If the names Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Butch Hancock, and Joe Ely mean anything to you, then heads up. The three respected singer songwriters came together in the early '70s, in Lubbock TX, and made a completely underrecognized record as The Flatlanders. It was incandescently glowing country music with a twang, a musical saw, and the pure, otherwordly voice of Jimmie Dale Gilmore. In the years hence all three musicians have made names for themselves as solo artists with cult followings, and for those of us who hadn't heard them before 1990, that year saw a reissue of The Flatlanders album on disc, with extra tracks, that turned a lot of folks on to the Lubbock sound. If you don't already have that amazing first Flatlanders album, with its classic, breathtakingly gorgeous lead track "Dallas", then get that first. In fact, get it now... you'll be glad!
Besides a couple sporadic appearances in the ensuing years (a track for "The Horse Whisperer" soundtrack, a live reunion concert, etc), this disc is the first time in 20 years that the three guys have come together to write songs and record a brand new album. It is very nice, altho' not quite as good as what they did in the '70s (maybe that's cos I like '70s country a lot more than '02 country in general. Ahem.) Anyway, 12 of the 14 songs represented here were collectively written by the three, plus there's a Hancock-penned song and the lead off track is by Utah Phillips (I think it's the best on the whole album). The personalities of the three musicians are a bit more distinct than on the '73 record. The legend is back. Enjoy.
A wonderful early Flatlanders performance from back in '72. Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Butch Hancock and Joe Ely were in top form for this Austin, TX concert. Classic downhome country twang with multi-part vocals by those unmistakable voices plus a little musical saw to boot. So good! We'd expect more audience response than the smattering of applause and handful of hoots 'n' hollers that follow each of sixteen songs. Maybe you can add your own!
We were pretty skeptical when we first hear about Flight Of The Conchords. Who in their right mind would dare try follow in the footsteps of Tenacious D? And we're talking just the original six HBO episodes. Never has a shitty open mic, dual acoustic guitar band been so metal, so funny, and so fucking genius as Tenacious D.
So when we first checked out New Zealand's Flight Of The Conchords, our reaction was that these guys were just ripping off the D. But the more we watched, the more they demonstrated that they were definitely their own thing. The duo, Bret and Jemaine (NOT Jermiane) are super charming, and super hilarious in a weirdly deadpan way. If you haven't seen the show, definitely check it out. Their manager Murray steals the show, as does their only fan Mel, and their dirtbag only friend, the guy who runs the pawn shop. And the songs are pretty funny too, loosely tied into whatever happens to be going on in that episode, and occasionally the whole show is tied instead into the concept of the song, which results in much more tweaked and whatthefuck goings on.
So yeah, love the show, and love the music, which might pose the only problem. As with Tenacious D, we love the songs EXACTLY as they are on the show, the same instrumentation, the same arrangement, the same production, THOSE are the songs we want to hear. So it's frustrating to hear them re-recorded as they are here, the vibe is definitely more polished and less loose, but thankfully still can't take way from the charm of these songs.
Fans of the show might feel the same, taking a while to warm up to these alternate versions, but a lot of this stuff wasn't really focused on in the show, or maybe not in the show at all, and the ones that were, you've probably been dying to hear again. And for fans, all the hits are here: "The Most Beautiful Girl (In The Room)", "Business Time", the amazing rap track "Hiphopopotamus Vs. Rhymenocerous (Featuring Rhymenocerous And The Hiphopapoatumus)", the dancehall jam of "Boom", and of course the awesome 'binary solo' in "Robots". Not only are the lyrics funny, but the songs are catchy as hell. Not sure how this would play to someone who hadn't seen the show, but if you haven't, what the heck is wrong with you anyway? Buy it, or rent it, and you might as well buy this too, you're gonna want to hear these songs over and over, since after one viewing they stick in your head like crazy. And if you're not interested in the show, but dig clever goofy silly novelty folk, then this will definitely hit the spot.
The packaging is pretty excellent too, a six panel digipak with a cool pop up of Bret and Jemaine, behind which is the cd and a massive poster.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
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"On the 8th day the Lord created the voice and gave it to Gary Floyd", or so says the obi prominently displayed on this cd. But for some weird reason the obi doesn't mention that Gary was the singer for the punk group The Dicks, although it does namedrop his other much-loved-and-now-defunct group Sister Double Happiness. Gary's voice is in full display here as this record features mostly folksy country and blues material. Local folks will be happy to know it is available.
Remastered and reissued, this release collects pretty much all the essential material by this seminal post-Byrds California country rock band featuring Gram Parsons. Includes everything from their first three albums, "The Gilded Palace of Sin," "Burrito Deluxe," and "The Flying Burrito Brothers". In addition you get some later stuff and singles, and 2 songs from the live album "The Last of the Red Hot Burritos". Informative liner notes, photos (man, what outfits!), and credits round out the package.
The Flying Burrito Bros were formed in 1969 by Gram Parsons, dearly departed father of country rock whose legend is still growing ever larger as his influence continues to be felt. I could go on and on and on about what a genius Parsons was, but then this description would be pages long, and anyway Ben Fong-Torres already wrote a book about 'im (Hickory Wind: The Life and Times of Gram Parsons, highly recommended).
