Thou – Baton Rouge, You Have Much To Answer For (Robotic Empire)
There are albums in which the understanding of a single, unifying element is the key to grasping the totality of the music contained therein – a sort of Rosetta Stone which helps give some insight into the artist’s creative process and can render the arcane relatable. When listening to the newest release from Baton Rouge doom metal outfit Thou, the final song – a distended cover of Nirvana’s “Sifting” – serves that purpose well. Not that Thou sounds like Nirvana per se, but there are analogs in the aesthetics of each band – a sluggish punk-infused rawness, a strangled sense of melody – which carry over from the latter to the former.
Of course, most listeners likely would not immediately notice the Nirvana influence – the comparison relates more to a creative approach, and musically rings truest primarily during the queasy dissonance of “By Every Hand Betrayed”– sonically, the record is far more allied with a handful of the more memorable doom metal acts of the past twenty years or so. Vocally, the most readily apparent comparison is to their fellow Louisianians in Eyehategod, a harsh death rasp that is unfalteringly caustic. Musically, the band veers towards the minor-key gloom of Burning Witch or Samothrace but, on songs like “Out Of The Mouth Of A Fool,” manages to intersperse spacey psychedelic passages which would not be out of place on recent Boris albums, an effective means of breaking up the monolithic darkness.
Despite the album’s lumbering pace, however, there is a sense of energy contained in the songs which belie their tempo (which varies from plodding to trudging depending on the song), a fierce anger directed towards an apathetic and exploitative world, a stance more closely aligned with the band’s punk origins than the largely apolitical doom metal scene. The lyrics are bleak, often reading like T.S. Eliot by way of Discharge, but not without a guarded sense of hope. “Decimation may be our only saving grace,” howls singer Brian Funcke “or will we stand eternal?” There is a lyrical subtlety on this album as well, at least, compared to previous releases – whereas earlier albums had featured the bluntness of songs like “Smoke Pigs,” Thou’s newest album relies less on didactic extremes than it does on ruminations on late capitalist spiritual annihilation. Their approach is reminiscent of many ‘90s hardcore bands like Ire or His Hero Is Gone, who understood the power of a slow tempo to emphasize the world-weariness in their gloomy sound – a glacial pace conveys desolation extremely effectively.
Thou’s newest release is a challenging album, and not just in the standard record review sense of the word “challenging.” It is uneasy listening, to be sure, but it is no more or less than a reflection of the world as seen through the eyes of the frustrated and the aware. There is no escapism, no niceties – only four extended meditations on desolation, oppression, and the redemptive, cathartic power of well-focused anger. by Graham Scala
Flying Lotus – Cosmogramma (Warp Records)
It must be pretty cool being Flying Lotus. I mean, he made a name for himself on Adult Swim of all places making the bumper music between some of our fave new school cartoons, then promptly moved in to take over the underground beat scene with the abstract ease of a seasoned vet. I can’t lie, I got up on FlyLo a bit late by some people’s standards and became a fan just before his first full length Los Angeles was released on Warp Records in 2008. Since that album dropped I’ve been attached to every artist and release on his Brainfeeder label hoping to get a taste of what his next full length would have in store. Nothing really prepared me for the masterpiece that dropped on May 3rd, 2010. Yeah I gave it away: I LOVE this album and I’m about to tell you why.
Jazz. Flying Lotus (born Steve Ellison) is the nephew of Alice Coltrane and John Coltrane. This cat has jazz vibes running through his blood and it becomes more evident than ever on Cossmogramma. This album feels more like an extension of the experimental jazz interpretations that both John and Alice experimented with later in their careers but FlyLo has managed to merge that aesthetic with the modern progressive beat production movement which is where his popular foundation is most firm. The space horns and free jazz drums of “Arkestry” would fit in comfortably played after John Coltrane’s “Om” , while the vocal/piano/string arrangement of “Mmmhmm” could easily be used as part of the score to a 70s Sun Ra blaxploitation flick. The lead single “Do the Astral Plane” is a 4 on the floor uptempo groove that is a good representation of the album as a whole and Thom Yorke’s low key cameo on “…And the World Laughs With You” is just one of many quality vocal performances spiced throughout this primarily instrumental album.
