BACK IN STOCK! Tatsuya Yoshida's Magaibutsu label has at last repressed this second disc from Ruins side-project Korekyojinn. And now, it's got BONUS TRACKS (which may elicit an 'argh' from those who got it already, but that's the facts). They're not listed anywhere on the sleeve, but there are indeed four bonus previously unheard live cuts appended to this disc. FYI, here are the titles: "You Know What You Like", "Careless Heart", "Out Of Head", and "On Reflection".
And here's our review of the original edition:
It's kinda unbelievable, if you think about just how many records Ruins drummer Tatsuya Yoshida has been involved with. Dozens at least. Especially unbelievable since when you check the credits on most things he's played on, it quite often turns out that he wrote *all* the music. A hero to drummers everywhere, eh? He's got to have written literally hundreds of songs. Consider just Ruins albums alone: that's a LOT of music and it's almost all him. Even the larger ensembles he's in, like Koenjihyakkei, he's always the main composer. And, to a fan like me anyway, his stuff is always amazing. It's not a case of quantity over quality, no sirree. He's just a seemingly bottomless well of not just crazy riffs and rhythmic ideas, but songwriting talent (matched with an ability to play like a mofo). So that brings us to this new album, the second release from Yoshida's Korekyojinn band. Here he teams up with a bassist and a drummer, and as you might expect it's a bit like Ruins+1. A bit groovier perhaps, with some classic rock moments riff-wise, and it's all-instrumental. No nutty vocals, just the tricky, twangy guitars of Kido Natsuki, the bulldozering bass of Nasuno Mitsuru, and of course in the driver's seat, the masterful drumming of Yoshida. Eleven more complex compositions from the mind-boggling musical mind of Yoshida, encapsulating Led Zep licks, Hella hyperactivity, and jazz swing... Chances are if you've read this far, you're a Ruins fan, and if you're a Ruins fan, you'll probably want to check this out. But Arabesque would be a fairly accessible place in the pantheon of Yoshida projects to start with, too, if you're not already a convert. An utter prog instrumental monster that never loses the groove despite the chops on hand. Japanese import on Yoshida's own label.
We've already sold a ton of these. It's not hard to see why. Everybody loves Bollywood film music, and Asha Bhosle is the queen of Indian cinema singers. And the always-adventurous chamber group the Kronos Quartet are pretty cool as well, aren't they? So the idea of Kronos teaming up with Bhosle to record a bunch of the best film songs written by famous Bollywood composer Rahul Dev Burman (1939-1994) is a fine one, and it's worked out marvelously on this disc. Rather than the hyperkinetic, energetic style of music that accompanies the big production dance numbers so often characteristic of Bollywood film, these tracks are of a more languid, moody variety, full of tender sentiment and romantic yearning. Perfect for the sad yet uplifting strings of Kronos (with help on tabla and other percussion from guest Zakir Hussain, and also Wu Man on pipa). And of course perfect for the lovely voice of Bhosle, who sang so many of these songs originally. We said "moody" but these moods do range widely, from sad to seductive to joyous.
This package (which comes ensconced in a nice metallic cardstock slipcase) includes a thick booklet full of detailed notes and photos. You get lyrics and even a synopsis of each of the films in which these songs first appeared, generally back in the early '70s. All in all, gorgeous tribute to Burman and his classic Bollywood ballads, and mostly likely a worthy introduction to them for many.
Each time we hear that AQ pal Jeff Rosenberg has a new music project we secretly fantasize that it'll continue to push the 'out-there' dissonant envelope as many of his past ones have (the ever-expansive Tarentel, spazz-rock duo Pink & Brown, hypnotic art-folk trio Young People, and earthy instrumental duo Lumen to name a few), and shine the spotlight more on his considerable guitar talents. But even though each of his subsequent groups have definitely kept us on our toes, each one taking a new unpredictable Rosenberg direction, quite often the unassuming gent opts to humbly play the solid, no-frills support role. Such is the case with Lavender Diamond, a timorous folk pop combo who present themselves in Lawrence Welk-worthy attire, black suits and taffeta gowns, and in which Becky Stark's gentle'n'mild vocals take centerstage while Rosenberg, Steve Gregoropoulos and well known visual artist Ron Rege Jr back her up on guitar, piano and drums respectively. Maybe this is what all those jaded hipsters need these days... some wide-eyed, earnest songs of unabashed innocence. Sure seems so, 'cause folks have been gobbling this up like crazy already. You can even easily imagine the quartet doing a great cover of Coven's "One Tin Soldier" or perhaps something by The Carpenters! As for Jeff's guitar magic, alas, we'll just have to continue crossing our fingers that he'll unfurl it again someday. But for now we can happily soak in the sunny subdued country folk of The Cavalry Of Light.
Hey Le Tigre fans, there's a chance you might already have these eight remixes as they were apparently originally released on two 12"s a whiles back, but if you missed 'em the first time (or don't have a record player), they've been released altogether on one cd. First up is Junior Senior's remix of "Nanny Nanny Boo Boo" (later on in the cd there's two other remixes of this song by Craig C and Arthur Baker), then starlet Peaches comes in with her raunchy treatment of "TKO" -- once again makin' y'all feel more than a little bit soiled. The song "After Dark" get's the most attention with four different remixes by the likes of Morel (one vocal and one dub), NDB and A Touch Of Class.
Note: to confuse matters further two 12"s -- This Island Remixes Volume 1 and 2 with four tracks each -- were also released at the same time, but there seems to be some slight variances with the track selection and running order. Please see each release's respective review for their track listing.
Hey Le Tigre fans, there's a chance you might already have these four remixes as they were apparently originally released on an earlier 12", but if you missed 'em the first time here they are again.
