With all the limited 3" cd-r releases and full lengths, it's amazing Machinefabriek, aka�Rutger Zuydervelt could find time to collaborate, but boy are we glad he did. Two pieces, each a collaboration with American multi instrumentalist Aaron Martin, who recorded a series of cello pieces, which�Zuydervelt proceeded to chop up, process, reassemble and twist into gorgeous haunting new shapes.�
The first track, "Cello Recycling", finds�Zuydervelt taking the various cello pieces and stretching them out, layering them, smearing them, blurring them, creating a warm, thick, humid slow burning landscape of droning sound. It begins as a minimal crawl, but as the track progresses, the sound takes on an epic quality, with submerged melodies coming to the surface, strange bits of rhythms and melodic fragments, creating a glacial wall of cinematic ambience, dark minor key swells, that undulate and pulse, always building and building, into a thick wash of metallic overtones, and crumbling distorted low end eventually becoming so buzzy and intense, it begins to sound like a much more mellow minimal SUNNO))), before quickly slipping back into more tranquil Stars Of The Lid like territory.
The second track, "Cello Drowning", takes the already manipulated piece, the epic Godspeed-filtered-through-doomdrone-low-end of�"Cello Recycling", and literally drowns it in more sound, layers of noise and texture, thick swaths of FX, the sound of (appropriately) running water or rain, the rumbling low end reverberating and shimmering, but instead of making it louder and heavier, more noisy and brutal, it actually gets even more subdued, more washed out and indistinct, A very Tim Hecker-ish blurry smear of sound. Soft focus, gentle, tranquil and dreamy, until at the very end, the original sounds of the cello can just be barely glimpsed through the druggy sonic haze, unfurling into a slowly fading, sweetly melancholy coda.
As always, absolutely lovely.�
Ah, yes it's summertime! Warm sunshine and trips to the beach! And what's more summery than surf music? Lo and behold, our favorite label for obscure and amazing reissues, Japan's EM Records, has a special new series of five, count 'em, five reissues devoted to lost "surf" music treasures. The first two, by Farm and Peter Martin & Finch, are out now, with the others to follow in short order. We're pretty sure all of 'em are awesome.
And if you're familiar with the eccentricity of this label, you'll know that this "EM Under Water" series isn't going to be about, y'know, "regular" surf music of the Jan & Dean or Ventures variety, nope. These first two releases are both soundtracks to rad '70s surfing movies, and are fully psychedelic, with tripped out grooves, synth experiments, and heavy rock jamming all part of the mix.
This album is the soundtrack to a cult 1974 documentary film entitled Drouyn, that followed champion Australian surfer Peter Drouyn (hmm, depending on how it's pronounced, Drouyn could be a bad name for a surfer!) on a globetrotting quest for the perfect wave, a journey that took him and his surfing pals to a variety of exotic locales -- as far afield as Africa and Japan -- over the course of the two years spent shooting the film. Filmmaker Bob Evans commissioned composer and classical guitarist Peter Finch to do the music, and also Sydney-based hard rockers Finch were brought in on the project as well. These songs and incidental music passages fully capture the lure of sun, sand and sea, as well as the sheer excitement of the wave-riding sport. You get orchestrated pop instrumentals, Eastern ethnic interludes, and even a laidback Beach Boyish cut ("Morning Comes The Sun") with harmony vocals. The contributions from Finch add a dose of fuzzed-out rock and roll energy as well, with their song "Roses" being a kick ass bit of hippy hard rock kitsch with lyrics that go: "Anyone can grow roses / but it takes a green thumb to grow grass" and "Everywhere you go you get busted by the fuzz / get out of the system, have a natural buzz". Peter Martin makes good use of the Finch boys on here, and also offers up arrangements for soulful horns, wigged out ARP synth, and strings... it flows wonderfully, sunny and melodic and mostly mellow. A summertime treat, like the Farm album it's own special thing, lovingly reissued by EM with all the bells and whistles.
jeremiah
Mmmmm. This album is perfect for the lazy autumn-yet-still-summery-sunshine days that we're enjoying here in SF. Methinks you'll find it welcome no matter what time of the year, though. Doug Martsch, leader of Boise's Built to Spill, one of the only bands we can think of that *always* delivers incandescently glowing, gorgeous albums, has made a great solo album. Mostly Martsch on a twangy steel-stringed acoustic guitar that gives it a sunbaked, folksy backporch feel, he's occasionally accompanied by cello, simple snare drumming, delicate bass. Compared to the gloriously filled-out sound of the BTS records, the sound here is much more stripped down, but even though all of these tracks would have been great as proper BTS rock songs, they are just fine -- in fact, exquisite -- performed this way. Same minor key melodies, plaintively-voiced lyrics, and super emotional guitar solos that just leave ones heart aching.
"There isn't a way of deciding / which half of life's less inviting. / Awake or a dream. / 'Cos both of them lead you to suffer. / You wade from one into the other / twice a day."
The album is quietly dedicated to the recently-passed Chris Takino, head of Up Records, who'd always released the BTS vinyl versions. Highly recommended!
Brand new album by legendary folk guitarist, who was beautifully critiqued in a recent cover article in The Wire. He was the first white artist ever signed to Island Records, has made records with Lee Scratch Perry, Phil Collins, and Burning Spear, and covers both Billie Holiday and Portishead on the new record. Steeping his guitar in acid, Martyn allows the foreign bodies of free jazz and the infinity of dub to invade folk's fragile aesthetics. We also have some recent early 1970s reissues for 12.98 each: Bless the Weather, Inside Out, and Solid Air.
Marz is the work of Ekkehard Ehlers and Albrecht Kunze, although fans of Ehler's gorgeous digital aerosolization on his Plays album or his collaboration with Stefan Mathieu would be hard pressed to find aesthetic similarities between the two projects. According to the press release, this album of delicate if obtuse, post-70s AM radio pop continues "to fashion their inviting and seductive landscapes out of folk, pop and club influences: explicit, prodigal, subtly differentiated, but also displaying a greater desire to take risks than on Love Streams, so much so that only an idiot would chose [sic] not to tarry here a while." Um, if this sounds like a description of Jim O'Rourke's smarty-pop albums Insignificance or Eureka, that's because Marz adequately redresses the same quizzically alluring schmalztiness as heard on O'Rourke's aforementioned pop constructs.
