#Yuzo Iwata

[guerrilla-operator]

YUZO IWATA

[goodbysunball]

Best of 2018

A handful of favorites from what seemed like a particularly strong year for music. Rest in peace to Yuzo Iwata, who had the album of the year the second I heard it. I Dischi Del Barone was my label of the year; everything Matthias released could’ve gone on here. Most releases listed below are readily available via any links provided: support the artists, and let’s keep this thing rolling.

LP

Yuzo Iwata, Daylight Moon (Siltbreeze)

Mournful Congregation, The Incubus of Karma (20 Buck Spin)

Lolina, The Smoke (self-released)

The Body, I Have Fought Against It, But I Can’t Any Longer. (Thrill Jockey)

Woolen Men, Post (Dog’s Table)

Constant Mongrel, Living In Excellence (La Vida Es Un Mus/Anti Fade)

Mamitri Yulith Empress Yonagunisan, Yulith Lilith (Bruit Direct Disques)

Vilkacis / Turia split (Altare Productions)

Arv & Miljö, Svensk sommar i stilla frid (Omlott)

Six more:

Chris Corsano & Bill Orcutt, Brace Up! (Palilalia)

The Doozer, Figurines (Feeding Tube)

Geld, Perfect Texture (Iron Lung)

The Native Cats, John Sharp Toro (R.I.P. Society)

Patois Counselors, Proper Release (ever/never)

Mette Rasmussen & Tashi Dorji, s/t (Feeding Tube)

12″ / 7″ / cassette

Mosquitoes, Drip Water Hollow Out Stone 12″ (ever/never)

Alienation, Bitter Reality 7″ (Warthog Speak)

Fåglar I Bur, “Platt” b/w “Öppen Inbjudan” 7″ (I Dischi Del Barone)

Healer / DJ Eons, Dank Goblins split 7″ (Warthog Speak)

Honey Radar, Psychic Cruise 7″ (Chunklet)

JJ Ulius, “Tänder Ett Ljus” b/w “Era Jävla Manér” 7″ (Happiest Place)

Monokultur, s/t 7″ (I Dischi Del Barone)

The Native Cats, Spiro Scratch 7″ (Rough Skies)

Phrenelith, Ornamented Dead Eyes 7″ (Night Shroud)

Rapid Dye, Nurture or Destroy 7″ (Paradise Daily)

Mary Lattimore, Charlie’s Yard cassette (Petty Bunco)

Long Hots, Monday Night Raw cassette (self-released)

Wonderfuls, Voices Like Rain cassette (Round Bale)

Reissues? My research was scattered and lacking, but my top picks would be the Nightcrawlers’ Biophonic Boombox Recordings 2xLP, a much-needed reissue of Corrupted’s Se Hace Por Los Asesinos (buy that here or here), and Cut by Bill Direen/Bilders.

Above: Mizmor at Migration Fest 2018, Mr. Small’s Theatre, Pittsburgh, PA

Shows

Migration Fest at Mr. Small’s Theatre, Pittsburgh, PA: So many great sets, bolstered by the best company I could ask for and a multitude of trips to the nearby Grist House brewery. Mizmor, Mournful Congregation, Hell, Yellow Eyes and Fórn were my favorite performances of the weekend.

Primitive Man and Spectral Voice at the End, Nashville, TN

Bill Direen / Bilders at the Pilot Light, Knoxville, TN

Tashi Dorji at the Pilot Light, Knoxville, TN

[boredout305]

Spacecase Records Podcast 029

Listen Here

Playlist: 1. YUZO IWATA - "Goodnight, Daylight Moon" Daylight Moon LP (Siltbreeze, 2018) 2. THIGH MASTER - "Exodus" Thigh Master/Dag Split Euro Tour EP 7" (bruit direct disques, 2018) 3. BAD TIMES - "Streets of Iron" Streets of Iron LP (Goner/Nuthin - Reissue, 2018) 4. ADOLESCENTS - "Democracy" Adolescents CD (Frontier - Reissue, 2006) 5. THE BIBS - "Fine Wine" From the Fish Houses LP (Soft Abuse, 2016) 6. SAVAGE REPUBLIC - "The Birds of Pork" Customs LP (Fundamental, 1989) 7. AMY AND THE ANGELS - "I Hate Being In Love" Making Waves - A Collection Of 12 Womens Bands From The UK LP (Girlfriend, 1981) 8. SPARKS - "Rock 'n' Roll People in a Disco World" Terminal Jive LP (Virgin, 1980) 9. MIKE REP AND THE QUOTAS - "...And Idols" Heroes...And Idols EP 7" (Bag of Hammers, 1993) 10. JEFFREY EVANS AND ROSS JOHNSON - "Cotton Fields" Caldonia b/w Cotton Fields 7" (Spacecase, 2018)

[dustedmagazine]

Dusted Mid-Year Exchange: 2018, Part 2

Part two covers mid-year favorites from H. C. McEntire to Yuzo Iwata.  If you missed part one, check it out here.  

H.C. McEntire — Lionheart (Merge)

Who recommended it? Justin Cober-Lake

Did we review it?  No. 

Ben Donnelly’s take: 

 Country music likes to provide bona fides in the lyrical details. Be it bad boy specifics of a truck model or coffeehouse ballads spiked with animal bones and rusty weathervanes, the singer signals that they know life out on the dirt roads. What's striking about Lionheart is how it delves into the particulars of a North Carolina life, from textile miles to chicory and gardenias. Indeed, nearly every song mentions the local flora, yet such details fall into place incidentally. McEntire describes places where nature is growing over every outbuilding and brick alley. There's a sense of discovery in theses settings where relationships with friends, family and a lover play out. All those vines were too common to notice until now, when love and the gratitude that follows make the mundane vivid.

McEntire longs for the present moment perfected, not a past reconstructed, and that's why her rootsy details don't have anything to prove. She’s comes to this twang a decade after playing the knotted indie rock also endemic to the region, a style that leaves nary a trace musically here. When she sings “I’m the clown who feeds the crows,” she’s both a figure in her natural habitat and someone who knows the other locals are smirking and murmuring, as she wanders on her own.

