Podcast Episodes 721 & 722 are live!
Mid-November midweek special
Two new episodes are now available.
Episode 721 features Throwing Muses, Eros, claire rousay, Moin, Zachary Paul, Voice Actor and Squu, Leya, Venediktos Tempelboom, Cybotron, Robin Rimbaud and Michael Wells, Man or Astro-Man?, and Aisha Vaughan.
Episode 722 has James Blackshaw, FACS, Laibach, La Securite, Good Sad Happy Bad, Eramus Hall, Nonconnah, The Rollies, Jabu, Freckle, Evan Chapman, diane barbe, Tuxedomoon, and Mark McGuire.
Wine in Paris photo by Mathieu.
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It sounds like a joke for indie music hipsters: what do you get whenyou mix The Melvins, Fantomas and a crowd for a live show? This liverecording from December 31st, 2000 is the best answer, and it's notbad. Despite the fact that all seven musicians from the two bands arecredited, the songs don't often demand that all of them bang away atonce, but when the all of them come down and pound the music out, theydo a really good job of staying out of each other's way and keeping therecording relatively unmuddled. For the most part, Patton does thevocals, although Melvins' Dale Crover and King Buzzo are also creditedwith vocals. A lot of the music sounds -- not surprisingly -- like amelding between the recent Melvins' buzzing sludginess and the moreethereal moments of Fantomas' vignettes. If you've heard the recentofferings from Melvins or fantomas, there's no big surprises here, justmore quality noise. Some pieces are clearly derived from one or theother groups (Fantomas' cover of the themes from the films "The Omen"and "Cape Fear" or "Ol' Black Stooges" an assaulting drum jam whichappears in a much more abbreviated form on the Melvins' new album Hostile Ambient Takeover"as that album's opener.) A few pieces and moments throughout can beisolated to one musician -- like Patton's signature squeals and screamsfrom Fantomas' albums, or Dunn's bass pluckings in "Terpulative Guns& Drugs", but in general, the music and musicians complement eachother well enough that it stops being about one or the other andbecomes an entity in it's own right. Some of the more ambient noisepieces remind me nothing so much as the early noise of Nurse WithWound, and "Skin Horse" features a hysterical Ween-esque vocal linethat's a real treat, but not representative of the rest of the album.So if you're a fan of NWW's older noise pieces or a fan of eitherFantomas or the Melvins' recent output, you shouldn't be disappointedwith this 40 minute set (even if it isn't the full show,) from theMelvins and Fantomas.
In the course of just over a year's time, Múm has captured theattention of music fans worldwide, through a debut full-length album,two albums of various mixes, and more than a handful of collaborativework and compilation appearances. (Their adorable looks and theirambiguous song titles probably didn't hurt by adding to their appealeither.) Perhaps the most often associated words concerning a sophomorealbum after such a large success are both anticipation and expectation.This album could very well possibly be one of this year's mostanticipated releases, but the amount of expectations it exceeds isunmeasurable. I have to admit that at first, I was rather taken abackwith the amount of vocals on the disc, but there's also a much largerpresence of non-synthetic instruments on the whole, includingaccordion, guitar, bass, strings, horns, melodica, percussion andorganic effects. The quartet use everything wisely, never saturatingany song with an abundance of instruments which would render thesesongs impossible to recreate live. Thomas Brinkmann may have beenplaying his records' inside grooves but not until the sounds of thoselock grooves combined with Múm's signature wistful lullabye sound onthe third track, "We Have a Map of the Piano" do those groove soundsfeel like they have been properly harnessed. Múm's years of experiencewith improvisation and collaboration have undoubtedly given them anecessary unique approach in taking that necessary step to bring morehuman elements back into electronic music. It's probably why they havegained so much recognition by both the electronic music and indie rockcrowds. Fear not the evolution, however, as there are a number ofpretty, instrumental, digital songs which could please any fan of theirprevious work. Any fanatic lucky enough to order their CD-R and otherobscure releases will indeed recognize a few melodies contained herein.They make it seem so damned easy, with the glitchy beats retired to theback of the mix underneath organ, accordion and string counterpoint ontruly jaw-dropping climactic songs like "I Can't Feel My Hand Any More,It's Allright, Sleep Still" just before the masterpiece title track,which could easily be the 'nod' to 'Yesterday Was Dramatic...'. If youdidn't fall in love with the twin girls with their photo on the Belleand Sebastian cover ('Fold Your Hands Child...') their voices on the11-minute album closer, "The Land Between Solar Systems" will mostcertainly win your heart. [Hopefully since their first band was aPixies cover, they'll be enthusiastic about playing Boston. In whichcase, I'd be more than happy being a tour guide for a few days. Howabout it?] Fanatics of the Icelandic language and Múm die-hards shouldnote that there's a super limited edition with the vocal songs inIcelandic available only from 
Occasionally that CD comes along that is almost bizarrely unique, practically defying description due to its out-of-the-ordinary construction and hard to quantify affect on you. The Epidemic is certainly not a band that belongs on decidedly punk Ache Records, but that seems to be the point. The solo side project for Andy Dixon of d.b.s., and he's chosen a peculiar sonic path. "I Am Compltely Oprationa l" is a quirky debut release, combining an indie rock sensibility with vague electronic flashes and jilting experimentation with arrangements.
