The seminal experimental funk outfit 23 Skidoo has finally re-released their mid-'80s single "Coup." Not long ago the Chemical Brothers sampled the funky rhythm on "Coup", but avoided giving 23 Skidoo any money by re-programming the rhythm digitally, which
23 Skidoo's music lies somewhere between the sonic experimentation found in the primitive electronics of early Industrial Culture (especially Cabaret Voltaire, Throbbing Gristle, and early Current 93) and the spartan New York funk of Liquid Liquid and ESG. 23 Skidoo themselves said it best when they defined their sound as "Urban Gamelan" (using this term to title one of their albums).
On this 12", the a-side "Coup" actually falls a little flat in relation to their preceding work, as the angular slap bass lines and punchy rhythmic stabs are far too obvious for 23 Skidoo's bizarre production. However, "The Gospel Comes To New Guinea" finds the group at their finest with a simple dark bass line driving through complex percussion and a haunted trumpet floating in the distance. This puts contemporary postrock/electronica darlings like Fridge and Four Tet to shame! DJs, please pick this up.
You may be familiar with hyperbole like "this is one of my favorite records" popping up throughout the our reviews and you may wonder if that declaration really means anything. Obviously, there are many of us who write this list with lots of opinions as to
While electronica darlings like Andrew Weatherall, The Chemical Brothers, and Gilles Peterson all proclaim "Coup" as the pinnacle of 23 Skidoo's catalogue, I boldly mutter "Hogwash! 'Seven Songs' is easily 23 Skidoo's best work!" 23 Skidoo recorded this album during a three day period in 1981 with production by "Tony, Terry, and David" (aka Genesis P-Orridge, Peter Christopherson, and Ken Thomas). With those three behind the mixing board, 23 Skidoo obviously enjoys a similiar spirit of sonic experimentation as invoked by the founders of Industrial Culture. Yet, 23 Skidoo also employs the death-disco of PiL, A Certain Ratio, and Gang of Four, often played on homemade junkyard instruments built to replicate Indonesian gamelan. This bizarre hybridization of styles has few if any parallels, but 23 Skidoo's eclecticism and experimentation are never so alien as to not also be funky, melodic, and infectiously catchy.
Just as Windy places Os Mutantes near the top of her musical pantheon, Andee proudly proclaims his infatuation with Hanoi Rocks, and Allan drools over all things Magma, I say that if you're at all like me, you won't be disappointed by 23 Skidoo's "Seven Songs"!
Originally released on LP back in 1984 on Illuminated Records, and only seeing a few seconds of shelf life as a cd re-issue in the early '90s, "Urban Gamelan" is the aptly named third album from 23 Skidoo, back again on cd! This British trio developed one of
"Urban Gamelan" finds 23 Skidoo addressing two distinct aesthetics, the first being their post-apocalyptic funk (which had been previously mapped out on their first album "Seven Songs") and the second emphatically pronouncing their faux-gamelan sound. The album in fact begins with a remix / reworking of their hit single "Coup," which has had the infamy of getting ripped off by the Chemical Brothers. Driven by counterpoints of bass and distant bursts of haunted trumpets, the first half of the album recalls some of Pop Group's dub fuckery, with an inclination for a more natural funk. 23 Skidoo then drops all of the electric instruments for an exhibition of their complete gamelan repetoire. If you ever thought that Einsturzende Neubauten or Test Dept. needed to get their groove on, then you definitely need to check out 23 Skidoo. The 23 Skidoo reissues may be some of the most important to come out this year. It will be well worth your while to check these out!!!
