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Check out this week's Free Song Download by Los Angeles-based avant-pop/hardcore/experimental all-around DIY buzz band HEALTH. Health // Disco, out next Tuesday, May 27, contains dancefloor-friendly remixes of all varieties, including nu-rave, old-style airhorn rave, dance punk, and techno reinterpretations by a slew of hip, young remixers. We chose our own favorite, Pictureplane's version of "Lost Time," for you to sample. Good stuff!
An Other Music Download Exclusive from Invisible Conga People, originally released as a 12-inch on the always-reliable Italians Do It Better label. What sets this NYC-based duo apart from IDIB labelmates like Chromatics, Glass Candy and Professor Genius is their use of noisy tension and live instrumentation. "Weird Pains" is bolstered by a dirty, hard pulse of a beat, with blasts of arpeggiated white noise and breathy male vocals reminiscent of Damo Suzuki. "Cable Dazed" is a bit closer to the floaty, night drive art-disco that seems to be the standard for Italians Do It Better. Anchored by a simple, cavernous synthesizer riff, rhythm guitar and male/female vocals, the track is a mid-tempo burner that subtly builds to an implied climax. Excellent stuff and I can't wait to hear more. -Duane Harriott
Say it isn't so...the third and final installment of the In-Kraut series?! I was hoping for another dozen. For the uninitiated, the subtitle says it all: "Hip Shaking Grooves Made in Germany." Forget those stiff, black turtle-necked Sprockets characters on SNL, these Krauts know how to get down, and like the two volumes before, number three has 20 funky tracks of rare soul, jazz, soundtrack and mod stompers recorded between 1967 and '74. Too many highlights to give a play-by-play, but some of my favorites include Daisy Clan's groovy fuzzed-out "Glory Be," Ambros Seelos' Hammond- and horn-fueled "Hangman's Rope," and German jazz legend Rolf Kuhn's "Playmate," whose slinky Rhodes piano lines and swelling strings sound like an Air score to an old '70s softcore flick. Of course it wouldn't be The In-Kraut without a fair amount of kitschy covers, and here we find Dieter Zimmermann transforming Led Zeppelin's classic rock staple "Whole Lotta Love" into a funky orchestrated affair and Katja Ebstein turning in a sultry psych-soul cover of the Beatles' "Hard Days Night," complete with lots of sitar and trippy strings and flutes. Inga Rumpf's icy take on "The Beat Goes On" is enough to make Cher want to put on more clothes. (The German Top Five's version of the Mohawk's "Champ" is pretty much by the book.) Unfortunately, there aren't any Hildegard Knef cuts on this one, (make sure to check out the actress/singer's "From Here on It Got Rough," off The In-Kraut Volume 1) but we do get a pretty rare soundtrack gem written by Knef collaborator Kaui Rautenberg, the Georgees' "Butterflies Never Cry." It's sad to see The In-Kraut series come to an end, but it's definitely going out on a high-note. All you fans of Vampyros Lesbos (both the movie and/or DJ Franc'O's legendary NYC party from back in the day), Gert Wilden soundtracks, and all things la decadanse, don't miss out! -Gerald Hammill
Best album you've never heard! Brooklyn-based She Keeps Bees (Jessica Larrabee on vocals & guitar and Andy LaPlante on drums) sound a bit like early Cat Power or PJ Harvey, or maybe a female Songs:Ohia, but somehow transcends all that. Jessica's got a really amazing, bluesy, soulful voice that makes these songs stand out. We predict great, great things for this immensely talented duo. Highly recommended!
Wonderfully arranged and brimming with pastoral beauty, 21-year-old Peter Broderick's Float proves him to be one of the most promising modern classical composers on the scene. Centered around piano, violin, cello, guitar, and percussion, Broderick creates emotive soundscapes comparable to the works of Michael Nyman, Max Richter, and Harold Budd. Esteemed company for sure, but he is that good.
Raashan Ahmad was a member of the stellar yet underappreciated Boston-based hip-hop crew, Mission. He's also currently a member of the noted live hip-hop band Crown City Rockers, but on The Push his proper album debut, Ahmad successfully establishes himself as one of the better emcees amongst the Bay Area's fertile underground scene. This is San Fran boom-bap at its most solid. The beats have that open-ended, breezy quality but Ahmad's insightful lyrics and urgent flow set him apart from the sing-song quality of Blackalicious, Lifesavas and the like. Guests include Jurassic 5's Charlie 2na and solid production from DJ Vadim, Quantic and others. For fans of the above-mentioned, People Under the Stairs, Hieroglyphics as well as solid, conscious hip-hop that doesn't sound soft. -Duane Harriott
Massive 45-track compilation chronicling the history of Bristol's Heartbeat Records, which remained unjustly overshadowed by Rough Trade, Factory, and Cherry Red. Centered around Avon Calling, an album that gathered the top tier of Bristol's class of '79, this two-CD set delivers on all accounts. The first disc contains the original 15 songs on the Avon Calling LP and six bonus tracks, most prominently a track by Glaxo Babies, which featured ex-members of Pop Group and were partly responsible for spawning Maximum Joy, and other gems such as the New Age Steppers/Slits-styled Double Vision, the blazing yet melodic punk rock of Stereo Models, and Apartment, Bristol's own Television. The second disc, "The Heartbeat Singles Collection," is self-explanatory, and worth the price of admission for the three brilliant art punk singles by Glaxo Babies ("This is your Life," "Christine Keeler" and "Shake") alone. Twenty-four tracks in total, the rest is a great blend of new wave, post-punk, power pop, with the female fronted Skodas (Kleenex fans take note) and the Art Objects, whose spoken word cynicism predate and outshine Art Brut, as standouts. Not just another footnote in pop history, Avon Calling is essential listening and a great value for the money. -Andreas Knutsen
California boy Douglas Armour crafts dark dance-pop that would fit in just so on a John Hughes soundtrack circa '85, full of tinny handclaps, synthesizers that are unafraid to sound like synthesizers, and Armour's clear melancholy vocals arcing to a falsetto when the emotion becomes too much. There are elements of disco here, and also Factory Records gloom and indie-pop swoon, but at its core this album delivers a healthy dose of '80s new wave alternative radio staples, and though the production is a bit thinner, it nonetheless succeeds beyond any reasonable expectations. -Josh Madell
First released in 1982, the Wackies' Allstars and the New Breed Band serve up a dub creation, this one a balanced concoction of up-front drums and percussion, echoed horns, light wisps of guitar, all sent through the Bull Wackies' science fiction filter system. But it's the attention to small detail that makes this dub album standout. There are plenty of effects and strange off-kilter rhythm stabs to keep you engaged. Most of the album is made up of up-tempo steppers with a few slower heavy tracks as well. Recommended! -Geoff Albores |
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