Atomic Bitchwax: Spit Blood (CD)
Mildly metallic 70s-style butt-rock/classic-rock in borrowed styles of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Hawkwind, and other stars of The Bone. Spacey and wanky and sludgy--it's good fun. Give Fu Manchu a rest and try it. I think the guitarist is from Monster Magnet, which this sometimes resembles. Hey Squash! By the way, note to rockers: no more straight-ahead covers of AC/DC songs are needed, thank you (track 1=Dirty Deeds...). (Uncle Brad)
The Boggs: We Are The Boggs We Are (CD)
Primitive-sounding folk, from NYC. This is dark and drunk mountain music for city people. (Dean Pickles)
Cerberus Shoal: Mr. Boy Dog (2xCD)
Wide-ranging combo from Maine (!), and this is a sprawling double CD of moody and mostly instrumental music. Reminds me of Godspeed You Black Emperor!, Philip Glass, and many Chicago groups like Tortoise, et al. Very interesting and deft use of percussion and horn flourishes. Recommended. (Cactus)
Citizenbird: S/T (CD)
Psychedelic rock from Sweden. The (thankfully) peeled-off sticker on the jewel box said "sounds like The Strokes on acid," but there's a lot more going on here than that. I hear some Velvets, some Hawkwind, some new wave, some creepy krautrock-sounding keyboards, and some good melodies. I actually went to a rekkid store and picked up a copy of this for myself. (Stereo Steve)
Client/Server: The End of Client/Server (CD)
Analogana says "R2D2 gone crazy electronic noise. Can get repetitive, but in the right mood, kinda relaxing." I say there's some guitars and analog synths making noise here. One track sounds like Brian Eno's vacuum cleaner. (Stereo Steve)
Cray: Undo (CD)
From the Bip-Hop label, computer-generated noise that you all love/hate so much. If you like Oval or Panasonic you should check this out. (Stereo Steve)
Greg Davis: Arbor (CD)
Nice and mellow electronica. See Fennesz for more info. (Dean Pickles)
Dead Low Tide: ST (7")
3 guys from the Murder City Devils plus a guy from Godheadsilo team up to make some great rock. Spencer from Murder City Devils sings. (Miles)
The Dishes: 1-2 (CD)
Real good female-vox fronted garage rock from Chicago. (Dean Pickles)
Elders of Zion:
Dawn Refuses to Rise (CD)
Kind of a one-trick pony, but man, what a nice little horsey she is. Noisy dub, basically, with killer drum tracks, bass, buzzing keyboards, scratchy guitar, and lots of Marxist political samples, and so on. Each track has a strong groove, and the embellishments are nicely tossed on top. My only complaint, and it is an admittedly minor one, is that some of the anti-globalization samples, especially a demonstrator named "Vision," made me wince at the simplistic naivete being spouted. But, then again, I'm a jaded old anarchist fuck. On balance, a great record. (Cactus)
Estee Louder:
Screamin' Sum Voodoo (7")
Loud, fuzzy rock. Great band name. 4 tracks, all rock! (Miles)
Freezepop: Fashion Impression Function (CD)
Tasty bubblegum synthpop from Boston. It's like a Gameboy soundtrack composed by Gary Numan and performed by the early Magnetic Fields. Quite brilliant, in a nitrous-sucking kinda way. (Dean Pickles)
Johnny Frigo:
Collected Works (CD)
1923: Persuaded by the ragman in his southside Chicago ghetto to start taking violin lessons...nearly 80 years later Johnny Frigo is known as a violin virtuoso and a badass bassist. He was in the Coast Guard, rumour has it that Al Capone stuck a $10 tip in the F-hole of his bass. He had a dance with the Duchess of Windsor, Billie Holiday sang one of his songs, he has played with musicians from Tony Dorsey to Curtis Mayfield...But this is a collection of music for Dance. Funky jazz, with a cinematic Shaft-era feel. Recorded in the late 60s/early 70s by Frigo for Gus Giordano's Jazz Dance School in Chicago. You can hear the dancers hootin' and hollering at times. It's upbeat and suave, it'd go well with a martini, too...(gabriella)
Gogol Bordello:
Voi-la Intruder (CD)
A bunch of New Yorkers originally from the Ukraine perform a slavic gypsy rock opera, somewhere between Tom Waits and the Leningrad Cowboys. It's in English, although apparently much of it is translated from Ukranian folk songs. One track features the loverly Sally Norvell. (Dean Pickles)
Grandaddy:
Concrete Dunes (CD)