Debut solo album from The Cardigans' Nina Persson produced / recorded by AQ fave Mark Linkous from Sparklehorse. Not as catchy and poppy as the Cardigans and not as delicate and hyper-produced as Sparklehorse, but still really really good. We loved the
The heavily lauded, AQ fave, psychedelic hippie Japanese collective led by Makoto Kawabata now graces us with two excellent side-long pieces on this LP-only release. The first is a well-executed version of Terry Riley's famous conceptual composition "In
That said, we have a bone to pick with the packaging of this album. If you're going to fetishize a band (and let's face it Acid Mothers Temple is the fetish band of the moment), then for heavens sake do the packaging right! It's not bad looking, just shoddily constructed. Eclipse pressed the album on impressively weighty vinyl, and it boasts commendably pretty artwork, but unfortunately the gatefold cover is printed on glossy yet flimsy cardstock that doesn't fold right, will not lay flat, and is already coming apart at the seams. Furthermore, there's only one LP but two empty compartments in the sleeve, making for an inevitable small disappointment when said empty sleeve doesn't even have an insert or anything. Sigh. Of course, it would have cost more to do the packaging better, but for the $17 we have to charge for this you think Eclipse could have afforded it! Oh well, maybe they didn't know that it was going to turn out so poorly. And packaging aside, this *is* a great AMT album.
Four song debut 12" from Oakland's DJ Aneurysm. Side one features dark, aggressive digital destruction that would be right at home beside your DHR and Ambush records. Side two is more dance-y and melodic, with distorto beats and (unfortunately outdated and cheesy) spoken voice samples.
It's been five years since the Aphex Twin unleashed his Surrealist-tainted slab of brilliance "The Richard D. James Album," which jauntily skipped around the accepted boundaries of contemporary electronica with surprising ease and an almost voiceless black
From the get-go, Aphex Twin wisely sidesteps the currently hip clickery of the Ritornell / Raster labels, jumping straight into his tried and true forms of bastardized drum 'n' bass punctuated by delicate piano-ambient interludes. Unfortunately, Aphex has been following the rather tepid stylings of 2 step and speed garage, instead of the vibrant spasticity of Lesser or the mentally damaged dancehall of DJ Scud. Thus, the ambient artifacts -- which come across as Satie's "Furniture Music" for the H.R. Giger set, being both deliciously macabre yet tonally beautiful -- are the more interesting moments found on the first half of the album. Disc two offers a few classic Aphex sounding tracks of smoldering acid squelchiness, time-stretched vocal snippets, and complex grooves built out of constantly counterpointing rhythms. Again, these are spaced between delicate halcyon piano ambience, something which at times appears as dinner jazz for the IDM set.
While certain individual tracks flash a programming brilliance cast with his ever-present sideways smirk, easily putting his contemporaries to shame, "Drukqs" as a whole never really finds a direction; nor, does it makes much progression though all of the various electronica agendas. Nevertheless, those of you already cardcarrying members of the Aphex fanclub won't be disappointed.
Brand new disc from this long-running Belgian art-rock orchestra. Just as creepy as any of their early '80s chamber rock classics, "u.B.I.Q.U.e" is a "symphonic poem" for guitars, saxophones, trumpets, trombones, tuba, drums, and samplers. The samplers bring in an 'industrial' vibe that synchs up with the album's inspiration, the works of cult sci-fi writer Philip K. Dick.
Wow, what with a new Koji Asano release coming out every month (literally!) it's a bit hard for us to always come up with something original to say. If you search for "Asano" on our website you'll find a ton of reviews of his past releases, many of
Strangely referred to as "Hot 'n' Horny Taco", although it doesn't say it anywhere on the sleeve or label, nor is there any reference to tacos in this single's two focus tracks. Features vocal and instrumental versions of "Love The Pussy" on side A, wherin a woman repeatedly asks "Do You Want To Rub The Pussy, Touch The Pussy, Fuck The Pussy", and three versions of "G-String"
A split 10" hardcore head-to-head battle between the late great DC grind freaks Jenny Piccolo and Asterisk*, a new (to us) band of hardcore killers. Of the two, Asterisk* kicks a bit more ass, especially on the final roaring track "Exodus". Asterisk* rage... hard. They've titled their side "Dogma III: The Mythology of Heavenly Poultry" as inspired by C.J. Hjelm's book "Manniskan och
Outside of the Dead C, Birchville Cat Motel are one of the few original New Zealand noise musicians still making relevant noise. And like the Dead C, their sound has continued to evolve and grow well beyond the confines of 'noise music'. On 'We Count These
Greatest hits record from the only metal band made up of Mexican drug lords on the run. Or not. This band of extreme metal bandits may or may not contain members of Faith No More, Fear Factory, Cradle of Filth, and Dimmu Borgir. But they most definitely spit
Bullfrog hail from Montreal and have bestowed two little 3"cds upon AQ over the past year. And now here's their full length -- which contains tracks from the two 3" cds but also lots of new stuff never before heard.
