)   )   )   ) ) ) ) ))) 
      )   )   )   ) ) ) ) )))       Aquarius Records
       )   )   )   ) ) ) ) ))))     New Arrivals #147
      )   )   )   ) ) ) ) )))       4 October 2002
     )   )   )   ) ) ) ) ))) 

ISIS Oceanic (Ipecac) cd 18.98
Aaron Turner has had his hand in many of AQ's favorite metalcore albums, whether releasing them through his Hydrahead imprint (Neurosis, Sunn, Cave In, Coalesce, Atomsmasher / Phantomsmasher, etc.) or doing artwork for them (Agoraphobic Nosebleed) or making the music himself on 'em through his continuously impressive projects Isis and Old Man Gloom. Isis' second album "Oceanic" is quite possibly the strongest work to date for Turner. That is quite a feat considering how great those Old Man Gloom albums were. Where Turner shaped Old Man Gloom into an uncompromising drone 'n' grind outfit that speculated upon the sci-fi themes of alien-monkey hybrids, Isis is a bit more straightforward in tightening up the complex orchestrations of Neurosis with a whip-smart pop sensibility. Don't let the 'pop' of Isis fool you; "Oceanic" is a brutal album of dynamic metalcore that sculpts its propulsion by intertwining huge chugging riffs and counterpointed rhythms into the band's already massive percussive pummel. Isis' use of those grinding riffs is so hypnotic through its monochromatic distortion that when the band works up to a chord change (which can take 3 or 4 minutes to get to), it becomes a catastrophic pop hook as the New Pornographers, Get Up Kids, or Pinback but just super fuckin' heavy and aggressively dramatic. As the album unfolds, an emo vein to Isis becomes apparant, in part due to the reliance upon urgent minor keys and Turner's scream-against-the-void-or-maybe-just-my-parents vocals filled with rage and angst. Isis have also employed the talents of Maria Christopher of the Relapse post-rock band 27 on one the album's later tracks "Weight", where her breathtaking vocal mantra is the perfect harmonious complement to Isis' crushing dissonance. This track matches the only other well-executed arrangement we've heard for female vocals in a metalcore song found on From Autumn To Ashes' "Too Bad You're Beautiful." Yeah, this one totally rules.
RealAudio clip: "The Beginning and The End"
RealAudio clip: "False Light"
RealAudio clip: "Weight"
RealAudio clip: "Hym"

IRON & WINE The Creek Drank The Cradle (Sub Pop) cd 14.98
There was a time where I would buy ANYTHING that came out on Sub Pop. ANYTHING. And I still kind of miss those days once in a while. Where you didn't say "I like, ya know... Mudhoney, Soundgarden, and Nirvana", you just said "Yeah, I like Sub Pop". Where there was a label 'sound': you know, grunge or whatever, you knew that if you liked Tad and the Thrown Ups and Mudhoney, you were probably gonna dig the Afghan Whigs and Soundgarden. And I was the first to balk when Sub Pop started deviating from their 'sound'. A sound so comfortable and familiar. But whether it was a desperate attempt to battle the massive grunge backlash or just label heads Jon and Bruce showing their age, or an attempt to actually do something really new and exciting, the end result is a catalogue at once brilliant, and totally confounding, perfect, but not right at all. Sure there were some real stinkers, and some records that were definitely 'friend rock' (you know, the only reason we put this out is because they're our friends), but nonetheless some of the most essential and under appreciated gems of the last decade exist -because- of this varied and eclectic take on indie/underground music. The two Zumpano records are all time unanimous AQ favorites, and there's the twangy rootsy country rock/pop of Beachwood Sparks and Chapaquidick Skyline, the gorgeous stripped down pop of Damien Jurado, as well as Mark Kozelek, Mark Lanegan, the Pernice Brothers and now, the debut from Florida's Iron And Wine, a one-man-and-his-4-track, stripped down, Southern, country/folk/mope rock wash of dirgey back woods ballads sung in a plaintive whisper accompanied by banjo and acoustic guitar. SOOOOOOO NICE. So nice in fact, that this would definitely have been my (Andee's) record of the year if it wasn't for last list's Woven Hand record. And that said, it's definitely threatening to overtake the 'Hand as my most listened to record. You've all heard the lonely boy with a guitar, dreamy twangy heartbroken singer songwriter. It's been done to death (but what hasn't? Don't get me started!) But once in a while it's just -done right-. So right in fact, that it transcends its meager aspirations and becomes a volatile and intense emotional piece of art. Such is the case with Iron And Wine. Simple songs are strummed and plucked, the vocals are sort of whispered/sung, melodies surface occasionally to embed themselves permanently in your brain, banjos and acoustic guitars gently lift the vocals above the fuzzy dreamy ambience with a recording quality that makes everything sound like it's dappled with morning sunlight. Think a less damaged Elliott Smith. Think America or Bread (but think it in a nice way, c'mon). Think early Sebadoh without the jokes. Think Sentridoh recording for Folkways 50 years ago. Think Bread recording for K records and playing basements in Olympia. If there was any justice in the world, this would be the record all the little grrrls would put on their mix tapes, this would be the hapless singer songwriter that gets co-opted by the man and inexplicably records soundtracks and ends up playing a song on the Grammies and this would be the next big thing. But it's not, and it won't be, so that just leaves us with Iron And Wine, a twangy, shimmery, dreamy missive full of aching heartbreak, unrequited love, wistful hope, bitter resentment, untapped faith and inevitable diappointment, and a soul soothing contentment with the ways of the world. The perfect record to wile away breezy summer afternoons, to drive aimlessly through the rain, music keeping time with the windshield wipers, to fall asleep to, or to break the heart that keeps yours from breaking. One of the nicest records this year.
RealAudio clip: "Upward Over The Mountain"
RealAudio clip: "Weary Memory"
RealAudio clip: "Muddy Hymnal"
RealAudio clip: "Bird Stealing Bread"
RealAudio clip: "Southern Anthem"

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LOW Trust (Kranky) cd 14.98
I feel compelled to lay this on the table: I am totally, absolutely biased toward loving this album. The way I feel about Low is indelibly intertwined with the fact that my first experiences listening to them occurred in my impressionable, and typically miserable, teenage years. While many of my other favored sonic vehicles for massive teen mope fests have long been sold off and forgotten, I still treasure my Low records. This is in no small part due to the fact that they continue to release one record after another that expands and pushes their sound without abandoning the essential Low-ness that made me like them in the first place. That "Low-ness" could, at first, be simply attributed to their glacial pace and minimalist approach, but as their records become more and more lush and full, finding space for added instrumentation and songs that increasingly use the vernacular of straight up rock/pop, something else emerges as the core.
"Trust" continues the momentum established in "Secret Name" and "Things We Lost in the Fire," albeit in a way that is not as immediately graspable as those albums, both of which struck me immediately with their undeniable pop sensibility and catchiness tempered with dark themes. Where vocal-musical interplay on "Things We Lost in the Fire" resulted in an almost black-comedic bleakness, "Trust" regains a more purely somber tone (with the possible exception of the album's fuzz-rocking *hit* "Canada") that repeatedly deals with a worldview informed by ambiguous religious imagery. As Mormons, Mimi Parker and Alan Sparhawk surely have a relationship with a higher power, but through their chilling songs one gets the feeling that their god is one of impartial omnipotence and destruction as sure as one of love and creation. It is, perhaps, this exploration of the capability of life and the forces in it to deliver both tragic and beautiful moments, often simultaneously, that makes Low so fucking great.
A bit more about "Trust": Albini didn't produce this one, and there aren't any string arrangements, although the bigness of sound is still there. There's a re-emergence of a kind of minimal two-note dirge a la "Long Division" or "The Curtain Hits The Cast" (see "Candy Girl"), although the spaces that existed in the songs on those records are filled in a bit here with reverb and spacy fuzz. If you already like Low, of course you need this. If there's any tendency at all in your record collection toward the sparse and melancholic, then you need this as well, because Low has shown more versatilty and virtuosity within a potentially limiting genre than anyone else, and this album is so gorgeous it hurts.
RealAudio clip: "(That's How You Sing) Amazing Grace"
RealAudio clip: "Candy Girl"
RealAudio clip: "La La La Song"
RealAudio clip: "Time Is The Diamond"

LOW Trust (Kranky) 2lp 16.98
I feel compelled to lay this on the table: I (Marcy) am totally, absolutely biased toward loving this album. The way I feel about Low is indelibly intertwined with the fact that my first experiences listening to them occurred in my impressionable, and typically miserable, teenage years. While many of my other favored sonic vehicles for massive teen mope fests have long been sold off and forgotten, I still treasure my Low records. This is in no small part due to the fact that they continue to release one record after another that expands and pushes their sound without abandoning the essential Low-ness that made me like them in the first place. That "Low-ness" could, at first, be simply attributed to their glacial pace and minimalist approach, but as their records become more and more lush and full, finding space for added instrumentation and songs that increasingly use the vernacular of straight up rock/pop, something else emerges as the core.
"Trust" continues the momentum established in "Secret Name" and "Things We Lost in the Fire," albeit in a way that is not as immediately graspable as those albums, both of which struck me immediately with their undeniable pop sensibility and catchiness tempered with dark themes. Where vocal-musical interplay on "Things We Lost in the Fire" resulted in an almost black-comedic bleakness, "Trust" regains a more purely somber tone (with the possible exception of the album's fuzz-rocking *hit* "Canada") that repeatedly deals with a worldview informed by ambiguous religious imagery. As Mormons, Mimi Parker and Alan Sparhawk surely have a relationship with a higher power, but through their chilling songs one gets the feeling that their god is one of impartial omnipotence and destruction as sure as one of love and creation. It is, perhaps, this exploration of the capability of life and the forces in it to deliver both tragic and beautiful moments, often simultaneously, that makes Low so fucking great.
A bit more about "Trust": Albini didn't produce this one, and there aren't any string arrangements, although the bigness of sound is still there. There's a re-emergence of a kind of minimal two-note dirge a la "Long Division" or "The Curtain Hits The Cast" (see "Candy Girl"), although the spaces that existed in the songs on those records are filled in a bit here with reverb and spacy fuzz. If you already like Low, of course you need this. If there's any tendency at all in your record collection toward the sparse and melancholic, then you need this as well, because Low has shown more versatilty and virtuosity within a potentially limiting genre than anyone else, and this album is so gorgeous it hurts.

