Soft Abuse

For their first meeting, Richard Youngs (Glasgow) and Raül Refree (Barcelona) have created a suite of stately, circular longform songs that manage to connect Tim Buckley's Happy Sad to Federico García Lorca to plainsong liturgy. The largely acoustic and quietly urgent All Hands Around the Moment finds Youngs in an impassioned and emotional space he’s rarely inhabited since Sapphie, elevated by lush chamber folk/jazz compositions that incorporate piano, guitar and more, performed by both Youngs and Refree. The four pieces that build the whole of All Hands Around the Moment harness transcendence in repetition, and feature gorgeous progressive minimalism in full spectrum. Dark existential themes flow into mystic uplifting expressions of humanity., without missing a beat. In its timelessness and prescience, the realities present in All Hands Around the Moment make for a powerfully engrossing listen from top to bottom.

Absalom is the 4th full length release from Donovan Quinn (Skygreen Leopards/New Bums), and his first solo outing in 7 years. Coming out of the psychedelic underground school of '01, Quinn has slowly built an idiosyncratic catalogue that combines obsessive long-form metaphors and oblique arrangements with simple song structures. As on previous albums, there is a consistent lyrical narrative that runs through shifting sonic spaces. Sparse singer-songwriter arrangements, outsider art piano ballads, loping numbers with a folk rock combo, and baroque pop string arrangements all find their way into the brew. Reuniting with frequent collaborators Ben Chasny, who mixed the record, Elisa Ambrogio, Jessica Roberts, Jason Quever, Michael Tapscott and Eric Amerman, Quinn recorded Absalom in several home and professional studios to achieve a veritable collage effect with instrumentation and musicians changing from song to song. The idea for Absalom started with an abandoned project called "Fan Fiction," intended to build songs based on the lore of other artists, as well as expanding on originals previously written by Quinn. Tucked away in the vaults are demos continuing the stories of characters from two Squeeze hits, Clarice Lispector's Aqua Viva, Jozef Czapski's lectures on Proust in a Soviet prison camp, Jackson C. Frank's "Tumble in the Wind", and the biblical story of Absalom. Bored by the limitations of the project, "Fan Fiction" was scraped, but the themes of familial dissolution and love in the Absalom story that provided a genesis for what became the Absalom album. Printed on the back of the LP sleeve are two quotes that provide a good starting point to the type of blues contained in therein. "That our words, are as a general rule, filled, by the person to whom we address them, with a meaning which that person derives from her own substance, a meaning widely different from that which we had put into the same words when we uttered them, is a fact which the daily round of life is perpetually demonstrating." - Marcel Proust "Look at me and love me. No: you look at yourself and love yourself. That's right." - Clarice Lispector

Wandering homebody Matthew De Gennaro has created a beautiful new opus titled What It Is ? The answer to the album’s question: a moving set of deep and transcendental micro concertos, composed and performed almost entirely by the artist himself. De Gennaro summons sounds and styles from out-of-time frames of reference, a practice that separates him and his practice from most other known active performers. That said, a few active performers (friends) join him on What It Is ?, namely Scott Tuma and Stefan Neville, both adding new flavors to the pot.

Olumpus, née Olympus, have bubbled-up for another round nearly a decade after the release of their first LP. Bold Mould, their debut, brought two known quantity one-man racket makers--Pat Kraus and Stefan Neville--into fine duo-dom form, birthing a brilliant post-punk side in the tradition of Jane from Occupied Europe. Caucus is their second LP, and it operates on a whole other level entirely. Caucus finds Stefan Neville in full mad scientist producer mode, at the controls, morphing Olumpus into some sort of Flying Lizards operation with himself in the Cunningham role & a giant cast of collaborators from various corners of the fertile New Zealand underground and further points abroad. The results are dense, hallucinatory, warped and catchy, and analogous with hardly anything. Caucus gathers together 22 collaborators for 14 tracks of blistering fourth wall brilliance and confusion, and features contributions from heavyweights like Steve Dean, Duckingmonster, Richard Youngs, Demarnia Lloyd, Clayton Noone, Matt Plunkett (The Trendees), Mr Sterile, Dan Melchior, and of course Neville and Kraus. Released collaboratively by Stabbies, Etc (NZ) and Soft Abuse (USA).

