A legendary dub album never before released outside Jamaica -- and there with only a teeny run of 300 copies -- comes to us via the upstart Motion label, which is rapidly taking a place next to Blood & Fire as a reissuer of top notch Jamaican music. By the early 70's Niney The Observer had established himself as one of Jamaica's most innovative producers, but like most, had cut his teeth working behind the scenes for others. When Max Romeo's "Macabee" -- a track that the two had worked on together -- became a hit for Romeo, Niney made the decision to strike out on his own. He struck up a close working relationship with a group of young musicians calling themselves the Soul Syndicate and along with singer Dennis Brown found himself releasing numerous hit singles. Sledgehammer Dub is essentially the dub album of Dennis Brown's "Deep Down With Dennis Brown" the tracks for which were recorded as singles in 1974 (and released on LP in 1976) and is itself a bit of a rarity. Niney gave King Tubby the tapes for him to work dubs of for his sound system and the dubs that were later mixed again by King Tubby and then released in 1977 on a very limited white label pressing. A rare occurence in a dub mix that you'll notice on these tracks here is that the vocal parts were not mixed in at all, piece or parcel. On top of the 10 dubs from the original LP are added several bonus dubs (four for the CD, three for the new LP) and some excellent liner notes by David Katz (author of People Funny Boy, the biography of Lee Perry.)
Our friend Adam who runs the super cool Crucial Blast label, has, for over 6 years now, been quietly (and not so quietly) putting out some of the coolest shit around. From crusty Finnish metal to droning electronica to sparse folk to brutal power electronics. This new series of cd-r's, limited to 100 copies and nicely packaged in oversized DVD cases will only be available via Aquarius records (unless you get them directly from Crucial Blast). So don't blow it...
KK Null, guitarist for mighty Japanese rockers Zeni Geva has been releasing solo guitar records for a while now. Ranging from noisy freakouts to dreamy lullabies to guitars played with vibrators. All of them have been stellar. 'Datacide In Year Zero' falls on the mellow dreamy side, but only just. And is one of the best we've heard. This is an effect-laden soundscape where Null's guitar is transformed into all manners of creaks and clangs, squeals and rumbles, burbling and sputtering, beeping and whirring, creating a sort of haunting and ominous futuristic soundscape, technical and electronic but organic at the same time. Kind of creepy but also fairly lovely at moments. The disc ends with a 13 minute heavy drone worthy of Troum or Organum. But as the track winds down, a Skullflowerish cloud of high end shimmer and a vaguely techno rhythm slowly encroach and overtake. Really nice.
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Four songs by SF faves Numbers are paired with five songs from sadly defunct Portlanders Emergency, including a cover by late 70's NYC post-punk group Come On.
Numbers approach everyday technology (photography, TV,) from a distance to produce angular pop that has the power to drive people to dance themselves into sweaty heaps. Two of these songs also appear on their debut full length cd "Numbers Life" on Tigerbeat 6. The Emergency side features bratty/erudite vocals (courtesy Ethan Swan-Scahill, who runs Archigramophone along with drummer Paul Dickow), high pitched guitar anti-melody lines and some damaged punk disco beats. Obnoxious and good, though not as excellent as their lp "The Less I Know" (also on Archigramaphone).
In all honesty, I have to admit being disappointed by the second "Automating" collection of rarieties, out-takes, and compilation tracks from Nurse With Wound. Unlike the first collection which wonderfully expounded upon the Stapleton dichotomy between sublime terror and incredulous silliness, this album lacks any purposeful direction other than collecting rare tracks. The first two tracks -- "The Strange Play Of The Mouth" and "Old Man River / Dance Of Fools" -- are alternate mixes from the universally loved "Sylvie and Babs Hi-Fi Companion" of plunderized easy listening records. "Lonely Poisonous Mushroom" follows with dense amounts of cathedral reverb filtering through sporadic samples of church organs, choral notes, and demonic noises, sounding much like an out-take from Current 93's "Dawn." A track (ambiguously titled "Wolfi" as opposed to the original title "Lea Tantaaria") from Graeme Revell's project "Necropolis, Amphibians And Reptiles" of re-interpretations from the early 20th Century outsider artist Adolf Wolfi - just indeterminant plinks, plonks, etc. The uncredited collaboration with Organum "Human Human Human" really sounds nothing like Organum with its sampled dialogue from a crack-pot cult that encourages its followers to cook their own pets.
Most of these tracks date from the late '80s, when Stapleton had really kicked his production into high gear. These tracks collectively appear as the jettisoned debris from his proper albums.
