MadfaMusic Feature Albums April 2014Ghetto Ghouls - Ghetto Ghouls (Feature Album 28 April 2014)
Woods - With Light and With Love (Feature Album 21 April 2014) EMA - The Future's Void (Feature Album 14 April 2014) Mac DeMarco - Salad Days (Feature Album 7 April 2014) |
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Ghetto Ghouls - Ghetto Ghouls (Feature Album 28 April) By Fee B-Squared
Scouting around the internet recently, I literally stumbled across Austin’s garage punks Ghetto Ghouls and fell in love immediately. Listening to and loving a wide range of music, sometimes you just need something that cuts through all the crap and makes you wanna mess shit up. This jagged little self-titled debut is just the ticket.The band originally started out as a three piece. Sharing an interest in skateboarding and all things punk rock (even Blink-182), frontman Corey Anderson met drummer Ian Rundell at middle school and guitarist Dan LeVine in high school.
In an interview with Impose, Anderson says LeVine “turned me on to a lot of weirder music, so we started making weirdo music in his mom's garage. It was really awful stuff.” Hey, ya gotta start somewhere! Bass player Garrett Hadden is the most recent addition to the band and I can’t actually imagine them without him. Hadden also plays in post punk/rock three-piece The Dead Space and his solid and driving bass lines sometimes seem to be the glue that keeps the band from completely derailing.
Ghetto Ghouls opens with the furiously paced drumming of “Peepshow”. As a big fan of Eddy Current Suppression Ring, my crush on this band is not at all surprising. “Living Alone” is a great example of this comparison. At only 1.29 minutes long it’s also a great example of the less is more mantra that swims around my brain constantly.
In an interview with Impose, Anderson says LeVine “turned me on to a lot of weirder music, so we started making weirdo music in his mom's garage. It was really awful stuff.” Hey, ya gotta start somewhere! Bass player Garrett Hadden is the most recent addition to the band and I can’t actually imagine them without him. Hadden also plays in post punk/rock three-piece The Dead Space and his solid and driving bass lines sometimes seem to be the glue that keeps the band from completely derailing.
Ghetto Ghouls opens with the furiously paced drumming of “Peepshow”. As a big fan of Eddy Current Suppression Ring, my crush on this band is not at all surprising. “Living Alone” is a great example of this comparison. At only 1.29 minutes long it’s also a great example of the less is more mantra that swims around my brain constantly.
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“I’m living alone/and nobody’s home/I don’t know what to do/I don’t know what to do.” Ok, got it. Brevity, my friends, is an often-underrated gift and with 12 tracks running for a total of 23 minutes, this album packs a swift punch. All that said, the very last track “Simple C” happens to be the longest at almost 4 minutes and it’s also one of my favourites. It feels a lot more measured than all the other tracks and although it may not be obvious at first (due to Anderson’s slurred vocals), it’s about veiling your depressed state. “And I don’t know what I was going to do/ but I’d go back to the beginning if it means I don’t know you.” Anderson explains further in Impose “Ok, the song is about hiding your depression behind the façade of happiness. This was one of the first Ghetto Ghouls tracks I wrote. I wasn’t making music, I had a bad break up (boohoo), some strained friendships, some health problems, etc. Your standard sob story shit. So one day Ian and I were playing music at his studio and I was so happy to be playing music again that we made this really poppy, happy song though the lyrics were written sometime earlier when I wasn’t so happy. I thought it would be funny to make a song that sounds cheerful but is quite the opposite.” Regardless of it’s dark undertones it seems like a fitting end to an excellent debut whilst also leaving this listener thirsty for more.
By Fee B-Squared Ghetto Ghouls' self titled album is out now through Monofonus Press. |
More about Ghetto Ghouls
Read more about Ghetto Ghouls via Impose, Pitchfork, Popstache, Noisey and All Music.
Check out a bunch of live clips of the band here and some live tracks here.
Check out a bunch of live clips of the band here and some live tracks here.
