It's again time to liberate your inner Austin Powers, and get down to the Swingin' Sixties sounds of Return Of The Instro-Hipsters, Vol. 2! That's right, another 20 "groovy instrumentals from the UK, 1965-1973" compiled by noted collector Nick Saloman of The Bevis Frond. His first volume, entitled On The Brink, was a big hit 'round here, and this second one is just as much fun! This is what you'd have heard in the hip discotheques of Swinging London back then, rock n' roll beat music influencing jazz orchestras to get all freaky and psychedelic, filling dancefloors with shiny, bubbly tunes considered totally sophisticated and hip at the time. Honkin' organs, bright stinging horn sections, and swirling rock guitar are all part of the many lush arrangements found here. There's slinky lounge vibes, and fully day-glo, go-go dancin' funkiness.
In addition to getting you wigglin' your hips, there's definite goofy kitsch value to a lot of this, ferinstance the gimmick track "Fuzz Duck" by Jerry Allen, with all its crazy quackin'. Another group, Thunder Road, does a version of "Peter Gunn" that certainly fits right in. And Cliff Adams's track appears to be from an advert for P.G. Tips tea... Other artists heard here (and almost nowhere else, these days): D. Cordell's Tea Time Ensemble, The 4 Instants, The Roger Coulam Quartet, Harold McNair, Music Through Six, Sounds Sensational, The Masked Phantom, The Johnny Harris Orchestra, Tony Newman, The Tony Evans Band, Kenny Clare, Sharks, The Outer Limits, Oliver Bone, Paraffin Jack Flash, The Helmut Zaccharias Orchestra, and Ning. Groovy, baby.
Double cd covers comp in tribute to Andee's favorite rock band of all time, the mighty Aerosmith! The participating bands mostly hail from the realm of "stoner rock", such as Natas, Alabama Thunderpussy (who do a great "Sweet Emotion"), Atomic Bitchwax, Fireball Ministry, Drunk Horse, The Want, Core, Raging Slab, Altamont, and 18 more! As these tribute things go, a pretty good one. Furthermore, Andee sez: If this sounds even remotely appealing, you oughta order the Aerosmith cd "Draw The Line" too, which we also carry. It's probably one of the best 'rock' records ever. Aerosmith may suck now, but their first 5 records were '70s hard rock at its best; heavy and groovy and amazingly catchy. Their "Greatest Hits" were not their greatest hits. Trust me.
Hopefully all of you are now familiar, probably thanks to the HBO's Paradise Lost documentaries, with the unjust plight of the West Memphis Three: Arkansas teenagers Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelly and Jason Baldwin, convicted of murders they in all likelihood are innocent of, more on account of their supposed goth/alternative "weirdness" than any real evidence. If not, go please rent the first Paradise Lost film, it'll shake you up...or look for a new book about the case called Devil's Knot. Anyway, more publicity (and money for lawyers) for the WM3 can only be a good thing, and ol' Hank Rollins (whatever you think about his post-Black Flag music, spoken word and film career, he's a well-intentioned individual) had just the idea: another benefit album (there's already been one), but one with a "must-have" concept: a whole bunch of well-known singers doing their favorite Black Flag songs. With his current Rollins Band line-up on bass, guitar and drums, Rollins invited everyone from fellow former Black Flag singer Chuck Dukowski to Iggy Pop to Chuck D into the studio to take on 24 Black Flag classics. It's celebrity Black Flag karaoke, basically. Henry himself shows up on six songs, such was his enthusiasm... So, if you're at all curious to hear Ice-T sing "Police Story", or Exene Cervenka dueting with Rollins on "Wasted", or Dean Ween's version of "Gimme Gimme Gimme", or just want to support a good cause, here you go. And boy, does Lemmy's "Thirsty & Miserable" sound like a Motorhead original! Some other participants: Mike Patton, Keith Morris, Ryan Adams (performing solo, making "Nervous Breakdown" sound like a PJ Harvey song), Tom Araya of Slayer, and members of Rancid, Queens of the Stone Age, Poison The Well, The Mars Volta, and Slipknot. (Look online at www.wm3.org for more info about the three, or if you want to send $$$ to 'em directly rather than buying this cd!)
Road To Nowhere? No way, this road leads to stoner rock heaven. Hot shit badasses Fu Manchu, Nick Oliveri, Brant Bjork, Burning Brides, and The Dwarves share the joint (heh heh, pun intended!) with lesser known indie upstarts Big Truck, Winnebago Deal, Truck Fighters, Dig, The Sammies, In The Detail, Baby Woodrose, Leech, and locals Turn Me On Dead Man (unfortunately misspelled as "Dean Man" on the packaging -- guess spelling took a back seat to rawkin'). Oh yeah, and there's also a lil' band here called The Freeks whose lineup includes members of Kyuss, Monster Magnet, Nebula, Skin Yard and Earthless!
