We've been doing this long enough to know that there's certain types of AQ customers we can rely upon. One catagory being those into the weird, obscure '70s prog-psych stuff. Folks who know what the Nurse With Wound list is (heck maybe even have it memorized), and can't help but be more excited about lost treasures from 30 years ago being reissued on cd than they are about the latest indie-rock or electronica gem (though chances are you might dig those too). Well if you're one of those folks, or maybe just feel especially sonically adventurous today, we've got another reissue for ya: Flamen Dialis. Which is, we're told, the ancient Roman name for the high priest of Jupiter, and is a suitably archaic name for an quite arcane sounding band. Like Magma (and some of our favorite previous MIO reissues, Jean-Cohen Solal and Birge-Gorge-Shirac) this group hailed from France, and indeed this has a bit of that cosmic Magma vibe to it. They released this now very rare record, their sole album, in 1979, and there's also a 7" Flamen Dialis single from 1978 included on this cd reissue too. The music they made was progressive and psychedelic, but not exactly rock. It's weird and atmospheric, soundtracky stuff, very ritualistic and repetitive in nature. With chants and whispers, martial drums and zinging synths, vibraphone and Mellotron, flutes and even some brief blues guitar licks and what sounds like a rhythm machine, this is quite otherwordly and dreamlike -- not exactly dreamy (or nightmarish either) just strange. Both eerie and a little goofy too... Like a soundtrack (or a dream), themes are revisted, and the album drifts smoothly from Medieval European to Eastern sounding exoticism. We're reminded a bit of that Musique de la Grece Antique album of pseudo-ancient Greek music by the Atrium Musicae de Madrid (an AQ perennial) and Igor Wakhevitch and Franco Battiato and Magical Power Mako and, well, if you're with us this far you *are* one of the AQ customers mentioned above and maybe should just trust us when we say you ought to check this out!
You probably know artist Andy Goldsworthy -- the British 'sculptor' (I guess you'd call him a sculptor?) who works with materials found in the natural environment, creating amazing pieces constructed from leaves or sticks or rocks or ice, on site? If not, check out his books -- for his works often exist only long enough to be photographed -- they're certainly some of the best, widely available volumes to hit the coffee tables of the world in recent years. Last year, a beautiful, beautiful documentary film called Rivers And Tides took viewers into Goldsworthy's world. Hopefully you saw it. When that film was basically taking over San Francisco (it was at the Roxie for a loooong time), we got many requests for the soundtrack, which didn't yet exist. We knew though that if it ever did come out, we'd sell a ton. Composed by the amazing Mr. Fred Frith, it was a big part of the film's appeal, no mean feat considering that the visuals were so great already. And now at last, we're happy to announce, here it is, the highly anticipated soundtrack to Rivers And Tides. And yes, it is as good as you remember it -- not some uninspired background music this! The album draws you in immediately, the main melodic theme slipping out effortlessly within the first 30 seconds of the album and repeated throughout. Running water gives way to highpitched soprano sax only to be subsumed under the surface of Frith's calm, stilling guitar, plucked Brazilian berimbao, and other, droning ethnic instrumentation. Tension and calm ebb and flow like, er, the tide. The reed instruments interweave, sprightly and evocative. Even if you haven't seen the film, this soundtrack rates as major highlight of one of our favorite experimental composer's ouevre. Highly, highly recommended!
The packaging is also gorgeous as per Winter & Winter's norm, with heavy duty digipak, letterpressed cover, and full color multipanelled foldouts of Goldworthy's works.
The one, the only, the...fucking...Champs! After three years, finally we get their second album (called "IV" on account of the couple of cassette releases that preceded "III"). Ok. Here's the run down, for those who do and who don't know the Champs (and to know them is to love them): they're a trio, they have two guitarists very interested in harmonies, but no bassist, they have song titles like "These Glyphs Are Dusty" and "Thor Is Like Immortal", they play metal but pass it off as indie rock in order to be popular (hey, they're on Fucking Drag City), and they are primarily an instrumental band. Oh, and they have lots of self-imposed problems with their name, always worried about being confused with those "Tequila" oldsters. This time, they're the FUCKING Champs (I prefer: The C'fuckin'hamps myself), but you've probably run across that amazing "III" record by C4AMP5, it's the same band of course. So, how's the new album? Well, it rules. It's a lot shorter than "III" (which was a double LP for goshsakes) at 38 minutes, and pretty much each and every one of those minutes is packed with Thin Lizzy/Maiden/Metallica/Van Halen lovin' genius. There's a lot less of the techno keyboard interludes that they did on "III", this has its gentle moments but none of that Trans Am-ish stuff. (Although it is on current heavy rotation in Windy's 1980 Firebird Trans Am, hey! ) It's also a bit poppier, on the whole. And in another brilliant move the Champs make you wait until the very last song ("Extra Man") to hear vocals. Drummer Tim Soete's vocals and the catchiness of the tune are certainly manifestations of their Thin Lizzy worship, but, being the Champs, even this vocal cut has a lot of instrumental sections, including a lengthy bit in the middle that seems dropped in from a hypothetical black metal math rock record. You'll be playing it over and over again, along with the rest of the disc. The Champs are probably the best (=least boring) post-rock band in the world, 'cause they're in fact a METAL band.
(And let's face it guys, if you're not metal, then you're a novelty act...but if one indie rock kid gets into Thin Lizzy or Carcass 'cause of The Champs, then more power to 'em!) Recommended, if you hadn't guessed! The perfect back-to-school rock soundtrack.
The funk equivalent to the Stooges' "Funhouse"! Very very LSD etc. damaged funk-rock, weirder even than it is funky. The second album from the Funkadelic.
Known in the USA as "Creepers", starring Donald Pleasence, written and directed by horror master Dario Argento. This edition features alternate versions of songs *not* used in the film. While the original soundtrack LP of 1985 was a blend of Goblin songs with rock tracks from various other artists, this new disc can be considered the instrumental sequel to that work -- all tracks composed and performed by Goblin, with the addition of 4 movie takes and 11 unissued tracks. The cd starts with a Halloweenesqe riff with far away female vocals. Slowly it evolves into crazy wanking guitar and hectic drums. This soundtrack is eerie and suspenseful, just like the film. A great example of Italian prog rock soundtrack geniuses Goblin.
Distributed and better known in the USA as "Deep Red", this is the wonderful soundtrack to the beautifully photographed Dario Argento classic. Twenty eight tracks total, this expanded edition features all of Goblin's contributions to the film as well as Giorgio Gaslini's chilling score.
This is an older release which we've never listed, due to problems with keeping it in stock. However recently this label has improved its distribution situation, so here we go: Not as beautifully packaged as the recent Dagored LP repress, this cd features those same tracks from Goblin's classic horror-film soundtrack, plus four bonus cuts not featured elsewhere. If you're going to buy one Goblin record, make it this one! If you're going to buy two, however, the Profondo Rosso soundtrack is equally wonderful! Essential!
