All right, psycheDOOMelic is the new doom metal label run by Hegedus Mark, the Hungarian doom/psych freak responsible for the excellent doom-oriented Psychedelic fanzine. Wall Of Sleep's debut ep (four songs, 22 minutes) is one of the label's first releases. WOS feature two ex-members of Hungarian Sabbath-worshippers Mood, and pretty much sound just like what you'd expect! Nothing less, nothing more. Chugging massive doom riffage and Ozzy-possessed vocals (albeit with a wee bit of a Hungarian accent that might take some getting used to -- this becomes particularily noticable on their cover of Sabbath's "The Wizard", the last track here, complete with harmonica!). Did you know that "The Wizard" is the song that converted Allan into a raving Black Sabbath/metal fan back in his college days? So he has to give this the thumbs up, and recommends Wall Of Sleep to all hungry (and/or Hungarian) Sabbath/Sleep/Vitus/Obsessed obsessives out there...
MPEG Download: "Overlook The All" [/audio/wallofsleepoverlook.mp3]
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Following up their 4-song cd ep debut from last year, Hungarian doomanoids Wall Of Sleep return with a full-length. You get straight up Sabbath-worshipping old school heavy doom metal here, from ex-members of Mood (doom spelled backwards, y'know) who were Hungary's leading proponents of the Sab sound themselves, previous to Wall of Sleep's formation. So you know what you're getting here. The vocalist does his best Ozzy -- which, we have to say, isn't much like Ozzy's best Ozzy (you can tell that English ain't his first language, indeed his accent will require some getting used to). There's some nice usage of acoustic guitars and/or keyboards amid the monster riff-outs, as these guys are definitely of the song-writing, not just pure sludge, school of doom metal craftsmanship.
John Wall's "Constructions" are highly digitized collages of sonic fragments culled from the jazz-themed improvizations from John Edwards' double bass and Mark Sanders' spartan drum kit skitter within a sea of spliced samples originating from Xenakis, Ryoji Ikeda, Evan Parker, Penderecki, Beautyon, Luigi Nono, and Put Put (amongst others). Beautifully packaged in a cloth-bound book.
John Wall's compositions employ aesthetic strategies that pull sounds from the most sterile of digital glitch techniques as well as from the tense start-stop-silence approach from academic circles of free jazz. Wall may announce where all of his samples originate (Xenakis, Evan Parker, Luigi Nono, Fennesz, Pita, Otomo Yoshihide, Sachiko M, etc.), but he is very careful to
John Wall's "Fractuur" is a high density composition for digital fragments culled from both recordings and live improvisation meant for this work. Sampled sources include Evan Parker, John Zorn, Giacinto Scelsi, John Cage, Disinformation, The Hafler Trio, Penderecki, Mauricio Kagel, David Toop, Stockhausen, Xenakis, and Luigi Nono among others. In addition, there's use of "live fragments" played on violin, double bass, bass clarinet, and cello. Not unlike an even more austere Oval deconstructing European jazz (i.e. ECM stuff). Beautifully packaged in a deluxe cloth-bound book.
Undeniably best known for his indie pop and rock studio prowess and for being the guitarist of Death Cab For Cutie, Chris Walla steps out of the latter's shadow and does mighty fine at this music making biz all by his lonesome. Mind you his vocal delivery frequently strikes a... how should we put it?... Gibbardian tone? Really it's not surprising though, and we're not complaining or pointing any fingers! Walla's been making music on his own for years (under the moniker Martin Youth Auxiliary). It just hasn't been released until now! In fact, he nestles himself in perfectly at the crossroads of Death Cab For Cutie, Built To Spill and Gin Blossoms. The latter comes across in Field Manual's broadly appealing, 'end of the school year' teen movie quality. Sweetly earnest and boyishly charming, heck, we'll stop just short of saying this is adorable!
Will probably please fans of Nada Surf and Weakerthans too!
Not actually recordings by Edgar Wallce, but recordings from the cult thrillers based on his stories. The music on this disk is from such notable film music composers as Peter Thomas, Martin Bottcher and Nora Orlandi.
Zach Wallace is half of the group Sun Circle, whose s/t debut (first cd-r, then lp) we raved about a while back right here. Gorgeous, organic, ritualistic, raw and intimate dark and droning minimalism, one track was a dense thick drone constructed from just voices, the other a delicate drift of weightless tones distant chimes and hushed shimmer.
This solo disc from Wallace reminds us a bit of that second track, another soft focus swirl of ethereal sounds, and warm muted tones, although here, all of those tones are created on a home made glass armonica, hence the title. Wallace's glass armonica, is based on Benjamin Franklin's original design from 1761, but is made from thrift store wine glasses, and salvaged bits of lumber. The glasses are arranged by pitch, and Wallace's version of the armonica has been expanded for up to 12 players.
