Conceived as a giant group hug with everyone Daniel Smith (aka Danielson Family, Tri-Danielson and Br. Danielson) has collaborated with or has wanted to collaborate with, this Moby Dick of a record cannot be completely contained on just one cd, so a series of 7 inches will follow with different collaborators, producers and labels. While the cd features appearances from Deerhoof, Sufjan Stevens, Serena Maneesh and Why?, among others, these sunny and ecstatic pop exuberances have become so embedded in the Danielson mythos, that it is sometimes hard to tell where the collaboration lies. But that's no matter, if you love the uplifting and heartfelt indie-pop of Polyphonic Spree, Flaming Lips or the Elephant 6 collective, you will definitely want to book a spot on this cruise.
Completely original vision put forth by the Smith family, headed by Daniel, complete with medical uniforms and synchronized dancing. A mix of twang, falsetto, female harmonies, and heart-tuggingly sweet lyrics. Has been described as sort of a more accessible Half-Japanese. We also carry Danielson's first couple of albums, which are amazing! Ask!
The totally original oddity that is Danielson sees their very first album (1995) reissued. A double disc set, this has 24 inspirational songs that're meant to be played at the top of every hour over the course of one day. Amazing, amazing band. All six members are indeed kids from the same Northern New Jersey family (except the keyboardist who's been a family friend since grade school), they're hardcore shiny happy Christians who sing about God's love and stuff, they dress in handmade white doctors and nurses uniforms. Weird huh? They also have this super sweet visual aesthetic going on with handmade quilts with songlyrics embroidered on them and hand-drawn pictures and stuff. They even designed a Danielson Famile loafer for Fluevog Shoes.
Their sound? Daniel, the lead singer and guitarist, yowls in a whiny falsetto that has a punchy punk energy to it, while his sisters Rachel and Megan cavort on flute and xylophone and accompany Daniel's vocals with the prettiest call-and-response backup harmonies and, best of all, choreographed dances and hand gestures. You cannot take your eyes off the girls -- they're like the Supremes, narrating the entirety of each song with their hands and bodies in perfect unison. It's like the Supremes mixed with the angular savage songwriting chops of the Pixies mixed with the precision vocal stop-start antics of Heavy Vegetable. Uh huh!
This deluxe double disc reissue features 4 quicktime clips you can play on your computer! There's one short film explaining how to listen to the album, a video for one of the songs, and two live performances (the historic live debut of the Famile!) at head of the Famile Daniel Smith's Rutgers BFA thesis show. Note, it looks to me like they weren't just playing his thesis show, it looks like the Danielson Famile in all its glory actually *is* his thesis.
Seeing the Danielson Famile recently open for Low at the Great American Music Hall was a thing of beauty -- the audience, who were mostly there for Low, was gloriously converted to the totally original oddity that is Danielson. Long story short: all six members
Anyway, this is one band who truly must be seen live in order to "get it." They are UNBELIEVABLE. Daniel, the lead singer and guitarist, yowls in a whiny falsetto that has a punchy punk energy to it, while his sisters Rachel and Megan cavort on flute and xylophone and accompany Daniel's vocals with the prettiest call-and-response backup harmonies and, best of all, choreographed dances and hand gestures. You cannot take your eyes off the girls -- they're like the Supremes, narrating the entirety of each song with their hands and bodies in perfect unison. It's like the Supremes mixed with the angular savage songwriting chops of the Pixies mixed with the precision vocal stop-start antics of Heavy Vegetable. Uh huh! Now it must be said that they're not as good on record as they are live (and it sort of doesn't help that a customer of ours who is gay engaged one of the Danielsons in coversation and had to hear that the Bible says homosexuality is wrong), but anyone who's seen them live may want a cd or two to keep them company between Danielson concerts. Try this one on for size (or any of their previous albums which were all reissued recently.)
A li'l single cd containing just one song, which was commissioned by powerhouse shoe maker John Fluevog, who I guess is a big Danielson fan. The Famile also designed a lovely shoe for the line, a heavy white loafer with a big red leather heart on top
It's been a while but... the inimitable man-child Daniel Johnston rides again... with full band in tow! The End Is Near showcases Daniel... er, I mean Danny raising a garage rawk style ruckus with his pals the Nightmares. Not for everyone, but hardcore fans of Johnston will surely rejoice!
British Goth outfit the Danse Society signed to Arista in 1983, in the wake of dour post-punk acts like The Cure and Bauhaus getting courted by the major labels with considerable success. The album that followed for the Danse Society - Heaven Is Waiting - was met with a tepid response, given the promise of their raw, commanding live presence and the strength of the two previous singles the band released through their own imprint. These recordings were made prior to the Arista album, with just five of the 11 tracks making the cut for Arista's commercially viable edicts and a few others relegated to B sides. The sound here is much more tempestuous, claustrophobic, and bleak through the band's ferocious rhythm section featuring Paul Gilmartin's tumbling, tribal drums and the spectral, heavy flange of Tim Wright's bass. This was the tried and true formula of many of the Bat Cave alumni: Sex Gang Children, Southern Death Cult, Siouxsie, Virgin Prunes, Specimen, Killing Joke, etc. The intensity of The Danse Society's sound is demonstrated in the differences between the demo version and the Arista version of "Come Inside" the former of which really does put the rock in Goth-rock, with Sisters Of Mercy inflected guitars swarming around that rhythm section and vocalist Steve Rawlings parading around the track with suitable theatrics and bravado. The title track of the Artista album could have been a Killing Joke track off of Nighttime with its death-disco basslines and metronomic percussion, flecked with atmospheric synths and droned guitars. In so many ways, The Danse Society never sounded better than they did on these demos. Another tip of the hat to Dark Entries for digging this one up!
Mr. Bungle/Secret Chiefs 3 guitarist Trey Spruance discovered this group playing the folk/gypsy music of Eastern Europe (Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, the Balkans) in a local San Francisco cafe, and immediately persuaded 'em to release a cd on his own Web of Mimicry label 'cause he was so impressed. And indeed, Danubius are an undeniably fun and capable band, with a repertoire stretching from the streets of Budapest to the Carpathian Mountains to the Black Sea -- bringing in both "village" and "city" musics, demonstrating more diversity than many other traditional Eastern European music groups might. The twenty tracks on this album are organized into several suites, ethnomusical groupings such as "Hungarian Gypsy restaurant style" and "Transylvanian Suite". All share unflagging energy, bright sounds, evocative traditional instrumentation (accordion, cimbalom, tambura, hurdy gurdy, etc.), and some fancy pickin' on the ancient folk/popular tunes they're bringing to your stereo. We're told that the band members (who originally hail from all over Eastern Europe) will get into violent arguments on stage about how the pieces should be played, or say things like "I'm from Romania -- what do I know about this song from your village in Hungary?" but this disc demonstrates that when they manage to set aside their differences they can make some beautiful music together. And in fact, they have a serious purpose in doing so. To quote the liner notes: "Danubius is hoping to show a way into the future that allows traditional world musics to flourish, not just exist as a resource for 'samples' that can be thrown into some 'mix'. We believe that the experience of hearing this music live creates an emotional reaction that cannot be compared to hearing bits and pieces in films, in electronic compostions, or as a component of a 'world music' recording." A laudable goal. The liners go on to briefly discuss each track, helping to make this an educational package -- but one you can dance to as well.
