THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Some of Yo La Tengo's best and dreamiest pop songs invariably got bullied out of the way by the Ira Kaplan's earlier tendencies towards Sonic Youth-ian blasts of ear-piercing guitar distortion. Such is often the case on their 1992 album May I Sing With Me, but even still, the melodic genius and intelligent, unwaveringly heartfelt lyrical sentiments stand strong and shine through the dissonance. Don't even think of calling yourself a Yo La Tengo fan if a well-worn copy (or two) of this album doesn't grace your record collection. My (Cup's) second favorite Yo La Tengo album next to Painful. Highlights: "Upside Down" and "Detouring America With Horns". Man, I could listen to those two songs back to back on repeat all day long... in fact, maybe I'll go do that now!
No one understands record making or music loving more than YLT. Here they offer the perfect 7" hot on the heels of their great new album. The A-side is the unexpected dance hit from the new record, "Mr. Tough" and the flipside is another in a long line of great covers, this time they tackle the old soul classic "I'm Your Puppet". Could be just the perfect stocking stuffer to get a hold of early for that special YLT lover in your life.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Yo La Tengo's selfreleased double 7" "Now 2000 / Excalibur 2001" showcases their collaboration with New York jazz greats so underground they come from the subway (literally!). If you're thinking this will be Yo La Tengo's bittersweet pop with jazzy flares, you'd be wrong. Rather it's a Yo La Tengo keeping up with the free jazz of Roy Campbell Jr, Daniel Carter, and Sabir Mateen.
Yo La's new ep sees them covering (in multiple versions) the obscure, though recently reissued, Sun Ra song "Nuclear War." First things first, if you're expecting the dreamy loveliness of YLT's last album And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out, be forewarned: their four versions of "Nuclear War" are nothing like that! Actually the music on the first two is much more in line with the heavier, groovier stretches of their Sounds Of The Sounds Of Science soundtrack. Georgia, Ira and James have been known to throw an aural curve ball now and again -- detouring from their usual warm, soothing pop path to reveal their respectable jazz inclinations. A good example was their self-released but sadly out of print double 7" that featured their collaborations with New York free jazz artists Roy Campbell Jr, Daniel Carter, and Sabir Mateen.
Now two years later, they've offered another glimpse. It's a glimpse that has already received such polarized response from those who've heard it in the store (sorta like the Langley Schools Music Project), that you might just wanna scoop it up to see what the fuss is about. And heck, it's only four bucks!
But...we still have to ask, "what were they thinking?" I mean, we're all for the political, anti-war statement being made, but they should have picked a song that didn't require Ira Kaplan to soullessly chant "motherfucker". It just sounds dumb. And then to hear children chanting it too in Version #2? Egads! No, the impact of having kids singing those lyrics isn't lost on us, the stickiness is having them echo the deadpan delivery of Kaplan. The Sun Ra original was a cosmic jazz funk piece in the "Space Is The Place" vein, but as much as YLT like it, they can't pull it off, particularly with regards to the vocals. Makes for pretty difficult listening, but not the good kind! Memo to YLT: protest songs that can only be enjoyed as painful novelty tracks ain't gonna stop no wars... Fortunately, Version #3 is an extended fifteen minute jam that redeems this release considerably with their jazz friends Campbell, Carter and Mateen making a reappearance along with other downtown NYC jazzers Susie Ibarra and Josh Maddell. Oh, and then to mix things up even more, Version #4 is a remix by Mike Ladd. But by that point, do you want to hear more "Nuclear War"?
Covering Sun Ra is much like covering The Residents or The Monks (as was recently done) -- arguably pretty futile 'cause each are far beyond the music itself. Furthermore as is often the case with covers, maybe this just should've been reserved for their live performance mode and not committed to tape. Let's just hope that YLT aren't now responsible for causing fans of theirs who've not heard Sun Ra to never check his stuff out merely because their interpretations of this particular (and not entirely representative) composition fall flat. Please go to our review of the Atavistic reissue of Sun Ra's "Nuclear War" for a side-by-side RealAudio comparision...
Finally, one of our all time favorite Yo La Tengo albums gets reissued on vinyl! Released in 1993, Painful represented a really important moment for and shift in YLT's sonic scope. While their early records were brimming with feedback and displayed a Sonic Youth like approach to rock, Painful fully introduced the more dreamy, blissed out and intoxicating side of their sound which they have continued to develop and master as the years have gone by.
Painful opens with the bittersweet "Big Day Coming", and gorgeously unfolds with some of the most beautiful and sad pop songs ever recorded, including "Nowhere Near" which still freezes us in our tracks and gives us goosebumps every time we hear it. While later albums like And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out, and I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One, might be more widely recognized as classic albums, Painful really was the blueprint for the sounds that would evolve making Yo La Tengo one of the best bands of our generation. An absolute must have!
They never ever disappoint, in fact more often than not, they totally blow us away. And with Popular Songs, Yo La Tengo remind us once again why they are one of the best bands of the last quarter century. From start to finish this is an album with so many different sounds, styles, moods and motifs, yet it's all so deliciously Yo La Tengo! Like their best albums, the first time you hear this record you know it's going to be an album that you'll listen to for the rest of your life. And in this day and age of disposable culture it's so incredibly refreshing to have YLT, whose music has such a timeless element, and sounds so personal and passionate, and will undoubtedly stand the test of time. YLT never aspired to be the hippest or trendiest or coolest band around. Simply stated, slow and steady wins the race! They've definitely won, and continue to win, and in turn so have we. They've made their indelible mark by just being themselves, and when it comes to pure substance it just doesn't get more richly rewarding than YLT.
Popular Songs is like an album that represent the best friend we all wish we could have. Someone you can turn to when it's time to get deep or vent some bittersweet sadness, someone you can also have fun sleepover parties with and let loose and experience total joy together. These are a set of songs that really do hit at almost the entire spectrum of emotion, and the pacing/sequencing of the album just couldn't be more perfect. Whether being melted away by one of Georgia Hubley's beautifully aching drift-away numbers or being swept up in a Motown like fury or rocked by a straight ahead burner, there is such immaculate skill in the crafting of each song.
The album features wonderfully lush string arrangements provided by Richard Evans, the legendary soul pioneer who contributed so much to the amazing '60s Chicago/Cadet soul scene, who many of you might know and love for his work on the great Afro-Harping album by Dorothy Ashby. So awesome, and yet after taking so many wonderful twist and turns, it is the ending of the album that really leaves us so stunned and in awe.
The last two tracks are very long and mostly instrumental. "The Fireside" is eleven minutes of total shoegaze bliss, that puts most actual 'shoegaze' bands to shame, letting the listener get lost in a slow glowing haze. And then the album's closer "And The Glitter Is Gone", an almost sixteen minute sonic smolder brimming with a droning and triumphant psychedelic spirit that we could listen to forever.
One of those rare records that is all 'favorite songs', every listen, a new song gets stuck in your head and fills your heart, only to be supplanted by another the next time, and on it goes, favorite after favorite after favorite. We think it's fair to say this is a total masterpiece from one of our favorite groups!
