Another killer slab of tripped out dreaminess from this LA dirge / drone / avant / psychedelic trio, which of course features Not Not Fun head honcho Britt Brown, the three piece weaving lush smoldering psychscapes that drift and shimmer and remind us quite a bit of SF duo Barn Owl at times. The A side here is a 22 minute sprawl of haunting guitarbuzz ambience, that sounds a bit like a more Technicolor Barn Owl, trading some of that dark broodiness for shimmering soaring high end glimmer, and some of the twang for droned out chordal shimmer, infusing some space-y kraut-y new age into the proceedings, the result is a fairly fantastic stretch sun baked psych, but that's just the first 8 or 9 minutes. All of that buzz and swirl and soar is peeled back leaving a minimal dirgey creep, all detuned piano, murky ambience, almost surfy guitar twang, electronic buzz, like some sort of bastardized slo-mo Morricone, and then the vocals, a dizzying swirl of heavily effected crooning, the spare sound gathering momentum, the guitars swooping in again, adding buzz and rumble, building to a sort of final climax before the inevitable fade out.
The flipside starts with more psychedelic shimmer, mutated voices drifting in shimmering fields of soft noise, before blossoming into a sort of noise drenched gothic gloom pop, a lumbering minor key creep, that sounds almost witch house-y, before switching gears once again, and transforming into what sounds almost like a Robedoor take on classic rock, which is essentially a sort of warped and warble Neil Young mixed with No Neck Blues band, before finally slipping into an awesomely ominous low slung bass heavy dirge, buzzy and a little bit creepy, laced with spidery melodies, and deep bellowed, reverbed new wave vocals, soft swaths of melodic swirl, loads of effects, a sort of dirgey doom pop ballad, that again sounds fantastically twisted and warped.
LIMITED TO 600 COPIES.
We first heard from Robedoor a few lists back, their huge swaths of blackened guitar drone totally hit the spot. But on this ultra limited one-sided lp, they team up with another outfit, Haunted Castle, for something a whole lot more restrained. No wall of guitar here, in fact, if there are guitars at all, they are rendered weightless and nearly transparent. This side long single track is an epic slab of creepy, creaking ambience, all fuzzy low end and swirling black ambience. A few minutes in, the drums join the fray, but even then, it's mostly cymbals, their sizzle spreading out over the proceedings like a shimmery shadow. The drones slowly twist and contort, changing shapes and subtly changing tonal color. It's actually less like some avant noise rock and more like some sort of dark ambient free jazz drone thing.
Eventually low end melodies begin to surface, drifting dreamily beneath subtle percussive scraping and what sounds like some sort of ghostly vocals, but all rendered so indistinct as to be just more black blurs. Downtuned riffs (if that is indeed a guitar) way off in the distance add to the rumbling shimmer, the whole thing gradually drifting off and fading away.
Packaged in a cool silk screened sleeve, with printed color insert. Limited to 300 copies, each copy hand numbered.
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We've been going a little bit Robedoor crazy. We were sort of late to the party, but we're trying to make up for it, by dumping as much of their noisy divinity into our ears as humanly possible. This latest slab of glorious sound is a split with fellow noise maker Leslie Keffer. Hard to tell whose side is whose, but fuck it, it hardly matters, as both sides are amazing.
One side (we're guessing the Keffer side) is a roiling mass of thick hissy clouds, whirring and rumbling, a seemingly unwavering blast of fuzzy white noise, that somehow manages to be super listenable, pretty even, for a brief moment in the middle, the noise fades out, leaving a damaged loop of what sounds like a little girl speaking in tongues, but the loops intensify and overlap and soon the voices are a jumbled mass and we're back to more of that beautiful noise.
The flip side is all glistening guitars and chant like vocals, super distorted and washed out, layer upon layer upon layer, dense and thick and warm, like a roomful of DJ's all spinning the same Sunroof! record at slightly different speeds. Dizzying and so gorgeous.
And speaking of gorgeous, HOLY SHIT, the cover of this lp is SO thick with paint, we almost got high in the time it took us to get the record out and on the turntable. A thick glossy coat of black, and over that, a super detailed illustration done all in metallic gold. So totally amazing looking...
LIMITED TO 300 COPIES and already out of print, so act fast...
In our ongoing obsession with all things Robedoor, here's yet another awesome chunk of blissed out drone-noise, teamed up with their perfect sonic foils, AQ faves the Yellow Swans. Both bands dial down the brutality and intensity, offering up two gorgeous tracks of shimmering, buzzing ambience, each with their own vibe, and one still a bit brutal and intense.�
Robedoor are up first, and this is just about the loveliest thing we've heard from these guys. All gliding glimmer, warm effulgent swells of sound, distant moaning cellos that just sort of melt all over the top of the guitar, gorgeous and tranquil, a blissy drift through billowing clouds of soft focus blur, distorted and buzzy, but smeared into one slow burning easy on the ears whir.�
Yellow Swans counter with their own version of 'tranquil' and as you might imagine it's a bit different than RD's. Noisier and heavier, more fuzzed out and harsh, but no less lovely. A whirling wash of thick gritty grime, muted grinding rhythms, industrial whir, buzzing and rumbling. The whole thing thick and crumbling and corrosive, but still so pretty!
