The first 7" we heard from Minks a few months ago immediately became one of our favorite singles of the year. We love when bands use 7"s as a way to introduce themselves, offering up a few perfect jams on a handful of singles before releasing a full length. And Minks are doing just that, as these three songs show once again that that debut single was no fluke. Minks are able to tap into the best parts of The Cure without sounding like clones, and part of the reason is that while so many other bands who are influenced by The Cure tend to focus so much on trying to emulate Robert Smith's vocals, Minks instead explore the overall sound and dirgey instrumentation that those great Cure albums were rife with. Minks conjure a hazy and washed out vibe, creating a sound that is like a much darker and dingier side of shoegaze. So excited for a full length but until then we have three more songs from Minks to play over and over and over!
Moebius's first solo album from 1983 is also one of our favorites of the post-Cluster universe. We first heard this when it was recently reissued on cd via the Japanese import label Captain Trip (along with Zero Set and Rastakraut Pasta), but it was much too expensive to list. Thankfully, the Bureau B label has come to the rescue and we're able to share this gem with you.
Moebius has always been the more elusive and ornery of the Cluster duo. By 1983, Roedelius already had 5 solo albums under his belt, but Moebius always seemed to prefer working with groups or one-off projects, where he could entertain his curious sonic predilections against the grain of other performers. Surprisingly for his first actual solo release, he turns in an intriguing and engaging pop record. Not "Pop" in the commercial sense, but Tonspuren is surprisingly big on melodic but idiosyncratic precise miniatures with songs sounding like they were made by tiny but giddy machines.
Yet unlike Roedelius, Moebius allows no willful excursion or baroque tangent to intervene with the concise construction of his compositions, keeping them reduced to as essential compositions as possible, though much warmer and more fluid than, say, the compositions on Cluster's Curiosum (reviewed elsewhere on this list). Tellingly, this was made at the height of German New Wave, and one wonders how much of that may have played an influence. If you liked Cluster's Zuckerzeit, then check this out! Highly recommended!
Of all the various collaborations that krautrock maestro Moebius of Cluster fame has been involved in, we have to say this 1983 collaboration with Gerd Beerbohm might just be the most mind blowing of them all. Originally released on Sky, it's been out of print for ages, so we were so thrilled when we saw Bureau B was going to reissue it, as it's a record that foreshadowed so many sounds of the rhythmic underground that we would love for years to come.
The record opens with "Minimotion" a totally menacing and suspenseful track that sets the mood perfectly for the rest of the record. Like the darkest side of Goblin, or what John Carpenter would want to base the tension of an entire film around. The next two tracks "Hydrogen" and "Narkose" are stunning in how ahead of their time they sound, even now. It's like an otherworldly version of minimal techno, practically the blueprint for what the Chain Reaction crew would be creating more then a decade later. Like the sounds of a steam engine filtered through the lens of a horror movie, so mesmerizing and menacing. The record's final track is the epic 21 minute "Doppelschnitt" and really should be played as loud as possible and made as required listening for anyone making minimal techno or any sort of electronica really, as this shows you the hypnotic possibilities of this sound. No doubt folks like Villalabos, Monoton, Moritz Von Oswald, and Carl Craig got their ears on this album early on, as this record really laid out the ingredients for what would go down in Berlin and Detroit in the years to follow.
But what makes Double Cut so incredibly special is not just that it was ahead of its time, mastering a genre that hadn't even been invented yet, but that in its minimalism, they made a record that creates such a strong mood and has such a distinct overall sound. It's like being trapped in a completely distinctive outer dimension. It wouldn't surprise us if David Cronenberg was hip to this record while he was making Videodrome. It's not often you get to talk about records that completely set the stage for a whole movement of music making to come in its wake. This is one of those records, and we're so damn glad its back in the world where it belongs. A unanimous favorite for sure, as everyone here at the store is totally in love and in awe of Double Cut!
Not yet reissued on vinyl but we're told that will be coming soon, hopefully.
While the title of the new full length from these longtime aQ faves had us secretly hoping for a record of straight up, ACTUAL rave music, the first track quickly reveals that Rave Tapes is in fact simply more of the Mogwai we know and love. So after the brief bit of inevitable no-rave let down disappointment, it's impossible to not get immediately swept up in Mogwai's lush loveliness, the opener a fantastically dreamy sprawl of blissy drifty post rock majesty, hushed, and melancholically brooding, darkly dynamic, expansive and layered. But fear not, this is not just Mogwai by the numbers, or maybe it is, but those numbers have been getting progressively less predictable over the last few albums, just check out "Simon Ferocious" with its buzzing synths, driven by a hypnotic, loping slow-mo, post rock groove, the guitars bordering on metallic, settling eventually into a cool buzzy bit of krauty post rock mesmer. Or the awesomely titled "Remurdered", which is all low slung throb, muted chug and Tortoise-y rhythms, in fact, it sounds a bit like a less jazzy, more skittery electronica flecked, synth heavy komsiche hypno-rock. There's one track with a hilarious sample of anti-Satanic ranting, which is fun the first time, but doesn't have a whole lot of replay value, but that hardly detracts from the rest of the record which slips effortlessly from Godspeed like instrumental epicry, to synthy, almost Circle sounding mathiness, to sweeping moody cinematic drifts, and to murky piano driven balladry, complete with vocals, a haunting bit of slowcore that sounds a bit like Codeine / Low / Galaxie 500, but it is Mogwai, so it eventually erupts into a soaring soft-focus squall of swirling psychedelic beauty.
The final two song salvo, begins with some classic Mogwai, spidery minor key melodies, over chiming harmonics, buzzing bass, shuffling rhythms, slowly building from hushed shimmer to fuzzy muted bombast, before finishing off with the weirdest of the bunch, all programmed drums, vocodered vox, swirling synth wrapped guitars and fields of prismatic shimmer, the whole thing sounding more like Zombi or Umberto, albeit mixed with Mogwai's epic smoldering post rock tendencies, which is just as good as it sounds.
Both the lp and the cd come housed in super striking, retro-futuristic, psychedelically geometric, eye popping, die cut sleeves! LP includes a download code too...
(Compact disc folks, FYI, we have a few of the cd, but Sub Pop forgot to ship our order this week so more will be restocked early next week and we'll of course list it next time!)
It would be so easy and profitable for Juana Molina to simply streamline her sound, to make things nice and easy and to compete with the likes of Feist and Beth Orton for permanent cafe stereo time, but lucky for us, she keeps pushing and challenging herself, creating original and challenging music while still managing to weave a sensual and seductive spell with her sounds.
Her voice is the main instrument, and it's her voice that carries Un Dia, with its seamless mix of organic instrumentation and subtle electronics. It's hard to believe that someone this creative and musically talented was once a bigtime sitcom TV star in Argentina. Makes so much sense how committed she seems to her musical vision as she already enjoyed a kind of mindless popular culture celebrity so she doesn't need to pander to commercial blandness with her music. It's not to say that this is difficult or unpleasant music because its not, quite the contrary but similar to folks like Bjork and Brigitte Fontaine decades earlier, Molina belongs to a strong brigade of visionary women who know how to blend experimentation with melody and pop sensibilities for music that is both rewarding and pleasurable. This might be her finest moment yet!
Oh, Latetitia Sadier you can sing in our ear anytime! Of course best known for her main groop, Stereolab, Sadier has also kept busy over the years with her project Monade, an outfit that leans much more toward the laid back elements of Stereolab. Monstre Cosmic finds Monade in top form, with rich and lush instrumentation, a range of tempos and of course Sadier's trademark suave vocals, in French and sounding so damn irresistible! The color palette that Monade's songs invoke are just as wide and dazzling as those of Stereolab with enough highs and lows to keep you on your toes but with just the right feeling of comfort to makes you want to just dive into these sounds and stay forever, and bask in their swirling melodies and groove filled charm. Like so much of her best work, we love how the songs unfold and reveal more of themselves with repeated listens. Monstre Cosmic sounds great on first listen but it's when you begin to get hooked and are listening over and over again that you really begin to fall in love with this batch of musical goodness. Laid back without being lazy, driving and catchy without being too perky. It's just the right ingredients mixed and made with total pop perfection. Highly recommended!
