27 June 2006

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Albums and Singles

SHADOWPLAYERS
FACTORY RECORDS & MANCHESTER POST-PUNK 1978-81
a film by james nice

LTM are proud to present Shadowplayers, a feature-length documentary tracing the early history of iconic Manchester record label Factory Records between 1978 and 1981.  For screening enquiries click here.


Cat No: LTMDVD 2391

The Facts and fictions are explored through candid interviews with 22 key participants, including Anthony H. Wilson (founder) and Peter Saville (designer), as well as musicians including Peter Hook (Joy Division/New Order), Vini Reilly (Durutti Column), Simon Topping and Martin Moscrop (A Certain Ratio), Chris Watson (Cabaret Voltaire) and Howard Devoto (Buzzcocks/Magazine).

Other interviews include members of Section 25, Crispy Ambulance, The Names, Minny Pops, Swamp Children and Thick Pigeon, as well as other eyewitnesses and insiders such as Richard Boon, Annik Honore, Lindsay Reade, Richard Jobson, Graham Massey and Killing Joke.

The film runs for 2 hours 15 minutes and is divided into 19 chapters, covering subjects such as The Factory Club, sleeve art and graphic design, genius producer Martin Hannett, the riot at the Joy Division concert at Bury in April 1980, the Factory Benelux connection, the tragic suicide of Joy Division singer Ian Curtis, the beginnings of New Order, and the decline of the post-punk culture in 1981.

Shadowplayers is based exclusively on new spoken word interviews, with soundtrack music by Section 25 and New Order, and rare images and graphics. The cover art is based on the first Factory design (Fac 1) by Peter Saville from 1978.

The DVD is available as a Region 0 NTSC disc. DVD extras include individual profiles for each interviewee. To read auto-interview with film maker James Nice click here.


SHADOWPLAYERS: detailed content (19 chapters):

1. USE HEARING PROTECTION - The Factory Club, May 1978- April 1980
2. A FACTORY SAMPLE - 2x 7" single (Fac 2) released January 1979, featuring Durutti Column, Cabaret Voltaire, John Dowie and Joy Division
3. FACTORY FOREMEN -Five heterosexual directors: Tony Wilson, Alan Erasmus, Peter Saville, Rob Gretton and Martin Hannett.
4. UNKNOWN PLEASURES - Joy Division's debut album (Fact 10) was released in May 1979, produced by Martin Hannett
5. ZERO - Martin Hannett, record producer
6. SITUATIONIST GROUP - Vini Reilly and The Durutti Column
7. THE THIN BOYS - The first single by A Certain Ratio, All Night Party (Fac 5), appeared in May 1979. With no drummer
8. LARRY AND VINNY - Section 25 are from Blackpool, Lancashire
9. GET IN THE VAN - Heads, tales, Cocks and Jokers on the road
10. RUE DE MANCHESTER - Joy Division and Cabaret Voltaire play Plan K, Brussels, 16 October 1979
11. THE RAINBOW - On 4 April 1980 Joy Division played two London venues, The Rainbow and The Moonlight Club
12. FACTORY BENELUX - Friends in Belgium (and Holland)
13. DISORDER - Bury Derby Hall, 8 April 1980
14. IN A LONELY PLACE - 18 May 1980. On the eve of Joy Division's first American tour, Ian Curtis hangs himself at home in Macclesfield
15. BENEATH THE PAVEMENT - New Order debut at The Beach Club, Manchester, on 29 July 1980
16. OF FACTORY AMERICA - New Order and A Certain Ratio in New York, September 1980
17. FUTURISTS - The first New Order album, Movement (Fact 18), was released in November 1981
18. CHOIR BOYS - Schoolboy lyrics and timbales: Simon Topping and Vini Reilly
19. LIKE PUNK NEVER HAPPENED - 1981: new pop, old ways
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27 June 2006

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Albums and Singles

This double live album is another impressive release from Keiji Haino. For this concert he was joined by Sitaar Tah! (a twenty strong sitar orchestra) and a throat singer by the name of Fuyuki Yamakawa. It’s as good as it sounds.

 

Archive / Important

Animamima is, as expected, mainly a drone with Haino adding to the foundation of sitars with his hurdy gurdy, sruthi-box and tanbur (all electric). He also solos over the many drones on a flute. For the first half hour it all sounds very beautiful. Haino uses a limited amount of effects (mainly delay and echo) on his instruments to build up a powerful sound. The hurdy gurdy is overwhelming at times, when Haino is in full swing on it the music becomes so dense it is almost a singularity. The addition of Yamakawa adds to this density. His deep chants sound like they are coming from another dimension; subtle changes in his voice make it sound like he’s being tuned in from a great distance away.

