Tuesday, January 30, 2007
17 Pygmies - 1983 - Hatikva
17 Pygmies - Hatikva
Philip Drucker, alias Jackson Del Ray, is a curious and somewhat mysterious figure whose music is undeservedly little known. Drucker was an art student who first came to most people's notice as a founding member of Savage Republic. The band was initially musically primitive, with frequently out-of-tune instruments backed by percussion as simple as Drucker pounding on a 50-gallon oil drum, but there were hints of Greek and Middle Eastern music in their sound. As the band matured, these elements became more pronounced, but so did the rivalry between guitarist Bruce Licher and Drucker over who was in charge of the band. A close associate remembers that virtually every rehearsal ended with a bitter argument, or at least with one member of the band sulking in a corner somewhere.
Drucker quit at least twice only to rejoin the band, and in 1982 he started a side project called Seventeen Pygmies with fellow Savage Republic alumnus Robert Loveless and drummer/vocalist Debbie Spinelli. The release of the Hatikva EP in 1983 showed that the new band was vastly more sophisticated than the old and gave a strong clue regarding the source of the more interesting elements in Savage Republic's sound. The Middle Eastern stylings on Hatikva are much more pronounced, and both the songs and arrangements are much more sophisticated. Seventeen Pygmies released two more full-length records, Captured in Ice and Jedda by the Sea, which gradually moved away from the folk influences and toward a soft, distanced, and melancholy sound. ~ Richard Foss, All Music Guide
Drucker and Loveless launched a side band, 17 Pygmies, to delve into lighter, more melodic music than Savage Republic. Retaining the group's tribal percussion and Arabic feel, they added electronic keyboards for Hatikva, an EP which crosses Emerson, Lake & Palmer's "The Sheriff," a spaghetti western soundtrack and a Caribbean rhythm fest. Only a thousand copies were originally pressed, but it was reissued by an Italian label. (Trouser Press)
Hatikva was 17 Pygmies' first release. It came out on Resistance label RR-0001), in 1983, in a limited edition of 1000 copies. Later (1988) reissued on the italian label Viva (REVI-003) again in 1000 copies and in 1995 on the Lazy Dog/Meshcalina Productions in Greece in a CD including Jedda By the Sea & Hatikva.
Cover art by Robert Loveless
Hand Colored by The Pigs and Friends!!!
Line-up: Jackson Del Ray, Michael Kory, Robert Loveless, Debbie Spinelli.
SIDE 1
Lawrence of Arabia
Child Bride
Cheganca
SIDE 2
To No Avails
Vows
cover of the italian reissue
After a coincidental 17 year absence, Jackson Del Rey and Louise Bialik have revived the 17 Pygmies name, returning with a seasoned elegance, not a vengeance as might be expected from hints by both Del Rey's vigorous 2005 release I Am the Light and for a collective once noted as a reference point to a young Godspeed You Black Emperor.
In 2005 Philip Drucker released I am the Light as Del Rey & the Sun Kings, an album with some brutal in-your-face moments with rocking guitars and guttural vocals. It's the rare points of elegant beauty, however, like the instrumental "Rose Garden (for Saadi)" which are reminiscent of a song like "Kristalnacht" from Welcome, and perhaps it was the reception of a strong track like this which made him reconsider the 17 Pygmies thing. I'm glad he did. 17 Pygmies resurfaced in 2006 with a 7" single "Last Train"/"Mocha Polka." The A-side with its drum machine and synth recordings hints more to the pop aesthetics of Captured In Ice period while the instrumental B-side is a fiery accordion, clarinet, drum and string jam. 13 Blackbirds is far more subdued, graceful, and tender.
13 Blackbirds is the 17 Pygmies of Welcome, except there's no goofy interludes, Philip Drucker has reclaimed the name Jackson Del Rey and Jeff Brenneman (an original member of White Glove test) has joined Louise Bialik seemingly at the center of the group, once again joined by various other players of stringed instruments and singers. While first listens immediately demonstrate the fantastic piano, guitar, and vocal work, they also show the group's very calculated arrangement—like the organic/acoustic and unique soul mashing like Blood-era This Mortal Coil and Lovetta Pippen-era His Name Is Alive—subsequent repeat listens over time bring out the great strength in the songwriting. Songs like the simple guitar and vocal "Cras Amet" or the instrumental piano melody of "Ubi Sunt?" I can hear long after they're over while the string arrangement on "Lila Pausa" is out of this world. The vocals of the song "Lotus" are buried deep in echoes and reverb while prominent beats like some of the best Scala music from the '90s.
Packaged in a very Constellation Records-looking earthy gatefold cardboard sleeve, 13 Blackbirds is packaged with 13 Lotus, a CD of 13 remixes and reinventions of the song Lotus by various artists. It's filled with a couple beat-friendly takes, like the "Bum 'n Bass Drop" version by Freakshot and the hip-hop "Notorious P.Y.G." version from once 2Pac remixer Lea Reis. Jo Gabriel's sparse piano version is probably the most striking while Echo Wanderer give two echoey versions which are a throwback to the spacey dub/rock overlap that signalled the untimely end of shoegazing in the mid-'90s. It's a complete contrast to 13 Blackbirds but nothing is surprising me about 17 Pygmies now that they've surprised us all by their return.
I'm excited that 17 Pygmies have returned. In an effort that isn't unlike their Welcome album, 13 Blackbirds/13 Lotus is quite ambitious. The payoff here I feel is far more enjoyable, however. If anybody's wondering where Debbie Spinelli ended up, her creepy group the Spirit Girls also have a release on the Trakwerx label. I hope that with this Trakwerx label the 17 Pygmies back catalogue will become available again, but as the notes say in the sketchy looking 1995 CD of Jedda By the Sea/Hatikva, my guess is that some of those masters are long lost. Of course, you could always try digging around auction websites for this stuff but with the recently re-sparked interest in Savage Republic, the competition for this stuff will be fierce. With any luck 17 Pygmies are forming some sort of live ensemble, and in the age of myspace, they seem quite approachable and amicable, so a letter campaign to them probably can't hurt. (Written by Jon Whitney)
Links
Marnie's "Songs Hurt Me"
Paniolo's "City of Refuge" - in both Jackson Del Rey was involved
Go to Trakwerx blog to read more reviews
Go to Trakwerx Label for the above mentioned new releases
Go to MySpace.com to hear some songs from them.
Marnie's "Songs Hurt Me"
Paniolo's "City of Refuge" - in both Jackson Del Rey was involved
Go to Trakwerx blog to read more reviews
Go to Trakwerx Label for the above mentioned new releases
Go to MySpace.com to hear some songs from them.
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
16 Horsepower - 2002 - Live at Lowlands Festival, Holland (25-08-2002)
Setlist
01.Outlaw Song
02.For Heaven's Sake
03.Black Bush
04.Sinnerman
05.Blessed Persistance
06.Clogger
07.Single Girl
08.My Narrow Mind
09.Splinters
10.Brimstone Rock
11.Sac of Religion
12.Poor Mouth
13.Heel on the Shovel
ripped @192kbps
with cd covers
enjoy!
your download link:
http://rapidshare.com/files/11121224/16_HP-_25-08-02_live_at_lowlands_festival.rar
Sunday, January 7, 2007
Medusa Cyclone - 1995 - Medusa Cyclone
1 Gravity Serpent 2 Burner
3 X-Plodo Sun Hat
4 Black Dawn
5 Chemical
6 Inch of Mercury
7 Half Doll Violet Star
8 Atomic Hand
9 Dream House
10 Assigned Frequency
11 Helium Head
The hypnotic world of Medusa Cyclone began in 1992, following the breakup of
legendary Detroit psych/punk outfit ViV Akauldren. ViV keyboardist and Medusa Cyclone
frontman, Keir McDonald, wanted to continue the space-rock approach that made ViV
famous on both sides of the Atlantic. Medusa Cyclones first release was in 1992 on Manta
Ray Fleet, a Detroit-based 7 label started by McDonald and Chris Girard. Although Manta
Ray Fleet worked in small runs of about 200, the label enjoyed a strong following in the lofi
underground of the early 1990s. Early fans included Stephen Malkmus and Mark Ibold of
Pavement.