What hath the popularity of The Osbournes wrought? Music for the weirdest nightclub you've never been to, apparently. Opium Jukebox is actually Martin Atkins of Killing Joke -- Opium Jukebox seems to be his project for doing trancey techno cover versions of rock music. He's already done a Sex Pistols tribute, an alt-rock one with Nirvana and Jane's Addiction tunes, and has a Rolling Stones tribute in the pipeline. None of which much interest us...but THIS does. He's roped in a sitar player and dug up some vocal samples ("courtesy some dodgy market place in the Far East") to do a "Bhangra" style album of Black Sabbath covers!! Yep, a blend of traditional Indian instrumentation and modern electronic synth and beats making essentially instrumental and 'exotic' (but mostly recognizable, if you know your Sabbath) versions of the likes of "Iron Man" and "War Pigs". For some reason they've neglected "Sweet Leaf", which seems odd 'cause this has a definite hookah-suckin' vibe -- most of the synth effects sound like bong hits, even. It's super-cheesy, but how can you resist? We couldn't. While we would certainly recommend the artistry and atmosphere of Rondellus' Latinized early music style Sabbath-chants above "Bhangra Bloody Bhangra", there's still a place on our shelves next to that AQ-fave Rondellus "Sabbatum" disc for this. It's a worthwhile novelty for sure. Wonder why it exists, but listen and enjoy (or at least, confuse your friends). Track list: Supernaut, Iron Man, Heaven & Hell, N.I.B., Paranoid, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Snowblind, Embryo, War Pigs, Suicide Solution (hey that's a solo Ozzy song, not a Sabbath one!), and Supernaut again.
And as we later discovered, if you dig this, check out the Opium Jukebox Sex Pistols record which is done in a similar style, sitars and all.
FINALLY REISSUED!!! Just like "Volume One," Robot Records has discarded David Jackman's mandala-like collages of medical clip-art as well as any pertinent information in favor of an all black package, with the tracklisting printed on the cd itself. Fronted by the curmudgeonly Jackman (who previously worked with Cornelius Cardew's Scratch Orchestra, Nurse With Wound, and members of AMM), Organum has been an unwavering vehicle to compose unsettling drones out of the dynamic timbres of metallic scrapings. As heard on the first track "Valley Of Worms" - a collaboration with The New Blockaders from the Organum album "In Extremis" Organum's sound is a monstrous howl of dissonant acoustic noises, chugging Kawasaki motorcycle engines (!!!), and abrasive textural overlayering; yet upon the following tracks "Horii" (originally released on L.A.Y.L.A.H. and featuring noted Organum graduate Andrew Chalk), and "Ich Reiste Weit Und Verweilte Fur Einigezeit In Tring" (an unreleased track from 1989), Jackman's symphonies of noise begin to harmonize into a eerily beautiful drone. Very highly recommended work that probably won't stay in print for much longer in spite of the repressing!
Since emerging along with the Dead Boys from Rocket From The Tombs, Pere Ubu have continued to survive through numerous breakups, reformations and incarnations, including frontman David Thomas' solo efforts. With recent efforts by other seminal art-punk bands (*ahem* Wire) lacking the creativity and vision of the early releases which brought them acclaim (in the underground, at least), it's more than reassuring that this newest Pere Ubu album is quietly great. Musically, 'St Arkansas' bears little resemblance to the sharp dissonant punk of Modern Dance but thankfully avoids the pop of their later eighties efforts. Gone is Thomas' hyper-manic yelping, and in its place a much more sinister growl. We find here an Ubu of dark, slow burn intensity. St. Arkansas is so infused with creepiness that comparisons to Tom Waits seem unavoidable. It makes sense: there's a thread of lowlife drifterdom, a mysterious desperation, a desire to break free through the transcendence of the open road -- and the radio, as outlined mantra-like in the heavyweight final track. Worth your attention.
Perhaps you remember (and/or have in your cd collection) the Atomsmasher cd released by Hydra Head last year? Lead by avant/ambient guitarist James Plotkin (formerly of weird Earache metal band OLD), and featuring drum god Dave Witte (Human Remains/Discordance Axis/Melt Banana/etc.), with processed "AudioMulch" vocals from DJ Speedranch, Atomsmasher got a pretty enthusiastic recommendation from us at the time, as a unique blend of live (but inhumanly played) drums, avant-noise-sampling guitar, and computer-created chaos. Grindcore electronica?