Not just a Kid Koala project at all, this band is really finding their sound and running with it, and Koala's turntables are just one part of the delightful equation. They play tone-perfect seventies sweet soul / Parliament-style funk (think "Can You Get to That" from Maggot Brain), complete with falsetto vocals and chiming bwang.bwang.bwang guitar. They also do a Sunday morning style of hip hop that's heavy on the SoCal-esque flowing vocals and wah guitar. Fans of Ozomatli, Jurassic 5, Antibalas -- this music is right up your alley. It's so good!
Winston Rodney, Burning Spear, has had the enduring reputation of being a perfectionist, an uncompromising artist who carefully controls his creative output, even having gone so far as to sing his own backup vocals on his recordings for Studio 1. Recorded
This is the 'slow jam' from the mighty Cannibal Ox's 'The Cold Vein' record. But not like -any- slow jam you've ever heard. Funky and sinister, the meanest saddest love song in quite a while. Huge burping bass and minor key synths under a growled flow full of
Remember that amazing Milk Cult record from last year? I'm liking this Cat Five record for the same reasons: it's a winning combination (a bit lighter than Milk Cult) of unlikely samples mixed together in a very accessible, headnodding fashion. Every
Comae is a new collaborative project formed by London-based sound architect Janek Schaefer and Robert Hampson (Main, Loop). Beautiful guitar based sonicscapes are accentuated with found sound abstractions and spatial dynamicism (via piercing test tones
Bobby Conn took a year and a half to complete this third record and highly anticipated follow-up to 1998's amazing "Rise Up!". Unfortunately, Conn has decided to drop the apocalyptic / satanic glam rock persona which made his first two records so exciting
Two local (Oakland) metal bands duke it out on this split disc, one so heavy that it took four labels to put it out. Cruevo say they play "crusty sledgehammer stoner doom" while Brainoil opt to describe themselves as a "crusty wizard sludge metal" band.
Extra points go to Cruevo for the Shut Up Little Man! sample introducing their half of the disc.
AQ buddy Ian Christe is DARK NOERD, who so far has only made one recorded appearance, on the awesome 'Gummo' soundtrack. When Christe is not writing a comprehensive history of heavy metal or DJing, he's making black metal electronica unlike anything you've ever heard. This 12" splits its time pretty evenly between straight up drum 'n bass ala Photek and noisy black metal. On a couple
Anything recorded at a "mobile mystic gnome studio" has got to be good, right? Well, at least if you're in the mood from some suitably stoned, retro-rocking, Blue Cheer worship from this very heavy and psychedelic Virginia-based band. "Howls From The
When you think 'death metal' you probably think Deicide. Or Morbid Angel. Or at least you should. The two bands that basically define modern death metal (without sucking). While Morbid Angel twist death metal into weird shapes and sprinke it liberally with
Here's the sophomore comeback album for Germany's flagship thrash outfit, '80s vets Destruction. Chainsawing their way through 11 tracks of their trademark high energy, uh, thrash, they prove that last year's "All Hell Breaks Loose" wasn't a fluke. They're
Still even more haunting and lush frightscapes from this Italian troupe of musical miscreants. Orchestral and progressive and heavy and occasionally carnivalesque. Super distorted creep-out piano abruptly shifts to a melancholy soundscape underpinning mad
Another Devil Doll record that we finally managed to get our hands on. This is apparently a fan club only re-release and the sleeve warns that "this music can alter your mental health". It sure is strange enough that it might make you wonder what the hell
More Devil Doll insanity. It seems unfair to always compare Devil Doll to Goblin, but it's sort of unavoidable as they both traffic in the same creepy proggy nightmarescapes and they are both so good. To be fair though, Devil Doll have more room to play
Although this is not a new release, we finally found a way to get these and keep them in stock. It's really tough to explain what this band sounds like, and apparently it's really hard for most people to even like them, seeing as they have a ton of records
