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Tamaru is a Japanese minimalist, who's not terribly well known outside of Japan, as this is only his second cd in well over a decade of making music. Both on this record and in performance, he uses little more than his bass guitar, a volume pedal, and a delay pedal; and with this process, he restricts himself to an open tuning, using only those four notes as the basis for his harmonic and subharmonic overtones. His thrumbing drones are the results from a decade of refining his craft, discovering which tones he can master, and seamlessly layering sound on top of itself. The eight tracks on Figure are all essentially variations on this same theme for lugubrious undulations of sound that organically ripple, echo, and hypnotize as if they were the cyclical patterns from waves moving across a relatively calm body of water. The first couple of tracks are pretty heavy constructs of tonal interplay within thundering drones stretched upon elongated bowings from his bass guitar, somewhat not all that dissimilar to the longform works by Jonathan Coleclough or Yoshi Wada. On "Stream," Tamaru allows for more of a traditional means of playing the bass, as rounded clouds of tone billow forth like some of the amorphous material from Rothko. "Juju" is a wavering mirage for overlapping drones and slippery swells of bass timbre; and "Room" is downright playful exercise in delay driven phase patterns. Any number of these pieces could be rendered successfully as sustained duration compositions, but Tamaru's economy of scale renders everything as a precious, tightly encapsulated gem of low end frequencies. Nicely done!
Released almost two years before The Waves, Led Astray Washed Ashore is a different kind of (awesome) record. It's power lies in being direct and driving: the drums are tribal, the layers of sound are starker and sparser. Though there's still a lot of nice washy reverb in places, Tamaryn's vocals are recorded without a lot of doubling or many effects. Where The Waves makes you feel like you're floating in a dream, Led Astray Washed Ashore is grounded in the close and crisp dynamic of mostly clean vocals and tom-heavy drumming. The first song, "Return to Surrender," has echoes of the darker songs of the Eurythmics. "The Unknown" is all chanting, tribal drumming, and what sounds like an organ: a cacophonous interlude between the energy of the opening track and the colder, more stark "Sarah In The Aeadrone." "Golden Song" sounds like the best song Siouxsie and The Banshees never wrote, though the sparkly guitar work is pure Rex Shelverton. "Ashore" and "Metal Beasts" continue the lyrical themes of death and water and drowning present on the entire record (including the cover). Yes! Truly, there's nothing more nourishing for a blackened soul than beautiful music about death.
NOW ON CD!!!
Released almost two years before The Waves, Led Astray Washed Ashore is a different kind of (awesome) record. It's power lies in being direct and driving: the drums are tribal, the layers of sound are starker and sparser. Though there's still a lot of nice washy reverb in places, Tamaryn's vocals are recorded without a lot of doubling or many effects. Where The Waves makes you feel like you're floating in a dream, Led Astray Washed Ashore is grounded in the close and crisp dynamic of mostly clean vocals and tom-heavy drumming. The first song, "Return to Surrender," has echoes of the darker songs of the Eurythmics. "The Unknown" is all chanting, tribal drumming, and what sounds like an organ: a cacophonous interlude between the energy of the opening track and the colder, more stark "Sarah In The Aeadrone." "Golden Song" sounds like the best song Siouxsie and The Banshees never wrote, though the sparkly guitar work is pure Rex Shelverton. "Ashore" and "Metal Beasts" continue the lyrical themes of death and water and drowning present on the entire record (including the cover). Yes! Truly, there's nothing more nourishing for a blackened soul than beautiful music about death.
This record is a must have for anyone who bought The Waves or anyone wanting an introduction to the shoegazey brilliance of Tamaryn. It features an alternate take of "Mild Confusion," one of the best tracks on The Waves, and an unreleased song, "Light Shadows" that could have stood with pride anywhere on the full length. There's only a few of these left floating around (we got these from the artist herself) and it's doubtful if we'll ever get any more. Limited to 1000 copies and pressed on white vinyl.
We got in a limited number (five) of an exclusive Tamaryn tour t-shirt from their recent voyages with the Raveonettes! Featuring an outtake image from the cover shoot of The Waves, the shirt is screened on white cotton and won't be around for very long. Due to the limited nature of the shirt, it's ONLY available in size MEDIUM and we will NEVER have any more than we currently do, sorry petite and large people! Don't miss out, medium folks.
Latest album of fuzzy, ethereal dreampop from this aQ beloved SF songstress, and like her past efforts, Tender New Signs is another glorious collection of lush retro pop loveliness, the sound a dreamy druggy pastiche of modern goth pop and classic shoegaze bliss out, all big chiming guitars, softly propulsive rhythms, low slung basslines, all the sounds doused in echo and reverb, and wreathed in big billowing clouds of crystalline 4AD shimmer, the sound this time around bolstered by a big eighties style drum sound on the more rocking tracks, but most of the record gloriously washed out and gauzey, due in no small part to a fantastically lush, layered production, all of this woven into a luxurious sonic backdrop for Tamaryn's gorgeous vox, breathy and sultry, settled way back in the mix for much of the record, existing more as another sonic layer, but on the slower numbers, slipping to the foreground, transforming those numbers into slowcore dreampop torch songs.
