Now on vinyl!!!
Ready to space out and drift off into a Swedish psychedelic never-never land?? Well if you are, Dungen is back and will take you there. The sixth album from these Scandinavian faves delivers the usual Dungen goodies. 10 new tracks, some proggier, some soft-rockier, some straight-up poppier than others, all quite nice! Oh and let's not forget the searing psych guitar freakouts like the one that erupts in track 5, "Hogdalstoppen". So fans of Dungen will be pleased - and at this point we'd like to assume you all are already familiar with Dungen, and thus most likely fans... which means we can reduce redundancy review-wise by simply saying, yeah, get this, you'd like it! Dungen don't go in any strange new directions here, it's just more of what we dig about 'em, though perhaps compared to their previous album 4 (which was their fifth, oddly enough) they return a bit to "the rock" from where they were on that one. Certainly Dungen can make the loveliest of lovely music when they wanna, or indulge in urgent rhythms and bursts of distorted guitar jangle. And all of it is carefully arranged, everything in its place, even when they're doing the freakout thing. Somehow they have the ability, in the all-instrumental first track for example, to be both blissed out and kick up a garagey ruckus at the same time. Elsewhere, the bliss out is nothin' but, with gentle female vocals, strings, and handclaps keeping the beat.
Listening to this, for the first time we realized that Dungen reminds us a bit of XTC side project The Dukes Of Stratosphear; it's partly mainman Gustav Ejstes' voice (even in Swedish), partly his pop smarts, and of course partly Dungen's fantastical, effortless retroishness... but at this point maybe we can say that Dungen have moved from "retro" category into the one designated "timeless"!
Dungen's "Stadsvandringar" is Allan's new favorite cd (favorite new cd?). After a couple listens, he was well and truly hooked. Dungen is a Swedish band and what they play is Swedish retro psych-pop. Really really good Swedish retro psych-pop! This disc is, apparently, Dungen's second album after a vinyl-only effort that started a buzz. It looks and sounds perfectly '60s (or early '70s) with a front cover photo-collage in which wunderkind bandleader/singer/guitarist/songwriter Gustav Ejstes could be a dead ringer for a long-haired Owen Wilson. Musically, it sure casts a spell that that's definitely not-of-our-era... with sugary vocal refrains, wild fuzz guitars, Hammond B-3 organ riffing, lush arrangements, and some quite lovely flute bits (gettin' a bit proggy there, nothing wrong with that). Hints of trad Swedish folk music show up as well, not unlike that Arbete Och Fritid reissue we reviewed not long ago, one of Dungen's Svenska psych-prog-folk forefathers. The vocals are all in Swedish, and are sorta nasal, but good. Overall, this disc is just magical, convincingly retro yet standing on its own songwriting-wise. Melodically it's just as irresistable as the latest from Dungen's pal Bjorn Olsson, also reviewed here recently, but of course Dungen is more of a psychedelic rock thing. Imagine, maybe, if you can, something somewhere between the Kinks and Caravan, circa '69, with Swedish singing... Or just take Allan's word for it, this is great! We can only wonder why Dungen's retro-inclined Swedish labelmates like the Caesars and the Soundtrack Of Our Lives have gotten domestic US release and lots of attention, while this even better band is still only an import. Ah well, at least it's worth the higher import price!
NB. we should warn you that there's that annoying copy control technology on this cd (which means that 2 of the 11 songs aren't on Allan's iPod, boo hoo).
Back in stock! There was quite a run on these recently after Pitchfork gave this a rave review...hey didn't anyone read *our* review of this some months before? Anyway, we've got a few more (at a slightly better price, the label repressed 'em and made 'em cheaper too) and here's what we said about it before: Like fellow Swede and AQ-fave Bjorn Olsson, Gustav Ejstes is a brillant timewarped melody-maker. Though, his "solo" project Dungen sounds more like a band than Olsson's albums do. Wunderkind Ejstes is certainly enamored of '60s/'70s psych-pop and his obsession has borne some fabulous fruit. This is his third album to date (the first being a vinyl-only affair we have yet to hear, the second being the now-hard-to-find Stadsvandringar cd that Allan raved about on our list two years ago). So we were pleased to hear about the release of Ta Det Lugnt. It rocks more than the last one, being brasher, with more in the way of electric guitar frenzies in a Hendrix kinda style. But otherwise it's pretty similar, with Ejstes singing his hook-filled songs in the same somewhat nasal, Swedish langage voice as before. There's jazz jamming, folk frolics, and plenty of fuzz. A retro trip indeed from searing electric rippage to spaced-out, sentimental melodicism.
Dungen have done it once again. Gustav Ejstes' obsession with the sunshiney trippiness of '60s/'70s psychedelia is captured perfectly on Tio Bitar. Fuzzed to death Hagstrom guitar wails, delayed and reverbed Fender Rhodes, and beautiful lilting flute melodies...all the things we've come to expect from Dungen. The song writing is just as good as on Ta Det Lugnt, with maybe a slightly harder edge.
On the track "Ett Skal Att Trivas", the guitar line sounds almost Sabbathy, yet with such a keen pop sensibility that even those of us with cuddlier dispositions can't stop listening! The lead guitar work by Reine Fiske adds incredible energy to many of the tracks, a series of wonderful psych-pop gems, rife with extended jamming, TONS of instruments, and amazing little interludes. One of the highlights of this record is the textured and super lush production. You can almost imagine David Axelrod sneaking into the studio and laying his magic hands on the board giving it that unique warm and organic glow. All the instruments nestled in the mix just exactly where they should be with an overall sound both enticing and whimsical. For anyone who loves the Dungen sound, as we do, Tio Bitar is essential and we have a feeling this will win them a big batch of new fans as well.
