Entrance is the solo project of 21 year old Guy Blakeslee, who has also played bass for Baltimore's Convocation Of... Though this stuff is not much like that band's proggy post-punk, that's presumably why he landed on the same record label as that band. Also maybe 'cause he's performed with Will Oldham and Cat Power, and done a split 7" with Papa M... Anyway, Entrance could be better compared to Guy's friend and touring partner, the wonderful Devendra Banhart (you've all got his album, we know!). Playing solo with just an acoustic guitar and his voice, and maybe a tambourine or somesuch, Guy sounds a bit like Syd Barrett and looks a bit like Marc Bolan. As he proved here not long ago when he played an instore with Devendra, Guy can project his music quite well with no help from amplifiers or microphones! This disc is much in the same spirit as that instore. Rambling lovely string tangle, dramatic late-night laments, violent strumming, and vocal outpourings building on the folk-rock vibes of mystic fellows of decades past. The disc features mostly originals (apparently never played the same way twice, thanks to Entrance's loose, in-the-moment aesthetic and reliance on enthusiasm rather than training technique-wise) but also some suitable covers by blues/folk forebears Skip James ("I'm So Glad") and Bob Dylan ("Tommy Thumb's Summertime Blues"). Basically, Entrance is somewhere between the eccentric folk troubadour vibe of pal Devendra Banhart and the more aggro attitude of the White Stripes' damaged, stomping garage rock n' roll... if you can imagine them in the person of one fuzzy haired guy with an acoustic guitar, which is a stretch. At any rate both are historically minded and inspired, if you know what I mean, making for some timeless music that's immediately understandable.
Released for Record Store Day this year, we were able to get a few extra copies to offer to folks unable to make it down. Two new tracks from the Entrance Band, both covers, one by the Troggs, the other by Love, and both sound pretty perfect for The Entrance Band. In fact if you didn't know the originals, it would be easy to mistake them for EB's own material.
The Troggs' "I Want You" is all dirgey and fuzzy an garagey, with some low slung murky riffage, the vibe slithery and sexy, the music almost sounds slowed down, a little warped and woozy, the vocals wrapped in reverb and draped over the top. The end of the song offers up a cool squall of effects drenched tripped out psychedelic leads.
The flipside finds EB tackling Love's "A House Is Not A Motel", and unfurls some cool warbly psych guitar, under which surfaces some thick bass thrum, the drums skittery, the vocals wreathed in echo and delay, a little bit quavery, the whole thing washed out and hazy, and really, not all that far removed from the original, in a good way.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES, hand numbered, in beautiful silk screened covers, like we said this was a Record Store Day release and we only have a handful, so not sure how long these will be around...
One of a handful of new Latitudes releases (Sylvester Anfang II, Wino & Connie Ochs), this three track, 22 minute ep from The Entrance Band, might be the best thing we've heard from these guys (and gal) yet, opener "New Orleans", is a 12 minute heavy psych gem, a thick low slung bass groove, and ethereal vocals, over chugging guitars, and wild loose drumming, and dense squalls of rad effects heavy shredding, totally drugged out, droney, dreamy psychedelic bliss. The 'verses' woozy and slithery, the melodies spidery, the guitars droney and shimmery, slipping into a stretch of muted chuggery before exploding into some epic, soaring, wah wah guitar driven space-psych shred, the rare sort of jammed out heaviness that we could listen to forever. The track a constant push and pull before the slightly more brooding verses and the heart-of-the-sun psych-jam blowouts. And as the track progresses, it only gets heavier and more psychedelic, the groove growing more distinctive and driving, with the rest of the band pulling back here and there, letting the guitar weave lush layered drifts of blown out soaring high end psych shimmer. To be totally honest, we listened to the opening track about 10 times before we made it any further into the record. So we'd say well worth the price of admission for that one alone.
But don't stop there. "Requiem For Juicy" opens with a tangled swirl of woozy guitars, which gradually blur into a sort of raga, before the bass comes in, and the band launch into a dense, brooding, drone driven psych-dirge that's both swampy and soaring, hazy and hypnotic, the guitar going nuts again, pushing the track into total White Hills / Heads territory. And then finally, the band tackle blues classic "Last Kind Words", kicking off with a killer classic blues riff, and unfurling a woozy sprawl of druggy bluesy swagger, the sound landing somewhere between Woven Hand and The White Stripes, which is not a bad place to end up.
Like all Latitudes releases, the cd is packaged in the distinctive white and brown interlocking origami style sleeve, the lp in a luxurious die cut jacket, both with a red foil stamp on the front, and with a printed full color insert. Each format, LIMITED TO 500 COPIES. And each one hand numbered.
It's been a long road for Guy Blakeslee, since his early days as bassist for Baltimore post-punks the Convocation Of..., to the acoustic psych blues of Entrance. The last few years have seen that solo endeavor electrified into the Entrance Band with the addition of bassist Paz Lenchantin (whose recent Songs For Luci lp we reviewed a few lists back) and drummer Derek W. James, and here the trio dish up a solidly rocking collection of songs that very capably venture into more polished territory without losing any of their primal rock energy.
The end result emphasizes the band's impressive instrumentation - make no mistake, Blakeslee can shred, and the rhythm section ain't no slouches either - within a more modern indie approach while still managing to bring to mind some good ol' classic rock. It took a few listens for this to click with us, but once it did, we were sold. Those of us at AQ who have been bigtime Entrance fans from the beginning definitely noticed a much different production, aesthetic and straight ahead rock vibe to this new Entrance outing. In fact, when thinking of "modern rock", you may find yourself questioning why it isn't THIS you're hearing on the radio. The Entrance Band are a modern day power trio, bluesy and psychedelic as hell, with all kinds of snaky guitar licks, thunderous bass, and awesomely grooving drums, with Blakeslee's clear but powerful vocals cutting right through. One certainly gets the impression that they must tear shit UP live. A nice surprise, this one.
Excellent early solo album from the Who's bassist... the title track is practically proto-metal!
