One of the earliest releases from the nascent 4AD label, issued in late 1980, 3R4 marked one of many facets to the structuralist experiments of Bruce Gilbert and Graham Lewis. Those two had parted ways with the other half of Wire in 1979, bringing forth a deluge of exemplary projects of adventurous post-punk including Dome, Duet Emmo, and Cupol, with this album being one of the few things ascribed to their birth names. It follows relatively closely - or rather as closely as one could - to the deconstructionist approach to the song espoused by Dome, with angular mechanical noises, tape loop miasma, psychological-drone slumber, and flanged noise engineering. The pastoral swell that grounds the first half of "3.4" could very easily have been the inspiration for William Basinski's baroque anthology of crumbling tape loops, through a languid melodic fragment whose origins could hail from a similarly decontextualized Muzak via slow-motion pitchshifting. It's quite a stately progression that takes a rather lumbering turn upon the introduction of a series of tape loops of orchestral flourishes, wooden rhythms, and a hypnotic lurch that tumbles out from Lewis' bass. The flipside "R" builds on a rhythmic interplay between two chiming sets of guitars glides from urban gamelan grittiness to flanged tape loop exploration with a drone-on dubbiness that easily parallels the anti-rock stupor of This Heat's posthumous album Repeat. Another necessary reissue from Superior Viaduct!
- MPEG stream: 3.4
- MPEG stream: R
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"Some people obsessively collect all of the records by Stereolab, I collect all the things on Drone Records (the label run by Stefan Knapp of Maeror Tri) and Sahko (the exceptional Finnish label that is home of Panasonic and Miko Vainio's Philus and O). While this may not be the best piece of electronic warblings I've ever heard, I'll admit to being a sucker and having to get it. Gilbert (who later went on to form Wire) and West improvised two lengthy pieces on analogue synths and tape loops way back in 1974." - Jim the Sahko / Drone freak.
Rev-Ola brings us the sweet summer breeze early this year by reissuing this pop-jazz gem from Astrud Gilberto. Famous for her refreshingly lackadaisical vocal debut on Stan Getz's "The Girl from Ipanema", September 17, 1969 marks her last recording date with the Verve label (released in America as "Let Go", with a different song order), as the Bossa Nova craze that had invaded America since the mid-sixties was waning. Filled with more contemporary covers than Brazilian standards, including songs by the Bee Gees, The Beatles, The Doors and Harry Nilsson, the album's standout track is the eight minute opener, a cover of Chicago's "Beginnings", a beat-heavy groover that fans of Wax Poetics will drool over. But the Brazilian cuts are still strong with "Let Go (Canto de Ossanha)" popularized by Elis Regina, being a return to the soft samba vibe that made Gilberto famous. It'll be easy to cringe at some of the more obvious pop interpretations like "Light My Fire", but most of the time her choices work. It's better to think of it like this: without Astrud Gilberto, there would be no Nouvelle Vague!
Verve sessions, many never before on cd, from the Brazillian jazz vocalist ("the dreamy she-voice of bossa nova" it says here) famous for "The Girl From Ipanema." Includes covers of songs by Chicago and the Bee-Gees, along with sambas in Portuguese, etc. Much fun.
Yes, we've been a little out of seasonal sorts what with the extra early daylight savings time this year, but we truly know that spring is in full bloom by the arrival of the bright and breezy third album from Bebel Gilberto. It's a definite charmer for fans old and new. A particularly hot one-two punch comes at the album's midpoint when Gilberto turns on a dime from the groovy thumpin' finish of "Cacada" to the gentle wispy beauty of "Night And Day". Effortlessy captivating.
Alas, Bebel Gilberto's lovely voice gets completely buried beneath a mass of heavy, choppy beats not once but twice, and then as if to make up for that, there's an acapella remix version with Bebel going ba-da-ba endlessly. Very unnecessary (unless you're looking for some vocals to sample). Better to stick with her "Tanto Tempo" album.
Joao Gilberto's daughter releases an album of bossa nova originals and well chosen covers including tracks by Chico Buarque, Baden Powell, and the classic "So Nice (Summer Samba)" by Marcos Valle. Bebel's helped out along the way by Mario C (Beastie Boys), Thievery Corporation, and Amon Tobin, but their more techno influences are kept to a minimum on this simple, exceedingly pleasing album. If you want sunny day mellow mood music, this is it. If you want something more complex and unpredictable, try Caetano Veloso or Joyce.
Ms Gilberto's popular album "Tanto Tempo" gets a proper remixing by such notables as Peter Kruder (minus Dorfmeister), King Britt, and 4Hero. So much more satisfying than the less than thrilling "Sem Contencao" remix ep that came out shortly after the album.
From the speed with which her new cd is flying out the door, Ms Gilberto clearly needs no introduction.
Her admirers are sure to be happy campers once they hit 'play' on their cd players 'cause her self-titled sophomore effort is another heart-melter! Overall, it takes a slower tempo than her debut Tanto Tempo, but is no less bountiful in the grace and elegance department. Definitely for those looking for something 'soft 'n' romantic'. Her lovely, breathy vocals draws you near as her splendid backing band swings along effortlessly holding the world at bay. Crikey, did I really write that?! Shows you the effect of Ms Bebel. Os Mutantes alert: Ms Gilberto opens the album with a dreamy cover of their song "Baby"!
