For those of you not familiar with Monster Island, it's an imaginary land, created by artist Pete Fowler, filled with Technicolor cartoon monsters, bats, Yeti's, sea serpents, as well as a strange group of long haired residents, from grungy space rock musicians, to antlered rednecks, Fowler's art so dreamy and trippy and far out (and even sports some Fowler tattoos!!). A few years ago, there was another Monster Island compilation, that one was more focused on free folk and acid psych, perfectly complimenting Fowlers druggy land of wonder. Somehow, this second comp, is equally apt, exploring a whole different sound, and we can only assume, a whole different side of the island, and thus of course a bunch of new and fascinating beasts and mysterious folks...
Monsterism Island, at least sonically, is some imaginary haven of carefree, melty bliss and this is the freaky soundtrack to that wonderful world. The vibe this time around is some sort of really cool late '80s/early '90s video game soundtrack, lots of bloops and bleeps and skittery beats, imagine maybe a more tripped out, woozy and breezy soundtrack to Sonic The Hedgehog. The sound is all over the map, from colorful dreamy electronica, to groove heavy jazz to soft-psychedelic shimmer. Occasionally we're also reminded of Boards Of Canada as well as some obscure library music (makes sense that Johnny Trunk has a track on here!). We could have done without some of the 'goofy' spoken interludes and it does get a bit smooth sailin' in a party love boat kind of way, but still a nice fun ride for sure, then again, what would you expect a world of kaleidoscopic weirdness and wildly prismatic landscapes, groovy mystery bands and a wild array of wee beasties to sound like anyway?! Cool packaging too, featuring some of Fowlers gorgeous artwork.
So strap on the headphones, throw this in the stereo and head here:
http://www.monsterism.net/
And let yourself get WAY lost...
Yay! Peter Walker, one of the sixties best acoustic guitar players, comes out of hiding to bring us four new songs plus six new takes on his original compositions from current stars of the acoustic guitar scene including James Blackshaw, Steffan Basho-Junghans, and even Thurston Moore. While we would have much preferred a whole new album by Walker or better yet a reissue of his two seminal albums, including the all time classic "Rainy Day Ragas" released in 1966 on Vanguard, the performances by everyone involved, especially Walker's, are inspired and beautiful. For those who haven't heard of Peter Walker, he was the musical director for Timothy Leary's "Celebrations" gatherings at Harvard, and he brings that lysergic quality to his guitar playing fusing folk, flamenco, jazz, eastern and classical music into spiraling raga meditations. Walker hasn't enjoyed the same sort of revival as his contemporaries, Robbie Basho, Sandy Bull and John Fahey, but has clearly displayed his influence amongst the current "glitterati" of the acoustic guitar scene, as evidenced here. Hopefully we'll be hearing more of him real soon.
Wow! Here's a terrific tribute to Will Oldham (aka Bonnie 'Prince' Billy aka Palace aka Palace Brothers aka Palace Music, etc). This homage comes in the form of a collection of cover versions performed by many familiar AQ faves and fine contemporaries of Mr. Oldham. Each of them brings his/her own distinct flair to the chosen tune, but we noticed that some come remarkably close to absolute replication of the original. Hmmm, what's that old saying about mimicry being the sincerest form of flattery? But is it mimicry when someone really does sound like someone else without even trying? No, of course not. Anyways, the highlights and notables include Calexico, Iron And Wine, Mark Kozelek, Scout Niblett, Rivulets, Court And Spark, Pinetop Seven, and Jolie Holland. Great for fans of one and all.
Remember that rad White Lace And Strange compilation we highlighted not long ago? Some killer late sixties, early seventies psych rock from the USA, garage bands gettin' "heavy". Well this disc, on the same Nick Saloman-affiliated label Psychic Circle, is in some ways a sequel, featuring similar bands of the era from the UK (and one Israeli band that recorded in London, to be perfectly accurate). With the subtitle "20 Gems From The Early Years Of Prog", it's billed as a collection of obscure "progressive rock" tracks... but the stress is on the rock. After all, Black Sabbath was once considered a "prog" band too. Sure, there might be some keyboards, but there's lots of raw, raucous energy here, both singers and guitarists wailing away in full fuzzed-out psychedelic proto-metal glory, when they didn't know from headbanging but knew how to boogie! Being a comp, of course some of this is better 'n the rest, but quality control is pretty high. Some faves include the punkish Helter Skelter (ex-Crushed Butler), the powerful axe-action of Israel's Jericho, and the heavy blues thud of early UFO, among other treats here to be heard from these bands (some we already knew, some new to us): Treetops, Mousetrap, Deadwood, Fuzzy Duck, Incredible Hog, Mouse, Beggars Opera, Kingdom Come, Little Big Horn, Strange Fox, Onyx, Spontaneous Combustion, Sheephouse, Pussy, Axe, Sunchariot, and Kansas Hook. The liner notes provide interesting tidbits on each artist (ferinstance, if you're as much of a proto metal geek as Allan, you'll be excited to get the track by Pussy, a later incarnation of one-album wonders Jerusalem).
NOW ON VINYL!
Remember that rad White Lace And Strange compilation we highlighted not long ago? Some killer late sixties, early seventies psych rock from the USA, garage bands gettin' "heavy". Well this disc, on the same Nick Saloman-affiliated label Psychic Circle, is in some ways a sequel, featuring similar bands of the era from the UK (and one Israeli band that recorded in London, to be perfectly accurate). With the subtitle "20 Gems From The Early Years Of Prog", it's billed as a collection of obscure "progressive rock" tracks... but the stress is on the rock. After all, Black Sabbath was once considered a "prog" band too. Sure, there might be some keyboards, but there's lots of raw, raucous energy here, both singers and guitarists wailing away in full fuzzed-out psychedelic proto-metal glory, when they didn't know from headbanging but knew how to boogie! Being a comp, of course some of this is better 'n the rest, but quality control is pretty high. Some faves include the punkish Helter Skelter (ex-Crushed Butler), the powerful axe-action of Israel's Jericho, and the heavy blues thud of early UFO, among other treats here to be heard from these bands (some we already knew, some new to us): Treetops, Mousetrap, Deadwood, Fuzzy Duck, Incredible Hog, Mouse, Beggars Opera, Kingdom Come, Little Big Horn, Strange Fox, Onyx, Spontaneous Combustion, Sheephouse, Pussy, Axe, Sunchariot, and Kansas Hook.
Shellac, Big'n, U.S. Maple, and Brise-Glace - all covering their favorite AC/DC compositions. What more needs be said.