Image courtesy of Ghetto Ghouls
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Image courtesy of Ghetto Ghouls
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Image courtesy of Ghetto Ghouls
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Woods - With Light and With Love (Feature Album 21 April 2014) By Fee B-Squared
Image courtesy of Woodsist
We’re heading to Brooklyn this week to have a listen to Woods’ latest release With Light And With Love. Formed in 2005 with songwriter Jeremy Earl and multi instrumentalist Jarvis Taveniere being the core members, Woods can certainly be classed as prolific, with this being their eighth release. I’m pretty impressed they’ve found the time to release anything at all, because another class you could comfortably throw them into is DIY. Woods obviously love what they do and do it as much as they can. They run their own label, they’re known for touring as much as possible and for the past five years, they’ve been putting together a very cool gathering of the more mellow side of the music scene called Woodsist Festival. Held at Big Sur in August, it’s a festival that has no backstage or VIP areas and this year features not only Woods, but past MadfaMusic favourites Angel Olsen and Real Estate as well as Foxygen to name a few.
That’s a lot of stuff to keep a band busy right? If you’re wondering if the music suffers somehow because of it, the answer is no, it doesn’t. With Light And With Love is a really sweet and mellow meander that offers up a brilliant antidote to the fast pace life throws our way at times.
Revisiting some beautiful moments found on their most recent releases Bend Beyond and Sun And Shade in particular, it has always surprised me how often Woods seem to be overlooked, considering how consistently good they are. Apart from the recording method and some songs that are a little more pop infused than usual, this release is certainly not breaking new ground, but man, when you’re on such a good thing why do you really need to? With Light And With Love is the first album that Woods have recorded at a real studio, opting for a studio in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Previously they have recorded at Jeremy’s house, which has enabled Woods to record a lot, and do it quickly. I think this recent studio move has changed their sound slightly, giving the final product a cleaner, more polished, more lush and fuller sound. It really is a treat to hear.
That’s a lot of stuff to keep a band busy right? If you’re wondering if the music suffers somehow because of it, the answer is no, it doesn’t. With Light And With Love is a really sweet and mellow meander that offers up a brilliant antidote to the fast pace life throws our way at times.
Revisiting some beautiful moments found on their most recent releases Bend Beyond and Sun And Shade in particular, it has always surprised me how often Woods seem to be overlooked, considering how consistently good they are. Apart from the recording method and some songs that are a little more pop infused than usual, this release is certainly not breaking new ground, but man, when you’re on such a good thing why do you really need to? With Light And With Love is the first album that Woods have recorded at a real studio, opting for a studio in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Previously they have recorded at Jeremy’s house, which has enabled Woods to record a lot, and do it quickly. I think this recent studio move has changed their sound slightly, giving the final product a cleaner, more polished, more lush and fuller sound. It really is a treat to hear.
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 Image courtesy of Noisey
Speaking recently with Noisey, Taveniere said “I feel like we made a better record because of it, especially because we didn’t have to be engineers and do everything involved with making a record. There’s a frustration to recording records yourself—just the two of us in a room slamming our heads being like, “Why doesn’t it sound better?!”—but there’s also a bit of satisfaction when you do that successfully.” I can hear the benefits of both as I’m enjoying the easier accessibility of this album, just as much as the murkier sounds of say, 2009’s Songs Of Shame.
From the laid back country twang, pedal steel and Wilco-reminiscent opening track “Shepherd” we move straight on to the 60’s inspired jangle of “Shining.” That sound is enhanced in a more psychedelic sense when we hit the 9 minute title track complete with its solo freak outs. |
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At track 4 we hear an almost Flaming Lips-esque gem in “Moving To The Left” (“it feels strange, it feels the same”) that makes me wonder whether this might be the track that gets them a little more attention. Earl’s constant falsetto throughout the album should be more annoying, but it fails to throw me off course especially when songs like “Only The Lonely” stick in your head so hard. For the same reasons, it would be remiss of me not to mention “Full Moon”, which has me looking for George Harrison’s My Sweet Lord jam. “Feather Man” also feels like the perfect last track.
I think that Woods have yet again released another beautiful album that deserves more attention than it will probably receive. Throw it on, turn it up, shake it loose and I defy anyone to come in and harsh your mellow. By Fee B-Squared |
Image courtesy of www.thefourohfive.com
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Read more about WoodsRead reviews of With Light and with Love by Pitchfork, NME, The Line Of Best Fit and This Is Fake DIY, plus check out this interview with Woods courtesy of Noisey.