Wonderful indie rock rarities and unreleased tracks from the Modesto faves. Or is it? 12 of the 15 songs are from the 1999 compilation The Broken Down Comforter Collection. From their website: "Please be advised that this album arrives without our input or knowledge. It consists primarily of The Broken Down Comforter Collection, which I have usually seen in stores for less money than Concrete Dunes is selling for. We were not involved in the decision to re-release or repackage this album. We first saw the incredibly questionable artwork, title, and new track listing on the internet, after being given the heads-up by a friend. The additional material does not merit a re-release in our opinion, and could be considered grossly opportunistic." (Dean Pickles)
Tim Hecker:
Haunt Me ...(CD)
Minimal electronic. Nice sheets of ambient buzzing and clicking and blurping, and so on. Like Oval, but less severe. Soothing, but not in a dorky, new age manner. I know there's several tons of this sort of thing floating about now, but I still enjoyed it. Recommended. (Cactus)
Richard Hell: Time (CD)
A selection of amazing and raw recordings from the late 70s, from one of the original CBGB punks (member of Television, The Heartbreakers, The Voidoids, etc.). Disk one is a re-release of the 1984 R.I.P. cassette, with studio Heartbreakers, and studio/live tracks from The Voidoids. Disk two is all live Voidoids. This is amazing stuff--so much more thrilling than the not-that-exciting Quine VU tapes (Quine also at work here). Except for two misses, you really cannot go wrong here. They're all fantastic. (Dean Pickles)
Iron Maiden:
Rock in Rio Live(2xCD)
Diehard Maiden fans say it's no Life After Death, but that this live double album still kicks mighty metal ass...and that the Brave New World songs sound better live...the crowd roars, Bruce's voice soars, it's an un-ironic, sweaty headbanger of a record. (gabriella)
Anton LaVey The Satanic Mass
I detest Christians, and so was quite anxious to pick up this re-release of a 1968 recording of a mass at the Church of Satan, here in San Francisco. The mass itself is pretty boring on the whole, but the clips that follow of LaVey sternly and caustically reading from the Satanic Bible have some excellent (and occasionally hilarious) anti-Christian rants that are well-worth the price of the disk. This CD works very well as an opening salvo as I start my show after the shout-outs and big-ups and the house beats of the non-stop love and light kids from Rhythm Generation Radio have died down. Would make a perfect gift for that special backward-thinking relative at Christmas, too. Highly recommended. Hail Satan! (Cactus)
Lo-Fi Neisans
/Murder Murder/Crack live: live 4/8/2 at Bottom of the Hill
Great show. Crack was brilliantly absurd. Two gals dead-pan rapping on top of harsh, white noise keyboard scree. Very entertaining. Murder Murder are an East Bay Total Shutdown-offshoot, playing death jazz, with 2 drummers and 2 sax players. Brutal and awesome noise. Lo-Fi Neisans are a Japanese combo who have moved to SF. Completely ridiculous, in the best sense. They are essentially taiko kettle drum, bass, and a lot of contact-mic'd toys being tossed about, while the dada vocals are administered. Outlandish costumes, choregraphed dances, and pantomimes had the audience in stitches. One of the best party bands I have ever seen. A very strange and fun evening. (Cactus)
Marshmallow Coast:
Ride the Lightning (CD)
Twee indie pop (semi-psychedelia, sometimes) from these Elephant Sixers. Sounds hella like the last Ladybug Transistor album. (Dean Pickles)
Merzbow:
Dharma (CD)
Duh. It's yet more wonderful, pure noise sculptures from the prolific, bondage-obsessed Japanese gent. Actually, some of these tracks approach a sort of musicality, but for the most part this is exactly the sort of quite lovely but unbelievably harsh power electronics that we've come to expect. Will definitely peel the paint off of your walls, at the right volume. I wish I would have had this record back in college, when the dorm music battles always involved Bruce Springsteen and Van Halen. This one would have done the trick, I expect. Live and learn, I guess. (Cactus)
Mice Parade:
All Roads Lead to Salzburg (CD)
I love Mice Parade. Rovo meets Tortoise meets Medeski Martin and Wood meets Isotope 217/Chicago Underground, maybe? Here's what the sticker on the back sez: "What started as a one-man side-project has developed into a 6-person, multi-instrumental, world renowned rhythmic ambient jam collective. This 3rd MP CD includes live tracks and studio sessions recorded at the BBC. 2 drum kits, vibraphones, cheng (Chinese harp), old synths, effects, and classical guitar combine for a world fusion of electronica, African beats, jazz, and free form." Try it, it's great. (Uncle Brad)
Monolight:
Free Music (CD)
