mokyow – variations for spiegel [ricco, 2008]
trackist:
1. sunny-side Flowers
2. in Different
3. re-lease
4. Come toward our Line
5. small small Flag
Takahiro Kido Piano – Guitar – Programming – Organ – Glockenspiel – Flute
Takahiro Matsue Bass – Trumpet – Tenor Sax – Clarinet
Tadashi Yoshikawa Drums – Percussion – Theremin – Turn Table
Jyunko Tabira Violin
Utaka Fujiwara Viola non Vocals
This one was a pleasant surprise. I thought I’d never heard of Mokyow before this review was assigned, and erroneously assumed they were from Moscow. To my chagrin, I soon realized that I had heard of the band, and even owned one of their previous CDs! Turns out this Tokyo band includes half of Anoice, whose Remmings release should be familiar to many readers. Multi-instrumentalist Takahiro Kido is the leader of both Mokyow and Ricco Music. He’s released a number of albums on his own, as well as two by pianist Yuki and a Kido/Yuki/Utaka Fujiwara collaboration, cru. To make it simple, cut Anoice in half, graft on three new members (including Fujiwara), and you’ve got Mokyow.
Tadahiro Kido’s solo work has traversed an arc, starting with the simple, spacious tones of A Short, Happy Life, progressing to the dense, complex interplay of In My Time, then curving back to the confident leanness of Fleursy Music. Whenever more musicians have entered the fray, the tonal palette has grown in lushness and appeal.Remmings stumbled by seeming more a collection of tracks than a coherent work; cru’s re-Silence was a step forward, but still incomplete; Variations for Spiegel succeeds by offering a cohesive vision (with one exception, noted below). Those who have ignored Kido’s work up to this point are advised to have another listen, because Variations is quite unlike all that has come before or after.
The first two tracks offer the greatest rewards. Having first been underwhelmed by Remmings, then lulled into a false sense of security by Fleursy Music, I expected to encounter another album of pretty, unassuming music – pleasant, but not necessarily memorable. “Sunny-Side Flowers” starts off just like that: gentle guitar strumming, joined after a couple minutes by soft swatches of electronic fizzle. Tentative organ tones beckon listeners to a lie down in a bed of lilies. A solo piano steps forward, giving the impression that this is track 2, but as it turns out, the composition is just beginning to develop. The piano grows a bit louder, then the strings begin to enter, then the glockenspiel, and holy crap, here come the drums, and when the violin takes control at 5:05 we realize that something really special is going on here. Three minutes later, as the piano and strings cushion the landing, I am already sold on the album.
“In Different” begins with drums, winding through an 8-beat pattern in tribal fashion. The electric guitar introduces itself while the piano presents a slightly modified counterpart. A second drummer (or the same drummer, with four arms) begins to offer a gentle, rock-styled backbeat on cymbal and snare. At 4:09, the guitar hits a particularly loud note, which fades to complete silence at 4:13. The heart prepares to skip a beat. And suddenly: post-rock! Two minutes of aggressive percussion and layered guitar, bolstered by viola and violin, a la Yndi Halda. Then a drop to drums and organ, followed by another build, a euphoric climax and a wrap-around to the beginning. This is not what I expected, but I like it!
This makes the positioning of the next track particularly unfortunate, because while “In Different” is anything but indifferent and offers a sense of cathartic release, “Re-lease” plods on for nearly eleven minutes without offering a single dramatic build. One could excuse the two and a half minutes of synthesized tones at the beginning, the repetitive piano pattern of the next few minutes, even the barely distinguishable warbling of the female vocalist, if it were all leading up to something – but it isn’t. The preceding two tracks toppled from precious to transcendent at the midway point, but all this track does at that juncture is add drums. I would have preferred a truncated version, or perhaps a complete excision.
“Come Toward Our Line” should have been the album’s third track. The bubbling electronic patterns at the beginning sound like water about to boil, and as they are joined by guitar, first on every eighth note, and then throughout, we get the sense that something exciting is about to happen. Perhaps in apology for the previous track, a taste of the post-rock munitions is provided early, before even three minutes have passed. This track then follows the traditional quiet-loud-quiet format, amassing a collection of Midwestern instrumental choruses as it chugs forward to its pleasing but predictable conclusion. Classic rock fans will notice a slight similarity to Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir” in the closing minutes. Album closer “Small Small Flag” is a quieter piece, well-placed, that highlights organ and soft, intermittent vocals.
The frustration I have with Variations is that the aforementioned centerpiece casts doubt on the entire enterprise. A four-track album or three-track EP would have gotten a slightly higher grade. There’s nothing wrong with releasing a 25 or 34-minute CD if all the tracks are good; it’s more enjoyable to listen to a short recording all the way through than to have to program out a track on every spin. The good news is that Tadahiro Kido seems to have an amazingly short learning curve, and I expect this sort of problem to be ironed out in the future. In the meantime, Variations is worth purchasing for the opening tracks alone. -Richard Allen
thesilentballet
kevin blechdom – gentlemania [sonig, 2009]
trackist:
1.Gravity
2.Lazy
3.Monster
4.Running Away
5.I Thought I Knew You
6.Face The Music
7.Turn Around
8.It’s All Been Done Before
9.Tell Me Where It Hurts
10.You Changed My Life
Kevin Blechdom is a female originally named Kristin Erickson
when she was born in Florida in 1978. With a laptop, self-made
computer music programs, piano chops, a 5-string banjo,
Blechdom sings from from the heart.