The extra tracks from the extra disc that came with the domestic cd version of Dungen's Ta Det Lugnt now makes it to vinyl, in addition to the album itself (the double LP version of which is listed nearby). Five songs here, all of 'em awesome. Sorry it's a not-cheap import but if you're dedicated to your turntable then here you go.
Originally issued as a super limited -- 500 copies -- LP only pressing, the debut 2001 release from AQ (and everyone else's) Swedish retro psych pop faves Dungen has at last been reissued on compact disc in an expanded form by Subliminal Sounds! Containing only three very long tracks, each broken into 4-6 parts, their self-titled album might seem a bit of a disappointment to those who got turned on to them through their very popular third album Ta Det Lugnt, with its shorter, catchy pop and hard rock tunes. But we encourage you to give this disc a closer listen anyhow, as it's quickly grown on us. Each of the three tracks here meander in and out of song in an LSD trip-like whirl of whimsy. During one long improvised section you could swear you'd just plopped on Pink Floyd's Ummagumma to listen to "A Group Of Small Furry Animals..." (complete with animal sounds), at another moment the group sound like they're playing bossanovas at a 4 star hotel lounge (probably the low point on the record, it also lasts only briefly), at another point they're striking up a funky sitar led jam. Near the end of the second track the band all but drops out, leaving a reverb laden piano tinkling minor key Satie-esque melodies with sighing accompaniment from electric guitar. Super lovely. As alluded to above, we know that Dungen's Gustav Ejstes added material to the original LP tracks to fill out this cd reish, and he certainly made the old and new tracks flow together seamlessly. Those of you have have the second Dungen album Stadsvandringar will also experience a wee bit of deja vu, as some themes here were reprised for that album (which, Dungen fans who don't have that disc will be happy to hear is also slated for reissue this year sometime).
Sometimes it can take a while for word to get around (or for a record to become available here in the States)... Nicolai Dunger is a gentle Swedish singer-songwriter, and a personal fave of those fine Calexico fellows (in fact you might've seen him performing on tour with them). As you may or may not have noticed from the artists they've chosen to collaborate with and take on the road (Howe Gelb, Neko Case, Amor Belhom Duo, Lambchop, Richard Buckner, Lisa Germano, Francoize Breut and Nancy Sinatra) those Arizonan gents have mighty good taste! Anyways, this is a domestic reissue of Dunger's third album which originally came out on Dolores Recordings in 1999. He actually has seven full lengths which were released on almost as many labels (the first was back in 1996!). Sir Nicolai crafts wonderful, lilting folk pop songs perfect for drifting off to catnap-land in the shade of a big ol' weeping willow tree. You might think of him as the Swedish counterpart to Canadian troubadour Ron Sexsmith or perhaps a gutsier Kings Of Convenience. Each song beckons you to lean in close as he sings his thoughtful lyrics atop the wistful arrangements which on this album were played by fellow Swedes Soundtrack Of Our Lives and they lend a very subtle trippiness to the proceedings. So good!
Like a wonderful melding of Spoon (Girls Can Tell) and The Jam (but not Jam & Spoon!), this is the third full-length from this super-sharp Canadian pop duo (their first two were "Smash the Ships and Raise the Beams" and "The Cons and the Pros") with a
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Side one: "Po' Po' Pee Poo" (17:34). Side two: "Po' Po' Pee Poo (version)" (17:43).
We've always had customers askin' for kids music, but there's also always been a dearth of suitably AQ-ilk releases... until now! The recent flood of children's music compilations arrivin' here (so many in fact that we've made a children's section in the store!) has spurred us to ask, "just what does it take to categorize something as 'child worthy'?" Okay, besides the obvious 'no swear words' rule, what other criteria is there? Lots of the recent stuff we've received that's been hailed as kinder-oriented has just been light, bubbly, electronic musicbox-y melodies. Pleasing enough to listen to, but not particularly attention-grabbing nor attention-keeping. What?! Don't the artists think the kids wanna rock too? Really, with the exception of They Might be Giants' Here Are The ABCs album which is both thoroughly educational and engaging, most of the releases seem to be offering sedation rather than stimulation. Hmm, maybe it's the musician-parents' sly way of seeking some respite from their kids' hyperactive behaviour? Well, unlike most of the current pre-school poseurs (wink!), this cd features honest to goodness kids! Duplex is a band whose members' ages range from 3 years old up to 37! Much like TMBG there's some pretty fine pop songwriters in the Duplex camp -- the elder members also play in a number of Vancouver bands (including A.C. Newman's). Ablum is filled with eighteen delightful story songs and singalongs (topics include salad, multiplication, camels, a character called Mr. Slim, and uhh, pooing and peeing). Apparently it's even been accepted for distribution to all of the elementary schools up in Vancouver. How's that for a stamp of approval?
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
On her debut album, Liz Durrett (aka Vic Chesnutt's niece) takes a few steps into the sedated folk pop terrain of her uncle, and a few steps back in time. These songs were written and recorded back in the mid-'90s when she was a teen (she's now well into her 20s), but they ache with a haunting despondence well beyond those years. She enlisted ample help and guidance from family members including ol' Uncle Vic (in the producer's chair) and her grandmother. In a sense, this album serves as a family gathering style clearing away of the old, but not simply to make way for the new. More so, Husk serves to unveil and contrast Durrett's 'then' with her 'now' (a new freshly written and recorded album is on the horizon). Her more folksy numbers are very soft, very wispy, and very Cat Power-ish while the other non-acoustic songs sound not unlike a baby Portishead! Check out the fourth and fifth songs ("Captive" and "BC") for a back to back example of this.
