I know we're all thinking the same thing: Enough with the Acid Mothers Temple already! Can't Makoto Kawabata and his band of krautrock-obsessed Japanese pyschedelic hippy freaks go on a six-month nature retreat or something, and give us (and our wallets) a break? But, the fact remains, that for fans of psych-rock weirdness, very few of the many AMT releases have been disappointing, really.
So, then, what's the deal with this one? "Electric Heavyland" (one thing Kawabata & co. are NOT good at is titles) is a bit unsubtle, wearing its intentions on its all-black sleeve (or, rather, obi): this is AMT's stab at non-stop, super-heavy rockin'. Alien8 compares it to "Mellow Out", the now out-of-print first album from Mainliner, the High Rise related group that Kawabata played in prior to AMT's debut. (They even point out that "Electric Heavyland" even LOOKS a lot like "Mellow Out", something which hardly seems all that meaningful or significant...I mean, c'mon.) Regardless, it's certainly in the ballpark. Sloppy, noisy, spacey, utterly indulgent, this is the sound of a stoner heavy psych band fully amped up, plugged in, and jacking off. The blown-out, sub-Stooges motorcycle metal of Mainliner (and High Rise) is perhaps more purposeful than this, without the spacey detours, synth fx, and wordless female vocalizing of this disc. But, when you're in the midst of "Loved And Confused" or "Atomic Rotary Grinding God" or "?Quicksilver Machine Head" on this disc (see, decidedly un-subtle indeed), that hardly matters. Not the heaviest ever, but heavy enough. Would Monster Magnet dare take 'em on tour?
When listening to the first track of the new Add N To (X), I could not escape the overwhelming feeling that I was listening to an analog synthesizer muzak version of the Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack. A rousing, campy, kitschful time. Confirming once again that they're a one-trick pony, ANTX have assembled another album that gets the toes tapping and rumps shaking yet ultimately leaves the listener's ears unsatiated. There's an abundance of burly vocoded vocals, and vintage synths that bloop and blurp out gelatinous cycles of riffs... which all sound super cool, if very predictable. Frankly this probably wouldn't be such an issue at all if only they'd never released their first two albums which surpass - in both composition and rocking power - anything they've done since. However... they did. If you're new to this London trio, definitely check out either of their first two before venturing into later territory. For further ANTX thoughts, please see the review of the "Take Me To Your Leader" ep.
These three new songs (two of them edit versions) offer a mere glimpse at their fifth album Loud Like Nature. What to expect? Churning robot rock in 4/4 time featuring a whole gang of highly processed vocals - not unlike what you might think garage rock performed completely on analog synths would sound. Fun, funky and repetitive, these songs will probably make for ideal additions to a party comp tape, but will they stand up to repeat listens? Not so sure about that. Hopefully the full length will venture beyond these synthrock confections as they did on their great second album, On The Wires Of Our Nerves, but their track record since then has shown that it's highly unlikely. Once again it seems this London trio recorded some jams, and from the outcome, chose a handful of cool synth and bass lines and came up with some even cooler synth sounds, but didn't pursue composing fleshed out songs around them. It appears their best work is still the aforementioned sophomore release. Note: the vinyl features an extended mix of "The Trees Are Dreamless Leafless Genius" whereas the cd version includes a video for the title track.
No, not the '80s metal band, featuring Yngwie -- that Alcatrazz had two zz's in their name. This Alcatraz was a krautrock outfit from Hamburg, who released this album, their debut, in 1972. At last it gets a cd reissue -- we've always been curious about 'em 'cause the striking/silly LP cover painting (the lips and teeth of a vampire, with the bloody fangs being two inverted Empire State Buildings) always shows up in books of krautrock lore like Cosmic Dreams At Play and The Crack In The Cosmic Egg. AND, they're one of those Nurse With Wound list bands too! In fact, Nurse With Wound and Stereolab 'covered' this album's brilliant lead-off track "Simple Headphone Mind" on a collaborative ep some years back.
Alcatraz prove to be one of those wildly jamming, kinda-heavy bands, with some bluesy Zeppelin-esque riffing and powerful, fuzz-psych lead guitar (love that tone!) cutting through their fusionoid, jazzily-rockin' songs, which also feature sax, flute, piano, drums, bongos, and (on two tracks only) vocals. Reminds us of some way-out Traffic or Santana type of thing. Really, the mostly instrumental songs on here don't really sound like 'songs', just a lot of improv parts and crazy playing, which is of course cool by us. It totally makes sense that they started out playing covers of stuff by the likes of Savoy Brown, Vanilla Fudge, Black Sabbath, and Uriah Heep before getting into Soft Machine and Tony William's Lifetime -- the liner notes mention 'em blending Cannonball Adderly and Deep Purple!
While by no means a newly unearthed krautrock classic of Can or Faust proportions (though it was recorded at Faust's Wumme studio, during a police raid on suspected terrorists no less), this is a cool album of eccentric, sometimes epic, hippy jazz-rock. Reissued from the master tapes, with bonus track, and the aforementioned liner notes in both German and (more-or-less) English.
While their bio utilizes words like "groundbreaking" and "innovative" to describe this new release from Appleseed Cast, to these ears (Cup's) those are hardly the most suitable words to describe it. Instead try wonderfully "solid" and "familiar". Their immensely well-received Low Level Owl two volume album was epic, clearly a hard act to follow. Try as they might have, Lost Songs pales in comparison. Not a bad album by any means, just not quite of the same caliber as its predecessor, and not quite as immediately engaging. Guitars soar, shimmer and swell as the vocalist sings his heart out, indeed this is emo music on a lush, grand scale. Actually, what sprung to mind was how this album sounds a lot like what the great pop of Superchunk might sound like today if they'd continued on their energetic power pop path instead of taking their somewhat mellower and more composed route.
