Labels

Ever/Never

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    MAXIMUM ERNST

    s/t

    [engl] On one side, we have upstart NYC free-rock duo Maximum Ernst and on the other, masterful journeyman horn specialist Daniel Carter. Daniel has been blowing through his array of horns for over fifty years now. The list of people and ensembles that he has played in over the decades is staggering. Carter was part of the legendary lower Manhattan free jazz scene as epitomized by the classic Wildflowers compilations. An essential component of a group of musicians that includes such luminaries such as David S. Ware and William Parker, Carter has maintained his connection to the foundation of revolutionary “fire music.” But this is only a fraction of what Carter does day in and day out. Daniel Carter plays; anywhere and everywhere, any time and all the time. As part of ‘90s free jazz fire-breathers Test, Carter and compatriots made a name for themselves playing in subway stations around the city. And Carter can still be found playing in stations to this day. His is true underground music. But Carter never limited himself to just “jazz,” even of the outre’ variety. In the 1980s, Carter could be found on stage with bands such as hardcore demi-gods Bad Brains and primal industrial insurrectionists Missing Foundation. In the present, you can find Carter throughout the city, playing with young masters such as Chris Corsano and old sages such as Loren Mazzacane Connors. Which brings us to this wild n’ woolly CD/cassette release on New York City’s Ever/Never Records. Joining forces with the guitar and drum-based Maximum Ernst, Carter gets to let his freak-flag fly high. Here we have five distinct pieces chronicling their collaboration. “Iceflower Shawl and Gulf Stream” opens things up with a deceptively jazz-like intro before eventually melting down like a three mile island. “Whip Lashes or Lava Threads” begins in the eye of the hurricane but pretty soon, the gale winds are whipping your face and the trio have stumbled upon a sound beyond rock and jazz. “Scarcecrows” is a brief respite featuring sharply plucked guitar, lyrical sax work by Carter and a spectral radio signal from another dimension. “Fields Of Honor Flood Seismic Plants” is both the longest title and the longest track on the album. It begins with each musician patiently probing the boundaries until building to its natural conclusion. “The Habits of Leaves”ends the proceedings with a perfect mix of improv clatter and old-fashioned rock power. Maximum Ernst with Daniel Carter is a testament to the rush of creative friction between colliding talents. Open your ears wide. -e/n
    Format
    TAPE
    Release-Datum
    11.09.2017
     
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    MAXIMUM ERNST

    Time Delay Safe

    [engl] In advance of a scintillating 12” EP, Ever/Never perplexes the masses with another Maximum Ernst curveball that is a harbinger of things to come. Like some form of residue from the past, “Signal Thru Flames” blends beats/speech/noise into a morass of ever-shifting shapes. Phases and phrases swan-dive off the 13th floor while cascades of right/wrong sounds slap you silly. Sir Steven Stapleton remixed the Vanity Records catalog? Iykyk. On the flip, the Maximum Ernst duo make like Indiana Jones and Lara Croft unearthing a long-lost Jon Hassell deep cut on “Orb-Like” and then bringing the secrets they learned all the way back home via the classical strain of “Glass Enclosure.” For Time Delay Safe, Maximum Ernst went stark raving mad in the Fourth World so that you could leave your body safe on the couch.
    Format
    TAPE
    Release-Datum
    03.07.2021
     
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    MOSQUITO EGO

    Glomb

    [engl] Like so many great bands over the years, noise rock aggregate Mosquito Ego was founded under accidental circumstances. According to main Mosquito Moritz (also in the punk-as-fuck Cluster Bomb Unit and the psych-as-hell Metabolismus): “Back in summer 2013, I ran a club out of a train car in Stuttgart (Germany). Reinhold asked me to put on a show for a band from Erfurt. A week before the show, he told that me they have no backline and play for only 20 minutes. Annoyed that I would have to bring all of my gear and also that I had to find an opening act to make the evening worthwhile, I cynically said: I may as well play on my own. Reinhold didn’t think I was joking and said: Yeah, let’s do this. Let’s start a band. So we wrote eight songs in one week.” A classic punk maneuver and an auspicious start for what has flowered into one of Europe’s most notable, and loud, bands. Having previously released a few 7”s, the five-piece Mosquito Ego is set to unleash their first full-length upon an unsuspecting planet. A key component of Ever/Never Records’ ambitious 2016 release schedule, Glomb is a 12-track declaration of intent. A quintet consisting of Nataly, Tim, Tobi and the aforementioned Moritz and Reinhold, Mosquito Ego play like a highlight reel of postpunk and noise rock’s finest moments, movements and gestures. Underneath a foundation of churning guitar/bass/drums, electronics sizzle and squiggle, while the entire band gets loose and weird. Along with each member’s voice, samples and loops get thrown into the maelstrom; chopped, screwed, pitch-shifted and hard-panned. “Poke” establishes these parameters from the outset. All funhouse mirrors and grinding gears, “Local Zero” sounds like an unearthed Brainiac deep cut. Other parts of Glomb recall the outre’ avant-rock of Terminal Cheesecake and Slug. (These are the parts of the ‘90s we need to come back, people!) But it’s not all sturm und drang; Mosquito Ego is sensitive to your needs. The series of four short electronic “Glomb” pieces act as interludes. But really, they’re just set-ups. Side two opener “Onion Face” is the monster jam on this all-killer slab. The song moves gracefully from OOIOO-like psychedelia into a cathartic scream-along back into a raga that leads to more catharsis, and then ending as sublimely as it began. “Seizure” is the click-pick hit -- try to resist imagining you’re at the coolest party as Mosquito Ego plays “dressed up in cheap costumes as comic-like characters such as the electric poodle, ladyboy moustache, the human cannonball, medication heroine and the sleepover cop.” This gonzo aesthetic is reflected by Mark Bohle’s eye-popping, synapse-frying cover art. Fans of genre-bending freak rock like Guerilla Toss will find a lot to love on Glomb. You will never find a band on Ever/Never halfassing it. The label is based in New York, the city that invented the hustle. Mosquito Ego is a singular force both within their local scenes, and the whole wide world at large.
    Format
    LP
    Release-Datum
    01.07.2016
     
