Also now reissued by Water, Individuellos is the third and final outing for Klaus Dinger's post-Neu! kraut glammers, La Dusseldorf. Originally released in 1980, it has a slightly more pronounced eighties treatment then Viva or their self-titled debut, but the big keyboard driven rhythms on opening number "Menschen" are unmistakably classic La Dusseldorf. Not every song on here is classic, but the ambient "Sentimental" with its layered tones and backwards recordings showcase a sublime side not as present on their earlier records. Probably not as essential as the reissues of those first two records (which, by the way, we now have on vinyl), but much much better than we had expected!
We're very excited about these two remaster/reissues from Germany's La Dusseldorf! La Dusseldorf were THE masters of anthemic open and clean-sounding happy funky krautrock, inspiring the likes of Eno and Bowie (Heroes-era). They crafted repetitive hypnotic percussion with layers of super clean life-affirming melodies that were driven by minimal lyrics. Neu! co-founder Klaus Dinger and drummer Hans Lampe (who joined Neu! for their 3rd album 75) formed La Dusseldorf following the breakup of Neu! They were joined by Klaus' brother, Thomas, on percussion and vocals, Harald Konietzko on bass, and Nicolas van Rhein on keyboards. Any fan of Neu! will immediately recognize that Neu! sound, which is still evident here, but where Neu! was icy and detached, La Dusseldorf is positive and practically bubbling with warmth. Like Harmonia (a product of fellow ex-Kraftwerker, Michael Rother), La Dusseldorf albums have an incredible, ahead-of-their-time production level and truly sound like they could be a current release (we've already witnessed a couple customers' disbelief at the year it was originally released!) Viva, their second record, is filled with Krautrock anthems, culminating in the 20 minute long Cha Cha 2000 - an epic of krauty proportions. If you've been reading some of our more recent lists, we should distinguish that La Dusseldorf do not fall in the krautrock sub-genre of WWII-effected dark & broodish-type stuff, a la German Oak. La D. better fit into the uber-clean & hypnotic song-kraft family of Neu!, Harmonia, Cluster, Can, Kraftwerk, etc. Both the self-titled and Viva releases are highly recommended as an integral part of any Krautrock kollection!
We're very excited about these two remaster/reissues from Germany's La Dusseldorf! La Dusseldorf were THE masters of anthemic open and clean-sounding happy funky krautrock, inspiring the likes of Eno and Bowie (Heroes-era). They crafted repetitive hypnotic percussion with layers of super clean life-affirming melodies that were driven by minimal lyrics. Neu! co-founder Klaus Dinger and drummer Hans Lampe (who joined Neu! for their 3rd album 75) formed La Dusseldorf following the breakup of Neu! They were joined by Klaus' brother, Thomas, on percussion and vocals, Harald Konietzko on bass, and Nicolas van Rhein on keyboards. Any fan of Neu! will immediately recognize that Neu! sound, which is still evident here, but where Neu! was icy and detached, La Dusseldorf is positive and practically bubbling with warmth. Like Harmonia (a product of fellow ex-Kraftwerker, Michael Rother), La Dusseldorf albums have an incredible, ahead-of-their-time production level and truly sound like they could be a current release (we've already witnessed a couple customers' disbelief at the year it was originally released!) This self-titled 4-song cd is absolutely classic Krautrock! "Silver Cloud", with its huge drums and layers of simple, syrupy melody create one of our favorite krautrock songs ever! At the time of this album's release, it was played on German radio a bunch and even became a "funk" hit! "La Dusseldorf" opens with the chanting of a football [soccer] audience and leads into a pulsating anthemic rhythm also joined by the valliant one-word chant of "Dusseldorf". If you've been reading some of our more recent lists, we should distinguish that La Dusseldorf do not fall in the krautrock sub-genre of WWII-effected dark & broodish-type stuff, a la German Oak. La D. better fit into the uber-clean & hypnotic song-kraft family of Neu!, Harmonia, Cluster, Can, Kraftwerk, etc. Both the self-titled and Viva releases are highly recommended as an integral part of any Krautrock kollection!
If you're like us, you probably never heard of these Boston bashers, a short lived ultra heavy combo from Boston, with just a handful of releases, all collected here, and a sound that makes us wish we had, and one that most definitely puts most other heavy bands to shame, equal parts gnarled Black Flag dirge, mathy sci-fi Voivod-isms, and churning downtuned Swans like pummel, every track here a grim, dense slab of sonic crush, the guitars massive and thick, the riffs fucking fierce, the drums devastating, the band alternatingly locking into hypnorock grooves, or super intricate, churning mathiness, loads of buzz and feedback, total math rock / post rock / noise rock / post punk bliss.
The label describes these guys thusly: "Imagine massive slabs of discordance at earsplitting volume and a terrifyingly intense, tattooed madman working out his personal demons while wearing a too-small Sonic the Hedgehog tee shirt", which sounds pretty amazing (and had us thinking of Oxbow for some reason), and La Gritona, even minus the apparently terrifying live experience, sound pretty goddamn terrifying on record too, with plenty of Jesus Lizard-y swagger, Helmet like metallic chug, and that vocalist, mostly singing in a monstrous bellow, but seemingly constantly slipping into a crazy hysterical shriek, but not like a metal shriek, more like an inhuman high pitched squeal, weirdly haunting, and definitely disturbing, but perfectly suited to LG's pigfuck heaviness. And while they do slow it down every once in a while, those slow songs almost sound even more intense, offering up a sort of mutant blues Birthday Party style onslaught.
Every single track here rules, from tangled atonal metallic dirgery, to doomed out lurching math sludge, old school noise rock crunch to psychedelic fuzzed out harmonic drenched post punk, a sound that at the time was obviously a decade or so to early, but that to these ears would have the current crop of sludge worshippers going nuts, and if Harvey Milk can finally get the love and adoration they so deserved, a full decade late, then why the hell not these guys. And as long as we're mentioning it, Harvey Milk fanatics would do well to check these guys out too. Just sayin'...
Massive double disc, 40 track collection gathering up EVERYTHING these guys ever recorded, which includes loads of unreleased and live tracks, as well as the Steve Albini engineered full length Arrasa Con Todo, which just might be one of the most perfect slabs of skull splitting downtuned heaviness we've ever heard.
