Saturday, June 11, 2011

Giraffes? Giraffes! - More Skin with Milk-Mouth

















Cool spastic math-rock, don't really have time to go in-depth here because I'm eating leftover bratwurst right now so just listen to one of its songs and see if you like it. It's sounding really nice in my living room right now.


Thursday, June 2, 2011

Incapacitants - As Loud As Possible



















Wikipedia says it best:
Incapacitants (インキャパシタンツ Inkyapashitantsu?) are a Japanese noise music group formed in 1981. It consists of Toshiji Mikawa and Fumio Kosakai, whose stated aim is to produce "pure" noise, uninfluenced by musical ideas or even human intention, using primarily feedback, vocals, and various electronics. Kosakai calls this sound "hard noise", as a nod to hard bop.[1]

The performances of Incapacitants--the physically incongruous combination of Hijo Kaidan member T. Mikawa and former C.C.C.C. member Fumio Kosakai--are so wide-open that they explode the usual image of noise music. The noise sound is completely integrated with the convulsive, leaping, swinging movement of the musicians' bodies--one big, the other small. This is conveyed to listeners in such a direct way that the question "What is noise?" becomes meaningless.
–Yuichi Jibiki, Eater

This is HARD noise! Some of the hardest shit I've listened to since Noise Ramones. An arresting goddamn experience that is obviously not for everyone. Here's a video of them playing in the woods of Tajima, Fukushima just to give you an idea of what they're all about. Classic 80's Japanese noise! never gets old for me.


Cassiber - A Face We All Know



















I like my rock and roll weird and interesting (and... shall I say, disconcerting?) and Cassiber delivers all that in spades. A source of inspiration for the likes of Yoshihide Otomo and his band Ground-Zero, it is German improvisational avant-garde rock that just does all sorts of really interesting songs unlike anything I've ever heard. Perhaps it is comparable to the likes of John Zorn type stuff (but they don't use sax in this album). Some of the sounds consist of German-accented vocals wailing and commanding through sound effects, all types of goofy organs, bass plucks, and awesome drumming. It crosses genres, moods, styles and expectations, in funny and unnerving ways. I'm doing you all a favor exposing you to this ingenious and innovative band, and I'll be sure to post their other albums shortly.

Animal Collective - Fall Be Kind



















This EP came out a while ago, but since I've noticed that most Animal Collective fans I've talked to haven't heard of it, let alone listened to it, I feel it behooves all of us to have it up on the Knuckles. This album has a unique sound for AC: Pensive, deep, moody, but very trippy while still being distinctly Animal Collective. It departs from their energetic, ecstatic kids-running-around-in-the-sprinkler sort of sound that you heard in their Merriwether sound. These guys have calmed the fuck down on this album and it works out great because then it draws you in slowly and becomes more atmospheric and shit. This was the First Animal Collective album I listened to (a late bloomer for that bandwagon, I know) so I may have some bias, but this goes out as my favorite Animal Collective album listened to thus far. A darker, more mature experience, like the introspective experience of a nightime drug trip in the woods as opposed to the bikeride acid trip in the middle of the day feel of their other albums. Let's see how their upcoming album pans out; I heard they're going back to their noise roots, so that'll be exciting to say the least.