#The Sundae Painters

[dustedmagazine]

Slept Ons: 2023

Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter

If you write for Dusted, you listen to music all the time and you try, at least within your general area of interest, to stay current with what’s current. Ask any of our significant others, and they’ll say we listen to too much music, to which we inevitably reply “What’s that, this ‘too much’ you speak of?” We listen to music while we’re eating, while we’re working, while we’re exercising, while we’re driving from one place to another, even while we’re brushing our teeth sometimes; though, admittedly, the sound quality is not that great in the bathroom.

Even so, we miss things. Here, in what has become an annual tradition, we revisit some of the albums that slipped away in one fashion or another, the ones that we kept putting off until it was too late, the ones we somehow didn’t catch wind of until well into January, the ones we discovered tardily on other people’s lists and year-end podcasts and radio shows. So here are our late finds, a favorite or two each that we never got the chance to write about. Fortunately, unlike bread and fresh fruit and bunches of cilantro, albums don’t go bad if you let them sit for a while.

Die Enttäuschung und Alexander Von Schlippenbach — Monk’s Casino Live At Au Topsi Pohl (Two Nineteen)

This record wasn’t so much slept on as patiently sleuthed. Die Enttäuschung, the long-running German quartet (their name translates as The Disappointment, an appellation that says more about their sense of humor than the quality of their ever-buoyant reimagining of bebop and early free jazz) started selling it at gigs in the spring of 2023. I bided my time, and when I made it to Berlin last fall, scoring a copy was on my agenda. To this day, the record and the internet are near strangers; while you can buy it from Bandcamp, there’s no download, streaming or videos. So, you’ll have to just take it from me that Die Enttäuschung’s reunion with now-octogenarian pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach will take wrinkles off your brow. The first time that these musicians recorded together as Monk’s Casino, back in 2005, they performed every one of Thelonious Monk’s compositions over three CDs; pith was essential. The repertoire hasn’t changed this time, but the approach is looser. Crammed into the intimate confines of the now-shuttered Au Topsi Pohl just as Omicron started ruining parties, the five musicians goose the tempos, spike the solos with impertinence, and veer around Monk’s sharp angles with a combination of intimate familiarity and belt-busting abandon.

Bill Meyer

Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter — SAVED! (Perpetual Flame Ministries)

Not slept on so much as avoided— and why, at this point I am not entirely sure. When I saw Kristin Hayter perform under her previous Lingua Ignota moniker back in December of 2022, she opened with a set of devotional songs on piano, a variety of metallic objects set and chains draped across the instrument’s interior string works. It was extraordinary, and SAVED! features the same basic set of raw, austere elements: that prepared piano, Hayter’s remarkable voice and the problematics of faith. The avoidance may stem from my own fraught relations to the sort of grim Protestantism Hayter reimagines; I spend some time around fire-and-brimstone Baptism as a child, and it left a mark on me. She wove some of that language and those textures into the excellent Lingua Ignota record Sinner Get Ready, but there they were much more symbolic, and largely couched in specific fundamentalisms (Amish and Mennonite) that distanced them somewhat. The sounds and spiritual gestures on SAVED! are a good deal more familiar to me, and they haunt. Likely the haunting is the point. Certainly “All of My Friends Are Going to Hell” and “I Know His Blood Can Make Me Whole” smolder and then burn with varieties of hellfire I have smelled before. One can also hear those songs more metaphorically, and “I Will Be with You Always” (the best thing on the record) is replete with images and intensities that call to multiple levels of meaning, simultaneously and sublimely. SAVED! is a hard record for me to listen to, and that’s why I have come, somewhat belatedly, to prize it so highly.

Jonathan Shaw

Illusion of Safety — Pastoral (Korm Plastics)

Daniel Burke has been carefully and consistently nurturing his Illusion of Safety project for 40 years, and I’ve been embarrassingly ignorant of the output until now. Burke released multiple audio artifacts in 2023, including a 40th anniversary ten-cassette box set, so choosing a single album to write about for the Slept On column was a daunting undertaking. Pastoral is unique in that it shows off a more delicate and expansive side of the Illusion of Safety oeuvre. It’s also one of the few music-focused objects that the stalwart Korm Plastics label has released in years; the imprint focuses on the written word these days. Sonically, Burke has established a series of vignettes that follow a similar pattern. The music flows from short, sharp attacks into lengthy sustained quietude. Burke unleashes his jarring, frantic salvos both percussively and synthetically, and these brief but unsettling periods morph into slowly churning drone swarms. Given that this is just one example of Burke’s sonic vernacular, I’m excited to hear more. Thankfully, when it comes to Illusion of Safety, I’ve been a veritable Rip Van Winkle.

Bryon Hayes

Malla — Fresko (Solina)

So slept on was Malla Malmivaara’s second solo album that even the normally reliable Beehype missed it, but even if you did happen to notice its inclusion on my midyear list, overstating how well-crafted and immersive Fresko’s dance-pop tracks are is hard to do. It makes sense given she’s better known for her acting career, but Malla’s been in the Finnish music game for a long time, too — first in the short-lived mid-aughts house trio Elisabeth Underground, then as herself with 2019’s “Sabrina” single (which got a Jori Hulkkonen remix, a guy who once redid M83) that ended up paving the way for her self-titled 2021 debut full-length. Despite using similar synth arpeggios and a healthy dose of vocal reverb as she did on Malla, Fresko is a little bit darker, moodier, more down in it. Lead single “Moi” (“hi” in English) tells the tale, its perfectly crafted video full of young Rolf Ekroth models doing things like looking impossibly cool in ridiculous outfits and having fashion shows with ATVs in snowy back alley Helsinki parking lots are a perfect marriage of audio and video, images and a melody burned in my brain the moment I saw it. It is very much a dance record flush with tech-house tweaks and no grander artistic ambitions, but Malla’s barely crested 40; now that she’s pledged more time to her music career, it’s entirely possible Fresko is but a warmup for something bolder — and even if it’s not, you could do much worse than a third album full of body movers like this. Hi is right.

Patrick Masterson

Kevin Richard Martin – Black (Intercranial)

Ostensibly a eulogy to Amy Winehouse, Kevin Richard Martin’s Black is a deeply humane expression of isolation, loss and grief. Built from the ground up, the bass deep and warm, swathes of glacial arpeggiated synths and beats that hint at the club. Notes echo and ripple away to create silhouettes of solitude, a tangible manifestation of absence. Despite the deep weight of his music, Martin imbues Black with an incredible delicacy. His abstract architecture allows the mind to roam and the listener to connect with emotional truths. It’s the balance Martin finds between the particular and universal that gives Black it’s power. In the strutting bassline of “Camden Crawling” smeared with narco/alcoholic fuzz, the looming threat of “Blake’s Shadow” and the bleary saxophone in “Belgrade Meltdown” there are the faintest echoes of Winehouse’s sound which emerge from the depths of Martin’s echo chambers. A work of terrible sadness, great beauty, empathy and comfort.

Andrew Forell

Derek Monypeny — Cibola (2182 Recording Company)

Cibola eased into the world as 2022 turned into 2023, but it took me nearly a year to get to it. Monypeny is a confirmed westerner, having lived in Arizona, Oregon, and (currently) the California desert, and an awareness of both the wrongfulness and the good fortune of living in that neck of the woods infuses Cibola, which is named for one of the American southwest’s legendary cities of gold (helpful hint; if you ever encounter a conquistador looking for gold, tell them it’s somewhere else). Monypeny alternates between guitar, shahi baaja, and on electric autoharp the LP’s seven tracks, and Kevin Corcoran contributes time-stopping metal percussion to one of them. The music likewise toggles between stark evocations of space and swirling submersions into nether states. In either mode, Monypeny effectively suggests the gorgeous immensity and pitiless history of the land around him.

Bill Meyer

The Sundae Painters — S-T (Flying Nun)

One minute, The Sundae Painters are churning wild screes of noisy guitar, the next they construct airy psychedelic pop songs of a rare unstudied grace. The band is a super group of sorts — Paul Kean and Kaye Woodward of the Bats, Alex Bathgate of the Tall Dwarfs and the late Hamish Kilgour of the Clean — convening in loose-limbed, joyful mayhem in songs that glisten and shimmer and roar. “Hollow Way” roils thick, muddy textures of drone up from the bottom, the slippery bent notes of sitar (that’s Bathgate) and Woodward’s diaphanous vocals floating free of a visceral murk. “Aversion” lets unhinged guitar shards fly over the thump of grounding drums as Kilgour chants inscrutable poetry. The two HAP tracks, I and II, stretch out in locked-in, psychotropic grooves, relentless forward motion somehow dissolving into an endless ecstatic now. This full-length, sadly the only one we’ll ever have from the Sundae Painters now that Kilgour is gone, is as good as anything that its esteemed participants ever did in their more famous bands, and that’s saying a lot.

