- Matthew Amundsen
- Albums and Singles
Graham Lewis revives his previous electronic group He Said, naming the new incarnation 27#11. Joined by Thomas Öberg and Markus Turnkey, the songs on this single are some of the catchiest, poppiest, and most danceable tunes Lewis has ever released. The first track is a cover of the Monks' "Oh, How to Do Now," which also appears on the Monks tribute CD Silver Monk Time as well as in the Monks documentary The Trans-Atlantic Feedback. They turn the fuzzy original into an energetic dance song, a brisk workout that would leave most dancers gasping for breath. On the flipside is "Show Me How," a similarly paced excursion into darker territory. With superb dynamics and pauses in all the right places, there's never a chance for my attention to wander. These songs certainly don't overstay their welcome, and their brevity only heightens their appeal. Make no mistake, this doesn't sound anything like Wire. Rather, it's a bold electronic venture that whets my appetite for a full-length hopefully later this year.
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
ANTHOLOGY RECORDINGS ANNOUNCES NEW RELEASES
Baby Grandmothers, Bedemon, Wizz Jones, White Flame, Fresh Maggots, D.R.
Hooker, 1,000 Mexicans & Thai Beat A Go-Go Vol.1 OUT NOW
Also announces alliance with New York's OTHER MUSIC
Rare And Out-Of-Print Recordings Available Via Download
Anthology Recordings has announced eight new digital only releases, which will be available for download as of March 5th - Bedemon's "Child Of Darkness" (Doom legends and Pentagram side project circa 1973), Baby Grandmothers "s/t"(short lived and ultra rare Swedish Psych compiled by Dungen's Reine Fiske), Wizz Jones, "The Legendary Me" (1970 set from this Folk legend), White Flame (unreleased 1978 private pressing filled with stooges/Iggy weirdness), Fresh Maggots "...Hatched" (1971 'acid folk' cult classic), 1,000 Mexicans "Music While You Work" (Rare Post-Punk/New Wave circa 1983), Thai Beat A Go-Go Vol.1 (Incredible & ultra rare recordings from Thailand in the 60's) & D.R. Hooker (Psych private pressing from Connecticut).All releases can be accessed at www.anthologyrecordings.com and downloaded as a full album or as single tracks along with the album's original artwork.
Additionally, Anthology has announced that select titles will made available through Other Music's (New York's finest Indie retailer) digital store. Though still in the works, the store has plans of launching within the next month or so.
Future Releases will include the Lucifer Rising soundtrack (Score to Kenneth Anger's cult film by Bobby Beausoleil with the Freedom Orchestra), a collaboration with Finland's legendary Love Records, Night Sun (Acid Rock classic from Germany), Scientists (Australia's Dirgy Noise/Punk legends), a digital NWOBHM 7" series (including Witchfynde, Paralex, Bashful Alley, 100% Proof and others), a series of Hip Hop release (they're coming, we promise!!) and much more. The site will continuously add new music.
The label was founded in January 2006 by Keith Abrahamsson, who is also A&R for NYC based Indie label Kemado Records and has signed acts like The Sword, Dungen, Lansing-Dreiden and Danava (among others) and recently put together the label's Invaders compilation. With the demand for digital music mounting, Abrahamsson was struck by the lack of obscure titles available on high volume retailers - a wrong Anthology is determined to right by allowing fans of less-mainstream music the access they've been missing. Anthology will also serve and function as a regular reissue label, promoting and marketing each release.
Anthology Recordings is not intended to be the antidote to crate digging, but a resource for music fanatics who would otherwise not hear these rare titles. Making the music available digitally is an affordable option for both the label and the consumer.
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
artist: MERZBOW
title: Merzbear
catalog #: IMPREC136
upc: 793447513621
release date: March 27, 2007
format: CD
Author, activist, painter and sound artist Masami Akita had been at the foreground of experimental music for over 25 years. Inspired by psycedelic rock, free jazz, early electronic composition as well the physical arts, especially Kurt Schwitters' Merzbau, Masami Akita has created a musical language all his own.
Merzbear is the sixth Merzbow release in his utterly essential Merz series for Important Records.
Merzbear pulses and pounds with distorted droning heavy guitar feedback, pulsing noise-blasts and swirling analog sounds of Akita's distinct EMS Sythi. Like most of Merzbow's recordings, Merzbear is a significant document of his ever evolving improvisational style. Slowly, he's been moving away from his pure laptop era and re-incorporating elements of his pre-laptop analog days w/ his homemade junk guitar, EMS Synthi & electronics. This hybrid sound brings the past into the present and pounds with total junk-collage Dada urgency as only Masami Akita can do it. Cover art by Jenny Akita.
