Lali Puna fans, here's a double disc compilation of odds'n'ends from your favorite German pop-tronic dreamies! The first disc is a jumble of old and new remixes (for Dntel, Two Lone Swordsmen and Boom Bip) and originals (previously available on a handful of EPs and compilations), whereas the second disc is composed entirely of remixes by other folks (with one exception "Left Handed Dub" by Lali Puna themselves). Of the nineteen tracks, eight are previously unreleased including two new ones recorded early this year -- the dreamy opener "The Failure Of The Leading Sign Industry" and the very Stereolab-y pop-kraut "Past Machine". Actually the remixes (by the likes of Dntel, Two Lone Swordsmen, Boom Bip, Alias, Flowchart, Sixtoo, Thomas Leboeg and To Rococo Rot) don't sound all that far off from the originals. So what that means is turn off your phone, don your cozy pjs, stretch out and settle in for a long lulling listen. Lemme hear you say, "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
Just a short three song dose of Lali Puna's German pop dreaminess. Valerie Trebekjahr's vocals once again seem weightless. Her words float like feathery wisps through the fragile transmissions of electronic tapestries. The languid title track and its subsequent dubbed out version are much less song-structured and ethereally catchy than their past efforts -- especially in contrast to the final track... Now, this might be a good thing or a bad thing -- you decide! -- the cd closes with a heavenly cover of the theme song from the '80s movie Electric Dreams (originally done by Human League).
Micronomic is a song from Lali Puna's most recent full length Faking The Books. In addition to appearing in its unadulterated state, the dreamy pop song gets the remix and video treatment for this cdep -- an expansive remix by Boom Bip (in exchange for the one they contributed to the recent B.B. release Corymb), and video by Luis Briceno. Another album track "Alienation" is also remixed by their tourmates Alias. Both remixers are totally respectful of Lali Puna's overall sound, injecting more billowy spaciousness into the lovely already-atmopheric tracks. Rounding out this 5-song ep are two brand new ones "The Daily Match" and the moody instrumental "Harrison Reverse". Nice!
Markus Asher had once been quite a prolific producer of avant poptones, beginning way back when with the underappreciated Village Of Savoonga and moving onto the arcing indietronica brilliance of The Notwist whose zenith occurred with Neon Golden back in 2002. Lali Puna was an Asher project that ran concurrent to both Savoonga and Notwist, with often sublime impressionist songs matching the breathy vocals of Valerie Trebeljahr with percolating electronics wrapped around twee pop ballads. Our Inventions is the first album by Lali Puna in quite a long time. Six years since the last proper record. Five since a collection of B-sides and remixes. Not much has changed for Lali Puna. The band settles upon polite, slightly melancholy melodies that flicker upon delicate rhythms built out of clockwork sequences and restrained tappings on the drumkit. Delicate as always.
Hurrah! The second album has surfaced from this lovely, willowy electronic quartet. Valerie Trebeljahr's breathy vocals drift in and out of the gently stuttering and pulsing beats and soft soothing synth tones and textures. No great departures from their
While this quartet boasts the talents of Markus Acher and Christoph Brandner from Village of Savoonga, Valerie Trebeljahr and Florian Zimmer, this is far from that band's dark, textured, moody compositions. Lali Puna lead by Trebeljahr is much more of an airy, textured, pretty combo. Think a German Stereolab. Playful programmed beats, wafting organ drones, twinkling electronics, murmurred vocals, and an ample array of sampled sounds.
We love Lamb... we really do (especially Andee and Cup)! Just check out our reviews of their past releases. Well, if you're new to this group and need a concise tutorial of their works, this might be the Lamb release for you. With both cd and dvd in hand, you'll get to experience them aurally as well as visually. However we'd like to note that titling this collection "Best of" seems somewhat odd as there's no indication of what criteria was used to come to these selections (and it's not like they're charting hits on the radio). Really, their finely crafted albums are always chock full of sultry electronic tracks, and favorites seem to differ from fan to fan. Languidly atmospheric, richly textured, rhythmically complex, and oh so wonderful!