Jennifer Kelly

U SCO — Catchin’ Heat (Self Released)

Here’s the extent of what I currently know: Someone I have on Facebook posted a link to it as one of his favorite records of the year, and someone I don’t know responded that they bought a copy of the cassette before the first track even finished. U SCO are Jon Scheid (bass), Ryan Miller (guitar), and Phil Cleary (Drums) and they are from and/or based in Portland Oregon. According to Discogs and Bandcamp Catchin’ Heat is the first thing they’ve released since 2016. That’s it! I started listened to this with the same box-checking, due diligence energy I tend to have for the dozen or so records I hear about one way or another after I’ve already done my year-end writing; most of them, every year, I don’t even make it through one play (the fatigue has fully set in by this point in the process). But sure enough before the end of that first track, I knew this was going to have to be the record I slept on. It’s perfectly structured, with extra-long, absolute blowouts beginning and ending the record, the second and second-last tracks being the two shortest and the only moments of relative calm, and the middle two making up a strong core that both brings in some elements not found elsewhere on Catchin’ Heat (the vocals on “trrrem”) and is just the most straightforward version of the absolute burners U SCO can clearly summon up on command (“woe dimension”). As great and arresting as that opening track is, though, the closing “abyssal hymn” might be the real highlight here, bringing in clarinet and saxophone to add a whole new layer of skronk to what they’re cooking. I’ve listened to this record about 10 times in a couple of days, and they deserve to sell out of that run of cassettes.

Ian Mathers

[bandcampsnoop]

10/6/23.

I'm still incredibly sad about the passing of Hamish Kilgour. It was nearly a year ago that I found out. He meant so much to me musically - his solo albums, The Clean, The Great Unwashed, The Mad Scene and The Sundae Painters.

I'm so grateful that Leather Jacket Records (Christchurch, New Zealand) is releasing a full LP of material from the collaborative band The Sundae Painters. The band is made up of Kaye Woodward and Paul Kean (The Bats, and Minisnap), Alec Bathgate (Tall Dwarfs and solo) and Hamish Kilgour (above bands plus a ton more). Not only are we getting an eight-song LP, but the artwork is clearly the work of Hamish as well.

Only "Sweet Dreams" is available, but what a bittersweet song. It sounds like Hamish is singing, and I really pray that he is enjoying some sweet sweet dreams wherever he is.

[magalhaessims]

BJERGSEN FAMILY HOME - MAXIS-MATCH CC BUILD

This is not the first, not second, not even the third time I'm doing this family home! LOL. Maybe this time I'll stick to it!  If you'd like to check out the building process, you can watch the YouTube video linked below.

NOT CC FREE 

Lot Type: Residential

Size: 30X20

World: Windenburg

Enable bb.moveobjects before placing in your game!

📺 WATCH THE SPEED BUILD HERE ✨

Origin ID: MagalhaesSims (remember to enable custom content on!) DOWNLOAD

CC USED IN THIS BUILD:

NOTE: For convenience, some of the CC is included in the Download Folder. Please put it in your Mods Folder along with the CC linked below. Thank you to all CC creators!

Charly Pancakes: Chalk (Clutter + Tiles) | Miscellanea | Smol | Soak | The Lighthouse Collection || TheClutterCat: Baby Boo | Busy Bee | Dandy Diary | Farm Friends | iCare | Mellow Moods | Mermaid Mansion | Snuggle Set | Sunny Sundae || Felixandre: Berlin | Chateau | Colonial (2022) | Fairylicious | Fayun | Florence | Gatsby | Grove | London | Paris | Shop The Look: 01 - 03 | Soho || Harrie: Brownstone | Coastal Collection | Country Kitchen | Klean | Shop The Look 01 || House Of Harlix: Baysic + Bathroom | Harluxe | Jardane | Kichen | Kichen 2Point1 | Livin'Rum | Orjanic | The Bafroom | Tiny Twavellers || KKB-MM: Citrus Room || LittleDica: Chic Bathroom | Country Sleek | Delicato Living | Delicious Kitchen | Eco Kitchen | Rise&Grind Cafe | Sleek Slumber | Summer Party || Max20: Child Dream | Classic Kitchen | Closet Collection | Garden At Home | Happily Ever After | Master Bedroom | Poolside Lounge || MLys: Pufferhead Stucf Pack || MyshunoSun: Arrie Office | Dawn Living | Flow Storage || Peacemaker-ic: Bowed Bedroom | Bowed Living | Creta | Elise Basics | Hinterland Kitchen | Post Modern | Tasteful Tots || Pierisim: Auntie Vera | Coldbrew | Combles | David Apartment | Domaine Du Clos | MCM House | Oak House | Outside Lunch | Pantry Party | Stefan | Teeny Weeny | The Office | Woodland Ranch || S-imagination: Japandi Dining Room | Rutland Kitchen || SixamCC: Home Improvement | Home Office | Tiny Playrooms || Syboulette: Neighbourly | Painter Studio || Tuds: BEGIN | Cave | SHKR

The CC Sets above are the main ones I used to decorate this specific building and you can find all the links to the creators’ sites on my Resource Page. However, if you can’t find something specific, you can send me a WCIF and I’ll try to help you find it!

My content will always be free and right away available to everyone, but if you want to, you can show your support through my Ko-Fi Page. Your donation will always be much appreciated!

Thank you for reblogging: @maxismatchccworld @mmoutfitters @mmfinds @s4realtor @coffee-houses-finds and everyone else for helping me boost this post!

[freedelusionshere]

I’m sure someone has pointed this out before, but is the Cicero/Computer setup for S4 like the story Anna Posey’s husband, David, who co-owns Elske with her, when they talk about a bad business partner absconding with their money to Hawaii? Meaning the story he tells Syd in S2 during Sundae was foreshadowing?

Anna shows up in S3 in Forever, and talks about Elske at the table with Syd and how they feed everyone. They ended up recovering after their messy financial situation and went on to be very successful.

Anna also is a painter and an artist with an art degree who likes to focus on creativity and no waste. Check out Anna’s ink, btw.

David grew up learning to cook from his mother, and was a “chubby kid who made snacks” with interest in music. He went to CIA and worked at Alinea in Chicago.

[skyrim-forever]

Sujamma Sundas (on Middas)

I've been tagged two weeks in a row by @sulphuricgrin @bougainvillea-and-saltwater and today by @dirty-bosmer thank you for tagging me! I've been a lil busy lately but want to do them so we doing both here :)

Facts: Going to use this as an opportunity to yap about Vevora now that she is reworked and has development <3

When asked about her profession, Vevora would say she's an artist. She has experience in threatre, dance, painting, and writing.

She also grew up in a very artist family, her father is a renown painter, combining techniques he learned in across Tamriel with traditional Dunmer styles. Her mother was a priestess of Dibella turned romance novelist as a way to express her worship discretely.

Her drink of choice is Matze, particularly Spiced Matze but while in Skyrim she grows fond of a botanical mead. Likes herbs and berries.

She is Breton/Dunmer and has been to High Rock once, as a teen. Very confusing and overwhelming but after living in Skyrim, she could see herself visiting again.

She came to Skyrim originally to try to be a bard but found she doesn't enjoy the Nordic tradition and style. No she travels around, seeking inspiration for her work and helps her cousin with his own budding art career.

She has a few tattoos, match black lines that begin at the hips and circle around her thighs until the back of the knee as well as a stylized lily on her chest.

2. Quotes: From Theodora <3

“He asked me about my thoughts on Talos afterwards, asked me to indulge him as a friend and I did. We are friends.”

“I would. How does it make you feel to hear that?”

“I am too tired to fight it. Let them say what they want, I know myself and when I forget, those I love will remind me."

“They looked nice when I put them in. I felt very pretty…”

"What was that you said? He’s depraved beyond repair?” 

“Am I not pleasant conversation? You wound me my friend, you really do.”

[noloveforned]

tonight i'm on wlur from 8pm until midnight with the last 'regular' no love for ned of the year. hopefully next week will be a holiday show and we'll wrap up december with a 'best of 2003' show. if you're doing something fabulous with your friday night then you can always stream last week's show on mixcloud whenever you'd like!

no love for ned on wlur – december 8th, 2023 from 8-10pm

artist // track // album // label leyna noel // cling peaches // the honest voluptuary // (self-released) feeling figures // across the line // migration magic // perennial / k sundae painters // hollow way // sundae painters // leather jacket the lewers // postcards for terrorists // 518a // lulu's sonic disc club heavy meddo featuring garrett t. capps // she's about a mover // she's about a mover 7" // ebb people mover // not // not digital single // little lunch the belair lip bombs // i think i like you // songs to do your laundry to ep // (self-released) virvon varvon // voices // voices cassette // girlsville erik nervous // innanet // immaturity // feel it dick move // i am enough // wet // 1:12 horn // all my breathing // horn cassette // melted ice cream palberta // trick ya // bye bye berta // wharf cat elkhorn featuring eva sheppard and katie degentesh // star power // lagniappe sessions // (self-released) monocot // aunt marsh // leave to cool // astral editions bonnie 'prince' billy // keeping secrets will destroy you // keeping secrets will destroy you digital single // drag city icy demons // manny's // fight back! // cloud byard lancaster // it's not up to us // it's not up to us // superior viaduct tani tabbal quartet // reach forward // intentional // mahakala music the southern university jazz ensemble // music came // goes to africa with love // now again sam gendel and marcella cytrynowicz // ij // audiobook // psychic hotline akai solo // black flash // verticality/singularity // break all mike featuring liv.e and venna // u think maybe? // burning desire // 10k teleclere // steal your love // affection/defection // tidal waves j.j. fad // supersonic // supersonic // ruthless beyoncé // my house // my house digital single // parkwood entertainment holland // futaki horns // green text // teenbeat nnamdï // wouldn't it be nice // fader and friends volume one compilation // fader pop filter // indulged in myself // cono // bobo integral non la // homes // homes digital single // mint lightheaded // patti girl // good good great! cassette // slumberland sullen eyes // getting there // hardwood floors and a hand to hold // sunday soft covers // the real housewives of porpoise spit // soft serve // little lunch