Danubius are not unlike "old world" bands like Taraf de Haidouks and Fanfare Ciocarlia who have created a following for gypsy/wedding music in the West, although those groups, especially Fanfare Ciocarlia, play what might be termed a more "hardcore", frenzied version of these musics. Whereas, after all, the music of Danubius *does* sound like tunes you'd hear in (appropriate) restaurants. Even the wildest Romanian dance music they play won't make you choke on your dinner, while Fanfare's performance might require the Heimlich. Danubius are little more restrained. At least on disc -- but after hearing this I'm going to have to look for a chance to see 'em live.
We first heard about this Indonesian sixties all girl garage group when three of their records were reissued on Chicago label PlusTapes, we all went nuts for them, as did you, we couldn't keep them in stock, but sadly they were crazy limited. Even at the time, and even on tape, we wanted to make one or all of them Records Of The Week, but they disappeared before we had a chance. But now Sublime Frequencies swoops in and saves the day, reissuing on a compact disc all three of the Dara Puspita's records proper (all the stuff on the cassettes, and then some!). But what's so great about these ladies? Read on....
Dara Puspita (Flower Girls in English) were Indonesia's most successful girl group in the sixties, and one of the few -actual- bands, who played their own instruments as opposed to just singing with all male backing bands. Even though rock and roll was banned at the time, with some bands being jailed for performing rock music live (Koes Bersaudara in particular, whose Sublime Frequencies disc we reviewed a few lists back - Dara Puspita and Koes Bersaudara had very similar histories, their careers often directly influenced by each other, the whole story to be found in the copious liner notes). Dara Puspita took their influence from that banned rock music, borrowing liberally from the Rolling Stones, The Beatles (whose songs they were warned by the authority to not perform, the very songs that got Koes Bersaudara jailed!) and the like, but giving it their own twist.
Performing a mix of covers and originals, these ladies were legendary for their wild live shows, but they really shine on record, with a totally distinctive and keen pop sensibility, gorgeous lilting vocals, an awesome rhythm section and some really excellent guitar playing. Dara Puspita weren't avant garde or super far out, not really heavy or psychedelic, instead they were just a kick ass pop group, an awesome garagey rock and roll band, catchy and fun, super energetic and with a distinctly unique vibe that makes this sound so special. Just listen to the sound samples. You'll be hooked in no time.
Lavish packaging, a full color six panel digipak, with tons of photos, a huge booklet of liner notes, with the story of the band, of the recording, more about the state of Indonesia at the time, the producer and more more more. So great!!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
From the newly launched Plustapes cassette label comes THREE tapes from this Indonesian sixties all girl garage group. Do you really need to know any thing more? Indonesian. Sixties. All girl. Garage? We didn't think so, but just for the heck of it...
We were gonna write separate reviews for each of these, but they're so cheap, and so good, and odds are if you want one, you're going to want them all. So far pretty much everyone who has heard these has gone totally nuts for these kick ass garage rock girls.
Dara Puspita (Flower Girls in English) were Indonesia's most successful girl group in the sixties, and one of the few -actual- bands, who played their own instruments as opposed to just singing with all male backing bands. Even though rock and roll was banned at the time, with some bands being jailed for performing rock music live, Dara Puspita took their influence from that banned rock music, borrowing liberally from the Rolling Stones, The Beatles (whose songs they were warned by the authority to not perform) and the like, but giving it their own twist.
Performing a mix of covers and originals, these ladies were legendary for their wild live shows, but they really shone on record, with a totally distinctive and keen pop sensibility, gorgeous lilting vocals, an awesome rhythm section and some really excellent guitar playing. Dara Puspita weren't avant garde or super far out, not really heavy or psychedelic, instead they were just a kick ass pop group, an awesome garagey rock and roll band, catchy and fun, super energetic and with a distinctly unique vibe that makes this sound so special. Not to mention all the fuzzy record crackle, which only adds to the appeal! For us at least...
Each tape is strictly LIMITED TO 100 COPIES, each one hand numbered, the tapes are the same color as the covers, each of which sports original artwork from Plastic Crimewave!!
ONE PER CUSTOMER!!!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
From the newly launched Plustapes cassette label comes THREE tapes from this Indonesian sixties all girl garage group. Do you really need to know any thing more? Indonesian. Sixties. All girl. Garage? We didn't think so, but just for the heck of it...
We were gonna write separate reviews for each of these, but they're so cheap, and so good, and odds are if you want one, you're going to want them all. So far pretty much everyone who has heard these has gone totally nuts for these kick ass garage rock girls.
Dara Puspita (Flower Girls in English) were Indonesia's most successful girl group in the sixties, and one of the few -actual- bands, who played their own instruments as opposed to just singing with all male backing bands. Even though rock and roll was banned at the time, with some bands being jailed for performing rock music live, Dara Puspita took their influence from that banned rock music, borrowing liberally from the Rolling Stones, The Beatles (whose songs they were warned by the authority to not perform) and the like, but giving it their own twist.
Performing a mix of covers and originals, these ladies were legendary for their wild live shows, but they really shone on record, with a totally distinctive and keen pop sensibility, gorgeous lilting vocals, an awesome rhythm section and some really excellent guitar playing. Dara Puspita weren't avant garde or super far out, not really heavy or psychedelic, instead they were just a kick ass pop group, an awesome garagey rock and roll band, catchy and fun, super energetic and with a distinctly unique vibe that makes this sound so special. Not to mention all the fuzzy record crackle, which only adds to the appeal! For us at least...
Each tape is strictly LIMITED TO 100 COPIES, each one hand numbered, the tapes are the same color as the covers, each of which sports original artwork from Plastic Crimewave!!
ONE PER CUSTOMER!!!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
From the newly launched Plustapes cassette label comes THREE tapes from this Indonesian sixties all girl garage group. Do you really need to know any thing more? Indonesian. Sixties. All girl. Garage? We didn't think so, but just for the heck of it...
We were gonna write separate reviews for each of these, but they're so cheap, and so good, and odds are if you want one, you're going to want them all. So far pretty much everyone who has heard these has gone totally nuts for these kick ass garage rock girls.
Dara Puspita (Flower Girls in English) were Indonesia's most successful girl group in the sixties, and one of the few -actual- bands, who played their own instruments as opposed to just singing with all male backing bands. Even though rock and roll was banned at the time, with some bands being jailed for performing rock music live, Dara Puspita took their influence from that banned rock music, borrowing liberally from the Rolling Stones, The Beatles (whose songs they were warned by the authority to not perform) and the like, but giving it their own twist.
Performing a mix of covers and originals, these ladies were legendary for their wild live shows, but they really shone on record, with a totally distinctive and keen pop sensibility, gorgeous lilting vocals, an awesome rhythm section and some really excellent guitar playing. Dara Puspita weren't avant garde or super far out, not really heavy or psychedelic, instead they were just a kick ass pop group, an awesome garagey rock and roll band, catchy and fun, super energetic and with a distinctly unique vibe that makes this sound so special. Not to mention all the fuzzy record crackle, which only adds to the appeal! For us at least...
Each tape is strictly LIMITED TO 100 COPIES, each one hand numbered, the tapes are the same color as the covers, each of which sports original artwork from Plastic Crimewave!!
ONE PER CUSTOMER!!!
After a couple fantastic cd reissues on Sublime Frequencies, of this incredible Indonesian sixties all girl garage rock group, a handful of those tracks have been gathered up and released on vinyl! Pricey import, but still quite cool...