Everyone's favorite Italian horror-film soundtrack rock band Goblin gets a handsome "best of" treatment on this import double cd. The first disc is the "best of" portion, concentrating on the Goblin's spooky prog-funk contributions to the '70s gore-thriler classics of Dario Argento (with tracks like "Profundo Rosso", "Death Dies", "Tenebre", "Suspiria", "Mad Puppet"...) that will be familiar to fans of the films and/or the band. Now maybe you already have Goblin cds with those tracks (if not, you should, or get this!) but even then true fans will be intrigued by disc two, a live Goblin concert recording from 1979, never before released. The sound quality is ok, and the music of course is great -- and even features a lot of vocals, something normally absent from Goblin's better known soundtrack material!
This is the 20th Anniversary Special Edition cd from the Lucio Fulci (Argento produced) classic ZOMBI! Features six bonus tracks not featured on the original release...whoops, we screwed up with this description. One of our favorite customers, Jordan Perry, happened to catch our mistake, so we thought we'd just put his whole email about it up here to clarify matters:
"...you list the Goblin soundtrack "Zombi" as being
directed by Fulci. But it's not. And it's a complicated story, so please, bear with me. "Zombi" is actually Argento's Italian cut of
Romero's "Dawn of the Dead." Argento was the producer of the film, and for it's release in Italy, he chose the film to be edited in slightly
different ways than Romero had. Goblin composed a soundtrack, but from my understanding, Romero didn't much like it and only used it sparingly in his cut of the film. Argento, however, I'm guessing used more of Goblin's music in his version, perhaps explaining why this soundtrack is called "Zombi" instead of the much better-known title "Dawn of the Dead." But then there's Fulci's zombie film too, which was called (in Italy) "Zombi 2," likely an attempt to cash in on the success of
Romero's/Argento's film by claiming itself a sequel. For its American release though, it was simply called "Zombie." The chance for
confusion here then is obvious: Fulci's American title is only one letter different from Romero's/Argento's Italian title. Most important in all of this though is that Goblin did NOT compose the soundtrack to Fulci's film. Rather, that was Fulci-regular Fabio Frizzi (The Beyond, City of the Living Dead, Manhattan Baby), and IT is an amazing soundtrack, far better I think than Goblin's for their zombie film, particularly Frizzi's chilling main theme that got me so into horror
soundtracks in the first place (this was about four months ago, and now I've got over 30 horror soundtracks in my collection). And I've been
spending heaps of time renting horror movies of late, that is why I have all these facts down pat. And if you've only heard the soundtrack to Suspiria and not seen the movie, I most highly recommend you do see it. Of the fifteen or so horror movies I have seen in this past month's spree, Suspiria still easily ranks at the top (due in large part to the brilliant Goblin soundtrack for it). So... yeah. Do what you wish with this information."
Thanks Jordan, for all the interesting info. Sorry for our misinformation!
Sculptor Andy Goldworthy approaches a natural location in search of its flow or energy. He then seeks to directly respond, build upon or otherwise reflect upon that energy through a piece of sculpture, using only materials found in that natural space. His artwork transcends observation of entropy and chaos in nature as his pieces take shape from the land, are impermanent and meant to be absorbed or responded to in turn by nature, thus creating a natural flow of discourse between himself and the land. Goldsworthy notes that often "it is the very element that [he's] used in a piece that could cause it's own destruction." In taking very little or no prior study of the commissioned location prior to his arrival in the environment, Goldsworthy claims, "Movement, change, light, growth and decay are the lifeblood of nature, the energies that I try to tap through my work. I need the shock of touch, the resistance of place, materials and weather, the earth as my source. Nature is in a state of change and that change is the key to understanding. Transience in my work reflects what I find in nature." This acclaimed documentary film by German film maker Thomas Riedelsheimer captures him at his home in Penpont, Scotland, and in the field (literally) making his sculptures in France, Nova Scotia and New York. It does a fine job of visually explaning the artist's process of creating his site-specific commissioned pieces and consequently, nature's reaction to them. Use of Goldsworthy's own explanation is slightly incumbering though does not ruin the film. Music by maverick composer/improviser Fred Frith -- whose Rivers And Tides soundtrack cd we already made a Record Of The Week back in 2003 -- marries itself to the meditative qualities of both Goldworthy's art and nature itself to create a truly wonderful film experience overall. A nice bonus on this DVD is extra footage presented in seven short films. Highly recommended!
While a good portion of Neil Hamburger's 'comedy' routines involve a rather Andy Kauffman-esque antagonism of the audience through the use of some of the most offensive and least funny jokes ever uttered, Mr. Hamburger does not have the fortune of having an audience who understands him much less cares, as he is performing for a Malaysian audience which does not speak any English and quietly waits for Mr. Hamburger to get off the stage in favor of their regularly scheduled karaoke.
Neil's "blue" record. Hilarious. Offensive. Really stupid. We play it a lot here.
No doubt about it, this total gem and often overlooked left field outing by Herbie Hancock, recorded in 1972, is one of those records that belongs in the COSMIC HALL OF FAME! Lightyears ahead of its time, it's a record that mixed electronics, synthesizers, Afro-funk, prog, spiritual jazz, free-bop and more, as it charted territories that had rarely been explored at that point, and that still sound so otherworldly and divine all these years later.
Sextant is a record that undoubtedly has had a major influence on so many of our favorite music makers of today, like Matmos, Four Tet, Sunburned Hand Of The Man, Flying Lotus, Etienne Jaumet, Gavin Russom, Robert A. A. Lowe, Black Dice, Gang Gang Dance etc. In fact when we were blasting this in the store the other day, one of us who hadn't heard this before (gasp!) came up front asking if this was a new Oneohtrix Point Never! It's that spaced out, mystifying and alien-sound-channeling.
Tapping into the atmospheres and stratospheres that Miles Davis drifted through on Bitches Brew but taking it even further out, Sextant is truly one of the most tripped out and transcendent recordings of all time. Three long tracks (about 40 minutes all together) of pure psychedelic mind melting "fusion" innovation. You could definitely imagine this was Magma, Goblin or even (especially) Sun Ra. Somehow it's managed to remain below the radar of so many music lovers, we're always so excited to see people freak out when they hear this for the first time. And for some reason its now priced crazy cheap (it's not new after all, we just realized we had never listed it!), so if you don't own it, this is a an absolute MUST own and hell, you might as well get a couple to give to friends that you want to blow away with these far our cosmic sounds!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Wow! Long-lost (or neglected) tapes starring electronic krautrock luminaries Moebius and Roedelius (of Cluster) and Michael Rother (of Neu!), and Brian Eno!
To those of us who grew up listening to Led Zeppelin, Roy Harper might already be something of an implied legend, stuck in our adolescent memories as the name referenced in the Zeppelin III song, "Hats off to Roy Harper". Some of us may even have noticed in the liner notes to Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here that it was Roy Harper belting out the vocals on "Have a Cigar". Sadly, for most of us from this generation we have heard very little or none of this man's own music.