Dare we say that on her newest album, Liz Durrett out 'Cat Power's Chan Marshall? Now, we're by no means taking anything away from Ms Durrett nor are we suggesting that she's a copycat. No, it's just that this album inhabits a very similar territory as, say, the beloved Cat Power album Moon Pix. The reference is a total compliment. she's a great songwriter and a captivating performer in her own right. Oh yeah, and she doesn't sounds anything like her Uncle Vic (Chesnutt) neither! Whew, hope that clears things up and gets us out of any pickles. This is her second full length and it is so absolutely lovely -- a fantastic follow-up to her debut, Husk. Durrett shares her dreamy secrets in hushed pastel tones and delicately lilting folksy phrases. You'll have no choice but to linger a while (or at least for the 37 minute playing time) on this Mezzanine!
Amigos Em Portugal was originally released in 1983 as an attempt to further extend the Factory Records empire (which spawned the likes of Joy Division, New Order, A Certain Ratio, and later The Happy Mondays). It's curious that the Durutti Column was the band of choice for the Portuguese expansion, as the Durutti Column has always been a beautiful if less than conventional project. For the most part, Amigos Em Portugal is an instrumental album of spindly duets for wintery piano coupled with solo guitar; and the CD reissue also features Dedications for Jacqueline (which may or may not have been a part of the original Amigos album) that does find Durutti Column's Vini Reilly singing his sleepy lullabies sounding an awful lot like Genesis P-Orridge on the PTV album Dreams Less Sweet. Just as the original album has been a difficult to find item for years, the reissue on Kooky is only limited to 1000 copies, surely to be gobbled up quite quickly.
There are those certain records for all of us that just change things when they enter your world. For a few of us here, this 1981 album by Durutti Column is one of those records. An album that showed that music could be sparse and majestic at the same time. D.I.Y., yet and grandiose in how it evokes emotion, memory, longing and desire. The work of Vini Reilly, Durutti Column emerged out of Factory Records yet their sound was something completely of its own world. Merging impeccable guitar playing with subtle drum machines, soft vocals and a golden warmth that makes this one of those albums that makes you melt everytime you put it on.
Pastoral and blissful, LC is filled with both perfect restraint and full on flowing beauty. You can hear how traces of the more blissed out side of Krautrock influenced him, merging that with the stripped down emotional quality of British folk and placing it into a very modern moment. While not an obscure band by any measure, we are still blown away though by how many people who would love Durutti Column have never heard them. And with the reissue of their first two lp's we hope that so many of those folks finally do. We could go on and on listing folks whose music we love and who have undoubtedly been influenced by Durutti Column, and this record in particular: Felt, Fuqugi, Danny Paul Grody, Colleen, James Blackshaw, Ducktails, Fennesz, Manuel, A.R. Kane, My Bloody Valentine, and on and on. One of our favorite records of all time, so if you didn't have this before, now's the time!
Of all of the bands that hailed from Factory Records back in the early '80s, The Durutti Column is the only one that is still active alongside New Order. The Durutti Column is principally the work of guitarist / vocalist Vini Riley with his drum machine and whomever happens to be near the studio when he's recording. After all of those years of releasing his music on Tony Wilson's various permutations of Factory, Riley released Tempus Fugit as the first Durutti Column album on his own label Kookydisc.
A skeletal man with a frail voice, Riley produces an accurate reflection of his own body through his music; however, his albums have always been a bit of a mixed bag. Each album has ill advised excursions into tepid jazz and occasional ambient-lite guitar noodlings. Sure, Durutti Column records might be better off without the obvious (to us) dud tracks, but the same spirit that sends Riley down aesthetic deadends also guides the Durutti Column to some of most personal and beautiful expressions of melancholia in the past 25 years. Tempus Fugit suffers from these same pitfalls, as there's a curious attempt at a grime rhythm track on his oh-so wee drum machine and a strange spacious track with hand-claps and slap-bass lines that goes nowhere, but much of the same gossamer guitar escapades, spectral ambience, and ghostly vocals found on his classic albums LC and The Return of the Durutti Column are still present. That said, if you're new to the Durutti Column, this might not be the best place to start. Those aforementioned albums are far better, but if you've ever fallen under the spell of the Durutti Column in the past, Tempus Fugit has plenty of gems to be discovered.
We've got two great vinyl reissues of the first two lps from Manchester's Durutti Column this week. Despite the title, The Return of The Durutti Column was their debut release from 1980, originally on Factory Records. While the title is tongue in cheek (as was the original album cover, covered in sandpaper so that it would scrape and scuff any record filed next to it), it was truly a return, as by the time they were set to record, the original five piece group enlisted by Factory label boss Tony Wilson had dissolved into sole member, guitarist Vini Reilly. In less capable hands, this might of been devastating, but Vini Reilly, a true alchemist of the electric guitar, could more than hold his own. Working with Martin Hannet, who provided the atmospheric production and synth washes, and a couple of session players, The Return of... is a tour-de-force of warm pastoral instrumentals, soft textures and intricate jazz-like compositional dynamics.
Durutti Column didn't have the typical Factory Records sound associated with bands like A Certain Ratio or Joy Division. In fact, Reilly's interweaving filigree guitar lines and bright chiming tones sounded more like a group that would be on Crepuscule or even 4AD. "Sketch for Summer" is one of the most beautiful openers ever and completely sets the tone for the rest of the album. Sweeping and expansive, yet also introspective and labyrinthian, Reilly conjures beautifully spiraling melodies that glide and wander, sometimes letting themselves get lost in the exploration but never get aimless or muddled. Highly Recommended!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Despite the fact that the Durutti Column has primarily been a solo project for Vini Reilly, the avant-guitarist from Manchester did not start the Durutti Column; in fact he was invited to join the band by Factory Records head honcho Tony Wilson. Yet during the band's first year in existance, all of the members departed except for Reily who shrugged his shoulders and kept on going. One has to wonder if Reilly under different circumstances would have named his project The Durutti Column, which was inspired by the Spanish Civil War anarchist Buenaventura Durutti and a Situationists Internationale comic strip from the '60s. The themes found in the Durutti Column's music are far more painterly, poetic, and delicate than the semantic disruptions and political chaos that the name suggests.
