re: - Alms - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

re - Mnant [COMPACT DISCS] date 05/08/2001

Refugia Blues, the fifth album from Nick Shoulders, is a record of big ideas and small, intimate moments. These nine songs are rooted in the stylings of Southern traditional music. Sparse, timeless, and unamplified, they're older than the sounds Shoulders saluted on albums like 2023's All Bad, with it's loud, whooping anthems for roadhouses and sweaty dancehalls. Here, Shoulders isn't shouting over a band. He isn't bringing a crowd to it's feet with dance-ready tempos. Rather, he's exploring another side of his craft by stepping up to a ribbon microphone as a solo performer, delivering each song with acoustic instruments and a voice that's equal parts country croon, Appalachian yodel, and high-lonesome field holler. As he explains it, Refugia Blues isn't just a call to action; it's a call to rest, too. InchThis is my Nebraska,Inch he says, nodding to Bruce Springsteen's lo-fi acoustic record from 1982. InchSome people listen to Bruce for the E Street Band and the big radio hits, but I like the intimacy and rawness of Nebraska instead. I'd like to think of Refugia Blues as a little window into the heart, as opposed to the drumbeat of a revolution.InchShoulders' interpretation of American roots music has always been more progressive and punky than the trucks-and-beers conservatism that passes for modern-day country. Refugia Blues offers songs about climate collapse, radical anthropology, and generative disruption. It balances the macro with the micro, too, making room for love songs and personal topics, packaging humor alongside heavy insights. At once academic and accessible, Refugia Blues isn't just a deep dive into southernness, but also into Shoulders himself. This is a raw, resolute version of American country music, stacked high with songs that go down easy but linger in the minds of those willing to invest the time.

At long last, we have the new album from the Minneapolis black metal project, False. After an Untitled EP in 2011, and a split LP with Barghest in 2012, they now return with their first proper full-length album, once again an untitled . Throughout the sixty-minute run time of the album, False dive deeper into the realm of visceral and relentless black metal for which they've become well-known. Their live sound and ferocity is finally captured here, revealing a whole new depth and darkness that has only been hinted at on previous recordings. This album is far from a simple exercise in listening, and more akin to a journey to be experienced. The works contained therein are incredibly bleak and emotionally powerful, with a long lasting impact. This Untitled album was recorded live, mixed, and mastered by Adam Tucker at Signaturetone Recording, with artwork by Nicole Sara Simpkins. It will be presented as an gatefold CD and gatefold 2LP, each pressed in a quantity of 1000 and each housed in a thick, old-style tip-on jacket, printed by Stoughton Printing. Vinyl includes a code.