Harper's life story (as raw material for some of the best songs ever written -- seriously, just surrender your ears to "Goldfish" or "Tom Tiddler's Ground") is full of drama and obsession: joining the RAF in order to escape a Christian upbringing, Harper's "legendary" self-inflicted nervous breakdown in order to get out of his military service provided the prima materia for some of his first songs (e.g. "Committed" on his debut album Sophisticated Beggar). After escaping a mental institution in order to elope with a pregnant girlfriend, Roy headed off into London where his rebellious ways got him arrested. Serving a prison sentence, he spent most of his time in the library reading and evolving his creative spirit. Following his release in 1964 he busked around North Africa and then returned to London to join the folk club scene alongside the Incredible String Band, Donovan, Joni Mitchell, Bert Jansch and Nick Drake. During the recording of his first record he hosted the vagabonds of London in his flat and sermonized, guerilla-style, to the church-goers across the street from his flat window. So Roy's records were full of such expressions of protest against religion, politics, and the countless social forces subverting individuality and the imagination of the day. With every Roy Harper record, the listener gets extensive stream-of-consciouness rants, often surreal and often quite funny, complementing the songs with a voice that is at once confounding and endearing. The spirit in Roy's songs, one complicated by fits of great joy, sadness and absurdity, where the most banal things in life are rendered the most beautiful (such as "How could you say such terrible things with a wonderful wife like yours?") still coheres as the voice of a truly singular spirit.
So...why can't we find Roy Harper sections in most record stores? After all he has dozens of albums and is still very much alive and making music. Well, a rare and wonderful thing in light of the typical artist versus the record industry scenario is that Harper has somehow managed to own all rights to his records and now distributes his material exclusively under the name Science Friction. But doesn't distribute very widely as his is but a small operation, based in Ireland. However, we've gotten in touch with Science Friction and are now happy to offer our customers, at long last, a selection of what we consider to be some of Roy's best. Starting with Stormcock!
Recorded in 1970 at Abbey Road, Stormcock is a four-song, 41 minute opus of folk-rock genius (what has been dubbed by one critic a masterpiece of its own genre, "epic progressive acoustic"). Basically, the sort of thing that, despite the current upswing in the underground of psych-tinged folky songsmithery, you just don't get to hear much these days. A rare talent, fully on display here, and without some of the confounding eclecticism and eccentrities that may make some other Harper albums take a bit more work to get into. No, this is a definite "wow" from the very first few bars of the first song, continuing solid and stellar all the way to the end of the album. Gorgeously melodic, slow and langorous, sparkling with Roy's brillant acoustic guitar playing, otherworldly arrangements, and of course his voice, phrasing and lyrics. Roy wrote all the songs and sings and plays most of the music -- there's a few additional musicans on hand at times to help flesh out Roy's sound-world, among them one S. Flavius Mercurius (aka Jimmy Page) contributing lead guitar on "The Same Old Rock", as well as the orchestral musicians employed for the magnificent album-closer "Me And My Woman".
Anyone who digs Six Organs Of Admittance or Devendra Banhart or the like owes it to themselves to experience some Roy Harper. Likewise anyone who loves the quieter, folker sides of the aforementioned Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd. Packaged with lyrics, art, and Roy's cryptic latter-day liner notes.
You can never have too much Hawd Gangstuh Rappuhs MC's (Wid Ghatz). And god knows we're trying! Full length number two, in less than a year, and it's everything you've come to love from these East Coast miscreants. Bad drum programming, stupid lyrics, bad
If you need a little background on my [Andee's] current Hawkwind obsession see the review for "Doremi Fasol Latido" elsewhere on the list. Needless to say, these records are killing me. How did I mange to miss Hawkwind for all this time. All the stuff I love,
Originally released in 1971. This reissue contains the whole original album plus 3 bonus tracks.
Two discs of sonic mayhem beamed from space through a hazy cloud of pot smoke. Hawkwind are seriously kicking my [Andee's] ass. This is a double live disc of Hawkwind at their best (that would be Lemmy-era). Taking the studio cuts and stretching them out,
Ok, anyone into Magma and/or Moogs pay attention! A couple lists back we got our friend Loren Chasse to write some nice things about Tranzition, the latest album from cult French musician Richard Pinhas, the guy who masterminded the pioneering electronic rock act Heldon back the '70s. That made us realize: hey, we really should get some of those old Heldon records up on our website too! So if you look you'll see we already stuck a few up there with real brief reviews. However, Cuneiform happens to have just brought these two Heldon albums back into print on cd and that gives us a perfect excuse to further sing the praises of Pinhas and his band, as these are two of our faves (though all Heldon comes recommended by us), perfectly combining Pinhas' Robert Fripp guitar obsession with (what are now) vintage synth sounds into some of the best psych-prog sci-fi jamming ever.
Interface was Heldon's sixth LP, dating from 1977, and features the latter-day Heldon trio line-up of Pinhas (guitar, various Moogs, electronics), Patrick Gauthier (Moog bass and Mini-Moog) and Francois Auger (drums and synthesized percussion). Tracks like "Jet Girl" and the nearly twenty minute title cut are kinda like King Crimson meets Suicide or something.
Then there's 1979's Stand By which was Heldon's final studio outing and sees the Pinhas/Gauthier/Auger trio augmented by several additional musicians, including vocalist Klaus Blasquiz of Magma fame. The three tracks here (two of them quite lengthy) will definitely appeal to fans of Magma's "zheul" style. But the Fripp and Suicide allusions above also apply. One track is an extended space-rock opus loosely based on "Bolero"! Even judged by their covers alone, Stand By and Interface both possess a lot of the future-retro cool that's so hip nowadays, while being legitimately classic albums that anyone who digs krautrock or Circle or that kind of thing should investigate. Both discs have been reissued with two bonus live tracks apiece, by the way. So if you aren't already hip to Heldon, either or both of these would make good starting points!
Hot damn, we're in high spirits indeed to be gettin' this new full-length from High Spirits, whose self-titled demos disc we raved about last year, and proved to be a bit of a sleeper hit here at AQ. We've been waiting for their "debut" album proper ever since, and now here it is, High Spirits offering up nine new, completely classic-sounding songs that you could mistake for NWOBHM gems circa '79.
The mastermind behind High Spirits is multi-instrumentalist Chris "Professor" Black, best known for his critically acclaimed one-man-band Dawnbringer on Profound Lore. High Spirits is another one man band, although Chris has recruited a color-coordinated lineup for live performances. Here, however, he handles all the vocals, guitars, drums, songwriting, etc., heck he even self-released the cd. And even moreso than with Dawnbringer, which grew out of a black/death metal basis to incorporate more melody and traditional speed metal shred, with High Spirits he's utterly indulging his love of good ol' fashioned, and downright poppy, metal. And damn is he good at it. Gorgeous guitarwork, catchy tuneage... What's more, these songs rise above being merely ear candy for retro-metal nostalgics (though ear candy it is!), because of his distinctive, dare we say delicate, high voice (often harmonized with himself) and heartfelt, non-ironic lyrics. The melancholic tinge to his singing, juxtaposed with the hot rockin', headbanging riffage, gives this a very special, unique vibe. Compared to a lot of other current "New Wave Of Old School Metal" bands we like (Cauldron, Enforcer, Zuul, Twisted Tower Dire...) there's something about High Spirits' sound and songwriting approach that comes across as particularly honest and uncontrived, whether the songs be about love, or partying. Somehow even the sorta cheesy, "nighttime in the big city" stuff a la the album cover/title track, comes off as innocent and sincere. Listening to High Spirits is like listening to a good friend (or an inner voice) giving you a psychological pep talk, backed by powerful, warmly fuzzed guitars. If we're making comparisons, we'd say this probably comes closest to last year's highly praised debut from Christian Mistress, no foolin'.
