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MAXIMUM ERNST w/ Daniel Carter Live At Legion Hall
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new! new! new!
MAXIMUM ERNST w/ Daniel Carter Live At Legion Hall
cass/digital download

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MAXIMUM ERNST with Daniel Carter @ Legion Hall
Live recording forthcoming on cassette via Ever/Never Records
photos by Peter Gannushkin
MAXIMUM ERNST w/ Daniel Carter CD/cass review in MaximumRocknRoll....
10 track album
Current Climate reissued on NYC's ever/never records
newÂ
MAXIMUM ERNSTÂ
cassette
Perfect Mixer/Matchless Pair

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Free to watch ⢠No registration required ⢠HD streaming
Patois Counselors, The Optimal Seat (ever/never, 2020)
Look at the cover. They couldâve just used the beautiful painting right there. But Patois Counselors arenât here to give you some beautiful artwork. Youâre getting the artwork and the reality that spawned it. Where someone else would make a smart and catchy post punk record about the very understandable concern of technology robbing us of joy, love and warmth, the North Carolina band made a smart and catchy post punk record about us and our concerns, which are kinda funny when you frame 'em like that.
Seeing how it took them two years to release the follow-up to their fantastic debut Proper Release, one could expect some sort of stylistic change, but no, it looks like âHead Counselorâ Bo White decided to use this time to zero in on the songwriting, providing us with 12 songs that are as tight as possible and contain even more of his sarcastically bitter observations about how we live our lives, how we canât understand it, and our relationship with technology, economy and each other. Think of a happier Joe Casey for reference.
The albumâs pace is comfortably fast and the songs are bursting at the seams, filled with things. The talk-sung vocals (melodically sparse but very effective) are laid on a soft bed of, well, the whole kitchen sink: synths and samples, click-clack noises, drones and whistles fill every void between the needling guitar lines and the groovy staccato style of the rhythm session, allowing the pop punch of the songs to further envelop you and command your attention.
Thereâs so many people playing on 'The Optimal Seatâ it looks more like a jazz ensemble than a post-punk outfit, but itâs all so well balanced and the songs are just so well crafted, this could appeal to casual listeners as well as to record collector snobs. The latter can discuss the influence of Pere Ubu and, I donât know, maybe The Embarrassment on the Counselorsâ sound, the former can dance their ass off, and we all can laugh and marvel at ourselves and our sad, self-destructive and meaningless lives.
Click here to listen to The Optimal Seat on Bandcamp.
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Al Karpenter, If We Canât Dream, They Wonât Sleep!! (ever/never, 2020)
I like to think of the Stooges as some sort of Eastern gods, and their records as scripture. I say Eastern because the thing isnât (or isnât supposed to be) about worship or adoration, but more about teaching, and a sort of ritualistic practice. Through the Stooges, through their mantras, one can achieve bliss and knowledge. Now why am I waxing religious here? Because Al Karpenterâs debut LP, If We Canât Dream, They Canât Sleep!!, is a bit of a Stoogesian ritual. A bold, arty, difficult statement and a ritual.
The seven tracks, while forced in a sequence by the physical limitation of the grooves, sound as if theyâve been emptied on the record like the contents of a bag. Lines and verses repeat throughout the album, using the famous Stooges mantra as something between a war cry and a fatalist, numb lament delivered through clenched teeth: âItâs 2019 ok, all across the fucking Spain, all across this fucking painâ. By the end of side A, youâre in deep: glitchy noises attacking you out of the blue, fragmented electronic beats, bursts of silence, ghost guitars and incredibly beautiful (in contrast with all the ugliness) saxophone and drums adding jazzy flourishes.
On side B, things slowly escalate from the bitter and creepy âNo Faceâ to the joyous and angry call for âRiot & Rollââexpanding the musical palette so far as to include trap beats with their distinctive hi-hats and autotune, together with analog synths, melodica, saxophones, tortured bass, banging drums.
Itâs not an easy album and itâs comparable to what Karpenterâs fellow Bilbaoan Mattin has done in the past (a similar use of the Stoogesâ âpracticeâ can be heard on Billy Baoâs Buildings from Bilbao). Mattinâs role in If we canât dreamâŚÂ seems in fact crucial, and even if he wasnât listed among Karpenterâs collaborators I could have guessed that he was involved, especially in the mix. It took me a few listens to really get into it, but now that I got it, Iâm gonna shake, riot and roll as much as I can.
Click here to listen to If We Canât Dream, They Wonât Sleep!! on Bandcamp.
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Obnox, Savage Raygun (ever/never, 2020)
Itâs not like Bim Thomas, the Cleveland multi-instrumentalist behind Obnox, ever lacked confidence in his output, releasing tons of records (3 full albums in 2015 alone, 2 in 2017, 2 in 2018, not counting EPs) oozing a mixture of swagger and just plain fuck-you attitude, burying soulful vocals in swirling guitar noise and mixing classic Clevo punk with hip-hop beats, but I think with Savage Raygun he reached a sort of high point.
This world where Killed By Death comps and Dr. Dre mixtapes meet may not be the world I grew up inâbut itâs a world where Iâd sure would like to spend some time. It smells like a partied-in basement. The vibe is groovy, the whole album is bass-heavy and it bumps and sizzles, jumping from funky to psychedelic to in-your-face, always somewhat floating in its own space, where genres are a bummer, man, and creativity flows like weed smoke.
I mean, while âShe (Was About That Life)â is like a classic Detroit proto-punk masterpiece put through a tunnel of earth-shattering fuzz and bass, you get tracks like âHow to Build a Bumâ, âBlessed Black Soldierâ or âCut Me a Switchâ that are absolute hip-hop/r&b bangersâalbeit with Obnoxâs trademark 4-track feel and penchant for blown out distortion. âScenecideâ is a nasty, mean lo-fi mid-70s punk number, while âYoung Neezyâ steals a Neil Young lick and turns it on its head trading in his old white hippie vocals for soulful falsetto with a hard hip-hop edge.
The press release calls it a âsprawling double LPâ and I agree. The width of its inspiration and influences is rarely seen in underground music and is a testament to Thomas' impressive knowledge and passion for music in generalâbut thatâs not all: its complexity goes beyond songwriting and arrangement, using his own lo-fi production skills as an instrument to convey his proudly weird, foggy and oblique vision. Last but not least: the cover art and inner sleeves are some of the best and funniest Iâve seen in years.
Click here to listen to Savage Raygun on Bandcamp.
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