FEATURED NEW RELEASES
Shogun Kunitoki
Guitar
John Jacob Niles
James Blackshaw
Mikkel Metal
Happy End
Haruomi Hosono
Green Arrows
Tiga
Fred Neil
LaMonte Young & Marian Zazeela
Alceu Valenca & Geraldo Azevedo
Colossal Yes
Terry Durham
Quintal de Clorofila
Pearls & Brass

Tibetan & Bhutanese Instrumental & Folk Music

ALSO AVAILABLE
Allen Ginsberg
Matinee Orchestra

BACK IN STOCK
Tape
James Blackshaw (Sunshrine)
Magical Power Mako
Coil
Paavoharju

COMPLETE LIST OF THIS WEEK'S NEW ARRIVALS

SHOGUN KUNITOKI
Tasankokaiku
(Fonal)

"Montezuma"

"Tropiikin Kuuma Huuma"

From the dream-scrambled pop transmissions of Paavoharju to Kemialliset Ystävät's dew-covered hallucinatory experiments, for the better part of a decade Fonal has made its name hosting a diverse roster of artists from the Finnish underground. Their newest signing, Shogun Kunitoki, might be the most unexpected release from the label yet, and no, they're not Japanese. Based in Helsinki, this quartet seems to exhibit a fond affection for weathered analog keyboards and Dario Argento movie soundtracks. The seven instrumental songs on Tasankokaiku mix proggy passages with the playful spirit of Raymond Scott's early experiments, while live drums and the human performance of the instruments chase away the sterile trappings that defines much of the electronic genre. Actually, album opener "Montezuma" reminds me of the avant, retro-futurist pop which Broadcast dutifully co-opted and updated from United States of America, as a baroque organ circles above sine waves, squelching synthesizers and sparkly bell tone counter-melodies. We recently moved Tasankokaiku from our Psychedelia shelves over to the In section, a small testament to how the album doesn't neatly fit into any one particular category of our store. Shogun Kunitoki are too song-structured for our Out racks, really too far out for In, and way too human for Electronica. At home I've filed them under New Favorite Finnish Band. [GH]

"Sakura Coming"

"Naoki"

One of my all time favorite titles on Morr Music is Guitar's Sunkissed album. Released in 2002, I was totally taken by surprise upon first listen. The record melded Boards of Canada's downtempo bedroom electronics with My Bloody Valentine's blissful shoegaze sound. A match made in heaven? Yes, indeed. Four years later, Michael Luckner finally returns with a new Guitar record, this time on the Onitor imprint. Tokyo is an homage of sort to the city, and the music follows suit. Where Sunkissed was inspired by the dreamy guitar sounds of the late-'80s, the tracks on Tokyo are filled with traditional Japanese instruments like the Pipa and Koto guitars; though songs like "Wash Me Away" and "Sakura Coming" also show that Luckner hasn't totally left behind his shoe-gazing. Half of the tracks on the album also feature lush vocals from Ayako Akashiba who did an amazing job on the Sunkissed album. Tokyo is a gorgeous blissed-out affair--downtempo, lush, and distorted at times, traditional and melodic at others. Guitar is just as relevant and beautiful as ever. [JS]

My Precarious Life in the Public Domain
$16.99 CD






I Wonder As I Wander
$13.99 CD

"The Cherry Tree"

"The Maid Freed from the Gallows"

Following some extremely high-profile exposure in Martin Scorsese's documentary No Direction Home: Bob Dylan, the heretofore obscure folk singer John Jacob Niles is being honored with not one, but two retrospective collections. This disc, from the always reliable Rev-Ola label, brings together Niles' interpretations of the Scottish and British ballads that were collected by Harvard literature professor Dr. Francis James Child in the late 19th century. Niles was something of an anomaly in the folk scene. He grew up in Appalachia surrounded by this music and later crossed over into the world of academia and earned a Doctorate from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. He sounds something like a cultivated Roscoe Holcomb, his high-lonesome falsetto cleansed of all traces of backwoods twang. His is a very weird and unexpected sound, closer to Tiny Tim or Joanna Newsom than to Dylan, which made his relatively brief appearance one of the most memorable moments in the aforementioned film. The songs that comprise My Precarious Life in the Public Domain were recorded and released on 78rpm records between 1939 and 1941, and were collected on LP in 1965. Niles plays his own handmade dulcimers and lutes on the ballads, some of which he'd been performing since he was seven. I've never heard anything quite like this before, and I'm certain that this and the other collection Tradition Years: I Wonder As I Wander--which features "Black Is the Color of My True Love's Hair" and other Niles originals--will be considered two of the seminal folk reissues of 2006. [RH]