Despite their moniker, Mas Rapido! aren't necessarily a speedy bunch. Were we anticipating some feverish punk popsters? Maybe so, but no, this veteran Seattle pop duo Donna Esposito and Frank Bednash (formerly known as Toothpaste 2000 and prior to that incarnation they were Cowboy And Spin Girl) take their own sweet time crafting toothsome, psych-tinged pop songs with a definite retro '60s feel. Much of their latest album Pity Party seems modeled after the top notch song craft of Big Star and Elephant Six which is a good thing in our books!
Nice, managed to snag enough of these (well, a small handful) to list, after Black Friday Record Store Day last week, for which this was one of the special super limited releases, from Sub Pop. So, not gonna do a big write-up, as they'll be gone in a jiffy anyway - all you need to know, really, is that it's Dinosaur Jr.'s J. Mascis doing, on the A-side, a Mazzy Star cover, "Fade Into You"! On the flip, a Mascis original, "Outside", from the sessions for his recent solo lp Tied To A Star.
FYI, the Mazzy Star cover was apparently originally released as a picture disc that came with a Dinosaur Jr. sneaker, some time ago. Though, we're not sure if it's the same recording or not.
It's finally here, the long threatened 'acoustic' solo record from Dinosaur Jr's J Mascis, and guess what? It sounds just like an acoustic Dinosaur record, which is not a bad thing at all, Mascis's distinctive raspy drawl is perfectly suited to a stripped down sound, and he's always been a fantastic songwriter, and that hasn't changed, in fact if anything, stripping away all the distorted guitars might make it even more evident.
And it's not strictly acoustic, and not strictly solo, there are lots of guests: Pall Jenkins from Black Heart Procession and 3 Mile Pilot, Matt Valentine from MVEE and Tower Recordings, Suzanne Thorpe from Mercury Rev, Kevin Drew from Broken Social Scene, and Kurt Vile from Kurt Vile, with instrumentation that includes violin, musical saw, optigan, dobro, flute, clarinet, lap steel and slide, and more, but those extra instruments, and the guests who wield them are employed judiciously for sure, the core sound is acoustic guitar and voice, just occasionally embellished with some swoonsome strings, some lush layers, or an extra set of melodies, the coolest addition is the extra vocalists, who add unlikely harmonies to a handful of tracks, the sound a little twangy, a little folky, but undeniably and distinctly Mascis/Dinosaur Jr. Obviously fans of the man and his band will dig this too, unless the wild distorted guitars were the only reason you were into Dinosaur (fair enough), but odds are the rest of you will dig this a lot. And if you like modern folkies/singer songwriters like Kurt Vile, and for some strange reason have never encountered J Mascis or Dinosaur Jr, then heck, this might be the introduction you've been waiting for�
2011's all acoustic Several Shades Of Why demonstrated Dinosaur Jr's J Mascis could still pull it off sans amplification, And Tied To A Star is more of the same. Another fantastic collection of folky psychedelic indie rock jangle, that like the last record, is essentially a collection of tracks that could have been Dinosaur Jr songs proper, but are presented here stripped all the way down, mostly Mascis's distinctive vocals with acoustic guitar, but there are drums here and there, percussion too, even some strings, and hell, it's a J Mascis record, so there's still distortion, that buzz reserved exclusively for the sweet, shredding leads, but those leads have a different effect here, when coupled with steel string strum and lilting melancholy melody, more wistful and introspective, a potent combo for sure. And like on Several Shades Of Why, the songs here are really great, some serious gems that rank way up near the top of a body of work, already pretty heavy with classic songsmithery.
LP includes a download code too!
Hey, what's that?! Bongos, tambourine, acoustic guitar... why, it sounds like a Dinosaur Jr campfire singalong out in the woods! Wait, they even brought a generator (or very long extension cord) to power the electric guitar amplifier. All joking aside, while we recognize and respect that Mascis wrote and recorded these songs with deep reverence for Amma (the living Indian saint Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi aka the hugging saint), it doesn't mean we have to like it. Many of us didn't. Let's just say, a little goes a long way. Imagine Cat Stevens possessing the body of a more nasally congested than usual Mascis. Whoa. All proceeds from this self-released album will go towards Amma's humanitarian relief projects. Yes, Mascis' heart is in the right place, but we're afraid his music sure isn't. And if there's any question, please allow us to clarify that we're being critical of
the craft, not the message nor the cause.
With his signature layers of fuzzy guitar and his whiny pleading drawl (meant in the nicest way of course), J Mascis comes through yet again. Looks like this record is J all by his lonesome, multitracking his way to a full band. And doing it quite beautifully I might add. It's been so long since I listened to Dinosaur, that listening to this totally brought me back. This record definitely has that trademark Dinosaur sound. All charming, lush and sad, but in that weirdly optimistic way.
Oh my, Kevin "My Bloody Valentine" Shields has joined forces with J. Mascis. Why?! Well, maybe 'cause they knew they'd make a great album together. With Shields' production help (and the assistance of various others, like some vocals from GBV's Robert Pollard) "More Light' is easily J.'s best work in years, since the heyday of Dinosaur Jr. Yeah, the cover art and graphic design still has the look of any number of crappy '90s Dinosaur Jr. records, but ignore that for the moment and listen. Get set for loads of fantastic Mascis guitar soloing, Neil Young-style vocal drawl, and catchy songwriting (some echoes of Nirvana in that dept.). The final blowout guitar overload cut (with Kevin Shields stepping up to the plate as guest guitarist) is only the icing on the cake. If you've given up on Mr. Mascis, it's time to reconsider; this is a winner.
A simple check-list should help you to get an idea of what Maserati is all about: instrumental post-rock, released on the Temporary Residence Ltd. label, with a sports car name sorta like Trans Am... This album focuses a lot of psychedelic guitar distortion and krauty, rhythmic energy into eight sleek, speedy, and sometimes shoegazey tracks that sound like Frippertronics at the disco, or a coke-fuelled Circle/Tortoise/Zombi jam. It's a loud yet gentle ear-massage lit up by flashing, stroboscopic drumming. The drummer also plays in !!! and the Turing Machine, you could sorta see Maserati as a mix of those two bands, mathy propulsive post-rock with a bit of a groove-y, dance-y vibe. Portions of this could make a good Miami Vice soundtrack, like for a scene (filmed from a helicopter) of an exciting power-boat chase across a deep blue, beautiful, sunshiney sea. Also several of these tracks, Cup is convinced, could easily segue into a rendition of "Danger Zone" by Golden Earring... which is cool by us.
