News & reviews
** New stuff coming soon **
This page is the weekly round-up of what is new and exciting here at Norman Towers.
For all you history buffs (and to assuage my vanity) I keep previous weekly reviews.
This week's reviews
26 Jun 2009
Hello everyone. Welcome to another wanton week of wonder. This week our month of now infamous wednesday price slices was brought to an end with a wallet crushing 30% off final shebang on wednesday with over 13000 things reduced for a day only. The internet is well exciting! So that's it for sales or the time being unless the stock room gets a bit chocker again and then we'll do some more reduced fun. Until then though you'll have to pay our extortionate prices and be happy about it. Yesterday it seemed a lot of people died who we weren't expecting to die and it shall forever the 25th of June shall be known as Death thursday. RIP Steven Wells....
Anyway here's what got us excited this week.... P x
Album of the week
Haruko- Wild Geese LP/CD on Bracken Records
It's rare a singer songwriter album will blow your socks off. It does happen but they're far and few between. This Haruko LP/ CD (the CD is housed in a 12" vinyl sleeve!) on Bracken records is one of said sock blowing off records and I'm now sat barefoot wondering where the fuck my socks are. Haruko is a lady called Susanne Stanglow who currently lives in Germany and there she recorded this album at home over a 3 week period. Throughout the 10 tracks on 'Wild Geese' you'll be treated to some beautifully crafted simple songs which leave their hooks in crippling the ability for any other song to get into your head (until you hear some annoying shite on the radio.... and then you'll want to smash your radios face off). Susanne's voice is delicate and frail, and it's daubed over the guitar plucking with such simplicity you'll be weeping like a baby in no time. I'm not sure what to write about this album to be honest as I think the music just speaks for itself. Fans of early Cat Power will like this as it's not a million miles away from Chan Marshall's earlier more sparse recordings. It's thoroughly delightful and I can see this appearing on a lot of folks end of years lists. That is if they get ahold of one as ther's only 300 vinyls pressed so I wouldn't dawdle if you're unsure!!
Single of the week
Divorce - Divorce 10" on Optimo Music
Before decamping to a Scottish retreat in April I went on Business Lady's recommendation to see a new group from Glasgow - story being an old Leeds underground stalwart had returned to his native city and started this headfuckingly great new band called Divorce by all accounts. It's a cliche but I really wasn't expecting this brutal & thrilling onslaught!! A five piece specialising in nihilistic Chicago noise rock smeared with this chaotic no-wave abandon. The end result is nothing short of jawdropping. 'Early Christianity' features visceral dirty guitar spiralling into lunging basslines with this piledriving drum maelstrom pinning it all tightly together - all topped by a woman with tonsils carved from titanium bellowing bile filled sloganeering like a furious pit bull into the melee! 'Pipedown' changes tack, a fierce spindly new wave guitar line battles with this grinding Jesus Lizard bass, the drums as fuck-you as desired. The woman continues shouting like Lydia Lunch's seriously pissed off daughter. I love it so much. My fave track is 'Juice of Youth', the furious punk drums remind me of bands like Amen, the guitar sounds like scratchy No Wave legends DNA and the woman continues to be the most manic preacher you could wish to set ears on (Her name is Sinead by the way, but you're too scared to ask her name..) The EP lurches on into punchy Scratch Acid-like territory, then a sludgy early Sonic Youth-esque dirge that is just divine before banging back into form, determined to batter yr head in! I'm totally taken by this group of deviant urchins and their full frontal dirt rock. They're the most intense & brilliant thing I've seen/heard for a long time, I implore you to buy this Divorce 10" & see them ASAP.
Reviews
Brett has nightmares about his Grandad chucking his record collection in the bin and buying him a load of Chas & Dave CDs to "say sorry"
Al Cisneros of Sleep/Asbestosdeath/Om fame has gone and doned a mixtape (except on CD) for everybody (but particularly Arthur magazine) and he's called it Transmissions From Sinai and there are loads of cool dudes and David Tibet on it. I quite like a bit of Current 93 but even the other inhabitants of this cursed realm commented that they didn't mind his track so that's one immediate testament to Big Al's selection prowess. Also featuring are prime cuts from the likes of Grouper, Six Organs of Admittance, Hush Arbors, J Mascis, Grails, Richard Bishop and the like.. All the mystical lads (and J Mascis) out to represent represent represent. And they do, since this is easily the best thing I've heard at this relatively early stage of the week! It's worth it just for the Linval Thompson classic on the second track, to be honest. Packaged in a tasteful fold-out digipak and limited to 1000 copies, just in case you need further encouragement..