Well, after a ridiculous legal wrangle with some uptight, clueless pop band that apparently had the rights to the name Atomsmasher (and absurdly accused this Atomsmasher of intentionally 'stealing' it), the Plotkin/Witte/Speedranch project changed their moniker to Phantomsmasher. (I think they should have just called themselves Atomsmashersmasher.) Now they've come out with a new cd, on Mike Patton's Ipecac label. At first listen we weren't sure, and thought maybe the original Atomsmasher cd was superior. This one seemed a bit too...post rock. Not quite like Tortoise or Gastr del Sol though, more metallic (but by no means actually metal) and aggro, kinda like Don Cab. Witte's drumming sounds more real, less computerized than before. There's still insane blasting parts, but also some more straight-ahead boom bap. And Plotkin's thick bass slabs get almost funky. From the get go (track one, "Bishop Hopping"), with Speedranch's weirdly child-like Mulched vocals, it reminded us of a Ruins or Hella record, but thrown in a blender on "high". Cool, but not nearly as out-and-out insanely intense as the noisefest of their first album, though still pretty nuts. But things get more interesting as the Phantomsmasher disc goes along. The chaos coalesces into something more like actual songs, not totally random rhythms and noise-eruptions. In its own, densely complex, distorted, and noisy way, it's kinda catchy! Definitely different from the debut, but they've chosen a worthwhile direction to explore.
A truly un-inspired work of mediocrity from Pat. Apparently Mr. Pat has never heard of off beats, syncopation, or any other rhythmmic device other than a mechanical, metronomic delivery of his tedious words. The album starts off with its 'hit' number "Still Ridin' Clean", in which Pat proclaims he's "still makin' cheese" while getting his dick sucked. I apologise to all our customers who *were* eating breakfast while reading this. Our man from the street himself, Allan Horrocks, informs us that "cheese" is the new lingo for money, or "dough". While that eases my mind slightly in regards to Pat's hygiene and sexual proclivities, the song still solicits its humorous effect on us when listening to it. But I swear Pat switches the first half of this phrase to "still eatin' cheese" a few times in the song. The suckers at Columbia Records who put this out were kind enough to include a FREE limited edition bonus disc for die hard Project Pat fans who buy their copies sooner rather than later.
This is ex-Slant 6 / Autoclave star Christina Billotte's new band. Joining her is her sister Mira and, as a suprise to us, Mick Barr of Orthrelm and Octis (who keeps his lightspeed squiggly metallic guitar style in check here). Quix*o*tic has the edgy danciness of Slant 6, but that's where the similarities end. Stylistically it's really all over the place but in a good way. There are songs that sound like slightly twisted and odd British psych and folk. There's some '60s soul/funk influenced numbers with creative backing vocals that reminded me of the old Motown girl groups. There are a few unfortunate moments on this record however, namely those few cheesy and embarrassing covers that made us cringe. The worst is without a doubt "Lord Of This World" by Black Sabbath. Yikes, that's really bad! A good song, but we don't care for their somewhat careless cover version. I can't tell if they're trying to be funny or not, but I didn't approve. So, if you just skip the covers this record is pretty darn cool, creative and eclectic. With the covers, it's still eclectic, even more so. Bravo, kind of.
Buzz whir click crackle throb. Skittery drums, lovely drone. It's Glitch, but it's Rock. Post rock, anyway. It's the new disc from Radian, the computer-aided instrumental post rock trio from Vienna. Radian have previously released two cds -- a full-length and an ep -- on the Mego and/or Rhiz labels over the past few years. Now they show up with a new full-length on Chicago label Thrill Jockey, enlisting Tortoise's John McEntire on recording/mixing duties. Drummer Martin Brandlmayr lays down the fractured beats, bassist John Norman fills out the pulse, and synthesizer coloration is provided by Stefan Nemeth. And together they use computers to process their real-time playing. Hard disc edits, electronic effects, layered textures, done with a great sense of timing and placement. At times "Rec.Extern" is propulsive and rhythm-driven like a sci-fi This Heat or sliced-up Circle, at others it's atmospheric, the background radiation of a haunted laboratory, with the sounds of burbling beakers and hissing Bunsen burners quietly rising and fading. Sudden silences, sudden sounds. We like it when today's electronic artistes step out from behind their laptops to play real instruments, and Radian falls in line with the likes of Markus Schmickler's Pluramon project and Dean Roberts' "Plays The Grand Cinema" disc on Ritornell as electro-acoustic computers-meet-rock successes. We're also put in mind of the abstract sounds n' silences of Supersilent or Starfuckers (the latter who can be much more 'out' and abrasive than Radian), and recent Dead C. We certainly liked Radian's other releases, but "Rec.Extern" seems to be even better, there's just more to it. Recommended.
