Being thankful for an earful.
Brand new music by Marie Davidson, Niecy Blues (feat. Joy Guidry), CEL, Marisa Anderson and Luke Schneider, Stina Stjern, Carmen Villain, Murcof, A Lily, and Far Golden Pavilions, with music from the vaults by Tomaga, Ozzobia, Jan Jelinek.
Sushi photo by Lindsay.
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Timonium's songs have always been contemplative. Narcotic melodiescombine to create themes which repeat over and over, as if to bash youon the head. It's as if, at one moment, you had no earthly idea thesesounds existed in unison, but then you hear them and you becomedependent on them, uncertain whether you can go on living without them.To have these themes repeated over and over in a song, then, becomes ablessing rather than a curse, blissful rather than tedious. So perhaps"caressing" would be more suitable than "bashing," but keep in mindthat there are these incredibly loud moments in Timonium's songs wherethe caressing does in fact become bashing, though it is a thrashing onegladly accepts. 'Until He Finds Us' compacts these tensile melodiesinto shorter statements, but the songs remain long and contemplative byvirtue of more complex song structure. The exception which threatens toprove me wrong is the compact (3 minutes) first song, "Populations,"which touts a kinetic sound that never really explodes, but whichmanages to get the listener all worked up (accomplished largely by thedrum rhythms). I like to think of this song as a preamble to the wholealbum, and I think it works well like this. In previous albums, theband would use a combination of finely-wrought statements together withsweeping changes in dynamics (think Bedhead). Timonium has now addedtempo changes and time signature changes to their arsenal. "SolemnCorridors," for instance, embarks as a slow and somber song which ispunctuated by short guitar chords on the up beat, but halfway throughit switches time signatures and starts to rock significantly harder,all the while maintaining a melody which links these two disparatesections of the song like Siamese twins (except that these twins lookentirely normal and natural conjoined at the melody, and you wouldnever think of staring in bewilderment or averting your gaze inrevulsion). Timonium is growing up, and their music is likewisebecoming more complex. The whispery male and female vocals remainrefreshingly understated in most of the songs, letting the musicenvelope them rather than dominating the song. They do happen to peakout confidently in the louder parts, but it's only momentarily andalways proper. The messianic overtones of the album title and lyricshave the effect of turning this album into a type of post-rock hymnal,with lots of talk of blood, wounds, and rebirth. Somehow, even rocksand marble are imbued with some religious significance. Then again,there is just as much talk of birds, griffins, and trees. I am unsurewhat to make of it all, but I do challenge you to put the line "Ipissed in your mouth" in a song and have it sound as placid andsoothing as Timonium are able to. If there is a moment of ascension, itcomes early on in the album, in the song "Across the Footlights" (whichhas another attention-grabbing shift in time signature). You'll knowthe moment when it hits you just by the sheer glory of the sound, butwhether you're ready for it is an entirely different discussion. 
The original cassette-only release of this (recorded in 1981/82,released 1983) is possibly my favorite of the Dots' cassette releases.Unlike the Chemical Playschool compilations, Basiliskwas threadded and sequenced like a conventional album with a clearlydistinguishable first and second side. After witnessing the rather sadtreatment a lot of the old cassettes got for CD reissue, I wasskeptical about this. Thankfully I have been wrong this time. For acassette which even comes with a note from Edward Ka-Spel himselfapologizing for not being able to locate the original master, the soundquality is incredible, far superior to Stained Glass Soma Fountains, Under Triple Moons,and even some of the Ka-Spel solo material mastered off vinyl. Mybiggest gripe is actually in the easier tasks of coordinating a releaselike this. I absolutely hate the way the original cassette is indexedby only three track marks for the CD, despite the first containingnumerous songs, (even with clear silences), but that can be dealt with.Much of the music contained was revisited and resurfaced on otherreleases long ago. The looped chorus of angel-like voices singing "singwhile you may" which opens the album popped up first on the LegendaryPink Box along with "Clean Up," while the instrumental piece, "LoveIs..." later became "Love Puppets" for the Curse LP. The melody from "Basilisk One" and "Basilisk Two" was revived as "Flesh Parade," "Wall Purges Night" was re-recorded for Curse,while "Methods" became an Edward Ka-Spel solo tune. What's left is alot of really cool, but eerie noise noodling which takes up most ofside two as "Basilisk Two" and a couple really short songs buried deepin track one as "Basilisk Part One" on this CD. In addition to theoriginal 60-ish minutes are some strange songs from the vaults: "IdealHome," recorded in 1981 featuring Keith Thompson as lead vocalist andan early unreleased version of "The Glory, The Glory," also allegedlyfrom 1981. But they didn't stop there. It's hardly a CDreissue/remaster job without some song tossed in completely out ofcontext. With this release, it's a version of "The Ocean Cried BlueMurder," but this one, as the title (and sounds) suggests was probablyrecorded "on a ferry in a storm on a walkman." All cynicism aside, it'sa great audio document to finally own, despite the appalling fontchoices, but then again, good LPD cover artwork is a rarity (especiallywith reissues). With any luck, Bernard and Raymond Steeg will be ableto "enhance" Atomic Roses and Premonition for thatupcoming release along with other cassette-only things. I leavechanting "Traumstadt 4," "Traumstadt 4," "Traumstadt 4," "Traumstadt4!"
