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Originally issued locally by a conceptual arts group, the CD never quite made it out of Portland to deserved acclaim. 5 years later, the music has become even more relevant in its combination of minimal analogue grit, dark jazz haze, and marriage of free improvisation to electronic production. Much more than a Fontanelle side project, Project Perfect's recordings capture the early 00's spirit of Portland's musical experimentalism- uncompromising, musical, and uncategorisable.
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All of the pieces are recorded beautifully; Teague makes pleasant, subtle use of dynamics and the album is rich in sound so from that aspect it is a treat for the ears. However, many of the pieces are too much on the schmaltzy Holywood score side of things for me to fully engage with. It's not bad but not particularly interesting. The opening piece, "Introit," is reminiscent of Ennio Morricone's score for The Mission but Teague does not demonstrate the gentle power of Morricone's work. That is not to say that Teague has no power but he is reserved for my tastes. Many of the pieces like "Nephesch" and the two "Tableau" pieces would be run of the mill scores were it not for a few beats or synths on top. The former starts to come into its own towards the end but it is too late in the game for the piece to be fully redeemed. The "Tableau" pieces could be any Danny Elfman soundtrack that has been slightly scratched.
There are a couple of pieces on Coins & Crosses that engaged me. "Accidia" is where Teague makes best use of electronics. After an almost stereotypic orchestral start, synthesisers overwhelm the piece for a short while before the both elements fuse together to sound like a broken music box. It is lovely stuff to say the least. "Fantasia for Strings" (which features no electronics) is a straightforward orchestral composition and is an enjoyable if unoriginal piece. There is no aural signature here for the piece to be identified as a work of Teague's; it could be anyone. That being said, it is pleasant to listen to and is one of the only pieces on the record that works as a piece of music in its own right, the rest of them feel like they are missing something integral.
I feel that Teague could make some nice soundtracks that would work well provided there is a suitable context. As pieces of music on their own, there is not a lot here to set him apart from any working composer. I do not mean to harp on about it all sounding like a soundtrack but many of the pieces have this huge void in them like there is meant to be something accompanying the music. I would be interested to see where he goes from here, there is potential but I feel Teague slightly missed the mark on Coins & Crosses.
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Josef K aren't unique in defying an easily coined description of their essence. Umberto Eco once wrote something to the effect that popular music was on a path to such monotony that eventually the slightest nuance would seem like a musical feast. It's doubtful he heard Josef K, but if they were a coin, then a romantic, amateur dynamic would be heads and a wry manifestation of Eco's opinion would be tails. At times they sported an unadorned melancholy, at others a resplendent, wired, quasi-funk-by-numbers. Their dialectic infused alienated seriousness with tongue-in-cheek fun; as if they surfed on effluent, crossed Hoy in brown suede shoes, and waltzed through fog in sunglasses.
Whether or not they were the blueprint for future small labels, Postcard put out some lovely records. Their beautifully packaged singles proclaimed "The Sound of Young Scotland," yet always felt like the creation of a cottage industry. Both the handwriting-style script and the design of a be-kilted sword-dancing lad imitated an amusing incongruity best executed by that well known snood fancier, Glen Baxter. It bugs me then that the cover of Entomology goes instead for a somewhat heavy-handed allusion to Franz Kafka, perhaps because, despite the name, Josef K never sounded that obvious. On the contrary, they sounded as if they inhabited a corridor of uncertainty; confident as thieves, elusive as youthful exuberance, scratchy, spiraling, hypnotic, groovy, confused, literate, lonely, happily in the shadows. I may be dumb, but the passage of time hasn't erased all the mystery from their lyrics, which still hang like narrative snippets of overheard dialogue.
When listening to Gordon McIntyre from Ballboy & Money Can't Buy Music, at times the late Billy Mackenzie, sometimes even Edwyn Collins, it seems entirely reasonable to demand that every band get a Scottish singer; to insist on the suggestion of the mournful, the wry phrasing as effortless as cold-breath, the thistle-sharp wit and warm-as-Talisker brogue. Paul Haig's voice sometimes skims as gracefully as a pebble across the water. On the magnificent "Chance Meeting," his disconcerting croon holds both the swooning nostalgia of Ferry and the cranked deja vu of Devoto. Malcolm Ross's guitar as scalpel approach is as well-suited to the spunky discord as to the doomed romance. If the past is a foreign country, Josef K are welcome time-travelers, bringing a wealth of hopeless, languid, tension and bags of tragic, restrained, contradictory fun. I prefer the truly exquisite singles, but there's plenty to enjoy from across their fleeting existence. They originally sounded like they existed in the past tense and a quarter of a century hasn't altered those images. In a sense, the deja vu is now double. Anyone wanting more: LTM have a good history of Josef K and many other neglected artists on their roster. As for the grandiose notion of their legacy? It's kinda funny...
