If you're like us, you can never get enough Bruce Haack. Pretty much everything he touched was amazing, as well as way ahead of its time from a technical standpoint. Haack's genius, however, is that at the core of his strange electronic music is real emotional depth.
The most obvious comparison for Bruce Haack's sound would be Kraftwerk, and surely both parties were taking electronic music into unprecedented new territories. It's a bit of a lazy comparison though, as Haack's pioneering work actually predated Kraftwerk as most people know them, and it overlooks how unique Haack's approach to songwriting was. Haack is most famous for the Electric Lucifer album, definitely his strongest and most conceptually realized statement, but he also made children's music, as well as some more, shall we say "adult-themed" compositions. There was even an Electric Lucifer Book 2 and a number of perfect pop singles. Farad (the name of the homemade vocoder he used extensively, named in honor of famed British scientist Michael Farraday but also sounding a bit like "far out") collects prime cuts from 1970 to 1982, showing an artist who remained true to his initial vision while continuing to break boundaries. Haack was a man who wanted to share his songs with the world, as evidenced by a quote in this album, and accordingly, his music is very fun to listen to. Songs like "Rita" are really beyond any sort of reference point, just weird and beautiful and insanely poppy gems that even today sound beyond anything else. Other numbers like "Man Kind" from the Haackula album are spacey sci-fi romps filled with all kinds of great analog atmosphere and evocative vocoded lyrics that flow like bizarre little nursery rhymes. Then you get some racier stuff from the 80s like "Snow Job" and "Program Me", the latter of which resurrects a song from the Electric Lucifer and re-envisions it in a colder, more robotic way for some great results. Haack even proves with 1982's "Party Machine" that he was fully ready to embrace the progression of electronic dance music while still sounding unlike anyone else. It's crazy to listen to the more playful material alongside the epic storytelling of the Electric Lucifer tracks, as you realize Haack grasped so many types of music with a wide range of emotions, and merged this with bold electronic innovation. As a compilation, Stones Throw have done a great job here, making this the obvious place to start for anyone unfamiliar with Haack's work while also being a great collection of some of his strongest songs. Awesome.
Wow. This is a real "believe it or not" release. We thought we knew all about eccentric electropop pioneer Bruce Haack (1931-1988). Omni's reissue of Haack's 1969 psychedelic synth classic The Electric Lucifer was an automatic Record Of The Week for us. But we'd never heard of Haackula before. However, it lives up to its billing as a "lost classic of outsider electronica" for sure. At first, we weren't sure what to expect, putting it on with some excitement and trepidation... rest assured, we now have big smiles on our faces. Haackula is playful and perverse, and perhaps more than a little bit paranoid. Imagine Perrey and Kingsley on some bad acid. Haack's electronically effected vocals here continue the wordplay that he delighted in on The Electric Lucifer but now, shockingly, some swear words have crept in, for instance he drops the f-bomb in the first song "Lie Back", wherein he also rhymes "schizoid" with "shitzoid"!
Bruce Haack unleashed his Moogs (and warped imagination) in his bedroom studio to create Haackula back in 1978, but it remained officially unreleased until now. Possibly 'cause a large portion of Haack's discography consists of records for children, we were really surprised by the R-rated content of Haackula. And the R isn't just for robotic. There's a song called "Blow Job" fer chrissakes. Perhaps this is why it never saw the light of day in Haack's lifetime...
Haack's homebuilt synths and rhythm machines bleep and bloop, shuffle and shudder, conjuring an alternate universe of electronic computer funk wackier and weirder and way more off-kilter than anything Kraftwerk was up to at the time. The musical sense of childlike innocence with which Haack was so adept is still happening here, these tracks are as tuneful and catchy as ever, but his mystical ideas are joined by sexual themes... where The Electric Lucifer was astrological, Haackula is scatological. Adult realities are confronting the outsider, making Haackula's haunted house electronics all the more eerie, while the bizzaro-factor (plus Haack's aforementioned songwriting skills) insure that it's all very entertaining, gleefully so.
And if Haackula itself wasn't cool enuff, there two equally mindblowing bonus tracks. First there's Bruce Haack's 1982 proto-hiphop collaboration with Def Jam's Russell Simmons, an 8 minute track entitled "Party Machine" that features funky Herbie Hancock "rockit" style grooves and deep distorted vocals laying down such science as "Haack attack is back... Bruce Haack... Anti-wack." Damn!
The other bonus track included is an epic 32:15 piece called "Icarus" that would have made a fine release all by itself. Commissioned in 1979 to accompany an avant-garde art exhibition in Guadalajara, it's a sensational soundscape of everything from mad scientist laboratory burbling to faux-classical fantasias, frightening noise and groovy beats...
Omni has done their usual nice job with this. It's remastered from the original master tapes, and includes a thick booklet. Extensive, informative liner notes tell the story of Haack's "lost years", about his psychological ups and downs, how his passion for music and technology (and the two together!) never flagged despite his lack of major label success after The Electric Lucifer failed to take the world by storm... we also learn how he hooked up with hiphop producer Simmons, though we're left wondering if any DJs back in the day ever got their hands on it. As well, the cd booklet includes vintage photos and lyrics to all the Haackula songs.
Like we said, believe it or not, it's true. Haackula lives!!
