YES! It's about time this was reissued! A cult metal fave, this debut record from San Francisco underground true metal masters Brocas Helm was originally released on LP by a label called First Strike back in 1984. The only cd edition of this was released in Germany long, long ago and is just as tough to find as the vinyl itself, not to mention that it was a budget release without even a track listing in the cd booklet, just a catalog of other cd reissues by various '80s contemporaries of Brocas Helm like Iron Angel, Trouble, Leatherwolf, Tokyo Blade, and Wendy O. Williams! Now, more than 20 years after its first appearance, here's a much more reverently presented cd reissue complete with five bonus tracks (from their 1983 Into Battle demo) and, better yet, a bonus live mpeg video of the band (with 2 guitar lineup) performing Allan's favorite Brocas Helm track, "Ravenwreck", live at the Old Waldorf in San Francisco in '83, in front of a crowd of raging 'bangers. About the only thing to complain about this reissue is that for some dumb reason they've put some new and not so great cover art on the front, with the album's original (and to be fair, also not so great) art only included inside the booklet, thumbnail sized...why??
But that hardly matters, what's important is that now a new generation of metal fans can hear why this band is mentioned alongside the legendary likes of Cirith Ungol and Manilla Road (if you're wondering who those bands are, well, just think Iron Maiden but way more obscure).
Into Battle is a proud and powerful album of hyperkinetic epicks. It's fantasy metal that pounds beers and gobbles acid and loves to rock and roll, weaving in psychedelic elements as well. The songs are about wizards and warriors, but also with lyrics actually about guitars and amplifiers too! Definitely inspired by the NWOBHM and also '70s hard rock like Thin Lizzy, Van Halen, and Riot, Brocas Helm's debut might have catapulted them to commerical success in the '80s metal world if only more people had ever heard it... though the San Francisco Bay Area was a hotbed of metal activity, with Metallica, Exodus, Testament, and many others breaking big, Brocas was perhaps just too eccentric and medieval to make it. Fortunately they never gave up, so the brave and bold can STILL go see these guys play and slay here in San Francisco now and then. They've released two other albums since Into Battle, those being 1988's Black Death (also just reissued on Eat Metal, to be reviewed here next list) and after a sixteen year wait, 2004's Defender Of The Crown! All are brilliant, with Into Battle being both essential for fans and the obvious place to start if you're new to the band. With their galloping tunes, heroic vocals and guitar shred, Brocas Helm are metal incarnate. If you like their spiritual brothers (nephews?) Slough Feg, you'll like Brocas Helm!!
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THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
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Originally released in 2008 by the always impressive Type Records, Peter Broderick's debut album gets a deserved reissue, and sonic update, courtesy of the post-classical imprint Erased Tapes. Broderick has recently gone on to some rather quirky albums of indie-minded songwriting laced with classical idioms and charming bits of electronics. We first came across his work through a collaboration with Machinefabriek, although the dark grandiosity of that album is a considerable detour within Broderick's oeuvre. Entirely instrumental and mostly scored on piano, Float could very well be an ersatz soundtrack to any number of IFC produced films for bittersweet whimsy steeped in unresolved tragedy. There is a lush sentimentality to Broderick's motifs which are occasionally jaunty but often lilting with subtle augmentation from various strings and electronics. At times, he exhibits the orchestrated spaciousness found in the more celebratory hymns of Godspeed! You Black Emperor; but often, there is a hushed delicacy like that found in library music anthologies and '70s film scores alike.
Newest solo offering from Stephen Brodsky, otherwise known as the front man for Radiohead-obsessed metalheads Cave In. While his last solo record was intimate, personal and darkly acoustic, this new one doesn't fare so well. This time around it's a sort of
It's been a weird wild ride for Cave In. But admittedly a ride all of their own making. They began life as a crushing post-metalcore behemoth, easily holding their own alongside such other sonically likeminded bruisers as Cavity, Coalesce and Deadguy. Then the band morphed into a strange arena pop band, ditching much of the heaviness for hooks, much of the downtuned pummel for radio friendly bombast. Metalheads were stunned and seemed to have written off the band completely, but some of us actually dug the new direction. And it really wasn't that big a surprise as the band was often described as Slayer meets Radiohead, so they were just leaning toward the latter, a part of their sound that was present anyway. Sure we missed the Cave-In of old, but heck, who were we to argue with another kick ass pop band? Then after dabbling with a major label, the band returned to their old label with a sound, which while retaining some of their new found poppiness, was definitely a return to form in terms of heaviness.
Now while all this was going on, Cave In frontman Stephen Brodsky was constantly recording on his own, forming side projects, releasing all sorts of distinctly unheavy records, solo and acoustic, poppy and pretty, ostensibly all the stuff he wasn't able to explore in Cave In. And just like with Cave In, we pretty much dug most of what we heard (minus a misstep here and there) so we were pretty excited to hear this disc from Brodsky's new band Stephen Brodsky's Octave Museum. But we weren't prepared for THIS, or to be as totally blown away as we were.
