Having been lucky enough to have heard this track live, my appetite for a recorded version was finally sated when "Ornithology" arrived on the arse-end of a compilation's otherwise appalling attempt to show of the best of the North East's new talent. Armed only with an acoustic guitar, light fingered percussion and a sweetly coarse growl, Richard Dawson shines through the lumpen singer-songwriter tag.
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10200 Hits
This gorgeous package from the the Leaf Label contains eight songs showcasing a new collaboration between Jeremy and Heather of AHAAH, playing with a group of seasoned Hungarian musicians. Rounding out the cast are a few members of Beirut. What results is a brief but exhilarating extra-geographical jaunt through Hungarian, Serbian, Romanian and klezmer forms, as only AHAAH can produce.
10475 Hits
Espen Sommer Eide and Dag-Are Haugan return as Alog for yet another fantastic album. They further refine their symbiosis of natural and electronic sounds, always sounding at once earthy and cosmic. Never utilizing weird sounds just for the sake of it, the dozen tracks on this CD are all pieces of music that sound more than beautiful. As expected from Alog, this is a remarkable album that reveals more and more with each listen.
10113 Hits
Guillermo Guevara and Gabriel Acevedo's second album of scaled-back electronic beats shows a healthy disregard for conventional structure. Some of the songs might be a little too erratic to be able to dance to straight through, but they have plenty of sections that engage the head just as equally as the body.
9937 Hits
Hubcap City (FB) is a five-piece ensemble that features among others Bill Taft of Smoke and Will Fratesi, who has played in both Tenement Halls and Cat Power. Recorded in tunnels, under bridges, and in cemeteries around Atlanta, this shambling album unfortunately doesn't live up to its intriguing promise.
10063 Hits
New Zealand has long been home to a remarkably diverse population of experimental musicians, and this excellent compilation collects tracks from some notable examples. While many of these names are doubtlessly familiar, this recording represents a significant break with New Zealand's past musical giants and instead looks boldly to the future.
6737 Hits
Laurent Baudoux of Belgium's Scratch Pet Land goes solo with this boisterous new project. Taking the kitchen sink approach to cheap electronics, Baudoux throws gameboys and primitive keyboards alongside guitars to create songs that are frequently catchy and fun.
7166 Hits
There is something to be said for Michigan and scuzz rock. Of course there is the obvious MC5 and Stooges, and the more recent Wolf Eyes, and then there's this odd little 7" single.
12387 Hits
This cheerful neon green 3” CD-R comes packaged in a cute mini DVD case with a handmade card inside; all told it is an adorable little release. I feel like a giant when I pick it up but I feel a lot smaller when I get over the size of it and actually listen to the disc. Large quantities of lush, velvety sounds are packed into this tiny CD. It is easy to put it on and fall back into a comfy chair for the few minutes this lasts.
10373 Hits
Norwegian noisehead Lasse Marhaug clearly has an affinity for the cassette tape and the underground culture that went with it. So I have no doubt he compiled Tapes 1990-1999 with some sense of trepidation, going from that lo-fi handmade scene to the world of professionally manufactured digital recordings. At the same time, however, it is a testament to his art and talent that those hand dubbed tapes are now being presented as a beautifully packaged four disc boxed set, complete with a 24 page booklet of essays and reproductions of tape artwork.
13616 Hits
Steven Stapleton hates this record and for the greater part of the last quarter century has wanted to forget it existed. Thanks in part to Matt Waldron, Kevin Spencer, and the folks at Raash, his diabolical plot to condemn this album to the waste pits of history has failed. Insect and Individual Silenced has been given a spectacular re-issue complete with new artwork, a new mastering job, and some very limited, very peculiar extras.
11486 Hits
The 21st century has been quite good to the dark prince of reggae, with labels such Basic Replay, Blood And Fire, Pressure Sounds, and Trojan all jostling with one another to bring his visionary work back into print. Based on the vital Rasta Communication album, this reissued dub set shows precisely why the late artist's catalog undeniably warrants such attention.
16748 Hits
The result of a collaboration between two of the UK's finest collage composers is at turns kitschy and whimsical, disorienting and satirical: a suite of kitchen-sink plunderphonic pop tunes that recall the best moments of classic collagists such as Orchid Spangiafora, John Oswald and Die Trip Computer Die.
7743 Hits
"Krautrock" would be the most appropriate description for the sound TWoHD make, though their Germanic descent is unlikely, and Wisconsin is pretty far from Europe. But they do take the approach that Can did with regards to recording to the next logical step. Instead of just taking sessions of improvisation and melding them into "tracks," they composed the album in different locations, and then pieced it together into coherent works. The result is very different experience than these ears are used to
9913 Hits
Bearing a sound ideal for the next sentimental Michel Gondry or Zach Braff film, this proficient artist's second album suckles at the fleshy yet noticeably sagging teat of '90s shoegaze while concurrently seeking a way out of the trappings of that tempting template.
12400 Hits
This reissue (from 1983) is something of a gem. Virna Lindt's music is a blend of fashion and espionage as perfect as if she were the love-child of Emma Peel from The Avengers and Ilya Kuryakin from The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
21421 Hits
This collects for the first time in ten years the band's two EPs: 1995's Fight Songs and 1996's Marshmallows. The results on this record are curious, occasionally interesting, but more often than not frustrating. Brian McMahan's second act following his turn in the massively influential Slint, The For Carnation took that band's adept usage of open space and tension and attempted to apply them to low-key acoustic arrangements.
8155 Hits
Public Eyesore
On this very brief pink/red marbled vinyl 7", the two artists collaborate on a rather subtle work with both sides showing a very distinct character. "Properties" is all stuttering electronics, field recordings, and other near-impossible to place sounds. Squeaks, bangs, and a bit of guitar abuse sound like damaged childhood toys put out to pasture in a suburban parking lot to deliver their dying breaths. The flipside, "Ribbons" is somewhat more conventional, based around guitar textures, electronic tones, and field recordings of birds and insects. It's a bizarre set of recordings, but very compelling in their oddity and definitely worth checking out.
2616 Hits
Just weeks after Psychic TV's dismal new album and mere months since Throbbing Gristle's disobedient reunion record comes the delinquent sophomore full-length from this spoken word project of the ubiquitous frontperson behind all three musical entities, making 2007 one of his/her most prolific periods in many years.
13588 Hits
A techno pioneer with countless aliases and highly sought-after releases, Fred Giannelli still apparently holds quite the grudge against former collaborator Genesis Breyer P-Orridge. Instead of bitterly lambasting the transgender icon, this veteran producer displays his biting sense of humor in this electrifying yet cheeky live document.
13452 Hits
