The Outsiders: Vol. 25
Not all of Stereogum's favorite sounds conform to what folks expect us to cover. In this space, resident Bananafish fetishist Brandon Stosuy focuses on bands, albums, singles, and villages in Sweden that may otherwise pass by unnoticed. This installment's virtual milk crate contains Crazy Dreams Band, Svarte Greiner, and Emeralds.
The last time I checked in was to list the Outsiders Best Albums of 2008. Here we are almost a month into 2009, so onward...
Crazy Dreams Band create loose, at times manic vocally rich music with enough tuneful elements I can imagine people not usually given to fucked-up sounds getting into them. They're fronted and largely piloted by Lexie Mountain (of the Lexie Mountain Boys) with Religious Knives/Mouthus's Nate Nelson as well as Nick Becker, Jake Freeman, and Chiara Giovando. "Separate Ways" is from the Baltimore band's self-titled full length. The track includes equal parts glitch excursions, jazzy breakdowns, Janis Joplin belting, and Yoko howling. Which makes it a good place to start.
Crazy Dreams Band - "Separate Ways" (MP3)
Crazy Dreams Band is out via Holy Mountain. There's more from the album at the band's MySpace.
Kappe is the second full length from previously mentioned doom noisemaker Erik Skodvin, aka one half of Deaf Center, aka Svarte Greiner. The album includes four dark, clattering, and cinematic pieces that stretch over 44 minutes. It's a departure from his excellent 2006 release Knive. Instead of the creaky acoustic doom tidbits ranging from one to nine minutes, we get these massive, fleshed out, electric compositions. I admittedly found Knive's strange minimalism more immediately engaging, but after a number of listens, Kappe's bloomed into a pretty wonderful thing. Check out the opening rattling ghost choir, "Tunnel Of Love." It's the loudest piece on the album.
Svarte Greiner - "Tunnel Of Love" (MP3)
Kappe is out 3/2 via Type. Head to MySpace. Also, SG recently did a 12" with the Richmond label SMTG: Some info.
[Svarte Greiner]
Rounding things out is Cleveland's Emeralds, who have a new album What Happened forthcoming on No Fun. It's a pile of analog electronics and guitar set in a spacious Tangerine Dreamed manner. As you might suspect from their label affiliation, they also know how to add noisy textures, though always "tastefully" and within reason. The push and pull between the '60s/'70s influences and a more contemporary duct-taped DIY makes for an interesting mix (electronic music for the punks who're bored by the stuff). The new collection was recorded by the band and mastered by the man, James Plotkin. "Up In The Air" is the third track of five. It sounds like it reads. Meditate:
Emeralds - "Up In The Air" (MP3)
What Happened is out 1/28 via No Fun Productions. They have a ton of new shit on the way: Check out their discography. (And, speaking of No Fun, May isn't too far away.
[Emeralds]
Posted at 4:04 PM by brandon in MP3, The Outsiders
Tags: Crazy Dreams Band | Emeralds | Svarte Greiner
Brandon, I know you know these artists and this music very well and I appreciate your work but I'd rather this stuff never appear on Stereogum--it cheapens it. Not that I want the bands to live in obscurity but most of the readers here don't give two shits about it, which is sad. Start your own site and write about this good stuff. It hurts to get e-mails from PR reps directing me to Stereogum.
Score = -12
Hey Justin,
I realize not everyone cares about the bands covered in the Outsiders, but it's important to introduce folks to lower profile/stranger/whatever artists along with covering the more popular groups of the day. For instance, if this column existed in 1999/2000, I would've been writing about Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished and Danse Manatee. I'm pretty sure a large percentage of these current Animal Collective junkies would've skipped it/not given two shits, but it would've at least gotten the band out there to some new ears and allowed more adventurous listeners to hear something they might want to investigate. A few of the groups covered in this column are becoming "bigger" (Grouper, Crystal Stilts, Wavves, Valet), and I don't see that as a bad thing. I understand it might be strange to see Emeralds, etc., in a place you wouldn't expect to see them, and certain groups will never "crossover" (which is fine and good -- these are some of my favorite bands), but trust me: Folks who're active in their searches for new sounds will dig deeper and the rest won't. And that's fine.
B
Score = 4
Yeah, god forbid these artists be exposed to a wider audience. Their press should be limited to smaller obscure blogs so people like Justin can feel special.
Score = 5
Yeah, start your own blog where no one will ever hear about them! Perpetuate the sadness.
If you don't like the post, just don't frickin' read it next time.
Score = 3
Personally, I'm glad thiscolumn is on here. I don't always have all the time in the world to check out everything that's going on in the experimental/outsider/indie community, but The Outsiders at least gives me a fix on weird new things to check out every month or so, and I'm glad I have it as a resource. Keep up the good work, Brandon. Also, I love Show No Mercy (pretty much the only thing I read from Pitchfork).
Score = 3
Thanks, Joey.
Score = 1
Definitely in agreement with Joey. Brandon has turned me on to many, many different artists that I would never have the time (or patience) to filter through. Thank you so much, Brandon.
Score = 1
Great picks for this edition! I always enjoy this segment of stereogum, so thanks for keeping at it.
Score = 2
Yeah, hated all these songs, but loved the chance to check em out. Maybe next time I'll hit gold, ya know?
Score = 1
the column is great! with noise-artists especially, it's not exactly easy to keep up a lot of the time, so its cool to have a little recap here. thanks
Score = 1
Wow, nudity and potato printing with bottoms, this zevs is surely at the zeitgeist of modern performance art!!!
Score = 0