"Transient Life in Twilight"

"O True Believers"

Second release in a short while from young James, and judging by the arc of his trajectory he will soon own the fingerpicking game. O True Believers is another trip through Eastern landscapes, swirling meadows and crystalline waters, during which he conjures up more vivid images with 12 strings than most of today's songwriters do with words. Not hiding behind effects, just a tiny bit of reverb, the London native delivers an organic and transcendental journey that has more in common with the renaissance-influenced works of Sandy Bull than those of Grandmaster Fahey. With the addition of tambura, harmonium and percussion, O True Believers, at its most effective, achieves a dreamlike, Popol Vuh-esque meditative state. Can I have another album, please? [AK]

James Blackshaw's Sunshrine is also back in stock, and is listed near the bottom of this update.

"Memories"

"Dorant"

Copenhagen's Mikkel Metal runs the gamut of microhouse expression and captures the full measure of structuralist ennui with Victimizer, his debut long-player for Kompakt. It's a full hour of home--not house--music, an inner ear companion built for gray days, rain, screen mesh, and walks through monolithic architecture, or merely just looking out car windows at passing buildings. The bulk of the 10 tracks here eschew Berlin aggression and Cologne sophistication in favor of something more personal, be it a moody schaffel or a swaying dissonance, composed but never feeling calculated or domineering. Metal's mastery of the songwriting craft easily transfers over to the technology that brings it across, making for an unerring electronic pop stare that wouldn't be out of place with either Rhythm & Sound dubplates, or Depeche Mode's more introspective moments--no mean feat to accomplish. The break-in "Lurlun" captures this perfectly, a pendulum swing between Harry Bertoia's sound sculptures and John Carpenter's menacing synth score simplicity; between the avant-garde and the journal. Mikkel Metal gets to have it both ways on this stunning debut, a downtempo sigh of an album perfect for quiet times alone. [DM]

HAPPY END
Kazemachi Roman
(Avex 10 Import)

Before Happy End, Japanese rock mainly consisted of 'Group Sound' bands; these were outfits that pretty much aped western rock--from outfits, hairstyles and guitar licks to everything else in between. There isn't anything wrong with that per se, and a good many of those groups are very enjoyable, but in the early-'70s, Happy End really raised the bar in terms of true artistic accomplishment. They wrote all of their own music and sang all of their material in Japanese, something that wasn't seen nor heard of in the GS era. Rock and roll is a western construct, however, and Happy End certainly seem to have been heavily influenced by the Band, Buffalo Springfield, and Little Feat's first album. I never before had any idea that Japanese country rock could be so great. There are also production techniques that, on close listen, are particularly subtle and brilliant and which keep the album from sounding dated. That may or may not have something to do with their bassist, Haruomi Hosono, who went on to have an important and innovative career both with YMO and on his own; just witness his undeniably awesome Cochin Moon which is reviewed below.

It's possible you've heard Happy End before and didn't realize it; one of their most charming songs found its way onto the soundtrack of Sofia Coppola's film, Lost in Translation. This is the album that it came from and there are 11 more songs just as great to be found herein. [MK]

HARUOMI HOSONO
Cochin Moon
(Avex 10 Import)

"Hum Ghar Sajanr"

"Roof Garden...Revel Attack"

"Revel Attack." Now this is the second part of the subtitle of the third part of the opening suite, "Malabar Hotel." Got that? It could be as good a place as any to begin searching for potential insight or understanding into this fine record from 1978.

