Music

Breadwoman rises again

by Jesse Locke

Photo: Ray Zone

No Rest for the Obsessed is a column spotlighting some of the most exciting new music AUX Editor Jesse Locke finds each week. It began in 2010 for Calgary’s dearly departed alt-weekly FFWD, and takes its name from a Lightning Bolt song.

Anna Homler and Steve Moshier – Breadwoman & Other Tales

In the early 1980s, Los Angeles performance artist Anna Homler put a loaf on her face and became the elderly Breadwoman, singing in an imaginary tongue. Homler had previously appeared as a vocalist on the series of Café Del Mar chillout CDs, but for this project she emerged from the oven with something otherworldly.

Backed up by the swelling and skittering soundscapes of Liquid Skin Ensemble founder Steve Moshier, the songs of the Breadwoman are as beautifully eerie as alien folk tales.

Unstoppable archival label RVNG Intl. (responsible for last year’s standout Savant) serve up the new collection Breadwoman & Other Tales along with the documentary Tales & Trails.

Pelada – Digital EP

Pelada is the savage duo of Spanish vocalist Chris Vargas and acidic electronic producer Tobias Rochman. The gut-punching pulsations of their Digital EP arrived last month via Rochman’s label New, and are now followed up with a remix from Destruction Unit offshoot Jock Club.

Recorded with the help of Pierre Guerineau from Montreal minimal wavers Essaie Pas, it’s easy to make comparisons to language-blurring electronic acts of the past like Liaisons Dangereuses, but Pelada bring a punk urgency that sounds like 2016.

Lantern – “Happy”

The trio once called “the best band in Philadelphia” (though its members are originally from Montreal via Halifax and Connecticut via Maine) are back with the new album Black Highways and Green Garden Roads.

Shaving off much of the rock ‘n’ roll fuzz of previous releases, Lantern‘s video for “Happy” is the dreamy soft-focus accompaniment to their ‘verbed-out tone zone in awe of the 1960s Wall of Sound. Lantern have now inched closer to the airtight pop productions of their Fixture Records labelmates Freelove Fenner.

The Montreal imprint issues a cassette version on February 19 (hear two more songs here) with a vinyl release from Sophomore Lounge.

Man Made Hill / Anunnaki Jugglers – Split Cassette

Relentless mutant funk machine Randy Gagne (a.k.a. Man Made Hill) returns with another split side. This six-song set includes his live classic “Cool Babies” and a deconstructed cover of John Stewart’s late ’70s lite-rock radio staple “Gold” (featuring Stevie Nicks).

Anunnaki Jugglers’ contribution to the flip is a mind-scrambling 15-minute megamix featuring samples of everything from Missy Elliott to Metallica, Olivia Newton John to Smegma. Grip a tape from Montreal’s Sub Jam Recordings.