Most of us have played a glass, rubbed the edge of a partially filled water glass at dinner, and made a cool little sound. And while the concept is the same, the sound here is so much more expansive and lush, a symphony of microtones and overtones, the various notes and sounds, buzzy and metallic, warm and muted, pulsing and throbbing, intertwining, weaving in and out of mysterious melodies, hypnotic and otherworldly, sounding like insects one second, singing strings the next, the interactions creating strange subtle rhythms, the tones slipping in and out of warm whirring harmonies, sometimes tense and dramatic and almost dark, other times ephemeral and surprisingly melodic, the timbre and tone shifting subtly from thick and dense and powerful, to crystalline and barely there, all three tracks so lovely and so easy to lose yourself in.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES. Cool fold over cardstock sleeves, silver metallic screen printed with photocopied insert.
Man, we have the best customers, they play in kick ass bands, they put out killer zines, they run clubs, and cool bars, and are awesome writers, we're constantly impressed and amazed. One such customer is Jeremy Wallach, who (as it says on the back of his book) is a musician, anthropologist, ethnomusicologist and an assistant professor at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, and who has just published a book on popular music in Indonesia, which seemed like a total aQ appropriate book if there ever was one.
We only just started it, but figured we oughta get it reviewed and listed so some of you folks could get your hands on it sooner rather than later (we're also reading the Anarcho-crust book reviewed elsewhere on this list!). Modern Noise Fluid Genres is a study, as mentioned above, of Indonesian popular music from the years 1997-2001, viewed through the exploration of recording studios, record stores, neighborhoods, universities, clubs and venues, with a focus on how access to global music has been a boon to creative music making, rather than a hindrance. It's definitely academic, plenty of cultural theory, but also plenty of anecdotes and interviews, visits to video shoots and classrooms, malls and campuses, and discussions with students and musicians, all with an eye on the globalization of music, and how specifically Indonesia fits into that trend.
Includes tons of photos, drawings, lyrics, appendices, a glossary, and also a cd, which includes a handful of tracks demonstrating the various types and styles of modern Indonesian music.
We're definitely digging it so far, and it seems like essential reading for folks who have been digging the Sublime Frequencies series, which is likely MOST of you!
This UK duo blew us away with their debut, as it quickly became a big time favorite at aQ, as its blend of shoegaze and electronica conjured up such a perfect dreamy and breezy state of sound. We've been anxious to hear how they would follow that phenomenal debut. We're so happy to report that Coracle demonstrates that Walls are no flash in the pan, as this album takes some of the ease and breeze of their debut but also injects a whole lot of fresh color and new ideas into the mix. More swirling melodies, more seamless transitions within songs, more radiant energy then we've experienced on almost any other album this year. But warmth is the main ingredient in Walls' sound, and really, it's what makes them so damn pleasurable to listen to. It really does feel like floating and surfing through Technicolor waves in a blissed out sonic sea. Some of us have already penned this in on our favorite albums of 2011 lists!
The lp version includes a cd version of the record as well.
The hazy and washed out cover art caught our eye but the sounds that came pouring out of the speakers is what won us over right away. Shoegaze blissed out electronics that seem to float in the clouds but also have a keen sense of melody. Walls definitely remind us a lot of that cool Morr music compilation of Slowdive covers that came out years ago, as it really does sound like our dreamy electronic based favorites tapping into the mesmerizing world of shoegaze greats like Slowdive, or the more celestial moments of Flying Saucer Attack's masterpiece Further.
Blissy blurry guitars and smeared murky vox buried in the mix on a few tracks, it all makes for such a perfect sun soaked sound. These songs swirl and flow with such ease yet it never turns into wallpaper as there is an understanding of creating actual songs and nice moments of subtle tension that give the record a rounded and utterly satisfying feel. Like an even more blissed out Infinite Body or our favorite outings by Ulrich Schnauss, or even what could happen if Panda Bear let go of his Beach Boys leanings and set his sights to a more soaring shimmery sound. This is turning into a major candidate for dreamiest record of the year!
NYC jungle DJ on a full-length.
Highly Recommended. Described by the label as "avant garde trip hop from NYC's underground" and possessing "Knitting Factory-style beats", Wally & Swingsett come up with weirdly delicious, mellow rhythmning, as good as DJ Shadow or the Ninjatune posse. Light and fun with really smart touches.
Three notorious Chicago musicians, led by Flying Luttenbachers drummer Weasel Walter (also of Hatewave, Lake of Dracula, To Live And Shave In LA, etc. infamy), decide to record their tribute to the late legendary Japanese free jazz guitarist Masayuki Takayangi. Dunno if Masayuji would entirely have enjoyed this, as while his music was definitely noisy (noisier than what's on here, sometimes!) there was also a beauty and restraint that's not explored on this disc. Nor would we imagine that such song titles as "Endless Corridor Of Roasted Babies", "Give Me head 'Til You're Dead", or "Slitted Tit" would appeal to him. And the Masayuki Takayanagi connection/concept here seems to have become secondary to a black metal derived aesthetic, anyway: the three musicians are pictured in corpsepaint, with evil-sounding stage names (Jim O'Rourke is dubbed "Lycanthrovampyr"), and the last track, "Triumph of Death", is a Weasel semi-ambient solo piece that sounds more influenced by Burzum than Mr. Takayanagi. Regardless, fans of over-the-top drums/cello/guitar skree (or "infernal improvised music", as these guys put it) should dig this immensely. After the first 30 minutes of "For Jojo/Freebasing Styrofoam" some will be exhausted, but that's a mere warm-up for the rest of the disc. The back-cover motto "play loud and die" sums it up.