Cosmogramma will definitely turn a few ears up when you put it on at a party. If that’s not your scene then put it on and surprise yourself. There’s a lot in this album from the free jazz/dubstep blends of “Recoiled” to the galactic space funk of “Nose Art” so take your time to enjoy this audio soundtrack in it’s entirety. It’s worth the 42 minutes. Trust me. by Mikemetic
Thou – Baton Rouge, You Have Much To Answer For (Robotic Empire)
There are albums in which the understanding of a single, unifying element is the key to grasping the totality of the music contained therein – a sort of Rosetta Stone which helps give some insight into the artist’s creative process and can render the arcane relatable. When listening to the newest release from Baton Rouge doom metal outfit Thou, the final song – a distended cover of Nirvana’s “Sifting” – serves that purpose well. Not that Thou sounds like Nirvana per se, but there are analogs in the aesthetics of each band – a sluggish punk-infused rawness, a strangled sense of melody – which carry over from the latter to the former.
Of course, most listeners likely would not immediately notice the Nirvana influence – the comparison relates more to a creative approach, and musically rings truest primarily during the queasy dissonance of “By Every Hand Betrayed”– sonically, the record is far more allied with a handful of the more memorable doom metal acts of the past twenty years or so. Vocally, the most readily apparent comparison is to their fellow Louisianians in Eyehategod, a harsh death rasp that is unfalteringly caustic. Musically, the band veers towards the minor-key gloom of Burning Witch or Samothrace but, on songs like “Out Of The Mouth Of A Fool,” manages to intersperse spacey psychedelic passages which would not be out of place on recent Boris albums, an effective means of breaking up the monolithic darkness.
Despite the album’s lumbering pace, however, there is a sense of energy contained in the songs which belie their tempo (which varies from plodding to trudging depending on the song), a fierce anger directed towards an apathetic and exploitative world, a stance more closely aligned with the band’s punk origins than the largely apolitical doom metal scene. The lyrics are bleak, often reading like T.S. Eliot by way of Discharge, but not without a guarded sense of hope. “Decimation may be our only saving grace,” howls singer Brian Funcke “or will we stand eternal?” There is a lyrical subtlety on this album as well, at least, compared to previous releases – whereas earlier albums had featured the bluntness of songs like “Smoke Pigs,” Thou’s newest album relies less on didactic extremes than it does on ruminations on late capitalist spiritual annihilation. Their approach is reminiscent of many ‘90s hardcore bands like Ire or His Hero Is Gone, who understood the power of a slow tempo to emphasize the world-weariness in their gloomy sound – a glacial pace conveys desolation extremely effectively.
Thou’s newest release is a challenging album, and not just in the standard record review sense of the word “challenging.” It is uneasy listening, to be sure, but it is no more or less than a reflection of the world as seen through the eyes of the frustrated and the aware. There is no escapism, no niceties – only four extended meditations on desolation, oppression, and the redemptive, cathartic power of well-focused anger. by Graham Scala
Flying Lotus – Cosmogramma (Warp Records)
It must be pretty cool being Flying Lotus. I mean, he made a name for himself on Adult Swim of all places making the bumper music between some of our fave new school cartoons, then promptly moved in to take over the underground beat scene with the abstract ease of a seasoned vet. I can’t lie, I got up on FlyLo a bit late by some people’s standards and became a fan just before his first full length Los Angeles was released on Warp Records in 2008. Since that album dropped I’ve been attached to every artist and release on his Brainfeeder label hoping to get a taste of what his next full length would have in store. Nothing really prepared me for the masterpiece that dropped on May 3rd, 2010. Yeah I gave it away: I LOVE this album and I’m about to tell you why.
Jazz. Flying Lotus (born Steve Ellison) is the nephew of Alice Coltrane and John Coltrane. This cat has jazz vibes running through his blood and it becomes more evident than ever on Cossmogramma. This album feels more like an extension of the experimental jazz interpretations that both John and Alice experimented with later in their careers but FlyLo has managed to merge that aesthetic with the modern progressive beat production movement which is where his popular foundation is most firm. The space horns and free jazz drums of “Arkestry” would fit in comfortably played after John Coltrane’s “Om” , while the vocal/piano/string arrangement of “Mmmhmm” could easily be used as part of the score to a 70s Sun Ra blaxploitation flick. The lead single “Do the Astral Plane” is a 4 on the floor uptempo groove that is a good representation of the album as a whole and Thom Yorke’s low key cameo on “…And the World Laughs With You” is just one of many quality vocal performances spiced throughout this primarily instrumental album.
Cosmogramma will definitely turn a few ears up when you put it on at a party. If that’s not your scene then put it on and surprise yourself. There’s a lot in this album from the free jazz/dubstep blends of “Recoiled” to the galactic space funk of “Nose Art” so take your time to enjoy this audio soundtrack in it’s entirety. It’s worth the 42 minutes. Trust me. by Mikemetic