 Efrim Manuel Menuck—Pissing Stars (Constellation)

Pissing Stars by Efrim Manuel Menuck

Who recommended it? Jonathan Shaw

Did we review it? Yes. Jonathan said that a “mind-scrambling collision of plasticized media culture and geopolitical rapacity provides the thematic impetus for Pissing Stars.”

Bill Meyer’s take:

Words and notes are mere platforms; it’s the blasted, low-definition, high-contrast sound of Pissing Stars that hits you first and leaves a mark. Menuck (founder of Godspeed! You Black Emperor and Silver Mt. Zion) uses grimy sonic filters to amplify an emotional anguish whose extend deeper than the current geo-political situation. The album’s organizing preoccupation is a love affair between TV personality and an arm dealer’s coddled son, which caught Menuck’s attention when he was in his teens (he’s well into his 40s now).  The songs address love and money, and the impossibility of redemption and the yearning to transcend that impossibility, not as binary relationships but as far boundaries of a vast and incomprehensible field.  Menuck sounds broken and partially remade, awash in sounds made to match.

  Mesarthim — The Density Parameter (Avantgarde Music)

The Density Parameter by Mesarthim

Who recommended it? Ian Mathers

Did we review it? Yes Ian admired the way that Mesarthim, “seesaws from something even the staunchest, pettiest gatekeepers would have to admit are metal, to sections featuring patterns and instruments that, in a different context, would make perfect sense at a rave.” 

 Eric McDowell’s take:

“Safe to say that black metal’s got what it takes to make innocent listeners uncomfortable: the corrosive distortion, the pummeling drums, those terrifying roars — not to mention all that netherworldly symbolism, mythology and branding. But if Mesarthim’s keeping somewhat more experienced listeners (Bandcamp dabblers, Dusted midyear exchange reviewers) on their toes, it’s not because they’re doubling down on those tropes. It’s because they take such a free hand with gestures to genres that seem to take the legs out from under their black metal persona.

 Not to overstate the case: The music on The Density Parameter, the Australian duo’s third full-length, is plenty dark and crushing. But then there are the unsettling touches — the synthetic arena-rock drums and boxing-movie-montage keys of “Ω,” the bleeding-heart strings of “Transparency” or the ghoulish club beat of “74%.” To say that Mesarthim sounds like a band bored with convention is really to say that they sound pumped about the possibility of subverting it. And when they want to indulge, they can do that, too, as they prove in the album’s final overpowering minutes.  

  Roscoe Mitchell and the Montreal-Toronto Art Orchestra—Ride the Wind (Nessa)

Who recommended it? Derek Taylor

Did we review it? Yes. Derek said: “Flimsy idiomatic descriptors like jazz, classical and the like are irrelevant to the proceedings, replaced by the umbrella adjectival phrase of organized and energized sound.”

Jonathan Shaw’s take:

Adequately describing music this enormously complex, aesthetically confrontational and confident requires a technical vocabulary and understanding of jazz history that this reviewer lacks. For this 2016 set, Mitchell wrote and worked and played with the 19-piece Montreal-Toronto Art of Orchestra. Their varied instrumentation and dexterous, evocative playing create some dizzying experiences: see the transition out of the choppy clatter of “Splatter” into the lyrical grace of the first few minutes of the title track. From staccato, oddly percussive reeds to undulant brass and strings—it’s a sharp and then gorgeous progress.

A couple reference points occur: Mingus’s orchestral and ambitious Let My Children Hear Music (1972), especially the whirling, swirling “The Shoes of the Fisherman’s Wife Are Some Jive-ass Slippers”; “A Brain for the Seine” (1969), a long composition by the Art Ensemble of Chicago, in which Mitchell has been a key player throughout its long and bewilderingly experimental existence. Those dates invoke the high point of the American free jazz avant-garde, and few personages loomed as largely, or productively, in that period as Mitchell’s.

That begs some questions: Can we still have an avant-garde in the early 21st century? Can a figure as established and prominent as Mitchell produce authentically avant-garde art? If the avant-garde is thought as a political and historically specific phenomenon, likely not; the postmodern and late capital have reduced those possibilities all but completely. But if by “avant-garde” we mean a style, and a style specific to jazz, then this music carries its mark and its intensity. It’s also lovely and bracing to hear Mitchell work through a new arrangement of “Nonaah” here, a song that recalls the mid-1970s cultural environment of its original composition and appearance in Mitchell’s oeuvre. The song caps this set, and in doing so insists that we hear history at work. Thanks, Derek, for recommending this stirring and provocative recording.

 Kacey Musgraves — Golden Hour (MCA Nashville)

Who recommended it? Patrick Masterson

Did we review it? No.  

Derek Taylor’s take:

“Jazz is dead” — it’s a declamatory provocation at once reductive, alarmist and cavalier that’s been floating around for the better part of a half-century, uttered by the idiom’s traditionalists, progressives and detractors alike. The same fatalistic phrase could equally and erroneously be applied to country music. Twenty-nine year old Texan Kacey Musgraves isn’t exactly a corrective to that combative line of thought and her brand of musical expression is fraught with certain stylistic choices (concessions?) that appear cardinal in this age of Country Music Awards commodification. But embrace of pop conventions has always been efficacious strategy going back to Countrypolitan, Western Swing and even The Singing Brakeman.  

Golden Hour, Musgraves’ fourth album, is reportedly a reflection of recently-found, matrimony-rooted optimism, audible in the gilded acoustic guitar melodies that serve as the skeletal frames for the songs around which a warm-blooded corpus of lap steel, banjo, drums and noninvasive keys is fleshed. Her voice is a modest wonder, musing on solitary afternoons leavened and enriched by the safety that comes in knowing that loving companionship is the current and foreseeable norm or using the kitschy metaphor of a “Velvet Elvis” to elucidate her lover’s left-of-center appeal. Apart from others of her age and ascendant success, she seems to cotton that the gifts of prosperity and stardom need not come through the mercenary espousal of whatever pop chart-calibrated admixture the A&R suits and million-bean counters deem worthy of exploitation.