Hrmm. What d'you think you're gonna get if you put these three Chicagoan (or ex-Chicagoan in the case of Flying Luttenbachers drummer Weasel Walter, who has relocated to San Francisco) noisenik/improv types together and call it Eruption? Yes that's right, hecka noisy claptrap! Weasel's drums spasticate all over the 40 short tracks on this hour-long album, while Drumm's electric guitar, synth, tapes, pedals, and other electronic appliances get equally excited. Sawing away alongside those two maniacs, the cello of Lonberg-Holm adds a contrasting touch of 'classical' class, when you can hear it amid the blasts of near-white noise distortion and frenzied drum pummel. Basically the avant-garde version of grindcore (with song titles in the typical grindcore wise-ass/gross-out vein). Eruption is one of those over-the-top improv exercises sure to annoy most folks, except for the select few who live for this stuff. Definitely NOT easy listening. But those with a high threshold of noise enjoyment will indeed enjoy this threshing...I did!
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Normally we'd scoff at a band releasing three albums in almost the span of a single year, but goddamn if we can't get enough of prolific, psychedelic, noise-pop, garage rockers Wand. And this new one manages to be pretty different than the other two. At least at the outset, sounding like some trippy, folky, psychedelic baroque pop, all sixties lilting jangle, Kinks like vox, but also barraged by weird squiggly FX and some seriously metallic guitar buzz, the second half somehow fusing, dirgey riffage with that paisley poppiness. But it works, and is pretty great. As is the rest of the record, which continues on in that fashion, shedding much of the lysergic freakery and blown out weirdness of the other records, in favor of folky, glammy pop. In fact, on "Broken Sun", the band unfurl a lush expanse of proggy, pompy pop, that explodes into some surprisingly far out (and weirdly dramatic), glam heaviness, replete with some wild guitar shred, and more thick guitar buzz. In a way, 1000 Days mirrors fellow garage rocker Ty Segall's sonic trajectory, this sounding like Wand's poppiest and glammiest record yet, but unlike Segall, it seems Wand have dragged some of their fucked up freaky past along with them, and it makes for a pretty wicked concoction. Sixties psych pop meets heavy glam rock stomp, meets distorto garage, meets freaky folkiness (that at times reminds us a little of the Frogs, which is about the highest compliment we can give!), which all adds up to a record of the year contender for sure. And maybe the record that will finally get Wand the sort of love their pals Segall and Cronin and Dwyer have been enjoying lately!
First we've heard (other than a split single with Mikal Cronin) from these far out psychedelic garage rockers from LA and fans of outfits/folks like White Fence, Ty Segall, Mikal Cronin, Thee Oh Sees will be wondering how it took them so long to discover these guys. 'Cause the sound is pretty much a perfect mix of fuzzy, jangly crunch, dense, distorted psychedelic swirl, and retro sixties psych pop, the record opening with what is essentially a blast of psych-noise, before blossoming into some impossibly dreamy fuzz pop, the vocals soft focus and almost gently delivered over a bed of rumble and crunch, which appropriately eventually devolves into another squall of psychedelic freakout. Which is precisely how the second track begins, another swirling cloud of spacey squiggles and glitchy squelch, before in comes a crunchy, almost metallic riff accompanied by wild Keith Moon style octopoidal drum splatter, again, a perfect pop song tucked amidst all the howl and skree and noisy druggy trip out, the band seemingly constantly right on the edge between twee pop sugar sonic overload, and total damaged FX drenched psychedelic collapse, but that sweet spot is all theirs, the band claiming it as their own, and navigating it effortlessly, creating what might be our new favorite psych-pop/garage rock record, and is just the sort of record/sound that should, if all the stars align, give the above mentioned garage rock big boys a run for their money. Makes lots of sense that this found a home on Ty Segall's label (you'd easily be forgiven for thinking THIS was in fact the new Ty Segall record), and that Wand mainman Cory Hanson used to play in Mikal Cronin's band!