More excellent and minimal electronic music from Scandanavia, via Rune Grammophone. The terrific consistency of the record label astounds me, and this is no let down. If you must go electronic on us, at least grab something from this outstanding label. Highly recommended, comrade. (Cactus)
Mountain Goats:
All Hail West Texas (CD)
As good as the latest Mountain Goats record is, it sounds, well...EXACTLY like what you've been taught to expect. The guy's one of those who's a genius at writing the same song over and over and over again while still managing to make it distinctly different each time...but still...the similarity of this one to the last or any number of the others makes all the more welcome the Extra Glenns record on Absolutely Kosher, which finds John Darnielle stepping out of Mountain Goats to explore some different pop textures. All that said, the opening track of this record is absolutely essential listening, and is easily the best ever song about the best ever death metal band in Denton. You've really got to try it. Hail Satan. (Uncle Brad)
Mujician:
Spacetime (CD)
Focused, well-developed improv/compositions, many of them creepy; two of the members of King Crimson (Tony Levin, Keith Tippett) take part in this quartet headed by Paul Dunmall. (Prem)
Muslimgauze:
Observe With Sadiq Bey (CD)
Not likely to be played on the boombox at any dinner parties over at Ariel Sharon's house any time soon. The man (Bryn Jones=Muslimgauze) has been dead awhile now, and yet the outstanding posthumous releases keep surfacing, usually on the very excellent Soleilmoon label. This is another stunning and crushingly heavy record of arabic broken beats, distorted bass, acoustic percussion, and samples of Palestinian freedom fighters. If you're currently siding with the Israeli military machine in the war over there (you can guess my position), then you should just skip this PLO-centric record, and his (literally) dozens of other Muslimgauze releases. Absolutely essential, otherwise. (Cactus)
90 Day Men:
To Everybody (CD)
I love this record a lot. Very weird moody complex melancholy droney dirge-folk rock, with often dark breathy vocals, touches of electronica, hip-hop, jazz, symphonic new music avant-gardism, noise, insanity...a fucked-up masterpiece s'far as I am concerned. Maybe for fans of...Black Heart Procession...Morphine...Nick Cave, but not too much like any of these, and in some ways more sophisticated than all of 'em. I'm gonna buy me one. (Uncle Brad)
Jack Nitzsche:
Three Piece Suite (CD)
Oh, how I love Rhino Records. Oh, I do. Here they bring us two gorgeous albums for the price of one. Tracks 1-6 are a London Symphony Orchestra-performed classical album composed by Nitzsche, who was primarily known as a soundtrack composer at that time, I guess. The album was called St. Giles Cripplegate. It's very soundtracky. Track 1, for example, sounds like it comes straight from a horror/thriller flick. Creepy stuff. Tracks 7+ are great 70s pop. It's sometimes kinda cheesy, but the great tracks are very nice, indeed. The second, unreleased, album reminds me a lot of Paul Williams (take note, Stereo Steve!). Lyrics were almost entirely written by filmmaker Robert Downey, whom I take to be the father of the oft-problematic actor. Fantastic! (Dean Pickles)
Organic Grooves:
Black Cherry (CD)
An electronic remix record, using William Parker and Hamid Drake's bass and percussion tracks as source material. Outstanding fusion of free jazz elements with electronica. Aum Fidelity is another uberlabel that seemingly can do no wrong. This is another terrific record. Highly recommended. (Cactus)
Pan American:
The River Made No Sound (CD)
Beautiful ambient electronic music, out on Kranky. Slow pulses of drone wash over the room, and you'll be sucked into the vortex. I know you already have a lot of minimal ambient electronic CDs in your collection, but just ditch some of those crappy old Orb records, or something. Toss the Aphex Twin if you must, but make room for this one. Trust me on this. (Cactus)
Pepito:
Migrante (CD)
I think this is local. The music is post-rock, but not repetitive--a lot going on here. The singing is mostly in Spanish, but some is in English, and French, too. The music is very dense and complex, and it's got a weird sense of humor, too. Hard to describe, you gotta hear this for yourself. (Stereo Steve)
Pink and Brown/Death Drug :
(split 12")
From Load Records, the folks who brought you the Brainbombs, comes Pink and Brown, a 2-piece band with more really fucked-up, noisy, distorted, garage rock. This is great!! Death Drug has one track on the record, which takes up an entire side. Sorta party-funk with spoken word. (Miles)