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EMA - The Future's Void (Feature Album 14 April 2014) By Fee B-Squared
Image courtesy of Stereogum
I wanted to take a look at someone I’ve been in two minds about this week, and Erika M. Anderson fits the bill perfectly. Better known now by her stage name EMA, her third album The Future’s Void has been a bit of a surprise treat for me.I heard about EMA for the first time in 2011 when she released her debut album Past Life Martyred Saints. The track was California and to be honest, I kind of struggled with it. It’s not that I didn’t like the track per se, there were plenty of elements within it that I usually enjoy, it’s just that I wasn’t sure she believed what she was selling. It sounded a bit too forced, too manufactured, too try-hard and a bit cocky. Other people raved about her so I thought I’d go and check her out when she performed at The Tote in February 2012 with Teeth & Tongue and New War. She still just wasn’t my thing, but I remained somewhat intrigued as to what she might do next, because I’m always interested in why I don’t like things just as much as why I do. EMA was and still is interesting to me.
A self-confessed bookworm, a lot of the material here stems from her love of William Gibson’s cyberpunk novel Neuromancer. Anderson grew up in South Dakota and it sounds like alternative realties were important to her. Talking to Spin recently, she said "I feel a really weird void in certain parts of the Midwest. Certain amounts of ambition are almost sort of a sin. People really look down on you if you're too fancy, too smart, trying to be rich. Midwest nihilism is intense." Moving to California was clearly a big gear-shift for her, given it’s laid back state, so a lot of what she delivered on Past Life Martyred Saints was about growing up, moving on and leaving friends. The Future’s Void is less autobiographical. She wears an Oculus Rift virtual-reality headset on the album's cover, in reference to its themes of technology. You could argue this subject matter is quite risky, given how quickly technology changes and therefore ages it’s reference points - sometimes rendering them a little embarrassing.
A self-confessed bookworm, a lot of the material here stems from her love of William Gibson’s cyberpunk novel Neuromancer. Anderson grew up in South Dakota and it sounds like alternative realties were important to her. Talking to Spin recently, she said "I feel a really weird void in certain parts of the Midwest. Certain amounts of ambition are almost sort of a sin. People really look down on you if you're too fancy, too smart, trying to be rich. Midwest nihilism is intense." Moving to California was clearly a big gear-shift for her, given it’s laid back state, so a lot of what she delivered on Past Life Martyred Saints was about growing up, moving on and leaving friends. The Future’s Void is less autobiographical. She wears an Oculus Rift virtual-reality headset on the album's cover, in reference to its themes of technology. You could argue this subject matter is quite risky, given how quickly technology changes and therefore ages it’s reference points - sometimes rendering them a little embarrassing.
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During the thudding drum beat of “Neuromancer” she uses slang like “selfies” (“Ur makin a living off of takin selfies/is that the way that you want it to be? It’s such a narcissistic baby/it’s such a new millennial baby”). Social networking and the culture of over sharing on the “superhighway” is also mentioned on the haunting 3Jane (“feel like i blew my soul out across the interwebs and streams/it was a million pieces of silver and i watched them gleam”). Anderson also said recently on her twitter page “For some reason I get a kick out of using awkward and uncomfortable words, it's like harsh noise but for lyrics.”
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Seemingly searching for the right frequency, the static infused opening to the album is “Satellites” and had me craving my own dancefloor and virtual-reality headset. The follow up track is “So Blonde” which is so steeped in 90’s grunge that whilst listening, I spontaneously sprouted a flanellette shirt and cut off jeans. Across the album you can certainly hear her recent love of NiN demos. Another nod to the 90’s comes via her husky vocals on a gorgeous ballad called “When She Comes” which sounds like a lost Concrete Blonde jam.
This album has me dipping my toes back into the EMA back catalogue. Sometimes that’s what it takes – a new release from an artist to make you appreciate their earlier work. Either way, it can be quite gratifying to come around to something or someone, and The Future’s Void has certainly caused me to do that with EMA. By Fee B-Squared 
Image courtesy of Consequence of Sound
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Want to read more about EMA?
