To truly understand our love of this band we have to go WAY back. Before they even existed in fact, to a time where we were all loving a band called the Replacements. Not that we don't STILL love the replacements. But back in the late eighties, the Replacements were everything we wanted in a rock band. Heavy, noisy, sloppy, drunk, wild and catchy as hell. But, then we discovered Soul Asylum, who had the same sort of raggedy rocking Midwestern charm, but who were a little more punk rock (having started out as a band called Loud Fast Rules after all) and with songs that were a little more fucked up. Sort of like a 'weirder' Replacements. But there was another step after that. One that probably only a handful of folks took. Sure we were loving Soul Asylum, but we were still longing for something a little heavier and weirder and more fucked up. Which was to be found in a little band called Skunk, who had a couple records on TwinTone near the end of the eighties, after which they disappeared without a trace.
Which is a damn shame. With all this indie rock crate digging going on lately, someone should definitely grab those two Skunk records and stick em on a single disc and reissue them RIGHT NOW! The Skunk song "(I'm Such A) Chump / (To Be The) Chump" is like the "Freebird" or "Stairway To Heaven" of indie rock. Super long, tons of parts, completely spic and packed with raging punk rock riffs, sweet indie jangle, Maiden-ish harmony guitar leads, and a super bad ass raspy vocal. But what does all this have to do with Chavez? Well, one third of the long lost Skunk eventually ended up in Chavez, and we can't help but hear some of what we loved so much in Skunk, in the much more modern and angular, but no less indie and jangly Chavez.
So here we have the ultimate, and as far as we know, absolutely comprehensive, Chavez collection, gathering up both the albums, Gone Glimmering and Ride The Fader, all the b-side tracks from every single, an unreleased studio track, two videos, and a tour documentary, TWO massive books with all the art from the albums, the singles and tons of extra liner notes and photos. We did list the two Chavez records a while back, two records we loved but that predated the AQ list, and even then we thought about making them records of the week, but they were nearly a decade old, so it seemed a little strange. But now with this deluxe double cd / dvd reissue set, the kind folks at Matador have presented us with the perfect opportunity to make -both- records record of the week AT ONCE! Which makes perfect sense really. Gone Glimmering and Ride The Fader are the perfect one-two punch. Two discs of thick angular guitars, strange start stop riffing, a sort of indie rock AC/DC. Catchy and heavy, but so subtle and jangly and pretty weird too. We love them both equally, so this set is a godsend. But let's dip into the reviews of the individual records for more on just how dang great these discs really are.
Gone Glimmering: Chavez were hardly unknown, or even underground -- this record was released on Matador after all -- but they were one of those bands that just seemed to sort of slip under everyone's radar, which is unfortunate (or perhaps for the best) as they could've easily been massively huge MTV stadium stars next to the likes of Nirvana and Soundgarden. They had the heaviness and the catchiness that came to define grunge bands of the time, but Chavez's approach to song-writing was still idiosyncratic and immediately recognizable -- they have a way of just having the guitars and drums going, the guitars playing a simple ringing repetitive not-quite harmonic, building an eerie sort of drone until the bass finally cuts in, leveling buildings and setting the groove. This unique separation of instruments on tracks like "Break Up Your Band", "The Ghost By the Sea" and the minor-epic closer "Relaxed Fit" creates the perfect counter-point of tension for the eventual explosive cohesion when the four members coalesce into an insidiously catchy chorus. And then there's "Pentagram Ring" -- the best song Nirvana never wrote and one of the all-time catchiest jump-around-and-smash-your-bedroom-to-shit teenage angst anthems ever!
Ride The Fader: This 1996 album from Chavez is a decidedly mellower affair than the noise-drenched assault of their riveting debut Gone Glimmering. Ride the Fader is a logical and dare we say more mature follow-up, with better and almost heavier production than before. Now when we say it's mellower that's not meant to imply lazier or less intense, instead, the band has loosed some of its Nirvana-inspired grunge trappings and opted for a more patient and understated tone, mixing menace and melody not unlike a heavier Slint. Not to say that the quartet can't still kick out the super whacked-out feedback fuzz on such house-levelers as "Tight Around the Jaws" and the epic harmonic heaviness of "You Must Be Stopped", once again leaving their most massive riffage for the mighty album closer. But mostly these are elegantly pretty, finely crafted and astutely affecting songs that stand alongside other practitioners of 'slow rock', from a band interested in both the subtle hook and blown amps. If mixing Floor, Low, Slint and Nirvana makes sense to you, this record has everything you want.