Hear ye, hear ye, Swans is a CD by The Rational Academy and it's on Someone Good, which presumably refers to me. It's an immediately striking one, kicking straight in with a lovely, highly melodic psychedelic folk-pop sound that doesn't follow the current trend for burying everything under layers of effects but instead goes for a mixture of instrumental elements (both acoustic and electronic) that work off each other largely in an environment of pure clarity - everything's produced (by Lawrence English) and played so expertly that its nudity doesn't hinder its otherworldly feel for a moment. Proper high class ass that at various points reminds me of Mazzy Star, The Knife and Broadcast without ever really sounding that much like any of them. Be warned though, it packs its ten tunes into but twenty minutes but it's quality over quantity all the way and that's totally fine by me.
Tomutonttu is a Finnish chap who was Christened Jan Anderzn but somewhere along the way he decided to start constructing frighteningly bizarre & compulsive sound vistas that often call to mind an acid fried trip in a humid jungle. As far as noise & avant garde music goes, this man's warped imagination has produced two fascinating aural stews 'Tomutonttu' & 'Tomutonto', originally released on limited wax for the Beta-Lactam Ring & Ultyra Eczema labels, and now Fonal offer you the chance to consume both out of print instalments in the more afforgable digital realm. You discover screeing bursts of fuzzing discord can easily give way to UFO noises, gibbering animal caterwauling, squeaky toy techno rhythms, abused reed instrumentation & trippy vocal manipulation. The thing is, these recordings are more therapeutic & gratifying than abrasive, both amusing & fascinating. It may sound like bedlam at times but he instills some structure & flow into the bonkers journey. For lovers of astral drone, hazy hauntological interludes & cerebral ambient sounds there's countless passages of interest amongst the well measured insanity. I have to say both volumes are quite a profound listen but this musical rumpus works on many levels, there really has been a heck of a lot of thought & love gone into this. At times you'll think you're going a bit mad - in a nice way - but no more so than on Black Dice's more out-there moments. I actually find these CDs more interesting sonically & musically than the majority of the twisted party yanks output. Definately of interest to fans of Animal Collective's more bizarre esoteric moments!
It's hard to keep Phil off Bat For Lashes duty these days and even after wrestling the 'Pearl's Dream' 7" from his sweaty palms he still reviewed it in a nutshell by exclaiming that "She's a right mystical bitch!" A charmer he isn't, but he is right.. Here she's doing her synthy, Kate Bushy, tribal drummingy, dramatic wordy thing all over one of the album's standout tunes and it's dead good. I prefer that 'Sleep Alone' one but this is a well tidy bit of pop and you can tell she totally believes in it, unlike some of the other 'kooky female singer-songwriter' goons doing the rounds at the moment.
Ash now, doing their bit for the environment by releasing a series of 26 single-sided, one tune 7"s rather than just putting a new album out. Way to treat your fanz, guyz! It'd be a little bit easier to forgive if 'The Return of White Rabbit' wasn't absolute WANK. I've got a little soft spot for Ash since they've done more than their fair share of enjoyable punk-pop down the years but this doesn't even sound like them.. The change isn't remotely for the better since this is like an appalling version of what Radio 4 used to do with added hilarious drum pad rolls. Playing the side with the shit etching might yield better results. Well bum.
'Summertime Clothes' is the latest single (or maybe even the first, I'm not even sure if 'My Girls' ever got released) from Animal Collective's super triple diamond hyper selling LP, Merriweather Post Pavilion - still well on course to be one of the albums of the year for me. This track's typical of their recent skewed, wonky pop genius with its bright, breezy manner and gorgeous harmonies but I'm sure you've all heard it by now so I'll move on to the three remixes - the Dam-Funk one's damn fucking rubbish, LD (of Hyperdub fame) bizarrely turns it into the Beverly Hills Cop theme tune while Zomby (of, erm.. Hyperdub fame) fares the best, deconstructing the tune into a disorientating lurch-stepper that's just that little bit slower than you'd expect and chucks in a mental one-note ascending ladder melody about halfway through for maximum oddness. I'm sure 'ladder melody' must be the right technical term.