Color us quite impressed, anyway, with the good Professor's memorable-metal-making abilities! F'n recommended, yeah!!
Recently we reviewed -- and have been selling hella copies of -- the debut album by Om, the band formed by two-thirds of local revered stoner rockers Sleep. Om are just two guys, just bass and drums, dealing out the pot-fueled heaviness. Well coincidentally (?) we also just got these, the absurdly-long-awaited reissue of the truly legendary Population II album by guitarist Randy Holden, recorded in 1969 shortly after his brief but fruitful stint in San Francisco's Blue Cheer, playing only on the killer side two of that band's third album, New, Improved!
The connection? Well, as you might guess from the album's title, Population II is also a two-piece effort, just Randy on guitar (bass also on the album) and Chris Lockheed on drums (and bass pedals live). Beyond some sort of spiritual bond of two-piece heaviness, though, there's of course one major, obvious difference: Om's got NO guitar, whereas Holden's album is ALL ABOUT guitar. Heck the first track is simply called "Guitar Song". And he's a self-proclaimed 'guitar god' for a reason. On "Guitar Song" the lyrics are basically all about how he's in love with electric guitar playing, and loud. And as much as we enjoyed the Om album, Population II definitely reminds us that WE love guitar too!
Randy, with his trusty guitar and an ominous array of amp-stacks, conjures up some of the heaviest rock n' roll sounds heard on Earth up to that point in time for sure. Blue Cheer of course are a close comparison ("Fruit & Iceburgs" from side two of New, Improved! is reprised here) as well as Hendrix and Iron Butterfly...and soon enough Black Sabbath would up the ante further. But in the history of heavy, this album deserves some major recognition.
It's super trippy, doomily plodding, Randy's reedy vibrato voice calling out over the wail of his guitar. This rocks in the sludgiest sorta way for the day. And speaking of loud, you want Sunn amps? Randy's got Sunn amps! Check out the live shot on the back cover, these two assuredly blowing the roof off some San Francisco ballroom.
Not just a reissue, but actually the record's first OFFICAL, Randy Holden-approved release. And they're hand numbered and autographed by the man himself in gold marker just to make it really, really offical. Limited to 2000, pressed on 180 gram wax, this is a holy grail (or facsimile edition of a holy grail anyway) for all of you for whom "heavy" is akin to religion.
Hot Snakes' second release on Swami Records is finger lickin' good! Yow! Rick and John (both ex-Drive Like Jehu) have enlisted a new drummer, Mario Rubalcaba (ex-pro-skateboarder and ex-Clickitat Ikatowi) since former drummer Jason left for the Burning Brides. Hot Snakes also now feature San Diego rock luminary Gar Wood (Beehive and the Barracudas) on bass. Man this band totally kicks ass!!! What else can we say? Imagine the Godlike Drive Like Jehu, but stripped down to its garage rock bare bones, but sacrificing none of the fury or intensity or musical chops. Raw and catchy and makes you want to just jump up and down and bang your head and wiggle like crazy. The recording of Audit In Progress awesomely captures their fired-up energy and offers an accurate taste of their live show. I saw them recently here in San Francisco -- all types of new HS fans and older Jehu fans were going totally bananas. This album and their live show will kick you in your face and you'll be begging for more! Plus it's always nice when bands actually produce their own artwork instead of just stealing someone else's, or hiring some crappy graphic designer. Rick Froberg, HS's singer/illustrator/animator is an incredibly talented and respected artist in addition to being a wicked rock frontman. The last Hot Snakes record was so perfect who would have thought the ante could be upped. But upped it has been...it's been upped...well, you know what we're saying. This record rules! And this band just keeps getting better and better. Buy this now!
Back in stock!
A synopsis of this self-titled debut by The Huxtables themselves: "In the beginning, there were two sweaters, a drum sweater and a guitar sweater. We attempted to win but lost a battle of the bands at our high school. At that point, we finally became a real family. Of course the guitar and drums are the parents and the drawings, video, bass and keyboards are the kids, uncles and aunts. On this recording, half of its songs are from a small concrete closet in Washington DC. At one point the closet was storage space for an up-right bass. We finished the album in a kitchen in Boston while in a tussle with the police. What they did to us in that kitchen forced us to become a collective notion and stop being a band. New songs are being worked out and the collective's future album will be called The Mere Pressure Of My Hand." The Huxtables are two 17 year old boys from New York who make art and music that's noisy, naive, raw and a little bit silly. But awesome and fun!
Oooh, as if that recent Lau Nau cd on Locust wasn't enough (it wasn't -- fantastic female-fronted Finnish free-folk albums are few and far between and we'll take all we can get!!), then here's the brand new second album on Fonal from Islaja. Chances are if you're a dutiful AQ customer you're already hip to her, as we've been selling her debut album Meritie pretty steadily since it came out last summer. Sweetly haunting and gentle, Islaja's music represents the loveliest extreme of the aforementioned Finnish free-folk underground, her music not quite so freaky and fractured as that of countrymen/colleagues like Avarus and Kemialliset Ystavat. More dreamy than difficult, Islaja's music reminds us a bit of Greg Weeks' psychedelic folk outfit Espers...with her singing, also Brigitte Fontaine and maybe Tara Jane O'Neil. Her delicate vocals, whispering like a mother to a child, lilting and layered, backed with bells, accordion, acoustic guitar, melodica, samples, percussion, piano... So very nice.