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES, each one hand numbered.�
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Dark, fucked, "rock" music from the duo of Robert Johnson and Todd Ritmann (guitarist for US Maple), who, according to Agog's press-sheet is not only "an intense rhythm technician on Drum Kit" but is also "controlling a *minimum* of 4 electric guitars/bass"! This, their second album, is a limited, 180 gram vinyl-only release in a handsome gatefold sleeve. NO cds on this one. Fans of US Maple, Storm & Stress, Iran, and similar counter-intuitive skreerock outfits should investigate seriously! German import (and it says right here on the sleeve: "U.S. State Department regulations prohibit this recording from being played in the U.S. or U.S. territories." C'mon, be a rebel!).
This is the second solo outing from Sir Alasdair of Appendix Out-ville. One dozen stark, achingly heartfelt folk songs.
Alasdair Roberts' third solo album comes brimming with his moving renditions of eight traditional Scottish folk songs and sea shanties -- sounding not unlike a kindly Scotsman counterpart to English lass Shirley Collins. On No Earthly Man, the captain of the neo-folk band Appendix Out has certainly immersed himself even deeper into the musical heritage of his homeland. In the past we've commented about the uncanny resemblance between Roberts' voice and Will Oldham's, but this time it's much less so, as the nature of the material draws so much more of the Scottish lilt from his lips.
Another timeless folk beauty from Alasdair Roberts! Each of his albums is like a vivid trek across the country's Highlands and Lowlands - the mist of the ocean, the lush soft green and gold of the mosses and ferns, serene limpid lakes, the rugged mountain outcroppings. Spoils definitely carries on in that tradition Seriously though, if true British Isles folk is your bag, you really can't miss with any one of his full lengths! Roberts' lyrical tales are at once starkly intimate and cryptically poetic. Lilting, pure and indelibly Scottish!
On The Amber Gatherers, Scotsman Alasdair Roberts sounds much less like a (not so distant) cousin of Will Oldham and much more like one whose been taken under the wing of Sybille Baier or Vashti Bunyan. The renaissance folk found on this his fourth full length both lyrically and instrumentally conveys much more of a period piece evoking a time long past than his previous works. Songs such as "Let Me Lie And Bleed A While" and "I Had A Kiss Of The King's Hand" conjured visions of fair maidens and jesters in courtyards, armored knights on horseback or dapper fellows taking their paces in a gentlemen's duel. Enchanting and picturesque.
The leader of the Scottish group Appendix Out releases a solo record at around the same time a new (wonderful) Appendix Out record arrives. I know I am constantly referring to Palace Bros' Will Oldham when speaking of Appendix Out, but really it's unavoidable
Geez! Barely had we a chance to digest his last full length from earlier this year than Alasdair Roberts bestows another four tuneful tunes. He can't be stopped, and who'd want him to? Allow your ears within the gorgeous warming embrace of picked'n'plucked acoustic guitar, woozy droning harmonium and forlorn voice. On the surface, his Scottish folk numbers sound utterly traditional and slightly mystical, but delve a bit deeper and listen a bit longer and plenty of modern day sensibilities, details and instrumentation make their presence felt. Mind you, it's in the most tasteful and unassuming fashion. One thing though, the third track "The Royal Road At The World's End" is a bit of an oddity in this grouping, as well as in Roberts' body of work as a whole. It's unexpectedly energetic and fleshed out with a full band. It's a bit of a jolt, but dandy nevertheless. If you've never heard him, this is a fine place to start. Wyrd Meme truly is a wonderful standalone work, but it also makes a tasty appetizer for any and all of his previous full lengths. For the most part, hauntingly lovely!
Beloved Scottish troubadour Alasdair Roberts teams up with fiddle playing English lass Jackie Oates for these four tunes - three instrumentals and one with vocals - all with a reverential nod towards British and Scottish folk traditions. The interplay between Roberts' deftly fingerpicked guitar and Oates' fiddle is light, graceful and utterly at ease. The rather coldly clinical title of this record really doesn't do the sprightly passionate music justice. Sure to please Roberts' followers and offers Oates a fine introduction to those on this side of the pond! We only got 3 copies btw...
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Yeah, we had the same reaction...'What the hell is Dean Roberts doing on Mille Plateaux?' Yet the NZ avant-guitarist's latest album clearly fits. Filled with pops of electronic noise, sloppy sampling, and free floating guitar noise, Roberts has made an engaging record, well in keeping with Mille Plateaux's high standards.
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New Zealander Dean Roberts made quite a name for himself with a handful of freeform Sonic Youth-esque albums in Thela and White-Winged Moth. Yet, he has shifted to the powerbook as his instrument of choice, turning guitars, piano, and viola into delicate crackling flows. Working with New York percussionist Tim Barnes, Roberts has created a fine album of eletro-acoustic abstraction not far from Fennesz or Oval. There's also a cover of Brian Eno's "Cindy Tells Me."