The record, while sonically cohesive, definitely lets Tamaryn and her band stretch out, unfurling an evershifting super varied songscape, slipping from soft focus slowcore dreaminess, to swoonsome jangle pop balladry, to driving, surprisingly rocking shoegaze crunch, to hushed haunting broodiness. So good. And as always, recommended for fans of Beach House, My Bloody Valentine, Mazzy Star, 4AD, etc.
Sometimes a record can hit you in the face like a punch, other times the music can pierce you like a needle, sinking deep into a sensitive place without you even realizing it's still in your flesh. Tamaryn's debut album, The Waves, is like the latter. It's so light, pain and tension melt away while you listen, but also so sharp and brilliant, you can't get it out of your head. Strongly evoking the slowcore brilliance of My Bloody Valentine, the layered reverb on the guitars give the effect of distance while at the same time the dreamy vocals keep the listener close. A veteran of many outstanding bands (Vue, The Audience), Rex John Shelverton's guitar playing is tempered perfectly throughout the record, never seeking to override the vocals, filling in gaps and expanding outwards in huge planes of reverb wash. At times, like the song "Haze Interior," the atmosphere is hazy and slightly chilled, a frustrated plea for understanding from a loved one whose language you can't quite understand. The next song "Sandstone" builds from a punctuated guitar riff into a driving bass and drum beat that manages to make you nod your head while still leaving plenty of room in the mix for layers of vocals. If Beach House's Devotion and Mazzy Star's So Tonight That I Might See were to have some sort of precocious offspring, the result might very well be The Waves. Highly recommended.
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"On his debut solo album, Arco Flute Foundation's Mike Tamburo builds his unique sound around the acoustic guitar as he picks and strums his way through several lengthy but always nicely varying instrumental cuts. Weaving through sparse, warm pastoral passages and pulsing swells of delay effects are numerous other sounds, some electronic, some acoustic, some non-musical, as if Tamburo just picked up whatever was laying around at the time to see if it would make a noise."
Mike Tamburo is another in the burgeoning free folk cd-r underground who through no fault of his own has been overlooked on our weekly new arrivals list. We do our best, but it's pretty dang impossible to keep up with the hundreds of new releases every week, but now we've got the chance to introduce you to the amazing dark musical world of Mr. Tamburo.
Dance Enis Dance is a 32 minute piece for acoustic guitar, Tibetan bowls, chromatic harmonica, e-bowm slide, hammered dulcimer and effects. The result is a modern raga, an epic multi part piece, that could have just as easily been a series of songs, but they are all deftly woven together into the whole. The first part is a simple bit of Appalachian strum that is gradually smeared into a blurry, fuzzy ambience, an effulgent streak of slow shifting buzz. The second 'movement' is super subdued, a dark dark drift, with bells and chimes ringing out over a muted background of warm chords and steel string shimmer, eventually drifting off only to be replaced by a flurry of dulcimer notes, a dense cloud of tangled melody, which is eventually overtaken by thick slabs of crumbling guitar distortion, throbbing and pulsing. The last few minutes are a see-saw, veering back and forth between delicate steel string folk with dreamy slide guitar offering up haunting minor key melodies, to wild fervent strumming and back again, culminating in a strangely atonal bacchanalian psychedelic denouement. Really good stuff. We can't wait to hear more.
This cd-r is packaged in a full color sleeve with a huge insert, art on one side, liner notes (and a poignant tale) on the other.
LIMITED TO 100 COPIES!
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We really wanted to hate these guys. Another one of those bands who were nearly buried in blog hype and Pitchfork superlatives. But after about a million people came in looking for this record, we decided to give in, and we have to say, we're pretty glad we did. Hovering somewhere between classic psychedelic Beatles-esque pop (due in no small part to the vocalist's uncannily John Lennon like vox), and tripped out, studio-as-instrument experimental Flaming Lips style bombast, Lonerism is a pretty sweet slab of weirdo, electronic flecked avant pop, and one that we can easily see ourselves having discovered via some random cd-r sent to the shop. But as always, we're forced to re-learn the lesson, that just cuz it's popular, doesn't mean it sucks (although that IS what it means a lot of the time). It's easy to see why these guys blew up the way they did, they're the perfect mix of the Flaming Lips, Animal Collective and Phoenix, but grounded by some serious pop chops, some classic hooks that sound lifted straight out of some lost Beatles / Kinks / Queen B-side, and if that doesn't sound like a sweet combination, it should, cuz it IS. Opener "Be Above It" takes a looped sample of the title being spoken in a hushed whisper, adds a loping bombastic drum beats, swirls of sci-fi synths, everything doused in effects, so you're ready for some cosmic trip out, but then those Lennon-like vocals come in, and the song suddenly coalesces into a proper pop song, albeit an alien strain of strange mad scientist pop. And the cool thing is, it never gives into traditional song structure, instead, it's weirdly abstract and tranced out and mesmerizingly loop-y. The second track reins in the group's experimental proclivities, just a bit, bursting forth as a glimmering blast of prismatic fuzz pop, all swirling synths, and wild octopoidal drumming, very psychedelic, again heavy on the effects, and like the opening track, it plays like an intro transformed into a song, the Beatles vibe huge, as it is throughout, inevitable with that voice, but then out of nowhere, in swoop some seriously crunchy, crumblingly distorted guitars, the vibe suddenly Tropicalia via Elephant 6! Even at its pure poppiest, the sound seems to always (d)evolve into some warped FX heavy freakout, before inevitably making its way back again, which makes for a seriously lysergic listen.
