Two other reissues of brainwashed interest arrive in stores this weekcourtesy of Thirsty Ear. These two discs are perhaps the first and mostcirculated TG bootleg CD releases. 'Very Friendly: The First AnnualReport' used to come with a clear warning on the back stating thiswasn't "another live album," but studio recordings from 1975 whichpre-date their first LP release, 'Second Annual Report'. The music infact does sound like a very high quality live bootleg recording. Eitherit's the primitive recording gear they may have had or the limitationsof the source, however it was delivered to the person who first pressedthe LP. 'Grief,' on the other hand is two 23+ minute tracks, with acollage of sounds from numerous TG releases underscoring taped radiointerviews and spots, completely undocumented and unbeknowest who theresponsible party was who created this. Both CDs were first released atsome point in the 1990s from a record label curiously named'Terroristes Genetiques', both appeared to be recorded directly off thebootleg LPs which also surfaced under mysterious circumstances back inthe 1980s. Strangely enough, the most legit label that has publishededitions of these releases, Thirsty Ear, has issued these discs witheven shiftier packaging jobs — completely void of all the newspaperclippings and drawings the others had, replaced by a flimsy-paperedphotocopied cover and booklet with blank white pages. The music howeverisn't up to par with the official studio albums TG recorded between1977 and 1981 — not shocking for bootleg releases — so the marketremains in the hands of collectors, who would most likely own thesethings by now already. So what's the point?
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It's official: Pleasure Forever do nothing for me. I've tried, really.I'd never heard of the band, not under this name nor their previousmoniker Slaves. I listened to the album five times, all the waythrough, before I even tried to write one line of this review. Butnothing thrilled me about this release. It's interesting to listen to,as one rarely hears a three-piece band with guitar, piano, and drums.This feels too much like a "let's try this interesting formula" bandfor me. The musicians are certainly competent, and the songs uniqueenough, but it just isn't my bag. Okay, okay: "Any Port In A Storm"stuck in my head for ten minutes, mainly because of that pianobreakdown in the middle, and "Meet Me In Eternity" is a classicrock-out anthem when it gets going, with singer/piano player AndrewRothbard sounding like a mix of Greg Dulli, Jon Petkovic, and AndrewWood. The album's closer, "Opalescence," is the best track on thealbum, mostly because it's just the right length. Some on this releasego on much farther than they should. It's not a bad album at all. Itjust does nothing for me. Fans of The Afghan Whigs, Cobra Verde, and T.Rex will love the swagger Pleasure Forever pull off. It is impressivewhen they get to rocking, because they pull out all the stops. And Iwanted to like the record, and had plenty of chances to. It's just notfor me. If you like any of the bands I've mentioned, and you'd like tohear an album of good rock songs with a piano base, try PleasureForever. You'll like this record. It's good, it really is, anddeserving of a listen, especially in the time and climate of rock radiothat we're in (I'd rather hear Pleasure Forever on the radio than Creedany day of the week). Try it on. Seriously.
Concurrent to his viola, keyboard and bass guitar duties with theclassic early line-up of the Velvet Underground, John Cale was alsovery busy experimenting by himself and with like-minded associates inNYC lofts. "Sun Blindness Music" is the first of three volumes fromTable of the Elements under the "New York in the 1960s" heading. Thelabel is releasing a wealth of heretofore unheard minimalist music fromthe era, beginning with last year's "Inside the Dream Syndicate VolumeI: Day of Niagra (1965)". But where that disc was much more importantfor its historical context over listening pleasure, this one is betterbalanced between the two. The title track is nearly 43 minutes of VoxContinental organ recorded in October of '67 - passages of discordantor beautiful drone created with stuck keys, flurries of notes andsubtle fluctuations in volume. It's undoubtedly an endurance test bothfor performer and listener, but the piece does manage to be entrancingonce you're acclimated (similar to the effect of a Merzbow track)."Summer Heat", recorded in the summer of '65, is comprised entirely ofa massive wall of nasty guitar sound. Cale strums away on the 6 stringmore as a percussion instrument, the thundering, electric metal tonescreating a rhythmic pattern that relents only once in its 11 minutes.The final track, "The Second Fortress" from late '67 or early '68, isalso done via organ. Here Cale drones, flutters and wavers in quieter,higher pitched tones for over 10 minutes. Interesting, though I stillfind the story and history more interesting than the actual result.It's like William S. Burroughs ... I'd rather read about him thanactually read him. Fortunately this disc features several things TheDream Syndicate disc was sorely lacking: clarity of sound, an elegantdesign and sharp liner notes. Discs 2 and 3, "Dream Interpretation" and"Stainless Gamelan" respectively, will further explore Cale'scollaborations with The Dream Syndicate.
