Avant Duel
Beyond Human
Independent (2012)
Spaceman comes to Earth, fronts rock band!It sounds like it might be a Weekly World News headline or the subplot to a ‘60s-era Godzilla film, yet this is allegedly what happened when, in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, Von LMO, claiming to have been from the planet Strazar, rose to prominence in NYC’s no wave music scene. Following the release of 1981’s well-regarded Future Language, LMO disappeared from the music scene for more than a decade before returning with 1994’s Cosmic Interception, a more punk-oriented album that contained alternate recordings of tracks from his debut album along with a few new ones (including two with keyboardist and audio engineer Otto von Ruggins). After 1996’s Red Resistor, an album that was at times noisier and more experimental than his earlier work, LMO dropped off the radar again, only to reemerge in 2010 to form Avant Duel in collaboration with von Ruggins.2012’s Beyond Human marked the first release from Avant Duel, and it stands as a worthwhile continuation of LMO’s unique brand of music. Though in the early days (and especially on the several live recordings that are out there, Live Max’s 1979 being my favorite), LMO almost came across as … Read more
The Violet Mindfield
Hello Darling
Independent (2019)
While music groups have tried to emulate the sounds of the past in various ways, this is perhaps nowhere more … Read more
Rivers Edge
The Runaround
Let’s Pretend Records/Dead Broke Rekerds (2019)
Runaround is the third release I’ve heard from Rivers Edge, and besides feeling like a nice metaphoric album title for … Read more
Rational Anthem
It’s Only Permanent
A-F (2019)
It’s been a long time since the last Rational Anthem record, Emotionally Unavailable in 2014. The band is still similar … Read more