Much has been written here about the recent work of Matthew Bower and his beautiful improv skree in Sunroof (paralleling the massive proliferation of likeminded acts Vibracathedral Orchestra and Birchville Cat Motel); but people often overlook the fact that he began making music in the early '80s as a part of the "Broken Flag" camp - a loose collective of British power electronics technicians and noise rockers, that recorded under the monikers Skullflower, Total, and Ramleh. While Bower was principally the 'figurehead' of the first two and fellow Broken Flag waver Gary Mundy took hold of Ramleh, most of the recording was done with a revolving door membership. Between Skullflower and Ramleh, the Broken Flag camp had produced a noxious arsenal of sludgy noise rock with grim guitar pyrotechnics, crashing upon pummelling rhythm sections, village-idiot basslines and thuggish percussive blasts. These days, the awe-inspiring Skullflower albums "Form Destroyer" and "Birthdeath" are virtually extinct (even, the CD compendium "Ruins" is impossible to find); but fortunately, the old Ramleh stuff is finally available again via this collection of singles. Hopefully this will help keep Broken Flag from dissappearing in the dustbins of musical history.
The formulas for Ramleh (and Skullflower for that matter) were incredibly simple: hammer out a basic rhythm as heavy and as loud as possible, then layer on the angriest and most dissonant blasts of post-Blue Cheer psychedelic freaks outs. Throughout the '80s, Ramleh and Skullflower were pigeonholed as a part of Industrial Culture -- due to their power electronics side projects and associations with Whitehouse; yet as "Too Many Miles" now indicates, this work has much more parallels with the explosive dirges of Neurosis or the incendiary stoner rock of Boris. Really fantastic stuff.
Taking the CD-R production into their own hands, the Argentinian outrock ensemble Reynols has started releasing CD-Rs of their music in an attempt to pull themselves out of the downward spiral that is Argentina's faltering economy. Fortunately, their country's economic plight hasn't deterred Reynols' spirit, which is still centered upon the self-described prophecies of frontman Miguel Tomasin who happens to have Down's Syndrome. While the "Jaz Ronco Japi Javas" series finds Reynols materializing in their rock guise, the music is far less claustrophobic and bleak than the classic noise rock primitivism of "Barbatrulos" or "-------," rather it takes on a celebratory free noise / drone skree typically found on Vibracathedral Orchestra recordings. On a couple of the tracks in the series, Reynols presents themselves as a jazz ensemble with piano, stand-up bass, and sax, but of course with their own charmingly alien signature. As in all of the rock Reynols albums, Miguel does feature prominently and even shows a greater range of instrumentation in playing organs, guitar, flute, marimba, and "Andino Sax," alongside his staple instrument, the drums. And of course, Miguel sings with his pronounced vocal warble and slurred syllables. Roberto "Moncho" Conlazo and Alan "Anla" Coutis continue in their supporting role, producing some nice drone tracks and monochromatic noise guitar work.
Taking the CD-R production into their own hands, the Argentinian outrock ensemble Reynols has started releasing CD-Rs of their music in an attempt to pull themselves out of the downward spiral that is Argentina's faltering economy. Fortunately, their country's economic plight hasn't deterred Reynols' spirit, which is still centered upon the self-described prophecies of frontman Miguel Tomasin who happens to have Down's Syndrome. While the "Jaz Ronco Japi Javas" series finds Reynols materializing in their rock guise, the music is far less claustrophobic and bleak than the classic noise rock primitivism of "Barbatrulos" or "-------," rather it takes on a celebratory free noise / drone skree typically found on Vibracathedral Orchestra recordings. On a couple of the tracks in the series, Reynols presents themselves as a jazz ensemble with piano, stand-up bass, and sax, but of course with their own charmingly alien signature. As in all of the rock Reynols albums, Miguel does feature prominently and even shows a greater range of instrumentation in playing organs, guitar, flute, marimba, and "Andino Sax," alongside his staple instrument, the drums. And of course, Miguel sings with his pronounced vocal warble and slurred syllables. Roberto "Moncho" Conlazo and Alan "Anla" Coutis continue in their supporting role, producing some nice drone tracks and monochromatic noise guitar work.
Taking the CD-R production into their own hands, the Argentinian outrock ensemble Reynols has started releasing CD-Rs of their music in an attempt to pull themselves out of the downward spiral that is Argentina's faltering economy. Fortunately, their country's economic plight hasn't deterred Reynols' spirit, which is still centered upon the self-described prophecies of frontman Miguel Tomasin who happens to have Down's Syndrome. While the "Jaz Ronco Japi Javas" series finds Reynols materializing in their rock guise, the music is far less claustrophobic and bleak than the classic noise rock primitivism of "Barbatrulos" or "-------," rather it takes on a celebratory free noise / drone skree typically found on Vibracathedral Orchestra recordings. On a couple of the tracks in the series, Reynols presents themselves as a jazz ensemble with piano, stand-up bass, and sax, but of course with their own charmingly alien signature. As in all of the rock Reynols albums, Miguel does feature prominently and even shows a greater range of instrumentation in playing organs, guitar, flute, marimba, and "Andino Sax," alongside his staple instrument, the drums. And of course, Miguel sings with his pronounced vocal warble and slurred syllables. Roberto "Moncho" Conlazo and Alan "Anla" Coutis continue in their supporting role, producing some nice drone tracks and monochromatic noise guitar work.