B-Music / Finders Keepers are the masters of the mix, headed up by DJ / record collector extraordinaire Andy Votel, pretty much every compilation these guys put out is like getting a super far out mix tape from your weird music obsessed best friend who knows everything about ____ (Turkish psych, lost disco, weirdo proto metal, lost soundtracks, Pakistani film music, Hungarian psych prog, etc.). To that list, of music your imaginary best friend (aka Andy Votel and his B-Music gang) is well versed in, you can now add "Mid-Med-Mod-Rock & Spanish Psychsploitation From The 'Cradle Of Spanish Pop'". Phew. Absolute Belter collects a handful of classic jams from the Spanish label Belter, marking the label's 50th anniversary!! Lots of incredible stuff here, plenty of fuzzed out psych, groovy funk, and especially intriguing, weirdo covers of songs by The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Quincy Jones, and most excitingly, Curved Air's "Back Street Luv" done by a group called Control (which is also on that Radio Galaxia comp!). It's a fuzzy, but more poppy than proggy version, makes us wish someone would do a cool anthology of all Curved Air's stuff, so good! But we digress...
The highlights are too many to mention one by one, it's basically a whole record of highlights, but besides that killer Curved Air cover, there's Fusioon's, warm washed out wearily psychedelic "Tocata Y Fug", with its woozy organs, majestic melodies, and weirdo prog-isms, or Furia's theme song "Furia", a heavy psych groove burner, with some awesome harmony vocals, thick basslines, and a killer main hook. Or howabout Soledad Miranda, most famous for being nude in Vampyros Lesbos with some groovy, loungy exotica, all soaring strings and jazzy drums, very Bond theme sounding, and she actually has a great voice. There's Los Mismos' "Jefe Ironside", a sort of disco cop show theme meets hippy jam from the musical Hair, or Control's country flecked bass heavy psychedelia, Los Gritos' "Veo Visions" a sci-fi fuzz groove, with tons of out-there Joe Meek production weirdness, we could go on and on and on and on. Needless to say, but we shall anyway, if you're a fan of the label, and any of their collections, the BYG Deal, Well Hung, Pomegranates, The Sound Of Wonder, well then you're probably gonna want this, or if you're just into cool fuzzy freaky far out psychedelic sounds, this could very well be the mix tape of obscure stuff you've been hoping someone would make you!
For those of you who've been keepin' track of the Ace Of Spades limited edition cd-r series of monthly live acoustic performances at Oakland's Mama Buzz Cafe by various Bay Area rootsy folksy musicians, here's the final release! It's a limited edition 'best of' compilation cd (not a cd-r), and it features a single track each from seventeen different artists including Rogue Wave, The Moore Brothers, Sean Hayes, Black Bear, Dave Gleason's Wasted Days, Alela Menig, The Lonely Hearts, Jason Webley, Paul Panamarenko, Mandrake, Black Bird Stitches, Laura Weinbach, Audio Out Send, Etienne De Rocher, Brian Glaze, Bart Davenport, and Paula Frazer.
And for extra warm fuzzies, it's a benefit cd with for the Little Kids Rock Foundation supporting children's music education.
Here's a cool comp of rare vintage '60s garage psych gems, that itself is a reissue of a long lost album, Acid Dreams having first been released back in 1979 on vinyl in an edition of just 77 copies, we're told. Apparently that record was compiled by the owner of a record store in Berlin, who thought that the then-current crop of new wave punk rock fans needed a lesson about the original wave of snotty, freaky, DIY "punk" from the previous decade... And indeed the nameless compiler picked some killer cuts from his collection of U.S. '60s psych singles for inclusion here, full of distortion and attitude ready to go toe-to-toe with the class of '77. Loads of fuzzed out guitars, urgent drumming and trippy lyrics burst forth across the 18 tracks here, most of 'em energetic yet moody 2-3 minute blasts, including songs from Zakary Thaks, Faine Jade, Music Machine, Mystic Tide, Painted Faces, Balloon Farm, Outcasts, Beautiful Daze, Caretakers Of Deception, Teddy & His Patches, Minds Eye, White Light, Remaining Few, Stereo Shoestrings, Unrelated Segments, Velvet Illusions (who get not one but two tracks on here, both awesome), and Vejtables (who were from San Francisco - hmm, could the spelling of their name maybe have been an inspiration to Wooden Shjips?). As you can see, all acts for the most part pretty obscure outside the collectors' realm, really. Poppy stuff, but probably too freaky for the masses, though it's not all hard acid wah wah guitar frenzies here - when not stormin' and stompin', Acid Dreams provides plenty of pleasant psychedelic swirling jangle as well.
Reissued now on cd by the same label that brought us the Electric Asylum comp listed last time, the no frills design of the original private press LP has been augmented with photos and brief liner notes on each and every track in the cd booklet.
Remember a long time ago, when only ROCKSTARS made videos? Aerosmith, U2, Yes, remember how you'd wait anxiously for so and so's new video to debut on MTV? A lot has changed since then. First and foremost, MTV doesn't actually show videos anymore. Second, almost all bands make a video at some point. And with the advent of digital video and cheaper production techniques, bands are finally able to make the kind of videos they could only dream about before. And now some of the most truly bizarre and amazing videos are being made by the same folks who are making truly bizarre and amazing music. If you have cable, you might have seen some of these videos on MTV2 or Fuse or Much Music, but for those of you without cable (like us) of those of you who just want to see these videos whenever you want, well, the fine folks at Sub Pop have offered up this super cheap, super deluxe video collection gathering up some of their best and brightest, and some of the coolest videos we've seen in ages. Just listing the bands should have indie rockers all in a tizzy: Shins, Ugly Cassanova, Iron And Wine, The Postal Service, Hot Hot Heat, Constantines, The Thermals, The Album Leaf, Low, Jennifer Gentle, The Helio Sequence, Kinski, Sleater Kinney, Rosie Thomas, Chad Vangaalen, Love As Laughter, Fruit Bats, Wolf Parade, The Elected, Rogue Wave and Mudhoney. Phew! Some of the highlights include the Ugly Cassanova video which has to be the most insane, most ridiculous, and somehow both the grossest and the cutest videos ever. Seriously. Every time we watch it, we're dying, it's so weird and funny and sick! Imagine a video very bright and primary colored, filled with infants, toddlers, insects and all sorts of anuses and intestines and shitting and farting. Woah! But even the gross stuff is kinda cute.
The there's a Shins video where the band members reproduce various indie record covers: Slint, Squirel Bait, Minutemen, Cat Power, see if you can name them all. The other Shins video is great too, an awesome construction paper animated sequence with white paper cows so cute. And then the two Postal Service videos are awesome too: one is a gorgeous sleek futuristic machinescape, all sterile and very white and shiny, the other is a cheesy eighties karaoke scene intercut with a far out futuristic space subplot, featuring Jenny Lewis! The Iron And Wine videos are beautiful and heartbreaking, just like the songs, sun dappled summerscapes, glistening water, green lush grass, sumptuous foods, each video dense and colorful, somehow perfectly conveying the love and hope and sorrow in the songs. WOW.
