Monolith Cocktail Blog

GRAHAM DOMAIN’S REVIEWS SUITE

__SINGLES/EPS__

Ali Murray and Cornelius Corvidae ‘Split EP’
(Dead Forest Records)

As the name suggests this is an EP split between two artists playing two songs each.

Ali Murray hails from the beautiful windswept Isle of Lewis and vocally sounds like a cross between Elliott Smith and Andy Shauf. On some of his other releases he harnesses a shoegaze-like sonic template. Here he adopts a stripped-back sound of acoustic and electric guitar and organ. Standout track is the beautiful ‘Wish the Bones Away’ with its poetic lyrics and melancholic gothic strangeness. ‘Spirit of Unknowing’ meanwhile, uses acoustic guitar to great effect on an atmospheric ballad that combines the phrasing of John Grant with the sadness of Elliot Smith. Two songs of beauty and wonder!

Cornelius Corvidae hails from Minnesota, USA and inhabits two songs of cosmic Americana. ‘Silver Flower (Kali’s Invitation)’ employs acoustic picked guitar on a bleak ballad, all dark imagery and campfire ghost-story shadow. ‘Shiva in the Blood Orchard’ meanwhile, uses picked acoustic guitar set against Tudor-like keyboard melodies (reminiscent of the Moody Blues) on a dark folk ballad. Two artists, four great songs!

Foil ‘Portal’
(Jolt Music)

Foil (AKA singer and producer Helly Manson) releases her new single this month. Taken from the upcoming album On the Wing, the song begins like Steeleye Span with multi tracked folkish female vocals before a synth plays the same pattern over and over again accompanied by a cowbell rhythm! It lasts just 1 minute and 33 seconds and sounds like a demo for a song not finished and barely started! Still, there’s nothing else quite like it!

Juppe ‘Fade’
(Soliti)

Juppe hails from Helsinki in Finland (the happiest country in the world)! Of the singles theme he says ‘it’s very hard to get a place to rent here in Helsinki if you don’t have good credit! It’s very easy to fade away.’ With two fingers up to the Man – Juppe looks like Bob Mortimer and harnesses the sound of the Devils music Jamiroquai!

Bitter Defeat ‘Terrific Effort EP’
(Bandcamp)

This is the second EP from the New Zealand indie rock band following last years Minor Victory EP. Comprising 4 songs of guitar pop-rock that sit somewhere between the Lemon Heads and late-period Buzzcocks! Lead song ‘Sugar Blind’ is a catchy guitar driven pop song complete with Cure-like background vocal refrain! ‘Falling Down’, meanwhile has shades of the Charlatans with its driving organ sound! One to watch!

Nivis ‘Into the Void’ EP
(6415 Records)

The EP features 4 songs of pop-rock from the German indie-pop band. Lead track ‘Rain on a Funeral March’ is a catchy pop song that resonates more with each play. All four songs are well-produced, commercial pop-rock that remind me of people like Cyndi Lauper or Nena (of 99 Red Balloons fame). It’s the sort of music that was popular in the mid 1980’s! Shiny but not new!

Neon Kittens ‘Loving Your Neighbours Wife’ b/w ‘Marilyn Mansion (Where Horror Lives)
(Metal Postcard Records)

The new single from Neon Kittens, combines the white funk bass-lines of A Certain Ratio with Eno / Byrnes My Life in the Bush of Ghosts to produce K-Funk – the crunchy funk sound of biscuits out of their packet! With these hot cheesy bread rhythms, even Lego figures with botox can learn to smile again! Set to produce a water slide of elastic-legged banana dancing up and down the country!

B-side ‘Marilyn Mansion’ employs the sound of Early Gang of Four with the attack of Wire and a deadpan female Einar (Sugarcubes) on a twisted tale of non murder locations and funking in cars!

Draag ‘Mitsuwa’

A wonderful summery single from the LA Electro-Shoegaze band, taken from their forthcoming album Dark Fire Heresy. Acoustic guitars and subtle synths give way to chiming guitars and organ with multi-tracked harmonic female vocals! It reminds me very much of Lush in their prime! One to watch!

_____ALBUMS_____

Conrad Schnitzler & Ken Montgomery ‘CAS-CON 11 Konzert in der Erloserkirche, Ost-Berlin, 3.9.1986’
(Bureau B) 12^th May 2023

This is a live concert recorded in East Germany on 3.9.1986 where the music of German electronic experimental musician Conrad Schnitzler was mixed live by American collaborator Ken Montgomery. This was at a time when the Berlin Wall still stood and the GDR required the issuing of a special state permit for a live concert. This concert was promoted locally by word of mouth and went ahead illegally (without permit), where it was recorded and issued by an East German underground label on cassette.

Now fully restored, the concert has been issued for the first time on CD, Vinyl and as a Digital Download! Consisting of 6 tracks of austere serious yet playful experimental electronic music, it leaves little impression on first listen. With repeat plays however, the charms of the music reveal themselves, not so much in melody but in atmosphere and approach. It encapsulates the icy chill and drama of Delia Derbyshire, Bowie, Eno, Tomita, Cluster and early Popol Vuh! An interesting suite of music – one that becomes an essential listen the more you hear it!