And so it goes, the whole record, a pretty fantastic collection of fragmented avant experimental psych pop, that manages in equal measure to satisfy our classic pop music sweet tooth, while pushing all of our what the fuck outsider damaged freak pop buttons, which is a rare thing indeed. Even rarer that a fractured and fucked up sound like that would find such a wide audience, but we're thrilled when it does.
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From the always amazing Equation Records, who in the past have brought us incredible records from groups like Fear Falls Burning, Bass Communion, Nadja, Landing, organum, R.Y.N., Troum, Ultrabunny, Apse and more, comes this comprehensive collection of everything ever record by late Eighties UK new wavers Taming The Outback.
Never heard of these guys? Nor had we, but listening to this now, it's a little surprising they didn't make a bigger splash, the label describes them sounding like Killing Joke and Echo & The Bunnymen, which is not that far off.
The sound is dark and jangly, the guitars reverbed and chiming, the bass thick and gloomy, and the vocals, a super anguished dramatic delivery that's a dead ringer for Ian McCulloch, and a perfect match for the group's angular downer pop. We also hear plenty of old U2, back before they became stadium rock whores, that sort of brooding urgency they once trafficked in, and that seems to be the thing with TTO, their sound is dark, and a little bit sinister, a gloomy vibe that makes their sound that much more compelling, especially now, with so many bands looking back to that era to cop their sound, but ultimately unable to conjure up the same sort of passion and pathos. And while this isn't some earth shaking lost treasure discovery, it is pretty damn great, and for anyone into Eighties post punk, or who digs the current crop of retro Eighties rockers, but would rather hear the real thing, then this will definitely hit the spot. And where on first listen we were thinking this was just okay, repeated and frequent listening has found this to be a definite grower, and definitely revealed Taming The Outback as something special indeed.
The normal cd version comes in a gorgeous oversized Stoughton mini lp sleeve style gatefold jacket, with a big booklet, jammed with liner notes, pictures, interviews, articles and more. LIMITED TO 385 COPIES. The super deluxe version includes the same fancy cd version, but also an original copy of the band's only 7", a miniature reproduction of the Alive & Kicking fanzine, a sticker, a two sided mini poster, 4 badges and a special card insert designed by Organum's David Jackman, all housed in a super swank embossed box. LIMITED TO 75 COPIES!!
Drowsy Americana-laced Indie rock from Jesse Poe and his revolving set of collaborators, this time including Isobell Campbell on cello and backing vocals. Less improvised, and more song-oriented than on previous efforts, Poe's voice recalls early Badly Drawn Boy or even Leonard Cohen at times. Soft but dusty, this set is best served with whiskey and a little heartache.
Wow, we've gotten in three releases this week that starkly contrast with the sunny warm weather we've been having. Seemingly residing in the chilled shadows of dense forests and ancient stone chambers are the latest albums from Tanakh, Rothko and XXL (the collaboration between Xiu Xiu and Larsen). Dark, expansive beauties, all of them!
Go on, defy the sun or tuck these away for a suitably overcast autumn or winter eve.
Now based in Florence, Italy, former Virginians Tanakh are a musical collective whose somber folk rock in many ways draws easy comparisons to Montreal's Godspeed You Black Emperor family, Angels Of Light and Larsen. This is their sister album to last year's Ardent Fevers. Actually Saunders Hollow was recorded prior to that release, and is distinguished by the introspective yearning vocals of Michele Poulos. Those vocals make this album even more of a counterpart to Ardent Fevers as that disc featured mainman Jesse Poe's deep, weary tones. The final instrumental number "Illusions Of Separation" is well worth the price of admission alone.
Fans of all of the abovementioned will surely find a kindred spirit in Tanakh.