Working with Raymond Scott, Bruce Haack developed his own very bizarre, though very distinct brand of electronic composition using self-built machines. These recordings, from between 1969 and 1970, are simple songs ostensibly for children (includes a strange version of "This Old Man") in the tradition of Raymond Scott. But this is no bliss for babies--this is analogue, vocoder, acid weirdness. Several of the tracks are pulled from his legendary album The Electric Lucifer, an electronic opera of the battle between Heaven and Hell. So don't buy this for your children, buy it for your next trip.
Can you imagine if "Music To Moog By" maestro Gershon Kingsley had dropped acid, joined a commune, got religion, and jammed with the Silver Apples and Lothar And The Hand People? That might approximate what the unique, wondrous psych-pop "Mooglove" of 1970's The Electric Lucifer sounds like!
YES!!! It's about time. We've always wanted this album to come out on cd. This HAD to be our Record Of The Week. Heck, years and years ago, Allan (long before he worked at Aquarius) became a bit obsessed with this record. He'd found a beat-up old LP of it at a yard sale, bought it mainly 'cause of the title and the freaky colorful cover graphics, and then was blown away by the weird music within. It's what we've described as being "perhaps the most awesomely bizarre psychedelic pre-Kraftwerk electronica album ever to be released on a major label (Columbia) or elsewhere." Allan actually went so far as to try to track down Bruce Haack for an interview, but without any luck (turns out Haack had already passed away back in 1988, a couple years before Allan discovered the record). And Allan's not the only one here at AQ to have a longtime soft spot for this record... so we're all so happy that it's finally, FINALLY been given the cd reissue treatment. It's absurd, really, that this wasn't reissued sooner. The legend of eccentric electronica pioneer Bruce Haack has only grown in recent years. There's been several compilations of his work (Hush Little Robot was the best, since it featured a couple tantalizing cuts from this album), expensive imported Japanese reissues of several of his Moog music albums for kids, a posthumous Electric Lucifer sequel from the vaults, and even a documentary released on DVD, entitled Haack - The King Of Techno! But Haack's crowning glory, his masterpiece The Electric Lucifer, wasn't available at all. Until now. And The Omni Recording Corporation (a label new to us) have done it right, even down to the very welcome notion of including a 5-minute track of silence to separate the 13 tracks of the album proper from the over thirty minutes of additional bonus material that they've added on -- which consists of a 1970 Canadian radio interview with Haack on the subject of Electric Lucifer and an alternate take of "Electric To Me Turn". The packaging is top notch as well, reproducing the amazing artwork and Haack's trippy sleevenotes from the original LP (wherein he discusses his concept of "Powerlove"), plus cramming tons of additional stuff into the thick cd booklet. There's loving liner notes by several of Haack's friends and colleagues and lots of vintage photos and graphics. Nicely done.
How can we explain the utter charm of this album? Well it's about as psychedelic as you can get, a concept album that's futuristic and Biblically ancient at the same time. Haack used an electronic "computer voice" (long before it was cliche) that he named FARAD, as well as regular human vocals, to convey deep Age of Aquarius astrological/philosophical concepts, sometimes in the form of sinister liturgies, at others like playful rhyming lullabies. These Moogy, moody and groovy compositions feature churchy organ sounds, bleeps and bloops, and rhythmic percolations that wouldn't sound out of place in the Star Wars cantina. There's lugubrious droney passages, mechanical beats, switched-on classical flourishes, and musique concrete style sound collage. Very weird *and* oh-so-catchy. It's definitely every bit as wonderful and essential as the Silver Apples albums, which we know so many AQ patrons love dearly. Again, we're so happy this has been reissued. Highest recommendation. Listen to the love angel, people!
A brand new record from Finnish psychedelic noise alchemists Haare, and it's a doozy, two tracks, nearly 32 minutes of thick, swirling, blackened, corrosive crunch, and crumbling blackdrone shimmer.
Ritualistic and caustic, this is the sort of noise music we can get behind. Not white noise, but more like dense clouds of grey and brown noise, gristly, and crunchy, and abrasive, but simultaneously textured and layered, an epic and expansive sprawl of industrial thrum and buzzdrenched ambience. And there's organ. Lots of it. Creepy and haunting and mysterious, turning the noisiness into something way more chilling, it's like a blacknoise haunted house, or the sort of soundtrack you wish real scary movies would have, where the music elicits and evokes the same sort of horror and the visuals. And here, the organ also manages to settle and smooth out the sound, turning it into a more tranquil, almost soft noise, a blurred, blasted, coruscating ambience that is also moody and mournful and melancholy. Imagine Merzbow or Ramleh reinterpreting the soundtrack to Carnival Of Souls. Fuck yeah.
The second track is like a super charged, extra filthy and crusty version of the first, the organ still present, but way lower in the mix, the other sounds more fierce and frantic, streaks of feedback and squalls of blackpsych swirl, a furious sonic storm that again deftly straddles the line between speaker melting pummel, and blown out atmospheric softnoise drone.
So killer. And definitely a possible entree into the noise world for those who have yet to take that first terrifying step. And for sure just psychedelic enough to appeal to folks into all that blissed out, heavy dronepsych weirdness.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES! In a eye popping full color A5 sized sleeve, featuring cover art by Andrew Labanaris, who has done art for Electric Wizard, Moss and others...