Rev it up! The Maserati boys are back with another compact disc installment of their instrumental, exceedingly rhythmic post rock, and unlike some bands who have run afoul of corporate intellectual property lawyers (Pansonic, Kleenex, Bipolaroid, etc.), they still haven't been sued by the manufacturers of the Italian sports car from whom they borrow their name (though perhaps it's also an obscure Ted Nugent lyrical reference? let's hope not). Probably the suits at the automaker Maserati's headquarters realize that this band's music is free, excellent advertising for their product!
This is definitely -driving- music, sometime a pleasant Sunday drive, sometimes a white knuckle ride over the speed limit, always propulsive, hypnotically repetitive, but dynamic as well. "Join Us, Mystic Sister" is a brief, ecstatic intro, that shines forth and then segues smoothly into "No More Sages", with its vaguely metallic, chucka-chucka guitars, motorik beats, and washes of shoegazery distortion. Other cuts venture further into purely kosmische, krautrock inspired territory, like the minimalist all-synth pulsations of "Thieves".
There's 8 tracks on this 40 minute disc, three of them remixes. However, all but two of the tracks previously appeared on limited edition, now out of print vinyl releases. The first four cuts are from Maserati's side of their 12" split with Zombi that we were never able to get enough of to list. And two of the remixes, by DFA's Tim Goldsworthy and !!!'s Justin Van Der Volgen, are from the Inventions Remixes 12". Both really dance it up, accentuating the cosmic disco vibe that Maserati already possess. The other remix, of a spacier take of this disc's "Monoliths", was done by Zombi's Steve Moore, and is exclusive to this release, as is album closer "Do You Hear The Nightbirds Calling You?". And if all that wasn't enough, this cd is further enhanced by the presence of two pretty cool Quicktime video clips. One's live, the other a cute, partly animated music video demonstrating Maserati's potential as workout music.
As always, VERY recommended for fans of Zombi, Trans Am, Circle, Salvatore, Tussle, Nisennenmondai, SF's own Jonas Reinhardt, and other likeminded coked up post rockers.
We've raved about instrumental post rockers Maserati in the past, and they just keep getting better and better, while oddly enough, they seem to gradually be moving away from their early sound, which was pretty much straight ahead nineties style post rock, which we love, toward something much more synthy and krautrocky, more groovy and almost dancey, which we also love. It probably has to do with the fact that drummer Jerry Fuchs (who tragically passed away last year) also played drums for !!! (Chik Chik Chik), so it was maybe inevitable that some of that funkiness might creep into his other group, since it's Fuchs' beats that pretty much drive this Maserati, propulsive and intricate, mathy and tight, but also super fluid. The guitars follow suit, looped and effected, cascading and chiming, all of that underpinned by some serious eighties style synths, pulsing like some supercharged John Carpenter soundtrack, and that's what makes Maserati sound so good, the collision of heavy crunchy guitars, propulsive motorik krautrock, and that sort of new age/wave-y synth. That's also why Maserati sound more like Zombi or Majeure these days, albeit a way more rocking, way heavier version. And hell, who could argue with a way heavier Zombi? Not us, that's for sure.
But really, to be fair, this new record is not all that far removed from past records, as far back as their Inventions For The New Season record, we were already describing some of their music as sounding like a "coke-fuelled Circle/Tortoise/Zombi jam" or as the perfect soundtrack for "an episode of Miami Vice, like for a scene (filmed from a helicopter) of an exciting power-boat chase across a deep blue, beautiful, sunshiney sea." And that vibe is still present, only now, it's for an episode of some futuristic sci-fi noir program, and instead of a speedboat chase, it's a hovership chase, between Bladerunner like buildings, culminating in a wild shootout in some sort of futuristic space disco. Which sounds pretty dang good to us.
Recommended for fans of Majeure, Zombi, Solar Bears, and other modern spacekraut sci-fi synth explorers, but also post/math/hypno rockers like Circle, Salvatore, Parlour, K-X-P, Magyar Posse, Cave, Russian Circles, etc.
Recorded before the tragic death of drummer Jerry Fuchs, this 12" is a sort of teaser for the very very soon upcoming new record from post/math rockers Maserati, hence the similar title, but both tracks here are exclusive, and both make this well worth picking up.
The A side is another dose of that Maserati style post rock we can't ever seem to get enough of, sounding like some sort of impossible Circle / Zombi / Tortoise hybrid, krautrock rhythms, fuzzy Carpenter-y synths, KILLER drumming, all very hypnotic and mesmerizing, the main riff, a crunchy downtuned chug, wrapped around an almost danceable beat, those sci-fi Carpenter synths swirling in the background and occasionally wrapping themselves around the chugging guitars, the sound positions Maserati as a sort of heavier counterpoint to recent Record Of The Week-ers Majeure.
And if a brand new, exclusive sidelong track wasn't enough to convince you, that same track gets the remix treatment of the flipside from The Field, sampling the original, and transforming it into something much more woozy and washed out and hypnotic. The synths are cranked way up, the rhythm more machinelike, the chugging guitars reimagined as a blurred almost electronic sounding pulse. So great. We only have a handful of these, and it was super limited, so not sure how long we'll have these around...
Madeline is the first release from these two Japanese gals currently calling SF their home. Prior to moving to the States, the pair were in a band called Small Universe, and one member is also currently the bassist for The Ass Baboons Of Venus! They dish out five very short (and only occasionally sweet) jolts of super raucous and lo-lo-fi, truly garage-style pop. Primitive thumpin' drumbeats, trashy guitar chords, girl gang vocals and the howl of uncontrolled feedback.
A truely extraordinary second release from the improv power trio Gary Smith, Gary Jeff, and Lou Ciccotelli (God, Spleen, etc.) on guitar, bass, electronics, and percussion.