Envelopes are a Swedish band who take a stab at quirky indie-pop. Much like fellowindie popsters Architecture In Helsinki, they mix and match styles and incorporate all sorts of different influences. We hear some Young Marble Giants, Mates of State, The Pastels, etc. Sometimes they seem to have trouble rising above their influences but there are moments where their own endearing spirit really seems to shine. It will be interesting to see how this group evolves. And for those with a sweet tooth for quirky sugary pop you might wanna give this a listen.
Apparently the trend of post rock and metal cross pollination is not exclusive to North America. Enter Japanese band Envy with their latest album titled Insomniac Doze just released on Temporary Residence. It's sort of a shift in direction for this veteran hardcore band not to mention something of an incongruous, abrasive presence among the label's soundscapers and more traditional post-rockers. As we've witnessed before Japanese bands have a tendency of one-bettering the Westerners' execution of any given musical style. Nay, they frequently blow the top off of a particular genre's conventions. Delivering solid muscular grit instead of flash and incorporating newfound depth and detail, Envy do the deed in a much more controlled yet no less concentrated fashion than many of their wildly untethered Japanese brethren.
Finally available on vinyl!!
We've long been fans of Japanese rockers Envy, since they were furious hardcore thrashers, but over the last few records, they have been going through a pretty serious transformation, trading in much of their fury and aggression for deep introspection, their punk rock for post rock, and it definitely suits them. This latest ep, a split with the mighty Jesu, finds the band taking their sound even farther out, almost as if the songs were written specifically for Jesu. The first track is the perfect example, we actually weren't paying attention, and almost assumed it was in fact a Jesu track, the spoken Japanese vocals being the only giveaway. Beginning as a slow drift, the drums programmed, a nervous electronic skitter, before the band explode into some sort of droneblissdirge, distorted guitars, a thick wall of sound, laced with dreamy melancholy strings, Jesu fans who have been hankering for something else similar to get into might have just found their match!
The second song starts out all moody and meandering and post rocky, spidery guitar melodies, simple jangle, a bit maudlin and melancholy, the vocals breathless and buried, all very Slinty, a little Mogwai, well, actually a lot of Mogwai, some Explosions In The Sky, until with about a minute left the band explode in a frenzy of heaviness, a nearly hardcore blow out, but strangely, still cozied up to the drifty dreaminess of the first half of the song, like someone snuck in and added strings to some Converge jam, the results are truly unique and pretty kick ass.
The third song is almost the biggest surprise of the bunch, a big crunchy guitar super catchy indie rock jam. The only thing keeping it from being all over the credits of every teen movie is the growling monstrous barking vocals, but beyond that, the song is glistening and soaring, hooky with a total old school pop punk chorus, albeit dowsed in crunch distorted guitars. A bit schizophrenic perhaps, but has us dying to hear the next Envy full length. Lookout Explosions, these guys are definitely about to steal your post rock thunder, and in the process get it all tangled up with some indie rock and dronemetal to boot!
Jesu fans are a pretty loyal bunch, so most of you don't even need to know what this sounds like, and probably could care less about the band sharing this split, but what the heck, for those of you who are interested or are new to the slowly expanding Jesu universe, these two tracks, are a bit of a departure, but enough like 'classic' Jesu to hit the spot. The first track begins with a skittery lo-fi breakbeat, super old school, takes a few minutes but eventually crumbling distorted guitars tumble into the picture, and soaring fuzzy dirgepop melodies, the vocals breathy and eighties, a lot New Order, and barring the super obtuse song structure, this first track wouldn't sound at all out of place on the most recent M83 record. Very new wave-y, dreamy and melancholy, but with some definitely strange sonic shit going on, soaring high end streaks, the rhythms getting all chopped up and stuttery, some pulsing buzzing synths. It's not until halfway through that the guitars kick in, and they don't soar majestically, instead they're sort of simple and repetitive, and they're soon pushed to the background by the various other sounds, layer after layer of warm fuzzy swirls, until the end, when the drums drop out and the guitar unfurls lazily in a sea of static and crumbling sonic grit, a warm sun baked lo-fi fade out. Cool stuff. Definitely not the same old Jesu which is precisely what keeps it interesting, and makes every record a bit of a surprise.
The second track, and the record closer, begins with deep synthy bass, and glistening sonic twinkles, another slowed down stripped down breakbeat, skittering along beneath drone-y synthesizers, and softly effected vocals, once again channeling classic eighties dream pop. Until once again the track explodes into a murky blow out, the drums now a furious blast, the guitars woozy and super distorted, almost like Jesu speed metal, but never losing it's prismatic dreamlike bliss.
Great stuff from both bands. And while we're dying for more Envy, the more Jesu's sound slips ever closer to the eighties, the more we want the next split to be with sonic brethren M83. Or heck, at the very least Jesu should cover some New Order or Smiths...
We've long been fans of Japanese rockers Envy, since they were furious hardcore thrashers, but over the last few records, they have been going through a pretty serious transformation, trading in much of their fury and aggression for deep introspection, their punk rock for post rock, and it definitely suits them. This latest ep, a split with the mighty Jesu, finds the band taking their sound even farther out, almost as if the songs were written specifically for Jesu. The first track is the perfect example, we actually weren't paying attention, and almost assumed it was in fact a Jesu track, the spoken Japanese vocals being the only giveaway. Beginning as a slow drift, the drums programmed, a nervous electronic skitter, before the band explode into some sort of droneblissdirge, distorted guitars, a thick wall of sound, laced with dreamy melancholy strings, Jesu fans who have been hankering for something else similar to get into might have just found their match!
The second song starts out all moody and meandering and post rocky, spidery guitar melodies, simple jangle, a bit maudlin and melancholy, the vocals breathless and buried, all very Slinty, a little Mogwai, well, actually a lot of Mogwai, some Explosions In The Sky, until with about a minute left the band explode in a frenzy of heaviness, a nearly hardcore blow out, but strangely, still cozied up to the drifty dreaminess of the first half of the song, like someone snuck in and added strings to some Converge jam, the results are truly unique and pretty kick ass.
The third song is almost the biggest surprise of the bunch, a big crunchy guitar super catchy indie rock jam. The only thing keeping it from being all over the credits of every teen movie is the growling monstrous barking vocals, but beyond that, the song is glistening and soaring, hooky with a total old school pop punk chorus, albeit dowsed in crunch distorted guitars. A bit schizophrenic perhaps, but has us dying to hear the next Envy full length. Lookout Explosions, these guys are definitely about to steal your post rock thunder, and in the process get it all tangled up with some indie rock and dronemetal to boot!
