Tommy Bell and His Minions Vol 4: Blue Wing

Fourth volume in the series curated by I Heart Noise and Petridisch
[mixcloud https://www.mixcloud.com/iheartnoise/tommy-bell-and-his-minions-vol-4-blue-wing/ width=500% height=120 hide_cover=1] We pick one track from upcoming reissue of Tommy Bell – sole album by cult Boston band Turkish Delight – and then pick tracks that we might be spiritual predecessors or successors to the said track

Fourth volume is dedicated to the track “Blue Wing”

 
Turkish Delight – Blue Wing
Turkish Delight…brought neurotic bizarritude to new heights…an elastic bassline lurched and jumped while an electric can made strange noises, and on top of that lay bored sounding female sing-speak… David Jarman (CMJ)
Taken from Tommy Bell (Castle Von Buhler, 1996 / I Heart Noise, 2017)
Reading:  Letters From a Tapehead | 50thirdand3rd | Devil Has the Best Tuna |  CMJ

Guerilla Toss – Doll Face on the Calico Highway
Brooklyn-via-Boston group combining no wave, punk, funk, psychedelia, and more in chaotic and ecstatic ways. AllMusic
Taken from Eraser Stargazer (DFA, 2016)
Reading:  Post-Trash | KSDB| The Harvard Crimson |  Echoes and Dust

Guiding Light – Temptation
Shoegaze meets that sweet spot where aging baby boomers had their mid-life crisis’ in the late 80’s early 90’s set to a David Lynch film.
The brainchild of Chuck Davis + Retsoor. Our record, Guide The Lightning, is out now on Eggs In Aspic. Features members of Mercury Rev, The Dandy Warhols, The Warlocks, Sparklehorse, Michael Bolton, Nickleback etc. etc. etc.
Taken from Guide the Lightning (Eggs in Aspic / Bleeding Gold, 2017)
Reading:  Village Voice

Hilary Woods – Our Tide Turn
Hilary Woods’ work begins with sound. She grew up on Dublin’s Northside in a household filled with music, digesting her father’s love of Chopin, Shostakovich and John McCormack, her mother’s love of Elvis, her grandmother’s renditions of 50s style dance hall numbers, and her brother’s use of the family sitting room as a monthly venue in noise outfit “News for the Deaf.”
Hilary taught herself bass at seventeen and spent the next four years touring as bassist with indie trio JJ72 on Columbia Records. With a continuous inclination toward autumnal tones on the lower registers, she went on to study fine art and completed an MPhil in film and philosophy from Trinity College Dublin before traveling into etching her own songs and material on both record and roll.
Taken from Night (Self Released, 2014)
Reading: The Thin Air | Drowned in Sound | The Last Mixed Tape

Talsounds – Touch the Sky
Natalie Chami’s project TALsounds documents solo sessions of improvised synthesis and live-looped vocal performances, presented to the listener as discrete takes without overdubs. The decisions she makes in her atmospheric sketches – the onset of a quivering vocal melody, the echoing turn of a delay knob – flash across her stereo spreads as seismic ripples within a network of standing sounds.
Taken from Doom Mix Vol. 1 (Doom Trip Records, 2017)
Reading: NPR | Tiny Mix Tapes | Dublab | Spool’s Out

Hott Mt – At Night in Chinatown
Hour Of The Time Majesty Twelve. Taking you to a magical place and leaving you there since 2012.
Taken from AU (Alternate Universe) (Doom Trip / Mutation, 2017)
Also appears on Doom Mix Vol. 1 (Doom Trip Records, 2017)
Reading: Spin | Amadeus Mag | Damaged / Goods | Wonderland

Bowery Electric – Coming Down
Though U.K. critic Simon Reynolds pointed to New York City duo Bowery Electric as a prime example of American post-rock back in ’95, the long view is somewhat skewed. Bowery principals Martha Schwendener and Lawrence Chandler never noodled around with the jazz or dub accents that later defined post-rock paragons such as Tortoise and the Sea And Cake. Bowery Electric wrote long, lingering compositions with murky bass, keyboards and vocals; the beats resembled a metronome heard through a thick fog.
Taken from Beat (Kranky / Beggars Banquet,1996 / also reissued by Beggars Banquet in 2016)
Reading:  Magnet | The A.V. Club | Detroit Metro Times

Dyr Faser – Save Save Save
Dyr Faser is Eric Boomhower & part of Boston’s growing lo-fi post-punk/proto-goth scene. Taking notes from godfathers of the genres like Joy Division, Depeche Mode, Suicide, Durutti Column, & Coil – Dyr Faser blends it all together. You can’t help but nod your head to the drum machine rhythms as you wait for the creature lurking in the darkness to destroy you. Don’t worry; the monsters have always been your friends. Silber Records
Taken from Beat A Minute (Self Released, 2017)
Reading: Tomatrax | The Reprobate | 50Thirdan3rd | A Pessimist Is Never Disappointed

