Good, Great or Garbage: "Caroline" by Caroline & "Crease" by Kee Avil
The show that talks about stuff on purpose is back with a Good, Great or Garbage double feature! This time around, we're discussing two challenging and fascinating recent releases, the self-titled debut album from UK-based musical collective Caroline and Crease, the first full-length work from Canadian experimental musician Vicky Mettler under the moniker Kee Avil. You may recall a short time ago we hosted a poll for Crease on the blog, asking you listeners whether Kee Avil's formidable album deserved a place in the esteemed TRAPPO Essentials Can(n)on, and the results are in! So does Crease make the cut? Is Caroline good enough for the Can(n)on? Tune in to find out! You can listen below, or find us on Apple, Google, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, Spotify and Anchor. So choose your own adventure and stare into the abyss with TRAPPO...
Join the conversation! Leave a comment here on the blog and tell us what you think of these two records, and don't forget to suggest topics for future episodes! After all, Crease was suggested to us by a listener not too long ago on this very blog, so we definitely take all of your suggestions very seriously. You can also send us an email if you're feeling more verbose, which we always appreciate. And don't forget to visit our official Instagram feed for the complete TRAPPO experience.
Thanks for listening!
I just can’t get behind either of these picks, and I really tried. Caroline has the bones of something good, but it all just tends to meander so much, I would say it’s lost the plot but I don’t think it was ever even looking for the plot. Mostly it’s frustrating for me to listen to, and that’s not a very fun experience. And maybe Crease had the bones of real music at some point, but they’ve been mostly devoured by some monster and replaced with tension and noise and not much else. You call it experimental, and it sounds like an experiment gone wrong to me. Maybe I’m just into more conventional music. I guess I’m boring, but some of this stuff just doesn’t come together in my brain.
ReplyDeleteI can’t believe Caroline didn’t make it into the canon. It’s so good, so unusual and interesting. That’s a disappointment. And how did so many people turn out to vote FOR the Kee Avil album? Did these people actually listen to the music? Why didn’t you let us vote for Caroline, too? That seems fair. How is Crease in the canon when Caroline isn’t? What’s the world coming to?
ReplyDeleteCaroline is too improv-heavy the music just wanders around and tends to lose the plot from time to time. It’s not bad by any stretch, but it misses the mark a little too often. Caroline wasn’t put up for a vote because they agreed to put some songs from the record on the mixtape. They disagreed on whether or not Crease should be in the canon, and they listed a poll a while back to give us the deciding vote. Maybe it’s just an experiment or maybe it’ll become an ongoing tiebreaker thing, but either way that stuff was basically explained in the episode. They don’t have to let anybody else vote for anything. It’s their show. Caroline’s not in the canon. You’re just going to have to deal with that.
DeleteI've heard a pair of EPs by a young, emerging artist named Sarah Kinsley that I wanted to bring to your attention. They're called "The King" and "Cypress" and they're immaculately crafted collections of heady indie pop that come and go quickly yet leave a lasting impression. She's so young and so talented, I can't wait to see how she evolves as an artist over the years to come.
ReplyDeleteListening to the creases is almost an experience of unpleasant experience and the music is not ready for the next time I listened. It brings bad images to the mind that are unclean and must be removed through prayer. I deny the sinner key Abel and her unholy melody that masks the faces of EVIL and there is no place for such things in the world of a God-fearing man. Shame is upon you for venerating this filth and your answer for these sins awaits you in the Next Life. Believe my words you are destined for the lake of FIRE and the sinner key Abel will burn with all good intentions in the pit. Enjoy your rewards in HELL sinners.
ReplyDeleteCaroline mostly just makes me drowsy. Crease fills me with paranoia. It's like all the worst aspects of smoking weed without the benefit of the high itself, so I'm out. Maybe if I run out of melatonin and need a quick fix I'll pop Caroline into the mix on my "Sleep Mix" but otherwise I'm good. It's like a glass of warm milk before bed. Crease is just a glass of curdled milk that might also have blood in it, and nobody wants to drink that.
ReplyDeleteParticle board for the soul, gentlemen!
Three fingers of stout whiskey and let's all toast to absent friends.
Fucking period blood!
DeleteI don’t know what that fucking lunatic is rambling about, but I will sing the praises of Crease all the way to Hell, and I think I could make the Devil a fan of Kee Avil if I have the chance. I bought the vinyl after listening to the episode and I’ve given it a few late night spins, just to give myself the absolute fucking creeps during a few of my own long dark nights of the soul. We’re so blessed to be living in a world where artists like these (and I’m including Caroline, because that shit’s grown on me and shame on you for not canonizing that album) are free to make their unusual and bizarre music and the internet allows people all over the world who will never meet face-to-face to share these phenomenal experiences.