Record number two from these distortion wrangling, psychedelic-garage rock groovy ghoulies. We loved their last record, Ganglion Reef (released on Ty Segall's God? label), and now their In The Red debut manages to pretty much up the ante on everything we dug about the first one, not the least of which is the insane catchiness and ridiculously hook heavy songsmithery. The production is huge, the guitars thick and buzzy, the songs peppered with all sorts of twisted glitchery and malfunctioning synth freakouts, but really all that's in service of some of the best songs we've heard from this whole crew in ages (and yeah, we're counting Segall, Cronin, Dwyer et al). Golem sounds like some mutated hybrid of Queen, the Rocky Horror Picture Show, seventies glam, psychedelic metal and weirdo synth punk, bombastic and beautiful, the melodies massively earwormy, and not the least bit less catchy for being swaddled in shredding psych guitar leads and epic sonic majesty, all of that, and a total nod to classic pop of the past too, psychedelic Nuggets style shimmer and buzz, a little bit paisley here and there, and that's not to mention the sort of heaviness you might expect from an outfit like Harvey Milk, but here, recast as just another perfect part of Wand's demented psych-garage noise-pop WTF masterpiece.
Two new songs from these groovy psychedelic garage pop noiseniks, the A side launching right into it with a squelchy, grimy, synth-blurt intro, a super distorted lo-fi buzz that ends up running through the whole track, although once the song proper kicks in, it becomes all tangled up in a seriously hooky slab of new wave garage punk, heavy on the fuzz, with a wicked power pop / glam pop vibe, big guitars, soaring vox, a bit like a punk rock Sweet, mining the same sonic territory as pal Ty Segall, before slipping into a cool, spaced out sprawl, all swirly and droney, before a final burst of cosmic garage rock crunch.
The flipside finds the band tackling Gary Numan's "M.E.", and if you weren't familiar with the original, it sounds like it could actually be a Wand song proper, fitting perfectly with the garage-wave of the A side, the Numan's already kick ass version getting a grittier, crunchier makeover, but still hewing pretty close to the original. Both sides of this single RULE, and seem to announce in no uncertain terms that Wand might be next in line to follow up the mainstream success of Wand compatriots and cohorts Segall, Cronin and the rest.
We'd been hearing a lot about this guy, a UK soundscaper named Louis Johnstone, who records as Wanda Group, and while we dig this quite a bit, none of the descriptions we read though really prepared us for what it actually sounded like, two sidelong sprawls of darkly psychedelic avant noise collage, the sounds all over the map, from dense blasts of white noise buzz, to mysterious field recordings, to minimal flurries of skittery percussion, distant foghorn drones, conversations, the cries of seagulls, gristly crackling rumbles, like contact mic'd fire, shimmering dronescapes, muted murky drifts laced with random bits of ambient noise, scrapes and bumps, footsteps and whatnot, gorgeous stretches of near silent shimmer, hushed lowercase thrum, fields of blurred vocals, which sound like grunting and groaning processed into disembodied swirls of sound, looped Jeckian warble, symphonic fragments, all layered and mashed up into woozy washed out streaks, thick industrial grey ambience, all manner of random noise, field recordings and room sound, tangled up into heaving swells of densely reverberating thrum. And that's just the first track/side. The flipside is essentially a sonic continuation, lots more grey, gristly sounds, more murky field recordings, buried voices, hiss and static and hum, crackle and glitch, some Ryoji Ikeda style clinical sine wave / minimal tone scapery, haunting dronescapes laced with fierce grinding buzz, bursts of staticky shortwave transmissions, dense swirls of fragmented power electronic pummel, deep cavernous rumbles, crumbling staticky swells, malfunctioning machinery symphonies, blurred into grim industrial smears, all settling into an uneasy blackened drift.
Noisy, austere, haunting, brutal, abstract, ambient, a twisted epic expanse of experimental sound that should definitely appeal to fans of twisted modern minimalism, avant drone, soft noise and lowercase exploration.
Includes a download code too!
In 2000, Frans de Waard and Freek Kinkelaar made a conscious decision that their stalwart project Beequeen would cease to be a drone-based project and concentrate their output as atumnal sountrackish song; but the lure of the drone has proven to be far too great for the Dutch experimentalists to simply leave it behind. Hence, they began Wander to satisfy this lust for the drone. Perhaps it took a bit of separation from the production of holy minimalism, but whatever the cause, Wander has fabricated a series of drones, ambience, and atmospheric vibrations that easily surpass that which Beequeen produced many moons ago. Using a whole bunch of analogue synthesizers and an old chord organ, de Waard and Kinkelaar conjure a shimmering tranquilizer references the academic drones of Eliane Radigue and Charlemagne Palestine but also has plenty of impressionist movements that would make fans of Mirror, Troum, and Jonathan Coleclough happy. Limted to 600 copies.
Okay, how bad ass is the name The Wandering Midget for a band name? Well, okay, maybe not BAD ASS, but what a great name. Freaky, weird, certainly might not have you imagining some awesome classic doom outfit, but that's precisely what The Wandering Midget are, classic true doom from Finland. So that's pretty much all pluses across the board, insane band name, true doom, and they're from Finland. And as if that weren't enough they have an amazing vocalist, who sounds like a weird super dramatic Ozzy doppelganger, the vocals so over the top they sound almost campy, yet they fit the music perfectly, especially when they slip into a menacing grrrrrowl.
The sound is super live, the drums way up in the mix, the guitars thick and crunchy, the vocals WAY out in front, the riffs are killer too, that sort of slithery Sabbathy groove, mix in some Pentagram, some Electric Wizard, and you're in total druggy stoner doom heaven!