Dean Roberts, he's one of those 'regular name' guys, y'know, like David Grubbs, Alan Licht, Jim O'Rourke... Like them, his output is eclectic, you might hear him singing a song or doing out-guitar drone, as in his old band Thela. Experimental, electro-acoustic indie-rock I guess is his genre? Anyway, he's usually doing something cool, and this disc is no exception. Although Roberts hails from New Zealand (which always seems to be a good thing!), this was recorded in Italy, with several of his Italian friends joining on guitars and drums, while Roberts played acoustic and electric guitars, piano, bass, harmonium, glass harmonica and percussion. His hushed vocals are also present, but these tracks are soft and slow and sad and more about sound than songcraft. Be Mine Tonight is good driving through the woods at night music -- I know 'cause I did just that this past weekend on the way up to Mendocino. This low-key album is really less likely to spark a mood than it is to perhaps simply capture *your* mood, if listened to at the right time (like, driving through the woods in darkness). Roberts and his comrades 'rock out' for brief moments, but overall it's got a sleepy, fragile feel. Editing and processing are key to these results, along with the performances, with this having some of the same live-instruments-meet-glitchy-drone vibes as Roberts' amazing (and sadly out of print) Ritornelle release And The Black Moths Play The Grand Cinema from a few years back. Quite nice.
Two extended improvs by AQ favorite Dean Roberts from (Thela, White Winged Moth) and Werner Dafeldecker (Polwechsel, and an assortment of improv ensembles with folks like Christian Fennesz, Jim O'Rourke, and Martin Siewert) both playing guitars, electronics and percussion. The first track pairs sine waves with guitar textures while the second epic track rumbles and glides through metallic cycles and stalled clickery. Sinecore meets clankcore.
We've been stoked on the series of 2-on-1 remastered cd reissues of classics from the vaults of avant-jazz label Impulse!, among 'em discs we've reviewed by Alice Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, and Gabor Szabo, with more to come.
Among the latest batch of Impulse! twofers, we discovered this one, featuring two albums, Antelope Freeway (1971) and Equinox Express Elevator (1975), by jazz guitarist Howard Roberts. No, we hadn't heard of him before, perhaps you have, apparently he did a lot of session work, and cut a number of records for Capitol as a bandleader in the '60s. We're now curious to hear those (1963's H.R. Is A Dirty Guitar Player is supposed to be really good) to see how "straight" they were, 'cause while Howard Roberts might be a bland sort of name, turns out these two Impulse! albums of his are some darn freaky records!
Well, it WAS 1971, and Roberts and his session cat colleagues were obviously turned on to the psychedelic rock scene... and drugs... so they made Antelope Freeway, a "jazz" record with tracks seamlessly flowing from one to another, interspersed and layered with field recordings of highway traffic noise on account of the album's loose 'on the road' concept. There's song titles like "The Ballad Of Fazzio Needlepoint" and "Five Gallons Of Astral Flash Could Keep You Awake For Thirteen Weeks", plenty of experimental ambience, electronic effects, and, most importantly, tasty playing. There's surreal stoner humor to it for sure, but the actual emphasis is on groovy, beautiful instrumental sounds. Lots of funky jazz-rock jamming AND wacked out weirdness...
Even a boogie track like "De Blooze", which starts out quite cliched, intentionally so (the title is a tip off), by its fifth minute has gotten quite warped...
To give you an idea where Roberts was coming from, Antelope Freeway's original sleeve includes shout outs to the Firesign Theatre (whose comedy records may have inspired the subversive, quasi-narrative sound collage elements of this album) and guitarist Joe Walsh of the James Gang. Walsh is specifically credited with "Optimization of space-time energy transformations" here, which likely has something to do with his immortal quip, "The smoker you drink, the player you get!"...
Recorded at sessions in '72 and '74, Equinox Express Elevator is just as freaky, similar to Antelope Freeway but with extra Moog synth added to the mix. Tracks range from the delicate, droney "Unfolding In", to the abstract burble and textural drift of "Real Freak Of Nature Historical Monument", to the herky-jerky "Harold J. Ostly, The County Tax Assessor".
Across the two albums, there's 19 tracks in all, each one uniquely lovely and/or strange. The cd booklet considerately contains the original artwork (front, back, gatefold interiors) for both albums. Definitely a recommended reissue twofer fer sure - much thanks to Impulse! for bringing back, and bringing to our attention, these trippy '70s jazz gems.
Man or band? Well, both actually it's the name of this SF recording project lead by Steven Daubenspeck (formerly of Granfaloon Bus), and it's the alias of the person to whom this cd is dedicated. Steve's voice is very much akin to those of Canadian
We had been hearing about this record for ages, and even before actually getting a listen, we were pretty convinced we'd love it. A collection of nocturnal field recordings captured at Bush House, the home of the BBC's world service for seventy years it was recently relocated. Robin The Fog worked nights at Bush House, and spent much of his time there capturing the gorgeously creepy haunted house ambience of that historic site, the hum of air conditioners, the sound of the elevators, various sounds echoing through the empty halls and abandoned studios, the outside world filtered through the structure's thick walls, a barely audible murmur, an attempt to capture on tape, the spirit of a place, and the residual traces of all who had passed through, and the energy of what had taken place in those hallowed halls for the last seven decades.
Those captured sounds were then manipulated on an old 4-track reel to reel tape, and the results are truly stunning. A symphony of whirs and rumble, of echoey traces and ghostly shadowy sounds, moaning and creaking, scraping and rustling, voices surface now and again, as do little snippets of music. Unclear what the actual sources for those elements are, but they add a definite otherworldly mystery to the captured and manipulated minimalist soundscapes.
