- Alan Ezust and Julie Geanakakis
- Albums and Singles
Featuring a wide array ofexotic old and world instruments, fused with modern electronics andvocals in three different languages, Unto Ashes blends the renaissancefolk goth genres into a melange of pathos. Kit Messick's vocals arehauntingly sad on Teach Me How To Drown. Quid Vides begins as a verymellow chant and evolves into Arabic-Turkish dance. Michael Laird'svoice, reminiscent of Art Garfunkel, sounds so peaceful, and his songsare so pretty, yet rather incongruous when he sings about drowning andmisery, as in Scourge. Der letze Ritter sounds like early-period DeadCan Dance, featuring crashing percussion and hyperactive dulcimers. Thediscordant melodies and hand-drum in Conjuration to Lilith gives apagan ritual finale to the recording. Highly recommended. [ed note: To obtain the release, the best place would be at www.untoashes.com] samples:
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- Daniel McKernan
- Albums and Singles
From the first few notesof this CD, it is evident as to why Volcano the Bear is one of StevenStapleton's favorite new groups. With a very diverse instrumentation,ranging from distorted keyboards to horns to strings to live drums,this album whirls into extremely unpredictable directions. At onemoment it's harsh and almost nerve-irking; and at another it's soothingand beautiful. Some tracks feature vocals - a unique voice with a veryeerie feeling to it. The whole album really does drip with a sinkingemotion that you can't quite grasp - full of twists and turns thatleave the listener just plain dumbfounded.samples:
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- Mark Weddle
- Albums and Singles
David Coulter is a multiinstrumentalist who was a contributing member of the Pogues and TestDept., has played with Peter Hammill, The Kronos Quartet, Marc Ribot,Talvin Singh and Roger Eno among others and currently lectures atStratford-upon-Avon College. "INterVENTION" is his solo debut viaMichael Gira's (SWANS, The Angels of Light) Young God Records. Of the13 tracks found here, the majority were recorded between 1996-99 invarious European locations with several different guests, including:Marc Ribot, Steve Nieve (Elvis Costello) and Terry Edwards. To give youan idea of the extensive amount of instrumentation used, here is a listof *just* the stuff Coulter plays: jews harp, krar, soprano andbaritone sax, one-string fiddle, violin, accordion, terracotta pottsand paper, violectra, double bass, soprano saw, shaker, viola, variousdidjeridus, bowed bass, hand claps, guitar, and berimbau. Wow! Themusic is rather difficult to explain (which is good) ... textureddrones, percussive bits, unidentifiable/found sounds and a few spokenword passages and wailing vocal parts. The end result is full butuncluttered, experimentally minded meditations with an almost alien,organic/acoustic flavor throughout. The singing saw and guttural chantsfound in a few pieces took some getting used to but most of the albumis soothing rather than abrasive. And all of it is remarkably differentand interesting. Leave it to Gira to find and release something thiscool, hopefully a sign of things to come from Young God.samples:
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- Mark Weddle
- Albums and Singles
Richard H. Kirk is backonce again, this time resurrecting theElectronic Eye moniker for the first time in 5 years. It doesn't muchmatter which name Kirk uses ... Cabaret Voltaire, Sandoz, Sandoz inDub, Trafficante, Dark Magus, Nitrogen, Sweet Exorcist, Al Jabr, Agentswith False Memories, his given name, etc. ... you always have a generalidea of what to expect from his frequent output. Kirk has donevariations of the same thing for the past decade but he's so damn goodat it it never gets tiresome. He has figured out a way to basicallyremain static without stagnating. "Neurometrik" clocks in just shy of70 minutes with most tracks between 5 and 7 minutes in length. All theusual RHK elements are here: ambient synth textures (including somevery familiar sounds from 1993's "Virtual State"), dub effects, staticand noise, radio transmissions, speech and dialogue samples,ethnic/tribal/jazz samples and loops, massive techno beats and basslines ... a big, thick, danceable sonic soup that sounds asclaustrophobic and paranoid as Kirk is himself. The production is goodwith feedback and grit kept to a minimum and my God are there someabsolutely thumpin' tracks this time around. Yet another great one fromthe master. The 8 page insert displays more of Kirk's concern withtechnological and political oppression via his cryptic, blurred imagesand an adaptation of a letter about a 'financial new order' from theZapatista National Liberation Army of Mexico. Look for the new RichardH. Kirk album "Loopstatic" via Touch in March/April and, no doubt,several more discs throughout the year.samples:
