Plus: Reader music editor Philip Montoro on Egyptian pop singer Abou El Leef, Anatomy of Habit front man Mark Solotroff on Sisters of Mercy bootlegs, and more
By Philip Montoro @pmontoroPhilip Montoro, Reader music editor, is obsessed with …
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Abou El Leef, Super Leefa Egyptian singer Abou El Leef, born in 1968, released his first album in 2010 and Super Leefa
last year. His music partakes of the populism of shaabi but not the
aggressively cheap futuristic production of youthful subgenres such as mahragan. The playfully postmodern arrangements on Super Leefa collide decades of Arabic and Western pop: Auto-Tuned vocals overlap with raggedly soulful traditional singing, nasal folkloric reeds
give way to sassy muted trumpet, and the rhythm tracks hop from jaunty
hand drums to decadent dance beats to funky 80s synth bass. Thanks to Bodega Pop for the tip!
Usssy, Karpet Birch On this 2012 album, Moscow noise-rock outfit Usssy adapts folk songs from Ukraine, Yemen, Tuva, Cambodia, Iran, and elsewhere. I suspect the vocals are sampled, given the range of styles and the vast number of singers (in "Sacral War" I hear a Russian military choir), but the acoustic skeletons of the tracks wear musculatures that sound like an alternate-universe Lightning Bolt: headache-inducing kaleidoscopes of strings and synths, frenzied trap-set drumming, and blown-out, churning electric bass.
Ævangelist, De Masticatione Mortuorum in Tumulis This mysterious band—split between Portland, Oregon, and Arlington Heights, Illinois—belongs to the "crawling chaos" school of death metal. Like a plague of insects, its formless dark is incalculably huge but moves with terrifying speed: layers of keening and buzzing converge like swarming wings, and guitars flash like faceted eyes from a murk of cavernous growling and serpentine bass.
He asks …
Erin Page, Guitarist and front woman of Alma Negra, what she's obsessed with. Her answers are …
Neurosis Their 1996 show at the Peoria Civic Center changed my path in music forever. I had never heard or seen anything like Neurosis before—the intense, pummeling sound and video made a startling connection. Sixteen years later, at the Metro on December 30, they proved they're still one of the heaviest, most innovative modern bands—no one can touch their synchronicity, and the dramatic impact they've made is immense. I eagerly await Corrections House, a new project involving vocalist-guitarist Scott Kelly.
Thin Lizzy, "Wild One" One of my favorites—the main harmonizing guitar line is so simply powerful, the essence of what makes an amazing hook. Maybe it wasn't Phil Lynott's intent, but for me everything about this song speaks to the piercing, endless longing of an aching heart—the paradox that the things that bring the most joy often bring the most pain.
King Dude opens for Chelsea Wolfe on Sat 1/19 at Schubas.
She asks …
Mark Solotroff, Front man of Anatomy of Habit and Bloodyminded, what he's obsessed with. His answers are …
A Beautiful Machine I've been captivated by this Australian one-man band since a 1999 mp3.com discovery. Three albums (A Beautiful Machine; Solar Winds, White Noise, Antigravity; and Home), a remix disc (Solar Variants), and an EP (Another Time) blend dark, romantic shoegaze, doom, and psychedelia to create what is for me the most perfect oeuvre from any band in many years.
El Chopo Fresh from another amazing Mexico City trip. Made it back to El Chopo, with Pieter from Bloodyminded, Sergio from Los Heraldos Negros, and our three better halves. First went in 2007 with Sergio, plus Isidro and Heber from Bloodyminded and some cool DF noise guys. This massive, long-running, revolutionary street market is dedicated to metal, punk, goth, classic rock, et cetera. Need a Discharge DVD? Check. Specimen T-shirt? Yep. Obscure black-metal demos? Si. Beatles memorabilia? Of course! Bizarre bondage zipper mask with Pinocchio nose?
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