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
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