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
The debut album from the latest Bad Seeds off-shoot is a breath of fresh air compared to the recent stodgy and MOR output of Nick Cave. What the Bad Seeds did years ago with the blues, Grinderman have done with garage rock. Eleven songs of no bullshit and no fucking about with song structures or melodies have resulted in an exciting album. To paraphrase Cave, Grinderman is old farts making music for old farts (and Martyn P. Casey's "I love Status Quo" haircut certainly backs up this statement). Well if this is growing old, then I cannot wait for my bus pass to arrive!
The album screams off the starting line with the two singles, "Get It On" and "No Pussy Blues." Both songs are shambolicly heavy but with heavy doses of humour peppered throughout. Pulverising, overdriven bass and guitar drive both songs home with a ferocity that has long been absent from Cave’s music. It is unfair of me to label this as being Cave’s music though, it as much the work of the other musicians as it is his. This becomes obvious once the CD starts spinning. This is the sound of four men in a rehearsal room jamming out the stress of the week into a burst of pure escape from their normal musical roles. Gone are all the orchestrations of their day jobs with Cave and instead there is a vibrant sense of adventure.
It is easy but misleading to compare this album to early Bad Seeds or even The Birthday Party; Grinderman are a very different entity. Even at their most tongue in cheek, the Bad Seeds never made me grin as much as the songs featured here and the heaviness is far enough removed from The Birthday Party’s storming style to discount that comparison altogether. From the tacky cover art down to the lyrics and the playing, there is a playfulness here that makes this album instantly loveable. Cave’s twisted humour comes through strongest during “Go Tell the Women” and the aforementioned “No Pussy Blues.” His funny side is sometimes lost with the Bad Seeds but shines through here like a beacon.
It is not all giggles and smiles though, Grinderman have a serious side too. Dedicated to the recently late Alice Coltrane "Electric Alice" is a furiously sad piece of music. Warren Ellis' violin is looped and processed while the rest of the group sketch out the rest of the song over it. Later on, "When my Love Comes Down" is a slithering, hormonal groove that is one of the highlights of the album. The album finishes with "Love Bomb," which sounds like the afterbirth of The Velvet Underground's "Sister Ray." Although instead of searching for his mainline, Cave is "searching on the Internet."
I was afraid that this album would not have the depth that brings me back to other albums by all these musicians but I think my fears are unfounded. Apart from the occasionally awful bit of remedial guitar playing by Cave, I find little fault with Grinderman. Some of the songs I can see myself skipping unless I am in the mood but I honestly think that future emphasis should be on Grinderman and not the Bad Seeds. Comparing this with the recent live box released by the latter, there is no contest here between them. It is not often I immediately restart an album after it finishes but I cannot stop listening to Grinderman.
samples:
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
Kevin Barnes becomes a glam-rock icon named Georgie Fruit on this record, or so he claims. Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? has been described by Barnes as a conceptual project for just this reason, but no matter how many cultural references he might make in his lyrics I don't keep coming back for them, nor do I find them particularly appealing. Of Montreal's latest record is enjoyable because it's catchy, not because there's anything special about Barnes' brand of peculiarity.
Polyvinyl
Satanic Panic in the Attic begins with "Disconnect the Dots," one hell of a catchy opening number: its appeal is immediate and the lyrics, delivered as strongly as they are, are almost impossible to forget. Barnes nearly outdoes himself on his newest album with "Suffer for Fashion," an opening song so strong that it is followed by a wimpy minute-long song that serves more as a transition into "Cato as a Pun" than anything else. Had these two songs sat next to each other, it might've been a pop overload almost too sweet for even the most ardent fans of sugary goodness to enjoy. Of Montreal can churn out memorable melodies with ease and it's almost no surprise that Hissing Fauna is filled from beginning to end with them. Despite that fact, it is somehow less satisfying than Satanic Panic in the Attic and I think it must have something to do with Barnes and this whole "conceptual record" business.
