Holy Sons - Decline of The West

Our review
Customer reviews
Press release

4...according to our Phil on Thu 03 May, 2007.

Next up on the Awful Bliss rollercoaster is a CD by Holy Sons called Decline of The West which is an interesting thing. For starters there’s a Sebadoh cover and a Daniel Johnston/ Jad Fair cover… usually a good sign. I’ve no idea how to describe this one. Initially I thought a stripped down Beta Band for some of the tracks and then I thought the slackerish end of Beck… Then I listened to 4 more songs and still had no idea but I was quite happy just listening and not really thinking of comparisons (which is all we do here)…. Anyway this quote from the label sums things up perfectly I think

”The record's production takes Holy Sons' minimalist avant-folk sound and journeys through formats as varied as dub, church-hymn, slow-jam, tape-collage and paranoid beats over-run by obtuse banjo-sitar runs...” Well worth checking out!

01 Gnostic Device / 02 The Feral Kid / 03 Saccharine Trust / 04 Slave Morality / 05 Bleakest Picture / 06 Nothing Left * / 07 More Noise Pollution / 08 Satanic Androids / 09 Level Anything ** / 10 Kindred Spirit / 11 Evil Falls / 12 Things You Do While Waiting For The Apocalypse

all songs written by Emil Amos
* written by Jad Fair and Daniel Johnston
** written by Eric Gaffney (Sebadoh)

Code: A_B003
Label: Awful_Bliss
Format: CD / Jewelbox / 12 tracks
File under: avant folk / no-rule indie
Notes: Recorded and mixed by Emil Amos

"Decline Of The West" represents a vital intersection of style and method in Emil Amos' songwriting and production. The record combines his genre-hopping tendencies and no-rules mixing methods with the more hook-driven, straight-to-the-jugular phrasing that he has been honing over the last several albums. Influenced by the avant German bands of the 70's he used nature recordings, radio transmissions and old Halloween tapes as source material to create slabs of musique concrete-style texture to surround and inhabit the songs.

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