amps for christ - the people at large (2004)

I first encountered this album while I was researching for my radio program on 5RC. It was one of two releases AFC put out on the label, the other being Every Eleven Seconds, an album I had picked up years ago while travelling in New York. At the time, I hadn't cared much for that album- I found it too weird and too uneven. When my research forced me to go back and reconsider that album, I found it still to be very strange and hit-and-miss, and found The People at Large to be a similar experience. But this time the hits stuck out a little bit more, and that combined with Amps for Christs strange story, makes for a pretty interesting album. Before making AFC his primary project, Chris Barnes was in Man Is the Bastard (who I have to admit I haven't listened to before- are they good?)(also, did you know that Man Is the Bastard's last release was a split with Mumia Abu-Jamal on Alternative Tentacles??). Moving away from punk, Barnes continued his experiments with building amplifiers and other guitar tech, and explored a synthesis of folk and noise music in Amps for Christ. Its totally schizophrenic- some tracks are noisy, dissonant and unsettling, while other tracks are mellow interpretations traditional folk songs. The album doesnt really have any kind of obvious direction or flow, and kind be pretty alienating to listen to at points. But I think in the instances when all of the various influences and experimental sounds actually coalesce into something substantial, the results are pretty amazing.

Amps for Christ - AFC Tower Song
Amps for Christ - The Morlough Shore

pestilence - testimony of the ancients (1991)

I went on a technical death metal kick a couple of years back, and this was one of my favorite albums thats I discovered. This was the third album from Pestilence, a Dutch band that started out thrash and then progressed to tech death. By this album, the band had already replaced a couple of early members and needed a bassist, so they got Tony Choy (who at the time was in Cynic, and later was in Atheist). Death metal was sort of the last type of metal I came to enjoy, mostly because I was familiar with more modern brutal death metal types, bigger names like Cannibal Corpse, and I wasn't too into it. I found death metal to be too abrasive, too compressed, and too same-y. So it took me awhile to discover that I actually really enjoy early death metal, which still has a lot of thrash in its DNA (later I would discover that I even enjoy more modern and harsh death metal). Early death metal sounds dirty and nasty, like there is a layer of mud covering the amps and phlegm coating the vocalist's throat. I like to think about the transition from thrash, which was a little more fun-loving and party-ready, to death metal, thrash's dirtbag cousin. Anyway, this is still in the early era of death, but at a time when death metal musicians were getting more into pushing the limits of their musicianship and adding synths. Basically, it was the prog era of death. And Pestilence are one of the finest examples of this sound, along with Death, Atheist, and Cynic. Apparently, Pestilence went more jazz-fusion on their next album, which I have yet to hear (this doesn't surprise me, as that seems to be a common progression: thrash-> death -> prog/tech death -> jazz-fusion death). One of the more interesting things about this album is how it is sequenced; between every raw and thrashy metal song is a short ambient track. Personally I like this a lot, it makes the album stand out more than some of its contemporaries. I've even made a playlist of just the ambient interludes, which makes for an interesting listening experience.

Pestilence - Testimony
Pestilence - Soulless

gary war - new raytheonport (2008)

speaking of straight rip-offs, if this guy is different from Ariel Pink in any way, I'm not hearing it. I mean, he's less weird. but everything else is there, the lo-fi throwback pop etc. but that's ok with me. NYC can have their own Ariel Pink if they want. and I enjoy the album just fine. I wonder what critics think of this? I haven't checked around the web yet.

Gary War - Good Clues
Gary War - Please Don't Die