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Side A consists of two songs, entitled "Acid Milk Milky Way Also Jupiter 888" and "Rising From The Cool Fool Inferno". Side B is "Astrological Overdrive"...you get the idea. Japan's freakiest modern psych rock combo, with members of Mainliner/Musica Transonic/Toho Sara, Mandy Blue Heaven, and Omoide Hatoba, among others, brought their trippiness to the US of A not long ago and this lovely-looking double LP is the document. Although the record starts out trippy and spaced out, most of the record leans more toward the heavy psych of Mainliner or White Heaven.
The out of print, year 2000 vinyl-only double LP release from everyone's favorite Japanese communal hippy band finally makes it to compact disc! Two compact discs, actually, which makes room for 44 minutes of bonus track action!! Kawabata Makoto, Cotton Casino,
The heavily lauded, AQ fave, psychedelic hippie Japanese collective led by Makoto Kawabata now graces us with two excellent side-long pieces on this LP-only release. The first is a well-executed version of Terry Riley's famous conceptual composition "In
That said, we have a bone to pick with the packaging of this album. If you're going to fetishize a band (and let's face it Acid Mothers Temple is the fetish band of the moment), then for heavens sake do the packaging right! It's not bad looking, just shoddily constructed. Eclipse pressed the album on impressively weighty vinyl, and it boasts commendably pretty artwork, but unfortunately the gatefold cover is printed on glossy yet flimsy cardstock that doesn't fold right, will not lay flat, and is already coming apart at the seams. Furthermore, there's only one LP but two empty compartments in the sleeve, making for an inevitable small disappointment when said empty sleeve doesn't even have an insert or anything. Sigh. Of course, it would have cost more to do the packaging better, but for the $17 we have to charge for this you think Eclipse could have afforded it! Oh well, maybe they didn't know that it was going to turn out so poorly. And packaging aside, this *is* a great AMT album.
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Japanese guitarist/guru Kawabata (Toho Sara, Mainliner, Musica Transonic) and his band return with their third album of avant-hippy insanity. This pretends to be a soundtrack to a supposed "psych-nonsense" film by alleged "Russian mondo film" director Ivan Piskov. "Tumultuous psychedelic trip sound...Potentially massive frontal lobe damage. Real punch-drunk music!" it says here. As always, recommended for fans of epic guitar psych noise weirdness.
More weirdness from our favorite Japanese avant-hippy musical commune. Starting off with some heavy, throbbing electric psych jamming ("Psycho Buddha"), and then calming down into the folky drone-chant of "Space Age Ballad", this disc promises to be as
This essential document of Acid Mothers Temple's early years is finally released on vinyl. Nice and thick and in a gorgeous gatefold with a bonus track, the side long 'Blue Velvet Blues Coda'. This record starts with AMT at their most rocking, dreamy
One of Japanese hippy rock impresario Makoto Kawabata's more blissful exercises now makes the all-so-appropriate jump from compact disc to vinyl. As with Eclipse's vinyl version of AMT's "Pataphysical Freak Out MU!!", we're faced with bonus material, the title track in fact. Plus the record is pressed on 180 gram vinyl, and it's in a swank gatefold package. Deluxe in other words.
Here's what we had to say about the original cd version of this album, released on PSF in 2000:
The night before recording this album Father Moo (aka Kawabata Makoto) took his handmaidens and lackeys on a lysergic excursion of metaphysical proportions. We'll spare you the details of the trip (as most acid recollections have little literary worth). Nevertheless, "Troubadours From Another Heavenly World" is the result of said trip, leaving the Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso UFO nursing a collective hangover resulting from too little sleep and too many chemicals. With sore muscles that have never been sore before, they vaguely recall making an album of lugubrious psych rock, like a really good Bardo Pond record, that oozes out thick walls of mellow cosmic jams and half conscious female vocals. Certainly not as incendiary and crazy as some previous Acid Mothers Temple recordings, but this provides some worthy psychedelic exploration nonetheless.