On one side, Morel offers up two treatments (one vocal and one dub) of "After Dark". On the other, "Nanny Nanny Boo Boo" gets a remixing by Craig C and Arthur Baker.
Note: a cd collecting together eight This Island Remixes was also released at the same time, but there seems to be some slight variances with the track selection and running order. Please see each release's respective review for their track listing.
Hey Le Tigre fans, there's a chance you might already have these four remixes as they were apparently originally released on an earlier 12", but if you missed 'em the first time here they are again.
On one side, Junior Senior offers up two treatments (one remix and one instrumental) of "Nanny Nanny Boo Boo". On the other, Peaches takes aim at "TKO" and NDB dishes out a vocal disco remix of "After Dark".
Note: a cd collecting together eight This Island Remixes was also released at the same time, but there seems to be some slight variances with the track selection and running order. Please see each release's respective review for their track listing.
This is the second Maeror Tri reissue to appear in the past month, perhaps signifying a flood of old material from the seminal German droned-out industrialists. Or maybe not. Regardless, Meditamentum I originally came out on the tiny Holonom label back in the mid-90s, collecting tracks from the huge catalogue of Maeror Tri's cassette-only releases dating back to 1989 (including tracks from Peak Experience, Somnia et Expergisci, Ambient Dreams, Sensuum MEndacia, Sublimal Forces, Allianz, Hypnobasia, and Venenum, if you must know). Limited to 500 copies, the first volume of Meditanentum quickly went out of print, only to be repressed (in a much nicer package with embroidered cloth sleeve) by Manifold. As a whole Meditamentum is a far more ambient, drifting collection than the black-hole isolationism found on the recent Singles collection released on EE Tapes; nevertheless, the trio still concentrates on their signature cold, grim soundfields of droning guitars, laced with backwards breathy echos and haunted extented vocalizations.
Of the four bands that graced the No New York compilation, Mars has always been the most enigmatic, having only recorded 32 minutes of music in the studio. Yet, their sound has been vastly influential upon the development of bands like Sonic Youth and the Swans as well as every single band that seeks to embrace the No Wave spirirt. In their very short career (spanning something like 18 months), the Mars sound was defined by psychotic / narcoleptic investigations into thoroughly damaged improvisations; yet, their early ventures into structured songs (i.e. "3E," "11,000 Volts," and "Helen Fordsdale,") are so jaw-droppingly energetic, complex, and curiously catchy that their evolution into the abstract can be a bit frustrating. Yet, it is precisely this tension between the the proto-Daydream Nation, avant-punk riffs they clearly had a knack for and the delirious throbs of noise that became Mars signature and that has made Mars so compelling after all these years. For die-hard Mars fans, these recordings are in fact the original masters that bassist Mark Cunningham found a few years back. The earlier Mars retrospective 78+ originally released on Lydia Lunch's Widowspeak and later on Atavistic found Jim "Foetus" Thirlwell reconstructing many of the recordings which had been considered lost. Regardless, Mars was an amazing band who was well ahead of their time, and this document clearly proves that. This deluxe LP is limited to 1000 copies, athough it is still available on cd as well.
Ed Mattson's debut cd features eleven laidback, down-homey country folk numbers. Joining him in the playing and producing duties is fellow Bay Area based indie rootsy singer/songwriter Clay Hawkins. Many of the songs bring to mind a more barebones brethren of warm, weathered Americana bands such as Red House Painters or American Music Club. Released on the new SF label and music collective Visionguild.
We haven't even come close to carrying all of the many recordings Daniel Menche has has released over the years, as his output of scalding noise coupled with caustic drones is now starting to rival the massive catalogues of fellow noise-mongers Merzbow and Francisco Lopez. Menche's work seeks to channel a raw, primal, and unmistakably masculine energy through his impressive noise arsenal often citing the rituals of Japanese warriors and Native American war chants as jumping off points for his atavistic expressionism. Flaming Tongues is one of many exceptional releases that Menche has produced in 2005, marking one of his most prolific periods. Menche presents us here with one of his typical strategies in counterpointing an expansive timbral minimalism a la Eliane Radigue or Jonathan Coleclough with a blistering vein of scalding noise that threatens to smash through the drone with an incendiary detonation. Menche constantly teases with the possibility of such a violent explosion, but never actually does. Instead, Flaming Tongues stands as a constant pressure cooker of grating textures, seething white-hot noises, infernal atmospheres, and volatile electro-acoustics.
Who or what is New Buffalo? Why, it's a one woman band from Melbourne, Australia, Sally Seltmann (with some assistance from her husband Darren Seltmann of the Avalanches!). Her debut album The Last Beautiful Day is the first non-Canadian release on the Canadian label Arts + Crafts (home to fine bands such as Broken Social Scene and Valley Of The Giants), and it's pretty darn great. Achingly lovely and slightly woozy, you can easily imagine any one of these ten songs being included in a David Lynch film. Her vocals are reminiscent of the alternately earnest lilting sing-song and dreamily contemplative singing style and slightly off-kilter poetics of Canada's best-kept secret Ms Jane Siberry. Hmm, perhaps that's what drew the Arts & Crafts folks to the sounds of New Buffalo (consciously or not)? Notable guests include Beth Orton (whose voice blends perfectly with Seltmann's on the seventh song "Inside") and Dirty Three's Jim White (who drums on three songs). Recommended!
