Julie of the Wolves, Create/Destroy

All of these people are back in a new form, and that's a good thing. I fear calling every band that is pursed with established players a "supergroup" because it seems to diminish the origins of the band and its pursuits, and makes it sound like a one-off project. There is a layer of staying power here. The members of Julie of the Wolves have all been in several bands in Louisville, are all well-respected musicians in their various endeavors about town, and all happened to be friends who decided to get together and start an all-female rock band.

JOTW is comprised of vocalist/guitarist Carrie Neumayer (Second Story Man, Early Age), Stephanie Gary (Venus Trap, The Frequent Sea), Salena Filichia (Madame Machine, Venus Trap) and Becca Lindsay (The Red Nails, Minnow). Those are only a partial listing of the bands these people have been in. This lineup has a lot of musical history running through it.

The name of the band comes from the 1972 book by Jean Craighead George, in which the title character must face changes and dangerous challenges forced upon her from culture, the elements and humankind. Like the book, both Neumayer's cover and the means contained within Create/Destroy address conflict and serenity in and amongst the beauties and dangers of existence. These are challenging tunes that do not shy from pushing and pulling simultaneously, a teaming between catchy melodies and a pounding aggression.

The production of these songs, this album, is gigantic, and it brings the listener into these energetic compositions. Hints of Sleater-Kinney, but much more and many other directions combine and oddball each other through a variety of time signatures. The gun-fanned riffs spread through and into the songs, often reacting to each other much like Carrie and Stephanie's voices weave in and out and sometimes on top of each other. Both are strong singers with completely separate sounds and waves of hooking intonation. Becca's drumming is a secure strand that drives the rhythmic vessel here, strong and loud. Filling any cracks, as well as anchoring and driving is Salena's always enterprising bass, which walks, dances, turns and runs through and amid the other instrumentation.

The lead single "The Things They Say" plugs the album well: intelligent and captivating fucking rock. I'm fond of "Youth Wish," with its sludge start that breaks gates into a frenetic fury, washing onto a side-swerve of up-stroked jangle before changing again for the chorus. "S. Y. L. M. F." exemplifies the pound and noise this band can cross through, as well. The title track is another head-nod that slams, and comes armed with a video.

Julie of the Wolves will celebrate the release of Create/Destroy on Friday, November 1, 2013, at Zanzabar. Special guests Twenty First Century Fox will be there, too. The album is being released on Noise Pollution Records.

   

Club El Rancho, Noise Pollution Records Showcase, 10.20.13

Club El Rancho 10.20.13 by Club El Rancho on Mixcloud

The first hour is a Noise Pollution Records showcase, featuring interviews with members of Julie of the Wolves, The Teeth and Straight A's, as well as songs from the NP catalog, including Shipping News, Ousia, The Aasee Lake, VRKTM and more. Second hour features new music from Lady Pyramid, Gangly Youth, Andy Matter, Sweatermeat, Dirty Bitch, and Huh Robots, as well as tunes from The Fervor, Juanita, Black Kaspar, Derrick Wade Manley and Great Floods. 

Straight A's, Humility the Hard Way

Straight A's have returned after two years. Humility the Hard Way is the band's follow-up to Self-Help and its split with Prideswallower.

Like many of its labelmates on Noise Pollution, including The Teeth, Madame Machine, Julie of the Wolves, and others, to label Straight A's a prole in the post-punk genre is far too generic. There's something in the tea that these bands on NP are drinking, or perhaps it's something in the Louisville air in general, that adds an unpredictable left-turn progressiveness to their music. It's never just punk, just prog, just metal, just new wave. They all make challenging music, acting as obscurants to the genres they all toy with, causing the listener to crane neck, turn up, listen more. The hikes in these rock songs are never predictable, like the discordant chorus in "Wait for It" followed by a harmony that sounds like it was sung backwards.

It's an aggressive avant-punk that dwells here, well-recorded and in your face, with every song offering something different that the preceding one. Fifteen songs that present intelligent and demanding rock that showcases the talent of each musician. There is a lot happening here and it serves the grub pile. A tune like "Alpha Rock," led by its bass guitar and drum interplay, makes you want to dance. The rhythm might be too complicated to find your step, so you just start flailing for release. And that's something found in Humility; a heavy release, filtered through some confrontational gauntlets of sound.