Tanakh are a new quintet (led by Jesse Poe from Richmond, VA) that just may pique the interest of those who've enjoyed the recent works of Michael Gira / Angels Of Light, Godspeed You Black Emperor and Larsen. Creating mysterious and expansive music with a
It's always nice when something we had NO knowledge or expectations about, never heard of before, with a odd name to boot, that we were simply sent a promo of in the mail, and eventually gave a blind listen to, turns out to be so much up our alley and in fact, in this case, totally Record Of The Week worthy! Ok, maybe this is not for absolutely everyone, but those of us into heavy-duty, hypnotically repetitive, distortion 'n' drone damaged jamming, then this obscure outfit on an obscure Danish label has indeed produced a Record Of The dang Week. Tandaapushi is an improvisatory, instrumental power trio of keyboards, bass and drums, formed in Brussels not long ago, and this is their debut album. Tokyo-based Leo Dupleix, who has a Master's degree in piano jazz from the Royal Conservatory in Brussels, would appear to be the band leader. He plays the keyboards and electronics - synth, electric piano, mixing board, etc. Meanwhile the two members of the rhythm section are active and accomplished in the Belgian free jazz scene. So yeah their music here is "mostly improvised" - but not, like, JAZZ, not unless your idea of jazz is the Dead C and Supersilent jamming together, having switched up instruments perhaps. Or you gotta imagine The Necks as produced by Pumice, something like that. Perhaps Circle or Cave running wild in the INA-GRM studio? It's a dense, energetic, experimental, extremely rhythmic mix of avant noise rock, experimental electronics, musique concrete, and free jazz improv. Weird and warped but definitely on point with what they're doing, which is hard to describe, but must require a certain level of musicianship (noisicianship?), tight communication, and a special shared aesthetic, sound-wise, devoted to making trance-inducing grooves with noisy, droney, unidentifiable textures.
The disc is divided into four tracks, Parts 1-4. Part One hooked us immediately, with its eight minutes of thick throbbing feedback skree and droning hum and waver, a grimy, rhythmically-krauty plod. Part Two is a bit of a quirky interlude of electronic beep-boop, distortion and cryptic clatter, brief at just 2:45. Part Three gets back to the droned out intensity of part one, pounding and pulsing for over well over 15 minutes, the rhythms giving way to pure grinding drone-whoosh by the very end. That segues right into Part Four, which brings back the beat, a quietly crunchy rhythm laced with feedback, steadily squelching along for another eleven minutes which bring in all sorts of chitterings and other strange sounds of indeterminate origin. Percussive punctuation pushes through the decaying electronic haze, and we could zone out to this FOREVER. When it all wraps up you're wondering what the heck it was you were listening to, but ready to dive back in at the beginning again.
The folks that brought us the fantastic Thai Elephant Orchestra disc are also responsible for the release of this almost as unusual album -- avant-garde jazz music made by an orchestra of Brooklyn pre- and grade-schoolers! They are definitely more
Tangerine Dream's second album from 1971. While it is a bit spacier and more synth-based than predecessor "Electronic Meditation", it's structurally much the same as the first, with lots of moody dark improv drones weaving and building into mad psychedelic rock jams. Mostly the change apparent here is that various synths and organs move to the fore while guitars, flute and drums hang out in the back, only dominating the sound in the loudest, rocking passages. This domestic reissue includes a bonus track, "Ultima Thule Part 1", an epic rocking single the group released in 1971. This one's also remastered, w/ slipcase, & liner notes from noted krauthead Julian Cope.
Armed with a Radio Shack's worth of new electronic toys, including the then new Mellotron, Tangerine Dream begins to sound a weensy bit closer to their eventual state of synthesizedness. But I stress the word "weensy" here, as Atem (1973) finds Tangerine Dream still well ensconced in the same psychedelic free-rock realm as their previous three albums (Electronic Meditation, Alpha Centauri, and Zeit). Bizzare vocal effects aside, a smattering of guitar and percussion are all that remain of the acoustic age of Tangerine Dream -- flute having been replaced by Edgar Froese's Mellotron replication of them. Along with Froese's new beast, the group's new artillery included a couple EMS VCS3 Synthesizers for Baumann and Franke. The resulting sound is even more atmospheric and whispy than ever. The title track, a twenty minute meandering opus, is perhaps the most similar to their earlier sound, with its pounding drums steadily increasing in volume and speed during the first part of the piece. But even there the percussion is no match for the enslaught of multiple organs and synthesizers with their ever building chords which drown out the drums before settling into a dark, ethereal soundscape. "Fauni-Gena" is almost like Tangerine Dream's take on Pink Floyd's "Several Species Of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together In A Cave And Grooving With A Pict", but heavier on the synths. The last track -- "Wahn" -- is probably the greatest anomaly in Tangerine Dream's ouvre, in which the trio practice their extended vocal techniques, laden with echo and accompanied by frenzied percussion and synths. This domestic reissue, like the others, comes remastered, with a slip case and liner-notes (though this time not by Julilan Cope, but by one Paul Russell.)
