Another limited edition split single from Die Stadt, this time featuring Chicago's stalwart post-Industrial ensemble Illusion Of Safety and Germany's dronecore specialist Thomas Koner. Illusion Of Safety takes a confrontationist approach by opening their condensed program with a jarring clatter of fragmented film-noir orchestrations that are roughly broken into a nervous drone. Koner's approach is far more subtle, gently pushing forward a sublime drone and allowing it to fade into silence. Limited to 400 copies.
Japanese noise otaku, here's a limited-to-300 vinyl-only artifact you might be interested in... Collaborating with mysterious British noisican Abdul Squeerter's (In Spite Of Flaming Creatures) project, Allan's favorite ear-flaying Japanese noise duo the Incapacitants are in fine form here. Six tracks of dense, dynamic, electronic noise fuckery. If you need to figure out if you're part of "Vitamin Buckfact"'s target audience, look around your room. Is that a stack of vintage Bananafish magazines in the corner? Some precious Chocolate Monk cassettes in that box over there? Alchemy cds on top of the stereo? Well then this is for you if you act quick! It's basically a Bananfish 'zine love-in (indeed, until now, the only wide-spread documentation of Mr. Squeerter's creativity, or mere existence, was some writing he did for Bananafish).
Kurt Schwitters meets King Tubby at some well endowed European arts residency program! Andee once said that if our country had the same government financial support for the arts that many European nations have, we'd just get a bunch of "artists" getting paid to "shove fruit up their butt". Which would probably be pretty close to the truth, for better or worse. In the case of Ernst Jandl, one wonders if Mr Jandl was a pensioned haberdasher and the money bestowed upon him in the form of an art stipend was actually a pity payment for the insanity incurred from the years of huffing toxic glue. In actuality, Jandl (1925-2000) was a highly regarded Viennese poet who made his living by day as a high school English instructor. Those who know German, and even more importantly: German & English, will get much more enriched results listening to this disc, as Jandl's sound poetry is not only very difficult to translate, but utilizes a great many puns which make use of English and German phoenetics. 13 Radiophone Texte is a 1966 BBC commissioned radio play in which Jandl recites his sound poetry while having his words processed via tape delay by the station's engineers. Das Rocheln Der Mona Lisa is a similar play from Berlin radio and recorded in 1970. It was originally released only in cassette form and has long been out of print. The liner notes for this disc are all, unfortunately, in German only but a good online translator will get you entertaining results.
Nine overwrought, self-serious, and longwinded (only one is shorter than 4 minutes, four exceed 7 minutes), jazzy postrock numbers (including one bonus cd-only track). This is just as bad as if not worse than their disapointing Cancel/Sing EP released earlier this year. Santana and the Grateful Dead these guys are definitely not, although they often sound like that's what they're aspiring to be. Good musicians does not equal good music. Snooze. Sorry, Karate fans...
2 blasts of no-wave/new-wave from these 3 San Diego transplants who are an instrumental part of the whole San Diego new/no wave scene. Really arty and heartrenching. Kind of similar to Xiu Xiu (see AQ lists #133 and #145), who they play with often. Live they have this circular bench full of effect pedals and drum machines that has one band member hunched over like a mad scientist as he tweaks and contorts the sound. This record had Andee running around the store singing (in his best Nick Cave/Peter Murphy voice) "I've got rats for sale!! I'VE GOT RATS FOR SALE!!!!"
We didn't expect that this new Crimson disc, some sort of pre-album ep of new songs, mixes, and acoustic versions, would be all that great. But you can always hope. Well, so much for hope. This includes "Larks Tongues In Aspic Part VI" but a better title would be "Larks Tongues In Aspic Part Suck". The King Crimson line-up listed here consists of Fripp, Belew, somebody, and somebody else. No Bruford or Levin (we mention, for those that care). But it seems that this must also include uncredited contributions from Stone Temple Pilots, Blues Traveler, and some vocoder vocals from a bunch of Battlestar Galactica Cylons. Yuch. Must have been touring with Tool that got Fripp & Co. thinking they needed more of a "modern rock" sound. It's not all bad, but it's a mess. There are a few moments of Frippertronics on here, but in this context they sound weak and New Agey... How 'bout they start working on "Happy With Never Making An Album Again 'Cause We've Totally Lost The Plot"? Just a suggestion. Sorry to be so harsh, but even the biggest Crim/Fripp fans we know were disappointed.
With the same generic packaging: a white cd envelope and no-nonsense typography, as its predecesors, Kontakt Der Junglinge's third album reveals the novel concept that the order of their ongoing catalogue is heading in reverse, from "1" to "0" and now at "-1." Here, the German duo of Asmus Tietchens and Thomas Koner present another live documentation, this time at the Lagerhaus in Bremen, Germany. Initially, the artists appear to alternate between their individual styles as the sterile, neutered sounds of Tietchens' electro-acoustics takes center stage at first followed by Koner's prediliction for the very cold dronescapes of isolationism. Despite the two working methodologies, Tietchens and Koner appear to have found common ground in their drawing from an industrial landscape -- something like an iron foundry or a nuclear power plant. Throughout the album, both parties incorporate the scraping sounds of what could be heavy metal objects being dragged across a concrete floor. The intrinsic din of an architectural space gradually becomes more present, beginning with the processed drones from air vents then expanding into ominous electro-static cracklings and finally erupting into massive turbine-engine slabs of noise. As both Koner and Tietchens are masters at sonic engineering, it's a little difficult to discern what (if anything) may have come from field recordings of such industrial spaces or if they've managed to perfect electronic manipulation as a simulation of organic constructions. Regardless, Kontakt Der Junglinge have come up with another great noise / drone recording.
For me (Andee), this record brings back terrifying memories of driving across the United States with Lesser. Everytime it was his turn to drive (driver controls the stereo, you know the rule) he would play Commodore 64 and Atari 2600 music full blast. It got so no matter how tired we were, we would still drive, just to keep control of the stereo away from Lesser! So years later, some of that stuff sees a proper release on Kid606's Tigerbeat 6 label. And out of the context of being exhausted and hungry in Nebraska, this stuff sounds pretty darn good. While still mildy irritating (as all video game music is to a certain degree) this is cool and kitschy and pretty fun stuff. Sounds like a Mario Brothers rave or a Sonic The Hedgehog dance party. We love Lesser.
Japanese saxophonist Urabe Masayoshi is pretty far out there in the field of free improvisation. A former visual artist, he switched from painting to music because he wanted the process of creation itself, that activity, to be the whole of his art, for all to witness. In his improvisations, he is said to have developed "an extreme language, built on unbearable body positions and blocks of silence" (to quote Franck Stofer's Japanese Independent Music book). He has collaborated with Japanese avant-rock acts Kosokuya and Che-Shizu for albums on Tokyo psych label PSF, and as well has recorded solo for the same label.