As the performance progresses it becomes more dissonant and chaotic. Towards the end of the first disc, Sitaar Tah! play as if their lives depended on it: the sitars are plucked franticly and the previously pleasant mood becomes urgent and disorientating. Haino begins to wail and it sounds absolutely haunting. There is a slight amount of distortion that could be from the recording or direct from Haino’s mic that adds to the effect. The end of the first disc brings me to my only major criticism of Animamima which is that it’s a shame that the concert is split across two discs. I know this can’t be helped given the limitations of CDs but it does interrupt the flow of the performance.

The second disc is noisier than the preceding disc. The hurdy gurdy returns with Haino playing as high as he can (aided by a pitch shifter from the sounds of things). The shriek cuts through the music and my ears like a rusty blade. It’s hard to hear let alone concentrate on anything else. This assault dominates the first half of the disc and Sitaar Tah! have a tough time making themselves heard over Haino. It sounds splendid and acts as a worthy counterpoint to the first half of the performance. The second half of the disc returns to the blissful drones of the first disc as Haino steps back and allows Sitaar Tah! to have more space.

I can’t finish this review without mentioning Stephen O’Malley’s gorgeous design for the packaging. An intricately embossed jacket wraps around a simple booklet with a window in the front of the jacket to show a black and white picture of Haino. The inside has a beautiful blurred, black and white portrait of Sitaar Tah! in action. It’s a simple but elegant design that suits the music it accompanies. As a whole, Animamima is a great release and reconfirms my view that Haino with a selection of weird instruments (including his voice) is far more exciting than Haino with his guitar.

samples:

• Extract 1
• Extract 2
• Extract 3

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27 June 2006

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Albums and Singles

Ex members of Windsor for the Derby contribute to this pretty little single, the first from their debut album Fear Is On Our Side: the result is a number catchy enough to have me singing along even though I can't find the lyrics to the song anywhere.

 

Secretly Canadian
 
How a name that sounds so emo could get my attention and, furthermore, keep me pressing the repeat button on my CD player is a paradox in and of itself, a virtual rip in the space-time continuum that'll probably leave string theorists in a tizzy for years. On the other hand, once the disc is in my player and spinning, it's a little difficult not to get drawn into this quartet's music. It's not often I find joy in prototypical rock groups. Most of them imitate a style or a period of music so closely that the result is too nostalgic: why have a copycat when the real thing is still available? The ones that don't imitate someone or something often sound dull, reaching for that all important radio market without giving much thought to their music. So it has synthesizers and a drum machine in place of a guitar and percussionist, that's no excuse for ignoring the importance of good songwriting. It isn't edgy and wild because it mimics so much of the eighties. That's right, this has happened in the past.

So, the thing that makes (deep breath) I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness' According To Plan single so great has nothing to do with the fact that it might be described as marginally retro. Interpol got this treatment, but were taken so seriously that I had to puke after reading reviews of their albums, knowing that they just weren't worth the goddamned hype. In the interest of being honest, then, I've chosen to mock this band's name and emphasize the fact that the first song, the only track on the album from their debut, makes me want to dance. It makes me feel like I've just done enough ecstasy to kill a large bovine creature outright. It has all the makings of a tune that will make it to the radio, but none of the trappings that make such songs (especially with the way radio is most places) so drab and laughable. Oh look, another band has a hook I can predict ten seconds into the song! No, I Love You... really does love it's fans, no matter how "dark" they think they are with all those ringing synthesizers and chimey pianos.

"According To Plan" might belong in a club, should probably be remixed by all the usual DJs (and maybe by somebody that actually has talent), and rocks just hard enough to be captivating from the first play on. The chorus opens up like a pass does to a valley, the rhythm staying solid even when the band begins to unfurl its layers of guitar noise and pretty melodies. It's a great song that means absolutely nothing, will not change anybody's life, says nothing about the state of the union or the world of music we currently live in, but it probably will survive all these other pseudo art bands that claim to unveil the world to us.

The other songs are nice, too, both of them non-album tracks that round out this 13 minute ride. The tracks are a bit more sullen, a little more moody, and maybe where the band decided to emphasize their more nocturnal qualities. "Close To Here" is the work of a band that knows how to put on a show, using thumping bass and unusual drones with a rhythm and a vocal part that doesn't seem to fit right away. One half of the band is playing one song and the other half is too deaf to notice they're not really syncing up well. Eventually, however, the winding themes that emerge early in the song end up being part of the same whole and I'm left happy that the band didn't try to follow up their single with another dancey tune that would make both seem trivial. "Better Strangers" ends a little abruptly, but is nice while it lasts. It's a b-side, but it sounds like a thought out piece of work. It's a drone of humming amps and rolling bass lines that eventually fizzle out without so much as a warning.