TOBIN, AMON Verbal (Zen Cuts) cd ep 9.98
Yes!! The long awaited new Amon Tobin cd ep / 12" is totally killer. Tobin's music, as typified by his two most recent album Supermodified and Permutations, which is deeply beloved by just about everyone who works here at AQ, not to mention many many AQ customers such as yourself, is to take samples of the most wildly diverse material -- no programmed beats for this Brazilian-turned-Briton -- and recombine them into a style utterly his own. That might not sound like much of a feat, and yeah sure everyone's doing it, but like fellow vinyl sampler DJ Shadow, Tobin really does make irrelevant the fact that the source material is sampled, so seamlessly and proficiently does he elicit his own style. In fact, when Kup heard this record, even though the *elements* of "Verbal" -- cartoonish speed rapping courtesy MC Decimal R, flamenco-ish guitar -- weren't typically Tobin fodder, she correctly pointed out that the *sound* of the music made it nonetheless totally recognizable as his own. There's film noir-ish tension, thundering big beats, tumbling tomtoms, itchy chatterings and menacing flutterings amidst the jungly energy. So interesting, never repetitive or predictable.
If you're already into him, you know you need to get this now, and if you're new to Amon Tobin, start right here. You won't be disappointed. Note: The 12" has just the "Verbal" track, plus an a capella and an instrumental version. The cdep has 3 other non-album tracks that are very worth picking this up in addition to the upcoming album.
RealAudio clip: "Verbal"
RealAudio clip: "Cougar Merkin"
RealAudio clip: "El Chimi"

TOBIN, AMON Verbal (Zen Cuts) 12" 8.98
Yes!! The long awaited new Amon Tobin cd ep / 12" is totally killer. Tobin's music, as typified by his two most recent album Supermodified and Permutations, which is deeply beloved by just about everyone who works here at AQ, not to mention many many AQ customers such as yourself, is to take samples of the most wildly diverse material -- no programmed beats for this Brazilian-turned-Briton -- and recombine them into a style utterly his own. That might not sound like much of a feat, and yeah sure everyone's doing it, but like fellow vinyl sampler DJ Shadow, Tobin really does make irrelevant the fact that the source material is sampled, so seamlessly and proficiently does he elicit his own style. In fact, when Kup heard this record, even though the *elements* of "Verbal" -- cartoonish speed rapping courtesy MC Decimal R, flamenco-ish guitar -- weren't typically Tobin fodder, she correctly pointed out that the *sound* of the music made it nonetheless totally recognizable as his own. There's film noir-ish tension, thundering big beats, tumbling tomtoms, itchy chatterings and menacing flutterings amidst the jungly energy. So interesting, never repetitive or predictable.
If you're already into him, you know you need to get this now, and if you're new to Amon Tobin, start right here. You won't be disappointed. Note: The 12" has just the "Verbal" track, plus an a capella and an instrumental version. The cdep has 3 other non-album tracks that are very worth picking this up in addition to the upcoming album.

STILLUPPSTEYPA The Immediate Past Is Of No Interest To Us - 10 Years Of Continuous Pointless Activities (Bottrop-Boy) cd 15.98
Stilluppsteypa has reduced their ranks down to the duo of Siggtrygur Berg Sigmarsson and Helgi Thorsson as Heimir Bjorgulfsson has left to pursue his career as an electo-glitch superslueth in the Vacuum Boys. Yet the mission of these Icelandic transplants remains as convoluted as ever. Even the nature of this record is a bit of a puzzle; "The Immediate Past" may be a Stilluppsteypa retrospective drawing from their 10 years of recording, but also could be contemporary reworkings of older archival materials, or just their 10th year anniversary present to themselves. The only thing that can be said with any certainty is that the tracks on this album haven't appeared (in these forms) on any of the earlier Stilluppsteypa recordings. Upon asking Siggtrygur about the album, the response was a vague declaration of everything being "pretty new stuff" followed by an inexplicable AAAARRRRRHGGGG, YEAH! HA! and something about robots. If you allow yourself to be seduced by Stilluppstyepa, you'll see the logic there. It's something I really can't explain, but it's beautiful.
Regardless, "The Immediate Past Is Of No Interest To Us" is another brilliant Stilluppsteypa album of damaged electronics framed by semiotic slippages. Where the drone and the glitch had been previous focal points for the Icelanders, Stilluppsteypa centers upon the rhythm. With breakbeats constantly atomized into their granular parts, bounced backwards and forewards, and filtered through densely packed filters, this isn't music to dance to; but like fellow obtuse pop technicians Matmos, Stilluppsteypa isn't exactly music to think about. Stilluppstepa operate in a funhouse where they happily pull the trapdoor levers to let everybody (including themselves) tumble down to the nether regions below. Really fantastic!
RealAudio clip: "This Stuff Makes Me HOT!"
RealAudio clip: "It's Not Pointless!"
RealAudio clip: "We Crawled Out Of The MostlyWood Works"
RealAudio clip: "We Sure Could Do With Some Extra Help"

MARTSCH, DOUG Now You Know (Warner Bros.) cd 16.98
Mmmmm. This album is perfect for the lazy autumn-yet-still-summery-sunshine days that we're enjoying here in SF. Methinks you'll find it welcome no matter what time of the year, though. Doug Martsch, leader of Boise's Built to Spill, one of the only bands we can think of that *always* delivers incandescently glowing, gorgeous albums, has made a great solo album. Mostly Martsch on a twangy steel-stringed acoustic guitar that gives it a sunbaked, folksy backporch feel, he's occasionally accompanied by cello, simple snare drumming, delicate bass. Compared to the gloriously filled-out sound of the BTS records, the sound here is much more stripped down, but even though all of these tracks would have been great as proper BTS rock songs, they are just fine -- in fact, exquisite -- performed this way. Same minor key melodies, plaintively-voiced lyrics, and super emotional guitar solos that just leave ones heart aching.
"There isn't a way of deciding / which half of life's less inviting. / Awake or a dream. / 'Cos both of them lead you to suffer. / You wade from one into the other / twice a day."
The album is quietly dedicated to the recently-passed Chris Takino, head of Up Records, who've always released the BTS vinyl versions, and the vinyl of this album will be available on Up around Oct 22 2002. Highly recommended!
RealAudio clip: "Offer"
RealAudio clip: "Dream"
RealAudio clip: "Instrumental"

WICKER MAN, THE -- ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK (Silva America) cd 16.98
Oooh -- a domestic release (somewhat different from the previously available version issued in 1998 by the UK's Trunk label, more on that later) of the soundtrack to the amazing and supremely creepy 1972 British pagansploitation film The Wicker Man! A group of folk musicians, most of whom appear in the film, bring nordic lyre, harmonica, concertina, recorders, guitars, hand drums and more (some psychedelic electric guitar at one point!) to Paul Giovanni's exceptional Celtic influenced compositions. More than just film accompaniment music, the soundtrack plays an important role in the film's characterization of the pagan inhabitants of a remote island off Scotland (led by their Laird, played by Christopher Lee in what he considers his greatest role) who are suspiciously reticent in helping a stuffy, upright Christian policeman (Edward Woodward) investigate the mysterious disappearance of a young girl. Sometimes bawdy, sometimes haunting, and ultimately infused with the film's mounting sense of menace, the songs capture the lusty forces of nature which embrace death as readily as birth. As much as they work in the context of the film, these songs form an album that is great in its own right. Divided into "Songs From Summerisle: Ballads of Seduction, Fertility and Ritual Slaughter" and "Incidental Music From The Wicker Man," the tracks are culled from newly unearthed stereo masters as well as rougher and perhaps more appropriate sounding mono mixes which originally appeared in the film. Highly recommended, both for fans of English folk (of the sixties revival and/or "apocalyptic" varieties) as well as for fans of cult oddities. Truly the "unholy grail" of film soundtracks, as the Trunk version's liner notes put it.
Oh, if you've got that disc, and are wondering what's different with this release, here's the lowdown: That 1998 cd release was a mono recording, taken from the music and effects tapes from the shortest (86 minute) cut of the film, whereas this new version was done from the newly-discovered stereo masters of Giovanni's music, and includes the wonderful song "Gently Johnny" which only appeared in the longer, uncut version of the film and thus was missing from the Trunk cd. The sound effects and dialogue aren't mixed over the songs, as with the earlier version, and as mentioned, this new disc is organized with a suite of tracks of incidental music and sound effects presented separately, following the actual songs (rather than mixed all together, arranged as in the film). However, this new Wicker Man's running time is actually a few minutes *shorter* than the previous version, even with "Gently Johnny" included. Hmm. We're not exactly sure what's missing, presumably some of the incidental music /effects were edited differently. But no matter, this still must be considered the definitive Wicker Man soundtrack, because of its superior stereo sound source, as well as the packaging, which includes a handsome booklet of photos and text housed beside the cd's jewel case in a cardboard slipcover.
And if you haven't ever seen the movie, it's on DVD now, go rent it!!
RealAudio clip: "Gently Johnny"
RealAudio clip: "Maypole"
RealAudio clip: "The Masks/The Hobby Horse"
RealAudio clip: "Willow's Song"

FATHER MOO & THE BLACK SHEEP s/t (Swordfish) cd 17.98
Acid Mothers Temple. Makoto Kawabata. Bearded gurus shooting energy beams from their eyes. Drifting, droning, eerie psych-scapes. Enough? Naked Japanese hippy women. Can I stop there? I think you've already come in and bought this cd. It's a compact disc reissue of the out of print Father Moo LP from a few years back, perhaps you remember it, or at least the Father Yod-inspired cover pic. I'm sure it goes for $$$$ on eBay now based on the sleeve alone. Anyway, the Acid Mothers Temple fanatics at UK label Swordfish have brought it back, now as a handy cd, for those that missed getting the vinyl when it was available (or who collect all configurations -- actually, this was once a limited edition cd-r, before it was even an LP, so you've gotta look for that too if you don't have it, good luck!). As the many, many Acid Mothers Temple projects and off-shoots go, this one is primo stuff. Lovely female vocal moans (courtesy of Cotton Casino, presumably), electronic drones, keyboard melodies, some sparse, far-off percussion, all very pretty and mysterious, blissful, but kinda dark. No wild Makoto guitar action here, just three tracks (the longest, a half-hour) of otherworldly, almost religious trance-muzz. And that's just fine. We too bow before Father Moo.
RealAudio clip: "track 1"
RealAudio clip: "track 3"

ICHI THE KILLER (KOROSHIYA ICHI) OST (Cinema Monsoon) cd 30.00
BOREDOMS!! BOREDOMS SIDE PROJECT! LIMITED. JAPANESE IMPORT!! WON'T BE AROUND FOR LONG!!
Okay, just wanted to get that out of the way so those of you who NEED everything Boredoms, and don't really care what it sounds like, can stop right here and order this before they're all gone. In fact, you've probably already ordered this from us. For those of you who are less well versed in all things BOREDOM, let's delve a little deeper.
First, it's a soundtrack for Takashi Miike's Ichi The Killer, an unbelievably tasteless, disgusting, ultraviolent, hilarious Manga cartoon come to life (it's actually based on a popular Japanese Manga) with lots of blood, cum, killing, torture, and violence. Some of you may recognise Miike's name as another of his films, the horrific The Audition, recently got a lot of attention in the US. Anyway, who better to score the ridiculous mayhemic bloodbath that is Ichi The Killer than the purveyors of ridiculous musical mayhem, Boredoms. So what you have here is a group calling itself Karera Musication, featuring Yoshimi p-we, ATR, Hilah, and Seiichi Yamamoto, which basically amounts to Boredoms without Eye. But what does it sound like you ask? Let's put it this way, if someone played this for you and told you it was the new Boredoms record, you wouldn't bat an eye. Lots of spaced out, percussive jamming, trippy sound effects, chimes, chopped up / processed electronic squiggles, weird seventies porn funk, full on Japanoise, blissed out Krautrock (sounding a lot like old Kraftwerk), little vocal bleats from Yoshimi, drum vocal raveups ala old Boredoms, thick distorted guitar rock, dreamy tranced out spirituals and everything in between. Andee says go rent the movie or buy a copy on eBay, but even if you're not up for an ultra-violent movie about a nerdy guy in a leather superhero suit (equipped with razor sharp boot-blades) who jacks off while he watches pimps beat up prostitutes and then loses control whenever he is teased and dismembers everyone within arms reach, you can still enjoy this! And you Boredoms fanatics will get the fix you need until the next proper release.
RealAudio clip: "One"
RealAudio clip: "Two "
RealAudio clip: "Three"
RealAudio clip: "Four"
RealAudio clip: "Five"

