And now for something completely different. Inventive collage art in sound and image, that is.
Stratford, Canada’s core blo77er (spelled in lowercase, pronounced core blower) arrives with bulgaria, a scrappy, headphone-tilting set of miniature psych experiments that feel beamed in from a dorm room somewhere between 1996 college radio and a sleep-deprived literature seminar. It is anything but a traditional album, although fifteen tracks can be distinguished, all between two and three minutes long, except for the idiosyncratic cover of the ballad of frankie lee and judas priest (originally by Bob Dylan), which clocks in at nearly five minutes.
Expect captivating and intriguing sketches of fuzzed guitars, abrupt left turns, and vocals that drift from muttered narration to surrealist yelps. At first glance, it seems like a cocktail of The Avalanches’ sampling and Public Service Broadcasting’s rock sensibilities, but to a much greater extent you can hear the indie lineage. I think the charm lies mainly in the original and messy weirdness, half joke and half genuine obsession (as can be seen to an even greater extent in the accompanying video collages), but in any case, it is the kind of DIY artifact that deserves more attention.
Different indeed, but we can only applaud that, right?
bulgaria—written and performed by Don Rogalski—is out digitally via Continuity Chaos.
Add to wantlist: Bandcamp
I felt compelled to ask the artist responsible for all of this for an explanation, and Don Rogalski was kind enough to answer:
Regarding the title of the record: “My inspiration was the writer Arthur Phillips, who called a novel Prague when it was actually set in Budapest. (…) I’m afraid a lot of what I do doesn’t go much deeper than a surrealist fixation on juxtaposition and grabbing things from out of left field. The pic of the spacey Druzhba Sanatorium in Yalta for the album cover gave rise to a need for an album title that was a bit misleading. (…)”
Regarding the lack of capital letters: “It is pretentious, as is the intentionally obscure pronunciation of the name.”
About the creation of the tunes: “I like playing guitar while watching YouTube videos with the sound off. Especially the ones driving around cities. I’m essentially making experimental soundtracks on the fly, but I don’t record anything until I come up with a riff or pattern I like. (…) If they’re compelling enough I’ll program a drum track behind it, then perhaps a bass track, and after that I’ll keep on going until I’ve had enough. (…)”
About the vocals: “The odd vocalizations and spoken word statements in place of standard singing happened because I don’t really sing much and don’t particularly like my voice. Also, again, juxtaposition: the gravitas of a radio announcer discussing something against the backdrop of a weird psychedelic melody? Yes please.”
PS We get way too many emails to keep up with (thanks for your understanding that we usually don’t reply), but we try to listen to as much as possible, although we immediately delete messages that don’t fit our tastes (we can’t pay attention to recommendations like “90s club music” or “the dubstep tune you need”). Due to the endless stream of new releases, we also necessarily have to set aside what isn’t fresher than fresh. But sometimes, just sometimes, we have to throw all the rules overboard, and then you get that we end up sharing an album from late last year after all. I simply couldn’t ignore this one.