The Dutch duo Beequeen has been digging into their archives lately,discouraging the collector-scum by making their rare releases andconcert recordings available to the public in greater quanity. I'vebeen a fan of both members' work for many years. Freek Kinkelaar'sLegendary Pink Dots-ish solo recordings as Brunnen yeilded three finealbums in the 1990s, and Frans de Waard's many recordings as KapotteMuziek, Quest, Shifts, and Captain Black are things I have beenenthusiastically seeking out since I was in high school (a long timeago, folks). The Beequeen sound is generally a lush, subtly melodicdrone with subdued electronic crackle, a nice inbetween point betweende Waard's abstractions and Kinkelaar's low-key pop sense. This latestdisc compiles music intended for release in 1998, four tracks that wereto be released as an LP and two that were to be an unlikelycollaborative 10" with Japanese noise "band" MSBR. 
The second edition of madness that is the Cerberus Shoal split-CDseries finds the Shoal trading songs with Alvarius B, with the intentof both artists recording each other's songs as well as their own.Alvarius B may be a name unknown to many, having recorded two LPs andlittle else, but it's the alias chosen by Sun City Girls guitarist AlanBishop. His music is acoustic folk, mostly, and his songs are justshort of justification for FBI monitoring. A title like "Blood Baby" isa pretty big clue towards the mood of the piece, and "Viking Christmas"may seem innocuous while it's everything but. The music is simple,merely there to underlie B's voice, which makes the compositions allthe more chilling. The chopping of babies and other flesh seems to bethe common theme for B's songs, and he delivers it all with a calm andmatter-of-factness that disturbs as well as it impresses. Occasionally,he gets into character, adding a realism and bite that sends shivers.Ghostly voices join in, cackling and haunting, and B seems almostresolute as his share of the nightmare concludes. The Shoal then takeAlvarius B's songs and make them more bombastic and grandiose, as wellas a bit more murderous. Horns, shakers, piano, and percussion providethe groundwork for the blood choir that makes "Blood Baby." There'shushed whispers, empassioned and insane vocals, and sounds that appearout of nowhere only to disappear again. This song is not to be listenedto in the dark. "Viking Christmas" is bludgeoned into the "Auld LangSyne" of a beer hall serial killer cult, complete with the clinking ofglasses here and there. Saving the best for last, though, "The RealDing" was their sole original contribution, and their arrangement isthe prettier over B's, with a multitude of voices accompanying atypewriter as the song begins. Bizarre lyrics and unusual instrumentsmake for a rocky ride, but in the end the song is anchored by oddpercussion, banjo, and a seductive rhythm. This CD is the best yet ofthe Shoal's little project, and at this rate, the whole series will bethe year's musical sleeper, gaining strength with each volume.
