Three albums, 24-08-2022

A few albums were on route to oblivion on this blog, due to the holidays, two huge deadlines just before the well-deserved time off and too many albums to keep up with. Let's look at them in a shorter version.

 

XI: Bleed Here Now. ... And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead

The band with the extraordinary (long) name is back with its XIth album and what an album it is. Bleed Here Now is all over the place, yet never not welcome. The music is blown up to tremendous proportion, to land back on its feet with slippers on feet, pipe and newspaper at hand. Everything in between can be found on the album as well. Containing 21 songs Bleed Here Now is a gigantic piece of work that is impossible to get even remotely completely with just a few listening sessions. You will have to make do with the first impressions and they are overwhelming. I can only come up with the experience a band like Motorpsycho gives me as a comparison that works. Perhaps somewhat deeper down in ... And They Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead's music Pink Floyd's longer masterpieces may count as an influence. Bleed Here Now is a rock album, no doubt about it. On top of that are prog, emo, folk, symphonic and even pop elements. The band does not even shun classical influences in its music. Hence, my description "all over the place". The listener is exposed to a whole host of emotions along the way. Although many sections may sound familiar in the way the music is built up and presented, the music itself is impressive. Conrad Keely and Jason Reece, the two founding members and band leaders decided to really go for it. And although it is too early to really tell, it may well be that they have created a new rock masterpiece and along the way the band's best album so far, or at least since 'The Century Of Self' (2009). I have to get me this one fast and listen to it a lot more. One conclusion, a trail of dead does not equal the death of rock (guitars).

We'll Have Tea. Caspar Milquetoast

Within 20 minutes Caspar Milquetoast's debut album is all over. Eight songs come by that are from 2022 but could have been recorded for a long lost album from 1967 or 68, the music and record having got lost in the mist of an LSD trip too many, recently rediscovered in a tea chest in the attic.

As we are in 2022, We'll Have Tea can be qualified under experimental music where the mind is expended by mental willpower only. Today there is experience to draw from and the artist does. The songs have come together working and recording them at home over a period of five years. The result was recorded and mastered by label manager Stefan Breuer.

Googling Caspar Milquetoast I run into a comic book character created by T. Webster for the series 'The Timid Soul'. That does not help. So, we have to make do with the bio supplied by the Tiny Room label. The singer is called Amani, and she sings her songs from the perspective of a character in a book.

The result is a mostly dark affair. Amani was not looking for clarity nor beauty in her music. Melodies are either hidden behind patches of music and sounds and rhythms or presented in a very elementary way, like in 'Pink House'. You will only find a pump organ accompanying the singer. A traditional song is harder to find on We'll Have Tea. It is there though and those with patience will be rewarded. Just listen behind the musical curve balls and weird sounds.

On We'll Have Tea Caspar Milquetoast dares to deconstruct a lot of the musical ideas she had and built up the pieces into something totally different. This asks for some patience of the listener but as I found out time and again, it is rewarding to listen to the album. Behind the more difficult music in the end songs are found that are worth exploring and listening to. "We'll have tea when the rapture comes", Amani sings in the final song, 'The Negation'. Let us drink whether the rapture comes or not, it's worth it.

Sometimes, Forever. Soccer Mommy

If I remember correctly Soccer Mommy's previous album found its way to these pages and then appeared to have been postponed and then again. All the while my review was online, despite there being no album. No such confusions this time around. I'm simply too late due to my holiday. Sometimes, Forever does merit a post though, as Sophie Allison, as Soccer Mommy is known to her parents and friends, made a giant step in her development as an artist. Her new album reaches deeper, is better on all fronts and is so much wider in sound. She recorded the songs as she would normally have done and then sent the tapes to producer Daniel Lopatin, also known as Oneohtrix Point Never. He sprinkled some magic over Sometimes, Forever. Where one things stops and the other ends sometimes is hard to say. Not when beats of some sort come in, but my first guess would be the keyboard sounds and the atmospherics added to the traditional instruments. In the meantime Soccer Mommy sounds extremely confident in the way she presents her new alternative rock, pop and (big) ballads. Here's a young singer who knows what she's doing and is content doing it this way. As an aside, along the way I'm impressed with how good Dutch band Amber Arcades is, as she matches this level of music easily as well. Sometimes, Forever is all about personal and artistic growth. This is an album that is bound to grow some more with each future listening session.

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