Jason Urick- "I Love You" (2011) [Thrill Jockey]

As you awaken inside of your own head, you realize you have no recollection of who you are and what you are doing. Your identity has been erased from history and you now possess the freedom to roam unbothered within the realms of your mind. As you traverse across the universe reconstructing how it is you interpret life internally and externally you begin to recall who it was you once were. The freedom you possess within yourself has realized your full potential and you fear returning to your conscious world. It is here where your fate begins and ends and it is beyond the day to day repetition, endless streams of questions, and looking towards the future that perpetuate our lives. It is about simplicity within yourself and your relationships with people and nature that breathes life into all of the things you do. You awaken to realize that you have nothing to fear consciously because here you have the same power to control yourself entirely and nothing from the past, present or future can take that away.

Jason Urick’s I Love You sounds like journey of self realization, using heavy ambiance to set a dream like mood to the entire trip. The album is composed of five average to semi-long tracks of low ethereal drones with small explosions of heavenly disembodied tones scattered amongst the clouded layers of sound. Urick has managed to incorporate influences from what sounds like eastern music without sounding like it has been done before by maintaining the primary atmosphere set at the beginning of the album. Although the songs drone a single idea for their entirety, the idea is rephrased throughout the song in hundreds of ways so you are never quite listening to the same section over and over.

This is the kind of album one could put on repeat for twelve hours and just think endlessly of all the possibilities the universe has to offer. Jason Urick fills all the corners of your speakers with gorgeous loop after loop, painting murals of sound that are entirely open to interpretation by any listener. Within the space created in your speakers, please get lost.

-Julian

Mueran Humanos- "Mueran Humanos" (2011) [Blind Prophet Records]

What used to be will never be again, and what you used to enjoy just doesn’t look right anymore. Days begin to melt into one as you lose sleep and you really can’t figure out what you are doing half of the time. Often you catch yourself thinking about yourself from the outside and wonder why you just can’t figure out what’s missing. This conscious quest through the mundane and unexplainable describes perfectly the sound of Mueran Humanos self-titled full length.


Made up by Carmen Burguess and Tomás Nochteff, Mueran Humanos plays simplistic synth-pop heavily influenced by post-punk.  The Argentine and German duo manage to create an eerie, often goofy, ambiance of melodies driven by groovy droning synth-bass lines and mechanical hip-hop inspired beats. It must be said that although I have mentioned it to be a dark and heavy album, this in no way means that the album itself is gloomy or depressing in anyway, but instead sarcastic. The simplicity of their song structures allows the group to create symphonies of mechanical fuzz through the many layers they add throughout each song, giving the group a unique attitude. With each listen you will begin to notice several of the disembodied sounds that hang in the back drop of your speakers behind the perfectly synchronized bass and drum combination that still gives the music its distinctive funky beat. Both Carmen and Tomás contribute vocals to the music, each voice creating a completely different character within the story being told by the instruments.


This is a kind of group that would fit in perfectly playing inside of hole in the wall surrealism museum, and if they have not yet someone should give them a gig. The mass amounts of synthesizers is surprisingly extremely enjoyable because they are used in the most minimal fashion and it is always nice to hear post-punk that does not sound like it’s from Manchester in the 1970’s. Mueran Humanos self-titled full length is an album that demonstrates that you can still have groove no matter how moody you sound. 


-Julian

Cannabis Corpse - "Beneath Grow Lights Thou Shalt Rise" (2011) [Tankcrimes]

Undoubtedly, marijuana has come a long way and has become rooted in various cultural aspects across the world. One of the most obvious aspects in which it has found its place is within music, which varies from the plethora of groups that fall under the “stoner” genres to that group of kids who like to get high and listen to some tunes in a parking lot. Often, overstatements are made in regards to marijuana’s ability to enhance creative abilities, some statements being more absurd than others. If smoking dope was really a profound creative catalyst then maybe Seth Rogan would have won six Oscars by now. But honestly, this is just me trying to take a cheap swing at a small group of people who like turning everything they do into some kind of intellectual voyage. The real point of this is to applaud everyone’s favorite THC fueled death metal band on recording yet another great album. If all weed worshipping works of art looked or sounded as original and exciting as this album, then I am all for pot inspired art.   

As always, Cannabis Corpse have outdone themselves in writing a lightning fast and thunderingly heavy full-length filled with catchy grooves, smug bass lines, inhuman drumming, and probably the best death metal vocals I have heard recently. The overall individual talent within the group which can be heard from the first EP and throughout the member’s other projects will make for an enjoyable experience for those who generally enjoy great musicianship. To date, this is Phil Hall’s best work as a bass player throwing in some groovy runs and some great technical riffs from time to time. The same can be said about his brother, Josh, who on his drum kit manages to avoid taking the conventional route to death metal drumming. I am possibly just bias because I love Parasytic, but Nick Poulous can do no wrong and everything he does on this album from old school death metal riffs to King Diamond inspired solos is beautiful. After hearing this album I even more firmly believe that Andy Horn is one of the best vocalists of the genre to date.  

I have heard in the past people pass off Cannabis Corpse as a cover or parody band, and I promise that this assumption is a mistake. Not a weed smoking fan of Cannibal Corpse? You don’t have to be, because this album offers songs that can be universally appreciated by any lover of ripping old school death metal and will leave you wanting to hear more. There is no highlight track because the whole album shines on its own, making it hard not listen to the whole thing from start to finish. The musical arrangements from song to song are very tight and crisp but still maintain a raw and somewhat clumsy sound that has made everyone of their works original. Josh, Phil, Nick, and Andy have demonstrated once again that their love of cannabis and Cannibal Corpse are enough to make some of the best death metal one can hear today. 

-Julian

Stream

Pleasure Leftists- "Pleasure Leftists" (2011) [Fan Death]

My problem with finding new music generally comes from the fact that there are so many bands, and so many of those bands want to sound like other bands.  So for many of us who are constantly seeking a musical fix we often find ourselves quite frustrated at the fact that we are never quite satisfied with what we have come across.  This is especially true with genres that are often symbolized by an elite group of artists that are seen by people as figureheads of the style, so much to our dismay rarely does anything sound “fresh.”  However, it is incredibly relieving to find a group who can fit so perfectly into a genre as straightforward as post-punk and still manage to give off a completely evolved sound.  Thus is the case with Pleasure Leftists self titled debut EP, and you really have to applaud them for not ripping off any aspects of Joy Division, which in my experience is very hard to do.

 There’s a very thin line between post-punk and various other genres that are usually thrown into the mix when trying to categorize bands that somehow trick you into wanting to do a seizure inspired dance to generally anticlimactic songs, but this is definitely straight post-punk. The best way to describe the overall sound of the group through a comparison would be Bauhaus meets Punctured Tough Guy, but this comparison in no way should take away from their own original touch.  The vocals are in the higher range that constantly shift from a slurred moan to spastic squeaks and seems to blend in as just another instrument. It must be said that no member of the group took the easy way out in writing their part and there are many small details in the overall composition of the songs that no instrument can be singled out as the “lead.”

No song on this EP stands out more than the others, and that just means that each song is solid in all aspects, making its entire seventeen minutes a straightforward and entertaining listen. The highlight song on the EP would probably be the second track “Morning in a Room” mostly due to the fact that writing an anticlimactic yet exciting song seems like a pretty hard thing to do.

Is it just me or has anyone else noticed that if you take a post-punk riff out of context it could possibly be from an Iron Maiden song?

-Julian