12 June 2005

Jonathan Dean

Albums and Singles

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

samples:

• The Descent of Long Satan and Babylon
• They Return to Their Earth
• The Blue Gates of Death (Before and Beyond Them)

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12 June 2005

Jonathan Dean

Albums and Singles

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

samples:

• Walkie Talkie
• Magic Moments
• Golden Golden

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12 June 2005

Jonathan Dean

Albums and Singles

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

samples:

• Subjunctive Mood
• Rich Girl With No Trousers
• Lingering

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12 June 2005

Jonathan Dean

Albums and Singles

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

samples:

• Three Women
• Morning Fire
• Three Men

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12 June 2005

Jonathan Dean

Albums and Singles

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.

samples:

• Afraid 1
• Geometric Horsehair Cavalcade
• Afraid 2

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12 June 2005

Administrator

Albums and Singles

Michael Gira's work under the Body Lovers and Body Haters names hasbeen reissued as a double CD with a few changes. Gone are the albums'original titles and the artwork from the original Body Haters releaseis absent. In their place is an extra ten minutes of music on the BodyHaters disc.
Young God Records
Given that these two albums were meant to be a three partseries I can only speculate that the bonus material was part of thenever finished third album. Perhaps part three became Gira's Angels ofLight? This would make sense as listening to the reissues as it ispossible to chart the transition from the Swans to Gira's later worksboth solo and with the Angels of Light. The Body Lovers album (originally titled Number One of Three)is a number of interlinked tracks that over the course of the albumshows the diverse styles and range of Gira's output over the last 20years. There are riffs taken from older Swans songs and material thatwould later become part of Angels of Light releases. On the first trackGira seems to be working the Swans out of his system. Towards the endof album, a tone that is more the Angels of Light takes over. In fact, The Body Lovers sounds almost like a dual between both bands with the Angels seemingly the victors. The Body Haters album (originally titled 34:13)is the second round of the fight where the Swans come up trumps.Divided into two tracks, the first is ten minutes or so of unreleasedmaterial and the second being the original album. The unreleasedmaterial is only partly unreleased, it is a collage of variousrecordings, most of which seem to be used later in different contextson the Angels of Light album Everything is Good Here/Please Come Home. It does not really fit with The Body Haters,it sounds exactly like what it is, a piece of unused music to enticesomeone who already owns the album to buy it. The second track makes upfor the first with thirty minutes of drones and noise, not in anabrasive way but more ambient. It starts off disorientating as a fewsmall samples are looped and processed. It eventually builds up into aclamor that sounds like a church organ made of fire alarms. This goesup and down in pitch and Gira adds layers of effects to it over thenext half an hour. It finishes up with what sounds like Jarboe's vocalstime stretched and heavily treated which builds up to an intense andloud finale, something the young Gira would have been proud of. Whetherthis reissue is worth buying for those with the original albums isdebatable, the bonus material is good for a Frankenstein-type creationbut possibly not worth buying the set again for. Both albums do stillsound as fresh and exciting now as they did seven years ago. The Body Lovers/The Body Haters works as a nice overview of Gira's work, something like a best of without any actual songs that you know on it.

samples:

• The Body Lovers - Track 3
• The Body Lovers - Track 7
• The Body Haters - Track 2

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12 June 2005

Andrew Culler

Albums and Singles

Haino's own homage to the blues begs the question of whether he hasalways burdened himself with a bluesman's ax to grind. Starkprimitivism is ubiquitous, even as the artist introduces new strategyor restraint in a work. In recent years, Haino has taken classicalguitar through the black-on-black, slow-utterance machine that is hisstyle, and this year also marked his first solo electronic album,instruments pushed not to their own limits, but to Haino's redefinedlimits of his own art.
Les Disques Du Soleil Et De L'Acier
The two Black Bluesdiscs are not so much returns to the guitar-vocal arrangement, fromwhich the artist first touted his musical discipline, as they aregeneralized statements from the depths. Haino is less an explorer now,than creator of a two-sided tablet of commandments. One disc acoustic,the other electric, Black Blues is Haino at his most sensualand his most absolutely violent. The discs are themselves absoluteswithin a style that has rejected nearly every outside structuralimposition. Though more heavily composed than any Haino works in recentmemory, they are easily more intimate in mood and carry a directnessthat should be sourced in American blues music. These discs, if not themajority of Haino's work, though not blues in any traditional sense,carry the style's primitive aesthetic, condensed drama, and instinctivespirituality into a conceptual domain. The Black Blues volumesfeature the same six songs, some perhaps original, at least one cover(Hendrix's �Drifting�), and at least one traditional blues piece. Thetrad.song included, �See That My Grave Is Kept Clean,� is a 13-min.sleepy cascade of acoustic reverbed starlight on the first disc and, onthe other, a savage landscape of electric salvages, muddied harmonics,surface scrapes, and shaky, neck-rending exercises in contest with atypically asphyxiated vocal. Black Blues' electric versioncontains probably the most structurally bleak and consistently intensevocal performance I've heard from Haino; however, upon repeatedlistens, I find that the disc is equally listenable, certainly ascathartic, and even as calming as its acoustic half. The two can onlybe counterparts, and they are essential to a Haino collection. He'sprolific and singular enough that choosing goodies often seems futile,but I can safely say, if you can handle only one Haino this year, tryto handle two, and make them these two.