As a single, this really stands out as a fine piece of work. An example of how a band can attract listeners, be catchy, and also exude enough personality to stand out from the rest of the makeup wearing, Depeche Mode loving, New Order wanna-be, Joy Division worshipping yuppies that plague the internet and garner more critical accolades than they could possibly be worth. Ignore the silly name and pick up the single, then maybe the album. It's not going to blow your mind into smithereens and make you want to form a band, it won't reveal to you the secret workings of the universe through the unalterable truths of art and musicianship, but it may make you want to go to their concerts and it's even more likely that these melodies will be part of your daily humming routine at work.

samples:

• According To Plan
• Close To Here
• Better Strangers

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27 June 2006

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Albums and Singles

artist:  Chris Herbert  
title:   Mezzotint
catalog #:  krank101
formats available:  CD   
Release Date:  September 18, 2006

Content: Mezzotint is a collection of digital, textured pieces assembled through the extensive manipulation of found sounds and environmental sources. A dedicated non-musician, Chris Herbert has a long-standing interest in intuitive composition and the elastic nature of sound as a resource, influenced by the collage ethic and the instantaneous capture of performance. Working with decidedly low-tech methods (Chris uses minidiscs, a battle-worn desktop PC and a badly-behaved delay pedal), many of the tracks came into being through guerrilla sessions during his day job. The pieces are essentially improvisations created by extended rehearsal and juxtaposition. Mezzotint is the consequence of a continual process of subtraction and composting, leaving just a trace of melody or the implication of rhythm. The result is a spontaneous, embracing the mystery of faraway broadcasts and the internal experience: a clouded, busy music of vertical activity and blended, indistinct color as opposed to narrative uni-direction. Chris' signature swampy, gaseous, and even dirty, crumpled sound is a welcome contrast to the clean, edgeless granular cloud aesthetic employed by an increasing number of artists.

Context: This is Chris Herbert's debut release. He lives and works in Birmingham, UK and has performed live at a series of one-off electronica events organized by the Modulate A/V collective (one of the city's key avant garde digital arts organizations.). He has also worked alongside local artists in creating sound installations reclaiming the city's post-industrial spaces. In addition to Mezzotint's sequel, Chris is currently at work on a sequence of pieces inspired by urban field recordings, to be broadcast on Resonance FM.

Track Listing:
1. Stab City  2. Elisa  3. Chlorophyll  4. Suashi  5. Horse Latitudes  6. Cassino  7. Let’s Get Boring!  

Utterly quiet, with a pulse-soothing beat, it takes several listens to reveal itself, like a dark room slowly brought into focus. First come the contours: a crackle that suggests old vinyl, a warm blanket of earthly hush, and that unwavering but organic beat. Then come the details: little snaps in the sound bed, the vinyl crackle transforming into more of a door creak, thin layers of wisps as simultaneously compact and flaky as fine phyllo. And then there's that beat, so steady that over time, as the other sounds make themselves more apparent, it softens and recedes, becoming the equivalent of invisible.  Marc Weidenbaum  Disquiet  August 11, 2005


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27 June 2006

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Albums and Singles

artist:  Christina Carter  
title:   Electrice
catalog #:  krank103
formats available:  CD   
CD UPC Code: 7 96441 81032 1
Release Date:  September 18, 2006

Content:
Christina Carter approached her new solo album with the specific idea of recording all of the songs in the same key and using the same guitar tuning. While some artists would be hampered by such self-imposed constraints, Christina uses it to her advantage by exploring seemingly innumerable ways to twist and turn the same basic notes into new shapes, creating just as much a mood as a song cycle. When asked to give her thoughts regarding this new album, Christina Carter responded with fragments rather than linear composition: "continuing with subterranean song writing… eliminating excess elements, at the same time expansive because the 'mixing' of the record doesn't mimic the sound of a 'live' band… more cinematic or sculptural, feeling of being a human body... piano-like guitar... two personal songs, two universal songs… idealization and memory...  songs created instantly, not knowing what i was going to sing about until i sang, but I have a few ideas that I carry around with me for extended periods until they find a place… natural and artificial are two sides of the same coin... often, it is best to do the opposite of what you think you should do... inspired by 60's album art and band photos of floating heads, slight physical 'defects' and skeletal uncoordination, anachronistic futurisms, the idea of 'drone' (4 different songs from the same basic musical elements), dance choreography, and living with chronic pain..."