Recorded in 2001, Urabe's music as documented on "Urklang" is slow and abstract, encompassing much emptiness, vast emptiness (with track one on this disc being an epic for solo alto, over fifty minutes in length) populated by lonely notes, hollow hoots from Urabe's sometimes barely-there horn. Urabe's breath and guttural exclamations are heard along with his sax. Fiercely physical shrieks erupt from his instrument without much warning, although much of his playing is gentle and not un-pretty. The second track, a seventeen minute soprano solo, equally invests both silence and shrieking with Urabe's intense, and delicate, feelings. "Urklang" is an emotional experimental saxophone improv set for those with both Arthur Doyle and Keiji Haino discs in their collections. The debut release from Belgian label Tiiqua, this cd comes packaged in a sturdy mini-LP style cardboard sleeve (like many a '60s/'70s psych or jazz reissue from Japan), with drawings by Urabe on the cover, perfectly conveying his music's timeless vibe.
Solo record from the lead vocalist of alt. country rockers the Old 97's. And yet another chapter in the seemingly never ending saga of a band we love getting worse and worse. While the last Old 97's record still hinted at the band they once were, this is total middle of the road, singer songwriter, adult contemporary bland pop rock. Blechh.
Upon first seeing the robed, glow-in-the-blacklight performance artist/superhero/lo-fi synth mistress Monotrona last year, chanting distorted gibberish while striking imposing stances onstage, we were ready to beleive she was from outer space. However, evidence of her involvement in Duotron (with New Orlean's Mr. Quintron) canceled that theory, and recent reports link her to New York. Her songs have something to do with the cosmology of a set of superbeings, of which "Hawkeye & Firebird" represent the heroine/slave. Or something; I guess we'll find out when her website is built up more. This is frantic, weird, sugary-to-sinister synth ultra-pop videogame music, sung in a language resembling bizarro japanese- and there's a smashing cover of Doo Rag's "Thermos Malling's Coin." Like a J-pop Matthew Ritchie trapped in a gameboy, Monotrona has created a strange, alternate universe, governed by it's own gods and languages -- definitely an interesting place to spend the next 20 minutes.
Earache's classic vinyl reissue campaign marches on, now hitting us with Morbid Angel's amazing 1989 debut album, "Altars Of Madness". David Vincent's Satanic growl, Pete "Commando" Sandoval's drum artillery, and the squiggly guitar "lava" of bloody Trey Azagthoth and Pete Brunelle: the might of these eventual kings of death metal was on full display here, with some highlights being "Maze of Torment", "Lord of All Fevers And Plague", and "Chapel of Ghouls". Evil Florida death metal, ah those were the days! (But, this this was only their "A" album, they're at "G" in the alphabet now and still going strong.) Reissued on heavy, colored wax, by the way, like the rest of this Earache vinyl series, which is definitely reminding us of how incredible a roster this record label boasted in its prime. Again, those were the days... (CDs still available, of course.)
The soundtrack to a 1971 Duccio Tessari film about from what I can gather competitive airplanery and romance. The synopsis: "A Young Guy Fascinated by life in the clouds becomes a pilot in the Italian flying team, the Frecce Tricolori. His Dream to become a successful pilot leads him to experiment hightly dangerous feats, which enable him and the rest of the team to beat the English team in an international flying competition." Hmmmmm, looking past that moronic plot, I listened to the music with an open mind cuz I love love love Ennio Morricone. The music is very light and whimsical in a '70s optimistic sort of way. Plucking string sound, tinkling bells. He does a version of the theme music in his signature western style, with the horns and all. Happy and light, appropriate for an ironic tea party or listening with your mom. Certainly for the Morricone completist, but not by any stretch of the imagination his best.
Here's a taste of these up and comers for you, sounding a lot like A Certain Ratio and Gang Of Four. I saw them in L.A. and everyone was loving it. They are dance-y and tight and the drummer hits really hard which helps with the danceability factor, but they are so obviously derivative of this certain sound that when you remove the dancefloor, it's hard to be impressed.
Def Jux alert! Mr Lif's first full length is pretty great, something I didn't expect after hearing his (admittedly good, but not great) two prior EPs Emergency Rations and Enters the Colasus. I Phantom is a concept album, but don't let that deter you -- it's kinda nice to have an album length narrative with which to gain insight into Lif's vision of the world as full of the pressures and stress of social, governmental, cultural fucked-ness. Basically, as Lif spells out in exruciating detail in the liner notes, the story is one black man's life, starting with him getting killed during a robbery, resurrected by hip hop, gets a normal job, hates it, quits, etc etc, lots of tragedies involving marriage, suicide, murder and the end of the world. Pretty bleak but super interesting, and the production is courtesy Cannibal Ox's El-P, Fakts One, Insight, etc. -- brighter and cleaner than the rest of the Def Jux catalog but just as apocalyptic and heavy and layered and weird sounding in all the right ways. Aesop Rock, El-P, Insight, and others also guest on the mic. Compelling, but I'm worried it's not going to get the attention it deserves, so listen to the soundclips for sure.
Ahhh The Mummies, my (Sadie) garage rock heroes from right here in S.F.!!!! I remember seeing their fucked up mummy mobile, an old '60s ambulance with "The Mummies" painted across the side in scary writing, when I first moved here, parked in Bernal Heights, and I'd get so excited. They wore filthy rags as Mummy costumes, and just totally kicked ass. Simple, trashy, reverb-y garage rock. This is their first (and only) full length released only on vinyl in 1992, here on cd for the first time and with bonus tracks! It may be a cd but you can even hear the needle hit the record on the first track. So lo-fi and distorted but a total lean, mean sixties-garage dance party. Essential.
First full length from Nettle (a duo that just happens to feature AQ fave DJ/ Rupture!!). This disc is mostly made up of previously released 12"s, but adds some extra tracks to make the whole package worthwhile, even if you have the wax. The sound here is pretty far removed from the plunderphonic dancehall turntable mashups of the two Rupture releases (though some Nettle tracks can be found on those discs). Nettle is more like a hyper-glitched, super distorted Muslimgauze. Middle Eastern melodies are buried under bumping beats, downtempo rhythms and lots of glitched out bursts of hyper distortion and BZZZZZZZTTT. Dreamy melodies weave in and out of the mix as do brief hip hop snippets and found sounds. While this doesn't have the sort of novelty factor of Rupture's DJ mixes, this is still some seriously great stuff.