samples:

• Black Eyes (acoustic)
• Black Eyes (electric)
• See That My Grave Is Kept Clean (acoustic)

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05 June 2005

Joshua David Mann

Albums and Singles

Seasons, lost loves, catch phrases and catchy melodies always seems to converge pleasantly on any given Lucksmiths' album. Warmer Cornersreliably exhibits all of these things and more, featuring an additional member, thus augmenting the trio to a quartet for the better part of the album.
Matinee
This addition, which could potentially be a significant change inthe band's evolution, never threatens to alter the genetics of theband's admittedly eugenic pop output. The Lucksmiths have always made efficient and economic use of their simple percussion, guitar, and bass trio. The same is true now with the only difference being that now thereare horns, strings, and sometimes dual guitar lines to complement the already-full sound. Despite the cumbersome title, lead single "The Chapter in Your Life Entitled San Francisco" is a marvelous variation on the theme which Tony Bennett made famous (like-minded Lucksmiths' pals Ladybug Transistor used the same inspiration in their song "Massachusetts"). Right from the first line the song is brilliant and does much to confuse the hell out of any conscientious northern hemispheredweller: "Is it April yet? I forget sometimes how slowly summer passes."For those who are antipathetic to the wordsmithing of the Lucksmiths', itwould be best to avoid songs like "Great Lengths." The song plays on someclever rhymes (few bands are deft enough to rhyme "guessing" with "acquiescing") and some rhetorical tropes (check out the rarely heard/seenzeugma in the lyrics: "you had your father's charm and thus your mother'sVolvo"). But it would be a shame to skip over "Great Lengths" even for those averse to such devices because the song is simply too catchy and tuneful to ignore, going beyond any wordplay which might scare you off. Furthermore, it's alright to listen to a band whose principal songwriter has a sharper pen than yours. There seems to be an inexplicable infusionof seventies sounds on this album, evidenced on songs like "A Hiccup in Your Happiness," "The Chapter in Your Life Entitled San Francisco," and "Young and Dumb." More to the point, one of the B-sides from the lead single was a cover of The Bee Gees "I Started a Joke." The song I keep coming back to is the subtle and understated "The Music Next Door." I passed it by the first few times and it actually took a live performance to relay the delicacy of the song to me. The song's gleeful cadence and dueling guitars are a strange accompaniment to the lovelorn lyrics. But,somehow, it works. The song is also a typical case-study for my experience with the entire album. At first, I denied that it was as goodas 2003's Naturaliste. But subsequent and frequent listens have shaken my once sturdy resolve. My one complaint is that the album trailsoff a little in the second half and the songs are less memorable (at leastat this point). Yet I don't trust myself entirely with this thought sinceI have already changed my mind regarding a number of songs. Just like theseasons they are so fond of elegizing, the Lucksmiths' songs have a certain vicissitude and mutability which makes generalizing an album quitehard. In other words, the seasons change in almost perfect harmony with my appreciation of particular Lucksmiths' songs, making the seasons a function of my appreciation and not the other way around. It's a theory,at least. While it gathers more data , Warmer Corners will reign as the first soundtrack to this summer.

samples:

• Great Lengths
• The Music Next Door
• If You Lived Here

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02 June 2005

Matthew Jeanes

Albums and Singles

Shadow Huntaz,"Valley of the Shadow"

