Bugland by No Joy
Clearly sympatico at the time of collaborating, Fire-Toolz and No Joy (Jasamine White-Gluz) had both resituated to secluded woodsy milieus prior to the “Bugland seshies”, as I now name the historic pairing. Together, they created an aural equivalent of a late 1980 I-d magazine front and back cover, with a non-problematic National Geographic hiding within. Fire-Toolz sums it up: “The collaboration really felt limitless. I didn't have to adhere to a certain vision in a way that made me feel like I couldn't be Fire-Toolz. I could easily relate to this album because Jasamine and I liked a lot of the same music, and I was able to be creative in ways that were freeing as if I was making my own album. “
Both spent days driving through on empty rural highways listening to the mixes, and it reflects in the final product. With an open ear, many “influence eggs” can be detected by the listener. Garbage Dream House is Zooropian without any of U2’s ego baggage. Seven-minute closing track Jelly Meadow Bright even manages to meld Stooges’ Fun House out of control saxophone with the chill buoyancy of a high-end spa. Touching on respected, familiar genres and sounds while attempting to advance one’s own isn’t easy but Bugland manages to. What genre is it anyway? Is it even shoegaze when it could live happily on a shelf next to Boards of Canada and Autechre? The right answer is ‘yes’. What a lovely shelf ‘twould be as well. A marble shelf, with cyberpunk elements. Bugland‘s a testament to White-Gluz’s evolution and her ability to channel a wide variety of tastes into something cohesive that can descend into fine-tuned chaos, then out of that chaos with ease.
Tracklist
| 1. | Garbage Dream House | 5:17 |
| 2. | Bugland | 2:29 |
| 3. | Bits | 3:39 |
| 4. | Save the Lobsters | 4:46 |
| 5. | My Crud Princess | 3:14 |
| 6. | Bather in the Bloodcells | 2:55 |
| 7. | I hate that I forget what you look like | 3:31 |
| 8. | Jelly Meadow Bright (feat. Fire-Toolz) | 7:51 |
Videos
Credits
All songs Co-Produced by No Joy & Fire-Toolz
Mixed by Angel Marcloid, Angel Hair Audio
Mastered by Heba Kadry, NYC
Artwork photographed by Mathieu Fortin
Packaging by Jeremy Dabrowski
UK / EU via Sonic Cathedral
ROW via Hand Drawn Dracula
License
All rights reserved.
Since first arriving on the scene in 2009 with blistering inversions of shoegaze, Montreal’s No Joy has always found formidable ways to reinvent itself. Now solely composed of musician Jasamine White-Gluz, No Joy has evolved over four studio albums and five EPs, defying expectation and genre, and cementing itself as something rare: a band without a category.