Jesu fans are a pretty loyal bunch, so most of you don't even need to know what this sounds like, and probably could care less about the band sharing this split, but what the heck, for those of you who are interested or are new to the slowly expanding Jesu universe, these two tracks, are a bit of a departure, but enough like 'classic' Jesu to hit the spot. The first track begins with a skittery lo-fi breakbeat, super old school, takes a few minutes but eventually crumbling distorted guitars tumble into the picture, and soaring fuzzy dirgepop melodies, the vocals breathy and eighties, a lot New Order, and barring the super obtuse song structure, this first track wouldn't sound at all out of place on the most recent M83 record. Very new wave-y, dreamy and melancholy, but with some definitely strange sonic shit going on, soaring high end streaks, the rhythms getting all chopped up and stuttery, some pulsing buzzing synths. It's not until halfway through that the guitars kick in, and they don't soar majestically, instead they're sort of simple and repetitive, and they're soon pushed to the background by the various other sounds, layer after layer of warm fuzzy swirls, until the end, when the drums drop out and the guitar unfurls lazily in a sea of static and crumbling sonic grit, a warm sun baked lo-fi fade out. Cool stuff. Definitely not the same old Jesu which is precisely what keeps it interesting, and makes every record a bit of a surprise.
The second track, and the record closer, begins with deep synthy bass, and glistening sonic twinkles, another slowed down stripped down breakbeat, skittering along beneath drone-y synthesizers, and softly effected vocals, once again channeling classic eighties dream pop. Until once again the track explodes into a murky blow out, the drums now a furious blast, the guitars woozy and super distorted, almost like Jesu speed metal, but never losing it's prismatic dreamlike bliss.
Great stuff from both bands. And while we're dying for more Envy, the more Jesu's sound slips ever closer to the eighties, the more we want the next split to be with sonic brethren M83. Or heck, at the very least Jesu should cover some New Order or Smiths...
Hey, cool! A reissue of the third, and we think probably best, album from these hard rockin' krautrockers (krauty hard rockers?), originally released on US label Billingsgate in 1974 (and recorded on the South Side of Chicago, while they were on tour in the States). The band were of course German, but vocalist/guitarist Cliff Jackson was a Brit. So, some internationally-connected krautrock here. It's also krautrock on the proto-metal side of things, for fans of the progressive heaviness of Captain Beyond, Lucifer's Friend, Leaf Hound, Toad, Cargo, and suchlike. And while Epitaph's choogle is not always super dooper heavy, 'cause they have a sweetly melodic popsyke side to 'em too, it's definitely (twin) guitar oriented, the two lead players getting a bit Allmans-y here, also reminding us of Wishbone Ash. Good stuff, often quite mesmerizing, when the guitars get to chiming and intertwinin', as they so often do on tracks like the rollicking, ripping "Tequila Shuffle", the Zep-leaning "Woman", and album-ending nine minute heavy riffing prog workout "Fresh Air".
This reissue is nicely packaged, and features a bunch of previously unreleased bonus tracks: 3 from 1976's 'The Lost Tapes', and 4 live one from a year 2000 reunion concert, including a drum solo!
Continuing their campaign to recreate the hi-energy fun of the '80s, The Epoxies follow their energetic self-titled album with this equally feisty single. Two songs to keep the party goin' a little while longer: one original and one suitably likeminded cover of Alice Cooper's ultra catchy, yet considerably darker lyric-wise "Clones". Uncomplicated, short and to the point, Roxy Epoxy sings her heart out over a slew of straight-ahead, snappy keyboards and punchy pop guitars.
Yup, the '80s have been 'back' for a while, haven't they? Each day an old new wave-y trend rears its head, but you might question if some of 'em should've been left alone and undisturbed. While many elements of the Epoxies' aesthetic might fall in that category -- theirs is an almost cartoonish rendering of '80s schtick, decked out in plastic sci-fi goggles, duct tape, blinding neon hues, quirky pseudonyms (Shock Diode, Ray Cathode, FM Static and Doctor Grip... ahh, there was always, inexplicably a token doctor in '80s band lineups, wasn't there? but he was always the keyboard player... this guy's the drummer! wtf?) and a key-tar (y'know the keyboard that you wear like a guitar) -- it's hard to resist their sincere, high spirited, retro-futuristic romp... and why should you anyways?! Their effervescent self-titled debut a couple of years ago kept spirits high around these parts for quite a while. Very inspired by the likes of Blondie, Kim Wilde, Josie Cotton. Now, it might be just our imagination but it sounds as though the band have 'Fat'tened (haha!) and punked up their sound even more for their debut on Fat Wreck Chords. Fat Mike even produced it! So they're not as alien a presence among the rest of that label's roster as we'd anticipated, and actually pulls them more in line with the likes of the Muffs. Stop The Future oozes with suburban-teens-hangin'-out-at-the-mall nostalgia. With lead singer Roxy singing about radiation, TV sets, living on video, and dreaming of microwaves, it's ripe for a new John Hughes movie soundtrack. One thing that's particularly noticeable is that she's singing in a broader range, taking a deeper tone on a few songs, providing a darker counterpart to the boys' still peppy as fuck backing vocals, crunchy guitar, bass, bubblegum synths and drums. Gotta give 'em props too for covering the Scorpions' cool tune "Robot Man" so thoroughly that Roxy even sings the word "vision" as Klaus Meine does... "wishun"! Yay! The album's final song takes a turn into an unexpected different but no less '80s-y zone -- very Erasure style synth pop! We'll leave it up to you to decide if that's a good or bad thing. They're certainly a band you've gotta see live to experience their totally rad fun energy, but this album does come very close. A great summer album!