We've always had a soft spot for New Zealand's incredibly fertile underground rock scene, and the glorious noises it produces, these days it's outfits like the Dead C, Birchville Cat Motel, Antony Milton, 1/3 Octave Band, Sandoz Lab Technicians, Brothers Of The Occult Sisterhood, Lamp Of The Universe, Lugosi, Lovely Midget, Dean Roberts, Pumice, Omit, but a few years back, it was a whole different scene, well okay, except for the Dead C maybe, but there was a hugely thriving scene and even back then we couldn't get enough. All those bands who sewed the seeds, the bands that paved the way for the groups who make us cd-r crazy today. Folks like Alastair Galbraith Trash, Gate, Golden, Tall Dwarfs, Bill Direen, David Kilgour, Cakekitchen, The Clean, Dadamah, Dissolve, King Loser, Space Dust and of course the legendary Roy Montgomery. Montgomery did time in the groups Dadamah and Dissolve, both of whom were amazing, but it's when he struck out on his own, just him and his guitar, some delay, maybe a little reverb, that's when we really fell in love.
Inroads collects all sorts of singles, and compilation tracks, as well as a handful of unreleased songs, and reminds us just why we loved Montgomery, and how much we've been missing his blissed out solo guitar space rock. And that's exactly what this is, space rock, not so much rock as space, every single track is totally mesmerizing, multitracked reverb drenched nirvana, some super spare and simple, drifting and abstract, others tangled and dense, thick and aggressive. His sound is so unique, so totally singular, the second we pushed play on this, even though most of us hadn't heard him in years, we would have known immediately who it was.
Which speaks volumes about a record of mostly JUST guitar. How expressive and emotive and deeply personal Montgomery's guitar playing really is. Lyrical and melodic, even at its spaciest. All of the obvious adjectives apply here, shimmering, glistening, sparkling, but Montgomery doesn't just make sounds, letting his guitar drone and drift, these are songs, riffs, beautiful and memorable and catchy, dark and spacey and dreamy, complex fingerpicking, simple strumming, subtle shadings of tone and timbre, it doesn't matter what he does or how he does it, it always sounds like him. And it always sounds divine.
We had a vinyl version of this split between ethereal bliss-scaper Liz Harris aka Grouper, and legendary NZ guitarist Roy Montgomery, a while back, but we got so few copies, and had such a rush on the ones we did get, that we never had a chance to review it, and thus it never even made it up onto the site. But now it's finally been reissued on cd, and with a bonus Roy Montgomery track to boot!
Roy's original track/side was a gorgeously epic bit of dreamy strum and steel string drift, titled "Fantasia On A Theme By Sandy Bull (Slight Return)", just that instantly recognizable guitar, a cloud of buzzing steel strings, a sort of blissed out Appalachia spread out over nearly 20 minutes, the sound slipping smoothly from that urgent strum, to something much more hushed and minimal, abstract and softly space-y, and over the course of the track, drifting between the two. Hypnotic and haunting and quite lovely.
His bonus track is a billowy cloud of chiming shimmering guitar, sweet melancholy melodies, piled atop a jangly strum, notes wreathed in delay and reverb and echo, the sound somehow both ethereal and propulsive, ghostly and insistent, the sounds hazy and gauzy and washed out, but subtly tense, with a sense of mystery and loss and longing, the aural equivalent of watching the world through rain slicked windows, in fact, Montgomery seems impossibly deft at creating the perfect rainy day soundtrack.
Grouper's half of the split begins with "Hollow Press", and the sound of whispering wind, for nearly two minutes, before ethereal effected vocals drift in, floating atop the swirling soft white noise, which leads directly into "Vessel", a haunting elegy of weirdly distorted guitar, unfurled in spidery tendrils, the vocals nearly free of effects, and sounding as angelic as ever, a gorgeous hushed lullaby. "Hold The Way" is another gentle bit of crystalline drift, a looped muted guitar figure, undulating softly beneath sweetly crooned vox, a dream pop slowed down and blurred into something much more ethereal and ephemeral. Finally, "Pulse" sends reverbed guitars drifting from speaker to speaker, the stereo field dizzyingly panned, softly psychedelic, slowly the wind returns, and guitar fading out leaving just the sound of wind, and a barking dog, a hazy outro of found sound, wiping away all the traces of the sounds that came before, like the surf smoothing out sand on the beach. So Lovely.
The new cd version is housed in a swank digipak, and is still most likely WAY too limited...
FINALLY AVAILABLE ON CD! Here's what we said when we reviewed the now out of print vinyl 12" version:
All right! Moon Duo returns with another hazed out transmission from some lost dimension (otherwise known as San Francisco), this one courtesy of the always cool Sacred Bones label. The duo (obviously) features Ripley Johnson from local heroes Wooden Shjips, and their sound is not too far removed from Ripley's main band, maybe a little more ethereal and not quite as overtly "rocking", but definitely following a similar path of hypnotic, fuzzy repetition that we can't get enough of.
Moon Duo are capable of creating powerful songs from very little and they obviously understand the power of simplicity. Each of the four songs on this ep utilize the same hypnotic drum machine groove, altered to various pitches and speeds to accommodate each individual song. The result is like a mechanical heartbeat, throbbing relentlessly with krauty precision, and almost serving as some sort of chain to link each of the songs together. The record begins with "Killing Time", which sounds a bit like a Joy Division part looped forever as the soft, distorted vocals lurk beneath melodic guitars and fuzzy background static. With its buzzing organ and controlled feedback, "Speed" rocks a bit like Suicide augmented by shrieking guitar pulses and, uh, harmonica? Maybe. The cool thing here is how sounds blend together in a cyclone of warm, pulsating analog goodness. At times you are unaware of what you're hearing, and even though it gets noisy and overblown, the results are always catchy and super melodic.
Side 2 begins with "Dead West", which has a cool underwater feel. The song fucks with your perception of time and place, as it could have been recorded 40 years ago or 40 years from now. Sonically, it is a bit reminiscent of fellow California space travelers Sun Araw with its percussive guitar strumming and shimmering psychedelic feel, as a little keyboard melody stands at the center of things while the rest of the sounds oscillate all over the place. "Ripples" gives off a Spacemen 3 vibe as the drumbeat is slowed significantly. The guitars have a nice bit of twang to them, and the sounds once again appear to get caught in some sort of musical whirlpool as they merge together before a cool fadeout.
Picking up where the last ep left off, Killing Time finds Moon Duo descending even deeper into a state of super rhythmic, dreamy psychedelia. Just the way we like it.
There are so so many sides of Moondog, and so many and incredibly varied sounds he's created throughout his long and eccentric life of music making. From inventing his own instruments to performing on street corners to incorporating field recordings into his songs, to collaborating with the London Philharmonic, the list goes on and on. While Moondog is mostly lauded for the sounds he created with his wide range of instruments, it's the sound of his voice in the songs he sang sprinkled throughout his catalog that have always left us in such awe, generating both bewilderment and delight. Originally released on LP in Germany in 1978, H'art Songs is an awesome disc of Moondog vocal tracks, a few of which we had heard on other collections and were already in love with, as well as a bunch that are brand new to our ears. With piano and his own percussion as the musical backdrop, it's Moondogs's totally unique and intimate vocal delivery and word play that makes these songs so weirdly enchanting. Playful and poetic while also emotional and personal. Just like everything else Moondog created in his life, these songs do feel like they are from a different world. So strange and so damn good. This is a must have for Moondog fans!
Every time we get a chance to review a Moondog reissue we can't help ourselves from going on and on about what a musical genius and true visionary Moondog was. Mind boggling that from the 1950's all the way up to his death in 1999 he was making such otherworldly sounds, influenced by his love of classical music and driven by a wild imagination that led him to create his own instruments, weave field recordings into his work and compose some of the most adventurous, impacting and delightful sounds anyone has ever created.
Moondog was completely self-taught, and was blind resulting from an accident when still very young so he composed all his music in braile! Just another dimension to the truly unique backstory that shaped who Moondog was. The ultimate proto-weirdo-outsider musician, but all backed up with pure original genius.
More Moondog was originally released right after his 1956 self-titled debut on Prestige, and opens with two field recordings, the first of which finds him doing a 'duet' on his bamboo pipe with the sounds of the whistle from the Queen Elizabeth cruiseship. As the record goes on he explores such amazing percussive possibilities as well as continuing to weave in and out of a psychedelic array of sounds created with varied instrumentation of his own invention. The album also features one of his stunning vocal rounds "All Is Loneliness" which was later covered by Janis Joplin/Big Brother And The Holding Company.
It's been so awesome to play these Moondog records in the store as lots of our younger customers who are into all the latest experimental and weirdo sounds, always seem to freak out when we play this and then tell them it was recorded in 1956. We see their eyes light up with excited disbelief and we totally understand why. Essential!
