- Michael O'Conner
- Albums and Singles
And in every waypossible, it was well worth the wait.A return to the almost-structured style of the first Musick is veryevident, but there's less of the languid, poppy touches which clutteredits predecessor (namely the synthesizer wank of "Red Birds Will Fly OutOf The East And Destroy Paris In A Night" and the overly-pleasant "TheDreamer Is Still Asleep") and an even deeper sense of space andstructure within their mixes. The entire disc flows from beginning toend - starting slowly with "Something" and a what appears to be apartially cannabalized version of the aforementioned "Red Birds," nowcalled "Tiny Golden Books."
Coil (credited this time around as John Balance, Peter Christophersonand Thighpaulsandra, along with guest vocals by Rose McDowall) bringsomething very special to the plate when they step up with a worthyrelease, and this stands as one of their best. No matter what one'spersonal opinion of their occultish interests and thematics are, theymake it work in a way that even the most grounded and dispassionatematerialist can appreciate. Beautiful melodies and lyrics emerge fromfractured beginnings - "Ether" begins with chopped-up noises, but whatemerges is a shining, piano-laden tribute to intangible forces,something Coil seem to surround everything they produce with.Similarly, the haunting twang of a detuned guitar or jews harp threadsits way through "Where Are You?" as the entire track unfolds and thencollapses back upon itself.
"Paranoid Inlay" and the album's closer "Batwings (A Limnal Hymn)" areworth the import price by themselves. Both feature Balance's excellentvocals heavily; his voice is both gripping and disturbing, but he'scapable of producing such a beautiful sense of mystery and wonder whenthe mood calls for it. "Paranoid Inlay" is an ode to the renunciationof both indulgence and abstinence, as Balance asks himself "what do Ineed to give up?/crystaline ladders/shiny things/mirror balls," while atheramin sings to scattered drum machine glitches and organ stabs inthe background.
"Batwings" may very well be one the best thing Coil has ever producedin their long history. More synthesizers glitches and screeches openthe track, but a sombre organ piece emerges to gel the entire tracktogether. Balance's vocals become poetry behind an alien soundscape,and the entire track ends with a multi-language soup of achinglybeautiful chanting. Otherworldly doesn't begin to describe it.
The first 500 subscribers also received CD copies of the liveperformance Coil did as Time Machines back in April as part of theCornucopia Festival in London. While it's sure to become a sacrifice toEbay, our modern god of greed, it's a great treat for fans who probablyweren't able to make the long journey to the UK. Hopefully, half-rumorsof more live performances in America will eventually come true.
In the meantime, "Musick To Play In The Dark Volume 2" is more than enough to tide us over.
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- Daniel McKernan
- Albums and Singles
Their new direction is improvisation andall-out jamming, and the music on this disc is some of a very joyousand new nature to the Pink Dots. The lyrics are wonderful, of course,sticking to Edward’s excellent story-telling style, but most of themhave a more rhyme-schemed, verse, chorus, verse style that is very outof the ordinary for him. Niels van Hoornblower’s winds are throughoutthe disc, as well as Ryan Moore’s distinct dub style and TheSilverman’s wonderfully eerie and spacey keyboards and effects. Martijnde Kleer mostly plays guitar, it seems, but also adds in superb violinson such tracks as "Skeltzer Spletzer." The CD really brings you back tothe show, with a spellbinding and uplifting feeling - upbeat and moresolemn tracks alike. As Edward said in a recent interview, a lot of themusic on this disc "could never, in fact, be repeated."
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- Daniel McKernan
- Albums and Singles
It's very simple, but beautiful, and at times reminds me ofif the late Nick Drake would have had a slightly more country feel tohim. Throughout the disc, Martijn plays acoustic guitar, fiddle, banjo,and handdrums. He also sings very simple lyrics that have a warm flowto them, about the road, birds, and the reflection of the moon in hislover's eyes. His solo style is very different from how he plays withthe Dots, as I did not expect such a blend of acoustic rock, folk, andcountry. The result is surprising, but ultimately good and filled witha very down and out emotion. This CD-R was "recorded at home with 2microphones & tapedeck, March 2000." It is limited to 100 copies,which are only available on their current tour.
