Considering the currently glut of upstart dance-oriented bands, this seems like a more than ripe time for the return of one of the genre's O.G.s who undoubtably inspired many of those youngsters, but sad to say it doesn't do much to ignite any fire in the hearts of their old fans. Really, you can barely tell this is an album by New Order, a band whose sound used to be absolutely unmistakable. No, Waiting For The Siren's Call is pretty darn faceless and much too long.
Octomutt swiftly follow up their recent Pretty Side album with this pipin' Hot Stove. When the second song (the album's title track) kicked in, we imediately noticed the vocal presence and anticipated that the album was going to be quite a lively (almost feisty) affair in comparison to its considerably more gentle instrumental predecessor. Just check out that tune's thumpin' churn! The rest of the album however settles into a more loping, folky blues pace. As usual, the SF duo's fantastic musicianship is in full bloom as they spin their latest quirky musical yarns. Nice!
Nice to see that some branches of the Elephant 6 Collective are still bearing pretty blossoms and juicy pop fruit. In addition to the debut from A Hawk And A Hacksaw (the solo project from Neutral Milk Hotel's Jeremy Barnes), stalwart E6ers Of Montreal have released a new album. While those Apples In Stereo folks remain on hiatus, Of Montreal's Kevin Barnes has kept the flame aglow on their Brian Wilson torch, assuming the E6 pop helm with plentiful ability and enthusiasm. Amid the tilt-a-whirl glee of their predominantly sweet, jangle perkiness, the band doesn't shy away from funking things up (on the third and seventh songs), strange-ing things up (on the twelveth track) or diversifying in other ways. Much like on their previous album Satanic Panic In The Attic, they've continued to keep their musical scope set to 'panoramic view' with heavy doses of piano, thick synthesizer textures, dance-y beats, soaring near-operatic vocal grandeur and ultra wordy song titles. Sometimes however it can be almost too heavyhanded, threatening to topple and crush the more delicate aspects of the band. Definitely check out the two brief song samples though, but keep in mind that they can't really do the breadth of the Sunlandic Twins album justice.
Hmmm, don't recall Okkervil River sounding quite like they do on a number of these new songs. Imagine an older Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes) filling in as the frontman for slick alt-rock bands such as Counting Crows or Gin Blossoms. Maybe they're seeking a broader more mainstream audience? Dunno, just not sure it really works for them, at least not on Black Sheep Boy (fyi: the album is named after a Tim Hardin song which Okkevil River also chose to be the album's opening song, and a fine version it is!). Lead singer Will Sheff is known to be a empassioned, angstful vocalist, but the band's feverish performance on the more rockin' tunes still comes across a little forced. To boot, the mix seems off balance between the vocals and the too-loud bursts of electric guitar. You can get a sense of the dynamic that they were trying to capture, but again it's not quite 'there'. That said, the album's high point -- and also the point where things take a general shift for the better -- is the fifth song "Get Big" on which Sheff duets in beautiful world-weary fashion with Amy Annelle (of The Places). It's downright heartbreaking! After that the band mellows down and allows the melancholia to extinguish the rock flames in a flood of whiskey and tears. These slower, moodier numbers' arrangements are tastefully fleshed out with pump organ, mandolin, lap steel, wurlitzer, vibraphone, synthesizers, horns, strings, samples and field recordings. This is where Sheff (also the band's main songwriter) truly shines. Composing and performing songs of lush somber beauty are his forte. Indeed, since they insist on mixing their two very different personalities on each album, if you prefer one better that the other (as we do), it can make for a somewhat exasperatingly jarring listening experience. That said, the album's highlights are well worth the frustration.
First things first, it was just brought to our attention that those Oneida guys actually BUILT A GIANT MUSICBOX (apparently the largest in Eastern U.S.) out of plywood, saw blades, marine pilings and motor parts. Then they put it to good use forming the foundation of this album. Okay, hang on a sec, can we just say, HOLY SHIT!!
Before we were aware of this considerable undertaking, we'd already written the following review. While we have added a few points, we still stand by our initial glowing praise:
A very different Oneida greets us on their latest album The Wedding. More somber and delicate, less propulsive, abrasive and multipersonality-ed, but fortunately still unmistakably Oneida. The compositions and the album as a whole appear to be their most cohesive and even-keeled (in style, mood and tempo) to date. It's a refreshing change from past albums which been very rollercoaster-y with some of the band's strongest and weakest moments right next to each other -- perhaps due to their jam tendencies to fearlessly and freely follow their muse. Having said that, by no means does this shift indicate that Oneida has become any less adventurous, dynamic or challenging in their music-making. Hell, the fact that they dreamed up *and* constructed a GIANT MUSICBOX is proof of this alone (although to be honest, a few of us couldn't actually hear the music box, mixed as it is amidst the usual rock instrumentation, and due to the fact that the giant music box apparently ends up sounding a bit like the synths it's nestled up against). These guys are fucking astounding musicians with a wealth of creativity and chops that show no signs of drying up anytime soon. The analog synthesizers with which they've created some dense, fierce and otherworldly atmospheres in the past have been joined by not only the musicbox but also an impressive string ensemble (arranged and assembled by New York's Fireworks Ensemble's Brian Coughlin) which certainly makes for some of the band's most stunningly beautiful and introspective songs ever. Also contributing to this new persona is the consistency of the vocals which occasionally swoop up to falsetto, but generally linger in the gentle range of Pink Floyd's David Gilmour or Radar Brothers' Jim Putnam. Definitely more psych-folk than psych-rock. Quite a stunning achievement. Highly recommended.
Following their warm and wonderful chamber pop album The Den, P:ano shift gears into slightly more varied moods and an occasional peppier pace with Brigadoon. They kick things off in bright Beach Boys-y pop fashion for the first two tunes. Then, with its shining female vocals, the third song comes marching in sounding like it could be a Claudia Gonson-sung Magnetic Fields song. Nice! For the fourth "He Will Come Beck To Me" [sic] they hush things down a bit into their more familiar sounding slower lushness, but then it's right back into 'Fields-esque territory with synths and programmed beats. Plus we noted that much like Stephin Merritt, they'll (consciously or not) occasionally nab a melodic or lyrical phrase from an old tune and encorporate it into their own song. For example in the album's deliciously glorious tenth song "Pure Evil", the familiar lyric "break it to them gently when you tell them that I won't be coming home again" pops up. Hmmm, perhaps it's a sly fellow-Canuck nod to Burton Cummings (of '70s Canadian classic rockers The Guess Who) who originally wrote and performed the song "Break It To Them Gently" back in 1978? As well, they lyrically reference other songs by title -- slipping in mention of old classics like "I Only Have Eyes For You", "Ten Cents A Dance", and "I Could've Danced All Night" among others. They certainly apply all shades of the pop spectrum to their music, at times bringing to mind Danielson Family, Quasi, Rufus Wainwright (particularly the final song "The True Light") and a few of those Elephant Six Collective bands such as Of Montreal, Dressy Bessy, and The Minders. In a sense, the members of this band sing and play like learned music students who graduated at the top of their class, and this is their season finale stage performance. If you think of it that way, the broad selection of styles and references seems not at all surprising. The one tune that sticks out oddly is the very highschool musical sounding fourteenth song "Sweet Sweets". While P:ano certainly draw from stage-y theatrical influences (you might recognize the album title as also being the name of the old Lerner & Loewe musical), this single song comes across as a sorta wonky contrast to the more elegantly performances on the rest of the album. Ah, but there's 21 (!) other lovely, uplifting songs on the album that more than make up for it!