"Pupola Ridos 192000" is the CD-R that the Argentinian avant-rockers Reynols sold on their 2001 tour throughout the US and is now available to a broader audience through Reynols' own production house Valubamafiforo. Reynols has toured the US several times, and each time the frontman of the group Miguel Tomasin has declined to venture up to the US because of his belief that the United States does not exist. Nevertheless, Miguel does claim to channel his spirit to these non-existant territories to help fellow Reynols members Roberto "Moncho" Conlazo, Alan "Anla" Coutis, and "Pacu Conlazo" get through their performances.
Regardless, this disc does prominently feature Miguel singing his atonal warbling, spluttering along behind the drum kit while the rest of the band produces creepy dronework similar to their Pauline Oliveros collaboration and their more abrasively bleak noise-rock as heard on "Barbatrulos" or "-------."
Fortunately this is not another laptop improvisation thingy that is endemic of the European 'new music' scene, Oren Ambarchi and AMM's Keith Rowe have improvised with comparitively traditional instrumentation, the prepared guitar, for their collaborative album "Flypaper." The results don't offer any new tricks or surprises to either guitarists' predelictions for the gestural drone and gritty, impressionistic textures; but on the other hand, they certainly won't disappoint the fans of either musician. From wheezing motorized clatterings to electrically charged hums to Rowe's shortwave filtering through heterodyned signals and gray static washes to Ambarchi's softened eBow reverberations, the two transition from one sound to another with a controlled subtlety and deliberate pacing. In the end, this shares more in common with the drone haziness that's been endorsed by Corpus Hermeticum (i.e. Surface of the Earth, RST, and of course late period Dead C).
As promised, the new DJ Rupture set is here on Tigerbeat6 and it does not disappoint. As on his last release, Gold Teeth Thief, Rupture's strong points, and this can't be emphasized enough, are combined in his great taste in a variety of musics and his smMOOOOVve mixing skills. There's also nothing ironic about his choices of source material and, maybe more importantly, he is only too happy to oblige us with the names of the cuts that he's mixing (well, most of them, presumably the ones he got permission to use). So obliging is he, that he makes the point of including label names and even URLs where applicable. So if you're curious enough you can track down all the individual cuts for yourself (which is actually a fun task to perform because you can hear what Rupture has tweaked through pitch and EQ from the sources to achieve his goals.) Unlike Gold Teeth Thief, which starts off like a stick of dynamite, Minesweeper Suite -- as I suppose its name suggests -- catches one off-guard. It begins with a pleasant track from Nubian musician Mahmoud Fadl gradually mixed in with the smooth dub sounds of J-Boogie and the two slowly pitched up together until by six minutes into the CD, Rupture has got the tempo up to a grinding pulse with all manner of breakbeats, dancehall, arabic music and hip hop weaving seamlessly in and out of the mix. In all, Minesweeper Suite is a much more ambitious undertaking than Gold Teeth Thief in that the source material that Rupture pools together for this set seems to consitently come from a wide variety of music from around the globe. Where the "world music" filled second half of his Gold Teeth Thief set may have seemed the weaker part of that disc, here it seems Rupture has increased his skills enough to throw just about anything into the mix and have it sound as if it were meant to be completely natural. Among the music sampled are Foxy Brown, dancehall from Cutty Ranks, Sade, Nina Simone, Robert Flack, Dead Prez, Djivan Gasparyan, Kid606, Cex, DOnna Summer, Wax Poetic, Dat Politics, even Cul de Sac. Quite an experience.
Basic Channel -- the Berlin-based techno label run by Mortiz Von Oswald and Mark Ernestus from 1993 - 1995 -- released only 9 singles and 1 retrospective cd; yet, the impact that Basic Channel had upon the global techno and electronica communities has been tremendous. It's probably safe to say that any self-respecting techno DJ has a couple of the Basic Channel 12"s thoroughly smeared with grimy fingerprints from years of use. Jerome Maunsell in describing Basic Channel for The Wire rightly qualified it as "the Holy Grail of Techno." The sound of Basic Channel ripples with precedents from Lee Perry's schizoid rewiring of tape through his delay pedals to the cocaine-induced mania / paranoia of late 80's Acid House to the skeletal vacancy of Detroit Techno; however, Basic Channel (like its contemporary descendent Chain Reaction) has an unmistakeable signature. Monochromatic, metallic synth stabs cascade through rhythmically precise delay patterns alongside the unrelenting force of a very simple 909 four on the floor techno stomp - often just a huge basskick and an off-beat ride cymbal or hi-hat.