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6 tracks of jazzy funktricknology from 26-year-old classically trained German.
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One of the finest examples of bossa nova music, this record from 1973 was made just as its cultural influence was waning. But what makes this record special is its minimal qualities. It's just guitar, voice and some occasional soft drumming (by Sonny Carr), yet the performance is exceptional! Joao Gilberto is a legendary bossa nova star, right up there with Antonio Carlos Jobim, who wrote most of the genre's biggest hits. It was Gilberto's version of Jobim's "Girl From Ipanema" with Stan Getz that made bossa nova an international sensation in the mid-sixties (though Gilberto's fame may have been eclipsed in America by his wife, Astrid, who became an overnight star from that song).
But Aguas De Marco, as this self-titled album is usually referred to, shows that one doesn't need a lot of window dressing to make a big impact. Gilberto's smooth melancholy vocals and complexly rhythmic but gently wistful guitar playing instantly takes us to far off luxurious tropical locales. Yet this isn't just background resort music, Gilberto brings a vital but downplayed longing to his performance that feels like remembrances of a time now past, giving it an unrequited quality that makes this record more endearing with each listen. Bossa Nova at its best!
Wow! if you've a penchant for rustic melancholia richly rooted in American country folk traditions, don't miss this new SF quintet's debut album. Although these days The Gilded Rooks are a full band of five, for these recordings which were captured in Nashville, TN, the band leaders Jessy Brown and Devon Angus were backed by locals Red White Blue. From the sounds of things, they got along smashingly well. The performances are terrific!, so easy-going and relaxed, you can easily imagine that they've been playing together for years. Scarecrow's Pockets is wonderfully drowsy and withery in mood and tempo. Brown's honeyed lilt and Angus' considerably more bristly, Waits-tinged delivery play off one another beautifully. The band tastefully embellishes the core guitar, bass and drums with piano, lap steel and organ, as well as surprise appearances of bright horns and a ghostly whisper of musical saw - all while still maintaining plenty of space to allow the duo's vocals to truly take flight. Each of the dozen songs is burnished to a mellow, whisky hued glow. Very warm and inviting despite the plaintive tones. Highlights are the opening title track, "31 Pages (Of Country Music)", and the closing "Joan Of Arc Of Bernal Hill". Along with the ten originals, they transform Jules Shear's "All Through The Night" (popularized by Cyndi Lauper) into a sweet shadowy lullaby, and also do a terrific rendition of Richard Thompson's "Walkin' On A Wire". Recommended!
Delightful, somewhat melancholy pop-psych with jazz and folk flavorings from this obscure pre-King Crimson outfit. (Michael) Giles, (Peter) Giles & (Robert) Fripp released an LP on Decca in 1968 that was not a commercial success (not too surprising since their label described them in press materials as "one of countless groups who have come to London with the vain hope of making good" -- a style of humor that may have backfired on this Monty Python-esque looking group). Undaunted (well, perhaps somewhat daunted), the trio carried on, building a primitive home studio in their flat at 93a Brondesbury Road and turning out quite a few amazingly well-done tracks with just a second-hand Revox F36 stereo tape recorder and some old microphones and a makeshift mixer. These songs appear on this cd for the first time (mostly). There's some really lovely stuff here, much of which benefits from the presence of ex-Fairport Convention singer Judy Dyble (Fairport's pre-Sandy Denny female vocalist) and her musical cohorts, songwriting partners Ian McDonald and Peter Sinfield. These three met up with the GG&F trio via a Melody Maker ad, and, aside from these long-lost tapes, eventually made rock and roll history when McDonald and lyricist Sinfield became part of King Crimson along with Fripp, Michael Giles, and Greg Lake, for that group's groundbreaking "In The Court of The Crimson King" debut. So, one audience for this "Brondesbury Tapes" cd would certainly be Crimson fans curious about the origins of that band. True Crim heads will recognize some of their material here in early form. But, you'll find nothing like "21st Century Schizoid Man". This is a fine record in its own right, more pop than prog, both eerie and whimsical, demonstrating both Beatles and Beach Boys influences, and incorporating UK folk-psych sounds that of course recall both Fairport and the more gentle, pastoral stuff done by early Crimson. Quite nice! And, actually, quite a bit better than Decca's offical Giles, Giles & Fripp release, if only because it doesn't suffer from Fripp's silly/annoying narration all throughout (another bit of British humor that didn't really work for GG&F). The liner notes provide a detailed history of the group and, from Peter Giles, details of their multi-track recording methods (layering overdubs by bouncing tracks back and forth on a 2-track machine) complete with schematic charts illustrating the process. He's rightly proud of what they managed to accomplished, back in the days before home studios were commonplace.
Ooh La La! Foolish Season is one of those rare pop-psych treasures that actually exceeds the expectations stirred by its delicious and mystical cover art. So often we have been burned after seeing some lost record from the '60s or '70s that looks like it's going to be the best record ever, complete with cryptic and captivating artwork, filled with unicorns, sunshine, and band members dressed in nothing but white robes. But then when we listen to the record it turns out to be nothing more than ho-hum middle of road faux-psychedelic rock often with less than desirable vocals.