If you've still got a lil' soft spot in your heart for the energetic, bubblegum-snappin' new wave sparkplugs like Josie Cotton or Kim Wilde, you don't wanna miss the Epoxies from Portland, OR. They are a bazooka blast of '80s good times. Brightly hued, skinny-tied, stripe-y legged, duct-tape accessorized and kooky pseudonymed. So very John Hughes teen movie soundtrack perfect, you can almost imagine them rockin' out a version of Karla DeVito's Breakfast Club hit "We Are Not Alone". No, they're not bringing anything new to the table, but they certainly write ultra-catchy, snappy tunes. Super earnest, enthusiastic and a bit geeky, it's as if a time machine plucked them right out of '85. Full of punchy-crunchy guitar, squidgy-weeny keyboards and sorta-yodelled oh-eee-oh-eee-oh backing vocals. Lead singer Roxy Epoxy possesses such the perfect pipes to capture the poppy, punky spirit - running from Dale Bozzio's hiccup-squeak to Ms Wilde's more throaty delivery - that we can forgive the somewhat off-kilter boy vocals of keyboardist Fritz M. Static. Heck, if the Muffs hadn't already beat them to it, they'd probably do a bang-up job covering "Kids In America". C'mon, can't ya feel that ol' herky jerk pogo dance a-twitchin' in your bones? Don't deny it. Join me on this one!
Hot on the heels of the great new Jenny Hoyston record that we're in love with comes a little 7" from her main act, Erase Errata. We're so happy that Tomlab is on a mission to save the seven inch, as it will always be one of our favorite music listenin' formats. Nothing better then a little slab o wax from one of your favorite bands. Erase Errata are in top form here as we know they love 45's as much as we do, so they wouldn't dare just put some throwaway tracks on one. These two exclusive tracks explode with the passion and late night urgency that have become trademarks of their sound. Tapping into the early spirit of P.I.L in a way that sounds so fresh and gripping. Songs that you will want to listen to over and over and no better way to do that then by laying down the needle to the wax again and again. Seven inch perfection!
We sung the praises of Erase Errata's previous album Other Animals 'cause of their jagged guitar attacks and high-strung, bratty vocals fronting no-wave / post-punk / post-disco grooves, and those of you who wanted more more more will be thrilled with their sophomore effort At Crystal Palace. It's not a whole lot different than the debut, and this isn't going to be a problem for the majority of EE's fans who will enjoy hearing the same piercing guitar riffs, elliptical basslines, and ass-shaking rhythms over and over again. Perhaps the vocals are less paranoiac and the overall intensity of the album is toned down just a enough to be noticable. Yet the differences are slight. For those hoping Erase Errata would take off on a new tangent, well, maybe next time. Hopefully, unlike their historical precedents -- bands like Pere Ubu, The Slits, and The Pop Group (all of which hold incredible influence over Erase Errata) -- who eventually devolved into lame imitations of themselves, Erase Errata when they decide to do something new, will really surprise us. But as second records go, At Crystal Palace is pretty great.
As Erase Errata is another awesome Bay Area band whose tight, jagged sound defies you not to shake your bee-hind, what we said about the Numbers remix album a few lists back also applies--(Erase Errata), all by themselves, have a firm handle on taking the tools of punk rock and using them as instruments of total dancefloor destruction, making them prime candidates for re-interpretions of their songs that highlight, rather than obliterate, their inherent status as dance tunes-- although it ends up that most of the songs on this disc were actually more danceable *before* being put through the remix grinder. Coming in at opposite ends of the "dance" remix spectrum on this release are Adult and Kevin Blechdom. Adult's fairly subtle remix is the track most deserving the title "Dancing Machine," taking Erase Errata's angular, funky bassline and urgent vocals and coating the whole thing in a crisp synth veneer. Robotic boogie mania ensues. The Blechdom track, on the other hand, is a backwards tape scrubbin' hyper sped-up electronic noise fest, with out-of-control video game bursts, soprano ooh-ing, and a snippet of the song in its original form alluded to in the mix here and there, all topped off with some nice country fiddle (crossed over from Wobbly et al's Wide Open Spaces?). Thoroughly deconstructed and rearranged according to her unique sonic worldview, Blechdom makes the Erase Errata material entirely her own. "Dancing Machine" also includes mixes by Matmos and Kid 606.
MPEG Stream: "Marathon (Adult Remix)" [/audio/adultmarathon.m3u]
We didn't realize how much we had been missing this beloved Bay Area post-punk trio. It's been over EIGHT years since their last album, but the moment Lost Weekend came ringing out our speakers, we were again enveloped into the band's familiar warm & urgent sounds, and after just a few listens we could feel these songs digging deeper and deeper into our brains/hearts/souls in a way we knew wasn't going to stop.
While the previous Erase Errata albums that we love so much were marked with more of a herky-jerky and angular disposition, this is a different and even more potent beast. The songs and playing are more assured, a slow burn is thrown into the mix, and the riffs are as heavy and chunky as they are punchy and catchy. The darker elements of their sound that came to the surface on Night Time, their last lp all those years ago, is present here with even more of a hypnotic and propelling glow.
It goes without saying that a lot has happened in the 8 years since their last release. The face of San Francisco has changed, as has much of the lives of the three members of Erase Errata. While not all the members of the band live in the Bay anymore, there is something forever San Francisco about their sound and energy. The band's vocalist/guitar shredder Jenny Hoyston moved to Texas but the legacy she left in the city working and booking shows at El Rio makes us remember a more inspired and hopeful time in the city. The band's drummer, Bianca Sparta, became a proud mama, and it's no accident that the record's title Lost Weekend is the name of our all-time favorite video store of the same name, which is located right across the street from aQ, as Bianca worked their for years.
On this record the band taps into a psychedelic groove that's both swirling, steady, direct, and deep cutting, but with room to twirl and freak out. They continue to show how they are masters of musical economy as there is not a wasted note or second on the album, yet it feels like the most expansive and wide reaching set of songs they have created yet. We've been listening to Lost Weekend alongside classic albums by bands like Wire, The Fall, The Ex, Sonic Youth, and Siouxsie & The Banshees and the quality and space those bands were able to tap into so very much resonates on this album too. It's kind of crazy how much this record has grabbed a hold of us, as we find ourselves listening to it over and over and over and still not getting sick of a single second. Much like Deerhoof, another of our favorite all-time bands that began during what is a very special era for many of us in the city, the second you hear an Erase Errata song you know it's them. It goes beyond just their distinct playing, tuning, and style and into those intangible qualities like spirit, soul, and electric energy. They have kept the potent intensity of what we love about punk rock but have always found a way to transcend the limitations of genre and create music that rings with relentless and purposeful intention.
