SWANN DANGER: new album and European tour.

They are compatriots to the likes of Black Ice, Sixteens, and Phantom Limbs (and indeed, are even neighbors to some members of those aforementioned groups), and so it should come as no surprise that we enjoy ourselves a litte Swann Danger. Quite much, in fact.

Their newest offering, an album entitled "Deep North" and released on the band's own "Custody Night School" imprint, builds on their previous 10" released by Release the Bats about 2 years ago. The drum machine was replaced with live drums for the recording, but Andy and Cynthia's instrumentation remains sparse-- even skeletal-- in spite of the fuller sounding percussion. Their myspace page describes the band's genre as "post-punk/ dub/ gothic," which I quite like as a description. King Tubby or Big Youth, this is not, but while the drums and bass pound out a rhythmic din and the guitars reverberate with distant, shimmering chords, you can easily envision this as a dub track emptied of its warmth and ganja-induced histrionics. Cold-wave dub, perhaps? X-Mal Deutschland has come up as a point of reference before, which is not inaccurate in and of itself, but only if you can imagine that filtered through PJ Harvey by way of Siouxsie Sioux. Be that as it may, "Deep North" is definitely recommended to those who might be drawn the above description.

... and since they currently find themselves on tour, you should indeed go to see them if you find yourself in their path.

For more info, direct yourself here or here.



JUNE 22:@FIEBER-TANZPARTY@AMP HAFENSTR. 64 MUNSTER,DE
JUNE 23:@SCHLACHTHOF/LUNATIC GOTH ASYLUM FINDORFFSTR.51 BREMEN,DE with MONOZID
JUNE 24:@POP ART CAFE, 103 RUE DE NEUFCHATEL REIMS, FR
JUNE 26:@SOAP BOX CLUB 29 AV DE LA RESISITANCE NANCY,FR
JUNE 27 @ LA FELINE 6 RUE VICTOR LETALLE PARIS,FR EARLY SHOW : 21:00!
JUNE 29:@Sonic/Peniche Mascaret 4 Quai des Etroits LYON,FR with CARLA BOZULICH
JUNE 30:@NOISE CLUB Via San Massimo, 1 TORINO,IT with NORMA LOY (FR) and VIDI AQUAM
JULY 1: @Sinister Noise Club via dei magazzini generali 4b ROME,IT with AVANT-GARDE
JULY 4:@heinrichstrasse 137 ZURICH, CH
JULY 5: @Kunstverein, Franken str. 200 im Z-Bau, NUREMBERG, DE with MONOZID
JULY 7: @NACHTGEFLATTER/GIESZESTR. LEIPZIG,DE
JULY 8: @Z vereinstr. 25 AACHEN, DE
JULY 11:@AZ Conni DRESDEN,DE
JULY 13: tba
JULY 14: @ OCCII/HEX PARTY AMSTERDAM,NL HEX COMPILATION RECORD RELEASE PARTY

Booty from Sir Luke.

Always the world traveler, Lucas Lanthier often finds himself coming home from various appearances/ Cinema Strange tours/ Deadfly Ensemble with quite the booty amassed. On his more recent journeys, he came home with some trappings he passed on to me, knowing I'd probably enjoy them. He was right.


Exhibit 1: the culprit; Lucas Lanthier


Varsovie- Neuf Millimetres CD ep
The francophone trio Varsovie's five song EP, "Nef Millimetres" is a good example of some of the very, very competent post-punk coming out of central Europe nowadays. It boasts stoccatto rhythms, whose hooks are incredibly catchy in spite of their sharp repetitiveness. At the risk of giving a totally wrong impression, I will say that it's got similar rhythmic sensibilities as the first Strokes record, which, think what you will about the band, had some infectiously catchy songs. Though not nearly as apocalyptic-sound as Siekera, for example, there's quite an elegant darkness about them. It might very well be the french pop tradition speaking through them, which was able to negotiate its melody and its melancholy quite well.


the Opposite Sex CD ep
Now we cross the Atlantic for the Opposite Sex, from our nation's capital. In the first song's bass flange and wailing tenor vocals, they wear their influences on their sleeve (Southern Death Cult comes to mind quickly), but the performances is tight enough and the recording is crisp enough to make this quite enjoyable and impressive. By the third song, it becomes apparent that Opposite Sex are capable of developing their own sound; tight drum beats propelled by the bass, with ephemeral sounding guitars, and strong, deep vocals. I'm not familiar with any DC band that sounds like this; from Black Market Baby to the Faith to Rites of Spring and beyond... so it's quite nice to hear them, and see that some of the studio work (well, mastering at least) was done at Inner Ear. Sir Lanthier mentioned that, of all the bands he's played with recently, this is one of the one's that's impressed him most. I can see why.


Dr. Doomsday and his Nuclear Wisemen demo recordings CDR
Here's a band I know next to nothing about, but from the looks of this CD, it's a new sythiepunk band ("synthpunk," wie man's hier normalerweise nennt-- aber auf deutsch, d'rum eben anders geschrieben!). Raw recordings; mostly drum machine beat, vocals, bass, some (rare) guitars, and minimal analog synth, often sputtering away. This longer than normal demo meanders along at times, but most of the songs show they've got their wits about them and their aesthetics are in the right place (which favor anxious beats with simple synth lines driving the melodies). To be honest, it is a little bit long to hold your attention all the way through, but they're on to something, particularly on those occasions where they sink drum machine, bass, and synth lead fall into a nice beat. Maybe this betrays my roots a little , but there's a nice punk attitude here that still makes this quite enjoyable. If they streamlined the songs, and tightened the songs up, I'd be fan.


The Pepper Plant- Original California Style hot pepper sauce
I must admit my ignorance when it comes to this brand of hot sauce, and upon sampling a bottle, I'm very sorry to have lived without it. I can't say I knew there was a distinctively "California style" of hot sauce, but these Pepper Plant folks do quite the job with this condiment. Significantly less tomato-y than Valentina's, and not nearly as vinegary as something like Tobascoe, it's mild compared to the west indian brands you could find, but damn if it ain't tasty. Made with jalepenos and chilis, I would have thought there were actual pepper corns in this sauce (a glance at the ingredients denied this). Whatever it is, a look at the ravaged, empty bottle show clearly that I didn't like it all that much.


Sleeping Children- In Viro Tests demo CDR
A Parisian band here (I think, because their bass player was involved in the short-lived Parisian label Deviant Ears). They offer us some simple, but well done "batcave" style deathrock with the ambiance of Alien Sex Fiend and the vocal histrionics of Peter Murphy. Able enough for this style, though it seems like this is ann older recording, and they've got a record out on Strobelight that followed this up. I imagine fans of this style then might already be familiar with these people...