They call it, "Stealing thunder so you move that ass, the duo dubbed Thunderheist unleashes serious electrocrunk boom bap. Ribcage rattling bass breaks laced with proper rhyming are flipped with digital booty bass, 80s-inspired electronic pop, and slowed down Southern bounce, all fresh dipped in serious swagger."
I call it amazing. - It's everything that Baile Funk failed to deliver!!!!
Thunderheist - Suenos Dulces
I just want to say that the Teddy Bears are brilliant. I've managed to get my hands on quite a bit of their catalogue. Cobrastyle which plays in the youtube link up there, literally sends people on the dancefloor mental. I was at a club last night - where this seemed to send people into a frothing lather of mentalness - great to see.
On top of that the secret bonus track on the new Bee Gees Compilation CD is a remix of Stayin' Alive by the Teddy Bears. It is phenomenal and is guaranteed to make the most conservative of clubbers piss themselves with abandon.
here's a wee bit of it
With icy blasts of condensation, Context. Where? has been charging across the stereo field of my hifi for tha past few days. Michael Walton has been here before under his mwvm moniker, drawing long glissando drones from his customized guitar-based effects set-up. Last year's debut self-titled EP opened a door to a more interesting breed of guitar instrumental. Taking his lead from luminaries such as Adam Wiltzie and Brian McBride (both collectively and individually), Walton runs with these ideas and electrifies them. This particular track has been available on the mwvm myspace page for a little bit, but released from the myspace player it has been buffed and polished until it shines.
Too often, so-called drone ambient artists ignore the grand romantic sweep in favor of micro-dynamics, the random scratch of a radio dial, the bluster of white noise feedback, but Walton steers a refreshingly different course whereby distinct guitar resonances are built, layer upon layer, frequency band upon frequency band creating distinct and delicate melodies. Never once relying to cliché (of course completely unlike this reviewer), his first full-length release, Rotations, is set for release on September 25th by Silber Records.
This is music to be listened to and, as such, to categorize this as ambient is dangerous. This album cannot be ignored and therefore immediately breaks Eno's first law of ambient. Nevertheless, it drifts with intent, at first lulling the listener then pummeling them with sound. There have always been albums that have incited listeners to play them loud. Here we have one that really does need it. To listen to it quietly removes its sheer physicality.
Rather than the occasionally polite but floating drone of William Basinski, mwvm slams into the target. You don't float with Rotations, you drown in it, twisting and writhing. The immediacy of each melodic and harmonic theme enveloping the listener within each track and the album as a whole.
mwvm - Context. Where? MP3 from Rotations (Silber Records, 2007)
Edit: The album is available from here and here.
There's been much talk over the past few years of a shoegaze revival, with bands such as Serena Maneesh, M83 and Amusement Parks on Fire (among others) being touted as taking the "genre" into the 21st century. Another band have edged their way nervously to the fore, championing the classic shoegaze aural delights of whispery indistinct vocals and wall of noise instrumentation. And what better time than now to be listening to this slice of summer as the UK's three weeks of summer heat finally seems to have arrived.
Three-piece A Sunny Day in Glasgow began as the bedroom recording projects of Ben Daniels and Ever Nalens. Ever moved to Glasgow to go to art school, Ben moved to London. Both returned to their native Philadelphia after a couple years and pooled their musical ideas in the summer of 2005. After a couple of months Ever left the project while Ben enlisted his sister, Robin, to handle the vocals. After a few months of recording as a duo, Robin's identical twin and Ben's other sister, Lauren was brought in to fill out the sound. The songs were all recorded in Ben's apartment in West Philly, with most vocals being recorded at their parent's houses in the suburbs.
The three put together a few songs they had been recording and released them as The Sunniest Day Ever EP in March 2006. Eventually Pitchfork gave their song C'mon 4 stars and the band started getting label attention. In October 2006 the band signed to Notenuf Records for the release of their full-length record, Scribble Mural Comic Journal released in February 2007.
