At the most recent New Pornographers show here leader Carl Newman fielded the audience's unanimous request that the group release another album of new material. Newman claimed that if anyone really wanted high quality New Porn material they would have to wait, but that he would gladly send us all crappy mp3s tomorrow if we wished. While our own request for those "crappy" mp3s has gone unheeded, we are slightly mollified by this 3 track ep from our friends from the Great White North. This single is, as you may have guessed from the title, not exactly entirely new material, but was a companion release to 'Mass Romantic' for its European release there last year. And it has taken us this long to get our grubby paws on them. We can skip 'Letter From An Occupant' as it has been covered in detail already (although we never tire of listening to it). Of the two new tracks on this disc, 'The End of Medicine' is a N.P. original and 'When I Was A Baby' is a cover of Andee's favorite Donner Party song. We're happy to inform that these two new ditties are worth waiting for. 'The End of Medicine' is classic N.P. material that will have you humming the chorus hours after listening to this ep. And unlike the nursery rhyme-like 'naughty little boy' acoustic version presented by the Donner Party, the N.P.'s start the track off with just Neko Case backed by guitar, which becomes an almost tearjerkingly beautiful waltz arrangement with the full band kicking in and Carl taking up the lead vocals and backed in harmony by all else. The one downside to the song and the ep as a whole is its brevity. I find myself just replaying the thing over and over to satisfy my need for more N.P.
Stefan Senf, founder of Suburban Trash Industries and longtime veteran producer of many, many fucked up hardcore d'n'b/gabba/fuckstep singles on labels like Zod, Appareil, SixSixtySix, Brutal Chud, etc., has been picked up for a long overdue full length by London's king of brutal hardcore mashup DJ Scud and his Ambush imprint. Clocking in at just under a half hour, "Deferred Media" is a unrelenting onslaught of distorted beats, ripping shards of harsh noise and bass -- tons of bass! Certainly for fans of Ambush, DHR, Praxis, Brooklyn Beats, et al.
Chris Douglas (aka O.S.T. / Rook Vallard / Rook Vallade) returns with more of his 'chemically imbalanced', willfully difficult electronica. For "Seimlste," Douglas appears to have done away with much of the post-Aphex drum machine damage which dominated many of his earlier recordings in favor of incredibly caustic Max / MSP filters that are heavy on the DSP downpitching and fractalization to achieve a ton of digital snow, covering O.S.T.'s electronic wasteland, at times occasionally venturing into territory similar to MB's early recordings of misanthropic ambience.
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Full on noise attack from this international "supergroup" of sorts. Featuring ex-members of To Live And Shave In LA, Fear Of God, Sudden Infant and Schimpfluch-Gruppe (who, along with Runzlestirn & Gurgelstock, collaborated with noise giant Masonna a while back on the "Arschloch-onna" disc on Japan Overseas), the group utilizes the human voice as the main source of sound, employing a multitude of electronic manipulations guaranteed to destroy eardrums as well as irritate the fuck out of your neighbors. Totally retarded and highly recommended to fans of the above or those needing a fix for what was once the consistent output of the dearly missed RRRecords of Massachussets. On the newly established Ohne label, a subsidiary of the acclaimed Viennese power electronics tastemakers Mego.
At their best, Peacepipe peel out great '60s California biker psych-guitar jams that sound like a cross between Blue Cheer and Quicksilver Messenger Service, full of wah wah action, distortion, and massive sustain. They also remind us a bit of Japan's White Heaven. Unfortunately, there are just a few let-down tracks, where they let hippie cliche and ill-fated dabblings in pop get the best of them. So it's not all killer. But, if you're in the mood, there's a lot of good stuff here that's totally worthwhile. Recorded in Hollywood, California circa 1969, this record is very dated, but very cool -- and heavy (a la Iron Butterfly, not Slayer!). Led by guitarist John Uzonyi, the Peacepipe trio (also known as The Human Equation) highlights John's vocals and wild guitar, but drummer Gary Tsuruda and keyboardist Rick Abts get their licks in as well. Chalk another one up for the Shadoks label, who have included three bonus tracks (two from their 1968 single) that weren't included on the Peacepipe LP (first issued by Rockadelic in '95) on this cd reissue.
If you dug the slightly unhinged, new wave-edged punk carnival of the Phantom Limbs' Applied Ignorance album last year, you might dig Livonia, MI's Piranhas. Suitably hoarse and whiskey-soaked vocals on top of rough, garage-y, energetic punk guitar, bass and drums with surprisingly really good, uncomplicated farfisa organ-y keyboards thrown into the mix. It's these keys which in my opinion save The Piranhas from being obvious or generic. So we say "Yay for keyboards!" This album was originally released in 2000 on vinyl only. Now it sees its cd release on San Francisco's On/Off Switch label.
