Nina Simone - "Ain't Got No, I Got Life" [1968]

The Velvet Underground - VU

Just a dynamo of a record, especially the masterpiece "Foggy Notion."
____________________

Allmusic: Composed principally of songs that would have appeared on the Velvet Underground's unreleased fourth MGM album, this is only slightly less impressive than their first three LPs, striking a balance between the searing pre-punk of their first two efforts and the calm eloquence of the third. "Lisa Says," "Ocean," and "Stephanie Says" are some of Lou Reed's greatest ballads; "I Can't Stand It" is one of the Velvets' toughest and best conventional hard rock songs. Some of the other tunes are slight (if engaging) in comparison with the Velvets' prime work. Many of the tracks were re-recorded by Reed on his early solo albums, and in every instance, the Velvets' versions are better.

HEAR

R.E.M. - Reckoning

I was never a big fan of these cats other than their first one (Murmur). I just matured enough to realize that if I like that, I might benefit from taking a look at their IRS years (aka before the jump to insurmountable self-importance). In other words, I'm an idiot.

Reckoning has eaten me up lately. The Rickenbacher jangle, the subtle hooks, Pete Buck's sweet vests? I dunno.

Try on this REMs.

HEAR

The Smiths - The Complete John Peel Sessions, 1983 - 1986

Lilacs in your face, haters.

HEAR

Thank You Friends

Safe travels and love to you all!

Fredde Gredde - Killer Queen

Miles Davis - So What

Terrifying and confounding

American Juggalo from Sean Dunne on Vimeo.

Thanks to John Whitney for revealing this modern day "Heavy Metal Parking Lot" to me. There are many frightening aspects of this collection of clowns at their annual gathering, but theAndalusia the strong values of inclusion and family which I can't help but respect.

See for yourself.

Fugazi - Turnover - (Live 1991)

FUGAZI LIVE SERIES

Though the band has been on indefinite hiatus since 2003 the members continue to work together on the Fugazi Live Series archive project. Over 800 of Fugazi's shows were recorded by the band's sound engineers and the Series will make each of these recordings available for download and present show info, photos and comments on every show the band played.

Nixon @ PRF Auktoberfyst 2011

fun!

BOREDOMS LIVE / Lucy in the Sky with Diamond Ring Tour [2009]

Diamond Nights - Popsicle [2005]

yeah yeah and yeah i raved about this earlier

but now i fucking got it and it won't let me go

pearlier pop would be hard to find for surelier

excuse me if i wasn't paying attention

when this came out, but i was

too busy not paying attention

to fucking care

anyway,

if 'derivative' or

'under the influence'

are terms you find

'problematic'

this may not be your thing

if,

however,

 ass-shredding

brilliant production

and

riff-laden lush

hard-pop harmonic 

confections

are the apple of your eye

this is the fucking core

to put in your pupil

(seriously -- nice work)

HEAR

David Bowie - Let's Dance

The more confused I get, the more I admire Bowie. While never a dedicated Bowie-ite, I did pick this one up on cassette in 1983 and made it my own for a few months there as 13 year old on the verge of a half-gainer into punk rock. A recent rash of rereading Bret Easton Ellis has my pining for a few things from that forsaken decade. Please give this one another go. Additioonally, this came after Scary Monsters, which was a goofy and dark record.

Slip into the white gloves HEAR, mate

______________________


allmusic.com: After summing up his maverick tendencies on Scary Monsters, David Bowie aimed for the mainstream with Let's Dance. Hiring Chic guitarist Nile Rodgers as a co-producer, Bowie created a stylish, synthesized post-disco dance music that was equally informed by classic soul and the emerging new romantic subgenre of new wave, which was ironically heavily inspired by Bowie himself. Let's Dance comes tearing out of the date, propulsed by the skittering "Modern Love," the seductively menacing "China Girl," and the brittle funk of the title track. All three songs became international hits, and for good reason -- they're catchy, accessible pop songs that have just enough of an alien edge to make them distinctive. However, that careful balance is quickly thrown off by a succession of pleasant but unremarkable plastic soul workouts. "Cat People" and a cover of Metro's "Criminal World" are relatively strong songs, but the remainder of the album indicates that Bowie was entering a songwriting slump.

St. Vincent - These Days

The Viper and His Famous Orchestra - Party in the USA

These guys were an extreme blast at the PRF. Such a good time.

The Viper and His Famous Orchestra

 

Randolph St.

