Damn! Such a great band! And what a fine way to remind us of this fact... a 21 song collection of their fab Scottish pop gems including eighteen that you might already be very familiar with, and three new ones! The oldies were culled from their five albums: Bandwagonesque, Thirteen, Songs From Northern Britain, Grand Prix, and Howdy! Certainly they wore their Big Star and Byrds influences proudly on their sleeves, but they did so in such splendidly blissful fashion -- the most infectious hooks, the most soaring boyish vocals harmonies, crunchy cool guitars -- and we're delighted to report that the new tunes totally stand as tall as their predecessors. Yaaaay! Listening to this makes Cup a very happy gal. Please note: a couple songs ("Star Sign" and "My Uptight Life") have been edited so that all twenty one would fit on a single cd.
Yet another blackened recommendation direct from the unholy oracle, otherwise known as AQ comrade in evil, Wrest of black metal horde Leviathan:
When asked to review a couple of discs for Aquarius, I was psyched to find they were among my favorites cds of '03. "The Burning Deed of Deceit" is this Polish artist's third official release and it is definitely Satanic Blackened Metal at its sharpest. Thunderbolt is created almost solely by Paimon, with a session drummer and keyboardist. Paimon, definitely from the school of Snorre Ruch (mastermind behind Thorns and father of the Norse guitar attack), writes hymns with ferocity not felt since early Immortal or old Satyricon. Noteworthy also is the fantastic drum playing and natural drum sound. Levitating blasts, odd time signitures and abrupt tempo changes make up this six song epic. Highlights include "Die With Your Religion" for its hauntingly dischordant keyboard and "The One Who Sleeps", which trudges through the fields of the righteous, the spell broken only by a melancholy acoustic interlude. The soundtrack to a blood-ritual in the name of the one with horns. Hail Satan!!!
From the wilds of Finland, via the wilds of New Zealand, comes this burbling cauldron of pagan-free-folk-noise from the mysterious outfit known as Uton. Jewelled Antler released a three inch cd a while back, but this full length really allows Uton to do what they do best, spread waaaaay out, and unfurl a thick spiky carpet of jangle and shimmer, amplifier grit and instrument buzz, clumsy primitive percussion, and creepy ambience. Finnophiles are probably already hip to these guys, but for all of you into No Neck, Thuja, Sunburned Hand and all things drone-y and Krautrocky, check this out!
Second issue (sort of, they call it "Extra") of this print and audio journal devoted to the underground Japanese electro-acoustic improvisation scene. Definitely THE place to go to get enlightened about what's happening on that front. In both English and Japanese, this thick 128 page magazine features interviews with Ami Yoshida, Shoji Hano, and numerous others we're less familiar with, quite a few of 'em from a young generation of musicians here dubbed "Improv's New Waves". There's also a ton of reviews of intriguing cd releases that you'll probably only find out about here (and never see in a shop outside of Japan), and of course there's the magazine's audio portion: this time around, two discs full of cuts by artists from that "New Waves" scene, everything from jazz trumpet to turntables to death metal drums n' laptop. There's couple bonus cuts as well, including one from, um, old wave improvisor Shoji Hano.
Compilations can be dodgy affairs, often half-baked ideas from compilers who can only garner throw away tracks from previous recordings. Mike Harding and Jon Wozencroft of Touch Records have consistenty been the exception in their collections. The Touch Sampler series have long been outstanding compilations, and this new collection of work inspired by or directly influenced by church organs continues in this tradition. Harding lucidly explains in the liner notes that "the organ represents the marriage between acoustic complexity and ritualised space. It is impossible not to be drawn upward, towards the spire of the church or cathedral, or to the huge daunting forest of pipes themselves." On this compilation, the artists typically emphasize the transcendent expansiveness of sustained organ chords, in many ways emulating the polyphonic minimalism of Arvo Part's organ works. The track that best typifies the ideas behind Spire is that of BJ Nilsen, better known as Hazard. Having captured various recordings of Charles Matthews performing the psalms of Marcus Davidson on the organ at St. Mary's Church in Warwick, England, Nilsen processed these sounds with only multi-tracking, EQ, and volume at his disposal; thus, his track holds onto the rich tonalities of those church organs as he builds up to a majestic crescendo of overwhelming sound. Spire also features the first fruits of the collaboration between Sparklehorse and Fennesz (!), with Sparklehorse's drummer Scott Minor offering a smattering of mellotron and Wurlitzer samples for Fennesz to run through digital aesolization of bleary eyed distortion and fanciful detailing. Other contributors to Spire include Z'ev, Sigtryggur Berg Sigmarsson, Philip Jeck, Leif Elggren, Zephyr, Marcus Davidson, Finnbogi Petursson, Biosphere, Toshiya Tsunoda, Tom Recchion, Lary Seven / Jeff Peterson, Scott Taylor, Jacob Kirkegaard, Oren Ambarchi, and the ever amazing Chris Watson! Very highly recommended.
To commemorate twenty five years of existence, Rough Trade have released an action-packed compilation of sixteen 'old school' R.T. artists' songs performed by 'new school' R.T. artists. So, who is partaking in the festivities? Noneother than Belle & Sebastian, Alasdair Roberts, Elizabeth Fraser (well, they're not such new schoolers!), Oneida, The Detroit Cobras, The Fiery Furnaces, Delays, Royal City, Adam Green, The Tyde, Mystic Chords Of Memory, The Veils, Eastern Lane, The Hidden Cameras, Jeffrey Lewis, and current Cup favorite British Sea Power. And who is being covered? Lots of old faves... a couple by Young Marble Giants, The Clean, a couple by Galaxie 500, The Feelies, Aztec Camera, a couple by The Strokes (oops, *they're* not such old schoolers, are they?!), Ivor Cutler, Mazzy Star, James Blood Ulmer, Television Personalities, Scritti Politti, Robert Wyatt, and The Fall.
This is punk fucking rock. Or maybe heavy fucking metal. Actually it's sort of both. This band is THE MOST PISSED sounding band I've ever heard. So intensely aggressive from their music to their lyrics to the vocals to the name of their record. Not sure what a Watchmaker is (besides one who makes watches) or what that has to do with how pissed these guys are but who cares? This is so good. Somewhere between Drop Dead and Marduk, ultra fast, with the occasional blastbeat, glass gargling vocals and buzzing sharp-as-fuck guitars. Nineteen songs and 29 minutes of seriously furious, venomously antagonistic, head smashingly heavy, mean mean music.
Not just any ish of The Wire, but their "2003 Rewind" edition, looking back on the year that was. In addition, the usual assortment of interviews and reviews, including features on Basil Kirchin and Arthur Russell.
You'd almost like to think that with a title like Turntables and Computers, this would turn out to have been made with rocks and sticks. But no, the title is indeed a very literal labelling of this disc's musical contents. Otomo Yoshihide is one of Japan (and the world's) top turntable experimentalists, whilst his countryman Nobukazu Takemura is a laptop jockey of some reknown. Together they craft a humming, droning, pulsating, glitchy bleepathon. It sounds like a field recording from some sorta sci-fi birdhouse, with a radio on in the background. Voices from Otomo's vinyl records drift in and out of the mix, as if from persons lost amid the pleasantly noisy chaos being created. It's one long 46-minute track, the result of a live improv session. Apparently it was the first time these two had ever worked (or played) together. What they came up with is probably closer to the less pop, more abstract aspects of the Powerbook electronica that Nobukazu is known for, intersecting with the minimalist electronic rather than jazz side of Otomo's ouvre. By the end it gets into mindshredding noise territory, a real nice finale to a disc that visits much quiet beauty as well.
