Boston's 5ive (who may be changing their name to Continuum Research Project, as that's what the top obi on this li'l disc says -- I think the Euro boy band 5ive's lawyers might have something to do with that) unleash another super heavy and mesmerizing instrumental metallo-drone experience, consisting of the 23 minute track "Part I: The Hemophiliac Dream" and then "Part II", a quite worthwhile 14 minute remix done by the Jim O'Rourke of the avant-metal underground, James Plotkin (Phantomsmasher, Khanate, OLD, Joy Of Disease, Flux, Romance, Lotus Eaters, etc.), giving 5ive the computer/electronics treatment for some this-side-of-Merzbow-noisy (yet quite listenable), stereo-panning-gone-wild weirdness. A claustrophobic headphone trip. In sum, "The Hemophiliac Dream" is psychedelic, sludgy, and a little post-rock in places -- total beauty-in-heaviness stuff for fans of Boris, Acid Mothers Temple, Old Man Gloom, Melvins, Tarantula Hawk, Swans, Kyuss, all that.
France's Fractal label gets into the Acid Mothers Temple game with this eagerly-awaited new album (we're told it's only their sixth studio effort, though we didn't actually count 'em ourselves). "Univers Zen Ou De Zero A Zero" starts off with some over the top heavy psych wankery (entitled "Electric Love Machine") that might be leftover from their Electric Heavyland sessions, but as with most AMT releases, you never know what's coming next! Track two marks a shift into more mellow pastures, as Cotton Casino's dreamy voice, acoustic instruments, and gentle synth washes make for a nice interlude, before some seriously droned-out howl comes in on the very next track ("Blues Pour Bible Noire") to hammer you for 20 or so minutes. Later in the disc there's another epic 20+ minute track of medieval psych ("Soleil de Cristal et Lune d'Argent") with Cotton singing/chanting over some lovely Amon Duulish drone rock, worth the price of admission alone. We've really got to admit, that despite their prolific output, Kawabata & Co. rarely disappoint, and this is yet another quite good Acid Mothers Temple release!
Note for serious AMT otaku: there's an unlisted bonus track that we think is the first studio version of their crazy vocal bit "God Bless Acid Mothers Temple", while the disc's very first track features a guest solo from Hiroshi Narazaki (former guitarist of Japanese '70s psych legends Les Rallizes DÈnudÈs).
A couple of excellent, albeit *completely* different, tracks extracted from the archives of Bronx's now legendary Wackies label & recording studio. The A-Side is a super sweet discomix of Horace Andy's "Musical Episode" from 1982. Clocking in at 6 minutes it's one of the nicest cuts I've heard come out of Wackies, replete with pounding kumina drumming even; so it's all the nicer that it's extra long. The B-Side is equally great, but such a polar opposite that it's amazing they grace the same slab. Legend has it, that this 1979 track was Lloyd Barnes' (a.k.a. Bullwackie) only attempt at breaking into hip hop. On it three kids, apparently young Jamaican emigrees to the U.S., give their all in true Sugarhill Gang form, doing their best to imitate the New York patois with their stream of consciousness lyrics which go on endlessly. What's better is that the version offered here was the B-Side to the original single, so about half way through it gets totally fucking dubbed out, with drums and bass dropping in and out, echo bounced off the vocals -- which sounds totally strange on frenetic hip hop delivery, as opposed to a slow reggae track -- and kooky electronic sounds. The total length of the track is almost 11 minutes, putting it up there as one of the longest hip hop tracks ever. For those without access to a turntable, fear not, these two tracks are a preview to a full length compilation being released by Dis-Joint.
Who ever said grunge was dead was wrong wrong wrong! Chris Cornell joined all of Rage Against The Machine (minus the singer) in May 2001. After some tumultous band strife they bust out with this, their first release, which brings you so back to the early 90's it's hard to believe (or understand). This has all the sludginess of Mudhoney, the murkyness of Green River and of course sounds a lot like Soundgarden. Dynamic and slick recording, with a familiar, if out of date sound. If you're sad cuz you're bored of your old grunge here's some brand new songs that sound as if they came right out of a time capsule.
Someone has to say it, it might as well be us. C'mon!!! You studied music at Mills for fuck's sake!!! You were honored alongside RYOJI IKEDA and OVAL by the Ars Electronica, the biggest honor in digital music, beating out everybody ever featured in The Wire, EVERYBODY! But all you do is sing stupid songs, terribly off key, to retarded programmed nursery rhyme electronica, about boobs and butts and stuff only grade schoolers think is funny. Christ, this is depressing/embarrassing. But people (those Ars Electronica folks for one, and possibly Fred Frith who actually appears on this disc) seem to like the Blechdom thing, so maybe we're missing something. Some sample lyrics: "There's a boob-a-que in here, my tits are on fire / My ballpark boobs are about to explode." Ugh, well, whatever we might be missing doesn't sound like something we want to get.
Now that the world has fallen love with Boards of Canada's languid, pastoral instrumentals, 'tis high time for a re-release of their first ultralimited album Twoism, recorded in 1995. The original vinyl of this record goes for hundreds of dollars but you can have the disc for a normal price (and it comes with a sticker too). BoC's sound features warbly synth tones plucking out almost childishly simple melodies -- the duo's skill is more in conjuring up their trademark warm, organic fuzzy sound, a mix of shuffling arty breakbeats tapped out on the snare and mixed with early Mo-Wax-style doped out whooshing layers of atmospherics. It's really, really beatuiful, although after three full length releases I am begininng to find the melodies a trifle same-y, as if one keeps hearing the same three notes over and over, only slightly varied for each track. The Boards' peak remains their Music Has the Right to Children album, their least predictable ad most artistically inspired record. However Twoism is a fine, and previously virtually unheard by most of us, debut. Worth a listen.