The band's bizarre stage presence and storied past seem to be catching up with them: it is as though they've decided their unique and almost always entertaining take on pop isn't enough to keep them afloat anymore and so they've decided they need something extra, something special. Everyone has heard stories about their live performances and it isn't difficult to surmise that Barnes is a pretty unique character, but it's as though those facts have stifled the song writing process, interrupted the band's natural creative efforts, and replaced them with bits of kitsch that simply aren't as enduring. The previously mentioned songs on this album are fantastic, up to par with the group's past efforts, and brimming over with catchy hooks, none of which rely on simplicity or dumbed-down performances. On the other hand songs like "Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse" and "A Sentence of Sorts in Kongsvinger" sound flat, the verses existing only so that the chorus can come into play and get stuck in people's heads. They're fun to listen to, but become old very quickly, even with their brief durations. I get the feeling it must be because Barnes wanted everything on this album to fit together nice and tight, part of some greater idea that never becomes explicitly clear on the record. I don't care who Georgie Fruit is and I can't imagine why anyone else would: the thrust and groove of "The Past is a Grotesque Animal" is far more interesting and a bigger virtue to the record than any imaginary transformation that might be taking place throughout the record (if one takes some liberties with the lyrics).
Once all the flash and awe associated with the word "conceptual" seeps away from the record, Hissing Fauna... shows itself to be a flawed record with moments of brilliance. Beyond the previously mentioned tunes, "Labyrinthian Pomp" and "Faberge Falls for Shuggie" showcase Barnes' ability to play with genres and to twist them into a pop framework successfully. This tendency in his writing, to take influence from anywhere whatsoever and to use those influences well, is unique enough to make Of Montreal a great band. Keeping that in mind, all this extra fluff surrounding this record and Barnes' recent internet activity merely detracts from that fact. I will be happy when all the attention the band has been getting passes: perhaps then Of Montreal will return to their songs and give them all the attention they need. As it stands they're wasting it in unnecessary ways and their art is suffering for it.
samples:
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
| CSR81TS (16th March 2007) Merzbow Vs Nordvargr | Partikel T-Shirt |
 |
Over `n out Justin / COLD SPRING |
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
This compilation of Harvey's various works for film mostly covers his work for obscure German and Australian indie films (most of which I have never heard of let alone seen). Harvey has an exceptional amount of skill that is hidden much of the time, even on his own solo albums. Here he explores palettes and tones of a much more subtle manner compared to his day jobs. The emphasis is, of course, on mood and tension. Not all of the compositions are brilliant but most of them are prime examples of Harvey firing on all cylinders.
Mute
There is little emphasis on Chopper as the full soundtrack is already available so it can be safely glossed over. The three pieces from it included here provide enough of a glimpse into that soundtrack without extending to unnecessary repetition. Instead there is plenty of room to explore Harvey's far more unknown works. The opening piece "Two Guitars," taken from the film Lighting Fires, is a far cry from any of Harvey's work that I have heard before. As the title suggests, the music is made up of two guitars playing with each other, making a glorious, glistening and minimalist start to the album. The refrain is revisited later on "Three Guitars" (taken from the same film), the simple and stark beauty of these two pieces is astonishing. Not to say that the rest of the album is any less good but Harvey definitely had his "I'm writing a fucking great piece of music" hat on when he did Lighting Fires.
The album does dip around the middle with the material from Frank Hurley – The Man Who Made History. I think if I saw the documentary I might be of a different opinion as Hurley's photography is strong enough on its own without the need of a musical accompaniment. It is a daunting task to soundtrack them. It feels like Harvey is holding back as the pictures on the screen should speak thousands of word. However, without the imagery to with the music I find it hard to connect with what I am listening to. The brevity of these pieces also adds to difficulty in enjoying them on their own; they very easily fade into each other and into the background.
The album is well laid out. Most of the time music taken from the same film is all grouped together but in the case of Lighting Fires and Chopper the pieces are scattered throughout the disc. In the case of these last two, this arrangement stops the repetitive nature of film music getting in the way of the quality of the pieces. The other films do not tend to have as obviously repetitive themes or at the very least blend into each other better so it is not such a problem for them to be grouped together.
Overall, Motion Picture Music '94-'05 is a wonderful and varied album that covers some of Harvey's best work as a solo artist. I hope he continues to make such interesting music outside the Bad Seeds as I would love to hear more material like this. It is hard to find soundtrack music that exists just as powerfully without a film to go with it but Harvey's attempts can be appreciated on their own merit very easily.
samples:
coming soon
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
This 2CD and 2DVD box set is much better than expected. Not being a fan of the last Bad Seeds album made me think twice about buying this but despite focusing heavily on songs from The Abattoir Blues/Lyre of Orpheus double album, this is a nice addition to the Bad Seeds back catalog. It is by no means the best of Cave's live albums or DVDs but it is still well worth investigating.