Haruomi Hosono was a session bassist of note in 1970s Japan. In addition, he played in the tropical group Tin Pan Alley, and of course the redoubtable Yellow Magic Orchestra. This "Revel Attack" (which follows the first part of subtitle "Roof Garden," where we have presumably moved from the "Ground Floor" and "Upper Floor" of the Malabar during the first two tracks), possibly a mistranslation, but I don't think so. It has too positive an effect of conveying what is going on here. Hosono returns from a visit to India with an apparition of a filmic Bollywood opus, which doesn't and never will exist, dancing around in his head. Cochin Moon. It obviously requires a score. And a poster. An appropriate skirting of appropriation, not to mention representation, via the ever-handy simulacrum. Perhaps the best way to have handled such a revel attack.

The world inside this record is special. It can remind one of YMO, or Ryuichi Sakamoto's own dance-friendly exoticisma ("Riot in Lagos," anyone?), but as well it certainly has got some unwitting ties to some of what Black Dice have accomplished over the last few years. You heard me right. There is an important difference in the treatment of the tones, though not necessarily the rhythmic components; and everyone I know who has heard both of them and this recently agree.

The record fetches quite a lot of dough. This import CD reissue is also not cheap by any measure. But take one look at the proposed movie poster cover art, printed twice, and done by the album's purported collaborator, Tadanori Yakoo. He in fact does not play on the album (usual suspects and colleagues in YMO, Sakamoto and Hideki Matsutake, do). If we take into account the potency of its gorgeously prismatic concept, and factor in the illustration's apparent infusion regarding the musical results...then I guess we CAN say he played on it, if you catch my drift. [DHo]

GREEN ARROWS
4-Track Recording Session
(Alula)

"Infalilibe Chisoni"

"Mwana Waenda"

Just a glance at this six-piece in cranberry suits leaning against a train and VW bus, you can tell this set is funky. They could almost get mistaken for a dap Bay Area funk ensemble, but the Green Arrows were Zimbabwe's first music group to have a gold record. Famous throughout the '70s, coming up alongside Thomas Mapfumo, this compilation of recordings draws from the band's early singles and first two albums, cut with only two mics to four-track. Rooted in the brotherly sound of singer-bassist Zexie Manatsa and guitarist Stanley, the band was known to jam until dawn at their various residencies. Zexie may have been the frontman (one crazy pic shows him in face paint and green leggings on stage) but its Stanley's great affection for a rare wah-wah fuzz pedal that is the basis of the Green Arrows' sound. Surprising in comparison to most recent African comps we've carried as of late, the band jams concise pop songs, with only three songs going past the three-minute mark. Some are odes to their favorite flicks (check "Towering Inferno" and "Bullitt") but as the set goes on, the group gets more subversive, with songs of liberation and commentary being inserted into their lyrics. A welcome look at this unheralded band. [AB]

TIGA
Sexor
(Different/Pias Import)

"Pleasure from the Bass"

"High School"

What seems to be almost a lifetime ago, an evening at Luxx wouldn't have been complete without hearing Tiga and Zyntherius' remake of "Sunglasses at Night." Now, more than five years later, one of Berliniamsburg's favorite adopted sons brings us this hair-of-the-dog for the coke hangover that still lingers since those halcyon days of electroclash. Some of us might be thinking "a couple years too late," but the Montreal DJ/producer melts a little of the iciness that seemed perfect at the time for the so young but so cold fashionistas by injecting a little warm emotion into his melodies. That's not to imply the '80s' electro gleam nor his sense of humor are gone--after all, the album is named Sexor--but here we find Tiga balancing Euro-style with pop hooks. Not as dancefloor obsessed as one might expect, tracks like "Far From Home" and "High School" could have been sandwiched between OMD and Depeche Mode songs on Nu-Music radio during the Reagan/Thatcher era. But if you're looking for the dancefloor jams, "You Gonna Want Me" (which features Scissor Sister Jake Shears) and "Pleasure from the Bass" are already bona fide club hits. Tiga's cover of the Talking Heads' "Burning Down the House" should have been renamed "Burning Down the Acid House," and his vocals here sound a lot like a new wave Trent Reznor. Speaking of Mr. Reznor, check his stripped version of Nine Inch Nails' "Down in It," and (are you really ready for this?) an electrofied remake of Public Enemy's "Louder Than a Bomb." [GH]