For those who still associate Tangerine Dream with sequencer dependent proto-nu-age music, here are a few domestic reissues of their crucial early albums which should dispel any further mistaken assumptions. Originally released in 1970, Tangerine Dream's first album "Electronic Meditation" is a totally way-out-there psychedelic tour de force featuring mainstay Edgar Froese, plus Klaus Schulze and Conrad Schnitzler -- kind of a krautrock supergroup though they didn't know it at the time! From improvised dark drones of amplified cello, electric guitar, flute, organ and drums to blasts of freak out noise to psychedelic fuzzed-out freak-out rock jams. Electronic Meditation is equal parts Algarnas Tradgrad and early Kraftwerk. Remastered, w/ slipcase, & liner notes from krauthead Julian Cope. Definitely a krautrock classic.
Fewer things could bring more delight for us kraut and space prog heads than a 2cd anthology of Tangerine Dream rarities compiled by Edgar Froese, and for such an affordable price! Froese, the one mainstay of the band through 13 different lineups (the band including in their ranks at one time both Conrad Schnitzler and Klaus Schulze), has provided a compelling overview of the musical evolution of the band from their psychedelic roots to their later period as electronic film score stalwarts and everywhere in between.
The double disc set begins way back before TD, with their 1967 pre-incarnation 7" single as The Ones, a band more rooted in the sixties psychedelic rock of Jefferson Airplane and The Grateful Dead than the spacey sounds they embraced later on. But the real highlight of this set is the inclusion of TD's rare first 7" single from 1971, "Ultima Thule", an epic two part space rock excursion that begins in stratospheric Hawkwind territory in part one, but in part two takes a Magma like instrumental prog trajectory, that prefigures the minimal electronic direction the band would take through records like Electronic Meditation, Zeit and Alpha Centauri. The rest of disc one explores these sci-fi themed gaseous realms of gorgeous brooding ambience.
Disc two covers the bands' later, mostly early eighties output, which saw the band more as composers of action film music with a definte increase in rhythms and sequencers, but still with a spacey electronic edge. While John Carpenter may get all the credit as progenitor of all the latter day eighties arpeggiated synth worshippers like Jonas Reinhardt, Majeure, James Ferraro, and Umberto, Tangerine Dream was equally influential in this regard. A lot of the later period Tangerine Dream output can be sometimes cheesy, but the careful curation of this compilation shows there were also plenty of gems as well. This may prove to rethink the general attitude that TD had completely lost the plot, when they started turning to film score commissions, and rhythmic dance music in the eighties and nineties.
With one or two exceptions, most of this music here, as far as we can tell, has not been released on any of their major records, but there is little information to tell if these tracks ever saw proper release at all. So this is a very worthy exploration for the newly curious as well as for seasoned fans. Highly Recommended!!!!
Tangerine Dream's third album, originally released as a double LP in 1972. Zeit is probably the most subdued album of Tangerine Dream's early career. Apparently Edgar Froese canned bandmate Steve Schroyder after the release of Alpha Centauri, citing one too many "freak outs" which apparently rubbed the mellow Froese's fur the wrong direction (according to the liner notes here, Schroyder ended up joining the much more freak out friendly Ash Ra Temple upon his departure from Tangerine Dream.) Not surprisingly, Zeit is a much MELLOWER album than the band's previous two releases -- and even mellower than their fourth album, Atem. The album begins with the slowly morphing droning of a cello quartet, augmented by Froese on moog. It's probably the single most non-God Speed You Black Emperor recording that we get people asking "Is this God Speed You Black Emperor?" when we play it. It just goes to show how, almost thirty years after its initial release, Zeit still sounds fresh as the day it was recorded. Even the bubbling moog synth centered "Origin Of Supernatural Probabilities" has none of the cheesy proto-nuage trappings of Tangerine Dream's later works. Heavy on atmosphere and almost devoid of melody, the four album side songs that make up Zeit are some of the darkest -- and arguably, best -- material recorded by Tangerine Dream. And, like all the others in thise reissue series, this one comes remastered with a handsome slip cover and liner notes (which mostly consist of a blow by blow account of the album's contents that you can read along to as you listen and either agree, disagree, or agree to disagree with the author over their accuracy) by Paul Russell.
Another in Alchemy's new Inner Mind Music series of spacey delights -- "Live at Alpha Centauri" it says on the inside. The Tangerine Dream Syndicate wears its influences proudly -- the band is made up of Tommy Conrad (cello, violin), Johnny Conrad
Lumbering, blasting, feedbacking, croaking, grunting. Tangorodrim's latest sounds like it was recorded by some unhappy, undead zombies who just crawled from the grave, after having been buried for years with electric guitars and beat up vinyl copies of old Celtic Frost and Mayhem albums packed in their coffins. This is their 4th album, and boy howdy is it a sick sounding unholy din indeed. Super raw, often dirgelike, and weird too -- check out these lyrics: "I am ready to carry that cross/But only if it's made of priest bones/Only if it weighted a ton of holly intestines/Red Magnet draws me near/May my way will not interfere with radiant snow plates". Uh, huh, what? And all this Christ-hating blackness flows from the lands of the Bible -- Tangorodrim are one of the rare Israeli black metal bands. As usual, the Southern Lord stoners know their quality cult black metal.