Golden Silvers sound like they should be on the soundtrack to GTA: Vice City, it's a total 80's throwback but in a kind of good way. There's a touch of Morrissey in his crooning, some appallingly cheesy synths and that weird sounding clunky cod-funk bass that couldn't sound more white it it tried. 'Arrows of Eros' was out on Young and Lost Club and is now reissued on XL!
Hey friends, fancy some seminal avant-garde dicking about? Then you're in luck because Doxy (which, as far as I can gather from Google, is the great saxophone colossus Sonny Rollins' label) have issued a pair of fine musique concrete LPs that'd otherwise cost you about a million pounds to obtain. Proper public service shit and I doff my beret to them. Symphonie Pour Une Homme Seul/Concert des Ambiguites marked some of the first excursions into the 'style' by Pierres Henry and Schaeffer and feature all manner of sonic experimentation from manipulated field recordings to primitive experimental noise, sampling, pure environmental soundscapes, tape manipulations, sonic montage and occasionally even straight instrumental passages (particularly piano). Le Micophone Bien Tempere, by Henry alone, features what was apparently his first attempt to focus these elements into a notated piece. What's remarkable is that these lads were pretty much the first to do most this kind of shit so as a document the two LPs are totally invaluable but it's only fair to warn you that it is pure sound experimentation and as such doesn't feature much in the way of melody or party bangers.. You'll know if this sort of thing floats your boat and if it does you'll be well chuffed with these high quality vinyls!
I was at this dodgy free festival once and in general it was shaping up to be quite a miserable experience but it was fully redeemed by a storming Groop Dogdrill set and the fact that I saw Moby get the shite beaten out of him by some horrifically overzealous security guards at the height of his irritating powers. I don't mind him quite as much now but at the time it was piss funny.. Particularly when he got back up on the stage, t-shirt in tatters, to whine on about his 'civil liberties'. I know I'm a horrible person but fuck it, it's Moby. So here he is with a new single called 'Pale Horses' and it's surprisingly decent.. Although we've just noticed that both sides of the 7" are remixes so that's probably why.. The Apparat one's by far the best, being a sort of ambient/dubstep hybrid that drifts along nicely, while the Ben Hoos one presumably sounds more like the original being all downbeat and coffee table with soully vocals and that.
Business Lady dreams of her band touring with Devo
Hiss Golden Messenger is the working pseudonym of Jai Lil Diamond of San francisco band The Court and Spark and this is his first official collection of recordings as a solo artist. 'Country Hai East Cotton' is a mixed bag of tunes that takes in elements of Americana, soul, R&B, blues, country and reggae. It's a strange selection of songs that skip and jump genres all over the shop whilst remaining consistent throughout. 'Hey Diamond' is classic Americana in the Iron and Wine/Lambchop tradition, 'Watch Out' is pure pop goodness with a strong Smog-esque vocal melody and 'For the Canonball' is a country tinged reggae number with another great vocal line, a warm and welcoming mix of Lampchop and Prince. Bizarre but true. I'm also hearing pure Fleetwood Mac influences here. I think this will appeal to a ton of folk but it's not easy to pin down. It's got the ambition of a Fleetwood mac and Kate Bush record but it's a limited indie release, very odd. Anyway, good stuff if you like any of the aforementioned artists and styles. Country Hai East Cotton comes lovingly packaged in one of those ace gatefold CD sleeves with beautiful Stumptown printed artwork.
The Big Pink are all the rage at the moment and I'm starting to appreciate why as 'Stop the World' is the first of The Big Pink singles to take my fancy. This is pure shoe-gazing heaven I tell thee. Sweeping ambient strings and pulsing psychedelic guitars give it a Velvet Underground queasiness and the vocal is pure Jason Pierce. Strangely enough the A-side has no beats yo, well minimal!! 'Crushed Water' is more in keeping with previous single releases and kicks it real big with a fat chorus and sturdy disco-rock beat. I don't like it as much as 'Stop the World' but it's certainly got it's charm. Please observe.
More single fun to come in the form of 'Warrior' by Cheatahs. This is pure MBV with it's lilting vocal line and loose strum-along melody. It's not a bad tune but it's not really registering with me today. B-side 'Minotaur' is on a similar tip, bedroom indie pop treated with loads of cheap reverb and distortion. The vocal melody is simple and catchy and is going down alot better than the A-side. A curious little single that's worth a look if you like a bit of 80's shoe-gazery.