New 20 minute four song ep from Louisville post rockers Parlour. While there's no escaping their deep connection to Tortoise -- we're talking circa Millions Now Living... -- they also have a broad arsenal of musical weapons at their disposal which make them stand out. Most significantly is the inclusion of both bass clarinet and tenor saxophone as prominant leaders in their sonic pallette, but also richly endowed with the sounds of tasteful analogy synths, jangling guitars and the requisite bass and drums. To be fair to Parlour, and maybe give a little more credit where credit is due, their sound is probably even closer to that of Pell Mell (who were squeezing out their own surfy brand of instrumental post rock long before Tortoise ever played a single note).
Oh man, if this record was only a full length, and not an EP, it would have been record of the week for sure! Even so, it's a pretty hefty EP clocking in at 33 minutes, especially when you consider it's only two songs! And not only is it quite possibly the best Pelican song so far, with a completely unforgettable, loping seasick main riff, relentless double kick drumming, totally heavy and MASSIVE, occasionally slipping into indie rock, with deliriously jangle-and-chime drenched melodies that eventually becomes a dreamy acoustic coda complete with flute, but the second track is a JK Broadrick (Godflesh, Jesu) remix that ends up sounding like the best Jesu track yet, all My Bloody Valentine blissed out with fuzzy backward melodies, industrial machinellike rhythms and epic alien arrangements.
L.Pierre... haven't we seen your face before? Hmmm, you kinda look like that Scottish lad Aidan Moffat, but you're French, right? Besides, your new instrumental album sounds nothing like his band Arab Strap. So you couldn't be one and the same, could you? Ah, but you are!
Each track on Touchpool is composed primarily from processed loops and programmed rhythms (although his fellow Arab Strapper Malcolm Middleton does step in to contribute some guitar on the fourth track "Baby Breeze"), and each evokes a different hazy atmosphere which could easily be put to good use on a film soundtrack. One odd moment on the album though is the sixth song "Velbon" on which Moffat, err, Pierre (formerly Lucky Pierre by the way) seems to be solemnly prodding at the melody to "Ave Maria" but never fully launches into it (and just as strangely brings it to a rather abrupt end). Likewise, there's not a great deal of development in the course of each of the other tracks neither. They tend to gradually come into view, linger in one place for a spell, and then fades away. Some folks may find this to be haunting and hypnotic, while others might find themselves seeking more stimuli after a few minutes.
Robert Pollard may have closed the book on his band Guided By Voices, but he sure as heck ain't stopping the music makin'! For that we're very happy, but having said that, we're much less happy about this new ep. Simply put, these four songs seem uninspired and hurriedly dashed off. Sure one of Pollard's particular talents has always been nailing the hooks and the hearts with alarming brevity, but such is not the case with Zoom. There's only a couple of fleeting glimpses of that dear Pollard pop magic, and taking the eight minute long running time into consideration that's a rather poor ratio. Disappointing.
Let's just start by announcing our favorite track on here, ok? "Rain Edit Interlude" transports a fairly long sample from Linda Perhacs' Parallelograms into the glitchhop modernity of Prefuse 73's fourth full length. Yes, to us it is the best. In fact, it seems to almost transcend the rest of the album as more of a fully baked "song", less a merely super-produced mix of glitches and samples. P73 (aka Scott Heren) seems to do well working with female vocalists (see Savath & Savalas) - even when they're simply sampled. The vocal track(s) tend to beautifully round out his glitchy click clack hip hop production. Other featured artists/samples include Ghostface, El-P, Aesop Rock, Broadcast, Tyondai Braxton, Masta Killa and GZA. Recommended for fans of Amon Tobin, DJ Shadow, Unagi, Kid Koala, etc.
Swedish doom/death vets Runemagick follow up last year's AQ-hailed album On Funeral Wings with Envenom, another excellent example of the occult dirge metal that they do so well, in a ritualistic style all their own. I mean, they're not just a doomy death metal band anymore, this is something else, eldritch and eerie. Definitely heavier than thou, and almost progressive its arcanity (and track-length: there's six cuts here, the shortest over eight minutes, the longest closer to fifteen). Their death metal heritage is most evident in the grunts of the vocalist, though lines like "vultures of doom in magick circles, the dark alchemic" aren't standard DM fare... But blasting brutality this music ain't, Envenom moving at a torpid, trudging pace, a necromantic ceremonial procession of DOOM.
Only in Texas. Any state that can produce the Butthole Surfers, Stickmen With Rayguns, Scratch Acid, and of course George W. Bush, must have something weird going on. The heat? The drugs? Whatever it is, we wouldn't trade it for the world (well except maybe for the Bush part). How Rusted Shut managed to remain so obscure is a mystery for the ages. The horrible grinding noise these guys can muster up out of a plain old rock band is mind boggling. It's downright harrowing listening to this disc. They've been around since 1986 (and part of this disc was released as a cd-r in 2003), but this is their first official release. A massive, pulverizing crush of simple, plodding, gritty, grimy, filthy, scuzzy, dirge-y sludge that is just obscenely heavy and the grinding buzz that permeates and suffocates every second of this disc has to be THE most distorted guitar sound ever. Sounds like the riffs are crumbling to jagged little pieces the second they emerge from the speakers, a Marshall stack and a suitcase full of distortion pedals run through a meat grinder and then flung at you like white hot shards of jagged metal. Like the sickest most doped up, deliriously deviant noise punk free-rock outfit, but all wrapped up in a fuzzy, sick black cloak of grim black metal buzz. Sometimes this sounds like the Buttholes meets the Brainbombs, sometimes like Celtic Frost meets Today Is The Day fronted by Cronos from Venom, sometimes like the Lightning Bolt dipped in hot tar with a heavy metal Captain Beefheart on vocals. So whether Rusted Shut sound to you like black metal, or dirge punk, or sludgecore, or all out noise, pretty sure after getting an earful of this you won't be able to hear much of anything else. At least until the ringing stops and the bleeding lets up a little.