Fuzz and groove from the Andes, mostly circa 1969-1974, uh huh! If there's anything we've learned from all the cool comps and reissues that have come out over the years, is that almost ANYPLACE on Earth you can think of, no matter how out of the way, chances are they had their own happenin' psychedelic garage rock band scene back in the day, chock full of cool bands that we'd never have ever heard of but for the diligent efforts of collectors and compilers. Certainly we already know this to be the case in '60s/'70s Peru, as we're already in love with such great bands from that land as Traffic Sound, We All Together, and Tarkus. Now from the same Lima-based label, Repsychled, that just so happens to be responsible for reissues of albums by all of those, we get this killer compilation devoted to bands from Peru's second largest city, Arequipa, located in the south of the country, high up in the Andes. None of these groups recorded full albums, but they did release rare singles and make live 'party' cassettes and left behind enough cool music that this disc is packed, 21 tracks from five bands: Los Texao, Free Love System, Los Incognitos, Madera Fresca, and Opus.
Los Texao, named after the type of flower associated with Arequipa, have the lion's share of the tracks, ten of 'em, including some covers (Cream, The Guess Who, Steppenwolf). They are also responsible for several of the best originals on here, especially their druggy groovy freakout "Stone", which by itself may justify the purchase of this disc, and exemplifies their own musical style called niebla (= fog in English), we're told "because of the effect produced by the band's rotor amps and reverb and echo effects". But Free Love System don't let us, or Arequipa, down either (with a name like that, you gotta be good!) and their four cuts are also pretty cool and, uh, foggy, including one with driving fuzz guitars and a kind of "You Really Got Me" riff, entitled "Correteando Anoranzas". They (as well as Los Texao and the others) also do some dreamy pop stuff, with melancholic psych guitar solos, so it's not all heavy and rockin', but mellow and moody too.
Meanwhile Los Incognitos have more of a twang, sounding a bit like something out of a Spaghetti Western on their four cuts. And then there's a couple by Madera Fresca. In particular, their track "Anytime" is pretty crazed, though also extremely lo-fi (fortunately it's the exception in that regard amongst the tracks here), and heck even if it wasn't, that'd be ok with us, we'd happily crank a whole album of this sort of distorted worbbly-warbly instrumental jamming. And then Opus, a band formed by Free Love System's former guitarist in '76, wraps up the disc with track #21, the only one on the disc that's not actually from the '69-'74 time frame, though it sounds it, despite being recorded as late as 1982.
Whoo! Along with our recent initiation into the wonderfulness of the "chicha" sound (which combined Andean folk traditions with psych/beat influences), this comp certainly adds to our infatuation with Peruvian music of the psychedelic era. If you dig stuff like the Love, Peace & Poetry: Latin America comp you'll want to hear this. The cd booklet is illustrated with vintage photos and press clippings, and includes informative liner notes in Spanish and (somewhat abridged) English.
Does there need to be a tribute to Weezer? Maybe, although need is a strong word. Could there be? Sure. Should there be? Probably not, especially when the bands and their versions deviate very little from the original. Pretty pointless. Features Weezer
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Local favorites Fuck, Grady Sisters, Snowmen, Baby Carrot, Ponyride, etc.
Oneof three new Mississippi titles this week is an infectious ten inch charting what they call "The Global Rise of Rocking Music" over two decades , eight songs and seven countries. Largely, this is swinging big band music with touches of boogie, jive, early rock and roll and hot jazz from corners both far and near, each with its own unique cultural trademarks. A Thai take on an American song called "Rocking in Baghdad", a classic from Zimbabwe that has been described by the Everly Brothers as the first rock n roll record they ever heard, a female Japanese jazz singer who was once a geisha, jump blues from Egypt, Columbian cumbia, Chicagoan polka, hillbilly boogie from Ohio, and an Indian film theme that would have fit right in on one of the Great Googly Moo compilations. Red Hot!
Every city in every state, every country, has its own little musical scene, one that has grown and changed over the years, bands playing gigs, recording records, breaking up, moving on to other gigs, finally getting real jobs and settling down and having families, those records and gigs and bands forgotten. But think about all the places, all the cities, all the years and decades, and how many bands and records that we've never heard or heard of must be lurking out there. Records that were given to friends, consigned at the local store, or just stashed in the garage or basement. Rare record reissues are nothing new, and there's enough that they can't all possibly be good. In fact it's gotten to the point where if a record is old, and nobody heard it, it suddenly becomes a rarity worth unearthing. Which is not always the case. But with all those records out there, all those forgotten bands, some with only a song or two legacy, it's worth digging though all the rest, on the off chance of stumbling on to something amazing. And scenes have always fed off themselves, often where there was one good band, there was two, and where there was two, there was a whole bunch. Which brings us to Rocky Mountain Low. A killer collection of seventies rock and punk rock and power pop from Colorado, which is a place we're pretty familiar with, at least from the eighties onward, but we didn't know a single band here, and some of these groups are amazing. AND, for such a sprawling varied collection, there's very little chaff. In fact, this could very well have been a Numero Group reissue, super well researched, incredible song selection, a totally unknown lost scene, a bunch of amazing bands, and tons of killer tracks, maybe a bit more punk rock and lo-fi, but then, that's fine with us.