Here's that long-rumored Acid Mothers Temple THREE cd set, at last! Is it the Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. release to end all Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. releases? Not likely -- I mean, I'm sure there'll be another one before the month is out! -- but it IS one of the more desirable entries in these freaks' prolific output so far.
Furthering their status as a Grateful Dead for Japanophiles and krautrock nerds, this set kicks off with disc one's SIXTY MINUTE version of the AMT standard "Pink Lady Lemonade" (which appeared on their debut cd, as well as on the Live In Occident LP, and is now a staple of their live set). This new studio version, recorded in London, is yet another variant of the "Pink Lady Lemonade" template: it starts off with lots of spacey guitar and synth, sci-fi effects, and lovely bliss-out vocals from Cotton Casino. At about the half-way mark, after a jazzy interlude, the song gets a bit noisier, and dronier. But the mild feedback eventually gives way to a restatement of the song's initial theme, as everything comes full-circle to a mellow & pretty close at the end of the hour. Nice, but not a patch on their previous epic, the much heavier 40-minute "La Novia".
Disc two is where the "Family Compilation" part of the title comes in. The eighteen tracks found here are from a variety of artists, some featuring members of AMT, some simply being things AMT leader Kawabata Makoto liked enough to release on AMT's limited edition cd-r label, including two bands from the USA: San Diego's psychedelic indie-rockers Maquiladora, and Philly's female acid-folkie Fursaxa. Others include: the "mood cosmic sound unit" Pardons featuring AMTers Cotton Casino and Higahi Hiroshi, Kawabata's "shamanic acid-folk trio" Floating Flower, the acoustic, improvisational and not entirely serious Zoffy duo of Kawabata and Atsushi Tsuyama, the driving fuzz-punk of the Cosmic Riders (several original AMT members), the French solo guitar/vocal "acid chanson" of Frederic ... plus Father Moo & The Black Sheep, Seikazoku, Ueh, Alien Social Dance Party, Nipponianippon, The Wild Riders, and several more -- too many to describe. It all flows quite nicely -- there's no duds -- and all the selections, with or without members of AMT performing, definitely share the AMT acid-kraut-freak-pysch vibe. It's the best sort of compilation in two ways: 1) it's a "complete" listen, and 2) you'll probably want to hear more from all the artists on it (which may actually be a frustation 'cause it's going to be hard to find much else from some of 'em).
Disc three continues the compilation, but consists entirely of tracks featuring Kawabata Makoto projects or collaborations, including a Space Machine cut (Kawabata with Yamazaki "Masonna" Maso). Also: Kawabata solo, Uchu, Shogo-nari, Tsurubami, Kawabata with Miyamoto Naoaki, and an AMT track. With the big K on every track, this disc is somewhat more guitar-oriented than disc 2, tending towards darker, heavier, dronier, scarier stuff (disc 2 being a bit more "fun" and/or "folky", to generalize). On both discs two and three, quite a few of the tracks are unreleased or at least remixed, so even if you've managed to obsessively collect the various AMT-issued limited-edition cd-rs and so forth, you won't have all of these. And if you are such a collector, you'll be first in line to buy this anyway! And for most people, this will be your first and only chance to hear some of these projects.
AMT heads need this, others may find it a fascinating introduction into the realm of psychedelic excess populated by Kawabata Makoto, the Acid Mothers Temple, and friends.
Oh happy day, another issue of Chris Ware's always-amazing publication is here! This time, the final installment of the Jimmy Corrigan, Smartest Kid On Earth saga: sad, funny, and exquisitely rendered of course.
But not just *any* acoustic guitar trio: this is Nels Cline (a big AQ-favorite), Rod Poole (likewise), and Jim McAuley. Nels is best known for his jazz meets Sonic Youth style skronk, Rod Poole for his mesmerizing explorations in just-intonation guitar
Solo album from Mommyhead's frontman Elk.