Pretty much all the videos here are well worth watching, some over and over and over, lots of cool animation, lots of high concept, plenty of cool production and bizarre imagery, very few by the numbers performance videos, plenty of innovation and creativity, which is just what we expect from these bands anyway!
Chances are lots of us here at AQ are like you in that we can get a bit overly obsessed when we fall in love with something. Case in point: this mind melting electro-disco compilation from the new Troubleman Unlimited offshoot label Italians Do It Better. There are thousands of amazing records here in the store to listen to everyday yet we can't stop putting this on. Day after day and often multiple times during the day this always seems to find its way back to the cd player, making us feel like we're dancing on clouds, floating high in the sky, never to come down. Influenced by the best moments of early disco, Giorgio Moroder and the whole Italo-disco scene (of which the label name is a tip o' the hat to) this comp is a collection of tracks from 12"s, LP's and demos that have been pretty impossible to come by in these parts. Folks like Glass Candy, Chromatics, Mirage, Professor Genius, and more have channeled their inner Moroder and captured that perfect late night dancing on air sensation after a long night of consumption and exertion, dancing your ass off, dressed to the nines and never wanting the party to end. Whether they're covering Kraftwerk or R.L. Crutchfield's Dark Day (a legendary and sadly obscure project by DNA co-founder!) or creating their own songs that fit perfectly into this after dark wonderland, all these artists have totally dialed into a sound and style that we find so irresistible. Where electro-clash was cold and calculated, these sounds channeling a heartfelt love of vintage disco have a seductive and sensual quality that's been making lots of us swoon. So highly recommended!
A children's fantasy pop album produced by Richard Preston and Louis Phillipe, whose sophisticated production surrounds playful songs about bears, tigers, candy floss, orange marmalade, and sunshine... that at times sounds like the Raincoats, or possibly the Brady Bunch.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Woah! This excellent, double cassette of sinister electronics, dark-dark-dark techno, spectral noise, garbled power electronics, and lurching death industrial heaps on the clinical fright and horror, in perfect celebration of Chondritic Sound's 300th release. All exclusive tracks from the sub-underground for a full hour and half program, including Hive Mind, Sleep Clinic, Granite Mask, L.F.A., JT Whitfield, Smokey Emery, Secam Kino, Scant, Pleasure Island, Image Of Life, S. English, Liebestod, Mortal Bodies, Ligature, Plagues, Strains Of Laws, and The Siamese Pearl. Limited to 200 copies, and already sold out at the source.
Curated by Tortoise & Foundation, All Tomorrow's Parties - a music and film happening - took place this year April 6th through 8th in East Sussex. This compilation documents the gathering of musical allsorts that included Yo La Tengo, Boards of Canada, Calexico, Black Heart Procession, Autechre, Broadcast, and Tortoise.
Audio document of the too frequent 'All Tomorrow's Parties' festival, a huge rock and roll gathering, curated by different indie rock royalty each time. This most recent compilation/festival (curated by Sonic Youth and scheduled to take place in March 2002)
Steve Albini/Shellac is the chosen artist to curate the next All Tomorrow's Parties festival in the U.K., and so here's the requisite compilation cd. Their bands of choice are Shellac (doh!), Mission of Burma, Bonnie Prince Billy, Nina Nastasia, Threnody
This comp bring together two discs worth of artists who appeared at the Autechre-curated All Tomorrow's Parties 3.0 festival in the UK earlier in April. Featuring unreleased tracks from Masters of Illusion, Push Button Objects, Jim O'Rourke, San Francisco's own O.S.T., Dr. Dooom, Anthony Shake Shakir, Mark Broom, Disjecta, Autechre, Earth (that's right, an unreleased Earth track!), Bola, Pita, Baby Ford and Hecker as well as tracks by Public Enemy, Gescom, Made, Stasis, and BFC.
MPEG Download: EARTH "Dissolution III" [/audio/earthdissolutionIII.mp3]
MPEG Stream: EARTH "Dissolution III" [/audio/earthdissolutionIII.m3u]
This volume of the All Tomorrow's Parties compilation series was curated by the gent behind the cartoon phenomenon for which many of us here at AQ have a particular soft spot! Yup, Matt Groening not only took the compiling reins for Version 3.1., but he also provided a fine illustration of Sonic Youth for the cover. We're sure you're also already well acquainted with his work as well as that of the musical folks he invited: the abovementioned Thurston & co. ("Simpson's Theme"), The Stooges ("Fun House"), The Magic Band ("Dropout Boogie"), Spoon ("The Two Sides Of Monsieur Valentine"), The Shins ("Young Pilgrims"), Modest Mouse ("Bukowski"), Elliott Smith ("Pictures Of Me"), Daniel Johnston ("Syrup Of Tears"), American Analog Set ("Come Home Baby Julie, Come Home"), Electrelane ("The Valleys"), and Jackie-O Motherfucker ("Drake Hotel"). Oh yeah, and they don't mention it on the digipak's track listing, but there's also a Deerhoof track too!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Three volumes of a locally produced single series. Each features four artists who contribute a song and describe their musical processes and interests in a cute little self-designed insert, so you get a nice feel for the musicians beyond the songs themselves. Vol. 1 features folks from Dumptruck, Caterwaul, Snowmen (Cole Marquis), and Bob Reed of Overwhelming Colorfast. Vol. 2's got people from Grandaddy, Morella's Forest, Dart, and Shove. Vol. 3: Gaze, Lunchbox, Sunset Valley, and Jenhitt.
For those of you out there who somehow "missed punk rock" the first time around (it was pretty cool sez the old guys...) here's a pretty decent companion / compilation / soundtrack to the Steven Blush book-turned film recently released by Sony Pictures. We've yet to see it, but it looks amazing. How could it not be? Interviews with tons of hardcore legends as well as tons of insane and rare live footage.
This is the perfect 'mix-tape' of classic tracks from movie and the golden age of punk rock: Black Flag, Flipper, Bad Brains, Negative Approach, Void, etc.
Makes a great gift for all those young-uns whose punk pedigree doesn't stretch much father back than Good Charlotte or My Chemical Romance. Wouldn't be a Warped tour without these guys and all their blood, sweat and beers...
Anyone for some "mosh" potatoes with your turkey while you skank around the 'ol X-mas tree anyone?
(All blame for that last line goes to mailorder-underling Jason. He has been punished.)
