kaR4aGin

Chumbawamba

2007-12-24T21:21:00.001+03:00

Readymades (2002)

After Shelley
All In Vain
Donґt pass go
Donґt try this at home
Home with me
If it is to be, it is up to me
Jacobґs ladder (Not in my name)
Jacobґs Ladder
One way or the other
Salt fare, North Sea
Sewing up crap
Song for len shackleton
When iґm bad
Without reason or rhyme (The killing of Harry Stanley)

link (part_1 part_2)

Once listeners accept that Chumbawamba got lucky and will never, ever have another "Tubthumping" in them, the better off they'll all be. And the sooner they recognize this, the sooner they can begin to enjoy the subtle charms of this anarchist combo. Because beneath the snarky, self-imposed label, Chumbawamba is a pretty smart pop band, heavy on hooks and even heavier on ideological grandstanding. Readymades basically follows the pattern laid out on their previous two albums. The pop is a little more forward, as is the political theorizing, but it's a consistent listen (more so than the Tubthumper album). Best moment: the wispy folk and anti-capitalist sentiment of "Don't Try This at Home."

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Bad Brains

2007-12-24T20:26:00.001+03:00

Build a Nation (2007)

01 Give Thanks And Praises
02 Jah People Make The World Go Round
03 Pure Love
04 Natty Dreadlocks 'Pon The Mountain Top
05 Build A Nation
06 Expand Your Soul
07 Jah Love
08 Let There Be Angels (Just Like You)
09 Universal Peace
10 Roll On
11 Until Kingdom Comes
12 In The Beginning
13 Send You No More Flowers
14 Peace Be Unto Thee

link

Considering that the Beastie Boys were a fledgling punk group before they were rappers and MCA (Adam Yauch) was often seen slam-dancing front and center at Bad Brains' legendary early performances, he would seem the perfect candidate to produce and resurrect the newly reunited group. In truth, he does a fantastic job capturing Bad Brains on Build a Nation, and they rock nearly as hard as they did in their glory days before they switched to funk metal -- Yauch explained that his goal was to replicate the raw sound that he remembers from their live shows and the first self-titled Reach Out International Records tape. Although the group recalls some of its best hardcore roots with an added concrete-shattering low end not found in a lot of its early recordings, the problem is that frontman H.R. simply doesn't have the energy or larynx that he once did, and has to resort to a lower octave and sing in an Anthony Kiedis "Give It Away" vocal style. But who can blame him? It was over 25 years ago when he unleashed his furious shriek and wide array of spastic crooning voices, and it takes a young man's fire to spew microphone venom with that ferocity. Often, he moans his vocal lines in an imitation Lee Perry reggae voice (even on the punkier songs) and has to resort to a lot more studio trickery and delays to make up for his lack of dynamics.
This washy style of singing doesn't always feel completely appropriate, but it fits perfectly when the Brains flip the switch to their reggae grooves, which now sound more authentic than ever. This should be no surprise since their last album consisted of only dub music, and their yellow, red, and green album art looks remarkably like a Marley bootleg with a track listing that includes "Natty Dreadlocks 'Pon the Mountaintop" and "Jah People Make the World Go Round." Since the album was recorded at the B-Boys' Oscilloscope Laboratories, many of the reggae numbers have elements of the Beasties' instrumentals on The Mix Up; it sounds like keyboardist-for-hire Jamie Saft may have borrowed Money Mark's organ while Yauch added some of the percussive instruments laying around the room for a few numbers. Even when the washed-out dubby vocals coincide with thrashing guitars, the heavy songs work remarkably well, too. The combination of the two styles makes for an interesting result, especially in "Let There Be Angels (Just Like You)" and "Universal Peace." While Bad Brains never quite match the intensity of their early days, this is easily the best record they've released since Quickness, and maybe even since I Against I. Fans of H.R., Gary, Darryl, and Earl should be happy to hear that they're finally back on track and sounding relevant again.

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Lou Reed. Part 4

2007-10-09T16:54:00.001+04:00

Set the Twilight Reeling (1996)

01 - Egg Cream
02 - NYC Man
03 - Finish Line
04 - Trade In
05 - Hang on to Your Emotions
06 - Sex With Your Parents (Motherfucker), Pt. II [Live]
07 - Hookywooky
08 - The Proposition
09 - Adventurer
10 - Riptide
11 - Set the Twilight Reeling
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After contemplating the decline of New York City, the passing of his mentor Andy Warhol, his place in (perhaps) the greatest American rock band of all time, and the very nature of life and death, in 1996 Lou Reed finally began to consider a really important subject -- where to get a good chocolate egg cream. "Egg Cream" kicked off Set the Twilight Reeling, and for many fans it was a kick to hear Reed cranking up his amps and having some fun again, but much of the rest of the album turned out not to be as lightweight as the opener would have led you to expect. On Set the Twilight Reeling, Reed is preoccupied with relationships, as he tries to figure if he wants a long-term commitment ("Trade In"), if he's better off as a lone wolf ("NYC Man"), if he's in love ("The Proposition"), or if he just wants to fool around ("Hookywooky"). Reed rocks a lot harder here than on the two albums that preceded it (and plays plenty of great crunchy guitar), but much of the album is set in a mellow mid-tempo groove that's casual and comfortable but not especially compelling. And while "Sex With Your Parents (Motherfucker), Pt. II" is an amusing attack on conservative politicians, his logic isn't exactly clear. Longtime fans are no doubt grateful that Reed's relatively unfocused and unsubstantial albums these days are such a vast improvement over his fallow period in the 1970s, but for the most part Set the Twilight Reeling sounds like a standard issue 1990s Lou Reed album -- smart, well-crafted, with plenty of guitar, but nothing terribly special, either. (allmusic.com)

Ecstasy (2000)

01 - Paranoia Key of E
02 - Mystic Child
03 - Mad
04 - Ecstasy
05 - Modern Dance
06 - Tatters
07 - Future Farmers of America
08 - Turning Time Around
09 - White Prism
10 - Rock Minuet
11 - Baton Rouge
12 - Like a Possum
13 - Rouge
14 - Big Sky

link

Never let it be said that Lou Reed has lost the ability to surprise his audience; who would have thought that at the age of 58, on his first album of the new millennium, Reed would offer us an 18-minute guitar distortion workout with lyrics abut kinky sex, dangerous drugs, and (here's the surprise) imagining what it would be like to be a possum? For the most part, Ecstasy finds Reed obsessed with love and sex, though (as you might expect) his take on romance is hardly rosy ("Paranoia Key of E," "Mad," and "Tatters" all document a relationship at the point of collapse, while "Baton Rouge" is an eccentric but moving elegy for a love that didn't last) and Eros is usually messy ("White Prism"), obsessive ("Ecstasy"), or unhealthy and perverse ("Rock Minuet"). Reed genuinely seems to be stretching towards new lyrical and musical ground here, but while some of his experiments work, several pointedly do not, with the epic "Like a Possum" only the album's most spectacular miscalculation. Still, Reed and producer Hal Wilner take some chances with the arrangements that pay off, particularly the subtle horn charts that dot several songs, and Reed's superb rhythm section (Fernando Saunders on bass and Tony "Thunder" Smith on drums) gives these songs a rock-solid foundation for the leader's guitar workouts. As Reed and his band hit fifth gear on the album's rousing closer, "Big Sky," he once again proves that even his uneven works include a few songs you'll certainly want to have in your collection -- as long as they're not about possums. (allmusic.com)

The Raven (2003)

01 - Overture
02 - Edgar Allan Poe
03 - Call On Me
04 - The Valley of Unrest
05 - A Thousand Departed Friends
06 - Change
07 - The Bed
08 - Perfect Day
09 - The Raven
10 - Balloon
11 - Broadway Song
12 - Blind Rage
13 - Burning Embers
14 - Vanishing Act
15 - Guilty
16 - I Wanna Know (The Pit and the Pendulum)
17 - Science of the Mind
18 - Hop Frog
19 - Tripitena's Speech
20 - Who Am I (Tripitena's Song)
21 - Guardian Angel

link (part_1 part_2)

Edgar Allan Poe was a man who usually looked on the dark side of life, had more than a few less-than-healthy romantic and sexual obsessions, was known to dabble in dangerous drugs, and was fascinated with the possibilities of the English language, so it's no wonder why Lou Reed regards Poe as a kindred spirit. In his liner notes to the album The Raven, Reed touches on the parallels between their work when he writes, "I have reread and rewritten Poe to ask the same questions again. Who am I? Why am I drawn to do what I should not?...Why do we love what we cannot have? Why do we have a passion for exactly the wrong thing?" Reed's obsession with Poe's work found a creative outlet when visionary theatrical director Robert Wilson commissioned Reed to adapt Poe's works to music for a production called POE-Try, and The Raven collects the material Reed wrote for this project, as well as a number of dramatic interpretations of Poe's work, featuring performances by Willem Dafoe, Steve Buscemi, Elizabeth Ashley, Amanda Plummer, and others. The limited-edition two-disc version of The Raven gives a nearly equal balance to words and music; while the single-disc edition is dominated by Reed's songs, the double-disc set features a much greater number of spoken-word pieces, most of which have been filtered through Reed's imagination, with a more intense focus on sex, drugs, and conflict as a result. While the condensed version of The Raven sounds like one of the oddest and most audacious rock albums of recent memory, the complete edition feels more like a lengthy performance piece (albeit a rather unusual one), and while it lacks something in the way of a central narrative, the focus on the letter as well as the spirit of Poe's work seems a great deal clearer here. The pitch of the acting is sometimes a bit sharp (especially Dafoe, who seems to be projecting to the last row of the balcony), but the con brio performances certainly suit the tenor of the material and Poe's writing style. Musically, The Raven is all over the map, leaping from low-key acoustic pieces to full-bore, window-rattling rock & roll, with a number of stops along the way. Reed also touches more than casually on his own past as well, with new recordings of "The Bed" and "Perfect Day" added to the sequence, and for a man not known for his ability to collaborate well, The Raven is jam-packed with guest artists, including David Bowie, the Five Blind Boys of Alabama, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, Ornette Coleman, and Laurie Anderson, all of whom are used to their best advantage. The mix of ingredients on The Raven is heady, and the result is more than a little bizarre, but there's no mistaking the fact that Reed's heart and soul are in this music; even the most oddball moments bleed with passion and commitment, whether he's handing the vocal mic over to Buscemi for a faux-lounge number, conjuring up brutal guitar distortion while his band wails behind him, or confronting his fears and desires with just a piano to guide him. Truth to tell, Reed hasn't sounded this committed and engaged on record since Magic and Loss over a decade before; The Raven reaches for more than it can grasp, especially in its two-hours-plus expanded edition, and is dotted with experiments that don't work and ideas that don't connect with their surroundings. But the good stuff is strong enough that anyone who cares about Lou Reed's body of work, or Edgar Allan Poe's literary legacy, ought to give it a careful listen. (allmusic.com)

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Lou Reed. Part 3

2007-10-04T18:33:00.001+04:00

Legendary Hearts (1983)

01 - Legendary Hearts
02 - Don't Talk to Me About Work
03 - Make Up Mind
04 - Martial Law
05 - The Last Shot
06 - Turn Out the Light
07 - Pow Wow
08 - Betrayed
09 - Bottoming Out
10 - Home of the Brave
11 - Rooftop Garden
link

If Legendary Hearts seemed like a disappointment in 1983, that was largely because the year before Lou Reed had released The Blue Mask, one of the finest albums of his career, and Legendary Hearts just wasn't quite as good. But pull it off the shelf today, give it a listen, and Legendary Hearts easily shuts down nearly anything Reed released in the 1970s; if it's a less obvious masterpiece than The Blue Mask, it makes clear that Reed was once again in firm command of his strengths, and making the most of them in the studio. Guitarist Robert Quine and bassist Fernando Saunders were both back on board from The Blue Mask, and they reaffirmed their status as the linchpins of the strongest band of Reed's solo career, and drummer Fred Maher rocked harder (and with fewer frills) than Doane Perry. The bracing cross-talk of Reed's and Quine's guitars had lost nothing in the year separating the two albums, and if Reed didn't seem to be aiming quite as high as a songwriter this time out, most of the tracks were every bit as intelligent and soul-searching as The Blue Mask's lineup; if there were a few moments of comic relief, like "Don't Talk to Me About Work" and "Pow Wow," no one could argue that Reed hadn't earned a few laughs after songs like "Make Up Mind," "The Last Shot," and "Betrayed." On Legendary Hearts, Reed was writing great songs, playing them with enthusiasm and imagination, and singing them with all his heart and soul, and if it wasn't his best album, it was more than good enough to confirm that the brilliance of The Blue Mask was no fluke, and that Reed had reestablished himself as one of the most important artists in American rock. (allmusic.com)

New York (1989)

01 - Romeo Had Juliette
02 - Halloween Parade (Aids)
03 - Dirty Blvd.
04 - Endless Cycle
05 - There Is No Time
06 - Last Great American Whale
07 - Beginning of a Great Adventure
08 - Busload of Faith
09 - Sick of You
10 - Hold On
11 - Good Evening Mr. Waldheim
12 - Xmas in February
13 - Strawman
14 - Dime Story Mystery [To Andy - Honey]
link

New York City figured so prominently in Lou Reed's music for so long that it's surprising it took him until 1989 to make an album simply called New York, a set of 14 scenes and sketches that represents the strongest, best-realized set of songs of Reed's solo career. While Reed's 1982 comeback, The Blue Mask, sometimes found him reaching for effects, New York's accumulated details and deft caricatures hit bull's-eye after bull's-eye for 57 minutes, and do so with an easy stride and striking lyrical facility. New York also found Reed writing about the larger world rather than personal concerns for a change, and in the beautiful, decaying heart of New York City, he found plenty to talk about -- the devastating impact of AIDS in "Halloween Parade," the vicious circle of child abuse "Endless Cycle," the plight of the homeless in "Xmas in February" -- and even on the songs where he pointedly mounts a soapbox, Reed does so with an intelligence and smart-assed wit that makes him sound opinionated rather than preachy -- like a New Yorker. And when Reed does look into his own life, it's with humor and perception; "Beginning of a Great Adventure" is a hilarious meditation on the possibilities of parenthood, and "Dime Store Mystery" is a moving elegy to his former patron Andy Warhol. Reed also unveiled a new band on this set, and while guitarist Mike Rathke didn't challenge Reed the way Robert Quine did, Reed wasn't needing much prodding to play at the peak of his form, and Ron Wasserman proved Reed's superb taste in bass players had not failed him. Produced with subtle intelligence and a minimum of flash, New York is a masterpiece of literate, adult rock & roll, and the finest album of Reed's solo career. (allmusic.com)

Songs for Drella (1990)

01 - Smalltown
02 - Open House
03 - Style It Takes
04 - Work
05 - Trouble With Classicists
06 - Starlight
07 - Faces and Names
08 - Images
09 - Slip Away (A Warning)
10 - It Wasn't Me
11 - I Believe
12 - Nobody But You
13 - A Dream
14 - Forever Changed
15 - Hello It's Me
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John Cale, the co-founder of The Velvet Underground, left the group in 1968 after tensions between himself and Lou Reed became intolerable; neither had much charitable to say about one other after that, and they seemed to share only one significant area of agreement -- they both maintained a great respect and admiration for Andy Warhol, the artist whose patronage of the group helped them reach their first significant audience. So it was fitting that after Warhol's death in 1987, Reed and Cale began working together for the first time since White Light/White Heat on a cycle of songs about the artist's life and times. Starkly constructed around Cale's keyboards, Reed's guitar, and their voices, Songs for Drella is a performance piece about Andy Warhol, his rise to fame, and his troubled years in the limelight. Reed and Cale take turns on vocals, sometimes singing as the character of Andy and elsewhere offering their observations on the man they knew. On a roll after New York, Reed's songs are strong and pithy, and display a great feel for the character of Andy, and while Cale brought fewer tunes to the table, they're all superb, especially "Style It Takes" and "A Dream," a spoken word piece inspired by Warhol's posthumously published diaries. If Songs for Drella seems modest from a musical standpoint, it's likely neither Reed nor Cale wanted the music to distract from their story, and here they paint a portrait of Warhol that has far more depth and poignancy than his public image would have led one to expect. It's a moving and deeply felt tribute to a misunderstood man, and it's a pleasure to hear these two comrades-in-arms working together again, even if their renewed collaboration was destined to be short-lived. (allmusic.com)

Magic and Loss (1992)

01 - Dorita
02 - What's Good
03 - Power and Glory
04 - Magician
05 - Sword of Damocles
06 - Goodby Mass
07 - Cremation
08 - Dreamin'
09 - No Chance
10 - Warrior King
11 - Harry's Circumcision
12 - Gassed and Stoked
13 - Power and Glory, Pt. 2
14 - Magic and Loss
link

With 1982's The Blue Mask, Lou Reed began approaching more mature and challenging themes in his music, and in 1992, Reed decided it was time to tackle the Most Serious Theme of All -- Death. Reed lost two close friends to cancer within the space of a year, and the experience informed Magic and Loss, a set of 14 songs about loss, illness, and mortality. It would have been easy for a project like this to sound morbid, but Reed avoids that; the emotions that dominate these songs are fear and helplessness in the face of a disease (and a fate) not fully understood, and Reed's songs struggle to balance these anxieties with bravery, humor, and an understanding of the notion that death is an inevitable part of life -- that you can't have the magic without the loss. It's obvious that Reed worked on this material with great care, and Magic and Loss contains some of his most intelligent and emotionally intense work as a lyricist. However, Reed hits many of the same themes over and over again, and while Reed and his accompanists -- guitarist Mike Rathke, bassist Rob Wasserman, and percussionist Michael Blair -- approach the music with skill and impeccable chops, many of these songs are a bit samey; the album's most memorable tunes are the ones that pull it out of its mid-tempo rut, like the grooving "What's Good" and the guitar workout "Gassed and Stoked." Magic and Loss is an intensely heartfelt piece of music, possessing a taste and subtlety one might never have expected from Reed, but its good taste almost works against it; it's a sincere bit of public mourning, but perhaps a more rousing wake might have been a more meaningful tribute to the departed. (allmusic.com)

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Lou Reed. Part 2

2007-09-25T18:48:00.001+04:00

Coney Island Baby (1976)

01 - Crazy Feeling
02 - Charley's Girl
03 - She's My Best Friend
04 - Kicks
05 - A Gift
06 - Ooohhh Baby
07 - Nonody's Business
08 - Coney Island Baby
link

From 1972's Transformer onward, Lou Reed spent most of the '70s playing the druggy decadence card for all it was worth, with increasingly mixed results. But on 1976's Coney Island Baby, Reed's songwriting began to move into warmer, more compassionate territory, and the result was his most approachable album since Loaded. On most of the tracks, Reed stripped his band back down to guitar, bass, and drums, and the results were both leaner and a lot more comfortable than the leaden over-production of Sally Can't Dance or Berlin. "Crazy Feeling," "She's My Best Friend," and "Coney Island Baby" found Reed actually writing recognizable love songs for a change, and while Reed pursued his traditional interest in the underside of the hipster's life on "Charlie's Girl" and "Nobody's Business," he did so with a breezy, freewheeling air that was truly a relief after the lethargic tone of Sally Can't Dance. "Kicks" used an audio-tape collage to generate atmospheric tension that gave its tale of drugs and death a chilling quality that was far more effective than his usual blasé take on the subject, and "Coney Island Baby" was the polar opposite, a song about love and regret that was as sincere and heart-tugging as anything the man has ever recorded. Coney Island Baby sounds casual on the surface, but emotionally it's as compelling as anything Lou Reed released in the 1970s, and proved he could write about real people with recognizable emotions as well as anyone in rock music -- something you might not have guessed from most of the solo albums that preceded it. (allmusic.com)

Rock and Roll Heart (1976)

01 - I Belive In Love
02 - Banging On My Drum
03 - Follow The Leader
04 - You Wear It So Well
05 - Ladies Pay
06 - Rock And Roll Heart
07 - Chooser And The Chosen One
08 - Senselessly Cruel
09 - Chain To Fame
10 - Vicious Circle
11 - A Sheltered Life
12 - Temporary Thing

link

Rock and Roll Heart was Lou Reed's first album for Arista Records, and one senses that he wanted to come up with something saleable for his new sponsors. Uptempo numbers with pop hooks dominate the set, the 12 songs zip by in an efficient 38 minutes, and instead of Reed's trademark meditations on the dark side of life, the lyrics are (for the most part) lean bursts of verse and chorus, in which the artist sings the praises of good times in general and rock & roll in particular (then again, on "I Believe in Love," Reed pledges his allegiance to both "good time music" and "the iron cross," a bit of perversity to remind us whose album this is). But if Rock and Roll Heart sounds like "Lou Reed Lite," there are more than a few flashes of Reed's inarguable talent. His band is in fine form (especially Marty Fogel on sax and Michael Fonfara on keyboards). "Banging on My Drum" is a crunchy rocker that recalls his work with the Velvet Underground; "A Sheltered Life" is an amusing bit of VU archeology (the Velvets demoed the song, but this marked its first appearance on record); and the closer, "Temporary Thing," is a bitter, haunting narrative that foreshadows Reed's next album, the harrowing masterpiece Street Hassle. (allmusic.com)

Street Hassle (1978)

01 - Gimmie Some Good Times
02 - Dirt
03 - Street Hassle
04 - I Wanna Be Black
05 - Real Good Time Together
06 - Shooting Star
07 - Leave Me Alone
08 - Wait

link

The rise of the punk/new wave movement in the late '70s proved just how pervasive Lou Reed's influence had been through the past decade, but it also gave him some stiff competition, as suddenly Reed was no longer the only poet of the New York streets. 1978's Street Hassle was Reed's first album after punk had gained public currency, and Reed appeared to have taken the minimal approach of punk to heart. With the exception of Metal Machine Music, Street Hassle was Reed's rawest set of the 1970s; partly recorded live, with arrangements stripped to the bone, Street Hassle was dark, deep, and ominous, a 180-degree turn from the polished neo-glam of Transformer. Lyrically, Street Hassle found Reed looking deep into himself, and not liking what he saw. Opening with an uncharitable parody of "Sweet Jane," Street Hassle found Reed acknowledging just how much a self-parody he'd become in the 1970s, and just how much he hated himself for it, on songs like "Dirt" and "Shooting Star." Street Hassle was Reed's most creatively ambitious album since Berlin, and it sounded revelatory on first release in 1978. Sadly, time has magnified its flaws; the Lenny Bruce-inspired "I Wanna Be Black" sounds like a bad idea today, and the murk of the album's binaural mix isn't especially flattering to anyone. But the album's best moments are genuinely exciting, and the title cut, a three-movement poetic tone poem about life on the New York streets, is one of the most audacious and deeply moving moments of Reed's solo career. Raw, wounded, and unapologetically difficult, Street Hassle isn't the masterpiece Reed was shooting for, but it's still among the most powerful and compelling albums he released during the 1970s, and too personal and affecting to ignore. (allmusic.com)

The Blue Mask (1982)

01 - My House
02 - Women
03 - Underneath the Bottle
04 - Gun
05 - The Blue Mask
06 - Average Guy
07 - Heroine
08 - Waves of Fear
09 - Day John Kennedy Died
10 - Heavenly Arms
link

In 1982, 12 years after he left the Velvet Underground, Lou Reed released The Blue Mask, the first album where he lived up to the potential he displayed in the most groundbreaking of all American rock bands. The Blue Mask was Reed's first album after he overcame a long-standing addiction to alcohol and drugs, and it reveals a renewed focus and dedication to craft -- for the first time in years, Reed had written an entire album's worth of moving, compelling songs, and was performing them with keen skill and genuine emotional commitment. Reed was also playing electric guitar again, and with the edgy genius he summoned up on White Light/White Heat. Just as importantly, he brought Robert Quine on board as his second guitarist, giving Reed a worthy foil who at once brought great musical ideas to the table, and encouraged the bandleader to make the most of his own guitar work. (Reed also got superb support from his rhythm section, bassist extraordinaire Fernando Saunders and ace drummer Doane Perry). As Reed stripped his band back to a muscular two-guitars/bass/drums format, he also shed the faux-decadent "Rock N Roll Animal" persona that had dominated his solo work and wrote clearly and fearlessly of his life, his thoughts, and his fears, performing the songs with supreme authority whether he was playing with quiet subtlety (such as the lovely "My House" or the unnerving "The Gun") or cranked-to-ten fury (the paranoid "Waves of Fear" and the emotionally devastating title cut). Intelligent, passionate, literate, mature, and thoroughly heartfelt, The Blue Mask was everything Reed's fans had been looking for in his work for years, and it's vivid proof that for some rockers, life can begin on the far side of 35. (allmusic.com)

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Lou Reed. Part 1

2007-09-24T10:58:00.001+04:00

Transformer (1972)

01 - Vicious
02 - Andy's Chest
03 - Perfect Day
04 - Hangin' Round
05 - Walk On The Wild Side
06 - Make Up
07 - Satellite Of Love
08 - Wagon Wheel
09 - New York Telephone Conversation
10 - I'm So Free
11 - Goodnight Ladies
12 - Hangin' Round (Acoustic Demo)
13 - Perfect Day (Acoustic Demo)

link

David Bowie has never been shy about acknowledging his influences, and since the boho decadence and sexual ambiguity of the Velvet Underground's music had a major impact on Bowie's work, it was only fitting that as Ziggy Stardust mania was reaching its peak, Bowie would offer Lou Reed some much needed help with his career, which was stuck in neutral after his first solo album came and went. Musically, Reed's work didn't have too much in common with the sonic bombast of the glam scene, but at least it was a place where his eccentricities could find a comfortable home, and on Transformer Bowie and his right-hand man, Mick Ronson, crafted a new sound for Reed that was better fitting (and more commercially astute) than the ambivalent tone of his first solo album. Ronson adds some guitar raunch to "Vicious" and "Hangin' Round" that's a lot flashier than what Reed cranked out with the Velvets, but still honors Lou's strengths in guitar-driven hard rock, while the imaginative arrangements Ronson cooked up for "Perfect Day," "Walk on the Wild Side," and "Goodnight Ladies" blend pop polish with musical thinking just as distinctive as Reed's lyrical conceits. And while Reed occasionally overplays his hand in writing stuff he figured the glam kids wanted ("Make Up" and "I'm So Free" being the most obvious examples), "Perfect Day," "Walk on the Wild Side," and "New York Telephone Conversation" proved he could still write about the demimonde with both perception and respect. The sound and style of Transformer would in many ways define Reed's career in the 1970s, and while it led him into a style that proved to be a dead end, you can't deny that Bowie and Ronson gave their hero a new lease on life -- and a solid album in the bargain. (allmusic.com)

Berlin (1973)

01 - Berlin
02 - Lady Day
03- Men Of Good Fortune
04 - Caroline Says
05 - How Do You Think It Feels
06 - Oh Jim
07 - Caroline Says II
08 - The Kids
09 - The Bed
10 - Sad Song

link

Transformer and "Walk on the Wild Side" were both major hits in 1972, to the surprise of both Lou Reed and the music industry, and with Reed suddenly a hot commodity, he used his newly won clout to make the most ambitious album of his career, Berlin. Berlin was the musical equivalent of a drug-addled kid set loose in a candy store; the album's songs, which form a loose story line about a doomed romance between two chemically fueled bohemians, were fleshed out with a huge, boomy production (Bob Ezrin at his most grandiose) and arrangements overloaded with guitars, keyboards, horns, strings, and any other kitchen sink that was handy (the session band included Jack Bruce, Steve Winwood, Aynsley Dunbar, and Tony Levin). And while Reed had often been accused of focusing on the dark side of life, he and Ezrin approached Berlin as their opportunity to make The Most Depressing Album of All Time, and they hardly missed a trick. This all seemed a bit much for an artist who made such superb use of the two-guitars/bass/drums lineup with the Velvet Underground, especially since Reed doesn't even play electric guitar on the album; the sheer size of Berlin ultimately overpowers both Reed and his material. But if Berlin is largely a failure of ambition, that sets it apart from the vast majority of Reed's lesser works; Lou's vocals are both precise and impassioned, and though a few of the songs are little more than sketches, the best -- "How Do You Think It Feels," "Oh, Jim," "The Kids," and "Sad Song" -- are powerful, bitter stuff. It's hard not to be impressed by Berlin, given the sheer scope of the project, but while it earns an A for effort, the actual execution merits more of a B-. (allmusic.com)

Rock N Roll Animal (1974)

01 - Intro - Sweet Jane
02 - Heroin
03 - White Light - White Heat
04 - Lady Day
05 - Rock 'N' Roll
link

In 1974, after the commercial disaster of his album Berlin, Lou Reed needed a hit, and Rock N Roll Animal was a rare display of commercial acumen on his part, just the right album at just the right time. Recorded in concert with Reed's crack road band at the peak of their form, Rock N Roll Animal offered a set of his most anthemic songs (most dating from his days with the Velvet Underground) in arrangements that presented his lean, effective melodies and street-level lyrics in their most user-friendly form (or at least as user friendly as an album with a song called "Heroin" can get). Early-'70s arena rock bombast is often the order of the day, but guitarists Dick Wagner and Steve Hunter use their six-string muscle to lift these songs up, not weigh them down, and with Reed's passionate but controlled vocals riding over the top, "Sweet Jane," "White Light/White Heat," and "Rock 'n' Roll" finally sound like the radio hits they always should have been. Reed would rarely sound this commercial again, but Rock N Roll Animal proves he could please a crowd when he had to. The revised CD reissue of Rock N Roll Animal released in 2000 offers markedly better sound than the album's initial release, along with two bonus cuts that give a better idea of how this band approached the material from Berlin on-stage, as well as an amusing moment of Reed verbally sparring with a heckler. (allmusic.com)

Sally Can't Dance (1974)

01 - Ride Sally Ride
02 - Animal Language
03 - Baby Face
04 - N. Y. Stars
05 - Kill Your Sons
06 - Ennui
07 - Sally Can't Dance
08 - Billy
09 - Good Taste

link

On the live album Rock N Roll Animal, Lou Reed showed he'd learned how to give his audience what they wanted, and do it well. Sally Can't Dance, on the other hand, was the polar opposite, a remarkably cynical album that pandered to the lowest common denominator of the market that had bought Transformer and Rock N Roll Animal, and didn't even do it with much flair. Reed's performances here are limited to vocals, except for some sloppy acoustic guitar on one track (this from the man who helped reinvent electric guitar with the Velvet Underground), and the sodden, overblown arrangements sink most of these tunes before they get past the first chorus; much of the time, Reed sounds like an afterthought on his own album. And while Reed's best songwriting ranks with the best rock of his generation, Sally Can't Dance is cluttered with throwaways that reach for the boho decadence of Transformer and come up empty (with special recognition going to the bizarre and truly puzzling "Animal Language"). Side two does offer two worthwhile songs: "Kill Your Sons," a powerful and deeply personal remembrance of Reed's bouts with shock treatment and brutal psychotherapy, which he would revisit in a much stronger performance on 1984's Live in Italy, and "Billy," a witty and surprisingly poignant remembrance of an old friend and how their paths in life diverged. But otherwise, Sally Can't Dance has the distinction of being the worst studio album of Reed's career; Metal Machine Music may have been a lot more annoying, but at least he was trying on that one. (allmusic.com)

Technorati tags: Lou Reed

Einstürzende Neubauten. Vol. 4

2007-09-14T15:58:00.001+04:00

Die Hamletmaschine (1991)

link

****************************************************

Faustmusik (1996)

link

One of the more curious works in Einstürzende Neubauten's long and varied career, 1996's Faustmusik is a close relative of 1991's Die Hamletmaschine, their score for an avant-garde reinterpretation of Shakespeare's play. This play, by Werner Schwab, is more of an oratorio than an opera, with the focus entirely on the recitation and singing of Schwab's German verse by Einstürzende Neubauten's lead singer, Blixa Bargeld (as Mephistopheles, appropriately enough!) and other actors. Einstürzende Neubauten's musical contribution is entirely incidental, and sounds at times like they're merely playing rehearsal tapes for a low-key, nearly ambient album behind the actors. Those who aren't fans of experimental European theater, don't speak German, and are interested primarily in hearing Einstürzende Neubauten's familiar industrial power should look elsewhere, but there's a certain creepy beauty to much of this album, particularly the nightmarish "Das Orchestrion," a slowly building cacophony of voices and drones. (allmusic.com)

9-15-2000 Brussels (2002)

01 - Silence is sexy
02 - Sabrina
03 - Dingsaller
04 - Die Interimsliebenden
05 - Nnnaaammmm
06 - Haus der Lüge
07 - Zebulon
08 - Newton`s Gravitätlichkeit
09 - Zampano
10 - Ein seltenter Vogel
11 - Beauty
12 - Die Befindlichkeit des Landes
13 - Sonnenbarke

14 - Die Schlacht von Babel
15 - Redukt
16 - Jubel
17 - Musentango
18 - Alles
19 - Ende Neu
20 - Yü Gung
21 - Installation No.1
22 - Salamandrina

link (part_1 part_2)

Strategies Against Architecture '80-'83 (1984)

01 - Tanz Debil
02 - Schmerzen Hören
03 - Mikroben
04 - Krieg In Den Städten
05 - Zum Tier Machen
06 - Draußen Ist Feindlich
07 - Stahlversion
08 - Schwarz
09 - Negativ Nein
10 - Kalte Sterne
11 - Spaltung
12 - U-Haft Muzak
13 - Gestohlenes Band (ORF)
14 - Schwarz (Mutieirt)
link

Einsturzende's first compilation album summed up all that was brilliant and thrilling about the young band, who perhaps more than anyone else encapsulated exactly what "industrial" consisted of -- honest-to-goodness mechanistic pummeling and musique concrete remade for a newer generation. Selections from Schwarz and Kollaps feature, along with single-only cuts and various live performances as well, giving a striking picture of the group's varying approaches. Bargeld's rasped, whispered vocals and sudden screams crawl with threat and dread in a consciously dramatic but never overtly hammy fashion, while the rough rhythms and harsh clattering which serves as a bed for his delivery touches on everything from free jazz to minimal Krautrock rhythms. That the volume often gets amped to its absolute highest is only to be expected, but silence and space between sound matters just as much, especially on a slew of songs toward the end. Guitars and bass appear more often than might be expected, but the way they're played is something else entirely, muddied deep in the mix or roaring as undifferentiated noise stabbing in here and there. It's also interesting to hear the earlier version of the band in contrast with the later, when a slightly more formal rock presentation took the fore. Given that on the recordings here the group consisted mostly of percussionists beating on metal and whatever else was to hand, it's little wonder things sound even more aggressive. Maybe for some this will only sound like the backing music on a Sprockets sketch, but the impact on any number of sound terrorists then and since from this album can't be measured. (allmusic.com)

Strategies Against Architecture II (1991)

01 Abfackeln!
02 Partynummer (Live)
03 Z.N.S.
04 Die Elektrik (Merle)
05 Intermezzo Yu-Gung (Live)
06 Seele Brennt
07 Blutvergiftung
08 Sand
09 Kangolicht
10 Armenia (Live)
11 Ein Stuhl In Der Holle

12 Vanadium I Ching
13 Leid Und Elend (Live)
14 DNS-Wasserturm
15 Armenia II (Live)
16 Fackeln!
17 Ich Bin's
18 Hirnlego
19 Wardrobe
20 Bildbeschreibung
22 Haus Der Luge (Live)
23 Jordache
24 Kein Bestandteil Sein (Alternative ending)
link (part_1 part_2)

Complementing the original Strategies collection, this double-disc affair covers the years 1984 to 1990, featuring the noted Bargeld/Unruh/Einheit/Chung/Hacke lineup of the group. With an informative, witty booklet providing a slew of pictures and complete liner notes for each track, Architecture II focuses on the band's continued rude creative health through the rest of the decade, inventing and perfecting a wide variety of approaches that would help define industrial music. Power tools and heavy machinery still get used and abused throughout, Bargeld's vocals remain in extremis screeching or nervy, unsettlingly calm semi-crooning, both loud and soft tracks appear with regularity. It's abrasive and strangely beautiful at its best, art music via studio manipulation turned into gripping aural entertainment. As with the first Strategies, studio recordings get mixed with various live efforts as well -- in one instance, a fiery rip through "Haus der Luege" is grafted with the audience reaction from a completely separate concert once the quintet lit the stage on fire! Many highlights appear -- besides the aforementioned "Haus der Luege," there are a number of versions of the fierce "Abfackeln!," a blistering concert take on "Yu-Gung," the centuries-old death shuffle of "Ein Stuhl in der Hoelle." Two interesting diversions capture the sly humor of the group -- first, there's the 1985 studio take on the Lee Hazlewood/Nancy Sinatra song "Sand," partial evidence of Bargeld's dual alliance with Nick Cave via the Bad Seeds, perhaps. The liner notes claim that the group "detected a Neubaten feel" in the original -- but if the idea means use of studio sonics, why not? Meanwhile, one of the variants of "Abfackeln!" is a 1988 Jordache jeans ad, of all things -- brief, but amusing, with the store's name bleeped out at the end because they refused to pay up! (allmusic.com)

Technorati tags: Einstürzende Neubauten

Einstürzende Neubauten. Vol. 3

2007-09-13T18:25:00.001+04:00

Silence Is Sexy (2000)

01 - Sabrina
02 - Silence Is Sexy
03 - In Circles
04 - Newtons Gravitätlichkeit
05 - Zampano
06 - Heaven Is of Honey
07 - Beauty
08 - Die Befindlichkeit des Landes
09 - Sonnenbarke
10 - Musentango
11 - Alles
12 - Redukt
13 - Dingsaller
14 - Anrufe in Abwesenheit
15 - Pelikanol

link (part_1 part_2)

Odds are no one banked on Einstürzende Neubauten lasting 20 years. What were the odds of such a destructive band surviving two decades? Did the Stooges ever stand a chance of writing a song called "1989"? More importantly, who would have thought that the milestone year would see the release of one of Neubauten's finest records? Though Silence Is Sexy might retain some of the band's recent song-based developments that have left some fans puzzled, its closest touchstone is 1987's Richterskala. They might not be as unsettling or destructive as they were in their early days, but they still know how to capture the imagination and warp the senses. As with Richterskala, restraint is a key element. The schlock of recent outings is done away with to focus more on stark restraint. Bargeld doesn't really let his vocal chords rip often, and their trademark clangorous overload isn't resorted to much. "Sabrina" is one of the tracks that brings to mind their excellent album from 1987. Swaying strings and plaintive percussive taps frame Blixa Bargeld's whispers as he waxes like a bawdier Bryan Ferry. Those who reveled in Neubauten's familiar undead bass sound will find the record goes down a treat. At nearly 70 minutes, it's a bit sprawling, but it allows the gang to represent every element that has made them vital and influential to experimental music throughout the last twenty years. Irregardless of your pickiness with Neubauten's material -- what you like/hate about them -- anyone could piece together 40 minutes of the record for an ace Cliff's Notes version. [Early editions came with a second disc, consisting solely of the 19-minute long "Pelikanol." A scraping, hypnotic track, Bargeld uses his voice as a drone instrument to great effect.]