[cleanforgot]

sympathetic hum - friday jan 24 2025 - on east village radio

wapassou - rien mark pritchard w/ the space lady - s.o.s. hydroplane - cherry lake amon duul ii - you’re not alone annelise monseré - januari athanor - no long song miriam makeba - yetantu tizaleny the magick heads - seventh sense shizuka - plan for solitude dark matter - the face of evil kikagaku moyo - green sugar sundae painters - thin air annie hart - stillness buffalo stance - maya monster island - cherry alive love tractor - chilly damn willy new bloods - the cycle song scribble - it’s blue troth - komodo maraudeur - c’est cache cosey fanni tutti - psychedelic projections scala - fuser delta 5 - trail the adult net - phantom power magick markers - mirrorless getachew mekurya - yene hassab guadegna carola baer - maker of me

listen here

eastvillageradio.com

[tdvotes]

Total Drama: Counting the Votes

Welcome to... Total... Drama... Counting... the Votes!

On this series I will be analyzing every Total Drama vote ever, and for the first time ever, I have finally revealed who voted for who every time!

This is absolutely my original idea. You have never seen this series before. You may have seen other people try this concept before, but this time I went all the way.

You may have noticed by now, but some episodes say Final count, some say My final verdict, and others say My final guess. This is an indicator of how certain I am of how many votes were cast for each person:

Final count means we are given the number of votes in the episode.

My final verdict means we are not given the numbers directly, but I am sure that that's what it is.

And my final guess means that I am very unsure of at least one vote.

You may have also noticed that I always list the person who went home first, with the word votes, and then everybody else without the word votes, in order of most votes to fewest.

Once every 13 episodes, we will do a different series called Ranking the Votes, where I will rank how hard it was to determine the votes for each elimination. After each Ranking the Votes, I will add links to each post in that set to this post.

Stay tuned next for a different kind of tournament!

I will update whenever I feel like it.

Links under the cut!

Not So Happy Campers, Part 2

The Big Sleep

Dodgebrawl

Not Quite Famous

The Sucky (or Not So Great) Outdoors

Phobia Factor

Up the Creek

Paintball Deer Hunter

If You Can't Take the Heat...

Who Can You Trust?

Basic Straining

X-Treme Torture

Ranking the Votes s1a

No Pain, No Game

Search and Do Not Destroy

Hide and Be Sneaky

Wawanakwa Gone Wild!

Trial by Tri-Armed Triathlon

Haute Camp-Ture

Camp Castaways

Are We There Yeti?

The Very Last Episode, Really!

Ranking the Votes, s1b

Alien Resurr-Eggtion

Riot on Set

3:10 to Crazytown

The Chefshank Redemption

The Sand Witch Project

Full Metal Drama

Ocean's Eight - or Nine

Million Dollar Babies

Ranking the Votes, s2a

Super Hero-Id

The Princess Pride

Rock 'n' Rule

2008: A Space Owen

Top Dog

The Aftermath IV: Who Wants to Pick a Millionaire?

Ranking the Votes, s2b

Walk Like an Egyptian Part 2

Super Happy Crazy Fun Time Japan

Anything Yukon Do, I Can Do Better

Slap Slap Revolution

The Am-AH-Zon Race

Can't Help Falling in Louvre

Jamaica Me Sweat

I See London...

Greece's Pieces

The EX-Files

Picnic at Hanging Dork

Ranking the Votes, s3a

Niagara Brawls

Chinese Fake-Out

African Lying Safari

Rapa Phooey!

Awwwwww, Drumheller

Hawaiian Style Punch

Ranking the Votes, s3b

Bigger! Badder! Brutal-er!

Truth or Laser Shark

Ice Ice Baby

Backstabbers Ahoy!

Runaway Model

A Mine is a Terrible Thing to Waste

The Treasure Island of Dr. McLean

Grand Chef Auto

Up, Up and Away in My Pitiful Balloon

Eat, Puke and Be Wary

The Enchanted Franken-Forest

Ranking the Votes, s4

Heroes vs Villains

Evil Dread

Saving Private Leechball

Food Fright

No One Eggspects the Spanish Opposition

Suckers Punched

You Regatta Be Kidding Me

The Obsta-Kill Course

Sundae Muddy Sundae

The Bold and the Booty-ful

Ranking the Votes, s5a

So, Uh, This is My Team?

I Love You, Grease Pig!

Twinning Isn't Everything

I Love You, I Love You Knots

A Blast from the Past

Mo' Monkey Mo' Problems

This is the Pits!

Three Zones and a Baby

Hurl and Go Seek

Ranking the Votes, s5b

Meet the Victims

Pirates of the Cabbagean

Drown Town Abbey

Numbskull Island

Jurassic Fart

The Launchback of Notre Game

The Wheel of Vomit

Paddle Field Earth

The Truth, The Pole Truth and Nothing But the Truth

Tortoise Rigamortis

Caved by the Bell

Ranking the Votes, s6a

The Pink Painter Strikes Again

Taking It to the Rim Reaper

You Poor Saps

Choosin' For a Bruisin'

Ice to Beat You

Canoe Believe It?

Fun Fight at the O'Cake Corral

Haulin' and Ballin'

Breaking Up is Hard to Do

Circling the Drain

Working K9 to 5

Off the Hook!

Ranking the Votes, s6b

Note: if you're wondering why I didn't add links for the reboot seasons, it's because Tumblr only lets you put up to 100 links in a single post. But don't worry, each episode is linked at the top of the Ranking the Votes post.

[chronicbeans]

The Suggestions Box

(an Abandoned by Playfellow AU short)

You are tasked to look through the suggestions box, a box filled with the suggestions and comments of your fellow employees, and clean out answered suggestions. It hasn't been sorted through in about a year.

TW: Depression/Anxiety, Threats of Violence/Death Threats, Traumatic Events, Abusive Work Environment, Death, Eating Disorders/Focus on Body Weight and Type, Vomit (Seriously y'all it gets gross-), Body Horror/Gore

Opening up the box, you sigh in disdain. There has to be hundreds of tiny slips of paper in here, with most not even being replied to. So, you have to read every single one just to get every suggestion that was replied to out of the box. Damn it.

You pick out the first suggestion, which is from a janitor who signed it C.M.:

"Suggestion: I need a fucking raise. I just cleaned up puke from a kid who ate a Poppy's Chocolate Sundae Cake, by the Painter's Isle. Took me three hours to get rid of the brown stains on the rainbow carpets, and even longer to get rid of the rancid smell. What the fuck are we even feeding the kids here to make chocolate puke smell like rotten chicken?

-C.M. Janitor"

There isn't an answer on the back, so you quickly place it by the box. What a great way to start the day... reading a vile description about puke! Fucking amazing...

"Suggestion: I keep seeing this one kid climbing over the fence of Wally's Road Trip. Sure, the ride is safe when you are in the ride, but he's climbing right onto the tracks! That coaster goes about 20 miles per hour! We need the fence to be taller or something.

-Sam Jenkins Security

Answer: Sam, we cannot afford to make the fences taller. You will just need to keep watch of the children. That is your job, after all.

-Management"

Well... Not the best answer, but still an answer. So, you place it by the bucket that was given to you to collect answered suggestions. Alright, next paper.

"Suggestion: Whoever the FUCK keeps puking in the Barnaby costume, I fucking hate you. You do know that other people here play Barnaby, right? You could at least warn a fellow by leaving a note or something before somebody else wears it. I didn't notice until I got in the suit, and my face was covered in it. Jackass. Others have started complaining, too. I suggest management gives us more breaks, so whoever the weak stomached bitch is doesn't keep puking everywhere.

-David Dwyer Suit Mascot

Answer: I apologize for the incident, Mr. Dwyer. However, we cannot give more breaks. We shall try to figure out who keeps getting sick, so we can have a physical done to ensure that they are still healthy enough to be a mascot.

-Management"

Again? AGAIN?! Why the fuck is there so much puke already...? Yeah, you expected it, but really? Thank God you aren't a mascot. Well, into the bucket.