The Return of the Durutti Column was actually the debut album for Reilly and producer extraordinaire Martin Hannett who was instrumental in shaping Durutti Column's minimalist rock atmospheres and wintery moods. Durutti Column was perhaps the only band on Factory which has never been accused of being a Joy Division clone, which makes sense upon listening to the delicate guitar playing cast in a snowstorm of reverb. Originally conceived as an instrumental album, the cd reissue of The Return of the Durutti Column adds a couple of tracks including Reilly's touching tribute to Ian Curtis entitled "Lips That Would Kiss" and a guest appearance from Clock DVA's Jeremy Kerr. Without Durutti Column's beautiful music, there would be no Bark Psychosis, no Labradford, and no Sigur Ros. Seriously.
Introducing Ian Dury's son! Now, if you're expecting him to follow down a similar path of fiery, wry Cockney punk as that of his father, think again! Right from the get go, his debut full length instead reveals some strong psych and pretty pop leanings bringing to mind a gentle gathering of Mercury Rev and Belle & Sebastian. Very soft, poetic and wistful, but also very detailed and lushly produced. There's some truly gorgeous misty moments and great pop songs on Len Parrot's Memorial Lift. Positively dreamy.
Rather surprisingly, vinyl of this was one of this year's Record Store Day releases. Wish we still had 'em but we sold all the copies we could get already. However, they also reissued it, as a two-for-one disc, on cd, and not being a RSD release we were able to get some of those to list. We've had reissues of both Dust albums before, most recently as rather expensive Repertoire imports, so here's the reviews of both of these proto-metal essentials.
For those who need to know: the American hard rock trio known as Dust are another of those legendary early '70s bands that get mentioned in the same breath with heavies like Captain Beyond, Sir Lord Baltimore, The James Gang, Bang, Stray, Leafhound, Highway Robbery, and the like. They cut two excellent lps of late-psychedelic-era proto-metal back in '71 and '72. Of their two albums, the first, self-titled one is swampier, with a lot of slide and country/southern rock moves on tracks like "Stone Woman" and "Chasin' Ladies". But then there's the lugubrious and weighty 10-minute epic "From A Dry Camel", and conversely, the gentle acoustic dreaminess of "Often Shadows Felt". Mostly, though, the album kicks ass with uptempo hard rockers, including the ripping, rollicking instrumental "Loose Goose" that closes the album quite frenetically.
Following that is 1972's Hard Attack, generally considered the harder of Dust's two albums, the more metal. Though that may be in part 'cause of the awesome Frank Frazetta cover painting, and album title! But perhaps it is somewhat more Sabbathian. "Downer rock" they called it back then (we're told). Their song "Suicide" (the penultimate track on side 2 of the original vinyl) - whooah, that could be Pentagram! That song alone makes this an essential purchase for any true doom/psych fan. It's an all time classic.
But it's not all doom n' gloom n' barbarians - Hard Attack has its lighter side, but unlike a lot of their peers, the poppier and/or less rockin' stuff Dust do here is actually really great. Sure, a song like "Thusly Spoken" features strings and a Beatlesy melody, but the lyrics still name-check Satan and speak of dancing demons. Lush, gorgeous downer-pop that sets you up to be crushed by the following, urgently hard-rockin' track "Learning To Die". They do that throughout the album, alternating gentle - even acoustic - numbers with the proggy proto-metal workouts that the headbangers of 1972 must have loved.
It's hard to understand why Dust didn't "make" it, as this stuff is certainly the equal of big sellers from their era by Deep Purple or Uriah Heep. Great singing, riffs, melodies, and that "feel" - it's all here.
We mentioned Pentagram above - if you've got that Relapse anthology of Pentagram's original seventies recordings, First Daze Here, you should definitely check out the work of Dust, who were both contemporaries of, and an influence on, the Ram's Head boys. Yes, Dust are an important name on the list of forgotten but godlike '70s hard rock bands that make today's so-called stoner rockers sound like punk/grunge wanna-bes. In a word (again): classic. Too bad you'll never hear 'em on your local "classic rock" radio station...
Oh, and Dust featured the future Marky Ramone on drums, by the way, before he decided punk was the way to go (or even had that option).
This remastered reissue sports its own new cover design, but inside the thick cd booklet there's smaller versions of the original album art, plus lots of vintage photos, and plenty of liner notes (including some from Marky), etc.
Of Dust's two albums, this 1972 LP is considered the harder of the two, the more metal, the somewhat more Sabbathian. "Downer rock" they called it back then (we're told). Their song "Suicide" (track 9) -- whooah, that could be Pentagram! This track alone makes this an essential purchase for any true doom/psych fan. It's an all time classic. Between that and the awesome Frank Frazetta cover painting, what more could you want?
But it's not all doom n' gloom n' barbarians -- "Hard Attack" has its lighter side, but unlike a lot of their peers, the poppier and/or less rockin' stuff Dust do is actually really great. Sure, a song like "Thusly Spoken" features strings and a Beatlesy melody, but the lyrics still name-check Satan and speak of dancing demons. Lush, gorgeous downer-pop that sets you up to be crushed by the following, urgently hard-rockin' track "Learning To Die". They do that throughout the album, alternating gentle -- even acoustic -- numbers with the proto-metal workouts that the headbangers of 1972 must have loved.