Imagine Philip Jeck, Tim Hecker, William Basinski, the Ghost Orchid EVP recordings, the Conet Project, The Ghosts Of The Bush seems to occupy a similar sonic space, one where tones are blurred into shapeless drifts, echoes captured in dusty old stairwells becomes hazy swaths of weirdly melodic drift, clouds of static and tape hum cover everything like a layer of dust on discarded furniture covered in old grey sheets, long keening high end shimmers spread out like spectral transmissions from the past, it's hard to say how much of a hand the recordist had in the final product here, it's obvious quite a bit, but we like to pretend that perhaps nothing was done to the original sounds, that this is in fact that sounds old buildings make when there are no humans around to hear, creeping swaths of droning rumble, warbling loops of chordal throb and pulsating rhythms, all disappearing into a moonlit murk, scurrying away into the dark shadows in the corners of grey-lit rooms, fragments of music box melodies floating atop the sound of wood expanding and contracting, of scraping metals, and of groaning foundations, the creaking of rusted hinges woven into mysterious keening soundscapes, blurred fragments, echo drenched and slowly dissipating like some spirit called back to the other side, and of course the near silence that upon close listening is not silent at all, the invisible world that comes to life, when the lights go off, and the shadows swallow up the light, a dizzying array of sonic spirits that manifest, way from the ears of humanity, here captured surreptitiously, giving the rest of us a glimpse of what lies beyond, and just outside of our perception. So hauntingly gorgeous. And absolutely recommended for fans of strange found sounds and mysterious minimal soundscaping. And of course, EXTREMELY limited...
Indie / psychedelic / alternative, we're told.
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Solo improv synth recorded in parking garages!!
As you all should know by now, Eugene Robinson is the lead singer of Oxbow, a swamp-rock punk explosion of pure id in a musical context. Eugene's primal engery, which gets exorcised on stage most definitely and to a lesser extent on record, has also manifested itself in Robinson's parallel career as a mixed martial artist. That's right, as more than a few foolish hecklers at Oxbow shows have learned the hard way, Eugene is not a dude you want to mess with! Being both a brawler and an intellectual, Eugene has thought quite a bit about his pastime. A few years back, Eugene penned a column for the fight magazine Grappler about the art of getting his ass kicked by fighters much better than he; and he began working on a book about the oft misunderstood bloodsport-cum-artform known as mixed martial arts. The book in question is FIGHT: Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Ass-Kicking But Were Afraid You'd Get Your Ass Kicked For Asking, and it's something of a coffee table book with ample bloodsplattered photographs from the brief history of MMA as it has broached the mainstream of Western Culture (thanks to UFC in America and Pride in Japan).
This Fight 2cd finds Eugene reading various bits from that book. Eugene's words come across as a mixture of Harry Crews, Lydia Lunch and Quintin 'Rampage' Jackson, poetic in language, vitriolic with emotional drama, and arrogant with the boastfulness of first hand knowledge in ass-kicking. This spoken word set is a pretty entertaining listen, providing insight into Oxbow's music, the history of the UFC, Eugene's enthusiam for devil-in-the-ring / nice-guy-at-home fighters Kevin Randleman and Maurice Smith, and the fact or fiction world of prison fighting called "jail-house rock." Hey, did you know that Oxbow were up for a Grammy? Look it up! We love Oxbow. And we love Eugene. And for the record, he could totally kick all our asses, combined.
A man of numerous indie music hats over the past 16+ years, Mark Robinson has ventured into many a musical style under various guises (Unrest, Flin Flon, True Love Always, Air Miami). On this - only his second release using his own name - he drifts into the mellow, low-key clubhouse whose clever songster membership may be said to include the highly relaxed and relaxing Sea and Cake,
A very quiet and simple record from Mark Robinson, former leader of Unrest, Air Miami, and head of the Teenbeat label. The members of Versus help round out the sound on "Tiger Banana" (Robinson's first officially solo release), but it's still as sparse as can be, at times sounding more stark then even, say, Young Marble Giants, of whom we'll bet he's a big fan. Quietly strummed guitars, terse lyricism, less melodic than you'd expect. It doesn't rock our world, but perhaps it's not trying to. You be the judge; listen to the soundclips.
The latest album from this Anacortes art pop one-man band is quite a departure from his previous full length, last year's decidedly more conventional pop Carousel Waltz. You might say Good World is a very Deerhoofian affair, if perhaps less adventurous, more wistful and with the added ample squeaky quirk of woodwinds. Think: more of a docile merry-go-round than a loopy rollercoaster ride. Band leader Ryan Bouchard's high pitched twee vocals coo up close to the winky clarinet and wheezy accordion while slightly haphazard percussion and other found sounds loosely populate the rest of each mildly eccentric tune. This fleetingly short album (it's only 22 minutes!) may very well please the ears of those who luv the abovementioned Deerhoof and maybe Xiu Xiu and Frog Eyes too. Gentle, tweaked pop prettiness.
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From the makers of Giant Robot, who had a surplus of items left over that didn't make it into Giant Robot #17. It's basically another issue of GR (call it issue #17.5), lower-fi with fewer ads and a design that's easier on the eyes. Byron Lee, the Chinese bass player from Rod Stewart's band, the girl who sat in a tub full of ramen, Kento from IQU, Margaret Cho, Dishwasher Pete, Ian Svenonius of Make Up. Thanks for metnioning AQ, Martin!