On their second album, Lamb's skewed take on Portishead's 60's spy thriller/jazz electronica gets an infusion of hefty drum & bass. That they can reproduce their sound live without too much bending over tape decks (hey a live drummer!) is a wonderful thing, and the female singer's voice is breathy and emotional. Fans of their first record will not be disappointed, they'll be pleased that Lamb is moving forward rather than treading water! 'Fear of Fours' is a lot less dark and moody and a lot more varied than their debut. Excellent and highly recommended.
Although dark and languorous and dreamy and romantic, Lamb's third full length is still a little bit of a disappointment, at least when stacked up against their past efforts. The sound is definitely more polished and more commercial, and definitely a little
Finally available domestically is this excellent drum'n'bass duo's full length record, whose indispensable, lovely vocals (and mind you, we usually hate annoying diva vocals over jungle) sound like a cross between Bjork and Sinead O'Connor over some of the most complex, tense and unboring (yay!) percussion we've heard in a long time. Highly recommended.
Formerly known as Burn The Priest, and newly signed to Metal Blade, Lamb of God play super technical metal, with elements of black metal and grind. These guys keep getting better and better and faster and faster. Can't wait to hear the next record, when they'll probably be called something else.
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.
Finally, we've managed to restock Alan Lamb's Night Passage, one of the most evocative and sonically engaging dronescaping records that has ever passed through these doors. This Australian composer's sole source material is the sound of wind blowing against telephone wires. In recording the raw material, Lamb simply attaches contact microphones to telephone poles, sits back, and lets the weather blow through the wires how it sees fit. The resultant drones are sublimely rich in their metallic timbres and amazingly complex reverberations, that is not all that far off from Harry Bertoia's sound sculptures. I (Jim) actually had a very hard time believing that they were what Lamb said they were: unprocessed wire music. That is until one cold, blustery summer afternoon on the craggy coastline near Point Reyes north of San Francisco, I heard those exact same sounds from the wind raking across the telephone wires that extended out to a distant lighthouse. These sounds were eeriely beautiful, yet unsettling as they vibrated the air with such ubiquity that their origin was impossible to pinpoint.
For Night Passage, Lamb's recordings originate with the Faraway Wind Organ, a half mile of abandoned telegraph wires in the outback of Western Australia. Unfortunately, this network of wires has collapsed due to lightning and termites, making Lamb's recordings a very rare documentation of an amazing naturally occuring sonic phenomenon.
Also included with this double disc package is the Demixed album, in which Thomas Koner, Lustmord, Ryoji Ikeda, and Bernhard Gunter were given Lamb's raw recordings to treat and compose with. Where Lamb's compositional sensibility privledges the intrinsic qualities of his recordings with just crossfades and equilization, these four blurred the source material that reflected their own signature sounds. Koner leans to expansive gaping drones; Lustmord collapses everything within a bleak catacomb of oppressive ambience; Ikeda ruptures the sound into a subtle piece of minimalism; and Gunter stretches the boundaries of perception. This is one of the best all around remix albums, completing what is otherwise an already impeccable document.
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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Alan Lamb is a biologist who entered the realm of music after discovering the complex choral harmonics of the telephone wires that span his native Australia. Lamb's allegiance to both biology and the spectral sounds of the frequencies of a long thin wire reacting to natural events isn't that odd as Lamb himself explains, "that these principles (in wire frequencies) have much in common conceptually with those underlying the generation of coherent patterns in biological systems... and it is probably not too far fetched to suggest that wire music is an aural embodiment of some of the most fundamental dynamic laws of the universe."
"Primal Image / Beauty" is the culmination of 7 years of field recordings, during which Lamb discovered the best meterological situations for certain timbres, the best wires that emanated these harmonics, and good microphones to capture the sounds (for this phenomenon is externally ampified by the wires under the right circumstances). Even in listening to the incredible textural dronework from Organum or Xenakis, it is pretty awe-inspiring that this is simply the sound of the wind resonating a wire.
For those who live around the Bay Area, this phenomenon can be heard on occasion at Point Reyes, especially when the wind is coming straight down the coast from the north and strikes the wires which run east-west along the barren peninsula.
