We have finally cleared out the backlog of great music and present some new episodes.
Episode 711 features music from The Jesus and Mary Chain, Zola Jesus, Duster, Sangre Nueva, Dialect, The Bug, Cleared, Mount Eerie, Mulatu Astatke & Hoodna Orchestra, Hayden Pedigo, Bistro Boy, and Ibukun Sunday.
Episode 712 has tunes by Mazza Vision, Waveskania, Black Pus, Sam Gendel, Benny Bock, and Hans Kjorstad, Katharina Grosse, Carina Khorkhordina, Tintin Patrone, Billy Roisz, and Stefan Schneider, His Name Is Alive, artificial memory trace, mclusky, Justin Walter, mastroKristo, Başak Günak, and William Basinski.
Episode 713 brings you sounds from Mouse On Mars, Leavs, Lawrence English, Mo Dotti, Wendy Eisenberg, Envy, Ben Lukas Boysen, Cindytalk, Mercury Rev, White Poppy, Anadol & Marie Klock, and Galaxie 500.
Skolavordustigur Street in Reykjavík photo by Jon (your Podcast DJ).
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The first time I put on this CD I turned it off shortly after. Ibelieve I grumbled something along the lines of "Radiohead tributeband." Listening back to it over the last few days I realise I wassorely mistaken, Second Storeyis a lovely piece of work. Bella Union
Art of Fighting may not be breaking newmusical ground but they do know a good melody when they hear one. Theopening track "Along the Run" is a beautiful little song, itsshimmering guitars are very much in tribute to Johnny Marr and OllieBrown's vocals cut through the song clearly and powerfully. Songs like"Break for Me" and "Sing Song" are great examples of a band playing toeach other and adding only what is necessary to the piece. "WhereTrouble Lived" in particular is stunning, Peggy Frew's vocals suitingthe music perfectly to make a song that Low are probably kickingthemselves for not writing it first. If the album could keep this paceI'd be ranting and raving about it but Art of Fighting have an oddhabit of sticking some very weak tracks in between some very nicesongs. The first half of the album is a hodgepodge of good and bad."Your Easy Part" completely destroys the mood that "Along the Run"creates. "Two Rivers" is at first awkward, it fumbles along until allof a sudden it erupts into a thick wall of guitars and Brown's singingsoars. At this point the band seems to have found their feet and therest of the album is solid. Second Storey is a charming album but you have to be prepared for the couple of sore thumbs that mar the first few tracks. - John Kealy
Harsh noise can be fairly boring stuff, but when done properly, thekind of destruction it can unleash (especially live) is impressive,perhaps reaching that apocalyptic level so many reach for. Both RichardRamirez and Skin Crime are seasoned veterans but they've both foundtheir way to the Troniks/PACrec label for this effort in obliterationand, sadly, the results are a bit mixed. Troniks/PACrec
With such a provocative title,I was hoping for something a tad more thematic to come from these two.Some variation is in order here and its still unclear to me what any ofthese songs have to do with the theme presented in the artwork and songtitles. "The Smell of Hospitals" and "Some Sedatives" could've been agreat opportunity to revel in the drugged up hallucinations of hospitalpatients and the perpetual discomfort of visitors, but instead they aresimply two grinding pieces of static and whirlpool noise jammed up therear end of a sick man and left there for maximum evisceration. One isloud, the other is soft, but both feel as though they are composed ofvarious ingredients recorded through the remixing properties of ahousehold blender. The excellently titled "This is the Body I OnceOccupied," on the other hand, wraps up the album on a positive note.While it still sounds as though it was recorded with the help of awashing machine or maybe an industrial wood cutter, there's a bit morespace within the stereo and a little more variation pops up on thistrack than anywhere else on the album. It makes for a more interesting,though slightly less intense listen. Pleasure, Commerce, and Diseaseisn't the most varied record ever, which doesn't surprise me: it's beenmade to chew on flesh and bone, not scatter the mind with any amount ofmental trickery. Whatever shortcomings it has in the way of creativeexploration, it attempts to make up for that in sheer volume and gusto.If having bad hearing for a few days isn't bothersome, then Ramirez andSkin Crime have crafted quite a killer worthy of its overpoweringambition. - Lucas Schleicher