So here it is. Or at least part of it. This is what Courtney Love and the remaining members of Nirvana have been fighting about. THE SONG. The last completed Nirvana song 'You Know You're Right'. The song probably most of you have already downloaded off the internet. Or recorded off of MTV. So was it worth it? Well, for those of you who haven't heard it, it -is- a pretty great song. The familiar Nirvana formula: brooding verses, explosive choruses. But it still sounds great. The rest of the record is a pretty solid greatest hits. Hardly essential for the Nirvana fan, but necessary I guess if you want THAT SONG. Supposedly there will be a multiple cd box set in the next couple of years and I would imagine THAT SONG would also be included there, but you never know.
I (Sadie) love Tara Jane O'Neil. She has been in tons of amazing bands: Rodan, Retsin and the Sonora Pine to name a few. And as a solo artist she is just so lovely. This record is totally beautiful, dreamy and sad with slow and sort-of-driving electronica beats beneath layers of gorgeous guitars and her breathtaking voice. It's the perfect music to lay in your front yard to, or listen to when falling asleep. It's calming and trancy and totally hypnotic. In a weird way, it reminds me of early Bjork, but I don't want to cheapen it by comparing it to other stuff, 'cause it's so unique and perfect. It accomplishes that difficult mixture of cold electronica and digital sounds with beautiful heart wrenching human sincerity. This is her first record on Mr. Lady, and I'm glad. They seem like a good match, such a cool label, and a phenomenal artist.
This little 3" cd, a wonderfully crackling, hissing soundscape simply documenting the sound of ice melting, makes for a neat companion to another recent 3" cd we recommended, Jean-Francois Laporte's "Mantra" (a 20-minute drone piece derived from the sound of ice cooling and/or Zamboni machinery at a skating rink, you'll recall). To examine, in microscopic detail, rather the reverse of that process, recordist Collin Olan (sorry, we don't know much about him other than that he's someone with an idea and a couple of microphones) froze his waterproofed contact mics in a 10" x 10" block of ice, and submerged it in water, allowing us to listen in as the ice block slowly thaws and melts for over 17 minutes. This unprocessed recording turns out to be quite active and varied, full of sizzling, fat-frying kinds of sounds (to our ears, not unlike the atmospheric VLF radiation recordings of Stephen McGreevy) punctuated by some quite loud popping noises, ending with a stretch of near silence when the ice is, presumably, almost entirely melted away. That Olan utilized two microphones adds a lot of sonic interest to the proceedings, with different goings-on in each stereo speaker. Turn it up, and the 10" x 10" block becomes an immense glacier or berg that the listener is entombed within -- imagine yourself an unlucky prehistoric Ice Man frozen for millenia until freed and revived by modern science, like in that Timothy Hutton movie from the '80s! Certainly a sucessful experiment (we've known others with the same idea who've tried this, only to ruin their mics to little result), and quite a "carbonated" -sounding treat for the ear, especially for fans of the recordings of John Duncan, Loren Chasse, Marc Behrens, Stephen McGreevy -- and also of course for all our customers who we know are already into ice-themed 3" cds!
Ok, here they are, the first and best three albums (reissued on cd) by "possibly Allan and Andee's all time favorite prog band" Osanna, as we boldly declared in our review of another Italian prog rock fave, Il Balleto Di Bronzo. Yep, we've got the Osanna discs now, so you can judge for yourself. Even limiting our discussion to the realm of Italian prog, it would be difficult to claim that Osanna are objectively better than the also amazing likes of Il Balleto, Le Orme, Area, New Trolls, Franco Battiato, Goblin, I Teoremi, RDM, Museo Rosenbach, etc. But, Osanna do somehow combine the key elements of what we like about those bands and prog in general into these three crazy, colorful records, and thus deserve our hype. Ripping flute and sax solos, heavy psych guitar, powerful vocal choruses, hard rockin' prog drumming, weird musical changes and juxtapositions, electronic synth experimentation... Catchy, fun, fucked up prog from five nutty Italians, who want to rock out as much as be arty and display their adept musicanship.
The wonders of Italian prog have been revealed to us in a gradual process of discovery -- finding a used cd with a cool cover, or reading somwhere about another strange band, or getting a recommendation from a friend or customer. Neither of us grew up in Italy, or had a geeky older brother to hand down his PFM and Goblin LPs. In the case of Osanna, Andee's the one who came across 'em first, while travelling in Japan, actually. Rather randomly, the guy from the Boredoms-meets-St. Vitus doom/trance band Solar Anus (soon to have a mindblowing tUMULt label release) gave Andee a tape of Osanna to take home, promising him he'd like it. Well, Solar Anus dude knew whereof he spoke! Soon we were on-line, trying to track down the LPs, or cd reissues. Not long thereafter, Andee and Allan both possessed the complete works of Osanna on cd. But it took more than a few months for us to find a wholesale supplier so we could stock 'em at Aquarius and share our Osanna-excitement with you, our prog-lovin' customers... Actually we hope that self-proclaimed "prog" dedication is not necessary for enjoyment of Osanna, as we think that these discs are good and weird and silly enough for AQ-customers into whatever sort of musical extremity (experimental, krautrock, psych, metal, classic rock) to dig.
Osanna's 1971 debut "L'Uomo" may be the most song-oriented of these three albums, their Crimson and Tull influences easy to spot. They sound a bit like a proggier, Italian version of Mexican contemporaries Dug Dugs, if that's of any help -- equally into weird psychedelic effects, hard rock, and pop. A couple of the poppier songs are sung in English, and those might result in a few uncomfortable moments of "what am I listening to here?" panic. But the sheer exuberance and fuzzed out riffing of "L'Uomo" as a whole can't be argued with!
Ok, here they are, the first and best three albums (reissued on cd) by "possibly Allan and Andee's all time favorite prog band" Osanna, as we boldly declared in our review of another Italian prog rock fave, Il Balleto Di Bronzo. Yep, we've got the Osanna discs now, so you can judge for yourself. Even limiting our discussion to the realm of Italian prog, it would be difficult to claim that Osanna are objectively better than the also amazing likes of Il Balleto, Le Orme, Area, New Trolls, Franco Battiato, Goblin, I Teoremi, RDM, Museo Rosenbach, etc. But, Osanna do somehow combine the key elements of what we like about those bands and prog in general into these three crazy, colorful records, and thus deserve our hype. Ripping flute and sax solos, heavy psych guitar, powerful vocal choruses, hard rockin' prog drumming, weird musical changes and juxtapositions, electronic synth experimentation... Catchy, fun, fucked up prog from five nutty Italians, who want to rock out as much as be arty and display their adept musicanship.