Watery (Drowning is Just Another Word for Being Buried Alive) is a slice of Brian Wilson-inspired summery bubblegum pop infused with a shoegaze aesthetic and is pretty typical of the album it's taken off. This track pushes the guitar to a background element swelled with cavernous metallic reverb, alongside insistent tambourines and vocals swirling across the stereo field. Elsewhere on the album, you'll find gritty rhythms, languid bass figures and synth textures, but all held together with the twins' ethereal vocals.
A Sunny Day in Glasgow - Watery (Drowning is Just Another Word for Being Buried Alive) MP3 from Scribble Mural Comic Journal (Notenuf, 2007)
A Sunny Day in Glasgow on Myspace
Those nice people at Leaf gave me a copy of Nancy Elizabeth's new single 'Hey Son' to pass on to you. No more words, joe needs sleep. Just enjoy it, I really did.
Nancy Elizabeth - 'Hey Son'
Sorry to break with tradition here, but the blog's been getting very ambient and folksy, so to keep up the JUNKY side of things here's a glimpse into yesterday's record bag - with no thoughts of mixing or continuity or anything technical - I've selected a few tracks which went down well last night. There's something old, something new, something borrowed and something brainmelting.
So with out further a do:
I have had a very pleasant evening, one of those rare, marvellous summer nights that mix exuberance with calm, and I'll tell you why. I ventured out into a part of town I have never been to before, wandered into a church and gave eight pounds to the studenty-looking gentleman sat inside the door. I then joined the congregation sat cross-legged on the joyfully rug-strewn floor and listened with great awe and (environmentally apt) reverence to two wonderful acts (with one diabolically dull one in between them). Headliner of the night was the magnificent and graceful Colleen; if you're a fan of experimental, instrumental loop-music with a slightly unsettling folky texture, go grab any one of her releases on the Leaf Label, because they're all great.
First up though was brand new Leaf Label signing Nancy Elizabeth (formerly Nancy Elizabeth Cunliffe, truncated as 'this is too much of a mouthful, plus no one outside of Wigan can pronounce Cunliffe properly').
In a world where, it seems, any old monkey can learn a few picking patterns, adopt an airy-fairy voice and call themselves a singer-songwriter, it's nice to finally see one so startlingly different from the current trend, they come across as a poised ballerina amongst a herd of lawnmowers.
The live, solo style of the music is much in the tradition of classic European folk, accompanying her rich, mellifluous vocals with acoustic guitar, a small harp and a suitably creaky-looking, golden stringed instrument I didn't recognise. Great care and attention has been placed into the composition of each song, lending the music an air of supreme craftsmanship I think is quite rare. I hope I am forgiven for finding it even more shocking that a sound so graceful can emerge from Wigan.
I couldn't find any downloads, I'm afraid, but I urge you to visit her myspace and listen to the two tracks appearing on there for streaming. 'Hey Son' is from her forthcoming album 'Battle and Victory', due for release on Leaf in September. This multi-instrumental recording has extra largess and grandeur not heard in her solo performance tonight--we'll have to wait and see if this operatic production style helps or hinders her songs on the album. In the meantime, if you live in London, Southport or Manchester, you can catch her play live over the next month. She will also be appearing at the Green Man Festival in August, along with every other folk musician in the universe.
[update] Echo found this link, containing a selection of mp3s from older releases:
Nancy Elizabeth's page at Timbreland Recordings
Thanks, echo! Enjoy, all.
It's been almost two years since Mother and The Addicts released their debut album Take The Lovers Home Tonight on Chemikal Underground Records. And later on this summer they'll release their second, called Science Fiction Illustrated. I met up with Sam Smith (Mother) briefly in Glasgow last week and asked him about the new album. When I asked him what it was like he said it was darker than the first. The cheeky cheerful Roxy music style tracks have disappeared, to be replaced with darker edgier sound.