"Stomach Speak" is ghostly with a driving lead riffing you into "Winner," the danciest of all the selections here, until it suddenly noises up and out and gets dark. The experimentation within the second half of "Seance" that bobs into the electro-destructo-distorto of "Wavetek" catches me off guard and it's these moments that are scattered throughout that make me arch an eyebrow and really appreciate all the work these folks are pulling off to make good loud musicks.

Recommended. 

Available at the Noise Pollution site, and rekkid stores.

The Teeth - "Brennschluss"

The Teeth don't chaw on just any post-punk muck, never spending too much gulping the molasses and butter of predictable no or new wave that gangrene some punk. It's a descendant of victuals of the crud-garage, as well as the surf-math that can walk barefoot far back into certain Louisville bands of the past.

Ben Herning's vocals alter per song, throwing a wordy state of mind through verses that are sometimes sentences, at times creating islands of almost-stories, inlets of narrative concepts that ferment kvass-like into some some exotic mountainous climax, or maybe anti-climax, within the song. Calling The Teeth anything broad-tongued like garage, proto-punk or post-rockcore is pointless and off. This band has been mining their own sound since 2001, and the current lineup has been exploring the tracts of raw theurgies since 2005, twisting, pulling, scraping and making these genres into their creative own.

In Minutes brilled with The Teeth's volted imagery, much of it produced by Brad Anderson's dirty fucking abstruse bass, which seems to war through the songs with its own aggressive walking, bending the songs left. I've always found there to be something dark within the jangle of The Teeth's music, and I think the bent nature of Matt Dodd's guitar colonized in Anderson's abstracted bass lines add a hard-heart to Herning's voice. JR Rector's percussion is just as combatively original.

Brennschluss continues to explore this stark rock n roll, sometimes popping into rhythms and melodies that  are both intricate, accessible, bring about head-bobbing and send your mind into a divorced mental state that makes you question your reality. Philosophical garage? Kinda scary. But fucking moving and real.

 That disassociated bizarreness bleeds through "Wormwasher" like a dark idea and plunges through "Removal Acoustics," afflicting the song with a soundtrack edge for black nights in unsure places. Even if Anderson sets a groove, Herning's vocals claw cerebrally at the walls. I've seen "Woody Allen Stole My Baby" performed in a room on Chestnut, and it frightened me into a galleyfoisted Byrne dance. So glad it made the cut. Is it about Mia Farrow? Dunno. And that "Sergeant Phoster" is a laid back romp through rebellion and is my favorite.

This album scares me. I love this album more each time I hear it.

Brennschluss by The Teeth is being released by Noise Pollution. The band will celebrate it at Lisa's Oak Street Lounge on Saturday, May 25, with special guests Asm A Tik. 

Madame Machine/Twenty First Century Fox Split Seven Inch

 

The demise of the Louisville band Venus Trap in 2009 was definitely a glum moment for me. VT's proggish blend of unpredictable melodies and rhythms minced with two strong female vocals that weaved around each other and then met in some electrical state of stainless harmonies made for some of the most imaginative rock in this town. Carried within the quartet were some of the best musicians in Louisville, and luckily the group's split became one of those success stories that has produced several offshoot projects that are as interesting, or even moreso, than the original company.

The Venus Trap family tree has grown over the last couple of years in the form of several bands. Vocalist/guitarist Stephanie Gary played out with The Frequent Sea in 2011. That same year, drummer Stephen Shoemaker and bassist/synth player Salena Filichia started Madame Machine with guitarist/vocalist/synth David Cundiff (of Lucky Pineapple). In 2012, Stephanie and Salena reunited to create Julie of the Wolves. Vocalist/guitarist Miranda Cason joined and recorded with She Might Bite, released her solo recordings under the name Danica Ransom, and finally went on to form Twenty-First Century Fox. A lot of great music has come from the four musicians that made up the final version of Venus Trap.

Saturday March 2 will see the release of a split seven-inch between Madame Machine and Twenty-First Century Fox. This will be Madame Machine's second seven-inch and Twenty-First Century Fox's debut release.

