This album came out a couple of months ago, but some problems in distribution from France (where the Textile lable is located) kept us from getting this until now. Nevertheless, "Change" is the much anticipated follow-up to the acclaimed pair of Jackie-O Motherfucker albums "Liberation" and "Magick Fire Music." This fluctuating ensemble of musicians have made a few minor alterations to their psychedelic improvisations channelled through the mythologies of Appalachian folk music; but for the most part, "Change" isn't that much of a prophetic title for this work. Jackie-O Motherfucker lets loose a vast array of instrumentation (guitars, violins, cellos, sax, reeds, vibes, and percussion) to explore any number of divergent paths of improvisation, while attempting to hold generalized themes which at times reference an Easter snake-charming vibe and at others a Huck Finn laziness. The latter is exemplified by Tom Greenwood's nasally vocals which wistfully meander through a couple of tracks like Gibby Haynes on even heavier sedation than usual. Jackie-O is at their best when structuring this sprawling aesthetic in a post-rock expansiveness (i.e. Tarentel, Pajo, Sonna, etc.) in which repeated guitar riffs reign in all of the other instruments as ornamentation. Yet, more frequently on "Change" than previous outings, Jackie-O allows for a Knitting Factory-style noodle jazz to be invoked through a plethora of solos.
The CD has three tracks not featured on the LP.
Another long out of print JOMF gem gets the deluxe reissue treatment. Here's our review from the first time around:
Jackie-O Motherfucker's sound is not the aggro fury the name might imply. Rather this Portland/New York/Baltimore ensemble prefers freeminded improvisational stylings that delve into the meandering Americana of Souled American, but with the psychedelic pastoral jazz freakouts of the No Neck Blues Band or the Sun City Girls. Through delicate plucks of banjo, melancholic slide guitars, and creaking violin, Jackie-O Motherfucker wanders through avant garde deconstructions of what could be folk standards -- "Amazing Grace" makes an appearance with only a single sax riff betraying its presence. So nice.
We never would have expected this sort of record from the always difficult Jackie-O-Motherfucker. A downright pretty folk record. And no, not psych folk, or new weird America folk, just gorgeous and dreamy, lilting and delicately lovely folk. A bit of droney strum, a little shimmery atmosphere, male and female harmony vocals, a lush instrumental backdrop of double bass, cello, pedal steel, reeds, occasional slow burning post rock rhythms, rich and lush and really quite lovely. Some of the old JOMF surfaces toward the end of a few of the tracks, and on some of the longer tracks, where the floating folk implodes and becomes a sort of abstract free rock meander, with hiccuping turntables, snippets of spoken word, warbly melodies, all drifting in a woozy soundscape of drone and shimmer. But for the most part this is definitely the most song-oriented, and loveliest JOMF record to date. Probably has a bit to do with the fact that four of the seven tracks are traditionals. But even when the songs are being stretched and twisted and pulled apart, it's never harsh, instead it's all warm and muted, lush and dense, lilting and hypnotic, a deep, rich gorgeous sound world of dark and dreamy folk, washing over you and filling your ears with sweet soft sounds.
Cool bandana cover art too!
In spite of their punk-as-fuck name, Jackie-O Motherfucker is a Portland avant-rock ensemble that draws much more from the inner-connectivist logic of Harry Smith (the curator of Smithsonian's Anthology of American Folk Music, amongst other things),
"Liberation" is Jackie-O's seventh album and continues their explorations into the psychedelic recombinations of traditional American folk and the non-linear agendas of free-jazz. Rather than utilizing the approach of the like minded No Neck Blues Band's squalid lack of structure, Jackie-O smartly plays patterned composition and free improvisation off of each other. "Ray-O-Graph" is a solid example of such a strategy, with its cheap but unwavering beatbox and a twangy guitar that repeats its bent notes at an unhurried pace, while the rest of the massive ensemble makes itself known with a quiet racket. Yet, just when the erosion and upheaval of form starts to make sense, Jackie-O issues forth an honest-to-God song in "Something on Your Mind," a backwoodsy ballad complete with Southern drawl and front porch stomp. For all of its sonic complexities, "Liberation" lives up to its name as an album content in the disorienting freedom to allow oneself to wander.
Finally available again!
Northwestern psychedelic space/free/avant rockers Jackie O Motherfucker return from a massive European tour and all we got was this lousy live double cd. Just kidding. It's hardly lousy. In fact, this may be one of our favorite JOMF recordings to date. Which makes sense, since live is where a large improvisatory ensemble can let loose and do what they do best. Improvise. Wander. Meander. Get lost. And explore. Mantra like, barely-there-vocals, guitars buzzing like sitars, subtle shuffling percussion, warm drones, occasional sputters and half melodies from the turntables, guitars and basses melt into the background, blending into the sonic foliage, while everything rustles and shimmers, breathes and stretches. Like free jazz filtered through a thick haze of painkillers and potsmoke. Lethargic, lugubrious, cinematic and at times almost nightmarish. Really nice! Includes a West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band cover, of all things...
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Another super limited release from Portland (formerly SF) based artist Chris Johansen's Awesome Vistas label. We flew through the last two, the Oh Sees' Peanut Butter Oven EP and Linda Hagood's Pink Love Red Love (the Oh Sees is WAY gone, but we might have a few of the Hagood left), so we expect the new ones to fly out of here just as fast.