Now that he's reached his third proper album (not counting his Australia recordings, Gerroa Songs), I guess we can pretty much accept the disappointing fact that Mr. Prewitt will not be revisiting the wonderful pop terrain of his first album In The Sun. Alas, we all must move on. His second full length White Sky was something of a letdown, falling more in the mellow snooziness of his other group Sea & Cake (some even thought it to be Steely Dan-ish), while the follow-up Gerroa Songs did raise our spirits considerably. Happily though it appears he's returned all rejuvenated with a little spring in his step. This is a by far more energetic Archer Prewitt than we've heard in quite some time crafting some darn uplifting pop songs. Most notable are the interesting pop-rock twists and turns of "No Defense", the Split Enz-ish jangly guitar and keyboard accented "Second Time Trader", and the swirlingly epic pop orchestrations of "Gifts Of Love". Soaring backing vocals abound, but it is a bit disturbing to note that his smooth voice is edging eerily closer and closer to that of James Taylor. Yikes! Nevertheless, the more I listen to Three, the more I like!
His name doesn't appear anywhere on this record, but Qbert is da guy what compiled these breaks for your inner DJ. The sleeve is pretty brilliant too, it folds into a popcorn box! Perfect companion to your new Qbert how-to dvd that you bought last week!
We thought they broke up but it appears our beloved mathrock quartet have reunited once again, playing shows, and releasing this fine second album of insanely gorgeous instrumentals. Shimmering with detail, on the dime stops and starts, with a hazy wash of wistful melody over it all. Really quite nice. Music to drive to.
Truly rad cover art again provided by Jeremiah Maddock.
Now this was a surprise. Two former members of Bay Area stoner sludge metal heroes Sleep (not the guy who's now in High On Fire) venture back into the rock n' roll arena with a new band called The Sabians that we have to admit we really hadn't heard many good things about (we'd been told they were terrible live). And, upon hearing this, their debut album, I can kinda understand the naysayers... Number 1, this sure *doesn't* sound like Sleep (it IS heavy, but very different -- High On Fire sounds MUCH more like Sleep for sure) and number 2, it's, well, weird. Just read the sticker on the album cover: "the Sabians' sound is a combination of punk, folk, metal, and chant." What? So we were a bit apprehensive ourselves. But, the truth is, this is kinda cool, and, yeah, weird! Stoner/Sleep fans will have to admit that even track one has its moments of Sabbathian rifferama but it also reminds us of The Pogues! (That's the folk bit.) As the album progesses, it remains dark and dynamic and different, with the sounds of acoustic strum, metal guitar, and even falling rain welded together into earnest, anthemic songs with polished production courtesy Alex Newport. Definitely the one thing you have to get used to is the vocals (a clearly-enunciating Michael Stipe? no, that's not it. A wimpier James Hetfield with a fake European accent?) but if you do, you might really like this. Really, one of the weirdest things about this band is how melodic they are! They actually kinda sound like a hypothetical catchy, radio-friendly Neurosis -- or an art-rock Metallica. But if Tool could get big (another band these guys remind us of) then maybe The Sabians will someday be heard on Live105 too. Anyway, kudos to these guys for trying to do something different and original, and more-or-less succeeding.
DJ Shadow's second full length is finally here, and I do believe I (Windy) am the only AQ-er who likes it. Well, Jim thinks it's ok, but the general consensus 'twixt my colleagues is that the rest of the field has caught up to him, and he hasn't hitched up his britches to keep ahead of the herd. Hmm. I disagree. Certainly The Private Press is no Endtroducing (his acclaimed debut full length), but neither should it be. It's a lot more accessible and crowdpleasing than the debut, the layers aren't as impenetrably mysterious, and yeah, it requires less work to like it (i.e. not as challenging). But there's nuthin' wrong with that. He's keeping it interesting for himself. The Private Press is a likable, listenable (might we even say, at times lighthearted?) trip. It's got everything from the moody arpeggiated piano lines that're DJ Shadow's signature, soul divas, sad minor key laments, funny Cut Chemist / Kid Koala-style spoken bits, super epic percussive climaxes, and an all over hip hop flavor. And the heartbreakingly sincere audio letters that bracket the album are incredibly well chosen, framing the songs as an emotional musical narrative. *Very* well done.
And now for my co-workers to have their say:
We have to wonder, though, why he used that old "pure energy" sample. Why don't ya just throw in "I got the power!" too? Not to mention the overused tired, sad android voice (y'know just like the one Radiohead used).
