We were originally trying to track down enough of these to make it Record Of The Week, arguably one of the greatest records from one of the greatest, most ridiculous and utterly genius crust / grind / noisecore bands EVER. Maybe described as Anal Cunt crossed with Napalm Death, or early Carcass via Lawnmower Deth, or Amebix crossed with Electro Hippies, or something equally ridiculous and nonsensical. Andee bought a copy when he was in Japan, and considered the whole trip a huge success, based on his procurement of said cd, which should definitely give you an idea of the sort of high regard we hold this glorious piece of sonic filth in around here.
Sore Throat were born of the same scene that produced Carcass, Napalm Death and the various other legendary early Earache bands, but the group were extremely opposed to commercialism in all forms and took great pains to musically talk shit and call bullshit on bands they considered to be sell outs, even bands on their own label. Frontman Rich Walker, who would later go on to play in doom metal outfit Solstice and runs the Miskatonic Foundation label, was a legendary shit talker, who purposefully alienated bands, labels and whole scenes, which only made Sore Throat that much more fun to listen to, and fun to see piss of all the bands around them, in that way they were sort of like a proto Anal Cunt, and in fact, the A side of this, their final record, Disgrace To The Corpse Of Sid, definitely set the template for Anal Cunt and other noisecore outfits, short sharp blasts of chaotic noise, many as short as a few seconds, 90 songs in 22 minutes, so many that they're all clumped together so as to not exceed the limit of 99 songs on the cd, all these brief blurts and blasts laced with weird buzzes and bleats, strange effects, processed vocals, bizarre samples, the sound often drenched in effects and reverb or totally dubbed out. It may be noisy and brutal and blown out, but it's also weirdly listenable, and we often find ourselves listening to the whole of side A, a twisted fragmented noise grind songsuite that NO band since has come close to matching. In fact if this disc was just those 22 minutes, it would still be worth it. But this disc also includes the rest of the Disgrace To The Corpse Of Sid record, which displays the band's other side, longer songs, midtempo, crusty doomy punk rock, more like Amebix or Doom (which featured members of Sore Throat) or Antisect, churning and heavy, dirgey and crusty, swaggery and snotty.
As if that weren't already enough grinding crusty noisy bliss, the rest of the disc is filled up with Sore Throat's equally ruling first full length Unhindered By Talent, which is way more punky and thrashy, pounding d-beats, grinding riffage, bellowed vox, wild squiggly guitar solos, but the band was already well on their way to being grind/noisecore legends, with Unhindered featuring tons of sub 30 second songs, with 14 or 15 not even cracking the 10 second mark, plenty of goofy stuff too (a killer, warped reinterpretation of Sabbath's "Iron Man" called "iron Lung"), but also some seriously fierce heaviness, some of it easily some of the best punkmetal crust EVER.
Needless to say, TOTALLY RECOMMENDED, cool artwork with extensive liner notes and lyrics, and be warned, it took us ages to get enough copies to list, so when we run out, it might take us a while to get more, if we even can.
The processes of the mysterious composer / sound sculptor Soriah are almost as interesting as the strange and otherworldly music he creates. The live performance, the setting, is often a spiritual complement to the composition itself, taking place in haunted tunnels, in treetops, in the deserts, in churches, all adding to the mysterious ceremonial aspect of each piece, as do the extensive costumes, head-dresses, totems, tribal garments, all combined with Soriah's background in Butoh, Yoga and other ritualistic practices, lend his music a timeless and mysterious air. A dark pagan dance of drones and dark ambience.
After numerous, super limited, self published and hand made art editions, this is Soriah's first proper release, and it's totally breathtaking. Two lengthy pieces, for vocals, pipe organ and effects, Soriah conjures up a haunting sonic otherworld, drifting, dreamy, menacing and malefic, a rumbling, whirring
dark ambient dronescape, thick with the natural timbre of the wheezing pipe organ, and dense with subtle overtones from the various vocals. A deft mash up of ancient classical musicks and modern experimental drone based minimalism, a heady blend of Messiaen, Mirror, Coleclough, Dead Can Dance, Jacula, Niblock, and Eastern ragas. A dusty old pipe organ, built in 1881, lays the groundwork, a rich, thick, multilayered bed, subtle overtones, rich swirling drones, notes and melodies shimmer and beat against each other, creating strange movements, a thick wash of chordal whir that pulses and breathes like it was alive.
The organ is intertwined with various vocals, sometimes crooning, alien and operatic, but more often an impossibly low-end rumble, a dense and deep Tuvan style throat singing, buzzing and multilayered, more like some strange long stringed instrument than a human voice. Crumbling and corrosive, but at the same time soothing and ethereal. The vocals drifting through various effects, become smears and stretches that blend and blur into the overall droneworld.
Definitely one of the darkest and dreamiest drone records in recent memory, and all the more compelling in that this is not just a simple tone or set of tones, slowly shifting, know this is a rich and vibrant live ritual, you can feel the organ vibrate, the vocals curl around you like some ripe exotic smoke, this music is alive, soft and inviting, but dangerous and dreamlike. A bit like SUNNO))) armed only with church organs, and accompanied by Huun-Huur-Tu, a massive physical drone, a huge deliriously suffocating wall of rumble, like laying at the bottom of a pit, eyes closed, and being buried alive by soft sound. So good.
Record number two from this unlikely black metal offshoot. Which makes sense when you realize that the black metal band that Soror Dolorosa frontman Andy Julia calls home, as drummer, is none other than the twisted French 'faerical blasting punk' outfit Nuit Noire. But even that band's outsider barely black metal status couldn't have prepared us for Soror Dolorosa, which is only black in that it's the color of the clothes, and the black eyeliner these guys don, as they unfurl some fantastically retro gloom/goth/death rock, that as we mentioned in our review of their first album, sounds SO genuinely gothic, that we're guessing even some gothrock veterans could be fooled into thinking these guys were from back in the day. We mentioned groups like Christian Death, Specimen, The March Violets, the Virgin Prunes, we'd probably add the Abecedarians, and Kommunity FK, and heck why not Bauhaus and Joy Division and even Interpol. Cuz for all the retro eighties worship and gloom pop revivalism, NOBODY does it as good as these guys, right down to the bass tone, to the deep crooned dramatic vocals, the meandering spacious compositions, loping and low slung, spidery guitar melodies, simple propulsive drumming, lush reverby production, and gorgeous songs, not heavy, not weird, just dark and dreamy and dramatic, channeling classic cold wave and goth rock bands of the past, creating their own contemporary death rock sound that owes as much to the Cure as it does to the more subterranean goth rock of old.
Unlike their first record, which seemed to retain much of the urgency and raw energy of the black metal scene that birthed them, this latest album is simultaneously more polished and more restrained, less crunch, and buzz, and more shimmer and jangle, the verses unwinding and meandery, the choruses epic and majestic, but still restrained and minimal. And the songs too might be even catchier, but subtly so. There's no overt immediate hit like "Beau Suicide" from the first record, but instead, ALL of the tracks here blossom on repeated listens into the sort of songs that get played to death, and make it on to that break up mix tape, dour and dark, and miserably blissed out.