Here we have the collected recordings of a young (average age fifteen years old!!!) band by the name of Nihilist that would (several personnel changes later) become THE Swedish death/thrash cornerstone known as ENTOMBED. Without Entombed, it's a safe bet to say that death metal would not be what it is today. Some of the members of Nihilist also went on to start other bands you may have heard of like Dismember and Unleashed. But with this long awaited Nihilist reissue, we can go back to where it all began! Assembled here for your aural pleasure (along with in-depth liner notes/photos, etc.) are all the known demos (as they were originally released) and some extra cuts, i.e. a track recorded for a 1989 split ep with Paradise Lost, Carcass, & Bolt Thrower, and a couple more cuts for a 7" EP (a Repulsion cover, etc.). Sound-quality you ask? Well, we're talkin' teenagers in the late 80's here. But nonetheless, they sound pretty damn good. The tracks have all been "remastered" for this release, but you wouldn't know it. They sound that good. Not GREAT mind you, but good. Just how a killer nineties death metal record should sound. Remember we're talking demos here! One of the demos herein was recorded by (unknown at the time) famous producer Tomas Skogsberg. So yeah, you get it (if you know your Swedish death metal).�
There are a few tape drop outs here and there, but they are almost unnoticeable. Besides, this stuff is CLASSIC material that blows away sooooooo much of what is out there today. These guys were so ahead of their time -- and at such a tender age! This will go great next to your Repulsion discography and maybe that Disembowelment box set from a few lists back, and maybe next to some Sodom or Obituary or Possessed too. But really, this is the cream of the crop for Swedish (death/thrash) metal and we'd be suprised to find a shelf of cds that already holds power of this magnitude!
This came out about five years ago as an expensive Japanese import -- now at last it's been released domestically at a much more affordable price. Thanks Thrill Jockey! Here's what we said about it before:
This is the third album from OOIOO (say "oh oh eye oh oh"), the Osaka based, all-female quartet masterminded by Yoshimi P-We (drummer/trumpeter/vocalist for the Boredoms, et al.) At times playful and childlike, Gold and Green abandons the grating, no-wave dissonance of earlier albums for a more textural, atmospheric and melodic experience. "Mountain Book" (which seems to be the musical accompaniment to the lovely artwork for this record) is the beautiful standout track on which they are joined by many guests including Seiichi Yamamoto (Boredoms), Yuka Honda (Cibo Matto) and even Sean Lennon: epic, hypnotic, dreamy psychedelia with piano, dulcimer, and tabla.
This Thrill Jockey version lovingly re-creates the original release's stunning packaging, a gatefold complete with a booklet of children's psychedelic fantasy artwork by Yoshimi herself!
Scottish pop fans, here's something you don't want to miss... especially if you missed 'em the first time around over two decades ago! These highly influential Scots finally receive a long-overdue, respectful retrospective compilation. Edwyn Collins, Steven Daly, James Kirk and David McClymont's distinct combination of sugary sweet jangle pop sensibilities with a wry wit and sharp tongue definitely made an impression on the young hearts and minds of bands such as Belle & Sebastian (on the sticker affixed to the shrinkwrap, Stuart Murdoch is quoted voicing his deep reverence), Heavenly and The Pastels, let alone more recent upstarts such as Arcade Fire and Franz Ferdinand (Alex Kapranos' devotion is also noted on the abovementioned sticker).
For The Glasgow School, Domino Records has unearthed the band's first four singles (originally released on indie label Postcard Records) along with eleven songs recorded in 1981 which were originally intended to be their debut album Ostrich Churchyard which was also to be released on Postcard. That never came to pass, and the album would in turn be rerecorded and renamed You Can't Hide Your Love Forever and released on Polydor in 1982. Ostrich Churchyard was eventually released in 1992. Also included are two previously unreleased songs -- "Blokes On 45" from a Peel Session and a raucous cover of The Ramones' "I Don't Care" from a pre-Orange Juice rehearsal tape when they went by the moniker the Nu-Sonics.
Beautifully packaged like a hardcover book with an introduction and song-by-song liner notes by Steven Daly as well as a scattering of live and candid snapshots. Recommended.
Oh how we adore the Finnish label Fonal Records -- home to the likes of Kemialliset Ystavat, Islaja, Kiila and Es. And now, won't you please kindly welcome the newest addition to the Fonal roster, Paavoharju! We can say that that welcoming 'em is not such a difficult thing to do 'cause they sure do make some wonderful music! In fact, Cup (and Jim for that matter) has listened to it almost every day since its arrival. It's true!
Note: We don't want to deny anyone the pristine 'first listen' magic that we experienced. We can attest that it was a sheer delight packed with many surprises, and our fondness has only grown with each listen. So if you want your introductory spin to be 'pure', please be forewarned that this review contains what some might call spoilers... that means stop reading now!
In many ways Paavoharju can be likened to fellow enchanting Finnish artists Lau Nau and Fonal labelmates Islaja, but their finely detailed yet loosely strung music is considerably more melted and collaged and electronic. Listening to Yha Hamaraa is almost like eavesdropping on a dream... or having someone else's heartbreaking memories come back to hazily haunt you. Sounds, voices and melodies drift in and out of focus, occasionally overlapping and seeping into one another. Sometimes it seems like you're listening to a rickety old radio with the dial set between stations so that the sounds somehow magically fit together. Odd faintly familiar elements make their presence felt such as in the ninth song where the male vocal melody brought to mind a twisted folk (and of course very Finnish) version of "Stairway To Heaven". The swooping, trebly female vocals find their own special place between Indian film music singers and the Southeast Asian voices that surface on the similarly (un)structured Sublime Frequencies travelogue field recording compilations. And reference must be made to Bjork as well! Now after having read this far in our review, you might find the very first track with its swell of distorted static-y noise to be somewhat unexpected, disorienting even, but we encourage you to go with it (and with us). Allow the wash of sounds to transport you into Paavoharju's intoxicating world. Completely and utterly breathtaking.