  Olden Yolk—S-T (Trouble In Mind)

Olden Yolk by Olden Yolk

Who recommended it? Ben Donnelly

Did we review it? Yes. Jennifer Kelly said, “The vocals slide over one another like colored transparencies, creating shifting shades and moods.”

Ian Mathers’ take:

“Je suis les enfants/in the barrel of a gun” is a heck of a way to open an album, and the mix of the slightly sinister and the slightly baroque carries throughout the first Olden Yolk record. Which means, yes, building on that proud legacy of twee bands not afraid of the Velvet Underground, and I see those Clientele comparisons and can agree with them too. At points though I also think of early, spikier Go-Betweens. All of which is to say that the considerable charms and pleasures of Olden Yolk are coming from a distinct and well loved (if sometimes underestimated) lineage. There are discernible traces of psych-folk, jangle-pop, even a bit of the tang of the garage in there, but as with any act producing music worth paying attention to, here all those referents are just attempts to point at the contours of the very specific, individual thing Olden Yolk are doing. Whether it’s the brasher likes of “Esprit de Corps” or the lovely eternal sigh of “Gamblers on a Dime” or especially the forbidding sprawl and tangle of the closing “Takes One to Know One,” Olden Yolk build on the past with such verve and panache they never feel of the past.

  John Prine — The Tree of Forgiveness (Oh Boy)

Who recommended it? Isaac Cooper

Did we review it? Yes, Isaac said, “Prine finds his warmest balance yet between boundless empathy and joking detachment.”  

Eric McDowell’s take:

Portrait of the artist as an old man, the cover of John Prine’s first album of original music in 13 years says it all. He looks a bit tossed around, sure, but sly as ever. He’s surrounded by darkness and wearing black, but his face glows. Perhaps he’s “seeing the light,” but he’s gazing right at us, eyes skeptical, mouth ready to crack an acid joke.  

On The Tree of Forgiveness, Prine’s intimate and gruff voice doesn’t so much guide us from light to dark as show us their inseparability. Often they’re embodied in the figures and narratives characteristic of Prine’s music. There’s the down-and-out beggar of the trucking-on opener, “Knockin’ on Your Screen Door” whose family “up and left me / with nothin’ but an 8-track / another side of George Jones.” On “The Lonesome Friends of Science,” there’s the poor washed-up Pluto, “once a mighty planet there / now just an ordinary star / hanging out in Hollywood / in some old funky sushi bar.” While other tunes have an earnest tenderness that makes us want to pin Prine himself as not only their singer but also their subject — the strings-saturated “Summer’s End” or “Boundless Love” (“If I came home, would you let me in / fry me some pork chops and forgive my sins?”) — that risky move is no more tempting than on the closer, “When I Get to Heaven.” “I’m gonna get a cocktail / vodka and ginger ale / and I’m gonna smoke a cigarette that’s nine miles long / I’m gonna kiss that pretty girl / on the tilt-a-whirl / yeah, this old man is going to town”: The plan feels pure Prine, but it’s also sketched as a sing-along, inviting us to share in the fantasy.  

If everyone’s already pointed out that Prine’s always been this way, singing with wit about old age and death and wearing black since the early days, then I guess he’s done his job.

Alasdair Roberts, Amble Skuse & David McGuinness — What News (Drag City)

What News by Alasdair Roberts, Amble Skuse & David McGuinness

Who recommended it?

Bill Meyer

Did we review it? Yes. Bill Meyer said, “Turns out, the news is that Roberts has made the most unabashedly gorgeous record of his career.” Bryan Daly’s take: This inspired trio has shepherded both the songs and the traditional instruments on which they were played from deep in the past and conveyed them to the present, with all the care and fortitude it took to deliver news through the wild countryside in the age when they were written. An old Britain comes vividly alive not only because of the scholarly work that has been done in presenting them faithfully, but also because of the emotions that streak these songs with color. After spending some time with these characters in the world where they live and die, casual understanding of the song's history and meaning becomes insufficient. Digging through the archives for context becomes its own rewarding pursuit. But just as digging through the archives these days can mean typing few words into your phone, the world is another place from when these songs were written. Amble Skuse's subtle weaving of shifting modern noise provides the most sublime moments throughout, like the ambiguous but familiar clacking that opens the album. Is it a camera? A typewriter? A horse? What news is being prepared? Lest we forgot we haven’t slipped into the times when these songs were first sung, a familiar hiss and static of the current grounds us in the now.

Alasdair's ageless tenor also plays well against McGuinness's period instruments (grand piano, dulcitone), illuminating timeworn themes like betrayal and confused notions of honor. Characters are portrayed with such sensitivity that the dust that might have gathered on their stories has been shaken off in travel through time. When the players imbue such reverence for presenting the past as is done here, songs arrive freshly felt. The news travels fast, even through the space of hundreds of years.

 Caroline Rose — Loner (New West)

LONER by Caroline Rose

Who recommended it? Justin Cober-Lake

Did we review it? No

Patrick Masterson’s take:

Loner leads off with a song called “More of the Same,” but such a description could hardly be less apt for Caroline Rose’s third full-length. In the wake of 2014’s I Will Not Be Afraid, Rose took her catchy but simple country-tinged folk, her insecurities and her formidable wit and lathered a thick coat of synth-tinged pop on it. Press materials cite Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears as inspirations, both of which seem like more than lip service (check the FutureSex/LoveSounds vibe of “To Die Today” and, well, this cover of “Toxic”), but perhaps the most clear pop parallel is on the significantly altered (and, hence, appropriately titled) “Soul No. 5,” where her shog-off attitude toward admirers recalls Nicki Minaj or peak-era Ke$ha before she dropped the dollar sign: “I like to hit ‘em and quit ‘em / That’s just my style,” she shrugs with flair.