The Cryin' Sea is the latest from folk drone free noise collective Jackie-O Motherfucker, whose last disc Freedom Land was a bit of a flop around these parts. But thankfully The Cryin' Sea has not only righted that wrong, it also finds the band returning to more of a folk sound, at least on the opener. A loping meandering shuffle, with mumbled vocals, simple propulsive drumming, and spidery reverby guitar lines. A bit like a super stripped down No Neck, Jackie-O let the song unfurl lazily, allowing the track to morph into some super blissed out krautrock, which could easily have filled out the whole side but ends up ending way too soon. That's followed up by something a bit more abstract, an angular assemblage of buzzing metallic melodic fragments, bits of guitar twang spread out over sizzling tinkling percussion, muted voices, and distant shimmering drones, before the vocals return and the song gets a bit folky again. The side closer is a caustic slab of bedroom buzz, the guitars crunchy and buzzing, the vocals distorted and garbled, the drums a buried plod, a lilting, darkly pretty dirge.
As if that weren't enough, the B-side is a single side long song, the title track captured live in Finland, and sounding much more like 'classic' JoM: sputtery percussion, moaned abstract vocals, bits of turntable whir and mutated samples, eventually giving way to strummed guitar, simple motorik drum beat, and some gorgeous super stripped down krautrockiness, that over the course of the rest of the disc becomes looser and looser, more and more free, finishing off with a burst of soft cacophony. Really nice. And JoM now counts among its membership Nick Bindeman, the man behind bigtime aQ drone faves Tunnels (he may have been in JoM for a while, but we only just noticed).
As with all Awesome Vistas, cool cover art too. Hand screened black green and purple images on SUPER thick old style lp sleeves, with a photocopied insert.
LIMITED TO 400 COPIES!!!
When this showed up at Aquarius, I made a stupid comment to a customer who was curious about this record. I said that Jackie-O Motherfucker were somewhat of a Tom Sawyer / Huck Finn communal project featuring a bunch of random No Neck Blues Band style "pipe
Now that I've actually cracked the duct-tape seal which encases the two records and immersed myself in the wonders of "The Magick Fire Music," I must gladly admit that I was very very wrong. There certainly is a rustic Tom Sawyer / Huck Finn aspect to the Portland ensemble's sound, but there is much less of the expected jazz element. Instead, Jackie-O Motherfucker has carved out a sound that is emotively quite similar to the post-rock melancholia of Godspeed / Sigur Ros but with none of their overly dramatic orchestrations.
The album opens with a buried collage of shortwave radio heterodyning and disconnected voices, but emphatically steps forward with a guitar duet between a saddened David Pajo-esque riff and an intertwining effects-laden chimed tone. After the clunky twang of Jew's harps on "Bone Saw," Jackie-O returns to the evocative, spacious, and cinematically Western riffs (especially on the breathtakingly melancholy "The Cage"), as an effective means of transcribing sound into a psychic landscape that is strangely similar to the aforementioned Godspeed. While Godspeed brackets their tight orchestrations around a social pessimism that eventually leads to cathartic enlightenment about how shitty the world is around us, Jackie-O Motherfucker settles back into a drugged stupor of oddly psychedelic grooves, something I prefer. A very, very good record!
Run by Tom Greenwood and Josh Stevenson, both from Jackie-O Motherfucker, the U Sound series documents lost, hidden and forgotten musical history. Volume 2 features excerpts from two live Jackie-O Motherfucker shows in Portland and Vancouver back in 2000,
More live recordings from the Portland improv collective Jackie-O Motherfucker from 2001 from shows in Portland and Vancouver. This document opens with their often squiggly saxophone mellowing out into sultry almost snake charmers' slinkiness, fronting lots
Again, ESP-style revisionist jazz kicks off these two sets from Jackie-O Motherfucker from live shows in their native Portland and Seattle. Of all of the U Sound archives of Jackie-O live shows Volume 4 is the most free-jazz oriented, even their amazingly
Valley of Fire finds Jackie-O Motherfucker settling down a bit, and that's not a bad thing.
There have been more bands and more releases embracing the type of song-writing that K Records and Bloomington punx have been quietly working on for years than we could possibly try to count. Part of what's punk about it is that you really only need to know a few major-key progressions, maybe a major scale or two, and you're good to go. But sometimes it's nice to see more developed artists play with the tension between folk and the avant garde. So basically, this release seems to have increased focus on song-writing, less on noisy freak-outs or improvisation -- although here's still some, and a whole lot more vocals. Maybe this record is more for the uninitiated trying to get to the bottom of Jackie-O, or those hesitant to commit to some of their longer, stranger works. Still, somewhat hesitantly recommended.
Finally available on cd, the one-two punch that proves Jackie O Motherfucker just may well edge out their more hyped contemporaries, the No Neck Blues Band and Sunburned Hand Of The Man, in the bid to rule the world of US-underground-free-psych-folk-weirdness.
There certainly is a rustic Tom Sawyer / Huck Finn aspect to this Portland ensemble's sound, but there is much less of the expected jazz element. Instead, Jackie-O Motherfucker have carved out a sound that is emotively quite similar to the post-rock melancholia of Godspeed / Sigur Ros but with none of their overly dramatic orchestrations.