First album from 1977 by this South Korean group of three brothers who began to play together while attending their university. Apparently the three, completely disconnected from the greater Korean rock scene, were most inspired by the likes of Australian rockers AC/DC, but lacking the right equipment or technical know-how couldn't replicate their sound. Whether this is factual or not the music of San Ul Lim, it must be said, sounds absolutely nothing like AC/DC; rather, they sound a lot more like Turkish psych faves Erkin Koray, Haramiler, Mogollar, et al. In fact, the second track on this album shared a space next to some of those very Turks on the Love, Peace & Poetry: Asia collection and despite the fact that their tune had been recorded as much as ten years later than some of the others, they sound as if they could have been cut in the late 60's. San Ul Lim, while ostensibly a trio -- with the eldest brother on guitar, the youngest on drums and the middle playing bass -- either did some over-dubbing work or had another un-named member playing keyboards. Small oversight maybe, but the keyboardist has as big a role as the eldest bro when it comes to carrying the solos for the group using a broad array of synths -- a harpsichord farfisa patch being popular -- and electric pianos. On many of the groups songs it seems like they just gave the keyboardist cart blanche to just solo through the entire tune. The bass playing of the middle brother is equally spirited. Not content to merely playing his role in the rhythm section and keeping harmony going, he has a tendency to keep busy with fast moving scale fragments and melodies. It's all almost too much for the youngest on drums to keep up with at times! Definitely something that anyone who dug the HE 6 reissue reviewed recently (or the Shin Jung Hyun disc reviewed on this list) and wants to further explore the Korean '70s psych scene ought to check out for sure. Likewise if you haven't yet delved into these sounds from SK but like the other international psych sensations we've brought you before...
Cavemen on the cover, and a title referring to being a throwback to an earlier era? Stentorian vocals? Powerful riffage? Philosophical concepts? Fleet-fingered guitar godliness? Heavy and hyper, loud and proud, leatherclad heavy metal with all sorts of unexpected twists, music from a band that is perfectly willing to be both silly -and- serious and utterly, un-ironically blur those distinctions? Yes! It must be...it is! A new album from The Lord Weird Slough Feg! (Or just plain Slough Feg this time around, it seems. But they're still plenty weird, lord are they...)
We've been singing the praises of this San Francisco heavy metal band for a few years now, so with the release of Atavism, their fifth full-length, I think we can assume that a lot of AQ-list-readers are perhaps already familiar with these guys, and maybe even devoted fans! So perhaps we needn't delve into the usual introductory description of the 'Feg (which would include the following: eccentric, epic, riff-tastic '70s and '80s lovin' heavy metal with a twin guitar attack that owes a lot to Iron Maiden, specifically Maiden's early Di'Anno era circa Killers). Instead we can say, first off, buy this! It's the new Slough Feg fer chrissakes. And it's freaking great -- could be their best yet, up there with Down Among The Deadmen anyway. Heck it's hard to pick a favorite record of theirs, but this one for sure has got all the insane guitar leads, dramatic vocals, exquisite harmonies, triumphal cadences, folky motifs, complex arrangements, and pulse-racing head-banging METAL you've come to expect from these guys.
Epic as they are, Slough Feg are also never ones for trying their listener's attention spans -- or their own. So all kinds of awesome riffs and ideas get artfully arranged into lean, mean tracks, all muscle, no flab. Indeed, Atavism clocks in at a concise 38 minutes, with several of the fourteen tracks, like "Robusto" and "Portcullis", being relatively brief (but action-packed) instrumental interludes. Their previous album, 2003's Traveller, was limited somewhat by the strictures of being a concept album, and Slough Feg seems more suited to a free-wheeling fandango like Atavism, that can range through time and space and rock out however and whenever it wants, allowing a song like the majestic "High Season V" to immediately segue into the '70s boogie-groove of "Starport Blues" (the lyrics of which make reference to Devo's Smart Patrol)... Likewise, the Thin Lizzyish "Hiberno-Latin Invasion" sits here comfortably next to an instrumental workout like "Climax Of A Generation", a track quite possibly inspired by Greg Ginn's Gone. Not to mention the declamatory acoustic introspection of "Atavism" or the doomy Homeric epic "Eumaneus The Swineherd" or the rollicking and defiant "I Will Kill You/You Will Die", etc. etc... all of 'em tightly and energetically interlocking, like they do it live. Delightfully prog one moment, headbangingly metallic the next, then suddenly off on a bluegrass-inspired tangent... from stuff that sounds like Slayer to stuff that sounds like show tunes, they are sworn to no rules, yet everything they do is unmistakably Slough Feg -- in large part to the larger-than-life vocal presence and unique style of singer/guitarist Mike Scalzi, whose baritone delivery has been accurately described by another reviewer as "like a warcry -- a lament and an oath all rolled in one". Hammers Of Misfortune fans know him too, but here in his own band he gets to fully unleash his vision of heroic, hectic metal madness.
Not too long ago we listed a 7" on which Slough Feg covered an obscure NWOBHM song called "Heavy Metal Rules". So true. And they've followed that up with Atavism to really prove the point! Heavy metal does indeed rule, and bands like Slough Feg (of which there aren't all that many!) are the reason why.
23 years after the release in 1982 of Mutabaruka's "Check It!" the dubs can now be heard. The one and only collaboration between Mutabaruka and multi-instrumentalist Earl "Chinna" Smith, "Check It!" became a top seller and a huge hit in Jamaica despite being essentially blacklisted from Jamaican radio for Mutabaruka's "incendiary" lyrics. It was a match made in heaven: rasta poet with no music experience teams up with a young idealist and his musical collective -- The High Times Players -- to create an album completely outside what the roots or dancehall musicians were doing. While a few dubs from this seminal record were issued as b-sides on singles, there's never been -- until now -- a complete collection of those dubs on CD. Recorded at Bob Marley's Tuff Gong Studio and with an impressive cast of musicians, including: Carlton Barrett, Augustus Pablo, Leroy "Horsemouth" Wallace, Dean Frazier and Bobby Ellis.
Society Of Rockets fire up their engines and launch forth from the ashes of beloved SF psych-pop combo the Shimmer Kids Underpop Association, and here's their debut release! While some of their spacy 'shimmer' still lingers, overall Society Of Rockets have their navigational dials set to considerably more rural territory, as though the inquisitive band members have spent many an hour exploring grassy meadows and weathered taverns. The results are hauntingly atmospheric and very lovely.
What's that breezy '80s vibe tickling your ears? Might it be Todd Stadtman's debut album Only I Can Save You? Filled with pretty-pretty pop melodies, Stadtman's suitably sensitive boy vocals and a gauzy blend of acoustic and electronic layers'n'loops, at times it's reminiscent of The Style Council (circa "My Everchanging Moods", check out the second song "Something Less Than Tenderness") and Casiotone For The Painfully Alone. Or you might even imagine a lower-fi younger brother of David Sylvian (at least in comparison to Sylvian's most recent Blemish album). The songwriting of his more structured songs is seemingly inspired by the smart popsmith likes of XTC's Andy Partridge and Elvis Costello, while the less song-y ones are more along the lines of Dntel or something from the Morr Music label. A nice and sweet how-do-you-do!