All the tracks are pretty kick ass, but stick around for the nearly 18 minute closer "Wasteland Shrine", a super slow, lurching doom crawl, with some killer leads, and the vocalist wailing so dramatically, the main riff all killer slow motion Sabbath, complete with a weird ambient interlude part way through, the sounds of what can only be a dungeon, dripping water, footsteps, distant rumbles, the guitar slowly creeping up from the murk, all spidery and minimal, before the band kicks in and launches back into their doomy groove, a majestic lumbering jam overlaid with increasingly maniacal vocals, pounding away, through clouds of effects, until the very end.
The return of The Wandering Midget!! Sounds like the title of some lost Tolkien novel, as it well should. The Wandering Midget are not in fact a 'he', but rather a 'they', and THEY are a group of true doomlords from Finland, who rule the riff and have an amazing vocalist who deftly straddles the line between classic doom wail, and over the top insanity.
We reviewed the Midget's I Am The Gate ep a while back (we still have a few copies left), and ever since had been jonesing for more more more. And now we have it. The Serpent Coven. Nearly an hour of modern doom, troo doom, total Sabbath / Pentagram worship in the best possible way. Massive riffage, pounding drums, incredible grooves, some serious hooks. A bit like Electric Wizard, but not as sludge-y, much more classic sounding. And the vocals, holy shit, a bit of an Ozzy wail, but WAY more campy and over the top, definitely a make or break for most folks, but if you're anything like us, and you love Messiah from Candlemass, Scott Reagers of Saint Vitus, and other high end howlers, then Samual Wormlus (good name!) will fit pretty comfortably in your doom vocal pantheon.
The thing about doom, is it's pretty easy to make, like drone music, simple minor key riffs, tuned way down, lugubrious tempos, and blammo! Wrap that in enough buzz and satanic imagery, and you're doom! But to make doom magical and mysterious is a whole 'nother thing. That requires some sort of alchemy, that is indeed rare, and that sort of power is possessed by a very few, but listening to The Serpent Coven, there is no doubt in our minds that The Wandering Midget is made up of such otherworldly alchemists.
The Midget slip from churning Sabbathy groove, to super slowed down ultra doom, to spaced out doomic drift, all within the space of a single looooooong track, even mixing in some seriously unlikely elements (the strange prog / folk clean guitar into tangled psychedelic space rock middle section of "Bring Forth The Accused" being the perfect example), to create their own unique and seriously idiosyncratic take on a WAY overplayed genre.
ALL HAIL THE WANDERING MIDGET, BOW BEFORE THESE MIGHTY DOOMLORDS FROM THE NORTH, AND DIG THEIR EPIC DOOOOOOOM!
From a label known for supreme downer doom dirge comes this surprise debut by a group of happy, heavy, hot-rockin' throwbacks called The Want, from Jersey. Playing it in the store had amazed customers asking if this was an obscure '70s hard rock reissue. It's not just the tunage that's retro, but the production is authentic '70s sounding too. Amazing. Channelled directly from the likes of Zep, Budgie, Captain Beyond, Free... Great stuff, recommended (despite their violation of two of Allan's many pet peeves: an album title like "Greatest Hits vol. 5", and the unnecessary use of the Greek alphabet on the packaging).
This is the first we've heard from this duo, one half of which is the singer for Danish post punkers Iceage, and fans of that band will find much to like here. If anything the sound is even murkier and dirgier, recorded in a basement on a four track with minimal instrumentation, the biggest surprise being a sort of house music / electronic vibe, which is not so evident on the A side, which opens up with a blast of murky, sludgey post punk pound, laced with synths but still mostly a gloriously gloomy blown out lo-fi dirge, although the second track definitely gets more rhythmic and tripped out, a looped and soaring epic, abstract and warmly noisy, a droned out melodic drift, that while muddy and murky, manages to soar majestically, creating a strange sort of blissed out shoegaze psych-drone. The flipside though is the jam, still wreathed in the same murk as the A side, but here applied to a stripped down skeletal house music, pulsing and pulsating, minimal and washed out, still super lo-fi, but rhythmic and hypnotic, with plenty of ravey synth, crusty 4-track thrum, all driven by a muted 4 on the floor throb. Crazy cool. Definitely can't wait to hear more!
Wow! Progressive Rock from Bolivia? Who knew?
Wara's first album from 1972 (the liner notes say they have recorded 16 albums as of 2004, but this is the first we have heard of them) is a strange hybrid of South American psych with classical symphonic elements, Andean native musical structures, soaring harmonies and boogie rhythms.
Incorporating a classical string section with flute and oboe alongside the shredding fuzz guitar, simmering organ and drum breaks, this is unlike any South American psych we've heard in awhile. While Wara is more of a psych band than a prog outfit, they lean towards '70s proto metal vocal theatrics and Beethoven rather than the Beatles, using long songs with varied passages of loud and soft dynamics. Killer!
