Three albums, them Melvins are in the zone, or are they in a different zone this time? Will Taylor be happy when she gets her copy home? And what of Taylor’s album or albums, how many hours are there in a day?

Melvins – Tarantula Heart (Ipecac) – Oh, that’s a mean riff, that’s dark, that’s sinister, that’s beautiful, six and bit minutes into the nineteen minute album opener that is Pain Equals Funny. Those Melvins are cooking, of course they are, we’d expect nothing less. Tarantula Heart is the new album from the band who’ve been challenging themselves for more than forty years now, Pain Equals Funny is primal Melvins, it concluded gloriously, now that is how to open an album, is it a kind of darkly psychedelic in a way only they could be? Is it a trip? Does it go wrong at the end? And that is the thing, how to still be relevant, how to be Melvins without just being Melvins? How to carry on working that ditch? How to keep going in the hold of the whole goddamn godless world, how to bring it and like it so so much. The details, you think they’re just riffing, they’d just being heavy, that they’re just being brutal and Melvins and singing of the dark times for us but it really is in the details, the devil in the detail, the little bits of colour you hardly notice that are so so crucial. So far, two tracks and twenty off minutes in and this is brilliant, they really are boiling it here, the layers are demand your attention, the way those drums take it, the way the undercurrents flow, the size of it all, this is massive.

Most of the expected experimentation on this fine fine record is maybe in the way they’ve chosen to do things this time? Of course the results are in the actual pieces. Apparently this time, core members Buzz ‘King Buzzo’ Osbourne (guitar, vocals), Dale Crover (drums) and Steven McDonald (bass) invited additional drummer Ray Mayorga (Stone Sour, Hellyeah, Ministry) to play simultaneously with Crover on some loosely structured, largely improvised riffs. Osbourne then cherry picked key moments from these recordings and wrote new material on the top of this solid bedrock. We Are the Asteroid’s Gary Chester then added some additional Texas-fried guitar contributions. The results speak for themselves and hang on, my tea is stewing (no it wasn’t, hadn’t even poured the water on the leaves) 

And you’re really (really) going to Love Oh She’s Got Weird Arms, that really wasn’t expected, well maybe something way but did we really know what shape the unexpected shape would take? Love it like a reptile, shocked like an electric eel, and on  we go and we have to be careful, allergic to food? Urgent, Melvins are feeling urgent, someone was going to kill someone, thing abound in corners yeah, squalor on the table, the little bastard scares me as Albion come forward again. We’re somewhere different now, it kind of started off as expected but now, four tracks in we’re way off track, they let us settle in, they let us think it was going to be a relatively comfortable ride, then they took a glorious left turn and demanded we hold on tight. and then Smiler just rocks in the way you want the last of the five tracks to rock, the way you want Melvins to rock! Bang, take that, never forget where you’re coming from, Melvins do it again, they’re maybe reaching further into (sometimes noisy) psychedelic territory than they might have sone before, still Melvins though, Taylor will be happy, still that sludgy, slightly clipped approach to their rather unique take on alternative metal, still very much Melvins buy they never are ever going to just be Melvins are they? Excellent of course (sw)

Bandcamp

and Taylor loves it of course, there’s Ms Swift out early on Record Store Day, more concerned about Trantula Heart than her own new album that came out on the same day as the new one from those Melvins. And there she is again, Swift in with a challenge for Albion but they are two goals down to Leicester now…

Taylor Swift – The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology (Some label or other) – Who uses typewriters anyway? Only here for the torture? Or maybe the Pain Equals Funny. A midnight listening then, we care a lot, tortured artists department here and no you’re not going to name-drop Patti Smith are you? And no one left any typewriter here, just this fractured keyboard, that now I can see a little more, needs a damn good dusting! And who’s plastic smile anyway? A more personal album? Broken favourite toys? Just repeating myself here, we do need to listen to these things don’t we? Probably not, and oh my tortured heart, this world is apparently bigger than us and yes I know we should be more concerned with where Raging Speedhorn have got to or what you’ve done with all my old clothes? Forgot I had my Speedhorn t-shirt on today and got a right blast from one of those big ladies with even bigger great big hats, wasn’t even Sunday! Where was she going with her crown on? What would she make of Taylor’s profanity?! So Long London sounded hopeful for a moment, nice texture and no one opted in to be the odd man out, was the spirit ever there? Pissed off? Should we abandon the ship here or shall we go right down with it? A new Taylor Swift album listen to last night and now as Swift comes forward for Albion again and every Leicester player is behind the ball besides Vardy, two-one now, are the Foxes going to blow it? How much sadness, how much tragedy? The alter of what? Melvins know. Should we rise above it all with a dress unbuttoned? Are we coming to our senses? Protesting too much? Saboteurs, dress unbuttoned, this is the best one yet and I’ll tell you something right now I’d rather burn my whole life down and keep those vipers out of here now, let me bestow my best fake smile and some perspective, I’ll tell you something right now you ain’t got to pray for me and oh my god you should see your faces. Still with it here, still hanging in, do we need a new paragraph yet? 