Berlin Babylon [SOUNDTRACK] (2001)

01 - Berlin Babylon (Titel)
02 - Godzilla In Mitte
03 - Overtüre mit Helikoptern
04 - Walkie Talkie Babylon
05 - Trauermarsch
06 - Glas 1 (Sony-Center)
07 - Befindlichkeit (Baustellenversion)
08 - Der Engel Der Geschichte
09 - Beauty (Tiergartentunnel)
10 - Glas 2 (Richtfest)
11 - Architektur ist Geiselnahme
12 - Gästeliste
13 - Die Befindlichkeit des Landes
link

Berlin Babylon is a 2001 documentary film directed by Hubertus Siegert with industrial music performed by Einstürzende Neubauten. The film's main focus is on the extensive rebuilding projects in Berlin after the fall of the Berlin Wall. It features internationally acclaimed architects including Rem Koolhaas, Renzo Piano and I.M. Pei. Some sequences are characterized by time-lapse photography along with the narration of Der Engel der Geschichte (the Angel of History). The documentary also contains stock footage of demolitions of the buildings which were left to stand in ruins after the second world war. (wikipedia.org)

Supporter Album #1 (2003)

01 - Dead Friends (Around the Corner)
02 - Perpetuum Mobile
03 - X
04 - Ein seltener Vogel (Bunkerversion)
05 - Airplane Miniature #4
06 - Airplane Miniature #3
07 - Insomnia
08 - Selbstportrait mit Kater
09 - Compressors in the Dark

link (part_1 part_2)

Perpetuum Mobile (2004)

01 - Ich Gehe Jetz
02 - Perpetuum Mobile
03 - Ein Leichtes Leises Säuseln
04 - Selbstportrait Mit Kater
05 - Boreas
06 - Ein Seltener Vogel
07 - Ozean Und Brandung
08 - Paradiesseits
09 - Youme & Meyou
10 - Der Weg Ins Freie
11 - Dead Friends (Around The Corner)
12 - Grundstück
link

Technorati tags: Einstürzende Neubauten

Einstürzende Neubauten. Vol. 2

2007-09-12T11:02:00.001+04:00

Five on the Open-Ended Richter-Scale (1987)

01 - Zersoerte Zelle
02 - Morning Dew
03 - Ich Bin's
04 - Modimidofrsaso
05 - 12 Staedte
06 - Keine Schoenheit Ohne Gefahr
07 - Kein Bestandteil Sein
08 - Adler Kommt Spaeter
link

Imagine a child that's been given a toy with detailed directions. Frustrated with its complexities, the child throws out the directions and chucks the toy against a wall, proceeding to step on it, bite it, smash it, and ultimately break it into as many pieces as he can. Bored with merely making as much noise as possible with the toy, the child begins to examine its parts and how it works. Though the child puts it together in a way that was not intended, the child becomes enamored with the new toy. Funf Auf Der Nach is where Neubauten truly grab hold of their broken elements and fashion them into something completely unique and (relatively) contemporary at the same time. Take their sleazy, spaghetti-westernized cover of Tim Rose's "Morning Dew" for instance, and the structured manner in which the record glides by. Very subdued and darkly ambient throughout, it's nowhere near the aural riots of yesteryear. For its lack of cacophony, and as restrained and formed as it is, Neubauten are just as unsettling, gripping, and tension-ridden as ever -- they're just finding a new way to be all of that. You expect the big release during the closer, "Kein Bestandteil Sein," but you don't get it. Funf auf der Nach is like watching a stalker cleverly follow its prey for miles, only to watch it shy away just short of lodging a knife into the back of the followed. (allmusic.com)

Haus der Lüge (1989)

01 - Prolog
02 - Feurio!
03 - Ein Stuhl in der Hölle
04 - Haus der Lüge - Epilog
05 - Fiat Lux- A) Fiat Lux B) Maifestspiele C) Hirnlego
06 - Schwindel
07 - Der Kuss
08 - Feurio (Caffery,Einheit Remix)
09 - Partymucke
10 - Feurio (Turen offen)
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The final Einsturzende album of the 1980s found the group wrapping up that decade on a high note; while Haus der Luege barely lasts over half an hour, it's designed for maximum impact, and that it creates. The seasoned five-person lineup clatters and bangs away with fire, though the focus is more on straightforward industrial-tinged rock, as opposed to full-on industrial banging and relentless sonic experimentation. Things fully fire after an alternating voice/noise "Prolog" with "Feurio!," one of the band's strongest singles. With an ominous death-disco rhythm stop-starting under it all, swirling wails and cries in the mix, and sudden guitar lines filling out the sound, Bargeld's declamatory vocal approach in full effect. It's perhaps one of the most "industrial dance" songs the group's ever done, but it feels like a logical conclusion of their sound rather than a sudden embrace of Wax Trax! esthetics. Equally impressive is the title track, starting with a soft chime before turning into a dangerously funky aggro-crawl. Much of the album's second half is taken up by the lengthy "Fiat Lux," broken into three separate sections. Low in volume and astonishingly subtle until its final, overtly rhythmic conclusion, it's a testament to Einsturzende's abilities at the opposite end of where they are most often stereotyped as working, ambient instead of full-on noise. Bargeld's singing and a soft, central keyboard loop provides the main hooks for the piece, even when an array of random samples and noises starts surfacing about halfway through the track. Add in some blunt, interesting cover art and an appreciative essay from writer Biba Kopf, and Haus der Luege is another Einsturzende success. (allmusic.com)

Tabula Rasa (1993)

01 - Die Interimsliebenden
02 - Zebulon
03 - Blume
04 - 12305(te Nacht)
05 - Sie
06 - Wüste
07 - Headcleaner I
08 - Headcleaner II
link

Neubauten's '90s productions may not have been anything like the old fans might have expected, but Tabula Rasa tries somehow to keep up the tradition, without falling into repeating and instead bringing something new to their music. Tabula Rasa is, for our good, a very diversive album. Even though only songs "Die Interimsliebenden" and "Headcleaner" seem to have any character, every song has a catch that keeps the interest on. The keyword for Tabula Rasa is "ambience." Neubauten hold their aggression long way to the end of the album, and all the power and noise unbends as a 15-minute magnum opus, "Headcleaner." Before that there's 22 minutes of quiet but tight dark ambient. The opener, "Die Interimsliebenden," may be the only relaxed song on the album, and that's why Tabula Rasa may feel like a very pressuring album to listen all way thru. The tracks as single songs are very good indeed, but as a whole they form a very tight -- and maybe too tight -- whole. And Blixa Bargeld's weird lyrics don't ease the pressures. But Tabula Rasa is not a bad album, but just not a masterpiece like Kollaps either. When thinking about the rest of the works this group has done over the '90s, this is a good shot anyway. (allmusic.com)

Ende Neu (1996)

01 - Was Ist Ist
02 - Stella Maris
03 - Die Explosion im Festspielhaus
04 - Installation N°1
05 - NNNAAAMMM
06 - Ende Neu
07 - The Garden
08 - Der Schacht von Babel
09 - Bili Rubin
link (part_1 part_2)

On their 1996 release Ende Neu (ending-new), the quintessential scientists of the post-avant-garde abstain from focusing on listener disintegration tactics as they did on prior albums, but opt instead to hone their craftsmanship in new compositional areas. Some followers of their earlier material might object to the obvious and comparatively conventional song structure and style that is displayed on Ende Neu -- picking up a power tool to highlight a piece rather than centering the entire work around it, or leaving a stage before setting it ablaze -- but the destruction has already been performed, and now they are erecting the brave new anti-building of musical art. Exploring intricate processions of time and toying with melodious harmonies, Blixa Bargeld and Co. seem to have matured gracefully. The opening cut, "Was ist ist," is a furious, fast-paced slander on the constant wanting of mankind while simultaneously serving as a tongue-in-cheek remark on how absolute, scientific power overrules impossibility. From there, Ende Neu continues to musically rewrite the band's style, using familiar topics such as ethereal chaos ("Die Explosion Im Festspielhaus"), cosmic complacency ("The Garden"), revolt ("Installation No.1"), and even a Kafka-esque piece, "Der Schacht Von Babel." This is the first release since the departure of founding band member Mark Chung, and it is obvious that the remaining members have taken the time to contribute to the void left by his departure. Ende Neu delivers a precision-fed matrix of audio-encrypted knowledge in a manner not like the chaotic Neubauten of the early '80s, but more strategic, and more mature. (allmusic.com)

Technorati tags: Einstürzende Neubauten

Einstürzende Neubauten. Vol. 1

2007-09-11T10:43:00.001+04:00

Kollaps (1981)

01 - Tanz Debil
02 - Steh Auf Berlin
03 - Negativ Nein
04 - U-Haft Muza
05 - Draussen Ist Feindlich
06 - Hören Mit Schmerzen
07 - Jet 'M
08 - Kollaps
09 - Sehnsucht
10 - Vorm Krieg
11 - Hirnsäge
12 - Abstieg And Zerfall
13 - Helga
14 - Negativ Nein [Live]
link

Einstürzende Neubauten's first album, as one might imagine, is their most primitive and radical effort, the purest expression of their original aesthetic. This makes the album both historically significant and conceptually intriguing, of course, but what's most interesting about this album is that it still sounds surprising decades after its release. Often, albums that are considered extreme art statements upon their debut sound almost quaint a few years later, but while Kollaps perhaps sounds less extreme to ears that heard industrial music turned into disco pabulum by the likes of Nine Inch Nails than it did before, songs like the eight-minute title track and the rumbling live closer, "Negativ Nein," are still a fascinating blend of rhythm and random bashing, tonality and atonality, with anguished vocals by Blixa Bargeld that often seem to have little connection with anything else in the piece. The brief tracks, like the 80-second "Sehnsucht," are even more extreme explorations of pure noise. Starting as early as the next album, Einstürzende Neubauten would begin slowly introducing more mainstream musical concepts into their aesthetic, making Kollaps as undiluted a listening experience as there is in the entire catalog. (allmusic.com)

Drawings of Patient O.T. (1983)

01 - Vanadium-I-Ching
02 - Hospitalistische Kinder - Engel der Vernichtung
03 - Abfackeln!
04 - Neun Arme
05 - Herde
06 - Merle (Die Elektrik)
07 - Zeichnungen der Patienten O.T.
08 - Finger und Zähne
09 - Falschgeld
10 - Styropor
11 - Armenia
12 - Die genaue Zeit
13 - DNS Wasserturm
14 - Wardrobe
15 - Blutvergiftung
link

Einstürzende Neubauten's second album, 1983's Zeichnungen des Patienten O.T. (Drawings of Patient O.T.), is less extreme than their 1981 debut, but it's still a challenging listen. The title comes from the drawings of Oswald Tschirtner, a Swiss mental patient whose work is prized by collectors of "outsider artists," and the comparison is apt. Einstürzende Neubauten's music has the same bizarre leaps of logic and random connections that one finds in that sort of visual or verbal art, although starting with this album, the music is just controlled and sculpted enough to reveal that yes, the group does know exactly what they're doing. Many of the pieces are more songlike than the group's earlier work, with actual melodies encoded in the banging and howling, and a couple tracks that could even be called almost pretty. "Armenia" is the highlight, based on an Eastern European folk song form and featuring some long, droning, sustained notes that are similar to what some European post-minimalist composers (Gavin Bryars, Michael Nyman, etc.) were doing around the same time. Zeichnungen des Patienten O.T. is the best balance between Einstürzende Neubauten's chaotic early work and the more refined albums to come, and is possibly their best work.

Halber Mensch (1985)

01 - Halber Mensch
02 - Yü-Gung (Fütter Mein Ego)
03 - Trinklied
04 - Z.N.S.
05 - Seele brennt
06 - Sehnsucht (zitternd)
07 - Der Tod ist ein Dandy
08 - Letztes Biest (am Himmel)
09 - Das Schaben
10 - Sand
11 - Yü-Gung (Adrian Sherwood-Mix)
link

Though it's a bit less intentionally noisy than previous Neubaten material, ½ Mensch is, in a way, the group's masterpiece. The inspired use of such "traditional" instruments as a grand piano alongside the band's characteristic blazing percussion make for a record similar more to their compositional influences like Stockhausen than their nearest contemporaries, Throbbing Gristle or Cabaret Voltaire. The record that showed Einstürzende Neubaten could rise above the concept of noise for its own sake to reach another level of noise-oriented post-punk music, ½ Mensch is an excellent feat of industrial music. (allmusic.com)

Technorati tags: Einstürzende Neubauten

Fucked Up, Got Ambushed, Zipped In. Pt. 2

2007-09-06T11:38:00.001+04:00

In on the Kill Taker (1993)

01 - Facet Squared
02 - Public Witness Program
03 - Returning The Screw
04 - Smallpox Champion
05 - Rend It
06 - 23 Beats Off
07 - Sweet And Low
08 - Cassavetes
09 - Great Cop
10 - Walken's Syndrome
11 - Instrument
12 - Last Chance For A Slow Dance
link

In on the Kill Taker is like scrubbing your face with steel wool. It finds the band relying on rusty guitar shards that scrape, seethe, and hiss, further removing itself from the sound of 13 Songs and Repeater. Harsh and grating, Fugazi surprisingly produces sheer noise at times, best witnessed in the lengthy closing of "23 Beats Off" and the unintentional Gremlins homage that opens "Walken's Syndrome." Joe Lally's bass and Brendan Canty's drums are relegated to acting as a guide; they're pushed -- but not squashed -- down in the mix, allowing for Ian MacKaye and Guy Picciotto's guitars to take control, corrosively so. It's probably Fugazi's least digestible record from front to back, but each track has its own attractive qualities, even if not immediately perceptible. "Facet Squared" and "Public Witness Program" open the record furiously, but the majority of the following "Return the Screw" is hardly audible, aside from occasional vocal tantrums. A good amount of time is spent alternating between low-key guitar noodling and intrusive bursts of aggression. They're smart with their sequencing, placing the gentle instrumental "Sweet and Low" (the only track where Lally plays a prominent role) after the exhaustive cacophony of "23 Beats Off," and generally piecing together a set of rather diverse tracks that flows well. Picciotto's anti-Hollywood rant on the properly titled "Cassavetes" is a classic Fugazi moment, as is his similarly name-dropping "Walken's Syndrome." Buried at the end of the record are two excellent lurchers, MacKaye's "Instrument" and Picciotto's "Last Chance for a Slow Dance." Not Fugazi's finest hour, but one of its most daring and rewarding. (allmusic.com)

Red Medicine (1995)

01 - Do You Like Me
02 - Bed For The Scraping
03 - Latest Disgrace
04 - Birthday Pony
05 - Forensic Scene
06 - Combination Lock
07 - Fell, Destroyed
08 - By You
09 - Version
10 - Target
11 - Back To Base
12 - Downed City
13 - Long Distance Runner
link (part_1 part_2)

Retreating from the skinned-knee production values of In on the Kill Taker, Red Medicine packs more rhythmic punch and shows more range. With more drive and playful goings-on, the arrangements sound much looser than on Kill Taker, while remaining just as gut-kicking and brainy. The experimentation, which adds liveliness, doesn't sound measured. Even Joe Lally is allowed to sing, and it just happens to be one of the best songs on the record. Running against the theory that Fugazi is a pack of killjoys, numerous instances pop up where the band's twisted sense of humor is apparent. The sinister ha-has that open "Birthday Pony," the android sample in the pleasant (!) instrumental "Combination Lock," and random piano plinks all manage to find a welcome place. But the most uncharacteristic track is the "Blade Runner in Kingston" slo-mo instrumental "Version," featuring clarinet skronks, dubwise rhythm, incidental zaps, and -- get this -- no guitars. Picciotto declares in the immediately following "Target" that he hates the sound of guitars. What gives? It's clearly a rumination against corporate America's capitalization/bastardization of "punk" aesthetics. If anyone had the right to comment, it was Fugazi. "Back to Base" and "Downed City" (another dubby intro here) return to more standard issue, hardcore roots Fugazi, full of the soaring guitars that the band is most known for. Closing out the nearly flawless second side is yet another contemplative exit track, "Long Distance Runner." Acting as a daily affirmation of sorts to combat lethargy, MacKaye opines, "If I stop to catch my breath/I might catch a piece of death." (allmusic.com)

End Hits (1998)

01 - Break
02 - Place Position
03 - Recap Modotti
04 - No Surprise
05 - Five Corporations
06 - Caustic Acrostic
07 - Closed Captioned
08 - Floating Boy
09 - Foreman's Dog
10 - Arpeggiator
11 - Guilford Fall
12 - Pink Frosty
13 - F/D
link (part_1 part_2)

Scary -- "Closed Captioned" through "Foreman's Dog" provides the worst stretch of material the Fugazi has recorded, full of disjointed patches and awkward moments. There's a virtually complete disregard for linearity that makes things seem stitched together, rather than the seamlessness you've grown accustomed to. Within that chunk and various points in the remainder, the arrangements sound like they're on the verge of collapse, and not in a violently riveting manner. One thing comes to mind, and that's boredom -- perhaps not for the artists involved, but likely for the listener.
There are some great moments, however, so End Hits only dips its toes in failure. The epileptic "Lust for Life"-style "Five Corporations" has the riffs and rage, with Ian MacKaye taking the music industry to task for being the slow, incestuously festering beast that it is. Though the band seems to lack the stamina for instrumental wowing they once had, the songwriting is still there. On-point as always, MacKaye remains lyrically immolated: "Check the math here/Check in ten years/Clusterf*ck theory/Buy them up and shut them down/Then repeat in every town/Every town will be the same." Nigh on two decades of punk army service, MacKaye is still far away from running out of relevant things to say. Other highlights include "Break" and "Place Position." MacKaye and Picciotto's mantra-like barking of "yawn yawn yawn" during the latter could stop you to think, "Wait, that was kind of funny," amidst all the fist-pumping. Altogether, the least of the band's LPs so far; yes kids, even Fugazi makes mistakes. A minor blebby, it's nothing to disown the band for. (allmusic.com)

Instrument (1999)

01 - Pink Frosty [Demo]
02 - Lusty Scripps
03 - Arpeggiator [Demo]
04 - Afterthought
05 - Trio's
06 - Turkish Disco
07 - Me & Thumbelina
08 - Floating Boy [Demo]
09 - Link Track
10 - Little Debbie
11 - H.B.
12 - I'm So Tired
13 - Rend it [Demo]
14 - Closed Captioned [Demo]
15 - Guilford Fall [Demo]
16 - Swingset
17 - Shaken all Over
18 - Slo Crostic
link (part_1 part_2)

Fugazi finally released a career retrospective after more than a decade together, though in true indie fashion, Instrument is far from your average band's greatest-hits collection. In truth, it's the soundtrack to a documentary produced by the band with filmmaker Jem Cohen. While the film contains footage from live dates, studio work, and intimate home-movie tapes, the soundtrack itself focuses on unreleased studio tracks and outtakes with never-before-heard songs, including "I'm So Tired," "Swingset," "Slo Crostick," and "Turkish Disco." (allmusic.com)

Furniture [EP] (2001)

01 - Furniture
02 - Number 5
03 - Hello Morning
link

Released in conjunction with Argument, Furniture is a three-song EP putting together older tracks that had yet to be put on disc. Running with similar consistency to the 3 Songs EP that preceded Repeater, these older songs still sound fresh. "Furniture," with its trademark Ian MacKaye call-response vocal, would have been quite comfortable on either of the first two EPs. The Guy Picciotto-led "Hello Morning" is reminiscent of "Break-In," while the driving instrumental second track, "Number 5," is scorching. Thankfully kept separate from the very different Argument, this should be heard by any Fugazi fan, no matter what time of the band they consider the best. (allmusic.com)

The Argument (2001)

01 - Untitled
02 - Cashout
03 - Full Disclosure
04 - Epic Problem
05 - Life And Limb
06 - The Kill
07 - Strangelight
08 - Oh
09 - Ex-Spectator
10 - Nightshop
11 - Argument
link (part_1 part_2)

It's unfortunate that a band so forward looking as Fugazi has been criticized over and over for not remaking "Waiting Room" or "Repeater." Some have called them sellouts, regardless of the band's integrity and class, while others consider them elitists, "guiding" the Washington, D.C., scene. This could not be further from the truth. As the film and soundtrack to Instrument proved, this is a band that is only concerned with musical growth, with each album improving on its predecessor. But no album they have put together has the jump ahead that The Argument has. Being both ear-shattering and spine-tingling at once, this is Fugazi at their "musical" best. Incorporating melody with texture and their signature angular approach, the band has raised the bar for themselves and others once again. The first "full" track, "Cashout" (an anti-gentrification anthem), is classic stuff, with a subtle guitar line exploding into a screaming chorus, but this time there is less of an emphasis on the screaming and more on the gentle melody of the verse. Slower tracks like "The Kill" and "Life and Limb" touch on strange new territory. Gentle with sense of swagger, these songs lack none of the power that the band is known for, while the two-drum assault of "Ex-Spectator" (courtesy of Brendan Canty and second drummer Jerry Busher) has just as much potency on disc as it does live. And the final song, "Argument," with its rolling guitar lines, dreamy breakdown, and vocals that build from gentle to screaming, may be the best closer on a Fugazi record since "Promises." Listeners may be surprised to hear strings open up the record, or piano guiding the brilliant "Strangelight," but this is the album that proves once and for all that Fugazi has become a purely musical force.
Fifteen years in and Fugazi is still progressing. It makes one wonder what they're capable of in the future. (allmusic.com)

Live at Irving Plaza NYC, April 4th, 1995

01 - Introduction
02 - Turnover
03 - Styrofoam
04 - Public Witness Program
05 - Birthday Pony
06 - Exit Only
07 - And The Same
08 - My Latest Disgrace
09 - By You
10 - Long Division
11 - Fell, Destroyed
12 - Suggestion
13 - Burning
14 - Back To Base
15 - Do You Like Me
16 - Instrument
17 - Two Beats Off
18 - Repeater
19 - Encore Break
20 - Joe #1
21 - Bed For The Scraping
22 - Forensic Scene
23 - Sweet And Low
24 - Shut The Door

link (part_1 part_2)

Peel Sessions - 11/12/1988 - Fugazi

01 - Waiting Room
02 - Break In
03 - Merchandise
04 - Glueman
link

TX - 13/12/1988

Producer - Dale Griffin

Engineer - Mike Engles

Studio - The Hippodrome, Golders Green, London

Technorati tags: Fugazi

Fucked Up, Got Ambushed, Zipped In. Pt. 1

2007-09-05T10:19:00.001+04:00

13 Songs (1990)

01 - Waiting Room
02 - Bulldog Front
03 - Bad Mouth
04 - Burning
05 - Give Me the Cure
06 - Suggestion
07 - Glue Man
08 - Margin Walker
09 - And the Same
10 - Burning Too
11 - Provisional
12 - Lockdown
13 - Promises
link

Disregarding all the wordiness and adjectives that can be heaped like a pile of horse dung at Disneyland upon great, timeless albums, the importance of this record can perhaps be more suitably measured by the number of people who remember the first time they heard it. 13 Songs (a combination of the Fugazi and Margin Walker EPs) is usually among the first records that spring to mind when defining alternative rock. Furious, intelligent, artful, and entirely musical, it's a baker's dozen of cannon shots to the gut -- not just a batch of emotionally visceral and defiant songs recorded by angry young men, but something greater. Nearly every song here reaches an anthemic level without falling prey to pomposity. Most of these songs are anthems of the self rather than a rallying cry of accusation or unification, with "Waiting Room" and "Suggestion" serving as two examples. The attention-getting drop into silence that occurs at the 22-second mark of the former is instantly memorable. The relentless ska/reggae-inflected drive of the song is equally effective, as Ian MacKaye tells everyone listening to get off their behinds and do what they want. During the Meters-meets-Ruts thrust of "Suggestion," MacKaye switches genders for an entirely convincing rant on the objectification of women. Guy Picciotto takes on the persona of an addict on "Glue Man," whose blurred sense of reality is also conveyed in the warped, psychedelic guitars. Picciotto threatens to set himself on fire during "Margin Walker"; given the spirited play of the remaining members, it sounds like the same could be said for the rest of them. Foreshadowing the band's knack for introspective and mid-tempo concluding tracks, the disc ends with MacKaye's "Promises," examining the pitfalls of trust in relationships of any nature. A landmark record.

Repeater + 3 Songs (1990)

01 - Turnover
02 - Repeater
03 - Brendan #1
04 - Merchandise
05 - Blueprint
06 - Sieve-Fisted Find
07 - Greed
08 - Two Beats Off
09 - Styrofoam
10 - Reprovisional
11 - Shut The Door
12 - Song #1
13 - Joe #1
14 - Break-In
link

With its righteous disdain for capitalism and the almighty dollar, Repeater's themes update Gang of Four's Solid Gold. Lines/slogans like "When I need something, I reach out and grab it," and "You are not what you own," bear this out. Repeater honestly gets a little stifling in its unrelenting conviction and grandstanding. It's not too difficult to see why the band was allegedly lacking a sense of humor at this stage; they could have been yelling about filing their taxes, after all. The title makes sense, if only by mistake. But -- and that's a big but -- Repeater nearly matches the early EPs with its musical invention and skill, spitting out another serving of excellence, making the finger-pointing a little easier to digest. Few rhythm sections of the time had the great interplay of Joe Lally and Brendan Canty. Likewise, the guitar playing and interaction of Ian MacKaye and Guy Picciotto almost always get overlooked, thanks to all the other subjects brought up when the band is talked about. A guitar magazine even rated Repeater as one of the best guitar records of the '90s, and rightfully so. Anemic revs spiked by pig squeals (or is it a screeching train?) highlight the title track, one of the band's finest moments. As always, MacKaye and Picciotto's noise-terrorism-as-guitar-joust avoids flashiness, used as much as rhythm as punctuation device. Sharp, angular, jagged, and precise. Other gnarling highlights include the preachy "Styrofoam," the late-breaking "Sieve-Fisted Find," and the somewhat ironic "Merchandise," which skewers Mr. Business Owner by asking, "What could a businessman ever want more than to have us sucking in his store?" Not everyone can do mail order, guys. [The CD version adds the 3 Songs 7" as a bonus, titled Repeater + 3 Songs.] (allmusic.com)

Stage Dive Masters (1990)

01 - Styrofoam
02 - Turnover
03 - And the same
04 - Runaway
05 - Merchandise
06 - Sieve Fisted Find Reclamation
07 - Break In
08 - Song #1
09 - Margin Walker Bad Mouth Waiting Room
10 - Long Division Blueprint
11 - Shut the Door
12 - Promises
13 - Reprovisional
link (part_1 part_2)

Steady Diet of Nothing (1991)

01 - Exit Only
02 - Reclamation
03 - Nice New Outfit
04 - Stacks
05 - Latin Roots
06 - Steady Diet
07 - Long Division
08 - Runaway Return
09 - Polish
10 - Dear Justice Letter
11 - KYEO
link

From the opening swarms of "Exit Only," you can tell Steady Diet of Nothing will differ from Fugazi's earlier records. Repeater's excellence can't be denied, but the band stood in danger of stagnating its sound. To its benefit, Fugazi made some changes, employing more herk-a-jerk rhythms and dub influences, and changing up the lyrical focus. Actually, the lyrics get a bit vague -- bordering on equivocality at times -- which has its advantages and disadvantages. With Steady Diet, Fugazi get more economical and less forceful. Though not nearly as neck-gnawing as Repeater, Steady Diet still packs a sizable wallop, but with slower tempos and less deliberate instrumentation. As always, a poison-tipped dart is pointed at the government, media, and major entertainment outlets. Ian MacKaye's "destroy your television" rant on "Polish" is one of the more direct and simple songs. His "KYEO" comes straight from the rice paddy or homefront, depending on interpretation. It urges the listener to always remain aware, whether awaiting the enemy's next battle move or remaining blissfully unaware of how people can be taken advantage of by others. As with the rest of the band's catalog, lyrics are provided in the booklet. This makes things much easier on the intent listener, as both Picciotto and MacKaye have weird voices that become unintelligible when howled over their instrumental din. The lyric sheet is most useful on Picciotto's "Latin Roots." He's not warning you that "it's time to meet Jamaicans," as it sounds, but rather "it's time to meet your makers." Not quite lending itself to "Purple Haze"-like levels of butchery, but important to point out nonetheless. (allmusic.com)

Technorati tags: Fugazi

Clutch. Pt. 3

2007-09-02T09:56:00.001+04:00

Pitchfork & Lost Needles (2005)

01 - Wicker
02 - Arcadia
03 - Juggernaut
04 - Far Country
05 - Neros Fiddle
06 - Passive Restraints
07 - Bacchanal
08 - Milk Of Human Kindness
09 - What Would A Wookie Do
10 - Bottoms Up Socrates

link

Pitchfork & Lost Needles includes Clutch's debut 7" in its four-song entirety and augments that with unreleased tracks and demo versions. As this set proves, the veteran quartet began as a band crouched between the Melvins, a viscous form of hardcore (think a slower, more economic Sick of It All), and the literate but still loud post-punk of Jawbox. "Wicker" is in blistering half-time, its layers of needling guitars and Neil Fallon's yawping proclamations ("Pacemaker! LIFE TAKER!") skinned to their barest, most powerful essence. "Arcadia" is three minutes of stocky thud, the sort of thing flannel-shirted bullies would blast from crappy boom boxes in the early '90s. The unreleased tracks are equally strong, from the low-slung grind of the perfectly named "Nero's Fiddle" to the relatively upbeat "Passive Restraints," a song tailor-made for pissing off parents or turfing lawns. "What Would a Wookie Do?" and "Bottoms Up, Socrates" date from the Robot Hive: Exodus sessions. As such they're more nuanced than Clutch's early work, but not by much. Fallon's vocals and lyrics take a higher position in the mix and an additional organ adds depth. But "Socrates" still finds a way to turn its breezy introduction into a righteous chorus anthem. The demos of "Bacchanal" and "Milk of Human Kindness" -- both songs dating from Transnational Speedway League -- aren't too different from their final versions besides being a bit more satisfyingly raw. Pitchfork & Lost Needles is a great pickup for both Clutch diehards and the uninitiated, since the populations of both groups are so large. Everyone can revel in it, then share the surgical thread when it's time for sewing ears back on. (allmusic.com)

From Beale Street to Oblivion (2007)

01 - You Cant Stop Progress
02 - Power Player
03 - The Devil And Me
04 - Whites Ferry
05 - Child Of The City
06 - Electric Worry
07 - One Eye Dollar
08 - Rapture Of Riddley Walker
09 - When Vegans Attack
10 - Opossum Minister
11 - Black Umrella
12 - Mr. Shiny Cadillacness

link

Circa the early 21st century, it has become quite uncommon for hard rock bands to create a substantial following the old-fashioned way -- nonstop touring -- rather than having to rely on MTV and radio's stamp of approval. But Clutch have done it their way since the very beginning, and their tenth full-length overall, 2007's From Beale Street to Oblivion, may just be their strongest and most focused recording yet. The riffs are still meaty, the still somewhat new addition of organ has added a deep classic rock dimension, and Neil Fallon's pissed-off trucker vocals are as, well, ballsy as ever (if you want emo-boy whining you've come to the wrong place, buster). Unlike some similar-styled bands that completely align themselves with either stoner metal or retro-rock, Clutch borrow equally from both, as evidenced by such standouts as the album-opening big rock of "You Can't Stop Progress," the Southern rockish "The Devil & Me," and the snake-hiding-in-the-grass boogie of "Electric Worry." And Clutch get extra points for offering one of the best lyrics you're going to hear on a 2007 rock recording -- "You can always tell the terrorist/By his cologne and the watch on his wrist" (from the furious 'n' defiant "Power Player"). If you long for the days when Soundgarden were still a functioning band, Kyuss were still patrolling the desert, and Black Sabbath had yet to make up with Ozzy, Clutch will definitely not let you down with From Beale Street to Oblivion. (allmusic.com)

Technorati tags: Clutch

Clutch. Pt. 2

2007-09-01T10:33:00.001+04:00

Live at the Googolplex (2003)

01 - Who Wants To Rock?
02 - Pure Rock Fury
03 - Sea Of Destruction
04 - Immortal
05 - Careful With That Mic...
06 - Impetus
07 - El Jefe Speaks
08 - Rock And Roll Outlaw
09 - 12 Oz. Epilogue
10 - Big News 1
11 - Big News 2
12 - Brazenhead
13 - The Soapmakers
14 - Escape From The Prison Planet
15 - Rats

link (part_1 part_2)

Although they may look more like a group of scientists or librarians than a rock band, don't be fooled by their appearance -- Clutch are easily one of metal's top live acts. While the majority of modern-day metal bands stick close to the studio versions on-stage, Clutch is an exception, as they've been known to follow in the same "jamming" path as pre-punk '70s-era rockers. However, Clutch's 2003 concert set, Live at the Googolplex, does not include a smorgasbord of jamming, like some fans who have caught the band live would expect. The group's guitarist, Tim Sult, has long been one of metal's most underrated guitarists (especially in the riff department) and in a way, Googolplex serves as a showcase for Sult's talents, especially on such tracks as "Sea of Destruction" and "Rats." And there are a few moments when Clutch manage to sneak some jams into the set (but again, not as many or as long as one would expect) -- "Careful with That Mic...," "Escape from the Prison Planet," etc. Containing most of Clutch's strongest tracks, Live at the Googolplex is an adequate sampler for newcomers until the group issues a true "best-of" collection.