The Ravers are crunchy and jangly and sound like they're from Minneapolis, Radio Pete might be our favorite, effortlessly creating some gloriously rough edged reverb drenched garage pop, the sort of thing all those new groups are desperately emulating, sounds like Ariel Pink or the Oh Sees or Ty Segall if they were from the early seventies, the Front are snarly almost metallic sounding punk rock, Defex kick out the muddy murky bass heavy jams, all squiggly angular leads, wild drumming and killer pop hooks, the Cells are total Romantics style new wave power pop, the Profalactics are all yelpy Riot Grrl sounding lo-fi punk rock three chord lo-fi crunch, the Instant are woozy low fidelity punk pop psych, a lot of this reminds us of Guided By Voices too, that sort of British sound filtered through a US punk rock aesthetic, and it goes on and on. So many kick ass bands, so many amazing tracks, a double lp AND a cd, with a massive full color magazine sized booklet, jam packed with extensive liner notes on EVERY band here, cool stuff for sure, and an awesome glimpse of yet another lost and forgotten scene...
Who doesn't love pirates? Y'know the eye-patched, peg-legged, sword-totin' ones in storybooks and movies? Mind you of course, out on the real high seas they're a whole 'nother subject, but within the relatively safe confines of a leatherbound hardcover or a multi-screen cineplex... well, shucks! Anyway, this double cd set is most definitely pirate-themed, and while it's not technically a soundtrack album for Pirates Of The Caribbean 2, Rogue's Gallery was produced by that film's leading man Johnny Depp, director Gore Verbinski and Hal Willner (the man also behind the recent Leonard Cohen I'm Your Man soundtrack). Think of it more as a companion work, and a big one at that. This compilation is a whopping 43 songs in total -- all of them olden day seafaring songs as interpreted by modern day artists. Many of them are performed in unexpectedly strange and entertaining fashion, such as the opening track by Baby Gramps who sounds like a drunken Tuvan throat singer! The list of participants is quite astounding, it includes Van Dyke Parks, Nick Cave, Richard Thompson, Lucinda Williams, David Thomas, Lou Reed (very staid), Stan Ridgway, Jarvis Cocker (an awesome number that builds to a frenzied stormy climax!), Bill Frisell, Loudon Wainwright III, Rufus Wainwright, Kate McGarrigle, Gavin Friday, Bryan Ferry with Antony (injecting the comp with a little melodramatic flair), Mary Margaret O'Hara (a surprise appearance by this mysterious, captivating Canadian artist and sister of actress Catherine O'Hara!), Jolie Holland, Akron/Family, White Magic, John C. Reilly (!), a couple of guys named Sting and Bono too, and more! We won't make you walk the plank for this one, but we will politely attest to the fact that this is indeed for the most part a jolly good listen!
While this was playing in the store -- not knowing what it was -- some of us thought, "Geez, this sounds like these bands really like The Smiths!" Well, y'know what? It is an indie pop tribute compilation to The Smiths. Haha! Anyways, The Lucksmiths, The Pines, Pale Sunday, Pipas, Simpatico, The Liberty Ship, The Snowdrops, Slipslide, Would-Be-Goods, The Young Tradition, Lovejoy, and The Guild League pay their respects by doing their pretty jangle best to replicate rather than reinterpret Morrissey and co's tunes. Super mellow and sweet.
We know we aren't the only ones crazy for the sounds of Chicha, at least judging by the number of copies we sold of the first Roots Of volume, not to mention the amazing collection of songs by Juaneco Y Su Combo. It's pretty much impossible to be into a wide range of music and not be floored by the rad sounds of Chicha. Fuzzy and psychedelic, washed out and surfy, all wrapped in the sounds of cumbia, carimbo and Peruvian traditional music. Barbes is doing such a great job with this series helping expose the truly amazing music coming from this scene in Peru from 1968-1981. It not only has such a cool sound that tons of bands today wish they could recreate, but the songs also have such a sense of soul that makes this one of those records that gets everyone in the store shaking gently back and forth and tapping their toes and we have lost count with how many times we get asked what is playing when this is on as its a record that appeals to such a wide range of tastes.
It shows how rich this scene was that Juaneco Y Su Columbo aren't even on this volume, yet all the other bands included we would kill to hear more from. We know if this was on Sublime Frequencies we would sell even more of these, so c'mon if you love amazing sounds from different parts of the globe you've got to get on the Chicha train!
The term "counter-culture" seems to be Rough Trade's catch-all tag for this extremely eclectic compilation. This two disc set features a total of 41 tracks from around the world - many familiar artists (Bright Eyes, the Breeders, ESG, Bis, Johnny Dowd, Melt Banana, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Cabaret Voltaire, Mountain Goats, Tom Waits, Prefuse 73, Tracy And The Plastics, Glass Candy And The Shattered Theatre, James Yorkston, Dempsey, The Bug Vs The Rootsman, Joy Zipper, Langley Schools Music Project) as well as many you may not yet be familiar with (Rubicks, The Be Good Tanyas, Trash Money, Akufen, Baxter Dury, The Bug Vs The Rootsman, My Robot Friend, Pretty Girls Make Graves, Crossover, The Books and Pink Grease). A genuine musical cornucopia!