Straight out of the slammer, now they were a good band for fifteen Warholian thrashing minutes back there, fresh out of the slammer, it is all rather one paced isn’t it. All “perfectly” produced, all the same in terms of the shine and texture, it all seems rather harmless and now (pretty baby) I’m running and banging it out on what passes for a typewriter. Does anyone remember Starwriters? That Starwriter was a big commitment, and yes they do all smell of weed, hang on, this one has Florence and her Machine on it, I’m sure we put her band on with Raging Speedhorn one Sunday night at the Falcon, where did Kilkus get to? And what was that about a shitstorm back in Texas? No I don’t mean Pulkas, they were a totally different band. I need to forget it all, they all used me,others tried to warn me, never trust a band and get me to somewhere where we’re not just guests in long suffering propriety and we might be guilty as sin. Am I allowed to cry? if you wanted me red (or dead) you should have just said, who’d afraid of little old me? You should be – like that bit – scandal contained, they took out all her teeth? Did they really though? Can she bite? is it all about her? Does she have anything to say? Are we singing along (like a record scratch) Don’t you worry folks, they took out all of her teeth. I can fix this, only I can or was that her? A six lane Texas highway or the M11 link road?  We’re a million miles from Leytonstonia now and did that bit sound like it was lifted from a Cyndi Lauper song? I prefer the Romy album, I love that Romy album.  Someone like Cyndi anyway, and an impressionist painting of heaven that took her to hell, well we’ve all been there (did she really sing that?)    

She’s a real tough kid, she can handle our shit, oh, hang on, a change of song texture, a different tune at last! It must be her birthday, she can hold her breath and you shouldn’t look in draws that aren’t yours. Was the crowd really chanting for more? More is our name, volume is our game, we are the the band, that More? Taylor wants some more or did we just treat her like some also ran? of course none of this matters but hey, this needs to be listened to and I hope the smallest man who ever lived is enjoying this (probably not that small man but…) . No one in my small town ever though I’d be banging this out on my broken typewriter, you look like Stevie Nicks they’d say, is this the real thing? is it a beast? Will it bite? Is it hell on earth and you look like Taylor Swift in this life? Is this the Life? Holding these things in my hand?

Are we there yet? Devils want to what? Shape of what?  Hang on, we are there, we’ve gone past Clara Bell and picked like a rose and we were supposed to be sent away but they forgot to come and get us and hang no, no, we’re not there, there’s more! We were just off to bed and then she said…

“It’s a 2am surprise: The Tortured Poets Department is a secret DOUBLE album. ✌️ I’d written so much tortured poetry in the past 2 years and wanted to share it all with you, so here’s the second installment of TTPD: The Anthology. 15 extra songs. And now the story isn’t mine any more… it’s all yours” – 

There’s more, Black Dog, has she gone all Gazelle Twin on us or is it more of the same? She released a single album then a couple of hours later a whole load more and it is in fact a double album and nothing anywhere near Gazelle Twin and when in the history of music did anyone ever release a decent double studio album? Twenty three tracks in now and she hates it here and Swift fired the shot in but never really got hold of it, should have scored! Ninety seconds of added time to play and Leicester have the ball where they need it. Early Saturday afternoon spent listen to the second half of what should have been over ages ago. Actually I Hate You is a tiny bit of a stand out track and what, eight more tracks to go? More tea vicar? I though were were done with this last night and “Speculating is, of course, all part of the package; a Swiftie-an safe space”, they lost today but hey, you have to fancy Swift and Albion in the play-offs and if you don’t listen to these things you can’t have an opinion, it ain’t no Cowboy Carter, nothing here is making our playlist and I’m getting a little bored with it all now, oh for a song about something more that a broken relationship and eyes that keep you indoors and crawling up walls and pushing each boulder up the hill (see I am paying attention and thank you anyway) and lets get on with the Taylor Deupree album like we should be, I don’t buy my copy of Organ to read about Taylor Swift, she’s not going to be catching lightning in a bottle any time soon, I think we an get off the ride now, The Prophecy isn’t bad, Melvins should do a version, can we get off now,? I hung on for twenty six of the thirty one tracks, can’t say I didn’t try. Nah, I don’t get it, I tried (again), we’ll leave her to process her romantic travails and get back to whatever we need to do, some obscure band or something and you’re not Dylan Thomas, I’m not Patti Smith, This ain’t the Chelsea Hotel, We’re modern idiots…. (sw) 