Blast Tyrant (2004)

01 - Mercury
02 - Profits Of Doom
03 - The Mob Goes Wild
04 - Cypress Grove
05 - Promoter
06 - Regulator
07 - Worm Drink
08 - Army Of Bono
09 - Spleen Merchant
10 - Swollen Goat
11 - Goat Warfare
12 - Subtle Hustle
13 - Ghost
14 - La Curandera
15 - English Pounds

link (part_1 part_2)

Few bands have managed to prosper inside a bubble of their own devising and outside the constricting rules of the music business as successfully and for as long as Maryland's Clutch; who continue to unleash album after album of barely evolving, groovy stoner rock, regardless of label affiliation and changing trends. In fact, the only concession made with their sixth album (give or take a few EPs and "odds and sods" sets), 2004's Blast Tyrant, was its reported first-time adoption of digital recording, although you'd never really know it from the end results. Of interchangeable sonics with pretty much any of their previous albums, most of Blast Tyrant's numbers are textbook and unmistakably Clutch, with their punchy, often circular-sounding guitar riffs, gruff vocal delivery, and über-ironic lyrics distinguished into three by now familiar categories: tales of unfathomably obscure imagery ("Spleen Merchant," "(In the Wake Of) The Sollen Goat," and "Eulogy for a Ghost"); darkly comical diatribes ("Profits of Doom," "Army of Bono," and "Subtle Hustle"); and politicized rants such as "Worm Drink" and the standout "The Mob Goes Wild" (which seriously rails against the government's poor handling of wartime death, while laughingly encouraging "everybody to move to Canada now, bum rush the border guard," etc.). Additional mentionables -- for good and ill -- include opener "Mercury" (part song, part feedback, all free-form), the unusually acoustic and psychedelic "The Regulator," the Hammond-laced instrumental "Wysiwyg," and the particularly memorable "(Notes From the Trial Of) La Curandera" -- all of which also fit into the above three cited categories. In other words, Blast Tyrant is likely to confound those who have previously been confounded, and appease those who were previously appeased, leaving Clutch, as always, safely ensconced in their timeless and impenetrable creative bubble.

Robot Hive: Exodus (2005)

01 - The Incomparable Mr. Flannery
02 - Burning Beard
03 - Gullah
04 - Mice And Gods
05 - Pulaski Skyway
06 - Never Be Moved
07 - 10001110101
08 - Small Upsetters
09 - Circus Maximus
10 - Tripping The Alarm
11 - 10000 Witnesses
12 - Land Of Pleasant Living
13 - Gravel Road
14 - Whos Been Talking

link

Can someone please get Clutch a publicity transfusion? While the band has built a rabid fanbase in its 15-plus years of havoc, the intuitive, volatile grooves of Robot Hive: Exodus deserve a closer listen from the clueless types still dawdling over Clutch's musical category. The record satisfies fans of 2004's Blast Tyrant and keeps on trucking stylistically, still featuring Neil Fallon's guttural cerebralisms ("Oh, but to just dine on sewage, cold seagull pie/Wrestle albino alligators and spin the good lie") but incorporating more of additional organ/keys man Mick Schauer and pushing out jams thicker than prehistoric amber. Opener "Incomparable Mr. Flannery" drops references to Dokken, Camaros, and downtown Detroit watering holes on its way to rolling with the moustache and supernova. The track's a good example of producer J. Robbins' feel throughout Robot Hive. He keeps the pace nimble, and that accentuates both the percussion's high end and the organic feel of Clutch's guitar/base strut. They aren't drop-tuning clones or vintage gearheads with no originality. Progressions are found within the riffs, and the blunt bottom end glances off smart lyrics and clever instrumental turns. Clutch offers heavy lifting for the thinking man. Schauer's Hammond shines on "10001110101," where a Deep Purple stomp sets up Fallon's observations of lunatics and the "Robot Lords of Tokyo." "Gravel Road" and "Who's Been Talking?" tinge the blues with heaviness, and "10,000 Witnesses" wouldn't be out of place on a North Mississippi Allstars record. There are also straight-on bangers here, like "Mice and Gods" or the awesomely named "Burning Beard," and "Never be Moved" works a great balance between boogey-metal guitar, Schauer's organ, and righteous gospel proclamations to "get your evolution on." On Robot Hive: Exodus Clutch knows its strengths, but continually challenges them. The band's always pushing the boundaries, and it's time the world outside the underground found that out. (allmusic.com)

Technorati tags: Clutch

Clutch. Pt. 1

2007-08-31T11:40:00.001+04:00

Transnational Speedway League: Anthems, Anecdotes & Undeniable Truths (1993)

01 - A Shogun Named Marcus
02 - El Jefe Speaks
03 - Binge And Purge
04 - 12 Ounce Epilogue
05 - Bacchanal
06 - Milk Of Human Kindness
07 - Rats
08 - Earthworm
09 - Heirloom 13
10 - Walking In The Great Shining Path Of Monster Trucks
11 - Effigy

link

On the surface, it may sound as if Clutch is mining the same vein as contemporary metal artists like Korn and Corrosion of Conformity, but with a solid set of grooves to keep their humorous material from becoming too hokey, they set themselves above most of their peers through dogged hard rocking and consistent songwriting prowess. Highlights on Transnational Speedway League include the entire first side, most notably "A Shogun Named Marcus" and "Binge and Purge." The latter song makes good fun of the ultra-macho posturings most modern metal bands are guilty of, while retaining the light/heavy contrast that has become a part of the genre. Although the material wanes in quality during the last half, Transnational Speedway League is still one of the brighter debuts to emerge in the '90s.

Clutch (1995)

01 - Big News 1
02 - Big News 2
03 - Rock n Roll Outlaw
04 - Texan Book Of The Dead
05 - Escape From The Prison Planet
06 - Spacegrass
07 - I Have The Body Of John Wilkes Booth
08 - Tight Like That
09 - Animal Farm
10 - Droid
11 - The House That Peterbilt
12 - 7 Jam
13 - Tim Sult Vs. The Greys

link

Moving the guitars forward in the mix paid off in spades for Clutch, who continued with their familiar formula of mixing Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath on their sophomore album. Without straying at all from its roots, the band adds a little more funk to its sound à la Primus, which makes for a more consistent set of songs than last time. Not to mention that the stars shine brighter than they did last time around: "Spacegrass" alone should have become an instant classic, but following minor rotation on hard rock stations, the song -- and the band with it -- was delegated a cult status, compared to the likes of contemporaries Coal Chamber and Korn.

The Elephant Riders (1998)

01 - The Elephant Riders
02 - Ship Of Gold
03 - Eight Times Over Miss October
04 - The Soapmakers
05 - The Yeti
06 - Muchas Veces
07 - Green Buckets
08 - Wishbone
09 - Crackerjack
10 - The Dragonfly

link

Moving to a major label hardly dilutes Clutch's music. The Elephant Riders finds the band continuing the stylistic breakthroughs of Clutch, sharpening their guitar attack while adding subliminal elements of funk to their rhythms. Furthermore, their songwriting has strengthened; no longer are they simply riff-oriented rockers who get off on the sheer force of sound, turning in a set of consistently strong songs that suggest a song cycle. It's an impressive effort that hopefully should bring them an audience the size of Deftones, if not Korn. (allmusic.com)

Technorati tags: Clutch

Mick Harvey

2007-08-31T10:38:00.001+04:00

Two of Diamonds (2007)

01 - Photograph
02 - I Don't Want You On My Mind
03 - Sad Dark Eyes
04 - Here I Am
05 - Blue Arrows
06 - No Doubt
07 - Everything Is Fixed
08 - A Walk On The Wild Side
09 - Little Star
10 - Slow-Motion-Movie-Star
11 - Out Of Time Man
12 - Home Is Far From Here

link

Two of Diamonds is Bad Seed Mick Harvey's fourth proper solo album -- there are a number of soundtracks out there that also bear his name -- and his third recording overall in two years. Other artists' songs principally make up the set -- particularly Australians who've moved and influenced him -- with a few tunes of his own placed strategically. The album opens with a killer reading of the Saints' "Photograph" that bring out all the pathos and grief in the original, but is added to by Harvey's use of Rosie Westbrook's double bass and Thomas Wylder's drumming. The bookend track is a nod to his ex-bandmate Simon Bonney, frontman of Crime & the City Solution; Harvey was their musical director after the Birthday Party split. There are also tunes here by the Triffids and the Loved Ones. What sets this recording apart from its predecessors is that Harvey is using what feels like a real band instead of either doing things himself, as he did on One Man's Treasure, or groups of studio pals. Along with Wylder and Westbook are James Johnston on guitar and organ and Julitha Ryan on piano and backing vocals. PJ Harvey's drummer/keyboardist Rob Ellis also appears on a cut. The originals here are gorgeous, among the finest songs Harvey's ever written. "Blue Arrows" is a skeletal song with Harvey playing guitars and piano and Westbook's bass filled with spirit. Two and a half minutes in length, it hovers, shimmers, and floats while leaving its bittersweet melody embedded in the heart of the listener. Then there's "Little Star," again under three minutes long, that emerges via a fade-in of piano and guitars playing a repetitive, nearly droning theme. Harvey's vocal comes from the last couple of centuries somewhere, out of time and space, and glides through the lyric, another love song to the listener on the wind until the refrain, when the portrait of love's past is considered over distance and time itself like an open palm that contains blackened rose petals -- dead, gone, treasured. Two of Diamonds' moody, brooding sweetness is the next step Harvey takes out from under Nick Cave's long shadow and into his own musical identity, keeping the listener in reverie for the album's entire run. Sadly beautiful, it's one of those sleepers that deserves to be heard, whispered about, and imprinted in the heart. (allmusic.com)

Technorati tags: Mick Harvey

Marc Almond. New

2007-08-30T09:52:00.001+04:00

Stardom Road (2007)

01. I Have Lived
02. I Close My Eyes And Count To Ten
03. Bedsitter Images
04. The London Boys
05. Strangers In The Night
06. The Ballad Of The Sad Young Men
07. Stardom Road
08. Kitsch
09. Backstage (I'm Lonely)
10. Dream Lover
11. Happy Heart
12. Redeem Me (Beauty Will Redeem The World)
13. The Curtain Falls

link

Visions of Excess is the title of a collection of essays by the late French writer, bibliophile, cultural critic/anthropologist, and pornographer Georges Bataille. Bataille's work has always been close to Marc Almond's heart, so much so that he's been part of a tribute gig to him released as The Violent Silence. Almond's work as a solo artist apart from Soft Cell has been so wide-ranging and abundant -- wildly careening between post-pop R&B, cabaret songs, electronics, classic and kitschy pop, glam, French chanson, disco, and more -- that it embodies the entire notion of "excess." That's far from a bad thing, and though he's missed the mark with his records from time to time, he's never done anything that would be remotely considered untrue to his vision. Each recording has been a snapshot of where Almond as an artist was at the time of any work's creation. Sure, this is a lot to say for a pop singer, but then Scott Walker and Jacques Brel were pop singers, too, as was Lotte Lenya in her native Germany before the Second World War, and it's from this tradition that Almond's work comes. Indeed, his life -- both aesthetic and everyday -- is the stuff of a collection of poems by Paul Verlaine or Charles Baudelaire, or Laure, Bataille's gloriously infamous lover.Stardom Road is more than just another collection of covers from Almond. He's done them before, but never like this. According to Almond -- whose last three studio recordings (1999's Open All Night, 2001's Stranger Things, and 2003's Heart on Snow) have been deeply focused, beautifully executed efforts -- this offering, his first since a motorcycle accident in 2004 that almost killed him, is a portrait of all of his major influences rolled into one, a musical biography of sources, as it were. And indeed, with tracks written by Charles Aznavour, David Bowie, Al Stewart, Bert Kaempfert, Bobby Darin, James Last, Sol Weinstein, and a few others, he's at least got chapter one down, to be sure. It's an ambitious sortie into the world of pop. Almond appears with everything from strings to full-on horn sections and orchestras as well as in some slightly smaller settings. There's a deeply moving duet with Antony Hegarty on Fran Landesman's classic early-'50s anthem "Ballad of the Sad Young Men," and with Sarah Cracknell on Westlake's "I Close My Eyes and Count to Ten," which is a slightly modern update of the original arrangement by Keith Mansfield. Then there's the nugget "Backstage (I'm Lonely)," with Jools Holland on piano and Kiki Dee and Anna Ross on backing vocals (and some additional lyrics by Almond).
These aren't merely name-check collabs for Almond. He put every ounce of inspiration into these performances. The arrangements in these tracks and a few others are top-notch, full and beautiful and gloriously overblown. But there's another side as well, such as his beautiful acoustic guitars, piano, drum kit, and strings reading of Aznavour's anthem "I Have Lived," in English. It's expressive, redemptive, and full of revelation. Indeed, Almond sings this one as if he's written it himself: "I'm an artist/I've never been a saint...." (For the uninitiated, along with Edith Piaf, Maurice Chevalier, Charles Trenet, Léo Ferré, and of course Serge Gainsbourg, Aznavour is a bona fide hero of French culture.) The version of Darin's "Dream Lover" is a dark mirror image: a single electric guitar and programming are the backdrop of this cut, and if director David Lynch ever hears this he'll be signing Almond to sing on one of his soundtracks. It's an awesome interpretation of the song, and even Darin would be proud. Yep, there is a cover of Barry Ryan's "Kitsch" here, and of course Almond plays it up because what the tune expresses has been part and parcel of Almond's aesthetic from the word go: trash and treasure, the gutter and the palace, or perhaps the palace of the gutter.
Likewise, Al Stewart's "Bedsitter Images" and Bowie's "London Boys" offer different sides to the same story: the terminal outsider, whose deep loneliness leads him to dreams and visions of grandeur, longing, and the desire to be loved for what he is -- decadent, hopelessly out of step, and in pain. But Almond's no whiner; he celebrates his condition as an artist. There is a new song here, too -- an original called "Redeem Me (Beauty Will Redeem the World)," which sums up the artist, the person, and the various personas and rolls them into one. The words, delivery, and melody in all its swinging breezy gentleness need to be heard; it's an injustice to quote those lyrics out of that context. The set finally ends with Weinstein's "The Curtain Falls." Accompanied by Igor Outkine's accordion, strings, and a tuba, it is a beautiful, deeply moving, and warmly sad yet humorous sendoff into the silence. Almond's voice has never been less histrionic, yet more expressive; Stardom Road eclipses even Open All Night as his finest studio moment as a solo artist. (allmusic.com)

Technorati tags: Marc Almond

65daysofstatic

2007-08-27T19:25:00.001+04:00

The Fall of Math (2004)

01 - Another Code Against the Gone
02 - Install a Beak in the Heart that Clucks Time in Arabic
03 - Retreat! Retreat!
04 - Default This
05 - I Swallowed Hard, Like I Understood
06 - The Fall of Math
07 - This Cat Is a Landmine
08 - The Last Home Recording
09 - Hole
10 - Fix the Sky a Little
11 - Aren't We Running?

link

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One Time for All Time (2006)

01 - Drove Through Ghosts To Get Here
02 - Await Rescue
03 - 23kid
04 - Welcome To The Times
05 - Mean Low Water
06 - Climbing On Roofs (The Desperate Edit)
07 - The Big Afraid
08 - 65 Doesn't Understand You
09 - Radio Protector

link

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The Destruction of Small Ideas (2007)

01 - When We Were Younger & Better
02 - A Failsafe
03 - Don't Go Down to Sorrow
04 - Wax Futures
05 - These Things You Can't Unlearn
06 - Lyonesse
07 - Music is Music as Devices are Kisses is Everything
08 - The Distant & Mechanised Glow of Eastern European Dance Parties
09 - Little Victories
10 - Primer
11 - White Peak,Dark Peak
12 - The Conspiracy of Seeds
link

Focusing on instrumental post-rock with live and electronic percussion, 65daysofstatic is based in Sheffield, England. The band, whose name originates from an unreleased John Carpenter film, formed in 2001 as a trio (Joe Shrewsbury, Paul Wolinski, and Iain Armstrong). Armstrong left in May 2003 and by the end of the year Rob Jones (drums) and Gareth Hughes (bass) were added. The band released three albums: The Fall of Math (2004), One Time for All Time (2005), and The Destruction of Small Ideas (2007). As of spring 2007, the lineup included Shrewsbury (guitar), Wolinski (guitar, programming), Jones (drums), and Simon Wright (bass, programming).

Technorati tags: 65daysofstatic

Alan Vega

2007-08-20T10:47:00.001+04:00

Lonely Jukebox [bootleg] 1984

01 - Jukebox Baby
02 - Je T'Adore
03 - Wipeout Beat
04 - Video Babe
05 - American Dreamer
06 - Goodbye Darling
07 - California Girl
08 - Magdalena
09 - So Lonely

link

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Cubist Blues (1996)

01 - Fat City
02 - Fly away
03 - Freedom
04 - Candy man
05 - Come on Lord
06 - Promised land
07 - Lover of love
08 - Sister
09 - Too late
10 - Do not do not
11 - Werewolf
12 - Dream baby revisited
link (part_1 part_2)

One half of the seminal electronic duo Suicide, Alan Vega was born in Brooklyn, NY, in 1948. He began his career as a visual artist, gaining notoriety for his "light sculptures"; eventually Vega opened his own lower Manhattan gallery space, which he dubbed the Project of Living Artists. The Project served as a stomping grounds for the likes of the New York Dolls, Television, and Blondie as well as the 15-piece jazz group Reverend B., which featured a musician named Martin Rev on electric piano. Soon, Vega and Rev formed Suicide, whose minimalist, aggressive music -- a fusion of Rev's ominous, repetitive keyboards and Vega's rockabilly snarl -- helped paved the direction for the electronic artists of the future.
Suicide disbanded in 1980, and both Vega and Rev undertook solo careers. Vega's self-titled 1980 debut and his 1981 effort Collision Drive continued to explore the fractured rockabilly identity he had established in his earlier work. 1983's Saturn Strip, produced by longtime fan Ric Ocasek, marked Vega's debut for Elektra Records; corporate relations soured during production for 1985's Just a Million Dreams, however, and at one point the label even attempted to remove the singer from his own studio sessions.
Suicide briefly re-formed in 1988; a year later the solo Vega appeared, followed in 1990 by Deuce Avenue. After the release of 1991's Power on to Zero Hour, Suicide again reunited and toured. In 1995, Vega resurfaced as a solo artist with New Raceion; a year later, he returned with Dujang Prang. At the turn of the decade, he also began exploring new media outlets: Deuce Avenue War/The Warriors v3 97, his first book of photography, appeared in 1990, while Cripple Nation, a collection of prose and lyrics, bowed in 1991. Power on to Zero Hour and Cubist Blues (with Alex Chilton and Ben Vaughn) wrapped up his '90s recordings, followed in the early 2000s by yet another Suicide re-formation (which yielded 2002's American Supreme) and 2007's solo Station on Blast First Records (allmusic.com)

Technorati tags: Alan Vega, Suicide

Revolting Cocks

2007-08-15T11:51:00.001+04:00

Big Sexy Land (1986)

01 - 38
02 - We Shall Cleanse The World
03 - Attack Ships On Fire
04 - Big Sexy Land
05 - Union Carbide (West Virginia)
06 - TV Mind
07 - You Often Forget (Malignant)
08 - No Devotion
09 - Union Carbide (Bhopal Mix)
10 - Attack Ships On Fire
11 - No Devotion
12 - TV Mind (Remix)
13 - On Fire
link (part_1 part_2)

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You Goddamned Son of a Bitch (1988)

01 - You Goddamned Son Of A Bitch
02 - Cattle Grind
03 - We Shall Cleanse The World
04 - 38
05 - In The Neck
06 - You Often Forget
07 - TV Mind

08 - Union Carbide
09 - Attack Ships On Fire
10 - No Devotion
11 - Stainless Steel Providers Live In Glasgow
12 - P.I.L. Live In Glasgow

link (part_1 part_2)

Beers, Steers + Queers (1990)

01 - Beers, Steers & Queers
02 - (Let's Get) Physical
03 - In The Neck
04 - Cattle Grind (Studio Mix)
05 - Stainless Steel Providers
06 - Something Wonderful
07 - Can't Sit Still
08 - At The Top
09 - Razor's Edge
10 - Get Down
11 - Beers, Steers & Queers (Drop Your Britches Mix)
12 - Beers, Steers & Queers (Take 'Em Right Off Mix)
13 - (Let's Talk) Physical
link (part_1 part_2)

Linger Ficken' Good... (1993)

01 - Gila Copter
02 - Creep
03 - Mr. Lucky
04 - Crackin' Up
05 - Sergio
06 - Da Ya Think I'm Sexy (Cover Version)
07 - The Rockabye
08 - Butcher Flower's Woman
09 - Dirt
10 - Linger Ficken' Good
link

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Cocked and Loaded (2006)

01 - Fire Engine
02 - Ten Million Ways to Die
03 - Caliente (Dark Entries)
04 - Prune Tang
05 - Dead End Streets
06 - Pole Grinder
07 - Jack in the Crack
08 - Devil Cock
09 - Viagra Culture
10 - Revolting Cock au Lait
link

Rumor has it the gents who make up Revolting Cocks came upon the name by their usual debauchery. Ministry frontman Al Jourgensen was out for a hard night of drinking with some friends, so hard that the bartender threw them out, declaring them a bunch of revolting cocks. The name was first applied to one of Jourgensen's many side projects in 1995, when he partnered with Luc Van Acker and Front 242's Richard 23 to bring art and the dancefloor closer together. As recordings progressed, things went in a different direction and the chaotic, snide, and sleazy sounds that were taking over had Richard 23 making an exit over creative differences. He departed in 1986, right as the band's debut, Big Sexy Land, was being released by the seminal industrial label Wax Trax! The album featured the Blade Runner homage and club hit "Attack Ships on Fire," while the artwork introduced "the Three Guys," anonymous faces from an old photograph that would represent the band on album covers for years to come. Ministry associates Paul Barker, Chris Connelly, and Bill Rieflin would join Van Acker and Jourgensen for a tour supporting the album, recordings of which surfaced in 1988 on the live album and video You Goddamned Son of a Bitch.
The nihilistic party attitude of the band had now officially taken over any grand artistic aspirations, and if the success of 1989's Stainless Steel Providers didn't prove their audience was right there with them, college radio and clubs being dominated by 1990's "Beers, Steers + Queers" certainly did. Beers, Steers + Queers, the album, followed that same year and included two cover versions of "(Let's Get) Physical," one a simple loop of the word "physical" that goes on for 13 minutes. The band celebrated the album's release by touring the country with the Skatenigs -- whose vocalist, Phil Owen, had contributed to Beers -- and the always-vile Mentors as support. Linger Ficken' Good... from 1993 was a more subdued album, but it was still shocking that the Warner Bros.-associated Sire released the album and helped the band score another club hit with their cover of Rod Stewart's "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?"
Years passed and it seemed the Revco were officially over until 2004, when the track "Prune Tang" appeared on the Internet, announcing the coming of their next album, Purple Head. The Ryko label reissued the band's first two albums that year with bonus tracks, but the new album failed to appear. A year later, a cover version of Bauhaus' "Dark Entries" with Butthole Surfer Gibby Haynes as vocalist appeared on the Saw II soundtrack. Haynes joined Jello Biafra, Cheap Trick's Rick Nielsen and Robin Zander, Davíd Garza, and ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons, along with veterans Jourgensen and Owen (now known as Phildo Owen) for 2006's Cocked and Loaded. The album appeared on Jourgensen's 13th Planet label and was the first Revco release to not feature "the Three Guys" on the cover. (allmusic.com)

Technorati tags: Revolting Cocks

XTC. Pt. 4

2007-08-14T10:21:00.001+04:00

Apple Venus, Pt. 1 (1999)

01 - River Of Orchids
02 - I'd Like That
03 - Easter Theatre
04 - Knights In Shining Karma
05 - Frivolous Tonight
06 - Greenman
07 - Your Dictionary
08 - Fruit Nut
09 - I Can't Own Her
10 - Harvest Festival
11 - The Last Balloon
link

Seven years is a long time between records, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that Apple Venus is a significant step forward from Nonsuch, but the sparse strings and circular arrangements of "River of Orchids" nevertheless come as a shock, especially since its slow build-up feels as ominous and intellectual as 20th century classical music. It provides the keynote for the album, setting the stage for an ambitious, unpredictable, and strangely beautiful record. Although there are similarities with the pastoral Skylarking or parts of Nonsuch, there is really no comparable record in XTC's canon, given its sustained mood, experimentalism, and glimpses of confession. Colin Moulding wrote the brightest tunes on the record, and while the bouncy "Frivolous Tonight" and "Fruit Nut" will be endearing to any longtime XTC fan, they don't fit the tone of Apple Venus, which feels like an Andy Partridge solo album -- not just a confessional, but a grand outpouring of ideas. Partridge insisted that Apple Venus be released in two parts -- Gregory left partially because he believed the album would be stronger if it was consolidated to one record -- presumably because all his songs on Pt. 1 are of a piece, sharing similar lyrical and musical themes. Split between orchestral and acoustic pop, Apple Venus is alternately lush and melancholy, sometimes within one song. Some of Partridge's darkest work is here, such as the vindictive "Your Dictionary," yet the album overall has a hopeful note -- the perfect aural encapsulation of their long, bitter struggle of the '90s. The strike was frustrating for the band and fans alike, but perhaps the extended layoff paid off in sharpening Partridge's focus, since Apple Venus, Pt. 1 easily ranks as one of XTC's greatest works.

Wasp Star [Apple Venus, Pt. 2] (2000)

01 - Playground
02 - Stupidly Happy
03 - In Another Life
04 - My Brown Guitar
05 - Boarded Up
06 - I'm The Man Who Murdered Love
07 - We're All Light
08 - Standing In For Joe
09 - Wounded Horse
10 - You And The Clouds Will Still Be Beautiful
11 - Church Of Women
12 - The Wheel And The Maypole
link

Anyone expecting Wasp Star: Apple Venus, Vol. 2 to continue the majestic acoustic-orchestral blends of Apple Venus will be disappointed, because it's a straightforward collection of sharp, witty, well-constructed pop songs. Directness is perhaps the oddest thing about Wasp Star - it's unassuming pop from a band that operated on a conceptual plain for nearly 20 years. It could be argued that all the songs that fit a dark, introspective mood went to Apple Venus, XTC's first album after seven years in exile, while Wasp Star wound up as a clearinghouse for everything else. If that is true, it ignores a basic fact -- XTC's leftovers are better than most band's keepers. "Leftovers" isn't quite an accurate term, either. These songs are orphans, tunes without a particular project, which may mean that Wasp Star is an album of moments, but there's plenty to cherish here. Colin Moulding is in fine shape, with the spare "Boarded Up" and the clever "Standing in for Joe." Andy Partridge has a few tricks up his sleeve -- his compositions are heavy on electric guitars, he builds "Wounded Horse" around a blues riff, and "You and the Clouds Will Still Be Beautiful" is just about the breeziest thing he's ever written -- but for the most part, he's in pop craftsman mode, turning out expert, layered tunes that may not push his talents but certainly exploit his capabilities to their fullest. After all, most pop bands would give their eyeteeth to have songs as smart, melodic, and memorable as "Playground," "Stupidly Happy," "My Brown Guitar" and "I'm the Man Who Murdered Love" as their orphans -- and if these constitute an average XTC album, that's a testament to what a terrific band they are. (allmusic.com)

Technorati tags: XTC

XTC. Pt. 3

2007-08-13T15:32:00.001+04:00

Skylarking (1986)

01 - Summer`s Cauldron
02 - Grass
03 - The Meeting Place
04 - That's Really Super, Supergirl
05 - Ballet For A Rainy Day
06 - 1000 Umbrellas
07 - Season Cycle
08 - Earn Enough For Us
09 - Big Day
10 - Another Satellite
11 - The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul
12 - Dear God
13 - Dying
14 - Sacrificial Bonfire
link

Working with producer Todd Rundgren didn't necessarily bring XTC a sense of sonic cohesion -- after all, every record since English Settlement followed its own interior logic -- but it did help the group sharpen its focus, making Skylarking its tightest record since Drums and Wires. Ironically, Skylarking had little to do with new wave and everything to do with the lush, post-psychedelic pop of the Beatles and Beach Boys. Combining the charming pastoral feel of Mummer with the classicist English pop of The Big Express, XTC expand their signature sound by enhancing their intelligently melodic pop with graceful, lyrical arrangements and sweeping, detailed instrumentation. Rundgren may have devised the sequencing, helping the record feel like a song cycle even if it doesn't play like one, but what really impresses is the consistency and depth of Andy Partridge's and Colin Moulding's songs. Each song is a small gem, marrying sweet, catchy melodies to decidedly adult lyrical themes, from celebrations of love ("Grass") and marriage ("Big Day") to skepticism about maturation ("Earn Enough for Us") and religion ("Dear God"). Moulding's songs complement Partridge's songs better than before, and each writer is at a melodic and lyrical peak, which Rundgren helps convey with his supple production. The result is a pop masterpiece -- an album that has great ambitions and fulfills them with ease. [The initial release of Skylarking didn't feature "Dear God," which was originally the B-side of "Grass." After "Dear God" became an unexpected hit, "Mermaid Smile" was pulled from the album so the hit single could be added.]

Oranges & Lemons (1989)

01 - Garden Of Earthly Delights
02 - Mayor Of Simpleton
03 - King For A Day
04 - Here Comes President Kill Again
05 - The Loving
06 - Poor Skeleton Steps Out
07 - One Of The Millions
08 - Scarecrow People
09 - Merely A Man
10 - Cynical Days
11 - Across This Antheap
12 - Hold Me My Daddy
13 - Pink Thing
14 - Miniature Sun
15 - Chalkhills And Children
link (part_1 part_2)

Skylarking was an ambitious yet concise record, one that recalled such graceful concept albums as Pet Sounds and Sgt. Pepper, so it wasn't entirely a surprise that XTC embraced psychedelia on its double-album follow-up, Oranges & Lemons, especially if their celebrated Dukes of Stratosphear side project was taken into consideration as well. Oranges & Lemons lacks the singular focus of Skylarking, but at its best, it's just as impressive as its predecessor. Instead of revelling in the form of psychedelic pop, as they did with the Dukes, XTC bring the genre's sensibility to the mature pop of Skylarking, spiking it with a wry, occasionally absurd sense of humor missing from its predecessor. The result is a record exploding with details, not the least of which are backward guitars, sound effects, and head-spinningly eclectic arrangements. It's sonically rich and filled with immaculately crafted songs, but Oranges & Lemons falls just short of being a tour de force, since each song feels like an island -- they work well as individual tracks, but they don't form a cohesive statement. However, that's a minor complaint, because Colin Moulding and Andy Partridge in particular are in peak form, contributing some of their very finest songs in "Garden of Earthly Delights," "The Loving," "One of the Millions," "Merely a Man," "Pink Thing," and the elegiac "Chalkhills and Children." Such songs make the relative weaknesses of the album well worth enduring.

Nonsuch (1992)

01 - The Ballad Of Peter Pumpkinhead
02 - My Bird Performs
03 - Dear Madam Barnum
04 - Humble Daisy
05 - The Smartfelt Monkeys
06 - The Disappointed
07 - Holly Up On Poppy
08 - Crocodile
09 - Rook
10 - Omnibus
11 - That Wave
12 - Then She Appeared
13 - War Dance
14 - Wrapped In Grey
15 - The Ugly Underneath
16 - Bungalow
17 - Books Are Burning

link (part_1 part_2)

Since Skylarking, each XTC album was carefully composed and crafted, and Nonsuch is no different. Working with producer Gus Dudgeon (Elton John), XTC crafted their most immaculate album to date with Nonsuch. A measured and reflective record, recalling the Beach Boys more than the Beatles, the album retains some of their late-'80s psychedelic flourishes, but those have been integrated into an elaborate, lush pop setting that falls somewhere between Skylarking and Oranges & Lemons. While it lacks the thematic unity of Skylarking, as well as the grandstanding eclecticism of Oranges & Lemons, Nonsuch is in many ways more musically consistent, presenting a set of 17 wonderfully detailed and immediately catchy pop songs, ranging from the relatively rocking "The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead" to the sweet "Holly up on Poppy." Occasionally, the album dips slightly lyrically -- Colin Moulding's "The Smartest Monkeys" and "War Dance" are a little too preachy -- but never musically, making Nonsuch a modest, minor masterpiece. (allmusic.com)

Technorati tags: XTC

XTC. Pt. 2

2007-08-11T09:53:00.001+04:00

English Settlement (1982)

01 - Runaways
02 - Ball And Chain
03 - Senses Working Overtime
04 - Jason And The Argonauts
05 - No Thugs In Our House
06 - Yacht Dance
07 - All Of A Sudden (It's Too Late)
08 - Melt The Guns
09 - Leisure
10 - It's Nearly Africa
11 - Knuckle Down
12 - Fly On The Wall
13 - Down In The Cockpit
14 - English Roundabout
15 - Snowman
link (part_1 part_2)

Andy Partridge's discovery of the 12-string guitar set the tone for English Settlement, an album that moved away from the pop gloss of Black Sea in favor of lighter, though still rhythmically heavy, acoustic numbers with more complex and intricate instrumentation. There are plenty of pop gems -- "Senses Working Overtime" stands as one of their finest songs -- but the main focus seems to be the more expansive sound; most of the songs are drawn out to near-epic length, ultimately taking some of the impact of the songs away. Despite several terrific tracks, English Settlement seems more a transitional album than anything else, although the textural sound of the album is quite remarkable, indicating the direction they would take in their post-touring incarnation.

Mummer (1983)

01 - Beating Of Hearts
02 - Wonderland
03 - Love On A Farmboy's Wages
04 - Great Fire
05 - Deliver Us From The Elements
06 - Human Alchemy
07 - Ladybird
08 - In Loving Memory Of A Name
09 - Me And The Wind
10 - Funk Pop A Roll
11 - Frost Circus
12 - Jump
13 - Toys
14 - Gold
15 - Procession Towards Learning Land
16 - Desert Island
link (part_1 part_2)

Mummer, the first album to follow Andy Partridge's mental breakdown, which led to XTC's retirement from touring, is very much the work of an eccentric in isolation. The album is a collection that builds on the groundwork of English Settlement with gentle, acoustic songs that evoke pastoral images and peaceful times. There are moments of real inspiration, resulting in some of the band's finest songs to date -- "Love on a Farmboy's Wages," "Great Fire," and "Lady Bird" -- and the sound sets a pleasingly consistent mood, although the sameness tends to work against the lesser material. Only the out-of-place afterthought of "Funk Pop a Roll," a tirade against the music industry, breaks things up, recapturing the abrasive Partridge of past. [When Mummer was reissued on CD, six tracks were added to the middle of the album. While "Jump," "Toys," and "Desert Island" are welcome additions of pop confection, the atmospheric instrumentals "Frost Circus" and "Processions Toward the Learning Land," from the simply bizarre Homo Safari Series, serve to disrupt the album's flow.]

The Big Express (1984)

01 - Wake Up
02 - All You Pretty Girls
03 - Shake You Donkey Up
04 - Seagulls Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her
05 - This World Over
06 - The Everyday Story Of Smalltown
07 - I Bought Myself A Liarbird
08 - Reign Of Blows
09 - You're The Wish You Are I Had
10 - I Remember The Sun
11 - Train Running Low On Soul Coal
12 - Red Brick Dream
13 - Wash Away
14 - Blue Overall
link (part_1 part_2)

XTC took full advantage of their studio-bound status with The Big Express, creating their most painstakingly detailed, multi-layered, sonically dynamic album to date. The more upbeat material and brighter sound recall some of the band's earlier moments, but most of all, The Big Express signals a turning point for the band, setting the blueprint for their later approach -- a combination of studio perfection matched with impeccable songcraft that results in a thoroughly consistent and enjoyable album beginning to end. Skylarking, the album that followed, gets much more glory, and certainly its impact was greater (this one was virtually ignored), but really, The Big Express covers much of the same territory and is just as strong an album in many ways. [Three songs were added to the middle of the CD reissue -- "Red Brick Dream," "Washaway," and "Blue Overall" -- but they fit seamlessly into the complete picture.] (allmusic.com)

Technorati tags: XTC

XTC. Pt. 1

2007-08-09T10:48:00.001+04:00

White Music (1978)

01 - Radios In Motion
02 - Cross Wires
03 - This Is Pop
04 - Do What You Do
05 - Statue Of Liberty
06 - All Along The Watchtower
07 - Into The Atomic Age
08 - I'll Set Myself On Fire
09 - I'm Bugged
10 - New Town Animal In A Furnished Cage
11 - Spinning Top
12 - Neon Shuffle
13 - Science Fiction
14 - She's So Square
15 - Dance Band
16 - Hang Onto The Night
17 - Heatwave
18 - Traffic Light Rock
19 - Instant Tunes
link

XTC's first full album, White Music shows the band going full-throttle in true punk spirit. More dissonant than their latter period, the young band shines with directionless energy and a good sense of humor. Highlights include the catchy singles "This Is Pop" and "Radios in Motion" as well as a jumpy version of "All Along the Watchtower." Their first release, 3D EP, has been appended to the CD version.