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- Mark Weddle
- Albums and Singles
"The Secret Life.." is 48 and 1/2 minutes of Cave casually explaining the inspirations and minutiae of his proudest achievement: the love song. Cave deftly describes how the void left by the death of his father and the influence of the Bible drive him to write his love songs ... "my gloomy, violent, dark-eyed children. They sit grimly on their own and they do not play with the other songs." For Cave the love song is by definition sad, has a life of it's own and is ultimately a search for God: "the love song exists to fill, with language, the silence between ourselves and God."To help illustrate his points, music is interspersed with the spoken passages: the brief new song "West Country Girl" and beautifully sparse (vocal/piano/violin/bass/drums) new recordings of "People Ain't No Good", "Sad Waters", "Love Letter" and "Far From Me" with Susan Stenger of Band of Susans and Warren Ellis and Jim White, both of Dirty Three. The entire piece is indexed as 1 track. "The Flesh Made Word" is 17 minutes of just spoken word. Here Cave goes into great detail about his relationships with the Bible and his father and his growth as a writer and as a person. The disc comes packaged in a cd sized hardback book that contains 6 in studio b/w pictures and printed excerpts from the lectures. Nick Cave is a truly learned and brilliant artist ... this is a very interesting and insightful work that bears repeated listenings. It is absolutely essential for Cave fans and anyone else interested in passionate songwriting and the genius behind it.
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- Mark Weddle
- Albums and Singles
Pedersen began recording as When in 1983 and to date has a back catalog of 7 albums. "WriterCakebox" is a 2 disc retrospective of those albums as well as a collection of numerous soundtrack, compilation and/or previously unreleased tracks. There's a lot to explore here with over 148 minutes of music spanning 15 years and numerous projects. I first became aware of When via the bizarre collage and pop of 1999's "Psychedelic Wunderbaum", also on Norway's Jester Records. When's previous work is in the same sort of surrealist sample vein, minus the psychedelic pop aspect. Anything and everything is a source for sound: orchestras (sampled and 'real'), drones, whistles, bells,rain, footsteps, music boxes, typewriters, animals, acoustic guitar, choirs,dialogue, chants, noise ... the list is practically endless. Pedersen's talent really shines on the soundtrack minded collage/soundscape pieces. He skillfully pieces together cohesive and dynamic tracks, some dark and ominous, some subtle and beautiful, others cartoon like or just plain weird. The songs from the '80s (ten of which have English vocals) are hit and miss and most sound dated now due to the gear used. I prefer the more recent 'pop' oriented songs like those found on "Psychedelic Wunderbaum". The packaging for this set is very sharp, as is all Jester product, with a 10 page insert with full color collage artwork and brief comments on many of the tracks. Altogether, "WriterCakebox" is a fascinating journey through an artist's repertoire, an artist you've most likely never heard and should. When's past only makes me more curious as to what When's future has instore.
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- Jon Whitney / Daniel McKernan
- Albums and Singles
It'sentertaining, varied and linear from start to finish, featuring twotracks by Bullfrog, a rhythmic band in which Kid Koala fronts at theturntables. It seems like it would music to just chill out to, but theodd clips and effects thrown in add a lot of humor to the mood. Most ofthe tracks have tons of samples throughout, rewound and sped up andscratched about to mix right in with the groove of the back beats. Onetrack even samples a man imitating a chicken, and somehow combines itwith It falls short of 40 minutes however, but is good enough to keepgoing. Also included is a cute comic book starring Kid Koala and someNinja Tunes.