Eventually, a split single was released with the lo-fi legends in 1996--
Pavement Dancing with the Elders b/w Medusa Cyclone--Chemical. A self-titled CD---
Medusa Cyclone--soon followed to considerable critical acclaim. Standout tracks included:
Chemical-a lethal sonic mix of Can, Faust and Wire, Dream House-a seductive narcotic
from the same planet as Syd Barrett, and Helium Head, a sonic vortex leading to another
dimension. Medusa Cyclones shows during this time could best be described as an echocharged
sonic assault taking the audience to the world beyond beyond. Gigs included
support dates for Pavement, Bardo Pond and Cul de Sac.
A second CD, Mr. Devil, was
released in 1998. The album was a full dose of sonic madness and included The Smith
Can the Devils spawn of trance rock, End Cloud an underwater dream on a 90 degree
summer day and Invisible World a Japanese gamelan-influenced gem blurring the line
between time and space. During this period, things were looking good. Mr. Devil was
doing well in Finland and the UK, and had generated chart activity on CMJ. It was
especially popular in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. But when NATO began its security action
against the Milosovic regime, airplay stopped after a government takeover of the national
public radio station.
Three years have passed since Mr. Devil and much has changed for
Medusa Cyclone. Still, one thing that hasnt has been McDonalds need to dream another
record. So he enlisted the help of legendary Detroit drummer, Mike Alonso-- Five Horse
Johnson, Speedball, Bantam Rooster plus other Detroit luminaries: John Nash, The
Alphabet, Volebeats, Matt Smiths Outrageous Cherry, Robert Wonnacotts RF Energy and
McDonalds brother, Gavin. The result is nothing less than Medusa Cyclone's best record
yet.
source: http://cdbaby.com/cd/medusacyclone1
Download Link 1:
http://rapidshare.com/files/10543691/medusa_cyclone.rar
Download Link 2:
http://rapidshare.com/files/10508578/helium_head.rar
Saturday, January 6, 2007
The Leaving Trains - 1997 - Favorite Mood Swings : Greatest Hits
1. Cigarette Motel 2. She's Looking At You
3. A Drunker Version Of You
4. Black
5. What Cissy Said
6. With Dr. A.W.O.L.
7. 27 Days
8. So Fucked Up
9. Temporal Slut
10. Sue Wants To Sleep
11. The Worst
12. Any Old Time
13. Dude The Cat
14. I Love You
15. Dream Until You're Sore
16. Submariney
17. Relapse, Recover
18. Fuck You, God!
19. Gas, Grass Or Ass
20. Bob Hope
21. Rock 'N' Roll Murder
22. Kids Wanna Know
23. Ice Cream Truck
24. Osmosis
25. Stowaway
Too many indie bands have never really learned how to rock & roll. Fortunately, for 18 years, L.A.'s Leaving Trains have never forgotten. Not many of their eight LPs have been true masterpieces (there is one for sure: 1986's killer Kill Tunes, which serves up the first four tracks here); Singer/guitarist "Falling" James Moreland, the band's lone constant, always insists on warts-'n'-all, crank-'em-up, let-'em-fly productions. Hey, he was doing that long before it became fashionable (before Sebadoh and GBV even formed), without ever resorting to lo-fi home studio production. Every Trains record has sounded loud, not cheap! So while Moreland can be accused of inconsistency, both in his albums and his myriad lineups, there's no denying that Moreland's untamed, unwieldy, humming punk-'n'-roll records have rumbled through a dozen post-R&B rock & roll styles with real abandon. This collection leaves today's legions of smug and ironic, or (most of all) horribly insular, one-dimensional bands gasping in the restrictive boxes they've nailed themselves into. Thus, now is a good time for a Trains overview -- a smart idea for a hit-and-miss band, too. There's not a boring minute on this extended-length, 25-cut CD. Perhaps a case can be made that two dozen tracks are AWOL, but FMS heads for the songs that smack one silly in adrenaline rush and pent-up pounding. In your face? You betcha! In short, Moreland wants to mess with you, because he thinks rock is a challenge, an incitement, a need to get wild and free, not a polite party or a postmodern reflection. This CD is the best evidence that Leaving Trains would gladly destroy your party instead, with the sheer force of brash, soul, chops, and attitude, and they won't wait around for your gratitude.
AMG
DownloadLink:
http://rapidshare.com/files/10402757/leavingtrains.rar.html
The Screaming Tribesmen - 1987 - Bones + Flowers
1. I've Got a Feeling 2. Igloo
3. She Said
4. Girl in My Dreams
5. Casualty of Love
6. In His Shoes
7. Our Time at Last
8. Dream Away
9. Talk Another Language
10. Living Vampyre
11. Colour Me Gone
12. Don't Turn Away
Bones + Flowers is the most appealing effort by Australian combo Screaming Tribesmen -- a melodic pop album that resembles a muscular Let's Active. "I've Got a Feeling" was distributed internationally and featured on MTV's 120 Minutes at the time, and the Tribesmen's appearance in the midst of the Church's breakthrough with Starfish seemed to presage an Australian Invasion that never came to pass. Screaming Tribesmen might have better reached the "alternative" audience if they hadn't looked like a heavy metal band; likewise, the band's name and album art didn't come close to matching the mood of their music. The Tribesmen didn't last long after the commercial disappointment of Bones + Flowers, but the album remains a sturdy collection of recordings, with the catchy, jangly "Girl in My Dreams" and "Dream Away" as highlights.
AMG
The Screaming Tribesmen was a band formed in Brisbane by Mick Medew, John Hartley & Murray Shepherd. They took the Australian independent scene by storm with a series of singles on Citadel Records. Their earliest hit "Igloo" was penned by Medew and Died Pretty frontman Ron Peno.
After relocation to Sydney, and a number of line-up changes the band settled on its most successful lineup of Medew, ex-Radio Birdman & The Hitmen guitarist Chris Masuak, bass player Bob Wackley & drummer Warwick Fraser (ex-Feather & Hoi Polloi) who replaced Michael Charles after the recording of the "Date With A Vampyre" EP.
The "Vampyre" EP reigned at the top of the Australian independent charts for over 40 weeks, while the band toured constantly in support. The follow up "Top of the Town" EP released on the boutique Rattlesnake Records label saw a change in direction for the band as it morphed into the sound of their first full length release "Bones and Flowers".
"Ive Got A Feeling" - Rage - 1988
The band toured the US on the strength of the album and at home they enjoyed a run of Australian Alternative #1 hits as well as gaining Stateside attention with regular airplay on the US College Radio circuit. Their 1988 single "I've Got a Feeling" featured heavily on US MTV's 120 Minutes, hitting #1 on the KROQ charts in LA and #7 on Billboard's modern rock chart.
There's nothing tribal about the sound of these Aussies, and they don't scream either. Their music is full of pop-song harmonies, including "oohh" and "ahh" background singing, jangle chords and repeated refrains. From beginnings as a post-Ramones punky ensemble (on the first four-track EP), they've gone through an assortment of members and sonic textures but all of their releases have been exercises in good old pop-rock. Move a Little Closer, a compilation of the band's first two Australian singles ("Igloo" and "A Stand Alone") could easily mix and match with a stack of mod-revival albums, while the squealier and grungier guitar chords of Date with a Vampyre (also four songs) nudge their sound closer to garage territory.
