Loscil - Endless Falls

Vancouver, BC is a city of seemingly endless fall.  The summers give way to a six-month rainy season, typical of the North Pacific.  Like any city, Vancouver has a story to tell; one that is not told by words but by sights, sounds and the general experience of just living the city.  Vancouver’s Loscil (aka Scott Morgan, also drummer of Destroyer and video game sound effects creator) documents the affects of this temperate rain forest through curious drones and soft, trance-inducing beats.  Across seven releases for Kranky, Ghostly International, One and a self-release, Morgan has woven hypnotic waves of vapor like ambiance and minimalistic electronica.   Mogan continues to bring us closer and closer to his personal experience relative to his city with Loscil’s Endless Falls (Kranky).  

 

This is not the his first go-around at binging us into the depths of his experience though Loscil's music.  Loscil's first proper full release for Kranky, 2001's Triple Point, was inspired by Morgan's studies of thermodynamics of subatomic particles.  Other albums are aptly named to reference places in and around Vancouver.  2004's First Narrows is a reference to the official name of the Vancouver bridge and Loscil's 2009 EP for Ghostly International, Strathcona Variations refers to the oldest district in Vancouver.

Loscil's feel has also changed over time but have always stayed true to its core sound associated with the name (the name Loscil is taken from and element of the musical software, Csound; effectively compounding the words "loop" and "oscillate").  On Triple Point and 2002's Submers (each track named after a submarine), Morgan favored 4/4 minimalist beats over floating drones and melodic repetitions, somewhat similar to the Gas's (aka Wolfgang Voigt) Königsforst.  Album to album, Mogan has incorporated more traditional instrumentation (piano, strings, guitar) to change the color of his music.

Endless takes us even further into Morgan's realm.  The album begins and ends with the sound of gentle rainfall that was recorded in Mogan’s back yard.  On the first track, "Endless Fall,"  the sound of rain melts into a drone and slow staccato notes, soon complimented by violin and bass recorder (by Kim Koch and Robert Sparks, respectively).  "Estuarine" continues the to blow in the minor chord clouds as a distant piano (by returning collaborator, Jason Zumpano) and glitchy rhythm forebode of a morose and stagnant place.  The track almost becomes ominous as sub bass pulses boom.

 

"Shallow Water Blackout" pulls the threat level back down.  Gentle sound-washes and lo-fi pops ebb and flow, and are later joined by soft drop-like percussive elements reverberating in the distance.   "Dub For Cascadia" is more of a traditional Loscil track, although filtered through a post-rock lens.  The rhythms and tonal shifts bring to mind early Labradford or early 90's Bark Psychosis.  The centerpiece of the album is the brightest moment.  "Fern And Robin" float like fog in a conifer-laden valley.  The song is barely there - anchored only be a regular echoing quarter note that keeps the sweet ambiance from floating of and burning up in the sun.  It's as if Morgan had been painting a scene of rain, a break in the weather and finally a return to overcast skies.  Subsequent tracks like "Lake Orchard" and "Showers of Ink" mark the return of oncoming precipitation.

The last track on Endless marks a first for Loscil.  It is the first song to feature vocals.  Fellow Destroyer band mate, Dan Bejar, does not sing, but spins a cryptic spoke word narrative.  The change can catch you off-guard but seems to feel natural after repeat listens.  Bejar's words make "The Making of Grief Point" for more of an active listening experience.  His prose is intense, yet warm has has an underlying meter that  seems to parallel the cadence of Morgan's sonic elements.  As the song progresses it becomes more intense only for Bejar end with the words "it is done," as the album drifts back into the sound of rain.


Endless Falls is an album that is a progression in Loscil's sound and a strengthening of the projects place, both within the context of ambient/minimalism and within a sense of regionalism.  It's an album that will reveal itself slowly but will be as familiar your own city on a rainy day in the end.

Grey Machine - Disconnected

Grey Machine is a sludge/noise/electronic super group of sorts.  It marks the first official (and hopefully not last) collaboration of Aaron Turner (Isis, Old Man Goom, House of Low Culture, Lotus Eaters, and owner of extreme/metal/noise/experimental label Hydra Head Records) and hyper-prolific Justin K. Broadrick (Napalm Death, Godflesh, Jesu, Final, etc).  If you're internet record review savvy like me, you will find that Grey Machine's debut, Disconnected did not fair well with most critics.  This is unfortunate and clearly the sign of our modern ADD era, because with a first listen this album sounds like a noisy mess.  With subsequent listens however, Turner and Broaderick's collaborative genius unfolds.

First off, what would you expect if you were told that these two great forces would collide?  On one hand you have Aaron Turner's suspected input.  His time fronting Isis would come to mind first: (as of recent) a combination of Neurosis's crushing riffs partnered with Pink Floyd's Meddle era spaced-out jams.  On the other hand you have Broadrick's current flagship project, Jesu (pronounced "Yay-Su"): the best parts of Godflesh filtered though a morphine bath and a My Bloody Valentine fetish.  A combination of these elements would yield exactly what you would expect: tired, post-metal dribble (copies of copies of copies of Isis and Jesu). Fortunately, this isn't the case.

From the first riff of the album's opener, Wolf At The Door, we are treated to a pounding drop-tuned bass assault akin to Godflesh. But as the song progresses the sound hearkens back to early 80's No-Wave and Post-Punk acts such as the early Swans records and a dash of blackened This Heat...if you can imagine that.  Continuing on through the album, any trace of Turner and Broadrick's other bands almost vanish.  As Vultures Descends starts up, early Industrial bands come to mind: The Land of Rape And Honey era Ministry, early Throbbing Gristle etc.  Solid, repetitive riffs entangle with sheets of white-hot noise through many of the tracks.  The vocals are tortured and distorted, buried by the cacophonous mixture of death that Grey Machine procures without effort, and in a natural fashion.

Beside the homages to early Industrial, Post-Punk and No-Wave records, Disconnected has a few tracks that are more ambiguous (yet still crushingly brutal).  It's more of a pull from both collaborators noisier projects (House of Low Culture, Lotus Eaters and Final).

Just Breathing offers a slow, building, muted guitar march to the edge of an active volcano.  The track slowly gathers like an angry mob.  Squalls of noise finally fester into an apex and eventual "fall"; the listener is being thrown over the edge into the hellish soup.

Similarly, Sweatshop, plods along like an assembly line in 4/4.  Voices and noise give way to a mechanized rhythmic current that suddenly stops.

The album ends with Easy Pickings and a track that is titled "Untitled."  The former, another noisy rhythm-laced instrumental track.  This might be the weakest piece on the album when taken in by itself.  The latter is the one song on the album where we can clearly hear the discernible growl of Aaron Turner.  The beats are unmistakably electronic; almost with a Trip-hop feel.  It's chilled-out (again, still brutal) track that serves as a cool-down, yet strong finish - the kind you wouldn't mind waking up to after passing out when your fifteenth beers deep.

One more thing that I will say about this album: most of the songs stand up on their own, but after repeated listens, it is very clear that this album was, in my opinion, meant to be digested as a whole.  One needs time to really dig in.  The layers are plenty and you can hear different things with each listen.

http://www.myspace.com/officialgreymachine

For fans of: Ministry, Severed Heads, Swans, Godflesh, Throbbing Gristle, etc.