Another week of reviews and music, Fighting Boredom give you our thoughts on Tim Hecker’s collection of electronic pieces originally written for various film and TV soundtracks. Parastatic with their album ‘inspired by their fascination with Brutalist architecture’. The Limiñanas ‘tribute to all the forgotten women who have disappeared from movie screens from the 1950s to today’. Emmaleen Tangleweed’s ‘sense of eerie communion’. The new split album from The Bordellos (with Dee Claw) and Neon Kittens. Ryan James Mawby’s us of ‘drums, percussion, tape, homemade instruments, piano, synth and field recordings’ and Winterwood’s ‘sound work, inspired by the novel by James Dickey’. It’s an odd mix of releases this time and lots to get into so have a listen and a read below.
Tim Hecker – Shards
Kranky
Seven shards of sound from the last five years, originally written for film and TV soundtracks, Shards is a broken mirror of pieces that draw only on themselves. The sounds are built from the same place, drones, glitches and synths but they make very different noises as the album passes by. There is jazz piano and bass, there are wind chimes and woodwind. There are even beats, but the underlying feeling is of beauty, of care in construction and all enveloping sounds. It tastes metallic in some places and like soil in others. A welcome addition to Tim Hecker’s releases.
Parastatic – Concrete Reborn
Workie Ticket Records
The sound that Parastatic have achieved here is luscious and full, even before the poetry starts to add to the songs, it’s the music that gets you. Inspired by brutalist architecture, this is an unexpectedly warm sounding record. You’d imagine grey concrete angles and detachment, this is much more the feeling of the people living and working in the blocks and buildings. It sounds very stylish and cool, synths and beats with the poetry keeping you completely focused as you listen. It’s a gorgeous feeling piece of music that carries a lot of weight, just like the slabs of concrete that inspired it.
The Limiñanas – Faded
Because Music
The Limiñanas create effortlessly cool, slightly weird, very French pop music. The album has a myriad of guests from the sublime to the not really needed. The sublime being the various fantastic French vocalists and the weirded out Jon Spencer contribution. You can work out the not needed yourself. It really is an excellent way to spend an afternoon, sipping wine on the balcony, if you haven’t got a balcony, open a window.
Emmaleen Tangleweed – Songs From The Unseen- The Unsaid and The Unborn – The Sun Will Still Shine When You Die
Cruel Nature
Late at night, early in the morning when your mind goes to those things you’ve bottled up for a lifetime, this is what you feel. It’s the sound of a woman with a world weary voice singing the blues stripped back to a banjo and occasionally a couple more instruments. This is all about the voice and the stories it tells. Mournful, gentle, yearning and, above all, sad. Like nothing else I know.
The Bordellos (with Dee Claw) – Neon Kittens – Half Man Half Kitten
Cruel Nature
So, as far as I can tell, The Bordellos had recorded eight songs and just weren’t getting the rest together so after a chat with the Neon Kittens, hopefully in a cocktail bar with umbrellas in their drinks, the Neon Kittens said why don’t we release a split album, so they did. Disclaimer, I’m not sure exactly of the facts and I have, indeed, just made this up although I stand by the cocktail bar. The Bordellos have the first half and they are joined on vocals by Dee Claw whose voice is just wonderful and a perfect foil to the scrappy fuzzed out rock’n’roll, groovy punk and sixties feeling grooves of the music. Neon Kittens have a spot on punk attitude, reflected by the feel of their music, discordant, woozy and excellent. it’s just an ace sixteen songs and I strongly suggest you get hold of it and force your local cocktail bar to play it very loudly.
Ryan James Mawbey – Nature Mirror
Cruel Nature
You can hear as this tape breathes, it has a natural charm and sound. At one point echoing rain in a forest and at another features tiny noises and small notes. It slips into fee jazz meeting Krautrock with a relentless circling and ends with chimes, wind and layers of drones. It’s a small organic feeling release and it feeds your mind.
Winterwood – To The White Sea
Cruel Nature
This is an epic sound work and imagining of the book ‘To The White Sea’ by James Dickey. It goes from long periods of calm and quiet nature sounds to short bursts of gunfire and explosions, it’s a long journey to freedom and feels fraught with stress and anxiety. One to listen to in the dark alone.
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Tim Hecker is on Instagram.
Parastatic are on Facebook and Instagram.
The Limiñanas website is theliminanas.com they are also on Facebook and Instagram
Emmaleen Tangleweed is on Instagram.
The Bordellos are on Facebook.
Neon Kittens are on Facebook
Ryan James Mawbey’s linktree is here.
All words by Adrian Bloxham
