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There may not be a better currently active indie band in England than Comet Gain... no make that anywhere on the planet! This week's free song download, "Love Without Lies," is taken from the London group's latest release, Broken Record Prayers (out now on What's Your Rupture?) which features twenty blasts of indie pop perfection from Mk. II Comet Gain, post-career crash, post-Velocette, culled from singles released between 1998 and last year. This Week's Featured Downloads
The Brownsville section of Brooklyn has the notorious reputation for being one of the roughest neighborhoods in the country, with a high concentration of public housing and chronic gang violence. Luminaries such as Mike Tyson and hardcore rappers MOP and Black Moon are just a few of the more famous folks who once called Brownsville home; suffice to say, it's a rough place to grow up. The neighborhood's newest musical attraction, the Fly Girlz are a group of 14-year-old female rappers and were borne out of an after school program run by Brooklyn musician Sam Hillmer, who gave these smart, ambitious young ladies a chance to write and create their own album in a real studio. With spooky yet infectious electro beats provided by Excepter's Nathan "Zebrablood," Da' Brats from Da' Ville is an unusual, poignant record that never stoops to novelty. The bubbly, enthusiastic girls write simple yet honest depictions of life in their hood. Tracks like "Welcome 2 Brownsville" and "Tired" have some good bedroom 808 boom and through it all, the ladies deliver fun playground rhymes, while occasionally delivering an observational jaw dropper like "The boys out here don't act like a man/they shoot little kids and rape little girls/the boys out here will take an old lady's pearls...He'll break your pretty heart and break your pretty face." Real talk indeed! There's a lot of heart and soul in this one, and I've found myself listening to Da Brats quite a bit over the past couple of days. A must for fans of Langley Schools, ESG, Roxanne Shante, and the uncut honesty of the best kind of outsider art. -Duane Harriott
Devastating 70s Turkish folk album from singer Fikret Kizilok, although "folk" doesn't even really begin to encompass what goes on here, as I've truly never heard an album quite like this. Kizilok was a huge force in the Anatolian rock and folk movement during the 60s and 70s, alongside artists like Selda and Erkin Koray. A few years ago we carried a great World Psychedelia compilation of his tracks that were driving and forceful, and full of blistering electric saz. He may also be familiar to some customers from his appearance alongside Kim Doo Soo, Mikami Kan, and Kazuki Tomokawa on the excellent International Sad Hits collection that Damon and Naomi curated a couple of years ago, but even being quite familiar with those albums did not prepare me for this astonishing masterpiece. Recorded between 1970 and 1972, but unreleased until 1977 apparently due to political pressure, Not Defterimden is without a doubt one of the most melancholic and haunted albums I've ever heard. The closest comparison I can come up with is Luciano Cilio's Dell'Univero Assente, also originally released in 1977, and which similarly engaged folk music with avant-gardist tendencies while remaining both personal and hermetic. Kizilok's voice is extremely beautiful and soulful, but on many of these tracks he's nearly whispering poetry to evocatively decayed sound landscapes. There are perfectly out of tune and ancient sounding pianos alongside subtly modulated electronics, mysterious choirs, and heartbroken choruses. I'm not even going to pretend to understand what all is going on here, but the effect of this album could be comparable to watching a Tarkovsky film with the subtitles off, seeking the meaning through the mist. -Michael Klausman
Not much background info to offer on this one. The album art looks like a cross between a Rachel's cover and a Southern Lord release, which kind of gives clues to Plexus II's sound: chamber rock elements (cello, violin and electronics) married to Johann Johannsson's laptop manipulation (but in a smaller, constant song-oriented scale), plus an overall dark, melancholic soundtrack vibe. Upon first listen, Andreas here at the shop asked, "Who put on the soundtrack to Schindler's List?" Omigod, the entire album is one track!! Gentle sawing on the cello and regular samples of string swells and bits of piano/wood knocks grow and increase in regularity 'til they create a web of point/counterpoint. Eighteen minutes in, the cello's waves of bass are layered to create an uncharitable, foreboding sea until it finally reaches a beach strewn with churning, broken metal. -Scott Mou