Brodsky's sound here with his Octave Museum is definitely pop, an ultra catchy mix of understated Beatles-esque poppiness and big heavy catchy power pop. Like some strange mix of Radiohead / Muse / Queen / Jellyfish / Big Star / Redd Kross / the Posies... Bombastic and orchestral, epic and expansive at one moment, stripped down and jangly the next. Every song is a pop gem. Brodsky's voice often slips up into a gorgeous falsetto soaring above glorious tangles of crunchy riffs, dense complicated drumming, little flurries of new wave-y FX, wild keening leads, the vocals and the lead guitar often getting all wrapped up in amazing harmonies. There's definitely a sixties vibe, and more specifically some serious Beatles worship, but it seems to be filtered through the brainy quirkiness of XTC, and then sometimes supercharged, the guy was responsible for Until Your Heart Stops after all!
That said, this is NOT metal at all, not really ever HEAVY, it's pure, nearly perfect pop. At it's heaviest, it's a hefty chunk of kick ass power pop, but this record's not really about heavy, it's all about mood and melodies, hooks and harmony...
Fans of old school jangle pop as well as lovers of more modern metallic poppy crush will for sure freak out for this, and any one who digs any of above mentioned bands as well as groups like Sloan, Silver Sun, Ryan Adams, the Jayhawks and other AQ pop faves should definitely check this out... it took us a while to get around to reviewing it but we're so glad we did, it's awesome!
Chris Brokaw's newest full length, his first ever film score, marks a departure from most of the traditional melody and song structures of his past releases, the most recent of which was the rocked up and folked down My Confidante ep. I Was Born But... drifts and swells with Godspeed You Black Emperor style drones punctuated by distortion grit, meditative pauses and loosely unravelling reverbed guitar pluckery. For those curious to see the film for which this music was written, it was made by Brokaw's avant-garde filmmaking friend Roddy Bogawa.
Unlike former Come and Codeine member Chris Brokaw's early solo recordings that were sans singing, on Incredible Love he's opened his mouth to sing his angstful heart right out, including only one instrumental amid his ten vocal songs. That's fine with us, as he's mighty well versed with voice and without. Also although this is far less postrock-y than his past work, and considerably more country rock oriented, he's stacked his decks with many of his old postrock comrades. Bedhead's Matt Kadane, Jeff Godard formerly of Karate, Rodan's Kevin Coultas to name just three. Extra treats includes a cover of Suicide's "I Remember" and a thick insert booklet containing lyrics and accompanying photos for each song which allows you to more thoroughly appreciate Brokaw's skillful way with words (check out the aching tale of "The Information Age").
Someone's got a bee in his bonnet, and we think it's Chris Brokaw! On this fleeting four song EP, he kicks things off with a blood-pumpin' title track. Fired up and angstful emo-style with electric guitars a-blazing, he charges along at the same pace into the second song "1000 MPH", but then turns all contemplative for the ep's second half with two heavyhearted folk numbers. So you can be both 'up' and 'down' with Mr. Brokaw in less than thirteen minutes!
A new solo instrumental album from this former member of not one but two highly lauded and loved indie rock bands Codeine and Come. Oh and we don't wanna overlook the groups he's currently in - The New Year, Consonant, Pullman as well as performing on the road with Evan Dando. Whew, busy guy! Proficient on both guitar and percussion, Mr. Brokaw plays it all on Red Cities. With many layers of guitars - some sinking deep in reverb, others more sparsely raw and crunchy, and others warmly acoustic - the overall sound is a sort of western-tinged post-rock complete with chimes. It frequently brought to mind the wonderful dusty twang of Calexico, but perhaps more rockin' and gritty. And lastly, he covers the Burt Bacharach soft-lovin' hit "The Look Of Love" to boot.
Greetings! This is installment #42 in the Return To Sender series from Germany's Normal Records. A spartan and intimate solo work, Wandering As Water features Mr. Chris Brokaw accompanying himself on just acoustic guitar and tambourine. Along with his originals, he covers songs by Jorma Kaukonen, Fred Neil and his former band Come (fyi: he was also in Codeine), but the fifteen song long album flows seamlessly.
Andee thought it sounded a bit like acoustic Goo Goo Dolls. You'll have to ask him whether that's a good or bad thing.
Limited pressing of 2000.