All right, this is a relief. Reviewing a freakin' kick ass real ROCK N' ROLL record. Nice to know they still can make 'em. Not that we didn't expect a healthy helping of rockin' from Lima's La Ira De Dios, whose previous album more than lived up to its title, Cosmos Kaos Destruccion (no translation needed, right?). We compared 'em to stonery stuff like Monster Magnet and Hawkwind last time 'round, but on Apus Revolution Rock they've gone even more raw and retro, punking it up '60s garage fuzzmonster style, with nods to surf music and other retro sounds, to the extent of including screaming girls (La Ira De Dios mania!?) in the mix on the blown out opening cut "Revolucion", which has a '50s meets the Stooges vibe that sounds a lot like '70s Japanese jams-kicker-outers Gedo. Good grief! What's not to like about that? And if you like to rock that is. THEY sure do, second track "No Hay Control" not letting up, in fact, cranking it up, it and ALL the dozen tracks on this album delivering nothin' but 110 percent high energy distortodelic rock action.
Need we say more? 'Cause La Ira De Dios really say it all with the slogan on the cd booklet: "Peru Psicodelia Punk". Another one they're fond of: "MAXIMUMVOLUMEROCKANDROLL!!!" If you're looking for catchy amped up anarchistic rawk with tons o' frantic fuzz, and cowbell too, for fans of The Heads, The Hives, Crushed Butler, Mudhoney, Larry Wallis era Pink Fairies, Motorhead, Boris circa Pink, fellow Peruvians / labelmates El Cuy, and other rad rockin' coolness of that ilk then La Ira De Dios have a rekkid for you!! Or if you can, imagine Los Natas on a search and destroy mission to do a Louie Louie and you're close to what La Ira De Dios is dishing out here.
So yeah, reviewing this was a blast, just turned it up and let the rock dictate these words... now the problem is turning it off and trying to put on something else we gotta review, which almost by definition will be less rockin' and thus less worthwhile. Plus somehow, in the process of reviewing this, we had a couple beers...maybe we'll just play this record one more time.
By the way, the vinyl version of this comes with a bonus 7", featuring of all things, a cover of "Shadowplay" by Joy Division (!), whereas the compact disc includes an exclusive bonus video for the track "5000 Anos".
In our recent highlight review of No More Invention by the frantic French acid guitar punk band Gunslingers, we kinda bagged on all other modern day signings by the World In Sound label (as opposed to their rather better selection of reissues, of which we generally enthusiastically approve). Then we realized, that wasn't quite fair, 'cause besides the excellent Gunslingers, WIS has also put out good stuff by at least a couple other contemporary bands, both of 'em from South America, Peru to be precise. There's El Cuy (which we'll review when we can get more in, our supplier was out) and this one, La Ira De Dios.
We've actually stocked several earlier discs by this Peruvian power trio (sans reviews, sorry), so we knew we liked 'em. They rock it and roll it in a fat, fuzzed out "desert rock" style not unlike an Andean version of Kyuss, or Monster Magnet... Each track swirls dizzily with spaced out Hawkwindy electronic FX, while the band keeps on keepin' on, riffin' hard, hair and sweat a-flyin'. With their gravelly Spanish language vocals and command of psychedelic/Satanic drug things we also wouldn't understand, they also of course remind us of AQ faves Los Natas from Argentina. But while Los Natas sometimes get all gentle and proggy, these guys stick with the blown out, balls out rockin'. Pretty badass! The final track, a 13 minute trip called "Jamas Morire", is a category 5 stoner rock storm that definitely demonstrates that this album was not mis-titled.
Heck yeah, some more "Peru Psicodelia Punk" from these explosive South American garage-fuzz faves. That means it's time to ROCK, let's go! Lima's La Ira De Dios offer up another energetic dose of their can't-sit-still-listening-to-it distorted wailing grooviness on this, their fifth album. When we first heard these guys some years ago, they played spacey stoner rock, kinda like Kyuss meets Hawkwind, but their interest in freaky fuzz mongering has seemingly sent them on a path into the past, so by now it sounds like they've REALLY studied their '60s proto-punk stuff, with a concentration on Detroit. They even have backup vocals by a "girl group" of sorts, "The Borrachettes". The heavy Hawkwind-y space rock sounds are still there, though, too, along with the "Rumble" of Link Wray and some Nuggets-y jangle - and its a combo that's tough to beat, we love hearing La Ira De Dios bash it out in this style, with their gruff, sandpapery singing (some in Spanish, some in English) sounding sincerely urgent and desperate, contributing to this album's generally dark vibe.
They do take a few breaks from the rawk, allowing for some moody, melodic moments amidst the high energy mayhem, such as on the title track at the end of side A, all windswept acoustic strum and hushed downer vocals, before winding up with a jet engine blast of feedback noise, heralding a return to the uptempo rock action of "Underground" that begins side B. In some ways, this might be this trio's best or at least most multidimensional record yet, one that we'll listen to for their trademark "MAXIMUMVOLUMEROCKNROLL!!!" and much more besides.
As always, recommended! Especially to fans of very early Monster Magnet, as well as the likes of Vee Dee and DMBQ and local boys Hot Lunch. But really there's not too many modern day bands doing this sort of thing so darn well, demonstrating the true power of rock. For sure La Ira De Dios owe a lot to the greats - "Ghost City" reminds us a lot of Radio Birdman, and on "The Unrest" they channel the shake appeal of the Stooges - but nothin' wrong with that, in fact, everything is right about it, especially when you've got this cranked on 10 and wish you could turn it up even louder.
Tim Foljahn's unique take on "experimental country"--as if the Shadow Ring were to play with Cat Power? For fans of Loftus, too.
Fans of the late great Six Finger Satellite prick up your ears, John Dwyer's Castle Face label digs deep into Providence, Rhode Island underground rock history to unearth this rare unreleased record from 6FS offshoot La Machine, a two piece drum, bass, vocals and FX duo, who kicked out some seriously tranced out psychedelic bunkurfunk, stripped down minimal grooves, dubbed out and trancey, everything wreathed in flanger and phaser, like some seventies drum solo stretched out into some minimal cocaine dub-funk, the sound slipping from thick and bassy to brittle and crunchy, not sure if it on purpose or due to the old source tapes, but it's pretty cool regardless, the vocals, fragmented phrases ("Get drunk!", "Get High!"), doused in effects, heavily delayed and sent careening into the ether, dubstyle, each track a single bassline, a simple drum beat, locked tight, unfurling a fuzzed out groove, like the seriously heavy "Too Bad", driven by thick fuzz bass, all wound around some unfunky funky drumming, more echoe-y vocals, snarly and slithery, total late night, zoner party aktion, only the serious headz sticking around to get lost in these gangrenous grooves. "Supermaggot" might be THEE jam here, a bastardized "Maggotbrain" (or so we're probably just imagining), a looped, loopy bass line, over a noisy, clattery, skeletal rhythm, with some seriously Can like vox, modern retro kraut-funk that sounds like Six Finger Satellite stripped down to the bare essentials. Some of the tracks get fierce and noisy, like "Sucks To Come Down", which plays like a track designed for just that purpose, like as long as they keep playing, the comedown might never come, others get slithery and low slung, laced with blurts of electronic noise and malfunctioning electronics, but every track here a late night, divinely druggy sprawl of minimalist bunkurfunk that RULES!