We first heard about these Indonesian girl group garage rockers when three of their records were reissued on Chicago label PlusTapes, we all went nuts for them, as did the aQ legions, we couldn't keep them in stock, but sadly they were crazy limited. Even at the time, and even on tape, we wanted to make one or all of them Records Of The Week, but they disappeared before we had a chance. So when Sublime Frequencies swooped in and reissued on a compact disc all three of Dara Puspita's records proper (all the stuff on the cassettes, and then some!), we got to gush like crazy and indeed bestow Record Of The Week honors on these amazing ladies and their incredible music. And now, for those of you who were holding out for something on vinyl...
Dara Puspita (Flower Girls in English) were Indonesia's most successful girl group in the sixties, and one of the few -actual- bands, who played their own instruments as opposed to just singing with all male backing bands. Even though rock and roll was banned at the time, with some bands being jailed for performing rock music live (Koes Bersaudara in particular, whose Sublime Frequencies discs we reviewed a while back - Dara Puspita and Koes Bersaudara had very similar histories, their careers often directly influenced by each other). Dara Puspita took their influence from that banned rock music, borrowing liberally from the Rolling Stones, The Beatles (whose songs they were warned by the authority to not perform, the very songs that got Koes Bersaudara jailed!) and the like, but giving it their own twist.
Performing a mix of covers and originals, these ladies were legendary for their wild live shows, but they really shine on record, with a totally distinctive and keen pop sensibility, gorgeous lilting vocals, an awesome rhythm section and some really excellent guitar playing. Dara Puspita weren't avant garde or super far out, not really heavy or psychedelic, instead they were just a kick ass pop group, an awesome garagey rock and roll band, catchy and fun, super energetic and with a distinctly unique vibe that makes this sound so special. Just listen to the sound samples. You'll be hooked in no time. So great!!
Third album (first we've listed, but the others are good too!) from NYC's Darediablo, a keyboards/guitar/drums power trio that anyone into instrumental heavy rockin' ought to investigate forthwith! Taking sonic inspiration from '70s heavy prog/metal organ-combos like Deep Purple, but losing the singer and upping the math quotient, Darediablo are probably the only band we've ever heard who have been compared in the same breath to both Slayer and Booker T & the MGs and, heck, that does kind of make sense! They surely don't go all the way to either of those two extremes, but you can see how they fit in there between 'em someplace (though, we'd say closer to Booker T). Heavy yet groovy. Stoner rock gone a little bit prog, this could could be a good one for fans of Stinking Lizaveta, Karma To Burn, and the Mystick Crewe of Clearlight to name a few bands that operate in the sonic vicinity of these guys.
Here's a nice reissue of this English fuzz-filled psych rarity from '72, considered by collectors to be a bit of a holy grail, since they only made 50 copies of the original! And while THAT may have a lot to do with why this is blurbed as "one of THEE greatest guitar-heavy psych records in the world" by the Machu Picchu label, it's definitely a contender for one of the RAREST pretty great ones. So thank Machu Picchu for making it available again, this time officially licensed from the band, something most previous versions probably weren't.
You may have heard their track "Maypole" way back when, on the British installment of the Love, Peace & Poetry series. We likened 'em to Blue Cheer-ish acid rock in our review of that comp, but Cream would have been a better comparison. And actually that track's rather gentle compared to some of the truly fuzzed out onslaughts on here, fuzzy though it is. And by the way, remember the Wicked Lady reissues we recently reviewed? Well axeman Martin Weaver from Wicked Lady joined up with the Dark right before this was recorded, so that's his fuzz you're hearing, which should give you some indication of what this sounds like. A more sophisticated, proggier Wicked Lady perhaps, a Wicked Lady with more in the way of "songs" rather than freakout jams, though this gets bluesy/jammy at times too.
While Dark aren't as, uh, dark as their name suggests, having a light side too, no heavy psych/fuzz fan will be disappointed, they're right in there with the likes of Wicked Lady, T2, May Blitz, Human Beast, NSU, Clear Blue Sky, Arzachel, and other heavy fuzzy but still sorta poppy UK psych outfits of the era, and that's good company.
This reissue has been remastered and restored by His Name Is Alive guy Warren Defever, and features a band history written by the Dark's Steve Giles. Also included are lyrics and rare photos. The packaging is a digipack for the cd, or a tip-on gatefold jacket for the vinyl.
Hands In The Dark was the first single for Robin Crutchfield's Dark Day, originally released in 1979 on the Lust/Unlust sublabel Strike It From The Records. At that time, Crutchfield had recently parted ways with Arto Lindsay and Ikue Mori, with whom he had founded the legendary no wave trio DNA; and he envisioned Dark Day as being something of an inversion of the gender paradigm by employing women to play drums and guitar while he relegated himself to the synths. His idea didn't entirely work out exactly how he wanted throughout the entire history of Dark Day; but he was able to recruit Nina Canal (who later went on to found UT) and Nancy Arlen (from Mars... the no wave band, not the planet) for the earliest incarnation of the band whose line-up only managed this one single. The lead track is a quintessential no wave song with Canal's hard-plucked guitar tones and Arlen's weirdo percussive march of sporadic rhythmic splutters on the snare syncopated with the steady kick drum pulse; but all of this serves as a backdrop to the creepy synth and vocal melodies from Crutchfield. It was this melody that inspired the Chromatics to re-invent the song as a sultry, faux italian-disco number; and we'll give credit where credit is due, stating that both versions are totally rad. "Invisible Man" - the B side on the original single is found on the A side here, and follows the savant drum-pulse, bloody fingered guitar work, and Crutchfield's serpentine voice & synth arrangements. On this pressing from the esteemed Dark Entries, the flipside features the side to the Trapped 12" which had 6 short excerpts of reworked synth lines from the Exterminating Angel lp. So, with this release, Dark Entries has issued everything that was done by Dark Day in the early '80s. As with the other Dark Day albums, this is a necessary reissue!
R.L. Crutchfield is best known as one of the pioneers of no-wave in his band DNA as well as a forefather of cold-wave with his first few outings as Dark Day. What lots of people don't know is that Crutchfield has continued to make and release records under the radar without pause for the better part of three decades. His newer recordings, including Strange Clockwork, find him working in an almost miniature style. Short tracks that have a music box fragility but also incorporate sort of renaissance fair elements, all transformed into sonic stop motion experiments. Primitive sounding drum machine beats under electronics heavily influenced by baroque classical music. In many ways reminiscent of some of the more recent work of another electronic music pioneer, Wendy Carlos.
So cool! And cold wavey. A wonderfully produced piece of vinyl to replace those crappy downloads which have been bouncing around the internet for the past five or six years. Dark Day was the project spearheaded by R.L. Crutchfield, who first worked with Arto Lindsay and Ikue Mori in the earliest incarnation of the seminal No Wave band DNA in the mid '70s. By 1979, Crutchfield was striking out on his own as Dark Day; and at first, this band was an intentional reversal of roles within the trad-rock band with two women playing guitars and drums and a man behind the keyboards. The ladies for that incarnation were Nancy Arlen of Mars and Nina Canal of Ut; and they managed a few gigs and one hell of a great single - "Hands In The Dark" - which appeared many years later on a Soul Jazz No Wave compilation and has been covered spectacularly by the Chromatics. Canal and Arlen weren't terribly interested in continuing in the project, leaving Crutchfield to find likeminded folks with whom to work. The second (and last) Dark Day record was recorded in 1982, with Crutchfield going into the studio with a bunch of cheap electronics and toy synthesizers with Bill Sack to flesh out the accompaniments on similar instruments. Their interlocking arpeggiations are punctuated with blooping electronics that are equal parts Trio and Kraftwerk with an underlying dread to the spiralling songs that detoured from Kraftwerk's utopian vision of man-machine hybrids and down a paranoid vision of man being at the mercy of his machines, no matter how innocent their intent. Dark Day's songs are insistent and catchy despite their utterly simple structures. "Metal Benders" and "Danger / Dance" are probably the closest thing to being 'hits' on the album as weird / anti-romantic variations of Young Marble Giants with whip crack rhythms and spectral pre-X-Files electronic whistling melodies. Coming out of the NYC No Wave scene helped craft Dark Day into a something other than neo-Romantic post-punk outfit with electronics. This was a wholly unique band, who never got the attention that many of their contemporaries. Kudos to Dark Entries once again on a splendid reissue!