The Sea And Cake's new album and now Brokeback? Is it just me or does it seem Chicago bands are shifting towards a more European suaveness? Brokeback's new album is much less low-key jazz that their past releases - although they do give a nod to their brethren Tortoise with a rendition of "The Suspension Bridge At Iguazu Falls". Looks At The Bird is an ultra-soothing affair filled with smooth jetsetter film music a la Morricone's Danger Diabolik, but perhaps more earthy. It evokes expansive desert scenes with glimmering mirages melting in and out of view. Furthering the filmic mood, they close the album with a cover of "Pearl's Dream" from the movie The Night Of The Hunter. The languid atmosphere's graced with the ethereal vocals of the late Mary Hansen and Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab. Each time we've played this in the store, someone's scooped up a copy! Very nice!
What started as a Diet Tortoise solo project from Doug McCombs has mutated into a much more substantial endeavour on this second full-length. McCombs is joined by about a dozen friends (including members of Yo La Tengo, Stereolab, and The Chicago Underground Quartet) and backed beautifully by Calexico to create a barren, drifting landscape of gentle melodies and stark percussive flares. By far one of the most interesting offerings from the Tortoise alum. As an added bonus, the CD comes with two new short films from Braden King (Dutch Harbor), each backed by tracks from Brokeback.
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Doug McCombs (Tortoise/Eleventh Dream Day) solo, with help from Archer Prewitt (Coctails/Sea & Cake). One song is a Capt. Beefheart cover.
Dangermouse and James Mercer of the Shins...
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It's rare when an underground music "zine" becomes so regular (and good!) that you can really look forward to an issue every few months, but that's the case with this international journal of psychedelic/drone/pop/folk/cosmic/etc. sounds. We mean it, it's always a pleasure to spend some time with the latest issue of Broken Face. As usual, editor Mats Gustafsson and his international cast of contributors seem to be pretty much on our musical wavelength, selecting quite a few Aquarius faves to feature in this ish, from Avarus to Steffen Basho Junghans to Sunburned Hand Of The Man to Mikami Kan (not an interview, but still an interesting article). There's even an in-depth interview with Djin Aquarian of the legendary band/commune Yahowah 13!! Wow. The Time Lag and Idea record labels get profiled as well, and of course there's also lotsa reviews, and more! Pretty much an essential read/resource if any of the above names rock your world (and a great way to get acquainted with any that may be unfamiliar, as long as that you're into that psychedelic/drone/pop/folk/cosmic/etc. realm).
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Editor Mats Gustafsson (no, not the improvising saxophone player, although THAT Mats gets interviewed by BF's Mats in this ish!) comes through with yet another issue of his psychedelic indie folk pop journal, packed full of reviews and interviews as usual. There's talks with Piano Magic, Six Organs of Admittance, Double Leopards, Rafael Toral, New Zealand's Metonymic label, and others, quite a few AQ-fave artists among 'em. The Broken Face has always had a bit of the Ptolemaic Terrascope about it (they have many contributors and readers in common) but BF tends to focus more on the current scene rather than delving into the psychedelic past, although this issue does include a rare treat -- an interview with Bill Holt, the mastermind behind one of our favorite early 70s psych pop records, The Dreamies album! (You'll be interested to learn that Mr. Holt is running for Congress now...). The zillions of reviews, of everything from Kemialliset Ystavat to Kilowatt Hours, from Acid Mothers Temple to Simon Wickham-Smith, will allow you to while away many pleasant hours. There's a rating system but since everything seems to get between 3 and a half and four and a half stars, I'm not sure why they bother. A good source, though, to find out about a bunch of obscure releases, especially those on specialized cd-r labels like Last Visible Dog and Jewelled Antler!
Another fine installment of what's on its way to becoming an institution, and, as we said, definitely one for Terrascope fans.
Mats and Co. are back with another great issue of Broken Face, always a cause for celebration 'round these parts. Issue #15 is packed with all the psych-indie-folk-pop-drone music writing you'd expect, from an international array of contributors (BF is published in Sweden). It's kind of like the venerable Ptolemaic Terrascope magazine -- the audience is more-or-less the same -- but with a bit more of a contemporary and experimental bent. This ish they do delve into the past for an interview with the amazing Swedish psych outfit Parson Sound/Harvester/Trad Gras Och Stenar (we're all huge fans, so that by itself makes this essential). Then there's chats with SF's own Thuja, Japan's Nagisa Ni Te, Philly's Fursaxa, and local faves Tarentel, among others. A pretty fine line-up indeed! Plus there's a report on this past fall's Terrastock 5 festival in Boston, and the ususal plethora of reviews. Oh yeah, you'll also find Top Fifteen lists of the best of 2002 from a bunch of BF regulars in this issue. Yep, one of the music mag must-reads wethinks.
Into weird psych/folk/drone/indie stuff? Well if you didn't know it already, for you The Broken Face is just about as essential as a magazine could be. From Sweden, with many contributors far far afield, Mats Gustafsson's The Broken Face interview and reviews all your favorite underground artists, whether you know 'em already or not. In this issue: Reynols, Devendra Banhart, Tim Barnes, Birchville Cat Motel, Climax Golden Twins, Sandoz Lab Technicans, Armpit, and more. The reviews section is massive, and will add quite a few cds and cd-rs to your 'want' list for sure. Need we repeat: essential?