Curling up with a Kristin Hersh solo album is much like curling upalone in bed with a good book late at night. There's always somethingto discover with the other route Hersh takes with her songs, headingdown the path without bombastic drums and fuzzy guitars. This timearound, Hersh has also taken a step back, completely opposing one of mytop picks of 2001, her Sunny Border Bluealbum. In 2001, Hersh was almost completely alone and filled the trackswith drums, bass and electronics, whereas here, she's assisted by HowieGelb on Piano and Andrew Bird on violin, and the songs are all acousticand drum-free. While I'm very fond of this record, I question thearrival date for a couple reasons. First of all, I always need to spenda lot of intimate time with Hersh and her songs to get as close to themas possible. Being punched twice on the same day with this and theMuses album can be something difficult to recover from. Next, The Grottois possibly one of Hersh's most reflective albums, with anindescribable feeling of coldness that only somebody growing up in NewEngland truly knows. It comes as no surprise that this album wasrecorded over the past year, which was the snowiest winter we here inthe north east USA have seen in years. It's odd to start listening tothis album in March, just as the snow's about to melt and give way to awarm, green spring. The piano and violin add something magical to heracoustic fingerpicking, providing a perfect soundtrack to the firstlight of the sun on a cloudless morning, reflecting off a snow-coveredlawn, while her words, significantly subdued from any Muses recording,are both tender and sharp. I can honestly lose hours in headphone landwith Hersh's solo albums, and while The Grotto is no exception, I might have to pull this one out again in November for the best effect. 
From David Narcizo's first ratta-tatta snare snaps of on the opener,"Mercury," I knew that this was not the Throwing Muses which picked upwhere they left off with Tanya's departure, nor was it the ThrowingMuses of the later 1990s. This was the thunderous sound remeniscent ofthe Muses that I first fell in love with on their other eponymousalbum. It's unsurprising, as this time around there's no major labelexpecting a blockbuster hit single, nor are there high production costssunk into the mix. The music was recorded in gangbuster marathonrecording sessions over a three weekends, and the raw, blisteringenergy is a very, very welcomed sound. Kristin Hersh's vocals punctureholes in an already densely packed mix of raunchy, distorted guitars,pounding basslines and driving drums from what is still a very smallkit by most standards. Be prepared for many unconventional chordstructures and melodic movements and songs which switch gears numeroustimes with swift tempo changes. Combine that with Hersh's lyrics whichneed years of therapy by a team of experts to completely unravel. Eventhen, it's nearly impossibly to tell if she's telling the truth or not,going from caustic to apologetic often within the same song (likewishing the subject of "Civil Disobedience" would choke on an aspirinand then confessing how much she's still in love). The slower songs,like "Pandora's Box," and "Speed and Sleep" are never ballads: theyjust provide a very slight bit of breathing room before the chorusesand blaring guitars stomp in. Just as I'm thinking that much of thisalbum sounds as if the band is deftly dodging high-speed traffic,recording on the pavement of a multi-lane highway, freeway referencesare made on "Status Quo!" There's still the occasionaly frisky, playfulmelodies, like both the jovial guitar riff and lyrics on "Portia,"where Hersh talks about frat boys sleeping together and how "all theworld loves a lover." "Halfblast" is probably the closest the band willget to a hit single on this record, with backup volcals from TanyaDonnelly and a singalong chorus which is nothing but an optimistic gem,counting the blessings of the beauty of people, nature and the skies.Even the album's closer, "Flying," takes an unconventional album-endingapproach, as it's aggressive, upbeat and driving as much of the rest ofthe record, without the cadence of a closing track. This approacheffectively is appetite-wetting for whatever's next from the group, andgives whoever's lucky enough to catch the Muses live something tofeverishly anticipate.samples:
There's something slightly unlikely about the popular Due Processhybrid. The defiantly low-brow stance of the species 'ME Beauliea' withits comedic theatricals and jubilant confrontation contrasts markedlywith the seriousness, finesse, fastidious methods and criticalself-appraisal of the 'ME Lescalitus'. That this thought only occurredto me recently while watching Jason performing with Thomas Ankersmith,a musician perhaps even more intensely serious than Jason, clearlyhints at the success of the hybrid and reminds us that in breeding, asin marriage, comlimentarity can be as important as commonality. RonLessard's solo performance as Emil Beaulieau looses much from the lackof context in a recording (his budget priced videos might be a betterstarting point for the curious newcomer to America's Greatest LivingNoise Artist) and I've found that this is true to an extent also of theDue Process recordings. So it is important that Combines XIX XXgoes under the moniker 'Jason Lescalleet's Due Process' and that thisrefers -not- to the senior member of the team (Due Process has been thename of not Jason's, but Ron's various collaborations) but to Jason'sheavy hand in production; going way beyond mere editing and mastering.He has coaxed what I assume to have been live Due Process material intoa mutation, the clones of which are now available in LP format. It isby far the most accessible of this duo's releases. The music rangesfrom clearly identifiable Beaulieau antics polished up in theGlistening Labs to material that is essentially new Lescalleet musicbased off the recordings. Given that Ron has taken to using Jason'ssolo releases as source material in his own performance, and I thinkthere are examples of that here, the genealogy of Combines XIX XX is elegantly circular; rather like the shape of the LP itself and having much the same diameter.
