The 90s has a fair share of underrated bands, and to an extent genres, but the one that i think gets the biggest undersell and misuse of the term is post rock. When I say post rock, I'm talking Stereolab, Flying Saucer Attack, Pram, Quickspace, Moonshake, Broadcast and whom I'll be discussing here Jessamine. This stuff takes its influences from electronic music, exotica, krautrock, ambient, library music and the noisy/weird side of 60s pysch rock and mashes it together in truly experimental indie rock.A lot t of this stuff comes from the great labels Too Pure, Wurlitzer Jukebox and Kranky records, which if you haven't explored these labels release history outside the bigger bands (stereolab, pj harvey, broadcast, deerhunter) you definitely should. Jessamine were from Seattle, WA and are still relatively obscure band, they released three LPS on Kranky Records to hardly any fanfair as far as i can tell, with lack if info about em. Their first two records are good, a, I recommend giving em a listen, they are far more droned out sprawls of heavy psychedelic "rock" jams with synths and organs colliding, with some more streamlined songs, but for me eveything comes together with "Don't Stay Too Long" their final record. Here their love for krautrock rhythms, jazzy chords/rhodes and catchy understated beautiful melodies which are all sung lead by Dawn for first time in their discography. The first two tracks lull you into a hypnotic atmosphere of rhodes hits and wahhed out guitars, pushing and pulling you in and out of outer space. Then track 3 comes flying in with some low key space funk(idk how else to describe, its like Can but from WA) that has such a infectious pulse you can't helped but be pulled into their weird little world they create. Its by far their most consistent and concise work to date. The record continues to pulse with life, oscillations and disorienting rhythmic pattern's that culminate in final track that is the jazziest song on the LP, has an almost triphop vibe but stripped back to its barest bones, but still with their unique swagger. This band has been a huge influence on my music over the last few years, its such a strange distillation of genres that feels fresh and too weird for this world. Also, highly recommend their singles compilation "Another Fictionalized History", its def leans the more into the drugged out side of the band, unfortunately not available on bandcamp, you can find it on YouTube. Enjoy.
https://jessamine.bandcamp.com/album/dont-stay-too-long
No comments:
Post a Comment