Kevin Blechdom’s newest solo album, GENTLEMANIA, is being
released on sonig. Expected in March 2009, the album is an
acoustic pop record co-produced by Kevin and Mocky in Berlin.
Initially trained as a classical pianist and composer, Kevin
was always looking for new musical structures and patterns.
She began recording music with her brother and sister-in-law
in an experimental rock band called ADULT RODEO about ten
years ago, releasing two albums on the revered Shimmy Disc
label and more records on the Adult Rodeo imprint, Four States
Fair Records. Later she hooked up with Blevin Blectum (Bevin
Kelley) and formed BLECTUM FROM BLECHDOM after an accidental
collaboration one Halloween night while they were at Mills
College in Oakland, California. The duo went on to release
music on labels like Tigerbeat6 and Deluxe. “The Messy Jesse
Fiesta” won 2nd prize at the prestigious Ars Electronica for
digital music in 2001, and soon after broke up. Blectum from
Blechdom was a hyperactive computer and sampler duo priding
itself with its own digital confusion, frenetic madness, and
psychotic delusions. In 2006 Blectum from Blechdom reuinited
by pie-ing each other in the face, and have since been
recording and touring together.
After Blectum From Blechdom broke up, Kristin kept her team
name Kevin Blechdom and relocated herself to Berlin for five
years. She wrote and produced two albums for the Chicks on
Speed label: BITCHES WITHOUT BRITCHES (2003) and EAT MY HEART
OUT (2005). The albums are a mishmash of styles and production
techniques. From Broadway musical to General MIDI rock opera
to electro-smudge to aleatoric blatherings, her albums put a
bizarre spin on what pop music can be for an era of attention
span deficit.
For the past ten years, Kevin has been touring around the
world playing live shows and collaborating. She has worked
with artists such as Eugene Chadbourne, Fred Frith, Jad Fair,
Kramer, Jamie Lidell, Kid606, Dat Politics, Mocky, John
Bischoff, Chris Brown, Zeena Parkins, Cristian Vogel, Safety
Scissors, Heidi Mortenson, the Organ Lady, Lumberob, Ching
Chong Song, Irene Moon, Myrobotfriend, Charlie Engstrom,
Christopher Fleeger, Chicks on Speed, Kim Hiorthoy, Andre
Vida, Max Tundra, and Planningtorock. She has played shows in
Brazil, Australia, Israel, Moscow, and across Europe and the
United States.
Currently, she is living in Tallahassee, Florida and writing
her thesis paper in order to complete her M.F.A. degree in
Electronic and Computer Music Composition at Mills College.
Her final project for school was writing a forty minute opera
called Recantata, which musically retold the story about her
preschool teachers who were wrongfully put imprisoned for
satanic ritual abuse because of the misguidance of some
child-hypnotizing psychologists. For the last year, and to
support her upcoming release, Blechdom will be touring as a
duo in her hi-tech country and ragtime band with Christopher
Fleeger called Barnwave. Kevin produced the self-released
Ching Chong Song album, LITTLE NAKED GAY ADVENTURE and has
started working on their next release.
El Jesus de Magico – Scalping the Guru (LP) [2009]
trackist:
01. Ancestor Worship-The Scope
02. Camelot V Oz
03. Skin This Cat Another Way
04. Summer of Luhv
05. Whistle Cock-Elohim City
They’ve been called “Pavement meets Amon Duul II” or simply “Columbus on drugs.” At any rate, the one’s difficult to categorize, but it’s a psych/prog dirge with an Ohio twist, maybe like a 21st-century version of Fuzzhead’s LSD LP, if anyone remembers those guys. Hard to tell when one track ends and another starts. Label description: “We asked El Jesus for a new album this past summer and a few months later they submitted this unusual album that was the most Jim Shepard-like thing that we had heard in a long time. While it doesn’t necessarily sound like Shepard, its one of those dark records that lives within its own time and space, an epic work that couldn’t be a further departure from their past (and more song-oriented) releases. Edition of 300 LPs in silk-screened jackets.”
incompletetalesofseveraljourneys
soy un caballo & tunng robin [needno005 .2009]
trackist:
1. Robin – Tunng version
2. Robin – Soy un Caballo version
They’re one of the most distinctly English-sounding bands around, but the latest single from Tunng sees the London-based band hooking up with some like-minded souls from Belgium, the hotly tipped Soy Un Caballo. Released exclusively on gold 7” vinyl, this extra-special limited single has Tunng’s version of Soy Un Caballo’s Robin on the A-side, with the band’s original version on the flip.
“We met Soy Un Caballo on tour in Belgium and France and ended up drinking wine and swapping numbers,” says Tunng frontman Sam Genders. “We kept in touch and they asked if we’d be up for doing an English version of one of their songs for a seven. I remembered Robin from seeing them play live and it was my favourite.”
Sam translated the song from a rough version that the band sent over, then recorded it at Tunng central in London. It’s fascinating to hear the two treatments – Tunng’s typical fireside warmth, and the Belgians’ delicately trippy original.