The album opens with a buried collage of heterodyning shortwave radio and disconnected voices, but emphatically steps forward with a guitar duet between a sad David Pajo-esque riff and an intertwining effects-laden chimed tone. After the clunky twang of Jew's harps on "Bone Saw," Jackie-O returns to the evocative, spacious, and cinematically Western riffs (especially on the breathtakingly melancholy "The Cage"), as an effective means of transcribing sound into a psychic landscape that is strangely similar to the aforementioned Godspeed. While Godspeed bracket their tight orchestrations around a social pessimism that eventually leads to cathartic enlightenment about how shitty the world is around us, Jackie-O Motherfucker shrug their shoulders and settle back into a drugged out, dreamy drawly musical stupor of oddly psychedelic grooves which somehow seems way more appealing.
This is volume three in My Cat Is An Alien's series of split lp's/cd's. The lps are limited to 100 copies and contain original MCIAA artwork, but sell out immediately and more importantly cost over $100 so we wisely passed on those since the cds are way more nicely priced. And sound exactly the same! For volume three, MCIAA is joined by Jackie-O Motherfucker, who offer up a twenty minute musical joyride, equal parts tribal clatter, vocal experimentation, music concrete, skittery free jazz, ambient drone, studio fuckery / tape splicing / turntable weirdness and found sound collage. Sounds like it could be a mess, but it somehow works. A chaotic convoluted sonic freakout that's more mesmerizing than maddening. Quite cool actually. For their half of the split, MCIAA deliver a keening wash of glistening ambience, with lots of space-y swoosh and futuristic bleeps and bloops, that slowly morphs into an almost nursery rhyme like ditty with affected vocal melodies, simple chimes, and reverberating steel string shimmer.
It's been awhile since we've heard from these two camps of free rock improvisers, but this split is a welcome return for both old faves, Jackie-O Motherfucker and Tom Carter.
The Jackie-O side is a side-long track called "House of Rain" which begins plaintively with funereal horns, bass, synth, and clattering percussion airing out in a slow build. Mournful mumbling vocals intone through a collage of interweaving sounds, broken guitar strums, hallucinogenic claptrap, and propulsive dirgery that coalesce into a momentous free-jazz memorial send-off for some seemingly heroic figure's burial at sea. Flutes, drums and horns buzzingly flock together into an epic whirring cloud of noise that battles it out among the stratosphere before slowly dying out.
The Tom Carter side is a collaboration with cellist Helena Espvall (formerly of Espers) called "Electrogesis" which begins more abstractly with what sounds like sped-up piano tones joined by cello and guitar in tandem, the cello more abrasive and droney while the guitar is more searching and exploratory, riding the line between melodic psych excursion and free improvisation. Soon the two lock horns around an intense raga-like center and as the sound grows more intense, the music fragments and destabilizes into a burning murky ember of glorious beautiful noise. So great! Limited to 200 copies.
We managed to get a super limited number of these, a killer live album, vinyl only, from Northwestern psych / drone / improv / whatever collective Jackie-O-Motherfucker. Three tracks, recorded in Italy, San Francisco and Buffalo over the last few years, housed in a super striking hand made sleeve. Full color, psychedelic gatefold, hand screened, the inside is cut out so you can see the vinyl inside, the lp is housed in a trippy printed plastic sleeve, also included is a strange mini insert, each one is hand numbered, limited to 1000 copies.
The whole of side one is the NY show, and is an extended shimmery cinematic soundscape, distant swells, abstract percussion, and haunting female vocals that go from crooning to wordless mumbling to wildly speaking in tongues. Guitars warble and waver, everything is drifty and woozy and gorgeously dreamlike.
The SF show is all creaking moans and deconstructed blues, detuned guitars and bleating horns, muted and rumbling with lots and lots of low end. It sort of sounds like some busted old jazz record being spun manually with your finger on the turntable as slow as you can.
And finally, the Italian show is more of a sort of hypnotic ur-drone, like Sunroof! crossed with No Neck Blues Band, with a bit of that Finnish Forest Folk thrown in. A dronelike hum, a muted buzzing skree, horns moaning in the distance, cymbals sizzling and drums an abstract clatter.
All three sets are on the soft and tranquil side. Even at their most animated, they still seem dark and dreamy and subtly tripped out. Quite lovely and haunting.
Again, AMAZING packaging, and crazy limited. We got maybe 15 copies left, and once they're gone, we most likely will not be able to get more.
The arrival of anything that Andrew Chalk touches is a cause for celebration here at aQuarius, and here we have this new lp entitled A Paper Doll's Whisper Of Spring. A tiny edition of these recordings appeared and disappeared on cd-r about a year or so ago, with the occasional duo of Vikki Jackman and Andrew Chalk working here with the hitherto unknown to us Jean-Noel Rebilly. The Jackman and Chalk aesthetic of wintry pastoral piano clusters swelling with beautifully rendered gossamer clouds of impressionism, haze, fog, smoke, and whatnot remain intact, so what Rebilly is contributing is not all that clear. But given how good Jackman and Chalk work together, why mess things up? At times, it appears that the three are in fact working as a trio, with Jackman sitting behind the keys and with Chalk and Rebilly taking up possibly guitar and bass. There sounds are so ephemeral and so seamlessly integrated into the languid tones and suspended drones out of Jackman's piano that it's hard to really tell. Synths, koto, and possibly flutes also get wrapped up in the mirage-like sonic miasma that Chalk weaves from his source materials. That of course is the magic of Andrew Chalk, his ability to render the drone musical, and blur all sounds into time-lapsed experiences of forgotten memories, haunted films, and half-remembered dreams. Beautiful stuff as always and again, as with all Chalk releases, immaculately packaged. The vinyl is limited to 400 copies, and it's unlikely that a cd version of this will show up anytime in the near future...
