Podcast Episodes 721 & 722 are live!
Mid-November midweek special
Two new episodes are now available.
Episode 721 features Throwing Muses, Eros, claire rousay, Moin, Zachary Paul, Voice Actor and Squu, Leya, Venediktos Tempelboom, Cybotron, Robin Rimbaud and Michael Wells, Man or Astro-Man?, and Aisha Vaughan.
Episode 722 has James Blackshaw, FACS, Laibach, La Securite, Good Sad Happy Bad, Eramus Hall, Nonconnah, The Rollies, Jabu, Freckle, Evan Chapman, diane barbe, Tuxedomoon, and Mark McGuire.
Wine in Paris photo by Mathieu.
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For those Hototogisu fans that are sometimes unlucky enough to miss out on limited editions, this Important Records release is a godsend. Some Blood will Stick takes tracks from both 2004’s Swoon Scream and 2005’s Awful Symmetry (both editions of 100) and it’s unlikely you’ll stumble across one of those for less than thirty pounds these days. The addition of an unreleased track makes this a compulsory purchase for any fans of Matthew Bower (Skullflower/Sunroof!) and Marcia Bassett (Double Leopards/Zaimph).
This is Jandek's first album since releasing the live document of his performance with Richard Youngs and Alexander Neilson in Glasgow, Scotland. I had feared that some of the mystery that made him so appealing was going to disappear with his emerging worldly presence, but Raining Down Diamonds is as baffling as his legacy and far darker than one might expect from a musician who recently invited his audience far deeper into his house than ever before.
Forgive me for not being excited that one of the Wolf Eyes guys has another record out. It'd be a surprise if one of them, or Wolf Eyes themselves, didn't have a record out once every month or two. While Bad Dreams is not one of those must-have records for mad collectors and noise lovers everywhere, it is a good piece of quiet noise that refuses to enter the "sounds like everyone else making annoying music" field.
Guitar has long been a male dominated instrument. For as long as Les Paul strapped electronics to the supposed heartbeat of rock and roll, it has been considered an extension of the male psyche; a supercilious sex organ meant to lure women. Yet, as time unfolds and sexual and musical roles are consistently redefined, the guitar has become something of a throwaway. It's a one-trick pony that has been rendered impotent by a swatch of talented femme fetales who have transformed the male extension into a tool of progress. The sinewy manipulations of Sarah Lipstate (AKA Noveller) continue to re-imagine the guitar. Desert Fires, Lipstate's proper sophomore release, not only goes so far as to erase gender boundaries, it casts guitar in a light so few have been able to achieve throughout the instrument's storied history.
The influence isstill there in the form of clever, wordy lyrics, eccentric and extravagantpop gestures, and a richly emotive delivery. But Harding's sense of humouris infinitely warmer and more inviting that Costello's sardonic hauteur everwas. And Harding lacks the layer of schmaltz that too often made Costello'swork unbearbly bathetic. ST. ACE has sexy ballads like "After the Fact,"soaring powerpop in the form of "You in Spite of Yourself," and serioussilliness in tracks like "Humble Bee" and "Old Girlfriends." The cheeryincest subtext of "Bad Dream Baby" would make both Edward Gorey and RoyOrbison shudder in their coffins. Harding's cheeky "Goth Girl" will make youwant to slip into some tattered velvet, smear your mouth with black lipstickand go out prayer-dancing just like you did all those years ago.
"A Much Better Tomorrow" takes the 1996 "A Better Tomorrow" EP, remasters it and fleshes it out with previously unreleased tracks from the same era into an inexpensive full length cd. If you're a fan of the Dr. Octagon LPs with Kool Keith, then this is a must have as 6 of the 11 tracks are from the same sessions and feature Keith in his Sinister 6000 alter ego. Nakamura's varied approach to hip hop deftly weaves together samples and laid back, big ass, jazzy beats as backdrop for rhymes on all but two tracks. Keith ditches the silly medical mumbo jumbo here in favor of old skool silliness and braggadocio. Neph the Madman and Poet handle the MC duties on a track apiece and DJ Q-Bert adds scratches to another. This may be 4 years old - an eternity in the world of hip hop - but it doesn't sound dated. Dan is the man. An even cheaper EP with just the new tracks is also available from 75ark.com for those who already own the original EP. How cool is that?