FRED NEIL
Fred Neil
(Water)

"That's the Bag I'm In"

"Everybody's Talking"

Although Fred Neil's self-titled album from 1966 has been available on CD for a while now, and the costly import does tack on some great bonus live tracks and outtakes, Water has put together this domestic reissue with a nice price and no frills. But really, does a record this outstanding need the extra tracks to earn its keep? Neil is probably best known for writing "Everybody's Talkin'", which was a big hit for Harry Nilsson on the Midnight Cowboy soundtrack, and the original is included here, along with nine other killers like "The Dolphins", "Sweet Cocaine", "I've Got A Secret (Didn't We Shake Sugaree)", "That's The Bag I'm In"…hell, it looks like these are ALL killers. Although Neil is more of a straightforward singer-songwriter than most of the current folk artists clogging our racks, that's probably because few can match his talents: intricate acoustic guitar playing, a haunting, punch-drunk baritone, and a batch of indelible songs. Perched somewhere between country-blues, folk, and more trippy fare, this record is timeless and essential. They don't write 'em like that anymore. [JM]

LAMONTE YOUNG & MARIAN ZAZEELA
The Tamburas of Pandit Pran Nath
(Just Dreams)

"The Tamburas of Pandit Pran Nath"

This recording is released as an homage to LaMonte Young and Marian Zazeela's guru for over 30 years, the legendary Hindustani vocalist Pandit Pran Nath. A duet of Young and Zazeela, recorded on Tamburas designed to Pran Nath's specifications and in his tunings, The Tamburas... is truly a time altering listening experience. Overtones shift in beating patterns that change ever so slowly, creating a unique sense of depth and detail not always found in drone musics. It's physical without being oppressive in a way that pulls the listener in rather than pushing them back. Politics aside, this is essential for fans of long-form listening. Comes with an extremely extensive 44-page booklet in a double-wide CD jewel case. [KH]

ALCEU VALENCA & GERALDO AZEVEDO
Alceu Valenca & Geraldo Azevedo
(Mariposa)

"Mister Misterio"

"Planeterio"

This is a really, really excellent and unexpected slice of early-'70s tropicalia. Alceu Valenca and Geraldo Azevedo both originally hailed from the state of Pernambuco in northeastern Brazil, but met in Rio de Janeiro. Both were actively writing songs and performing in song competitions, frequently against each other, when they decided to join forces and cut an album together. The legendary maestro Rogerio Duprat (producer for Caetano Veloso, Jorge Ben, Gal Costa, Gilberto Gil, Os Mutantes, etc.) handled the mixing and arrangements, and it's one of the most satisfying listens out of the dozens of extraordinary works he's had a hand in, which is saying a lot. Less cosmopolitan than Veloso, and not as Catholic sounding as Milton Nascimento, Valenca and Azevedo achieve an earthiness more likely to be found on Lula Cortes and Zé Ramalho's Paebiru, which isn't suprising as Valenca actually plays on that record. They manage to convincingly bridge the gap between that album's reckless abandon and the carefully crafted songwriting of a genius like Veloso or Nascimento. Duprat, for his part, never overshadows the acoustic textures of their playing nor the exquisite melodies ceaselessly issuing forth from both singers. Both went on to have extremely successful careers and sell many albums, a number of which I've heard, but in the long run, and if enough people finally hear it, I think this will be the one they're both remembered most for. [MK]

COLOSSAL YES
Acapulco Roughs
(Ba Da Bing)

"The Honeycreeper Smiles"

"Between Ass & Ophir"

The sticker will hep you that this is the solo project of Utrillo Belcher, drummer for Comets on Fire, that napalm-guzzling band of psych-freaks, but don't look for any acid-eyed flashbacks or flying of the flannel here. Pummeling and ferocious as a skin-pounder, Belcher unfurls his sensitive, plaintive, piano man side here, a-crooning and a-plinking on his debut as Colossal Yes. Not that he's Billy Joel; he instead reaches for that sacred mantle of folks like John Cale and Bill Fay--or more recently, Plush--to surprising success. [AB]