FFO: Delia Derbyshire, Cluster, Popol Vuh, Tangerine Dream, Bowie, Tomita.

Volatile Youth ‘Post Falls, Idaho’
(Rummage Sale Records – Bandcamp)

The album begins with the song ‘California’ sounding like a strung-out Lou Reed if produced by Jesus and Mary Chain! ‘Love Like A Thousand Guns’ is superb low-fi Psychedelia with the backward vocal effect, once favoured by Siouxsie, that you don’t hear anymore since the onset of Digital! ‘She’s Starting to See the Flame’ is a country-tinged song sounding like Nick Drake if he had fronted the Byrds after they turned country-rock!

Overall, this is a fine album that is perhaps a touch too low-fi for its lofty ambitions! The songs are commercial and remind me of various bands and artists – among them Lou Reed, the Only Ones, the Byrds in their Gram Parsons era, Dennis Wilson and the gothic feel of Mazzy Star.

If it had been made by someone with a higher profile, say Bright Eyes, and recorded on decent sound equipment, it would undoubtedly have gained a wide audience. Hopefully it will be heard by many and receive the recognition it deserves.

Fhae ‘Sombre Thorax’
(4000 Records)

This is a wonderful album of ethereal, ambient, dream-folk-pop that ebbs and flows like the tides and inhabits its own world of subtle beauty. Sometimes, mists of the sea seem to creep into the music and the edges of reality become blurred, the music shape shifting into another dimension!

Fhae (20 year old Australian Ellena Ramsay) produces music in the vein of Julianna Barwick or Grouper – some of it lovely with multi tracked harmonies (like Barwick) and some of it (such as ‘Drain’ and ‘Man’) obscure in its strangeness (like Grouper)! There are some really beautiful and compelling tracks on the album, such as ‘Earth’, ‘Emergency’, ‘Love You’, ‘Comb’ and ‘Stuck’. A fantastic debut album, I can’t wait to hear more!

Stanley J. Zappa & Simo Laihonen with Suvadeep Das ‘Dance of the Moving Goal Posts’
(Ramble Records)

US saxophonist Stanley J Zappa (nephew of Frank Zappa) and Finnish drummer and percussionist Simo Laihonen recorded this album of 7 pieces of free improvised jazz live in Helsinki in 2018. The final track features Suvadeep Das on darbuka adding an extra percussive element!

It’s a lively set with the Sax sparring with the percussion throughout. If you enjoy free improv jazz, you may well enjoy this lively concert – give it a listen!

Nico Paulo ‘Nico Paulo’
(Forward Music Group)

This is a wonderful summery album of Bacharach-like melodies by the Portuguese-Canadian singer. A truly remarkable debut of ten self-composed wonderful songs that sound like standards.

Her voice is a bewitching combination of Judy Collins, Joni Mitchell and Natalie Mering (Weyes Blood). Musically it covers a wide spectrum of Tropicalia, Folk, Americana, Jazz and Pop. Her voice conveys real emotion and depth that is bounced off the beautiful melodies and lyrics.

There are so many fantastic songs on here that it’s hard to single out the standout tracks, but they include ‘Time’, ‘Lock Me Inside’, ‘The Master’, ‘Learning My Ways’, ‘Now or Never’.

A future classic that will undoubtedly have a far-reaching influence on stars not yet born! Is it too early to award it – Debut Album of the Year?

FFO: Weyes Blood, Aldous Harding, Joni Mitchell, Judy Collins, Beach House, Rumer.

Silver Moth ‘Black Bay’
(Bella Union) 21^st April 2023

Silver Moth are a one-off ‘band-experiment’ made up of 7 members from various bands drawn together post-lockdown by a strong desire to make music again and see what happens! The band include Mogwai guitarist Stuart Braithwaite, Elisabeth Elektra, Evi Vine and Ben Roberts.

The first track ‘Henry’ is 7 minutes of atmospheric shoegaze guitar music with a girl singer whose cracked voice here sounds like Beth Gibbons at her emotional best!

‘The Eternal’ follows, not the Joy Division song, but a bleak winter hymnal resonating like sacred music for the End of Times!

‘Mother Tongue’ follows suite with its cinematic drama and pagan prayer-like plea for reconciliation and survival.

Final track ‘Sedna’ has the same sacred vibe – like Dead Can Dance played by Fields of The Nephilim.

Cinematic tracks full of atmosphere and grandeur! 45 minutes of Bliss! It may become the holy grail of lost albums in future years – if it slips under the radar!

FFO: Slowdive, Pale Saints, Howling Bells, Daughter, Siouxsie & the Banshees, Fields of the Nephilim.

A Little About The Writer:

Manchester-based musician and artist Graham Domain joined the team in 2022. The offspring of Scott Walker and David Slyvian, Graham has charmed us with his plaintive adroit music for years; releasing music for the iconic cult multinational platform Metal Postcard Records.