Mute
On the audio side of things, The Abattoir Blues Tour 2004 CDs are good. Performance wise these discs are not a patch on previous Bad Seeds live albums such as Live Seeds. However, many of the newer songs sound much better here than on their respective studio albums. "O Children" and "There She Goes My Beautiful World" are invigorating and powerful, each one is 10 times the song that appears on The Abattoir Blues/Lyre of Orpheus. The same cannot be said of "Stagger Lee" or "Deanna," the former now with bonus extra verses that were cute the first time I heard them but with repeated listens "Stagger Lee" proves to have lost most of its menace. I feel Cave could have picked a better setlist; there are many of his older songs that would work better with his gospel backing singers (although I must say, the version of "Lay Me Low" featured here is brilliant).
The two DVDs cover a show from the tour for The Abattoir Blues/Lyre of Orpheus and another from the Nocturama tour. The sound and video for both discs is excellent (although I cannot comment on the 5.1 mixes as I have only a lowly stereo set up). Some of the shots are beautiful, especially the ones focusing on Cave's silhouette on the wall; it looks like a giant shadow version of Cave is picking its way through the crowd. The rest of the band get a healthy amount of screen time although with so much happening on stage it feels like I am missing out on something no matter where the camera is pointing.
The first disc containing the newer show is unsurprisingly dominated by songs from Cave's last studio release with a handful of crowd pleasers thrown slapdash at the end. The same problems and highlights from the audio discs make their appearances here. Three songs not included on the CDs are included here, all from The Abattoir Blues/Lyre of Orpheus. At this point I must vent my frustration with Cave’s insistence on including “The Ship Song” at every possible opportunity. It is a great song but there are dozens of songs in his back catalogue as good if not better that never get an airing. Plus with this appearing on so many releases I am fatigued by it, what was once a beautiful and moving song is now a lighters in the air sing-a-long special.
The show from the Nocturama tour on the second DVD features a much more balanced set. I felt that Nocturama was a flawed record but that some of the songs were up there with Cave’s best. In particular "Wonderful Life" is a firm favorite of mine and the rendition here is superb. From here on, the band dips into different parts of Cave's back catalog and even includes a Birthday Party song, an electric version of “Wild World” where Warren Ellis replaces Roland S. Howard’s guitar with some sublimely overdriven violin. Unfortunately the set is far too short; I could have happily watched more from this concert.
The videos included on the second DVD fall into two categories. The first is the instantly forgettable videos of The Bad Seeds miming to the song on a soundstage or a regular stage (like "Nature Boy" and "Get Ready for Love"). The second is the funny Nick Cave video category. "Breathless" is like the makers of Bambi made a cartoon especially for Cave; the sight of the cutesy bluebirds flying around the band is hilarious. Equally humorous is the video for "Babe, I’m on Fire" (which was originally included as a bonus with Nocturama) where the band act out the parts of the dozens of characters listed in the song. Also included is a behind the scenes documentary of The Abattoir Blues/Lyre of Orpheus which could have been more informative and could have been edited better; the answers given by the interviewees seem to be hacked together.
For the money, this is a pretty nice release considering there is so much material included. Anyone who liked Cave’s recent work should love this and, even as someone disappointed with his recent work, I found this to be a highly enjoyable set that I will probably come back to a lot.
samples:
"Nature Boy" from the Brixton Academy show, 2004:
"Wild World" from the Hammersmith Apollo show, 2003:
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
With their fourth full length, Dälek leaves the noise and skree of Absence behind them and offer up instead a more contemplative effort. This album demonstrates that you don't need to clobber people over the head with sonic violence to get the point across.
While I've been an unabashed fan of Dälek's work for years, even I found their last outing for Ipecac, Absence, to be something of an acquired taste. It's an impeccably produced onslaught of angry, dense noise that makes its point, but it's not a record that I have returned to a lot because listening to it tends to take a toll on my state of mind.
Dälek had been on a trajectory towards that violent, monolithic sound for some time, and Absence represented the logical conclusion to a path where every track got bigger and louder than the last. Starting with 2006's Ad Noiseam 12", Streets All Amped, Dälek seemed to be easing their way back out of that dense, noisy corner, and now I think they've found a new direction. Abandoned Language winds up saying all of the same things and hitting on all of their favorite themes, but with a subtlety that wasn't possible with everything cranked past 11.
Here, Dälek have gone back to the more straightforward sound of their early work like Negro Necro Nekros, building around old school beats and dead ahead rhymes. The Dälek production style is still evident in layer after layer of discordant drones and samples, but Abandoned Language is full of space, melody, and detail too. Stripping out some of distortion allows Dälek's voice to rise to the surface and turning the volume down from time to time gives the album a dynamic range that Absence lacked.