So there you have it. Anyone who missed out on Chavez completely are in for a big ol' treat. And fans of the band will absolutely want this too, remastered sound, tons of liner notes, all the singles tracks in one place, videos, an unreleased song, plus you won't have to feel too bad about rebuying 'em as this double cd / dvd set is priced like a single cd!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
While traveling around the world last year, I had on my iPod a burned CD collection that my friend Michael made for me just before I left that included a song called, "Pentagram Ring." Because it was a cd-r comp, the iPod didn't register the name of the band, and it drove me crazy for months not knowing the name of one of the catchiest songs I'd heard in years, until I could finally get to an internet cafe and learn that the band was this here Chavez. Fast-forward to almost a year later when a used copy shows up in the store, peaking my interest and inciting what we here at Aquarius love more than anything- a good hour-long time-wasting music discussion, this time about all the forgetten great lesser-known bands of yester-year. This led, starting with last list's Codeine review, to us deciding to try to list old favorites that may have predtaed the AQ list and may not have gotten the attention we think they deserved.
Chavez were hardly unknown, or even underground -- this record was released on Matador after all -- but they were one of those bands that just seemed to sort of slip under everyone's radar, which is unfortunate (or perhaps for the best) as they could've easily been massively huge MTV stadium stars next to the likes of Nirvana and Soundgarden. They had the heaviness and the catchiness that came to define grunge bands of the time, but Chavez's approach to song-writing was still idiosyncratic and immediately recognizable -- they have a way of just having the guitars and drums going, the guitars playing a simple ringing repetitive not-quite harmonic, building an eerie sort of drone until the bass finally cuts in, leveling buildings and setting the groove. This unique separation of instruments on tracks like "Break Up Your Band", "The Ghost By the Sea" and the minor-epic closer "Relaxed Fit" creates the perfect counter-point of tension for the eventual explosive cohesion when the four members coalesce into an insidiously catchy chorus. And then there's "Pentagram Ring" -- the best song Nirvana never wrote and one of the all-time catchiest jump-around-and-smash-your-bedroom-to-shit teenage angst anthems ever. So if you were a fan then, and just need to replace your old beat-up LP, or a new fan in waiting, Chavez is definitely a band worth re-visiting, sounding just as fresh and vital now as ever.
This 1996 album from Chavez is a decidedly mellower affair than the noise-drenched assault of their riveting debut Gone Glimmering which we listed a couple issues back, in our continuing effort to revist some forgotten favorites. Ride the Fader is a logical and dare we say more mature follow-up, with better and almost heavier production than before. Now when we say it's mellower that's not meant to imply lazier or less intense, instead, the band has loosed some of its Nirvana-inspired grunge trappings and opted for a more patient and understated tone mixing menace and melody not unlike a heavier Slint. Not to say that the quartet can't still kick out the super whacked-out feedback fuzz on such house-levelers as "Tight Around the Jaws" and the epic harmonic heaviness of "You Must Be Stopped", once again leaving their most massive riffage for the mighty album closer. But mostly these are elegantly pretty, finely crafted and astutely affecting songs that stand alongside other practitioners of 'slow rock', from a band interested in both the subtle hook and blown amps. If mixing Floor, Low, Slint and Nirvana makes sense to you, this record has everything you want.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Ex-Kyuss folk doing what comes naturally, that being heavy "desert-rock" stoner riffage. Quite competent of course. For fans of the big K, as well as Queens of the Stone Age. Head nodding if not head banging music.
**SALE **SALE* *SALE**
**SALE **SALE* *SALE**
**SALE **SALE* *SALE**
"The ultimate live album from the ultimate live band" it says, and that's not far from the truth. Taken from their recent "first three albums" concert tour, at shows in Chicago--thus guest spots from the likes of Billy Corgan. Long may they wave.
Produced by Jon Spencer, who also sings one song.
"A collection of oddities, rarities and vintage spew."
This unlikely freak-funk treasure from Chubby Checker has at long last been properly reissued, fully legit we're now told for the first time. You might recall it under the self-explanatory title Chubby Checker Goes Psychedelic, which is what it was called when we first listed an earlier edition some years back. Here's what we said about it then, which still applies:
When you think deep, soulful, psychedelic tinged rock the first name that probably does NOT come to mind is Chubby Checker. But guess what, he did in fact brew up a totally potent batch of funky psych rock burners that somehow slipped completely under the radar.
