Tag: Xasthur

MP3, Shred Edition: Hydra Head Records, Random Patterns, Slim Barton, Badgers!

Torche, Hydra Head thrash kings

We’re getting caught up on two weeks of intense blogging for West Coast Sound, and we now present to you some tasty MP3 and/or streaming works. This is the Shred Edition (with some twang thrown in too).

  1. FEATURED: 22 Songs of Shred and Doom from Hydra Head*
  2. Free Album from Psychedelic Random Patterns
  3. Slim Barton and James Moore’s ‘Poor Convict Blues’
  4. ‘Los Angeles’ by Leslie & the Badgers, on Thirty Tigers
  5. Saddam, Barack, Hillary Cameo in Henry Clay People Clip
  6. ‘Claws’ By Local Gaze-Pop Outfit Luna Is Honey

    7. (all stories via West Coast Sound, via LA Weekly)

* “As far as gift-giving goes, this one may be arriving out of season, but L.A. metal-of-many-stripes institution Hydra Head Records has just dropped the free 22-song digital sampler, Phoning It In.”

Xasthur Makes Album With Marissa Nadler

This piece, published yesterday via West Coast Sound has been making the rounds thanks to Pitchfork and The Daily Swarm. Read the original here.

At long last, devotees of creeping, hell-sent ambient black metal and fans of spare, heavenly folk-skewed dream pop will have something to lick shots into the air about together. Via her website, Boston-based singer-songwriter Marissa Nadler recently announced that Los Feliz’s Hydra Head Records will release an as-yet untitled album-length collaboration between herself and Alhambra-based doom specialist Xasthur.

INCHES001: Local revolutions w/ Mika Miko, Xasthur, Rx Bandits, Castledoor, Shafiq Husayn

I’m exceedingly proud to announce the debut of my new weekly vinyl column, “INCHES” on the LA Weekly music blog, West Coast Sound. The full title of the inaugural installment is “INCHES001: Local revolutions, pt.1 — five L.A. vinyl exclusives revealed and reviewed.”

This edition features five releases by L.A.-area artists on L.A.-area labels — Mika Miko (PPM), Xasthur (Hydra Head), RxBandits (Sargent House), Castledoor (Seven Inch Project), and Shafiq (Poo-Bah) — that either are not available on CD, or sport a drool-worthy design. A free MP3 accompanies each writeup, along with a photo of the package shot, for better or for worse, by yours truly.

Mika Mikos We Be Xuxa (PPM)

Mika Miko's We Be Xuxa (PPM)

Future installments will include up-to-date reviews of wax by L.A. artists and/or L.A. imprints, profiles on local vinyl shops and labels, cratedigger-curated selections, swap meet outings, and whatever else seems like a good idea at the time. If you haven’t clicked over there already, please do so here.

Feature: For Beauty And Terror

Andrew Broder, best known for his work with the criminally slept-on Minneapolis outfit Fog, has churned out no fewer than ten the new albums this year. But they’re not what you’d expect. These digital, label-less releases are improvised and edited instrumentals for guitar, turntables and various noisemakers. Moreover,  they’re inspired by drone music and doom metal. Click over to Decider Twin Cities to read my interview with Broder, and check out the other half of the piece here, with streaming audio and reviews of each record.

Further listening: In the Lala player, you’ll find my very favorite Fog song, “Us Beneath” from 2006’s Loss Leader EP (Lex Records). The lyrics hit home:

The other night, a firefight / Bursts of sewing machine gun fire
From your position / Barricaded behind the piano.
I return with small arms / Stuttered shots from typewriter keys.

And yet in the silence / Between the volley
The hearts of weary camps / Sing to each other

However faintly / As we each seek to claim / Disputed territory
The us beneath the other / Which is rich / In natural resources.