Never mind the editorial bit at the top or what we said the last time, you’ve read all this already, just jump down past this editorial and let the actual music do the actually walking and the talking. Exact same thing again, another five (or so) slices of musical things that have passed our way recently and however you like to slice it and of course it was the price of apples and here comes the intro….
Five? There’s something rather compelling about five. Cross-pollination? Five more? Do we need to do the editorial bit again? Is there another way? A better way? A cure for pulling flying lions out of the clouds? Is there a rhyme? Is there a reason? Was there ever a reason? What do reasons make? Five more? Snake oil? Everything must go and same as last time (and the time before that) five, and no, we never do and the proof of the pudding is in that proof reading. When we started this thing, oh never mind, it doesn’t matter why we started this damn thing and like we asked last time, does anyone bother reading the editorial? Does anyone ever actually look down the rabbit hole or is it all just method acting? We do really try to listen to everything that comes in, we do it so you don’t have to, we are very (very) very very picky about what we actually post on these fractured pages or about what gets played on the radio or indeed what we hang in a gallery. Cut to the chase, never mind the editorial, there’s loads of music further down the page, well five or so pieces of music that have come our way in the last few days and cut cut slash and cut it, who needs an editorial or words or worms in general? What’s Wordsworth? Just facts and links and sounds then. Here you go, play the music, grab your five, eat your greens, go eat some art, go eat some fresh music and don’t forget whatever it was we said last time…
Here we go again, in no particular order….
1: and also the trees Have a rather georgeous new single from their forthcoming album, an album called Mother-of-pearl Moon that in turn will be out at the end of February next year. Must admit I hadn’t caught on t othe fact that and also the trees were still about, missed 2022’s The Bone Carcer album completely (hey, there’s too many bands out there, how can anyone keep up these days?)
Here’s what the press release tells us…
“and also the trees formed during the original post-punk era in rural Worcestershire, an environment that has provided a constant inspiration to a group whose music has often explored the dark underbelly as well as the beauty of the British countryside. They are renowned for their captivating live performances, a unique style of mandolin-like electric guitar, evocative lyrics and dark jazz rhythms – not to mention a creative independence fiercely preserved for over four decades.
and also the trees immediately caught the attention of Robert Smith of The Cure, who invited them to tour with his group on several occasions. Smith was also involved with their early recordings alongside his bandmate Lol Tolhurst, who produced their first records, a long-term friendship and mutual respect further solidified when and also the trees were invited to perform at the 2018 edition of the Meltdown festival in London, an event that Smith curated.
Founded by singer Simon Jones and his guitarist brother Justin, and also the trees have maintained a continuous presence on the post-punk, alternative rock and Gothic scenes worldwide. They have released fifteen studio albums and toured frequently throughout mainland Europe, as well as North America and Japan where they have also built a sizeable following.
The panoramic soundscapes on AATT’s compelling new album, ‘Mother-of-pearl Moon’, were born from a series of extraordinary electric guitar improvisations created in the pre- and post-dawn hours during a month of solitude in 2020. With the artful integration and imagery added by the voice, clarinet, piano, percussion, autoharp and Moog, the listener is taken on a voyage from the depths of the English countryside far out in all directions of the compass.
The music on ‘Mother-of-pearl Moon’ is often filmic and reminiscent of various genres from the ‘50s to the ‘70s, perhaps most apparent in ‘This path through the meadow’, a song that explores the intertwining of human nature and nature in its animal and botanic form. A video for it in which the band appear to be performing to an imaginary screening. Elsewhere, the album title track transports the listener oceans away to the Far East…and to its exotic gardens, still waters and the ‘Mother-of-pearl Moon’.
‘Mother-of-pearl Moon’ will be released in February 2024 and promoted with tours throughout the year.
Here, while we wait for more of next year’s album, is their rather beautiful 2022 release via Bandcamp
2: USA Nails have let loose another track from their forthcoming album Feel Worse which in turn is due out March 22nd 2024. The Bandcamp thing is just down there, no doubt we’ll focus on their glorious noise and thier new album a little more next year one the dust has settled on this one.
3: Nina Kohout – it was simply because she was opennig for Gazelle Twin in Brighton a couple of weeks ago that we checked her out, “Nina is a young artist from Slovakia, now based in London. “In her music, she connects the eerie atmosphere of old Slovak folklore, classical music elements, and the freshness of an innovative trip-hop”.. Here’s her latest release (via Bandcamp)
‘Song of an Unborn Mother’ is a gentle, sonically beautiful, and serene song that explores the theme of motherhood. “I wanted to infuse the song ‘Song of an Unborn Mother’ with the utmost tenderness. I often think of music visually, so while the latter part of the song demonstrates boundless playfulness, in the initial minutes, I aimed to sonically create the softest of bed sheets, conveying a sense of warmth and safety. Throughout the song’s creation, I pondered the concept of maternal love and my belief that this exceptional emotion exists in women regardless of their decision to become mothers. Whether a woman chooses to “give birth” to her inner mother or not is entirely her decision, one that has no bearing on her tenderness, care, and, most importantly, personal worth,”
4: Sarasara – French avant-garde performance artist and songwriter Sarasara will release her third album Elixir on March 1st 2024 on One Little Independent Records. Though consistently creating and experimenting – in 2022 she penned a tribute EP to Serge Gainsbourg – Elixir marks her return to the album format following 2019’s Orgone. An audio manifesto for the angry and disenfranchised, the new LP is said to be fierce, honest, and combative. The video up there is a rather lush first taste of things to come, only a first taste though, we suspect there will be far far more to this new album that this one rather fine track tells us. Actually, now we check, there’s a sexond taste to be had, find it firther down the page…
Of new single and video Warrior, Sarasara tells us; “The song is about the idea that ‘What does not kill me makes me stronger’ like Nietzsche explains in the Twilight of The Idols or Machiavelli in The Prince. The video is a mix of aesthetics between Japanese horror movies and the experimental cinema of Maya Deren, two of my favourites.”
