It seems like the Bureau B label is bravely (and thankfully) treading all the murky Cluster corners that the Water label sadly deemed non-essential.
Curiosum from 1981 definitely is a curiosity being the last Cluster record before the duo took a 10 year hiatus, and if you're looking for classic Cluster, this isn't necessarily where you would want to start. The sound is more minimal, cold and less exploratory than their previous effort, Grosses Wasser. You might even call it difficult, not that it's noisy, grating or indulgent, but it tends not to over-elaborate the compositions with dynamic structures instead reducing the compositions into essential forms. Taking a less is more approach, seemingly inspired by the then current sound of post-punk and no wave, Cluster use plodding and lurching rhythmic motifs in shorter compositions with more subtle, purposely meandering, and oft-kilter melodic nuances: whirring sounds like a toy low on batteries, discombobulated waltzes, Radiophonic Workshop-like tape manipulations and loping loops. The last song "Ufer" (also one of the longest) plays up on Eno's Discreet Music, as an exercise in listening through near-silence. It almost seems like Curiosum was a missing link recording between Cluster II and Zuckerzeit as it sort of bridges those two sensibilities of formless composition and melodic structure with just enough form and just enough melody, but not too much that one would engage with it in mindless pleasure. Instead it dares you to feel it in the present but at a removed distance.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
German electronic music pioneers Moebius and Roedelius live on their first ever US tour.
The later Cluster records, Grosses Wasser and Curiosum, recorded after the Cluster and Eno collaboration in 1977, often undeservedly get short shrift. Marked by a move back to Berlin to work with former Tangerine Dreamer, Peter Baumann, 1979's Grosses Wasser shows Cluster moving forward expansively in their "nature-man-machine" aesthetic while at the same time harkening back to the unformed melodies of their debut. This album is quite the grower, five short pieces with a nineteen minute closing track that is always a dramatically different listening experience each time we play it. Slippery and evasive, shifting subtlety from oceanic piano passages to lurching bell rhythms, trumpet call and responses, woozy funk, hints of klezmer, machine dub, even whale song, all soaking in an elementally warm haze that only Cluster could conjure. Soooo Nice!!!!!!!
Hopefully Water will consider reissuing Curiosum as well. AQ customer Wobbly, who is an avid Cluster fan, noticed that in the liner notes for this, that Water included the Cluster photo from the Curiosum album, sparking fears that a Curiosum reissue is not in the works. We can only hope this isn't so.
Cluster's Second album continues where Cluster '71 left off. Produced and engineered by Conny Plank, who, as on Cluster's debut, acts as a third member. More pulsating and serpentine than before with broader hints at melody, Cluster II still retains the concrete textures and industrial tenacity of their debut yet lacks the characteristically rhythmic propulsion that has marked their subsequent output. Feels right in line with the kraut-y sonic forays of early Ash Ra Tempel and Cosmic Jokers.
Famed electronic krautrock duo of Moebius & Roedelius, like it says, live in Japan.
We are totally in love with this new Cluster album. Not just because they are living legends of krautrock who helped shape electronic music as we know it. Not just because they are in their '70s and still making amazing music. Not just because their instore performance here at AQ a couple years ago left everyone in awe... those are all reasons why we love Cluster in general so it would be easy to just talk about all their past attributes, but the new record doesn't rely on the past, at all!
While Cluster have released a few live records recently, this is their first full on studio album in fourteen years! On Qua they do revisit some of the classic Cluster sounds immortalized on records like Zuckerzeit and Sowiesoso, but what we really love about the album is how they aren't just rehashing the Cluster of old. They continue to explore different sound palettes and the musical options and directions those new sounds open up to them. Using their synths they carefully craft these seventeen tracks and while each seems to have a life of its own they are woven together in such a compelling way. Listening to Qua is hearing two masters at their craft weaving sounds together, creating such interesting patterns, shapes and colors. Still at the top of their game all these decades later, Qua ranks high in their mighty back catalog.
This long awaited reissue of Cluster's stellar 1976 recording, Sowiesoso (So Not So So) sees Roedelius and Moebius at their most collaborative and creative. Recorded after moving to the tiny village of Forst from West Berlin, the progressive evolution of Cluster's solely improvised sound from free-form cavernous synth-scapes to percolating motorik pop had already been documented on their Zuckerzeit album from 1975. On Sowiesoso, that sound gets even more refined, with Moebius's machinist currents of whirs and klangs jutting up against Roedelius's serene Eastern pastoralism, resulting in a haunting mix of pensive ambient beauty that matches the idyllic countryside pictured on the front cover.
So Recommended!
Finally! We can't even begin to tell you how long we have been waiting to list this. Forever going in and out of print and when available it was always super expensive, Cluster's 1974 album Zuckerzeit has finally been given the proper and readily available reissue (Thanks Revisited!) it absolutely deserves. Probably our favorite Cluster album, it is most notably famous for helming their transition from concrete synth dronescapers to their more well known persona as crafters of pastorally cosmic electronica. Adding crisp and propulsive drum programming to their haunting synth melodies, Moebius and Roedelius split the composing duties with Moebius leaning to the more experimental while Roedelius provides the melodic sheen. Zuckerzeit hailed a new direction and focus in German music of the early seventies, with groups like Kraftwerk, and Neu moving through similar reshapes in sound. Obviously, Boards of Canada and Aphex Twin have spent some time absorbing this album. Timeless and classic, we cannot recommend this album enough!