An absolutely smokin' new EP from Philadelphia's Capitol Years, whose Meet Yr Acres debut was a favorite of ours back in 2001. On that record my favorite songs were the two slow pretty ones, but after having seen Capitol Years live twice I've been totally converted to their rollicking rock heart -- and this new EP is comprised of six absolutely perfect upbeat tracks. This band plays psychedelic pop music with a totally infectious manic punk energy and in a perfect world they would be more popular than the Strokes... with whom they share a certain changa changa guitar sound, but Capitol Years're clearly far more naturally talented. Unforgettable pop hooks galore on each and every song! Should appeal equally to the indiepop-minded Strokes fan in you as well as the Nuggets-lovin' Ptolemaic Terrascope psychster you are behind closed doors! Highly recommended! Contender for Windy's favorite pop album of the year.
Here's a very limited (to 500 copies) 10" from Texas trio Charalambides, whose delicate, ghostly guitar and voice meanderings get more and more so with each release. On Ana/Kata we hear long spaces of woozy guitars weaving in and over and between themselves, then ethereal female voices quietly add themselves to the proceedings... and the queasiness factor triples. Quietly squealing guitar adds to the haunted house effect. A fractured blissout record for the very experimental-lovin' readers of our list, the type who usually confine themselves to static, glitch, and noise.
- RealAudio clip: Kata
- RealAudio clip: Ana
A fine new album from local darlings Charles Atlas, on UK's Ochre label who've released music by similarly dreamy outfits Windy & Carl, Fuxa, Magnetophone, Kawabata Makoto, A.M.P., etc. This is organic instrumental blissout music -- warm and human -- consisting mainly of heartbreakingly pretty arpeggiated piano and guitar chords whose gentle notes articulate themselves separately yet are moodily sustained for many seconds, a sonic tactic we've also heard wielded by Boards of Canada, but Charles Atlas is more sad and emotional. Reminds me of Sonna, Pan American, David Kilgour, and Tarentel, although Charles Atlas sets itself apart using gorgeous flourishes on warbly musical saw, quiet tinklings, female oohs and ahhs, cool trumpet, hollow ticktock clicks (a la Young Marble Giants). The chords are minor key and tension-filled yet still pastoral and hushed -- a very pleasant combination that prevents the album from becoming boring or sickly sweet. Very restrained, mature and introspective. Had enough of Boards of Canada? Give Charles Atlas' fresh take a try. Beautiful.
Hot on the heels of the totally mind blowing Orient reissue comes another Don Cherry gem that was originally released in 1971 only in Japan and that has been totally unavailable for years. Reissued on cd and gorgeous double lp, the line up for this record is the trio of Cherry, Johhny Dyani and Okay Tamiz. The first track, Blue Lake is one of the most gorgeous pieces of music I have ever heard. Mournful, solo flute, dark and Eastern tinged. With shakers and bells and hand drums that get more and more vigorous as the track progresses. Brief but really really poerful. Track two is a massive 30 minute epic, that's all over the map. Co-written by Tamiz and Dollar Brand (Abdullah Ibrahim) "Dollar And Okay's Tunes" sounds like a huge medley, and could well be judging from the title, from skittery free jazz to spastic fusion to tribal soundscapes to sinister filmic instrumentals to almost gospel like sections complete with chant-like vocalisations. The final track, East, also clocks in at about half an hour and is a wicked rhythmic workout. Drums and hand drums and other percussion, along with a throbbing thrumming bassline, lay the foundation for Cherry's chanting vocals. The song swings through different moods and methods, squealing free jazz skronk, dark and hyper minimal drones, Santana-ish fusion/rock, crazed drum freak outs, but always returns to the dark and tribal mood that started things off. Blue Lake is a classic as is the also reissued Orient. Buy them both.
I (Andee) had to push really hard for this to be record of the week back in June as we seldom make LPs records of the week, but now it's been RELEASED ON CD! So all of you turntable-less folks can now also enjoy what is easily one of the most amazing records I have ever heard. We knew about this record but had never actually -heard- it until the aforementioned vinyl reissue. And we were just blown away. We were convinced that this could be the jazz record to cure Jim of his I-Hate-Jazz attitude (we'll let you know what happened with that) (umm, nope. - Jim).
Gorgeous cover art depicting a little ant on the yolk of a big fried egg! Quite striking. Recorded in 1971, 'Orient' features 2 separate live performances with Cherry in two different trios, one with Han Bennink (drums, percussion, accordian, vocals) and Mocqui (tamboura) and the other with Johnny Diani (bass) and Okay Tamiz (drums, percussion). The track 'Orient' which was a side and a half of the 2lp set is the real gem here (although all four tracks are spectacular). 'Orient' starts off with minor key piano and subtle percussion, with mumbled, chant-like vocals, slowly building, rumbling clattery percussion, not all that different from what No Neck Blues Band seems to be working towards. Ten minutes in, the track explodes into a hyper-rhythmic free-jazz frenzy with wailing trumpet and completely mad silverware-drawer-down-the-steps drumming from Bennink. The chanting vocals return, this time, much higher in the mix turning it into a musical tug of war between a somber spiritual and a crazed drum circle free-for-all. The drums prevail, beating out a tribal rhythm, with drum kit and tamboura weaving a rich rhythmic framework, that slowly winds down to dark and dreamy melancholy piano and huge gong swells, with occasional percussive clatter in the background. Suddenly the trio slips into a classic jazz groove that is perfect, but also perfectly out of place. No need to worry, as the groove quickly dissipates into a free jazz supernova of squealing horns and chaotic drumming. Track two, named for Cherry's son, starts with loping and meandering, deep dark beats, with owl-ish flutes and ghost-like horns. Some percussive clatter and an almost Roland Kirk-like breathing/singing whips up a frenzied fervor over throbbing bass, skittery percussion and wild piano (at this point it's necessary to point out the fact that Cherry is handling piano/trumpet/flute single handedly!). The trio soon click into an almost Santana-ish groove with Cherry's soaring vocals following the piano. The track winds down with Cherry going crazy on BOTH the trumpet AND the piano! Track three 'Togetherness' displays some truly breathtaking free-jazz interplay from Cherry and drummer Okay Tamiz. Cherry alternates between pocket trumpet and flute, playing complicated and unlikey melodies over the thick pulsing bass and frenzied percussion (drum kit, but also bells and shakers and gongs!) eventually finishing off with more of that Santana-ish groove and wild, free vocals! The final track, 'Si Ta Ra Ma' is the weirdest of the bunch, again reminding us sonically of No Neck and other of the more modern drone/clatter ensembles. Guttural vocalisations that vacillate from droning almost-throat singing to what sounds like speaking in tongues, with muted horn sputter, droning low-end trumpet buzz, clapping and sorrowful chanting vocals. Over the course of the last ten minutes, the vocals gradually fade into the mix as the percussion (steel drums?) build and build while Cherry solos dreamily and mournfully until the end of the track. Amazing and essential and totally timeless.