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ADAMS, RYAN Demolition (Lost Highway) cd 14.98
This new album from Ryan Adams compiles a baker's dozen of the demos from his Nashville, Hollywood and Stockholm recording sessions of the last couple of years. Nice to hear his music at this stage before every speck of immediacy and grit were swept away in the recording process (which seemed to be the downfall of his 2001 Gold album). Reportedly each song was recorded in one take without overdubs. That said, they do already sound very very polished, full and finished. Overall, he sounds much older and more weathered than on Gold or his fine debut Heartbreaker. Some of these songs completely resemble the catchy college rock of the Replacements - he *really* sounds like Paul Westerberg! - while others are more in the Americana vein of Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen. Actually those latter songs really reminded me of the Traveling Wilburys too which says a lot considering the caliber of artists on that group's roster. The standout track however is the final one, the solemnly moving "Jesus (Don't Touch My Baby)". So beautiful, it veered away from any of the other songs and reference points, and left me wishing the rest of the album were more along those lines.
RealAudio clip: "Starting To Hurt"
RealAudio clip: "Gimme A Sign"
RealAudio clip: "Jesus (Don't Touch My Baby)"

ANIMIST ORCHESTRA Wuwei (Anomalous) cd 14.98
Following the incredibly tiny improvisations with carefully chosen sticks, rocks, and shells on his "Second Attention" solo album, the Seattle sound artist Jeph Jerman expanded those actions within the context of a larger ensemble called the Animist Orchestra with Dave Knott, Jeffery Taylor, Marina Granger, Mike Shannon, and Robert Mills. As before, the sounds on the Animist Orchestra's "Wuwei" are entirely caught up in the spontenaeity of the moment paralleling the pure, expressive goals of free-jazz. But as Jerman explained in the press release to the album, "the use of natural objects (stones, shells, pine cones etc.) as opposed to more conventional musical instruments, can help the players to not fall back on learned habits of musical play." The activities of Jerman's Animist Orchestra are sustained yet hushed rustings of those natural elements, unveiling a vast array of interwoven patterns and textures. Concentrated listenings are neccessary.
RealAudio clip: "excerpt 1"
RealAudio clip: "excerpt 2"
RealAudio clip: "excerpt 3"

AUFGEHOBEN NO PROCESS The Violence Of Appropriation (Junior Meat) cd 14.98
As promised in last list's review of this British avant-noise-rock band's juggernaut of a second album, we can now offer you copies of their debut, "The Violence Of Appropriation", which bears the alternate title "Cool Tastes In Heavy Sounds". Heavy Sounds indeed! While not *quite* as punishingly always-in-the-red as their follow-up album (which co-billed guitarist Gary Smith), this is still a distortion-fest with lots of guitar and massive rhythmic propulsion. Compared to that 2nd album, the beats here are perhaps "funkier", if that makes any sense in the context of this noisy-as-heck outfit, which employs a music-improvised-live-then-sampled-and-deconstructed methodology a la Phantomsmasher, Radian, and Pluramon. Imagine one of the loud, noisy, semi-industrial bands from the early '90s Pathological stable (God, Terminal Cheesecake) attempting some sort of instrumental modern-day take on experimental krautrock, with Merzbow doing the mixing! This quote from the cd booklet's literal small print gives both the recording details and a definite sense of their sonic overload aesthetic: "1 All sounds and musics utilised in this recording were produced via live and undirected improvisation involving the services of two drummers, a floating pool of guitarists, bass players, keyboard operators, string-scrapers, and non-and-quasi musicians. 2 No sounds extraneous to those original improvised sessions, recorded in Bethnal Green between November and December 1998, were employed in the final product. 3 Aufgehoben No Process accept no responsibility for damage caused by this recording to hi-fi, hearing, or aesthetic sensibilities. 4 Aufgehoben -- past participle of Aufheben, the sublation or simultaneous cancellation, preservation and suppression of terms, a process immanent to the object itself." Yep, whether part 4 of that makes sense to you or not, the rest of the quote gives a pretty clear picture of both their working methods and (part 3) the extremity of the results.
RealAudio clip: "Brief Blank"
RealAudio clip: "Mondo Cult Trip"
RealAudio clip: "Happening And Formless"

B. MONIKER Station Identification cd-r 7.98
B. Moniker's "Station Identification" parallels the Cassetteboy album also recently reviewed, as a peurile form of People Like Us inspired plunderphonia / channel surfing electronica. This homebrewed concoction recontextualizes tons of non-placed media samples from a number of archetypal genres (i.e. mad scientists, kung-fu movies, gameshow hosts, televangelists, newscast pollsters, hyperbolic commercials, children's radio dramas, and quick tunings through the fm radio band) with a smug sense of irony. Far more reliant upon musical interludes than the never-ending barrage of vocal cut-ups on Cassetteboy, B. Moniker forces his dialogues into a melange of samples from Steinski-like hip-hop instrumentals, those sad post-rock grooves that punctuate the earnestness of "This American Life," and filtered Autechrish breakbeats, all topped off with whimsical casiotone melodies.
RealAudio clip: "KHZS 44.1 FM"
RealAudio clip: "KILR 99.9 FM"

BECK Sea Change (DGC) cd 17.98
It appears Master Beck has set his galactic funk'n'soul genre-hopping eccentricities aside, following up 1999's heavily soul-influenced Midnite Vultures with an album of mature introspection of the likes that he hasn't approached since One Foot In The Grave. Heart-baring and lushly composed, Sea Change brings his exceptional songwriting skills back to the fore - unencumbered by the glitz and kitsch of past releases. Perhaps his most focused work to date, everything (mood, style, words and instrumentation) comes together beautifully within each song. Together, the twelve songs make for a deeply moving, orchestral pop/folk album. While Beck has not dropped his pastiche approach to songwriting, the apparent intentions and end result are not *ironic* sounding like many of his recent efforts. Which is all the more strange considering that the lode he's mining from here is the soft rock / folk stylings of such greats as Jim Croce, Gordon Lightfoot and Dan Fogelberg as well as heavyweights Leonard Cohen and Nick Drake -- to whom Beck might even have given posthumous writing or arranging credits to for his song "Round The Bend". Fans of Badly Drawn Boy might also take note. This is a mighty fine Beck album.
RealAudio clip: "Guess I'm Doing Fine"
RealAudio clip: "Lonesome Tears"
RealAudio clip: "Lost Cause"

BIANCHI, MAURIZIO NH/HN (n/a) cd-r 9.98
"NH/HN" is evidently a bootleg of an old cassette-only recording release originally self-released in 1982 (???) by the pioneering Italian Industrialist Maurizio Bianchi (who sometimes referred to himself simply as MB), yet strangely none of this work found its way into the ArcheoMB reissue campaign. Despite there being very little information to be found about this recording, it shares much in common with the last works Bianchi made from 81-83 including his masterpieces of carcinogenic electronics "Endometrio" and "Carcinosi." Dense layers of Bianchi's archetypal fibrillations of grimy electronics and electro-shock dronings crawl ominously through endlesslessly cycling variations, punctuated with frigid divebomb squeals. While the albums reissued on the ArcheoMB series only hinted at such a theory, "NH/HN" appears to be an improvisation with slabs of flickering melodies erupting from Bianchi's abused Korg synth. These improvisational models are far from playful, but do offer extra readings to Bianchi's work outside of the clinical calculation of misanthropic metaphors and deadly, corrosive atmospheres. Well worth it if you've gotten into those aforementioned Bianchi albums.
RealAudio clip: "NH"

BLACK HEART PROCESSION Amor Del Tropico (Touch & Go) cd 14.98
Following three remarkably similar albums (note: this is by no means a complaint 'cause each was a gorgeous richly hued work unto itself), Black Heart Procession have made a few shifts in direction and sound, and widened their scope considerably - the the first sign is the title (as opposed to its predecessors simply titled 1, 2 and 3). This album starts off with a slightly cocktail-hourish number that's anchored by a bossanova rhythm. Later songs encorporate old r&b / soul female backing vocal stylings ("A Cry For Love") as well as layered lead vocals with Pall singing in both his familiar mournful cry and a considerably deeper mannish tone a la Michael Gira or Mark Lanegan (at least I think that's Pall, I couldn't find mention of any other vocalists). Check out the somber, gorgeous final track "The One Who Has Disappeared". Much more diverse than past efforts, but still retaining their trademark languorous pace and mellifluous instrumentation.
RealAudio clip: "Tropics Of Love"
RealAudio clip: "A Cry For Love"
RealAudio clip: "The One Who Has Disappeared"

BLACK HEART PROCESSION Amor Del Tropico (Touch & Go) 2lp 15.98
Following three remarkably similar albums (note: this is by no means a complaint 'cause each was a gorgeous richly hued work unto itself), Black Heart Procession have made a few shifts in direction and sound, and widened their scope considerably - the the first sign is the title (as opposed to its predecessors simply titled 1, 2 and 3). This album starts off with a slightly cocktail-hourish number that's anchored by a bossanova rhythm. Later songs encorporate old r&b / soul female backing vocal stylings ("A Cry For Love") as well as layered lead vocals with Pall singing in both his familiar mournful cry and a considerably deeper mannish tone a la Michael Gira or Mark Lanegan (at least I think that's Pall, I couldn't find mention of any other vocalists). Check out the somber, gorgeous final track "The One Who Has Disappeared". Much more diverse than past efforts, but still retaining their trademark languorous pace and mellifluous instrumentation.
RealAudio clip: "Tropics Of Love"
RealAudio clip: "A Cry For Love"
RealAudio clip: "The One Who Has Disappeared"

BRINKMANN, THOMAS Row (Max Ernst) cd 16.98
Brinkmann's "Row" is another selection of tracks from the MaxErnst vinyl catalogue, with a couple of tracks being revisions of those vinyl cuts. Unlike the gritty texturalism of "Klick," this collection finds Brinkmann returning to the classic Profan sound that the Voigt brothers had been producing out of Cologne a couple years back. This is a smooth, precise techno with a simple yet very effective monophunk groove punctuated by low-key melodies. "Mexico" is one of the detours from the techno trax with a looping vocal sample phased into a Steve Reichian repetitive pattern before kicking into a nifty techno shuffle. Alongside "Mexico" which came from (max.E.8), Brinkmann's included "Corvette" (from max.E.10), "N.M.Q.P. (from Fragmente, Swiss vinyl), "maxE.3" (new version), "max.E.3" (another new version), "max.E.4" (new version), "isch" (from the limited Oral CDR), "Loplop" (from max.E.6), "'ribosom" (from SupposÈ 170), "toothpaste" (unreleased). A really collection album from one of electronica's finest!
RealAudio clip: "Loplop"
RealAudio clip: "Mexico"

BROKEN UMBRELLA magazine 2.99
I applaud Tony Vadakan and the rest of the folks behind this zine not only for their good taste in Thai noodle houses, but also for their creative ways and attention to detail. The cover of the very well composed and assembled Broken Umbrella comes with a number if things attached: a lovely hazy black and white photo, a fortune cookie fortune, and an envelope annex filled with rainy day arts'n'crafts ideas. Inside there's 56 pages of cool stories, artwork, music reviews and interviews by Tony, his friends and relatives. Oh yes, and there's also a glowing story about the restaurant alluded to above. A very enjoyable read.