“Beautiful Belgian lush pop, with Robin being 2009’s best smoochy song so far. Imagine being the protagnist of a blissful technicolour 60s new wave movie with a beautiful blonde girl shot in Super 8 stock. Er… this could be a perfect soundtrack. Old Pure Groove faves Tunng return to provide a cover on the flip that is also divine.” – Pure Groove
neednowaterrecords
Black Mountain – Lucy Brown (EP) [2009]
trackist:
01. Lucy Brown
02. Shelter
After founding Jerk with a Bomb in the late ’90s, Stephen McBean had by the mid-2000s transformed the Vancouver-area band into a group called Black Mountain. Drawing on blues, psychedelia, acid rock, and the Velvet Underground, Black Mountain’s sound was a cross between the darkness and grit of the Warlocks and Brian Jonestown Massacre’s trippiness. After debuting in October 2004 on Jagjaguwar with the 12″ Druganaut, Black Mountain stayed with the label for an eponymous full-length, issued the following January. Joining McBean for the album were local players Matthew Camirand, Jeremy Schmidt, Joshua Wells, and Amber Webber, listed collectively to preserve the band’s communal ethic. (Black Mountain ran concurrent to and intermingled with McBean’s other band, lo-fi classic rockers Pink Mountaintops.) In January 2008, the group released their sophomore album, In the Future, and showed off their willingness to explore proggy (and druggy) territory with the 17-minute opus “Bright Lights.”
allmusic
Yes Please – For Now For Them For Then [2008]
Lily’s first full length release is an album diverse in feel and content. Acapella, nylon string guitar, lushly orchestrated tracks; this album displays a greatly expanded musical palette while retaining the well crafted imagery and lyricism she’s always shown.
Squares On Both Sides – Indication [2009]
A third album of introspective post-folk from Berlin’s Daniel Buerkner, and true to form, the music here is balanced between a kind of emotionally wrought frailty and weary, plodding tempos. The production makes for the perfect mirror for Buerkner’s downtrodden, slightly awkward voice. On ‘Kitsune’ the guitar and piano is overcast with I See A Darkness levels of arch gloom, while the lead vocal croaks and sulks (in the most charming sense of the word) through the track. ‘The Lines We Seize’ opens up a little more, taking an electronically treated arrangement that brings to mind late-’90s Hood, complete with swirling, rusty old violin loops and minor key piano sequences. The title track manages to condense the Squares On Both Sides aesthetic into a three minute space perfectly: at various points in the song you’ll think Buerkner’s stopped playing, such is the distance of separation between some of those suspenseful chords. In those gaps you hear all manner of small incidental sounds happening off in the distance, but you keep being dragged back into the foreground by a stop-start close-up vocal recording, pressed up against the mic. Digested as a whole, Indication brings to mind the work of Mount Eerie, the aforementioned Will Oldham, or perhaps even The Notwist, and as with those acts, the sad songs os Squares On Both Sides come with a decent helping of gravitas.
FAITH NO MORE
Faith No More has always stood out as some sort of unique beast; part dog, part cat–its music almost as schizophrenic as the personalities of its members. When it all worked, it worked really well, even if the chemistry was always volatile. Throughout our 17years of existence, the mental and physical energy required to sustain this creature was considerable and relentless. Though amicable enough, when we finally split, we all followed paths seemingly destined to opposite ends of the universe.
Yet during the entire 10 years that have passed since our decision to break up we’ve experienced constant rumors and requests from fans and promoters alike. Nevertheless, for whatever reason, none of us kept in regular touch, much less to discuss any possibilities of getting together.
What’s changed is that this year, for the first time, we’ve all decided to sit down together and talk about it. And what we’ve discovered is that time has afforded us enough distance to look back on our years together through a clearer lens and made us realize that through all the hard work, the music still sounds good, and we are beginning to appreciate the fact that we might have actually done something right.
Meanwhile we find ourselves at a moment in time with zero label obligations, still young and strong enough to deliver a kickass set, with enthusiasm to not only revisit our past but possibly add something to the present. And so with this we’ve decided to hold our collective breaths and jump off this cliff….
BACK, GOD FORBID, INTO THE MONKEY CAGE!!!We can only hope that the experience of playing together again will yield results erratic and unpredictable enough to live up to the legacy of FNM.
Who know where this will end or what it will bring up…only the future knows. But we are about to find out!FAITH NO MORE are:
Mike Bordin, Roddy Bottum, Bill Gould, Jon Hudson and Mike Patton
http://rapidshare.com/files/202536568/Faith_No_More_-_We_Care_A_Lot.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/202540723/Faith_No_More_-_1987_-_Introduce_Yourself.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/202553275/Faith_No_More-The_Real_Thing-1989.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/202545942/Faith_No_More_-_Angel_Dust_MFSL__V0_.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/202560168/Faith_No_More_-_King_For_A_Day_Fool_For_A_Lifetime.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/202568451/Faith_No_More_-_Album_Of_The_Year.rar
All links are v0 rips.
Po’s Girls – Deer In The Night [2009]
The beauty and mystery of Po Girl’s music – a sound that has beguiled fans the world over – springs from the dynamic, improbable, mesmerizing bond shared by its two principal singers and writers – Allison Russell and Awna Teixeira. Hailing from Montreal and Toronto respectively, both women left untenable home situations at fourteen, found music instead of bad ends, and lived to sing the tales. The interplay between these two stunning performers is truly something to behold – and after honing it relentlessly in 13 countries in the last 12 months, the ladies are set to release a true testament to their bond and to their tremendous growth as writers in the last years. Casual Po’ Girl fans may not be ready for what they will hear… After adding the impossibly talented tickler/maker of all stringed things – Benny Sidelinger – to their number last year, Po’ Girl holed up in Austin, Texas this June past making the record that will almost certainly change forever the way the band is perceived. “Deer in the Night” is set to be released in North America in April 2009, and in the UK/Europe May 2009. Many of the trappings of the trademark Po’ Girl sound are still there – the echoes of speakeasy jazz, the western lament, the accordion-strapped ghosts of European folk — but it’s all delivered with a soulful clarity and depth only hinted at on previous records. It seems almost silly – and not very interesting – to trot out a long, endlessly hyphenated list of the many influences coursing through Po Girl’s music. Suffice to say it’s 21st Century roots music, urban roots – never derivative, not faithfully aping a beloved tradition. Teixeira and Russell don’t re-hash the old forms, they reshape and reinvigorate them for new ears. Genuine gypsies, these two wander and play. They move and move and play and sing. It’s quite simple. Always restless, more often than not bone-tired, they write their flashes of sadness, their loss, their good love, their faint dreams of home into songs that matter deeply to them. Like any good art, they are little acts of self-rescue. So you should listen. You aren’t much different from them, and who couldn’t use a little rescuing these days?