This compilation has one of the bestest, most irresistible garage pop songs ever!!! So sayeth Cup. It's one of her all time faves, and it's been pretty much impossible to find for years . The song? "I Could Be In Heaven" by The Flatmates. Yaaaay! No, on its own it's not necessarily worth the full price of this double cd, but it is a pretty good start (well, it's not really a 'start' per se 'cause it's #18 on the second disc)! This compilation is bursting with such awesome indie pop delights it can brighten the darkest days! Other than the Flatmates you'll be treated to a whopping 46 songs by the old familiar faves like The Pastels, Marine Girls, Lush, Magnetic Fields (one of the best from their early days "100,000 Fireflies"), Beat Happening (their classic "Indian Summer"), Modesty Blaise, the Vaselines ("Molly's Lips"), Mary Lou Lord ("Jingle Jangle Morning"), Bis, My Bloody Valentine, the Pooh Sticks, Jesus & Mary Chain, Talulah Gosh (their theme song!), the Velvet Crush, Television Personalities, A.R. Kane, Eggs, the Darling Buds, Primal Scream, the Field Mice, Camera Obscura, Felt, the Monochrome Set and many many more. Sooooooooooooo good!
Over the past couple of months, Rough Trade -- the stores being the only remainder of the once mighty Rough Trade label empire during the '80s -- has been issuing a series of compilations that celebrate their legacy to the world of music. While the previous compilations had all been pleasant enough, the "Post Punk Vol 1" compilation a nearly perfect collection of great tracks that encapsulates the aftermath of punk. In light of the fashionableness of current bands who have adopted post-punk aesthetics, postures, and agendas like Interpol, The Rapture, and Erase Errata, "Post Punk Vol 1" is required listening for those interested in the current flourishing of the post-punk ethos, but with little knowlegde of where it came from. But at the same time, this isn't just some banal K-Tel rehash of the obvious cuts from 1978-1983; rather, this compilation picks and chooses its course through less trodden pathes, but none the less reflect the post-punk zeitgeist.
In the liner notes, neither Colin Newman of Wire or Sean of Rough Trade bother to define what 'post-punk' means other than the stuff which happened after the Sex Pistols. It's a term as meaningless as 'post modern;' but this compilation arrives at something of a workable definition through analogy and example. More often than not, 'post punk' has come to mean rough hewn disco percussion, insistent and at times dubby basslines, jagged guitars, and a dominant vocal personality. The big names of post-punk are all here with Gang Of Four, The Fall, Wire, and Public Image Limited, but many of the lesser known groups in particular Au Pairs, 23 Skidoo, and World Domination Enterprises steal the show with the best tracks on this double cd compilation. Furthering the definition beyond a mere history lesson, the curators have tossed in tracks from current bands such as Erase Errata, The Rapture, Les Georges Leningrad, and Life Without Buildings.
With a few sore thumb exceptions, this compilation is a great listen; and its seamlessness is a testament to the quality curation done by Rough Trade.
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Second release on wonderful Alastair Galbraith's record label, and tho you'll recognize many of the names on it, like David Merritt (3Ds), The Puddle, Bruce Russell (Dead C), Robert Scott of the Bats, Chris Heazlewood, and Cake Kitchen, the real gems on this album are from the folks who haven't -yet- received wide recognition for their talents. Worthy of your time.
Although this compilation was compiled by Gearhead (an SF magazine devoted to the awesomeness of cars and rock'n'roll), you don't have to be a gearhead to love this cd. Lots of raunchy, fun tunes. Leaning heavy on the garage rawk horn, this 23-track collection includes songs by the Donnas, Man Or Astro-man?, Rocket From The Crypt, The Fastbacks, The Hellacopters and many more. If you've been an avid reader of the magazine, you probably already have these songs in 7" form (each issue included a bonus 7"), but here they are all together for ya with fun-filled liner notes and original cover art included.
One of two new comps from one of our favorite reissue labels, the Omni Recording Corporation, and while the other one, The World Is A Monster fits squarely within Omni's country/folk/bluegrass focus, this one does NOT. Instead of lost recordings, rescued from plundered record label vaults or transferred from scratchy old records, instead of Dolly Parton or Porter Wagoner, instead of twisted country or bizarre bluegrass, Russkie Wig-Out! finds Omni collecting various recordings from the last ten years of "Demented Surf / Electro / Exotica From Behind The Iron Curtain". Which is as good as it sounds.
Some folks are probably familiar with Messer Chups, whose records have been issued stateside, and who we remembered as being more a sort of modern rockabilly outfit, but this comp kind of knocked our socks off, and not only features a handful of Messer Chups tracks, but also the various post Messer groups, offshoots and solo records. And the sound here is not at all rockabilly really. Instead it's crazed sample driven Joe Meek like exotica surf rock weirdness.
Twangy guitars, wild fluttery Theremins, lots of synths, groovy percussion, haunting Halloween melodies, and loads of samples, like some twisted hybrid of Les Baxter, Joe Meek, Perrey & Kingsley, Tipsy and Aavikko, this comp is like the ultimate party record. Just check out "Gitarkin Fast Food Empire", with its groovy horn riff, its counted off "1,2,3,4" vocal sample, culminating with a hurl like "BLEEEARGHHHH", not to mention the cool weirdo sort of scatting, the exotic female vocals, so good.
Or check out "Bukva F" which is essentially a Perry & Kingsley cover, right down to the weird animal calls, but here it's revved up a little and given some extra vibe melodies and strange vocals.
The whole record is totally fun and wild and ridiculous and catchy, it's sort of the music we'd imagine the house band on the Flintstones would play, or some fifties version of Pee Wee's Playhouse, or an alternate reality version of Gilligans Island, if Gilligan ran a seedy bar on the island. Totally far out, and totally recommended.