After leaving The Byrds, with whom he recorded just a single perfect album, Sweetheart of the Rodeo, Parsons formed the Burritos with ex-Byrd Chris Hillman and other compatriots. Though the Burritos have released many records since their inception, the only ones that Gram appears on are the first two, both of which appear here in their entirety (the "Train Song" single is also included here, making Sin City more complete than the other best-of comp, Farther Along). While the second Burritos album was in progress, Parsons starting hanging with Keith Richards and Mick Jagger, who let him record the stunning version of "Wild Horses" found here. He drifted away from the band (or was asked to leave). In 1971 and '72 he released the two flawless solo albums, GP and Grievous Angel, that sealed his reputation as legend. By 1973 he was dead.
The two Burrito Brothers albums, then, are essential to any Parsons fan's collection, as well as fans of country rock, and "No Depression"-style alt.country in general. The combination of catchy melodies, rollicking good humor, joyous twang, and solid rock backbone make these records essential listening. Get this now!
How can you resist a record with a sticker on the front proclaiming it to be "California doom folk"? Well, we sure as heck can't. And what if that sticker was pasted over a huge floating white-bearded head floating in the clouds like some spirit of Yahowha back from the dead to haunt our musical dreams. Well, you'd have us again. So we were pretty much sold before we got the disc to the player. But in all fairness, we should also mention that not only is Flying Canyon the project of one half of Golden Hotel, who we raved about on a past list, but that half also happens to be AQ regular Cayce Lindner, who you can see on the AQ customers page, and who haunts the hallowed halls of AQ on an almost daily basis.
But the fact that Cayce is a friend of ours isn't the reason we were so enamored of Golden Hotel, or the reason this slab of California doom folk has been kicking our asses. Nope. It's because Cayce has a way with a guitar and a killer knack for abstract free folk songsmithery. It helps too that in Flying Canyon he's teamed up with members of The Skygreen Leopards and Kelly Stoltz's band. Where Golden Hotel was dark and lugubrious, dreamy and droney, Flying Canyon is much more druggy and desert-y, twangy and sun baked, laid back and lysergic.
From the opening track, "In The Reflection", a dead ringer for Terry Reid's "Seed Of Memory", you're already wandering in a dreamlike daze, across some dusty windblown musical world, a wounded wasteland, that while inhospitable and rife with death and misery, is still strangely warm and safe, you find yourself clearing away some dust and rubble, dead leaves and brittle branches, laying back, eyes closed, the sun turning the inside of your eyelids a blood red, and letting the sun burn you away, bleaching your bones, as you become part of the landscape, your dust part of the swirling storm, the sound, a disembodied floating free folk, perfectly captured by the Flying Canyon.
The label website describes Flying Canyon as the Eagles on Robitussen, but it's a little closer to Crosby, Stills, Nash And Young on horse tranquilizers. A super lo-fi arid expanse of murky late afternoon haze and stoned fuzzy fug. The strainer on the snare drum rattles and drifts like the warning of a snake coiled up in the hot summer sun. The bass is thick like melted tar, a fuzzy fat rumble, warm warbly melodies wrapped around a soft focus folk drift, in the distance, fluttering flutes and warm swells of shimmering organ, like a musical mirage. All left all to hover in a lush field of room sound and drifting fuzz, above which float Lindner's ghostly vocals, an about-to-crack Neil Young warble, emotional and rich and honest, so much so that Lindner even manages to sing the words "rock and roll" in a song, without it sounding wrong. Instead, you can imagine that this is some sort of rock and roll. A rock and roll that was left in the sun too long, allowed to melt and change shape, a dusty, almost forgotten relic, that still retains some mysterious inner glow, a beauty that transcends the ravages of time. Go ahead. Sit back. Rest those weary bones, close those tired eyes. This is just about the perfect place for waitin' around to die...
Even packaged to look strikingly similar to an old Folkways LP release, this pair of Flynt releases on Locust sure do fit the "Hillbilly Blues" label more than any other release we've heard yet from him. And what's more, they're fucking great! No, you won't find any pseudo-ragas on either of these discs. This is wild and relentless, drone-y and hypnotic, sonically overwhelming neverending foot stomping, finger picked blues work outs. But as one might expect the workouts are static, shifting minutely and almost imperceptably if at all. Like a redneck hillbilly Terry Riley or La Monte Young.
The tracks on volume one go a little like this:
Track 1: Three and a half minutes of solo electric blues guitar, thankfully stripped of that awful standard blues chord progression.
Track 2: a short two and a half minute blast of nasal auctioneer style vocals, over a primitive country electric guitar riff.
Track 3: A massive twelve minutes of retarded toe tapping, to a hillbilly pizzicato on the fiddle that develops into increasingly manic sawing on just three notes.
Track 4: A gorgeous chunk of primitve, droney minimal blues, with humming vocals clocking in at a whopping 16 minutes.
Even packaged to look strikingly similar to an old Folkways LP release, this pair of Flynt releases on Locust sure do fit the "Hillbilly Blues" label more than any other release we've heard yet from him. And what's more, they're fucking great! No, you won't find any pseudo-ragas on either of these discs. This is wild and relentless, drone-y and hypnotic, sonically overwhelming neverending foot stomping, finger picked blues work outs. But as one might expect the workouts are static, shifting minutely and almost imperceptably if at all. Like a redneck hillbilly Terry Riley or La Monte Young.