Latest from these East Coast psych rockers, a group who share members with another aQ fave, Titan, both bands offering up spaced out prog psych heaviness. On this latest La Otracia disc though, the L.O. trio get even proggier and heavier, the first side is mostly a single sprawling jam, rife with wildly intense drum freakouts, soulful soaring distorted guitars, thick buzzing bass, all wound tight into some super propulsive metallic prog.
The band churn out some surprisingly heavy riffage and heart-of-the-sun psychedelia, slipping from full on blown out prog to long stretches of swirling space rock and thick wall-of-sound drones, the proggier parts laced with squiggly synths, fractured riffs, fluttering flutes, all locked into some seriously complex arrangements, a multi part epic that could have gone on for another several lp sides (and as far as we're concerned should have!) but instead gives way to a tripped out moody reverb soaked coda.
The flipside is not so incendiary, but still plenty heavy and psychedelic, from druggy glistening shimmer, into loping almost Polvo-y postrock, humid guitar buzz over distant abstract percussion, hushed muted thrum lurching into frenetic krautrockiness, ending with an awesome final track, a head spinning collage of super psychedelic backwards guitars over simple subtle drumming, another awesome track that could easily have spread out over another album side.
Total kick ass space psych prog nirvana, and as always, essential listening for fans of Earthless, Guapo, Dead Meadow, Acid Mothers Temple, Titan, Mammatus, Bardo Pond, Hawkwind, Monster Magnet and the drugged out, spaced out like.
Brooklyn trio La Otricina have always been about the spaced out heavy jammy psychedelic proggy stoner riffed awesomeness. But now, with their third full-length Holy Mountain monument, they're REALLY starting to fuck shit up. Reality Has Got To Die is their most gonzo album yet, and definitely their most metal! Opener "Hail Fire" sets the scene, with singer/drummer Adam Kriney, tongue perhaps in cheek, rallying La Otracina's jackbooted troops to march forth and pillage some alien landscape, riffs stabbing down from on high like laser blasts from orbiting star destroyers. Melancholic neo-classical guitar melodies lend some pathos to the scene, but pretty soon La Otracina are retro-thrashing it up like Early Man at a kegger. That sort of behavior continues into the next cut, "Raze The Sky", which also manages to up the quota of sci-fi synths, AND throw in a bit of boogie, and visit the set of an Italian suspense movie... Then "Crystal Wizards Of The Cosmic Weird" launches. It's over ten minutes long and thus no surprise even more ridiculously proggy than what's come before, tossing in all that and more, sounding one second like Sleep, another like King Crimson. Clearly this record isn't for those who think bands should be restrained and tasteful in their application of whatever rad '70s stuff in their record collections turns them on. INDULGE! La Otracina aren't holding anything back, but they ARE making damn sure they're tighter and heavier and probably catchier than your band. Unless your band is, like, Pharaoh Overlord or Mammatus or Danava or something, in whose illustrious company La Otracina definitely belong.
But for every metallic part that sounds like it could be off an album by Early Man or The Sword, there's another trippier one that could be by White Hills, Acid Mothers Temple, or even Jonas Reinhardt. In fact, the title track, stretching out over almost 20 minutes, is definitely towards the kosmik krauty spacey psychy side of the La Otracina equation, complete with lengthy distorto-drone maelstroms, and even a drum solo! And when all is said and done, if you can imagine a New Age version of the Saviours you'd be close to a guess at what this record sounds like overall. Enough with the hypothetical comparisons, though, on Reality Has Got To Die these guys have almost moved beyond comparison, whilst making an album seemingly focus-group tested entirely at Aquarius Records. In other words, recommended!
The double lp version comes with mp3 download coupon. The cd version comes with the cd!
Brooklyn's La Otracina, whom we first knew as a "space rock" band, sure have gotten a bit more "metal" lately; their most recent full length for Holy Mountain, Reality Has Got To Die, incorporated a whole lotta retro-thrash headbanging amidst their usual psychedelic stoner groove and progged out excess.
On this brand new 7" single, with no room for 20 minute space rock jams anyway, they definitely set their controls for the heart of the mosh pit... Raucous rockin' A-side "Madness Of Mind" careens along like a garagey NWOBHM throwback, motorin' most enjoyably as their singing drummer belts (and bashes) it out. They chug it up even more on the B-side, "Twisted Branches", more heads down metallized thump there, it's almost like they've been listening to old Anthrax! Though both trax have their psych side to 'em too, wild guitar soloing in that mode for sure.
For fans of Danava, Saviours, the latest Pharaoh Overlord, and local boys Glitter Wizard...
First release on the new label run by one of the La Otracina guys, named after a Budgie Song, natch. On see-thru green vinyl.
There's a lot of bands doing the '70s inspired instrumental jammy psych thing today... but this Brooklyn outfit, armed with guitars, bass, drums, synth, vibes, and upright bass, for sure does it RIGHT. Maybe no surprise, since La Otracina shares members with one of our instrumental psych/prog faves, space rockers Titan! If you like them, chances are you'll dig this... we'd also recommend La Otracina to fans of Earthless, Expo '70, Dead Meadow, Acid Mothers Temple, labelmates Om and Mammatus, etc.
Think post rock + pot and you'll have some suitably hazy idea of what this is all about. There's winding, wandering stuff here, exploratory, relaxed... as well as tracks that are rather more energetic and prog-tight. For instance, the 11-minute "Beyond The Dusty Hills (Cowboy In The Desert Part Two)" is one of the super stoned, drifting cuts, while the comparatively brief 6-minute "Nine Times The Color Red Explodes Like Heated Blood" is more propulsively muscular and Titan-esque, progressively riffed more rigidly than some of the other offerings here. Roiling and heavy, shimmering and lovely...the five tracks on Tonal Ellipse Of The One allow all those descriptors to apply, eventually.
Seems like we're always saying nice things about stuff on the Holy Mountain label, well, it's true -- Lesbian, Mammatus, Blues Control, those are just a few of the recent releases from up high on the Holy Mountain that we've been diggin' lately. Add La Otracina to that list! Let's hope HM can keep their excellent batting average up, we look forward to what's next...
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Repressed and BACK IN STOCK (for now...).