The wonders of Italian prog have been revealed to us in a gradual process of discovery -- finding a used cd with a cool cover, or reading somwhere about another strange band, or getting a recommendation from a friend or customer. Neither of us grew up in Italy, or had a geeky older brother to hand down his PFM and Goblin LPs. In the case of Osanna, Andee's the one who came across 'em first, while travelling in Japan, actually. Rather randomly, the guy from the Boredoms-meets-St. Vitus doom/trance band Solar Anus (soon to have a mindblowing tUMULt label release) gave Andee a tape of Osanna to take home, promising him he'd like it. Well, Solar Anus dude knew whereof he spoke! Soon we were on-line, trying to track down the LPs, or cd reissues. Not long thereafter, Andee and Allan both possessed the complete works of Osanna on cd. But it took more than a few months for us to find a wholesale supplier so we could stock 'em at Aquarius and share our Osanna-excitement with you, our prog-lovin' customers... Actually we hope that self-proclaimed "prog" dedication is not necessary for enjoyment of Osanna, as we think that these discs are good and weird and silly enough for AQ-customers into whatever sort of musical extremity (experimental, krautrock, psych, metal, classic rock) to dig.
1972's Osanna album, their second, was a soundtrack to a film called "Milano Calibro 9". Working in collaboration with arranger Luis Bacalov, who is also known for his work with the New Trolls' symphonic efforts, this album incorporates strings, piano, and classical motifs. And, as befits a film soundtrack, many moods are touched upon... We don't know what the movie was all about, but it must have featured a fair amount of action, and trippy scenes. Osanna come up with super bombastic themes, high-energy instrumental freak-outs, suspenseful bits of jazziness, pretty vocal interludes, bleepy-bloopy synth fx, heavy electronic organ riff-drone, and the most heavy metal flute soloing you've ever heard. Totally kick ass. Osanna, you rock. Goblin was never this heavy.
Ok, here they are, the first and best three albums (reissued on cd) by "possibly Allan and Andee's all time favorite prog band" Osanna, as we boldly declared in our review of another Italian prog rock fave, Il Balleto Di Bronzo. Yep, we've got the Osanna discs now, so you can judge for yourself. Even limiting our discussion to the realm of Italian prog, it would be difficult to claim that Osanna are objectively better than the also amazing likes of Il Balleto, Le Orme, Area, New Trolls, Franco Battiato, Goblin, I Teoremi, RDM, Museo Rosenbach, etc. But, Osanna do somehow combine the key elements of what we like about those bands and prog in general into these three crazy, colorful records, and thus deserve our hype. Ripping flute and sax solos, heavy psych guitar, powerful vocal choruses, hard rockin' prog drumming, weird musical changes and juxtapositions, electronic synth experimentation... Catchy, fun, fucked up prog from five nutty Italians, who want to rock out as much as be arty and display their adept musicanship.
The wonders of Italian prog have been revealed to us in a gradual process of discovery -- finding a used cd with a cool cover, or reading somwhere about another strange band, or getting a recommendation from a friend or customer. Neither of us grew up in Italy, or had a geeky older brother to hand down his PFM and Goblin LPs. In the case of Osanna, Andee's the one who came across 'em first, while travelling in Japan, actually. Rather randomly, the guy from the Boredoms-meets-St. Vitus doom/trance band Solar Anus (soon to have a mindblowing tUMULt label release) gave Andee a tape of Osanna to take home, promising him he'd like it. Well, Solar Anus dude knew whereof he spoke! Soon we were on-line, trying to track down the LPs, or cd reissues. Not long thereafter, Andee and Allan both possessed the complete works of Osanna on cd. But it took more than a few months for us to find a wholesale supplier so we could stock 'em at Aquarius and share our Osanna-excitement with you, our prog-lovin' customers... Actually we hope that self-proclaimed "prog" dedication is not necessary for enjoyment of Osanna, as we think that these discs are good and weird and silly enough for AQ-customers into whatever sort of musical extremity (experimental, krautrock, psych, metal, classic rock) to dig.
"Palepoli" was Osanna's third album, originally released in 1973. Getting even proggier perhaps, the record consists of but three tracks: two long (18 and 21 minute) tracks divided by a brief, under 2 minute interlude. These extended suites blenderize all previous elements of Osanna's music, both light and heavy. Grandiose pop collides with mathy instrumental interplay, gentle, ethnic flavored passages of voice and flute suddenly give way to bombastic guitar and sax attacks, drums n' bass gallops are interrupted by electronic squiggles. Some field recordings of street sounds even make it into the mix. We, the goofy, cheesy, '70s prog fiends we are, like each part individually, the crazy combination of musical moods is but a bonus, as with their other albums as well...
Charlemagne Palestine has long been one of the pioneers of American Minimalism, tracing back to his '60s performances that rivalled Terry Riley, LaMonte Young, and Tony Conrad in duration, intensity, and transcendent potential. "Maximin" finds Palestine working with David Coulter and Jean-Marie Mathoul to re-intepret / re-mix / re-iterate (or how ever you care to catagorize it). For the most part, Palestine contributed material from his albums "Jamaica Heinekens In Brooklyn," "Schlongo!!!daLUVdrone," and "Karenina," while Coutler and Mathoul added additional drones, found sound textures, illbient breakbeats, and ethnic instrumentation.
Expanded North American Edition. Includes an exclusive bonus disc with new tracks, remixes and enhanced videos!
Sure, Peaches is shallow ear candy, but we all need sugar sometimes. With songtitles like "Fuck the Pain Away" and "Lovertits," Peaches far surpasses Li'l Kim in raunchiness, and her cool vocal delivery is equal parts coked-out ice-queen, white girl trying out hip hop a la Debbie Harry, and fierce punk yowler on the level of PJ Harvey and Kathleen Hanna. The music is super simple freeze-dried disco / wannabe electro / digital hardcore complete with stark drum programming and disembodied armies of handclaps. The whole package is slightly tongue in cheek -- Peaches has got the Sandra Bernhard-style parody / pathetic reality thing down cold. Those who would spend their money on Chicks on Speed should really check this out instead. Peaches delivers.
We've only got ONE of these limited edition pressings of Terry Riley's first release on his new label Sri Moonshine Studios. Perhaps you read the (positive) review in The Wire. Well, WE can't say it's all that good, but we can say it's nicely packaged and signed and numbered by the artist! You need to know more? It's a "74-minute seamless journey featuring voices, strings, synthesizer, piano and loops from India" and includes the final scene of Riley's opera "The Crucifixion of My Humble Self". There's got to be one Terry Riley fanatic out there who will want this, right? The less fanatic but still curious might wait for a normal, not-so-fancy, cheaper edition that may surface some day, or not.