We discussed the darkness of the new material. Is it Empire Strikes Back dark? - I asked...
No, says Sam it is Grange Hill meets The Fall dark.
I really like it - it is edgy and gritty and does remind me of The Fall in places but it's got something very original about it too - something that sounds like lots of things but I can't quite place or are just a centimetre in front of the tip of my tongue.
I remember reading somewhere that perfumes are created from fragrances which trigger parts of the brains - some smells will trigger specific memory centres - some smells will trigger emotion centres. What the great perfumers try to do is to create perfumes that trigger centres of the brain not specifically related to memory but that give us the rewarding sensation of trying to remember positive experiences - which ultimately we attribute with names like security or love or excitement or adventure.
Mother and the Addicts - Carthage
Following soon after the Black Tar Prophecies collection on Important Records, Portland, Oregon's Grails return with their first proper studio album since 2004 release of Redlight.
Starting like some throwback psychadelic Appalachian guitar workout and ending more as a Krautrock-inspired jam, Dead Vine Blues is an example of Grails' ambition to provide some connection between instrumental post rock and more archaic song structures and formats. Rather like The Six Parts Seven, Grails make use of traditional American instrumentation (bango, picked guitar, mouth harp and lap steel) alongside the more usual electric guitars and looper pedals of their post rock peers.
Dead Vine Blues is a modern interpretation of what perhaps might have happened had Led Zeppelin jammed with the Grateful Dead high in an Appalachian homestead. Taken off the suitably moonshine titled Burning Off Impurities - their debut for Temporary Residence Ltd. - this is a rare album that not only pushes the group forward but also significantly raises expectation in where the instrumental rock genre will go next. With psychedelic, ambient and world music all playing a part in the current Grails sound, it will be interesting to note where they and bands such as The Six Parts Seven and Grail's TRL labelmates Explosions in the Sky will go next. The band themselves cite Ash Ra Tempel, Erkin Koray, Popol Vuh, Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin as influences and not only are these clearly seen in their output but also potentially incendiary points for their musical exploration. Post World Kraut Psychrock anyone?
Grails - Dead Vine Blues MP3 from Burning Off Impurities (Temporary Residence 2007)
Grails - Stray Dog MP3 off of Black Tar Prophecies Vol's 1, 2, & 3 (Important Records 2006)
Grails on myspace
Grails webspace
There are times when, having hours to spare, you just wander into your local vinyl stockists and just browse through everything in the racks. Then suddenly, something so unusual, unexpected and surprising pops out, and you JUST HAVE TO HAVE IT!
Such was the case with the record above. Let me take you back to the days of the Cold War - the Berlin War, the Eastern Bloc, mutually assured destruction, some fantastic spy novels and films etc. Behind the Iron Curtain the Soviet authorities controlled everything. In this case, this includes which bands could form, what music they could play, and what instruments they could play. That so many surf-beat bands could have been permitted seems incredible, that they made such far-out music is unbelievable.
Lucifer In Coelis by The Slava Kunst Orchestra is the stand out track from this album. A bizarre twist number, featuring many of the contemporary acts from the local scene, including what sounds like an astounding enormous, steam powered distortion fuelled Hammond organ (seemingly called a "Thermus"!)
I came across this the other day on a blog. I can't remember now whether it was headphone sex or hometapin' or one of those more dancey based blogs, but I remember thinking on the first listen that this was a crackin' tune.
There have been a quite a few good hiphop / electro crossover tracks over the last four or five years. Felix da Housecat's collaboration with P Diddy back in 2003 springs to mind. And of course the marriage of these two styles goes right back to the beginnings of Hip Hop in the mid 1980's. Grand Master Flash, Ultramagnetic MCs, early Drexiya. But as a White European it's been tough for me to really get into Hip Hop as dance genre. For me it's always been cerebral music on a par with folk music - interesting, often challenging, foottapping - yes, but rarely dance-able.