We're always happy when a new issue of Mats Gustafsson's excellent fanzine The Broken Face shows up. It's THE place to read about indie/folk/drone/psych stuff, especially if you're into the burgeoning cd-r micro-label scene, i.e. Jewelled Antler, Lal Lal Lal, Celebrate Psi Phenomenon and so forth. But this time around we're a bit sad as well, 'cause Mats says this will be the FINAL issue of BF. He loves doing the 'zine, but just can't manage the time commitment. And he's been real committed, as BF had a frequency of publication that far surpassed most 'zines with which I'm familiar! Oh well. But of course, ish #18 is a fine one, with the usual plethora of reviews, and features this time around on the likes of Jewelled Antler's Steven R. Smith (Hala Strana/Thuja/Mirza/solo), AQ faves The Necks, Crevice, Michael Gira, The Ponys, Simon Wickham-Smith, Rollerball, Lovely Midget and more, including an overview of the Finnish underground from the 1960's to the present, from The Sperm to Bad Vugum to Kemialliset Ystavat. And as well, Mats and co-conspirator Lee Jackson provide a retrospective look at some of their favorite music released over the past six year lifespan of The Broken Face. We've compared this 'zine in the past with The Ptolemaic Terrascope, but by now it has earned its own place in the 'zine pantheon, and certainly will be missed.
This new Jim Jarmusch film and its soundtrack will undoubtably do for Mulatu Astatke and the Ethiopiques compilation series (as well as Ethiopian music in general) what Ghost World did for Mohammed Rafi (and Bollywood film music soundtracks in general), that is, expose it to a broader audience. Although the music's inclusion in the film itself seems rather incongruously stuck on and hipster-point-seeking, it is pretty great to hear this music outside the confines of underground circles. Just the other day, while we were playing a volume of Ethiopiques, a customer said to his friend, "Oh this is the music from that Bill Murray movie." Of course, it's soooo much more than that, but if you've had your interest piqued by the film's soundtrack by all means you'll wanna nab this soundtrack. From there, we'd highly recommend heading directly for Ethiopiques Volume 4 (a particular AQ favorite!). Groovy, sultry, funky and soooo awesome!
The ultra eclectic soundtrack also features The Greenhornes with Holly Golightly, The Tennors, Marvin Gaye, Oxford Camerata, Brian Jonestown Massacre, plus other AQ faves Dengue Fever and Sleep!
This is one of the coolest, weirdest takes on the metalcore sound we've heard. Broken Promises are from Belgium, and their sound is equal parts full on metalcore mayhem, and dynamic restraint (read: space). The first song is epic, with a repeating, muted
Hot on the heels of the reissue of Broken Social Scene's debut album comes this collection of nine assorted outtakes, UK import songs and early stuff. Bee Hives actually makes for a pleasing segue between their debut and their highly lauded You Forgot It In People. Super pretty wistfulness is captured in both the electronic and acoustic instruments of the pop songs and soundscapes. Check out the swirling, female-sung fifth song "Backyards" -- a definite highlight of the BSS's repertoire (psst, the minute and a half soundclip doesn't really do the full eight minute long song justice!). Very nice!
NOW ON VINYL!
Here is the much anticipated reissue of Broken Social Scene's debut album. It's a much more stylistically even-keeled work than their highly acclaimed You Forgot It In People. More moody and post-rocky than its shimmery and poppy follow up. The atmosphere is mysterious and vaporous with interwoven electronic down tempo grooviness, shimmering guitar string plucking, and slinking basslines. A perfect late night drive album if your vehicle just happens to be a hovercraft that can handle the freeways as well as the ocean.
All of the tentacles of the ever-evolving Canadian musical entity known as Broken Social Scene are involved in his and her own very active and very awesome musical projects (such as but not limited to Apostle of Hustle, Do Make Say Think, Feist, Metric, Stars, Weakerthans....) so it's not surprising that it often takes years for them to reconvene in a recording studio for a new BSS album. That said, each time they do they waste no time getting reacquainted. It really seems no catch-up period is needed, as they effortlessly breeze right back onto your stereo with some fresh but warmly familiar sounding songs. This time, the core members number a relatively scant six - Brendan Canning, Kevin Drew, Sam Goldberg, Justin Peroff, Charles Spearing, and Andrew Whiteman. Yes, they're all gents, but the awesome BSS female alumni are by no means absent. The triple vocal whammy of Leslie Feist, Emily Haines (of Metric), and Amy Millan (also of Stars) dulcetly shine together on one of the album's sweetest notes "Sentimental X's". The pared down number of band members definitely doesn't mean a paring down of creative juices. Although Forgiveness Rock Record is somewhat less sprawling in both stylistic feel and instrumentation than previous albums, the songs themselves are totally solid, fully realized and craftily arranged. Their sound is pretty unmistakable, at times ultra catchy'n'buoyant and at others dreamily blissed out. We've come to the conclusion that the John McEntire produced Forgiveness Rock Record pairs wonderfully alongside the latest album by their fellow kickass Canadian songsmiths the New Pornographers. The spring is absolutely bursting with delirious pop blossoms from our friends to the north!