Ulaan Markhor returns with Helm, a new batch of songs that explore the dissonant, dark corners of post-punk and it’s many permutations. Steven R. Smith’s first recordings as Ulaan Markhor surfaced in 2012, and since that self-titled debut LP he’s continued to refine the sound and feel of the project. Once more the focus is the intersection of rhythmic groove and scorched guitar (“The Meters-meets-Amon Duul”), but on Helm the nuanced, meditative pieces built around spike fiddle or organ are as evocative and commanding. Just like the many great records he’s made before now, Helm is gorgeous, moody, deep and above all, killer.

“The Jingling World of The Skygreen Leopards” is a collection of songs from the first two Skygreen Leopards CDRs on Jewelled Antler; two mini albums written & recorded in the distant days of 2001, a year with a name that evokes a psychedelic future but which now seems very much part of the psychedelic past. Guided by Tall Dwarfs, The Monkees & The TVPs, the early SGLs concept was to mix automatic songwriting, two voices, California 12-string and put it on reverb smothered 1/4″ tape. The restrictions were that no songs could break the 3 minute mark, no jamming allowed, and you never went back to fix mistakes. All songs were written and performed by Glenn Donaldson and Donovan Quinn; both switching instruments and overdubbing until Glenn’s Tascam 388 had run out of open tracks. From the womb of fanzines, flea market record crates of the 90’s and San Francisco’s fading victorians, it’s “The Jingling World of The Skygreen Leopards”!

Matthew De Gennaro is a deep listener & composer of unclassifiable esoterica that draws on folk music from around the globe. In recent years, his finger-picked, highlife imbued guitar playing has taken on more prominence in his pieces, and there’s been a proliferance of personal story songs as well. Ever present is his gorgeous, otherworldy viol, and melodies from an arcane organ or two. There’s no one out there quite like him, and Conversation with a Roadside Skull provides further proof of this. Joining Matthew on organ for one track is long-time friend and collaborator Scott Tuma. Enjoy the short ride.

Church Shuttle is Chris Durham, and over the last few years he’s eked out a handful of short-run tapes that explore the attitude intersection of Fluxus traditions & contemporary Midwest basement noise/murk. Natural Disaster is the first vinyl appearance for Church Shuttle, and a nice intro to what his whole thing is about. Sly smirks co-mingle with deep mental (chemical?) fogs on each side. Revel in other buried realities revealed...

Donovan Quinn makes the leap back into solo activity with Dad Was Buried in His Leather Jacket, an EP of mostly uptempo story songs with character changes but consistent stories throughout each song. Herein Quinn writes about those at the end of a long series of parties, in the penumbra around the fun, just before all the booze and drugs and casual conversation turn sour... A large cast of collaborators help to create the atmosphere of trouble hiding behind fun. Quinn's New Bum's partner Ben Chasny adds devastating shredder guitar to "Game with No Rules", whereas Glenn Donaldson, the other half of Quinn's duo Skygreen Leopards, adds textural synth and sweet high vocals. Others on board include Elisa Ambrogio (Magik Markers), Jason Quever (Papercuts), David Novick, Michael Tapscott (Odawas) and Eric Amerman, all of whom pushQuinn's songs into surprising new sonic places.

Carter Thornton "Jokl Hides In My Closet At Night" by Soft Abuse

For as long as most people can remember, & ever since Sugar Jon Arcus (Armpit) bowed out of the band, Pumice has been the ad hoc alter ego of Stefan Neville. This has never sat well with Neville; he always considered Pumice a band no matter what, even if the records and live performances consisted of his solo clangs and chugs. Following the deaths of two dear loved ones, Neville opened-up Pumice to a few close friends and collaborators, seeking both an end to the ‘lonely solo act’ stigmas & some comfort in numbers. New songs were borne of these collaborations, while other preexisting recordings were augmented by the players, including Hermione Johnson, Claire Mahoney (It Hurts), (Pat) Kraus, Brisbane's Leighton Craig (Primitive Motion, etc.), Tina and Sjionel (The Coolies), NZ legend GFrenzy, Matthew De Gennaro and family members Indira Neville (sister), Lucy Danko (neice) and Ponzo Danko (nephew). Puddles is the result, and the fluidity of contributors both expands and reinforces the notion of Pumice: wobbly rhythms, intercom screech & Neville's weary croon all mingle with droning chord organ, synth blurts, & dense avant backdrops. Puddles is a huge step forward for Neville and his band, Pumice. All hail the king of homemade pop!