The tracks on volume two go a little like this:
Track 1: Five minutes of minimal amplified fiddle with lots of echo/delay, like music for some sort of space rodeo.
Track 2: 13 minutes of what sounds like a similar version of the first track, although this time without the echo/delay and a little more sawing on the higher notes of the fiddle.
Track 3: very traditional sounding blues progression on the fiddle, but stretched out a little. Definitely the easiest listening on either disc.
Track 4: Ten minutes long. Revisits the melodies of track two, but the sawing is more feverish and the sound is more thick and much less minimal. Eventually mutates into a super saturated, head nodding, blissed out transcendental hoedown!
Originally released as a cd on the Ampersand label way back in 2001, now available on vinyl via local reissue label Superior Viaduct. Here's our (brief) review of Graduation from when we listed the Ampersand version...
After hearing the excellent "hillbilly drone improv" found on the recent double cd archival release You Are My Ever Lovin'/Celestial Power by this obscure but fascinating Fluxus artist, we were excited to discover this additional archival release (of material unreleased these past 20-odd years) see the light of day. But, our enthusiasm was a little dampened somewhat by the preponderance of vocals (!) found here. There's some prime drones to be found here for sure, and some truly sublime moments, but you'll have to also deal with some not-so-prime folksy singing. Which, for us, makes this unfortunately a somewhat disappointing listen in the Flynt oeuvre - but obviously not all Flynt fans (like the folks at Superior Viaduct, obviously) would agree with us about that.
Includes download code.
After hearing the excellent "hillbilly drone improv" found on the recent double cd archival release "You Are My Ever Lovin'/Celestial Power" by this obscure but fascinating Fluxus artist, we were excited to see this additional archival release (of
Aquarius' favorite fluxus hillbilly intellectual returns with yet another collection avant-folk. We say 'returns' and yet, with the exception of one from 1976/2001, these tracks come from 1971 and 1978. Much of the goods here are similar to his last two releases on Locust ("Back Porch Hillbilly Blues Vols. 1 & 2"). For instance track one, "Violin Strobe", begins with slowly pulsing notes scratched out on violin which, through some tape device, begin to accumulate a hypnotizing tapestry under Flynt's playing. Hillbilly tape music indeed! Track two, "Guitar Rebop", is a duet for demented tremolo laden swamp guitar and sitar-like drone. Not all Flynt's tracks here are of the hillbilly variety though. For instance, two "Leather High" compositions in A and E (recorded in 1978 appropriately enough) sound like an erstwhile disco guitarist recovering from trauma. In both, a boogying disco rhythm guitar rapidly decays into a series of reverberant swells of guitar through a volume pedal. It's these two tracks, along with the 15 minute ending track "S&M Delerium" -- a continuation of "Leather High in E" -- which make up the bulk of the play time on this disc. It's too bad as, while they're fine tracks in moderation, it would be nicer if the earlier tracks like "Violin Strobe" (which lasts a mere 5 minutes) could be left to degenerate for another 10. Or 20!
MPEG Download: "Violin Strobe" [/audio/hflyntviolinstrobe.mp3]
MPEG Stream: "Violin Strobe" [/audio/hflyntviolinstrobe.m3u]
First in this label's "New American Ethnic Music" series. "Avant-garde hillbilly and blues music" by violinist (and Fluxus conceptual artist) Henry Flynt.
Each disc documents a live improv session, the first from 1981 and the second from 1980, and both are quite lovely indeed. I guess it's "hillbilly" 'cause he's playing a fiddle, and there's echoes of Appalachian trad music amidst the drone.
For one concert/disc he's joined by a tambura player, and on the other by a guitarist (both strangely uncredited). Definitely in a Tony Conrad / fake Indian raga mode, and good at it. Fans of the aforementioned, as well as those into (Flynt associate) LaMonte Young, Ashtray Navigations and even the Dirty Three (it's actually VERY Dirty Three sounding at moments, with Flynt's melancholy, almost psychedelic violin being the dominant voice). More specifically, these are (we're told) "extended extemporizations on extended alpha-state ascension through excessive application of overtone-series note relationships/harmonics over a single chord/form". Check out www.henryflynt.org for more info on the man's art and writing (there's some strange essays to be found there). A very cool archival release, can't wait to hear more in the series.
Blaze Foley is one of country music's great unsung could have beens, his life marked by misery and misfortune, and a streak of bad luck a mile wide, that even a friendship with the late great Townes Van Zandt could counter. And while he's beloved now amongst in-the-know country fans, that appreciation came too late, Foley having died at age 40 while defending a neighbor in a drunken feud that escalated until guns were drawn. A dramatic end to a dramatic life for sure, one marred by drug addiction and homelessness, but against all odds, Foley managed to record some of the most beautiful music you'll ever hear, music that definitely sits comfortably alongside that of his friend Van Zandt, and hearing this stuff now, it's not surprising to learn that his songs have been covered by folks like Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, John Prine and Lyle Lovett, and it's easy to see why, this collection gathers up some impossibly beautiful and heartbreaking songs of woe, of love and loss, of hopelessness and of salvation.
