A children's album of sorts! As its creators Malcolm Felder, Gabe Boyer and company envisioned it, A Journey... is "not so much a parody of children's music, as in fact an exploration of the style of production that goes into the creation of a children's album." That said, it features characters who go by names such as leading man Mr. Tadpole, narrator/dermatologist (?) Dr. Esophagus, Mr. Chipmunk, Mr. Jeebee and the Sunflower Cabaret. The sounds are playful and quirky. Fun for a wider age group than you might expect!
A side note: If you dig this lp you might wanna check out the cd called The Textbook Tapes which is a tweaked, lo-fi sci-fi concept album created by the same folks.
Hot on the heels of his Llor N Kcor album and Love Is Hell Part 1 ep comes Part 2. We were expecting it in the new year, but it appears he (or his record label) just couldn't wait. Geez, if he continues at this pace his fans will have to set up a whole separate shelf for just his albums... not that they haven't already! Anyways, Part 2 is comprised of seven new lushly produced songs on which Adams' voice very unsettlingly resembles that of other vocalists -- for instance, we heard more than a little Glen Campbell and Elliott Smith. Weird! Perhaps he's trying to reach a wider audience by diversifying his vocal delivery since he's already done so with the different musical styles. Now don't get us wrong, we're not harshing on Adams for stretching out in different directions and trying new things. That in itself is great. Other artists venture out all the time, but when Adams does it, somehow it just seems calculated and less than sincere. Give 'er a listen and assess for yourself. That said, of his three newest releases, we still favor L.I.H. Pt.1.
Don't forget to boogie is right. Although you'd be hard pressed to actually boogie to this collection of minimal, hyper repetitive blues riffs. Maybe bouncing in place or nodding hypnotically would be more appropriate. Akiyama is a stalwart of the Japanese improv scene along with Taku Sugimoto and Otomo Yoshihide, but here has chosen to let his bluesman freak flag fly. Well, sort of. While these pieces are all 'blues', the riffs are endlessly repeated and slowly become a fuzzy, Reich-ian guitar rock dronescape, at times sounding like Henry Flynt playing the Muddy Waters songbook, at others like a novice guitar player practicing the only riff they know, and still at others like a busker in the subway. Allan posited that this is either the dumbest record he's ever heard, or the most amazing. I think I lean a little toward the latter. either way the overall affect is intoxicating and seriously hypnotic. And let's not forget the impeccable Idea Records packaging. A gold embossed obi hugs the edge of a dark photo of Akiyama, looking all badass cowboy, at a table piled high with tommy gun, booze, electric guitar, full ashtray, knife, gold coins and of course a glass of milk. The back cover is a brownish/blackish haze, with a glossy old fashioned skull barely visible, printed on top. So nice.
Another missive from Pink Skulls, the label started by Glenn Donaldson of Jewelled Antler /Thuja / Skygreen Leopards / etc. for stuff that was too punk or weird for JA. And boy does this certainly qualify, a New Zealand noiserock tag team of unprecedented proportions. First up is Pumice, whose recordings sound like they were played through a tin can in a cave and recorded on a microcassette recorder. And that's a good thing! The first track finds Pumice turning G.G. Allin's "I Want To Fuck Women" into Pumice gold, fitting perfectly with his other two tracks, hyper distorted ballads, guitars so distorted they threaten to stop being guitars, while melodies waver and wobble under a wild wash of delay and hiss. Good stuff. We raved about Thee Armpit a few lists back, and even though they've dropped the Thee from their name, they still whip up some serious treble (like trouble, get it? Oh forget it.) Deliberately strummed guitars amidst clouds of angrily hissing shortwave, songs rendered completely unrecognisable by the thick patina of buzz and skree and battered equipment-malfunction glitch. Seriously speaker shredding. And great.
25 years? Oh my god. Well, if you're at least that old you'll remember the movie/TV show Battlestar Galactica, a Mormons-in-space allegory that gave the world those Cylon baddies and inspired George Lucas' even more successful Star Wars cycle of films. Oh, ok, maybe it was the other way around. Ahem. Anyway, here (at last) is a remastered cd reissue of the soundtrack, which proves to be a pretty fine faux-classical bit of work composed by Stu Phillips and performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. Play it for your hoity-toity symphony goin' friends and tell 'em it's a rare 20th century classical thing from Russia or a new Jonathan Bepler Cremaster score or something... then see what they think when the bonus track, the *Disco Version* of the main theme, comes on at the end! Lotsa fun. And the cover art bears mentioning: it's hard to believe this was the actual movie poster, but it was -- it looks so much like you'd imagine the Mad magazine parody to look like. I mean, that's a caricature of Lorne Greene, not a proper portrait, right?
Yes, yet another new Boris release, however this one is not entirely new. Two of the best tracks from their epic Heavy Rocks release, slightly different demo versions as far as we can tell. Not sure if everyone needs this, as it is a bit pricey, but Boris freaks will no doubt want this, for the slightly different versions as well as the cool seventies line drawing band portrait cover art. And vinyl fanatics may want to pick this up since Heavy Rocks was cd only, so these are the only two tracks from those sessions to make it on to wax!
Fans of the band that began as Japan's answer to the Melvins, and then took a wayback machine ride into the '70s, Boris, can start rejoicing now. After a long while, we've finally got a whole bunch of Boris back in stock. AND, we've got a whole brand new recording as well! Whoo-hoo. Akuma No Uta is a 32 minute, six song mini-album that offers up a smorgasbord of styles from past Boris albums, drawing from the heavier-than-thou rumble of Absolutego, the exquisite beauty of Flood, and the sheer jams-out-kickin' of Heavy Rocks. Starting off with a two and half minute Earth-esque drone-metal intro (although for some reason unknown to us, the intro track on the vinyl version is seven minutes longer than that on the cd, so drone freaks may have to get the lp, or what the heck, get both!), the record then slams into the riffed-out, noisy stormer "Ibitsu". Distorted, manic, tear-shit-up stuff. After another song in the same Hendrix meets the Stooges style psych-punk rawk vein, Boris switch gears again, for the album's centerpiece, a twelve-minute opus entitled "Naki Kyoku" that begins all super languid, quiet and pretty before building into a soaring psychedelic jam. The jams continue on the next track, another stoner rockin' blow-out. Finally, title track "Akuma No Uta" winds things up with a return to the immense sludge grind of track one, melded into a headbanging groove, ending the disc on an adrenaline high. I'm sure there's mulleted, pot-smoking high-schoolers in Japan scribbling Boris logos on their binders...or so we'd like to think.