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The first thing you'll probably notice about this record is that it's called Unholy And UNLIMITED, yet it is strangely indeed limited (to 1000, each copy numbered), says so right there on the back of the disc. But okay, so what? So maybe it's not actually unlimited, but it sure as hell is unholy!
Tangorodrim are from Israel and are self professed purveyors of "Antipriest Unholy Black Metal." So not only are they unholy, but they also have a thing against priests, although we just figured that unholy probably covered not being into priests as well. And if the huge Antipriest text on the back cover didn't send all you men of the cloth scurrying for cover, well have a gander at the song titles: "The Six In The Coffin (Not Including The Priest)", "Priestkiller", etc. So yeah, Tangorodrim do not like priests, and are not shy about it.
Unholy And Unlimited is record number three as far as we can tell from these hellhounds and is one seriously blasting buzzing pounding, furious as fuck unholy black racket! Wrest from Leviathan calls this sort of BM goat metal, lots of midtempos, really murky and simple and thrashy, with grunted howled vocals, not so much shrieks or demonic growls, more sort of freaked out wailing and howling. But most importantly, lots of grunts, and "uunnghh"s when the riffs kick in. That's the key to goat metal. Buzzy and thrashy and gloriously evil. We love it! If you're still not sure what it sounds like, just check out the dedication on the inside of the booklet: "In the beginning there was Hellhammer... Without form, and void... and Bathory and Darkthrone were there. And it was black metal - Unholy And Unlimited... And god saw that it was BAD..."
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Another release in Tiliqua's Erotic Oriental Sunshine series of Japanese erotic music from the sixties and seventies. We reviewed Kokotsu No Sekai from Japanese sexy action heroine Ike Reiko a few lists back, and now we have Modae No Heya from seventies bondage / S&M queen Naomi Tani, who recorded and released this album in 1979 to commemorate her withdrawal (ahem) from the world of porn.
And what better way to commemorate that sort of life change than with a record of Iroke Kayoyoku, a bastardized version of a more popular Asian music of the time, sexed up with chanteuse like crooning, and most important of all, an amazing array of moaning and groaning and cooing and giggling, as if in the throes of EXTREME passion.
Tani's take on Iroke Kayoyoku is similar to Reiko's (in fact it's not tough to imagine a sort of Eastern hit factory, churning out these discs, ready made for some sexy thing to croon and purr over...), a strange blend of easy listening soundtrack music and spaghetti Western themes, with lots of soaring strings and epic arrangements, sultry saxophones and twangy guitar, but unlike Reiko's disc, Modae No Heya is much more Asian sounding, with plenty of distinctly Asian instrumentation and Eastern melodies.
Anyone who has seen their fair share of Asian cinema and classic kung fu movies, will find the sound instantly recognizable. And for a record that is supposedly a vehicle for her sexy presence, Tani surprisingly spends a lot of time just hanging back and letting the music swoon and soar. But when she does take part, it's in a super intimate whisper in the ear, a playful purr with plenty of giggling and occasional bouts of passionate groaning.
Erotic and wild, moody and mysterious. And pretty darn bizarre. And of course, highly recommended for all fans of sounds both strange and sexy!
Packaged in a super deluxe Japanese miniature gatefold style cd sleeve, with a printed obi, saucy nude photos of Tani on the cover, and extensive liner notes in English and Japanese!
ULTRA LIMITED!!! Only 1300 copies pressed. Already almost sold out, so don't dawdle...
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Damn. This is quite a find. Tank Of Danzig was a band that few people remember from back in the day, and even fewer must have actually heard them; but this German art-punk quartet wandered into Conny Plank's studio sometime in 1982 and emerged with a pretty incredible album that they released through the equally obscure Idiot Records. It doesn't seem that anybody in the band did anything noteworthy either before or after, making this album something of a mystery. We did discover that Tank Of Danzig had a split release with Biting Tongues - another impressively obscure art-punk project, although BT's Graham Massey did go on to considerable notoriety with 808 State - but that was all to be gleaned of the history of Tank Of Danzig. The frontman was a character with the single name of Schengel, and who had a commanding rasp to his barked English lyrics, often running the gauntlet of punk dialectics about totalitarianism, capitalism, nuclear war, and the pending revolution that should take place in the face of all of existential threats. His jittery, chicken scratch guitars snap in step with the punk-disco-funk rhythm section which could have given A Certain Ratio a run for their money on a good day. Schengel shared the front of the stage (so to speak) with another man with one name Kohl, who very well could have been Germany's answer to James Chance, with his blurting, squawking sax solos that thankfully are fully aware that punk economy would never tolerate a perpetual wank. Not Trendy was the band's only album, and this cd reissue lumps this album with the band's first two singles. Fans of The Ex, James Chance & The Contortionists, Abwarts, and Swell Maps would be well served to check this out!