This new album from Ryan Adams compiles a baker's dozen of the demos from his Nashville, Hollywood and Stockholm recording sessions of the last couple of years. Nice to hear his music at this stage before every speck of immediacy and grit were swept away in the recording process (which seemed to be the downfall of his 2001 Gold album). Reportedly each song was recorded in one take without overdubs. That said, they do already sound very very polished, full and finished. Overall, he sounds much older and more weathered than on Gold or his fine debut Heartbreaker. Some of these songs completely resemble the catchy college rock of the Replacements - he *really* sounds like Paul Westerberg! - while others are more in the Americana vein of Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen. Actually those latter songs really reminded me of the Traveling Wilburys too which says a lot considering the caliber of artists on that group's roster. The standout track however is the final one, the solemnly moving "Jesus (Don't Touch My Baby)". So beautiful, it veered away from any of the other songs and reference points, and left me wishing the rest of the album were more along those lines.
"Gold" is Whiskeytown vocalist Ryan Adams' second solo effort, and with each release both in solo and band mode, his songwriting's gotten progressively more and more accessible and radio-friendly, and much less rootsy. And quite honestly, much less appealing. Adams previous effort was a breathtaking Beatlesque rock record with just the right amount of twang. Unfortunately, this record
Solo record from singer of alt-country darlings Whiskeytown. Rambunctious and relaxed, more intimate, and a little less polished than his Whiskeytown stuff. The sound is a bit more Beatlesy pop than Hank Williams twang. Nice.
Adamson's previous records have intentionally been film scores for films that never existed, blueprints for him to explore the issues in his life, not the least of which is his biracial ethnicity. In his fifth solo album, the former bassist for the Bad Seeds and Magazine unveils his most song-oriented album. The trademark apocalyptic noir swing and murky production are present but with a sinister application of Leonard Cohen-style vocals. There's a point in the middle of the album (Here I Stand) where all of the ghosts and demons are scared up to intense peaks of aural chaos... and it sounds so good!
Adamson's previous records have intentionally been film scores for films that never existed, blueprints for him to explore the issues in his life, not the least of which is his biracial ethnicity. In his fifth solo album, the former bassist for the Bad Seeds and Magazine unveils his most song-oriented album. The trademark apocalyptic noir swing and murky production are present but with a sinister application of Leonard Cohen-style vocals. There's a point in the middle of the album (Here I Stand) where all of the ghosts and demons are scared up to intense peaks of aural chaos... and it sounds so good!
Mute U.K. Has finally seen fit to reissue this: hallelujah! This is his first soundtrack (of 4, 3 of which are for films that don't exist). Brilliant album from one of my favorite musicians in the whole world. The cd version adds 3 songs unavailable elsewhere, including the truly essential theme from the Sinatra-as-junkie film The Man With The Golden Arm. "In a black & white world, murder adds a touch of colour." Get this album first!
Detroit electro superstars offer one new track, "Don't You Stop". Three remixes follow, based on that old kids' game of "Telephone Operator" or "Pass It On" or "Chinese Whispers" or whatever you called it when you were young -- basically the original Adult. track was passed to Solvent, who reworked it and passed their results to Phoenecia, who worked their magic and passed those
Strap on your electro pants, baby. 'Cause Adult. (don't forget that punctuation) are here. Witness the awesome android power of this Detroit duo - one half of which is Mr. Adam Miller, formerly of the mighty electro-kings known as LeCar. If you were a fan of
Imagine Jan and Dean meets Mamas and Papas with pretty, delicate female harmonies a la His Name is Alive.
If you've yet to hear the loveliness that is Adventures In Stereo, what are you waiting for? Here's a prime opportunity to get a wee sampling of their swirling ribbons of pop sweetness. Two songs, one from their wonderful album "Monomania" and one unreleased.
Beginning softly with some very retro dreamy balladry, this album then shifts into a bit of country guitar pickin' and on to perkier numbers, but the lovely high female vocal harmonies continue throughout. Very, very pretty swirling melodies from this pop sextet. Actually, these songs would have been very much at home on the Sarah record label or early SpinArt. Lovely.
