VIENNA VEGETABLE ORCHESTRA Automate (Extraplatte) cd 14.98
I hate vegetables. Always have. I haven't eaten a vegetable other than corn since I was a kid. My mom tried everything. Disguising them. Frying em. Drenching them in stew. Making me stay at the table until I ate them all. Telling me I wouldn't grow up big and strong if I didn't eat them. Withholding desert. Nothing worked. But had I known vegetables were so, well, musical, things just might have been different. I probably still wouldn't have eaten them, but I sure as hell would have played music on them!
This is one of the weirdest wildest discs we've ever heard. And it's pretty difficult to believe that all the sounds on this record are produced or played on actual vegetables (slightly modified for playability of course). The Vienna Vegetable Orchestra, is in fact a small-ish ensemble, that customizes vegetables, and then composes scores to be played on those very same vegetables. That's right, composed! All of the music is composed and notated just like regular musical scores, except in this case they are scored for radisynth (radish), digiginger (ginger), vegital synthesizer (?), soundseeds (?) and all sorts of customized carrots, tomatoes, peppers and some completely unrecognizable vegetables. But what does it sound like you ask? Not how you might think actually. This is the Vienna Vegetable Orchestra's second release, and as stated in the liner notes, their goal was to produce electronic music using entirely organic means, and the results are pretty spot on. Lots of clicking, and hollow thumping, resulting in a complex Raster-Noton style minimal techno rhythm which is the framework for most of the record. Sort of swaying between super clinical electronic minimalism and sort of jammy hippy tribalism. Gurgling, inhuman vocalisations occasionally accompany the almost static, slowly shifting rhythms, as does the sound of burbling liquids, shimmery ambient hum, and occasional super distorted ultra processed screams. The end result is a pulsing throbbing Chain Reaction heroin house minimalism that is totally mesmerising and hypnotic. They even manage to do a couple covers: fellow Austrians, Radian, giving that group's electronic/post rock hybrid a little shot of vitamin B, and a fairly abstract version of Kraftwerk's Radioactivity. Allan really wanted me to mention their (food) processing and of course their 'beets' and how they can't be 'beet', but I wisely choose not to. Fans of all things glitch, Raster-Noton, minimal techno and even the hippy jams of NNCK and Sunburned Hand Of The Man will be begging for seconds.
MPEG Stream: "Asp"
MPEG Stream: "Stoik"
MPEG Stream: "Radioaktivitat"

MOGOL, LES (MOGOLLAR) Danses et Rythmes de la Turquie (World Psychedelia Ltd.) cd 17.98
Like we said in the 3 Hur-el review, above, the Middle Eastern '60s/'70s psychedelic rock scene is quite a happenin' phenomenon here at Aquarius -- bands from Istanbul blending the "heavy" beat sounds of London, L.A. and San Francisco with their own ethnic musical traditions. So, along with that great 3 Hur-el disc, we're *really* pleased to have just gotten cd copies in stock of a 1971 album by the fantastic Mogollar (or Les Mogol as they were known in France, where this LP was first released). This band has been a super favorite of ours ever since we first heard 'em on the "Love Peace & Poetry: Asian Psychedelia", "Turkish Delights", and "Hava Narghile" compilations. Yep, they appeared on all three of those fab comps, deservedly so as they were not only one of Turkey's biggest pop bands of the time but also one of the best, near as we can tell. They formed in 1967, playing a style of experimental psychedelic rock based on the folk music of the Anatolian region of Turkey. Their unique Anatolian (or Anadolu) "pop" sound is simply a delight, as amply demonstrated by this particular album. It features 13 tracks (none of 'em to be found on the aforementioned comps) that are based on traditional songs -- but for sure the original versions didn't sound like this, so groovy and hip. They employ some standard sixties rock instrumention -- plenty of electric organ getting almost "Inna-gadda-da-vida"-ish at times -- but also really bring the traditional Turkish instruments to the fore, playing ikligs and baglamas and darbukas and kasiks...all kinds of stringed and percussion instruments, often used traditionally but more often just fiercely strummed to great rock 'n' roll heights. Compared to 3 Hur-el's "Hurel Arsivi" this almost-all-instrumental album is folkier *and* jazzier, the electric organ giving some tracks a kind of Martin Denny exotica vibe. Both discs, though, would make great party records. Highly recommended!!