Apparently, his one proper record was recorded and ready to go, when the producer of the record was arrested on drug charges, the master tapes confiscated by the FBI, the only existing copies of the record eventually bartered for beer and cab fare by a despondent Foley. The tracks here, the first time on vinyl for many (maybe all) of these songs, have been gathered from various cd reissues, many of the recordings live, most of them just Foley and a guitar, his playing fluid and lovely, his voice rough and warm, the music lush and melancholy, sometimes there's harmonica, or sweetly sorrowful strings, but regardless, it's about the songs, haunting, and personal, our favorite might have to be "Election Day", for the song as much as the sound, the recording lo-fi and murky, Foley's voice especially deep and sonorous, the guitar hushed and minor key, but intricate and melodic, but all the tracks here are amazing, and it's heartbreaking to know so few people have actually heard this stuff, and that someone so talented, was relegated to the fringes of country music history. Fans of Townes Van Zandt while dig this big time, as will anyone into dark, moody country. Wouldn't have been surprised to see this on Australian country reissue label Omni, so anyone who's been digging all the great stuff they've been releasing, for sure check this out too.
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One of Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth's very favorite artists, Brigitte Fontaine did a kind of acid-folk French pop thing (from the early 70s) that's just delicious. These are reissues.
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Brigitte Fontaine may get filed next to yeh-yeh girls like Francoise Hardy and Chantal Goya, but the eclectic avant-folk records she has been making with the help of percussionist Areski Belkacem since the seventies take the pop seed and mutate it far beyond the reach of any other French chanteuse. She cut a record with Art Ensemble of Chicago in 1971, and is making amazing records to this day, as evidenced by last year's excellent "Kekeland," featuring collaborations with the likes of Sonic Youth in addition to Areski. This is a reissue of her self-titled album from 1972, and it moves through the sounds of gorgeous pychedelic folk, string and organ-backed polyphonic liturgical-style chants advocating power to the people, medieval prog stylings, bizarre poetics, spoken word, barnyard avant-jazz, and the odd bout of screaming or anti-capitalist rallying. Her seductive voice grounds a kind of dada futurism that emerges alongside the deft navigation of styles, a hallmark of her work. Brigitte Fontaine's brand of cerebral pop experimentalism puts her in a strata attained by few artists. What reference points I can dig up-- Art Ensemble (of course), the best Os Mutantes records, Yoko Ono as a French situationist-- don't really suffice to explain Briggitte Fontaine's haunting oeuvre. Let me just say that listening to this album makes me giddy with joy (seriously!), and comes highly recommended, as does the reissue of 1971's "L'incendie."
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
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An awesome, quirky slice of French hippy avant-pop with lots of ethno-electronic action. Allan's favorite of Fontaine's ouvre.
A release we've had before, but not for a while, 'cause it's been hard to get -- but recently Allan & several of his friends really really got into Forest, so he managed to track down and order a bunch (though, probably not enough...).
This double cd contains Forest's entire output -- two albums, one from 1969 and one from 1970 -- and should definitely be of interest to anyone into that whole '60s British folk-psych vibe. Y'know, if you liked the Tony, Caro & John or Fairport Convention reissues we've recently listed, or dig that excellent current interpreter of the genre, P.G. Six.
Forest were a trio of hippie musicians (Martin, Dez, and Adrian) from the town of Walesby in Lincolnshire. All three of 'em are responsible for the quite excellent male vocals that help make these albums the amazing lost treasures they are, along with their strong songwriting, and their adept and varied instrumental backing (mostly acoustic, with guitars, harmonium, mandolin, pipes, cello, electric harpsichord, organ, percussion, etc.). Their vocal harmonies recall the folkish stuff on those great early Wishbone Ash albums. Their songs and lyrics are rural, pastoral, lovely -- with titles like "A Glade Somewhere", "Rain Is On My Balcony", "Bluebell Dance", "Lovemaker's Ways" -- and darker too ("The Midnight Hanging Of A Runaway Serf", "Famine Song", "Graveyard"). But, while 'folky,' this is by no means trad folk; they are down with prog rock moves that remind us as much of Pink Floyd as the Incredible String Band. They can be sunshiney and twee a la Tyrannosaurus Rex, but also have a pagan, dark aspect as we said, coming pretty close to Comus territory at times (with the song "Fading Light", for one). Yep, 'folky' but not folk -- the ruined castles and fairy folk that inhabit the forests and fields of Forest's world exist, shadow-like, in the present day (well, Forest's England of thirty years ago), so it's not surprising when a song like "Hawk The Hawker" has kind of a Lou Reed/VU vibe, for instance. Their music is informed by the ancient British ballads, but you can tell that Martin, Dez, and Adrian were three young long hairs sleeping in a van, no matter how idyllic their songs sometimes sound.
This double cd reissue includes John Peel's original liner notes from the first album -- they're quite silly, but accurate at least in his closing comment "It would be nice for the Forest if you purchased these results of their lives and labours -- but nicer still for you." Definitely one of those "this is SO good why didn't these guys get famous??!" listens.
Ok, this is a black metal band, but non-metallers into the improv-drone sounds of the Jewelled Antler collective, Richard Youngs/Simon Wickham-Smith and the like should keep reading!