Somewhere right now Thom Yorke is blushing, now that this 1973 soundtrack has been reissued. Well, that's our speculation anyway, 'cause the main theme sounds SO MUCH like a Radiohead song (which one, we haven't quite figured out. Not "Paranoid Android" but close.) At any rate, this was either a big inspiration to Radiohead or it's just a marvellous coincidence. You'll hear it for yourself we're sure. Thom certainly needs to hear this if he hasn't already (as we suspect). And it's not just the melody of this soundtrack's main leit motif, but the singing voice itself. A French female doing wordless ah ah ahs -- play it back to back with Radiohead and you'll swear it's Mr. Yorke's famous falsetto. But that's only part of the reason this soundtrack is so fascinating. It's also a very very early electronica effort by a young Jean-Michel Jarre, later in the '80s to become well-known as a New Age superstar famed for spectacular multi-media shows. In the seventies, though, his output could be considered credible electronica pioneering. 1977's Oxygene is a pretty cool album after all. But this was before even that, and it's way more extreme. Truly jarring electronic sound that's hard to reconcile with the idea of "background" music in film! And Les Granges Brulees was not, as far as we're aware, a horror or science fiction flick where such might make sense. As far as we can tell, this Jean Chapot directed movie was a mystery / romance (staring Alain Delon btw). Certainly the vocals are romantic, and much of the rest of Jarre's crankier-than-Kraftwerk electronics are suspenseful, a la Goblin. One track breaks the mood a little bit -- "Zig-zag" must be from a scene where the characters visit a circus or something, as it's got that Jean-Jacques Perrey zaniness to it. But most of this is interplay between the haunting theme and freaky electronic fx. A very cool, out of the blue reissue, forshadowing Kid A some thirty years ago!
Though we sadly haven't been able to get copies of the first Kaleidoscope album on cd of late (the one entitled Tangerine Dream, not to be confused with the krautrock band of that name), we are very happy to now have copies of this perfectly twee UK psych pop combo's recently reissued second album, 1969's Faintly Blowing! And it comes in a nice digipack with six bonus tracks! Now if only we had some tea and crumpets we'd be all supercalifragilistic. Ahem.
Kaleidoscope were one of the best unsung post-Peppers British psych-pop acts. This one carries on from their first (a solid AQ fave) with more of the same delightful dreamy oh-so-melodic and lysergically lyricized pop psyke, some of the best ever in our humble opinion. Orchestrated, emotive, shoulda-been-hits abound, along with some way-out psychedelic experimentation. The Kaleidoscope story continued into the proggy '70s with a name change to Fairfield Parlour but Faintly Blowing was really their last colourful hurrah of dainty dandy '60s poppiness.
So here it is! Hard to believe it's finally here -- some of us have been waiting forever for this record, or at least ever since we discovered a tiny, super compressed, thirty second long sound clip on the internet over a year ago. In all of half a minute, we became OBSESSED. Completely captivated by this band's totally alien, lush, organic 'world music' weirdness. We eventually tracked down a (great) live record by Konono No.1, which we listed here a few weeks back, and then after tons of internet sleuthing and a bunch of emails we finally managed to get in touch with someone at the Crammed label in Belgium who was willing to sell us this brand new studio album directly, since they are without US distribution. Phew! So was it worth it? Hell yeah! Anyone who heard that infamous sound sample (which was from this album), or who got to hear the live record, knows that this band is totally amazing, and indeed this record is beautiful, wild and wonderful, chaotic and festive, totally perplexing but completely mesmerizing. For those who missed out on the live record (which we've also just restocked!) or are new to the wonders of Konono No.1, here's the story: twenty five years ago, Konono formed in Kinshasa, an area between Congo and Angola, performing their own version of traditional Bazombo trance music, incorporating the then-unwanted distortions of their haphazard homemade sound system. They left the bush and settled in the capital where they were forced to compete with the harsh sounds of the city: cars, trains, buses, shouting, etc. So with very little to work with they fashioned pick-ups, microphones, loudspeakers and amplifiers from stuff they could find on the street -- old car batteries, pots and pans, magnets, even branches. Their main instrument is the likembe, a kind of thumb piano. Konono features three of 'em (bass, medium and treble) and the sound of the electrified and amplified likembe is what defines their sound. Accompanied by dancers and percussionists, the likembes wail and drone, buzz and moan, totally overblown and distorted, sounding a little like sixties fuzz guitars, turning a glorious high life jam into something much more strange and wonderful. Super rhythmic, and thick with the buzzing melodies of the likemebe's, Konono weave a massive sound. It's the wildest weirdest street party you've ever been to. Throbbing with energy and emotion, rambuctiously rollicking and totally infectious. Seven lengthy tracks that all sort of bleed and fuse into one epic world-psych jam. The African high life Hawkwind? So so great!
Check out this video clip:
KONONO [http://www.crammed.be/craworld/movies/konono_promo.mov]
We have been totally obsessed with these guys (as have the rest of you judging from how many folks have called and emailed about them and already bought a ton of copies from us before this review even was written) for at least a year if not more and until now there hasn't been a thing (other than a minute long mp3 sample available on Crammed Discs' website) which has been taunting us with the promise of a full length from these guys. So until that fabled Crammed Discs release actually comes out we've got this little nugget to tide you over. And it's no small shakes neither. Though we only learned of them recently Konono No.1 have been around for some 25 years. Hailing from Kinshasa, Congo, Konono No.1 are true African punk rock. They are real D.I.Y. Not putting on shows and printing zines, no, how about building their own instruments from found scraps and dismantled machinery and retrofitting and electrifying traditional instruments! For instance the lead musician Mingiedi Mawangu has taken his likembe (thumb piano), rigged it up to pickups (self-built from hammered parts purloined from car starter motors) and amplified it with a custom built amplifier driven by a car battery, using microphones built out of copper wire and branches. How cool is that! And the sounds these instruments produce is amazing. The likembe, with its muted gentle melodic thrum, is turned into an overdriven buzzing melodic powerhouse that sounds like nothing you've ever heard. Well, sometimes it sounds a bit like some sort of psychedelic alien fuzz guitar, but mostly it just sounds amazing and bizarre. The songs are all very melodically similar and mesh into one massive hour long jam, with wild percussion, chanted vocals, and of course the wailing Likembe. So completely amazing. Every time we play this in the store, someone buys one. Immediately.
Seven extended tracks, recorded live and released on the Ex's label Terp.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Restocks of the first two Kraftwerk records, the ones with traffic-cone covers. Both are electronic masterpieces, melodic Krautrock classics, and while far more challenging than the popular later Kraftwerk albums, all the more lovely.
If you witnessed a Kraftwerk performance during their 2004 worldwide tour, you may want this 2-disc live recording as a token reminder of your experience. Especially if you attended a show in Warszawa, Ljubljana, Riga, Moskwa, Paris, Berlin, London, Budapest, San Francisco, Tokyo or Tallinn -- the cities from which these virtually perfect live performances are culled. The first eight songs from disc one are absolutely incredible live recordings, most notably "The Man-Machine", "Planet Of Visions", and "Vitamin". The clarity and bombacity of its sound is impressive. Would you pay the extra money it would cost if this came with an implantable chip that would project their video at one meter in front of you while walking around listening? Hmmm, I would. Unfortunately, this is not available. Simply listening to this, however, will help you to recall your live Kraftwerk experience.