Apparently Chubby was living in Holland in 1971 when he hooked up with some eccentric and unknown hippie rockers who all seemed to be smoking some seriously good stuff and together they recorded this batch of seriously scorching tracks! Forget everything you know about Chubby Checker. This is not "The Twist", or the golden-oldies or a novelty comeback with the Fat Boys in the '80s. This is an impassioned psychedelic rock killer with deep grooves and a super emotional and intense vocal delivery from Chubby. Every time we play this in the store someone thinks it's some rare Hendrix track or an unreleased Arthur Lee gem or some amazing group like Black Merda finally being resurrected. In fact just about all of these songs could have appeared on any of the recent spate of psych reissue comps that we have fallen so in love with (Nuggets, Cherrystones), and actually we were given our first sneak peak into this secret world of Chubby Checker a few years back on the great collection Mr. Toytown Presents Vol. 2: Nightmares at Toby's Shop. We never thought we'd finally hear the whole disc, heck, we didn't even think there -was- a whole disc. Turns out there was, first presented to us as Chubby Checker Goes Psychedelic though it was originally released back in the day on some budget labels variously under the titles New Revelation and Chequered.
There are some seriously mind blowing songs here. Songs that aren't just cool cause it's neat and weird and interesting that they are actually being sung by Chubby Checker, but songs that stand on their own two feet and grab your and shake you and sound so damn good! What's also so cool about this recording is that 9 of the 11 songs were actually written by Chubby, so it's not like some hip producer just grabbed a bunch of great songs and slapped Chubby's name and voice on them. He shows such an amazing range, from scorching stingers ("Love Tunnel") to druggy cookers ("Stoned In The Bathroom", yeah!) to darkly solemn tales ("He Died"). What an absolute surprise of a record! We haven't been able to stop playing it since it arrived to AQ. We're completely addicted! And we think you will be too.
Includes liner notes explaining a bit more about how the heck this happened, and the cd has a bonus track!
When you think deep soulful psychedelic tinged rock the first name that probably does NOT come to mind is Chubby Checker. But guess what, he did in fact brew up a totally potent batch of psych rock burners that somehow slipped completely under the radar.
Apparently Chubby was living in Holland in 1971 when he hooked up with some eccentric and unknown hippie rockers who all seemed to be smoking some seriously good stuff and together they recorded this batch of seriously scorching tracks! Forget everything you know about Chubby Checker. This is not "The Twist", or the golden-oldies or a novelty come-back with the Fat Boys in the '80s. This is impassioned psychedelic rock killer with deep grooves and a super emotional and intense vocal delivery from Chubby. Every time we play this in the store someone thinks it's some rare Hendrix track or an unreleased Arthur Lee gem or some amazing group like Black Merda finally being resurrected. In fact just about all of these songs could have appeared on any of the recent spate of psych reissue comps that we have fallen so in love with (Nuggets, Cherrystones), and actually we were given our first sneak peak into this secret world of Chubby Checker a few years back on the great collection Mr. Toytown Presents Vol. 2: Nightmares at Toby's Shop. We never thought we'd finally hear the whole disc, heck, we didn't even think there -was- a whole disc. Turns out there was, now on cd as Goes Psychedelic though it was originally released on some budget labels variously under the titles New Revelation and Chequered.
There are some mind blowing songs here. Songs that aren't just cool cause it's neat and weird and interesting that they are actually being sung by Chubby Checker but songs that stand on their own two feet and grab your and shake you and sound so damn good! What's also so cool about this recording is that 9 of the 11 songs were actually written by Chubby, so it's not like some hip producer just grabbed a bunch of great songs and slapped his name and voice on them. He shows such an amazing range, from scorching stingers ("Love Tunnel") to druggy cookers ("Stoned In The Bathroom") to darkly solemn tales ("He Died"). What an absolute surprise of a record! We haven't been able to stop playing it since it arrived to AQ. We're completely addicted! And we think you will be too.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Definitely the most shocking, stupid, eye-catching, disturbing cover ever. Involving a crotch and a cheeseburger. Cocky rocky, high kickin' druken riffing big dumb RAWK for those of you who dig that sort of thing.
This is the first we've heard from this New Orleans psychedelic combo, even though this is their third record, but it's as good a place to start as any, cuz it's hard to imagine any of the other records competing with the sheer sonic scope of East Of The Sun & West Of The Moon, a sprawling double lp (which was supposedly trimmed down from a QUINTUPLE lp!!), literally years in the making, which finds the band touching on all sorts of different sounds, but all the various sonic strains held together by a thread of cosmic psychedelia that runs through the whole record. The opener, "Narconaut", should have space rock nerds losing their shit, totally druggy and drifty, the bass and drums locked tight into a loping groove, while the guitars fill the sky with wild tangles of FX heavy swirls and squiggles, clouds of swirling psychedelia, that drifts from heady and ethereal to churning and heavy. The record unwinds gradually, the second track, a smoldering bit of mathiness, rife with twang, and spidery minor key melodies, and laced with a bit of Appalachia, but building to a serious heavy crescendo before slipping into a brief bit of country, only to return to the mathiness of the opening few minutes. From there the band drift into weird woozy horn driven slowburn balladry, a washed out blues, wreathed in loads of echo and reverb, giving it a serious dub vibe, only to then slip into a brief bit of rhythmic churn, which quickly transitions into some drum driven, almost IDM sounding electronica, but that electronica is wedded to the band's brooding drifting psychedelia, there's even some sampled voices, which gives it a definite Boards Of Canada feel.