Not to be confused with the other Forest we've raved about (the psychedelic British folk band from thirty years ago), *this* Forest is a Russian black metal outfit, and a pretty good one belonging to the raw, primitive, corpse-painted end of the genre. The first four tracks on here consist of blasting, frozen Darkthrone worship, keeping alive the cult spirit that so few bands today still possess -- maybe because those tracks were actually recorded in 1996. Malevolent, majestic pagan metal full of Burzumic mayhem. Fans of this vein of true, trancey black metal darkness will be pleased. And if that was all that was on this disc we'd think it was cool. But then comes the fifth and final track, a surprise twenty-minute opus called "Winter Howl" taken from a 1994 rehearsal tape. Suddenly Forest isn't so obviously black metal at all, they've entered a psych-drone realm that's more akin to the aforementioned Jewelled Antler stuff (Thuja, The Birdtree, etc) or Taj Mahal Travellers or Reynols or Amon Duul's krautrock jams, still as forest-y and primitive as the preceding metal songs though. A wavering whispy wordless vocal winds over a bed of lost, primal percussion and haunting washes of mild feedback. Simple melody lines on guitar wander through the increasing haze, with deeper vocals providing additional layers of drone. If you really heard this in a forest you'd be mesmerized and scared, but it's really nice and pretty (in a damaged way) when heard at home...pretty to us anyway, dunno if Kaldrad and Dagorath meant it to be so! The vocals, until they get a little more metal-ly, totally remind us of the bliss-out singing by British folk experimentalist Richard Youngs or Jewelled Antler's pop soul Jason Honea. If Finnish avant-forest-folk folks like Avarus and Kemialliset Ystavat or the Jewelled Antler collective decided to make black metal, this is what's we'd imagine it would sound like! (Actually, there IS an upcoming black metal-inspired release from Jewelled Antler, a 3" cd-r by a group they call Tomes, but Tomes takes an even more subtle approach than "Winter Howl"...look for that here at AQ soon!) Meanwhile, on the black metal side, fans of Mistigo Varggoth Darkestra, Caacrinolas, Potentiam, and other weird ones should dig this track, along with Forest's other more typical black metal sounds. Recommended.
What a title! Don't know what the heck it means, but we love the sounds contained inside. Released on Jozef Van Wissem's Incunabulum imprint, this is a beautiful solo 12-string record by Chris Forsyth, Brooklynite multi-instrumentalist and founding member of Peeesseye (PSI). But this has a different approach to the solo guitar genre than we've heard before. Focusing on a restless back-porch style minimalism, Forsyth layers overlapping and slow repetitive cascades of mandala-like rhythms and patterns with subtly shifting melodic changes. Often undercut with organ drones, cymbal washes, and minimal percussion, the sounds unfold like intricate patterns of Oriental tapestry or Tibetan sand-paintings, captivating and mesmerizing us into circling and swirling trance-like states. Quite lovely and very limited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A gorgeous collection of home recordings from one of Takoma's unsung 'American Primitive' guitar masters, Mark Fosson, whose playing reminds us (and apparently John Fahey too back in the day) of Leo Kotke quite a bit. We reviewed Fosson's collection of lost sessions for Takoma a while back, and while many of the same songs are included here (these are the recordings that led to him signing to Takoma), these versions are a bit more raw and intimate, but still manage to resonate with energy and emotion, and in fact, for home recordings, these sound better than many proper studio recordings. Fosson's playing is lush and lyrical, intricate and emotional, and like those Takoma sessions have an energy and melodic sensibility that also reminds us of James Blackshaw. Of all the tracks here, our favorite here might be the goofily titled "Cosmic Hiccup" with its lush melodic sweeps, and seemingly impossibly intricate melodies, that make Fosson sound like he's playing several guitars at once, but all the tracks here are gorgeous, the sound ranging from classic old timey Appalachian folk to more progressive and intricate compositions that seem to meld classical and folk idioms into a sound that's lush and lovely and melodically complex. Most definitely recommended for fans of Fahey, Kotke, Blackshaw and the like.
Just when you thought that the mine of Appalachian, finger pickin', Fahey influenced guitar records had gone dry out comes one of the best unknown records we've heard in ages, and whaddayaknow? It's on Fahey's own Takoma imprint. Mark Fosson's playing recalls the amazing sound of the first two Leo Kotke albums (yes Leo made a couple great records before getting, umm... sort of not so hot) in fact a few times that we've been playing this in the store different customers have freaked out thinking it was some early unreleased Kotke gem. Actually when Fahey first heard a tape of Fosson's demos he wrote on a piece of paper "The best thing since Kotke." Recorded in Chillicothe, Ohio in 1976 these songs by Fosson not only resonate with as much beauty as anything that's come out on Takoma, but has also quite nicely stood the test of time. Besides the Kotke guesses many folks in the store also thought they were hearing a new recording by one of our favorite present days guitar masters, James Blackshaw. We're really happy Drag City have unearthed these long lost sessions as these are sounds that deserve to be heard!
A new album from this faery tale folk maiden!
Her first two highly acclaimed albums certainly defined her otherworldly music as distinctly of another time and A Wolf In Sheep's Clothing is perhaps even more so (at least for us English monolinguals). Not only is it her interpretations of seven nineteenth century compositions by Johannes Brahms, Franz Schubert and Robert Shumann, but it's sung entirely in German. If it weren't for the presence of guest player Brian Goodman's sinewy, distorted guitar, you could easily imagine this being some recently unearthed ancient folk artifact. That said, it is the dissonance of the electrified strings that make for a terrific contrast to Foster's oft-ghostly serenades. Check out the sixth track "Auf Einer Burg". Wow. Spellbinding.