Finally, a song-poem collection that might have a chance of staying in print for more than a month. And finally, a collection that -- while by no means definitive -- collects the best of all those that came before it: Beat of The Traps, Makers of Smooth Music, Human Breakdown of Absurdity, I'm Just the Other Woman and I Died Today. For those who missed out on these wonderful and screwed up collections, song-poems were vanity recordings (from the sixties and seventies) where any schmo with the dough could send in their original poems/lyrics and have them made into SONGS! Small advertisements in the back of music and entertainment magazines urged would-be songwriters that the music industry was in dire need of their inspired lyrics. For anywhere between $75 and $400, one could have their words set to music (all genres were covered) by professional studio musicians. Meanwhile, back at the recording studio, said musicians had to busy themselves on an economy of scale in order to make the venture profitable. Lyrics were given a cursory look, and snap judgements were made concerning tempo, meter, key, chords and melody. Apparently the musicians had but one take to get the song, and if a mistake was made it was just as likely to be left in. Considering what these musicians were up against, it's really impressive what they came up with -- quickly fitting awkwardly (to put it nicely and terribly, to be more accurate) written lyrics into a reasonable meter and still come up with some cool arrangements to boot. Since the companies recording the songs of these terrible lyricists were only concerned with the bottom line (i.e. getting paid), anything could happen. John Trubee's legendary "Blind Man's Penis" is a case in point. And while his words of wisdom were penned in jest, the other 27 tracks included with it on this disc were not. Written in all earnestness, subjects ranging from Richard Nixon to Jimmy Carter, duck eggs to Argentinian cowboys to green fingernails, these tracks are weirder and even funnier than Trubee's track. These singles have been the dreams of collectors for years and until the difficult to track down MSR collections came out several years back, to the rest us they were the stuff of legend. For those of you who have already picked up those MSR collections this one may be a bit redundant, but for all the rest this is certainly the best collection of song-poems to come on one disc. Highly recommended, and sure to be a hit when the upcoming PBS documentary on the Song-Poem industry airs! One wonders what the original "poets" would think of the unexpected popularity of their songs? Probably the person who wrote "Jimmy Carter Says Yes" was sure it would be a hit all along...
A lot of us here at AQ have a huge weakspot for the breezy sounds of late 60's psych-pop. Those four guys in The Beatles were also pretty fond of those same sounds and under the umbrella of their Apple publishing and recording label (which was originally set up mostly as a tax shelter) they enlisted a mainstay of great songwriters like Pete Ham and Ron Griffiths (who would go on to form Badfinger), as well as Graham Lyle and Benny Gallagher, who churned out some totally tasty pop gems during this golden era. This collection gives some of their never before released songs a chance to finally be heard. The standout track on this disc comes from Mortimer, "People Who Are Different" which is a perfect sixties feel-good-be-weird-be-proud pop gem, the sort of song that had Kerry, Christine, Irwin and Scott all but putting flowers in their hair and dancing throughout the store. We have a sneaking suspicion that there are more than a few of you out there who will dig these groovy sounds as much as we do!
I'm no doctor, but I have heard of rockin' pneumonia and boogie woogie flu. But what if the symptoms are an outbreak of twangin'? Well if you've heard the popular Phantom Guitars comp, released last year on Psychic Circle, you'll know what to expect. This is in fact officially Phantom Guitars volume 2, another fab collection of early '60s electric guitar instrumentals in the style of The Shadows and The Ventures. 26 more tracks of vintage reverby twang n' strum n' stomp, compiled by Nick Saloman, of Bevis Frond (and now Psychic Circle) fame. So giddy up and get it, Phantom Guitars fans. The acts on here, mostly British, are as follows: Ahab & The Wailers, The Blackjacks, The Boys, Alan Caddy, The Cannons, The Cliffters, The Eagles (but not THE Eagles of course), Rob E.G., Gordon Franks Orchestra, Jim Gunner, Richard Harding, The Hearts, Peter Jay & The Jaywalkers, Les Champions, Mandrake, Nero & The Gladiators, Judd Proctor, The Rapiers, The Ramblers, The Runestones, The Saints, The Saxons, The Sunspots, Teddy Vento & Dietrich Pregl, The Volcanos, Bert Weedon. More evocative perhaps are some of the track titles: "Train To Moscow", "Ghost Train", "Just For Chicks", "Husky Team", "The Phantom Stage", "Django", "Jezebel", "Desperado"... 'twas a simpler time, the swingin' sixties... There's a surfy sound going on here (a couple tracks reminded us of the Hawaii Five-O theme) and quite obviously a spaghetti western vibe too (the wordless background vocals on The Boys' version of "Polaris" seem fairly Morricone-ish, ferinstance). Sometimes moodily suspenseful, at other times energetically exotic, always groovy, and just plain fun stuff. Like the original volume of Phantom Guitar twangin', definitely cool and recommended!!
We haven't had a good Turkish psych compilation in some time and while this covers some pretty familiar ground, there's plenty of stuff new to us to recommend it. Don't let the time range of the music create any doubts, the bulk of this is from 1968-1976 with one song from 1977 (Edip Akbayram & Dostlar) and one from 1983 (Fikret Kizilok, doing a smoky ballad that sounds older than most material on here). Three of the tracks are reissued here for the first time. While there are key hits from Selda, Erkin Koray, Mustafa Ozkent and 3 Hur-el that have been on numerous other releases, the tracks by Baris Manco, Esin Afsar, Umit Tokcan, Nurcan Opel, Galatasaray Lisesi, and Cem Karaca Ve Apslar are all unfamiliar to us, mostly taken from rare 45's and soundtrack records. Lots of heavy rock groove, surfy lounge beat, and smoky soulfulness to make this a highly worthwhile collection for DJs and unusual psych connoisseurs. Just ignore the subpar cover art! On Red Vinyl!
(This was also released as an outrageously expensive cd-r, we passed on those, but figured it was worth it on vinyl.)
In celebration of their 11th year Amish records has released this comp filled with some names you know and some names you soon will from the murky wide world of the underground folk scene. A totally solid collection with not a loser in the bunch. From folks we've come to love like P.G. Six, Samara Lubelski, Dan Brown from Hall Of Fame, Helen Rush of Tower Recordings and totally stand out tracks from Oakley Hall and Bird Show. What's so nice about this comp is that while there is a connection in style and aesthetic between the artists they don't all sound alike and each brings their own slant to good old fashion american underground folk. Also nice to hear a collection like this that doesn't have some of the same names we're always used to hearing in this scene (Devendra, Sufjan, Joanna, etc) nothing against them, of course we love them but nice to remember there are many others doing wonderful things in that world.
Two words: Fuck Yeah!! Three more words: Fuzz fuzz fuzz. Another word: Word.