Once Upon A Little Time is the second solo release from Mr. John Parish... and have to say, we're not quite sure what to make of it! It's a bit of a puzzling work. In contrast to 2002's mostly instrumental How Animals Move, there's much more of a vocal presence on Once Upon A Little Time. On some songs he bears a surprisingly striking slouchy resemblance to Beck ("Sea Defences") while on others he intones deeply like a cross between Lou Reed and Howe Gelb ("Somebody Else"). Actually with it's balance of light-hearted numbers and more somber creepers, you could easily mistake this for a Gelb album. Not a bad thing! No, qute the contrary, but it's just sorta strange. His vocals are nicely complemented by those of Ms Marta Collica, and once again he's joined by members of PJ Harvey's band, Portishead and Nick Cave's Bad Seeds.
Portland, Oregon based Princess Sweepstakes self-deprecatingly describe themselves as "vaudevillian, amateur rock. Wirey and kind of annoying", but they're much better than that. Vaudevillian, yes, but they're closer to an amphetamine fed, punk rock reworking of the Thinking Fellers Union Local 282. They're all over the map, with heartfelt and playful proggyness that's neither stuffed shirt conservatory uptight, nor too full of its east coast expensive art school education either. Muppet vocals and farfisa organs weave in and out of catchy tunes and spazzy restlessness. Quite nice. Comes packaged with a very nicely hand silk-screend cover.
The sticker on the cover sez: "A collection of sound waves to disturb your air-space! Journey to the dark side of drone psych!" Well, okay. This mysterious Psychatrone Rhonedakk fellow was last heard 'round here in the company of former Acid Mothers Temple keyboardist Cotton Casino on their collaboration entitled Baron Von Rhonedakk and the Crystal Sun. His new solo disc is again an exploration of dark, synth-heavy psych, full of haunted hippy percussion and whooshing electronics jamming in total '70s krautrock style. You'll also hear his gentle vocals on three cover songs, tracks written by Warren Zevon, Bill Martin, and Peter Sando of Gandalf (whose "Can You Travel In The Dark Alone?" is such a freaking great song -- get the Gandalf reissue on Sundazed to hear the original, you'll be glad you did). I'd buy this just for Rhonedakk's droned-out Gandalf cover, personally, 'cause I like them and that song so much, but all the moody, Moogy spacescapes found here are also an attraction.
Doing a service to the doom community at large, Southern Lord follows up their reissue last year of the long out of print Saint Vitus album V (originally released on the German label Hellhound) with another reissue of an equally long-gone Hellhound release, the Saint Vitus live album, aptly titled Live. Recorded on their second European tour in the fall of '89, this includes live renditions of such classics as "Born Too Late", "Dying Inside", "Look Behind You", and "Clear Windowpane", as performed by the Vitus MK II lineup that featured Scott "Wino" Weinrich (of The Obsessed, later of Spirit Caravan, The Hidden Hand and Place Of Skulls) on vocals. Southern Lord's deluxe re-packaging preserves the original's awesome cover photo (one that makes Wino look like one scary dude, and guitarist Dave Chandler like a really insane hippy freak) and adds a swank 32 page booklet of previously unseen photos (note Chandler's sweat-drenced Dinosaur T-shirt in several of the pics). There's also a short paragraph of new liner notes by Chandler as well, who, always the wise-ass punk, observes that "the print on CD sleeves is always too fucking small to read, so what's the point?"
Basically if you're a Saint Vitus or Wino fan it's hard to see how you wouldn't want this! If you're not already into these guys, it'll certainly provide you with a handy collection of some of Vitus' best tunes, but we're not expecting to sell many of these to the Vitus-ignorant. This is for the fans, old and new. People who'll dig the between song stage banter, and truly appreciate the extended guitar jamming portions sometimes added to their tunes in the live setting. Yessir, this is a hour+ of ponderous riffage and wah-crazed soloing, warts and all, as only Vitus could muster. All hail.
With each Sigur Ros album it seems that this Icelandic group have perfected their sound -- you wonder how they could possibly make it any better or where they could possibly go from there -- but somehow the very next album brings something fresh to their already glorious world. The highly anticipated follow-up to 2002's ( ) is no exception, sending new blissful shivers down your spine. Sigur Ros' music is the aural equivalent of those glistening intricate patterns of frost that form on the windowpanes of old houses. The crystals existence hang in peril of your warm breath as you gaze out into the wintry night. On Takk, they've encorporated more traditional structured songs and orchestral arrangements, more strings, more singing (you can easily imagine Coldplay's Chris Martin slipping in to contribute vocals on some of them) and even a mini brass band interlude! We could gush further, but you get the picture, don't you? Shimmering. Dreamy. Sublime. Wonderful. And the packaging is too!
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.