At last, this wonderful wonderful album is back in print on cd! Water gets a big AQ thank you for reissuing one of our favorite Krautrock, or heck, just plain ol' records ever, the first of two collaborations between art rock / "ambient" music pioneer n' generally acknowledged genius Brian Eno and Krautrock electronics legends Dieter Moebius and Hans-Joachim Roedelius aka Cluster! You know that's got to be good, and it is, paving the way for the likes of Aphex Twin so many years later. This self-titled disc (the one with the microphone stand silhouetted against a blue sky on the cover) dates originally from 1977. Water also just reissued the other Eno/Moebius/Roedelius album, 1978's After The Heat, which comes equally recommended (see our review elsewhere this list). On this one, they're joined by guests including Asmus Tietchens and Can's Holger Czukay, and construct warm, organic instrumentals utilizing both acoustic instruments and analog synths. This is soft and mellow and melodic but at the same time these songs are no push-overs, however gentle. To be honest, I (Allan) had never heard *anything* quite like Cluster before these got reissued on cd the last time that happened, on the Gyroscope label back in the mid '90s, but I very quickly fell in love with 'em (these Water reissues are much nicer, by the way, with liner notes and photos in the cd booklets -- the Gyroscope editions didn't even have booklets!). The discs with Eno are good starting places to get into the extensive Cluster and Cluster-related discography, and certainly they're Cluster's best-sellers... but anything with Moebius and/or Roedelius involved is worth hearing, we'd say. These new reissues haven't been accorded the fanfare of the Neu! discs on Astralwerks or the recent Can remasters, but we'd rate them just as highly.
A name that seems to be popping up more and more among the new breed of new folk / free folk underground noisemakers is�Tirath Singh Nirmala, who has released a series of limited cd-r's on various microlabels, as well as a handful of lps and cds, the only release we've had was an lp collaboration with longtime AQ fave Richard Youngs, and even in that review we were lamenting the fact that we had yet to review a Tirath record proper. Well, while this isn't a proper Tirath record, per se, it is a brand new recording by John Clyde-Evans, who just so happens to be the man behind�Tirath Singh Nirmala, and while the name may be different, the sound is quite similar.�
Asian instruments are bowed and coaxed into unfurling long dreamlike drones, shrouded in Sunroof!-like clouds of glistening sparkling high end skree, like a sky full of shimmering metallic confetti, simple percussion peppering the gauzy swirl, haunting melodies wrapping themselves around thick sheets of crystalline feedback, a fantastic slab of shimmering trance-like upper register ur-drone drift.�
LIMITED TO 100 COPIES. Already SOLD OUT and OUT OF PRINT at the label. We have a bunch, but they obviously won't last long. The tapes are all psychedelic and hand painted, with tripped out full color covers.�
The oddly monikered Co La is the work of one Matthew Papich, who takes hundreds, if not thousands, of samples, and then snips, loops and recontextualizes those sounds into something surprisingly minimal and skeletal, a modern take on classic IDM rhythms, rife with subtle jazziness, sampled horns, warm swirling chordal swells and loping grooves. We had a lot of trouble figuring out a way to describe this stuff, which is always a good sign. It's jittery and skittery, but also jazzy, stuttering beats beneath sultry sax, bits of upright bass, very cinematic in places, the tracks spare and shuffly for the most part, with unexpected bursts of martial snare, or truncated vox, burst of white noise hiss, mournful horn bleats, the vibe woozy and dreamily warped, a bit like Boards Of Canada via Art Of Noise, using only jazz samples? Or something. One track features smatterings of applause as a beat, elsewhere the sound blurs into a Caretaker like ballroom music, a looped Jeck-like old timey rhythmscape, peppered with doorbell buzzes and jazzy basslines, one second a dizzying collage, the next a sort of woozy alien exotica. Some of the tracks are smooth and laid back, others are gristly and crunchy, although the best moments are both.
LIMITED TO 100 COPIES, already sold out at the label and thus out of print, which means these are the last copies we'll be able to get!
All female drums/bass duo from Japan who tend to rock out more than they prog out (i.e. closer to godheadSilo territory than Ruins). Super distorted bass, heavy drumming, very harsh vocals - it's no surprise that these girls cover an Unsane tune (or that they're named Eddie and Bill...?)
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
We love the No Neck Blues Band. And we're always eager to hear everything any of those guys do. Most of them have their fingers in so many pies it's hard to believe NNCK get anything done at all. Coach Fingers' One For The Road, released on No Neck's Sound@1 label, is the latest from this unlikely underground combo featuring 3 members of the No Neck collective.