But every once in a while we actually find a record that lives up to the expectation of its amazing artwork, and Foolish Seasons is one of them! Gillespie adorns the cover in a beautifully embroidered robe, standing beside a white horse, on a bleached out sun-soaked afternoon. Inside we find more great photos of Dana in all her voluptuous and curvy beauty. But most importantly from the first time we pressed play on Foolish Season we were hooked big time! This is truly one of the best lite-psych records we've ever come across. Infectious orchestrated pop with Dana's warm and inviting vocals. We started thinking of Nancy Sinatra collaborating with The Free Design or if somehow Scott Walker as arranger for Dusty Springfield in the late '60s. With songs written by Donovan, Billy Nichols, Michel Polnareff as well as herself, Gillespie perfectly tapped into the magic of bright, bold and breezy orchestral pop done so right. Highly recommended!
What a voice, that of an angel. Are there angels in Buddhism, we are not sure. A long long time ago in Lubbock, Texas, Joe Ely, Butch Hancock, and Jimmie Dale formed the Flatlanders, who released classic selftitled album (still available on cd). Gilmore's wiry, ethereal vocals on "Dallas" still generates chills down the collective Aquarius back, nor does this new album disappoint.
So peppery and full of vigor! Dare we say, such a whippersnapper! Jimmie Dale Gilmore's puttin' lads a third of his age to shame. They sure could learn a thing or two from this revered country music veteran. With his unmistakable voice in top form, he sounds absolutely terrific on Come On Back. Dedicated to his father, it's a collection of his renditions of thirteen country, honky tonk, and folk classics. The pace doesn't let up until the closing track, the solemn, deeply moving "Peace In The Valley". Inspiring and wonderful!
One of two new releases on the reinvigorated Flying Nun label, recently reactivated (apparently repurchased by the label's founder) who besides repressing many of the label's classics, is also signing new bands, the shoegazy punky pop trio Die! Die! Die!, whose latest record is reviewed elsewhere on this week's list, and Grayson Gilmour, whose fifth full length is fast becoming a big hit around these parts. A lush collection of soaring layered orchestral pop, dreamy melodies, fantastic arrangements, shades of long time aQ faves like Zumpano, Cardinal, High Llamas, as well as Beach Boys, XTC, Sufjan Stevens. Grayson is a classically trained pianist, plays most of the instruments himself, has a crystal clear voice, and has a knack for sweeping majesty and epic pop bombast.
"Loose Change" is an instant classic, woozy piano melodies, smoldering big builds, those gorgeous vocals, a killer hook, the production lush and rife with odd filigree (xylophone, cello), and a seriously soaring emotional coda. It was tough for us to make it past that song, we found ourselves listening to it over and over and over, but once we did, the whole record is just as good, perfect pop assembled from flurries of piano, bell like melodies, tinkling chimes, layered vocal harmonies, intricate drumming, soaring strings, Reich like repetition, gorgeous lush production (especially considering much of this was recorded in bedrooms and "Mum's house"), the songs slipping easily from hushed moody ballad to crashing epic heartfelt pop. Fantastic!
Of all the 2014 Record Store Day releases, this might have been one of the most exciting. The vinyl version is already gone, but we still have some of the cds set, which is cheaper anyway. French pianist Jef Gilson, whose 'best of' comp on Jazzman we raved about a while back, spent the end of the '60s traveling to Madagascar, an island off the coast of Africa, studying the indigenous music, and spreading his love of jazz, and in the process, recording with some of the locals, playing a bunch of shows, all of which resulted in three albums, all of those are included here, along with two more collections of previously released material from the same era, and needless to say, if you're a fan of ethno and spiritual jazz, this is some sort of crazy sonic holy grail. As always there's plenty in the liner notes about the history of Madagascar, and the life of Gilson, but even without the backstories, the music here is incredible, a little bit Ethiopiques, a little bit European free jazz, a little classic bop, dark and sultry and groovy, one of the records here doesn't even feature Gilson, and is a record he produced for some of the guys he played with in Madagascar, and that one is a doozy, the most distinctly African sounding, extended Afro jazz jams that are so heady and hypnotic, often more world music in fact than jazz, but the fusion is otherworldly, and had us wanting more more more. The final record features Byard Lancaster (Magma's Christian Vander was played with Gilson too, pre Magma), and might be the wildest, and freest of the bunch, a handful of the tracks untitled, discovered on old unlabeled tapes, but some of those are the best here, super inspired spiritual jazz that totally transcends, lots of flute (!!!!), some of the tracks blissed out and super spacey, others wild and chaotic, the live tracks on the final disc especially fiery and intense. The whole set is pretty stunning. Three and a half hours, all of it fantastic.
The discs are housed in a little box, each cd in its own sleeve, and accompanied by a big booklet with liner notes (in English and French) and loads of rare photos.
The last time we were this jazzed (sorry, couldn't help it!) about a jazz reissue of an artist we had very little or no knowledge of beforehand, was the great Lloyd Miller collection, A Lifetime In Oriental Jazz. So it makes perfect sense that Jazzman, the amazing label who brought us Lloyd Miller, is now introducing us to the musical world of Jef Gilson, a talented French musician, arranger, band leader, sound engineer, music teacher, label owner, and multi instrumentalist. The songs that make up this best of collection are some of the most irresistible, suave, soulful and surprising that we've heard in any form in such a long time.