Five years after its completion, Montreal-based Alien8 Recordings havefinally issued this collaborative work between Christian Renou (Brume)and Slavek Kwi (AMT). The music is divided nearly equally with thefirst 36 minutes being Brume's de/reconstruction of recordings suppliedby AMT and the last 40 minutes being AMT's de/reconstruction of Brume.While both entities are well-respected on their own — with numerousreleases on labels which include RRR, Intransitive, Relapse and KornPlastics — on '1st Encounter' the sound has reached a new level,sounding almost more complete than before. Environmental, organicsounds are mangled with an almost surrealistic approach on the firsthalf, as Brume brings pulse, rhythm, movement and cut-up analoguesounds to the table. There's never a dull moment as the motions andsources are constantly in a state of change. On the second half, AMTtakes a much different approach, stretching the sounds into a powerfuland rich score of a futuristic journey on an alien insect-infestedplanet. At the risk of sounding redundant, the result is trulyother-worldly. I can imagine fans of early cut-up improv-based Nursewith Wound immediately attaching onto the first half, while fans ofGraeme Revell's 'Insect Musicians' would find pleasure in AMT's half.Sadly enough, Alien8 has announced that '1st Encounter' is limited andwon't be re-pressed or reissued.
You might imagine that if you combined the twisted electronics of David Kristian, the virtuoso playing of Sam Shalabi and demented avant fuckery of Alexandre St-Onge, the result would be an insane soup of aural mayhem. The first commercially available release of this Montreal-based improv supergroup is actually quite the opposite.
Harlem-based duo Vast Aire Kramer and Vordul Megilah have just joinedthe ranks of Intelligent HipHop with their debut long player. Under thetutelage and gritty production of Company Flow's EL-P, Cannibal Oxrepresent both the avant-garde and the streets of NYC with raw beats,angular rhythms, osmotic synth/sample atmospheres and pure inner cityknowledge. The opening track "Iron Galaxy" (first unleashed last yearon a split EP) drops enough stream of conscious science in its 6minutes to almost make the remaining 68 minutes unnecessary.Observations such as "And if there's crack in the basement? / crackheads stand adjacent", "you were a stillborn baby / your mother didn'twant you, but you were still born" and "I rest my head on 115, butmiracles only happen on 34th" speak truths only some truly know withutter conviction. The lessons continue throughout, plus clever boastsand various other tales: "Ox Out the Cage" - "I grab the mic like AreYou Experienced? / but I don't play the guitar, I play my cadence"; "AB-Boys Alpha" - "my first fight was me against five boroughs / I lostmy first wish / but remembered every detail of my first kiss / that'sthat Bronx Tale bliss"; "Real Earth" - "this ain't a space race so whyyou rushin' / to be the first to catch a concussion from EL-P'spercussion?" Musically and lyrically, "The Cold Vein" is the real deal.I'll be surprised if I hear a stronger hiphop album this year
Long before children of the '70s and '80s were blipping and bleeping on laptops in the '90s, people were building large walls of gear just to create the simplest electronic melodies. While many contemporaries were experimenting with music concrète, Raymond Scott was making a commercially viable living composing music for advertisements and short films, along with manufacturing equipment like custom doorbells, telephone rings, burglar alarms and ambulance sirens.