We couldn't be more excited that this has become available once again. We were blown away by this collection when it was first released a few years back but it became impossible to restock, until now! We finally have enough to share our love of the lesser known yet equally dazzling music Moondog made in the later years of his life. We recently listed the reissues of his early LP's from the '50s, and how remarkable that this man could have crafted such amazing creative music back then and continue to do so all the way up to his passing, four decades later!!!
The German Years documents the last two decades of Moondog's amazing and eccentric life when he was living in Germany, taken in by a family who supported him so he could devote all his time to creating music. An incredible collection of songs composed for pipe organ, string quartet, voice, chamber ensemble, piano, saxophone and more. Completely other worldly and what we would want a holy church devoted to the purity and sanctity of music to sound like.
The second disc is a recording of his last ever live performance recorded in France in 1999, just five months before he would pass away. Centered mostly on his piano pieces, the show is majestic and totally moving. The cds are packaged in a gorgeous hard cardboard package and includes a 44 page booklet of notes, photos, lyrics, interviews, essays, etc. Essential for Moondog fans, and when we really think about it if you just have a deep love of music chances are you either already love Moondog or you have yet to hear his music and once you do you will for sure be blown away!
Psychedelic percussion, field recordings, long never ending beards, a Viking helmet, homemade instruments, a warped sense of humor, playing music, writing poems and making art on dirty street corners. Sounds like the ingredients for someone in today's experimental music scene, but Luis Hardin (aka Moondog) was doing it all and more back in 1957! Holy shit, we love Moondog so much even we forget sometimes that he was making these totally left-field yet completely entrancing and musically visionary sounds over fifty years ago!
Listening to The Story Of Moondog is like a crazy collaged snapshot of all the sounds that we love at AQ. He truly created music from another world, as these songs would sound perfect on any of the amazing Nonesuch Explorer Series or Sublime Frequencies releases, that is if they had installments for music from other worlds! The songs and sound here are like the blueprints for everyone from The Boredoms to Philip Jeck To Ricardo Villalobos. Without a doubt Moondog is one of the most innovative, creative and genre defying composers and music makers of all time. The instruments he invented and played on this recording leave us in awe, and the rhythms, moods and melodies that come leaping out of these grooves definitely transport us to that fantastical otherworld that Moondog created with his music. Until now the only way to track down this record was on the cd issue of More Moondog/The Story of Moondog so it's so great to finally have these songs on vinyl!
In our minds, one of the greatest composers of the 20th century was a man with a long white beard and a Viking helmet on his head -- Louis Hardin (aka Moondog). Whether it was how he incorporated field recordings into his compositions, unleashed riveting vocal cannons or created confusional worlds of percussion that were light-years ahead of their time, he had such a singular touch and far reaching vision, it's no surprise he's an all time AQ favorite!
While we love so many avant composers of the 20th century, there tends to be an undeniable academic angle to their work which sometimes leaves us a bit cold. Moondog on the other hand employed such a playful approach to his work. Whether he was building his own instruments, creating new scales, experimenting with field recordings, inserting fun wordplay into otherwise austere pieces, you get this amazing sense of playfulness, childlike wonder and a totally unique strangely sophisticated kind of joy. The outsider that he was, Moondog answered to no one. No movement, no school, no tradition. He took his love, appreciation and deep-seated knowledge of classical music, his poetic mind, and his free spirit and created sounds that were like nothing of its time. Losing his eyesight at an early age he began writing scores in Braille. Like most truly special artists, he spent much of his life in relative obscurity, he spent much of the 50's and 60's on New York street corners where he would sell his poems, record the sounds of daily life, and soak in all aspects of his atmosphere. Most New Yorkers just thought they were walking by some crazy homeless guy in a Viking costume, they had no idea they were passing one of the most brilliant musical minds of the last century. Thanks to the help of some of his big fans like Janis Joplin, who covered "All Is Loneliness" on her first outing with Big Brother Holding Company, he got a record deal with Columbia and eventually recorded with the London Symphony, and then spent the last 20+ years of his life in Germany where a rich family supported him while he continued to make music, up until the time of his death. His influence runs so deep and continues to spread among the musical underground, but also slowly but surely permeates into mainstream music. There is talks of a tribute album coming soon, in the '90s many hip-hop and electronic producers sampled his works and many avant electronic folks were definitely influenced by his strange musicks, including Mr. Scruf, DJ Shadow and Aphex Twin. Antony and The Johnsons have been doing an amazing version of "All Is Loneliness" in their live show, and you can hear echoes of Moondog's sounds in everyone from Rhys Chatham, to Jon Brion, to Steve Reich, to Philip Glass and even The Residents. The cost on this collection finally dropped down from a prohibitively steep import price so now we finally can list this and urge you to let these 36 songs introduce you to what will no doubt be a life long love affair with one of our favorite musical minds of all time!
We were just raving recently about Thurston Moore's beautiful solo acoustic guitar meditations record released on VDSQ a little while back, and now he follows it up with an album some of his most intimate and inviting songs yet. Demolished Thoughts demonstrates a side of Moore's songwriting that is often blurred in the layers and velocity of his long running group Sonic Youth, but loosed from that noise and bombast, these songs are revealed as perhaps some of the dreamiest you will hear all year. If you are like us, and ever daydreamed about what an entire record filled with songs that sound like the first six minutes of "The Diamond Sea" would sound like, then this is one of those amazing moments when a wish gets granted, and exceeds that far fetched fantasy.
With Samra Lubelski adding violin, Moore playing his acoustic with sensual perfection, and songs sprinkled with harp by Mary Lattimore, its an album that perfectly captures the drifting and pastoral side of Moore's musical vision, which has also been a more subtle part of his signature sound. Beck was at the helm of the production for this record, and we have to say we think we might be liking him more these days in that role than on his own records (check out Charlotte Gainsbourg's IRM, for more proof). In fact there are some elements of Demolished Thoughts, that echo Beck's downer masterpiece "Sea Change." What's so remarkable about this album is that alongside its elegance, Moore maintains his voice and vision to the core. Highly recommended!
Unflaggingly familiar is The Best Day, the first solo record by Thurston Moore since the dissolution of Sonic Youth, if we and everyone else are not to consider Chelsea Light Moving a solo project of Moore's with a couple of likeminded avant-rock noiseniks. There's plenty of bad blood that Moore may need to overcome thanks to the refuse that spilled forth from the dissolution of his marriage with Kim Gordon; but it seems that via both Chelsea Light Moving and The Best Day, Moore is doing his a damn good job of overcoming all of that crap by making a couple of damn good records. It's been long known that the slipstream noise-pop jams that Moore wrote for Sonic Youth, with their Mack truck riffs balanced with avant-geek noodliness and craftsman-like ease, made for the strongest tunes in Sonic Youth's dense catalog. Even more so than the first solo 'pop' album for Moore, the languid Psychic Hearts from 1995, The Best Day recalls everything that we love about Sonic Youth. Those long-form post-pop passages of chiming guitars, his pleading vocal delivery that still has a youthful demeanor despite his elder statesman status, hypnotic unboringness of charmed motorik jangle, unconventional tunes providing occasionally strident overtones that are quelled with a beautifully turned chord change, and pretty much everything else you might love about a Sonic Youth song, well except for the obvious absence of Gordon and Lee Ranaldo. Moore did recruit the much under appreciated timekeeper Steve Shelley for drum duty and Deb Googe of My Bloody Valentine on bass. A jubilant record for sure, and one that is more than worthy of your attention!
Sometimes a record just comes at the perfect time. It was one of the first truly crisp and cold days we've experienced this winter here in San Francisco and Barbara Morgenstern's new record landed at aQ offering up songs that were just made to be heard during the colder months of the year. With a live band by her side and her great piano playing mixed with subtle electronics, this is an album filled with driving strength and such a strong and shining elegance. Kind of like if The Notwist and PJ Harvey or Marianne Faithfull got to collaborate, pop songs that are so smartly arranged but don't waste time trying to show you how smart they are. Morgenstern's not afraid to unleash her pop sensibility and does it with a piercing determination creating the kind of record that doesn't give in to easy emotions or one sided perspective. It's fitting that she alternates between English and German vocals. A record that you can listen to when you're sad or happy, determined or in a rut. It makes you want to put on your heaviest and sharpest looking pea coat and take to the icy streets watching your breath become clouds and taking in the simple pleasures, just soaking up your surroundings.