Super limited, lovingly presented reissue of this legendary record. Long out of print (minus the briefly available reissue on DC / Intoxica, now also out of print) and heavily sought after soundtrack to Rene Laloux's 1973 Cannes Grand Prix winning animated feature "La Planete Sauvage." If the film itself is a hallucinatory masterpiece, the soundtrack - composed by Alain Goraguer (long time arranger for Serge Gainsbourg) - is as fitting as it is brilliant. Like an LSD dosed Isaac Hayes score, the music herein is at the same time both reminiscent of classic early seventies drama soundtracks and completely surreal and strange. Lots of recurring leitmotifs recast in ever building and changing arrangements, including marimba, Theremin and bird whistles as well as the standard orchestral elements, guitars and funky organs. So great!
Here's a nice digipack reissue of something that's reputed to be one of the best ever psych albums from south of the border, right up there with Los Dug Dugs (who'd be our personal pick). And oh yeah, it's from 1971! If you've got the "Love, Peace and Poetry: Mexican Psychedelic Music" comp then you've already heard some La Revolucion De Emiliano Zapata, though their track on that comes from their second album, Hoy, not this their debut.
First off, there's plenty of stinging acid rock guitar awesomeness here, big time FUZZ action. But there's also mellower, more melodic side to them as well. Basically they cover all the bases of badass rockin' and rollin' California sixties psych influenced garage freakdom here. And they sing in English, whereas on Hoy they switched, mainly, to Spanish, which was a radical move as the conservative Mexican government/society of the '70s apparently would tolerate a lot of things sung in English but not in Spanish. Considering that two of the song titles here are "Nasty Sex" and "Shit City" maybe that's understandable...
Hopefully Dynamic will be reissuing Hoy as well someday, it's also a good one!
We are head-over-heels for Katy Goodman's ringing falsetto that has sweepingly soared through a large handful of equally wonderful Vivian Girls and La Sera releases. She lands us here on Music For Listening To Music To, La Sera's fourth full-length. Swinging in a slightly new direction, this album takes La Sera's fuzzy dream pop and mixes in a slight folk-country twang. It's like Dolly Parton meets Felt meets the Smiths meets the Breeders and it's everything we never knew we wanted. This Ryan Adams produced album features especially stunning guitar riffs from Todd Wisenbaker that mix the best of surf and seventies rock. Goodman's consistently strong, sharp, somber, and sweet lyrics and harmonies are further elevated by the more frequent inclusion of Wisenbaker's vocals ("Nineties" kicks ass!). We love every second of Music For Listening To Music To; this album could easily lead La Sera down a variety of new, killer paths and after the freshness of this release, we anticipate being totally in step wherever their sound goes.
Debut release from this Vivian Girls side project, and it most definitely sounds like it, gorgeous hazy Phil Spector-ish production, lush jangly guitars, simple stripped down drumming, and reverbed vocals, but La Sera does stand out in several ways, one is the addition of some strange (and lovely) synth melodies, which seem like they would clash with the overall throwback vibe, but somehow just make it sound more distinctive, and the other is the vocals, Katy Goodman aka La Sera sings here much more cleanly, her voice more ethereal and angelic, and the sounds definitely reflects that, conjuring up that nineties Slumberland vibe which meshes pretty perfectly with the Spector girl group sound. So nice!
Katy Goodman, aka La Sera, aka one third of dream pop trio Vivian Girls, returns with here second solo full length, and as we mentioned in our review of the first, the fuzzy, Spector-ish, jangly musical apple doesn't fall far from the VG tree, although Sees The Light definitely takes the sound of the La Sera debut, and hones it even further, sonically more polished and lush, but without losing any of it's raw urgency or DIY charm, but it's quite obvious Goodman is becoming a pop songsmith to be reckoned with, whether she's weaving hazy old timey reverb drenched pop balladry like on opener "Love That's Gone", or kicking out the rambunctious fuzz-pop jams like on "Please Be My Third Eye", wrapping woozy dreamy jangle, and ethereal angelic vox around an almost punkish pound, or offering up hook-heavy Pixies/Breeders style indie rock on the should-be-a-hit "I Can't Keep You In My Mind", with Goodman ditching the reverb, and revealing her surprisingly powerful voice, as well as whipping up the sort of chorus/main hook most other bands would kill for, and crafting a song that sounds so catchy and immediately familiar it's hard to believe it's not a cover.
From there on out, Goodman never lets up, song after song, hook after hook, pretty much every song on Sees The Light is a total mixtape dream pop gem, deftly mixing the soft and fuzzy, with the buzzy and jangly, and at times, even a little bit of the dark and heavy (just check out the dreamy almost doom-pop dirgery of "How Far We've Come Now"), into an irresistible sonic concoction!
After a fantastic single, the full length finally arrives from this Vivian Girls side project, and like the 7" (whose A side "Never Come Around" is present here too) this definitely sounds a lot like the Vivian Girls mothership, the sound is washed out, gauzy, softly reverby, that Phil Spector-ish production, the opening track is fantastic, ethereal and dreamy, guitars shimmering and jangling, lush vocal harmonies, all hazy and otherworldly, with crunchy guitars here and there, but for the most part, just gorgeously fuzzy soft focus drift, with some unexpected psychedelic guitar crunch and swirl near the end. Which is quickly followed by the single, all lush jangly guitars, simple stripped down drumming, and reverbed vocals, and even more of that Spector wall of sound, but as we mentioned in the review of the 7", La Sera takes the VG sound and adds some strange (and lovely) synth melodies, and the vocals of Katy Goodman aka La Sera are much more clean and pure, her voice more ethereal and angelic, which perfectly suits the sound, the overall feel like some mix of primitive K Records girl pop, nineties Slumberland shoegaze, and of course that classic sixties girl group song. There's nothing ramshackle or garage-y really about La Sera, instead it's much more polished, WAY more lush, hazy, shimmery, a lovely fuzzy, soft focus dreampop, that will no doubt appeal to fans of all the 'Girls (Vivian, Dum Dum and At Dawn) but also fans of the Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, and the sonically similar groups that came before like the Lilys, Velocity Girl, My Bloody Valentine, Heavenly, Pastels, etc.
Imagine Ariel Pink, if he was a she, and crafted twisted warped lo-fi late night seventies FM radio, drug party, sci fi sexy soul music, and you'll begin to get an idea of what to expect from LA Vampires, teamed up here with fellow lo-fi beatscaper lo-fi groove architect Matrix Metals (of Outer Limits Recordings).
The two have created a haunting neon lit late night landscape of Casio keyboards primitive beats, warped warbly melodies, fractured synths, fuzzy bass, new wavey soundtrack swirl, loads of FX, the whole thing sounds like some warped disco 12" being played on one of those battery powered turntables and broadcast through a transistor radio, but then the whole thing plugged into some retro futuristic sound system, that somehow transforms the whole thing into some sort of twisted Goblin / Carpenter future disco, all of which is simply a backing track for Miss LA Vampires to croon over, her vocals, smokey and monotone, a sort of reverbed icy croon, more spoken than sung much of the time, you can almost imagine her as some sort of painted up cyber chanteuse, perched on a light up pyramid, wreathed in dry ice smoke, while all around her, gorgeous sparkly ladies and buff cybernetic boys shuffle rhythmically to here haunting coked up midnight jamzzzz. Dig it!