Weird. That's the word to describe this new live disc from our favorite Finnish band, the one and only Circle. Of course, Circle is always weird, but on "Raunio" they're downright spooky-weird! Mika Ratto, in addition to his Goblin-esque keyboard lines,
Besides the vocals of Mika, there's just lots of spacey, noisy stuff on here. The disc sounds great (they're an amazing live band and this is quite well recorded). You can hear the enthusiastic audience at the start of a few songs, but they are quickly drowned out by Circle's amplified insanity.
The album (derived from two shows in Finland this past fall) features a great version of "Dedofiktion" (one of the highlights of their "Prospekt" album) and at least one song derived from their latest studio album, "Taantalums" (which we don't have yet, as it's soon to be released in the USA on our own Andee's tUMULt label, as a picture disc 12" and then a cd, sorry for the wait). The rest of "Raunio" consists of either new songs or live improvisations (or both)!
In our current cd age, a lot of "great lost '60s psych" records have gotten reissued, and a lot of the time, they can't live up to the hype. But this is definitely one of those long-awaited reissues that deserves the billing... Clear Light were a long-haired, hippy-fashioned LA group named after a type of LSD (and a Tibetan religious concept), playing psych-pop rock kinda in the vein of fellow LA denizens Love, The Byrds, Iron Butterfly, and The Doors (or SF's Jefferson Airplane). This cd makes available once again Clear Light's one and only album released in late 1967, complete with bonus track and liner notes by Ugly Things editor Mike Stax. Key Clear Light characteristics: awesome fuzz guitars, the presence of not one but TWO drummers, and the dramatic vocal delivery of singer (and ex-actor) Cliff DeYoung, at his best on the bands more theatrical songs, sounding like "Hamlet on acid" according to Stax. All these elements were used to great effect in Clear Light's compositions (mostly by guitarist and ex-Army parachutist Bob Seal), which can get rather dark, heavy, and disturbing while remaining within the template of California pop psych sixties rock n' roll. Groovy.
Soft, swirling and as fleeting as a snowflake! These two new songs sound just like the title of the B-side "Breathing Soft And Low". Quiet and uncluttered, but with a soothing presence. This is a much too brief slice of these Londoners' captivating twilight pop. Yet, please note: their new full length isn't due until late spring, so this might be just the thing for all of you Clientele fans needing a little something to tide you over. Nice.
Read about Karate, Silkworm, DJ Spooky, Mary Timony, Lozenge, Mighty Flashlight, Xiu Xiu, Oxes, Howard Hello, and more. Listen to The Feud, Casket Lottery, Lamplighter, Waxwing, Bottles & Skulls, Eyes Of Autumn, Small Brown Bike, Tekulvi and more.
"Silent Fantasy" is the dementedly catchy full length debut from Crack:WAR. Like the baddest girls in the schoolyard, frontwomen Le Kim & L'Erin accost listeners with spoken-sung lyrics that often go off the rails from sassy into the realm of the surreal and sordidly bizarre. Meanwhile, King Riff and Obscuratron put together distorted disco deconstructions that the right combination of substances would probably render wildly danceable. The sounds may not be too vastly removed from the legions of electro clones, but those looking for a soundtrack to lolling about trendy clubs and shopping for designer handbags will definitely be disappointed. This is San Francisco, not New York, and noise reigns supreme. You want cutting edge fashion? Crack:WAR give you over the top renditions of clowns, sailors, and bloody, masked anti-heroes. You asked for benignly "shocking," "sexy" lyrics and dirty-girl posing? Crack:WAR will give you illicit sex in caves with mutilated body parts, but you're gonna have to pay. Unlikely to be a hit at electro clubs in Williamsburg, and I mean that in purely complimentary terms. Added bonus: seizure-inducing live videos to play on your computer!
The Brooklyn glitch-minimalist Taylor Deupree offers another decent album of looping electronic pulses layered with sublime, synthetic melodies, ringing modulations, and textured digital grit. "Stil." ends up sounding nearly identical to Oval's "Diskont 94" which predated this album by nearly 8 years. Not original, but quite good.
The Wild Bunch was Bristol, England's legendary sound system some of who's members went on to form the now both legendary and hugely successful Massive Attack. While Mushroom and Daddy G. both went on to become the core members of Massive attack, it was Milo and Nellee who started and were the bedrock of The Wild Bunch. The group moved quickly from packing house parties with their primitive DJ setup, to becoming one of the most popular sound systems in the country. The crew took cues from Jamaican sound systems and insured their competitive edge by hunting down and spinning the rarest of the rarest tracks for their exclusive use -- one of their earliest conquests was an ultra rare copy of "Wild Style Breaks", an instrumental collection from the hip hop movie Wild Style. Their efforts were greatly enhanced by Daddy G. who, while working in a record store, would hide the hottest new 12"s behind the counter and not sell them to anyone else he thought might be a DJ. This disc is, in a sense, an attempt to recreate a Wild Bunch set. The tracks -- Thelma Houston's "You Used To Hold Me So Tight", Spoonie Gee's "Love Rap", Knights of the Turntables' "Techno Scratch", Cameo's "It's Serious" for starters -- were all picked and mixed by Milo who, despite the fact that his name has faded into obscurity, is generally considered to have been not only the heart and soul of The Wild Bunch, but a catalyst for the eventual formation of Massive Attack. The nicest thing about the collection is that, as segues between many tracks, Milo has included live snippets of between song ambience (lots of whistles and air horns!) from actual Wild Bunch performances, so the set almost sounds like the real deal.