I don't really feel like being an apologist for being white, middleclass and lame. But I am sorry I wish I was black I wish I was cool I wish I could dance to hiphop tracks. but I can't, not with out looking stupid.
What am I getting at? Well this track is an exception. Right from the off it's lurching groove dirty gets the party started - or something.
I can dance to this one - although I still look stupid.
Alter Ego & Ghost Writers Feat. Lil Keke - "Ghost Musick" (Baltimoroder Remix)
Spanish Progressive Psychedelia never really got better than this piece from Eduardo Bort. The album this track was taken from is a fantastically intimate affair, with some superb musicianship from his band and some killer guitar and vocals from Eduardo himself.
Everything sounds loose without falling apart, the instrumentation is very free-flowing and the overall sound is one of a band at the top of it's game.
The track I've chosen here contains a little bit of everything and is totally representative of the whole album.
The album is available on CD, so try and find a copy. It's worth it.
Eduardo Bort - Thoughts Part 2
El Senor Ciuf Ciuf (Italian for a child's name for a steam train - chuff chuff) presents an intriguing proposition. The music is equal parts house music and Beach Boys style harmonies, all mixed up into a intriguing brew that brings Jamie Liddell, early Aphex Twin and the Flaming Lips in minds.
I Think I Saw A Dead Person Walking Yesterday is the best track from his debut EP, and much like Good Vibrations, it creates a series of mood-scenes, loosely connected with a common theme. It's stupendous.
You can download the entire EP, As Seen From Above released free over the intertubes by those pleasant people at 12rec.
I thought the EP was spoiled by the interminably long track The Unspeakable Chant Of A Collapsing Universe, which is nine-minutes of monotonous industrial techno-noise that sits at odds with the rest of the album. But that may be the entire point.
Michael J Sheehy - Ghost On The Motorway (2007 - Red Eye Music)
Sheehy started his music life as the front man to criminally underlooked sleaze rock band Dream City Film Club (named by an Soho adult movie house which burned down, killing the assumedly engorged patrons inside). The ending of that band was a bitter affair; I know this because I was (un)fortunate enough to see him play live on the exact day the band broke up, being greeted by the words "The band broke up today so it's just me. I'm not bitter or anything."
Since their departure from this aural coil, Sheehy has struggled against unfame and the less than forthcoming generosity of various record labels to make a number of solo albums that are consistently great.
His music would not sound out of place at The Roadhouse in David Lynch's 'Twin Peaks' or any number of backwater saloon bars where men rest their Stetsons on the jukebox to quaff copious amounts of whiskey and ogle at the grainy animal porn playing on the faux-wood-finished TV in the corner, which is odd considering his Anglo origins. But don't let a lack of authenticity dissuade you, his façade is good enough to get a song played on 'Deadwood'.
His latest release has lost some urgency and replaced it with a greater focus of americana style, withdrawing wholeheartedly from his post-punk leanings in previous albums and drawing even more influence from bluegrass and country, running alongside his ever eloquent tales of depravity, melancholy and religious betrayal, reminiscent of 'boatman'-era Nick Cave in both lyrical content and competency of arrangement, albeit with a smoother, more seductive aesthetic, particularly in Sheehy's breathy, almost slutty vocals. But despite a slightly more happy-go-lucky approach here, here's also a few touches of an angrier The The influence in a few songs, like this scuzzy little number:
Michael J Sheehy - Crawling Back To Church (mp3)
One of the most bizarre Peel Sessions I ever heard was by Doo Rag, from Arizona. An unholy blues-derived racket featuring little in the way of melody, rhythm or even blues.
Doo Rag were a stunning apocalyptic-blues duo comprising the magnificently named Bob Log III on guitar and vocals (sung through a film projector), and Thermos Malling on percussion (usually pots, pans, boxes etc.) Their Peel Session was apparently recorded over the telephone. They toured with a mobile pirate radio station which led to a prosecution in Germany for broadcasting their gig over the frequency of the leading German radio station.
