noise pop Archives - Vinyl From The Vault

Green/Blue “Offering”

sfilzen — Tue, 22 Nov 2022 18:04:18 +0000

Green/Blue “Offering” 2022. Hozac Records. Jangling noise pop from the prolific Jim Blaha (The Blind Shake, Shadow in the Cracks, Jim and the French Vanilla). Offering is Green/Blue’s second LP (their third, Paper Thin came out in June 2022, while their s/t debut came out in early 2020). Dense and rocking, Offering calls to mind a mix of early 90’s Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine, but with more of a pop sensibility, like you can actually dance to a lot of it. My top tracks include “Disregard,” “Same Waste of Time” (frantic, fun, heavily layered) and the title track “Offering” (even more frantic, slightly atonal giving it an exotic flavor). Green/Blue are from Minneapolis and Jim Blaha has played Milwaukee with some of his other projects in the past; hoping they’ll make their way east again soon.

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Sleigh Bells “Texis”

sfilzen — Mon, 21 Feb 2022 18:11:34 +0000

Sleigh Bells “Texis” 2021. Torn Clean Records/Mom+Pop Music, on clear vinyl. Noisy experimental pop, Texis is duo Alexis Krauss’ and Derek Miller’s fifth album (the hype sticker on this record’s plastic sleeve weirdly says it’s their 6th record but literally every reputable website says it’s their 5th). I’ve been a Sleigh Bells fan since their first LP Treats (2010), blown away by their combination of a dense wall of hard electronica and killer beats that are overlaid with Krauss’ soaring and gorgeously angelic voice. I also really liked Reign of Terror (2012) and Bitter Rivals (2013) but while I enjoyed Jessica Rabbit OK I don’t think I’ve listened to it since 2016 when it came out. Texis, however, brings back some of the earlier excitement from their older releases. An Allmusic review describes their sound as “cheerleader metal” which is pretty perfect: sweet, poppy and infectious but also gritty, loud and dangerous. My top tracks from Texis are the lead track “Sweet 75,” “Locust Laced” (about which an NME review describes as “a crazed mash of go-go pop, torture-porn thrash metal and dubstep”), “Tennessee Tips” (“a barrage of ray gun synth-punk,” NME), “Red Flag Flies” and the album closer “Hummingbird Bomb” which is weird and excellent: light and fluttery with layers upon layers of intense/insane synth-rock explosions.

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Tenement “The Self-Titled Album”

sfilzen — Wed, 01 Aug 2018 14:38:09 +0000

Tenement “The Self-Titled Album” 2016. Forward Records/Deranged Records. Tomorrow we’re heading up to Appleton, Tenement’s (and my) hometown for the Mile of Music Festival for four days of non-stop performances. Tenement is not playing this year but we caught them last year (and I picked up this record and am now, finally, giving it a spin). (Photo of their performance last August at Emmett’s outdoor stage, the band had doubled in size from when The Self-Titled Album was recorded)

Tenement is described by online articles as either punk, fuzz punk, pop punk or noise pop (they were even included in a 2016 list of the 10 Great Modern Punk Bands by Rolling Stone) but I really don’t think any of the descriptions fit, or at least not this album (those descriptions DO fit their first release, Napalm Dream from 2011 on Mandible Records). When I wrote about them last year as part of the Mile of Music experience, I described one of the songs they played as “a Velvet Undergroundy freak out sonic assault that lasted about 15 minutes.” That description also does not fit The Self-Titled Album. Rather it’s got an alt-rock, laid-back vibe that recalls to my ears the Milwaukee band Space Raft: catchy, sunny, chill, melodic with some fuzzy rough edges. You can decide for yourself by listening to the entire record here.

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Velvet Monkeys “Rock the Nation”

sfilzen — Thu, 24 May 2018 19:22:19 +0000

Velvet Monkeys “Rock the Nation” b/w “Why Don’t We Do It In the Road?” 1991. Sub Pop. Sub Pop Singles Club limited release. Alt-rock/noise pop supergroup formed by Don Fleming (perhaps better known for his production work of such artists like Hole, Teenage Fanclub, Screaming Trees, Sonic Youth) and Jay Spiegel, with a revolving door of other musicians throughout the 1980′s. In 1990 Velvet Monkeys re-formed and added Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth), J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.) and Julia Cafritz (Pussy Galore) – oh my god what a line-up! – and recorded the album Rise and a few other tracks that appeared on various comps, as well as this single.

“Rock the Nation” is dirty thrash-pop, late 60′s/early 70′s inspired garage punk in the vein of The Stooges and MC5. “Why Don’t We Do It In the Road?” is a sludgy, grungy, guitar-screamy cover of the Beatles classic from the White Album. It’s definitely not an improvement on the original, but is a good interpretation and representation of the alternative rock/grunge sound of the early 90′s.

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