Cup sez: We had a DJ Shadow 12" here a little while ago, and I thought one of its tracks sounded as if he'd just plugged in his Playstation 2 system and recorded the sounds of someone playing the game REZ. If you're at all familiar with the game you'll undoubtedly find the Shadow track ringing familiar too. REZ is basically a shooter game, but with an astounding combination of rave-ready sounds and gorgeously trippy visuals - both of which are manipulated by your performance. Oh yeah, and the level bosses are pretty spectacular. Stunningly beautiful and deluxe fun! Really, you could just project the game action on a wall, pump the sounds through a bad-ass sound system, and *POOF!* instant party. Anyways, that track is included here too. And it sticks out like a sore thumb which makes the REZ theory all the more plausible!
Strong songwriting dominates this debut release from the local rock group Six Eye Columbia. In addition to guitar and vocals, bandleader / all-around nice guy Josh Pollock also wields the banjo, xylophone, piano, and assorted toys. An array of guests offer pedal steel, cello, sax, trumpet etc. The effects-laden vocal delivery is similar to Guided By Voices' Robert Pollard -- tinny, staticky as if thru a bullhorn. Doleful male harmonies bring to mind Mark Eitzel's solo work, as does the simmering tension and midtempo pace throughout. Forlorn and depressing in a good way.
A lovely cd single from the Baltimore-based post rock quartet Sonna. Two songs (one of which, "Kept Luminescence", is one of my fave songs of theirs) that were previously released in limited vinyl 7" format on the UK Static Caravan label. Think double interweaving guitars, as delicate and precise and emotional as Felt (remember them? what a great band), with really smart, delicate drumming and just enough bass to anchor the sound and prevent it from getting wispy. Funny, I never noticed the Felt sound similarity before, but it's a good comparison. Nice!
Another album from AQ faves Spacehead, the London-based duo of powerhouse percussionist Richard Harrison and trumpeter Andy Diagram, whose otherworldly looped and sampled trumpet and other horns give Spaceheads their signature, singular sound. While previous albums saw the duo playing with prison worksongs and addictively krautrocky rhythms, this record does have some of that but also goes relentlessly in a new direction. Backwards whooshes marshalled into order, ominous rumblings, and lots of atmospherics mark the most experimental record these guys have made yet. There are even three remixes, two of them from the Bleach Boys (a duo which includes drummer Richard Harrison). Not their best work, nor the album to start with (that would be their selftitled one, or Angel Station), but if you've already got their other records and want to witness Spaceheads' sound develop, here ya go.
(darn we're out of this new Spooky remixing Shadow label stuff thingambob, and I had so many nice things to say about Mr. Miller.) (actually now supposedly we have one) (oh, crap. do i really have to?) (yes, now go do as you're told, and listen to dj spooky) (of all of the horrors that could be thrust upon me, did it have to be spooky?) (quit whining) (hey, i'm just saying... why don't you go fuck yourself, and while you're at it go fuck spooky) (you can't talk to me that way) (oh yeah?) (yeah!) (bif) (bang) (pow) (thwap) (slam) (thud) (ouch, no biting allan!) (thup) (crak) (bam) pant, pant, pant, pant (so will you review that spooky record?) (never! i quit) (no you can't quit, you're fired!) (go screw, jerkface) (right back atcha!)(who said that?!)
An album that arrived too late. Sadly the Subtonix are no more. Recently disbanded, they were a wild skronky art punk combo of four women. All raven-haired and smudged black eyeliner, they channelled the ghosts of James Chance & The Contortions (although they also made me think of We've Got A Fuzzbox And We're Gonna Use It). The inclusion of sax in their instrumentation set them apart from the rest of the bay area punk scene. Raw punk/new wave sounds with old synths, saxophone, primitive drumming and slightly sneering swooping vocals. Known for their stage costumery (bloody nurses and dishevelled prom queens immediately comes to mind) they were high on punk rock haphazard dramatics. This album is short and sweet at just under a half hour, and it follows two even briefer releases a self-titled 7" and a split single with Glass Candy & The Shattered Theater. Note: Sax player Jessie Trashed now sings for The Vanishing.
Throughout their tumultuous career marked by numerous extended tours across North America and Europe, Swans had always been a monstrously good live band. Often fueled by vodka and amphetamines, Swans' frontman Michael Gira never gave the impression that a Swans live show was a mere perfunctory gig in support of an album. His theatrical persona was to be massive cathartic experience, in which his expressions of abjection were to infect the rest of the audience through his commanding baritone bark and the musical hammer that made up the rest of Swans. In essence, to bear witness to Swans performing live was to have ones soul drained.
