Foreword: There will be a lot of ridiculous spelling mistakes in this post, cos our charming sub-editor is asleep. Pardon me and don’t forget i’m french.
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1) Amen Dunes via Incubate festival’s blog:
Last year, Damon Mc Mahon/Amen Dunes released a petrifying and tormented psych-pop album that could save your life, Through Donkey Jaw. In the last few days, he has self-released a 7″ entitled Ethio Covers. Damon says it consists of “a downer take on three Ethiopiques tracks culled from unnamed tapes. A slow motion glow of devotion and nostalgia, filtered through New York City summertime haze”.
You can listen to Ethio Song below (and spread it beyond the galaxy, as it is published under a Creative Commons licence).
On this song, Damon sounds like a drunk salaryman trying to sing in a language he doesn’t know, left alone by his coworkers in an empty smoky tropical karaoke bar at 5 am during the monsoon, struggling with his sex drive, the collapsing of his business, dampness, and his 25 years younger boss. And it’s beautiful.
Amen Dunes – Ethio Song (right click/save as)
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(This track was previously released by the fantastic label/promoter/festival Kraak last December, on their God Damn, I Hate The Blues double 7″ compilation)
I can’t resist, i have to post a song from Through Donkey Jaw too.
Amen Dunes – Lower Mind (right click/save as)
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Give your money to Damon. Now.
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2) Gang Wizard via Deathbomb Arc newsletter:
Beware : our next LP will be an edition of 1.
Rhaaaaaaaaaaa Gang Wizard is back ! After four years of silence ! I thought they were dead or became accountants or something. They celebrate their comeback with Spirit vs Soul, a LP limited to 20 (yes, twenty) copies. They still do messy noise rock, but “more structured and song-like than most of the band’s output of the past ten years,” as Brian of Deathbomb Arc says. Don’t worry, though: “The clatter, feedback, screams of agony and propelled scuzz of it all” are still there. Gang Wizard’s return to live performance will happen at the end of this month. Uncannily, they will not play in a 20 people capacity venue, but instead will do a live set for the entire universe via the 2nd installment of Enter The Internet, the live streaming web show hosted by Deathbomb Arc. More about it when i’ll remember the link.
Gang Wizard – Lay It All (right click/save as)
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3) Ezra Buchla via Visitations Rites:
Ezra asking himself if he shouldn’t rework his last song, just a little bit.
Half-God Ezra Buchla (ex-Mae-Shi, ex-Gowns) is the modern still alive version of Arthur Russel: he’s incredibly talented and prolific, but has chronic trouble finishing what he starts–leaving works unfinished and continually revising his music. So you can imagine how happy I was to learn he just released a 7″ on Folktale. He didn’t have the energy to fill two sides by himself, though, so it is a split single shared with Whitman (oh! It was useful to look for his website: Ezra and Whitman are touring across the US west coast NOW).
Hmmm it is 3.51 am here, so I’m just gonna quote Samantha of Visitations Rites (but I promise I’ll write a lengthy declaration of love to Ezra someday):
“If you’re lucky enough to catch one of his performances at LA DIY haunts such as Dem Passwords or Pehrspace, you will likely be struck by the quiet power of his meditative violin and his haunting voice, which are often employed in unison. He is a master performer, but not a bombastic showman. The mastery lies in his ability to pull the audience into his dream world through an atmosphere of feedback and echo, and the vulnerable, oratory nature of his voice. These elements are often looped a few times over, creating a textured sound space. ‘Black Rabbit,’ the track posted below from his split 7″ with Whitman, is an excellent representation of the ambiance of his live sets. It builds from a murmur and a whisper, to a rich storm of electrified tones and schizophrenic chatter, slowly fading back into a more subdued state. Buchla might not be placeable in the musical trends adopted by his peers, but the emotional impact of his music places him in the non-temporal tradition of folkloric singers and song writers”.
Thanks Samantha, it was insightful and well-written and I’m sure you’re pretty too. Some people just have everything.
Ezra Buchla – Black Rabbit (right click/save as)
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Buy it, maybe he won’t release anything else for the next twenty years.