Operating in the legendary Cyclone warehouse space near Hunter's Point in San Francisco, 7hz has functioned as one of the few SF venues that is exclusively dedicated to experimental sound art, and also has served as the live / work spaces (in the truest sense of the term) for Scott Arford (aka Radiosonde), Randy Yau (23five), and Michael Nine (aka Death Squad). During the fall of 2002, 7hz took their show on the road, as Arford, Yau, and Nine embarked on a European tour. This disc is essentially the tour support album, offering an exclusive sampling of each artist's work. Arford's sonic reconstitutions of video static have made for stunning audio / visual performances (almost unheard of in the visually sterile realm of laptop composition). Here, his contributions spit forth digitally corrosive bits of static and noise (which resemble remote control / shortwave detritus) along mechanized grids. Altogether, Arford's tracks resemble the pained electric noise of those collaborations between Zbigniew Karkowski and Pita Rehberg. Yau defines his work as an "action concrete," in which recordings of impromptu vocal outbursts have been dissected and reanimated through a number of electro-acoustic techniques, often sounding like a mutation of Robert Ashley's classic "Automatic Writing" with far more jarring and confrontational results. Michael Nine's work comes out of the Whitehouse / Con-Dom approach of primitive noise assaults as transgressive theater. All in all, an excellent introduction to these San Francisco artists.
The Art Ensemble's approach to improvisation is far more sparse and delicate on "Reese And The Smooth Ones" than many of their other releases, although not neccessarily less complex. Much room is given to spare, individual instrumental expression, in which the Ensemble sretch far outside their primary instruments to include whistles, marimba, banjo, gongs, bells, steel drums and more. Recorded in Paris in 1969.
This questionably monickered combo and their brilliantly titled cd come courtesy of loyal AQ customer Garrett Splain and it's a doozy. Fucked up and off kilter post-free-avant-rock with the some cool production techniques, the occasional bizarrely programmed drum machine and what sounds like vibes or a xylophone supplying far-away melodies. The recording is a bit lo-fi, but it only adds a nice kind of gritty ambience to the proceedings. Adventurous fans of Laddio Bollocko, Trans Am, Don Caballero and the like might really dig this.
From '95, one of the last great Earache releases was Swedish death metallers At The Gates' debut for the label -- definitely ATG's best, but sadly also to be their last, album. "Slaughter The Soul" stands next to Dissection's "Storm Of The Light's Bane" as the apex of the New Wave of Swedish Melodic Death Metal sound. The Iron Maiden-inspired guitar work, the black metal styled throat shredding vocals, and the "Reign In Blood" era Slayer -worthy speed and brutality of this attack showed just how extreme AND melodic metal could get. Acts like In Flames, Shadows Fall, Soilwork, and countless others wouldn't be what they are without ATG. Truly a '90s metal classic, and like "RIB" without an ounce of fat, clocking in at 34 action packed minutes.
Not only part of the currently on-going Earache vinyl reissue program, but also now re-released on cd with bonus tracks as well ('cause of course there's room for 'em): one unreleased song called "The Dying" from the "SOTS" sessions, 2 demo tracks, and covers of Slaughterlord, No Security, and of course, Slayer!
Whenever this album has been played in the store (which is plenty of times already!), folks have clambered to find out what the loveliness is. Well, it's the new Jessica Bailiff! She's singing a lot more this time around, and it's a welcome development. Her third full length is absolutely dreamy, quietly weaving together elements of spartan folk and spacious chamber music, with plenty of nods to fellow Kranksters Low (whose Alan Sparhawk produced her first album). Listening to this eponymous album almost feels like an intrusion, but each of her songs only draws you in further. These are the songs sung to the stars on a sleepless night. Quite often her softly murmured vocals are only accompanied by some hushed strings, piano or a barely strummed acoustic guitar - both hovering in the air like a frosty breath. And even when more sounds enter the stage - a sitar, a violin-uke, some digital effects - they're the sheerest of shimmering veils. Mesmerizing.
Devendra Banhart -- who appears to be living his life as an indie-rock gipsy touring with whomever and squatting wherever, including a stint wowing locals here in SF -- crafts his neo-folk songs with the primitive instrumentation of voice and acoustic guitar, spanning a vast spectrum of fragmented emotions through a manic-depressive persona that can be as beautifully charming as it can be terrifyingly devastating. Michael Gira, who released this album through his Young God label, accurately described Banhart's voice with its skewed vibrato and unnerving warble as somewhere in between the magical voices of Marc Bolan, Karen Dalton, Syd Barrett, Tiny Tim, Daniel Johnston, and Nick Drake; and fortunately, Banhart uses that voice to tell a wholly unique set of stories that hold a succinct poetry. Hastily stitched from bizarre stream of consciousness associations and absurdist conditional clauses, Banhart's lyrics expand the realm of possibility into psychosexual surrealism. On occasion, Banhart's tales are anthropomorphic love songs, wistfully dreaming of archaic steam ships and the state of Michigan (yes, he pines for Michigan) with all of sexual cravings and romantic nuances of a young boy first pierced by Cupid's arrow; yet on other occasion, Banhart gnashes his teeth with such existential confusion that the targets of his epithets are blurred by his bilious rage. Within Banhart's language, reality has been realized as a swollen mass of malformed emotions compounded by the urgency that resonates within his voice.
Upon listening to this album, I've had the recurring, sinking feeling either that Banhart is destined to star in an upcoming Harmony Korine film or that he will be dead in a few years as victim of an unspecified gruesome tragedy. As I've tried and failed to assign such distinctly odd critical-doomspeak within various arguments and generalized thesis about the perception of the separation between art and life, I mention it because Banhart -- unlike any artist whom I've come across -- has been able to provoke such controversial thoughts. Far from me to wish Banhart or anybody ill-will, but true manifestations of horror defy logic and are very rare indeed. And this, gentle reader, is the real deal.