These two records were born from an experiment undertaken by Lambchop frontman Kurt Wagner. The experiment? To try and write a song every day for a year. Apparently, the experiment was a success and the song-a-day regime was easier than expected. These two releases represent the cream of the crop of those..um...365 songs?!?! Phew, could've been a 20 disc set! The Lambchop sound is in full effect. lush, and sweet, lots of strings and big arrangements, with Wagner's distinctive and lugubrious drawl. For those of you unfamiliar with Lambchop, imagine Vic Chesnutt fronting the Tindersticks. That gives you a rough idea. But Wagner's arrangements aren't always dour and dark. His songs evoke afternoon tea in the parlour and lazy mornings on the porch as much as they explore loneliness and despair. A sort of big band / lounge / no depression / Gone With The Wind / redneck musical. Played impeccably. Wagner's caustic wit seems to have mellowed with age, but it suits Lambchop's ever mellowing smooth sound to a T. While the two parts of this set -are- different, they are similar enough that, we're not sure what to say. They exist as a sort of call and response, one complimenting the other. So it seems unlikely that anyone would buy just one. And needless to say, if you're a Lambchop fan, you're definitely gonna want both.
Between this new album from Lambchop and those from Jason Molina and M. Ward, whoa, this is quite the week for country rock excellence!
Listening to the latest Lambchop album is a lot like wrapping your winter-chilled bones in an old wool blanket... or like being hugged by your favorite bearded uncle -- a bit bristly, but utterly warm and comforting. Y'know, something/someone you can always count on. Their country rooted sound is thick, smooth and dark like molasses with the piano, bass, steel guitar, strings and vocals all melting together beautifully. When this band is 'on' they simply can't be beat for deep, shadowy Americana goodness, and with Damaged they most definitely are! Recommended!
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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"Introducing The Nashville Sound." Live ep proves they haven't lost it.
Lambchop's debut full length from 1994 is, in Windy and Andee's opinion, also their very best! Trembling mandolin, moody horns, bandleader Kurt Wagner at his most lucid, and heartbreaking melodies. A sort of dark gothic twangy lost gem of an album. God I love this record!
It's been years since I (Windy) reviewed a Lambchop record. Having deeply adored this Nashville collective's debut full length from several years back (I Hope You're Sitting Down), I haven't found their ensuing musical trajectory very interesting. Their
Way back in the mid-nineties, we were a bit obsessed with Nashville's Lambchop, their first record I Hope You're Sitting Down still ranks as one of our all time favorites, a fantastic record of dark twangy slo-mo gothic country ballads rife with clever wordplay that at times reminded us quite a bit of occasional Lambchop member, the late great Vic Chesnutt. Lambchop's vocalist and main songwriter Kurt Wagner's distinctive laconic mumbly croon as much a defining part of their sound, as the lush twang flecked, almost orchestral arrangements.
For whatever reason, we kind of lost touch with Lambchop, as their sound grew more soulful and introspective, we of course checked in occasionally, and looking back on past reviews it seems we always welcomed them back with open arms. And the latest, Mr. M looks to be no different. Another gorgeous songsuite, hushed and gently twangy, warm and lush and darkly dreamy, Wagner's vocals sounding as perfect as ever, and the lyrics, well, the first line of the album opener finds Wagner dropping the F-bomb right off the bat, amidst soaring swirling strings and a shuffling almost easy listening jazziness. The rest of the record is not nearly so string laden, but the songs are all pretty fantastic, we'd say it was a return to form, but really, these guys never stopped. Mr. M has definitely rekindled our love of Lambchop (and had us running home to throw on I Hope You're Sitting Down), and while we may not love it as much as those old records, it definitely still hits the spot.