Elixir is brewed from a variety influences and experiences and, as Sarasara explains, “it contains different ingredients; some dark magic and alchemy, some anarchism, a couple of drops of 70’s indie horror film essence, a lot of feminism, a bit of punk and rock, some suffragettes vibes, some black leather, a lot of anger and revolt, some activism, and as always a lot of self-examination and thinking time.”
Once again, Sarasara penned everything herself, before recruiting long-time collaborator Liam Howe for additional instruments. The process was informed in large part by the company she was keeping between writing in Bristol and Ibiza, contrastingly. In Bristol she spent time with members of Crass and The Mob, another anarcho punk band of the 70s and 80s. Frontman Mark Wilson founded Rockaway Park Commune were Sarasara began writing and recording demos for Elixir, between engrossing philosophical debates in the communal restaurant. These inspired a lot of the more outgoing and political elements of the album as well as the artwork, which takes direct cues from the work of anarcho-pacifist legend Gee Vaucher.
“Visually It was fuelled by a very strong feeling of disgust and despair after events happening all around the world against women these last couple of years. There is also some reflection of my own experience as a woman in the music industry for the last 8 years. I have had many epiphanies working on this record, realising the amount of micro violence perpetuated daily against us and seen as the norm.”
The albums potent mix of cultural ideas fuses with dark industrial synths and gothic atmospherics to shape her intoxicating, cinematic sophisti-pop. Enthralling, groove-laden compositions recall the likes of David Bowie and Jehnny Beth, but Sarasara found more influence in political writers; Bell Hooks, the distinguished professor of race and class, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, a French socialist, and the first person to declare himself an anarchist, and Édith Thomas, the French novelist and bisexual pioneer of women’s history, among others. She continues; “I am not sure I can explain what inspired it musically. It was written in different places, cities and countries even, and over a long period of time. It still feels like a bit of a mess to me. I can’t make sense of it just now and it will probably have to be reflected on in the future. I just know I was tired of being called an electronic artist, because that’s not who I am. I like to experiment, but I don’t want to be put in that box. I like old book smell and writing with pens, I like to play with words and dictionaries and analogue things.”
Elixir was written as a remedy for the symptoms of modernity and late capitalism. Sarasara has crafted a companion-piece to the decline of civilisation as she sees it; “Everything that’s been happening with AI and social media these last couple of years makes me sick. Humans are not able to think any more, and I feel disgusted by technology altogether at the moment, like a vital repulsion. I feel Baudrillard’s Hyperreality in my bones and I want to stay away from it. For this album I wanted to come back to basics.”
On her new album, there’s an actively enraged side to Sarasara. Rather than passive political upset, her frustration at “the big tech fascist surveillance system” is raw and impassioned. The tracks on Elixir may be brooding, even mystic, but behind them there’s a seething activist fighting to make herself heard over the noise. “It all makes me really sad, angry and powerless at the same time. I feel attacked in my flesh and in my heart, I feel threatened daily. There is too much pressure. I guess these pictures are a physical reaction and the way my whole body and mind process those feelings. Elixir is my Anarcha-Feminist album.”
5: Terms, that’s them in some kind of Organ flavoured collage someone at their record label cooked up, have a new video or whatever we call these things now,. Directed by Danny Piechocki, here’s the official full length music video for Blurred Photo Of A Fragment Of A Drawing by Terms – as heard on the SKiN GRAFT Records album All Becomes Indistincct. You can find lots of Terms coverage via our vastly improved Organ search engine
.
And while we’re here…
Here’s some rather amusing footage of the Brian Jonestown Massacre from a recent gig in Australia. Of all the many many (many) bands we worked with a released music for back in the days of ORG Records, the BJM were by far the most “difficult” and in the end the most unpleasant. Is that Anton complaining about death threats? That is rather hilarious, the crazed man has been known to issue a threat or two of his one from a stage or two, I think the best of the death threats he made in my direction was made on stage at South By South West that time, he’s never say it to my face though, and only at gigs when I wasn’t there.. I see very little has changed…
.
And for those wh odo the Spotify thing…..
THE ORGAN 
Leave a reply to ORGAN: Five Music Things – Fleshhörns Flesh Witch, Moor Mother’s questions, more of that new USA Nails album, Bodega, Susanna and… – THE ORGAN Cancel reply