Spanning a period from the early '60s into the '90s this shows so many different facets of Gilson's recording career. From bebop, to orchestral pop, to multi cultural intersections, to hypnotizing operatic excursions. This is forward thinking jazz, filled with exquisite playing but more importantly an endlessly creative and explorative mindset that has left every track on this collection feeling so fresh and alive all these years later. This is one of those records we would like Yo La Tengo to check out next time they were in the store, as we could really imagine Ira and Georgia at home in their living room reading and relaxing while the sounds of Jef Gilson provided the perfect ambience to a crisp fall morning.
80 minutes of music, 32 pages of in depth liner notes, this might just be a contender for jazz we'd never heard of before reissue of the year! Highly recommended.
You should have seen some of us jumping with joy (literally!) when we finally got this in stock a few weeks back. And we wanted to list it immediately but it's take us until now to get enough copies! Gina X Performance were a totally ahead of their time electro-pop outfit outta Germany who formed at the end of the 1970's. Nice Mover was their first and best album. Essentially the collaboration between Zeus B. Held, a musician and producer who was getting way bored with the stale world of rock at the time and was seeking to create some cold, dark and sexy electronic based music, and his perfect partner in crime Gina Kikoine, who had a background in art-history and was leaning heavily toward the avant-garde. Together they sounded like Giorgio Moroder and Kraftwerk hooking up with Grace Jones in the middle of the night at a dark seedy club in Berlin. Such the perfect late night record for those nights that you are feelin' a lil' dirty, a lil' sassy and lot up to no good.
When Pam in mailorder heard this for the first time she thought it sounded like the best kind of "slutty dracula-music!" or the soundtrack to early '80s cult-favorite Liquid Sky. Gina X were the prototype of riot grrl and electroclash. Musically it's that gettin' you so hot by being so cold, with Gina singing queer-positive lyrics about gender bending. there's even a song dedicated to Quentin Crisp. You can't help but hear Gina X Performance in the sounds that would come almost 25 years after from the likes of Tracy & The Plastics, Chicks On Speed, Goldfrapp, Adult, Solex, and Ladytron. Also if you loved that great So Young But So Cold comp as much as we do then this is pretty essential listening as well! Those of us who DJ know that sometimes all you have to do is put on "Nice Mover" or "No G.D.M." and immediately all the wild and sexy dancers will hit the dancefloor all flushed and feverish!
Our pals at Conspiracy Records, a label/distro based in Belgium, who in the past have brought us records by Boris, Jesu, Shora and more, are this year celebrating their 10 year anniversary. A decade of amazing music. From a bedroom based punk rock label, to one of Europe's most important and influential labels and distros, all we can say is HURRAY! And HUZZAH! It's always so exciting, when a bunch of folks get together to spread the word about great music, great WEIRD music, and survive, even thrive. Such is the case with Conspiracy. And as if that weren't already enough, just knowing that some great people were selling some amazing music, those sweeties at Conspiracy have decided to share the love with us. And you.
To celebrate their 10th anniversary, they've decided to do a super limited subscription series, 12 records over 12 months, each limited to somewhere between 200-500 copies, ONLY available to series subscribers. EXCEPT, they've decided to let AQ have 20 copies of each, we're the only store with copies of these subscriber only lps, and for a brief moment, we can offer them to you, our loyal AQ customers. Needless to say we are thrilled, as the series lineup reads like a who's who of AQ faves, as well as including a handful of lesser knowns. All pressed on super thick vinyl, and packaged in killer hand screened original art sleeves. But be warned, we only got 20 of each, and we will run out fast and we will not be able to get more. When we do run out, there is a chance you can still get one from Conspiracy direct, but what that means is act fast and prepare to leave empty handed.
Almost not worth listing this one at all. We only got 20, almost 10 were gone almost before they hit the shelves. This latest GInnungagap is Mr. Stephen O'Malley of SUNNO))), Khanate and assorted other outfits. This one sided 12" is mostly solo piano, heavily reverbed, dense clouds of overtones, drifting and shimmery, with abstract bits of percussion and haunting barely there melodies. It actually sounds a bit like a Lubomyr Melnyk piece, played at 16rpm, little slow motion flurries of notes like snowflakes falling through a pitch black sky. Originally the sound component of an art show featuring O'Malley and Seldon Hunt, who also took the gorgeous cover photos, and who's crazy drawing is silkscreened in silver ink on the B side of this 12" Limited to 500 copies. Gone before you know it...
We shouldn't really have to say anything about this SUNNO))) SIDE PROJECT!!!! But we will, because it's pretty different that the various members' other bands, and it's really fucking great.