Sub Pop these days is a seriously varied and eclectic label, they always were, but now more than ever, from folk to noise rock, electronic to power pop. But for most of us, Sub Pop will forver be associated with the much maligned, but frankly still KICK ASS genre they basically invented: GRUNGE. Sure it got watered down, like any scene, but that first wave of grunge is still untouchable: Green River, Soundgarden, Tad, The Fluid, Love Battery, Swallow, Blood Circus, Screaming Trees, Cat Butt, Skin Yard, U-Men, Malfunkshun, Pond...
So when we heard about Sub Pop's 20th Anniversary celebration in Seattle, one aQuarian in particular had to go, a chance to see Green River, Les Thugs, The Fluid, Vaselines, Pissed Jeans, Eric's Trip, Kinski, Comets On Fire, Beachwood Sparks, Seaweed, and loads more, well it was too good not to go. So go this aQ-er did, and it RULED, the old guard destroyed, but the new bands were pretty great too. Some performances were transformative, not hugely into Fleet Foxes at the time, something about seeing them play in a green glade, those vocals soaring beneath the blue sky, amidst all those trees, suddenly their music made sense. A new fan was born. Green River had to be the highlight, members of Pearl Jam and Mudhoney brought back together again to play someof the sickest, swampiest, glammy grunge ever, and it still sounded better than 90% of the bands today.
So to celebrate Record Stoe Day, Sub Pop decided to gather up some of the best recordings from the fest, and release them as a super limited cd. Which is what this is. Most of the above mntioned bands represented. The Vaselines do their classic "Dying For it", Beachwood Sparks sound magnificent, Obits seriously rock, as do Les Thugs, but probably the best moment of the fest, and of this comp is Green River, playing "Leech", a song popularized by the Melvins, but according to Mark Arm's before song banter, it's a Green River track, that was on a tape given to the Melvins way back when, which the band adopted as their own, but now that the legal might of Mudhoney and Pearl Jam are united, Green River plan to "Crush those bastards", which is met with a deafening roar, followed by a performance that makes the case for "Leech" being a Green River original, better than any lawsuit ever could. Joking or not, it's a magical moment, the fest was full of those moments, as is this comp!
Cool local cassette compilation compiled by Mike Donovan (Sic Alps, Big Techno Werewolves, Nam, Sounds Of The Barbary Coast, The Ropers, Dial Records) and artist Chris Johanson. Features tracks by Coachwhips, Big Techno Werewolves, No Doctors, Condor, California Lightening, Enablers, Ponies, Tits and a bunch more! As with most releases by these two fellows, there is only going to be a very small homespun run of these made, so needless to say, don't snoooooze! Pssst... we also have a very small number of some other Folding cassette releases, all with hand made covers -- a couple of short ones from Death Sentence: Panda and Donovan's own band Sic Alps plus ones by Dark Yellow Swans (aka Yellow Swans) and NVH with Six Organs Of Admittance's Ben Chasny. Dust off yer cassette deck!
Volume 3 of the Folding Cassettes compilation series featuring tons of badass weirdo rock outfits, lots we already love, and a few we've never heard before... Sic Alps, Metallic Falcons, Fuckwolf, Octis, Numbers, Car Clutch, Si-Cops, Andrew Duke, Patrick Michael Mullins, Arsenio, Gass & The Bleed Sea, Tre Ferocious, Mammals, Bananas, and Magic Bag.
Cover art by Jo Jackson and Chris Johanson!!
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RSD 2012 comp from Sacred Bones... all gone!
San Francisco Community Radio was born out of the ashes of KUSF 90.3fm, one of the most beloved underground/community radio stations in the country, where our own Irwin served as music director for many years.
Not to be stopped by the greed/corruption that saw them get booted from the airways, they launched KUSF-In-Exile with the help of WFMU, as a way to bring attention to the efforts to Save KUSF. In fact along with Irwin, Andee and Scott both had shows on Exile. While the effort via the FCC to Save KUSF was denied, that didn't stop this determined community radio brigade who are now called San Francisco Community Radio. While they wait for the possibility of getting on the radio dial through Low Power FM they are still streaming online.
This benefit compilation beautifully curated/compiled by Claudia Mueller (DJ Meta) features 15 exclusive tracks including tracks by aQ favorites like Devendra Banhart, John Vanderslice, Kelley Stoltz, and Snickers. As expected from a community radio station this comp features an eclectic mix of bands, from the spaced out goth-operatic sounds of Galaxy Chamber, the stripped down punk of The Grannies, and the warm rocksteady of Titan Ups.
Lots of great tracks on this and an easy way to support community radio in San Francisco. Recommended!
An SF goth compilation completely by, for and about those "of the night". Fifteen tracks in all spiral downward into the shadowy depths of darkwave and synth pop, super-saturated with synthesized string sounds, arpeggiated basslines, and programmed beats. Heavy on the dramatic and melodramatic, the various vocalists draw easy comparisons to the classic goth kings and queens; for instance, the very Siouxsie/Danielle Dax-esque swooping female vocals of Trance To The Sun, Information Society's deep, emotive male vocals a la Dave Gahan of Depeche Mode or Peter Murphy, and Ganymede's swooning croon over clubland beats like that of Soft Cell's Marc Almond.