  • 01. Minus Object One
    02. Minus Object Two
    03. Minus Object Three
    04. Minus Object Four
    05. Minus Object Five
    06. Minus Object Six
    07. Minus Object Seven
    08. Minus Object Eight
    09. Minus Object Nine
    cover

    MOSQUITOES

    Minus Objects

    [engl] Mosquitoes are back and they are deadlier than ever. On Minus Objects, their second 12” EP for Ever/Never Records, Mosquitoes challenge the abyss to a staring contest. Utilizing deep-sixed static dub imperatives over post- punk’s skeletal remains, the enigmatic trio feint & parry, duck & weave, zig & zag like they were born to slip out of your grasp and into your bloodstream. Within Mosquitoes’ all-encompassing buzz, we find a distant link to Mars’ furious caterwaul, a direct connection to the frizzle-fried no wave of Sightings, and a tense granularity that recalls Radian’s studies of disintegration. As the title implies, Mosquitoes create entrancing music using methods of subtraction. Paradox runs rampant over these nine tracks as Mosquitoes gesture towards the intimate, while retaining their forbiddingly alien textures. “Minus Object Four” overwhelms with resonant vocal hum, while “Minus Object Eight” is as desolate and haunted as any Burial track. Few bands can be convincingly accused of pushing the decrepit body of rock music into the future. Mosquitoes do so by hiding the corpse in a deep chamber where shadows lurk and mysteries abound. Elusive, unnerving, sense-scrambling -- this is Mosquitoes’ modus operandi. They are a short-circuit made manifest, a cipher without decryption, a riddle without words. Mosquitoes transform the incidental movements of playing electric music (amp hum, string contact, cymbal brushes, ambient clatter) to conjure beguiling rhythmic structures. The initial impression is haphazard, but soon the mastery, and the majesty, become glaringly obvious. Mosquitoes have so thoroughly harnessed control of their close-mic’d soundworld that to observe the final result in its natural state is a thing of wonder. On Minus Objects, Mosquitoes have achieved a grand new pinnacle.
    Format
    LP lim
    Release-Datum
    15.10.2020
     
  • cover

    OBNOX

    Know America

    [engl] Coming at you direct from Cleveland, Ohio, Lamont “Bim” Thomas has transitioned seamlessly from journeyman sticksman in some of the state’s finest bands (This Moment In Black History, Unholy Two, Puffy Areolas, Bassholes, etc.) to the full-on phenomenon known as Obnox. From a foundation of dirt-level garage punk, Thomas sculpts deep cuts out of blown-out beats, redline guitar damage, and soulful singing, as if your local gospel choir had been raised on a steady diet of The Pagans and Back From the Grave comps. Incredibly, 'Know America' -- Obnox’s fifth full-length -- is the second of three albums to come out in 2015. In addition, 'Know America' is the first of two albums this year on NYC label-to-watch Ever/Never Records. Part of an ambitious Ever/Never 2015 release schedule, 'Know America' secures Obnox’s top ranking amongst the creme de la creme of the worldwide underground. 'Know America' is a loose concept album, something like Thomas’ deep soul take on 'Pump Up The Volume' or 'Airheads'. Right at the start, on “Signal Takeover,” Obnox is hijacking the radio waves. A DJ that sounds suspiciously like Thomas, let us know that we are tuned to “Radio 420 WEDE” and that we better prepare for some “trunk punk.” In case you haven’t picked up what he’s laying down, Thomas informs you that the LP you just slapped on your turntable is “reefer on wax.”
    Format
    LP
    Release-Datum
    06.04.2015
     