Top of the Town contains six songs by a new lineup that reveals an ongoing transition towards more mainstream pop-rock. "You Better Run" is the most impressive track, and a fair precursor to the excellent Bones + Flowers. The album launches the Tribesmen into a new international league, offering richly played rock-melody songwriting (by ex-Radio Birdman guitarist/pianist/producer Chris "Klondike" Masuak and singer/guitarist Mick Medew) that's got all the needed attributes for major stardom. Standouts: a new version of "Igloo," the wittily '60sish "Our Time at Last," the peppy Anglo-popping "Dream Away" and the Rockpiling "Living Vampire." The CD has two bonus tracks.
Despite the album's appeal and high commercial prospects, nothing much came of Bones + Flowers. By the time of the disappointing 1989 12-inch (five songs, including covers of Lou Reed and the Dictators), Medew was the only member remaining from the LP's lineup.
[Andrea 'Enthal/Ira Robbins]
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=118877769
DownloadLink:
http://rapidshare.com/files/10417877/tribesemen.rar.html
Spherical Objects
Spherical Objects - 1978 - Past and Parcel
01.Born To Pay
02.Situation Comedy
03.You Can Become
04.The Crystal Tree
05.If I Can Choose (Oh Babe)
06.Lover Flow
07.Drama Queen
08.The Face I Want To See
09.What Goes On
10.Past And Parcel
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
01.Born To Pay
02.Situation Comedy
03.You Can Become
04.The Crystal Tree
05.If I Can Choose (Oh Babe)
06.Lover Flow
07.Drama Queen
08.The Face I Want To See
09.What Goes On
10.Past And Parcel
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Spherical Objects - 1979 - Eliptical Optimism
01. Metropolis
02. Show Me
03. Comedians
04. Eliptical Optimism
05. Ten To Nine
06. Another Technique
07. I Should Have Left Him
08. It's So Good To Be Alive (Tonight)
09. Lying Again
10. I Don't Remember
11. Walk Away
12. Lucy
13. I Remember You
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
01. Metropolis
02. Show Me
03. Comedians
04. Eliptical Optimism
05. Ten To Nine
06. Another Technique
07. I Should Have Left Him
08. It's So Good To Be Alive (Tonight)
09. Lying Again
10. I Don't Remember
11. Walk Away
12. Lucy
13. I Remember You
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Spherical Objects - 1980 - Further Ellipses
01 Regular Condition
02 Take A Chance
03 The Root
04 Don't Worry About Me
05 The Final Part
06 Buy It
07 Moving On The Run
08 Mama Tried
09 Places And Spaces
10 The Conductor-Set Free
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Spherical Objects - 1981 - No Man's Land
01 One Way Out
02 Terminal Romance
03 Cruelest Twist
04 Jericho
05 Memories In Blue
06 Twist
07 Don't Ask
08 Wipe
09 Resting Place
10 No Man's Land
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Manchester's Spherical Objects were led by Steve Solamar, a singer with an intensely personal viewpoint. His songs concern typical subject matter, but utter lack of selfconsciousness invests his writing with more openness and introspection than you're probably hoping to hear. . .
Elliptical Optimism has the same lineup and a more textured sound, featuring organ (prominently) and trumpet (occasionally). The songs are instrumentally inventive. Further Ellipses takes a danceable turn, playing it smooth and rhythmic with more horns and synthesizer and less guitar. Solamar's singing continues to resemble David Thomas. The musical development is impressive, the songs are good. No Man's Land, which announces itself to be the final Spherical Objects album, has a different lineup from the previous three and sounds it. Gone are the keyboards and horns, replaced by rudimentary guitar/bass/drums plus patches of Solamar's wailing harmonica. There are some very pretty songs that are slowed down to add emotion, but overall the initial impression isn't as strong as Further Ellipses. A strange way to go out, No Man's Land is a record that slowly reveals itself to be quite lovely in spots. With the help of Manchester indie scene fixture Steve Miro, Solamar managed to dam his stream-of-consciousness long enough to allow for the collection of the Noyes Brothers' atypically unrevealing double-LP set. More experimental than the Objects' concurrent work, Sheep from Goats owes more than a little to German groups like Can. While a few of the redundant, largely free-from instrumentals could easily be dispensed with, there are moments worth remembering, from the amusing (an apparent Fall parody dubbed "Bo Scat Um I.D.") to the lovely (the side-long "It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time") to the freakishly prescient (an excursion into what sounds like modern-day computer-enhanced hip-hop christened "Byte to Beat").
The Heart Throbs - 1990 - Cleopatra Grip
The Heart Throbs - 1990 - Cleopatra Grip
01 Tossed Away (3:56)
02 Dreamtime (3:54)
03 Big Commotion (Remix) (5:04)
04 In Vain (4:30)
05 Slip & Slide (3:19)
06 Here I Hide (Remix) (4:32)
07 Calavera (6:01)
08 I Wonder Why (3:31)
09 She's In A Trance (3:44)
10 Blood From A Stone (Remix) (3:25)
11 Kiss Me When I'm Starving (4:34)
12 White Laughter (5:15)
* Rose Carlotti - Lead Vocals/Guitar
* Rachel Carlotti - Bass/Backing Vocals
* Mark Slide - Drums
* Stephen Ward - Keyboards
* Alan Barclay - Guitar
The debut album by Liverpool's Heart Throbs (led by the twin sisters of late Echo & the Bunnymen drummer Pete DeFrietas) slots neatly into the overriding musical styles of U.K. indie pop circa 1990, mixing the post-punk directness of the Primitives, the swirling, dreamlike textures of the shoegazers, and the flirtations with dance rhythms introduced by the previous summer's Madchester explosion. However, the Heart Throbs definitely had their own unique style; for one thing, singer Rose Carlotti's lyrics, from the suggestive album title on down, are forthrightly female-centric in the manner of the Au Pairs' Lesley Woods or early PJ Harvey. It can be difficult to hear Carlotti behind Martin Hannett's echoey, hollow production, which shifts the guitars to the forefront, but the intent of songs like "She's in a Trance" and the searing, My Bloody Valentine-like "Kiss Me When I'm Starving" remains clear regardless. The slightly poppier singles "Tossed Away" and "Dreamtime" are the album's highlights but, while a couple of the songs coast by simply on atmosphere, Cleopatra Grip is a luxurious and compelling listen. ~ Stewart Mason, All Music Guide
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Ευοί Ευάν (Evi Evan)
Ευοί Ευάν - Το τέλος 8ά'ναι πάλι αρχή(2000)
Evi Evan - To Telos Tha'nai Pali Arhi(2000)
tracks:
01 - Σ'αυτόν τον κόσμο(In This World)
02 - Φωτιά στην καρδιά(Fire In The Heart)
03 - Τρικυμία(Storm)
04 - Ένας(One)
05 - Χτυπάς φέυγεις πετάς(You Hit You Leave You Fly)
06 - Χορέυω(I'm Dancing)
07 - Το δώρο(The Present)
08 - Προσφορές(Offerings)
09 - Busytone
10 - Και πάλι απ'την αρχή(Again From The Start)
the band
Fotis Siotas:vocals,violin,electric violin.synthesizers
Vaggelis Tsotridis:electric guitar,acoustic guitar,midi guitar,programming
Nektarios Karantzis:electric bass,contrabass,piano
Alekos Papadopoulos:drums,percussion
enjoy!
http://rapidshare.com/files/9555800/euoi_euan1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/9561153/euoi_euan2.rar
Minimal Compact - 1984 - Deadly Weapons
1. Next One Is Real 2. Losing Track (Of Time)
3. Well
4. There's Always Now
5. Nada
6. Not Knowing
7. Deadly Weapons
8. Burnt-Out Hotel
9. Howling Hole
10. Next One Is Real
11. Not Knowing Remix
12. Babylonian Tower (Remix)
13. Hole Version Accidental (Remix)
14. Next One Is Real (Extended Remix)
15. Introspection
Between its foundation in 1981 and its dissolution seven years later, Minimal Compact played a crucial role in the European rock scene. Malka Spigel (bass, vocals), Samy Birnbach (vocals, texts) and Berry Sakharof (guitars, keyboards, vocals) left their native Tel-Aviv in 1981 for Amsterdam in search of an escape from the provincial attitudes of their own city. Of the trio, only Berry was a "real" musician. Malka was "learning to play the bass", while Samy was better known as a DJ and a music fan who dabbled in poetry . They recorded a 2-song demo at home, and consequently become one of the very first artists signed to the Belgian Crammed label.
