SPREAD JOY III LP (Feel It)

Another 20 minutes or less with Chicago’s only stage-improv post-punk outfit – Spread Joy’s third one takes off even more of the guardrails from Briana Hernandez’s “yes and” vocal performance, while the band ratchets up in Wire-to-Minutemen-to-bIG fLAME carpal tunnel violence behind (save the oompah drumming, somewhat of a necessary evil out here). Like many starved for entertainment this summer, I watched season 2 of Adults and was confronted with the character of Issa’s “weird little guy” voice, and people like Jenny Slate who act in the “I don’t need to do impersonations to relate to people” gag, and I get the same fumes here: breaking out in Rebby Sharp-style vocal tics and ululation as a means to compete with amps and noise. After three records it has gotten a bit one-note, and I miss the days when Rebby was fronting a truly heavy band like Butterglove, because we really are putting the finest, sharpest point possible against a genre that feels like it needs a rest, before someone presses down too hard and the tip snaps off. As I’ve mentioned earlier we have like five bands in this vein here in town, and apart from one of them we really could use some new ideas coming around. The cycles get so much tighter and even if you have only been checking out bands for a few years at this point, you’ve heard this somewhere else.

LUCÍA HINOJOSA GAXIOLA Sonando Gravedad CS (Notice Recordings)

Some of the most barely-there improvisation I’ve heard since Gabi Losoncy, coming from a place of quiet nature courtesy of Mexican sound artist Hinojosa Gaxiola. Acoustic drone, horns in the (far) distance, radio static, voice and field recordings constitute a dawn ritual atmosphere lunged out in the work, but in honesty this draws me closer to the artist, as I need to a person who can make something this utterly still. What can I learn from them?

FRUITED PLANES Dismal Nitch LP (Dot Dash Sounds)

Hark the Paisley Underground rebirthing in Portland, with a bunch of long time psych/head vets (incl. Scott Derr from the incomparable Monoshock) getting real with the acid conversations in the middle of the night and laying them down to tape. Rooted in memories and a purity that has to be made (as it no longer can be found), it’s a real state-of-the-world band for guys older than me, blazing on in reassurance that the times don’t need to end. Good songs, good stuff.