Here's a few more random things I liked that came out this year that I decided to write about:
portal iii – portal iii
What is most interesting about portal iii’s approach to ambient drone music is perhaps the background of its members. Although drummer Chris Gray and bassist Liz Draper have dabbled in heavier sounds, having played together in the difficult-to-classify Up The Mountain Down The Mountain, the Minnesota based trio doesn’t necessarily come from the typical world of metal or really even loud music. While Draper is a classically trained double bass player whose resume includes jazz, R&B and folk music amongst other styles, guitarist Charlie Parr has made a name for himself as a folk/blues troubadour, developing his own blisteringly fast take on the clawhammer picking style. A common interest in the music of bands like Sunn O))) and Sleep may have brought portal iii together, but their skills and experience elsewhere is a major part of what makes their debut album so original. Draper’s electric bass playing more closely resembles a jazz upright style, while Parr has imported his slide guitar from the blues. Gray hangs back, offering percussive textures, often free of strict rhythmic structure and time signatures, providing an anchor to the sprawling space of the stringed instruments. Anyone with interest in ambient music or free improvisation should be sure to check this one out.
Boris – NO
The Japanese genre-defying trio has shapeshifted once again. This time around Boris take the form of a hardcore band, with a few traces of their doomy past thrown in for good measure. But unlike some of their more recent releases, which leap between styles at a rapid rate, NO is one of the groups most cohesive sounding albums in a long time. While it opens with the sludgy “Genesis,” a track that pays tribute to the bands namesake song by Melvins (which they also just covered on a collaboration with Merzbow this year), the majority of NO is super fast paced, good old crunchy hardcore - with Boris’ arty approach, of course. At ear shattering volume, wild guitar solos and often-catchy choruses collide with thrashy riffs and gang vocals. This isn’t a hardcore record you’ve heard before; it’s filtered through the twisted consciousness of one of the most exciting and least predictable bands around. Twenty years from now, we may be looking back at this as a timeless classic.
Pharaoh Overlord – 6
I didn’t know I needed disco inspired krautrock with death metal vocals in my life until I heard it. Now I’m left wondering where it’s been the last thirty odd years. Leave it to Pharaoh Overlord, a group associated with Finnish weirdo rockers Circle, to come up with it…and then to get Aaron Turner of ISIS notoriety to provide vocals. This synth driven, glittery nightmare of a record invokes an image in my brain of longhaired, tattooed misfits sporting black metal t-shirts and roller skates circling a rink, throwing elbows and hip checks; a mirror ball above reflecting laser lights to reveal a floor splattered with blood and liquor. Maybe a post-pandemic event idea?
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