There have been a handful of Ginnungagap releases over the last few years, all of them featuring various lineups, and all of them invariably WAY too limited and selling for a fortune on eBay. We imagine this super limited lp won't be any different. Which is funny since this is actually a vinyl reissue of one of those long out of print and selling for way too much on eBay releases. Originally an installment in Southern's Latitudes series, this incarnation of Ginnungagap features SUNNO)))'s Stephen O'Malley, Tony Sylvester (Iron Monkey, Teeth Of The Lions Rule The Divine) and Alexander Tucker. A pretty cool group for sure, which is why the music on this disc is all the more surprising. A laid back, outer space, drifting buzzing abstract raga. Droney, dreamy and so hypnotic. Eclectic instrumentation (tamboura, harmonium, mandolin) helps the band weave a dense swirling drone from layers of buzzing steel strings, and wheezing chords, while above and throughout and within float tiny melodic fragments, a bit of buzz here, a little detuned twang there, all adding to the overall mesmeric drone. Eastern melodies materialize once in a while, only to drift into the ether as subtly as they appeared. SO NICE.
As with all Aurora Borealis lps, this is gorgeously packaged, gold ink on a vellum sleeve, packed in a thick clear sleeve, the vinyl is a glow in the dark looking milky white, the whole thing quite striking. And as always. VERY VERY LIMITED. ONLY 700 COPIES MADE! We got 40 copies, most likely never to get more.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
The music from Ginnungagap's long out of print Return To Nothing cd is available again, however briefly, on vinyl, super swank swirled yellow vinyl in fact, and limited to 500 copies...
Ginnungagap is a term from Norse mythology that means something like "seeming emptiness" and that's a great name for this project, which sounds like it emanates from some abyssal void or abandoned cave or something. Ambient sinister drone improv, reminding us a little bit of House of Low Culture or even Thuja, if they were more creepy and liquid-sounding. Ginnungagap is a trio consisting of Khanate / SUNNO))) dude Stephen O'Malley on guitar, Khanate's Tim Wyskida on gong and tympani, and Gerritt Wittmer (who runs the Misanthropic Agenda label, and records solo as Gerritt) on computer. Packaged in a gold-printed, flat oversized cardstock sleeve, this disc consists of two tracks: "Return To Nothing" being a live recording about a half-hour in length, followed by Gerritt's remix "Nothing To Return" for about 20 minutes more. Like so much Khanate / SUNNO))) related stuff, it's of course a limited edition release...
We originally said that about the cd, but in fact, by the time you read this, the lp too will probably already be out of print. So...act fast if you want one.
Wow, if only every song on this disc was as good as the single, we'd be making this record of the week, indie-rock cred be damned. As it is, a great urban r&b joint, as you would expect from a Timbaland production.
Just when you thought all the bad pun band names had already been taken (Cream Abdul Babar, Earl Greyhound, Cerebral Ballzy), along comes the delightfully/ridiculously monikered Giorgio Murderer. Clever! And their name is actually kinda appropriate to their sound: lo-fi garage synth blurt, all distorted electronics, tick tick ticking drum machine beats, and sneering snotty vocals. There's four songs on this 7", including one that's a 'cover / homage / tribute / re-enactment' of the skit "Studio Time" by hiphop group Three 6 Mafia, featuring lots of sampled gunfire and dogs barking. However, our fave track here has gotta be the downer anthem "Nobody Likes You".
Apparently Giorgio Murderer is a side project of New Orleans punks Buck Biloxi and The Fucks, but we'd say quit the day job and concentrate on Giorgio Murderer, both 'cause we like the music AND the name.
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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Outside of his leadership role in Swans and World of Skin, Michael Gira's prolific aesthetic of the abject has also embraced the written word. "Somniloquist" is a collection of his recitations of five of his stories, two of which come from the claustrophobic and brilliant book "The Consumer." Gira's presence as a speaker is lucid and surprisingly unassuming. When reading his work, I felt the enraged bark of the musician who created such a pummelling force on "Filth" or "Cop", but the violence and misanthropy which is uttered here has become the norm for Gira. Perhaps that is what makes this so disturbing.
At one time, the collaborative project between Michael Gira (Angels of Light / Swans) and Dan Matz (Windsor For The Derby) was called Ourselves, but the two had opted against that in favor of their names. While this may be a silly semantic decision, it
As a means of generating some income to help finance the studio time for Angels Of Light recordings, Michael Gira produced two cds that he sold exclusively through his Young God website and featured material that he recorded alone in his office with just a microphone and acoustic guitar. Many of these songs from those two discs (called Solo Recordings From Home and I Am Singing To You From My Room) had gone on to be incorporated into the Angels Of Light repertoire. By all accounts, those two self-released discs are long gone... and may never get reissued, in fact. However, Lumberton Trading convinced Gira to compile the choice moments from those two discs on the vinyl only Songs For A Dog. To insure that even the die-hard Swans / Angels Of Light fans will pick this up, Gira has tossed in a couple of unreleased tracks that didn't appear on those aforementioned discs. There's also a couple of nods to Gira's time wrangling Swans as the track "God Damn The Sun" (from Swans' Burning World album) and "God's Servant" (which was in rotation for late Swans live gigs, only to be reworked as an Angels Of Light tune). Expect jagged edges to Gira's downer folk which has been getting strangely cheery in recent years... and also expect this to disappear rather quickly, as it's a pretty limited pressing.
