Some reviews.
For Pumice 10''
How can I do proper justice to the man, Stefan Neville, and his exceptionally illustrious back catalog under the Pumice guise? It’s been a pretty pitch-perfect ride thus far, I must admit (though, often the pitch has been bent, mangled, twisted, screwed, chopped, tossed and burnt to a fine crisp in the process). Under the Pumice moniker, I would go so far as to say that the Neville is the gold standard for lo-fi music – no one does it better. So, it is both a glorious and a bit depressing that on this most recent Pumice 10” are the last recordings Mr. Neville recorded on his kingly 8-track. That being said, this release puts the classic genius of Pumice on glorious display. Side one offers us on “Fool fool fool moon,” ten minutes of grueling, shloptastic, punk-drone muck at a disjointed, grin-inducingly-lethargic pace, Neville’s kiwi-mumble permeating ceiling of the cut. It's prime evidence of Neville’s ability stretch out and pepper a track like no one’s business. Side two opens with a pillow of deep, bellowing bass heaviness, distorted guitar theatrics and echoing vocals that seem to be seeping in from an adjoining apartment. A concise pop-lengthed slab of lo-fi noise grumble in advance of the “pretty love song;” the strummy, jangle petter; the high-aspring closer; “The Screaming Heap.” I have no doubts about Pumice continuing to produce blitzed out masterpieces in the future – it seems that’s all Neville is able to conjure – but still, as a swan song to Pumice’s 8-track, the device that has brought as so much wonder and grit these past few years, this Doubtful Sounds 10” is simply immaculate. -Thistle
http://forestgospel.blogspot.com/2010/09/pumice-10.html
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Before hearing this nifty 10" EP, I was not familiar with the music of Pumice. New Zealander Stefan Neville has been releasing material under this guise for over ten years; I knew vaguely of his work through exposure to Sunken, his duo with Antony Milton, but any preconceived ideas I'd had of what he did on his own didn't prepare me for the mesmeric noise-pop of his new mini-album on Doubtful Sounds.
Disarmingly described by Neville in the EP's one-sheet as "dumb punk slop, some tape loop soup, and a pretty love song," the music here burns with great guitar tones, hazy distorted vocals, and a murky, blissful sense of melody. "Fool Fool Fool Moon" manages to evoke the gritty noise scuzz of the Dead C both in the guitar work and the muttered, distorted vocals. The lyrics are indecipherable but the gentle repetition of the vocal melody quickly hypnotizes, as a stumbling pulse moves the morass of blistering, droning guitars forward. It's a great tune as well as a great jam; a four-note keyboard riff signals a descent from the skyscraping earlier sections and the song gently collapses around yet another cool guitar part.
The b-side kicks off with "Head High Tackle," which initially comes off as more of a noise piece, complete with fractured riffing and crunching, primitive drumming. A drunken, wavering groove is established as bits of scorching guitar alternate in the right and left channels. The drums drop out and the tinny, lacerating guitar is left to battle with booming distorted bass. Finale "The Screaming Heap" is indeed pretty, replete with soaring voices soaked with plenty of reverb and anthemically-strummed acoustic guitar. What sounds like a harmonium enters in the song's second refrain, giving some tonal warmth to the scratchy guitar work. Despite the thin sound the song qualifies as a true epic—its deceptively complicated structure runs through several seamless parts as Neville's frantic strumming recalls Sir Richard Bishop or Sterling Morrison.
Sure, it's only three songs—but they're all pretty damn good. Neville manages to touch on elements of past songwriting traditions while infusing the music with the type of spontaneity and intensity associated with noise and improv. It's in an edition of 500, so there should be some left out there. As for myself, I need to check out more of Pumice's stuff. 9/10 -- Mike Griffin (8 September, 2010)
http://www.digitalisindustries.com/foxy ... which=5930
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For Micro_Penis LP
I'm one of them guys that just don't get no amusement out've the word, Penis. Yep, don't think it's funny, never have. So's bands like Afternoon Penis, or Broken Penis Orchestra, them releases got cursory listens & then was filed into one of my billions've 'no thanks' galaxies. Call me a prude, hey, call me whatever you's will. That said, I never thought Dick Urine was that funny either. In defense I'd admit to bein an avid Rudimentary Peni fan, as much for their music as the ridiculous latin turn-of-phrase.But them's salt's to be soaked another time, what I's tryin to get at is when this feller Fred told about an lp of careless Peugeot drivers from Mulhouse what call themselves Micro Penis, well, I didn't exactly get wood, if you catch my drift.But then it showed up,and,well.....I had to admire the Nick Blinko-esque artwork & packagin, but also wonderin that if I just ignored it, might I be (whew!) dodgin some Peni inspired crud-core bullet (low expectations 'n all). But a glimpse onto their 1 sheet & a spied reference to Cromagnon's "Ritual Feast Of The Libido" & then I was suddenly piqued. After all, if you's is pullin out them guns, you better not be hornswogglin. And thankfully it ain't. Sure, it's brimmin w/the inscrutable art brut, cut up, sound collage dadaistry so primitif & splendid in the current wave've contempo French underground (El G & Oso El Roto for example). But unlike them phlegm chewers, Micro Penis stay the path of "organic" aural lobe snippage (ala Cromagnon) w/o any use of standard musical templates, be it blues, rock're what have you. This dude just beltches up the gut gas, refluxes that're both psychedelic 'n psychotronic, like if Fille Qui Mousse's 'Trixie Stapleton 291' mugged it up with Hershel Gordon Lewis' 'Blood Feast'. It's hairy, improbable, preposterously deranged & just the slightest bit sinister enough to make you think "this can't be happening to me". Oh, but it is! The perfect aural influenza for your next slumber party, choke on it here;
www.rrrecords.com or direct to;
http://virb.com/micro_penis
http://siltblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/tw ... ughts.html