Cheers to Matador/YLT for seeing the need and filling it. People want these early albums so much, we can't even keep the expensive import of this cd in stock. Now available at a domestic price: both albums plus a song from an early 7". Strongly recommended.
Matador Records strangely opted to release this concurrently as both a double cd and a triple cd, we've opted to carry just the 3cd set 'cause it's only a couple of bucks more for a whole lot more (well, if you *really* want the 2cd version we can certainly order one for you)! The menage-a-trois has the disc that every Yo La Tengo lover's gonna want and need. In case you can't tell from the title, you might consider the first two cds to be sort of a 'greatest hits' collection (although the word 'hit' seems somewhat incongruous when applied to this particular band, doesn't it?). You might also think of this as a pretty concise overview of the band's recorded body of work. The funny thing is that Yo La Tengo is the type of band whose fans are so devoted that they pretty much don't miss a single release that comes out. So the first two discs of this set might seem redundant to those diehard YLT fanatics. Yo la tengo, indeed! But who's complaining? At the very least this serves as a terrific YLT mix tape displaying all the wonderful, remarkably varied shades of the band (from their pre-Matador days even) -- the only song that I (Cup) noticed was 'missing' was "Nowhere Near" from their album Painful. In my opinion, it's one of their best Georgia-sung songs *ever*. Ah well, I'm sure other folks' will find other personal faves absent too, but such is the case with 'best of' collections, right? Someone had to choose, and that someone wasn't you. The only track that we wish was NOT included is their nearly unbearable cover of Sun Ra's Nuclear War". We didn't like it the first time we heard it on their 2002 ep. As we said back then, it's "difficult listening, but not the good kind."
But back to the third disc o' rarities and outtakes (complete with its own booklet filled with handwritten liner notes)... it's darn tootin' terrific! All on its own, it's well worth the price of admission. Sixteen songs (five of which are previously unreleased) including their demo for "Big Day Coming", "acoustic versions of "Tom Courtenay" and "Decora" as well as Kevin Shields' remix of "Autumn Sweater". They did get my hopes up when I saw that song #6 was their version of a song called "Dreaming", but it's another Sun Ra song, not their super-duper cover of Blondie's hit.
This whole set effectively encapsulates Yo La Tengo's journey of ever-evolving musical adventures -- now twenty years long and showing no signs of stopping! They're smart, crafty big-hearted pop explorers who need no big bells and whistles. Often their most potent material may simply be composed of Georgia or Ira's drowsy voice melting into a lone organ drone and sparse shuffling drum beat, while at other times it's the bristly feedback-y crunch of electric guitar, a warm flush of countrified acoustic guitar or a swooning jazz-inflected horn line. Recommended!
The festiveness of Yo La Tengo has seen some depressive interludes, and the single for "Saturday" is such a moment with minor chord guitars, sustained organs, and some primitive drum machine (similar to what makes label-mates Arab Strap so charming in their slouching mope rock). The two b-sides "Danelectro 2 & 3" which are variations on a theme are similarly restrained. "Saturday" itself is from "And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out", their most sedate album since "Painful" (release date: Febuary 22, 2000). Import cd single.
Indie rock fans have been waiting since 2009's Popular Songs for new music from Hoboken's finest. Well, good news - Yo La Tengo are in the midst recording a new album now, due out in 2013!
And, Matador has just released this teaser 12", featuring an apparently totally different, alternate version of a nice new song, entitled "Stupid Things", that will also appear on said upcoming album. The A side also features an exclusive remix by none other than Eye Yamantaka from Japan's mighty Boredoms! For that alone we know lots of folks are gonna want this, Boredoms and YLT fans both. Then, on the flip, there's another version of the song, its original extended instrumental recording, with indeed plenty of guitar improv from Ira.
The 12", which comes with a free download coupon, is limited to just 1500 numbered copies, and we won't have it for long...
Regardless of what style or mood they choose - this time it's very '70s soft rock influenced - Yo La Tengo always create music that reveals their deep personal and artistic bonds. Clearly they know each other very very well. It's so wonderfully evident in the ways the three interact - their voices and instruments weaving together so effortlessly. Summer Sun flows gracefully from the gentlest lullabies into more funky and playful, but still super mellow numbers much like those on their Sounds Of The Sounds Of Science soundtrack. A lovely display of this is on the sixth song "Tiny Birds". Beautiful. Ira, Georgia and James extend their warm familiarity and fondness to the listeners as well - always both welcoming and welcome. Really, what more can be said? The high quality and consistency of their last four or five albums speaks for itself. Very recommended!
MPEG Download: "Tiny Birds" [/audio/yolatengotinybirds.mp3]
MPEG Stream: "Tiny Birds" [/audio/yolatengotinybirds.m3u]
Although this gal (Cup) is a huge admirer of the dreamy works of both Yo La Tengo and surrealist filmmaker Jean Painleve, she was absolutely crestfallen when she missed out on this very special evening at the fabulous Castro Theater last year. Yup, couldn't get a ticket to witness Ira, Georgia and James perform the soundtrack to Painleve's hypnotic sealife imagery on the big Castro screen. Sadly of course the visuals don't come along with the sounds on this cd, so you kinda miss the event's magical chemistry between picture and live sound. However, what you do get is an absolutely mesmerizing instrumental album. Please note: this is a fuller studio version of their performance. They've successfully captured the otherworldly wonder of Painleve's filmworks while still maintaining their distinct warm, enveloping Yo La Tengo sound. The first track titled "Sea Urchins" features sweeping feathery guitar and chiming tones that float along languidly to a steady bass and drum rhythm. If you removed the sealife cinematic context, it'd be just as suited for a sleek cocktail lounge, although I'd like to make note of the one odd thing about this particular track - the whirring sound that sort of made me think "is someone vacuuming next door?" Anyways, "Shrimp Stories" is a much more frantic, driving and almost funky segment. Sure caught me in their groove. Gradually it all descends into a more abstract tenuous viscose roar for "Liquid Crystals" and "The Sea Horse" resurfaces into a shimmery organ pulse. Breathtaking.
F.Y.I. This disc is also available at a lower price directly from the band at www.yolatengo.com and from a couple of other stores. But that's it! So don't delay.
Over the years, Yo La Tengo have proven to be masters at creating such evocative atmosphere and feeling and emotion in their songs. So it was only a matter of time that wise film directors would seek them out to create scores for their films.
Between the years 2005 and 2006 four different films employed the (maybe not so) surprising soundtrack prowess of YLT, their film music, not all that removed from their band music, creating lingering bittersweet sounds both classy and sophisticated, lush and intimate.
For the score to Old Joy they were joined by Smokey Hormel on guitar to create the perfect hazy sounds for meandering roadtrip and a bit of Northwest exploration. For Junebug they employed a string and horn ensemble adding fluttery floral ambience. For Game 6 the band went at it alone creating the most dynamic and eclectic set of the bunch showing once again what amazing range YLT posses. The disc concludes with their contributions to the John Cameron Mitchell film Shortbus, adding some nice, light and charming sonic snippets to that sexually provocative/honest film.
