BeatRoute Magazine [AB] print e-edition - [April 2018]

Taylor Ackerman’s Global Acid Reset
Ruin Lust
Independent
Having relocated to Halifax a few years ago,
former Lethbridge guitar player Taylor Ackerman
(Treeline, Shaela Miller) has kept himself
busy working up a set of energetic tunes. The
resulting EP, Ruin Lust, has a bit of a late ‘60s,
early ‘70s sound, with boogie rock elements
coming up head-to-head with Detroit fuzz.
The opener, “Sideman,” kicks off a bit like a
Creedence tape, before Ackerman starts laying
down the boogie, at which point his tone
and feel get a little closer to Winnipeg’s The
Perpetrators – in essence it’s like a stream of
consciousness J.J. Cale groove with muscular
guitars. There’s an outdoor vibe up next on “Bangladeshi
T-Shirt,” the kind of dust kicker that’s
dialed to the shiny, happy vibe of the summer
fests. It features Ackerman laying some greasy
Billy F. Gibbons electric bottleneck riffs over
the acoustic jam. “Half A Man” is a standout, a
Motor City monster with a hypnotic pogoing
riff and a massive wall of fuzz guitar feeding back
and forth. Ackerman’s voice on “Half A Man”
cuts through a little more; he shows off a bit of
a baritone similar to Jim Morrison, or “Lust For
Life”-era Iggy Pop.
Ackerman has plans on moving back to Lethbridge
this spring, and with his knockout guitar
playing, Global Acid Reset should have a cool
sound to kickoff with, which will certainly make
for a nice homecoming.
• Mike Dunn
A Place To Bury Strangers
Pinned
Dead Oceans
Adversity has long been the driving force
inspiring sonic chemists to one up themselves.
On this fifth full-length by the decade old
noise-rock trio, the struggles of life are real but
they also come with a big pay off. The opener,
“Never Coming Back,” brims with anxiety
whether it’s brought on by the changes all
around or a consistent streak of personal
bad luck matters less and less as the trance
inducing back beat helps give the sensation
of exiting this world for clouds of noise up
above.
Otherworldly guitar sounds and copious
amounts of forlorn blasts of sonic chaos have always
been the rule but this release has a notable
addition with the inclusion of he/she vocals. The
hellish buzz-saw guitar riffs on “Frustrated Operator”
benefit greatly from a female presence
widening the dynamic with soft Nico-inspired
singing which is truly shiver inducing.
Weary voices give searing meditations on
personal truth revealing a side to the band that
usually hides beneath layers and layers of postrock
noise.
• Dan Potter
Goat Girl
Goat Girl
Rough Trade
Goat Girl
Adding to the grand tradition of DIY basement
recordings (if London had any basements),
Goat Girl’s sprawling 19-track, self-titled
debut marks a significant achievement
in grimy, lo-fi storytelling. Emerging from the
fragmented South London indie scene, the
album serves as a collection of fast-paced
urban observations with lead singer Clottie
Cream’s morose drawl as the centerpiece.
Elements of punk, psychedelia, and even experimental
country spiral and twist their way
around Cream’s sharp cultural criticism. Never
far removed from the volatile socio-political
context of their city, album highlights “Scum,”
BEATROUTE • APRIL 2018 | 57