David Jackman originally released Edge Of Nothing on an untitled cassette back in 1983 through his own Aeroplane imprint. This cassette was a tiny edition of 5 copies and recycled the archaic C7 tapes used in some computing systems as a means of storage. All of those copies were sold through the Rough Trade Shop in London; and supposedly, one customer actually used the cassette for computer storage and destroyed the music. Later that year, Edge Of Nothing re-appeared on the Elephant Table Album compilation alongside Chris & Cosey, Nurse With Wound, SPK, Legendary Pink Dots, Coil, etc. Steven Stapleton of Nurse With Wound remarked that Jackman's enigmatic work was "a cherry on a pile of vomit." While that compilation is actually quite good, Jackman's dissonant composition is an eerie anomaly amidst the rest of the albums disjointed electronics and semantic inversions of power. All of the sounds from Edge Of Nothing came from a 14" splash cymbal that Jackman bowed, scraped, looped, and played back in reverse. Jackman admits that he found this cymbal in the street, and it had previously been used for BB-gun practice. Regardless, the slightly overblown multi-tracked sounds from that cymbal have been the basis for the best Jackman recordings, both solo and with his 'group' Organum.
Jump two decades, and find Jackman returning to that same material to sculpt two tracks of the exact same length (6'29"). Edge Of Nothing is so dense and so lacking in any recognizable signposts within the mass of buzzings and raspings that it's hard to say if in fact Jackman has simply put the same track on both side. If one is to believe Die Stadt, then the pieces are indeed different.
"Eisen" is another installment in a series from Organum ringleader David Jackman, who consistently offers a disturbing body of work with undeniable references to the atrocities of World War II. This piece is an extended collage built from an eerie repetition of a Wagnerian theme as played by a German marching band circa 1940. Jackman handles this piece with such masterful
This is the first of four 10"s to be released through Die Stadt within the next year. The A-side will certainly appeal to Organum fans, an impressive collage of acoustic drones from scraped metals. This is as good as any of the best Organum recordings, although only a mere 6 minutes long. The B-side is a straight field recording of birds and airplanes, also with a very brief program of 6 minutes or so. Limited to 500 copies.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
David Jackman is the enigmatic mastermind behind the drone ensemble Organum, who are known for their textural explorations into the acoustic properities of bowed metals. Jackman, under his own name, has released several amazing records completely unlike Organum. "Machine Gun Fighting" is a reworking of archival sound recordings from the Imperial War Museum in London, and continues in a series of war related collages that Jackman has made from those recordings. Using the rapid hammer fire of machine guns as the sole sound source, Jackman builds a surprisingly droned-out but nerve-wracking collage. While certain circles of right-wing post-industrialists still conjure the images of World War II to invoke the power of horror, Jackman's intentions appear less than clear and may simply be based on the sonic quality of these machines rather than their significance as implements of destructions.
After a spell of expensive releases both solo and as Organum that held a paltry amount of material, David Jackman has finally provided a new album where the dollar per minute ratio is less than one! In other words, you get 35 minutes of aggregate sound collage for a mere $14.98. Though a reissue, essentially nobody has really heard these recordings before as Up From Zero was one of the very first cassettes that Jackman put out on his Aeroplane Records back in 1982 in an edition of just 30 copies. There's also an extra track dating back to 1980, a collaboration with the underappreciated Philip Sanderson. While his strongest work has clearly been his Organum project which concentrates on timbral accumulations of bowed gongs and scraped metals into epic drones and minimalist constructions, Jackman's solo work has a considerable amount to offer. Up From Zero is a particularly dynamic suite distinguished by the easily recognizable samples which riddle Jackman's compositions. A screeching loop of a car crash interrupts the burbling of a placid stream; deep rumbling drones situate behind the seasick motion of scraped metals and smashed glass; and bowed guitar echoes toward infinity. These sounds are much more obvious than most Organum / Jackman sounds, but never quite articulate themselves as the Surrealist epiphanies of Nurse With Wound. It may have been that these early works experimented with various sounds before he hit on the signature of Organum. Nevertheless, another very strong piece of work from one of the great minimalists of the contemporary era.
Outside of his work in Organum (which has been sadly on hold for the past few years), David Jackman has been producing a strange series of collages based upon a handful of personal yet unidentified accounts from World War II. In previous interviews, Jackman has stated an open hostility towards the ultra-conservative agendas of certain elements of Industrial culture, thus making
This album originally was released as an incredibly limited cassette in 1996 in an edition of only 61 copies. The CD release will see a bit more longevity with a pressing of a whopping 700 copies.
The journey through the back catalogue of Organum and David Jackman continues; this time with two very rare tracks from 1980 / 1981. "Terrain" was a collaboration between Jackman and Philip Sanderson, who had been active in the early '80s in the minimalist, primitive electronics ensemble the Storm Bugs. This is an alternate version of a track that had appeared on the "0 Degrees North" cassette that Jackman released through his Aeroplane Records in an edition of 25 copies. With Jackman overdubbing low guttural growls on a steel strung cello and Sanderson programming coffee-percolation on a drum machine, "Terrain" is a lo-fi production that finds its companions in the work of Throbbing Gristle, Hunting Lodge, and the Broken Flag camps of noise. "Adrift" -- a solo Jackman piece which appeared on the Sanderson's Snatch tapes in an edition again of 25 copies -- is similarly lo-fi with a hypnotic loop of a monochromatic guitar topped with clanging metals and samples from orchestral swells which have been drained of all color and replaced with a swampy din. Perhaps not one of Jackman's finest moments; but considering how all of his work fetches high prices from record collectors, this may be more of an investment.