The inevitable translations from these performances onto the recorded media have always suffered from the obvious lack of Swans physical presence; but were more than adequate in providing documentation for how they sounded live. "Feels Good Now" was a semi-legitimate bootleg released back in 1987 of the Swans European tour. It had been 'authorized' by the band, but I'm pretty sure that it was just released anonymously by Gira. Nevertheless, this features a good chunk of the material from Swans' "Children Of God" album, which, if you're asking me, is easily Swans' best recording, filled with an oppressive atmosphere from militant rhythms, staccato guitar stabs, and call-and-response vocal incantations from Gira and Jarboe. While that album has gone in and out print a number of times (as I write this, it's out of print), "Feel Good Now" wouldn't be recommended as a substition for "Children Of God." But if you're already familiar with that album, this is an excellent addendum.
Handy cd format for some heretofore vinyl-only outta sight outta print Tarentel cuts. While we still favor Tarentel's first proper full length From Bone To Satellite as their peak moment, this is still pretty, epic instrumental work, lots of arpeggiated chords, softly shimmering cymbals and sad sack melodies. Very very slow; sometimes a heady climax finishes off a piece, and sometimes we're left hanging midair, holding our breath, waiting for redemption... ahem.
Five tracks, one from the Temporary Residence lathe cut 10", two from Resonant's "Looking for Things Searching for Things" 12", and two tracks from Static Caravan's "Two Sides of Myself" 7".
In celebration of their 20th anniversary of 'Giantness, the two Johns decided to release an album "for the entire family", but we ask "which They Might Be Giants album isn't exactly that?!" More accurately this is a record for children. Their skills of conveying twisted tales and toothsome sentiments in a multitude of styles with a sharp, strange wit cross over smoothly into the kids section. Quirky lyrics sung by quirky voices abound. "Here on Fibber Island we hide mittens in our hair. You might need to stare to see the mittens in our hair." Absurd! There's songs about grocery bags, a Supertaster (!), violins, and the Edison Museum. Some are straight-up singalongs, while others are more like their more "grown-up" rollicking tunes (the Supertaster song for instance). Oddly, the march-along track called "Bed Bed Bed" has a very Residents feel to it. Did I mention that John Linnell has a perfect storytelling voice (he's probably had some practice since he's the father of a toddler). Anyways, the big bonus of this release is that it is an interactive disc which if inserted into a computer will offer up a delightful selection of playtime videos.
We could think up better ways to market this record that what Table Of The Elements came up with. They *could* have shrouded this album in mystery, saying: "Truly hypnotic, vangarde turntablism and cut-up audio collage by unknown sound artist Ted Conrad, circa 1973- '74 -- predating Christian Marclay and Boyd Rice!" Or they could have said what is probably the truth: "Legendary minimalist Tony Conrad smoked a lot of pot in the early '70s while stuck in Ohio. Instead of making films or composing abrasive minimalist music, he made recordings of his young son playing around his toy Fisher-Price record player. Indeed, he probably was playing with the turntable himself."
But Table Of The Elements chose instead to present this album with such hyperbole as: "Is it fair to argue that a precocious Ted [Conrad -- Tony's at the time infant son], the once and future Thuunderboy, anticipated in these excursions of the early '70s everything from the rise of turntablism and hip-hop to the creative strategies of such disparate entertainers and / or conceptualists as Fatboy Slim, Christian Marclay, and that erstwhile Savior of Pop (circa 1997), Beck? Or, rather does it affirm some unerringly democratic quality inherent in the very act of scratching and spinning, that a toddler could create hypnotic loops and decontruct pop banalities into perversely humorous after-the-fact commentaries on the star-making machinery?"
Arghhhh. So lame. Rant aside, the Thuunderboy recordings -- regardless of whether it was Tony Conrad or the toddler Ted Conrad making these sounds -- is a pretty amazing album of locked grooves worn into Donny Osmond 45s, played back at the wrong speed. If anything, it should be appreciated for what it is, a humble peek into the lives of Tony Conrad -- the minimalist trying his hand at fatherhood -- and young Ted Conrad -- the two year old kid who put up with a dad who kept playing with all of his toys.