The song "Soror Dolorosa" almost cribs the exact bass line from the Abecedarians' biggest hit, but here, the band instead stretch it out, and pile on layer after layer, keening guitar melodies, a dark melancholy croon, clouds of cymbal shimmer, until the song slips into a woozy bit of softly tribal drift, all warm guitar whirl, before launching into a darkly propulsive gloom rock churn. Our favorite track though might be closer "Broken Wings", which almost sounds like the best Katatonia song ever, but slowed way down, with all the distortion stripped away, the dramatic vocals so powerful and moving, the guitars thick and textural, all the while a thick driving bass line pulsing beneath the surface, a dark, doomy goth pop dirge that plays out like some miserablist slowdance moperock, cinematic in it's own way, evoking wandering in the pouring rain, watching the city lights blink off one at a time, of heartbreak, of loss and even death, a gorgeously lush yet emotionally bleak ballad, that is the perfect finish for this modern gloompop/gothrock classic.
Soror Dolorosa is a band that will confound many of those trolling the internet for any number of '80s deathrock / darkwave obscurities. You could easily slip Soror Dolorosa - with its Goth name, its monochromatic artwork, the theatrical vocals, the rhythmic savagery - next to the likes of Christian Death, Specimen, The March Violets, and The Virgin Prunes, and none would be the wiser. Of all the '80s references to make, Clair Obscure (while very well, obscure) is probably the closest, if that French band had been much better in grafting songs to match the ritualistic deathrock throb.
The biggest surprise here might not in fact be that this is new and not some archival eighties lost gem, but that it is in fact the project of Nuit Noire drummer Andy Julia, who has also played in Peste Noire, Mutiilation and other grim black combos. None of which would at all prepare you for the glorious cold wave miserablism found here, Julia has such a distinctive croon, and the band conjure up such an amazing batcave new wave gloom, it sounds like it has to be from the eighties.
The guitars shimmer and chime, the bass is thick and throbbing, the drums are simple and propulsive, the sounds is spacious, lots of reverb and delay, but it's all about the vocals, a mournful dramatic croon, somewhere between Ian Curtis and Andrew Eldritch. In fact, this totally channels the spirit of the Sisters Of Mercy, as well as the Virgin Prunes, the Fields Of The Nephilim, the Cure all that awesomely epic gothic darkness we grew up on.
But as we know, it's easy to just emulate a sound, any band can sound like their favorite band of old, that phenomenon is responsible for at least several scenes and sounds. But that music, that classic sound, is as much about songs as it is about sounds. We often lament, that songwriting seems to have been supplanted by the mere act of being in a band, of making the right noises.
And it's in that way that Soror Dolorosa stand out from all the other cold wave wannabes, they write amazing songs, filled with incredible melodies, hooks galore, the basslines as memorable as the vocal lines, dramatic, intense, personal, emotional, the vocals oozing with pathos, the songs themselves rife with parts and pieces that are incredibly catchy, when the vocals drop out, you're still hearing them in your head, you find yourself humming along to the bass, or slipping away from the vocals and getting lost in the shimmering reverbed riffage.
The whole record is fantastic, but opener "Beau Suicide" is maybe one of our favorite cold wave jams ever, past or present, so dark and driving, with a main riff to die for (the sort of riff Interpol has spent their whole career trying to come up with), a cool jagged angular guitar freakout midway through, an incredible and impossibly melodic bassline, and one of the coolest, most intense, and unforgettable vocal lines, so good. Just this track gets played so much in the store it's beginning to feel like the aQ theme song. Then there's the nearly 12 minute closing track "American Chronicle", a lilting, super dramatic gloom pop epic, with long stretches of dour drift, the guitar unfurling gorgeous echoey melodies, the vocals more emotional and anguished than anywhere on the record, which is strange, since the music is perhaps the prettiest and most melodic.
Needless to say, absolutely required listening for folks who like their pop gloomy, their eighties revivalists depressive and dark, and who count any of the above mentioned bands in their personal pantheon. And while we love the current revival of lo-fi new wave goth garage pop, Cold Cave, Blank Dogs, Gary War, Zola Jesus, etc... Soror Dolorosa has supplanted them all and now seems to be the record we can NOT stop listening to.
On his debut, Bay Area one man band Sort Of Invisible (aka the very nice fellow Daniel Bolig) craftily brings together a fully fleshed out array of shoegazer-ish fuzzy guitar washes, ramshackle indie rock acoustic guitars, trippy woozy space-pop keyboards, and boyish vocals. That's right he does it all himself! Picturesque definitely brought to mind a variety of early/mid-90s bands such as Ride and Pavement, but also made a place of its own.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
There's fast and buzzy and blurry. And then there's FAST AND BUZZY AND BLURRY. This Danish black metal outfit manage to pretty much outbuzz and outblur all their blackened brethren. Not sure if it's the riffs, or the songs, or the production, most likely all of those things, but Sortsind whip up an impossibly dense black metal blast that is so fast and fuzzed out all the riffs and blast beats drift together into a glorious fuzzed out droning blur. But close listening reveals all sorts of fucked up weirdness going on within. Cool arpeggiated guitars, occasional big boomy room reverbed drums, weird atonal circusy keyboards, and some of the weirdest harshest vocals ever, somewhere between some one shrieking in utter agony as they are being torn apart by some wild beast, or some super processed feeding back guitar. A weird high end wailing squealing animal like growl. SO weird. And perfectly matched to the harsh buzz of the music. Once in a while some crazy catchy Iron Maiden-ish harmony guitar part will surface out of the murk, but will quickly be sucked back down into the darkness. There are brief breaks in the mayhem, long stretches of haunted mansion creepy ambience, dreary swirls of mournful keyboards, howled anguished tortured soul vocals drenched in reverb, dreamlike passages of slow slithery minor key clean guitar, the resurfaces throughout the record, drifting beneath the thick fuzz like some wraithlike shimmer.
But this record is all about the buzz and the fuzz and the blur, and for those of dying to buried alive in an ocean of bombinating black buzz, you probably won't do any better than this.
LIMITED TO 1000 COPIES. ALREADY OUT OF PRINT AT THE LABEL. WE HAVE ABOUT 20 COPIES...
Dastgaah is an intense, gorgeous full-length "ethnic-electronica" effort from Iranian expat Akta Ebtekar, who has a Warp single and a Dielectric 12" on his resume already. Here he pulls out all the stops for an instrumental, electronic journey to the Persia of a sci-fi imagination. The computer processed, Middle Eastern sounding sounds here make this come across something like Muslimgauze meets a Doom (the video game) soundtrack... shimmering swirls of drone, burble and bells, glitchy high-pitched shards of sound, eerie disembodied voices, crunchy, creaking, warped, wonderous. Although we'd assume this is a laptop job, there is a suggestion of old-fashioned musique concrete to it. Dockstader in the desert kingdoms, maybe? Certainly subtle, mysterious stuff is going on in the background. We're glad Sote's finally graced us with a full cd, this needs the time to work its magic, to envelop the listener... Recommended.