Geir Jenssen's 1997 Biosphere album has been remastered and nicelyre-packaged with a bonus disc for Touch. Disc 1 is "Substrata" properand disc 2 is a new, previously unreleased, commissioned soundtrack forthe 1929 Russian film "Man with a Movie Camera", plus the 2 beatinfused bonus tracks from the Japanese edition of the album. Bothdiscs, nearly an hour apiece, offer a continuous, deep ambient jigsawpuzzle - disc 2 being the noisier with a more urban/industrial aura. Weslowly, willingly drift along through chilled out spaces andcityscapes, natural hums and environmental residues, electronic padsand blips, the clutter of metals and trinkets, disembodied voices andappropriated musical passages, synth strings and plucked/strummedstrings ("Kobresia" in particular settles into a beautiful stringedstasis), softly malleted tones and some subtle rhythmic pulsations.Very soothing, very calming, very Arctic. Jenssen's reclusive Norwegianlocale undoubtedly influences the vast, dark and cold nature of hismusic. But what's surprising to me is how emotionally cold much of italso seems despite it's surface beauty ... a sort of depressing, lonelyvoid. That feeling overwhelms me here at times, but sometimes you wantto feel that way, know what I mean?
Rather than taking the fresh step forward from the hip hop and cosmically influenced varieties of 1999's 'Rest Proof Clockwork,' Plaid have returned to a style much closer to 1997's '333' release. While they're making no leaps and bounds for electronic music as a whole, they succeed in making pleasant, peaceful and easily digestible melodies, using the equipment and styles of 1993-era Orbital, Autechre and Aphex with hints of The Shamen and 808 State circa 1991.
Three of electronic's most popular acts have released short preludes totheir forthcoming highly anticipated full-length albums. Just when youwere starting to miss the aggression, Techno Animal blasts back withtwo bombastic new tracks (and one instrumental). Fans of last year'scollaboration with Dalek would appreciate the raw energy of "Dead Man'sCurve" combined with an aggressive rap provided by Anti-Pop ConsortianRoger Robinson. "City of Glass" is more subtle but at loud volumes thisdub-based abrasion can be equally as compelling. My only complainthowever is that last year's vinyl-only release didn't turn up here - 15minutes including an instrumental version is kinda weak for a CDsingle: this could have easily been a 7" only. Those too anxious towait for the full-lengther however shouldn't hesitate on this release.
Coldcut also have reintroduced the aggression on their three-track CD"Re:Volution," coincidentally also featuring an instrumental mix of thetitle cut. The duo have picked up the pace, dropped some heavy riffageand let the samples run wild. My preference here lies more towards theinstrumental version as the samples are a bit goofy. "Space Journey" onthe other hand is punchy jazzy number, originally on the 'Let Us Play'LP, the version here is the internet competition winner. Once again Irecommend waiting for a full-length, as the three tracks (of two songs)don't even total 12 minutes together.
Finally, Squarepusher's return to aggression takes the form of thecleverly mis-titled "My Red Hot Car" (upon listening, it's obvioussomething completely different's being said). The two versions don'tdiffer that greatly, the first being the exact version from theforthcoming full-lengther, "Go Plastic" due in July. I'm somewhatpleased Mr. Jenkinson has reverted to his more electronically processedfast breaks circa Big Loada & Hard Normal Daddy — the organics ofthe last couple releases did grow a little tired after many listens,perhsps the album will be a nice balance of everything. At the time Igot this EP I was working on modifications of the Nurse With Woundwebsite, listening to some old gems. Track 3, "Hardcore Obelisk"strangely enough bears a striking resemblance to "Swansong" from the CDedition of 'A Missing Sense' in its sparse dronescapes. Squarepusher'sexperiment however is under five minutes and is absent of a certain'flow' which would work nicely. The fourth track, "I Wish You Obelisk"goes breakbeat silly but ends with one of those irritating silences(this one runs over 20 minutes) followed by a rather enjoyablebass-drone heavy beat-less piece which at the right volume shakes thespeakers and floors. Once again, while I do enjoy the music, I'm goingto have to recommend waiting for the full length.