If the analogies of botanical classification and plant breeding areapplied to the evolution and development of music and musicians thenJason Lescalleet's niche market nursery Glistening Labs, a name thatreflects its experimental agenda, has released two fascinating andpromising new clones within the genus 'Musica Electronica' ('ME'). Thefirst, with the potentially confusing name Electronic Music, is a new crossing of varieties within in the species 'ME Lescalitus' while the other, Combines XIX XXis a mutation of the robust 'Beauliea-Lescalitus' hybrid known as DueProcess. The most striking, almost freakish quality of the crossing Electronic Musicis how its emphasizes the differences between it's three parentvarieties, namely tape-loops, manipulation and synthesis. This aspectis at first quite disconcerting—there's something hallucinatory aboutthe merging of sweet sounds softened by reverb and whathaveyou with theraw, brutal sound of an untreated defective tape-loop. The differencesbetween these are toyed with and made ambiguous by greater or lesserdegrees of manipulation but, whether it's intrinsic to the music or aperceptual trick, the synthetic elements seem also to adopt the natureof the tape-loops—the ametric rhythms of physical tape defects and thepower struggle between different sounds overwriting each other withoutthe use of an erase head. Electronic Music thus fully retainsthe essential character of Lescalleet's sound while adding a new layerof complexity. The track called "Litmus Tape" is enthralling and itmeasures up the best of Jason's past output. Its powerfully tenseatmosphere is like an only half perceived, entirely alien monsterlurching around; always behind you or in the periphery, unidentifiable,sinister, but curiously fascinating and, from what you can see,beautiful. If you need to ask yourself whether or not you are dreamingthen, unless you are hallucinating, you probably are. The feeling ofunreality that begs that question is what "Litmus Tape" brings forthlike noting else I've heard. The rest of the LP is consistent with thatfeeling in different ways. The various references found in the titles,pictures, layout and materials of this desirable LP are left as anexcercise for the reader.samples:
At this point, the click-and-cut micro-genre of electronic music's vast frontier of styles and cults and webrings has probably offered about all it can on its own. Like so many pioneering sounds before it, music like that contained on the 6th and final installment of Bip-Hop's Bip-Hop Generation series is destined to be the springboard for ideas for mainstream pop, r&b, and hip hop producers for the next several years. Like the other production trends usurped by the masses before it, the click-and-cut aesthetic and those who practice it will be forced to find a new way to express whatever it is they are trying to get at. With Volume 6, the French label that has carved a niche for itself with excellent releases from Twine, Scanner, and others, has provided a small glimpse of what might be next once someone hands Timbaland and the Neptunes a Stefan Betke 12". The prevalant sound palette here are the hisses, clicks, and blips whose description would have become redundant if they weren't precisely onomatopoeic. Collected are tracks from minimalist master Ilpo Vaisanen who shakes off the steady Pan Sonic beats for a more skittery, albeit calculated approach to rhythms. Then, Vainsanen's Angel collaboration with Schneider TM demonstrates one potential escape route for fans of the detached pulses and bursts of static that will soon be popping up everywhere: back into the void of industrial soundscapes! The Angel song "nr_aa" should provide ample comfort for those wishing that old-school industrial noise would make a post-millennial, digital comeback. Battery Operated offer another new direction which is mired in the retarded sense of humor that plagues the work of so many digital pastiche artists. Lovers of Gescom's hidden tracks of silly noise on the 0161 compilation will be pleased. Other contributions from Alejandra & Aeron, Scanner, and Bittonic offer another solid look at the filtered synths and indistinguishable samples that give this kind of music a framework. Unfortunately, they don't seem to be saying much with these songs, and as such, it becomes difficult to determine where one artists work ends and another's begins. Scanner's "Thulium Hymn" works from a pleasant melodic theme—melody being something that most of the others on this release leave alone—but even the beautiful repeating pad simply loops for five minutes with fractured voices and buzzing laid over it. This glitched-out, fuzzy approach to what is essentially stripped down techno music will eventually find its way into Sample CDs for folks who use programs like Fruity Loops and Acid to instantly compile endless variations on a theme. Bip-Hop Generation v.6 is not the definitive statement that you might look for it to be, but it perfectly wraps up a series curated by Bip-Hop by asking the all-important question: "Okay, so what's next?" 