Drums and Wires (1980)

01 - Making Plans For Nigel
02 - Helicopter
03 - Day In Day Out
04 - When You're Near Me I Have Difficulty
05 - Ten Feet Tall
06 - Roads Girdle The Globe
08 - Chain Of Command
09 - Limelight
10 - Real By Reel
11 - Millions
12 - That Is The Way
13 - Outside World
14 - Scissor Man
15 - Complicated Game
link

The album that followed the lineup change, Drums and Wires, marks a turning point for the band, with a more subdued set of songs that reflect an increasing songwriting proficiency. The aimless energy of the first two albums is focused into a cohesive statement with a distinctive voice that retains their clever humor, quirky wordplay, and decidedly British flavor. Musically, Drums and Wires, titled to reflect the big drum sound they developed for the album, is certainly driven by the powerful rhythms and angular, mainly minimalistic arrangements, but the addition of a second guitarist also allows for some inventive and interesting guitar work (the "wires") that made up for the lack of Andrews' odd flourishes -- the tension between the two sounds creates some truly inspired, nervy pop. Colin Moulding also comes into his own as a songwriter, penning XTC's first substantial hit, the new wave classic "Making Plans for Nigel." [The CD reissue contains tracks from the bonus single originally included with the LP -- "Limelight" and "Chain of Command" -- as well as "Life Begins at the Hop."]

Black Sea (1980)

01 - Respectable Street
02 - General And Majors
03 - Living Through Another Cuba
04 - Love At First Sight
05 - Rocket From A Bottle
06 - No Language In Our Lungs
07 - Smokeless Zone
08 - Don't Lose Your Temper
09 - The Somnambulist
10 - Towers Of London
11 - Paper & Iron (Notes & Coins)
12 - Burning With Optimism's Flames
13 - Sgt. Rock (Is Going To Help Me)
14 - Travels In Nihilon
link (part_1 part_2)

XTC continue on with the big drum sound of Drums and Wires, adding more polish and an even heavier-hitting approach for Black Sea -- their arrangements are fuller and they rock harder than ever before. Where Drums and Wires implied social commentary, Black Sea more directly addresses sociopolitical concerns, handling them not strictly in a theoretical sense, but rather showing a human response to the circumstances. Of course, the band's skewed outlook and mid-'60s pop sense keeps things from becoming too heavy -- included are some of their finest songs, like "Respectable Street," "Generals and Majors," and "Towers of London," as well as the thoroughly enjoyable pop fluff throwaway "Sgt. Rock (Is Going to Help Me)" to keep the mood light. All in all, there isn't a bad song in the bunch -- Black Sea is their most consistent album to date -- and although XTC always operated on the fringes, the album is their most commercial-sounding, fitting in perfectly with the new wave of the late '70s/early '80s. [The 1987 CD reissue adds three tracks -- "Smokeless Zone," "Don't Lose Your Temper," and "The Somnambulist" -- to the middle of the album. And while the extras are welcomed (especially "Don't Lose Your Temper"), they really should have been tacked on to the end rather than disrupting the original.] (allmusic.com)

Technorati tags: XTC

Pelican

2007-08-08T11:16:00.001+04:00

Australasia (2003)

01 - Nightendday
02 - Drought
03 - Angel Tears
04 - GW
05 - Untitled
06 - Australasia
link (part_1 part_2)

Although they already released a self-titled EP that was longer than many bands' regular albums, Australasia is the first official full-length by Chicago art-metal instrumentalists Pelican. It's maybe too easy to draw comparisons to Isis, especially since that band's Aaron Turner signed them and released this album on his label, but there are similarities: the layered guitars, the sense of dynamics, and the expansive, slowly unfolding songwriting approach. One major difference is that while Isis uses vocals, sparingly at least, Pelican don't use any vocals. Another difference is that their songs actually veer into major keys for extended periods. Still, there is plenty of darker minor-key riffing as well, the band splitting the difference between Sabbath-Melvins-Neurosis-style heaviness and more post-rock epic tendencies. This CD has six tracks, clocking in at around eight or nine minutes apiece, and apart from one acoustic guitar/piano interlude, there's not a huge deal of variety over the course of the album. They do basically one thing, but they do it well. Australasia will likely please most aficionados of Hydra Head's growing roster of "instru-metal" talents, as well as that subset of indie/post-rock listeners who are interested in metal/hardcore music but tend to dislike the vocals.

The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw (2005)

01 - Last Day Of Winter
02 - Autumn Into Summer
03 - March To The Sea
04 -
05 - Red Ran Amber
06 - Aurora Borealis
07 - Sirius
link (part_1 part_2)

A new style of metal rose in the early 21st century; one that was light on the vocals and heavy on the instrumentals. But it certainly wasn't your dad's familiar metal instrumental -- prog-like overindulgence gave way to sounds alternating between dreamy soundscapes and crushing riffs -- as evidenced by groups like Pelican. On the group's second full-length for Hydra Head, 2005's The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw, Pelican introduce a new texture to its sonic palette: acoustic guitars. But those expecting a full-on flamenco guitar concerto will have to look elsewhere, as they're used sparingly. The phrase "the type of album you have to listen to all the way through" seems custom-made for the moody and atmospheric Fire, as it really is a sort of aural roller coaster. With the same stylistic thread running throughout many of the album's seven tracks, individual standouts are hard to pinpoint, but if push came to shove, you can't go wrong with the epic album opener, "Last Day of Winter."

City of Echoes (2007)

01 - Bliss in Concrete
02 - City of Echoes
03 - Spaceship Broken-Parts Needed
04 - Winds With Hands
05 - Dead Between the Walls
06 - Lost in the Headlights
07 - Far From Fields
08 - A Delicate Sense of Balance

link

The nearly rabid critical acclaim that followed Pelican's debut full-length, Australasia, in 2003 and the sludge and blast of 2005's The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw (both on Aaron Turner's Hydra Head imprint) has been both blessing and curse for the band upon the release of 2007's City of Echoes. In other words, there is a tension surrounding the album's release that creates a make-or-break situation among fans and critics. While the recordings have some similar traits -- they are the same band, after all -- City of Echoes moves off the dock into sonic waters they've not entered before. Playing a guitar-saturated brand of extreme music is fraught with obstacles at this juncture -- especially after the nearly incessant touring that followed Fire and exposed them to so many people who had never heard them before and ratcheted up the underground culture's level of desire for something bigger and better. Pelican have done the only things they could do under these circumstances: shut the door on the outside world, take a rest, and figure out new ways of writing -- they pull out the stops by using craft and restraint to write actual "songs." It's a left turn, admittedly, but ultimately one that works. For starters, the tunes are shorter than on previous offerings -- the longest thing here is the title cut, which is just a shade over seven minutes. The band's rhythm section has been criticized, particularly drummer Larry Herweg for his thudding, previously metronomic style (some who only heard recordings thought Pelican used a drum machine -- ouch!). Here, Herweg is allowed a far greater range of expression, and actually plays against the beat in places, seeming to be out of time, while creating a new space for the guitars to enter in terms of tempo and texture. Elsewhere, the melodies Pelican built into their chugging riff style have been accented to create a more taut sense of dynamics.
The title cut begins with a nearly sweet, lithe guitar melody played by Trevor DeBrauw and countered by "rhythm" guitarist Laurent Schroeder-Lebec; when the power switches on at the minute mark, the collision erupts but a different melody counters the riff. These two guitarists play very different things, moving toward each other, almost in counterpoint -- which they actually do elsewhere. Schroeder-Lebec must know the entire history of metal; the riffing he employs is sheer power tempered by glam-metal's sense of lyric and delivery. DeBrauw works his lines in like a knife edge to balance the equation as bassist Bryan Herweg walks the tightrope between. There is movement -- plenty of it, in fact, from loud to soft or vice versa and back again. The one-note piano line that commences "Spaceship Broken -- Parts Needed" is weighted by Bryan's bassline (and he even gets a low drone so distorted, fuzzed-up, and over-amped it feels like punishment) as the guitarists enter with repetitive melodics and subtly reverbed chord figures. The backbeat presence of Larry Herweg's snare and kick drum offers the only clue that something else is about to happen, and it does. It erupts out the very same riff and roils and curdles along fretboards and near blastbeats. The acoustic guitars introduced sparingly on Fire are back, but they have a solid presence here, more than as ephemera. The track "Winds with Hands" forgoes the rhythm section altogether. Both guitarists begin on acoustics, weaving melodic patterns that are trancelike and intricate (think the Jimmy Page intro to "Going to California" and "Over the Hills and Far Away" to get a hint), and gradually evolve into others. They give way as DeBrauw brings a high-pitched electric into the mix somewhere and transforms the cut in its intensity, as volume and lyric melody become the foreground to counter once again. It's beautiful and dark, seductive and forbidding, all at the same time. The sheer bass sludge that kicks off "Dead Between the Walls" is all poison, louder than God. When the guitarists enter, Schroeder-Lebec think he's in Judas Priest (Hell Bent for Leather era), riffing his ass off when DeBrauw drops some evil lead line to counter -- nope, not a solo. It crackles along in a surge until it transforms itself at the midpoint into...one of the best surprises here.
The aggression that began on the album's opener, "Bliss in Concrete," continues with the heavy metal riffing that commences "Lost in the Headlights." We are talking heavy-duty late-'70s/early-'80s metal with a Pelican twist. The lead lines are knotty and confounding, so the rhythm section needs to be circular. Schroeder-Lebec is an awesome rhythm guitarist. His sense of time is truly refreshing. The album ends in the most puzzling manner possible with the slowly evolving low-tuned drone of Bryan's bassline and acoustic and electric guitars that shimmer and shape a sparse melody, so gradually and elegantly that it's hard to believe this is the closing tune. It has its moments of power, but the record whispers, rather than blasts, to a close. It may dishearten some fans, but anyone who digs into the bone marrow of City of Echoes will understand that this is a real stepping stone for Pelican. As a band they've refused to take the easy way out or paint themselves into a corner or play to expectations. They've moved forward without losing sight of what makes them unique, and by doing so, they've moved the entire instrumental heavy music genre forward as well. Some underground conservatives may claim "sellout," whatever that means, but Pelican have ensured that they have a new path of exploration open to them -- perhaps several simultaneously. A backlash may occur, but it's critically groundless. The craft and care put into City of Echoes is a breath of fresh air and puts them back into a musically territorial space all their own. (allmusic.com)

Technorati tags: Pelican

Against Me!

2007-08-06T10:41:00.001+04:00

New Wave (2007)

01 - New Wave
02 - Up The Cuts
03 - Thrash Unreal
04 - White People For Peace
05 - Stop!
06 - Borne On The Fm Waves Of The Heart
07 - Piss And Vinegar
08 - American Abroad
09 - Animal
10 - The Ocean
link

There is a legion of Against Me! fans who want only for the band's music to sound exactly as it did on Reinventing Axl Rose -- scrappy punk/folk and nothing else. But with as talented a songwriter as Tom Gabel leading the way, it's ridiculous to think that the band would be satisfied complying. Growth is necessary; change is inevitable. In the case of New Wave, different doesn't automatically mean bad. As their first album on major label Sire, it's a straight-up rock record. Especially thanks to Butch Vig in the production seat, New Wave is crisp, direct, and sharp. It's clean, but not glossy; it's defiant; it's brash; it's heartfelt. And while it's true that New Wave doesn't initially hit with the same force as prior albums, a few spins later and the record has found its footing and sinks in brilliantly. Though the sound is not raw and gritty like those early days, the passion behind the songs is the exact same. There is a real sense of frustration guiding these tracks -- with society, with the music scene -- but as the title track incites, "We can be the bands we wanna hear/We can define our own generation," Against Me! shows resilience. The catchy bounce-step of songs like "Up the Cuts" and "Stop!" (one of their danciest numbers yet) recognizes the hollowness of fame and hype, and the former's probing "Are you restless like me?" is as urgent a plea as you'll hear on record this year. Lead single "White People for Peace" brilliantly acknowledges both the need for and futility of protest songs, one of many instances that prove that despite sonic changes, Gabel's tongue has only sharpened. Overall, the concise ten-song set is the most direct batch of songs Against Me! has written thus far, yet the band constantly mixes things up, as in the meditative closer, "The Ocean," the dark, fuzzed-out anti-romanticism of "Animal," and the realization of love faded in the arresting duet between Gabel and Tegan Quin (of Tegan and Sara) in "Borne on the FM Waves of the Heart." New Wave is over way too soon, but the vitality rippling through every barked word is electric and makes up for all left behind on the cutting room floor. It just means you can press repeat that much sooner. Signing to Sire didn't make the band sellouts -- especially not when the music is still delivered with as much steadfast conviction and genuine emotion as it is. Who knows where they'll go next, but as for the 2000s, Against Me! remains one of the most exciting and significant bands operating in punk. (allmusic.com)

Technorati tags: Against Me!

Broken Social Scene

2007-08-06T10:18:00.001+04:00

Feel Good Lost (2001)

01 I Slept With Bonhomme At The CBC
02 Guilty Cubicles
03 Love And Mathematics
04 Passport Radio
05 Alive In 85
06 Prison Province
07 Blues For Uncle Gibb
08 Stomach Song
09 Mossbraker
10 Feel Good Lost
11 Last Place
12 Cranley's Gonna Make It

link

Broken Social Scene cast an abstract web of dream pop, shoegaze, and indie rock for their debut album, Feel Good Lost. Essentially, it's an album of instrumentals. The title itself hints at the collective's effort in composing a lush soundscape of strings, brass, guitars, and pianos with an added dash of electronic beats. Songs such as "Guilty Cubicles" and "Blues for Uncle Gibb" alone showcase the band's well-crafted mind trip. For a first album, though, Broken Social Scene's care in allowing each song to breathe without the constructs of fancy production and contrived lyrics is what makes the dozen-track selection so impressive. It's expressive without expressing too much. Broken Social Scene leave it up to the mixture of instruments to draw upon some kind of palette. From the layered warbling of "Stomach Song" to the majestic horn arrangements of the gossamer "Passport Radio," the intricacies of Feel Good Lost find a band focused on creating an inventive style of music as well as a group that is insanely ambitious. It might not catch on with indie rock fans right away and it will most likely be an overlooked debut, but its breadth shows promise. (allmusic.com)

You Forgot It in People (2002)

01 Capture The Flag
02 KC Accidental
03 Stars And Sons
04 Almost Crimes
05 Looks Just Like The Sun
06 Pacific Theme
07 Anthems For A Seventeen Year - Old Girl
08 Cause = Time
09 Late Night Bedroom Rock For The Missionaries
10 Shampoo Suicide
11 Lover's Spit
12 I'm Still Your Fag
13 Pitter Patter Goes My Heart

link (part_1 part_2)

Since the release of Feel Good Lost, Toronto music collective Broken Social Scene became a bit more collective, swelling from two members to ten (plus guests). As you'd expect with such a dramatic rise in membership, there's a lot more variety this time out -- the first two tracks are a case in point, in fact: the first track is a fairly airy instrumental number with a Mark Isham-like feel, but track two slams it off the rails with a driving beat and wailing guitars. Main members Brendan Canning and Kevin Drew even sing this time around (on "Cause = Time" Drew sounds almost like J Mascis); Leslie Feist and Emily Haines take their turns on other tracks. According to one of the members of this incarnation of the group, trying to not "who did what" on this album would be almost an entire review in itself, as everyone took turns playing different instruments on different tracks and the whole thing was built from the ground up in a very collective fashion. Although listeners who found the first Broken Social Scene release a nice ambient pop treat may be put off by this one's all-over-the-map approach, it's certainly a much more accessible release overall and there's bound to be something in here that you'll enjoy. (allmusic.com)

Broken Social Scene (2005)

01 Our Faces Split The Coast In Half
02 Ibi Dreams Of Pavement (A Better Day)
03 7/4 (Shoreline)
04 Finish Your Collapse And Stay For Breakfast
05 Major Label Debut
06 Fire Eye'd Boy
07 Windsurfing Nation
08 Swimmers
09 Hotel
10 Handjobs For The Holidays
11 Superconnected
12 Bandwitch
13 Tremoloa Debut
14 It's All Gonna Break

link (part_1 part_2)

In Canada, Broken Social Scene is somewhat of a phenomenon. Since wooing fans and critics alike with their 2003 Juno Award-winning album You Forgot It in People, the band's peculiar popularity has made them stars. The community that surrounds the 15-member-plus band is a family-like atmosphere with its many Canadian artists and musicians. When listening to Broken Social Scene, you also get the individual sounds of Feist, Stars, Memphis, Metric, and Apostle of Hustle, among others. It's camaraderie and education combined. The lush dynamic that carries Broken Social Scene's self-titled third effort is definitely built upon that. The 14-song set is as bright and moving as the band's previous efforts, but Broken Social Scene holds more charisma, more depth, and surely more complexities. The mix isn't messy in conventional terms. It's artistically untidy without production boundaries. Album opener "Our Faces Split the Coast in Half," which features the Dears' Murray Lightburn, makes a grand entrance with its polished horn arrangements, tight guitar riffs, and hypnotic harmonies. Additional standouts include indie rock moments such as "7/4 (Shoreline)" and the nervy "Fire Eye'd Boy." Handclaps and crowd chatter dosie-do with a sharp rock aesthetic on "Windsurfing Nation," which was the original title. Here, Toronto rapper K-Os and Feist vocally find their way through this majestic cinematic backdrop for one of its finest songs. From here, Broken Social Scene is a simply a rush of mini epics: "Handjobs for the Holidays," "Superconnected," and album closer "It's All Gonna Break" (this could have been a Nada Surf song) showcase how smart, creative, and brilliant this band truly is. Broken Social Scene are more than a collective; they're an orchestra for both the slacker generation and the literati. (allmusic.com)

Technorati tags: Broken Social Scene

Anthrax

2007-08-05T09:54:00.001+04:00

Armed and Dangerous (1985)

01 - Armed And Dangerous (Studio)
02 - Raise Hell (Studio)
03 - God Save The Queen (Studio - Non Lp)
04 - Metal Thrashing Mad (Live)
05 - Panic (Live)
06 - Soldiers Of Metal (Collector's Rare Track)
07 - Howling Furies (Collector's Rare Track)

link

Before they started incorporating hardcore punk and rap into their thrash sound, Anthrax pumped out Iron Maiden-inspired metal that only hinted at their future. With the album split between vocalists Neil Turbin and Joey Belladonna, one can see why the latter got to keep his job. Turbin's high-register yelp is an acquired taste, lacking the emphasis that the material needs. He can hit the notes, but he lacks the presence that would make Belladonna more effective. Luckily, he is only present on the last two tracks, which were not originally on the album but made it onto the CD release. Belladonna's clear wail would be more suited to power metal à la Helloween, but it was his voice that also differentiated Anthrax from their thrash contemporaries. This is his first recorded appearance, and he displays more personality and range on his five songs than most of his post-1986 output. Giving the cover of "God Save the Queen" a sarcastic snarl, unleashing his banshee wail on the title track, making the remakes of "Metal Thrashing Mad" and "Panic" twice as good: these are the reasons why he was the obvious choice for their '80s material. It would be years before the band's direction clashed with Belladonna's abilities, but here they found the perfect singer for what they were doing at the time. It may not be their best work, and they may have even started the annoying trend of heavy metal Sex Pistols covers, but Armed and Dangerous was the first sign that the band was going to be one of the major forces in the emerging speed metal scene.

Spreading the Disease (1985)

01 - A.I.R.
02 - Lone Justice
03 - Madhouse
04 - S.S.C. /Stand Or Fall
05 - The Enemy
06 - Aftershock
07 - Armed And Dangerous
08 - Medusa
09 - Gung-Ho
link

Anthrax's first album with vocalist Joey Belladonna is a huge leap forward, featuring strongly rhythmic, pounding riffs and vocals that alternate between hardcore-type shouting and surprising amounts of melody. Two tracks left over from the Dan Lilker days are here as well. The traditional metal lyrical fare is more original, while also introducing a penchant for paying tribute to favorite fictional characters and pop culture artifacts ("Lone Justice" and "Medusa" are prime examples). One of Anthrax's best efforts.

Among the Living (1987)

01 - Among The Living
02 - Caught In A Mosh
03 - I Am The Law
04 - Efilnikufesin (N.F.L)
05 - A Skeleton In The Closet
06 - Indians
07 - One World
08 - A.D.I./Horror Of It All
09 - Imitation Of Life

link (part_1 part_2)

Generally considered the band's best album, Among the Living broadened the scope of Anthrax's subject matter with socially conscious lyrics addressing prejudice, violence, drug abuse ("Efilnikufesin [N.F.L.]," a rip on John Belushi), and the hollowness of the music business, as well as a politically correct ode to the "Indians." However, the band refuses to take itself too seriously, also recording tributes to Stephen King and Judge Dredd. Musically, the band delivers a powerful, aggressive roar driven by impossibly fast riffing and the changing tempos and collectively shouted vocals of hardcore, especially on the classic "Caught in a Mosh." The brutal rhythm guitar work of Scott Ian and the explosive drumming of Charlie Benante relentlessly push the songs along while still maintaining a solid groove, and more than make up for some lyrical awkwardness. Among the Living remains arguably Anthrax's foremost achievement. (allmusic.com)

Technorati tags: Anthrax

Happy Mondays. New

2007-08-03T18:22:00.001+04:00

Uncle Dysfunktional (2007)

01 - Jellybean
02 - Angels & Whores
03 - Deviants
04 - Rats With Wings
05 - Cuntry Disco
06 - In The Blood
07 - Anti Warhole On The Dancefloor
08 - Rush Rush
09 - Uncle Dysfunktional
10 - Dr Dick
11 - Weather
link

Along with the Stone Roses, Happy Mondays were the leaders of the late-'80s/early-'90s dance club-influenced Manchester scene, experiencing a brief moment in the spotlight before collapsing in 1992. While the Stone Roses were based in '60s pop, adding only a slight hint of dance music, Happy Mondays immersed themselves in the club and rave culture, eventually becoming the most recognizable band of that drug-fueled scene. The Mondays' music relied heavily on the sound and rhythm of house music, spiked with '70s soul licks and swirling '60s psychedelia. It was bright, colorful music that had fractured melodies that never quite gelled into cohesive songs.
Unwittingly or not, Happy Mondays personified the ugly side of rave culture. They were thugs, purely and simply -- they brought out the latent violence that lay beneath the surface of any drug culture, even one as seemingly beatific as England's late-'80s/early-'90s rave scene. Under the leadership of vocalist Shaun Ryder, the group sounded and acted like thugs, especially in comparison with their peace-loving peers, the Stone Roses. Ryder's lyrics were twisted and surrealistic, loaded with bizarre pop culture references, drug slang, and menacing sexuality. Appropriately, their music was as convoluted. Happy Mondays were one of the first rock bands to integrate hip-hop techniques into their music. They didn't sample, but they borrowed melodies and lyrics and, in the process, committed rock blasphemy. For a band that celebrated their vulgarity and excessiveness, Happy Mondays appropriately were undone by their addictions, but they left behind a surprisingly influential legacy, apparent in everyone from dance bands like the Chemical Brothers to rock & rollers like Oasis.
With their second album, 1988's Bummed, Happy Mondays became British superstars, particularly Ryder. Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches, released in 1990, marked the height of the band's popularity, creativity, and influence; although the record made the Top 100 albums chart in America, it didn't establish them as stars in the U.S. After that, the fall was quick. By the time they released their next studio album, Yes, Please, Manchester had disappeared from public consciousness; it sold respectably, but the group didn't have the commercial impact that they had just two years before. Besides the lack of public interest, Shaun Ryder had become addicted to heroin, tearing the band apart in the process. At a high-level record contract meeting, Ryder walked out for some "Kentucky Fried Chicken," which was the band's slang for heroin. He never returned and the group quickly fell apart.
Ryder and the Mondays' full-time dancer, Bez, re-emerged in the mid-'90s with Black Grape. The band released its critically acclaimed debut, It's Great When You're Straight...Yeah, late in the summer of 1995. Black Grape's sound pursued the same direction as the Mondays, only with a harder, grittier edge to their sound and lyrics. In 2007, 15 years since their last record, the band (minus about half the original members, including guitarist Mark Day) released their fifth studio album, Uncle Dysfunktional. (allmusic.com)

Technorati tags: Happy Mondays

Red Sparowes

2007-08-02T11:43:00.001+04:00

Every Red Heart Shines Toward the Red Sun (2006)

01 - The Great Leap Forward
02 - We Stood Transfixed In Blank Devotion
03 - Like The Howling Glory Of The Darkest Winds
04 - A Message Of Avarice Rained Down
05 - Annihilate The Sparrow
06 - And By Our Own Hand Did Every Last Bird Lie Silent In Their Puddles
07 - Millions Starved
08 - Finally As That Blazing Sun Shone Down Upon Us

link

Red Sparowes play a form of intensified, experimental post-rock with a notable use of pedal steel guitar. The Los Angeles act formed in 2003 and features current and former members of other bands: guitarist Bryant Clifford Meyer (Isis), guitarist Josh Graham (visuals for Neurosis), bassist Greg Burns (Halifax Pier), bassist/guitarist Andy Arahood (Angel Hair), and drummer David Clifford (Pleasure Forever). After recording demos for their debut album, they toured with the Dillinger Escape Plan and Made Out of Babies. Following the departure of original bassist/guitarist Jeff Caxide (Isis) and drummer Dana Berkowitz in late 2004, At the Soundless Dawn was issued in February 2005 through Neurot, home to Neurosis. Red Sparowes toured Europe in spring 2005 and the U.S. later that year with Pelican, Big Business, and Breather Resist. The next album, Every Red Heart Shines Toward the Red Sun, was released in September 2006. (allmusic.com)

Technorati tags: Red Sparowes

Old Man Gloom

2007-08-02T11:31:00.001+04:00

Meditations in B (2000)

01. Afraid Of
02. Flood 1
03. Simian Alien Technology - Message
04. Sonic Wave of Bees
05. Sonar Enlightenment Program
06. Rotten Primate
07. The Exploder Whale
08. Poisoner
09. An Evening at the Gentleman's Club for Apes
10. Vipers
11. Test Results: Alien Ape Distress Signal
12. Flood 2
13. Resolving the De-Evolution Conflict

link

One of the more curious but satisfying side projects of the early 2000s, Old Man Gloom set out on their strange but fascinating journey with 2000's Meditations in B. With its 14 tracks totaling just less than half an hour, the album feels almost more like an EP than proper full-length, yet, musically speaking, it brought enough creative heft not only to establish the group's inscrutable science- and primate-based lyrical preoccupations, but to determine the blueprint for hard/soft sonic extremes to be further played out on subsequent efforts. As such, violent metalcore bursts like "Afraid Of" and "Vipers" come interspersed with equal measures of ambient effects and sound collages ("Simian Alien Technology," "Sonar Enlightenment," etc.), some of them almost too silent to be heard sometimes. Maybe it's the inevitable thoughts of mother band Isis and their all-around "epic-ness" intruding into one's expectations, but, fact is, it's hard not to wish that minute-long gems like "Sonic Wave of Bees" and the all-too-short "Poisoner" had been stretched a little farther for the enjoyment of their awesome riffs. Likewise, all of those quiet snippets and techno bleeps often seem like more of a diversion than enhancement -- no matter how amusing their names ("An Evening at the Gentlemen's Club for Apes," "Test Results: Alien Ape Distress Signal," etc.) or their importance for conceptual continuity clues. Alas, the following year's astounding Seminar II and III better proved that these jarring juxtapositions were part and parcel to OMG's vision -- much like their primordial/futuristic subject matter, perhaps. In any event, Meditations in B is a solid -- not a brilliant -- first step, and should appease those fans who rightly rave over more recent efforts. (allmusic.com)

Seminar II: The Holy Rites of Primitivism Regressi (2001)

01. Brain Returns To Initial State
02. Bells Dark Above Our Heads
03. Branch Breaker
04. Radio Crackles Spill Down My Face
05. Hot Salvation
06. Breath Drops Out In Ice And Glass
07. Rape Athena
08. Road Of The Forest Rose To Thunder
09. Clenched Tight In The Fist Of God
10. Only Dogs Hear (Here)
11. Jaws Of The Lion
12. Smoke Out Load
13. Deserts In Your Eyes
14. Meditation In B Parts V & VI
15. Cinders Of The Simian Psyche
16. Three Ring Ocean Sideshow
17. Mandied (Self- Reborn)

link

Released simultaneously with the single-track Seminar III, this CD plays out as a sort of roller coaster ride, with quiet ambient drones giving way to full-on metalcore assaults (and vice versa) throughout its 17 tracks. The songs themselves are uniformly strong, from the slow, towering riffs of "Hot Salvation" to the Black Sabbath-gone-hardcore grooves of "Jaws of the Lion." Other standouts include "Deserts in Your Eyes," with its soaring, dramatic vocal melody (sung Glen Danzig-style by drummer Santos Montano), and the forlorn acoustic and slide guitar instrumental "Clenched Tight in the Fist of God." In fact, these songs are so consistently well done that they leave one wishing they'd been given more time to develop, as they often seem to end prematurely. At any rate, that's not what the band had in mind, as they've offset these tracks with an equal number of heavily contrasting ambient/drone sections. "Three Ring Ocean Sideshow," which gradually builds from quiet electronic blips and bleeps to a nearly overloaded wall of layered guitar feedback, is a highlight among those quieter moments. On first hearing, this album can seem a bit schizophrenic -- it's really loud and intense one minute, quiet and eerie the next -- so it requires some patience and attentiveness, but it is well worth it, especially if the thought of Neurosis, Earth, Led Zeppelin, and Godflesh holing up in a studio together sounds like an appealing combination. (allmusic.com)

Christmas (2004)

01. Gift
02. Skullstorm
03. Something For The Mrs.
04. Sleeping With Snakes
05. Lukeness Monster
06. 'Tis Better To Receive
07. Accord-o-Matic
08. The Volcano
09. Close Your Eyes, Roll Back Into Your Head
10. Girth And Greed
11. Sonic Dust
12. Valhalla
13. Christmas Eve Parts I, II, And III (Alt. Version)

link (part_1 part_2)

By the release of Old Man Gloom's third long-player, Christmas, in late 2004, their fans knew exactly what to expect: violent emotional release through impossibly heavy yet, at the same time, strangely beautiful explosions of post-metalcore firepower, interspersed with the mounting tension brought on by conversely peaceful stretches of ambient/electronic near silence. In other words, you don't have to be a musical masochist to love OMG, but it sure does help. Maybe it's the harsh disparities in volume from song to song, which make the use of headphones almost mandatory, or perhaps the disappointing brevity of so many positively stunning compositions (cruelly snatched away like candy from a child, after just a few licks), compounded with the knowledge that had they fallen under the aegis of sister band Isis, these hypnotic wonders would have been stretched almost indefinitely. Whatever the reason, chances are listeners old and new will be grinding their teeth in frustration during initial exposures to the self-proclaimed "Simian Alien Defense League's" latest musical thesis, which, incidentally, once again discusses man's relationship with his simian ancestors -- albeit in less obvious terms than its two-part predecessors Seminar II and III. But enough with the setup, let's move on to the pain/pleasure of the music itself, shall we? Mournful acoustic guitars introduce the steady climb toward sonic catharsis that is opener "Gift," after which the listener is pretty much locked into the aforementioned, vertiginous roller coaster ride between loud and soft dynamic movements through to the album's conclusion. Analyzing the peaks and valleys separately: fierce outbursts like "Sleeping With Snakes" and "Girth and Greed" capture a condensed intensity not heard since the demise of Memphis' incomparable His Hero Is Gone, while the growling bass prominent in "'Tis Better to Receive" and the aptly named "The Volcano" make them sound like bite-sized Neurosis chunks. As for the mellow bits, special kudos must go to the pulsing organ in "Lukeness Monster," the desolate, grainy, sitar-like sounds of "Close Your Eyes, Roll Back Into Your Head," and the almost conventional arrangement and mournful acoustic guitars of "Sonic Dust." Finally capping the whole enterprise is the multi-sectioned title track, which, thankfully, wasn't saved for a separate EP this time (thanks guys!) and, with each repeated listen, invariably draws the listener -- ragged senses and all -- right back to the start for one more round of punishment. Which is to reiterate the point that Christmas, like every Old Man Gloom effort, requires a fair bit patience before it reveals its unorthodox secrets; but is virtually guaranteed to reward open-minded music fans willing to put in the time. (allmusic.com)

Technorati tags: Old Man Gloom

Isis. Pt. 2

2007-08-01T13:25:00.001+04:00

Oceanic (2002)

01 The Beginning And The End
02 The Other
03 False Light
04 Carry
05
06 Maritime
07 Weight
08 From Sinking
09 Hym

link (part_1 part_2)

Oceanic is the next logical step for Isis after the ugly, grandiose Celestial, the Aaron Turner-led outfit's second full-length looking simultaneously inward and outward, reaching into the nether regions of outer space while still keeping its feet firmly earthbound. Yes, it's an ambitious record, one that isn't immediately consumed and digested -- rather, it consumes and digests the listener with grand and hypnotic waves of sound. Songs blur together as aggressive, post-hardcore guitar riffery trades with lengthy, meditative bouts of electronic exploration, a technique that would result in plodding, pretentious mush in less capable hands. Instead, Oceanic successfully mirrors the dense, unimaginable power of its namesake, combining the minimalist metallic art of Godflesh with the bipolar mood swings and Black Sabbath muscle of West Coast brethren Neurosis. Turner's deathcore growl-shouts serve to puncture the instrumental tension that balloons slowly and painstakingly inflates throughout the album's 63 minutes, with ex-Dirt Merchants singer Maria Christopher occasionally drifting hazily into the arrangements. "Weight," at nearly 11 minutes, doesn't necessarily move as much as it evolves toward its goal, starting with lazy, but purposeful, melodic whale songs before logically concluding with Christopher's repetitive dub vocal and a droning organ suggesting spiritual rebirth. OnlyIsis could get away with writing hardcore hymns about the inevitability of elemental forces and pull it off with such conviction and attention to detail. The album may initially seem to exist in hazy head space, but clarity comes with further submergence, assuming you're willing to lay back and float, letting the water take you into both conscious and subconscious realms. Oceanic is a masterfully complex symphony of majestic noise and melody, an all-consuming trip into the earth and mind that defies genre and, often, description -- simply put, a triumph.(allmusic.com)

Panopticon (2004)

01 So Did We
02 Backlit
03 In Fiction
04 Wills Dissolve
05 Syndic Calls
06 Altered Course
07 Grinning Mouths

link (part_1 part_2)

If the glacial dynamics of previous metal and hardcore abstractions Celestial and Oceanic didn't prove that Isis was a heavy band in every sense, then Panopticon should do the trick. The title comes from 18th century philosopher Jeremy Bentham's prison design, which was later referenced by Michael Foucault in the 20th century. The idea is that a centrally placed guard or watcher can keep track of a large number of prisoners, and it excited Bentham and concerned Foucault. Heavy stuff for a metal band, huh? Both are quoted in the liner notes, bookended by aerial industrial photos laying out society's open sprawl. It fits perfectly with the epic music on the disc itself, which is as angular as post-rock forefathers Slint and as cosmically expansive as Neurosis, yet closer to the intensity of hardcore than either of them. Panopticon has the same cagey wall of noise as Oceanic, although the end product here is a little more polished. Aaron Turner is still howling and growling, but he's less reluctant to actually sing, just as the music is more inclined to stretch out into Pink Floyd's velvet atmospherics, which were a part of Oceanic, too, but just not as pronounced as they are here. Turner's lyrics are impenetrable, buried in the mix, but when they do pop through the haze of guitars and electronics they're appropriately weighty and tied to the omniscient paranoia of the title. (allmusic.com)