These two records were born from an experiment undertaken by Lambchop frontman Kurt Wagner. The experiment? To try and write a song every day for a year. Apparently, the experiment was a success and the song-a-day regime was easier than expected. These two releases represent the cream of the crop of those..um...365 songs?!?! Phew, could've been a 20 disc set! The Lambchop sound is in full effect. lush, and sweet, lots of strings and big arrangements, with Wagner's distinctive and lugubrious drawl. For those of you unfamiliar with Lambchop, imagine Vic Chesnutt fronting the Tindersticks. That gives you a rough idea. But Wagner's arrangements aren't always dour and dark. His songs evoke afternoon tea in the parlour and lazy mornings on the porch as much as they explore loneliness and despair. A sort of big band / lounge / no depression / Gone With The Wind / redneck musical. Played impeccably. Wagner's caustic wit seems to have mellowed with age, but it suits Lambchop's ever mellowing smooth sound to a T. While the two parts of this set -are- different, they are similar enough that, we're not sure what to say. They exist as a sort of call and response, one complimenting the other. So it seems unlikely that anyone would buy just one. And needless to say, if you're a Lambchop fan, you're definitely gonna want both.
Another beautifully deeeeeep, somber lament of an album from one of Nashville's finest... Lambchop! Actually on a number of songs on OH (ohio), main man Kurt Wagner's smooth low voice reminded us quite a bit of a cross between Stuart Staples of Tindersticks and Jim Croce. In fact, if you found yourself pleasantly enveloped by the former's most recent album Hungry Saw, you might find yourself likewise captivated by OH (ohio). Steeped in melancholia and a haunting nostalgia, this is a fantastic progression from Lambchop's last full length, 2006's Damaged!
Those Lambchop folks are so generous and prolific! They've followed up their two albums Aw C'mon and No You C'mon from 2004 with this hearty offering of eighteen odds and ends. This Nashville band seldom disappoints, always playing with an abundance of energy, wit and heart. We've said it before and we'll say it again, while listening to songs like "Loretta Lung" or "Mr. Crabby" it's remarkable just how much frontman Kurt Wagner's voice bears a resemblance to that of Vic Chesnutt. They surely have many fans in common (or if not, they should!). Heck, Chesnutt has even played with Lambchop in the past. Theirs is some terrific dark country rock that can be all gorgeously slinking 'n' smoldering or all rugged 'n' stubbly. A couple of fitting comparisons that we'll use once more are: Vic Chesnutt fronting the Tindersticks or a countrified Luna. Highlights include "Ovary Eyes" and the aforementioned "Mr. Crabby".
Lambchop has been around since, like, 1987 and the revolving membership has at times included from 3 to 14 members. If you've ever seen Lambchop live, you know how delightful they are, each member working together to create a harmonious whole, and boy do they
Tools in the Dryer is a collection of long out of print singles, one offs, b-sides, cassette releases, etc. AQ-pal and Lambchop member Jonathan Marx did the compiling, and he came up with the jewels from Lambchop's past, there aren't any duds here and it's all quite pretty. Includes a remix by Mark Robinson (Unrest / Teenbeat Records). Recommended.
Kurt Wagner and his Nashville-based ensemble (here with the addition of Vic Chesnutt) bestow another winner upon us. While their first record used pretty, melancholy country twang to such spectacular effect, every succeeding album has gone slightly more and more towards old American r&b, as evidenced here by the Curtis Mayfield and Frederick Knight covers (wonderfully done). Also covered: East River Pipe.
Genre cross-pollination has been happening a lot lately, hasn't it? And here it goes again! This four-song cdep brings together Lambchop's country twang and Hands Off Cuba's electronica. The results? Well, the first song "Prepared" is softer than a goosedown pillow, cozier than a giant hearth, and lazydays-ier than a giant hammock. The most familiarly Lambchop sounding track of the four, it's a gently glistening combo of guitars, piano and deep male vocals. Then, the second track "Blur" introduces CoLAB's programmed stuttery rhythms, strings and twinkling melodies which carry on through the final two tracks. Nice!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
This is a gorgeous and confusional archival release from Graham Lambkin, leader of weirdo outsider 'rock' combo Shadow Ring, this recording, from 2004, features just voice, tapes and piano, and is a curious landscape of spoken word, distant swirls of tape hiss, and haunting funereal piano, not to mention all manner of creaks and buzzes, cobbled together from what sounds like some strange spoken word diary, recorded on a hand held tape player, various fragments strung together, peppered with the 'kthunk' of the buttons on the tape player being depressed, the track shifting haphazardly from some strange description of random goings on, weird bits of random tape sounds, pulsing non-rhythms, static and rumbles, quacking ducks, bits of orchestra, snippets from programs, other voices, always returning to that creepy echo drenched piano, while Lambkin/Shadow Ring newbies might be a bit put off by the sounds here, fans of either or both will definitely feel right at home, a strangely intimate glimpse inside strange and twisted musical mind, one that unfurls soundscapes like this as an entreaty to the brave to wander in and get lost. Very cool, and very bizarre.