milton jackson – crash [freerange records, 2009]
trackist:
01. Prelude to a Ghost
02. Ghosts in My Machines
03. Backwards Disco
04. Crash
05. Another Fine Mess
06. Rhythm Track
07. Snap Crackle
08. Got to Hold On
09. Rogue Element (Surprise)
10. Orbit 3
11. Prototypes
12. Cycles (Album Version)
13. Outrosection
It perhaps wasn’t intentional, but every PR pic of Milton Jackson about to be whacked around the head—whether it be by a baseball bat, boxer, keyboard or whatever—suggests that Crash is an album that promises an impact or climax you’ll never get to witness. It begins promisingly enough: A sweaty and tropical “Ghosts In My Machine” bangs away with success, as does a chirpy “Backwards Disco” and a percussive “Rhythm Track,” collectively riding on a throbbing wave of soul-infused house.
But the aforementioned never seem to voyage anywhere other than where they turned up in the first place—a preliminary, beat-matching groove, at best. “Rhythm Track” particularly, is almost crafted into something of depth when serene pads join the bare arrangement but after a momentary breakdown, it’s stripped back again and anticipating its close, as if Milton Jackson withdraws, wanting to get to the end more quickly than I do. “Another Fine Mess” however, with its deeply-pitched grooves and progressive melodic textures lending themselves to a kicked-back chillout essence, is the exception that suits Jackson’s perpetually plodding deep house style.
For Crash, Jackson took elements from exotica and sci-fi records, noting that it was “basis (hopefully) for a fresher sound.” His dedication to the cause is undeniable, and indeed, the likes of “Got to Hold On” consequently sound sample-wise, at least, as futuristic as they do old-school. Essentially though, it seems much of the sought-after soul and feeling gets forgotten in this over-production (the concentration on details, as opposed as to the bigger picture), until the album’s close.
Just like those pop albums that bury the single about eight songs in, Crash finds new scope later on and Jackson finally delivers. A euphoric, orchestral string pad twisted around like Play-Doh on the progressive “Orbit 3,” posits what Jean Michael Jarre might sound like if he’d been into house music. (The answer: bloody brilliant.) A shape-shifting soulful, vocal blurting “Prototypes” finds the rhythm “Rhythm Track” was searching for and the piano-led melancholic droning ambience of “Outrospection” feels more like a beautifully emotive motion picture soundtrack, rather than the pull of the shutter on a house album, that, despite its last gasp, never finds its groove.
residentadvisor
Jenny Jenkins – Oventoucher [2008]
Jenny Jenkins, Oventoucher {Bicycle Records} As if suffering from a fairy tale-like curse, Olympia, Washington, seems doomed to produce great musical acts (Nirvana, Sleater-Kinney, Mirah, the Blow) which succumb to some mysterious geographical magnetism and shoot off to other locales just as they’re getting oodles of mainstream attention. Who cares about those big fish, though, when this little pond’s got a hidden aquifer’s worth of talented people who are happy staying put? Jenny Jenkins is one such catchâ?”she’s been entertaining Olympia as the singer and ukulele player in various bands (mostly Super Duo and Encyclopedia of Fun) for over a decade-and on Oventoucher, her first solo release, she’s supported by a large cast of other longtime residents, whose mature musical skills turn this taste of Washington’s capital into a glass of fine, aged wine.
Jenkins and company certainly skirt the edges of the too-many-odd-instruments-in-the-kitchen, indie-folk cliché with their use of autoharp, xylophone, flute, and more; but whereas some bands go that route as an overwrought affectation, these folks are confident enough to let “less is more” be their motto. Check out, for example, the light horn riff on “River” that trails after Jenkins’s “Oh ohh”s like a golden-haired toddler imitating a big sister from a distance. Much of Oventoucher sounds like Mirah or Jolie Holland at first listen, but the work of those otherwise excellent songstresses seems fusty and humorless compared to Jenkins’s songs of troubled love, with their frank sexual references and droll, Morressey-esque turns of phrase. On “I Won’t Kiss You” she laments, “We always take turns/Stabbing one another in the end/Sweetheart are you sure you wanna/Get involved again?/I’m such a fool for you I’d give you/All my kidneys and my friends.” The grit of truth pokes through the levity here, adding ear-catching texture to Oventoucher’s musical beauty, as with this harmonized refrain in “Sometimes I Sleep with Evil”: “Because evil turns me on.” Olympia curse be damned, this album is bound to turn a lot of people on.