This might be Dälek's most accessible album to date, but it's no less angry or direct than anything else they've released. On the surface, this might seem like a band that is mellowing but in fact, I'd say just the opposite is true. Abandoned Language works in ways that a bombastic onslaught can't; it's a kin to the difference between fighting with fists and fighting with words and I think that Dälek is proving that the subtle, calculated fight can be more effective than brute force.
samples:
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
Nathan Michaels' music could be nothing short of massive. Aphotic Leech is no happy experience, but it is a commanding piece of music with no shortage of powerful moments.
The delicate piano performances transform into ominous war drums with time, the guitar sounds like the sick wheezing of some mutated monster rotting away in a subterranean prison, and whatever other manipulated instruments Nathan Michaels employs are dim, wrecked shadows of their former glory.
"Aphotic" is an adjective meaning "having no light." It can also describe any part of the ocean where light from the sun cannot reach. It's useful to think about the types of creatures that live in that part of the ocean for the purposes of imagining what portions of this record sound like. Though it begins with the seemingly innocent striking of rather unaltered piano melodies, the album quickly dissolves into a murky wash of thickly distorted guitar and other resonant, full sounds. The image of a leviathan swallowing up the ocean floor isn't an inappropriate one as the music seems to rumble by; the music doesn't simply emerge from the speakers and pass into the air, it exerts a physical presence on my ears and presses the warmth right out of the room.
Amid all the darkness, however, are some finer, brighter moments where Michaels' talent for powerful arrangements really stands out. The beginning of the record is fantastic, the music emerging from a hail of static and sizzling electronics. It sounds as if the album will be meditatively dismal for some time, the fuzz sounding like nothing more than a minor detail. A xylophone or some kind of hammered instrument makes a brief appearance, bringing to mind the work of Bohren und der Club of Gore. The careful introduction of added noise and the piano's slow decay flesh the album out perfectly, juxtaposing two extremes tastefully while holding two rather disparate elements of the album together. Michaels' moves quickly: in the first six minutes of the piece he has already developed a natural crescendo and plunged the album into a quiet, brooding place. By the time the guitar erupts, it feels natural, an explosion resulting from a natural increase in pressure.
That sense of a natural progression, which permeates the entire album, emphasizes just how subtle and powerful Michaels' is as a composer. By staying within the parameters of a few effective and complimentary instruments, he manages to craft an entire world of sound with viscerally effective moments. Half Makeshift is a name I'll be looking out for in the future and, with any luck, James Plotkin will be on board again to handle the mastering job: the clarity and immediacy of the sounds on Aphotic Leech stand out in my mind. Despite many of them being heavily processed, they sound full and vibrant on the record, adding an extra punch to an already impressive record.
sample:
Read More
- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
We all know Kieran Hebden is a big jazz fan, nearly all of the samples used in Four Tet recordings originate from jazz records, but it's undeniable that he has continuously made his mark in the pop framework. This third collaborative release with drummer Steve Reid explores the more pop side of things with ten tunes that average between the three and six mintue mark, ripe with riffs, and just about ready to be turned into hit singles.
Like the first two releases, Tongues was recorded live at The Exchange with no overdubs or edits. The major difference is that between April 2005 and February 2006, Hebden and Reid have had considerable more time to play together, touring the world, finding out more about themselves as well as what works and doesn't for them and their audiences. Four Tet fans who may have found the first Exchange Session volumes hard to get into will find an easier time here but Tongues is by no means a Four Tet record.
With 10 songs, the record covers a lot of ground. While more vigorous workout/freakouts like the "People Be Happy" and "The Squid" are more of the norm with aggressive drumming and whimsical electronics, the album launches with the record's two jams with the most commercial potential. "The Sun Never Sets" and "Brain" each initially exploit an almost techno-pop riff, backed by steady but unoppressive drums until each musician pretty much lets loose. Retro-alien sounds mark the bumpy "Superheroes," while lulls like the echoing chimes on their interpretation of the traditional "Greensleeves," and the proverbial harp on "Our Time" allow for some breathing space. What the two have found together over the time playing together is a way to both go nuts and rope things back in without letting a song get way out of control or go on too long. "Left Handed, Left Minded" finishes off the album, opening with some hypnotic malleted drumming accompanied by vinyl surface noise, joined soon by the whirring of digital mixing, but here, things don't let loose and the album tactfully quells to a close instead of ending with some cut at the height of excitement.
While the Four Tet brand is more or less on an unofficial hiatus, it would be great to hear these jazz records between Hebden and Reid destructed and reconstructed by people like Jason Forrest, Kid 606 or others who recycle recorded music only to pull some completely new pop tunes out the other end. Although Tongues is still pretty damn satisfying on its own as is.
samples:
Read More