Spelling Bee - The Model

from the PRF BBQ. such fun!

Spelling Bee

one of my favorite bands from this past wknd's PRF Auktoberfyst

. great stuff

really nice 25yos from St. Louis

Spelling Bee

Grateful Dead - Playboy After Dark [1969]

"transportation arrangements provided by"

Richard Buckner - Since

Believe me believer, this one packs a wallop of sad and urge and those things we tip toe around daily. One spin takes me back to when I was minorly obsessed with this LP and its maker.

Music can define times.

_______________________________


Allmusic.com: Richard Buckner's follow-up to his 1997 divorce odyssey Devotion + Doubt is a more upbeat affair, with questions of faith and being tossed into the electric mix. Moving from contemplative singer-songwriter treks ("Once") to blurry guitar rave-ups ("Believer"), Since is the picking-up-and-getting-on antidote to Devotion + Doubt's downer trip. Buckner still seems troubled by life's little hang-ups, but instead of falling into an acoustic-drenched funk, he rages against his blues with his guitar. That doesn't mean Since isn't without its distressing moments; there are plenty of hushed and fragile songs here that recall the breaking tone of his previous two albums. Yet, for all of the creeping positivity going on within the grooves, Buckner sounds more weary than ever, his already delicate voice cracking under the pressure as he trudges his way through his own brand of electric folk music.


HEAR

Raymond Scott - Reckless Nights and Turkish Twilights

Raymond Scott 

HEAR

Plush

going out to catch this show tonight

always enjoyed me some Plush...

you'll have to pull my penchant

for melancholy from

my cold dead hands

remember this song?

The message is... DO IT!

Turbo Fruits - Echo Kid

((Patronizers! REUPPED SEPT 08 with the correct link))
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A real shredder reminiscient of the late Jay Reatard. It's the grimy Nashville/Memphis vibe in spades. Sturdy garage rock for the ecstatically feeble minded and oft inebriated.

Pop Matters blurb: So sure, Echo Kid is an album of simple pleasures. This is party music about girls and getting high and wanting to get up or get down or get “some mo’”. But that doesn’t mean the music is always so simple. The absurdly titled “Mama’s Mad ‘Cos I Fried My Brain” is a bit of psych-pop genius. The vocals are heavily soaked in reverb, the guitar riffs surge after each verse, and voices come together to chant with a size unheard on the rest of the album. “Broadzilla” may be just as silly, but the thundering drums and ringing guitars add texture and depth to a song that may well not be about anything nearly as deep as it sounds.

HEAR

Bone and Bell

Bone and Bell

just really wonderfully lovely

"plaintive broken aching"

doesn't even begin to

get close to this

sense of

self

HEAR

Lotuspool is back!

Up online as of today. Yay! Way to go Chris. Nice work.

Lotuspool Records

Caddywhompus Zorch Medley [2010]

[a fantastic Caddywhompus tune starts off the clip above]

funny that I was just now checking out the zorch kids

and I should find them jamming with Caddywhompus

Caddywhompus!

Is truly no-holds-barred-superfantastic.

I got a chance to see them here in Chicago

at Ronny's, back before Ronny's went down.

really nice guys

really smoof jams

check 'em out already

HEAR

applethauth

(their latest and finest)

Diamond Nights - Destination Diamonds [2006]

was up at The Cactus Club

out there Milwaukee way last nite.

saw a rather fantastic band

(Zorch)

brilliant young band

made me think of

all sorts of things

with my feet

fucking love the Cactus. what a treasure.

we dined around the corner at The Palomino.

incredible. deep-fried vegan goodness.

but plenty of actual animal fare, too.

talk about having your cake.

Again,

you Motherfucking Milwaukeeans,

(especially you Badass Bayview Bitches)

must know how fucking good you have it

(which is why you all keep it so quiet)

forgive this FIB for saying so

but can I move there?

Anyway,

at the bar with tall (-0-) Pete

after and this song comes on

and we both say Thin Lizzy?

the bartender laughs

and says yeah almost

he shows us the album

a conversation about the best ways to be derivative ensues.

this is the golden sample of that, the proverbial case-in-point

the ultimate crosstalk consensus: don't argue against groove

you will only sound small and lose. bartender pauses:

man, when those guys played here...

they floored the fucking place.

the kids went cray-cray.

band ended up hanging the whole wknd here in town

going to BBQs, backyard parties, record shopping

playing with the kids, playing for the kids

playing kids playing to kids
kicking some

rocky says:

i could listen to aeons of albums by folks working this vein

KEXP - Live Performance Podcasts

in case you haven't heard

the stuff here is just fine:

Thee Oh Sees, Surfer Blood, Stanton Moore Trio

The Raveonettes, Cinematic Orchestra, Battles

Femi Kuti, Death from Above 1979, Wire

Gang of Four, Caribou, Of Montreal, MIA

Thurston Moore, and much much more.

did I mention Thee Oh Sees set?