Look past the garish, whooah-I'm-trippin'-now psychedelic cover art of Dark Fog's Cosmic Tone and you'll find a quite moody and marvellous and, yes, psychedelic debut album from this Chicago-land band, who've loaded up on trippy guitar effects and super spaced-out vocals to produce this hypnotic 33 minute dose of stoner/psych shoegazer bliss. Some parts are hushed and mellow, others Deetroit drivin', chugging along with nods to Pink Floyd, Spacemen Three, and Hawkwind... we'd also compare these guys favorably to such contemporary comrades-in-arms as Pharaoh Overlord, Acid Mothers Temple, and Dead Meadow. It's heavy (in that "heavy, maaan" way that we differentiate from, like, doom metal heaviness, such as that practiced by labelmates Buried At Sea), with lot of fuzz and drone but definitely also has a lighter, melodic side that makes this swirling dark fog seem rather welcoming, more fragrant than miasmic, redolent of aromatic smoke and suffused with a gentle glow. Recommended.
2nd album from these spaced-out, shoegazery Chicagoans. We recommended their debut, Cosmic Tone, last year and this one is equally stoned, maybe darker and yet more melodic too -- and has equally over the top, garish "psychedelic" cover art... though since they chose to call the album The Ultimate Cult of Psychedelic Psychosis we can't say that's a surprise, clearly they're not trying to be subtle about their avowed artistic program! Though we can compare 'em to the likes of Acid Mothers Temple, Boris, and Pharaoh Overlord in terms of freaked-out heaviness, we've also gotta come back to the indie-rock component as well, with gentle vocals drifting over or beneath slumbering lumbering swirling guitar/effects like Dead Meadow meets MBV, with a little Dinosaur Jr. in there too... quite a nice (sinister, murky) nod-scene indeed.
To most folks, the name Stephen Cogle might not mean much, but to avid New Zealand music nerds like us (and maybe you), that name conjures up some of our favorite groups from that era/region, think Vacuum, The Victor Dimisich Band, the Terminals... Exactly. So Dark Matter is Cogle circa now, and while much of that old sound remains, here it's recast as something much more dignified and dramatic, a sort of gothic psych, via Christchurch style Flying Nun post punk. The label compares Dark Matter to the Chills, Television Personalities, the Scientists, Roxy Music, the last one especially, but we're also hearing plenty of Scott Walker, and other oddball crooners, the music is simple, yet lush, jangly guitars are wreathed in layers of string shimmer, slowly unfurling landscapes of brooding dark pop mesmer, with Cogle's dramatic vox over the top, and dramatic they are, we're almost reminded of those song-poem records, but instead of songs about aliens or cowboys, the subject matter here matches the musical gravitas, and even when the vocals fade out, the music left on its own is seriously stunning, check out the second half of "The Long Count", which is tense, and minor key, darkly lovely, mysterious, beholden to the classic NZ sound, but still plenty modern, and then when the vocals swoop back in, it's transformed into something bombastic and intense, harrowing and yet still lush and lovely.
Strange dark post punk torch songs that should also appeal to fans of Nick Cave, Woven Hand, Crystal Stilts, King Dude, Swans and other purveyors of moody, dark songcraft, and these guys get compared to Wreck Small Speakers On Expensive Stereos (arguably our favorite NZ band EVER), even though the sonic connection seems to be more about mood and atmosphere than sound, which should be all the recommendation you need!
Odd and obscure '80s heavy metal alert!! If that got your attention, you may remember that not too long ago we reviewed a disc by a band called Black Hole, '80s Italian metallers who were all spaced-out and psychedelic, like some strange mix of Jacula and Voivod. In that review, we made mention of one of their contemporaries, a band by the name of Dark Quarterer, whose debut album from 1985 is to be found on this slipcased cd reissue. We were pretty stoked to find a supplier for these and grabbed a bunch 'cause we figure anything that both Allan and Andee and Andee's fiancee Heather all instantly fell in love with, is something that at least a select few AQ customers are gonna dig too. Why did A, A and H all fall for DQ? Well Dark Quarterer just push all our eccentric, ancient metal buttons. To us, the low-budget, fidelity-impared production is part of their charm (what are those drums made of? cardboard?), the English-almost-as-a-second-language vocal stylings as well (without looking at the lyric sheet you'll have some trouble puzzling out what he's singing about -- his pronunciation is, let's say, creative). And the name "Dark Quarterer" curiously great too. But what's most important (and the reason why they indeed do have a cult following to this day) is that they wrote some awesomely epic and undeniably catchy metal songs. While Black Hole's favorite band must have been Black Sabbath, we're pretty sure Dark Quarterer were inspired by the grandiose he-man metal of Manowar. But it's Manowar-worship laced with the influence of Goblin and Yes and other proggy weirdness, as befits a band from the prog-crazy land of Italy. Andee even detects some hints of our beloved Comus in the title track, though we should stress that Dark Quarterer are very, very metal. Bizarre and poverty-stricken, yep, but metal through and through, with heaps of heroic vocals and majestic riffage to put some starch in your shorts (or loin cloth?). Not terribly unlike another eccentric '80s metal fave 'round here, Manilla Road.
The self-titled debut cd by the oddly monikered Dark Side Of The Cop (aka Marco Panella) is a super sweet and buoyant affair. Despite his name's nod to Pink Floyd, this one man band certainly wears his Brian Wilson influences on his sleeves in many ways. For one thing he has one of those soft wistful boy singing voices that occasionally brings to mind the abovementioned Wilson or David Gates. The disc opens with what sounds like a somber procession of tin toy trains, and robots, but they're just the tip of Panella's own personal mini orchestra. Warm guitar and piano soon join the fray along with some softly prickly programmed rhythms. So nice.
As always, gotta give it up for the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal. We mention that fecund scene upon occasion, usually in context of saying some current metal band has NWOBHM influences. So it's nice now and then to get a reissue of an actual NWOBHM cult classic to review. In this case, from 1981, the debut album by Dark Star, a band best known for their track "Lady Of Mars", which appears here. That's how we got into Dark Star, hearing that song, it's been on a lot of comps (starting with Metal For Muthas Vol. II), really a brilliant example of anthemic, super catchy, fists-clenched, heavy metal grandeur - and it's a love song too. A few years back Andee took a trip to Japan, the land where albums like this get reissued on compact disc long before they do over here, if ever, and scored copies of this for both himself and Allan (as you can imagine, there was a BIG and potentially expensive list of '80s metal rarities he had to look for, this was towards the top though). Turns out, while "Lady Of Mars" is an obvious stand out, the whole record is a killer piece of melodic hard rockin' British metal, with '70s influences (not so strange considering it was barely the '80s), notably UFO and Thin Lizzy - the majestic "Lady Love", another stand out, certainly has some of the bright galloping glory of classic Lizzy.