Joining the meth-damaged contingent on Mike Paradinas' Planet Mu label alongside Venetian Snares and Hellfish & Producer, Doormouse offers a non-stop assault of digital hardcore mutations of Amen breaks smashed into those enormous 909 blastbeats common in Alec Empire's more punishing recordings. Top off the rhythmic shrapnel with an obliteration of George Michael's "Faith," dialogue from porn audition tapes, slashed-up NuMetal guitar riffs, horror film samples, and crude misogynist joke, and you've got the makings for an album of easy listening for kids with serious cases of attention deficit disorder.
Sometimes it's hard to believe that certain records just go out of print. I mean who would let the Conet Project go out of print, or Souled American, or the Incredible String Band. It's even weirder when the record is not old or obscure. Then it's usually some bureaucratic red tape or major label bullshit that keeps people from hearing some great record. Such is the case with the second, ultimate release from San Diego's Drive Like Jehu, originally released on Interscope in 1994. A record Allan and Andee and Jim and Sadie and Windy and quite possibly the rest of the AQ staff would rank as one of the best rock records ever! Easily as good/important as Slint's Spiderland. For those who don't know, Drive Like Jehu was fronted by John Reis of Rocket From The Crypt (who has now reissued Yank Crime on his own Swami label) and featured vocalist Rick Farr (his rock name, he's also known as Eric Froberg) who later went on with Reis to play in the Hot Snakes. Drive Like Jehu also just happened to have one of the tightest rhythm sections EVER. E V E R! Yank Crime is a tightly wound record of 'post rock' (before post rock meant watered down instrumental indie rock bullshit) with head nodding, repetitive grooves, propulsive, ultra concise drumming, and some of the most inventive guitar playing we've ever heard. All topped off with Farr's distinctive high pitched vocals (familiar to all you folks who dig the Hot Snakes) The songs are looooong and hypnotic but never boring. The band locks into totally intense, static grooves, that can go on for minutes before exploding into mayhemic bursts of controlled fury. So goddamn good. Anyone who likes the Hot Snakes MUST own this record. Drive Like Jehu is like a hyper charged, heavier, more intense and complex, MUCH BETTER Hot Snakes. Anyone who likes Feuhler or Don Cab or Slint or Engine Kid or almost any post rock will discover what all those other comers had been shooting for. This is IT. Trust us. An automatic AQ "record of the week" selection as soon as we heard it was finally being re-released -- with three bonus tracks to boot! ("Bullet Train To Vegas" and "Hand Over Fist" from their Merge label 7", and the original version of "Sinews" from a Cargo/Headhunter compilation.) So even if you have the original you might want to get this reissue for those.
Even packaged to look strikingly similar to an old Folkways LP release, this pair of Flynt releases on Locust sure do fit the "Hillbilly Blues" label more than any other release we've heard yet from him. And what's more, they're fucking great! No, you won't find any pseudo-ragas on either of these discs. This is wild and relentless, drone-y and hypnotic, sonically overwhelming neverending foot stomping, finger picked blues work outs. But as one might expect the workouts are static, shifting minutely and almost imperceptably if at all. Like a redneck hillbilly Terry Riley or La Monte Young.
The tracks on volume one go a little like this:
Track 1: Three and a half minutes of solo electric blues guitar, thankfully stripped of that awful standard blues chord progression.
Track 2: a short two and a half minute blast of nasal auctioneer style vocals, over a primitive country electric guitar riff.
Track 3: A massive twelve minutes of retarded toe tapping, to a hillbilly pizzicato on the fiddle that develops into increasingly manic sawing on just three notes.
Track 4: A gorgeous chunk of primitve, droney minimal blues, with humming vocals clocking in at a whopping 16 minutes.
Even packaged to look strikingly similar to an old Folkways LP release, this pair of Flynt releases on Locust sure do fit the "Hillbilly Blues" label more than any other release we've heard yet from him. And what's more, they're fucking great! No, you won't find any pseudo-ragas on either of these discs. This is wild and relentless, drone-y and hypnotic, sonically overwhelming neverending foot stomping, finger picked blues work outs. But as one might expect the workouts are static, shifting minutely and almost imperceptably if at all. Like a redneck hillbilly Terry Riley or La Monte Young.
The tracks on volume two go a little like this:
Track 1: Five minutes of minimal amplified fiddle with lots of echo/delay, like music for some sort of space rodeo.
Track 2: 13 minutes of what sounds like a similar version of the first track, although this time without the echo/delay and a little more sawing on the higher notes of the fiddle.
Track 3: very traditional sounding blues progression on the fiddle, but stretched out a little. Definitely the easiest listening on either disc.
Track 4: Ten minutes long. Revisits the melodies of track two, but the sawing is more feverish and the sound is more thick and much less minimal. Eventually mutates into a super saturated, head nodding, blissed out transcendental hoedown!
Brigitte Fontaine may get filed next to yeh-yeh girls like Francoise Hardy and Chantal Goya, but the eclectic avant-folk records she has been making with the help of percussionist Areski Belkacem since the seventies take the pop seed and mutate it far beyond the reach of any other French chanteuse. She cut a record with Art Ensemble of Chicago in 1971, and is making amazing records to this day, as evidenced by last year's excellent "Kekeland," featuring collaborations with the likes of Sonic Youth in addition to Areski. This is a reissue of her self-titled album from 1972, and it moves through the sounds of gorgeous pychedelic folk, string and organ-backed polyphonic liturgical-style chants advocating power to the people, medieval prog stylings, bizarre poetics, spoken word, barnyard avant-jazz, and the odd bout of screaming or anti-capitalist rallying. Her seductive voice grounds a kind of dada futurism that emerges alongside the deft navigation of styles, a hallmark of her work. Brigitte Fontaine's brand of cerebral pop experimentalism puts her in a strata attained by few artists. What reference points I can dig up-- Art Ensemble (of course), the best Os Mutantes records, Yoko Ono as a French situationist-- don't really suffice to explain Briggitte Fontaine's haunting oeuvre. Let me just say that listening to this album makes me giddy with joy (seriously!), and comes highly recommended, as does the reissue of 1971's "L'incendie."