So interesting to see what new directions people take when faced with similar turning points. Out of the ashes of Pocahaunted, Bethany Cosentino embraced her love of pop and girl group garage glory, forming Best Coast. On the other hand, her former bandmate Amanda Brown went the other way, riffing off the layers of fractured/damaged sounds that Pocahaunted were creating into something more dubbed out and beat orientated. What's so cool is they both created such great music while taking utterly different paths.
LA Vampires seem to thrive on collaboration. Her record with Zola Jesus last year was a narcotic dubbed out slow burner and she also collaborated with Matrix Metals and shared a slice of vinyl with Psychic Reality. Ital is the new left-field dance project by former San Francisco resident Daniel McCormick (Mi Ami, Sex Worker). We were super excited when we heard McCormick was working on a new project focusing on weirdo electronic dance tracks. We knew he had such a great ear for the underworld of damaged dance sounds and damn does this collaboration between him and LA Vampires kill! Dubbed out, tripped out, swirling with infectious yet hazy melody and sensual rhythm. It's a 12" that merges the steaminess and sexiness of Throbbing Gristle's "Hot On The Heels Of Love" with the Chromatics "I Want Your Love." We've been playing this nonstop!
Rumor has it that Nika Danilova will be moving to Los Angeles upon completing her studies in Madison, WI. Perhaps a precursor to things to come for Zola Jesus when she does land in SoCal is this 12" with Nika laying swoonsome goth vocals upon slow-motion codeine-dub tracks provided by Amanda Brown (here in the guise of LA Vampires, but perhaps better known as half of Pocahaunted.) Much like the last few Pocahaunted records with their ghetto-tech downer dub, casting an evil eye on any sunshine vibes, Brown's production comes across like a lo-fi, home-built Scorn with basslines that sulk and stalk from the nastiest of noir alleyways and beats that could be lifted straight from a Chopped & Screwed remix. It's well suited to what Zola Jesus has delivered on her earlier constructions of equally lo-tech industrialisms; and her voice as always is frigid, strong, and operatic. Many of the songs clock in at less than 3 minutes, which is pretty much just right for these looping skeletal tracks. The seven track ep ends with an incredible cover of Dawn Penn's "No No No" taking the already zombified rocksteady ballad to a narcotic, love-sick zenith (or nadir, depending on how you look at it) of woozy, chemically zonked dirge-n-dub.
Upon a single listen, this second record sounds noisier, more dark and less new age than Labradford's debut.
The fifth studio album from Labradford finds the band incorporating instrumentations of dulcimer, string section, and tape loops alongside their atmospherics for guitar, bass, and piano. Labradford may have beaten Andee (in his first solo project after A Minor Forest, Pee, and Tic War) to the punch with a blatant appropriation of George Winston / Shadowfax / Windham Hill onto a record for Kranky.
Beautiful, none the less.
Brand new album of laid back, minimal, Bernardo Bertolucci-esque instrumentals from Labradford, including a slightly disturbing number that sounds a little too much like the Modern English's "Melt With You". There's really nothing new or different here from them on this one except that there's absolutely no singing on this album, not even mumbling buried in the mix -- which is a good thing. The bad part is that this album, though priced as a full length, clocks in a little short of one at 38 minutes.
Their fourth record is way melodic, very nice.
This longtime aQ fave now remastered and reissued on vinyl, with all new artwork, here's what we hads to say about Prazision when it was reissued on cd back in 2007...
The one frustrating thing about the list, and the aQ website in general, that sometimes drives us crazy, is that it only really began in earnest in the mid nineties, thus there are SO many records that we love, and that we reference all the time, that we just always assume MUST be on the list, but aren't, so we try to review those records anyway once in a while, if they're still available, but even better is when one of those discs gets reissued, giving us the opportunity to shower it with the praise we would have back in the day. Which brings us to the gorgeous debut from Labradford (which was also the very first release on Kranky!).
Originally released in 1993, the sound of Prazision LP was so prescient, the current crop of cd-r noisemakers have nothing on these guys, in fact, almost anything you hear now on some super limited cd-r, you could hear on Prazision LP more than a decade earlier. A gorgeous blend of shimmering ambience, fractured folk, minimal pop, sculpted noise and experimental soundscapes that seems to be constantly in flux, a fluid, organic collection of sounds and songs, a murky melancholy mood music rendered in soft strummed shimmer and haunting abstract ambience.
The opening track is the perfect send off, as we depart on our journey, dark billowy drones, keening distant high end streaks, a strange almost mechanical non-rhythm hovering in the foreground, beneath it all deep dark sonic swells, a muted mysterious melody, everything seemingly drifting weightless in a hazy expanse of underwater sunlight. But before we can settle in and float weightlessly into the ether, the second track introduces an actual song, simple strummed steel string guitar, melancholy Jandekian sadboy vocals, over a haunting multilayered drone. The next track is more pop, but even more druggy and unhinged, vocals buried in a murky muddy swirl of effected guitars and sprawling minor key melodies, reminding us of an even less propulsive Spacemen 3 or a way druggier Galaxie 500, no beats, just the voice and the various smeared sounds floating heavenward. In fact the whole record has that vibe, sort of wasted, bleary eyed, druggy, dreamy, drifting, on the verge of simply fading away, or floating into the sun to be consumed and turned to ash.
The rest of the record is balanced pretty evenly between Velvets style lo-fi downer pop, lazy and languorous and laid waaaay back, guitars glistening and glimmering, and thick mesmerizing slabs of slow shifting glacial whir, often a breathtaking combination of the two. Absolutely gorgeous and so forward thinking. One of our favorite records ever, a dark and doleful experimental abstract ambient pop masterpiece.
For the vinyl reissue, one of the tracks from Labradford's first 7" is included, and is just more of that haunting mysterious beauty. Totally recommended.
Their third full length.