Judging from the amount of folks who ask about this record and the crazy amount of press they seem to be getting, there's a good chance this might be the next big thing. But does it live up to the hype? I didn't think so at first, but on repeated listens I'm beginning to think it actually does. Part of they hype is based on the fact that Broken Social Scene is a pop band, but a pop band made up of underground experimental luminaries from the Godspeed You Black Emperor/Silver Mount Zion/Molasses/etc. scene, and you *can* tell once in a while, when certain parts turn into stretched out epics and others devolve into cinematic ambience. While those parts do help make the record unique, a pop record is not a pop record without hooks, and thankfully there are plenty of hooks to be found. Their sound is all over the map, from propulsive, heavily affected rhythms, shuffling and overlapping (a la late era Boredoms) to driving three chord NYC skinny tie rave-ups (track 4 sounds SO much like the Strokes) to sort of beat-inspired jazziness to loungy ambience with skittery electronic percussion. Mumbly indie boy vocals slip into warbly falsettos, Nick Drake-ish acoustic guitars lay warm and comfy under lush harmonies, melancholy melodies are obfuscated by really cool weird production, and it all sounds so damn pretty. I hear so many different bands in BSS: Built To Spill, The Strokes, Polyphonic Spree, Trackstar, Muse, Sea And Cake (especially the vocals), Tortoise, The Flaming Lips and even U2. Especially U2 on some parts! With the occasional Chicago-ish horns. Sounds like a mess? Well, it sort of is. But it works.
You know 'em, and (a lot of) you love 'em! Aah, those Canadians! Yup, finally here's a new studio album from Broken Social Scene... almost doesn't need an introduction, does it? But for those who want one... If what you've loved about Broken Social Scene was their jumbled musical allsorts that comprised their 'breakthrough' album You Forgot It In People, hope it doesn't disappoint you to discover that this comes across as a more clearly defined album. It's certainly poppier and more energetic too, like one of the BSS offshoot band Metric. That said, as we've come to expect from the shape-shiftin' BSS, as you listen to this album you'll still be continuously reminded of numerous beloved ol' '90s college rock bands like Dinosaur Jr. Seems to be pretty intentional though, especially if you consider many of the song titles -- for instance, the second song titled "Ibi Dreams Of Pavement" sounds just like, uhh... Pavement, the third one "7/4 (Shoreline)" could easily be a Tsunami tune, etc. A nice way of describing this would be "pleasant in a warm, nostalgic sort of way... like an indie rock quilt". A somewhat harsher way of doing so would be "indie rock muzak". Ouch. Which will it be for you?
This is the second solo album from Joel Peterson (bassist for Omaha, NE's The Faint), and its much more eclectic and active than it's glitchy electronic predecessor. From track to track he follows his whim, jumping from style to style, trying out different instrumentation -- throwing in tracks that utilize much more obviously acoustic (i.e, unprocessed or effected) instruments like cello and piano. Overall, Fulfilled: Complete shifts randomly (and often jarringly) between three quite different styles: glitchy lite industrial ("Italian Wardrobe"), moody chamber arrangements ("Induction" and "Practice Practice Practice") and thumpin' DAF-style tracks with vocals ("Fall In And Down" and "Move"). The latter should particularly please the Faint fans who were hoping his solo stuff would more closely resemble his band's.
... is the solo project from The Faint's bassist Joel Peterson, and on many of the tracks here B.S. does indeed closely resemble those Nebraskan new wavers, but minus the vocals (although actually the first track immediately brought to mind the chiming intro to OMD's Dazzle Ships too). Overall though, it's a much more diverse affair: ultra thumpin' rump-shakage, prettily chiming glassy bell / harpsichord-y tones, glitchy digital abrasions, and thick blurts of analog synths. Band lineage aside, this is an adeptly executed collection of cool tracks which veers closely to industrial dance at times, and at others becomes quite moodily atmospheric.
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Warn Defever of His Name Is Alive conjured up this utterly delightful, pleasantly loopy unauthorized remix of Astor Piazzolla tango music. For those who care, it's a cd-r.
By now you've no doubt heard these guys. Or at the very least, you've probably been sent the video for their song "Freaxxx" by a friend (or enemy). It's been viewed on YouTube about eight hundred gazillion times. And at least a gazillion of those times was US!