Morgenstern also covers Robert Wyatt's "Camouflage" and Wyatt sings with her as apparently he's a big fan of her work. They both display that rare elegance that's hard to find in modern music without it feeling too forced or saccharine. Morgenstern has come a long way from her techno beginnings and we're so excited to enjoy that evolution. While this is turning out to be one of our favorite records for the cold and rainy days that lie ahead we're pretty sure this will be a record we keep near us at all times, rain or shine.
Dreamy. Drowsy. Droney. Dulcet. Aww shucks, we have to admit we're a sucker for anything with hammered dulcimer and vibes. Aren't you!? Those round warm tones just feel so right! But this Chicago band's second album has a lot more goin' on with that our ears are snuggling up close to.
They're distinctly 'Chicago' sounding (the city not the band). We knew as soon as we heard a few bars that they were from the Windy City. In fact, fans of gentle jazzy pop with chops breezers Sea And Cake and Archer Prewitt, take note! This might be your new favorite too! Seemingly equally inspired by '70s soft rock (think: 10CC, Bread, Burt Bacharach), '60s exotica (a la Les Baxter, Martin Denny), '90s slowcore (y'know, Low, Ida, Yo La Tengo's Georgia Hubley)... yeah, all the good stuff! Hushed, intimate and sweet, Morning Recordings make it seem like they're playing their music just for you. Have you guessed yet that we're pretty smitten with this album? Well, they push our newfound luv over the top when they let it be known that their roster includes Barry Phipps (of The Coctails) and guest singer Edith Frost -- both longtime aQ faves. We could continue gushing, but let's just say, "Wow, what a dreamboat!" So very very recommended!
PS: While quantities last, when you purchase this cd you'll also receive the This Is Motion album by Melochrome (Morning Recordings' main man Pramod Tummala's previous music project)!
Something happened to Morrissey when he moved to Los Angeles. It allowed him a new beginning of sorts. For the first time in his career he had dropped out of the limelight, he went almost seven years without releasing a record and for the first time since the beginning of The Smiths he really became a true underdog, and cult figure, gaining a revival of fans who maybe weren't around for the first, Smiths wave of Morrissey mania. When he finally returned with a new record, 2004's You Are The Quarry it really did feel like the triumphant second act to an already dramatic and amazing career. His two records since then have maintained that momentum and Swords collects many of the B-sides and non-album tracks from this era.
Many of us who are Morrissey fanatics had grabbed some of the import 7"s that some of these songs come from, which are arguably as strong as any of his album tracks. There's also tons on tracks, not even the most tenacious fans around here were ever able to get their hands on, and all of it has the urgent punch and full sound that his defined his music over the last few albums, which rank up there with some of his best stuff. So many others who once possessed such golden voices really lose it as they grow older, but it's remarkable how intact and spot on Morrissey's vocal delivery has remained. And his songwriting remains utterly clever, strong minded, emotional, political, self deprecating and moving. We really can't think of any of his peers from those early '80s days who have remained so vital in creating great music all these years later.
While so many of his big name '80s peers have either vanished or started churning out sub-par sounds in recent years (The Cure, Depeche Mode, New Order, etc.) Morrissey has kept great quality control and has been aging so so gracefully. Years of Refusal might be his most punchy, rocking and self assured solo outing to date. With his golden voice still so warm and rich and powerful and his brutish band offering some muscular back up, this is a set of songs that rely not only on Morrissey's always clever and dramatic word play but the rockin' music backing it up as well!
His last album Ringleaders Of The Tormentors, though filled with some great songs, tripped up a bit on its over-ambition and pretension. Years Of Refusal gets it all right, with a sound palette very similar to one of his great recent outings You Are The Quarry. These songs bristle with such natural force and those magical melodies that Morrissey has been creating for over twenty-five years now are in full effect. Even folks here at AQ who are far from being devoted Morrissey fanatics have been digging this big time! And those of us who do have that special place in our hearts for Morrissey are finding this to be such an infectious album that only reaffirms that despite what one might think of his persona or mystique, this is truly one of the greatest songwriters and singers of our generation!
Some of us were ready to concede the fact that Mos Def may have evolved into a much more important and amazing actor than rapper, but with The Ecstatic he grabs us forcefully and reminds us that he is most definitely still a potent musical force to be reckoned with! Any record that opens with a Malcolm X soundclip and goes right into a song that samples the music of Turkish psych singer Selda is setting the bar pretty high, and Mos Def just keeps pushing that bar higher and higher, as The Ecstatic is his most intense, immediate and powerful record in a long time.
The Ecstatic features some of the best hip-hop producers around (Madlib, Oh No, Georgia Ann Muldrow, Mr. Flash and even the late great J Dilla). While those producers help flesh out the strong beats and slightly Eastern vibe, the strength of the album is all about the presence of a rejuvenated Mos Def who sounds so commanding, in control and at ease on the mic. His flow and intensity on the record reminds us of classic Eric B. & Rakim, the kind of hip-hop that hits you hard on first listen but keeps unveiling more of its potency on repeated listens. Can't imagine a better hip-hop record coming out this year. So great!
Equal parts J Dilla, Flying Lotus and Actress, the full length debut of London-based "post-dubstep" duo Mount Kimbie is easily our new favorite night time listens. With stoned soul edits, heavenly string washes, wonky ping pong rhythms, underwater electronic atmospherics and an off-kilter but hazy production, Crooks and Lovers is all about the post-club come down. Chill and subdued, often dreamy and strange but super immersive and narcotically propulsive. The kind of sound that wraps around you, compels you along into its strange slippery rhythms, before finally lulling you into a beautifully warped hypnogogic sleep state. Highest Recommendation!
First proper full length in nearly 5 years from Planet Mu label head honcho Mike Paradinas, aka Mu-Ziq, and the first Mu-Ziq record we've reviewed in over a decade! So what's changed since we last heard from Paradinas? Quite a bit it seems, at least based on the last record we heard, 2003's Bilious Paths, at which point he still trafficked in a strain of genre hopping short attention span ADD-core, his modus operandi all splattery splice and dice drill and bass, but with the remarkable ability to weave millions of little blurts and squelches into something both melodic and weirdly catchy, densely rhythmic and furiously frantic.
But on Chewed Corners, it seems Paradinas may have mellowed a bit, which is not entirely a bad thing, and we're definitely digging this new sort of sprawling, rhythmic, atmospheric, almost cinematic sound. Check out the opener "Taikon", which starts off with a wistful little melody, before in swoops a crunk-ish beat electro beat, and some thick almost dubstep bass buzz, woozy and moody, shadowy synths, al shimmery and minor key. And while the beat does splinter and get a bit skittery, the rest of the sounds get sorta cosmic and spacey, sounding a bit like some eighties style Goblin-y synth score, swirling processed voices drifting over the top, all tangled up with bass buzzing skitter. Which is pretty much how all of Chewed Corners plays out, very cinematic and synthy, sweeping and epic in places, "Christ Dust" is a plodding synthy dirge, epic and dramatic, Paradinas tweaking it by adding weird ominous low end pulsations, as well as some prismatic chordal swirls, but otherwise it remains moody and atmospheric. "Wipe" does get a bit more stuttery and manic, but eventually remains tethered by some sinewy bass synth and cool cheesy eighties drum bombast, all wound around some swirly John Carpenter synths. And speaking of Carpenter, some of the tracks get downright creepy, check out "Monyth" with its looped minor key melody, that sounds very Halloween-like, but here it's beneath layers of moaning drones and prismatic synth shimmer, not to mention some cool rhythmic skitter, and so it goes, a pretty fantastic collection of epic sountracky electro synthscapes, textured and atmospheric, darkly rhythmic, a little psychedelic and kosmische as well, all of which should for sure hit the spot for the current crop of cinematic synth nerds without pandering to the flavor of the month, and most likely won't disappoint fans of the old Mu-Ziq. We dig!
There's just something about when amazing drummers/percussionists go it alone, those experiments and explorations can produce such adventurous and wonderful sounds. Lately we found ourselves spending LOTS of time with Glen Kotche of Wilco's solo records so weird, enchanting and diverse. And this solo outing by avant garde percussionist Jon Mueller is further proof that despite being the butt of many rock 'n' roll jokes, talented drummers and percussionist just might be the most innovative and creative musicians of them all. Mueller, has played with groups like Collection Of Colonies Of Bees and the Bon Iver side project, Volcano Choir, but it's on this, his Type full length where is creative prowess really comes bursting forth. With influences as wide ranging as Steve Reich's outstanding album Drumming, aQ fave Moondog, gamelan, Tibetan Buddhist rites, and even the creeping ambient elements of black/dark metal, The Whole is a fully realized excursion into the possibilities of percussion.