With heavy guitar riffs, strong soaring vocals, and plenty of hooks, Dark Star deliver the NWOBHM goods. It's mostly mid paced, and there's some mellow moments... it seems they've got a romantic side, they even have a number called "Rock 'n' Romancin'" (not included here, sadly) and we mentioned that "Lady Of Mars" is a love song already, right? But, as on the Riot-ish "Rock 'n' Romancin'", the rock comes first, and Dark Star rocks out as only a band who would also do an appropriately kickass song called "Rock Bringer" can (which IS included here).
So, now this album has at last been reissued here in the States, so of course we had to list it. Unfortunately, this version omits the bonus tracks from singles that were on that Japanese reish.
Dunno how deep you want your NWOBHM collection to go, but this is a good 'un to get. Worth it for "Lady Of Mars" but also worth it for more than just "Lady Of Mars"!
Nobody does suave, sleek, atmospheric electronic pop better then Air, so it's no surprise that this solo outing from one half of the French duo, hits the same spot pretty much dead on. Jean-Benoit Dunckel took time in between Air's follow up to Talkie Walkie and their work on Charlotte Gainsbourg's upcoming release to make his first solo record. This definitely leans toward the more song orientated pop leanings of Air. Still so lush, dreamy and sensual but with melodies and vocals that find their way into your head and don't ever go away. Catchy and inviting, this has bedtime romance written all over it. One of those great records to lounge around in the morning to, or to use as a secret weapon when you want to put the moves on that special someone. THE make-out record of 2006.
If you're not scared of labels like Cherry Red, Creation, or Hut, then keep reading. And if you first heard those labels on college radio, then definitely keep reading. Darker My Love is an LA-based 4-piece that channels the energy of bands like The Stone Roses and very early Oasis. Sure, throw in some Supergrass. Absolutely summertime, windows down, driving along the coast, feel good music. The group's arrangements are thoughtful while remaining accessible and breezy. In particular we can't help but notice the vocal melodies, provided by guitarist Tim Presley and bassist Rob Barbatto. Interestingly, both artists are former members of The Fall. Also, drummer Andy Granelli was in both The Nerve Agents and The Distillers. Either way, if '90s pop, early '80s power pop, or any other kind of pop has an appeal, this is your summer record! Recommended.
There sure seems to be a lot of mediocre metalcore bands around these days, metalcore is the pop punk of this decade. Every kid is mixing in some heartfelt emotion with their pounding metallic pummel. Thankfully Darkest Hour is not one of them. These guys have been chuggin' along since 1995, believe it or not. In 2003 they released Hidden Hands Of A Sadist Nation which was a dark and brutal masterpiece that channelled the Swedish style of the late 90's through a modern metal aesthetic. The follow-up is this here disc and is called Undoing Ruin and their label has done them no favors touting it as "the next Ride the Lightning" or "the next Slaughter of the Soul". Not really fair to US or THEM. Time, as always, is the only way to tell�
What Undoing Ruin brings is this: lots of back and forth chunka-chunkage, some dry-throated screaming, lots of mid-tempo Mastodon-like drumming with loads of little fills and splashes, some killer melodic twin dive-bomber leads whipping wildly back and forth but always in control. For all you metal "purists" out there who would never dare listen to a "Victory Band" or some crappy metalcore band, do yourself a favor, swallow your pride and check these guys out!
If Darkest Hour were on Relapse odds are they would be way better positioned to hit their target audience: metalheads. that said, they don't seem to be doing such a bad job turning little punks onto some very heavy metal! There are even some brief acoustic breaks and cool little melodic bits sprinkled here and there, but it's not long before the pummeling onslaught renews. Reminds us of former metallic greats like Beyond Possession, the Accused, there's even some serious Slayer Reign In Blood / Meshuggah style fretboard dynamics goin' on. You gotta love that.
There is NOTHING emo or screamo or even hardcore about this release despite the label affiliation. Darkest Hour just keep getting better and better, tighter and heavier, and the proof is in the epic /melodic / power / thrash / core of Undoing Ruin.
We had sort of forgotten that we made Permission To Land by The Darkness our Record Of The Week back in 2003, it seemed like a bold choice at the time, but listening to it again now, holy shit, so goddamn good. About the best modern slab of super catchy, super heavy cock rock radness we've heard, and that voice, crazy. Even the second record, which we never reviewed, was darn near as good. Now after years and years, these guys are back with a new record, and goddamn if it isn't pretty fucking great. On first listen, there's nothing quite as immediately hit-worthy as "Get Your Hands Off My Woman", or "Love On The Rocks With No Ice", but from the first track, it really couldn't be anybody else. Especially when the music stops, and the vocalist belts out "SUCK MY COCK" in that unmistakable falsetto. The Darkness probably get filed under guilty pleasure by most folks, but we're here to say, there's nothing to feel guilty about AT ALL. Crazy catchy, equal parts eighties hair metal, NWOBHM and classic Queen (check out "Nothin's Gonna Stop Us"), killer guitar harmonies, shredding leads, hooks galore, that voice, the more we listen to this, the more we dig it.
The real reason to pick this up, and worth the price of admission alone, is there insanely rad cover of Radiohead's "Street Spirit (Fade Out)", which sounds less like Radiohead and more like Iron Maiden, super heavy, minor key, majestic, epic, guitar harmonies, bombastic drumming, wailing vocals, another one of those rare covers, that's so good, it makes you wish that there were bands that actually sounded like THAT, Iron Maiden meets Radiohead, it's so good! So good in fact that we've found it difficult to stop paying JUST THAT TRACK, and listen to the rest of the record. Most definitely recommended, and easily our favorite cover in forever!
Dang it, The Darkness let us down with this second album, that continues their tongue-in-cheek cock rock program but just doesn't have the songs of the debut. Cheeky of them to record in Queen's old studio with Roy Thomas Baker producing but if you're gonna do that you'd better come up with the goods...
We'd been warned about this next-big-British band from our friends overseas. But mere warnings weren't enough to prepare us for what has quickly become our favorite new record / not-so-guilty pleasure. Everytime we play this in the store, people freak out and either ask "What the fuck??" or buy one on the spot. It's that good. And weird. More on that in a minute. This is easily the best RAWK record in forever. Huge catchy, crunchy riffs, big eighties drums, hooks galore, equal parts AC/DC, Motley Crue, Def Leppard, Pat Benatar, Billy Squier, Rick Springfield, Journey, REO Speedwagon, John Parr (remember him? 'Naughty Naughty'?) but nothing could've prepared us for the vocals. And once those vocals kick in it's all over. Think Bon Scott meets Tiny Tim, Freddie Mercury meets Vince Neil, the singer from Comus meets the singer from Nitro, or an opera singer thrust on stage and forced to front Def Leppard. It's that amazing. The vocals slip effortlessly into a falsetto that then leaps wildly from note to note, octave to octave, stretching single words into multi-syllabic whoops and wooooahhhs. So amazing. Yet somehow they fit the music perfectly. From big balls-out riffy cock rock, to melancholy FM radio ballads, to good ol rock and roll, all just slightly tweaked by the unorthodox vocals. Plus the amazing song titles and lyrics fit perfectly with the whole vibe and seemingly could be delivered in no other way than a howling ridiculous falsetto. "Black Shuck, that dog don't give a fuck", "Love on the rocks with no ice" and "Keep your hands off of my woman, moootheeeerfuuuuuuuuckeeeeeer" with motherfucker spanning 8 or 9 syllables and 2 or 3 octaves. So fucking brilliant! The vocals move this from the catagory of good retro rawk act that would be a guilty pleasure to the we-can't-believe-this-is-popular, it's totally fucked and practically avant-garde yet insanely catchy and commerical. Wow.