This fierce, frenetic Oakland band isn't afraid to take a kitchen sink approach to their brand of avant-garde metalcore... ok, maybe they don't include the metaphorical kitchen sink but they do cram in lots and lots of saxophone! That's on top of a heavy, mean, rockin' blend of grind, punk, black metal, prog, etc.
Dunno if they ever really exceed being just the sum of their overt influences (we'd guess the likes of Dillinger Escape Plan, John Zorn, King Crimson, Botch, Guapo, Motorhead, Slayer...) but they do make a nasty racket that even metalheads normally adverse to jazz and/or saxophones might find headbangingly worthy. So if "Yakety Sax" meets metal sounds good (or good n' weird) to you, check this out! As a bonus, this includes a Quicktime live video for their track "We Enslaved Elves To Build Our Death Machine"!
Long lost third record from this Bay Area crew, who back in the day (mid 2000's) released two killer blasts of grinding sax flecked grind metal crush, both released on the always stellar Crucial Blast label (licensed from UK label Monotreme), and Holocene, recorded right before the band broke up, and originally 'released' in 2007 (these copies come from the band's stash), finds the group still in fine form, continuing on from where record #2, Perfect Picture Of Wisdom & Boldness, left off - a dizzying assemblage of tangled math metal, blown out noise rock, mathy post-hardcore, all wound up into four blasts of furious pounding pummel, laced with plenty of avant experimentalism, little brief bits of almost jazziness here and there, long stretches of droned out metallic hypno-rock churn, flurries of chugging riffage draped over wild octopoidal tribal drum damage, the songs and sound lurching from near death metal blasts to knuckle dragging, bass heavy throb, often splintering into weird atonal mathy breakdowns, and often that's when the sax swoops in, the sound suddenly getting sort of death-jazz, before exploding right back into it.
The centerpiece here is for sure the nearly 12 minute closer, with its opening doom/sludge dirge, a downtuned trudge, subtle mathed out, the timing in constant flux, that mathiness gradually taking over, until it's a wild, neck snapping, math-metal blowout, only to slip right back into an even doomier sludgier creep, replete with sick, FX heavy vokills, the sort of thing current bands like Indian and The Body specialize in, but this is the Mass after all, so about halfway through, the sound shifts again, the guitar locked into a muted chug, then in comes the sax, the vibe is weird, and weirdly catchy, an avant doomjazz that quickly explodes into something much noisier, underpinning some wild guitar shred, before slipping right back into that dirge-y chug, which gradually crumbles, and distorts, the sounds more and more blown out and in the red until they finally devolve into near Merzbow digital blacknoize.
Killer, creepy artwork by comic artist Jon Wayshak, who not only did the front and back covers, but also did some awesomely gruesome portraits of each of the band members inside the booklet.
LIMITED TO 200 COPIES!!!
Lonely Heart is the fourth album by avant-rock, experimental power trio Massacre, featuring Fred Frith (guitar), Bill Laswell (bass guitar) and Charles Hayward (drums). It was recorded live at Festival Sons D'Hiver in Paris on January 25, 2003, and at the Roskilde Festival in Denmark on June 26, 2003.
Massacre has been around since 1981's seminal album Killing Time (which you must seek out if you haven't heard it already). Comprised of guitarist Fred Frith, bassist Bill Laswell, and -- new to the group -- Charles Hayward on drums, Massacre specialize
We'd never normally accuse the Finders Keepers Label of being slow on the draw, having turned us on to so much stuff we wouldn't know about otherwise. But we thought it a bit odd that they just released this Jean-Pierre Massiera compilation so soon after the Mucho Gusto label released the two incredible Psychoses compilations (Discoids and Freakoids) showcasing the eccentric prog, pop and disco productions of this incredible French mad genius. Yet while there is some crossover (six songs here are also on the Freakoids comp; three are also on Discoids), there is about half of Midnight Massiera that's from other outfits not featured on those two previous comps. Some we've heard of (Les Maledictus Sound, who contribute two tracks), others we've heard of but didn't realize Massiera was involved in their production (Chico Magnetic Band and Chris Gallbert, the same track featured on the awesome earlier Mucho Gusto comp, Total Freak Out!), and finally there are a few groups totally new to us: the spaghetti western Moog weirdness of S.E.M. Studios; the one and only Jesus, who contributes two tracks - one loungey freak beat, the other melancholy folk; a percussive fuzz interlude by Atlantide, and the cinematic psych-folk of Afterlife. Visitors, Hermans Rocket, Human Egg, Basile (with two tracks) Les Chats, Les Monegasques, The Pyranhas, and The Starlights make repeat appearances. Folks who already have the two previous compilations (plus the Les Maledictus Sound, Visitors, and Chico Magnetic Band albums, as well as the Total Freak Out compilation), may not want to shell out more for this. But for a one-stop Massiera compilation, this is very wide ranging and well curated, featuring most of the best of the Mucho Gusto compilations, as well as our favorite tracks from Les Maledictus Sound. If you haven't already purchased any of the previous Massiera related releases available, and need a really good introduction, this one will do quite nicely!
It's not everyday you hear samples of Hitler speeches and Nazi Marches over a pulsating glammy space groove next to an even wackier freaked out French version of Napoleon XIV's "They're Coming To Take Me Away". Throw in some warped 60's beat pop, zany space prog and the weirdest but most sublimely cosmic disco tracks you have never heard, and you are somewhat closer to wrapping your head around the skewed production genius of Jean-Pierre Massiera. Starting his career in the south of France and relocating to Montreal in the seventies, Massiera, best known for Les Maledictus Sound, a holy-grail record for collectors of sixties psyche-exotica freakiness has continued to explore for the past 40 years all manner of spacey and unhinged pop and dance grooves through a myriad of single-based projects, the best of collected on these two volumes. Like a surrealist Serge Gainsbourg mixed with Gong, Cerrone and Zolar X, Massiera never concerned himself with record industry pressures or making fame or fortune off his production efforts but instead used the studio to explore his love of surrealism, off-beat humor and some coke-addled (we presume) cosmic fantasy. Each record comes with a code to download mp3's and a bonus track.