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- Jon Whitney
- Albums and Singles
- Jon Whitney
- Albums and Singles
- Mark Robinson
- Albums and Singles
The first release onTricky's Durban Poison label, this album from English collective TheBaby Namboos expands the boundaries of trip-hop (a genre which hasbecome rather tired lately), presenting interesting pop songs, soulfulmelodies and just enough rap and reggae to keep you interested. Thisalbum actually suprised me with its quality, especially considering thepoor caliber of Tricky's last album. The actual music on Ancoats2zambiais actually more reminiscent of groups like Massive Attack (who've longbeen innovators in the trip-hop genre) than Tricky, although hisinfluence is evident. Comparisons aside, this album is pretty tight.Tracks like "Get Your Head Down", "Late Night Antics" and the titletrack are funky and have a slight reggae influence, whereas tracks like"Holy" and "Hard Times" are much more soulful. These more soulfultracks feature wonderful vocals by Auroraborealis, who sounds verysimilar to the various female singers Tricky (who does make a guestappearance on a few tracks) has used over the years. Her contributionprovides part of the same sort of juxtaposition between sung femalevocals and harsher raps that Tricky has thrived off of using for hisentire career. As a bonus, this disc includes two excellent remixes ofthe title track, one by Portishead's Geoff Barrow and the other byDillinja (whose origin I'm unsure about). Although this album is quitegood and an impressive debut, I wouldn't quite rank it up there withthe output of trip-hop innovators like Portishead and Massive Attack.samples:
- due soon
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- Marc Fallen
- Albums and Singles
Why review a Cure recordfor Brainwashed? Well, the powers that be have tried to make us believethat this latest record is a return to the good old days ofDisintegration or even Pornography, and I think a substantial part ofthe Brainwashed audience enjoyed moping to those records when they cameout about 10 and 20 years ago, respectively. However, don't letyourselves be fooled - it's nowhere close. Never believe marketingbabble, never listen to a man who still hasn't learned how to put onlipstick after 25 years of practice.Read More
- Mark Weddle
- Albums and Singles
Public Image Limited wasfounded in 1978 mere months after the chaotic demise of the SexPistols. John Lydon started anew with friends Keith Levene and JahWobble (arguably the finest PiL line-up ever) as a hybridpunk/improvisational/experimental/dub outfit owing as much or more toCan and Lee Perry than the Pistols or any of the UK punk rock of theprevious few years. They continually changed their sound, ideas, imageand purpose (not to mention band members, including: Martin Atkins,Steve Vai and John McGeoch) throughout the next 15 years successfullytouching on a diverse array of styles: unclassifiable, pop, dance andhard rock/metal, all graced with Lydon's caterwaul vocals. Much of thismusic sounds as fresh and original as it did then, decades after thefact. "Plastic Box" takes the 1990 "The Greatest Hits ... So Far" bestof/singles collection and expands upon it greatly with 64 tracks on 4packed cds that collect much of the output between 1978 and 1992,including several rarities. Discs 1 and 2 give you all of the debutalbum "Public Image/First Issue" (save for "Fodderstompf"), all of"Flowers of Romance", about 1/2 of "Metal Box/Second Edition" (PiL'sfinest moment!), 3 live BBC session tracks from 1979, a rarecompilation only track ("Pied Piper") and various 7" and 12" B-sides.Discs 3 and 4 give you all of "This is What You Want ... This is WhatYou Get", all of "Album/Compact Disc/Cassette" (save for "Bags"),various tracks from the less than stellar mid to late '80s pop/dancealbums, a soundtrack only song ("Criminal") and 4 more live BBC sessiontracks ("That What is Not" songs) from 1992. Thankfully, nothing isincluded from the mediocre "Paris Au Printemps" and "Live in Tokyo"albums. The real treat