Today's Darkthrone is a totally different beast than the Darkthrone of old. Back in the day, Darkthrone conjured up visions of mysterious corpse painted figures, of epic Norwegian black metal, of vast fields of ice, of shadows dancing in firelight, they were THEE ultimate black metal band. Transylvanian Hunger, A Blaze In The Northern Sky, Under A Funeral Moon...
But at some point, the punk and classic metal influences that so obviously informed the music of Darkthrone, really took over, and the sound of Darkthrone, instead of being influenced by that music, began to SOUND like that music, WAY more punk, with smatterings of classic NWOBHM, which we definitely dug, and with that sonic shift, came a shift in, well, seriousness? Their public persona became goofier. Photo ops consisted almost entirely of shots of the group on camping trips. And there's drummer Fenriz, outspoken as always, consistently holding court, schooling the kids on cool metal records, weird obscure bands, to the point of filling cdd booklets with liner notes, comparing their songs to classic metal jams, as well as including a list of albums to buy.
So while a lot of troo grim black metalheads probably jumped ship by now, the rest of us can dig these crazy punk metal jams, the goofy lyrics, the over the top vocals, the squiggly guitar leads, totally retro, but all twisted up into something distinctly Darkthrone.
The sound here is less classic metal, and almost kinda more like any of those "NWOFHM" metal Circle side projects, Steel Mammoth, Mercedes Hell, Motorspandex, and well, let's let the track-by-track liner notes from Fenriz point out their actual sonic inspirations: Motorhead, Inepsy, Agent Steel, English Dogs, old Metallica, Deathside, Puke, old Slayer, Omen, Savage Grace, one song is even described by Fenriz as a "Mix of speed metal and hard rock, with 40s nostalgic notes in the verse-riff". Not sure what else to say. When asked in a recent interview if Darkthrone performed "extreme metal", Fenriz responded by saying that Darkthrone is "moderate metal. With UGLY vocals." Which pretty much nails it. It's heavy, punk as fuck, definitely metal, loose and sloppy, but super melodic, weirdly catchy, with some seriously killer riffs, some ridiculous and over the top vocals, and some of the best liner notes you'll ever read. Plus more bad ass Dennis Dread artwork. Recommended of course, but only for those of you who know what you're getting into!
If metal fans/dilettantes Circle were to actually make a metal album, as opposed to a "metal" album (one that in the end really sounds like Circle), maybe it would come out something like F.O.A.D., the latest (number thirteen, uh oh!) full-length from Norwegian black metal icons Darkthrone. This album, entitled F.O.A.D. (which stands for something Off And Die, you figure it out), is a collection of nine songs, each one of them with a specific inspiration or inspirations that will resonate with all true metal fans, which Darkthrone obviously are. We know this not just 'cause the old school vibe of these songs, retro-riffed and raw and fueled with punkish attitude, but also 'cause Darkthrone drummer Fenriz has kindly provided notes on each track in the photo-illustrated cd booklet. So you can scope snapshots of Darkthrone's summer camping trips whilst reading about how the track "Canadian Metal" is lyrically a tribute to their favorite Canadian metal bands (natch) but musically is inspired more by (non-Canadian bands) DeathStrike, Onslaught, Darkthrone and Motorhead -- and, for the heck of it, is dedicated to their Central American fans! Or learn that the song "The Church of True Metal" is dedicated to Manilla Road and the late singer of another '80s American true metal cult, Omen. Or see that Fenriz claims that "Pervertor Of The 7 Gates" is inspired by "Axegrinder/Darkthrone, Humble Pie (!), Celtic Frost (duh), Impostor... and Poison Idea!". You may have noted how ridiculously, circularly self-referential (reverential?) it is, when several times they cite Darkthrone (themselves!) among a particular track's influences. At least they're being honest!
The cd booklet also includes a shopping list of 20 true metal (mostly, though The Residents are on here too) recommendations from Fenriz and guitarist Nocturno Culto, their suggestions to get your music listening back on the proper, perverse track. Can't argue with any of their picks, and in fact we're gonna be on the lookout for the few we didn't already have, but again it's a funny thing to find in a cd booklet. We guess they're concerned about "the kids" these days not knowing what's what.
But the reason we mentioned Circle above is 'cause this seems to be a very "conceptual" metal album, metal for metal's sake made by fans in a very explicit and nostalgic fashion. There's a metallic version of Comic Book Guy, record-collector nerdism in equal doses with a punk WTF? approach. Circle calls it NWOFHM. Darkthrone's making NWOBHM. No it doesn't compare to any of their past classics like A Blaze In The Northern Sky or Transylvanian Hunger. Less grim, more grins.
This sort of thing tends to demystify what is (was?) one of the seminal, scary bands from the notorious Nordic church-burning, corpse-painted black metal scene. But we've already gotten the idea that Darkthrone don't take themselves too seriously anymore, and maybe never did, nor do they care what other folks think. We realized that long ago when we read an interview with 'em that mainly talked about how much they loved the Simpsons TV show. Also there was the silly message that Andee once got on his answering from Fenriz (thanks to a mutual friend who was over in Norway working on an as-yet-unreleased black metal documentary). And of course not long ago we reviewed the DVD of Nocturno Culto's bewilderingly mundane home movies. The curtain has been pulled back, and what we find are two none-too-serious yet none-more-black dudes from Norway who loooooove metal (and camping). And happen to be fuckin' Darkthrone. So they can say F.O.A.D. then you gotta take it. If it's too crude and dumb and retrogressive and punk for you, fuck off and die. Otherwise, let the headbanging commence.
Norway's number one "hiking metal punks", the Darkthrone duo of Fenriz and Nocturno Culto are back with another album (their 16th!) that melds the grim frozen Nordic black metal of the '90s (typified by their own corpsepainted classics from the era like A Blaze In the Northern Sky and Under A Funeral Moon) with '80s NWOBHM, punk, crust, and speed metal, as they have been doing for the past six or seven years.
We'd heard before we got this that the new Darkthrone was heavily influenced by Agent Steel, and while Fenriz does pull of some amazing high pitched shrieks in the style of John Cyriis from that cult '80s speed metal outfit, we suspect that people were saying that 'cause a copy of Agent Steel's Skeptics Apocalypse lp is prominently displayed behind Fenriz in his picture on this album's back cover. What also should have been in that picture is a copy of Celtic Frost's Morbid Tales, 'cause plenty of this has that brand of '80s underground doomic deathliness to it too. Mercyful Fate and Venom, the '80s originators of black metal, are also clear inspirations. A good example of what that means, is the album's truly epic final track, the 13 minute 49 second "Leave No Cross Unturned", written/sung by Fenriz, which opens with an impressive balls-in-a-vice scream, the song speeding along with rapid riffage ornamented by soaring swooping vox. But then, whomp, it slows for a sluggish doomed out break, chugging thenceforth under a Hellhammered, Frosty vibe. Eventually the velocity ramps up again as do Fenriz's operatic affectations, and then back again into the doomy depths, the song a tour de force display of what Darkthrone dig in metal, as well as serving as a representation of the entire album in microcosm, it's got it all. A headbanging masterpiece right there.