Zentriert Ins Antlitz – …no [Tympanik Audio, 2008]
trackist:
Phreneticus
Today
Where Their Dreams Live
Silence Diary
The Animals Hanging
24th Dimension
Cant Get Me
Manage My Sensibility
Shamisen Jangle
Perphenazin
… No
The Final Walk
After three CD releases for COP International and several free album downloads including last year’s excellent ‘Diametral‘, the German trio of Holger Meuler, Jürgen Warkentin, and Marc Friedrich will release their newest collection of work simply entitled ‘…NO’. But simple, this album is not.
With ever-expanding maturity and grace, Zentriert ins Antlitz once again redefine their signature sound by injecting infectious beatwork into lush atmospheric soundscapes to create a poignant blend of dark electronica and industrial-tinged ambient aesthetics. Expect a major leap forward in the ZIA sound with this highly-engaging new album.
‘…NO‘, out now on Tympanik Audio, contains the new 12-track album plus fantastic bonus material that can be “de-mutilated” or unlocked via download instructions from the CD. The extra content will feature various media including many bonus tracks + remixes by several Tympanik Audio artists including Subheim, Totakeke, Integral, Access To Arasaka, Unterm Rad, Stendeck, Lucidstatic, Disharmony, Autoclav1.1, and more…
27 outstanding tracks, over 150 minutes of music, all on 1 single compact disc.
tympanikaudio
ametsub – the nothings of the north [progressive form, 2009]
trackist:
1. Solitude
2. Lichen With Piano
3. Repeatedly
4. Snowy Lava
5. Old Obscurity
6. Peaks Far Afield
7. Time For Trees
8. Skyr
9. Faint Dazzlings
10. Mosfell (Pathless)
11. 66
12. Off-Road 264
he Nothings of The North is an ambient and glitch filled new album from the highly acclaimed electronic musician, Ametsub. This album has garnered fans from a diverse spectrum. Ametsub proclaims without a doubt that this is his best work to date.
“I love this album. I have become a fan.” -Ryuichi Sakamoto
“The town I live in and the noise that is in my daily life, he transformed into music. The power in this was enough to make me overflow with emotional tears. It would be nice if more music painted the colors of daily life.” -Mito from Clammbon
“since 6 months i only listen to demos now. his music is the best electronic one. in fact, i think his cd is better than most old MP releases. he has a lot of talent. the way he handle the piano is intelligent and creative. i can say that he puts much more work into his album than any other artist. the arrangement + programming is much more detailed and there are a lot of nice sounds.” -Marcus Gabler (Mille Plateaux A&R)
“i really can’t find any faults. it’s very wonderful. i really enjoyed listening to it. it’s warm and friendly, and also the sounds are excellent and the mix. as i said, there is not much i can criticize. i also like the idea that there are things in your tracks that i dont really understand right away. i think that is what i like the most about music these days that and also when there is soul in the music. and your music has soul!! i think you new album will be beautiful.” -Yagya (Force Inc. / Sending Orbs)
hearjapan
Jonathan Johansson – En Hand i Himlen [2009]
trackist:
01 En Hand I Himlen 4:08
02 Innan Vi Faller 5:52
03 Högsta Taket, Högsta Våningen 3:48
04 Alla Vill Ha Hela Världen 3:41
05 Aldrig Ensam 4:47
06 Sent För Oss 4:05
07 Du Sa 2:54
08 Efter Skimret, Efter Snön 4:59
09 Säg Vad Ni Vill 4:27
10 Psalm Noll Noll 5:06
Coming up: A confession, doom and hope hand in hand, a brilliant cover version, superbly melancholic pop and a Yamaha DX7 synthesizer in a leading role. It’s all here on Jonathan Johansson’s ‘En Hand I Himlen’ which is safe to already announce one of 2009s best albums.
Well, the confession isn’t really part of the album. That’s me apologizing for not doing my research when I first began sharing my enthusiasm for this Swede, because as it has turned out this is not his debut album. It might be fair to say that ‘En Hand I Himlen’ (“A hand in heaven”) is Johansson’s solo debut, but fact is that he released the album ‘Ok, Ge Mig Timmarna’ in 2005 with the band Hjältar.
Back then guitars were a driving force, but when Jonathan Johansson got his hands on aforementioned synthesizer a year and a half ago he and fellow songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist Johan Eckeborn more or less dropped a year’s worth of songwriting and started all over. To stunning effect.
One source of inspiration is revealed in the ace remake of Tears For Fears classic ‘Everybody Wants To Rule The World’, here ‘Alla Vill Ha Hela Världen’ loaded with the beautiful airy melancholy that, along with his master grip on the good pop song, is the compelling core of Johansson’s universe.
A universe with more than one dimension, both musically and literally, with his upbringing in a very religious home in Malmö reading in the lyrics. However, Johansson is not out to missionize. Instead he investigates human inadequacy in the tension field between our behavior in the physical realm and a spiritual dimension with equal measures of doom and hope, beauty and despair.