Taylor Deupree – Sti.ll (Greyfade) – We do get an awful lot of things that on the surface sound rather a lot like this; carefully crafted, quiet, thoughtful minimal collections of electronic music, soundscapes, composition, sometimes in the form of improvisation, sometimes cleverly scored, whatever the nature, all rather alike, an endless demand of them, day after day in the inbox, unsolicited and without there ever being the time to really distinguish one from another before the next one (and the one after that) turns up and demands coverage (sometimes rather forcefully so). I imagine legions of people alone in dark studios carefully (and sometimes not so carefully) creating these often wonderful things. I listen to them, I try to, there is so little time and so many of them, there’ll be another five by tea time today and the one I was exploring yesterday will be lost forever – hundreds of these things have been reviewed on these pages or on previous versions of this website, even more covered in the days of print and none of them ever really revisited just for the pleasure for there never is time before the next e.mail from the next (demanding) record label or (rude) PR company with the next minimalist instrumental “experimental” electronic album and then the e.mail you didn’t respond to last week arrives again in an even more demanding way. In they come demanding to know (in a demanding manner) just why their “unique ” release has not been reviewed yet! Dare I say it seems a little easy just to lock yourself in a studio (or your bedroom) and make something that sounds something like this? Well almost, when there’s time to properly listen to Sti.ll, when you do have time to tune in to some of finer details then yes this is just a little different – not that different, not sure if it is different enough? And yes, you do kind of wonder, as pleasantly relaxing and refreshing as it may just be whe nyourt mind is tuned in and the sun is out, you do wonder why Deupree and arranger/producer Joseph Branciforte have gone to all the effort?       

“An elaborate, authoritative acoustic re-imagining of Taylor Deupree’s seminal electronic album Stil. (2002), Sti.ll is the result of a multi-year collaboration between Deupree and arranger/producer Joseph Branciforte to bring Deupree’s explorations of extreme repetition and stillness into the world of acoustic performance. Meticulously reconstructed and scored by Branciforte for an ensemble of clarinet, vibraphone, cello, double bass, flute, guitar, and percussion, the album’s arrangements approach the rhythmic, textural, and formal complexity of Deupree’s original through purely acoustic means, bringing the tactility and emphasis on imperfection characteristic of Deupree’s later albums to one of his most austere, process-based early works”.

Sti.ll is the second release in Greyfade’s new FOLIO music release format: a 6.5 x 8” linen hardcover book + high-resolution digital album download. The FOLIO edition of Sti.ll features an introduction by Pitchfork’s Philip Sherburne (shall we go write a wordy review of his introduction and give it a mark of  say 6.9 in that annoying way Pitchford do?), essays by Deupree, Branciforte, and clarinetist Madison Greenstone reflecting on the album’s conception and creation, a complete reproduction of Branciforte’s arrangements in full score, studio photography by Deupree, and digital downloads of both Sti.ll and the original Stil.

So you have the album, it still sounds like a beautifully minimal clean cut “perfect” electronic album, it maybe is a little warmer than electronic music usually is and of course it isn’t actually electronic music. It surely could have been a lot more organic, a little less “perfect”, a touch more human? It is rather beautiful when you catch it right, it is rather soothing, it is kind of painterly, or maybe more like a well produced perfectly printed fine art print of a painting. Sti.ll is subtly coloured, gentle, easy, it does breathe, and yes, the composition is, well nice, enjoyable, inoffensive, subtle, everything about this piece of work is nice. Really not sure if I’d call it “elaborate or authoritative” like the label want us to, not really sure how worthwhile it all is? It is all very polite, it does still sound like electronic music, it is good, it is very nice, I have been dipping in and out of it for weeks now and it has been playing here today for most of the day, almost bloody mindedly refusing to turn it off until some kind or review is written. Not that it is difficult to listen to, not that it is ever an intrusion, it is ultimately all very very nice, calm, polite, I mean, I have nothing that negative to say, I find it all rather enjoyable and yes it is a lot more than just background music but then it isn’t feeling like anything vital, it isn’t anything to get really excited about and really, it isn’t that  “extreme” in terms of the repetitiveness or the stillness and as unique as this maybe in terms of the “authoritative acoustic re-imagining”, it does pretty much feel like a polite comfortable unobtrusive electronic album, like another nice instrumental clean cut piece of work. All very nice and warmly humming away and yes, there is something a little more here than most things like this but hey,  we have heard lots and lots of things of this nature and once this is turned off will there ever be a serious need to listen to it ever again? Will there ever be a day when I suddenly need this in my day again?  Meticulously reconstructed yes, but was it worth it?  (sw)    

Out on May 17th, more via Bandcamp

Here you go Taylor fans, this is what you need….