Speaking personally, I attended their concert in Amsterdam. At the Heineken Arena. So imagine how many people fit into an "arena". Now imagine, of all those people, about 50 are women. The remaining thousands, all men. And not just regular Dutch dudes out to see a show, but men outfitted in one of two styles of dress: 1. in affected Kraftwerk/Sprockets ensemble -- black leather pants with combat boots and a black turtleneck, or 2. in Classic Man-Machine Kraftwerk -- black suit with sharp red tie. Oh how I wished I had my little minidv cam for filming Kraftwerk Parking Lot. No matter how fascinating the crowd was, the show was somehow even better. From the three 30 meter x 30 meter video panels displaying their minimal but powerfully effective video accompaniment (much of which is available to view on their website), to the actual robots backlit behind a scrim, then exposed and moving, to the mind-blowing clarity and depth of sound (which is hard to do right in a large space like that) the aural and visual orchestration reeked of utter Kraftwerkian perfection.
And of course, if you did NOT get a chance to see them last year, here's your chance to pick up an incredible aural document of some of their best performances from all over the world!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
We're very excited about these two remaster/reissues from Germany's La Dusseldorf! La Dusseldorf were THE masters of anthemic open and clean-sounding happy funky krautrock, inspiring the likes of Eno and Bowie (Heroes-era). They crafted repetitive hypnotic percussion with layers of super clean life-affirming melodies that were driven by minimal lyrics. Neu! co-founder Klaus Dinger and drummer Hans Lampe (who joined Neu! for their 3rd album 75) formed La Dusseldorf following the breakup of Neu! They were joined by Klaus' brother, Thomas, on percussion and vocals, Harald Konietzko on bass, and Nicolas van Rhein on keyboards. Any fan of Neu! will immediately recognize that Neu! sound, which is still evident here, but where Neu! was icy and detached, La Dusseldorf is positive and practically bubbling with warmth. Like Harmonia (a product of fellow ex-Kraftwerker, Michael Rother), La Dusseldorf albums have an incredible, ahead-of-their-time production level and truly sound like they could be a current release (we've already witnessed a couple customers' disbelief at the year it was originally released!) Viva, their second record, is filled with Krautrock anthems, culminating in the 20 minute long Cha Cha 2000 - an epic of krauty proportions. If you've been reading some of our more recent lists, we should distinguish that La Dusseldorf do not fall in the krautrock sub-genre of WWII-effected dark & broodish-type stuff, a la German Oak. La D. better fit into the uber-clean & hypnotic song-kraft family of Neu!, Harmonia, Cluster, Can, Kraftwerk, etc. Both the self-titled and Viva releases are highly recommended as an integral part of any Krautrock kollection!
We're very excited about these two remaster/reissues from Germany's La Dusseldorf! La Dusseldorf were THE masters of anthemic open and clean-sounding happy funky krautrock, inspiring the likes of Eno and Bowie (Heroes-era). They crafted repetitive hypnotic percussion with layers of super clean life-affirming melodies that were driven by minimal lyrics. Neu! co-founder Klaus Dinger and drummer Hans Lampe (who joined Neu! for their 3rd album 75) formed La Dusseldorf following the breakup of Neu! They were joined by Klaus' brother, Thomas, on percussion and vocals, Harald Konietzko on bass, and Nicolas van Rhein on keyboards. Any fan of Neu! will immediately recognize that Neu! sound, which is still evident here, but where Neu! was icy and detached, La Dusseldorf is positive and practically bubbling with warmth. Like Harmonia (a product of fellow ex-Kraftwerker, Michael Rother), La Dusseldorf albums have an incredible, ahead-of-their-time production level and truly sound like they could be a current release (we've already witnessed a couple customers' disbelief at the year it was originally released!) This self-titled 4-song cd is absolutely classic Krautrock! "Silver Cloud", with its huge drums and layers of simple, syrupy melody create one of our favorite krautrock songs ever! At the time of this album's release, it was played on German radio a bunch and even became a "funk" hit! "La Dusseldorf" opens with the chanting of a football [soccer] audience and leads into a pulsating anthemic rhythm also joined by the valliant one-word chant of "Dusseldorf". If you've been reading some of our more recent lists, we should distinguish that La Dusseldorf do not fall in the krautrock sub-genre of WWII-effected dark & broodish-type stuff, a la German Oak. La D. better fit into the uber-clean & hypnotic song-kraft family of Neu!, Harmonia, Cluster, Can, Kraftwerk, etc. Both the self-titled and Viva releases are highly recommended as an integral part of any Krautrock kollection!
As we mentioned in the last list, we just can't get enough Grime. We absolutely dug Dizzee Rascal, Wiley, Virus Syndicate, and even M.I.A. who had a bit of grime going on. But over in the UK, grime is the shit, happening on loads of 12"s, in clubs, and on underground radio stations, but very little of it has made it over here, unfortunately, outside of a few comps. It makes perfect sense that Lady Soveriegn would be the one to follow Dizzee and M.I.A. from undergound hype to next big thing. EVERY time we play this in the store at least one person buys it, and usually half the people in the store come up to see what we're listening to. It's that catchy and funky and fucked up, and totally unlike anything else you've heard -- okay, other than M.I.A. maybe, but Lady Sovereign sounds so much more raw and gritty and weird, maybe like M.I.A.'s snotty, sexy little sister. The grooves are grime for sure, super stuttery and repetitive, with thick swaths of fuzzy synth and huge rolling basslines, but the arrangements are really damaged and complex, with plenty of start and stops, twisty and tangled, the tonguetwisting vocals careening at breakneck speed all over the place, riding a huge synth line, skipping nimbly over a spastic drum break, like a musical version of a Jackie Chan action sequence. Lady Sovereign is ducking and dodging and spitting madly over funky beats and all manner of samples. But no matter how crazy the tunes are, it's all about Lady Sov's flow. The sticker on the front of the disc describes her as "Eminem if he was an 18 year old female from South London" which makes for good copy but isn't entirely accurate. She's got a really unique voice, sometimes squeaky and feminine, but more often a bit scruffy and growly, and it's amazing how many syllables she can spit per minute, dizzying! And she can easily slip into some strange melodic vocalization for a song's chorus before slipping back into her Cockney growly snotty delivery. And her lyrics are really funny, plenty of shit talking of course, but lots of self deprecating references to her slight stature (5'1", hence the title) and her baggy clothes, and lots of other really silly randomness. Although sometimes the delivery is so rapid fire it's hard to catch anything but a word here and there. Hardly matters though, you'lll be too busy bouncing or dancing or whatever you do with these tunes blasting in the background.
Vertically Challenged may be an ep, but it's pretty long, eight tracks, 35 minutes, features a handful of remixes, one from the Beastie Boys' Adrock and one from Ghislain Poiror, and features guest vocal spots from UK grimies Shystie, Frost P., Zuz Rock.
Also includes a DVD with an interview, live footage, all the videos and other goodies.
So though an ep it's definitely all killer and no filler, unlike most hip hop records, and it definitely lays the groundwork for Lady Sovereign to blow up M.I.A. big in the not too distant future. And we're definitely psyched for that. The more GRIME the better, and we'd sure as hell rather hear Lady Sovereign on the radio and on MTV than J-Lo or Madonna or Ashlee Simpson!
This long time AQ fave is NOW ON VINYL!! When this soundtrack first came out on compact disc, we made it a Record Of The Week, that was years and years ago, the cd is long out of print, so not only will fans of this great record who would like it on vinyl be happy, but we bet there's folks who haven't encountered it before who will be blown away. So very recommended.
