To celebrate a quarter century of great compilations and albums by many exciting artists, Touch have released this new compilation. 25 exclusive tracks featuring most of Touch’s luminaries sum up both Touch’s history and mission perfectly while at the same time showing that Touch still know how to make a great compilation (an art that is neglected by nearly every other label).
Look up Music for gazing upwards brought to you by Meat Beat Manifesto & scott crow, +/-, Aurora Borealis, The Veldt, Not Waving & Romance, W.A.T., The Handover, Abul Mogard & Rafael Anton Irisarri, Mulatu Astatke, Paul St. Hilaire & René Löwe, Songs: Ohia, and Shellac. Aurora Borealis image from California by Steve. Get involved: subscribe, review, rate, share with your friends, send images!
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The first time I heard Pole, I recall, I vividly sensed an odd feeling of simultaneous warmth and cold, washing over me in wave after wave of dubwise potency.
On this three-track food/petrol/strings funding release the band continue their rock and roll d/evolution. What the Markers do maybe easy to flippantly sum up, but it’s spat out as complex improvisational process. This trio take the roots of musical cultures, personal experience and labels and feed them with a row of cocktail shots and composted Ginsberg instead of the same old generic watery rock moves. The thing about Magik Markers is that while they refuse to stick the tried and tested templates, they are happy to batter new life into traditional trio instrumentation.
A monologue labyrinthine enough to confuse David Lynch is performed by Anna Chancellor to open this album. The narrator could die at any moment, there is an organized operation controlling metaphysical principles beyond human recognition, and data is being processed in order fulfill some clandestine goal; Barry Adamson is still one strange customer, his music as varied as his imagination and resumé.
From what I had heard about the Yellow Swans, I expected this album to be harsh, with plenty of layers of static and distortion washing over all other sounds. While those elements are present to a certain degree, Drift is much more varied and better than I had hoped.
Bastard Noise, Sissy Spacek, and Sunn O))) member John Wiese concocts an arsenal of blistering eruptions that’s sure to blow both eardrums and speakers alike.
They Might Be Giants wrote and recorded a brand new song for each stop on their 2004 tour and this DVD/CD combo documents the results. After nearly two decades of TMBG records, videos, tours, antics and other work, Venue Songs is exactly what any fan of the band might expect: a collection of often funny and clever tunes and images.
England's Eden Maine might appear all bluster and bark from first look: a blood-red album cover and song titles which hit on everything from Satan to homicide to strongly-worded exhortations not to breathe. It seems a little bit contrived and postured. But once past the introductory wispiness of "Solstitium," Eden Maine's bite becomes painfully apparent. And yet the bark persists.
Instrumental band Ten Past Seven have been a take them or leave them band whenever I’ve encountered them live. On disc they are a different beast: complex song structures with strong metal, jazz and post punk influences make for a fascinating and fun listen.