There's a certain amount of irony in releasing an instrumental versionof an existing hip hop album. I have always liked the sounds that camefrom both the Automator and Kid Koala but when I saw Deltron live lastyear, the rap somewhat turned me off of the collective. Thus, I wasexcited at first to hear 75 Ark were releasing an instrumental versionof the debut full-lengther. I was blown away immediately at the startof the album's opener, '3030', the production is seamless and combinesa healthy blend of orchestral samples to some pretty fine hip hopbreaks. The sad yet grand themes could easily provide the underlyingscore for a film crew's survey of the post-apocalyptic remains of afallen society. As the album progresses, the production never weakens,mixing a whole host of other styles and influences. When the patternsand sequences repeat too many times within a song, there is a sensethat there is indeed something missing. I thought I was taking the easyway out by only sticking to the instrumental version, but I find myselfthirsty to uncover the original myself.
The debut full-length release from Montreal's one man group known asMonstre fades in like a slow train coming into the station in themiddle of your nightmare. Punchy vocal samples obscure the views in ascary dreamlike state, fading in and out with distorted percussives.Before long, barking voices take over the role of percussion while basslines or toy pianos move the music forward. Abstract, surreal,hardcore, evil. It's taken a long time to actually verbalize how thisrelease can be both nauseating and captivating at the same time.Thursday night I saw a double feature of classic Italian suspense,1971's "Schizoid" directed by Fulci and 1970's "Bird with the CrystalPlumage" by Argento. Listening to 'Sucre 3' again the day after thesesilly yet haunting films seems to help me understand the music a littlebetter. Monstre could very well be providing the score between songs,the stuff that never makes it onto the soundtracks, the bits and piecesbetween Ennio Morriccone's themes, things which are usually some of myfavorite parts of a film's score. Further along, the instrumentationgets weirder. Explosions are created inside the mouth, the percussionrole becomes taken over by baby toys, ambience is provided by bubblingbath in the background, school children dance and sing unintelligablesongs while creepy melodies ring out like a demented jack-in-the boxwaiting to spring out. Oh my god, there's been a car accident outside,the horn is stuck a solid blare, is my microwave oven's dinger soundingoff over and over again? I want to wake up now! Okay, things are chillagain, the kids are happily playing outside my window and the sun isshining as the credits roll and it was only a dream. I think I'm gonnabuy the Brattle Theatre a copy of this disc so they can play it betweenmovies instead of that awful crap they had that night.
Young Ryan Kidwell of Baltimore, MD has recorded for Underscore,Tigerbeat6 and 555 Recordings and is pals with Kid606, Lesser, Hrvatskiand Electric Company. On this 22 minute, 8 track EP Cex continues tokeep it real in a variety of sexy styles, namely a hip hop informedIDM. Tracks such as "Cal and Brady Style", "Cex Can Kiss My Soft,Sensuous Lips" (which perpetuates the '*insert artist here* can kiss myass' joke begun by Lesser and Kid606) and "Your Handwriting When YouWere a Child in the Winter" feature playfully impressive Autechre-ish(has this word made Webster's yet?) melody/glitch programming. "Get inYr Squads" adds clean guitar to the mix while "Tattoo of a Barcode"foregoes beats altogether for a couple minutes of drone and crackle.Other than the brief spoken word/beat box intro, there are two morehumorous tracks. "Hi Scores", probably a poke at Boards of Canada,creates the auditory illusion of Cex in the act of sex. The title trackbrings the disc to a close with a rousing, lo-fi sing along by Cex andfriends over generic, pre-programmed riffs from a cheap keyboard. Youcan't help but smile from all the fun these guys are having. Cex iscurrently touring Japan and will hit various North American locationsthroughout the summer.