How can you go wrong when the stickered quotes on the front of these reissues are from Poison's Ricki Rocket and Motley Crue's Nikki Sixx? Don't let that scare you off though, this is not some cheesy eighties hair metal band, although ALL of those bands owed a huge debt to Starz. When I (Andee) was growing up and first getting into hard rock, discovering Aerosmith, Kiss, Blue Oyster Cult, Cheap Trick and newer bands at the time who channelled that same sound, Hanoi Rocks, Smack, Kix etc... this would have been in the early eighties, folks kept telling me to check out some band from the seventies called Starz. And of course I totally recognized the ubiquitous Starz logo, an immediately recognizable hybrid of a neon diner sign, Big Star's logo and Van Halen's winged VH. A few of my hipper / older friends had the logo doodled here and there, some even had posters, but it took a few more years before I actually heard any of their music. And when I did it totally kicked my ass. Not metal, but definitely hard rock, big chunky riffs, wailing leads, pounding drumming, but the thing is, Starz were a pop band, more Cheap Trick and Kiss than anything overtly metal. Crazy catchy songs, arena rock ready for sure, but weird enough to be cool and just outside the mainstream, at least to those of us just discovering them in the eighties. The band toured with and hovered around the periphery of the seventies hard rock axis of Aerosmith, Blue Oyster Cult, Rush and Kiss and sounded like it. Some members of Starz even played on some of the Kiss solo albums. All four of these records are brilliant, although it's easy to hear the prevailing winds of change in their sound as the band grew and developed from record to record trying to keep up with modern music and the fickle tastes of the public and the charts.
Record number three, released in 1978, found Starz shedding almost every vestige of hard rock, moving in a pure power pop direction. Hard to say whether it was a band decision, a record company decision, or just some desire to storm the charts, hardly matters, as Attention Shopper is a massively appealing slab of big pumping power pop. A much more reverbed production, and a slicker and smoother sound definitely alienated the hard rock loyal, and unfortunately their pop shift did little to rocket them to the top of the charts and instead served to spread unrest within the group, that would eventually break up the band. But intraband politics aside, this is just a great big and bouncy, crunchy and catchy chunk of jangly riffing, hyper kinetic drumming, caffienated songwriting and hooks galore. Their are definitely a few ballady mis-steps, but there are also some stone cold pop gems, that would sound right at home on that recent Yellow Pills power pop compilation! Definitely for fans of Big Star, Cheap Trick, the Posies and power pop in general. Metal heads may find this a bit light, but close listening reveals plenty of crunchy riffs and metallic bombast tucked discreetly here and there. Features two bonus tracks and extensive liner notes!
How can you go wrong when the stickered quotes on the front of these reissues are from Poison's Ricki Rocket and Motley Crue's Nikki Sixx? Don't let that scare you off though, this is not some cheesy eighties hair metal band, although ALL of those bands owed a huge debt to Starz. When I (Andee) was growing up and first getting into hard rock, discovering Aerosmith, Kiss, Blue Oyster Cult, Cheap Trick and newer bands at the time who channelled that same sound, Hanoi Rocks, Smack, Kix etc... this would have been in the early eighties, folks kept telling me to check out some band from the seventies called Starz. And of course I totally recognized the ubiquitous Starz logo, an immediately recognizable hybrid of a neon diner sign, Big Star's logo and Van Halen's winged VH. A few of my hipper / older friends had the logo doodled here and there, some even had posters, but it took a few more years before I actually heard any of their music. And when I did it totally kicked my ass. Not metal, but definitely hard rock, big chunky riffs, wailing leads, pounding drumming, but the thing is, Starz were a pop band, more Cheap Trick and Kiss than anything overtly metal. Crazy catchy songs, arena rock ready for sure, but weird enough to be cool and just outside the mainstream, at least to those of us just discovering them in the eighties. The band toured with and hovered around the periphery of the seventies hard rock axis of Aerosmith, Blue Oyster Cult, Rush and Kiss and sounded like it. Some members of Starz even played on some of the Kiss solo albums. All four of these records are brilliant, although it's easy to hear the prevailing winds of change in their sound as the band grew and developed from record to record trying to keep up with modern music and the fickle tastes of the public and the charts.
Also released in 1978, Coliseum Rock, Starz' final record, was the bands attempt to return to the more hard rock sound of their first two records. Band member were replaced, the producer was the guy who had worked with them when they were still a pre-Starz rock band called Fallen Angels, and they were off. Definitely harder rocking than record number three, it's not quite as raw and rocking as their debut, definitely loving up to the album title, the songs on Coliseum Rock were big hard rock barn burners, perfect to get back on track, tour the world sharing stadium stages alongside Kiss and Rush and whoever else. Sadly, none of that ever materialized and a year later the band broke up. But this final record is still a doozy, a definite hard rock classic, with a vibe and production style that would live on in almost every eighties hard rock / glam metal band to follow! Features two bonus tracks (from their 1990 reunion album) and extensive liner notes!
How can you go wrong when the stickered quotes on the front of these reissues are from Poison's Ricki Rocket and Motley Crue's Nikki Sixx? Don't let that scare you off though, this is not some cheesy eighties hair metal band, although ALL of those bands owed a huge debt to Starz. When I (Andee) was growing up and first getting into hard rock, discovering Aerosmith, Kiss, Blue Oyster Cult, Cheap Trick and newer bands at the time who channelled that same sound, Hanoi Rocks, Smack, Kix etc... this would have been in the early eighties, folks kept telling me to check out some band from the seventies called Starz. And of course I totally recognized the ubiquitous Starz logo, an immediately recognizable hybrid of a neon diner sign, Big Star's logo and Van Halen's winged VH. A few of my hipper / older friends had the logo doodled here and there, some even had posters, but it took a few more years before I actually heard any of their music. And when I did it totally kicked my ass. Not metal, but definitely hard rock, big chunky riffs, wailing leads, pounding drumming, but the thing is, Starz were a pop band, more Cheap Trick and Kiss than anything overtly metal. Crazy catchy songs, arena rock ready for sure, but weird enough to be cool and just outside the mainstream, at least to those of us just discovering them in the eighties. The band toured with and hovered around the periphery of the seventies hard rock axis of Aerosmith, Blue Oyster Cult, Rush and Kiss and sounded like it. Some members of Starz even played on some of the Kiss solo albums. All four of these records are brilliant, although it's easy to hear the prevailing winds of change in their sound as the band grew and developed from record to record trying to keep up with modern music and the fickle tastes of the public and the charts.
Originally released in 1977, record number two featured the track "Cherry Baby", Starz biggest hit, and it's obvious why, a much more melodic, pop sound, a strange but perfect mix Styx bombast and soaring vocals and Big Star classic pop, complete with Byrds-like guitar lines and hand claps! The record as a whole, is a little less dirty and grimy but no less rocking. Way heavier on the Kiss sing alongs, and that Styx vibe definitely pervades the whole record, especially in the vocals, soaring, high and clear, with lots of awesome harmonies. Features classic hard rock burners like the title track "Violation", which will have you head banging and air guitaring like mad, and the foot stomping metallic boogie of "S.T.E.A.D.Y.". Actually if it weren't for the practically unbeatable debut record, Violation would be THE ONE. As it is, it's nearly as essential! And again, fans of seventies hard rock and proto-metal who don't already own this, NEED TO. Absolutely essential. And most definitely for fans of Kiss, Aerosmith, BOC, Cheap Trick, Aldo Nova, Thin Lizzy, Hanoi Rocks, Kix, as well as folks who dig power pop and even glam metal! SO FUCKING GREAT! Features three bonus tracks (demos) and extensive liner notes!