It's nice to know that while doing very well with the likes of Boards of Canada and Vincent Gallo, Warp Records still looks to the nether regions of underground electronica for new artists. Sote is a new signing for Warp and supposedly hails from "relatively remote wilds of Northern California" (but as we discovered, he's a super nice guy that goes to recording school with AQ pal Drew) The first single for Warp is happy-go-lucky run through distorto-crunched electronics filtering a complex array of Amen drum 'n' bass breaks, sort of sounding like Venetian Snares reliving the glories of British hardcore rave circa 1991 (i.e. Altern8, The Hypnotist, Prodigy, Messiah).
It's been a while since we've listed something from Sote, who had a few killer releases on Warp and aQ pal Drew's Dielectric label. Since lately most of the electronic music we've been reviewing has been super murky and minimal, sort of Kompakt style techno, this 12" is an awesome nod to the good old days, the days of Aphex Twin, Autechre, Boards Of Canada, Squarepusher and the like. But Sote doesn't just ape those folks, he has his own sound, in fact he seems to have two distinct sounds, one is a sort of Middle Eastern ethno-electronica, but even then those sounds are all tangled up with what seems top be Sote's other distinct sound, crunchy junglized beats, and thick buzzing basslines, and that's what we get here. Three tracks from Sote's old Warp Records days...
The A side is a total dancefloor destroyer. Thick grinding lowend sytnhs over crazy skittery breakbeats, a massive roiling wall of old school jungle, but infused with elements of dubstep and electroclash, it's all a bit grime-y and fuzzy, the beats are wicked, the low end seriously devastating. Some moody skitter surfaces part way through, an interlude with pizzicato melodies and some almost ambience, but then the beat drops again, and the record runs out a furious and dense beatscape.
The flipside is a bit more spacious and laid back, with some wooshing string swells, and some new age-y synths, but even within this more subdued sound, there lurks some skittery drum tangle and some fierce spastic programming. It's all good stuff for sure, but the A side is worth the price of admission on its own.
Thick, swirled, colored vinyl, house in gorgeous hand sewn fabric sleeves. All hand made, and so of course VERY VERY limited. Only 300 copies.
The first salvo of electronic vinyl madness from AQ pal Drucifer's new label comes in the form of four 12"s, beautifully packaged in distinctive orange sleeves (dance 12" style) and on nice thick vinyl, and sonically running the gamut from stuttery glitched out electronica to shimmery drones to speaker shredding digital rhythms to dreamy beatscapes.
Sote (who also has a record out on Warp) veers wildly all over the electronic music spectrum, from hyperactive, staccato jackhammer beats to lush hypnotic beatscapes, employing fuzzy block-rocking beats, swirling melodies, crunchy digital glitches, sampled harmony vocals, washes of warm distortion, crickety clicks, super-distorted female torch singing, buzzing insect melodies, and all sorts of rhythmic and melodic mayhem.
MPEG Download: "Musick" [/audio/sotemusick.mp3]
MPEG Stream: "Musick" [/audio/sotemusick.m3u]
Another amazing compilation of Cambodian psychedelic music recorded from the late sixties to the mid seventies. This comp, culled from much crate digging in the open air markets of Siem Reip, right next to the legendary temples Angkor Wat focus exclusively on songs performed and sung by legendary Cambodian vocalists Sin Sisamouth and Srei Sothear. Sisamouth is a name that should be familiar to all fans of Cambodian psych, as he is featured heavily on pretty much every single compilation of Cambodian psych from that time (including all four of the Cambodian Rocks comps of course). Sisamouth wrote thousands of songs, many performed by Sothear, and many for films in which she also starred. The two become partners and eventually became two of the most (if not THE most) famous singers in Cambodia.
Tragically, both were killed by the Khmer Rouge -- as were their bands and of course millions of their fans. Their musical legacy they left is staggering. Thousands of amazing tunes, from garage rock stomps to full on psych rock blow outs. Wild guitars, buzzing distortion drenched leads, groovy wah wah rhythms, and organs all over the place, whirring, wheezing, warbling, all fuzzy and thick, sometimes spitting out nimble high end melodies, other times a thick carpet of psychfuzz, add in some James Brown funky horns, wild drumming, and some of the most amazing vocals ever, that go from croon to wail to squeal to howl and every place in between, and you've got some of the wildest psych-rock ever made!
Full color psychedelic sleeve with liner notes on the back.
All proceeds of the sales of this album go to the United Nations' Cambodian relief fund Adopt-A-Minefield. you can learn more or donate by going to http://www.landmines.org.
Not the clicks and cuts Thomas Brinkmann. Not the runout groove sampling Thomas Brinkmann. The General Eclectics series from Mr. Brinkmann's Soul Center presents him in a straight forward, monophunk techno guise, and he's damn good at it! All of the tracks present on this disc were culled from two eps released earlier in 2010, plus a couple of bonus tracks to sweeten the deal. Brinkmann draws from rare groove samples of soulful Hammond organ stabs and rolling basslines to tumble into his swaggering techno rhythms and minimal electronic twinkles. The opening track "Marmalade" has the midtempo swagger of the Sopranos theme, but pushed with a deeper, slow-motion techno-funk heard way back when Mo' Wax was cool. Brinkmann offers a more Kompakt inspired track of German engineered motorik techno with some creepy detuned spoken vocals on "Walk With Me," somewhat reminiscent of the Ester Brinkmann tracks with Blixa Bargeld's chant in lieu of a more polite vocalist. The rhythms thicken considerably on the last three cuts of the album, taking on more of a Mr. Ozio production for a more muscular techno coupled with robotic vocals and acid-inspired electronics supplanting the funk tropes from the earlier tracks. Brinkmann's always been a fantastic producer; and even without some of the great conceptual overtures and technical gimmicks which he's thrown at us in the past, he can certainly deliver one hell of an electronic groove record! We've been playing the heck of of it here at the store, EVERYBODY digs it.
Second album. They are smart enought o sample Raymond Scott and ask Steve Fisk to produce some of the songs.
When you think of leather trenchcoats, black eyeliner, big hair, Doc Maartens, graveyards, reverbed guitars, murky low end, simple propulsive basslines, deep baritone vocals, sideburns, goth and gloom, odds are you don't probably think of Colorado. But every town in the eighties had its own little scene like that, a place for the misfits, the outcasts, kids who dug Sisters Of Mercy, Joy Division, the Mission UK, Jane's Addiction, died their hair, pierced their noses and in general embraced the darker side.
Denver was no different. Except that underground music in Colorado, had a much tougher time making it OUT, to find sympathetic ears, especially pre-internet. One of the casualties was the the Soul Merchants, who perhaps more centrally located, or with access to hipper venues, could have been as popular as any of their much more successful peers. Once described as the Doors meets Sisters Of Mercy, the Soul Merchants sound to our ears at least, like they belonged in Los Angeles, playing clubs like the Scream, with bands like Kommunity FK, Tender Fury, Abecedarians, Tex And The Horseheads and of course Jane's Addiction.