Poundsign:
Underneath the Marquee (CD)
It cannot get more twee than this. Local indie pop, featuring Alicia, Dean Pickles' favorite Aislers Set. It's cute, but it really is just a little too twee, even for me. (Dean Pickles)
The Quails:
We Are The Quails (CD)
Messy Appalachian folk gone punk/new wave...so much of this is so great! And it's local, too! Features former members of Circus Lupus, Cha Cha Cabaret, and the Electrolettes. Features a kinda great Kinks cover. Kinda. Recorded and produced by Tim Green of the frickin' c4am95. (Dean Pickles)
Racebannon:
In the Grips of the Light (CD)
Indiana post-punk, that owes much of their sound to The Jesus Lizard. Tight, fast, loud, and slightly psychotic sounding. A nice blistering wallop at any time of the day or night. If you like that late 80s midwestern thug vibe that was once the usual stock in trade over at Touch and Go, well, then, this here is your puppy. Dunno what the name means, though. (Cactus)
The Sadies:
s/t (7")
Indie, retro-pop. A little country, a little pop. (Miles)
Pablo St. Chaos:
When You Force Me Against the Breaking Earth (CD)
Texas drone guitarist. Minimal and ambient guitar washes create a spooky and ominous vibe. A few whispered vocals. Fans of Loren Mazzacane Connors will enjoy this. Nice. Recommended. (Cactus)
St. Germain:
Boulevard 2002 (CD)
Recorded in '95 and mixed in '02. Some of it sounds like funky jazz, and some of it sounds like house music...guess which tracks *I* like better??? The best track is the 15-minute long jazzy number. There's a little bit of everything on here. (Stereo Steve)
Saturday Looks Good To Me:
s/t (CD)
A large aggregation of musicians including His Name Is Alive people. This is a very weird CD. Amatuerish sounding pop melodies, mostly female vocals, and a weird lo-fi mix that made me kind of dizzy after I was done listening to it. Resisting the urge to make a lame "this sounds like someone you've heard of on drugs" comparison...(Stereo Steve)
Matthew Shipp:
Nu-Bop (CD)
There's a lot of greatness here...enough to make me wish this was just a little better. Matthew Shipp is one of the few pianists of all time to rock and freak dirty and hard enough on the keys to make it at KUSF (a short list, including the likes of Monk, Bud Powell, Cecil Taylor, Professor Longhair, Jerry Lee Lewis, and of course new music kooks like John Cage and others who have to LITERALLY deconstruct the piano to make it cool...), and one of the only to ride in on the too often stately and square piano among contemporary avant-jazzers, as most jazz pianists skirt too close to dinner/lounge jazz for us crusties. Plus he's constantly breaking the rules of the jazz-head purists, which is all the more endearing. This time he pushes the boundaries again by enlisting the collaboration of a synths/programming beats-and-samples guy, for an electro-acoustic-jazz-beats hybrid. Only problem: this group of avant-jazz giants (Shipp, William Parker, Guillermo Brown, and Daniel Carter) coulda chosen any beat-head scientist they wanted to work with...and I don't love their choice of Chris Flam. He's pedigreed, having worked with (read:engineered) DJ Spooky, De La Soul, and DJ Soul Slinger, but the beats are often sorta weak and cheezy, and aren't good and smart enough to be running interference with the exceptional jazzin' going on. Still, it's often very smokin' and very cool, and Shipp bangs away with a joyful fury. Your mileage may vary, but definitely check this out, whether jazz-head or beat-head ye may be. (Uncle Brad)
Supergenius:
Sauron Speaks (CD)
This is basically sampled bits and pieces, some drum and bass, some cool ass classic rockin' stuff, with samples from the old Lord of the Rings cartoon(s). It's funny, and a little interesting. "There is good rock here," Gandalf says at one point. I laughed. It picks up toward the end, track 2 is quite nerve-racking, which was perfect, since I was up at 5am listening to it on the BART home, but it's actually quite enjoyable. (Zephir)
Tango No. 9:
All Them Cats in Recoleta (CD)
Ironically enough, it's tango music. Nice. All Astor Piazzolla songs. Local? [Prem answers: "Yup. Given to me by "Boaz" of Boaz Accordians in Berkeley. Very bouncy, nippy takes on Piazzolla tunes. Sometimes melancholy, but usually not. For violin, trombone, piano, and bandoneon (an accordian, as you might have guessed)."] Thank you for that clarification and elaboration, Prem.