Aside from being perfect for film music, we also always appreciated just how painterly the instrumental side of Yo La Tengo managed to be, conjuring so many moods and images with such a nice wide palette of delicately employed sounds. We want to give this to all our artist friends as we think it would be the perfect record to have playing in the studio when folks go to create art of their own. This collection came out last year but we only just got in enough of them to list, so grab one as fast as you can, 'cause if we run out we're not sure how quickly we will get them back in stock, since they were sent to us directly by the band (who says rockstars don't go to the post office!?) on the same day they left to go on a big tour!
Yo La Tengo are like the Energizer bunnies of indie-rock, aren't they? There's always a new album or ep and, not only that, it's always usually pretty good. So, get set, here's a fine new six-song ep to add to your collection. The first three tracks are derived from the sessions for YLT's Summer Sun album that came out earlier this year. You get a more 'rock' version of "Today Is The Day" (which appeared on Summer Sun in a milder version) along with two other tracks that were cut from Summer Sun 'cause they also just rocked too hard, which didn't quite fit with the rest of that album's material. But they sound great here. Then, getting away from the rock, there's also a lovely Georgia-sung cover version of "Needle Of Death" by British folk guitarist Bert Jansch, a previously-unreleased mellow instrumental groover called "Dr. Crash", and a live-on-the-radio acoustic take on "Cherry Chapstick" from YLT's And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out. Real nice. Oh, and downtown NYC free jazz bassist/big shot William Parker shows up on one track, playing not bass but double reed horn, by the way.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
One song from their "and then nothing turned itself inside out" album, one previously unavailable track, and the cd single (but not the 7") also features a (sadly unimpressive) Sonic Boom remix.
Ok, we've got one here for anyone into the sludgy, stoner sounds of the likes of Electric Wizard and Sleep!! Yob is perhaps your new favorite band. From Portland, Oregon, these psychedelic doom lords take their chosen genre's obligatory Black Sabbath worship to the extent of incorporating the swingin' jazzy/jammy aspects of the Sabbath sound that most doomsters tend to disregard. Nor do they skimp on the the meaner, rigidly metallic side of the Sabs, or on the mountains of the moon sized riffage doom fans require. Yob is slow motion, sweat leaf'd sludge to the max. Most notably, while their vocalist does dip into a demonic growl at times, mainly he soars like an insane, heavily effected hybrid of Ozzy and Geddy Lee. The result is a remarkably unique sound for a band that unquestionably wears their influences on their collective sleeve. The closest comparision would be to a spaced-out combination of Sleep and Dead Meadow. The three long tracks (18, 7, and 23 minutes) showcase a stoned style that even fuses funk with full-on dirge doom. There's a couple other fine doom metal releases on this weeks' list (Solitude Aeturnus, Well Of Souls). But while those bands' style is to build big castles, these guys tunnel through the earth, out the other side, and into outer space. Recommended.
Sadly, with the exception of the first track which kinda reminded us of Mum, this album just sounded like generic downtempo to us. Ho hum.
Hot on the heels of Lovely Gold, Michael Yonkers unearths yet another collection of songs from his vast arsenal. Recorded in 1974 and released originally in what we would imagine would be a tiny amount, Goodby Sunball showcases Yonkers' folkier side, and the songs here display a more skeletal acoustic approach that would be electrified a few years later on Lovely Gold. However, calling this "folk" doesn't entirely hit the mark - this is Michael Yonkers we're talking about, a man whose approach represents a unique vision in the history of home recorded music. And to those paying attention, you might find Goodby Sunball presenting some of Yonkers' weirdest lyrics, even though the music itself is probably his most traditional sounding. The songs almost give off a spiritual vibe, and the lyrics alternate between sad laments and aching passion, with some impenetrable wackiness thrown in for good measure. Looking at the cover, with the man himself posed between two trees and the back, with a bearded, cult leader-looking Yonkers, one might wonder if this album represents time lost in some mental wilderness. Many of the songs are ultra melancholy, and the use of multi-tracked vocals gives things a hazy, ethereal quality, while lines like "Hand me another beer and you'll see happiness" make you wonder... But no complaints here, just Michael Yonkers doing his thing in the 1970s. It's great having these tracks available, probably the first time many people have heard this stuff... of course, with a pressing of only 500, you might want to act fast. And for now, we're the first to have these, weeks before they land everywhere else, so dig in! ----* ----* Selected New Arrivals : ----*
Is this a lost Bert Jansch or Fresh Maggots record? Sure sounds like some beautifully arcane British Acid Folk, or old timey Appalachian balladry, but with some anachronistically strange lo-fi recording effects and drones and other weirdness going on. Like a psychedelic John Jacob Niles perhaps. Sounds like it's either really old or could be totally recent like something by Mike Wexler, or even Aaron Ross. Oh wait, it's Michael Yonkers?! The outsider garage guitar visionary whose Microminiature Love album from 1969 is an absolute all-time favorite around here. Wow, this is not the sound we usually expect from him. First of all, instead of amped up electricity, it's all about acoustic guitar, and even more surprising, it was recorded the same year as Microminiature Love. Geez, this dude never stops surprising us. Released on vinyl in 1974, Grimwood pretty much sank without a trace. But he's definitely having a prolonged renaissance now with two brand new albums and possibly more reissues in the works. Definitely for fans of Comus, Jan Dukes De Grey and everyone mentioned above!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
The Michael Yonkers cd on Sub Pop is probably *always* going to be a steady seller here at AQ. It's the unreleased album from 1969 that blew everybody away upon (re?)discovery in the here and now, Yonkers' Microminiature Love has already attained classic status, a fucked up and wonderful '60s garage guitar album totally alien and ahead of its time, a big fave with everyone here and quite a few of our customers judging by how many we've sold. So...what's this LP then? A *new* record from a much older but still eccentric Michael Yonkers? Yes, the man (after battling disability for many years) is back and kicking out the jams yet again. His raw, wild abandon, weird guitar tunings and unique vocal stylings are all present and accounted for here, on this very stripped-down, starkly primitive recording, done all by himself on a four-track machine with no overdubs or anything. In fact, the back cover proudly states that these 19 tracks are all first takes, recorded in sequence! Ok, it's not Microminature Love all over again, but it's better than we might expect from such a 'comeback' LP. He sure hasn't gone all Clapton on us or anything. Definitely get the Sub Pop cd first, but if you're a fan you might dig this quite a bit. It is kind of 'bar-rock', but fucked up and slowed down (we'd actually love to hear a 'screwed-and-chopped' version) and distorted and dissonant and choppy. Plastic Crimewave did the sleeve artwork and released this on his label Galactic Zoo Disk in conjunction with the fine folks at Eclipse. LP-only so far.
One wonders how many new discoveries will be unearthed from legendary outsider rocker Michael Yonkers. But man, we don't want it to stop. Whether he's putting out new stuff or digging through the vaults, Yonkers' strange story just keeps getting better and better, and to think that the man has retained such an amazing vision for almost 50 years is truly astounding. Lovely Gold collects songs from a period in Yonkers' career that many of us had yet to hear: the late '70s. 1977, in fact, you know, the year of punk and all that shit. But Lovely Gold is something else, and like most of this guy's stuff, it defies simple categorization. The strangest aspect of Yonkers' music is how it manages to recall things we all know and love, mostly from a garage rock template, but things are warped into beautiful creations that only Yonkers could produce.