One of two amazing vinyl-only reissues on the brand new Medical Records label (the other is Record Of The Week Deutsche Wertarbeit). This one, a holy grail of sorts for all the cult disco seekers, a sexy, exuberant and at times wonderfully sleazy hybrid of Italo-disco, French electro, and Minimal Wave weirdness by the one and only Alexander Robotnick (aka Maurizio Dami).
Ce N'est Q'un Debut was released in 1984 after his first single, "Problemes D'amour" became a mega-cult hit in New York underground dance club circles a year earlier. The extended version of that track was prominently featured on the Strut label's Disco Not Disco 2 a few years back, and it fits right in with Giorgio Moroder, Bernard Fevre, Arthur Russell and other Mutant Disco aficionados as a defining dance staple of the era. This mini-lp features 6 killer tracks including the Moroderesque, "Dance Boy Dance", another popular cult single that was probably heard more in gay bathhouses than in mainstream discos due to its lurid minimal rhythms and suggestive whispered singing. Sooo good! Sweaty summer dancing begins here! Don't let this one slip away!
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES, each 180 gram colored vinyl and hand-numbered. We're not sure how long we'll have these, so don't wait too long. Highest Recommendation!
One of our favorite 2014 RSD releases was this incredible collection of Alexander Robotnick rareties by the always reliable Medical Records, and thankfully we've still got a few left...
Robotnick was an early purveyor of Italo-disco and electro, crafting some of the most infectious dance grooves of the early eighties. Sexy, exuberant and at times wonderfully sleazy, Robotnick's productions mixed the best of disco, electro and euro-minimal wave into a hybrid of sublime movement and groove. Opening with the extended single, "I Wanna Believe" released under the moniker of Gina & The Flexix in 1985, we're taken on a freaky journey through the nightclubs of Europe, basking in the glowing energy of the dancefloor as well as loitering in their darkest corners where anything could happen. So good! Mutant disco freaks, the line starts here!
An odd, odd blend of jazz with drum'n'bass and a bit of post rock... from Poland! Shifting percussion, heavy doses of saxophone, spaced-out textures.
Roc Raida of NYC turntablists The X-Ecutioners (formerly X-Men) with a solo disc.
We've gone kind of nuts for Chicago 'juke' music, the soundtrack for a distinctly Chicago dance style called footwurking, a frantic frenetic sort of dancing, that required an appropriately frantic and frenetic soundtrack, and this is most definitely it.
We recently listed a record by another juke/footwurk legend, DJ Nate, and described the sound like this:
"Looped, sped up soul samples, stuttery 808 drum machines, and short snippets of vocals, chopped up and looped into rapid fire weirdly hypnotic mantras. Like the backing tracks to some lost Kanye West record, looped and then rapped over, but the rapping is just the same phrase repeated ad infinitum."
Which most definitely could describe this collection of footwurking jams from Chicago's DJ Roc, but if anything, Roc takes that sound even further, makes it darker, less reliant on soul samples, and moves it into more of an almost DJ Screw sounding bit of ominous stuttery groove. The samples grim and minor key, the soul samples set amidst groaning synth swells, modulated choral samples and low slung bass lines, and those looped mantra like sampled vocals, way more angry and bad ass "You ain't gonna do shit", "Fuck Dat", "They Can't Fuck With Me".
Already maddeningly repetitive, to the point that folks are pretty much split right down the middle on this stuff, most of us can't get enough, but lots of people we know are driven crazy within minutes. Give the samples a listen, you'll know right away if this is your cup of tea. Roc definitely nails it here, his production and arrangements are pretty fantastic, if he applied the same methods to dubstep or some other 'hip' style, he'd be HUGE. "One Blood" sounds like a sped up way more manic Burial, "Let's Get It Started" is all wrapped around a killer creepy Twilight Zone sample, "They Can't Fuck Wit Me" is the perfect mix of haunting murderous creep and sped-up-soul, "Gun Smoke" takes a chunk of horns and tangles 'em all up with some dizzying rhythmic skitter, we could go on, track by track, but by now you get the picture.
So funky, and frenzied, and frenetic, dark and sinister, and like that DJ Nate record, total ADD hip hop trip out. WAY recommended.
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There always seems to be labels vying for the coveted position of coolest record label in the world. EM in Japan of course, with their insane array of amazing, and amazingly packaged reissues. aRCHIVE is a contender, with outrageously deluxe packaging and some of the coolest weirdest music out there. There's PseudoArcana, Celebrate Psi Phenomenon, and let's not forget Andee's tUMULt label. But France's Sittelle label constantly blow us away, and are inching ever closer to being the one.
C'mon, there was the rutting red deer disc, a whole record of deers mating, that sounds as amazing as you might imagine. Then there was the insane Bats record, two whole discs, one of normal recordings, the other of slowed down bat sounds, coupled with a massive book! Cicadas and Crickets was another great one, transporting us to some filed in the middle of nowhere. Bizarre Birds? Indeed, an outrageous collection of, well, bizarre bird sounds. And finally, Pastoral Bells, one of our all time favorites, the sounds of cowbells, drifting over the hills as cows wander and graze, so gorgeous and tranquil.
And as if it couldn't get any better, they bring us MONKEYS!!! You may not know how obsessed we are with monkeys, but WE ARE!!! (Andee even got to hand feed monkeys when he was in Japan!!) WE LOVE MONKEYS!!! But this is no ordinary collection of monkey sounds, these sounds are amazing, and amazingly varied, some do in fact sound like monkeys, but some sound like sirens, some like strange electronics, some even like black metal.