HEAR

Spiritualized - various TV appearances

BTW: "you know i've been thinking about not coming down."

Steve Reich - South Bank Show [2006]

this was for his 70th birthday

excited to see eighth blackbird

and third coast percussion

at Millenium Park this Mon

celebrating his 75th

Eric Clapton - Drunk Onstage Racist Rant [1976]

"I used to be into dope, now I'm into racism. It's much heavier, man"

Enoch Powell

Ibliss - Supernova [1972]

rocky says:

fuck me harder satan.

melt my foetid brain.

piss out my third eye.

Progarchives.com: With a line-up that included Basil HAMMOUDI (an ORGANISATION alumni) and Andreas HOHMANN (who played in the first KRAFTWERK album), IBLISS is closely associated to one of the most important cornerstones of krautrock. Overall, the band's style is heavily based on jams impregnated with the flavors of jazz-rock and fusion,: the psychedelic sounds serving more as adornments than as an essential element. The line-up is completed with saxophonist Rainer BÜCHEL, guitarist Wolfgang and bassist Norbert BUELLMEYER. The band's repertoire gives predominant room to percussive inputs, while the guitar and sax solos are more focused on completing the momentums or stating laid-back nuances. The band's tribal and fusion aspects are undeniably linked to ORGANISATION, but the most obvious family resemblances in style are connected to EMBRYO, XHOL and ANNEXUS QUAM (first album): there is more jazz than rock in IBLISS. The band was short-lived, with the "Supernova" album (sound engineer: Conny PLANK) being barely noticed by music critics and audiences. IBLISS is a collector's item for all krautrock lovers, as well as an impressive example of the sort of jazz-oriented trend that was developed in German's underground musical scene in the early 70s.

HEAR

Cults - Go Outside

hear

Liquid Sunshine - Easy Listening From The KPM 1000 Series (1970-78)

because it's summertime

and the sunshine is liquid

come, get on board this

sweet easy listening express

HEAR

Viva Voce - "The Future Will Destroy You"

Spoon - Series Of Sneaks

I've been in a Spoon mood of late. They matter, regardless of their legions of followers.

I told Curry yesterday that I've always felt they were the truest American descendants of Gang of Four. Their most recent work might not sell you on that idea, but this, their second album from 1998, is convincing evidence of their bloodlines. Whipsmart and closing in on two decades together, they only now seem to be hitting their stride. But this early stuff sets the stage - if you can't eat this up and smile you don't have your ears on.

from allmusic:

With A Series of Sneaks, Spoon became one of the unsung heroes of the guitar-driven post-punk tradition inhabited by bands such as Wire, Gang of Four, Hüsker Dü, and the Pixies. These were the guitar wizards who could package a variety of taut, terse, and inventive guitar sounds and unpredictable melodies into short, tight bursts one could still consider pop songs. Lead singer and guitarist Britt Daniel acts as the overachieving honors student of this tradition, flushing the spaces in between with an expansive melodic vocabulary comparable to Robert Pollard's.

But Sneaks wouldn't work if it were merely a repository of all the right influences. Thanks to John Croslin and the band's detailed production, shards of jagged guitar lines chime in from every direction, creating a language that blends with Daniel's charismatic vocal licks to form something so tuneful and compelling that the majority of Sneaks sticks in the brain just when you've thought you'd heard it all before. Daniel's voice can range from a throaty rasp to a falsetto to a spoken growl, peppered with some "bop-bop-bops," "c'mon's," and hand clapping. It's as if Jonathan Richman had been on SST Records, or even the old Sub Pop. But it's the production -- the constantly shifting vocal mixture and placement of Daniel's guitar, Joshua Zarbo's bass, and Jim Eno's drums around bits of melody -- that binds Sneaks into more than the sum of its parts.

