Indie rock buried in fuzz and hiss. Iran take ultra catchy pop, and drag it through the detritus of lo-fi noise rock, picking up an ungodly assortment of buzz and blur and scuzz. Imagine a Pavement record on Siltbreeze. Or Sebadoh, if Lou Barlow was a jaded fuck instead of a sappy romantic. Or old Smog covering Skullflower. Or Harry Pussy playing Built To Spill. A beautifully cacophonous mess. Iran play damaged folk music, bombarded on all sides by a wild assortment of squeals and shrieks, static and hiss, and speaker clogging grit. Huge and slowly shifting, dronescapes that evolve into perfect little pop songs and then explode into jagged shards of high end skree. Iran are psychedelic and textural and noisey and totally catchy. Add an unhealthy obsession with Brian Wilson, Roman Polanski, indie rock, and Norwegian black metal, a handful of disasterously deafening live shows, and a charmingly fractured obstinance, and you've got Iran. Hardcore hook-filled low fidelity un-pop noise. Pop. Plus fucking wicked tiger cover art. The Moon Boys is the second missive from San Francisco's premier NOISEPOP band, not 'noise pop' in the jangly-pop-punk-San-Francisco-festival-tight-pants-slacker-next-big-thing-major-label-bidding-war-rehashed-bullshit sense but in the gorgeous-pop-songs-buried-under-a-thick-splattery-wall-of-buzz-hum-whir-skree-guitars-set-on-self-destruct-Beatles-flitered-through-Skullflower sense. Like Sebadoh or Pavement being backed up by Throbbing Gristle or Whitehouse. Or Nurse With Wound fronted by Elliott Smith. If you get our drift. For record number two, IRAN has scaled back the noise just a bit and let the pop shine through. And shine it does. Gorgeous, heart-breaking, voice-cracking lo-fi love (and un-love) songs, delivered in a wavery falsetto, over gentle guitars, naive drumming and strange but wonderful backgrounds woven from vocals, amp hum, guitar buzz, as well as rumbling low end and squealing feedback. When the noise does kick in, it's not noise for noise sake, Iran handle the squirming serpent with a deft hand, molding gorgeous sonic squalls and speaker shredding skree from overdriven amps and detuned guitars, with buried melodies and strange and mysterious rhythms laying beneath the storm, like looking through a murky pond at the secret life below. Adventurous indie rockers could very well be looking at their new favorite band, and experimetal/avant garde-niks may just find themselves developing a pop sweet tooth.
Iran to Release Third Album
Fans of experimental noise-popsters Iran know that seeing them is even rarer than catching a glimpse of the reclusive Jeff Mangum, but those fans will soon have cause to celebrate. Sort of. The quartet of singer/multi-instrumentalist Aaron Aites, guitarist Kyp Malone (also of TV on the Radio), guitarist/bassist Peter Hoffman (The Mendoza Line), and guitarist Aaron Romanello (Grand Mal), are planning to release an as-yet untitled album sometime this year. Produced by David Andrew Sitek (another member of TV on the Radio and producer of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Fever to Tell), the album is being recorded at Gigantic Studios in Tribeca and will be released through Narnack Records.
Speaking with Pitchfork by phone last Friday, Aites described the new album as "very hi-fi", and "more structured" and "fully fleshed out" than their previous two outings, Iran and The Moon Boys. He also said it's more lyric-based (in the vein of The Moon Boys), with material sounding "louder and grimmer." They're also planning a single release for "Buddy", but have no firm release date for that either. They do, however, have some track titles:
I Can See the Future
Buddy
I Already Know You're Wrong
Airport '79
Baby Let's Get High One Last Time
Digital Clock and Phone
Where I'm Going
Cape Canaveral / Buddy Reprise
Can I Feel What?
Evil Summer
We are recording a LIVE ALBUM this week at The Trash Bar with 16 bands! Be There!
On June 14th DJ Mojo & BREAKTHRURADIO. COM present the first in an ongoing series of live shows intended to epitomize the podcast station's mandate to bring to the public the best,most innovative and exciting music being made today. The bands below will give the audience an experience of good music, great fun and fantastic entertainment!
june 14 - $8 +++++++ BELL HOLLOW-10 CRUEL BLACK DOVE-11 APPOMATTOX-12 DESIRE LINES-9 LUDLOW LIONS-8
AND *DJ MOJO'S BIRTHDAY BASH - July 2 featuring Gary Lucas' Gods and Monsters* Gary Lucas (Captain Beefheart) Billy Ficca (Television) Ernie Brooks (Jonathan Richmond & The Modern Lovers) Jason Candler (Hungry March Band) Joe Hendel (The Latest Show on Earth)
JOCK-8 WILD YAKS-11 TELENOVELA STAR-10 GARY LUCAS' GODS AND MONSTERS-12 RENMINBI-9