Of Beauty Reminiscing is the debut album for Vikki Jackman who had previously contributed the evocative if very minimal clusters of piano notes on Andrew Chalk's Goldfall LP from a few months back. So taken was he by the results of that source material, Chalk offered Ms. Jackman an album of her own, which he would produce and release through his Faraway Press imprint. The piano that Jackman uses could never be confused for a concert piano as the antiquated instrument offers forth slightly askew if thoroughly elegant notes; and Jackman certainly emphasizes the idiosyncrasies of that piano through her fragile, open-ended and sparsely laid out melodies, which hold some similarities to Erik Satie's or maybe even Morton Feldman's piano compositions smeared with a decaying Victorian gracefulness. One side of this LP features Jackman by her lonesome, and the other appears to exhibit the hand of Andrew Chalk blurring the edges of many of her tones into a wistful fog of drifting dronescaping. Super limited to a tiny pressing of which we will probably get no more than the pittance that we have received. Which at this point is FIVE copies. Gone in no time of course. Prepare to be disappointed. Sorry. Highly recommended nonetheless.
Andrew Chalk began his Faraway Press imprint less than a decade ago, hand-fabricating some of the loveliest packaging we have seen, created to house some of the loveliest drones we have ever heard. Almost all of the records on Faraway Press have been Chalk's solo records, with a couple of collaborations, and a few albums from Vikki Jackman, who had previously partnered with Chalk on a handful of records, most notably providing the source material for Chalk's Goldfall album. Her first album was Of Beauty Reminiscing, and this one Whispering Pages is the second - both of which enjoy Andrew Chalk's impeccable ear and additional production. Jackman's principle instrument is an antiquated piano, which clearly wears its age in its warbled tones and wooden creaks which Jackman has no interest in disguising. Her compositions are gossamer at best, with gently plinked clusters of notes leaving little more than impressionist marks. Where her previous outing took many of its Spartan cues from Erik Satie, Whispering Pages enjoys a greater amount of additional treatments: field recordings, drone fabrication, and even some digital pixel smear. Throughout the album, Jackman's soft focus piano flickers across shadowy rumbles, which while somber and nocturnal are never oppressively blackened. The bits of digital splutter which dot the drift and drone are a bit unusual from anything that Andrew Chalk touches, but it certainly does not detract from the delicate drama of this album. Think Tim Hecker judiciously remixing Brian Eno's Thursday Afternoon. Be warned however, Whispering Pages is strictly limited to 300 copies.
Domo arigato! Now here's a nice import vinyl reissue of this essential late '60s Japanese psychedelic rock record, the genius debut by 'Group Sounds-gone-gloomy' band the Jacks. Along with underground cult heroes Les Rallizes Denudes, The Jacks were another early, influential home-grown Japanese psych band, just ask Keiji Haino, whose outfit Fushitsusha covered the Jacks' classic "Marianne" on the second Tokyo Flashback volume.
With stinging Quicksilver psych guitar leads and melancholy vocals, the Jacks' legendary Vacant World, from 1968, is a truly gorgeous album of delicacy, darkness, and murk, that words like 'timeless' and 'dramatic' well describe. Its sparse, sad beauty makes it one of AQ overlord Allan's favorite '60s psych artifacts ever (although fellow AQ overlord Andee isn't as into it, but then, he doesn't really like Can or the Velvet Underground, either). Unlike other noted Japanese 'GS' bands like The Mops or The Challengers, these guys were not mainly, merely doing covers of the rock hits of the day from San Francisco and London, no. While Western garage and blues and psychedelic rock certainly shaped their sound, the Jacks seem uniquely Japanese, uniquely Jacks as well.
Though there's fuzz guitar on here, it's much more about atmosphere, moodiness, melody. The lyrics too, were apparently somewhat subversive, not that we'd know for sure. Totally recommended, especially to those of you into the more gentle and balladic side of more current Japanese psych acts like Ghost, LSD-march, Up-Tight, Nagisa Ni Te, etc.
Pressed on red vinyl, identical to its original issue, we're told.
Fans of current underground Japanese psych stuff (Acid Mothers Temple, Keiji Haino, Ghost, Nagisa Ni Te, etc.) who'd like to delve into the early psychedelic era precursors of those acts have been lucky lately, what with that Les Rallizes Denudes double cd finally having some availability, and the Flower Travellin' Band disc we recently recommended too. As we mentioned in our Rallizes review, The Jacks were the other crucial home-grown Japanese psych band, an admitted influence on Fushitsusha certainly, who once covered The Jacks' classic "Marianne". And we just managed to get a few imported copies of this 2-on-1 disc by 'em, released last year on the Japanese Shagadelic label. Not only does it have the ten tracks of their legendary "Vacant World" but also another 11 constituting their follow-up album "Super Session" (both 1968), plus three rare bonus tracks (two from singles, one live). The booklet provides discographical information and album/single art.
