Pisces - A Lovely Sight

Late '60s private-press bummer psych with booming echoey drums and phased vocals. Numero makes a comparison between one of the singers and Nico, but I say a gentler Erica Pomerance, or maybe even (very) early Cher. Studio emboldened production on some wistful folky songs and a couple genuine bad trips. Numero is consistently white hot.

Wolf Eyes - Always Wrong

I think this is a real step forward for these dudes. Familiar grimey textures and ragged tones are present, but Nate Young's vocals are more upfront and intelligible than any previous Wolf Eyes release I can recall. This trend carries over in their current live formation, but with extra Olson sax punishment. It'll still smash your face in...

Magik Markers - Balf Quarry

The tunefulness Ranaldo got out of them on Boss is now in full bloom. Some massive riff-based numbers, a couple thrashy Redd Kross style jams, a Ben Chasny cameo, a total outjazz duo cut, and an odd piano ballad or two. Elisa's voice sounds like everybody and nobody. Massively impressive.

Sunn 0))) - Monoliths & Dimensions

It's tremendously gratifying to be a fan of these guys right about now. The four pieces that comprise this album are each an epic unto themselves. The choral aspects, Eyvind Kang's spidery violin scrapings, Julian Priester's elegant sheets of sound, and Sunn's proprietary riff decay all combine seamlessly. This album is a majestic and highly evocative work of modern sound art, that will draw you in until it crushes you.

I.U.D. - Proper Sex

If maybe you felt Gang Gang Dance had lost you a little, this record'll bring you right back. It's still heavily rhythmic, but closer in tone to Lizzie's other work in Angelblood. Sounds a little bit like Suicide or the dancier Severed Heads stuff, but with tribal Neubauten/Boredoms drums and disorienting female yelpings.

Repulsion

A fantastic addition to the Criterion library. One of my favorite Polanski films. On par with Cassavetes' Woman Under the Infuence for all-time greatest example of a lady losing her shit on film. Oh, the many faces of mental illness...

Spooky Tooth & Pierre Henry - Ceremony

Long-awaited reissue of this 1970 tangling between heavy psych popsters and music concrete icon. If you can manage to get past the overly zealous religious imagery in the vocals, this is as great an album as you'd imagine. Pierre Henry's buzzing, whirring, and throwing of crunchy electronic splatter, atop super proficient organ-psych. Akin to contemporary recordings by Pink Floyd and Ron Geesin. But damn those vocals...

tip: Top Live Aktions 09, Pt. I - Vaselines, Wolf Eyes, Sir Richard Bishop, Earthless, Homosexuals, Silver Apples, Manual Gottsching...and a perception shattering evening with Throbbing Gristle.  (I miss The Onion crossword.)