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He embraces the painful matter of his father's death with a poignant gentleness, without ever turning away from his own grief and sadness, without once denying the apparent meaninglessness of human suffering, and yet, almost miraculously, without ever surrendering his quiet hope that there may be some peace in death, some small beauty in this world, and some hidden final meaning behind unbearable loss. In following an inner vision towards a goal which is quite far from concern with entertainment or image, he has managed to create an album which is both accessible and entertaining (although hauntingly so). Unflinching attention to the particular and the personal has here accomplished the great art of transmuting a private meditation into a universal elegy, capable of containing, illuminating, and assuaging our own private griefs, both small and large. For me this album serves as a rare reminder of the transformative power and purpose of music, and an affirmation that, while words often abandon us to isolation when we are most in need of them, a true poet is capable of the most exquisitely precise communication. "What drives us on?" Sleep offers refreshing balm to those who didn't even know they needed it. It is never preachy, loud or pushy, but with quiet insistence this masterful work drives us to look into blackness, and to see through it into light.samples:
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- Brian Bieniowski
- Albums and Singles
I have always felt that Marty Willson-Piper's solo albums to be a bitweaker than his Church bandmate Steve Kilbey's stuff. Something for theChurch collector in me, between proper Church albums. After pickingthis CD up, I am happy to say all of my previous reservations weretotally blown away. This stuff is a welcome change to the work done onrecent Church albums, and certainly Willson-Piper's strongest albumsince "In Reflection". The tracks run from slow atmospheric to upbeatChurch-like rock from the "Heyday" era.I've never feltWillson-Piper's lyrics to be his strong point. However, most of thewords on the songs here are clever and charming without any pretense(which I certainly can't say about Steve Kilbey's solo stuff). And hisguitar work is as stunning and beautiful as it has always been. I'm noteven going to get into the harmonies on some of the tracks like"Sanctuary"...I'll just get gushy which is really rather disgusting. Ireally can't recommend this CD enough to people who just want somemusic to bliss out to on a rainy afternoon with a lover.
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Walker has been busy the past year with "Only Myself to Blame" on thelatest Bond movie soundtrack, two songs for the latest Ute Lemper album"Punishing Kiss" and curator of this year's Meltdown Festival at theRoyal Festival Hall in London, as well as a 'Dance Project' score forsaid event. And now this soundtrack, the first major new release fromWalker since 1995's rather difficult masterpiece "Tilt". "Pola X" is aFrench film (with English subtitles) based upon the Herman Melvillenovel "Pierre", directed and co-written by Leos Carax. The basic storyis a young author meets his long lost sister and they begin anincestuous relationship. The soundtrack is composed and produced byWalker, a serious cinemaphile, with 5 tracks by others, and is pepperedwith dialogue and sounds from the film. Of Walker's 11 tracks, 34minutes total, about half feature the Paris Philharmonic asorchestrated by longtime Walker keyboardist / arranger Brian Gascoigne.Most of these are brief string compositions, beautiful and foreboding.The remaining Walker tracks are short sound effects / dialogue / samplecollages (Walker even samples his own "The Cockfighter" in the openingtrack) or similar to those found on "Tilt": bizarre barrages of guitarand percussion. "The Church of the Apostles" in particular builds afrenzied attack for nearly six minutes. "Never Again" is a minute ofswirling noise slabs interspersed with a heavy duty beat and ragga rap... possibly the oddest thing Walker has ever done. This materialreally whets the appetite for the always on the horizon, new 'album inprogress' by Walker. And now for the rest of the disc. "Extra Blues" bySMOG is just plain tedious with inane lyrics and dreadful half spoken /half-sung vocals. "Iza Kana Zanbi" by Fairuz is nearly 9 minutes ofswooping strings, hand percussion, chanting and female / male wailingall with a bit of a gypsy vibe, very cinematic and entertaining. Tracks8 and 9 are throwaway bits of Vietnamese karaoke. "Blink" by SonicYouth is a wonderful surprise as I'm not normally a SY fan. Kimspeak-sings seductively over an ambient mix of drone, light percussionand guitar taps and pluckings. Unfortunately, I'm unable to experiencethis soundtrack within the intended context of the film as I've neverseen it (and probably never will) but overall most of it does hold upwell on it's own. Though, the $24 import price will likely keep mostaway, save for Walker and Sonic Youth fanatics. Walker is currently atMeltdown through July 2nd and the film is due out in the fall ... samples:
