I'm a sucker for radical shifts in music directions. Especially when it involves two people who made one of my favorite Death Metal EPs of all time: Fatal from Detroit and their seven inch classic "A Somber Evocation Of Nihilism", released way back when on the  French label that rocked my youth, Thrash Records (Hi Val!)

A few years ago, I was checking the whereabouts of their ex-members as one is wont to do, and I found out that guitar player Tony Hamera and drummer William King had done a few things together in the 2000s. The one band that stood out to these ears was  Ether Aura, a great vibey Shoegaze/Dream Pop outfit. I really, really love their second album, "Before We Could Sing" and its sweet radio-friendly 4AD vibe. When I dive into the sounds of commercial 90s/00s rock bands, I love subjecting them to what I call "The Bronze Test." Basically, it's my way of figuring out if they could land a gig at Buffy the Vampire Slayer's favorite hangout. Guess what? I can totally imagine these guys (and gal) rocking the stage there!

Just checked out if they were on bandcamp, turns out they've recently remixed their debut album  too! Sounds even better now. Wish they'd done more!

Wow, first time I'm hearing this with the original George Harrison sample! Not so much a sample as a whole track laid over the song. Apparently this version was uploaded on a Stereolab fanpage on Facebook or something, as the band is strictly forbidden to use it anywhere, if we may trust those liner notes on the "Transient" re-release quoted by the uploader:

"It's a real shame that we were unable to use the original recorded version of this track as it featured an amazing sounding reed instrument called a Shehnai taken from a track on George Harrison's Wonderwall LP. It wasn't really sampled as such but just taken directly off the LP and laid over the track. It worked so beautifully, flowing in and out of the song, but unfortunately we were denied permission to use it from Apple, and had to re-record a similar sounding part ourselves. Sean O'Hagan did a great job in trying to emulate the feel, offering something very different but sympathetic to the original instrument's effect on the rest of the track. However a little bit of chance and serendipity was lost. I didn't hear this original version again until just recently when we took everything off the master tapes. That's 25 years since I've heard it and it still sounds great and we still can't use it, not even as a bonus track." Tim Gane.

Here's the George Harrison album in question, for comparison's sake. This YouTube playlist has all the album songs on it, but I don't know the name of the actual song they lifted that sample from.

Following two strokes of genius with Nathan For You and The Rehearsal, the master of cringe humor, meta-fiction, and post-TV, Nathan Fielder, makes a triumphant return with this new TV series co-written and directed alongside Benny Safdie. It stands out as my favorite show of 2023 for various reasons. Firstly, The Curse tackles themes of gentrification and white guilt, which are rarely explored in TV land. Secondly, its humor consistently tiptoes on the edge of the abyss without tumbling, a feat often missed in attempts at the 'cringe' genre. Thirdly, the stellar acting, with Emma Stone delivering her usual brilliance, but it's Nathan who steals the spotlight, portraying a fictional character for a change. Safdie's performance, while passable, suits the character seamlessly. Fourthly, the final episode ranks high on the WTF TV scale, akin to Twin Peaks The Return Episode 8. I recommend diving in The Curse with no expectations, avoiding prior knowledge of characters, situations, or storytelling devices. This brief teaser trailer is all you should see, and if it doesn't immediately entice you, it might not be your cup of tea.

Time does fly when you shouldn't be busy at all, doesn't it? I'll try to upload this blog more often in the future. In the meantime, please gasp at the beauty and merriment that was PAINTBOX from Japan. Seriously, nothing should work in this particular assemblage of different music styles and yet, they make it their own. I've been on a PAINTBOX binge recently and I wish someone'd reissue those records in Europe as the Prank re-releases are already quite expensive these days. If anyone hears me in this bottomless void?

Another soundtrack that is begging for a re-release! Not my description but I feel like quoting this anonymous entry in full as it is pretty spot on:
"Here's a striking weird yet incredibly amazing work defying categorisation with psychedelic demented electro breaks / FX studio layered spooky effects / slightly funky moves / bizarre cosmic sounds / deep hypnotic creepy beats / weird analogue electronics / abstract piano, strings, organ & flute passages and quirky sinister motifs by the Italian mastermind of electronics Gianluigi Pezzera, the producer behind the "Frrrrrigidaire" Italian prog Lp. A miraculous and balanced mixing creating eerie organ soundscapes backed by spooky choral voices on ALLUCISERGICO, freaky and dark electronics synths on AGORAPHOBIA, mellow moog passages on BAILAMME, the hallucinated abstract martial beats of METAMARCIA, the gentle cosmic moves of FANTACOPULA, the FX'd echoed percussive and delirious LA GRANDE BOCCA. This electronic madness was the soundtrack for the first (and I'd say bizarre as well) movie by Antonio D'Agostino called "La cerimonia dei sensi", which had "Out off" as working title, starring the famous Italian hermaphrodite Eva Robin's, basically a story (or a story dreamed in a coma) of a prophet who comes back to the world in order to live Christ's life again facing all the differences occurred on the political and social Italian scene (!!) during the bloody dramatic 70s."

I feel so ashamed for not posting here more often that here are a few random good things I've stumbled upon recently, which ought to be of interest to some of you.

Hailing from Cleveland, Fashion Pimps And The Glamazons must have the coolest name around. They play some kind of atonal synth driven 'angular punk' kind of a cross between The Screamers and Servotron. As someone commented, this band definitely has the early 2000s thing down par.

Speaking of the 2000s, I came quite late on the Horse The Band-wagon, quite unexpectedly at Ierperfest (2015?) on the last leg of their neverending tours. They were all drunk and had someone dressed as an 80s tennis instructor playing triangle on stage. 'Nintendo-core' is the musical genre that they were coined with but I think it does not do justice to their songs which are quite good and diverse, albeit sometimes too drenched in irony for me. I thought this band was dead and, lo and behold, here's a new EP that popped up out of nowhere and which does not even appear on their official bandcamp.

My old friend Malek quoted this as Album of the year, so it probably is, right? Haven't had time to fully listen to it yet but their brand of hi-octane street punk is something I always enjoy, when done right.

Some ex-Funerot members playing traditional metal? Sign me up immediately! Love this.

These cats were cool before but this new song off of their upcoming II: The True Sequel album is beyond dope. Best rap instumental I've heard in a looooong time! Make sure you head over to their bandcamp and buy all their stuff. Pure gold.
https://pen-pals.bandcamp.com/

I have absolutely nothing to say about current world affairs except this : this is the dopest music video I've watched all year.

March is already rolling on and the endless loop in which our collective sorry asses are stuck irrevocably gains hold. Will we ever get out of this mess? Only time will tell. And time, needless to say, feels quite frozen right now. This comeback song by GENGHIS TRON is a perfect soundtrack for today's sun-daze.
I'll confess to not knowing much about this band beforehand, as they got their fame when I was pretty much out of everything. So I'm new to this and I love what they're doing. Lots of things going on in this song and yet I feel like I'm floating in a stasis whenever I listen to it (which is a lot). A throwback to 2002-era QOTSA maybe, with some LOOP (the band) thrown in, hints of '95 VOIVOD possibly, and the most effective drumming I've heard in a long time... Lovely.