This is a zonked-out weirdo blaster of a week a real goopy rhizome with no great place to start so let’s dive right in with Integration the new collaboration between Not Not Fun/100% Silk heads LA Vampires and Maria Minerva . Minerva’s woozy perceptively reaching pop echoes mesh immediately with the bouncy bleach-faded house beats that make up this warped early-90s video countdown soundtrack from another planet. I’m somewhat surprised with how often I feel like listening to parts of Integration — it’s a bit much all at once but there’s something intriguingly alien and inviting about this chameleonic whirl of a record that I can’t quite put my finger on just yet.
Elsewhere a bunch of stoned nerds are going to jet off into space real soon with Just to Feel Anything the newest album from Emeralds . It’s been an unusual stretch of time between releases for the Ohio trio generally known for its prolificacy ( Does it Look Like I’m Here? came out in 2010) but this makes sense given how busy each member has been with numerous other projects. All this is to ignore the first thing anyone even remotely familiar with the band will notice however: beats. The prevalence of beats here brings to mind Steve Hauschildt’s decent solo album Tragedy & Geometry more than anything so drone fans might find Emeralds’ progressive electronic remodelling an awkward fit. With tracks like “Adrenochrome” there’s even a hint of Chromatics-esque “party noir” pulse but any hint of subtlety is blasted into irreverence when Mark McGuire comes in and shreds like it’s time to roll credits on an episode of I don’t know Power Rangers or something. File under “Cocaine ’80s for scientists.”
For something more gloomy and brutish The Soft Moon has just released Zeros an ugly mess of prickly synthesizer buzz and cold industrial drum machine pounding. The sophomore effort from this San Francisco-based project is big on atmosphere all gothy post-punk bass lines and cavernous digital reverb. Can’t say much about the songs — they exist more or less although things get more dynamic by the end from the energetic “Die Life” through “Want.” Frankly though when I hear a track like “Machines” I mostly just hear a Trans Am song without real drums so maybe check out Trans Am’s newly reissued double album opus The Red Line as well — but be careful you might never want to hear a synthesizer again after overdosing on this batch of new records.
Should you fall into a synthesizer coma take one Psychedelic Pill Neil Young & Crazy Horse ’s new triple album. Opening with a 28-minute track complete with rambling lyrics about Pablo Picasso you probably know if you want this already or not right? “Hey dad I got you the new Neil Young and an eighth of weed! Merry Christmas!”
