Our Daily Bread 485: Omega Institute ‘Panic Mount’
January 4, 2022
ALBUM REVIEW/Graham Domain
Welcoming the newest contributor to the Monolith Cocktail fold, musician and artist Graham Domain joins our team in 2022. The offspring of Scott Walker and David Slyvian, Graham has charmed us with his plaintive adroit music for years, and so we’re happy to have him on board. Here then is Graham’s inaugural review to kick off the New Year.
Omega Institute ‘Panic Mount’
(Liquid Library) Available Now
Panic Mount is the debut tape release by Omega Institute via Liquid Library. The Bristol Experimental Four Piece provide 6 tracks of Night Terror Jazz and Plastic Faced Clown Fear Hauntology to soundtrack those lonely winter nights where you find yourself all dressed up with nowhere to go – alien abduction an attractive option.
Reminiscent in parts of early Factory releases where the atrocities of a severe Industrial past seem to lurk in the walls of the music (think Winter Hill by ACR). ‘Spine Ellipsis’ provides a good example, the improvised music soon succumbing to a drop in temperature as a cold spectral sound bleeds into the mix as though played back from the fabric of the old building itself.
‘Pulse Ritual’, meanwhile, starts off like a sci-fi space theme by the Barry Gray Orchestra before it slowly becomes engulfed by a flock of squawking space birds and forced to crash-land on a dead planet. This one is my favourite tracks on the album.
‘Power Imbalance’ features psychedelic drones and hypnotic drums as the landscape into which a lone cornet wanders lost and forlorn while cold synth oscillations compete for centre stage.
The final track, ‘Jupiter Square Ascendant’ finds Louis Armstrong taken on board a UFO and questioned by mind probe where he is only able to scream out his answers in the language of jazz cornet.
A challenging but rewarding album. The music sounds great on headphones and would undoubtedly sound fantastic played through a large PA system perhaps as a precursor to the entrance of any decent band.
The Kalporz Album Awards 2021
December 17, 2021
Monolith Cocktail X Kalporz/Words: Editorial Team
The last piece of synergy between the Monolith Cocktail and our partners at Kalporz in 2021 relays the Italian site’s recent top twenty placed albums of the year feature. Look out for future collaborations in 2022.
We can discuss the musical quality of a year, but there is little to say about the quantity of 2021: all the artists who had perhaps hesitated to release their works in 2020, due to clashes with the novelty of the pandemic that made it evident that it would not have been possible to go on tour, they published what they had to, understanding that – unfortunately – the ‘newnormal’ was not only the motto of the Primavera Sound a few years ago but also the slogan of a new normal made up of fragmented, contingent, postponed live dates , made for the broken cap while escaping the next looming wave. So we found ourselves faced with a gargantuan production, which, is the law of large numbers, for some albums has also materialised into truly beautiful works.
As always since the streaming era has existed there cannot be a single star, but this time there was an award-winning album: the artist who made almost everyone agree was Little Simz , first for Popmatters , Albumism , BBC Radio 6 Music , NBHAP , Exclaim! , Dutch OOR , The Skinny and second for NME . And if according to “social sensations” Black Country should have depopulated , New Road , in reality only first for Loud And Quiet even if present in more than one list in places of honour, a disc not as simple as that of Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra instead “won” for Mojo , Paste Magazine , TIME and The Vinyl Factory , while less generalised choices were those of Pitchfork ( Jazmine Sullivan , shared by Entertainment Weekly and NPR Music ), of Consequence of Sound ( Tyler, the Creator ) and Crack Magazine ( John Glacier ).
All these discs, however (ALERT SPOILER), are also contained in our list, while choices that you will not find here on Kalporz are those of The Quietus The Bug (to which we have dedicated the cover of September), of Uncut with The Weather Station , Far Out Magazine with Dry Cleaning and NME which instead awarded Sam Fender .
And for us at Kalporz? We let you “shake” below, telling you that for the second time in our more than twenty years of life a band wins after having already won the Kalporz Awards in the past: it had already happened for Radiohead, reached this year by a special band.
But we have already talked too much: off to the rankings.
20. DAMON ALBARN, “The Nearer The Mountain, More Pure The Stream Flows”
Maybe we should all do like Albarn, especially in these times: go to Iceland and look at the snow and volcanoes from a window in our house. But we are here, and at least we can listen to this second solo album of his that got inspired in that intimate way with nature.
19. FLOATING POINTS, PHAROAH SANDERS & THE LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, “Promises”
The electronic jazz path of Floating Points has been going on for years now, managing to churn out interesting results such as the excellent debut Aelenia in 2015. On this release he manages to collaborate with a music giant like Pharoah Sanders, and without distorting himself they give an LP which will probably continue to play in our systems for some time yet.
18. TIRZAH, “Colourgrade”
Since her debut, this English author has been one of the Kalporz editorial team’s favourite voices. If Devotion had already raised various eyebrows for the maturity and the goodness of the compositions present, then with Colourgrade the artist has surpassed themselves. Applause for Tirzah’s class.
17. SNAIL MAIL, “Valentine”
With Valentine, the sophomore album by Snail Mail, Lindsey Jordan‘s maturation is total: her talent as a composer is evident everywhere, from the lacerating electric shocks of the song that gives the title to the album to the stealthy ‘Ben Franklin’, From the poetic romanticism of ‘Light Blue’ and ‘Mia’ to the liberating rock of ‘Madonna’ and ‘Automate‘. It is a record that talks about broken hearts and does it with determination and anger.
16. GENESIS OWUSU, “Smiling with No Teeth”
The debut album, among the funniest LPs of the year, for the twenty-three-year-old Ghanaian based in Canberra bewildered Kofi Owusu-Ansah (aka Genesis Owusu), Smiling With No Teeth entered without awe into the immortal funk / R & B trend that it took far too long to have a name of his own even in the ineffable Australia of the new century.
15. SUFJAN STEVENS & ANGELO DE AUGUSTINE, “A Beginner’s Mind”
Sufjan‘s delicacy is able to recreate itself in all its crystalline beauty with this Angelo De Augustine collaboration; becoming even lighter : not difficult personal themes but the musical representation of filmic snapshots. A conscious escape.
14. FOR THOSE I LOVE, “For Those I Love”
For Those I Love is the project of the Dubliner David Balfe, who on the debut of the same name deals with themes of love and loss (that of Paul Curran of Burnt Out, his best friend and poet like him, already honoured by Murder Capital) on an electronic and hip-hop basis, with samples of Smokey Robinson, Barbara Mason and Sampha. Deep like Automatic For The People, danceable like Original Pirate Material by The Streets.
13. ALTIN GÜN, “Yol”
At the time of the first album (On from 2018) the formula still had some very slight forcing. Moreover, already with the second album, the surprise effect – although not exhausted – was certainly reduced. But the new album travels surprisingly well. It pushes even further down the road of the Turkish wedding between a gleaming disco lady and a rather rough folkish gentleman. Yol is made up of coherence, emotional tension and the enhancement of a priceless heritage – the Turkish and Mediterranean one – which never seems to end.