They had that lurching murky droniness, the weary deeeeep vocals, lots of reverb and delay, big booming eighties drums, killer serpentine basslines, but they also had some AMAZING songs, packed with killer hooks, and the fact that it all sounds so good, dense, heavy, lush, is even more remarkable considering most of these songs were recorded on a 4-track. And while it is distinctly doomy and way gothy, there's also a lot of jangle going on, some parts sound like R.E.M., other parts like the Jacobites, there's some Virgin Prunes, some sixties psychedelia, all woven into the Soul Merchants' distinctive sound. The liner notes call the Soul Merchants "Denver's premier purveyors of psychedelic doom", and while around here, psychedelic doom might have slightly different connotations, the music here is definitely dark and doomy and psychedelic. And so of course, recommended.
Packaged in a deluxe double digipak, booklet inside, liner notes and lots of vintage photos.
RJD2 and Blueprint are the duo that make up Soul Position. Equal parts old school hip hip and ANTI-glossy/gangster/mtv style rap. This is a really solid outing, voicing sentiments that are quite contrary in the larger world of mainstream hip-hop. At times it's almost like the equivalent of sXe hip-hop as they lament the down side of wasting your life in alcohol, speak out against sexual abuse and motivations based solely on crass consumer culture. Luckily it all sounds really good too which makes their message go down that much smoother. Fans of Blackalicious should definitely check this out. They start it off with what could be their mission statement on the song "No Gimmicks": "no major label power moves, no costumes no limits no gimmicks no shoot out in the streets no publicity stints no mtv cribs no out of shape fat boy telling you how to live..." Sign us up -- we're in.
Sigh! The sound of The Soul's Release on their lates EP is all glistening and softly subdued, but there's an undercurrent of emotive urgency. 'Tis quite a kin to a number of other artists on the fine SF label Dynamophone - purveyors of nothing but the loveliest of atmospheric, mostly instrumental music - such as Amman/Josh whom we've also reviewed this aQ list. We've definitely noted an affinity with Icelandic music makers Mum and Sigur Ros. Where The Trees Are Painted White conjures visions of feathery wings gliding across guitar strings while melted icicle droplets strike piano keys in the depths of a wintry eve. Regardless of what season it may happen to be though, it's easy to imagine this frosty music causing your breath to appear in slow drifting clouds. Nice!
Brand new full-length from "Glen Galaxy" (ex-Truman's Water) and friends, of their unique born-again Xtian sometimes-improv rock. Some say this band sounds like Dieselhed.
Glenn Galaxy and co. (ex-Truman's Water for those with an interest in ancient history) return with more of their weird pro-Jesus indie rock/improv, this time it's split almost 50/50 between funky Folk Implosion style jangle and straight up hip-hop, of the unfunky white guy style ala Warlock Pinchers. Best song title: "Life To False Metal"!
Sometimes we forget that not everyone has been closely reading our list/website for the past six or eight years...or the past six months, even. That causes us to mistakenly assume y'all know about older releases that we stock. Why do we mention this? Well, recently Andee sold a bunch of copies of the very first releases on his tUMULt label (that came out five years ago) to a distro, who listed them on their website as "new in stock" and thereby sold a bunch...to people we know, who are regular AQ customers, who just happened to have missed the SA cds the first time we listed them way back when. So...we thought we'd better give everybody another chance to pick up from us these amazing, all time AQ favorites!
Long overdue reissue of these amazing and long out of print LPs by Chicago's Souled American, a band unfortunate enough to have helped create a genre that effectively didn't yet exist. But by the time 'alternative country' had caught the attention of the music buying public and helped rock audiences overcome their fear of country music, Rough Trade had already collapsed (leaving them with no label, and basically no records) and the band had already withdrawn from the public eye so effectively, that even their most stalwart fans assumed the worst.
Fe and Flubber, their first two records, find them exploring rock music from a distinctly country/bluegrass perspective. The result is a wholly original sound, true to the tradition, but weird enough to keep them a sort of band's band for years, blending plaintive, heartfelt, on-the-verge-of-cracking Neil Young-ish vocals, warm but angular guitars, and probably their most unique characteristic; the bass, dubby and underwater, slippery and otherworldly. Anyone who likes Palace, Uncle Tupelo, Songs:Ohia, Rex, or John Prine, will love these records.
Around the Horn and Sonny find Souled American slowing down and becoming more introspective, shedding band members and discarding un-needed sounds to arrive at their own essence of folk/bluegrass/country; dark, lugubrious, glacial sounds of country past, lost loves, mines and ghost towns. While still essential for fans of Palace and Uncle Tupelo, now even fans of Low, Labradford, Godspeed, and Kranky records will find themselves irresistably drawn to, and slowly enveloped by the murk and mist.
Our esteemed co-worker Andee founded tUMULt because he wanted to see this records reissued. All four cds have been lovingly remastered, have new artwork and Around the Horn is a cd rom, containing a never before seen video for "In the Mud". When you buy both volumes (4 cds!) they come in a beautiful slipcase.
Sometimes we forget that not everyone has been closely reading our list/website for the past six or eight years...or the past six months, even. That causes us to mistakenly assume y'all know about older releases that we stock. Why do we mention this? Well, recently Andee sold a bunch of copies of the very first releases on his tUMULt label (that came out five years ago) to a distro, who listed them on their website as "new in stock" and thereby sold a bunch...to people we know, who are regular AQ customers, who just happened to have missed the SA cds the first time we listed them way back when. So...we thought we'd better give everybody another chance to pick up from us these amazing, all time AQ favorites!
Long overdue reissue of these amazing and long out of print LPs by Chicago's Souled American, a band unfortunate enough to have helped create a genre that effectively didn't yet exist. But by the time 'alternative country' had caught the attention of the music buying public and helped rock audiences overcome their fear of country music, Rough Trade had already collapsed (leaving them with no label, and basically no records) and the band had already withdrawn from the public eye so effectively, that even their most stalwart fans assumed the worst.
Fe and Flubber, their first two records, find them exploring rock music from a distinctly country/bluegrass perspective. The result is a wholly original sound, true to the tradition, but weird enough to keep them a sort of band's band for years, blending plaintive, heartfelt, on-the-verge-of-cracking Neil Young-ish vocals, warm but angular guitars, and probably their most unique characteristic; the bass, dubby and underwater, slippery and otherworldly. Anyone who likes Palace, Uncle Tupelo, Songs:Ohia, Rex, or John Prine, will love these records.
Around the Horn and Sonny find Souled American slowing down and becoming more introspective, shedding band members and discarding un-needed sounds to arrive at their own essence of folk/bluegrass/country; dark, lugubrious, glacial sounds of country past, lost loves, mines and ghost towns. While still essential for fans of Palace and Uncle Tupelo, now even fans of Low, Labradford, Godspeed, and Kranky records will find themselves irresistably drawn to, and slowly enveloped by the murk and mist.
