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Two great free song downloads, courtesy of Merge Records. First up, Dan Bejar offers his biggest surprise yet by way of his newest Destroyer offering, Kaputt (out now). Eschewing the Hunky Dory-isms of Streethawk: A Seduction and the barroom art-rock of Rubies, here, Bejar's wonderfully obtuse storytelling is set amidst a jazzy, R&B backdrop that also takes cues from '80s-era Roxy Music, Prefab Sprout and even a little Steely Dan, with wet pads of synths, horn solos and lilting guest vocals from Sibel Thrasher. This free download of "Chinatown" is only one of many highlights; we love this record!
Following the break-up of the Broken West back in 2009, frontman Ross Flournoy encountered a case of writer's block, eventually overcoming it by entering a songwriting contest, which led to the "Under the Gun" (one of the highlights on Years of Magical Drinking, which is out now). Newly inspired, Apex Manor was born with former Broken West multi-instrumentalist Brian Whelan signing on as one of the members, and their debut full-length finds Flournoy and his cohort's penchant for crafting infectious power-pop, a la Big Star, Teenage Fanclub, as solid as ever. This Week's Featured Downloads I'm falling in love with this band. A mysterious European duo cloaked in pseudonymity, revealing very little explanation and definition behind their mysterious cultural collusions, Hype Williams named themselves after the heavily stylized music video and film director, and offer up a delicious mix of druggy synth washes, chopped and screwed vocals, hypnotically minimal beats, and a perverse arty playfulness perhaps not seen since the days of the Residents. They've been known to get lumped in with the hypnagogic/hauntological pop movements currently driving the UK underground. That said, Hype Williams are rooted far more in line with the British underground cultures of grime and bass music, though you could possibly describe the bewitching dub sketches and hip-hop seances on Find Out What Happens... as a fertile combination of the spectral Ghost Box aesthetic with a hearty dose of cough syrup poured into the witch's cauldron. This isn't club music, it's head music, meant to transport you to states the average consciousness won't take you to. When the group's haunting Ouijaboard cover of Sade's "The Sweetest Taboo" (here entitled "The Throning") drifts into your earspace, its familiarity is offset by the recording's eerie ambience, which sounds like a woman hearing the song from her third-story bathroom window as it's played from a car stereo down on the street, with you hearing her nonchalantly singing the lyrics to herself, invading a privacy you aren't meant to have access to. That displacement of time, space, and context is sorely missing from much of the current witch house/drag scene's music, which this record has also been lazily lumped amongst, and I'm eagerly awaiting the next dispatch from these eerie pranksters. It's a record that's as mental as it is experimental, as heavy as it is heady, and as funky as it is funny... most highly recommended. -Mikey IQ Jones
This record has been in constant rotation in my home, on my iPod, and just about anywhere else I have been able to play it for the past week; I simply cannot stop listening to it. Malian kora virtuoso Ballake Sissoko and French cellist Vincent Segal have recorded one of the most beautiful albums I've heard in years for the European No Format label (and issued domestically by Six Degrees), perhaps best known for releasing the infamous solo piano album by Gonzales -- another constant favorite whose simple melodic beauty never grows tiresome. Sissoko and Segal spin delicate, majestic webs of complex detail, half composed, half improvised, taking turns volleying rhythmic anchor and sweeping melody, with the results displaying a deep mixture of classical parlor music, African griot meditations, and even a bit of jazz interplay. The intuitive connection between these two musicians is astonishing; throughout they both seem to have a telepathic communication, always pushing each other forward while floating through the music's lovely anti-gravity drift. Both players also display a firm grasp on rhythmic importance as well, keeping these string duos anchored by cyclical phrases and even grooves whose rich textures and deep harmonic interplay consistently hypnotize. There's absolutely no artifice to be found, no silly "crossover" agenda to fulfill, just simply two gifted musicians with deep mutual respect for one another's craft coming together to create something that is truly art, and truly inspired. Records like this don't get made often; this music is truly special, truly inspired, and for all of its quiet modesty, it shouts loudly and clearly that, as the recently departed Ari Up once declared, silence is a rhythm, too. This is the first album to go on my "Best of 2011" list. Damn. -Mikey IQ Jones
Art Yard delivers yet again with a reissue of one of the more far-out entries in the Saturn Records discography. Expanded from its original three-track LP version, Space Probe now runs close to an hour. Originally a side-long feature on the LP, the title track is a solo Sun Ra Moog freak-out on par with the synth explorations found on the two My Brother the Wind volumes. At times rhythmic and bleeping, at other times textural and dense, this tour de force is one of the best recordings of Ra going to town on the instrument. This music still sounds absolutely futuristic today, although it was recorded in 1969-70. It's a testament to Sun Ra's unique vision among musicians of any genre. His embrace of new technology set him apart from the bandleaders of the day. "Space Probe" sounds like it could have been recorded in a basement in Michigan last week, yet it happened decades before synthesizer music became fashionable. Next up is a full version of "Primitive," now known as "Earth Primitive Earth." John Gilmore's bass clarinet is the sole melodic voice heard over the clatter of various rhythmic percussion, the likes of which wouldn't sound out of place on any number of top notch Exotica records. "Solar Symbols II" features piano playing that could accurately be described as twisted crime jazz. Thea Barbara's vocals on two tracks are a welcome contrast to the more familiar vocals June Tyson often provided for the Arkestra. These recordings prove Sun Ra to be ahead of his time and adventurous way beyond genre limitations. There's simply no indication that conforming to "jazz" rules was ever a concern with Ra. He's also one of the only figures whose unreleased recordings rival many of his best known works. Let's hope Art Yard continues to mine those vaults. -Marc Moeller
