Johnny Coley – Antique Sadness (Sweet Wreath)

Antique Sadness is the debut LP from the Alabama-based poet and performer, Johnny Coley, who – if I’m reading the generous booklet that comes with this album correctly – has been publishing chapbooks, performing, and improvising since the 1970’s. Recorded over three sessions in 2018 with different combinations of musicians who create a pleasingly odd and otherworldly array of cosmic jugband improv, Coley spins his colorful tales of everyday southern living with a keen eye for the surrealistic. “Teenage Lipstick Horses” is a particularly lively jaunt wherein we learn of a group of guests arriving at a gathering with “some good shit” which in this case includes peaches, green beans, cherry bombs, and a case of beer. Coley proceeds with “We were throwing those cherry bombs and it made those horses jump. Those some jumping horses!” Other tracks like “House I was Born” have an interesting contrast between the more dreamy, reflective tone of the backing music and Coley’s amusing turn of phrase, all of which is elevated by his unique cadence that falls somewhere between Robert Ashley, David Wojnarowicz, and Intersystems. Pretty wild that it’s taken so many years for Coley to have recorded an album like this, as Antique Sadness displays a type of southern avant psychedelia that I could see a number of ‘heads’ getting behind.

Matthew Himes – Hemlock & Bergamot (Home & Garden)

Further north here in Minnesota, Matthew Himes is creating his own brand of backwoods psychedelia. After spending the past decade burrowing into his Mole Hole of darkened electronics and rickety tape gunk, Himes offers up Hemlock & Bergamot, his first song-based album since the days of Shep & Me and his first proper full-length under his given name. The general tone here is more dreamtime folk than I recall Shep sounding like, as airy synths, electronics, and harmonium (?) hover around his slowly unfolding guitar and piano melodies, or in the case of “Always in the Morning” provide the general structure for the song itself. There’s a sad beauty to tracks like “I Say No” that, as the kids say, hits all the “feels” à la Daniel Johnston circa 1990. While I’m guessing that this release was born out of some heavy circumstances, the songs aren’t overburdened with a sense of despondency, Himes conveys a “chug along” resilience and optimism that develops as the album unfolds. It’s a really strong return to songwriting that sounds like a fresh new chapter for Himes. I should also clarify from the last DitB installment that the Home & Garden label that this release comes out on is co-run by Matthew Himes and Jason Millard. Himes is the sole proprietor of Lighten Up Sounds. 

Dogs Bite Back – Back? Forward! ([No Name] / White Paper)

I grabbed this CD out of the current listening pile on account of the involvement of Ilia Belorukov, whose name and music I was at least somewhat familiar with through his recent collaborative releases on labels like Astral Spirits, Tanuki, and Notice Recordings. Dogs Bite Back are a Russian free improv trio that features Konstantin Samolovov (on drums, objects, and voice recorder), Dmitriy Lapshin (on bass guitar & effects pedals), and Belorukov (on synthesizer & feedback). The instrumentation is worth noting here as this is free improv that squiggles and fries like an electric eel trapped in your soggy swim trunks. The drums and bass skitter and dance around each other and occasionally interlock into what could loosely be described as a “groove” if your signposts for that are The Magic Band as opposed to The J.B.’s. The interplay is lively and playful, but the trio knows when to dial it back too. Wild and invigorating sounds. This is everything a band that calls itself Dogs Bite Back should sound like. 

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