Oceanic: Remixes/Reinterpretations (2005)

01 Weight (Fennesz)
02 False Light (Ayal Naor (27) Car
03 Hymn (Thomas Koner)
04 The Other (James Plotkin)
05 Carry (Tim Hecker First Version)
06 Maritime (Teledubgnosis)
07 Maritime (Mike Patton)
08 The Beginning and the End (Vene)
09 Carry (Second Version)
10 False Light (The Oktopus remix)
11 Carry: Like I Will Love Her Forever? (Fuckin Die!!!)
12 From: Sinking, To: Drowning
13 Hym (JK Broadrick remix)

link (part_1 part_2)

Isis plays metal. But it's no stretch to consider the group alongside devotees to drone, sludge, noise, or blip -- all those artistic sublevels spill out on the papery fringe, anyway. And that's why Oceanic: Remixes/Reinterpretations is such a powerful project. The collaborators here are continuing Oceanic's restless evolutionary cycle, so their results are free to be loud, soft, or somewhere in the foggy between. Of the 13 tracks featured on this two-disc set, 12 originally appeared on a series of 12" EPs; disc two's second version of Tim Hecker's "Carry" interpretation is exclusive. Hecker's "Carry [First Version]" elongates the seesaw notes in Isis' original, stretching them with ropes of warping electric guitar and letting a soft ambient texture sift in toward the end. Christian Fennesz's work with "Weight" has an equally powerful gravity -- somewhere near its halfway mark he suspends the track in a glitchy loop that's as captivating as it is minimal. There are two takes on "Maritime." Mike Patton's involves various tricks from his bag of scary vocal whimsy, like an insane child prodigy taking drugs for fun, and Teledubgnosis turns in a lengthy version informed with splashes and echoes of their experimental dub, as well as washes and whispers -- like a city outside the window -- that approach ambient. After the headiness of Remixes/Reinterpretations' first disc, it's cool to hear disc two launch with the splotchy, raw guitar that kicked off Isis' "Beginning and the End." That said, Venetian Snares (aka Aaron Funk) runs that consistent guitar through the fringe techno paces, with intermittent percussion twitters and sudden pockets of space to showcase the original's vocal. Other highlights: Dälek's Oktopus thickens "False Light"'s bottom end and adds Tron sound effects, but keeps Aaron Turner's roar; noisy New Yorkers Destructo Swarmbots tackle "From: Sinking, To: Drowning" and re-imagine it as something recorded inside a hissing ventilation shaft; and J.K. Broadrick's meandering version of "Hym" connects Isis and Oceanic: Remixes/Reinterpretations to the various reconsiderations of Godflesh's catalog that have appeared over the years. (allmusic.com)

In the Absence of Truth (2006)

01 Wrists Of Kings
02 Not In Rivers, But In Drops
03 Dulcinea
04 Over Root And Thorn
05 1000 Shards
06 All Out Of Time, All Into Space
07 Holy Tears
08 Firdous E Bareen
09 Garden Of Light
link (part_1 part_2)

Isis pushed the envelope so far on 2002's Oceanic and 2004's gloriously pretentious concept album Panopticon that they spawned countless imitators, which is the greatest form of flattery in some quarters. In the Absence of Truth is the fourth full-length from Isis. This set is not a brave leap forward -- most of us haven't caught up with the last one, and Oceanic spawned an even more experimental set of remixes in 2005 -- but a further look up the holy mountain to a new plateau, a hike to sacred ground. Thank the gods. On these nine tracks, Isis never nervously explore; instead they seem to know exactly what corners to look into, what crags to reach in and grab onto, what caves lead to a blinding light that holds within it both everything and nothing. Isis is in full command this time out and as an album, In the Absence of Truth is as solidly explosive and as adventuresome as Panopticon, but their elemental control over the music is greater, therefore creating a more even production. Aaron Turner's vocals still etch an unclean line between half-sung and guttural roar. The lyrics are oblique and the voice is back in the mix of that nearly unrestrained savage wail of guitars, basses, drums, and keyboards. The pace is deliberately slow and circular on all cuts. Produced and engineered (again) by Matt Bayles, the sonic attack may be measured, but it is also pregnant with beauty and ferocity, with a guitar sound that is singular in the world of heavy metal and underground rock. While the opener "Wrists of Kings" is fraught with thundering tom toms, a shimmering Hammond organ, and counterpoint guitars and basses, it's rhythm is the key to its melodic frame. Turner's singing is in plain voice, but it's modal, another instrument to denote the passing of changes in the music's forms from taut, tense moments to sparse, open ones, though it's suffocating nonetheless. The sharp contrast is found in the very next cut, "Not in Rivers, But in Drops," which once more kicks off with those huge drums while traces of Vini Reilly from the Durutti Column enter the center of the mix and form an idea that the melody of the track just moves off from. Its gets very loud, beautifully articulated, yet reverb-drenched vocals and Jeff Caxide's bass rumble to signify something else is afoot. A brief instrumental interlude ends in raucous, brash calamitous heavy metal that uses single frames from King Crimson's "Lark's Tongues in Aspic." The entire album could be summed up in these two tracks, gorgeously wracked though they are with violence and brutal sensuality. But it goes from here; there's all this movement, where concentric circles ("In Root and Thorn," "Firdous E Bareen") are drawn and shattered to oblivion with a vengeance ("Dulcinea," "Holy Tears," and the closer, "Garden of Light"). It's this last track that gives an aural view of the big nothing inside the light (void) that is comprehensively full and empty, that is so relentlessly pursued on In the Absence of Truth. But it's viewed not with a trained scholar's eye, or with critical distance, but with heavy metal's damaged eardrums on some crazy quest to unseat everything and anything in its path by reaching inside the ache of beauty and turning it inside and showing us what it really looks like, and what it took to get there. Isis has a sound that can be copied, imitated even, but not equaled. This is simply because the patience and discipline it takes to create a sonic world and then destroy it makes no sense to most. Isis have been onto something from the very beginning and got to the edge of the abyss with Oceanic. Panopticon took an oppressive yet wonderfully curious view of its surroundings. In the Absence of Truth takes them into its dark heart squalling, whispering, crawling, drunkenly falling into its center, punching, screaming, and kicking until there is nothing left but silence. This is rock in the 21st century, anything less is cowardice. (allmusic.com)

Technorati tags: Isis

Isis. Pt. 1

2007-07-31T11:43:00.001+04:00

The Red Sea (1999)

01 Charmicarmicarmicat Shines to Ear
02 The Minus Times
03 Red Sea
04 Smiles and Handshakes
05 Catalyst
06 Ochre
07 Lines Across Eyes

link

Isis' first official release, this 1999 EP shows off a few different facets of the band's hardcore/doom/sludge/metal style, which at this stage was already pretty impressive despite not yet having fully developed to the point it would on subsequent efforts. From the hateful screaming and dense guitar/bass sludge of "Charmicarmicarmicat Shines to Earth" to the pummeling riffs and downshifting grooves of "The Minus Times" and on through the discordant guitars and more stretched-out song structure of "Red Sea," the band's influences (some of which are plainly acknowledged in the liner notes) show through pretty clearly: the Melvins, Earth, Bastard Noise, Eyehategod, Soilent Green, Neurosis, Coalesce, etc. That it is to say, Isis is drawing on a who's who list of underground heavy-music gurus, and if this EP feels a little bit more like them "doing their homework" than a later album like Celestial does, it still outshines the work of many of their peers. The CD version of The Red Sea contains 21 minutes of additional, non-filler quality material taken from a 1998 demo, bringing the disc's total length up to 36 minutes. Thus, the CD is an especially good deal for Isis fans, though it should be of some interest to fans any of the above-mentioned groups, too. (allmusic.com)

SGNL>05 (2001)

01 Sgnl>05 (Final Transmission)
02 Divine Mother (The Tower Crumbles)
03 Beneath Below
04 Constructing Towers
05 Celestial (Signal Fills The Void)

link

From the intriguing opening sound textures of SGNL>05, one wouldn't imagine that this gentle stream would evolve into a grand work of nu-metal mastery. Here, Isis weaves a beautiful tapestry of lilted piano set deep into the mix of a windswept field recording, but it doesn't take long for the band to turn the world on its ear. SGNL>05, a five-track EP, is the extension of the earlier Celestial record. Lead vocalist and guitarist Aaron Turner's growl may sound cliché in this form, but SGNL>05 quickly proves that it isn't the work of some bored, depressed high school band. Rather, it's an intensely emotional and intelligent piece of theatrical metal music. Tribal influences leak in on "Divine Mother" as the sounds are drawn out in epic proportions. Synthesizers flit about in the background and noise paints the rest of the very stormy picture. The seething guitars of Turner and Mike Gallagher trudge onward in a jarring, direct, and tight fashion. Though tracks like "Beneath Below" and "Constructing Towers" do tend to get a bit repetitive, the album on the whole is quite succinct and impacting. Rarely do industrial rock records take listeners on such a journey as this. Sounds ebb and flow, creating lush textures, only to be met with the most excruciating instrumentation that eventually culminates in a beautiful, multi-layered ambient recording. That final track, a remix of the original "Celestial (Signal Fills the Void)" by Justin K. Broadrick (of Godflesh), serves as a darkly mechanical ending to this fine EP. (allmusic.com)

Celestial (2001)

01 Sgnl>01
02 Celestial (The Tower)
03 Glisten
04 Swarm Reigns (Down)
05 Sgnl>02
06 Deconstructing Towers
07 Sgnl>03
08 Collapse And Crush
09 C.F.T. (New Circuitry And Continu)
10 Gentle Time
11 Sgnl>04

link

Celestial is Isis' first full-length after two EPs, The Red Sea and Mosquito Control, and it shows their already fairly mature sludgecore style in full swing. Those earlier EPs proved that they already knew how to rock hard, but Celestial, for the first time, also shows off the band's feel for dynamics and for less-aggressive, quieter ways of getting their point across (including a more effective and advanced use of electronic/noise elements). There has always been as much despair as anger in frontman Aaron Turner's sandpaper screams, and listening to the clean-toned guitar intro on the mostly instrumental "C.F.T. (New Circuitry and Continued Evolution)," it's clear that this much is also true about the band's music in general. At the same time, tracks such as "Gentle Time" and "Swarm Reigns (Down)" are as hypnotically heavy as anything the band has done up to this point, with Turner's vocals sounding especially vicious on the latter song. The songs here clock in mostly in the six-to-eight-minute range and rely on a lot of repetitive guitar figures and rhythms, most in the same slow-to-medium tempo range, and as a result the album might sound a little same-y from track to track the first few times around. Given time, though, the details and nuances begin to show through, with the album as a whole taking on an almost epic feel. This is Isis' best work and a strong full-length debut. (allmusic.com)

Mosquito Control (2001)

01 Poison Eggs
02 Life Under The Swatter
03 Hive Destruction
04 Relocation Swarm

link

With this EP, their second release, Isis starts really developing their own style of dense, down-tempo hardcore sludge metal with electronic accents, possessed screaming vocals, and a generally bleak atmosphere. Their songs tend to be on the long side -- between four and ten minutes apiece -- and in addition to that, they are clearly meant to flow together as part of a start-to-finish listening experience. (The conceptual feel of this EP is also highlighted by the lyrics, which use mosquito/insect references as a metaphor for a failed relationship.) "Hive Destruction" showcases the band's riff-writing abilities at their best and is arguably the highlight here, but the whole EP is solid and should please anyone into this band. (allmusic.com)

Technorati tags: Isis

Neurosis. Vol. 3

2007-07-29T18:33:00.001+04:00

A Sun That Never Sets (2001)

01 - Erode
02 - The Tide
03 - From The Hill
04 - A Sun That Never Sets
05 - Falling Unknown
06 - From Where Its Roots Run
07 - Crawl Back In
08 - Watchfire
09 - Resound
10 - Stones From The Sky
link (part_1 part_2)

The title of this release carries a current of sad irony. After well over a decade of dedicated touring and recording, Oakland, CA's acclaimed sonic trailblazers seem, indeed, with this disc, heading inexorably towards twilight. Certainly, there has been an aesthetic sea change, and a qualitative one as well; whereas once Neurosis generated an epic maelstrom of sound done better than anyone, that signature was pared down a bit on the previous effort, Times of Grace. With A Sun That Never Sets, Neurosis has taken it's newfound range, and a near Mahler-esque interest in the dialectical arrangement of quiet and loud dynamics, into even more reflective, contemplative territory. The plodding guitar and noise texture tsunami that characterized every album from Souls at Zero onward has lost its steam, and if not lost steam, it has lost its potency, and, from the sound of this disc, even the band understood that. One can only hammer for so long; soon enough, the nail will be fully driven, even into the toughest steel. That said, the course of A Sun That Never Sets is determined largely by acoustic guitar and soft, folk-like singing. The standard format of electric instruments and drums have been turned down, or churned senselessly in superfluous sections tacked onto the outro's of quieter songs. Twilight, indeed. And not because Neurosis has altered its sound; experimentation and exploration is indeed a laudable, brave task, especially in the realms of noise rock and metal, where audiences can be rather unforgiving; twilight because there is a paucity of memorable material present on this Albini production, quiet, loud, or in between. (allmusic.com)

Neurosis & Jarboe (2003)

01. Within
02. His Last Words
03. Taker
04. Receive
05. Erase
06. Cringe
07. In Harm's Way
08. Seizure

link (part_1 part_2)

Talk about an inspired pairing: Bay Area apocalyptic post-hardcore beasts Neurosis teamed up with ex-Swans vocalist/collaborator Jarboe, for this years-long, tape-trading project, and the result is, as expected, haunting, enlightening, and challenging. Jarboe's chameleonic myriad of vocal styles -- a pure, nectar-sweet tenor, operatic, dramatic, and melancholy, often gives way to whispered spoken word, and disturbing bouts of chanting, panting, and trachea-scraping screeches -- and harrowing poetry are a natural partner for Neurosis' increasingly subtle ventures into abstraction and texture (here, the band settles on a sonic cousin of its experimental ambient/noise alter ego, Tribes of Neurot). Instant gratification is something reserved for more compromising artists, and, as expected, Neurosis & Jarboe requires one's undivided attention, composed of lengthy jaunts into the mist of mind and soul, and designed to push you out of your mental comfort zone. Lyrically, Jarboe delves into the suffocating mysteries of death and religion, the album cover art tying the theme together with drawings of stigmatized hands drawing flies, each song represented by a ripped-off fly wing. The record's pinnacle is "Erase," a nine-minute epic of emotional extremity, Jarboe whispering "There are all these well-wishers, well, idiots keeping score, and I would love to disappoint them," before exploding into traumatic screams of "Define me, defy me, deny me, defile me." Neurosis' rhythmic tribal thunder during "Within" is interrupted by Jarboe's creepy, paranoid drawl before being matched by her breathless panting; and 12-minute album closer "Seizure" is an example of pure, muscular songwriting prowess, contrasting synths and noise loops with a crystalline acoustic guitar during the intro, before Jarboe's beautiful vocal strains mesh with Neurosis vocalist Scott Kelly's droning rasp; meanwhile, the backing soundtrack builds into a stunning and gorgeous polyrhythmic collage of singing, instrumental chords, and floating abstract sound. One has to admire Jarboe's unwavering ability to remain steadfast to her art, whether it requires her, as Neurosis & Jarboe often does, to strip naked and howl like a banshee, or remain tastefully restrained; either way, her collaborations with Neurosis claw at one's psyche with sharp, dirt-encrusted fingernails, their musical coalition daring you to rip away from their penetrating gaze. It won't happen. (allmusic.com)

The Eye of Every Storm (2004)

01 - Burn
02 - No River To Take Me Home
03 - The Eye of Every Storm
04 - Left to Wander
05 - Shelter
06 - A Season in the Sky
07 - Bridges
08 - I Can See You

link (part_1 part_2)

Neurosis have toned their bruising metal image down to more of an enjoyable, atmospheric musical journey. Although still containing punishing riffs on occasion, the group is intent on creating slow and melodic pieces of work, especially on the lengthy and melancholic title track. Clocking in at close to 12 minutes, the song opens with a methodical guitar and drum beat before its tempo ebbs and flows in a vein of possible progressive rock-meets-heavy metal à la Anathema. It's sonically scene-setting as lead singer Steve VonTill gives hushed vocals in the middle portion before letting loose near its coda. Another benefit is the throng of tension from start to finish. "Burn" veers from this format as VonTill tends to wail in a nu metal format. "Shelter" contains more a folk-ish, prog-driven Pink Floyd hue with mixed results. This mood is also explored later during "A Season in the Sky" which opens like a Southern metal homage to "Hurt" by Nine Inch Nails. Perhaps the highlight is "Bridges," which melds both soft and hard into a swirling crashing of styles for nearly 12 minutes. Neurosis conveys a purpose with each note, rarely seen among metal bands, whether light or brutally dark and heavy as this song evolves. However, other tunes are more urgent and almost Gothic, especially on the Wall of Sound coming from the intro on "Left to Wander." "The light has gone out today," the lyric goes as the song crawls along. VonTill and fellow guitarist Scott Kelly get into a thick slab of riffs prodding along brilliantly. Closing the record is the somber "I Can See You," another acoustic-driven song that, unfortunately, doesn't live up to previous tracks despite gaining momentum. An album whose title describes it perfectly -- calmness surrounded by gorgeous yet brooding moments. (allmusic.com)

Given to the Rising (2007)

01 - Given To The Rising
02 - Fear And Sickness
03 - To The Wind
04 - At The End Of The Road
05 - Shadow
06 - Hidden Faces
07 - Water Is Not Enough
08 - Distill (Watching The Swarm)
09 - Nine
10 - Origin

link (part_1 part_2)

If you were unpleasantly surprised by 2001's A Sun That Never Sets and even further alienated by 2003's The Eye of Every Storm, fearing that the long-reigning, wildly influential Neurosis (can you name a post-hardcore or metal band that hasn't been influenced by them directly? -- they've done everything!) were finally sinking into the post-rock sunset, Given to the Rising should buoy your spirits considerably and bring back your swagger. Something transpired between the creepy-crawly, relatively introverted quietism of the last two recordings and this beast, recorded at Electrical Audio in Chicago with Steve Albini, who's been on board with Neurosis forever (this is the only band he works with that has a real bass presence on its records; ever notice that?). The evidence is in the opening title track, which simply explodes out of the gate with no intro, no sonic weirdness, no pretentious gradual build; it's all big-pregnant with tension riffing, electronic noise whir, and vocalist Steve Von Till punching through that punishing guitar, drum, and bass throb mix: "We stand encircled by wind and fire/Our deepest lies return and turn upon us....." Oh the glory! This cut has its dynamic moments, where it all gets deathly quiet for a moment, but you will forgive yourself for knowing what's coming -- the trademark chaotic roar, back and forth for nearly nine minutes. The leadoff is no fluke, either. Where "Fear and Sickness" may start quieter and slower, that astonishing wall of unearthly noise is firmly entrenched in the backbone of Neurosis' sound. There is an aggression here that seems to have been kept in restraint for a few years and has returned now to claim its proper place. The contrast of quiet/loud dynamics and genuinely creepy, skin-crawling ambience has its place in cuts like "At the End of the Road," a kind of reference point to records such as Through Silver in Blood and even Times of Grace, but all the slowly developing drone and sparse tribal pounding that go on seemingly interminably become something else, something so completely sinister, full of loss, pain, and rage that they are barely contained by the framework of the song itself. Von Till is growling, but he's buried under that cage until five minutes in when it all just comes rushing out at once: payback in unhinged downtuned guitar terror. The drum line is the same, only a hell of a lot louder. Just when the thing is at the breaking point it goes up not a notch, but into the damned red!
"Hidden Faces" begins in a shimmering, gloomy atmosphere reminiscent of something Jesus might have tried at the beginning with swirling banks of church organs and keyboards swelling under the tom-toms and open-chorded guitar feedback, but gets mashed underneath just a few moments later in fury. "Water Is Not Enough" continues as its brethren -- unholy loud, jumping out of the gate with a wall-of-guitar monstrance as ugly as early Killing Joke. "Distill (Watching the Swarm)" is part and parcel of Neurosis' trademark sound taken to riffing extremes. That sound -- now so common -- is so dense and punishing here that there is little or no room to breathe for the listener, and the track is over nine minutes long. Finally, "Origin," the nearly 12-minute cut that takes the album out, begins funereally, as if there is something approaching from just out of clear sight. It's a form, pronounced and dark as the black maw of hell, but textured by layers of keyboards and deep tom-tom thrumming. Von Till sings in his possessed baritone, while some voice from the edges answers him from the well of echo and sinister noise hovering just beneath the spare guitars: "All my spirits come through me when I bleed...." It travels, meandering in from edge to edge, one step at a time building its feeling of dread while keeping its tempo and sparseness until it seems it will whisper out this way. No. With about two and a half minutes to go, it screams and howls in metallic agony, taking you out on the same delightful swell of masochistic pain you came in with. This is a one hell of an album, better than anyone had any right to expect, and one of the high moments in a career filled with them. Neurosis have no need of caricatures or "more evil than thou" posturing. They are in a league of their own, and from the sounds of Given to the Rising, will remain there for some time. (allmusic.com)

Technorati tags: Neurosis

Neurosis. Vol. 2

2007-07-27T12:12:00.001+04:00

Enemy of the Sun (1994)

01 Lost
02 Raze the Stray
03 Burning Flesh in the Year of Pig
04 Cold Ascending
05 Lexicon
06 Enemy of the Sun
07 The Time of the Beasts
08 Cleanse

link (part_1 part_2)

In retrospect, pitch-black goth/tribal/metal noise apocalypses shot through with found sound samples would become a common enough thing, at least if one lived with Godspeed You Black Emperor! fans. But in 1993, Neurosis, and in a different but related way Swans, were practically on their own, and on Enemy of the Sun Neurosis built upon the reach and power of Souls at Zero to create another masterpiece of on-the-edge, high-volume rampage that resists easy genre classification. Consisting of eight songs, for the most part again constructed with the deliberate arrangements familiar from the earlier album, Enemy of the Sun once more finds the common ground between a variety of approaches, whether it be rough-voiced grindcore (there's a definite Godflesh jones more than once) or operatic chant/synth mixes. More than once the rhythm section takes a certain stage without having to spell it out -- the frenetic work on the title track, especially by Jason Roeder as lead drummer, is truly fierce. Sometimes the shift between extremes can be, well, extreme -- witness "Raze the Stray" suddenly changing the volume level from one to ten -- but note as well how the opening piano can still be heard amidst the full feedback chaos, a sign that the band knows exactly what they are doing. The use of contextual samples once again shows its effectiveness, notably with the news report regarding a notorious Vietnam War-era incident that makes up most of "Burning Flesh in Year of Pig." A couple of more straightforward songs here and there like "Cold Ascending" get made up for easily with the concluding monster, "Cleanse." With tribal percussion provided by both bandmembers and guests, including general noise rock guru Mason Jones, its combination of drums, vocal snippets, and didgeridoo makes for a mystical, unnerving half-hour conclusion. (allmusic.com)

Through Silver in Blood (1996)

01 Through Silver in Blood
02 Rehumanize
03 Eye
04 Purify
05 Locust Star
06 Strength of Fates
07 Become the Ocean
08 Aeon
09 Enclosure in Flame

link (part_1 part_2)

Neurosis have built their reputation on -- to put it one way -- long-winded compositions, making their albums a challenging listening experience for even the most dedicated fans. And their fifth album, Through Silver in Blood, doesn't buck the trend, diving headlong into the group's entirely unique experiments in ambient, progressive death metal with the mesmerizing 12-minute title track. With the exception of two minute-long interludes, much of the remaining material follows this blueprint, with abnormally long tracks like "Aeon" and "Purify" gradually building from simple melodies into trance-inducing epics. Conversely, other songs take an unbearably long time to develop, crawling toward their climaxes so slowly (see "Strength of Fates") -- or toward no climax at all (see the tortured screaming of "Enclosure in Flame") -- that one's attention span is severely tested. It is therefore of little wonder that Neurosis' appeal remains so selective. Approach with caution. (allmusic.com)

Times of Grace (1999)

01 Suspended in Light
02 The Doorway
03 Under the Surface
04 The Last You'll Know
05 Belief
06 Exist
07 End of the Harvest
08 Descent
09 Away
10 Times of Grace
11 The Road to Sovereignty

link (part_1 part_2)

After ten years and five albums of groundbreaking progressive death metal, Neurosis have managed to carve a highly original niche for themselves...coming off somewhat like a Tool for extremists. Yeah, you heard right. But while this Oakland bunch deserve great kudos for such unwavering commitment to their vision, they seem fated to remain confined to well-kept secret status for remaining so stubbornly inaccessible. 1999's Times of Grace adds another chapter to this ongoing dilemma by delving ever deeper into the group's hypnotic semi-industrial dirge. But whereas previous efforts tended to suffer from erratic songwriting and uneven pacing, many tracks taking painfully long to build towards their crescendos, this album offers the most seamless continuity of any album in the band's challenging discography. Transition pieces like "Exist" and "Descent" are confined to separate musical interludes, allowing central pieces like "End of the Harvest," "Under the Surface," and "Away" to be hammered out with more efficiency and power. Now don't be fooled. There is no in-between with Neurosis -- either you love them or you hate them, so approach with caution. With time and patience, Times of Grace may prove one of the group's most satisfying works for long-time converts, but it will most likely seem too exhausting to the uninitiated. (allmusic.com)

Sovereign [EP] (2000)

01 Prayer
02 An Offering
03 Flood
04 Sovereign

link

Neurosis' first release on their own label, Neurot, is one of those things that falls between album and EP: four songs that add up to 32 minutes. Produced by Steve Albini, the usual approach is to start with low, gloomy riffs, sometimes bass-heavy and sometimes synthesizer flutters, then build to crescendos of roiling noise rock as sandpaper-textured vocals bellow hard-to-comprehend lyrics. Whether you can comprehend the words or not, you can bet they're not on the sunny side; angst and desperation are the defining moods. Just suppose, for the sake of argument, that this style was a radical break from rock traditions when it first became common in indie rock in the 1980s. Even if so, it's a vision that is not just no longer fresh -- within the context of Neurosis' 15-year career (at the time of this release), or within indie rock as a whole -- but is itself a tradition, and one that isn't as shocking or innovative as it seems to think it is. It's primarily a release for the converted fan, and therefore it makes sense that there are extras that devotees will most appreciate: a CD-ROM multimedia section with impressive (and grim) superimposed film clips, and access to a members-only part of Neurosis' official website, through which bonus tracks can be downloaded. (allmusic.com)

Technorati tags: Neurosis

Neurosis. Vol. 1

2007-07-26T09:44:00.001+04:00

Pain of Mind (1988)

01 Pain of Mind
02 Self-Taught Infection
03 Reasons to Hide
04 Black
05 Training
06 Progress
07 Stalemate
08 Bury What's Dead
09 Geneticide
10 Ingrown
11 United Sheep
12 Dominoes Fall
13 Life on Your Knees
14 Grey

link

Before they evolved into a highly unique progressive metal outfit in the mid-90's, Neurosis were your typical Bay Area post-thrash, post-hardcore hybrid. Wait a minute...maybe that's not so typical. Either way, the raw, undeveloped band which recorded the short bursts of hate and attitude contained on Pain of Mind in no way resembles the awesome trance-riff machine of later years. Sure, tracks like "Life on Your Knees" and "Grey" possesses their peculiar charm, but with vocalist Scott Kelly usually screaming a tad too close to Slayer's Tom Aray for comfort, the best was certainly yet to come.

The Word as Law (1990)

01 Double-Edged Sword
02 The Choice
03 Obsequious Obsolescence
04 To What End
05 Tomorrow's Reality
06 Common Inconsistencies
07 Insensitivity
08 Blisters
09 Life on Your Knees
10 Pain of Mind
11 Grey
12 United Sheep
13 Pollution
14 Day of the Lords
15 [untitled]

link (part_1 part_2)

A diversified and confusing work all at once, The Word as Law was the most transitional album in Neurosis' evolution from hardcore merchants to avant-garde metal experimentalists, clearly displaying the pubescent band as it searched for its mature identity. As such, the short, angry bursts ("Double-Edged Sword," "The Choice") which hearken to their past already seem somewhat lacking in conviction; while more elaborate numbers such as "Obsequious Obsolescence," "Blisters," and especially the multifaceted "To What End?" fare slightly better for pointing towards the complex arrangements and adventurous soundscapes yet to come. In short, while serious fans may want to indulge their curiosity, casual listeners will find little to interest them here.

Souls at Zero (1992)

01 To Crawl Under One's Skin
02 Souls at Zero
03 Zero
04 Flight
05 The Web
06 Sterile Vision
07 A Chronology for Survival
08 Stripped
09 Takeahnase
10 Empty

link (part_1 part_2)

At the time it might have seemed more like Alternative Tentacles' way to get some thrash metal action on its roster, perhaps. But Souls at Zero reveals something else again -- namely, a band able to draw on everything from goth rock drama and medieval folk stylings to a tribal stomp and dub pace to epic howls to the universe, and then able to put it all back together again in one jaw-dropping combination after another. If there's a secret weapon at play, it's the band's ability to orchestrate and construct their songs -- nothing is simply ground out, and there's an obvious ear for silence, calm, and then release track for track. Consider "Sterile Vision" as one standout of many, the acoustic and electric components of the song less opposed in a Pixies/Nirvana style as part of an intrinsic evolution toward the climax. The addition of strings and wind instruments at points really sends some of the songs to even greater heights -- check out the sheer drama of "Flight," the apocalyptic riffs made even more end-of-the-world intense by the addition of violin and cello. "To Crawl Under One's Skin" and "Takeahnase" just as readily suggest early-'80s Cure as they do Wagnerian valkyries, while the monstrous "A Chronology for Survival" takes that threat and multiplies it, even if the chanting vocal parts here and there almost go too over the top. There's also what might be a bit of humor here and there -- consider how the quieter parts on the title track almost sound like a slightly calmer variation of fellow Bay Area musical splicers Mr. Bungle's own first notes on "Travolta." Other sharp touches include the use of fairly obscure samples from Star Wars and Triumph of the Will as atmospheric and musical elements. (allmusic.com)

Technorati tags: Neurosis

5ive

2007-07-25T16:42:00.001+04:00

5ive (2001)

01 - Burning Season
02 - Orange
03 - The Baron
04 - Jules Vernes Dream
05 - Bicycle Rider
06 - Cerrado

link

5ive produces dirty, long, instrumental metal songs full of distortion and excess. While it consists of no more than six songs, this album is over 50 minutes in length. For those who are into metal to listen to while they study or read a book, this album will do. While the artwork on this release is beautifully arranged, the music seems to lack any means by which to stick out to the listener, but perhaps that's not what the band necessarily wanted. All in all, an interesting idea, but something which only diehards of the metal genre would plunk down hard-earned cash to purchase. (allmusic.com)

Telestic Disfracture (2001)

01 - Stockholm Blues
02 - Nitinol
03 - Shark Dreams
04 - Synapse X 3 Sleep For The Larsen B Shelf
05 - Synapse X 3 Telluric In Transudate
06 - Synapse X 3 Comae

link

Telestic Disfracture has 5ive pulling out their droning metal pieces, and this album has only six songs while being over 50 minutes in length. However, not all the pieces are instrumental, as there are actually some vocals. These vocals don't add much to the ambient sound 5ive has created; nevertheless, they are another element above the solitary, wildly distorted guitar and tribal-like drumming. If anything, they bear a striking resemblance to a cross between meaty hardcore utterances and early-'90s grunge angst. Aggressive and progressive, there should be no doubt that 5ive is doing something creative and unique, yet it may take an extreme fan to totally appreciate this fury of activity. (allmusic.com)

Hemophiliac Dream (2002)

01-The Hemophiliac Dream - Part I
02-The Hemophiliac Dream - Part II

link

Following in the theme of much of 5ive's previous material, this two-song album is comprised of incredibly long, experimental arrangements; the first piece being the title song and the second a James Plotkin remix of the song. The material is reminiscent of a cross between Pink Floyd's psychedelia and Black Dice's experimentalism, and the final project sounds like what should have been the hidden track on Apocalypse Now somewhere after The Doors had gotten through tearing everything up. There is a faint tribal drumming feel as well as a good amount of distortion on the guitar. Vocals are pretty much non-existent. Plotkin's remix is a dirtier, much shorter version (although it's still over 13 minutes in length) of "Hemophiliac Dream," with electro-pulsing rhythms hijacked by machine gun-like breaks yet all in all following along the same lines as what 5ive originally composed. Despite what one might think, none of this ever drags, instead it serves as good background music for the fan of experimental, heavy music. (allmusic.com)

Versus (2004)

01 - Soma
02 - Reso - I
03 - Man or Marker
link

Technorati tags: 5ive

Xiu Xiu. Pt 2

2007-07-24T09:55:00.001+04:00

Fabulous Muscles (2004)
01. Crank Heart (3:19)
02. I Love the Valley OH! (2:59)
03. Bunny Gamer (b) (2:40)
04. Little Panda McElroy (b) (4:26)
05. Support Our Troops OH! (Black Angels) (4:46)
06. Fabulous Muscles (Mama Black Widow Version) (4:11)
07. Brian the Vampire (2:39)
08. Nieces Pieces (Boat Knife Version) (3:33)
09. Clowne Towne (3:51)
10. Mike (5:14)

link

Xiu Xiu continue to push the envelope with their third album in two years, Fabulous Muscles. While their mix of low-res electronics, flamboyant synth pop, and experimental rock sounds slightly more accessible than it has before, that just makes it easier for Jamie Stewart's confrontational vocals and lyrics to sink in that much deeper. As always, Xiu Xiu juxtapose their heroic doses of misery with lovely, if rough-edged, music: the drooping synth lines and chunky beats on "Crank Heart" and "Brian Vampire" sound like the music from some unspeakably sad video game, while "Little Panda McElroy"'s acoustic guitars have a hesitant prettiness that makes lyrics like "I can stop hating my own heart/I can do it because of you" even more intimate. Stewart either whispers obsessively or shout-sings, as if he's trying to drown out his own thoughts, and does both on the brilliantly morose "I Luv the Valley OH!," on which he vows, "It's a heart that you made/And I won't rest until I break it." More so than with many other bands, Xiu Xiu's music immerses the listener in the band's world view and the songs' characters: "Bunny Gamer" is an extraordinary portrait of yearning and self-loathing that begins as an internal monologue of an unrequited lover and then becomes a painful dialogue between him and the object of his affection, who is much more careless and carefree. The song's dead-calm desperation borders on the creepy and pathetic, but this is the uncomfortable territory that Xiu Xiu claim as their own. Much like the musical equivalent of Todd Solondz or Harmony Korine, Xiu Xiu set out to disturb their audience in pursuit of higher artistic goals. More often than not (and arguably more often than Solondz and Korine), the group succeeds. "Support Our Troops OH!," which graphically depicts a U.S. troop killing a young girl, could have been played for shock value, but the palpable anger that runs through the track is more implosive than strident. Similarly, "Nieces Pieces (Boat Knife Version)" explores a dysfunctional family with quiet contempt and dark humor rather than outright rage. It all culminates on "Fabulous Muscles (Mama Black Widow Version)" -- its effeminately macho title is yet another one of Xiu Xiu's dualities -- a mix of sex, violence, and sadness that features the lyrics "Cremate me after you come on my lips, honey boy/Keep my ashes in a vase beneath your workout bench" and manages to be horrific, romantic, and funny at the same time. Fabulous Muscles might be the best expression of Xiu Xiu's unrepentantly original music; even if the world that the band creates isn't necessarily one you'd want to visit all the time, it remains fascinating. (allmusic.com)