Rectifier is an astounding example of their art. Taken from their Peel Session, this is a loud blues stomp, that almost enters a trance like state with the occasional guitar lick or percussive glitch. Most of their songs were shorter, but this is their anthem.
Bob Log III now performs solo, playing guitar, drums and singing into a telephone handset welded into a motorcycle helmet. His songs are all about playing guitar and drinking whisky. Oh, and tits.
Sophe Lux are a sort of sonambulist's soundtrack, the kind of music you listen to whilst sleepwalking through a field towards the cliffs of Dover. Ah but Gloucester, wait, that's not Dover, 'tis merely a small hollow in the fields. Which is good because after your conniving children have poked your eyes out - the last thing you really want is to walk off the real Cliffs of Dover, especially as the King has gone right off it. Come back Cordelia, all is forgiven - but alas...
So what is the ideal soundtrack to nocturnal freakish shakespearean self-loathing - tinged by pre-war Cabaret kitsch?
I don't know either - sometimes your music collection just doesn't have a track that says I'm tired of the Cabaret Life I want to contemplate Nietsche, Shakespeare and the endless cycle of life, sex, death and rebirth.
Hailing from Portland, Oregon. Sophe Lux are a band who have just released their second album, Waking the Mystics on Zarathustra Records.
I've been trying to guage how successful the band is and how successful they are likely to be... the omens are mixed. One the plus side some famous people have been involved in the making of this album - (Decemberists engineers and Green Day producers - that sort of thing) on the other hand the record label's website has been suspended for non-payment. On one hand BBC says, "There are no results for "sophe lux" on the BBC website." whilst myspace says over 40,000 friends - It's hard to say. What is easy to say though is that the music is fantastic.
Pop Shopping is a compilation from the classic label Crippled Dick Hot Wax. This compilation of German TV commercial jingles from the 60s and 70s celebrates forgotten music. Its English language equivalent would feature the Shake And Vac theme.
Amongst the pop nuggets on here are a bizarre calypso (in German of course) for Nescafe coffee, a rocking tune for Grand Prix racing at the Nurburgring, and various ditties for hand cream, chocolates, cars, blenders and all other manner of mod cons.
Swinging Nordwest is the funkiest track on this album, a rather groovy number for Nordwest Shoes. You can almost imagine the advert to this great track (I was thinking go-go dancers in miniskirts while the camera zooms in and out rapidly). There is also an instrumental version on the album.
I guess it's rather predictable for me to include a track from the new Explosions in the Sky album, but predictable just has to be done sometimes ... Maybe that's appropriate as many who have heard the whole album, All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone, have accused it of being predictable too. Perhaps this is rather unfair as the album sees them gradually refining their exquisite sound, not reinventing it. What is certain is that the band have again captured the more joyous side of post-rock, with soaring and swooping melodies combining to make a soundtrack to some long forgotten post-dawn walk back home after a night out.
For those who haven't come across Explosions in the Sky yet, they are a four piece formed in the suburbs of Austin, Texas in 1999. After a series of local gigs, they were signed to Temporary Residence on the recommendation of the American Analog Set who submitted a brief note with the demo simply saying "This totally f***ing destroys".
All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone is their fourth album and is released this weekend. Welcome Ghosts features Explosions' trademark intertwining guitar leads, soaring melodies and pummelling drums.
Explosions in the Sky - Welcome Ghosts on Temporary Residence
WARNING! This music contains nothing original whatsoever! This is utterly derivative blues, through and through. No blues cliché is left unused (one song even begins "woke up this morning") So far, so bad, but what this band does bring is great musicianship, a great lo-fi basement club recording, and an immense sense of fun.
Patchwork On The Blues are a German blues band that evidently love the music they play, but are simultaneously aware of the hoary clichés at every turn - the songs are verging on parody, with band members bent double over their instruments with laughter. The result is a great blues stomp that is utterly familiar and none the worse for it.