With her clear, velvety voice steeped in emotion and yearning, Missy Roback easily draws comparisons to Aimee Mann or Margot Timmins of Cowboy Junkies. She sings with such enviable grace and ease. As well, there's quite a few things in common with the recent debut from fellow-SFer Snowy (aka Bonni Evensen). Apart from the striking vocal similarities, there's also the presence of Tim Mooney (ex-American Music Club), and Steve Roback (ex-Rain Parade) on her team - handling the production and mix duties respectively as well as playing a number of the instruments - not to mention that this too is a polished, impressive debut. She blends the sounds of swirling chamber pop, ghostly psych-twang, and maybe even some '60s girl group balladry thrown in for good measure. The result? A lovely album that's refined, self-assured and composed. Hannah Marcus guests on the title track.
Don't be fooled by the title, this is no live record. In fact, this is their first full length studio album in almost a year and half. Nothing super new, but everything people love about Rocket: super tight, kinda slick, rowdy and high energy pop/punk rock with Rocket's signature dual guitars, layers of horns and percussion, the snarly mean voice, tight songwriting and dynamic intros, it's all here! While I was listening to this record, song #3 "I cant feel my head" kept reminding me of something, driving me crazy to the point of keeping me up at nights, and I just finally figured it out! Yess!! The chorus sounds just like Blondie's "Hangin on the Telephone". Anyway, another great Rocket From The Crypt record. Check it out.
These girls kick so much ass. Four 20 year old Swedish girls kicking out the motherfucking jams like a more metal Runaways. They've been playing together since before they were teens, touring like crazy in Sweden and releasing two full length records. This is their first available in the U.S. and the timing is perfect what with the Hives/Vines/garage rock mania. Sahara Hot Nights spit out punky garage-y rock and roll, equal parts Kiss, the Helicopters and the Runaways. They sound a little like the harder, meaner sister of the Donnas. Heck, with the boyish garage rockin' good times boiling over on both sides of the Atlantic, it's high time we finally heard from the gals!
Hippy Renfaire Britfolk from 1968, featuring a 15 year old, pre-"Tubular Bells" Michael Oldfield and his older sister Sally Oldfield! This was really Sally's project -- apparently she had some sort of sudden spiritual revelation that caused her to break off her University studies in literature and philosophy, and pick up a guitar to write what became the "Children of the Sun" album! Of course, musical talent and creativity wasn't unknown to the Oldfield family, as history later showed.
This brother-sister duo both sang (Sally better than Mike) and played acoustic guitar, accompanied by session musicans -- flute, and harpsichord and chamber string arrangements on two songs. While much of this album is quite twee indeed, portions are rather dark and melancholic... A song title like "The Murder of the Children of San Francisco" kinda tells you where they were at. Sadness, beauty, blue birds and evening mists...that sort of thing. Contacts with British folk-rock act Pentagle got the determined Sally the recording deal for The Sallyangie's one and only album, reissued now as a delightful artifact of a long-lost era, when lush psychedelic pagan madrigal music was at its prime!
Castle has packaged this reissue with a bonus disc of previously unreleased demo tracks from both Sally and Mike, recorded in the year or two after "Children Of The Sun" was first issued. These include three folky guitar improvisations from Mike, and two dreamy pop songs by Sally. But that's it for The Sallyangie, although Sally sang on several of Mike's popular albums in the early/mid seventies before striking out on a sucessful solo vocal career of her own in the New Age field. But this album, with Sally's lovely wavering voice, Mike's adept guitar picking, and an abundance of youthful, period charm, is certainly worth checking out regardless of the Oldfield siblings' later careers.
Lanterna and Scenic would make for an excellent live billing, as both ensembles accent their guitar driven narratives with details of the open road from their respective homes (Lanterna from the Midwest, and Scenic from the Southwest); hence, this 4 song ep of live recordings from the two bands works quite well together. Although both bands preceded Godspeed You Black Emperor and Tarentel by several years, they've managed to carve a similar niche as their younger contemporaries with expansive soundtrack-ish instrumentals with majestic crescendos and introspective atmospheres. This split EP has also been beautifully packaged within a letterpress 'discofolio' by Scenic's Bruce Licher through his beloved Independent Project Press.
Quite simply, this album is a beauty. These days, the fact that Sigur Ros are Icelandic seems to overshadow the music itself. However geography books aside, there is definitely something palpably distinct about the music that's been coming out of that country (eg. of course Bjork, Emiliana Torrini and Mum). Indeed, an "Iceland sound" exists which is in full bloom with this Sigur Ros album. It may draw parallels to that which has come forth from Montreal (Godspeed You Black Emperor, Fly Pan Am, Do Make Say Think, et al) in recent years. Perhaps it's that they originate from countries that offer some degree of support for the art community? Hmmm. That said, there's a strong sense of focus and patience in their songcraft. Each song unfolds slowly releasing ethereal wisps of notes - both vocal and instrumental - to the air. Clearly SR are fully attentive to detail with a firm grasp of scale - the grand and the minute. Much like groups such as GYBE and Radiohead (they've toured with both, and actually some of their vocals bear a striking resemblance to Mr. Yorke's wavering, mournful wail), Sigur Ros are crafting meticulous, immensely moving compositions whether it be an epicly soaring soundscape or a fragile ghost of a ballad. Although just as the other two groups do, SR does have a tendency to occasionally go a little overboard in the overwrought / melodrama department, overall the result is an album of grace and beauty.
Steven R. Smith's "Kohl" is a relative departure from his typical output of repeated motifs structuring a cinematic psychedelia; instead, Smith delves wholeheartedly into meandering improvisations for dreamy, echoplexed guitar not all that far from the impressionistic work of Loren Mazzacane Connors or The Dirty Three. Steven R. Smith is also, of course, a current member of the way-out psychedelic improvisers Thuja. The cd comes packaged with a beautiful booklet with illustrations, woodcuts, tiny packets of dirt and seeds. Quite beautiful. Only complaint: packaged awkwardly in an oversized plastic bag (well, you can't fit all that dirt and seed in a conventional jewel case). But don't let that deter you from picking up this lovely disc.
BLEAAAARGH! DOOOOOOM!! Southern Lord strikes again with the new, Billy Anderson produced disc from Louisiana doom-squad Sourvein. Now featuring the guitar of Liz from former NYC all-girl doomsters 13, Sourvein takes the crusty Eyehategod/Grief/Corrupted style of doomgrind to new highs (lows?). Well, maybe not new ones, but just as extreme. Darker and scarier than fellow heavies Bongzilla or High On Fire, Sourvein simultaneously give a nod to the Sabbathy '70s sounds of doom pioneers St. Vitus, while ratcheting up the brutality of their crashing, crushing riffs into modern extreme metal/punk territory and beyond. It's like someone got the Melvins really really angry, and they're trapped in cave, frothing at the mouth, ready to die and kill -- and for some reason, they're trying to play Sleep songs. What? Stay away from those drugs. You know what I'm talking about? Good, then you'll want "Will To Mangle".