12. JAZMINE SULLIVAN, “Heaux Tales”
In a genre like R&B it seems really impossible to come up with something new. But when there is the voice, texts that do not leave indifference and a quality of compositions then it can still be amazing. The Heaux Tales marks the great and surprising return of Jazmine Sullivan. Hit after hit and that’ not hyperbole.
11. JOHN GLACIER, “Shiloh. Lost for Words”
The twenty-six year old London rapper of Jamaican origins but raised in one of the “places to be” of artists and creatives – Hackney – on Shiloh. Lost For Words manages to condense the best sounds of the English underground into foggy tracks: between grime and R&B.
10. TURNSTILE, “GLOW ON”
It almost seems to be back to the crossover epic of the late 80s / early 90s, if it weren’t for the fact that GLOW ON has a contemporary language, the son of a melodic hardcore but which is highlighted in a lightning-fast pop, at the same time devastating and aesthetically flawless.
9. SEGA BODEGA, “Romeo”
With his work for Shygirl, the house producer NUXXE has defined one of the most powerful sounds heard in recent years, while his solo project presented a hybrid of songwriting, constantly evolving and convincing. Romeo, for this very reason, is a decisive step in the career of one of the most talented musicians of these times.
8. TYLER, THE CREATOR, “CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST”
Tyler offers a compendium of sounds and suggestions that differ more than ever, from gangsta-rap to trap, from contemporary R&B to nu-jazz in a sequence of at least ten potential singles that make CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST a mature work cohesive in its innumerable sound angles. Ideas, flows, compositions at the service of an innate talent that never ceases to amaze ten years on.
7. HELADO NEGRO, “Far In”
It was not easy to follow up on the excellent This Is How You Smile, released in 2019, but Far In is a victory. Roberto Carlos Lange packs a record that, taking up the themes and sounds of his predecessor, makes his own creative experience like a collective ritual. Through warm, familiar sounds and prominent collaborations, Lange invites us to look within ourselves to try to understand more of the world around us.
6. THE NOTWIST, “Vertigo Days”
As evidence of its intrinsic strength, Vertigo Days compiles a set of songs that follow one another as a single entity, and the lyrics, like poems on the problems of the world, our daily struggles and the cancellation of distance. Seven years of waiting have not been in vain.
5. L’RAIN, “Fatigue”
There was a time when all the most original and hard to label releases were Made in Brooklyn. We didn’t realize it, but a decade has already passed and thanks to artists like Taja Cheek that golden age seems to us a less remote past: psychedelic pop, soul, jazzy incursions and a very contemporary taste.
4. SHAME, “Drunk Tank Pink”
The second work of the London quintet, produced by James Ford (Arctic Monkeys), photographs youth alienation and depression at the time of the pandemic with greater ardor and angularity than on “Songs Of Praise”: highlights ‘Born In Luton’, punk-funk at the service nightmare, and ‘Snow Day’ with a vocal interpretation of Charlie Steen amidst jarring guitars to take your breath away.
3. BLACK COUNTRY, NEW ROAD, “For The First Time”
Before the album they won the title of “best band in the world” with little more than one song according to the English web-magazine The Quietus. With For The First Time Black Country, New Road prove to be a band that still has a lot to play, but which, for the first time, is capable of giving life to a new sound worthy of its influences. 2021 belongs to them.
2. LITTLE SIMZ, “Sometimes I Might Be Introvert”
It is a variegated and engaging disc, whose long duration allows, to those who do not yet know Little Simz, to fathom with a careful eye the art of the young rapper in almost every aspect: from the sources of inspiration to the virtuosity of the lyrics, from his magnetic voice to engaging and hypnotic rhythms.
1. LOW, “HEY WHAT”
An ambitious and sparkling work: with barely hinted guitar whispers, sudden roars, uncertain rhythms and lunar landscapes Low have always tried to give a shape to the void. An album aware of the fact that what is created can only be fragile, fragmented and limping.
KALPORZ AWARDS HISTORY (ex Musikàl Awards) :
Kalporz Awards 2020 (Yves Tumor)
Kalporz Awards 2019 (Tyler, The Creator)
Kalporz Awards 2018 (Idles)
Kalporz Awards 2017 (Kendrick Lamar)
Kalporz Awards 2016 (David Bowie)
Kalporz Awards 2015 (Sufjan Stevens)
Kalporz Awards 2014 (The War On Drugs)
Kalporz Awards 2013 (Kurt Vile)
Kalporz Awards 2012 (Tame Impala)
Kalporz Awards 2011 (Fleet Foxes)
Kalporz Awards 2010 (Arcade Fire)
Kalporz Awards 2009 (The Flaming Lips)
Kalporz Awards 2008 (Portishead)
Kalporz Awards 2007 (Radiohead)
Kalporz Awards 2006 (The Lemonheads)
Kalporz Awards 2005 (Low)
Kalporz Awards 2004 (Blonde Redhead, Divine Comedy, Franz Ferdinand, Wilco)
Kalporz Awards 2003 (Radiohead)
Kalporz Awards 2002 (Oneida)
Kalporz Awards 2001 ( Ed Harcourt)
You can catch the Monolith Cocktail’s choice albums of 2021 lists here:
Choice Albums Of 2021: Part Two: L’Orange to Your Old Droog
December 13, 2021
The Monolith Cocktail Team’s Favourite Albums (and some EPs) Of 2021/Dominic Valvona, Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea/Matt Oliver
So we’ve delivered a behemoth of a list so far in part one, now comes the concluding second instalment of choice albums from 2021. A quick reminder for those new to the site and our yearly albums roundups, because we’ve never seen the point in arguing the toss over numerical orders the Monolith Cocktail’s lighter, less competitive and hierarchical ‘choice albums’ features have always listed all entrants in alphabetical order. We also hate separating genres and so everybody in these features, regardless of genre, location, age shares the same space.
Void of points systems and voting, the Monolith Cocktail team selection is pretty transparent: just favourites and albums we all feel you, our audience, should check out. Alongside my good self, Matt Oliver and Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea have made the selections this year. We’ve also compiled a two part playlist, with tracks from (where possible) every album (and the occasional EP).
Part Two covers L to Y (no Zs this around).
L.
L’Orange ‘The World Is Still Chaos But I Feel Better’ (Mello Music Group)
(MO)
Byard Lancaster ‘My Pure Joy’ (Black Fire)
(DV)
Timo Lassy ‘Trio’ (We Jazz)
(DV) Review
Timo Lassy & Teppo Mäkynen ‘Live Recordings 2019-2020’ (We Jazz)
(DV) Review
The Legless Crabs ‘The Sweet Sweet Dreams Of Reno Bliss’
(BBS) Review
Legless Trials ‘What We Did During The Fall’ (Metal Postcard Records)
(BBS) Review
Meggie Lennon ‘Sounds From Your Lips’ (Mothland)
(DV)
Lexagon ‘Feminine Care’ (Ratskin Records)
(DV) Review
Lion’s Drum ‘Kagabas’ (Lion’s Drum)
(DV) Review
Lunar Bird ‘S/T’ (Self-Release)
(DV) Review
M..