And like most of the stuff on Sittelle, it's not just the sounds, but the surroundings, the sonic bed in which the sounds exist. Here, it's the sound of the jungle, a lush, living thing, crickets and insets, a nearly constant buzz, birds chirping, the sound of wind, leaves, branches, that would almost be enough even without the monkeys, and come to think of it pretty sure there's at least one or two discs on Sittelle specifically of jungle sounds...
But monkeys is why we're here and the monkeys represented here are remarkable. There's the hooting Siamangs, engaged in an intricate call and response, multiple monkey calls piling up into confusional squalls. Then there's the Lar Gibbons, who alternately whistle, trill like birds, or scream like a frightened hysterical woman. How about the Male Orangutans who sound nothing like Clyde from Every Which Way But Loose, and instead sound a little like strange electronic whooshes and bleeps. Almost like a human making video game sounds. There are the chimps, whose calls are the most recognizable of the bunch, but who also have a call that sounds like a screaming woman or a mewing kitten. Then there are mountain gorillas, who grunt and pant, and growl a little like wild dogs. Then it gets strange. The Black Colobus, who groans like a wizened old man, or croaks like some giant frog, and sometimes sounds like Popeye, the calls separated by what sound like a very human grunts and coughs. Then there are the howlers, whose tracks, complete with the haunting forest backdrop, sound almost like Abruptum, some haunting black metal ambience, distant groans and growls, a drawn out demonic rasp, whispering like the wind, a growling monstrous rumble, very intense and ominous sounding.
And there's more. WAY more. Far too much to describe here. But all of it fascinating and bizarre and funny and completely amazing. And the most remarkable thing about these discs, is they are somehow not just "nature recordings", they are recorded, and sequenced, and presented in a way that makes them eminently listenable. It is more than the sounds of nature, it is a strange form of natural music, the music of nature. It can transport us to some far away jungle, some lost world, or it can just fill our ears with strange and wonderful sounds. Either way, this is a fantastic listen. Surprisingly musical, totally mysterious and so great!
As with all Sittelle releases, included is a big booklet with extensive liner notes in both English and French, which includes detailed notes on each track and on each type of monkey!
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Chirp chirp chirp chirp... those of us who grew up somewhere outside of the city where you get to hear the sounds of nature at night are familiar with the wonderful, pulsating background drone provided by crickets and cicadas in warmer weather. These particular "singing" insects (60 different species!) were recorded all over the world (in France, China, Boreno, Cameroon, Australia, Venezuela, Sengal, and many, many other locales), but some of them could just as easily been in my parents' wooded backyard in Pennsylvania. OK, well maybe if I was an expert I could tell otherwise. But the buzzing chirping sounds still sound familiar, comfortingly so. Yet alien too, when you think about it... as with the somewhat similar Sublime Frequencies volume Broken Hearted Dragonflies, this could just as easily be the work of an experimental electronic musician! Ryoji Ikeda, Noto, or Nerve Net Noise perhaps...and the examples of "buzzers" on the Conet Project also come to mind.
With sixty tracks here, it's hard to pick faves. They all have their individual charms, each group of insects its own rhythmic and timbral signature, plus the different background ambience (frogs, bumble bees, woodpeckers) found from track to track, some recorded at "nightfall in a banana plantation" others at "twilight in a plam grove", or "during the day from a tree" etc. Also, these bugs' high pitched whines and massed chattering vary in intensity levels from the soothing to the downright frightening...
Definitely recommended to all you fans of the likes of Sounds of North American Frogs and Chris Watson's field recordings. And, as further recommendation, this comes from the from the same label that brought us Rutting Red Deers, The Inaudible World of Bats, and this week's Record Of The Week, Pastoral Bells!
THESE ARE SOME WEIRD BIRDS!
France's Sittelle label (home to Bats, Rutting Red Deer, Cicadas And Crickets, and loads and loads of Frogs, among other wonderful nature recordings) blows us away yet again with this double cd, that they (in English) call Bizarre Birds. They got that right. Well we don't know if these birds are funny-lookin' or not, but these sure aren't your average birdcalls. No sir. Spread over two whole discs, you get an amazing plethora of examples of our feathered friends opening their beaks and making some freakin' strange sounds. Each one stranger than the previous, it seems, over the 68 tracks on on disc one, and 55 on disc two. It's an international selection, these birds of six continents... from the Canada's Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker to the Venezuelan Horned Screamer; from the Laughing Kookaburra of Australia to Finland's Common Snipe. Together at last! In all, there's 84 bird species represented, over two hours of audio, with 39 of the tracks being "slowed-down" replays allowing the listener to discern additional "hidden music" in the birdcalls.
We've said this before about some other out-there nature field recordings we've heard (the droning SE Asian insects of Broken Hearted Dragonflies, the underwater penguins of Douglas Quin's sadly out of print Antarctica, the alluded-to-above The Inaudible World - A Sound Guide Of The French Bats): it sounds like cutting-edge experimental electronic music. And it's true. Some of the birds here DO sound like birds, for sure. But some of the others... is it a dog? A monkey? A demonic baby? A piece of industrial machinery? A spaceship??