It's hard to understand why Dust didn't "make" it, as this stuff is certainly the equal of big sellers from their era by Deep Purple or Uriah Heep. Great singing, riffs, melodies, and that "feel" -- it's all here.
We mentioned Pentagram above -- if you bought that awesome Relapse label anthology of Pentagram's original seventies recordings that we recommended a few lists back, you should definitely check out the work of Dust, who were both contemporaries of and an influence on the Ram's Head boys. Dust are an important name on the list of forgotten but godlike '70s hard rock bands that make today's so-called stoner rockers sound like punk wanna-bes (bands like Lucifer's Friend, Highway Robbery, Orang-utan, Toad, Budgie, Sir Lord Baltimore, Captain Beyond, Leafhound, etc.). In a word (again): classic. Too bad you'll never hear 'em on your local "classic rock" radio station...
Not a new release, but listed for the first time 'cause we love it: The American hard rock trio known as Dust are another of those legendary early '70s bands that get mentioned in the same breath with heavies like Captain Beyond, Sir Lord Baltimore, The James Gang, Bang, and the like. They cut two excellent LPs of late-psychedelic-era proto-metal back in '71 and '72. This the first, self-titled one, and of their two albums, this one's swampier, with a lot of slide and country/southern rock moves on tracks like "Stone Woman" and "Chasin' Ladies". But then there's the lugubrious and weighty 10-minute epic "From A Dry Camel" and the gentle acoustic dreaminess of "Often Shadows Felt". Mostly, though, the album kicks ass with uptempo hard rockers. Maybe they could be considered the American version of Nazareth (with vocals somewhat less soaked in whiskey). What we're saying is: pretty great!
Dust features the future Marky Ramone on drums, by the way, before he decided punk was the way to go.
Is Duster from the San Joaquin Valley? I'm not too sure, but they really could be the mope-rock, dressed-in-black distant cousins of Grandaddy. The lackadaisical indie strum of Grandaddy does certainly play a part in Duster's "Contemporary Movement," but Duster also incorporates the high tension atmospheres from driving percussive rhythms and minor chord chugs not unlike the classic Factory sounds of Joy Division, Crispy Ambulance, and the Abecedarians. But balanced with a warm and fuzzy, low-fi home recorded, strummy, breathy, whispery sort of Pavement-on-codeine. This may be the perfect lonely, late night slowcore sad-rock(read 'goth'?) that the emo kids and the Slinty people have been waiting for.
New duo comprised of Vivian Trimble (formerly of Luscious Jackson) and Josephine Wiggs (formerly of the Breeders). "A synthesis of elegance and groove"... their words not ours. Quite simply this sounds like music from some 70's tv movie love scene starring Suzanne Somers, as performed by a very stoned Luscious Jackson. Easy listening, dinner music with a faux tropicalia feel. They do get points for including a song sung by Emmylou Harris though. Andee says this is a seventies female version of New Wet Kojak's 'I'm so sexy and dangerous' bullshit rock. See NWK review in AQ list #91.
Eccentric outsider doom metal from the '80s, from waaaaaay down underground. Now hold up, if the words "doom" or "metal" make you think, not for me, think again (maybe). This isn't like any metal you've ever heard, really. More like spaced out '60s heavy psychedelic guitar rock (one song's called "Heavy Vibrations", man), overloaded also with shrill synth symphonics and trippy effects... That's where the "outsider" tag comes in, Dwarr being a one-man band, all the work of South Carolina multi-instrumentalist (but especially guitar!) Duane Warr (hence the name Dwarr), whom we get the impression is quite a character. It's so DIY that the cds have his phone number on 'em, in case you want to get in touch. His privately pressed music comes off like a cough-syrup dosed mixture of Black Sabbath and Todd Tamanend Clark (whom you should know from the double cd anthology we raved about a few years ago). Or, The Happy Dragon Band playing Pink Floyd, from beyond the grave. Maybe a lo-fi Captain Beyond, on even more drugs than Captain Beyond were ever on. Or imagine if Bobb Trimble was an '80s metaller, perhaps (and worked out in the gym a lot more?). Sorry to use so many almost equally obscure references, but it's hard to compare this confusional beast to anything else.
Look at that insane cover painting, a surreal post-apocalyptic landscape (that's a malevolent-looking Statue of Liberty sunken in polluted looking water next to a cave populated by long-haired, skull-faced cannibalistic mutants, with an avatar of Dwarr himself, we're guessing, striking a heroic he-man pose in the upper right hand corner). The music itself is as surreal and apocalyptic and ridiculous as that image, matching up to it much more than most other "metal" albums ever match up to their cover art, both in subject matter and, ah, execution.
Just from the cover painting, let alone the music, this Dwarr album is SO perfectly Aquarius, you'd almost think we made it up. But no, Dwarr's for real, something we'd vaguely heard tell of and been curious about for years, and finally went to the trouble of tracking down (not so hard, thanks to the Internet, now that everybody and their grandmother's bands are on MySpace). And lo and behold, it turned out Dwarr had issued ALL four of his albums (two from the '80s, two from the '00s, believe it or not!) on compact disc. So we had to get a bunch of this one, his second, from 1986, probably his best and "heaviest". A Record Of The Week, easy.
There's 13 tracks, each one incredible (or incredibly strange). There's nothing that's NOT freaked out about this. Even the poppiest songs (like the title track "Animals") are full of sluggish grooves, druggy lyrics, buzzing electronics, melodic stoned vocals, acid rock guitar (and acid WTF synth). Elsewhere it gets away from rock/metal song structure entirely, with interludes of eerie atmospherics, spacey soundscapes overlaid with ominous whispered declamations, and weirdass instrumentals, like the squirrelly, proggy bombast of "Chocolate Mescalyne", a track that if you sped it up a lot would almost fit in on a Orthrelm album.