It's been a few years since Erase Errata's dazzling "Crystal Ships" and since then they've lost band member Sara Jaffe, toyed with the replacing her with another person, then wisely decided to forge ahead as a trio and keep the original EE spirit alive. This is their first outing for Kill Rock Stars and it's definitely a perfect fit. As their politics and guitars are sounding as sharp, angular, and urgent as ever. While they have always held their politics close to their hearts, on Nightlife they are even more up front and in command with pointed words backed up by tough sounding guitars. This is a much leaner meaner sounding Erase Errata. While many of their contemporaries have gotten softer, fluffier, more primed for MTV, we're happy to say that EE is keeping it real and as always with them so irresistibly passionate. Punk rock may have fallen in the hands of some pretty half hearted unimaginative folks over the years but Erase Errata are here to show us that the possibility and potential of punk can still pack a brilliant punch!
The highly anticipated debut full length from four Oakland/SF gals with little intention other than to make furious, loud music that demands your ears and shakes your ass. In this day and age, it's hard to make a strong distinction in a punk context and
Two songs each from Erase Errata and Numbers on the mildly annoying 3" cd format (maybe I have an unhealthy attatchment to my record player, but these brief tunes would've fit beeyootifully on a 7"...) Numbers are great, and "Goin' Insane" and "Palo Alto" give you all the crunchy moog basslines and shouty, distorted boy/girl vocals you could ask for in a space so tight it's claustrophobic, but Erase Errata... damn, they are SUPER hot!
Strong, continuously inventive basslines & super tight drumming form the backbone, enhanced by guitar that provides jagged texture rather than structure. Then the vocals: commanding, Mark E. Smith style commentary that might, for a brief moment, turn into full, vibratoed song before turning back into a sharp, observatory talk/rant. Kick ass. The brevity, skimpy packaging, and questionable format may work against my ability to recommend that you shell out $6.98 for this release, but let me say that the songs from two of the Bay Area's finest definitely deliver.
Mexico's answer to the Ruins, it seems: a bass/drums duo (with occasional violin and other instrumentation) playing a frenetic style of way-out there prog rock, and sharing a definite Magma influence. Aggravating, perhaps, if you're not in the mood, but otherwise dark, heavy, hyper, and enjoyably convoluted.
In case you missed it on our mystery themed in-between list last week, something we reviewed just for that, for the first time...
Another one of our all time favorite bands who never made it on the aQ list, mostly due to the fact that all of the group's records, and in fact, their whole career (not counting the reunion), predated the modern incarnation of the New Arrivals List. We really wanted to include them on this week's list, for the obvious reason (obvious if you've sussed out the theme of this week's list, that is), but really we were basically itching for an excuse to gush like crazy over these indie pop legends.
Hailing from the same Canadian province that brought us other indie rock luminaries such as Sloan, Hardship Post, Jale, and lots of others, Eric's Trip were the very first Canadian band to sign to Sub Pop (who ended up popularizing the ensuing Nova Scotian pop rush, as it were), releasing just three full lengths before calling it a day. Love Tara, was their first, originally released in 1993, and is a glorious, ramshackle collection of perfect lo-fi fuzzy indie pop, like some delirious mix of the mopey sad boy 4-trackery of Sebadoh, the fuzzed out crunch of Dinosaur Jr, and of course the lush noisiness of the band who gave them their name, these guys and gal were absolute pop geniuses, even the most fragmented/abstract tracks here will get lodged in your head like crazy, and when they do let loose, they can definitely rock with the best of them. Hushed acoustic bedroom ballads, buzzy psychedelic indie rock blowouts, the production sweetly off kilter and home brewed, the bass lines fat and fuzzy, the guitars thick and gorgeously corrosive, the boy vocals, courtesy of Rick White and Chris Thompson (now of The Memories Attack, whose most recent record was released on Andee's tUMULt label), are earnest and heartfelt, that perfect plaintive sadboy croon, perfectly balanced by the sweet angelic voice of Julie Dorion, whose solo records we HAVE raved about on the aQ list, all in the service of some of THEE catchiest songs EVER. Alternatingly hushed and dreamy, heavy and hazy, even nearly two decades later, this record, and this band, put most other pop music to shame. So absolutely recommended, one of those rare records that we find ourselves listening to all the time, and have since we were in our twenties. Glad it's still in print. SO GREAT!!!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
We've gotta admit it, due to this comprehensive double cd collection of songs by the legendary Roky Erickson, those of us that weren't already are now newly devout fans of his work. Sure, we always liked his hits with '60s Texas psych pioneers the 13th Floor Elevators, of course, but god DAMN. Wow. This collection touches on the best of the 13th Floor Elevators while moreso elaborating on the multitude of music Roky created afterward, solo and with his band The Aliens (among others). Of course we knew that "You're Gonna Miss Me" was a stone classic of slightly-psycho garage-psych, and that 'chooga-chooga' electric jug sound (the 13th Floor Elevators' trademark) has also never failed to fascinate. But somehow we'd never investigated much further, thinking that perhaps the sad saga of Erickson's life (a psychedelic drug-damaged downward spiral) might be more interesting than his music. How wrong we were... disc two here is all post-1980 and a lot of it is brilliant. And of course totally weird.
Maybe you know the story of how, after the inevitable break-up of the LSD-fueled Elevators, Roky was busted for pot in 1969 and, given the choice between spending time in jail or in a mental institution, he chose the latter, claiming insanity. Doing so, however, only led him to suffer through painful shock-therapy and liquid thorazine treatments, rendering him more frail and emotionally damaged than before his admittance. Years after this "therapy", while living in a housing project in Austin, Erickson was busted for mail fraud. He had been stealing his neighbors' mail, taping it up on his apartment walls, unopened. So, you get the gist that the fellow's mental state is precarious at best, right? Add his obsession with schlocky horror films and you get songs like "I Think Up Demons" and his band being called Bleib Alien (bleib, an anagram for Bible).
