REVIEW: True Neutral Crew’s “#POPPUNK”

The adventures continue once again with True Neutral Crew, who have released a nice 7-song EP called #POPPUNK, which could sound like a mixture of pop and punk but because you know what to expect from these guys, you know you’re not going to expect that at all.

There’s different styles in each song, one track might sound like the guy from clipping. decided to enter the studio or basement and rhyme (which makes sense, considering Daveed Diggs is in a song or so). Another time, you’ll hear a female presence and realize that’s that Margot Padilla of I.E., or hear another guy rap and doodle and know it’s not only more, it’s Signor Benedick The Moor. It feels like an open house but you also know what True Neutral Crew are born to do, not to do, as well as undo. #POPPUNK is music for those who don’t care if a library book is overdue.

http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3781605339/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=FC2C22/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/

BANDCAMP SUGGESTIONS: Twin Trilogy’s “Twin Trilogy #1”

For this week’s Bandcamp Suggestion, I’m shining the spotlight on a San Francisco band who made this EP a special Record Store Day item yesterday at Aquarius Records in the Mission District. They combine various elements of prog, space rock, and Kraut rock to create a distinctive melange of sound that is heavy, mindblowing, trippy, and very much fascinating.

The first track is a combination of three different songs (“Descent To The Pounding Surf”, “Strings Of The Sea”, and “Flood Of Moonlight On The White Sea”), which leads to a very nice and crisp Melvins-like dirge. The second track gets all fantastical and shit.

This will be released as a 1-sided EP, and will be the first of four promised EP’s.

https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3945202821/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=333333/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/

SOME STUFFS: Harmonia & Eno from 1976 to be reissued

Kraut rock, progressive rock, eclectic sounds: it was a part of the 1970’s that continues to thrill fans and collectors to this day. Any project with Brian Eno‘s name attached generally attracts interest. So is the story of Harmonia, a kraut rock band who had recorded two albums in the mid-1970’s before bumping into Eno. They ended up recording a number of songs at a time when the group’s status was uncertain. The final product, which was not initially released, was called Tracks & Traces.

Elements of these sessions were reissued 12 years ago but were not approved by the members of the group as a whole. For the first time, Tracks & Traces will be heard as it should have been with a proper (re)issue of the album, scheduled for release on October 6th via Gronland/High Wire. Here is the track listing:

01 Welcome
02 Atmosphere
03 Vamos Companeros
04 By the Riverside
05 Luneberg Heath
06 Sometimes in Autumn
07 Weird Dream
08 Autumn
09 Les Demoiselles
10 When Shade Was Born
11 Trace
12 Aubade