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DEAD SEA APES – HIGH EVOLUTIONARY
(Ltd edition long player from Cardinal Fuzz http://cardinalfuzz.bigcartel.com/)

It’s been quite a wait for Dead Sea Apes’ much anticipated follow-up to 2011’s splendid Lupus (although in the meantime we’ve been treated to 2013’s equally enthralling split with Black Tempest). Rest assured though that the adage of good things come to those who wait holds true. If anything “High Evolution” is more deliciously dense and brooding than anything the Apes have served up previously.

The ominously apocalyptic and cinematic feel of “Threads” features the trademark twang of guitarist Brett Savage, now hopefully recovered from a serious illness which held up the album’s release. There’s only minimal respite before the dubby, dope-den strains of Planetarium draw you into its murky web eventually building into a heavy and unsettling wall of sound. Other dark delights include “Turpentine” – electro-acid folk cranked all the way up – the turbo-charged raga rock of “Regolith” and “Wolf II”, which reworks in disconcerting glory “Wolf of the Bees” from the debut. Oh and in case you are the under the impression that DSA are just noise merchants, check out the rather groovy, Latin infused “Alejandro” then stick whatever it is you want to in your pipe and smoke it.

To say that DSA buffs will not be disappointed is a bit like saying that Pink Floyd fans may well be slightly curious about the “new album” – well I know which one will get pride of place on the audio systems of choice hereabouts. A long-awaited triumph without a doubt, although I’d make a plea for them play live more often outside of the M62 motorway corridor. You see, there’s just no pleasing some people.

(Ian Fraser)

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RHYTON – KYKEON
(Vinyl/CD/MP3 from Thrill Jockey www.thrilljockey.com)

The Brooklyn NY based trio of Dave Shuford (D Charles Speer and the Helix); Jimy SaiTang and Rob Smith comprise the intriguing and I would guess quite singular Rhyton and Kykeon is their third long player - which just goes to show that the more you think you know the more you have to learn, because LPs one and two passed me by, I’m ashamed to say. (Phil's review of 'the Emerald Tablet' can be found here.) I say ashamed because Kykeon is most impressive and I now wonder what I’ve been missing.

“Siren in Byblos” is just that, an extreme blast of electronics that would not be out of place on a Merzbow release. Bit by bit it is challenged by a shuffling beat eventually morphing into a groovy Greek-flecked jam featuring Shuford’s guitar and some airy organ work. Initial noise terror aside, it pretty much sets the tone for what follows as the threesome take traditional instrumentation and musical scales steeped in Greek and Middle Eastern tradition and mix with the instrumental trappings of rock and contemporary arrangements to pretty fine effect. The result is an inventive and times pretty sublime fusion of hazy psychedelic jamming that is sure to find a soft spot with world music enthusiasts. “Topkapi” is probably the finest example of this with its stripped back folksy base coat overlaid but not overpowered by improvised guitar, bass and drums. The funkier “Gneiss” is practically gets the old head nodding while another highlight, the upbeat “Pannychis” gives the impression of a pan-global hoedown which gets a bit down and dirty in the middle before returning to its Appalachia meets Aleppo barn stomp. It then segues into the insane California Black Box Vapours – a freakout of seismic strength and which holds considerable appeal to these ears. The landing comes courtesy of “The Striped Sun”, a strung-out, end of party comedown that nevertheless still has a potent and most gratifying sting in the tail.
With Kykeon, then, Shuford and co have polished up a delightful and pretty diverting little nugget and one which is definitely worth taking the time to track down and to get to know.

(Ian Fraser)

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Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band - Le Nouvel Hippodrome, Paris 1977
(2CD from Gonzo Multimedia )

Gonzo’s latest trawl of the good Captain’s live archive takes us back to 1977 and the start of Don Van Vliet’s critical rehabilitation following the ill-advised commercial years, which were anything but. As with the recent Gonzo release taken from Beefheart’s last tour in 1982, there is the element of it having been recorded from within someone’s coat in cubicle three of the men’s room but boy is there plenty to enjoy here! The fact that the gig itself was one of Beefheart’s favourites augurs well as does his assertion that this was his best band ever. Well they all say that at the time, but the inclusion of Denny “Feelers Rebo” Walley as well as latter-day mainstays Eric Drew Feldman and Jan Morris Tepper in the line-up makes a pretty strong case for the defence.