Musically this conflict is reflected both within and between the awesome dance floor ready pop of the title track, ‘Sent För Oss’ and the above Tears For Fears cover and the achingly marvelous counters ‘Innan Vi Faller’, ‘Du Sa’ and ‘Psalm Noll Noll’ which brings the exceptional pop proceedings to a gentle halt and Jonathan Johansson delivering us from all evil.
allscandinavian
From Monument To Masses – On Little Known Frequencies [2009]
trackist:
1. Checksum
2. (Millions Of) Individual Factories
3. Beyond God & Elvis
4. A Sixth Trumpet
5. An Ounce Of Prevention
6. The First Five
7. Let Them Know It’s Christmastime
8. Hammer & Nails
I think I’m dying. Not in the literal sense, of course, but on the inside. Little by little, each day. I’m turning into a cold husk of a man. It’s an odd state to find oneself. And it’s all down to music. Recently I’ve not been moved by very much music at all. The new Animal Collective has left me as cold as a North Sea facing beach, the last TV On The Radio album didn’t spark with me like their previous efforts and 2008, in my mind, lacked an ESSENTIAL album that defined that year. What, you might be wondering, has this to do with From Monument To Masses? Well, when the album popped through my inbox, it was defined as post-rock. Now I love post-rock and, in these uncertain times, it’s become a banker. My go-to genre. Something to set my mind alight and my foot a-tapping.On Little Known Frequencies is the forth album from this bi-coastal post-rock band, stationed in NYC and San Francisco, and whilst it’s not exactly pushing the boundaries, it’s continuing proof that post-rock isn’t a dying genre. This is an album filled with beautiful little flourishes. It finds itself acting as a bridge between the math-rock of Battles and latter day Explosions in the Sky. There’s also the presence of film and television excerpts that act as singing voices. Just as the music heaves and crashes around, as it breaks to where the vocals would kick in, there’s the excerpt. A perfectly executed use of scripting that doesn’t feel tired or over used.
FMTM make no secret of their politics. Many of these scripted pieces contain inspirational pieces of public speaking, or world weary warnings of paranoia. This, coupled with the sweeping use of strings, makes it feel as if you’re listening to a film soundtrack. At eight tracks long, it also doesn’t over stay its welcome. The tracks very rarely sprawl beyond their ideas, FMTM’s conciseness is one of their key strengths – it allows each of the songs to inhabit their own space without feeling forced.
Sure, lovers of post-rock will find plenty to love and admire here, and the detractors will say it sounds just like all the other bands who practise this art. But in a world that’s becoming increasingly cold, dark and worrisome, I’m going to plug into FMTM and take solace in their epic political symphonies of wonder. by Rich Hughes
thelineofbestfit
Black Lips – 200 Million Thousand
V0 link, reup: http://rapidshare.com/files/202519627/v0lips.rar
Putumayo Presents – African Reggae [2009]
trackist:
1. Magno Mako – Ismeal Isaac
2. Vision – Mo’Kalamity & The Wizards
3. Congo Natty – Bingui Jaa Jammy
4. Jabulani – Zoro
5. Krebo Cheo – Nino Galissa
6. Bo Ten Qu’Luta’ – One Love Family
7. Steppin; Into Zion – Kwame Bediako
8. On Veut Se Marier – Ba Cissoko with Tiken Jah Fakoly
9. Jah Libile – Serges Kassy
10. Man of Sorrow – Majek Fashek
Nothing is better in life than to wake up on a Monday morning to a music that is uplifting and loud. There’s no way the work day will seem a burden when a life-enhancing music fills the air. Putumayo supplies this need with this album. And, to be honest, it wouldn’t hurt my brain to listen to this set every day. As Zoro says in Jubliani, “Jah Children, have a little bit of life I say. Don’t let your problems get you down.” Could sound callous in the face of oppression, were it not for the musicians bringing their total being to deliver the message.
The influence of Desmond Dekker, and even more Bob Marley is very evident on this entire set, but each artist implants enough of themselves that this becomes a vital addition to the Putumayo family. Putumayo’s ability to bring the best music of different cultures to the United States and distribute it far and wide is very important, and each CD also supports a different non-profit group within the culture of origin of each release. That would mean nothing if the music weren’t great. Fear not, the editors have impeccable taste. Putumayo
eartaste.blogspot
Julie Doiron – I Can Wonder What You Did with Your Day [2009]
trackist:
1. Lovers Of The World
2. Tailor
3. Heavy Snow
4. Nice To Come Home
5. Consolation Prize
6. Je Le Savais
7. When Brakes Get Wet
8. Borrowed Minivans
9. Blue
10. Glad To Be Alive
JULIE DOIRON to release “I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day” on Jagjaguwar this March, and to perform at SXSW!
Since her Polaris Prize-nominated album “Woke Myself Up”, everything has come together in JULIE DOIRON’s world.
On her upcoming record “I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day”, DOIRON has embraced her electric past and made an album which showcases thick distortion and melodic pop not heard since her days with indie heroes Eric’s Trip in the ’90s. It’s part of a desire to get back to her electric days. The past couple of years have seen Eric’s Trip regroup for triumphant reunion tours, and a rekindling of her work with Trip mainstay Rick White. “I Can Wonder…” was recorded at White’s isolated home studio, just northwest of Toronto. DOIRON handled the electric and acoustic guitar parts, White played all the bass and keyboards, and Fred Squire performed all the drums and some lead guitar.
“I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day” — which arrives on the heels of the album “Lost Wisdom”, DOIRON and her bandmate Fred Squire’s recent critically-acclaimed collaboration with Mt. Eerie — presents listeners with an album that reflects both her continued growth as an artist and a renewed optimism as a songwriter as well. As has often been the case, DOIRON’s songwriting is rooted in what’s happening around her.
Jagjaguwar is proud to share an MP3 from “I Can Wonder…” called “Consolation Prize”, an electric pop song showcasing the difference in what is perceived and what is real in both relationships and what is expected of DOIRON’s work. She is not singing about a happy couple, and she’s not doing it unplugged.
hangout.altsounds
Maria Taylor – ladyluck [2009]
This past year has been a little rough for the folks at Nebraska-based Saddle Creek.