Take a look at this cover. Michael Yonkers sitting in front of a wall of recording devices. That's really all he needs, and the man is going it alone on this one. Actual percussion is sparse, with guitars providing most of the rhythm. There is a welcome abundance of multilayered vocals here, which combine for amazingly ethereal sounds. The songs "I Knew You'd Remember" and "Will It Be" show off this effect best of all. These songs are unbelievable, the kind that will stop you in your tracks. Mutant gospel? Experimental Gregorian chanting? What the fuck IS this stuff? Totally amazing for one thing, but trying to describe it is no easy task. You might think of Silver Apples or Peter Grudzien, but if you look at the back cover with the photo of the jumpsuited Yonkers holding the Fender Jaguar he whittled into a plank, that should really tell you that you're in strange territory indeed (Minneapolis to be exact). The song "Drifting Off" actually sounds like the work of a band, it rides out with a nice spooky feeling and sounds a bit more like the material on Microminiature Love. "Gone Down Old Sun" uses guitar strumming as percussion while the layered voices moan in unison, the end result sounding like your favorite pop song stretched and warped beyond anything you could have prepared for. "Nevermore" (listed, for some reason, as a "bonus track"), ends things on a very high note, sounding a bit like the song "Puppetting" from MML, only with vocals delivered from beyond the grave by Edith Piaf. At the end of the record, you realize you have just had access to someone's strange and fantastic private world. We can only wonder what else is out there waiting to see the light of day. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! ----* ----* AQ x WFMU x SXSW 2010 POSTERS : ----*
Oh how we love Minneapolis' Michael Yonkers. Especially for the acid fried, outsider garage psych guitar excess that he unleashed on the all time AQ fave Microminiature Love, originally recorded back in 1969 (and which he's still a master, witness the Carbohydrates Hydrocarbons album he waxed with backing band The Blind Shake not too long ago, which stomped and throbbed like '69 was just yesterday). But also we dug the weird acoustic folk bag he got into on another long lost, recently reissued 1969 set, Grimwood.
Turns out we hadn't yet heard all sides of Yonkers... here's a brand new recording, a limited edition cd released by the Portuguese experimental label Ruby Red Editora (who recently brought us a cool disc by Tabata Mitsuru of Acid Mothers Temple). Taking the "psych guitar excess" mentioned above as a starting point, this is a full-on solo guitar, instrumental NOISE album. Really extreme and out there, the loud blasts of distortion on here putting Yonkers into the league of such heavy hitters as Rudoph Grey, Jojo Hiroshige, Keiji Haino, and Lou Reed (on Metal Machine Music only). This isn't "garage rock", unless the garage in question was collapsing under the weight of an apocalyptic UFO invader (summoned by the automatic door opener?) landing on the roof and spraying the neighborhood with death rays...
This 11 track assault lasts 37+ minutes, and it's all an echoing, swirling, billowing miasma of sheer amped-up volume n' distortion... some tracks are sooo utterly droning and destructive that it'd be hard to tell what sort of electronic device was used to produce 'em - it's not necessarily recognizable as guitar. Others, like "Steer It" seem to hint at something a bit more "musical" (and may involve either overdubs or live looping). Either way it's clear that Mr. Michael Yonkers, when appropriately armed with a guitar and amp and electricity, is still darn dangerous and extreme even 38 years after Microminature Love, an underground guitar hero as far as we're concerned. We can see fans of everything from Wolf Eyes to the Dead C to Solmania to Howlin' Magic bowing down to this.
Super limited 7" from legendary acid fried, psychedelic garage rock legend Michael Yonkers, whose Microminiature Love record is an all time AQ fave (read about it elsewhere on the AQ site and if you don't already own it, for god's sake BUY IT!!!). This two track 7" features a long lost classic from 1968 as well as a track recorded in 2004.
The A side is "The Big Balloon", featuring the Michael Yonkers Band recorded in 1968 and is a kick ass blast of rock-around-the-clock style classic rock and roll, but slightly skewed and tweaked and off kilter, with weird sounding guitars, Yonkers' distinctive vocals, as well as a super weird vocal / guitar breakdown that turns that classic rock and roll sound into some subtly damaged psychedelic rhythm and blues.
Normally, when faced with a classic song from an artist's peak, and a recently recorded tune, the newer track is typically a concession to the artist so he doesn't feel like no one cares any more, even though they don't, but this 7" is anything but. The B side, if anything is WAY weirder and heavier, featuring Yonkers on all the instruments, it's a slab of fucked up, damaged new wave metallic rock, with super blown out raw and distorted guitars, delivered in dense riffy squalls, over a sputtering drum machine, crazy vocals, this shit is amazing. Some impossible cross between the Residents, Devo and Flipper, but with a seriously new wave bent!! It's a whole lot weirder and more raw than his It's Only Yonkers record released a while back, so we know he's still got it. Here's to hoping there's a whole record of stuff like this just waiting to be unleashed!
Packaged in a super gorgeous silkscreened sleeve and of course, EXTREMELY LIMITED!
We just woke up. It's like 7am and we're pretty sleepy - but tomorrow's "list day" and there's still records to be reviewed... Let's see what effect this Michael Yonkers + GR lp will have on us.... woah! Better'n coffee... these two plug their electric guitars directly into your frontal lobes! With incessant, reverbed, choo-choo train rhythms on rattling percussion to make you get up and go. Alien distortodelic rock n' roll. Yowza.
Or, maybe, we're still asleep... 'cause we've GOTTA be dreaming. Is it really true that outsider underground guitar wranglers Michael Yonkers and Gregory Raimo team up on this lp? Yes indeed they do! Milwaukee's Yonkers is a big AQ fave best beloved for his 1969 proto-punk Microminiature Love album, and continues to kick out the jams 40 years later. Youthful French motorpsychoguitarist Gregory Raimo we also really dig, both in his badass band Gunslingers and for his krauty solo album GR & Full-Blown Expansion. That these two would collaborate actually makes perfect sense. A couple months of trans-Atlantic 4-track tape trading by these two resulted in the 9 songs on this record, that alternate between Yonkers and Raimo compositions, not that you can tell. Each added their own elements to each other's songs, frying 'em even further, as you can imagine when, besides mere guitars, the two are credited with such things as "drumming feedback" and "wall of noise".
We already alluded to the rattling perc, and pedal-mashed muzz of distortion that's ever-present. Perhaps redundantly, GR wrote a song entitled "Distortion, Blow My Mind!". Based on his Gallic ranting amidst gurgling geetar skree, we're of the opinion it already did! Meanwhile, Yonkers sounds as wearily Iggyish as ever on the gunked up garage of "Why Didn't", and kinda old-timey too, on the gospel-blues-punk (?) of "The News". And like that awesome GR&FBX disc, this lp mixes Bo Diddleyisms with hypnotic psych drone.
Whoa. Haven't even had breakfast yet, and we feel like we've already definitely gotten our daily dose and more of slashing distorted guitars and trance inducing rhythmic in the red blowouts. It's gonna be a good day.
LIMITED TO 300 COPIES.