The lp version comes with a bonus cd, featuring 30 minutes of extra material NOT on the album proper.
Although young enough to be their son, Nico Muhly seems to have a great grasp of the kind of elegance in chamber music that folks like Steve Reich and Philip Glass have developed over the last several decades. The first release on a new label from Iceland, Muhly's name is no upstart in Icelandic music circles as he helped Bjork on Medulla as well as for her score to Matthew Barney's Drawing Restraint 9. The company Muhly keeps gives pretty good insight into the majestic and moving music that he creates. As well as Bjork, Muhly has also collaborated with Philip Glass on lots of stage and film works, and Antony of Antony & The Johnsons, who appears on the last track here. Muhly has a sensitive songwriting hand which keeps the songs on Speaks Volumes subtle enough to remain riveting but with enough emotional weight to keep us coming back for more. So very nice!
Final pressing!! It's taken a long while to get enough of these in stock to list, as they've flown out the door since we started stocking it back in June, and then our distributors kept being sold out of it. Makes a lot of sense that folks have been freaking out over this, as the sounds on Science Of The Sea are some of the most blissed out sounds we've ever heard.
Originally recorded in 1982 (there is debate over that, we will get to that later) by an oceanographer in Germany while living on a houseboat. The sounds on the album undoubtedly talk to the sounds and feeling of the sea. You not only feel like your floating but often that you are underwater yourself. With soft waves glowing in their ripple, as such warm shimmering sounds come gliding out of the grooves of this record. Imagine the right kind of new age bliss injected into the most pastoral & ethereal side of kosmiche glory and you begin to get a picture of what kind of beautiful sounds are found on this album.
While some doubt has been risen as to whether this really is a reissue of some obscure private press from 1982, or in fact the work of a modern artists, perhaps even Brad Rose, the man behind Digitalis. But who knows, and in the end who really cares, as its the music that matters, and the music on this album is beyond gorgeous!
A few months ago, Pitchfork released their list of the most overlooked releases of the year (which happened to feature a few we highly raved about, including former ROTW William Tyler, along with Pharmakon and Prurient), and we were wowed by the sound clips of the British soul singer Laura Mvula and her kaleidoscopic orchestral debut, Sing To the Moon. Mvula blithely channels a psychedelically pastoral folk-soul sound that reminds us of Magic Garden-era Fifth Dimension and Minnie Ripperton from her Rotary Connection days in the late sixties. Sounding like a major Van Dyke Parks production, the orchestral arrangements swell and transport us into a dreamy tapestry of sun-dappled majesty. Cascading harps, bells, horns, flutes and strings tethered by modern rhythms and ethereal gospel choirs are given weight by Mvula's strong yet cool delivery that highlights her incredible control and range. One of the best and unusual modern soul records we've heard in quite awhile. We have been listening to this repeatedly for the past few months and it never fails to transfix. Recommended!
So, it only took twenty-two years? It's a little hard to believe that this album is actually finally here, and not at the bottom of some Irish loch as was rumored to be the fate of some tracks recorded in the mid '90s. But here it is, the follow-up album to My Bloody Valentine's iconic, legendary Loveless. No doubt, you've already read a review or two of mbv, which was initially being sold directly from the band's website and is only now being made available in the shops; and we probably won't sway too far from the prevailing opinions that most seem to have about MBV '13. Yeah, this is definitely My Bloody Valentine, and it's really fucking great to hear another album from the band; but no, it doesn't compare to Loveless. The latter statement isn't fair, as very few records are on par with Loveless; but so many people (we definitely count ourselves amongst those) have been waiting with various degrees of patience for Kevin Shields and company to finally finish something. And here it is.
The album opens with a heavily fuzzed-out, dream-pop number in "She Found Now" with Bilinda Butcher taking up the cooing vocalizations that drift along with Shields bending the whammy bar on his languid, magenta guitar notes. "Only Tomorrow" and "If I Am" are tracks that really do date themselves (favorably, of course!) back to the early '90s again with Bilinda singing to a hip-swaying backbeat and shoegazed guitar melodies that could have graced albums by the more astute MBV acolytes (e.g. The Lilies, Medicine, Lush, etc.). "Who Sees You" is probably about as close to a track from Loveless as you'll get on mbv, but it's more of a the narcotic swarm of sound as opposed to those huge noise-pop singles in "Soon" and "Only Shallow." At the album's conclusion, My Bloody Valentine takes a huge swing into some serious damaged sonic weirdness with "Wonder 2" - which had aQ-ers divided (Jim thought it was a big 'miss', Andee thought it might be his favorite track here, reminding him of MBV style weirdos Teenage Filmstars) - it's clearly a response to Simon Reynolds' long standing argument linking My Bloody Valentine to the birth of jungle / drum 'n' bass. The skittering breakbeat is there; but the song itself with its atonal chunks of sampled guitar noise, that had us thinking it was the sound of a truck driving by outside, seems wholly unrelated to the rhythm and while some here found it forced others found it fractured and blissfully fucked up. That said, mbv is totally worth getting, and diving into, but the big question remains, why the hell did it take so long?
The vinyl edition of mbv includes a cd of the record as well! Oh and sorry it's not cheaper, but we imagine Kevin Shields wants to make the most of / from this release! Plus it's of course an import.
For her first record for Sacred Bones, Marissa Nadler has put together a pretty heavy hitting band, one that features folks like Steve Moore of Zombi, and Eyvind Kang, but really, Nadler doesn't need anyone but her own bad self, her gorgeous, haunting vocals, and delicate guitar playing are practically perfect. Just check out opener "Drive (Fade Into)", the first two minutes of which are just Nadler singing and playing guitars, spare and sparse, ethereal and so lovely, lush, lustrous harmonies, the Mazzy Star vibe which was always present, is huge here, in the phrasing, the timbre of Nadler's voice, occasionally layered into gorgeous multi-tracked harmonies, and while we would have been happy with a solo acoustic record, the band deftly, and quite subtle, add perfect sonic colorations, soft streaks of feedback, shimmery swells of pedal steel, the final stretch all twang flecked and dusky.
From there on out, Nadler and her band deliver one gorgeous song after another, some funereal and somber, dark, dolorous torch songs, others dark slowcore dirges, others darkly dreamy psychedelic country. A few favorites include "1923", laced with Kang's lilting strings, the track peppered with bits of effects dusted guitar swirl, all driven by some gorgeously languid, muted percussion, gloomy downer pop bliss via classic old time songsmithery, or "Dead City Emily", with Nadler's vocals soaring over a tangle of steel string buzz, everything wreathed in echo and reverb, with some surprising bits of piano and synth, the song blossoming into something impossibly expansive and lush, or the haunting dark country of "Desire", which sounds like it could have been performed by Mark Lanegan or David Eugene Edwards from Woven Hand, but at the same time, it couldn't have been anyone but Nadler.
We've loved pretty much everything we've heard, and have raved about almost all of her records, but July definitely takes Nadler's sound, her voice, her songs, to the next level, and positions her as one of this generations most stunning songwriters. Certainly fans of Chelsea Wolfe and Zola Jesus will no doubt love Nadler, if they don't already, but Nadler's sound is much more pure, more classic, some of the songs here do of course have moments of gothiness, and gloominess, but it definitely transcends any micro genre classification, and manages to arrive at something truly timeless, and will definitely be vying for top spots on lots of folks best of 2014 year end lists, even though it's only February.
Fantastic!
The Sister, Marissa Nadler's second self-released lp, is a vehicle for her amazing voice. The instrumentation and melodies are kept quite minimal, at least on the surface. Sometimes on songs like "Christine", once the chorus has time to build, the song crescendoes into soft layers of swirling synths and swelling cymbal washes. These always take second chair to Nadler's effortless vocal melodies, the fingerpicked guitar her primary companion throughout the record. The Sister has a subdued quality to it, never rising too high or sinking too low, and although these are beautiful songs executed with skill, there's not a stand-out number that especially stands apart from the rest. Her last, self-titled record had the synth-driven "Wedding" and the poppy Mazzy Star-esque "The Sun Always Reminds Me of You" which made that really good record great. The Sister is a record that longtime fans of Marissa Nadler's magic will enjoy, but newcomers might find Little Hells or her previous self-titled record more memorable. Still, this is an excellent record for sleepy Sunday mornings and dreamy summer nights.