I wanted to start a band called Real Estate but it looks as though I've been beaten to the punch.... Bummer. So, first off Real Estate is a great name for a band!!! A really great name!!! Secondly, Real Estate are a great band that are more than worthy of such a classy title. A-side 'Fake Blues' is a twisted little country number that sounds like it was recorded at Dub Narcotic studios. The room reverb perfectly accommodates the bands and vocal melody is super sweet. Real simple country folk song that I'm totally beaming off. B-side 'Pool Swimmers' is a loose groove with a Pavement-esque bassline and another great vocal line, reminds me of Yo La Tengo if they were into psychedelic tropicalia. I know i'm beginning to sound like some kind of Woodsist P.R machine but this is a really good single, check it out yo!!!
'Eerie Fragrance' is a Etude re-issue of Climax Golden Twins official first long player originally available on tape way back in 1995. For those of you not familiar with the group Climax Golden Twins specialize in ambient/dreamy/art installation/field recording type stuff and they do it better than most, yo! 'Eerie Fragrance' a.k.a Eyeless Fabrication or Exclude Frank or Eat Fuck is classic collection of manipulated found sounds, strange tape warpings, percussive sounds, odd feedback and wonky looped-up samples all saturated in reverb and tape noise. It's a totally amazing collage of noises that does it's best to entertain and amuse as opposed to oppress, if you know what I'm saying. This is experimental noise with a sense of fun and adventure. For those of you who enjoy the works of fellow San Francisco freaksters Sun City Girls and the like. Amazing! Oh yeah, this re-issued vinyl includes three bonus tracks and a fucked up poster featuring two vrazy looking siamese cats. YO!!
Ellen Mary McGee is a singer songwriter of Irish/Romany decent. 'Crescent Sun' is Ellen's first solo album following a stint in performing in irish folk outfit Saint Joan who made a few records for excellent australian label Camera Obscura. Two things worth mentioning; Ellen Mary McGee has a beautiful voice, so beautiful she could front The Chipmunks (step aside Alvin) and still reduce the crowd to a sobbing heap on the floor. Secondly, Ellen Mary McGee plays a very traditional style of folk music inspired by life, death, confusion, misery and (apparently) metaphysics. You can hear that the occasional modern touch has been added to the tracks on 'Crescent Sun' but for the most part the music revolves around an acoustic guitar, subtle strings and a single voice. It has all the elements you'd expect from a decent folk recording and is well worth a listen. Phil is particularly taken by 'Crescent Sun' and he is your god, so listen up yo! Also worth noting that this is out on Midwich Records, home of The Owl Service. Hell yeah!!!
Slow Club are gonna release their debut album soon, it's called 'Yeah, So' and this is a little taster of what to expect. 'It doesn't have to be beautiful' sees the group monkeying around with a skiffle style Rockabilly tune whilst still sounding like a folk pop group. It's a big sounding number full of vigor and confidence with an excellent vocal. B-side 'Wild blue milk' is a demo recording so it's a little short on sheen but it's still a great track, maybe better than the A-side. A folksy sing-a-long with a simple and effective backing track. Aceness from these Sheffield Home boys!! Observe....enjoy.
Ant has fantasies about rare KLF records and Jimmy Cauty coming round his house to sit in the garden, smoke 'erb and talk about ultra scarce techno classics
The latest offering from Under the Spire continues their exciting run of limited CDs with a top drawer selection of recordings from Jasper TX. 'Lungs' was created from minidisc recordings of live performances which were then re-edited with some frequency processing. I've been enjoying some of Dag Rosenqvist's albums lately after kind of missing them first time round. What I like about his stuff is that he really plays with space. The subtle shift in dynamics really has me imagining I'm in a different environment entirely. It's not merely atmospherics though. On this double 3" CD set he really gets some emotion swirling through the ambient sounds. He really builds the tracks from very little, and by the time you're half way through tracks they've really morphed into wondrous otherworldly sounds. All the sounds are brilliantly crafted and have a real cinematic scope to them. I imagine being lost in the darkness, or even another dimension while choirs of angels torment my fragile soul. Highly recommended.