BROTZMANN / VAN HOVE / BENNINK Balls (Atavistic) cd 14.98
"Archive FMP Edition" via Atavistic's Unheard Music Series of this classic Euro-free-jazz blow-out starring pianist Fred Van Hove, mad percussionist Han Bennink, and tenor sax terror Peter Brotzmann. The fourteen minute title track, a Brotzmann "composition", starts off quietly before erupting into mayhemic sax chatter, piano note-scatter, percussion clatter, and even some weird vocal patter. The rest of the album follows suit, the "free-action" of this soon-to-be legendary improv power trio taking no prisoners. All three players could -- and do -- fill solo albums with energetic, interesting art, so the combined youthful musical fervor of the three of 'em is something to behold, on this, their debut trio recording (and only the second FMP label release ever). The tracks on "Balls" are fierce yet tightly wound, making strong statements, no messing around, even as they explore a wide range of sounds, and even silences.
The four tracks from the original, long-out-of-print 1970 LP (remastered from the original tapes, packaged in a careful facsimile of the original LP design) are joined on this cd reissue by two untitled, previously unissued tracks cut by the trio in the same era, an exciting bonus indeed.
RealAudio clip: "Balls"
RealAudio clip: "Filet Americain"

BRUNO, FRANKLIN A Cat May Look At A Queen (Absolutely Kosher) cd 13.98
Though we all believe Franklin Bruno a great songwriter, he's taken off on a journey all his own and I'm having trouble following along. It's a lot of "showtunes"-style adult contemporary, and at times sounds like he's trying to be, um, Gilberto Gil...or Wayne Newton. I tried, really I did, but I don't like this at all. Your mileage may vary, though, and given Bruno's past stellar work, I highly recommend you check out the soundclips yourself. Hokey, goofy and happy with twangy, irritating guitar, and cheesy horns. This is the lead singer of Nothing Painted Blue, whom we all think was great and half of the Extra Glenns, also highly regarded. This is his third solo album, with nice production values, half recorded with Dave Trumfio (Wilco, Mates of State, Handsome Family) and half with Craig Schumacher (Calexico, Giant Sand, Brokeback). Guests include members of Calexico, Nothing Painted Blue, Refrigerator and Jonathan Richman's band.
RealAudio clip: "Dashboard Issues"
RealAudio clip: "Lies On Your Lips"
RealAudio clip: "Janet Shaw"

BUCKNER, RICHARD Impasse (Overcoat) cd 14.98
Hurrah! A new album of Mr. Buckner's gorgeous, shadowy americana. In fact, it's his first full collection of original material in four years! In that time his debut was re-issued and he released The Hill which was his interpretation of Edgar Lee Masters' Spoon River Anthology. Impasse, the newest album, is another winner. His strong honeydripping voice, laden with grit and sincerity, is melting, especially when accompanied by chiming chords strummed on acoustic guitar. A few songs even veer into Fleetwood Mac-ky soft rock shuffling tempos... in a *very* good way, methinks. No, he's not just another singer/songwriter -- Buckner's good. Springsteen, move over.
RealAudio clip: "hoping wishers never lose"
RealAudio clip: "... and the clouds've lied"
RealAudio clip: "impasse"

CEX Tall, Dark, And Handcuffed (Tigerbeat6) cd 13.98
New record from the underground rock scene's Brian Austin Green (c'mon, you remember, from Beverly Hills 90210....made a rap record....it was BAD)
Let's ruin the only 'funny' bit (a skit of all things, a take off of an Eminem skit) on this otherwise dreadful album of white bread, stupid pointless hip-hop by transcribing it here:
Jeremy deVine (of Sonna and Temporary Residence) with a tone of businesslike urgency: "Hey Cex, what's up?"
Cex goofily unaware: "Hey Jeremy deVine! Good to see you! What's up?"
Jeremy: "Cex could you come in here and have a seat, please. Vanessa, shut the door."
Cex: "What's up, how's Otis (?) looking for the first week?"
Jeremy: "It would be better if you gave me nothing at all. This album is less than nothing. I can't sell this fucking record. Do you know what's happening to me out there?"
Cex: "What's the problem?"
Jeremy: "Bjork told me to go fuck myself."
Cex: "Who's Bjork?"
Jeremy: "Aquarius Records told me to shove this record up my ass. Do know what it feels like to be told to have a record shoved up your ass? I'm going to lose my fucking job over this. Do you know why Radiohead's album was so successful? They're singing about homosexuals and Vicodin. You're rhyming about dodgeball and bicycles. Have you been in my office again? Look at this desk! There's a spring busted and it's all messed up. Either change the record or it's not coming out."
Cex: "Wait. What am I supposed to do?"
Jeremy: "Get the fuck out of my office. Now."
For the record, it was Cex who was to be the recipient of record-ass-shoving, not Jeremy deVine. But Jeremy'll do.
RealAudio clip: "Gigolo Knights"
RealAudio clip: "K-12 Days Of Hell"
RealAudio clip: "Jeremy Devine"

CHAO, MANU Radio Bemba Sound System (Virgin) cd 16.98
Manu Chao (formerly of French band Mano Negra) releases a lengthy live album which is even more upbeat than his albums proper, if you can believe that. And if his albums are the perfect party soundtrack, then this live record *is* a party in an of itself. I can see the lighters waving julbilantly in the stadium right now. The music's foundation is in rock, overlayed with the surrealistic silliness of another AQ fave band Os Mutantes. Yep, it's that good. You hear a psychedelic pastiche of horns and rocksteady swing, samples of people chattering, bells and buzzes, Latin rhythms, dub, hip hop, vocals in Spanish, girl backup singers, addictively catchy singsong melodies. *Super* celebratory. If you don't already have his previous albums Clandestino and Esperanza, get those first.
RealAudio clip: "Blood and Fire"
RealAudio clip: "Minha Galera"
RealAudio clip: "Radio Bemba"

CULT OF LUNA s/t (Rage Of Achilles) cd 10.98
As if that great new Isis record weren't enough, we've also finally managed to procure a few copies of this, the hard-to-find 2001 debut album by Swedish metalcore outfit Cult Of Luna, a band definitely in the heavier-than-thou, art-metal mode of fellow tortured souls Isis and mentors Neurosis (circa "Enemy Of The Sun"). Unrelenting waves of mid-to-slow-paced guitar/bass/drum punishment provide the backdrop to the vocalist's throaty screams of pain. Even with the piano and cello that decorate portions of this album, and the occasional quiet interludes offering false respite from their sheer HEAVINESS, it's pretty much a doomy trip of massive, suicidally depressing proportions, with cold, sad melodies making them not unlike a metalcore version of fellow morose countrymen Katatonia. Yeah, Katatonia + Neurosis, that about sums 'em up!
RealAudio clip: "The Revelation Embodied"
RealAudio clip: "Hollow"
RealAudio clip: "Dark Side Of The Sun"

DANUBIUS s/t (Web of Mimicry) cd 13.98
Mr. Bungle/Secret Chiefs 3 guitarist Trey Spruance discovered this group playing the folk/gypsy music of Eastern Europe (Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, the Balkans) in a local San Francisco cafe, and immediately persuaded 'em to release a cd on his own Web of Mimicry label 'cause he was so impressed. And indeed, Danubius are an undeniably fun and capable band, with a repertoire stretching from the streets of Budapest to the Carpathian Mountains to the Black Sea -- bringing in both "village" and "city" musics, demonstrating more diversity than many other traditional Eastern European music groups might. The twenty tracks on this album are organized into several suites, ethnomusical groupings such as "Hungarian Gypsy restaurant style" and "Transylvanian Suite". All share unflagging energy, bright sounds, evocative traditional instrumentation (accordion, cimbalom, tambura, hurdy gurdy, etc.), and some fancy pickin' on the ancient folk/popular tunes they're bringing to your stereo. We're told that the band members (who originally hail from all over Eastern Europe) will get into violent arguments on stage about how the pieces should be played, or say things like "I'm from Romania -- what do I know about this song from your village in Hungary?" but this disc demonstrates that when they manage to set aside their differences they can make some beautiful music together. And in fact, they have a serious purpose in doing so. To quote the liner notes: "Danubius is hoping to show a way into the future that allows traditional world musics to flourish, not just exist as a resource for 'samples' that can be thrown into some 'mix'. We believe that the experience of hearing this music live creates an emotional reaction that cannot be compared to hearing bits and pieces in films, in electronic compostions, or as a component of a 'world music' recording." A laudable goal. The liners go on to briefly discuss each track, helping to make this an educational package -- but one you can dance to as well.
Danubius are not unlike "old world" bands like Taraf de Haidouks and Fanfare Ciocarlia who have created a following for gypsy/wedding music in the West, although those groups, especially Fanfare Ciocarlia, play what might be termed a more "hardcore", frenzied version of these musics. Whereas, after all, the music of Danubius *does* sound like tunes you'd hear in (appropriate) restaurants. Even the wildest Romanian dance music they play won't make you choke on your dinner, while Fanfare's performance might require the Heimlich. Danubius are little more restrained. At least on disc -- but after hearing this I'm going to have to look for a chance to see 'em live.
RealAudio clip: "Hategana"
RealAudio clip: "Joc ca la Stana"
RealAudio clip: "Blateshnichka kopanista"