With the sheer number of releases coming from the Kawabata Makoto / Acid Mothers Temple camp, we tend to get a little jaded. But the fact remains that if any of these discs was presented to us as being by a new band, we'd be pretty excited. Such is the case with this one, which IS a new band that we're not familiar with -- an Italian psych/pop outfit with the odd name of Jennifer Gentle -- simply teaming up with hairy Japanese acid guitar guru Kawabata for a fine display of out-there instrumental interaction. Recorded live this past year, this disc includes Kawabata-added versions of two JG songs, both sprawling 12 and 14 minute long psych epics w/ guitars, keys, electronic effects, drums, and bass all over the place. Between these two tracks you get six or so minutes of Kawabata scraping and droning away solo at his Indian sarongi, a nice if eerie respite from the energetic electric Pipes of Pan rituals he enacts with the Jennifer Gentle people. A collaboration not to be overlooked by AMT fans, or anyone into heavy, claustrophobic freakout jams of almost occult power. Now we're really curious to hear JG's prior recordings, if any!
Read about Amon Tobin, Christian Fennesz, Mum, Negativland, Suicide, Rosy Parlane, Wobbly, Ikue Mori, Goodiepal, and lots more in this ninth issue of the ever thicker and slicker "experimental electronic music magazine" Grooves. Music *and* gear reviews fill out the pages, making this good reading for both electronica consumers and producers.
Robyn Hitchcock's remarkable body of work (both as a solo artist and with his band the Soft Boys) spans over a quarter of a century and is truly something to be cherished. Wry, witty, intelligent, eccentric, and definitely one of a kind. Now, he pays tribute to a fellow songwriting great - the one he credits as being his original musical inspiration. Robyn Sings is comprised of two cds full of Mr. Hitchcock performing the songs of Bob Dylan live in concert. In these sixteen renditions, he keeps relatively faithful to the originals but not without bringing his own unmistakable vocal inflections and personality to each. The first disc called "Stripes" (after Hitchcock's own trademark shirts) is mostly acoustic, just him singing and playing his guitar. It's graced with two versions of "Visions Of Johanna" - the one song that spurred him to become a musician - as well as "Desolation Row", "Not Dark Yet" and "Dignity". On the second entitled "Dots" (after Dylan's trademark shirts), he takes a fuller, more rocked-up approach presenting the songs in the running order of Dylan's Royal Albert Hall performance. It includes "Ballad Of A Thin Man", "Tell Me Mama" and yes... "Like A Rolling Stone". This entire collection is steeped with Hitchcock's immense respect and love for Dylan's work, very much like that which his own recordings have stirred from artists and fans alike.
Does spacey, dark, drifty, deep, and droney sound good to you? Then pay attention: "Darkwave" (i.e. industrial, ambient) label Dragonflight Recordings (who last brought us the experimental black metal of Proscriptor) has just established a sub-label for, well, the sub-sonic specialty that can be described as 'doom' (metal or otherwise), and their first release is the debut cd from Hlidolf.
Not sure what the name means, or how you're supposed to say it, and actually we don't know much of anything else about Hlidolf except that it's the project of one fellow from Norway, Vidar Ermesjo. He recorded this in "Hlidolf Studios" (his home, we presume) in the dark and cold of last winter. It's one loooooong instrumental track (70min!), sorta somewhere betwixt Earth "2" and Maeror Tri or Lustmord. SUNNO))) and Skepticism also come to mind, and especially the obscure and defunct Neptune Towers project of Darkthrone's Fenriz, which this release pays tribute to in its liner notes ("Not for collective listening...recommended listening with headphones, or large, black stereos...").
Like Neptune Towers, this sounds like Krautrock electronics maestro Klause Schulze gone over to the dark side, all evil and ominous, yet soothing -- good late night, creepy going-to-sleep music, if you like that sort of thing (which I do, though unfortunately it's not the preference of my girlfriend...) Glacial, bass-heavy, beautiful. It's almost religious.
Following the electronically toxic explorations of the Winston Bros' "Amen" break on the "Oiseaux 96-98" album, Keith Fullerton Whitman returns with his second album as Hrvatski. "Swarm & Dither" further expands the fusions of drum & bass with obscure '60s psyche-rock, plenty of Max / MSP patches, and an open dialogue (critical and otherwise) with academic composition. The "Amen" breaks still run rampant throughout the "Swarm & Dither" cuts, but are less of a unifying factor than on Hrvatski's preceding album. Rather, Whitman under the Hrvatski guise treats each individual track as insular structures where he's responding and reacting to all of the elements within. "Swarm & Dither" is less of a wholly conceived album, and more of a collection of completed fragments. At times, these individual tracks are celebratory eruptions of DSP gabbacore jungle (i.e. the magnificent version cover of "Paint It Black" which also appeared on the amazing tUMULt compilation "Painted Black"); at others, they display a dry sense of humor that's more of satrical witticism than another self-reflexive piss-take (i.e. the Commodore 64 8-bit melodies appearing on "Marbles" on top of a rhythmic kaleidoscope of perpetually menacing breakbeats and 909 stabs); and on others, Hrvatski displays serious expositions on grindcore and elite '60s electronic composition (esp. Stockhausen and Riley). The album ends on a particularly anti-electronic note, with Hrvastki doing a very straight cover of Trad, Gras, och Steiner's "Waltz of Tegenborg" -- a Swedish psych / prog tune perfect for happy-go-lucky dancing trolls. It's a perfectly odd ending to a wonderfully odd album.
Disc one, "5000 Spirits Or The Layers Of The Onion", dates from 1967 -- it's their second album, featuring only the core duo of Robin Williamson and Mike Heron -- and was the first solid fulfillment of their Brit folk + Middle Eastern + Indian raga equation, as they added the ouds an' sitars to their original Anglo-American folk interpretations with some wonderfully moody results. Their 1968 follow-up, "The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter", is one of the ISB's best-regarded efforts, taking the sound of "5000 Spirits" to more free-form extremes. Dolly Collins (sister of Shirley) helps out on this one.