During the recording for a speculative 7" in a little studio in the Belgian countryside, it became quickly evident that the trio had hit upon something worthy of development and a their first, self-titled, mini album was the fruit of this. Their burgeoning style was a heavily Middle-Eastern coloured brand of post New Wave, based on driving rhythms, scratchy guitars and their own very un- "Anglo-American" style of vocalisation. In this way they both prefigured "indie-dance" and later fascinations with so called "world music".
One by One, the second album, was recorded in London in 1982, and like it's predecessor co-produced by Dick Polak (from Dutch band Mecano) and Crammed supremo Marc Hollander. It includes tracks such as "Babylonian Tower", "Disguise" (another live staple) , "It Takes a Lifetime". With this release Minimal Compact had become a "real band" with the adddition of the native Amsterdammer Max Franken on drums. Now Minimal could play live, this was to prove a strong element in their career. As Minimal began to tour more extensively they went from strength to strength as a live band and could certainly rock any house!!
Deadly Weapons , produced by Gilles Martin and Peter Principle dates from 1984 and is considered by some their most experimental album. Nonetheless it threw up a "club classic" of the time in the shape of "Next One Is Real" (famously remixed by Dick O'Dell, one time boss of the Guerilla label). The sleeve was by Neville Brody.
On this album the "classic" 5-person line up became complete with the addition of guitarist/vocalist Rami Fortis a long time Minimal cohort from Tel-Aviv who arguably was Israel's most imnovative post-punk musician with his solo debut Plonter. Fortis had previously collaborated with Malka on their 7 codes tape (a low-fi home tape effort which had done nicely in the indie shops in Amsterdam).
Touring by this point took them further and further afield, everywhere from Palermo to Kyoto fell to their conquest although typically for the time British success was limited to an NME single of the week and a John Peel session.
Raging Souls was released in 1985. Produced by Colin Newman , with artwork by Eno/Sylvian collaborator Russell Mills, it has proved their most popular album, with tracks like "My Will", "When I Go", "The Traitor", "Autumn Leaves" all of which became live favorites. By this time Minimal had become established in Brussels and were at the hub of the local "International Indie Scene" which featured at various times, Tuxedo Moon (both individually and collectively), Bel Canto, Colin Newman, Sonoko, Gilles Martin, Benjamin Lew...
As a follow up Minimal Compact recorded a 12" Immigrants Songs (featuring a Led Zeppelin cover) with Israeli Uri Barak. Like "Next One Is Real" before it the 12" received extensive US college/dance attention and figures amongst their most enduring work.
The Figure One Cuts was their last studio album, recorded in 1987 with producer John Fryer (Cocteau Twins, Depeche Mode, M/A/R/R/S). Tracks include "Nil-Nil"," Inner Station", "New Clear Twist", "Piece of Green". The Lowlands Flight instrumental album was released at the same time in Crammed's "Made To Measure" series. The touring continued but their goal of following up their record success in the USA was never acheived as several planned tours were cancelled because the US immigration authorities refused to grant them visas.
Minimal Compact Live was recorded in 1987 in Rennes, France, this last album came out after the band split in '88.
Minimal today
Berry Sakharof and Rami Fortis have both returned to Tel Aviv where they have enjoyed huge popularity both together and seperately. Malka is a partner with Colin Newman in the swim label based in London. She has released several solo albums as well as partnering Newman in Immersion, on his solo albums and on their recent live collaboration. Samy Birnbach, still resident in Brussels, has worked with Benjamin Lew, with Newman and Spigel in Oracle and as part of The Gruesome Twosome. He also performs as an ambient DJ under the name Morpheus, and is also an associate A&R for SSR/freezone. According to legend, Max Franken (who never left Amsterdam) still plays drums and football!!
source : http://www.swimhq.com/artists/Minimal_Biog.html
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Deep Freeze Mice - 1983 - Saw A Ranch House Burning Last Night
01 Under The Cafe Table
02 Down To A Proton
03 The New Emotional Twist
04 Kiwis Come In Close
05 You Took The Blue One
06 You Think I'm A Car
07 Eat Molten Death
08 Hitler's Knees
09 Funny Monsters
10 Matter Over Mind
11 The Damage
12 Ammonia Suction
13 Everlasting Lollipop
14 Sagittarians
15 Saw A Ranch House Burning Last Night
16 Phylis #2
17 I Met A Man Who Spoke Like An UCCA Form
18 Peter Smith Is A Banana
19 My Geraniums Are Bulletproof
20 The Gates Of Lunch
21 A Ten Legged Beast (or An Eight Legged Beast With Feelers)
22 Teenage Head In My Refrigerator
23 God
24 Ammonia Suction
25 The New Emotional Twist
Alan Jenkins: singing, guitar, clarinet
Sherree Lawrence: keyboards, singing
Michael Bunnage: bass
&
Graham Summers: bass
John Grayland: trumpet
Dawn Leeder: pecussion
Geof Griffith: singing
The Deep Freeze Mice were an English New Wave band that were active between 1979 and 1989. They were based in Leicester, and consisted of the core members Alan Jenkins (guitars and singing), Sherree Lawrence (organ and other keyboards), and Mick Bunnage (bass guitar). The band had two different drummers over the years: Graham Summers and Pete Gregory. The band released 10 albums during their existence on their own Cordelia Records label. Their music was odd, often consisting of absurd and surreal lyrics delivered in Alan's deadpan voice accompanied by bouncy pop/progressive rock music. Favoured lyrical concerns included animal rights, conformity, and science fiction. Alan Jenkins was also a member of The Chrysanthemums in the late 1980's, and joined up with members of Po! and The Ammonites in Jody & The Creams (later as "Alan Jenkins & The Creams") and Ruth's Refrigerator. He has played guitar with The Thurston Lava Tube since 2001.
Friday, December 29, 2006
The Gun Club - 1982 - Miami
MIAMI 1982 ANIMAL RECORDS
01 Carry Home
02 Like Calling Up Thunder
03 Brother and Sister
04 Run Through the Jungle
05 Devil in the Woods
06 Texas Serenade
07 Watermelon Man
08 Bad Indian
09 John Hardy
10 Fire of Love
11 Sleeping in Blood City
12 Mother of Earth
The sophomore record by the Gun Club bore the curse of having to follow a monolith of their own making. Fire of Love sold extremely well for an independent; it was a favorite of virtually every critic who heard it in 1981. Miami showcased a different lineup as well. Ward Dotson replaced Congo Powers (temporarily, at least) on guitar, and there were a ton of guest performances, including Debbie Harry and Chris Stein. Stein produced the album. Off the bat the disc suffers from a thin mix. Going for a rougher sound, Stein left the instruments at one level and boosted Pierce's vocal. There is plenty of guitar here, screaming and moping like a drunken orphan from the Texas flatlands, but next to its predecessor it sounds drier and reedier. Ultimately it hardly matters. Going for a higher, more desolate sound, frontman and slide player Jeffrey Lee Pierce and his band were literally on fire. The songs here, from "Carry Me," "Like Calling Up Thunder," "Devil in the Woods," "Watermelon Man," "Bad Indian," and "Texas Serenade," among others, centered themselves on a mutant form of country music that met the post-punk ethos in the desert, fought and bloodied each other, and decided to stay together. This is hardcore snake-charming music (as in water moccasins not cobras), evil, smoky, brash, and libidinally uttered. Their spooky version of an already creepy tune by Creedence Clearwater Revival, "Run Through the Jungle" runs the gamut from sexual nightmare to voodoo ritual gone awry. Finally, Pierce and company pull out all the roots and reveal them for what they are: "John Hardy," is a squalling punk-blues, with the heart of the country in cardiac arrest. Dotson proved to be a fine replacement for Congo Powers, in that his style was pure Telecaster country (à la James Burton) revved by the Rolling Stones and Johnny Thunders. Miami was given a rough go when it was issued for its production. But in the bird's-eye view of history its songs stack up, track for track, with Fire of Love and continue to echo well into this long good night.
