While the most important relatively underground compilations of the 1980s have either gone lost or have been chopped up and divided on anthologies, LTM has actually taken a bold step in preservation, nearly restoring the complete original release and including material recorded at the same time but previously unreleased.
Hotter than July. This week's episode has plenty of fresh new music by Marie Davidson, Kim Gordon, Mabe Fratti, Guided By Voices, Holy Tongue meets Shackleton, Softcult, Terence Fixmer, Alan Licht, pigbaby, and Eiko Ishibashi, plus some vault goodies from Bombay S Jayashri and Pete Namlook & Richie Hawtin. Solstice moon in West Midlands, UK photo by James. Get involved: subscribe, review, rate, share with your friends, send images!
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Yet another posthumous Arthur Russell release from Audika, this two-disc set collects rare and unreleased orchestral material by the late NYC artist. Because the material presented here is, at least ostensibly, the most "avant-garde" in form and content yet released from the Russell archives, I expected the music to be difficult, abstract and academic. However, nothing could be further from the truth, as Russell again utilizes avant-garde techniques only as a method of approaching popular music obliquely, creating music that is as ingratiating as it is unique.
Scottish composer and pianist Bill Wells collaborates for the first time with Japanese group Maher Shalal Hash Baz, led by Tori Kudo. Wells shares his unadorned pop sensibilities with Kudo’s scruffy ensemble for a slightly off-kilter yet frequently sunny album.
Futurism may have lost some of its futuristic appeal in the 100 or so years since its birth. That the works of a Futurist composer from the 1920s could sound so fresh may come as a surprise. Franco Casavola's compositions have little relation to the noisier side this movement is perhaps more famous for and that it does sound so fresh might be a testament to what Futurism stood for in the first place.
The eagerly awaited CD release of Dronevil doesn’t disappoint. Taking a leaf from The Flaming Lips and Neurosis’s respective books, this album is on two discs to be played simultaneously. Boris have done this trick immense justice: in the past multiple disc albums have been gimmicky but not so much here. One disc explores drones and the other sticks with Boris’s more straightforward guitar, bass and drum playing.
All-out silliness ensues the second this fine 12" starts spinning. Community Library has again proven their dedication to quality vinyl releases and Eats Tapes has proven that the liveliness and giddiness apparent during their live shows can be translated to a recorded format.
On their fourth album, this instrumental quartet from Barcelona pushes the boundaries of jazz, blending classical elements with psychedelic touches, effects, and just plain strange explorations. The result is one of the best unclassifiable jazz albums I’ve heard in years.
If early '90s sounding techno happens not to be your thing you’re unlikely to enjoy the majority of this release. Tagged as ‘remixes and reconstructions’ from Danny Hyde’s (Coil member and remixer) Aural Rage project, this harks heavily back to the last decade’s commercial electronic music. Some of this could very easily be passed off as having been taken from charting releases of that era, and this is sort of a backhanded compliment to Hyde.
All the pieces on Patherns are composed of rhythmic noises that at the right kind of party at the right time could get the crowd dancing. The four pieces on this EP are less abstract than Ivan Pavlov’s more recent work; there is less chin scratching here than on this year’s Above Air album. Unfortunately there’s less depth to Patherns, enjoyable as it is.