Good Ol' Shoe gives a feeling for the ramshackle, improvised nature of the material. Three full albums are available for free download, and this is from Sessions.
Maybe there's someone in the universe who has never heard Blondie's Heart of Glass. Actually there's probably millions, but let me have the cliched exaggeration. I'm sure there's also a few of those of have heard it that don't know anything about Blondie. Probably wandering around asking for that glass hearts song by Dinah Washington or someone you know from the olden days.
But I'm going to assume that you do know all about Blondie and that you know all about the fact that Heart Of Glass started life as Once I Had a Love and that it was originally recorded in 1975 and that it features a sloppy guitar solo, minimal arrangement and most importantly Debbie Harry's voice bang up in the middle, singing lyrics which do not feature any glass hearts.
Once I had a Love It was a gas,
soon turned out to be a thing of the past.
And I'm going to assume that you know this version and that you actually prefer it to the original. AND I'm going to assume that you don't need me to post this track up for your listening pleasure, because you got your Blondie box set out last night and listened to it. - however if I'm wrong have a listen to this:
Blondie - Once I had a Love (AKA the disco song) [1975 Version]
Imagine yourself to be lying flat out on a raft.
Imagine that raft to be slowly floating down a calm, barely moving stream.
Imagine the sun caressing your face.
Imagine yourself with no cares in the world.
That's the only way I can describe how 'Journey in Satchidananda' sounds.
Taken from the 1970 album of the same name, this track sees Alice backed up by some serious heavyweights of the Jazz world - Pharoah Sanders on soprano saxophone and percussion, Cecil McBee on bass and Rashied Ali on drums. They combine to create one of the spaciest tracks I've ever heard.
No notes are rushed, nothing is busy.....everything just moves along at the right pace.
Sadly, Alice passed away on the 12th of January this year.
Please excuse me, I have to get back to my raft.
Journey In Satchidananda
As we wait for February's icy blast, this five-piece from Atlanta can warm your heart. Formed in 2001, it appears to be Deerhunter's ambition to revisit two previously diametrically opposed genres and send them crashing together: the hypnotic wash of ambient and minimalist music with the sturm und drang of garage rock. At any moment recalling some of Spacemen 3 or My Bloody Valentine's finest moments, this is a post millenial neurotic fog of delayed guitars, lo-fi drums and distant vocals.
Almost inevitably they have been picked up by that bastion of edgy and out there, Kranky, and clearly show the company's desire to break free from any cliches that might remain caught up in their back list. So Krank104, Crypotograms, has exploded into existance and is a schizophrenic collection of tracks. At times forming long drawn-out washes of sound revisiting Eno and Budd, at others angular psych-rock recalling Sonic Youth or bursting with dream-pop colour.
Two tracks really can't adequately cover the range of Deerhunter's ambition, but they are typical of the quality of the album as a whole.
Deerhunter - Spring Hall Convert on Kranky
Deerhunter - Heatherwood on Kranky
Slipper is the solo project of Sam Dodson, of Loop Gurus fame. This is an experiment in kitsch electronica-exotica, not unlike the work of Tipsy. The inspiration comes from all manner of weird and outrageous records from the 50s and 60s.
Last Train is the first track of Slipper's release "Attack Of The Killer Lobsters" released by the Stealing Orchestra netlabel. Pull on an angora sweater, pour yourself a martini, relax in the neon glow of exotic beats and swing!
Download the entire album.
Yes it's Player One (aka MePaul from The DIY Chart Show) - he's been performing live for years and years from two stints back in the day on Blue Peter then on to a support slot with Shed 7 and the quintessential near-miss almost getting signed to Chrysalis records. He now DJs on the DIY Chart Show and plays others people's music during his residency at Brno's legendary Fleda night-club. His new direction sees him taking on some classic 60's and 70's tracks and giving them a little shine of breakbeat pop magic.