The Discoid volume begins with Sex Conventions' "Toi Qui Reve de Baisers", a funky groover that owes much of its success to Dennis Coffey's "Scorpio" as they share similar riffs and breaks. Native American, and Brazilian rhythms come through on tracks by Herman's Rocket (who were also on the first volume) and Brasa Brasil & Helena. While Human Egg gives us "Onomatopaiea", a hypnotic vocal-only rhythm chant and the cosmic disco epic "Love Like This" that any DJ with a penchant for Italo or electro-funk should get this volume for that track alone! Of course The Starlights "Mao Mao" along with tracks by Mickey and Joyce and Venus Gang also make this essential for crate diggers and beatheads and freaky music collectors of all types. Psychoses Indeed!
It's not everyday you hear samples of Hitler speeches and Nazi Marches over a pulsating glammy space groove next to an even wackier freaked out French version of Napoleon XIV's "They're Coming To Take Me Away". Throw in some warped 60's beat pop, zany space prog and the weirdest but most sublimely cosmic disco tracks you have never heard, and you are somewhat closer to wrapping your head around the skewed production genius of Jean-Pierre Massiera. Starting his career in the south of France and relocating to Montreal in the seventies, Massiera, best known for Les Maledictus Sound, a holy-grail record for collectors of sixties psyche-exotica freakiness has continued to explore for the past 40 years all manner of spacey and unhinged pop and dance grooves through a myriad of single-based projects, the best of collected on these two volumes. Like a surrealist Serge Gainsbourg mixed with Gong, Cerrone and Zolar X, Massiera never concerned himself with record industry pressures or making fame or fortune off his production efforts but instead used the studio to explore his love of surrealism, off-beat humor and some coke-addled (we presume) cosmic fantasy. Each record comes with a code to download mp3's and a bonus track.
The Freakoid volume begins with Basile, a novelty singer who was popular in the South of France for playing a rural imbecile who has two tracks, one being the skewed Napoleon XIV cover mentioned above. That there is no mention that this song is a cover ( both were released the same year) and instead claims to be inspired by an early thirties French recording just adds to Massiera's strange self-made mythos masking some pretty blatant appropriations. Other tracks by groups Les Monegasques and Piranhas venture into psyche beat and garage rock while tracks by Le Chats and J.P.M & Co. explore proggified Salvador Dali, with wigs and body paint, hermaphrodites, and tape collages over pulsing synths and rhythms. More cosmic space funk rounds out side two with alien fantasias from Visitors and more glitter wigs and body paint from Herman's Rocket and Venus Gang providing some late-era Mutantes / Nina Hagen zaniness. Add the traditional African and Indonesian folk groove of The Starlights and you're in for a druggy Euro-mind-trip that you might not be able to return from. Psychoses indeed!
Our beloved customer and friend Jesse Zeifman loves this album more than any of the AQ staff did, so we asked him to say a li'l something about it:
It's been five years since Massive Attack's startlingly aggressive Mezzanine marked a turning point for the Bristol trio credited, by most, for creating trip-hop. In the interim, the band's lost two of its three founding members, leaving the reins in Robert "3D" Del Naja's hands.
From Blue Lines (1991), a debut that used hip-hop as an endoskeleton and had a body made of soul music, to the muted, austere, follow-up Protection (1994), no Massive Attack album has sounded alike. For their new release, Del Naja has managed to shape-shift the group once again, eschewing Mezzanine's guitars and static and grit for something closer to ambient electronica.
Beginning with "Future Proof" and its combination of galloping electronic blips, reverberating guitars and layers of feedback, Del Naja throws an unexpected curve when, rather than delivering his lyrics with his signature blunted raps, he sings. Sounding like Thom Yorke stoned might, he doesn't display a lot of range, but he phrases things accordingly, effectively, and where it could have felt soft and wrong it doesn't.
As with their previous efforts, the sound-system dynamic with which the group was built remains in place. While Del Naja helms four of the album's nine tracks, he calls upon two other vocalists, Sinead O'Connor and Horace Andy, to give voice to the rest. O'Connor is, unfortunately, underused, leaving her songs the album's least interesting, but Andy, especially on the lovely "Everywhen", fares better. "Small Time Shot Away" is the album's warmest song. If any tonal comparison is to be drawn, it would be with Boards of Canada's "Music Is Math" (from their latest, Geogaddi). "Antistar" closes 100th Window with a threatening guitar loop smashed against Middle Eastern-flavored strings and Del Naja at his most claustrophobic. Juxtapositions of the beautiful and the ominous betray this track's genetic lineage. It's the take-no-shit younger sibling of Mezzanine's, "Risingson."
The rigor of Massive Attack's production always sets their work apart and 100th Window is no different. It may feel, upon first pass, like a pleasant soundtrack to your next dinner party. Check again. Tracks upon tracks of percussive elements, of tingling, stuttering, noise, of lost guitar loops moving independently, churning in their subterranean canals, makes for an experience of uneasy listening.
Recommended for fans of the group -- if you're new to Massive Attack, please start with Mezzanine.
We wanted so much to like this new Massive Attack record. It had all the right ingredients (vocals by Horace Andy, Hope Sandoval, Damon Albern, etc.) but damn if it doesn't just fall a little bit flat. There are a few nice moments but as an album it feels a bit dated and really underwhelming. Some consolation can be found in the fact that another record came out not long ago, reviewed last list: King Midas Sound's record Waiting For You, which sounded exactly how we were had hoped the new Massive Attack would, warped and dark and dreamy, hypnotic and otherworldly, washed out and so divine. So if you love how Massive Attack sounded way back when they were great, maybe pass on this one and get King Midas Sound instead!
A handful of new installments in the ongoing Latitudes series, where bands are given a session in the Southern Studios to whip up some improvised on the spot sounds, and release them into the world. Elsewhere on this week's list you'll find new Latitudes releases from Gowns, Gang Gang Dance and Nadja, then there's this one, from aQ faves the Master Musicians Of Bukkake, featuring the usual lineup, made up of various members of other bands you might have heard of: Earth, Sun City Girls, Burning Witch and more...
MMOB aren't so much a band, making music, as they are a collection of sonic sorcerers, conjuring up gorgeous and mysterious songscapes, drawing on all manner of world musics, Morricone-esque soundtracks, free jazz, drone, doom, Appalachia, and whatever else they've picked up on their travels, somehow all of that is woven into lush organic expanses of fantastically enthralling, super cinematic sound, that drifts from meditative Eastern tinged raga to buzz drenched Hawkwind style space rock.