Across two discs, the band powers through the Magic Band back-catalogue - “Abba Zabba” and Electricity” from Safe As Milk, quite a few from Clear Spot and The Spotlight Kid albums (“Click Clack” and “Big Eyed Beans” from Venus for instance) and several cuts from – yes – Trout Mask Replica (“Dali’s Car”, “The Blimp” and “Pachuco Cadaver” included). However there is a hint of what was to come in the following year’s masterpiece Shiny Beast with the inclusion of what were then three new numbers “Suction Prints”, “Bat Chain Puller” and “Floppy Boot Stomp”. The present day Magic Band (surely one of the world’s most authentic tribute acts and which features Walley) still play these in their live set. Raucous, playful, chaotic and with several helpings of Don’s often surreal between song observations, make this a rollercoaster of a ride with of course Vliet’s alternating yelp and growl the totem around which the mayhem kicks, jack-knifes and swirls.

There are now so many posthumous live releases doing the rounds that you might be forgiven for wondering whether Beefheart was a sub-domain of the Grateful Dead. It’s becoming a job to know where to start, unless of course you are a completist-with-funds. Audiophiles may demur but if you are prepared to make allowances for the lo-fi sound quality and disproportionate audience noise (lookee! No overdubs boss) then this might be as good a place as any to wade in. Fans should love it.

(Ian Fraser)

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OldTestament –S/T
(Ltd edition Vinyl/CD from Cardinal Fuzz and Evil Hoodoo )

You know what it’s like, you receive a download link, click, save, play then go about your business. Then in pretty short order you find yourself thinking this sounds just like that guy out of Dead Meadow who sings a bit like a drowsy Tom Petty. And do you know something? It is the very same guy from Dead Meadow who sings a bit like a drowsy Tom Petty (Jason Simon, of course) and Old Testament is his amped down, countrified side-project, melding the Byrds’ jingle-jangle (“Skin and Bone”), Bob and The Band hipster up country trademark (“Summer Grass” and “Let Me In”), Doors-like organ driven swagger and raga structures (“Key to the King”, “Now As In Ancient Times”) and indeed a semi-unplugged Dead Meadow (a stoned and bluesy “Trip Light”). In short a load of stuff long on quality but which falls just outside Dead Meadows regular beat. Delicious reverb guitar vies with midnight bar room honky-tonk on “Movin’ On” and receives uplift in the form of “Dallas” which has shades of Neil Young in his country rock phase even down to the waver in the voice. It’s a gas, both musically and lyrically and almost as fulfilling as the hillbilly stomp of “Josephine” which is probably worth the asking price alone and guaranteed to get you all tribal stomping and moonshine guzzling out there in Terrascope Land. You might think Simon and co chance their arms a little too far on the closing “Time to Rest” – reverb drenched fairground folk featuring prominent harmonium and mouth harp - but it works its idiosyncratic charm to fine effect and provides a fitting end to an ambitious and thoroughly worthwhile diversion from Jason Simon’s day job.

(Ian Fraser)

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Sharon Crutcher Brilliant Shroud (Limited edition CD from Reverb Worship )

It seems like ages since Book of Shadows mainman Carlton Crutcher promised us a solo album by BoS vocalist and wife Sharon. Indeed it seems a while since any Book of Shadows releases have graced these pages but that’s a different box of frogs entirely. Here then is that much awaited solo outing from Sharon Crutcher and it is striking in so many ways. The sound is sparser and more accessible than most B of S releases and features mostly Sharon compositions (her writing credits for the parent band tend to be overshadowed by the likes of Aaron Bennack who occasionally pops up here and the magic legend “improvised by”). It is also notable not only for more structured and measured compositions but – gasp – lyrics as opposed to free-form vocalisations that are a hallmark of the parent band.

Musically this possesses, as you might expect, a witchy and spiritual quality. Such is evident from the outset on such as “Smoke on Mirrors” and “Namaste”, the latter featuring just Sharon’s spoken word and self accompaniment on bubbling and fizzing “keys”. For the most part though she is abetted by Carlton with occasional guest duties performed by trusted sidekicks including brother-in-law Joel Crutcher (ST 37) and the aforementioned Bennack who features on his own “Love is a Seed”, one of only two tracks penned by other than Sharon. The other is Bobby Baker’s “Elephant Tree No 1”, a delectably echoey and lysergic take on Mazzy Star.

“Where Do We Go From Here” is no less spooky than many of the early tracks but if you were to have told me that this was an outtake from Massive Attack’s “Mezzanine” album circa their collaboration with Cocteau Twin, Elizabeth Fraser, I would have fallen for it. In the event I have fallen for its infectious and hypnotic beat and exquisite vocal with its semi-legible lyrics (a particular Fraser E trait). It represents something of a high water mark and whereas a number of subsequent cuts come very close (the enchanted and enchanting “Radiant Childe”, “Love Is A Seed” and “Nrisna Mantra” to name but three) I am not sure it is bettered. “Old Sweetie” could be the best song Enya never recorded while nudging in an even more commercial direction – one uses the term advisedly – is “Shifting to the 5th Dimension” which comes over like a remix of one of those Jah Wobble/Sinead O’Connor link-ups from Invaders of the Lost Heart. The remainder of the album though reverts to its woozy, sensuous and thoroughly captivating type and all the better for that says I.