How can you go wrong when the stickered quotes on the front of these reissues are from Poison's Ricki Rocket and Motley Crue's Nikki Sixx? Don't let that scare you off though, this is not some cheesy eighties hair metal band, although ALL of those bands owed a huge debt to Starz. When I (Andee) was growing up and first getting into hard rock, discovering Aerosmith, Kiss, Blue Oyster Cult, Cheap Trick and newer bands at the time who channelled that same sound, Hanoi Rocks, Smack, Kix etc... this would have been in the early eighties, folks kept telling me to check out some band from the seventies called Starz. And of course I totally recognized the ubiquitous Starz logo, an immediately recognizable hybrid of a neon diner sign, Big Star's logo and Van Halen's winged VH. A few of my hipper / older friends had the logo doodled here and there, some even had posters, but it took a few more years before I actually heard any of their music. And when I did it totally kicked my ass. Not metal, but definitely hard rock, big chunky riffs, wailing leads, pounding drumming, but the thing is, Starz were a pop band, more Cheap Trick and Kiss than anything overtly metal. Crazy catchy songs, arena rock ready for sure, but weird enough to be cool and just outside the mainstream, at least to those of us just discovering them in the eighties. The band toured with and hovered around the periphery of the seventies hard rock axis of Aerosmith, Blue Oyster Cult, Rush and Kiss and sounded like it. Some members of Starz even played on some of the Kiss solo albums. All four of these records are brilliant, although it's easy to hear the prevailing winds of change in their sound as the band grew and developed from record to record trying to keep up with modern music and the fickle tastes of the public and the charts.
Their self titled debut released in 1976 is quite possibly their finest moment, definitely the heaviest, huge crunchy riffs, amazing vocals, top 40 worthy choruses, total fist pumping, denim and leather rock and roll. Listening to this record it's hard to imagine that they aren't spoken in the same breath as other seventies hard rock legends. Starz totally stands up to the first four Blue Oyster Cult records, the first couple Aerosmith records, the first few Cheap Trick records. A perfect fit, and it's totally obvious that your Poisons and Hanoi Rocks owe as much To Starz as they do Kiss or the New York Dolls or Aerosmith. Fans of seventies hard rock and proto-metal who don't already own this, NEED TO. Absolutely essential. And most definitely for fans of Kiss, Aerosmith, BOC, Cheap Trick, Aldo Nova, Thin Lizzy, Hanoi Rocks, Kix, as well as folks who dig power pop and even glam metal! SO FUCKING GREAT! Features five bonus tracks (demos) and extensive liner notes!
After years of ridiculously pricey, absurdly limited edition releases, Stereolab have finally taken kindly to their devoted fans with this 3cd/1dvd boxset. Perhaps they've taken a cue from the series of nicely priced and jampacked 3cd boxsets from Trojan Records? We'd venture to guess that's the case 'cause there's a few other similarities too. Besides being packaged in the same kind of box, much like those reggae compilations, Stereolab's is sadly lacking in the liner note department. Oh well, what can you do? 'Cept delight in immersing yourself in these 35 delicious Stereolab songs (28 of 'em were previously unavailable domestically, most were originally released in the UK on various formats by the band's label Duophonic UHF Disks). Since the recordings span 1993 through 2001, the compilation serves as a pretty great overview of their career. Now, factor in the dvd with its eight videos and three UK television appearances, and you should be more than well-versed in the magic of Stereolab!
Note: The group did keep one element of collectibility in this release. The first pressing includes a limited edition sticker set (eight glossy full color stickers featuring their various EP artwork). So if you're a completist, you know what to do! And if you're new to Stereolab, this will definitely turn you into a fan!
Don't laugh. I didn't think I (Allan) liked Styx, either. But these four early Styx albums, now reissued as one handy double-cd, are actually pretty cool... I'm not saying they're not at all cheesy (they are) but at least these records predate the era of mega-AOR-stardom after Tommy Shaw joined the band -- this was long before "Come Sail Away". This is Styx as America's answer to British prog-rockers like Yes. There's definitely a lot of Yes-isms here, but also Styx, chamelon-like, take on aspects of all sorts of other rockers of the era too, bringing in Southern/boogie rock like Foghat, classical prog like ELP, and grandiose proto-metal like Uriah Heep. Put most basically, this early Styx was basically a blend of the James Gang and Yes, if you can imagine that! Their four albums recorded for the Wooden Nickel label (1972's Styx, 1973's Styx II, 1973's The Serpent Is Rising, and 1974's Man Of Miracles) were indeed proto-Pomp Rock, but heavy on the rock. So if you're into '70s hard rock, you should investigate, despite the Styx stigma. Of the 35 tracks here, you're gonna find some faves. Yeah, you'll find their first hit "Lady" here, and a rock version of Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus" but also some kick ass, almost metal tunes like "Witch Wolf", "Southern Woman" and the bombastic "Young Man". Plus some decent prog epics (mostly from the pen of Dennis DeYoung) and even random weirdness like their frenetic cover of the Knickerbockers' 1966 garage rock nugget "Lies" and even an experimental musique concrete piece ("Street Collage") found on their first album. Packaged with detailed liner notes and original album cover art in the 16-page cd booklet, this double cd set could make a nice, if for most of us, unusual purchase... it did for me.
And in case you're a diehard Styx fan reading this, firstly we apologize for implying that there's anything wrong with liking Styx in the first place, and secondly FYI there's a bonus track on here, "Unfinished Song", the b-side to "Young Man".
More turntable strangulation from two masters of that very avant-garde (even today!) art form. Quebec's Martin Tetreault and Japan's Otomo Yoshihide (the latter of which, at least, should need no introduction to most AQ customers, known as he is far and wee for various projects, among them his famed Ground Zero band) have tangled before, and right away get down to business here, in a selection of live duo performances recorded on their tour of Europe in the Spring of 2003. Together they manifest an intriguing sound-world, liberating from old LPs variously sandpaper textures, helicoptering drone, and spluttering screams. Volume 2 of a planned trilogy, 2. Tok concentrates on their most "fragmented" improvs of the tour. We didn't review it, but we do also have the first volume, 1. Grr, so-named as it's devoted to what the duo deemed their noisiest material.
For her third solo outing, Mary Timony appears to have slipped away from her previous two albums' land of fantasy themes into more earthbound personal subjects. Ex Hex is certainly much more immediate and direct. The change is a refreshing one and is in many ways a return to her 'old' self. Indeed, some of these songs come closer to capturing the spark of her old beloved band Helium than any of her recordings since that band's demise. We're particularly happy to hear the return of that great bending guitar tone which was such a perfect foil for her distinct winding vocal style. The album balances her majestic side (check out the beautiful "In The Grass") and her more edgy side ("Hard Times Are Hard!" -- yes, the title has an exclamation mark!), effectively drawing together key elements from throughout her career into this one place.