This LA-based trio, made up of rappers Iriscience and Evidence, and world-class turntablist DJ Babu (also of BeatJunkies) drop their second full length. The rhymes are very deft, the hook-laden samples are creative and fun, and the record will appeal to
I dunno, I'm sitting here slowly and pleasantly realizing anew how completely and totally brilliant The Dismemberment Plan is. All the sonic elements combine so well into a singular style, immediately recognizable, always compelling and completely
The special 20th anniversary edition of the soundtrack for this Jean-Jacques Beineix film. If you're unfamiliar with "Diva", it is an ultra stylish, darkly witty French thriller of theft, opera and murder (not to oversimplify things, mind you). Highly recommended, as is this beautiful soundtrack. Includes 8 previously unreleased tracks.
I used to think Ice Cube had the most evil voice in hip hop. The voice I picture the devil having or some evil beast that returns to reign terror on the earth. But DMX may have finally outdone Cube. I mean his voice was always gravelly and deep and completely
Ms Dougher is one busy lady, playing previously in the Lookers, and currently in the Crabs and Cadallaca as well as writing for a number of publications, and co-writing a book with Nikki McClure. This is her debut solo full length. "But wait!" you say, "didn't
Up until now, young Olympia, WA pop pup Dennis Driscoll has released only a couple of 7"s, drawing a bunch of indie Oly acclaim, but finally a full length has emerged of his boyish Daniel Johnston / Jad Fair super-lo-fi, fragile, quirky pop. Shy boy odes to
"Plays John Cassavetes" is part two in Ehler's trilogy of mini-albums, whose concept is based on metacomplex emotion in the context of digital art. In the first volume, "Plays Albert Ayler", Ehlers composed one long piece for solo cello, which he then cut up and reassembled into two new compositions. Where the use of digital processes were once more prominent and noticeable,
The Electric Eels were the undisputed bad boy kings of Ohio punk spitting out snarled three minute blasts of noisy, clumsy, snotty seventies punk rock sounding like a retarded Black Flag, which is a *good* thing. Super distorted and super whiny, these Cleveland fuck-ups made fellow Ohioans Pere Ubu and the Dead Boys look and sound like choir boys. Magnets for trouble, the Eels attracted
So, now that we've established that you should probably buy this, which format to get? Well, the LP has six tracks different from or missing from the cd, and also sports extra liner notes and a different cover. At first we weren't sure how essential this was since there was another Eels collection released not too long ago, but eleven of the tracks on the cd are previously unreleased, and there are a few more unreleased/alternate versions on the double LP!
Alternative Tentacles brings the sounds of UK band Flaming Stars to this side of the Atlantic. They've been around for over five years with a handful of releases on Vinyl Japan, but nary a peep in the U.S. until now. Imagine a melding of the Tindersticks'
Fred were young hippies from central PA, who left college to jam together in a rural farmhouse playing prog/psych rock. They'd do covers by the likes of the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Jethro Tull, Frank Zappa, and Procol Harum, but also worked up a lot of original material for this, their sole, self-titled album, originally recorded in 1971. Mostly kinda mellow, but with flashes of acid-rock
LA-based Project Blowed Recordings releases the newest Freestyle Fellowship record, you know, with Aceyalone, one of the greatest rappers ever, his style is so distinctive and amazingly deft. "Exercise your inner thighs!"
*Why* did the amazing southern California hip hop outfit Freestyle Fellowship feel the need to remix their debut album To Whom It May Concern? The record is over nine years old at this point and still completely relevant, fresh, and perfect. It's one of my favorite hip hop albums of all time. Aceyalone's flow is super deft and deep -- he rhymes "wack" with "succotash". I love him.