And then there's the DOOM. Oh yeah, while it's not "normal" doom it IS doom. Sludgy, Sabbath-riffed doom indeed, despite the trebly production. "Ghost Lover", for instance, gives us the feel of both the Sabs' "Iron Man" and "Electric Funeral", and Duane's vocals are particularly Ozzy-ish on the uber-heavy "Evil Lures" too... Great stuff if you really really appreciate the stranger, more psychedelic aspects of true doom artistry, the spirit is HERE.
Three cheers for avant garde new wave downer rock hippie heavy metal weirdness! That gives special thanks "to the Columbia High School Band for the use of their percussion instruments". We are so pleased to play a role in sharing this culter than cult classic with you, which by the way comes in fairly no-frills packaging, the cd in a thin cardboard sleeve with full-color album art front and back but no lyrics, liner notes, nothin' like that. It's pretty cheap though. Not that you should need any further incentive to pick this up, after reading our ravings above...
Gotta give it up to the folks at Drag City, they're (weird) music lovers after our own hearts, all right. Not only did they reissue the eccentric 1986 outsider "doom" "metal" "masterpiece", Animals, by one-man-band Duane Warr aka Dwarr (an album that we at aQuarius had previously made a Record Of The Week, back when we were ordering an earlier, self-released cd version directly from Dwarr himself, we might add), they have now reissued that album's predecessor, 1984's privately pressed Starting Over - which, despite its title, was in fact Dwarr's debut. Thereby proving that they didn't just put out Animals for a lark! They're serious about their love for Dwarr, and really think people should hear his stuff - and people should, we agree. Maybe not all people, but certainly people who appreciate the finer things in, well, wacked out, downer DIY psychedelia, occasionally dosed with Eddie Van Halen style guitar shred. It's the '60s in the '80s, the dark sides of both decades distilled down to a unique, entertainingly demented essence. And not just entertaining, but truly affecting.
Now, we hope you already have Animals (go read our rave review of that right now, if you haven't!). If you do have it, we probably only need say you want this too. If you don't, well, while we would have to say Animals is the #1 best Dwarr, this one comes close, certainly possessing a similar vibe, and since it was the man's first album, there's no reason not to start with it if you wish to delve into the weird world of Dwarr. In fact, depending on your inclinations, this one might just be a bit more accessible, as it's not so overtly metallic, but perhaps even more sparse and psychedelic (if possible). Super slow but for the soloing. Black Sabbath is perhaps less of an influence on this one, than Pink Floyd... Or at least, rather than riff monsters like "Iron Man" and "Electric Funeral", this one takes its cues from the mellower, pot-wreathed Sabbath numbers like "Solitude" and "Planet Caravan". This is a gentler, folkier Dwarr, sort of. But definitely druggy and proggy (like Captain Beyond, circa Sufficiently Breathless), very odd and home-brewed, and certainly sometimes heavy too. Well, always "heavy", maaaann.
The songs are moody and melancholic, with hushed, woeful vocals. The production is lo-fi, of course, with tinny, trebly guitars indulging in widdly, effect-drenched soloing. Heck, there's a gnarly two-minute instrumental called "Christmas Shopping" that sounds like something Mick Barr might do, overdosed on cough syrup! Or anyone remember the '90s Mexican prog/psych band Humus? Probably not, but it totally could be them. And is that a genius song title or what? We also like "Lonely Ecstasy" as a title, that's another one here. Well, he's got a lot of interesting ideas, that Dwarr. And, as with Animals, this has an amazing piece of album cover artwork, to match the music in outsidery strangeness.
Along with Sabbath and Floyd, another "ordinary" comparison we could make would be to, maybe, solo Steve Hillage in the '70s. And Hendrix is a likely influence (Dwarr's vocals on "I've Been Thinking" kinda remind us of Jimi). Uli Jon Roth's solo stuff, too?? But given an even more eccentric, living-in-his-mother's-basement makeover. Then there's the pantheon of other outsiders we love, with whom Dwarr totally belongs... Michael Yonkers, Bobb Trimble, Todd Tamanend Clark, and more recently, and possibly more precisely too due to the doom metal element, Tony Tears.
Ok, enough said really. Either we've piqued your interest, or your life will stay sadly Dwarr-free. And again, if you're already a fan, you'll want this for sure!
Hmmm. Maybe 25 years from now Drag City will be reissuing Fastest albums too...
From looking at the cover you'd be forgiven for thinking the Dwarves were back, and back to their dirty old tricks. Three naked and greased up women on their knees in front of a crucified dwarf. Old times. But once you throw the record on, you may be thrown for a loop. Side one is a straight up, bouncy pop punk number, like the Dwarves with an MTV makeover. But the big surprise is on side 2, where the Dwarves indulge in something like a techno-grunge My Life With The Thrill Kill Cult meets the Warlock Pinchers electro clash. Weird.
Blag, He Who, and the gang are back and on Epitaph. And, it's no joke, these bad boys are now fully year-2000 compliant, incorporating electronica & big beat sounds into their pop-punk blast. (Poppier punk than before, too. They're working all the angles it seems.) And it works. Surprisingly good for a band who we thought peaked years ago. However, this record may disappoint diehard Dwarves fans, no tooling for warm teabags on this one, although plenty of cocaine and sex with 14 year old girls.