You'll note from the price that the yen isn't doing us Americans any favors right now. Ah well. Boris is worth a few extra bucks, as fans will no doubt agree. Worth their weight in yen for sure, and well, you know they're heavy. The vinyl version is even pricier, but it's perhaps got the cooler artwork (yes, they're different) with a cover that perfectly re-creates Nick Drake's Bryter Layter! Except with double neck electric guitar-bass instead of acoustic guitar... Real nice.
And be aware (beware?), for soon to come is another Boris, the bottom-heavy full-length known as Boris At Last aka Feedbacker. We should have that as soon as it's out, we'll keep you informed!
As you may know, Boris are perhaps Japan's number one Melvins worshippers! But that's not to say they're unoriginal, rather the opposite, since the Melvins themselves are so unpredictable and eccentric. But in terms of heaviness, Boris measure up. If you
"Heavy Rocks" is -- to state the obvious if you've heard it -- a more than apt title for this newest (and long-awaited) collection of tuneage from everyone's favorite Japanese heavy rockers, Boris. Yes, the thunderous Tokyo trio of Takeshi, Wata, and Atsuo are back! We promised last year in our write-up of their amazing (but uncharacteristically mostly mellow) album "Flood" that Boris' next disc would be a return to the ROCK. And it is. No acoustic stuff here, nor even the lengthy droning dirges in which they have also indulged in the past. Nope, this one simply rocks hard and heavy, start to finish. Fans know that every Boris album is different, and this one can perhaps be characterized as Boris' "stoner rock" effort. Total Kyuss action! Still, with some grizzled nods to their all-time heroes, the Melvins. The first track, "Heavy Friends", is VERY Melvins (metallic, thudding, glacial) -- and even has a walk-on spoken contribution from Melvins drummer Dale Crover's ex-wife Lori (of Acid King). Speaking of heavy friends, guests pop up all over this release, actually -- there's some lead guitar by Eddie Legend of Japanese garage/rockabilly band The Mad 3, a track with analog synth twiddle courtesy Maso Yamazaki (Masonna/Christine 23 Onna), and another with some laptop computer fuckery from Masami "Merzbow" Akita (who also just completed a full-on collaborative album with Boris, see nearby for a review of that opus, the drone yin to this album's rock yang).
With or without the help of noiseniks Merzbow and Masonna, noisy, fuzzed-out psychedelic atmospheres abound here, but generally in the context of high energy, superheavy rockin'. Really, the album relaxes only for the spaced-out guitar bliss of "Soft Edge" halfway through. Tracks like "Korosu", "Dyna-Soar", "Death Valley", "Rattlesnake", and "1970" are all catchy, riff-laden showcases for Boris' brand of kick-ass rock n' roll. Even if you aren't into stoner rock, you should check this out because it easily surpasses most of the other bands operating within the genre. Irresistable. Honestly.
We've listed this before, long ago, but have been out of it for a while...but now, along with Boris' "Amplifier Worship" and the Keiji Haino w/ Boris disc, we've got this back in stock *and* at a much cheaper price than before (while supplies last). This is a
AQ faves Boris (masters of Melvins-esque slow-motion dirge metal) team up with sometime AQ fave Masami Akita (who as Merzbow basically invented 'noise' as a genre) to unleash this three track cd of monster drone! Both camps represent with some of their most gorgeous work. Boris contribute what sounds like the prettier more minimal stuff from their moody album "Flood", with guitar only evident on one track, and even then it's slowed down, stretched out and buried under a thick blanket of Merzbow-y haze and Boris-y rumble. Akita keeps his noise side in check (although there are some truly caustic moments) opting instead for dark, processed low end with the occasional sonic flare. Created using guitar, e-bow, space echo, Powerbook and feedback conduction (!), "Megatone" finds itself situated closer to the drones of Coleclough or Karkowski than it does to the metallic pummel of the Melvins or the Corrupted. The opening track is a deep 20+ minute rumble, with white noise spread thinly above, while Akita's Powerbook gradually becomes more and more sonically intrusive and the processed guitars form subtle melodic overtones, throbbing and pulsing in ultra slow motion. The second track is constructed out of far away, psychedelic, Keiji Haino-esque guitar leads, buried under some Merzbowian ear piercing skree, allowing Akita to unleash some of that 'noise' he is so famous for. The final track lets the guitars do the talking one more time with huge walls of distortion, still heavily reverbed and distant sounding, but much more serene and almost ambient, with Merzbow's noise contributions much more complimetary and distinctly less harsh. A massive, gorgeous totally enthralling collaboration from two of the most exciting artists in music today!
By the time you read this, adoring fans of Mr. Conor 'Bright Eyes' Oberst will undoubtably have already scooped up a copy (or two) of this seven record set.
If you count yourself among those legions, but are also a cardcarrying member of the slowpoke club then... guess what?! There's a seven record box set of Bright Eyes! It includes five of his albums (many of which have been out of print for some time) plus other rare goodies. Here's the lowdown: A Collection of Songs Written and Recorded 1995-1997 (pressed on 2 lps, first time on vinyl!), Letting off the Happiness (with its original cover art and a Japanese import bonus song), the Every Day and Every Night ep, the excellent Fevers and Mirrors (remastered on 2 lps and including two Japanese import bonus songs), Don't Be Frightened of Turning the Page (aka the four B.E. songs from Oh Holy Fools - The Music of Son, Ambulance and Bright Eyes plus two bonus songs). If you're not familiar with the woeful, trembling indie folk sounds of B.E. yet, this might not be the place to start (unless you're also a vinyl nut and an extreme completist to boot). Maybe first check out his most recent full length Lifted Or The Story is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground.