"Suggestion: I'm worried for Angelo. You know, Angelo Dalisay? The guy who plays Wally Darling most of the time. He's been losing weight pretty fast. I think he might be sick. Maybe the food was bad or something? Can you have someone check the kitchens for sanitation? Please and thank you.

-Angelica Carter Julie Joyful Actress

Answer: Our kitchens are clean.

-Management"

Angelo... yeah, you remember Angelo. You've seen him from time to time. He has been getting pretty skinny, lately... Really skinny. Unhealthy skinny. The kids don't seem to mind, though, and he doesn't say anything when asked. What an odd answer... "Our kitchens are clean.", with no further comment on Angelo's health. Why doesn't he get a health check up?

You place the paper in the bucket. Next one.

"Suggestion: I keep seeing a Wally actor running around, not staying in character. His clothes are a mess. He's been scaring the kids. Whenever I get close enough to catch him, he finds a way to escape, then disappears around a corner. Please, do something!

-Security"

Okay... odd. You know what? Everything you've read so far is weird. It's only your third week here and you are already so confused. No answer... By the box it goes.

"Suggestion: SERIOUSLY, WHOEVER THE FUCK YOU ARE, I AM GOING TO BEAT YOU WITH A GOLF CLUB."

-David Dwyer Suit Mascot"

No answer. You don't want to dwell on this one. Into the unanswered pile.

The next one you pick up is covered in yellow paint... you are guessing face and body paint, since the actors for Wally and Sally ha e to paint their faces and hands yellow.

"Suggestion: I can't stop smiling. I don't want to smile anymore. My face is tired. I can't stop smiling. Can someone help me wipe it off?

-"

You don't find any answer, per say, but flipping it over to the back, you find a scribbled on note.

"I don't know who wrote this, but I found it on the ground by the body paint storage. I don't know why we keep the paints and foods so close to each other. There was a pile of used makeup remover, paper towels, and face cleaners next to it. Can whoever wrote this tell me? Does this have to do with that weird Wally Actor that security keeps talking about?

I don't feel safe, I might quit.

-Sarah Jones Cooking Staff"

Okay... back to the box, you guess?

"Suggestion: Can we please have a health check for Angelo? PLEASE? Something is clearly wrong! I just saw him eating some food, then he rushed to the employee restrooms and started puking! Then, he walked out like he was fine! Some of the things Miss Carter mentioned when I told her are concerning, as well. He's skin and bones right now! Clearly, he isn't fit to work, much less play Wally! What if his appearance scares the kids?

-Gertrude Stone Suit Mascot"

"Answer: We understand your concerns, Miss Stone, but we assure you that he is alright. His weight is still healthy enough for him to keep playing Wally Darling. When we confronted him, he said it was to make sure his weight stays within limits to play the character. He isn't sick. After all, for Wally Darling actors, the smaller the better! It makes him look more petite and closer to the puppet 's body type. The children adore him, as well.

-Management"

On the side of the answer box, you see that somebody has written "BULLSHIT" in big, red letters. Somebody must've gotten in here before you have. Once again, thank God you aren't a mascot. The answer is really alarming, however... Did they even have him check in with a medical professional? Healthy enough? You feel gross just reading it.

You... don't want to keep going through the suggestions box. Maybe just one more, so it looks like you tried? Your boss might send you to look through it again on a later date, but you are feeling like reading all of this is weighing you down. When you heard you were going to be going through a suggestions box, you expected things like "raise my wage" or "hire more cleaning staff"... Not whatever this stuff is. You feel like you've stumbled upon something you shouldn't be seeing, but still needs to be seen.

You dig into the bottom of the box, pulling out a slip of paper. This time, it seems to be covered in red paint.

"Suggestion: I can't stop smiling. My face won't come off. I can't stop smiling. My face won't come off. I can't stop smiling. My face won't come off. I can't stop smiling. My face won't come off. I can't stop smiling. My face won't come off. Please let me stop smiling.

-Where's Frank's attitude when you need him?"

You hesitate, before flipping over the slip of paper. More writing. It's all in frantic, shaky, scribbled handwriting, as if the person was in some sort of rush or panic.

"Julie can't stop smiling. Sally can't stop smiling. Poppy can't stop smiling. Barnaby can't stop smiling. Howdy can't stop smiling. Eddie can't stop smiling. Frank is the only one who never smiles. Maybe he can't stop frowning? It hurts to smile. It hurts to smile. I'm not happy and it hurts to keep smiling. WHENEVER I TRY TO FROWN I FEEL AND HEAR SOMETHING SNAPPING IN MY FACE. Do they hurt too?

The people around us can stop smiling. The people who aren't as bright and colorful. I can't help but be jealous. Do they hurt when they smile? I'll help them wipe it off."

You stare at the paper, wide-eyed and dumbfounded. How are you supposed to respond to this? What are you supposed to even THINK about this? Will the management even care about this? They haven't cared about Angelo's health, they haven't cared about threats in the suggestions box, they haven't cared about a possible imposter scaring the customers! Should you even bother putting it back into the box-?

"YOU... OPEN...?"

You whip your head around, seeing a yellow hand on the window by the door. You quickly shove the suggestion into your pocket, frowning. Maybe it's Angelo at the door? He clearly hasn't been well... What if he needs immediate help?

Opening up that door, you instantly regret it as a disgusting, rotten smell hits your nose. Looking up at the man, you can tell that it is NOT Angelo. He may be dressed as Wally, but it isn't Angelo in costume. His clothes and hair are a mess, much like in the suggestions talking about this imposter, but that isn't what you notice first.

His smile is too wide.

IT LITERALLY SPLITS FROM EAR TO EAR.

You try to close the door on him, only for whoever it is to grab it and hold it open. A monotone voice speaks, which you can only assume is from the strange person. He leans in as he speaks, only making the rotting smell coming from him more apparent. Is this what a corpse smells like?

"It... hurts... to smile.... It hurts... to move my face... You too? Help me... wipe it off?"

You frantically look around, trying to find something, anything to get this person out of the room. You unknowingly end up shaking your head as you look around the room, which the man seems to take as a "no".

"No...? O.... okay... I'll go... Find manage... ment. They'll know... what to do..."

He walks away. He walks away like nothing happened. You slam the door shut, dropping to the floor and taking a few, shaking breaths. Your arms are shaking heavily, alongside your legs. Scratch that, your entire body is shaking like a leaf.

You heard of that imposter Wally, but you always thought it was a joke. Now, however, you have been proven wrong. As much as you want to quit, however, you need this job... You have too many unpaid bills and debts, and if you quit, who knows when you'll get hired for another job?

Plus, as horrifying as that situation was... for whatever reason, that imposter didn't attack you... He seemed rather docile, actually.

Once you calm yourself down, you stand up, grabbing the answered suggestions bucket. Then, you book it out of there as fast as possible, hoping that you don't see that Wally again, today.

[still-single]

HEATHEN DISCO BEST OF 2023 SHOWS

They're in the can, check 'em out.

For those still wondering, the Ryan Davis record is the best release of 2023.

Set 1: Reissues/Archival + 20 Tracks from 2023

Arthur Russell – In the Light of a Miracle

Dorothy Carter – Autumn Song

Laurie Styvers – Imagine the Lights Have Gone Out

PG Six – Unteleported Man

Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 – Flames Up Yours

The Dark – Resurrection 

Fury – Circle of Lies

INU – Don’t Eat Food!

Las Mordidas – Surrounded

Spike in Vain – Opus I & II

Africa Corps (Savage Republic) – Real Men (live)

Sonic Youth – I Love Her All the Time (live)

Masayuki Takayanagi – Mass Hysterism Part II

Milford Graves with Hugh Glover – March 11, 1976 III

Les Rallizes Denudes – Eternally Now (live CITTA ’93) 

Maxx Traxx – Reachin’ For It

High Rise – Sadducces Faith

Wolf Eyes W/ Spykes – 4

Tolerance – Sacrifice

Shizuka – 6 Gram Star

Rubber Blanket – Gandy Dancer

Khanate – It Wants to Fly (excerpt)

S*GLASS – Sorry About the False Bounce

Föllakzoid – V-III 

Monocot – The Voice Came

Daniel Villarreal – Chicali Outpost

Equipment Pointed Ankh – Late Night A.I.

