The Active Listener
Album Review: Shivacrowblack by MANGABROS
(previously released as Soulcoalblack)
Reviewed by Grey Malkin
By all accounts this, the debut album from Sheffield’s 'ballardian psycho bluesmen' mangabros (essentially a one man band of Craig Manga with collaborators), has been percolating for several years before exposure into the sunlight. Which is apt as this is a dark beast indeed, a mixture of prog intention and storyline (there is a concept at work here), Coil style glitches and electronic squelches, a Floydian sense of the epic and ultimately, some very fine songwriting indeed. The band have been described by Bill Nelson as "brave and uncompromising"; indeed this is an album that needs close attention and is designed to be heard as a whole, a suite of both sorrowful and sinister beauty.
Not unlike a darker hued Radiohead, manga bros meld fractured Warp style beats with haunted piano and soaring, anguished vocals. Opener 'Musical Chairs' is a prime example, Craig Manga's voice towers over mournful minor piano keys, propelled by electronic percussion. It is both hugely accomplished and deeply affecting; there is a genuine quality to Manga's vocals that evokes a similar connection with the listener heard in the work of such luminaries as Peter Hammill, Thom Yorke or Gavin Friday. 'Z-The Nada Song' picks up the post-apocalyptic storyline, a survivor reminiscing over glistening strings, bowed guitar and quite the most beautiful piano melody you will hear of late. It's a sombre but stand out moment, reminding this listener of Peter Hammill's break up opus 'Over' as well as some of Jeff Buckley's more tear stained moments. The heartbreak and isolation is all too tangible. 'Weissmuller' appropriately starts with a Tarzan call (in honour of the title's namesake Johnny, as this track describes his lonesome death) which returns throughout the song, whilst Twin Peaks reverbed guitar and shimmering piano accentuate the spooked nature of the narrative. Another sonnet from the shadows; Johnny Greenwood would give his right arm to come up with something as squelchy, haunted and downright atmospheric as this. 'Bunny Girl' is a towering, analogue waltz, a fairground ride to hell. Keyboards emulate a Stranglers 'Waltz In Black' mood, a sinister and doomed carousel that carries Manga's voice towards the coda with its waterfall of piano notes and vintage style synths washing over the grief inherent in the song. This is a hugely emotive album, clearly inspired by events in the artist’s life as well as the aforementioned post-apocalyptic narrative. Fans of Steven Wilson's solo work and Porcupine Tree will find much to love here; a multitude of musical twists and turns and a real, broken heart beating at the source of these songs.
'The Blue Scrawl', this listener’s stand out track on the album, is a string drenched perfectly formed piece of tension, grandiose ambition, prog textures and epic vocals. Echoes of Nick Grey's seminal 'Thieves Among Thorns' abound here; there is a similar late night air of dread and anguish and equally perfect paring of musical electronics and organics. 'King Of Tarts' heads further into Coil/twisted ‘Kid A’ glitch territory with backwards tapes and sound effects accentuating the collapse of a relationship whilst 'His Side', with its percussive guitar and Mike Garson style discordant piano is truly disturbing. 'Black Pop Caucasian Vampire Blues' is sky-scraping, Manga's voice resplendent over the tension of the piano and the treated strings. It is a hold your breath moment. 'Celebration of Wounds' follows in the same vein, more dread filled perhaps but just as beautifully wrought. These are songs for the darkest part of the night on the coldest day of the year. Beats enter, heightening the drama that fuels the song and adding an urgency; this music should really be scoring some post-apocalyptic widescreen cinematic experience, World War Z if it had been more arthouse and less Brad Pitt blockbuster. In fact, consider this an alternate soundtrack to Danny Boyle's '28 Days Later'. 'Fag Trucker' is a Floydian 'Welcome To The Machine' style stomp; percussive machinery and metallic but fluid guitar stalking the track. Indeed there is something of Water's Floyd in Manga Bros; nakedly tormented and emotionally bare, backed by a symphony of massively inventive music designed to create an atmosphere and mood as much as hit the right notes. Returning to the apocalyptic storyline 'Z -The Shiva Palimpsest' offers a glimmer of light and hope, albeit amongst those persistent shadows. The most incredible guitar lines burst between the verses; Gilmouresque and hugely affecting. Next up, 'Black Guitar's spectral piano, orchestral sweep of electronica and psych guitar explosions remind one of Ulver's recent ‘Messes I.X-VI.X’, a requiem mass of dramatics and sinister manipulation of sound and inner torment.
'Dead Riff’s haunted choir is a gnarled gospel; Manga's broken vocals here reminiscent of grunge bluesman Mark Lanegan. The ambition present in this music is immediately obvious; this is not lo-fi but is music that yearns for the epic, the momentous and for the emotional and heartfelt connection with the listener. 'Z- The Last Ghost Story', its melancholy piano glistening and cascading across the fallout drenched burnt, grey landscape, is a charred autumnal lament. The album closes with 'Black Midi, Black Rain', a downpour of electronics thundering upon the speakers before a scratching sound suddenly enters and ends. A ghostly end to a haunted house of an album. The listener is left dazed; the scope and breadth of the story arc and the creative overwhelm of Manga Bros is not your average listen.
This album is not like anything else you will hear. Indeed, how to describe this music leaves all descriptions both relevant and redundant. Prog, electronica, rock, psych, conceptual; all feature but fall short of describing the sheer experience of this music. And 'Soalcoalblack' is an experience; a shattering, affecting, uplifting and haunting one at that. This is a headphones on, lights dimmed kind of album. What are you waiting for?