La Forêt (2005)

01 - Clover
02 - Muppet Face
03 - Mousey Toy
04 - Pox
05 - Baby Captain
06 - Saturn
07 - Rose Of Sharon (Grey Ghost)
08 - Ale
09 - Bog People
10 - Dangerous You Shouldn't Be Here
11 - Yellow Raspberry
link

As conceptual as Xiu Xiu's fusion of post-punk, gamelan, synth pop, folk, and noise might seem, the group's music never feels overly cerebral or detached. On the contrary, it's usually brimming over with often contradictory emotions: love, hate, sex, violence, fear, and humor cling together so tightly in Jamie Stewart's songs that they can't be separated. Harsh and beautiful words and sounds remain intertwined on La Foret, which ranks among Xiu Xiu's subtlest, and scariest, albums. Stewart and company trade the deceptively bouncy electronics of 2004's Fabulous Muscles for a more subdued but eclectic backdrop that includes vibraphone, autoharp, and harmonium as well as the more expected keyboards and guitars. The folk and classical elements explored on earlier work like Knife Play and Fag Patrol resurface, beginning on La Foret's opening track, "Clover." Delicate acoustic guitars, vibraphone, and double bass play an aching, hesitant melody, while Stewart intones, "Don't don't don't walk like my single hope/I can only say it so many times," mining the song's pauses for all the beauty and pain that they're worth. Later, "Ale"'s clarinets -- which make the song sound like a kissing cousin to Björk's "Anchor Song" -- add to the air of barely restrained heartbreak and disgust. The scary-pretty synth pop of "Muppet Face" is the closest the album comes to the typical Xiu Xiu sound (if there is such a thing), and shows off Stewart's expressive beat programming. La Foret may be more delicate and less immediate than some of Xiu Xiu's other work (especially Fabulous Muscles), but at its best, it may have even more impact because of that. Though there aren't any songs quite as bluntly confrontational as "Support Our Troops Oh!," there are still plenty of unflinching moments, even if they're couched in imagery borrowed from childhood, nature, mythology, and fairytales. "Mousey Toy" compares a callously casual seduction to a cat's plaything, while "Pox" is filled with poetic insults ("This plastic coffin always in the shade of your sickening daughters and your idiotic hobbling wife/This is where I live/Community college is waiting for them") that sting even more because they take a while to unravel. Stewart also remains as political as ever: "Saturn" buries horrible threats under layers of industrial static and noise, and it's not hard to guess who the George mentioned in the song might be. As accomplished as it is, La Foret lags a little bit toward the end -- "Dangerous You Shouldn't Be Here" feels like a poem that shouldn't have been set to music, and "Yellow Raspberry"'s strident shouting works against its thoughtful, detailed lyrics. Even more than some of the group's other albums, La Foret seems guided by dream logic, flowing and crashing unexpectedly. And, like a dream, Xiu Xiu's music is unique, difficult to describe, and utterly compelling once you give yourself over to it. (allmusic.com)

Tu Mi Piaci [EP] (2006)

01 - He Needs Me (Nina Simone)
02 - Don't Cha (Pussycat Dolls)
03 - Kangaroo (This Mortal Coil_Alex Chilton)
04 - Blue Berry Mine Shaft (Nedelle)
05 - All We Ever Wanted Was Everything (Bauhaus)

link

Technorati tags: Xiu Xiu

Xiu Xiu. Pt 1

2007-07-20T10:35:00.001+04:00

Knife Play (2002)

01 - Don Diasco
02 - I Broke Up
03 - Luber
04 - Hives Hives
05 - Dr. Troll
06 - Over Over
07 - Anne Dong
08 - Suha
09 - Poe Poe
10 - Homonculus
11 - Tonite and Today (What chu' talkin' 'bout)
link

Xiu Xiu's Knife Play is a very eclectic mix of neurotic indie falterings similar to the Paper Chase school of rock, but with lighter techno beats and softly morose ballads of indifference. The opening tracks are hard to follow along with, and after a time the album seems to break into techno tunes and finally closes with some calm, modern classical arrangements. The vocals range from incredibly bitter screams to strong, '80s British-sounding tones. Xiu Xiu has dissected their album in many regards and it makes for less coherency as well as a slightly jumbled feel. Guest appearances from members of Deerhoof, Duster, and Mr. Bungle can't seem to save this album from leaving the listener feeling frustrated and annoyed, partially because there's no fluid motion with the album as a whole, but also because there is so much tension and passion that Xiu Xiu is capable of, yet is not displayed properly. One can get the feeling of their skills on a tune like "Poe Poe," but the tracks leading up to and after just add to the general awkwardness of Knife Play. (allmusic.com)

A Promise (2003)

01 - Sad Pony Guerrilla Girl
02 - Apistat Commander
03 - Walnut House
04 - 20,000 Deaths for Eidelyn Gonzales, 20,000 Deaths for Jamie Peterson
05 - Pink City
06 - Sad Redux-O-Grapher
07 - Blacks
08 - Brooklyn Dodgers
09 - Fast Car
10 - Ian Curtis Wishlist

link

****************************************************

Fag Patrol (2003)

01 - Helsabot
02 - King Earth, King Earth
03 - 20,000 Deaths For Eidelyn Gonzales, 20,000 Deaths For Jamie Peterson
04 - Dr. Troll
05 - Jennifer Lopez
06 - Brooklyn Dodgers
07 - Asleep
08 - I Broke Up
09 - Nieces Pieces
link

****************************************************

Fleshettes [EP] (2004)

01 - Fleshettes
02 - Helsabot Of Caraleebot

link

Technorati tags: Xiu Xiu

Nomeansno. Part 4

2007-07-19T12:33:00.001+04:00

Would We Be Alive [EP] (1997)

01. Would We Be Alive
02. You Are Not One
03. Rise
04. Big Dick (Alternate Version)

link

The title track of Would We Be Alive? is a Residents cover; elsewhere, Nomeansno tackle three other songs, all previously available only as overseas tour singles, making the EP necessary for collectors.

Dance of the Headless Bourgeoisie (1998)

01. This Story Must Be Told
02. Going Nowhere
03. I'm An Asshole
04. Disappear
05. Dance of the Headless Bourgeoisie
06. The World Wasn't Built In A Day
07. I Can't Stop Talking
08. The Rape
09. Give Me The Push
10. One Fine Day
11. Youth
12. Life-Like

link (part_1 part_2)

In their 17th year of existence, Canadian edgy, post-punk hard rockers continue to get meaner. Fast guitar riffs matched by equally quick snare and drumbeats set the background for agitated social commentary. A skewed sense of humor lends itself to the Nomeansno package as being dark and unforgettable, poignant and cutting. The proclamation "I'm an Asshole" and the graphic-as-true-crime violently extortionate title track lend credence to theory that Nomeansno is out to offend, this time. The greatest strength can be found in "Disappear." Musically, this is the classic Nomeansno formula: distorted guitar keeps rhythm matched to an alternating fast and mid-tempo funky rock beat and sometimes a nearly absurd one-string solo juts out. The vocals are syllables drawn out over the faster beats. The vocal rhythm is congruent to the still music. The style is one that owes much to blues and adds drama to the music. The result is a beat and noise mix that is an urgent carrier for a classic message: the desire to drop out. For this reason, Nomeansno always offers something to tune in to.

One (2000)

01. The Graveyard Shift
02. Under The Sea
03. Our Town
04. A Little Too High
05. Hello Goodbye
06. The Phone Call
07. Bitch's Brew
08. Beat On The Brat

link (part_1 part_2)

While Nomeansno has yet to reach the high watermark they did with Wrong, One comes pretty close. Their music is intense and heavy collegiate punk. They come right at the listener, intent on convincing them, bodily if necessary, of their honesty and urgency. The simple elements of their impressive sonic aura are heavily pounding drums and rhythmic guitar ready to bring forth bursts of noise. This album concludes with two stunning covers that only make sense coming from Nomeansno. First is the dark side of the Ramones, "Beat on the Brat," and a version of Miles Davis' "Bitches Brew" with lyrics that, while fitting, are guaranteed never to receive airplay. (allmusic.com)

Technorati tags: Nomeansno

Nomeansno. Part 3

2007-07-17T12:04:00.001+04:00

Why Do They Call Me Mr. Happy? (1993)

01. The Land of the Living
02. The River
03. Machine
04. Madness and Death
05. Happy Bridge
06. Kill Everyone Now
07. I Need You
08. Slowly Melting
09. Lullaby
10. Cats, Sex and Nazis

link (part_1 part_2)

A concept album of sorts -- the question posed by the title isn't answered until the final line of the album -- Why Do They Call Me Mr. Happy?, like nearly everything else the band has released over the years, is clear and definite proof of the group's inspired, creative energy. More than once the trio hits amazing rock epic heights that have more sheer lift and charge than most anything that laid claim to the title -- about the only North American band at the time who had a similar feeling (if slightly different approach) was Drive Like Jehu. Songs like "The River," with a brilliant, powerful vocal matching the surging, rising riffs, and the constantly time-shifting prog/metal/punk master-stomp "Kill Everyone Now" sound like they're about to burst out of the speakers, come to life, and go off hunting and slaying. Even in short moments, like the mid-album minute-and-a-half "Happy Bridge," the sheer focus and live-wire kick of Nomeansno would leave most other bands gasping for air. That said, more than once this album found the band working in a bit more restraint here and there, almost as if the best response to grunge dominance was to find subtler ways to make the same point. Thus "The Land of the Living" mostly revolves around a low, snaky bassline that the band makes some righteous but not overwhelming noise over (and often keeps to near silence), building up to miniature climaxes throughout. "Machine" starts off calmer before getting more weirdly strident as it goes, while "I Need You" foregrounds the rhythm and vocals at the start, guitar parts echoing only briefly in the background, bringing everything up with a slow, controlled burn, exploding just when needed but ending on the same tense, threatening note.

Mr. Right & Mr. Wrong (1994)

01. Intro
02. Red On Red
03. Who Fucked Who
04. Pigs And Dogs
05. Widget
06. More ICBMs
07. Blinding Light
08. I'm Doing Well
09. This Wound Will Never Heal
10. Real Love
11. Remember
12. Baldwang Must Die
13. Victoria
14. Sitting On Top Of The World
15. Canada Is Pissed
16. Burn

link (part_1 part_2)

A collection of rarities, oddities, and other things that just didn't want to surface until the impulse came along, Mr. Right & Mr. Wrong covers everything from late-1979 recordings at home to then-recent efforts, even including a Hanson Brothers take on the Kinks' "Victoria" (reworked to be about the Canadian city in question). The band's skew-whiff sense of humor sticks in place from the start with the mock-festival cheering arena rock wank and sludge/backstage interview freakout of the untitled lead track, and from there it's a randomly organized peek into the Wright brothers' minds. The bulk of the songs were fairly recent in reference to the release date and thus capture the frenetic, inventive rage of the band with little loss of quality compared to what had already come out -- "Red on Red," "Widget," and "Sitting on Top of the World" could have surfaced on any number of albums without a worry. "Who Fucked Who?," in particular, really stands out, a near-perfect example of the band's sharp combination of belligerence, tight arranging, and implicit drama, all spiked with a musical ability well beyond straightforward crash and bash. Then there's "I'm Doing Well," an almost straightforward piece of acoustic blues (though the singing still has that confrontational yawp to it). The turn-of-the-'80s recordings make for a bemusing peek into the band's early days, where the ambition was often clear but the results a bit odd. Take the "Jean Genie"-quoting stomp and swing of "Pigs and Dogs" (which transforms into a straight-up punk thrash at the end), the barrelhouse piano on "More ICBMs," the giddy, almost XTC-like hyper-guitar pop of the hilarious "Canada Is Pissed." Then there's the simply titled "Baldwang Must Die," which somehow says it all with its name alone.

The Worldhood of the World (As Such) (1995)

01. Joy
02. Humans
03. Angel Or Devil
04. He Learned How To Bleed
05. I've Got A Gun
06. My Politics
07. Lost
08. Predators
09. Wiggly Worm
10. Tuck It Away
11. Victim's Choice
12. State of Grace
13. The Jungle

link (part_1 part_2)

It kicks into sudden life with the a cappella overdub then searing rock charge of "Joy," and with that as a sudden, focused spark of life, NoMeansNo again proves they still easily have what it takes with the mighty fine The Worldhood of the World (As Such). Following up the intense, strong Why Do They Call Me Mr. Happy? might have been a challenging task for some bands, but NoMeansNo keeps the quality high and the playing loud and good throughout the album's nearly hour length. There's a little more emphasis on the directness of the singing this time out, while the guitars in particular sound less-immediately overwhelming. It's not quite a toning down, more a way of finding a new balance, and certainly the midsong breaks and epic rave-up stomp of songs like "He Learned How to Bleed" are hardly power ballads. If anything, there's a slippery, more fun embrace of poppiness than ever before -- check out the near-prime Cheap Trick sass of "Humans," the near-Hüsker Dü-like level of anthemic punk in "Tuck It Away," or the almost rockabilly-into-swing attitude of "Predators." Nearly every song shoots along at a fast clip, but there is a period of slower beats and riffs -- "My Politics" starts off a bit calmer and even hits a reggae midsection before turning back into a monstrous rock slash, while "State of Grace" finds slower moments to its advantage. If there's a point of sheer, overwhelming musical power, "Lost," with its complex construction and arrangement -- showing the stop-on-a-dime rhythm skills of the group just as well as their vocal and lyrical intensity -- is the number. Building up to at least two separate and equally compelling climaxes, it's another in the series of high points from a truly remarkable band. (allmusic.com)

Technorati tags: Nomeansno

The Tear Garden

2007-07-16T12:23:00.001+04:00

Last Man to Fly (1992)

01 - Hyperform
02 - The Running Man
03 - Turn Me On, Dead Man
04 - Romulus and Venus
05 - The Great Lie
06 - Empathy With The Devil
07 - Circles In The Sand
08 - Love Notes & Carnations
09 - A Ship Named Despair
10 - White Coats and Haloes
11 - Isis Veiled
12 - Last Post
13 - 3-D Technicolour Scrambled Egg Trip Down The Hell-Hole (With Canary)
link (part_1 part_2)

Sheila Liked the Rodeo (1992)

01 - Blobbo
02 - Sybil the Spider Consumes Himself
03 - Sheila Liked The Rodeo
04 - The Strong and Whining Toad
05 - Do It Yourself From A-Z part 1
06 - Do It Yourself From A-Z part 2
07 - suneV dnA sulumoR
08 - Keep the Bomb Under Your Coat
link

While sustaining a stance in the Canadian industrial trio Skinny Puppy, cEvin Key also maintained several side projects such as Tear Garden and Hilt. Not as chaotic as Skinny Puppy, Key's ambient side work began in the mid-'80s when he and Legendary Pink Dots' Edward Ka-Spel teamed up to form Tear Garden. Tired Eyes Slowly Burning (1987) marked the band's debut and sharply defined Key's talented programming skills to move him out from behind the blazing showcase of Skinny Puppy frontman Nivek Ogre. Key's keen ear quickly called out detail while searching for a lush composition versus the sonic disintegration of his other band, and this is what made Tear Garden enjoyably different. The Last Man to Fly, which included the critically acclaimed single "Romulus & Venus," was issued in 1992 and the Sheila Liked the Rodeo EP followed a year later. While completing Skinny Puppy's The Process, things were suddenly interrupted by the 1995 overdose death of keyboardist Dwayne Goettel. A bitter battle over the release of The Process prolonged into 1996, giving Key final creative control over his music due to Skinny Puppy's tragic demise. Not distraught by the horrible events brought on by the year before, Key plugged 1996's To Be an Angel Blind, the Crippled Soul Divide and 1997's Paradigm Shift, while keeping a low profile, and Tear Garden solidly became his chief project. Two more albums surfaced in 2000, the extensive compilation featuring Skinny Puppy, Legendary Pink Dots, and Tear Garden material entitled Wild Planet: Subconsious Communications, and the new Tear Garden LP Crystal Mass. (allmusic.com)

Technorati tags: The Tear Garden

Nomeansno. Part 2

2007-07-15T10:58:00.001+04:00

0+2=1 (1991)

01. Now
02. The Fall
03. 0 + 2 = 1
04. The Valley of the Blind
05. Mary
06. Everyday I Start to Ooze
07. When Putting It All In Order Ain't Enough
08. The Night Nothing Became Everything
09. I Think You Know
10. Ghosts
11. Joyful Reunion

link

Nomeansno is an odd band from Vancouver, Canada, who sound like they're from San Francisco. Virtuoso musicians (old guys too), they play their own invented form of punk rock, which features choppy rhythms, bass slapping, avant-garde noodling, and wacky lyrics. 0 + 2 = 1 is among their most far-out records. The songs here are incredibly long and somewhat repetitive. They don't necessarily need to be as long as they are, but this is the band's style, and listeners will either dig it or not be able to stand it. Nomeansno counts many musicians among their fans, and plenty of punks. The opening song "Now" has a fine acoustic guitar riff, and "The Valley of the Blind" is maybe the punkest song on the record, and also a winner. "0 + 2 =1" is pretty weird, while the closing "Joyful Reunion" is an epic tune that is among their best. This record isn't a knockout like Wrong (in fact, the B-side is pretty lackluster), but it has a lot of great moments stretched out over a record that's way too long.

Live & Cuddly (1991)

01. It's Catching up (intro)
02. Two Lips Two Lungs And One Tongue
03. Rags and bones
04. Body bag
05. Brother rat
06. What Slayde says
07. Some bodies
08. Teresa, Give me that knife
09. Victory
10. Dark Ages
11. The end of all things
12. The day everything became nothing
13. Dead Souls
14. Metronome
15. No Fucking

link (part_1 part_2)

Compiled from a series of European shows in 1990, Live & Cuddly takes the confrontational, searing rage of Nomeansno to another level. It's no real surprise, considering how brilliant the band is in studio, but Live & Cuddly makes for a prime record of a prime band -- perfectly in sync, tight as all hell, yet letting out all possible energy every step of the way. In ways, one could almost see this as the secret influence on a fair amount of both early-'90s math rock and emo, what with the barely controlled fervor of the singing and the sudden jerks back and forth in the rhythm section. There's a sudden savage intelligence in Nomeansno's best work, though, and it doesn't go lacking here with some of the best and most visceral performances: the martial-tinged beats and call and response of "Brother Rat," the near-perfect acceleration/threatening calm of "Teresa, Give Me That Knife," a truly fine "Metronome." Given it's assembled from various sources, one could argue that no one show was quite so on throughout as the disc itself, but frankly, with these end results, why complain? Whether it's the meaty chunk of "Rags and Bones" (with what appears to be a hip-hop break in the middle, or so the calls for Run-D.M.C. would imply), the ever-more intense burn of "What Slayde Says," or the jaw-dropping turn on "Dark Ages" -- perhaps the band's best performance ever up to that point -- there's lots to be taken by here. Some banter surfaces as well -- among other hilarious moments, there's one of the band saying that a confrontational crowd has been listening to too much Stormtroopers of Death during a break in "Two Lips, Two Lungs and One Tongue," as well as the claim that (a particularly grand) "The End of All Things" is an "upbeat, positive song."

Sex Mad/You Kill Me (1991)

01 Sex Mad
02 Dad
03 Obsessed
04 No Fgnuikc
05 Love Thang
06 Dead Bob
07 Self Pity
08 Long Days
09 Metronome
10 Revenge
11 No Fkuicgn
12 Hunt The She Beast
13 Body Bag
14 Stop It
15 Some Bodies
16 Manic Depression
17 Paradise

link (part_1 part_2)

Combining the two releases on one CD, Sex Mad/You Kill Me makes for an edgy, thrashing release that shows the Canadians fully in charge of a frenetic post-punk style seemingly left for dead by many in the late '80s. "Sex Mad" itself calls up memories of everything from the Gang of Four to MX-80 Sound to the Minutemen and back again, and with that as a worthy combination to draw on indeed, the trio goes all out and doesn't stop. It might be a stretch to say that Nomeansno are somehow Rush-influenced, but then again, considering that both sets of Canadians can readily demonstrate their way around sudden time changes (check the instrumental "Obsessed" or the six-minute character portrait "Dead Bob"), it might not be as crazy as all that! Other classic rock nods include a bit from "Sunshine of Your Love" at one point and a full cover of "Manic Depression" from the You Kill Me days (meanwhile, the chorus of "Revenge" is perfectly anthemic stadium rock, and works on that level without a problem). Slightly more straight-up punk efforts crop up -- "Dad," one of the most powerful, sounds like what would happen if the scenario of Suicidal Tendencies' "Institutionalized" wasn't just about feeling petulant for lacking a Pepsi, to put it mildly. (Killer end touch -- the baldly delivered line "I'm seriously considering leaving home.") The sometimes hoarse, higher-end singing sounds like what a less annoyed Henry Rollins would be been like in early Black Flag -- or at least, a Rollins one could talk to without immediately being beat on. Thus, a song like "Self Pity," which manages the neat trick of addressing the titular topic without sounding like an example of same -- and by turning into a near-apocalyptic collage of power riff rage. (allmusic.com)

Technorati tags: Nomeansno

Nomeansno. Part 1

2007-07-13T18:18:00.001+04:00

Mama (1984)

01. Living is Free
02. My Roommate is Turning into a Monster
03. Red Devil
04. Mama's Little Boy
05. We Are the Chopped
06. No Sex
07. Rich Guns
08. No Rest For the Wicked
09. Living in Detente
10. Try Not to Stutter
11. I'm All Wet
12. Approaching Zero
13. Forget Your Life

link (part_1 part_2)

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Small Parts Isolated and Destroyed (1988)

01. Dark Ages
02. Junk
03. And That's Sad
04. Small Parts Isolated And Destroyed
05. Victory
06. Teresa, Give Me That Knife
07. Real Love
08. Lonely

link

Though less aggressive than the preceding EP, Small Parts is nonetheless vintage Nomeansno, with tight instrumentation which is informed both by punk and by jazz. "Dark Ages" and "Teresa, Give Me That Knife" make for a fun time, but the unfortunate lack of zip to much of the material makes it slightly less interesting over the course of a whole album.

Wrong (1989)

01 - It's Catching Up
02 - The Tower
03 - Brainless Wonder
04 - Tired Of Waiting
05 - Stocktaking
06 - The End Of All Things
07 - Big Dick
08 - Two Lips, Two Lungs And One Tongue
09 - Rags And Bones
10 - Oh No! Bruno!
11 - All Lies
12 - Life In Hell
13 - I Am Wrong

link

Following the release of Wrong, Nomeansno could have safely laid down their instruments knowing that they'd just put out the definitive jazzcore album. From the opening bass thuds to the final notes, there's nothing on the album that could be considered a misstep. The playing is incredibly skilled, with the Wright brothers effortlessly shifting tempos and time signatures and Kerr's razor sharp lyrics clicking right into place. Throughout, the album is fused with a sense of energy that was missing from Small Parts Isolated and Destroyed. Best of all is the silly "Rags and Bones" with Kerr (referred to on this release as "none of your f*cking business") claiming that he is "married to a cigarette butt lying in the gutter" over some of the most complex instrumentation you're ever likely to find in good ol' punk rawk. Although they still had a number of albums in them, Nomeansno would never top this one. (allmusic.com)

Technorati tags: Nomeansno

Classic Rock. Vol.6

2007-07-12T16:44:00.001+04:00

Led Zeppelin - How the West Was Won (2003)

CD 1

01. LA Drone
02. Immigrant Song
03. Heartbreaker
04. Black Dog
05. Over The Hills And Far Away
06. Since I've Been Loving You
07. Stairway To Heaven
08. Going To California
09. That's The Way
10. Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp

link (part_1 part_2)

CD 2

01. Whole Lotta Love (Live, L.A. Forum, 25th June, 1972)
02. Rock And Roll (Live, Long Beach Arena, 27th June, 1972)
03. The Ocean (Live, L.A. Forum, 25th June, 1972)
04. Bring It On Home (Live, L.A. Forum, 25th June, 1972)

link (part_1 part_2)

CD 3

01. Dazed & Confused, Walter's Walk, The Crunge [live at Los Angeles, CA. 25.June.1972]
02. What Is and What Should Never Be [live at Long Beach, CA. 27.June.1972]
03. Dancing Days [live at Long Beach, CA. 27.June.1972]
04. Moby Dick [live at Los Angeles, CA. 25.June.1972]

link

For years, Led Zeppelin fans complained that there was one missing item in the group's catalog: a good live album. It's not that there weren't live albums to be had. The Song Remains the Same, of course, was a soundtrack of a live performance, but it was a choppy, uneven performance, lacking the majesty of the group at its peak. BBC Sessions was an excellent, comprehensive double-disc set of their live radio sessions, necessary for any Zeppelin collection (particularly because it contained three songs, all covers, never recorded anywhere else), but some carped that the music suffered from not being taped in front of a large audience, which is how they built their legacy -- or, in the parlance of this triple-disc collection of previously unreleased live recordings compiled by Jimmy Page, How the West Was Won. The West in this case is the West Coast of California, since this contains selections from two 1972 concerts in Los Angeles: a show at the LA Forum on June 25, and one two days later at Long Beach Arena. This is the first archival release of live recordings of Zeppelin at their peak and while the wait has been nigh on interminable, the end result is certainly worth the wait. Both of these shows have been heavily bootlegged for years and while those same bootleggers may be frustrated by the sequencing that swaps the two shows interchangeably (they always prefer full shows wherever possible), by picking the best of the two nights, Page has assembled a killer live album that captures the full, majestic sweep of Zeppelin at their glorious peak. And, make no mistake, he tries to shove everything into these three discs -- tight, furious blasts of energy; gonzo freak-outs; blues; and rock, a sparkling acoustic set. Like always, the very long numbers -- the 25-minute "Dazed and Confused," the 23-minute "Whole Lotta Love," the 19-minute "Moby Dick" -- are alternately fascinating and indulgent, yet even when they meander, there is a real sense of grandeur, achieving a cinematic scale attempted by few of their peers (certainly no other hard rock or metal band could be this grand; only Queen or David Bowie truly attempted this). But the real power of the band comes through on the shorter songs, where their sound is distilled to its essence. In the studio, Zeppelin was all about subtle colors, textures, and shifts in the arrangement. On-stage, they were similarly epic, but they were looser, wilder, and hit harder; witness how "Black Dog" goes straight for the gut here, while the studio version escalates into a veritable guitar army -- it's the same song, but the song has not remained the same. That's the case throughout How the West Was Won, where songs that have grown overly familiar through years of play seem fresh and new because of these vigorous, muscular performances. For those who never got to see Zeppelin live, this -- or its accompanying two-DVD video set -- is as close as they'll ever get. For those who did see them live, this is a priceless souvenir. For either group, this is absolutely essential, as it is for anybody who really loves hard rock & roll. It doesn't get much better than this. (allmusic.com)

Technorati tags: Led Zeppelin

The Legendary Pink Dots. Part 6

2007-07-11T17:54:00.001+04:00

All the King's Men (2002)

01 - Cross Of Fire
02 - The Warden
03 - Touched By The Midnight Sun
04 - Rash
05 - The Day Before It Happened
06 - Brighter Now
07 - Marz Attacks
08 - Sabres At Dawn
09 - All The King's Men
10 - The Brightest Star

link (part_1 part_2)

The companion album to the more cohesive and slightly more aggressive All the King's Horses, All the King's Men is a much more murky puddle of psychedelia if you don't get the back-story. Early in 2001 the Dots' main man and lyricist Edward Ka-Spel started working on his "Unlikely Event" piece. The story was of a man on an airplane about to crash and his attempt to reach his wife's cell phone, only to get voicemail. The events of September 11th of that year had his sometimes too hardcore following declaring him a prophet once again. Regardless, All the King's Men is chilling without the synchronicity and a pensive, confused triumph. This is a more personal view of disaster with a "what can you do?" message. On "The Day Before It Happened" the main character is planning to get his teeth fixed next year, only listens to ten percent of what his spouse is saying, and doesn't get much rest. Sad, and it's not that Ka-Spel has thrown a "Live Everyday Like It's Your Last" bumper sticker on his car, but it's as close as he's come to making a comment that reaches everyone. The album's argument is that tragedy doesn't always come with foreshadowing and there are few ways to prevent it. All the King's Horses floats above and around disaster and everyday life with detachment. The story isn't linear, it jumps back and forth in time, and three instrumentals only hint at the concept with their combination of everyday piano and darker electronics. Ka-Spel's lispy and meandering vocals are way up in the mix, which makes him sound right next to you through headphones. You have to be predisposed to the Dots for the album to work at all, and even then it's more of a "mood" album than usual. This is glum stuff but Ka-Spel is inspired, and with a little explanation the complexity and obscurity pays off.

All the King's Horses (2002)

01 - The Unlikely Event
02 - The Way I Feel Today
03 - 12th
04 - Our Dominion
05 - Chain Surfing
06 - Just Wave
07 - It's The Real Thing
08 - A Bargaiin at Twice the Price
09 - Daisy
10 - Birdie
11 - Lisa Goes Surfing
12 - Wax and Feathers
13 - The Emergency Exit

link (part_1 part_2)

Longtime fans of the Legendary Pink Dots know what to expect: lots of dreamy, borderline-arrhythmic songs with a certain whimsical charm and maybe even a kind of pop sensibility behind them, but not much that you can hold onto. All the King's Horses is built on keyboard and reed sounds of varying degrees of cheesiness, with a little bit of guitar thrown in, and the studiously plain-spoken vocals of bandleader Edward Ka-Spel. The ultimate effect is strongly reminiscent of the solo work of Church guitarist Marty Willson-Piper, only without the hooks. Everything moves at about the speed of molasses, and although "Bargain at Twice the Price" picks up the pace just a bit, it's not enough to lighten the mood significantly (nor is the goofy circus theme of "Daisy"). None of this is to say that the music's bad, but newcomers might want to start with the band's earlier work and ease into this one. (Watch for a companion album entitled All the King's Men.)

The Whispering Wall (2004)

01 - Soft Toy
02 - A Distant Summer
03 - Dominic
04 - In Sickness And In Health
05 - For Sale
06 - King Of A Small World
07 - The Region Beyond
08 - 06
09 - Peek-A-Boo
10 - The Divide
11 - Sunken Pleasures - Rising Pleasure - No Walls, No Strings

link

The Legendary Pink Dots can get toppled by their own ambition, and often their albums are murky messes hung up on some obscure concept. With two albums on the same heavy concept (All the King's Horses and All the King's Men) behind them, Whispering Wall is a casual return to the old ways and a decent entry point for anyone attempting to take the unwieldy band on. Opening numbers on Dots albums are often good indicators of what's in store, and the driven "Soft Toy" is a good sign. Chugging guitar isn't what you normally hear on their records, but it's the basis of "Soft Toy" and the first of many surprises. Radiohead would be proud to call the fairly-straightforward-for-the-Dots "A Distant Summer" their own and "King of a Small World" is faux-jazz that Queen of Siam-era Lydia Lunch would have killed for. Believe it or not, "Peek-A-Boo" sounds like the Dots at Studio One with lead singer Edward Ka-Spel out-jestering Lee "Scratch" Perry. The highlight of the album, "For Sale," is evidence that Ka-Spel has been listening to both Casino Versus Japan and Michael Nyman, one of the most polished Dots tunes ever, and a great way to introduce the band to whomever you're trying to drag to one of their shows. There's plenty of the usual wandering and the ending opus is over 12 minutes, so don't think they've lost it and gone all pop. The Dots still make everyone else look succinct but if you've ever wanted to dabble in their world, do it now.

