TUESDAY AUG 01, 2017
Fishmonger
There’s a mature idealism that guides Fishmonger’snew EP, Fiesta Anti-Fascista. And despite the goofy title, the six-track release is anything but a party. The hardcore quartet is comprised of current and former members of Places to Hide, Under a Sky So Blue, Jebediah Springfield, and Linda, but this is a completely different beast than any of the members’ previous bands. Like the beefed-up hardcore of Refused, Fiesta Anti-Fascistaplays with an unbound ferocity and torches everything it touches before the 10-minute mark. The band might occasionally retread the political touchstones of ’80s hardcore, but the new EP is miles ahead of any simplistic Dead Kennedys revivalism. Instead, Fiesta Anti-Fascista is chained to the bleak social and economic realities of 2016. Vocalist Gavin Caffrey’s local activism and anti-development work is a touchstone for the band, but their targets often lie well beyond the perimeter. Harsh, explicit, and terrifyingly accurate, the record is devoid of swagger or posturing in favor of revolution, but don’t expect simple solutions a la “Kill the Rich” as much as a complete indictment of American society. Much of the newfound intensity is borne from the band’s investment in better recording equipment than they used on their 2015 debut EP, Unkooth. Rob Sarabia mixed and mastered the album with a critical eye for detail and definition amidst the noise, but the band was thoroughly involved in production. In an era when political hardcore is increasingly sparse and stringent, The PHISH (as the band affectionately refer to themselves) flip the formula, encasing each of Caffrey’s acerbic lines in glass-shattering cacophony. The Places to Hide drummer turned frontman’s leftist lyricisms are often as inscrutable as they are impassioned, but the overall message rings clear: liberalism is dead and Fishmonger are tolling the bell for its long-awaited demise. -Immersive Atlanta
There’s a mature idealism that guides Fishmonger’snew EP, Fiesta Anti-Fascista. And despite the goofy title, the six-track release is anything but a party. The hardcore quartet is comprised of current and former members of Places to Hide, Under a Sky So Blue, Jebediah Springfield, and Linda, but this is a completely different beast than any of the members’ previous bands. Like the beefed-up hardcore of Refused, Fiesta Anti-Fascistaplays with an unbound ferocity and torches everything it touches before the 10-minute mark. The band might occasionally retread the political touchstones of ’80s hardcore, but the new EP is miles ahead of any simplistic Dead Kennedys revivalism. Instead, Fiesta Anti-Fascista is chained to the bleak social and economic realities of 2016. Vocalist Gavin Caffrey’s local activism and anti-development work is a touchstone for the band, but their targets often lie well beyond the perimeter. Harsh, explicit, and terrifyingly accurate, the record is devoid of swagger or posturing in favor of revolution, but don’t expect simple solutions a la “Kill the Rich” as much as a complete indictment of American society. Much of the newfound intensity is borne from the band’s investment in better recording equipment than they used on their 2015 debut EP, Unkooth. Rob Sarabia mixed and mastered the album with a critical eye for detail and definition amidst the noise, but the band was thoroughly involved in production. In an era when political hardcore is increasingly sparse and stringent, The PHISH (as the band affectionately refer to themselves) flip the formula, encasing each of Caffrey’s acerbic lines in glass-shattering cacophony. The Places to Hide drummer turned frontman’s leftist lyricisms are often as inscrutable as they are impassioned, but the overall message rings clear: liberalism is dead and Fishmonger are tolling the bell for its long-awaited demise. -Immersive Atlanta
Sister Sai
"There’s an amorphous spiritual quality driving Sister Sai’s latest offering, Extempore. From song titles such as “Devotional” and “Glossolalia” to “Wanderer” and “Incarnate,” the album taps into a deeply mystical musical trajectory that reveals itself through the sounds she makes, and the seamless motion of each song drifting into the next. The album is comprised mostly of a one-take, largely unedited session of mind-melting cello loops that, with each listen, reveals layers of depth at work within cellist Saira Raza’s natural musical instincts. Embracing her unorthodox sense of repetition is key to zeroing in on the zoned-out head space that each of these songs occupy. “Glossolalia” is the first immediately arresting number here. Sounds bend and swoop as though they’re being pulled down a drain, moving deeper into her unseen, subconscious mind. The album requires a heady, meditative concentration, as Extempore is more an exercise in automatic writing than it is a collection of composed works. Musically, this is Raza’s equivalent of speaking in tongues. The results are a somewhat convoluted journey into minimalism. Song structures change with each passing listen as the recording moves forever forward, drifting at a dreamlike pace. This is a much different approach from the style on display throughout previous works such as 2016’s Inertia, and 2014’s First Flight EP. This is the unrestrained and unrefined product of what happens when her mind is left to wander — left with nothing more than her musical devices. As such, it’s an experimental album. It’s not the easiest point of entry into Raza’s work, but it’s certainly the most revealing of her musical reflexes, her instincts, and the insights she has to offer." -Creative Loafing Atlanta
"There’s an amorphous spiritual quality driving Sister Sai’s latest offering, Extempore. From song titles such as “Devotional” and “Glossolalia” to “Wanderer” and “Incarnate,” the album taps into a deeply mystical musical trajectory that reveals itself through the sounds she makes, and the seamless motion of each song drifting into the next. The album is comprised mostly of a one-take, largely unedited session of mind-melting cello loops that, with each listen, reveals layers of depth at work within cellist Saira Raza’s natural musical instincts. Embracing her unorthodox sense of repetition is key to zeroing in on the zoned-out head space that each of these songs occupy. “Glossolalia” is the first immediately arresting number here. Sounds bend and swoop as though they’re being pulled down a drain, moving deeper into her unseen, subconscious mind. The album requires a heady, meditative concentration, as Extempore is more an exercise in automatic writing than it is a collection of composed works. Musically, this is Raza’s equivalent of speaking in tongues. The results are a somewhat convoluted journey into minimalism. Song structures change with each passing listen as the recording moves forever forward, drifting at a dreamlike pace. This is a much different approach from the style on display throughout previous works such as 2016’s Inertia, and 2014’s First Flight EP. This is the unrestrained and unrefined product of what happens when her mind is left to wander — left with nothing more than her musical devices. As such, it’s an experimental album. It’s not the easiest point of entry into Raza’s work, but it’s certainly the most revealing of her musical reflexes, her instincts, and the insights she has to offer." -Creative Loafing Atlanta