I picked this up because a few of my mates really like Exit_International, and swear by their unusual bass guitar driven sleazy rock swagger. It was also nice to see a 7" for sale locally, of a local band, so that swayed me. I love bass guitar focussed stuff, and I've heard a fair amount of it over the years, but this, well, it just bores the guts outta me. Exit_International have got their sound, and I respect them for it, but it literally does nothing for me at all.
It's hard then, to really continue writing a review about this 7" without getting negative, which is something I want to avoid doing because Exit_International aren't exactly bad, I juste don't like them. Anyways, this a single release of a track from their Black Junk album, released by the Undergroove label in 2012.
Some of you might remember my enlightening conversion to the ways of Burial when I picked up the Traunt / Rough Sleeper 12" not so long ago; what an uplifting yet sorrowful journey that 12" was, and how it made me long for more Burial records! But, due to the overwhelming amount of shit that I'm into it's taken me quite a while to get around to buying another Burial record, but I finally picked up the self-titled double LP in Spillers earlier this week (24th November edit: "earlier this week" was fecking months ago haha).
The first thing I notice (other than the lush tunes) is how fast this thing goes for a double LP spinning at 33rpm per side...the needle literally slides across the wax like a graceful ice-skater...this shit lasts nowhere near long enough! Again I am already longing for more material from the excellent Burial. Ambient passages mash awkwardly, yet peacefully, with minimal synth work and jarring, broken beats, resulting in a soundscape that is reminiscent of both urban decay and human futility rolled into one bittersweet ball. Yet, at the same time you get that odd uplifting feeling of knowing joyfulness; that those two negative things have contributed to help mould something so beautiful.
Poetic description aside, this really is a great record. I have read it described on one Amazon review as the perfect soundtrack to taking the night-bus around London (and I'm pretty sure they weren't talking about Trafalgar Sqaure and all that shit). I think that sums it up nicely. I can't really pick a favourite song here because this thing flows so well and I tend to see the record as a whole rather than a collection of songs. Well worth a listen! Out on Hyperdub.
Another few months sail by, another Agathocles or Necrocannibalistic Vomitorium record falls into my claws! Ha ha! It's good because I think that if I listened to Necro Vom on a regular basis I'd become a serial killer of skanky heroin-riddled hookers, but every now and then I need my fix of cold, Eastern bass-grind and this 7" out on Escaravelho Records does not disappoint.
The Necro Vom sound here is at it's most typical, which is also when it is most enjoyable. Why fix what isn't broken, right? It works for Agathocles, Unholy Grave and a hundred other grindcore bands before them, so why shouldn't it work for these Necrocannibals? They are becoming very prolific and a quick look through Discogs will prove to you that they have amassed quite a discography of filthy releases under their belts, which is perfectly okay with me. Long live the grinding bass sickness!
Om were an accidental discovery for me. I have had the mp3s of Pilgrimage for years thanks to a friend, but I had never truly appreciated them. To me it literally just seemed like SleepLite. What was the fucking point? Anyway, I'll cut the bullshit and get straight to the point. One day I decided to try and smoke as much weed as I possibly could. I'm not talking "oh, let's get totally baked", I'm talking about smoking until I physically couldn't lift the lighter to the bowl no more. I had to do once I guess, even if it could have given me schizophrenia if the Daily Mail is to be believed. And so I did it. And I had to do something whilst sitting there dribbling all over myself like a fucking retard, so I managed to get my Ipod on shuffle before I became 100% couch-locked. What followed was a musical journey of enlightenment which had two particular highlights; I devised that Electric Wizard used 87,000 guitar tracks on the Black Masses album, and I was also stoned enough to sit and listen to an Om song long enough for it to kick in! Bam! The rest is history! Dat bass!
After "Bhima's Theme" melted my face off, I was blown off this planet once again by the band (and coincidentally, a fuckton of weed) at their Roadburn 2012 performance, and again whilst sober as a judge during the Bristol date of their recent UK tour. It was at that point I finally realized I might be a genuine Om fan and I decided it was high time (no pun intended) I bought some fucking records. I picked up Advaitic Songs from the friendly folks in Spillers Records and I couldn't have been happier!
On this year's release the band shy away from the endless distortion of old more than ever, exploring the heavy-Eastern and highly spiritual themes in more depth. That is not to say that the rumbling frenzy of bass doesn't kick in every now and then to grind it's way through another groovefest of neck-rolling awesomeness, but it is also used a lot more in its clean form. On Pilgrimage the clean bass parts did get a bit boring but here they are used to staggeringly brilliant effect; the climax to "Gethsemane" is something every musician should hear at least once - the clean bass takes center stage, spazzing out in a jam of ecstasy without losing structure from the song, or without overpowering the other instruments.
Another plus point is that Advaitic Songs is spread out across a double LP, spinning at 45rpm with the longest side reaching 11 minutes, ensuring you, the Om enthusiast, get to appreciate all those deep tones in colossal fucking quality. The disc I burned of this album can feed the fucking worms, seriously. Vinyl IS superior, in every way, shape and form. Out on Drag City Records, and also available on the less exciting format that is CD.
Listen from the 8 minute mark if you just wanna hear about that bass line I mentioned above.
I never thought that I'd end up with some of this band's lesser available stuff, so I was chuft to see some excellent vinyl on sale really cheap on the recent Cemetery Rapist / Anal Penetration UK tour. This was the ridiculous price of £6, which is great because I never thought I'd stumble upon one of the 180 copies in existence, never mind get it at that price. Horns & Hoofs Records is the bands own label, and it's cool to see them putting out little runs of real vinyl.
What we have here from the Eastern grinding partnership is something altogether different than the usual Necrocannibalist sound. The churning, gutfucking bass is still there, but the songs are slow, plodding monstrosities instead of flat out blasts of hell. The vocals are still ridiculously shite and the band still sound like they can't play a single note, but hey, this is sloppy noisecore / grindcore, right? That's okay then, carry on old bean!
Since Gorki X isn't available on Youtube (perhaps I should change that?) here is another link to some of thier stuff. Equally as visceral!