Have to say that the current trend of new New Wave is right on with me. Love those old synth sounds and programmed beats... just as long as these new bands bring some fresh elements into the sound as opposed to simply rehashing Human League, Pet Shop Boys or New Order tracks. Unfortunately in the case of the Gainesville, FL trio known as The Aeffect, it seems to be leaning towards the
Solo effort from a member of the Dat Politics crew. Much like his contemporaries, Aelters kicks out infectious shards of high frequency agitglitchfunk. If you like Blechdom and Dat Politics, you probably already have this. If you don't, there's very little reason to be concerned. Addictions are ugly.
E. Aelters (a member of Belgian PowerBook band Dat Politics) specializes in really active, wacky electronica Fuckery (with a capital F) that resembles one one-man version of Dat Politics: hyperkinetic babble and grating drone abound. Also reminiscent of the more recent output from Mouse On Mars or perhaps Kid 606, without the drill & bass workouts. Very nice lo-attention span stuff.
It's a little hard to say who or what the Aeolian String Ensemble is, but a few references point toward the Nurse With Wound emcampments, as Christoph Heemann takes some credit for this album (as both a contributor to the ensemble and as the cover artist), as David Kenny (longtime Nurse With Wound / Current 93 collaborator) produced and engineered the album, and as United Dairies was originally scheduled to release this album. Yet the most intriguing reference came from the Audion Pages of the Nurse With Wound site at Brainwashed (http://www.brainwashed.com/nww/words/audion.html), which pointed to Steven Stapleton himself as being the man behind the Aeolian String Ensemble. While all of these personnel details are interesting puzzles to attempt to solve, they shouldn't distract from an exceptional album!
Presumably the source material for the Aeolian String Ensemble is the aeolian harp, an antique instrument which gained popularity in the nineteenth century in English country gardens. The aeolian harp is fitted with a number of strings with different thicknesses but all tuned to the same key on top of a resonator box. Wind sets the strings in vibration in such a way that their harmonics are heard, rather than the fundamental note; thus creating an impressionistic chorus of droning sounds. From these harps and the subsequent post-production of judicious delay pedals and sustained reverb, the Ensemble coaxes some of the most beautifully immersive drones from these harps, on par with the Andrew Chalk / Jonathan Coleclough "Sumac" album, any of the Troum recordings, and the score to Tarkovsky's "Stalker." A truly fantastic album that is fortunately enjoying its second pressing!
Wow, what a refreshing surprise of an album, sez Miss Windy. Aereogramme, a four-piece band started by Craig B of Ganger, play a super appealing combination of (get this) the theatricality and LOUD-soft dynamics of Mogwai, and the intensely emotional delicacy
Aereogramme has released two 7"s and an EP, and this is their full length debut, on Matador via the respected Scottish label Chemikal Underground (Arab Strap, Mogwai, Delgados). Highly recommended if you like Mogwai or Sparklehorse, Badly Drawn Boy, Delgados, Red House Painters, etc.
What we have here is a fantastic -- and to our ears widely appealing -- record which hopefully won't disappear underneath most folks' radar like their first one did. Aereogramme are a four-piece from Scotland, and even though this comparison might sound a wee bit too convenient, it is nonetheless true that they sound like the perfect distillation of fellow Scots Mogwai and the Delgados! They have the fragile delicacy and pure indie-rockness of Delgados (and Death Cab for Cutie, especially in the vocals), but you know how just when the sweetness is so sad and heartbreaking, you want something to scream, that's gonna mirror the despair and howl the pain? That's when Aereogramme lashes out with crashing metallic noisiness a la Mogwai -- although we think it sounds more authentically heavy like the Melvins or a Hydrahead metalcore band. And it *really* works as an album: the dynamic changes are not unpleasantly distracting; they're as skillfully executed as on Radiohead's "OK Computer", and the climaxes come exactly when you most need them too. There are also judiciously wielded violins and cello soaring above the warm guitars, some genuinely death metal, hoarse vocal roars, and guitar parts that could be from an authentic '70s prog or metal album. At one moment the tight discipline of Shellac, the next the delicate melodies of Sparklehorse, and then some sheer black metal creepiness...wow. Some might call their style a gimmick, though we can't when it's so satisfying and brilliantly executed!