Hot stuff! The liner notes for this soundtrack suggest that the movie, which paired the ultra sexy Marianne Faithfull with the equally irresistible Alain Delon, fell "somewhere between fetish and fantasy" and we'd venture to say that this soundtrack does too. Sooo perfectly '60s - bringing together the grand orchestra and the rock band! There's the expressive horns that frolic, chuckle, taunt and weep... the glorious strings and woodwinds that sweep you around a dancefloor or along an open road... oh and let's not forget the funky noodly electric guitars and keyboards. Now, punctuated the proceedings with some thunderous timpani drums, some enchanting Cleo Laine and Mireille Mathieu vocals and yes, some ambient sounds from the film itself like the roar of a motorcycle! Super sexy and stylin'. If you dig hip '60s flicks, this soundtrack and the movie is totally for you. To boot, the insert is a cool six-panel foldout of the movie's original poster!
Heads up! Here comes another wave of limited edition 7"s from 333 Records! Each release in this series is pressed in an ultra small quantity of 333! The latest additions are this one by Girl Talk and one by Sagan.
For their two tracks, Girl Talk pitch down and piece together snippits of old top 40 hits producing something that is retardedly infectious fun. Check out those sluggy-thuggy vocals! This reminded Andee of DJ Screw and of being a youngster and playing his 45's at 33 rpm. We've only got a handful of these. Snoooze'n'loooze, kiddie!
Whether you are into the idea of mash-ups or not, it's really hard not to like Greg Gillis aka Girl Talk. He brings the energy and he definitely brings the party. Sure mash-ups are nothing new, but Gillis's ADD approach to the method is what keeps us listening as one sample or combination of samples never stays long enough to wear out its welcome; recycling familiar sounds into unfamiliar forms that are still�irresistibly�danceable. Sometimes there are up to 20 different samples weaving throughout just one track. But unlike Belgian duo, 2 Many DJs, who take a more hip-insider approach to the mash-up on masterful mixes that are way too expensive over here, Gillis takes a more rough-and-ready bargain basement approach picking key parts from familiarly terrible songs into constantly shifting pieces that are surprisingly kaleidoscopic. The man knows how to entertain!
Wow, this is ballsy! Mining ultra-familiar pop from the late '70s to last weeks number one hit, Girl Talk has fashioned an infectious dance record completely out of supposedly unauthorized samples. The inside booklet gives a shout out to the plundered artists who include Elton John, XTC, The Yin Yang Twins, Madonna, Amerie, Smashing Pumpkins, The Verve, among hundreds of others. While this is neither a conceptual Plunderphonic cluster fuck nor merely just an illegal mix of mash-ups, Girl Talk fashions cleverly dance-y compositions using the flotsam and jetsam of pop music's collective unconscious. By the time you get to recognition, new sample juxtapositions occur just in time to throw your head into a tailspin. This is definitely a good party-starter, Girl Talk being very aware that it is the girls who get the dance party started, but usually only if something familiar and fun is playing. And there is enough of that incredible stuff on this album to guarantee a nasty but well worth it hang over. Crafty!
Do the names Kid 606, V/VM, Wobbly, etc. mean anything to you? If you're into the hyperspastic plunderfucking of contemporary pop music that has been quite the rage lately, then chances are you're likely to want to check this out. But to be completely honest, this record brings absolutely nothing new or interesting to the table. Sure it's good for a laugh and might provoke a grin or make you cringe, but if you've got a Dr. Sample and a Kaoss Pad, no doubt you can do this too. Plus it's more fun to fuck with other people's music than it is to have to sit through someone else having all the fun. The victims? The usual Top 40 slop just waiting to be slaughtered: 2Unlimited, Jackson 5, Technotronic, Jay Z, Whitney Houston, New Kids On The Block, even the Vengaboys for a split second (it's that sound that's on every one of their songs)... Is that the Puppies I hear, or is it Kris Kross? Most embarrassing is just how much I can recognize. Can't help but think of the film Bring It On when I hear "Get Ready For This". Running that track through loads of effects can't save it from being the most hideous song EVER. Sure, there's probably a lot more interesting things going on with the assemblage and rejuxtapositioning of the sampled works. But the undeniable overusage of FX makes this record sound old fast. Maybe Korg should give a free copy of this with every purchase of a Kaoss Pad: it demonstrates all the fun and cool things it does, but people might think twice before constructing a whole record out of that moronic pleasure.
It's been a while since a San Francisco pop band has gotten the kind of national attention that Girls are receiving although in the case of Girls, we have to say it's totally well deserved! The timing couldn't be more perfect for some totally unabashed romantic, wide eyed soaring pop. Recently most of the pop we've been digging on is so much about its lo-fi aesthetic and somewhat detached disposition, so it's super refreshing to hear a band who really understand the power of a song, and who also display a really nice sonic range that turns and flows so perfectly throughout their record. Girls kind of make you want to be a twenty something dreamer for the rest of your life. They conjure images of running through the streets at night with a bottle of wine and no cares, a ratty old shirt, a tattered heart but an unrelenting smile plastered on your face. No doubt many of the songs here will conjure images of those early Elvis Costello records that are so undeniable in their universal appeal.