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KID ACNE - ROMANCE AIN'T DEAD
Kid Acne, one of the first signings to feature on the Lexoleum compilation back in 2002, finally releases his full length album on Lex.
It's a short sharp shock from a chatty bastard / genius, messed up on spray-paint fumes: 11 tracks of Hip Hop, injected with Punk, Oi! and a touch of old school rave, all produced by Ross Orton from Fat Truckers (who also produced M.I.A.'s first hit album).
Out this spring on vinyl and CD, Romance Ain't Dead is the realisation of South Yorkshire Tourist Board's biggest nightmare and one of the funniest, but slickest albums you will hear all year. The first singles are double A-side picture discs- preview tracks on Kid Acne's MySpace.
BOOM BIP + GRUFF RHYS = NEON NEON
Boom Bip & Gruff Rhys of Super Furry Animals fame first worked together on a track for Bip’s 2005 album ‘Blue Eyed in the Red Room’. Following huge support from Radio 1s Zane Lowe show and the NME, The Do's and the Dont's was released as a ltd 7” and it was only time before they got back together for round 2…
However, nobody guessed that a week in a London studio would build the foundations of a concept album based around the life of 80s automobile impresario John Delorean. Neon Neon are joined by a various guests including Fat Lip from The Pharcyde, Spank Rock and more TBC… join Neon Neon's MySpace for progress reports.
JNEIRO JAREL – SHAPE OF BROAD MINDS
After a Brazilian influenced summertime intro on Lex with the instrumental Beat Journey LP , Jneiro Jarel is set to unleash his latest album project- Shape of Broad Minds - featuring fellow Texan Jawaad Taylor and even Jneiro's own alter egos, Panama Black and Rocque Wun representing Houston, Philadelphia, both coasts and the depths of his wild imagination.
It's a magical mystery tour of fat drums, massively lush synths and jazzier spliced beats – guests include Count Bass D, Q-Tip, and MF DOOM...
Every copy comes with a free ticket back to the future. Due for release before Summer but check our website for a free MP3 download around Valentines day.
NEW FOG LP - DITHERER
Andy Broder's latest album is ready and will be out soon. With 2 additional full-time members to the band, this record is unlike any of his previous studio projects - it's a fully fledged rock album injected with all the power of his amazing live shows but maintaining his lyrical edge, hip hop and jazz references.
Minnesota trio Low join in on one of the calmer tracks but this is not a whistful affair. Ditherer will stand as a rock intervention in your record collection. More info at Fog's website. Hear preview tracks at their Myspace page by clicking the picture above.
SUBTLE - TOUR WITH TV ON THE RADIO US SINGLE - THE MERCURY CRAZE
If you haven't picked up a copy of Subtle's latest album For Hero : For Fool yet, we think you should... and so do plenty of other fans, blogs and critics.
The album has been receiving heavy love across the board and selected as an album of the year by Coke Machine Glow, Drowned in Sound and various Pitchfork editors.
The first single, The Mercury Craze will be available in the US soon on red vinyl 12" and CD, both including a remix by Soft Pink Truth and the band's collaboration with Dan Boeckner of Wolf Parade. the Enhanced CD also includes SSSR's amazing video. If you haven't seen this yet, get yourself to YouTube immediately.
In exciting live developments, Subtle will be touring the US East Coast with TV On The Radio:
March 1st - Providence / 2nd - Boston / 3rd - Montreal / 4th - Toronto / 6th - Cleveland / 7th - Columbus / 8th - Indianapolis / 9th - Louisville / 10th - Columbia / 12th and 13th - Chicago / 14th and 15th - Minneapolis / 16th - Milwaukee / 17th - Kansas City / 20th - Denver / 21st - Salt Lake City / 23rd - Portland / 24th - Vancouver / 25th - Seattle.