ReplyDeleteKEEP TRAPPO WEIRD!
Why is the band called Caroline? Does anybody know? Did they pick the name out of a hat? I’m serious. What’s the point of the name? That first song is like a musical laxative.
ReplyDeleteReturn Of The Living Dead day is July 3rd, maybe you guys could take a look at this cult classic soon!
ReplyDeleteI've been enjoying Caroline a lot since I listened to the episode last week. The music's good for wandering around my neighborhood and seeing where my feet take me. It takes me on a journey even if I'm staying in my recliner drinking some cheep beer, so I'm good either way, really. It's just boundlessly creative, the kind of music that makes you feel like the sky's the limit when you discover it however you can. Crease puts me in a bad head space. I don't mean that as a negative, because I'm actually praising the music, but I can't revisit it very often, because it just fucks with my head, and I'm not often in the mood for that. I think that's what Kee Avil's trying to do with the music anyway, so great job on making me feel like I'm in a waking nightmare when I listen to your record. The music is beautiful and heavy and cruel and I love it, but I won't be keeping this maybe masterpiece in heavy rotation for the sake of my own mental well being.
ReplyDeleteI've got a few recent music recommendations for you mo-fo's, so listen up because I know what I'm talking about. You can trust your uncle Joyful. First up is "Remember The Night" from Junatime. It's a pseudo-throwback to the glorious excess of '80s synth pop wonderment with some lovely vocals and a real sense of fun throughout that keeps the music from feeling like a cheap and soulless "homage" to that mystical decade when it seemed like any group of dedicated weirdoes with thrift store fashions and a used mellotron could make a platinum record. Lastly is "The Blue Hour" by Suzanne Sheer. Sheer's vocal prowess is on full display as she presides over a debut record that is hard to quantify. Is it bluesy pop, R&B, dream pop, or all of these things? Or is it none of these things? I don't know. But I do know that it's fantastic music that touched me in my special place under the bleachers, and now we're going steady and I want everybody to know this.
Thanks for trapping, trappers. Keep up the good work, and don't ever change.
Good, Great or Garbage? The eternal question. And the answer is "of course", because we're all just trying to get through the day, trying to make a meaningful connection, and maybe listen to some cool tunes. And cool tunes abound in this latest episode, because the picks are On Point! I listen to the TRAPPO because I like discovering new music, and you goons keep shoving new music unto my ear holes and I keep liking it. Nilufer Yanya, MATTIE, Chrystabell, Lyra Pramuk, and now this one-two punch of "Hell Yes". I like it, and I want more, so keep doing this, please.
ReplyDeleteI didn't vote in the poll you posted a few weeks ago because that stuff was all too mainstream. I know about St. Vincent and Danny Elfman and I'm already a fan of Blood Red Shoes. I don't want to denigrate the music you threw out there, because it's all really damned good, but the off-beat stuff you've introduced me to matters so much more than being the 10,000 podcast to talk about MASSEDUCTION. Who's talking about Caroline right now? There's not a lot of news out there if you look for it. They're out there doing their thing, but most mainstream outlets would have no idea who they were if you brought them up.
And there's even less in regards to Crease out there, which should be criminal because this record feels like it emerged fully formed from the mind of a true artist and is now worming its way through my subconscious mind, a fatal seduction from an alluring succubus. Your astute observation that Okra Ooze sounds like its a story being told from the perspective of a haunted house blew me away. The house is alive and it's playing a game and the house always wins. Fuck me, that's cool. Somebody needs to make this movie and call it Okra Ooze and give Vicky Mettler a story credit because she's earned it.
Because I want to return the favor, here's a recommendation from me to you, that guy who has lurked on this blog since December but is only deigning to post six months later. Let's to the Time Wharp again! And no, I did not misspell Wharp because that's the name of Brooklyn artist Kaye Loggins' alter-ego, and her first full album, "Spiro World" dropped today! It's hot off the press and burning through my soul at a breakneck pace as I type these words, and I want you fine gentlemen to share the beauty and grace of "Spiro World", an album that defies description with such a deft touch that you'd think you were being fondled by a French mime. It's some kind of chill, electronic trip that makes you want to drop some LSD and caress the face of an indifferent God as you drown in color and sensation.
I don't know. I think it's pretty cool. I enjoy the show and want to share a little something with you folks, so enjoy it. Or don't. Either way, I'll keep listening to the show, and to echo the sentiment of the esteemed Max Power: KEEP TRAPPO WEIRD
Crease is music that explores liminal spaces, a great serpent uncoiling between the folds of your brain, beauty and terror, decay and desolation. It’s a kind of poetry for the damned, and it fills my withered heart with joy. To hell with the fools who can’t embrace the horror. We know better, friends.
ReplyDeleteAnd Caroline is pretty good, too.