We really didn't know what to expect from this Brooklyn duo, whose pedigree not only includes goofy dance pop combo Professor Murder, but also legendary post/math rock outfits Don Caballero and Storm & Stress, we might have been expecting the impossible, some strange mix of the two, but instead, Mixed Emotions ends up being a super fun, fuzzy, bouncy, hooky, and yeah danceable, pop record, lots of squelchy synths, programmed drums, groovy rhythms, soaring intertwined vocals, chiming guitars, fuzzy riffs, handclaps, it's hard to know who to compared these guys too, it seems like folks who dig groups like Animal Collective, and who aren't averse to the more electronic/dance pop side of things would love these guys, but also people into stuff like Phoenix and Miike Snow. And the band definitely are a proper rock band, with songs like "Green Grass" melding their more electronic side with a super hooky fuzz pop indie jangle that's pretty dang irresistible. Opener "Brothers" is all brooding stripped down electro pop, but it "All Of Me", the single, that really demonstrates just how good these guys are, and why it wouldn't be that weird to hear these guys on commercial pop radio, it's the kind of super hooky, synth heavy, big chorus. pop gem, that makes people want to get up and move, even grumpy wall flowers like us.
And so it goes for the rest of the record, electro pop meets groovy fuzzy indie jangle, majestic almost orchestral electronic epics meet woozy tropical dreampop, synthy strings meet crooned percussion heavy new wave pop, all those various strains of electronic pop and classic indie songsmithery melting into one gloriously dreamy whole.
Dreamy Scandinavian soundscapers Tape, who oddly enough to our knowledge have never released anything on cassette, are back with a new, and as always, quite lovely release on digipak cd and vinyl (with download), adorned with a mysterious cover collage that kind of reminds us of a Jewelled Antler release - the music has some similarities too. Tape specialize in quasi-ambient, quite melodic, all-instrumental compositions, softly gorgeous. Casino is the sixth album (not counting collaborations with Tenniscoats and others) from this electroacoustic trio, which consists of the brothers Johan and Andreas Berthling, along with Tomas Hallonsten.
On the seven tracks here, these fellows conjure delicate, almost stately dances of sadly blissful, slow moving melodies and more abstract shadings. Among the many instrumental colors woven in, there's pensive piano, with moody washes of synth in the background; gentle guitar, and subtle electronic FX embellishment, all of it creating a rather low key, yet compelling mix for the properly attuned listener.
While Tape obviously have a permanent home on Hapna, we can't help but think this album would have been perfect for the deluxe Time Released Sound treatment, it's right up their alley too.
Some folks try really hard to create pretty sounds, but there are those special folks who just naturally have some preternatural ability to create majestic beauty without it ever sounding forced or contrived. The Swedish trio Tape are shining examples of just such a group, able to make lush and textured sounds that are as engaging as they are pleasing. After a couple recent reissues of older Tape recordings, we were really excited to find what their new record would sound like. And with the opener "Beams" we were greeted with what might be a contender for our favorite song of the year! A song that invites you in with warm swirling analog synths and takes you on such a dreamy ride that it feels like being on a tranquil slide up in the clouds as it takes delicious soft turns and dips through the sky. Luckily the rest of the record follows and flows with equal beauty and such a delicate touch. Tape really put to shame just about everyone else who try their hand at dreamy instrumental post-rock. Their songs aren't as simple as just being moody or melancholic instead they truly create their own world, one that glows with a cascading and illuminating vision. Highly recommended!
For some reason the first album from this Swedish trio didn't excite us nearly this much -- we didn't even get around to reviewing it -- but this one is simply great, gorgeous. Theirs is a melodic yet abstract soundworld, very Jewelled Antler in approach, and very delicate. Field recordings + instruments in a calming, semi-improvised setting of simple song-sketches. Acoustic guitar, harmonium, trumpet, electronics, tapes... Hushed, droned, very pretty but not precious. A most pleasant half-hour indeed! From the Hapna label, who previously brought us Tape member Johan Berthling's marvelous drone collaboration with Oren Ambarchi, My Days Are Darker Than Your Nights. (Hapna is also the home to AQ-faves Sagor & Swing as well).
Hapna has reissued the second album from the Swedish trio Tape, in a digipack with new artwork and four bonus tracks (hence the Plus in the title) from the original 2003 recording sessions. They've done the same with Tape's first album as well (now Opera Plus) but for some reason that disc didn't excite us nearly as much as Milieu did (though we should probably use this opportunity to revisit it and see if we feel differently now). Actually, we didn't even ever review Opera, yet were immediately taken with Milieu. It's simply great, gorgeous.