Well what do you think?
Shirley Ellis - The Clapping Song (Player One Rethink) (MP3)
Please check out his myspace for more....
(this is a daeitmasel exclusive and will only be available for evaluation for a week or so).
Hailing from Wigan, Stray Dog Cafe take their cues from The Fall, Shellac, Captain Beefheart and the whole world of angst ridden, edgy alt-rock. The three piece of wiry guitar, thunderous bass and pounding, angular drums form their own self titled brand of itchy, restless and noisy Minimal Dirt Rock.
Although the band have been around since 2004, today sees the release of their first shiny 7" - "Maxamillion / Theme: From Warlock".
(Admittedly, this post is spam for some friends, but I think they rock in an interesting way that you will enjoy!)
Streaming audio from their website.
Fever Tree were just a normal folk-rock band until they left
They soon changed their sound to the fuzzy pop of flower power and whilst not being a huge name in that field, they still managed to break into the Top 100 with the San Francisco Girls single.
But we’re heading for their second album for this weeks instalment.
Ninety Nine and One Half = 2 Minutes and 49 seconds of dirty, scuzzy garage psyche.
The guitars wail, the bass and drums groove and Dennis Keller shrieks his heart out over the top.
Enjoy.
Hitting the shelves today is the new long player from The Six Parts Seven, Casually Smashed to Pieces on Suicide Squeeze. Refining the alt.country/post-rock sounds of their previous albums (Things Shaped in Passing, [Everywhere] [And Right Here] and assorted split releases and remix projects), the album is a distilled piece of instrumental americana. Not afraid of adding lap steel and Memphis horns into the rarified world of post-rock, they mark a refreshing shift from the more apocalyptic work of the leading lights of the genre such as Godspeed, Mono and Mogwai.
To celebrate the new release, their record company has posted a MP3 best-of, containing a couple of the new album's tracks (Stolen Moments and the divine Falling Over Evening) while revisiting some of the band's back catalogue.
The Six Parts Seven - MP3EP on Suicide Squeeze
Mark Eitzel - Candy Ass (2005 - Cooking Vinyl)
Hardly a stranger to the scene of leftfield songwriters, Eitzel has somehow managed to maintain cult status whilst unassumingly infiltrating a hefty number of music collections. The buzz surrounding this 2005 album, however, was less of a hum and more of a 'hmmmm', as a thousand indie critics stroked their beards and furrowed their brows simultaneously; described on Indiefolkforever as containing "a lot of Pro Tools wankery" and on Pitchfork as a "crushing bore of a detour". I, being a sucker for awkward underdog releases and an arbitrary penchant for anything Pitchfork hates, have decided to like this album. Yes, it's hit and miss. Yes, Eitzel has been blogged to buggery before. No, I don't care; this album is a bold manouvre by a veteran and contains some strange, interesting and wonderfully heavy-eyelid inducing songs, like this one:
Mark Eitzel - Song Of The Mole (mp3)
Stars of the Lid, the divine post-ambient pairing of Adam Wiltzie and Brian McBride, are readying their latest long player, Stars of the Lid and Their Refinement of the Decline, a typically monumental 3LP/double CD release through Kranky and scheduled to appear on April 2.
Following up on their last slab of drone/ambient released nearly 6 years ago, The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid, they are refining the sound of tectonic plates moving. Apreludes (In C Sharp Minor) is a typically dense miasma of drones dripping in beautiful melancholy and is a teaser for the album to come.
While most albums of this length would be considered a marathon at best, SOTL are one of the few contemporary groups who can create such a consistently enthralling series of sonambulant resonances ... the soundtrack to a film yet to me made.
Apreludes (In C Sharp Minor) on Kranky
Bacanal Intruder is a Spanish gentleman by the name of Luis. He plays all of his own musical instruments - piano, melodica, harmonica, spanish guitar, double bass, anything lying around - and records the results into his computer and mashes the results up.