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    OBNOX

    Murder Radio

    [engl] After a mind-boggling seven LPs and nine EPs in six years, you’d be forgiven for thinking that you could safely ignore OBNOX’s newest full-length opus Murder Radio. You’d be wrong. Dead wrong. Coming hot on the heels of 2017’s other ‘Nox platter (Niggative Approach courtesy of 12XU), Murder Radio is another deep dive into the humid underground lair that Obnox (aka Lamont ‘Bim’ Thomas) calls home. Along with the usual stacked roster of utility players, Thomas is joined on Murder Radio by steady new drummer Steve Mehlman (of Pere Ubu) and the divebombing, corkscrewing guitar of Chuck Cieslik. Murder Radio finds Obnox pressing their foot down on the metaphorical gas pedal for another trip around the turntable. While kaleidoscopic cuts like “Movimiento” and “The Movement” are an attempt to combine curb-level justice with radical politics, “Woe Is Me” finds Thomas gifting doubters and naysayers a kiss-off to hum to themselves as he leaves them in the dust. Now that’s some devious shit. “I Hate Everything” is yet another stellar example of Thomas’ by-now patented soaring psych-rock gems while “Enter The Hater” focuses the fuzz into a punk attack. Side-closer “Bangaar” comes riding in on a classic hip-hop clip and sounds like a perfect combo of Eric B & Rakim, The Beastie Boys and Stereolab. You read that last name right. It wouldn’t be an Obnox record without an ode to the Great Green God in the Ground and Murder Radio doesn’t disappoint -- Side Two opener “Sun Doobie” will stone you until you become a believer. “Deep” is exactly that, so strap on your miner’s helmet and your finest spelunking gear -- we’re drilling straight thru to the heart of the sun. We recommend saving your shatter purchase for this section of the album. “Boy, you’re in deep…” Thomas drawls thru the smoke. Is that the bong or is the gas leaking? Whatever -- you can get high off the kind of ‘noxious fumes belched forth from sizzling stacks of Murder Radio wax. “Mogul Chokehold” comes correct with another strangely addicting brew of pummeling rhythms and endlessly phased and stacked guitar licks. If this is the new psychedelia, then maybe the streets finally have a chance. Final cut “Cheers” isn’t an ode to that place where everyone knows your name, but it is a syrup-thick groove bomb full of weapons-grade guitar-squall perfect for smashing glasses together. Fans of Puffy Areolas (a group Thomas thumped tubs for) will rejoice. The rest of you will be happy as a pig in shit. Obnox is inclusive like that.
    Format
    LP
    Release-Datum
    13.10.2017
     
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    OBNOX

    Savage Raygun

    [engl] Just when you thought that the density of his discography couldn’t possibly accrue any more weight, Ever/Never Records drops the latest Obnox magnum opus on your dome like a two-ton wrecking ball. A sprawling double LP, Savage Raygun distills everything Obnox excels at into a potent potable and even adds some new spirits to the concoction. As always, Obnox (aka Lamont Thomas) supplies a heavy brew smoky with an intense flavor and bright with a zest you can’t forget. Obnox’s fourth full-length for Ever/Never, Savage Raygun is twenty songs thick, and each one is primed for maximum damage. This double-shot is a veritable Whitman’s Sampler of multiple methods to slay the discerning listener. Soulful cuts such as “Supernatural” and “Blessed Black Soldier” are like ‘90s R&B turned on its head and spun til it can’t tell down from up. “How To Build A Bum” is a hip-hop slammer, a golden age throwback, a basketball jersey that gives you confidence when you sport it. “Return Fire” utilizes scratchy funk to approximate the aftermath to a shoot-out, blazing towards the state line. “Misery” continues with the ‘70s vibe, sounding like the lull between disco bangers. “Hawkwindian Summer” is more than yet another award-winning pun by Thomas as it cruises by like a Ford Escort blasting psych rock from in-the-red and shredded speakers. “She (Was About That Life)” adds a vintage sheen to Obnox’s trademark lo-fi scorch and throws an extra dollop of swing on top. “Cut Me A Switch” is another hip-hop cut that dumps a mess of noise in Run DMC’s lap and updates both genres for circa now’s paranoid style. “Party Starter” lives up to its title, coming correct with a case of malt liquor and strafing suckas left and right like EPMD. On “Scenicide,” Thomas channels his rage with electric eels-level guitar damage and still manages to float a lovely melody on the chorus -- Kids, try this at home!
    Format
    DoLP
    Release-Datum
    05.06.2020
     
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    OBNOX

    Wiglet

    [engl] The people say they want the truth. Let’s take them at their word: The People want the Truth. Lamont ‘Bim’ Thomas is the god(damn/’s honest) Truth. We all know the truth isn’t always pretty, and rarely is it fun -- but Thomas makes it sound like the best party you’ve ever been to which you’ve ever been invited. And make no mistake -- everyone is invited. Obnox is soul music for the bruised and battered; feel-good tunes for the righteously pissed-off masses; and a sonic salve for the neglected and ignored.
    Format
    LP
    Release-Datum
    06.10.2015
     
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    PATOIS COUNSELORS

    Proper Release

    [engl] Here we have it. Patois Counselors and their debut album Proper Release. Eleven slashes, eleven perfectly nervous trips to the well. And this North Carolinian band has landed in a welcoming hangar -- New York City’s always-adventurous Ever/Never Records. It is readily apparent from lead-off cut “Disconnect Notice” that Patois Counselors bends towards the arch of Pere Ubu’s storied catalog, but instead of tripping on cracked street waves, they are on their front porch watching the sunset with a lukewarm beer clutched tight and wondering, “What next?” No Cleveland junk sunset for Patois Counselors, there’s a different kind of graveyard haunting these woods. Patois Counselors have given us an embarrassment of riches for a confederacy of dunces. The album title comes off as ironic maybe even a hint of the erotic, but to interpret any manner of cynical bluff into PC’s full frontal attack is to admit a lack of imagination on the listener. Don’t let Patois Counselors’ easy Southern charm distract you from the detailed, focused intensity of its sound. Guitars buzz and clang in queasy unison, synths channel inherently melodic cicada hum, many of the songs containing noisy interludes streaked with melody. “Last Heat” vacillates menacingly, as “Get Excitement” slinks around with the pent-up humid sway of deep summer. “Repeat Offender” smacks you back awake with rapidfire Devo moves and yet another chorus to write home about. “Making Appts” takes those sideways electronics steps that Parquet Courts occasionally indulges in and teaches it the proper dance protocols. A track like “The Modern Station” is as up-to-now as you can be in this media blitz age -- right-angle riffs rub up against double-tracked vocals, breaking down the future-modern dichotomy. But the craziest trick Patois Counselors pulls off is closing out the album with possibly its finest track, achieving a true zenith. “Target Not A Comrade” retains all the previous ten songs’ post-punk tension while seamlessly welding it to what could be the effortless pop shimmer of Psychedelic Furs. -e/n
    Format
    LP
    Release-Datum
    19.05.2018
     