Check our live listings for regular updates. Subtle also have their own comprehensive website WWW.SUBTLE6.COM where you can stream music and get all the latest news.
GHOSTFACE vs MF DOOM album 2007
After a long and traditional Hip hop delay, the highly anticipated collaboration between Wu-Tang solo success story, Ghostface Killah and indie hip hop super-villain MF DOOM will finally be released on Lex Records / Nature Sounds in 2007 (Lex ex. USA). Unlike the Doom produced tracks on Ghost's Fish records just featuring Ghost on vocals, Metal Face DOOM also raps throughout. We all wanted this to come out last year. We'll all just have to hang in there... don't worry, it is coming and it'll destroy everything else. Release date TBC in 2007.
LEX RECORDS ONLINE STORE
The Lex Records online store will be opening it's electronic doors later this month- permanently stocked with Lex music on all formats and our very first official merchandize. We’ll also be selling various titles that you won't find anywhere else or are sold out in shops. If you hurry, you might catch the recently uncovered stash of DANGERDOOM LPs and some tasty 7" vinyls.
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artist: | Stars of the Lid |
title: | And Their Refinement of the Decline |
catalog #: | krank100 |
formats available: | 2CD / 3LP |
Release Date: | April 2, 2007 |
The long awaited new album from Stars of the Lid is finally ready for your sonic immersion. Painstakingly recorded, processed and assembled over the last five years, SOTL once again deliver a massive work filling two compact discs and three vinyl albums, clocking in at over two hours. While most albums of this length would be considered tedious at best, SOTL are arguably the only contemporary composers who can seemingly alter the time-space continuum simply through the playback of their organized sound. They take time itself and stretch, compress and turn it inside out, altering what would otherwise be an arduous test of nerves into an interlude of half awake dreams that ends too soon.
In this album, SOTL picks up where The Tired Sounds Of... left off with an emphasis on melodic development, moving their epic soundscapes beyond mere drone and subsequently frustrating all the typical ambient cliches associated with their music. Perhaps the best references for this current work would be found in the score to the film Le Mepris by Georges Delerue, the orchestral works of Zbigniew Preisner, or the 1958 CSO/ Fritz Reiner recording of Hovhaness' Mysterious Mountain, specifically the third movement. But in the final analysis, such comparisons are superfluous at best, as Stars of the Lid have created a musical universe in which they are the sole inhabitant.
Simply put, this album is a masterpiece.
Songs:
- Dungtitled (in A Major)
- Articulate Silences Part 1
- Articulate Silences Part 2
- The Evil That Never Arrived
- Apreludes (in C Sharp Major) - [MP3]
- Don't Bother They're Here
- Dopamine Clouds Over Craven Cottage
- Even If You're Never Awake (Deuxi&egrav;me)
- Even (Out) +
- A Meaningful Moment Through a Meaning(less) Process
- Another Ballad for Heavy Lids
- The Daughters of Quiet Minds
- Hiberner Toujours
- That Finger on Your Temple Is the Barrel of My Raygun
- Humectez La Mouture
- Tippy's Demise
- The Mouthchew
- December Hunting for Vegetarian Fuckface
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The Residents
"Freak Show" CD/DVD
January 22, 2007
Mute Records
Born out of a vague and uncomfortable childhood memory of a mule faced lady at the Lousiana State Fair, The Freak Show album, originally released in 1990, is the story of a collection of freaks, each with their own all-too human failings and each with a haunting theme song worming its way into the listener's brain.
Meet Harry The Head, Herman The Human Mole, Wanda The Worm Woman, Mickey The Mumbling Midget and Jello Jack The Boneless Boy. "Come in", say The Residents, "and make your mundane lives look like the kiss of bliss".
This being The Residents, once the album was released, things weren't quite over... Whilst travelling in England they met with comic artists Brian Bolland (visual creator of Judge Dread and the "Dark Knight" Batman) and Edwin "Savage Pencil" Pouncey. Quickly the idea of a graphic novel based on the Freak Show characters took shape and ten artists including Brian Bolland, Savage Pencil and Kyle Baker came together for the Dark Horse Comics published graphic novel which followed in 1992.
Two years later saw the release of the groundbreaking and award winning CD-ROM game, taking players through an interactive trip through the three dimensional Freak Show tent and a year after that, in 1995, the premiere of the stage adaption opened in Prague.