What better current singer to tackle texts by reclusively prolific American poet Emily Dickinson than the elusive Josephine Foster? Translating 26 out of the thousands of poems Dickinson wrote into the gentlest of song forms, many matching the brevity of the originals, must have been a daunting task. Poems do not translate into songs as easily as one might think, just as songs don't always translate into poetry. But not really since Aaron Copland in 1950 has anyone really delved so deeply into the idea. And Foster is largely successful. The arrangements on guitar or ukulele are very minimal and while her lilting delivery can be a little same-y, each song on its own, unearths a tiny jewel of intimate beauty that is quite something to behold. The material may be too rich for one sitting (unless your knitting on a rainy Sunday perhaps), but we think this might be the perfect sublime ephemera for the shuffle feature on your iPod.
If you picked up last year's All the Leaves Are Gone album by folk singer Josephine Foster -- whose vocal stylings have caused us to dub her the Shirley Collins of Chicago -- you heard her with a nicely weird-making psychedelic rock backing band, The Supposed. Now she's back sans band, doing solo intimate acoustic folk numbers that hew even closer to the British folk tradition that's an obvious influence (Shirley Collins, if you weren't sure, is a '60s UK folk singer of reknown, whose tremblingly pure voice rescued rustic ballads from the mists of the past on her many LPs). The mists of the past hang heavily over Foster's entirely self-penned tunes too. Not just the Brit-folk but also oldtimey down-home blues/gospel too. This disc consists of fourteen tracks of pretty, pastoral, "cosmic madrigals" sung in her high, wavering, angelic voice, self-accompanied on guitar, kazoo, harp, bells, sitar, tambourine, tin whistle, wooden spoons and "black cat" (?) amongst other instrumentation. Willowy, melancholic, melodic... certainly something that anyone who has got a "contemporary indie acid-folk" section going in their music collection is probably gonna want! File with your Banharts and your Six Organs and your Espers and your Skygreen Leopards...
But should we feel band reviewing this since we haven't yet got 'round to listing a bunch of the Shirley Collins reissues that we also recently got in stock?
Another 7" dose of limited musical confections from Artschool Dropout, this time from the siren of lo-fi folk, Josephine Foster. Six lovely songs, half of which were home recorded with ukulele, have the dusty feel of recently unearthed 78 recordings from the 20's. Comes in silkscreened paper sleeve with artwork by Plastic Crimewave.
SUPER LIMITED, once these are gone we won't be able to get more...
Ms. Foster's woozy warble can shriek as loud as a banshee or whisper quiet as a church mouse. And if you are at all familiar with her live sets, she often changes instruments from acoustic guitar, to lap harp to the quaintest of string instruments, the ukulele. On this highly limited edition cd-r from 2004 she goes for the latter in both cases, in these lo-fi 4-track recordings of her finest and softest songs paired with the ukulele's strained tonalities. But like a songbird with clipped wings, Ms. Foster makes the best use of these limitations and provides a fine and archly subdued performance that we're sure her fans will love.
Another timeless gem from Chicago's Josephine Foster. Her third full length, This Coming Gladness is a heartfelt collection of breezy folk tunes that don't veer too far from Ms. Foster's usual stylings. Her wavering, Shirley Collins-ish voice we know and love is accompanied by Victor Herrero on lead guitar and Alex Nielson (Richard Youngs, Jandek) on drums. The two do a fine job of creating a warm, relaxed environment that perfectly envelops the voice and words of Ms. Foster. And inside on the sleeve is an awesome picture of the beautiful Ms. Foster herself, posing wearing a plastic armor breastplate, like an ancient warrior. What a charming gal.
Now on vinyl! Probably our favorite Josephine Foster album. Here's the review from when it was first released, on cd:
Chicago's Josephine Foster we'd heard before in the folk duo Born Heller. We immediately were impressed with her voice -- she's basically a dead ringer for Brit-folk legend Shirley Collins! But Born Heller was maybe a little bland, compared to this, where Foster's uncanny and timeless vocals are set in a more exciting, acid-psych folk-rock format. I know some people who are actually put off by this and Born Heller 'cause she sounds just so much like Shirley Collins, but you know, why not? If I could sing like this, I would! And for all we know, Foster's actually an English transplant who grew up at her grandmother's knee listening and learning old ballads and it's just in her blood. Even if she's just a Chicago hipster with good taste in old folk music, that's cool too. One to file with your Vetiver, and P.G. Six, and Six Organs, and so forth!
2004 cd-r recording of live performances from the All The Leaves Are Gone tour with The Supposed.
The first (and before now, only) Fotheringay album from 1970 is one of our favorite records of the British folk era, but they were a group that from the beginning seemed like they were never meant to last. Led by a post-Fairport Sandy Denny and her husband, former Eclection guitarist Trevor Lucas, Fotheringay was more like a temporary dalliance away from the larger entity of Fairport Convention with Denny departing for solo stardom (and tragedy) after their first album, and most of the other members joining Fairport later on. A second album was in the works but never completed, well, until now that is! The Fledg'ling label has gone to great lengths to rescue the shelved tapes and restore the tracks to their seventies British folk glory. The sound is incredible and typical of Joe Boyd and using a light touch, sounds like a lost artifact from a previous era. While these are mostly traditional tunes and covers, their are five original compositions including two from Sandy Denny that have been little heard before now. We can't say that it betters the first album, but there are plenty of great songs for fans of this era. Named after the castle where Mary, Queen of Scots was beheaded, it's interesting that after 38 years when this recording was started and long after it's two principle members have passed on, that the ghosts of the past are singing once more.