The amazing, beautiful, anarchic, DIY psych-folk-pop of Tony, Caro & John's terribly rare "All On The First Day" LP (originally privately released in an edition of just 100 copies) has now been revived on CD for, hopefully, a larger audience! This comes to us from the label that's been responsible for bringing us those fab "Love, Peace & Poetry" psychedelic rock compilations (y'know, the Latin American one, the Asian one, the Japanese one, etc.). Among the most recent installments in that series was a disc devoted to British psychedelic obscurities. One of that comp's highlights, we all agreed, was a cut by this trio. That track, the amazingly Neutral Milk Hotel-ish "There Are No Greater Heroes" appears here as well, on Shadoks' reissue of Tony, Caro & John's entire sole album, from 1972. Now, we know that a lot of the time it's true that a great track selected for a compilation doesn't a great album make from whence it came...after all, the compilers are likely to pick the BEST song off an album for their comp. So we were wary -- but curious -- when we heard this whole album was being reissued. Happily, there's actually a lot of other great songs on here besides "There Are No Greater Heroes", although that one still reminds us the most of Jeff Mangum's stuff. Taken together, Tony, Caro & John's songs manage to strike a balance between creepy melancholy and kaleidoscopic pysch silliness. Not only that, but they have more than just a nostaglic vibe going for them -- they are good songwriters/performers with some delightful, weird ideas. Fans of the Incredible String Band and other British hippie folk psych of the period definitely need to hear this. Kudos to Shadoks for digging this up, and doing such a nice job of it too. The booklet has some charming color photos of Tony, Caro and John in their garden, modeling the latest in hippy fashions circa '72. There's also complete lyrics and liner notes from the band, who are still active making music together! AND, five bonus tracks appended to the album make this an even nicer find, consisting of stuff from the period that didn't make it on to the original LP, but *should have* (unlike the general run of bonus tracks!).
Much like the Dead C and Vibracathedral Orchestra, the Belgian trio Toss purposefully seeks to bathe their avant-drone rock in the nervous haze of cable buzzings and various terminal disconnections. For the most part the amorphous terrain is shaped by improvisational meanderings past screwdriving-the-guitar-strings vibrato, gentle guitar strum evolving in the distance, spluttered jazz-rock percussion as in No Neck Blues Band or Jackie-O Motherfucker, sporadic emergence of voices sounding more like unregulated bar room banter than intentionally placed lyrics, and on occasion a groovy Crescent organ blast. Certainly will appeal to fans of Corpus Hermeticum and the sound reminds Andee of Philip Jeck in with its hiccuping rhythms and old fashioned sepia tone haze.
It's crass and laughably simple; but when done well, it's damn good. This is, of course, the current 'bootleg' phenomenon of plunderphonics which drops a hip-hop / top-40 club a capella track on top of a vastly different (but instantly recognizable) instrumental track, all the while perfectly matching both tracks' rhythms and sometimes harmonies. The origin of these culture jamming pisstakes can be traced back to the Evolutionary Control Committee's infamous "Whipped Cream Mixes" in which the a capella tracks from Public Enemy merge perfectly with the swingin' horn-y grooves of Herb Albert. The success of the ECC (aka Mark Gunderson) was principally based upon the lack of hi-tech gear, just two turntables and a mixer.
This import compilation - released on the anonymous No Label - features the current onslaught from likeminded DJs and MP3 wranglers lacing the vocals of one track with the instrumentals of another. While not all of the tracks on "The Best Bootlegs In The World Ever" live up to the compilation's name, about half of them do. The tracks that work best are the ones that manage to not only have the same rhythm, but also match chord progressions. The aforementioned ECC "Whipped Cream Mix" that spots PE's "Rebel Without A Pause" with the Tijuana Brass Band is simply perfect and is prominently featured on "The Best Bootlegs." Other gems include the Christina Aguilera / Strokes mix by Freelance Hellraiser, the Dead Kennedys / Destiny's Child mix by DJ French Bloke, the Girls On Top mix of TLC and Human League, the amazing fusion between The Cure's "Lovecats" and Missy Elliott's "One Minute Man" by Kurtis Rush, and the Sigur Ros / Celine Dion mix that justifies Aquarius' belief that Sigur Ros is nothing but Muzak fodder. Aside from a few duds and a couple more "Funk Soul Brothers" than were ever needed to sampled, this record is brilliant.
These have been really hard for us to track down, due to its odd popularity and its willfully underground distribution. So, when we run out of this... please don't be mad, we'll try to get more.
This *excellent* hip hop comp was put together by Joseph Patel, one of the co-founders of the Solesides label, and also one of the guys responsible for the groundbreaking first volume of the Deep Concentration series released in 1997 that had Cut Chemist on it, plus Latyrx, Prince Paul etc. Patel is well aware of what's happening in our currently wank-heavy world where anyone and everyone claims to be a DJ; the press release reads: "The once spectacular potential of turntablists seems to have devolved into a theater of the mundane: turntable masturbation, scratching for scratching's sake. While DJs on the competitive circuit certainly flash their talents, song trumps sport any day." What he said!
