Goat - World Music (Rocket Recordings, 2012)

Goat resides in a city called Korpolombolo in the north  of Sweden. Legend has it that a witch doctor just happened to be passing through asking for directions, thus causing the locals to inadvertently beging practicing voodoo. This went on for centuries, until the Christians, in their typical fashion, came through and burned all the locals at the stake. Go figure.

Maybe this is a big whopper, maybe not. Still makes for a good preface to a band that just made one of the best records of 2012. Its rare that I want to put a new record on repeat. With this one, its been happening each day without hesitation.

Much of the backbone here is noticeably Swedish psych rock. There's an obvious lineage of sound a la Qoph, Dungen, Witchcraft, etc. Goat only uses this as a canvas. Front and center are tributes to Ethiopiques,   Nigerian Rock from the 70's, and even Indian / Packistani pop and traditional. Some tracks are heavy and somber, some disco / afrobeat, some folk.

When I read the term Afro-Kraut used to describe them, I was quite turned on. This is possibly the best sub-genre you could toss at my brain. Keep your ears on this one, and look for Rocket Recordings to finally show up in the spotlight. They've been releasing incredible underground psych for years and their time is coming.



Get it HERE 

Landing - S/T (Geographic North, 2012)

I discovered this album about 48 hours ago and I've listened to it a couple dozen times. This is no exaggeration. The record is perfect. "A fascinating, complex, intricate and engaging take on Shoegaze and Post-rock" is not something I thought I'd ever say again, but Landing has created just that.

The band covers a lot of ground here. There's the classic space rock production complete with lots of reverb a la Slowdive, and guitars reminiscent of The Cure and early sounds from U2's The Edge (Boy - October era). Lots of '80-'82 4AD going on here. The Joy Division-like basslines are danceable yet dark and hooky (no pun intended), and the drummer has an incredibly distinct motorik style. He stutters quite a bit, playing just a bit behind the rhythms, which is something I'm a sucker for. An immensely talented percussionist, he really steals the show, and this is a really impressive show.

This band just has so many elements. I keep hearing things underneath the pop structure. Just caught a bit of White Rainbow vocal layering and a Yo La Tengo progression. There's even a track that sounds a bit like the good parts of  Broken Social Scene back when they were really good.

 I cannot get enough of this. Try it out on Spotify (no live links to download) and buy their record HERE!