Words by Sean Victory
Sean Victory is a lifelong artist, tinkerer, and musician. His current projects are Nightmare Frontier and World Hum, having also contributed to the groups Famished Ghosts, Future Toys, and Owl & Swan.
Butterfly In The Sky by The Octopus Project (Earth Libraries)
Sometimes there are still surprises left to uncover in the age of All-Is-Known. I was listening to this recent release by The Octopus Project, and though I did see that it was called Butterfly In The Sky, I didn’t make the mental connection to a familiar theme song from childhood until Wayne Coyne’s throaty-nose warble advised me to “Take a look. It’s in a book.” Oh, wow. Another soundtrack from these capable characters.
This one skipped right past me. I was listening to them because I mentioned Black Moth Super Rainbow last month, and I was thinking about their collaboration album with the Octopus Project, The House of Apples and Eyeballs. Deepening this surprise is not so much that this soundtrack is good—they excel at score work and their back catalog of jobs is numerous—but there is an all encompassing warmth to this record. The synth lines are light and playful, and they know how to craft circular melodies that pull the listener back into a beanbag chair in the school library. There is a certain aesthetic at work, and it feels like watching an old VHS tape in a freezing room darkened against the sun, while the substitute teacher does a crossword puzzle. The songs at times sound industrious, instructive, and the mind’s eye sees technicolor polygons slowly spinning and floating away.
Despite the nostalgic nature of the content, it never sounds derivative or cliche. Indeed, there is a quiet comfort, a somber edge that keeps this work grounded. The songs are not big blocks of sequenced steps dropped behind footage. The music has a startling depth in its varied tempos, and it moves with grace from one piece to the next. I’ve never even seen this film, and maybe I don’t need to, but this soundtrack painted a beautiful picture all on its own. Seriously, Wayne Coyne could take a hike and this record would be a perfect ten on the merit of consistency of mood.
SORCS80 by Osees (CastleFace Records)
I know we have a psych-rock columnist here at Off Shelf, but I’ve got to put this in my experimental bag. In fact, when Jon Stout (said columnist) first spoke to me about this record, he said, “What do you mean there are no guitars?! What the hell are these sounds then?” He’s right. What the hell are these sounds? Well, it’s samplers, dammit. A Roland SPD-SX, which is a sampler with drum pads as triggers. Loaded onto these are riffs and demo song ideas that John Dwyer put together, and then everyone plays their own little sampler with their own little drum sticks. The results are huge.
I’ve always loved seeing Osees because they have the double drummers set up right in the middle of the stage. It’s captivating to watch them hammer on in unison, varying their embellishments here and there. This time out it’ll be that much cooler because we’ll have four percussionists all doing their own thing, and somehow not sounding anything like drums. Perfect. That’s Osees, for ye. That’s also why they’ve made it into my column this month. Check out a live performance of the album (on a helipad!) here.
The album does sound a bit more like Dwyer’s Damaged Bug project, but his melodic tendencies and his song structures are always recognizably his own. Despite the drum-based writing techniques, the songs do contain his tell-tale sonic tendencies. It’s got all the punk energy of A Foul Form, but it eschews some of the more basic structures of the genre presumably by building the songs out drums first.
Thousand Oceans by Chihei Hatakeyama (White Paddy Mountain)
I often forget to write about certain artists because they are so prolific. Releasing half a dozen albums a year so often works against the notion that more content is more exposure, and more to recall. Sometimes it is just too much to keep up with. One musician who falls into this category is Japanese ambient guitarist Chihei Hatakeyama. He’s already released four albums this year, and even though all of them are remarkable, my favorite is Thousand Oceans. Not only is Hatakeyama an incredible guitarist, but as an engineer he excels at creating lush mixes that are supremely clear and hypnotizing. I don’t believe there is any other ambient musician, aside from Brian Eno, who has found a way to create a sound that is so obviously their own. Like Eno, this distinctive voice is honed at the mixing board.
I’ve long used Hatakeyama’s album Winter Storm, as an anchor during panic attacks, or as sleep music. It’s probably the album I’ve listened to the most out of all of his work. Thousand Oceans shares some of the same ethereal qualities as Winter Storm, but obscures the melodic focus and repetitious phrases, burying them more deeply beneath endless delays and massive reverb. It’s incredibly easy to get lost in this album. As the ambient thesis statement reminds us, there is so much to notice, so much complexity if we choose to listen deeply, but it also functions beautifully as a flavored room tone.
The first thing most new listeners will notice is how the music doesn’t sound like it was written on a guitar. Hatakeyama has found a way to layer effects and loop individual parts over one another so that the listener can only occasionally recognize the pluck of a string. The magic here is creating a fully synthetic soundscape that retains the organic nature of a stringed instrument. The song “Gathering Clouds” is a perfect example of this technique. There are a few noticeable instances of string noise, but the stacked elements of the song make it feel like an endlessly droning synth, or the hum of a distant stream. It’s truly remarkable to deeply listen to these pieces, as there is much more to hear than a person might notice on their first pass. Next time you’re having the anxiety attack of the year, or find yourself awake and restless at 3AM, lay down with this album and let yourself explore the depths.
Honorable Mentions
Contact by Rural Tapes (self-released)
A totally random find, but one I’ve been pouring over since I stumbled upon it. Using found sound—and what sounds like found cassettes, collages together with synthesizer loops and melodies, the album feels like something The Books might’ve created at some point had they not imploded. The last track, “Waves” is a tape sent away to someone living elsewhere, maybe away in the military, or off at school. As the synths blip in the background and a guitar strums along, we listen to individuals from this small community of friends send well-wishes and tell stories to this unnamed person living elsewhere. Near the end of this seven minute track, the recipient fades into the background, and as we’re drawn into the individual stories about building a boat, or expecting a baby, they might as well be talking directly to us.
Favorite Tracks: “Waves” and “Run Rapid”
I LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR YOU by JPEGMAFIA (AWAL Recordings)
Sure, this belongs more strictly under the rap genre, but JPEGMAFIA is so skilled at sonic collage and weird production tricks—not to mention his wild lyrical exploitations, that I feel the need to mention this album. While not a massive departure from his usual exploits, I LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR YOU (damn these constant capitalizations) is still JPEG doing what he does best. As abrasive as it is groovy, and as humorous as it is clever, he offers up another uncompromising vision of music that manages to devour all the noise of American culture, and spit out the most razor sharp hip hop I’ve heard in years. The thing that makes this different from his other records is the pacing. As the album goes on, the beats slow down and his lyrics become more introspective. It’s a small step in a different direction, but for JPEG this might be what maturity looks like.
Favorite Tracks: “either on or off the drugs” and “vulgar display of power”
Fabulous Soundtracks by Jack Name (Maple Death Records)
Quite different from the ecstatic horror pop of Weird Moons, but still far afield from traditional songwriting, Jack Name finds fresh territory on Fabulous Soundtracks. This album has the same feel of a living breathing space found on his other records, but he creates a unifying voice across disparate subject matter. The music still has a creepy, otherworldly quality, as each song acts as its own soundtrack for these oddly specific events. See for example, “Prayers Ascending to a Kitten in Heaven” where a synth lightly purrs, receiving each small wish carried upward on every chord.
Favorite track: “The Runaway Girls” and “The Devil Comes Inside
Other mentions (not without Honor just without text)
Youth and Decay by Someplace (self-released)
Skull Dream by Dave Harrington (Maximum Overdub)