Here's what we wrote about it back in 2004 when we made the Blast First Petite cd reissue a Record Of The Week, for the first time:
We weren't really sure what to expect with this one. A lost soundtrack from 1971 (a magic year for music, just ask Allan - though it turns out the music was recorded in 1969, also not a bad year) to a movie none of us had ever heard of, directed by and starring Peter Fonda. Could go either way. But the second we threw it on, we knew this was IT! A dark and languorous abstract country psych folk gem. Seriously. Hearing this for the first time, you'd be forgiven for guessing it was Scott Tuma, Souled American, Califone, Golden Hotel, Thuja, Woven Hand or some totally obscure cd-r on some little tiny label from some mysterious band of psychedelic country folk minstrels. Slow and mournful, delicate and dreamy, acoustic guitars, farfisa organs, harmonicas and an echoplex. Spare and skeletal, mini epics of melancholic twang. Imagine if Sergio Leone had Ennio Morricone assemble a band cobbled together from members of the Jewelled Antler Collective, the No Neck Blues Band and Souled American to score one of his Westerns. Definitely recommended if you dig any of the folks mentioned above (including Morricone). And if like most of us, you've been digging all sorts of those obscure so-called "new weird America" outfits, maybe it's about time we all dug into some "OLD weird America."
And by the way, now we HAVE seen the movie (it was re-released on dvd in 2006 or so) and it's GREAT! Not a feel-good hit though, or a typical Western shoot 'em up, at all. The soundtrack is perfect, for this beautiful film.
180 gram vinyl pressing, limited to 1000 hand-numbered copies.
Ahh, Finland. We've said that before. Now perhaps people in Finland think about California the way we think about Finland. But of course they'd be wrong. We don't have any analog to Moomins trolling about in our forests. Whereas our fantasies about that far-off land are quite accurate. At least, judging by the ongoing gurgle of cd-rs and tapes and cds and such flowing from their fertile "free-folk" underground, from Kemialliset Ystavat to Avarus to Kiila. And recordings like Lau Nau's Kuutarha just make our fantasies of Finland more and more vivid and otherworldly. Lau Nau is Laura Naukkarinen and a few friends. She's a very lovely singer, a member of Kiila, Paivansade, and Anaksimandros. Here her melodic Finnish-language vocals are set to droneily folkish backing, making for quitely distorted lullabies. Finnophiles will agree that this could also definitely be compared to Islaja, but perhaps rawer, more broken down and abstract. And to make a Finland-California comparison, well, this could basically be a Finnish version of Jewelled Antler's Franciscan Hobbies, with Laura Naukkarien's vocals. So very very nice. (Hmm, which came first? Jewelled Antler or the these Finnish forest folk folks? Doesn't matter, it's the zeitgeist we guess!)
For some reason, we like to look at the list of instruments and non-instruments used on records like these, maybe you do to, so here goes: acoustic bass, bass recorder, five-stringed kantele, acoustic guitar, tenor recorder, violin, bamboo flute, colorful juice glasses, mortar, mandolin, witch laugh megaphone, baby's rattle, bike bells, banjo, cowbells, electric guitar, organ, willow whistle, tablas, percussion, cymbals, comb, beer cans, tamboura...
Ahhhh ouuuuiii... Le nouveau super rockin' release from our French-Canadian friends Les Georges Leningrad. Poney, Bobo and Mingo (a trio now after losing one member through interpersonal conflict) deliver astounding electronoisepop compositions on Sur Les Traces De Black Eskimo. Groovy beats and spastic outbursts are prominent characters in the song craft they call petrochemical rock. Why they are obsessed with 'black eskimo', je ne sais pas. Mais, je t'aime, Les Georges. If you have the chance to see them live, they generously offer an award-winning show, featuring self-made costumes and an arresting stage presence. Their artwork is all done by the band members themselves and est la superbe. Check it!
These east coast art-rocking boys are back with their third release. Word has it that this band is pretty right-on live. This record is totally dancy and catchy, and much more emo and peppy than previous releases. Their post-punk guitar assault swings from
Libythth is the wacky electro-percussion project from the same sick mind who came up with the Guy Albino persona in Hawd Gangstuh Rappuhs MCs Wid Ghatz. "Dissolve A Diamond" is the first recording for the Libythth project, being a spasmodic spluttering of car-crashed electronic rhythms and bango jangle. Think Matmos attempting to collaborate with Atom & His Package... so silly it borders on the painfully moronic.
None of us were surprised by how good this movie was. After all, we pretty much all love Bottle Rocket, The Royal Tennenbaums, and of course Rushmore. And really none of us should have been surprised by how great this soundtrack is either, since Wes Anderson movies are as much about the music as the movie itself. But somehow the soundtrack was a surprise. For the content as much as the way it was incorporated into the movie. The focus of the soundtrack has to be the gorgeous acoustic numbers by cast member Seu Jorge. There are 5 of them, and they just happen to all be Bowie covers, and are all sung in Portugeuse! I'm not a huge Bowie fan, but the minute we walked out of the theater, I was hoping that the soundtrack would have those tracks, and it did! Warm and languid, melancholy and dreamy, Jorge's tracks are absolutely beautiful, giving those classic rock and roll numbers a totally different nuance. And once you see the movie, those tracks will make even more (non)sense! But that's not all. Classic tracks by the Zombies, Joan Baez, Scott Walker, and the Stooges! The Stooges' "Search And Destroy" has always been one of those songs that makes you want to rumble -- that RIFF! -- and it's put to excellent use in the film! Plus a killer score by Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh. But a discussion of The Life Aquatic would not be complete without a quick digression into "The Cheadle". Not sure how many of you saw Ocean's Eleven, but Don Cheadle played a demolitions expert, with the WORST British accent ever. FOR NO REASON! Responding to every query with "Right guvnuh!" or "Cherrio!" Arghh. So infuriating. WHY WHY WHY? So consequently, pointless and poorly-performed accents are now referred to as "The Cheadle" (others refer to it as "The Kidman"). So in Life Aquatic, Owen Wilson is the one responsible for "The Cheadle", a Southern accent that at best is superfluous, and in execution is thick and impenetrable sometimes, totally non-existent at others. But fear not, that hardly detracts from how great this film is. Owen Wilson is still cute. Bill Murray still rules. The movie is still amazing and funny. And the music is still perfect!
Hypermagic Mountain leaves the popular Rhode Island spazz-core duo Lightning Bolt's other records huffing glue and passed out in the dust, believe it or not. On the bass, Brian Gibson covers some of the same wandering scale build-up stuff he's always done, but with so much more intensity and concentration... and needless to say SO MUCH FASTER!! Hard to believe a bass can produce riffs and licks as insane as these. In fact, when the drums drop out and the bass is left to go nuts, it almost sounds like Van Halen's "Eruption". Woah. And drummer Brian Chippendale is as impenetrable as he's been in the past but again, SO MUCH FASTER. WTF?! Did they take some sort of vegan super-power pills? There's also a healthy smathering (a slathering? a lathering? more than a smattering) of hard-rock riffage all over the place that in conjunction with endless super-speed drum insanity (note drumnerds: only one kick drum), create an amazing and noise-manic rockin' sound.
