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November 07, 2006
Iceland is whaling again and it's almost like they never stopped
These Are Powers - South Angel
So due to a band in Germany using the name slightly before they did, Powers had to switch to the altogether creepier and more demonstrative name of These Are Powers, and (unrelated to the name change) added another full-time band member to the roster (Ted McGrath, on drums). They also self-released an amazing little cassette, 5 songs on one side and a sweetly dense noise collage on the other.
While 'With All My Might' (which is on the cassette) was a quick coupling of dark, atavistic grooves and Anna's storm-sung vocals, 'The South Angel' states the case a little more clearly. The song starts with a bass tone that sounds like the charge/re-charge pattern of a huge, menacing generator, with Anna singing 'guess/just guess/guess what I just/you'll never guess/guess what I just saw' (and clipped permutations of those phrases), which after a while gives the song a feeling of intense desperation and the same kind of foreboding atmosphere that you get with, say, a handwritten note that trails off in mid-sentence, or a phone call that suddenly and inexplicably disconnects, etc. Also listen for Pat's nice, owly background hoots.
But then 'South Angel' earnestly shifts into unnerving territory: a straight-up banshee wail from Anna ushers in a punishing, single-minded bassline/percussion section, and a truly disturbing (at least to me) image is offered in the lyrics, "there's a little boy with gold cold fingers gripping at the edges of my hair" (A King Midas homunculus? no, just a kid with poor circulation). The track shows the band developing their idea of ghost-punk a little more fully, and really exploiting all the tools they have at their disposal ('South Angel' especially shows off the expressiveness of Anna's voice).
The rest of the cassette is just as good- 'Creme Teeth' has a rolling, off-balance rhythm and is probably the most traditionally dynamic thing the band's done so far; 'The Question Is' is an incredibly catchy instrumental that ends with a bite of dialogue ("the question is: do you know what the fuck you're doing?"), and 'Hoop Snake' is another shivering-with-terror anthem, mostly concerning (I think) an ouroboros- definitely ends that side of the tape on a high note. The noise collage is mostly molasses-thick low end drones, littered with some vocal samples (some of Anna, slowed down) and more strange dialogue. These Are Powers are selling the tape on their website, for a mere $6 (which includes postage). They only made 100 copies, so I'd suggest jumping on that now if you're interested (and you should be). The band just opened up for The Fall the other night, and they have a bunch of other shows coming up in the next few weeks- go check them out if you have the chance.
p.s. applying to grad school. October was, obviously, a rough month. November should be a little better. Things'll be normal (semi-normal) again in, say, January. Sorry for the neglect.
Posted by Kevin at 08:27 PM | Comments (0)