Bang, bang and away she goes is right: Whether it’s this kind of forthright pop approach or something more serious (and seriously invested) like “Jeannie Becomes a Mom” – I’m still thinking about how she ends with “Now you’re in real life” reverbing out to the point that you can barely understand it before metaphorically clarifying right at the finish – and closer “Animal” or even the funny, cringe-worthy cat-call escalations of “Smile! AKA Schizodrift Jam 1 AKA Bikini Intro,” every song on here moves at a swift clip to showcase some point along the spectrum of Rose’s talent. Call in Britney, call in Ke$ha, call in Angel Olsen, call in The Replacements — none of it seems quite sufficient. Caroline Rose is a league apart and better than she’s ever been.

 Salad Boys — This Is Glue (Trouble in Mind)

This Is Glue by Salad Boys

Who recommended it? Jennifer Kelly

Did we review it? Yes. Jonathan Shaw said, “The contrast of blithe pop with alienated, distraught lyrics is nothing new. This record reinvests that contrast with liveliness and complication.”

Patrick Masterson’s take:

The cover to This Is Glue is almost comically accurate, an album of pastel shades. Listening to “Blown Up,” which kicks off Joe Sampson’s 12-song, 45-minute-long sophomore LP under the Salad Boys name into gear with a propulsive indie-rock fling before segueing into “Hatred,” which… sounds like anything but, gives you the two major speeds of the record in just about nine minutes. So yeah: The Christchurch, New Zealander loads up on soft-baked indie jangle like it’s 1986. In one of Dusted’s first reviews this year, Jonathan described it as “compulsively listenable from the jump,” which is nearly as damning as it is praising. Put it on! Forget it’s on! And on and on and on.

But look at the album art closer and you’ll see the bright speckles of red and that smear of darkness to the left – there’s more going on than initially meets the eye. Same goes for the music; working harder to hear the details rewards multiple plays. Stuff like “Psych Slasher” or “Under the Bed” are fairly overt hits, sure, but there’s also “Scenic Route to Nowhere,” where Sampson’s accent is most evident and there’s this almost Oneida-esque stretch at three-quarters distance; the über-jangle of “Exaltation”; the frontier strings in “Dogged Out”; and “Right Time,” which had me remembering some of my earliest indie-rock encounters listening to 3WK and realizing I had no idea what I didn’t know. Trouble in Mind tells me these lyrics are “more claustrophobic and yearning” than 2015’s more upbeat Metalmania, but the way Sampson barely ever rises above an inside voice even at full emoting had me focusing harder on the guitar tones, frankly; in this way, Salad Boys’ closest analog to me isn’t whatever I forgot from the Left of the Dial box, it’s another Antipodean group increasingly lost to the salads of time: Ides of Space. I mean that as a compliment, and I almost never give stuff like this compliments. Eat up.

 Tove Styrke — Sway (RCA)

Who recommended it? Ian Mathers

Did we review it?  Yes, Ian called it, “ a perfect sparkling little showcase for how much the craft and delivery of this kind of pop song can matter.”

Jennifer Kelly’s take:

Um, yeah, Swedish electro-pop, not my favorite. Ian’s right, though, Styrke is good at what she does, imbuing glossy, focused-tested beats with soft, engaging humanity. “Sway,” one of the singles, has a big sweeping chorus, a sugary blast of “Swaa-aa-aay” that could melt the hardest heart, while “Say My Name” slathers staccato rhythms with giddy female empowerment. Styrke’s girlish voice has a nice touch of vulnerability to it, shading marketable hooks with recognizable human feeling. Production is immaculate, meticulous, air-tight, engineered for maximum impact. You could do worse, obviously. But really, when so many good, less commercially viable bands are vying for your attention, why spend time on stuff that’s doing just fine without you?  

 Yuzo Iwata—Daylight Moon (Siltbreeze)

Daylight Moon by Yuzo Iwata

Who recommended it? Bryan Daly

Did we review it? Yes. Bryan said: “these are deeply thrilling guitar-driven instrumentals with the room-live warmth and sense of play found on the Matrix Tapes, and mentally chasing a melody on any of these songs captivates fully.”

 Jonathan Shaw’s take:

It’s hard to know if “Gigolo” intentionally alludes to “Gigolo Aunt,” one of the most coherent songs on Syd Barrett’s eponymous final record of studio material. But Yuzo Iwata’s delightful tune has the same lively, blithely bouncy quality as Barrett’s, and it plays a similar role on Daylight Moon. “Gigolo” is a space of unadulterated joy on a record that’s otherwise redolent with more difficult feelings. The difficulties are suggested by variations in tone; the record’s instrumentation is invariably simple, with Iwata backed by a straightforward rock combo. That anchors the record in a consistent sonic vocabulary. But Iwata’s playing projects the record onto multiple emotional planes: the meditative lilt of “Up on a Dragonfly”; the foreboding, spaghetti-western shamble of “Border”; the gently somber “Goodnight, Daylight Moon.”

The most intense sounds on Daylight Moon assert themselves on the fuzzily metallic “Drone Beetle” (recorded in 1999, unlike the other songs on the LP, which date from September 2015), and on “Daylight Moon II,” easily the record’s most incendiary performance. It’s got an aching, terrible beauty, and it feels like the fiery catharsis that offsets the goofball charm of “Gigolo.” Both songs are terrific, but “Daylight Moon II” is more vividly present, Iwata’s soloing seeks transcendence. It gets there. I wish it were here longer.

[backstreetsbackalright]

I’ve just posted a new one-hour mix on Mixcloud, featuring great new music from Maxine Funke, Yuzo Iwata and O. Goozarzi, plus not-so-new music from Matthew Bower, Andreas Dorau, Kicking Giant and more.