We were intrigued the moment we saw a copy of this reissued early '70s Eastern-influenced tranquil psych gem. The back cover displays dark and mysteries photos of the five men in The Habibiya. All clad in turbans and sporting long beards. We could almost hear the mystique before we pushed play. When we did finally listen we were steadily reeled into their raga like hypnotic sounds, influenced heavily by the music of Sufi Muslims from Morocco, where they visited on what was apparently an extremely moving trip for them in 1971. In fact we had no idea at first that The Habibiyya weren't from somewhere in the East, as the music we were hearing sounded so effortless and true. We later learned that they were in fact from London and featured ex-members of Mighty Baby (kind of the UK equivalent of The Grateful Dead). But where the Mighty Baby stuff we heard was cool and jammy it never really transported us like this recording does. It's music to close your eyes to, as the rich sounds sweep you away, aiming for the sky as its deep hitting core glows with an undeniable spiritual force. While most bands of the era had their backstage area filled with booze and groupies, The Habibiyya mostly just had books with them backstage like the I Ching and texts from mystic minds like G.I. Gurdjieff and Aleister Crowley.
Using zither, piano, banjo, oboe, koto, shakuhachis and an adaptation of classical Moroccan Andalusi singing they were able to create a sound that felt both ancient and timeless. We can all agree that what usually happens when Western musicians try to tap into an eastern sound and feeling, is that the sound can fall miserably short, sounding tepid and watered down, but there are those special rare occasions, when regardless of origin or location, musicians can tap into a special spirit and make sounds that transcend place and time. The Habibiyya did just that!
Many of you might remember that several years ago we flipped for the debut release from Habitat Sound System, a dub-centric project lead by Preston Swirnoff (Monosov/Swirnoff, The Shining Path, etc, and our very own Irwin's brother!). It was one of the most warm and authentic sounding new dub records we had heard in ages.
We've been patiently waiting for more, and the wait was so worth it! This new 10" finds HSS expanding their sound, into something warmer, more lush, more mystical. While it's still rooted in the history of classic dub, it's a looser and more expansive interpretation this time out. Any time you can make a record that sounds perfect alongside David Axelrod, Cedric Im Brooks, Count Ossie, any Ethiopiques collection, and even a Slits record, you've stumbled onto something so deliciously golden and unique!
It's refreshing to hear all these analog sounds set amidst some truly rich instrumentation - organ, piano, melodica, synths, guitar, horns, flute, balafon, bass. Swirnoff and his talented entourage (David Hurley, Ilya Monosov, Zuri Waters, Manny Vega, etc) are modern masters. One minute a song is riding a thick dubbed out groove, and then suddenly in comes some tripped out psych guitar transforming the sound into something impossibly lush and hypnotic...
While most modern groups trying to make classic sounding dub these days play it safe by going the predictable ultra minimal route, Honeydrippers demonstrates the exciting possibility of having a more expansive musical vision and using dub as a backdrop to that music, stretching the sound, sparkling, twisting and turning, creating a whole new sound that hits so hard, deep and emotionally resonant... Highly recommended!
(There were only 300 of these pressed, and we only have a handful, so you know what that means.)
Holy moly, at long LONG last a proper reissue of this should-be-much-better-known vintage rock classic! Seriously, this is one of those albums, where it's like, how come this hasn't been reissued before?! Why aren't the band's chief songwriters Chick Newman and Tommy Moonlight famous? Ok, it's been bootlegged previously, but not even as much as it "should" have been. You can hear these songs for the very first time and they'll sound like comfy old favorites. Hitherto lucky collectors only were hip to this (Allan here thanks Tim Ellison from the 'zine Rock Mag for tuning him on to Hackamore Brick years and years ago - we shoulda asked Tim to write this review, come to think of it, but we'll try to do it justice).
Hackamore Brick was a New York City band playing a special brand of laidback urban folk-rock / power pop, super catchy songs with jangly guitars, that are also very moody and bittersweet sounding. Their biggest influences seem to be both the Velvet Underground and The Byrds, and they live up to 'em on this, their only full-length, released in 1970 on bubblegum label Kama Sutra - though while sometimes sunny (through clouds) this sure ain't bubblegum. What this is, is a feast of great songs. They're all really good, it was tough for us to pick which ones to make sound samples for. One Kiss Leads To Another (a lyric from the track "Oh! Those Sweet Bananas" - they have a thing for quirky song titles) provides plenty of wonderfully melancholic, nostalgic earworm action, full of acoustic strum, hovering electric organ, clever if curious lyrics (with some unusual rhymes), and lovely, roughhewn vocal harmonies.
Of course, Hackamore Brick never made it commercially - you can hear maybe how this was a bit too REAL and raw and a bit too weird for the Top 40 pop charts of the day - but they belong in the Top 40 of anyone who appreciates offbeat brilliance. The Byrdisan West Coast element to their sound definitely means that folks who liked another recent reissue of a long-lost-obscure-gem, the Anonymous album, should also check this out. Also for fans of The Modern Lovers, Big Star, and plenty of latter day lo-fi indie pop.
Remastered, with new liner notes, this also includes bonus tracks, one on the vinyl and three on the cd, both formats including their pretty rockin' cover of Leiber & Stoller's "Searchin'" from their lone post-album single. We are so stoked on this!!! Buy it, you might find yourself a new favorite, formerly long lost album.
