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

J Blissette
“Cracker Drool,” and “Country Sleaze’’ serve
up tongue-in-cheek critiques of masculinity,
humanity, and greater society as a whole.
“Creep on the train/I really want to smash
your head in” groans Cream on “Creep.” Goat
Girl’s self-titled debut is a fast-paced slap in
the face, clocking in around 40 minutes they
waste no time making a lasting impression.
• Jarrett Edmund
Guided by Voices
Space Gun
Rockathon Records
The ludicrously prolific Robert Pollard keeps it
100 with a record that maintains the warmth
and eclectic energy of his back catalogue as it
enters three figures. Tirelessly inventive, the
band blazes through a track-list which takes
the best of their lo-fi early years and fuses it
with Pollard’s arena-sized ambitions and ear
for catchy choruses.
The opening riffs of the title track sound as
clean as anything the band has produced, the
DIY grunge of their early years replaced by slick
sharpness in instrumentation and singing alike.
Warmer cuts such as “Ark Technician” let Pollard
slip into nostalgic reverie, a marked contrast
from the tight production of the album’s opener.
“Blink Blank” has the ragged charm of Zevon
later in his life; grizzled vocals and growling
guitars coalescing into an energetic cut, its lyrics
and tone funny, frank and foreboding all at once.
Shades of Earthquake Glue’s glossy, Townsendscale
catchiness show up in the album’s penultimate
track “Flight Advantage,” with its bizarre,
irresistibly memorable refrain of “Spiders will
dance.”
The echoing “Got to keep moving” of “Evolution
Circus,” along with its scratchy faraway
chorus vocals, is indicative of the album’s mood,
a largely successful attempt to cut and paste the
scale of classics like Alien Lanes with the banter
and inimitable character of GBV’s many underrated,
inconsistent obscurities. With over 2,000
58 | APRIL 2018 • BEATROUTE
recordings, Pollard shows no signs of slowing
down, but rather doubles down with an album
which is both a reminder of his extensive years of
practice and his zeal for lovable spontaneity.
• Cathal Gunning
Holy Wave
Adult Fear
The Reverberation Appreciation Society
Following up on the heels of Holy Wave’s
Freaks Of Nurture, their 2016 release, Adult
Fear is the Austin band’s fifth official release
and third full-length album. Sticking with
their signature, hazy psych-garage sound, Holy
Wave has managed to release yet another
captivating collection of tracks.
With each new album, they seem to mature
towards new levels of experimentation and layering
lush instrumentation, amid tracks gliding
effortlessly between different grooves and tempos.
This does not so much startle, but rather
takes one on a trip reminiscent of groups such as
The Zombies, Pink Floyd (a la Syd Barrett), and
more recently, Ariel Pink. Layered in abundant
organ/synth tones and track lengths reaching
above eight minutes, Holy Wave drenches classic
psych sounds on a blotter of fresh composition.
• Tory Rosso
J Blissette
Until I Go Blind
Pleasance Records
J Blissette is the creative moniker and artistic
love child of Jackson Tiefenbach. Based out
of Lethbridge, Until I Go Blind is the bands
debut, full-length release. The album explores
a plethora of sounds ranging from jangly
post punk, ‘60s garage, power pop, and even
touches on a soulful palette. One example of
these merging tones is on the track “Nellcote,”
where it’s as if Al Green and Twin Peaks got
together to co-write a song.
Carefully crafted, mid-fi production accurately
surfaces on the lead single, “A Series Of Observations.”
This particular piece is accompanied by
saxophone solos, which serves to complement
and enhance the joyful energy already present in
the track. Listening to the 12-track LP evokes a
myriad of altering emotions: angst, elation, and
catharsis.
In the company of all of these sonic shades
and mental sensations, Until I Go Blind fashions
itself as a cohesive unit, manufactured by J
Blissette.
• Tory Rosso
JJUUJJUU
Zionic Mud
Dine Alone Records
LA psych rock band JJUUJJUU’s debut album,
Zionic Mud, opens strong with “Camo,” firing
you into a hypnotic trance of funky basslines,
accented by raucously squawking lo-fi guitars.