There are a handful of Yo La Tengo albums you could make the case for being their finest moment, with inarguable artistic triumphs throughout their catalog, but for me Fakebook remains the sentimental favorite. Comprised mostly of covers, along with some re-workings of tracks that had appeared on their previous albums, it was originally released in 1989 (!), and I must have first heard it in about 1993 when I got to college. I love this record, and looking at the track list of their cover selections today is like seeing a roadmap of my future interests, as I systematically hunted down every original I could find. I suppose some of these artists I'd discover sooner or later, but this record was truly a shortcut to Gene Clark, NRBQ, the Have Moicy album (which further led me to Michael Hurley and the Holy Modal Rounders), the Flamin' Groovies, John Cale's solo albums, country-era Kinks, and Daniel Johnston, amongst others. Their cover of Johnston's "Speeding Motorcycle" here is an all-time classic, but I wonder sometimes if they ever regret its inclusion, as I remember seeing them do an acoustic in-store at Love Garden Sound's in Lawrence, Kansas around '94 or '95, and the chorus of requests for it from the spectators seemed to physically pain Ira, who of course graciously performed it anyway. Honest to god though, this album is as lovely and as easy going today as the first time I heard it, and as familiar as I am now with all of the original sources, Georgia and Ira's versions will always occupy a particular place in my soul. -Michael Klausman
As far as I'm concerned, you can never have enough rare Philly soul, and here's more proof by way of this superb collection from Gene Lawson's vaults. Lawson was a local talent scout and promoter whose Uplook imprint released just nine or so well-regarded singles during its short existence from 1967 to '69, but the label was the launching point for future super star Teddy Pendergrass, and its house band employed an early incarnation of the mighty MFSB as well as Daryl Hall! This collection features Uplook's notable releases as well as a slew of unheard material from the archives including unreleased Pendergrass recordings, not to mention classic underground Philly funk by onetime Otis Redding protégé Charlie Mintz ("Running Back") and the sweet balladry of the Delegates of Soul ("Don't Take Your Love from Me"). If you love your Philly soul, you know what to expect and it's here in spades -- impeccable string arrangements, top-notch musicianship, all with a touch of elegance and class. The highlights are aplenty, but my personal faves have to be the previously unreleased tunes from the young Tony Talent, whose "Gotta Tell Somebody (About My Baby)" is a killer northern soul Motown knock-off, complete with sweeping strings and an assured vocal performance from the 14-year-old. A solid collection...I want more! -Duane Harriott
Despite having crafted some of the most heart rending music I've pretty much ever heard, cult female singer-songwriter Kath Bloom remains relatively unknown, but this star-studded indie tribute may go some ways towards rectifying that situation. I know tribute albums are about a dime a dozen, and most negligibly interesting, but Australia's Chapter Music has really done right by Kath here, with the first half featuring some really high caliber artists performing sympathetic interpretations of her songs, with the second half being a fine compilation of her greatest recorded moments, and a superb introduction to her work. It's a similar format to that great Daniel Johnston comp from a couple years back, and just as successful. For those not familiar Kath Bloom, she is a Connecticut-based singer with a frail, haunting, and vibrato laden voice who made a handful of stunningly beautiful avant-folk records with Loren Mazzacane Conners in the late 70s and early 80s. In the past few years she's returned to performing, and has released a couple of remarkable solo albums that seem to pick right up where she left off. Highlights and contributors here include great performances by Bill Callahan, Devendra Banhart, the Dodos, Mark Kozelek, Mick Turner, Josephine Foster, Mia Doi Todd, Meg Baird, the Concretes, and others. -Michael Klausman
Subtitled "Latin, Calypso and Funk on the Isthmus 1965-75," this stellar set from Soundway proves that there's more to the country than the old palindrome: "A man, a plan, a canal, Panama." Situated between the two Americas, the musicians draw from both sides. There's a battery of fine Afro-Cuban polyrhythms on display, but also a heavy debt to American funk, with a few tracks shouted out in English. The compilation shows Panamanians having a great deal of respect for Soul Brother Number One, James Brown (see the Exciters' "New Bag"). A fine culture clash either way. -Adrian Burkholder
This excellent double-disc set of Wild Magnolias' first two albums from '74 and '75 is long overdue. Though these New Orleans legends are considered to be more of a traditional Mardi Gras tribal band, their sound, arrangements and energy has much in common with the likes of the Neville Brothers, Dr. John, Allen Touissant, and the Meters, all of the aforementioned infusing the city's swampy, sweaty atmosphere with the soul and funk sounds from up north, and the Native American rhythms that roamed the hills. More of a performance group than a proper band per se, Wild Magnolias were unique for their time, and are still something of a funky oddity today. The large vocal ensemble accompany their call-and-response street chants with various percussion -- congas, tambourines, triangles, cowbells, etc. -- while most of the "funkiness" comes from arranger Willie Tee and his New Orleans Project (keyboards, sax, guitar, bass and drums). On occasion, Tee's ARP synthesizer adds a spacey vibe to some of the songs, providing an interesting sense of dimension. The combination of the two bands build an interesting bridge between authentically ethnic and undeniably contemporary for the time -- check the song "Smoke My Peace Pipe (Smoke It Right)." With elaborate costumes, you could also draw a line from their stage presence to that of Funkadelic and Earth Wind & Fire, though Wild Magnolias are seeped deep in ritual and ancestry as opposed to the gaze of the future; their chief, Bo Dollis, is a figure adorned in feathers, with headdresses, beads, and wings. This southern psychedelic soul is some of the genre's most underrated yet most revered. If you're into the cross-cultural expression of, say, Cymande, Otha Turner, or Mystic Revelation of Rastafari, you'll probably find this an interesting intersection. -Daniel Givens