Mazeppa ‘S/T’ (Self-Release)
(DV) Review
Simon McCorry ‘Flow’ (See Blue Audio)
(DV) Review
Simon McCorry ‘The Illusions Of Beginnings and Endings’
(White Label Records)
(DV) Review
Mecánica Clásica ‘Mars Interior’ (Abstrakce Records)
(DV) Review
Meskerem Mees ‘Julius’ (MayWay Records)
(DV) Review
The Mining Co. ‘Phenomenolgy’ (PinDrop Records)
(DV) Review
Mdou Moctar ‘Afrique Victime’ (Matador Records)
(DV)
Monocled Man ‘Ex Voto’ (Whirlwind Recordings)
(DV)
Mustard Tiger ‘Botchulism’ (Broke Records)
(MO)
N…
Namgar ‘Nayan Navaa’ (ARC Music)
(DV) Review
Jason Nazary ‘Spring Collection’ (We Jazz)
(DV) Review
David Newlyn ‘Tapes And Ghosts’ (Somewherecold)
(DV) Review
O….
Occult Character ‘The Song Remains The Stain’ (Metal Postcard Records)
(BBS) Reviews
P…..
P5S ‘Unconscious Collective’ (Hyperjazz)
(DV)
Antonello Perfetto & Gary Nieuwsma ‘Aquarium’
(Submarine Broadcasting Co.)
(DV) Review
James PM Phillips ‘Bones’ (Link2Wales)
(BBS) Review
Pons ‘The Pons Estate’ (Self-Release)
(DV) Review
The Poppermost ‘Hits To Spare’ (Think Like A Key)
(BBS) Review
Psycho & Plastic ‘Soundtrack 2: Poppel’ (GiveUsYourGOLD)
(DV) Review
PTČ ‘Neki Tko Vsak Dan’ (Self-Release)
(DV)
R……
Rezo ‘Travalog’ (Self-Release)
(DV) Review
Aesop Rock & Blockhead ‘Garbology’ (Rhymesayers)
(MO)
Roughneck Jihad ‘The Little Assassination Handbook’ (Boot Records)
(MO)
Xenia Rubinos ‘Una Rosa’ (ANTI-)
(DV) Review
S…….
Sad Man ‘Music Of Dreams And Panic’ (Wormhole World)
(DV) Review
Salem Trials ‘Something Beginning With’ (Metal Postcard Records)
(BBS) Review
Santa Sprees ‘Fanfare For Tonsils’
(BBS) Review
Ed Scissor & Lamplighter ‘Joysville’ (High Focus)
(DV) Review
Skyzoo ‘All the Brilliant Things’ (Mello Music Group)
(MO)
SLONK ‘Where Do You See Yourself In Five Years? (Breakfast Records)
(DV)
Snowcrushed ‘A Frightened Man’ (Self-Release)
(BBS) Review
Sone Institute ‘After The Glitter Before The Decay’ (Mystery Bridge)
(DV) Review
Spacelab ‘Dead Dimension’ (Hream Recordings)
(DV) Review
Spindle Ensemble ‘Inkling’ (Hidden Notes Records)
(DV) Review
Spring ’68 ‘Sightseeing Through Music’ (Gare du Nord)
(BBS) Review
Squid ‘Bright Green Field’ (Warp)
(DV)
Stalley & Apollo Brown ‘Blacklight’ (Mello Music Group)
(MO)
Stimulator Jones ‘Low Budget Environments Striving for Perfection’
(Stones Throw)
(MO)
Sun Atoms ‘Let There Be Light’ (Little Cloud/The Acid Test)
(DV) Review
Astrid Swan ‘D/Other’ (Soliti)
(DV)
Matthew Sweet ‘Catspaw’ (Omnivore Recordings)
(DV)
T……..
Taraka ‘Welcome To Paradise Lost’ (Rage Peace)
(DV)
Rosie Tee ‘Earth, Embrace Me In’ (Self-Release)
(DV)
The Telescopes ‘Songs Of Love And Revolution’ (Tapete)
(DV) Review
Theoreme ‘Les Artisans’ (Maple Death Records)
(DV) Review
Th1rt3en ‘A Magnificent Day for an Exorcism’ (Fat Beats)
(MO)
Toumastine ‘Assouf’ (Self-Release)
(DV) Review
Samba Touré ‘Binga’ (Glitterbeat)
(DV) Review
TrueMendous ‘The Misdiagnosis of Chyvonne Johnson’ (High Focus)
(MO)
U………
Uncommon Nasa ‘Only Child’ (Uncommon Records)
(MO) Review
University Challenged ‘Oh Temple’ (Hive Mind Records)
(DV) Review
V……….
Vapour Trails ‘Underneath Tomorrow’ (Futureman Records)
(BBS) Review
Variát ‘I Can See Everything From Here’ (Prostir)
(DV) Review
Various ‘Artetetra Label: Exotica Ésotérique Vol.3’ (Artetetra)
(DV)
Various ‘Edo Funk Explosion Vol.1’ (Analog Africa)
(DV) Review
Various ‘Essiebons Special 1973-1984/Ghana Music Power House’
(Analog Africa)
(DV) Review
Various ‘La Ola Interior: Spanish Ambient & Acid Exoticism 1983-1990’
(Bongo Joe)
(DV) Review
Various ‘Nahma: A Gulf Polyphony’ (FLEE)
(DV) Review
Vilmmer ‘Nebenkörper’ (Blackjack Illuminist Records)
(DV)
Violet Nox ‘Whispering Galaxy EP’ (Infinity Vine)
(DV) Review
Vukovar ‘The Great Immurement’ (Other Voices Records)
(BBS/DV) Review
W……….
Simon Waldram ‘So It Goes’ (Self-Release)
(BBS) Review
Dean Wareham ‘I Have Nothing To Say To The Mayor Of L.A.’
(DV)
White Ring ‘Show Me Heaven’ (Rocket Girl)
(DV) Review
Amanda Whiting ‘After Dark’ (Jazzman Records)
(DV) Review
Leslie Winer ‘When I Hit You – You’ll Feel It (Anthology)’
(Light In The Attic)
(DV)
Witch Camp (Ghana) ‘I’ve Forgotten Now Who I Used To Be’ (Six Degrees)
(DV) Review
Y…………
Yol ‘Viral Dogs and Cats’ (Crow Versus Crow)
(BBS) Review
Your Old Droog ‘TIME’ (Nature Sounds)
(MO)
CLASS OF 2021 PLAYLIST PART TWO:
How You Can Help Us Continue In 2022:
Hi, my name is Dominic Valvona and I’m the Founder of the music/culture blog monolithcocktail.com For the last ten years I’ve featured and supported music, musicians and labels we love across genres from around the world that we think you’ll want to know about. No content on the site is paid for or sponsored and we only feature artists we have genuine respect for /love. If you enjoy our reviews (and we often write long, thoughtful ones), found a new artist you admire or if we have featured you or artists you represent and would like to buy us a coffee at https://ko-fi.com/monolithcocktail to say cheers for spreading the word, then that would be much appreciated.
Choice Albums Of 2021: Part One: A Journey Of Giraffes to Kuunatic
December 8, 2021
The Monolith Cocktail Team’s Favourite Albums (and some EPs) Of 2021/Dominic Valvona, Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea/Matt Oliver
Despite the nerve of the powers that be, the plague, climate change, the emergence once more of the death cult phenomenon, the full-out from the Brexit vote, inflation and the brave new worlds dystopia of a Meta universe to look forward to, there’s always been the music to fall back on. And during 2021 nothing could stop our beloved artists and bands from producing and releasing it: The only relief in yet another depressing annus horribilis.