That could be the only song here and we'd still be into this, but wait, there's more. Six tracks total, three by Nocturno Culto (the guitarist) and three by Fenriz (the drummer). Fenriz sings his compositions with an extreme/eccentric mix of falsetto wails and guttural deathgrunts, while on his tracks Nocturno employs a capable (if less WTF?) black metal rasp. They alternate songs throughout the album, beginning with Nocturno's gnarly snarly punked out black metal opener "Dead Early", followed by the more-likely-to-get-you-staring-at-your-stereo "Valkyrie" of Fenriz, some very epic wailing metal, fast but glorious, like a weird mix of Bathory and Manilla Road, maybe. Nocturno is back on the mic with track three, the dense churning rocking riff-fest of "Lesser Men". Fenriz responds with the rollicking "The Ones You Left Behind", sorta like "Valkyrie" but with some Motorhead added in? It's hard to describe actually, and that's what's cool about Darkthrone these days, while these guys wear their influences on their sleeves (and can do so with impunity 'cause they themselves were once so influential), the stuff they come up with here is still original, somehow channelling their obvious inspirations into weird hybrids never before attempted or envisioned.
Then to the album's penultimate track, Nocturno's own pounding epic, the 8:37 "Come Warfare, The Entire Doom", which is indeed doomy, but cranks at speed too, and almost would be this album's more metal than thou piece de resistance if we didn't know that the massive "Leave No Cross Unturned" was coming up next. But it sure comes close.
All we can say is, if you love metal, you gotta love Darkthrone. Long may they reign. As long as they're around, metal will never die.
The cd comes packaged in a hardcover digibook, 20 pages, necessary 'cause of course the ever talkative Fenriz takes up a lot of space with his notes on each song, etc. One of his songs ("Leave No Cross Unturned", natch) even has its OWN lengthy "thanks list", separate from the two page thanks list Fenriz himself has. Nocturno Culto, aka Ted, more taciturn, limits himself to just one page for his thanks list and doesn't deign to analyze his songs, unlike Fenriz, who practically writes reviews for 'em, listing precise inspirations for each section of each of his compositions. Also, in recent Darkthrone tradition, Fenriz provides a list of recommended new bands he likes, in his role as tastemaker for a new generation of metallers. So folks who download this, illegally or otherwise, are missing out on a lot!
Break out the headphones, relax the body, and close the eyes, it's another one from the devastatingly droney and dark Darsombra, whose debut Ecdysis disc we really liked a couple years back. We like this just as much, maybe more. There's a great deal of melancholic, mesmeric beauty in Darsombra's isolationist grinding and evil ambient shimmer. We can imagine Darsombra's human operator, Brian Daniloski from the Maryland metalcore band Meatjack, up late at night alone in his home studio, lights dim, wreathed in smoke, hunched over his guitar and synth and effects and whatever else he uses to conjure this music, willing himself off into another place, out into the void of space, riding the dense waves of his own creation, returning only at dawn with another track for this album finished.
Let's discuss these tracks, but not in order... The echoey minimalism of "Drops Of Sorrow" is simply glorious, it's Riley or Reich from a psychdronedoom perspective. Or perhaps krautrock's Achim Reichel & The Machines playing Black Boned Angel!? Elsewhere, there's more gloom and glory, from the hushed sinister soundtrack melodies of opener "Auguries" to the haunting, spacey drone-whispers of "Night's Black Agents" - this disc's longest track at 17:34, reminding us of the 'Vox Insecta' work of old AQ fave Q.R. Ghazala. Then, with an intro of ommming voices (or synth) there's "Lamentings / Auguries", featuring sparse melodic guitar weepery buried beneath fuzzed out layers of deep, electronic drone and distortion. Again, this definitely sounds like it would make good soundtrack material for some eerie, arty Italian horror flick. And further cementing our love affair with the abstract attractions of Eternal Jewel, the calmly vibrating "Incarnadine" brings some rays of light to this disc at its very end, with its peacefully repetitive clusters of gentle chimings over a quiet drone.
Packaged by Public Guilt in a nice black, gothically graceful gatefold sleeve, this is definitely recommended. Imagine Expo '70 cloaked in black, performing a seance with Tony Conrad and Lustmord, and you'll have an idea of how much we must like this!
It all started with a joke, a dumb joke, but a pretty funny one nonetheless. you'd have to be living under a rock to have not heard Das Racist's internet/mixtape hit "Combination Pizza Hut And Taco Bell", which was essentially a simple looped beat, with the group rapping "We at the Pizza Hut, we at the Taco Bell, we at the combination Pizza Hut And Taco Bell" over and over and over. After millions of downloads/listens, as well as a couple of killer free mixtapes, it was only a matter of time before the rest of the world got hip to what the world of blogs had been freaking out over for ages.
And you know what, often the hype turns out to be just that, but in the case of Das Racist, they sorta deserve it. Alongside the stupid silly sense of humor, these guys have skills, wicked flows, hilarious / ridiculous / super smart lyrics, and they put together some killer jams, the hype is sorta too bad, cuz inevitably hipsters worldwide will decide these guys suck, now that they're getting some mainstream popularity, which is a shame, but what can you do, that seems to be the way (talking to you witch house). But fuck it. Check out "Michael Jackson" and see if you can resist, a wicked skittery beat, and a killer Bollywood loop, some amazing lines, including the goofy line delivered so dramatically: "I'm fucking great at raaaaaaapping!!!" (That's rapping, not raping, btw, don't want anyone to get the wrong idea.) Or "Rainbow In The Dark", with another irresistible loop, and more ridiculous, and ridiculously good lines, including references to Jeff Mangum, Kool G Rap, Donkey Kong, Schlomo, Pocky candies, and more whatthefuckness. Falling somewhere between Antipop Consortium and Odd Future, smart and surreal, this shit rules, popular or not. Check it out. Haters be damned.
This probably doesn't need an introduction, as Dashboard Confessional's songwriter Christopher Carraba has graced the cover of Spin and about a million other magazines as well as lurking around MTV. Yup, he's marketing himself as the safe, sensitive, pretty boy of punk, balancing the tough-as-fuck image complete with his full-arm tattoo sleeves with his Hallmark puppy-dog eyes and his acousticky emo heartbreak. "A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar" is the grandest statement to date for Carraba's outfit, which honestly isn't saying all that much, considering that his previous outfits were more potential than actual substance. That said, Carraba is going for the same type of theatrical crescendos, dynamic riffs, and pregnant pauses that really made Sunny Day Real Estate such an archetype of emo. Given that Vagrant has joined forces with TVT to promote this album, you won't need us to tell you any more about this record; an army of unpaid interns will be doing it for us.
Take a fountain of emo pop hooks, some big crunchy guitars and Dashboard Confessional's cute sensitive frontman Christopher Carrabba with vocals that still drip with just outta puberty angst... what do you get? Dusk And Summer, this season's scientifically formulated movie soundtrack and radio ready teen dream aka album number four for these anthemic modern emo rockers from Florida.
Still no one from the Vagrant roster of artists has come even remotely close to the emo-power pop majesty of the Get Up Kids or their oddball side project Reggie And The Full Effect. With Dan Hoerner, formerly of Sunny Day Real Estate, Dashboard Confessional
This is about the most emo record I've ever heard. Imagine a mostly acoustic Get Up Kids with high keening sad boy vocals, and massive minor chord swells of teenage heartbreak and dateless / post-break up saturday night loneliness lyrics. I wish I had this
Limited tour-only cd-r of demo versions, live recordings and unreleased tracks from the same sessions that produced their gorgeous Thrill Jockey debut album. We only have about 10 of these and are not sure if we can get more, so act fast.
