LA-based psych-pop artist Ariel Pink has been touring Europe and the USA for the past year in support of The Doldrums, the Paw Tracks debut album from his band, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti. Pink played at the Metro in Chicago recently, and contributing photographer Laura Gray captured these images.
Scott Morrow is ALARM’s music editor. Patrick Hajduch is a very important lawyer. Each week they debate the merits of a different album.
Seven That Spells: Future Retro Spasm (Beta-Lactam Ring, 5/20/10)
Seven That Spells: “Olympos”
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Morrow: Based in Zagreb, Croatia, Seven That Spells plays a powerhouse fusion of psychedelic rock, math and jazz influences, and full-tilt drumming assaults. The group, originally a power trio, is led by guitarist/keyboardist Niko Potočnjak but has undergone radical changes in its lineup over its relatively brief tenure, and its last album, Cosmoerotic Dialogue with Lucifer, was a noisy, progressive, multi-drummer attack on the senses.
Located in the central borough of Berlin is the unsuspecting, quirky graphic-design studio and gallery Bongoût. The owners, Christian Gfeller and Anna Hellsgård, have long been infatuated with music, so the prospect of producing music-inspired visual art came naturally to them when they began collaborating on graphic-design projects in 1995.
“When Anna and I first met,” Gfeller reminisces, “we both owned massive vinyl collections. Over time, and due to several house moves, the non-vital part of the collection was cleaned – but we still own a few thousand records. Music plays a very important part in our lives – not just the music itself, but the whole cultural surrounding.”
The two designers are particularly fond of obscure punk, noise, lo-fi recordings, black metal, world music, and electronica. These eclectic influences are clearly discernible within Bongoût’s artwork. The duo has created posters and album covers for a diverse set of genre-defying clients like Black Mountain, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, and PJ Harvey.
On a weekly basis, The Groove Seeker goes in search of killer grooves across rock, funk, hip hop, soul, electronic music, jazz, fusion, and more.
Black Mountain: Wilderness Heart (Jagjaguwar, 9/14/2010)
Black Mountain: “Wilderness Heart”
[audio:https://alarm-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/08.-Wilderness-Heart.mp3|titles=Black Mountain: “Wilderness Heart”]Thanks to endless comparisons to bands such as Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, and Black Sabbath, and tagged as a band obsessed with ’70s stoner rock, Vancouver-based rock outfit Black Mountain has a lot to live up to. But beyond the umbrella terminology and exhaustive retro comparisons, the group doesn’t receive enough credit for striking a modern chord with mainstream and underground-minded audiences alike.
Each Tuesday, Behind the Counter speaks to an independent record store to ask about its recent favorites, best sellers, and noteworthy trends.
For more than a decade, independent record store Cosmos Records has supplied the Toronto area with hard-to-find vinyl releases. In addition to its flagship Queen St. West location, a sister store specializing in hip-hop and soul records opened down the street in 2005. Owner Aki Abe is known for his encyclopedic knowledge, an expertly cultivated record selection, and his downtown-Toronto nightclub, Una Más. Below, Abe answers a few questions, and Cosmos employees show off their favorite records.
What was your motivation for starting a music store? / What is your background in music?
In the late ’80s, I used to wholesale rare disco and soul LPs to Japan, which paid for my college tuition. I always seemed to obsess about something, whether it was rare action-figure erasers in grade two or obscure soul LPs I’ve never seen. If I didn’t open a record store, my apartment would’ve burst. I have no background in music.
Since leaving longtime label Anticon, indie rapper Sole has released The Pyre — a collaboration with artist Ravi Zupa — as well as a free mixtape of his signature rhymes over radio-hit beats from the likes of Rick Ross and Kanye West, titled Nuclear Winter: Vol. 1. In addition, Sole and the Skyrider Band has been working with the label Fake Four. Inc and just finished a US tour with IDM artist Egadz.
Sole (a.k.a. Tim Holland) took a few minutes out of his busy tour schedule to pen a piece on the greatest myths in Western civilization. On the list, just in time for the holidays, is a new perspective on the story and significance of Santa Claus.
Five Western Myths
by Tim Holland, a.k.a. Sole
1. Santa Claus
The modern Santa gets his roots from Sinter Klaas, the Dutch father of Christmas. Sinter Klass, with the help of his ‘”Zwarte Pieten,” a.k.a. enslaved “black devils,” brought gifts to children. He moved his residence to the North Pole, where he seemingly swapped out the Moors for Inuits. Today this myth lies at the center of our entire economy and arguably our way of life.
My biggest problem with Santa is that it teaches children that something comes out of nothing, and it gives them an early and tangible affirmation of the supernatural. Even during periods of relative prosperity, it’s not uncommon for an American parent to take a second job around the holidays simply to perpetuate this myth. Maybe history laughs last, as yesterday’s “Moors” are replaced the world over by today’s work force.
For the past 40 years, artists in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood have been slowly transforming a four-block stretch of Halsted Street into a quiet creative enclave. Even though the area has established a solid presence within Chicago’s art scene, it’s sometimes seen as a separate entity that doesn’t always engage with the rest of Pilsen’s predominantly Hispanic, working-class community. However, since opening in May of 2010, the Chicago Urban Art Society (CUAS) has made it a point to bridge this gap.
With strong roots in Argentina’s folkloric sounds, Tremor mashes acoustic instrumentations against a wall of experimental electronics and synths, creating what frontman Leonardo Martinelli calls a “collage” of new and old.
Every Friday, The Metal Examiner delves metal’s endless depths to present the genre’s most important and exciting albums.
Agalloch: Marrow of the Spirit (Profound Lore, 11/23/10)
Agalloch: “The Watcher’s Monolith”
[audio:https://alarm-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/03.-The-Watchers-Monolith.mp3|titles=Agalloch – The Watcher’s Monolith]Although Agalloch dons its album covers with images of winter and writes songs featuring tremolo-picked minor chords and shrieked vocals, the Portland quartet is best understood as a heavy progressive-rock band rather than a black-metal band.
Since the late 1990s, the group has released purposefully genre-blending music with a somber, melodic bent. Marrow of the Spirit, just the band’s fourth full-length album, must be compared to the work of black-metal-gone-experimental artists like Ulver and Enslaved, but a better reference point is the work of ’70s prog-rock bands like Comus. Songs are sprawling layers of riffs that meander between different themes and styles, touching on blast beats, acoustic breaks, and atmospheric post-rock passages.
Politically conscious rapper Sole performed recently at Soda Bar in San Diego, and ALARM contributing photographer Candice Eley was on hand to document the show.
The co-founder of Anticon recently left the label to record and release music completely independently. Recent releases include a free mixtape (Nuclear Winter) and The Pyre, a a 72-page illustrated poem with an accompanying full-length “audiobook/album” — the result of a collaboration with artist Ravi Zupa. Look for a guest column by Tim Holland, a.k.a. Sole, on AlarmPress.com in the near future.