But that's really only half of Millows, the other is a strange, dizzying photographic project, that according to the liner notes, is a "series of 450 photographic combinations documenting a solitary drunken non-event", which in reality appears to be a series of combined photos / photo collages, of Lambkin in what appears to be a festive mood, laughing, and smiling, drinking, and conversing, but knowing that said photos were culled from a solitary event, makes the project a bit creepy, and the way the photos have been manipulated, often multiple faces layered into one, colors bleeding, strange projections, textures and overexposures, some like ordinary snapshots, others like wild impressionistic splashes of colors and shapes, and all presented one after the other, nine to a page, almost make it seem like someone took a short bit of filmstrip and laid it out one frame at a time, offering a visual analogue to the strange sounds on the accompanying cd.
All presented in a super striking full color hard cover book, LIMITED TO 500 COPIES, each one hand numbered, with the cd affixed to the inside back cover.
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.
We've been meaning to review something from these modern retro power poppers for a while now. We first discovered Lame Drivers via aQ faves Home Blitz, whose O.ut O.f P.hase record we made Record Of The Week back in 2009, and who played our first South By Southwest showcase around the same time. At some point, Jason from Home Blitz struck off on his own, and took all the power popisms of Home Blitz, of which there were many, and honed them to perfection, so much so, that most Lame Drivers songs sound like they could have come straight off some obscure Yellow Pills style power pop compilation from back in the day. This flexi-book is in the style of those Castle Face Group Flex compilations we reviewed a while back, a little 7" book, with five flexi discs, assembled into a little playable book, seven songs, killer artwork from a handful of different artists, but really it's the songs that makes this essential. The Yellow Pills comparison is the most apt, think classic seventies power pop, Dwight Twilley, Cheap Trick, crunchy, fuzzy, jangly, catchy choruses, even catchier verses, fans of more modern retro power pop revivalists like Warm Soda and Bare Wires, will flip their lid for Lame Drivers too, and the packaging is ace to boot, the artwork eye popping, and sort of an essential music nerd object, that just happens to also be musically kick ass. WAY recommended, and crazy limited too, so grab one quick before they're gone...
One of two new releases from modern retro power poppers Lame Drivers. Elsewhere on this list you'll find their Group Flex style flexibook ep, and then there's this, a killer split with Northwestern post punks Woolen Men. Lame Drivers deliver two short sharp blast of fuzzy, jangly pop. The first channels The Fall through some swaggery, angular crunch; the second sounds like it could be a new Matthew Melton (Bare Wires, Warm Soda) project, all hushed whispery vocals, fuzzed out guitars, hooks galore, swoonsome and melodic, also reminds us a bit of Purling Hiss. Killer stuff for sure.
Woolen men counter with a kick ass slab of fuzzy indie pop that sounds a bit like the Wipers via early Guided By Voices, which is a VERY good thing, and follow that up with a Terminals cover, the band making that classic NZ Flying Nun sound all their own, bass heavy, swirling synths, monotone vox, all wrapped around another killer hook. Both sides of this 7" are stellar, and should have everybody tracking down everything they can from both of these bands!
Sucky drum & bass on Wordsound, produced by Scotty Hard. Yeah it's neat that Lamont is a live drummer, but whatever. What were they thinking?