A glorious, ecstatic racket from the phenomenal duo of Mick Flower and Chris Corsano. I'll be honest; I've little patience these days for free improv, but lord, if it were all done as well as this then bring it on. Flower you may know from his work with Vibracathedral Orchestra, and Corsano is surely one of the greatest living percussionists we have today, and together they've crafted a dense and thrillingly epic tower of sound with all manner of percussion, as well as organ, melodica, tamboura, and cello. Flower is mostly featured on an electric shahi baaja, a kind of eastern banjo-like instrument that he plays as if he were about a hundred guitarists from an early Glenn Branca record crammed into one person. It's intense but not annoying, with snatches of melody strewn about the sonic wreckage. There are direct references to Indian raga, and I hear influences ranging from La Monte Young, to Philip Pearlman's Beat of the Earth, to maybe even a bit of the galloping fervor of Lightning Bolt's best work. Awe inspiring, and awesome. -Michael Klausman
Better known for releasing ironic hip-hop and producing backing tracks for Peaches, this solo piano record from Gonzales was quite a surprise when it hit our shelves a few years back. At first listen we thought the pressing plant might have put the wrong music on the CD, or perhaps he had just hired someone else to do it. (I've heard that he would perform bursts of piano during his live shows; and this is indeed Gonzales playing on this record.) To use the, as of late, exhausted description, this record is full of gentle, intricate and flowing "Satie-esque" piano instrumentals. It's maybe a little less gentle and tad bit more 'grand' but it still sounds like someone who knows what they're doing -- playing alone getting lost in the sound, maybe in a robe, surrounded by a few white marble pillars. Recommended! -Scott Mou
Whoa, now this is music that demands your attention. I have friends who seem to spend most of their waking hours trying to figure out where to find the next batch of ethnic music appropriately intense enough to satisfy their addiction to novel sounds. I'm certainly one to talk, however, as I first came across Zadik Zecharia whilst scouring an on-line Japanese retailer that happened to be offering a CD-R bootleg of Zecharia's work. The soundclips they provided were soooo good and utterly bizarre, but I'll be damned if I couldn't figure out how the hell to order the thing with my highly limited Japanese. Thankfully, the good folks over at Bo'Weavil in the UK have managed to legally license some of Zadik Zecharia's astoundingly dense Zorna playing for wider consumption. Zecharia was born in Kurdistan but immigrated to Israel in the '50s. According to the liner notes, he devoted his entire life to playing the Zorna, a long, trumpet-like instrument that is perfectly suited for the intricate Kurdish melodies heard at parties and weddings, accompanied by the barest rhythmic backing. It's hard to know what to compare it to as it has the high, reedy tone you'd associated with a bagpipe, but with a relentless intensity that also brings to mind Moroccan trance music. This is one of those records that just seems to get more mysterious as you listen to it; it's just so foreign and impossible to figure out that you end up sitting there with a WTF expression on your face for the duration of each song. -Michael Klausman
Brand new single from Philly's Drink Up Buttercup, the Brit-influenced A-Side "Farewell Captain" recalls a bit of the Kaiser Chiefs' more spastic pop moments, only here there are more herky jerky twists and turns before the track takes a turn into the surreal. The B-Side is a playful, see-sawing sing-a-long that instantly lodges itself into your head and kind of sounds like a collab between Man Man and Beta Band, after both bands swallowed a bunch of happy pills. -Gerald Hammill
Unbeknownst to many is the burgeoning raw funk and soul scene bubbling up from the land down under. Australian artists like Kylie Auldist and the Bamboos have become huge stars in their native land, churning out accomplished new-skool funk in the vein of the Dap Kings, Budos Band, Winehouse and the like. The newest addition to this scene is this Sydney-based six-piece which features Roxie Ray's earthy, bluesy lead vocals. On their debut single, the Dojo Cuts deliver a perfect song addition to your spring season playlist, their self-penned ditty, "1-2-3's," being a bright, brassy slice of popcorn funk. The B-side features an impressive cover of OM favorite Mary "Queenie" Lyon's rare groove classic, "See and Don't See." All in all, a fairly impressive first release from this young band, any fan of the aforementioned should definitely check this out. -Duane Harriott
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