So, disc one (22 tracks) starts off with a bunch of his '60s singles with The Spades and the 13th Floor Elevators, before moving on to the first of several "comebacks" in the mid-'70s. The songs that followed his institutionalization were either blissful country-type psych tunes or outer-space paranoia-laced ragers. "Starry Eyes" is one of our favorites. A beautiful, earnest, heart-felt melody and that lends loveliness to his throat-scratched lyricism. And then there's "Click Your Fingers Applauding The Play." Not really sure how he got his guitar to sound like that, but it's pretty amazing. Searing and raging with electricity. Really, there are so many amazing tracks on the first disc. Listening to 'em all, we were half-expecting the second disc to pale in comparison. BUT NO. It's totally jammin with his later-era songs, 21 of 'em. One (new) fave of ours here is the doomy "Bloody Hammer" from 1981 which totally makes us understand how that Swedish band Witchcraft was influnced by Erickson just as much as by Pentagram -- it sounds so much like it coulda been on Witchcraft's album! But even as late as '95 Erikson was releasing solid material in his inimitable style. With the same effectiveness in songwriting capability as later-era Johnny Cash, Erickson offers us "True Love Cast Out All Evil" (from 1988) among others.
Yup, this anthology is some essential stuff all right. And it's nicely packaged with liner notes that give a pretty good biographical picture of Erickson and detail the music and its players. You gotta check out the incredible assortment of photos too!
At this point Roky Erickson's turbulent story has been pretty well documented (there's even a movie about it!), and it now seems to occupy the same strange annals of musical history as the Norwegian black metal murders and the rise/fall/rise/fall/rise again of Pentagram's unsinkable Bobby Liebling - gazed upon with morbid car-crash curiosity by the casual listening public! But it's still probably the best place to start for those uninitiated souls considering taking the one way trip into the bizarre landscape of The Evil One. The abridged version is this: Roky Erickson first made a name for himself as a founding member of psychedelic pioneers and vocal LSD proponents 13th Floor Elevators (bonus fact: they're thought to have invented the term "psychedelic rock"!), but as a result of a minor drug arrest and a schizophrenia diagnosis he wound up in a mental institution subjected to the horrors of involuntary electroshock therapy.
In the years that followed his release he publicly claimed that a Martian had begun inhabiting his body, was arrested for mail theft after developing an obsession with the postal system... only recently, in the 2000's, has seemingly pulled himself together, and thankfully has started playing live again. It's definitely a sad and a fascinating story, but all throughout those tumultuous years Roky kept putting out albums, and it's important not to let the backstory overshadow that fact. Because regardless of everything else, there is absolutely no doubt in our minds that The Evil One is a bona fide MASTERPIECE, and is probably as good as any hard rock record you will ever hear. Originally released in 1981 and collecting some of Roky's earliest solo material (a few of the tracks were featured on the I Have Always Been Here Before compilation that we reviewed some time back), The Evil One is as timeless a rock record as there's ever been. It seems to exist in some sort of vintage vacuum - it has that vague sense of sounding "old" but doesn't seem to belong to any specific period in music. It has the unique quality of sounding both ahead of its time and strangely retro, even for 1981 - like it was transported from some alternate rock & roll past where the Billboard charts were topped by pop/rock occult ballads and catchy demon worshipping jams.
"Two Headed Dog" opens the record with a jarring, almost post-punk wall of guitar dissonance before a snare drum ushers in an absolutely perfect swaggering proto metal riff - recalling the best moments of classic Alice Cooper and Blue Oyster Cult. Great leads and tight flawlessly simple drumming abounds, all while Erickson wails about children being nailed to crosses like some sort of deranged bizarro Neil Young, if he'd perhaps become a Satanist preacher or delirious doomsday prophesier. There's a Southern twang to Roky Erickson's vocals as well, that lend a certain Americana baptist noir to much of the record. The production is soft and almost subdued - but it's the perfect compliment to the deceptively simple songs and Erickson's surreal stream of consciousness lyrics (perfectly represented by the album cover's chaotic collage that seems to be exploding from Roky's head). The Evil One is certainly a strange record, but it's a subtle creeping strangeness. It's a strangeness that never compromises the songwriting. As we said earlier, first and foremost The Evil One is a fantastic rock record - chock full of catchy choruses, great guitar leads and extremely tight understated playing.
There's tons of variety too. You only need to look at the transition from the aforementioned "Two Headed Dog" into the album's second track "I Walked with a Zombie" - a pristine slab of Saturday night drive-in B-movie doo wop (complete with "I walked with a zombie"/"He walked with a zombie" backing vocal tradeoffs!). Elsewhere there are more upbeat cuts: it's not too hard to imagine "Mine Mine Mind" or "I Think of Demons" being played by Tom Petty or The Cars while "Don't Shake Me Lucifer" is classic Chuck Berry/Rolling Stones blues rock boogie woogie. But all the while Roky is still injecting even the album's poppiest moments with bizarre imagery about devils, goblins and gremlins. It's unsettling, fun and bewildering all at the same time. There's plenty of heaviness as well though. "Night of the Vampire" has a staggered militaristic intro that recalls Diamond Head's NWOBHM classic "Am I Evil" before slithering into repetitive clean guitar gloom accompanied by epic guitar leads and bubbling horror movie synthesizers. Then this incredible closing duel synth/guitar lead comes in that seems to recall the same crumbling castle gothic horror of Ozzy Osbourne's "Mr. Crowley." Elsewhere the loose driving groove and jagged guitar harmonies of "Click Your Fingers Applauding the Play" would totally do Thin Lizzy proud - you can almost hear the unquiet restless spirit of Phil Lynott singing over it!
But moreso than referencing older bands, this record's influence can be heard in so many places after its release - most notably in the current wave of modern witchy, occult obsessed groups. It's as essential to Witchcraft's hazy organic seance-rock as vintage Pentagram is. The glorious proto-doom of "Stand for the Fire Demon" is clearly the template for The Devil's Blood's entire sound. The opening riff of "White Faces" sounds more than just a little bit like Ghost's "Ritual" (and was covered by both The Devil's Blood AND Witchcraft to boot!). And one group of dudes from North Carolina just went ahead and named their entire band after the pulsing proto metal of "Bloody Hammer"! It's not even a stretch to imagine this could have been a pretty big influence of the stripped down rock & roll darkness of Danzig's first couple of solo albums - even the "whoa-oh"s in "The Wind and More" sound a bit Misfits-y!