Mute continues this journey which started over 15 years ago with the definitive edition of The Residents' Freak Show. Available on CD as a deluxe hardbook format, the release compiles the original artwork and sleevenotes alongside a bonus DVD which features animated films on Herman The Human Mole, Benny The Bouncing Bump and the Pickled Punks along with an excerpt from the Freak Show Live in Prague, the Jelly Jack video from 1992 and the original press release.
Everyone comes to the Freak Show _/ To laugh at the Freaks and the Geeks_ / Life is a lot like a Freak Show_ / But nobody laughs when they leave.
So -- step this way, folks come on in, you know you can't resist. Come in and make your mundane lives look like the kiss of bliss.
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Original members Jace Lasek and Olga Goreas add a few new faces for this, their second album, and get additional help from members of The Dears, Stars, and Godspeed. Owning their own studio, they’ve produced recordings for Wolf Parade, Islands, and Stars, among others, but nowhere is their recording expertise more evident than on this lush, gorgeous album.
The opening "Disaster," with its plaintive falsetto and melancholic strings, sets the mood for an album of bittersweet recriminations and triumphs. The even more upbeat "Devastation" propels itself forward with this juxtaposition of joy and sadness, lending it a satisfying complexity that transcends the ordinary. My favorite track on the album, "Because Tonight," spends about half of its running length building up to its climax, but the payoff is well worth the time invested, with its gratifying eruption of male and female harmonies.
Another strength of this recording is that the songs have a way of making their players sound like a complete orchestra. Their surging rhythms, soaring melodies, and transcendent vocals turn even the tiniest listening environments into grand cathedrals by virtue of their acoustics alone. The music swells and fills the space more emphatically and more breathtakingly than any recording I’ve heard in quite a while. After creating an album this rich and poignant, I can't imagine that The Besnard Lakes will be the dark horse for long.
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Here I was thinking Landing had whipped out an electro-charged set especially for the Brainwaves crowd, as I generally didn't think most people came to Brainwaves to hear their shoegazing acid pop rock.
The band's last album Sphere had songs named "Gravitational 1," "Gravitational 2," and "Gravitaional 3." Gravitatioanl IV is the name of this record with songs named "Gravitational III pt. II," "Gravitational V," and "Gravitational VI." Landing, I feel, sell themselves short by taking this approach in recycling the name as such, as this record sounds neither like outtakes from the Sphere sessions (which they claim) nor at 44 minutes does it feel like an EP. The variety of the six songs are wide enough to consider this more than just a simple EP.
Like Slowdive's final statement, on Gravitational IV, Landing tackle new approaches most fans are probably not used to. Dreamy dub is the framework for the "Each Man for Himself," which opens the record. It's a big change in their sound but it's still them. It's pure analogue bliss as no digital resembling sounds can be identified. Adrienne's faint voice can be heard whispering the opening of "Gravitational V," heavily treated with echoing delays that offset the pastoral guitar echoes, but this doesn't last. Over the course of this ten minute long bit, everything takes a turn towards the dark. As ominous drums enter, the guitars become more distorted, grainy, and bleak. The pleasantries of the earlier part give in towards something meaner and heavier. Never underestimate the shoegazing rock kids' abilities to bring the sort of doom that could make any costume-clad cretins look like clowns.
So the build on "Gravitational V" cuts suddenly to a sub-woofer friendly rumble as the third song on this side, "Sunlight," provides the peaceful and pretty stuff Landing fans have waited for: looped guitar echoes and angelic airy vocals are reminiscent of that Slowdive that everybody's heart melted to. The beauty of the vinyl-only format is that at some point it's got to be listened to on a stereo system, unless somebody's got one of those Mickey Mouse players with one speaker and I doubt anybody would want to subject their expensive vinyl to a cartridge that rough.
Side B's "Scenes Upon the Trees" is one of Landing's staple patient pop tunes with Daron taking the lead vocals while the driving drums behind "Gravitational III pt. II" is a bit like a low-fi hybrid between kraut and drone. While I love it, I'm guessing that if (and only "if," because I still don't buy it completely) this is a song truly tossed from the Sphere record it was probably because it is almost too similar to a lot of bands Landing has been known to be friends with, as well as tour and play with. After some more dissonant guitar play, Landing bring back the driving energy introduced at the beginning and wraps it in a full band song: "Gravitational VI" closes the record but in a way familiar to past records with the steady drums and quivering vintage synths we all have grown to expect.
