Thursday, October 11, 2007

FREEDOM IN SHIT TOGETHER

Always - Squashed Totem Pole

I'm not sure when I became obsessed with this strange primitive sound of repetitious rhythms that sound like dance music from the future or another planet (or both) and simultaniously like some innate tribal jamz (cf. Panda Bear, Black Dice, Gang Gang Dance, Eric Copeland and Battles, even) but Alex Vivian aka Always' freeform vocal loops really sound new and forward thinking and I can't help but nod my head along as I wonder how something so simple and so SILLY can be so infinitely listenable. Somehow, these are new rhythms. Always sounds human because it's his voice and he's using it to it's full extent. Considering just how huge a part music plays in everyone's lives, it's nice to think of it as some innate thing that has been around since the dawn of man-kind. The tribal chanting vibe through runs through most of most of his debut album F.I.S.T in various ways, F.I.S.T. is definitely amazing but really fucking weird; sounding this fucking ridiculous but at the same time so GOOD and interesting is some feat but this is engaging stuff. The new record's got Alex Vivian (the guy behind the mic and pedal) looping piggy noises, elizabethan wails, 'gotta get a lawyer', and just generally badass hypnotic, pulsating vocal oddities. Oh, my poor neighbors.

[F.I.S.T. is out on October on Remote Control/Nervous Jerk]

[Always Myspace]

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