Your Children Placate You from Premature Graves (2006)

01 - Count On Me
02 - No Matter What You Do
03 - Stigmata (Part 4)
04 - Feathers At Dawn
05 - Please Don't Get Me Wrong
06 - Peace Of Mind
07 - The Island Of Our Dreams
08 - Bad Hair
09 - The Made Man's Manifesto
10 - A Silver Thread
11 - Your Number Is Up

link

Over the course of 25 years and seemingly twice that many albums, it's become well nigh impossible to state simply what the Legendary Pink Dots "sound like." The best one can hope to do is to describe what Edward Ka-Spel and company are up to on any given album. Happily, Your Children Placate You from Premature Graves is one of the band's most straightforward (relatively speaking) albums, and one of its best. The overall tone is one of English psychedelic whimsy mutated into darker, largely electronic forms: think of classic-era Gong and Syd Barrett's solo albums, as remixed by Aphex Twin. Ka-Spel's vocals have the high-pitched, childlike delivery of Barrett or the Television Personalities' Dan Treacy, which adds an extra layer of nervous dread to the uniformly dark, foreboding lyrics. Musically, the combination of the Silverman's whirring electronic drones and the warmer, more human sound of Niels Van Hoorn's saxophone parts sets up a Krautrock-like organic/inorganic tension that permeates the entire album even on songs like the delicate, acoustic-guitar-led "The Island of Our Dreams" that lean more to one end of the spectrum than the other. Interestingly, this Meddle-like respite, the sound-effects-plus-found-voice opener "Count on Me," and the cut-up piano and drones of the closing "Your Number Is Up" all smack hard of classic Pink Floyd, perhaps the first time that the Legendary Pink Dots have recalled another band for more than a few minutes at a time. A quarter century into their career, such a comparatively accessible album is perhaps the most surprising thing they could have done. (allmusic.com)

Technorati tags: The Legendary Pink Dots

The Legendary Pink Dots. Part 5

2007-07-10T11:12:00.001+04:00

A Perfect Mystery (2000)

01 - Lent
02 - When I'm With You
03 - When Lenny Meets Lorca
04 - Skeltzer Speltzer
05 - Mood 159
06 - Pain Bubbles
07 - Blue
08 - Condition Green
09 - Death Of A King
10 - Godless

link (part_1 part_2)

Firmly in their psychedelic- goth period, A Perfect Mystery is one of the more conventional and enjoyable releases in Legendary Pink Dots' extensive discography. The album settles into a pattern where songs begin with a slow, atmospheric start and then increase instrumentation, which turns up the musical tension and explodes in a trippy fury of mad, whirling, musical dervishes, with Edward Ka-Spel's foreboding lyrics wavering over everything. It all comes together perfectly on "Pain Bubbles," where the Silver Man's swirling keyboards and Niels Van Hoorn's sax dance around each other over a pulsating beat. A gentle exception to the pattern, and a standout track, is the gentle groover "Blue," a spacey guitar-and-drums ballad that mutates into ambient dub that evokes drummer Ryan Moore's side project, Twilight Circus Dub Sound System. "When I'm with You" shows the rockier side of the group, a slow groover that intensifies and peaks majestically with an outstanding sax solo. The only misstep is the apocalyptic Appalachian chant "Skeltzer Speltzer." a psychedelic hoedown that sounds like Malcolm Mooney-era Can, but at one-quarter speed. Overall an excellent introduction to the band. Those not afraid of mildly challenging material should dive in enthusiastically. Note that the vinyl version of this album contains different mixes than the compact disc, and also includes an additional track. (allmusic.com)

Farewell, Milky Way (2000)

01 - A Crack In Melancholy Time
02 - On Another Shore
03 - Vigil-Anti
04 - Love In A Plain Brown Envelope
05 - 9 Shades To The Circle
06 - Demolition 13
07 - Bella D
08 - Needles
09 - Space Captain (Extended)

link (part_1 part_2)

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Synesthesia (2002)

01 - Shining Path
02 - Rome
03 - Kami Kai
04 - Premonition 26
05 - Premonition 28
06 - The More It Stays The Same
07 - Flashback
08 - Kalos Melas

link

Technorati tags: The Legendary Pink Dots

The Legendary Pink Dots. Part 4

2007-07-09T12:40:00.001+04:00

It's Raining in Heaven (1996)

01 - Puppets Apocalypse
02 - Poppy Day
03 - A Lust for Powder
04 - Only When I Laugh
05 - La Cazza Nova
06 - Lyriex
07 - Premonition 11

link

A slightly curious release, this is actually the retitled American version of an Italian-issued album, Greetings 9, from 1989, along with a bonus track that surfaced on a re-release of Greetings 9 two years later. Discographical oddities aside, It's Raining in Heaven is a nice little bit of music for the hardcore LPD fan, consisting for the most part of live recordings from 1988-era concerts. Given how the band really seems to come to life in concert -- a pity no recording can really capture the sense of disorienting swells of sound that Ka-Spel and cohorts cook up on a regular basis -- it's always nice to hear some further examples of the same. Ka-Spel's occasional spoken introductions amp up the mood even more; they are wry, threatening, and calm all at once. The first three tracks are from a French date, starting with an excellent "Puppets Apocalypse," with Ka-Spel sounding a little more sedate and moody than usual, then shifting into a beautifully fraught "Poppy Day," haunting and just vicious enough. The next three, from a show in Holland, include the distorted electronic crumble and stuttering punch of "Only When I Laugh," sudden synth stabs adding to the creeping chaos of Ka-Spel's chopped-up singing, and the music-box-gone-horribly wrong "Lyriex," featuring some of the weirdest random samples one might ever hear this side of early Faust. The final track, "Premonition 11," is actually a fusion of two separate recordings, the first part being the original song from 1982 (appearing as a vinyl single), the second a later extension. The end result is one of the band's murkiest, most mysterious numbers, with the low-key bass synth crawl of the start setting a strange bed for Ka-Spel's slow and steady delivery before shifting into an electric guitar-led extended zoneout and a final vocal/sax jaunt. (allmusic.com)

Ancient Daze (1997)

01 - Violence
02 - Thursday Night Fever
03 - O(ri)ffice
04 - The Chemical Playschool
05 - Voices
06 - Break Day
07 - Only Dreaming
08 - It Rots Your Liver
09 - Black Highway
10 - Phallus Dei
11 - Game
12 - Guess The Politician
13 - Dolls' House
14 - Louder After 6
15 - Spaced Out
16 - Amphitheatre

link

Hallway of the Gods (1997)

01 - On High
02 - Mekkanikk
03 - Sterre
04 - Spike
05 - All Sides
06 - Harvest Babies
07 - Lucifer Landed
08 - The Hanged Man
09 - The Saucers Are Coming
10 - Destined To Repeat
11 - Hallway

link

This 1997 entry from the band's continuing exploration in dark psychedelia is, like so many of the Legendary Pink Dots' efforts, a winner in both quiet and overwhelming modes. Sliding into things with the steady "On High," Edward Ka-Spel and his merry men aren't going to provide longtime listeners with any surprises, but as with most of their late-'90s albums, the combination of rich recording and production quality with subtle twists and variations works very well. The looped rhythm of "Harvest Babies," leading into a dramatic keyboard/guitar conclusion that conveys a sense of the band's strong live power, reflects the band's not-quite-relationship with modern electronic dance, though the roots are generally more in space rock trance than Goa. Mellower songs like "Mekkanikk" and "Destined to Repeat" show how the band's sense of drama and space can work just as effectively on low volume as well as on overload, as well as giving Ka-Spel a chance to make his cryptic imagery stand out more strongly. Ka-Spel's vocals in particular bring up some understated differences -- consider the shift on "Spike," where it almost sounds like he's biting down on his word once the full chug of the song starts, or the buried delivery on "All Sides" and the a cappella, conversational beginning of "The Saucers Are Coming." That the latter song turns into the killer freak-out on the album -- at once paranoid and a charge to the heavens -- seems only appropriate. One of the best moments is "Sterre," with its acoustic guitar start and gentle, mournful air (Niels Van Hoornblower's clarinet/sax work here, set against some delicate electric guitar wails, makes for an entrancing conclusion). "Lucifer Landed" has a similar start and an even more stripped-down, calm air -- it's one of the band's most conventional songs in ways, all without losing Ka-Spel's obsessive focus or the detailed arrangement that the collective band is known for. (allmusic.com)

Nemesis On-Line (1998)

01 - Dissonance
02 - Jasz
03 - As Long As It's Purple And Green
04 - Ghost
05 - Under Your Wheels
06 - A Sunset for A Swan
07 - Is it Something I Said?
08 - Zoo
09 - Fate's Faithful Punchline
10 - Cheating The Shadow
11 - Abracadabra
12 - Slaapliedje

link

This impressive, moody release from the nearly 20-year-old group Legendary Pink Dots starts assertively. "Dissonance" earns its title from an over-modulated crunch of a rhythm married to a reverberated Western acoustic guitar rhythm. Over this, vocalist Edward Ka-Spel (now the Prophet Qa'Sepel) intones a surreal tale of incarceration for the criminal that does not harmonize with society. The harsh crunch continues on into an instrumental track, "Jasz," and its glimpses of shards broken from the sounds of piano and saxophone. Before pivoting into mostly more ambient and reflective pieces Legendary Pink Dots is known for, you are treated to the strongest track of this collection. "As Long As It's Purple and Green" is a telling and lucid exploration of a psychotic's inner workings more recited (with a snarl) than sung over a breakbeat and loops similar to those in "Jasz." Again, the self-defined individual finds himself instantly cast out and confined from society at large. The ending is, of course, dissonant. Thus passing the storm, nine selections of Legendary meditation mixed with some upbeat numbers like more breakbeat and horn in "Zoo" and the heavy metal guitar in "Is It Something I Said?" follow. Of these, "Ghost" begins in the tranquility of an electric piano melody to breed the sanguine looped chant "blood on the door/blood on the stairs..." "A Sunset for a Swan" is perhaps the most quirky, sounding as it does like a New Orleans street band singing Syd Barrett poetry with electronica/carnival production. (allmusic.com)

Technorati tags: The Legendary Pink Dots

The Legendary Pink Dots. Part 3

2007-07-08T10:07:00.001+04:00

Crushed Velvet Apocalypse (1990)

01 - I Love You In Your Tragic Beauty
02 - Green Gang
03 - Hellsville
04 - Hellowe'en
05 - The Safe Way
06 - Just A Lifetime
07 - The Death Of Jack The Ripper
08 - New Tomorrow
09 - Princess Coldheart
10 - The Pleasure Palace
11 - The Collector
12 - C.V.A.

link (part_1 part_2)

After the relatively sunny The Golden Age, Ka-Spel continues with his plan to meld psychedelia to dark and deep electronic soundscapes. Though it starts out fairly deceptively, with the haunting, beautiful, and mostly acoustic "I Love You in Your Tragic Beauty," the rest of the album descends into more complicated fare, abrasive and richly textured. As usual, many of Ka-Spel's lyrics seem mostly impenetrable, fantastical, and paranoid. The only complaint: At nearly 70 minutes, it may be a little too much darkness for a single sitting. (allmusic.com)

The Maria Dimension (1991)

01 - Disturbance
02 - Pennies For Heaven
03 - Third Secret
04 - The Grain Kings
05 - The Ocean Cried 'Blue Murder'
06 - Belladonna
07 - A Space Between
08 - Evolution
09 - Cheraderama
10 - Lilith
11 - Fourth Secret
12 - Expresso Noir
13 - Home
14 - Crushed Velvet

link (part_1 part_2)

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Shadow Weaver (1992)

01 - Zero Zero
02 - Guilty Man
03 - Ghosts Of Unborn Children
04 - City Of Needles
05 - Stitching Time
06 - Twilight Hour
07 - The Key To Heaven
08 - Laughing Guest
09 - Prague Spring
10 - Leper Colony

link

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Shadow Weaver, Part 2: Malachai (1993)

01 - Joey The Canary
02 - Kingdom Of The Flies
03 - Encore Une Fois
04 - Wildlife Estate
05 - Pavane
06 - Window On The World
07 - On The Boards
08 - We Bring The Day
09 - Paris, 4AM

link

Conceived and released as the sequel to Shadow Weaver and featuring the same overall lineup (with the addition of a second guest performer Nurse With Wound main man Steve Stapleton, who also co-produces), Malachai tackles everything from late-night beatnik vibes to flat-out prog weirdness from the outer limits with style. Starting with the nicely queasy roil of "Joey the Canary," soft acoustic strumming mixing with everything from quietly echoed flutes to a buried, just threatening enough tribal drum roll, the album serves up 70 minutes of worthiness. In its own way, Malachai could be a useful starting point for the Dots' newcomer, given that the core band was not only well in tune with each other, but that the balance between creepy alien vibes and moody, magnificent psychedelia is well-struck here. Quirky playfulness as much as oddity defines cut-up songs like "Window on the World," while Martijn de Kleer in particular deserves notice for his multi-instrument abilities -- besides the drums, he plays some great electric guitar (solos that sting and snarl without descending into fret-flash being a speciality). The exquisite acoustic-based ballads that were the band's hallmark in ways in the early '90s take a bow here, with a standout being "Kingdom of the Flies" (featuring Ryan Moore on lead, a nice shift from his usual bass efforts). Moore's well-known dub fetish gets airing here and there -- "Encore Une Fois" has both the easygoing lope and the random sonic additions and twists to suit the field (VanHoorne in particular has some fun), while the immediately following "Wildlife Estate" is even stranger, trebly, twinkly, and more than a little unnerving. Nice historical touch -- "Pavane," a low-key zone-out/noodle that takes its name from a processional dance from Renaissance times. (allmusic.com)

9 Lives To Wonder (1994)

01 - Madame Guillotine
02 - On Another Shore
03 - Softly Softly
04 - Crumbs On The Carpet
05 - Hotel Z
06 - Oasis Malade
07 - A Crack In Melancholy Time
08 - Siren
09 - The Angel Trail
10 - Nine Shades To The Circle
11 - A Terra Firma Welcome (Find a Bin To Put It In)

link

*******************************************************

From Here You'll Watch the World Go By (1995)

01 - Clockwise
02 - Citadel
03 - Friend
04 - A Velvet Resurrection
05 - Kollusim
06 - 1001 Commandments
07 - Remember Me This Way
08 - This One-Eyed Man Is King
09 - Straight On Til Morning
10 - Damien
11 - This Hollowed Ground

link

With the stable, 1990s lineup of the group now well-seasoned indeed, the Legendary Pink Dots kept on keeping on with From Here You'll Watch the World Go By, one of the band's most wide-ranging and consistently successful efforts. Generally speaking, the focus on the album is on group performances with odd interjections as opposed to full-on cut-up efforts, with Ka-Spel's now sui generis lyrical approach and delivery leading the weird and wild way as always. There's almost a glam feel at many points, whether it's the combination of descending chords at some points or the easy chug of "Remember Me This Way," the album's lead single. When the group tries for its own variants on techno and electronic dance as filtered through other perceptions, the results can be most intriguing, as the dark bubbling up of "1001 Commandments" (with a great husked Ka-Spel vocal and excellent percussion work from Ryan Moore) demonstrates. Spoken word turns on "A Velvet Resurrection" over tranced-out, space rock zone, and the slow-building feel of dread and collapse on "This One-Eyed Man Is King" shows that some things will forever remain LPD at its most intense. More than once, though, the music is as mainstream as the band might ever get -- consider the lovely opening track "Clockwise," which could have easily been someone's English folk rock underground hit in 1970. Ka-Spel's singing is lovely, wistful yet still slightly damaged, while the arrangement -- polite, attractive, just haunting enough and benefiting from the Silver Man's piano -- is a sweet dream, ending on an quietly electric flow. Other acoustic efforts, in keeping with the just-beyond-the-fields-we-know efforts like "I Love You in Your Tragic Beauty," include "Friend" and the concluding "This Hollowed Ground." (allmusic.com)

Technorati tags: The Legendary Pink Dots

The Legendary Pink Dots. Part 2

2007-07-07T09:45:00.001+04:00

The Tower (1984)

01 - Black Zone
02 - Break Day
03 - Tower One
04 - Vigil-Anti
05 - A Lust for Powder
06 - Poppy Day
07 - Tower Two
08 - Astrid
09 - Rope and Glory
10 - Tower Three
11 - Tower Four
12 - Tower Five

link

Floating in with the perfectly titled ominous synth groans of "Black Zone," The Tower finds the Legendary Pink Dots really starting to gel as a conceptual effort all around, with increasingly involved arrangements and all the more harrowing performances. The Tower is in many ways an album of striking moments suddenly surfacing in excellent songs -- the violin parts on "Vigil-Anti," the sudden keyboard sparkles on the drifting, building moodout "Poppy Day" -- prettiness turned brutal at the stop of a dime. The use of hollow electronic percussion detracts a bit from the atmospheres the group tries to create, but the emphasis on the rhythms often comes courtesy of mostly keyboards and synth bass, suggesting waltzes and horror movie settings at the same time. Even when things get a bit chirpy on The Tower, it's the chirpiness of dancing on a very, very narrow ledge above oblivion. A song like "Break Day" may start in cheery enough music-box fashion, but the combination of feedback and Ka-Spel's keening voice on the chorus makes for a simple but effective touch, a further punch on an endless downward spiral. His mock toff accent toward the end is a hilarious touch as well. Though not a concept album per se, Ka-Spel lyrically pursues the titular image through five sequentially named tracks throughout the album -- "Tower 1," "Tower 2," etc. -- an intriguing approach more groups would do well to embrace instead of simply trying to write bad opera. Of those tracks, "Tower 1" has some of the best parts, twinkling keyboards and Ka-Spel's overdubbed voice reciting names like a demented schoolteacher, while "Tower 4" is in many ways a tribute to late-70s Bowie, of all things. Nice cameo moment -- Lilly Ak's lead vocal on "Astrid," a fine contrast to Ka-Spel's usual approach which inadvertently invents most female goth vocalists' approaches in the '90s.

Asylum (1985)

01 - Echo Police
02 - Gorgon Zola's Baby
03 - Fifteen Flies in the Marmalade
04 - Femme Mirage
05 - The Hill
06 - Demonism
07 - Prisoner
08 - So Gallantly Screaming
09 - I Am the Way, The Truth, The Light
10 - Agape
11 - Golden Dawn
12 - The Last Straw
13 - A Message from Our Sponsor
14 - Go Ask Alice
15 - This Could Be the End

link (part_1 part_2)

First released as a double-LP set and later reissued on a single CD, Asylum is the album that best represents the Legendary Pink Dots in the '80s, which does not mean that it is the group's best album or that it makes a good point of entry into its '80s production. Albums like The Tower or Any Day Now are melodically richer and more focused, but Asylum is the album that brings together the group's songwriting and experimental leanings with the most gusto. It also captures the band coming out of its stark, cold sound of the early '80s and evolving toward relatively lusher arrangements. The opening song "Echo Police" is a typically alienating LPD new wave song, strongly reminiscent of the material found on The Tower, but soon things take a bizarre twist with "Gorgon Zola's Baby." Other more experimental tracks include "A Message from Our Sponsor," the whole fourth side of the LP release (the last four tracks on the CD), and the 11-minute "So Gallantly Screaming," which pairs up fragments of songs and tape collage. Several more straightforward songs are introduced by odd textures or include strange, disquieting developments. The album still offers its share of memorable melodies, including the off-kilter "The Hill," the Eastern-flavored "The Golden Dawn" and the near-epic "I'm the Way, The Truth, The Light," the album's highlight, with Edward Ka-Spel portraying a maniacal messiah. Asylum is also noteworthy for the inclusion of bassist/keyboardist Julia Niblock Waller (billed as "Poison Barbarella") in the lineup; she also contributes a low alto lead vocal on "Femme Mirage." This album is surely a must for the casual LPD fan, but newcomers may find these 75 minutes a tad too much (and too all over the place) to start with. (allmusic.com)

Island of Jewels (1986)

01 - Tower
02 - The Red and the Black
03 - The Dairy
04 - Emblem Parade
05 - Jewel on an Island
06 - Rattlesnake Arena
07 - The Shock of Contact
08 - Jewel in the Crown
09 - Our Lady in Chambers
10 - Our Lady in Kharki
11 - Our Lady in Darkness
12 - The Guardians of Eden

link

Any Day Now (1987)

01 - Casting the Runes
02 - A Strychnine Kiss
03 - Laguna Beach
04 - The Gallery
05 - Neon Mariners
06 - True Love
07 - The Peculiar Fun Fair
08 - Waiting for the Cloud
09 - Cloud Zero
10 - Under Glass
11 - The Light in My Little Girl's Eyes
12 - The Plasma Twins

link

More cohesive than Island of Jewels and more streamlined than Asylum, Any Day Now stands as one of the Legendary Pink Dots' best albums of the '80s, ex aequo with The Tower. There is no specific unifying theme this time, although alienation and estrangement seem to permeate the whole project. The Dots' keyboard patches were starting to get old by 1988, but in retrospect, this gives the album a vaguely retro charm. Edward Ka-Spel is in top songwriting shape, with "Casting the Runes," "A Strychnine Kiss" and "Neon Mariners" standing out as particularly catchy songs. The latter is especially haunting, thanks to careful arrangements and one of Ka-Spel's trademark vocal deliveries. Any Day Now is noteworthy for its lack of long experimental tracks, which (without unfairly diminishing the artistic interest of such efforts) makes the album somewhat more accessible to newcomers. The only extended track is the ten-minute "Waiting for the Cloud," but it is through-written, with the song proper in the first half (and a strong one at that), followed by an instrumental development that showcases why the Dots were often perceived as the unlikely link between prog rock and industrial, and a final recap of the song. Patrick White's violin is mixed somewhat higher on this album, giving more presence to his elegant lines. The original Bias release consisted of nine tracks (ending with "Cloud Zero"). Subsequent reissues added the complete Under Glass EP released the same year, a set of three weaker and somewhat more mainstream songs, including some slap bass in "The Plasma Twins" and an arena rock-like double solo of violin and electric guitar at the end of "The Light in My Little Girl's Eyes." (allmusic.com)

The Lovers (1984)

01 - MMMMMMMMMMMM...
02 - Geisha Mermaid
03 - The Heretic
04 - Jungle
05 - The Lovers (part 1)
06 - Silverture
07 - Flowers For the Silverman
08 - The Lovers (part 2)
09 - Curious Guy
10 - Premonition 16

link

The Golden Age (1988)

01 - Maniac
02 - The Talent Contest
03 - The More it Changes
04 - Hotel Noir
05 - Stille Nacht
06 - The Month After
07 - Lisa's Separation
08 - The Golden Age
09 - Black Castles
10 - And Even the Vegetables Screamed
11 - Regression
12 - Blacklist
13 - Methods
14 - Our Lady in Cervetori

link (part_1 part_2)

Technorati tags: The Legendary Pink Dots

The Legendary Pink Dots. Part 1

2007-07-05T08:25:00.001+04:00

Apparation (1982)

01. God Speed
02. Pay To Be Alone
03. Spontaneous Human Combustion
04. The Blessing
05. I'm In The Drill
06. Powder Crowd
07. Strychnene Chaser
08. Alive!
09. Believe!
10. The Plague
11. Premonition 3

link

Brighter Now (1982)

01 - Red Castles
02 - Louder After 6
03 - The Wedding
04 - Apocalypse Then
05 - Legacy
06 - City Ghosts
07 - Hanging Gardens
08 - Soma Bath
09 - Premonition 4

link

The first official Legendary Pink Dots album was actually a re-release of an early cassette, but it's as convenient a starting point as any for the lengthy, ever-evolving collection of releases the band would embark upon. The sound is certainly among the roughest and sparest of any LPD release, and in many ways is a tentative effort that is more a product of its time than anything else. Songs like the jaunty synth-box swing of "Louder After Six" and the almost flamenco-tinged "Legacy" bespeak little of the tension and threat of imminent collapse that so much of the band's work in later years would demonstrate in spades. The Silver Man is very much present as the lead keyboardist, and one gets the sense he's playing around as well, seeing what works and what doesn't, groping toward a more individual sound bit by bit. Ka-Spel's immediately identifiable vocals show his Syd Barrett fascination had understandable roots, but even then he had a consciously strange, alien lilt to his delivery that renders his results much more than revivalism. His lyrics, meanwhile, convey a lot of the sheer dread and worry that much of the music doesn't, or at least not on first blush. Whether it's the utterly freaked out demolition of the hippie dream on "Apocalypse Then," even as the synths are gently soothing at many points, or the vocodered chill of "Hanging Gardens," he's clearly finding his voice already and putting it to very good use. At its best, Brighter Now finds its own creepy air -- thus the vocal/piano only combination of "The Wedding," as anti-celebratory a benediction as could be thought possible for said blessed event, or "City Ghosts," which predicts the future of the band in many ways while still sounding stripped down and even jazzy.

Basilisk (1983)

01 - Basilisk Part One
02 - Basilisk Part Two
03 - Basilisk Part Three
04 - The Ocean Cried 'Blue Murder' On A Ferry In A Storm On A Walkman
05 - Ideal Home
06 - The Glory The Glory

link

Basilisk first came out as a Third Mind Records cassette in 1983. It was reissued (both legitimately and bootlegged) a few times in the same format during the '80s by small European labels, including the Legendary Pink Dots' own favorite Dutch imprint, TeKa. The album finally received wider circulation in 2002 when TeKa reissued it on CD in collaboration with the U.S. label Beta-Lactam Ring Records. The album ranks among the Dots' experimental releases. It features a few songs typically dominated by repetitive keyboard chords and Edward Ka-Spel's murmur beyond the grave. But for each song included, there's a disquieting instrumental piece. They provide a suitable soundtrack for walks through the local cemetery on a foggy night, especially "Basilisk 2," which used to conclude the original album. In keeping with the cassette esthetics, the CD reissue lumps the material from each side into two 30-minute tracks. Beside the usual suspects (Ka-Spel and Phil Knight), the lineup includes guitarist Barry Gray, violinist/keyboardist Patrick Paganini, drummer Keith G. Thompson, and singer April Iliffe, although these musicians seem to appear only on the bonus tracks. The sound of the main album is dominated by keyboards. "The Ocean Cried Blue Murder a Ferry in a Storm on a Walkman" is a dark folk song recorded direct-to-Walkman. "Ideal Home" (which first appeared on Atomic Roses, 1982) is presented in a previously unreleased version from 1981. The bonus tracks have a shaky sound quality, but Basilisk itself sounds quite good considering that the master tapes have been lost. (allmusic.com)

Curse (1983)

01 - Love Puppets
02 - Wall Purges Night
03 - Lisa's Party
04 - Arzhklahh Olgevezh!
05 - Pruumptje Kurss
06 - Waving At The Aeroplanes
07 - Hiding
08 - Dolls' House
09 - The Palace Of Love
10 - Stoned Obituary

link (part_1 part_2)

Technorati tags: The Legendary Pink Dots

Melvins. Part 6

2007-07-04T11:23:00.001+04:00

Singles 1-12 (1997)

01 - Lexicon Devil
02 - Pigtro
03 - In The Rain
04 - Spread Eagle
05 - Leech
06 - Queen
07 - Way Of The World
08 - Theme
09 - It's Shoved
10 - Forgotten Principles
11 - GGIIBBYY
12 - Theresa Screams
13 - Poison
14 - Double Troubled
15 - Specimen
16 - All At Once
17 - Jacksonville
18 - Dallas
19 - The Bloat
20 - Fast Forward
21 - Nasty Dogs And Funky Kings
22 - HDYF
23 - How && (Harry Lauders Walking Stick Tree)
24 - Zodiac

link (part_1 part_2)

In 1996, the Melvins and Amphetamine Reptile delivered one 7" single every month of the year in quantities limited to 800 worldwide. AmRep handily compiled all 24 sides on the two-CD set Singles 1-12, which was of likewise limited release. The package features alternate mixes (like the intentionally obtuse versions of songs they submitted to Atlantic Records); some swell cover tunes (they manage to speed up the already hardcore "Lexicon Devil" by early Hollywood punks the Germs and slow down the at-a-snails pace "Way of the World" by slowcore pioneers Flipper); live improvisational endurance tests performed by these perennial openers in reaction to playing in front of crowds who could care less about them; plus assorted outtakes, one-offs, and other tomfoolery (their smirking take on Brit-pop, "In the Rain," is ironically catchy). Necessary material for fanatics and collectors, Singles 1-12 betrays not only the Melvins' metal/punk roots, but their ability to be both frightening and hilarious.

26 Songs (2003)

01 - Easy As It Was
02 - Now A Limo
03 - Grinding Process
04 - No. 2 Pencil
05 - At A Crawl
06 - Disinvite
07- Snake Appeal
08 - Show Off Your Red Hands
09 - Over From Underground
10 - Cray Fish
11 - Easy As It Was (Demo)
12 - Now A Limo (Demo)
13 - Grinding Process (Demo)
14 - At A Crawl (Demo)
15 - Disinvite (Demo)
16 - Snake Appeal (Demo)
17 - Set Me Straight (Demo)
18 - Show Off Your Red Hands (Demo)
19 - No. 2 Pencil (Demo)
23 - Operation Blessing (Demo)
24 - Breakfast On The Sly (Demo)
25 - Ever Since My Accident (Demo)
26 - Hugh

link

10 Songs was itself a fine if short view of the Melvins soon after they started, but 26 Songs, a thorough expansion of the original CD to include just about every last demo and early comp appearance and more that they could get their hands on from those days, takes the cake as the truly necessary release. Besides some beautifully scabrous liner notes from, presumably, Buzz Osborne -- whose description of the group's shabby treatment via certain more popular groups from Seattle is brief but eye-opening -- the release benefits from better sound, cover art in line with the group's recent Ipecac efforts, and more loud, fuzzy monstrosity than one could almost handle. After the original ten songs, the bonus tracks start with the original 6 Songs single -- the tracks were all redone for 10 Songs but are, in fact, slightly earlier recordings. Mastered from glorious crackly vinyl, it's even more of a murky tromp through such songs as "Easy as It Was" and "At a Crawl," but that's definitely part of the appeal, and Osborne sounds even more guttural and unhinged on "Now a Limo" and "Grinding Process." More crackle turns up on the three following songs, all outtakes from that session -- besides two further alternates is "Set Me Straight" -- more crunchy sludge madness that's not quite winsome pop but could sort of be the Melvins' take on same during the chorus, if one squints. Most of the remaining tracks come from yet another session, with a slightly (if only just) more trebly sound amid the usual sprawl of feedback; a completely deranged take on "Snake Appeal"; and two otherwise unknown numbers, "Breakfast on the Fly" (more of the same) and "Operation Blessing" (high speed mania Metallica could love). Enjoyably ridiculous early comp appearances -- "Ever Since My Accident," and "Hugh" -- the befuddled ramblings of a high school friend of the band high on angel dust before a messy blues jam is played -- concludes the disc.

We Reach: The Music of the Melvins (2005)

01. Mare - Nightgoat
02. The Dillinger Escape Plan - Honey Bucket
03. Mastodon - The Bit
04. Strapping Young Lad - Zodiac
05. Pig Destroyer - Claude
06. High On Fire & Keelhaul - Oven
07. Meatjack - Shevil
08. Strapadon Factory - Joan Of Arc
09. Isis & Agoraphobic Nosebleed - Boris
10. Absentee - Revolve
11. Eyehategod - Easy As It Was
12. Dog Fashion Disco - Anaconda
13. Disengage - Raise A Paw
14. Blessing The Hogs - Hog Leg
15. CKY & Gnarkill - Laughing With Lucifer At Satan's Sideshow
16. Maritime Murder - Copache
17. Made Out Of Babies - Bar-X-The Rocking M
18. Pincer 2 - Echohead/Don’t Piece Me

link (part_1 part_2)

The phrase "way ahead of his/her/their time" gets tossed around a lot in relation to music, but in some cases, it's just so darn appropriate. Motörhead, arguably, was playing thrash metal about seven or eight years before anyone start using that term -- and Iggy Pop was providing punk long before the formation of the Sex Pistols, the Clash, or the Ramones. Sometimes, innovators who are ahead of their time enjoy superstardom (Motörhead, for example), but others don't sell as many albums as the artists they helped pave the way for. Although the Melvins never enjoyed more than a cult following, their ability to combine punk with a strong Black Sabbath influence had a major impact on everything from grunge to alternative metal to doom metal and stoner rock. This 2005 release finds a long list of 21st century artists paying tribute to the sludgy Melvins, and they range from Eyehategod on "Easy as It Was" to Strapping Young Lad on "Zodiac" and the Dillinger Escape Plan on "Honey Bucket." Fractured Transmitter, the independent label that assembled this compilation, acknowledges the Melvins' impact on the doom/stoner field with Eyehategod's performance; Fractured Transmitter salutes their influence on alt-metal with Meatjack's blistering version of "Shevil." Thankfully, most of these bands are smart enough to realize that the most worthwhile covers are not carbon copies of the original versions but rather, try to put a fresh, individualistic spin on something familiar. So instead of trying to sound exactly like the Melvins, the artists generally salute them on their own alt-metal, doom/stoner, or metalcore terms. This CD is slightly uneven, but most of the time, the artists try things that work -- and while We Reach probably won't appeal to those with only a casual interest in the Melvins, it is a lot of fun if one is a hardcore fan of their innovative sludge. (allmusic.com)

Technorati tags: Melvins

Melvins. Part 5

2007-07-04T10:50:00.001+04:00

Hostile Ambient Takeover (2002)

01 - Black Stooges
02
03 - Dr. Geek
04 - Little Judas Chongo
05 - The Fool, The Meddling Idiot
06 - The Brain Center At Whipples
07 - Foaming
08 - The Anti Vermin Seed

link

Considering their long history of continuous releases and touring, one would think that their 16th (or 17th depending on how you view their catalog) full length album would show a significant decline in quality. But like few other acts before them, they have managed to maintain their bizarre and endearing sound for almost 20 years. Hostile Ambient Takeover continues their expansion into various musical styles, a habit they developed after signing to infamous genre hopper Mike Patton's Ipecac label. They exercise their rockabilly chops on the complicated and harsh "Little Judas Congo", a song that goes to prove how amazing Dale Crover can be on the drums. "The Fool, the Meddling Idiot" is a thick grunge crawl that brings to mind their Houdini-era material. "The Brain Center at Whipples" is one of their epic slow burners that showcases the rich vocals of Buzz Osbourne as the song creeps to a dance pop ending that can't help but take the listener by surprise. They sound more soulful in general here, adding 70's rock touches and allowing actual non-aggressive emotions to come across in their performances. But nothing prepares listeners for "The Anti-Vermin Seed", the 16 minute monster that ends the album with a tense and ugly portrait of a very unhappy Buzz Osbourne. His delicate vocals travel over the ungodly slow bassline and bursts of chugging guitar like some acid-drenched caveman trying to make sense of his surroundings. The song is the only one on the disc to live up to the title and be a hostile yet ambient song that ranks among their headiest experiments. The Melvins have yet to live up to their incredible hot streak in the early 90's, but like Motorhead before them they have managed to find endless variations on a likable sound that is distinctly theirs. Fans will probably love it, but to the uninitiated this might be a little too steeped in their traditional weirdness to appeal to non-adventurous listeners.

Pigs of the Roman Empire (2004)

01 - III
02 - The Bloated Pope
03 - Toadi Acceleratio
04 - Pigs Of The Roman Empire
05 - Pink Bat
06 - Zzzz Best
07 - Safety Third
08 - Idolatrous Apostate
09 - Untitled Hidden Track

link

This time out, the Melvins have tapped noise and mood specialist Lustmord, and his presence is felt right from the beginning. Drawing a death's-head card from Lustmord solo efforts like 2000's Purifying Fire, Pigs of the Roman Empire begins with the creepy, crawly "III." Ambient bumps in the night punctuate the severe bottom end as a hissing waver builds with horribly steady precision -- it's like being caught in a bear trap as the machete-wielding maniac trudges closer and closer. The eventual "Bloated Pope" is much more the Melvins', er, speed. Though it's grounded in whip-smart rhythmic clarity and includes a soupy fog breakdown, it's still a choking, stuttering gigantor headed by a classicist King Buzzo vocal ("Insect from the crawling Mother!") and squalid wails of electric guitar. (Tool's Adam Jones is again part of the proceedings for Pigs.) The title track is a straight duet of Melvins' slime and Lustmord spook. It begins as an exercise in the latter's penchant for moody gloom. The fearsome, buttressed trickling space he builds suggests train stations surrendered to neglect, and knights in black satin. But that early passage gradually gives ground to a deliberate, tonal guitar solo, which is then swallowed by more dead starship moaning. This interplay continues throughout the track's latter half -- since it pushes past the twenty-minute mark, there's plenty of time to match the distortion sludge to cavernous spatial howling. Still, as arresting as Lustmord's soundscapes are, Pigs of the Roman Empire could've been louder. While the pounding stoner psychoses of "Pink Bat" and "Safety Third" are strong and great, their energy is sucked mightily into collapsed Lustmordian stars like "Idolatrous Apostate," or the untitled hidden track. The solution is probably to look at Pigs as an exploratory effort along the lines of Sunn 0))), whose own path led from churning metal freakery to haunting middle-earth alchemy. Either that, or the Melvins have given us a batch of field recordings made on the River Styx's wharf.

A Senile Animal (2006)

01 - The Talking Horse
02 - Blood Witch
03 - Civilized Worm
04 - A History Of Drunks
05 - Rat Faced
06 - The Hawk
07 - You've Never Been Right
08 - A History Of Bad Men
09 - The Mechanical Bride
10 - A Vast Filthy Prison

link

The Melvins have long been considered one of hard rock/metal's most powerful/monolithic-sounding bands, despite only consisting of three members. So, imagine what the group would sound like with two drummers. Well, imagine no more. The Melvins' second release of 2006, A Senile Animal, sees longtime members -- guitarist Buzz Osborne and drummer Dale Crover -- joined by both members of noise duo Big Business (bassist Jared Warren and drummer Coady Willis). Unlike some bands that have two drummers but do not sound that remarkably different than if they had a single one, the "new look" Melvins puts the extra pair of sticks to good use, as evidenced by the drum march breakdown of the album opening "The Talking Horse," the onslaught of "You've Never Been Right," and "Civilized Worm," which ends in an absolute landslide of percussion. Although they started out primarily as a punk band that slowed down the riffs, the Melvins have also always mixed in prog rock-like bits, such as the tricky rhythms of "Blood Witch" and the King Crimson/Tool-ish "The Hawk." The album also contains some of the group's most straightforward compositions in some time, including the metallic/new wave-ish ditty "A History of Drunks." The transfusion of new blood has made one of rock's gnarliest beats even -- gnarlier! (allmusic.com)

Technorati tags: Melvins

Melvins. Part 4

2007-07-03T17:00:00.001+04:00

The Bootlicker (1999)

01 - Toy
02 - Let It All Be
03 - Black Santa
04 - We We
05 - Up The Dumper
06 - Mary Lady Bobby Kins
07 - Jew Boy Flower Head
08 - Lone Rose Holding Now
09 - Prig

link

Bootlicker, the second installment of the Melvins' 1999 trilogy of albums, displays the lighter, more melodic side of the group's sound. Unlike its predecessor, The Maggot, there are clean and distorted guitar tones and a relatively laid-back feel, as on the song "Let It All Be." While not quite as eclectic as Stag, Bootlicker reaffirms the sonic twists and turns the Melvins have at their disposal.

The Crybaby (2000)

01 - Smells Like Teen Spirit
02 - Blockbuster
03 - Ramblin' Man
04 - G.I. Joe
05 - Mine Is No Disgrace
06 - Spineless
07 - Divorced
08 - Dry Drunk
09 - Okie From Muskogee
10 - The Man With The Laughing Hand Is Dead
11 - Moon Pie

link

The Melvins' The Crybaby, the final volume in their Ipecac Recordings trilogy, applies their uncompromisingly dense sound and irreverence to a collection of covers and original material. A motley crew of guest artists, including Tool, Foetus' Jim Thirlwell, the Pain Teens' Bliss Blood, the eclectic New York City rockers Skeleton Key, and Brutal Truth's Kevin Sharpe, assist them -- and the results are predictably unpredictable. Helmet's Henry Bogner and Hank Williams III team up with the group on drastic reworkings of two country classics, Hank Williams' "Ramblin' Man" and Merle Haggard's "Okie From Muskogee." The Jesus Lizard's David Yow joins the Melvins on a cover of the Lizard's "Blockbuster" and "Dry Drunk," which also features the surf-jazz band Godzik Pink. "G.I. Joe" showcases the vocal talents of Ipecac founder Mike Patton, and in one of The Crybaby's most inspired turns, '70s teen-dream Leif Garrett sings on the band's surprisingly faithful rendition of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit." One of their most creative albums, The Crybaby reaffirms the Melvins' ability to venture outside of their trademark style while still remaining quintessentially Melvins.