If you recall, Andee began his review of Woven Hand's album with the bold statement: "I hate to gush, but gush I must, this is my record of the year. Done deal." As for me (Jim, along with Marcy and Windy), the debut from Devendra Banhart needs to be given serious consideration as a contender for record of the year 2002.
You know a record of nothing but flutes has got to be good!!! Well, actually, I suppose that's not entirely true. I like to think that an all flute recording would be perfect, but the harsh reality is it seldom is. But Eberhard Blum's Berlin To Buffalo is not only an amazing 'flute' record, it is an amazing record, period. Minimal and abstract, dreamy and hypnotic, drone-y, bizarre and quite beautiful. It definitely sounds '20th century classical' but it manages to be more than that. The first track is an extended piece for flute and electronics, but the focus is on the flute, and the piece is beautiful in a very traditional way. Lots of space and ambience and melodies are stretched to their limits. The second track of just electronic sounds (okay so the whole record is not just flutes) is really bizarre. Snippets of mumbling voices, far away tones and sine waves, with the occasional burst of polyphonic dissonance and gentle waves of electronic grit and buzz. Sounds quite contemporary actually. Would be right at home on Ritornell or Alien8 or as the soundtrack to an arthouse horror flick. The epic 41 minute final track for multiple flutes is a gorgeous wash of notes and overtones flodding your senses with sounds, warm and rich and thick and shimmering. Quite reminiscent of Phil Niblock, albeit a tad more melodic. One of Andee's favorite records of the year!
From the very first few notes of Thoughts For Food, you get an inkling that The Books aren't going to take you on a straight ahead, sensible musical journey, and your inkling would be right! The Books may slightly puzzle with their stylistical and structural meanderings. Layering in dialogue samples and field recordings amid this laidback fray adds to the raw, roaming feel of this album. Much like their absurd titles (of the album itself as well as the songs), the music - a contorted, eccentric, folky blend based around acoustic guitars, fiddle, bass and some fragments of beats - twists, flips and folds back onto itself. Engagingly unpredictable, you never know what mood The Books will be in - solemn, frisky, or ??? Choosing excerpts for you to give you more of an idea of this release was difficult, so from the twelve songs you get a snippet from the first song (which is also the title track) and one from the tenth. If they pique your interest, well then you'll simply have to check out the complete cd to find out where they rambled to and fro in between those points.
Final missive from AQ faves, the mighty Botch. A wicked math-metal machine spitting out super heavy but surprisingly melodic and complex metalcore. As good if not better than Coalesce and Converge but criminally underappreciated. Maybe that's why they're calling it quits. Must be tough making music this amazing and not being HUGE. Every song is an epic, with earth shaking bass rumble, keening high-end guitar melodies, lots of chugging riffs, stop/start rhythms, pounding drums and one of the fiercest roars around. WAY RECOMMENDED!
"Nag Nag Nag" was an early single for Cabaret Voltaire, recording it initially back in 1979 when they mere meshing a hollowed-out electro-punk sound with William S. Burroughs' notion of the cut-up. Along with the title track, this features three contemporary remixes from Montreal's Akufen, CV's mainman Richard H. Kirk, and Vice-approved electro bass-bin boomers Tiga &�Zyntherius.
Magic Radios opens with a gathering of electronics that buzz and crackle over the ebb and flow of a ghostly drone, but swiftly moves into the realm of warm horns and shufflin' drums ("3000 Miles"), then continues to melt into a range of other sonic terrains -- some more successfully than others. There's the beautiful, serene, acoustic song "Take My Light" rich with strings and almost choral voices, followed by a soothing, swaying downtempo track, then an exotica-tinged spacy number "Flyaway" with murmured vocals that fans of Air might find rather fetching. Overall, a somber, glimmering journey. Quite nice.
It's been a while since I'd heard this one, or looked at its decidedly gross, human meat collage cover, and boy did it bring back memories. Coming home from college in the summer of 1991, I found that a bunch of people I knew -- who weren't even metalheads -- had gone Earache-crazy. Godflesh, Napalm Death, Morbid Angel, OLD, Nocturnus, etc., and of course Carcass were all chum for their summertime sonic feeding frenzy. Longsleeve shirts via mail-order, Godflesh graffiti, road-trips to New Jersey to see Napalm Death. Good times in other words. I'm not sure what caused this strange grindcore, death metal mania to spread among my friends, but I'm sure it had something to do with the cutting edge quality of UK label Earache's releases back 'round then. 1989's "Symphonies of Sickness" would be one such example. With crazy/silly lyrics chock full of wordy, disgusting medical terminology (which you need the lyric sheet to understand, of course), blazing blast beats and the somehow catchy, but brutal guitar work of Bill Steer, this album (and its predecessor, "Reek of Putrefaction") were the ultimate in funny/gross grind at the time. The best then, the best now! (CDs still available, too.)
A fantastic burst of heavy pop from formerly metalcore band Cave In -- their last blast on Hydrahead as prelude to their eventual major label debut full-length. They're like a heavier Radiohead, less anguished and more into rocking. The melodies are epic and heartrending, the guitars are clean and bright, and the songwriting is excellent -- it's like you can trust them, they don't let you down with experimental bull that's best left to a Thom Yorke solo album or something. They continue to polish and refine their own developing sound, which ambles nearer pop with every release. And yet, the more 'produced', polished, or whatever that they get, the better they sound! The title track, I swear, sounds like Rufus Wainwright with bigger balls crossed with Queen. So good! Fans of the other heavy rock bands with pop leanings that're getting mainstream press -- like Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age -- should definitely give this a listen!