Two tracks, 31 minutes, the first, is a fantastically abstract bit of raga-drift, the steel strings buzz and shimmer, sitar like melodies draped over warm whirring chordal thrum, slide guitars offer up slippery melodies, all softly tangled into gorgeous sun dapped dreamlike free-raga-drone music, the drums relentless, non stop rhythms adding less rhythmic heft, and more percussive texture, flurries of notes, clouds of cymbal shimmer, until about halfway through, when the various elements seems to coalesce into a bit of Eastern tinged slo-mo Appalachia, now with chanted monklike vocals, the drums more rhythmic, gradually locking into a hazy, deserty sprawl of twang flecked raga doom folk drift.
Which couldn't be more different than the second track, which immediately launches into some super motorik, cyclical krautrock, synthy swells swooping from speaker to speaker, the vocals down in the mix, but oh so Hawkwindy, repetitive and sing songy, and the song follows a distinctly space rock trajectory, locking into some druggy memser, and then slowly building and building, getting louder and louder, the main groove remaining virtually unchanged, but all around it, wild squalls of FX, streaks of glitched out synths, the guitars a bit crunchier and distorted, to cut through the swirling clouds of blur and buzz and skree and squelch, just the sort of thing for anyone into White Hills, The Heads, Eternal Tapestry, Heavy Winged, Monster Magnet, Colour Haze, the Telescopes and of course Spacemen 3, Loop and Hawkwind!
LIMITED TO 1000 COPIES, the covers the immediately recognizable brown and white origami style Latitudes sleeves, this one with super swank copper foil printing, and a full color insert inside.
NOW ON VINYL!!! Deluxe packaging, extra music too! The Important label vinylizes this out of print Abduction cd release from '04, which was the first thing we'd heard from the MMoB. This reissue includes 20 more minutes of music from the original sessions, it's on 180 gram vinyl, and comes in a gorgeous heavy duty gatefold sleeve with new, gold metallic artwork, wrapped in an obi, wow. Here's what we said about the cd edition back when:
Ostensibly the Master Musicians of Bukkake is one John Schuller and one Randall Dunn, but for the recording of The Visible Sign Of Invisible Order the two have called into service a veritable supergroup of the Northwest's avant-garde to assist in its recording including both Alan Bishop and Charlie Gocher of Sun City Girls, violinist extraordinaire Eyvind Kang, drummer Shahzad Ismaily (Secret Chiefs contributors among other things) and more. Of the parents here Master Musicians seems to take more of its genes from the Sun City Girls, but not so much that you couldn't be fooled into believing it was adopted. Spacious soundscapes comprising field recordings, relocated ethnic percussion of vague origin lays the foundation for haunting and murky acoustic guitars, flutes and wordless vocals. That both the Secret Chiefs and the Sun City Girls are avid usurpers and subverters of the world of music are common interests enough to spawn such a child.
NOW AVAILABLE AS A PICTURE DISC LP!! And boy does the feverish psychedelic jungle Seldon Hunt artwork look nice on the vinyl! Limited of course. Here's what we said about the previous cd and vinyl editions:
Sometimes seeing a band play live in the flesh surpasses the experience on record, but other times, there's the danger of diminishing whatever mystique they've created for themselves, which remains safe when one listens at home with just the music (and record sleeve artwork) for one's imagination feed upon. Seeing a bunch of dudes in jeans and baseball hats up on stage making musician faces and fiddling with gear has bummed us out a bit about bands we've liked before, when we wanted gods and monsters and supermen.
And the ominously, exotically evocative music of the Master Musicians Of Bukkake, along with their colorful album cover imagery, provides a LOT of mystique to live up to (despite their irreverent/gross/jokey monicker). So when Allan here got the chance to see 'em recently at the Roadburn Festival in Holland, he was full of anticipation, but also a bit trepidatious about it. Turns out he had nothing to worry about. Do go see the Master Musicians Of Bukkake if you get the chance, their mystique will remain intact, never fear! Led by a dramatic robed figure wearing a wooden demon mask, the rest of the large ensemble wore white sombrero-like hats, their faces shrouded in black netting, and rocked out like dervishes, looking like they stepped out of scene in a Jodorowsky movie. One of most memorable performances at Roadburn for sure (and despite being, ah, so different from a lot of the other bands, they got a great response).
Witnessing that definitely got Allan excited about this impending new album, Totem Two. Plus we loved Totem One. The sequel raises the Master Musicians' mystic monolith still higher to the heavens. Once again to describe their sound, we could use the usual shorthand of the Sun City Girls meet latter-day Earth (which has some basis in this band's hybrid heavy drone exotica as well as their actual membership / friendship connections to those two legendary Seattle outfits). Other references: Ghost, Grails, Acid Mothers Temple, Secret Chiefs, Tangerine Dream! Thus, Totem Two has certainly been getting played a lot in the store, the MMoB's particular/pecuilar synthesis of sounds appealing to all of us here. Psychedelic, pretty, sinister, cinematic, steeped in ancient, Third World folk music and mythology... they're a mysterious moody mix of a lot of stuff we love, electronic drone filtered through faux-ethno ceremony, part SUNNO))), part Sublime Frequencies! Also, we're almost surprised this isn't on Ipecac, they ought to be Mike Patton's favorite band, in some ways bringing to life Mike Patton's Ennio Morricone compilation Crime & Dissonance (which was actually compiled by Alan Bishop, who of course is one of the Sun City Girls, and a mentor of / inspiration for / occasional collaborator with these guys).
The album begins with what sounds like a ghost train a-comin'... field recordings and tinkling percussion, hushed drone and the far-off foggy bellowings of Tibetan horns... you know you're in for a far ranging journey, off the beaten track. Gorgeous lonely flute dominates the second song, floating o'er a ritual processional, like Djivan Gasparyan sitting in on a sombre Amon Duul or International Harvester jam... the middle of the album brings in more buzzing synths, majestic and melancholic, getting spacey like Klaus Schulze, playing sentimental cinematic themes, dark and melodic.... The distortion ramps up briefly as a segue into the album's final eleven minute piece, a calm and psychedelic epic like Six Organs with extra synth squiggle... Beautiful! Almost makes us think of Japan's Far East Family Band from the '70s, that one. That's just a short surface summary, you could fall into this album's depths though, and come back changed, as if from a dream/drug quest...