Let's be honest. The Dwarves ARE dead. At least in terms of musical ferocity and downright punk rock snarl. Sure, their record covers still rule, with photgrapher Michael Levine continuing his Dwarves winning streak with even more sweaty dirty naked ladies. No dead rabbit this time, but a crucified dwarf and of course said dwarf in the shower with those same dirty sweaty naked ladies probably makes up for that. And yeah the band photos are still unflattering and feature at least one member baring it all. But in a million years you would never know this was the Dwarves. This is so far removed from classic Dwarves records like Blood, Guts and Pussy or Tooling For A Warm Teabag. Could this possibly be the same band that wrote the absolute punk rock anthems "Fuck You Up And Get High" and "Drug Store"? Well it could and it is. Obviously those of you who are punk rock Dwarves diehards will most likely be disappointed, but adventurous folks looking for a goofy punky occasionally electronic (!) POP record might actually dig this. You heard us. This is a pop record. Through and through. Think the Ramones at their absolute poppiest. Sure there are snotty growled vocals, but more often than not, there is actual singing, poppy hooks, programmed drum beats, harmony background vocals, weird surf guitar, unlikely hip hop/nu-metal (!), and occasional almost Ministry-ish blasts of industrial swagger. It may seem that we're slagging it, and we sort of want to since Blood, Guts and Pussy was so PERFECT and still occupies such a special place in our punk rock hearts, but honestly, this record is pretty goofy and fun and really kinda good. And the more we listen to The Dwarves Must Die, the less we want them to.
We don't always get everything that stoner rock specialists Small Stone put out, but the stuff that we do, is always really good. Case in point, this new disc from a trio we'd never heard of before, Dwellers. We're guessing there's some sort of Lovecraftian connotation to their name, though the ropy intestines / psychedelic tentacles in the portrait painting of the band on the cover are presumably referencing the album title too, but not in a gross way. Anyway, Dwellers are a heavy duty stoner metal band from Salt Lake City, with some grunge going on, the vocals in particular definitely giving it a bit of that old school Seattle vibe.
Actually, after getting this Dwellers in, and digging it, we realized that while we hadn't known who they were, we HAD reviewed, and really liked, an album by the singer/guitarist's previous band, Iota, also on Small Stone. These lines from our review of Iota's Tales pretty much also apply to Dwellers' debut: "A mixture of trippy Hawkwindiness and more aggressive blues based hard rockin', sorta like (early) Soundgarden or Skin Yard meets the heavier, more spaced out sounds of Sons Of Otis or UFOmammut. One reason we mention Soundgarden and Skin Yard is 'cause of the grungy melodic vocals, which bear a certain resemblance to that of those bands, but otherwise this is HEAVIER and SPACIER than any Seattle grunge for sure."
So, sweet. Dwellers definitely continue to a large degree in that Iota tradition, these six tracks being damn heavy, fuzzed-out, and graced with the gruff, drawling, grunge-worthy vox of Iota's Joey Toscano (the rhythm section here having their own pedigree, being from the band Subrosa). Maybe in comparison to Iota there's something a little bit earthier, and even bluesier, to these jams, which while they can get lengthy (up to ten minutes), don't orbit quite as far out in space as some of Iota's more extended, alien assaults. Instead, there's a greater focus on, say, Southern-fried slide guitar in service of Dwellers' gritty rockin'. There's slowburn builds ("Old Honey") and catchy groovers ("Lightening Ritual"), Good Morning Harakiri sometimes stompin', and sometimes spaced out, with lots of loping riffage and raspy holler. Maybe imagine a much more succinct Earthless, gone grunge? Dead Meadow channelling some Alice In Chains? CoC circa Blind, playing the blues?? Ah, we're not quite getting it right. But anyway, if you're into the stoner rock stuff and want a good dose (of something a bit different, but still familiar), give this a listen! Recommended.
By the way, we like how this album, despite being on cd, is obviously sequenced with a Side One / Side Two concept in mind, the tracklist on the back cover making this obvious with a gap between tracks 3 and 4.
Stellar 2nd album from Salt Lake City psychedelic stoners Dwellers - whom our Andee just got to see play live when they opened for A Minor Forest's tour stop in their town. He says they were GREAT, which we'd have expected since we liked their first album, and this one too. Compared to the debut, this new one seems a bit more mellowed out, at first anyway, but really it runs the gamut, from dusky balladry to heavy jams (often delivering both at the same time), getting especially epic on numbers like "Rare Eagle" and album-closer "Call Of The Hallowed Horn". Loping and bluesy, with a bit of a down home, Southern feel, this pure good heavy, hazy music from a trio that knows what they're doin', employing (besides guitars, bass and drums) such additional instruments as cello, organ, and Rhodes piano, along with "real" singing for sure... previously we'd mentioned how the vocals made us think of some good old Seattle grunge, now that comparison could resolve into a more specific Mark Lanegan reference. Recommended! FYI, vinyl version due in July.
If you haven't seen the Scorsese documentary yet go rent or buy it asap! Whether you thought yourself a Dylan diehard or not you will be converted. This double cd companion is maybe the perfect Dylan collection for both life long devotees as well as those who have never totally bought into the myth. Disc one is all acoustic and features demo and home recordings of a young Dylan at his most raw. Disc two is what makes it though. The electric Dylan! Complete with the blistering live plugged in "Maggie's Farm" from the Newport Folk Festival which had all the traditional folkies angered including Pete Seger who actually tried to get wire cutters to kill the sound of what he thought a mess and betrayal of true folk. But truth is, when Dylan plugged in and showed he belonged to no one, he helped lay down a foundation of independent spirited rock/folk that has been carried on during the last quarter century and currently the flame can be seen in the hands of the likes of The Mountain Goats, Entrance, Bright Eyes, etc.
Hey, it's just like old times! Jay Hinman, former editor/publisher of the music fanzine Superdope (1991-1998) has jumped back into the 'zine game with this new dead tree periodical. He does a Dynamite Hemorrhage podcast too, and Dynamite Hemorrhage was originally birthed as a blog, but it's great to see this new off-line, in-print 'zine happening. The debut issue is full-sized, with a color cover, b&w interior, 64 pages, in the if-it-ain't-broke-don't-fix-it, tried-and-true fanzine format of olde. Desktop publishing, baby.