For as long as most people can remember, & ever since Sugar Jon Arcus (Armpit) bowed out of the band, Pumice has been the ad hoc alter ego of Stefan Neville. This has never sat well with Neville; he always considered Pumice a band no matter what. Following a sabbatical from his own music that ended 'round winter 2013, Neville began collaborating on new Pumice songs with Hermione Johnson on prepared piano, Claire Mahoney (It Hurts) on vocals and (Pat) Kraus on synths. They all joined in when the songs got sorted & the time came to record - their inclusion was a natural thing. Following that queue, Neville invited several past collaborators from near and far to contribute, including Brisbane's Leighton Craig (Primitive Motion, etc.), NZ legend Glen Frenzy and Soft Abuse alum Matthew De Gennaro. Puddles is the brilliant result - the first new record of Pumice "songs" since 2012 - and it plays out almost like a Pumice mixtape. Notions of Pumice are expanded and also oddly reinforced; wobbly rhythms, intercom screech, the small silver guitar & Neville's lonesome croon all mingle with droning chord organ, synth blurts, & dense avant backdrops. All hail the king of homemade pop!

New York guitarist Carter Thornton has manipulated sound in mysterious underground corners for decades – his contributions to No Neck Blues Band satellites, doom/drone metal ensemble Gnaw (with Alan Dubin of Khanate), avant-pop group Pigeons, and the mostly-solo endeavor Zashiki-Warashi are sufficiently divergent for even the most atuned seeker. Releases under his given name are scant but very heavy; Ten Fingers for Forefathers remains one of the more adventurous solo guitar statements of the past decade. His latest work, several years in the making, is conceived as a series called Mapping the Ghost. Thornton returned to his given name for this highly personal, though not expressly confessional music, which unfolds via a series of hints constructed by Thornton alone, using traditional instrumentation, found sounds, field recordings, F/X and more. Volume One tramples through a host of environments, from (fairly) straightforward string pieces to uncompromising collage fever dreams and various points in-between. Volume Two will be released early in 2016.

LXV is the moniker of Philadelphia-based producer David Sutton (Current Amnesia, Car Commercials, etc). His latest, Asylum/Theophany, serves as a meditation on Chapel Perilous, an occult term that concerns confusion surrounding supernatural experiences in the physical world. Sutton deeply renders the concept, burying itinerant voices under spectral layers of noise, drones & sharply digital, cold, and harsh electronic tones. The results offer a highly illusory and immersive listening experience, and follow in line with his previous synthesized explorations of ethereal realms. Asylum/Theophany is the first work he's published since his collaboration with Kara-Lis Coverdale, Sirens.

With an enigmatic deadpan, Donovan Quinn delivers lyrics written in a dense and fragmentary style; the influence of writers such as Malcolm Lowry and Thomas Pynchon figure just as heavily on his craft as musical influences Robyn Hitchcock, Pavement, Robert Forster and Skip Spence. Your Wicked Man is the second album from his primary band, Donovan Quinn & the 13th Month, created in collaboration with Nick Marcantonio on bass and Jason Quever (Papercuts) as producer and multi-instrumentalist. In much the same way his presence molded Cass McCombs' early efforts, Quever's contributions to Your Wicked Man serve Quinn's narratives with arrangements that range from ornamental to rollicking to bare, pushing Quinn's embrace of rustic, poetic popcraft to the fore. Video here: https://youtu.be/_FHYzFzo6vg

Hala Strana "White Sleep" by Soft Abuse

The Deadnotes are Eugene Carchesio, Stuart Busby and Leighton Craig, from Brisbane, Australia. With an arsenal of trumpet, guitar, drums & casio, the trio make a glorious racket that's drawn comparisons (rightly or wrongly) to Ennio Morricone, Maher Shalal Hash Baz, The Magic Band, Moondog and even The Minutemen. Since their formation in 2005, the band has written and recorded hundreds of minimal miniatures, some of which have appeared on limited CDRs via Craig's Kindling imprint. The 30 tracks that comprise Orange Trumpet - the trio's defining statement - are amongst their earliest creations.