Our esteemed co-worker Andee founded tUMULt because he wanted to see this records reissued. All four cds have been lovingly remastered, have new artwork and Around the Horn is a cd rom, containing a never before seen video for "In the Mud". When you buy both volumes (4 cds!) they come in a beautiful slipcase.
We love this band so much we took it upon ourselves to import mucho copies of their two most recent albums, and as far as we know, we are the ONLY store in the country to care enough to carry them. Think Joel Phelps (in the voice) with a dour Palace twang, also Red House Painters-ish 'slow-core' but these guys have been doing it for over a decade, having put out several hard-to-find records on Rough Trade. Very bare and wintry. Oh yeah, they're from Chicago and have a rabid cult following (can't believe I just wrote that); people far and wide, including Jim O'Rourke and our own Andee Connors, just WORSHIP them. This is kind of a big deal.
BACK IN STOCK AGAIN!!
By now, if you've been paying any attention, you know how much we love Souled American. So much that Andee even started his tUMULt label specifically to re-release their first four albums. (Really!) So once again we're super excited to have gotten a handful of copies of their last record, Notes Campfire, back in. Notes Campfire is record number six, and finds Souled American at their most lugubrious, their stoned glacial country at its very slowest and introspective. Which is saying a lot for the masters of stoned deconstructed skeletal country folk. But Notes Campfire is indeed the dreamiest and darkest of all their recordings, shimmering guitars ripple endlessly into the ether, achingly mournful about-to-crack vocals hover like disembodied spirits in SA's wintery musical forest. Creeping and slithering, warbly and tenuous, these songs are barely there impressions of what was once a country rock band, wispy smoky shapes, dreamy and luminescent halos of distant twang and soulful introspection. Still manages to kick ass over almost any slowcore / no depression / alt. country we've ever heard. Fans of Palace and Songs:Ohia and stuff like that owe it to themselves to check Souled American out if they haven't already.
Sublime Frequencies record number two from the mind blowing Omar Souleyman! In reviewing the last Souleyman disc we compared the sound to something resembling a Middle Eastern Aavikko, which if you're anything like us, sounds AMAZING. Totally over the top chaotic world music rife with soaring strings, cheesy eighties drum machines, wild synths, and amazing buzzing saz melodies, and if anything this new disc is even more over the top.
More than ever, Souleyman's music sounds very Bollywood, festive, wild, sweaty, energized, intense and relentless, rooted around rhythm, the various melodies and vocals slither and swirl, unfurling woozy Eastern melodies over the non stop beat. It's definitely dance music, and party music, just not the sort of dance / party music we're used to.
The recording is fantastic too, very lo-fi, the texture and timbre of the sound shifting constantly, from murky and muddy, to bright and brilliant, could be that these cuts were culled from various tapes recorded and released over the past decade, but that only adds to the fun, and if it's anything, this music is fun. Funky, groovy, and fun fun fun. Sometimes the melodies are so rapid fire it begins to sound like some sort of alien video game music, then moments later it will slip into something darker and folkier, before exploding again into a wild burst of psychedelic dance chaos! Dabke apparently is a style of music, THIS music, a kind of party music rarely heard outside of Syria, as it's considered not important enough to export, but as far as we're concerned this is some of the most amazing music we've ever heard. For more background info on Souleyman, check the review of the older record on the aQ site, plenty of background on his life and his music, but it's hardly necessary, the sounds here definitely speak for themselves, and what they're saying, is buy this record now! It's so so so so so essential. And heck, while you're at it, you might as well pick up the other one as well (which is now available on vinyl!) if you haven't already, they both completely rule!
FINALLY available on vinyl! Here's what we had to say about the cd version WAY back in 2009...
Sublime Frequencies record number two from the mind blowing Omar Souleyman! In reviewing the last Souleyman disc we compared the sound to something resembling a Middle Eastern Aavikko, which if you're anything like us, sounds AMAZING. Totally over the top chaotic world music rife with soaring strings, cheesy eighties drum machines, wild synths, and amazing buzzing saz melodies, and if anything this new disc is even more over the top.
More than ever, Souleyman's music sounds very Bollywood, festive, wild, sweaty, energized, intense and relentless, rooted around rhythm, the various melodies and vocals slither and swirl, unfurling woozy Eastern melodies over the nonstop beat. It's definitely dance music, and party music, just not the sort of dance / party music we're used to.
The recording is fantastic too, very lo-fi, the texture and timbre of the sound shifting constantly, from murky and muddy, to bright and brilliant, could be that these cuts were culled from various tapes recorded and released over the past decade, but that only adds to the fun, and if it's anything, this music is fun. Funky, groovy, and fun fun fun. Sometimes the melodies are so rapid fire it begins to sound like some sort of alien video game music, then moments later it will slip into something darker and folkier, before exploding again into a wild burst of psychedelic dance chaos! Dabke apparently is a style of music, THIS music, a kind of party music rarely heard outside of Syria, as it's considered not important enough to export, but as far as we're concerned this is some of the most amazing music we've ever heard. For more background info on Souleyman, check the review of the older record on the aQ site, plenty of background on his life and his music, but it's hardly necessary, the sounds here definitely speak for themselves, and what they're saying, is buy this record now! It's so so so so so essential.
We're not sure how a live Omar Souleyman record differs from any of his other records, which were all essentially recorded live, but these shows are distinctive for one reason in particular, they all took place in the West, in front of audiences outside of the Middle East, who most likely had never seen anything like it. And we were lucky enough to see Souleyman perform here in San Francisco, and we were blown away. The sound was incredible, that tangled Eastern psychedelic sound that is already so propulsive and rhythmic and mesmerizing, but cranked through a MASSIVE sound system, and suddenly, it was as if that was how it was supposed to sound all along. And to see a whole sweaty throng of SF hipsters, from punks to metalheads, losing their shit, and dancing wildly to these weird and wonderful sounds, it was pretty inspiring. We couldn't help but wonder how Souleyman felt, performing in these big dance clubs, maybe it just seemed strange to us, cuz really we can't imagine any crowd, no matter how big or small resisting these incredible grooves. So here are a handful of live performances, from America, Australia, Germany, Spain, Belgium, the UK and Denmark, all of the tracks here finding Souleyman in fine form, the music lively and wildly chaotic, psychedelic and groovy.
One thing this live record does gives us the chance to focus on is Souleyman's keyboardist / percussionist, Rizan Sa'id, who when we saw Souleyman, almost stole the show. Sure Souleyman was the master of ceremonies, pacing the stage, clapping and singing, hyping the crowd, but then off to the side was Sa'id, going totally nuts on the keyboard, providing ALL of the music, a veritable one man band, playing wild melodies, looping rhythms, triggering big rib cage rattling beats, but the best part was his keyboard had little drum pads, and all of those flurries of Middle Eastern percussion, those are actually being played live, his hands a blur over the keyboard, unfurling wild rhythmic tangles. We literally could not take our eyes off him. On these tracks, those two are joined by an electric saz player, who adds another glorious layer of psychedelic buzz, and as you might imagine, this is incredible, and fantastic and totally and utterly transcendent. Fans will want this for sure, and it's definitely a perfect introduction to Souleyman's spiritual sonic magic, and by all means, if you get the chance to see this stuff live, you won't be sorry!!