Click here to listen to backstreetsbackalright 07.10.18

Táňa Zelinková, “Hooligan” (’Loves of a Blonde’ opening theme, 1965) Maxine Funke, “Home Fi”  [Brierfield Flood Press, 2018] (bandcamp) Die Daraus und Die Marinas, “Nordsee”  [Ata Tag, 1981] (bandcamp) Samara Lubelski, “Field the Mine”  [Ecstatic Peace!, 2009] (bandcamp) Sanford Clark, “Still As The Night”  [Jamie, 1959] Yuzo Iwata, “Gigolo”  [Siltbreeze, 2018] (bandcamp) Islaja, “Haaveilija”  [Fonal, 2005] Liliput, “Might Is Right”  [Rough Trade, 1982] (bandcamp) Chuck Edwards, “I Need You”  [Punch, 1968] Flies Inside The Sun, “The Afternoon Blind”  [Kranky, 1995] Enhet För Fri Musik, “Det Finns Ett Hjärta”  [Omlott, 2017] (bandcamp) Kicking Giant, “Come In Colors”  [Loose Leaf, 1993] (bandcamp) O. Goodarzi, “Evidence of Arrival”  [Feeding Tube/Looky Here, 2018] (bandcamp) Roedelius, “Minne”  [Sky Records, 1979] (bandcamp) Total, “Tannery #1″  [Freek Records, 1994]

Speaking of Maxine Funke, you can read a great interview with her in the most recent issue of the Dynamite Hemorrhage fanzine.

[doomandgloomfromthetomb]

Yuzo Iwata - Daylight Moon

Bandcamp Monday brings us some extremely tasty jams via Yuzo Iwata, a Japanese guitarist who now resides in Philadelphia (I think). Iwata takes the listener in all kinds of (primarily instrumental) directions, each one radical and heady. There are thumping Velvety boogies, Bardo Pond-worthy zoners, achingly strange ballads, feedback laced freeforms ... and more! You’re going to love it, I promise. Thanks to Klausman for the tip-off! 

[bandcampsnoop]

2/25/18.

Finally....Siltbreeze is on Bandcamp!  There’s only one release for now, and it’s this gem from Yuzo Iwata.  I’d never heard of him, nor could I find much on my own, so I contacted Siltbreeze and got this message back from Tom Lax: 

“Yuzo Iwata-guitar & vocals, Virginia Flemming-drums & vocal, Michael Heinzer-bass, Zachary Sulat-guitar & vocal.

It was recorded by Jordan Burgis of Honey Radar & produced by Jordan & Yuzo.

Yuzo's roots go back to late 70's Japan,he was an early member of Maher Shalal Hash Baz before relocating to the US. He has a previous lp on the legendary Org label out of Japan entitled 'Drowning In The Sky', which was released in 1999.” [link to Discogs]

Not surprisingly, this reminds me of some Flying Nun artists from the 80s - most notably The Clean.  Siltbreeze is based in Philadelphia, PA.

[myearspleasure]

MERCREDI 12 JUIN 2019

YUZO IWATA - DAYLIGHT MOON

KIKAGAKU MOYO - HOUSE IN THE TALL GRASS

[aquariumdrunkard]

The Aquarium Drunkard Show: SIRIUS/XMU (7pm PDT, Channel 35)

Dance The Mutation. Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.

Intro ++ Fowley – The Face On The Factory Floor ++ Alan Vega – Jukebox Babe ++ Alain Kan – Nadine, Jimmy Et Moi ++ Simply Saucer – Dance The Mutation ++ Iggy Pop & James Williamson – Sell Your Love ++ Lou Reed – Kicks ++ Marie Et Les Garçons – Attitudes ++ X Ray Pop – La Machine á Rêver ++ Saâda Bonaire – Second Face ++ Bush Tetras – Snakes Crawl ++ The B-52’s – 6060-842 ++ Yoko Ono – Kiss Kiss Kiss ++ Lizzy Mercier Descloux – No Golden Throat ++ Damaged Bug – Bunker Funk ++ Earth Girl Helen Brown – Feed Me ++ Yura Yura Teikoku – Sweet Surrender ++ PAINT – Rokc Muzik ++ Yura Yura Teikoku – Beautiful ++ Justin Collins – Hey Dude ++ Jenny Conlee & Seve Drizos – Traveling ++ Ty Segall – Lovely One ++ Yuzo Iwata – Gigolo ++ Color Green – Bell Of Silence ++ Marine Girls – A Place In The Sun ++ Bona Dish – Sand ++ The Velvet Underground – I’m Sticking With You ++ Jack Name – I Came To Tell You In Plain English (I’m Leaving You) ++ White Fence – Breathe Again ++ The Dutchess & The Duke – Living This Life Makes It Hard ++ Sam Evian – You Know Me More Than I Know (Aquarium Drunkard Session) ++ Big Star – Kanga Roo

[guerrilla-operator]

Yuzo Iwata // Gigolo 

[still-single]

listen to new HEATHEN DISCO ep 247 (April 4, 2021)

It's right here: https://www.mixcloud.com/mosurock/heathen-disco-show-247-04-april-2021/

Tracks as follows:

HOUR 1

FACS – General Public (Present Tense / Trouble in Mind, 2021)

Sea of Tombs – Calico Wall (Sea of Tombs / Gravity, 2001)

Chris Corsano & Bill Orcutt – Thirteen Ways of Looking (Made Out of Sound / Pailailia, 2021)

Yuzo Iwata – Gigolo (Daylight Moon / Siltbreeze, 2018)

Felt – Elegance in D (Ignite the Seven Cannons / Cherry Red, 1985)

Menahan Street Band – Devil’s Respite (The Exciting Sounds of Menahan Street Band / Daptone, 2021)

Affinity – I Am and So Are You (Affinity / Paramount, 1970)

Scupper – Remedy (Some Gauls / Blue Cheese Toothpaste, 2017)

The Desperate Bicycles – Advice on Arrest (New Cross, New Cross EP / Relief, 1987)

Link Wray – Tail Dragger (Link Wray / Polydor, 1971)

Mountain Movers – Way Back to the World (World What World / Trouble in Mind, 2021)

Det Jordiska – Mit Liv Är En Promenad (Grisarnas År / self-released, 2021)

The Dead Space – La La Man (Chlorine Sleep / 12XU, 2021)

El Michels Affair – Fazed Out (Yeti Season / Big Crown, 2021)

Pete Rock & CL Smooth – The Creator (Slide to the Side Mix) (T.R.O.Y. 12” / Elektra, 1992)

HOUR 2

3rd Bass – Words of Wizdom (Sam Sever & 3rd Bass Remix) (The Cactus Revisited / Def Jam, 1991)

Zuli – Where Do You Go (All Caps EP / UIQ, 2021)