One of a recent clutch of new(er) releases by Earth, Living in the Gleam of an Unsheathed Swordcontains two live tracks, both recorded in 2002 as Dylan Carlson andAdrienne Davis reunited in for a series of live shows in the US andEurope. Earth's music has become something of an obsession for thosetuning into the current wave of imitators — Sunn O))), Black BonedAngel, Boris, etc. — but for those who were listening to Earth backduring early 1990s Sub Pop years, recordings like this seemanachronistic and retrograde. Troubleman Unlimited
Earth's sound was certainly determined inpart by the Seattle grunge scene of which they were peripherally apart, and also by the overcast, gloomy weather, epidemic heroinaddiction and economic disenfranchisement of their Olympia, Washingtonhome. Inspired, it seems, by Ozzy Osbourne and Tony Iommi's musicalresponse to similar conditions, Earth not only adopted the originalname for Black Sabbath, they also copped the heavy, oppressive,resonant blues riffing, bringing it to an entirely new level of purityand abstraction, dispensing with vocals and pushing the distortion,feedback, and subharmonic drone into the red. I had hoped that Earth'sreunion might produce some new vital new music that could blow all ofthe current imitators out of the water, but so far all of theirreleases have been live recordings, reissues or remixes, none asremarkable as classic efforts like Earth 2 or Pentastar: In the Style of Demons.The first track on this disc is a 14-minute solo performance by Carlsonrecorded live on the air at WNYU, playing in his trademarkedslow-motion dirge style, allowing plenty of sludge to spray off eachdownbeat minor chord. Though the performance is certainly competentenough (at least by Earth standards), it lacks any sort of interest ordevelopment that would keep up interest for its entire length. Thisproblem is even more apparent with the hour-long behemoth title track,recorded live in NYC on the same day as the first track. Engagingdrumming by Davis keeps things afloat for longer than they might have,but Carlson's improvisations frequently derail and wander too longthrough repetitive chord progressions, or get too caught up inmasturbatory bouts of aimlessness. As is always there in Earthrecordings, those thick, vibratory, third-eye guitar drones make manywelcome appearances, but are never given enough free reign, and Dylan'stortured acrobatics become a distraction. When Carlson and Davis areon, they are really on, but the off moments are far more frequent thanthey should be. The recording itself also leaves a bit to be desired,sometimes resulting in a confused mix and weird audio dropouts. Sinceit seems that Earth are back now, if not for good than at least for alittle while, I wish they would consider recording a new studio album,as Living in the Gleam just isn't doing it for me. - Jonathan Dean
Veteran MC and onetime Jungle Brother Sensational's Speaks for Itselfgave me pause when I first heard it. It's so bad that there just HAS tobe more than meets the ear. Is it all a big joke, a hip hop farce,taken to an unlistenable extreme? Is it a deliberate ploy to shedlisteners or to get dropped from his label, a la Bob Dylan's Self Portrait?Or has Sensational really been a geek off the street with no ear forthe beat or knowledge of recording all this time (since 1993!) and he'sbeen fooling us all along? In any case, Speaks for Itself won'tfool anybody. It's just plain awful. Quatermass
To his credit, in the pastSensational has made a name for himself by being lyricallyidiosyncratic (muffled and mumbled vocals delivered at a frenetic pace)and uncompromisingly lo-fi musically (usually making tunes with nothingmore than a four track recorder and a Fat Boys-era drum machine). Theformula has worked before (this is his sixth solo album) and his indiecred is unquestionable, but Speaks for Itself falls flat on itsface from the first rhyme ("I always rock it right/ I always rock itright/Yea, I'm just so cool/ Yea, check my ice/ Blind ya sight"), andfrom there it just keeps on falling. For starters, the production is socriminally terrible that it's a wonder Quatermass bothered to releaseit. The beats are plain weak, uninspired at best but mostly justintolerable. Worse, the levels are all over the place. Sometimesthey're so high as to strain the speakers and drown out the lyrics,which is a blessing: after all this time in the game, Sensationalhasn't learned how to speak into a mic. He's either so close that hiswords are smothered in sibilance and popped Ps or he's about ten feetaway, drowned out in room