"Live at Radio 100" is a limited edition of 500 that comes in a neat silver and blue carton box with slip off top. It features a single 42 and a half minute track that documents a live performance for the Dutch pirate radio show "Earbitten". Masami Akita (aka Merzbow) mans a turntable and electronics and is joined by Bara on turntable and some bizarre vocals, Reiko on theremin and 'guest' Radboud Mens on turntable. This unique DJ team spin a non-genre specific assortment of records (the only one I can positively identify being Louis Armstrong), sometimes simultaneously, and carve it up with swathes of sound effects and electronic noise. The result is, yes, noisy and chaotic, but much of it is quite subdued with a trance like atmospheric quality reminiscent of Throbbing Gristle's "In the Shadow of the Sun" soundtrack. A sense of humor also prevails too through the eclectic choice of sound sources and the way in which they are obliterated. Overall "Live at Radio 100" is very entertaining and listenable, especially by Merzbow standards. I'm somewhat surprised at how 'musical' the piece sounds considering it's a live collaboration. I hope there's more stuff like this in the Merzbox, which I've yet to seriously delve in to. Now ... where's my aspirin?
And not boring in the good way, like Philip Glass' funwith monotony or Low's sublime minimilist architectonics or even StephinMerritt's clever zen-inflected loop songs (see his glorious THE HOUSE OFTOMMORROW ep) that prove repetition can be a dircet path to pop nirvana.Rather, Sea and Cake's new disc is all about the non-event: nothing happens,and nothing ever will happen. And as you sit there like a character in someexistential vaudeville skit, listening to its tastefully tedious keyboardsand drums and noodly guitars and breathy, indistinct vocals < for what seemslike an eternity < you'll suffer in paraysms of boredom. And wonder why thehell anyone who likes music actually likes this stuff. If this is thealternative to alternative rock, I think i'd rather listen to the airconditioner. Just say "NON!" to OUI. John McEntire fans will want to checkout the fine new Aluminum Group album, PELO, which shows his skills asperformer and producer to a fine advantage. The Navin boys have abandonedtheir fey, soft-rock ways for electroplated dance tracks, and McEntire is adefinite asset.
In some senseVicki Bennett's work could be seen as companion volumes to Neil Postman'sincisive mid-eighties critique "Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse inthe Age of Show Business". Her assemblages of found samples and oddballartifacts, punctuated by peculiarly catchy little synthpop interludes, arepopulated with all the random and irrelevant crap with which most of us arebombarded daily, skillfully crafted into preposterously pointless exchanges andeasy-listening jingles which slyly undermine the intention and substance oftheir original forms. Bennett has an uncanny ability to transform the trivial,ephemeral, boring and banal into deliciously naughty indictments of ourmedia-saturated culture. In this her work is not unique; artists likeNegativeland explore similar territory, and it could even be said that mockeryand pastiche, as hallmarks of the post-modern, have become something of a staplegesture. What is truly singular and surprising about her work, given itspenchant for deconstruction, is simply its overwhelming gentleness towards itssubjects. Never smugly clever or bitter, Bennett's real human warmth manifestsin the strangest places, moving what would otherwise be searing sarcasm towardsa genuinely fun and good-natured laugh at ourselves. Ultimately it is herkindness that gives her work both its distinctiveness and its effectiveness:while her commerical Muzak jingles at times lead you to believe you are beinglulled into a bludgeoning, her manipulations and surreal juxtapositions arenever cruel, offering instead an uplifting glimpse into the possibilities ofmeaningful communication within (or despite) a sea of chitchat, of real emotioninside the sentimental, and ultimately of an ennobling critical method which isengaged, insightful and diabolically effective without being condescending oroverly self-confident. "Thermos Explorer", her ninth solo album, is my favoritePLU to date. Each listening finds me singing along and grinning like an idiot.Why is listening to this so much fun? It's like having a sleepover with yourhilarious best friend, where everything they say makes you giggle-behind all themusic is the irresistably sweet Vicki Bennett, and you just can't help but likeher.
Wire's sudden reactivation in the early part of the 2000s was quite a welcome one. While the sporadic live shows they played during that time were refreshing, the new material that appeared with the release of the first Read and Burn EP demonstrated a true "revival" of the band, which culminated with this album. Now, seven years later, it is reissued with a second disc of harder to find and unreleased material, and sounds just as vital as it did in 2003. It also marks the end of Bruce Gilbert’s tenure with Wire, and perhaps the period with his most significant contributions to the band.