"Oxen Of The Sun" is one of the record's two centerpieces, an 11+ minute jam that flits from sound to sound, beginning as a dense chunk of buzzing space rock, driven by low slung bass and wheezing organs, it soon gives way to a sort of blurred countryish drone/drift, which in turn becomes a haunting elegy of organ drone, before exploding into some seriously heavy super distorted psychrock, that itself shifts from dense driving pound, to spaced out abstract shuffle and back again. "Ganymede" is the other one, clocking in at more than 19 minutes, this one less all over the map, a lush organ/synth/keyboard dronescape, softly roiling, spacious and kosmische, gradually building to the occasional Sunroof! like ur-drone, only to slip right back into something much more serene and pastoral. It's a fantastically heady chunk of droned out psych bliss for sure.
The rest of the record continues the group's sonic explorations, more heavy psych space outs, bits of droned out minimal guitarscapery, woozy, slide guitar laced twang flecked drifts, pocked with slow build to explosive psychedelic squalls, dark strummed folk that gives way to some seriously dense and druggy psychedelia, and a final bit of spare steel string guitar, a little coda, surprisingly spare, considering how dense and sprawling and ambitious the rest of the record is.
WAY recommended, and pretty much essential listening for all you psychedelic space phreaks out there,
LIMITED TO 200 COPIES. Super elaborately packaged, in deluxe gatefold jackets, each one printed and hand numbered by the artist, the art a handmade woodblock print, includes a digital download.
A while back, we reviewed a gorgeous double lp from a New Orleans outfit called Chef Menteur, whose sound was a gorgeously blissed out psychedelic sprawl, all drugged out space rock and hazy shimmery drones, brooding psych-kraut and lush pastoral ambience. We sold a ton, and figured that maybe that just might have been it. But finally, here's a cassette-only follow up, and right out of the gate, it's another stunner. The opener is a hushed drift, all abstract Appalachia, wheezing harmonica, muted chordal thrum, sculpted feedback, like the prettiest Sunroof! track ever, a sort of spaced out raga, pulled apart into something even more ethereal and abstract, gorgeous and meditative and dreamlike. We figured that maybe the band had shifted their sound, and embraced their lighter, more ethereal side, but then in swoops the second track, with a rapid fire rhythmic melody, some almost funky bass, and some swirling electronics, quickly building into a sort of psych-funk that reminds us a lot of Swedish outfit Goat, which is definitely not a bad thing. As the song unwinds, the sound expands, adding more and more layers, extra instrumentation, eventually getting pretty dang heavy, with some swirling organ, building to a fierce finale.
"Death Wraith 2000" is a much darker and heavier beast, sounding like something on Cardinal Fuzz, murky riffage, swirling psychedelia, pounding drums, the sound shifting from dark and tribal, to wild and noisy and seriously freaked out. The rest of the tape finishes off two more heavy psych groovers, the first a lush, slow building Godspeed style space rocker, with gorgeous long stretches of moody minimalism, between the more in-the-red bombast, while the second and final track, brings the organ back in, things get droned out and trancey, a little bit noisy, a sort of garage prog that eventually mutates into a gorgeous stretch of soft noise, before one final blast of psychedelic space rock crush.
Probably super limited, we have a handful...
In the interest of total transparency, the person writing this review was never that much of a Sonic Youth fan. They didn't freak out over Daydream Nation, their favorite SY record is Goo, although they also dig the debut ep, they're partial to Thurston Moore's vocals, and can barely stand Kim Gordon's, and the one time they saw Sonic Youth, like, they fell asleep. So this person had no expectations at all, and in fact, threw this on not even knowing it was Sonic Youth related, and dug it, A LOT. And while lots of folks here were hoping this new Thurston Moore band would sound like his recent solo outings, the weird thing is that it actually sounds like a great Sonic Youth record, according to the aQ SY experts, who also suggest that if the person writing this review likes this record so much, it might be worth their while to check out some old SY jams. Duly noted.
