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Free download of "Throwing Shade," taken from Abe Vigoda's new full-length, Crush (also available on Other Music Digital). As graduates of Los Angeles' now-legendary art and performance space, the Smell, the group have proven themselves to be constant tinkerers, one second leaning towards jagged, angular guitar rock, the next towards spazzy, tropical punk. With Crush, the band incorporates gauzy synthesizers and new wave signifiers to galvanizing effect. This Week's Featured Downloads Other Music Digital is excited to offer the advance download of Zeroes QC, the debut full-length from Suuns, a group whose EP was a top seller on our download store earlier this year when they were still known as Zeroes. Since then Secretly Canadian has signed the band and will be releasing the album to the rest of the world next Tuesday, October 12. While their name may have changed, the Montreal-based group have thankfully stayed the course, the album playing like an expanded version of everything that was great about their earlier recording. Here's an excerpt from our review of the EP, which ran back in May and includes mentions of two songs that are also included on the full-length: [Zeroes] have no doubt ingested a lot of art rock, of all kinds, the group's minimalist rhythms equally informed by Joy Division, Suicide and Can, often wrapped in a noisy squall of droning guitars and pulsing synths. Add to this Ben Shemie's breathy, paranoid sing/speak, which is as metronomic as it is melodic, acting as a counterweight to the band's circular groove. Though at times it seems like they are about to drive over a sonic cliff, there's actually a great sense of restraint at play. "PVC" moves along an airtight beat, the sense of tension coming from Shemie's close-mic'ed falsetto and the taut, muted plucks of a guitar, while the somnambulant disco of "Arena" is gently guided by a buoyant synthesizer until it meets an unexpected demise, slashed apart by a barrage of razor-sharp guitars. We'll be running a full review in next week's mail order Update, when Sunns' record will be available in all formats. Or you can download the album today -- an oustanding debut from a band that we'll no doubt be hearing more from in the months and years to come.
The almighty Ghost Box label return with a handful of excellent new singles and a new EP release. First we've got a "Revised Edition" of the first Belbury Poly EP, Farmer's Angle, originally issued on the label as a three-inch CD. Farmer's Angle was Ghost Box's debut release, and set the stage for much of the label's modus operandi -- brief bursts of melody created from homespun electronic experimentation, heavily indebted to the innovation of early pioneers like the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, Raymond Scott, and a wide swath of library music composers, all mixed with a heavy dose of rural British ephemera and psychedelic undertones. This re-release sees three tracks added, including a collaboration with fellow Ghost Box artist the Advisory Circle; the youthful exuberance of the melodies here are lovely, and the music evokes the blurry nostalgia of an overexposed photograph much in the same way early records by the likes of Boards of Canada and Plone were prone to do. The bonus material is equally lovely and fits in without conspicuous addition, with the closer "Hither and Yon"'s tap-dance rhythm providing a particular highlight. All in all, this is 20-minutes of essential listening for any fan of what this label has been doing. It all starts here.
Next up are the first three entries in Ghost Box's new ongoing Study Series of single-only releases, crafted in tribute to old BBC educational and dance records for youth and school groups. Each includes exclusive tracks, often featuring established Ghost Box artists in collaboration with acts not on the roster. The series so far has offered up some of the label's most exciting music to date, with each proving to be a teaser for great things to come from Ghost Box in the next year! The first single in the Study Series is a collaboration between Belbury Poly and Moon Wiring Club, with two tracks featuring blunted drum breaks, woozy, arpeggiated synth lines, and wonky, fuzzy hits of percussion. This is probably the funkiest thing the label has ever offered up, with both tracks sounding like some lost J Dilla remixes of John Baker or Delia Derbyshire. "The Young People"'s heavy, plodding 4/4 stoner funk, wah-wah synth lines, and glissandi harp samples spark up the blunts while "Portals and Parallels" takes that high and adds some paranoia into the mix, with tolling bell tones, cut-up vocal chatter, and a stuttering breakbeat propelling things forward. It makes for a strong start to a promising series of singles!
The second of Ghost Box's Study Series of single-only releases features two new tracks by the Advisory Circle, cooking up a soothing brew of pastoral synth melodies, percolating drumboxes, and even a bit of acoustic guitar strums. The biggest surprise comes on the single's B-side, though; on "Seasons Change" we see Advisory Circle's Jon Brook teaming with new label artist Hong Kong in the 60s, who add dulcet vocal harmonies to the mix, reminding me of the same gentle beauty and childlike innocence of the Free Design. This release has "autumn" written all over its absolutely stunning sonic landscape. Warm up some cocoa and cool out with this one.