(Windy's new favorite record -- thus proving once again that in her personal canon of favorite all time records, about 90% of them are from 1971-74. And she's delighted to find that the track "Wildflower" was liberally sampled by none other than AQ-fave Amon Tobin for his stellar "Verbal" song... thus proving once again what great taste Tobin has, we says.)
MPEG Stream: "Madimak"
MPEG Stream: "Fairy Chimneys"
MPEG Stream: "Wild Flower"

CHESNUTT, VIC Silver Lake (New West) cd 16.98
We (along with a who's who of indie and not so indie luminaries) have been Vic Chesnutt fans for years now, ever since his first album Little dropped way back in 1990. Wheelchair bound and ornery as a beehive, Chesnutt's dusty downtrodden tales are suffused with a warm sweetness that contrasts well with the gruff attitude. And since Little, Chesnutt's albums have each gotten more mellow -- in a good way, like aged whiskey. At some points on this record he reaches Neil Young-strata levels of confidence and maturity. Wow.
Compared to earlier works, Silver Lake is less willfully eccentric, and worlds more focused and POWERFUL. Recorded in some mansion above Silver Lake in LA with a full band and a nice complement of additions to your regular rock guitar bass drums formula. It's, for example, delicate with lonely tambourine, autoharp, poignant piano, pedal steel, lush backup vocals... but it's also heavy with majestic climaxes and downright wild guitar noisiness. A wonderful combination and then, of course, on top of that is Vic's unique vocal style, his gravelly, southern-accented growl/howl. Fantastic!
Perhaps indicative that he's not completely abandoned his peculiarities, the third song "Band Camp" made Cup think Mr. Chesnutt was doing his best Paul Simon impression (circa Graceland) while making wry references to the movie American Pie. Plus he also gets bonus Scrabble points for fitting the word "transmogrified" into his lyrics. For fans of Neil Young, Howe Gelb, Uncle Tupelo, Jayhawks.
MPEG Download: "Stay Inside"
MPEG Stream: "Stay Inside"
MPEG Download: "2nd Floor"
MPEG Stream: "2nd Floor"
MPEG Download: "I'm Through"
MPEG Stream: "I'm Through"

V/A You Can Never Go Fast Enough (Plain) cd 14.98
Now here's a nice idea for a tribute, and so lovingly executed to boot. Berkeley resident Filippo Salvadori so loved the cult film Two Lane Blacktop that he had always searched out the soundtrack to this "definitive road movie", only to find one had never been released. So this man of gumption put together his own, commissioning brand new songs from Sonic Youth (gorgeous, echoey soundscape), Will Oldham & Alan Licht, Calexico, Alvarius B, Steffan Basho Junghans, Mark Eitzel & Marc Capelle (doing a totally outta left field throbbing electronic thing), Giant Sand, Charalambides, Roy Montgomery (avec drum machine!) and more. He also got busy licensing previously released tracks from classic solo guitarist Sandy Bull, Village Voice crit faves Wilco, high lonesome Roscoe Holcomb, Leadbelly, and Cat Power (doing "I Can't Get No Satisfaction").
The only low point is the Oldham / Licht track which is weighed down with a sadly unevocative spoken narrative. But the rest of this comp is quite good -- ranging from dusty instrumentals to walls of gentle noise.