At last we've got our paws on a dancehall album that we can recommend from start to finish. Jamaica's highly fertile music scene still seems geared towards the single and the majority of dancehall that we've been excited about in the past has been in the form
Ward 21 is unlike most of the dancehall acts coming out of Jamaica in that they are a group and not an individual. Apprenticing under the legendary King Jammy, the group exists as a collection of four producers -and- d.j.'s who have made their mark on the Jamaican music industry by producing tracks and albums for some of the island's top vocalists like Elephant Man (who makes a guest appearance on this album) and Beenie Man, and creating some of the most popular rhythms in dancehall. After working behind the scenes for years the group has finally pooled their engineering and producing prowess to put together 22 tracks of insane dancehall. Along with being consistently top notch in the production department throughout, the vocals on "Mentally Disturbed" are a case study in how to sing dancehall right.... in the humble opinion of AQ's dancehall heads. For the most part the lyrics are grumbled, not sung, in gruff voice -- almost forced into a lower octave than the singer's range -- and the lyrics themselves are long winded, stream of conscious like rants. This stuff is crazy. Relentless repeated rhythms hammer away while the vocalists growl about sushi and Kurt Cobain and 'Hoochieland' and assorted other weirdness. Catchy and funky and funny and if you have a boomin' system in your ride this is way more suitable for window rattling than whatever Miami Bass or MTV flavor of the moment you happen to be listening to. The hip hop vibe is definitely present, in some of the beats, and some of the toasting is definitely practically rapping, but this is dancehall through and through. Byram and Andee have been listening to this non stop for a week now. No higher recommendation than that (well, at least until Allan starts playing it, taking up otherwise valuable Slough Feg listening time!).
*** By doing an Exact Keyword Search on the Aquarius website for "hip hop remix" (without quotes) you'll see a list of all such 7" singles we've stocked and cataloged to date with the rhythms that they use.
They're back! Aquarius' favorite nut-ball dancehall crew Ward 21 return with another great album. The producer crew (studying under King Jammy) turned, err... don't know how you'd call it... "dancehall group"(?) pretty much took us by storm with their first full length release way back at the beginning of 2001. Their fusion of hip hop and hardcore dancehall was seamless, and their production values kick ass, so you can imagine how excited we were to find out they'd just released a new record. And it seems like the hip hop world is starting to take notice to their talents as well. They were not only interviewed in the most recent issue of Murder Dog, but grace the cover as well. So it was a bit of a shock to read that they still see themselves intimitely connected to hip hop, 'cos they have moved their production back to a more strictly dancehall sound. But fear not fans of Mentally Disturbed, their newest release is equally great, if not even more rock solid. While their rhythms are indeed like old school dancehall, they're tweaked to the highest intensity by the crew. What may sound tinny and crippled in more incapable hands, sounds heavy and pummeling in theirs. For one thing, they just can't go wrong with that fucking backwards bass line they always use, the one that goes WoooOOOp WoooOOOp and feels like someone beating you silly with a monster truck inner-tube filled with glue. Then there's their vocals: the deep baritone murmuring paired up with the tenor mile-a-minute motormouth. You just can't go wrong. But what probably gives them such a great overall album batting average is due to the fact that they never attempt the faux-soul slow jam crap that destroys so many dancehall albums. Along with 19 new tracks, there's the awesome "Petrol" cut which we creamed over this last summer in our Nice Up The Dance: Two Worlds Collide review. Highly recommended!
Some releases go in and out of print with remarkable and frustrating frequency. Such was the case with the early M. Ward album Duet For Guitars #2. It was first released in 1999 by Co-Dependent Records. Then Howe Gelb took a shine to it and re-released it on his own Ow Om label in 2000. 'Twas quite the perfect place for it to be! Seems Mr. Gelb was absolutely overcome by Ward's music, and chose Duets For Guitars #2 to be the first non-Giant Sand release on his label. Perhaps, it'll have the same effect on you!
Now pretty much a decade since it was originally recorded, Mr. Ward has settled into the comfy label home of Merge Records. This early album is getting its re-re-release into a stable environment to an eager, adoring and ever-growing legion of fans.
To get y'all caught up... yes, this wonderful album actually predated M. Ward's 2001 'debut' full length End Of Amnesia which we loved so much. Duet For Guitars #2 was a set of instrumentals and vocal numbers which he recorded back in 1997. If you like the somber, gruff deep voiced Americana beauty of Gelb's band Giant Sand or that of Tom Waits, Neil Young or Bob Dylan even, well then, M. Ward is definitely not to be missed.
Talented Portlander M. Ward croons in a hoarse whisper over hushed acoustic guitar, slide guitar (giving the music an eeire Court & Spark-style twang), cracklings, shaken bells, and piano. The fingerpicked guitar is pretty impressive, god this guy must
"Theres a young feller up Portland way,
who managed to wrangle some display
Of a juxtaposition of songs in a pseudo-stunning way
So inclined then was I, to help flip this heap up
So others might lap that toss
and have some brand new tasty pup."