Oh okay, let's see, you probably want to know who's on this comp, like it matters, have you heard of any of these obscure bands? From A to X: Albert Band, All & Nothing, Ciclon, Expresion, Galaxia, Ibiza Sound, Madera De Cipres, The Matches, Modification, Pinonate, Shock, Skorpis (two cuts from them), Unidades, Rudy Ventura, and Xetxu. Fortunately, the 20-page cd booklet provides useful notes (in both English and Spanish) on all of 'em, plus full-color thumbnail repros of the original rare 45 rpm vinyl sleeve art. This is another excellent addition to the ongoing bounty of -sweet- Spanish psych/prog reissues we've seen lately, from Agamenon to Zarpa... "The Spanish Trip" (another cool comp) keeps on tripping! So what are -these- Andergraun Vibrations all about? Some of 'em groovy, some of 'em poppy, some of 'em melancholic, some of 'em heavy, some of 'em funky, some of 'em all of the above... there's disco horns and proto-metal both. Prog flutes and acid rock guitar. Dramatic vocals and garage scuzz. All sorts of retro coolness in other words. What Who Will Buy These Wonderful Evils vol. III was to Sweden, this is to Spain. Oh and despite the date range of '70 to '78, twelve of the sixteen tracks are from '73 or before, and most of 'em sound even earlier (more '60s than '70s).
FYI: 'twas originally released on expensive import vinyl (in two volumes, out of print) with this cd comprising all of the 1st and about half of the 2nd volume.
One of our favorite mix makers, DJ Andy Votel. One of the most sparkling genres of music ever, Tropicalia. Can't go wrong with this one! Andy Votel is responsible for such AQ fave discs as Prog Is Not A Four Letter Word, Folk Is Not A Four Letter Word, Vertigo Mixed, Welsh Rare Beat, and the recent Well Hung (that killer comp of Hungarian funky fuzz rock we highlighted last list), among many others. Tropicalia? Well that's the late '60 Brazilian musical movement (with political and artistic dimensions as well) that melded psychedelia with Latin rhythms like bossa nova... chances are most AQ customers have some passing familiarity with it, probably having an Os Mutantes, Gilberto Gil or Caetano Veloso reissue or two or more in your collection.
Of those three biggies, only Mutantes appear hear on Votel's Brazilika mix, which should appeal to both Tropicalia fans and the simply curious as well. And of course Votel digs fairly deep to bring some definite obscurities into play, all from the vaults of the Brazilian Som Livre and RGE record labels. Some names: Os Brazoes, Tim Maia, Novos Baianos, Sidney Miller, Trio Soneca, Azimuth... Those familiar with his penchant for heavy, "hairy funk" on his previous mixes won't be surprised that this rocks fairly hard (and also jazzily), full of organ jamming and wah wah fuzz guitar, giving less of a look in to the breezier, more delicate and folky aspects of the Tropicalia sound. So it's not exactly a primer, but if you can untangle which part of each track is by what artist (Votel mashing several into each cut), it should whet your appetite and give you some clues for further reissue exploration. And be a surefire hit at your next party, of course.
Drone space-rock collection, two previously vinyl-only releases on one handy cd, with: Flowchart, Azusa Plane, Windy & Carl, Amp, Magnog, Hood and more... Too bad there's no colored vinyl to look at, but the music is still gorgeous.
What would you expect from a label called Aryan Asshole run by one of the guys from Wolf Eyes and a pal? Big loud ugly noise right? Well, that's exactly what you get on this compilation, Aryan Asshole Compilation Vol. 1. A collection of out of print tracks (previously released as super limited lathe cuts) from Wolf Eyes, Aaron Dilloway of Wolf Eyes, Dead Machines, Burning Star Core, Hive Mind, Religious Knives (half of Double Leopards), Damion Romero as well as Bloodyminded, Graveyards, The Moonlanding, Failing Lights, Charlie Draheim and Raven Strain.
The sound runs the noise rock gamut: primitive Whitehouse shriek with ear piercing sinewaves and squealing feedback with shouted megaphone vocals, clouds of high end skree, kitchen sink clatter and blown out electronic glitch and gzzzt, full on detuned distorted metal guitar riffage, tweaked and twisted, skipping and pitchshifted into some hiccupping plunderphonic metalstorm, super spare ambience, Jandek-ish guitar, random room clatter, footsteps, chairs sliding against the floor, plink plonk percussion all space-y and abstract, rumbling SUNNO)))-like dirges but way more malevolent and lo-fi, crumbling electronic buzz and splatter and... well, you get the idea.
A pretty killer comp of modern noise (rock) of the meaner and weirder and more fucked up persuasion. The cover art features reproductions of all the long out of print square shaped lathe cut picture discs gathered within! Cool. ----* ----* New DVD's : ----*
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.
Previously lp-only Hawkwind tribute compilation! The songs of Dave Brock, Robert Calvert, Nik Turner and Ian "Lemmy" Kilminster ("Master of the Universe," "Orgone Accumulator," "Psychedelic Warlords," etc.) performed by todays top space/drug/BlackJack bands: Monoshock, F/i, Brainbombs, The Mike Gunn, Temple of Bon Matin, Liquorball, and many more.
Holy crap! This is just about the most amazing box set we've ever seen! The second we heard about it, we knew it was going to be good, but we weren't prepared for just HOW GOOD. Not sure how many of you are familiar with Bear Family Records, but they're a German label who specialize in super elaborate, incredibly detailed and well researched releases, especially box sets, running the gamut from the women of Sun Records to the Everly Brothers to Ernest Tubb to Perez Prado to Flatt And Scruggs and on and on. Always very expensive and often hard to get, but once you lay your eyes and ears on one of their releases you realize it was worth all the trouble and worth every penny. And never was it truer than with Atomic Platters. This years in the works set is a five cd, DVD, hardcover book, box set collecting "Cold War Music From The Golden Age Of Homeland Security", 5 plus hours of fifties and sixties, rock and roll, R&B and soul, either warning us of the dangers of Communism and the impending atomic war, or more playfully using the A bomb and Uranium and Communism as metaphors for love and romance and partying ("You Hit Me Baby Like An Atom Bomb", "Atomic Baby", "Fujiyama Mama", "Uranium Rock", etc.). Scattered throughout are loads of civl defense spots, most appallingly naive and utterly ridiculous, there's Groucho Marx explaining that we have a good chance of surviving an atomic war, Art Linkletter warning us to not use the phone in case of an atomic attack, and lots of other misguided warnings and advice from Bob Hope, Tony Bennett, Fred MacMurray, Tom Lehrer, Pat Boone, Connie Francis, Don Pardo, Johnny Cash, Boris Karloff and lots more, as well as tons of bizarre civil defense dramatizations and creepy little Leave It To Beaver style vignettes. Then there's the music, lots of favorites you've heard on other comps, but an amazing amount or material you've never heard (and probably never thought you'd hear) anywhere as well as totally obscure tracks from some not so obscure artists. Some of the more recognizable folks: Roy Acuff, The Sons Of The Pioneers, Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan, Bo Diddley, Dexter Gordon, The Louvin Brothers, Carl Perkins, Bing Crosby, Bill Haley, Doris Day, Hank Williams and more, but the lure is definitely the hundred or so other tracks, all catchy or bizarre or both, from a wild cast of one hit wonders.