With Electrice, Christina has created the most cohesive and fully realized version of her unique musical vision to date.

Context:
Electrice is the first widely available album from Christina Carter since the reissue of her Living Contact album by kranky in 2004. The album was recorded, mixed and edited entirely by her. One of the two core members of Charalambides, Christina Carter has been making her own path in both that ensemble as well as with her solo releases for almost 15 years.

Quote:
"She is a singular and important figure inside the context of our era's music, creating rich, mysterious and highly individual carpets for all of us to sail away on." Byron Coley - The Wire

Track Listing:
1. Second Death  2. Moving, Intercepted  3. Yellow Pine 4. Words Are Not My Words


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26 June 2006

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Albums and Singles

This mystic, free rock crap really loves to wander without going anywhere. Three and four minute songs end up sounding like ten minute excursions in the name of ambivalence or pure wanksterism and songwriting is sacrificed for "exotic" arrangements and instruments. First Nation try to blow that stereotype out of the water on their debut and they come damn close to outright embarrassing everyone around them.

 

Paw Tracks
 
Unfortunately it takes this trio and roster of engineers a few songs before they actually take flight; their music is involving and sultry, piled high with beautiful guitars, hazy synthesizers, and seductive vocals, but they don't always take those assets to a satisfying level. I can practically feel the band struggling to keep this album subtle, a relaxed affair meant for cooling down, but there's a constant pressure etched into the record that leaves me wondering when they're going to let go of all that pent up power. As a result, the first few songs feel like awkward steps instead of powerful statements - this is not the way to open an album that has as much intrigue as this one.

There are three songs before "Monkey" begins, all three of them sound as if they are misplaced, like awkward children left to walk the streets of New York after knowing only the wilds of some primal continent. "Monkey," on the other hand, is a sure-footed, bluesy moan. It segues into the pounding, tribal, multi-layered "Omen." Kate Rosko's and Nina Mehta's high-pitched, striking vocal performances draw all the instruments in a circle and force them to work together. By the time the album is half way over, the band finally sounds comfortable with each other. All the open production and thumping drums begin to fall together in soothing and strange ways. Repetition begins to build the music into sprawling works of symmetry and foreign seduction.

Much like their contemporaries, First Nation seem to have problems keeping their work consistent for the duration of an entire album. Unlike their contemporaries, First Nation don't sound scattered. The album has problems taking off, but after the first few songs its all a rocket ship to smoky opium dens, psychedelic dreams, and erotic fantasies. "You Can Be" has a lovely bass line pumping through it and vocals of such an exciting nature that I can't help but think of far east countries and the people there huddled inside old buildings. Drinks are consumed, women are dancing, bar fights erupt in short fits, the snow outside is absolutely oppressive, but this little place has lights inside keeping everything warm and perhaps slightly misleading. It's a fantastic song that leads into the poppy, upward flight of the final couplet. Two songs that ricochet with a sunny disposition and a desire for unhindered, innocent beauty.

First Nation are the first band of their kind that enticese me enough to want to come back for more than just a couple songs. If only they'd left the first few songs out or perhaps used them elsewhere on the record; the results could've been impeccable. As it stands, this is an impressive debut.

samples:

• Awakes
• You Can Be
• Cave Jam

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26 June 2006

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Albums and Singles

For the most part recorded live in Vienna, this album is a consolidation of Nurse With Wound’s most recent output into one piece. The results speak for themselves; the different resources integrate with each other perfectly to give an exceptional piece of music.

 

ICR / United Dairies
 
Soundpooling contains two tracks. The first, “Soundpooling #3,” is the performance from Vienna. The performance is described as an improvisation on Salt Marie Celeste and the Echo Poeme releases. There are also elements of Angry Eelectric Finger scattered throughout the performance. The combination (or pooling to use the language of the album) of these different compositions works extremely well; the whispered intonations from the Echo Poeme material sounds like they were made to accompany the creaky, creepy drones of Salt Marie Celeste. In fact, the vocals sound much better here than they do on the “proper” releases; the oceanic background makes them sound erotic and mysterious.

As the improvisation progresses, it moves into completely new territories with only odd bits of sound acting as points of familiarity. The music is far more active and engaging than I was expecting. Explosions of noises that sound like they were spliced from a number of old records and cultured on a dish in dark, damp basement rock the atmosphere. I can only imagine how uneasy the audience must have felt listening to this in the flesh considering the lab coat uniform of the performers and the fact that the venue was an anatomy museum.

