Record Review: Black Mold

Black Mold
Snow Blindness is Crystal Antz
[2009, Flemish Eye]
2.5/5

Read the full review at Tiny Mixtapes. Chad VanGaalen has certainly kept busy over the past few years. In addition to releasing several great albums, he’s produced music for Calgary’s Women, designed album art, and remained closely involved with the Flemish Eye label. The musician hinted at an affinity for warped electronic sounds on albums credited to his given name, but this interest always seemed one of exploratory curiosity than of studied proficiency, as he incorporated electronics into only a song or two on each album. VanGaalen subverts this notion under the Black Mold moniker, releasing a 19-song album complete with “100+ bonus minutes of glitchy oddities” on an included download card...

Listen
Buy it

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In brief, there's some good material on Crystal Antz, but the Black Mold project doesn't even come close to VanGaalen's output under his given name. If you haven't heard him before, I highly recommend his last album, Soft Airplane. Or maybe you don't want to spend money/steal it from the internet? Well, here's a free and legal collection of Soft Airplane B-sides.

Mixtape #1: May 2009

Download HERE

For those of you keeping up, my blogging has always been sporadic at best. In an effort to bring fresh content, I've decided to start posting some mixtapes to share the music that I love. They'll be mixed DJ style (ie, one continuous mp3) in adherence to the spirit of the mixtape: the songs were sequenced this way for a reason, so no skipping around. Anyway, I really hope you enjoy, and I'd appreciate feedback.

This mix was inspired by the title track to Bibio's latest album Ambivalence Avenue. I'm typically not a big proponent of analog and lo-fi sounds and techniques (certainly not against them, either), but I love the sound quality of the track. The hazy, lazy feel... it reminds me a bit of the first half of Panda Bear's "Take Pills" played at twice the speed. The rest of the tracks are in a similar vein, for the most part.

0:00 - 3:29 Bibio: "Ambivalence Avenue"
3:29 - 6:48 Broadcast: "Accidentals"
6:48 - 11:20 Animal Collective & Vashti Bunyan: "Prospect Hummer"
11:20 - 14:25 Benoít Pioulard: "Palimend"
14:25 - 18:08 Kurt Vile: "Beach on the Moon (Recycled lyrics)"
18:08 - 20:01 Grouper: "When We Fall"
20:01 - 24:34 Here We Go Magic: "I Just Want to See You Underwater"
24:34 - 31:48 Lotus Plaza: "Antoine"
31:48 - 35:06 Dan Rossen (of Grizzly Bear): "Deep Blue Sea"
35:06 - 36:00 Jon Brion: "Row"
36:00 - End Chad Vangaalen: "Rabid Bits of Time"