At last, this excellent early '70s Brit-folk-rock album is back on cd, in a nice new edition complete with four live bonus tracks. Fotheringay features the exquisite, sweet vocals of the legendary Sandy Denny. The band was formed by Denny and her husband, former Eclection guitarist Trevor Lucas (who also sings here), shortly after she left Fairport Convention, releasing this self-titled LP 1970 (the same year Denny was voted the UK's top female vocalist in Melody Maker magazine). They only did this lone album before Sandy went solo, but it's definitely one of Sandy's best and essential for all fans of her previous brilliant albums with Fairport like Unhalfbricking and Liege & Lief. It's largely dreamy and pastoral with a country tinge (as with Lucas' "The Ballad Of Ned Kelly"). So lovely. In addition to original compositions by both Denny and Lucas, there's Fotheringay's album-closing arrangement of the traditional tune "Banks Of The Nile", a langorous, eight-minute epic, almost post-rock in scope, that's definitely one of this album's highlights. And as well, the band does a song each by Bob Dylan and Gordon Lightfoot, and one of the added live tracks is Chuck Berry's "Memphis Tennessee".
Light in the Attic has begun a deep investigation into the dusty corners of the stalwart Vanguard label to dig up some little-known folk gems. Vanguard was always the hippest of folk labels in the sixties and seventies with classic releases by Joan Baez, John Fahey, and Buffy Saint Marie just to name a few. Bob Frank wasn't as well known as his more famous labelmates, but this 1972 slice of southern-fried hippie folk is a rare unbridled diamond in the rough. Like a mixture of Dylan, Elvis and Johnny Cash, Frank's songs of outlaws, stoners and off-the grid burn-outs are candid and funny, a bit goofy at times, but with real world-weariness observed through a life of hard-living. A stoned country folk lost classic!
A sadly underrecognized American guitarist and singer who in the early '60s fell in with the incredibly fertile British folk scene, Jackson C. Frank released only a single album, which has been treasured by collectors ever since. The music is straightforward acoustic guitar folk with several minor key blues numbers peppered throughout. While many of the '60s folkies I find a bit too sweet, wispy and ethereal, straining their voices as if to sound like forest sprites, Frank's vocals are super earnest, plainspoken and in the middle range, with the same gravity as Lee Hazlewood. The guitar is strummed with confidence, the picking delicate, the effect impassioned but not too sweet. The 10 songs here from the selftitled album from 1965 (along with five bonus tracks -- previously unreleased material from 1975) are so yearningly pretty, yet his certifiable masterpiece is certainly the opening number 'Blues Run the Game', which has been covered by everyone from former girlfriend Sandy Denny, Simon & Garfunkel, Al Stewart, Bert Jansch (who still performs Frank's songs), Nick Drake (who covered two others as well!), and more.
A few words should be said about Frank's life, although a whole book could be devoted to the subject. While a child he was badly burned in a horrible fire that killed many of his schoolmates. At the age of 21 he was awarded a $100,000 settlement from the accident, and set about spending it foolishly on travel and expensive cars, which brought him to England. He found compatriots in the local folk scene, folks like Jansch, Denny, Tom Paxton, John Martyn, etc. Paul Simon produced Frank's album but he was forced to go back to the US when his money ran out, and by the time he returned to the UK in '68 major depression had taken hold and he deteriorated quickly. Some years later his son died of cystic fibrosis, he ended up sleeping on NYC streets, and was shot in the eye. He spent his last years under the care of a kind fan in Woodstock. Heartbreaking!
It happens too often that you hear about some legendary musician for years and years, and then you finally hear their music and you're left... underwhelmed. I was afraid this would happen with Jackson C. Frank, but it worked its magic on me eventually.
On their debut album, Frausdots thoroughly mine Echo & The Bunnymen's musical wardrobe, but they don their findings in a more elegant, lush scene than the Bunnymen's characteristic pit of brooding angst. Each song on Couture Couture Couture rings with that ol' overcast British melancholia that only the Brits can do. The odd thing is that Frausdots are from Los Angeles! Mainman Brent Rademaker (formerly of the wide-ranging bands Further, The Tyde and Beachwood Sparks) leads his well-heeled entourage that includes a typically L.A. eclectic guestlist (members of The Cure, The Tyde, Rooney, Warlocks, Brian Jonestown Massacre, and Mia Doi Todd) deep into the evening. And if you've a penchant for smoldering post-punk and latenight decadence, you'd do well to follow.
Paula Frazer first made a splash in SF in the early '90s in Frightwig and with her group Tarnation. Frazer's voice has always been her strong point, pleasantly fuzzy around the edges but also with a clear bell-like ring within, a lot like Loretta Lynn's twang. Folksy, country. These are four track recordings made at home accompanied by just acoustic guitar. Old songs and new, all very sweet and heartbreaking. Comes with three videos of Frazer simply playing in her house.