As if that weren't enough, there is also a disc containing two full length spoken word records released in 1961, If The Bomb Falls and The Complacent Americans, both ridiculous and paranoid, laughable and goofy, but also sort of sad and creepy. Wow. Then there's the DVD which contains 9 short films, over two hours of educational films, teaching us about Communism, the impending Atomic War, and the infamous "Duck And Cover" method of surviving an atomic bomb attack (and we're fairly sure that the narrator of one of the films is none other than Thurl Ravenscroft, the voice of Disneyland's Haunted Mansion, and the singer of the "You're A Mean One Mr. Grinch"). Finally, there is the book, a massive 11" x 12" hard cover tome, chock full of illustrations, liner notes, photos, and a full page description with pictures and all sorts of extra info for every track in the box. Unbelievable. This is absolutely essential for all lovers of strange sounds and weird music as well as being perfect for history buffs too. And as it's that gift giving season, we can't possibly imagine a more perfect and amazing gift! WOW!
These are a bit too expensive to keeep a bunch in stock, but if you want one let us know and we'll be getting as many as we need next week!
Longtime supporter of the rights of Afghani women, AQ-customer Steven Tobin has produced benefit shows and now this double disc benefit cd -- and what a comp it is. The musical choices are all over the genre map yet it works nicely as a sit-down listen, and it will certainly introduce you to many groups you've never heard. Includes experimental indie rock (Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Deerhoof, Zmrzlina, The Intima), ethnicky female vocal theatrics (D'yara, Charming Hostess, Jou Jou, Samsara), avant electronics (Blevin Blectum, Bran, Planetsize, Zeek Sheck), quirky weirdness as only East Bay bands can do it (Spezza Rotto, Charming Hostess, Faun Fables, Mono Pause), world-class improvisers (Dave Slusser, Saadet Turkoz, Miya Masaoka), underground hip hop (DeepDickCollective), and much more. All proceeds benefit RAWA, the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, an organization founded in 1977. Pick this up, feel great about it, and get a genuinely good listen to boot.
MPEG Download: GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR "George Bush Cut Up While Talking" [/audio/azadigodspeed.mp3]
MPEG Stream: GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR "George Bush Cut Up While Talking" [/audio/azadigodspeed.m3u]
MPEG Download: THE INTIMA "The New Savage" [/audio/azadiintima.mp3]
B9 Bis was a label compilation from Sandwich Records, a Brussels' based post-punk and new wave imprint that mirrored itself after the Rough Trade model of running an underground label through an underground record shop. This compilation originally came out in 1980, showcasing what Belgium had to offer the world in the way of melding oblique electronics and moody theatrics to the post-punk ethos, which had already been established by the likes of Joy Division, Devo, and Magazine. Unfortunately, export sales for the label were never terribly strong and the label folded, despite the fact that the Belgian scene later exploded out of the electronic body music spurned on by Antler Subway throughout the decade.
What's found on the compilation is a solid cross section of the contemporary sound of 1980: slashing punk guitars, lumbering basslines, angular art-rock tunes, and tinkering with new-fangled synthesizers and sequencers. The influences of the aforementioned bands are worn proudly on the sleeves of many of these bands with admirable results. The standouts from the original comp include the pre-Front 242 project Prosthese with a cold burst of Klaus Schulze electronics, the jangle power pop of Digital Dance, and the bleak Joy Divisionisms of Satin Wall.
LTM have flushed out a full cds worth of material with a bunch of ancillary projects also from Belgium at that time including an early Front 242 track, an early b-side from the overlooked Siglo XX, and the Factory Records endorsed The Names. A very good investigation into a forgotten chapter of post-punk.
Back in 2011, Dark Entries released a great comp, vinyl-only, called BART: Bay Area Retrograde. All Dark Entries style stuff - vintage minimal wave / new wave / punk electronics - from the SF Bay area. (For those who don't live around here, BART also stands for Bay Area Rapid Transit, the local commuter train system.) Just today, we just got a 2nd volume of Bay Area Retrograde, on vinyl, which we'll review as soon as we can, AND also this, a compact disc containing both volumes, yay!!
So, we're listing this cd now, though we can't say much yet about the stuff on here from Vol. 2, other than what we've heard spinning it so far has been great, and it seems maybe a bit more raw and punk and experimental, with tracks from the likes of Factrix, Chrome and Red Asphalt. So, more on that Vol. 2 when we get a chance to properly review it next time, but here's what we said before about Vol. 1, and by itself it means this cd is quite recommended:
A few years back, Minimal Wave offered some choice crate digging collections of nearly forgotten darkwave and post-punk electronics through their Lost Tapes and Found Tapes collections, highlighting the differences between the European and American models of underground new wave. Dark Entries produced this anthology in that same tradition, focusing even more tightly on the geography of the Bay Area. As Johnny Ray Huston so rightly points out in the liner notes, San Francisco in the '80s had its own unique crucible of local events that shaped the Bay Area's particular sound (e.g. the assassination of Harvey Milk, the growing AIDS epidemic and the fear surrounding the disease, etc.). While there's none of the art-damaged abstraction filtered from The Residents, Snakefinger, or Tuxedomoon in an obvious lineage to the artists featured here, BART (named after the subway that connects Oakland, Berkeley, and other parts of the East Bay to San Francisco) is a great collection of quirky minimal wave electronics, with a fair amount of unreleased material from obscurant Bay Area new wave bands.
Nomimal State opens the compilation and was from the suburban hamlet of Danville, recording this demo 1983 with a militantly uptempo drum machine and urgent synth lines. It's a track that easily fits next to the likes of The Units and Nervous Gender in terms of manic, punkish use of electronics. Speaking of The Units, they round out the compilation in contributing their sci-fi pop anthem "Mission," which is still bitchin' after all these years! Voice Farm is the other 'big name' to appear on this compilation, contributing a sinewy darkwave number from their 1982 album "The World We Live In." Batang State, Quiet Room, and Necropolis Of Love offer more Joy Division / Wire / Kraftwerk atmospheric post-punk number with considerable panache. The Wasp Women were a crossdressing trash-punk outfit, whose demo featured a wastoid lo-fi number and had appeared in the 1982 film "What Ever Happened To Susan Jane." Danny Boy & The Serious Party Gods offer a fabulously campy disco number with suitably over-the-top raunchy lyrics that ramble on and on against anthemic synths. If there's one track that you need to hear from this compilation it's this one! But the whole collection is very well done, and comes highly recommended as with everything that Dark Entries releases.
A few years back, Minimal Wave offered some choice crate digging collections of nearly forgotten darkwave and post-punk electronics through their Lost Tapes and Found Tapes collections, highlighting the differences between the European and American models of underground new wave. Dark Entries produced this anthology in that same tradition, focusing even more tightly on the geography of the Bay Area. As Johnny Ray Huston so rightly points out in the liner notes, San Francisco in the '80s had its own unique crucible of local events that shaped the Bay Area's particular sound (e.g. the assassination of Harvey Milk, the growing AIDS epidemic and the fear surrounding the disease, etc.). While there's none of the art-damaged abstraction filtered from The Residents, Snakefinger, or Tuxedomoon in an obvious lineage to the artists featured here, BART (named after the subway that connects Oakland, Berkeley, and other parts of the East Bay to San Francisco) is a great collection of quirky minimal wave electronics, with a fair amount of unreleased material from obscurant Bay Area new wave bands.