After the hyper onslaught of their recent masterpiece "Lucid Interval", this one-off experiment comes as a drastic departure for these grindmetalheads, though it's certainly in keeping with their allegiance to the sweet leaf! What do we mean? Well, "Halls Of Amenti" is but one 19 minute doom metal dirge, heavy on the DOOM. Downtuned slow motion sludge that would sit comfortably in your collection next to Thergothon, Skepticism or Esoteric! Think Sabbath or Candlemass or Trouble but slooooowwwwwed waaaaaaaay dooooooown. And fronted by a growling and shrieking death metal vocalist. Fans of the above mentioned bands as well as Corrupted, Boris, the Melvins and all things sludge should not pass this by. This beautifully packaged clear 3" cd is supposedly the first of a three part series.
Sometimes droll, atonal singing can work really well (think Beat Happening, Reynols or Magnetic Fields), but unfortunately not on the Christmas Decorations' debut album. Seriously, this is some painfully out of tune singing. It distracts from the rest of the music which taken without the vocals is quite pleasant, if somewhat underwhelming - moody chiming soundscapes comprised of some highly effected guitars, bass, melodica and sequencers. This comes as an enormous disappointment following Revolve the one and only album from the fantastic but crushingly short-lived band that was Beautiful Skin whose nucleus was Nick Forte and Ross Totino. There was an unquestionable musical chemistry between them that propelled their music beyond simplistic new wave references and the Wire / Gang Of Four / New Order worship of Forte's previous bands. This new group however does not draw such glowing praise, instead it truly bummed out a few of us.
Everyone's favorite (or most hated) over-the-top British black metal act stalls for time before their upcoming major label studio album debut with this double disc import containing (disc 1) a live performance from April 2001, and (disc 2) a bunch of remixes, souncheck recordings, and demo tracks. Cd-rom video is also included (the "director's cut" promo vid for their Sisters of Mercy cover "No Time To Cry"). The material in their live set ranges from early classics like "The Forest Whispers My Name" to the more melodic, Maidenesqe stuff from their last proper studio full-length, "Midian". Definitely one for fans only -- who else is gonna want the CoF screensaver included? But now, after an ep, a best-of, and this live/odds n' ends release, Dani & co. ought to bring forth their actual new album!
Finally reissued on cd last year were these three albums by Miles Davis' funky ex-wife, who should be famous in her own right for the tough, heavy duty '70s funk she waxed on those records. Now they're available, briefly, as LPs once again, but we've only got a couple of each and don't think we'll be able to get more (they're limited or something), so you'd better hurry on down if you want to get down with Betty on vinyl.
Reissue of 1975's "Nasty Gal", Betty Davis' third album of sexy funk. This one is more of the same, maybe a little more "rock" than before. Slightly less essential than the others.
Finally reissued on cd last year were these three albums by Miles Davis' funky ex-wife, who should be famous in her own right for the tough, heavy duty '70s funk she waxed on those records. Now they're available, briefly, as LPs once again, but we've only got a couple of each and don't think we'll be able to get more (they're limited or something), so you'd better hurry on down if you want to get down with Betty on vinyl.
Her second album, "They Say I'm Different", continued Betty's Afrodelic party, with guests Buddy Miles and others, and made the list of "100 Records That Set The World On Fire" in The Wire magazine a few years back. And it features a song specifically about ex-husband Miles, "He Was A Big Freak"!
For all aficionados of the Funk, here's cause for celebration! The long-awaited cd reissues of these early '70s albums by Betty Davis, ex-wife of Miles (famously, the subject "They Say I'm Different"'s second track, "He Was A Big Freak")! Betty belts out her lowdown lyrics over some super heavy funk grooves, kinda like a rawer version of Lyn Collins backed not by the JBs but by the swampier P-Funk band. Betty doesn't hold back and her band does their best to match her attitude. Both records (her third, "Nasty Girl", still awaits reissue but should soon be making the scene) are the quote unquote bomb. The self-titled one is her 1973 debut, and features jams like "If I'm In Luck I Might Get Picked Up" and "Game Is My Middle Name". Larry Graham's the bassist, and Neal Schon (!) appears on guitar. The follow-up, "They Say I'm Different", continued Betty's Afrodelic party, with guests Buddy Miles and others, and made the list of "100 Records That Set The World On Fire" in The Wire magazine a few years back. Tough, sexy funk classics unearthed, don't miss 'em!
If there's one thing you can't criticize Death Cab For Cutie for it's their cover layout and design. Always with the nice die cuts and embossings. Top notch all the way. And this new (old) collection is no exception -- the front cover resembling an oversize slide with a picture of downtown Bellingham, Washington (hometown for Death Cab) taken sometime in the late sixties maybe. Andee pointed out that this concept was originally used by his old band A Minor Forest for their Flemish Altruism LP (not for the CD at the time, as the label had claimed it would be too expensive) and was done at the same place . Fortunately, it's not only the cover in which to be excited about with this release. Though not necessarily "new" tracks, they are -- with the exception of one track that sounds like a bad Soul Coughing demo -- all great and 9 of them have never been released previously (well, 3 of them were on a demo tape.) The first 8 tracks on this disc were originally released as a demo tape in 1997 (under the same name as this collection), 5 of them were re-recorded for their debut album Something About Airplanes. Of the remaining 10 tracks -- recorded between 1995 and 2002) -- only 4 were ever released (on the Forbidden Love ep and a 7") and were likewise alternate versions. The remaining 6 tracks are all previously un-released and includes a cover of Morrissey's "This Charming Man." Heads up to Death Cab fans who may have been disappointed by the Photo Album release, this one may be your antidote!