Ladies and gentlemen, may we direct your attention to the center stage for... The Petra Haden Singers! Well, not quite... make that singular not plural, but the classically trained lady's tackling a full chorus' worth of parts. This is Ms Haden's COMPLETELY acapella performance of the COMPLETE The Who Sell Out album. We've gotta give the gal props not only for her vocal arrangin' skills but also for the thoroughness of her savvy cover art replication job. Check out those photos! They're a total hoot! Nonetheless, we'd wager that whether or not this cd finds a permanent place in your library will ultimately depend not on your love for The Who, the original album, nor Ms Haden, but rather on your appreciation for acapella music. Each song is pretty much simple and straight up, somewhat generic female-sung acapella. Y'know the kinda bland but pleasantly out of the ordinary stuff they might have on some TV talk show to spice the afternoon up a little. So, although she's unarguably accomplished an impressive feat, unfortunately the end results make for much less remarkable listening than anticipated or hoped for.
What a Blast from the Past! Probably the weirdest record produced by Giorgio Moroder, Nina Hagen's 1984 release Fearless has some of the craziest new-wave-disco tracks EVER made. Charting with "New York, New York", Hagen's tribute to that city's underground club culture, the rest of the record is a no-holds-barred romp of excess glamour and zany electro-funk, topped with her trademark bi-polar vocal range. There's even a cameo by the Red Hot Chili Peppers (man, they've been around for a while!). If you've been rocking lately to Maurice Fulton and/or his crazy "Paris Hilton" singing wife, Mu, or any of the Tiger Sushi G.D.M. series of past and present club jams, you might want to take an indulgent gander here. Guaranteed that the unique vocal stylings and punk-funk freakiness will have you saying WTF?! pretty darn quick. Glad to have this reissued! Also be sure to check out her Nunsexmonkrock album as well if you're new to Nina.
Neil Hagerty (Royal Trux) must think that the pinnacle of "Good Old Rock And Roll" is the explosion of major label alternative rock bands from the early to mid '90s, like Blind Melon or the Spin Doctors. Is this supposed to be ironic? Either way, this is a
Dave Katznelson, the force behind Birdman Recordings and one of AQ's favorite people, has the following superlatives to say about the (not-so) new Hagerty record:
"Record of the year so far... I was a huge fan of his debut solo record, and this new one, his third, might even surpass it. Neil's stoned playing (I know he is sober, but it's stoned all the same) which is as tight as it feels loose...is to these ears the new classic sound for the war generation. The songs are great. The live renditions of past solo material (Rockslide, Creature Catcher) is drony like CAN...Velvety grooves and dirt (alot of dirt). Firebase Ripcord is an all-out hit. I play this record for people who do not follow music and the look on their faces is, 'Wow...what a unique sound...what good shit.' The Rolling Stones don't do it like this anymore. Neil Michael Hagerty & The Howling Hex are creating such a fresh, new rock scenario, that it is bewildering that this man has ever been in a band before (Let alone the Royal Trux and Pussy Galore). The sound is a freshness you usually hear on a band's/artist's first record. It is sexy."
What does it say about the state of my brain that when I played this in the front room of the store, I hated the solo record by Neil Hagerty of Royal Trux, yet now that I am listening to it in the office on my iMac with its KICK ASS new iSub subwoofer under the desk, it doesn't sound so bad? Am I just enamored of my new subwoofer, or is the subwoofer highlighting the pulsing bass
RECORD STORE DAY 2015!!
Record Store Day is so crazy and there's so much stuff, that even some of the things we knew we'd want to get extra helpings of (when we could) to review on our list, we haven't yet had a chance to really listen to. Such is the case with this lp, the debut on Three Lobed Recordings from the self-explanatorily named Hagerty-Toth Band - the a team up of Neil Hagerty (Royal Trux, Pussy Galore, The Howling Hex) and James Jackson Toth (Wooden Wand, a million other bands), both men singing, playing guitar, writing the songs, with a rhythm section featuring members of Wooden Wand and The Howling Hex backing 'em up. It's jaunty, jangly, jammy indie pop steeped in classic '70s rock sounds, a kind of slacker choogle laced with weird interludes. They call it "New Age garage". Fans of either Hagerty or Toth ought to investigate, we will further when we have more of a chance. Best song, we don't know yet; best song title, though, has to be: "Fall Guy's Mother".
Gatefold sleeve, includes download code, and it's limited of course.
Portland, OR's Haggard return with their second cd for Mr. Lady. These two girls (just guitar and drums) bust out thirteen new songs about bikes, quitting your job, buying liquor on Sunday in Oregon (apparently you can't), and more bikes amongst queer issues. No dildoes in Nebraska?
Alright!! For this latest batch of awesome (sorry couldn't help ourselves) Awesome Vista releases, one we've been looking forward to maybe a teensy bit more than the others is this solo debut from Linda Hagood. Probably best known for her unique vocal contributions to the nineties bands Smackdab and The Double U, Hagood revels in a childlike spookiness that channels the creepier parts of Comus, the angular shuffle and carnival weirdness of bands like Thinking Fellers, Monitor and Caroliner, and the cuddlecore pop of Cub, Puffy Ami Yumi and The Shaggs. Sometimes it reminds us of a female Daniel Johnson, but the music is much stranger and cartoony like Carl Stalling lost in an animated forest full of pet zombies moonlit ravens, giant bunnys, baby hyenas, and dancing marsupials. Freakish Moog whooshes and skittering violins punctuate spindley Eastern European guitar riffs and off-kilter rhythms as she sings these eleven strange but charming dreamlike songs. Her cartoony voice may be a dealbreaker for some, but no other voice would quite fit songs like this, songs that we've seen performed live for years and are finally glad to see laid to wax. Featuring gorgeous hand printed cover artwork by Christine Shields. Super cute and super weird, and like all the Awesome Vista releases, Super Limited!!!!!!!!!!