RealAudio clip: SANDY BULL "Little Maggie"
RealAudio clip: GIANT SAND "Vanishing Point"

V/A American Song-Poem Anthology, the: Do You Know the Difference Between Big Wood And Brush (Bar/None) cd 16.98
Finally, a song-poem collection that might have a chance of staying in print for more than a month. And finally, a collection that -- while by no means definitive -- collects the best of all those that came before it: Beat of The Traps, Makers of Smooth Music, Human Breakdown of Absurdity, I'm Just the Other Woman and I Died Today. For those who missed out on these wonderful and screwed up collections, song-poems were vanity recordings (from the sixties and seventies) where any schmo with the dough could send in their original poems/lyrics and have them made into SONGS! Small advertisements in the back of music and entertainment magazines urged would-be songwriters that the music industry was in dire need of their inspired lyrics. For anywhere between $75 and $400, one could have their words set to music (all genres were covered) by professional studio musicians. Meanwhile, back at the recording studio, said musicians had to busy themselves on an economy of scale in order to make the venture profitable. Lyrics were given a cursory look, and snap judgements were made concerning tempo, meter, key, chords and melody. Apparently the musicians had but one take to get the song, and if a mistake was made it was just as likely to be left in. Considering what these musicians were up against, it's really impressive what they came up with -- quickly fitting awkwardly (to put it nicely and terribly, to be more accurate) written lyrics into a reasonable meter and still come up with some cool arrangements to boot. Since the companies recording the songs of these terrible lyricists were only concerned with the bottom line (i.e. getting paid), anything could happen. John Trubee's legendary "Blind Man's Penis" is a case in point. And while his words of wisdom were penned in jest, the other 27 tracks included with it on this disc were not. Written in all earnestness, subjects ranging from Richard Nixon to Jimmy Carter, duck eggs to Argentinian cowboys to green fingernails, these tracks are weirder and even funnier than Trubee's track. These singles have been the dreams of collectors for years and until the difficult to track down MSR collections came out several years back, to the rest us they were the stuff of legend. For those of you who have already picked up those MSR collections this one may be a bit redundant, but for all the rest this is certainly the best collection of song-poems to come on one disc. Highly recommended, and sure to be a hit when the upcoming PBS documentary on the Song-Poem industry airs! One wonders what the original "poets" would think of the unexpected popularity of their songs? Probably the person who wrote "Jimmy Carter Says Yes" was sure it would be a hit all along...
RealAudio clip: MARSHALL, GENE "Jimmy Carter Says "Yes""
RealAudio clip: JOY, BILL "How Long Are You Staying"
RealAudio clip: STEWART, CARA "Song of the Burmese Land"
RealAudio clip: KEARNEY, RAMSEY "Blind Man's Penis (Peace And Love)"

CUDAMANI The Seven-Tone Gamelan Orchestra From The Village Of Pengosekan, Bali (Vital) cd 14.98
We just got in this brand new release from Vital Records, hot off the presses. (As a disclaimer: though it may seem as if we're obsessed with Balinese Gamelan, it's actually just that a majority of the excellent recordings of Javanese gamelan are currently not in print, but come January we expect a few re-issues from the Nonesuch Explorer series that you can look forward to hearing about.) This release is actually quite exciting in that Gamelan Cudamani represents yet another revolutionary step in the ever changing state of gamelan in Bali. Ironically, it is the very thing that makes this gamelan (and others like it that are being built throughout Bali) new and revolutionary is also the thing that is connecting Balinese gamelan with its past. What makes Cudamani so special is the addition of a mere two pitches to its scale. In truth, those pitches are not a new thing, but contemporary gamelan in Bali since the 1920s have been built with only five (some, a bit less common forms, with only 4.) When the Balinese court dissipated at the turn of the 20th century and many gamelan melted down into modern sets, the repertoire disappeared as well. Lost with those two pitches were the various pentatonic subsets that were capable of being played only on a gamelan with all 7 pitches. I guess you could look at it as if you took all the black keys off your piano, which would severely limit your choice of keys in which you could play. With the music of the Balinese court however, different modes had very different and very strong associations to particular moods. So while all seven tones are rarely used within any given section -- or even composition -- the addition of those two notes opens up the possibilities for playing a huge repertoire of music and creating vast new ones. While this new (re)development has brought the present in closer connection with the past, it has also enabled an unprecedented level of innovation. On the first two pieces of this disc -- both composed by one of Cudamani's founding members -- all seven tones are used, with melodies being immediately recast in other modes and even played on top of one another in a bizarre sort of harmony. Another track included on this collection is a recording of the seminal kebyar piece Teruna Jaya -- as if to bring things full circle once more -- performed as it had originally been performed, including rarely heard sections that are not oft performed anymore. If the instruments and repertoire of Cudamani isn't impressive enough, the family centered group that performs on it is equally so. Though a private organization, the Cudamani is decidedly non-commercial and performs primarily for temple ceremonies and religious festivals. In addition, the Cudamani provides education in performance and dance for youth and adults alike. Cudamani is actually comprised of several performance groups, including the original founding members, there's an all female ensemble and several children's ensembles. The history of the group and very detailed descriptions of the gamelan and the music are included on 15 pages of liner notes.