James Luther Dickinson (yes, the same Jim Dickinson who produced Big Star -- that's where I recognized his name from) has enjoyed a long and fruitful career as a highly-respected Memphis session player with everyone from Bob Dylan to Dr. John, Little Richard, the Stones (he played piano on "Wild Horses"), Aretha Franklin, Sam & Dave, Taj Mahal, Brook Benton, and the list goes on and on, more recently including Mudhoney and Jon Spencer(!). The liner notes for this reissue go into great detail about his career; so I'll just say that this, his debut 1972 solo album, is a majorly sought-after collectors item (on vinyl that is), and is now finally available on disc from the fine archivists at Sepia Tone. The sound is a mix of swamp boogie a la Dr John, Jagger's swagger, and the twang rock of Gram Parsons on his upbeat numbers. This is a really good, tight, and fun unearthed find. Recommended.
Anyone who heard Discordance Axis's last full length, The Inalienable Dreamless, knows that they weren't your average grind band. They were heavy and complex and intelligent, with thoughtful lyrics and an amazing design sense. They just seemed to do everything better than their fellow grinders. Unlcear why they decided to call it quits but they did and left us wanting more. So the more they've given us is this live document of their last Japanese tour. And it's as challenging as their records. Edited in a way that parallels their ultra jagged and complex songs, with seizure-inducing jump cuts, freeze frames, distortion, pixelization and all sorts of other effects passing by in a flash. Exhausting and exhilarating. Also included is their 'proper' video which is edited in a similar fashion, except it utilises television style inconsistencies to make their video look like a mix between scrambled porn and a bootleg live video. Extras include a discography, photos, artwork, and even tablature!!
AQ-fave turntablist DJ Jester, the Filipino Fist out of Texas, has released a second dance party mix of hilarious and fun samples taken from records we all know and love -- Devo, Bjork, Cybotron, Carpenters, Suzanne Vega, JJ Fad, Bowie, Duran Duran, Blondie... the list is endless. Jester's appeal lies in his ability to make you go "Whoa, I never woulda thought to scratch *that*," which you end up thinking basically every coupla minutes with this record. Funky, happy, kinda inspiring, and just plain weird! Taken from a live performance on the amazing WFMU. You should hear what he does to WFMU's mascot song "Speeding Motorcycle" as performed by Yo La Tengo (hint, it's the second audio clip below.)
"Six Days" is that really cool song from DJ Shadow's Private Press album, the song with the Shirley-Bassey-voiced woman singing "Tomorrow never comes until it's too late..." Here's the single. We got four tracks: an excellent remix featuring Mos Def, an instrumental version, a non-album track "100 Metre Dash", and a radio edit. Also featured is the "Six Days" video which you can play on your computer, and which was directed by WONG KAR WAI and stars Chang Chen the wild young guy from Crouching Tiger. Pretty average video, the only thing pushing it over the top being cinematographer Chris Doyle's stunning photography that fans of Wong Kar Wai's films swoon over.
Two releases by the wonderful Julie Doiron just received their well-deserved reissue! And here's one of them. You may recall that she was once in the heavily Sonic Youth influenced Eric's Trip, but after they split she directed her songwriting pen to much more barebones, quiet and deeply personal music. On this album however she returns to more upbeat tempo collaborating with fellow Canadian indie quartet The Wooden Stars. These songs are considerably more full and fleshed out than those she performs all by her lonesome. The Wooden Stars provide the warm blend of guitars, piano, bass, horns, Rhodes, samples and some vocals, while Doiron plays guitar and sings. Combined they make a lovely mellow din with shades of folk and jazz. On some, she sings with a gusto that's very uncharacteristic of her but no less effective. And yet, throughout these eleven songs there's a lingering sense of sadness that's everpresent in Doiron's music.
Two releases by the wonderful Julie Doiron receive their well-deserved reissue! And here's one of them. This was her second solo effort under her own name (she also recorded under the name Broken Girl). Soooo hushed and drowsy. This ep could easily be subtitled something like 'Five Lullabies'. She sings with such an expressive, emotive lilt. It's all sweet, gentle wistfulness over a sparse backdrop comprised of guitar, vibraphone, bass, piano and even a little Wurlitzer! Her words are never less than truly earnest and from the heart. An immediate example is the title of this cdep, sure it's a much used title, but with her it seems nothing but appropriate and sincere. Music from Ms Doiron is always a lovely downer treat.
The girls are all grown up. This is their 5th release and first for a major label. And they just keep getting tighter and slicker and more rocking with each progressive record. Still sassy and sexy, the Donnas take their AC/DC and Kiss obsessions, mix in a little Runaways and a little Redd Kross and come up with some of the best punky poppy garage-y rock ever! Super heavy and '70s, fun and cute and tough, with perfect back up vocals and simple / funny lyrics sung in a way that's feminine and growly but not whiny or screechy. The lyrics cover all the perfect subjects: getting a boy to crawl with her to her Chevrolet, getting her girls to key your Mercedes, wanting you to take it off so she can have you on the floor, the popular guy wanting to get her high, etc. Just boys and cars and getting laid and never looking back. I know it's so slick and obvious, it could bug a lot of you, and I know there's really no surprises here, and its really cutey pie, but I'm all for it! Sexy, mean girls taking charge! Woo Hoo! The second disc is a DVD, which features the animated video for 'Do You Wanna Hit It' featuring lots and lots of pot smoking and hallucinating ensuring ZERO play on MTV, a documentary/behind the scenes look at the making of the record, and a bizarre segment with comedian Andy Dick interviewing the Donnas. Weird.