Amidst this kind of sonic engagement, it is the search for meaning in music amidst the open roads and open spaces of the American Southwest that form a central character in Daniel's fragmented and oblique lyrical universe. In a few brief lines, a drive to New York on the interstate becomes a meditation on rock and youth in "Car Radio," while "Metal School" seems to be a reassessment of the purpose of post-punk.

Elektra, the major label that originally released the CD, must have reassessed its purpose too. The band was ditched soon after its release but has since reappeared on an independent label, Vapor (and again on Merge in 2002). The enthusiasm behind its resurrection and the anticipation of its full-length follow-up after the two years that followed is a testament to its strength.


Hear

Slo-Mo Cymbal @ 1k fps

The Blind Shake

The Blind Shake from Bjornery on Vimeo.

i was so blown away by

these gents set last night

will be picking up pieces

for some time to come

HEART!

Memory Map - Live at The Observatory, Chicago

Caught these guys

at Quenchers last night

and I simply swooned

HEAR

Lykke Li - "Sadness is a Blessing"

Lykke Li - "I Know Places"

Lykke Li - "'I'm Good, I'm Gone"

Thee Oh Sees - "Gilded Cunt"

thee forests insist

Cornershop featuring Soko - Something Makes You Feel Like (ampleplay)

Kreayshawn - Gucci Gucci

balustrade insists.

RIP Martin Rushent (3 January 1948 – 4 June 2011)

This dude helped create a lot of the sounds i love

funny how the hen and I were just talking about

how much we still love Another Music...

via wikipedia: Martin Rushent was an English record producer, best known for his work with The Human League, The Stranglers and The Buzzcocks.

Rushent’s first experience in a recording studio was at EMI House in London’s Manchester Square, when his school band (of which he was the lead singer) had the opportunity to record a demo. After leaving school, Rushent, who had already experimented with his father’s 4-track recorder, worked at a chemical factory before working for his father while applying for studio jobs. After numerous rejections, Rushent was employed by Advision Studios as a 35mm film projectionist.

After approximately 3 months, Rushent began working in the audio department as a tape operator alongside Tony Visconti. He worked on sessions for Fleetwood Mac, T-Rex, Yes, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Petula Clark, Jerry Lee Lewis and Osibisa. Rushent stated that while at Advision, Jerry Lee Lewis threw a tantrum as Yes had been booked into the studio when he was not ready to leave, and chased the studio staff around the complex until they locked themselves in a different studio.

Rushent progressed to senior assistant engineer, staff engineer, and eventually head engineer. He then began working freelance, where he built his reputation and was employed by United Artists (UA). While with UA, Rushent recorded sessions alongside Martin Davies, recording artists such as Shirley Bassey and The Buzzcocks, as well as convincing the company to sign The Stranglers provided that he produced the band’s material. Rushent produced the group’s Rattus Norvegicus, No More Heroes and Black and White albums, before tiring of his commute to London and leaving UA at the end of the 1970s.

Rushent expressed a desire to move away from guitar bands, and bought a Linn LM-1, Roland MC-4 Microcomposer and Jupiter-8 synthesizer to learn sequencing and synthesis techniques. Rushent set up his own studio, Genetic, with Synclavier and Fairlight CMI synthesizers and an MCI console. He spent £35,000 on air conditioning alone, and had a Mitsubishi Electric digital recorder costing £75,000.

Rushent used his Roland equipment to record Pete Shelley’s first solo album, Homosapien. Originally aimed to be a collection of demos, the recordings were signed to Island Records. They were heard by Simon Draper of Virgin Records, who asked Rushent to produce The Human League. Rushent’s work on the group’s 1981 album Dare earned him a BRIT Award in 1982 for Best British producer.

Rushent’s production on Dare frustrated the group’s guitarist Jo Callis, as the only guitar on the album was used to trigger a gate on the synthesizer. Singer Susanne Sulley was also frustrated by the lengthy process of Rushent’s synth programming, who stopped working with the band after Sulley made an off-the-cuff comment toward him. Around the same time, Rushent worked with XTC, Generation X, Altered Images and The Go-Go’s.

Rushent decided to take a break from production after 18 years’ work, and sold his assets – including Genetic Studios. He briefly took up a consultancy position with Virgin, but retired from the industry to raise his children.

Rushent returned to the music industry in the mid 1990s when he established Gush, a dance club on Greenham Common. The club’s opening night was headlined by The Prodigy. Rushent soon began redeveloping his interest in recording, and decided to catch up on the technological advances he had missed.

