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Local queer electro-pop band Body Academics gets messy. Their shows are sweaty affairs with back-up dancers and members writhing on the floor, feeding beer to one another and squirting ketchup on the crowd. Tonight they celebrate the release of their latest bizarre masterpiece, Spiritual Sequel. The album runs hiphop and radio pop through a lo-fi outsider-punk aesthetic to produce something infectiously garish, and the cover art mashes together Sailor Moon, cats in Valentine's hearts, basketballs, panties, and pink handkerchiefs. The fact that their concepts seem insular and hard to decipher is part of their appeal. Imagine Scream Club's Life of a Heartbreaker with a lot more weed, then come to their show ready to join in the revelry. - Portland Mercury

1. Whitman | So☆Cal
Growing up in San Diego County I wanted nothing more than to go somewhere else. So much of my angst and disgust with my hometown can be felt in this song. When I found out that Abe from Treasure Mammal was making a compilation with my other homies like Space Alien Donald and Peter/Renata I got very excited. I discovered Whitman through this compilation and reflect on this song anytime I feel homesick. I am almost always instantly cured. I heard from my friend John that Whitman was a rad but unstable dude. Once, John told me that after a show Whitman tried to drown himself in a lake or something like that. I don't know if that’s true. Favorite lyric: Oh, Southern California... Where most of the trees are cell phone towers...

2. Gorillaz | The Swagga
Damon makes great Music. Blur and his side projects all are great too. There is this documentary called Bananaz that I saw when I was graduating High School. The first pre-theatrical release online for a feature and I think there are many other great firsts the Gorillaz represent. Their roster has had Del, MF, Kid Koala, and so many others... How can you not love this band. Favorite lyric:

But I go: Wooh!
I just go: Wooh!
We all go: Wooh!
Yeah!
We all go: Wooh!
All right!
3. The Brian Jonestown Massacre | Deep In The Devil's Eye & You (Unreleased Alternate Version)
Dig! BJM saved my life. XOXO. Have you ever felt like Anton in your life, someone that is rare breed too crazy to die, too rare to live? This is way more Shoegazey then their other stuff and that might be why it is one of my favorites. P.S.: LET ME KNOW IF YOU CAN FIND LYRICS TO THIS SONG!

4. LAKE R∆DIO | Always
Such a devotional and pastel song. Get caught at airports listing to this as a goodbye song... Favorite lyric : I will always think of you, and only you...

5. Elliott Smith | Condor Ave.
I drove across a fair portion of California one night to this song with all my stuff. Sad stuff. Favorite lyric: A sick shouting like you hear at the fairground...



6. aNTOJE | LVL_WEST [ode to JudgeJudy]
Snap my neck to my favorite ‘younger-than-me’ producer from Canada. So Lo-Fi crunchy, Breakbeat down, mothafuckin' blow my speakers out, bleeding lean and dro from Space shiz. Great tape from France last year, stop sleeping on this, bruh, bruh!

7. Aesop Rock | Drawbridge (feat. Doseone)
Hypnotic. Last time I saw Aesop perform it was with Kimya at the Timberland Regional Library in my town last Spring. One of the few events I have seen in a library. One time I saw Tommy Chong promoting his book The I Chong: Meditations From The Joint, but that's pretty much it for library shows. Favorite lyric: I've got charcoals in my heart, but I've got charcoals in my heart... I've got charcoals by the armfuls that burn my armor apart...

8. The Mothers Of Invention | What's The Ugliest Part Of Your Body?
Mother never lets me down. I met some guy named Dweezil in the proverbial waiting room when I used to go to Humboldt State University. Who isn’t in it for the money?

9. Godspeed You! Black Emperor | Rockets Fall on Rocket Falls.
One of the first vinyls ever given to me. Such a powerful and cinematic album. The way the Music guides and builds has left me feeling more relaxed and entranced than any Classical composition. The back of this album and the story about how Godspeed! owned up to not doing their’ homework always makes me smile too.

10. Wanda Jackson | Whirlpool (Played at 33RPM *popcorn* YouTube Version)
Only Lovers Left Alive is based on my lifestyle. - Warmer Climes

Have you ever encountered a piece of art that you just really don’t know what to think of? Not one you’re “too stupid to understand”, just something that doesn’t make any feasible sense no matter which way you look at it. Whether it’s due to an overcomplicated plot or just sheer incompetence, these complete enigmas are usually just accidents, kind of like the Chernobyl disaster of art.

When a piece of art is arcane by design, however, it can often be met with scorn. Acclaimed filmmakers including Michel Gondry and Jay and Mark Duplass are considered by some to be trying way too hard to stand out from the crowd because of their deliberately bizarre approaches to storytelling. The entirety of indie video gaming has a reputation (among some rather thick people) for being one big pretentiousness-fest because of games like FEZ and Braid serving as its poster children of sorts, both games with very unconventional approaches to everything (gameplay, story, graphics, etc.).