Easily the best Donnas record yet. Fans of Redd Kross, Kiss, pop punk and especially fans of all the new GARAGE-MANIA bands (i.e. Stokes, Vines, White Stripes and especially the Sahara Hot Nights) will dig this!
Arthur Doyle has had a fascinating career, winding through bebop, the New York ESP free jazz scene of the sixties, and No Wave when he played with the Blue Humans around 1980. He released an acclaimed album of Ayler influenced free jazz in 1978 when such music was far out of fashion in US jazz cirlces, then spent years in prison in Paris on false charges where he composed hundreds of songs anyway, and ended up making lo-fi bedroom recordings in Endicott, NY (hey, just like the much-maligned by everyone at AQ but me experimental pop weirdo Gary Wilson!). In his multi-decade career, characterizd by under-recognition, he has played with everyone from Sun Ra and Pharaoh Sanders to Keiji Haino and Thurston Moore. Throughout, he has honed his uniquely raw tenor sax, flute and vocal stylings. This recording is from his 2000 European tour with drum legend Sunny Murray. Consisting of primarily just Murray and Doyle, with a bit of help from Swede Bengt Frippe Nordstrom on alto, the amount of racket conjured is pretty amazing. Just as the textures available from only sax and drums start to become repetitive and uninteresting, Doyle livens things up with simultaneous flute and vocals, at points interjecting emotive guttural vocalisations on their own. Murray starts fast and furious, but becomes more spare and textural as Doyle's intricate flute and vocal manipulations take center stage. This sounds like it would have been awesome to witness live, and it ain't half bad on record either. Another step toward deserved wider recognition for the highly interesting Arthur Doyle, although not one that challenges 1978's "Alabama Feeling" in the consensus of his best recordings.
Nine minutes of raging grinding mayhem from two of the fiercest bands in the land. You heard me, 9 MINUTES! Nine tracks. 6 tracks from Rhode Island's kings of crusty grind, Drop Dead, sounding as brutal as ever. And 3 tracks from Totalitar from Sweden, thrashing garage-y hardcore. Only nine minutes but it's only $4.50. Worth every penny.
Drunk and disorderly. Wild and wooly. Kick your ass. Steal your car. Sleep with your sister. Throw up in your lap. Beer drinking. Pill popping, sloppy noise-y three chord (okay, maybe 4 chord) rock and roll. Falling somewhere between Motorhead, the Dwarves, and the MC5. These guys may all be metalheads (blokes from British stoner/doom acts Iron Monkey, Orange Goblin, and Acrimony), but this is punk fucking rock.
"If Brian Eno produced beautiful Italian arias in a Tibetan monastery". That's how the band's website describes AQ customer Ken Lee's Eleven Shadows and it's not that far off the mark. Haunting, creepy, sort-of-gothic epics with soaring strings, ominous atmospheres and operatic female vocals. Very cinematic and etherial with lots of traditional Tibetan instruments. Reminiscent of Dead Can Dance, Kate Bush, Enigma and the like. Nice.
In playing with ideas of royality and rewriting the fundamental laws of creation with his ongoing series of conceptualizations, sound installations, actions, and photographs, Swedish artist Leif Elggren posits epistemological inquiries about how the utterances of power (essentially just a signifier) are communicated and valued. Such inquiries come in the form of absurd hypothetical situations which Elggren realizes with an aesthetic language that alternates between that of a royal edict and that of the village idiot. Elggren's most notable experiment has been the ongoing fictional country he founded with C.M. von Hausswolff called The Kingdoms of Elgaland / Vargaland, which operates in between country borders, in digital space, in dreams, etc. "Extraction" is a bit more of a convoluted proposition for Elggren, and is one that cannot be taken at face value. Elggren states that "this basic sound material was recorded in my biological mother's uterus with my not yet developed teeth used as a fundamental and simple recording device a few days before my birth. This sound material was kept recorded and hidden until recently inside one of my wisdom teeth, but has now been brought to daylight and exposure... For best results: load this CD in your CD player, confirm that sound is coming out through the speakers, and then just leave the room. When you come back everything will be totally changed."
No, the sound is not the sound of his mother's uterus; it appears more like the unfolding of a complex series of overlapping electrical fields, whose disturbances, flanges, and gradual fluctuations coalesce into a potentially dangerous sea of electricity. "Extraction" remains a very stoic construction of a very pure sound, but will it change everything in Aquarius records if I were to leave this on and step outside the shop for an hour? What would change? To what degree would things change? How? I would say that those questions become the crux of Elggren's oeuvre, with all of the obtuse soundsculptures and royal trinkets built from tin cans being merely the residues of thought.
Continuing their campaign to recreate the hi-energy fun of the '80s, The Epoxies follow their energetic self-titled album with this equally feisty single. Two songs to keep the party goin' a little while longer: one original and one suitably likeminded cover of Alice Cooper's ultra catchy, yet considerably darker lyric-wise "Clones". Uncomplicated, short and to the point, Roxy Epoxy sings her heart out over a slew of straight-ahead, snappy keyboards and punchy pop guitars.
John Fahey revolutionized guitar folk. His immediately recognizable, simultaneously ethereal and earthy virtuosic guitar picking and compositions combined influences from the folk blues of Charley Patton to Indian ragas to classical music, and have had a vast influence on too many trad folk, neo-folk and psych artists to mention. If you have somehow managed to get by not owning any records by this guitar genius, you have a few good options of where to start, including The Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death; Death Chants, Breakdowns, and Military Marches (Windy's fave); or conveniently, this newly reissued collection of tunes originally issued on a 1977 best-of lp. Hand picked by the man himself from the Takoma Back catalogue, the cd issue includes three tracks not featured on the lp, including the epic "Fare Forward Voyagers." The selections tend toward the more upbeat numbers, so for a fuller idea of what Fahey's all about which includes his more melancholy and drone-oriented works, you're going to have to dig into his albums proper. Still, this is a fine way to get your feet wet and fall in love with John Fahey.
ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL double-disc collection of cerebral low-brow art punk masterpieces. These tracks are culled from the tumultuous Rough Trade years (1980-83), when every record The Fall put out was a work of total genius. "Totally Wired" has almost every track from the "Palace of Swords Reversed" lp, which compiled their early singles, but includes album tracks from "Grotesque" and "Perverted By Language" as well. This era was the high point of Mark E. Smith's merciless skewering of the english language and English culture, perfectly backed by brilliantly ramshackle pop deconstructions. Single riff mastery, early keyboard dickery, anti-imperialist ranting, time travelling tales, primitively demented but danceable bass lines-- all part of The Fall's impeccable post-punk package. "Totally Wired" is by no means a comprehensive look at The Fall's massive recorded outlook, or even at their early years ("Dragnet" and "Live at the Witch Trials" are two great records from before they were on Rough Trade), but damn if it doesn't have a giant chunk of their very best songs. Mark E. may still drag himself around making mediocre records, but let that not muddy the legacy of The Fall. This stuff is just too fucking amazing!
God DAMN! Lee Fields has SOUL, ladies and gentlemen, and just in case a couple decades of watered down, completely non-visceral R&B has made you forget exactly what that means, let this record remind you. He's got the funk and the pride like James Brown, the smooove moves like Isaac Hayes, and he's here to spread the love and the grooves straight from the gut. And it feels sooo good! Mr. Fields has been making funk records since the seventies, many of which are highly sought-after collectables. Respected in the funk community, he earned the nickname "Little J.B." for good reason, but he's definitely got his own thang going on -- plus, when was the last relevant record from the godfather of soul? Uh huh, exactly. Enter Lee, who has been making kick ass heavy funk records with the Soul Providers and Sugarman Three as well as recording under his own name for the excellent nuveau rare groove label Soul Fire (kin to Daptone in the recent funk 45 resurgence). This will set fire to your behind, make sweet love to you, then give you advice on how to keep your woman. OK, the last part may be ill advised, but when Lee Fields brings it on with such sincerity it's hard not to believe in him.
Part two in the comprehensive reissue of the Flaming Lips' early years. Now that the Lips are 'critical darlings' and 'alternative rock superstars' or whatever, people are obviously curious about all that stuff they were doing way back when nobody but a handful of punk rockers really cared. What they were doing was kicking out some ungodly jams. Loud and snotty and drug addled and psychedelic and spaced out and truly inspired. This 2 disc collection contains what is arguably their best pre-'pop' album In A Priest Driven Ambulance. The 'pop' is even closer to the surface than on their two previous records, Hear It Is and Oh My Gawd (recently reissued as the 3cd set Finally The Punk Rockers Are Taking Acid), but it's still buried safely under 16 tons of sludgy guitar, squealing feedback, splattery drums, straggly leads, bizarre religious imagery and ranting stream of conciousness lyrics. With the occasional Pink Floyd-ish existential acoustic epic. As far as the early stuff goes, if you're only exposure to the Lips is The Soft Bulletin or Yoshimi, this is probably their most 'accessible' album. And if you haven't already, pick up the three pre-Soft Bulletin albums: Hit To Death In The Future Head, Transmissions From The Sattelite Heart, and Clouds Taste Metallic to hear the amazing stuff that led up to their Soft Bulletin breakthrough!
Sounds like Mr. Grohl's been hangin' out with Queens Of The Stone Age... oh, he has. Seriously though, if you dug the most recent QOTSA album "Song For The Deaf" (which we did), this newest Foo Fighters record will probably also tickle your fancy. While not as 'weird' as the Queens, the Foo Fighters here mine similar territory, playing melodic and poppy hard rock, even flirting with full on metal (but never quite going all the way). This is definitely their heaviest, "grungiest" (!) album yet, again quite like QOTSA -- though the Foos' own trademark heartbreaking pop smarts shine through as well. We've loved Grohl & Company's previous albums too, and if there's a band you're gonna have to hear on the radio and in the mall and on the plane, might as well be an ass kicking rock and roll band like the Foo Fighters and not Celine Dion or O-Town! Recommended. (The copies we've got right now come with a limited bonus DVD disc with a video & live footage, dunno how long these will last though).
So you're standing outside a show, smoking a cigarette and waiting for the Boredoms or whoever to play. A white van drives up; the doors fling open and out comes an assault of pyrotechnics, flashing lights, and obliterating noise rock! Guys wrapped in lightbulbs pound on drums and guitars INSIDE the van. Then it's over, right before the cops show up, and you're wondering, "What the fuck was that?" That, kind readers, was Friends Forever. Whether in an anticipated or surprise encounter, outside a club or in a parking garage, they play from their own moblie venue, and totally DESTROY with their aggressive spectacle. There's even a documentary about them, apparently now playing on an independent film channel near you. And their next record is coming out on Load. Of course, the question with them and many other post-hardcore freak punk type bands who put on amazing live shows is "how exactly does that incredible energy and performative aspect translate to a record?" Well, the answer for this here Friends Forever record is, umm, pretty decently, though not superlatively. The record allows them to go beyond the high-speed angular pummelling that makes the live shows work. Although it does contain some of said pummelling rock, there are also slower tempos and mellower textures, including some soothing wave sounds a la Black Dice's "Beaches & Canyons," although "Tidal Wave City" never reaches the accomplished and sublime complexity of that record. Still, this is nice, and while Friends Forever truly cannot be appreciated in full without witnessing them live, this is an interesting insight into a different side of them. After all, there's no way they're gonna fit that piano in the van.