1969's "Changing Horses" sees the ISB stretch out with two of their longest compositions/jams to date, both songs around the quarter hour mark, along with a handful of shorter tracks. The exotic, barmy hippy folk of the sixteen minute album closer "Creation" should appeal to today's Terrastock psych-folk fans into Ghost and Six Organs of Admittance and the like! It also reminds us a bit of ISB's quirky contemporaries Twink and Tyranosaurus Rex, or even Comus and the Wicker Man soundtrack. Mystically over-the-top. This might not be an essential ISB album, but if you like this sort of thing you'll want it for that track alone. "I Looked Up" from 1970 is similarily a decent but not crucial ISB effort, meaning don't get it first, but do get it if you are or become a fan. From the trad country-folk stylings of opener "Black Jack Davy" to the many moods of the ten-minute plus folk-prog rocker "When You Find Out Who You Are", this visits all of the ISB's colorful bases...
1970's sprawling "U", almost two hours long, was the ISB's soundtrack to a stage show -- a "surreal parable in song and dance" according to ISB's Robin Williamson -- that combined the String Band's musicians with the performance of underground dance/happening group Stone Monkey. Must have been pretty wild, based on this psychedelic music, and the photos crammed into the disc's tiny booklet. It's a bit much to get a handle on -- possibly why this is apparently one of the ISB's more obscure releases. But there's great songs on here, hitting all of the prime String Band motifs: the folk, the raga, the rock, the country... Essential for fans, and recommended to newcomers too, if unafraid of ISB overkill.
This two-fer 2cd is consistent with these albums' original UK release in 1968, as both "Wee Tam" and "The Big Huge" were issued together as a 2LP set. Again the ISB mix their Celtic and Appalachian folkie roots with "world" influences, and although this is quite mellow and gentle, they also brought in some electric amplification at this point. With female vocals n' whistles n' fiddles n' sitar etc. this is quite pretty stuff, great summer morning sitting in a sunny meadow music. Both records are ISB fan favorites, with gorgeous four-part vocal harmonies, whimsical but sometimes dark moods, and of course lots of Incredible String-ed instrument playing.
We've got just one of these in stock, the new limited edition "Eddie's Archive" box, basically the Iron Maiden fan's wet dream. A 10.5" x 7.5" x 2.5" tin box, embossed with Maiden mascot Eddie's face, enclosing 3 double cds of Maiden rarities -- live stuff from the BBC archives circa 1979-1988 including their Donnington '88 and Reading '80 festival performances, two more discs of Maiden live at Hammersmith, and two discs of Maiden B-sides, including covers of Zeppelin, Montrose, UFO, and the Who. The live stuff is all "previously unreleased" (except on bootlegs) and there are some great songs among the B-sides. And, if that wasn't enough, this also comes with a crystal & pewter Eddie shotglass (yes, a shotglass) and an Iron Maiden family tree by Pete Frame on a rolled up parchment scroll w/ an Eddie ring!! Get it before Allan buys it -- Andee got the other copy we had already...
Here is a 2cd release collecting all of the best (and the rare, and the radio sessions etc.) of John's Childen, the rebellious, punk ass, late '60s, psych pop band who at one point included Marc Bolan, later of the legendary T-Rex. JC are maybe best known for being thrown off a Who tour for upstaging them theatrically and for being louder!! On this album are very early versions of songs Marc Bolan would later re-record under his own name and as Tyrannosaurus Rex, such as "Mustang Ford", "Desdemona", and "Perfumed Garden Of Gulliver Smith". Contains a fancy book with extensive liner notes by band members, filling you in on all the dirt on this short lived British band.
Here's a little 23-minute ep from Pacific Northwest outfit Kinski, following up their excellent "Be Gentle With The Warm Turtle" debut on the Pacifico label. Now they're on Sub Pop, with a new album to follow in the new year. Kinski are a band who obviously love their krautrock and their Floyd, playing that space rock / post rock / psychedelic rock stuff we love too, a la Circle, Mogwai, Codeine, MBV...
"Semaphore" starts things off in the now expected Kinski manner, erupting into a warm fuzz bath for yr ears, heavy and doleful enough to almost be mistaken from some instrumental Norwegian black metal concoction at moments! The next song, "Point That Thing Somewhere Else" pops things up a bit, with a lively drum beat and some indie-rock vocals (the only singing on the disc). Following that, "The Bunnies Are Tough" gets all droney and experimental and scary. Fourth and final track "I Wouldn't Hurt A Fly" returns to the loud guitar zone for a dynamic and heavy eight-minute epic that recalls Godspeed You Black Emperor! mixed with Mogwai. We look forward to Kinski's upcoming full-length!
Brooklynite rapper Talib Kweli's name literally means "seeker of truth" -- if his parents were that cool then you can imagine how conscious and smart he must be. After releasing highly regarded albums with Mos Def (Black Star) and Hi Tek, his newest album is a solo affair, although he certainly had plenty of help: Mos Def, DJ Quik, Pharoahe Monch, Black Thought, Cocoa Brovaz, RES, & more. And the record may feature a different producer on almost every track, but said producers prove themselves uniformly great, especially when they lend their smart ears to the choosing of sample material, all of which is unpredictable and not overused. There's driving rock guitar in the first song, emotional viola on several tracks, a killer Chi-lites sample on "Guerrilla Monsoon." Al Green, Black Sheep, Eddie Kendricks. "Get By" -- which might as well be considered a remix of one of Windy's favorite songs of all time, Nina Simone's epic version of "Sinnerman" -- makes excellent use of Simone's handclaps and the way she leaps all over the piano. Listen to that track for sure. Really nicely done and consistent. Recommended.