Renegade Soundwave – Cocaine Sex (Turbo Lust Mix) (Cocaine Sex 12” / Rhythm King, 1987)

Qloaqa Letal – La Vida Me Escupe (Nunca, Siempre / Matadona, 2014 re)

Public Image Ltd. – Annalisa (First Issue / Virgin, 1978)

JK Flesh – Holbrook Tower (Suicide Estate / Hospital Productions, 2017 re)

Una Bestia Incontrolable – No Hi Ha Esperanca (Observant Com El Món Es Destrueix / La Vida Es Un Mus, 2013)

Upside Down House – Maintenant (Beyond the Southern Cross comp / Ink, 1984)

Reymour – Holly Mother (Leviosa / Knekelhuis, 2021)

La Femme – Divine Creaturé (Paradigmes / Born Bad, 2021)

The Prats – Disco Pope (Way Up High / One Little Independent, 2020)

Spread Joy – Unoriginal (Spread Joy / Feel It, 2021)

Carlos Niño & Friends – Pleasewakeupalittlefaster, Please… (More Energy Fields, Current / International Anthem, 2021)

Turing Machine – Robotronic (A New Machine for Living / Jade Tree, 2000)

HOUR 3

The Fall – Backdrop (live) (Fall in a Hole / Flying Nun, 1983)

The Fall – Leave the Capitol (live) (Live at St. Helens Technical College, ’81 / Castle Face, 2021)

Nirvana – Hairspray Queen (Incesticide / DGC, 1993)

Kaputt – Movement Now (7” single / Upset the Rhythm, 2021)

Hoodoo Gurus – I Want You Back (Stoneage Romeos / A&M, 1984)

Tyrannosaurus Rex – Eastern Spell (Prophets, Seers & Sages … The Wisdom of the Ages / Regal Zonophone, 1968)

Tuning Circuits – It’s In My Brain Too (Screaming Oscillator Version) (No Compassion / bootleg, 1990)

Easley Blackwood – 20 Notes (Twelve Microtonal Etudes for Electronic Music Media / self-released, 1980)

Marc Riordan – TFO (Life Systems / Sophomore Lounge, 2021)

Lowlife – From Side to Side (Diminuendo / Nightshift, 1987)

Signal Aout 42 – Girls of Vlaanderen (12” single / Disco-Smash, 1986)

Pink Section – Francine’s List (Pink Section EP / Modern, 1980)

Ritual Mess – Vile Art (Vile Art / Adagio830, 2014)

Sir Lord Baltimore – Lady of Fire (Kingdom Come / Mercury, 1970)

[freersounds]

Freer Sounds January 2021

Tracklist:

Röda Bönor - Fællesang Lasse Mårtenson - Minnen Young Deacons - Saliga Skogsfiol Och Flöjt - Kristallen Den Fina Cindy - Seeing Double Visor i Vast - Vaggvisor Monokultur - Decenium Small Crimes - Palm Fronds Lillebjørn Nilsen - Gategutt Dionne Warwick - Love Song Lasse Mårtenson - Morgondimma Golden Ivy - Long John Silver Golden Ivy - Kläppen II Lewsberg - Non-Fiction Writer Yuzo Iwata - Gigolo Röda Bönor - Diskoteksjakt Lisa Stansfield - Sincerity Sade - Killer Blow Erdos - Soft Down all over Dope Girl Typical Girls - Tension Victor Malloy & Lee Jones - Dead Man Pedro Vian - Elderflower Disclosure feat. Kelis - Watch Your Step (Harvey Sutherland Instrumental) Theiz - Moving Forward DJ Hell - Jimmy Hendrix Studio Apartment feat. AK - Sign of Love KD Lang - Constant Craving (Jori Hulkkonen Bootmix) New Order - Be a Rebel (Paul Woolford Dub) Richie Hawtin - Concept 1 96:03 05:00 T99 - Anasthasia (Dave Clarke Remix) Sweeping Promises - Atelier Dionne Warwick - My First Night Alone Without You Amy Winehouse - Love Is A Losing Game (Acoustic)

Listen on Mixcloud

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Listen to FREER SOUNDS JANUARY 2021 byFreer Sounds on hearthis.at

[retro-vgm-revival-hour]

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐STAGE 71: Games Of 2020⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Last year may not have gone down as one of the best years we had, if anything, comparing it to a dumpster fire wouldn’t be too far off .

In a year where so many things went wrong, video games were pretty much one of the very few Highlights that stood out in 2020.

The ability to spend hours disappearing into a beautiful world like those in the far away islands of Animal Crossing, the competitive but fun gameshow aesthetic of Fall Guys or revisiting old friends in the land of Midgar was a much welcomed breather that we all needed.

These video games provided the much needed distractions from everything else happening in the world, by enabling us to visit far away places filled with hours upon hours of entertainment, colorful, unique and intriguing characters …and most of all amazing music.

SO This is why THIS stage of the Retro VGM Revival Hour has chosen the 3 most amazing tracks from the various games released in 2020 to get you excited for what’s to come in 2021.

I hope you’re ready…. so lets begin.

                                      Full track listing: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Game – Composer – Title – Company⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

1.) Yakuza: Like a Dragon – Hidenori Shoji, Yuri Fukuda, Chihiro Aoki & Saori Yoshida – “Kamurocho Battle Theme, Overcoming the Dragon & Substory Battle Theme“ – January 16, 2020 – Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio/Sega – Windows PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One & Xbox Series X/S

2.) Granblue Fantasy Versus – Nobuo Uematsu, Yasunori Nishiki & Tsutomu Narita – “Such a Blue Sky, Noble Execution & Arvess“ – February 6, 2020 – Arc System Works/Cygames – PS4 & Windows PC

3.) Persona 5 Strikers – Atsushi Kitajoh, Gota Masuoka, Ayana Hira, Hiromu Akaba & Shoji Meguro – “Camping Trip, A Waltz of Feasting & Keeper of Lust“ – February 20, 2020 – Omega Force & P-Studio/Atlus – PS4, Windows PC & Nintendo Switch

