We’ve got a problem here, a never ending problem, albums, too many albums, that and birds, from Marsville, eating stawberries, where is Marsville? Way too many albums and here we are cherry picking out way through them one by one and trying to only share the best (unless, now and again, something really annoys just a little too much). Today, we have these two, tomorrow we might have more, today it is just these two, couple of good one’s though….
Prayer Group – Strawberry (Reptilian Records) – Says here that Prayer Group are are are a noise rock band that can’t decide if they they they should be a punk band, or a noise rock band, and they generally don’t care. “Formed nearby 2014 or so by way of folks who’d cut their teeth in Richmond area bands Equestrians, Kingshead, Gifts From Enola, and others, their sound in this act veers towards something a bit more squarely in line with the most classic era of United States noise rock/post-hardcore. Having released three EPs and an LP over the past decade, along the way the band has left scattered venues across the East Coast in shambles, killed several vans and even more speakers, and most definitely plenty of brain cells. Having played alongside such contemporaries as USA Nails, Ken Mode, Multicult, and Child Bite, Prayer Group injects a hardcore punk brevity into their noise rock reinterpretations of the style, giving it a wild twist”.
Over here we say if they’re reminding us of anything then they’re reminding us of prime Dazzling Killmen in that way they phrase it all and we’ve got no problem here. Currently embodied by vocalist Matt Voegel, guitarist Nate Dominy, drummer Anthony Stout, and Au Revoir bassist Carl Kranz making his Prayer Group debut; “Strawberry is a record from a tumultuous time, following line-up shifts, members and day jobs having relocated/changed, and families have come to look different than they used to. The record got a rushed start because of some uncertainties, then dragged to the finish line due to other, painful certainties. Some songs were written quickly, some had been simmering for years, and some were being written as they were being recorded. In the end, Strawberry begins straightforward in its delivery, wanders into some new realms, then comes ripping back to full force by the end, delivering some varying textures while remaining accurate to the band’s live sound. While it rides barely shorter in length than their Michael Dose album, the few minutes’ difference resulted in the pressing of a bastard 10” format release, while still dropping all the might of a proper LP and yeah, doing a cut ‘n paste job and getting the Pritt stick out again is damn lazy but the problem is there are too many bands and too many records and too many demands. Prayer Group’s demands are worthy of attention though, that’s why we’re here an hour into Monday morning banging this out before we quit on a day full of all kinds of chaos, found trees and more
Hey, Prayer Group make a more that healthy blend of hardcore noise rock, that alt.noise thing that has been flooding in here non-stop since the (printed days of the) 90s, they do it rather well, they have an edge, a finger print, a little bit more than just some lipstick on yet another pig, the good bits never go away, no problem here,go gra some strawberry flavoured noise rock The band writes, “Strawberry is like a lot of kids. We rushed to start making it before we knew what we were doing, had to figure everything out along the way, and wound up with this weird little 10” with this weird little boy on the cover. It’s not its fault; it’s just like that.”. For fans of Dazzling Killmen, The Jesus Lizard, Big Black, Drive Like Jehu, Homage Freaks, Scissormen, Red Eye Express, Anorak Lovechild and the rest of them, this wasn’t just a North American thing you know and there’s no such thing as concequences or lipstick of a pig or sleeping between Summer dreams. Yep, this is a good one but none of you read these reviews do you? Surely you skip all the words, trust our judgement and the space we only afford to good things and jump right to play. Music reviews are so 1994 and this band are far far more than just that…
Friendly Rich – The Birds of Marsville (We Are Busy Bodies) – Is that wood pigeon actually on the record or is it up in the tree outside? – “I hope you enjoy this weird and wonderful record!” said whoever sent this in and yes those are two of the key words here, this is both a weird and a wonderful record. It isn’t fairground music or cartoon music, there are flavours but there’s far far more going on that that and anyway, nothing is ever as obvious as a cat chasing a mouse around or indeed a cat sneaking up on that wood pigeon that might be on the record or might be outside in the tree. Does anyone have any questions before we fire up this review and the bird call machines? This is The Birds of Marsville and that is some kind of woodwind instrument coming in from the left, I should probably read the press release, i won’t yet though, that bit sounds like some kind of fairground organ that may have come from somewhere none of us are that familiar with and that bit there sounds like a gang of duck calls. The album consists of two tracks and something around thirty-six minutes and actually, now I consider it, where is Marsville?
“Since the 1990’s Friendly Rich (aka Rich Marsella) has been gathering a cult following around his avant-cabaret song output, this time he dives headlong into something completely different. Wielding a custom-built orchestrion (a peculiar mechanical organ) made by the 88-year-old Henk Degraauw of Marsella’s hometown of Brampton, he has produced a concept album revolving around the avian population of an imaginary island and their songs. Not only does this make for all manner of bizarre lore, it also elicits some of his most inventive and potent music to date. Its pair of side-long suites are utterly singular and deliciously relentless, their episodic clangour and microtonal nuances hinting at Harry Partch’s music, with an eerie, impish humour that nods in the direction of the Residents or even Uncle Meat-era Mothers of Invention. While remaining decidedly unclassifiable, listeners might even hear agile keyboard-oriented proggishness to it all that might recall the dizzying phrases of Canterbury acts like National Health or Hatfield and the North”.
The wood pigeon hasn’t been heard again so the bird was clearly up in the tree here waiting with all the others rather on the record and yes, that press release that has now been read is pretty much spot on although if we were to be anywhere near Canterbury it would be in a field way over to the left of the road sign for Hatfield and The North and the wood pigeon would have us mention Messiaen, Olivier Messiaen always comes with a bird or two. This is excellent actually, this would make for a brilliant experimental opener at the Proms ahead of some Stravinsky, if fact it is the kind of thing you almost expect, or maybe hope to hear, it kind of feels like some of Errollyn Wallen’s new piece premiered on the opening night ahead of a brilliant performance of the Vaughan Williams choral piece Sancta Civitas at the start of this year’s season. This is an excellent album, two wonderful pieces, experiment yes, weird yes, but never difficult, always easy listening, easy to listen to, it is a homely set of delights, full of colour, jaunty detail, it is fun but never ever silly or wacky or any of those tedious things, this is seriously good.
Actually you could argue that The Birds of Marsville kind of fits in somewhere near Alex Paxton’s Delicious in terms of modern forward looking orchestral manoeuvrers in the bright light of experimentation that is so good to just listen to without having to tie yourself in highbrow knots over it. This is jusy (another) very much recommended album, the wood pigeon was really getting into it earlier.
Bandcamp / friendlyrich.com / wearebusybodies.com
And here’s something from a previous Friendly Rich release…
THE ORGAN 