And while the first few seconds might convince you you're about to bee treated to more of the usual abstract No Neck free stumble, don't let the backwards guitars and FX drenched swirls of sound fool you, soon you'll find yourself in bell bottoms, wearing a head band and a paisley shirt, smoking pot, standing in the middle of a field somewhere in the seventies, soaking up Coach Fingers' boozy, countrified rock. That's right. Country rock. Think the Allman Brothers, the Band, Grateful Dead, Skynyrd, ZZ Top, a groovy, jammed out, slightly psychedelic boogie rock, and you know what, it's pretty bad ass. Sloppy and loose, stoned and laid back, guitar leads everywhere, lots of strum and shuffle, lots of crunchy guitars and bluesrock riffage even some horns, but c'mon, this is No Neck related, so between the glorious bouts of hippy jam rock twang, are plenty of strange ambience, lots of backwards guitars, stretched out bits of propulsive rhythmic grooves and all manner of sonic weirdness.
But be well, aware, this is NOT weird, if the above bands send a shudder down your spine, this is not for you, but if you're up for some twangy foot stomping groove rock, channelling all the best bits of seventies rock into one tight ass slab of RAWK, then check it out.
TOUR ONLY RELEASE, we managed to get a handful, not sure how limited, but they're hand numbered, and ours seem to bee in the 40's so guessing these won't be around for long. Packaged in nice chipboard sleeves, hand screened in metallic gold ink.
The second you drop the needle (or if you prefer the cd format, press the play button) on this puppy it's full speed ahead trash garage rawk action Coachwhips-style. Live, this SF trio are known for sneering and spewing out the blistering basement party tunes with reckless abandon. PBR cans, furniture and limbs a-flailin'! Take this disc home for a sweaty, raw-knuckled, shimmy shakin' good time of your very own. Features a mighty sweet album cover to boot!
God Bless the Coachwhips! The terminal primal garage rock psychotics of John Dwyer (Pink and Brown, OCS, and now Yikes!) receive a final epitaph in this double dose of unreleased songs and b-sides with a DVD of live house party insanity. The Coachwhips as a concept were a live fast die young kind of band (Dwyer's got many hands in many pots to keep Coachwhips going full time), but they were best experienced live. We still have fond memories of seeing Dwyer dance on the fire pit at the Eagle while nonchalantly ripping out some hellish Bo-Diddly style guitar licks and looking at us like "what, this? it ain't no thang". Alas that footage isn't on the DVD, but you do get to see an awesome bar brawl where a dude gets brained by Dwyer's guitar before he gets the Coachwhips beating of his life. If this was on YouTube, we'd watch it a million times. RIP Coachwhips!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Our local troublemakin' party band dish out more lo-fi, stripped-down garage rawk at its trashy finest. Akin to the Gories, or Doo Rag or any of Billy Childish's incarnations. Tinny, distorted Pussy Galore / Jon Spencer-ish vocals issue from the wisecracking mouth of John Dwyer, Valencia Street's answer to Bart Simpson. They put on such a kickass show live, you have to see them if you ever get a chance. If not, you should of course hear them on record, but you won't get as wet with beer, soaked with sweat or kicked in the head with crowd surfers.
NOW AVAILABLE ON CD!!! Our local troublemakin' party band dish out more lo-fi, stripped-down garage rawk at its trashy finest. Akin to the Gories, or Doo Rag or any of Billy Childish's incarnations. Tinny, distorted Pussy Galore / Jon Spencer-ish vocals issue from the wisecracking mouth of John Dwyer, Valencia Street's answer to Bart Simpson. They put on such a kickass show live, you have to see them if you ever get a chance. If not, you should of course hear them on record, but you won't get as wet with beer, soaked with sweat or kicked in the head by crowd surfers.
New converts to the garage-y goodness of Thee Oh Sees might not remember Oh Sees mainman John Dwyer's former outfit the Coachwhips, who set the template for what would in fact eventually become our beloved Oh Sees. But the Coachwhips were a much more feral proposition, seething sweaty blown out minimal/maximal garage punk stomp. Way back in 2001, here's how we described this fearsome threesome:
John Dwyer. Rhode Island via SF scene fixture, daily aQ-visitor, roundly acknowledged wise ass, some people just know him as "Pink" (of Pink & Brown). As crazy hyper leader of garage-trash trio Coachwhips, he'll twist you around, sass you to your face, make you duck for cover, he'll jump on the tables in a frenzy of just wanting to wake up this town, this scene, our sorry mellow asses. He'll screech into a voicebox and wreak havoc with the guitar while the other John (Harlow) pounds the floor tom and MaryAnn wields the tambourine so hard she might break it. Like Pussy Galore and the Gories ran over the White Stripes in the middle of the road! Grimy three chord rockin' with energy to burn.
And even a decade plus later, this reissued (first time on vinyl!) stuff still sounds so goddamn good. Fierce and fun, wild and loose, sweat soaked and bloody knuckled, a gloriously hyper kinetic, ear drum destroying blast of garage-y goodness that will surely hit the spot for fans of the current crop of SF garage rock combos, and a sweet blast from the past for those of us who were there the first time around! Now includes six "unheard" bonus tracks, and the vinyl comes with a download.