DEEP PURPLE In Rock (Anniversary Edition) (EMI) cd 15.98
Ok, first off, this isn't a new release -- not even a new reissue -- heck it's the remastered 25th anniversary edition of "In Rock", which means it came out in 1995. But we just got some in (to help bolster our embarrassingly small "Classic Rock" section), and while our Classic Rock section remains tiny, at least now it has this extremely excellent Deep Purple album in it! Quite possibly you're already aware of what a monumental slab of early '70s hard rock this disc is, and are happy for this reminder of the opportunity to add it to your cd collection if it's not there already. Or, perhaps you're not familiar with it, but happened to have woken up this morning wondering, hey, that Deep Purple band I keep hearing so much about, what album should I go buy of theirs today? then this is one for you (the other would be "Machine Head", but this one came first so we'll deal with it today). This was the debut of the classic Deep Purple "Mark II" line-up: new vocalist Ian Gillan, guitarist Richie Blackmore, organist John Lord, drummer Ian Paice, and new bassist Roger Glover (as illustrated in the front cover's Mt. Rushmore take-off). Together they made Deep Purple's fourth album (this one) one of the heaviest, most energetic, kick ass rock records ever. Maybe not quite metal, but close. Classic cuts include "Speed King" (with its Blackmore freakout intro), "Bloodsucker", "Living Wreck", and the epic "Child In Time". That song alone, and Gillan's astonishing performance in it, makes this disc essential. And, we wouldn't have one of the best Merzbow discs of recent memory without this album's "Hard Lovin' Man"!
This cd version includes a bunch of alternate takes/mixes, the non-album "Black Night" hit single, and even some studio chat, along with super detailed liner notes and jewel case cover printed with the band members' autographs (which Byram complains about in one of our Neighborhood films). Ok, enough, just wanted to give props to some truly classic rock.
RealAudio clip: "Bloodsucker"
RealAudio clip: "Child In Time"

DESTROYER This Night (Merge) cd 14.98
At long last Destroyer (aka Dan Bejar and co.) receives some well-deserved widespread distribution, thanks to the wonderful Merge Records. The previous three albums (Thief, City Of Daughters and Streethawk) were released on small indies, and as a result probably haven't reached as many hungry ears as they deserve. For those unfamiliar, apart from his fine solo efforts Mr. Bejar was also a significant songwriting force along with Carl Newman for the New Pornographers' Mass Romantic album, lending his distinct, slightly more eccentric lyrical twists to their pop magic. But shortly thereafter, he took to the road, travelling from Vancouver to Montreal, Spain, New York, and who knows where else. Somewhere in there he found time to write and record these fifteen songs. A modern day roaming minstrel? He's joined on this album by Fisher Rose (former NP drummer), Chris Frey and Nicolas Bragg. This Night is full of his oft-obtuse, yet deeply poetic writings, and is perhaps his most fleshed out, lush and consistent album to date. Swimming against the current flood of singer/songwriter folk-inflected melancholia, Bejar's songs do more than tug at the heartstrings or play with the emotions. This is not the music of a quick fix although his sweet jangly pop hooks do surface every so often ("Here Comes The Night"). Almost seeming from a different time, the first three songs alone will sweep you up into his world - keeping you on your toes with tempo shifts and his particular vocal inflections - and draw you back again with each listen. Recommended.
RealAudio clip: "This Night"
RealAudio clip: "Here Comes The Night"
RealAudio clip: "Trembling Peacock"
RealAudio clip: "Goddess Of Drought"

EE For 100 We Try Harder (Asian Man ) cd 12.98
This local pop quartet's line-up shines brightly with the presence of ex-Korea Girl member Tobin Mori, Soo Young Park from Seam, and Pete Nguyen of Total Shutdown. This is the follow-up to their Tinyspot cdep that was the follow-up to their '99 debut Ramadan. A very mellow, dreamy pop affair with occasional gentle boy vocals, a low-key post-rock rhythm section, and some swelling quiet/loud moments in which you can hear why the recent addition of Mr. Park makes perfect sense. Actually many of the songs do bear a striking resemblance to mid-'90s Seam, much more so than on the Tinyspot ep (which marked his first recorded appearance in EE). His presence and influence are definitely much more noticeable this time around.
RealAudio clip: "Slow Motion Restart"
RealAudio clip: "Beijing"
RealAudio clip: "Thomas Sleeps Beneath An El Paso Tree"

ELF POWER Nothing's Going To Happen (Orange Twin) cd 14.98
An all covers collection by these Georgia-based Elephant 6'ers released on Jeff Mangum's label. 16 songs in all (six of which were previously released on their tour only limited edition "Come On" ep) including Tall Dwarfs' "Nothings Going to Happen", Billy Childish's "You Make Me Die", Bad Brains' "Pay To Cum", The Misfits' "Hybrid Moments" (with altered lyrics), Sonic Youth, Jesus & Mary Chain, Frogs, Buzzcocks, etc. The broad choice of covers all done in Elf Power's indierock style actually serves to highlight the excellent *songwriting* evident in each track, and this is a very pleasant listen. Earnest, fun, crowd-pleasing tributes to their favorite bands or neutered, lackluster indie pop versions? We're on the fence. We enjoyed this a lot, but does that mean it's great? Hmm. You decide.
RealAudio clip: "You Make Me Die"
RealAudio clip: "Pay To Cum"
RealAudio clip: "Hybrid Moments "

FLAMING LIPS Finally The Punk Rockers Are Taking Acid (Ryko / Restless) 3cd 32.00
I think it's kinda funny that people have been buying/playing this collection incessantly. Why you ask? Well, you'll find none of the off kilter grandiose baroque pop of the Soft Bulletin, none of the surreal noise-pop epics of Clouds Taste Metallic, in fact if they weren't told this was the Flaming Lips, I'm guessing the majority of folks would have no idea. And I can see a lot of Soft Bulletin fans being WAY not into this. Not to say this is bad, because it's not. It's amazing! But it's also sloppy and ramshackle and noisy and chaotic and occasionally tuneless with EXTENDED freak out jams and yelped and howled vocals. This stuff is the very earliest Lips material, some of it from before Wayne even started singing (and the vocals were handled (rather poorly) by his little brother) and it shows. Definite eighties / college radio / Homestead records / Butthole Surfers / Scratch Acid vibe, which makes sense, since that's the scene that spawned the 'Lips. There are hints of what was to come, perfect little melodies, super catchy hooks, but most of the time they're buried under drug addled, spaced out RAWK, with squealing guitars and splattery drumming. Reminiscent of the Replacements in the way that something so messy and noisy and chaotic can manage to be so catchy and practically perfect at the same time. This three disc set compiles the first Flaming Lips ep, the Hear It Is album, the Oh MY Gawd!!! album, the Telepathic Surgery album and TONS of bonus tracks!! Features some of their earliest classics: Jesus Shootin' Heroin, One Million Billionth Of A Millisecond On A Sunday Morning, Drug Machine In Heaven and lots more. Andee says completely essential!!! But not if you're only Lips experience is The Soft Bulletin. Fans of freaked out, fucked up, spaced out psychedelic drug rock, will find LOTS to like here.
RealAudio clip: "With You"
RealAudio clip: "Jesus Shootin' Heroin"
RealAudio clip: "Everything's Explodin'"
RealAudio clip: "One Million Billionth of a Millisecond on a Sunday Morning"

FREIBAND Homeward (Bottrop-Boy) cd 15.98
Freiband is the most recent project of Frans De Waard, the Dutch chameleon whose collection of musical projects/recordings so far is larger than most musician's entire output. Yet to De Waard's credit, each project attempts to be its own entity with an intellect and an aesthetic all its own. Freiband finds De Waard working by himself, but everything that he uses on the Freiband albums is either stolen or borrowed... from the source material, to the software, to the equipment, to the compositional ideas, etc. Yet, De Waard is quick to point out that Freiband is not an example of the Plunderphonia of John Oswald or Wobbly. Musically, "Homeward" - the second Freiband album - is firmly entrenched in the ephemeral digital errata of Stephan Mathieu and Ekkehard Ehlers with a more pronounced sense of digital rhythms over the atmospheric drone; but unlike those two artists who have been forthright in who they had been paying homage to and / or remixing, De Waard doesn't allow us any insight into the origin of his 'stolen' samples, other than stating that Freiband pilfers from the "music of his youth." So the question remains, why tell us you're committing a felony when you're not letting us check out the stolen goods? Regardless of this conceptual conundrum, De Waard's "Homeward" is a solid album.
RealAudio clip: "A67-A11"
RealAudio clip: "Swing"

GARNER, SUE Shadyside (Thrill Jockey) cd 14.98
Sue Garner possesses one of those lovely voices that flows along so warm and smooth, but with a tendency to suddenly swoop up all high'n'lilting or slink down low to a dry, almost spoken delivery. With the varied tempos and styles of her third solo album Shadyside, her music brings to mind a melding of Joni Mitchell, Sally Timms and Ani Difranco - full of heart and presence. The lyrics of four of these songs are actually previously existing poems written by Fay Hart (who also penned a song for one of Garner's former bands The Shams). She invited a number of her talented musician friends to help flesh out the songs - namely husband Rick Brown (with whom she recorded as Run On), Marc Ribot, Jim O'Rourke, and Yo La Tengo's James McNew. The result is a dramatic, diverse musical backdrop with bass clarinet, bass harmonica, kalimba, organ, accordion, electric piano and an array of percussion joining the assembled guitars, bass and drums.
RealAudio clip: "Don't Still The Flicker"
RealAudio clip: "Handful Of Grapes"

GILES, GILES, & FRIPP The Brondesbury Tapes (1968) (Mister E) cd 13.98
Delightful, somewhat melancholy pop-psych with jazz and folk flavorings from this obscure pre-King Crimson outfit. (Michael) Giles, (Peter) Giles & (Robert) Fripp released an LP on Decca in 1968 that was not a commercial success (not too surprising since their label described them in press materials as "one of countless groups who have come to London with the vain hope of making good" -- a style of humor that may have backfired on this Monty Python-esque looking group). Undaunted (well, perhaps somewhat daunted), the trio carried on, building a primitive home studio in their flat at 93a Brondesbury Road and turning out quite a few amazingly well-done tracks with just a second-hand Revox F36 stereo tape recorder and some old microphones and a makeshift mixer. These songs appear on this cd for the first time (mostly). There's some really lovely stuff here, much of which benefits from the presence of ex-Fairport Convention singer Judy Dyble (Fairport's pre-Sandy Denny female vocalist) and her musical cohorts, songwriting partners Ian McDonald and Peter Sinfield. These three met up with the GG&F trio via a Melody Maker ad, and, aside from these long-lost tapes, eventually made rock and roll history when McDonald and lyricist Sinfield became part of King Crimson along with Fripp, Michael Giles, and Greg Lake, for that group's groundbreaking "In The Court of The Crimson King" debut. So, one audience for this "Brondesbury Tapes" cd would certainly be Crimson fans curious about the origins of that band. True Crim heads will recognize some of their material here in early form. But, you'll find nothing like "21st Century Schizoid Man". This is a fine record in its own right, more pop than prog, both eerie and whimsical, demonstrating both Beatles and Beach Boys influences, and incorporating UK folk-psych sounds that of course recall both Fairport and the more gentle, pastoral stuff done by early Crimson. Quite nice! And, actually, quite a bit better than Decca's offical Giles, Giles & Fripp release, if only because it doesn't suffer from Fripp's silly/annoying narration all throughout (another bit of British humor that didn't really work for GG&F). The liner notes provide a detailed history of the group and, from Peter Giles, details of their multi-track recording methods (layering overdubs by bouncing tracks back and forth on a 2-track machine) complete with schematic charts illustrating the process. He's rightly proud of what they managed to accomplished, back in the days before home studios were commonplace.
RealAudio clip: "I Talk To The Wind"
RealAudio clip: "Why Don't You Just Drop In"
RealAudio clip: "Digging My Lawn"
RealAudio clip: "Under The Sky"