So what we have here is eleven quality tracks, most of them certainly qualifying as high points for their makers, as well as being exclusives. El-P (Def Jux / Cannibal Ox) opens the album with a crazily catchy instrumental featuring an ebullient booty-shakin' chord progression plus lots of warm 'n scratchy vinyl crackle. This track is going to make me buy his album. Further on, Anti-Pop Consortium's typically manic case of attention deficit disorder never sounded this great. Peanut Butter Wolf likewise contributes one of the best pieces I've ever heard from the guy, and Freestyle Fellowship's track is hilarious. Other participants include This Kid Named Miles (Breakestra), Omid, Recloose, Chief Xcel of Blackalicious, Z-Trip, legendary "Lessons"-creator Steinski, and more. There's a coupla duds, in my opinion, but all in all I'd say this is one of the best hip hop comps to come out of the underground in a long while.
Let's hope that nobody confuses this compilation with any of the "Documenta" shows, as there is really nothing in common with this compilation and the massive art exhibit in Kassel, Germany. Rather this is the second in a series from Agenda (the avant-rock subsidiary of UK house label Peacefrog), featuring "some of the finest moments in the movement of modern acoustic and electroacoustic grooves." What Agenda means by such half-baked lingo is the groovier side of post-rock, and has gotten together a pretty good sampling from the Hausmusik crowd (Lali Puna, Tarwater, Tied + Tickled Trio, and Notwist), plus cuts from Mum (the Icelandic, not the German band), Labradford, Calexico, American Analog Set, Windy & Carl, Mice Parade, State River Widening, Bergheim 34, Re, and Savath & Savalas. It should be noted that while some of these tracks are qualified as "rare," nothing's unreleased or exclusive.
Heads up, fans of obscure British punk weirdness! Hyped 2 Death label curator Chuck Warner's "Messthetics" series of UK DIY singles comps is back with Volume 8, covering the important "D" section of the alphabet. Important partly 'cause this "D" volume of course includes the first release by seminal DIY act Desperate Bicycles, whose motto "It was easy, it was cheap: go and do it!" helped inspire many other Messthetics entrants. Also, the tracks found here, spanning the years '77 to '81, include cuts by the Diagram Brothers (Brother Andy Diagram retains the name even today, you all know him now as one of the Spaceheads duo!), Deep Freeze Mice, Danny and the Dressmakers, The Dole, Dolphins, Dum Dum Dum, Digital Dinosaurs, Dry Rib, Dangerous Girls, and a dozen more obscurities. Styles range from distorted new wave dance tracks to twee pop to utter experimental punk n' electronics. From rare singles, cassette comps, and other dusty sources Chuck has retrieved these gems, preserving them on cd-r for a new generation of underground fans. They remain as fun and inspirational as they were when recorded twenty+ years ago. Keep 'em comin', Chuck!
I think this marks the official end of the electro revival. When the usually stellar, true electro vets like Ersatz Audio start releasing diluted, pale imitations, it's a sad sad day. With labels like Ministry Of Sound capitalizing on the electronic pop genre (which by the way, is a much broader and fitting tag for a lot of the current hip sounds that are being lumped excessively and incorrectly under the genre "electro". Ladytron, The Faint, Le Tigre, Peaches and Fischerspooner are NOT electro!) with K-Tel style compilations like "This Is Tech-Pop", everyone is trying to get in on the money-making action. Releases from this label are always eagerly anticipated with high expectations, but everything on this (except possibly the DMX Krew track that jumps out of the pack, highly reminiscent of Devo here!) sounds tired and weak. There's no spark or sense of excitement. The normally irrepressible Gold Chains' contribution is titled "Could Care Less"... and it sounds like it (actually it sounds like he's gone all beat poet!). What the heck's goin' on!? The songs just drag, and even the Adult. track is wack! And, trust me, I really, really like Adult. A lot. Maybe I've become jaded, but I know my tolerance for repetitive electronic pop is higher than most here at AQ. Boo, Ersatz, boo. Very disappointing.
Stefan Betke (aka Pole) has centered the third in the "Staedtizism" series for his ~scape label on the dialogue between hip-hop and its constant appropriation of other artforms. Like the Mille Plateaux compilation "Electric Ladyland: Click-Hop Version 1.0," "Staedtizism 3" seeks to reverse that dialogue by applying the tropes of hip-hop to ~scape's highly specialized form of techno-dub-minimalism. Quite frankly, it doesn't work. The obvious reason for "Staedtizism 3"s failings is that hip-hop succeeds through its adaptability, something which the minimalism of Chain Reaction, Pole, and Monolake completely lacks due to its dedication to tight mathematical programming and structural integrity. Thus, the skeletal hip-hop productions of "Staedtizism 3" have all of the trappings of ProTools polish as each of these tracks are composed from very clean blocks with hammond organ samples, jazz-y basslines, and spartan breakbeats all scrubbed of their sensuality, physicality, and general funkiness. What little vocal acrobatics found on this record are merely in the form of digitally clipped samples. Groan. The case could be made that this is another post-ironic piece of electronica; but either way, this is hip-hop that you're supposed to think about. Who the hell needs that?