Mac DeMarco - Salad Days (Feature Album 7 April 2014) By Fee B-Squared
According to Merriam-Webster, the term “salad days” refers to “the period of life when someone is young and does not have much experience; an early period of success”. Well, some of that may be true in the case of Mac DeMarco’s sweet and woozy third album Salad Days.A lot has been said about this Mac DeMarco character. Born in Alberta, Canada, he moved to Vancouver then Montreal before moving to Brooklyn in 2013. I use the word character here because he was born Vernor Winfield McBriare Smith IV. His mother, Agnes DeMarco warned his estranged father that unless he paid child support within a six month period, she would give their son her surname. You guessed it, the money never came and so she backed herself and changed his name. Regardless, his mates always called him Mac. DeMarco’s so-called star seems to be on the rise, yet he seems fairly nonchalant about it all. Not in a way where he behaves like he’s owed something - quite the opposite. It’s like he’s surprised by it all and just trundles along, continuing to behave as he always has. Is he bratty? Naughty? Careless? Unhinged? Unhygienic? Ambivalent? Puerile? A hipster? A slacker? A gap-toothed hottie? He’s all of that and more. He chain smokes, drinks excessively, has a propensity for nuding up and has been known to put things up his butt while on stage. He also refers to his music as “jizz jazz”. It’s weird - one minute I feel like this guy is really fun, and the next I feel like I could punch him. Who else would make a dummy video for their forthcoming release like this? This would all generally have me rolling my eyeballs or slapping my forehead but I like this dude a lot. I like how he keeps people guessing and he really does seem like a pretty sweet guy.
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 Image courtesy Pitchfork
Musically, Salad Days picks up where Mac DeMarco 2 left off - it just seems a bit more polished. It’s weird to say that when you consider that this multi-instrumentalist is by no means chasing perfection. This is where I’ll challenge the meaning of “salad days” in his case. Yes he’s still young (at just 23) but he’s definitely more experienced. He knows what sounds he wants, and he gets them even if it means dropping cigarette ash over everything while using shitty gear. His cheap arse guitar is still there. According to some Mac facts in the Edmonton Journal “I got it when I was 15 or something for $30. It was sitting in the basement of Lillo’s Music for years and years. I told them I wanted the cheapest guitar you got in here. Somebody dug it out and tried to set it back up. I’ve taken that thing all over the place at this point. Can’t get any other guitar to sound like that, so might as well keep using it, right?” The constant slippy effect throughout the album is achieved with warped tape on his reel-to-reel, and he loves it. Focus on it too much after a big night out though, and it could be to your detriment. To you kids starting out, I’m sure there’s a lesson in here about buying cheap gear the next time Aldi has one of their crazy sales too.
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The title track has the interesting line “Always feeling tired/smiling when required/Write another year off and kindly resign”, yet it will have you “la la la la la”-ing all over the place. The heartfelt “Let My Baby Stay” was penned about his Canadian girlfriend Kiera McNally who was an illegal immigrant when the album was recorded (DeMarco has since managed to have her visa extended). He also wrote “Let Her Go”, a simple but cute ditty about being honest (“Tell her that you love her, if you really love her/But when your heart just ain’t sure, let her know”) and “Treat Her Better” for McNally. “Passing Out Pieces” uses the organ to great effect and “Chamber of Reflection” is where the synth sounds dominate. The very last track on the album ”Jonny’s Odyssey” starts like a lost track from Malcolm McLaren’s Duck Rock and goes for 2.38, but in reality finishes at 2.12. Don’t be tempted to turn it off at that point though because DeMarco does a short and sweet sign off.
I’m clocking off now so I can turn my place into Ranch Relaxo, recline in the hammock and play it all over again with a cocktail (or mocktail) in hand. My afternoon is looking sublime already. By Fee B-Squared |
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Image courtesy of Brooklyn Vegan
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Image courtesy of The Guardian
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More about Mac DeMarcoRead interviews with Mac DeMarco courtesy of Pitchfork, The Guardian and Faster Louder and check out the reviews of Salad Days from Consequence Of Sound, Paste Magazine, Pitchfork and Music Feeds.