It must be repeated, as it holds true this year as it did last, that this was yet another divisive turd of a year with hyperbolic indignities and the childish naïve persecution of nearly everything and everyone outside the virtue-card carrying trends of “black square” signalling. Whilst many of my peers were casting the aspirations, collecting bracken for the ritual burnings of the faithless, and delivering the most hypercritical of grandstanding statements on diversity, we were continuing as ever as the outsiders to carry on with a normal service of sharing the most eclectic music from artists across the globe: just getting on with the task of sharing great borderless music.
The obligatory end of year lists is now upon us. And so it is time to deliver the first part of our own ‘choice albums of the year’ list. Because we’ve never seen the point in arguing the toss over numerical orders the Monolith Cocktail’s lighter, less competitive and hierarchical ‘choice albums’ features have always listed all entrants in alphabetical order. We also hate separating genres and so everybody in these features, regardless of genre, location, age shares the same space.
Void of points systems and voting, the Monolith Cocktail team selection is pretty transparent: just favourites and albums we all feel you, our audience, should check out. Alongside my good self, Matt Oliver and Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea have made the selections this year. We’ve also compiled a two part playlist, with tracks from (where possible) every album (and the occasional EP).
Before I go, the Monolith Cocktail is always open to new collaborators – just email me at monolithcocktail@gmail.com
And so without further ado, we bring you part one (From A to K):
A
A Journey Of Giraffes ‘Spool’ (Somewherecold Records)
(Chosen by Dominic Valvona) Review
Adult Books ‘Grecian Urn’ (Self-Release)
(DV)
Saba Alizadeh ‘I May Never See You Again’ (30M Records)
(DV)
Obay Alsharani ‘Sandbox’ (Hive Mind Records)
(DV) Review
Anaximander Fragment ‘Wagon Drawn Horse’ (Shimmy Disc)
(DV) Review
Antonis Antoniou ‘Kkismettin’ (Ajabu! Records)
(DV) Review
Tamar Aphek ‘All Bets Are Off’ (Self-Release)
(DV)
The Armories ‘Incognito’ (Big Stir Records)
(Chosen By Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea) Review
The August List ‘Wax Cat’ (All Will Be Well Records)
(DV) Review
B..
Bagaski ‘Final’ (See Blue Audio)
(DV) Review
Beach Boys ‘Feel Flows Box Set’ (Capitol/UME)
(DV)
Belcirque ‘La Grand Fête’ (ARC Music)
(DV)
Big Lukah ‘Why Look Up, God’s In The Mirror’ (FXCK RXP)
(Matt Oliver)
Black Temple Pyrämid ‘The Hierophant’ (Submarine Broadcasting Co.)
(DV) Review
BLK/JKS ‘Abantu/Before Humans’ (Glitterbeat Records)
(DV) Review
Boom.Diwan Ft. Nduduzo Makhathini ‘Minarets EP’
(DV) Review
Bordello and Clark ‘Atlantic Crossing’ (Think Like A Key)
(BBS/DV) Review
Luke Brennan ‘The Rush To The Sky’ (Submarine Broadcasting Co.)
(DV) Review
C…
Cadence Weapon ‘Parallel World’ (eOne Music)
(MO)
Camera ‘Prosthuman’ (Bureau B)
(DV) Review
Can ‘Live In Brighton’ (Spoon/Mute)
(DV) Review
Tom Caruana & Dr Syntax ‘Crumbs’ (Tea Sea Records)
(MO)
Liliane Chlela ‘Safala’ (Amygdala Records)
(DV)
David Ornette Cherry’s Organic Nation Listening Club ‘The Continual’
(Spirtmuse Records)
(DV) Review
Anansy Cissé ‘Anoura’ (Riverboat Records)
(DV) Review
Alice Coltrane ‘Kirtan: Turiya Sings’ (Impulse!)
(DV)
Liz Cooper ‘Hot Sass’ (Sleepyhead Records)
(DV)
Corduroy Institute ‘Eight/Chance/Meetings’ (Self-Release)
(BBS) Review
Graham Costello’s Strata ‘Second Lives’ (Gearbox)
(DV)
D….
Datkid & Illinformed ‘WAKMO’ (High Focus)
(MO)
Jamael Dean ‘Primordial Soup’ (Stones Throw)
(DV) Review
Dear Liaka ‘Pluperfect Mind’ (Memorials Of Distinction)
(DV) Review
Graham Domain ‘Without The Darkness The Stars Could Not Shine’
(Metal Postcard Records)
(BBS) Review
Matthew Donovan ‘Underwater Swimming’ (Self-Release)
(DV) Review
Dwi ‘Mild Fantasy Violence’ (Light Organ Records)
(DV)
E…..
Eboni Band ‘S/T’ (We Are Busy Bodies)
(DV)
Electric Jalaba ‘El Hal/The Feeling’ (Strut)
(DV)
Kahil El’Zabar ‘A Time For Healing’ (Spiritmuse)
(DV)
Ensemble De Cadavres Exquis ‘The Warlock Tapes’ (SBC)
(DV) Review
Evidence ‘Unlearning’ (Rhymesayers)
(MO)
Ex Norwegian and Friends ‘Sing Jimmy Campbell’
(Think Like A Key Records)
(BBS) Review
F……
Marianne Faithful w/Warren Ellis ‘She Walks in Beauty’
(Panta Rei/BMG)
Fat Francis ‘Breakfasts For Losers’ (Self-Release)
(BBS) Review
Floating Points And Pharaoh Sanders ‘Promises’ (Luka Bop)
(DV)
Flowertown ‘Flowertown’ (Paisley Shirt Records)
(BBS) Review
Forest Robots ‘Amongst A landscape Of Spiritual Reckoning’
(Wormhole World)
(DV) Review
DJ Format ‘The Devil’s Workshop’ (Project Blue Book)
(MO)
Nick Frater ‘Earworms’ (Big Stir Records)
(BBS) Review
Fresh Daily ‘The Quiet Life 2’ (High Water Music)
(MO)
Conny Frischauf ‘Die Drift’ (Bureau B)
(DV) Review
G…….
Giacomeli ‘Interplanetary Thoughts’ (Somewherecold Records)
(DV) Review
Gift of Gab ‘Finding Inspiration Somehow’ (Nature Sounds)
(MO)
Catherine Graindorge ‘Eldorado’ (Glitterbeat Records)
(DV) Review
Charlotte Greve w/Wood River & Cantus Domus ‘Sediments We Move’
(New Amsterdam)
(DV) Review
H……..
Hackedepicciotto ‘The Silver Threshold’ (Mute)
(DV) Review
The Hawks ‘Obviously Five Believers’ (Seventeen Records)
(BBS) Review
Andrew Heath ‘New Eden’ (Disco Gecko)
(DV) Review
Hellenica ‘Blood Meridian: An Imagined Soundtrack’ (Somewherecold)
(DV) Review
Heyme ‘Moving On’ (Jezus Factory)
(DV) Review
Hiatus Kaiyote ‘Mood Valiant’ (Brainfeeder)
(DV)
Hits ‘Cielo Nublado’ (Paisley Shirt Records)
(BBS) Review
Holiday Ghosts ‘North Street Air’ (FatCat Records)
(BBS) Review
Andrew Hung ‘Devastations’ (LEX Records)
(DV) Review
J……….