Andrew Pekler, Bus, Jan Jelinek, Cappablack, Kit Clayton, John Tejada, Thomas Fehlmann, Deadbeat, Process, Gazoo, Antonelli Electr., and System are the suspects for this one.
San Francisco's The Vanishing proves that a Goth band with a female lead vocalist doesn't have to sound like Siouxsie & The Banshees (but it's not necessarily a bad thing if they do since several other AQ goth novices think this does indeed sound quite a bit like Siouxsie!). Not that I don't find Siouxsie's records quite good (especially "Juju" and "Kaleidoscope"), but the small Gothic resurgence that's paralleling the New Wave revival has mostly been mimicking the aloof theatrics of Joy Division, Bauhaus, Sisters Of Mercy, or Siouxsie, without really saying anything beyond their heroes. Fortunately, the trio of Jessie Trashed (formerly of the Subtonix), Brian Hock, and AQ's own Sadie Shaw (also of The Lies, The Husbands and the co-director of the 8mm indie-gore film "Charm") have developed a pretty unique (or referentially obscure) signature sound. The Vanishing builds an intense, dissonant gloom through monotonous, distorted basslines and Carnival of Souls' organs twisted into sinister melodies, all without any guitars. Jessie's haunted vocals have been treated with an eerie tremolo warble as a well-executed complement to The Vanishing's throbbing music. As Sadie has admitted to having never heard X-Mal Deutschland before, I can safely say that The Vanishing has unintentionally arrived at a Goth sound previously carved out by that oft-forgotten 4AD band. And that's fine by me!
So-called metalhead Andee says he never got into Venom 'cause they sounded too much like Bad News. But, Andee loooves Bad News. Sure, they were a joke band (Spinal Tap done by the Young Ones guys, basically) and Venom's a real band, meaning the joke's on them...but I think they had a sense of humor too. How can you not love a metal album with a song called "Aaaaaaarrghh" on it?? They knew what they were doing.
This was their third album, from 1983, and while it's got sturdy Venom compositions like "Rip Ride" and "Women, Leather And Hell", it's really essential for the plethora of bonus tracks alone, seeing as how they include two of Venom's all time best songs, "The Seven Gates Of Hell" and "Manitou" (taken from 12" vinyl eps). In addition, you get Monster Truck racing style TV adverts for the album which are of course hilarious, and a bunch of other great 12" tracks.
"Lay down your soul to the gods rock and roll!" Do it here and now, by buying the reissue of Venom's 1982 sophomore album, the timeless statement known as "Black Metal".
Super raw, heavy, and fast (for the day, anyway, back when Venom were the world's ONLY black metal band). A looser, scarier Motorhead basically. The story goes that they had to record some of these songs twice simply 'cause they got 'em RIGHT the first time... Includes faves "Countess Bathory" and the genre-defining title track, along with the Van Halen-gone-NWOBHM "Teacher's Pet", demonstrating Venom's more frivolous side. And the final track is an "At War With Satan" preview! Yes, a preview of the title track from their next album. Had (has) anyone else ever done that?
Like the other recent Venom cd reissues, the jewel case is packaged inside an embossed cardstock slipcover. The many bonus tracks include four Radio One recordings of songs from the album, some 12" versions of tracks including the classic "Die Hard", and the outtake "Hounds of Hell".
"Home taping is killing music...so is Venom" so it says on the sleeve to this much needed newly remastered reissued cd edition of the debut by British black metal pioneers Venom. This was, in fact, truth in advertising, and music today needs killing as much as it did back in 1981, so thanks to Sanctuary for this reissue. Like the other two Venom reissues we now have in stock (their second album "Black Metal" and their third "At War With Satan") this comes packaged in a jewelcase w/ cardstock slipcover, with a cd booklet full of photos and liner notes. Better yet, there's eleven bonus tracks, including demos and outtakes like "Bitch Witch" that were previously available on the long out of print "Skeletons In The Closet" anthology. As debuts go, "Welcome To Hell" was a stunner, establishing Venom as THE most extreme band of their day. They were the rawest, dirtiest, most evil of the celebrated New Wave Of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) bunch, with, say Def Leppard at the opposite end of the spectrum. Today's black metal bands, even if they seem so much more serious and artistic than Venom, still owe these guys big time, however cartoonish Venom's Satanism seems now.