Hailing from Providence, Rhode Island and signed to Kid 606's Tigerbeat 6, Stars As Eyes certainly don't sound like they belong to either camp, as the duo has nothing in common with the aggro-costume-rock of Lightning Bolt or Arab On Radar nor is there much in common with the ironic-electro shock schtick endorsed by The Kid. Rather, Stars As Eyes embraces the instrumentation of rock within a context of pure electronica, fusing chopped 'n' diced rock riffs (complete with moderately heavy guitars, drums, and occasional bullhorn vocals) within a quirky, slightly sad structure of electronica (i.e. Mum, Boards of Canada).
Mike Skinner, otherwise known as The Streets, is this white British hip hopper with a Birmingham accent who raps about the mundanities of a life filled with trips to Mickey D's, pints of lager, barely scraping by, doing too many drugs, life's injustices, and so on, and on. That's really about it. Your standard hip hop blueprint, nothing wrong with that. And the musical backdrop to Skinner's rapping is pretty much doing what it's supposed to do, supplying beats and rhythms, chiming in with a sampled soulful vocal loop every time he has to stop to catch a breath. Really not that exciting. So why was this record nominated for Britain's prestigious Mercury Prize? I guess it's his style of rapping, which is this utterly monotone spoken flow (if you could call it that: his clearly enunciated passages actually sound sort of clipped). Very unpretentious, which is a good thing. It's not bad, and I kind of like the vocals, but... Hmm. Maybe if the instrumental accompaniment was better than the dub lite / UK-garagey / Casio preset stuff that's there now, then it would be great, but for now it's just kind of a novelty. Gold Chains is better than this. If it means anything to you, The Streets is the first band signed to the major-label sponsored VICE (yep, the magazine) Recordings. Oh, and it also includes 3 videos you can play on your computer. (They're just ok.)
Formed by ex-members of two late, great Arizona underground metal bands (screamo outfit Unruh and crusty doomsters Wellington), Structure Of Lies now unleash their debut ep featuring five tracks of their unrelenting metal mastery. Structure Of Lies is at heart a death metal project, one that's quite baroque and complex (hence the mathy title), with a lot of "crossover" appeal to the punkier grind/metalcore scene. Blackened, raspy, guttural vocals tear from the singers throat while melodic "true metal" guitar solos erupt from the raging thrash-fest (is the guitarist the guy pictured on their website in the Iced Earth t-shirt?). It's like a brutal death metal version of Megadeth. F'n great. Equally for fans of Death, Dissection and Converge!
I must admit more than a passing fondness for the bombastic, sexy drama of Brit poppers Suede. Their first few albums had a tendency to bring out the glamorous, hip-shaking bisexual diva in the shyest bowl-cutted indie popster. Of course, Brit pop hasn't been fashionable in years; all the mods have gone rocker, the British press delights in ripping apart their one-time darlings, and popscene overflows with khakis and baseball caps. Still, Suede chug on. They will probably never make another great album like "Suede" or "Dog Man Star," having lost an essential guitarist some time ago and a drug habit (with the accompanying dreary worldview) more recently, but "A New Morning" is nevertheless a very pleasant listen, and way better than their last album "Head Music." Producer-to-the-stars Stephen Street is at the helm, and while some of the more deliciously risque lyrics have been abandoned, the theatricality and overboard glam are here in full effect, and whenever Brett Anderson hiccups into a falsetto wail, it still has the power to make the boys and girls swoon. And ah yes- load this cd into your computer, and you'll have access online to alternate takes of every single cut on "A New Morning," just in case you really wanted to delve into Suede's, um, process.
When you listen to the audio clip we've put up for you, you're going to think we made a mistake & mixed up some totally different disc with American Supreme. It *is*, however, the new Suicide, but it sounds nothing like the old, amazing Suicide many of us know and love (ah, "Cheree"), and not only that, but if you had to predict what Suicide would sound like 25+ years after their heyday (not that they were ever that popular, mind you), what you hear on that soundclip is the *last* thing you'd imagine. Turntablist scratching, funky bass, bwang bwang bwang guitar, annoyingly echoey vocals, keyboards that'd be more at home on a Parliament Funkadelic record. I kid you not! I guess these guys should be applauded for, um, updating their sound -- namely, Alan Vega's doped-out vocals with the 'echo' effect turned to 11, and Martin Rev's worrisomely hip, um, programming on the keyboards. Oh man. On the other hand, a lot of people are falling for it, so... all I can say is: listen to this album before you buy it!
As promised, Locust Music has just re-issued the Sun City Girls' Dante's Disneyland Inferno. Long out of print, and never before released on vinyl, DDI was originally released in 1996 along side the fabulous 330,003 Crossdressers From Beyond The Rig Veda. Unlike 330,003 Crossdressers, Dante's Disneyland inferno is less likely to appear on anyone's "Sun City Girls album to own if you had to pick only one" choice. DDI is pretty much the Girls "spoken word" album (though not without its share of singing, of which there is much on here to boot) and as such is generally only good for one or two listens, kind of like God Speed You Black Emperor. Dominated primarily by the voice of Charley Gocher and accompanied by himself, the Bishop Bros., Scott Colburn + some special guests, the album isn't necessarily bad, it just doesn't lend itself to many repeat listens. The musical accompaniment to Gocher's sordid and seedy tales run the gamut of the SCG musical experience: off kilter beat jazz, improv. skronkery, world music tomfoolery and gloomy-folk freak out. And the poetics / songs themselves are two parts Grimm's Fairy Tales, one part Current 93 and 1.666 parts Ethel Merman on PCP. The end result of which is like a seriously disillusioned Tom Waits or a satanically possessed Violent Femmes, take your pick. As a bonus, you lucky vinyl buyers get an additional photo of the Girls and a comic adaptation of the song "The Brothers Unconnected" within this deluxe, double gatefold sleeve edition.