If we were really honest with ourselves, and based our love of a band entirely on these criteria: how many times have we listened to a specific song by this band, how many times have we watched a video by this band, how many hundreds of people have we sent a video by this band to, and how much time have we spent talking about this band, be it positive or negative? Well in that case these retarded Crunk-core goofs would be our favorite band EVER.
Ever since we first discovered these guys on YouTube, we, as well as many of our friends have been totally obsessed. A bunch of slacker girl jean spikey hair indie dorks playing a totally fucked up and dipshitty hybrid of Southern style crunk with all its low slung hip hop beats and buzzy synths, and screamo... the emo offshoot that involved, well, as far as these guys are concerned, lots and lots of screaming. So if you can imagine some white indie rockers rapping about Bentleys and Cristal and bitches and ho's while one of the guys screams dramatically every few seconds, while the band pout and preen, with a bunch of slutty looking indie chicks and a huge pink pig, well, you're either totally disgusted, totally mesmerized, or most likely BOTH.
It's like a trainwreck, both audial and visual, but at the same time, we CAN'T STOP WATCHING. Plenty of our friends have expressed a similar dilemma, an utter and extreme hatred for these guys, but the seeming inability to stop listening to it, watching the videos, or even buying their records. Yeah it's stupid, puerile, dumb as fuck, and a waste of brain cells and airwaves, but in some weird way, it's kind of clever, definitely fun, and to be totally honest, some of the sounds and songs do sorta rule. "Freaxxx" is the obvious jam, watch the video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8F5YSA1Oz0
You just can't look away. And it's a little bit catchy. What the fuck?! We've dug way stupider and way more annoying stuff than this in the past, so why not just embrace it. Both Allan and Andee ordered their old ep, which also features the other jam "Bree Bree", the chorus of which is a screamed 'Breeeee Breee' meant to sound like an oinking pig. We shit you not.
So there you go, you can't fight it. You might as well buy it, you may not listen to it on your own, but we guarantee you'll play it for everyone you know. The ultimate "you WILL not believe this shit" disc. Which means in some insanely backhanded way, this is indeed recommended.
If you hated the first Brokencyde full length, you'll hate this one even more. And if you loved the first one, you'll still probably hate this...
Local electronic duo Broker/Dealer hustle out new tracks for German minimal tech house label Traum. Not unlike the snap, crackle and pop of labels like Kompakt, Shitkatapult and WMF.
The local Broker Dealer outfit mines similar sonic territory to such minimalist techno purveyors as the Chain Reaction and Kompakt labels -- think Gas, Thomas Brinkmann, Markus Guentner, Vladislav Delay. Insistently throbbing yet melodic bass overlayed with vintage synth tinklings and an overall freeze-dried disco sheen. No vocals, just ultra cool and unemotional. The last track "To Hear the Fires", though, tugs at the heartstrings -- a surprising remix of local country twangers The Court & Spark. Achingly pretty.
Comes with a video our Macs were unable to play.
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Broker/Dealer play an especially lulling and lovely brand of mellow electronica suffused with melodies and warmth. It's a lot like Boards of Canada, so it's worth the risk. And at 2.99, it's the nice price. 4 song EP recorded on a cd-r.
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For those of you who've been itchin' for some more from SF's mellow, pretty electronicians Broker/Dealer or simply those of you in need of some electronic levity, here's a new and unusual B/D snippet. It's a Hall & Oates-tinged track called "Haulin' Oats". Actually this 12" is a bit silly all the way around as the flipside contains an equally Joe Jackson-flavored cut by Rollmottle that goes by the name "Steppin' Right On Out".
Over the past decade, Susanne Brokesch has produced a handful of throroughly abstract techno for some of the more respected labels in electronica, including Sahko, Cheap, Tension, and Disko B. Yet it has been 6 years since her underrated debut album "Sharing The Sunhat" came out. While that album was built from cold slivers of Pan Sonic techno-minimalism, her second full album "So Easy, Hard To Practice" seeks the recombination of sultry jazz and electronic production techniques. The results find loose rhythmic structures punctuated by electronic drum fills, occasionally pulled together into swells of German disco grooves or washes of ambient synth patches. Disko B's press release quoted one critic in praising her debut as "a cross between Oval and a good ECM record." I would offer that "So Easy" is a cross between Microstoria and an average ECM record.