This is kinda like a lot of those tough, angular Touch & Go type bands from the late '80s, plus a bit of that oh-so-now dancey post-punk, and a heaping spoonful of the Pop Group via the Birthday Party as channelled through the Jesus Lizard, topped off with a big dose of extra testosterone. At first I thought I'd try to like it, being, as it is, similar to many of the skronky and confrontational bands I love, but then I was like, "nah."
Golden Dawn were 1960's Texas brethren of Thirteenth Floor elevators, but their brand of psych garage involves a more British invasion type sound- like Aftermath era Stones or the Kinks. OK, like the Kinks if they smoked massive amounts of the "power plant" and were heavily into occult metaphysics. This is the only album they ever made, and it contains some pretty great poppy psych-garage gems. While not as heavy or whacked out as Texas contemporaries such as the Elevators or Red Krayola, Golden Dawn are badass and solid none the less, and well deserving of this handsome lp-styled cd reissue.
Expanding immensely upon their self-titled debut in interesting ways is this Montreal instrumental duo (yes, they are comrades of Godspeed, Fly Pan Am et al). Hangedup create a storming industrial soundscape (note: definitely not "industrial" a la WaxTrax, Ministry or Front 242). Each song drills, thunders and spits fiery sparks in wonderfully stirring torrents. Flaring up and simmering darkly, they do so with the minimum of instruments - a lone viola and raw percussion. The distinct, furiously bowed strings once again are joined by the steady shuffling drums and chime-clank metallic percussion. Often bringing to mind the unparallelled fervor of The Ex, Kicker In Tow is an album of vitality and immediacy. Recommended.
During the two years between I Am Spoonbender's "Teletwin" EP and the "Shown Actual Size" 3-song EP, electro-revivalism -- or perhaps better known as the stupid cliche 'electroclash' (who's fighting anyway?) -- has self-destructed. Once a succinct manifestation of perfectly machined rhythms and plastic passion with an android sheen (e.g. Adult.), electro-revivalism is now just a vapidly stylistic coke dream of robot sex and perfectly coiffed hair. Indeed, I Am Spoonbender have developed a tight, very flashy live persona complete with choreographed lighting, op-art film references, and sharp costuming. However, beneath their theatrical glitz, I Am Spoonbender remains dedicated to crafting an avant-pop homunculus out of This Heat and Gary Numan, or perhaps alternately stated, IAS strives for a means to rock without guitars. For Spoonbender, electro has simply been a convenient vehicle to attain some of their goals (art? popularity? world domination?).
That said, "Shown Actual Size" is probably the least electro sounding record from I Am Spoonbender, centered upon the vocal duets of Donaldson and Cup (yes, the same Cup whose smiling face can be found behind the counter at Aquarius) fronting punchy synthetic grooves and metronomic electrical sparks (plus bass guitar played by Dave Edwardson of Neurosis!). These two voices bounce between fractured narratives that not only imply a humanistic optimism about extracting meaning out of miscommunication, but also a cautiousness towards the technologies which may be complicating the lives that they seek to improve. Hopefully, more material will soon follow these far too brief 13 minutes.
The album cover is a psychedelic / sci-fi '70s photograph of a phallic burst of water shooting into an androgynous mouth that you may recognise as the cover of Ash Ra's "Correlations", borrowed here -with permission- from Storm, the man behind Hipgnosis, the design firm responsible for that image as well as many other legendary album covers (Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and tons more).
"The Foot" is perhaps the last document to be released from Id Battery, the collaborative effort between Loren Chasse and Brandon LaBelle. With Chasse well entrenched in the Jewelled Antler Collective (Thuja, Blithe Sons, Child Readers, etc), in Coelacanth, and in his solo projects, and with LaBelle pursuing a career in the academic realms of avant-garde composition, the likelihood of Id Battery recording again is small. Nevertheless, the acclaimed duo's Drone single "The Foot" is another wonderful document of their organic textures through low-fi found sounds, repetitive rock scrapings, soft electrical field disturbances, and strange hummings. "The Foot" is edited from the recordings made during Id Battery's performance during the Activate The Medium festival in San Luis Obispo in 1998. Artwork by Loren and AQ's Jim Haynes, and limited to 250 copies on marbled yellow and green vinyl. Very nice!
With nothing to go on but my memory, I remember there being an interview with Illusion of Safety in a 1989 or 1990 Option magazine in which IOS frontman Dan Burke admitted that his fanboy infatuation with Throbbing Gristle (especially seeing them play live in 1981) was the catalyst to begin Illusion of Safety. After a number of cassette only releases, Illusion Of Safety's first LP was "More Violence and Geography" released originally on Burke's Complacency Records in 1988 in conjunction with RRRecords. While I've not heard the album until now, the references to Throbbing Gristle still hold true and may actually serve the band better due to an increasing historical awareness of the continuum of Industrial music. Considering that 'Industrial' music in 1988 meant Ministry, Front 242, and Skinny Puppy, Illusion of Safety's revisitation to TG's snarling noise, wicked humor, and predilection of morbid theme was relatively novel. With smatterings of militant drum machine stomps, dissonant dive-bomb guitar noise, scraping metal, and media cut-ups revealing disturbing narratives about political torture, mass murders, insanity, and other socially deviant themes, Illusion of Safety crafted an unnerving album firmly planted in the traditions of the Industrial pioneers (TG, SPK, Monte Cazzaza, etc.). Jim O'Rourke trainspotters should take heed, although he was a member of IOS, as he wasn't at the time of the recording of "More Violence and Geography," whose line up included Burke, Mark Klein, Mark Sorensen, Mitch Enderle, and Chris Block.
