Calla "Custom" Quatermass QS118 2002 (63:04)
Fear of Fireflies (Shrapnel mix by Calla)
(8:39)
Slum Creeper (King of Everything mix by I-Sound) (4:26)
Tijerina (Tarwater mix) (3:55)
Promenade (Metrotech mix) (5:03)
Awake And Under (Datach'i mix) (3:34)
Fear of Fireflies (Couch mix) (3:59)
Summer January (Pan American
mix) (8:48)
Dear Mary / Subterrain (Dan Matz mix) (9:13)
Trinidad / I Shall Be Released (live) (7:07)
Only Drowning Men (live) (8:20)
Calla's next studio album "Televized" is due September 24th via Arena Rock Recordings. In the meantime here's a couple catch-all discs. "Custom" is a remix album with two live tracks tacked on the end. I-Sound, Tarwater, Metrotech, Datach'i, Couch, Pan American, Dan Matz and Calla themselves all take a turn. Most of them with the same approach: add more stuff. Extraneous beats, electronics and effects are used to putty in and over cracks that didn't need filling. More is done to selfishly apply a sonic signature than to preserve the certain something of the originals. On the other hand, Couch don't do much of anything to "Fear of Fireflies" while Pan American reduces an unidentified track into an appendum to his latest album. Part of Dan Matz's two-fer serves up a slowed down cover of Steve Miller's " Dear Mary", giving the simple love ode a creepy stalker vibe. " Trinidad / I Shall Be Released" (the latter by Bob Dylan) and " Only Drowning Men" are the live ones and they prove that Calla do occasionally swell their slow and sultry sound up into a powerful din. But altogether, "Custom" reinforces my general attitude that most remix albums just aren't necessary. I'd rather the originals. Or this next disc ...
Calla "Insound Tour Support Series No. 22" Insound 2002 (71:41)
Astral (4:03)
Monument (3:29)
Don't Hold Your Breath (4:45)
Pete The Killer (3:48)
Sassari, Italy (:53)
Tarantula (4:29)
Custom Car Crash (2:48)
Traffic Sound (2:55)
Cagliari, Italy (:26)
Promenade (4:47)
Tijerina (6:18)
Amsterdamn, Netherlands (:20)
Elsewhere (5:37)
Only Drowning Men (6:09)
Roubaix, France (:07)
Fear Of Fireflies (3:57)
Slum Creeper (4:14)
Tours, France (:06)
Awake And Under (4:04)
Long Long Long (3:19)
Harvest Moon (4:11)
Toulouse, France (:56)
Now this is a great idea. Every month Insound release a limited edition CD by an artist/band while they're on tour, 500 available through the site and 500 at their shows. For a mere $6.50 you get a lot for your money: four home recordings, a dozen live songs and half a dozen amusing audio postcards from around the world, nearly 72 minutes in all. If the homemade stuff is a precursor of the new album, it's going to be fantastic. "Astral" especially ... how many times have I listened to that song this past week alone? So simple yet so beautifully understated. Like everything they do, really. A woman in " Sassari, Italy" apologetically mistakes the Calla trio for Sonic Youth. Not quite. Of the live songs, there's five apiece from the s/t debut album and the follow-up "Scavengers" plus two classic covers. I recently saw Calla play for a rather indifferent Nick Cave crowd in an Austin open-air amphitheatre. It sounds like these tracks were recorded in small clubs (or a radio station) where the intimate atmosphere is much more suitable for Calla's quieter moments. All of their drama is captured nicely here. The last two are tender tributes to George Harrison with "Long, Long, Long" and Neil Young with "Harvest Moon". For the latter, the chatty Tel Aviv audience sweetly joins in on the chorus and is impressively silenced by the end, then erupts in appreciation. Of the two discs, this is the one to get ...
Where did I get these CDs? - Forced Exposure & Insound, respectively