Once more out of the darkness and into the light: DiS meets Dylan Carlson from Earth
Dylan Carlson, as the lynchpin behind Earth, is without a doubt one of the most important independently minded, experimental musicians of the last two decades.»
Articles
lemonbrickcombo has written the following articles:
Ben Frost - A U R O R A
At its highpoint it sounds like the end of music: every sound possible compressed and played back at once, simultaneously completely out of control yet meticulously arranged.»
Wen - Signals
It’s rare to find an electronic full length that manages to feel so varied, and yet also so harmonious in its uncompromising vision.»
New Bums - Voices in a Rented Room
Voices in a Rented Room is a pleasant if undistinguished record, two old friends revelling in each other’s company»
Actress - Ghettoville
As varied as the unrelenting bleakness might be, the true coup de grace of Ghettoville is the emotional bite it delivers.»
Ikonika - Aerotropolis
If nothing else, this technically impressive and beautiful sounding record acts as a reminder of just how far things have come since those halcyon days of 2009-10.»
Thundercat - Apocalypse
Apocalypse is a difficult second album that has its roots in tragedy and loss and its furthermost fronds in hope and moving forward.»
Carlton Melton - Photos of Photos
It’s Space Rock, Jim, and exactly as we know it.»
Neurosis - Honour Found in Decay
Neurosis have attained the position of the grandees of post-metal, and provided they continue to consistently produce records of such obvious quality, no matter how homogeneous and self derivative they may sound, it’s hard to see them giving up that crown any time soon. »
Blues Control - Valley Tangents
A carefully considered, exotic and mature record that stands out as a blueprint of how to handle the move from lo-fi to, well, just –fi.»
Black Breath - Sentenced to Life
A surefire contender for metal album of the year and certainly worthy of some crossover recognition.»
Actress - R.I.P.
A review such as this can barely scratch the surface of something so simultaneously esoteric and enjoyable. To call R.I.P. album of the year at this stage wouldn’t so much be pre-emption as an actual understatement.»
The Men - Open Your Heart
Gone is the raw, snarling anger that drew in so many aurally-damaged fans: this is The Men indulging their inner college rock. »
Ital - Hive Mind
What makes Hive Mind a little bit special is that it feels like a lot more than just the sum of its parts.»
Earth - Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light II
Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light II represents not only the most overt and successful attempt to capture the patience, subtlety and fluidity of Earth’s talented cast, but also the most accurate document of their patient, stoical and determinedly psychedelic ethos. »
Spank Rock - Everything Is Boring & Everyone Is A Fucking Liar
Spank Rock probably couldn’t make a boring record if they tried.»
Crystal Antlers - Two-Way Mirror
In a year filled with several great pyschedelic releases, Crystal Antlers have delivered a record that, rather than making good on the promise of their early work, is simply serviceable.»
Mountains - Air Museum
There are plenty of bands who sound like Emeralds; there are precious few who sounded like Mountains.»
Jeremiah Jae - Rappayamatantra
Leaves the listener just as confused about who exactly Jeremiah Jae is as before they’d listened to it.»
Earth - Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light 1
For a band so slow to never get stuck in rut, to never become stationary, is quite an achievement. Long may Earth trudge onwards. »
Mogwai - Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will
Of late, a new Mogwai record has been greeted in a manner not unlike the arrival of a new jumper at Christmas: an initially underwhelming offering that befores an indispensable wardrobe item. »
Zach Hill - Face Tat
You can’t imagine anyone else releasing something like this and possibly getting away with it. Which is all part of the charm. »
Earth - A Bureaucratic Desire for Extra Capsular Extractions
A Bureaucratic Desire For Extra-Capsular Extraction is yet more proof that Earth were, and indeed still are, vitally different to so much of what’s come before them, after them and even surrounded them. »
Supersonic and Swn preview: DiS meets Swans
With the best will in the world, there are few weekends where Cardiff and Birmingham find themselves tussling for the title of most musically happenin' place in the UK... but that all changes over the next few days as Capsule's Supersonic festival goes head to head with Huw Stephens' S?n. DiS OBVIOUSLY CAN'T TAKE SIDES, but fortunately the most anticipated set at either festival is by Michael Gira's resurrected Swans, who are playing in Cardiff on Saturday night and Birmingham on Sunday. Ahead of these dates and a string of UK shows next week, DiS caught up with the man, the legend, Mr Michael Gira.»
US Christmas - Run Thick in the Night
A little judicious pruning and a bit more studio discipline, as often with this type of music, would have gone a very long way.»
Dungen - Skit I Allt
Skit I Alt is definitely something of a return to form, in its own relaxed way, and once the listener has spent a little time with it, every performance and section becomes that little bit more tantalising.»
The Black Angels - Phosphene Dream
Phosphene Dream does little to disgrace The Black Angels, and further establishes their reputation as a solid and reliable, if occasionally staid, pyschedelic rock band.»
Mix It Up and Start Again - A Decade of Online Mixtapes
Of all the musical game changers of the last decade, the internet has quite clearly been the biggest one. In fact, it might just be the biggest bombshell dropped on the music industry since Elvis started shaking hips and breaking rules. The existence of this very site is testament to the unique power it has: breaking down borders and barbed wire fences between fan and artist, critic and aficionado. Yet not everyone has greeted it with open arms: record company execs and artists spend sleepless nights worrying about the scourge of freely available music for guilt-free, cost-free download eating into their livelihoods. First it giveth, then it taketh away, indeed.»
How I Found Beauty in the Beat
Some time around the start of last year I found myself scanning through my music library, and coming to the realisation that something was slowing eating it’s way into my tastes. A slew of tracks and albums praising the skills of the hustler, the dope dealer, the ostentatious pimp and the blunted beatmaker were making inroads into my hard drive and CD racks. Converge found themselves sharing an album shelf with Clipse, Madlib made himself a bed next to Mogwai and the Melvins, all whilst the Wu Tang in their various guises swarmed all over like so many killer bees. For a young teenager who had renounced hip hop and it’s slinkier brother R’n’B as Trojan horses for the saccharinisation of pop music the first time he heard a Fugazi record, this was a significant turnaround. »
Tweak Bird - Tweak Bird
A blisteringly record that defies convention as much as it delights in melody.»