As with Superdope, Jay's focus here is on the garage/indie underground pretty much, old and new. The cover story is on The Flesh Eaters (appropriately enough, since "Dynamite Hemorrhage" is the name of one of their songs). Jay interviews frontman Chris D., specifically and in-depth about the 1977-1980 era, discussing the LA punk scene, his Upsetter label, Slash magazine where he worked, the Masque, etc.
More obscure punk history is unearthed in an interview with '90s Scottish all girl garage group Sally Skull, and recently reissued on Captured Tracks DIY popsters Bona Dish. There's also interviews with current-day bands too: Columbus Ohio lo-fi garage scuzz unit Sex Tide, and NYC minimal postpunk duo Household. Perhaps best of all though, is the contribution here from the folks who do the Fuckin' Record Reviews blog on tumblr, a retrospective feature about all of their favorite underground music fanzines from back in the day - Butt Rag, Crank, Opprobrium, Bananafish, and more. Ah, the nostalgia. We still treasure our back issues of all of those 'zine mentioned, and now know about some others we wish we'd read/collected back then.
Oh, and there's plenty of music (and book) reviews of course, in fact, the reviews section takes up almost half the page count! They're informed, amusing, and either enthused or acerbic as appropriate. That Sunfoot review, ouch!
Basically, Dynamite Hemorrhage #1 is a damn good example of just why we read 'zines. Looking forward to #2.
All right! The 2nd issue is here of this cool old school style music zine, from the guy (Jay Hinman) who used to do the fanzine Super Dope back in the '90s. Slick cover, 80 pages - even bigger than issue #1. Lots of great stuff about underground music old and new - NZ legend Bill Direen is on the cover, Dynamite Hemorrhage providing both an interview and a discography/retrospective. Also, you get stuff on great Goner-label Memphis garage punks the Nots, lo-fi popsmiths Honey Radar, the 'behind the scenes story' of the Back From The Grave compilation series, and the Punk 45 series too, a "Layman's Guide to 1970s Jamaican Dub" from Jay, a primer on obscure '70s-'90s female punk/post-punk, tons of record reviews, book reviews too, and a bunch more, basically all the sort of cool stuff you want in a music zine. Classic. And it hasn't even been a full year since issue #1, so we're hoping to see #3 sometime next fall!
There once was a hip SF trio named Dynasty. They were Jibz Cameron (The Roofies), Diana Hayes (Mono Pause, The Roofies) and Indra Dunis (Numbers) -- three ladies who made the scene in matching party frocks and fevered lo-fi dance tunes. For a brief spell they raised the roof, raised some eyebrows and kicked out their party jams. The three eventually split to pursue other flights of fancy. One of them moved to New York and formed her own one-gal band, revising her former group's name by adding the word 'handbag' and taking her sound off the dancefloor into darker, dislocated and downright strange territory. Jibz Cameron is the last lady standing, raising a ruckus all her own, make-up a little smeared but orange visor and multi-colored maillot intact. Foo Foo Yik Yik is a bizarre, twisted journey in pretty much every aspect. The stark instrumentation runs rampant from jutting guitars to minimal electro-pulse. Her vocals leap from badass banshee caterwaul to tormented scribble scrawl internal child speak. Imagine a chemically imbalanced, disheveled combination of pre-teen playing dress-up, fading aerobicizer, tantrum-throwing aged socialite... close but not quite! Freaky-scary in a Sandra Bernhard sort of way. Includes a cover of The Stooges' "Open Up And Bleed".
More cool music from China, this one a 7" from a duo called The Dyne, who deliver some cool droned out psychedelic post rock on the A side, all sinewy basslines and mathy drumming, anchoring clouds of distorted riffage, and pulsing guitar shimmer, motorik and hypnotic, laced with subtle FX and little sonic curlicues, but with some crazy catchy melodies, almost like it could the theme song / credit music from some super cult show, check out the segment at about 1:15, the sort of part you kinda want to go on forever, made all the cooler but only surfacing a couple times. The flipside though find the band crafting something more poppy and proper songlike, the sonic palette similar to the A side, but a bit more frantic and frenetic, with chiming melodies and jagged guitar crunch, the vocals buried in the mix, a little droney and croony, the song seesawing back and forth between crunchy indie jangle and more brooding indie rock drift. Cool stuff. And yet another band to add to the long list of recent discoveries from the impossibly fertile Chinese underground rock scene!
Really cool, instrumental post-rock / metal with lots of super complex playing and weird jazzy-ish bits. Definitely check it out if you're into Don Cab, Bozart, The (Fucking) Champs, etc.
Here's a split release we couldn't have anticipated, but certainly are enjoying: a pairing of NY math-metallers Dysrhythmia and sleepy British soundscapers Rothko (longtime faves of ours). Really it's not so strange, both bands are instrumental and fall into the "post rock" category thereby. Quite a contrast though, how they go about things. On Dysrhythmia's half, they offer up "Earthquake", a quarter-hour EPIC of soft-loud dynamic math rock, that percolates through wound-up metallic frenzies and moody stretches of heavy-duty ambience both. Pretty amazing. Imagine a mix of Isis and Crom-tech, or Don Cab playing Mogwai. Then Rothko lets you catch your breath and relax with their two rather more ambient-sounding tracks, adding much more low-end hum and drone to the proceedings... beautiful stuff. An unexpected split this, but satisfying start to finish, showcasing both the technical and the textural (Dysrhythmia more the former, Rothko very much the latter). FYI, Dysrhythmia's song is a reworking of one from an early, self-released album of theirs (before they signed to Relapse).