For fans of freaky psych and wild heavy noisiness, an album title like Ultra High Dimensionality should definitely conjure up images of long haired Japanese bands from the seventies, of huge amps, bell bottoms, trippy light shows and extreme volume. It's the sort of title you might expect to find on a Mainliner or White Heaven record, which we're guessing was probably the idea, since this band is not in fact Japanese, but British, and are fronted by Mike Vest, he of psychedelic doomlords Bong! But this IS meant to be an homage of sorts to that classic Japanese sound, especially Les Rallizes Denudes, coupled with the downtuned crush of the Bong mothership of course, and if that sounds good to you (and why the hell wouldn't it?!), you're likely ready for some serious Ultra High Dimensionality.
Forty minutes of epic heavy psych, still a bit doomy, and spacey, after all, as the saying (sort of) goes, you can take the man out of Bong, but odds are he'll likely drag some of that doominess with him, but it makes for a killer mix, just check out the opener, which sounds, as you might have surmised, like Les Rallizes Denudes by way of Bong, a loping, slow burner, all blown out psychedelic balladry wreathed in dense swirls of distorto guitar, and anchored by some hard hitting drumming, the sort of brooding slow build heaviness we could get lost in forever, total seventies style psychedelic smolder, in fact, most of Ultra High Dimensionality sounds like some alternate dimension version of Les Rallizes Denudes, which is most definitely not a bad thing, the tempos generally slow, lumbering, but seriously tripped out, equal parts doomy and psychedelic, if you ever wished those Les Rallizes records weren't so lo-fi (although, why would you?), this will definitely hit the spot. And while this is most definitely far enough removed from the doooooom of Bong, to maybe disappoint some doomlords, folks into The Heads, White Hills, Carlton Melton, and all that psychedelic space rock stuff, as well as all the aforementioned Japanese psych combos, this comes HIGHLY recommended.
Pressed on 180 gram vinyl, housed in a swank sleeve, screen printed on grey recycled cardstock in metallic ink. Includes a download code too.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Jussi Lehtisalo of Circle reissued this classic and obscure Finnish prog effort from the seventies. Thus, you can expect it to be quite strange and amazing. Haikara were an odd ensemble, hard to pin down to any specific style. The first half of the album leans towards an accomplished conservatory-esque approach -- long, solo ridden numbers, lead by fuzzy bass, clarinets, trumpets, flutes, the occasional operatic vocal and (of course) guitar; full of shifting meters and obtuse melody lines, but also entertaining bits of smokey garage simplicity. Then, in the middle of the album, all of a sudden it's like you're listening to the title track to some 70's romance drama, albeit with a prog edge. It's actually quite lovely. The nearest thing I can relate it to is the first side of Fred Frith's "Gravity" -- on which Fred is backed up by members of eccentrics Zamla Mammaz Manna -- and it continues in this vein before ending on a decidedly Scandinavian prog-funk note! A weird one, alright, something that takes a few listens to come to terms with. But I have to say, I really like this album...!
Finnish band Haikara's 1973 album "Geafar" was an amazing disc of wild prog-rock, and if you haven't checked out the reissue on Jussi of Circle's label Ektro, do so now! However, this 1990's reunion effort is not quite so wild, indeed, it's a kind of on the twee side...but not without appeal to hardcore progheads. In keeping with the lovely forest photos featured on the cd cover, this
And here's the Tzadik-issued part II to the latest collaboration between Japanese prog/psych legends Tatsuya Yoshida (Ruins) and Keiji Haino (Fushitsusha). Part I, Hauenfiomiume, came out on Yoshida's Magaibutsu label, and we highlighted it last list. The equally easy to say, remember, and spell Uhrfasudhasdd consists of 16 more tracks from the same sessions... also with crazy alphabet soup song titles. So, what we said about Hauenfiomiume pretty much applies here too. Compared to earlier Yoshida/Haino team-ups, it's more on the Ruinsy side, in part 'cause Yoshida computer-edited and mixed it, splicing and dicing their original improvs (?) into condensed, intense compositions, ranging from eerie ambience, to heavy progspazms. There's lots of quick cuts and giltched-out passages, making for manic spires of spiralling energy... For instance, on the track "Thuguigodssphiff", This Heatish percussion is punched in next to blasts of distortion and Magmoid vocal choruses. Maybe this is what a 'screwed and chopped' Koenjihyakkei would sound like! Except that most of this seems sped up, not slowed down. "Dhoidvophkjiff" could have been constructed from samples of Orthrelm and Brise-Glace.