  • cover

    PREENING

    Dragged Through The Garden

    [engl] Four years into Preening’s existence and the Bay Area trio hasn’t shown any signs of stagnation–they remain committed to the urge to move forward, to push themselves and their audience. Thus, the restless and relentless motion of Preening’s new 12” EP on Ever/Never Records, who also released 2018’s excellent Greasetrap Frisbee 7”. Preening sounds more than ever like no one but themselves–Max and Alejandra’s duel (sic) vocals and sax/bass interplay is masterfully augmented and driven by Sam’s all-hands-on- deck drumming. “Twinning” exemplifies all of these aspects, achieving a head-spinning velocity occasionally interrupted by sections that mimic drips and chimes amidst the cacophony. This is dance music for sleep-deprived geniuses and those who love them. “Rapt Fashions” demands to know “Whose body is this anyway?” And then, to drive the theme of dislocation home, the EP ends with a wigged-out “Extortion” dub mix by Andy Human (of The World/Naked Roommate/ Reptoids) & Brett Eastman (Reptoids). Dragged Through The Garden proves that Preening and Ever/ Never continue to deliver the goods, and then some.
    Format
    12''
    Release-Datum
    05.02.2021
     
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    PREENING

    Greasetrap Frisebee

    [engl] Preening is a band that is literally bursting with ideas. Their music is chockablock with tension and pressure -- gaskets blowing; pipes exploding; circuit boards fizzling out. A trio comprised of some of the Bay Area’s most active underground musicians, Preening are poised to cement themselves as one of their scene’s most crucial exponents of non-trad punk. Within Preening’s tumultuous music, elements careen and collide -- sax bleats; bass lines access spinal nerve-spots; drums poke and pound. When listening to Preening, one gets the idea that they are hyperactive butterfly-catchers; darting around with manic precision, trying to snare each and every winged creature, no matter how erratic its flight path. This speaks to both their innate curiosity and ability to improvise on a dime’s turn. This year has yielded a mini-deluge of Preening cassettes and EPs. On this release, the trio blast through 5 cuts of controlled chaos, exuding a nonchalant confidence in their mission. “Associated Press” lays it all out on the table -- Alejandra’s declarative vocals and commanding bass licks, Sam’s busy yet precise drum spasms and Max’s saxophone, which honks and squeals like Eric Dolphy was raised at Gilman Street. “PO Box” molds Preening’s art-punk into a danceable shape, but still keeping you off-balance while the song reasserts itself with each pass. “Greasetrap Frisbee” is a brief instrumental that closes out the side with everything-and the- kitchen-sink aplomb. On the flip, “Poison” finds Preening slowing down a smidge and focussing on groove as Max wails through both of his wind instruments (voice + sax). Ending with their “Face On,” Preening prove to be among the most exciting of a fresh crop of punks not content to regurgitate the same old formula. There’s no time like the present to participate. Take a look in the mirror and say Hello to the new you. -e/n
    Format
    7''
    Release-Datum
    23.02.2018
     
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    QUIETUS

    Volume Four

    [engl] For nearly ten years, songwriter and sound-sculptor Geoffrey Bankowski has been digging secret tunnels through recorded sound with his project, Quietus. Like all the best home-recording artists, Bankowski seizes the limitations of his medium and shapes them into brand-new spaces with a physics and logic all their own. Bankowski's songs are deceptively simple, relying on no more than two or three chords, without bridges or choruses, building tension and momentum from subtle dynamic shifts and bursts of noise that serve as settings for his idiosyncratic narratives and plaintive singing. It passes for rock 'n' roll but comes closer to a sort of ambient-country music, populated by ghostly woodwinds, electronics, and voices that huddle around the bar band at the end of world. Each Quietus record lights the music from a different angle. This fourth untitled volume lets a touch of light in through the shades. A couple of the songs scrape the periphery of pop music, emphasizing vocals (Geoff's, but also Alejandra Foerg's, who lends an eerie touch to "House Finch" redolent of Gene Clark's "Silver Raven"), jauntier rhythms, gorgeous clarinet passages by Steve Goldstein, and Joseph Harms's quarrelsome lead guitar, which, implausibly, recalls both John Morton in the Electric Eels and Robbie Blunt on The Principle of Moments: the secrets in the attic, the return of the repressed. Recommended to listeners of Pink Reason, Leonard Cohen, U.S. Saucer, Cowboy Junkies. -e/n!
    Format
    LP
    Release-Datum
    14.09.2018
     