What does it mean when Interpol are compared to Joy Division, and you are compared to Interpol (by numerous other reviewers) *and* David Bowie (by me, Cup) and Joy Division (again, by other reviewers)? Hmmm, perhaps it means youïbeam withïthe youthful vigor of the former andïexude a healthy senseïof nostalgia for the glammy drama and aging torment of the latter? Such seems to be the case with this UK band who indeed have beenïheld up to the same light as that of those other artists.ïIndeed, folks who dig Interpol but who are seeking something a little more tense, unstable and aggressive, might wanna give British Sea Power a spin. You mustn't be mislead by the leadoff track "Men Together Today" - a boiling point rocker filled with throbs and spasms that drew instore comparisons to Queens Of The Stone Age - the rest of the album paces itself at a more weighty, brooding British postpunk step. I dig this a lot, especially the lengthy tenth song "Lately" which effectively encapsulates the album as a whole. Heck, the sixth "Fear Of Drowning" is a mighty fine standout too. Already gaining quite a reputation for their live shows in which they do indeed dress as naval officers, British Sea Power - ahem - set sail with an impressive debut filled with stormy charisma. Recommended.
Fans of Krautrock listen up! The Can DVD is upon us. Now, if you already have the Can Box released a few years back, with the Can Video, you've got a portion of what's on here, but of course in a less high-tech, analog format. The Can DVD is actually two dvds, between them featuring the amazing 51 minute Can-Free-Concert film (circa Ege Bamyasi, 1972) and the 86 minute Can Documentary that were found on the Can Video. But it's also got a short Can tribute film (1 minute) by Brian Eno, biographies of Can members, a discography, and a brand new 81-minute Can documentary entitled Can Notes. There's also some stuff you can do with your PC which we haven't checked out, and MORE. A lot of it seems to focus on what the Can guys are up to these days, which is interesting but when you view the discography you'll be reminded that all their best albums were prior to 1974, so...
Plus, there's a third disc, a cd, compiling audio from Can solo projects: Michael Karoli & Sofortontakt!, Irmin Schmidt & Kumo, Jaki Liebezeit with Drums Off Chaos and Burnt Friedman, and Holger Czukay & U-She -- much of it live from a 1999 tour, with a few tracks taken from previously released albums. And there's more new music on dvd number 1, which includes five 5.1 surround sound remixes of old Can songs. You even get documentary footage about "The Making Of The 5.1 Remixes"! So, they certainly did stuff a lot into this package. Dedicated Can fans will eat it all up, casual Can fans might not care -- but either way, if you haven't seen the Can-Free-Concert, it's worth it for that alone! And not 'cause there's a juggler, but because of the freakin' music. Wow.
New 7" from our favorite Finnish masters of hypnotic rock groove, that's right, Circle! Two tracks that find the circlular ones continuing in their more rocking trajectory with side A being a bouncy groover, like a smoothed out AC/DC riff, that slowly builds into a psychedelic squall. Side B is a bit sludgier, a sort of MC5 / Stooges dirge with muttered spaced-out vocals and dirty distorted guitar. A good teaser for their upcoming Guillotine album which we should have soon!
If you've worn thin your Rush Of Blood To The Head album, and are in dire need of more Coldplay, do not panic! Brothers And Sisters is their new domestic ep which contains three songs previously unreleased in the U.S. It originally came out in the UK back in 1999, and as can be expected it's an bit more spartan and less lush than their most recent works. Very nice nonetheless!
If you hold the cover at just the right angle, a misanthropic and self-loathing text emerges from what might appear at first to be simply just another austere, all white package housing another austere album of micro-glitch minimalism. This well-executed design strategy (courtesy of Randy Yau) works to complement Joe Colley's subversive agenda, which even ends up undermining his own intentions. For all of the macho posturing of the text (e.g. "REMEMBER HOW WE DESTROYED THE THINGS THAT MADE US HAPPY AND HOW WE STILL DO? LETS DAMAGE EACH OTHER BEYOND REPAIR..." and so on) and the opening 8 second jolt of unneccessary noise, Colley's sound constructions speak of an inquisitive spirit. Throughout this record, Colley pokes and prods various sonic-making situations that often hold fascinating textural detailings. The most obvious example of this is found in his recordings of water being absorbed by modelling clay, which results in a dense chorus of tiny squeaks and squiggles. Colley almost allows himself to be seduced by these sounds; but just before he does, that misanthropic urge deep within his being instructs him to obliterate those curious textures though harsh digital noises, piercing arpeggiations, and noxious jump-cuts. This strategic hammering of sound certainly keeps the listener alert to what may be coming next; thus making the intricate detail work far more enjoyable... if "enjoyable" can in fact be a description attributed to Colley's solo output or his earlier work as Crawl Unit.
This Las Vegas metalcore outfit returns with part 2 to their previous We May Be Through With The Past... cdep. So you can expect more of their heaviness and clever, oft lengthy song titles -- better'n The Locust, some of 'em. This disc's "Nuclear Waste? Bring That Shit. (We Want A State Full Of Radiated Super Heroes)" really can't be beat. And like the first ep, this is decorated with nifty but fake Chris Ware / Acme Novelty Library artwork ("We hope you never see this travesty of a mockery of a sham" is what they say to him in the liner notes).
After seeing Curlupanddie lurching across the stage, opening for Darkest Hour a while back, I'm a firm fan. And this disc is more evidence of their abilities. They merge Coalesce, Today Is The Day, and black metal while remaining open to a lot of other sorts of experimentation. The fourth of the four songs on here, "God Is In His Heaven, All Is Right With The World" is the kind of thing that will get your housemates coming in and asking, is that the same record you had on a second ago? as it does the metal / post rock hybrid thing that's all the rage with the kids these days while bringing in even weirder elements like sly breakbeat backing and melodic mellow indie-rockisms. Cool. Hopefully they'll never have to join the army (as per song #2: "If This Band Thing Doesn't Pan Out We're Joining The Army").
Another transmission from the Dead Raven Choir, the work of a Polish ex-patriate Texan who calls himself Smolken. Followers will understand when we say that this falls into the sparse, dramatic folk half of his ouvre, rather than on the black metal noise folk side of things. Whispered, accented vox deliver the poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke, Hilaire Beloc, Charles Baudelaire, A.A. Milne and others over doleful strings and abstractly strummed guitar. Smolken seems to be a creepy, well-read Eastern-European version of Jandek, and he's a master of atmosphere, going totally over the top with minimal means. Every note played, and every hiss between notes, turns the blood colder. If an album could sound cursed, this is it.
