Montgomery, Roy / R M H Q
Album: R M H Q   Collection:General
Artist:Montgomery, Roy   Added:Mar 2018
Label:Grapefruit  

A-File Activity
Add Date: 2018-03-10 Pull Date: 2018-05-13
Week Ending: May 13 Apr 29 Apr 8 Apr 1 Mar 25 Mar 18
Airplays: 2 1 2 2 2 1

Recent Airplay
1. Apr 27, 2022: Hot Probs (rebroadcast from Mar 27, 2018)
You Always Get What You Deserve
4. May 12, 2018: Music Casserole
10538 Overdrive, Pipeline
2. Feb 21, 2022: Sound Landscapes (rebroadcast from Mar 15, 2018)
Dear Future Loser
5. Apr 28, 2018: Old Fart at Play
Six Guitar Salute To Peter Gutteridge
3. May 12, 2018: Radiant Airwaves
Dear Future Loser
6. Apr 05, 2018: Lucid Lightning: Power Hour
Another David Lynch Thanks, No Ice

Album Review
Be Sharp
Reviewed 2018-03-07
POST ROCK / LO FI / ATMOSPHERIC

Versatile guitarist-composer Roy Montgomery is known for several New Zealand post-rock groups in the 80s and for mostly solo work in the 90s and early aughts. Not heard from much in recent years, he bursts back onto the scene now with this 4 CD package. Each disc is essentially a different album with its own theme.


Disc 1: Tropic of Anodyne.
Montgomery sings only on this disc with a deep, sleepy baritone voice. The sound is a somber, psych folk. We’re talking about (almost) songs with downer, gloomy lyrics.
No FCC issues.

1 Mid-slow. Layered elec guitars. Gloomy vocal, almost monotone. Foggy mix. (6:02)
2 * Slow. Low & gloomy again, but a bit more melodic, sung to mostly strummed rhythm guitars. Lead solo guitar in last two minutes. (5:56)
3 ** Slow. Parody (and/or reply) to the Rolling Stone’s “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.” Low growl with rhythm guitar strumming. A short lead guitar solo. (4:39)
4 Very slow. Painful vocal dredges the bottom of his physical range. (5:29)
5 ** Slow. Psych folk ballad a la Leonard Cohen. Deep emotion comes through. (4:39)
6 Slow. Instrumental intro. Somber vocal: down & out, pessimistic sentiments. (5:12)
7 * Slow. A jilted lover’s sad lament. Almost normal song form. Interwoven guitars. (6:00)
8 Very slow. Exceptionally gloomy. “The sun sets on a day from hell.” (5:28)


Disc 2: Darkmotif Dancehall
Loud, heavy electric guitar ambience. Each track a world of dark sound. No singing.

(9) 1 Short prelude. Oppressive like industrial machinery. Monotone. Sudden end. (1:48)
(10) 2 ** Mid-tempo. Cyclic descending chord progression. An enveloping world of cymbals. Powerful and compelling. (6:51)
(11) 3 * Mid-fast. Emerges from quiet blur. Steady crescendo; urgent rhythm. Repeated melodic theme atop a deep, dark foundation. (4:54)
(12) 4 *** Mid-tempo. Drum machine intro, add a bass, add rhythm guitar. Grow this into a tidal wave of sound. Finally add a lead guitar. Awesome. (7:26)
(13) 5 Mid-tempo. Starts loud instantly. Heavy rhythm guitar & drums. About four bars repeated forever. Little development. (4:08)
(14) 6 Mid-fast. A little less loud than the last one. Many layers, mostly rhythm. (6:00)
(15) 7 Mid-tempo. Takes a moment, then boom! Layers of rhythm plus high lead part. (5:27)
(16) 8 *** Fades in to continue #7. That high lead part develops into a soaring melody. The title seems to suggest Bowie, and the sound surely harkens to Bowie/Eno in their Berlin period. Gorgeous symphonic sound. First rate instrumental rock. (6:07)
(17) 9 An echo of track #1 to bookend the set. Harsh industrial noises. (1:07)


Disc 3: Bender
Varying cinematic moods. Electric guitars, bass guitar, effects processors. No singing.

(18) 1 * Slow. Strummed guitars. Like incidental music in a Western movie. Anxious. (3:03)
(19) 2 Mid-slow. Three strums, pick a broken chord, repeat, repeat, repeat. Hypnotic. (6:11)
(20) 3 * Mid-tempo. Deep, low drone. But a semi-cheery melody on top. A bit eerie. (5:53)
(21) 4 Very slow. Deep bass drone. Strummed chords. Picked arpeggios. SciFi noise. (5:18)
(22) 5 Very slow. Slowly strummed chords with tons of reverb & sustain. Fade out. (3:14)
(23) 6 ** Mid-slow. Intriguing orchestral effects. Like a dramatic movie soundtrack. (7:34)
(24) 7 Slow. Many layers from deep bottom to treble descant. Very lo-fi. Disturbing. (5:11)
(25) 8 Mid-tempo. Bouncy rhythm, no melody. Guitars & drum machine with effects. (6:25)


Disc 4: Transient Global Amnesia
Spacy, experimental head-tripping stuff. Varying moods & tones. Singing only in #5.
No FCC issues

(26) 1 (First 10 sec is dead quiet) Slow. Liquidy guitar tone. Mysterious & odd. (4:01)
(27) 2 * Mid-tempo. Surprisingly bouncy, upbeat, sunny. Jangly tone. (10:47)
(28) 3 (12 sec of silence) Very slow. Fade in slowly from very quiet. Psychedelic slide guitar. Sleepy drugged-out headphone candy. (4:17)
(29) 4 Slow, quiet. Gently strummed chords. Lots of sustain & fog. (4:09)
(30) 5 Slow. For 5 mins, multiple tracks of strummed guitars establish a lazy, somewhat sad mood. Then slowly mix in (but never to the front) intriguing, non-verbal, operatic-style singing by Emma Johnston, an experimental-theater singer in NZ. Deep, moving. (20:03)

Track Listing
1. Tropic Of Anodyne   16. Slow Heroes
2. Dear Future Loser   17. Rough Landing
3. You Always Get What You Deserve   18. Ten Beers With Five Bears At Two Guns, Arizona
4. I Was A Distant Star   19. I.O.U. Otto
5. Seven Faded Dreams   20. Pipeline
6. If And Only If   21. And Later We Looked Up At The Stars
7. Hanging Melody   22. A Guitar Called Boomslang
8. As The Sun Sets   23. Another David Lynch Thanks, No Ice
9. Rough Take-Off   24. Chasing Monica Vitti
10. 10538 Overdrive   25. Cocktails With Can
11. Little Big Star   26. Otherness
12. Dazed Pig Dreamhome Slide   27. Riding
13. At The Gogol Au Go Go   28. Last Alarm
14. Six Guitar Salute To Peter Gutteridge   29. Unshore
15. Making Love In A Blast Furnace   30. Weathering Mortality