here is for the hard core PiL collectors likemyself: the BBC sessions and the B-sides which were previouslyunreleased and previously unavailable on cd, respectively. The BBCsessions aren't too terribly different from the album versions and abit sloppy in places but they're still worth owning and many of thesingle B-sides are the strangest, most experimental output ever fromPiL. "Plastic Box" is relatively cheap at ~$54 and is definitely bestfor completists. If you're new to PiL give the easy to find "TheGreatest Hits.." a try first. The packaging is really cool: a doublethick jewel case with 'plastic box' and PiL logos emblazoned on thefront and back (each of the cds has a brightly colored PiL logo aswell) in a plastic slip case cover. The 36 page booklet contains bandand memorabilia pics, liner notes by Lydon with brief comments on eachtrack and an interesting declaration at the end: "And by the way, thiscollection represents a comma not a full stop, I fully intend to carryon with P.I.L and there will be MORE IN THE FUTURE." Lydon is currentlyhost of "Rotten Radio" at eyada.com and "Rotten TV" on VH1 and has beenpromoting a few Sex Pistols documentary films ...samples:
- Don't Ask Me
- fff
- Flowers of Romance
- Love Hope (BBC Session version)
- Poptones (BBC Session version)
- Public Image
- This is Not a Love Song (12" remix)
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- Jason Hyde
- Albums and Singles
Through Piskidisk comesthis release from Rose MacDowell's Sorrow and various other relatedbands. The first two songs, from Sorrow, are very much in the vein oftheir pretty folk-influenced work, although with less of a pop (not aninsult) feel. A short folky instrumental followed by "The FinalSolstice," a more ambient, lovely piece with Rose's inimitable vocalsfloating over a lovely backdrop of keyboards, cello, and uiellaen (sp?)pipes. Very nice, but the next song, "Extracts from the Faery Queene,"features David Tibet's spoken vocals over minimal, creepy electronics,and it's absolutely brilliant. Judging by the title, I'd guess that thelyrics are adapted from the masque of the same name, but i'm notfamiliar with it, so i don't know for sure. Going from Strength toStrength, this is followed by Rosa Mundi's, "The Snowman," with JohnBalance doing the lead vocals and Rose providing ethereal backing. Thiscould easily be as wonderful as their version of "Christmas is DrawingNear." It makes me especially impatient for a full length Rosa Mundidisc. The Velocity Star (no details about this project) cover of "WarmLeatherette" is fun, yet nothing too spectacular, the instrumentationis very similar to TVOD's original version, with some noisier soundsadded. The final song, "Butterfly Hawk," by the equally mysteriousResonance, is superb as well, another beautiful piece very much alongthe lines of the Sorrow tracks. The only real complaint I have is thatit's a CDR instead of an actual CD. The cover art is nice, a simplewhite background with red paint thrown accross like blood and the titlein Rose's handwritten script. If you can still find this (as it'slimited to 500 copies), it's definitely worth picking up, especiallyfor Current 93 and Coil fans...samples:
- Sorrow - The Final Solstice
- Rosa Mundi - The Snow Man
- Velocity Star - Warm Leatherette
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- Jason Olariu
- Albums and Singles
San Diego's favorite sons offer up a marvelous return to form on theirlatest Ep. Forgoing the Saints/R&B-driven sound of their past twoalbums, "Cut And Play" is reminiscent of their awesome "Circa:Now!"style, all melodic rock noise. "If The Bird Could Fly", "Blood Robots",and "Hot Wired" all have that post-Husker Du sound of early RFTC, withthe guitars at 11 and the drums racing faster than a trucker on thehighway with a full bladder and thirty miles until the next rest stop."Waste It" pounds along at a steady pace, pretty much a generic RFTCtune, until the bridge, when all the instruments collide in a freejazz/improv beautiful noise pile-up. The last cut, "Who Let The SnakesIn??", features their trademark greaser punk-style horns, and could havebeen an outtake from "Scream, Dracula, Scream." Amazingly, these boysnever do less than thrill, even though their regular albums don't quitematch up in energy to their blazing vinyl output (kind of likeSquarepusher, right, Jon?).no comment - Jon
samples:
- see your mom at www.flappingjet.com
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