It's funny comparing the two Michael Yonkers related releases we reviewed this list. "Funny" because they couldn't be more different from each other, and yet they both bear the distinct mark of the same man. While the Michael And The Mumbles release features cuts from Yonkers' innocent mid '60s garage days, Bleed Out, a 2004 collaboration with Chicago psych lords Plastic Crimewave Sound, heads into much darker, drugged out terrain. Bleed Out makes good on the monolithic psych jams that most of us aQuarians can't get enough of, and the results are dirty and tough, super rhythmic and charged with a swirling negative energy for maximum results. Much of this record is instrumental, but Yonkers' distinctive wail does surface from the murk now and again, and it fits perfectly with this kind of thing. Even still, it's a bit of a surprise just how heavy things turned out (we certainly aren't complaining!) and this stuff is definitely satisfying our hunger for stoner grooves in the same vein as the Heads, White Hills, and the like. Super recommended!
Man, Michael Yonkers sure has been on a roll as of late. Just a few lists back we had both his collaboration with Plastic Crimewave Sound and a collection of early pre-Microminiature Love recordings with his band the Mumbles. Even after 40+ years of making music, Yonkers still sounds vital, focused, and, to a certain degree, out for blood. At the risk of sounding like a bunch of bastards, we gotta say, this is hardly the kind of music you would expect from a man in his 60s. Though to be fair, his music has never sounded like what you would expect from ANYBODY in a lot of cases. Yonkers has by no means mellowed with age; in fact, his current work is aggressive and in tune with the times and hardly some watered down attempt to cash in on his ever-growing legend. But where so many others would fail, Yonkers pulls through and shows us how and why he has been such a force to be reckoned with since the long delayed reissue of Microminiature Love brought him to the attention of adventurous music fans throughout the globe. At the same time, Cold Town effortlessly puts today's garage rock hopefuls in their place, waaaaaaaaay far behind a master like Yonkers. His music obviously falls into the "rock" category, but there has always been a degree of experimentation and a desire to step beyond what is to be expected. The songs on Cold Town are tuneful yet noisy, catchy but with just the right amount of punkish aggression, and Yonkers' voice sounds pretty much as great and idiosyncratic as it always has. It no doubt helps that he has such a shit-hot band backing him up in the form of previous Yonkers collaborators the Blind Shake, who whip up five Yonkers-free tunes of their own on the second half of the album. The band is tight and heavy with a little bit of skronkiness thrown in, sure to appeal of fans of Rocket From The Crypt and pretty much anything else related to John Reis (including, of course, Hot Snakes, the Sultans, Drive Like Jehu, etc...).
Another welcome surprise from a guy who we just can't get enough of.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
An obscure late-sixties ahead-of-his-time visionary gets his due with this LP reissue. A while back, the Get Hip label released two songs by Michael Yonkers on a 7" and a compilation and that started the buzz. Yonker's stuff was like nothing anyone had heard back then (or even now, really): fucked up garage psych with dementedly genius lyrics and crazy acid-fried guitar. Now Destijl has released the whole LP, that was originally recorded in 1968 but then quickly shelved almost before it had a chance to be heard. Yonkers, a legendary Minneapolis-area figure, built his own effects pedals, cut his Fender Telecaster down to a plank, and played like no one else ever. I'm at a loss of words on how to describe this. It's sort of like a fusion of stripped down Black Sabbath, The Troggs, Pere Ubu, and The Cramps?? Or something like that. Definitely something to check out. Vinyl only.
Underground Minneapolis psych guitar legend Michael Yonkers has been a huge AQ fave ever since his long-lost 1969 album Microminiature Love was rescued from obscurity by the De Stijl and Sub Pop labels. In fact we were very happy to get to meet him when he stopped by the store to say hello one time when he was in town a few years ago. Super nice guy. And it's not just Microminature Love that we love -- the recordings he's released since the (re)discovery of Microminiature Love demonstrate that he's still got it -- IT being a uniquely twisted take on what garage rock should sound like. Utter timeless visionary genius.
Actually, the last thing we listed by Mr. Yonkers, just a few weeks back, was a reissue of another 1969 recording of his, the surprisingly folky Grimwood. Well this cd couldn't be much more different. First of all it's brand new (it came out first on vinyl a few months ago, we've maybe still got one of those LPs but they're otherwise gone), it's a full band recording (Yonkers having hooked up with some hard-hitting youngsters called The Blind Shake), and it's ROCK. Urgent and heavy and distorted. Totally stompin' outsider punk/psych, garage rock from a way fucked up garage. Definitely in the style of Microminiature Love.
Yonkers and The Blind Shake dole out their throbbing, reverb-laden rock in 14 brief blasts (mostly under three minutes, many under two), with song titles to match, often truncated, unfinished queries or statements: "Why Don't", "When Will We", "Don't I Get", "Here's What I'm"... what, what, what, what??? Yonkers' unhinged Iggyish vocals and sinuous squalls of guitar are ultimately the answer. Way cool.
Also look out for Circling The Drain, *another* new Yonkers album, cd version coming soon, vinyl perhaps still around to be found...
AQ fave, garage rock outsider singer/guitarist Michael Yonkers is baaaaack, with another whomping, stomping blast of his uniquely eccentric heavy duty distortodelic grunge, again in the company of relative youngsters, The Blind Shake, a quite suitable backing band for Yonkers at his most electric and energetic. Yonkers himself, as you probably know, is, like, in his 60s. And his magnum opus, Microminiature Love (so recommended!!! plz read our review if you haven't) dates from over 40 years ago. But you'd think it was just yesterday, the way the man kicks out the jams here. No surprise, he's wowed us on several other records in recent years, with The Blind Shake and Plastic Crimewave and GR and solo. So now, wow again. With his homemade geetar howl landing square on your skull, and his elder Iggyish yodel singing strong o'er it all, Yonkers RULES and so does this record, raw and direct, the Blind Shake shakin' it up with gusto behind him, the whole thing a throbbing good time, catchy and noisy and gnarly and blown out, with pounding drums and whooshing wind tunnel guitars n' effects... these songs n' sonics are the stuff that freeks for such bands as The Heads, High Rise, White Hills, and The Stooges should dig. Best punk-psych outing on our list this week fer sure, and would probably qualify as such almost any other week as well!
Includes a killer, updated take on their signature tune, the title track from a few albums back, "Carbohydrate Hydrocarbons", here called "Carbo Hydro".
Two songs that weren't included on Yorke's recent solo debut as well as an extended mix of Harrowdown Hill. The two non-album tracks are a bit more glitchy and dark then anything on the full length. Yorke/Radiohead enthusiasts will want this for sure. Nice late night Yorke treat for our vinyl collections.
The highly anticipated one has arrived, and hasn't disappointed! Not at all unsurprisingly Thom Yorke's solo album sounds more than a good deal like Radiohead. This is made even more so when the fact comes to light that a lot of the backing tracks were composed from recordings done by him and his fellow bandmates over the years. So... somewhat needless to say, yes, fans of Radiohead you will discover much to love about The Eraser. Simply imagine a totally stripped down but no less atmospheric Radiohead. The airiness provides more space for his unmistakable voice to drift about in its characteristic haunting expressiveness. With the vaporous electronics beneath him creating the ideal bed for his voice to soar over. And this is Yorke singing in his most emotive and compelling style minus the whining which was prevalent on lots of the first few Radiohead outings. Highlights include the fourth song "Black Swan" which suggests a nod to CAN and the sixth "Atoms For Peace" which finds Yorke looking forward with open eyes. So good.