GLASS CAGE s/t (Paratactile) cd 16.98
Fuzzed, flanged fusion fireballs, blowing shit up! Mentioned last list in our review of Gary Smith and Aufgehoben No Process's distorted death match "Magnetic Mountain", here's the Glass Cage cd: the instrumental improv trio of guitarist Smith, former Soft Machine bassist Hugh Hopper, and famed Japanese free jazz/rock percussionist Shoji Hano (you might know from collaborations with Keiji Haino, or his stint drumming with Nanjo Asahito's High Rise). The family tree that brought these three together must have some tangled roots indeed, but we're glad they found each other (actually, Smith and Hano have played together before, in a trio with Nanjo in fact, and presumably Hopper and Smith know each other from the UK avant-garde scene). The music they play is chaotic, but beautiful; noodly, but heavy (Hopper's thick fuzz bass sounds like that of the Ruins circa "Stonehenge"). Smith's "stereo" guitar veers wildly though the flak thrown about by the Hopper-Hano rhythm section. "Out" rock enthusiasts, like Nels Cline fans for instance, ought to investigate. Earplugs required.
RealAudio clip: "Crash 2"
RealAudio clip: "Text"
RealAudio clip: "Crash 3"

GRAY, DARIN St. Louis Shuffle (Family Vineyard) cd 13.98
Darin Gray presents his debut recording after years and years of working the Chicago noise-rock circuit (Dazzling Killmen, Brise Glace, You Fantastic, and Yona Kit, etc.). "St. Louis Shuffle" is a continuation away from those outfits of mutant hardcore muscularity towards improv noise splutter. Here, the central noise making means is through plugging and unplugging (guitars from amps, microphones from 4-tracks, etc.), resulting in an assortment of cracks, hums, scrapes, clicks, and pops disrupting a discordant din of gritty feedback. Unlike the electronica glitch aesthetic of Raster, Mego, Fennesz, etc. which purifies sounds, Gray's use of the glitch is a celebration of ugliness through dislocation.
RealAudio clip: "Get Rid Of This St. Louis!"
RealAudio clip: "Eugene B. Redmond"

GUIDED BY VOICES Pipe Dreams Of Instant Prince Whippet (Recordhead) cd 12.98
Another Guided By Voices record. It's true. It almost seems like a joke now. Like I see a GBV record and I honestly think "you have to be kidding". Remember when a band released a record a year for 10 years tops. As far as I can tell (and as far as I was willing to count) according to the official GBV discography, this is Guided By Voices' 75th release since 1986 (including eps and 7"s). That's NOT counting 3 videos, 1 DVD, 1 MP3 cd, and TWO BOX SETS!!! That's also not counting the hundred or so side project releases!! But, as I mentioned in my review of the last Guided By Voices record (from maybe 2 months ago....hahahaaa) this shit is still GREAT. If anything, it's getting better, less pop and more weird and progressive. Which has turned off a lot of folks, but I think it's the one thing that can keep this band interesting after so much output. The pop's still there and when it surfaces it's quite sublime, but the songs are slower, and stranger, and less obvious, and harder to get your head around. Which is a good thing. Nice.
RealAudio clip: "Visit This Place"
RealAudio clip: "Swooping Energies"

JACKMAN, DAVID / PHILIP SANDERSON Terrain (Die Stadt) 10" 15.98
The journey through the back catalogue of Organum and David Jackman continues; this time with two very rare tracks from 1980 / 1981. "Terrain" was a collaboration between Jackman and Philip Sanderson, who had been active in the early '80s in the minimalist, primitive electronics ensemble the Storm Bugs. This is an alternate version of a track that had appeared on the "0 Degrees North" cassette that Jackman released through his Aeroplane Records in an edition of 25 copies. With Jackman overdubbing low guttural growls on a steel strung cello and Sanderson programming coffee-percolation on a drum machine, "Terrain" is a lo-fi production that finds its companions in the work of Throbbing Gristle, Hunting Lodge, and the Broken Flag camps of noise. "Adrift" -- a solo Jackman piece which appeared on the Sanderson's Snatch tapes in an edition again of 25 copies -- is similarly lo-fi with a hypnotic loop of a monochromatic guitar topped with clanging metals and samples from orchestral swells which have been drained of all color and replaced with a swampy din. Perhaps not one of Jackman's finest moments; but considering how all of his work fetches high prices from record collectors, this may be more of an investment.

JANDEK I Threw You Away (Corwood Industries) cd 8.98
Jandek preceded I Threw You Away with three a capella / spoken word albums that were ultimately forgettable detours from his signature sound of damaged folk music. Here, the Texan mystery man has returned to the open chord guitar strum and meandering finger picking techniques while he unleashes that desolate moan of a voice revealing staggering visions of any number of inescapable existential truths. Musically, Jandek's "I Threw You Away" is a very obtuse (even for Jandek!) maze of untuned acoustic dissonance and emotional caterwauling. As with most Jandek records, the differences are the key to discerning meaing. The Jandek cover art -- which had been as uniformly uncompromising as the music -- displays a noticeable change. It's a recent photograph (badly taken of course) of a street in Europe, rumored to be from Cork City in Ireland with St. Mary's Cathedral emerging in the background of the desolate street scene. Has our Texan moved?
RealAudio clip: "Blues Turned Black"
RealAudio clip: "The World Stops"

JOHN WILKES BOOZE Five Pillars Of Soul Vol.1: Melvin Van Peebles (Affirmation) cd-r 8.98
While this is purportedly a tribute to soul music, the soul music seems to be mostly implied here, like 'soul' in spirit, in concept, in intention, but not in execution. Which is not a bad thing. This -is- soul music, but the way it can only be played by middle class, white, mid-western boys. All shrieking, skronking, sweaty, pounding, rocking and GROOVING. You can catch glimpses of the Make Up, the Blues Explosion, the White Stripes, New York Dolls, as well as Alice Donut (especially in the vocals). Weird and pretty wonderful. Spazzy, soulful, glammy ROCK AND ROLL. There are 5 volumes (we have the first four). Short and sweet (almost too short, clocking in at 10-15 minutes) and all in honor of JWB's peculiar ideas of the pillars of soul: Mario Van Peebles, Tania Hearst (Patty Hearst with her SLA name), Albert Ayler, Marc Bolan and the as yet to be announced 5th pillar.
Nice handmade sleeves with cool/funny liner notes. They do covers of the Zombies, the Fugs, and Mission Of Burma and turn them into punky soul explosions... Good stuff, here's hoping the fifth pillar is BRUCE WILLIS!!!
RealAudio clip: "Sweetback's Gonna Make It"
RealAudio clip: "Brer Soul Is On The Street"

JOHN WILKES BOOZE Five Pillars Of Soul Vol.2: Tania Hearst (Affirmation) cd-r 8.98
While this is purportedly a tribute to soul music, the soul music seems to be mostly implied here, like 'soul' in spirit, in concept, in intention, but not in execution. Which is not a bad thing. This -is- soul music, but the way it can only be played by middle class, white, mid-western boys. All shrieking, skronking, sweaty, pounding, rocking and GROOVING. You can catch glimpses of the Make Up, the Blues Explosion, the White Stripes, New York Dolls, as well as Alice Donut (especially in the vocals). Weird and pretty wonderful. Spazzy, soulful, glammy ROCK AND ROLL. There are 5 volumes (we have the first four). Short and sweet (almost too short, clocking in at 10-15 minutes) and all in honor of JWB's peculiar ideas of the pillars of soul: Mario Van Peebles, Tania Hearst (Patty Hearst with her SLA name), Albert Ayler, Marc Bolan and the as yet to be announced 5th pillar.
Nice handmade sleeves with cool/funny liner notes. They do covers of the Zombies, the Fugs, and Mission Of Burma and turn them into punky soul explosions... Good stuff, here's hoping the fifth pillar is BRUCE WILLIS!!!
RealAudio clip: "SLA Popcorn"
RealAudio clip: "A Butcher's Tale"

JOHN WILKES BOOZE Five Pillars Of Soul Vol.3: Albert Ayler (Affirmation) cd-r 8.98
While this is purportedly a tribute to soul music, the soul music seems to be mostly implied here, like 'soul' in spirit, in concept, in intention, but not in execution. Which is not a bad thing. This -is- soul music, but the way it can only be played by middle class, white, mid-western boys. All shrieking, skronking, sweaty, pounding, rocking and GROOVING. You can catch glimpses of the Make Up, the Blues Explosion, the White Stripes, New York Dolls, as well as Alice Donut (especially in the vocals). Weird and pretty wonderful. Spazzy, soulful, glammy ROCK AND ROLL. There are 5 volumes (we have the first four). Short and sweet (almost too short, clocking in at 10-15 minutes) and all in honor of JWB's peculiar ideas of the pillars of soul: Mario Van Peebles, Tania Hearst (Patty Hearst with her SLA name), Albert Ayler, Marc Bolan and the as yet to be announced 5th pillar.
Nice handmade sleeves with cool/funny liner notes. They do covers of the Zombies, the Fugs, and Mission Of Burma and turn them into punky soul explosions... Good stuff, here's hoping the fifth pillar is BRUCE WILLIS!!!
RealAudio clip: "They Dont Like Me In This Town"
RealAudio clip: "Death Of A Jazz Musician"

JOHN WILKES BOOZE Five Pillars Of Soul Vol.4: Marc Bolan (Affirmation) cd-r 8.98
While this is purportedly a tribute to soul music, the soul music seems to be mostly implied here, like 'soul' in spirit, in concept, in intention, but not in execution. Which is not a bad thing. This -is- soul music, but the way it can only be played by middle class, white, mid-western boys. All shrieking, skronking, sweaty, pounding, rocking and GROOVING. You can catch glimpses of the Make Up, the Blues Explosion, the White Stripes, New York Dolls, as well as Alice Donut (especially in the vocals). Weird and pretty wonderful. Spazzy, soulful, glammy ROCK AND ROLL. There are 5 volumes (we have the first four). Short and sweet (almost too short, clocking in at 10-15 minutes) and all in honor of JWB's peculiar ideas of the pillars of soul: Mario Van Peebles, Tania Hearst (Patty Hearst with her SLA name), Albert Ayler, Marc Bolan and the as yet to be announced 5th pillar.
Nice handmade sleeves with cool/funny liner notes. They do covers of the Zombies, the Fugs, and Mission Of Burma and turn them into punky soul explosions... Good stuff, here's hoping the fifth pillar is BRUCE WILLIS!!!
RealAudio clip: "Academy Flight Song"
RealAudio clip: "Rock 'n' Roll Star"