Wait a minute, it's subtitled "Alternative Rock for Cartoon Lovers: Make It a Part of Your Unbalanced Breakfast." And they want to *sell* records with that? I don't know. The only worthwhile piece on it, IMHO, is the Butthole's doing "Underdog," but whatever. I read all the Nancy Drew and Anne Of Green Gables books instead of watching cartoons and now must bravely face the holes in my popcult education. Other pieces people've been oohing & aahing over include Liz Phair (with Material Issue!) doing the Banana Splits theme, Juliana Hatfield and Tanya Donnelly (Belly) covering "Josie & the Pussycats."
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I'm just going to admit that I love the name Rural Electrification Program for a label. It's just so antiquated and it fits so well with the squalid noise that Matthew Bower (Skullflower, Sunroof, Total) has collected for this compilation. As a whole, this compilation offers an excellent state of the union for the free noise compatriots around the globe. Humid blasts of muddled guitar feedback from Flies Inside the Sun, Sunroof, and Ashtray Navigations. The tectonic plate shifting from Surface of the Earth's low-end amplifier rumble. The bad-acid improvised 'pipe fights' of No Neck Blues Band's offshoot K. Salvatore. Also featured are Bradley / Campbell, Richard Youngs & Simon Wickham-Smith, and Dr. Gretchen's Musical Weightlifting Program.
With contributions from Quintron, Bobby Conn, Zeek Sheck, and the infamous XBXRX, this comp is throwing a loud'n'nasty party in the garage. Quintron is his usual mysterious self, Bobby Conn does a commendable Jon-Spencer-meets-arena-rock blend, Zeek Sheck makes lots of noise, and XBXRX (reportedly Mr. Quintron's favorite band), a quintet of teenagers from Mobile, Alabama, make spazzing out on the floor like an epileptic look like fun! Recommended.
Volume three in Toyo's series of musical misanthropy, this volume focuses on the skronk and the skree and the 'costume'. Seemed this volume could've been a video instead of a cd seeing as these bands are all costumed art project bands. But it works as a record nearly as well. Noisey and crazy and truly fucked up, this volume features the Lowdown, Pink and Brown (featuring Jeff from Lumen and John from Burmese), Rubber O Cement (featuring Grux from Caroliner, Mick from Insignificant, and Kurt, local engineer/soundman extrordinaire), and Lozenge. Never before has 7.98 bought you this much difficulty with your neighbors.
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SORRY.
We've been skipping around through this "New Rubble" series -- we reviewed Volume 2 a little while back (entitled Speaking My Mind, it was devoted to rare prog-psych singles). Now we've settled on this killer comp of obscure '60s British female vocalists to mention this time. These soulful girl singers are backed by some outright freakbeat bands, though (like the Fleur de Lys), so instead of ballads (the stuff that made for hits) these are harder-edged, dancefloor-ready groovers filled with fuzz guitar and Hammond organ action. These ladies have plenty of sassy, "my boots are gonna walk all over you" attitude to match. Nobody's fools, their "love" songs are telling it like it is. There's lots of "baby baby baby" stuff but they're letting "baby" know he'd better behave or he won't be their baby no more... Lines like "It's understood / if you hurt me / you're gone for good" (from Samantha Jones "Go Ahead") are the norm. As is the saucier, sexually aggressive stance of tracks like "Scratch My Back". Great stuff, even the dated kitsch silliness of Laugh-In gogo dancer Judy Carne's "Sock It To Me" (wherein she opines, in a very proper British accent, "you know if this is what they call funky, it's a bit of all right"). Excepting that one, perhaps, we think AQ pals The Husbands should be mining this comp for new cover material...
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Mobile records wishes you a very indie holiday season with this collection of Christmas and winter themed songs from Low, Orso, Morgan Caney & Kamal Joory, Opiate, Kom�it, Future 3, Erland �ye (of Kings of Convenience), St. Etienne, Badly Drawn Boy, Hood, Domotic, Herrmann & Kleine, and M�m. Add gentle dreaminess to your holiday cheer, or be comforted with a moody soundtrack to the winter blues.
Nu-gaze! The new wave of shoegaze...
French superstar songwriter and performer Gainsbourg, like Burt Bacharach before him, gets the Tzadik treatment here in tribute performances by Mike Patton, Fred Frith, Cyro Baptista, John Zorn, Cibo Matto, Eszter Balint (yes, the actress from Stranger Than Paradise), Kramer, and Medeski, Martin and Wood.
Dark pop? New beat? Call it what you will but that's one heck of a heavy thumpin' beat thundering up from the yesteryear depths of this fine Belgian compilation.
A highly entertaining mix of vintage rump-shakers and amusingly quirky tracks (make sure to check out Will Powers, one of the obscure gems from the '80s as standard New Wave / electro rhythms back the recitation of inane 'self help' lectures). While listening to track 10 "Hypnotic Tango" by My Mine, something struck us as oddly familiar... What the heck?! It's the chorus melody to "Look Of Love" by ABC. Supposedly the "sound of Belgium nightlife in the 80s" this compilation encompasses Section 25, Vicious Pink, Metro Area, Grauzone, Executive Slacks, John Carpenter, and even the Alan Parsons Project, among others. As dj mix documents go, this one's kinda neat and off the beaten track, and surely will capture the hearts of those diggin' the likes of The Faint and The Rapture.