MPEG Download: "More" [/audio/brokeschmore.mp3]
MPEG Stream: "More" [/audio/brokeschmore.m3u]
One of FIVE new releases on Ormolycka, and another contender for most fucked up and confusional, which by now, having been exposed to the mutated musical gene pool that produces these warped and wonderful tapes, you know that means a lot. A sort of damaged DJ collage, BT is all primitive analog lo-fi hip hop loopscapes, but with little regard for groove, or beat, instead, it's like if one of the guys in Faxed Head did a solo electronic record. Plunderphonic weirdness galore, mutated samples, the tape physically being stopped and primitively scratched, synths that buzz and burble, snippets and sample colliding and then crumbling, the various random chunks of sounds loosely organized into some sort of stumbling downer funk, like a brain damaged DJ Shadow, Dubs Absoludicrous is like a caveman Endtroducing, made with boom boxes, a broken 4 track, and a handful of old tapes, woozy, druggy, fractured and freaky, our favorite part is when all the beats seem to ooze into one billowy black mass, and then transform into a lurching low end thrum, squelchy and blurpy, a synth bass slowed down and captured on tape, while the tape is just dragged back and forth over the tape head, weirdly hypnotic and rib cage rattlingly dense.
Fucked and fantastic, and peep the awesome photo inside, of a corpsepainted metalhead sitting in an old faded grandma chair, watching a tiny red TV in his crappy apartment! Six different covers!
An intriguing collage of manipulated field recordings and mysteriously generated acoustic noises, this release is purported to be authored by the exquisitely named Andy Bronofksi and Fjordor Polygrafovic, who might as well be hitherto unknown Slovakian literary dissidents whose subversive post-structuralists texts led them to the utter dissolution of the written word in favor of the polyglottal mumblings and aural tumors from the urban landscape. Local smokestack Jim Kaiser was responsible for discovering these recordings, and piecing together some of the rougher patches in the Bronofksi / Polygrafovic melange of tape disintegration. Plausible or otherwise, the spacious sound design that these two have produced is a pretty impeccable document falling somewhere near the unsettled tape machinations of Chris Watson era Hafler Trio. The recognizable sounds are few and far between, with cathedral bells chiming away on one interlude and the reverb-clad mutterings of conversations in a bar, cut-up between strange metallic creakings, motorized hissing vibrations, and fingers-on-the-chalkboard abrasions. About halfway through, the duo recontextualize the found text of an unknown woman whispering in monotone in an unknown language. While the content is lost, the intonation of her monotone is that of Dion McGregor's somniloquies, whereby the dreamer speaks to the waking world of what is occurring in her dreams. Burroughs would be very proud... Limited to 70 copies.
We got this crazy message via email one day:
"I am one of Paul Kersey's neighbor's kids. He told my dad to let him come over and jam with us from time to time. Last night we made some more songs. He scared us some, because he said now was the time to have the songs listened to. So then we recorded all our songs on to my computer. Please play them in the record store. Mr. Kersey said for me to find out where the songs can be played to creeps."
So of course we emailed and said "Right here!". Plenty of creeps here who want to hear some crazy rock noise from a band called Bronson, or maybe Bronson Wastes Creeps, we're not sure. So the discs showed up, and feature a picture of Charles Bronson on the cover pointing a gun at the camera, but the barrel of the gun is a microphone. And the songs are called things like "What Do You Do When Your Son Is A Creep", "Punk Rock Creeps", "Streets Without Creeps", you get it.
For those who don't know, Paul Kersey is the character Bronson plays in Death Wish, and thus, the sound of Bronson (Wastes Creeps), is a sort of filthy punky Stooges-y jam, chaotic stumbling drumming, guitars wrapped in distortion and phaser, chunky riffing, sort of a not as intense Brainbombs maybe, a bit of space rock, but over the top of those jams, Paul Kersey spits a stream of obscenities, an endless monologue about various weird shit, even some atonal karaoke style singing. Some of the tracks are just Kersey blathering on and on over a field of random samples, lots of creep bashing, goofy and dumb, but just wacked enough that weirdo music freaks will go nuts for this. Definitely something you might here on WFMU at 3am, which obviously means recommended, but only for the sort of folks into weird goofy shit, and who are up listening to freeform radio in the middle of the night. You know who you are.
Besides having one of the best record covers in recent memory, a fanged mouth with dark viscous blood, dripping down the chin, spelling out THE BRONX, the Bronx also happen to be one of the heaviest, catchiest sort-of-punk-rock bands of the last year. Think a metalcore Strokes, or a poppier Coalesce, or some bastard offspring of Rocket From The Crypt, Quicksand, and the Hives. Garage-y AND poppy AND punky but so crunchy and heavy and completely kick ass. Recommended.