TERRY DURHAM
Crystal Telephone
(Vocalion)

"Crystal Telephone"

"Sleep Train"

Those who thought rap music was born in the Bronx in the mid-'70s should check out Terry Durham's 1969 UK LP on Decca. Competition was minimal in North Yorkshire when this Ernie Wise soundalike, wannabe beat poet picked up the mic. But in reality, Terry Durham was more like Wakefield's answer to Serge Gainsbourg than the proto-Pitman. Name dropping Andy Warhol, Malcolm X, Picasso and Bob Dylan over a rip-roaring guitar and Hammond jazz, or dropping Edgar Allan Poe-esque suicide notes over blues breakbeats. For every Gitane that Serge sparked-up, Terry would be extinguishing another Lambert and Butler and in turn romanticizing the joys of cigarette smoking in glorious stereo. There was his sensitive, melancholy side too. Durham wouldn't just wallow in self pity; he'd do the backstroke, 100 meter dash and win the gold medal for diving. For TD, every silver lining had a cloud. He later returned in a totally unrecognizable guise on two LPs with folk quartet Storyteller for which he also designed the record sleeves. [AV]

QUINTAL DE CLOROFILA
O Mistério Dos Quintais
(Mariposa)

"As Alamedas"

"Drakkars"

Quintal de Clorofila (Garden of Chlorophyll) are yet one more drop in the seemingly endless wellspring of fantastic South American psych rediscoveries. Comprised of two Brazilian brothers and a couple of extra helpers, Quintal de Clorofila created highly unusual music that that they called "Viking Rock," but that I suppose you could call psych-folk, as they frequently sound like a two man commune. Acoustic guitars, banjos, flutes, percussion, bandolim, and the weirdest Casio sound I've maybe ever heard are but a few of the instruments in their arsenal. The atmosphere strays from the typical sunniness of many Brazilian albums, with a very pervasive late-night vibe lending a palpable sense of mystery to the proceedings. Certainly atypical from your usual Brazilian (or even psych) album, and well worth further investigation. [MK]

PEARLS AND BRASS
Pearls and Brass
(Doppelganger)

"Highway Sermon"

"I See, Shadows, I See"

Originally released in 2003, the self-titled debut from PA's Pearls and Brass offers an early look at the greasy rock these hard blues dudes have become known for. Listening to this recording, it is clear that they have been playing together for a while. These guys are studied. Sudden and unexpected changes jerk you from the boogie realm, with a math rock like precision that showcases the band's technical chops. It's no wonder Dave Pajo took them along for the Slint-curated All Tomorrow's Parties. Opener "Spinning Wheel Blues" features forlorn prisoner-on-the-chain-gang vocals, which I must admit, first threw me for a loop--such a bold attempt at real folk blues for a rock record!--but I've since warmed up to it because they pull it off. This all gives way to dense and driving riffs that any Blue Cheer fan would nod in approval to. Here, in currently frigid NYC, these hot and dusty road inspired songs, fuzzed-out warm riffs, and references to backyards and whiskey melted my frozen mind a little... yeaaaaaaah. [NL]

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Tibetan and Bhutanese Instrumental and Folk Music
(Sub Rosa)

"The Palaces of Gesar’s Family" Trinlem

"Ada le O"

These recordings were made in 1971, and reflect a broad range of traditional musics from Tibet and Bhutan. From rural folk songs to royal court music, the music centers around a six (Tibet) and seven (Bhutan) stringed lute called the dramnyen, with some additional accoutrements coming from high-pitched horn instruments and percussion. I quote Guy-Marc Hinant from the liner notes as he speaks of this music, instructing the listener to "think of authenticity not purity." It's a fitting observation in general and in particular when talking about the music from this region, as both Tibet and Bhutan have seen there share of outside influences. From as close as China and India and as far off as Turkey, this music has naturally been informed from beyond its borders and weaved into the fabric of the people's music. Lyrically, the topics range from descriptions of palaces to odes to the Dalai Lama, to minstrel songs about walnuts, peaches and apples. Delivered in a solemn tone, the vocals oscillate in stretched-out phrasings that give the music a stark meditative feeling. In some cases the delicate plucking of the dramnyen is accompanied by a lumbering percussion march and full choir of (usually) male vocals. This is an excellent introduction to a little known form of music on this side of the world, and I found it to have a very calming effect. [GA]