Who doesn't love the Coachwhips? All this recording makes me want to do is see them live. Right now! With it's noisy, Olneyville Sound System-infused, bluesish garage rock, PB&J : Live at the Ginger Minge sounds a bit like a well-behaved Zen Guerilla. At least on record, cuz it's hard to capture this sort of spit and spittle garage noise on wax! As the Coachwhips' second release, it seems to be way less of an all out heart-attack and much more a set of fully formed songs on a fully formed album. Still totally rockin', just a little more matured. And seriously, will someone tell me when can we see them live?
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Final record from this totally devastating metal hardcore band from Kansas city. Ultra complex, crushing riffs, unbelievable guttural howls, just fucking amazing. Easily one of the best heavy bands of the last few years, and this record proves it once again. R.I.P.
The return of metalcore gods Coalesce was one of the coolest and most unexpected musical surprises in recent memory, and the band's mighty Ox record from earlier this year kicked our asses just like we were hoping it would. The 7 songs on this little bro ep pretty much bring things to their brutal as fuck yet melodic, catchy, and just plain rocking conclusion in a way that only this band could deliver. Never ones to keep it plain and simple, the boys from Kansas City, MO (I know, right?) spice things up with moments of thoughtful experimentation and beautiful acoustic ditties that exhibit the same sort of dark twang as current day Earth. It always helps when the musicians effortlessly ascend to the next level of musical ability and comprehension, and yeah, Coalesce are up for the task. The hardcore songs here are like the unholy lovechild of the Jesus Lizard and Converge, or maybe more appropriately, like, uh, Coalesce. They're pioneers for sure, and it's nice to have them back making pretty much everything else of this ilk irrelevant.
Who would have thought we'd ever see a new Coalesce album, ever again? After a spate of unbelievable records, and a fairly acrimonious breakup, we figured we'd have to make do with Give Them Rope and Revolution In Just Listening and Functioning on Impatience, which hell, is the sort of 'making do' most bands would kill to be able to offer their faithful. But this new Coalesce pretty much picks up right where the last one left off, after a 10 year break, the sound is immediately recognizable, churning chugging super complex mathy post hardcore metal fury, stop start arrangements, lurching mosh worthy blowouts, the guitars massive, the drumming relentless, and the vocals, how can Sean Ingram still sound like this ten years later? Actually how can he even speak after a decade of vitriolic bellowing. But for all that stayed the same, a lot has changed in the decade since Revolution. On "The Comedian In Question", the band break down into a sort of droned out lope, and the vocals slip into some clear crooning, the sound is definitely sort of Alice In Chains, but on Coalesce it sounds so good. Great in fact.
Then there's the beginning of "Wild Ox Moan", a total lo-fi distorted blues jam, again with clean vox, the guitar clangy and clean, some slippery slide slipped in as well, before the band erupts into another furious pounding anvil to the skull. Long stretches of reverbed nylon string guitar butt up against some of the heaviest punishment these guys have ever doled out, which is saying something considering they're old enough to be the parents of most of the kids in the crowd (not counting us old guys), cool angular Drive Like Jehu high end guitar melodies wind around bizarre vocals and spill over into a weirdly groovy churn that sounds as much like Pantera as it does Coalesce, some stripped down jazzy moodiness, and at least one track that is so awesomely off kilter and slippery and dizzy, the whirling woozy guitars constantly causing the listener's head to spin, and while all the weird shit sticks out the most, it's really not the most prevalent stuff going on here, although the weirdness does seep into most of the more classic Coalesce sounding riffage, even so, the majority of this record IS in fact classic sounding Coalesce, just a bit more twisted, still heavy as fuck, and still weirdly catchy, maybe more so then ever, the weird stuff only makes it cooler and more fun.
Killer packaging too, beautiful silver and black-on-black digipak, with one of the most elaborate die cut booklets we've ever seen.
Whoo-hoo, Led Zeppelin rules! Coalesce too. Together (sort of), look out. Coalesce are one of the best metalcore bands, standard bearers for that scene, next to Converge. Oddly enough, though, it's an all-covers album they did a few years back that's probably our favorite of theirs. And now Hydra Head has reissued it with tons of bonus tracks! Here's what we said about this originally:
A pummeling, ultra heavy take on the lumbering dinosaur that is Led Zeppelin. These Kansas City, Missouri, post hardcore kids are playing some of the heaviest and most brutal metal around and doing their short haired, Gap wearing brethren proud. Some will be disappointed by how *un*fucked up these covers are, at least by Coalesce standards, but man oh man, these versions still destroy the originals (said with just a smidgen of cheekiness on our part of course).
This reissue adds a bunch more rare/unreleased tracks, not more Zep, but stuff like their Black Sabbath cover "Supernaut" (a sop to those like Allan who prefer the Sabs over Zeppelin?), covers of Boy Sets Fire, The Get Up Kids, and more. Sweet. And it's been repackage in a striking deluxe miniature-lp style gatefold sleeve with psychedelic lookin' artwork as well.