Of course, unconventionalism exists in the form of music as well, most commonly in the form of what’s simply known as “experimental music”. While the standalone genre has had some absolute majesties like Animal Collective and Pinkish Black, it most commonly finds itself blended with other genres. Whether it’s experimental pop, experimental rock, experimental hip-hop, or any other subgenre, they all have one thing in common: hipsters love them. There’s a reason you see Swans and tUnE-yArDs getting apotheosized way more on Pitchfork than on Rolling Stone or Spin, that’s all I’m saying.

The Portland-based Gulf War Boys are an experimental band in the same way that water is wet, in that I don’t think they could get any more experimental. On top of their bizarre sound and the fact that I’m spelling their name wrong (the correct spelling is actually sʎoqɹɐʍɟlnƃ#), just about every single song title on their free debut EP Crytsal Knife – or, excuse me, ⓒ ⓡ ⓨ ⓣ ⓢ ⓐ ⓛ ⚔ ⓚ ⓝ ⓘ ⓕ ⓔ– consists of bizarre symbols you can’t even type with a conventional keyboard.

But beyond the group’s wild experimentation and everything about them being shrouded in mystery (I can’t find a Facebook, Twitter, or anything for these guys, nowhere have I been able to learn how many members the Gulf War Boys contain, and I only have their Bandcamp’s word for it that they’re even from Portland), is there anything worthwhile from their music?

While the music of the Gulf War Boys takes on a plethora of different styles and genres throughout Crytsal Knife, its most common outfit is a glitch-y experimental drone sound, kind of like a hybrid of Oneohtrix Point Never and Machinedrum, with a bit of Burial’s vocal sampling and The Avalanches’ Plunderphonics thrown in for good measure. Crytsal Knife is not content with monotony, though, as it’s changing its beats, samples and genre style by the second, and rarely does it take the time to take any single nuance and build upon it. Those of you who prefer your music to be more consistent and establishing will probably want to give the album a slap in the face and some Ritalin, but this factor makes listening to the release all the more fascinating, because you never have any idea what the band is going to pull next.

However, the sʎoqɹɐʍɟlnƃ# don’t really do anything that really stands out during the EP’s 23-minute runtime. They don’t do the Ben Frost thing of starting out really slow and then slowly building onto it until eventually the song is loud and commanding. Songs just kind of end how they begin: slow, albeit still retaining the haphazardness throughout. Because of this, even if you aren’t more of a full-album listener like I am, Crytsal Knife is the kind of album I’d recommend you listen to from beginning to end, as it just feels like more of a complete experience that way.

For all of the different dynamics that ⓒ ⓡ ⓨ ⓣ ⓢ ⓐ ⓛ ⚔ ⓚ ⓝ ⓘ ⓕ ⓔ adopts during its 8-track run – from the How to destroy angels_-esque post-industrial feel of “Big Winnings $pirit Mountain to the Environmental Sound Collapse-y psych-chiptune of “>>machinefreeks<< ((sempr fi))” – my favourite parts of the EP were when they went for an acid IDM approach, like on “ಠ‸ಠ Private Eye’s” and “The Ultimate Sin”, the opening and closer to the album, respectively.

While I would call Crytsal Knife a decent and interesting album for what it does, I do think it could’ve benefitted majorly from some more focus. While its rapid-fire variation does make the album worth listening through once, it doesn’t do anything that’ll make you want to come back to it because it doesn’t give itself enough time to expand on any of its musical ideas. If they had opted to focus on a single style (like, say, their acid IDM fusion), and then used their other musical ideas to build onto that, it could’ve been truly compelling. Instead, Crytsal Knife ultimately amounts to little more than a collection of disjointed half-baked musical styles that, save for a couple styles (glitch and drone, specifically), are dropped about as quickly as they arrive.

With that said, however, I do think ⓒ ⓡ ⓨ ⓣ ⓢ ⓐ ⓛ ⚔ ⓚ ⓝ ⓘ ⓕ ⓔ is worth listening through at least once if you’re a fan of experimental music. Due to the release’s short length, the ever-changing genres do hold one’s attention for its entire duration, and it does have some lofty ambitions. Besides, the album is free anyways, so there’s no reason not to at least check it out. You can download the EP for free on the group’s Bandcamp page.

ⓒ ⓡ ⓨ ⓣ ⓢ ⓐ ⓛ ⚔ ⓚ ⓝ ⓘ ⓕ ⓔ does happen to be the first release from the Gulf War Boys, so it’s definitely possible that the release just serves as a jumping off point for them, and they’re just throwing all of these different ideas at a proverbial wall to see what sticks with the most precision and the most impact. If that is the case, I hope they’ve found a style they’re happy with, so we can see more concision on their next release.

Until next time, don’t forget to be awesome. - Northwest Music Scene