01 Carry Home
02 Like Calling Up Thunder
03 Brother and Sister
04 Run Through the Jungle
05 Devil in the Woods
06 Texas Serenade
07 Watermelon Man
08 Bad Indian
09 John Hardy
10 Fire of Love
11 Sleeping in Blood City
12 Mother of Earth
The sophomore record by the Gun Club bore the curse of having to follow a monolith of their own making. Fire of Love sold extremely well for an independent; it was a favorite of virtually every critic who heard it in 1981. Miami showcased a different lineup as well. Ward Dotson replaced Congo Powers (temporarily, at least) on guitar, and there were a ton of guest performances, including Debbie Harry and Chris Stein. Stein produced the album. Off the bat the disc suffers from a thin mix. Going for a rougher sound, Stein left the instruments at one level and boosted Pierce's vocal. There is plenty of guitar here, screaming and moping like a drunken orphan from the Texas flatlands, but next to its predecessor it sounds drier and reedier. Ultimately it hardly matters. Going for a higher, more desolate sound, frontman and slide player Jeffrey Lee Pierce and his band were literally on fire. The songs here, from "Carry Me," "Like Calling Up Thunder," "Devil in the Woods," "Watermelon Man," "Bad Indian," and "Texas Serenade," among others, centered themselves on a mutant form of country music that met the post-punk ethos in the desert, fought and bloodied each other, and decided to stay together. This is hardcore snake-charming music (as in water moccasins not cobras), evil, smoky, brash, and libidinally uttered. Their spooky version of an already creepy tune by Creedence Clearwater Revival, "Run Through the Jungle" runs the gamut from sexual nightmare to voodoo ritual gone awry. Finally, Pierce and company pull out all the roots and reveal them for what they are: "John Hardy," is a squalling punk-blues, with the heart of the country in cardiac arrest. Dotson proved to be a fine replacement for Congo Powers, in that his style was pure Telecaster country (à la James Burton) revved by the Rolling Stones and Johnny Thunders. Miami was given a rough go when it was issued for its production. But in the bird's-eye view of history its songs stack up, track for track, with Fire of Love and continue to echo well into this long good night.
source:AMG
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Thursday, December 28, 2006
Savage Republic - 1988 - Jamahiriya
Savage Republic - 1988 - Jamahiriya (Democratique Et Populaire De Sauvage)
Savage Republic, the L.A. based drone-rockers and post-rock forefathers, have announced that they are reforming for a series of reunion shows this November, thirteen years after they split. From what I remember, I was first introduced to their sound through an NME review of their Trudge E.P. by Chris Bohn- this review spoke of a band that combined Eastern music with rock like a soundtrack to a desert landscape. There is a very cinematic sounding quality throughout the work of the band and Bruce Licher's later band Scenic that seems ripe for plucking as soundtrack stuff. This is a musical direction that group leader Bruce Licher has claimed was intentional and that has been made use of before. Also consider that the track "Real Men," from their first LP Tragic Figures, soundtracks the scene at the climax of The Silence Of the Lambs. This visual/cinematic quality may come from the fact that the bandleader was an art Student when he formed the band in UCLA in '81. As the leader of Scenic, he still runs his own letterpress, making CD sleeves etc in a recognizable style that's graced a lot of other people's work too.
January 2002 saw the re-release of Savage Republic's back catalogue through the Mobilization (give link to http://www.mobilization.com/artists/savage.html#) label run by Ethan Port, a central member of the later line up. There was a slight delay from the projected September 2001 reissue partially caused by the World Trade Center attack, which nearly cost Ethan his life. He was in the Marriott Hotel across the square when the planes hit, he cathartically explained what happened to him in a message he sent to the Procession chatlist where the story remains in the archives as it does on the Mobilization website
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Deep Freeze Mice - 1981 - Teenage Head In My Refrigerator
01 I Like Digestive Biscuits In My Coffee (3.52)
02 Dr. Z (3.39)
03 The Letter Song (Scrib) (3.18)
04 My Geraniums Are Bbulletproof (4.13)
05 Peter Smith Is A Banana (2.05)
06 Hegel's Brain (0.55)
07 Esther (3.29)
08 Vera (5.51)
09 God (3.28)
10 Path To You (6.02)
11 Dictatorship Of The Proletariat (2.13)
12 Teenage Head In My refrigerator (3.38)
13 You Took The Blue One (2.32)
14 Esther (3.22)
15 Red Light For The Greens (4.23)
16 Minstrel Radio Yoghurt (2.30)
Graham Summers: drums
Michael Bunnage: bass
Sherree Lawrence: organ
Alan Jenkins: guitar
Biography:
Do-it-yourself post-punk band the Deep Freeze Mice released ten records in their decade-long existence, beginning as amateurs with no formal knowledge of what they were embarking on. The original lineup -- guitarist/vocalist Alan Jenkins, bassist Mick Bunnage (of the Statics), keyboardist Sherree Lawrence, and drummer Graham Summers (also of the Statics) -- stayed intact until the release of the band's third record, The Gates of Lunch. After the departure of Summers and the acquisition of replacement Pete Gregory, the lineup remained until their breakup in 1989. Leader Jenkins (who was also involved with the Chrysanthemums and Ruth's Refrigerator during the existence of his primary band) continued afterwards in the Creams and the Thurston Lava Tube. All of Deep Freeze Mice's records were released in small quantities through the band's labels, Mole Embalming and Cordelia.
AMG~by Andy Kellman
More info Here
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Tav Falco's Panther Burns - 1991 - Life Sentence
01-My Mind Was Messed Up At The Time
02-Torture
02-Torture
03-Vampire From Havana
04-Make Me know You're Mine
04-Make Me know You're Mine
05-Go On Home
06-Auto Sapiens
06-Auto Sapiens
07-Guarda Che Luna
08-Oh, Girls, Girls
08-Oh, Girls, Girls
09-(I'm Gonna) Dig Myself A Hole
10-Sent Up
10-Sent Up
11-What's Wrong
12-Why Was i born
12-Why Was i born
13-Only The lonely
Tav Falco's Panther Burns, sometimes shortened to "(The) Panther Burns", is an errant musical troupe performing stripped-down, often primitive rock and roll and other styles, originally from Memphis led by Tav Falco. They are best known for having been part of a set of bands emerging in the late 1970s and early 1980s who helped nationally popularize the blending of blues, country, and other American traditional music styles with rock music among groups playing in alternative music and punk music venues of the time. The earliest and most renowned of these groups to imbue these styles with expressionist theatricality and primitive spontaneity were The Cramps, largely influenced by rockabilly music. Forming just after them in 1979, Panther Burns drew on obscure country blues music, Antonin Artaud's works like The Theater and Its Double, beat poetry, and Marshall McLuhan's media theories for their early inspiration. Alongside groups like The Cramps and The Gun Club, Panther Burns ranked among the contributing influences and progenitors of the Southern Gothic-tinged roots music revival scene that arose during the last two decades of the 20th Century and continued into the early 2000s.