Ziemba – Square-Headed Brother
Turkish Delight…brought neurotic bizarritude to new heights…an elastic bassline lurched and jumped while an electric can made strange noises, and on top of that lay bored sounding female sing-speak… David Jarman (CMJ)
Taken from Nearness (Self Released, 2015)
Reading:  No More Workhorse | Irish Times | Grimy Goods | Northern Transmissions

Cocteau Twins – Pepper-Tree
When they first emerged in the early 80s, the Cocteau Twins were compared most often to Siouxsie & The Banshees, but in truth they never sounded like anyone – or anything – else. Taken together, their nine albums, and sixteen EPs/singles, sound less like a band and more like an element of nature. 4AD
Taken from Pearly Dewrops’ Drops / The Spangle Maker (4AD, 1984)

Sonic Youth – Doctor’s Orders (Tvox Version)
Kim Gordon
Thurston Moore
Lee Ranaldo
Steve Shelley
Taken from Volume 9 (Volume, 1994)

Gun Club – Promise Me
One of the great cult bands of rock music, the Gun Club were arguably the most important band to rise out of the aftermath of Hollywood punk’s first wave. Their fiery music fused a few quintessential strains of L.A. rock at the time: the poetic death trip of Jim Morrison and Darby Crash; the fascination shared by X and Redd Kross for the seedy underbelly American culture; and the reverent plunder of traditional American musical forms, most obviously blues and country. Musical Urbanism
Taken from Fire of Love (Ruby, 1981 / Porterhouse, 2017)
Reading: Perfect Sound Forever

Colleen – A Flame My Love, A Frequency
Colleen is multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Cécile Schott, releasing music since 2003 on Thrill Jockey, The Leaf Label and Second Language. 
100% electronics + voice
Taken from A Flame My Love, A Frequency (Thrill Jockey, 2017)
Reading: Brainwashed | Soundblab | Written in Music | Ckut / Total Eclipse

Morphine – Pulled Over the Car
Mark Sandman
Jerome Duepree
Dana Colley
Billy Conway
Taken from B-Sides and Otherwise (Rykodisc, 1997)

Pylon Reenactment Society – Buzz
Vanessa has gathered members of Athens bands Casper & the Cookies, The Glands, and world renowned pianist Damon Denton to create Pylon Reenactment Society. Is it a cover band if Vanessa is singing? Technically, it’s the next best thing. PRS are here to have fun and perform in the spirit of Pylon. Don’t be discouraged! Let’s dance!
Taken from Part Time Punks Session (Chunklet Industries, 2017)
Reading: Rock’s Temple | God is in the TV | Stereo Embers | Northern Tranmissions
 
 

Wallet, Keys and Phone – The Suitor
Recordings by Jim Connolly.
Taken from Fragile Square (Self Released, 2017)

Viet Cong – Newspaper Spoons
Noisy, aggressive, but tuneful variant on lo-fi and art rock from Canada, featuring former members of Women and Lab Coast (currently records/performs as Preoccupations)
Taken from Viet Cong (Jagjaguwar / Flemish Eye, 2015)
Reading:  Pitchfork | Pretty Much Amazing | DIY Mag | AAA Backstage 

Clinic – Walking with Thee
Liverpudlian quartet Clinic may be blessed with consummate good taste – pictures of the likes of Roky Erickson, Serge Gainsbourg, Phil and Ronnie Spector, Silver Apples and Augustus Pablo adorn their sleeves – but, more importantly, they can deliver unalloyed musical thrills which are quite unlike any other band.
Melding disparate musical influences is an old game but the sheer skill, humour and intelligence which Clinic have brought to the table is a rare thing indeed. Suffice it to say, in the hands of Mr Blackburn, a melodica once again becomes a weapon of musical insurrection. Perfect Sound Forever
Taken from Walking With Thee (Domino 2001 – reissued in 2016)
Reading:  NME | Slant | The Guardian | Drowned in Sound

Deerhoof – Wrong Time Capsule
Deerhoof is one of those bands that’s tough to pin down. Sometimes they don’t sound that weird at all, or maybe just weird in a cuddly, Cibo Matto sort of way. Other times they just sound like your basic, garden-variety noise-pop band, all distorted guitars and herky-jerky rhythms—more quirky than weird, and not all that different from a zillion other Pitchfork-approved bands (although it must be said, no one does herky-jerky rhythms better than Deerhoof, thanks mainly to the superhumanly awesome drumming of Greg Saunier). But then, just when you think you’ve got them figured out, they’ll smack you upside the head with something truly bizarre. Weirdest Band in the World
New album Mountain Moves is out now on Joyful Noise
Taken from The Runners Four (Kill Rock Stars, 2005)