Blue Cadet-3: A Music Blog by Josh R.

  Fishmans - Walking In The Rhythm  (1997) My copy: 2007 Fishmans Rock Festival box set press by Universal Music and Polydor. This single collects remixes of its titular track that appeared on the 1997 Fishmans album Uchu Nippon Setagaya. To keep things interesting, I’ll rate these remixes from worst to best rather than outright describing them. 4. Hang-Glider Mix: Three of the remixes featured on this record focus on simplicity and repetition - with the original song already being heavy on repetition. The “Hang-Glider Mix”, however, does meditation in a mostly boring way, starting out with quiet synth pads and a keyboard melody that only evolves once over the course of the ten-minute track. The stripped back percussion is nice, but the dramatic bass and sampled string drones are just too uninteresting to warrant genuine intrigue.  3. Shinjuku-Version 2 Mix: Stretching even longer than the original song, the Shinkjuku mix is interesting for its use of environmental soun...

  Can - Ege Bamyasi (1972) My copy: 2014 remastered reissue by Spoon Records and Mute. Bolstered by the new standards of Tago Mago as well as some mainline success with their popular single “Spoon,” Can settled beautifully into a fusion of timeless experimentation and rich, mysterious melodies influenced greatly by eastern cultures on the opus that is Ege Bamyasi. Nestled snugly in between their two other most influential records, Tago Mago and Future Days, Ege Bamyasi retains the best of the apocalyptic energy of the former while setting the stage for the mellower, groove-oriented structures of the latter. “Pinch” is one of the greatest album openers of all time, diving instantly into one of Jaki Liebezeit’s integral shuffle beats, as eerie feedback fills out the edges of the composition with a phantom atmosphere. Can were undoubtedly playing a different game than any other band of their era - using furious percussion as a sturdy skeleton for other instruments to occasionally cl...

  Lightning Bolt - Wonderful Rainbow (2003) My copy: 2019 reissue by Thrill Jockey. Coming two years after cult classic Ride The Skies, the two-Brian outfit Lightning Bolt reinstated themselves as chaos gods with the heightened ambition of Wonderful Rainbow. While Chippendale’s drumming is as absurd and driving as ever, the real star is Gibson’s rabid bass playing, which steals the show due to the low-end centric production of Wonderful Rainbow.  After a brief warm up, “Assassins” begins the musical bombardment with dense walls of bass and kick-drum. Gibson’s unique setup allows him to play both low frequency bass notes in addition to high frequency melodies that only poke their way in slightly at first. There are vocals but they range from lo-fi schizo ravings to innocently childish chanting. “Dracula Mountain” is an early highlight, again showcasing their affinity for warping playful, schoolground melodies into distorted sludge expulsions. I imagine that this is the musi...

  Don Caballero - What Burns Never Returns (1998) My copy: 1998 press by Touch And Go. Standing as their second to last album (not counting post-breakup material), What Burns Never Returns is notable for its equitable marriage of Damon Che’s mad drumming and Ian William’s post-rock guitar noodling. The prior records focused a bit more on the drums and punk attitudes while the 2000 follow up ( American Don ) lifted off a bit too far into spacey guitar experimentation. This 1998 record is best when the drums and guitar blend together into messy, almost free-jazz fits of non-traditional songwriting.  “Don Caballero 3” sets off with ambition, capping off at nearly ten minutes of rigorous math-rock curriculum. The guitar is at first totally lacking melody, instead bumbling about with the bass so as to set the stage for Che’s impressive prog-oriented drumming. Many detours through various time signatures are taken, but trying to map out every time/tempo switch on this record wou...

  Animal Collective - Hollinndagain (2002) My copy: 2017 reissue by My Animal Home. Though Hollinndagain did not feature core member Deakin, it was retroactively branded as an Animal Collective record similar to other early releases in the band’s catalog. Hollinndagain is unique, however, for being entirely composed of live recordings, with the first half being ripped from a radio performance while the second half is collected from various live shows. Hollinndagain is their first true live record, though it is often associated with both Danse Manatee and Ark (Here Comes The Indian) for their similarly noisy and feverish styles. While the first half of Hollinndagain wows for its hypnotic use of lo-fi repetition, the batch of live performances are victims of soupy mixes and less cohesive structures.  What begins as background string finnicking on “I See You Pan” rises slowly in density until a wall of gravelly crunching noise seizes in, constricting the vocals that quietly a...