For this album, Chain Reactionists Scion (Pete Kuschnereit aka Substance and Rene Loewe aka Vainqueur) were given free access to the Basic Channel back catalogue to create a continuous mixed cd with the help of Ableton's 'live' audio software. The results do not stray far from the original sound, even though multiple Basic Channel tracks have been woven into various sections of the album. And even almost a decade after their original inception, these cuts still sound amazing and fresh!
Culled from the Shiggerfraggar radio show records that've been lovingly reissued by Billy Jam on disc, this is a prime breaks record for all you turntablist DJs. Speaking of which, has everyone heard about the cool turntable festival happening in LA November 2002? Looks incredible! Everyone from Kid Koala to Philip Jeck. http://http://www.turnament.com/index2.html
Our friend Adam who runs the super cool Crucial Blast label, has, for over 6 years now, been quietly (and not so quietly) putting out some of the coolest shit around. From crusty Finnish metal to droning electronica to sparse folk to brutal power electronics. This new series of cd-r's, limited to 100 copies and nicely packaged in oversized DVD cases will only be available via Aquarius records (unless you get them directly from Crucial Blast). So don't blow it...
One man band Shuai makes his noisy lo-fi electronica from a weird mix DHR style digital hardcore breakbeats, throbbing old school synths, blipping bleeping IDM, throbbing hardcore techno and some all out noise. Fans of DHR and meaner/harder IDM stuff should definitely check this out.
Yup, Corin Tucker's voice is still kicking up the wee hairs in my ears in a manner which I've never found particularly pleasurable. Others may feel quite the opposite. For sure, it's an unmistakable, much-imitated, love-it-or-hate-it kind of voice. Really, it's the one thing that's kept me from totally digging their records. I mean, the music rocks! And that said, One Beat is pretty darn stellar. There's definitely been a lot of artistic growth and maturing since All Hands On The Bad One. Although there's plenty that's pleasingly familiar - Janet Weiss' drumming's as solid as ever, Tucker and Carrie Brownstein have honed their guitar craft into something so dynamic and complex, likewise, the vocal interplay between the three women is fab - there's also lots of stretching out, trying new things, drawing from a wider range of influences and inspirations. One Beat has some hot numbers on it, "Combat Rock" and "02" to name just two. The only song that sticks out in a less than good way is the final one. "Sympathy" is a slide guitar number with Tucker affecting an excessive country blues warble. Almost sounds as if they were sippin' from the same bottle of Mississippi moonshine that seemed to have felled Mr. Calvin Johnson on his most recent album. Au secours! Regardless, this album gets the thumbs up, baby!
Okay, you're all probably just as anxious about this release as we are here. And you're probably wondering, as we were here, "just how the fuck are they going to top Girls Can Tell?"It's a tough thing for any band to take that next step after releasing a -- dare I fucking say -- perfect record. It's twice as hard since everyone is expecting to be blown away from the first beat. So is it as good as the last? Hmmm... Well, it didn't punch anyone's lights out on the first, or second, beats. But after listening through a couple times, 4 out of 6 lovers of the last album feel that this album kicks ass. And while it doesn't have as much immediate impact, or as many sure-fire "hits" on it, that doesn't seem as important. It feels like they're trying something new and completely different. Well, as different as they can be while still retaining their Spoon-isms. A customer new to Spoon described this as the record that Elton John would've made if he had the White Stripes and the Strokes as his backup band. Which is to say it's got a lot of swagger and incandescent hooks, but it's not trendy or prefab in any way -- more like Squeeze with their sparkling, precise, stripped down pop songs. Fucking fantastic. Kill The Moonlight seems like a much more introspective record than Girls Can Tell, rife with a greater amount of studio experimentation and instrumentation. Daniels and crew tinker around with piano, mellotron, *human beat box*, and a great multitude of effects. Which isn't to say that this is an "experimental" record at all. Nor is it all unstructured "jams". No, it's a lean machine with nary an ounce of fat on its almost brief 38 minute run time.