Not a list goes by without a review declaring some record THE WEIRDEST EVER. So, okay, we can be a little hyperbolic at times, but it's just cuz we get so damned excited. But since we're always on the lookout for the weirdest records ever, it's not really all that strange that we might actually keep discovering some new weirdest record ever! They just get weirder and weirder. AND, as you probably could tell, it just so happens that we have a definite thing for bizarre black metal, the more fucked up and strange the better! And again, always being on the lookout for weirder and weirder metal records, we manage to stumble across quite a few. Recently we got a copy of a record by a band called Spektr, without a sleeve and a paucity of any useful information. But we were totally struck by its bizarre take on grim black metal, spending most of the record not blazing and thrashing, but instead, creeping through funhouse mirror ambience, plodding mathrock doom, dreamy acoustic breakdowns, bizarre sound collages and lots of Jeck / Basinski style fuzzy smeary loops. Woah. Eventually we tracked it down, and learned that No Longer Human Senses had been released on the Appease Me label run by French black metal squad Blut Aus Nord! Not too long ago we reviewed the most recent release by Blut Aus Nord a bizarre and brutal, sprawlingly complex black metal record equal parts classic Norwegian style black metal, pummeling Industrial crunch a la Godflesh, creepy droning dark ambience and strange squiggly plain old weirdness. So when we discovered BaN had a label it made perfect sense that this Spektr record would end up there. No Longer Human Senses is definitely a black metal record, as is evidenced by the buzzing droning riffage and thrashing blast beats, some serious Darkthrone worship for sure, but that's really only a tiny piece of the whole picture. The bursts of black metal, marked by a particularly virulent strain of brutally brittle and harsh guitar sound, float through a twisting serpentine maze of random sound events, almost like a massive Christain Marclay installation. Haunting church organs, weirdly affected spoken word, all manner of creepy lilting melodies over lots of hiss and static and record crackle. Loops repeated over and over, but gradually decaying into stretches of fuzzed out shimmer, often erupting into bursts of super harsh black metal mayhem, only to fall apart moments later into a chaotic mess of buzzing, malfunctioning machinery, super distorted industrial sludge with more warbly minor key loops, all beneath thick waves of dense buzz and crumbling melodies, thick swaths of ambient blur and strange ghostly tinkles, peppered with brief snippets of classical music, found sounds, field recordings and random bits of sonic skree, the whole mess dropped into a swirly abyss of blackdrone and super creepy psychedelic ambience. This is one of those rare records that is so fractured and demented and wonderfully bizarre that is has you constantly checking to see what the hell it was you were listening to! Definitely one of our favorite new weird black metal records!
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Getting tough to know what to say about these guys. For no reason other than the constant flow of new releases, cd's, lp's, double lp's and so many cd-r's!! But what the hell! They're all pretty fantastic so who's to complain. We managed to get about twenty of these from the band when they were here, therfore there's a darn good chance we won't be able to get any more, so if you want one act fast. Packaged in that by now immediately recognizable brown paper sleeve, pasted-on art on one side, hand written text on the other, Anatomy was recorded from 2002-2004, and features a much more 'rock' SHOTM, which seems to be the direction the band has been headed lately. Shuffling spaced out psychedelic grooves, sort of Grateful Dead meets Acid Mothers Temple meets No Neck Blues Band. Plenty of processed vocals, heavily affected guitars, and shuffling Krautrock rhythms, simple and hypnotic. There are brief song fragments that harken back to their more hippy pagan free folk drum circle daze, but for the most part Anatomy is chock full of amazing head nodding, dreamy and druggy space psych grooves!
There are prolific bands, and then there are PROLIFIC bands. Take Acid Mothers Temple. Not a month, or even a week goes by sometimes without a new record by those Japanese psych rock freaks. Then there's Guided By Voices' Bob Pollard who has supposedly written over 3000 songs. Or what about Wolf Eyes with their insanely extensive back catalog of cd-r's? None of em can touch Sunburned Hand Of The Man. Every time they swing through town not only are they pushing a handful of lps or proper cd releases, they also always seem to have boxes and suitcases and pockets full of all new super limited cd-r's. This time was no different: An lp (listed last time), a cd-r (listed elsewhere on this list), a handful of super limited tour only cd-r's that sold out before we could even list them (there are benefits to visiting the store in person!) and now this epic two years in the works double lp. Entitled Wedlock, the music on these 2lps was compiled from a weeks worth of recording in 2003, on the way to, and in, Alaska, where the band were playing at a friend's wedding. Recorded live to two video cameras and then cobbled together using two cd decks and a mixer, this is definitely SHOTM at their most jubilant. And maybe most funky! C'mon, it was a wedding after all! The record starts off with haunting maudlin piano beneath damaged snippets of conversation, before it's cut off abruptly by rambunctious bluegrass steel guitar, recorded in a lo-fi haze and surrounded by random conversations, whooping sirens in the distance, and all manner of animal calls and ambient sounds. That's before the whole thing twists itself into a full on white boy groove, drunken reverbed vocals over a wildly sloppy shuffle, reckless and whooping and drunk and delirious. The rest of side two and three don't deviate too much from that sound. Imagine Funkadelic playing German Oak and you'll get an idea of the sort of Kraut-flecked folk funk we're talking about. A confusing swirl of tripped out effects, manic percussion, tweaked vocals, wah guitar and a throbbing simple rhythm beneath it all. At some points it sounds almost like a much more tribal, much more groovy Eagles, but with WAY more beer and WAY better drugs. Pulsing and throbbing through the murk of an all night party, liquid guitar lines slither endlessly around slippery slow burning rhythms. There's a brief spurt of spastic blown out free form pagan tribalism at the end of side three that hints at what is to come on side four, a side long, classic SHOTM-sounding blast of drug addled drum circle freak out, all hands on some sort of drum or cymbal or noisemaker, whipping up a wild squall of rhythmic chaos. Wow. The whole thing comes packaged in a thick gatefold sleeve, with a full color insert, featuring photos from the wedding and the Alaska trip and a reproduction of the original invitation.
This cdep is credited to Bonny/Sweeney, but we did our sleuthing and figured out the not-so-hard-to-figure-out fact that it's noneother than Bonnie... ahem, Bonny "Prince" Billy and Matt Sweeney. Seems Will Oldham (aka Palace Brothers, Palace Music, Palace... etc) has roped Mr. Sweeney into his moniker hijinks. He keeps on rearranging and respelling his many names. Geeez, it'll drive ya to distraction! Anyways, this is four more barebones songs from those two fellows, plus the cd is 'enhanced' to include what the traycard describes as "Mike Piscitelli's visualization" of their song "I Gave You". If you dug their Superwolf full length, this will surely please your ears (and eyes) too.