Fans will of course pick this up, but if you haven't yet delved into Smolken's haunted sound-world, perhaps this is the one to try. For one thing, it's the man's first 'proper' cd after many cd-rs and tapes. And one of his best album titles too! The clincher, perhaps, is that aside from Smolken himself, the only other musician to appear on this recording is our friend, Jewelled Antler stalwart Glenn Donaldson (Thuja, Blithe Sons, Birdtree, Skygreen Leopards, etc.). Ever since, he's had a hollow look in his eyes and his beard seems paler and wispier... Or so we imagine.
This is a double shot of splattery, spastic short attention span / ADD drill and bass / mash up mania from two of the noisiest around. Donna Summer (A DJ at WFMU by day) delivers a hard and heavy 6 tracks of junglized plunderphonia, incorporating cock rock, drum and bass and everything in between. Ove Naxx from Japan, ups the ante, setting his Pro Tools to stun, spitting out shards of jagged beats and samples sliced so thin you can see right through them. Brutal and pummeling, funny and not all that funky, these guys will tear you a new one while clearing the dancefloor in seconds flat!
2003 has been a very busy year for John Duncan, having released 5 full albums along with creating two rather impressive sound installations in Sweden and his current base of operations Italy. Many of these projects have simply been the culmination of projects that began quite some time ago; and fortunately, Mr. Duncan has steered clear of many of the failings of hyper-prolific artists who simply fall back upon signature styles. As always, Duncan seeks out new challenges for himself and nakedly asserts them upon his audience, whether they want it or not.
Da Sich Die Machtgier... began as a collaborative project between Duncan and Asmus Tietchens. To begin, Tietchens sent Duncan recordings of Tietchens reading texts from E.M. Cioran, the early 20th century skeptic whose quotes are featured on almost all of the Tietchens back catalogue releases. In turn, Duncan processed those recordings, sent them back to Tietchens, and awaited further instructions. Instead of receiving another round of recordings to work with, Duncan received a note from Tietchens that his initial recordings were sufficiently complete and that Tietchens would refuse any credit for his contribution. To this day, Duncan still disagrees with Tietchens about the credit issue, but went ahead and released the results as is.
An unnervingly digital construction, Da Sich Die Machtgier... relies heavily on the maniacal hammering of the DSP / timestretching filters. For the first half of the album, these agitated, rapid-fire noises approximate Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music and strongly reference the process of a thoroughly disembodied voice as the content to the work. However, the caustic abstraction completely dissolves in the album's epic, 30 minute finale. Much closer to the subtle power of Phantom Broadcast and Infrasound - Tidal, this track smears Tietchens voice into an electronic windstorm, sweeping with an elegant majesty.
As with Duncan's entire body of work, Da Sich Die Machtgier... is a very strong release.
Another No Neck Blues Band offshoot, this time spearheaded by ex-NNBB yokel John Fell Ryan, and this time, gone are those clattery, free-folk hippy drum circle jams, and in their place, throbbing, haunting, gothic soundscapes of sequenced drones and haunting vocals, muted pulsing grooves, like Can jamming at the bottom of a pool, noisy programmed beats under fuzzed out static and bleeping synths, and dreamy ethereal soundscapes. Unexpected and really nice!
Imagine this... Perry Farrell becomes the vocalist for Radiohead who've decided to take an excursion into some very Yes territory. Such was the vision which swirled into view as the first song of The Fire Theft's self-titled debut played. Odd! Who is this mysterious new band? Why, it's noneother than 3/4 of Sunny Day Real Estate (Jeremy Enigk, Nate mendel and William Goldsmith) who decided to regroup and embark on some new musical adventures. The rest of the album doesn't quite stir such unexpected images as the opening song, but instead settles into a more familiar yet still refreshing sound. Shades of their emo past float to the surface every so often, but as a whole the album evokes a more complex and dramatic path. Devout SDRE and Enigk fans have been asking about this for months, well kiddies, here it is!
More instro-avant-jazz-metal mayhem from recent Chicago-to-San Francisco transplant Weasel Walter & Co. Except, there's no Co. on this album, it's just the Wease. The concept here (we're told) is that the record is about "a horrible planetoid being [who] configures itself from atomic chaos". Cool. It's noisy, fusiony, and no-wavey. 45 minutes of this is either gonna be sheer punishment or pleasure, you probably already know where you stand on that. We're impressed, regardless. Especially by the 20 minute finale "Rise Of The Iridescent Behemoth"! Weasel works hard at this stuff and succeeds. Nerdy noisy prog rock for punks.
Along with the sudden miraculous appearance of their nigh-impossible to find 1998 album "Amplifier Worship" in our racks (see elsewhere on this list) we've also managed to acquire a few copies of some other hard-to-find Boris titles, including this
RealAudio clip: "The Decision of a Dream Which Will Never Be Completely Red" [/audio/hainoborisdecision.rm]
The title is pretty self-explanatory... this is a super comprehensive double whammy of High Llamas splendor - ranging from the absolutely blissful Beach Boys-y harmonious tunes to that which teeters precariously on the border to your parents' finely executed, yet docile dinner music. The first disc compiles select tracks from their glistening pop albums Santa Barbara ('92), Gideon Gaye ('95), Hawaii ('96), Cold & Bouncy ('98), and Snowbug ('99). The second disc which contains the rare tracks is a particular delight for fans. Really, who doesn't like to discover some unheard gems of their favorite band? Many of the sweepingly beautiful instrumentals seem plucked straight out of the score of some '60s jetsetter flick. Heck, you might wanna make this your perfect soundtrack to a long evening spent sipping Shirley Temples and gently swaying with your sweetie.
Hush now... You'll greatly regret it if you miss the gentle folk stylings of Ms Jolie Holland. Her debut album is a down home treasure. Each song is ever so earthy with rough-hewn acoustic guitar, fiddle, bells and percussion providing the spartan backdrop for her distinct, softly lilting voice. Her music truly seems from another time sounding as if it were whispering out of a rickety victrola -- haunting memories of lonesome porchswings at dusk and dirt roads leading off into the dark. At once, it's both achingly intimate and immediate. The dozen songs are peppered with waltzes and borrowed Syd Barrett lyrics (in her song "The Littlest Birds" taken from "Jug Band Blues"). Lovely!