ALLEN GINSBERG
First Blues
(Water)

"Going to San Diego"

"Old Pond"

A two-CD set featuring original songs written by beat luminary Allen Ginsberg. Included here are recordings made in 1971 with Bob Dylan, as well as 1976 sessions produced by John Hammond, where Ginsberg is backed by players from Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue, and recordings made in 1981. Many of the tracks feature Arthur Russell on cello

MATINEE ORCHESTRA
Matinee Orchestra
(Arable)

"Thanking You for Listening"

"Pray, Rock, Stone, Paper, Scissors"

The brainchild of former Jumbo band member Andrew Hodson, Matinee Orchestra immediately grabbed my attention with its starry night cover. Showing cardboard clouds and cartoonish stars in red, green, blue and yellow, it reminded me of the backdrop for an elementary school play. Upon listening, the album, dreamy but innocent, gave the same feeling. With its minimal electronics, whimsical field recordings, and gentle string section (similar to that of the early Books albums), I noticed the homemade nature of it, yet I was hypnotized by the larger soundscape created. [AC]

"Sand Dunes"

"Sunrefrain"

It's been almost two years since Tape's second album Milieu was released, and while this Swedish group doesn't seem to have changed a bit aesthetically, Rideau feels different and even more cohesive than their previous efforts. The most conspicuous change on this album is the presence of producer Marcus Schmickler (Pluramon), who manages to make Tape's music even more beautiful, crystal clear, and expansive than it's been in the past. "A Spire" sticks closest to the formula laid out on the band's last record but takes it to even greater heights, with a single repeating piano chord providing the rhythm for all 10 minutes of the song while the melody is played in unison on an acoustic guitar and glockenspiel. As the piece builds in volume and exuberance, a laptop counter melody gradually develops as feedback and drones ebb and flow across the speakers. Elsewhere, a ticking clock duets with an organ, a wall of multi-tracked shakers keeps time for a melodica and a harmonium, and a trio of trumpets explodes in jubilant harmony. It seems like a cliché to say that Tape have outdone themselves, but they really have. Rideau is their best album yet and is one of the year's finest releases in any genre. [RH]

$10.99 CD-EP

"Sunshrine"

Seemingly coming out of nowhere, James Blackshaw has made the first truly interesting new release I've heard this year. This limited edition mini-album begins with an incredible twenty-six-and-a-half minute long title track that absolutely shattered my expectations. Thinking this would be yet another Jack Rose-style festival of Fahey-isms, I was completely surprised by the song's impeccably layered instruments and by its slowly building intensity. Aside from the fact that both of these fellows play acoustic guitars and are extremely talented, there aren't really any comparisons to be made between the two. Sunshrine opens with two minutes of bells before open-tuned six and 12 string guitars come in. Later they're joined--or overtaken--by the sounds of bowed cymbals, glockenspiel, harmonium, and organ. The much shorter second track "Sylark Herald's Dawn" is a simple and melodic solo guitar recording. If Mr. Blackshaw's forthcoming full-length is anywhere near this beautiful, I think we'll be hearing a lot of chatter about this 24 year-old musician from the UK in the coming months. [RH]

MAGICAL POWER MAKO
Super Record
(Radioactive)

Long considered Mako's masterpiece, Super Record was recorded in 1975 for Japanese Polydor. Realized in his private studio on a quadraphonic tape machine, the eccentric multi-instrumentalist created the definitive document of mid-'70s far eastern rock exploration. Mako was a student of Japan's greatest modern composer, Toru Takemitsu, under whose tutelage he gained an understanding of tape collage techniques, as well as the ability to conjoin quiet simplicity with vigorous experimentation. Deep fuzz guitar is effortlessly wrought with traditional folk instrumentation, the occasional vocal refrain, and synthesized backdrops.