KID 606 VS. DALEK Ruin It (Tigerbeat6) cd ep 7.98
The NY-based hiphop trio Dalek contributed rhymes to that excellent Techno Animal track "Dead Man's Curse", so it makes sense that Techno Anim's Kevin Martin and Justin Broadrick introduced Dalek to our own local darling Kid606. Thus, this excellent collaboration. As I've enthused in other reviews, Dalek's epic, incantatory vocal stylings are pushed right up against apocalyptic, doom-laden instrumentation: high pitched squealing feedback that sounds like air raid sirens, abandoned machine bleeps, paranoid dub-heavy beats, crashing cymbals and other live drumming, shimmering guitar. They are an apt match with Kid 606 and his bad boy I'll-mess-with-anything-and-make-it-kick-yr-ass style.
So, as if the original "Ruin It" track that appears here isn't great enough -- all glitchy fuzzed out broken buried melody courtesy Kid606 -- then Dalek ups and makes it even more intense and dramatic and spooky. Really good, some of the best material from either artists I've heard yet. In addition to the two title tracks here, there's even a slow sort of My Bloody Valentine-ish slice of melancholia here, laden with murk and record static. That piece appears only on the cd ep, as does the closer track "satans hard drive" which Dalek constructed spontaneously from one of the Kid's busted hard disks. Yeah, it's noisy!
RealAudio clip: "Ruin It, Ruin Them, Ruin Yourself then Ruin Me (original)"
RealAudio clip: "Ruin It, Ruin Them, Ruin Yourself then Ruin Me -- Dalek remix"
RealAudio clip: "Vague Recollection"

KIRK, RAHSAAN ROLAND Blacknuss (Collectables) cd 13.98
It seems like time for a rant again. Don't worry, I'll make it short. Roland Kirk is God! Or at least as much a god as Mingus, Sun Ra, Davis or Coltrane. So here's your chance to see what you've been missing. And what the majority of jazz fans can't get their narrow heads around: soulful, jazzy, funky, groovy, funny, soul shaking, gut busting, tear jerking brilliance from this musical genius. Master of every instrument he picked up (as well as a handful he invented!), able to play three horns at once (not as a gimmick, as a way to play three melodies), blind since birth and later suffering paralysis from a stroke, wandering around NYC with a huge wheeled staff with various horns duct-taped to it as well as a portable tape recorder that he used to record the sounds of the world and would sometime incorporate into live performances, a brilliant and funny orater, telling jokes and stories, ranting and testifying, preaching and proclaiming, and once even handing out cocaine to folks in the crowd. This man was remarkable. Musically, socially, personally. Unclear why he tends to get overlooked, and underappreciated by the majority of jazz fans. Too weird I guess. But I know that won't bother you (speaking here to YOU, the erudite AQ list subscriber) !!!
So it's always a happy day, when some new Kirk gem is unearthed, or some classic Kirk record gets the re-release/remaster treatment. So kudos to Collectables for reissuing 7 essential and timeless Kirk masterpieces. Some terrible design ideas though: the cheesy Collectables logo, HUGE ADS taking up whole pages in the cd booklets, and the 'Collectables Jazz Classics' tag line pasted everywhere over the original art, making them look like those bargain collections you find at truckstops or drugstores. But it's all about the music right....
This legendary record originally released in 1972 features one of Kirk's most moving tunes ever, his sorrowful take on Bill Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine", complete with soaring minor key strings and Kirk growling the lyrics through his flute! Mostly covers, this finds Kirk straddling the line between overt sentimentality, and more of that party/boppy/get-up-and-dance-dammit vibe. While some of the tunes here are tepid and sort of straight ahead, there are moments where Kirk slays, the aforementioned "Ain't No Sunshine", the testifying gospel tinged "Blacknuss", and an unlikely cover of Bread's "Make It With You"??
RealAudio clip: "Ain't No Sunshine"
RealAudio clip: "Make It With You"
RealAudio clip: "Blacknuss"

KIRK, RAHSAAN ROLAND Left And Right (Collectables) cd 13.98
It seems like time for a rant again. Don't worry, I'll make it short. Roland Kirk is God! Or at least as much a god as Mingus, Sun Ra, Davis or Coltrane. So here's your chance to see what you've been missing. And what the majority of jazz fans can't get their narrow heads around: soulful, jazzy, funky, groovy, funny, soul shaking, gut busting, tear jerking brilliance from this musical genius. Master of every instrument he picked up (as well as a handful he invented!), able to play three horns at once (not as a gimmick, as a way to play three melodies), blind since birth and later suffering paralysis from a stroke, wandering around NYC with a huge wheeled staff with various horns duct-taped to it as well as a portable tape recorder that he used to record the sounds of the world and would sometime incorporate into live performances, a brilliant and funny orater, telling jokes and stories, ranting and testifying, preaching and proclaiming, and once even handing out cocaine to folks in the crowd. This man was remarkable. Musically, socially, personally. Unclear why he tends to get overlooked, and underappreciated by the majority of jazz fans. Too weird I guess. But I know that won't bother you (speaking here to YOU, the erudite AQ list subscriber) !!!
So it's always a happy day, when some new Kirk gem is unearthed, or some classic Kirk record gets the re-release/remaster treatment. So kudos to Collectables for reissuing 7 essential and timeless Kirk masterpieces. Some terrible design ideas though: the cheesy Collectables logo, HUGE ADS taking up whole pages in the cd booklets, and the 'Collectables Jazz Classics' tag line pasted everywhere over the original art, making them look like those bargain collections you find at truckstops or drugstores. But it's all about the music right....
Left And Right (from 1969) starts off with a bizarre intro for bouncy cinematic string section and a ranting Roland Kirk as well as sound effects (breaking glass etc...).The record stays pretty far out with Expansions, the 20 minute, 9 part epic, sounding equal parts swinging sixties soundtrack, Morricone score, jazzy funereal dirge, and shrieking grandiose epic! The strings play a huge part on the rest of the record, fleshing out and gussying up some smooth dreamy, late night jazz workouts into gorgeous cinematic melancholia.
RealAudio clip: "Black Mystery Has Been Revealed"
RealAudio clip: "Expansions"

KIRK, RAHSAAN ROLAND Other Folks' Music (Collectables) cd 13.98
It seems like time for a rant again. Don't worry, I'll make it short. Roland Kirk is God! Or at least as much a god as Mingus, Sun Ra, Davis or Coltrane. So here's your chance to see what you've been missing. And what the majority of jazz fans can't get their narrow heads around: soulful, jazzy, funky, groovy, funny, soul shaking, gut busting, tear jerking brilliance from this musical genius. Master of every instrument he picked up (as well as a handful he invented!), able to play three horns at once (not as a gimmick, as a way to play three melodies), blind since birth and later suffering paralysis from a stroke, wandering around NYC with a huge wheeled staff with various horns duct-taped to it as well as a portable tape recorder that he used to record the sounds of the world and would sometime incorporate into live performances, a brilliant and funny orater, telling jokes and stories, ranting and testifying, preaching and proclaiming, and once even handing out cocaine to folks in the crowd. This man was remarkable. Musically, socially, personally. Unclear why he tends to get overlooked, and underappreciated by the majority of jazz fans. Too weird I guess. But I know that won't bother you (speaking here to YOU, the erudite AQ list subscriber) !!!
So it's always a happy day, when some new Kirk gem is unearthed, or some classic Kirk record gets the re-release/remaster treatment. So kudos to Collectables for reissuing 7 essential and timeless Kirk masterpieces. Some terrible design ideas though: the cheesy Collectables logo, HUGE ADS taking up whole pages in the cd booklets, and the 'Collectables Jazz Classics' tag line pasted everywhere over the original art, making them look like those bargain collections you find at truckstops or drugstores. But it's all about the music right....
Other Folks' Music (from 1976) starts out years ahead of its time, with a fuzzy distorted tape recording (think Godspeed) that slowly turns into a creepy crawly harmonica flecked scene setter worthy of any Morricone/Leone western. Worth it for that track alone. The rest of the record ranges from dreamy late night cocktail jazz, to really hard bop, to almost loungy exotica to timeless/classic Kirk nu-bop.
RealAudio clip: "Water For Robeson And Williams"
RealAudio clip: "Donna Lee"
RealAudio clip: "Samba"

KIRK, RAHSAAN ROLAND Prepare Thyself To Deal With A Miracle (Collectables) cd 13.98
It seems like time for a rant again. Don't worry, I'll make it short. Roland Kirk is God! Or at least as much a god as Mingus, Sun Ra, Davis or Coltrane. So here's your chance to see what you've been missing. And what the majority of jazz fans can't get their narrow heads around: soulful, jazzy, funky, groovy, funny, soul shaking, gut busting, tear jerking brilliance from this musical genius. Master of every instrument he picked up (as well as a handful he invented!), able to play three horns at once (not as a gimmick, as a way to play three melodies), blind since birth and later suffering paralysis from a stroke, wandering around NYC with a huge wheeled staff with various horns duct-taped to it as well as a portable tape recorder that he used to record the sounds of the world and would sometime incorporate into live performances, a brilliant and funny orater, telling jokes and stories, ranting and testifying, preaching and proclaiming, and once even handing out cocaine to folks in the crowd. This man was remarkable. Musically, socially, personally. Unclear why he tends to get overlooked, and underappreciated by the majority of jazz fans. Too weird I guess. But I know that won't bother you (speaking here to YOU, the erudite AQ list subscriber) !!!
So it's always a happy day, when some new Kirk gem is unearthed, or some classic Kirk record gets the re-release/remaster treatment. So kudos to Collectables for reissuing 7 essential and timeless Kirk masterpieces. Some terrible design ideas though: the cheesy Collectables logo, HUGE ADS taking up whole pages in the cd booklets, and the 'Collectables Jazz Classics' tag line pasted everywhere over the original art, making them look like those bargain collections you find at truckstops or drugstores. But it's all about the music right....
1973's Prepare Thyself... album found Kirk mixing bop with cinematic soundscapes, bizarre vocalisations, bells and chimes and tribal percussion. The opening track is another barnstormer, totaly menacing and haunting, percussive and hypnotic. Why he was never hit up to score movies I'll never understand. The 10 minute Seasons was my introductionm to Roland Kirk, although the version I first heard was recorded live at the Montreux Jazz Festival documented on the live release Eye Aye I. A tripped out tribal intro gives way to summery fluttery flute improvisations. But the real attraction here is an epic 21 minute free jazz workout called "Saxophone Concerto", complete with ranting female testifying, Kirk and band swinging from bop to swing and bopping from swing to bop, often in the same passage. But the focal point is Kirk's endless, breathless, tenor sax, wailing and squealing and screeching for 20 minutes, until any normal man would have passed out. Or dropped dead.
RealAudio clip: "Salvation And Reminiscing"
RealAudio clip: "Seasons"