This reissue of a long out of print super limited (100 copies) edition, comes from two relative unknowns, Paul LaBrecque and Valerie Webb, but Trees, Chants And Hollers, recorded a few years back, finds the duo deftly navigating similar sonic terrain as the rest of the new free folk movement and the oft referenced new weird America. But unlike the clattery primitive ritualism of groups like No Neck Blues Band and Avarus, or the straight up Fahey worship of folks like Jack Rose and James Blackshaw, LaBrecque and Webb incorporate bits of both, dense fingerpicked neo Appalachia, and drifting fluttering free folk, into much more expansive soundscapes. Banjo and steel string guitars, flutes and ethereal vocals. Some tracks are almost traditional sounding, Appalachian hoedowns slowed down into dark contemplative moodiness, while others are super abstract, the guitar becomes a noisemaker, letting strange scrapes and sounds drift into the ether, huge swirls of smeared shimmer, melancholy melodies, deft complex picking, rendered totally indistinct. And just as quickly the duo will reel it back in, and offer up a near liturgical meditation, simple banjo and intertwined male female vocals, everything bathed in glistening reverb. So beautiful. Fans of Blackshaw, Rose, Ahmed, Bishop, Schmidt, DeGennaro, Valentine as well as groups like the Tower Recordings, P.G. Six and the like should definitely pick this up.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
We've been championing Laddio Bollocko since we first heard their mighty 'Strange Warmings' album (which we finally managed to get back in, review later in the list) and inexplicably they have managed to elude the superstardom we predicted for them. But with their hyper-distorted-This-Heat-fronted-by-Albert-Ayler sound, they were definitely an acquired taste. It's been a couple years, and it's two releases later, and Laddio is kind of a different beast. This cd compiles the 'In Real Time' ep and the 'As If By Remote' sort-of-full-length, and shows an amazing amount of growth. They've all but completely abandoned the bludgeoning, pounding shrieking bombast, and instead stretch out, and explore rhythms and textures, creating lengthy krautrock jams, and hypnotic drones. And their noisey, in your face, live recording has been replaced by what sounds like a serious exploration of the studio as instrument, with at least half the record full of innovative production and gorgeous textures. Also, the sax, which on 'Strange Warmings', was more textural and not immediately identifiable as a saxophone, is more of a presence here, giving it more of a sort-of-jazz feel on several tracks.
Their sound these days is much more in the vein of This Heat and Circle. In fact, everyone who was blown away by the recent Circle releases should definitely check this out.
We've mentioned it before, but there are a handful of bands that seem to perfectly embody what aQ is all about. Bands and records that even though they shouldn't, have crazy crossover appeal. Weird black metal records that pop nerds obsess on, wild noisy hypno rock that inexplicably appeals to hip hop headz as much and indie rockers. It's not a set in stone list, it's nebulous, and it's different for everybody. Depending on the person, different bands mean different things, and pretty much everybody might have a different idea of the ultimate aQ band or record. The Conet Project is a definite contender. Finland's Circle are definitely in the running. And then there's Laddio Bolocko. Easily one of THEE greatest indie rock / noise rock / post rock / math rock bands ever. Pretty sure there are no aQuarians who don't worship at the altar of Laddio Bolocko.
And anyone who's heard these guys understands why. The group are masters of some ineffable musical alchemy, at once willfully difficult and extremely challenging, but also totally melodic, and mesmerizingly hypnotic. The krautrock vibe is huge, a motorik streak a mile wide runs through the works of LB, but they're also an explosive rock band, capable of total facemelt on par with most metal bands, they're also immersed in some wild, avant psychedelic free jazz, which also looms large in their canon. That might sound like it makes for a mess, but if it is, it's a glorious, unfuckwithable mess.
We've lavished much praise on Laddio Bolocko over the years (as well as on post-Laddio project The Psychic Paramount), and now it's time to do it again, with this stunning collection of rare live and unreleased recordings. And before you think this must be some sort of cash grab, releasing a bunch of shitty live tapes, consider that: A. This band is not nearly popular enough to merit any sort of cash grabbing (sadly), and B. just listen to this shit. The live stuff here blows most bands' best studio albums out of the water. The proof is in the 43 minute opening track pudding (appropriately titled "43 Minutes Of (Excerpt)"), a sprawling mega-jam that is constantly mutating, beginning as a gloriously blown out, and super melodic sort-of-space jam, gradually growing more gnarled and distorted, some of the tones reminiscent of Amps For Christ, before devolving into a droned out, buzz drenched slo-mo soft-noise dirge, that once again slowly builds to a wild psychedelic squall, that swirls and whirls and gradually settles into a slow burn fade. We used to compare LB to This Heat, and that's even more apropos here, with the band locking into dizzying rhythmic permutations, and slathering those various iterations in wild noise, or blurred chords, or crumbling distortion, or free jazz skronk and bleat. That This Heat influence becomes more marked as this collection progresses (just check out the clattery skeletal dub of "Afrostructure Pt. 1", or "As If By Remote", which imagines This Heat as a modern math rock band). Slintisms abound as well, with some moody meanders, and the live in Slovenia set sounds like some heavy rock band channeling the roots of spiritual jazz. What the fuck?! How did these guys do it? And why were they not huge? How did so much of the world miss out on these guys?! Laddio Bolocko is the rare group that has the potential to not just appeal only to weirdo music nerds (although if you are one of those, you very likely already LOVE this band!). The jazzy bits are not like some rock band simply aping jazz, they OWN jazz, and in doing so, create a new musical vocabulary for a classic musical form. The same is true for krautrock, math rock, noise rock, whatever the fuck kind of rock they want to take on, every song, every performance is a reinvention, every new movement a discovery. It's exciting and organic, tense and expansive, gnarled and abstract, alive and emotional, and just utterly and breathtakingly stunning.
Liner notes by Kid Millions. And both the double cd and limited triple lp formats (the latter of which is packaged in a deluxe box) come with a dvd disc, featuring more than two hours of live performance footage, that's really nicely done, looking less like typical live video than monochrome art film from decades earlier. Fans will be stoked.
We've mentioned it before, but there are a handful of bands that seem to perfectly embody what aQ is all about. Bands and records that even though they shouldn't, have crazy crossover appeal. Weird black metal records that pop nerds obsess on, wild noisy hypno rock that inexplicably appeals to hip hop headz as much and indie rockers. It's not a set in stone list, it's nebulous, and it's different for everybody. Depending on the person, different bands mean different things, and pretty much everybody might have a different idea of the ultimate aQ band or record. The Conet Project is a definite contender. Finland's Circle are definitely in the running. And then there's Laddio Bolocko. Easily one of THEE greatest indie rock / noise rock / post rock / math rock bands ever. Pretty sure there are no aQuarians who don't worship at the altar of Laddio Bolocko.
And anyone who's heard these guys understands why. The group are masters of some ineffable musical alchemy, at once willfully difficult and extremely challenging, but also totally melodic, and mesmerizingly hypnotic. The krautrock vibe is huge, a motorik streak a mile wide runs through the works of LB, but they're also an explosive rock band, capable of total facemelt on par with most metal bands, they're also immersed in some wild, avant psychedelic free jazz, which also looms large in their canon. That might sound like it makes for a mess, but if it is, it's a glorious, unfuckwithable mess.
