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FREE SONG DOWNLOAD of "Poison Dart" by The Bug off of his upcoming album, London Zoo (out July 29th on Ninja Tune). Dubstep journeyman Kevin Martin has sharpened his sound on this new apocalyptic deep bass dancehall record. "Poison Dart" features longtime collaborator and ragga-rouser Warrior Queen, whose vocals claustrophobically reverberate around echo effects that'll incite equal doses of anxiety and the 1-2 step. You don't have to be a bass-head to enjoy this dystopic delight.
EXCLUSIVE ADVANCE RELEASE! From out of nowhere comes this lost-classic-in-the-making, perhaps a victim of the dawning digital age -- a twenty-track solo opus from John Terrill, formerly of Hoosier post-punk outfit the Dancing Cigarettes. Recorded at the end of the '80s and released to a handful of friends, Frowny Frown is a remarkably accomplished effort of orchestrated pop, pulling from all the best of melancholy music in the rock & roll era - Left Banke to Mayo Thompson, Todd Rundgren to Galaxie 500, Brother JT to the Go-Betweens. With a pronounced teener influence (think Ricky Nelson) running all throughout, along with lush instrumentation and studio trickery both inventive and unobtrusive, it's an abundant collection of gently wistful, psychedelic-laced beauty and innocence from a time when most music was covered in a hard plastic shell. Like a great banquet that just keeps coming, this record has new things to discover with each listen. Highest recommendation! Download a free two-song single from Other Music Digital, containing "Faces of My Past" from Frowny Frown, and exclusive B-side "Mad Monk," showcasing a track Terrill recorded last year in fine style, reaching for the grandeur of peak-era Guided by Voices and the infectious positive vibes of Redd Kross. -Doug Mosurock
Though a talented multi-instrumentalist in her own right, singer-songwriter Josephine Foster's main attraction is and always has been her voice, a forceful, quivering set of pipes that evokes a calming gentility as much as it echoes across rooftops. While they're oft labeled "operatic" (thanks in no small part to the formal vocal training she once pursued in university), her unique and occasionally forceful vocalizations hardly seem exaggerated or overwrought in the context of her songs. Generally considered a member of neo-folk's overstuffed post-millennial class, Foster has still always sounded worlds away from her contemporaries, be it in the barren duo work of Born Heller, the spiraling electric guitars and loose rhythms of the Supposed, or her abrupt 2006 turn into 19th century German lieder. Returning to the fold now after a two year absence, Foster now presents This Coming Gladness, a record that perfectly encapsulates the seemingly disparate ideas she has thus far pursued. Limber all the way through, Gladness strikes as one of the most subtly refined recordings Foster has managed to date. Her voice still darts throughout these ten songs, refusing to be tethered to any specific hook or instrumental anchor. Yet it floats effortlessly across the reverbed guitars and steadily encroaching percussion of album opener "The Garden of Earthly Delights," while she adopts a distinctly matronly tone for "Lullaby to All," contrasting neatly with the songs's driving rhythm and discordant keys. Elsewhere "All I Wanted Was the Moon" gently crests into lysergic balladry, while the sprightly "A Thimble Full of Milk" beautifully strips everything back to just voice and acoustic guitar. Undoubtedly one of her best albums to date, This Coming Gladness is staggering proof that Josephine Foster's talents continue to blossom. - Michael Crumsho
Oakland psych-noise-pop duo Sic Alps have been careening through a charmed existence in the past couple of years, blowing out speaker cones on a steadily improving succession of vinyl and cassette releases. It was only a matter of time before their wreckage would land on Siltbreeze, America's home for sonic de(con)struction. US E.Z. plots an uncertain but alluring course through shambling, stumbling, red-eyed shards of overmodulated pop haunt, sticking around just long enough to establish a mood before shifting its bleary gaze elsewhere. Beneath all that damage lies an underground corollary to the '60s, Sic Alps gleefully crossing up the Everly Brothers' graceful sleepwalk with hammers in hand. Drugged, hooded, truly beautiful music for those getting fed up with what indie rock has become. -Doug Mosurock
One of the best dance remixes of the past five years has just hit the OM digital site...whoohoo! Would you like to hear about it? One year before Rajko Muller's (a/k/a Isolee) seminal We Are Monster was released, he gave us a teaser of what was to come with this deconstruction of a Recloose track. Built around a mournful, soulful vocal refrain instructing you to "keep on movin'," the bass kick on the 2 and 4 sounds like muted raindrops hittin' a puddle. Simultaneously fighting for your waistline's attention is the rumbling sound of an irregular heartbeat on the 1 and 3. It's all slippery vocals and shifty funk, until three-quarters of the way in when a wicked 303 acid line is introduced...there's your bass line. And just as quickly, a muted somber trumpet line comes in. In that moment, acid house, boogie funk, R&B, minimal techno, micro-house and jazz are one, rendering all micro and macro labels useless and you realize that Muller has just a created a classic. But I supose that's all relative. In any case, this track is definitely worth hearing, if you're not familiar. -Duane Harriott
I Don't Wanna is the first-ever reissue of Henry Flynt's recordings with his short-lived mid-'60s rock band the Insurrections. The majority of the songs on the CD combine his trademark ultra-simple and repetitive echoing guitar sounds with drums and nasal hillbilly rock vocals. Two of the tracks make use of a bluesy riff reminiscent of the Kinks' "Nothin in the World Can Stop Me Worryin' Bout That Girl," and another song is oddly reminiscent of ESG if they didn't have any low-end. The protest-style lyrics, which criticize the Vietnam War and big business, are a little bit sophomoric but not entirely unlikable. My favorite tracks are the ones that sound less like a 1950s rock band and more like the stuff on the Back Porch Hillbilly Blues reissues, but it's still fascinating to hear how his ideas work in a rock band setting. This band was so far ahead of its time that it's quite difficult to imagine anyone getting excited about their music back when they were making it. This is truly the definition of shambolic. I Don't Wanna probably isn't the best place to start if you're just getting into Henry Flynt, but it's a really interesting addition to his catalog and essential listening for anyone who already appreciates his work. -Rob Hatch-Miller
Everyone says Medium Medium sounds like Gang of Four but they don't. They don't have the political anger or the metallic punch. Instead they have the elastic funk of Blurt, the endless groove and chant of Liquid Liquid (but sexier), and a drop of the primal abandon of Malcolm Mooney-fronted Can coupled with soaring moments that touch on the beauty of the Cure. Medium Medium formed in 1978 recording the main body of this reissue in 1981. And again, unlike Gang of Four and more like Liquid Liquid, these guys do "free-blown dubbed-up white funk" (NME quote) like no other. Fifteen tracks, including three singles, one full album, and live tracks that embody qualities touched on by dance rock bands new and old, but never quite this way, and never quite this good. -Scott Mou |
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