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    RAGTIME FRANK

    I Know Said The King

    [engl] It only takes a few bars into Ragtime Frank’s fuzz opus “Bo 1969” to figure out how Frank likes his toast -- slathered in sizzling distortion, like hot butter bubbling up from the depths of the earth itself. Pile a duo of hammering drummers on top and you’ve got the makings of a lip smackin’ sandwich that should satisfy all manner of sonic overload junkies. Containing all the hipshake and earthquake action that anyone could crave and then some. Let’s call it Lo-Fi Big Beat. This is basement Gary Glitter, stripped of any negative connotations. Phil Spector is calling from prison demanding to know how these Aussie weirdos managed to upstage him from the flipside of the equator. After a handful of LPs on the much-missed Negative Guest List label, Ragtime Frank, key player in The Lost Domain, comes roaring back with a primal authority. The formula is deceptively simple but devastatingly effective: pair a towering Bo Diddley beat with supremely-fried Link Wray guitars. Just add liquor. And some hollerin’. Stir. And then shake a tail feather. Four songs of greased lightning on a 12” courtesy of NYC’s Ever/Never Records; perfect for your next eviction party. - e/n
    Format
    12''
    Release-Datum
    14.09.2018
     
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    RICHARD PAPIERCUTS

    IF

    [engl] Influenced in equal measure by both sides of the street and the top and bottom of the charts, Richard Papiercuts’ “IF” sets a new standard for ambitious pop music on a shoestring budget. Meticulously recorded throughout New York City over the course of a turbulent year, Papiercuts & co. traffic in shades of light and dark. Like a master of ceremonies at an underground cabaret, Papiercuts -- a mystery man of uncertain origin and pedigree -- is an expert guide to the many quandaries of a modern metropolitan existence. “IF” is unafraid to explore a complex inner life rife with anxiety and doubt, yet reveling in the sensual pleasures only the contemporary cityscape can provide. “IF” is the ultimate marriage of subversive, underground sensibilities and classic songwriting craftsmanship silhouetted on a larger-than-life canvas. This music encompasses an ordinary life played out in widescreen. We are all our own celluloid heroes, Papiercuts seems to be telling us. Embrace your starring role, be your biggest fan. “How It Really Begins” opens the album as an interruption -- the band in mid-rock-out -- a throbbing pulse peppered with sudden starts and stops, used here not as demonstrations of musical prowess, but as building blocks of tension. Papiercuts’ deep voice walks a thin line between utter sincerity and gentle mocking -- here used to excellent effect as the band engages in a sort of stately post-punk, all jagged propulsion and knowing winks. “How It Really Begins” is a suitably thrilling beginning to the masterful new album by enigmatic troubadour Richard Papiercuts. “Bull and Cup Relax” is a slowly twisting trip through latter-day psychpop, an update on Tears For Fears’ update on The Beatles. Future smash “Peanut Butter Is Back” features an instant hook that could be chanted by cheerleaders or groups of school children. Viral YouTube videos are waiting in the wings for this one.... Dousing cocaine dreams in cascades of champagne, “The Sorrow Of Faith” is a late-night lament that summons decadent images of 1980s excess -- an attempt to maintain an unsustainable harem, and no amount of silk pillows will cushion the inevitable fall. Bryan Ferry is on the phone right now, asking his manager why nobody has brought him a song this good in years. “The Sorrow OF Faith” works perfectly as both reflecting pool and enticing come-on -- it is the hand that reaches out from the darkness to clasp your own. “Twelve Days” is a beautiful pop-psych gem that gleams like The Byrds covering The Velvet Underground. The song tries to hide its darkness from you, but it is unmistakably present in the gently roiling verses. “They Tried To Change Me” taps back into Richard Papiercuts’ aggressive side, utilizing sheets of guitars and a pounded piano to air its complaints. “Now I’ve Found You” leans hard into its romantic overtures, but allows them to include family into its lovefest. “Tired Of Playing The Drums” is some kind of funhouse mirror take on a Dire Straits or Don Henley ‘80s chestnut. It shouldn’t work, but it does, and how. The smoldering Papercuts of “Personality” is the smoothest talker at the bar, and you can’t resist his charms; the music swooning and swelling along with you. After such an eventful journey, “Manhattanville” is the perfect endpoint, its deadpan coda telling us that “Life is only so long.” Richard Papiercuts is adult music made by adult adults. “IF” is an album that harkens back to the old world of Brecht and Weill, Bowie and Cale -- and is surely one of 2015’s boldest musical statements.
    Format
    LP
    Release-Datum
    06.10.2015
     
  • 01. Judgment
    02. Reunion
    03. Anita, Sing
    04. Alma
    05. After Hours
    06. Night Beats Night
    cover