echo. It might all be worth it if Sensationalwere some unheralded musical mastermind who just happened to be usinghis apartment's lobby as a studio, but he's far from it. Sensational'spoetic range consists of exhausted (and exhausting) self-aggrandizementthat, delivered in his clownish offhand way, come off as absurdly cornyand about as convincing as Warren Beatty's hip-hop turn in Bullworth.Just when it couldn't get worse, it does: Sensational drops the line "Iwas high when I wrote this" about twice per track, unwittingly makinghimself a Nancy Reaganesque poster boy for the war on drugs. Suchbuffoonish lyrical effrontery would be acceptable if it were part of acollection of freestyles. You can be forgiven for being repetitive orbland or even offensive when there's no prior preparation. But,stunningly, Speaks for Itself is indeed a studio recording -meaning that not only was the material "written" (more likelySensational wiped his ass with the lyric sheet), but that someone laidthese trainwrecks down on tape, listened to them, and pronounced itgood. Who's fooling who here? The rapper or the label? Sensationalisn't in a position where he can move 100,000 units of filler shitejust through use of his name, and Quatermass is no Def Jux. Even so,with a decent producer and a mixing board technician who wasn't AWOL, Speaks for Itselfcould have been salvageable. Sensational is a technically competentrapper with a decent flow but apparently he just can't be bothered, andneither should the listening public. - Chris Roberts
This unassuming CDEP was made available at the recent Toronto shows,but the people working the merchandise table were mysteriouslytight-lipped about its contents. The packaging contains no informationother than arcane Coptic Greek text printed in gold on a blackbackground: "PSHOUO NMEHPSAITSHOMTE: NTNAU NH�TP MPR� AHENJ�U EUK�MOUEM TPE." Durtro Jnana
There were also T-shirts for sale with this same cryptictext, untranslatable to all but the most diligent esotericists. Afterseeing Current 93 play all three nights, and popping this CDEP in forthe first time, however, it became quite clear that this was a brandnew Current 93 single, taken from the forthcoming studio album Black Ships Ate the Sky.David Late Tibet and friends are long overdue for a new full-length, soit's very nice indeed to see something surface, a new release ratherthan another in a long line of re-released repackagings of remixed,reshuffled remasters. And luckily, the new material sounds utterlybrilliant: a return to form and some of the best music Current 93 hasmade since 2000's Sleep Has His House. It is clear from the first few seconds, however, that Black Ships in the Sky does not repeat the same minimal, ascetic instrumental palette as Sleep or Soft Black Stars,much to my relief. As much as I loved those albums, I was always hopingthat Current 93 would revisit the fuller, richer, more compositionalarrangements of classic albums like All The Pretty Little Horses and Thunder Perfect Mind,and that is exactly what I got on this single. The EP contains only oneseven-minute track, divided into two sections. The first has DavidMichael describing at intense apocalyptic vision glimpsed at sunset inhis sixteenth year, against a lovely backdrop of fingerpicked guitarand disarmingly gorgeous swells of viola and cello. Though there are nopersonnel listed on the sleeve, I am guessing that these are thecontributions of Simon Finn, William Breeze and Joolie Wood, talentedcollaborators all. As the track passes the three-minute mark, thingssuddenly become dark and nightmarish, and the music becomes a series ofnoisy, staccato string stabs, electronic pulses and the searingelectric guitar work of Ben Chasny (of Six Organs of Admittance andComets on Fire). David Michael screams and curses his fate, wishing invain that he had been "unborn," straining and cracking his voice,crying out in the abyss: "Who will deliver me from myself? Who willdeliver me from myself?" It's very intense stuff indeed, and bodes verywell for the upcoming album. - Jonathan Dean