The resurrection of the Flying Nun catalogue by its original founders in the last few months couldn't have come at a better time -- artists throughout the punk and garage spectrum, as well as the gentle indie/electronic pop-sters on Morr Music have been looking at their stable of New Zealand musicians for inspiration, while the records by the original artists skyrocketed in value on the collector's market. Troublesome indeed, as Flying Nun's roster practiced a quiet and steady domination on the sensibilities of pop music across the '80s and '90s (and it continues today) that remains special and personal to whomever happens to discover it -- artists like Chris Knox, the Clean, the Bats, the Verlaines, the 3Ds and the Bird Nest Roys, among countless others, are all cut from parts of the same cloth, all able to cross the line from your stereo to your soul in mere moments. The Chills are among the most crucial and storied groups of underground Kiwi pop, and Kaleidoscope World, a collection of their early singles, is the best place in their catalogue to start. Led by songwriter Martin Phillips, the Chills sustained a mannered, blissful, somewhat melancholy tear across a decade, and a series of guitar-led albums that became more and more meaningful as the '80s melted away. Yet it's the earliest material that possesses the most mystery, and wields the most power of anything they or any of their countrymen would produce. Dusted with touches of light psychedelia, the songs here scatter in the light when uncovered, affected by the moods and spirits around them. There may not be a better song of the era (or most others) than "Pink Frost," the group's masterstroke. It would be tough to say that the rest of the collection pales in comparison to this haunting tale of an overdose, but the track will stick with you unlike any other, a delicate and cheery opening giving way to a fragile darkness that no other band has ever been able to replicate. If you love that song (and you will), all the other pieces in the Chills' puzzle will fall into place. -Doug Mosurock
With the recent resurrection of Slumberland Records and the ensuing popularity of all things twee, there's been a tendency for bands to overlook the jangly side of the 1980s in favor of Jesus & Mary Chain-flavored distortion. While the fuzzy, pedal-heavy reverb was certainly a big sound in the UK in the '80s (with perhaps the big exceptions of the Smiths, Felt, and the Pastels), groups in other parts of the world were writing pop songs influenced more by the Beatles or the Byrds than Phil Spector. Such is the case with many of the bands on New Zealand's Flying Nun Records -- most notably, the Clean, the Chills, the Verlaines, and the Bats. Though different from one another, many of the artists on the Flying Nun roster (read: not the Dead C) seemed to share a similar interest in melody, harmony, and lyricism over the wall-of-sound approach of bands that epitomized the 'C86' sound in England. The Bats' 1987 debut, Daddy's Highway, perfectly encapsulates this softer, jangly side of the '80s, and is an album I've come back to far more often than any other indie-pop release of the time. While Daddy's Highway possesses all the elements that make for a fantastic jangle-pop record -- bright, gentle acoustic guitar melodies, vocal harmonies, and a stripped-down, almost intimate production aesthetic -- there's something decidedly more melancholic going on. It would be easiest to pin this element onto singer Robert Scott's plaintive delivery of lyrics about relationships ending and the disappointment that comes with those experiences; however, the Bats created a truly honest sound here, nothing all that surprising or even very forward-thinking like some of the other bands emerging around this time, but something refreshingly pleasant and unendingly catchy. This digital release includes 13 additional tracks from three EPs released before Daddy's Highway and the B-sides to the "Block of Wood" 45, all released on Flying Nun between 1984 and '87. A truly exceptional collection for fans of the Clean, the Smiths, Felt, Belle & Sebastian, the Field Mice, Sarah Records, or Camera Obscura. -Chris Pappas
One of the earliest examples of New Zealand underground music turning into something more meaningful, the Gordons blasted out of the '70s punk era with a pitch-black, violent sound, steeped in Joy Division, the Fall, and Wire, but beefed up with string-breaking ferocity and a striking, monolithic presence. One country over, the Birthday Party was beginning to pick up on the sort of nightmarish traction that the Gordons had been developing. This collection culls together their first two releases, including the punishing dirge of "Spik and Span" and "Laughing Now," and the relentless frenzy of "Future Shock," five minutes of mechanized chaos guaranteed to shake you down. Members of the Gordons reconvened as Bailter Space, whose chain of roboticized, chrome-dappled shoegaze busted select eardrums around the world in the years to follow, but this sublime crusher of a release proves that they had just as much in the tank back in 1980. Essential noise rock through and through. -Doug Mosurock
