “Naheo,” she pulls from her reality to find the beauty in mundanity.

Her songs run the gamut from interracial dating to period sex, each one handled with a deeply personal intimacy that brings the listener deeper into a wonderland entirely of her making.

Despite what the title may suggest, the whimsical “Street Faërie” keeps both feet firmly planted in reality.

– Bodhi

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Classic Album Review

Classic Album Review: Nemo’s “In Stereo”

Album Cover for Nemo's "In Stereo"
Album Cover for Nemo's "In Stereo"

Background

The underground rock scene of the late 90’s and the early 2000’s has always been a charming era to me. Bands like Hum, Bowery Electric, Southpacific and many more brought the space rock genre back to life in many ways. Whether it be combining the genre with midwest emo, post-rock or shoegaze, the result almost always ended up sounding great.

This “space rock revival” scene captured the glory of outer space and the joy of humanity’s monumental achievement in exploration. Bands attempted to match the feeling of the temporally appropriate film, “2001: A Space Odyssey” with its grandiose and horizon-widening perspective. This narrative was pushed to the absolute limit with the album “In Stereo” by Nemo.

“In Stereo”

Darrell Simpson, Patrick McGuire and Todd Harapiak made up the band Nemo, which released its only work as a band, “In Stereo,” on June 8, 1999. The album consists of 8 songs, totalling 66 minutes in length, with the last song, “Space Suit,” taking up almost half of that runtime.

“In Stereo” combines space rock, shoegaze and metal in an extremely satisfying fashion. This album feels like you are strapped to the side of a rocket engine as it propels into deep space. The album has some very artful additions to it that make it feel all the more atmospheric. Some examples are the beeping electronics throughout the album, which resemble spaceship modules, and the playful reverb on some brighter guitar parts that sound like satelite dishes sending out signals to space. Also, in “Bleary-Eyed Me,” the distortion on the vocals resembles the radio between mission control and the team onboard the spacecraft.

Songs

Not only are the band members geniuses at nailing the atmosphere, but they do a pretty good job of making some solid, earwormy riffs. For example, “King Valley 55” sounds like the combination of Blur’s more poppier side, and Have A Nice Life’s cathartically heavy instruments. “Bedhead” is a groovy, jumpy song that sounds like if Spiritualized listened to Primus. “Hyperdrive” feels like it is a child of the 2020’s emo/shoegaze revival scene twenty years before it was supposed to happen.

“Space Suit,” the closing track, is my favorite song on the album. Starting with mountains of reverb, the song slowly builds into a masterpiece of density, with one of the most gut-wrenching guitar tones I’ve ever heard. After continuing on for six minutes, the riff dissolves into a heavy, intoxicating drone, with more off-kilter guitars leading. I would like to imagine this as a spacecraft losing contact with the rest of humanity and slowly inching into deep space. The drone fades out after about fifteen minutes, and we are left with silence for the remaining runtime. Whether or not the silence at the end is intentional, no one knows. I like to think this represents all contact with the Earth being lost, the craft succumbing to the silence and blackness of space.

Conclusion

Nemo’s “In Stereo” shows not only the wonders of space travel with its depth-defying highs, heavy and glorius riffs and soaring vocals, but also the horror of having your back face humanity’s reality, facing a universe that no human has explored as deep as you will.

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Classic Album Review

Album Review: “Top Ten most Epic fish of all time” by Sintel

The album cover for "Top Ten most Epic fish of all time" by Sintel. It's a parody of a YouTube thumbnail with the album name/artist as the title/user, and the thumbnail itself being a sunfish with its eye circled in red. The video's length is 1 hour, 38 minutes, 14 seconds.
The album cover, via https://sintel.bandcamp.com/album/top-ten-most-epic-fish-of-all-time. Yes, this is a real album.

Hello internet, and welcome to my album review of “Top Ten most Epic fish of all time” by Sintel! It’s a pretty unique album, with its silly gimmick belying some genuinely beautiful fish in it. That out of the way, let’s dive right in!

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Classic Album Review

Prison Affair and Snooper Join Forces with “Split”

Cover for "Split w/Snooper" by Prison Affair and Snooper

Despite being separated by over 4 thousand miles, two iconic egg punk bands have produced a totally epic crossover.

“Split” is a collaboration between Barcelona’s Prison Affair and Nashville’s Snooper, and it sounds exactly like you’d expect.

Egg Punk’s Favorite Felons

Since the group’s emergence in 2019, Prison Affair has amassed an almost cult-like following. Frenetic basslines and intense synth trances give the band’s music that unique DEVO-esque “egginess.”

“Demo II” by Prison Affair

Prison Affair’s discography is rife with homoeroticism, entendre and crude humor — they’re named “Prison Affair” for a reason — and the band’s merch store boasts bizarre items such as action figures and adult intimacy products featuring “d–knose,” the band’s Kilroy-inspired mascot.

Having made my way through the band’s discography several times over, it’s clear that Prison Affair is, in a sense, a self-contained universe. There’s an artsy, tongue-in-cheek genius behind the band’s highly-concentrated aesthetic, and before their collaboration with Snooper, it hadn’t even crossed my mind that the band was actually a group of people rather than some kind of ironic abstraction.

Snooper

Dedicated to silliness, spontaneity and simply cutting loose every once in a while, Snooper is an eclectic quintet making massive waves in the egg punk scene.

“Super Snooper” by Snooper

Borne of the COVID-19 pandemic and vocalist Blair Tramel’s love of papier mache, the band pioneers a uniquely vibrant and lighthearted take on punk rock distortion with songs about cool bugs, spy school and wacky hijinks. The band’s iconic mascot, a giant papier mache bug crafted by Tramel, is especially charming. At Snooper shows, a volunteer dons the creature and runs frenzied around the crowd.

“I think we’re teaching these tough punk guys how to have fun again,” Tramel said in an interview with NME.

“When someone is rocking with the puppet at the show, and they’re in a studded leather jacket, I’m like, ‘How did this happen?’ There’s something really magical about that. I’ll look from onstage and I’m like, it’s working!’”

“Split”

The EP is featured in two parts, with three tracks uploaded under the Prison Affair name. These tracks are “Algo huele mal” (Something smells bad), “Apuñalamiento (pero entre colegas)” (Stabbing [but between colleagues]) and “Quiz​á​s” (Maybe).

The EP is a quick listen, with a runtime of just over five minutes. From beginning to end, “Split” is manic, with a rapid tempo and slurred, repetitive lyrics.

“Split 7″” by Snooper

My favorite track, “Apuñalamiento (pero entre colegas),” is a total earworm with its bouncing rhythm and funky beats.

Snooper’s half of the EP, “Split 7″,” is similarly untethered. While Prison Affair’s vocals are monotonous and grimy, Tramel’s high-octave voice is delightfully chipper and a stark contrast to the mounting distortion of tracks like “Company Car” and “On Line.”

While there are numerous stylistical differences between the two bands, “Split” retains sensory consistency throughout. The EP is fun all the way through, and leaves you wanting to scurry around like an insect.

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Classic Album Review

The Summer-y Sounds of Tuesday Faust

Album cover for Faust’s “Killed the Cat,”
Album cover for Faust’s “Killed the Cat,”

Whimsical and sweet, the first time I heard “Paul” by Tuesday Faust, I was transported far, far away back to my elementary school field trips to the state fair and family summer vacations roaming the beach boardwalk carnival, watching the bright lights and listening to the lilting calypso themes emanating from various cash-grab rides.

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