We've always been big fans of the warm and shimmery sounds of this great Japanese psych-pop outfit but somehow their new album is making us fall in love with them all over again and it's proving to be quite possibly their best outing yet! We love how the band are able to evoke those hard to describe lingering moments on lazy Sunday afternoons, or the feeling of walking along the pier as the sun slightly reflects against the slow moving waves and all your other thoughts just fade away. Tapping into the great tradition of Japanese psych-folk/pop that folks like Melting Glass Box and Happy End first explored in the '70s, and even reminding us at times of that great Milton Nascimento record Clube Da Esquina that we gushed about last list. As always we hear the influence of the dreamy passages of Neil Young records, especially On The Beach, which we've been listening to immediately after this record pretty much every single Sunday since Yosuga came out. Highly recommended!
This is the one! If you've ever heard someone playing Milton Nascimento, some sweet soothing sounds dazzling your ears, chances are it was this record. As many of us can attest to, just picking out any Milton Nascimento record can be a bit risky as his entire back catalog is quite varied and there are some not so hot moments, but all sins are forgiven with this record, an album that we dare say ranks as one of our favorite albums of all time!
Clube Da Esquina is a stunning disc of psychedelic pop that manage to be as dreamy and pastoral as it is tropical and full of life. Bursting with warmth and rich color this is a record we will never get sick of. It's not psychedelic in an obvious look-how-weird-I-can-be way, but instead it's about a slow melting lull, soft swirls and subtle shifts in sounds. One moment it's the dreamiest most lovely song you've ever heard and the next the warm sun is shining and all you want to be doing is running and twirling in the sand. As lush, gorgeous and dynamic as anything Caetano Veloso has created. We can't praise this record enough! Lo Borges is the big unsung hero of this album, not even 20 years old when it was made he helped with many of the arrangements, sang and wrote many of the songs...
Truly a perfect album from start to finish, an hour long trip filled with sunshine and surprise, melody and sophisticated glory. It's no surprise that songs on this record have been covered by the likes of Savath & Savalas and Tortoise and Bonnie Prince Billy. As these are songs that will always sound so alive and of the moment. Undoubtedly it's a record that's had a huge impact on everyone from Devendra Banhart, The Shins, Eden Express, Beck, Brightblack, Vetiver, Jose Gonzales, etc. And a must have for anyone who loves folks like Veloso, Gerard Manset, Eduardo Mateo, Congregacion, Alceu Valenca, Serge Gainsbourg, The Beatles, Melting Glass Box, Magical Power Mako, etc. No matter how obscure or mainstream your tastes tend to be, this is one of those records whose beauty and genius just can't be denied. We know we're always telling you about so many amazing records that you really just can't live without, but this time (again!) we really mean it!
Milton Nascimento's North American debut record from 1969 came at the end of the huge wave of the bossa nova movement that had infiltrated the American imagination since Astrud Gilberto's "Girl From Ipanema" with Stan Getz in 1963. A&M records and producer Creed Taylor were behind some of the best records of this period including albums by Antonio Carlos Jobim, Sergio Mendes and Joao Gilberto, and Nascimento's Courage is no exception. Beautifully arranged and sung, this is where many of his most popular Brazilian songs were heard for the first time including "Vera Cruz", "Morro Velho" and "Bridges (Travessia)". Singing in Portuguese, English and sometimes wordlessly, this is a breathtaking record. While it doesn't have the psych flourishes and Tropicalia bent of Cluba Da Esquina, from a few years later (a unanimous store favorite!) it's still an essential record and perfect for lazy and wistful summer evenings.
Finally a new Necks record! And as usual, it's a single epic, slowly shifting jazzscape, shuffling and hypnotic, circular and completely gorgeous. Folks around here have been totally smitten by this Australian minimal jazz trio for years now. Every record another new 'song', most of their releases are one long piece, which makes sense once you understand the Necks.
If Circle are the masters of repetitive, motorik hypnorock, then the Necks are their jazz equivalent, unfurling endlessly looping, slow shifting Steve Reich-ian dark jazz epics, and like Circle, while there is a motorik element to the rhythm and the groove, it's much more fluid, almost like some strange living shape, and it seems like maybe these guys aren't playing it so much as trying to control the sound, pushing and pulling, stretching and shaping. And the songs are only limited by the length of a compact disc, they all sound like they could, nay should, go on forever (there was a rumor of a Necks 24 hour performance!!).
We sometimes joke about Necks records all sounding quite similar, and sure they sort of do, but only on the surface. Each record is a subtle and entirely unique collection of sounds. Much of it has to do with the compositions themselves, but also the fact that many of the recordings are live performances, which capture a piece, but only the way it was performed that one time. Some are more propulsive (Drive By), and some like this one, are more abstract and ambient.
On Townsville, a single 54 minute performance recorded live in Australia on February 15th 2007 (Andee's Birthday btw), the band reel in their rhythmic tendencies, instead opting to float and flutter, to drift and swirl, the drums are barely even present over the first half of the performance, offering up soft sizzles and billowing clouds of metallic shimmer, the bass too is merely support, offering up dark dense tendrils of low end sprawl and blurred low end whir. It's all about Chris Abrahams' piano, gorgeous glimmering flurries of notes, tossed in the air like confetti, or falling from the sky like snowflakes. It almost sounds like Lubomyr Melnyk is sitting in, offering up some of his swirling 'continuous music' piano. The whole track is one long slow build, the bass and the drums lurking in the background, offering a soft warm sonic bed over which the various notes and chords from the piano dance and drift, moody and melodic and so mesmerizing.
Further into the track, the bass and drums become much more animated, subtly sparring with the piano, the whole band engaged in a series of fluttery swells, but still with the piano leading the way.
Easily one of the jazziest of the Necks discs, but without losing its drone-y minimal psychedelic vibe, so much so that certain parts definitely remind us of the more ambient Circle records, like Tower, Empire or Miljard. Imagine Circle featuring Lubomyr Melnyk on the piano, performing a piece co-written by Steve Reich and Terry Riley, and you'll have an idea of what to expect from Townsville. As with all Necks records, totally divine and totally recommended.
Finally, a complete discography of this proto-Riot Grrl outfit from Portland, Oregon, who only released a couple of eps and singles in their 5 year life-span from 1978-1982, but who inspired generations of Northwest and West Coast bands with sharp-witted songs and disaffectedly casual delivery. Evolving from up-tempo punk to a more nuanced and politically moody new wave, Neo Boys operated heavy on the rhythmic tendencies similar to that of other bands of the day like Pylon, Delta 5 and The Raincoats, but with their own unique voice. Neo Boys were fronted by sisters Kim and K.T. Kincaid on vocals and bass respectively and their two friends Jennifer LoBianca and Pat Baum on guitars and drums. They often played at parties, basements and art galleries, but also opened for such acts as The Wipers, Nico and Television, and were the first all girl group of their kind in the heavily male-dominated Portland music scene. Sooner Or Later details both sides of their trajectory with 44 tracks from rough and dirty punk to the politically charged and complex rhythms of their later output. An amazing revelation and real treat for fans of Grass Widow, Slant 6, Casual Dots and Sleater-Kinney!
There's a lot of '80s inspired indie pop coming out these days, and sometimes it's really run of the mill pop, doused in distortion and lo-fi weirdness simply to sound like the other hip-at-the-moment popsmiths (Ariel Pink, Ty Segall, Kurt Vile, etc.). And that can be ok. But, when a new band's delivery sounds natural and not so contrived, when the music is rife with subtle unique elements, creating a sound that is not easily removable from the song, then we are ALL ears.
Such is the case with Neon Indian, who have a sonic vibe similar to current blog phenomenon and Mexican Summer buzz maker Washed Out, among others, with their ability to take the colorful and catchy side of '80s electro-tinged pop and bring in a slightly warped yet totally contagious and psychedelic sound palette that taps into a parallel universe where Ariel Pink stole Daft Punk beats and stripped them down a bit to make the kind of swirling effortless sounding pop that's just pretty damn impossible to resist. The lush, skillful production gives these songs such a nice timeless feel, while it definitely is a record that speaks to this moment in time in its reflection and reassembling of pop's past, their sample of Todd Rudgren's "Izzat Love" in one of their songs is proof that Neon Indian mastermind Alan Palamo has a good understanding of the kind of pop production that pulls from varied sources to create such a satisfying, and unique sound. This one is proving to be one of our favorite fall jams of '09! Lots of other folks favorite too, and with good reason!
