Indie and Lo-Fi music reviews

"The Land Beyond the Mountains" drips with dread and spews wretchedness. No joy or light escape from this sonic black hole. I would not wish this CD on my worst enemy.

The chief characteristics of this recording are its fetid, foul production highlighted by hideous, disturbing background noise (clearly intentional); downer, droning music; and gnarled, distorted sneers for vocals. The track called (I am in) hell sums up the listening experience precisely.

Stay away from anyone who purports to like this depressing, dreadful montage. I may take a screwdriver to this CD to render it unplayable.

Don Howland (of the Bassholes) does a great job here. Scary music. What can I say? If you don't like this (or Bassholes) then you're sad, very sad.

The Land Behind The Mountains finds the great Don Howland (Gibson Bros., Bassholes) in the worst sort of way. The liner notes say he's dead (???) but I have not heard anything else about it. Regardless, with twinges of Lee Hazelwood and guitar playing that goes beyond country and blues...way beyond. I love the Pearls Before Swine cover that opens the record, as well as the Jessie May Hemphill cover. The originals are killer...The Angel OF Death...Life Goes ON Here...
One of the best records of the year...and really scary.
Lo Fi Garage brilliance. You might not want to listen to it alone at 3 in the morning though...or you might reach for a screwdriver (see liner notes if you want to figure that one out).

For some reason or another, everyone and their favorite magazine is raving about Half-Handed Cloud as if he were the Next Big Thing, today's answer to the Beatles and Bob Dylan. For me, this guy does nothing but confuse me a bit.

Believe me, I tried to make myself comfortable with John Ringhofer's little ditties here (with emphasis on "little"; most songs last no longer than one minute). No success was made, however. Ringhofer doesn't give his songs time to resonate with the listener, changing tracks just when a melody is becoming interesting.

Even if we were given songs that actually stayed around for over two minutes, I doubt it would help. Aside from the quirky nature of them, the songs of Half-Handed Cloud lack edge and substance. They tend to sound like something John Lennon might've written when he was two. Ringhofer's vocals, while praised by the likes of Bandoppler Magazine and others, I find annoying; the faded-out sound quality to them may be his style, but it certainly won't help with publicity.

Even lyrically I was disappointed. Ringhofer seems to be living in a happy-Jesus world where no one ever doubts and God is always looking down with love. Major throw up material, if you ask me. Give me Nick Cave any day.

In conclusion, pass by this one black sheep in the Asthmatic Kitty family. Instead, I recommend Sufjan Stevens, a true artist, musically and spiritually. He may not have as many songs as Half-Handed Cloud, but he sure knows how to write them.

Christian rock, as a rule, is soppy pop-rock about how much Jesus loves us and how revoltingly happy we'll be if we get to know God. It's not just lyrically simplistic, but musically bland.

So a lot of indie-rock fans will probably hesitate before listening to Half-Handed Cloud's "Learning About Your Scale." They don't need to. Half-Handed Cloud sounds like the wonky, churchgoing little brother of Sufjan Stevens and Shapes And Sizes, making this little album fun from start to finish.

It opens with a spluttery, strange little intro that sounds like a didgeridoo on acid, before launching itself off on some squelching sounds and a keyboard melody. That's just the first thirty-seconds. Then frontman John Ringhofer begins crooning, "The worlds were in his speech/but now they're in reach..." repeatedly, before getting cut off by "here, have a look," birdcalls and clatters.

It's followed by charming little chamberpop songs like "Let's Build a Planet," which suggests to God, "let's build a planet, God/the plans's right here/it shouldn't take too long/we'll build the trees/two days before the oxygen...", and is followed by the upbeat pop song "Look How We Made These People."

But upbeat pop isn't everything. There are twenty-second psychedelic jams, ominous folk melodies, squiggly guitar pop, blippy acoustics, trippy perky pop, and little skits about stew burning. Even the plainest songs like "Tanning Beds To Shine Your Love" are spiced up with Ringhofer's infectious, joyful take on life.

No song on "Learning about Your Scale" is more than two minutes long, and most of these little ditties are under one minute long. That's the main flaw with this album, since it means that none of the cute little songs have time to blossom as fully as they could, if they were just a minute longer.

Ringhofer spices up the basic folk sound with... just about everything else. Waves of distortion, bird chirps, coughing radios, xylophone, repeating samples, fuzz and a squeaky toy that keeps getting squished all make the mix, alongside robust horns and acoustic guitar. It sounds like someone spiked the punch at a folk festival -- and it's fantastic.

With his sweetly ordinary voice, Ringhofer spends most of the album adding his own quirky perspective to what seems like typical Christian beliefs, like the creation of the world. "Eating Bad-Bad Fruit" is an aural version of the whole "Garden of Eden" thing, and despite the oily televangelist sample at the start of "Rewire my Desire," the song is a bittersweet look at human fallibility.

Half-Handed Cloud is not so much Christian music, as it is brilliantly warped indie-rock that happens to have religious lyrics. Charming and endearing.