While so many records have been made in tribute, love, admiration and under the influence of New York City, it's so nice for those of us here in San Francisco to get a record that really does feel like an absolute product of the city we live in. Laying in the grass in Dolores Park, taking that special someone to the top of Bernal Heights, getting lost in the fog of the Outer Sunset... We've listened to this record so much as we ride the bus and walk the streets and hills of SF and we just can't think of a better soundtrack to remind us of how magical this city really is. But not to fear, no matter where you live, this is an album that gives so much as it taps into universal feelings of yearning and bittersweet triumph with such ease and undying conviction. Get with Girls!
For all the hype and publicity that has surrounded Girls, its easy to lose sight that why so many, including us have fallen so hard for these guys (Girls?), is that they write such earnest, endearing and moving songs that have a kind of pure emotional honesty that just doesn't come along in music that often.
We first heard a couple of these songs over a year ago when Girls performed very stripped down versions for the first time on Irwin's radio show Sleeves On Hearts on KUSF. And what makes Christopher Owens such an amazing songwriter is that his songs can be delivered totally bare bones or fleshed out with full production and both ways they still hit to the core. These new songs introduce a delightful twang and bittersweet elegance to the already wide scope of sonic terrain that Girls cover within their songs. Tracks like "Oh So Protective One" and "Broken Dreams Club" have a melancholic southwest charm that makes us think of some of our favorite Giant Sand records, or if Calexico teamed up with Elvis Costello in his prime. With beautiful horn arrangements, and a very talented cast of players, including one of our favorite and most unsung talents of San Francisco, Ara Anderson backing them up, this record finds Girls growing in such exciting ways.
There is still the exuberance and wide eyed wonder that made listening to their debut such a thrilling experience, but there is a depth and truth inside each of these songs that is just further proof that Girls are no of-the-moment fad, but instead a wildly talented band who will make beautiful and moving music for a long time to come! (And although this is an "ep", it's actually about 30 minutes long, longer than some Captured Tracks "full-lengths", haha.)
It sounds funny to say, but Girls really are a perfect all-American pop band! Not all-American in some cliche, red, white and blue way, but instead their songs and spirit really do capture the landscape, spirit and emotions that all of us share on a daily basis. They unleash their songs, heart fully on sleeve, oozing with guts and bravado that you never doubt, even for a moment. It's hard to talk about or describe what it means to be the real thing, but Christopher Owen's songwriting and delivery is the real thing. His songs are honest, sad, funny, bratty, brave, vulnerable and sincere. When you listen to this new album by Girls you can tell this is music being made not just as hobby or for fun, but that this is what gets him to keep on moving and living every day. So much music being made right now is so too concerned with sounding cool, or hinting at all the right references, but Girls make no apologies for just wanting to be one of the greatest pop/rock bands on the planet.�
While there are those wonderful tender and slow moments on the album that Girls deliver so well, this for sure finds them at their most epic and rocking. We hear their love of so much great classic rock come out during different moments in these songs, whether it's a Fleetwood Mac like melody, mid '70s Pink Floyd sprawling guitar complete with back-up gospel vocals, some Deep Purplish lyrics, or Big Star power pop phrasing, all interwoven into their already unmistakable sound.�Some of us had never made the connection before, but there are times when Christopher's vocals recall another amazing songwriter with a heavy and beautiful heart, Elliott Smith.�When the songs are slower and more stripped down, they can stop you in your tracks, goosebumps all over, as sentiments of extreme yearning sizzle to the surface. Yet alongside the heartache there is an undercurrent of self-endurance and triumph that rings through these songs. Once again, Girls brings us to glory!
While they last, the lp version (not the cd, sorry) we have comes with a bonus flexi-disc!!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Super limited edition 10" from Girls featuring their epic track "Hellhole Ratrace" a song that has proven to be the perfect gateway drug, as most folks first taste of the deliciously romantic pop that the guys in Girls create. If you haven't heard this song yet then by all means make sure you grab this as it really is one of the most heartfelt and achingly bittersweet songs in a very long time. The kind of song that gives you butterflies and goosebumps every time you hear it. The 'b' side is a song called "Solitude" that is not on the full length. Only 500 of these were pressed so act now or you know....
One of things we love most about local boys Girls, is their celebration and appreciation of THE SONG, and specifically THE SINGLE. They first caught our attention with the life affirming single Hellhole Ratrace, and after the release of their amazing full length here's another killer single, with a brand new song as the B-side. This time out "Laura" from the album gets singled out, which is great cuz we already loved that song, so it was the B-side we were anxious to hear and "Oh Boy" is one of the dreamiest, warm and warbly Girls songs yet! Like My Bloody Valentine doing a '60s heartache girl group broken hearted lament.
It continues to blow our mind that every time we hear a new song from Girls it makes us fall in love with them all over again. It's just a few days away from Valentines Day when Girls will be playing here and we can't think of a better band to celebrate hearts on sleeves and broken hearts that still beat brightly than an evening with Girls.
While usually we wouldn't say a pressing of one thousand 7"s is all that limited, with the massive popularity of these Girls in the last year odds are these are sure to disappear pretty quick.
With Valentine's Day just a couple weeks away, this fancy one-sided heart shaped single from Girls will be the perfect way to tell that special someone you dig them a lot, or more appropriately in the spirit of Girls, you should get it for yourself and lament the love that you have lost or you wish for but can never have.