I need a drink... Where's my beaker. I spend half my working day looking for my beaker. It's like the fucking Bermuda triangle I swear. Drinking vessels just seem to vanish into thin air, never to return. As I seek the vessel that will contain my forthcoming H2O liquid refreshment we play the Let's Wrestle 'In The Court Of The Wrestling Let's' CD on Stolen Recordings. Now I do recall an EP they did for the label and this is quite different. The tunes were fast and tight and here they seem to have loosened up (I.E. got sloppy) with it being more sluggish jangle-pop than buzzsaw indie rock. I don't think it's going down particularly well in the office. Brian just used an expletive and he really liked the aforementioned EP. If you wanna hear songs about going to the charity shop, or the jobcentre and turning on the kettle then this may appeal. I reckon the lyrics are trying a bit too hard to deal with the mundane. Incidentally don't try turning the kettle on by kissing it because you'll burn your lips. Hey Phil thinks if you like The Wave Pictures then you might well like this. Hey check out my effortless mundane lyrics " I'm wearing two socks and yesterday I ate some crisps, the packet had a barcode on, tonight I'm going to bed. Argos is dead".
This Stephan Mathieu + Taylor Deupree 'Transcriptions' CD is very posh looking in its oversized A5 package. This is a very interesting collaboration which involved Mathieu playing wax cylinders and 78's through portable gramophones then recording into computer via microphone. Deupree than adds vintage synths and guitar. The results are very captivating and dreamlike. I'm reminded of the warm decaying fuzz of William Basinski and even some Machinefabriek stuff. Little bits of Phillip Jeck and Thomas Koner possibly. It's kinda difficult to make comparisons but if you like those artists then there should be something here for you to enjoy as it's most pleasant on the ear. It's like wrapping yourself up in a big warm bobbled wooly blanket. Out through Spekk.
Socialist Leisure Party have their 'Turktown Saints' 7" out on the increasingly popular Cloudberry label. The band features member(s?) of old Sarah Records band Action Painting. This is shambling indie pop with a psychedelic 60's sound reminding the chaps of The Blue Orchids and Brian reckons there's a bit of an oldskool New Zealand feel. There's even some charming flute playing which isn't something you hear much. The general consensus is that this is real quality indie.
Brett and I have just come up with a fantasy scenario where we're out listening to the Cloaks tracks looking well fucking hard in gangs like the movie The Warriors. Such is the power of the aggressive distortion on 'Versus Grain'. It's a right old nasty stompathon of noisy but not overly harsh electronics with many of the tracks fitting into a kind of exaggerated dubstep template. Proper wicked industro-crunch step. Dark as hell too, if you can imagine Scorn, The Bug, Zan Lyons, Wolf Eyes, Otto Von Schirach, DJ Scud, Slepcy all having a big fuck off riot then this may well be what they'd come up with. It makes me think of slowed down Ambush gear and labels like Hymen and Ant-Zen. It's a beast of an album that'll have you rocking like a bastard. It also prompted a few swearwords from me due to my lack of vocabulary. Recommended.
Following up their excellent 'Today Is the Clearest Stream' cassetete for Blackest Rainbow (which I totally regret not getting), Starving Weirdos make a return to the label with a vinyl album which is pretty excellent. The duo take on a side each on B/P/M Series 1...Now being brutally honest here I must confess that on first listen I wasn't blown away as I was pretty engrossed in some computer work at the time. Plus this just not what I was expecting from these guys. However on second spin it doesn't take long into the first piece to realize you're in the presence of something quite special. Hypnotic treated piano loops originally played by pianist Darius Brottman create a hypnotic and classy feeling while simultaneously feeling a little creepy. Once the recordings of incidental sounds start to build it shifts gear entirely with all sorts of smart little manipulations and detailed dynamics. The beauty and simplicity of the keys juxtaposed with the concrete works really well. It almost sounds like someone kicking a chair and you keep expecting the whole piece to collapse into cacophony. The piano playing becomes more intense with some subtle effects. The second number is more subdued with a gentle humming drone sitting beneath the piano. The key's sound like they're weeping while lower in the mix are some recordings of birds tweeting. There's something a little unnerving about the vibe emitting from this, or maybe I'm just getting "the fear". By the time we arrive at the third track things get stranger with some crazy piano playing and some deliciously sinister electronics. This heads right into the weird zone with hyperactive key sounds while throbs of bass morph and swell up over the chiming keys. The final track is extremely dramatic and very intense as layers of keys are blended together to stunning effect. After all the heavy processing it becomes stripped back down to the skeleton of the album which is simply piano. This is one of those records that reveals something new each time you play and although it's in essence quite avant-garde I think it's actually quite accessible and may well appeal to folks that dig the more experimental end of modern classical stuff. The only thing I have by these guys is the first album and I really loved the CD they did on Bottropp boy. This is totally different but just as high quality and demonstrates a duo that are truly experimenting with sound. A great record in full colour sleeve and on 180g vinyl. Ltd to 500 copies and highly recommended.