Just a few bars into the first song of Knitting Needles & Bicycle Bells, we were struck with one of those "this sounds exactly like a band I remember from the '80s" feelings. But unlike most of the recent times we've felt that same decade's tingle in the back of our neck, Tenement Halls don't recall new wave synthesizers, arpeggiated basslines and moussed-up hairdo's. No, with their robust saloon-style piano playin' and mainman Chris Lopez's withery vocals, they're coming from an altogether different musical zone seemingly channelling the weather-beaten ghosts of The Waterboys. You almost expect them to break into "Whole Of The Moon". Quite a change of sound and direction for Lopez whom you might recognize from his days in the awesome Rock*A*Teens. Of course this earthy style of music can be tracked further back than the '80s, but The Waterboys just happen to be the most clear-cut point of reference. That said, we'd also guess that they might include XTC and David Bowie in their list o' influences.
Perhaps you've been boggled by the appearance of the name Jim White all over the place lately (as we have). Who is this guy? He's everywhere! But it makes a little more sense when you discover that there's two particular, prolific musical fellows with that name who currently have fine releases. The Jim White of the south (Florida to be exact) is the man responsible for the stellar soundtrack to Searching For The Wrong-Eyed Jesus film. The Jim White of further south (way down in Australia) is the man playing some of the drums on the New Buffalo album as well as the last couple of Smog albums, and yes lest we forget his card carrying membership in Dirty Three. Here he teams up with his Dirty Three bandmate (and no musical slouch himself) Mick Turner as the non-blood related instrumental duo the Tren Brothers.
Their latest release The Swimmer (as far as we know, no relation to our favorite Burt Lancaster movie) features a scant four songs, but their evocative wash of pastoral sounds suggest that this is just a mere glimpse of a moody expansiveness that extends far beyond the ep's fifteen minutes. This is their contribution to the Western Vinyl label's portrait series.
There was a time, not so long ago, when any self respecting metalhead would have scoffed at a black metal band from the United States. If it wasn't Scandanavian who gave a shit. Sure there were a few bands from Germany or Poland, even the UK, but the US seemed to have nothing to offer in terms of pure grim cult black metal. Well, plenty has changed, and now it seems, outside of a handful of bands from elsewhere, a lot of the truly important, personal and risk taking BM bands come from the US. In fact a good handful of our favorite BM comes from right here in California. If you've been following the AQ list, you've probably become plenty obsessed with the likes of Xasthur, Leviathan, Draugar and Inquisition. And rightfully so. In terms of black metal, these bands have been taking the sound of classic black metal and twisting it to suit their own devices, whether it's Leviathan's post rock flecked avant garde weirdness, or Draugar's demented brain melting confusional freak out, or Xasthur's doomy ultra depressive moodiness, they all offer totally unique and highly personal musical visions filtered through each group's singular perception of what black metal is and sounds like. But outside of black metal, each of these bands is making a wholly unique sound, a dark and dangerous outsider art, based in black metal certainly, but offering up totally original, bizarre and beautiful slabs of droney, dirgey, pummeling, pounding, ambient, abstract musical vision. Most black metal aficionados will no doubt be familiar with many of these bands, but those of you who can't get enough of all the above mentioned bands might find some new bands to obsess over. Mostly exclusive tracks from Leviathan, Xasthur (a Manes cover!), Draugar, Krieg, Azrael, Demoncy, Inquisition, Teratism, Thralldom, Cobalt, Engorge, Typhus, Summon, Bahimiron, Kult Ov Azazel, Harvist and Hordes Of The Lunar Eclipse.
Besides being a delightful tribute to '60s electronic pop music pioneers Bruce Haack, Esther Nelson and their Dimension 5 record label, this is also a benefit to raise funds for autism charities. This boasts super-cute graphics, but unfortunately there's very little in the way of liner notes, so for those of you who are unfamiliar with the world of Haack and Nelson, you'll have to do a little or a lot of your own research (perhaps check out the Haack - The King Of Techno DVD released earlier this year). One thing that you should know though is that it appeals just as much to the wee tots as it does to the grown-ups who've chosen a... ahem, chemically altered listening experience. Some of the covers remain faithfully within the realm of the Haack/Nelson's kitschy child-view while others venture out on their own personalized trippy excursions. SF's Oranger's rendition of "Catfish" sounds amazingly like veteran good time popsters Young Fresh Fellows, while Beck's version of "Funky Lil' Song" sounds amazingly like Beck. The star-studded list of participants also includes Stereolab, Money Mark, Apples In Stereo, Tipsy, Eels, Irving, Fantastic Plastic Machine, DJ Me DJ You, Brother Cleve, Geoffrey Owens & Mary Christopher, Anubian Nights, Blue-Eyed Son, The Stones Throw Singers, From Bubblegum To Sky, Chris Kachulis, and Danielson Famile! Pretty neat!
BORIS BORIS BORIS BORIS BORIS. Okay. Just wanted to get the attention of all you freaks who can't get enough of Japan's mighty Boris (and we know there's a lot of you, since we can't seem to keep any Boris in stock for more than two seconds!!) And since
If there's something you haven't been getting enough of lately, it's angular female-fronted post-punk from the late 70s/early 80s! If you don't already own the Slits b-side track cover of "Heard It Through The Grapevine", get this cd now! It could be the only reason to buy this cd, except there are other tracks on here that are just as fist poundingly angularishly toe tappingly awesome -- if not MORESO!!