Busy guy, that M. Ward! Every precious second that he saves not writing out his full first name is surely put to good music-making use! All kidding aside, although his She & Him collaboration last year with actress Zooey Deschanel didn't really charm the pants off of many of us here, his solo offerings sure have. This time it sounds like he decided to try a little (or a lot) of something different. On songs such as his cover of "Rave On", it sure does sounds like he dusted off his Zeppelin and T-Rex albums for a bit more inspiration. And perhaps coming full circle, you can hear some similarities between M. Ward's music on Hold Time and that of one of his earliest boosters/benefactors Howe Gelb. Much more so than ever before. This unexpected eclecticism and eccentricities might toss a few of his devotees from the fan wagon, particularly those hankering for more of his familiar warm rustic Americana - as is found on his last two awesome, immediately captivating albums Post-War and Transistor Radio. Don't be too hasty though. We suspect this might be a 'grow on you' kind of album. Guests include the abovementioned Deschanel as well as Lucinda Williams, Grandaddy's Jason Lytle, and Devotchka's Tom Hagerman.
Between this new album from M.Ward and those from Jason Molina and Lambchop, whoa, this is quite the week for country rock excellence!
Always such a welcome sight and sound! On the opening song, M. Ward comes drifting back on his somber raft of haunting, heavy-hearted Americana. Post-War is his much anticipated follow-up to his excellent album Transistor Radio. Ward picks right up where he left off and even rollicks things up a bit. There's an increased sense of both immediacy and intimacy to these recordings. His mood, atmosphere and energy meters are all set to 'full'. The album slips in comfortably right between My Morning Jacket's At Dawn album and Sparklehorse's Good Morning Spider. Listening to all three in a row is a supreme pleasure. Don't believe us? Try it for your yourself! Adding a nice surprise touch, Neko Case slips in to add some unmistakable backing vocals to his great cover of Daniel Johnston's "To Go Home". Ah Mr. Ward, you just get better and better and better.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
M. Ward picked the dandy Daniel Johnston cover out of his last album Post War's song selection to be the title track of this new ep. The song features Neko Case on backing vocals and she reappears on the fourth tune here too -- the splendid cover of Jimmie Dale Gilmore's "Headed For A Fall" which also features the star-studded support of Jim James, Mike Mogis, and Nels Cline. It's one of those songs that you'd hope would never end, but it does and you can't help but press 'play' once more. Two other non-album tracks round out the ep with Howe Gelb also dropping in for "Cosmopolitan Pap". Wonderful!!
This long time aQ favorite now available on vinyl!! Here's our review from when we listed this way back in 2003 on cd:
After releases on Howe Gelb's Ow Om label and Future Farmer Records, M. Ward finds his new album a welcome and fitting home on Merge Records, and what a splendid one it is! It might get filed under "country/folk/Americana", but Ward doesn't stay within the confines of these genres. He's much more of a vagabond, bringing a great deal more to his slightly skewed aural canvas - very akin to Tom Waits or the aforementioned Gelb's Giant Sand. For example, lend an ear to the warm rollicking pop of "Vincent O'Brien" with its plinky piano and driving tempo or the creeping, almost funereal cover of David Bowie's "Let's Dance". Pretty darn fine! Vocally, Ward has drawn comparisons to the weathered, emotive pipes of Waits, Vic Chesnutt and Sparklehorse's Mark Linkous. It can go from hoarse and near-spoken in one song to gentle and sweetly pleading in the next. He's backed up by The Old Joe Clarks with some extra field recording input from Grandaddy's Jason Lytle. So timeless, otherworldly, and intriguing. Recommended.
After releases on Howe Gelb's Ow Om label and Future Farmer Records, M. Ward finds his new album a welcome and fitting home on Merge Records, and what a splendid one it is! It might get filed under "country/folk/Americana", but Ward doesn't stay within the confines of these genres. He's much more of a vagabond, bringing a great deal more to his slightly skewed aural canvas - very akin to Tom Waits or the aforementioned Gelb's Giant Sand. For example, lend an ear to the warm rollicking pop of "Vincent O'Brien" with its plinky piano and driving tempo or the creeping, almost funereal cover of David Bowie's "Let's Dance". Pretty darn fine! Vocally, Ward has drawn comparisons to the weathered, emotive pipes of Waits, Vic Chesnutt and Sparklehorse's Mark Linkous. It can go from hoarse and near-spoken in one song to gentle and sweetly pleading in the next. He's backed up by The Old Joe Clarks with some extra field recording input from Grandaddy's Jason Lytle. So timeless, otherworldly, and intriguing. Recommended.
MPEG Download: "Vincent O'Brien" [/audio/mwardvincent.mp3]
MPEG Stream: "Vincent O'Brien" [/audio/mwardvincent.m3u]
Wow, so well worth the wait! This highly anticipated M. Ward album has finally surfaced, and it's fucking fantastic!! Oooh sorry, shhh, maybe that was much too loud and boisterous an exclamation for such a beautiful work, but hopefully that gives you an ample impression of our enthusiasm for this release!