Sun City Girls fans! Drone-doom freaks! Here's your unlikely crossover dream come true, kind of. A psychedelically heavy (sometimes) and always eerily exotic new album on the Conspiracy label from this band with the wiseass faux-ethnic name (if you don't know what Bukkake is, don't ask, and definitely don't Google it - if you do, be aware it's NSFW). Now including members of Earth and Burning Witch amongst their ranks, and once again boasting cameo appearances from folks belonging to the Sun City Girls and Secret Chiefs 3, this is exactly (and excellently) what we might have expected from this project. Acoustic ethnic instrument buzz and drone meets guitars-leaning-on-amps buzz and drone. There's electronic FX and analog synths alongside field recordings, bells and chimes and gamelan percussion mixed with Tibetan monkish low-end drone-chant, and let's not forget the flute and Mellotron... The seven tracks of Totem One span a wild, wide range of (moody) moods, from the heavy throbbing maelstrom that is "Schism Prism / Adamatios" to the spacey, spooky folk ramble of "Cascade Cathedral". The most Sun City Girlish moment here is probably "People Of The Drifting Houses", not surprisingly the track which features guest vocals provided by Alan Bishop of SCGs and Sublime Frequencies fame.
"In The Lightness Of The Sonoran" could be the recently reviewed Harappian Night Recordings attempting to channel SUNNO))), whilst other tracks (simultaneously) bring to mind such not-entirely-disparate artists as Angus MacLise, Blood Of The Black Owl, Six Organs Of Admittance, Ghost, and Acid Mothers Temple. The latter especially, for instance on the most freaked out parts of the aforementioned "Schism Prism / Adamatios" or during the blissful ceremony of the album-ending nine minute long "Eaglewolf". Fantastic. We're now eagerly looking forward to further Totem installments! (Totem Two is due out later this year on the SCG-related Abduction label, that released MMOB's prior album as well.)
NB. The vinyl version of this comes with a coupon for free mp3 download of the whole album.
Yet another mantric missive from these musical missionaries and cosmic sonic seers, a collective of sorts, its membership drawn from several somewhat similarly likeminded groups, including Earth, Sun City Girls, and Burning Witch among others. And as with past installments in the ongoing Totem series, here the Master Musicians weave lush, slow building soundscapes, drawing on all manner of musics, Eastern ragas, Western space rock, minimal dronemusic, experimental ambience, freaky forest folk and who knows what all else, woven deftly into dark, brooding, expansive epics.
Totem Three begins ominously with chiming bells, a deep rumbling synth drone, tinkling chimes, a darkly meditative drift, deep vocals, horns and other low tones, are all layered on top of that initial drone, the sound swept up by slow shimmering swells, laced with strange spacey effects, just below the surface, an intro of sorts, leading directly into the much more traditionally song-y "In The Twilight Of The Kali Yuga", those shimmering swells from the first track carrying over, but in the place of the drone, strummed steel string guitars, fluttering flutes, sitar like buzz, Eastern hand drums, and the quickly song coalesces into a surprisingly jaunty bit of Middle Eastern sounding folk, rife with hazy vox, and tabla, as well as other percussion. Before the record returns to the drone of the opener. But again, that rumbling buzzing synth is overlaid with some sort of woodwind, balancing the ominous vibe of the drone, thick downtuned guitar chords are unfurled, as are bells, and chantlike vox, the result a strange sort of Eastern style folky dirge, SUNNO))) like guitars beneath a meditative raga.
The record splits the rest of its time between a buzzy, Middle Eastern style folk, lush with fiddles and handclaps, and group vocals, albeit with a bit more buzz and strange sonic filigree than actual traditional music, soaring string laden almost soundtracky ambience, moody and dramatic, and haunting minimal dronemusic, replete with moaning horns, creepy incantations, glitched out electronics, finally finishing off with a seriously left field bit of cinematic weirdness, that basically sounds like the soundtrack to some eighties straight to video Indian movie, all cheesy eighties synths, groovy Euro disco rhythms, and of course some bloopy bass and some shredding guitar solos, the sort of thing that would definitely appeal to folks into Zombi and Umberto and the like. Compared to Totems One and Two, Three seems to lean a bit more towards the atmospheric, away from the heavy.
As always weird and wonderful, with appropriately eye popping psychedelic cover art courtesy of Seldon Hunt.
Sometimes seeing a band play live in the flesh surpasses the experience on record, but other times, there's the danger of diminishing whatever mystique they've created for themselves, which remains safe when one listens at home with just the music (and record sleeve artwork) for one's imagination feed upon. Seeing a bunch of dudes in jeans and baseball hats up on stage making musician faces and fiddling with gear has bummed us out a bit about bands we've liked before, when we wanted gods and monsters and supermen.
And the ominously, exotically evocative music of the Master Musicians Of Bukkake, along with their colorful album cover imagery, provides a LOT of mystique to live up to (despite their irreverent/gross/jokey monicker). So when Allan here got the chance to see 'em recently at the Roadburn Festival in Holland, he was full of anticipation, but also a bit trepidatious about it. Turns out he had nothing to worry about. Do go see the Master Musicians Of Bukkake if you get the chance, their mystique will remain intact, never fear! Led by a dramatic robed figure wearing a wooden demon mask, the rest of the large ensemble wore white sombrero-like hats, their faces shrouded in black netting, and rocked out like dervishes, looking like they stepped out of scene in a Jodorowsky movie. One of most memorable performances at Roadburn for sure (and despite being, ah, so different from a lot of the other bands, they got a great response).