Sometimes the timing of certain 'lost classic' reissues is too perfect, giving us a glimpse of the seeds of sounds to come, a prequel to certain musical trends that are gaining so much momentum in the here and now. Such is the case with this great, lost, lonesome psych classic from the Pacific Northwest, which was originally released in 1970. We're not sure if he's heard it or not, as this has been a really tough one to track down until recently, but man do we hear plenty of Kurt Vile in these old recording! With a fuzzy and faded vibe, The New Dawn crafted breezy yet dirgy pop songs that sound like some awesome combination of Lee Hazlewood, The Sonics, Roy Orbison, George Brigman, The Byrds, and the Velvet Underground. We can't get enough of the warm organ, haunting vocals, hypnotic percussion, just all the right sonic elements that really do evoke some desolate street at night, wet from a recent downpour and the flickering reflection of the moon on the shimmery black of the slick asphalt. So mesmerizing and intoxicating, we're beyond stoked this album is getting its beyond deserved moment!
Besides the obvious influence on Kurt Vile we could see so many other current AQ favorites being super into these sounds...Beach House, Silver Pines, Broadcast, Thee Oh Sees (circa Sucks Blood), The Beets, The Soundcarriers, Gary War, Sic Alps, as well as folks from the '80s and '90s that we love like Rain Parade, The Telescopes, Beachwood Sparks, Dream Syndicate, etc. Forty years after it was originally released There's A New Dawn is still completely captivating!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
You know how every band today wants to sound like they're from 1983. Well this is what the best of 1983 really sounded like and it's a record that has stood the test of time with flying colors. In our humble opinion one of the best pop records of all time!
It's impossible to listen Joanna Newsom casually, and you can never rely on first impressions with her music. In fact as much as some of us here deeply love her albums, there is always a resigned feeling of an endurance test at first, that slowly lets up through repeated listens, until it wears in on you quite nicely. Once comfortable in its structure, its labyrinthian nuances set up like traps of discovery and the overall effect is like a garden just coming to bloom. Divers sits somewhere between her last two records, a couple of long jewel-laden epics, but mostly shorter and more digestible songs. Not as rife with emotion and symbolic as Ys, but more complexly intricate than the '70s California song cycle of Have One On Me.
The hooting sound of an owl opens and closes the album suggesting an Autumnal shift in mood. Indeed Divers reads like an album to be played over a long night, from dusk to dawn. For starters, the piano (as well as Fender Rhodes and harpsichord) dominate. Her signature harp doesn't appear until the third song and though it has a strong presence on Divers as a whole, Newsom seems to want to appear less attached to it, or showcase other talents instead, in which there are plenty here. The orchestrations are incredibly arranged without overwhelming the songs, and her voice and song structures are definitely moving more into Kate Bush territory. It may also be the first time she has tackled a cover, the traditional folk song, "Same Old Man" sung most famously before by Karen Dalton on her second album, and she delivers it beautifully.
Divers won't change the minds of folks who have never got into Newsom before, but longtime fans of her previous work will find more to love. Though we secretly hope her next record will be more of an immediate and less precious affair, like her first album was.
Less immediate than her striking debut Milk Eyed Mender and not as epic sounding as her last album Ys, the new triple album from Joanna Newsom finds her as visionary, intimate and extraordinary as ever! She has earned and deserved the right to require her listeners to luxuriate in her sounds, to have the patience and to focus their full attention on her record while listening. This isn't the sort of record you just casually throw on in a room full of people and quickly make a judgment about, it's a nuanced, dense and meticulously crafted sprawling work that requires a little dedication. It's the kind of record that when played in the store, its hard to focus on and really become immersed in, but once we brought it home with us and listened in the solitude of our bedrooms and in our wanderings through the city, especially on headphones, the songs began to blossom and expand and move us in such thrilling ways.
While she will always be known for her extraordinary harp playing, Have One On Me shows her integrating the harp more seamlessly with other instrumentation. There's plenty of piano and moments of sweeping soundscapery and commanding drums, but not to fear, the majestic harp still shines through. While initial reviews we've read of the record keep throwing around Joni Mitchell comparisons, we don't feel that at all; instead we do feel a HUGE Kate Bush influence at work, much, much more so than any of her previous releases. The way in which the songs are crafted in such an intimate manner, and the surprise moments of a song when an eruption of sound comes when least expected. Being that many of us here at AQ are huge Kate Bush admirers we love seeing someone follow in her footsteps with equal intelligence, sophisticated word play and deep running emotion.
In a day and age when our culture is more ADD than ever and we are constantly scrambling for instant gratification, it's so refreshing and rewarding to encounter a collection of songs that requires patience, and one's full attention, that fulfills and enriches and offers so much, with more secrets and musical nuances revealed with every spin, a glorious reward in sound, given to only those pure of heart and open of ear. Another striking achievement from one of the most talented songwriters of our generation!
Well, ok, we should mention that there's a few grumpy nay-sayers here at AQ, who think maybe it's just a bit TOO much Kate Bush, lacking some originality there, but then again, some of those folks were never that into Newsom in the first place, but do in fact like Kate Bush, so they ought to count their blessings 'cause they're gonna be hearing this playing in the store A LOT.
Imagine this scene... as the lights dim a lone figure creeps into the spotlight, it's Bjork! and she's singing the song "It's A Hard Knock Life" from the Broadway musical Annie. Not such a farfetched thought when you think of how much Bjork seems to love Broadway productions, but on The Milk-Eyed Mender it isn't Bjork in the spotlight, it's SF sweetheart Joanna Newsom. Indeed, her voice bears much more than a passing resemblance to that of the Icelandic deity. Its childlike qualities are matched by some equally childlike wonky keyboards in one track, and the general twee simplicity of her music overall. One customer of ours offered the following description of Newsom: "the lovechild of Bjork and the Incredible String Band's Robin Williamson, born in Moominland."
This is the big-time Drag City debut for Ms. Newsom, who's homemade cd-rs we've carried in the past (from which some of this material is drawn, re-recorded). We'll freely admit that her rather cutesy, affected sub-Bjork-ish vocal style may be an acquired taste; it seems that seeing her perform in person makes a big difference, as everyone we know who has attended one of Joanna's solo shows has been entranced and enthused. Heck I think some of 'em fell in love. And love it or hate it, this album really IS all about her singing -- her voice and lyrics -- backed pretty much only by the angelic pluck/strum of her harp. Harp? That's right, Newsom is a classical harpist, whom you may already have heard on the Nervous Cop disc with the drummers from Deerhoof and Hella. This is much different than that, of course. It's Newsom's own thing...simple, folky music, her little-girl vocal stylings, and otherworldly, fairytale persona... something we suspect a lot of people will end up liking, once (if?) attuned to it. After all, "true beauty is difficult but rewarding" says the same customer quoted above.
One of the most anticipated releases this year, Joanna Newsom's second full length Ys (fyi: apparently pronounced 'ease', not 'wise') probably needs no introduction. Before we all drown in the river of salivation, perhaps we should just ring the supper bell and holler, "Come 'n' get it!"
Have you been hearing the rather loud murmurs about how Joanna Newsom is telling all that -- contrary to all of the press portraits of her resembling an Appalachian woodland waif -- she is not simply a folk songstress? Us too, and well, on an initial couple of listens to Ys, it does seem to be true. Yes, she has reinvented herself, somewhat aggressively distancing herself from the young indie folk scene that she helped spawn. It appears all that lingers from The Milk-Eyed Mender is her trusty harp, though even it claims less of the spotlight. Ys most definitely shows much artistic growth and aspiration with a far broader creative scope and production sense. Really, if there's any question that Newsom (and her label Drag City) are goin' for the serious artiste cred, you need look no further than the big gun support and chaperoning courtesy of top shelf luminaries Van Dyke Parks, Steve Albini and Jim O'Rourke. Not unexpectedly, THEY do amazing work on this album. It's stunningly beautiful. With a supporting cast like that, Newsom was clearly afforded full freedom to focus on realizing her vision. But what is that vision? We're not being completely facetious when we suggest two words -- Kate Bush. Heck, she's certainly already captivated the imagination of a similarly obsessive adoring fanbase as Ms Bush's, and maybe just as many naysayers. The mere mention of either artist's name triggers immediate passionate love/hate reactions. Her overall presentation seems so directly inspired by the venerable artist's own eccentric dramatics that you'd almost expect her to break out into "Babooshka" at any moment! Speaking of which with regards to the vocal department, the Kate and Joanna fans around here have likened her pixie-esque singing on this album to Kate Bush as a child minstrel (mind you, the non-Kate and Joanna fans might rephrase that less kindly as Kate Bush as a squeeze toy). Regardless, this is quite the ambitious work. In each of the five lengthy tracks (the longest is 16 minutes!), she unveils her lyrics in theatrical, highly literary fashion. It's still the storybook stuff of romantic fairy tales and whimsical fables, but it's set far less in nature than the rural hued Milk Eyed Mender. It evokes fantastic jewel-toned interiors, stages, salons, tea rooms. At once, dainty and sumptuous. The album defies expectations in wonderful, enchanting ways.