Few cosmic sonic explorers can evoke the mysterious druggy sounds of the astral plane quite like New Zealand space drone raga one man project Lamp Of The Universe, who has returned once again to guide us on this, our latest journey through a warm whirling tripped out soundworld of acoustic guitars and buzzing sitars, of chantlike vocals and simple hypnotic rhythms, of glimmering effects and washed out dreamlike drift.
It's been almost two years since we reviewed the last LOTU, and since then the Lamp seems to have undergone a bit of a change, most of the sounds are still present, and still sound divine, but now vocals play a way bigger part. We were wary for sure, we prefer our spaced out dronerock instrumental generally, or if there must be vocals, then just chanting or some sort of wordless vocalizing, but LOTU manages to pull it off, there is in fact actual singing. LOTU mainman Craig Williamson has an appealing reedy croon, that is not heavily effected, but just enough, draped in reverb and echo, there are plenty of oooooh's and aaaaah's, but the vocals proper are pretty cool, in fact, the main thing the vocals do is make this sound less like some abstract space drone record, and more like some lost seventies raga folk record, which is definitely a good thing.
While some of the tracks are still washed out drifts of buzzing synth and sitar, others are haunting laments, populated with banjos and fluttering flutes. Gorgeous.
If you ever wondered what it might sound like if some seventies British raga folk got all tangled up in some dreamy ambient drone-y space rock, well then this will most definitely hit the spot.
Another backroom discovery, this time, a super limited (only 100 copies, and now almost for sure out of print) cd-r from New Zealand space raga outfit Lamp Of The Universe. Each one of these packaged in a gorgeous swirled hand painted sleeve, with a printed insert. Two long songs, and this is LOTU at their most drone out, way more raga than space rock, longform drones, extended tones, shimmering buzz stretched out into minutes long melodies, bits of percussive shimmer surface here and there, but for the most part this is all about the mighty DRONE. The opening track introduces some high end snake charmer style horns, and some buried hand drums, but those really only add to the undulating layered drone.
The second, slightly shorter track (22 minutes) is a slowly shifting thick tangle of layered tones, wound into one huge slithering reverberating drone, deep and resonant, thick and dark and shimmery, plenty of buzz and fuzz and whir, intoxicatingly mesmeric, a drone so dense and intense it nearly sucks the air out of the room when it finally ends.
LIMITED TO 100 COPIES. Each hand numbered, we have the last copies ever, so please don't be disappointed if these disappear quick...
We discovered Lamp Of The Universe, aka New Zealander Craig Williamson, via his recent cd-r on Barl Fire, a gorgeously blissed out drone rock space raga that we just couldn't get enough of. And you all apparently agreed as those puppies flew out of here (don't order them now though! they are gone). So we got in touch with Williamson and managed to get a few more of his releases. A couple cds which we'll review in upcoming lists, but we figure we should list this lp first as we only got a handful and it's super limited.
More of that warm Eastern raga tinged space rock, dreamy and drifting and drowsy. Sitar strings buzz and vibrate, tablas sputter rhythmically beneath layers of swooshing fuzz, vocals are soft and lilitng, drifting lazily above the dizzying psych swirl, each track a slow growing soundscape that starts as a drone, becomes a sort of droney raga, and in some cases morphs into a propulsive Krautrocky /post rock groove. Sounds a bit like an Eastern Spacemen 3 most of the time, guitars are druggy and psychedelic, rhythms are simple but hypnotic, making each track, even the 'rockers', totally meditative and mesmerizing.
Packaged in hand made sleeves, with a metallic silkscreened image on cardstock affixed to the front. Limited to 320 copies, each one hand numbered.
Finally managed to get enough copies of this 2001 release from New Zealand space raga rockers Lamp Of The Universe to list it. And just in time too as folks have been freaking out over this group, mainly the work of New Zealander Craig Williamson. A gorgeously laid back blissed out sonic exploration of Eastern melody, buzzing ur-drone and psychedelic space rock. Dense tangles of steel strings, both acoustic guitar and sitar, whir and shimmer, spread out into sun baked expanses of transcendental mesmer. Each track a swoonsome raga, this disc more than any of the other Lamp releases, is heavy on the vocals, with Williamson's voice a monotone chant like invocation, adding another layer to the already dense sonic swirl. Drums shuffle and skitter, wah wah guitar swoops in and out, leads twist and turn and get all tangled up in thick clouds of druggy atmosphere, everything wrapped in billowy outer space FX. The final track, a sixteen minute slow burn called "Dream Sequence" sounds just like that. Eyes closed, drifting off on a lighter than air whorl of disembodied psych guitar, intricate little tangles of melodies, simple muted drumming, all smeared into a long streak of slow shifting colors, stretching from here into infinity....
