Thing of the Day
Blue Sausage Infant, Sound Of The Mountain, Royal Bangs, The Tea Club and Dreaming In Stereo
April
18th 2011
Thing of the Day today is from BLUE SAUSAGE INFANT,
with a whole lot of independent and self released albums and such
worthy of a mention this fine sunny Monday morning… Albums from THE SOUND OF THE MOUNTAIN, ROYAL BANGS, THE TEA CLUB and DREAMING IN STEREO…
BLUE SAUSAGE INFANT – Flight of The Solstice Queens
(Zero Moon) - A forward moving, rapidly flowing cocktail of rather
organic electronic space rock, earthy kraut groove and colourful synth
artistry. Flight of The Solstice Queens comes augmented with strange
cut-up detail, rather psychedelic sound-bites and tales of a man in a
giant rabbit suit roaming around such places as Washington DC late at
night. More sonic escapism and layered drone and a “reckless thirst for
improvisation”. Says here in this accompanying piece of paper
that “BSI’s singular motive is to conjure trance stated by any means
necessary”. We’re told Chester Hawkings has been working under the name
Blue Sausage Infant since 1986 and that this is his “fourteenth
handmade release” – well, this one doesn’t look or feel too handmade,
coming 
as
it does in plush looking regulation factory produced CD packaging with
that crystal clear production and highly professional outlook, but we
do get his drift and it does have that handmade spirit birthed of
creative DIY attitude. Flight of The Solstice Queens
is sometimes smooth, sometimes headrushing, a rather busy rather feral
flow of “freakout” music, not sure why anyone would want to hate
salamanders, and just what is going through the minds operating all
these circuit control, but hey, if you’re up for a bit of electronic
kraut flavoured fizz and buzz then this is a rather fine flow of an
album.
Flight of The Solstice Queens is out now, more from www.zeromoon.com
And those also worthy of mention today:
THE SOUND OF THE MOUNTAIN – The Child Of Stereo In Mono
(Stressed Sumo) – From Russellville, Arkansas, USA, come a self-styled
“progressive instrumental post-rock trance” outfit - not sure about the
trance element, this sounds pretty busy and not really that
trance-like. Busy atmospheres, busy guitar instrumentals that, for most
of the time, are heading along the same lines as so many post-rock
instrumental bands.. The Sound of the Mountain aren’t really mathy,
they do have those progressive atmospheres liked by people who enjoy
those Japan, Porcupine Tree flavours of the 80’s and 90’s - never quite
as obvious as that may lead you to think though and this is very much a
post-rock guitar sound rather than a purely neo-prog one.
The Sound of the Mountain are a pleasant enough listen, with lean meaty
instrumentals, a forceful rhythm section, nice enough tunes, nothing
that radically different to the many instrumental guitar bands out
there right now, more of those ‘expansive landscapes’ lending a
‘soundtrack-esque feel’, touch of shoegaze 80’s atmosphere, touch of
detail in the layers, little repetitive at times, a little too much
like most of the others to really excite, decent enough though, and
well worth a passing ear.
Out in the UK on Stressed Sumo, today April 18th
www.stressedsumorecords.co.uk
www.myspace.com/thesoundofthemountain 
ROYAL BANGS – Flux Outside
(Glassnote) – Royal Bangs sound like a lot of very contemporary North
American alt.rock things: their bright flow of constantly enjoyable
energy, their tingly tunes, their (poly)rhythms… A more than healthy
serving of Animal Collective flavourings, an alt.pop touch of Hella
here and there, a lot of things that are currently coming out on indie
alt.rock North America. Royal Bangs do it all very very well -
clever sound, lots going on in here, yet they never sound cluttered or
forced though. A busy dense mixture that somehow has space to breathe,
their refined sound and breezy songs flow in a smart (not too smart)
way. There’s no musical revolution here, nothing you
haven’t heard quite a few times already, but they do do their thing
very very well and Flux Outside
is an intelligently enjoyable album, a sound full of tingling detail,
full of depth. Clever songs that never need to show off or prove how
smart they are, just enjoyably bright North American currentness – www.royalbangs.com or www.glassnotemusic.com
Flux Outside is released on May 16th in Europe
THE TEA CLUB – Rabbit
(self-release) - Ambitiously melodic neo-prog epicness from the North
American band who are really going for it this time. The Tea Club are
from Philadelphia, New Jersey, they’re not afraid to nail their colours
firmly to their mast and fly directly in to the face of fashion. Most
of the time they’re in that melodic area that bands like Pendragon,
Jadis, Pallas and such occupied in the days before they all got too
fat, while some of the darker, more ethereal passages push towards
early Rush territory in a rather positive manner. The Tea Club have
ambitiously built of the foundations of 2008’s General Winter's Secret
Museum. There’s moments of genuinely rewarding proper prog rock in here
along with their neo-melodicness and the somewhat slick delivery. A lot
of consideration gone in to those lyrics, some genuinely intelligent,
emotional, passionate, and creative moments here, He Is Like a Spider opens like Genesis’ Ripples
before it evolves in a way of its own, elsewhere they touch on the
vocal delivery of Mars Volta or classic tune-making of Camel. Rabbit is
excellent in terms of progressive melodicness and the clean-cut side of
neo-prog conventions, Rabbit is also an album that isn’t afraid to
adventure a little now and again, take a little risk or two, real
progression if you know what I mean - www.theteaclub.net
Rabbit is out now…
DREAMING IN STEREO – 2
(Forward Motion) – Relaxed sunny Beatles-flavoured, easy on the ear,
lush, full-bodied pop rock that sometimes touches on R.E.M or maybe the
Electric Light Orchestra, on bits of later Beach Boys, touches of Todd
Rundgren… All very mellow, relaxed, almost easy listening and all very
pleasantly nice should you be in the mood. Dreaming In Stereo are
from Miami, they sound like they spend a lot of time in the easy street
sunlight, sounds like life treats them well, nothing tough happening
here… Little too mellow and laid back for these ears, kind of nice,
they talk of progressive rock in their press releases, they’re probably
the least experimental least progressive thing you’ll ever hear, kind
of harmlessly nice Seventies flavoured American pop rock if you’re in
that sunny day taking it easy kind of mood though - www.dreaminginstereo.net