We've lavished much praise on Laddio Bolocko over the years (as well as on post-Laddio project The Psychic Paramount), and now it's time to do it again, with this stunning collection of rare live and unreleased recordings. And before you think this must be some sort of cash grab, releasing a bunch of shitty live tapes, consider that: A. This band is not nearly popular enough to merit any sort of cash grabbing (sadly), and B. just listen to this shit. The live stuff here blows most bands' best studio albums out of the water. The proof is in the 43 minute opening track pudding (appropriately titled "43 Minutes Of (Excerpt)"), a sprawling mega-jam that is constantly mutating, beginning as a gloriously blown out, and super melodic sort-of-space jam, gradually growing more gnarled and distorted, some of the tones reminiscent of Amps For Christ, before devolving into a droned out, buzz drenched slo-mo soft-noise dirge, that once again slowly builds to a wild psychedelic squall, that swirls and whirls and gradually settles into a slow burn fade. We used to compare LB to This Heat, and that's even more apropos here, with the band locking into dizzying rhythmic permutations, and slathering those various iterations in wild noise, or blurred chords, or crumbling distortion, or free jazz skronk and bleat. That This Heat influence becomes more marked as this collection progresses (just check out the clattery skeletal dub of "Afrostructure Pt. 1", or "As If By Remote", which imagines This Heat as a modern math rock band). Slintisms abound as well, with some moody meanders, and the live in Slovenia set sounds like some heavy rock band channeling the roots of spiritual jazz. What the fuck?! How did these guys do it? And why were they not huge? How did so much of the world miss out on these guys?! Laddio Bolocko is the rare group that has the potential to not just appeal only to weirdo music nerds (although if you are one of those, you very likely already LOVE this band!). The jazzy bits are not like some rock band simply aping jazz, they OWN jazz, and in doing so, create a new musical vocabulary for a classic musical form. The same is true for krautrock, math rock, noise rock, whatever the fuck kind of rock they want to take on, every song, every performance is a reinvention, every new movement a discovery. It's exciting and organic, tense and expansive, gnarled and abstract, alive and emotional, and just utterly and breathtakingly stunning.
Liner notes by Kid Millions. And both the double cd and limited triple lp formats (the latter of which is packaged in a deluxe box) come with a dvd disc, featuring more than two hours of live performance footage, that's really nicely done, looking less like typical live video than monochrome art film from decades earlier. Fans will be stoked.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
This record is one of the most amazing we have ever heard, and of course, it's been practically impossible to get back in stock. But now we have it, and you should buy it. It's pummelling and heavy and beautiful. Not sure how long we'll have this in stock.
An ex-Dazzling Killmen (Blake Fleming) takes his penchant for angular discordance a step further, forgoing the ferocious heaviosity of his former outfit, and instead, explores lengthy semi-improvisational psychedelic freakouts and repetetive hypno-krautrock instrumentals ala Circle. Post rock jamscapes littered with shrieking and droning Albert Ayler-ish sax, jabs of no wave guitar, an overwhelming over-saturated super-distorted production and absolutely crushing drumming. Totally essential.
Finally re-pressed and back in stock!!
We have been championing this band since the very first time we heard their mighty 'Strange Warmings' debut years ago but continually faced the problem of all three of their releases being practically impossible to get. And my (Andee's) only possible complaint about this comprehensive career retrospective collection is that I WANTED TO PUT IT OUT ON tUMULt!!!! Arrrrgghhh. But kudos to AQ pal Mike who runs the mighty No Quarter label, for his amazing taste (Earth, Pharoah Overlord and now LB!) and ability to unearth/rerelease these out of print gems.
Laddio Bolocko were absolutely one of the most amazing bands we have ever heard, taking the bloated corpse of 'post rock' and filling it with squirming, ultra complex, super dynamic kraut rock and out rock and...uhhhh trout (mask replica) rock? Or whatever. Imagine a modern day This Heat, but with bigger amps, more lo-fi production, free-jazz scud missle saxophone, unlikely melodies, relentless rhythms, ear-ringing dynamics and a sound unlike anything you've ever heard. Sounds good huh? Well, it is. In fact. as far as I'm concerned LB were probably one of the most important and most original rock bands of the last 20 years. High praise indeed, but once you hear this stuff you'll be hard pressed to argue.
The Life & Times Of collects all three Laddio Bollocko releases, their devastating debut Strange Warmings Of and the two follow up eps, In Real Time and As If By Remote. Also included is a video playable on your computer (which, along with the nice digipak packaging, may even tempt those lucky enough to already have Laddio's hard to find releases).
Disc one is Strange Warmings Of, a pummelling and heavy drone rock masterpiece, in which an ex-Dazzling Killmen (Blake Fleming) takes his penchant for angular discordance a step further, forgoing the ferocious heaviosity of his former outfit, and instead, explores lengthy semi-improvisational psychedelic freakouts and repetetive hypno-krautrock instrumentals a la AQ faves Circle. Post rock jamscapes littered with shrieking and droning Albert Ayler-ish sax, jabs of no wave guitar, an overwhelming over-saturated super-distorted production and absolutely crushing drumming. Anyone into Circle or This Heat or Acid Mothers Temple or Faust or any or any of that, will be completely blown away.
Disc two contains the two later eps find Laddio Bolocko in a new space with a new sound. Showing an amazing amount of growth, LB have all but completely abandoned the bludgeoning, pounding shrieking bombast, and instead stretch out, and explore rhythms and textures, creating lengthy krautrock jams, and hypnotic drones. And their noisey, in your face, live recording has been replaced by what sounds like a serious exploration of the studio as instrument, with at least half the record full of innovative production and gorgeous textures. Also, the sax, which on Strange Warmings, was more textural and not immediately identifiable as a saxophone, is more of a presence here, giving it more of a sort-of-jazz feel on several tracks. This later, less ROOOOOOOAAAAARRRR sort of sound puts them even more comfortably in the sonic realm occupied by Faust, This Heat and Circle.
If we didn't know better, we'd have guessed these garage punks were from right here in SF, or maybe LA, as their sound is definitely not one we equate with Provo, Utah!! And while they currently do in fact call Utah home, word is they're heading westward, and so don't be surprised if they end up on John Dwyer's Castle Face Records, cuz they'd be a perfect fit. Their sound is a mix of blown out, distorto garage-psych pound (opener "OK, Punch It"), and kinetic garage pop swagger ("Brain On A Hanger"). They have a sort of unhinged Cramps vibe too, almost like a mutant strain of rockabilly, supercharged and given a glam-garage / art punk makeover, with reverbed acid-Elvis vox, and spidery, jangle-buzz riffage. We're also reminded of nineties punk heroes the Didjits. And maybe the best part of The Ladells' sound is that for every blast of sixties style psychedelic garage rock freakout or wooly, noisy, punk rock stomp, there's some near Sabbathy heaviness (check out the seventies prog to metal sounding title track!) that destroys. None of this would be worth a shit without actual songs, but these guys (and gal) have songs for days, hooks galore, killer melodies everywhere, so even the noisiest blast of punked out garage somehow still manages to sink its melodic hooks into you, and never lets go.