Coastal comes from the slowcore / sadcore school of US bands who loved Creation Records (i.e. Ride, My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive), but didn't want to delve too much into the production aspects of sculpting sound through the processed guitar. Almost taking the opposite approach to their heroes, Coastal applies a very dry production to their already very spartan songs, leaving
There should be little surprise that Alex Cobb is the man behind Students Of Decay, a publishing house of impeccably blissed-out albums of post-everything melancholia that might very be able dissolve the entire history of recorded music into a puddle of tears if given the chance. Kyle Bobby Dunn with his self-deprecating minimalism and Secret Pyramid crafting rainy-day mantras are two of the more recently championed artists published by Students Of Decay. The bulk of Cobb's own work has come under the Taiga Remains banner, and he brought that project to a close with the maudlin collection Works For Cassette. Despite this terminus of Taiga Remains, there's nothing so dramatic as an aesthetic rupture; and the transition from the work as Taiga Remains into that of his birth name is as fluid and seamless as the music that he produces. In other words, Cobb produces another beautiful album of frozen stare dronemusik captured through a lens that's been smeared with ample gobs of vaseline. The opener "Famosa" glistens with a radiance of liquid golden light held in permanent suspension before Cobb delves into a very Andrew Chalk like piece of audio impressionism in "Rain At The Fete" with its chiming drones and slow ellipsis of cyclical notes washed out in reverb, delay, and more reverb. The rasping tones of "Oversong" are courtesy of Maxwell Croy's koto whose sibilant textures are softened into a muted hum, cohabiting the mindgaze euphoria of stoned pharmacology and the earnestness of an enlightened calm. "Marine Layer" effortlessly floats from one Aeolian harmonic thrum into another, as if the graphical score followed the crest and fall of the Pacific fog surging to and fro against the California coast. Beautifully rendered through and through.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Either you'll love it or hate it, but that may be the case with most stuff from Digital Hardcore. Cobra Killer is the collaborative effort from Gina of EC8OR and Annika of Shizuo (whom you may remember as the woman from Shizuo's recent tour grinding relentlessly to Shizuo's music on stage and exposing herself to the audience). Taking 60's Blue Note soul records and purposefully arrhythmic beats, Cobra Killer does not groove in the least. Instead they take Throbbing Gristle's gleeful antagonism to rock & roll, electronica, whatever... and scream like Lydia Lunch (age 16) over top. A very stupid record.
Not sure what happened to Cobra Verde, but whatever it is we like it. We always remembered Cobra Verde as being the Scat Records house band, just a pretty good rock band, not as popular as Guided By Voices, not as depressingly mysterious as My Dad Is Dead, just a pretty cool band (we also figured that a Scat employee was probably in CV as well). But it seems like at some point, the guys in Cobra Verde got weird, and we mean weird in a good way. Started taking lots of crazy drugs, practicing with only the black light on, trading in their jeans and t-shirts for leather pants and feather boas, cowboy hats and sequined shirts. Their midwest rock and roll started mutating into a druggy spacey fucked up glam rock and suddenly they are a super cool weirdly messed up band who are suddenly way more exciting than their labelmates. This here newest Cobra Verde record is all covers, and a bizarre selection of covers at that. Some of the choices make perfect sense, in light of CV's new drug-space-glam sound, but some make absolutely no sense at all, which makes them all the more perfect. How about a hazy, drone-y drugged out version of Pink's "Get The Party Started"? Sounds way better than it sounds if you know what we mean. Lurching and hypnotic, a jangle guitar loop, mumbled vocals and all sorts of spaced out guitar FX. Or how about a murky, fuzzed out propulsive take on Donna Summer's "I Feel Love", all distorted drums, surf guitar and squiggly synths? It's a dizzying ride from there on out. Messed up and messed with versions of tracks by New Order, Hawkwind, the Troggs, the Rolling Stones, the Undertones, the Flamin' Groovies, The Fall, Leonard Cohen, Mott The Hoople and the Easter Monkeys.
When a front man steps away from his main band to go solo, his loner works will oftentimes resemble a single key facet of said band or conversely it will escape madly in a diametrically opposite direction. However, Pulp's Jarvis Cocker is infamous for not being one to go with the flow. Why start now? With Pulp on indefinite hiatus, he took full advantage of his footloose and fancy freedom tacklin' a little of everything for this solo album. Yet even despite this, as well as the fact that he's done plenty of guest and collaborative work in recent years with the likes of Charlotte Gainsbourg, Nancy Sinatra, Marianne Faithfull and Harry Potter (well, not really... he did do some songs for one of the HP movies), his voice is inextricably synonymous with Pulp.
That said, the overall results are a little odd even by the notoriously willful and eccentric Cocker standards. To be honest, we initially weren't sure what to think of this. What's particularly unexpected is just how 'normal' this usually outrageous, cocky and irrepressible gent comes across at times. He applies various mostly American '70s rock tropes -- from the all-out anthemic (the strangely uplifting refrain of "Don't Let Him Waste Your Time") to the solidly straightforward and straight laced ("I Will Kill Again" which features sober piano reminiscent of Carole King, Carly Simon or The Carpenters) to the voluptuously glammy (hey, is that the melody from "Crimson And Clover" in "Black Magic"?). However, we eventually came to the conclusion that this uncharacteristic normalcy seems to be Cocker's sly 'wolf in sheep's clothing' guise. His trademark enigmatic charisma, absurd braininess and glinting razor-sharp black humor (check out "Fat Children"... 'nuf said) make their presence felt throughout. Oh Jarvis, how could we have ever doubted you? Silly us! Give this one time, it'll surely lay down some roots, and prove itself to be a dear favorite. Recommended.