Echo Poeme: Sequence No. 2 is quite a surprise, even for anartist like Steven Stapleton, who has spent the past 25 yearsconfounding expectations. It is the second part of a series begun witha limited, Vienna show-only CD-R entitled The Little Dipper Minus Two: Echo Poeme Sequence No. 1. United Jnana Those who are lucky enough to have heard the CD-R will know that it isa hypnotic combination of eerie, layered female vocals floatingdelicately around seething, sexual inhalations, barking dogs andpsychedelic, vibratory shudders of mysterious origin. It's a thrillingand magical 20 minutes, climaxing with the eardrum-piercing squall of aWWII air raid siren and the dive-bombing blitzkrieg of warplanes. Sequence No. 2uses some the same elements, but subtracts the overt sexuality, thecanine outbursts and the Nazi attack, leaving only 18 minutes ofoverlapping, interwoven vocals from Amantine Dahan Steiner and IsabelleGaborit, all of which are exclusively en francais. StevenStapleton and Colin Potter utilize the various utterances, hums,whispers, recitations, laughs, breathy coos, and vibrational oms of thetwo women to create a suggestive ambient tangle of ghostly, gossamerthread. The vocals create soothing undulations, tantalizinglylinguistic but staying just out of reach of full comprehension,improbably panning around the stereo channels with a logic that wouldonly make sense in a dream. Indeed, the album is ideal for headphonelistening, provided you don't mind two disembodied voices spookilyreciting French words in your ears for almost an hour. The title ofthis album and its predecessor seem to be consciously retrogradeallusions to classic musique concrete pieces (i.e. Edgar Varese's"Poeme Electronique"), even though it's much more likely that Potterand Stapleton have used digital means, rather than analog, to createthese highly-constructed, multilayered compositions. Theblack-and-white cover art seems a little grainy and chintzy, but it'shard to tell if this was intentional or not. This album was used asbetween-set music at the recent run of Current 93 concerts at a Torontochurch, and it does seem to operate best as background music. Thoughthe entire album is undeniably beautiful and haunting, it refuses todevelop, transform or build drama during its considerable length. Itends right where it begins, and in between is more of the same. No oneis going to accuse Echo Poeme of being Steven Stapleton's mostexciting work, but it does have a consistently ravishing, gorgeous,mesmerizing beauty that makes it very worthwhile tangent. - Jonathan Dean
Currrent 93 live albums have always been a bit of a tricky proposition.There have been at least a dozen or so live albums released throughoutCurrent 93's long career, and they range from almost completelyunlistenable (Loony Runes and Hitler as Kalki), to pleasant but unremarkable (Halo and Live at St. Olave's Church). Durtro Jnana
To me, the live albums always seemed like filler in the Current 93catalog, frequent stopgaps between studio material, meant to pleasehardcore fans and completists. The problem plaguing much of the pastmaterial, in my opinion, is that Current 93 just weren't a very goodlive act until very recently. Though they have performed many liveshows since their earliest incarnation, David Late Tibet and his merryband of apocalyptic folksters have frequently given new meaning to theterm amateur. Just listen to the Hitler as Kalki material withDouglas P. senselessly pounding away on the same chord he's beenplaying for twenty years, John Balance "playing" stick guitar and Tibetand Rose McDowall shrieking out of key, taking a massive shit all oversongs that sounded powerful and hypnotic on the proper studio album.Adding to the problem were bad PA systems and bad recording equipment.So, with all this in mind, I found myself pleasantly surprised by How I Devoured Apocalypse Balloon,a new double-disc live album featuring two full sets from last year'stwo dates at Toronto's St. George-the-Martyr Church on June 18th and19th. (By the way, I can't stop singing the title of this album to thetune of The Fall's "How I Wrote Elastic Man.") This is probably Current93's best live album, at least the best one that I've ever heard, as Iadmit to having skipped a few. Though the ensemble featured here is notquite as large and spectacular as that which was featured during thisyear's three-night run, the players still do a wonderful job ofcreating a fine musical accompaniment for Tibet's intense, crepuscular,poetic speak-singing. Though there are no liner notes which wouldindicate the personnel that performed at these concerts (and also,alas, no track listing), I think that I can hear and identify MajaElliott on piano, Joolie Wood on violin, and perhaps also Simon Finnand Ben Chasny on acoustic guitar at various times. The recordingquality is sparklingly clear, and the setlist chosen for both nightsfeatures of some of Current 93's best and best-loved material, drawnfrom as far back as Island and Imperium, all the way through