Brian Jackson ‘JID008’ (Jazz Is Dead)
(DV)
Jane Inc. ‘Number One’ (Telephone Explosion)
(DV) Review
Jazzmeia Horn And Her Noble Force ‘Dear Love’ (Empress Legacy)
(DV)
Racquel Jones ‘IgnoRANT’ (Magnetic Moon Records)
(DV)
Juga-Naut & Giallo Point ‘Smoke Filled Room’ (Tuff Kong)
(MO)
K………..
Kaukolampi ‘We Jazz Reworks Vol.1’ (We Jazz)
(DV) Review
Khalab & M’ Berra Ensemble ‘M’ Berra’ (Real World Records)
(DV) Review
King Champion Sounds ‘Between Two Worlds’ (Hive Mind Records)
(DV) Review
Koma Saxo ‘Live’ (We Jazz)
(DV) Review
Kuunatic ‘Gate Of Klüna’ (Glitterbeat)
(DV) Review
Hi, my name is Dominic Valvona and I’m the Founder of the music/culture blog monolithcocktail.com For the last ten years I’ve featured and supported music, musicians and labels we love across genres from around the world that we think you’ll want to know about. No content on the site is paid for or sponsored and we only feature artists we have genuine respect for /love. If you enjoy our reviews (and we often write long, thoughtful ones), found a new artist you admire or if we have featured you or artists you represent and would like to buy us a coffee at https://ko-fi.com/monolithcocktail to say cheers for spreading the word, then that would be much appreciated.
COMPILATION REVIEW
Various ‘Essiebons Special 1973-1984//Ghana Music Power House’ (Analog Africa) 3rd December 2021
“Highlife”, a name that stuck, was first used to reference the class divide of colonial Ghana. For many of the bands synonymous with this loose tag originally began playing to Europe’s upper echelons and civil servants, diplomatic classes at the stiffened ballrooms and tea dances. Many would also start out plying their trade as members of the various police and army marching bands. As trends, new musical styles emerged – from jazz to swing and eventually rock – these same groups began to shake off the prissy foxtrots for something altogether sunnier and dynamic.
Once Ghana (the first Sub-Saharan country to do so) gained independence in 1957 from Britain, the doors were truly flung open. This meant not only embracing the contemporary but the past too, as traditional beats, sounds and rhythms were merged with the new sounds hitting the airwaves from outside Africa. Highlife grabbed it all and much more. But if you really need a snappier summary of the phenomenon, it’s a merger of indigenous African sounds played with Western instruments. But then that leaves out the horns: a vital part of the overall sound originally brought in to replace the violin and strings. In that mostly lilted mix you’ll hear everything from calypso to Stax; funk to garage fuzz howlers. Of course cats like Fela Kuti, over on Nigeria, would turn-up it up, inject more political clout, rock and jazz to create Highlife’s offspring for a new age, Afrobeat – I’m well aware there will be arguments over that glib summary.
One of Highlife’s great impresarios is celebrated on this final Analog Africa compilation of 2021; a project prompted by the postponed (due to Covid) 90th birthday of the collection’s subject Dick Essilfire-Bondzie, who sadly passed away in August last year.
Though Ghana has found the spotlight before, with for example the brilliant Ghana Special box set from Soundway, no one’s put the emphasis on one of its chief instigators, movers and shakers, and the iconic label they set up: Essiebons. In a relatively thriving music scene, yet to be picked up by more than a couple of Western labels, in the 1960s Essilfire-Bondzie negotiated a deal with Philips which would change the scene forever with an enviable roster of acts and artists. Ghana could already boast of The Sweet Talks, Vis a Vis, The Cutlass Dance Band, T.O. Jazz and Hedzollah Soundz, but through the studio doors of Essiebons and its small offshoot Dix came the likes of legends like Rob, C.K. Mann, Gyedu Blay Ambolley and Ebo Taylor: many of which now appear in some form on this sixteen-track survey.
It was probably harder for Anlog’s label chief honcho and crate-digger Samy Ben Redjeb to decide what to leave out; although he’s actually unearthed six previously unreleased tracks from the archives alongside those that were released and made a splash. It’s not clear why this sextet was left in the vaults; it’s certainly not an issue of quality. Left dormant, funky little shufflers, saunters and gospel slumbers from Ernest Honny and Joe Meah get to excite the audience they never had.
It soon becomes apparent exactly what instrument the session player and band leader Honny excelled at, the organ being the focal point of all four of his turns screams, darts, stabs and flourishes. Honny had already put out the popular ‘Psychedelic Woman’ single with his Bees and appeared on various key and cult albums before going out alone on this quartet of performances. ‘Kofi Psych (Interlude I)’ the first of these is an organ showpiece that peppers, slams and dots notes and scales across an almost gospel-soul, bordering on the Bayou, backing. Herbie Hancock’s “wiggles” and squeeze box emitted buzzer meet on the sermon-like ‘Say The Truth’.
For his part, the relatively unknown Meah lays down an infectious Kuti-like funk groove on the smooth horn blasted and tooted ‘Dee Mmaa Pee’, and adopts synthesized effects on the relaxed tribal beat ‘Ahwene Pa Nkasa’.
Other fruits from the Essiebons tree include Santrofi-Ansa’s mid-tempo horn rasping and Curtis Mayfield crosses paths with The Meters and Issac Hayes crosstown jive talk ‘Shakabula’, and Seaboy’s familiar shuffled and lilted anthem prayer ‘Africa’. The alias of one Joseph Nwjozah Ebroni, who started out as a vocalist in the Bekyere Guitar Band (whose Across The Sea album classic featured Honny on organ duties), Seaboy also gets to side up once more with Nyame Bekyere for the soul-funk, telephone dial tone fluttered organ spot ‘Tinitini’.
It’s all good mind, with various adoptions of the Highlife gene, and some examples of technological advances as the label went into the late 70s and early 80s. And to think, if the late Essilfire-Bondzie had decided to stick with a career in business or the civil service (the whole background is laid out in the ever-brilliant, informative scene-setting liner notes), then Highlife would be without one of its greatest promoters and platforms. The label though was a great success; even venturing into film in the 70s with Roots To Fruits, a documentary exploring and featuring the titans of Ghanaian Highlife.
A golden period in the development of a sound that kept changing, adopting contemporary styles as it went on with a boom in recent years of modern Highlife, this compilation pays homage to one of its greatest champions. Analog Africa once more serves up a hot platter as the nights draw in closer and cold starts to bite. They finish the year on a high.
Our Daily Bread 483: Modesty Blaise, Placebo, Magon, The Hawks…
December 2, 2021
Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea’s Roundup
Each month we supply him with a mixed bag of new and upcoming releases to see what sticks.