MPEG Stream: VICIOUS PINK "8:15 To Nowhere" [/audio/viciouspink815.m3u]
Curious about freaky '60s (and early '70s) pyschedelia? Well the good people at Germany's Shadoks label have not only made it their business to reissue a slew of pretty cool, previously unaffordable and unfindable psych LPs on cd (as well as doing some lovely vinyl reissues that soon enough become unaffordable and unfindable themselves...), but have also selected some representative songs from 'em to make up this 18-track, budget priced sampler. From heavy, blues-based psych rawk and fuzz-filled garagey punk to folkier, gentler fare, all the bands on here share, shall we say, an LSD-derived sensibility. Some are better n' others but even the not so good ones make up for in kitschy psychedelic era charm what they might lack in songwriting ability or musicianship. I mean, there are reasons why some of these LPs were obscure! But then again, several are undeservedly neglected classics, and this sampler makes for a great, cheap way to check out the full variety found in the Shadoks catalog. From all around the world (USA, India, Brazil, Philipines...), the line-up here features: The Spoils of War, Peacepipe, The New Tweedy Bros!, Juan De La Cruz Band, The Brain Police, Maitreya Kali, Merry Airbrakes, Butterfingers, My Indole Ring, Framework, The Wallflower Complexion, Brigade, Pete Fine, Fate, Spectrum, Confusions (from the Simal Beat compilation) and Tony, Caro & John.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Upon hearing a few tracks of this compilation, a collection of musical interpretations of the haikus of Greek poet George Sefaris, former AQ staffer Marc Kate astutely identified the voice on track 13 as that of Lee Ranaldo, and posed the question: why is it that whenever Ranaldo does spoken word he's always yelling? Good question.
Anyways, there's a lot that is highly pleasing on this 22-track collection, but there's also an almost equal amount of the... how shall we say... uh, less than good. Problem is you have to suffer through the stinky ones (or scramble madly for your cd player's 'next track' button) to get to the quality stuff.
But when it's good it's deeply moving, intriguing and really impressive. However, when it's bad, well, it's really bad. Just think overwrought, "jazz-hands" hollering and melodrama. Ugh. Features the voices of Robert Wyatt, Cat Power, Stereolab's Laetitia Sadier, Howe Gelb, Alejandro Escovedo, Edith Frost, Mark Eitzel, Simon Joyner, Lee Ranaldo, Steve Wynn, Czars' John Grant, James William Hindle and more.
"Tribute" compilations generally get a well-deserved bad rap, they're maybe a rung or two removed from string quartet versions and bluegrass covers on the ladder of uselessness, generally cheap cash-ins by a bunch of nobodies on some else's success. Or, for cult artists, not a cash-in, but a collection of fanboy loveletters also by a bunch of nobodies. But then there ARE always a few exceptions, we have a few faves in the category, some guilty pleasures perhaps but nonetheless faves: Darkthrone, Holy Darkthrone. Blue Explosion. Painted Black. The Great Koonaklaster Speaks. Powerslaves. Hmm, actually there's quite a lot of tribute comps we like. And you can add this to the pile, Silver Monk Time: A Tribute To The Monks. How can that not be cool? Especially when you eyeball the tracklist and see that the eclectic lineup ain't a bunch of nobodies, no sir. Try Mouse On Mars, Alec Empire (with original Monk Gary Burger), The Gossip, the Silver Apples w/ Alan Vega of Suicide, The Fall, Faust (also with Gary Burger), Barbara Manning, Psychic TV, Jason Forrest, The Raincoats, and and 19 others, filling up 2 cds. Sure there's some names on here we haven't heard of before (Doc Schoko, Fehlifarben, Floating Di Morel, and Singapore Sling, ferinstance) but then again, not everybody's heard of The Monks, either. We'll assume you have, and won't spend time explaining what an amazing, ahead of their time band they were: American GIs in '60s Germany, dressed up in monks robes with tonsures, playing the wildest punk rock ever recorded up 'til that point in history, and some years beyond...with banjo! The varied covers here have one thing in common, besides a reverence for the Monks. They all demonstrate that the songs of the Monks, as well as their style and delivery, were unique and insane, unhinged pop subversion still exciting and weird today. If this IS your introduction to the Monks, that's interesting for us to imagine... and please check out Black Monk Time if you haven't heard it!
Apparently this was put together in connection with an upcoming Monks documentary film, can't wait to see it!!
Originally reissued some years ago as a double cd, this killer collection of Indian psychedelic garage rock, has now been split into two different compilations, delineated by date, one disc for 1970, the other for 1971, but odds are you're probably gonna want both of them anyway. If not, either one is a great place to start. Some of you may remember the Psych Funk Sa-Re-Ga! Psychedelic Funk Music In India 1976-1983 compilation we made our Record of The Week a while back, a few of those tracks were taken from these comps, but for the most part, most of this stuff is exclusive.
