The Convenience - Like Cartoon Vampires - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Pandelis Karayorgis - System of 5 [COMPACT DISCS] Spain - Import date 02/14/2011

Sandra Monfort - La Mona [COMPACT DISCS] Spain - Import date 11/10/2023

For New Orleans duo The Convenience, it's all about the search for a new level of raw expression. With their second LP, Like Cartoon Vampires, that meant creating with their hands much more than buttons or switches, entranced by a hypnotic physicality and collage-y, spur-of-the-moment approach to composition. This led to a beautifully fucked-up avant-rock soundworld, peppered with spidery, atonal guitar work, pointy rhythms, and strident feedback. Such developments may come as a shock for anyone who's heard their 2021 debut album Accelerator, a sugary funk-pop wonderland. But songwriters and multi-instrumentalists Nick Corson and Duncan Troast are following what makes them most giddy right now cathartic noise-rock, enigmatic drone, and playful experimentalism.While in many regards, Like Cartoon Vampires is a total reinvention, it's also a return to their roots. They describe Accelerator as a pit stop into groovy synth-pop, heavily inspired by their time in fellow Crescent City group Video Age, rather than a permanent move into their sonic dream home. Corson studied guitar and performed in rock bands for most of his life, while Troast grew up primarily playing the piano and keys. Eventually, Corson experienced bouts of disillusionment with his instrument of choice, in part due to his formalist training, but once Troast fell down a rabbit hole of strange guitar music he'd never heard, a twinkle formed in Corson's eye, as he was eager to share his knowledge. Troast pored over early Fall LPs and was magnetized by the mutant disco and no wave of ZE Records, which bridged the gap between his funky predilections and post-punk fascinations. The pair also rekindled their love of krautrock and bonded over a budding interest in classical minimalism and guitarist Glenn Branca. Once they started working on new material, it was clear that they wanted to loosen up and go full-on ma