With 2002's The Creek Drank the Cradle,singer-songwriter Sam Beam established himself as a substantial talent,with a knack for performing uncomplicated, acoustically arranged songswith incredible, unforgettable hooks that stuck in my mind after asingle listen.
Naked Intruder makes game music with a demonic Nintendo Entertainment System.
DJ/Rupture puts on a master class on how to synthesize influences into something completely new.
A voice as beautiful, intense and unsettling as Antony's was bound toinspire an equally weird and devoted cult fan base. In the six yearssince the release of his debut album on Durtro, the legions of Antonydevotees have gradually increased, thanks to countless residencies andmonthly performances at NYC art venues such as Joe's Pub and KnittingFactory, expanding to include the patronage of Lou Reed and LaurieAnderson.
Their debut album, Dap-Dippin' with Sharon Jones and the Dap Kingsturned a lot of heads toward to the rebirth of fiery raw soul/funkmovements coming out of New York, and rightfully so. The retro soulfeel permeated everything from the raw production to the artwork; theband was smokin'; and Jones' voice was raw, forceful, andunwavering—but the problem almost anybody faces when they've found abrilliant formula that works is where to go without making the samerecord again. Surprisingly enough, Sharon Jones didn't know much of theband when the first recording sessions took place.
With last year's limited concert EPs on Jnana Records and this year's How He Loved the Moon,Current 93 makes the first tentative steps outside the World SerpentDistribution umbrella that Durtro has labored under for so many years. Moon is a double LP containing nearly 80 minutes of music, a reissue and expansion of last year's Anomalous release A Little Menstrual Night Music, containing four sidelong remixes of vintage Current 93 album In Menstrual Nightundertaken by Steven Stapleton, originally commissioned as openingmusic for a pair of Current 93 shows in San Francisco.
The newest release from micro-indie label Mile 329 is a fun slab ofnostalgic oddity that anyone who's spent time furiously tapping A and Bbuttons is sure to enjoy. This is the first I've heard from NakedIntruder, and The Last Vestigeis his love letter to the musical engine inside the classic 8-BitNintendo Entertainment System.
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Joined for the second time by Jim O'Rourke, Still Valley is much less chaotic and noisy than Die Spiegelmanufaktur.This album is a beautiful study of slowly shifting drones. As it wasproduced between 2002 and 2004, it is possible that this project wasstarted during the same sessions that produced 2002's Die Spiegelmanufaktur.