While this is not the first time we listed Bay Area based art-pop group Coconut, this is the first time the band has made a full length release on vinyl and with their new fully-formed incarnation as a four-piece band. Their cd debut was a sprawling 3 cd set of pop experiments between the two main men, Tomo Yasuda (Tussle, Hey Willpower) and artist and publisher Colter Jacobsen, which was originally intended to be one half of a boxed set that was designed to become an actual box when put together, but that second half never materialized. We guess they have been busy playing a lot more live shows and because of that had to enlist two more full time members, the Japanese keyboardist and vocalist, Keiko and bass player Justin Loney. But this development has given the songs more polish and more dynamic focus, while still keeping a loose and fun playfulness to the proceedings.
The sides of the record are split into day and night moods with the day side featuring covers of Leiber and Stoller's "Searchin' " and a slammin' version of Arthur Russell's post-disco classic "Is It All Over My Face". Like a folkier version of Deerhoof, but also channeling groups such as Young Marble Giants and Slapp Happy, the album is not without its experimental explorations, especially on the "night" side. Such a great and beautifully realized record. Released by Oakland-based art-publishing concern, Land And Sea on various colors of vinyl (we have purple and black swirl vinyl in stock). Limited to 300 copies, and highly recommended!
The first Coconut release, Rain / Cocoanut / Hello Fruity, was a low-key handmade behemoth 3cd-r set that was the first of 2 parts of a planned box set (the idea being that both sets would form a cube. box set, get it?). That quickly sold out and went out of print and while the band tells us the second part is still planned, they are taking their sweet time. The core duo of visual artist Colter Jacobsen and multi-instrumentalist Tomo Yasuda, who also plays bass for Tussle, are busy folks after all, making both art and music, releasing hand-pressed books and exhibiting art or curating shows or touring and playing everywhere in various musical incarnations. They have recently expanded their line-up to a foursome, and released this vinyl debut for local artist-run production house Land and Sea, who make small runs of artist made books and records and plan art-centric gathering events in various places such as the Berkeley Art Museum, the mountains of Ukiah and most recently Grace Cathedral where this 7" was released. Coconut performed with a full choir for that event which was quite beautiful in the setting, with lit candles and a projection of a dark cove looking out toward the ocean behind them. They musically move in many directions from fragile folk songs to chamber pop to more rhythmically inspired mantras and experimental noise excursions, often pulling lyrics from found poems or pop songs that can be quite off the cuff and humorous. For this 7", the two songs are in a folk-pop vein sounding like the mesmerizing Latin-tinged folk of Jose Gonzalez mixed with the angular structures of Deerhoof, or comparable in style to the Tenniscoats and Tape collaborations for which Coconut share similar affinities. These are on "random-colored" vinyl (sort of a washy silvery grey with specks of pinks, blues and greens - each one different) and come in handsewn sleeves with a beautiful nest drawing by Jesse Schlesinger on the cover. Limited to 100, we have 10 and not sure we'll be able to get more. So Nice!
Eschewing the "less is more" aesthetic of most DIY outfits, local SF-based duo Coconut has made an ambitiously beautiful lo-fi debut, comprising of not just one album but three. This would be a big gamble for most bands, but with Coconut, it seems to make sense. You see, Coconut has long been the side project of visual artist and drummer Colter Jacobsen, who also has played in bands Window Window and Steeple Chase and multi-instrumentalist, Tomo Yosuda who is a member of both Tussle and Hey Willpower. Recording at home over a period of three years, Coconut has been the kitchen sink for all the ideas they haven't been able to place in their various other projects: Deconstructed Appalachia guitar, melancholic pop, pretty long-form experimental electronic compositions, disembodied vocals, musique concrete, druggy rhythm excursions, and sprightly angular guitar anthems. It's all here but with a solid consistency throughout that doesn't seem like it's a bunch of one-off ideas. Sort of like Deerhoof meets Gastr Del Sol.
The first of the three discs, Rain, is about 29 minutes, and it's perfect for a rainy day with shimmering electronics, percolating percussive elements and acoustic guitar with far off drifting vocals. Cocoanut (note the added a) is the second disc and is the most far out experimentally especially with the nearly 13 minute electronic mindmelt centerpiece "Dubbud". Running at about an hour, it is also the longest of the three. While the third disc, Hello Fruity, is about 30 minutes and is the most song-oriented, featuring guest appearances from members of Tarentel and Deerhoof. Part overview and part artwork, this 3 cd set is housed in a handmade triple folded cardboard stock with spray painted stenciled images of clouds, crescent moon, and lemon drops and includes a folded insert of drawings and credits. Conceived as half a box set, with another 3 cd set in the works, so that both sets put together will comprise a hand painted cardboard cube. Odd, Sweet, Beautiful, and Totally Recommended!!!!