Rushent built a home studio around a Mackie console, Alesis ADAT HD24 recorder and Cubase 5, with which he produced music by The Pipettes, Does It Offend You, Yeah? and Killa Kela. In 2005, he produced Hazel O’Connor’s album Hidden Heart. The following year, he was involved with the BBC Electric Proms when he recorded Enid Blitz at a 15th-century manor house in Brentford, using a BBC truck as the control room. At the time of his death, Rushent was working on a 30th anniversary version of Dare, remixed as with Love and Dancing but using musical instruments instead of synthesizers.

Rushent was married to Ceri, and had four children – sons James and Tim, and daughters Joanne and Amy. He lived with his family in the Berkshire village of Upper Basildon. Rushent’s son James is the lead singer for the dance punk band Does It Offend You, Yeah?. Rushent died on 4 June 2011.

DISCOGRAPHY

Rolling Stones - Happy

you finished Keef's memoir yet?

Small Awesome - Awesome E.P. [2011]

rocky says: don't let that prefer you. yes, these folks are local and yes, i sort of know them. don't let that deter you. b/c this little thing? it's fucking golden. it's so subtle. so smackdown sweet. this record. by way of reference. my first and immediate and only analogue for this upon initial hearing was goosebumps and the serpentine similar (which ranks right up there for me) [is it "serpentine" or "serpenteen?"]. but that's relatively irrelevant. this stands (on four legs) via it's own perfectly realized vision of ms. merit. someone should point out that this party is a duo. PS: they also put on one smoking show, should you ever be in town, when they are on. Stage.

HEAR

(now)

Dawson - How To Follow So That Others Will Willingly Lead (Oh My Godley And Creme Cheese) [1991]

Post-Skronk! wonderfully rich sounding rip of my vinyl courtesy D's sweet setup, this was a gift from gert-jan the last time DFH came thru SF. jazzy angular mathy poetic (do the kids still say 'skronk'?). political angry smart poetic (hasn't lost a bit of punch). side two has some lovely dubs that are an awful lot of fun too. This album is twenty years old and still sounds way ahead of the curve. Recommended for fans of Stretchheads, Dog Faced Hermans, Ruins, The Ex, bIG fLAME, minutemen, "the Midwest sound".

(my rip sounds way better than this clip, but you get an idea...)

HEAR

RIP - Gil Scott-Heron

Dude, you changed my life.

Fuckers never gave you your due.

Black Flag - Complete 1982 Demos

The lone document of the five-piece flag with Dez moving over to rhythm guitar, some DC dude named Garfield taking the mic and DOA's Chuck Bisquits assuming the drum throne. This is absolute. The best they got.

Two songs on the demos, "What Can You Believe" and "Yes, I Know," don't appear on any official Black Flag releases. I think "What Can You Believe" made a later appearance on a DC3 release. Bill Stevenson & Kira play on tracks 11 -14 - tracks recorded at Radio Tokyo with Spot

1. "What Can You Believe" (2:57)
2. "Yes, I Know" (2:36)
3. "Slip It In" (5:26)
4. "Modern Man" (2:40)
5. "My War" (3:33)
6. "Black Coffee" (5:04)
7. "Beat My Head Against The Wall" (2:21)
8. "Can't Decide" (5:22)
9. "I Love You" (3:32)
10. "Nothing Left Inside/Scream" (11:33)
11. "I Love You"
    
12. "My War"
13. "Interview"
14. "Swinging Man"

HEAR

David Bowie - Live in Santa Monica '72

Dr. Wikistein: Santa Monica '72 is a live album by David Bowie, recorded at Santa Monica Civic Auditorium on 20 October 1972 during the Ziggy Stardust tour. Taken from an FM radio broadcast,^[1] it was available only as a bootleg for more than 20 years; according to author David Buckley, possessing a copy was the test of a "proper Bowie fan".^[2] The recording was issued officially by the Golden Years label in 1994, with Griffin Music handling the American release in 1995.