The Madame Machine (MM) side of the record sees the band position itself further into it's own self-created levee of creative modern prog-psych. On both sides, Salena's bass acts as both lead guitar and backbeat binder, keeping an ear to and playing around current drummer Forrest Kuhn's hustling spherical percussion. "The Greagle" hints at a Rush lick that levels into a groove that follows David's unhurried vocals with a shimmery vocal even slightly reminds me of acid-tripped Geddy Lee. The bass gets meaner and the beat hastens into a screeching end that makes me crave to see this live. David's synths swell meaner into the feedback. "Suspicious Animals" almost reads like a volume of lush breadth, with Salena again providing a warm creek of rhythm that streams into a build that meets up with a synchronized power riff that embraces the leisure of the song.

The Twenty-First Century Fox side (TFCF) begins with "Falcore," a pyromantic push that barks the band's three guitarists -- Miranda, Laura Quimby and Sean Gardner (of Neighbor) -- straight into the drive of drums sounded by Gregory Ward (of Karass). Quimby takes lead vocals for this track, followed into the chorus by Miranda's harmonies. This is aggressive tight rock that sways with a catchiness and stays fast-paced. "Juicy's Bowl" cross the switch, with Miranda taking the "lead" plush vox, Quimby harmonizing, all of it beginning with a cool sparse synth intro that is joined by an almost new-wavish noted guitar. That plushness leads to a brittle nodding shift that breaks and crunches, then pulls back and rejoins itself again. This is an impressive debut for this band. Looking forward to their future.      

Both Madame Machine and Twenty-First Century Fox are exploring some heavy escapes into interesting concepts that twist the hairs between complicated slants and straight loud explorations. Definitely recommended.

The seven inch is available through Noise Pollution Records. The release show takes place at Third Street Dive on Saturday March 2.

Chapter Thirty One: "Review: Madame Machine/Interview with Salena Filichia."

Make no mistake, Madame Machine are a capital letters ROCK trio that embroils and twists the definite lines and structures of rock music, pressurizing their ideas and various influences into a mash that makes a lot of sense. To put it simply, it can get complicated with this band, but in the end, it's a beautifully creative and challenging mixture.  Made up of Salena Filichia (formerly of Venus Trap) on bass-synths-vocals, David Cundiff on guitar-synths-vocals (formerly of Lucky Pineapple), and Forrest Kuhn on drums (formerly of Sunspring),  Madame Machine are almost a poking stick to the supposed ceilings of background rhythm departments. Salena put it best in a recent brief interview I did with her when she said, "We are a band made up of the rhythm sections of other bands that were not really stereotypical rock bands."

Madame Machine

Madame Machine just released its sounds on a self-titled debut seven-inch for Noise Pollution, and celebrated with a show at Third Street Dive on Friday, March 30, with Louisville punk band The Hal Dolls and Philly-NY-based punk-free jazz band Many Arms. 

Madame Machine was started in late 2010 when Salena and Stephen Shoemaker (former drummer of several bands between here, Lexington, and further places North and South, including Venus Trap, as well) got together post-VT to work up some new ideas. Instead of my summations of the band's background, I'll just roll tape on that interview with Salena now.

Salena Filichia

brine: Who is the new drummer, and where did he come from?

Salena: Forrest Kuhn is our new drummer. He's a veteran to the Louisville scene. From Sunspring to The Halifax Pier to Black Cross, he's been around town and elsewhere with his drums. We had big shoes to fill and not only needed someone who was a really good drummer, but someone who was a compatible personality. Forrest came as a suggestion from my bandmate, Becca, in Julie of the Wolves. He came in, he played, he hung out and has been a really solid drummer and a great personality to interact with.

Forrest Kuhn

brine: Prog. Let's talk about it. I feel like you all have a huge prog-thing going on, and I believe I've heard David talk about that [or read that when he was interviewed recently by our friends Never Nervous]. Venus Trap seemed proggy to me as well...is all this progginess coming from you? In VT, were Stephanie Gary and Miranda Cason into prog? Is Madame Machine something that let's you get even more core about it? The lines, riffs and timing in those MM songs can get pretty complicated and shift all over the place...Also, I've decided to turn question 2 into a drinking game. Every time I say "prog" we both have to take a drink.

Salena: I guess that we have some wacky things going on. I like complicated things. I never wrote any songs for Venus Trap. Stephanie and Miranda are the geniuses behind that sound. They wrote songs that could have sounded either simple, or complicated. We chose complicated when appropriate, I think.
David came out of Lucky Pineapple, which I think was a totally different sort of complicated sound.
I'm not incredibly familiar with a lot of prog rock. Like you, I know Rush, I know Dream Theater. I kind of liked Genesis's "Selling England By The Pound" and while I haven't listened to a lot of King Crimson, "In The Court of King Crimson" is a pretty great album.