I was never really exposed to Loop in the 80' sand early 90's but I did get into Main later on. Both these acts featured Robert Hampson and now he has a solo album out on the ever interesting and boundary pushing Touch label. 'Vectors' is really quite a provoking listen. 'Umbra' consists of 3 fairly lengthy tracks which are not easy to describe. The synthetic sounds are fairly obvious computer/ synth noises but what puzzles me are the "other sounds" which I simply cannot identify. For example I imagine a balloon being stretched and scrapped and fiddled with and then processed with effects but it's just not a sound I've heard before or can accurately place. Truly acousmatic stuff that just fits in really snugly with the clicks and hisses that surround it. There's some clever use of stereo on here too that really bring these colourful compositions to life. I'm floating in an artificial reality in a world that feels truly binary but I am occasionally given glimpses of the real world through occasional peeps of sound that somehow feel organic. It's kind of like being shrunk to the size of an atom and absorbing the sounds that would possibly occur in that space where you're hanging out with protons and neutrons. It's a place I enjoy and you cannot help but marvel at the imagination that's gone into this work. It pulls together elements of drone, ambient and musique concrète but cannot accurately be described as being either. 'Ahead Only The Stars' begins with some awesome jet/ rocket sounds shooting across both channels and reminds me of the magic when my dad first played me stereo recordings as a child. Then we get some adventures in crystal clear microscopic sound-worlds and digital synthesis that recall the detail and precision of artists like Carsten Nicolai and Coil with the surrealism of Nurse With Wound. Jon Wozencroft has captured the spirit of the sound wonderfully with the mathematical image that adorns the digipak's front panel. By the time we arrive at 'Danse Le Lointain' we're into minimal bleep/ drone/ metallic/ hum/ creepy/ crackle/ pulse/ wave/ crunch/ liquid zone and (I think) field recording/ found sound mode as my sense of "real" and synthetic sound is really put to the test. There are some frequencies on this one that really mess with my head as they disorientate me somewhat. A rich and diverse palate of sounds are used and the track is kind of broken up into little stages and you really cannot anticipate where you're going next. This is the first solo work I've heard from Robert Hampson but it seems a logical progression for the artist whose sounds have become increasingly alien over the years. Great stuff that gets a thumbs up from me for sure.
Phil has dreams about La Roux.
Hello. Straight in with it this week. Am totally feeling this Sindre Bjerga & Robert Horton CD on Blackest Rainbow. Am not massively familiar with either artist. I've heard bits by 'em and liked what I've heard but many releases have passed me by. They're both pretty prolific artists. Here the 2 experimentalists joining forces to make some proper crazy leftfield music which is pretty hard to pigeonhole. The press release is totally spot on where it says they create multiple instrument based layered drone to down right weirdness and outsider vibes. I'd struggle to put it any better myself!! There's some elements of psyche folk in there 'n all.. It's pretty far out I have to say but spend some time with its haunting lovelyness and you'll see it's weirdly compulsive. In between a jaffa cake and a hob knob I think. 'Can't Go There Fast Enough To Get There Early' is CD only in an edition of 264 copies on the super fine Blackest Rainbow label. Well worth checking out!!
I quite like what I've heard by Lord Cut Glass which in case you didn't know is that fella from the Delgados new band. 'Look After Your Wife' is one of the cheekier moments lifted from the new album. Ludicrously catchy and upbeat you couldn't fail to be slightly warmed by the cheekyness on offer here. You can hear a 30 second snippet of it here. Fancy! There's something about it that reminds me a bit of Billy Bragg.... Wasn't expecting that. This is deffo the highlight of the latest album with its massive jauntyness and its sweet lyrics (am sure my wife would be happy for me to listen to this 24/7). Nice Roy Lichtenstein artwork as well. Its strictly limited to 1000 copies. I like it when they use the word strictly. It feels a bit unnecessary and slightly over the top. They could just say it is limited to 1000 copies? Who is monitoring it strictly? That's what I want to know? And who's monitoring them?
I'm not really sure what happened to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. They used to sound slighty edgey what with their noisy guitars and general naughty ness. Now they sound like Republica as they sound has been totally glossed up and there's more synths in the mix. This is glossy commercial pop music for the masses. It's kind of annoying but it's probably not that bad... Heads will Roll is on a variety of different formats for you to choose from. Yes Yes Yes!