So this record should appeal to fans of all of the bands mentioned above, plus to fans of bands that are doing similar dynamic genre blends like emo-metalcore outfits Poison the Well, From Autumn To Ashes, and Cave In. Indeed, Aerogramme's debut "A Story In White" -- a favorite around here -- made good use of the same dynamics, but rather than simply mixing up their indie-rock with some surprisingly metal moments as on that disc, Aereogramme here sound like a genuine hybrid...like maybe it's the other way around, they're a metalcore band toying with utterly gorgeous indie-pop songwriting.
Dave Pajo (formerly of Slint and now of Tortoise).
A two-song EP of post-rock guitar explorations from David Pajo (Slint, Tortoise). The second song "Mountains Have Ears" with its inclusion of flute samples and programmed beats is considerably more kinetic than his usual ultra-soothing mellowness.
As we never seem to tire of saying, "Aerial M is a solo project of David Pajo of Tortoise doing lonely things." Peaceful post rock guitar.
Remixes of ex-Slint-er Dave Pajo's solo work as Aerial M, by none other than Bundy K Brown of Tortoise, Tied and Tickled Trio, DJ Your Food, and Flacco.
From local musician Wayne Smith comes this *excellent* little slip of a 25-minute album. A record this genre-hopping might in lesser hands be a chore to listen to, but with Aero-Mic'd the first few minutes are just so good that you easily put your trust in
Chicago new jazz group, with Hamid Drake (well known Peter Brotzmann sparring-partner) on drums, Jeff Parker (of Tortoise) on guitar, Ernest Dawkins playing reeds, and Rollo Radford on bass. With special guests DJ Rob Swift of the X-ecutioners doing his turntable thing, and Reggie Gibson (1998 National Poetry Slam Winner, ack!) doing some spoken word stuff.
So now I (Windy) am feeling really stupid for not paying enough attention to Aesop Rock's last full length Labor Days, because this new followup cdep is so great! The title track "Daylight" is seriously geting multiple repeat plays here in the AQ-back
"Yo...put one up shackle me, not clean logic procreation
I did not invent the wheel I was the crooked spoke adjacent
While the triple sixers lassos keep angels roped in the basement
I walk the block with a halo and a stick poking your patience"
The remaining 6 tracks are similarly good. Blockhead provides most of the instrumental backup and man, I can't wait for a solo LP from this producer, he seems to have impeccable taste. One of the tracks is ever so timely -- "Nickel Plated Pockets" references "anthrax in the mailboxes and xanax in my tummy." Yeah, Aesop's got his finger on the zeitgeist. And there's a hidden track wherein he gives his full, real name, and proceeds to sincerely, poignantly thank four people who literally saved his life once. Another worthwhile title from the practically flawless Def Jux label.