Just in case it's not obvious yet, this comes with the highest recommendation, and we won't hesitate in declaring it absolutely one of the best hard rock/proto metal records ever recorded. And also one of the weirdest! It's so bursting with great songs and absolutely overflowing with character in fact that it's hard to imagine ANYONE not loving this record. So give yourself over to Roky's monstrous world. Stay a while! See what strange creatures you encounter there. But don't blame us if you never find your way back home again!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
First off, in the long tradition of bands with people's names, Erna Schmidt is a band, not a person.
Okay. Now that that's sorted, Erna Schmidt were a German band signed to the Ohr label, that never managed to release an lp due to the untimely departure of their flute player. But live they were a terror, with songs stretching past the 45 minute mark and often completely improvised, furious and rocking, but also melodic and dreamy. This disc really captures all that. Recorded live during the years 69-71, this definitely captures the raw intensity of their stage show and the sound quality is really great. Meandering epics that run the gamut from ethereal melodic folkishness to stampeding freaked out psych rock, to groovy boogie breakdowns. Heavy on the flute, heavy on the guitar solos, and some truly kick ass drumming.
And here's the third Eroc album, originally released in 1979 but containing odds and ends of music recorded by Eroc with or without his band Grobschnitt from as far back as 1969. There's some bonus tracks added on to this cd reish that date from 2001-2004 as well, and actually they fit right in amazingly enough!
Compared to Eroc 2, a lot more 'listenable' (less crazy German jabbering!), Another cool one from this new AQ krautrock fave.
This is a Krautrock masterpiece!!! This cd reissue of the 1975 debut release by Eroc has totally floored us. Eroc's the solo project of Joachim Heinz Ehrig, who was the drummer in Grobschnitt. He used his solo project as a way to explore electronics, cutups and sound collage all surrounding totally beautiful & harmonic instrumental pieces. Of the albums he made under the Eroc moniker this is the one that shimmers with the most beauty while still showing his crazy range and unpredictability. From the blissed out to the bizarre, Eroc 1 is one of those records that you can't believe you've never heard before, and one that once heard will surely go down as one of your favorite psych/kraut/prog gems of the '70s.
Every time this plays in the store, someone in the back inevitably comes up front to see what the heck is playing. And often they begin to think that if this keeps up, they just might just have a new favorite record. Striking the perfect balance between experimentation and melody, Eroc melded the use of modular synthesizers, tape, overdubs, sound generators, guitars and percussion into an incredibly forward thinking, densely layered, crazily original sound. There is a golden sonic glow reminiscent of the best moments of Cluster / Harmonia, every track is fantastic and original, each one drives us wild, and the four bonus tracks on this collection are just as good as any of the tracks on the album proper! You can hear the early blueprints of so many musical movements that would take shape in the decades following Eroc's 1975 debut. Moments of dreaminess that foreshadow Durutti Column, glimmering electronics that anyone on Morr Music would kill for, and an integration of so many elements that sonically predate groups like Fridge by decades! We can imagine Andy Votel (Prog Is Not A 4 Letter Word, Finders Keepers) freaking out over this album much like Julian Cope who sang this disc's praises on his Head Heritage website.
And certainly all of us here at AQ have discovered a record that is pretty much a shoe-in for many of our all time favorite lists!
The Brain reissue series on Revisited continues to bring us the crazy krautrock goodies! Of course, having already raved about the first solo album from the drummer for theatrical prog loonies Grobschnitt, Joachim Ehrig aka Eroc, we were exceedingly curious about this second one. Ja, Eroc 1 was a HUGE hit 'round here. After all, we called it a "krautrock masterpiece" and compared it to all sorts of favorite things, from Harmonia to Fridge! So, what's the deal with Eroc 2, originally released a year later in 1976? The cut-up confusionality that was a deliberate, delightful part of Eroc's debut is continued here, but taken to further extremes, which makes this more of a DIFFICULT spin at times. It's more bizarre, with the curiosity factor up and the overall listenability factor slightly down.
Like Eroc 1, this has its share of moody, melodic, synth-laden instrumental bliss-outs for the Cluster fans in the house. Eroc 2's electronics also venture into carefree, Bavarian dances for Liederhosen wearing' hippies. And then there's a bunch of paranoiac freakouts to give Faust a run for their money! In a word: Quirky. Heck, downright weird. But it's krautrock, that's what we came for. The mood of the music displays good and bad vibes both -- and a sense of humor, we're pretty sure (though our lack of German makes it tough know just what's a joke). There's a healthy amount of talking (auf Deutsch) all over this album. Singing too. Though there's lots of purely instrumental parts as well. But with 30 tracks (13 of 'em bonus cuts!), some of them dense epics, many others brief under-a-minute interludes of insanity, the puzzling and the pleasing are in rough proportion. Amidst Eroc's wonderful spacey, synthy, psychedelic music, you'll hear all sorts of stuff. Children's voices. Babbling outbursts. Electronic squiggles -- and the sound of maniacal sawing? Oh and orgasmic (male) moaning... Perhaps it's all some sort of concept album and all this makes sense, tied together in some strange narrative. Or, they're all nonsense non sequiturs, anyway? We don't know, but are amused/intrigued/entertained. Definitely, get Eroc 1 first, but check this out too. If you like your krautrock to be uber krauty, full of surreal surprises and jokes you won't get, you'll probably dig this. Like Eroc 1, this consists of stuff recorded in Eroc's home studio, growing out of tapes intended to augment Grobschnitt's live shows. Both records turned into personal LP-length visions well worthy to stand alone.
Can't wait to hear Eroc 3, which is supposedly also been reissued or will be soon...
In the last few years we all seem to have come down with serious cases of "Anatolian fever"! With amazing reissues of '70s Turkish psych by the likes of Selda, Mogollar, 3 Hur El, Erkin Koray, Edip Akbayram, Bunalim, Mustafa Ozkent and a bunch of great comps. We've been totally and completely blown away time after time by how charged and colorful the sounds coming from the Turkish underground in the '70s were.