Nomimal State opens the compilation and was from the suburban hamlet of Danville, recording this demo 1983 with a militantly uptempo drum machine and urgent synth lines. It's a track that easily fits next to the likes of The Units and Nervous Gender in terms of manic, punkish use of electronics. Speaking of The Units, they round out the compilation in contributing their sci-fi pop anthem "Mission," which is still bitchin' after all these years! Voice Farm is the other 'big name' to appear on this compilation, contributing a sinewy darkwave number from their 1982 album "The World We Live In." Batang State, Quiet Room, and Necropolis Of Love offer more Joy Division / Wire / Kraftwerk atmospheric post-punk number with considerable panache. The Wasp Women were a crossdressing trash-punk outfit, whose demo featured a wastoid lo-fi number and had appeared in the 1982 film "What Ever Happened To Susan Jane." Danny Boy & The Serious Party Gods offer a fabulously campy disco number with suitably over-the-top raunchy lyrics that ramble on and on against anthemic synths. If there's one track that you need to hear from this compilation it's this one! But the whole collection is very well done, and comes highly recommended as with everything that Dark Entries releases.
Here's the vinyl of Volume Two from the BART: Bay Area Retrograde series, which was included with Volume One on a single cd we listed last time (and are relisting now, to add this info), also released on the inimitable Dark Entries. Like Volume One, this collects vintage minimal wave / new wave / punk electronics from the SF Bay Area. (For those who don't live around here, BART also stands for Bay Area Rapid Transit, the local commuter train system.) The line-up for the second installment includes some fantastic obscurities from Factrix, Chrome, Tuxedomoon, and Indoor Life; and there's plenty of great new discoveries of forgotten Bay Area outfits like Zru Vogue, Red Asphalt, Timmy Spence and more. The Factrix piece was taken from an old Subterranean compilation, with the trio entertaining more of a sprightly goth-synth vibe instead of their signature industrial murk through tinny drum machine patter and strangle-choked guitar riffs. Chrome's throbbing motorik synth-punk number "Meet You In The Subway" was taken from their 1979 album Subterranean Modern, released through the Residents' Ralph Records. Red Asphault is up next with a squalid torrent of No Wave inspired fire-alarm mania. Both Tuxedomoon and Indoor Life (the latter including Patrick Cowley on synths!) adopt a disjointed, art-damaged theatricality to their warped, all-thumbs tracks. Baby Buddha's "Little Things" proves to be one of the synth-wave gems on this comp, with its spiky electronic sequencing, haunted house chord progressions, and grimly monotone vocals, followed by the equally strong "Human Dub" by Human Being Men peddling streamlined electronic anxiety of minimal wave perfection. The dour "Nakweda Dream" with its chimingly Cure-ish guitars rounds out the comp, which is considerably darker than the first but is just as recommended!
You may or may not have already been graced by Bruce Springsteen's "Nebraska" yet. If not, may we recommend you run out and buy it immediately (from AQ, even!) Tis a truly beautiful collection of songs penned and recorded by Springsteen in 1981, literally in his bedroom with an acoustic guitar and a four track. Replete with stark songs sketching out unforgettable characters filled with despair, loneliness, and an aching to do the right thing. It's fucking amazing, despite whether or not you like, say, all that "Born in the USA" business that came later, you simply cannot remain unmoved by "Nebraska". Utterly classic and essential.
Now, if I had never heard Nebraska before, I'da prob'ly regarded this here tribute record as a decent collection of impeccably-written songs performed by folks who obviously have total reverence for the material. But, since I've loved Springsteen's "Nebraska" for years, it's a little hard for any of these versions to live up to the originals. A couple of the renditions are even a bit horrifying, especially Hank Williams III's honky tonkin' take on "Atlantic City", a song Springsteen performed to perfection and which REALLY shouldn't be messed with. Nonetheless, most of the performances on Badlands are purty all right, including those by Ani diFranco, Aimee Mann, Son Volt, Dar Williams, Chrissie Hynde, Johnny Cash, and Damien Jurado.
For independent artists and labels, Bandcamp seems to be fomenting a DIY (or at least do it yourself with a little help) revolution: a super easy to use platform, for bands and labels to sell their music directly to fans, to promote their records and releases, to organize mailing lists, hype tours. All us old guys wish something like this existed back in the day. Now Bandcamp has started an actual label, and their first release is the inaugural installment in a proposed series of vinyl lp city guides, each one featuring a handful of exclusive or unreleased tracks from happening bands in specific cities. The first release holds a special place in our hearts cuz it focuses on the Bay Area, Oakland in particular, featuring a whole mess of bands we hadn't even heard of, and one or two we had.
The sounds are all over the map, from rock to funk, African to experimental electronica and plenty of stops in between. Probably makes sense to do a quick run through of all the tracks/artists, beginning with Bells Atlas, who sound like some experimental indie rock version of African high life, or something, their sound is super unique, and pretty fantastic, and has us definitely wanting to hear more! Up next is Astronauts, etc. who sound a bit like a more laid back, jazzy Radiohead, falsetto vox, skittery rhythms, spidery guitar melodies, all over soft synth swirls and a slow grooving bassline.
Raashan Ahmad & Headnodic deliver some soulful hip hop jazziness, wreathed in a warm patina of record crackle. Waterstrider offer up some hazy, softly psychedelic indie folk, flecked with subtle electronics, while Sugar Candy Mountain's track is a sort of Tropicalia infused slab of baroque pop that sounds like it could be some lost Elephant Six band. Sun Hop Fat are hazily influenced by Ethiopian music, and their horn heavy sound definitely reminds us of our favorite Ethiopiques tracks.
Ash Reiter was one of the groups we were familiar with and whose jangly sun dappled indie pop we've raved about on the list before, whereas Kid Trails was another name new to us, but whose lo-fi fuzz pop is definitely in the aQ wheelhouse. Guy Fox unfurls some soulful jazzy grooviness, with classic sounding female vox, and Queens D. Light represents Oaktown with some stripped down, old school hip hop. And finally, Asonic Garcia finishes things off with one of our favorite tracks, a hazy, blissed out stretch of crackly, softly staticky ambience, wrapped around murky beats, and gorgeously prismatic melodies, and lush, undulating textures, it's like DJ Shadow jamming with Philip Jeck, spinning and looping sixties psych pop records.
All in all a pretty killer comp, that will likely have you hunting down more from all of the artists. Fantastically presented too, a gorgeous matte finished gatefold cover with loads of liner notes, and pressed on thick vinyl. Includes a download code as well.