Orange Juice have seen a much-deserved renaissance and rediscovery lately, with Domino finally offering up the Glasgow band's collected catalogue to the masses after languishing in out-of-print limbo for far too long. Rip It Up was the group's second album, and my personal favorite, combining Edwyn Collins's razor sharp lyrical wit with a delicious combination of fusing the jangle of the Byrds, the razor sharp intensity of the Buzzcocks, the disco-soul throb of Chic, and an occasional flavor of Afrobeat groove courtesy of new Zimbabwean drummer Zeke Manyika. Orange Juice's lineup also saw another additional change with the inclusion of second guitarist/singer Malcolm Ross, formerly of jagged Postcard post-punkers Josef K. This would prove to be, in my opinion, the most rock-solid lineup of the band's existence, and the songs on Rip It Up ably balance a touch of the first album's bashful indie pop on tracks like "Mud in Your Eye" and "Tenterhook" with a darker streak displayed in "Breakfast Time" and "Turn Away." The album's title track would prove not only to be the band's only UK Top 40 hit, but was also the first chart hit to utilize the bass sounds of the Roland TB-303 synthesizer, a future staple of acid techno. Songs like "A Million Pleading Faces" and "Hokoyo" make like UK counterparts to the Fourth World new wave that Talking Heads perfected on Remain in Light, while "I Can't Help Myself" and "Flesh of My Flesh" both display funk/soul chops that put the band square on the dancefloor. In fact, Manyika's tight, in-the-pocket drumming, along with that 303 synth work, is one of the album's key ingredients that take Orange Juice away from their charming, stumblingly shambolic roots and place them fully into more assured pop craftsmanship. As much as those early Postcard singles (collected on The Glasgow School) are so beloved, I tend to be a black sheep in my unabashed love of this album as the group's defining moment -- Collins was and remains to this day a gifted pop songwriter; Orange Juice were a pop band who deserved the proper shine and polish that their Polydor contract provided. Rip It Up is flawless to me; it has a bit of everything that made the band one of the best of the era, and one of my favorites still. The album deserves the same classic status given to Remain in Light, as it has the same amount of intelligence, funk, and feeling, while displaying even more heart and a touch less detached "art." To these ears, it's perfect. Mikey IQ Jones
I'll just assume that readers of this list are already well-versed in the works of Mark E. Smith and the perennially running Fall. However, if the group's few dozen studio and live recordings (not to mention all the compilations that have been fashioned out of them) have somehow managed to elude you for the past three decades, then you are in luck. Continuing with the Beggars Banquet label's program of expanded editions of classic works (including a four-disc reissue of the Fall's landmark The Wonderful and Frightening World of the Fall that dropped last year) comes a newly spiffed up version of the band's 1985 set, This Nation's Saving Grace. While few of their then-contemporaries could even manage two or three records worth of quality material, this marked the band's ninth album overall (and second for Beggars). And far from just rehashing old ground, the group were still hitting their stride, having grown from thin, monotonous beginnings into a fully fleshed-out sound (courtesy of producer John Leckie) that flirted with pop hooks and outright accessibility. With the songwriting of Brix Smith fully coming into its own to complement some of Mark's finest lyrical ramblings, the eleven songs gathered on the original album brought the Fall's sound into some pretty exciting new places. First there was the absolutely pummeling "Bombast," one of the more ferociously pounding and driving songs in all of the band's oeuvre. From there, the Fall worked through charmingly repetitive (and blithely catchy) "Barmy," completing one of the best one-two punches in the group's entire catalogue. With nary a slouch to be found on the original LP, the band also unleashed pieces like the surprising Can tribute "I Am Damo Suzuki," and the ferociously building rocker of "Gut of the Quantifier," making for one of the leanest and meanest albums the group had ever put to tape. In addition to a nicely re-mastered version of the original This Nation's Saving Grace, this expanded edition goes the extra mile to pull in a couple of great singles that the Fall cut before making this record. Thus, included here as well are songs like "Cruiser's Creek," "Rollin' Dany," and "Couldn't Get Ahead," all fantastic standalone tracks that found the Fall working their transition to having Simon Rogers in the band and Paul and Steve Hanley out (temporarily, at least). And if that and the obligatory handful of ripping live versions from a period Peel session weren't enough, there's a whole other disc of rough mixes for most of the proper album tracks, giving you a chance to hear some pretty cool, embryonic versions of the songs as their overall arrangements were taking shape. Easily one of the best Fall albums of any era, this latest version of This Nation's Saving Grace is definitely worth a look. -Michael Crumsho
Otis "Madlib" Jackson continues his ongoing "monthly" series into the new year with Madlib Medicine Show Volume #11: Low Budget High Fi Music. It's a 28-track full-length hip-hop album that flows like his sample-laced records as Madvillian, Quasimoto, or records he produced for Guilty Simpson or Strong Arm Steady, both of whom make guest appearances here, along with Oh No, MED, Karriem Riggins, AG, J-Rocc, and even Dilla, on a track from the unfinished/unreleased second Jaylib album. Built from smoky basement beats, snippets of '70s movie dialogue and other found sounds, and miles of clever wordplay, all in all it's a nice and loose hip-hop album with lots of low-fi thumps, and high-def imagination. -Daniel Givens |
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