We loved the last Night Marchers record, See You In Magic. It perfectly pushed all of those Rocket From The Crypt buttons, which had remain sadly unpushed for years, while at the same time soothing the hurt we were experience due to the recent dissolution of the Hot Snakes, 3/4 of which made up the bulk of the Night Marchers including of course Mr. John Reis himself, he formerly of Rocket, and of course the late great Drive Like Jehu.
On record number two, very little has changed, but then very little needed to. The songs are just as driving and catchy, the vibe maybe even more RFTC-like this time around, slithery and swaggery, lots of crunch and stomp, howl and slither. It took a while for us to make it past the opener, "Tropical Depression", which we found ourselves listening to over and over and over, the perfect mix of Jehu, Hot Snakes and Rockets, and while initially, the rest of the record doesn't quite reach such great heights, repeated listens seem to prove otherwise, as every song here reveals itself as a dark, twisted, gem, and within the framework of the sound these guys have mastered, they mix it up big time, frantic shuffles (complete with harmonica), pounding groovers, loping poppers, stonery blooz jams, catchy call and response jangle (with horns!), after listening to this whole record a bunch of times, gets harder and harder to pick a favorite, needless to say fans of RFTC, Hot Snakes and even Jehu (and definitely all three), will dig this big time.
Really, what needs to be said about Nirvana's Bleach? Nothing probably. But also everything. Most of the folks here probably rank Bleach as their favorite Nirvana record, and some of us might even include Bleach in our best of all time list as well (c'mon, we know you keep one too, even if it's just in your head). And listening to this again today, it's shocking out great it sounds, not at all dated, better than 90 percent of the music coming out today, and it cost like $600 to record. EVERY song here is a goddamn classic, equal parts punk rock, pop, sludge, grunge, '60s garage, everything perfect, the vocals raspy and raw, the drumming killer, the guitar parts weird and wonderful, thick and heavy and grimy and so utterly catchy. Half the bands around today wouldn't even exist if it weren't for this record, hell, the musical landscape would be WAY different if it weren't for Nirvana, sure we grew up listening to Bleach, but we can only imagine discovering this record today, it would blow your fucking mind. How could a band on their first time out create a record that would basically reinvent rock for a new generation. Odds are most folks probably have this, and some of you are probably big ol' Nirvana geeks like us and will need to buy it again, for the improved sound, the killer packaging, the bonus live show tacked on the end, but if for some crazy reason you've yet to hear this, drop everything, don't buy another record until you take this one home and immerse yourself in its utter rock genius. Listen to the sound samples, and either be reminded how good this record is, or discover your new favorite band and let your life be changed, the way ours were when we first heard this 20 years ago.
The bonus tracks are from a live show recorded in Portland back in 1990, and it sounds amazing. Admittedly, Nirvana live were a dodgy proposition, or at least Kurt was, often singing weirdly or not at all, fucking up songs on purpose, or sometimes not on purpose, but this set is wicked tight, and loud and heavy, the vocals are pretty much perfect, they do some killer covers, some rad non-Bleach songs, and a few songs that would show up on future record, but it's cool to hear with this lineup, live all rough and ragged. And yeah, the new packaging is pretty badass too, no new liner notes but tons of photos and flyers and stuff, the perfect companion to the Live At Reading set which was also just released, and which we'll probably review on the next list.
Nirvana were always a pretty iffy proposition live. Always sloppy and chaotic, sometimes inspiringly so, other times not so much. It wasn't always clear whether it was a drug thing, or a disdain for playing live, or being sick of the music business, but for all of the perfect pop and classic heaviness to be found on their records, live, things often devolved into total mayhem, often gloriously so. Fucking up songs, destroying drum kits, mixing in random covers, letting songs just sort of stumble to a halt, or more famously, changing the lyrics, singing in a deep baritone and hamming it up when forced to lipsync on TV, or not playing the hit the TV people were expecting, instead playing one of the super noisy thrashers. All part of what made Nirvana so cool, and so fun to watch. We had the records if we wanted to hear those songs, we'd much rather see the trainwreck that often occurred live.
This show, for all it's fucked-up-ness and weird goings on, was anything BUT a trainwreck. Widely considered to be one of the best live recordings of the band, hearing this again, all polished up definitely drives that point home. Lots of stuff from both Bleach and Nevermind, the band sound incredible, the recording does too, and even Kurt's vocals are pretty together, the crowd goes apeshit between songs, and rightfully so, witnessing a band totally hitting their stride, and for a band prone to falling apart live, just utterly destroying.
For folks who don't necessarily watch music videos, the cd should be plenty, but we'd have to recommend getting the dvd too, as there was some crazy shit going on (Kurt being rolled on stage in a wheelchair wearing a hospital gown), hilarious between song banter, some equipment destruction and other stuff worth seeing, that was edited out of the recording for the proper release.
Essential for Nirvana fans, and if you need some convincing as to the merits of Nirvana, check out some of the other reviews elsewhere on the aQ website, and we'll do our very best to convince you that Nirvana were indeed one of the best bands EVER.
Oh yeah! It doesn't get more sultry, more sizzling, or more charming then Nite Jewel. Ever since we heard her 12" on Italians Do It Better we've been entranced by this Los Angelas based artist's take on slowed down, slow burning, bedroom dancefloor jams, which sound like some kind of amazing mix of space disco and '80s soul and funk, with a healthy serving of valium in thrown in the mix. Good Evening contains those two great tracks from the Italians Do It Better 12", and thankfully, all the other songs here are just as satisfying as those tracks that reeled us in the first time around. There is something really unique about Nite Jewel's sound, drawing on '80s and '90s soul but infusing those sound with such a nice shoegaze and atmospheric feel, these wonderfully homecrafted tracks really do feel like that kind of D.I.Y. late night dance-in-the-clouds soundtrack we always longed for. While there has definitely been a renaissance in recent years of groups influenced by cosmic disco, Nite Jewel manages to stand out, conjuring and channeling sounds from the hazy and dreamy side of things like Elizabeth Fraser (Cocteau Twins) to dance floor divas like Debby Deb. Who knew someone would ever find a way to bring the spirit of 4AD and mix it with RnB and have it sound so damn fine. We could see Nite Jewel appealing to anyone, from fans of Grouper to Goldfrapp, there's so much to love on this record. Feel the slow burn!
Nite Jewel's album Good Evening is shaping up to be one of our favorites of the year, so we were super excited for these new bedroom jams on her second 12", released on the always great Italians Do It Better label. Taking her hazy lo-fi spaced out slow jam sound to even greater heights of smoky delight. "Want You Back" might just surpass "What Did He Say" as her most infectious song yet! Still somehow infusing a shoegazey and dazed vibe into her coming down from the dance floor grooves. The B-side "All Out Of Order" finds her using a vocoder for maximum slow burn effect, and it's pretty rad that she also included a version of the song in Spanish. As much as we've been playing this we also can't take our eyes off the 12"s cover with its saturated colors and faded image that reminds us of the classic look of 12"s by groups like the Cocteau Twins and My Bloody Valentine. All the way around, an awesome release!
The latest slab of wax, brimming as always with tasty sensual seduction from the fine folks at Italians Do It Better comes courtesy of a Los Angelino who has been creating a well deserved buzz with her slow burning and wholly satisfying take on old school 8-track dance music. With nods to Debbie Deb and classic '80s and '90s R&B as well as a total shoegaze sensibility, this is how we imagine Grouper might sound if she ever made a dance record. The woman behind Nite Jewel is a multimedia artist who dabbles in many worlds (video, performance, installation) but damn we are loving the sultry jams she is whipping up in her bedroom most of all, sounds that are perfect for dancing in OUR bedrooms. So nice!