How is it that a band can make a record that doesn't do anythingparticularly new, but still sounds incredibly fresh? It's all in thesongwriting. Melody, interplay, musicianship: these should bewatchwords for any band. Too often it sounds derivative, or bandsresort to gimmicks to distinguish themselves. Milwaukee-based trio Pelecraft a sound that explores familiar indie rock territory in that theyare primarily a guitar, bass, and drums rock band. Through fresh tones,melodies and spirited rhythms, Pele separate themselves from the packby not dragging everything to a slow crawl or halt. "The Nudes" isinfectious in its simplicity, but there are tricks up this trio'ssleeve. In moments that must be formed on improvisation, like on "VisitPumpy," Pele, well, rocks out to great effect. Elsewhere, skill withtheir instruments shows through and Pele take on a very rigid rhythmicstructure ("Total Hut") that depends on their playing extremely well asa unit. This being their fourth release, and second in this formation,it's obvious that these musicians have played together a while, andthat they can almost sense each other's next move. I'm amazed, andsomewhat disappointed, that I've never heard of this band before this.They're that good. Dammit. Now I'm going to have to buy their wholecatalog, too. I hate this.
At first listen, I was a bit disappointed by this Aranos release,mostly because of the repetitious string sounds which commonly openseveral tracks. But it definitely is one of these albums which grows onyou, as a unity of sound and theme, emerging from a well-balancedtracklist. At times it reminds me of his first collaboration with NurseWith Wound, 'Acts of Senseless Beauty', with unexpected sounds jumpingin the middle of bass, cello, viola, violin, guitar, or mandolinlayers. No surprise, you'll probably not dance on every track, but maycertainly nod on various songs, thanks to colorful rhythms which leadback to the cello or piano chords pulsing all along the record. Morethan strings or piano, the side elements are the most efficient — awide variety of gentle percussions, and the haunting voice, which Ifind even too scarce. "Spirit Fragrance" arrives like a big surprise —a faster-paced song in a style reminiscent of Emir Kusturica and the NoSmoking Orchestra. It's tracks like these where it becomes obvious thatAranos isn't lying on the resume about his extensive musicalbackground. A complete contrast to this, the disc's closer is a long,minimal piece of meditative music, consisting of lengthy tones oftenmade out of percussions with subtle crumpling sounds in the background.
For a while in the early to mid nineties, Chapel Hill, NC, was beingtouted as the new Seattle. In the Raleigh-Chapel Hill areas, fifteenminutes apart at the most, there co-existed some twenty-five bands, allof which wrote their own brand of energetic pop-based music. Some werethe flagships for their particular brand of music (Squirrel Nut Zippersfor hot jazz, Whiskeytown for "alt-country," etc.). Others weretrendsetters with no real brand to speak of (Ben Folds Five, Archers ofLoaf). Still others were just a reaction to what was going on aroundthem at the time. The Comas formed as a joke, hoping to make music thatmade fun of the alt-country scene. When they realized they might havesomething that could work better than the joke they had in mind, theystuck with it. "A Def Needle In Tomorrow," their second album, is apure pop treasure. Don't expect to bounce around at their music,however. This is laid-back thinker's pop. The melodies are gorgeous,the songs lush and expansive (producer Brian Paulson is to be thankedfor this, I'm sure), and the lyrics are more fun than a barrel full ofemo bands (pun intended, but probably not achieved). On "Arena," thealbum opener, guitarist/vocalist Andrew Herod sings of Princess Leiaand fastest ships, and on "Tiger in a Tower" he works "Pissing on aplastic flower" into the rhyme scheme. The vocal harmonies are what ismost interesting about The Comas, and this release in particular, asHerod, bassist Margaret White and second guitarist Nicole Gehweilersound wonderful together. Little flourishes here and there add to thesound, as no band member plays just one instrument and drummer JohnHarrison works in samples and turntable work. Lagniappe ("a littlesomething extra") seems to be the order of the day, as there's even avideo for album track "Sister Brewerton" on the CD. Overall, a fine poprecord that proves The Comas trendsetters in their own right.