So much electronica released on the net is either repetitive, derivative house or a million and one ambient soundscapes, so it's refreshing and invigorating to hear such lively, imaginative, melodic music, all glitched up into a cocktail of rhythms and harmonies.
Modem is the title track from his release on Zymogen Records, and is an excellent example of his work.
You can download the following EPs:
Modem on Zymogen
Room-A-Tronic on So Soft
Herramientas Para Abrir Un Libro on Test Tube
There’s nothing new anymore.
Everything has been done to death, but when a piece of music starts to play and makes your spine tingle with delight, you tend to forget about originality and just go with the flow of the tune.
FJ McMahon’s ultra-rare folk LP "Spirit of the Golden Juice" is one of those albums.
Originally released in 1969 on the Tigereye Music label and reissued on vinyl in the late 90’s, this is a glorious folk album, very much in the style of Tim Hardin and my ears can hear a huge nod to the acoustic side of Stephen Stills.
Most of the tunes on the record are drawn from his experiences in
'Sister, Brother' is the opening song from the album and draws you in with its simplistic beauty.
Enjoy.
Dr Frankenstein are a Portuguese three-piece surf rock band, based around the flamboyant guitar work of André Joaquim. They take their cues from the likes of The Ventures, Link Wray and The Phantom Surfers.
Cat's Eyes is the first track from their album The Cursed Tapes released free on the intertubes, on the netlabel Stealing Orchestra. Whilst the playing is good, the whole production feels just a little too clean and studio bound - perhaps because the drums were re-recorded a couple of years after the guitar and bass. Despite that, this music makes you want to grab some shades and bermuda shorts and impress bikini-clad girls!
Hang nine, dude! Or something...
Click here to download the entire album.
TaSTatSBwTaS are a guy called Tim and his band, of which there are usually six, none of which are called Sam. When they play live, half the members wear T-Shirts with 'Tim' written on them, no one wears a T-Shirt with 'Sam' written on it. Only one member, Tim, is called Tim. They make instrumental music with acoustic guitars, clarinets, cellos, glockenspeils and ahhhhs. The sound is organic, melodious and, well, cute; kinda like a forest saying goodnight to all the little woodland creatures. In my experience, it's rare to find a band that attempts to channel youthful awkwardness into something so graceful and unashamedly uncool--I think it's great.
I bought this EP from Tim's mum, as she was sat behind a table at the gig. It came with a free teabag. But if you don't live in Manchester, you can grab Tim's self-released three track EP from the myspace. Here's the magnificent title track; enjoy:
Tim and Sam's Tim and the Sam Band with Tim and Sam - Stepping Stones
From Stockport (it's so near Manchester - it actually touches) - there was quite a flutter on teh interweb regarding this outfit. Suggesting that they might sound like a lo-fi Beta Band or something. So we popped over to their masspiss webpage to see whether there was any meat to this broth.
Well, well. What a total disservice to both outfits. The Consolations have entirely their own style, calling on influences (I would guess) as diverse as The Fall, Beck and undoubtably Master Waits himself. This track is taken from the current EP, The Borrowed Time EP, which is out on Upset Zombie Records. It's my favourite of what I've heard so far.
STHIL - Beyond the reach of the satellite feeds
Sthil, I've just worked out is not in tribute to the powertool manufacturer as I read on another blog somewhere, but is instead is short for "Search the heavens if lost" - which makes them sound a little bit like an emo band (planes mistaken for stars and so on) - but they're not. They are Jenn Leathers and Joel Willard from Austin Texas and they describe themselves electronic indie pop. I've listened to the album over the holiday period a few times and it's great. Like a happy Boards of Canada meets a tuneful Books over at Keiran Hebdan's house on a rainy saturday afternoon and decide to write a pop record whilst stoned. I've chosen this track as the most representative of the album, beyond the reach of the satellite feeds. Perfect for those long days of laudanum-enduced soporific ennui.