The always-intriguing European experimental label Grob presents a disc of low-key guitar improvisation from a group consisting of four names well-known in international abstract avant improv circles: Martin Siewert, Burkhard Stangl, Werner Dafeldecker, and Taku Sugimoto (we *love* Taku Sugimoto). Three of 'em on guitar, one on bass, to be accurate. A pluck here, a drone there, mellow tones and quiet crackle. Liquid, minimal, gentle, careful. Patient music, giving respect to silence. No FMP-ish skree here -- at its loudest a swell of buzzing builds that's more soothing than threatening. Recorded live, perhaps processed and perfected in post-production.
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Helloooo all you faithful Talk Talk completists! This cd compiles the singles from their extraordinary 1991 album Laughing Stock (which surely already holds an honorable place in your music library) along with four other tracks. Actually two if the "singles" are different versions of the originals - "After The Flood" is an alternate take/outtake and "New Grass" is an edit. "Ascension Day" is unaltered. The other tracks include "Myrrhman" (also from Laughing Stock) as well as the "Stump", the abstract soundscape "5:09" and a meditative 14 minute piece of solo piano minimalism performed by TT mainman Mark Hollis (originally a contribution to the Allinson/Brown experimental ambient album AV 1). Not an essential cd, but if it spurs you to revisit Laughing Stock, then we're fortunate for its release.
The German drone ensemble Troum and its predecessor Maeror Tri have been long-time favorites of Aquarius, never failing to deliver powerful recordings of bleak atmospheres densely folded upon fragile melodies. We are pleased to announce that Troum's collaboration with the American dark ambient duo Yen Pox is no exception. Both Troum and Yen Pox rely upon the metaphoric characteristics of the drone to evoke dream like states. Within their prediliction for gossamer melodies from guitars, lutes, accordion, and flutes all buried under many layers of reverb, delay, and other blurring effects, Troum's work fixates upon the language of dreams and hypnogogic states (even their name is an archaic German translation for dream), as something of a semiotic / transcendental escape route from the confines of earthbound reality. On the otherhand, Yen Pox relies upon the hauntings of nightmares to shape the contexts of their drones, often referencing the sci-fi paranoia of black holes or the Gothic invocations of unknown horrors found in the best Lustmord recordings.
On "Mnemonic Induction," the two outfits seemlessly merge their respective sounds into a sublime droning hybrid that thrives on billowing oxygenated washes and delicate melodies floating up from a continuously thundering low-end rumble. Consequently, this album is far darker than anything that Troum / MT has ever done, but provides a greater focus beyond the scope of death-obsessed imagery common within the Yen Pox dark ambience.
This album should not be missed.
Rockin' the Ozzfest, the Warped Tour, and uh, I think some Blink 182 shows or something too, this emo/metal/pop/punk/hardcore act from Utah has hit the commercial big time already with their self-titled Reprise debut. Screamy but melodic, kinda like AQ faves Poison The Well or something I guess. Whiny emo guys and Slayer fans both will find something to like here. Well, not all Slayer fans. But whiny emo guys who *also* like metal should be happy. Presumably that's who's in the band as well. HUGE HUGE production and about the heaviest/catchiest thing you'll hear on modern rock radio. If this band was on an indie label (which might increase their chances of lasting more than one record) they would be HUGE and there'd be kids sitting outside 7-11's all over the country, sporting USED patches on their back packs.
This nice comp of electronic tracks that feature the accordian and/or melodica turns out to be a good idea! Although the pieces have all been previously-released on the participating musicians' solo albums (except for the Dntel track), that fact has worked in the comp's favor, because it made it possible for the compilers to choose only tracks they love and which work with the other choices. (As opposed to too many comps that are spotty bad listening, their raison d'etre being to impress people with a hip roster of participants rather then come up with good listening, grrr.) As you would expect, the melodica and accordian are both very easy to play; beginners can elicit lovely sounds from them immediately, so it makes perfect sense that the laptop jockeys, who can't exactly play anything but their computers or samplers, would turn to these simple acoustic instruments. Many of the songs are ultra simple and yes, everyone could do it, but as the liner notes convey, the artists will be the first to admit it... There's dub lite, some Parisian-cafe-style downtempo, layers and layers of treated acoustic sounds -- very few heavy beats, high speed workouts, or showing off. While I could've used a few more challenging tracks (the most succesful ones here being pieces like Doctor Rockit's which is layered and cut up so much that it would be impossible to play live), the mood is consistent throughout and the sequencing is perfect. With Dntel, Doctor Rockit, Mum, Markus Nikolai, Gonzales, The Gotan Project, Burnt Friedman & Jaki Leibezeit, and a few more. A nice record that rewards careful listening while working quite well as easy listening (but not "easy listening"... er...)