Volumen traffic in a weird sort-of peppy happy mod / brit pop. Reminiscent of The Housemartins or The Jam, and sometimes even Dexy's Midnight Runners. Now that might tantalize some of you but BEWARE. This record has some insanely cheezy lyrics, brutally bad vocalising and even some funk breakdowns and ska sassiness, yeeeeesh. It occasionally just sounds like bad college rock. Occasionally there's a good riff or keyboard line, and your think 'oh this is kinda rad' but then BAM!!! some horrible singing starts and embarrasses us all. Too bad.
The music world sure is packed with "whatever happened to?" mysteries, isn't it? And while VH1 has answered quite a few of 'em for us, there's still countless others who've left us hangin'. Well, if you were a fan of the late '70s/early '80s Pacific Northwest / Brit-influenced pop punk new wave sounds of bands like the Pointed Sticks (who were signed to Stiff Records, and heavily inspired bands like the fab power popsters the Fastbacks), the obtuse octet UJ3RK5 and the raw female punk trio The Dishrags from Vancouver, the aforementioned question might've crossed your mind at some point. Former Pointed Sticks guitarist Bill Napier-Hemy has returned to the performance side of pop music after years of academic pursuits (he's a music teacher) and production work. He's joined by fellow guitarists Jade Blade (also an art history professor, and former Dishrag), and Rodney Graham (ex-UJ3RK5). The catchy, slightly world-weary female vocals come courtesy of multimedia artist Shannon Oksanen, and together with the trio of crunchy guitars, they swiftly brought to mind the Rondelles' The Fox album (a very good thing!), not to mention the cult classic flick "Ladies And Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains". Still retaining some of the ol' spit and spirit of their past bands, but with a more powered up rock sound. Sound good to you? Me thinks this would make a great punky addition to your summer soundtrack, right alongside Portland, OR's Epoxies. Recorded by John Collins (New Pornographers) at his JC/DC Studios.
Ann Arbor, Michigan. Home to heavy, powerful dirge rock and noise from the likes of Gravitar and Universal Indians and the power electronics sabotage of Nautical Almanac. Somewhere in between lies the homemade electronics power sludge of Wolf Eyes. Aaron Dilloway (Mr. Hanson Records) heads this behemoth, always unpredictable -- from beat driven floor shakers to tweaked out
These local indie popsters finally release a full length. Super soft and pretty, the songs range from slowly drifting lullabies with bursts of fuzzy cardigan MBVish feedback that threaten to sweep away the often barely audible, fragile vocals to perky, upbeat, poppy numbers with gentle jangling guitars. The sighing, shy girl vocals really reminded me of Rose Melberg's (or those of her Gaze bandmate, Miko Hoffman), but perhaps a bit more hesitant and not quite as note-perfect. One question though... Did they really need to cover the Beatles' "I Will"? Sure, it's a beautiful song (one of my all-time favorites), but their slowed down, K Records folk pop version doesn't really capture the song's magic. Definitely for the shoegazin' indie pop crowd (The Pastels, Ida, The Softies or artists on Slumberland and early SpinArt Records).
At first we thought this record was pretty good, a sort of indie, twangy Cat Power / Dirty Three / Palace-y pastiche. That is, until the second track, and then the third, and then the fourth, when it became obvious that the entire record sounded EXACTLY the same, like it was in the same key, and the vocalist's wannabe-Cat-Power warble had the range of, well, maybe all of 2 or 3 notes, and the guitar player, who is in fact a fantastic guitar player, was going to opt instead to let his guitar feedback and whine and hum with the minimum amount of interference. Maybe that's a little bit harsh, but the record taken as a whole is a very monochromatic affair, and not necessarily in a good way, with the vocals and guitar just sort of droning on and on, less in a hypnotic way, and more in a sort of nagging way, if that makes any sense. Definitely worth a peek if you are fanatical about indie-rock-twang and/or the above mentioned bands, but otherwise this might be a pass.
Over an hour of music from this Portland, OR quartet that just might float you off into outer space or at least get you airborne. Drifting and spacious guitars waft along with quietly percolating arpeggiated pulses and are met by high pitched male vocals that made me think of Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips. Actually overall Yume Bitsu echo a lower-fi, less intricate or expansive 'Lips, and lean more heavily on the gentle psych-space rock side of things along with the likes of Windy and Carl or Landing. Admirers of the latter two groups are probably already familiar with this group, and if they're not they certainly should be. This more than calming foursome includes Adam Forkner of Surface of Eceon and Jason Anderson also of Wolf Colonel. Listen with headphones right before sleepytime!