VERY LIMITED. And we think the blurb on the back of the cd says it best, so we'll just quote it:
Before the appropriately named Alkaholiks DJ/producer E-Swift hooked up with King Tee and DJ Pooh to work on a series of 60-second St. Ides TV and radio commercial spots that they had been commissioned to do: complete with a budget that allowed them to bring in some of the best emcees of the day. These rap commercials were really really good (they sound better than most commercial rap crap today!) and were so immensely popular at the time (early 90's when commercial radio didn't play nearly as much rap as today, esp. West Coast artists) that they resulted in listeners jamming radio station request lines at stations like Wild 107, San Francisco just to hear Cube or the Geto Boys rap about their favorite high-octane malt liquor. Not surprisingly with lyrics like Cube's "Get your girl in the mood quicker, get your jimmy thicker, with St. Ides malt liquor," it wasn't long before controversy soon overshadowed the advertising campaign. Outraged protests followed particularly in African-American and Hispanic communities where malt-liquor billboards and posters were defaced. Additionally the St. Ides commercials were publicly criticized by the U.S. Surgeon General and the New York State Consumer Protection Commission and drew fines from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, as well as the New York State Attorney General's Office. Additionally Korean grocers boycotted St. Ides, but for a different reason, for their use of Ice Cube as their spokesperson. Their protest was based on Cube's derogatory lyrical comments about Koreans in his album "Death Certificate." (Note: McKenzie River, the San Francisco-based maker of St. Ides, consequently temporarily discontinued using Ice Cube.) But the biggest criticism of the St. Ides commercials was that it used hip hop/rap music, a genre most popular with teenagers at the time, to sell malt liquor directly to underage drinkers. This was further enforced when St. Ides blatantly marketed a nonalcoholic drink for kids, boldly using the St. Ides name/logo (check out the lyrics to Ice Cube's "Crooked I For All Ages" track #30). Overall the reaction to the St. Ides ads was so intense that G. Heileman Co., the national brewer that had created the St. Ides label, disavowed any connection with St. Ides. And eventually the commercials were banned altogether and never heard/seen again.
With Ice Cube, Yo-Yo, Geto Boys and Scarface, Snoop Dogg, Wu Tang Clan, Eric B & Rakim, EPMD, and many more. 30 tracks in all. VERY LIMITED.
With the diverse amount and massive number of highly vocal supporters of this versatile plant over the ages it's amazing that it's still illegal. And though I don't smoke the reefer anymore (it only gets the best of my onboard paranoia generator), I certainly see no reason why this fragrant plant can't become a productive member of our society. Certainly Trikont's newly released collection of recordings celebrating the wacky weed is no ground breaking concept, as there have been plenty of compilations featuring every possible genre of music devoted to praising the herb. But what probably sets Trikont's double disc "Dope & Glory" apart from the pack is their dedication to compiling a set focusing solely on the early days of American jazz (all culled from the 30's and 40's.) 50 tracks from such heavyweights as Fats Waller, Cab Calloway, Sidney Bechet, Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole, Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman and much much more perform such classics as "If You're A Viper", "When I Get Low I Get High", "Golden Leaf Strut", "Chant of the Weed" and then some! So pack up a bowl, put this disc on the old aluminum spinning laser device and enjoy. Fold out eco-pak includes booklets of liner notes in both German and English.
Three way split between Small Rocks (a.k.a. Matt Wand of Stock Hausen & Walkman), The Rip Off Artist (a.k.a. Matt Haines) and Atom (a.k.a. Senor Coconut a.k.a. Uwe Schmidt) with each contributing four original tracks. As the title would lead one to expect, the three irreverent plunder-tronicists take on Jamaican dub for this project. I guess it had to happen eventually. While the myriad cheese farmers of electronica out there "pay homage" to the genre (the final installment of Select Cuts From Blood & Fire that we listed on the last AQ newsletter to present an example), it seems only appropriate that the jesters of electronica should have their day in court as well. Oddly enough, the three seem to take a lasseiz-faire attitude (in comparison to their usual output) when applying humor to the pieces presented here. But, unlike the Select Cuts series, the fellers here are not directly referencing tracks -- these are not remixes in even the most remote sense, but original compositions that are about as "dub" as you would expect any of them to be. To this end the rhythms and bass lines are all appropriate to the genre, but the palette of sounds are not. Of the three, Atom Heart tends to approach the task at hand with possibly the greatest sense of familiarity with the genre being decomposed. Where Small Rocks and The Rip Off Artist seem content to merely applying their palette of sounds to a virtual MIDI dub template, Atom Heart has the knack of pulling out all the iconic elements of dub and smashing them back together. With Atom, the grainy edge of decaying tape delay is looped and treated like King Tubby might ride the fader on a vocal track with reverb or delay. In other words, treatments in which the effect is paramount and the source becomes inconsequential. I can only hope that these (Atom Heart tracks) are trial runs for a future Rather Interesting release. The relative success of the artists here might be attributed to how much time each spent on these tracks. Glancing at the inside of the booklet, The Rip Off Artist apparently got his tracks recorded just last month (September of 2002) and the other two in August. Seeing as how it's only mid-October now, and they obviously had to get this thing mastered, have artwork made, the whole thing produced, and sent to distributors before reaching our digs, that doesn't leave much time for schlepping tracks together in the studio.
In 2002, Gallery 16 here in San Francisco exhibited The Bowie Show, which collected art, writing, and music that takes David Bowie as inspiration. This is an arty, spiral bound, full color, glossy-paged book with a cd and nicely embossed cover. Contributors include Rick Moody, Jason Mecier, Michelle Tea, Doug Coupland, Cliff Hengst, Scott Hewicker, Ann Magnuson, etc. And the (all exclusive!) tracks on the cd are each covers of a song off Bowie's Low album. The music runs the gamut from Matmos' slinky electronics on "A New Career in a New Town" to Troll's simmering Talk-Talk-meets-Nina-Simone take on "Warszawa". Other musical participants include Glenn Donaldson of local faves Thuja), Wayne Smith of Aero Mic'd, The Sadnesses, Tom Recchion and more.
"The Fire This Time" is an unnervingly prescient release with the current US foreign policies that find the US attempting to bully the United Nations into accepting the US draft of a Security Council resolution, which would inevitably lead to another war with Iraq. Compiled by maverick British journalist Grant Wakefield, "The Fire This Time" is a detailed audio collage, deconstructing media events of the Gulf War within a political context that is encapsulated in the following statement: "it is morally necessary to be opposed to Saddam Hussein, but simultaneously to be equally, perhaps even more, opposed to the continued imposition of sanctions on Iraq. The two positions are not mutually exclusive. You can be anti-sanctions and anti-Saddam." While the recontextualization of media samples is far from novel (see Negativland, Illusion Of Safety, Tape Beatles, and even Steinski & Mass Media for the pinnacle of post-Burroughs' cut-ups in the late '80s and early '90s), Grant Wakefield's presentation is in a far more spectacular form, as a detailed argument that spans a full 72 minutes with a running soundtrack that Wakefield mixed together from Orbital, Pan Sonic, Aphex Twin, Bola, the Higher Intelligence Agency, and other electronica darlings. Even if you don't care for the politics found within, Wakeford had enough sense to produce "The Fire This Time" with an 'instrumental' disc featuring just the electronica soundtrack.