Long story ending, I like playing things that are challenging...

I finished my bourbon by the end of question 2.

brine: What are the main influences on the band's sound? What are the main influences on your bass-style? The vocal style?

Salena: Growing up in Eastern Ky, the only female bass players that I saw on MTV were D'Arcy or Sean Yseult. Neither played anything really exciting. So when Venus Trap needed a bass player, I learned real fast not to be either of them. They are maybe my influences in that those are styles that I didn't want to play something simple. I had my own stereotype of the female bass player, which I think is an actual stereotype of female bass players. As far as bass that I can relate to in that influential sort of way, Fred Smith of Television. Steve Harris is pretty amazing, too.

I don't think that I can pinpoint any specific influences for the band as a whole. We are a band made up of the rhythm sections of other bands that were not really stereotypical rock bands. I think that really, we just play and things happen.

Vocally...I try really hard to get in tune, but not hard enough. I have a higher pitched voice, so lower range stuff is difficult, but higher range on that doesn't sound right to me. Also, just to be heard enough so that there isn't feedback.

David Cundiff

 brine: I know the band started with you and Stephen playing with some ideas. How did David get involved? How soon or later into it?

Salena:  Steve and I started playing a couple of songs in November or December of 2010. Something was missing and we started talking about adding a third person, but it had to be someone who could play more than one instrument and one of those had to be a synth. Mostly for the absurdity of 3 people playing synth, and other instruments, at once. Because we were having fun with it. Steve and David had been playing music off and on. We asked, he came to practice and it was exactly how it was supposed to sound.

MM with Stephen Shoemaker on the drums, Nov 2011

brine: What are the future plans as far as recordings, touring?

Salena:  We are going to start demoing some of what we have so far. We are also working on new material. We played a couple of new songs at our record release show. I think that we have a lot of ideas on the table to work with that are pretty exciting structurally. I think that I would like to get a few regional shows this summer/fall and then shoot for a full length later this year/early next.

The seven-inch is a complete pocket of sound that makes it easy to walk over to the record player, flip it, and play it again several times. Further discussion eventually led Salena and I to the track "The Great Shame," which when played live, basically blew my mind into little sheets of metal all over the room at the release show. The song showcases Salena's distinct bass style. A mid-tempo stomp on the drums, "The Great Shame" has the bass taking the lead, cranking through the riff as main guitar with a creepy badass flanged harmonic bantering the end of the line, supported by David's synths. It was one of those moments when I was caught in the sway of the music, as well as standing there trying to figure out how they were making the sound they were making. The track poises itself as proof of Salena's approach to the bass from a guitarist's point of view.

In fact, all three songs pan some gold in as far showing off the challenging aspects Salena discussed in making the music. "Crystal Ribbons" flies into a higher upbeat jest, with Stephen sharply driving all over the place throughout the song, framing David's vocal lines. I've been listening to a lot of New Order lately, so its one frame of reference that I hear in David's voice, reminding me of the best mixtures between Bernard Sumner clear deliveries and Ian Curtis' poetic call-outs.

The track that I've found myself addicted to is "Snakeface," the side A instrumental that brings several of the ideas the band strives for into a tangible moment. A bass-led head-bobber that ends each verse with a nimble distorted guitar (or bass?) that then falls into a loud space of chorded heaviness, eventually slowing the tempo down to a semi-dirge, only to rapidly increase in speed and throw-out all the stops into a tightened bayeta of swirling guitars and aggressive drumming. Like any good space rock, it all seems to end in a fuzzed-out explosion of strings and feedback. I swear this is almost a dream-teaming of influences running the gamet into one place; there's the punk and prog, there's "YYZ," is that Man Or Astroman?, oh there's Link Wray popping his head in, too. Brilliant stuff.

Th physicalities of the 45 need to be mentioned, as well, featuring artwork on both sides of the cover by Rene Blansett, and the vinyl is a bleeding mix of colors, too.

"Madame Machine" is available for purchase online at the Noise Pollution/Madame Machine bandcamp site, as well as at some of the fine record stores here in Louisville.

Upcoming shows for Madame Machine include:
Fri Apr 13 at The Rudyard Kipling with Hellblinki
Sat May 5 at The Bard's Town with Opposable Thumbs and Softcheque