Theirs is a melodic yet abstract soundworld, very Jewelled Antler in approach, and very delicate. Field recordings + instruments in a calming, semi-improvised setting of simple song-sketches. Acoustic guitar, harmonium, trumpet, electronics, tapes... Hushed, droned, very pretty but not precious. A most pleasant half-hour (plus) indeed! From the Hapna label, who previously brought us Tape member Johan Berthling's marvelous drone collaboration with Oren Ambarchi, My Days Are Darker Than Your Nights. (Hapna is also the home to AQ-faves Sagor & Swing as well amongst many others, by this time hopefully you all have some Hapna in your house).
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
We knew after their breathtaking collaboration with Bill Wells last year that Tape were really reaching a zenith in their career. With a back catalog rich with so many beautiful records, it's so nice to see them continue to reveal subtle shifts in their sound and sonic scope. Revelations flows with such melancholic grace. Instrumental songs that are filled with rich tones and warm melody, taking you to some perfect place, evoking that feeling of staring out the window on a long drive, late at night when there is nothing left to say to the person in the seat beside you.
Other bands that have tried to create a sound like this end up falling so short, coming off as nothing more then post rock band with more moody intentions, but lacking the means or depth to make something really substantial. Tape exist on a totally different level, absolute masters of their craft. Nothing ever feels forced or contrived in their songs. There is an integrity in their compositions that allows you to sway back and forth and get lost in swirls of musical memory and long lost images of other times and places... An utterly gorgeous record.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Vinyl only release of an ultra dreamy collaboration between Swedish daydream instrumentalists Tape and the seemingly always collaborating Bill Wells, who has worked with a long list of bands we love including, The Pastels, Isobel Campbell, Maher Shalal Hash Baz, and loads more. The meeting of worlds between Tape and Wells is so perfect. Tape have long mastered the ability to create such lush and varied sounds yet maintain a lovely level of understatement. Wells does such a nice job of keeping his piano, Fender Rhodes and melodica as restrained as possible, perfectly blending with the gorgeous dreamlike accompaniment. The four songs on Fugue unravel with such sparse yet evocative and moving energy. Tapping into such longing feelings of melancholy and memory. Like some of our favorite classic Eno/Budd collaborations this is beyond perfect for those chilly mornings or rainy nights when all you want to do is stay inside and drift away into some sonic warmth. So nice!
The ultimate studio nerd publication, that just so happens to be a pretty killer read whether you spend all day in front of a mixing board, trying to get thet perfect sound, or just in front of your speaker enjoying the perfect sounds somebody else found. This month an interview with guitar pioneer Les Paul, producer Phil Ramone, Robin Guthrie of the Cocteau Twins, an article on Sengalese hip hop and guerilla recording, interviews with a bunch of engineers we've never heard of, cd reviews, gear reviews and more!
Essential reading for recording nerds and studio gear whores, but surprisingly fun to read even for those of us not so well versed in patchbays and preamps.
This month: John Fry of the legendary Ardent Studios, Jody Stephens, also of Ardent studios but probably more well known for being the drummer in Big Star, a recording history of power pop legends the Posies, techno musician and producer Matthew Herbert, producer Terry Manning, exercises to help keep you alert and relaxed after way too many hours in the studio, a whole bunch of gear reviews (modulators, condensor mics, compressors, processors, limiters and a spacecoupler!), as well as a bunch of record reviews...
Cool.
The magazine all about music recording (from an indie angle) returns with an other issue. In it, you can learn about what a "Music Integrated Kiosk Environment" is, read a bunch of gear reviews (and look at lots of ads for gear too), get tips about online recording/collaborating, and read interviews with both famed '60s producer Girgio Gomelsky (who talks about the Yardbirds) and bassist-turned-engineer Joey Vera of Armored Saint! Among other things.
In the last month or so we've been bombarded with folks walking in the store with one question at the tip of their tounges: "Do you have Tapes 'N Tapes?" Unfortunately the buzz has meant it was kinda tough to get copies of this in stock. The excitement and buzz around this band rivals past years' anticipation for Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and Broken Social Scene. Due to some big exposure on Myspace and a performance at the 2006 SXSW that got everyone talking. We're not averse to turning frowns upside down so now we finally have this in stock and those of you who've been craving this can get your fix. What you'll be fixing on is some off kilter catchy guitar rock with vocals that got us thinking lots about Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes. Think: the all out rocking moments of Bright Eyes, deep admiration for The Pixies and Modest Mouse and you can get a rough idea of what Tapes 'N Tapes is all about. Maybe not the most original new band to hit the scene but for sure they can get your head bouncing and your foot tapping. Ain't nothing wrong with that.