If you were fortunate enough to get lost in the 5-CD box set, Hapmoniym (released in 2000 on MIO), you may recognize some of the loose musical ideas that would be distilled into Super Record. Comparisons to Faust and Amon Düül are hard to avoid, but where these groups forged kosmische outer space, Magical Power Mako turned the focus inward to a deeply felt personal space. Much of the material leans pleasingly toward British folk and medieval music. A reoccurring strand emerges through Super Record, affording a topography of boundless musical energy. This release is a pillar of Japanese psychedelia, a certain must-have. [JR]

COIL
The Ape of Naples
(Threshold House)

"The Last Amethyst Deceiver"

"It's in My Blood"

Coil's final album, The Ape of Naples, is here to mark the unfortunate passing of Coil co-founder, Jhonn Balance. Mainly recorded and produced in Trent Reznor's New Orleans studio, containing material written between 1982 and 2005, and finally woven together by Peter Christopherson in Spring 2005, the full-length serves as a fitting eulogy in the way it explores somber reflection through beautifully macabre songwriting and transcendent-searching rhythm-scapes. Track two, "The Last Amethyst Deceiver," touches on the inevitable nature of death; the lines "pay respects to the vultures/for they are your future" are carried along a walking upright bass-line and bare atmospheric vibraphone. "Triple Sun" sounds like a Steve Reich piece designed to transport souls; Balance's lyrics "Then I swallowed the one yew bury…" arrive in the final moments of the song, low in the mix as if radioed in from the netherworld. The throbbing, howling creep-funk of "It's in My Blood" is Coil at its effectively most basic. (See also "Heavens Blade.") The Ape of Naples is an album of melancholic beauty worthy of its place among classic Coil albums. [SM]

"Valo Tihkuu Kaiken Läpi"

"Ilmaa Virtaa'"

The first time I heard this playing in the store I assumed that this was some Japanese band inspired by the so-called New Weird America scene. New Weird Nippon…? Far from. Paavoharju hail from Finland and frolic in the same forest as Kemialliset Ystävät, Islaja and Lau Nau. Yhä Hämärää was recorded between 2001 and 2005, and is filled with many of the similar wispy, psychedelic-hued tones that swirl in their Finnish friends' music, but their debut album also exists on a dreamier plane.

The second track, "Valo Tihkuu Kaiken Läpi," is what made me think Paavoharju were of Asian origin. It's the kind of song which you could hear in your dreams; the lilting, operatic vocal reminds me of the Cocteau Twins' Elizabeth Fraser; the voice seems to float out of a tiny AM radio speaker, singing an exotic age-old melody borne from the Far East. The simple strum of an acoustic guitar is the only thing that anchors this song to earth, as fragile skitters and light bedroom electronics are filtered through a lysergic funnel, transporting you to some lovely etherworld.

Paavoharju's record is every bit as mesmerizing as Fursaxa's most recent album, only the Finnish collective's drones move in many more directions, occasionally tempered by little bits of psych-pop. Individual notes of acoustic instruments, primarily piano and guitar, often echo and resonate until the frequencies turn into an almost unrecognizable wash of tones that mingle with the electronics, and eventually become one. Coupled with the operatic melodies, at times I imagine that I'm hearing Animal Collective and Iceland's Mum together, reinterpreting the music to Madame Butterfly. Yhä Hämärää is pretty indescribable, but nothing less than stunning. [GH]

THIS WEEK'S CONTRIBUTORS

[GA] Geoff Albores
[AB] Adrian Burkholder
[AC] Amanda Colbenson
[GH] Gerald Hammill
[RH] Rob Hatch-Miller
[KH] Koen Holtkamp
[DHo] Dan Hougland
[MK] Michael Klausman
[AK] Andreas Knutsen
[NL] Nicole Lang
[JM] Josh Madell
[DM] Doug Mosurock
[SM] Scott Mou
[JR] Jeremy Rendina
[JS] Jeremy Sponder
[AV] Andy Votel



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