According to the band, Panther Burns is "a Southern Gothic, psychedelic country band influenced by Memphis music styles". The original band lineup featured two guitars, synthesizer, and drums, later usually omitting keyboards or synthesizers at live shows. The group's somewhat experimental recordings have embraced and deconstructed a number of influences and genres.
With his signature Höfner fuzz-tone guitar and a stage presence characterized by his Argentine-styled pompadour, pencil moustache, smoking jacket, and urbane manner, Falco infused his shows with theatrical antics and a reverence for the originators of country blues and rockabilly. The band's assorted song subjects and album photography themes have included Memphis scenery, Carroll Cloar's Panther Bourne painting, the occasional reference to historical figures like American rampage murderer Charles Starkweather, motorcycle imagery, denizens of Memphis neighborhoods, tango imagery, and blithe introspection, among other themes
Falco's treatment of the blues classic "Bourgeois Blues" adds a line from Ginsberg's famous beat poem "Howl". In a 1984 interview discussing his anti-environment concept and music, he said that many outstanding, but lesser known blues and rockabilly artists were "treated like the idiot wind". Similarly, he continued, "the beat writers and theorists like Antonin Artaud were treated like they were crazy. It wasn't until he died that everyone realized he was a genius". Two of his originals, "Agitator Blues" and "Panther Phobia Manifesto", evinced playful humor and a left-leaning, Utopian anarchist political stance. In "Panther Phobia Manifesto", Falco referenced lines from influences as disparate as William S. Burroughs, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Howlin' Wolf, Rod Serling, French psychedelic band The Dum Dum Boys, and Dadaist poet Louis Aragon, in wishing a "huge firedamp explosion" to closed-minded members of society who blindly follow the dictates of the establishment. Proclaiming that everywhere the Panther Burns go, they are greeted with derision, he riffed from Aragon, "Laugh your fill, the Panther Burns are the ones who always hold out a hand to the enemy".
The group's wide-ranging styles have included Argentine tango music, country music, rockabilly, r&b, soul music, novelty tunes, early rock and roll, country blues, and pop standards of the 1950s and 1960s like Frank Sinatra's "The World We Knew", among others. Set lists have included mutated covers of songs originally performed by such diverse artists as J. Blackfoot, Doc Pomus, Bobby Lee Trammell, Gene Pitney, Reverend Horton Heat, Jessie Mae Hemphill, R. L. Burnside, Mack Rice, and Allen Page (of the small 1950s Moon Records label helmed by early rock-and-roll producer/songwriter Cordell Jackson), among others.
Terms the band says have been inaccurately "foisted upon" the group by media include "rockabilly, wreckabilly, psychobilly, punk, post punk, post-modern, garage, bluesabilly, roots, and permanent wave". The earliest description the band gave itself on a concert poster read simply: "Rock'n'Roll". Media confusion in categorizing led the band to eventually invent its own self-descriptive terms, such as "panther music" and "backwoods ballroom", also at times calling its tumultuous performance style "art damage".
According to the band, Panther Burns is "a Southern Gothic, psychedelic country band influenced by Memphis music styles". The original band lineup featured two guitars, synthesizer, and drums, later usually omitting keyboards or synthesizers at live shows. The group's somewhat experimental recordings have embraced and deconstructed a number of influences and genres.
With his signature Höfner fuzz-tone guitar and a stage presence characterized by his Argentine-styled pompadour, pencil moustache, smoking jacket, and urbane manner, Falco infused his shows with theatrical antics and a reverence for the originators of country blues and rockabilly. The band's assorted song subjects and album photography themes have included Memphis scenery, Carroll Cloar's Panther Bourne painting, the occasional reference to historical figures like American rampage murderer Charles Starkweather, motorcycle imagery, denizens of Memphis neighborhoods, tango imagery, and blithe introspection, among other themes
Falco's treatment of the blues classic "Bourgeois Blues" adds a line from Ginsberg's famous beat poem "Howl". In a 1984 interview discussing his anti-environment concept and music, he said that many outstanding, but lesser known blues and rockabilly artists were "treated like the idiot wind". Similarly, he continued, "the beat writers and theorists like Antonin Artaud were treated like they were crazy. It wasn't until he died that everyone realized he was a genius". Two of his originals, "Agitator Blues" and "Panther Phobia Manifesto", evinced playful humor and a left-leaning, Utopian anarchist political stance. In "Panther Phobia Manifesto", Falco referenced lines from influences as disparate as William S. Burroughs, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Howlin' Wolf, Rod Serling, French psychedelic band The Dum Dum Boys, and Dadaist poet Louis Aragon, in wishing a "huge firedamp explosion" to closed-minded members of society who blindly follow the dictates of the establishment. Proclaiming that everywhere the Panther Burns go, they are greeted with derision, he riffed from Aragon, "Laugh your fill, the Panther Burns are the ones who always hold out a hand to the enemy".
The group's wide-ranging styles have included Argentine tango music, country music, rockabilly, r&b, soul music, novelty tunes, early rock and roll, country blues, and pop standards of the 1950s and 1960s like Frank Sinatra's "The World We Knew", among others. Set lists have included mutated covers of songs originally performed by such diverse artists as J. Blackfoot, Doc Pomus, Bobby Lee Trammell, Gene Pitney, Reverend Horton Heat, Jessie Mae Hemphill, R. L. Burnside, Mack Rice, and Allen Page (of the small 1950s Moon Records label helmed by early rock-and-roll producer/songwriter Cordell Jackson), among others.
Terms the band says have been inaccurately "foisted upon" the group by media include "rockabilly, wreckabilly, psychobilly, punk, post punk, post-modern, garage, bluesabilly, roots, and permanent wave". The earliest description the band gave itself on a concert poster read simply: "Rock'n'Roll". Media confusion in categorizing led the band to eventually invent its own self-descriptive terms, such as "panther music" and "backwoods ballroom", also at times calling its tumultuous performance style "art damage".
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Cosmic Rough Riders - 2000 - Enjoy The Melodic Sunshine
Track List
01. Brothers Gather Round (1:12)02. Gun Isn't Loaded (2:51)
03. Glastonbury Revisited (2:47)
04. Baby, You're So Free (3:45)
05. Value of Life (2:38)
06. Revolution (In the Summertime?) (3:21)
07. Have You Heard the News Today? (2:51)
08. Sometime (3:31)
09. Melanie (3:23)
10. Rain Inside (3:23)
11. Charm (2:04)
12. Loser (2:25)
13. You've Got Me (3:10)
14. Emily Darling (2:48)
15. Morning Sun (:57)
The Band
Daniel Wylie :Vocals, Engineer, Producer, Handclapping, Mixing
Stephen Fleming :Guitar, Vocals (Background), Mixing, Engineer, Producer
Gary Cuthbert :Guitar, Handclapping, Vocals (Background)
Mark Brown : Drums, Vocals (Background), Handclapping
James Clifford : Bass, Handclapping, Vocals (Background)
Mark Brown : Drums, Vocals (Background), Handclapping
James Clifford : Bass, Handclapping, Vocals (Background)
This album is pop/folk/rock heaven. Not a dull moment throughout the entire album.This is the best album I have heard in 2000. Every song on the album could have been a single, they area all so catchy. I bought it after hearing the single "Baby You're so free" but didn't expect the whole album to be up to that calibre. Daniel Wylie's lush vocal harmony arrangements are perfect. If bands like The Byrds, Crosby Stills and Nash tickle your fancy , then you will adore this record. "Revolution in the summertime" is a really a masterpiece!!!!!
Third album for the Scottish folk-rock act combines tracks from their first two albums, 'Deliverance' (1999) and 'Panorama' (2000) though some have been vastly improved upon, although the original versions earned them a place in Virgin's Greatest Albums. Includes three all new tracks, 'Sometime', the first single 'Melanie' and 'Morning Sun'.