*But* AQ highly recommends the first version of this album, To Whom It May Concern. We try to always have it in stock.
Following are two soundclips of the same track, the first from To Whom It May Concern, and the second from Version 2.0. It's pretty obvious which one is better.
Recorded live in 2000, this is the new collaborative project of Martin Ng and Mathias Gmachl (Farmers Manual, Fuckhead). As GCTTCATT, Gmachl digitally manipulates, via "realtime data processing", sounds run through Ng's turntables and cd player. I really
Alexander von Schlippenbach's Globe Unity Orchestra was a free jazz big band featuring what seems like a who's who of late '60s European improv -- Willem Breuker, Peter Brotzmann, Albert Mangelsdorf, Peter Kowald, Sven-Ake Johnasson, Evan Parker, Derek
Fans of this era/style of out-jazz, you know what to do: grab your beards and hold on! And thank Atavistic's Unheard Music Series for a continued reason to live. Go, UMS, go!
Hot on the heels of their greatest hits comes a brand new studio album. The timing seems just a little bit unwise, as it demonstrates just how little progress the band has made since they released their all time classic 'Streetcleaner' 12 years ago. In fact, if anything, it shows that they've actually regressed, sounding way less visceral and way less significant. With boring
I can't believe that this record hasn't driven us mad. In the very near future, it very well may. But at the moment, Gold Chains certainly tickles our fancy for purposefully ridiculous, totally fun electronica/hip-hop. Gold Chains is the boisterous hip-hop
The Haggard resurgence continues unabated. Coming right behind those low priced compilations we previously listed, here's a brand new record. Well, sort of. It -is- a new record, and they -are- new recordings, but most of the tunes are oldies but goodies, that see Merle reaching back to the honky tonk style his career so heavily is based on. There are also three brand new Haggard
New album from white blues heavyweight John Hammond that consists solely of Tom Waits covers. If Tom Waits' own endorsement of Hammond as an artist -- "John has a blacksmith's strength and rhythm and the kind of soul and precision it takes to cut diamonds
The first full length from Rachael Kozak, head of Zhark Internatonal, after five years and a handful of 12"s and collaborative projects. Dark, destructive breakcore in the unmistakable Praxis style. Cd forthcoming.
This is the first release of Henry's recent musique concrete composition "Antagonismes IV" (1996) which is the result of reworking one pre-existing composition according to the framework of another work. While Henry poetically states that "'Antagonismes' is a radiography, a sort of horn-in-the-eye of 'Intérieur/Extérieur' (which was a manner of ritual, an Imaginary corridor layout for
Composed in 1980 as an homage to Luigi Russolo, author of the Futurist manifesto "The Art of Noise," Pierre Henry's "Futuristie" centered around the recreation of Russolo's "intonarumori." Henry designed similar looking noise intoners (which are odd shaped boxed with huge metal speakers sticking out their sides) based on the photographs of the objects, as the originals had long been
Anyway, I doubt that Pierre Henry knew either as the dense collage of sounds that he broadcast through those loudspeakers falls well within his musique concrete signature. Henry does claim a strong influence from Futurism, as a manifesto which promoted the removal of semiotic barriers between noise and music. His complex abstraction scrounges for the sounds of aluminum cans getting crushed, the clatter of wooden pegs falling, scraped metal wires, sporadic electronic bleeping, and layered rhythmic grunts and vocalisations sounding like a multi-dubbed Jaap Blonk. Henry certainly is following the spirit of Futurism, but if he is actually following its sonorous aesthetics, I guess we'll never know.
The liner notes are all in French, compounding the quandry.
Are you a musique concrete connoiseur who already has the Pierre Henry box sets "Mix 01.0" and "Mix 02.0"? Then wethinks you'll have to pick this one up too! Again, a hefty helping of Henry's brilliant music. Contains 4 discs: "Variations Pour Une Porte Et