Highlighting the core tracks of the Dusted Sessions in illuminating stripped down versions, the first track "Dusted County Stomp" establishing itself on a repetitive Hex-era Earth electric guitar riff, before Marielle Jakobsons' violin responds in counter-play in true Henry Flynt-ish fashion. "Yuba Groove" is a faster version of the sprawling majestic central suite "Yuba Source parts I and II". Then there's a live on-radio version of "Exodus Due West", that the band performed on KFJC, a heavier demo version of "Dusted Down", a majestic flute-fronted demo of "Mercy Springs", not really featured on the original album and finally, "Sky Trails" which has a really nice Fripp and Eno "Evening Star" vibe with gorgeously picked guitar and pedal steel. There's even a secret track at the end. Beautiful!
And like we said, SUPER limited. Get one while you can, Date Palms fans!
The Date Palms debut lp on Root Strata, Of Psalms (now sadly out of print) was one of our standout favorite records from last year. A blissful combo of Eastern drone classicism and hypnotic psych fluidity. Now the core Oakland-based duo of Gregg Kowalsky and Marielle Jakobsons follow their debut up with this stunning, no doubt limited, vinyl-only release on Mexican Summer (which comes with a download card).
Composed of two side-loooooong tracks, the structure of Honey Devash is set up in the form of two ragas as their basic foundation but open wide enough to allow a number of key compositional elements to play through. The title track is the morning raga stirring softly at first with slowly energizing phase shifts and bowed violin drones setting up the mood before the heavy bass riff bursts forth into a forward moving momentum aided by percussive elements and all sorts of sonic layering: oscillating bloops, arc-ing violin loops and modal electric piano phrases. Slowly-burning upward toward a white hot light, the gorgeously smoldering momentum breaks off into a purifying hypnotic cosmic bliss punctuated by spacy violin figures before a long slow fade.
The second side track, "Honey Dune" is the evening raga and it cools down with a wide drifting expansiveness lke the end of a long desert heat just before twilight. The mood is less propulsive, more contemplative but beautifully rich with added instrumentation of bass clarinet, tampura and cascading piano motifs. Melodically pretty and explorative, the track gives ample room for each instrument to stretch out and play yet remain tethered to a unifying whole by the grounation vibes of Trevor Montgomery's basslines.
Like some heady hybrid of spiritual Eastern jazz and rockish psych extrapolation, fans of Bruce Palmer, Dadawah, L. Shankar, Brightblack Morning Light, and Spacemen 3 should definitely scoop this up.
This is the perfect soundtrack for hot desert nights, staring at the stars. Sooooooo gooooooood!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ----* ----* Highlights : ----*
Date Palms make their long awaited Thrill Jockey debut and we couldn't imagine a better way to celebrate the Summer Solstice than with this Oakland outfit's sun scorched desert ragas. The band headed by Marielle Jakobsons and Gregg Kowalsky have expanded their sound since their last release on Mexican Summer, adding flute and guitars (both pedal steel and electric) to the mix of violin, keys, tambora and bass. This was recorded in one long session last year during the solar eclipse, and it has the feel of shimmering sky worship as it finds kinship with the earth along an arid expansive plain. In the three part "Yuba Source" suite that makes up the bulk of the first half of the album, the tamboura and keys buzz in a cloudy atmosphere while the violin and pedal steel soar above, the loping basslines keeping everything grounded but moving, building to a heavily dense concentration of sound. On other tracks, Kowalsky's electric piano riffs dominate reminding us of Brightblack Morning Light or Bruce Palmer, bringing spiritual jazz vibrations to a kaleidoscopic core. Prismatic drones and flute trills simmer like sounds of night lit by flickering campfires, with bass tones like falling stars, plummeting earthward with dramatic emphasis. "Night Riding the Skyline", the longest track on the second half of the record, brings in scorched acid guitar and plodding drum machine rhythms for a distant night journey into the sand dunes. Probably their most complexly composed and deepest record to date, each song connected to each other, but remaining distinct and distinctive on their own. Highly Recommended!
The lp for a limited time comes on dusted pink vinyl, black vinyl after that and always with a download card.
We're huge fans of NZ guitarist Craig Williamson and his space raga rock outfit Lamp Of The Universe, whose sound is actually light on the rock, and heavy on the space and the raga, with buzzing sitars, and loping krautrock grooves, blissed out ambience and wispy clouds of spaced out FX. But way back in 1999, before the birth of LOTU, Williamson was doing time in a little band called Datura, who shared some sonic sensibilities with his later outfit, spacey, groovy, buzzy, but Datura rocked, we mean ROCKED, some serious stoner rock�Hawkwind / Monster Magnet worship for sure. Big�ol' wah wah guitar riffs, pounding drums, downtuned fuzz guitars, BIG BIG amps unleashing thick walls of sun baked drug drenched sound. The kind of sound we could gladly listen to forever. But...
...It's the vocals that will make it or break it for you. Super throaty rock croon, very reminiscent of Kyuss, some folks here thought it sounded a little too bar rock, or like the one rock guy on every season of American Idol, channelling some Eddie Vedder with that "yyyyuuuuuaaaayy" sort of classic rock yowl. But if you were into Kyuss, or any of the first wave of stoner rock bands (Beaver, Dozer, tons of other Man's Ruin bands) or any bands on the Small Stone label, this will definitely push those space rock, desert rock, stoner rock, slow groove, blown out guitar, beer and pot laced laid back groove buttons for sure.
Germany's Daturah return with a second album of magnificently, majestically moody post-rock. As before, it's mostly instrumental, with just some spoken voice samples (Godspeed style) buried in the mix, occasionally punctuating the sweep of Daturah's spacey songs. Mostly it's repetitiously reminiscent of Mogwai and Isis and Sigur Ros and Pelican and the like, with five long songs (nine and a half to thirteen plus minutes) going on and on, all very sad and pretty. The guitars swell and chime, drums metronomically keeping time, and as we mentioned time does pass, during which Daturah's quiet parts yearn always for the crush to come, when they heavy it up - sometimes almost achieving a black metal buzz (burz?), or hint of one, that could make you think you were listening to part of a recent Katatonia album for a moment or two. Atmospheric and/or heavy, and always melodically, melancholically tremulous, Daturah slowly dive in and out of the loud-soft dynamics thing with grace and gravitas, if not utter originality. Nice, though.
Oooh. Nice one here for fans of Mogwai and Mono and the like... Germany's Daturah are quite adept at that style of dynamic soft-loud mesmerization, being both gently melodic and heavy too. It's easy to lose oneself in this lulling but loud set of really pretty post-rock.
Daturah bring the depresso-drone hammer of melancholy down with some force on these three stretched-out, mostly-instrumental epics. Some half-buried voices are to be heard, tranmissions lost in shortwave ether, drifting in the mix, a la Godspeed or Nadja. But the focus is on the magnificent oceanic swells of guitar. On "Warmachines" they really manage to rock out, whereas other parts of this are suffused with light, lightness.
If you like Mogwai, Mogwai, Explosions In The Sky, Pelican, Growing, Cult Of Luna, Isis, etc., this is 45 minutes of music you'll also like, we're pretty sure!
The ultimate in suave chic pop. Positively groovy. Ideal music for the Euro-fashion show runways including the catfights backstage. One part Heaven 17. Remember "Let Me Go"? Well, check out the track entitled "So Gut". One part Charles Wilp. One part Human League. One part Pizzicato 5 (see "Whole Lotta Weasel"). One part dorky weirdness. Well shaken, and topped with an avalanche of cocktail fruit, olives and canapes. So very very fun.
The duo known as Dauerfisch bring to you a campy array of lounge-y numbers on a label known for it's suave, glitzy euro-pop. Many a well-turned heel and finely cut suit. Tres sexy. Recorded in Berlin. Yes, fans of StereoTotal, Air and Pizzicato Five, try this one on for size.