While my first exposure to Takemura's music was through the Child'sView material licensed in the US by Bubblecore, it wasn't until I heardhis album Scopeon Thrill Jockey that his music made a thunderous impact. Influencesfrom both Japanese traditionals and modern electronics collided with adelicate and refined attention to composition, structure and sound.Seeing Takemura live with vocalist Aki Tsuyuko on that tour drove theentire experience home for me. With the following Sign 12" and Hoshi No Koealbum, Takemura expanded on the sound, and let the music developbrilliantly, with songs that comfortably ran a full course without evergetting dull or mundane. However, his latest full-length album is adisappointment. Rather than a solid collection of 10 or so tracks, thealbum is saturated with 16 incomplete sounding compositions, stretchedto 78 minutes, nearly all exploiting the pesky Apple Macintosh voiceimitation program which (despite being a few years out of style) isirritating. The musical direction this time around leans towards moreEuropean trends, staying close to a rigid 4/4 beat and languid sounds,not entirely unlike the music coming from Morr or Bip Hop compilations.Sadly, most of the time the music sounds like it's intentionally takinga backseat to computerized vocals, which are painful by the thirdtrack, "Wandering," and downright unbearable by the seventh track, the9+ minute "Lost Treasure (4th version)." Even when Takemura drops thevoice and breaks free from the confines of 4/4 rhtyhm, the results aremediocre. Songs like "Mumble," which sound like an array of randomtones would be nice if something actually happened in its 5+ minuteother than an addition of percussion, wheras "Polymorphism," whilepleasant, could easily be new wave elevator music. Takemura's atalented composer and producer, but I'll be eagerly awaiting a 12"single remix or something to help me get past this album. 
The first song on the new Anomonoan album is called "Sixteen Ways," butI need only two words to sum it up: Grateful Dead. The promo materialhinted that this album was inspired by the birth of Ned Oldham's sonand daughter, which is a fine and noble reason to record an album, butI would question the wisdom of including a field recording of a baby'scrying (Sam Oldham, who must be one of the newborn Oldham clan)overdubbed and softly accenting the lyrics on "Sixteen Ways," which atthis point declaim the crying of a baby as reassurance that the baby isalive. That said, this is probably my best song on "Asleep Many Yearsin the Wood." The rock songs on this album have an undeniablecountry/classic rock slant and I have a hard time listening to musicthat reminds me of The Eagles or something worse. Looking through theinserts, I noticed on the back a photo of a bottle of whiskey perchedon a window sill, with the label altered to read the band name andalbum title. This is a Photoshop sleight-of-hand which I most recentlysaw featured on the cover of Motley Crue's autobiography "The Dirt,"except there it was appropriately a bottle of Jack Daniels (here, itlooks more like what once was a bottle of Old Smuggler). Despite theshared aesthetic, I could not find any songs on the Anonomoan albumwhich recalled either early or later Motley Crue, although I might beable to make a case for "Time for Change," (circa Dr. Feelgood)sounding like "Y'Know" if I tried hard enough. The most heartwarmingparts of Anomonoan songs occur in the slower songs when Ned's voiceswoops up a few octaves and teeters on the edge of high notes he canbarely hold onto. Oldham manages to cling, however tenuous the grip,and the warble and the persistence are a beautiful thing in his voice.It is different from brother Will's, but Ned's clearly evidences theOldham vocal genome. Appropriately, one of these swoops occurs in"Bluebird of Happiness" when the lyrics croon, "and there's a contrarybreeze a-blowin'." Whether the headwind is the cause or theinterpretation of Oldham's vocal wisps, he is wise to let them take thesongs where they do, for they have the power to punctuate and decoratewhat might otherwise become bland country rock songs.