The second track is a new studio recording named “In Swollen Silence.” It is an almost calming break after the tension of the live recording. Freida Abtan’s performance and text is evocative and for the most part very beautiful, there are moments where the beauty is shattered by the sentiments of the words: “your shadow ripped from you.” Stapleton throws a few curveballs during this piece that take me by surprise each time I listen to it (I won’t elaborate as they are best experienced first hand). Soundpooling would have been a fine release if it just contained the live performance but the inclusion of “In Swollen Silence” caps off the album nicely.

The bonus disc that came with initial copies of Soundpooling is a one track studio piece with the delicious title of A Handjob from the Laughing Policeman. It contains a lot of the material recorded by Stapleton and Potter in Utvaer for the Shipwrecked Radio albums. It opens with a busy array of electronic noises, processed voices and before a groovy drum beat fades in and slows the pace down. This drum beat disappears and is replaced with an exotic, tribal beat. All the while, typically Nurse With Woundish noises, ranging from sea gulls to indefinable tones, eddy and churn around the beats. It is a nice companion to the Shipwrecked Radio discs but not something I’d be kicking myself for missing.

samples:

• Soundpooling #3
• In Swollen Silence
• A Handjob from the Laughing Policeman

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23 June 2006

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Albums and Singles

artist: Alasehir
title: Sharing The Sacred
catalog number: imprec101
format: cd
release date: July 25, 2006

 

John Gibbons-Guitar, Tamboura
Michael Gibbons-Guitar, Sitar
Michael Zanghi-Drums, Percussion

Alasehir is the project of Bardo Pond brothers John and Michael Gibbons with drummer Michael Zangha. Unlike the Gibbons' project Alumbrados, also being released on Important at the same time, Alasehir is more rock oriented, establishing a heady, heavy groove and jamming on it throughout.

“The ear of the musician detects a certain musical note in every city which is different from that of another city. He hears in each street a new melody, and to him the sound of wind in the treetops of different forests gives a varying sound. In the Desire World, seemingly, SOUND PROCEEDS FROM FORM. But in the music of ALASEHIR it is different, for while each form occupies and obscures a certain space there, form is nonexistent when viewed from the standpoint of ALASEHIR. Where the form was, a transparent vacuous space is observable. FROM THAT EMPTY VOID COMES A SOUND which is the "keynote" that creates and maintains the form whence it APPEARS to come, as the almost invisible core of a gas-flame is the source of the light we perceive.” Michael Gibbons

 

 

 

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23 June 2006

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Albums and Singles

artist: Alumbrados
title: A Garden Of Vipers
catalog number: imprec102
format: cd
release date: July 25, 2006

Much different than the lumbering jams of Alasehir are the drenched ethno-drones of Alumbrado. Featuring Bardo Pond's John & Michael Gibbons on guitar, sitar, cumbas and various percussive instruments as well as Michael Zanghi and Aaron Igler with additional electronics and percussion. Alumbrados is a beautiful, rhythmic and tremendously arranged psychedelic experience.

“Alumbrados investigations are as thorough and as reliable as researches by material scientists, but not as easily demonstrable to the general public. Spiritual powers lie dormant within every human being, and when awakened, they compensate for both telescope and microscope, they enable their possessor to investigate, instanter, things beyond the veil of matter, but they are only developed by a patient application and continuance in well doing extended over years, and few are they who have faith to start upon the path to attainment to perseverance to go through with the ordeal. “ Michael Gibbons

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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23 June 2006

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Albums and Singles

artist: Daniel Menche
title: Jugularis
catalog number: imprec103
format: cd
release date: July 25, 2006

 

Imagine yourself riding on cells coasting through your body's veins. The sound of the heart grows stronger like a beating drum as you're pulled closer. Suddenly, you're embraced by this giant pulsating muscle and when you're finally released back into the veins you can hear it's sound fading slowly, but still growling with the same intensity that it has beat with for eternity. Jugularis is the soundtrack to this ride and like your heart it's packaged in blood: the ultimate symbol of life and intensity.
Recently Daniel Menche has embraced more percussion based sound to create music that manipulates the listeners blood flow and intensifies the listening experience. Jugularis still contains a distinctly Menche sound yet being that it's intensely rhythm and percussion based it's extremely different from anything that he has created prior.

Never before has Daniel Menche's mantra of "If Music is like blood then make
the speakers bleed" been so appropriate.

 

 

 

 

 

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