This dvd's title might be a bit misleading for those expecting actual 'films' per se with soundtrack music specifically composed by Tindersticks for the visuals. No, this is essentially a music video collection. Yes, of course videos can be thought of a short films, but.... Anyways, the nine videos on Bareback are sure to make any Tindersticks fan weak in the knees. All were created by someone near and dear to the band, filmmaker Mark Wallace. They're from as early as 1993 ("City Sickness" co-edited by Pulp's Jarvis Cocker) through to 2003 ("Sometimes It Hurts" and "The Art Of Lovemaking"). Most of them were filmed in London and Liverpool, but the one for "Can Our Love" was done in Prague. Not surprisingly, Wallace's visuals are as stunning, elegant and evocative as the band's music. A perfect fit!
I know we always talk about records being "the weirdest ever" or "the most retarded ever" or the ubiquitous "so fucked", but any band we ever said that about before, must now take a step back, give up the crown, and bow before the new masters of the weird, the retarded, the fucked and the supremely damaged and demented. Dutch black metallers Urfaust carry the blackened torch of ultra cult, totally personal, and weird as fuck black metal into infinity with this record. Imagine an opera singer, wandering drunkenly down the street, ducking into a Karaoke bar, only to discover that the back up band is Burzum or Woodtemple or some other stumbling droney black metal outfit, and thus proceeds to CROON maniacally atop their grim fuzzy midtempo buzzing backing, in a ultra dramatic warble that is equal parts Ethel Merman, Devil Doll's Mr. Doctor and Tom Jones. Sometimes the music kicks up a notch into a pounding Viking style shanty, and the vocals follow right along, spat out in beligerent slurred shout / growl, and punctuated by occasional grunts and wild warbling wooooooaaaaahhhh's. The vocals occasionally get even weirder, becoming a wild banshee like falsetto shriek before slipping back into that campy warbly croon. Sounds goofy and it is, but it's also totally compelling and emotional, dark and weirdly wonderfully creepy. And these songs are strangely catchy and will totally get stuck in your head. Every once in a while since we got this in, I'll find myself humming something to myself trying to figure out what it is only to realize it's Urfaust! Holy shit! How often does that happen? With some demented BM band?! As if that wasn't enough, toward the end of the record things get REALLY weird. The second to last track is an extended mournful epic, just minor key strings, majestic and sorrowful, a slowly shifting doomscape, and the vocals fit perfectly here, like a damned and doomed heartbroken shell of a man, standing alone at the edge of the world, staring into the abyss wailing and moaning his anguish, in that by now unmistakable hyper dramatic caterwaul. Then the final track comes out of nowhere and finishes things off with a tranquil swirl, an instrumental new age-y swoosh, all warm and dreamy and blissed out, like the Orb or maybe Labradford, What the fuck?! I LOVE IT!! This is definitely my current favorite black metal record! And for those of you who think this does indeed sound absolutely essential (which it is!) and really want to go for it, we also have the other Urfasut record in stock, to be reviewed next list!
In the late '70s and early '80s, Berlin developed a caustic community of avant-punk musicians, filmmakers, artists, and hangers-on, whose aesthetics of alienation, angst, bewildered ecstacy, terminal revulsion, etc. were certainly impacted by the wall that seperated their city. Einsturzende Neubauten is clearly the most respected export from this community; but it could be argued that Neubauten (or any of the original members from that once close-knit community, for that matter) haven't quite the compulsion to make the magnificently explosive music as they did when the Berlin Wall was still standing. While likeminded bands such as Malaria!, Die Todliche Doris, and Sprung Aus Den Wolken have been served well by recent reissues of their work from that time period, much of the accompanying visual ephemera (film, performance, painting, photography, etc.) has rarely been seen outside of its original context, barring a few exhibitions in art-spaces and festivals.
Fortunately, the Berlin Super 80 DVD & CD set offers an extraordinary glimpse into the community of existential expressionists who erupted in Berlin during the late '70s and early '80s. While many of the same themes work themselves out in both the films and music of Berlin Super 80, there is a greater emphasis on absurdist play and humor in the flickering Super 8 films than in the bleak screams against the sky of Blixa Bargeld and Gudrun Gut. George Marioth's un-planned set of accidents and anti-craftsmans approach to editting is amazingly clever, while Jorg Buttkereit (who later went on to infamy with his Nekromantic series of necrophliac splatter films) offers a sinister biopic of his father. Other film gems include Christoph Doring's cinema verite of his job as taxi driver in Berlin, Wolkenstein & Markgraf's hilarious jumping video, and the casutic montages from Notorische Reflexe.
As for the musical program, Neubauten, Doris, Malaria, and Sprung Aus Den Wolken offer some of their quintessentially great pieces. Yet like the DVD, the discovery of previously unknown (although not unreleased) tracks from Mona Mur, Mono/45 UPM, Kosmonautentraum, and Flucht nach Vorn with their propulsive death-disco grooves and skeletal synthesizes make Berlin Super 80 well worth the price tag.
Be warned, this version is LIMITED, as only the first batch comes with the book and the cd, the second edition is DVD only!
Is there something in the air lately beside sneeze-inducing pollen? Suddenly children's albums are popping up from all over the map, including this one which was compiled by Ekkehard Ehlers. However with the exception of the burbly sounds on the first track by Fan Club Orchestra and oddly enough Devendra Banhart's contribution, the very sing-song-y, handclap-y "Make It Easier", there's really not much that seems truly engaging for children. C'mon folks, using elfin effected vocals and sounds resembling those of a musicbox or from a toybox isn't really enough to categorize something in this genre! And actually we think kids might lose interest and get bored pretty quickly with it. Soooo, maybe we should just approach this compilation as a neat assortment of 25 gentle, relaxing tracks by an impressive bunch of international artists including Nobukazu Takemura, Asa-Chang & Junray, Kammerflimmer Kollektief, Maher Shalal Hash Baz, Anna Laplantine, Dr. Rockit, World Standard, F.S. Blumm, and Oren Ambarchi. Hmmm, much more appealing for the full grown kids, don't you think? Maybe it should've been titled Parentish Music.
If you think you don't know Bread's music, think again. It might just be that you don't know the name of the artist behind that old tune you know and love so well. Many of Bread's songs have become so much a part of the day-to-day (let alone Musak'd ad nauseum), that song credits are seldom mentioned.
Who doesn't know the '70s tear-jerkers "If", "The Goodbye Girl", "Everything I Own", "Make It With You" or the puzzlingly titled "Baby, I'm A Want You" by this band? Do you remember, as Cup does, that there was even a non-Muppet puppet performance set to that song on the Muppet Show!? Well, it seems there's plenty of other folks who have a fond Bread memory or two or three too. '70s nostalgia is here with a -- albeit gentle -- vengeance, and Bread were definitely a soft rock staple of that decade. Sure those songs that we heard on AM radio back then were as vanilla as can be, but you have to admit the popcraft is still the sweetest something to behold. Main songwriter David Gates skillfully captured the weepy lows of love lost or unrequited. Oh so much yearning and heartache! This tribute kicks off with Josh Rouse doin' his best Gates impersonation on "It Doesn't Matter To Me". Following him are much less faithful but still very respectful covers performed by Kings Of Convenience's Erland Oye ("Friends & Lovers"), Call And Response ("Baby, I'm A Want You"), Oranger ("Make It With You"), Paula Frazer ("Everything I Own"), The Moore Brothers ("Look At Me"), Parchman Farm's Eric Shea with Bart Davenport ("Goodbye Girl"), Mojave 3's Rachel Goswell ("If"), Emily Sparks ("Too Much Love"), Cake ("The Guitar Man"), Holy Sons ("The Last Time"), Dambuilders' Dave Derby ("I Use The Soap"), and the Posies fellas Jonathan Auer and Ken Stringfellow doin' one song each on his own ("Games Of Magic" and "Down On My Knees" respectively). If you're too young to have experienced these songs firsthand, you might still wanna give this comp a listen 'cause it offers shining examples of fine pop artists present coming together with fine pop songs past.