    RICHARD PAPIERCUTS

    Reunion

    [engl] Hello, friend. I hope all is well with you. I am writing to let you know that my new album, Reunion, is now available in a limited vinyl edition on the ever/never label. After working with a backing band for the last two records, I decided to return to writing and recording alone in the studio, the way I made A Sudden Shift ten years ago, and the way I did for nearly 20 years before that. I started tracking for Reunion at the tail end of 2019 with my engineer, Gregg, at a beautifully appointed studio in Connecticut. That proved a slow and expensive process, and of course it ground to a halt when the pandemic struck in March 2020. I thought I’d make the best of it, start over and try fleshing out the songs at home on the Mac, so that when the world opened up again I would have a detailed blueprint for the album, and I could go back to the studio and track all of it quickly and methodically. Instead, I wound up making the entire record at home. Gregg’s mix and mastering job made these homemade tracks go bang, and thanks to his finesse, it is the best-sounding record I’ve made so far. Last night when we listened to the test pressing of the album at e/n’s offices, a friend remarked that “Anita, Sing” is an adult contemporary track. I winced, reflexively, but of course, she was right: the song is based on the changes in Anita Baker’s “Real Love,” a perennial on AC radio, and the song is partly about Anita Baker. I had worked on the track for weeks and weeks, revising the lyrics, adding bits and pieces of piano and fake brass, and I guess along the way I forgot that I had set out to write an adult contemporary ballad. Sam Cooke has been on my mind a lot these past several years, and he was on my mind when I made this record. So were Prince, Al Green, Luther Vandross, and Rick James. Not to mention all the wonderful, shameless Brits, beginning with Bowie, who fashioned improbably slick art music from strands of Motown, Stax, Philly Int’l, etc. — people like Mark Hollis, George Michael, Annie Lennox, Peter Gabriel. Of course I was also thinking about the tumult and the horrors that enveloped us in mid-2020. It would be trite to claim that this is my COVID record, but obviously, those realities animated the making of the album, materially and otherwise. “Judgment” turned out like a song that Killing Joke might have made for a car commercial; “Night Beats Night” is a groove built from pieces of “Footsteps in the Dark,” “Careless Whisper,” and maybe “You Scared the Love Right Out of Me.” If they seem opaque — and they do even to me, at times — it’s because I couldn’t find the words to adequately express the rage and sorrow of those summer months. It would be facile to say that the songs on Reunion are examples of “eighties music.” I certainly don’t hear any period effects, sonic or otherwise, and I’m not interested in nostalgia. It’s true, though, that “Alma” is based on a Motown groove that many musicians of the eighties, especially British ones, pilfered indiscriminately: The Jam, The Cure, The Pretenders, and The Smiths all had their way with it, to fabulous effects; and of course Phil Collins, who understood that in pop music there is no such thing as being too obvious, covered the whole tune and took it to number one (UK). It’s also true that half the songs on Reunion have a modular architecture: discreet sections built up and layered in different configurations to create intros, verses, choruses, and bridges. This process, a distant descendant of cubism, was first applied to pop songwriting in the mid-1980s, when digital technology made it easy to move around chunks of a song and rearrange them, and it gave rise to the 12” remix boom that extended through the end of the decade. I confess that this period, which framed my childhood, is an affective ground-zero for me: that was the music that first gripped me and shaped my sensibility, and I find myself returning to it instinctively in my middle age. I hope this record finds a home with you and that you cherish it as much as I do. Sincerely, Richard Papiercuts
    Format
    LP lim
    Release-Datum
    18.04.2022
     
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    RICHARD PAPIERCUTS

    Twisting The Night

    [engl] When we last checked in with urban troubadour Richard Papiercuts, he was leading his band through the ambitious pop of IF, his debut for Ever/Never. A major statement from an unknown artist, IF was ripping with drama and daring listeners into a twilight world rife with lust, life, and the many contradictions contained within such four-letter words. Now three years wiser, Papiercuts has shed some of the mystery to confront the camera dead-on. Twisting the Night is a glossier production, timeless while conjuring the flickering pop-surrealism of ‘80s music videos and the grandiose maximalism of Peter Gabriel, INXS, and Tears for Fears, but on a 20 hour studio time limit. Over the course of TTN's four songs, Papiercuts and his crack band sculpt stately tableaus that hew toward the dark side of pop while avoiding cliches and sentimentality. 'There’s no correction, no distortion / in the way your voice cuts through the air': So begin the lyrics to opening cut 'A Place to Stay,' which serves as a re-introduction to Papiercuts’s sound-world, this time around avoiding obfuscation and willing to meet the listener halfway. 'Starless Summer Night', an epic, seven-minute centerpiece, is described by Papiercuts as a 'lucid nightmare' in the tradition of the Elevators and Tom Verlaine, but where apocalyptic dread mingles with the everyday anxieties of fatherhood. This is big pop music for big hearts and minds. But the hit on Twisting the Night is 'The Riddle,' a shimmering anthem that whorls about like a mirage, seducing the listener as it takes its time to get into its zone. 'World and Not World' closes out the EP with hints of Madchester poking through the rhythm ’n’ wooze. 'Turn it off,' Papiercuts pleads. But we’ve got a better idea: flip the record over and start the journey again.
    Format
    LP
    Release-Datum
    07.12.2018
     
  • 01. Florida Gasoline
    02. Great Innings
    03. Pretend You're The Worker
    04. Public Coward
    05. Theme
    06. Rotting Profits
    07. You Lose Track
    08. Sacred M
    09. Tierra Wool
    10. We Will Win Next Time
    cover

    RIDER/HORSE

    Feed 'Em Salt

    [engl] How bad is it out there? Is this the preapocalyptic era? Or are we the proverbial frog in boiling water and the end of days is already here? Maybe this is just late-capitalism Suck City. Whatever the reality, take heart, Rider/Horse has provided an exhilarating score for this seemingly hopeless era of anxiety and decay. On their sophomore release, Feed ’Em Salt, the duo of Cory Plump and Chris Turco deliver the same booming industrial thud and twisted shards of Chrome-plated noise that made their debut, Select Trials, one of the finest releases of 2021. But Feed ’Em Salt subtly pushes the outfit into new aesthetic realms and further distinguishes Rider/Horse as an entity to be reckoned with on its own terms, distinct from the other bands in which the pair have played (Spray Paint, Trans Am, Les Say Fav, to name a few). Where the icy grind of Select Trials conjured a Man with No Name traversing the desolation of a nuclear winter, Feed ’Em Salt adds pedal steel (courtesy of experimental multi-instrumentalist Zoots Houston), features the occasional mutant disco rhythm, and delivers some of the sleaziest basslines since Tracy Pew got his head stuck in Phill Calvert’s drum kit. That's not to say there isn't plenty of ominous cacophony here. But imagine if the Man with No Name stumbled into some sort of fever-dream ritual dance fueled by expired Four Lokos and held inside an abandoned Cash for Gold. He just might hear "Rotting Profits" coming out of whatever jerry-rigged speaker system the place had. Even the bad times are good if the music is right. All hail Kingston's finest.
    Format
    LP lim
    Release-Datum
    18.11.2022
     