The quietly menacing, and curiously mesmeric, NYC trio Coconuts (that's plural, not to be confused with SF band Coconut, singular... nor should it be confused with what you probably THINK a band called Coconuts might sound like, either!) offer up what we'll assume to be their debut, on the always interestin' No Quarter label (home to Burning Star Core, Circle, Psychic Paramount, and many other faves). This self-titled disc comprises 5 tracks, mostly all but one of 'em pretty long (but not in the double digits or anything), 34 minutes or so total. When it's on, though, you'll sink pretty deep into their sounds, that it'll seem like it would take much longer to swim back to the surface, helplessly drifting with the wave-action of their heavy plodding rhythms, Coconuts' semi-skronked, but not un-melodic, keening guitars like the plaintive calls of homeless, strung-out whales...
We noticed they thank Blues Control, we can see how they'd fit in with those guys, this has got an abstract, similarly droned-out vibe, darker though, and more spare, maybe like void-travelling Moon Duo, stripped down and spooky, a downer-dosed slo-mo krauty psych groove, spacey and druggy. The vocals are hushed moans, drafty exhalations to go with the droney murk and mope of the music, which slowly throbs and buzzes, the percussion an echoing thud, the electric guitar an avant acid blues wash... The confusional element of all this is perhaps accentuated by the digipak packaging, which is oriented with the spine on the longer side, what's normally the top, or bottom... some of us here (ok, it was Allan) griped that this means when you file it on a standard cd shelf, you won't be able to fit it there with the spine facing out, you'll have to have it facing either up or down, so the name of the cd won't be visible, which is normally one of the functions of the spine, but whatever, not a big deal, at least it fits on a cd shelf at all unlike a lot of other cd packaging options. In any case, it's a cool disc!
Incorporating more elements of Hip-Hop and even trip-hop on their third album, Cocorosie have found themselves a seriously dedicated and loyal following, as demonstrated by the amount of these we've already sold without even getting a chance to review it. So at this point you probably already know where you stand on Cocorosie as they tend to have quite a polarizing effect on folks. There is their growing by the minute fan base who are completely enamored with their fairytale like sparkling electronic tinged neo-folk, hip-hop moments, music box tenderness, and carnival weirdness all wrapped in dayglo colors and over the top quirkiness. And there are folks on the other side who are easily annoyed by their mishmashing of styles and delivery. On repeated listens we've found this to definitely be an interesting step in the evolution of this duo, who while seeming to grow in popularity each day, also tend to be even more difficult for lots of folks to get into. Listen to the sound samples and you make the call...
Much like Xiu Xiu, uttering the name CocoRosie will garner very extreme and polarizing reactions from people. They seem to be one of those bands that people either obsess over and love or are totally annoyed by and hate with equal passion. While the record cover will only fuel the fire for the latter, its the music that we should be talking about and while we're definitely equally split here at AQ, some of us are finding lots to like on Grey Oceans. Tender and delicate childlike tales with a vocal delivery that's kind of like the freak-folk equivalent to Billie Holiday. They do have a tendency to come off a bit forced in their desire to be 'weird' and 'haunting' but on lots of these songs they do really create a mood that's both chilling and playful. And as much as people have been freaking out about Gonjasufi as of late some of us here think that his voice is sort of similar to the women of CocoRosie. Probably not the record that's going to convert the CocoRosie haters, but fans will no doubt find Grey Oceans a perfectly imperfect addition to their canon.
At last, here's the vinyl version of an album that's been selling pretty steadily here on cd since it came out practically a year ago. If you're one of the few folks who hasn't already picked up the digital version, now you've got an analog option! Here's what we said about this before:
Our first listen brought one easy description immediately to mind: "the female Devendra Banhart". Wait, no make that "Devendra Banhart meets Macy Gray"! Or maybe Beth Gibbons of Portishead. Seriously. And we think a lot of people are gonna go googoo for this, actually. The two girls (sisters, actually: Bianca and Sierra Cassady) who make up CocoRosie are definitely onto something. It's a bit precious and twee, sure, but also very very lovely. Their sometimes mumbled, sometimes soulfully soaring vocals adorn music that's nicely sparse and understated... Murky (sampled?) beats. Wind and rain. Acoustic guitar folk-blues. Sleepy, lilting melodies. Add several layers of their fragile whispering and achingly sweet crooning, delivering cryptic lyrics that you hope they're singing to or about you, and you've got La Maison De Mon Reve (The House Of My Dream), quite a nice debut from these two, we have to say. Recommended.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Musically they're still developing their eccentric persona as the bastard child of Billie Holiday and Devendra Banhart (who incidentally shows up on this album, not surprising as one half of Cocrosie is Banhart's better half!), whereas appearance-wise they've groomed themselves into the bastard child of Indigo Girls and Kajagoogoo! That said, there is one song that stands head and shoulders above the rest, and it comes early in the album. It is the second song "Beautiful Boyz" featuring Antony (of And The Johnsons). Soooo good!
Like "La Maison De Mon Reve", "Noah's Ark" features little kid noises like what sounds like canned ["the rooster says..."] barnyard animals; maybe some of Noah's snuck into the studio along with the album's many guest stars? Some of the noises seem stuck on like band-aids without any real scrapes underneath but it all plays out with a charm that is as cute as it is smoky-old-theater dark. The sisters warble and whisper and coo creating a unique sound that is playful and bewitching. All in all, some quite impressive progressions have developed from their debut last year, made only more so by the well-chosen, adventurous and skilled cast of guests.