'Tis the season for Philip Jeck, it seems! This UK sonic experimentalist is a big fave 'round these parts, so it's been a festive month indeed with the recent release of a live recording (reviewed 2 lists ago) and now this brand new 'studio' album, AND a reissue of Jeck's seminal, long out of print album Surf, reviewed nearby. Hallelujah.
Jeck is simply a wizard with the turntables, not in a hip hop DJ sense but as a sound sculptor, making ghostly slow motion looping drones and beats with crackly old vinyl and the phonograph mechanism itself. Listening to his music is to submerge oneself into a mysterious, evocative realm of sound that capitalizes on the claustrophobia of the locked groove, that dwells on the dusty textures of vinyl as if examined by a field recordist, rather than the usual needle, tone-arm, pre-amp, speaker method of sound extraction.
7 is certainly a strong Jeck showing, lacking naught for crackling, glacial drone and ominous background melodies stolen from another time and place. It's really amazing that it's a turntable (or turntables) making possible Jeck's music, which ranges from the very physical sounding action of a track like "Museum" to the simple haunting whoosh of "Wipe". Track four, "Bush Hum" deserves special mention as it's constructed soley from the "amplified hum of a Bush record-player and delay-pedal". With those tools -- no records -- Jeck creates a totally electronic sounding track of buzzing rapid rhythmic noise, loud, grinding like a swarm of robot insects. The very next track, "Now You Can Let Go" takes the opposite approach, where there are indeed LPs on Jeck's turntables, and you can actually catch traces of actual music being "sampled". Squawks of big band jazz, a bluesy lick, warped exotica -- but usually nothing really recognizable. It's almost like modern electronic dance music at moments, but worshipping the skipping LP not the digital glitch. But it's really Jeck's compositions with even less overt 'musical' content that we prefer, and 7's final track "Veil" delivers on that score with ten minutes of wonderfully droned-out sombre beauty, with no skips or scratches to interrupt its windswept trance... Of course, recommended!
Finally, after waiting for ages, Philip Jeck's totally genius Surf album gets reissued. Oddly enough, perfectly coinciding with what might be his best release since Surf, the simply titled 7, which sonically sounds remarkably like Surf (see the review elsewhere on this list). For those who aren't familiar with his work, Jeck is a UK experimental turntablist who extracts sounds from old battered turntables like an archaeologist excavating some ancient vinyl burial site, using surface noise, skips and crackles, to weave dreamy sepiatone soundscapes of underwater waltzes and pastoral murk. Surf is quite possibly the perfect realization of Jeck's sonic vision. Sinister loops and minor key melodies slither through blurred landscapes of sound, rickety and decaying, shimmery and indistinct. Like blurry postcards of someplace you've never been, or a fleeting memory of someone you've never met, translated into sound. A sound so warm and thick, familiar and inviting, that it transports you to a sonic universe where a skipping record becomes your footsteps, and a repeated crackly phrase becomes the wind through the trees.
Easily one of the most transcendentally perfect records ever.
You know you want it. THE HOTTEST BAND IN THE WORLD!! Well, er...anyway, it's KISS monopoly, how cool is that? As much as it pains us to give any more money to the Kiss business concern, this game is pretty awesome. Instead of little metal cars and boots, you get Gene's bass, Gene's boot, a bag of money (obviously), Paul's Kiss fireman's hat, the Kiss Army logo, and a guitar (hard to tell if it's Paul's or Ace's). And the board is totally redone too with the railroads replaced by the four solo albums (although Music From The Elder is conspicuously absent), the jail space is replaced by the SOLD OUT SHOW: Standing In Line space and the "properties" are all albums and singles and action figures and of course the pinball machine. Then the cards are things like breaking a string on Starchild's guitar, getting singed by Gene's firebreathing, winning second place in a Girls Of Kiss beauty pageant and of course getting inducted into the Kiss Army. Not sure how fun it is to actually play (we haven't cracked one open yet), but boy will this make your dusty old game shelf a whole lot cooler!
They say (i.e, the band's own reference points): Radiohead, Tindersticks and Nick Drake. We thought: Talk Talk and Chris Isaak. What seems to be the common ground with all of these artists we've singled out is that regardless of genre and instrumentation each has crafted their own deeply emotive and richly evocative music. So what does this say about Laughingstock? Well, that they do indeed have a knack for making sleek dramatic songs. Multi-layered lilting, oft-melancholic male vocals, distant textural sounds (a rainstick perhaps?), atmospheric droning strings, languid chapman stick, acoustic and programmed percussion all come together to make for some ambitious, lushly intricate slightly mysterious songs.
You know how much aQuarius loves Lesser don't you? Andee even has a Lesser tattoo for chrissakes! And you should too. Everyone should be branded with the symbol that marks them as someone who recognises the sound of genius! Lesser is one of the few punks out there that manages to make the boring world of electronic lap toppery exciting. Whether he's removing his pants live, dancing maniacally amidst a terrified crowd, growling out his best cookie monster vocals in front of a very unmetal audience, or infusing his electronic music with soul and humour and the occasional metal riff, he manages to come up with amazing and beautiful sounds, wrapped in completely confounding rhythms. Speaking of confounding, the first track will make you think you put the wrong disc in the cd player, as a blast of grinding riff heavy death metal spews forth, with barely discernable glitches and robotic vocals buried in the mix that subtly betray the metallic pummel as being less(er) than the sum of it's parts. The rest of the record is an exercise in rhythmic restraint, especially for someone whose past efforts are designed to hurt your brain and your ears. Gone is the spastic glitchery and the purposeful annoying sonic invective of past Lesser outings and in their place, smoother, more hypnotic beat oriented downtempo rhythmscapes. It's not a bad thing either. The sounds are still wrong, and the rhythms are completely erratic and insanely programmed, it's just less punch in the face and more bear hug, less knee in the nuts and more hand in your back pocket squeezing your ass. Skittery glitch, crunchy rhythms and barely recognizable samples throb and pulse making for what could perhaps be Lesser's "funkiest" record to date. Like Autechre playing the Boards Of Canada songbook through a PA that keeps cutting out, adding even more rhythmic variance to the proceedings. There are also moments of surprisingly dreamy drone-y tranquility tempering the controlled chaos. Maybe he's mellowing with age, maybe it's the personal subject matter of this record (the death of his father), or maybe he's just tired of all the sound alike crap in modern electronica, but whatever it is, it only makes Lesser, and every record he makes that much more appealing. Also features a bunch of MP3's by the mysterious group known only as THE ROBOTIC as well as some amazing Lesser videos by AQ pal Dave Cerf!