The record label has experienced a bit of an exodus of its big-name artists over the past 12 months. First there was The Faint, who released 2008’s Fasciination on its own upstart Blank.Wav. Then there was Conor Oberst who teamed up with Merge for his solo debut with the Mystic Valley Band.
Now you can add Maria Taylor to that list. Taylor, who released her last two albums (11:11 and Lynn Teeter Flower) on Saddle Creek, will release her upcoming solo effort on Nettwerk, her longtime management agency. LadyLuck, her third solo album, will be out on April 7. Two songs from LadyLuck, “Time Lapse Lifeline” and “Orchids,” are available now.
On the album Taylor worked with producers Andy LeMaster, Mike Mogis and Lukas Burton and collaborated with Michael Stipe (R.E.M), Nate Walcott (Bright Eyes) and Mckenzie Smith (Midlake).
pastemagazine
Kashiwa Daisuke – 5 Dec [2009]
trackist:
1. Red Moon
2. Requiem
3. Bogus Music
4. Taurus Prelude
5. Black Lie, White Lie
6. Silver Moon
7. Broken Device
8. About Moonlight
9. Aqua Regia
10. Beautiful Sunday
“program music I”, released approximately a year and a half ago introduced audiences to a musical interpretation of two Japanese literary classics, “Night on the Milky Way Railroad” and “Run Melos!” and revealed the rich musical talent of kashiwa daisuke. As we enter the final one digit year of the new millennium, we are proud to release “5 Dec.”, an album that drops hints of what’s to come in the next 10 years.
kashiwa’s first album released from German label, onpa, in 2006 won rave reviews from many artists including Ryuichi Sakamoto. In his second album, “program music I” released the following year, kashiwa daisuke defined his presence once again in the world of music. The artist’s lyrical melody and dynamic and inventive musical arrangements have led his work to new frontiers in TV commercials and fashion shows. kashiwa casts also off a powerful presence on the online world through his musical + visual collaboration with Koji Nishida of RAKU-GAKU, the artist behind kashiwa’s album jackets.
In his third album, “5 Dec.”, kashiwa daisuke makes yet another step into a new horizon. In this album, the artist’s signature melody with its flowing, oriental taste hides behind the shadows to be replaced by tearing voice samples and noisy and metallic guitar sounds thrashing almost violently on top of colorful uplifting beats such as break core, down tempo, bleep techno, and drum n’ bass. In contrast to the aggressive sounds of the first half, the second part of the album starting with the 6th track, “Silver Moon” guides audiences to a minimal world created through electronic sounds and the piano. As a whole, the album portrays a brilliant contrast of sound.
The melody of this album does not impose sentimentalism or nostalgia onto its listeners but rather, it takes them on a journey into rhythm from beginning to end. Even amidst the violent and excessive elements, there is always a composed eye seeing into the passion that lies beneath, there is a self-disciplined, strict interpretation of the world, a sublime and metallic texture… this is what the artist kashiwa daisuke may be all about. Turn your ears and experience the fruit of kashiwa daisuke’s new challenge and step with him into a whole new level of musical originality.
noble
Moderat – Moderat [BPitch 200, 2009]
trackist:
01. A New Error
02. Rusty Nails
03. Seamonkey
04. Slow Match (feat. Paul St. Hilaire)
05. 3 Minutes Of
06. Nasty Silence
07. Sick With It (feat. Dellé aka Eased from Seeed)
08. Porc # 1
09. Porc # 2
10. No. 22
11. Out Of Sigh
Press Release:
Moderat are Modeselektor and Apparat.
Moderat’s formation began back in 2002 when Sascha Ring (aka Apparat) and Gernot Bronsert and Sebastian Szary (aka Modeselektor) recorded an EP for the record label BPitch Control. The making of this release was incredibly exhausting for the three of them, and at the last minute they renamed the EP “Auf Kosten der Gesundheit” (which translates to “At The Cost Of Health”). When it came time to begin working on an album, Moderat suddenly broke up.
It was a twist of fate that brought about Modeselektor and Apparat’s reunion in the spring of 2008. Szary and Bronsert, both proud fathers, were on their way to the “Stadtbad Mitte” with their children for their regular Monday swimming lessons when they ran into Ring, a devout bachelor who happened to be accompanied by several dubious females. After a battering of verbal abuse, the three gentlemen quickly made peace and decided to get back to work on their collaborative album post haste. Thus, Moderat was reformed.
In recording Moderat’s self-titled album, the three men began by renting studio space at the legendary Berlin Hansa Studios in order to record the album in analog with the help of the studio’s vintage tube technology and an old EMI console from 1972, restored especially for Moderat. American software designer, Joshua Kit Clayton, was hired to program a superb reverb algorithm specifically for the recording process of this album. This exquisite sound design is one of the reasons why the promotional copies can be listened to only in mono. Finished copies will, of course, be in full stereo.
Additionally, during the first phases of recording the Moderat , Szary and Bronsert bought an EMT Model 140 Plate Reverb on an Internet auction and had to travel to Los Angeles to pick it up. While there, they met the Californian rapper Busdriver and the groundwork for “BeatsWaySick” was laid. Moderat continued to work on this with Busdriver from their respective continents. Unfortunately due to legal issues at the time of manufacturing, this track will be released as an exclusive download in the near future.