It's the sort of insanity you expect from Yoshida in other words, everything from attention-deficit keyboard tinkling to fried synth soundz to rubbery bass riffage to howling guitar (well that's probably Haino's doing). The black-clad Haino's ability to conjure utter darkness bleeds through as well (check out the track 12, "Zhuddiposshk" for some harrowing, horrific atmospheres and creepy guttural vocal stylings, which crop up again on the ominous "Fiuijkdfgpokwom")... Basically if you're at all into either Haino or (maybe moreso) Yoshida, you'll enjoy this crazy cornucopia of their most extreme tendencies, multiplied by studio technology! Recommended.
Hey, these three must really like playing together (and WE really like 'em playing together too). 'Cause this Haino/O'Rourke/Ambarchi collaboration has turned out to be not a one-off, or even two-off; this international power trio are on their fourth full album, now, in just four years. And just getting better and better it seems. This outing again combines the colossal void-sculpting electric guitar & emotive, echoing vocal yawp of Japanese psych shaman Haino, with sturdy rhythm section backup from indie/experimental superstars Jim O'Rourke (bass) and Oren Ambarchi (drums). You can imagine the latter two doing the whole 'we're not worthy' routine in the face of Haino's overpowering black-on-black aesthetic, but actually they ARE pretty worthy, O'Rourke's Brise-Glace background (and oh, yeah stint in Sonic Youth) aligning with dronester-by-day Ambarchi's interest in motorik krautrock percussion stylings (e.g. Sagittarian Domain) to definitely hold up their end and provide plenty of interest and umph to the improvised (?) soundscapes through which Haino's guitar carves wide swaths.
This time round, there's some surprises, too - including a cameo appearance by famed minimalist drone-pioneer Charlemagne Palestine! That's on the opening, nearly 10 minute track, which also features Japanese guest Eiko Ishibashi, both playing wine glasses (yes wine glasses) making dulcet drones over which Haino gently (yes gently) sings and plays guitar. That's another surprise, how quietly and peacefully this begins, and continues, on the spacious second track too, where Haino plays flute (yes flute)� quite nice. But have no fears, fans of the Fushitsusha-freakout-mode of Haino's guitaring, as despite the relative restraint and loveliness of those first two tracks, this set does get heavy and noisy as it goes on, the group erupting into amped-up action by the time track three rolls around, replete with the choppy attack and grinding tones of Haino's guitar. Ambarchi provides a steady beat, steadier than on your usual Fushitsusha fare, pounding away alongside the distorted bass of O'Rourke in cyclic rhythmic grooves, providing compelling, mesmeric support for Haino to do 'his thing' - and this is very much his thing - as the cryptic/poetic song titles will attest. Somewhat in contrast to Haino's reactivated Fushitsusha unit, which has gone in the direction of dealing in beautifully difficult, short, sharp shocks, getting almost no-wavy on their two recent Heartfast label albums, this Fushitsusha-like trio has stayed more in stretched-out jam territory, all right with us too. So, recommended for any fan of Fushitsusha OR this band, and we do consider them a band at this point, albeit as mentioned, and as it should be, a Haino-centric one.
We've never been that into Hair Police, but this 12" has been weirdly getting tons of repeat play. Gorgeously packaged, some crazy squiggly luminescent blue on black artwork, it's one sided, the B side is a cool etching, and the music is pretty freaky and dark, droney and weird.
Downtuned guitar rumble and buzzy synth wound into thick undulating backdrops for all manner of fucked up electronics, lots of glitch and squelch, some strange alien melodies, the low end constantly heaving and pulsing, the clouds of effects and electronics alternating between shimmer and skree, the whole thing very creepy and ominous and cinematic, occasionally slipping into some serious NOISE and some intense Wolf Eyesian grind and rumble, lots of feedback and tons of tripped out FX, eventually drifting back into a jagged synthbuzzdrone. Cool stuff!
We only have SEVEN copies of this. It's no brand new, so odds are these are the last copies, which means if you really want one of these, act fast.
Are the Lexington, KY group unfortunately named Hair Police attempting to dethrone the Digital Hardcore crew? Sure sounds like it. Cacaphonous art punk angst in a head-on collision with a very DHR sonic barrage. One dozen brief, thick'n'murky tracks of
Primitive electric no wave noise planes. Sound pretty good huh? It is, actually! For certain moods, certain people, certain places, times and things.
The Lexington, KY trio of Robert Beatty, Mike Connelly (Wolf Eyes) and Trevor Tremaine open our ears enough to bleed all over the place with this penetrating severist noise. You can even catch Wolf Eyes' John Olsen for a brutal saxophone cameo on the title track. Constantly Terrified will be most utterly enjoyed by brutal noise fans and others who heart the pummelling noise/rock of Burmese, Wolf Eyes, Dead Machines, etc.
Hair Police bring us a fucked-up sludgey noise jam in the Wolf Eyes/1996-era Black Dice vein. Not bad, but not really anything new sounding. There's no dynamicism on Drawn Dead, though maybe that is the point. If you're a noise enthusiast you could be interested in its abrasive, suffocating tape sludge. Or not. It's possible that their newer recording, Constantly Terrifed (scheduled for release soon on Troubleman) will be more... uh, better?