The third single in Ghost Box's Study Series is an exciting one -- Welcome to Godalming is a split between the always reliable Belbury Poly and fellow hauntologist Mordant Music, each creating a vivid, detailed soundscape in tribute to/examination of the town of Godalming in Surrey, UK. Belbury's "Swingalong" combines sitar, bell chimes, and plundered telephone chatter overtop a queazy, lackadisical groove, while Mordant's "Inn Ohm the Lake" turns a slowly cascading series of dial tones, a mantra-like vocal loop, and long, soft drones into a gorgeous piece of pastoral ambience. This proves to be another outstanding release in the Ghost Box canon, and a definite highlight in their already flawless singles series. -Mike IQ Jones
Brand new single from Twi the Humble Feather, whose blend of folk, chamber and experimental music is truly singular in this day where the cross-pollination of sounds and styles seems almost the norm. While this New York-based trio certainly taps into a similar child-like wonderment as Animal Collective's brighter moments, Twi's songs are more classically informed and much more organic in nature and approach. "Fourth Door of the Red Palace" is downright exuberant in its beginning with a pair flamenco guitars carrying a breathy, playful chorus of voices until the track gently dissipates into a spacious, rhythmic loop of nylon strings and the tape manipulations of a majestic choir melody. It's a wonderful juxtaposition of traditional song and minimalism, and absolutely magical in its evolution from beginning to end. -Gerald Hammill FINALLY, here it is, the Yeti, the Sasquatch of early-'70s Jamaican rarities. Boris Gardiner was, along with Derrick Harriott and Lloyd Charmers, one of a select group of big-'fro-sporting soul men of early-'70s reggae. Bass player, producer, composer, bandleader, he did it all and his releases from this era have long been connoisseur favorites. When he was tapped by Calvin Lockhart in 1973 to score an upcoming JA-set blaxploitation flick, he set about the job without so much as a vague idea of the film's theme or concept. The film turned out to be a half-assed disaster of a documentary on Rastafarianism, but the soundtrack is a gem, featuring the anthemic and eyebrow-raising title cut (a favorite of Howard Stern's which was also covered by Big Youth and quoted by Supercat in one of his biggest hits), and the smooth, bumping, breakbeat-sporting "Funky Nigger." The rest of the album consists mostly of the kind of smooth, R&B-savvy reggae Gardiner was known for as well as the classic funky instrumental "Ghetto Funk." This is one of the absolute rarest Jamaican albums ever -- Jazzman does it again!! -Greg Caz
Brand new label Tri Angle follows up their debut release of Balam Acab's first EP with another great 12". San Francisco-based Christopher Dexter Greenspan, a/k/a oOoOO (Os for short), has created a stellar mini-album within the broad umbrella of the on-the-rise drag genre. His, however, is not of the dark and foreboding variety; although the beats are slow, the vocals mournful, and the synths weeping, Greenspan infuses his music with brightness, like a thin flame glowing in the night. What really turned me on to the wonderment of this project was his remake of the freestyle hit "Summertime Summertime" by Nocera, sadly not included here. On that track, this bubblegum pop of the '80s got the Os treatment and was stretched out, re-sung, and made into a teary-eyed slow jam with a sparse backbeat and grimy synths changing the reality from basking in the joy of sunshine to longing for lost loves at summer's end. Similarly, on this self-titled EP (six songs/25 minutes), Greenspan creates an at times barely moving, yet emotional and soulful collection of what could be the indie version of an R&B/hip-hop ballad. Over half of the record features female vocals, helping to complete the mise-en-scène with a touch of humanity (a bit of Liz Fraser, a bit of Aaliyah). Os exist in a unique intersection of hip-hop, electronic soul of the past, slo-mo disco, and indie dream-pop without the shoegaze, and more of a synth wash. A few of the tracks, if they had come out a few years earlier, could have been released on the Italians Do It Better label alongside Glass Candy or the Chromatics, however, there's more of a 2010 blissed-out sheen here -- the guitar lines, synth stabs, finger snaps and handclaps of "Hearts" has the slow disco stride of a Pet Shop Boys melodrama. oOoOO are a welcome addition to the class of 2010. A nice slice from the slightly sunnier side of the new American indie-downtempo movement. If Salem are too bewitching, Pearl Harbor too iridescent, or you just wore out your Nite Jewel LP, getting some Os could brighten your day. Recommended. -Daniel Givens
An incandescent and soaring collection from one of the greatest African dance bands of the sixties and seventies, Balla Et Ses Balladins. This set is as lovingly compiled as Sterns' other two-disc series exploring the works of Bembeya Jazz National, the Authenticite collection, Rail Band, and Tabu Ley Rochereau and every single bit as essential. Their work is probably closest in spirit to that of fellow Gunieans Bembeya Jazz National, as both groups were at the forefront of the cultural revolution that swept through Guinea following independence. Effortlessly melding an ancient griot tradition, a heavy interest in Cuban music, and soul shattering guitar tones and textures, Balla Et Ses Balladins had a just over a decade run as one of the most consistently inventive bands on the continent. It's impossible to not get swept up in this music that is as driving as it is melancholy, uplifting as it is reflective, and there isn't one single track across these two CDs that is lacking in sheer poetic beauty. Phenomenal. -Michael Klausman
The third album from Austin psych-rockers the Black Angels arrives as the debut release on a label that surely will prick a few ears regardless of the band's history. Blue Horizon is the new imprint of powerhouse industry legends Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer, who together founded Sire Productions more than 40 years ago, which morphed into Sire Records, and alone and together, as songwriters, producers or A&R, they have been intimately involved in the careers of everyone from Blondie, the Ramones, Talking Heads, and the Smiths, to Madonna, the Go-Go's, the Pretenders and even Ice-T, and so many more. So what do you get when you pair a droney, sludgy bad trip with a pair of hugely successful pop moguls? A Phosphene Dream, I suppose. The Black Angels' established mix of influences are all still in full effect here; Barrett and the Elevators and Spacemen 3 and VU and Nuggets waft from this band on clouds of pot smoke and sheets of bad acid, a dark, ominous, biker-flick version of the psych revolution. But no doubt this is the group's most refined effort to date, with more variety and more depth than their one-chord productions are known for. They reign in their most abstract leanings, keeping these tracks short and direct, but in other ways the band spreads their wings, exploring varied directions with a few rockers, a few freakouts, a few droners and a handful of their favorite sludgefests. I'm not sure if Black Angels are ready to write a new chapter in the chart-topping history of Stein and Gottehrer, but with Alex Mass' powerful vocals (part Shocking Blue's Mariska Veres, part Neil Young), and the dense swirl of Christian Bland and Nate Ryan's guitars over a churning rhythm section and a ream of vintage organs, they can surely soundtrack your next few trips, good, bad, or far far away. -Josh Madell |
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