When we reviewed the debut full length from The Bronx way back in 2003, we described them as alternately sounding like a metalcore Strokes, a poppier Coalesce, or some bastard offspring of Rocket From The Crypt, Quicksand, and the Hives. And come record number two, not too much has changed. This is supercharged, sweat soaked, furious, foot stomping wild and wooly, heavy and groovy rock and roll. The only real difference is that their sonic palette has definitely expanded a bit. Some tracks are full on blown out near grind metalcore, others are all slithery swagger like some Aerosmith / Stooges mashup. Still others are some sort of stadium ready Southern rock all big choruses and plenty of distorted twang. A couple tracks actually remind us of long gone aggro rock faves Barkmarket, and once in a while we hear some At The Drive In, and the fact is, that the Bronx are a little bit of all of those things. But they take all of those bands, whip the various parts into a serious frenzy and go fucking nuts. And it's pretty damn irresistible. The songs are catchy and fun, heavy and fucked up, but like all the bands they borrow from, they're probably even more lethal live. But for now, if you're in need of some seriously freaked out RAWK, this should definitely hit the spot.
There has been a lot of anticipation hovering around this first full-length from San Francisco's psychedelic darlings Bronze. After a slew of relatively hard-to-find singles, Copper definitely delivers on the promise of those early recordings. No other record in recent memory has created the same conflicting compulsions: both to thrash around like a maniac on the dancefloor and to throw on the headphones while zoning out into outer space. With ultra-minimal instrumentation (at least live), Bronze has managed to mine an untapped vein of post-punk psychedelia. Space-echoed vocals, acoustic drums, and a home-built electronics box the size of a coffee can comprise all of Bronze's (visible) live gear. On Copper, they've flushed out their sound a bit with layers of synths, but not so much that it sounds overproduced or inauthentic. There's so much electronic music saturating record stores (including aQ!) right now, it's extremely refreshing to hear a band that obviously loves and listens to tons of electronic music but still uses acoustic drums. Too many bands that sound dynamic and exciting on record fall flat live because of the lack of an engaging drum sound. Brian Hock is one of the best drummers around when it comes to dance beats. Take a listen to The Vanishing's lp Still Lifes Are Failing if you doubt. Rob Spector, whose voice truly has its own timbre, at times sounds like Perry Ferrell minus the heroin rasp. His clear tone will glide above the music, then, all of a sudden, take a sharp left and dissolve into space-echo debris, creating a transition into the next part of the song. Brilliant. Bronze's electronics mystery man, on this record known as Miles Friction, built his instrument himself. You have to see it to believe it, and even after you've seen Miles play it, you still probably won't understand it. Covered in knobs and a few switches, it looks like a prop from an '80s sci-fi flick, and not a high-budget one.
Bronze's exact sound is difficult to pin down. Try to think somewhere in the range of Silver Apples mixed with Emeralds. Available on vinyl only, there's eight songs in all. One, "The Rouge Became," was available on an earlier 7" in a slightly different form. The vinyl comes with mp3 downloads of the entire record, plus a remix of "Parallels".
The cover has a small piece of actual metal (copper?) glued onto it. It looks super cool, but Copper might be one of those records you can't file in your collection in the normal way because the little metal tab could damage the record next to it. Oh well, guess you'll just have to frame the cover and leave the vinyl forever on your turntable!
San Francisco's electronic psychedelic trio Bronze returns with their third full-length, In Stone, delivering another solid slab of raga-influenced songs. While not departing too much from their established, unique sound (no complaints!), there's some really awesome noisy bits on this newest album. "Maniac," for instance, definitely draws more from the cacophony of This Heat than from the rhythmic pulses of electronic psychedelia to which we've compared Bronze in the past (Silver Apples, Emeralds, etc.). The extent to which Bronze's limited instrumentation can fill out their songs is incredible, a testament to their individual skills: there's really only Brian's drums, Rob's vocals, and the ever-mysterious box that Joe manipulates. Their sound is huge, both live and recorded. FYI, Not Not Fun only did a cassett - a vinyl version of In Stone was released on a Spanish label for some reason, but we only managed to get two copies from the band (and only have one left, maybe, if you act fast). However, all you vinyl lovers, be aware there is a forthcoming live lp soon to be released on John Dwyer's Castle Face label, which we will definitely be reviewing, as Bronze is one of the best live bands currently performing!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
In their short time as a band everything that Bronze has touched has pretty much turned to gold... er, bronze. Without even a full length out yet, they've managed to win us and so many others with their mind melting live shows and the great slabs of wax they have put out (we still have a few of the 10"s left!). This brand new picture disc 7" continues their fiery streak, both songs so driving and infectious fueled by analog synths delivered with a Silver Apples like sensation. What's so cool about Bronze is that they aren't just about nailing a certain sound or style but they seem to be really interested in creating cool songs. The vocals are prominent yet they glide and warp with the textured instrumentation, so it all becomes part of the same swaying sound. It's kind of like if you stripped early Jane's Addiction of its LA rock tendencies and wrapped it around a Sonic Boom/Experimental Audio Research soundscape. Can't wait for the debut full length, but these two songs have been keeping us flipping this chunk of wax over and over as we can't get enough of these psychedelic pop gems. Limited to 500 copies so grab one fast. So damn good!