We're all big time Radiohead fans, and thus were pretty into RH frontman Thom Yorke's Eraser record, what could very well have been a proper Radiohead record, but instead turned out a more electronic stripped down gem, lush and dark and dreamy, his voice drifting ethereally over all manner of drift and buzz and skitter.
It seemed inevitable that some of the tracks would get remixed, and whattayaknow, soon there was indeed a serious of remix 12"s, and lo and behold, the remixes were almost better than the originals, the lineup of remixers featuring a who's who of aQ faves: Burial, The Bug, FourTet, The Field and more.
It's worth it for the Burial remix alone - murky and dark, the rhythms skittery and mechanical, plenty of distant whir and drone, thick squalls of buzzing dubstep bass. It has us wondering what that second Burial record would have sounded like had Yorke been picked to contribute all the vocals. Pretty amazing we'd guess. And yeah, while we can barely get ourselves to stop playing the Burial remix over and over, the rest of the disc is pretty excellent as well. Surgeon adds a thick glitchy house-y groove, and makes Yorke's mysterious humming the main melodic component. The Bug doesn't go all ragga like we expected, instead taking the 'hit' from that record, adding plenty of record crackle, and a super spare beat, rife with all sorts of old school filigree and lots of heavy crunchy bass. FourTet add all sorts of tribal rhythms, adding soft swoops of backwards melody, and a lush glimmering gauze over the whole song, letting the vocals soar WAY up top over the mix, the instrumental mix reminding us a bit of vintage Tortoise. The Field totally reinvent "Cymbal Rush" chopping it up into a gorgeous Oval like stuttery soft house, dizzying washed out and melodic, total Kompakt bliss, the original barely recognizable unless you know to listen for it, so good. Christian Vogel adds a heavy motorik beat, and a thick backdrop of processed chiming guitars, dipping the vocals in effects, the result very looped and lush and hypnotic. Modeselektor pull their track totally apart and reassemble it into a strange jagged stutterscape, glitchy and skittery, with warm fuzzy bass, super processed vocals, and some seriously twisted arrangements, quickly becoming another favorite mix. The Various remix finds the original chopped and looped, so it almost sounds like the signal is dropping out over and over, creating a woozy moody pulse, the melody fragmented and abstract. And finally, Christian Vogel has another go on the same track he remixed earlier, crafting a whole array of new beats, using just the barest bits of the original song for texture and melody, a killer choppy groove, with little flurries of glitchy skitter, bit for the most part, pretty minimal and hypnotic.
Definitely essential for the Burial mix, and The Field mix, but dig into all of these reimagined versions, and enjoy one of the very few remix records that is the perfect compliment to the original, as well being a fantastic record in its own right, one that just might be better than the original.
Scottish gent James Yorkston writes pretty, earthy, intelligent acoustic songs not unlike those of a rather subdued Robyn Hitchcock. Gently lulling and wistful, he and the Athletes' music is loosely woven from hushed vocals and strummed guitars, embellished by soft swells of piano, strings, and some very minimal percussion. An impressive debut.
Another literal warehouse find, from the same place where we found the (now all gone) Leningrad Blues Machine cds listed last time, and it's another one for you Japanophiles, being a compilation released in 1994 of tracks by various and sundry bands that Ruins mastermind drummer/vocalist Tatsuya Yoshida had played in, up 'til then. Since Yoshida was (& still is!) such a crucial part of the Japanese psych/prog/noise underground, the list of bands is kinda nuts. Here's the entire lineup: Ruins, YBO2, Dissecting Table, High Rise, ZOA, Torture Garden (John Zorn's Japanese version of Naked City, also featuring Eye Yamatsuka), Gerogerigegege, Vasilisk, Malinconia, Phaidia, Aburadako, Tairikuotoko vs. Sanmyakuonna, Koenjihyakkei, Zeni Geva, and one more we couldn't figure out the English name of, plus two solo tracks by Yoshida in one-man-band mode (including the very first track, home-recorded by Yoshida way back in '83). Wow. So as well as being a Yoshida collection, it's also pretty good sampler of the Japanese underground circa '83-'93.
Obviously, in many cases, these weren't all HIS projects, the way Ruins are. Yoshida's just such an amazing drummer, that lots of bands wanted him to play with them - even the infamous masturbating Gerogerigegege! Yoshida's mock-operatic vocal stylings also come into play upon occasion (and he plays bass in one band, instead of drums). Although as you might expect, technical prog stuff is a big element of this, the range of styles is surprising, and hard to define, it includes avant-punk, gothic cabaret music, screaming hardcore skronk, industrial noise, garage doom-psych, chaotic RIO funk, and alt-alt-alt-J-pop... We're pretty sure almost all the tracks are exclusive to this comp, almost all of 'em recorded live, not taken from albums. In many cases, they may be the only recorded documentation of Yoshida playing with a particular unit. The songs we did recognize (whether live or the actual studio versions) are all from pretty rare discs anyways. And of course this out of print cd itself is rare too. We checked online, and there's places selling used copies for around $50!! So, Ruins/Yoshida/Japanese music nerds, you'd best act fast! We only found a few... And yes, we'll keep digging at that warehouse and see what else interestin' we might get lucky and discover.
Anticipation was high for this collaboration between Yoshimi (Boredoms, OOIOO, Flaming Lips guest) and Yuka Honda (Cibo Matto)... But unfortunately this turned out to be pretty much a total throwaway of a record, this sounds like Yuka and Yoshimi got set loose in an instrument store and just futzed around with the toys, like, y'know, playing the piano with two fingers and trying out the mikes, etc. With absolutely no actual songs to speak of, it's sometimes atmospheric and pretty, at times reaching towards Miles Davis style quiet cool, but no amount of sampled bird calls can make up for how tossed-off this album sounds. A complete disappointment, especially considering how much we like and respect their other work with their other projects, and a little insulting that they expect us to pay money for this album because it doesn't sound like they put any actual work into it.
MPEG Download: "La Donna Ni Demo Des Kinna" [/audio/yoshimiyuka.mp3]
Ok, we figured it was about time we made YOU the Record Of The Week, after all, you've been such a loyal customer for such a long time, haven't you, so it seems like it would be a nice gesture...hahaha. No, the band is called You, and they're our latest krautrock love affair. When we got an advance copy of this disc a few weeks ago, we were immediately intrigued, just by the awesome cover art (is that a cosmic tuning fork?), brilliant basic band name, and also by the band photo (long haired guy in shades, new wavey dude in even bigger shades, stoned looking guy with 'stache) that struck us as looking so much like a hip new band from here and now (like, say, the Jonas Reinhardt fellas, with a Ripley from Wooden Shjips clone in there too) but upon closer inspection, we found it was indeed a reissue, brought to us by the excellent German label Bureau-B, known for their krautrock archaeology (Cluster/Moebius/Roedelius stuff especially) as well as for putting out newer albums from the scene, including the latest Kreidler.
