Part twenty-five of an array of CD mixes I made for my wife over a long number of years! Read more about it here!
Sigh. This is a complete failure as a cover. The tracklist font doesn’t work at this size. The font should be far smaller. Works for the XXV title though, in my opinion.
Additionally, it’s extraordinary dreary. To be fair, I did take this photo while in London so it’s appropriate. However, that does not justify the number of filters I applied to it.
Moving along. This album features some straight-up metal for once. Hey, it’s called Electroclature and not Metalclature. (Although that would be a better title.) Otherwise, it features a lot of previously featured bands so I’ll stick to the new-to-Electroclature musicians.
Here are some non-dreary highlights!
FOETUS! Technically I’ve featured the work of J.G. Thirwell in the past via his Venture Bros. soundtrack work, but not the long-lived act he’s best known for: FOETUS! ‘The Ballad of Sisyphus T. Jones’ is one hell of a rollicking, dense and epic song that builds and builds, then teases a bit, then lurches into a spaghetti western mode, then rockets forward back again. Absolutely one of my favorites of his, although his eleven minute big band song is also one of my favorites of his so your mileage may vary.
I was lucky enough to see him play at Chicago’s EMPTY BOTTLE way back in 2001 and he rarely comes to Chicago and it was a fucking blast, one of those bands you just kinda resign yourself to only hear instead of see and hear. A bucket list performer, for sure.
ROB DUNCAN! His theme song for TERRIERS? One of the greatest, if not the greatest TV theme songs of the past 20 years. It’s so hooky and concise, not just with the duration but also the lyrical subject matter. It is everything you want out of a TV theme song and is just as effective out-of-context.
SWANS! Another extremely formative band for me, although I didn’t discover them until ‘Soundtracks for the Blind’, which is very dark, tense, loud at times, silently intense at others. The core members were Michael Gira and Jarboe, the former known for never smiling and the latter known for her striking voice. I missed their breakup tour because I was too young, but I did see Gira’s follow-up band ANGELS OF LIGHT live, which I believe was at Double Door. I still have my well-weathered long sleeve shirt from that show.
SWANS regrouped in 2010 sans Jarboe and toured with BABY DEE (who will be missed). The venue I saw them at? Maybe it was the relocated Double Door before they completely shut down. The song featured here — ‘Jim’ — is from the album they were touring for: ‘My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky’.
Tonally it’s not much of a departure from their prior album, ‘Soundtracks for the Blind’. They’re still extremely dark, very sludgy and very languid. And live? VERY LOUD. They’re touring around this time; They’re hitting Chicago in May. If you like what you hear? Check ’em out, but bring earplugs.
An overcast tracklist! (Artist / Album / Song — links go to a video of the song, if available):
- ELUVIUM / An Accidental Memory In the Case of Death / Perfect Neglect In A Field Of Statues
- LAURA MARLING / I Speak Because I Can / Alpha Shallows
- PEGGY SUE / Fossils and Other Phantoms / February Snow
- NINA NASTASIA / Outlaster / This Familiar Way
- FOETUS / Hide / The Ballad of Sisyphus T. Jones
- THE DEAD WEATHER / Sea Of Cowards / I’m Mad
- CROCODILES / Sleep Forever / Hollow Hollow Eyes (The video? Probably best viewed while high, otherwise it’s rather dull.)
- THE BLACK ANGELS / Passover / Young Men Dead
- SWANS / My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky / Jim
- MUNLY / Petr And The Wulf / Munly
- ROB DUNCAN / Gunfight Epiphany / Gunfight Epiphany (Theme from Terriers) (The video link is the actual title sequence for the show, but the song itself is far longer.)
- FINNTROLLl / Jaktens Tid / Jaktens Tid (Not the official video — one doesn’t exist — but an absolutely delightful fan video comprised solely of clips from a scene from THE ARISTOCATS.)
- DIMMU BORGIR / ABRAHADABRA / Gateways
- THOSE DARLINS / Nightjogger/Funstix Party / Nightjogger
- BOOM PAM / Puerto Rican Nights / Ay Carmela (Instrumental)