(Cactus)
Tog:
s/t (CD)
Japanese improvised electronics. Excellent and highly recommended. I believe they played live on Prem's show once, or maybe he just interviewed them. Reagardless, they're good, and you need another record in your life, pal. So buy this. (Cactus)
Tosca:
Suzuki In Dub (CD)
Tosca is R. Dorfmeister (of Kruder and...), and as the title implies, these are dubbed-out long versions of tracks from the Suzuki album from a couple of years back. Good, funky schidt. (Stereo Steve)
Various Artists:
Acuarela Songs (CD)
2 disks of mostly mellow acoustic guitar indie pop. Very pretty, chill-out music. Bunch of locals, including Court and Spark, Virgil Shaw, For Stars, Paula Frazer. (Dean Pickles)
Various Artists:
My House in Montmartre (CD)
I know I'm in trouble for this, but I really adore cheesy, French house music. And this lives up to everything I'd hoped for. Abysmal, funky beats, horribly gay vocals, it's all here, and it's all too perfect. Unfortunately, the only letdown is that it's entirely in English. Features all your standard cheese faves: Phoenix, Stardust, Cassius, Alex Gopher, Daft Punk. Even Air! Wheeee! (Dean Pickles)
Various Artists:
Rock and Fuckin' Roll Volume 3 (CD)
Like the title says, this is rock and fuckin' roll. Lotsa good stuff here. Rock, butt-rock, pop, and some garage rock. Play this, rockers. (Miles)
Various Artists:
The Funky 16 Corners (CD)
Super hardcore JB-style funk tracks, collected (and not at all mixed!) by ace turntablist Egon. All of it is old and rare, most from '69-'72, except for one track from Chemist. This is must-play funk, unlike the weak appetiser from Faust and Shortee. Don't miss the extensive liner notes by Egon. (Dean Pickles)
Various Artists:
This Is Where I Belong, Songs of Ray Davies and The Kinks (CD)
Yet another Kinks tribute. This time around we get bigger names (Jonathan Richman, Yo La Tengo, Queens of the Stone Age) doing more obscure Kinks tunes ("Starstruck," "Picture Book," "Get Back in Line"), and liner notes by the man himself. High points include Lambchop's creepy, slowed-down version of "Art Lover," and Bebel Gilberto singing the bossa-inspired "No Return." Most of the covers are faithful to the originals, but hey, great songs don't necessarily need improvement...(Stereo Steve)
Windsor For The Derby:
Earnest Powers + (CD)
Are they jamming with someone named Earnest Powers? Dunno. What I do know is that this is a CD of post-rock soundscapes, ranging from ambient drones to guitars and drums. No song titles. Good stuff. (Stereo Steve)
Xiu Xiu:
Knifeplay (CD)
Half melancholy synth-edged pop (think Joy Division), half a wild and discordant mix of Henry Cowell, Joy Division, Detroit techno, The Smiths, Takemitsu, Black Sabbath, gamelan, etc. (Dean Pickles)