We don't think that a team of sound FX specialists armed with a roomful of synths could replicate some of these wacky noises. Yet as weird as these are, there are also many examples that possess the beauty commonly attributed to birdsong. Just in their own special way. Anybody remember the Waldamsel / Forest Blackbird album we sold so many of years ago? Well this is like that but just... a lot more bizarre!
As with most Sittelle products, this comes with a thick cd booklet. Usually they're packed with a lot of explanatory text. This one's a bit different, instead we're provided with basic info on each bird/track (scientific and common name, geographic region, slow motion ratio if slowed down) plus also quite a few amusingly goofy cartoon-styled illustrations of some of the birds, in color!
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So, what if we tell you that there's this band called Rock Jack that does songs with titles like "Belly Bones", "Goblin Talk", "Toilet Master" and "Darth Vader Is Mean"? And sound like some exuberantly drunken bar band fronted by a vocalist with an unusually high, childish voice, unusual enunciation (and pronunciation) and a gift for seeming stream-of-consciousness babble? Sounds like it might be one of those weird AQ faves already? Well then let us add the crucial fact that the singer for Rock Jack, one Erza Lux, is all of three and a half years old. That's right, he's a little boy, and (we know, 'cause we've met him) an exceptionally precocious, adorable, cute little boy indeed. Ezra Lux's dad some of you SF locals know as Aesop, drummer for Ludicra (and formerly, Hickey). Aesop sure has one cool kid. Whenever he brings him into the store, Ezra entertains us with his banter... we know he's really into music, heavy metal especially, 'cause he's told us about the various bands he's supposedly formed, our favorite being "Iron Potato". So when Aesop told us that Ezra had recorded his first cd-r release, we had to hear it. And although it's not the Iron Potato debut we still want to hear, Rock Jack is pretty cool too. With his Fisher-Price karaoke machine, Erza sing-speaks his own weird and funny lyrics (the lone exception being a Van Halen cover) over backing from members of Ludicra (Aesop, John and Ross), who crank out some some punked up, trashy rawk n' roll vamping with metal riffs and blues licks a lot older but no less energetic than Ezra. I think the way it worked is that the Ludicra guys made up a bunch of songs in their rehearsal space, gave the tape to Erza and he picked the ones he wanted to sing on. The results have got a whiff of The Shaggs, Motorhead, Great White, Reynols, Van Halen, Wesley Willis and Hanoi Rocks... We've noticed an "alternative children's music" trend lately, but Rock Jack is one of the few examples of music BY a child. Certainly irresistably cute, and really very strange. 18 and a half minutes, 8 tracks.
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A new album full of rough-hewn songs of sunbaked pain and anguish from this Georgia quartet. Recorded in a storeroom in their homebase of Cabbagetown, GA, at times this reminded me of early Waterboys (a good thing in my book). With guest vocals from Shannon Wright.
As we've mentioned in a bunch of other reviews, lots of our favorite bands are woefully under-represented on the aQ list, generally, it's because those records predated the list, so when a record gets reissued, it's often a chance to finally lavish praise on a record that's been a favorite for years (or decades). In this case, it's not a reissue, but instead a live record from Georgia garage punks the Rock*A*Teens, who are currently are covered on the aQ site by just a couple sentences about one of their records, which is really a shame, cuz we LOVE these guys. So until someone mounts the lavish, deluxe reissue campaign these guys and their incredible records deserve, we can revel in this sweat soaked high energy live set cobbled together from an extended residency at the Star Community Bar in Atlanta, between 1998 and 1999, courtesy of aQ pal and Chunklet mastermind Henry Owings, who continues to dig up incredible rarities (we're still loving the recent Don Caballero record, and are hoping he'll do a Bar-B-Q- Killers reissue, another legendary and underappreciated Georgia outfit), and incredible this is.
If you've yet to discover the Rock*A*Teens, imagine a swampy, reverb drenched, fifties style, garage rock rockabilly, filtered through something more modern, swaggery and dramatic, the same sort of gospel tinged swampiness of Woven Hand, but more rocking, feverish, loose limbed and wild. Brooding, sweat soaked, bloody knuckled, broken bottled, booze soaked, psychedelic blooze stomps and echo drenched slow burn ballads in equal measure, all whirring organs, reverb galore, buzzing distortion, wild tribal drumming, and stunning, timeless songwriting, all wound up into something gloriously gritty, grimy, ecstatic, cathartic, murky and emotionally charged. Just check out the samples and you'll be sold. "Black Ice" might be one of our favorite songs EVER, in a body of work that has an impossible number of potential all time faves. Every record a stone cold gem, and this live set manages to transcend the limitations of the 'live record' and transports the listener to a dive bar in Georgia, lit with Christmas lights, packed with punks, this band crammed onto a little stage in the corner, conjuring up musical demons, and angels, and creating a gorgeous, noisy, heart breaking din. AWESOME. Includes a download too.
Another killer issue of this UK modern music mag, with a seriously heavy bent, and a focus that is right in line with AQ's! On the cover, AGAIN, are doomlords SUNNO))), inside, features on Mike Patton and his Tomahawk, KTL, Pelican, Neurot recordings, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, and an ever expanding record review section, featuring tons of reviews by Kevin McCaighy, the man behind kick ass magazine Salt (where's the new issue?!?!), a whole bunch of live show reviews, news, and on the back page, the One Minute Interview with The Liars!