Hair Police are the midwestern noise trio of Mike Connelly (Failing Lights, Wolf Eyes, etc), Robert Beatty, and Trevor Tremaine; and as with most of the American Tapes / Hanson horde, Hair Police has been content with the smattering of cassettes and hand-burned cd-rs between the larger editions on the usual suspects of No Fun, Ultra Eczema, and Hospital Productions. We've mentioned before that they never really stirred much more than "that's a stupid name" response from us (not that stupid band names have prevented adoration here at Aquarius Records. take Terminal Cheesecake, Solar Anus, Shit & Shine); but with the endorsement of the ever reliable ears of John Twells at Type Records, we had to take another listen at what they're up to. Side One opens with a subterranean clank that lumbers forward into a noise-doom dirge for bass / drum sludginess and feedback laden feral vocal delivery that harkens back to the earlier Wolf Eyes / Factrix monstrosities. The lo-fi, death industrial marches continue throughout much of the rest of the album with plenty of dark electronic overtures, circuit-bent noise overload, and ominous rhythmic disintegrations. The psychic crumbling that Hair Police addressed throughout these tracks is actualized in a couple of amorphous tracks of LAFMS-styled splutter and metal scraping which conclude the album. This is some seriously dark shit for sure.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Hey, pop fans! Cup proclaims that this cd is worth getting just for the second song "Play The Hits".
If you dig Posies, Raspberries, Silver Sun, Redd Kross as well as maybe Squeeze and XTC too, you might wanna set a place at your pop supper table for Hal... especially if you have a soft spot for unbridled, toothsome falsetto vocals. For the most part, these Irish lads' sound is super vibrant, sunshine rock, but the further you go into the album the more folksy they get. This is the album you want to be playing when they show that delirious montage of you at the summer fair, riding the Ferris Wheel, throwing darts at balloons, winning the giant stuffed animal, and getting wonderfully nauseous over too many mini doughnuts, sno-cones and cotton candy. Sweet, squeaky clean fun.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
In terms of 'keywords' this review should go something like this: Hala Strana, Jewelled Antler, Thuja, Steven R. Smith, Mirza, limited edition cd-rs, Eastern European folk music. Eh? Ok, now some of you are already clicking ADD TO CART or headin' down to our store. But if all that was more-or-less gobbledygook to you, let's elaborate. Hala Strana, which you may already have encountered as an entry in the Jewelled Antler Library series of 3" cdrs, is a project of LA-based multi-instrumentalist (and multi-instrument builder) Steven R. Smith, who is a member of Jewelled Antler flagship improv psych group Thuja and a solo artist in his own right. Hala Strana is his vehicle for instrumental droned-out Eastern European folk music appreciation/interpretation, and really represents some of his finest work to date. Multitracking turns Steven R. Smith into a one-man village orchestra, playing everything from violin to optigan, bul bul tarang to gourd guitar, harpsichord to clay flowerpots! Bouzouki, cello, harmonium, percussion, etc. These songs also incorporate snippets of field recording tapes and sampled recordings of traditional music. Plus some of his Thuja cohorts also show up to help out.
Many of the tracks are based on traditional folk tunes from Hungary, Albania, Macedonia, Croatia, and other Balkan backwaters. If you've heard any of the wonderful Muszikas records, you'll understand Steven R. Smith's inspirations. His arrangements and instrumention turn 'em into total folk-psych gems, reminding us of certain krautrock bands, International Harvester, the Dirty Three, Kemialliset Ystavat, Black Forest/Black Sea, all sorts of good things. Utter old world beauty meets underground drone aesthetics = some kind of Transylvanian trance music. Really nice. And we're looking forward to *another* new Hala Strana disc, a cd being released on Emperor Jones next week. That one's gonna be good too. But Fielding is hard to top. After all, there's TWO discs worth of music, and a handsome, handmade lil' booklet of art and text included. Unfortunately, there's only about 25 of these still available, so act fast!
Pretty much every Hala Strana release has been a unanimous AQ favorite, most finding their way on to many of our year end top ten lists, and this new one looks to follow suit. Hala Strana is the work of Steven R. Smith, who many of you might recognize as a member of AQ faves Thuja as well as from a handful of solo records that have been heaped with praise on this here very list. Hala Strana is a vehicle for Smith to explore, cover, rework and reinterpret Eastern European folk music. Each record contains a handful of cover songs, some straight, some completely reinvented, and originals informed by Smith's love of that musical tradition.
The originals on Heave The Gambrel Roof are dark and drone-y, plenty of steel string buzz, all stretched out into moody psychedelic free folk drone drift divinity. Subtle melodies, simple strumming, over lush backdrops of shimmery ambience, woven together from all manner of traditional and homemade instruments. A dark moody Appalachia with an Eastern sensibility, folky for sure, but with a definite raga component. One in particular, "Marl", introduces drums and sounds almost like country rock, albeit with a decidedly lo-fi production and a distinctively un-poppy vibe, but it's propulsive with mandolin and acoustic guitars, simple shuffling drumming, moaning distant ambience, it's maybe the most out of place song on the record, but it's a testament to Smith's skill that somehow it fits just fine amidst all the drone and buzz and drift.
The covers here, of which there are a handful, Smith makes his own, gorgeous bits of traditional strummy folk become mesmerizing and hypnotic, figures and melodies looped and repeated, sympathetic notes allowed to buzz and wash into one another. A few of the covers sound pretty straight, with just a tiny bit more buzz or drone, but a few are completely transformed, becoming extended atmospheric dreamscapes, like on "Wedding Of The Blind" which sounds like seventies Japanese psych drone ensemble Taj Mahal Travellers jamming with Jack Rose. Absolutely gorgeous.