In the current musical climate, it's hard to imagine anything more unfashionable than an album of 60's-style Byrds/Beach Boys-influenced guitar pop that is so traditional it makes Teenage Fanclub sound like Aphex Twin, but put your cynicism on hold for "Enjoy..." is one of the most enjoyable, grin-inducing debuts of recent years. Hailing from Glasgow, and firmly in the TFC/BMX Bandits tradition of that city, it's no surprise that Cosmic Rough Riders are signed to former Creation boss Alan McGee's new Poptones label, for this album positively reeks of McGee's former stable. Chiming guitars, heavenly harmonies, joyously dumb cod-psychedelic lyrics...all the elements are here, and they work wonderfully together. Don't be put off by the album's opening gambits - "Harvesting the Land" and "Glastonbury Revisited" are mawkish 60s folk, and "This Gun Isn't Loaded" is a fairly unsuccessful stab at sitar-drenched psychedelia which ends up sounding too much like Spinal Tap's "Listen To The Flower People" for comfort. It's when CRRs lose the patchouli oil and let loose the pure pop vibes that "Enjoy..." really takes off. "Revolution In The Summertime" is perfect sunny-day listening, "Sometime" is the best song Teenage Fanclub have never written, and "The Loser" is catchier than a cactus. These guys have clearly got hooks coming out of their ears and most of the verses here are more memorable than most bands' choruses. They simply are that good. It's unlikely that "Enjoy..." will sell millions of copies and make CRRs the household names they clearly deserve to be, but if you like joyful, life-affirming, summery guitar pop, and have ever found yourself grinning inanely at the sound of Big Star's "September Gu rls", TFC's "Sharky's Dream" or the Stone Roses "Waterfall", then this CD will end up welded to your CD player for weeks on end. Enjoy indeed.
Download Link
Monday, December 11, 2006
Swans - 1994 - The Great Annihilator
Tracks
02. I Am The Sun
03. She Lives!
04. Celebrity Lifestyle
05. Mother Father
06. Blood Promise
07. Mind/Body/Light/Sound
08. My Buried Child
09. Warm
10. Alcohol The Seed
11. Killing For Company
12. Mother's Milk
13. Where Does A Body End?
14. Telepathy
15. The Great Annihilator
16. Out
After a three-year break occasioned in part by wrangles with the Sky label, Swans returned in 1995 with a vengeance, as always pursuing their unique muse of dramatic, ever-more textured music. Gira and Jarboe work with a fantastic core band this time out, including returning veteran Westberg, who trades off guitar duties with Steele, at points playing together with him, a magnificent combination. Other returning musicians include Kizys and Parsons, while newer players like drummer Bill Rieflin from the Chicago Wax Trax! circle join as well. As is par for the course by now, Swans seem incapable of producing a bad album, Annihilator being crammed full of astonishing songs to prove it. Everything's a little more stripped-down here, possibly due to having a central band, but it's still all very lushly arranged and created, perfectly balancing force and restraint. Leadoff single "Celebrity Lifestyle" is one of the catchiest things the band has ever done, but it's still uniquely Swans -- a minimal, throbbing song matched with a sharp lyric on starlust and what it might mean. "I Am the Sun" pounds as hard as any early Swans track, but the use of careful space between blasts, Gira's heavily echoed, out-of-nowhere vocal (accentuated by equally vivid background vocals from Jarboe), and tempo shifts clearly demonstrates the constantly evolving nature of Swans music; the band is never content to simply repeat the past. Jarboe's own standout tracks include "Mother/Father," a brawling number showcasing both her and the band at their full-on best, and "My Buried Child," with her softly husked take on a terrifying Gira lyric, which is carried by a roiling rhythm. This is followed immediately by the sweeping, cinematic "Warm," where she contributes wordless vocals. Once again, Swans have created an epic, incredible work of art.
review from AllMusicGuide
review from www.brainwashed.com
Enjoy!
http://rapidshare.com/Swans_-_The_Great_Annihilator.rar
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Afrika Korps - 1977 - Music To Kill By
Afrika Korps - 1977 - Music To Kill ByBack in 1973, teenage fanzine writer Ken Highland first traveled from his small-town home in upstate New York to Brooklyn, New York, to jam with pen-pal Solomon Gruberger and his younger brother Jay in their living-room rock band O. Rex. Three years later, in early '76, Ken recorded the first infamous Gizmos EP in Bloomington, Indiana--and then joined the United States Marine Corps! Finding himself stationed in Maryland, near Washington, D.C., he quickly found his way into the burgeoning D.C. punk scene. He became friends with the Slickee Boys, and began writing songs on guard duty. Some of these became later Gizmos tunes, but the main project was a new band with the O. Rex brothers called The Afrika Korps. With help from Slickee Boys Kim Kane and Martha Hull, and the addition of multi-talented drummer Ken Kaiser, they recorded the music on this LP in the first few months of 1977. The recordings became free-for-all punk-rock "super sessions"--with various other Slickee Boys members, D.C. scenesters, rock writers, etc. joining in on the fun. The resulting LP still stands as one of the most spontaneous and least trendy things to come out of the early Amerikan punk scene. This CD includes the classick LP plus eight studio outtakes and four live tracks, and comes with a 16-page booklet featuring mostly unpublished photos and a detailed history of the Afrika Korps.
This merger of The Slickee Boys, The Gizmos, The Look, The Teenage Boys, O. Rex, and The Kaiser's Kittens has thrown up (how punky!) the best album of the year. Twenty-two (yes! 22!) songs about all the things that bother you--your complexion . . . your boys . . . your mental health . . . and your girls. Every gem is short and sweet . . . each one a nursery rhyme that's been sneaking looks at teen magazines . . . pure, unsullied, untouched by recording contract rock and roll. Every verse is a reprise, every song a chrous with a harmonious soundmix nothing like the usual Heavy Metal row most 'punks' employ. Despite their threats about slapping your pretty face and ripping your pretty lace, they're sweet kids. Real innocence always tries to be tough." --Julie Burchill, New Musical Express, 3 December 1977.
You can also check their mLP 'God Its Them Again' here
Friday, December 8, 2006
Mecano - 1983 - Autoportrait
The story of Mecano starts with a painting, made in 1977 by founder Dirk Polak after finding an old booklet belonging to a Meccano construction box, as fabricated and sold in the thirties.While scanning the booklet, Dirk was struck by a vision of a world built out of Meccano, in painting, sculpture and even lyrics and music.
In the years before Lego existed, Meccano was very popular amongst parents, as they believed that Meccano was not just a toy, but an educative tool for schoolboys with technical abilities. An average box consisted of iron strips, wheels and plates with holes in it, based upon half an inch distance in between. It was designed “for the engineer of tomorrow” and patented in 1901 by Frank Hornby, who advertised it in the swollen tone that colored the first decades of the century and promised membership of “the Meccano Guild” and “unlimited possibilities as the system itself”.
The examples in the instruction booklet set Dirk to paint his Meccano figures, surrounded by surrealistic landscapes and interiors. In those days punk was booming and Dirk thought it was time to start a band and together with Pieter Kooyman and a few hired guns he recorded Face Cover Face, b/w Fools as Mecano Ltd. for the “No Fun” label. But Dirk wanted a real band and so he asked Ton Lebbink to be the drummer. Ton, who was a bouncer at Paradiso in Amsterdam and thus knowing everbody on the scene, immediately introduced the brothers Tejo and Cor Bolten, who also worked at Paradiso, Tejo as floor-manager and Cor, who was a bouncer too and were standing right next to him as he spoke and the band was formed in the blink of an eye. Before that, Dirk was close with Pieter, who was in the short lived “God's heart attack” and also “The Helmettes” and had a single out that was produced by Dirk and so Mecano showed up with 2 guitarists.