THIS GREAT ALBUM FINALLY RE-PRESSED AND BACK IN STOCK!!
The ever-reliable Sublime Frequencies label opens our ears to new frontiers of amazing sounds, AGAIN. "World music" isn't just what Putumayo puts out, y'know. Any adventurous music-fan should by now know to pick up each and every Sublime Frequencies release as they appear, you won't be disappointed. This latest cd presents some "Folk And Pop Sounds Of Syria" in the form of a "best-of" collection of tunes by one Omar Souleyman, selected (and explicated in the liner notes) by AQ pal Mark Gergis (of Porest, Neung Phak, Mono Pause). Mark was the compiler of previous Sublime Freq faves like Choubi Choubi, Molam: Thai Country Groove, and Cambodian Cassette Archives. Already we hope you're eager to hear this disc, which features a variety of traditional folk forms from Souleyman's homeland and nearby countries supercharged with synth, the rapid fire results sounding something like a Middle Eastern version of Aavikko, almost. It'll make you sweat just listening to it. This stuff simply shreds. And when it's more mellowed-out, Souleyman's music is gorgeous too.
Now, we don't usually like to quote label press-releases whole-hog, but Sublime Frequencies has provided a lot of factual info on Souleyman and his music that any potential purchaser will find of interest, and so rather than paraphrase, here's what they said about this, it should certainly pique your curiosity all the more (though we'll tell you right now without further ado, GET THIS):
"Omar Souleyman is a Syrian musical legend. Since 1994, he and his musicians have emerged as a staple of folk-pop throughout Syria, but until now they have remained little known outside of the country. To date, they have issued more than five-hundred studio and live-recorded cassette albums which are easily spotted in the shops of any Syrian city. Born in rural northeastern Syria, he began his musical career in 1994 with a small group of local collaborators that remain with him today. The myriad musical traditions of the region are evident in their music. Here, classical Arabic mawal-style vocalization gives way to high-octane Syrian dabke (the regional folkloric dance and party music), Iraqi choubi and a host of Arabic, Kurdish and Turkish styles, among others. This amalgamation is truly the sound of Syria. The music often has an overdriven sound consisting of phase-shifted Arabic keyboard solos and frantic rhythms. At breakneck speeds, these shrill Syrian electronics play out like forbidden Morse-code, but the moods swing from coarse and urgent to dirgy and contemplative in the rugged anthems that comprise Souleyman's repertoire. Oud, reeds, baglama saz, accompanying vocals and percussion fill out the sound from track to track. Mahmoud Harbi is a long-time collaborator and the man responsible for much of the poetry sung by Souleyman. Together, they commonly perform the "Ataba," a traditional form of folk poetry used in Dabke. On stage, Harbi chain smokes cigarettes while standing shoulder to shoulder with Souleyman, periodically leaning over to whisper the material into his ear. Acting as a conduit, Souleyman struts into the audience with urgency, vocalizing the prose in song before returning for the next verse. Souleyman's first hit in Syria was "Jani" (1996) which gained cassette-kiosk infamy and brought him recognition throughout the country. Sublime Frequencies is honored to present the Western debut of Omar Souleyman with this retrospective disc of studio and live recordings spanning 12 years of his career, culled from cassettes recorded between 1994 and 2006. This collection offers a rare glimpse into Syrian street-level folk-pop and Dabke - a phenomena seldom heard in the West, not previously deemed serious enough for export by the Syrians and rarely, if ever, included on the import agenda of worldwide academic musical committees."
Got it? Get it. Recommended!
RELEASED ON VINYL FOR RECORD STORE DAY! Just a few copies remaining. Here's what we said about the cd version of this when we made it a Record Of The Week in 2010:
We'll admit, we're a sucker for Sublime Frequencies, they've yet to release a record that didn't totally blow our minds. Which says as much about SF's curating as it does about the unheard music worldwide. Treasures everywhere, amazing and passionate and personal and far out sounds, being made in homes and yards, on street corners, in bars, at picnics and parties, not conceived for public consumption, meant for a small audience, and often for a specific purpose, getting a glimpse into these magical musical moments is what Sublime Frequencies is all about, and we feel lucky to get to experience these sounds.
This is the third record from Omar Souleyman on Sublime Frequencies, and just might be the best one yet, which is saying A LOT. A collection of live recordings culled from nearly 15 years worth of cassettes, these tracks are incredible, energetic, passionate, so full of life, effusive and emotional, funky and celebratory, and to Western ears, seriously far out. There's almost a wild Bollywood vibe (even though this is from the Middle East, not India), in the vocals, and the rhythms, and with the crazy tangled synthesizer melodies, the propulsive drumming, and Souleyman's distorted, wailed vocal delivery, it all sounds just so perfect, even listening to this music on record, it sounds sweaty and exhausting and cathartic, it's easy to imagine a big crowd of people dancing and bouncing along, freed from all cares and concerns letting the music just carry them away.
Like all Sublime Frequencies releases, the liner notes offer up so much information, on Souleyman, his life, the history of Syria, on Syrian folk music, etc, but even without all that info, if it's just about the music, these are some of the most amazing sounds you'll ever hear. Frantic Eastern melodies, frenetic percussion, analog synths wound around Souleyman's vocals, this is party music, dance music, but not like party or dance music the way we normally think about it. The music of Souleyman is transcendent, spiritual, psychedelic, transformative, a folk pop known as Dabke, rarely heard in the West, perhaps not at all if it wasn't for Sublime Frequencies, and we'd imagine these sounds might be overwhelming for casual world music listeners, it is after all wild and frantic and relentless, the melodies complex and twisted and tangled, there are some moments that verge on folky for sure, the final track is a gorgeous haunting lament, just vocals and buzzing synthesizers, but barring that track, even on the folkier jams, those strange synths, the unique melodies, the repetitive tranced out rhythms, those all transform Souleyman's folk into something much more, and in most cases, it's not long before the band explodes into yet another super intense sweat soaked psychedelic Syrian folk pop workout. So great!
We'll admit, we're a sucker for Sublime Frequencies, they've yet to release a record that didn't totally blow our minds. Which says as much about SF's curating as it does about the unheard music worldwide. Treasures everywhere, amazing and passionate and personal and far out sounds, being made in homes and yards, on street corners, in bars, at picnics and parties, not conceived for public consumption, meant for a small audience, and often for a specific purpose, getting a glimpse into these magical musical moments is what Sublime Frequencies is all about, and we feel lucky to get to experience these sounds.