http://www.skam.co.uk" target="new">Skam

Skam's hip hop ambassadors the Shadow Huntaz are back with another full length of trans-atlantic collaborations with their brothers-in-arms the Funckarma production crew.  Shadow Huntaz Skam debut was a breath of fresh air that fused classic American hip hop with contemporary European electronica in a way that others had flirted with, but not quite achieved.  The follow up <i>Vampire EP</i> was more of the same, but showed that when the Huntaz put their minds to it, they could create a truly brilliant track.  With <i>Valley of the Shadow</i>, the team is once again mining the same basic well of sounds and lyrical topics that were covered in the previous two records, which makes <i>Valley</i> seem more like a continuation of <i>Corrupt Data</i> than a next-step in the group's evolution.  The beats are all synthesized, featuring heavy kick drums and noise-pong snare and high hat patterns that mimic the rhythm of classic hip hop but interpret it in the mode of minimal techno.  Samples are few and far between (at least samples that haven't been processed into blurry washes of filter noise) and that's what keeps Shadow Huntaz from sounding like other contemporary hip hop artists who are being sold to the Warp/Planet Mu buying public.  While hip hop has always been a mash up of sampled grooves and synthetic ones--a world of producers and MCs-- the hip hop aesthetic itself has been diluted so much in recent years that collaborations such as this one tend to sound at times like a production team and a vocal team playing together, but not exactly on the same page.  There's the hint of an all-too-convenient pairing of styles that smacks at times of a record executive's idea of capitalizing on the laptop generation's love of all things hip hop.  I have no doubt that Shadow Huntaz are the real deal, and that they take this work seriously, but with a back catalog of excellent releases, this one just doesn't seem as exploratory as it should.  Occassionally as on "Radically," Shadow Huntaz amaze with fluid, intelligent rhymes over simple beats that don't get in the way of themselves, and give the words room to breath.  "Radically" is the reason to buy a record like this because it's a near-perfect synthesis of styles that doesn't step on any one sensibility, but focuses different ideas together to be something greater.  The brilliant tracks like this though, have to be weighed against the filler tracks full of typical rap bravado and stories of sexual conquest, or the tracks that out-spaz themselves in mindless worship of the twitch.  These tracks aren't risk-taking when one considers the success of other indie hip hop records that are pitched to the same audience.  Shadow Huntaz as MCs have formidible skills on the mic, and Funckarma are studio wizards capable of slick, bouncing production, but by the end of "Valley of the Shadow," I get the sense that the two sets of minds have done all that they can do together.  Hip hop is naturally progressive music, much like the digital cut up techno from across the pond, but we've heard all of this before, and while some of it is still great and will make it into many DJ sets, it just isn't pushing down walls the way it could be.
- <a href="/brain/contributors.html">Matthew Jeanes</a>

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29 May 2005

Administrator

Albums and Singles

Infamous among club DJs and producers for the deep tech-house styleincubated and pushed forward by their still potent Basic Channel andMaurizio records, Germany's Mark Ernestus and Moritz Von Oswald took amost adventurous step when they departed from the dancefloor for thelabor of love known as Rhythm & Sound.
Burial Mix
Since the project'sinauguration,their sincere and passionate devotion to roots reggae hasyielded a slew of exciting and highly sought-after 10" records, thebulk of which were subsequently compiled on 1998's Showcase and 2003's astounding pair of classics With The Artists and The Versions.While the "digital" dub sound has exploded into a feverish trend amongelitist music geeks and wannabe techno-rastas, the duo managed to stayahead of the gaggle of poseurs by undertaking a massive and ongoingreissue campaign of the Bronx-based Wackies Records catalog, and yetanother imprint dubbed Basic Replay for the purpose of putting lostgems back into print. These latter efforts have afforded them atremendous amount of credibility and well-deserved respect from thetoasters they've now exposed to entirely new audiences, whichundoubtedly explains how Rhythm & Sound manage to acquire suchimpressive singers for their releases. See Mi Yah, a collectionof 11 tracks culled from their recent box set of 7" records, challengesand delights with a strong roster of vocal veterans and lesser knowntalents. The same spacey rhythm, with little variation, appears onevery song, making for an occasionally tedious listen. Thankfully, theparticipants each contribute their own stylistic flairs, from theharmonic riffing and freestyle spoken word of Koki on "Rise And Praise"to Bobbo Shanti's infectious sing-song approach on "Poor People MustWork." The legendary Sugar Minott gives a stellar and memorableperformance on "Love Is The Answer," smoothly lamenting the painfullysad state of our war-torn world while simultaneously calling for apositive personal and collective uprising in the spirit of humansalvation. Frequent Rhythm & Sound collaborator Paul St. Hilaire,perhaps best known as Tikiman, comfortably settles into the penultimate"Free For All," a lyrically simplistic yet pleasantly repetitiousgroover. The album closes with a much-desired instrumental "version" ofthe "See Mi Yah" rhythm, leaving room for new performers to make theirmark with it in Jamaican dancehalls and bedroom studios alike.

samples:

• Poor People Must Work
• Rise and Praise
• See Mi Yah

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