  • 01. C & C 4441
    02. Tremolo Harm
    03. Chime Inn
    04. Guns In The Snow
    05. Code Clicker
    06. The Windows Are Your Arms
    07. Bodyslam
    08. Prawn Ranch
    09. Sleeping In Teh Box
    10. Today's Gains
    11. Nitetime White
    cover

    RIDER/HORSE

    Select Trials

    [engl] One hundred miles north of New York City is a post-industrial hardscrabble up-and-down town called Kingston that currently lies somewhere in-between. Kingston is where Rider/Horse came to exist, and where they now call home. Before the Rider/Horse team-up, Cory played guitar and sang in Spray Paint, while Chris was a hired gun for the likes of Trans Am, Les Savy Fav and Scene Creamers. When normal life forced them to press pause, the construction of Select Trials became an almost daily obsession/meditation for the duo. Recorded, assembled and mixed by Chris, with sounds from a makeshift dub zone set up in the (shuttered-at-the-time) venue Cory owns, Select Trials is a pitch-perfect distillation of C & C’s mithering. “Tremolo Harm” is a high-tension wire that leads into the horizon-vanishing tones of “Chime Inn.” Other tracks, like “Guns In The Snow” and “Prawn Ranch,” radiate with drum-driven menace, echoing Big Black’s foreboding clang. “Sleeping In The Box” drills deep into the salt of the earth, searching vainly for sustenance, while “Today’s Gains” hurts like a weary back after a long shift. Finally, “Nitetime White” pulls down the shades and blots out the sun. With Select Trials—the debut album from Rider/Horse—Ever/Never Records brings you a doozy for the ages.
    Format
    LP lim
    Release-Datum
    18.10.2021
     
  • cover

    SCUPPER

    Everything

    [engl] Like the millennial squishing of dumb rock into diamonds that eventually adorn dames' fingers, it's the geezers—intimate with dreams crushed by the hard knox of indifference—who're truly capable of squeezing out acerbic pop gems that burn hot. They know. SCUPPER's MIKE JANSON licked gold encrusted sushi bowls with the darlings of alt rock supremacy during his time with LYNNFIELD PIONEERS. They issued two weirdly great long players on Matador in the mid '90s, only to have their ruins smote upon the mountainside of pop culture refuse. No less an aficionado of such things as Aging Baldini at Fuckin' Record Reviews hailed Janson as "the Goffin/King of basement power bomp." Janson's since fleshed out his new blood vision with bassist ANDREW SHUMWAY (defected from the Jersey City suburban basement Lizzy/Priest smoke out collective A?SS, where he traded u?mlauty riffs with The Mad Scene’s Brian Turner and former Crucifucks drummer Steve Shelley) and drummer RICHARD AMARI, who brings a level of combustible professionalism with which indie rockers are too often unfamiliar. Together, they're as sharp and tight as a giant burning orb stuffed inside the velvet balcony at Radio City. Based on the youthful energy bouncing off all corners of “Everything,” Scupper haven’t lost a step in the downtime. Both “Everything” and its flip, “Drown Me Out,” nail the kind of surging, harmony-laden melodic punk that Superchunk used to specialize in. But Scupper’s newest single is no mere nostalgia trip—these songs are flesh and blood and standing right in front of you.
    Format
    7''
    Release-Datum
    20.05.2016
     
  • cover

    SPARROW STEEPLE

    A Aardvark

    [engl] Sparrow Steeple are a band out of time. Featuring three original members of Philadelphia’s legendary Strapping Fieldhands (Bob Dickie, Jacy Webster, and Jeff Werner), Sparrow Steeple continue down the path laid out by their peculiar muse -- “future pastoral” (as an early Strapping single declared). The follow-up to last year’s critically-lauded debut LP: Steeple Two, A Aardvark is a five-song 12” EP that belies its modest first impression. Sparrow Steeple balance their innate sense of majestic melody with the small-scale drama of everyday life. “Candy Apple Kid” is a perfect blend of twinkling folk-rock and searing garage-rock, two time- tested forms that rest comfortably in Sparrow Steeple’s hands. “Crank Of Awnings” is both a result of, and a remedy to, your hangover; try and wipe the melancholy from your weary eyes, it seems to be crying out. The first side closes out with “Frank N’ Cliff,” a character sketch spiced up with mouth-harp and sweet lashings of wah-wah guitar. Side Two of A Aardvark sprawls out a bit more with the lyrically-biting but sonicallysmeared “Rancher’s Standoff.” Here, Sparrow Steeple are tending to a heretofore unknown parcel of land that is hosting a psychedelic campfire singalong featuring both Bardo Pond and The Carter Family. Closing out this perfectly succinct 12” on Ever/Never Records, Sparrow Steeple slowly ratchet up the urgency of their grammatically- challenged title track. “A Aardvark” fades out as sounds of the river mesh with subtle wisps of surrealistic feedback and a man talking on a loudspeaker. Here then is the pastoral future. -e/n
    Format
    12''
    Release-Datum
    01.12.2017
     