The Sound of Confusion
Album Review: Slowburnblue (Director’s Cut) by MANGABROS
Article by KevW
The turn of the century can be looked at as a time when the word "experimental" perhaps meant more than it does now in terms of the music world. Sampling and production-based music had been around for a long time, but when the public became bored of listening to lads with guitars, the UK alternative music scene appeared to open up and allow people who were really pushing boundaries in that area to get genuine attention. Squarepusher, Aphex Twin, DJ Shadow and many others were winning more coverage than was perhaps expected. People wanted something genuinely new. It was in 2000 that MANGABROS released 'Slowburnblue', but this new 'Director's Cut' includes twice as many tracks as the initial release, and so it can almost be looked at as a new album. Even though you know these tracks are fifteen years old, they still sound cutting-edge, innovative and futuristic.
From the opening robotic voice that ushers in '(test one)' it becomes fairly clear this isn't going to be an easy listen, but it could be an incredibly interesting one. The sparse, skeletal electronic beats and bloops feel cold and unwelcoming. Almost challenging even. But this record is a real patchwork of ideas; it's schizophrenic, nocturnal, industrial, warped and confusing, but that's the whole point. Often Kafkaesque, 'Slowburnblue' plays tricks with your mind, and often seems as though it doesn't know where it's going to turn next anymore than you do. The ten-minute plus 'Musical Chairs [Zoot Mix]' switches from dubby, almost danceable beats to more hectic drum and bass as it continues, with an eerie voice hiding somewhere in the darkness. The heavy, trip-hop influenced 'Weissmuller' (which presumably, because of the vocal cry at the start and the lyrics, is named after Johnny Weissmuller, famed for playing Tarzan) is more conventional (ish), but it's still spooky and has the same mysterious vocal lurking in the mix, although 'Weissmuller [Club Sonic Scat Mix]' is a touch lighter in tone and not unlike something Unkle, or even Primal Scream at their most experimental, may have come up with.
'Mondo Porno' maybe takes this lightness a little further with the introduction of piano, and a slightly gravelly vocal is this time pushed more to the front, sounding a little like a drunken Tom Waits with more soul. The title may suggest something erotic, but the just plain lewd backing to 'King Of Tarts (Pink Bordello Piano Version)' is far more likely to be handed a radio ban, and it shows that growling voice getting louder as the album goes on, and the sad but oddly pretty 'Reeperbahn' reflects this even more. However, this trend is broken by the surprisingly lovely, female-led 'Stoma (Jade Manga Vocal Mix)'. It doesn't take long for the strange and unsettling to reappear though, and the entire album is peppered with ideas that seem to have formed themselves rather than been made by human hands. 'Black Guitar (t's vibrating bed mix)' is atmospheric and could be called dreamlike, but only if the dream is a nightmare, as garbled sounds seem to collapse in on each other and guitar scree occasionally chimes in. Even more atmospheric, bordering on ambient, is 'drumless (reprise)'. If it's disjointed, disturbed and otherworldly tracks that you're after then there are plenty among the sixteen songs here, and one of the best is 'Sequel Ate My Guitar', where blues is contorted into a slow-motion catastrophe of an acid-trip. And you wouldn't really expect something called 'Motorcycledeathsong' to be sweetness and light, but it is relatively upbeat.
Overall, 'Slowburnblue (Director's Cut)' is a fascinating melee of noise that occasionally feels as though it's being beamed down by a waiting alien invasion in an attempt to withdraw your mind from reality and make you easier to control. It's not polite, it's not an easy ride, and to some people it will be nothing more than a grating racket. But if you want to test the boundaries of your taste and hear sounds that, even after a decade and a half, will push your own limits (in much the same way as MANGABROS must have pushed their limits during its creation), the this is a twisted melting pot that's capable of allowing that to happen. Dive in, but don't necessarily expect to come out with your faculties intact.
Scarecrowmusings: Jessica Pink posits why Deepfleshredmars is worth further probing
From the Squelching, glitch n breaks/experimental dance-rock confessional of ‘z’ {Ummm} to the more Electrofunk vibes of ManJunk’s ‘Rock n Roll part 3’ . MangaBros (and the various guises/collabs they do) are constantly picking away at the sores of reality and fiction, blurring words and concepts into worlds they explore through various sonic sources and lyrical twistings.
In just a few tracks it veers from ’Kowalczyk’ with pure beat poetry layered over collapsing free jazz glitch-hop, leading into machine like industrial stompings of ‘Doolally’ and ambient-rock wasteland croonings of the Comfort Within Noise mix of ‘White Mice in a Red Maze’ (which even then pulls some electronica infusions into its soundscape)
Never afraid of the textures, themes or sounds used. Mangabros will always take you on a journey… Be that a dancefloor stomp orientated ‘Rev Lazarus’ or ‘Sexgodmutation’ Or, Pained uncomfortable ballad of 'z' {Salamander in a Burning Room} / ‘The Last Days of Testosterone’
Pop structurings scorched with molotov cocktails.
Experimental fusions of forgotten tunes.
Do check them out.
Jessica Grant (Scarecrowmusings) http://scarecrowmusing.blogspot.co.uk/2018/02/all-rights-black-box-recordings-from.html