Horse Lords / Common Task, The
Album: Common Task, The   Collection:General
Artist:Horse Lords   Added:Mar 2020
Label:Northern Spy Records  

A-File Activity
Add Date: 2020-08-17 Pull Date: 2020-10-19

Recent Airplay
1. Apr 07, 2021: Some Songs Without Words
People's Park
4. Aug 27, 2020: Magnetized Toner
Against Gravity
2. Mar 11, 2021: Rebroadcast: Magnetized Toner
Against Gravity
5. May 07, 2020: Stranded at Settembrini's
Against Gravity
3. Feb 04, 2021: Stranded at Settembrini's (2020 in Review IV)
Fanfare for Effective Freedom

Album Review
DJ Away
Reviewed 2020-04-01
Microtonal sci-fi rock jams from Baltimore. Guitar/saxophone/bass/drums, playing with such pointillistic precision that it's sometimes hard to recognize this as a rock band. (The first time I heard their music, I thought it was Omar Souleyman.) Surprisingly funky and danceable, with lots of Steve Reich-esque rhythmic phasing. Totally sick. Also RIYL Tortoise, LCD Soundsystem, Trans Am, Mdou Moctar, Sun Ra, Richard Pinhas. Favorites: 1, 2, 4. No words, no FCCs.

1. *(7:22)—Starts slow and simple, quickly picks up in complexity and speed, with head-spinning rhythmic shifts in an out of unison. Starts rocking harder at the halfway point, goes kinda punk near the end.
2. *(7:49)—Mid-tempo krautrock start, again picks up quickly. High, wild processed sax. Choppy Glenn Branca vibe at points. Intense synth finish.
3. (3:04)—Bagpipes! Then heavily processed bagpipes, atonal synth, and back to bagpipes.
4. *(4:21)—Medium-fast. Starts with a spacey techno vibe. Desert blues riffs, cowbell. Strange percussive textures.
5. (18:39)—Starts as a more abstract sound piece: distant voices at a show, droning violin and voice, glitchy effects. Drums and guitar enter at seven minutes, and a mid-tempo krautrock jam with the violin and voice begins and remains steady until the droning, atonal final few minutes.

Track Listing
1. Fanfare for Effective Freedom   3. The Radiant City
2. Against Gravity   4. People's Park
  5. Integral Accident