Two of Germany's renowned rhythmists unite. 'Secret Rhythms' is verymuch in line with Burnt Friedman's usual repertoire and Liebezeit'sbeats fit right in. So much so it's difficult to discern who does whatwhere. Not that it matters. Each of the 10 tracks fuses percussion,bass, keys, vibraphones by Copenhagen's Morten Grønvad and strains ofJosef Suchy's electric guitar into a gravity defying sort of ambientelectro jazz. Friedman foregoes samples, such as the many spoken onesfound on last year's 'Plays Love Songs', to keep the mix instrumentaland minimal but also very open and very comfortable. Track four beginsan all too brief dub deviation. "Shades of Soddin Orion" and"Rastafahndung" are stunning examples of what happens when Friedmanapplies his musical physics to, and thus redefines, dub. "Shades.." isthe album highlight, a gorgeous deep space journey of slippery bass andguitar notes and microscopic sound soup. The disc concludes with threeversions of "Obscured by 5" - short, Nonplace (Friedman's label) remixand 13 plus minute extended. The finale is the most satisfying with alengthy stretch of little more than gentle steel drums and the hustleand bustle of an unidentifiable inner city. Perhaps this is the secretrhythm Friedman and Liebezeit have found and wish to expose to the restof the world.
That is until last Tuesday, when Waits simultaneously released "Alice"and "Blood Money" on the Epitaph imprint. This dual release representsWaits' best work since the seminal "Rain Dogs" and contain morememorable songs and amazing composition than seems possible for anartist who should be well past his prime by now. The gravelly graveyardblues that dominated "Mule Variations" has been replaced with anatmospheric combination of dark lounge, Dixieland jazz, ragtime andtouches of dreamlike, surrealistic sound production worthy of a DavidLynch soundtrack.
"Blood Money" is the more pessimistic of the pair. The dirty,claustrophobic sound atmosphere is punched up with abrasive rhythms andnegative-as-hell lyrics. Waits alternately assures us that we are allgoing to hell, that we are all fools when we are in love, and that lifeis a sad riddle, filled with misery, that will never grow or change.There are two transitional instrumental tracks here that work verywell; it is almost a relief to hear the subtle instrumentals withoutbeing bludgeoned by Waits' raspy crooning. On the heartbreaking closer"A Good Man is Hard to Find", Waits' voice intones: "Go out to themeadow, scare off all the crows/It does nothing but rain here, andnothing ever grows." 
DAT Politics, a quartet of French laptop-players, represent everythingthat's good about contemporary DIY post-techno electronic music. Theirmusic is challenging yet undeniably fun, complex yet engaging as hell,and none of their albums (as far as I know) come with anything like amanifesto. This 3" CD is a solo release by E.Aelters, one member ofthat band, and is exactly as good as anything by the full group. Theseven tunes are upbeat, energetic, and pervaded by an infectious,invigorating joy. That the sense of play is heightened (rather thancompromised) by chopped-up noise and stammering tape-like effects thatzip maniacly around the stereo field is nothing less than an inspiredmiracle. The tunes and rhythms are made up of thick, block-like chunks(I am reminded of children's toys) and animal sounds (!), always inmotion, ensuring plenty to keep a listener's attention at severallevels. I had a huge smile on my face for the entirety of "Volu Beit"s22 minutes, then I hit "play" again and smiled some more. Highlyrecommended!
I forgot to switch my record player to 45 RPM the first time I listenedto this seven-inch. I thought, Hey, this is pretty good. It's sort ofnew territory for Múm. It's very intently slow, and though it's gotsome electronics in the mix, the violin and keyboards sound very lo-fiand kind of eerie. It's really kind of beautiful. Then the vocals camein and I thought, These vocals are so painfully restrained and bizarre- like a low-pitched whispery falsetto. Is one of the girl twinssinging or is it one of the men? I can't tell. They're really expandingtheir sound. What a damn cool song. I listened to it again, transfixed.Then I remembered that I hadn't switched the speed on the turntable...So I listened to it again at 45 RPM, and I realized that I'd beenassessing the song totally at the wrong speed. At a faster speed, thesong was more recognizably Múm - the electronic beat was faster, moreof a groove, the keyboard sounds were more like I remembered they wereon 'Yesterday Was Dramatic...' and some of the drums sounded like realdrums. When the female voice started singing, recalling "Ballad of theBroken Birdie Records," it was obvious that this was the correct speed.And I thought, What a damn cool song - and so completely different of afeel when from when I thought it was so slow. Now I'm itching to gohome and listen to "Broken Birdie" at about 75% the actual speed to seewhat I can discover. This 7" is easily the best piece of music I'vebought in months.
Sofandi might share a label with Múm and Trabant, but their world is amuch, much different place. The second album from this Reykjavik-basedslow-paced rock group (whose name translates as 'Asleep') paints acold, harsh, and bleak picture of their world. If it's not in thepessimistic lyrics in which the singer admits repetitiously he's eithersick, drunk, or hopeless, (or a hopeless sick drunk) it's in themelodies, which all become rather gloomy following the rather brightopening instrumental introduction. There is an indescribably magicalcharm, like some of my other favorite hopeless sick drunks like MarkEitzel or Tom Waits, which makes the whole experience more appealingthan pathetic. Perhaps it's the tough spine of a tight musical group(with a notably lyrical bass guitarist) who pays close attention toeach other, without stomping on each others toes or staring at theirshoes and all strumming the same chords at once (yawn!). Songs oftenhave a variety of parts and movements, which keeps them interesting.The instrumental, "Please Don't Go" is surprisingly optimistic, almosta tribute to the Aerial M days of David Pajo, while the momentum of"Another You" builds to a rough and rugged pace without gettingcompletely out of hand. In addition, there are some amusing moments,(the jury's still out on whether it's intentional or not) like when thedrowsy guest female vocalist casually barks "shut up" during "SomethingAlways Comes Up," or as the band whistles their way out on the closer,"Don't Get Overexcited." The album climax is undoubtedly the emotional11+ minute epic, "Trillúkarlar," without lyrics but with a lightseasoning of subtle female singing. I could easily see myself gettingdrunk in a late night bar out in the midwest as this band plays, takingthat 'first step' with admitting that I have a problem but being amusedall the while.