One of the latest (and the second to be reviewed by us) in the budget line of CD-Rs from the always wonderful Khmer Rocks label, all of them go-go tunes -- which means that all, but a few have the unifying element of the chorus "ah go go". One would think that would get a little monotonous, but the tracks are sufficiently different from one another that one hardly notices the redundancy of lyrics. The sprightly tempoed numbers on this collection begin with Sinn Sisamouth's "Navy". Over a backdrop of surfy, reverb-laden guitar, the Elvis of Cambodian rock -- Sinn Sisamouth -- croons a with a healthy dose of slapback echo that seems requisite in all the tracks of this era. There is at least one overlapping song here, "Monkey", which was also on the second volume of Cambodian Rocks. Lots of 60's garagey psych tracks make this collection resemble the Parallel World comp. more on the whole than the three Khmer Rocks versions. It's pretty much a stripped down rock setup on all the songs here, which means not so much keyboard on this one. The guitar's the thing here and each track seems graced with at least one guitar solo. As you might have guessed from the "name dropping" above, this collection does include the English translations of the artists' names and song titles (no lyrics though). About 75 percent of the 13 tracks are Sisamouth's, four are from Pan Ron and one is by Ros Sereysothea.
In just a few years, Soul Jazz has pretty much cornered the market on gorgeously packaged and imaginatively assembled compilations of forgotten funk, soul that had slipped through the cracks, essential dub and reggae, and even some eighties No Wave! So it was only a matter of time before they tackled sixties free jazz! Soul Jazz places their focus square on the evolving black experience, as it was filtered through musical exploration. Avant garde free jazz indeed, but incorporating all sorts of fuzzy funky soul and groovy bits of R&B into a strangely unique voice of a generation. Most of you probably know a lot of these groups, and most likely many of these tracks, but the impact both socially and artistically becomes much more evident, especially for those new to this stuff, when viewed in the context of the artists they developed alongside, and the voice of a community that resulted from this fertile period and a divine yet unlikely convergence of genius players and mind blowing composers. All it takes is a quick glance at the lineup: Art Ensemble Of Chicago, Sun Ra, Rashied Ali, Frank Lowe, Archie Shepp, Alice Coltrane, Eddie Gale and more. But it wouldn't be a Soul Jazz joint without the introduction of a handful of lesser knowns, who more than stack up to the big names. Paris Smith, Travis Biggs, Amina Claudine Myers, East New York Ensemble and on and on. From the wild block party free for all of Mulawi's "Street Rap" to the brooding shuffling classic jazz workout of Sun Ra's "Angels And Demons At Play" to the haunting vibes of Paris Smith's "Pentatonia" to Amina Claudine Myers' "Have Mercy On Us", a rambunctious percussion free for all that slowly builds into a rollicking Santana-ish jam with warm organs and soulful vocals. Every track on here is amazing. And folks who have been a little wary of "free jazz" might find some of this quite pleasing with some of the free-jazz jagged edges smoothed out with warm grooves and slinky soul, and folks who were never much into funk and soul (like me) might find some of these tracks mighty appealing when that funk and soul is stirred wildly into a broiling cauldron of freaked out avant jazz. Such is the genius of Soul Jazz, and of course all the artists on this compilation. Packaged in a beautiful slip cover with a MASSIVE booklet packed with Soul Jazz's always impressive and informative liner notes!
This children's album is completely by bands from Japan, but was oddly released by an Australian label (apparently someone at the label lived in Japan). On the surface a lot of Japanese pop music can be heard as being appropriate for kids, but often if you listen a little closer, you'll find a darker more mature core. Not the case here. Well, at least as far as we can tell (not being fluent in Japanese) this seems like it'd be great for kids. Might even get them singing in Japanese! Not only are there playtime-ready springy-sproingy lollipop delights as well as drowsier numbers perfect for gettin' ready for naptime, but they also don't completely coddle the child, including a couple of heavier, more rocking tunes. The first song is by a band who take their name from a Shaggs song, yup, My Pal Foot Foot! And it sounds as if they got one of those gals to come play wobbly trumpet on this tune. Actually the trumpet seems to be the continuous element on this comp. It pops up frequently. Another observation, Elliott noticed that the tenth song ("Temperature Of Windowsill" by Nikaidoh Kazumi) has a section that closely resembles The Proclaimers' "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)". Hmm, that didn't make us too happy, but the final song "Telen Pa Wu" by Tenniscoats had us all giggling with glee. Give the audio sample a listen and see for yourself!
Hold yer horses folks, be forewarned this is NOT a new Snow Patrol album. It's actually two cds filled with an assortment of songs that Mr. Gary Lightbody wants you to hear. Of course most folks would go, "Who the hell is Gary Lightbody?! And why should we care?!", and rightly so. Hence this disc has been credited to Snow Patrol. Yup, he's that Scottish band's mainman who also fancies himself a dj. Now do you care?! And are you as skeptical as we are about the actual song choices? Some are way too obvious (yeah, TV On The Radio's "Staring At The Sun" is a great song, but...), while others seem to just be trying to score hip points (Deerhoof's "Milking"?!). Also included are some other familiar faces: Four Tet, Mum, The Shins, Nina Nastasia, Fiery Furnaces, CocoRosie, Low & Spring Heel Jack, Secret Machines, Joy Zipper, Rilo Kiley and Bill Withers. Other less familiar ones (at least to us) are Sir Drew, Husky Rescue, Feist, The Duke Spirit, Harco Pront, Smith N Hack and Hot Chip. In case you hadn't deduced yet, The Trip is essentially a series of mix comps as selected by different artists. Past editions have been compiled by Saint Etienne, Dirty Vegas, Tom Middleton and Tim Love Lee. Hpmh, wouldn't you rather get a mix cd made with loving care from someone you know and whose taste you trust? (uh, if you do know Mr. Lightbody and/or do trust his taste, then never you mind! But then again if that is the case you're probably not gonna be paying $28.00 for it, right?) Mind you, something your friend's mix cd might be missing is the almost omnipresent thumpin' dancebeat on the first disc (it's conspicuously absent on the second disc), but there're also a few awkward crossfades too. Oops, maybe we should've mentioned that sooner! Check out the audio clips and judge for yourself. 32 tracks in total.