This live album features a quite different setlist to the one found on Ziggy Stardust - The Motion Picture (1983), which was recorded nine months afterwards and similarly bootlegged prior to its belated official release. The Santa Monica recording is generally considered a superior representation of the Ziggy Stardust concerts in terms of both sound quality and standard of playing.^[3] In 1981, NME critics Roy Carr and Charles Shaar Murray called it not simply "the performer's best ever bootleg", but "far superior to either of Bowie's official location recordings" to that date, David Live (1974) and Stage (1978).^[1]

A gold disc edition with the DJ's closing remarks at the end was made available in Holland, while in the U.S. a special limited box set was released that included a t-shirt, a key chain and a short video. The video was not actually from the Santa Monica show, but was previously unseen footage from a silent colour film made at a concert in Dunstable, England on 21 June 1972. The video was combined with the live audio recording from the Santa Monica concert. This box was limited to only 1000 copies. In addition, an even more limited edition was released as a small wooden box with Bowie's image carved into the lid, and a brass plate indicating the series number. Only 250 copies were made.^[3][4]

This semi-legal release was one in the series of mid-nineties releases by MainMan, Bowie's former management company during the seventies (other ones being RarestOneBowie and the Ava Cherry & The Astronettes album People from Bad Homes). All these albums were released without Bowie's approval and are currently deleted.

An official version — Live Santa Monica '72 — was issued by EMI/Virgin in 2008.

HEAR

Soft Machine - Soft Machine (1968)

A wild, freewheeling, and ultimately successful attempt to merge psychedelia with jazz-rock, Soft Machine's debut ranges between lovingly performed oblique pop songs and deranged ensemble playing from drummer/vocalist Robert Wyatt and organist Mike Ratledge. With only one real break (at the end of side one), the songs merge into each other -- not always smoothly, but always with a sense of flair that rescues any potential miscues. Wyatt takes most of the vocals, and proves himself a surprisingly evocative singer despite his lack of range. Like Pink Floyd's The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, Volume One was one of the few over-ambitious records of the psychedelic era that actually delivered on all its incredible promise.


HEAR

Cum Stain - S/T

Alls I gotta say = CUM STAIN

(I hear the singer has a Mr Show tatt)


______________________
via Razorcake:

CUM STAIN: Self-titled: Tape
Lo-fi garage punk with its mind in the gutter outside some high school. The mood is obviously light and the attitude is more of a laugh than a snarl. If you were to take this serious and get upset, then you need some fucking help. Songs about dicks, sex, and being a dirty loser. Who can’t relate to any or all of that? There are some good songs on here like “Smoker,” “I WANT IT NOW!,” “Jack Shack,” which come on with some speed and a nice low end. Then there are some throwaway songs like “Cum Stain”; “Just another Kid” is a little too precious. Some good, some bad.


HEAR

Reigning Sound - Too Much Guitar

March is National Garage Rock Month, and what better way to commemorate it that this 2004 soulful, skronky offering from the Reigning Sound.

__________

Allmusic.com: Cartwright sums up his approach on the third album from the Reigning Sound with the title, Too Much Guitar -- here, Cartwright moves the old-school soul influences that were in the forefront on Break Up Break Down and Time Bomb High School to the back burner in favor of a hip-shakin' set of loud and primal guitar-based rock & roll. While Cartwright's passion for R&B is still prominent in these songs (and their performances), here it manifests itself in a set of tunes that take Stones/Pretties-style raunch and filters it through '60s garage rock bashing in the manner of the Sonics or the Misunderstood. In short, this thing goes bash, pound, bash through 14 high-impact cuts, and Cartwright's passionate vocals jockey for position against his revved-up guitar bashing, while bassist Jeremy Scott and drummer Greg Roberson flail away for all their worth in support. Cartwright also reaffirms his status here as one of the best songwriters in the nuevo garage scene on Too Much Guitar -- while the performances may value impact over nuance, the songs are smart, soulful, and emotionally powerful, and the lyrics speak of a maturity that's a far (and welcome) cry from the cars'n'girls blatherings of most new garage outfits. While some fans might miss some of the soulful undercurrents that made Time Bomb High School so memorable, if you want to hear Greg Cartwright rock on out, then this album will convince you that Too Much Guitar is never enough.



