Supersilent "8"

Artist: Supersilent
Album: 8
Label: Rune Grammofon
Release date: 17 September 2007
Genre: Electronic
Style: Jazz/Noise Rock/Experimental
RIYL: Deathprod, Sunn O))), Triosk

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Tracklisting:
01. 8.1
02. 8.2
03. 8.3
04. 8.4
05. 8.5
06. 8.6
07. 8.7
08. 8.8
Total running time: 68' 17"

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"Norwegian entity Supersilent have become master at confusion. With albums and tracks carrying chronological numbers as sole mean of identification, it should be quite easy to keep up with the band’s progress, yet 8 is only their fifth album in the traditional sense, their fifth if 7, which, despite featuring all new material, was only released as a DVD, is to be counted. They have, over the years, unashamedly treaded the boundaries of jazz and avant-garde and thrived on the energy they have drawn from both, without ever committing to any. The only constant in their work, apart from personnel head count and the aforementioned numerical cataloguing, is the way each of their record has been built from lengthy improv sessions, with no overdubs, and usually recorded in a handful of days.

Formed of Ståle Storløkken (keyboards), Jarle Vespestad (drums), Helge Sten (electronics) and Arve Henriksen (trumpet), Supersilent celebrate ten years together this year, and this new album shows the band as fresh and hungry for experimentation and new sounds as ever. After the harsh and convoluted terrains of 1-3, the smoother ride of 4, the resolutely reflective 5, the visions of grandeur of 6 and the multi-sensorial feast of 7, 8 finds Supersilent tuned to particularly abstract musical forms and extremely contrasted conditions. The lexicon used here is characteristic of the band’s work, but, as is the case with every new Supersilent record, it is applied in a way that bears only vague resemblance to previous outputs. Culled from over five hours of improvisation, 8 was at one point envisaged as a double, and even a triple, album. Instead, the band have crammed a substantial amount of music and silences in just under seventy minutes.

Overall, 8 is a rather subdued and introvert piece, with the quartet only opening up to monumental sound amalgamations on 8.7. 8.1 slowly builds electric tension and gains density all the way through its eleven minutes before eventually imploding and collapsing over itself, while 8.3 swims against the current of disjointed drums sequences to provides breathing space for the grinding guitar noises that coagulate in the background. The rest of the album is surprisingly ethereal and, occasionally, melodic, with 8.4 and 8.5 giving Henriksen the best opportunities to take the lead for a moment. On 8.6, the ground becomes very uneven and abstract, with electronics fizzing up like bubbles on the side of a glass while Henriksen hangs little vocal droplets in the latter part of the track. The concluding track, 8.8, is perhaps the most sober on offer here and brings this latest incursion into Supersilent territory to a gentle close.

Ten years on from their first collaborative work, Supersilent continue to define their unique sonic space away from pretty much the rest of the music scene. With 8, they once again unveils new grounds and expand on previous work, capturing yet another side of their multi-faceted identity." [source]

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Blues Control "Blues Control"

Artist: Blues Control
Album: Blues Control
Label: Holy Mountain
Release date: 21 May 2007
Genre: Rock
Style: Experimental Rock/Noise Rock

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Tracklisting:
01. Blues Control
02. Boiled Peanuts
03. Migration
04. Double Chin
05. The Blue Sheep
06. Frankie's Problem
07. Hummum
08. No Sweat
Total running time: 38' 10"

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[Blues Control - Open MySpace Standalone Music Player]

"It’s amusing – or frustrating, depending on one’s current mindset – that hype can latch onto a band faster than stink to a corpse. A few months ago, Blues Control were but another noise group slogging along the club circuit and releasing micro batch cassettes. Now, with records out on Woodsist and Holy Mountain and a months-long accumulation of blogger ejaculate, the group is positioned in one of the top spots on many summer ‘must hear’ lists. (They’ve also been on the receiving end of some sweet publicity via underground music’s most underappreciated hype machine – the band t-shirt. Getting some belly time on an established rocker, as BC did when Ben Chasny sported their tee on the cover of Signal to Noise, is an instant unit mover – Daniel Johnston, well, should understand.)

Luckily, even in these hype-hot times, where Pitchfork’s news section has become the People Magazine of the hipster set, what it comes down to at the end o’ the day is whether the band can rock their shit harder than the critics can lick their lips.

Fortunately, BC’s debut full-length is deserved of the slobber. The Queens-based duo’s name is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the instrumentation – guitar, piano, harmonica, drums – that the band employs. Yet, while at heart the disc is a collection of rockers and ballads, the sound has little in common with either rural African American laments or the blooze rock pumping from countless roadside sippin’ stations at this very hour.

There is a humidity that hangs over the album like a New Orleans nighttime. Russ Waterhouse’s guitars/electronics and Lea Cho’s keyboards sound hot and waterlogged whether they are roaring through serious riff-noise ear-tear such as the eponymous opener or laying down smooth trip-tronica, a la “The Blue Sheep.”

“Boiled Peanuts” gets the badge for being the album’s strongest cut, a swaying groove of dubbed-out percussion, lofty piano chords and spiraling locks of fuzz guitar. “Migration” features jazzing tinkling over a chesty keyboard drone that bubbles into a harmonica-accented fever swell. It’s a stewed Americana not unlike Matt Valentine’s recent work with The Bummer Road.

The minute-and-a-half of “Double Chin” features guitar freakery beamed live from the dark side of the garage. Closer “No Sweat” is Royal Truxian junkie slosh smoked up, looped and aimed to obliterate.

How else would you want your blues?" [source]

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