4.) Ori and the Will of the Wisps – Gareth Coker – “Separated by the Storm, Hornbug & Escaping the Sandworm” – March 11, 2020 – Moon Studios/Xbox Game Studios – Windows PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S & Nintendo Switch

5.) Nioh 2 – Yugo Kanno & Akihiro Manabe – “Battle II, Azai Nagamasa & Dark Realm II” – March 12, 2020 – Team Ninja – PS4, Windows PC & PS5

6.) Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Yasuaki Iwata, Yumi Takahashi, Shinobu Nagata, Sayako Doi & Masato Ohashi – “K.K. Slider Dream, Island Tour (Day/Snowy) & New Years Eve (12:00 a.m.)“ – March 20, 2020 – Nintendo – Nintendo Switch

7.)Doom Eternal – Mick Gordon – “BFG Division 2020, The Only Thing They Fear Is You & DOOM Eternal“ – March 20, 2020 – id Software/Bethesda Softworks – Windows PC, PS4, Google Stadia, Xbox One, PS5, Xbox Series X/S & Nintendo Switch

8.) Final Fantasy VII Remake – Nobuo Uematsu, Shotaro Shima, Tadayoshi Makino, Masashi Hamauzu & Yasunori Nishiki – “Scorpion Sentinel, J-E-N-O-V-A – Quickening & One Winged Angel (Rebirth)“ – April 10, 2020 – Square Enix – PS4

9.) Trials of Mana – Hiroki Kikuta – “Axe Bring Storm, Swivel & Farewell Song“ – April 24, 2020 – Xeen/Square Enix – Nintendo Switch, Windows PC & PS4

10.) Sakura Wars – Kohei Tanaka – “Anastasia’s Theme, Hatsuho’s theme & Geki! Teikoku Kagekidan (w/ vocals provided by Ayane Sakura, Maaya Uchida, Hibiku Yamamura, Ayaka Fukuhara & Saori Hayami)“ – April 28, 2020 – Sega CS2 R&D/SEGA – PS4

11.) Streets of Rage 4 – Yuzo Koshiro, Olivier Deriviere, Groundislava, XL Middleton, Keiji Yamagishi, Harumi Fujita, Motohiro Kawashima, Yoko Shimomura, David Scatliffe (Scattle) & Das Mörtal – “Nora, Estel (Round 2) & Ms Y“ – April 30, 2020 – Dotemu, Lizardcube & Guard Crush Games/Dotemu – Windows PC, Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One, Linux & macOS

12.) Maneater – Daniel James – “Prologue Theme, The Great Hunter & Arc Shark“ – May 22, 2020 – Tripwire Interactive & Blindside Interactive/Deep Silver – Windows PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S & Nintendo Switch

13.) Shantae and the Seven Sirens – Mark Sparling, Kentaro Sakamoto & Gavin Allen – “Risky Blows the Hatch, Turbulent Hip Shaking & Rise and Shine Shantae (w/ vocals provided by Cristina Vee)“ – May 28, 2020 – WayForward – iOS, macOS, Windows PC, PS4, Xbox One & Nintendo Switch

14.) The Last of Us Part II – Gustavo Alfredo Santaolalla & Mac Quayle – “It Can’t Last, Allowed to be Happy & Beyond Desolation“ – June 19, 2020 – Naughty Dog/Sony Interactive Entertainment – PS4

15.) Marvel’s Iron Man VR – Kazuma Jinnouchi & John Paesano – “Old Tech/New Threats, Cost of Doing Business & Heroes“ – July 3, 2020 – Camouflaj/Sony Interactive Entertainment – PS4

16.) Ghost of Tsushima – Ilan Eshkeri & Shigeru Umebayashi – “The Way of the Ghost, The Last of Clan Adachi & The Fate of Tsushima“ – July 17, 2020 – Sucker Punch Productions/Sony Interactive Entertainment – PS4

17.) Paper Mario: The Origami King – Yoshito Sekigawa, Shoh Murakami, Yoshiaki Kimura, Hiroki Morishita & Fumihiro Isobe – “Event Battle, Swan Lake (Punk Remix) & Battle at Bowser’s Castle“ – July 17, 2020 – Intelligent Systems/Nintendo – Nintendo Switch

18.) Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout – Jukio Kallio & Daniel Hagström – “Didn’t Fall! (You Win), Fall ‘n’ Roll & Final Fall“ – August 4, 2020 – Mediatonic/Devolver Digital – Windows PC & PS4

19.) Battletoads – David Housden & David Wise – “Battletoads, Olympian Amphibians & To the Queen!“ – August 20, 2020 – Dlala Studios & Rare/Xbox Game Studios – Windows PC & Xbox One

20.) Marvel’s Avengers – Bobby Tahouri – “The Light That Failed, God of Thunder & By Force of Mind“ – September 4, 2020 – Crystal Dynamics/Square Enix – Windows PC, PS4, Google Stadia & Xbox One

21.) Hades – Darren Korb – “No Escape, The Painful Way & The Unseen Ones“ – September 17, 2020 – Supergiant Games – macOS, Windows PC & Nintendo Switch

22.) 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim – Hitoshi Sakimoto, Mitsuhiro Kaneda, Yoshimi Kudo, Rikako Watanabe, Yukinori Kikuchi, Kazuki Higashihara & Azusa Chiba – “METHIONINE, Go Sentinels, Go! & VALINE“ – September 22, 2020 – Vanillaware/Atlus – PS4

23.) Genshin Impact – Yu-Peng Chen – “Make Haste Partner, His Resolution & Symphony of Boreal Wind“ – September 28, 2020 – miHoYo – Windows PC, PS4, Android, iOS & PS5

24.) Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time – Walter Mair – “Rude Awakening, Stage Dive (N. Gin Theme) & A Hole In Space (N. Tropy Theme)“ – October 2, 2020 – Toys for Bob/Activision – PS4 & Xbox One

25.) Amnesia: Rebirth – Mikko Tarmia – “Ghoul Chase, The Shadow & Ending (Part 2)“ – October 20, 2020 – Frictional Games – Linux, Windows PC & PS4