Maximum Joy's "Stretch", Dorothy's "Softness", Delta 5's "Mind Your Own Business", Jajaja's Blondie-esque vocals over trainwreckish spazzmatic bass, ahh!! I'm freaking out. The only weak point might be the jazzy Neneh Cherryesque tone of Rip, Rig and Panic.
So note bene: this is by all means NOT "the current trend" in musical consumerism, HOWEVER, it's an incredibly concise and concentrated comp consisting of totally mind-boggling music. And nevermind the politics, dudes. It's fucking great music!!
Back in February 2005, the eccentric, Anticon hip-hop outfit Subtle was on Interstate 80 in Iowa while touring the mid-west, when their van hit black ice and flipped over several times. The band members emerged from the wreckage bruised but unharmed, except for one: Dax Pierson had broken his neck. Since then, Dax has undergone extensive physical therapy; and while his insurance has covered his medical expenses (hooray for small businesses who give their employees health benefits!), there's plenty which his health insurance does not cover. As a result, there has been an international campaign to aid in Dax's recovery. Dax is a man who has touched many people's lives, inspiring them not only with his incredible musical talents but also with his generosity and jovial nature. For those who have lived in the Bay Area, tribute concerts for Dax have been occurring regularly throughout the spring and summer of 2005 often spear-headed by Anticon itself but also by many of the Dax's co-workers at Amoeba Records in Berkeley; and this compilation continues in these efforts. Curated by Amoeba's Andy Way and Jim Kaiser, the Irreplaceable Hand may speak more to their affinity for the oddball things that float through their experimental section, but this nonetheless speaks to the numerous people whose hearts have opened for Dax. Nurse With Wound, Matmos, Odd Nosdam, irr. app. (ext.), High Volture (aka Bruce Anderson of MX-80), Moe! Staiano, and Petit Mal are some of those who have contributed to the Irreplaceable Hand. A.C. Way opens the album with a track of nightmarish ambience with Lustmordian overtones and a persistently unnerving squiggle. High Volture quickly changes gears with a splatter of post-Derek Bailey improv. The always impressive irr. app. (ext.) offers a piece of bowed metal dissonance and drone bristling with post-surrealist aural fragments. Matmos' quirky collage of re-engineered vocal samples and Moe! Staiano's all-fists on the organ keyboard stand out as moments of comic relief against the rather dark atmosphere that this comp. As one could image, the highlight of the album is the Nurse With Wound track, as Stapleton moves from ominous drones similar to those heard on the Angry Eelectric Finger sessions and slowly introduces a pretty groovy breakbeat, perhaps an indication of how a NWW hip-hop record might sound.
Of course we can't resist mentioning that there's of picture of Dax shot by Matt Waldron of irr. app. (ext.) while the two where shopping here at Aquarius! For information about Dax and his progress, please check out www.daxpierson.com.
Not sure where we were when this came out originally. Actually, the oldest of us here were around 11 years old, so we were still a few years away from discovering the joys of punk rock. But holy shit this comp is amazing. Originally released in 1981 on the Urinals' label, Keats Rides A Harley was a brief glimpse into the burgeoing Southern California (and Arizona) punk scene, featuring a handful of soon to be huge punk rock legends, many still sort of feeling out their sounds, all of them super raw and intense. Features the original comp, remastered, with Gun Club, the Leaving Trains, Meat Puppets, Earwigs, 100 Flowers, Human Hands, Tunneltones, S Squad and Toxic Shock. This cd reissue includes nine bonus tracks, an extra song from each of the above bands, as well as the way rare 5 track Happy Squid label sampler, featuring tracks from the Urinals, Danny And The Doorknobs, Arrow Book Club, Vidiots and Phil Bedel. Also includes super detailed liner notes, and an extensive history of each group.
Fanciers of vintage reggae and dub can't go too wrong with a Studio One comp. The late Coxsone Dodd's label recorded the best of 'em, so it hasn't been hard for Soul Jazz to come up with some pretty excellent comps of stuff culled from the Studio One vaults. And the original Studio One Roots collection they put out was itself indeed pretty fine. So Roots 2 seems like it would have to be good, and it is! The 19 tracks (seven of them previously unreleased!) include cuts from such artists as Cedric Brooks, Tommy McCook, Joe Higgs & Ken Boothe, Zion All Stars, Zoot Sims, Willie Williams, Jackie Bernard, Prince Francis, Devon Russell, Winston Matthews, Joseph Hill, The Saints, Larry Marshall, The Gladiators, Al Campbell, and several others. Lots of soulful, laidback, positive rasta vibes here! The most downtempo and moodiest are our faves, especially the reggae-jazz instrumentals from Brooks and McCook. But there's some gorgeous vocal tracks on here as well, such Winston Matthew's take on Bob Marley's "Sun Is Shining".
'60s French girl group compilations come in and out of print so sporadically that you've gotta nab 'em when you see 'em 'cuz you never know if they might vanish the next week. Have to say, we haven't had much problem with the quality of the comps we've carried thus far in this delightful genre, and Swinging Mademoiselles maintains the standard already set by long out-of-print cds such as Girl Group Power, Histoires de Filles: Quebec 60's Go-Go Music and the Ultra Chicks series. Sassy, perky fun!
A lot of the makers of today's sweet indie-pop and a lot of the crate-digging DJs and producers of contemporary hip hop both seem to share an appreciation for the late '60s familial singing groop known as the Free Design, if this compilation is anything to go by -- featuring as it does the likes of Madlib, Super Furry Animals, Caribou, Styrofoam, Peanut Butter Wolf, Mellow, and many others (including members of Mars Volta and Belle & Sebastian) all giving props to these soft pop cult faves. A sweet tooth for this sort of stuff is universal, I guess. The Free Design's beautiful harmonies, lush orchestration, and dayglo lyrical content have lead us to describe 'em before as being like "The Carpenters on ecstasy, or a less cynical Stereolab unplugged." And guess what? One track on this tribute indeed features Stereolab teamed up with The High Llamas.