It was recorded at a number of different studios around the country with a number of different awesome performin' and producin' participants (such as Howe Gelb, Vic Chesnutt, John Parish, Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley, My Morning Jacket's Jim James, and The Old Joe Clarks), and it traverses as much of the mood and folk music spectrums as those of the geographic and personnel.
The first impression that struck us was that Transistor Radio sounds as though Mr. Ward has brought his songbook a lot closer to that of Ms Jolie Holland (or vice versa... expect much more cross-pollination between the fan camps of both artists). The recordings have that brittle old tyme-y feel but the vocal performances are overflowing with heartfelt gusto. The addition of Ms Lewis' vocals on songs such as "Big Boat") do much to reinforce this sonic kinship. Also materializing in a few of the songs is a fevered twang akin to Howe Gelb, Giant Sand or Calexico which makes sense when you find out that some of these songs were recorded at Wavelab Studios in Arizona (where those artists all record). Warm, earthy, haunting and sooo damn gorgeous! Definitely an album for sharing! Very very recommended!
Battlecruiser is a new label from AQ pal Campbell Kneale who runs the impeccable NZ label Celebrate Psi Phenomenon. Battlecruiser is basically an outlet for a bunch of New Zealand noise guys to fufill their secret desire to be metal gods! Who can argue with that? Cool band names, distorted guitars, demonic vocals and all that good stuff! Metalheads might have to stretch their definition of 'metal' to really get into this stuff, but the rest of us, metal and unmetal alike will find lots of beautiful crushing far out noisy weirdness on these evil 'lil 3" cd-r's! Wardagger starts things off with backwards guitar ambience which gives way to pounding eighties style industrial punk/metal. Brittle guitars over simple machine like drums, throbbing and relentless. Like a more metal Swans or Cop Shoot Cop. Some extra sludgy bits and backward guitar fuckery adds to the weirdness.
A Sandwich Short is the second album from the pairing of British eccentrics Andrew Liles (who on occasion has graced the stage as a member of Nurse With Wound) and Tony Wakeford (the grim troubadour behind Sol Invictus and Death In June). Where their first album shuddered with a Victorian ghostliness, A Sandwich Short is downright odd. The opening number centers on a desolate noirish piano score that's not dissimilar to Coil's infamously rejected soundtrack to Hellraiser, but with sustained yet scratchy violin drones replacing Coil's Fairlight synthesizers. Soon afterwards, jauntily plucked guitars and a tentative gamelan assembled from kitchen utensils forms the background to the stolen narrative of several drunks in a bar whose camaraderie quickly dissolves into near violence. As charmingly surreal as these moments are, it's Wakeford and his tightly wound recapitulation of British folk through an occult lens that keeps A Sandwich Short from pulling itself a part. The centerpiece of the album is in fact a reprise of an old Wakeford number, "Lucifer Before Sunrise" which had first appeared on his collaborative record with Steven Stapleton The Revenge Of The Selfish Shellfish. His gravelly voice alternates with the cold recitations of Alice and Helen Potter amidst Wakeford's Spartan, depressive guitar melody and Liles' electronic splutter and whir. Given how many (including us) had remarked that the first Wardrobe album resembled that Wakeford / Stapleton album, it makes perfect sense that Wakeford would return to the song and twist it into something equally as disturbing albeit wholly different with the help of Mr. Liles.
For all of the militaristic death-folk that we've championed in the past, we've actually never listed any Sol Invictus records. Well with the dissolution of World Serpant Distribution a couple years ago, the bulk of the Sol Invictus and Tony Wakeford catalogue has disappeared from our grasp. Way darker than Current 93 and expressing a Nietzchian / Odinic theatricality that occassionally is laughably over the top, Sol Invictus (as well as the bulk of Tony Wakeford's solo material) always maintains a furrowed-brow seriousness that extends into the portentious waters of death, European history, and the problems with modern society. Regardless of what you may think of Wakeford's occasionally provocative politics, Wakeford excels in his craft of songwriting, especially through his elliptical acoustic guitar finger picking which darkens melodies adapted from British folk.
The Wardrobe is a collaborative project that Wakeford has begun with Andrew Liles, who has grown in notoriety thanks to his work alongside Colin Potter and Steven Stapleton during the occasional Salt Marie Celeste performances from 2005. Entirely instrumental, Cups In The Cupboard is a creepy Victorian soundtrack, filled with sideways glancing half-melodies fragmented into eerie repetitions and oscillating forms. Sampled elements of whimsical bassoons and baroque strings become peculiar to the point of hinting at a lurking horror, best expressed through Wakeford's insistant and ominous guitar chords. Thanks to Liles' deft ability to transform commonplace sounds into uncanny, curious, and strange sounds, it's easy to make the comparison between The Wardrobe and another great Wakeford collaboration The Revenge Of The Selfish Shellfish which found Tony working with Steven Stapleton.
Limited to 500 copies.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