While Simla Beat may sound like some cool record nerd classification for Indian psych from that era, Simla was in fact a cigarette company, who recognized that besides smoking, the kids also really dug rock and roll, specifically the sort of Western influenced sounds that were bringing surf and garage rock to India, so they founded a battle of the bands, complete with an awards show with the prizes presented by Bollywood stars, and the winning songs would get released, and hence we had these Simla Beat compilations. There were rumors, that since none of these tracks feature sitar or tabla or any distinct Indian instrumentation, that they were in fact hoaxes, and that none of these bands were in fact Indian, which was obviously proven to be false, and while there may not be sitar or tabla, there is a distinctly Eastern vibe to these tracks, and the sound, as well as the various productions, definitely takes the more Western version of surf rock and garage rock and makes it into something new and exciting.
Both discs contain some killer jams, and we could easily go through both track by track, but we'll just pick out a few highlights, and there are samples below too, which you should check out, pretty hard to resist we think. Simla Beat 70 starts off with "Voice From the Inner Soul" by the Confusions, which is so good, and catchy, it sounds like it must be a cover, but as far as we can tell it's an original, crunchy guitars, fuzzy organs, a groovy stomp with a KILLER chorus. Then there's the Dinosaurs, who offer up another original that sounds super familiar but is not a cover, the vocals raspy and scratchy, wound around some skittery drumming, and some fuzzy guitars, and another wicked hook. You probably remember X'lents' "Psychedelia" with its "Secret Agent Man" opening riff and some seriously kick ass psychedelic garage rock. The Dinosaurs also cover Creedence Clearwater Revivals's "Sinister Purpose" and make it their own, even more raw and fuzzed out than the original.
The 1971 installment is just as great, starting off with The Fentones' "Simla Beat Theme" which is total surf rock bliss, a littler off kilter, with some killer guitar playing, which gives way to the Nomads' "Nothing Is The Same" which begins with a dark swirling cloud of heavily effected guitar buzz, before slipping into a woozy surfy groove, then there's Hipnotic Eye's "Killing Floor, which is a dead ringer for the imaginary band the Sacred Cows from Get Smart (YouTube it!), and then there's Velvette Fogg's droned out organ heavy nearly 8 minute groover "I'm So Glad", and so it goes, like the 1970 volume, killer jam after killer jam!
Again, not sure why they split em up, cuz it's tough not to want both, but even if you choose just one, each has much to offer, although if you're music nerd obsessives like we are (and we're figuring you are), you might as well just grab 'em both...
Originally reissued some years ago as a double cd, this killer collection of Indian psychedelic garage rock, has now been split into two different compilations, delineated by date, one disc for 1970, the other for 1971, but odds are you're probably gonna want both of them anyway. If not, either one is a great place to start. Some of you may remember the Psych Funk Sa-Re-Ga! Psychedelic Funk Music In India 1976-1983 compilation we made our Record of The Week a while back, a few of those tracks were taken from these comps, but for the most part, most of this stuff is exclusive.
While Simla Beat may sound like some cool record nerd classification for Indian psych from that era, Simla was in fact a cigarette company, who recognized that besides smoking, the kids also really dug rock and roll, specifically the sort of Western influenced sounds that were bringing surf and garage rock to India, so they founded a battle of the bands, complete with an awards show with the prizes presented by Bollywood stars, and the winning songs would get released, and hence we had these Simla Beat compilations. There were rumors, that since none of these tracks feature sitar or tabla or any distinct Indian instrumentation, that they were in fact hoaxes, and that none of these bands were in fact Indian, which was obviously proven to be false, and while there may not be sitar or tabla, there is a distinctly Eastern vibe to these tracks, and the sound, as well as the various productions, definitely takes the more Western version of surf rock and garage rock and makes it into something new and exciting.
Both discs contain some killer jams, and we could easily go through both track by track, but we'll just pick out a few highlights, and there are samples below too, which you should check out, pretty hard to resist we think. Simla Beat 70 starts off with "Voice From the Inner Soul" by the Confusions, which is so good, and catchy, it sounds like it must be a cover, but as far as we can tell it's an original, crunchy guitars, fuzzy organs, a groovy stomp with a KILLER chorus. Then there's the Dinosaurs, who offer up another original that sounds super familiar but is not a cover, the vocals raspy and scratchy, wound around some skittery drumming, and some fuzzy guitars, and another wicked hook. You probably remember X'lents' "Psychedelia" with its "Secret Agent Man" opening riff and some seriously kick ass psychedelic garage rock. The Dinosaurs also cover Creedence Clearwater Revivals's "Sinister Purpose" and make it their own, even more raw and fuzzed out than the original.
The 1971 installment is just as great, starting off with The Fentones' "Simla Beat Theme" which is total surf rock bliss, a littler off kilter, with some killer guitar playing, which gives way to the Nomads' "Nothing Is The Same" which begins with a dark swirling cloud of heavily effected guitar buzz, before slipping into a woozy surfy groove, then there's Hipnotic Eye's "Killing Floor, which is a dead ringer for the imaginary band the Sacred Cows from Get Smart (YouTube it!), and then there's Velvette Fogg's droned out organ heavy nearly 8 minute groover "I'm So Glad", and so it goes, like the 1970 volume, killer jam after killer jam!
Again, not sure why they split em up, cuz it's tough not to want both, but even if you choose just one, each has much to offer, although if you're music nerd obsessives like we are (and we're figuring you are), you might as well just grab 'em both...