Witness K – How Do We Count Your Poses

Coffin Prick – Town Without Pity 2

Olimpia Splendid – Jacksonin Paita

Terry – Jane Roe

Nusidm – Arm Unemployed

Dippers – Encouragement in Brackets 

Guardian Singles – Com Trans

Civic – Born in the Heat 

Married FM – I’m Gonna Find It 

Connections – Bird Has Flown

Son of Dribble – Shed

The Serfs – Club Deuce

Corker – Edge of Teeth

Set 2: 39 Songs from 2023

Stella Kola – November

Wheatie Mattiasch – Not the Angels

Maxine Funke – River Said

Suishou no Fune – A Rainbow Is Floating

Jana Horn – Love in Return

V.I.P.P. – Dancing

Famous Mammals – Like a Shadow

Non Plus Temps – Hide Away

Now – Rattray

Spiral Dub – High as Fuck

Violent Change – Whipping Boy 

Disintegration – Time Moves for Me

Home Front – Nation

Lifeguard – Alarm

The Toads – Nationalsville

Ulrika Spacek - Diskbänksrealism

Retirement – No Refund

Mother’s Milk – Xerox Cloak 

Glittering Insects – Remote Viewed Orgasm

FACS – Class Spectre

Skull Practitioners – Intruder

Los Mundos – Luz Perversa (en vivo)

Cheater Slicks – Fear

Emily Robb – Solo in A

The Sundae Painters – Thin Air

Animal Piss, It’s Everywhere – Pink Dolphin

Sparks – Nothing Is As Good As They Say It Is

The Clientele – Garden Eye Mantra

Lewsberg – Debbie

Usurabi – Even If It’s a Lie

Luxor Rentals – A Hallway

Drop Nineteens – T

Melenas – K2

Exek – On the Ground Floor

Silicone Prairie – Mirror on the Wall

Feeling Figures – Movement

The Smashing Times – Tuesday, Coming into Time

Colleen – Les parenthèses enchantées (Movement III)

Jaimie Branch – Take Over the World

Set 3: The Last 41 Best of 2023

Chi To Shizuku – Kawaki

The Lewers – O Karina

The Native Cats – Suplex

Cuticles – Know Not What

En Attendant Ana – Wonder

Tirzah – 2 D I C U V

Seekersinternational – Caught Up (Heart Breaks)

Ron Morelli – Gun Smoke

Leda – 2

Zuli – Bussra

Smirk – Polyrhythmic Ticks

The Dissidents – Patronized

Consensus Madness – Animosity

Stress Positions – Flaming Sword

Life Expectancy – Land Worm

Collate – Guilty Collector

Blue Dolphin – Docile Jannette

Flat Worms – Orion’s Belt

Los Llamarada – Waiting For Your Eyes

Dion Lunadon – Diamond Sea

Natural Information Society – Immemorial

Quade – Measure

The Split Bell Chime – You Can Tell Me Anything

Matmos – Why?

GUB – 4

DJ Manny – Ooh Baby

Tyvek – What It’s For

Gaadge – Candy Colored

Surveillance – Obvious

Miss Espana – Lirio Blanco

Axis: Sova – Join a Cult

Al Karpenter & CIA Debutante – Fuck You All to Fade No More

Beau Wanzer – Warm Waterboarding

Thee Retail Simps – Wrong Direction

Wireheads – Persistent Resistance

Adulkt Life – Blackout

Sharp Pins – Bye Bye Basil

The Tubs – Sniveler

Meg Baird – Star Hill Road

Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band – Flashes of Orange

Water Damage – FUCK THAT (Reel 13)

[sciencestyled]

Eureka! The Hilariously High-Octane Odyssey of Sci-Tech-Art Fusion!

Ah, Sir Human, buckle up as we dive into the neon-drenched, meme-filled galaxy of Science, Technology, and Art - a trifecta more potent than a triple espresso shot from the depths of Silicon Valley! Picture this: you're on a hoverboard, zooming through the halls of knowledge, with Doc Brown's wild hair and a Robin Williams' gigawatt smile.

First stop, the world of science education, where the air is crisp with the crackle of curiosity! Remember when we thought mitochondria was just a fancy word for midichlorians? Turns out, it's the powerhouse of the cell! Who knew? And with tech, we're not just looking through microscopes; we're going quantum, baby! Virtual reality is transforming dull, textbook diagrams into a rollercoaster ride through the human bloodstream - it's like "Magic School Bus" meets "Tron"!

But wait, there's more! Picture a classroom where Picasso meets Pythagoras, blending colors and equations like a mad scientist bartender. Art in science education isn't just about making pretty pictures; it's about envisioning the universe in a kaleidoscope of possibilities. It's not just STEM anymore, it's STEAM – and it's cooking up a storm!

Let's take a quantum leap to the wacky world of tech. Smartphones smarter than a fifth-grader on Jeopardy, AI that can out-paint Van Gogh, and don't get me started on 3D printers – these bad boys are printing everything from lunar habitats to vegan steaks. It's like living in a sci-fi show, but the plot is written by Elon Musk on a caffeine high!

Now, combine this tech wizardry with the artistry of a Renaissance painter on Instagram, and what do you get? A culture that's vibrant, dynamic, and as unpredictable as a "Game of Thrones" season finale. Apps that turn your morning jog into a zombie apocalypse survival run, video games that teach quantum physics, and let's not forget those deepfake videos that make you question reality itself. It's like living in a meme, but you're learning stuff!

And the cherry on top of this scientifically artistic sundae? The impact on humanity. We're talking health, environment, and even social change. Imagine a world where you can 3D print a new liver in your living room. Or where AI helps us understand the secret language of dolphins – it's "Flipper" meets Rosetta Stone!

Speaking of environment, remember when we used to think recycling was just taking out the trash? Now, we're using satellite imagery and AI to track and tackle climate change like a squad of Avengers. It's not just saving the planet; it's turning Mother Nature into a viral sensation – #EarthLove.

But it's not all rainbows and unicorns. Let's get real – we've got challenges bigger than trying to find a decent Wi-Fi signal in the Sahara. We're dealing with ethical dilemmas that make the trolley problem look like a game of "Mario Kart." AI with the potential to be as benevolent as WALL-E or as rogue as Skynet. Biotechnology that could either heal humanity or turn us into a Black Mirror episode.

Yet, amidst this whirlwind of wonder and worry, art keeps us grounded. It reminds us that at the heart of every algorithm, every scientific discovery, there's a human story. A story as rich and complex as a Shakespearean play, but probably with more emojis.

And let's not forget our dear Sir Human, perpetually perplexed but ever so patient. While our narrator flits from quantum mechanics to meme culture faster than a TikTok scroll, Sir Human is the anchor, the voice of reason in a sea of scientific and artistic chaos.

In conclusion, dear Sir Human, as we stand at the intersection of science, technology, and art, we're not just witnesses to this crazy, beautiful symphony of progress. We're the composers, the conductors, the audience, and occasionally, the guy who dozes off and wakes up when the cymbals crash. It's a wild ride, a cosmic giggle in the vastness of the universe. And as we blend these realms with the finesse of a DJ mixing tracks, we're not just boosting lives; we're remixing civilization itself. It's an odyssey, a high-octane adventure, and you, Sir Human, are invited to the party. So, grab your hoverboard, your lab coat, and your paintbrush – the future is waiting, and it's looking fabulously, hilariously, unapologetically brilliant!

[kitchenlegrecords]

The Shna on WRIR-Richmond, West Virginia!

[bandcampsnoop]

3/5/23.

Playthings were a Christchurch, New Zealand band made up of Jay Clarkson (The Expendables), Janine Saundercock and Nicky Carter. Paul Kean (The Bats) joined as a sound engineer and took over bass/guitar duties after Saundercock left the band.

Leather Jacket Records (also Christchurch) is releasing this 6-song EP that seemingly contains the entire recorded output of the band. This May the band will reform to play some its songs along with songs from Toy Love (Alec Bathgate will be joining the band).

These songs have more of a punk or post-punk sounds (The Expendables, Toy Love) than the pop of The Bats or another Leather Jacket Records release - The Sundae Painters.

[thenorbertnorberts]

5 Cobblebottom Street Reno

gallery ID: NelsSteph (remember to click the button to allow CC)

Okay, so I used a lot of CC bits from many different creators and many different sets. So it's a long list, with a little bit of hunting, but hopefully I didn't miss anything!?! I consider myself WCIF friendly (though I will be slow to reply) so if you have questions you can ask. I also tried to note when I use items that are on early release or locked behind a paywall or on a site that has a lot of adds.