RealAudio clip: "Geregel"
RealAudio clip: "Legong Candra Kanta"

THAI ELEPHANT ORCHESTRA s/t (Mulatta Records) cd 15.98
First it was Frogs of North America invading our record bins, then it was Antarctic Seals and Penguins, followed by Insects in Stored Foodstuffs... now it's Elephants from Thailand! Brilliant recordings by non-human, um, sound-artists that we just can't get enough of here at Aquarius. In this case, the elephants are not just making their natural noises, they are indeed playing instruments! You may have read about this project in the New York Times -- when we found out about it we immediately contacted the label and ordered a whole bunch (based also on the on-line sample we heard at www.mulatta.org) and now here they are. These are elephants from a elephant preseve in Thailand who have been trained to play specially-built instruments (many marimba-like instruments similar to the traditional Thai renat, as well as such things as harmonicas, drums, and even a stringed "electric bass"), but they haven't been trained *what* to play, it's all improvised with minimal human guidance! Yet it's definitely music. It was kind of an experiment to find out how the creatures might express themselves, and we'd say it was very successful indeed. If we didn't know these were elephants, we'd think this was a strange No Neck Blues Band recording or something. Imagine a stumbling, primitive hippy folk jam on gamelan instruments, but not one that's random or erratic. The elephants play steady beats, the struck gongs or chimes interspersed with their vocalizations as well. With no overdubs and few edits this is certainly a very impressive recording!
The Thai Elephant Orchestra was dreamed up, and this disc produced, by David Soldier (New York musician and academic) and Richard Lair (American expatriate elephant expert, who advises the Thai Elephant Conservation Center where this project goes on). The two came up with the idea that elephants, being social animals, might enjoy playing music together, and proceeded to investigate... Happily, not only did the elephants enjoy playing, they were good at it, demonstrating that they were able to decide what sounded good (to them) and what didn't.
The booklet features photos and detailed, fascinating liner notes by both men. Here is what Soldier says the criteria was for the construction of the instruments, which were made by New York instrument builder Ken Butler (of "Gravikords, Whirligigs..." fame):
"1. The instruments must be suitable to the elephant's anatomy, which means large instruments operated by the trunk.
"2. The instruments must withstand jungle heat, humidity -- and the elephants.
"3. The instruments should require minimum upkeep.
"4. The instruments should have a Thai sound, because the regular daily audience is Thai, the mahouts would enjoy the music more, and the elephants have heard Thai music all their lives."
Some more great tid-bits from the notes: "The elephants took easily to the harmonica, which sparked the first elephant music fad: one morning I arrived to hear the sound of harmonicas from all over -- from the hills and from the river. The elephants were walking in from the forest playing harmonicas, which they hold easily in the tip of their trunks."
"The elephants didn't seem interested in the bells or theremin. At first they were spooked by the synthesizer keyboard, but later two animals were entranced by it. They disliked playing Ken's reed instruments with a large mouthpiece, or rather, trunkpiece. A mahout told me they were afraid that a snake might jump into their nostrils!"
As sort of bonus tracks, in addition to the forty-plus minutes of elephant improv, there's also some non-instrumental elephant field recordings, several tracks of humans and elephants playing together, and even a few traditional Thai songs played by humans, about elephants.
Sure there's a bit of simple amusement to be found here just from the concept alone, but in actual fact the music these elephants make is, to our ears at least, quite beautiful. We could go on and philosophize about how this project speaks to the relationship between man and animals in this world, but we'll leave those thoughts for you to explore if you chose to check out this album, which we highly recommend! Amazing and wonderful.
RealAudio clip: "Jojo"
RealAudio clip: "Duo For Renats"
RealAudio clip: "Harmonica Music"
RealAudio clip: "Heavy Logs"