Derek M Johnson (Olympia)

Derek M Johnson released his first solo record this year featuring four tracks that go across genres, all equally enjoyable live and on record. I first saw DMJ play in April 2009 at the Spokane International Noise Conference (INC) and was taken aback by this person who is an amazing cellist, but also experiments widely with noise using effects pedals and vocoders among other things.

The record starts out with the track FKXMS. If anyone knows DMJ, they know he hates X-mas with a passion because by day he’s a rural mail carrier and faces the train wreck that the holiday is first hand. This track is by far my favorite, followed by the final track, You’re Welcome to Play, which he played accompanied by Serena Tideman at Hollow Earth Radio. I really hope to see many more releases coming from Derek M Johnson in the next year and on!

Blue Sabbath Black Cheer & Irr. App. – Skeletal Copula Remains LP (Seattle)

I try to pick up every Blue Sabbath Black Cheer release. Skeletal Copula Remains was released March 2011 as Part 2 in the 4-5 part collaboration between BSBC and Portland’s MS Waldron’s Irr. App. The now trio, Stan Reed, William Rage, and Crystal Perez, are one of the harshest noise bands out in Seattle to this day. I was so excited about this release, that I started my first show on Hollow Earth with the first track, Subterranean (Insurgence), in October. This is definitely one of my favorite listens of the year.

The first side starts out with a sludgy death metal track. The second side has a lot of dimension, first starting with a drone track, then getting into an experimental sonic war zone, and then raising a tension in you that if a pin dropped in the room, you might explode. The artwork for the release by Stan Reed is also excellent with skeletal and human remains spilling intestines, fitting the name of the album perfectly.

Extraordinary Pigeons/Regosphere Split (Seattle)

This year Extraordinary Pigeons and Regosphere released a split on cassette. The album starts off with a long drone track called Spirits of the Ice Forest which is haunting and beautiful. It places you right in ice forest and then segues into acoustic guitar. This is followed by a noisier track Nervous Reaction which gets real interesting about half way through until you finally feel the nervous breakdown. I’ve seen Extraordinary Pigeons and their member Jason Young’s project, Red Squirrels, many times and have always enjoyed their work. This is my first encounter with Regosphere and I definitely want to check out more of his stuff.

Thanks to folks sending in cd's, mp3's, cassette tapes, VOICEMAILS. It's always great getting new content in our various inboxes.

Now to return the favor, here are some music reviews of things I've come across that I've found particularly stellar! Keep 'em coming ya'll.

Bad Luck / Two - Table & Chairs

NW. Seattle. New record out on local jazz label Table & Chairs (Racer Session folks). This is clean jazz skronk, saxophone blaring like its been stuck in traffic over incessant penetrating double dribble percussion. The best part of this album is how it deconstructs, slowly turning from an organic chaos clusterfuck to smoothed out electronic ambience. By the end of the disk you’re left with just warm tones and occasional blips and bleats.

Scribblers / Eleven’s Moustache - Tummy Rock

Missoula ten year olds on Tyson Ballew’s label. Smoosh ain’t got nothing on Scribblers though. These girls are like mini-kimya dawson’s and are singing rad songs about Harry Potter, deep songs about how ‘animals have to kill eachother feed their families’, and tips for making a band. “In a band you gotta know a few things like everybody sings. And number 2 i can’t hate you or else the team breaks and falls apart…” Recorded in one hour. WTF.

Onesie / Squirm - Self Released

New Zealand duo of teen girls who recently visited the USA. Huge grunge fans (apparently this is a thang in NZ). Sludge guitar loops with distorted solos and simple drums. Ari sings like she’s bored with the idea of having to talk to you, which makes it that much cooler. Recorded and mixed by Ari’s dad and featuring a picture of Ari taking a shit as a toddler. “You and me against the world” is my favorite track. “If you let me die, I will haunt you, I will haunt you. If you let me drown, I will tear you apart ” get’s stuck in my head and it also has a ripping solo.

Paul Kikuchi / Portable Sanctuary - Present Sounds

Paul Kikcuhi, Stuart Dempster, Bill Horist, Jesse Olsen Bay, Alex Vittum recorded at Chapel Performance Space. Interesting sparkles of percussion - gong, sparse civil war era fills, woodpecker trills mixed with Charlie Brown brass and Bill Horist turning a guitar into a banshee. Slow, steady buildups that explode but remain crisp and deliberate. Solid fucked jazz. Seattle/NW.

Portable Sanctuary @ 2009 Earshot Jazz Festival from Prefecture Records on Vimeo.

SUNFoot / Soggy Moggy

PDX. Chicken-pox lo-fi played by three guys with pit stains. Repetitive synth drums and pots/pans clamour, out of tune guitar honky-tonk and distorted boombox mixing. Confusing 23 minute jam-a-lams of skronk and yawn paired with :27 second MONKS inspired robot bonk bonk bonk. This shit is weird bedroom rock played standing on a mattress on the floor and staring at the wall instead of your bandmates and tipping over a cup of coffee with a molding orange peel in it. LURVE IT.

Meowtain / Meowtain e.p.

Olympia garage rock that’s been recorded too hot and just barely peaks the meters. Thunder bass & cute sing songy harmonies, with a bit of trash rock n’ roll thrown in. Lots of group singing and I especially dig when Lizzie takes lead. 'Wolf' displays her powerful range. Also a nice trumpet ripping in here and there all Neutral Milk Hotel style. One of my new favorite bands. RIYL: Oly-esque indie pop that’s authentic and weird: ie. Dogjaw, Megabog, Bloodsweep.

Eric Ostrowski & The King Frog Dorkestra / Live On Sonarchy

Since these are ‘descriptions’, and not really reviews I feel it is not in bad taste to ‘describe’ a disk that I am on. I WOULD SAY THAT WOULDN’T I? So this is a live on sonarchy set I was invited to play on by Eric Ostrowski, infamous violinist from Columbia City. He was asked by Doug Haire at Jack Straw Studios to perform for a full hour doing what he does best and for this particular incarnation I played the drums, and his two kids played with us as well. Hazel, 10 played a timpani (a large kettle drum), sang through a megaphone and also does a ripping acoustic violin solo in the middle of the set that rivals the work of her Father’s 50 minute bloodshed. It’s brutal. His son Ian, 14 (and also a recent Hollow Earth Radio dj) shreds on noise guitar as well. This was a pretty difficult experience for me - Eric wanted no approachable rhythms whatsoever and wanted intensity and ‘full force’ as much as possible and I think I sweated out about 14 pounds during this set. I can’t wait to hear this one on KEXP.

Galen Green / Tiny Weapons - Self Released

NW. Seattle. Electronic, goofy-synth that’s also HEAVY ON THE SAXOPHONE. Whoa. Sorta reminds me of Prince or No-Fi Soul Rebellion? RIYL: Beck, Parliment, Karl Blau doing bad things in his basement like saying “MIX MASTER” into a microphone and slowing down the pitch. Some of these songs sound like the coulda been 80’s commercial jingles for Reebok’s with kids doing ‘the running man’. Dig it.