2nd edition of a comp originally released in 1999, featuring 15 international noise/experimental artists doing one "loud" track and one "quiet" track apiece. Contributors include Otomo Yoshihide, Voice Crack, Kapotte Muziek, MSBR, TV Pow, Stillupsteypa, Kazumoto Endo, Shifts, Taku Sugimoto and Tetuzi Akiyama, Pita, Lasse Marhaug, and others. Interesting stuff, but the oversized envelope the discs come packaged in isn't too exciting (sez packaging snob, Allan).
Let's face it, most tribute albums suck. I can count on one hand the number of tribute albums I have *loved*. (Well, actually on one finger, namely the Roky Erickson trib.) Now along comes this FANTASTIC collection of songs performed by a perfectly-chosen array of alt country musicmakers, all paying their respects to Kris Kristofferson with achingly gorgeous renditions of his songs. I'm hard pressed to even name highlight tracks, because *all* of them are lovely. The mood is consistently downer, the performances retain the flavor of the individual contributing bands, but let the brilliance of Kristofferson's songwriting show thru. And who doesn't love "Me and Bobby McGee", "Help Me Make it Thru the Night", and my personal fave "Sunday Mornin' Coming Down"? If you're not a Kristofferson fan (yet), get this anyway -- it serves as a wonderful intro to the perpetual outsider with the progressive politics who mopped floors at a Columbia's Nashville studios just so he could slip Johnny Cash tapes of his songs! (The liner notes go into his life story a bit -- quite fascinating -- he was involved in the Central American conflicts, visited the Sandanistas, is working to free Leonard Peltier, etc.)
Participants include Souled American, Calexico, Radar Brothers, Zmrzlina, Virgil Shaw (Dieselhed), Richard Buckner, Howe Gelb (Giant Sand), Grandaddy, Deanna Varagone (Lambchop), Court and Spark, Califone, Handsome Family -- all artists already established as wonderful. Hear them pay tribute. Take it from me, the picky tribute listener -- this one is GREAT. It will make you love Kristofferson while also providing a stunning snapshot of the current alt.country scene. Highly recommended!
Tribute to Nigerian musician Fela Kuti featuring a swarm of artists including Mixmaster Mike, Dead Prez, Talib Kweli, Femi Kuti, Macy Gray, Meshell Ndegeocello, Common, Manu Dibango, Tony Allen, Baaba Maal, Archie Shepp, Sade, Taj Mahal, Antibalas and much more. Though most of the tracks are a brief 4 or 5 minutes (instead of the Fela standard of an album side) they are set up in continuous form so that one guest will toast over a track for a bit, then someone else will pick up the slack where they leave off. So you kind of get the Fela feel in a 2nd millennium party mix sort of way. In fact, many of the tracks use Fela's original music as source material and throughout the collection it is remixed in varying amounts. Net profits from the sale of the album go to support Red Hot's AIDS awareness activites and other AIDS related relief and prevention programs.
Hopefully all of you are now familiar, probably thanks to the HBO's Paradise Lost documentaries, with the unjust plight of the West Memphis Three: Arkansas teenagers Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelly and Jason Baldwin, convicted of murders they in all likelihood are innocent of, more on account of their supposed goth/alternative "weirdness" than any real evidence. If not, go please rent the first Paradise Lost film, it'll shake you up...or look for a new book about the case called Devil's Knot. Anyway, more publicity (and money for lawyers) for the WM3 can only be a good thing, and ol' Hank Rollins (whatever you think about his post-Black Flag music, spoken word and film career, he's a well-intentioned individual) had just the idea: another benefit album (there's already been one), but one with a "must-have" concept: a whole bunch of well-known singers doing their favorite Black Flag songs. With his current Rollins Band line-up on bass, guitar and drums, Rollins invited everyone from fellow former Black Flag singer Chuck Dukowski to Iggy Pop to Chuck D into the studio to take on 24 Black Flag classics. It's celebrity Black Flag karaoke, basically. Henry himself shows up on six songs, such was his enthusiasm... So, if you're at all curious to hear Ice-T sing "Police Story", or Exene Cervenka dueting with Rollins on "Wasted", or Dean Ween's version of "Gimme Gimme Gimme", or just want to support a good cause, here you go. And boy, does Lemmy's "Thirsty & Miserable" sound like a Motorhead original! Some other participants: Mike Patton, Keith Morris, Ryan Adams (performing solo, making "Nervous Breakdown" sound like a PJ Harvey song), Tom Araya of Slayer, and members of Rancid, Queens of the Stone Age, Poison The Well, The Mars Volta, and Slipknot. (Look online at www.wm3.org for more info about the three, or if you want to send $$$ to 'em directly rather than buying this cd!)
Usually, when one thinks of the concept of the instrumental in conjunction with the island of Jamaica, it's dub and the mounds of reverb + delay that accompany it that come to mind. But even before and after King Tubby reigned supreme with his custom modified mixing board and effects, the instrumental for instrumental's sake was already huge on the island including reworkings of classics with solos in place of vocals and entirely new rhythm tracks that -- for lack of any vocal that fit it -- became instrumentals. That the previous four Studio One collections celebrating the career of Coxsone Dodd have been so damn great shouldn't be too surprising considering Dodd's huge contribution to the wealth of music on the island. But taking into account that even the rarest of tracks on these collections are still heads above many of his competitor's greatest productions is a sign that the man had ears nothing short of 24 karat status. So it is with this fifth volume of tracks culled from Studio One's glorious past; from ska to rock-steady and on through reggae. Among the greats here are the Skatalites' rare and treasured "Coconut Rock" from the mid 60's, an amazing disco remix (one of Dodd's earliest) of "Cleopatra" dubbed "Shockers Rock" by Tommy McCook & the Skatalites that extends to almost 8 minutes and stuffed to the gills with organ solos, a laid back and soulfull version of "Walls of Jericho" courtesy of keyboardist Jackie Mittoo & guitarist Ernest Ranglin, a truly bizarre twangy southern soul "Bugaloo" by Jackie Mittoo's Soul Brothers, and a couple of heavy buru drumming backed cuts "Money Generator" and "Black Up" featuring the mellow jazz saxophone of Karl Bryan and his Afrokats with Count Ossie. There's really not a dud on the album, and even if you might be familiar with some of the rhythm tracks, you'll be impressed by these workings of them. Highly recommended!
As a bonus, the CD includes yet another teaser video (completely different than the one included on the Studio One DJs CD) to the upcoming Studio One documentary DVD that Soul Jazz is releasing.