Bringing together all the tracks from the three-part series of vinyl 12" remix eps released earlier this year by Light In The Attic, some of the cuts here are remixes, others are re-interpretations (covers), and some are not quite classifiable hybrids. They say Redesigns, some might say plunderings. You'll hear snippets of actual Free Design tracks, as well as bits that we don't think have anything to do with the Free Design at all (like, why does track seven consist of a sample of dialogue from the zombies-on-motorcycles movie Psychomania??). It's all over the place stylistically, from the rapping of Murs on the Danger Mouse's track to vocalist Sarah Shannon and Styrofoam's great pop-electronica version of "I Found Love" (our favorite Free Design song, by the way) to the scratch attack of Kid Koala to the psychedelia mined by Nobody...but through it all shines the sunshiney pop of the four members of the Dedrick family that made up the Free Design -- sometimes brightly, sometimes casting shadows.
All kinds of crazy versions of all kinds of crazy Melvins classics, by a line-up of mostly metalcore acts, presumably all artists who've been inspired by Buzz, Dale and Co. and for whom tangling with the heaviness of the Melvins is no huge stretch. Big names include Pig Destroyer (who've covered the Melvins before, here doing "Claude"), Isis and Agoraphobic Nosebleed (doing a brutal, nine minute version of "Boris" together! which reminds us, why isn't the band Boris on here?), High On Fire and Keelhaul (another team-up track, this one sounding like it was recorded live), Eyehategod, Mastodon, Strapping Young Lad, and others. But then there's also a handful we've never heard of before, and probably never will again. Everybody gets fully into the spirit of the thing, which is basically to attest that the Melvins, in a word, RULE. Of course, like most comps, it's a mixed bag. Not everything sounds great, but there are some gems. If you're a fan you'll want to check this out.
Bewarned, the first track, Mare's amazing improv-soul version of "Nightgoat" will have you wondering if you put the correct cd in your player. But if you skip ahead to hear the Dillinger Escape Plan doing "Honey Bucket" on track two you'll realize there's been no mistake. Of course, we like it best when tributes are done by bands who don't try to sound at all like the original -- though we can understand why so many of these metallic Melvins fan-bands on here are having a ball doing their best to sound just like 'em!
This comp gets bonus points for the Derek Hess artwork and the liner notes that basically say that tribute albums suck but the Melvins are the best band ever so what the heck, but it loses points for including no information about the partipating acts -- it'd be nice to have notes from each of them about their tracks. Well I guess we don't need Blessing The Hogs to tell us why they picked "Hog Leg".
The more recent Venetian Snares albums (all of which we've loved) from Canadian electronic wizard Aaron Funk have fallen muchcloser sonically to the maudlin minor key string soaked IDM sound of Boy / Girl era Aphex Twin. However, Meathole returns to the beligerent head-ache electro-shock breakcore albums that dominated his early records. This records fucking hurts; and I'm sure that Mr. Funk wants us to hurt; and it's same kind of damage that J Lesser has been known to giddily inflict upon his listeners: a non-stop pummel of drill 'n' bass rhythms, menacingly stalking basslines reminscent of Ed Rush circa 1996, scalding hot electronic blasts of noise, and post-Rotterdam 909 kicks to the head. Given that the album had been constructed under the influence of "devil worship and murder," Meathole seems custom made for the Aquarius Records infatuation with bloody-minded teeth-gnashing. Sprinkled with horror film sountrack samples downpitched for an extra-heavy creep factor, Meathole recalls much of the brilliantly ridiculous / ridiculously brilliant Digital Hardcore and Position Chrome stuff that we raved about many years ago. So good!
Okay, so did we warn you a couple of lists ago or what about an imminent abundance of Wooden Wand releases?! It's already become pretty much impossible to fully digest one of their cds or lps before another one sprouts up, but don't get all stressed out trying to keep pace. That's not the way this music should be experienced. We recommend that you kick back, drift off, and take your own sweet time enjoying each serving of their delirious, obtuse folk stylings... heck, there'll be plenty more waiting for you when you're done. With the WW releases we've heard thus far, we've noticed a stylistic pattern -- their more traditionally shaped solitary folk songs contrasted with their hazy, meadering ensemble journeys. Buck Dharma falls in with the latter. It evokes a similar air of mysticism and mystery as Rever by AQ fave Larsen. They too seems deeply inspired by Michael Gira and Swans -- the female vocals in particular recall those of Jarboe -- but have chosen a more laidback meandering approach to their music. Along with the vocals, this WW release is distinguished by some Hendrix-y electric guitar noodling, gently clattering and rattling percussion. Of all the WW releases we've carried to date, it's definitely received the warmest response from the broadest spectrum of folks. Recommended!
When we reviewed the first Zdrastvootie record last year, the two bands we couldn't stop thinking of were Polvo and the Sun City Girls. Sort of like Torch Of The Mystics via Merge records or something. Sounds weird but it definitely worked and we loved it. The formula stays pretty much the same this time around, except for the much more prominent vocals, which most definitely remind us of French prog masters Magma, which can never be a bad thing if you ask us. Soaring and majestic, almost operatic at times, the vocals hover over a bed of tangled Eastern flecked post-prog-rock. Strange alien melodies intertwined with dense complex time signatures, angular atonal riffage, spastic start stop arrangements, gnarled Ginn-ish guitar noodling, all meshed into dreamy propulsive post rock that occasionally splinters gloriously into hyper complex free prog/jazz and stacatto bursts of noisy improv chaos.