Those of you who live in San Francisco may have seen or even bought some of the many self released casettes by the mysterious one man black metal band called Leviathan. Or some of you may have seen Andee or Allan sporting their Leviathan shirts, or you may have even seen Wrest, the man behind Leviathan lurking around AQ...regardless, Leviathan is the latest and certainly one of the greatest of the Bay Area black metal bands (Ludicra, Sangre Amado, the godlike Weakling [also on tUMULt], etc...) who seem to exist in some sort of vacuum here while elsewhere, band after unoriginal band keep getting signed to huge labels and hyped to death even though most of them suck.
For this release Andee and Wrest went through the 13 full length Leviathan cassettes/cd-r's (as of today that number has leapt to 15!) Leviathan had recorded since 1998 to compile a good overview. But they couldn't whittle it down enough so one disc became two, with the first disc being the newer stuff, and disc two being the older, raw-er material.
Verrater is pure, primitive, cult, home recorded evil. Two discs, twenty two tracks, one hundred and forty three minutes of buzzing, howling, pummelling, black metal. Think Burzum, Darkthrone, Immortal, that sort of thing, but with all sorts of weird twists and sonic surprises. Yes, Leviathan is grimmer than grim metal that the frost & forest lords of Norway should bow down to, but it's also pure expression unfettered by genre restraints, although informed and inspired by them. Like Weakling, Mistigo Varggoth Darkestra, Caacrinolas, Ludicra, Potentiam, Enslaved, and some other AQ-championed black metal acts, this is not just one for fans of black metal only! It's dark, weird, noisy, disturbing art embodying one man's vision that should be heard by anyone into avantgarde, experimental, psycically and physically powerful rock music. From blasting howling fury to moody ambient blackness to off kilter weirdness to droning riffery to soul crushing heaviness. What's truly remarkable is that one man, playing all the instruments himself, and recording at home, can evoke such strong emotions and invoke such musical demons. Original, evil, hateful, misanthropic, bizarre and truly black metal.
With an avant-metal / metalcore membership of superstar proportions with Stephen O'Malley (Sunn 0))), Burning Witch, Teeth Of The Lion Rule The Divine, Khanate, etc.), James Plotkin (Old, Atomsmasher / Phantomsmasher, Khanate, etc.), and Aaron Turner (Isis, Old Man Gloom, HydraHead Records, etc.), the Lotus Eaters locate themselves quite far away from the archetypes of metal. Actually, their sound is more of re-contextualization of remnants from the disintegration of metal into fragments of ominous spectres of atmosphere, distant orchestrations of acousmatic sound, and slivers of guitar drones. With very spartan arrangements, the Lotus Eater's first CD (after a couple of super limited vinyl only releases) invokes the archaic ritualist behavior, gnostic alchemical symbolism, and dark ambient transgressions of the post-industrial work from Troum, Cranioclast, and even Coil's "How To Destroy Angels" album. However, throughout the suitably nightmarish activities, the trio of guitarists reveal very simple two or three note melodies; and on more than one occasion, "Mind Control For Infants" loosens its iron fisted grip on a dark atmospheres, exploring some pristine, glistening bell tones, rich acoustic guitar fingerpicking, and gossamer threads of feedback. This album makes for wonderful late-night listening, and is certainly recommended!
With his signature layers of fuzzy guitar and his whiny pleading drawl (meant in the nicest way of course), J Mascis comes through yet again. Looks like this record is J all by his lonesome, multitracking his way to a full band. And doing it quite beautifully I might add. It's been so long since I listened to Dinosaur, that listening to this totally brought me back. This record definitely has that trademark Dinosaur sound. All charming, lush and sad, but in that weirdly optimistic way.
Sounds like Ol' McDonald's taken a turn away from his former feisty power pop self into a more straight-up rock guise. Okay, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration. There are glimpses on this EP of the McDonald brothers' trademark vocal harmonies and non-stop kick-ass catchiness. It's hard not to draw comparisons to their past glories, especially considering that (as Redd Kross) they'd cornered the market on shining, well-crafted pop back in the late '80s / early '90s. You'd hope that some of that quality would've inevitably surfaced in other subsequent musical endeavors. However, it's been many moons since then, and it seems all that remains are those few faint glimmers. The magical chemistry is gone and these songs seem somewhat lackluster and a bit clunky. Maybe it was his bro' Jeff who wielded the mightier songwriting pen? To find out what he's been up to, check out his band Ze Malibu Kidz.
Montreal's dub outfit Mossman returns with their softmore effort and it doesn't disappoint. Like the first album "Vs. The World Bank", Mossman and crew keep their sound solidly in the tradition of the masters, but refuse to rest on their laurels content with their sound. For "Vs. Mr. Tsunami" the group is paired down to a mere two people: founding member Mossman (percussion, melodica, keys, vocals) & Tsunami (guitar, bass, keys, percussion and occaisional vocalist), with a few cameos from some guest musicians. What the group has lost in live musicians, it has made up for in studio wizardry. While full of modern digital effects and synths the sound is never cheesy or lifeless.
Coming from the cross-pollinating community of Bavarian post-rock and electronica hybrids, Ms. John Soda is actually a duo comprised of Micha Acher (of Tied & Tickled Trio, Village of Savoonga, and the Notwist, often times working with his brother Markus) and Stephanie Boehm. Both worked together six or seven years back as Couch, a data-pop / post-rock ensemble with not a thing in common with the Michigan scum-rock band by the same name. Their reunion as Ms. John Soda for their first album "No P. Or D." doesn't stray far from the Morr label template of bittersweet ambient-pop; so we give a word of caution to fans of Village of Savoonga's angular darkness, which you won't find in any Morr productions. Boehm's simple if slightly detached vocals wistfully float through each song not unlike those of Laetetia Sadier on early Stereolab albums like "Peng." Barring their Neu! references, those early Stereolab albums make for an adequate parallel to Ms. John Soda in their mutual applications of retro fetishism, effortless indie-pop grooviness through jangliness, and an unassuming intelligence (which Stereolab has lost as of late). It's almost as good as the Notwist's "Neon Golden," which has grown to be one of the sleeper gems of 2002! Certainly worth checking out.
