De Stijl

STARE CASE – ‘Lose Today‘ LP
Lose Today wields the ethereal meditative power leftover from The Velvet Underground’s Sweet Sister Ray epic bootleg. The result: a melodious somnolent grievance that leaves the listener to feast on a curiously endless and internal banquet. Young snarls and writhes in irritated spiraling pronouncements that trail off in regretful, pained fashion, producing the same eventual something-isn’t-right that The Velvet Underground secured, but set aside to allow the Michigan basement bluesmen to borrow. Also, here is Young’s virgin performance on bass, a venture that proves suiting as his sparse yet stable meanderings are the backbone to a jam lost in the arcane. At times the bass lines seem to be counting off the seconds until an eventual meltdown. Meanwhile, Olson wanders off on woodwinds, seemingly tangled in wavelengths, letting his own sounds guide him through a brassy chilling darkness. He follows scales—Indian scales, blues scales—though the subtlety of Olson’s discipline fosters to an expansive intimacy, a nuance so massive his quips on flute and saxophone are the secret architects of _Lose Today_’s meditation. Olson takes the spiraling mania inspired by the likes of The VU’s Sweet Sister Ray lose-all jam and lets it blossom into a soundtrack for a secret think tank whose sole purpose is to maintain a shadowed fire. TOUR

C S YEH – ‘SONGS 2002‘ CASSETTE
Double A sided cassette reissue of a severely limited one-sided LP, and what might be C Spencer Yeh’s most trying, challenging and rewarding foray into a world previously unknown to him, and us : his world of song. Songs 2002 contain what are perhaps subtle homages to early Eno and primo era Bowie vis a vis the studio treatments of the raw sounds with which we’re more familiar in his previous work. Yeh’s songs work within two generalized veins : ala Eno’s early attempts to communicate liquidly within a ‘rigid’ language and structure as pop / rock, and ala Keiji Haino’s sense of mythos and personal pulse. Recorded over 10 yrs ago, ultimately, these songs can stand aside the most difficult of outsider aesthetics. There is nothing really new here, aside from what is essentially editing and narration. Might just be me, but i think he’s found Love, both in what inspires him, and a new found expression.

THE PARASITES OF THE WESTERN WORLD – ‘Politico B/W Zytol Automation’ 7″
De Stijl’s excavation of The Parasites Of The Western World turns up the lead single for their second album in the form of an exact reissue. Originally released circa 1980-81, ‘Politico’ opened the B-side to Substrata with a rippin’ New Wave roller full of glam stomp, proggy arrangement and punky attitude. The synth-fuelled instrumental B-side was exclusive to the single, and as tradition dictates, far more interesting, featuring Terry Censky and Patrick Burke in an ebullient symphony of synths, drums and guitar.

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