Her Stems Spiral - Princess Poured Out The Pale Winter Moon digital EP

I say this all the time, but the best selling point, to your music is the packaging, just love this cover art on this one and it fits nicely with the music...other worldly.  Shannon, who essentially is the entire band (with help from Matthew on drums/percussion) hit me up to give his creation a listen )on a side note his was the most polite and personal request I have had yet for a review). This thing came all the way from South Africa, via wires and whatnot, to basically unsettle my brain. My reply to Shannon was, "As far as the tunes, wow! Shoegaze is a category I've heard of but honestly couldn't name one band that fits that description, and math-rock is something I am only lately getting in touch with. If those are what you are then I can dig it. I realize that you are playing live instruments, one at a time anyway, but the sound has an industrial vibe, which is way up on my radar. Jazzy too, which says a lot about your musicianship. Love the cover art, would really look good on a hard copy."  In response to my ignorance of the shoegaze/math rock genres, Shannon mentioned that this music had been influenced by, "Alcest, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Kayo Dot, Dråpe, Chelsea Wolfe, My Bloody Valentine, The Blood Brothers etc"...I honestly have never heard of any of these bands.  So let HSS be my introduction, and I'll be damned if I'm not impressed.  The bio from Last.FM reads "Her Stems Spiral is an avant-garde/shoegaze project started by Shannon Lawlor of the Johannesburg based post-rock band Eyes Like Mirrors. It was created as an entity to explore the realms of experimental music and unconventional song-writing. Dreams, or the unconscious mind played a major role in the development of this release. Lyrics range from stories of the past, to mother nature’s revenge, and even some self-reflection. Shannon’s first effort titled “Princess Poured Out The Pale Winter Moon” was recorded in a small independent studio called MoonSwing, in Johannesburg, South Africa, from mid 2012 – early 2013 using a single condenser microphone, and limited to hardware/software. All vocals and instruments were written and composed on the spot in studio, as an experiment to conduct the relationship between the subconscious subliminal influence and the unconscious fantasies of the mind." To summarize all that, what you have is a guy who has written, composed and performed something of a exquisite enigma. It's a bit of a strange this, ranging from dreamy to intense. You wouldn't think that it had been so impromptu, the songs don't seem to be thrown together as much as wrought or forged. And with a guy playing so many separate tracks, it doesn't sound like ten different incarnations of Shannon doing completely different things, but much more harmonious...in a chaotic sort of way. There are some King Crimson moments here and there, sometimes it reminds me of one of my favorite bands Creedle, and overall it has a jazzy quality to it. Not being a musician, I'm sure that some of this is way over my head, because, in case you didn't know it, musicians talk to each other through their music, without the rest of us knowing they're doing it. Like Frank Zappa who always surrounded himself with the best of musicians, Shannon has done a great service to his music, by having Mathew sit in on drums. By all rights and purposes he is a part of this the music, just like a guitar has two E strings. Shannon had been playing in the band Eyes Like Mirrors, but I think they are on a hiatus of sorts, at the moment. There is a huge web presence for this band as there is with a lot of bands in these internet convenient days (remember when all underground bands had was zines, word of mouth and live performances to speak for them), there's a Last.FM, a Soundcloud, a Facebook, an interview at Harum Scarum Records and you can give the whole thing a listen (and download at "name your price") at Bandcamp. I hope Shannon doesn't mind but I wanted to share my favorite song here in the site, a tune called "Asleep On The Ferris Again"... [audio mp3="http://mustard-relics.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Asleep-On-The-Ferris-Again-Her-Stems-Spiral.mp3"][/audio] Once again, go to the Bandcamp below, to give the whole thing a listen and have a chance to put it on your iPod!... http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=490679998/size=medium/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/transparent=true/

Melt Banana - Fetch LP

It looks like one of my absolute favorite bands, Melt-Banana, are coming out with a new record October 1st.  Was a little concerned when I heard the concept, just Yako (Vox) and Agata (Guitars) on this one, no Rika (Bass) (all the reading I did on this thing came up with no answers as to what happened to her) and no one playing drums.  This is something akin to the previous album with just Yako and Agata as Melt-Banana Lite.  I'm one who has a hard time accepting change, especially when it comes to an incarnation I was totally content with and the band has struck out in new territory here.  Yako's voice is still very recognizable and Agata's sound is still there somewhat, with the addition of heavy synth type noodlings and drum machine mayhem.  Overall, I'd say that this is a little more catchy than most of their stuff and isn't quite so balls to the wall, but that doesn't mean they don't get loose though.  As with anything compose by these two, they are heavy on the originality.  You can stream the whole album at Spin Magazine, of all places.  As I said this thing becomes a physical entity on October 1st, a good starting place to get it would be at their label, A-Zap, but you may want to wait a bit for it to hit distributors a little closer to home.  They are supporting this with a US tour, check out the dates at Revolver USA. Below is the taste they gave the world prior to the Spin thing...

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Tyranny Is Tyranny - Let It Come From Whom It May CD

Heard from Russell of United Sons Of Toil a while back (yeah still playing catch up on these reviews) turning me onto another project of his in the form of the post-rock monster, Tyranny Is Tyranny. Here's what he hd to say about the band, "Tyranny Is Tyranny is a Madison WI post-noiserock band focusing on dynamics, repetition, and the dismantling of capitalism -- former members of The United Sons Of Toil laying down long-form slabs of bleak dynamics and left-wing outrage. Slather yourself in despair. RIYL: Light Bearer, Isis, and Amphetamine Reptile Records. Tyranny Is Tyranny is the title of the fourth chapter of Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States." "Let It Come From Whom It May" will be released on Cincinnati's Phratry Records on 10/31/2013." Seems like I'm getting a lot of bands out of the Northern Midwest these days that know how to turn up the noise. One of my favorite things about this band is the vocals, that's just me (and really all this is about is me).   There's two vocals going on why higher pitched and the other lower.  They're not crooning, and not that cookie monsters gargling glass mess, but like this smooth blend of the two, gruff intelligible things that lend themselves to the intense lyrical content. Check out the lyrics in the Liner Notes. As for the music, they start this thing off, banging hard, like two cons beating the shit out of each other in a prison yard, towards the middle they get thoughtful, philosophical and then end it with two long angry anthems. My favorite tune falls in that last category... The American Dream Is A Lie Opiate the brutish life To numb the pain, you take a wife They Sell you hope---You break your back You make excuses---They don't look back The dream is dead, it never lived Stillborn from the womb of revolt Stillborn. It's stillborn Don't know how long these guys have been playing together, but it seems like for a long time, very tight and in sync. The whole thing rocks pretty hard, never a dull moment, from beginning to end it reminds me of an important speech. Forgot to mention that cover art, incredible emotion there, describes the band perfectly. If you want a copy and to help give this bad boy a proper vinyl release you can PRE-ORDER. You can also give it a listen and/or pick up a digital copy over at Bandcamp. They also have their own WEBSITE and of course you can get this and all kinds of other killer shit at Phratry Records. http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=554829024/size=medium/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/transparent=true/