Originally released in 1979, Electric Day was the first album from You (their other one, 1983's Time Code, has also been reissued, and is really just about as great, you'll find it highlighted elsewhere on this list - we came close to making 'em both Records Of The Week). On Electric Day, You consisted of synth mavens Udo Hanten and Albin Meskes along with guitarist Uli Weber and, on drums, under the alias Lhan Gopal for some reason, Harald Grosskopf (a name you might know if only 'cause his own, concurrently recorded Synthesist album was recently reissued on vinyl and highlighted here not long ago). Grosskopf had played drums with Klaus Schulze, and was in Manuel Gottsching's Ashra band at the time. Producer Conny Plank hooked him up with Hanten and Meskes, and we can hear here that they all got along famously, being "Berlin School" mates as it were.
Together on You's debut, this cosmic quartet unleashed much glorious spaced out, spooked out, futuro-zone synth shiver, with psych guitar tripping, electronic pulsations, and Grosskopf's tight percussion, no pussyfooting about it! Seriously, they really do sound quite a bit like Jonas Reinhardt (or rather, the other way around), and could also easily have been the template for a lot of other current bands we love doing the kosmic kraut/John Carpenter-y electronic rock thing, like Zombi, Majeure and Maserati, most definitely! So it's not just for completist krautrock collector types that we recommend this album, nope. And did you catch our Fripp/Eno reference? Others to cite in the "recommended if you like" realm: Heldon, Cloudland Canyon, Michael Rother, Sensations Fix, Moebius & Beerbohm, the previously mentioned Ashra, etc.
All instrumental ('cause in space no one can hear you scream), You's Electric Day begins with the title track, a busy burbling rhythm soon washed over with waves and waves of electronics, while remaining upbeat and snazzily sizzling. The 2nd track, the moodier "Magooba", gets darker and more intense, letting rip with zips and zaps and plenty of freaky guitar. Then the focus shifts back to the shuffling machine rhythms on "Son Of A True Star". That's followed by the two-part "Sequential Spectrums" which sees You setting the controls for deep dark outer space, drifting in shimmering, fizzing electronic ambience, having a bit of a Tangerine Dream, before the almost twelve minute long "Slow Go", the original album's penultimate track, kinda sums up all that came before into one epic journey, the beats tingling propulsively, waves of synth-sound building and building, in one big ecstatic celebration of "this kind of thing" for sure. But don't get too smiley and relaxed, 'cause You have a nervous-making finale in store, the jumpy, uber-distorted "Zero-Eighty-Four" being an active, sinister, suspenseful closer to the album proper...nice! And then, if you get the cd, that's followed by 4 bonus tracks (not on the vinyl, which is 180 gram however), totalling another 33 minutes of music! "E-Night" is blissful, but ultimately pretty heavy. "H.Rays Identity" features some strange sampled chanting amidst its electronic excess, while "Hallucination Engine" is sorta proto-ambient techno. And then "Yousless" sounds like it was written by/for R2D2 the Star Wars droid! All are quite worthwhile, and the whole disc is super solid stuff, making us wonder why we'd never heard about You before (that's why we love this job, the buried treasure out there seems endless, wow). This has gotta be the best unknown-to-us krautrock reissue since Riechmann's Wunderbar (also from Bureau B), at least.
There's really no other way for us to wind up this review other than saying, You rule!!
Bureau B reissued the first two albums by Berlin School synth groop You a couple years ago - 1979's Electric Day and 1983's Time Code - amazing artifacts of late period electronic krautrock, previously unknown to us, that we, and a lot of you, loved. We made Electric Day a Record Of The Week, in fact. Now Bureau B has gotten around to reissuing You's fourth album, Laserscape, from 1986 (skipping over 1984's Wonders From The Genetic Factory, but maybe they'll eventually do that one too).
The title doesn't lie - this music was in fact all recorded as the soundtrack to the large-scale, open air "laser performances" of an artist named Horst Baumann, events that we can only imagine were like a bigger version (with better music) of one of those trippy planetarium laser light shows - like the late lamented Laserium shows once held at the California Academy Of Sciences here in SF's Golden Gate Park (http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/S-F-Planetarium-Laser-Show-To-Fade-Into-2742326.php).
You's music for Baumann's Laserscape is suitably spectacular, spacey, dark, and droney. There's a lot of variety, though, in mood and flavor. There's synthetic beats on "Can You Tell Where I Am", a propulsive track that's totally something Emeralds or Umberto or Life Coach or Jonas Reinhardt or Steve Moore would be very happy with if they'd recorded. Elsewhere, You's cosmic electronics are accompanied by chamber string sounds, and even beautifully shredding classical guitar. There's Eastern-sounding moments, powerful cinematic build-ups, eerie drifty passages, and on "Travelling Hologram" a recurring choral "Ah-ah-ah" part that combines with the increasingly hectic and quirky rhythmic construction of the track to kinda remind us of, like, a computerized Magma, in a weird way. Very cool. Other tracks, more blissed out and melodic, remind us of the non-lame New Age music of Iasos. Man, we wish we could experience this with the laser visuals. But still it's good listening on its own, and you can close your eyes and try to imagine...
Perhaps needless to say, if you are already into those first two You albums, you'll dig this. It's decidedly darker, though, than Time Code, it feels to us. More of an ominous, Blade Runner vibe, as others have noted. Once again, thanks, Bureau B! (And please note, the cd version includes a 21+ minute live bonus track not on the vinyl.)
Ok, we'll assume you already just read our Record Of The Week review of You's newly reissued Electric Day album. That was this instrumental "Berlin School" of krautrock band's 1979 debut, followed up further into the Eighties by Time Code from '83. Great stuff, we like this one a lot too, you should get 'em both. And we're not just excited about these 'cause we're keen on obscure krautrock reissues (though we are). If You were a new band we'd be all over 'em too! And they really could be mistaken for a new, current band, as we alluded to in our Electric Day review. Where that one really really sounded like local fave SF synth groovers (and krautrock enthusiasts, of course) Jonas Reinhardt in their propulsive live formation, this one is even more electronic and atmospheric, some moments more like Oneothrix Point Never, Emeralds, and Arp, to cite some other modern comparisons. That's 'cause by '83, You had parted ways with guitarist Uli Weber and drummer Harald Grosskopf, and slimmed down to the founding synths and sequencers core duo of Udo Hanten and Albin Meskes. So it's even a bit more retro-futuristically Eighties computery/mechanical, with percolating robot rhythms and shimmering synths and some extra sci-fi bleepage... but, it's really not all THAT different than their earlier incarnation, Hanten and Meske's machines doing a fine job of filling in for the humans no longer in the band. There's nine tracks here (or 11 if you get the compact disc, it's got two excellent bonus cuts, about an extra 10 minutes), nicely varied, some songs more pretty and placid, others droning further into deep space than before. They can be quite melodic, for instance "Future/Past" is one of those lovely lovelies that makes us think of our favorite Cluster jams (with sequencer patterns calculated to send you into a blissed out trance, getting into proto-Aphex Twin territory). And then they also bring the John Carpenter style suspense film disco grooves on the likes of "Live Line", too. So, like Electric Day, super recommended!