Thunder Perfect Mind, Of Ruine or Some Blazing Starre, All the Pretty Little Horses, Soft Black Stars, Sleep Has His House and even a cut off of Bright Yellow Moon.Along the way are some surprising wild cards from the back catalog thatI've never heard performed live - including the haunting and powerful"They Return to Their Earth," "A Sadness Song" and "The Blue Gates ofDeath (Before and Beyond Them)," each faithfully rendered within a morelimited instrumental palette. The second features very effective usageof noise loops and live electronic voice manipulations, which I can'trecall hearing since the earliest phases of Current 93 live shows. Istill don't think I'll listen to this much beyond the few spins I gaveit before writing this review, but as Current 93 live albums go, thisone is truly definitive. - Jonathan Dean
Magic Moments is the new album from Simon Finn. If someone wereto have asked me six years ago, when I first heard Simon Finn'slegendary 1970 album Pass the Distance, to assess the chancesthat such a thing would ever come to pass, I'd have rated theprobability a big fat zero. Simon Finn was one of the many late-60spsychedelic folk and progressive artists that released one obscurealbum and then seemingly disappeared into the aethyr, never to be heardfrom again. Durtro Jnana Original press copies of his frequently bootlegged MushroomRecords LP (which has only just last year been officially reissued onDurtro Jnana) have traded hands for insanely high prices, the inclusionof maverick experimental accompanists Paul Burwell and David Toopmaking it a desirable treasure, as well as soul-shattering tracks like"Jerusalem," easily one of my favorite songs of all time. Unexpectedlytwo years ago, David Late Tibet somehow dug up Simon Finn, who hascontinued to write music through the years, and has given Finn anoutlet to release new material, as well as utilized his considerabletalents on new Current 93 recordings. Magic Moments is acollection of 12 folk songs, Finn singing in his familiar, world-wearyTom Rapp-esque voice, accompanied on a few tracks by Joolie Wood onflute or violin. Because of the simple, unadorned recording style andthe minimal instrumentation, this record doesn't repeat the sameshambolic, psychedelic chaos that characterized his classic LP. Thiscan't help but come as something of a disappointment to me, but I haveno complaints about Finn's songs, which are deceptively simple,redolent of the best British folk, with cryptic lyrics pregnant withmeaning and emotional intensity. Three tracks on the album are repeatedfrom last year's Silent City Creep CDEP (now out-of-print) -"Walkie Talkie," "Eros" and "Wanted You," great songs all. Of thebrand-new material, the title track is one of the best, a sadrumination on how human lives involve long periods of unhappiness,punctuated by magical moments that we carry with us as a salve againstdepression. Also memorable is a song Finn wrote many years ago but hasnever recorded until now, "Golden Golden," an apocalyptic war balladthat ends the album on a pessimistic note: "All our lives we'researching/to find a lord to crown/And Golden, Golden was ourtime/Golden, Golden truths and lies." This song is also one of the fewtimes that Finn's vocals reach the throat-stripped ferocity of hisperformance on classics like "Jerusalem" and "Big White Car." Magic Moments is incredibly brief at only 30 minutes, but eminently listenable, and it's great to hear Simon Finn making records again. - Jonathan Dean
Perhaps as a little addendum to his full-length, Simon Finnsimultaneously released this five-song CDEP, for sale at the recentToronto shows. It's very much in the same vein as Magic Moments,just Finn and his guitar, more musings about the frustrations attendantto love, human communication, sadness and joy, longing for life anddeath. Durtro Jnana
The title track tells the story of a man who has passed away hisexistence as a stranger in his own life - forever living in thesubjective, the hypothetical, the plane of dreams and ideals - the verbtense suggested by the title: "Most of his life, it seems/Has passed inthe subjunctive mood/The imagined, wished and dreamed for but/He mustlearn how not to brood on all the/Were it nots, and were she theres/Thebe that as it mays/and God help him." On all of these songs, Finnaccompanies himself, strumming or fingerpicking simply melodies thatbolster his lyrics, which are the real attraction here. I thought atfirst that "Rich Girl With No Trousers" might be a declaration of lovefor the slutty heiress Paris