Once again, it's the heavier more subversive and definitely more metal upstart little brother of the mighty Wire Magazine. Rock-A-Rolla is all the way to issue 11 and still going strong. This month it's the Festival Issue, featuring Odd Nosdam, Qui, High On Fire, Michael Gira, Chrome Hoof, Les Savy Fav, Supersonic Festival, Input Festival, the Green Man Festival, Orthodox, Walter & Sabrina, Load Records, plus the usual assortment of record reviews, show reviews and a one minute interview with Eyvind Kang.
New issue of the always kick ass Rock-A-Rolla magazine. Even with the brutal exchange rate and the shipping costs, RaR is still a steal at $11. Wire readers that aren't also reading Rock-A-Rolla are missing out, some overlap, but much more of an emphasis on the heavy stuff.
This time, on the cover, Dillinger Escape Plan, and inside: the Rock-A-Rolla top 30 records of 2007, a Q+A with Sunburned Hand Of The Man, the Magik Markers, Italian instrumental post rockers Lento, studio soundscapers turned real rock band Fog, hypno-riff doom duo Om, Jenny Hoyston from Erase Errata, darkdoomdrone outfit Tenhornedbeast, Vibracathedral Orchestra, modern day proggers Miasma, a label spotlight on John Olson's (from Wolf Eyes) American Tapes, tons and tons of reviews, cds, lps lathe cuts and everything in between, live reviews of The Boredoms + Michael Gira, Animal Collective, Unsane, High On Fire, Kling Klang, Liars, White Hills (!), Voice Of The Seven Woods and more, and finally on the back page, a one minute interview with Maninkari.
The layout keeps getting better and better, the writing is great (lots by Kevin, the mastermind behind our favorite music zine Salt), and the bands covered couldn't be more AQ!!
This is issue 6 of this relatively new UK music magazine, and we always sort of balked at carrying it, mostly because of the price. What with shipping overseas and everything, it ends up costing twelve bucks. But you know what? It's pretty much worth it. So we decided to order a bunch, and if everyone digs it, we'll continue to carry it. And we can't imagine why people wouldn't be more than willing to shell out twelve bucks for this killer mag. Boris and SUNNO))) on the cover, robed and in the corn field, inside: Isis, Comets On Fire, Converge, Shit And Shine, the Melvins, James Plotkin, the Dub Trio, Bloody Panda, the Paper Chase, plus RaR's top 30 records of 2006, a classic label profile of John Zorn's Tzadik label with micro reviews of some of Tzadik's best releases, a Sonic Youth primer, with reviews of all of their records, of course loads of record reviews, DVD reviews, live reviews and lots of underground rock news. Pretty dang great.
We blew through the last issue of this upstart UK music mag, so we grabbed a few extra copies this time around but we imagine these still won't be around for long. Giving UK's mighty Wire magazine a run for their money, Rock-A-Rolla cover the same sort of underground weirdness but with a definite slant toward the noisy and heavy, which of course we're all for!
This time, we've got Wolf Eyes on the cover. Inside there are plenty of familiar faces, Jazzkammer, Yellow Swans, KK Null, Burning Star Core, Aethenor, Made Out Of Babies, an awesome Sub Pop label feature highlighting some of our favorite all time records, TONS of album reviews, DVD reviews, live show reviews and on the back page, a one minute interview with Makoto Kawabata from Acid Mothers Temple. Another killer issue. We're already anxiously awaiting the next one!
Brand new issue from one of our new favorite far out music mags. A bastard offspring of the Wire and Terrorizer, lots of metal and heaviness, but plenty of weirdness too, covering pretty much everything experi/metal under the sun...
On the cover this time, ultra dark hip hop outsiders Dalek. Inside, Q & A with Coady Willis from Big Business, avant grinders The Locust, Wino and The Hidden Hand, brutal noise technician Prurient, Swedish black ambient guru Nordvargr, art doom outfit Black Sun, the Residents, classic label highlight on Earache, a whole mess of news, album reviews, DVD reviews, live reviews, and the back page is a one minute interview with Spencer Seim from Hella. Awesome!
Plus there's now another reason to love Rock-a-Rolla, even more, as Kevin McCaighy, the man behind killer, kick ass, AQ beloved zine Salt, is now an RaR contributor as well, so in addition to all the other usual good stuff, there are tons of Salt-y reviews to hold us over until the next proper issue!!
From the UK, Rock-A-Rolla magazine is like if The Wire were all about, well, rock. Heavy weird fucked up rock that is. This issue's cover stars are Warp-label mathrockers Battles (whose great new album we wanted to review this week but all our distros were sold out, drat). Also in this ish: Neurosis, Faust, Oxbow, Jesu, Melt-Banana, Unsane, Hydra Head Records... wow it's like the editors called us up and asked us what a good portion of AQ customers might want to read about! In addition to those features, there's a hefty section of record reviews (26 pages), everything from Middian to Moljebka Pvlse, Wold to Axolotl, including a few interesting items we hadn't known about yet (they get stuff earlier over there in England, eh).
Best pull quote of the issue: "Were we inspired by The Stooges? Iggy has a 12 inch cock so the short answer is: no." -- Eugene Robinson of Oxbow.
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Many song titles featuring the word "Steel"! And you gotta love the band name.