"Lawrence" is dedicated to Lawrence Hayard, the frontman of Felt, and what an awesome dedication and tribute it is as this song has the same kind of languid and hazy daydream glow of so many of our favorite Felt songs. It's not a cover, but instead a way for Christopher Owens to show his gratitude and love to someone who has played such a big influence on his music making.
Quite possibly the most beautiful Girls song to date. We've been spinning this heart over and over since we got it in, and don't expect to stop any time soon...
When we gushed about how much we love the Girls debut full length last list, we talked about how much of a San Francisco record it was. Paying homage and being influenced by this great city we are lucky enough to live in. So it's more then fitting that this new single that features the great lead off track "Lust For Life" from the full length, offers a non-album track on the B side called "Life In San Francisco". The song really does perfectly demonstrate how much this city has shaped and informed the wonderful and romantic vision Girls create with their music. One of those songs that sounds as good whether it's crisp and sunny out or for those wet gray days we know are on the horizon. Never sure how long singles stay in print these days so best to grab one of these before you say oh how I wish I had......
I'd really hoped that GVSB's return to the rock arena after such a long absence would kick some serious ass with their crunchy, sinewy guitars and trademark sultry rasp vocals. Instead, what we get is something that sounds sort of like lead vocalist Scott McCloud doin' his best Mark E. Smith impression. Weird! In the mid-'90s, they unleashed Venus Luxure No. 1 Baby and Cruise Yourself, their first two releases on Touch & Go. A pair of hot, angstful and sexy full lengths. Since then they've gone through their fair share of major label entanglements and a few less than stellar albums (on which they sounded like slick, hollow GVSB replicas), but now that they've found a new label home on Jade Tree, is this a fresh start? Not quite. Although this is definitely much better than their last effort Freak-o-nica, it still pales in comparison to the aforementioned albums.
We were psyched by the debut ep of Girls At Dawn released on Captured Tracks nearly a year ago and are thus now doubly psyched to finally see their full length debut. Surely, unless you've been hiding under a rock, you must have noticed that there's a huge girl group revival thing going on, a lot of it spurred on by the great Captured Tracks label: Grass Widow, Wet Dog, and Aias to name but a few. But Girls At Dawn have carved out their own special niche. Where bands like the Dum Dum Girls mine the sixties Phil Spector / Shangri-las / Ronnettes sound and groups like Wet Dog and Grass Widow channel late seventies post-punk bands The Slits and The Raincoats, The Girls At Dawn have been exploring the eighties/sixties paisley underground sound of bands like The Pandoras, Strawberry Switchblade and The Bangles, as well as one of our favorite bands from back in the day, Fuzzbox. Girls At Dawn manage to apply a coat of strawberry-scented psych gloss to their lo-fi DIY ethos with punchy short songs (the longest track is 2:36) and sweet pop charm.
As we all make our 2009 favorite lists, we started thinking about what label released the most rad music and Captured Tracks would be pretty hard to beat with their amazing onslaught of killer releases this year, from folks like Blank Dogs, Brilliant Colors, Roman Soldiers, Dum Dum Girls, Gary War, Grass Widow, Woods, Thee Oh Sees, The Mayfair Set... God damn! They put out more amazing records in one year then many labels do in a decade! So it's so fitting that in the final days of 2009 we get one more slab of wax from Captured Tracks that we can't seem to stop listening to.
The Girls At Dawn for sure fit into the Captured Tracks aesthetic and would sound right at home on a bill with any of the above mentioned bands, yet they totally have their own unique charm that has made us so smitten with them. The way they infuse a haunting girl group element into their raw garage pop is totally hitting the spot. Makes us think of Grass Widow teaming up with The Sandwitches or a more lo-fi Slumber Party, or maybe Slant 6 / Quixotic doing Phil Spector and Thee Headoatees covers. In other words this is fucking great!
We might have missed out on this reissue from earlier this year had it not been for Mick from Rubber O Cement commenting in the store that recent Slumberland darlings Liechtenstein sounded a lot like Girls At Our Best. Given how much we were smitten by the Liechtenstein and their seductive twee punk melodies, we gave the Girls a shot; and damn if Mick didn't totally nail it. Girls At Our Best are a little more jagged at times (sort of like a brighter version of Scream period Siouxsie & The Banshees in terms of the arrangements) and enjoy some nifty production tricks of vocal multi-tracking to give Jo Evans all sorts of call and response choruses of her lightly melodic then intensely present vocals.
Girls At Our Best was shortlived from the get-go, as the band had already broken up once using the moniker The Butterflies, but took up an offer for half-price sessions at a studio in their hometown of Leeds to record. They recorded four singles, a couple of which ended up on Rough Trade before the tiny indie Happy Birthday offered them a deal to release their first LP Pleasure in 1981. Like any self-respecting punk band of the day, they managed a BBC session though Richard Skinner and not John Peel. All of these aforementioned singles, that LP, and the BBC session fit snugly on this cd compendium of their work. By the time, Girls At Our Best had jumped from the economical single to the full album, they were tinkering around with some whimsical vaudevillian tropes, sarcastic sugar-punk excess, and anthemic vocal acrobatics. And as ramshackledly silly some of these track sound, they were much better on the punchy, dance-punk numbers like "Warm Girls" and "Go For Gold."