But on to the record at hand, Chelsea Light Moving is indeed Thurston Moore, here teamed up with John Moloney from Sunburned Hand Of The Man, longtime Moore collaborator Samara Lubelski and Keith Wood aka Hush Arbors, who manage to whip up a seriously Sonic Youthy squall, there's plenty of old school SST style stomp, brooding post punk jangle, opener "heavenmetal" almost sounds like Pavement by way of Sonic Youth, a broody bit of moody jangle, echo drenched vocals, rubbery basslines and shimmery guitar filigree. But it's on "Sleeping Where I Fall" where it gets really good, CLM doing their best Dinosaur Jr, from Moore's uncanny J Mascis like croon, to the wild fuzzed out guitars, the bridge is total classic Sonic Youth for sure, but when the song explodes into mega psych jam, it's like the second coming of You're Living All Over Me! And the rest of the record is nearly as good, "Alighted" a super distorted almost metallic creep, a drowsy dirge, with wild loose drumming, and some serious full on noise freakouts, or lip, which is crazy poppy, with some super fierce blown out guitar shreddery, not to mention more Pavement-y jangle. "Groovy & Linda" is another distorted dirge, this one constantly splintering into tripped out math rock breakdowns, or wild squalls of guitarnoise, while "Burroughs" is CLM doing their best eighties SST hardcore, but sans distortion, which gives it a weird, but really cool vibe, not to mention some more tangled psychedelic freakout. And so it goes, surprisingly almost all killer no filler, although there's one spoken word jam that we usually skip, but it depends on your tolerance for that sort of thing, cuz that track is bookended by the propulsive distorto singalong of "Empires Of Time" on one side, and the brooding slow build burner "Frank O'Hara Hit" on the other.
So yeah, according to the SY fans around here, this might be a better Sonic Youth record than the last few proper SY releases, and for those of you who generally give SY a pass, this is definitely worth checking out. It might be the gateway to some old SY classics, who knows. If not, it's a still a new favorite around here...
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
It's not often that a group you have never been into, and maybe even actively disliked, makes something that totally blows you away. Well it's happened! None of us at AQ have ever been Chemical Brothers fans, we always found them so forced, contrived, and too much like the glossy stadium rock version of electronic music. But damn we are forgetting about that past right now, as Further is one of the most explosive, dynamic and epic electronic records of the year. Maybe their day in the mainstream limelight is done and they could make the record they always wanted to or maybe they just evolved, refined their taste and got so much better. Either way, we LOVE it!
Further is a blast of fuzzy and spaced out electronics filled with a driving force and such a rich sense of melody. In fact the first few times we played this in the store everyone working came up front to see what M83 record it was, as it has that really dynamic and engaging scope of sound. It's also reminding us of some cool combination of the cosmic odysseys of Etienne Jaumet mixed with the catchy hooks of Ratatat.
While their past releases relied so heavily on the influx of guest appearances, this record finds them sticking to a unified vision that doesn't depend on outside star power and have thus finally found a way to reach the stars and outer galaxies of sound all on their own, with such stunning results. Who says you can't get better, to teach old dogs new techno tricks? We never would of thought we'd say this, but the Chemical Brothers have made one of our favorite electronic records of the year!
Ooooh! It's the "Special U.S. Edition". Like I fucking care. New tracks, remixes, live stuff from Glastonbury, cd-rom video.
3 versions of the title song plus "Buzz Tracks." Noel Gallagher appears.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Latest blast of psychedelic textural soft-noise sonic experimentation from this local duo, who swing from heavy crunch to blissed out drift, this particular sonic session captured live on the radio, on the always awesome KFJC...
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
George Chen is responsible for so many cool things in the Bay Area. Whether it's helping keep the all-ages scene alive with Club Sandwich, injecting life into zine culture, championing all sorts of weird and unusual music, etc. So it's kind of easy to forget that the man is also quite an awesome music maker himself, for proof just check out records he's been on in bands like 7 Year Rabbit Cycle, Common Eider King Eider, Voltz, etc.
Teamed up with Steve Santa Maria the two have put together quite a potent concoction of damaged, haunting and often gorgeous textural sounds that rank right up there with folks like Taiga Remians, Simon Wickham-Smith and Birchville Cat Motel. Collapsing electronics, fractured guitar, seamless samples and primitive drum machines all come together to create sounds that would make the perfect soundtrack to a mysterious and brooding post-apocalyptic experimental film. These are sounds of machines on their last legs, creeping and crawling through fields of grit and grime and buzz and glitch trying to survive. Their affiliation with the East Bay noise scene can be heard on some of the more squelching and stuttering moments here, but they also have a more subtle side to their sound that is more dreamy and drifting keeping things drifting and spacey and oh so hypnotic!