Harold Budd And Clive wright have a new album out on Darla. Their 2nd collaborative effort in fact. Clive Wright I'm not familiar with so after a quick shufty of the press release I've discovered he's a guitarist from Cock Robin (yeah me neither...), Human Drama (yeah me neither...), members of Tears For Fears (first 2 albums were top), Montell Jordan (????), Black Eyed Peas (me no fan) and Peter Gabriel (Games without Frontiers rules). Anyway Budd who is the godfather of ambient music apparently is tinkling away at his old joanna making some very Budd- ish sounds. I just love that effect he has on his piano so it makes it sound all distant and echoey. It's lovely..... I could listen to his piano all day. Over it though is a load of new age sounding guitaryness and synth noises which end up making this sound like a yoga workout. Bits of it are lovely though. I love the Hawaiian sounds 'On Ships That Sail Away'... it's well nice. It's a bit hit and miss this for me as the bits which end up sounding like I should be choking to death on crystals and lavender oil are just a wee bit too new age for me. But if you can get past that there's some goodness to be found!!
This week I starts with a superfly CD by Christopher Hipgrave (no relation to Dan I hope) on the rather smashing Home Normal label. I like the packaging on this label. Nice shiny cardboard little things with tasty imagery and a nicely designed slot to shove your musical 5 incher into (err... CD). Day is the daybut (gerrit....) release by Mr Hipgrave. He has forthcoming wares on Under The Spire but Home Normal appear to have to got to him first and can lay their claim to finding this up and coming talent! It's a 7 track album which is a mix of clicks, drones, ambience and some micro electronics all tastefully crafted together into one delicious thing. It's very enjoyable indeed. In fact you may as well remove your ears and place them on a velvet cushion for the evening. It's that nice. It comes into it's own through headphones as it's doesn't do much over the system in the office here. Through headphones you can pick up all the intricacies and little nuances which are missed due to the mass of space between said ears and headphones. Fans of 12K, Make Mine Music etc. will like this. Well nice!
There's a splurge of releases out on the Young & Lost Club label at the mo. Here's one by Oh Minnows which starts of sounding like Mister Mister before it lunges into a male fronted Cocteaus. Big cheesy sythns over some massive echoey drums with a big epic chorus. It's all very 1985 which is making me feel young again and anything which makes me feel young again can't be that bad. This could be good or it could be a poor pastiche. I've not quite decided and I'm not sure if I'm gonna be able to suss it out. Check it out and see what you think! The Might EP is 7" only. The cover looks a bit like an old Bunnymen sleeve as well. Well 80's!!
Papa M/ Slint/ For Carnation fans check this funner out. We scored some copies of his new album which is a US only release on Black Tent Press!! Comes in a an extremely tasteful sleeve with a CD enclosed for digital listening pleasure. Don't forget it's a vinyl LP so you can enjoy analog listening pleasure while you're looking at the shiny CD and following the reflection of it around the walls. Anyway Pajo's new album is a stripped back raw album of singer-songwritery-ness. He sounds like he's had or having some sort of breakdown. The songs are called things like 'Angelfuck', 'Devils Whorehorse', 'I Turned Into a Martian', 'Teenagers From Mars'... There's evil looking skulls and faces all over the shop and it's called Scream With Me. I'd have reckoned it's his halloween album were I not informed that all these tunes stem from the dark pen of Glen Danzig! Musically it's proper raw and stripped down.... Kind of lo-fi produced intimate singer songwriter gear where Pajo seems to be bearing his soul and his darker side. It sounds like a nice straightforward listen until you start to listen to the lyrics and you realise it's some pretty dark shit. Mind you what would you expect from a bunch of Misfits songs?
Brian has nightmares about losing Phil's daughter whilst out shopping??!!
Elefant records of España deliver an old skool 4 track green vinyl 7" EP, “I Think I Need You” by Leeds' very own The Lodger. I like the sleeve, in hazy nostalgic green. I find that red hair & mother nature go together like red wine & brie on waterbiscuit. Or maybe I just fancy the girl. "The Lodge", expanded here to a 4 piece, deal in 60's soul flecked skiffle pop, mid 80's jangle ala the long forgotten Bob and twee head noddy balladeering. Theirs is a fey take on "real" indie, an honest approach to songwriting. I prefer the pacier end of their stuff to be fair but it's not exactly inspiring me on any level, especially after hearing the stunning Divorce single that's just landed. However they may of mass appeal to the kids who are taking a trainspotters holiday at Indietracks this Summer.