With stinging Quicksilver psych guitar leads and melancholy vocals, "Vacant World" is a truly gorgeous album of darkness and murk that words like delicate, dramatic, and timeless well describe. Its sparse, sad beauty makes it one of Allan's favorite '60s psych artifacts ever, though not everyone else here is so moved. Unlike other noted Japanese 'GS' bands like The Mops or The Challengers, these guys were not mainly, merely doing covers of the current rock hits of the day from San Francisco and London. While Western garage and blues and psychedelic rock certainly shaped their sound, The Jacks seem uniquely Japanese, uniquely Jacks as well.
Now for two warnings: The second album on here, Super Session, unfortunately does seem to delve into a more commerical, less special sound. It's as if some producer or record exec told 'em they had to be more like the competition. As a result, this does venture into a bar rock zone that's not at all on par with "Vacant World". And if you like saxophone, they get into that here too. A very different mood from the debut indeed. Oh well. But it's still cool to have, kitschy fun.
Ok, here's the second catch: we ONLY have 6 of these in stock right now, so if you need this, act fast...dunno when/if we can get more, unfortunately.
MPEG Download: "Marianne" [/audio/jacksmarianne.mp3]
MPEG Stream: "Marianne" [/audio/jacksmarianne.m3u]
So sad. So Good!
Another incredible unsung jazz gem rescued from obscurity by the awesome Jazzman label, this one comes from Bobby Jackson, a name even the most seasoned jazz obsessives might not recognize. He was a Minneapolis bassist and big time jazz booster, having put on shows for Roland Kirk, Elvin Jones, Freddie Hubbard and more, at his Cafe Extra-Ordinaire, a small coffee bar jazz bistro he started as a place for live jazz. A place he worked at serving coffee, booking bands, and somehow still finding time to play. His story is incredible, trials and tribulations, drugs, cops, crazy jazzheads, and a record, this record, that was recorded in 1970 but took 8 years to be released, and even then, outside of their tiny circle, no one heard it, until now.
Which is a shame, cuz like most of the other holy grail reissues on Jazzman, if things went a little differently, if the right people in the right places found out about these jams, all of these folks could have, SHOULD have been huge. Which is precisely the case with Jackson, this is an incredible collection of deep spiritual modal jazz, opener "Paul's Ark" is an instant classic, the horn melodies recalling Roland Kirk, Jackson's bass busy and melodic, the drumming skittery and smooth, so so good. And from there on out, it remains total spiritual cosmic jazz bliss, the piano playing is incredible, flurries of notes swirling over insanely busy drumming, Jackson't bass holding it all together, the songs slipping from sweet jazzy coffee house grooves to frantic frenetic hard bop workouts, the sort of wild frenzied playing that would have most jazz crowds on the edge of their seats on on their feet!
Huge booklet packed with liner notes, interviews, photos, the story of the record, of Jackson, of the club, including some funny stuff about Sun Ra, Prince (it is Minneapolis after all) and more...
... in which we discover that there was a baby tiger present at the Thriller album photo shoot. Bonus stuff included, namely a demo version of "Billie Jean", interviews with Quincy Jones and Rod Temperton, the unused second verse of Vincent Price's
All it takes is a look at Millie Jackson's illustrious album covers to know that she is one saucy and sassy soulstress. Recorded thirty years ago, Feelin' Bitchy is one of the better records in her long career. Feelin' Bitchy is a mix of spoken and sung vocals, biting humor and unapologetic bluntness, hints at a hip hop world to come, and tasty gritty deep soul done just right. Folks like Missy Elliott and Lil' Kim have for sure taken some cues from Miss Millie. With the recent explosion of great soul reissue compilations (Eccentric Soul, Bay Area Funk, Searching For Soul, Soul Gospel, Birmingham Sound, etc.) we hope that artists like Millie Jackson, Betty Davis, Bettye Swann and Betty Wright will continue to get the full attention and adoration they deserve.
Besides having some of the most memorable album covers ever, Millie Jackson also made some damn fine music! While it's her saucy mouth and sassy attitude that she is usually most known for, It Hurts So Good is all about an undeniably deep hitting and fiercely delivered Southern soul that sizzles so damn good! This was her second album, recorded in 1973 and while many later albums would provide some great moments, It Hurts So Good really stands as her strongest album from start to finish. Her voice is so strong and bold and the rich instrumentation kicks oh so right. Millie shows her range from in your face and funky to smooth and sultry without losing a bit of rawness or conviction in the process. With bonus tracks worth hearing and extensive liner notes this is a must have for soul & funk lovers, and a record that really deserves more attention and praise. Highly recommended!
Now available on vinyl (minus four singles tracks on the Reverend's Jackson label that was included with the CD version). What with all the eee-veeeel black metal we sell and celebrate, you might not expect us at Aquarius to go in for god-lovin' religious music as well -- well, you'd be wrong, at least in the case of this release, a collection of obscure '70s gospel sides by the Reverend Charlie Jackson that we do indeed like quite a bit. Originally released on 45s, circa 1970-1978. Each track, whether an up-tempo bluesy rocker or a sparse, emotive sermon, radiate raw energy and spiritual enthusiasm. All the cuts feature Jackson on guitar, most also feature him doing the singing n' preaching, though there's a few where he's backing other vocalists like (his wife) Sister Frances Jackson and Brother Ike Gordon. This is juke-joint style Jesus music, dressed up for church to be sure but still real honest and rootsy. Compelling stuff.