Singles:
Placebo ‘Surrounded By Spies’
I have never been much of a Placebo fan to be honest with you, but I actually like this track as it reminds me a touch of the Pet Shop Boys, and also because it really is a little bit silly. The lyrics are quite laughably bad, which is always entertaining, and it takes itself so seriously: It is after all Placebo, so that can be expected. But apart from that it really is a jolly jape of a pop song so well worth getting a flag out for and donning a multicoloured frizzy wig and doing a fish dance to.
Magon ‘Egyption Music’
(Groover Obsessions)
This Single is quite a nice jangly little thing. It reminds me of The Floaters Float On, it has that same lazy laid-back vibe. It’s one to listen to whilst softly floating on the river in a rowing boat or on a cloud of half-forgotten memories and dreams: a lovely little thing.
bigflower ‘Supersad’
(Self-Release) 19th November 2021
Another month, another dose of sonic six string wizardry from bigflower, and another reason to not quite give up on the power and pull of rock ‘n’ roll. Beatles like drums and psychedelic meanderings explode into a belter of a modern daydream of a track; a train journey to a much better place. All of his songs released this year should be gathered up by some label and released as an album, for it would be a gem of a release and certainly one of the albums of the year.
Pulco ‘Stirred Beyond Surrender’
(Self-Release) Taken From An As Yet Untitled Album In 2022
The sound of experimental pop is a wonderful thing especially when it is performed with such tuneful vigour, and this track is 2 minutes 16 seconds of pure pop magic. It has that air of tossed away brilliance that can only be performed when the artist is brilliant and they know it. ‘Stirred Beyond Surrender’ is indeed a joy. It’s lovely to have Pulco back.
Modesty Blaise ‘I’ll Be Home For Xmas’
(From Lo-Fi To Disco)
Ah the perfect time for a Christmas ditty. Yes it’s Christmas, so once again we are bombarded with aural tinsel, and with myself being a huge fan of both Christmas and Christmas ditties, I’m pleased to announce this is filled with all the things one would want from a Christmas song: jolly bells, sickly sweet sentiments and three minutes when one can escape real life and imagine we do really live in a winter wonderland. Modesty Blaise ‘I’ll Be Home For Xmas’ is a song to play whist ignoring the smells emerging from your aunt Nora after indulging in too many sprouts and one too many glasses of sherry; this is a song that gathers the memories to the golden days of Morecambe and Wise Christmas night specials and over winding your Evil Knievel bike sending it hurtling into your unsuspecting little sister’s leg…a fine single.
Craig Fortnam ‘Lunar One – November 21’
19th November 2021
Craig Fortnam continues his Lunar Release single schedule with this fine double-sided slice of psych folk bliss. I could easily imagine ‘Hidden Away From The Heat’ being plucked from a comp of unheralded obscure 70s folk gems, the kind of thing Cherry Red records like to release, and the other side, the lovely ‘Her Room’, being the thing of great beauty that Badly Drawn Boy would sell his mother’s soul to have written.
Albums/EPs
The Hawks ‘Obviously 5 Believers’
(Seventeen Records)
Recorded on four-track and eight-track recorders they capture the magic and the muse of those times of post-punk Britain in all its glory. These songs, that carry hopes/dreams of an escape from the Thatcher led years of days on the dole and of no hope, have been released for the very first time. You can actually feel the excitement and flush of realising that these songs are brilliant and is only a matter of time before they are launched into the realms of superstardom that the Hawks deserved, but sadly that did not happen. But what did happen was these wonderfully written and recorded songs, and that it’s happening over 40 years later and is one of my favourite albums of 2021… just how magic is music!
Goodparley X Ioan Morris ‘Surroundings’
(Subexotic Records) 26th November 2021
McCookerybook & Rotifer ‘Equal Parts 2’
22nd November 2021
There is something quite beautiful about this album, but then I am a complete sucker for male/female duets, for when it is done well there is nothing quite as musically romantic or sexual and this album with its six tracks of melodious folk tinged pop is a lovely treat; six songs filled with melancholy and love; six songs that pull on the heartstrings and leaves one with a look of love struck awe and slips in an occasional “ba ba ba” intro just to remind you just how magical life can be when listening to music. But all is not love and roses with the song ‘Step Into England’, for they aim a good kick up the bum of England and the laughing stock it has become since Brexit and Boris Johnson becoming prime minister. Equal Parts 2 is another splendid release following the equally excellent Equal Parts the first album if I am not mistaken I reviewed last year. I look forward to Equal parts three next year.
Legless Trials ‘Hotwire An Ambulance’
(Metal Postcard) 28th November 2021
Monolith Cocktail Monthly Playlist: November 2021
November 30, 2021
PLAYLIST SUMMARY OF THE LAST MONTH
Dominic Valvona/Matt Oliver/Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea
A showcase, summary, encapsulation of the music the Monolith Cocktail team has either reviewed or listened to during the last month, November’s edition includes the usual unusual selection of eclectic tastes from around the world. No demarcation, labels, as hip-hop sits with ambient flights of fantasy, pop slides up against edgy explorations, and bombastic dream wave shares a platform with more ominous augurs.
This month kicks off with the tastemaker’s favourite (and ours) Circe, whose coquettish plaintive pop emerges from the shadows, and another rising talent Gabrielle Ornate. After that it’s a rambunctious ride through tracks by Dear Liaka, The Soundcarriers, Madlib, Nukuluk, Ash The Author, Etran de L’Aïr, Batila, Park Jiha, FUTURE KULT, Pave The Jungle and around 50 other sublime, stunning, enriching tracks. We finish off though with a Christmas card treat from The Mining Co. : ‘Last Stop For Tired Reindeer’.
FULL TRACKLIST:-
Circe ‘Mess With Your Head’
JAGUWAR ‘Battles’
Gabrielle Ornate ‘Rewrite The Rules’
Gaïsha ‘Ghalat’
Apollo Brown w/Stalley Ft. Skyzoo ‘Love Me, Love Me Not’
Dr. Syntax w/Tom Caruana ‘Basic Biscuits’
Die Zimmermänner ‘Paderborn’
Tallies ‘No Dreams Of Fayres’
Dear Laika ‘Black Moon, Lilith’
Color Dolor ‘Underwater’
Beach House ‘Through Me’
Oliver Earnest ‘Cancel Threapy’
Charlotte Greve w/ Wood River & Cantus Domus ‘Sediments We Move Pt. 2’
Spring ’68 ‘High On Happiness’
HighSchool ‘Forever At Last’
Swansea Sound ‘CORPORATE INDIE BAND’
The Soundcarriers ‘Waves’
Nick Frater ‘What’s With Your Heavy Heart?’