Back in the studio, the Berlin vocalist Delle (aka Eased) from leading German act Seeed found himself in Moderat’s studio room while on a quest to find a bottle opener. There on the spot, the three gents of Moderat finally waved good-bye to the concept of a mere instrumental album and said hello to vocal recordings and the song “Sick With It”. Coincidentally, they found older vocal recordings of Paul St. Hilaire that had been recorded by Szary and Bronsert way back on low-noise 1/4″ analog tape. Those recordings are what led to “Slow Match”. All this encouraged Szary and Bronsert to convince Ring it was time for him to contribute vocals, which can be heard on “Rusty Nails” and “Out Of Sight”. “Rusty Nails” is the first single, which will feature remixes by Shackleton and Booka Shade.
The self-titled album will also be available as a limited edition DVD produced by the Berlin based artist collective Pfadfinderei, feature music videos and more exclusive content. Pfadfinderei will also contribute visuals to all Moderat live shows.
shail – patterns [smallfish, 2009]
trackist:
1 Pattern 01 (6:38)
2 Pattern 02 (8:00)
3 Pattern 03 (6:34)
4 Pattern 04 (6:08)
5 Pattern 05 (9:38)
6 Pattern 06 (18:52)
I’m very pleased to bring you this third release in the 5″ Smallfish CDr series. Coming from the duo of Wil Bolton (Cheju / Biotron Shelf) and Shay Nassi (Mise En Scene) it’s an exploration of more experimental electronic sounds than you might expect from these artists. Together they’ve created a superb collection of tracks that were produced remotely using a single sound source for each track. Pattern 01 originally started life as a piano sample but by the end of the process became a grainy, atmospheric drone / texture with a strangely melodic feel – you can almost hear Eric Satie in there in fact. Sine wave tones form the basis of the second track (although you really can’t tell) and once again there’s a real sense of density to the final track – a beautiful yet edgy combination of layers gives it movement, yet it keeps a static, hypnotic feel. Pattern 03 consists of electronic bell tones and has the most overtly spacious and somewhat dark feel. When the bass frequency rolls into the mix early on it becomesa truly magnificent yet beautifully low-key work. Pattern 05 is the most chaotic of the pieces with a chattering sound and stuttering elements – it seems to form a natural break before leading into the utterly brilliant 18 minute final track. Using a digital photograph of Victorian wallpaper converted into sounds data as the source it’s an incredibly intense combination of dissonant tonal elements and static / white noise sounds. The beauty of it is the way it never becomes overwhelming – it simply wraps itself around you and has a deeply meditative sense. And so the album ends – a real journey. I’m proud to be able to bring this super work to you and, as ever, a big thanks must go to both artists for their patience as well as giving Smallfish the opportunity to support this work. Fans of and/OAR, 12k, Raster Noton and Spekk should really enjoy this I think. 100 copies only.
smallfish
Crystal Antlers – Tentacles (2009)
The group explodes through the unclaimed space between ’60s garage touchs like the Music Machine & the Misunderstood, red-eyed noiseniks like Guru Guru & Les Rallizes Denudes & the mechanized motor-soul of “Osmium”-era Parliament. Between the screamers come the scenery – the Pharoah Sanders-style sax snippets that confetti the end of “Glacier,” the gentle oceanic drone-poem “Vapor Trail,” the album intro that sounds like Blue Cheer chasing Terry Riley’s “Rainbow In Curved Air”
parhelia – shifting sands [self, 2009]
trackist:
1 Our Ship Has Sailed
2 Perpetual Motion
3 Shifting Sands
4 Pacific
5 Inertia
6 Time & Tide
Parhelia are a 4-piece from Dublin Ireland, who play refined Instrumental Post- Rock. They released their debut Ep “First Light” in 2006 and followed it up with “Oceans Apart” in 2007.Parhelia have undertaken tours in Ireland and Norway and appeared alongside acts such as Dead Soul Tribe, 65 Days of Static, Slunt, Cougar and most Notably Guns N’ Roses and Therapy? on the Irish leg of the Download Festival!After a short hiatus, Parhelia regrouped in 2008. Much of this year was spent writing and rehearsing the album “Shifting Sands”, recording commenced October 2008 and the album should see the light of day early 2009..
parheliaband
Death – …For The Whole World To See [Drag City, 2009]
trackist:
Keep On Knocking
Rock ‘N’ Roll Victim
Let The World Turn
You’re A Prisioner
Freakin’ Out
Where Do We Go From Here
Politcians In My Eyes
It become something strange, for all who like music and especially the “garage-punk-rock” that a record company like Drag City, of great prestige, but more connected to alternative rock, has been facing editions, some quite obscure, as an example what is happening with this fantastic “…For The Whole World To See” of Death. As a pure recording of “Detroit Garage-Punk-Rock” of the 70’s make a fabulous “backstory”, that apart from strange, it is mythological and travels between the “hybrid-garage” and “psych-rock”, soon on open “Keep On Knocking” is loaded of “riffs”, “Rock-N-Roll Victim” contaminates us with a crazy speed of rock’n'roll, “Let The World Turn” plunges us into a psychotic state, and from there until end a certain blackness drag us into a state of delirium that is the wonder that is “Freakin Out”. About Death, formation of Detroit, formed by David and the brothers Danni and Bobby Hackney, strongly influenced by the “funk”, it was changed when attended a live act of Iggy and The Stooges, and also having still as inspiration the MC5, then were contacted to record what we can hear in this record, nothing has been published but only a single, and noted that should change the name, all this until now we have this powerful
rockaroundtheblog
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