L.A. VAMPIRES MEETS ZOLA JESUS - "Collab. 12" (NNF)

  If you are familiar with either of these two insanely talented ladies, or any of their other projects, then you will know that you are in for quite an amazing treat with this collaboration LP.Long time L.A. psych-chant-charmers Pocahaunted front-woman -Amanda Brown, provides the better portion of the music on this record, conjuring up her somewhat patent dub-soaked-psych washes, and more than a few layers of lo-fi bumps, claps, and hazy low-end dirge to keep you swaying along to.Grainy synth drones slowly build and swell up only to fizzle away, as new melodies are being introduced constantly throughout the song.Sometimes a solid and rather "funky" bass line will sneak it's way in, if only for a second, providing a bit of swagger beneath the surface.A fair amount of this is somewhat comparable to Brown's recent dub/lo-fi soul project,Vibes, only slower and darker.
  While Brown contributes her woozy, more psych/dub inspired embers, Nika Danilova aka: Zola Jesus tosses her goth inspired, desperate croon onto the fire and really sets this ablaze.Her deep and affected, soaring voice immediately finds it's way into Brown's chanted howl.Setting a tense and foreboding tone that flows through these songs.At times, their voices sync up in such perfect harmony it sends chills up your spine.They never seem to drown each other out or butt heads, and instead form a single, beautiful and powerful voice.Together they create vast, vibrant movements that spiral upward, taking some unexpected twists and turns, gently landing you back on your feet.An nearly perfect blend of bright, pastoral flashes and dark, cavernous hymns .Best collabo record of 2010.
"There is no light without darkness".

POCAHAUNTED - "Make It Real" LP (NotNotFun)

Amanda Brown and Bethany Cosentino are back with one BAD ASS MOTHERFUCKER of an album.This thing seriously slays.If you are somewhat familiar with any of their past releases,forget what you know about these ladies and enter this under the assumption that it's a different band.They have given us something rich and stunning here.Songwriting.I think their time spent with their other song-based projects (Best Coast,L.A. Vampires..) has rubbed off on these girls in the best way.This is what Pocahaunted really sounds like.Awesome.

Following that same semi-structured songwriting path on Passages and Chains has finally led the band to a magical place called Make It Real.They have strayed away from the long,drawn out,flat-chanted-epics that made them so lovable in the past.Here,they go for the gold with really solid song structures.Carefully meshing garage,psych,boogie,blues,and vintage rock styles into one VERY listenable record.Not to say that they don't sink into those heavy,deep drones from time to time,it just isn't the basis of these songs.The songs are really catchy,and show off the natural talents of the musicians involved,rather than relying on their effects and
production tricks.And it pays off handsomely.

With the addition of a full backing band (bass,drums,keys,guitar) Pocahaunted are now more stage-ready than ever.Their live drummer gives these songs some nice grooves and rhythm that the band may have been lacking for a while there.The bass guitar crawls right along side the percussion with a vibrant tone.The chemistry between the two really amazing.The guitars are perfect and loose,the riffs are clear,rather than drowned in reverb/delay.They've added a nice vintage organ to the mix,and it brings some serious depth to this album.Heavy on the church-like vibrato and thick chords,it reminds me of Sun Ra's random keyboard freak outs.
All of this accompanies their melodic vocal harmonies and cult-like chants perfectly.A new love for melody?Whatever the case,Make It Real is surely the most cohesive effort in the band's existence.A totally solid psychedelic R&B album.Out now.