This album conjures images of bohemian
Californians dancing barefoot. Drawing you in
with its siren song before sending your mind’s
eye skyward, beyond Earthship.
Zionic Mud maintains high energy through
the title track with fantastic build-ups transitioning
into wild crescendos. Bookended by “Bleck,”
a straight ahead psych track, the first third of
the album is funky, spaced out, and danceable.
A tempo switch, leading to a gentle outro
dove-tailing the short interlude of atmospheric
space travel in “Level.” This first instrumental has
a softness that only lasts a moment before your
consciousness is transported to witness storms
on a outlier planet, amping you up and passing
you down the line of tales to come.
JJUUJJUU maintains this build up, fade away
presence loyally throughout Zionic Mud. The
variation of tempo and structure build an excellent
album. The layered, airy psych, paired with
thunderous drums, moody, post-punk guitars
and vocals that don’t take center stage creates
something accessible.
• Trevor Hatter
MIEN
MIEN
Rocket Recordings
In the current rock n’ roll landscape, it’s becoming
a bit facile to slap the description “psych”
on nearly anything that features any spacey
atmospherics, repetitive chord progressions
designed to induce a trance-like state, and
affected vocals. Yet it’s even more rare to hear
those elements used to such solid effect as they
are on MIEN’s self-titled debut, along with classic
flavours that reflect the early development
of the style (most notably the use of sitar),
which caused many a baby boomer to fall into
the abyss of their black lights looking for “the
bigger meaning of it all, man.”
Featuring members of The Black Angels, The
Horror, Elephant Stone, and The Earlies, MIEN is
a twisting constellation of electronic and organic
tones that feel like being backlit, staring into the
woods in 8-bit.
That presence brings MIEN to life immediately
on “Earth Moon” which runs on a steady
Rhodes piano groove with sitar flourishes over
the top, driven by an uptempo hi-hat groove
that stays consistent through the refrains,
where a synth drops in with a flute-over-string
section sound that easily conjures the instrumental
sections in Zeppelin’s “Kashmir.” The
vocals are pleasantly languid and subtle, bathed
in echo, and the cascading build of “Hocus
Pocus” rises over an overdriven bass riff under
the beat drops in taking the chords in a more
minor-key-than-expected direction. The payoff
in the cut comes a minute in when spazzing
synths hit fever pitches and blast in all different
directions, making the simplicity in the song’s
constant refrain, “I feel so high,” more an actual
feeling than a statement. Elements of industrial
rock are noticeable in some of the choices for
drum and synth sounds, especially on “(I’m Tired
Of) Western Shouting,” that hangs on a droning
overdriven bassline with the chord changes
implied by the instruments around it. It’s a cool
move, and with the rounds of vocals coming in
and out of it, before an acoustic break that drops
back into the original feel.
MIEN has succeeded where so many bands
are merely trying lately: crafting a record that
requires being heard from beginning to end,
full of wild freakouts. It’s the kind of music that
ought to accompany the big, weird party where
everyone’s maybe pretty sure they know where
they are, swaying with the treetops in a zapping
telescope of exploding stars.
• Mike Dunn
The Penske File
Salvation
Stomp Records
The Penske File’s new album, Salvation, is a
power-poppy blend of various punk rock
styles. The opening track “Kamikaze Kids,”
explodes from the picking pattern of a brightly-toned
guitar to a folk-infused, chorus-y
punk song reminiscent of new-era Green Day
meeting old-school Against Me!
Salvation’s fourth track “Spin My History,” is
an emotionally driven rock-song with enough
catchiness to fit on radio airwaves, and enough
grit to catch your attention. “Last Chance” is a
smack-your-face tune that mixes elements of
‘50s rock n’ roll with heavy, melodic skate-punk.
Overall, Salvation feels like a well-executed
power-pop tribute to punk music of the early
2000s. Sounds on Salvation are comparable to
the likes of Blink-182, Sum41, NOFX, Yellowcard,
and other similar artists from that era. The record’s
diversity touches on punk’s many niches,
leaving something catchy and enjoyable for fans
from all walks of the genre.
• Johnny Papan