On their website, label Reverb Worship refer to Sharon Crutcher as the “first lady of psychedelic space music”. A big claim and of course some, such as devotees of Gong’s Gilli Smyth for example, may beg to differ. However I for one am in complete agreement. Brilliant Shroud is a revelation and dare I say has been well worth the wait. Now here’s the rub. Like so many of the fine works we are privileged to review here at the Terrascope, this is a strictly limited release on a small independent label. With only 40 copies currently in circulation this is destined to become a lost classic very quickly. Grab one before it fades into the world of twilight spirits.

(Ian Fraser)

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GRASSHOPPER – DARK SABBATH: SYMBOLS OF EVIL ( physical and digital from www.hausumountain.com )

Let’s be clear from the outset, brass and electronics duo Jesse DeRosa and Josh Millrod from Brooklyn, New York, serve up broodingly malevolent “dark drone” capable of giving even you cowl and cloak fans out there the creeps. As a soundtrack to the most perverse cinematic adaptation of any Lovecraft nightmare you care to imagine then I would defy anyone to find anything more terrifying or appropriate out there at this moment.

Four tracks and four (to all intents and purposes) instrumental statements of malicious and no doubt to some ears delicious intent comprise the album. “Snake Crucifix”, slithers and creaks from the caverns, an ominous slab dragger of evil intent and execution. It is slow, it is scary, it seems incessant, it has you checking the exits (by now surely locked and bolted). It works a treat. “Inverted Cross of Satanic Justice” (no chance of clemency on this occasion, your honour? Too bad) is almost playful in comparison with Snake Crucifix, or maybe I’m becoming desensitised already. Not a chance, as bar by bar it grows into a crescendo of electronics and trumpet, before finally subsiding into a succession of icy blasts.

“Bitches Sabbath” resonates like a myriad of skittering creatures of indeterminable abomination and a library of hellish noises. It all sounds like a demonically possessed, Teeth of the Sea. This is where the game of dare begins – do you crank up the volume even higher or do you use the safe word? Hell no one can hear you scream let alone use the safe word. Better resign yourself to your fate, Pilgrim. Go on turn it up. You know you want to. Lord knows I did. And so to “Birth of Blood”, the last in our series of happy-go-lucky titles, then. A gentle, deceptively innocent yet sinister see-saw opener with what initially sounds like someone strimming grass in the background, but which evolves, or should that be degenerates, into a fiendish grinding as if Messrs DeRosa and Millrod are disassembling something or, heavens forefend, dismembering someone. The whirring grows to an anguished wail, while still the trumpet plays, just perceptibly, over the cataclysmic sonic maelstrom.

How I wished I’d had the presence of mind to have played this on Halloween. Not only would it have heightened the festival atmosphere rather appropriately but would have scared the living daylights out of those pesky trick or treaters and apple bobbers. As it was I had to make do with hiding behind the curtains with a cricket bat (hell, there’s only so much I’m prepared to import from across the Big Pond).

As it was no one showed...

Ahem. Best move on to the epilogue I think.

This work is, to say the least, intense almost to the point of bowel moving on occasion, whilst cleverly avoiding the pitfall of noise for the sake of it which unfortunately is a bear trap more extreme exponents often stumble into. There is enough restraint for this to still be a recognisably musical art form and a gloriously, horrifying one at that. Play loud and be afraid, be very afraid, but above all, enjoy it. I did.

Therapy begins next week. Meanwhile where can I score more of this stuff?

(Ian Fraser)

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HOOKWORMS – THE HUM (All formats from Weird World http://www.weirdworldrecordco.com)

When interviewed by Terrascope last year in the wake of their success with Pearl Mystic (see Features section) Hookworms promised a more concise and accessible sound pitched somewhere between the Modern Lovers and Velvet Underground. Now signed to Domino subsidiary Weird World and with hopefully a bit of distribution and PR clout to help them, “The Hum” provides a logical extension to the band’s sound which while by no means dissimilar to its predecessor (you’ll nail this one at a blind-listening within a millisecond of singer MJ drawing breath to deliver his histrionic vocal on eye-popping opener “Impasse”) is a more focussed and mature effort. Sure the key ingredients are all there, prominent psychedelic organ, weighty drumming, and a scuzzy, high octane garage punk attitude, yet it hangs together rather better than Pearl Mystic – itself a fine body of work not far removed from most critics’ “best of” lists of 2013. The band members are still known by monogram rather than by name, though, an act not only of self-preservation but one which conveys a subversive insolence. While hardly in keeping with their agreeable personas this does the band no harm image-wise whilst fitting perfectly with what is still a dangerous as well as distinct sound.