KIRK, RAHSAAN ROLAND The Case Of The 3 Sided Dream In Audio Color (Collectables) cd 13.98
It seems like time for a rant again. Don't worry, I'll make it short. Roland Kirk is God! Or at least as much a god as Mingus, Sun Ra, Davis or Coltrane. So here's your chance to see what you've been missing. And what the majority of jazz fans can't get their narrow heads around: soulful, jazzy, funky, groovy, funny, soul shaking, gut busting, tear jerking brilliance from this musical genius. Master of every instrument he picked up (as well as a handful he invented!), able to play three horns at once (not as a gimmick, as a way to play three melodies), blind since birth and later suffering paralysis from a stroke, wandering around NYC with a huge wheeled staff with various horns duct-taped to it as well as a portable tape recorder that he used to record the sounds of the world and would sometime incorporate into live performances, a brilliant and funny orater, telling jokes and stories, ranting and testifying, preaching and proclaiming, and once even handing out cocaine to folks in the crowd. This man was remarkable. Musically, socially, personally. Unclear why he tends to get overlooked, and underappreciated by the majority of jazz fans. Too weird I guess. But I know that won't bother you (speaking here to YOU, the erudite AQ list subscriber) !!!
So it's always a happy day, when some new Kirk gem is unearthed, or some classic Kirk record gets the re-release/remaster treatment. So kudos to Collectables for reissuing 7 essential and timeless Kirk masterpieces. Some terrible design ideas though: the cheesy Collectables logo, HUGE ADS taking up whole pages in the cd booklets, and the 'Collectables Jazz Classics' tag line pasted everywhere over the original art, making them look like those bargain collections you find at truckstops or drugstores. But it's all about the music right....
The main attraction here is the bizarre interludes between almost all of the songs. Whether it's a voice from beyond commanding Kirk to sleep, and Kirk explaining why he can no longer dream, to thundering horse hooves, ping pong, sampled TV music, strange ambient interludes, that same voice from beyond commanding Kirk to wake up and Kirk ranting right back, and then a 13 minute 'Side Four' featuring 10 minutes of silence, then all sorts of conversation, tape recorded howls, etc.... The actual music here (recorded in 1975) is classic Kirk, but with the unlikely inclusion of some surprisingly hard funk!!
RealAudio clip: "Conversation"
RealAudio clip: "Echoes Of Primitive Ohio & Chili Dogs"
RealAudio clip: "Freaks For The Festival"

KIRK, RAHSAAN ROLAND Volunteered Slavery (Collectables) cd 13.98
It seems like time for a rant again. Don't worry, I'll make it short. Roland Kirk is God! Or at least as much a god as Mingus, Sun Ra, Davis or Coltrane. So here's your chance to see what you've been missing. And what the majority of jazz fans can't get their narrow heads around: soulful, jazzy, funky, groovy, funny, soul shaking, gut busting, tear jerking brilliance from this musical genius. Master of every instrument he picked up (as well as a handful he invented!), able to play three horns at once (not as a gimmick, as a way to play three melodies), blind since birth and later suffering paralysis from a stroke, wandering around NYC with a huge wheeled staff with various horns duct-taped to it as well as a portable tape recorder that he used to record the sounds of the world and would sometime incorporate into live performances, a brilliant and funny orater, telling jokes and stories, ranting and testifying, preaching and proclaiming, and once even handing out cocaine to folks in the crowd. This man was remarkable. Musically, socially, personally. Unclear why he tends to get overlooked, and underappreciated by the majority of jazz fans. Too weird I guess. But I know that won't bother you (speaking here to YOU, the erudite AQ list subscriber) !!!
So it's always a happy day, when some new Kirk gem is unearthed, or some classic Kirk record gets the re-release/remaster treatment. So kudos to Collectables for reissuing 7 essential and timeless Kirk masterpieces. Some terrible design ideas though: the cheesy Collectables logo, HUGE ADS taking up whole pages in the cd booklets, and the 'Collectables Jazz Classics' tag line pasted everywhere over the original art, making them look like those bargain collections you find at truckstops or drugstores. But it's all about the music right....
Originally released in 1969, this finds Kirk in a very soulful mood. The jazz here is only an afterthought, with these funk/soul/gospel numbers heavy on the horns, the testifying and the party/dance vibe!! Covers of '"I Say a Little Prayer" (a Kirk staple) and an awesome version of Stevie Wonder's "My Cherie Amour" complete with Kirk's over the top Biz Markie style vocals!! The second half was recorded live at the Newport Jazz Festival and features some smoking versions of "One Ton", "Three For The Festival", and a Coltrane melody, all interspersed with Kirk's insanely inspired introductions and some of the wildest, most intense flute playing EVER!
RealAudio clip: "Intro/A Tribute To John Coltrane"
RealAudio clip: "My Cherie Amour"
RealAudio clip: "Volunteered Slavery"

KIRK, RAHSAAN ROLAND AND THE VIBRATION SOCIETY Rahsaan Rahsaan (Collectables) cd 13.98
It seems like time for a rant again. Don't worry, I'll make it short. Roland Kirk is God! Or at least as much a god as Mingus, Sun Ra, Davis or Coltrane. So here's your chance to see what you've been missing. And what the majority of jazz fans can't get their narrow heads around: soulful, jazzy, funky, groovy, funny, soul shaking, gut busting, tear jerking brilliance from this musical genius. Master of every instrument he picked up (as well as a handful he invented!), able to play three horns at once (not as a gimmick, as a way to play three melodies), blind since birth and later suffering paralysis from a stroke, wandering around NYC with a huge wheeled staff with various horns duct-taped to it as well as a portable tape recorder that he used to record the sounds of the world and would sometime incorporate into live performances, a brilliant and funny orater, telling jokes and stories, ranting and testifying, preaching and proclaiming, and once even handing out cocaine to folks in the crowd. This man was remarkable. Musically, socially, personally. Unclear why he tends to get overlooked, and underappreciated by the majority of jazz fans. Too weird I guess. But I know that won't bother you (speaking here to YOU, the erudite AQ list subscriber) !!!
So it's always a happy day, when some new Kirk gem is unearthed, or some classic Kirk record gets the re-release/remaster treatment. So kudos to Collectables for reissuing 7 essential and timeless Kirk masterpieces. Some terrible design ideas though: the cheesy Collectables logo, HUGE ADS taking up whole pages in the cd booklets, and the 'Collectables Jazz Classics' tag line pasted everywhere over the original art, making them look like those bargain collections you find at truckstops or drugstores. But it's all about the music right....
Again, Kirk opens proceedings on 1970's Rahsaan Rahsaan with a rant to end all rants, delivered in quite a state, and backed up by clattery percussion and gloomy droning chords. A few minutes into it though, the band kicks in and were back on more familiar bop territory, although as with a lot of Kirk's work, it's dark and dangerous and tinged with an ominous vibe, mysterious and unsettling. Kirk takes great pains in a two minute introduction to explain his two horn technique and how he gets his mind to think two different things. He then proceeds to play Sentimental Journey on one horn and Dvorak's Going Home on the other. AT THE SAME TIME. 4 minutes of impossible brainsplitting, ultra complex, totally impossible horn playing. Mindblowing. The record finishes off with more classic Kirk bop and another really funny introduction that as always, keeps the audience in stitches.
RealAudio clip: "Intro/Medley (2 melodies at once!)"
RealAudio clip: "The Seeker"

KUBISCH, CHRISTINA Diapason (Semishigure) cd 15.98
For nearly 4 decades, the German sound artist Christina Kubisch has explored the dynamics of a restricted pallette from unconventional sound sources, including water jets, metronomes, marbles, and bells (her most widely used sound source). She situates these sounds within a number of poetic installations, which depend upon architechtural, environmental, and object-relational contexts to literally activate the sound. Some of her work including the recordings from the "Klangraumlichtzeit" monograph never translated very well outside of their original installations, but there have been examples of her sound work which transcend the borders of the installations. "Dreaming Of A Major Third" (1998) was one such piece, as a wonderful drone recording of churchbell tones whose sharp attacks had been curtailed into muffled swells. The album is so strong that the technological gimmickery of her solar panel interface to control those churchbells is almost a footnote. Similarly, "Diapason" is another successful composition outside of its original installation context, having been exclusively composed with medical tuning forks. Utilizing the intrinsically long acoustic decay of those forks to her advantage, Kubisch spartanly strikes these instruments in variety of delicate patterns that emerge, dissolve, and re-appear with the vast expanses of time and space. In the end, this album has many of the ephemeral and transient characteristics of late period Morton Feldman.
RealAudio clip: "Diapason excerpt 1"
RealAudio clip: "Diapason excerpt 2"

LADYTRON Light & Magic (Emperor Norton) 2lp 15.98
Now on vinyl...
Here it is, the much-anticipated second full length from these four Euro-cats! Behold more pleasingly groovy, unbarbed club pop that's definitely not experimental nor groundbreaking although they've been frequently touted thusly by the media. Prepare yourself to see their name in even more electro-clash / '80s discussion-group threads! Yes, many have yet to forgive them for their shameless facsimile of Kraftwerk's "The Model" ("He Took Her To A Movie") and their general recreation of the '80s new wave dance sound, but seldom do you hear as loud an outcry about any of the recent guitar-based revivals and regurgitations. Hmmm, seems to be just a given that guitars - both acoustic and electric - are a mainstay, whereas synthesizers are somehow still viewed as novel and effortless button-pushing. Clearly it's what you do with your chosen instrument that's key, and you can do quite a lot with a guitar, but you can also do quite a lot, if not more, with a synthesizer. That said, this album does find the foursome venturing out a little further, and honing their songwriting and production skills. "Nuhorizons" and "Re:Agents" are prime examples of this. A little more complex and a little less fluffy. Yet overall, Ladytron still overflows with bubbly programmed beats and repetitive, uncomplicated arpeggiated melodies (the synthesized 'strings' sounds are put to rather abundant use). Their distinct soft'n'wispy versus droll'n'deadpan dual female vocals are much more effected and integrated into the mix, making the lyrics less decipherable than those on 604, and making the album, as a whole, less pop. Sadly however, there aren't any tracks that immediately made their presence known by locking their hooks in the way that "Playgirl" or "Paco!" did. Andee did remark however that "Turn It On" sounded like it could easily be "Axel's Theme Part Two" from Beverly Hills Cop. Whether this is a good or bad thing... dunno! Regardless, if you like sleek, stylish and playful night music, Ladytron is for you.
RealAudio clip: "Seventeen"
RealAudio clip: "Turn It On"
RealAudio clip: "Nuhorizons"
RealAudio clip: "Re:Agents"

LIBRA Shock (Cinevox) cd 16.98
Compact disc reissue of a rare '70s Italian horror movie soundtrack (for Mario Bava's 1977 film "Shock") from a very Goblin-like band called Libra. Fittingly for the murderous, paranormal goings-on of Bava's flick, this album is full of gothic keyboards, eerie wordless vocal choirs, queasy prog-funk synth vamps, and ominous drum-scapes. Libra really rock out on the Shock theme, while elsewhere they deal in creepy electronic ambience. Bands like Libra (and Goblin) can make sweet lullabies seem scarier than full-on screams and metal guitars, and yet their spooky piano instrumentals wouldn't be out of place if used as intros for Cradle of Filth songs. Soundtrack/horror/Goblin fans will be pleased.
RealAudio clip: "The Shock"
RealAudio clip: "L'Incubo"
RealAudio clip: "Transfert III"
RealAudio clip: "Il Fantasma Suona Il Piano"