REVIEW: PTA's: A Long Goodbye

My favorite music blog site Mutant Sounds posted this little 2-song-8inch record a months back and I've been in love ever since.

The first song "Woo-guy After Dark" I'm not to keen on. Its slow and wafts around to a Jah Wobble like bassline. Not a bad song, but not particularly interesting either. The song goes through all the post-punk motions you would expect it to albeit with Japanese vocals.

The second song "The Little Sister" is where it's at my friends. With kraut rock beats and lovely melancholy drenched post-punk guitar work, PTA builds emotion higher and higher with each and ever guitar stroke, ultimately spiraling down to leave you in a gray mist, contemplating, like at the end of a bitter sweet romance. Kraftwerk like electronic whispering and monotone singing, speaking god knows what into your ear, evoke images of lovers passing like ships through the night, staring at the sea, not knowing whats to happen next. Yea, it's that good.

The dizzying guitar work reminds me of another foggy, hazy, band My Bloody Valentine. Upon investigation the guitar work is fairly similar to MBV's "What you Want" off the Loveless album. Almost as if you could drop the two songs on top of each other and they'd fit perfectly.

If it wasn't for the first song this would be the crown jewel of rare 8inch Japanese records. PTA were ahead of their time and I would love to hear any other outings by this somber group as I saunter down a rainy Manhattan day.

GRADE: B

REVIEW: Nachtmystium- Assasins: Black Meddle Part I

I have been out of the world of metal for a while now. Nothing has really striked my metallic core what with all the bland clones of Pelican and Isis that have littered the scene for a while now. Thankfully I picked up this little nugget of awesomeness: Nachtmystium's Assassins: Black Meddle Part I. Equal parts Black Metal, Experimental and Psychedelic! I've had this for a while now but only listened to one or two songs, promising myself to listen to the entire album. Glad I made the plunge!

Wow what a trip these guys take you on! Their music is the sonic equivalent of getting lost in a swamp, discovering ruins, and then running from something ominous. The album is very varied for a black metal album. Synths gurgle in the background as they chug along with the metal only to leave you lost and creeped out with some spindly, spidery guitar work that reminds me of something off of Il Balletto Di Bronzo's Ys" album. Even a saxophone makes an appearance and takes their sound into more of a free jazz sound than a black metal one. The only draw back is that a couple of songs drag a bit in the middle but as soon as that happens they blast back into form.
Impressive, expansive, and definitely worth your time. Even if you're not a fan of the genre.
GRADE: A-