26.) Cobra Kai: The Karate Kid Saga Continues – Leo Birenberg & Zach Robinson – “Arcade, Encino & Woodley Ave“ – October 27, 2020 – Flux Game Studio/GameMill Entertainment – PS4, Xbox One & Nintendo Switch

27.) Ghostrunner – Daniel Deluxe – “Infiltrator, Let Them Know & Truth to Power“ – October 27, 2020 – One More Level & Slipgate Ironworks/All in! Games SA & 505 Games – PS4, Xbox One, Windows PC & Nintendo Switch

28.) Watch Dogs: Legion – Stephen Barton – “A Room with a Queue, It’s All Gone a Bit Tom Tit & Orwell That Ends Well“ – October 29, 2020 – Ubisoft Toronto/Ubisoft – Windows PC, PS4, Xbox One, Google Stadia, Amazon Luna, Xbox Series X/S & PS5

29.) Assassin’s Creed Valhalla – Jesper Kyd, Sarah Schachner & Einar Selvik – “Kingdom of Wessex (w/ Vocals provided by Melissa R. Kaplan), Raids of Rage & Drenglynda Skáldið/ The Steadfast Skald (w/ Vocals provided by Einar Selvik)“ – November 10, 2020 – Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft – Windows PC, PS4, Xbox One, Google Stadia, Amazon Luna, Xbox Series X/S & PS5

30.) Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin – Hiroyuki Oshima – “Mayhem, Resentment & War“ – November 10, 2020 – Edelweiss/Marvelous – PS4, Windows PC & Nintendo Switch

31.) Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales – John Paesano – “All In, Rhino Rampage & New York’s Only Spider-Man“ – November 12, 2020 – Insomniac Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment – PS4 & PS5

32.) Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory – Yoko Shimomura, Takeharu Ishimoto, Tsuyoshi Sekito, Kristen Anderson-Lopez & Robert Lopez – “At Dusk: I Will Think of You (Main Menu 3), Night of Fate & Let It Go (Japanese ver. w/ Vocals provided by Takako Matsu)“ – November 11, 2020 – Square Enix – PS4, Xbox One & Nintendo Switch

33.) Immortals Fenyx Rising – Gareth Coker – “Heart of the Hero, The Corrupted Heroes & Art of Warfare“ – December 3, 2020 – Ubisoft Quebec/Ubisoft – Amazon Luna, Windows PC, PS4, PS5, Google Stadia, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S & Nintendo Switch

34.) Cyberpunk 2077 – Marcin Przybyłowicz, P.T. Adamczyk, Paul Leonard-Morgan, Mattias Bärjed, David Sandström & Kristofer Steen – “The Rebel Path, The Heist & Juiced Up“ – December 10, 2020 – CD Projekt Red – Windows PC, PS4, Google Stadia, Xbox One, PS5 & Xbox Series X/S

35.) Resident Evil 3 – Kota Suzuki, Azusa Kato, Ryo Koike, Masami Ueda, Takayasu Sodeoka, Saori Maeda, Takumi Saito, Jeff Broadbent & Zhenlan Kang – “Invincible Nemesis, Resistance & Save Room“ – April 3, 2020 – Capcom – Windows PC, PS4 & Xbox One

36.) Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity – Kumi Tanioka, Reo Uratani, Ryotaro Yagi, Haruki Yamada, Ayana Hira, Asami Mitake, Hikaru Yamada, Shigekiyo Okuda, Gota Masuoka, Junya Ishiguro, Masako Otsuka, Takashi Yoshida & Hiromu Akaba – “Overlooking Hyrule/Prelude to Calamity (Title Screen), Urbosa: The Gerudo Chief & The Knight Who Seals the Darkness“ – November 20, 2020 – Omega Force/Nintendo – Nintendo Switch

Edgar Velasco: @MoonSpiderHugs Youtube: www.youtube.com/c/NostalgiaRoadTripChannel Official Site: nostalgiaroadtrip.com/ FaceBook: www.facebook.com/groups/nostalgiaroadtrip/ Official Twitter: @NRoadTripCast

[goodbysunball]

Two years running that Siltbreeze has put out only one record per year, and the supposed higher level of scrutiny - “Is this Siltbreeze-worthy?” - has resulted in two of the best albums in the past two years. Doesn’t matter that C.I.A. Débutante is a far cry from the soaring pastoral wonder of Yuzo Iwata’s Daylight Moon, because it’s no less arresting. The Landlord clears a bit of the muck from C.I.A. Débutante’s (also great) cassette releases, hosed off for primetime, though the modus operandi is still largely plodding beats and bloops, clouds of grey drone and metallic moaning, and garbled sinister vocals not unlike “The Gift” with a surfeit of reverb. It’s a sound I’ve been chasing after for a while, something Gothenburg seems to have nailed down in recent times, a fog of disorientation and shapeshifting that envelops the listener and induces a catatonic calm. Where C.I.A. Débutante differs is that there’s always a beat carrying things through, weathering the swirling mass of “Scum” and punching through the smoking sewers and warped sirens of “Online Presence.” As a whole, The Landlord really finds its groove on the B-side, where the duo, unconcerned with movement, lets songs play out a bit longer and simply razes everything in its immediate radius. Taken individually, the tracks are often stunning in of themselves, like the ambiance of “Your House” or the refracted electronics slathered all over “Dreams of the Butcher.” You could almost bust out “Secondary Tunnel” at some DJ night if ya wanted; the writhing bodies might not even notice that the track is consumed by simmering white light by the end. By the time the foreboding slow tread of “The Fisherman” hits, you’ll be ready to dive back onto the flip just to clear the film of grease off‘a ya. Brilliant record, and a nice bit of kismet that the height of Siltbreeze’s fastidiousness aligns with C.I.A. Débutante reaching peak physique after grinding through endless shows and tapes and CD-Rs. No shit, but: grab this one while you can.

C.I.A. Débutante‘s The Landlord was issued in an edition of 250 copies. The LP can be streamed and purchased through Bandcamp, directly through the Siltbreeze store, or, since it looks like Midheaven is distributing the record, get your local shop to grab you a copy.