“Radio Tokyo” is the single which in effect acted as an out-rider for The Hum even though released in the wake of Pearl Mystic. With its stripped down sound and with vocals seemingly a little less reliant on MJ’s Roland Space Echo it certainly delivers on the ‘Worms statement of intent even to the extent that it has an almost soulful and most definitely danceable groove to it. “On Leaving” is the track currently on heavy rotation though, being the latest track to garner an individual release and is one of three or four killer cuts from The Hum no doubt destined to be something of a fan’s favourite. It also hints at some rather well publicised health problems which MJ was able to work through around the time of Pearl Mystic. “Beginners” is an uplifting, up-beat romp that will get them slamming in the mosh pit but which still carries a decent melody in the chorus and the bridge – something which the band manages to carry off particularly well throughout The Hum, partly due to the tasteful juxtaposition between MJ’s keys and his vocals (high register but with far less of the yelping brattiness than the guy from Bo Ningen). “Off Screen” is a throwback to Pearl Mystic – a woozy Primal Scream/Spiritualised-style anti-ballad that ushers in the comedown, whilst also linking The Hum with its illustrious predecessor are the instrumental vignettes (“iv”, “v” and “vi” which follow on from last year’s “i”, “ii” and “iii” and which in fact occupy tracks 1, 2 and 3 here). Reverb rocker “Retreat” brings our short sharp and distinctly pleasurable shock to a skidding halt in righteous fashion, coming across like a more excitable twin of “On Leaving”.

So there we have it, that difficult second album has been negotiated with honours (of course it was the difficult third in my day but then that’s society all over nowadays). Where next though for Hookworms? It remains to be seen whether they can pull off a three card trick with this same sound and structure or whether they intend to take a daring leap into an equally brave new world. Whatever their decision and with or without a net or a parchute, you’d be ill advised not to be there when it happens.

(Ian Fraser)

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THE MYRRORS – BURNING CIRCLES IN THE SKY
(CD bonus tracks edition from Cardinal Fuzz http://cardinalfuzz.bigcartel.com/)

Originally released in 2008, Burning Circles in the Sky sold out before most people knew it even existed. It has since attained mythical status, all the more so because Arizona’ The Myrrors then embarked on an extended hiatus, resurfacing last year to record much anticipated follow-up Solar Collector. Now thanks to Cardinal Fuzz (where DO they find all these mind-meltingly groovy sounds) it is available on limited edition CD with extra tracks. Of course by the time you read this the good folk at CF will probably be hanging down the backs of sofas looking for the few remaining copies. Ah you know how it goes, just blame the tardy reviewer and be done with it.

I’m going to make a bold claim here. Burning Circles in the Sky is, pretty much without exception, the most authentic latter day psychedelic work of sonic art that it has been my privilege to come across. With little if any doffing of the cap either towards 80s drone monsters Spacemen 3 or Loop or the more recent trend to World/Dance-up the psych experience (sitars excepted) it is possible to completely immerse oneself, in spirit at least, in the outer limits of late 1960s counter-cultural South West USA.

Things start short and get longer. Lively opener “Mind’s Eye” with its backwards guitars and “Plateau Skull’s” tribal desert weirdness clock in at less than three minutes apiece. Then the incessant tambourine, eastern sprinkles and deep-in-the-canyon guitar of the title track evokes strange and dangerously charismatic cults. Pass on the mescaline, I would. All very good, you might reckon and you’d be right, but then things really hot up. Not in terms of pace, I grant you. These all burn slowly but intensely. “Warpaint” is one of two must-haves for the monthly download and which could well find its way onto Terrascope’s next Soundcloud Playlist. A neat and catchy guitar hook provides the constant star around which all other activity– a languid bass, near funereal tom-tom drumming and typically lethargic-sounding vocal – orbits. There is a short squall of searing guitar, almost like a dying ember kicking briefly back into life and then nothing. Difficult to top, perhaps, but I reckon “Mother of all Living”, at 16 minutes duration, takes the mother of all plaudits. Mournful mouth organ, that ever-present tambourine and the sound of crickets again evokes a vast and eerie outdoor vista. An astral jam which wouldn’t disgrace Country Joe and the Fish is the hallmark of the third quarter before the mood becomes increasingly muted, just a simple drum motif and a vague, atmospheric hum which gradually fades to silence. The two bonus tracks – the sitar saturated recitals, “Ayllu” and the lengthy, brooding “Pyramids” – are not to be sniffed at either and amount to much more than the standard filler used to pad out a lot of CD editions.

I came late to this but am glad I found it. As early(ish) Christmas presents go it’s most gratifying. It certainly beats the knitted sweater and mulled wine hands down as well as most of 2014 output and, let’s face it, it hasn’t been a bad year. To paraphrase an irksome TV advert “Terrascope doesn’t do end of year lists, but if it did...”.

(Ian Fraser)