Druggy and dreamlike and so nice...
Ever since the very first time we heard New Zealand's Lamp Of The Universe, on some long gone, super limited cd-r, we were immediately hooked. Super blissed out space rock ragas, that occasionally coalesced into some strange post rock / krautrock hybrid, bur more often than not just droned and drifted heavenward. This latest disc, From The Mystic Rays Of Astrological Light perfectly divides the difference between the two.
The opening track is a glorious slow burning raga, a thick reverberating low end, that shimmers and stretches out over seventeen minutes. A dense snarled expanse of hypnotic buzz, that sounds like it could go on forever. The surrounding sonic haze is gauzy and dreamlike, with little sprinkles of reverbed percussion, drifting vocals, and some murky, underwater sounding FX. Definitely another one of those tracks that carries us right off, and if we had our way would in fact go on forever. Track two starts out in a similar vein, but quickly transforms into blissed out laid back space jam, lazy simple drumming, dense clouds of buzz and fuzz, some low slung bass rumble, and all around it, flares of Hendrixian psych guitar, disembodied vocals, thick swells of warm guitar distortion, very dreamy and druggy.
The third track is another abstract Eastern style raga, albeit with a bit of a modern sensibility (a la Sunroof!, Vibracathedral Orchestra, etc.). A slow rhythmic pulse underlies drifting clouds of buzzing steel strings, and sporadic percussive clatter. Bells and chimes float drowsily on a slow flowing river of glacial buzz. A close listen reveals all sorts of melodic fragments, bits of vocals, weird sonic filigree, but step back, and it becomes a huge sonic whirl, that pulls you under, wraps you up in warm sheets of thick thrum and carries you closer and closer to the sun. The final track is the shortest of the four (at 8+ minutes) and sounds like an extension of the second. A lengthy, lugubrious outer space jam, all sun baked and druggy, drenched in delay and reverb, a loping slow motion dirge. Like Finnish drone rockers Circle if they grew up in the sixties and did lots of (lots more?) drugs, or Hawkwind at 16rpm, with an extra dollop of spacepsych FX courtesy of Acid Mothers Temple.
Another super mesmerizing druggy drift through time and space (rock). Awesome.
What we innitially took to be a fantastic drone record, is indeed that, but actually becomes something entirely different about halfway through. Lamp Of The Universe is the work of New Zealander Craig Williamson, and is indeed a truly gorgeous drone bliss outift. Extended wide open expanses of buzzing sitars, swooning sythns, simple layered drones, minimal tabla rhythms, very soothing and raga like, slowly swirling soundscapes, dreamily druggy and sleepily spaced out. So lovely. And trust us, that would definitely be enough to get us to set the cd player on repeat and just drift off, but the last 25 minutes, while still being blissful and serene, introduce drums, which changes the whole vibe. Those last three tracks are dark and meandering, a lazily propulsive post rock / krautrock hybrid, druggy and spacey and jammy, with affected guitar noodling over simple shuffling drumming and groovy minimal basslines. Pink Floyd, Band Of Gypsies, Hawkwind, a very very very mellow Acid Mothers Temple, eventually winding down and returning for a brief buzzy free drone coda.
Packaged in beautiful hand glued digipaks. VERY LIMITED. Once we run out, we're not sure we'll be able to get more.
With everyone around here going gaga for records from New Zealand space raga outfit Lamp Of The Universe, we have been trying to track down some of their older, more difficult to get titles. We managed to get a whole bunch of Echo In Light (reviewed elsewhere on this list) but could only get 5 copies of The Cosmic Union, direct from the band, which means when these 5 are gone this is REALLY gone for good.