You will like You, if you are at all like us.
A band that uses the X-Acto blade as much as the guitar, You Fantastic extends the musique concrete / punk fusions of This Heat. This Chicago trio melds mutant hardcore (which is not hard to imagine as You Fantastic member Darin Grey was in Dazzling Killmen when they were functioning), trumpet freakouts, and self-referential explications of the recording process of this album. Also for fans of Village of Savoonga. One of the best records to come out of Chicago in a very long time!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
One of a whole batch of new releases from UK psych label Cardinal Fuzz, this is the first we've heard from You're Smiling Now But We'll All Turn Into Demons, or Demons for short, a double lp reissue of a 2009 cd, a sprawling collection of fuzzed out hard-psych swagger, big fuzzed out riffs, wild drumming, laid back box, and of course plenty of swirling psychedelic shred. Unlike a lot of groups doing the whole space psych sound these days, Demons are less about spaced out drift and more about the ROCK. Think Blue Cheer or the Heads, a little Black Sabbath for sure, chugging, churning, riffy crunch, but still laced with plenty of psychedelic trip out, with some songs slipping into catchier almost groovy psych pop ("Nervous - Alive"), others getting downright grungy "2009"), and others still sounding near metallic and stonery and doomy (check out "Alpha And Omega").
Wah wah guitars galore, swirling FX, some Spacemen 3 like druggy drift, all wrapped around tranced out riffage, motorik hard rock drumming, and set amidst some short pop gems, as well as some epic wasted, drug doom stoner creep mega-jams ("Prismatic Reflections"). WAY recommended for all you retro-space-psych-hard-rock headz... but some reason we're one of the only stores in the US carrying Cardinal Fuzz stuff, and this stuff goes crazy quick, so grab one before they're gone.
LIMITED TO 350 COPIES!! Housed in a full color jacket with a printed insert, and NO download.
Okay, we admit that we cringed slightly at their chosen band name (again, what is it with Canadian -- or more specifically Vancouver -- band name choices?!), but their glorious pop tunes are pretty darn hard to resist. Really, unless you're a complete stone-hearted curmudgeon, Young & Sexy's second full length will have your spirits lifted in no time! Each song has been lovingly polished to a wonderful warm glow with delicious multi-part harmonies and lush instrumentation. The third song "Herculean Bellboy" is a definite highlight. Come to think of it, have ya noticed Canada's stronghold on the swoonsome pop these days?! AQ superfaves New Pornographers, Destroyer, Broken Social Scene, P:Ano, The Gay, Metric... and now Young & Sexy! You may have been lucky enough to see them on tour recently opening for their Mint Records brethren and fellow Vancouverites the New Pornographers. And actually, they're sort of like the mellow side of the NPs and Zumpano melded with the honeydrop girl group vocal sweetness of UK bands such as Broadcast, Belle & Sebastian or Camera Obscura. We sell at least one of these each time it's played in the store!
Young & Sexy's debut album is markedly more eclectic than their second full length -- the current AQ recommended delight known as Life Through One Speaker -- and it aligns them more with many of the deeply Beatles inspired Elephant 6 Collective bands (Olivia Tremor Control, Ladybug Transistor, Beulah) as well as fellow Vancouverite Destroyer. Speaking of which, does it seem like bands from that city wear their hometown pride more prominently than others? We think so! Well, Young & Sexy are no exception. They make a number of sonic and lyrical references to their hometown in songs such as "The City You Live In Is Ugly". And they can't seem to stop themselves from including their band name in their lyrics (they've done so on both of their albums thus far). This time it's on the second song "Chikubi" which in itself is a funky oddity amid the rest of the lush, smart pop tunes! That said, this album is a luminous willowy pleasure, sure to cause much pop swooning. Recommended.
Prepare yourself, this could get kind of META. So Joe Pernice, looooongtime aQ fave (Scud Mountain Boys, Pernice Brothers, Big Tobacco, Chappaquiddick Skyline, etc.) will be publishing his first novel this year. In that novel, the narrator is in a band called The Young Accuser, THIS band. After the FICTIONAL narrator, leaves this, his FICTIONAL BAND, they record a FICTIONAL song and send it to the NON-FICTIONAL Sub Pop label. And like they say on the Sub Pop website: "This is the non-fiction version of that fictional single". Phew.
So basically, Joe Pernice and some pals cooked up this 3 song 7", ostensibly a record by the band from his novel, and heck, it's really awesome, BUT, not like anything you might expect from Mr. Pernice. The Young Accuser sound straight out of the eighties, a fuzzy power pop college rock, that reminds us of the Replacements, the Mice, and Guided By Voices BIG TIME. Super lo-fi production, distorted vocals (which are often a dead ringer for Bob Pollard), blown out bass, wild drumming way down in the mix, and some bad ass HOOKS, total rad eighties classic power pop indie rock. The B side is a bit more snarly, and even more lo-fi, culminating in the brief slip of a final song, the only track here that really sounds Pernice-y, with strummed clean electrinc guitar, Pernice's high plaintive croon, a gorgeous lo-fi ballad not that dissimilar to those Replacements tracks that were always tucked amidst the more rocking jams, "Answering Machine", "Skyway" and the like.
Cool stuff, with a totally bad ass vintage Sub Pop singles club sleeve. ----* ----* Compilations : ----*
Late 2003's Life Through One Speaker, the last album from this Vancouver pop combo was graced with one of Cup's favoritest songs of the year ("Herculean Bellboy" -- sooo good!), While we can't say yet if any of the songs on Panic When You Find It have reached that pinnacle of soaring pop splendidness, we can say that the album's still filled with plenty of well-crafted dreaminess to charm and sooth even the most frayed of nerves and the hardest of hearts. The band has gone through some line-up changes recently, but its core members singer Lucy Brain and main songwriter / guitarist Paul Pittman have ensured a smooth transition. For one thing, their characteristically strong interplay between heart-swelling boy / girl vocal harmonies and sparkling picked guitar lines remains fully intact. Unlike their past recordings though which took more meandering, restless routes, Panic When You Find It seems to calmly funnel all of their various influences together into a more singular, direct path. As a result, it is perhaps their most even-keeled and self-assured work to date. Lovely.
Punk rockers Fucked Up were ultimately essentially a pop band, so it's no surprise that the various FU offshoots tend WAY toward the pop end of the sonic spectrum, as is the case with Young Governor, aka Ben Cook, who also plays in the Bitters (reviewed on a past aQ list), and who in Young Governor, lets his pop flag fly, big time, channelling classic Yellow Pills style power pop, think the Raspberries, Cheap Trick, Dwight Twilley Band, big jangly chords, soaring keening vox, huge hooks, big choruses, the production lo-fi and blown out, everything in-the-red, definitely reminds us of the retro-pop of Matthew Melton / Bare Wires, or like a way more lo-fi punk rock Tinted Windows. The B side slows things down a bit and dials back the crunch a little, adding sax and piano and getting almost ballady at points, but for the most part, all the tracks here sound like the could have been transported from the mid seventies, or dug up on some obscure power pop comp, which is most definitely a very good thing!
