Brian Cook "This World Just Eats Me Up Alive (Ba Da Bing!)"
It has been a long time since we heard a solo-album from New Zealand psych rocker Brian Crook (The Terminals, The Renderers) but The World Just Eats Me Up Alive (Ba Da Bing) erases any time in between with an emotional, noisey, psych garage wonderland. Hushed vocals, Velvet Underground-esque band chugging along, with adventurous, alien guitar lines up front. This is the real deal. Check out the unnerving “Dragged Both Ways.”
Peter Jefferies "Last Ticket Home (Ba Da Bing!)"
Last Ticket Home (Ba Da Bing!) is an Odds and Sods of sort, collecting mostly unreleased material by legendary New Zealand psych-rocker Peter Jefferies (Nocturnal Projections, This Kind Of Punishment). The material here is from as long ago as 1991 and as recently as this year, so the jams are as varied as you think they are gonna be-from instrumental rave-ups a la YLT to hissy alt-country a la Red Red Meat to garage blasters a la the man himself. Check out the bouncy, piano-led instrumental chug of “Westgate Exit” from a 1999 7”.
Alessandro Cortini "Volume Massimo (Mute)"
As the keyboard player for Nine Inch Nails, Alessandro Cortini has done… well… I’m assuming you know what that sounds like. But what of his latest solo album, Volume Massimo (Mute)? Well, if you can imagine an instrumental Nine Inch Nails at their most melodic, pretty, and sensitive, you have a good idea of what’s going on here. Swirling layers of perfectly programed synths with minimal percussion, this is like an otherworldly dream of an album. Check out the haunting tension of “Amore Amaro.”
Beak> "Life Goes On EP (Temporary Residence)"
Just a handful of months since the release of their 3rd full-length LP, Beak> are back> with a blistering> blast> of 4 new tracks on the Life Goes On EP. The trio, consisting of Geoff Barrow, Will Young, and Billy Fuller have, to these two ears at least, never sounded better. There tunes have always been a little strange, but these congeal in a way that feels fresher than ever. Each song quivers in analog brilliance, with hints of vintage reggae, Krautrock, prog-y syncopation, and every other amazing thing that should be in every good record collection. Check out the aching, alien guitars of “We Can Go.”