We asked beloved AQ-friend Alexis G to write this review, since he loves the record (and we think he's such a good writer too):
Since the demise, or rather, mutual split of pseudo-legendary hip-hoppers Company Flow, journalists and fans alike have been spittin' all manner of hyperbole in the direction of all associated with El P's Def Jux imprint. Maybe it's a way of giving the Flow, a group whose releases were largely ignored and hard to find until recently, belated props. But though the Hype Machine is admittedly in full effect - designating Def Jux as Hip-Hop's new saviors, and making those of us skeptical of hipster press idolatry, well... skeptical - both Cannibal Ox's recent The Cold Vein and Aesop Rock's Labor Days have convinced me that, in fact, such boasting may be dead on. First, the Music: you won't find the murky underwater-via-nitrous-and-coke vibe that has made The Cold Vein a staple on my phonograph lately; As the moral goes, Aesop's gots his own bag. And it's a decidedly cinematic one. Rock's man Blockhead delivers most of Labor Days' musical nourishment (along with a few contributions and scratches from Omega One) in the form of obscure soundtrack, rare groove and, bewildering as it may sound, classical music breaks. Chock full of string and brass sections, harp, glockenspiel, flutes and slinky bottom heavy bass lines, the filmscore mood that pervades most of the album should make fans of Automator, DJ Shadow, and Wu-Tang happy folk. As it should fans of Italian soundtracks, Lalo Schifrin and David Shire's The Taking of Pelham 123 (re: I'd love to see this guy's soundtrack collection). And The Words? Ace's flow is furious and frenetic. Actually, I can't really figure out when this guy finds time to breathe. Maybe he does that circular breathing shit. Seriously though, his rapping style is ceaseless, restless and full of slurred rhymin' and bangin'. After all, anyone whose mic rockin' skills have garnered comparisons to Kierkegaard deserves a listen, no? All said, this is a damn fine hip-hop album. Maybe a contender for hip-hop album of the year in my book. And an instrumentals version wouldn't be wrong either.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
One of the best albums by Adrian Sherwood's African Head Charge, now re-issued on cd with a bonus CD-Rom track.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Probably one of the more experimental albums in Adrian Sherwood's African Head Charge dub releases. Lots of off kilter sampling from Albert Einstein to Frank Zappa blended in with straight up dub. Somehow it works. Comes with CD-Rom bonus track.
A Buena Vista Social Club spinoff project. A group of Cuba's finest musicians, young and old (including a 6 piece horn section) got together to play and record for fun. Features some BVSC favorites, including Ibrahim Ferrer.
"The second All-Stars album features Havana's multi-generational big band embracing a more modern dance-oriented sound. Deploying a variety of styles, the extraordinary cast of over fifty musicians delivers a unique take on Cuban classics and Juan de Marcos' original compositions." Featuring Ibrahim Ferrer, Ruben Gonzalez, Omar Portuondo, Barbarito Torres, 'Cachaito' Lopez and 'Guajiro' Mirabal. Includes a 44 page booklet in Spanish and English with gobs of full color photos. Excellent.
After Dinner was an '80s Japanese art rock band that featured the delicate and beautiful vocals of Haco (she of but one name). This 1989 album of theirs (originally a RecRec label LP) sees cd reissue in remastered form, and it is a true delight. Haco's
Richard D. James -- aka The Aphex Twin -- had reportedly gone into retirement after the sexually grotesque production "Windowlicker," emerging briefly with an oblique composition on the aptly titled "Or Some Computer Music Compilation." Fortunately, his plans of retirement will be put on hold with the release of his upcoming album "Drukqs" in the near future...
All in all Richard D. James (Aphex Twin) recorded four different parts to the Analogue Bubblebath series...however this is the one to have. Warped electronics and electro breakbeats.
Recently reissued, Analogue Bubblebath 4 originally appeared in 1994 under Richard D. James' acid damaged moniker AFX. This four track EP opens with a huge, rolling techno breakbeat whose machinist rigor bears similarities to James' rhythmic structure for the Aphex single "On" and the Polygon Window track "Quoth". Instead of one of his mad-scientist melodies, James merely plants an overblown scream to punctuate the fourth measure of his rhythmic pulse. Back in the day, there were plenty of technohedz who weren't too keen on this track for its overt bloodcurdling vibe; although in comparison to the recent horror IDM excesses of Venetian Snares, this is hardly sounds like a transgressive number anymore. Solid nonetheless. James flushes out the remainder of the EP with less bombastic pieces, more in keeping with the sound of the Richard D. James LP with deftly manufactured acid percolations over midtempo fractured breaks and plenty of bubbly ambience.