Ok, you know how we're always getting giddy about some totally heavy doomy dirgey droney sludgy band, like Boris or SUNNO))) or Earth or Corrupted? Yep, we love that stuff. But let's face it, it's not outside of the realm of possibility that *you too* given the appropriate equipment (guitar, effects, amplification) and the ability to play an open E chord, could come up with something that sounds heavy in *that* way. Maybe. But this double cd is something that we know for sure that we, you, or any of the bands currently cranking up n' out the slow n' low couldn't quite match in sheer heaviness. Not heaviness of the loud and plugged-in variety, of course. A different sort of heaviness, the kind that gets the quotation marks around it, a "heavy" that's timeless, spiritual, feeling, and isn't entirely reliant on volume and bass ('though the droning low-end horns on here sure do provide plenty of both).
'Cause really, a couple of guitars and amps and distortion can't compete with the chanting of dozens of Tibetan monks (and nuns) accompanied by huge long trumpets and rumbling large frame drums and booming gongs and clashing cymbals and chiming bells and the resounding ambience and atmosphere of being recorded in an ancient monastery in the mountains of Bhutan, can they?! No sir, no way. Not if you turn your stereo up while playing this, anyway.
Now, if you're like us you've probably always thought that Tibetan Buddhist monks were cool, and knew they made cool music too. But also if you're like us, it hasn't been entirely clear just which of the many recordings of Tibetan monk music you should invest in, 'cause some just seem too Newagey or likely to also involve some interloper like Mickey Hart. Well, this new release on Sub Rosa -- a reissue of a 4LP set originally released on Lyrichord in 1972 -- is pretty clearly one to get.
These two discs are dense with astonishing, mesmerizing music. From pieces featuring calm, unaccompanied chant to flurries of hypnotically discordant high-end horns that almost sound like electronic feedback to massive Hermann Nitsch style sonic eruptions, the variety and depth here is amazing. 'Twas all recorded on location in the Kingdom of Bhutan in 1971 by legendary, well-travelled British ethnomusicologist and Orientalist John Levy (1910-1976), using a Nagra stereo prototype reel-to-reel recorder that did a wonderous job, as did he. Done in what seems to be the same spirit of exploration that motivates the field recordings found in the AQ fave Sublime Frequencies series, this is well-recorded, yet authentic and raw -- Levy's tapes even captured the flapping and cooing of pidgeons who live in the monastery, heard in the background in the quieter passages!
Disc One has two parts. Firstly, the Rituals of the Drukpa Order from Thimphu and Punakha (nineteen tracks, various invocations and supplications), and secondly, Sacred Dances and Rituals of the Nyingmapa and Drukpa Orders from Nyimalung and Tongsa (five tracks of dances performed in animal masks). Disc Two continues part two from the first cd with another five tracks of prayer, followed by part three: Temple Rituals and Public Ceremonies (fifteen tracks, everything from Milarepa poems and mantras to rituals to subjegate evil spirits). Each cd has its own booklet, full of very detailed notes on the music and the recording thereof. Texts of the various prayers and chants are included in English translation, as well. The reading and listening here will keep you busy for a long time, lots to learn about and enjoy with this for sure.
It's no wonder that when SUNNO))) plays, they dress up like monks...not Tibetan monks necessarily but monks nonetheless. An obvious way to make their music seem more mysterious and massive. So...if you're gonna buy just one Tibetan (or Bhutanese) monk album, this wouldn't be a bad choice at all. And, it's a good deal for two discs too!
Your introduction to this French Canadian combo comes in the form of this short-but-sweet cdep. And if these four songs are any indication, Multivitamins For You might be a more fitting moniker! In the span of just under 24 minutes, the group covers an impressive expanse of styles -- from a live performance in which their joined by a big ol' brass ensemble over to the land of remixes (by Blunderspublik and Venetian Snares) and ending with a timely dance-y cover version of an early Arcade Fire song "No Cars Go". Packaged with lovely pink homespun silkscreened artwork.
We've been meaning to list this for ages but we hadn't been able to get enough copies until now. On the same label that brought us the amazing Daniel Padden record, which makes sense since Mr. Padden just so happens to be a member of Volcano the Bear. We have to admit that occasionally in the past, Volcano The Bear has definitely tread dangerously close to the too purposefully weird. The musical equivalent of that old joke: How many surrealists does it take to change a lightbulb? A fish! Yep, a little too "Look at Me!! Isn't this stuff CRAZY?" But the fact is, they ARE weird, and the music they make is genuinely strange. On the Idea Of Wood, VTB has managed to make a record that is at once genuinely weird, totally damaged and utterly otherworldly, but at the same time absolutely hauntingly lovely. Delicate and subtly ominous. Clinking clanking percussion, creaking acoustic guitars, ghostly falsetto vocals, carnivalesque melodies, creeping lugubrious tempos. A haunting Eastern European alien gypsy folk music constructed from brittle acoustic instruments, wheezing and straining and warbling, crumbled trumpet melodies, warbling violins, snatches of ambient found sound clatter and choirs of insect like vocals. So nice!
These four gals have been raising a ruckus 'round town for a couple years now. You might recognize two of them as being former members of the short-lived SF synth-wave band Clone as well as 7 Year Bitch. Live, they've had their hot nights and ones less so, but when they're 'on', their shows can be a super sassy time with equal parts sweat and lipgloss. Really, a major part of what makes them cool is also what can be their downfall, and that is their unbridled swagger. 'Cuz of course when you're rockin' the blues you can't be all uptight, but you also can't be so loose that you're downright messy. Now on record, they've successfully captured the feel of one of their fiery, saucy good nights on tape. When taken sans vocals, Von Iva rock out a straight-ahead by the books dance punk sound with their two-note arpeggiated keyboard and basslines. However, add in the ballsy soulful female vocals and it's quite a different animal. They definitely provide the distinct personality to this band. A flamin' cocktail brewed up from an ample shot of blues rock, a dollop of disco, a scoop of new wave and a dash of batcave.
On the cover: Electrelane. Inside: AQ-fave Boris, Josephine Foster, The Complainer, Annie Gosfield, Steve Beresford (doin' the Invisible Jukebox), Kali Z Fasteau, Foetus, Alex Von Schlippenbach, and a full color photo of Martin Schmidt's (of Matmos) NAKED BUTT!!! Being SPANKED by Drew Matmos. YOWZA!!
What a great band name. Conjures up visions of all sorts of thrashing brutal metallic heaviosity for sure. Or perhaps it just reflects this duo's (not so) secret obsession with metal and their desire to constantly confuse and confound? Either way you won't bee finding any sort of metal here. This might be HEAVY but in a totally different way. This is some seriously deep listening, from the momentous meeting of Mr. Birchville Cat Motel / Celebrate Psi Phenomenon himself, Campbell Kneale, and Mr. Pseudoarcana Antony Milton. Extended fluttering organ drones, shifting like sonic sand dunes, elemental forces dragging melodies and chords out over thousands of years, the glacial flow of sound, warm and dreamy, recorded live in old bunkers and tunnels, these two tracks of primieval ur-drone, reverberate and shimmer, like clouds of crystal shimmer, meditative and tranquil, a gorgeous almost static haze! Some more perfectly pristine drone music from these two masters! SUPER LIMITED AS ALWAYS!! NOT SURE WE'LL BE ABLE TO GET MORE WHEN THESE ARE GONE!