If you live in the bay area and don't know who George Chen is, we can safely say you've been locked in a windowless room for the past decade, surviving only on bread crust and lint. For those of you who fall under the above condition and have not had the pleasure of knowing Mr. Chen, he is a huge organizer of all kinds of all ages events and get togethers in the bay area, and has been on the road with all kinds of people from Grey Daturas to Common Eider King Eider. He also makes some seriously awesome music under the name Chen Santa Maria, usually of the noise freak-out persuasion. And this collaboration between Chen Santa Maria and Luuse is no exception, almost an hour of live sonic exploration from these dudes, relentless and all the while totally immersive and huge. Recommended!
- MPEG stream: A
- MPEG stream: B
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
SF singer/songwriter Odessa Chen returns with her second album, a grander but no less intimate affair than her debut One Room Palace. This classically trained vocalist/cellist accompanies her lovely vocals with some self-taught delicately picked guitar and an impressive group of guest players -- Nels Cline (Wilco), Danny Grody (Tarentel, the Drift), and Devin Hoff (Xiu Xiu, Nels Cline, Good for Cows). The results are a sweet, serene sophomore album filled with a gentle elegance.
Dude from Speed Glue & Shinki goes solo circa '72 or so...great dumb Japanese stoner psych heaviness like his main band.
We raved recently about a Canadian group called the Reveries, an old time blues band who performed and recorded holding miniature speakers in their mouths, sending the signals from the various instruments into the speakers, so each player was able to shape and change the various sounds. Needless to say, it is a gorgeous and strange record indeed.
We also mentioned that the Reveries is fronted by one Mr. Eric Chenaux, guitar player for totally bad ass but highly underrated nineties math rock weirdos Phleg Camp. If we can ever track down the Phleg Camp record we'll for sure make a HUGE deal about it on the list, but for now if you ever see it ANYWHERE at ANY PRICE, pick it up. You won't be sorry.
Anyway, the Reveries record was released on Chenaux's label Rat-Drifting, and Chenaux plays in at least 75 percent of the bands on his label. It seems like he's singlehandedly fronting a serious experimental music movement that we're only now beginning to sample.
Chenaux released a solo record a year or two back, called Dull Lights that somehow slipped under our radar, but all of this Reveries and Phleg Camp talk got us thinking and reminded us about Dull Lights, so we figured it was high time to get it reviewed and on the list.
The sound on Dull Lights, is definitely sonically related to the sound of the Reveries, and in a roundabout way Phleg Camp too. In fact, all the post PC Chenaux recordings we've heard, have a distinct sonic thread running through them. Hard to know exactly how to describe it, the sound is a bit druggy, laid way back, the instruments woozy and warbly, the vocals drawled and lazy, everything sounds a little drunken and slowed down. In a good way. On Dull Lights, Chenaux fronts a trio, utilizing electric guitar, 12 string banjo, lap steel, harmonica, electric tenor banjo, a sampling keyboard, vocals and drums. The sound is almost country, but not quite, almost blues but not quite, a bit experimental too, it's easy to hear some Souled American, some Red Red Meat, Califone. There's a definite twang, and the vocals are dusty and cracked, but the more propulsive tracks sound like Harvey Milk without the distortion. Sort of epic and majestic, with the vocals wound tight around the guitar melodies, a simple martial drum pattern beneath it all. But the majority of the record falls much more on the twangy druggy sprawl side of the musical fence, which suits us just fine. Buzzing steel strings slip and shimmer, brushed snares offer up clouds of rattle and hum, the guitars bend and detune, wah wah pedals add shape and let the melodies dip and change speed, topped off by those vocals, plaintive and mournful, a soft croon, that slips from cracked rasp to velvety falsetto.
Mysterious, haunting, and strangely beautiful.
The latest in the Mystery Sea label's ongoing exploration of "night-ocean drones", which as we've mentioned in the past, is precisely what these discs sound like. Dark, moonlit nights, rippling black seas, and drones, glorious drones!
Cherry Beach Project is the Canadian duo of Joda Clement and Nigel Craig, and Silo II was indeed recorded in a silo, at Cherry Beach, an industrial wasteland, on an abandoned peninsula in Toronto, know as a place, where "off the record" police activities occur, and all manner of crime. The area has since been demolished, but on the nights of recording, the duo were forced to abandon their equipment in the midst of some sort of violence, forced to return the next day to retrieve their equipment, only to be pursued by several unidentified men. With that sort of story behind the recording of Silo II, one might expect something more jagged, or harsh, or extreme, but instead, the sounds here, are glistening and delicate, massive stretches of shimmering space separating low end thrums and sparkling upper register glimmers, each note hovering gently like dust motes caught in moonbeams. Drops of water, send sonic ripples skyward, deep cavernous groans and distant chimes swirl lazily in wide open fields of reverb, huge barely audible rumbles permeate the proceedings, offering up subtle sonic support, bumps and random percussive thumps surface occasionally out of near silence, but just as quickly fade away. Definite nods to Japanese field recordists Toshiya Tsunoda, as the silo is as much a part of the action as the sounds created within it. So mysterious and dark, spacious and abstract, minimal and haunting.