Hilton, but judging by the sad, reflectivelyrics, it's more likely about a woman from Finn's half-rememberedpast. The high lonesome blues sound of "Lingering" recalls Chris ThomasKing's haunting versions of Skip James songs, connecting Finn'straditional Brit folk leanings with early American folk and blues. Ihave nothing but respect for Simon Finn, who has jumped back intowriting and recording after a more than thirty-year absence, with allthe aplomb and poise of a seasoned veteran. However, I do hope that atsome point he considers recording another album like Pass the Distance,working again with collaborators that can transform his emotionallycharged folk songs into something even greater through unorthodoxarrangements and interesting production. Not that I wouldn't be happywith more like this EP and Magic Moments, it's just a wish. - Jonathan Dean
This three-track CDEP follows closely on the tails of Baby Dee's recent A Book of Songs for Anne-Marie, which was her first full-length since the double-disc masterpiece Love's Small Song. Durtro Jnana
Very little has changed about Baby Dee's sound since her earliestdemos, still the same hauntingly affected voice singing fragile songsabout love, loss, gender, identity, mothers and fathers, and the tiny,seemingly insignificant memories that collect over time to comprise ouremotional lives. On all three of these tracks, Baby Dee accompaniesherself on piano (no harp this time), with bright, sad minor-keymelodies that set her songs aloft. There is still somethingunmistakably, gnawingly creepy about the pain and sadness that seems aninseparable part of Baby Dee's transgender vocals, even when she singsrelatively joyful songs like "Morning Fire," a simple and sweetdeclaration of love. On "Three Women," Dee sings a mournful song whichseems to be about her desire for motherhood: "I'm making a cradle/Outof broken arms/Out of arms that sing." On the song's masculinecounterpart "Three Men," Dee sings lyrics so achingly simple they couldbe straight out of a book of nursery rhymes, but they are nonethelesssad and evocative: "I went to see my mother/And I got lost/Now it's sohard to get home...I heard your children singing/In a western sky/Letthem call that sky their own." There are many who will doubtlesscontinue to regard Baby Dee as a novelty freak show (as a youth, sheworked in a Coney Island circus sideshow as a bilateral hermaphrodite),something along the lines of a transsexual Tiny Tim. However, there area precious few enthusiasts, who like me, never regarded Tiny Tim as anovelty act, and don't think of Baby Dee that way either. Baby Dee isan utterly unique voice in contemporary music, one that once you havelet it into your heart, can scarcely be forgot. - Jonathan Dean
This CDEP contains three tracks, all featuring the skillful playing ofJohn Contreras, the handsome young cellist and recent Current 93 andCyclobe collaborator. The first and third tracks on the disc areadaptations of Nico's beautiful song "Afraid" (from her classic 1970album Desertshore,one of several collaborations with John Cale), with the singular RoseMcDowall lending her sweet, lilting vocals to the song. Durtro Jnana We haven'theard from Rose McDowall in quite a while, that inimitable chanteusefrom Strawberry Switchblade, Sorrow and countless collaborations withCurrent 93, Death in June, Coil and Michael Cashmore, so it was verynice indeed to hear her lovely vocals again. Even though both versionsof "Afraid" are brief, insubstantial and slight, they are still verypretty, and a good showcase for McDowall's voice and Contreras'elegiac, vibratory swells of cello. Sandwiched unceremoniously betweenthese two tracks is an unexpected collaboration between Nurse WithWound and John Contreras, surreally entitled "Geometric HorsehairCavalcade." The horsehair refers perhaps to the rosined fibers ofContreras' bow, and the geometry perhaps to the angularly edited,resculptured strings of Contreras' cello and Steven Stapleton'sprepared piano. There's no telling where the cavalcade comes in. Thetrack, not surprisingly, bears a passing resemblance to Stapleton'scollaborations with another master of the stringed instrument on Acts of Senseless Beauty and Santoor Lena Bicycle.In fact, Aranos AKA Petr Vastl is listed as the engineer for all threeof these tracks, so there's your connection. On the whole, this CDEP israther disposable, but it's still a very nice little souvenir, and I dohope that these four collaborate on more material in the future, as afull-length might be very nice indeed.