This is the third record from Omar Souleyman on Sublime Frequencies, and just might be the best one yet, which is saying A LOT. A collection of live recordings culled from nearly 15 years worth of cassettes, these tracks are incredible, energetic, passionate, so full of life, effusive and emotional, funky and celebratory, and to Western ears, seriously far out. There's almost a wild Bollywood vibe (even though this is from the Middle East, not India), in the vocals, and the rhythms, and with the crazy tangled synthesizer melodies, the propulsive drumming, and Souleyman's distorted, wailed vocal delivery, it all sounds just so perfect, even listening to this music on record, it sounds sweaty and exhausting and cathartic, it's easy to imagine a big crowd of people dancing and bouncing along, freed from all cares and concerns letting the music just carry them away.
Like all Sublime Frequencies releases, the liner notes offer up so much information, on Souleyman, his life, the history of Syria, on Syrian folk music, etc, but even without all that info, if it's just about the music, these are some of the most amazing sounds you'll ever hear. Frantic Eastern melodies, frenetic percussion, analog synths wound around Souleyman's vocals, this is party music, dance music, but not like party or dance music the way we normally think about it. The music of Souleyman is transcendent, spiritual, psychedelic, transformative, a folk pop known as Dabke, rarely heard in the West, perhaps not at all if it wasn't for Sublime Frequencies, and we'd imagine these sounds might be overwhelming for casual world music listeners, it is after all wild and frantic and relentless, the melodies complex and twisted and tangled, there are some moments that verge on folky for sure, the final track is a gorgeous haunting lament, just vocals and buzzing synthesizers, but barring that track, even on the folkier jams, those strange synths, the unique melodies, the repetitive tranced out rhythms, those all transform Souleyman's folk into something much more, and in most cases, it's not long before the band explodes into yet another super intense sweat soaked psychedelic Syrian folk pop workout. So great!
As if the Sublime Frequencies label wasn't prolific enough, one of the SF head honchos, our pal Mark Gergis, has now launched his OWN similar label, Sham Palace. Which has chosen as its first release, this reissue of a classic recording from beloved Syrian singer Omar Souleyman, a single song 30 minutes long! Originally released as a cassette in Syria, this reissue finds that single sprawling Souleyman groove, an edit of which was included on Souleyman's Sublime Frequencies debut Highway To Hassake, presented in its entirety, taking up two sides of vinyl. It's a killer track recorded live in one take, to emulate the vibe of the actual performance, without the distractions of the recording studio, and like other Souleyman jams, it's a scorcher, his vocals in fine form, over a wild tangled background of stuttering, pounding programed beats, buzzing synths and incredible saz melodies (the guy who plays saz is a serious shredder!). It's difficult to imagine the band keeping up the intensity for 30 minutes, but they never flag, the sound effusive and celebratory, the sort of sound that would incite and instant dance party (believe us, we saw it happen here, hipster wallflowers could not resist!), it stands up as one of his best most certainly, which is saying something considering how great pretty much everything we've heard from him is.
That would be enough, but there's a whole second lp, with two more tracks, the first, a lengthy introduction wed to another groover, this one more laid back and swoonsome, the vibe is more late night wind down, the band still killing it, but all stretched out and languid, sultry and surprising serene, while impossibly retaining much of the usual energy. And then finishing off with an unreleased track, which returns things to their proper order, Souleyman and band kicking it up a notch and once again unfurling some incredible grooves, wild and funky, hypnotic and tranced out, totally mesmerizing and utterly irresistible.
Debut disc from the new band of ex-Dissection rhythm guitarist player Johan Norman, also featuring final Dissection drummer Tobias Kellgren. Dissection, as you may know, was the ultimate Swedish death/black metal band of the '90s (well, next to At The Gates), combining melody, speed, and a palpable sense of dangerous evil like none other. Unfortunately, Dissection met its demise after two albums when one member went to jail for murder! But his colleagues have formed Soulreaper (named after a Dissection song) to continue the tradition (as well as that of Morbid Angel, Slayer, etc.). Soulreaper even covers a song by pre-Dissection demo band Satanized.
Another mysterious release from upstart UK tape label The Tapeworm, one of FOUR new releases this time around (all reviewed on this week's list). So who are Souls On Board? Well, like lots of the stuff The Tapeworm releases, it's really hard to tell, the recordings sound live, plenty of crowd sounds, shuffling feet, room noise, tape hiss, according to the minimal liner notes, the sounds were "recorded in Tangiers, Mallorca, London, Lisbon, Lanzarote and other unknown locations." Guests include Wire guitarist Bruce Gilbert, as well as Northwestern noisenik Daniel Menche, each contributing something subtle to the Souls' smoldering buzz drone minimalism. Hushed barely there static, deep pulsing swells, smears of gristly hiss, bumps and clunks and clanks smoothed out into rugged textures, thick and layered and dense, and quite mesmerizing. With a vibe and sound that recalls the antique obfuscations of Philip Jeck, or the warm pixelated sonic Gauze of Tim Hecker, but way more abstract, but that's really only the first lengthy track. After that, there's some intercepted conversations, some intense high end tones, some strange abstract field recordings, but soon those too give way to more of that washed out creepiness, peppered with voices, strange electronic glitches, and plenty of soft focus noisiness.
The flipside offers up some more dark minimal throb and pulse and buzz, beginning as a super hushed throb, laced with found sounds, and a patina of static, before getting all rhythmic, then noisy, a sort of Chain Reaction / Pan Sonic / Wolf Eyes mash up. Dark and heavy and haunting and droney and a little bit noisy, quite cool for sure.
LIMITED TO ONLY 250 COPIES!!!!
Finnish fusion on Ektro!
Sound Asleep (aka Conor Vincent Ghilarducci) has crafted some really really cool electronic instrumental tracks for his debut release Black Top Wash. A broad range of kick-ass, very tactile sounds. Tight rhythm programming. This baker's dozen tracks are in turn ominous, witty and pretty. Ghilarducci skillfully plays with texture in novel ways just as he plays with words in his song titles such as "Abdominal Snowman". His chimey and raindroplet-y melodic cycles step lightly amid the deeep slippery almost digeridoo-ish basslines. For a visual equivalent imagine a big furry monster settling for supper with his wee pals Mouse and Electric Eel while an army of robotic mosquitoes buzz about overhead. Did we mention? Really really cool!
Here's the second cd-r release from this fine Bay Area electronic artist. The eight instrumental tracks on Dead Things are somewhat darker and dreamier than those of his debut Black Top Wash from 2005. Sound Asleep aka Conor Vincent Ghilarducci does what he does exceptionally well, possessing an impressive grasp of layered textures and moody atmospheres. Check it out!
From the same label that brought us that amazing Otesanek record from a while back comes this, the first lp in a series called Sound Cartography, which, as the label helpfully explains is:
"Concerned with the investigation of how individuals react when presented with unfamiliar material. Using a linear sequence, each consecutive participant ultimately determines the structure & feel of the record, taking cues from the previous submissions." Sounds cool so far. So when you figure in the fact that the participants include members of Iron Lung, Pig Heart Transplant, Brainoil, Lana Dagales, Running For Cover and Cages, you might be getting an idea of what sort of heavy sonic punishment you're in for, but odds are, you'd be wrong.