Basically, this is what we were hoping the Acid Mother Temple's "Electric Heavyland" would sound like! Musica Transonic is yet another project featuring the wild guitar playing of AMT's Kawabata Makoto, in a trio with two other notables from the Japanese underground: the Ruins' incredible Tatsuya Yoshida on drums, and High Rise/Mainliner/Ohkami No Jikan leather-and-shades master Nanjo Asahito on bass. They've been around for a while, this is their sixth album of instrumental psychedelic improv rock in fact. Previous efforts were a lot more jazzy and spazzy, and while this has total psych guitar freakouts, they're in the context of some speedy, steamroller, straight-ahead heavy rock n' roll, '70s-style. Hence the title "Hard Rock Transonic" I guess. Not unlike the blueprint for Nanjo's bands High Rise and Mainliner: distorted garagey fuzz-fests with searing psych solos (Kawabata rips on here). The driving, riff-repetitive parts are almost metal, kinda like Circle's "Sunrise" in that way. Nanjo's rumbling Blue Cheer bass and Yoshida's solid beats, along with the aforementioned Kawabata guitar freakouts, are total head banging material.
Add in the Greek song titles, the crazy cover drawing, and boob n' panty baring cheesecake shots of young Asian women in the booklet, and you've got one wild Japanese psych-metal album.
A perfect fit for Raster-Noton, Nibo is the moniker of a Japanese audio-visual artist who has been articulating sound through mathematically tight digital-click repetitions and pure sinewave tones, that end up sounding virtually identical to the post-techno rhythmic tendencies of Alva Noto, Ryoji Ikeda, and to a lesser extent Pan Sonic's Mika Vainio.
Dark feedback frenzies, primitive plodding drums crashing away, reverby Reynolsian vocals: this is some *intense* electric guitar heavy improv psych, a lot like Keiji Haino's Fushitsusha. It's the brainchild of Nanjo Asahito, who shares Haino's prediliction for wearing all-black clothing and sunglasses at all times (and for wrangling from his guitar loud clouds of post-Neil Young blackness). Never one of the most prolific of modern Japanese underground psychedelic bands, Nanjo's Ohkami No Jikan here present what's basically their debut album, though they've been around for quite some time, making only some rare compilation appearances previously. But, the members of the band, in particular leader Nanjo, keep busy in other projects -- in Nanjo's case, the legendary High Rise, Toho Sara, Musica Transonic, Mainliner, etc. Actually it doesn't say anywhere on here who's on this besides Nanjo, though unless he's overdubbing everthing he's got at least a drummer and another guitarist in the band. Three tracks (one of 'em over 30 minutes long) of timelost, slow-moving, heavy rock drone, brutally beautiful and moving. Of the three new Japanese releases on Fractal, this one *doesn't* necessarily feature Acid Mothers Temple's Kawabata Makoto (although maybe he is on here), but in comparison to the colorful krautrock worship of the AMT disc, or the hard driving proto-metal of the Musica Transonic one (which features both Nanjo and Kawabata), this is the deepest, most primal of the three.
"UPA" is second solo album from Swedish multi-instrumentalist Bjorn Olsson (formerly of Stoogesy punks Union Carbide Productions, now a member of hip retro-popsters The Soundtrack Of Our Lives). While we're not all quite as taken with this as we were by his solo debut "Instrumentalmusik" (Jim *loved* that album), this is still quite nice. There's less of Bjorn's Bo Hansson worship, more input of varied influences -- from calypso (w/ steel drums and electronics) on the bouncy opening cut to smooth n' mellow '70s grooves to atmospheric droney, folky psychedelia that, like his first album, is very reminiscent of that Italian master of spaghetti western soundtracks, Ennio Morricone. A lot of this is really pretty stuff, mostly lush and lovely, melodic and moody, though our favorite track might be the last, the darker and heavier "Tema I" with doomy distorted guitar and martial drumming, at over seven minutes a powerful finale indeed.
Actually, it's the finale twice, as all the songs on here appear two times, with tracks 10-18 being alternate, rawer (?) versions of 1-9, though no explanation is given for that. Still, it's nice to hear 'em again...
"Le Memoire Des Sons" collects three pieces from the French musique concrete composer Bernard Parmegiani, including "Capture Ephemere" (1967), "Sons-Jeu" (1987), and "La Memoire des Sons" (2001). As with his previous works including his masterpiece "La Creation Du Monde," Parmegiani follows an acousmatic approach to contextualizing how his heavily processed sounds are to be perceived. Despite the span of 34 years in between all of these recordings, there is a remarkable similarity in how Parmegian fractures the source material into generative particles tumbling, exploding, flanging, dissolving, sparkling, and timestretching into very plastic sound constructions, that clearly follow the strict rules of what musique concrete should be according to the precepts of the French state sponsored institution INA-GRM.
This is the second pressing for the S.E.T.I. "Above Black" album, originally released in 1998 as part two in a trilogy of paranoiac / isolationsist sound constructions that include "Knowledge" (1995) and "Pod" (2000). Throughout this series, S.E.T.I. (aka Andrew Lagowski who spent time in the early IDM scene with recordings for GPR, and who worked on Lustmord's apocalyptic ambient masterpiece "Heresy" as well) crafts beguiling soundtracks mired in the mythologies of contact with extra-terrestrial beings, both optimisistic and conspiratorial. The title "Above Black" comes from a book of the same name authored by Dan Sherman, a former agent for the NSA, who while on active duty in the US Air Force claimed to have firsthand evidence of the US government's dealings with alien lifeforms. Lagowski may have genuine allegiances with Sherman's claims, but wisely sites his sound productions within the realm of sci-fi metaphor. The source material for "Above Black" appears to be shortwave radio transmissions, in particular the enigmatic repetitions and crackling bleches from utility signals. Whether they overtly function as voice frequency telegraphy, differential global positioning, or air controller communication, it's not a big leap that the intrinsic mysteriousness of these transmissions across the shortwave band are part of some conspiracy. Lagowski accentuates these references through a well-designed sound-narrative aiming for psychological tension and punctuated with shivering electrical drones, bursts of garbled communications, and distant cracklings from the ether.