While they last, we have the super limited deluxe version that comes wrapped in black felt, packaged alongside a thick piece of LP sized wood, with the cover art and the liner notes silkscreened directly onto the wood (and it smells amazing too, fresh wood, all foresty and outdoorsy). LIMITED TO 250 COPIES!! Each one is hand numbered with the number hand carved / branded into the wood! Once these are gone, we will have the less expensive regular vinyl version, which is probably a good thing as we imagine these will go pretty damn quick.
The fourth in the Jewelled Antler Library series of 3" cd-r releases comes from Thuja's Steven R. Smith, who has taken up the Hala Strana moniker for his Eastern European-folk music inspired meditations. "Karst" continues down the path of his previous Jewelled Antler production "Kohl" (which is slated for a reissue on 12" by Emperor Jones) with a more ramshackle production for his dense acoustic arrangements for guitar and scratchy violin, which often hints at Eastern European timbres but as played by Nikki Sudden. In fact two of Smith's tracks are versions of traditional Polish and Romanian folk songs. Often beginning with a clutter of loose sounds, Smith coaxes his orchestrations into melancholic melodies and has smothered everything with an unusual patina of crunchy vinyl static, giving the 18 minutes a distinctly antiquated feel. A great entry in a great series.
MPEG Download: "Sztajer" [/audio/halastranasztajer.mp3]
MPEG Stream: "Sztajer" [/audio/halastranasztajer.m3u]
Every time we get in a new album from Steven R. Smith's Hala Strana it's as if we've been magically, mystically transported to one of the Olde World vistas with which he always adorns his cd covers (this one comes from the Nuremberg Chronicle of 1493). He's an Eastern European influenced, drone-folk one-man-band, crafting gorgeous, mesmerizing, sometimes melancholic instrumental compositions in his home studio, incorporating sundry ethnic instruments and tapes and field recordings, in a manner quite in keeping with that of his Jewelled Antler brethren (instrument-builder Smith is an alumnus of Thuja, you might know). Only three of the songs here are authentic traditional tunes (from Latvia, Hungary, and the Caucasus), but all the rest of them also seem to derive from an ancient, far-off land of Smith's imaginings...organic, rustic, autumnal...music for meandering along a trickling stream, lazing in a meadow, peering at distant crags through a morning mist, or drinking in a ruined old tavern at night. Harmonium drones and gently plucked strings and wheezing accordion and keening hurdy gurdy (and more) are all woven by Smith into the medieval tapestry of Hala Strana's music. Ah, we love it. These Villages is Hala Strana's fourth release -- we can't say it's the best yet, only because the others were also so superlative too. Quite recommended.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Three songs from Steven R. Smith and his Hala Strana, ultra limited lathe cut, hand numbered, only 60 copies pressed. We got FIVE.
Local trio whose sweetly mournful, thickly atmospheric tunes will appeal to fans of Red House Painters and Radar Bros.
Long overdue second full length from these San Francisco mope rockers. Dark and intense and delicate and absolutely beautiful. Think Low, Labradford, Codeine, Radar Bros. etc...
21 songs performed by Jad Fair and crew. Includes "Movin' On Up".
This may be only the second Half Japanese album to find a home on the Alternative Tentacles label, but it's one in such a long line of HJ/Jad Fair projects (upwards of 30!)... don't even think of shaking a stick at 'em. At any rate over twenty years after
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Arizona's Half Visconte channel all the good things about indie/post rock (Drive Like Jehu, Rodan, Blonde Redhead, Sonic Youth) into something really great, especially considering the glut of 'post rock' bands. The first three songs are complex mathy workouts, along the same lines as Rodan, A Minor Forest and Sweep the Leg Johhny. But track four is where they really come into their own. A twenty minute epic combining post rock rhythms, hypnotic krautrock drones, ambient industrial soundscapes, and experimental click and clatter. If this strange musique concret/post-rock hybrid is where HV are headed, they will be unbeatable.
Half-Handed Cloud is the one man spiritual band who also goes by the name John Ringhofer. In case you couldn't tell from the album's title, we'll let ya know that his are some unconventional Bible related songs drawing his subject matter from the Old Testament. This album was recorded in a church sanctuary and incorporates pianos, woodwinds, horns, cellos, guitars and yes, church organs and choirs.
Second full length from Louisville / San Francisco-based band who conjure up the warm acoustic guitar / cello / violin dark gothic sound popularized by another Lousiville band Rachel's, then add murmured vocals to bring it down to earth. It's very emotional,
Capturing the essence of the Southern Gothic, Louisville-based Halifax Pier has written a beautiful album of epic indie-rock melancholia with all of the breath-taking instrumentation of Rachel's and a vocalist whose emotive drawl recalls Camper Van Beethoven's David Lowery. What ever happened to him?
Dirty four-track recordings. Stoned post-Jandek acoustic guitar strum. Gritty layers of organ drones. That's been the default sound of the Siltbreeze label; and by and large, most things on Siltbreeze that take on this sound are pretty good at it. Hall of Fame is certainly one of these outfits, sounding a lot like the latest work from Charalambides or a poppier version of Tower Recordings. So it wouldn't be surprising to learn that Hall of Fame features members of Tower Recordings!