While this record is heavy and punishing, it's not metal, or grind, or power violence, there are no drums, if there are guitars, they're used in very un-guitar-like ways, if anything, it's a drone record, albeit a particularly malevolent drone record, with deep swells of cymbal shimmer, rumbling low end buzz, blackened and blurred thrum, all underpinning a haunting spoken word vocal, and laced with a grinding layer of gnarled FX laden crunch, way down in the mix, streaks of glitch, a bit of clatter, building to a burst of abstract ambient near power violence before giving way to an extended bit of super spare, minimal drift, peppered with bits of plinked piano, detuned steel string buzz and hysterically howled invective.
The flipside offers up more of the same, another swirling abstract dronescape, grim spoken vocals, pulsing distorted soft noise, thick swells of sound, barely there pulse like rhythms, reverbed crunch and clatter, slightly sci-fi sounding, again finally slipping into a gorgeous sprawl of hushed drones and ominous whispers, laced with bits of effected dubbed out glitch.
Gorgeous packaging, hand screened two color (black and metallic silver) chipboard fold over jackets, printed on both sides, pressed on thick vinyl, and LIMITED TO 300 COPIES.
Laris Kreslins and Fred Cisterna deliver another thick and satisfyin' volume of their Sound Collector magazine. Who and what's in this issue? Alan Bishop of Sun City Girls, Eric Dolphy, Grandmaster Flash, Slowdive, Francoiz Breut and Dominique A plus and illustration by Daniel Johnston. With the exception of the fantastic full color section of photos from the rock'n'roll girls' camp, all photos and text are in a lovely shade of magenta! Includes a bonus 17-track compilation cd featuring the likes of Iron & Wine, Stephen Basho-Junghans, Francoiz Breut, Zammuto, and Calla.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Yay! A new issue of one of our favorite 'zines. We just got it in, so we have yet to dig into its pages in depth, but looking through it I've already noted pieces on This Heat, U.S. Maple, Harry Partch, and Captain Beefheart that I want to read...plus what look to be intriguing features on Willie Winant, David S. Ware, Beulah and more. An interesting mix of avant-music and indie rock content contained within 95 graphically nice and user friendly pages.
Second issue of nice looking newsprint zine featuring thoughtful articles about records and artists that the reviewers actually WANT to write about and have something worthwhile to say. AQ-heartthrob Ian Christe writes about Necromandus, AQ-fave customers Bill Meyer and Jason Gross write about Kevin and Drumm and When, respectively. Au Pairs, The Faces, Wilco, Nikki Sudden, Rocket from the Crypt, Meredith monk, Koji Asano, DJ Shadow & Cut Chemist, Asmus Tietchens, that Mamma Mia! ABBA play that my mom's taking me to for my birthday (it's her third time), Jimmy Giuffre, and much more. Recommended.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Laris Kreslin's nicely done Sound Collector magazine here releases a supplement, the Audio Review, which is sort of Village Voice-format on newsprint, and gorgeously designed by Stacey Wakefield. L-o-n-g reviews of records old and new, and for the most part they're pretty thoughtful pieces, the subjects including Thin Lizzy, Freestyle Fellowship, Vashti Bunyan, Peter Jefferies, Chessie, Charley Patton, Ryoji Ikeda, the Langley Schools Music Project, Mantronix, Pulp, Supersilent, and many more. The writers are a notable who's who of indie writing, with Jason Gross (Perfect Sound Forever), Joel Schalit (Punk Planet, Elders of Zion), Mike McGonigal (Chemical Imbalance, Yeti), etc.
A totally amazing collection of instrumental gems from Studio One's legendary in-house band. Best known for backing up the talented likes of Alton Ellis, The Heptones, Ken Boothe, Marcia Griffiths, Dennis Brown, and lots more, Sound Dimension are responsible for brewing up some of the most funky and warm sounding reggae tracks ever recorded, and in fact, so much of the music they created has been covered and duplicated by so many other artists that they almost sound like reggae standards now. What made Sound Dimension so irresistible was how they were actually fusing so many sounds in creating a new one. You can hear hints of big band, calypso, soul and funk all coming together to create a rocksteady sound that has withstood the test of time. As much as we loved the first collection of Sound Dimension tracks put out by Soul Jazz a couple years ago we are digging Mojo Rocksteady Beat even a little bit more!
While so many other in-house studio bands were of course technically amazing players they often lacked creativity and color, something Sound Dimension was totally oozing with. This is music pretty impossible not to fall in love with. So great!
The legendary in-house-band of Studio One were responsible for laying down totally rich and funky tracks under vocalists like Horace Andy, Dennis Brown, Alton Ellis, The Heptones, etc. By merging elements of rock-steady, funk, roots, and jazz, they pretty much invented the foundation of the true reggae sound that would leave it's mark on the world for decades to come. Featuring a who's who of amazing musicians from the island, like Jackie Mittoo, Cedric Brooks, Leroy Sibbles, etc all under the legendary production of Clement "Sir Coxsone" Dodd. While their primary role was to be the house band at Studio One, they often would mess around in between sessions and work on instrumental tracks together. Jamaica Soul Shake collects those instrumentals, which showcase the essence of the raw and melodic birth of Reggae that they helped give life to. Every track on here hits the spot oh so nicely and once again reminds us of the magical warmth that was buzzing inside Studio One.
Madlib strikes again! This might be the best record to merge hip-hop production and aesthetics with funk and soul. Like the Yesterdays New Quintet records he has made with jazz lineups playing great instrumental versions of early Stevie Wonder songs. With this Sound Directions record Madlib has taken his love of obscure early 70's funk and soul to new heights. A production team which also includes Peanut Butter Wolf and instrumentation that includes kalimba, electric muffle, trumpet and a whole lot more. Interpretations of David Axelrod and Cliff Nobles and even more obscure '60s/'70s gems. A breezy undertone accents the entire record. The kind of record you want to play when you have some folks over for food drinks and a good time. Madlib's touch can be felt in the overall vibe of the recording. Smooth but not polished, a tad lo-fi but still infectious. True soul lives on.
Seems like hip-hop mixes had disappeared for a while there. All those sloppily pressed 7"s just dropped off the face of the earth. But we're fortunate to have locals still devoted to the art of fusing dancehall vocals to hip hop beats. What's refreshing about the four tracks on Sound Killers is that while most of the dancehall vocals are from fairly well known tracks, some of the hip hop rhythms are from older and otherwise less obvious tracks (ie: R.I.P. "One Minute Man" and Get Yr Freak On"). Included on this 12", two tracks to a side is Cutty Ranks "Limb By Limb" vs. Silas "The Jump Off", Capleton "Tour" vs. Baby "What Happened To That Boy", Supercat "Scalp Dem" vs. Eric B. & Rakim "Paid In Full", and Beenie Man "Girls Dem Sugar" vs. Erykah Badu w/Common "Love of My Life".