More indie shenanigans, more 4 track 7" goodness. A four-way split betwixt Half Handed Cloud (perky, wonky lo-fi pop with sweet fey harmonies - happy strides collapsing into off-kilter wistfulness with a cracking violin & a delicious whistling refrain) SJ Esau (Twinkly post Anticon wired-pop with a manic acoustic strum & an altogether thrilling disposition) Suburban Kids With Biblical Names (strummy lo-fi electro pop with sing-song lyrics - Of Montreal meets Casiotone/Magnetic Fields - Gorgeous!) and finally Kopek (a brief slice of home made meandering folk pop with real charm) A really endearing bunch of bedroom indie pop with real soul & fire! One Inch Badge records are responsible!
I feel like i've heard Jukebox Collective's 'Black Light' somewhere before. Aha! We had a promo sent a couple of weeks ago. That's where. I like the weedy organ underneath the very Mancunian (they're from East London...) sounding mororik new wave pop. The vocals are sort of half chanted with a bit of a Cockney edge and the guitars scissor around with a sturdy funky drumbeat. It's kind of good in it's simplicity. They're certainly tons better than that terrible London band from a few years ago, The Others, but something about this recalls them! Hints of Menswear & Campag Velocet too possibly. The flip 'Joie De Vivre' sounds like Jamie T fronting Appliance playing a Bruce Springsteen/Tubeway Army hybrid.7" only
I didn't get on with 'Skeletal Lamping' by Of Montreal AT ALL i'm sad to report. It's like they'd built an entire album around ideas culled from the most annoying falsetto pop song on their previous album, largely a work of flabbergasting genius -bar that track which I used to actually skip (I never usually skip songs on an album, just sit there gnashing my teeth for a few minutes & shouting obscenities - it's way more fun) 'For Our Elegant Caste' is typical of this cheesy pretentious grandoise pop. A blue vinyl 7" with a 'Depressed Buttons remix' which actually works much better for me than the original - a juddering electro pop thing where the vocals are sliced up and treated bit so they stutter and swoop in an interesting manner. Still sounds like an Hoxton mullet-club nightmare, mind. One thing I must commend this band for, they never become stuck in a rut........
The Dex Romweber Duo have a brilliant 7" out on Third Man and immediately i'm enthralled by the authentic electrified garage & country blues of 'The Wind Did Move' spilling from the speakers. It's got that earthy, raw traditional sound that The Dirtbombs and other classic Detroit blues practitioners kick out. It's could be a Johnny Cash original it's such a stomping, whooping floor filler of a tune! I wish more records had this scintillating, genuine live sound these days, it's just so CLASSIC sounding! Dex is a hefty looking character, a local legend who used to play in Flat Duo Jets and has contributed to recordings by the likes of Neko Case and he's joined here by his sassy looking sister who bashes the skins in an impressive fashion However the main draw for you rabid vinyl consumers here is the intriguing addition of producer/label owner Jack White on backing vox and guitar, most apparent on the suitably downtempo flip, a cover of Geechie Wileys' Last Kind Word Blues' where his distinctive yelp contrasts beautifully with Dex's rumble in a call & response stylee. The feel & production throughout is feral & soulful, I reckon this is just a fantastic single!
Old Robin "Woody" Guthrie from little known Scots warblers Cockateel Twins unleashes a new CD EP on Rocket Girl named 'Angel Farm'. Phil cracks me right, up with the comment that it sounds like a Readers Digest listening compendium, sugary arpeggios over a twinkly swaying backdrop, a slow bassline bobs up and down, the elementary drum machine pulses away softly whilst his signature chiming guitar style attempts to dissolve all the stress you've ever suffered in your life. These familiar & comforting swathes of blissed-out dreamscapery are like cotton wool and couldn't actually offend if they started wearing Nazi regalia and getting their privates out in public. The musical equivalent of a chocolate box full of new born kittens covered in honey & delicate aromatic flowers, this is the reason Ulrich Schnauss exists & I believe old Yellow 6 would sound considerably different without this mighty Peer. Possibly the most influential guitarist to come out of Bonnie Scotland, lovely gear!
Thanks!
teamNORM x