Electroretard (2001)

01 - Shit Storm
02 - Youth Of America
03 - Gluey Porch Treatments (New And Improved)
04 - Revolve (New And Improved)
05 - Missing
06 - Lovely Butterflies (New And Improved)
07 - Tipping The Lion (New And Improved)
08 - Interstellar Overdrive

link

Their first release since the intense and ambitious Bootlicker/Maggot/Crybaby trilogy, the Melvins' Electroretard feels like a playful reward after a successful but laborious delivery. With the exception of the introductory "Shit Storm," four minutes of noise that sounds like a Melvins track recorded backwards, this album is comprised entirely of covers and revisions of older Melvins tracks. As the album's title suggests, the new versions have been completely re-recorded with a powerful emphasis on electronic effects. The revision of "Revolve," for example, which first appeared on Stoner Witch, replaces the chorus' impassioned vocals and driving power chords with a barrage of staccato electronic tones. In addition to electronic tinkering, King Buzzo's vocals are consistently more sedate on the revisions, as his impassioned and enraged primal screams are replaced with an equally emotional but more somber delivery. This difference is perhaps most pronounced in "Gluey Porch Treatments" (a revision, in fact, of "Bitten Into Sympathy" rather than Gluey Porch Treatments' title track). On the remainder of the album, the Melvins put their distinct signature on tunes originally recorded by Pink Floyd, the Wipers, and the Cows (bassist Kevin Rutmanis' alma mater), with tremendous results in every case. The Wiper's anthem "Youth of America" is particularly driving and maniacal in the Melvins' hands, while the Cows' "I'm Missing" (simply titled "Missing" on this album) is rendered somewhat haunting by King Buzzo's sedated vocals and the conspicuous absence of guitar feedback that was so prominent in the original. Those who have remained intrigued with the Melvins' tortuous stylistic experiments will find Electroretard rewarding, but those who find them at their best with the crushing onslaught delivered by an album like Stoner Witch may find themselves somewhat dismayed. While the revisions at times disappoint when contrasted with the originals, King Buzzo's vocal stylings on this album add yet another dimension to a band that's constantly refashioning itself. The electronic experimentation, on the other hand, is intrusive and difficult to assimilate at first, but easily becomes an organic part of the songs on subsequent listens. "Youth of America" practically makes this disc a worthwhile investment on its own, for seasoned Melvins fans and new listeners alike.

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Melvins. Part 3

2007-07-03T08:56:00.001+04:00

Houdini (1993)

01 - Hooch
02 - Night Goat
03 - Lizzy
04 - Going Blind
05 - Honey Bucket
06 - Hag Me
07 - Set Me Straight
08 - Sky Pup
09 - Joan Of Arc
10 - Teet
11 - Copache
12 - Pearl Bomb
13 - Spread Eagle Beagle

link

To essay a concise, surefooted summation of the Melvins' catalog would be reductive at best, and laughable at worst. This is, of course, underground rock's trio of pranksters -- unpredictable and capable of complete musical about-faces in the turn of a measure. That said, Houdini is about as close as one gets to a representative Melvins album, and it vividly captures the band's unreconstructed power, vision, and musical strangeness. During the early-'90s purge of hair rock and candy-footed funk metal, the Melvins, as with many other acts, seemed fair game for a major label in search of another post-Nirvana gold mine. With Kurt Cobain's assistance, the band was snatched up -- and summarily dropped (after three brilliant albums, this being the first) -- by Atlantic. Though Houdini's immediate predecessors, Eggnog and Bullhead, pried open a few screwball chasms in the Melvins' syrupy distillation of Sabbath riffage and Flipper's noisy anti-punk, it was this album that displayed the full fruition of the outfit's sonic breadth, from the cough-syrup river drag of "Night Goat" to the revved-up "Honey Bucket," and from the creepy "Joan of Arc" to the glue-damaged "Sky Pup." Ringleader King Buzzo's riffs are stretched -- taffy-like -- to meltdown, and at other times they are razor sharp. Either way, they abound with a lumbering, lurching power. With their voluminous output and determination to continuously expand their sound regardless of musical trends, the Melvins oeuvre has begun to rival -- at least on paper -- the career arcs of Frank Zappa and Neil Young.

Prick (1994)

01 - How About
02 - Rickets
03 - Pick It N' Flick It
04 - Montreal
05 - Chief Ten Beers
06 - Underground
07 - Chalk People
08 - Punch The Lion
09 - Pure Digital Silence
10 - Larry
11 - Roll Another One

link

Whipped up strictly as a bit of fun by the band – and also allegedly as a cheap way of getting some money to finance the full Stoner Witch sessions – Prick is barrel-scraping with something of a purpose. Figuring that their rabid fanbase wouldn't mind something that for most other bands would have been the kiss of death, namely a collection of jams, jokes and live oddness, the Melvins packed Prick as full as they could and let it loose on the world. Recorded for the most part in England (which likely explains the presence of "Underground," a found-sound piece taping various buskers around Tube stations), Prick probably could have been made in a day, which was likely the point. Unlike the more focused attack of the Houdini and Stoner Witch albums, or even the structured overdrive of Melvins itself, say, Prick is just one big goof, intentionally so. Samples of political rallies and revivals, random jams that die out, mock country twanging and more surface throughout. "Montreal," which consists of little more than feedback, occasional drums and audience cheers and abuse from a show in said city, pretty much defines the the album as a whole. Finest oddball moment: "Pure Digital Science," where one of the band quietly rasps in an obviously fake Brit accent "And now, for your listening pleasure, a few moments of pure…digital…silence!," which is followed by just that. Nearly as great – the opening notes of "Pick It N' Flick It," where a initial drum rumble shifts into the most hilariously over the top metal guitar solo ever, hands down. Credit for Osbourne for coming up with that gem -- sad thing is too many bands would spend serious time trying to get that kind of effort for real.

Stoner Witch (1994)

01 - Skweetis
02 - Queen
03 - Sweet Willy Rollbar
04 - Revolve
05 - Goose Freight Train
06 - Roadbull
07 - At The Stake
08 - Magic Pig Detective
09 - Shevil
10 - June Bug
11 - Lividity

link

The early to mid-'90s proved the Melvins' golden age, and the three principal albums from that period -- Stoner Witch provides the centerpiece -- are virtually unassailable in their range, depth, power, and experimental courage. Picking up on the basic framework of Houdini, Stoner Witch resolves into an ear-catching workup of classic rock themes, tempered, of course, with a fairly judicious sampling of acid-trip detours. Where Houdini resided more in an expansive -- though lugubriously heavy -- metal vein, refining the techniques built up through the band's early struggles, Stoner Witch truly showcases the band at the apex of their wide-ranging creative abilities. The melodies -- yes, melodies -- work seamlessly with the ubiquitous chugging riffs; Buzzo's vocals, often reminiscent of a David Thomas (Pere Ubu) after a few weeks of no-nonsense boot camp, are sometimes quiet and reflective, and more often than not, positively Stentorian. And naturally, drummer Dale Crover's percussion and pounding behind the kit is astonishing, powerful, and daring. The album opens with the distorted thud of "Skweetis," the amps and cymbals washing well into red-line territory before yielding to a three-count of heavy-duty classic rock with "Queen," "Sweet Willy Rollbar," and "Revolve." From that point on, there is a deliberate sea-change, beginning with the faux-lounge tweaking of "Goose Freight Train," the nearly unlistenable Merzbow-noise of "Magic Pig Detective," and ultimately the hammer-down hardcore of "June Bug" sandwiched between two ambient tracks: "Shevil" and the album closer, "Lividity."

Stag (1996)

01 - The Bit
02 - Hide
03 - Bar X The Rocking M
04 - Yacob's Lab
05 - The Bloat
06 - Tipping The Lion
07 - Black Bock
08 - Goggles
09 - Soup
10 - Buck Owens
11 - Sterilized
12 - Lacrimosa
13 - Skin Horse
14 - Captain Pungent
15 - Berthas
16 - Cottonmouth

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The repeating sitar-into-guitar-chord start of the album makes it clear that Stag isn't going to be quite like anything the Melvins had yet recorded to that point. There's such a strong and audible emphasis on the band really exploring the possibilities of the studio throughout that the effect is breathtaking -- it's a huge, epic sound that's also quite varied, a fine indication of where the band would be going in later years. The roots of the Melvins remain clear -- direct, deliberate, and focused crunch -- but they don't feel constrained by them, bringing in everything from more stripped-down space in the arrangements to stylistic forays revolving around the central approach. Hearing horns and scratching helping match the monster riffs on "Bar X the Rocking M" is at once a mind-f*ck and something that makes total sense, as does the mini-prog epic "Buck Owens," packing in time-signature shifts and a mid-section trip-out and more in three minutes' time. Short, almost fragmentary songs like "Hide," with its quiet guitar chime, and the weird, sparkly drones and burbles of "Soup" help to further flesh out the inspired feeling of Stag. Osborne's vocal delivery and various treatments thereupon are fantastic, ranging from dreamy float and gentle croon to rasping roar, paralleling Stag's overall emphasis on trying anything at least once to see what works. Check his winsome, light turn on "Black Bock" for a real trip -- it's hard to believe this is the same guy who sang on "Hooch" and "It's Shoved." Songs like "Tipping the Lion" and "Goggles" capture the spirit of Stag excellently, able to switch from quieter to louder moments and back again effortlessly. Then there's the twinkly, Chipmunks-sung "Captain Pungent," which will leave most listeners paralyzed with fright or with laughter, if not both.

Honky (1997)

01 - They All Must Be Slaughtered
02 - Mombius Hibachi
03 - Lovely Butterfly
04 - Pitfalls In Serving Warrants
05 - Air Breather Deep In The Arms Of Morphius
06 - Laughing With Lucifer At Satan's Sideshow
07 - How --++--
08 - Harry Lauders Walking Stick Tree
09 - Grin
10 - In The Freaktose The Bugs Are Dying

link

From any other band, an album like Honky would seem an aberration at best, an anti-commercial finger in the eye at worst. But in the hands of the Melvins, it is both of these and much, much more. This, of course, from a band whose previous Amrep release was Prick, a collection, if you will, of strange sounds, silent tracks, and goofs on the listener. However, to those -- and that would be the majority -- Melvins fans who had grown accustomed to the metallic sludge exhibited on classics like Gluey Porch Treatments, Bullhead, and Eggnog; or those who had jumped aboard during the more commercial period of Houdini and Stoner Witch, Honky proved a sore point. It is a deliberately strange concoction of ambient pieces, avant-noise games and experiments, with the occasional driving noise metal track. But to more eclectic and open ears, Honky is a peculiar, interesting, nuanced work that shows this band is indeed capable of just about anything it puts its collective mind to, and each listen is even more rewarding. The opening track, "They All Must Be Slaughtered," is a lengthy, eerie, quasi-ethereal piece with additional vocals by Babes in Toyland's Kat Bjelland, and that certainly sets the tone for the rest of the album.

The Maggot (1999)

01 - Amazon
02 - Amazon (Continued)
03 - We All Love Jusy
04 - Manky
05 - The Green Manalishi (With The Two Pronged Crown)
06 - The Horn Bearer
07 - Judy
08 - See How Pretty, See How Smart

link

Love 'em or hate 'em, you have to give the Melvins credit for issuing perhaps the most challenging release of their lengthy, mega-influential (Nirvana, Soundgarden, etc.) career with 1999's The Maggot. Their first release on Mike Patton's Ipecac label, The Maggot is the inaugural release of a trio of albums that were recorded at the same time and issued over the span of several months, the other releases being The Bootlicker and The Crybaby. Unlike most other alternative/heavy metal bands of the '80s and '90s who eventually experimented with other musical forms and approaches, the Melvins have stuck to their patented brutal and detuned sludge-rock throughout the years, and The Maggot is no different. Guitarist King Buzzo is still the undisputed master of the monstrous guitar riff (perhaps second only to Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi), as proven by such cuts as "AMAZON," "Manky," a cover of Fleetwood Mac's "The Green Manalishi," and the torturous album closer "See How Pretty, See How Smart." Strangely, all eight songs on the CD are sequenced in a way so that the listener can skip to the middle of each track. (allmusic.com)

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Melvins. Part 2

2007-07-02T08:55:00.001+04:00

Eggnog (1991)

01 - Wispy
02 - Antitoxidote
03 - Hog Leg
04 - Charmicarmicat

link

Eggnog delivers on the goods, an EP that supplies what Bullhead failed to give. This record serves as a centerpiece for the Melvins, showing what they've accomplished in the past and what they intent to execute in the future. The future lies in the 12-minute opus "Charmicarmicat." A holiday recording not recommended for the kids, or adults for that matter.

Dale Crover (1992)

01 - Hex Me
02 - Dead Wipe
03 - Respite
04 - Hurter

link

Joe Preston (1992)

01 - The Eagle Has Landed
02 - Bricklebrit
03 - Hands First Flower

link

King Buzzo (1992)

01 - Isabella
02 - Porg
03 - Annum
04 - Skeeter

link

Whether conceived as a well-crafted musical prank, homage, or method of seeing what each member could cough up, the Melvins mirrored Kiss in endeavoring solo albums by everyone in the band. And, like Kiss, the Melvins employed the same cover art style and lettering. Hmmm? Perhaps an homage, or joke, it's tough to tell. King Buzzo is the strongest of the three, and certainly the most akin to an actual Melvins album. "Isabella" opens with a pummeling, repeated drum line, some distorted guitar chugging, and Buzzo vocalizing something over the maelstrom. Track two is a strange, quasi-industrial loop; while "Annum" is a slight piece of understated pop. The final track, like track one, benefits from similarly loud drumming, although the vocals are in narrative form. Who provides that narration and drumming? Why, Dave Grohl of Nirvana and Foo Fighters, who had known Buzzo for quite some time. Oddly enough, here he is credited as Dale Nixon, due to legal issues with Nirvana's label, Geffen. As an interesting note, Dale Nixon was the name Black Flag used on My War for the bass player who wasn't: Greg Ginn played both guitar and bass, but credited the mysterious, non-existent Dale Nixon with that duty.

Lysol (1992)

01 - Hung Bunny
02 - Roman Bird Dog
03 - Sacrifice
04 - Second Coming
05 - The Ballad Of Dwight Frye
06 - With Teeth

link

Originally and notoriously known as Lysol before the company behind said household product had something to say on the matter (early copies with the original information can be found), Melvins was in many ways the pinnacle of the band at that point. Besides being the full-length farewell to indie rock labels, at least for a few years, it also showed an ambition that arguably they wouldn't have been to fulfill while on Atlantic. Though there are six separate songs on the disc, it is mastered and assembled as one megacomposition, in ways making it the perfect counterpart to the previous year's solo projects. The logical extension of the sheer monstrosity of the band's work up to that time, with longer and longer songs, its first two parts alone are jawdroppers. "Hung Bunny," which takes up the first third of the whole half-hour effort, begins with Osbourne's slabs of feedback and wordless vocals, with only very occasional drum-and-bass hits punctuating them. They rev up in full toward the end as the song shifts into "Roman Dog Bird," which easily stakes a claim as being the most Sabbath-like number the band had yet done -- huge, moving at a snail's pace, and with Osbourne's already on-the-edge vocals flanged and distorted like crazy. One of the most interesting things about Melvins is that in among the mayhem, there are two cover versions included -- both equally understandable sources of inspiration, both comprehensively Melvin-ized. Flipper was an obvious role model for the Melvins' slow-as-it-goes rumble, thus the trudging treatment of "Sacrifice" here. Meanwhile, none other than Alice Cooper himself gets the nod with "The Ballad of Dwight Fry," which actually slots into the whole presentation scarily well (and displays, wonder of wonders, subtlety). (allmusic.com)

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Melvins. Part 1

2007-06-29T11:14:00.001+04:00

Gluey Porch Treatments (1987)

01 - Eye Flys
02 - Echo (Don't Piece Me)
03 - Heater Moves And Eyes
04 - Steve Instant Neuman
05 - Influence Of Atmosphere
06 - Exact Paperbacks
07 - Happy Gray Or Black
08 - Leeech
09 - Glow God
10 - Big As Mountain
11 - Heaviness Of The Load
12 - Flex With You
13 - Bitten Into Sympathy
14 - Gluey Porch Treatments
15 - Clipping Roses
16 - As It Was
17 - Over From Under The Excrement
18 - Echohead (Demo)
19 - Flex With You (Demo)
20 - Don't Piece Me (Demo)
21 - Bitten Into Sympathy (Demo)
22 - Exact Paperbacks (Demo)
23 - Glow God, Big As A Mountain (Demo)
24 - Heaviness Of The Load (Demo)
25 - Happy Gray Or Black (Demo)
26 - Heater Moves And Eyes (Demo)
27 - Gluey Porch Treatments (Demo)
28 - Eye Flys (Demo)
29 - Clipping Roses (Demo)

link

The second and last album done with Lukin keeps the Melvins' freak flag flying. Starting with the slow-as-hell "Eye Flys," which, if nothing else, shows off Osbourne's skill at monster soloing while Crover and Lukin play a rhythm that would be too slow even for funerals, Gluey Porch Treatments is, to a large extent, more of the same. Then again, with the possible exception of St. Vitus, not many other bands out there were embracing the love of sludge metal monstrosities as the threesome was (just compare it what Ozzy Osbourne himself was doing at the time). "Exact Paperbacks" alone would have eaten most purportedly loud groups for breakfast without even trying. The combination of sudden, herky-jerky thrash (but not thrash metal) and epic stomp and sprawl once again did wonders here. Meanwhile, Osbourne's attempts to remold the singing on "God of Thunder" into a new guise for the underground ("Bitten Into Sympathy" in particular sounds like the ultimate fusion of Gene Simmons' voice and Tony Iommi's riffs) means his voice once more sounds just ridiculously perfect. Drawn-out syllables at the end of lines descending into murk, bellowing half-understandable insanities, flanged warbles and squeals: It's all there. Crover has some great fun with drums at points -- check out the start of "Influence of Atmosphere," where the echo on his fills and pounds just makes it all the more nuttily dramatic, or the equally strong conclusion of "Leech." Besides the title track, other examples of the band's perverse wit via song title includes "Steve Instant Newman" and the perfectly descriptive "Heaviness of the Load." After being unavailable for years, Gluey Porch Treatments finally got rereleased in 2001 with a slew of demo cuts perfect for pounding your head further into your torso.

Ozma (1989)

01 - Vile
02 - Oven
03 - At A Crawl
04 - Let God Be Your Gardener
05 - Creepy Smell
06 - Kool Legged
07 - Green Honey
08 - Agonizer
09 - Raise A Paw
10 - Love Thing
11 - Ever Since My Accident
12 - Revulsion (We Reach)
13 - Dead Dressed
14 - Cranky Messiah
15 - Claude
16 - My Small Percent Shows Most
17 - Candy O

link

With Black in on bass and the band relocated to San Francisco, the Melvins started, in a subtle way, exploring and developing their already-trademark sound further. The genre-dipping and out-of-nowhere efforts of later years were still some distance off, to be sure, but moments like the vocal/drum-only part on "Oven" and the needle-thin feedback treatment punctuating "Revulsion/We Reach" (along with occasional chimes) show more chances already being taken. Osbourne's tribute to Ozzy reaches new heights throughout -- opening track "Vile" in particular blends that and the running Gene Simmons fascination into a twisted monster, insistent, unnerving, and threatening all at once. "Green Honey" is another great, one of the quicker songs (at least comparatively speaking) going off as a slightly echo-shrouded Osbourne fires off a few quick rambles. Crover once again is the band's not secret weapon, as the clattering start of "Agonizer" and the subtle but spot-on tempo shifts on "Claude" make clear. Black's bass playing is steady-as-it-goes enough not to get in the way of anything, and she and Crover make enough bedrock thump for Osbourne to let loose with both his pipes and his guitar. Whether it's the creepily calm start of "Let God Be Your Gardener," plucking rather than bulldozing forward for once, or the grinding do-not-pass-go attack of "Raise a Paw," Ozma is out for blood and gets it. Killer song titles this time out include "Ever Since My Accident" and "Cranky Messiah." The random what-the-hell moment is right at the end, though -- "Candy-O," a cover of the Cars song that shouldn't work but actually does the business. Also fun -- consider the lead-guitar melody of "Love Thing" and how it oddly resembles Pearl Jam's breakthrough hit "Alive" from a few years later.

Bullhead (1991)

01 - Boris
02 - Anaconda
03 - Ligature
04 - It's Shoved
05 - Zodiac
06 - If I Had An Exorcism
07 - Your Blessened
08 - Cow

link

After three albums filled for the most part with quick song bursts and the occasional longer track, the eight-song long Bullhead found the Melvins stretching out a bit more at points, this time allowing the heavily stoned tempos plenty of time to really sprawl all over the place. There are fewer sudden shifts between fast and slow moments as well, and a lot more pure lava-flow beat-over-head feedback sludge and noise. It's not all ten mph deliberation, though - "Zodiac" shows the trio at full speed and blasting aside anything that might be so foolish as to get in its way, not to mention one unhinged Osbourne vocal lead. If grunge was achieving breakthrough status in Seattle, it was being perfected in its rawest sense on this album. Opening cut "Boris" does all this in excelsis -- the band's longest recorded song at this point, nearly ten minutes long, it practically drips from the bongwater of eight million potheads, with Osbourne invoking his own brand of demons over the deep crawl of the music. Osbourne here really has got the dramatic, theatrical Ozzy Osbourne attitude down, with the occasional double-tracked vocals adding to the off-kilter intensity of the performances. Crover again shows his worth on the drums -- he plays things slow most of the time but, crucially, never once sloppily -- while Black keeps the bass going, however relatively unheard under Osbourne's guitar attack. "It's Shoved" is the not-so-secret highlight of Bullhead, Crover's brisker drum work and Black's sharp bass playing heralding a wild lead-guitar melody and a great ensemble performance. However, efforts like "Anaconda," with its slowly uncoiling power, and the intense "If I Had an Exorcism," which gets all the more wired and wound up as it goes (Black's bass here is some of her best), are no slouches. (allmusic.com)

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Monaco

2007-06-29T10:38:00.001+04:00

Music for Pleasure (1997)

01 - What Do You Want From Me
02 - Shine
03 - Sweet Lips
04 - Buzz Gum
05 - Blue
06 - Junk
07 - Billy Bones
08 - Happy Jack
09 - Tender
10 - Under The Stars
11 - Sedona

link

Monaco is quite different than Revenge, Peter Hook's previous side project from New Order. Where Revenge was a heavy, occasionally industrial, reworking of New Order, Monaco is a more pop-oriented affair. Hook and his collaborator David Potts still give the music a cool dance underpinning, but the intention of the duo is to marry the tuneful craftmanship of Britpop with modern sonics. Surprisingly, most of their debut, Music for Pleasure, works. Although Potts' contributions tread too close to Oasis territory for comfort, Hook's songs are melodic, concise and catchy -- he hasn't sounded quite so fresh since the late '80s. There are still a few dull moments scattered across the record, yet Music for Pleasure remains a thoroughly enjoyable listen.

Monaco (2000)

01 - I've Got A Feeling
02 - A Life Apart
03 - Kashmere
04 - Bert's Theme
05 - Ballroom
06 - See-Saw
07 - Black Rain
08 - It's A Boy
09 - End Of The World
10 - Marine

link (part_1 part_2)

Peter Hook (of New Order/Joy Division fame) returns with the second release from his band Monaco (following 1997's Music for Pleasure), and quite honestly it is one of the best New Order albums they never made. Lead vocalist David Potts is a dead ringer for Bernard Sumner (even Peter Hook sounds like Sumner when he takes over the lead vocals), and the music is pure New Order. This is not necessarily a criticism, as the music on this CD is truly wonderful. Strong melodies, with hooks (absolutely no pun intended) that never leave the listener's head. Lyrically it is a much happier CD than the average New Order CD, full of love songs about pure devotion. This may alarm some fans who have their own ideas about Hook and his musical legacy (remember Hook's first offshoot band, Revenge was a very angry period). But that is overlooked quickly because this music is just so catchy and energetic. Quite simply, this is truly pure pop, with a strong dance beat. It is well produced, and an enjoyable album. (allmusic.com)

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The Other Two

2007-06-28T11:16:00.001+04:00

The Other Two & You (1993)

01 - Tasty Fish
02 - The Greatest Thing
03 - Selfish
04 - Movin' On
05 - Ninth Configuration
06 - Feel This Love
07 - Spirit Level
08 - Night Voice
09 - Innocence
10 - Loved It (The Other Track)

link

A side project from Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert of New Order, The Other Two & You provides some melancholy, synth-pop kicks for devoted fans of the seminal Manchester group, but it won't appeal to those that were never fond of that sound in the first place.

Superhighways (1999)

01 - You Can Fly
02 - Super Highways
03 - The River
04 - One Last Kiss
05 - Voytek
06 - Unwanted
07 - New Horizons
08 - Cold Feet
09 - The Grave
10 - Hello
11 - Ripple
12 - Wierd Woman

link (part_1 part_2)

It has been six years since the debut disc by the Other Two (The Other Two & You), an off-shoot band from New Order featuring Gillian Gilbert and Steven Morris. Their first album has a very strong pop music feel; while pleasant enough, it is not a brilliant record. Six years and many struggles later this album appeared. It seems that this was a difficult album to release. It had been recorded for over a year before its release date, and two singles that were earmarked to precede it were canceled without explanation. One single, the wonderful title track "Super Highways," did make it the public, but it was as difficult as the album was to find in stores. That's a shame, since this album is stunning -- absolutely brilliant, with incredible hook-filled melodies, mesmerizing vocals (some tracks featuring the incredible Melanie Williams), and tight production. It may not be as accessible as their first, but given the repeated listenings it demands, the album proves rewarding. While the music has some New Order overtones, the Other Two have created their own sound, much like Electronic managed to do on their third release. New Order fans will enjoy the music, but it is different enough to keep non-New Order fans interested as well. The basis of the music remains in the pop category, but this time around, it is more aggressive. Complete with dance beats approaching and sounds mixed into the music, it is all there for your exploration. In a just world, this album would top the charts and be available wherever CDs are sold; It hasn't, and it isn't, but it is well-worth the search. You will not be disappointed. (allmusic.com)

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Electronic. Vol.2

2007-06-28T10:20:00.001+04:00

Twisted Tenderness (1999)

01 - Make It Happen
02 - Haze
03 - Vivid
04 - Breakdown
05 - Can't Find My Way Home
06 - Twisted Tenderness
07 - Like No Other
08 - Late At Night
09 - Prodigal Son
10 - When She's Gone
11 - Flicker

12 - King For A Day
13 - Warning Sign
14 - Make It Happen (Remix)
15 - Haze (Alternative Mix)
16 - Prodigal Son (Star In Your Own Mind Mix)
17 - Radiation
18 - Prodigal Son (Touched By The Hand Of Inch)
19 - Prodigal Son (Two Lonesome Swordsmen)
20 - Prodigal Son (Harveys Greatly Deluded Mix)
21 - Come Down (Cevin Fisher Mix)

link (part_1 part_2 part_3)

Johnny Marr and Bernard Sumner have a unique musical companionship. Both artists bred the '80s British music scene into pop candy delight thanks to Marr's charming guitar hooks while fronting the Smiths, and Sumner, whose ingenuous lyrical poetry pushed New Order's dance-oriented sound into the new wave mainstream. But since their musical collaboration began back in 1991, the duo continues to make music for themselves, uninhibited by current norms and marketing success.
Twisted Tenderness, the band's third album, is certainly a vast improvement from their sophomore effort, 1996's Raise the Pressure. Twisted Tenderness steps back into Marr's talented guitar work: carefree, a bit rollicking at times, but classic Electronic fashion. The obvious rock-laden riffs carry the typical synth-generated backdrops, and Sumner's cheeky lyrics are stylish and breezy. Sumner, who experienced writer's block during the mid-'90s and resorted to Prozac to break his creative blindness, isn't exquisitely sharp or wholly impressive when it comes to being a songwriter. He's simple, and that's what makes Electronic and his work with his original band so alluring. But it's Marr's maddening style that carries things along. Songs like "Late at Night" and "Breakdown" fiercely showcase his spiraling guitar loops, not overshadowing Sumner's storybook visions of love, deceit, passion, and desire. And what makes Twisted Tenderness so vibrant is how Electronic placated their lushness for more of a moody demeanor, mysteriously similar to the likes of U2's electric distortion found on 1997's Pop. "Make It Happen" is nearly an eight-minute sonic bombast of churning basslines and swirling techno beats, and Marr's layering is raucous. He is so underrated as a mastered player, but outlets like Electronic and his new band the Healers make it easy for him to fully deliver his great skills. "Haze" showcases Sumner's snarling sauciness, which comes out occasionally, and is darkly wistful. But that's what New Order/Smiths fans are looking for. Electronic doesn't have to prove that they can write decent pop songs. Their musical brashness is expected, and Twisted Tenderness is their best yet. Marr and Sumner have already laid down the gravel in their previous musical lives -- Electronic is just an extra treat.

Get the Message: The Best of Electronic (2006)

01 Forbidden City
02 Getting Away With It
03 Get The Message [UK 7 Mix]
04 Feel Every Beat
05 Disappointed [Single Mix]
06 Vivid [Radio Edit]
07 Second Nature
08 All That I Need
09 Prodigal Son
10 For You
11 Imitation Of Life [New Edit]
12 Out Of My League
13 Like No Other
14 Twisted Tenderness
15 Late At Night [Radio Edit]

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When New Order's Bernard Sumner joined the Smiths' Johnny Marr to form Electronic in 1989, some called it a dream collaboration. Marr's gifted guitar work made him a star musician on top of making the Smiths one of the greatest bands to emerge from post-punk. Sumner and his coolly boyish vocals stepped up to fill the shoes of his old friend, the late Ian Curtis, upon the end of Joy Division in 1980. New Order and the Smiths were two bands that matched one another in appeal and importance. Both groups also defined what would be known as alternative rock, so Marr and Sumner coming together just made sense. Get the Message: The Best of Electronic is a definitive look at how the super duo succeeded in making cohesive and appealing dance-rock and became one of the greatest alt-rock bands. All three albums -- 1991's self-titled masterpiece, 1996's Raise the Pressue, and their 1999 hidden treasure, Twisted Tenderness -- are represented throughout along with an assortment of outtakes and remixes. Their various collaborations, including their very memorable work done with the Pet Shop Boys' Neil Tennant, cannot be forgotten, either. Their U.K. Top 20 hit "Getting Away with It," the fluid acoustic guitars of "Get the Message," and the previously unavailable single mix of "Disappointed," all of which feature Tennant on vocals, remain timeless standouts for Electronic. Other highlights include the sexy synth beats of "Imitation of Life" (B-side to "Forbidden City") and "All That I Need" (B-side to the Karl Bartos-penned hit from Raise the Pressure's "For You"). With Rhino's meticulous selection of tracks, Get the Message is definitely one of those collections tailored for both longtime fans who already own everything and for new fans seeking a great prelude. (allmusic.com)

Technorati tags: electronic

Electronic. Vol.1

2007-06-27T11:34:00.001+04:00

Electronic (1991)

01 - Idiot Country
02 - Reality
03 - Tighten Up
04 - The Patience Of A Saint
05 - Getting Away With It
06 - Gangster
07 - Soviet
08 - Get The Message
09 - Try All You Want
10 - Some Distant Memory
11 - Feel Every Beat

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Both more and less than what a partnership of Sumner and Marr would promise, Electronic's debut has weathered time much better than might have been thought upon its release, but ultimately only half works. When it does, though, it's fantastic, sometimes shifting from okay to fantastic within the same song. Opening number "Idiot Country" is a bit like that -- the beginning sounds a little too rushed, Marr's heavy wah-wah riff OK enough but Sumner's semi-rap/semi-sung vocals a bit ham-handed. By the time the full combination of gentle keyboards, crisp rhythms, and the gentle, reflective chorus comes to bear, though, everything feels just great. Perhaps understandably Electronic leans much more toward New Order than the Smiths -- Marr had already proven his desire to work in dance-crossover since his previous band's breakup, while Sumner's immediately recognizable, melancholic vocals call to mind New Order's rich history. With synth bass and Rolands standing in for Peter Hook's own unique way around the low end, though, Electronic stands out more on its own. Marr's guitar work throughout tends towards the subtle via soft, brisk strums or the occasional repeated key riff; as he's credited for keyboards as well, it's likely much of his work ended up creating the pleasant synth melodies. There's nothing bad per se on Electronic, merely mediocre or a touch forced time to time -- "Gangster," for instance, has a great, cinematic tension undercut by Sumner's attempt at social relevance. The three singles from the album remain the highlights: the delicate, acoustic guitar-led slow groove of "Get the Message," "Feel Every Beat" and its appropriately slamming rhythms, and, in America, the group's brilliant debut effort "Getting Away With It." Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys, who memorably guested on that last number, brings bandmate Chris Lowe along to help on his excellent, sly duet with Sumner -- "Patience of a Saint," another standout.

Disappointed (1992)

01 - Disappointed (808 mix)
02 - Disappointed (Electronic mix)
03 - Disappointed (Single mix)
04 - Gangster (FBI mix)

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Released first as a song on Music From the Motion Picture "Cool World," "Disappointed" appears twice here, along with an 808 State remix of "Gangster" from the band's self-titled debut. Pet Shop Boy Neil Tennant's suave vocals take the forefront on all versions of "Disappointed." The "Single Mix" is the most radio-friendly mix, thanks to crafty editorial choices by Stephen Hague. The "Electronic Mix" takes a bit long to get started, with its breathy sighs and extended opening refrains. This second track would probably fit best on the band's debut album, as its jangling guitar segments and keyboard workouts are central to Electronic's sound. Fans of New Order and Electronic will probably get more enjoyment from the second appearance of the song than the first. "Gangster (FBI Mix)" is really just an extended version of "Gangster" that adds little of interest to a song that was fine in its original configuration. It gets sidetracked in its relatively dull instrumental flourishes; it basically takes the original and plays it in its entirety without vocals before getting the heart of the song. The 808 State remix of the title song isn't particularly compelling, as it quiets Tennant's vocals and adds warped sound effects over the synth washes. 808 State has seen better days. Disappointed is best left to diehard fans and those who don't have a copy of Cool World. Realistically, track one or two of this single would make most sense added to reissues of Electronic.

Raise the Pressure (1996)

01 - Forbidden City.mp3
02 - For You.mp3
03 - Dark Angel.mp3
04 - One Day.mp3
05 - Untill The End Of Time.mp3
06 - Second Nature.mp3
07 - If You've Got Love.mp3
08 - Out Of My League.mp3
09 - Interlude.mp3
10 - Freefall.mp3
11 - Visit Me.mp3
12 - How Long.mp3
13 - Time Can Tell.mp3

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By the time Electronic's long-delayed second album appeared in 1996, the zeitgeist in Britain had completely shifted from its members' parent bands to a new generation of groups, with Oasis, who shared management with Sumner and Marr's project, standing forth out of a horde of newer Brit-pop acts. Electronic itself chose not to try and compete, following its own low-key path while working with a variety of guest musicians, including returning singer Denise Johnson. The intriguing surprise came courtesy of an additional keyboardist -- none other than Kraftwerk veteran Karl Bartos, who also co-wrote nearly half the release with Sumner and Marr. In the same way that the group's debut promised more than it delivered, though, Raise the Pressure -- theoretically a dream collaboration between key members of three groundbreaking bands -- ends up being more pleasant than necessary. About the only concession to changing times from the band is a more open embrace of gentle pop/rock as opposed to specifically dance-based compositions -- if the debut was a little more New Order, many times on Raise the Pressure things are a touch more Smiths. But it's more accurate to say it's a bit more Lightning Seeds, frankly -- polite, chiming, keyboard-touched but not much more. There's little of the superior takes on rough, modern rock styles both New Order and the Smiths are known for (and certainly no Kraftwerk per se outside of some brisk synth work here and there). What more, specifically dance/synth efforts appear to follow in the lead of the first album's quietly epic romance, such as the charging, acid-meets-strings "Dark Angel" and the slightly gospel-touched "Second Nature," which all sound much better than the more rock-focused songs. A pity there's not more of that on Raise the Pressure, but such is life. (allmusic.com)

Technorati tags: Electronic