What with all the eee-veeeel black metal we sell and celebrate, you might not expect us at Aquarius to go in for god-lovin' religious music as well -- well, you'd be wrong, at least in the case of this release, a collection of obscure '70s gospel sides by the Reverend Charlie Jackson that we do indeed like quite a bit. Originally released on 45s, circa 1970-1978, these vocal and guitar tracks haven't previously been available together on cd until now. Each one, whether an up-tempo bluesy rocker or a sparse, emotive sermon, radiate raw energy and spiritual enthusiasm. All the cuts feature Jackson on guitar, most also feature him doing the singing n' preaching, though there's a few where he's backing other vocalists like (his wife) Sister Frances Jackson and Brother Ike Gordon. This is juke-joint style Jesus music, dressed up for church to be sure but still real honest and rootsy. Compelling stuff.
This disc is the first release on Aum Fidelity's new Casequarter imprint, a new label run by a WMFU DJ devoted to rescuing and revitalizing the obscure gospel legacy of the deep south -- digging up rare 45s, documenting still-active practitioners, that sort of thing. This disc is a great start. We'll definitely be looking forward to further releases on the label, as they seem to know what they're doing!
Another killer compilation from Omni, this once an overview of Stonewall Jackson, a name most folks probably aren't familiar with, even though between 1958 and 1971 he had THIRTY FIVE top 40 country hits, and was the first member of the Grand Ol Opry to become a member sans recording contract. And these days, Jackson is more famous for suing the Opry in 2007, a $20 million age discrimination suit, claiming the Opry told him he was "too old and too country" for the 'new' Opry.
Back in the day, Jackson was an unsung country music hero, hit after hit, amazing record after amazing record, yet he somehow still managed to remain under the radar of most country music fans. We first heard him on Omni's awesome Troubled Troubadours collection with the twisted track "Push The Panic Button", and while nothing included here is quite as far out, most of the songs are just as good, "I Washed My Hands In Muddy Water" is crazy catchy, twangy and heartfelt, "Drinking And Driving" is a classic country lament, with gorgeous lap steel and some deep crooned vocals, and it's about, well, drinking and driving, "While The Daises Grow Free" is a tragic tale of coal miners slaving away underground, while, well you know. The arrangements are lush, lots of harmonica and slide and both male and female background vocals, simple rhythms, fantastic guitar playing, and of course Jacksons's soulful croon, sweet and smooth. Like all Omni collections, we end up finding ourselves listening to this over and over, and it gets played in the store like crazy.
And also like all Omni collections, extensive liner notes, tons of photos, and many of these tracks available on cd for the first time ever.
Two new releases this week from kick ass country reissue label Omni, the other one a strange country fried soul funk (?!) record from Larry Jon Wilson, reviewed elsewhere on this week's list, this one, another from the mighty Stonewall Jackson, who we first heard on Omni's Troubled Troubadours compilation, and whose last Omni collection, Life Of A Poor Boy, was a big hit 'round here.
The Lonesome In Me was Jackson's forgotten masterpiece, originally released in 1970, on the tail end of a long slump from this one time country hitmaker. But to our ears, The Lonesome In Me, while not as rife with 'hits', is not that far removed from the tracks on Life Of A Poor Boy, the sound is lush, and classically country, but peppered with more poppy harmony vocals, and more mainstream arrangements, but the lyrics remain dark and bitter, it is country music after all, so there are tales of broken hearts, drinking too much, broken homes, cold hearted women, all set to some twangy, shuffly honky tonk country pop, swoonsome lap steel over stand up bass, skittery drums, a little banjo here and there, lots of piano, and of course Jackson's deep distinctive voice, his delivery slipping from dramatic sing/talking to powerful and emotional croon, the sound definitely a little bit darker, more melancholy and contemplative, but those pop elements balance the shift in mood. This record actually was another disappointment saleswise at the time and continued Jackson's slump, which wasn't broken until the next year, with an album that contained an unlikely Poco cover that cracked the top 10. That record is included here too, and ditches some of the poppiness of the preceding album, and shifts more toward classic honky tonk, the slide guitar playing a much bigger part, and the lyrical focus less overtly miserable. Omni also tacked on a bunch of singles tracks, almost all of these songs appearing on cd for the first time. And while it is a sort of hodgepodge of different albums and singles, it does somehow play as one fantastic sprawling classic country record. And really, anyone who has been digging all of these Omni reissues, specifically that Troubled Troubadours comp, will no doubt dig this too. And if you loved Life Of A Poor Boy as much as we did, well, obviously you're probably gonna need this too.
Like all Omni releases, includes a big booklet with extensive liner notes and tons of rare photos.
Jacob isn't a person, but a duo, consisting of David Cordero, who belongs to a Spanish experimental post-rock ensemble called Ursula whom we haven't heard before, and Marco Serrato, who's the bassist/vocalist in Spanish avant-doooOOOoomsters Orthodox, whom we HAVE heard (and love). This disc on Utech finds the two working together on a new project in the spirit of what's described as "Xenakis-worship", making a dark and droney soundscape that lives up to its title, and then some! Full of spooky seismic rumblings, fluttering static, scary grinding distortion, speaker-rattling drone, avant-chamber string skree, it's only loud if you turn it up (we dare you), but even at a fairly low volume it's still sinister and eerie stuff. Inspired, perhaps, yes, by the electronic compositions of Xenakis, but also definitely by the duo's mutual love of sci-fi and horror film soundtracks. It doesn't say anywhere what the instrumentation is, but we think we're hearing cello or double bass, and electronics, and bowed cymbals maybe? All played by skeletons, or wraiths, in a dead void of inky blackness. Some haunting buried/effected wordless vokills enter into the listener's (sub)consciousness during the final track, too, we think, and hint at somethings we've heard from Orthodox. But if it turned out that this really was the work of an obscure 20th century composer we'd belive it - and be putting in a call to Creel Pone just to say, why have you been holding out on us?