For those who devoured the first delightful volume of Barry 7's Connectors: Rare Italian Library Tracks, here's an entire second volume! A cornucopia of sonic frolics very much in the same spirit as Luke Vibert's Nuggets and many of the Crippled Dick Hot Wax compilations. Unfamiliar with any of those? Well then, strap on your seatbelt 'cause you're in for a treat! Over the top Euro kitsch, melodrama and campiness! So perfect if you're on the lookout for a diverse array of rather flamboyant theatrical music 'cause these tracks - originally catalogued for '60s and '70s television and radio production backing use - are overflowing with bontempi-esque organs, analog synthesizers, choral singers, and flutes! And four of them come from a gent named Ennio Morricone (very much of the delirously wonderful Danger Diabolik period). Curious who this Mr. Barry 7 is who wants you to hear the unheard music? Why, he's one third of that analog synth jammin' UK group Add N To (X) who clearly have drawn much inspiration from these works. Splendid!
For those who devoured the first delightful volume of Barry 7's Connectors: Rare Italian Library Tracks, here's an entire second volume! A cornucopia of sonic frolics very much in the same spirit as Luke Vibert's Nuggets and many of the Crippled Dick Hot Wax compilations. Unfamiliar with any of those? Well then, strap on your seatbelt 'cause you're in for a treat! Over the top Euro kitsch, melodrama and campiness! So perfect if you're on the lookout for a diverse array of rather flamboyant theatrical music 'cause these tracks - originally catalogued for '60s and '70s television and radio production backing use - are overflowing with bontempi-esque organs, analog synthesizers, choral singers, and flutes! And four of them come from a gent named Ennio Morricone (very much of the delirously wonderful Danger Diabolik period). Curious who this Mr. Barry 7 is who wants you to hear the unheard music? Why, he's one third of that analog synth jammin' UK group Add N To (X) who clearly have drawn much inspiration from these works. Splendid!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
This is a Brazilian garage comp of 1960's 45's. It has covers of the classics that we know so well, if not a bit too well (My Generation, Paint It Black, Time wont let me, Daytripper, I Cant Get No Satisfaction), for the most part sung in Portuguese. In addition to the well known garage/rock n' roll hits, there are some songs I've never heard that were great. I liked them best. Brazilian garage, how rad is that. Oh and the boys on the back cover are foxes.
It's not that much of a surprise that Graham Nash's first solo record Songs For Beginners is one of the influential touchstones on much of the latter day indie-folk scene. We said as much in our lengthy review of the original album a few years back, one of our favorite politically conscious folk-pop records from back when (it came out in '71). Recorded after the Hollies called it a day and CSN&Y were on hiatus, it's a perfect blend of soulsearching songwriting and brilliant pop songcraft while lashing out at the frustrating state of then current events, a state that sadly mirrors our own current political situation.
This tribute spearheaded by Graham Nash's daughter, Nile (who btw, also co-runs a cool shop called Gravel & Gold just around the corner from us), and the (((folkYEAH!))) folks who book all the cool shows and festivals in Big Sur, is a nice and loving gesture to the man's music, but doesn't move too far outside of the box in terms of stylistic interpretation or political urgency. Filled with interpretations by all the usual suspects of today's folk-pop scene: Papercuts, Vetiver, Alela Diane, Mariee Sioux, and The Moore Brothers among a few others, the biggest wildcards stylistically are Bonnie "Prince" Billy's Spanish take on "Simple Man" and Sleepy Sun's slightly heavier take on "Chicago". But it will take more than just a thoughtful tribute, no matter how well-intentioned, to equivocate a modern call to individual action against the powers of authority that the original record represented, and we need that more than ever right now.
Latest musician curated compilation on Arthur Magazine's Bastet imprint. Curated this time around by Ethan Miller of Comets on Fire, it of course features songs from both CoF and Comets off-shoots Colossal Yes, Six Organs of Admittance, and August Born. But there is also lots of other new and old noisy and folky weirdness from Albert Ayler, 7 Year Rabbit Cycle, Michael Yonkers, Ghost, and Brother JT among others. One of the most interesting tracks is by the mysterious Shit Spangled Banner, a band we couldn't find much information on because the page in the booklet is oddly missing (although a few AQ'ers have some old SSB tapes!). Beard, Bread & Bear's Prayers is of course equal parts noisy and folky, soft and harsh, given the penchants of Miller's musical dichotomy with Comet's noisy psych and seventies west coast rock. Sweet!
Like the freak circus entertainments of a bygone era, so too does this new B-Music compilation mine the fringe of far-flung female folk from the recent past and immediate present. Starting where the Folk Is A Four Letter Word comps left off, Bearded Ladies features many of the same B-music 'vixens' such as Wendy and Bonnie, Turid, Susan Christie, Selda, Heather Jones and Brigitte Fontaine joined by their more contemporary equivalents, Speck Mountain, Misty Dixon (Jane Weaver), Lights, Lispector, Emma Tricca, and Magpahi amongst others. Not as "Old Tymey" as the cover would suggest, Bearded Ladies excavates the rare individual artistry from pigeon-holed genre conventions as the contemporary artists are just as unfettered and original as the older artists, and not merely new retreads of folk motifs made popular in the last few years by Joanna Newsom and Cat Power. Another winner for B-Music. Ladyfolk lives!
Achtung! Remember a little while ago we were digging a various artists collection entitled Funky Frauleins? Which showcased the swinging female pop stars of Germany (East and West) circa 1968-1978, a super delightful go-go disco dance party platter auf Deutsch all right. Now, here's the sequel - or rather, the prequel, 'cause while Funky Frauleins contained a lot of '70s kitsch, this one goes back to the mid '60s, "when pop culture entered the innocent world of German popular chart music", giving this its "Beat meets Schlager!" tagline. 19 tracks dating from 1964-'68, by an assortment of artists that haven't been part of our education previously, including Brigitt, Joy and the Hit Kids, Marion, Inga, Dorthe, Conny Froboess, Pitty und ihre Beatchicks, and a dozen more.
They do dreamy orchestral pop, teenybop anthems, garagey groove, popsyke, and soul. There's a few German-language covers of familiar hits, including a wonderful interpretation of The Hollies' "Bus Stop", done here as "Er sah mich im Regen" by Monique and the Lions. Meanwhile the Jacob Sisters' "Was hab ich dir getan" you'll recognize as a Teutonic take on "Stop In the Name Of Love" by the Supremes!
Super fun stuff, that's been getting a lot of play here at AQ ever since it showed up. In the compilations competition, this one proves that while France had their "ye-ye girls", and Spain their "chicas", Germany's "beat frauleins" were also pretty darn groovy. But, being German, even at their most hip shaking, these ladies can still somehow sound kinda stern, which only adds to our enjoyment...