Compact disc reissue of super rare 1970 psych LP.
Remember this band's great song "People" from the Love, Peace & Poetry: Latin Amercian Psychedelia compilation? Well, that's the first track on here, followed by more bluesy jungle psych rock made by wandering Yankee hippy Stephen Scott (bass/vocals) and a group of fellow freak musicians he met in Venezuela. Although mostly full of fuzz geeetar, pounding garage-rawk energy, and wild harp blowing, there are also some moments of melancholic folk-rock gentleness.
It's obviously mastered from one of the rare vinyl copies, 'cause the sound is just a bit scratchy, but that's not particularily detrimental -- after all, this is an album with musique concrete elements that of course include the sound of a flushing toilet as the first thing you hear!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
LwL is Kate Schellenbach (Luscious Jackson, Beastie Boys) and Josephine Wiggs (Breeders, Perfect Disaster) emitting plinky bleepy noises from children's synths. They cover 'Bull in the Heather' and 'Gigantic,' hence the record's title. Get it?
Rob Crow has been paying much more attention to his metallic leanings as of late. With his Goblin Cock release a few months back he was finally able to unleash a side of himself that the smooth sounds of Pinback don't really allow. Being HUGE fans of Mr. Crow back from his beginnings in Heavy Vegetable (-especially- in HM!) there is no doubt that Crow has always had a scrappy / scizophrenic / ADD element to his aesthetic, which definitely showed on those Heavy Vegetable records and even his records with Thingy. Being able to go from bursts of guitar and drums to the sweetest melody all at the drop of a coin. The Ladies find him re-exploring that chaotioc split personality, hard meets soft side of his song writing skills. The Ladies are two fellas, the abovementioned Mr. Crow and Mr. Zach Hill (of Hella). Sounds promising, doesn't it?
The two bring their totally recognizable and seemingly incompatible sounds together to create a record that's choppy, rocking, proggy, noisy, poppy, sweet and satisfying all at the same time. There are moments when Zach's Hella sounds comes to the front with intense drumming and noisy outbursts, but underneath it all Rob Crow shows again how no matter what elements he's working with, he has the ability to bring out whatever great pop song or hidden hook that lives underneath it all. Another exciting chapter in the always ongoing and prolific world of Rob Crow. And quite possibly our favorite batch of Crow tunes since Heavy Vegetable or the first Pinback record!
Channeling the orchestral pop sound of many of the Elephant Six bands (Olivia Tremor Control, Neutral Milk Hotel, Apples In Stereo, The Minders) this Bay Area five piece has got some mighty fine pop chops of their own. "Saber Ace" is probably our favorite of the bunch which is so delightfully sweet & sour and benefits from the somewhat lo-fi and dirty recording. They do a really nice job of sprinkling tasteful horns on a few of these tracks. Six sweet songs grace this red vinyl record which also comes with a code for a free download.
It's hard to get a grime fix these days, at least on this side of the Atlantic. We got a grimy little tease last year with an ep we made aQ Record Of The Week last November. A dizzying, head spinning post hip hop whatthefuck. For those who have yet to sample the grime, imagine a super stripped down hip hop, sort of junglized, a very ragga like beat, lots of fuzzy synths, and then rapping that is totally tonguetwisting, lightning fast, marble mouthed. Lady Sovereign is the toast of the grime scene these days, having blown up BIG managing to pretty much totally eclipse M.I.A who was one of the first grime shooting stars. But deservedly so we have to say. Lady Sov's tracks are fierce and funky, funny and spunky, the beats are killer, the music is always weird and wild, and her flow is second to none, fast and furious flurries of disses, self deprecation, insane free association, all woven into impossibly tangled smears of mind melting wordplay. And "Blah Blah" might be here best track yet. The riff (yep, there are real insturments) is some weird Morricone guitar twang, almost like a grime Cramps or something, peppered with plenty of little Missy Elliott bleeps and rhythmic hiccups. And Lady Sov going fucking wild over the top. Never thought she could get faster, never thought the rhymes could get more bizarre and funny as hell. But they have, in a big way. It's a bit frustrating to get hit with another single, since we're all chomping at the bit for the upcoming Jay-Z full length, but when they're this good, it's hard to complain too much. Plus these singles are packed to the gills with extra goodies. The cd features the new track, a remix (by Adrock from the Beastie Boys) which also showed up on the Vertically Challenged ep, plus you get two live tracks, one an almost rocker, the other a simple stripped down beat, with Sov freestyling. Pretty cool. Plus you get a DVD with the video for "Blah Blah" as well as a making of short and a bunch of interviews with fans.
Just barely enough to hold us over, in fact we were definitely jonesing for more Lady Sov so this arrived just in time, but now we're even more anxious for the full length to drop, since we're pretty dang sure that Lady Sov / Jay-Z joint is gonna destroy.
SUPER LIMITED. Each disc is numbered. We got about 30 copies. Pretty sure they're gone for good after that.
An official "bootleg" released by the band themselves. As per the bootleg norm, the cover is a simple black and white Xerox-looking photo, and most song titles (and the band's name) are wonkily misspelled... intentionally. Lo-fi packaging aside,
Sometimes you just need some guy rock (or should that be "Guy Rock"). Yeah, you do. The kind with tons of dudely testosterone with just a tiny squirt of fabric softener so that the ol' grey hoodie is comfy enough and not too stinky for the girlfriend. Whenever this is playing, Cup makes a beeline for her old Seaweed albums whose fierce yet catchy emo punk pop tunes are a clear influence. Chris Machmuller and Jamie Massey's muscular double-barrelled guitar riffin' flexes along with the sharp punch of Pat Oakes' drums while the deep boil of Ethan Jones' bass guitar provides the imposing scowl. What brings this band's music out of the '90s is the emotive scream-yelp-croon vocal range of Chris Machmuller which alternately brings to mind Seaweed's Aaron Stauffer and Queens Of The Stone Age's Josh Homme. Cool stuff!
Debut album from a Canadian band that you can be sure has a healthy collection of both indie rock and classic rock records that they hold near and dear to their hearts. Crunchy guitar and emotive vocals that echo both '70s rock a la Neil Young & Crazy Horse/CSNY, as well as indie rock luminaries like Dinosaur Jr, Will Oldham, and later era Husker Du as well as roaming some of the same territory as label-mates Black Mountain (which makes sense since some of the folks in Ladyhawk also do time in Black Mountain).