Like all Mystery Sea releases, LIMITED TO 100 COPIES, each disc numbered, and gorgeously packaged in striking full color artwork.
Never heard of the Cherry Blossoms? Neither had we, but some quick digging around revealed that they are a damaged abstract free folk jugband from Tennessee, and that for this here disc, they were joined by none other than folk songstress Josephine Foster for a dizzying, tripped out experimental folk freeforall. Foster fans should be well prepared to not expect only gentle strumming, dreamy torch songs, and Appalachian fingerpicking, while some of that stuff is present, Foster spends as much time wading through dizzying folk flecked soundworlds that have way more in common with the No Neck Blues Band or Sunburned Hand Of The Man or Avarus. But even compared to those far out cats, some of this sounds pretty dang unhinged.
Thee opening track is a minimal chaotic swirl of random clatter, detuned guitar strum and scrape, and a dense cloud of tangled voices, a druggy psychedelic choir, voices all intertwined, crooning and cooing, careening back and forth, wild and confusional, eventually coalescing into a drug folk lament right at the end, before drifting into the next track, a wandering atonal folk jam, the guitar stumbling and detuned, jaw harp, more kitchen sink clatter, and those vocals again, not your typical harmonies, ghostly and mildly atonal, the main male vocal, a lazy drawl, wandering through a forest of feminine chanting and falsetto ooh's and ahh's. A lot of this sounds like genuine old timey music, that became corrupted as it was transmitted forward through time from the old days, everything coming through slightly twisted and tweaked, the vocals wavery and haunting, the guitars slightly out of tune, the drums more a splatter of percussion than actual rhythm, the whole record wavers druggily from dreamy damaged folk to abstract drone and strum, back and forth, often multiple times in the same song. On first listen, it's definitely strange and off putting, but a few songs in, we couldn't help but be carried off, lulled into a strange trance, by these mesmerizingly off kilter lullabies.
Fans of Italian prog rockers Goblin, listen up. This is a reissue of their very first album, recorded in 1974 under their original name Cherry Five, before they started their career as horror movie soundtrack specialists (Profondo Rosso, Suspiria, Zombi, etc.). It's symphonic keyboard prog rock with English vocals, so you have to be into wanky prog rather than just soundtracks to like this. There's suggestions of their later horror-fixation, though, with some spooky interludes and morbid song titles like "Country Grave-Yard" and "The Swan Is A Murderer". The five lengthy song-suites on here go from fairly sweet and melodic to jagged and intense at the drop of hat. Very grandiose, and of course instrumentally kick-ass. A worthy addition to the Goblin cd canon.
These guys just get better and better and better. This six song ep is just a taste of what's to come. Their second full length is coming out on Estrus, soon, but not soon enough. When they started they were more R&B and garage and they were way better live than recorded. After constant touring and diligence and hard work they are amazing both live and recorded. Their current sound brings to mind Kiss or the MC5. Amazing dual guitar riffs, two drummers, rad maracas, two singers, just an army of kick ass amazingness. They are currently on tour with The Fucking Champs and Drunk Horse, which I would imagine would be the best show ever. You should hear this band. They are great.
This album comes directly after my glorifying / praising review of their 12" on Flapping Jet in list #140. I said this full length couldn't come fast enough and BAM! It's here. I feel the same as I did two weeks ago, if not more so. This recording is as tight and energetic as the 12". Vocals with that perfect amount of grit and soul, blazing electric guitars, and their full throttle double-barreled drum attack. It was recorded by the flawless Tim Green at Louder Studios here in SF. Rock'n'roll revivalists The Cherry Valence bringing the 70's right to your doorstep with rock riffage a la MC5, Stooges, and Kiss. Hot!
From the garage rock headquarters known as Estrus Records comes this sweaty rock'n'roll combo. Playing it loose, trashy and fully amped up, The Cherry Valence bow down at the alter of Nuge... that's right, they rock a la Ted "Bowhunters World" Nugent. High-spirited boogie rock from Raleigh, NC. Just off tour with big fans The (Fucking) Champs and Drunkhorse.