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It features 2 more tracks from the sessions, 're-mixs' of "Nommos" fromSystemwide's 1997 dub album "Sirius". "Nommos' Ark" is very fracturedwith many sudden stops and starts as fast drum 'n bass rhythms dominateand bits of the original's keyboard gurgles churn up here and there.It's a headache inducing 5 minutes if listened to at the wrong time."Nommos' Ghosts" is about a minute longer, also quite fractured butmuch slower paced with a delayed dub groove, heavy vinyl static noiseand electro bleeps that give way to and eerie, fading keyboard melodyand intermittent percussion loop. The vocals from the original song areeither obliterated or gone altogether, thankfully I might add. "Ghosts"alone makes this worth the $9 (postage paid in the U.S.) direct fromBSI Records (http://www.bsi-records.com/). The record is thick blackvinyl and comes in a yellow-orange sleeve with the title and arabicinscriptions around the center hole. It's rather dull in comparison tothe much more complex artwork that graces the other two releases. Justanother little piece of the enormous and ever expanding Muslimgauzepuzzle to add to your collection. The next release due out is the twotrack Bass Communion v Muslimgauze CDEP. Never mind the fact that boththe Nommos tracks found here could have fit on the "Lo-Fi India Abuse"CD and the two new BC v M tracks could have fit on the first BC v M CD.They sure know how to milk it for all it's worth, don't they? Oh well.I'll be buying them all like all the other addicts ...Read More
- Administrator
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- Brian Bieniowski
- Albums and Singles
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- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
While electronic dub or minimalism can be inviting and attractive attimes, Pole has failed on his third album to present anything ofinterest. Clicks sound like somebody's playing with 1/4 inch plugs inrhythm while the intentional tape hiss sound is downright obnoxious. Isthis a joke? I'm honestly surprised people pay money for this! PerhapsI need to be coming down from a really heavy trip to enjoy it... Pole 3is simply an overrated underachieved reissue of both 1 and 2. samples:
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- Administrator
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It's a German 2xCD release of exclusive tracks from Tortoise, Isotope217, Mick Turner, Bobby Conn, Pullman, Bundy K. Brown, Ken Vandermark5, Chicago Underground Duo, Freakwater and many many more. While it'san excellent collection of some of these bands finer songs and amust-have for any fan of these bands, I'm left wondering what's thepoint? Did this German 'discover' these bands? It's not as if theyhaven't been touring all around Europe for the last 5 years or more,really. I haven't seen it on this side of the water yet but I haveheard word that it is avaialble through various mail order outlets.Full with a big booklet with words in German (translated into English)and loads of pictures of bulls, it's a great bargain!
samples:
- Tortoise - Jetty 99
- Bobby Conn - The Whistler
- Mick Turner - Sunny Xmas Day
- Chicago Underground Duo - King Cobra
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- Jon Whitney with Andrew Shires
- Albums and Singles
Gone are the whiny rock chick antics of the early 90s Kim Gordon and the chord banging Thurston Moore. There's much more care and delicacy to the noise banged out, this could be the result of Jim O'Rourke's production and occasional playing on the record. Spoken and sung bits through the last part of the disc echo of Slint stuff. On the back is displayed the total time as 42:22. Perfect! We don't get to hear 15 minute long drones in a pop context. Sonic Youth are no longer trying to sneak noise in, they're using carefully constructed dissonance in an album which is arguably their best pop record (Musical Perspectives 1-4 aside) since Daydream Nation. samples:
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- Ross Owen Katz
- Albums and Singles
Off World Sounds has some screwy catalogue numbers. For instance, Sassi & Loco's 'Bibleopoly' CDS (the label's first release) is catalogue number OFF1, while the various artists compilation, 'Cooking With Gas' on 12" vinyl is catalogue number OFFWORLD1. Furthermore, the CD version of 'Cooking With Gas' is catalogue number OFFCD3.
By the way, for those of you into Fila Brazillia you'll find the track 'Speewah' on 'Cooking With Gas'. Also worth mentioning is the various artist compilation 'Heat Electric'; available on 12" vinyl (OFFWORLD4) and CD (OFFCD5).
There is hope for all you mad trainspotters who have been attempting to round up all of the compilations that feature one of the four or five odd Sassi & Loco tracks. Rumour has it that Stephen Mallinder is planning to release a retrospective of the duo's 18 month studio output. The retrospective should feature 'Bibleopoly' and 'Orange Street' from the 'Bibleopoly' EP, 'Away Away', 'Tommy Roberts', 'Lost Loco' from the 'Trans Pacific Express' compilation, as well as other exclusive mixes.
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- Daniel McKernan
- Albums and Singles
After having heard the teaser single, "Legal Man," which is not available on this album, I was surprised at such a new sound and was curious to hear more of their new material. The single does not have the same feeling - that classic Belle and Sebastian mood - that the album does. The opening tracks, "I Fought in a War" and "The Model" show lots of promise, retaining the band's older styles and Stuart Murdoch's wonderfully emotional voice, but still moving forward. However, the third track, "Beyond the Sunrise," completely breaks the flow of the album with mellow acoustics and deep, funny sounding vocals. The album picks up again after this, with wonderful tracks like "Don't Leave the Light on, Baby," and "Family Tree." Some of the lyrics on this release seem a little sillier than previous albums, but for the most part they are still fairly classic B&S. There is an even mix of male and female vocals, and also a balance of dancey and sulky numbers. For the most part, this album, despite those few "flaws," is a really nice listen: quaint. samples:
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