Now Ersen gets the proper reissue treatment from Finders Keepers and it's about time, as his amazing and seductive voice has been evoking the most resplendently colorful memories and images of people and places. With instrumentation that's as immediate, funk filled and catchy as his comrades Selda and Edip Akbayram, and a voice that can really do no wrong, Ersen has become our newest Turkish Psych obsession.
It's amazing how well these songs have stood the test of time, sounding so alive, and relevant nearly 35 years after they were first recorded. Ersen has a very special place in Turkish music history, being a vocalist for a period of time for the pioneers of Turkish psych/pop, Mogollar. The truth is Ersen's voice could probably sing over any kind of music and make it all sound so damn good, as it's soulful and filled with such flair, that sort of voice doesn't come around that often. It's no surprise that hip-hop folks like Oh No, Madlib and the whole Stones Throw family have been quite obsessed with Ersen's sounds as well, every song jam packed with so many breakbeats and innovative sounds, just begging to be sampled and blasted on the dance floor. A true gem from a magical era in Turkish psychedelia!
Coming out of the same Finnish scene that spawned AQ-faves Circle and Ektroverde, Es is the work of Sami Sanpakkila, who in addition to this solo project, also plays in various bands like Kiila and Velvolino. He also runs Fonal records. (I guess all that
Es is the work of Finland's Sami Sanpakkila. This is the first work that we've encountered from Es, though Sanpakkila is closely connected to the out-rock ensembles of Circle and Ektroverde. The nine tracks are hermetic sculptures built out of beautifully gossamer guitar playing with Zoviet France like backing loops and atmospheres. Fans of early Durutti Column or Steven R. Smith's evocative work should definitely take note.
Here's the third album from our Finnish friend Sami Sanpakkila, who is also a member of Kiila and Kemialliset Ystavat, and runs the excellent Fonal label. Excellent 'cause of releasing wonderful records like this, his new effort under the name Es. The previous two Es albums, Flick and A Love Cycle, were all about mesmerizing, looping soundscapes. Now Kaikkeuden Kauneus Ja Kasittamattomyys -- in English, The Beauty and Inconceivableness of Everything -- continues Sami's explorations in meditative modern psychedelia, somewhat sad but beautiful, with guitar, some very lovely piano, and various field recordings mixed in. On some tracks, this sounds like Sami has dragged a few of A Love Cycle's turntables out into his garden, where he sits with the birds and plants and makes music while a female friend sings so nicely. It's like Philip Jeck meets Jewelled Antler. Definitely for fans of JA, as well as Kemialliset and the recent Kiila record. As always, we say, yay Finland!
Brand new record from this Finnish aQ fave, every new album a slowly blossoming mystery in sound, whether it's manipulated chunks of old vinyl, rickety campfire psychedelia, or expansive soundscapes of delicate crystalline shimmer. Es is the musical monicker of Sami Sanpakkila, who also plays in some other aQ Finnish favorites, most notably Kemialliset Ystavat and Kiila, and who is often joined by various members of the ever shifting and constantly collaborating Finnish underground community.
Kesamaan Lapset seems to be a record composed and performed entirely on keyboards and synthesizers, the opening track is a gloriously sun dappled chunk of skittery sunshiney new age synths, lush swoonsome swells of fuzzy whir, tinkling little melodies, and soft tangles of squiggly glitches, looped and chopped, like a more kinetic caffeinated Oval. The follow up begins with some circusy lo-fi keyboard melodies, that get more and more dense and intricate before the vocals swoop in, super effected and lush, wrapped in delay and reverb, ghostly and otherworldly, drifting lazily and dreamily over the softly chaotic jumble of tones and melodic fragments, managing to be pretty and soft, but fractured and off kilter at the same time.
The first of the two long tracks is a slow building dronescape, thick swells of warm lush organ whir, beneath delicate spidery piano melodies, the whole thing growing ever brighter and more insistent, various keyboards beginning to stutter and skitter creating all manner of incidental rhythms before finishing off in a dense swirl of hissy soft focus drift.
The 21 minute title track is all woozy dream pop, female vocals, over a constantly undulating bed of looped pianos and swirling synths, male vocals offer up some unlikely harmonies, horns slowly surface as do gauzy clouds of effects, before transforming into a deep, dark, almost brooding bit of keyboard driven drift, replete with all manner of Oval like digital glitch, warbly and underwater sounding, super hypnotic and intense, eventually giving way to a strange bit of majestic fanfare before fading out in a brief blur of warm abstract melody.
The final brief track is a buzzed out coda, all electronic glitchery, fuzzy drones, plonked electric piano, howled vocals buried in the mix, tons of grit and texture, buzz and whir, like a way more abstract Animal Collective.
Certainly a bit different than any of the other Es releases, but in its own warm and warped, tripped out and twisted way, a logical extension of Es's ever expanding soundworld. And we dig it.
As always, the packaging is super cool full color 4 panel gatefold, with some amazing childhood photos, printed insert with more cool art and liner notes, and a gold and white printed obi.
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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One of the first times we heard from NYC space/post/synth/psych rock combo Escapade was on a split with Acid Mothers Temple. And damn if they didn't manage to hold their own. In fact, if memory serves, their propulsive synthy space drone ended up outshining AMT's same already familiar psych rock freakout.
So here we are a few years later, with the latest full length from these guys, and we're happy to say it's just as solid. Maybe even a little bit more trippy and spacey. Which is of course a very good thing. As we've mentioned in the past, modern prog/space/psych rock can tend toward the cheesy, a very few bands manage to bliss out and rock out with out sounding like Hawkwind lite. Escapade are definitely among the elite, with their stretched out jams, and some simple motorik rhythms that definitely remind us of Circle. In fact, if you took the looped riffing out of Circle and injected some scrabbling psychedelic freakouts you'd pretty much Escapade. Throw in some buzzing sitars, some tripped out abstract This Heat-isms, some wild free jazz drumming here and there, some billowing clouds of dense space rock FX, some soaring heart-of-the-sun leads, and all sorts of droning atmosphere, and you're in for a kick ass tripped out drug drenched space rock freakout. Fans of Circle, Kinski, Acid Mothers Temple, Hawkwind and the like will definitely want to check this out...