Myshunosun:

Bake It Up, Sona Dining, Flow Storage & Clutter, Tranquil Bedroom, Vanity Nook, Herbalist Kitchen, Moonwood Garden, Midsummer Eve, Lottie Bedroom

Awingedllama:

Nostalgia Living Stuff, Grandma’s Nursery,  Boho Living, Apartment Therapy

Peacemaker:

Matilda, Hinterlands, Oasis-Chic (plants)

xsavannahx987:

Everyday Clutter

PTS:

Rustic Romance

Nolan-Sims:

Strawberry Dino

Tuds:

Cross, Crib, NCTR

Charly Pancakes:

Lavish, The Lighthouse Collection, Soak, Chalk clutter, SMOL, DINNA, Diaper Days

MadameRia:

Wild West Wood recolor

Max20:

Garden at Home

Syboubou (add heavy website): 

Country Kitchen, Life Bathroom, Painter Studio

Pierisim:

Winter Garden, Domaine du Clos, Oak House, David’s Apartment, Auntie Vera’s Bathroom, Precious Promises, COLDBREW, Unfold, Tidying Up, Teeny Weeny, MCM, Maison Meulière

Leaf-Motif:

Heirloom Kitchen

Felixandre *parts of Chateau are unfortunately still locked behind a paywall:

Grove, Berlin (windows and doors), Chateau, Colonial, Shop the Look, Florence, Paris

Harrie *part of Coastal set is on early release:

Octave, Brownstone, Country, Coastal, Bafroom

Harrie-Felix collabs:

Orjanic, Livin’ Rum, Tiny Twavellers, Baysic, Kichen,  Jardane

RVSN *somewhat add heavy site:

Rooting for you, Throw Shade Eye Palettes

Oni:

Antique Country Dining

Rustic Sims:

Cempasuchil Fest

Sixam CC:

Living Room for a Cozy Family, Boho-Bath Botanical Retreat, Kessler Line,  Retro Vibes, Small Spaces: Laundry Room, Stylish Wood: Living Room, Tiny Playrooms, Stylish Wood Dreamy Nursery, Boho Baby

Brazen Lotus:

Parenthood Pack separated clutter

LittleDica:

Country Sleek

Clutter Cat *some sets are unfortunately still locked behind a paywall:

SuSu Sundae, Dandy Diary, Dandy Diary Bathroom,  XFest 22 Clutter collection, Mellow Moods, Busy Bee, Cozy Cocina, Petits Pirates part 1, Farm Friends,  Mermaid Mansion part 1, Fairylicious

Whew. Annnnnnd I think that's everything. Enjoy and @ me if you use and post pics! <3

[dustedmagazine]

Dust, Volume 7, Number 8

Big Thief

Our August collection of short reviews contains more big names than usual with singles from Big Thief and Dry Cleaning, a digital compilation from Thou, live music from Obits and a side project from members of the Bats and the Clean. Never fear, there are obscurities as well, including an improv guitar player even Bill Meyer had hardly heard of, a Norwegian emo artist in love with Texas and a death metal outfit verging into psychedelia. Our writers, this time including Tim Clarke, Bill Meyer, Jennifer Kelly, Ian Mathers, Chris Liberato and Jonathan Shaw, like what they like, big or small, hyped or unknown. We hope you’ll like some of it, too.   

Marc Barreca — The Sleeper Awakes (Scissor Tail)

The Sleeper Wakes by Marc Barreca

Odd connections abound here. One might not expect the usually acoustic-oriented Scissor Tail Recordings to make a vinyl reissue of an electronic ambient music cassette from 1986, any more than one would expect its maker to currently earn his crust as a bankruptcy judge. So, let’s just shed those expectations and get to listening. Unlike so many lower profile electronic recordings from the 1980s, which seemed targeted for a space next to the cash register of a new age bookstore, this album offers a profusion of mysteries that compound the closer you listen to them. It’s not at all obvious what sounds Barreca fed into his Akai sampler. Japanese folk music? Church chimes? A log drum jam? Tugboat engines? One hears hints of such sounds, but they’ve been warped and dredged in a thin coat of murk, so that the predominant experience is one of feeling like you’re dreaming, even if your eyes are wide open.

Bill Meyer

Big Thief — “Little Things” / “Sparrow” (4AD)

Little Things/Sparrow by Big Thief

Who knows how much more music Big Thief might have released in the last 18 months if the pandemic hadn’t tripped them up? Given the creative momentum generated by 2019’s UFOF and Two Hands, it’s fair to assume the band have plenty of music waiting in the wings. “Little Things” and “Sparrow” arrive with no sign of a new album on the horizon, so are probably being released to promote Big Thief’s upcoming US and European tour. Both songs clock in at around five minutes and handle musical repetition in different satisfying ways. Reminiscent of Fleetwood Mac’s “Everything,” but hyped up on caffeine, “Little Things” feels like an exciting new direction for the band. It cycles through its whirlpooling, modulated acoustic guitar over and over, the frantic little sequence of chords never changing; the interest comes from the ways in which the rest of the instruments bob and weave in the ever-shifting, psychedelic mix. “Sparrow” is a more traditional Big Thief song, sparse and sad. Its melancholic sway is enlivened by some beautiful wavering vocal harmonies as Adrianne Lenker paints a picture of a Garden of Eden populated by sparrows, owls and eagles, culminating in Adam blaming Eve for humankind’s fall from grace.

Tim Clarke

Simão Costa — Beat Without Byte: (Un)Learning Machine (Cipsela)

Beat With Out Byte by Simão Costa

Piano preparation often makes use of modest resources — bolts and combs, strings or maybe just a raincoat tossed into the instrument’s innards. By contrast, Simão Costa’s set-up looks like took all of the entries in a robotics assembly competition and set them to work agitating a snarl of cables that met the pirated telecommunication requirements for an especially crowded favela. But whether it’s twitching motors or Costa’s own hands doing the work, the sounds that come out of his sound remarkably rich and cohesive. He stirs drifting hums, metallic sonorities, and stomping rhythms into a bracingly immediate sonic onslaught.

Bill Meyer

Cots — Disturbing Body (Boiled)

Disturbing Body by Cots

Disturbing Body is the low-key debut album by Montreal-based musician Steph Yates, who enlisted Sandro Perri to produce. Where the songs are pared back to mostly just vocals and peppy major-seventh chords on nylon-string guitar — such as “Bitter Part of the Fruit” and “Midnight at the Station” — comparisons with bossa-nova classics such as “The Girl From Ipanema” inevitably arise. Where the tempo is slower, the chord voicings are less sun-dappled, and Perri’s arrangements call upon a wider palette of instrumental colors, the songs venture into more interesting terrain, calling to mind a less haunted Broadcast. There’s an eerie sway to the opening title track, backed by rich piano chords and clattering cymbal textures. Fender Rhodes and the light clack of a rhythm track give “Inertia of a Dream” an uneasy momentum. And forlorn trumpet, percussion and piano situate “Last Sip” at closing time in a forgotten jazz club. There’s something evasive yet subtly intoxicating at work here, the album’s ten songs breezing past in half an hour, leaving plenty of unanswered questions in their wake.

Tim Clarke

Dry Cleaning — “Bug Eggs” / “Tony Speaks!” (4AD)

Bug Eggs/Tony Speaks! by Dry Cleaning

A few months on from the release of their excellent debut album, New Long Leg, Dry Cleaning have put out two more songs from the same sessions, which are featured as bonus tracks on the Japanese edition. For a band whose unique appeal is mostly attributed to Florence Shaw’s surreal lyrics and deadpan delivery, it’s heartening to hear further evidence that it’s the complete cocktail of musical ingredients — Shaw plus Tom Dowse’s inventive guitar, Lewis Maynard’s satisfyingly thick bass, and Nick Buxton’s driving drums — that alchemizes into their winning sound. The verse guitar chords of “Bug Eggs” are naggingly similar to New Long Leg’s “More Big Birds,” while the instrumental chorus has a yearning feel akin to album highlight “Her Hippo.” Maynard’s bass tone on “Tony Speaks!” is absolutely filthy, swallowing up most of the mix until Dowse’s guitar bares its teeth in a swarm of squalling wah-wah, while Shaw’s lyrics muse upon the decline of heavy industry, the environment, and crisps.

Tim Clarke

Flight Mode — TX, ’98 (Sound As Language)

TX, '98 by Flight Mode

In 1998, well before he started Little Hands of Asphalt, Sjur Lyseid spent a year in Texas at the height of the emo wave, skateboarding and going to house shows and listening to the Get Up Kids. TX, ’98 is the Norwegian’s tribute to that coming of age experience, the giddy euphorias of mid-teenage freedom filtered through bittersweet subsequent experience. “Sixteen” is the banger, all crunchy, twitchy exhilarating guitars and vulnerable pop tunefulness, its clangor breaking for wistful reminiscence, but “Fossil Fuel” waxes lyrical, its guitar riffs splintering into radiant shards, its lyrics capturing those youthful years when anything seems possible and also, somehow, the later recognition that perhaps it isn’t. It’s an interesting tension between the now-is-everything hedonism of adolescence and the rueful remembering of adulthood, encapsulate in a chorus that goes, “Well wait and see if there’s no more history/and just defend the present tense.”

Jennifer Kelly

Drew Gardner— S-T (Eiderdown Records)

S/T by Drew Gardner

Drew Gardner has been popping up all over lately, on Elkhorn’s snowed in acoustic jam Storm Sessions and the electrified follow-up Sun Cycle and as one of Jeffrey Alexander’s Heavy Lidders. Here, it’s just him and his guitar plus a like-minded rhythm section (that’s Ryan Jewell on drums and Garcia Peoples’ Andy Cush on bass), spinning off dreamy, folk-into-interstellar-journeys like “Calyx” and “Kelp Highway.” Gardner puts some muscle into some of his grooves, running close to Chris Forsyth’s wide-angle electric boogie in “Bird Food.” “The Road to Eastern Garden,” though, is pure limpid transcendence, Buddhist monastery bells jangling as Gardner’s warm, inquiring melodic line intersects with rubbery bends on bass. Give this one a little time to sit, but don’t miss it.