Here's the third fine full length from Ms Paula Frazer (also of Tarnation). We've mentioned before that her soaring vocal delivery brings to mind a female counterpart to Chris Isaak, and it still does. Seemingly effortless. She also continues to draw inspiration from various eras of Americana -- from the fluttering ruffles on the ladies' elegant gowns at the Grand Ol' Opry to '70s soft rock horns of bands such as Chicago -- bringing it all together under her own captivating umbrella and distinguishing it with the lush sounds Rhodes keyboards, pedal steel and some tasteful tambourine. She's assembled quite a luminous cast of players too including American Music Club's Marc Capelle, Court & Spark's James Kim and Scott Hirsch, the Moore Brothers, Oranger's John Hofer, and former Kronos Quartet cellist Joan Jeanrenaud.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Reissue of early Freakwater alternative country lp.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
The sixth and fullest-sounding album from these Louisville-based country rockers. Achingly lush and lovely two-girl harmonies. Country fans will love this record!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Their best album, start here!!
Janet Beveridge Bean from Eleventh Dream Day and Cathy Irwin. Their sweet voices chime together not unlike the Carter Family Singers.
The beloved old tymey alt-country duo of Catherine Irwin and Janet Bean reunite for their seventh full length. One thing we noticed right away, was that apparently when the ladies are "Thinking Of You" they're got a bee in their bonnet or a burr in their behind 'cause they're singing their hearts out with much more fervent gusto than ever before, delivering their hard luck and hard livin' lyrical tales with ample grit and poignancy. Backing the ladies up this time around are members of Califone who, while remaining wholly respectful of the pair's sound, bring enough of their own band's character into the mix to make for a refreshing combination. Fans of both bands should give 'er a gander!
The Wexner Center For The Arts knew just what they were doing when they commissioned Bill Frisell to create a score to compliment the stark photography of Mike Disfarmer, who took riveting and honest portraits of people living in the rural South during the late '30s and early '40s. Frisell plays both electric and acoustic guitars, uses loops and music boxes to create sepia toned, twangy and haunting short instrumentals that really evoke such mystery, evoking rural landscapes and life drifting by, sometimes seeming to pass in an instant, other times interminable and endless. While Frisell isn't someone you might think of right away when it comes to aQ, his varied and large back catalog is rife with gems and aQ faves, and we're really happy to see that in recent years he's begun to lean again more towards a less shiny and more intriguing side of his musical palette. In fact, let's not forget he added some seriously warm and lush richness to the latest full length by Earth!
Backed by a badass trio, the arrangements of steel guitar, mandolin, violin and bass are exquisite, not only showing off the talent of all the players but acting as a testament to Frisell's ability to compose pieces that so perfectly speak to Disfarmer's striking photos. Imagine a less drone filled Steven R. Smith, or a more tight and focused Dirty Three, or even maybe a new Earth album, stripped of its residual doomic leanings.
The cd is a long one, pushing to pretty much the maximum length that can fit on one disc, which makes it perfect to put on for a long road trip through winding roads and desolate landscapes or for whenever you just want to get lost in a rustic glow.
While the last two Fruit Bats records were fairly pleasant slabs of folk flecked indie rock jangle, Spelled In Bones shows the band taking HUGE strides towards a bigger sound and better songs and a much more expansive sonic world. Described in almost every review as "the Shins meet Califone", The Fruit Bats have now managed to become more than that, definitely their own band, although the sonic referents to those two outfits certainly can't be ignored. Vocalist Eric Johnson's voice is eerily similar to the Shins' James Mercer, but where Mercer's vocals tend toward the ebullient and poptastically bombastic, the music following suit, Johnson tends toward the more melancholy occasionally slipping into a perfectly lovely falsetto, all over delicate piano and strummed minor key guitar, the jangle muted and subtle, with lap steel filigree giving the proceedings a lush, countrified feel. Spelled In Bones is modern yet completely classic sounding Pop with a capital P, draped with bits of country here and there, little bits of bedroom folk too, but all contributing to the record's perfect popiness. Songs so lilting and hooky you won't be able to get them out of your head. The sound of the Beatles is everywhere on this record for sure, but so is the sound of the Posies, the Wings, Iron And Wine, Broken Social Scene, Red Red Meat, Death Cab For Cutie, and yeah, even the Shins and Modest Mouse. So so good.
Another amazing batch of dreamy psych-folk unearthed from the dregs of obscurity by the Sunbeam label, this lone album by Mark Fry from 1972, recorded while still a teenager, has it all. Songs about witches, a girl named Alice, lutes and flutes and mandolins, sitars, a song that unravels each verse between other songs, and even a song played entirely backwards. With a soft voice similar to Roger Rodier, whose lone album was also reissued on Sunbeam (which we also raved about!), we had only heard of Mark Fry previously through his contribution (a sadly truncated three minute version of the eight minute long "Mandolin Man") to the British edition of the Love Peace and Poetry psych compilation. Recorded in Rome and only limitedly released in Italy, it soon faded into the ether, and Fry turned to his other love, painting, in which he has had a more successful career. This reissue features two additional bonus tracks from 1975, and boasts liner notes from Fry himself telling the fascinating story of the making of this album, and beyond. Thanks Sunbeam for making this amazing album available to us again! Absolutely Recommended!!