All the elements are here, thick swaths of sitar buzz, steel string guitars, simple percussion, swirls of spacey FX, blissed out hypnotic repetition, chant like vocals, all wrapped up into slow burning, psychedelic space rock majesty. Druggy and divine!
Only 5 copies so prepare to be disappointed. Or just order Echo In Light when we run out of this one...
One of our main complaints about garage rock, (and hell, most music in general) is that to a certain degree, it's easy to get the sound right, but the sound is really nothing without actual songs. Plenty of bands can bash it out Oh Sees style, or get all Stoogesy, but no amount of vintage amps, old mics, beat up guitars, blown out vocals, pounding drums, and swaggery snarly attitude can make up for a dearth of hooks or melodies. Sure a band like that can be a blast live, if all you want to do is sweat and bleed and fuck shit up, but bands like that tend to not translate so well on record. Cuz once the visceral live experience, of careening wildly against the stage in a heaving sweaty throng, ear drums blasted, body battered and bruised, is stripped away, you're often left with something that pales in comparison to the live experience.
And that was actually our first impression of Lamps, the first track here especially, a speaker shredding blast of garage-noise that rivals the full blown intensity of Japanese garage noiseniks Acid Eater, a pounding jangle and stomp peppered with bursts of grinding full on in-the-red NOISE, but the weird thing is, we found ourselves playing that track over and over, and eventually even those noisy bits, became somehow catchy. And as the rest of the record unfolded, it all somehow made more sense. The hookiness, the melodies, the catchiness that we look for in bands like this, was still present, just way more subtle, utterly buried or obscured in places, but then in the midst of some droned out riff heavy pound, a hook will surface, and drag you in, and suddenly, the record, and the sweaty, bloody live show don't sound all that far apart.
Nothing else on the record is as totally blown out as the opener, but the sound does tend way more toward the noise rock side of the sonic spectrum, than the garage rock, jagged shards of super distorted guitar, thick rumbling bass, yowled vocals, huge clouds of psychedelic noiseguitar freakouts, tranced out hypnorock crush wreathed in swirls of crumbling distortion, squalls of feedback, the sound frequently coalescing into parts that are surprisingly poppy, but only briefly, seeming to always devolve into something way more messy, noisy, heavy, and gloriously chaotic.
Fans of the current crop of garage rockers (Thee Oh Sees, Ty Segall, etc.) probably already dig these guys, but really, anyone who's into all the kick ass noise rock we've been listing lately: Metz, the Men, etc. should check these guys out for sure!
Lanaya are a trio from Mali, all three members of so called griot castes, groups who pass on the traditions and musics of their culture from generation to generation, responsible for protecting the legacy of their people and allowing it to live on forever. That's quite a responsibility for a young African three piece still in their early twenties, but their music is wise beyond their years, most certainly an indication that for this generation at least, the sounds of Mali will live on, a sweetly melodic, liltingly hypnotic take on traditional Malian folk music that is at once musically complex but also soft and simple. The instrumentation consists of the kora, a 21-string luteharp (played by Djibril Diabate, who you might remember from a past aQ list, and whose gorgeous album Hawa, also on Terp, we raved about a few years back), the balafon, a sort of African xylophone a bit like a marimba, and the ngoni, a small sized 7-string African guitar.
The sound Lanaya conjure up with these instruments is truly sublime, a multilayered late evening soundscape of dense and dexterous melodies, dreamy and hypnotic, and so well crafted it's easy to forget how complex they actually are.
The background is a rich tapestry of warm muted percussion and repetive melodic figures, played so fast and so smoothly that they sort of bleed into each other, each note drifting subtly into the notes beside it, the result is a slowly shifting warm and warbly dreamlike smear, while in the foreground, each instrument takes its turn with one extended improvisation after another, sometimes drifting and meditative, but just as often nimble and lively. The perfect blend of tranced out Eastern ragas and soft focus African folk music. Sweetly swoonsome and delicately dreamy. Perfect early morning, twilit evening, rainy day, drifting off music.
So totally lovely.