From the sessions that yielded Blackout Beach's Light Flows the Putrid Dawn record; this is the original version of Carey Mercer's epic "Claxxon's Lament."

Soaring like The Eagles on Robitussin, Flying Canyon's mournful folk-rock slowly ascends into the desert sky. Existing in the sun-baked tradition of burnt-out Cosmic Californians like Sky Sunlight Saxon, Skip Spence, David Crosby and Phil Perlman, Flying Canyon frontman Cayce Lindner is tapping a rich vein of indigenous folk, rock & country, and like them, he's not a traditionalist. With organ, fuzz bass, cathedral harmonies & cavernous drums, Flying Canyon slow the pace to a funeral crawl; an apocalyptic and religious feeling emanates from this music, while Lindner, with quavering vocals of the Young/Garcia axis, delivers his high desert eulogies, mournful tales of eternal love and despair. Backing Lindner in Flying Canyon are Shayde Sartin and Jewelled Antler's Glenn Donaldson, who recorded the album on a crumbling reel-to-reel tape machine at his home in San Francisco's famed Mission District, mere blocks from where Sir Douglas Quintet recorded their classic Together After Five LP.

Soaring like The Eagles on Robitussin, Flying Canyon's mournful folk-rock slowly ascends into the desert sky. Existing in the sun-baked tradition of burnt-out Cosmic Californians like Sky Sunlight Saxon, Skip Spence, David Crosby and Phil Perlman, Flying Canyon frontman Cayce Lindner is tapping a rich vein of indigenous folk, rock & country, and like them, he's not a traditionalist. With organ, fuzz bass, cathedral harmonies & cavernous drums, Flying Canyon slow the pace to a funeral crawl; an apocalyptic and religious feeling emanates from this music, while Lindner, with quavering vocals of the Young/Garcia axis, delivers his high desert eulogies, mournful tales of eternal love and despair. Backing Lindner in Flying Canyon are Shayde Sartin and Jewelled Antler's Glenn Donaldson, who recorded the album on a crumbling reel-to-reel tape machine at his home in San Francisco's famed Mission District, mere blocks from where Sir Douglas Quintet recorded their classic Together After Five LP.

First collab full-length from Nick Forté (NY) and Dino Felipe (FL). Shaggy Black provides deeply processed, yet undeniably organic experience; a unique anomaly of resplendent and savage textures. The union of man-made and machine-based sounds creates a heady, blistering atmosphere. No beats!

Not to be confused with that goofy heavy-handed group without the 'the', The Battles hail from Vancouver. Tomorrow's Eager Hands is their second full-length after a long, five-year sojourn. The new songs deliver on the promise of their debut (2001's Lycanthropy); Stephen Wood's songwriting chops crib from some of the classiest in art rock's past (Bryan Ferry, Mayo Thompson) and his band boasts a who's-who of Vancouver music, his members of Destroyer, Sinoia Caves, Loscil, Precious Fathers, and Black Mountain in the mix. Brilliant record.

Carter Thornton (Gnaw, Zashiki-Warashi, etc.) re-emerges with volumes of new material under the banner Mapping the Ghost. The work unfolds via a series of hints constructed by Thornton alone, using traditional instrumentation, found sounds and more. You never heard such sounds in your life.

Wooden Wand's first album a solo artist is influenced in equal parts by legendary hedonists Fleetwood Mac and West Coast sad sack Judee Sill. The intention to create something timeless and ageless informs each note this music, for better or worse. Conceived during a sabbatical in Los Angeles, Harem Of The Sundrum & The Witness Figg finds our man in search of the inherent muses of The Pacific and what he refers to as "the other California sound" (e.g. Gene Clark's No Other, John Phillips' John, Wolfking of LA, Skip Spence's Oar and David Crosby's If I Could Only Remember My Name). Over the course of ten compositions, Wooden Wand (AKA James Jackson Toth) delivers a sullen yet highly exploratory batch of songs brimming with cosmic spirituality, dark optimism and traces of folk blues.

Human Television aim to evoke a feeling through the vehicle of a song by cleverly utilizing and manipulating the painfully obvious, yet often forgotten elements of melody, minimalism, repetition, and simplicity. It's no accident that melody has been given close and special attention, as melody is the inexplicable characteristic that contains an ability to inspire euphoria, elation, joy, madness and anger. Orange contains a portion of the band's first studio recordings.