  Sufjan Stevens - Carrie & Lowell (2015) My copy: 2015 press by Asthmatic Kitty Records. Sufjan Stevens returned to basic indie folk with the stripped-back Carrie & Lowell, which released to near universal acclaim among mainstream music outlets. Carrie & Lowell focuses mainly on emotional impact, with lyrics centered on Stevens’s relationship with his recently deceased mother (the titular Carrie). While Stevens does manage to evoke sympathy with powerful lyrics, the tone is ruined by odd production choices, lackluster compositions and hamfisted performances.   It should be noted that the album is doubly marred by a significantly shoddy vinyl mix, though some fans have had better luck with the 2019 reissue. Guitar arpeggios flutter, setting a humble atmosphere on “Death With Dignity” that is swiftly crushed by the perplexingly washed out and overly manipulated vocals. Stevens is at his best when delivering falsetto climaxes, though most of his performances...

  Silver Jews - Bright Flight (2001) My copy: 2001 press by Drag City. David Berman wrote Bright Flight entirely himself (excluding one cover), making it the second Silver Jews album to not feature original member Stephen Malkmus at the time. The tone embraces a more typical country-rock/roots style albeit with Berman’s eccentric twists keeping things interesting. While the structures and instrumentals offer little in terms of unique sound, the production has been significantly upgraded and each track finds itself as a comfortable backdrop for Berman’s assorted poems.  The album opens with all the typical country signifiers, from a weeping lap steel to jangling piano and acoustic guitar - the only outlier being Berman’s trademark brand of occasionally dark humor. Come 1999 Berman had married Cassie Marrett, and she began to feature on tracks like “Room Games And Diamond Rain” which seemed to showcase a much more content and loving side of Berman. The music is more intimate...

  Dinosaur Jr. - Just Like Heaven  (1989) My copy: 1989 press by Blast First. Dino Jr. 's cover version of “Just Like Heaven” originally only existed in single format until You’re Living All Over Me was reissued in 2005, including the song as a final bonus track. The Just Like Heaven single does still retain a unique purpose, however, in its inclusion of “Chunks (A Last Rights Tune)” and the brief experiment “Throw Down” which does appear on some reissues of You’re Living All Over Me.  Their take on the Cure is at first surprisingly sweet - so much so that it is almost disappointing when the obligatory hardcore breakdowns come to crash the party. J. Mascis actually has quite the lovely singing voice when he’s trying to do it pretty, and the wailing wah guitar attempts to make up for the butchering of the lead guitar melody. “Throw Down” is merely a short respite of acoustic guitar chords before pure adrenaline takes over on their cover of “Chunks.” While it’s occasio...

  Alex G - Beach Music (2015) My copy: 2015 press by Domino. After spending years releasing home-grown demos and bandcamp albums, bedroom rocker Alex Giannascoli finally committed to a major label for the release of Beach Music. With this new endorsement came a pressure to evolve and expand - as jumping to Domino after routinely self-producing lo-fi pop songs amassed a certain intrigue about how Giannascoli’s sound would change, if at all. While his interest in quirky arrangements did not falter, a touch of Alex G’s original affable personality was lost in the move. Beach Music does manage to impress yet for its boosted production value and wider berth of instrumentation. The introductory track is one of two remnants of Giannascoli’s more abrasive trickster past, as drum machines rise in volume and sputter under obscured cries and shrieking guitar. Then comes the big single “Bug,” which tucks soft moaning vocals under warm chords, sweet harmonics and sampled clapping. This is c...

  Drowse - Light Mirror (2019) My copy: 2019 limited press on milky clear/silver split vinyl by Flenser Records. Light Mirror is the second full-length on the Flenser label from multi-talented artist Kyle Barnes. Specializing in atmospheric, meticulous explorations of mental health and emotional ambiguity, Barnes delivers a deeply-layered fog of slowcore melodies with Light Mirror. Dozing piano flickers in the twilight shade of “Imposter Syndrome,” with glitching lo-fi noise fluttering gently for good measure. “Between Fence Posts” delves directly into the styles of trail blazers such as Low or Codeine through melancholy guitar arpeggios that topple over with delay. There is a faint shoegaze tendency in some of the early sound baths but heavier distortion is avoided until later in the record. The album is short on low-end but makes up for this by consistently layering in lush walls of instrumentation or effects, which are elegantly mixed as well.  “Shower Pt. 2” turns up...