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Listen to the MadfaMusic Feature Albums from March 2014 here
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Teeth and Tongue - Grids (Feature Album 31 March 2014)
The War On Drugs - Lost in the Dream (Feature Album 24 March 2014) Sun Kil Moon - Benji (Feature Album 17 March 2014) Real Estate - Atlas (Feature Album 10 March 2104) Angel Olsen - Burn Your Fire For No Witness (Feature Album 3 March 2014) |
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Listen to the MadfaMusic Feature Albums from February 2014 here
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Beck - Morning Phase (Feature Album 24 February 2014)
Sharon Jones And The Dap-Kings - Give The People What They Want (Feature Album 17 February 2014) Dum Dum Girls - Too True (Feature Album 10 Feb 2014) Warpaint - Warpaint (Feature Album 3 Feb 2014) |
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Read the MadfaMusic Features from January 2014 here
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In January, rather than feature albums we did features on four great Melbourne Independent Record Labels.
Chapter Music (Feature 27 January 2014) Mistletone Records (Feature 20 January 2014) Remote Control Records (Feature 13 January 2014) Aarght Records (6 January 2014) |
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Listen to the MadfaMusic Feature Albums from December here
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Dick Diver - Calendar Days (Feature Album 30 December 2013)
Parquet Courts - Light Up Gold (Feature Album 16 December 2013) Beaches - She Beats (Feature Album 9 December 2013) Phosphorescent - Muchacho De Lujo (Feature Album 2 December 2013) On 23 December we published our Best of 2013 lists. Listen here. |
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Listen to the MadfaMusic Feature Albums from November here
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Cave - Threace (Feature Album 25 November 2013)
Swearin' - Surfing Strange (Feature Album 18 November 2013) Arcade Fire - Reflektor (Feature Album 11 November 2013) The Poets of Rhythm - Anthology (1992-2003) (Feature Album 4 November 2013) |
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Listen to the MadfaMusic Feature Albums from October here
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Best Coast - Fade Away (feature Album 28 October 2013)
Cass McCombs - Big Wheel & Others (Feature Album 21 October 2013) Zeahorse - Pools (Feature Album 14 October 2013) Mazzy Star - Seasons Of Your Day (Feature Album 7 October 2013) |
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Listen to the MadfaMusic Feature Albums from September here
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Adalita - All Day Venus (Feature Album 30 September 2013)
Sebadoh - Defend Yourself (Feature Album 23 September 2013) Ty Segall - Sleeper (Feature Album 16 September 2013) Washed Out - Paracosm (Feature Album 9 September 2013) Horrorshow - King Amongst Many (Feature Album 2 September 2013) |
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Listen to the MadfaMusic Feature Albums from August here
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King Krule - 6 Feet Beneath the Moon (Feature Album 26 Aug 2013)
Laura Veirs - Warp and Weft (Feature Album 19 August 2013) Pixies - Doolittle (Feature Album 'from the vault' 12 August 2013) Pond - Hobo Rocket (Feature Album 5 August 2013) |
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Listen to the MadfaMusic Feature Albums from July here
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Pluto Jonze - Eject (Feature Album 29 July 2013)
Ben Mason - Holes and Corners (Feature Album 22 July 2013) Jessica Pratt - Jessica Pratt (Feature Album 15 July 2013) Kieran Ryan - Kieran Ryan (Feature Album 8 July 2013) Jagwar Ma - Howlin' (Feature Album 1 July 2013) |
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Listen to the MadfaMusic Feature Albums from June here
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Tricky - False Idols (Feature Album 24 June 2013)
Junip - Junip (Feature Album 17 June 2013) Jen Cloher - In Blood Memory (Feature Album 10 June 2013) Laura Marling - Once I Was An Eagle (Feature Album 3 June 2013) |
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Listen to the MadfaMusic Feature Albums from May here
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Hanni El Khatib - Head in the Dirt (Feature Album 27 May 2013)
James Blake - Overgrown (Feature Album 20 May 2013) Super Wild Horses - Crosswords (Feature Album 13 May 2013) Matthew E. White - Big Inner (Feature Album 6 May 2013) |
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Listen to the MadfaMusic Feature Albums from April here
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The Black Angels - Indigo Meadow (Feature Album 29 April 2013)
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Mosquito (Feature Album 22 April 2013) Kurt Vile - Wakin on a Pretty Daze (Feature Album 15 April 2013) Unknown Mortal Orchestra - II (Feature Album 7 April 2013) |
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