Foam Giant w/Flavour Crystals ‘Quality Of Life’
Blush Club ‘A Hill To Die On’
Legless Trials ‘Toll’
MED w/Blu, Madlib Ft. MF Doom ‘Knock Knock’
Nukuluk ‘Disaster Pop Song’
Joell Oritz ‘Uncle Chris Car’
Faust ‘Morning Land’
Koma Saxo ‘Self Koma’
Black Josh ‘THE BIRDS’
Lee Scott w/Sly Moon ‘Exobase’
Elcamino Ft. Meyhem Lauren ‘Championship Match’
Tristate ‘Sauvignon Blanc’
Cephas Teom ‘Tomorrow’s World’
DJ Abilities ‘The Badman’
Ash The Author w/DJ Drinks Ft. Mr Brown ‘Phantoms’
Sam Krats w/Da Beatminerz Ft. Craig Gee, Gee Bag, MysDiggi, Phoenix Da Icefire, Jazz T and Ramson Badbonez ‘Culture’
Eric The Red w/Tenth Dan ‘Put The Money In The Bag’
The Kahil El’Zabar Quartet ‘Eddie Harris’
Al Doum & The Faryds ‘Universe, Pt. 2’
ElectroBluesSociety w/Boo Boo Davis ‘Bye Baby Bye Bye (Rosé Sunset Remix)’
Malcolm Jiyane Tree-O ‘Senzon seNkosi’
Etran de L’Aïr ‘Adounia’
Toumastine ‘Adja Tarha (No Matter The Struggle In Love)’
Boom.Diwan w/Nduduzo Makhathini ‘Blood In The Wind’
Batila ‘Kindoki’
Alan Strani ‘Vaguement (Haddadi)’
Electric Supply Station ‘The Lander’
Xqui w/Equinox ‘Too Pieces’
Hackedepicciotto ‘Evermore’
Simon McCorry ‘Slow & Measured’
Park Jiha ‘Light Way’
Nicolas Gaunin ‘Upa-Upa’
Smote ‘Hauberk’
Hellenica ‘A Quiet Delirium’
Itchy-O ‘Blood Moon (Live)’
FUTURE CULT ‘Hidalgo’
Pave The Jungle ‘Moirai’
Kosmovoid ‘Lower Levels’
Masai Bey ‘Quiet Riot’
Aesop Rock w/Blockhead ‘Difficult’
Not A Citizen ‘Broke Again’
Dub Chieftain ‘Sonic Duvet’
Jack Ellister ‘Fragestellung’
Meskerem Mees ‘Parking Lot’
The Mining Co. ‘Last Stop For Tired Reindeer’
Hi, my name is Dominic Valvona and I’m the Founder of the music/culture blog monolithcocktail.com For the last ten years I’ve featured and supported music, musicians and labels we love across genres from around the world that we think you’ll want to know about. No content on the site is paid for or sponsored and we only feature artists we have genuine respect for /love. If you enjoy our reviews (and we often write long, thoughtful ones), found a new artist you admire or if we have featured you or artists you represent and would like to buy us a coffee at https://ko-fi.com/monolithcocktail to say cheers for spreading the word, then that would be much appreciated.
Premiere: (Track) Theoreme ‘Les Gifles Du Pariétal’
November 29, 2021
PREMIERE: Dominic Valvona
PHOTO CREDIT: Jonathan Clancy
Theoreme ‘Les Gifles Du Pariétal’
Taken from the upcoming Les Artisans album, released 3rd December on Maple Death Records.
Filtering down into the chthonian catacombs below the city of Lyon, the mechanics of the German new wave and hypnotizing synthesized sounds of that city’s 80s/90s Northern African raï scene make a sonic bed for the monologues and lucid voiced songs of Maissa D: otherwise known as Theoreme.
Growing straight out of the dirt, the first album from this idiosyncratic project since 2016’s L’appel du Midi à Midi Piles is a quantum pulsing, tubular clattering concentrated hallucination of cool but scorned French post-punk electronica, no wave (unsurprising considering Missa’s part in the no wave trio SIDA), acid Arabia, techno and dub. Its Rosa Yemen meets Just Us period Faust; The Mosquitoes meet Finis Africae, and Populäre Mechanik joins forces with Jah Wobble and Vivian Goldmine. Yet on the perimeters of all the post-this and that’s, the whole sound is heading in a thoroughly modern direction.
Concentrated melodica like waves flow across springy, bounced tubular percussion and an industrial subterranean, Lora Logic via Wire leftfield robotic funk and sulky, shrugged club downers: a come down and down and down.
Les Artisans is like Saâda Bonairre with menace and more bite; an avant-garde reconstruction of punk and Cosey Fanni Tutti’s electronic music with a shimmer, feel of futurist Arabia and beyond.
From that upcoming album the Monolith Cocktail is delighted to premiere the funnelled, slightly spooked and abrasive reverberated ‘Les Gifles Du Pariétal’ – or “the slap of the partial” – track below:
Les Artisans will be released through Maple Death Records on December the 3rd 2021. You can pre-order here…
Our Daily Bread 482: Can ‘Live In Brighton 1975’
November 25, 2021
ALBUM REVIEW/Dominic Valvona
Can ‘Live In Brighton 1975’
(Spoon/Mute) 3rd December 2021
From the highly experimental and omnivorous German legends, who once proclaimed ‘all gates’ are ‘open’, another ’75 special from the ongoing Can “live” series.
Plagued by gremlins when attempting to record their own concerts, it’s been largely down to the bootleg head community of fans to make this latest series in the Can archive release schedule possible. They couldn’t possibly have known it at the time of course, when smuggling in their rudimental equipment, but these clandestine recordings now form the foundations of this live cannon. Tidied up and processed under the watchful eyes of the group’s only surviving founding member, Irmin Schmidt, but left mostly unedited and flowing (that includes leaving in all the downtime quiet breaks and the audience shout outs: I’m sure that bloke from the previous Stuttgart live volume is back at it again, heckling out “Amon Düül!”), these improvised live recordings capture both a band in a constant state of flux yet still attached to what many Krautrock aficionados would call their “golden period” of the early 70s. In this case, at this time on the live album that means a grand cosmic and drum hurtling transformation of ‘Vitamin C’: the closet it gets to a Can standard. The main guitar riff and shadowing bass, if a bit more languid, and Jaki Liebezeit’s bounce remain but that Ege Bamyasi classic is sucked, vacuumed up into a galloping dark star for this Brighton audience. If you happened to love this version above all other at the time, tough, as they never played the same track in the same way ever again.
It must be pointed out at this stage that there’s no date or venue listed, only that it’s Brighton 1975. I’m sure it’s not the same concert but live versions of ‘Dizzy Dizzy’ and ‘Vernal Equinox’ (both reoccurring Can peregrinations in the live catalogue) appear on the millennial-approaching Can Live Music: 1971-1977 compilation. The lunar, Michael Karoli hushed ‘Dizzy Dizzy’ appears here too, albeit the familiar “Got to get up/Got to get over it” lyrics and essence of the original appear fleetingly, immersed in a climatic star burst of heavy pummelled kick drum, proto-reggae gangly chops (bit of Afro-rock feel too) and bended, mooning solo guitar wanderings. The ridiculously sublime experiment in acid celestial magic ‘Vernal Equinox’ also appears in various altered states; unleashed in a solar rock jam that also puts out feelers to the daemonic psychedelic parts of Tago Mago and takes on the more outlandish freeform live playing of ELP and a leaderless Miles Davis Band of the whomp, heavy psych jazz era in the 70s. Possibly seen showcased on a 1975 transmission of the Old Grey Whistle Test (if you haven’t viewed that incredible footage, please seek it out) this epic odyssey formed the grand finale of side one on the group’s Landed album, released in the September of 1975.