I'm glad that people stuck around for their set. This album, like their set, is too good to go by unappreciated because of its limited nature, its format, and availability.
As a side note, to their street cred, Gravitational IV now makes them labelmates with Troum, and the guy who runs Equation now does the Organum site here on Brainwashed.
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Tee Pee
"Grim Reaper Blues" sets the agenda for the entire album with its funked up thunderous roar. The guitar playing is like a mutant Jimmy Page but with less bombastic tendencies. The use of effects is a slight tweak of a knob on the right side of tasteful: not many guitarists can use the clichéd effects like wah in such a way and get away without sounding ridiculously boring. The lyrics on this song (and the rest of the album) are again almost a stereotype but the way they are sung give them the power they need. While Blakeslee's vocals are not the most impressive I have heard, many times he sounds flat but he delivers tonnes of feeling which more than makes up for his lack of "professional" vocal talent. There is a heavy emphasis on the dejected feelings that make the blues what they are.
One note of caution about Prayer of Death; the mix throughout the entire album is a touch unbalanced. Blakeslee's vocals sometimes overpower the music instead nestling in beside the instruments. It is only noticeable sometimes (although more often on smaller stereo systems or crappy headphones) but when it does happen the songs sound thinner than they should which shatters the strutting, pouting rock god image. It probably does not help that that the violin is one of the dominant instruments on the album; both the violin and Blakeslee’s voice occupy similar frequency ranges so they tend to bleed into each other.
Speaking of the violin, Paz Lenchantin’s playing is beautiful as usual. Her strings add an elegant sheen to any of the songs she plays on. "Silence on a Crowded Train" sees her hit precise and stabbing notes that work exceptionally well with the other components of the song. Her playing on "Valium Blues" and "Pretty Baby" is especially exciting. On the former, the eastern European influence of her playing and the song’s rhythm carry a lot of clout whereas the latter's swinging blues stomp is energetic and wonderfully psychedelic. Combined with a fantastic performance by Blakeslee both vocally and on a number of instruments "Pretty Baby" is one of those perfect rock songs. It is not a step forwards in rock history but a minor step back. However, it has got enough soul to make it stand out as an excellent example of blissed out rocking.
Overall Prayer of Death is an enjoyable album. It rocks out where it needs to rock and holds back when it needs to. The problem with the mix is only slight, it does not hamper my enjoyment but I did notice it so felt obliged to point it out. Aside from that, this is a refreshingly old fashioned but vital sounding album. It is not a shameless, flaccid cash-in like most bands rehashing what once was; Blakeslee is a good enough performer not to make Prayer of Death sound like a carbon copy of any other artist. The songs are played with great fervour, the music is honest sounding and visceral and really there is not much more that can be asked from an album like this.
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The disc opens with the 24+ minute title track, faint children’s voices and rather conventional guitar (not unlike the Taylor/Tomkins “rock” band Bodychoke) are introduced before the rise of processed guitar noise that’s not really harsh, but certainly not ambient. Then a switch to feedback drone and children singing what amounts to an atheist hymn (“They think they are forgiven/but everybody knows/There is no God in heaven/There is no depth below”) before the noise kicks back in. It never quite reaches the same intensity as their late '90s albums on Cold Meat Industries, but has a great deal more texture and depth. The near 10 minute "Termites Building A Tower to Infiltrate Heaven" is a much more restrained affair, feedback and violin scrapes slowly build up over time then drop off to a quiet finish.
"Obliterating Ego" is a short solo piece of abrasive electronics by Paul Taylor. It's a track closer to the sound of their older days than anything else on here, while "Her Favorite Distance was that Between a Cough and a Dying Horse" is the opposite: a very restrained piece of cut up and highly processed vocal samples from Tomkins. The disc closes with "Waves of Relentless Indifference," a 25-minute drone of piano, violin and guitar which catches a multitude of varying textures in between, similar to the occasional snippets of almost film like music SJ would put on their previous albums. This is all packaged in a lovely minimal gatefold card wallet with an insert of artwork. A very different from their previous body of work, but no less compelling, it shows that even some 27 years since they started, Kevin Tomkins and Paul Taylor continue to experiment and try new things.
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