Skip to main content

Keiji Haino & Sumac - American Dollar Bill - Keep Facing Sideways, You're Too Hideous to Look At Face On (Thrill Jockey, 2018)

I haven't kept up with Sumac, the new gig of ex-Isis frontman Aaron Turner, but a collab with Keiji Haino? I'm down. These 5 tracks were recorded live in studio, improvisations as Haino typically stipulates of his collaborations, and we may have an early frontrunner for album title of the year. One of Haino's best. Turner steps aside to let Haino handle all vocals, which is kind of too bad because it would have been nice to see those two powerhouses play off each other. Sonically the most obvious comparison, Haino playing with a guitarist, drummer and bassist, is obviously his own Fushitsusha. The music, crumbling, crashing and chaotically heavy, is equally reminiscent of Japan avant rock titans Ruins or even Mick Barr's Orthrelm project (or maybe his Krallice band is a closer comparison). So it's not totally uncharted waters and not the most blinding original record in the Haino canon but if you like Haino with pure rock fury backing him, give a listen.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Corrupted - Felicific Algorithim (Cold Spring, 2018)

For whatever it means, this is the beginning of Corrupted's "Hollow" series. Maybe the clue is in the music? Unlike Corrupted's traditional ultra-slowed down, Spanish-sung, Japanese doom metal this is instrumental harsh noise. Still filthy and angry and depressive but sans vox and also more or less sans metal. Both untitled sides are meant to be played at either speed. The result? Meh. I miss Corrupted's brand of doom, this relatively anonymous harsh noise is fine and all but if I'm listening to Corrupted...well I know what I want. Skippable.
Post a Comment
Read more

Abstracter - Cinerous Incarnate (I, Voidhanger, 2018)

I was not aware of these guys, who formed in 2010 as a noise duo, and slowly evolved and added more members and turned into a kind of death/blackened doom metal project. They've got ties to other noise acts I don't know (Sutekh Hexen) and other industrial acts I don't know (Only Now). Quite a stew and the band pulls of something that sounds truly different. It's got a tentacle in each of the aforementioned genres but blends them really well. It's quite hard to pin them down in fact. Big, heavy riffs with a production level along the lines of a sludge/black metal record but sharp instrumentation and just a dirty atmosphere...ambient noise passages separate a couple tracks as a nice diversion...very cool
Post a Comment
Read more

Grouper - Grid of Points (Kranky, 2018)

I've never really liked Grouper much, lots of other wogs go ga-ga over anything she puts out but it all leaves me cold. I wrote her off for a while, heard some hype for this new one, and I'm back to writing her off again. It's the same ghostly vocal samples/quasi religious/hymnal vibes..haunting and ethereal and...nothing that gets me all wound up. Pass.
Post a Comment
Read more