Jennifer Kelly

Hearth — Melt (Clean Feed)

Melt by Hearth

This pan-European quartet’s name suggests domesticity, but the fact that none of its members lives in the country of their birth probably says more about the breadth of their music. The closest geographic point of reference for the sounds that pianist Kaja Draksler, trumpeter Susana Santos Silva, and saxophonists Ada Rave and Mette Rasmussen’s make together would be Chicago’s south side. Their dynamic blend of angular structures, extended instrumental techniques, and obscurely theatrical enactments brings to mind the Art Ensemble of Chicago, even though the sounds on this concert-length recording rarely echo the AEC’s. But it is similarly charged with mystery and collective identity.

Bill Meyer

Klaus Lang / Konus Quartett — Drei Allmenden (Cubus)

Drei Allmenden (translation: Three Commons) treats the act of commission as an opportunity to create common cause. For composer and keyboardist Klaus Lang, this is a chance to push back against a long trend of separation and stratification, with musicians bound to realize the composer’s whim, no matter the cost. Invoking works from the 16th century, he penned something simple, flexible and open to embellishment. Then he pitched in with Konus Quartett, a Swiss saxophone ensemble, to get the job done. The three-part piece, which lasts 43 sublime minutes, amply rewards the submersion of ego. Lang’s slowly morphing harmonium drones and Konus’ long reed tones sound like one instrument, enriched by tendrils of sound that rise up and then sink back into the music’s body.

Bill Meyer

Lynch, Moore, Riley — Secant / Tangent (dx/dy)

Secant | Tangent by Sue Lynch, N.O. Moore, Crystabel Riley

Electric guitarist N.O. Moore is barely known in these parts. I’ve only heard him on one album with Eddie Prévost a couple years back, and the other two musicians, not at all. But on the strength of this robust performance, which was recorded at London’s Icklectick venue, it would be a loss to keep it that way. They combine acoustic sounds with electronics, courtesy of guitar effects and amplification, in an exceedingly natural fashion. Each musician also gets into the other’s business in ways that correspond to the one spicy suggestion made by one cook that elevates another’s dish to the next level. Susan Lynch’s clarinet and flute compliment Moore’s radiophonic/feedback sounds like two flashes of lightning illuminating the same dark cloud, and her vigorously pecking saxophone attack mixes with Crystabel’s cascading beats like idiosyncratically tuned drums. This is one of the first albums to be released on Moore’s dx/dy label; keep your eye out for more.

Bill Meyer

Maco Sica / Hamid Drake Tatsu Aoki & Thymme Jones—Ourania (Feeding Tube)

OURANIA by Mako Sica / Hamid Drake featuring Tatsu Aoki & Thymme Jones

Ourania is named for the muse associated with astronomy in Greek mythology, and the album has an aim for the stars quality. In 2020, Chicago’s Mako Sica lost not only the chance to play concerts, but one third of its number. Core members Brent Fuscaldo (electric bass, voice, harmonica, percussion) and Przemyslaw Krys Drazek (electric trumpet, electric guitar, mandolin) could have just hunkered down with their respective TV sets. Instead, they booked themselves three other musicians who make rising above circumstances a core practice. The duo convened at Electrical Audio with Hamid Drake (drums, percussion, Tatsu Aoki (upright bass, shamisen), and Thymme Jones (piano, organ, balloon, trumpet, voice, recorder, percussion), rolled tape for a couple hours, and walked out with this album. The 85 minute-long recording (edited to about half that length on vinyl, but the LP comes with a download card) exudes a vibe of calm, even beatitude, with twin trumpets and Fuscaldo’s echo-laden, nearly word-free vocals weaving though a sequence of patient grooves like migrational birds on the glide.

Bill Meyer

Mar Caribe — Hymn of the Mar Caribe (Mar Caribe)

Hymn of the Mar Caribe b/w Rondo for Unemployment by mar caribe

Some musicians burn to make something new; others generate attention-getting sounds designed to maximize the potential of their other earning activities; and others, well, they just want you to sway along with their version of the good sounds. Mar Caribe falls into that last category. This Chicago-based instrumental ensemble has spent most of the last decade maintaining a robust performance schedule, and it would seem that recording is pretty much an afterthought; a photo of the test pressing for this 7” was posted in May 2019, but the release show didn’t happen until August 2021. Sure, COVID can be blamed for part of the delay, but one suspects that mostly, these guys just want to play, and they didn’t bother to stuff the singles in the sleeves until they knew when they’d next be leaning over a merch table. The titular suspends anthemic brass and pedal steel over a swinging double bass cadence, and if there was a moment during the night when the band invited the audience to pledge allegiance to their favorite drink, this is what they’d be playing while they asked. Guitars lead on the flip side, whose busy twists and turns belie the implied laziness of the title, “Rondo For Unemployment.”

Bill Meyer

Mint Julep — In a Deep and Dreamless Sleep (Western Vinyl)

In A Deep And Dreamless Sleep by Mint Julep

These songs traverse a hazy, dreamlike space, diffusing dance beats, dream-y vocals and synth pulses into inchoate sensation that nonetheless retains enough rhythmic propulsion to keep your heart rate up. “A Rising Sun” filters jangly guitar and bass through a sizzle of static, letting tambourine thump gently somewhere off camera, as voices soothe and reassure. “Mirage” pounds a four-on-the-floor, but quietly, angelically, like a disco visited through astral projection or maybe a really rave-y iteration of heaven. There’s an ominous undercurrent to “Longshore Drift,” in its growly, sub-bass-y hum, but glittering bits of synth sprinkle over like fairy dust. This is indefinitely gorgeous stuff, ethereal but surprisingly energizing. Dance or drift, take your pick.

Jennifer Kelly

Monocot — Directions We Know (Feeding Tube)

Direction We Know by Monocot

Directions We Know is an LP of free-form freak-outs generated by an instrumental duo that includes one musician who you might expect to perpetuate such a ruckus, and one that you might not. The more likely character is drummer Jayson Gerycz, who may be known for keeping time with the Cloud Nothings, but has shown a willingness to wax colorizing in the company of Anthony Pasquarosa, Jen Powers and Matthew Rolin. The happy surprise is Rosali Middleman, whose singer-songwriter efforts have kept her guitar playing firmly in service of her songs. She doesn’t exactly abandon lyricism in Monocot, but the tunes serve as launching ramps for exuberant lunges into the realm of voltage-saturated sound. On “Ruby Throated,” the first of the record’s four extended jams, Middleman lofts rippling peals over a near-boil of  drums and churning loops. By the time you get to “Multidimensional Solutions,” the last and longest track, her wah-wah-dipped streams of sound have taken on a blackened quality, as though her overheating tubes have burned every note.

Bill Meyer

Obits — Die at the Zoo (Outer Battery)

Die At The Zoo by Obits

Few aughts rock bands held more promise than Obits. The four-piece headed by Hot Snakes’ Rick Froberg and Edsel’s Sohrab Habibion emerged in 2005 with a stinging, stripped-back, blues-touched sound. Froberg’s feral snarl rode a surfy, twitchy amplified onslaught, that was, by 2012 a finely tuned machine. I caught one of the live shows following Moody, Standard and Poor at small club in Northampton the same year this was recorded (so small that I was sitting on a couch next to Froberg, oblivious, for 20 minutes before the show), and what struck me was how well the band played together. The records sound chaotic, and that was certainly there in performance, but the cuts and stops were perfect, the surfy instrumental breaks (“New August”) absolutely in tune. At the time this set was recorded in the Brisbane punk landmark known as the Zoo, the band was near the peak of its considerable powers—and regrettably near the end of its run. Die at the Zoo is reasonably well recorded, rough enough to capture the band’s raucous energy, skilled enough so you can understand the words and hear all the parts. It hits all the highlights, blistering early cuts like “Widow of My Dreams,” and “Pine On,” the blues cover “Milk Cow Blues,” and later, slightly more melodic ragers like “Everything Looks Better in the Morning” and “You Gotta Lose.” The guitar work is particularly sharp throughout, its straight-on chug breaking into fiery blues licks and surfy whammy explosions. It’s a poignant reminder of a time when American rock bands played ferocious shows halfway across the world (or anywhere) as a matter of course and a fitting eulogy for Obits.

Jennifer Kelly

A Place To Bury Strangers — Hologram (Dedstrange)

Hologram EP by A Place To Bury Strangers

A Place To Bury Strangers returns with a new rhythm section and renewed focus on the elements that made its version of revivalism the loudest if not brashest of the New York aughties. Sarah and John Fedowitz on drums and bass join Oliver Ackerman on the five track EP Hologram which is the most concise and vital APTBS release for a while. For all the criticism of copyism thrown at the band since their early days, APTBS has always been as much about Ackerman’s production skills and feel for texture as musical originality and the songs on Hologram sound fantastic at volume. Beneath the sonic onslaught of fuzz and reverb, not a brick is misplaced in this intricately constructed sonic wall. True “I Might Have” is pure Jesus & Mary Chain and “In My Hive” a Wax Trax take on Spector but Hologram is an endorphin rush of guitar driven noise bound to make one forget the world, if only for a while.