Check out the review of M83's full length Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts for the complete low down, but if a dreamy, drone-y fuzzy mix of the Orb, Boards Of Canada, Stereolab, New Order, and My Bloody Valentine sounds good to you, then not only should you pick up the M83 full length, you should also be aware of this 3 track ep, with one track from Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts, a live track, and a remix by fellow dream poppers and Gooom labelmates Cyann And Ben as well as a secret hidden track, a brief angelic wash of fuzzy synth. So nice.
We hadn't even heard of this band until a handful of customers started mentioning them, so we figured we'd best check it out, and guess what? Turned out to be pretty fucking amazing. A huge slab of fuzzy shoegazey electronica-flecked dream pop. We've been listening to this nonstop since it came in. It's not really that new, but it's so good, we figured better late than never. Imagine the post rave swirl of the Orb, mix in the muted warmth of Boards Of Canada, the lalala Neu-worship of Stereolab, the catchy new wave of New Order, then wrap the whole thing in a thick shimmery distorted haze a la My Bloody Valentine and you'll be close. Now imagine that concoction as the soundtrack to the love scene in some super bizarre Anime. You know, the part where the girl is going into space because she can't live on earth because her tentacles keep killing cute little pandas, and her boyfriend is a giant panda, but they love each other so much her tears turn into jewels that the pandas can eat to make them invincible. It's that heartbreakingly good. This will totally hit the spot for electro geeks, shoegazers, pop kids, and everyone in between.
The unique underground Japanese group Maher Shalal Hash Baz -- a mostly untrained ensemble that plays simple, psychedelic pop songs with child-like innocence and imprecison -- recently performed a pair of shows here in the Bay Area. I caught the one over in Oakland, and it was amazing. Beautiful, shambolic, jazz-flecked primitive pop groove. The weirdest thing, was that they tried REALLY HARD to play the songs 'correctly'. Leader Tori Kudo even stopped the band on several occasions to instruct the bass player (his wife, I believe) on how to play a song's bass line properly. It was a bit uncomfortable, actually, but I'm not totally sure it wasn't intentional. After all, the impact of their naive novice musicanship is lost when the whole audience expects it -- so why not throw everyone off balance by making it seem like it's NOT supposed to sound so warped and damaged, even when it is?? Brilliant. Even the parked car that was set on fire down the block during the show couldn't compete. So, it's nice now to get these two new Maher documents. Blues Du Jour is the full length, and by that we mean it's got 41 tracks on it! Some are full songs, ballads, others short sketches, interludes, cryptic and lovely. Sweetly retarded horns and jangling guitars wearing innocent smiles, music that's cute and quaint but also serious and heartfelt. You'll hear hints of Ghost, the Beatles, Faust, Syd Barrett... Wrong never sounded so right. Meanwhile, they're also released an ep called Open Field that includes four songs from the full-length plus one special mix that features Bill Wells and members of The Pastels. Get it if you can't handle the full 41 tracks or you need everything with Bill Wells on it...
See the review of Maher Shalal Hash Baz's Blues Du Jour album for information.
Re-released as a double cd set encased in a deluxe hardcover edition resembling an old style children's board-cover book. The comic book by the artist known as Seth which came as an insert in the original pressing has been integrated into the package. It bookends the alternating pages of lyrics and full page Seth illustrations. The second 'bonus' disc contains a bunch of quality Aimee stuff: live recordings, previously unreleased songs (including "Observatory" cowritten by Glenn Tilbrook) and a video for "Pavlov's Bell" to boot!
Here's what we said last year about the album on its own:
The highly anticipated follow-up to Ms Mann's marvelous Bachelor #2 album has arrived. Now, first things first, the title: Lost In Space? Surely she's not referring to herself 'cause on this album, she's sounding more grounded and self-assured than ever. The intimacy, emotion, and integrity she conveys through each song reminded me a lot of Lucinda Williams and Tom Waits. While their music is nothing alike, each artist straddles that fence between the mainstream and for lack of a better word the 'indie'. They've each retained their own sound and unique voice within the 'industry', although unlike Williams, Mann's music hasn't been overly glossified in production. Her wonderful, distinct voice is in top form, and the songwriting's super-solid with some immediately hummable melodies, full warm instrumentation and nerve-touching lyrics.
Yes, we've said it before, but since Mountain Goats have settled into their new home on the 4AD label, it seems they've certainly made the most of the access to greater recording resources. Everything sounds so crisp without sacrificing any of the Goats' trademark raw immediacy. This 3-song ep is no exception, three fine gems that are somewhat more barebones than the songs on their latest full length (Tallahassee - their debut on 4AD), but are unmistakably from the empassioned songwriting pen of Mr. John Darnielle. It stirs us to say, "more, please!" And y'know what? There has indeed been a new album completed and ready for release in the new year. Hurrah!
All right, now you can stop worrying -- we didn't forget about it, here's number 9 in the Jewelled Antler Library series of 3" cdrs. It's a disc from SF's Muons, not a Jewelled Antler band per se, but in those guys' orbit. There's five songs here, just under twenty minutes of fragile, psychedelic folk recorded live, where they really shine. Inspired by traditional British folk music, but made soooo minimal and spacey that they've been called the "Bernhard Gunter of space-folk", the Muons make forlorn lullabys for adults. For this performance, the Muons were just the duo of Greg Bianchini and Rickey Reneau. Greg, who has played with Jewelled Antler acts Franciscan Hobbies, Thuja and Blithe Sons, is an gifted instrument maker, and on this recording plays a home-built 14-string electric lute as well as sings. Rickey plays an electric dulcimer, probably also built by Greg. Greg's languid strumming and melancholic vocals seem to drift out of the smoke and mist of another era, and could be from a lost UK psych-folk comp, although this is so slow and sad and desolate that no hippy could have made it -- they'd be too bummed out. We're also reminded of some Galaxie 500, or old NZ stuff like the Chills. Certainly this is a bit different than much else in the Library series -- it's got to be the most 'composed' set of songs found on any of these 3" discs. But we think JA fans will like it, a lot. It has a 'flowers in the rain' vibe that's just lovely. And the loveliness extends to the paintings Greg did for the 3" cover. Very nice.