Here's a fine way to get acquainted with SF label Expel Records who put out the lovely Brookhaven album. If you've had a chance to hear and enjoy that record or if you're a fan of such mellow groups like The Album Leaf, Tristeza or Languis, you're certain to enjoy this compilation featuring a couple nice tracks from Brookhaven as well as Telefecteau, Roche, Clay Payton, Ecru, and Hinokuma. They all fall somewhere on a spectrum of minimal electronics blended with more traditional indie-type elements (guitars, live drums). Funky sampled beats and cold, beautiful synth washes, little lo-fi keyboard bedroom recordings-like and more polished productions all find their way into this collection, hopefully signalling more full lengths on the way from Expel artists. Quite nice!
"Join the team as they uncover the secret of the three-hundred year old Spanish mummy, solve the riddles of the scary old woman, help Gert-Jan face his fear of water, and try to save the city's pets in an adventure of endless twists and turns, laughs and rock n' roll!"
When I was younger (no seriously, much younger) I liked to read books about kids who started their own detective agencies, Encyclopedia Brown, The Three Investigators, that sort of thing. Indeed I tried to set myself up as a detective too (I had a fingerprint kit and a magnifying glass and even a deerstalker hat) but sadly if unsurprisingly had trouble finding clients with crimes to solve, unlike my fictional counterparts. So I was immediately taken with this new Fire Inc. release, the booklet of which contains Episode Four of "The Secret Of The Haunted Spanish Galleon", a mystery story featuring those precocious kids turned detectives turned rock n' rollers, The Vacuum Boys. Very cleverly presented, with appropriate artwork and graphics. In reality, The Vacuum Boys aren't kids, mystery-solvers, or a rock band. They're Heimir Bjorgulfsson (of Stilluppsteypa), Girt-Jan Prins (MIMEO, solo electronics), Guy Amitai, and Dan Armstrong (Central 87), and deal in electronic clicks and cuts, not clues, and certainly not rock n' roll. Sure there's guitars on here, and drums (Girt IS a real drummer we know, and Dan does guitar and electronics improv), but there's a lot of computer processing involved as well -- and maybe a Hoover. Recorded live at Prins' studio in Rotterdam February 2002, it's a noisy (but pleasantly so), chopped-up glitch-fest of crackle, distortion, whoosh, and bleep, sounding more akin to Merzbow than the Monkees.
Of the current spate of experimental electronic releases, this one is not only pretty great but definitely gets points for being packaged in such an imaginative and thankfully not over-intellectualized way. Go Vacuum Boys! We look forward to their next adventure!
Atavistic's Unheard Music Series of obscure but amazing free jazz reissues (overseen by Chicago jazz musician and critic John Corbett) strikes again with this release from German pianist Alexander Von Schlippenbach and a squad of kick ass European improvisors including sax legend-to-be Peter Brotzmann, Dutch drummer extraordinare Han Bennink, trombonist Paul Rutherford, and others, including Manfred Schoof, on cornet, flugelhorn, bass, clarinet, etc. Engineer Conny Plank (later famed for his krautrock productions) put "The Living Music" to tape in April 1969, and it was originally issued on LP by both Schlippenbach's own Quasar label and then by FMP. Three-quarters of an hour of "living music" indeed: it's music full of breath, action, beauty, pulsing blood. Moody, melodic piano runs, percussive dances betwixt the drums and the horns, kinda noir-ish, sleepy interludes, and (of course!) hardcore, full-on, skree-filled blow-outs: this is the energetic free improv that you'd expect from the early days of the FMP scene. A good 'un, you jazz cats take note.
While Joy Division and New Order had certainly been the bread and butter for Factory Records, a number of bands who recorded for the label applied alternative signatures to the classic Factory template of post-punk gloom. The Wake -- a Scottish group who gained a broader audience in the post-C-86 sounds of Sarah Records -- produced one of the forgotten gems for Factory in their first record "Harmony." On this album, The Wake intertwines brightly colored, Byrds-inspired guitar jangle from frontman Caesar and bouncy Peter Hookish basslines from Bobby Gillespie (who later went onto join the Jesus & Mary Chain and front Primal Scream). Much of the early '80s post-punk suffered from insufferably stiff percussion; but not so for The Wake, whose Steven Allen is remarkably spry and painterly in his application of metronomic beats - that alternately recalled the monochromatic funk of A Certain Ratio and the jazzed flutter of Durutti Column.
When originally released in 1982, "Harmony" was a brief songs; but has been flushed out on CD with some exceptional complementary tracks from a their first two singles on their own label Scan 45 ("On Our Honeymoon" and "Something Outside") plus 3 tracks from their BBC Peel Sessions.
All in all, a great find!