  • 01. Lunch
    02. Smiles
    03. Hybrid Animal
    04. Body
    05. Poolside
    06. Bath Boy
    cover

    SPIRITUAL MAFIA

    Al Fresco

    [engl] Alfresco is the debut album from Spiritual Mafia. The band played a handful of shows a few years ago, but found it near impossible to continue due to members spread across the far reaches of Australia. Try organising practice when some live in Victoria, another in Queensland, and another in the Northern Territory. Somehow Spiritual Mafia managed to record an album, and look forward to re- establishing their existence in a much-craved post-lockdown world. Validating the band’s semi-ridiculous name, there is something ‘spiritual’ about this album. Alfresco breaks things down to their basic elements. Lyrics focus on themes of water, food, and the human body. Primitive, yet timeless stuff. The themes are complimented by music as equally unpretentious. The riffs neglect any grandiose changes and keep hammering down upon the listener like a violent Mafioso collecting the interest and the principle. It’s a different kind of spirituality that one wouldn’t find in the background of a yoga class. But it does have a Zen aspect. Think Stooges or Brainbombs for no-brainer comparisons. But on top of the standard rock band instrumentation, add some cosmic synths, and healthy amounts of turntablism littered throughout the jams. Alfresco tries to remind the listener that if we forget our troubles for a moment and go for a swim (20 minutes after eating), then the world would be a happier place.
    Format
    LP
    Release-Datum
    12.03.2021
     
  • cover

    STAFFERS

    In The Pigeon Hole

    [engl] Staffers is the brainchild of Ryan McKeever, a DC-by-way-of-Omaha musician and songwriter. After several years of extensive touring, McKeever assembled a full-fledged band and a new cassette, In The Pigeon Hole, on New York City’s Ever/Never Records is their first release with the unit. Staffers specialize in smart-guy post-punk pop as epitomized by “Pastor Carson,” a song that could easily make the cut for the next Parquet Courts album. “Fuck The Brixton” is a sort of sea-shanty that tells a whimsical tale of getting booted from a favorite bar. Exile shouldn’t sound so fun, but Staffers have a knack for twisting expectations. “The Gutter” soars with anthemic chime and “Jeremy” slashes and burns like an indie classic from the ‘90s. “Getting Thinner” is brief and bruising like Tyvek at their best, while “New Artifact Salesman” pairs a clever title with a quirky energy that recalls Half Japanese. “Just Another Tuesday” wraps the proceedings up like a last-call so-long at the bar that they finally let you into again. After all, Staffers get treated well in the end. -e/n
    Format
    TAPE
    Release-Datum
    16.10.2020
     
  • cover

    STEFAN CHRISTENSEN

    American Pastoral Again

    [engl] STEFAN CHRISTENSEN has been a staple in the New Haven, CT scene for the last decade, playing in, among many others, ESTROGEN HIGHS, EHRGEIZIG, PERMANENT FEELS and MEDICATION; recording Sex, Worn Leather, Pieces of Fruit; collaborating on the C/Site label and with the venue Popeye’s Garage. And while it would seem that Stefan has always lived a shark’s life—I’ll drown if I stop swimming—it is really only in the last year that he has entered his most prolific phase. All that other stuff has been… practice? In the prior twelve months, Stefan has released two full lengths and a pair of EPs on cassette via the esteemed labels Loki, Night People, and C/Site. American Pastoral Again is the debut vinyl outing from this eponymous artist issued by ever/never records. Channeling Gate, Jim Shepard, Crystalized Movements, and Shakey himself, the twelve minute title track consumes the entire A-side in a melancholic dirge. It is backed by four quick blasts that introduce elements of pop, noise, and more dirge. With varied approaches, Stefan’s songs are written from a unique and developed voice. A unifying thread through these works is the careful craftsmanship, each song tailored perfectly—knowing when to let it breathe, when to ramp up tension—for the most impact. Had Stefan cut his teeth in a more insular scene, in a more glamorous town, he’d have been a hitmaker, but we are thankful that was not the case. As American Pastoral Again demonstrates, he is onto something much more fulfilling and unforgettable.
    Format
    LP
    Release-Datum
    09.09.2016
     
  • 01. When You Came
    02. Red Dog The Deconstructor
    03. In The Pineys
    04. I'm Going
    05. Arrogant Flower
    06. Just Too Much
    07. He's Right!
    08. Keep On Rockin' / Lonnie Donegan's Mum's Tea Chest
    09. Ollie's Interfader
    10. Sad Lament of The American Indian
    11. I Don't Know Why
    12. Meteor Peacock
    cover

    STRAPPING FIELDHANDS

    Lyve: In Concerte

    [engl] Recording the Strapping Fieldhands at Bernie's was our (TommyJay & Myself) first rewarding attempt at recording a band live in a club setting that i can recall. It was great fun working with this crew of magical musical misfits in what now seems a long passed epoch ago. I'm very happy they chose to use a bit of said endeavor for this record and will always cherish the memories of my times both here in mythical Harrisburg Ohio and Olde Philadelphius with these wandering minstrels in perilous search of the Golden Fleece while enduring the ensuing trials by fire water & the fickle nature of fame. Long passed perhaps are the days when rose petals were scattered at their feet, but these petrified remains of their copious output will baffle marveling aural anthropologists for millenniums to come! Zeus Bless the Strapping Field Hand & all who sail with them! May we once again share quahogs amid peatbogs somewhere down the sandy path to netherness
    Format
    LP lim
    Release-Datum
    02.07.2023