Savak "Flavors of Paradise"
Flavors Of Paradise. Freaky Orange Parka. Fun-loving Octogenarian Pickleballers. The 6th album by Brooklyn’s post-punk stalwarts SAVAK, Flavors Of Paradise, was recorded in Chicago at Steve Albini’s Electrical Audio studio without Steve Albini. For a band that has toured Europe five times and never set foot in California, recording 12 songs in 3 days was a breeze across the Danube. The band hunkered down, jammed out ideas in 2 marathon sessions, played a couple of shows to test drive the new material and then got to work with Matthew Barnhart (Superchunk, Bob Mould). No guests, no edits, no country and definitely no funk—the record is lean, spacious and lively.
Noisey/VICE wrote that SAVAK makes “a potent and pointed agitpop racket which manages to balance the dark and moody with the catchy as fuck.” UK’s Louder noted the group’s “endlessly astute observations on the modern world.” And Mojo magazine highlighted their “superior twin-guitar slash action.” So what does that get you? Well, there are recognizable touchstones across electric guitar-based music from the 60s to today. The jagged stabs of The Fall are tempered by harmonies you might hear in a Flamin’ Groovies tune. A nod to The 13th Floor Elevators is purposefully undercut with a riff that’d make Wilko Johnson proud. You can pull out details that wouldn’t be out of place in songs by Royal Headache, Stereolab, NoMeansNo, Feelies, Stooges, Kinks, Mission of Burma, etc. If the guitar can do it, SAVAK is willing to find a way to use it.
After 5 LPs, an EP, a handful of 7”s, and a couple of split releases, SAVAK still has plenty to say. They comfortably take on marriage, espionage, self-reflection, credit (or lack of), sympathy, absurdity, vulnerability, polarization, dogs . . . dogs? Yes. Sure, it’s probably a metaphor, but—woof woof SAVAK is equally comfortable at the dog park as they are browsing the local used bookstore.
What’s your flavor? Press play and find out.
SAVAK was formed in 2015 by Sohrab Habibion (Obits, Edsel) and Michael Jaworski (The Cops, Virgin Islands), who play guitars and trade off singing songs, along with drummer Matt Schulz (Holy Fuck, Enon). The live band features Jeff Gensterblum (Small Brown Bike, Her Heads On Fire) on drums and bassist Matt Hunter (New Radiant Storm King, Silver Jews).
Spiral Heads "Till I’m Dead"
From Trash Casual:
The album begins with the Flying Nun-inspired distorted pop jangle, “One of My Dreams,” and ends with the somber tribute to late-’80s Damned, “World Without Pain.” Throughout the record, the listener is exposed to the wallowing loneliness of Jim’s “Just So Down” and “Don’t Wanna See You Around,” Simon’s tongue-in-cheek nihilism on “NY Sorrow” and “The Roomba,” and the unnerving confessional intimacy of the Colin Newman-esque, “Seizure in Paris,” “One Before the One,” and “The Day My Baby Stopped Breathing.” Though the material was primarily conceived in isolation, the album as a whole purveys a sense of musical cohesion, as if the band didn’t compose a note outside the company of one another. The result is the rabble-rousing, boot-stomping, 13-track sing-along that is Spiral Heads… ‘Til I’m Dead.
Mary Timony "Untame the Tiger"
Singer-songwriter and guitar hero Mary Timony new album, Untame the Tiger, marks her fifth solo album, her first in 15 years (and first for Merge). It’s a startling document of an artist fully coming into her own power during the fourth decade of her career, the product of lessons learned during life-altering struggle.
Lead single “Dominoes” is a cynical and funny description of a relationship not working out, and a reminder of the healing power of music. “This song was almost not on the record,” says Timony. “We needed one last song, and I found a demo of it I had forgotten about at the last minute.” Mixed by Dave Fridmann (MGMT, The Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev), “Dominoes” features album contributors David Christian (Karen O, Hospitality) on drums and album co-producer Dennis Kane on bass.
Persher "Sleep Well"
Persher, the duo of Arthur Cayzer (Pariah) and Jamie Roberts (Blawan), take the same subversive, boundaryless approach to extreme music that underpins their electronic explorations. The pair together run the influential Voam label, whose releases are as forwardthinking as they are eclectic. Their output as producers is always highly anticipated in the dance world, in part because of their affinity for expression beyond a trend – an independent streak that shares much in common with the philosophical ethos of punk, hardcore and extreme metal. Cayzer and Roberts started Persher as an opportunity to explore their shared love and extensive knowledge of heavy music. The duo’s debut release, the limited- edition Man With The Magic Soap CD thundered out of the gates as an astounding statement of intent – sidestepping underground orthodoxy with gleeful buzz-saw riffs and baleful howls enveloped in coruscating noise and texture, sounding like a bad trip at a basement show. Persher’s debut album Sleep Well manages to be even more ferocious and innovative, as direct and incisive as it is ingenious.
On Sleep Well, Cayzer and Roberts take a decidedly unconventional approach to writing, using the full potential of the studio in their exploration of extreme music. What sounds like a live band performance is more often than not an amalgam of many different sessions, the duo applying techniques from electronic music to heavier sonics. Recording in Roberts’ studio at Funkhaus, the home of the former East German state-owned radio station, Cayzer would improvise long takes on guitar and bass, contorted and mutated by Robert’s using his extensive modular setup to add weight and texture. This primordial ooze of raw sonics was then chopped up and reassembled into bristling hooks and corrosive atmospheres. The duo’s playful, exuberant approach to making music is palpable throughout Sleep Well – evident as much in the album’s absurdist themes and lyrics as its exhilarating sonics. “Medieval Soup From The Milkbar” references a particularly bad mid-studio session meal of gray, gruel-like soup, which seeps into the track’s noxious slurry and stomach churning riffs, while “Portable Aquarium” references a cup of herbal tea overflowing with foliage. The duo’s wry and often self-deprecating sense of humor allows them to find inspiration even in the most seemingly mundane of life’s events.
Persher’s Sleep Well provides a daring, revelatory expansion on heavy music’s myriad mutations. The duo use their production skills and wry humor to embrace the powerful release they find in extremes. Persher’s debut album exudes the sheer joy of making music unconstrained by genre-boundaries, as gleefully weird as it is visceral and primal.