Another advantage of Ton and the Bolten brothers, beside their musical abilities, was that they had unlimited acces to Paradiso, the best rehearsing place a band could think of and they started experimenting and putting the music together, mainly based on the ideas of Dirk and the Bolten brothers
Emerging from the punk-era, Mecano is best described as new wave, leaving raw punk behind, adding poetry and remarkable arrangements, colored with unusual guitar harmonies, combining Allen Ravenstine-like squeeks with time experiments, sonicly floating as one, with brashness and provocation, converting into an ashtonishing electric blend.
Dirks' lyrics, influenced by such artists as Andre Breton, Paul Eluard and above all Russian poet Maiakovski, are overall cryptic and along the way Dirk added his own grammar like “lack of joie de vivre” or “globeold”.
In the summer of '79 Mecano made their stage debut and began touring the alternative circuit. Later they toured France and their '81 Paris concert had an enthousiastic press in the France Soir, their high intensity performance in Reims left a huge impression on the audience.
Early 1980 newly founded Torso Records had released the mini-lp Untitled and in that same year Subtitled, both nowadays reaching high prices amongst collectors. The next year Torso released two singles, Escape the Human Myth b/w History Landmark and Robespierre's Remarks b/w Room for Two, heading for hunters to collect. After that the band split up, to be reunited in 1982 without Ton Lebbink and Pieter Kooyman and a smaller size Mecano started recording Autoportrait, which came out early ‘83 and on which Pieter Kooyman is present on Suggestive Sleep and To Life's Reunion .
At last the Mecano files have been opened and the recordings were professionally remasterd by Cor and Tejo Bolten, resulting in exellent sound quality. This double cd has all of Mecano's studio-recordings. Also including live recordings who are never been issued before.
A true history landmark.
Leo Schelvis Resources : mecano.ws/ Download Link :
http://rapidshare.com/Mecano_-_Autoportrait.rar
Dirks' lyrics, influenced by such artists as Andre Breton, Paul Eluard and above all Russian poet Maiakovski, are overall cryptic and along the way Dirk added his own grammar like “lack of joie de vivre” or “globeold”.
In the summer of '79 Mecano made their stage debut and began touring the alternative circuit. Later they toured France and their '81 Paris concert had an enthousiastic press in the France Soir, their high intensity performance in Reims left a huge impression on the audience.
Early 1980 newly founded Torso Records had released the mini-lp Untitled and in that same year Subtitled, both nowadays reaching high prices amongst collectors. The next year Torso released two singles, Escape the Human Myth b/w History Landmark and Robespierre's Remarks b/w Room for Two, heading for hunters to collect. After that the band split up, to be reunited in 1982 without Ton Lebbink and Pieter Kooyman and a smaller size Mecano started recording Autoportrait, which came out early ‘83 and on which Pieter Kooyman is present on Suggestive Sleep and To Life's Reunion .
At last the Mecano files have been opened and the recordings were professionally remasterd by Cor and Tejo Bolten, resulting in exellent sound quality. This double cd has all of Mecano's studio-recordings. Also including live recordings who are never been issued before.
A true history landmark.
Leo Schelvis Resources : mecano.ws/
Thanks Mystery Poster and Friends
http://rapidshare.com/Mecano_-_Autoportrait.rar
Wednesday, December 6, 2006
Afrika Korps - 1987 - God, It's Them Again EP
Afrika Korps - 1987 - God, It's Them Again EPLine-up
Solomon Gruberger: vocals, lead guitar, rhythm guitar / Jay Gruberger: bass, lead guitar (3,6) / Kenne Gizmo Highland: vocals, lead guitar (1,2,4,7) / Marthat Hull: vocals (1,2,7) / Kenny Kaiser: drums, percussion (1,7) / Kim Kane (Slickee Boys): rhythm guitar, vocals (1,7) / Tommy Carr: drums (2)
recorded on august 14, 1982 - producers: S.Gruberger, J.Gruberger, K.Kane
Track listing
1.I'm lost in the sea of your love (part 1)
2.Nothings gonna change my life
3.Tonight
4.Reno Mania
5.Don't spoil the cake
6.Cute little she devil
7.I'm lost in the sea of your love (part 2)
The Afrika Korps was formed in 1976 by three pioneers of the American DIY garage-punk movement Solomon Gruberger (O.Rex), Kim Kane (Slickee Boys) and Kenne Highland (Gizmos). All three had already released their own indie records at this point, and with the addition of Ken Kaiser on drums and 16 year old Jay Gruberger on bass, the Afrika Korps was a casually constituted underground supergroup whose fifteen-person lineup included fanzine writers, and other assorted Washington DC-area garagepunks. Their first LP 'Music to Kill By' boasts 22 songs (including the Slickee Boys' "Jailbait Janet," covers of the Kinks and Yardbirds, and such culturally profound outpourings as "Iggy," "Death to Disko!" and "N.Y. Punk.").
Reuniting on a smaller scale five years later, the Korps roared back into action with a punchy second album. Solomon Gruberger (who does a pretty good Joey Ramone imitation on "Tonight") shares lead vocal duties on the half-dozen songs with ex-Slickee Boys singer Martha Hull and SB guitarist Kim Kane. These recordings released as an 12"EP by the French label New Rose, in 1987. The best review for this comes from Dimitri T.Shepilov, Editor in Chief of Pravda, in the 50s: "All this nervous and insane Boogie Woogie are the wild orgies of cavemen...devoid of all elements of beauty and melody...representing an uncontrolled release of base passions, a burst of the lowest feeling and sexual urges."
Reuniting on a smaller scale five years later, the Korps roared back into action with a punchy second album. Solomon Gruberger (who does a pretty good Joey Ramone imitation on "Tonight") shares lead vocal duties on the half-dozen songs with ex-Slickee Boys singer Martha Hull and SB guitarist Kim Kane. These recordings released as an 12"EP by the French label New Rose, in 1987. The best review for this comes from Dimitri T.Shepilov, Editor in Chief of Pravda, in the 50s: "All this nervous and insane Boogie Woogie are the wild orgies of cavemen...devoid of all elements of beauty and melody...representing an uncontrolled release of base passions, a burst of the lowest feeling and sexual urges."
Sunday, December 3, 2006
The Sound - From The Lion's Mouth
Tracks :
01 Winning
02 Sense Of Purpose
03 Contact The Fact
04 Skeletons
05 Judgement
06 Fatal Flaw
07 Possession
08 The Fire
09 Silent Air
10 New Dark Age
There is a kind of double irony to the lyrics of the opening track of The Sound's second album. Listening to the excellent new wave classic 'Winning' the lyrics convey becoming triumphant in the face of adversity: "I was going to drown then I started swimming. I was going down then I started winning". Yet these optimistic words are set to a doomy rhythm section that suggests anything but. All of this naturally leads to thinking of frontman Adrian Borland's recent suicide. Rather reflect on that though, it is best to concentrate on an excellent album from the early 80's which ranks alongside The Comsat Angels' early work for being an overlooked classic. 'From The Lion's Mouth' possesses that same air of controlled miserablism and that tangible sense of loneliness that sounds just as poignant now as it did 22 years ago. Unfortunately the group lost their way on subsequent albums in an effort to cross over to a more lucrative market. Remember them instead for exemplars of edgy rock such as the rattling intensity of 'The Fire' and 'Skeletons' or the awesome 'Fatal Flaw' and 'New Dark Age' with its threatening military drum introduction.
resources : http://www.leonardslair.co.uk/lions.htm
EXCELLENT album guys ! 9/10
Download Link :
http://rapidshare.com/Sound_-_Lions_Mouth.rar
resources : http://www.leonardslair.co.uk/lions.htm
EXCELLENT album guys ! 9/10
Download Link :
http://rapidshare.com/Sound_-_Lions_Mouth.rar
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