What?! Aquarius picked a No Doubt release as a Record Of The Week? And it's a best-of type thing? What gives?
We're sure that's what a lot of you out there are thinking. Others, maybe, already are aware of what most 14-year old girls know -- No Doubt actually are pretty great. Some songs of theirs anyway. Heck, even some of my 34 year old friends into psych-folk and minimal electronic improv and black metal or whatnot will admit that No Doubt have some good songs. Which of course you'll find here, this being a singles collection after all! But it's the non-believers to whom this review is dedicated, those of you know don't know Gwen Stefani from ____________ [insert name of tennis pro or microorganism or something], and/or think that a 'best of' No Doubt is a concept not unlike a serious book devoted to the wit and wisdom of George W. Bush. So that's why we're recommending this brand new greatest hits type disc for you all. See, we're not trying to make you buy an actual No Doubt album, with all the filler that such top 40 products usually contain -- I don't have one of those either. But, after being around for like 17 years, they've got enough great singles to make one hell of an album, and this is it right here. You get the goodies from their last elpee Rock Steady (the irresistable "Hey Baby" produced by reggae legends Sly And Robbie, featuring the amazing Bounty Killer toasting over the break! and the just as catchy "Hella Good" produced by Nellee Hooper), plus of course their anthem "Just A Girl" from their star-making 1995 album Tragic Kingdom, Andee's favorite No Doubt song "Spiderwebs" with it's loping almost ballady verse and bouncing rollicking double time chorus, and their latest hit "It's My Life" (a Talk Talk cover! but re-done with fuzzed out bassbin rattling low end synth lines that make the song sound even better). And more, 15 tracks in all, many of them #1 hits. And for good reason. These songs fucking rule. If you can get past the aversion we all have to MTV fodder and Entertainment Weekly gossip and focus on just the music, No Doubt are pretty kick ass. So, even if you never thought you'd own a No Doubt album, or even an album by *any* band with a ska-punk background, just stop pretending and admit you like 'em and get this. You'll feel better (we did). And yes, there's the total teen heartache emotional button-pushing and an abundance of sleek candy apple pouts, but beneath the high gloss finish they've retained plenty of personality and a will of their own to make some damn infectious, well-crafted, smartly detailed pop songs. At the root of it all though, one of the best things about them is that they still burst with youthful exuberance, and this is more than evident in each of these singles. So c'mon, stop being snotty, you know you were secretly psyched when "Hey Baby" would come on in the supermarket, And if you were alone in the car, you know you cranked up "Hella Good" and sang along until the dude in the next car caught you. Oh. You didn't? Well you should! We do!
The return of the truly genius and truly wild and weird Ergo Phizmiz. You may have read about him in the most recent issue of the Wire. Or you may have picked up one of his cd-r's that we listed here in the past, including a disc of interpretations of The The songs. Well, if you dug that one here's another one for you. Tweaked and twisted versions of songs by nu metallers System Of A Down! Fear not, the songs are barely recognizable, in fact a couple of times it made us laugh out loud these "versions" were so bizarre. Jungle rhythms, soaring soundtrack strings, skipping exotica records, creepy holiday music, and bleating trombones are smeared wildly over sliced and diced chunks of the original songs. Sounds like something that would be right at home on Tigerbeat 6 or Violent Turd.
Much anticipated new full length from Rob Crow (Heavy Vegetable / Thingy / Optiganally Yours) and Zack (Three Mile Pilot). My co-worker Jeff first thought this was the new Modest Mouse until it started sounding like the Sea & Cake. Oddly enough the last
Richie Hawtin aka Plastikman was always a big deal in techno circles, but we never did (and still don't) get the whole house music thing. So it wasn't until his last record, Consumed, when we finally understood. It helped that Hawtin had stripped his house music down to the bare essentials, and wrapped it in all sorts of murk and grime, coming up with a beautifully grim and stark chunk of minimal throb, not entirely unlike the Chain Reaction label's heroin house sound. Consumed was one of the best chill out records ever, and perfect to drift off to sleep to. And Closer pretty much takes up right where consumed left off. Clipped clinical beats, throbbing and pulsing, like a heartbeat, in a dark expanse of fuzzy ambience. The only big change this time around is the addition of vocals on a few tracks. At first, the vocals were super distracting, but after a few listens the vocals seem to fit with the whole mood of the record, dark and paranoid, they're heavily affected, run through a vocoder and distorted to sound super alien and sexless, reciting strange mantras like "I'm just a voice in your head...".
It may not be as immediately classic as Consumed, but it definitely hits the same sweet spot as Chain Reaction, Basic Channel and Kompakt stuff.
A historical aside: the very first acid house single "Acid Tracks" by Phuture had a b-side entitled "Your Only Friend," a cautionary tale of the perils of drug use uttered by a disembodied voice, run through a vocoder and a pitchshifter. It's a haunting, numbing track that counters the physical rush of the 808 work out and insistant drums. This began a trend within techno toward a paranoid aesthetic, and where Richie Hawtin seemed to find a historical root for Closer.
Release the bats! It's another case of ex hardcore kids discovering the joys of rockin' the dark side-- Pleasure Forever used to be the Slaves who were most of the VSS, and they play wonderfully dark-tinged pop with piano, guitar and drums. Comparisons to the likes of Nick Cave/ Birthday Party, the Doors and These Immortal Souls have been cropping up in adulatory reviews, and those references (These Immortal Souls especially) are certainly in evidence in these very catchy yet slightly sinister tunes. The piano really makes their sound, transforming the whole thing into an intensely heady rock cabaret that reminds me of that "hit" Black Heart Procession song "Release."