The six tracks of nightmare atmospherics on this disc aren't just ominous, but THE ominous. Seriously. Open-minded Orthodox fans (what other kind are there?) should investigate, as should anyone else into claustrophobic isolationist soundscapery!!
Comes in typically nice, slim Utech packaging, with translucent printed sleeve and three cards bearing b&w photographs, morbid and beautiful.
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.
Well, it would be nice to see as well as hear what's documented here, but it's still pretty interesting... this Harry Partch-ish music was part of a audio-visual Planetarium show, and was originally released on LP by Folkways in 1959.
The first in a new series from Oakland tape label Sanity Muffin, in which visual artists, most of which are not actually musicians, are asked to create a tape, both the music and packaging, with the only caveat being that they do whatever they want. The first installment comes from aQ pal Rich Jacobs, who most art nerds are no doubt familiar with, who has conjured up a cool, dark, brooding collection of guitar instrumentals, the label describes the sound as improv surf and Western cinematic, and there's definitely some of that going on, but we're hearing lots of Sun City Girls too, a sort of Eastern vibe, droned out, buzzy, exotic and mysterious, spidery melodies wrapped around reverby riffs, a sort of slow motion surf twang brood that is haunting and hypnotic, tranced out and woozily mesmerizing, hazy and washed out and dreamily psychedelic, it's a gorgeous dusty dreamlike sound that we find ourselves getting utterly lost in.
LIMITED TO 150 COPIES! Super deluxe packaging by Jacobs himself, printed tape labels on blue tapes, a mini screen printed zine, a mini Gocco print, a Japanese style obi, stamped and hand numbered.
Jacopo Di Nicola is an Italian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose band is locally based here in San Francisco. Inspired by European cafe rock, Tropicalia and global rhythms, Jacopo manages on his debut cd to show a wide variety of styles and directions but keep it encapsulated as a satisfying whole. Treading a path between the baroque pop of Lucio Battisti and the frenetic rhythms of Manu Chao, Jacopo manages to charm with infectious songs sung in both Italian and English and unique instrumentation including mandolins, hand percussion, and some rather masterful kazoo playing! Nice!
What's the scariest and creepiest of instruments? Could it be the downtuned electric guitar, that sound that marks all things dark and heavy and brutal and grim? Or could it be the cello with its soaring keening deep throated moan? Well we might posit, especially in light of this Jacula record, that the creepiest of all instruments is most certainly the church organ. Surprising that an instrument used chiefly to inspire and praise can illicit such utter unease and create such a pervasively creepy ambience. And that's pretty much what Jacula is all about, creepy ambience. Thick and haunting washes of warm rich church organ drone, resonant and reverberant, sometimes accompanied by simple pounding drums or mournful folky guitar melodies or wild psychedelic freakouts or soaring female operatic vocals or even occasional lyrics spoken ominously in Italian, but more often than not it's just the massive and ominous swells of a church organ. So effectively and utterly evil sounding. Jacula are sort of like a doom metal soundtrack to a Dario Argento movie. Goblin meets Skepticism! A Krautrock Thergothon? But is's not all mellow murky moodiness, tracks three and four, "Triumpratus Sad" and "Veneficium", both feature seriously fuzzed out, almost punk rock riffs, that sound about a decade before their time, insistent and completely heavy, even more so when they're eventually joined by a pounding one-drum beat or strident atonal piano or wild swirling progrock keyboards. Amazing! It's no wonder we sold the first couple of copies we got in of this to members of local black metal bands Ludicra and Leviathan!
In Cauda Semper Stat Venenum (literally "The Poison Is Always At The End"), which was supposedly recorded in an English castle, was originally released in an edition of only 300 copies in the late sixties and has been completely unavailable until just recently (this reissue cd is not entirely new, but it took us until now to get enough copies to list). Formed in 1968, Jacula even counted a medium as a member of their band who we assume was critical to the process of creating this record, considering that In Cauda Semper Stat Venenum was "Composed By Spiritualist Seance (1966-1969)" Woah! And for those of you well versed in sixties and seventies prog, be aware that this reissue is NOT the same as the Jacula record released in the early seventies (1972's Tardo Pede In Magiam Versus), even though for some strange reason Black Widow has given it pretty much the exact same cover.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Awesome sun soaked lo-fi garage pop from Miami, that's overflowing with awesome hooks and colorful personality. Somehow these tracks are infused with a baked lackadaisical stoner vibe yet the songs are so damn fast, immediate and out of control catchy. Yes, lo-fi garage pop is a very crowded field these days, but damn, as long as folks keep cranking out shit that's this good, our ears still have plenty of room. And this really is that good. All three songs on this 7" totally rule, and we still love this format, the best for an introduction to a band. Show us you can make a few perfect songs, worthy of us getting up to lay the needle down over and over and then you have won us over for when your full length comes out. Fans of Wavves, Thee Oh Sees, Dum Dum Girls, Ty Segall, Best Coast, etc. will be all over this. Like all things Mexican Summer this is limited so grab one now so you don't have to go hunting on eBay later.
Comes with a coupon for a digital download of the songs as well.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