Andrew Forell

Praises — EP4 (Hand Drawn Dracula)

Jesse Crowe’s work as Praises has been ongoing since 2014, but has shifted in tone, instrumentation and emphasis since then. While the first two EPs have more of a full, rock band feel, the third one and 2018’s full-length In This Year: Ten of Swords took things in a more electronic, sometimes industrial direction. It was an even better fit for the rest, probing creativity evident in Praises’ work, and 3/4s of the new EP4 are in a pleasingly similar vein. The echoing, ringing denunciations of “We Let Go” and “A World on Fire” are fine examples of Praises’ existing strengths, but the opening “Apples for My Love” is immediately captivating in a very different way. Gauzy and rapturous, it’s a reverie that keeps the satisfying textural detail of the other songs but turns them to different ends. It’s not something that was missing from Crowe’s work before — again, the other tracks here are also very good — but a reminder that what Praises has shown before is not the extent of what they can do.

Ian Mathers

The Sundae Painters — The First SP Single (Leather Jacket)

“This is a supergroup, is it not?” someone asked the Sundae Painters bassist Paul Kean on social media last year, to which he responded, “Some may choose that title. We prefer superglue.” Kaye Woodward, his wife and longtime bandmate in both The Bats and Minisnap, takes the lead vocal on “Thin Air,” one of the pair of A-sides found on their new band’s debut seven-inch. From the outset, Kean’s unmistakable bass playing and Hamish Kilgour’s (The Clean/Mad Scene) drumming lock into a psychedelic march, with the other instruments weaving like kites above, vying for position on the same breeze. “You fight your way down/You fight your way up/You wait for the dust to settle,” Woodward sings. A few gentle strums cut their way through the parade, and a guitar calls out gull-like from above, before everything trails off as if something potent has just kicked in. On the flip side, “Aversion” has an old friend-like familiarity to it, soundwise (if not lengthwise) sitting somewhere between VU’s “The Gift” and “Sister Ray.” Things begin a little stand-offish, though, like you’ve interrupted a guitar pontificating to a rapt audience — it turns its head to look you over, falling momentarily silent, before picking right back up where it left off. Kilgour’s spoken vocals join the conversation, as the song builds towards a groovy kind of fever pitch. “You look a little stoned,” he says, before responding to his own observation. “Well me I’m a little bit groggy/But it ain’t too foggy/I can see some way of getting out of here.” By this point, both guitars (played by Woodward and Tall Dwarfs’ Alec Bathgate) are full-on screeching and howling, and as the song sputters to a sudden finish, our man’s left waiting for someone to buy him “a ride out the gate.”

Chris Liberato    

Thou — Hightower (Self-released)

Hightower by Thou

Hightower is the latest in a string of digital compilations from Thou, most of which collect songs that have been previously released on small-batch splits, 7” records and other hyper-obscure media that briefly circulated through the metal underground. You might be tempted to pronounce that a cynical cash-grab, but Thou has posted Hightower (along with previous compilations, like Algiers, Oakland and Blessings of the Highest Order, a killer collection of Nirvana covers) on their official Bandcamp page as a name-yo’-price download. Thanks, band. Beyond convenience, Hightower has an additional, if a sort of inside-baseball, attraction. The band has re-recorded a few of its older songs with its latest, three-guitar line-up. Longtime listeners will recognize “Smoke Pigs” and “Fucking Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean,” which already sounded terrifyingly massive back in 2008 and 2007, respectively. The expanded instrumentation, new arrangements and better production give the songs even more power and depth, all the way down to the bottom of the effing ocean. Yikes. And there are a few additional touches, like K.C. Stafford’s clean vocals on “Fucking Chained…,” which provide an effective complement to Bryan Funck’s inimitably scabrous howl. Rarely has being pummeled and feeling bummed out been so vivifying.

Jonathan Shaw

Tropical Fuck Storm — Deep States (Joyful Noise)

Deep States by Tropical Fuck Storm

Fueled by exasperation as much as anger, the new album by Melbourne’s Tropical Fuck Storm rounds on the myriad ways in which the world has become a “Bumma Sanger” as leader Gareth Liddiard puts it on the eponymous song about COVID lockdown. A roiling meld of psychedelic garage garnished with elements of hip hop and electronic noise it’s close in method and mood if not sound to another Australian provocateur JG Thirwell whose Foetus project girded maximalist surfaces with rigid discipline. If the Tropical Fuck Storm sought to mirror current conditions, they succeed but lack of clarity in both production and intent makes Deep States a frustrating experience. Backing vocals from Fiona Kitschin (bass), Erica Dunn (keys and guitar) and Lauren Hammel (drums) leaven Liddiard’s blokey pronouncements and there are some good sounds and biting words but the band’s determination to overelaborate and underdevelop musical ideas makes this album seem like a lost opportunity.

Andrew Forell

Marta Warelis / Carlos “Zingaro” / Helena Espvall /Marcelo dos Reis — Turquoise Dream (JACC)

Turquoise Dream by Marta Warelis, Carlos "Zíngaro", Helena Espvall, Marcelo dos Reis

Turquoise Dream documents an example of an encounter that is a mainstay of avant-garde jazz festivals, in which out of towners mix it up locals that they may or may not know. This particular concert, which took place at the Jazz ao Centro Festival in 2019, is one such encounter that deserves to live past the night when it transpired. It featured three stringed instrument players who live in Portugal and a Polish pianist who is based in Holland. But they don’t sound like strangers at all. Violinist Zingaro, cellist Espvall, and guitarist dos Reis blend like flashes of sunlight reflecting off of waves, adding up to a sound that is bright and ever-changing. Warelis, who is equally resourceful with her head under the lid of her piano as she is at the keyboard, adding fleet but substantial responses to her hosts’ quicksilver interactions. The result is music that is resolutely abstract but closely engaged.

Bill Meyer

Wharflurch — Psychedelic Realms ov Hell (Gurgling Gore)

PSYCHEDELIC REALMS OV HELL by Wharflurch

Wharflurch is just plain fun to say — but there are at least two ways in which the name also makes sense for the band that has chosen it: it has a bilious, nauseous quality that matches the vibe of the pustulent death metal you’ll hear on Psychedelic Realms ov Hell; and if you separate the words, you can conjure a sodden, rotten wooden structure, swaying vertiginously over a marshy expanse of water, which is filled with alligators and decaying organic material. Imagine that sway, and that stink, and then imagine yourself collapsing into the viscous fluid, soon to be gator chow. Sounds like Florida, and that’s exactly from whence Wharflurch has emerged. Which also makes sense. Is Wharflurch’s music “psychedelic”? Depends on what you hear in that word. If you want to see hippies dancing ecstatically on a verdant, sun-drenched stretch of Golden Gate Park, then no. But if you have spent any time in the warped, dementedly distorted spaces that psychedelics can open (less happily perhaps, but very powerfully), then yes. Wharflurch likes to accent its meaty riffs and muscular thumps with weird flutters and electronic effects that frequently have a gastric, flatulent quality to them. The saturated and sickly pinks and greens on the album art do a pretty good job of capturing the music’s tones. So do the song titles: “Stoned Ape Apocalypse,” “Bog Body Boletus,” “Phantasmagorical Fumes.” Still game? I’m sorry. But I’ll also be standing right there next to you, on that wobbly, lurching wharf, watching the gators swim near.

Jonathan Shaw

Whisper Room — Lunokhod (Midira Records)

Lunokhod by Whisper Room

That the title of Whisper Room’s fifth album is taken from Soviet lunar rovers makes a certain sense, given how potentially frustrating it might have been for the trio to be working at such a distance. Generally their other records are recorded live, in one room, seeing Aidan Baker (guitar), Jakob Thiesen (drums) and Neil Wiernik (bass) exploring simultaneously, hitting whatever junctions of psychedelic/shoegazing/motorik sound come to them. With Baker in Berlin and travel understandably limiited, this time they recorded their parts separately, layering them together (and bringing in sound designer Scott Deathe to add the kind of pedal processing their sound engineer normally does live). The result certainly sounds as collaborative as ever, seven seamless tracks making up nearly an hour that makes the journey from the friendly, clattering percussion of “Lunokhod01” to the centrifugal ambience of “Lunokhod07” feel perfectly natural. Even though it explores just as much inner and outer space as Whisper Room ever have, there’s something very approachable about Lunokhod that makes it one of their best.

Ian Mathers

[eiruvsq]

Illustrator & Artist:

Holly Exley

“The pangolin. Around one million of them have been poached in the past decade, meaning they are one of the most trafficked mammals in the world. Their powdered scales are used in Chinese medicine, and rather gruesomely foetuses are sometimes consumed in a soup for increased fertility. All of these supposed health benefits are unfounded, and poaching these creatures is now illegal- but still happens. The name “pangolin” comes from the Malay word “pengguling” which means ‘something that rolls up’ and they really do. It’s their defence mechanism. This painting is of a Sunda pangolin & her little baby. #pangolin #sundapangolin#watercolours #endangeredanimals.”

https://www.hollyexley.com

https://www.instagram.com/hollyexley_illustration/