Witnessing that definitely got Allan excited about this impending new album, Totem Two. Plus we loved Totem One. The sequel raises the Master Musicians' mystic monolith still higher to the heavens. Once again to describe their sound, we could use the usual shorthand of the Sun City Girls meet latter-day Earth (which has some basis in this band's hybrid heavy drone exotica as well as their actual membership / friendship connections to those two legendary Seattle outfits). Other references: Ghost, Grails, Acid Mothers Temple, Secret Chiefs, Tangerine Dream! Thus, Totem Two has certainly been getting played a lot in the store, the MMoB's particular/pecuilar synthesis of sounds appealing to all of us here. Psychedelic, pretty, sinister, cinematic, steeped in ancient, Third World folk music and mythology... they're a mysterious moody mix of a lot of stuff we love, electronic drone filtered through faux-ethno ceremony, part SUNNO))), part Sublime Frequencies! Also, we're almost surprised this isn't on Ipecac, they ought to be Mike Patton's favorite band, in some ways bringing to life Mike Patton's Ennio Morricone compilation Crime & Dissonance (which was actually compiled by Alan Bishop, who of course is one of the Sun City Girls, and a mentor of / inspiration for / occasional collaborator with these guys).
The album begins with what sounds like a ghost train a-comin'... field recordings and tinkling percussion, hushed drone and the far-off foggy bellowings of Tibetan horns... you know you're in for a far ranging journey, off the beaten track. Gorgeous lonely flute dominates the second song, floating o'er a ritual processional, like Djivan Gasparyan sitting in on a sombre Amon Duul or International Harvester jam... the middle of the album brings in more buzzing synths, majestic and melancholic, getting spacey like Klaus Schulze, playing sentimental cinematic themes, dark and melodic.... The distortion ramps up briefly as a segue into the album's final eleven minute piece, a calm and psychedelic epic like Six Organs with extra synth squiggle... Beautiful! Almost makes us think of Japan's Far East Family Band from the '70s, that one. That's just a short surface summary, you could fall into this album's depths though, and come back changed, as if from a dream/drug quest...
Both cd and lp formats, like Totem One, feature feverish psychedelic jungle Seldon Hunt artwork, the vinyl version also comes wrapped in an obi.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
The Master's Apprentices are one of Australia's best (yet rarely heard) 60's psych / beat / garage groups not too far from early Kinks or The Count Five. This compilation has 23 tracks in total, taken from the original masters with some unreleased stuff.
Blues rock gets a pretty bad rap around here sometimes. Whenever Allan is excited about some proto metal reissue or heavy psych rarity, Andee's first question is always "is it blues rock?", which essentially means, is it really heavy psych rock or proto metal, or does it fall to just that side of the sound, and is really just plain ol' blues rock? Which Allan and plenty of other folks still definitely dig, but is just too bluesy for some of us, getting dangerously close to pub rock or dad rock or whatever pejorative you use to describe cheesy blues.
Which makes this reissue all the stranger, and all the more frustrating for Allan, cuz Andee LOVES it, loved it when it first came out back in 1990, and STILL loves it, but the thing is, it totally and absolutely is BLUES ROCK. And Andee can't really deny it, and yet still digs it. But c'mon, check out those first few samples, it's GREAT blues rock, not quite heavy enough to be stoner rock, but it is pretty rocking, big riffs, pounding drums, wailing vocals. And it is kinda stonery, which makes sense, since the mainman behind MoR is Chris Goss, who produced a bunch of the Kyuss records, and because of that, Masters Of Reality has always been connected to that Palm Desert stoner rock scene, which again, even sonically makes sense. While this may be way more poppy and mainstream, and yeah, bluesy, it's also groovy, and stonery, and kinda heavy. Cream's Ginger Baker joined briefly, to play on the second record, Sunrise On The Sufferbus, and the band has featured plenty of stoner rock luminaries over the years, but this is the one, their Rick Rubin-produced debut, is still the best, and still sounds awesome almost 15 years later. If you actually do dig blues rock, this will kick your ass, and if you're into stonery bluesy psych, you might be surprised to discover how much you dig this too.
The reissue comes in a super fancy multipanel digipak, and includes a bonus live disc!
Regarding Mastodon, here at Aquarius we were fairly early adopters, being pretty into the mathy, very metal metalcore of their first ep and album, which we reviewed quite enthusiastically at the time. But, as their career continued, we got bored and began to lose interest in 'em. Unlike most folks - as of course Mastodon have since gotten quite big. We didn't even review their last album, but when this new one came in (and thence flew out, as it's been selling quite well here already) we eventually gave it a spin and opening track "Oblivion" immediately made us sit up and take notice. Hmm, Mastodon have changed. They've pretty much done away with the shouty 'brutal' death vocals in favor of a variety of more melodic vocal options, many of which are displayed in "Oblivion", from an Ozzyish wail to singing that sounds more 'grunge', like Alice In Chains maybe. When a few years ago they first dabbled with 'clean' vocals we weren't as into it, but now it works, 'cause in doing so, they've added a definite 'pop' element to what's in other respects totally technical proggy metal a la recent Opeth or Enslaved. In addition, metalcore and even emo are mixed in to Mastodon's weird (but successful) hybrid, that in that first track alone manages to makes us think of all those artists we just mentioned along with both Torche and Coheed and Cambria!
We already had Mastodon pegged as prog (they did a whole concept album based on Moby Dick, remember? And this disc's got a four-part, 11 minute track about Russian royalty or something) but being complex and epic AND pop, that's pretty neat. There's a lot going on here, lots of nifty details, as well as sheer metallic might, and it seems that Mastodon have finally arrived at a point where all the different stuff they do works in context, compositionally. We'll definitely be giving this album (and maybe their previous one too) some repeated, closer listens. Perhaps our expectations were unfairly low and shouldn't have been, but in any case we have to say that this new disc seems worthy of all the attention Mastodon had been getting lately from pretty much everyone but us.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
This collection spans the years 1979 through '84, and featuring Bill Laswell (of course), Archie Shepp, Fred Frith, Nile Rodgers, Whitney Houston (!), and Nona Hendryx.
Power pop organ/drum, husband/wife duo Mates of State return with a short 4 song ep of emo goodness. Like their previous releases, it's still just the pair, still harmonizing like only people who spend 24/7 together can and still writing rocking tunes that you'll find yourself singing along to over your headphones if you're not careful.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
A short sweet -- ok the only word for it is quirky -- Randy Newman cover is side A of this single, but I like side B, an original, much better. Trademark boy girl razors-dipped-in-honey harmonies, pretty plinking piano and staccato drums. For fans of Rainer Maria, PEE, Death Cab for Cutie. Awesome time signature changes and amazing songwriting / lyric talents from married folks Jason and Kori. Highly recommended, as is their full length.
