Carl Abrahamsson: New Musicks: Warpaint, The New Alchemy, Junip

Music... A pretty good thing. Recently, there have been a few albums that have caught my attention and been on heavy rotation here. Try them out for size. They just might fit.

Warpaint's self-titled album was released late January and is the anticipated follow-up to the glorious debut The Fool (2010) and some EP work in-between. I don't know what it is exactly but these LA girls create something undefined and totally beautiful in everything they do. It's psych for sure but not in any way traditionalist. There's also a loose slacker element in their output, but not in a crusty grunge kind of way. There's also a distinct longing for the UK 1980s, when Martin Hannett ruled supreme and everything was rough and elegant at the same time.

Intricate drumming, suave basslines, etheric guitar picks, licks and riffs and beautiful, almost angelic singing. That's the Warpaint package right there. I have no idea what the songs are about and it doesn't really matter. You want Warpaint because you want to step into their musical universe and the distinct atmosphere they weave together so well. It's a universe of melancholia and morose meanderings but it's so beautifully executed that you just want to hang on for as long as it lasts. Then you simply press Play again.

I'm not at all surprised that these brilliant girls have now made an even better album than The Fool. What surprises me is that girls actually have feelings like these. That's impressive!

If you nurture an interest in Warpaint, perhaps you should read my interview with their bass player Jenny right here?

The New Alchemy: Svensson and Lundberg.

The New Alchemy consists of Swedish rock icon Ebbot Lundberg (Union Carbide, The Soundtrack of Our Lives) and artist Per Svensson (White Stains, GOLD), together with American artist Clay Ketter and Swedish saxophone player Mats Gustafsson. Here, we're knee deep in psychedelic tradition-land with heavy fuzz and very challenged focus capabilities. It's like one big blob of slow music shot forth from the center of someone's temporarily monochrome kaleidoscopic vision.

On the Other Side of Light (Subliminal Sounds)is the follow up to 2009's album Organic Universe, and is considerably tighter, darker and less experimental. Ebbot's familiar voice works well in any kind of musical setting basically, and here probably connotes Frank Zappa in vibe more than any other reference I can dig up. Slow soundscapes and pulsating grooves with added topping of voices, sound effects and emotional reverbs. This is not a jolly Technicolor Dream but rather a dark and very late night trip when you're suddenly not really sure if you're ever going to leave your overdrive synesthetic experience that already feels like it's been going on forever. In that sense, there's a strong prog element here too (darkness, eerie improvs, dirt, slow grinds).

The title track could almost pass for a slower kind of The Soundtrack of Our Lives song, but here we find the differentiating fascination and value of production skills. This is not TSOOL's clinically democratic trad rock stuff but rather dense throbs, soft, organic, heavy in bass, faint in drums, and plenty of guitar driven emotions. Plus Ebbot's proto-rock-intonations, here numbed up/down as if on sedatives. It's groovy alright, but not at all in a peace-and-love-ish way.

Saxophone? Hmmm... Horrible instrument usually. Only Steve Mackay of vintage Stooges infamy got away with "blowing his horn" to extreme rock'n'roll. That's still a solid fact. But apart from the integration of "free jazz" vibes through Gustafsson's brass-coated asthma testing, this album is an impressive heavy duty psych-fest that passes with honors. Influences do leak through (The Doors The End in this case lurks behind the scenes) and on a good day we can call that paying respect or "paying the dues". Let this be a good day. On the Other Side of Light is a very good album indeed.

If you're interested in Ebbot Lundberg, perhaps you should read my interview with him (in Swedish)?

If you're interested in The Soundtrack Of Our Lives, perhaps you should read my (tear-eyed) review of their final concert ever?

Junip. Photo © Kiara Andreasson

Stepping back in time... I stumbled upon a classic album some months ago which has also since then been played "on repeat". I'm talking about José Gonzalez' project Junip. Their album Fields (2010) is such a masterpiece I'm really angry with myself I didn't catch it when it originally came out. I have certainly compensated for that by listening to this record many, many times now.

Very few-chordish simple pop, playful, innovative, beautifully arranged and produced. Swinging back and forth with Gonzalez' sensitive voice on top. Spellbinding simplicity. It really is a masterpiece.

Of course I have indulged in their most recent album too, Junip (2013), but unfortunately it doesn't cut the mustard for me at all. It seems Junip peaked with Fields. I hope for more to come though, because what they create together is intelligent and emotional pop of the very finest kind. And Fields is by far the best example of that – to date.