Although it’s difficult to spot, the Landed album’s signature appears scattered throughout these seven live performances. Landed but also the emergence of the more relaxed swimming and liquid rhythms and bobbing that would be heard on Can’s next studio album proper, Flow Motion, can be detected as sonic bridges, connections to past psychedelic, avant-garde triumphs. You can also hear the resonating reach of Soon Over Babaluma and Future Days in that heady mix: An apparitional glimpse of ‘Bel Air’ here, a Hammond horror mystery from Tago Mago there.
An interesting period in Can’s history is represented in the year when Cologne’s greatest exports released their first album, Landed, for the Virgin label; a stipulation of which resulted in a studio upgrade for the group: more tracks to play with, greater separation, and a better sound quality didn’t necessarily mean better music though. And the studio albums during this period, as excellent as they are in my opinion, seldom make the top five lists of Can triumphs. Yet live, and even without their previous mushroom haiku chanting and wailing vocalist Damo Suzki (leaving the band after laying down vocals on the sublime Future Days album), they could still match their earlier days of exploration, improvised on the stage.
Here in the Brighton recordings you can hear sonic worlds collide. Proton waves and radiating organ lines from Schmidt’s box of tricks build atmospheres around a stargazing funk (imagine Funkadelic’s mother ship landed in the Inner Space studios) and sonorous and craning, aching ascending Holger Czukay bass lines on the opener (just marked down as the numerical ‘Eins’) whilst a rewired vision of ‘Moonshake’ gets turned on by a more soulful Floyd, reggae and what could be a taste of ‘Hunters And Collectors’. Telephone dialled bells, generators, haunted fairground creeps and an impressive barrage of drums all get sucked into deep space on the off-script ‘Drei’. Bendy, luminous, transcending and in interstellar overdrive, Can lock-in to their untethered, leaderless sense of place and time; remixing their own ideas in real time whilst probing sonic possibilities and stretching the imagination. The Brighton live tapes prove to be a congruous shadow of the previous Stuttgart recordings, released just a couple of months ago. Yet both live albums spotlight entirely different performances; proving the old Can adage that you never hear the same band twice: a lesson for all musicians. If proof were ever needed of Can’s appeal, venerated worship and incredible musicianship then the Brighton live album will make converts of us all.
The Can Archives on the Monolith Cocktail (Further Reading):
Hi, my name is Dominic Valvona and I’m the Founder of the music/culture blog monolithcocktail.com For the last ten years I’ve featured and supported music, musicians and labels we love across genres from around the world that we think you’ll want to know about. No content on the site is paid for or sponsored and we only feature artists we have genuine respect for /love. If you enjoy our reviews (and we often write long, thoughtful ones), found a new artist you admire or if we have featured you or artists you represent and would like to buy us a coffee at https://ko-fi.com/monolithcocktail to say cheers for spreading the word, then that would be much appreciated.
Our Daily Bread 481: Hackedepicciotto ‘The Silver Threshold’
November 23, 2021
ALBUM REVIEW/Dominic Valvona
ALBUM PHOTOGRAPHY CREDIT: Sven Marquardt
Hackedepicciotto ‘The Silver Threshold’
(Mute) 12th November 2021
Heightened snatches of beauty, romance and drama emerge from a backdrop of the Biblical, cinematic and ominous on Hackedepicciotto’s inaugural album for the much-celebrated Mute label.
The well-travailed and sagacious duo alias of the husband and wife creative match Alexander Hacke and Danielle de Picciotto, this outlet for soundtracking the mind state in the most tumultuous of times is just one such evocative project from the partnership over the years. Hacke has most memorably served his time with the cult experimental group Einstürzende Neubauten, whilst co-founder of the Love Parade, Picciotto, is a stalwart member of Crime And The City Solution. Both have crossed paths on numerous occasions, notably joining forces with Paul Wallfisch and Mick Harvey for the album and stage production Ministry Of Wolves.
By now accustomed to each other’s creative sparks, entwined even, the couple traverse a sulfuric skyline landscape of uncertainty and lament, but also a landscape, sense of time and place that offers some potential for change in the right direction. In the accompanying notes Hacke is quoted as saying that the recent pandemic restrictions and confinement gave him a “kind of weird euphoria”. Whilst such uncertain times of horror and stress can engulf some, this partnership saw it as a “gateway”, that they were “standing on a threshold” of something big. And so with the Godly parables of the Tower Of Babel suggesting wise co-operation over selfish pride and vanity, this epic scale soundtrack channels the couple’s past musical adventures (a touch of the metallic and industrial Neubauten, and some of that quality C&TCS panorama and gothic sorrow) across a geography that takes in an atavistic Middle East, esoteric Germany and mystical Far East.
The already mentioned Babel is given a suitable venerated and uneasy score of throat singing (ala Alejandro Jodorowsky’s Holy Mountain soundtrack), camel motion rhythms and soft strings as Picciotto narrates an Old Testament lesson. This is part of a trio of similar desert traverses, with the gothic-folk rippled and crunched ‘Trebbus’ stirring up visions of Egypt with its snake-charmer oboe sounds: although to be fair you could also be in Tibet, or equally scaling the Carpathian Mountain ranges under skulking skies. ‘Journey East’ seems to offer a trinket’s shaken version of an Arabian Clannad.
Those throat-singers return for a solemn piece of mysticism in the German trauma-hit town of ‘Kirchhain’ – a strategic barracks, assembly point during the horrendous Thirty Years War that was fought mainly across the pre-unification separate states of Germany.
There’s romance of a kind in the air with the partnership’s first real stab at a love song: ‘Evermore’. A timeless sentiment of love is enveloped in a gothic tryst and the elements, with a gaping wind and unknown, unseen forces threatening to engulf the beautifully gestured soothed proceedings.
The Silver Threshold is a setting, a world in which frayed classical instruments meet metal, iron filling fizzles, pulsations, deep thuds and stirring gravitas. That album title-track is a dramatic if held example of this combination; imagine The Velvet Underground’s viola and the serious chimes of Renaissance Italy rewired by Basic Channel.
At times they sound like Dead Can Dance, at others, like Brian Reitzell, Itchy-O, and on the aching and creeping natured movement ‘Meeres Stille’ like some Kosmische ambient explorers. In the shadow of extinction-destructive meteors, arcane scriptures and the psychogeography of personal locations of importance, Hacke and Picciotto beckon a metaphorical Armageddon so that humanity can reset and follow a more altruistic, cooperative pathway towards the light. Salvation, hope emerges from a very rich soundtrack, both daemonic and chthonian that’s constantly mysterious, always interesting, and beautifully played. File this album under ‘esoteric and venerable feelings from the Hackedepicciotto love seat’.
Hi, my name is Dominic Valvona and I’m the Founder of the music/culture blog monolithcocktail.com For the last ten years I’ve featured and supported music, musicians and labels we love across genres from around the world that we think you’ll want to know about. No content on the site is paid for or sponsored and we only feature artists we have genuine respect for /love. If you enjoy our reviews (and we often write long, thoughtful ones), found a new artist you admire or if we have featured you or artists you represent and would like to buy us a coffee at https://ko-fi.com/monolithcocktail to say cheers for spreading the word, then that would be much appreciated.
Monolith Cocktail Blog 