This album plays like a Sunday school service on acid. If that sentence appeals to you, you'll like this album. Clever wordplay and experimental instrumentation (he uses hair dryers, kazoos, guitar and a "talking book" on one song) in commercial-length songs about god and Jesus. It's very entertaining, catchy, and funny (not ironically funny, actual funny). Great CD mix fodder, too. Go on, get it.

I'm a fan of a wide variety of music. Everything from Kate Bush to Reba McEntire to H.O.T. On my first listen to this CD, one word came to mind.....awful.

I'm subtracting a star just to spite Karla for having reduced herself to an initial. It's obviously her way of imitating Franz Kafka's mysterioso self-abnegation shtick. And as long as she insists on doing this sort of Kafka-mongering, let me make an open appeal to her right here & now: "Receive me into your arms, they are the depths, receive me into the depths; if you refuse me now, then later."

k. or karla ..whatever you want to refer to her as...is quite the amazing musician....her work is one of a kind and i recommend it to ANYONE who likes GOOD music!

.. but then again Bill Callahan should be revered for always telling it like it is. The softer, acoustic version of "I Was a Stranger" is unsettling in a beautiful way. Overall this EP is a nice rolling snapshot of rainy day music. Callahan's voice is like the raindrops on a window--soothing in that slightly disturbing way.

This is a smog at the end of the millenium ep. He is older and more grizzled and sings with a Johnny Cash sexy swagger (i.e. with arrogant soul). He knows his songs are brilliant and he doesn't care. This is not the most carefully crafted selection of songs but the new version of "I was a stranger" is brilliant. Just to hear him sing it with the mental stability the first version lacked is worth the cost. You should buy this if you are interested in his recent albums and because if enjoy watching rain settle into a puddle on the sidewalk.

The band is a change in pace in this crazy world of music, but not for the better. Unfortunatley, the band does have potential, and in time they may bring the music together and perfect the vocals. This album is very low cost by the sounds of it and could use some new producers. As I said, great potential so keep your eyes out because i believe we will be hearing more from "Amp"

This is actually a really amazing 2 cd set. But you have to have the patience for ambient dreampop music. Lose yourself in the washes of guitar chimes and the pattering of rain...it's not a part of the Bliss Out series for nothing. This is a beautiful, beautiful release. But I hope you can bring yourself down from space when it's done.

First of all, these guys ROCK live. I saw them open for Guided by Voices. So, because they rocked so hard, I bought this album. The album doesn't exactly rock as hard as the live show, but it's still very good. Some songs aren't as good as others, but the greats are SO good--"We've Finally Found Me," "I Died in 1972," "I'm Pop," and "Painted Grape" are phenomenal songs. The singer has a very nasally voice, but also a lot of power. The drums on this album are rockin' as well. These guys (there's only two guys on the album, but they've expanded the line-up since then) have a lot of potential, I can't wait until they create their pop masterpiece.

Flag starts flying a little too high with the standout tracks from Kaitlyn ni Donovan. The two songs don't prepare you for the slow indi feel permiating this CD. Not to fear, calm, breezy music is ahead with the original lazy voiced genious of Chad Crouch. Chad along with shoe-gazer talents of Amy Annelle, Corrina Repp, Jeff London and Kim Norlen make you reach for the blankets and hot cocao. So, sing along with the sullen, broken romances and stories we've heard before but don't mind hearing again in Flag.

This album good--perfect rainy day music. It is hard to characterize this EP because each song sounds so different--all tracks are fairly soft and quiet, but they each have their own style because every member wrote, produced, and performed all the instruments on one song. Track one, "Funny Little New Wave Kid," has keyboards and a slow beat, and reminds me of Her Space Holiday. Tracks two and three are simple, sad, and pretty depressing songs, but they are good. Track four, "Your Shapeless Head," has quirky lyrics but it drags on...kind of boring. Track five, "The Ford Chevy Debate," is a little more upbeat and fun, and it has a funny ending. I would guess that if you like Simon Joyner, Molasses, or Songs: Ohia you will probably like Monroe Mustang.

A short album of merely three tracks. A brilliant vocal surrounded by fairly forgettable instrumentals. Well if you've got nails in your head or little money in your pocket you may enjoy the instrumentals.

In all, this effort lasts (gasp) only seven minutes and 45 seconds. Shrewdly the vocal track is called "Joya", so anyone who has bought Oldham's first solo (non-Palace) CD, has to buy this EP to complete the collection. And this track is in a word "exceptional".

So there you go, avid Bonny Billy Prince Oldham Palace fans, who have some nails in the pocket or cash in the head, you have no choice!

This album graduates from the territory covered by "Seniors and Juniors," Marshmallow Coast's first album, and into the college ranks, leaving a listener hoping for a major-league release from the band in the next year or two. The addition of two Of Montreal members seems to give Marshmallow Coast frontman Andy Gonzales a big boost, pushing the songwriting to new heights. The album as a whole stands up to many other Elephant 6/Kindercore releases, and some individual songs, such as "Lilypad," "Loneliest Heart in Texas" and "Audience is Deaf," stand on their own as great tunes. The "Bizarre Classical" tunes are entertaining, too. Based on this release, Gonzales should be one or two albums away from creating something outstanding. In the meantime, the fact that his music simply is satisfying makes it better than most stuff out there today.