Hot on the heels of the totally mind blowing Orient reissue comes another Don Cherry gem that was originally released in 1971 only in Japan and that has been totally unavailable for years. Reissued on cd and gorgeous double lp, the line up for this record is the trio of Cherry, Johhny Dyani and Okay Tamiz. The first track, Blue Lake is one of the most gorgeous pieces of music I have ever heard. Mournful, solo flute, dark and Eastern tinged. With shakers and bells and hand drums that get more and more vigorous as the track progresses. Brief but really really poerful. Track two is a massive 30 minute epic, that's all over the map. Co-written by Tamiz and Dollar Brand (Abdullah Ibrahim) "Dollar And Okay's Tunes" sounds like a huge medley, and could well be judging from the title, from skittery free jazz to spastic fusion to tribal soundscapes to sinister filmic instrumentals to almost gospel like sections complete with chant-like vocalisations. The final track, East, also clocks in at about half an hour and is a wicked rhythmic workout. Drums and hand drums and other percussion, along with a throbbing thrumming bassline, lay the foundation for Cherry's chanting vocals. The song swings through different moods and methods, squealing free jazz skronk, dark and hyper minimal drones, Santana-ish fusion/rock, crazed drum freak outs, but always returns to the dark and tribal mood that started things off. Blue Lake is a classic as is the also reissued Orient. Buy them both.
We don't believe this is a new reissue, but it's one of our favorite jazz records ever, a real classic, and this is the first time we've been able to get a bunch to list. Perhaps it's even our most favorite Don Cherry album, which is saying a lot since there are so many of his records we love (this is the third we've made a Record of the Week) and there's been much spirited discussion around here between this one and Orient, a former record of the week from, egad, eight years ago! But hell, they're both really amazing so if you dug Orient, or the collaboration with Latif Khan we made Record of the Week a year ago, you'll definitely want to get this, and if you have no Don Cherry in your collection, you might as well start right here. Why we've never been able to list this before is a huge mystery, but let's just make up for lost time and tell you why this is so great.
Released in 1975 on the A&M label, Brown Rice is just 4 songs clocking at about 39 minutes. It's as focussed as Orient was sprawling, mining the same African, Indian, and Arabic influences, but in much tighter and dynamic, almost rock-oriented arrangements. Penetratingly deep on a spiritual level but also engaging and propulsive in its accessibility, Brown Rice is a record that gets right to the point the second the opening electric piano riff and female wordless singing of the title track begin. With wah'd out guitars and electric bongos building up into a groove, this is Cherry at his funkiest with ghostly trumpet shrieks off in the background, vocalised rhythm syncopations and Charlie Haden's underscoring bass swirling around Cherry's whispered chanting. "Malkauns", the longest track at 14 minutes lays down a lackadaisical vibe with tamboura and bass slowly unfolding a wide ground for Cherry's plaintive trumpet to eventually arrive and build up momentum with Billy Higgins' drumming pushing the proceedings upward and outward, eventually floating down back to earth. The third track "Chenrezig" begins deep and solemn with bass rumbles, chimes and Cherry's low and shaman-like vocals sometimes delving into Tuvan throat level buzz and whispering, augmented by high piano tones and lilting trumpet trills before the energy unleashes, not so much in a blind fury as it is a concentrated and feverish ritual extraction of sound. The final track, "Degi-Degi" brings us back to the driving rhythms and grooves of "Brown Rice", with Cherry's whispered chants and some of his brightest and most lyrical trumpet playing really feeling the space.
We can't help but wonder how much of Cherry's soundtrack work for the film Holy Mountain had an influence on his direction for this record, as Brown Rice is that rare hybrid of jazz, rock and film score, one we could easily see visualized on film. In the same line as Bitches Brew, Herbie Hancock's Sextant, or the recent Love Cry Want reissue, but also with the same sort of deep spiritual core we treasure so much in records by Alice Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders and Sun Ra. Essential!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
From the Sonet recordings series.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
The duo of Don Cherry (pocket trumpet, piano, indian flute, bamboo flute, voice, bells, percussion) and Ed Blackwell (drums, percussion, bells) doing some pretty incredible "pan-ethnic jazz outness" thing, two LPs all recorded in one day (August 22nd 1969) in Paris France. Thanks again to Charly for making these rare albums available again. Now available in a super fancy sleeve,
BACK IN STOCK! We thought these Charly BYG/Actuel reissue cds were gone forever, but lo! here they are again. Dunno what's up, but get 'em while you can. This disc features the duo of Don Cherry (pocket trumpet, piano, indian flute, bamboo flute, voice, bells, percussion) and Ed Blackwell (drums, percussion, bells) doing some pretty incredible "pan-ethnic jazz outness" thing, two LPs all recorded in one day (August 22nd 1969) in Paris France. We like this one a lot. Thanks again to Charly for making these rare albums available again (again).