Admittedly, 'Yagga Blues' and 'Soresucker' are not my favorite singlesfrom NWW, but if you're developing your collection of Wound music andhave yet to pick the two up, this disc will fill that gap conveniently.Unfortunately if you're a die-hard and own these two already, theextended versions of both the title track and "Journey Through Cheese"are a mild annoyance. "Funeral Music" is perhaps one of my fave NWWtracks. The music embraces beauty through layers of lengthyharmonically compatible samples, 'centering around a shakuhachi phraseplayed by David Jackman in 1987' (according to the original linernotes). On this collection it lives lavishly in its full form,stretching well over 35 minutes, as opposed to the 9+ minute versionwhich originally appeared six years ago. "Journey Through Cheese" isalso bigger, stretching to about 25 minutes, but the extra 15 minutesto me just drags the song out far longer than it needs to go. "YaggaBlues" of course is a classic tune, incorporating primitive rhythmicloops with sound effects and a haunting echoing vocal track. The beatsand themes were completely exhausted however on the full-lengther 'WhoCan I Turn To Stereo' from 1996, the versions here are nice andcompact, with a slightly abridged break time inbetween tracks (30seconds on the previous release, down now to about five).
Hard to believe 1984 was seventeen years ago. At the time, Thatcher andReagan were in power, Cabbage Patch kids were in style, Duran Duranwere selling out arenas all over the world, researchers publishedreports on the link between HIV and AIDS, Indira Ghandi wasassassinated and Apple introduced the Macintosh. Coil also releasedtheir debut album, a record at the time which was embraced by thepost-industrial scenesters, yet over time has become regarded by manyas somewhat of a cult classic. The music contrasted the trends: wherePsychic TV and Chris and Cosey were softening up — heading down a moreeasily digestible pop route — Coil were summoning pan, waking Maldoror,digging up sewage and turning shit into gold. The album, produced byJim Thirlwell features guests like Marc Almond, Gavin Friday, AlexFerguson and a new third member, Stephen Thrower. Coil weren't afraidto push the boundaries of the genres, using varying sounds fromelectric and organic instruments and collected samples from all overthe world. Why can't they get the CD release correct however? The firsttime around was an unauthorized issue circa 1990, the original releasewas issued with a running order inconsistent with the sleeve and ahalf-assed mastering job. This time around the running order wascorrected, but there's a brand new typo on the booklet and themastering job is worse. Louder doesn't necessarily equal better, theequalization was tweaked to make certain things sound clearer, but thevolume was beefed up to the point of clipping on the really bombasticsounds all over the disc. Here I was originally thinking this would besomething wonderful but when compared to the original vinyl edition,I'm severely let down. For those curious, the same bonus tracks fromthe first issue of the CD are here: Tainted Love, Restless Day and thelonger version of Spoiler.
Originally titled 'Funeral Music for Princess Diana,' Coil's secondfull-length album surfaced in 1986. While the album was more consistentin its theme (various perceptions of death) it was recorded in variousstudios with various producers at the knobs. While the production mightsound dated in parts, the songs themselves are once again timelessclassics. Like 'Scatology', 'Horse Rotorvator' splits genres with thevarying styles - a beefy opening dance track, punchy post-indusrtialsound collages, creepy sequenced melodies, loud guitar riffs, bigbands, bugs and guest speeches. Fortunate concert-goers over the lastyear have paid witness to Coil's revival of "Blood from the Air" whichsounds as fresh now as it did 15 years ago. Unfortunately, once again Ihave issues with the mastering job. Like the other reissue theequilization has been tweaked, this time beefing up both the low bassand high end, coupled with a volume increase. The main result isn'tclipping this time (except for the track "Ravenous") but acassette-like hiss sound, much like that out of place thread in thecurtain - once you notice it, you can't ignore it. The track listinghas been corrected where once again the first issue of the CD wasinconsistent. The artwork includes the cover picture from the originalLP and previously unissued photos inside the booklet. Fans who alreadyown the original issues and are quite satisfied with their versionsneed not worry about the reissues. Obsessives with moral obligationsand relatively new fans shouldn't waste time however. Coil are gettingpaid for these versions, and at $13-15 USD a pop, they're more thanworth it.