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- Jon Whitney
- Albums and Singles
- Jessica Tibbits
- Albums and Singles
Mistress ofStrands, Ventricle's newest project, is an excellent introduction thatwill hopefully serve to lure in the attention the label deserves. Thisrelease belongs to Ventricle's "silver series," which features CDspackaged with beautifully crafted metallic sleeves. Musically, Mistressof Strands resides in uncharted territory between "ethereal" and"ambient", but can be limited to neither. Group members Tali Braun,Dusty Lee, and Dana Devereaux create atmospheric collages ofcrystalline strings; eerie, yet alluring vocals; and lush, dreamydrones. As with other Ventricle sirens, Tali's haunting voicecompliments rather than dominates its surrounding layers of sound, andthe singer exhibits her versatility by ranging from infinitely delicateechoes to spoken word to outright melody. Dusty's deluge of psychedelicnoise on the mellotron is equally enchanting, and the gauzy distortionleaves the listener pleasantly suspended in a state somewhere betweenwaking and dreaming.
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- Daniel McKernan
- Albums and Singles
They have a beautiful balance: happy upbeat pop music with verytouching lyrics and emotional vocals. The new single is available inthree formats, 7", 12", and CD -- all of which have different querksabout them (which is slightly annoying since this material will not beon the upcoming album). Regardless, "Legal Man," shows a new directionfor the group. It features The Maisonettes, whom I assume providecongos and vocals on the title track. The song is extremely short, onlytwo-and-a-half minutes, but worth the $4. It's predictable Brit-pop,but has a hint of old beach music splashed in - just in time for thesummer. The cutesy female vocals sing, "get out of the city and intothe sunshine - get out of the office and into the springtime!" On the7" this track is backed by "Winter Wooskie," a sad, but upbeat lovesong with very quaint piano work. The 12" doesn't feature this track,but instead features "Judy is a Slap Dick (extended mix)," and the CDsfeatures all three normal versions. A very nice taste of what to lookforward to in their new fourth album, "Fold Your Hands Child, You WalkLike a Peasant," which I can't wait to get my hands on June 6th.samples:
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- Daniel McKernan / Jon Whitney
- Albums and Singles
Oddities is much more diverse and experimental than theirprevious full length releases, as it showcases the bands range of amultitude of styles as opposed to having an album which start tofinish, barely strays from the drum-and-bass lines. This release alsofeatures a spoken word piece from William S. Burroughs, "The Road tothe Western Lands," which has sounds of distant saxophones and, ofcourse, the cut up and layered words of Burroughs. It isn't until trackthree, "Trouble," that sounds of percussion start to arise, and eventhen they are extremely chopped up and form a very disjointed, noiseybeats that morph - stoping/startomg, with odd sounds affects thatresemble either a woman or a bird, I can't tell. This track is 12minutes long, and midway deteriorates into occassional syhntheticnoises which, do unfortunately become slightly tedious. Track four,"Shine a Light," has some very beautiful parts to it - echoing, fadingelectronic sounds and samples, with random beat-esque noise on top. Forthe most part this disc is very quiet and droney, as opposed to theirjazzy influenced, punchy sound. It's a great collection of fans butisn't entirely representative of older works, however.samples:
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- Carter Adams
- Albums and Singles
The statement then goes on to say Jessamineshould not be used as a reference, but as a departing point forFontanelle's sound. Well, after many listens, I probably would havenever have placed the band's self-titled album in any category withJessamine. Instead, the first band that comes to mind after hearing"Picture Start:," the album's opening track, is Isotope 217. Maybe it'sthe analog synths, the bobbing basslines, or the organic funk, but thealbum conjures up images of jazz--funky, homebrewed jazz. While therearen't any horns on the album, it doesn't take much to imagine themthere, and the drum and keyboards help to fill in the bubbling mix witha variety of textures and melodies. "Niagara" begins with a broodingguitars and brushed drum beats, building and building until it subsidesinto quietness and the albums third track, "Reflex vs. Parallax." Aslower, more downbeat track filled with repeated piano chords andwell-crafted guitar work, it serves as the perfect soundtrack to rainynights and hazy visions. The album ends with "Counterweight," abeat-driven number accented by scif-fi guitar effects and bubbling bassnotes. This release, while sometimes a bit slow for me, is just what Ineed to supplement these long summer nights spent reading and writinglong, sentimental letters.samples:
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