And was ist dat? Woah again! Some choicest moments indeed start to reference a sense of "song", moreso than we've ever heard from them before. We're damn impressed! In so many different ways, this album is incredibly surprising. As mind-numbingly stand-alone awesome as they were before, they are so much more now somehow. LB records have always been a strange beast in terms of production, c'mon, how would YOU record a wall of ear melting bass and non stop spastic drum splatter? But it was never really about sound quality, the production was an afterthought really, who cares when you're soaked in sweat and pinballing around a dayglo pit. The recording quality here is a bit muddier than their previous, already sort of a little muddy sounding albums Wonderful Rainbow and Ride The Skies, but it suits this ultra riffy LB of new for sure. Longtime 'Bolt fans have probably been hankering for greater levels of grit and distortion anyway, like in the old days, so it makes perfect sense that their new sound only adds to their spiffy new riffier hard-rocking maelstrom!
This is the long-awaited, highly anticipated full length release from Providence, RI's amazing bass and drums duo LIGHTNING BOLT! Imagine Tokyo drums/bass duo Ruins in their early years: way obvious prog influence and heavy as fuck, then subtract the zeuhl
Holy shit! The Bolt get a proper visual document for those of you who missed out on the live action! Or if you were there and couldn't see past the rabid flurry of sweat and flesh of the adrenalin charged audiences! Or if you did see everything and now you want to see yourself on film, you narcissistic bastard! Speaking of which, camera whore and AQ doorman John Dwyer makes his international film debut as himself and as Pink of Pink and Brown, he's all over this thing like flies on shit, relaxing in someone's backyard completely in costume or just bobbing along to the live action!! Anyway, the film takes us across America with one of the loudest bands on the planet. Join Brian Chippendale and Brian Gibson as they whip unsuspecting crowds into disco frenzied mosh pits. Rarely does a band make the audience bang their heads *and* shake their booties -- these kids do it right. Watch indie rock nerds get knocked over as they're trapped in the Bolt's surprise attack from the back of the room, opposite the stage. See scenesters get ridiculously stupid as Gibson's 3800 watt tower scrapes earwax outta their pretty little heads! If you couldn't really get into their records (since their music certainly has a physical element which could only be imagined whether you've seen them or not), this will definitely knock you on your ass! Bonus features include two hilariously animated music videos, a remix video by Libythth, a gallery of Brian Chippendale's wonderfully screenprinted poster art and a humorous clip of the duo rehearsing and discussing the relevance of their art. Very well done.
"Six days in 1976". That's what this disc represents. The entire lifespan, and output, of an extremely short-lived but also extremely awesome krautrock 'supergroup' of sorts. Organized by Dieter Moebius (one half of Cluster, one third of Harmonia), the Liliental project also featured the talents of Helmut Hattler and Johannes Pappert of psychedelic jazz-rock outfit Kraan, famed producer Conny Plank, soundtrack composer Otto Bekker and his protege, budding electronic experimentalist Asmus Tietchens (who contributes liner notes to this reissue). They never played live, and indeed spent only six days recording these six tracks. About 35 minutes of exquisite, oft glorious, softly moody and melodic instrumentals here on this one-off treasure... well, mostly instrumental, with some wordless "aahhs" here and there, and also some singing on the particularly quirky, catchy final track (which sounds more like a Brian Eno/Steely Dan collab than a Moebius thing, but that's not necessarily a bad thing). Since the tracks are sequenced on this disc in the same order in which they were recorded, it would seem that by day six they were ready to get a bit silly. On days 1-5, though, there was more restraint to their playfulness, their music sometimes joyous but as often wistful or otherwise serious-sounding.
It's hard to describe, easier to imagine if you're already acquainted with Moebius's music solo and in Cluster and Harmonia. While this group had their own special chemistry, the overall vibe is one that will definitely seem familiar to fans of Cluster et.al., wonderfully so. Track three, "Wattwurm", could be from one of the Cluster & Eno albums, easily. And that's high praise! On that track and elsewhere you'll find Liliental to be rhythmic, poppy, breezy, beautiful, all these things... with shimmering washes of mellow synths (lots of Arp and Moog), percolating electronic embellishments, almost-ambient saxophone, and even some blissful bird twitter on one track. So nice. This reissue actually came out last year, and we've been wanting to list it for a while, but had some trouble getting enough copies. Now we have a few in stock, so get it, it's definitely one to add to the top of the pile of essential krautrock reissues we've raved about recently, like those Michael Rothers, La Dusseldorfs, Eroc, etc.
In addition to Tietchens' notes, in both English and German, this digipack's cd booklet also includes color photos of Liliental in the studio (they existed nowhere else!), among them the group shot from which the cover painting was done - interestingly, amongst other small details altered, the cover artist decided to put long pants on Conny Plank (the smiling fellow on the far left) instead of letting him continue to wear the short shorts he had on in the original photograph.
If you're already a fan of Lungfish, you're familiar with their style of song-craft: each track is sort of like one super heavy, distorted riff that's explored and repeated through propulsive, psychedelic rhythms. This formula is still in practice on Feral Hymns, their 11th (!) album, though they've reached a definite "moment"... Dare I gush, but to listen to this album is to be FULLY immersed in the depths of Lungfish.
This is their first album (since their very first) to be recorded outside of the Discord-related studio, Inner Ear. And we definitely think it was a good move!! Not only does it sound great for being engineered by Tim Green at his San Francisco-based Louder Studio, but the temporary homelessness of the band during this process gave their collective creative mind the ability to breathe, to see their songs from inside and out and to fully sculpt the album as a whole and turn it into a very tangible, albeit visceral, expression.
The Balitmore foursome completely deconstruct each song/"riff" down to its essential elements. Following this, they gracefully rebuild, creating impressively engaging, hypnotic tracks that share an incredibly powerful depth. Dan Higgs' rich, throaty vocals proudly wade through these tracks with a force we all know and love but that force is especially intense, often riled up into an enigmatic, abstracted fury.
Although we thought Love Is Love was their heaviest album at its release, Feral Hymns weighs in far heavier, not really in the quantity of its sound but quality of it. This is an album that is so pared down to its most essential and amazing elements that repeated listenings keep rewarding in different ways every time.
Now, Andee really loves their record Necrophones, and Love Is Love (their last) had some definite great moments, including the addictive opening title track, but on Feral Hymns, the thorough exploration into the 'guts' of each song and the album overall, and the slow and meticulously elegant sonic sculpting of the band as a whole, works so so well it totally blows us away. Amazing!!
Original music from the cable TV series of fishing shows. Excellent, minimalist stuff from the leader and saxophonist of the Lounge Lizards. Bonus: 2 "field recordings" of Tom Waits.