In the great tradition of Negativland, People Like Us, Tape Beatles, Evolution Control Committee and Stock, Hausen & Walkman comes Porest (a.k.a. Mark Gergis of Mono Pause). Porest dis-assembles the world, leaving no cultural and musical stone unturned, to create a twisted, irreverant, post-folk ethnography. We visit a psycho-sexual homicidal Austrian engaged in making "fist dumplings", reciting his quaint and surreal story a la Arlo Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant". We're taken on a journey into a world where plastic sheep have been raised the same way for thousands of years, a world where Dan Fogelberg is an avant garde yodeller and where our heroes died for our syrup. Sprinkled throughout are instrumental numbers of equally dis-membered cultural origin, on par with Stock, Hausen & Walkman. Brew yourself a hot cup of Oolan tea, slam several shots of hard NyQuil and let Porest lead you on a journey through musical un-history.
A taster from the Probot cd being release early next year. Probot? That's Foo Fighter Dave Grohl's metal project, wherein he recruited his favorite metal singers of all time to perform songs he'd written for them, in the style of their bands. Yeah, it's not enough that Grohl was in Nirvana, and plays drums for Queens Of The Stone Age and Killing Joke, but now he's gonna live out his teenage dreams even further by teaming up with the likes of Cronos (Venom) and Wino (The Obsessed, Saint Vitus, Spirit Caravan) to get all metal on our asses! Well wouldn't you if you were him? I would. Anyway, here's his cuts with Cronos (side A) and Wino (side B), and they're fun, certainly not on par with what made these guys legends but still a good time. Definitely whets our appetites for the full-length, on which we'll get to hear from Lemmy, Snake, Mike Dean, Tom G. Warrior, Max Cavalera, Eric Wagner, King Diamond, and others. Neat-o. This seven-inch, btw, is limited to just 6,666 copies (really?) and sports art, logo, text by Away of Vovoid. NOW who's the coolest guy from Nirvana?
Two sides of instrumental transcendence from AQ faves Six Organs Of Admittance. Recorded late at night, on a four track, these songs exude late nights, twinkling stars, crackling fires, rustling woods, broken hearts and burnished spirit. Side one is a series of soft and sweetly finger picked nylon string guitar pieces with the occasional haunting ethereal vocal and suhimmering, tinkling bells. Side two is a side long steel string rumination, mellow and melancholy, minor key and meditative. Psychedelic folk stripped to it's essence. So gorgeous. THICK 180 gram vinyl, in a gorgeous letter pressed sleeve, with a letter pressed insert and numbered (limted to 500).
Another gorgeous and limited 12" from Six Organs Of Admittance. The material on this 12" was originally released in 1999 as a limited lathe cut 12", only thirty copies were made and each was personally sent to it's owner. Finally reissued, Nightly Trembling is possibly the best seventies psych folk record not actually made in the seventies. Big praise, but wait until you hear this! The Wicker Man, Comus, Incredible String Band, all filtered through Ben Chasney's Six Organs. Acoustic guitar, Chasney's creepy growl, throbbing shimmering pagan ambience, angelic and haunting choir-like vocals all set in extended raga-like song structures. So good. On HEAVY 180 gram vinyl. In a letter pressed sleeve with insert and numbered (limited to 500).
NOW ON VINYL! and still self-titled... this is their second album, the cd that came out on Neurot. But the label that did their first self-titled album just released this vinyl, clear wax in a nice gatefold. Here's what we said about the cd version:
Witness the return of the mighty Tarantula Hawk, the San Diego based psychedelic volume dealers whose immense self-titled debut cd we raved about two years ago. Here's their second album, somewhat confusingly also self-titled (obviously these guys don't work in record store!), which again proves them to be the masters of drone prog metal supreme. Instrumental super heavy ritual music, bass-heavy majestic murk with grinding prog rock keyboards and intense, energizing drumming, spacey stretches of ominous gloom...
Imagine the Omen soundtrack meets Neurosis, or an evil ELP into Eyehategod. Or a crust-metal take on 20th century classical? Or AQ-fave '60s Swedish drone-psych band Parson Sound on a diet of cough syrup and Celtic Frost? Further references: Boris, Corrupted, Old Man Gloom, Thrones, Magma, Ruins, Harvey Milk...you get the picture.
After getting into the first T-hawk album, and seeing them live for the first time (an amazing show at Richmond's Burnt Ramen), I remember thinking, wow, this band really should be playing that Neurosis Beyond The Pale festival, they'd blow everybody away. A year or so later -- lo and behold, the Hawk not only played the 2002 edition of Beyond the Pale, but this is on Neurot Recordings as well. As good as their self-titled debut, or better, and obviously highly recommended!
This review of Purple On Time isn't so on time itself, as US Maple's latest has been out for over a month now...but, it has taken a while to absorb, as is so often the case with good albums, and this is not just good, it's great. Plus, US Maple's style of what I can only call 'counter intuitive' indie-rock is so deliberately strange and unique that it's always tough to capture in words, even by a person who is always looking in vain for the 'US Maple fan' box to tick when confronted with demographic questions on surveys and government forms. But I can tell you that, as always, the crucial elements of their sound are vocalist Al Johnson's odd bark (which has mellowed into more of a hoarse whisper), and the instrumental smear of sound made by the guitarist and rhythm section. It's a crazy, cosy quilt of guitars, drums, bass, and Johnson's curious croon, which maybe reminds us of Iggy Stooge at his breathiest. Mathy tangles of guitar strings and drums, dripping with notes, but restrained as if the whole the band is murmuring into your ear, seldom but sometimes unwinding into 'grooves' wracked with volume and ferocity. Confusing, comforting, complex, and quite lovely. And we're not just talking about this album's cover version of Dylan's "Lay Lady Lay"!
As I said, hard to describe. Hmm, how 'bout Codeine meets Beefheart? Naw, that's both obscure and inaccurate. Anyway, US Maple are underrated originals of rock who yet again prove their genius with this release. Recommended. And the packaging is deluxe as we expect from Maple releases, the cd booklet paper providing particular tactile satisfaction, while the vinyl version's got that 180 gram heft.