Ultra limited Japanese tour 10" released by the Presspop gallery / label (the same folks that brought us the cool Bob Moog doll reviewed elsewhere on this list) with awesome cover art courtesy of Mr. Archer Prewitt. Eight tracks of that perfect Coctails pop, quirky and slightly off kilter, always with a slightly melancholy undercurrent. Lots of banjo, harmonica, warm warbly organs, occasional squelchy synths, simple shuffling rhythms and sweet vocal harmonies. The sound here is a bit more experimental, sort of Beach Boys meets Martin Denny, but it never strays far from that bouncy Summery pop we love so much. We only managed to get a handful of these so they will most likely be gone pretty quick.
We sort of forgot how much we loved indie rock, but recently, there've been a handful of re-issues that definitely remind us what was so fucking great about that whole early nineties / college rock / DIY / indie rock scene. Most importantly the bands were just amazing. And they actually wrote amazing songs. Pavement, Guided By Voices and of course the Coctails. The Coctails had all the makings of a joke band, goofy instrumentation, a definite love of all things kitsch, they even performed in the beginning in cheesy yellow tuxedos as if they were the house band in some Catskills resort. The sound was sort of jazz, sort of lounge, a little bit pop. But the Coctails were unbelievably talented songwriters AND players. So whatever type of music they tackled, it sounded great, and eventually sounded like the Coctails and nobody else. Their 'sound' definitely leaned heavily in the jazz direction, but as they progressed, they became quite the pop songsmiths, and not the sort of pop you would always expect from a goofy bunch of dudes in a band called the Coctails, no, more a moody, brooding, dark and warm pop. Not that they couldn't goof it up and whip out some of the funniest silliest stuff you've ever heard, but they were capable of bringing a room of jaded indie rockers to their emotional knees if the mood suited them. Those of you who have never heard the Coctails, might remember a handful of amazing records by a guy named Archer Prewitt. Well Mr. Prewitt just so happened to spend his formative years in those very same Coctails. His sweetly melancholic sunny pop definitely had its roots in the Coctails later years. This box set is really well done. Collecting loads of tracks from their out of print albums, as well as ALL of their singles, compliation tracks (of which there were many) and even their contribution to They Might Be Giants's monthly cd club from way back when. The Coctails tended to experiment more when they weren't making albums, so the singles tracks tend toward the more goofy and fun and flat out silly, but the album cuts balance those out perfectly, with their dark melancholia and sunny jazzy hopefulness. Plus the booklet is immense, with all sorts of amazing art and Coctails ephemera (they had to be one of the best merchandised bands ever, they even had cloth dolls of each band member! And purchasers of this here box are offered the chance to order the whole set!!) including extensive notes on each track from the band. Comes in a cool popcorn box like slip-cover.
Almost all of the tracks from this massive collection of Cocteau Twins etherealism were recorded during their very prolific 1982 - 1984 period that produced three albums and four eps. As the best tracks ("Hearsay Please", "Dear Heart", "Blind Dumb Deaf", and "Hazel") on this collection are already featured on the 4AD import version of "Garlands", this is more of an historical document showcasing the giant leaps the band made in this two year period. The earliest tracks are a bit awkward as the limitations of John Peel's studios expose the primitive nature of their early songs, lacking the murky narcosis found on the aforementioned "Garlands" record. Yet these tracks also show the most variation from their album counterparts... As the progression from post-Siouxsie bleakness to their signature ethereal washes of guitars and vocals unveils itself, these BBC tracks shimmer with the meticulous detail of their early albums.
Unfortunately, there are seven tracks from 1996 which show how far in the wrong direction the Cocteau Twins have gone, veering dangerously close to Lilith Fair drudgery. But Cocteau Twins diehards (or those without the "Garlands" import) will still need this. If you are looking for new material by the Cocteau Twins, you might also listen to guitarist Robin Guthrie's mixed cd for the Drifting festival, or the production work that bassist Simon Raymonde brings to Rothko.
And no, Vaughn "4AD artist dude" Oliver didn't do the cover.
To commemorate the reissue of this Cocteau Twins classic, we bring you word from former AQ resident goth Marc Kate:
Cocteau Twins' music creates the same bittersweet comfort as a feather stalk poking out of your pillow, candied anise, a scratchy wool sweater or the smell of your mother's hair. From any era, their sound is quite unmistakable. Their guitars issue luminous wires of platinum that reflect the singular sound of Elizabeth Fraser's vocals. Her vocals are unique, not only because of their their crystal clarity, but her lyrical style that drifts between glossolallia, a baby's earliest utterances and some elfin prayer. Blue Bell Knoll is by no means a departure from previous albums. Their career never involved any sharp turns, but rather a refinement of a sound. What's unique about Blue Bell Knoll is that previous albums were usually fairly dark, lit by dusk or moonlight whereas Blue Bell Knoll exists in a strange sort of joyous, daylight melancholy. The kind of joy that is so overwhelming that it spills into other emotions and brings tears to your eyes. At least that was my reaction the first time I heard this record when I was seventeen.