HEAR

and a parting gift (for the aggravation) HEAR

Various Artists - On-U Sound Discoplates 1,2,3,4 & 6

In the hit-or-miss world of Adrian Sherwood's On-U Sound productions, Discoplates Collection Part 1 is a home run. It is chock-full of roots with funky, heavy (bordering on lethargic) bass lines, African drums, and echoing, dub-like effects that make these tracks "dub-worthy" enough not to need vocals (Indeed, the acts included here do not necessarily have permanent vocalists, each instead utilizing guests.). But the roots vocals that are included enhance the intoxicating music, especially Lizard's classic melody on Creation Rebel's "Independent Man." Of course, Creation Rebel's "Creation Rebel," featuring Crucial Tony, is nothing to sneeze at either. Congo Ashanti Roy's rich voice on Singers & Players' "African Blood" is also superb. Singer & Players contributes over half of the tracks on Discoplate Collection Part 1, "Hands and Hearts" with Congo Ashanti Roy and Bim Sherman's sax and bass-driven "Revolution" and "Danger" being the best of the rest. The lesser-known Noah House of Dread meanwhile holds its own, with "Murder" and its dub version, and "Stand Firm," all quality cultural tracks featuring African drums and Bonjo Iyabinghi Noah's likeable raspy vocals. Discoplate Collection Part 1 is right up there with Dub Xperience: The Dread Operators as the best On-U Sound collection I've heard.


HEAR

African Head Charge - My life in a hole in the ground

Thanks be to YoungMossTongue for reminding me how much I love AHC. This is their first, circa 1981.


_____________


Allmusic.com Playing on both the title and concept of David Byrne and Brian Eno's Africanized, experimental My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, African Head Charge -- led by Adrian Sherwood and percussionist Bonjo Iyanbinghi Noah -- engage in free-form sonic explorations set to dub and African rhythms on their 1981 debut album. My Life in a Hole in the Ground was reissued on CD in 1998.


HEAR

Lilys - Better Can't Make Your Life Better

Pitch perfect aping of the strutting Kinks thing. Bay threw this my way in millenium past and it never ceases to illicit a dynamic foot tap n pigeon dance. Heil the prowess of the Lilys mimic machine.


Allmusic.com: Another new record, another new sound: on Better Can't Make Your Life Better, the Lilys hop into the time machine and travel back to the mid-'60s, immersing themselves in the style of the British Invasion. And while tracks like "Cambridge California," "Shovel into Spade Kit," and "Can't Make Your Life Better" certainly bring to mind the timeless pleasures of early Kinks, Stones, and Who, the record's easy appropriation of a 30-year-old sound underscores the Lilys' big problem: Kurt Heasley is a gifted chameleon...


HEAR

Playmobil Stop Motion - Joy Division - Transmission

Sic Alps - A Long Way Around To A Shortcut and U.S. EZ

Damn I needed something organic like this. Feels pre-organized rock unit Royal Truxy, with a real songwriter panache to it.


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Pitchfork chunk: Without a doubt, U.S. EZ is a far more structured and melodic record, though its few more experimental tracks-- "Put the Puss to Bed" or the unexpected pummel and howl of "N##JJ"-- pale in comparison to the ones that made A Long Way Around to a Shortcut so wonderfully unpredictable. Granted, that was a singles collection, so of course it's more diverse. But here, amidst the nods to a noisier past and the occasional dip into intoxicated broken blues ("Clubbing for $$", "CO/CA"), U.S. EZ breaks through with tracks like "Everywhere, There", which takes woozy primitive pop and transforms it into something simultaneously fragile and coarse and then, suddenly, sublime.

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HEAR US EZ

Jew vs. Jew: Bob Dylan And Lou Reed

Time to pick a side?

A Caffeinated Compilation

A Caffeinated Compilation is a collection of songs recorded during the year 2010 at Caffeinated Recordings studio in Chicago.

Begin By Gathering Supplies
noise&light
The Columbines
(-o-)
Small Awesome
Whales
Bully Pulpit
Coyote Camaro
Vansassa
Lines and Terminals
Jimmy Two Hands
Supermarketsound
The Infrasonics

http://caffeinatedrecordings.bandcamp.com/
Download for free or just listen online.

Enjoy!

Burzum - Fallen

A little toasty black ambient to warm your blizzarded cockles.

Fallen, the eighth album from Burzum, will be released in North America on April 5. The album is the second to be released via Varg Vikernes’ imprint Byelobog Productions (via Candlelight for the territory). The album features seven new compositions by the controversial Norwegian musician; each adding another storied journey to the celebrated Burzum legacy.

Vikernes says of the new album, “Musically Fallen is a cross between Belus and something new, inspired more by the debut album and Det Som Engang Var than by Hvis Lyset Tar Oss or Filosofem. The sound is more dynamic. We mastered the album as if it was classical music and I was more experimental than I was on Belus in all respects. Lyrically it is similar to the debut album, in the way that it is more personal and focuses on existential issues. But the mythological undertone known from Belus is still there. I have also included some ambient tracks, a short introduction and a longer conclusion.

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